Episode 1655 - Rich Aronovitch

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1655 - Rich Aronovitch
Release Date: June 26, 2025

In Episode 1655 of the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast, host Marc Maron engages in a deeply personal and revealing conversation with comedian Rich Aronovitch. The episode delves into Rich's tumultuous journey through addiction, his path to sobriety, and his evolution in the world of comedy. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the key discussions, insights, and memorable moments from their conversation.

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1. Marc's Unfortunate Phone Mishap and Pet Troubles

The episode opens with Marc recounting a near-disastrous incident where he almost submerged his iPhone "in the toilet" ([00:00] Rich Aronovich). His detailed narration underscores his reliance on durable cases like the OtterBox Drop Plus, demonstrating his humorous yet anxious approach to everyday mishaps. Additionally, Marc shares frustrations about his cat, Charlie's bizarre behavior, setting a candid and relatable tone for the episode.

Notable Quote:
Marc: “I've got an OtterBox drop plus, but it's looking good. Fucking nuts. I can't deal with my fucking cat Charlie anymore.” [10:00]

2. Reconnecting with Rich Aronovitch

Marc introduces Rich Aronovitch, highlighting their long-standing acquaintance dating back over two decades. He reflects on their shared past in New York, where Marc assisted Rich in overcoming sobriety challenges. This reconnection sets the stage for a heartfelt discussion about friendship, support, and personal growth.

Notable Quote:
Marc: “I've known Rich for a long time, kinda. He was a young comic when I was in New York.” [00:09]

3. Rich's Struggle with Addiction and Path to Sobriety

Rich opens up about his battle with addiction, detailing his descent into heavy substance use around 2006. He recounts a pivotal moment where he realized the severity of his situation after a reckless act of vandalism—spraying air into a meter maid's tires—which led to his arrest and eventual legal troubles ([21:05] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “I went, I'm not gonna last. I'm in jail. I'm in jail.” [21:12]

4. Legal Troubles and Recovery

The conversation delves into the consequences of Rich's actions, including facing felony charges in the U.S. and the serious implications for his Canadian citizenship. With the support of his sister and a competent lawyer, Rich navigates the legal system, ultimately receiving community service instead of a permanent record ([26:49] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “He was able to make some excuse and yelled at me. Like, I've never been yelled at before.” [25:02]

5. The Turning Point and Commitment to Change

A near-death experience becomes Rich's catalyst for change. After a violent incident leaves him hospitalized and contemplating his mortality, Rich commits to sobriety, a decision that marks the beginning of his twelve-year journey away from addiction ([32:06] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “I'm done. And I haven't put anything that changes my mind since that, that two days later.” [32:14]

6. Transition into Comedy

Rich shares his early forays into comedy, humorously describing his initial acts like “Smooth Daddy Johnson,” and his struggles with originality and stage presence. Despite facing repeated failures and being booed off stages, Rich's persistence showcases his resilience and dedication to his craft.

Notable Quote:
Rich: “I was doing spots and stuff and I think Mitzi would have liked you.” [35:23]

7. Family Heritage and Overcoming Adversity

The discussion takes a poignant turn as Rich reveals his family's harrowing history during the Holocaust. He narrates his grandfather's brave efforts to save his grandmother from Nazi soldiers, highlighting themes of survival, loss, and inherited resilience ([37:05] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “I have a lot of contact with a lot of Arabs and Palestinian and people that were just living peacefully amongst each other.” [52:27]

8. Reinventing His Comedy Style

Rich discusses his experiment with TikTok during the pandemic, where he used humor and unconventional outfits to engage with a broader audience. This venture not only expanded his reach but also led him to reassess his comedic identity, balancing between his established persona and new creative avenues ([63:28] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “It's the Artist. I don't think I'm an artist. With the hats and the kazoos and the big shoes and the Spitting flower.” [64:37]

9. Balancing Personal Life and Career

Towards the end of the episode, Rich reflects on the importance of his role as a father. He contrasts the chaotic aspects of his career with the fulfilling and grounding experience of parenting, emphasizing how his love for his children provides him with stability and joy ([86:24] Rich Aronovich).

Notable Quote:
Rich: “What gives me most joy in this world by a billion percent, is when I'm just with my kids, being a dad.” [86:07]

10. Final Thoughts and Mutual Respect

The episode concludes with a mutual appreciation between Marc and Rich. Rich expresses gratitude for Marc's support during his darkest times, while Marc commends Rich's honesty and resilience. Their candid exchange reinforces the themes of friendship, support, and personal transformation that permeate the conversation.

Notable Quote:
Rich: “When I got kicked out of the country for life... you [Marc] changed that guy's life.” [85:00]
Marc: “There you go. That was fun. Some good sober shit.” [88:05]

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Conclusion

Episode 1655 offers listeners an intimate glimpse into Rich Aronovitch's life, marked by profound struggles and triumphant recovery. Through candid storytelling and heartfelt exchanges, Rich and Marc explore themes of addiction, resilience, family legacy, and the pursuit of happiness. This episode not only highlights Rich's comedic journey but also underscores the enduring power of friendship and personal accountability.

Additional Resources:

• Rich's Comedy Special: Rich Aronovich the Artist is available on YouTube.
• WTF+: For full show archives and weekly bonus material, visit WTF with Marc Maron on Acast.

Transcript

[Rich Aronovich]

Lock the gate.

[Marc Maron]

All right, let's do this. How are you? What the fuckers? What the Buddies? What the Nicks? What's happening? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast. Welcome to it. It's called wtf? Yeah. We're in the home stretch here. So if you're just getting on board, you got a lot of catching up to do. Yeah, there's about 1600 some odd, but, you know, take your time. It only took us 16 years to get here. For all those of you who are just always here, welcome. How are you? How's everything going? I'm on the verge of being ecstatic. Something happened. Something happened, like literally like 20 minutes ago. I'm not sure how it happened. We don't always know how these things happen, but it's a fear. You fear it happening. So I got out here to the studio and I was going to, you know, use the restroom, and I'm looking at my phone. I was going to sit down. That's probably tmi, but I was going to. Yeah, I was going to do some business. And, you know, I don't know where my phone was situated or how I was holding it or whether it was in my pocket or not. But I just. I heard. I was turning around, I had my pants up, they were undone, but they weren't down. But I was getting ready and I heard that. That plunk, the plunk of a fucking iPhone going in the toilet, and I fucking just snapped it out quickly. Clean toilet. Snapped it out quickly before it even submerged. So just one end of it went in, but sadly, the charger end. But I got it out and I dried it off and everything seemed to be working okay. And I've got to give a shout out, I guess, to otterbox. Holy shit. Otterbox Drop plus. That is the case that was housing the iPhone when it went into the toilet. But I think it's going to be okay. Is that fucking crazy? I grabbed it before. I hope I'm not talking too soon, because I went up and I got one of those aerosol spray the air out things and I sprayed out the holes, the speaker holes. The speakers are working. I sprayed out the air. I aerated the. The plug hole. I checked all the buttons. The screen is scrolling and only that end submerged a little bit for a second. It's all fucking takes, though. You know how it goes. God damn it. I'm supposed to leave town now. I don't even know if I can go if I have to get a new iPhone. So I plugged it in. And it looked like it was charging, but then all of a sudden it said, cannot charge. Do you want to go to emergency charge? And I'm like, I didn't even know that was an option. But if you can emergency charge, why can't you just charge it? So then I freaked out again and I ran back up into the house and I sprayed more air in there at all different angles to the point where I was almost running out of air. And it seems to be charging. But you know how this goes, man. You've got. When you get these fucking phones and you drop them or break them or get them in water, it's like, oh, it seems to be working. And then like two hours later, it's like, nope, sucker stupid. Go spend a fortune on another iPhone. But I don't know. I'm telling you, man, Otterbox, this is not a paid promotion. Because that would have cost. Well, I don't know. It's actually probably cost more than an iPhone to get an ad on here. But whatever the case, I have an Otterbox drop plus, but it's looking good. Fucking nuts. I can't deal with my fucking cat Charlie anymore. I can't deal with it. Anyway, Rich Aronovitch is on the show today. Now, Rich I've known for a long time, kinda. He was a young comic when I was in New York. He lived around the corner from me. And I've seen him over the years, but it's been a long time. It's gotta be. Geez, man, when the hell was that? 20, 25 years ago I met Rich. He was having some trouble. I helped him out, and he definitely sort of credits me, and we'll talk about it for helping him get sober, which is what we do is we do that for other alcoholics. And oddly, I think the way the I, you know, I had him on the. I have him on the show today. But I'm not sure how it really happened. I think he reached out, he reached out to me. And then I was having sort of a basic kind of sobriety crisis. And there's only a couple of people I call for those, just two. And I didn't feel like talking to them, so I thought, let's see if Rich can handle it. And we kept it on the level, straight sober talk. I wasn't gonna drink, but I was having some ism shit. And he talked me through it. But look, I've known him for a long time, and he just popped up and said, hey. And I'm like, yeah, sure, there's Another guy like that that's coming up in the next couple months. Dustin Chaffin, who actually opens for Nate. He's another guy I knew 20 years ago in New York when he was a kid and he's sober and they enrich and Nate actually were roommates, I believe, at one point. Anyway, so is Dustin. These guys are coming. They are the generation between me and the youngins, and they're popping up. So Rich is on the show today. His most recent comedy special is called Rich the Artist. You can watch that on YouTube. He's a funny guy. He's a lively guy. We had a good talk. So look, I. Well, let's talk about this. Mariska Hargitay is Monday's guest, and I highly recommend you check out the documentary she made before listening to our talk. Seriously. It's called My Mom Jane. It's about her mother, Jane Mansfield, but also about a lot more. There's some real twists to this story, and it's a great doc. I found it moving, surprising, and it was great to talk to her. You can watch it on Mac starting tomorrow, June 27th. So do that. Do a little homework. Do a little homework. Yeah. So phone is still charging. Still charging. So that's good. Well, maybe we'll see how we. How this all works out, how we get through this conversation I'm having with you. Now. Is there stuff I need to talk to you about? Yeah, kinda. Fucking Charlie. You know, I'm supposed to take a little trip out to New Mexico to see my dad, and Charlie just gets a whiff of it. He knows that I'm gonna go and. Okay, I've had a lot of cats. I know when a cat has a uti. I know when a cat has crystals. But my cat, this cat, Charlie, to be honest with you, he just likes pissing and things. All right? Sometimes I have a Pyrex measuring cup, a large one that I use to pour the water for my cone coffee in. And a couple of weeks ago, Charlie somehow managed to piss in the measuring cup without getting pee anywhere else. And he also likes if there are clean frying pans on the stove, he'll like. He'll pee in those. And then I've got to have grates all over my sinks because he likes peeing in sinks. The dishwasher's open. He'll pee in there. But he's not. Doesn't seem irritated. He's not like, peeing out of the box randomly. He picks reciprocals. But maybe someone will contact me and say, dude, you got to Bring. You got to get him checked. He's probably got uti, but, you know, he's eating. He's not sick. He's not licking down there. I don't know. Oh, fuck, do I? But all I know is I'm about to leave and he pisses right in front of me near the water. And then he starts beating up on Buster, and it's like, come on, dude, just fucking get it together. I think I might just have to put him in one of the other bedrooms for the entire time I'm gone. Because I can't have Buster all freaked out anyways. No one is more tired of talking about Charlie the asshole than me. And maybe he's eating fine. He doesn't seem to be in pain. He's not crying. He is peeing in the box. Still, I don't think he's sick. He. He has a thing for peeing where it's wet or peeing in pants and occasionally a Pyrex pitcher. The fuck? So, yeah, I gotta deal with that. And, you know, and I'm. Look, I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed. I don't know what to tell you. It's all. All this shit goes down before I'm about to leave. Drop the fucking phone in the toilet. Cat beats up on Buster. Pisses right on the floor in front of me near his water. He likes away. He likes the wetness. I don't know what it is. I don't know what is about wet surfaces and pans and a Pyrex pitcher. All right, what else is going on? Kit had a hell of a day yesterday. Apparently she was in the dog park with her mini bull terrier, Bee, the beezer. And there was a fracas. Some shit went down at the dog park. Apparently some woman's dog. Someone brought an unfixed female dog to the dog park, which apparently is not allowed. And then, as the story was told to me, some woman's dog, a male dog who was neutered, just started humping this dog because, you know, smells a smell and, you know, old habits die hard. Is that. Is it die? I don't know. Don't die easy, whatever. So apparently this male dog got a whiff and started humping on this woman's dog. Young woman who seemed a little out of sorts of. And the woman said, look, your dog's beating up on my dog. Your dog's fighting my dog. And the other woman's like, no, that's not what's happening. I think you know what's happening. I'll just get the dog off of your dog. And she's like, no, he's beating up on my dog. And then just starts yelling at this woman and then takes the top of one of those retractable leashes and pops this other woman right in the head. And Kit's like, what the fuck is happening? Runs over there to try to settle things down and to break it up. And then, you know, apparently Kit gets pulled into it, gets pushed on the ground, gets up, takes a pop at the woman, beating the other woman up. And then it was just no one would let up. Finally, people came around with cameras, and I guess the woman who was hitting everybody jumped in her car and then tried to run over some people and peeled out. This is like. This is the kind of thing you only see on Instagram reels. Wow. I'm waiting to see it. We're all waiting to see it. But they had to wait. They had. The woman who got hit in the head wanted to file a police report. And Kit was pretty shaken up, obviously, and we talked about her for a while. But I think ultimately what bothered her the most is that after all was said and done, she doesn't feel like she knows how to throw a punch. So I guess the arc of this story is, and the big payoff is that I think she's gonna go learn how to throw a punch. I don't know if there's just basic learn how to throw a punch classes, but there's gotta be, so that'll be interesting. She's pretty scrappy already. Pretty angry little fucker Kit. And now if she knows how to throw a punch, poof, watch out. But, you know, sometimes, silver linings, she's already tough. Now she's going to learn how to fight. Anyway. Look, I feel like I'm saying anyway a lot today. I think that's all I got. I'm happy you guys are here. There's a fun talk with Rich. We go way back. He knows things about me I didn't know. I'm going to hear some of those things, and now you will, too. Okay, so Rich Aronovich. His comedy special Rich the Artist, is available on YouTube. And this is me talking to young Rich. When did you get here?

[Rich Aronovich]

I got here yesterday.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I was in Vegas at the Cellar.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yep.

[Marc Maron]

How was that?

[Rich Aronovich]

For the most part, it was good.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I. There's. There's a weird thing with a guy that I was working with, and so it was in my head a little bit.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. I mean, without mentioning names, what could this weird thing Be.

[Rich Aronovich]

When I quit, I. I got. So I hit a bottom in like 06 with my drinking and other stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I was there for that.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Wasn't I?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes, you were. We were in a car in Queens.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And we talked for many hours. So I always have a.

[Marc Maron]

How did that unfold? Because like, you know, I've been in touch with you over the years and. And oddly. What's that?

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, it's my, my phone.

[Marc Maron]

What was that noise? Never heard that one.

[Rich Aronovich]

That was, that was the meditation I was trying to do before I came in so I'd get out of my head.

[Marc Maron]

So that was the little chime.

[Rich Aronovich]

It was. No, it was like a. There's like a meditation thing.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so it guides you? A guide talks?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, it just goes. It's like this. It's.

[Marc Maron]

It just does that.

[Rich Aronovich]

It just does that. So that you think you're in like what? In a meditative state. So that I'm not listening to the ticker of news of bad information that's going across my mind at all times. You're not enough. You'll die alone.

[Marc Maron]

Internal things. Fake news.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. You're awful. You're terrible. You're unlovable.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, you know, now that you mentioned that. You don't think any of that's true?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I think all of it's true. I think that's the problem. I think all of it's true.

[Marc Maron]

Why do we insist that we're wrong? I mean, that's the question. Yeah. I never thought of it until now that you're supposed to have all these, you know, I'm too hard on myself. Well, maybe I deserve it.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

But then there's part of you think that you do deserve it. Then exterior forces or people say like, why do you do that to yourself? And as if that's not some self regulating mechanism.

[Rich Aronovich]

I mean, don't you think Michael Jordan was too hard on himself? And look what it got him. He was the best.

[Marc Maron]

Okay, so he was satisfied. So you're on the Jordan trajectory.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, no, not at all. No, no. I'm not even close to that. Please. But I'm saying that there is a motivation that might let you work hard.

[Marc Maron]

If you're a better applying it to a skillset. You know I suck at basketball.

[Rich Aronovich]

Correct?

[Marc Maron]

Right. As opposed to I suck at everything.

[Rich Aronovich]

Correct, Right.

[Marc Maron]

So like walk me through, you live.

[Rich Aronovich]

Down the street, I live close to you. You offered me a ride home.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so that was when I was there doing break room live, I think it was.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well I don't.

[Marc Maron]

So 2006, I think 2006.

[Rich Aronovich]

Maybe five. It's funny, I came in here with the preconceived notion I wasn't going to talk about this, and it's the first thing that comes up. Boy, I'm in control.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I mean, why wouldn't you talk about it?

[Rich Aronovich]

I don't know. So. Yeah. So you sat. We talked for hours. I remember.

[Marc Maron]

Knew you before. Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

I knew it from the Lower east side rooms, from the surf reality and.

[Marc Maron]

Right. You were just this kind of, you know, hyper kid with a jufro and a dream and very intense, and you had a bunch of roommates out, but you lived near me, like, literally blocks away, right?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. I don't know if I was living because I lived with Dustin Chafe and Nick Navicki and Nate Bargazi. I don't know if that was that time.

[Marc Maron]

Well.

[Rich Aronovich]

But that was the same apartment, though.

[Marc Maron]

That's your timeline.

[Rich Aronovich]

That's my timeline. I don't know when it was.

[Marc Maron]

It might.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, you know what? It probably wasn't. It was probably before then.

[Marc Maron]

Because I knew Dustin.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I don't think Nate sort of arrived on my radar. I didn't know. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He's later, you know, he was later.

[Marc Maron]

In your life, in your.

[Rich Aronovich]

In. I think you were gone when he came.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

I think so.

[Marc Maron]

Because Dustin had that horrible room over in Midtown somewhere. Right. That. It was like a room in a place.

[Rich Aronovich]

He had a lot of rooms.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He ran a lot of stuff.

[Marc Maron]

He.

[Rich Aronovich]

Hustler. Guy's a hustler.

[Marc Maron]

And they used to do that rocking thing with his hands. Hey. You know, like every delivery, he'd like.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Kick back.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

He would throw his hands up back then.

[Rich Aronovich]

I don't think he's doing that anymore. But he had, like a. A.

[Marc Maron]

A physical thing.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, he had a physical thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. That he was doing on purpose.

[Rich Aronovich]

On purpose. It's sort of like. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Cowboy boots.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah. He had a cowboy hat.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He's like, come on, man.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He had that thing going on. And then. Yeah. You drove me home.

[Marc Maron]

And then I was like, the Lower east side. Probably.

[Rich Aronovich]

Probably from. Probably from the Lower east side.

[Marc Maron]

Because you were. You're exuding some problem.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was. You were probably looking at me and being like, I see myself years ago.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And you were like, this identification. You were like, I get that angst and that turmoil.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's very. It's very relatable. And then we talked about it, and then I started to justify, like. Well, yeah, I mean, it's okay to be, you know, self medicated all the time. I mean, look at this guy.

[Marc Maron]

What were you doing?

[Rich Aronovich]

I was smoking a lot of pot from the minute I woke up to the creep. And if I ran out, I would smoke resin. And then if I ran out of that, I would just drink it. Didn't matter if it was 10 in the morning.

[Marc Maron]

The sad moment with you and the bong scraping a little pipe, huh?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, it's very. I used to get. I used to watch Intervention.

[Marc Maron]

Got you high. No, it just gave you something to do.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, kind of. Yeah, it's, you know, I. I would. I would pretend like it was hash.

[Marc Maron]

Right, right. You get the resin out of the. What we use in a bong or just a pipe? Pipe, yeah. So you.

[Rich Aronovich]

And bong and whatever.

[Marc Maron]

So you scrape the resin out and you get like a, like one little wad of resin. Then you stick that on top of a little pot and you think it.

[Rich Aronovich]

It kind of crackled and it sounded like tears.

[Marc Maron]

Which was appropriate. Well, yeah, yeah, but. Well, good. So it was just mostly pot.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, mostly that. I mean, but it got out of control. I mean, it went to everything.

[Marc Maron]

No booze.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, yeah, Booze too. I mean, I would wake up on a bare mattress going, I'm not gonna do this again.

[Marc Maron]

I'm done in your clothes.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I would get to. And the next day, like this, like, I'm.

[Marc Maron]

Make that bed.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I'm going to make that bed. Like bare mat. No, not even a sheet on it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know.

[Rich Aronovich]

Just a bare mattress. And then I would say, I can't do this. And then I would do it again that night, you know, I'd say. Because I'd walk in and the bar tower would just slide a drink in my hand.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And that was it.

[Marc Maron]

That was the big benefit of being a comic and a regular at a club is that they would enable your alcoholism. Yeah, for as long as he wanted to go.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it was, it was quote unquote free. But you tipped and you paid a lot of money for that free. It was terrible.

[Marc Maron]

No, I mean, it wasn't terrible. It was great. Sometimes, I mean, you know, the, like the free. I remember Catch a Rising Star in Boston. Like it was in. It was in Cambridge and every comic came in from their one nighters or road gigs and just converged on that place at like midnight or 12:30 for the drinks.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It was the best.

[Rich Aronovich]

We used to hang out at the Bagot Inn underneath the Boston Comedy Club.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, that place. What was the guy's name? Tom. The guy who ran the place, the Irish guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Was it Tom There was like, Ronan. He couldn't understand a word.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, was it Ronan? Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I drank with that guy for years. I never understood what one word he said.

[Marc Maron]

Lanky guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, they. He was there.

[Rich Aronovich]

And you're like, yeah. What? He's right there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. And you're like, great. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And you were like, good. Can I have my medication now?

[Marc Maron]

And he did the bar upstairs, too, at Boston Comedy Club. I mean, it was like they ran that whole.

[Rich Aronovich]

They ran business.

[Marc Maron]

They used to have hippie music downstairs.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

They were in that deep. There was a deep room and there was a stage at the end.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I used to play harmonica with some of the guys there.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I'd hang around.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. You're a regular.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was a teacher, yes.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It was bad.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You were destined to still be that guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

You're right. Even though the club doesn't exist, I'd.

[Marc Maron]

Still be there because you see those guys, you know, in New York, like, that guy's still here.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Are you that guy?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, no, no. I was. I was on the road to be that guy. And then I got a ride home from you.

[Marc Maron]

You decided that wasn't a good life career plan. Well, to be that guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

It became painfully obvious because what happened was I. It went out of control and I was low blood sugar. Like, if I went, I don't need to eat. I'll just drink. I was a maniac. I mean, just out of my mind. More so than normal.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And so one night I.

[Marc Maron]

This is the ride night.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, this is before. This is. This is before the ride. I can't remember the trajectory, but I remember I started to realize, this is getting out of control.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I knew I kind of had a problem and things were bad. And then at some point, I don't remember where. I remember the seed was planted. Like, hey, you might have a problem.

[Marc Maron]

So I'm driving you home.

[Rich Aronovich]

You drive me home.

[Marc Maron]

And what do I say?

[Rich Aronovich]

You sit in front of a thing and I say, you know, I don't know if I have a problem. I mean, look, it works for this guy. And you go, that hack.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It was a guy. I'm not going to say his name either, but. And then there was another guy. And you sort of had an answer for all of my lies.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

My justification.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

You sort of said this. And then there was some. There was something in the way that the message hit me with what I would say was with depth and weight.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Where I went, it wasn't like, you need to. It's like I. This is what's going on for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So it had a relation where I.

[Marc Maron]

We weren't having that conversation for no reason.

[Rich Aronovich]

Correct. It was like a real, a real connection I felt. And then I let the air of a meter mates tires. As a Canadian citizen. One night I came home, they're writing, you know, they're giving me tickets. I got my car towed. And yeah, I was just, I was like, look, I have the quarters here. And they said, once I start writing, I can't stop.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I went around the corner, their car was there. And so I lit the air to four tires.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

They chased me up my apartment. They came in.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, they.

[Rich Aronovich]

I got arrested. I went to. And I got charged with a felony.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

As a Canadian citizen. That's a, that's. You get kicked out of the country for life. If you get convicted, you would.

[Marc Maron]

Now you might still.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, they might come back now.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I became American. So. So they, So I had a problem. So I realized, okay, now, now it's definitive. Now it's like, okay, this is jail. Yeah, I'm in jail. I'm in jail. And like, if I. Yeah, I'm not going to last. I'm not with the cute, you know, the cute ones. I'm with the, like, the, like really scary people.

[Marc Maron]

Like, you spent a hard night where? In county or Rikers? You didn't go to Rikers?

[Rich Aronovich]

I didn't go to Rikers. I was in precinct. I was in qu.

[Marc Maron]

At the precinct.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Because I looked across, it said misdemeanor. And I said, hey, man, what's it say about me? He goes, felony. I went, I got a problem. So I made the one call to, to my sister, who's a lawyer, who got me a lawyer, and I started going to court. And the. My lawyer was like a big deal. He was a big macher, as they say, and he was able to sort of kind of, you know, control the, the narrative. And they go, I embarrassed my, my competition. So he's not just going to say, all right, as a first time offender, knock it down. Let's get out of here. He wants to, you know, he, he's coming after me. And I go, should I get a different lawyer?

[Marc Maron]

Goes, no, he's coming after you.

[Rich Aronovich]

The prosecution, the D.A. yeah, he, he hated my lawyer, so he wanted to punish me.

[Marc Maron]

That's always good. You know, that happens in divorces too.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's not about you. It's about this. Completely. Yeah. Cockfight between.

[Rich Aronovich]

Absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I have court I'm months in, and I have court the next day. And it's my birthday and I stopped drinking. I have stopped drinking. I'm not doing anything about it.

[Marc Maron]

Is this after our talk?

[Rich Aronovich]

After our talk?

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

Our talk. Planted the seed. I'm about to get kicked out of the country for life. Maybe a. Letting air out of a meter maid's tires.

[Marc Maron]

Like Cool Hand Luke for, like, cutting off the heads of parking meters. He's on a. On a work farm.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

Like chain gang.

[Rich Aronovich]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Not all heroes wear capes.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So it's the night before I have court at like, eight in the morning in the middle of Queens that it's my birthday.

[Marc Maron]

And you had to do a hit. Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, the, The. This is, this is what, this is what I was dealing with in, In Vegas. So there's a guy who, who used to. I went to South Africa and did a festival with him and a bunch of guys, and they were pranking me the whole time. I mean, just all the time.

[Marc Maron]

You were sober? Not sober.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, no.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

No. And so I was definitely the weakest gazelle. And they were. And this dude, he. He knew I wasn't. He knew I had a problem. He knew. And he put a. A shot in my mouth.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He put it up to my lips and he said, we're Godric. Your birthday. I can't. You know this. But I didn't really have any kind of defense against.

[Marc Maron]

This the night before court.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

So then it was one and then it was like another. And they were all drinking with me a lethal amount of alcohol. I mean, lethal. Like, like we're talking like 18, 20 shots with three drinks. And then the last drink was just like, pure Tabasco.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And they showed me that they were drinking Sprite with a splash of Coke and I was the only one drinking.

[Marc Maron]

Why did the Tabasco come in?

[Rich Aronovich]

I pro. I don't know. Just to make me throw up blood. I have no idea why that was.

[Marc Maron]

Throw up? What?

[Rich Aronovich]

I, I'm pretty sure I, I, All I know is I blacked out and I woke up with my glasses wrapped around my face.

[Marc Maron]

Like, where?

[Rich Aronovich]

On my bathroom floor.

[Marc Maron]

Oh.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I was like, two hours late to court with like, 75 missed calls from my lawyer.

[Marc Maron]

Come on.

[Rich Aronovich]

And somehow he. Because he did know the judge.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He was able to get me out of, you know, immediately. You're. You don't show up. You're. You're done.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So he was able to make some excuse and yelled at me. Like, I've never been yelled at before.

[Marc Maron]

Uhhuh.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I remember kind of having a conversation with him going, like, dude, I know you don't understand the nature of what it means for me, but, like, I. You knew this. And I was thinking, it's kind of cruel. Like, it kind of sucks. You did that.

[Marc Maron]

Yelled at him.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, no.

[Marc Maron]

The lawyer said no.

[Rich Aronovich]

No. The comic who put the drink in my house.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's kind of a shitty thing to do.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's not like it's not fun for anybody.

[Marc Maron]

And you still resent that guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

I didn't. I let it go. But then he brought it up again and said, oh, I can't make you drink. And then I was like, oh, here we go again. And so then my mind started working and grinding on him.

[Marc Maron]

But I mean, like, today.

[Rich Aronovich]

Today we're good. Because at the end, he said, I'm sorry, you know, I realized. And I could. I go, I don't like. But without you, I don't have. You know, I got away. But there was a real consequence.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And it was just for you to get a goof and playing with my life. It's kind of like, I don't need you.

[Marc Maron]

And did you tell him I got court tomorrow?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes, yes, yes. He knew all the information.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I said, I can't. I have court.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You know, idiots will be idiots. Friends will be friends.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Let's fuck with this guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, absolutely. And I.

[Marc Maron]

And I know you're a clown, Rich.

[Rich Aronovich]

I. I am a. I am a certified clown. I'm a loud mime. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's like, let's. Let's make that guy all silly.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, no. Oh, definitely. I mean, I.

[Marc Maron]

How'd your lawyer work this out?

[Rich Aronovich]

We. Eventually what happened was he waited. He said, I'm going to delay and watch. They're going to get. We have a right to see the evidence. But if I keep playing with the court, by the time I do it, they're going to fix. They're going to put the air back in there. They claim, like, I broke a window and I didn't do stuff. So I go, I'm going to have. Going to ask to see the evidence. They're going to realize they're dead to rights, and then they're going to plea out.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

Is exactly what happened. He asked to see it like eight, ten months later, they said, oh, let's make this a violation. Do community service, pay a little fine.

[Marc Maron]

No felony?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, no, no. Not even a record. Oh, the only record is me talking about it now.

[Marc Maron]

You did community service?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

How'd that go?

[Rich Aronovich]

Demoralizing.

[Marc Maron]

What'd you have to do?

[Rich Aronovich]

I picked up trash on the side of the road in an orange vest.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really? So you had to meet a bunch of other cool guys.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you all suited up.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you walked along the BQE or what?

[Rich Aronovich]

Somewhere in Queens with the stick and the, you know. Yeah. Put in the trash bag.

[Marc Maron]

That's. That's not bad.

[Rich Aronovich]

It was for a week. I think it was only a week.

[Marc Maron]

I had to do community service once because I got cocky.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, really?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I had a buddy in high school that was constantly getting speeding tickets, and he'd always. He had a lawyer and he'd go to court with him, you know, and, you know, try to get out of him. You know, he's just a kind of a fuck up. And I remember, I got. I wanted to follow his lead. I got a speeding ticket or something, Right. And so I got. I used his lawyer, you know, and we went to court to get me out of it so I wouldn't lose my license or. I don't know where I was at with all that, but the judge happened to be the father of a couple of kids I knew. And one of them I was. I kind of bullied. And this guy was not going to put up with any of it. I think he knew me from his kid. You know, there was two brothers and one of them a couple of Jewish kids. Randy Bear. I can't remember if I knew him from camp or I knew him from school. But this judge, their father was like, you know, no, I'm not letting you off. It's going on your record. You're going to get the points, you're going to pay the fine, and you're going to do like 30 hours of community service. So I had to. I was. I used to vacuum the halls at an old folks home. That was mine, which is not terrible. That's a little weird because, you know, old lady was a. Would come out and go, will you do my apartment?

[Rich Aronovich]

But that's funny because I was picked on as a kid. I was the, you know, I was one of the, I think three Jews in my school. And I grew up where David Duke got elected.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I would go to Jewish Jew camp like you, and I would be the bully I would be the. The alpha.

[Marc Maron]

Isn't that interesting? Well, I wouldn't call that the alpha.

[Rich Aronovich]

The. I'm sorry, the olive.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, the.

[Rich Aronovich]

You were the olive. I was the olive?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You weren't the bet.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, that's right. I wasn't the bet.

[Marc Maron]

Bet.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, the bet. You know, I. I was, like, always doing, like. Like you said I was doing clown. I was doing. I remember I was, like, 7 years old and they. And I did the talent show and I memorized a Rodney Dangerfield book and put on a tie. And so I did it at camp. At camp. And I remember, like, I finished and they erupted and I was like, oh, I like this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay, so go back. So you do the trash collection. And then how does this lead to you finally not drinking?

[Rich Aronovich]

After I had sort of drank again, it was on for a while, and I had gotten to a point where I thought no one knew, so I was, like, hiding and drinking sort of.

[Marc Maron]

How's your career going at this point?

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, phenomenal.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm working at HA Comedy club.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

In Midtown, where I'm. Yep. Seven shows a night, every night.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Same, you know, audience. I had a woman throw up at me during the show.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

And the. The owner handed me a mop. That's how much they had our back. So I was, you know, mopping and telling. Trying to tell jokes. I swear on my kid's life, that's exactly what happened. The first two rows bailed, and so I was still trying to do jokes while I was.

[Marc Maron]

During the show.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, during the show. During the show. The show must go on.

[Marc Maron]

Mark, that's a unique night.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Yeah, that's so when people are like, you know, can you hand? Yes, I can handle it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

The only thing I really can't handle is when they're talking to them. Each other.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. When they're not paying attention.

[Rich Aronovich]

When they're not paying attention. I can't. Yes. That hole needs to be filled with your eyes and ears. You can yell and be. As long as you're giving me attention, I'm good. Positive or negative?

[Marc Maron]

Really deal with the negative, Ari.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I don't mind. I'm okay with hecklers.

[Marc Maron]

No, I don't mind hecklers, but yeah. Okay, so. So all right, so that happened. So what? What's. So then what's the moment you get sober?

[Rich Aronovich]

So I, I. I see Jessica curse and I are like, best friends, you know, and I see her on her birthday walking away with all of her friends to go celebrate, and I'm not invited. And I'm smoking a cigarette outside the Bagged Inn and I just felt that low, that moment of just like.

[Marc Maron]

Was she sober yet? Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

She couldn't be around me and I was. I was sick and. And so I just remember that feeling of just. I'm. I'm just like the hole in the donut. You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Sure, I've heard that one.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. That's your shell. I'm a shell. Yeah, exactly. I'm just like.

[Marc Maron]

I'm like an energetic shell of a man.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So then I start, you know, at some point, I'm hooking up with this girl. I'm the cheat. You know, she had a boyfriend. I'm the cheat. And then I stumble into apartment unannounced at like 1 or 2 in the morning.

[Marc Maron]

Drunk.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yo. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And the boyfriend's there?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, but he's texting. The new guy is texting, I think she's with. And I. I get loud and I scream and yell at her and I leave and I fall down the stairs or I got beaten up by a one man guy and I'm in the back of an ambulance and I have no idea how. Yeah. I ended up in the back of an ambulance.

[Marc Maron]

You don't know if you got beat up or fell down the stairs?

[Rich Aronovich]

No clue. I just know, like, part of my body was really not good, so I figured I might have fallen down, like.

[Marc Maron]

Oh.

[Rich Aronovich]

Woken up in the act of an ambulance.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I went, okay, I'm gonna die. I gotta stop this, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm going from like, maybe I'm gonna get kicked out of the country. And then, then the new bottom is, okay, you're gonna die. So I was like, all right, I'm done. And then I haven't. I haven't put anything that changes my mind since that, that two days later.

[Marc Maron]

How many years is that?

[Rich Aronovich]

Sixteen. Going on 17.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's been a long time.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Took an ambulance in a jail.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And a lot of bad feelings.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

What is it? Is jails, institutions or death?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And then.

[Marc Maron]

And then there one other one.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, that's it.

[Marc Maron]

It is. Okay. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And so they. Then at like 87 days, I wasn't doing anything. And they said, don't make any big changes. So I moved to California.

[Marc Maron]

What, you mean the recovery thing?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, whatever.

[Marc Maron]

First 90. Yeah, 90 and 90. Don't make any changes. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

People were saying, don't make any changes. So I moved to California.

[Marc Maron]

You were here?

[Rich Aronovich]

I was. Not only was I here Mark. I started. I realized there was no money here, so I was doing, like, every job to try to make my rent. I had, like, an $800 room in Studio City.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I was like, I got to do it. So I started selling knives at Costco.

[Marc Maron]

You were that guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was.

[Marc Maron]

You're probably good at that.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I remember I was in the middle of a pitch. I was in the middle, and you walked in, and I was in the middle of. These knives are good for cutting chicken bone. Hambone, lambone. Adults are cooking. And I see you, and I ducked under the table.

[Marc Maron]

Come on.

[Rich Aronovich]

You wouldn't see me. I'm not. Why would I make this up? And so they're, like, looking, and they're like, where'd that guy go? And I just disappeared because I didn't want. I was so embarrassed about having to sell knives. I went, if anyone reckon, oh, it's Mark. And I ducked under the table.

[Marc Maron]

I went to a hotel once for a meeting, and. And Sebastian was my waiter, and he handled it well. And look at. God. Look where he is. You should have just manned up and said hi to me and acted like, you know, this is just what I'm doing right now. And you might be on different.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was out of my mind. I was. You know, I was like. You know, I wasn't sleeping for the first six months. I didn't sleep. I used to watch that show 24, and I knew how many hours I'd been awake by how many episodes I watched.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. So what were you doing out here? Were you doing spots or.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I was. I was just trying to get, you know, healthy. I was just trying to get away from the heat because I had a lot of bad reputation stuff. And I was like, I don't want. You know, I'm just getting away from it. And you were.

[Marc Maron]

You were a guy who was around and, you know, you know, aggravated, intense. Once drunk. And then, you know, you got sober, and you realize, like, oh, they're all still kind of mad at me.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I would. Yeah. I mean, I would hear stories about me where they didn't know was me. They were telling me stories about me too much. Me.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, because you're a blackout guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, yeah, no, but they didn't know what my name was. They go, you heard of this guy? I go, yeah, I've heard of him. And they go, here. He did this and that, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was like, yeah, I know. Yeah, okay. And I was like, this is not good.

[Marc Maron]

So you're such a You were such a dick. But you're not really innately a dick.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, sick. Sure, I was. You know, I was.

[Marc Maron]

So how long do you last out here selling knives?

[Rich Aronovich]

5. I. I didn't do it very long. I ended up touring with the. The guy for a while. That was awful.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Really bad. I don't want to, you know, I don't say his name, but it was. And he's a guy just in fear and whatever and, you know, unhealthy. He was an unhealthy guy. Dry guy. Very unhealthy.

[Marc Maron]

And you were just doing road gigs with him?

[Rich Aronovich]

I was doing road gigs with him and I was working at a little bit at this, you know, Z club and whatever and a little bit at the store.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

This is when Tommy was booking.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Hey, buddy, get here at 8. You're going to go on in a few.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Meaning, you know, I'm waiting around till like one in the morning. Like, I.

[Marc Maron]

For what? Like a showcase spot. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

To, you know, I thought, you know, I.

[Marc Maron]

You take a look at you.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, he passed me, but then he didn't, you know, he would just.

[Marc Maron]

Have me come around your past over there.

[Rich Aronovich]

Not anymore. I don't think anymore.

[Marc Maron]

Well, once you passed, you're passed.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I passed when Tommy was there.

[Marc Maron]

So what? I passed when Mitzy was there.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, but people have heard of you. No, you're the who's who of comedy. I'm the who's that of comedy?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. You know, so it doesn't matter. I'm never out here. I mean, I would like to go on there, but. Yeah, whatever. So. So, yeah, so I was doing spots.

[Marc Maron]

And stuff and I think Mitzi would have liked you.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You're like a lively Jew desperate. Lively Jew desperate.

[Rich Aronovich]

You don't know the level. I was thinking about getting a haircut on the way over here. This is a podcast.

[Marc Maron]

It's not even video.

[Rich Aronovich]

Exactly. I'm thinking about what should I wear? I'm like, it's a podcast. Yeah. So it was. So then I lived. It was fine. I liked it. And then one day I started to tour with Jim Brewer and that was cool, but I was a lot of East Coast. East coast. And I was flying. And then one day I lost the manager and the agent and the girlfriend and like, everything within two weeks. And I went, oh, I hear the message. And I just moved back across the country and I've been great ever since.

[Marc Maron]

But where'd you grow up?

[Rich Aronovich]

I grew up in New Orleans in David Duke. Country David Duke, the first matter he had Till I was 10, where the. You know, like, I used to get off the bus and they would beat me up for killing Jesus. Three guys. Yeah. And they used to throw eggs at our house, really, during Passover. And they would put swastikas on my dad's building, and they would, you know, threaten us.

[Marc Maron]

Well, now that's, you know, accepted material.

[Rich Aronovich]

Now it's a meme behavior.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah, but you weren't. You were born in Canada.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I lived there for 10 months.

[Marc Maron]

So wait, what is. Your dad's. From where?

[Rich Aronovich]

My dad was actually born in Italy. His parents were running out of Europe. They had a gnarly, you know, my grandmother fell alive in a ditch with her family murdered. And she survived, but she waited.

[Marc Maron]

The Nazis.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And my grandfather was in love with her, so he waited for her because he. He paid off the soldiers to say he was like this big musician, actor.

[Marc Maron]

Guy in Vilna, Germany.

[Rich Aronovich]

In Vilna, Poland. And so he said, tell me when they're going to invade. And they're like, they're going to invade. And his family wouldn't leave. They didn't believe him, you know, so he left. So he left. He left his family to die. And then he went to go get my grandmother, and they had lined her up in a ditch, and he thought she was dead, but he had to know. So he waited until the soldiers got drunk. They celebrated. They got wasted and passed out. And then he found out she was alive.

[Marc Maron]

And this is where.

[Rich Aronovich]

This is in Poland.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then they started running out of here.

[Marc Maron]

He went back after they went through the town.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then, you know, they were all dead in the. The ditch because the Nazis killed them.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. But my grandmother fell alive.

[Marc Maron]

She was crazy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And so he grabbed her and they. They. Their story's nuts. Yeah, I have it on. I. I just. I recorded before she passed away.

[Marc Maron]

From her?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, from her.

[Marc Maron]

So they. They. He finds her and then what do they got to pay off people to get.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, they.

[Marc Maron]

They.

[Rich Aronovich]

They started traveling on top of trains to get out. So they would. And they would. They would. You know, every time they got caught, they would either go to a death camp or a work camp. So my grandfather, in another language would be like, what are the buzzwords? Like, so if it's comic, it's like stand up, punchline, segue. So he would drop the buzzwords when they interviewed him to make sure. And then he'd figure out what the task was in line to survive so he could just Go to work camp. And when they went to death camps, when they were supposed to go, he would say that we're going to our death smell. That's burning flesh. He would spend the whole time breaking open the train and said, we gotta jump. And he would grab my grandmother and jump out of the train, and no one would ever go with him.

[Marc Maron]

That happened more than once.

[Rich Aronovich]

I don't know how many times it happened, but, you know, enough where I heard about it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Crazy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. This is an uplifting podcast. What am I doing?

[Marc Maron]

So they made it to Italy.

[Rich Aronovich]

So at some point, they made it.

[Marc Maron]

To Italy, which wasn't as fascist.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, it was because they had a kid during all this, while they were dying, they ended up Gnome. His older brother.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then they realized they were Jewish. And some soldier grabbed the kid and killed her. Killed the kid in front of my grandmother.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And your next comic.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is good stuff.

[Rich Aronovich]

I think we should put a laugh track in this. Yeah, we got an 80s sitcom laugh track.

[Marc Maron]

No, but. But. So. So now they just got your father.

[Rich Aronovich]

So now they have my father, and he's in Italy, and they're. Then they moved to Canada because they had a cousin that lived there.

[Marc Maron]

Oh.

[Rich Aronovich]

So they go, okay, we got to get. We got to get to Canada that. That person. And they. They ended up hiring him to. To help him out. And they asked my. My grandfather. My grandfather hired. They made it to Montreal somehow.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then they said, all right, we're.

[Marc Maron]

We're.

[Rich Aronovich]

They're in, like, the plastics, and. And they used to, like, sell stuff to the farmers. He said, all right, so you're going to dig a ditch because it digs. Dig a hole or something. My grandma. I'm not digging nothing. No, I don't.

[Marc Maron]

No holes.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I'm not digging. Like, that means a lot. That's not. Yeah, that's not just a whole. It's a whole thing that's triggering.

[Marc Maron]

That's.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, that was triggering, as they used to say back then. It made me feel uncomfortable.

[Marc Maron]

The ditch made her feel uncomfortable.

[Rich Aronovich]

So he. He fired him, and he opened up next door to him and ran him out of business. Which is kind of your grandfather. Yeah, it was kind of crazy.

[Marc Maron]

He had some spiteful guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I think he had justice, a little chip on his shoulder.

[Marc Maron]

Really? From the Holocaust.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. And. Yeah. And he used to. What's weird was my uncle used to tell me he used to. Like, they wouldn't eat. They would eat, like, one meal every day or two. And they'd feed my father, but then, you know, they had another kid, and they'd feed them and they would barely eat, and they'd work 20 hours a day and whatever.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God.

[Rich Aronovich]

And they would. Charity would come by, and my grandfather would give to charity, even though he was charity, but he would give to charity. And he kept saying, God will provide, you know, that kind of thing. Insane to believe in God after all of that. He somehow had faith.

[Marc Maron]

Well, what's interesting, I think, about faith is that either it seems insane or it seems necessary. I mean, you are alive.

[Rich Aronovich]

And they loved me because I was the name. That's why I never changed my last name. The worst name in show business, Aronovich.

[Marc Maron]

I think it's pretty good.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, thanks.

[Marc Maron]

Because your first name's Rich.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, it's Richard.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know, but. Rich Aronovitch. I said that to my girlfriend. She couldn't stop laughing.

[Rich Aronovich]

She goes, what is that, a stage name?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Who are you talking about tomorrow? Rich Rondovich. She's like, oh, that. I like that.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's short for Richard.

[Marc Maron]

Well, she's. There's some guy who she deals with at work. I think his name is Bob Bopidopoulos or something. And she just likes the alliterative nature.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, for sure.

[Marc Maron]

It's fun to say.

[Rich Aronovich]

Rich Renovich.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's good. What are you going to change it to?

[Rich Aronovich]

Rich? Aaron not right. Aronson Ross.

[Marc Maron]

It's all Jew.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, it's all Jew.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Lipschultz. I'll change it to Lipschultz.

[Marc Maron]

Jeffrey Ross.

[Rich Aronovich]

Jeff. It's his original name. So I didn't change it because I thought, you know, I was like, the serv. The name. Is that like. That's the survival name.

[Marc Maron]

So your dad grew up in Canada?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, he grew up in Canada. And he's got, you know, he's got stuff from this. I mean, we can't. We get into a line at the bank. I remember being a kid watching, like, him start to just have this internal turmoil with, like, a bead of sweat going down his head because he was taught, don't get in lines. You know, don't trust government, don't trust uniform. There's a lot of stuff where it's like you go, whoa. There's, you know.

[Marc Maron]

That he grew up with.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. That he saw.

[Marc Maron]

Even in Canada.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, he's, you know, I'm pretty sure he has memories of my grandfather screaming in the middle of the night from bad dreams of stuff that happened to him.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, and being Alone like that isolation, because they had to survive. So there wasn't a lot of other upbringing. And so he's, you know, he, he functions as.

[Marc Maron]

He's got, you know, younger brother.

[Rich Aronovich]

He's got two younger brothers and he had a younger sister who passed away.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so why does he go to New Orleans?

[Rich Aronovich]

My. They were in Montreal and they were worried about the French and English was really tense. They were worried about, oh, something's going to happen, you know, like, like, like a war or something.

[Marc Maron]

Because of the. That Montreal wanted to secede.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, you know, there was a lot of language tension.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, right, yeah. But they wanted to succeed.

[Rich Aronovich]

Exactly right. The Quebec wanted to succeed. It looked like it could be civil war back then. So my, my mom's dad moved, had a brother in New Orleans and he moved down there. So they sort of left to go meet, you know, sort of.

[Marc Maron]

Your mom's Canadian too?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, interesting.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Otherwise if she wasn't, I wouldn't have to get in my citizenship do.

[Marc Maron]

You can't get dual?

[Rich Aronovich]

I can't. I have dual.

[Marc Maron]

You have to. Yeah. So you know, you. In order to become American citizen, you have to. You don't have to.

[Rich Aronovich]

I revoked my Canadian citizen, but I crossed my fingers so it didn't count. Well, but, but no, when I became an American, you're supposed to, I think Canada was. But you're supposed to like revoke all allegiance to any other place. I don't know what that was.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, you know, but you've checked, you still have Canadian.

[Rich Aronovich]

I have a passport that's Canadian, so.

[Marc Maron]

I'm assuming an up to date one.

[Rich Aronovich]

I think it expires and then.

[Marc Maron]

When did you become an American?

[Rich Aronovich]

25Th, right before Trump got elected. Good timing. Such great timing.

[Marc Maron]

Right under the wire.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Gotta do this now.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. I'm like, I something but nobody, you know, nobody thought he was gonna win back then.

[Marc Maron]

Then. Yeah. Yeah. So. So New Orleans, like what. It was David Duke's district.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Where he got elected. If you don't know David Duke, he's a former grand wizard of the kkk.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, we know him.

[Rich Aronovich]

Who? He had a.

[Marc Maron]

Ran for president.

[Rich Aronovich]

He ran for president. He, he won the, the district I was in and lost the governorship by about 2%. Like it was really close. And he had.

[Marc Maron]

But why that area?

[Rich Aronovich]

That's just where we happen to live. I mean, my parents didn't have a lot of money.

[Marc Maron]

They're Jews in New Orleans.

[Rich Aronovich]

There are Jews in New Orleans. They worked very hard, my parents. Yeah, they, they ended up you know, doing mortgages and loans. And they did it with morality, which was unheard of.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

So they would do stuff like they would go, we're closing a loan. This is a tax. I don't collect. This doesn't mean anything. This is like three grand in. In BS fees that everybody. 100% of the people you'll go to loan to where they pocket. We're not going to pocket it. Just. Just send me two friends if you know anybody.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And they would have the loyalty of.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's nice.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then. And then before Katrina, the government said, look, we want to fix up the Lower Ninth Ward. We'll sell you these houses subsidized. You can renovate them and rent them. So my parents went, we can lower crime in this area because we'll give them central air.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And we'll give them washer and dryers. Because the crime spikes in, like, August because it's so hot. They all end up by the laundromat, you know, and it's. It's tense. And.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So they go, we can lower crime. Let's do this. They finished the reservations, and then two weeks later, Katrina just took everything out. So they didn't make a penny from all that money they put in there. And so they ended up moving to Northern Virginia. By my sister.

[Marc Maron]

After Katrina.

[Rich Aronovich]

After Katrina, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But you grew up your whole childhood in New Orleans.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes, my whole childhood in New Orleans. I was going, yes.

[Marc Maron]

How do you avoid the accent? Or.

[Rich Aronovich]

At one point, I started. I had a neighbor that I loved, and I started, you know, a mimic. So I started mimicking his accent. Like, not realizing it. I just took it on. And my father said, if you have a New Orleans accent.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

People will treat you differently.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You won't. You will be unemployable. You're not going to have, you know. You know, you're not going to go to a doctor's like, hey, how you doing, darling? You want me to get you some surgery? You're not going to. You're going to think they're stupid. So you can either stop talking like that or you can't see the neighbor.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So I said, lose a friend.

[Rich Aronovich]

You lose the friend or the accent. Pick one. So I lost the accent, and you.

[Marc Maron]

Had to consciously figure it out, but you don't think you had it to begin with. You just think.

[Rich Aronovich]

I think I started to, and then he shut it down. But it's New Orleans accent does sound a little Brooklyn.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of.

[Marc Maron]

There's got to be a lot of different ones down there because you got kind of a Frenchie.

[Rich Aronovich]

You got the, like the Cajun. There's no real French. It's Cajun in Creole.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, right there. Yeah, yeah. And my dad had to have a secretary translate because he couldn't understand them.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So he, He. They put him on speaker and they would say something and then he would take it and put on mute and she go, what do you say? And then he.

[Marc Maron]

But what are the good things about growing up in New Orleans?

[Rich Aronovich]

There was awesome food, awesome camaraderie. Like, there was a small town feel.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

There's really great music, stuff to do. I was able to, you know, go out at 15. You could get your license at 15 and go to bars at 15. The drinking age was 18 there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I had an old fake ID of a guy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I would get in anywhere.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I had one. I had a fake ID.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And we drove at 15, too. In Albuquerque. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. We.

[Marc Maron]

But this is when the kids weren't beating you up.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I mean, there was so. Yeah, no, this wasn't when kids were beating me up.

[Marc Maron]

That was when you were very young.

[Rich Aronovich]

That was when I was very. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Those guys, they. They really. I mean, it was pretty. But they were taught, you know, they were taught I was the enemy.

[Marc Maron]

Jew.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, Jew.

[Marc Maron]

Did they. And they. They egged your house and everything else.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I remember during Passover.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And. All right, we're ready to eat the eggs. You know, like, hit the window. But it wasn't that. That timing. But it was like. Yeah. They literally would throw eggs at our house and like, just.

[Marc Maron]

But did your parents have problems?

[Rich Aronovich]

I mean. Yeah, my dad had swastika. I remember going into his office and I saw someone spray painted a swastika on his.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, kind of his building and whatever. But. Yeah. And, you know, one of the things I'm. I'm always like, you got to behave extra. You got to tip extra, because they're going to leave and go. You see what they do, you know, so, yeah, that's. I mean, so I, you know, I grew up with a mistrust and a. You know, I feel like a round peg in a square hole kind of deal.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. But what happens? How do you get out of there?

[Rich Aronovich]

You mean how I went. I went to. You know, Jews don't send their kids to rehab. They send them to Israel. So I went to Israel for 10 months.

[Marc Maron]

You were already fucked up.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, yeah. I started. Yeah. About 16. It took off probably about 17, 18.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And so my parents didn't know what to do with me, so they said, all right, I was. Here's this program. You go to Israel for 10 months. You volunteer, you learn stuff, and you get college credit. And it's a lot cheaper, deeper, and go.

[Marc Maron]

So you were pretty Jewy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I was pretty Jewy.

[Marc Maron]

Your folks were.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, when my grandfather died, my dad didn't believe he was sick. He thought it was a manipulation to get him to go back to Canada.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So he had. He had a cancer and he didn't believe him.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

He died really quickly. And my dad, like, just. He didn't know how to process the emotion. So it came out through. We became a kosher home.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

We started going to school, synagogue. We would. Friday night, we would sit around and read these stories of, you know, stuff. And. Yeah, it was quite nice in. In some ways. You know, I know it's born out of pain. A lot of. I mean, most of my Judaism is born out of pain. It's out of, like, negative. Like, oh, you know, don't let them, you know, get you. It's not. You know, there are some beautiful things within all religions, including Judaism. You know, you just have to sort of melt away.

[Marc Maron]

So you kind of got, like, locked into the tradition and all that stuff.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. But then when I went to Israel, the first thing I. It completely did the opposite.

[Marc Maron]

What was it, a kibbutz situation?

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I. First place was a. I was in a. I was in a development town where they taught. Like, there was either. It was all the new immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I was volunteering, teaching. You know, I was at the zoo and teaching English to these kids who didn't speak. You know, there was no language. There was nowhere to speak. So I learned Hebrew pretty quick.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, because I looked the part.

[Marc Maron]

Got it.

[Rich Aronovich]

That means I forgot everything. I know how to curse. I remember very little.

[Marc Maron]

That means what you just said means I forgot everything about everything. Oh, all right.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So I. I forgot everything. But I remember it was like the second week we're there, and Hezbollah. We were going camping for my birthday, and Hezbollah started shooting rockets into our campsite.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So there was, like, a terrorist kind of thing going on and alarms and bomb shelters and running out and freaking out. And then, like, you know, anyone. And the doors were all on, off, like, they were like. So they'd slam constantly. So I kept hitting the ground.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So like, twice, you know, and I'd hit the ground. Think it was another bomb. You know, I just. I was nuts for a couple for a while.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And it was interesting. I became very, you know, scared. But I. I realized after that, I went, oh, I'm not. I'm going to pursue my dream of being a clown.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, becoming a comedian. That was when I decided.

[Marc Maron]

And when you were in Israel. Yeah, so. But you were there for 10 months.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yep, 10 months.

[Marc Maron]

Did you move around?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, we started in a development town. Then I went to a learning, like, in Jerusalem. We learned a bunch of stuff where, you know, that's where you got college credit. Then I went to moshav, which was fascinating, was a Yemenite and Moroccan moshav.

[Marc Maron]

What's a moshav?

[Rich Aronovich]

It's okay. The difference between a kibbutz and a moshav. A kibbutz is like, everything's communal. It's like, total hippie.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's like our dollar. Not your dollar, not mine, it's our dollar. Shab was like, they share the same equipment, they share the same. Same land they share, but they have their own kind of money. So it's like. It's like kibbutz light, I would say.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And really fascinating. Different cultures.

[Marc Maron]

Yes.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, they cooked for you. And they were just.

[Marc Maron]

All Jews, though.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, all Jews. But I had a lot of. I had a lot of contact with a lot of, you know, a lot of Arabs and Palestinian and people that were just living peacefully amongst each other. You know, this is. But this was the year that the. That the first peace process happened. So it became the violence, which was like, you know, kind of in the territories. It sort of all went into Israel. So it, like, it got really nuts. There was like a big bus bombing. I almost was on that bus kind of deal. And a guy got beheaded on TV live. And they. My friends were at a restaurant. A guy got on their table and started, you know, spraying people with machine gun fire. Yeah. Just crazy stuff. Just crazy stuff.

[Marc Maron]

What made you decide to do comedy in Israel?

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I. This is what happened. So I. I just. There was like a talent show at the end of the whole thing, and I decided I was gonna. For my high school, I was gonna do it. And I. I was too scared. I didn't have anything. So I called in sick to my.

[Marc Maron]

First performance to do stand up.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So then I went to, you know, right at the end of my senior year. So then I went to Israel and I did it for my friends. It was. And of course, it's my friends, so I'm getting like, you know, and then I come back, and then that summer, I'm like, outside of this place, New Orleans, in New Orleans called Movie Pictures, where they. They serve alcohol, and you can drink and watch tea, you know, watch a movie and smoke cigarettes, and I'm bored with the movie. So I'm outside and I'm making this guy laugh, and he's like, hey, you know, we have a. A contest. It's an improv group. So if you tell a joke and you win, you come back and open for us. And I think I'm a comic, because I did it one time.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I'm like, okay. So I go and I tell the street joke. I win. And I started doing Stand up in New Orleans and. And two parts of that story. The guy was Ken Jeong, you know, the guy from the hangover and.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Rich Aronovich]

Mask singer.

[Marc Maron]

He was a doctor.

[Rich Aronovich]

He was. Exactly. He was doing his residency in New Orleans.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So he was the guy before he was anybody, you know, he was like, you know, and that was the guy. He was in an improv group. And then the. And I started doing under the name Smooth Daddy Johnson because I thought I'd get a laugh before I got to the stage because I was, like, 19.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know.

[Marc Maron]

And what was your act?

[Rich Aronovich]

It was horrible. It was. I had boxes. Like, I put hats under a box, and I would play a character and tell jokes in that character.

[Marc Maron]

So the hat.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes. So, like. Yeah. And then. And then one of the. I had my friend underneath. So I'd have the audience pick the hat and give it to me. But in one of them, it was someone's head. So they'd lift up the box and he would scream and yell at them. I mean, it was like. Thought it was like vaudeville schtick, you know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

But I was 19. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just trying to, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Getting laughs.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Just trying to get laughs in any way possible.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Played harmonica. I played the circumcision blues. And I played guitar. I played. I thought it'd funny to be. Play the Two Life Crew song, but, like, really, you know, hey, yeah, we want them. Just the ladies, you know, that kind of thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You just.

[Rich Aronovich]

You'd have a field day.

[Marc Maron]

No holds barred. You just kind of did everything.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, Yeah. I was. I was just. You know, how do you do the.

[Marc Maron]

Thing with the head? The. The stage?

[Rich Aronovich]

So you have. You have a. You have a. Like a tablecloth. So it covers what's on your table. Yeah, it's on a table. So all of the backs.

[Marc Maron]

Magic trick.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So you go pick a. Pick a box number.

[Marc Maron]

That would be the whole set.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then. So another set was the guitar stuff.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, it would. It would, yeah. It was be like, yeah, exactly. I went from there. And then when I moved to New York, I started doing a. I did a. The New York Comedy Club at the time was like the Walmart of comedy.

[Marc Maron]

It was like Martin's Place on 24th.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So I did a comedy Rooms, the one that sat, like, four people.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I did a comedy contest, and there was no judges. So because I said to the guy, I go, hey, did you like my set? He goes, yeah. I go, did you like the part with the glove? He goes, it was great. I was like, there's no problem with the glove. So. So my act became the comedy contest.

[Marc Maron]

When. When did you decide you're ready for New York?

[Rich Aronovich]

I didn't. I. I. I was. Did a. I majored in theater. I went to Emory. From there, I was doing. So I went to.

[Marc Maron]

Finished.

[Rich Aronovich]

So. Yeah, yeah. So this is what happened. So I. So. So from New Orleans, I did comedy all that summer. Then I go to college and I go, I need stage time. So I'd run around campus, go, guys, did you hear that Smooth Daddy Johnson's gonna be at the Depot? And they're like, who? I'm like, you haven't heard of Smooth? This guy's an amazing comic.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

He's doing a free show. You got a show up. Then they'd show up, and it was me. And they'd already be like, oh, this guy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And I would bomb. But I kept doing it. I would go to the Uptown Comedy Corner in. In Atlanta?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's a urban room, all black.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And they would say, if he's not funny, Earthquake, I think was hosting. Say if it's not funny, boo him. And I got booed off stage.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

For years. I mean, I didn't do well once, not one time. I tried everything. I tried the. The characters. I tried doing straight. I tried. I mean, booed off for years, and I kept going back. I didn't. It didn't phase me.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so Emery's. Okay. So you were in Atlanta.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was in Atlanta, and I remember my friends came and seen me go.

[Marc Maron]

To the comedy club there.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, no, I did. They wouldn't. The punchline didn't. They weren't having me. I don't remember why. I just never. I just. I was like, no, let me go to the hardest one where they, you know, they. And so I. My friends came and saw me and they. After they went and bought me like a. A Frosty and I was like, what's this? They're like, like, are you okay? And I'm like, yeah, yeah. Is just to get better. Like I'm. This is what has. Has to happen till I get good.

[Marc Maron]

So you were, you were a confident tanker.

[Rich Aronovich]

I just knew that at some point it would click. You know, it's. I had this like belief that like, okay, we'll try this. Okay, that didn't work. I will try this something.

[Marc Maron]

Will you Doing everything I'm doing.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's the jack of all trades. It's not good.

[Marc Maron]

It's not a point of view thing. You're just.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, point of. There's point of view.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You're just putting on hats and.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. How much point of view can you have when you're pretending your name is Smooth Daddy Johnson?

[Marc Maron]

I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. Who decides to do that?

[Rich Aronovich]

Me?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

A 19 year old who thinks they're gonna be a star.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

So then I go to. I start. I major in theater. The director brings me to New York to do an internship at the performing garage. The Worcester group.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, the Worcester Group.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So I'm like, you know, I'm like.

[Marc Maron]

It'S like what you were doing could almost fit the Worcester group.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, totally.

[Marc Maron]

You just did a little bit ironically. You could probably.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, totally. Like if I. If I did it, like not knowing how bad it was.

[Marc Maron]

If you did it. Seriously?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, like if I was like, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Not yeah, like no, you're presenting it all.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Seriously, we're not trying to get laughs.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. The head and I. I did. And then I. I supposed to be in there for a sublet for like a month. And I stayed for 10 years.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I just. I go, oh.

[Marc Maron]

And then graduated.

[Rich Aronovich]

I grad. Well, I barely graduated from college. I mean barely. I was very close to failing.

[Marc Maron]

What'd you learn at the Worcester Group?

[Rich Aronovich]

I just was an idiot. I don't know. I learned. I mean, I got to see some really cool experimental theater. I learned that I'm not an actor. That's what I learned.

[Marc Maron]

Was Fallen Gray still around?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I think. No, it was. Willem Dafoe was there.

[Marc Maron]

He would come back.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, he was around. I remember the first time I got a message for him. I was so excited because I was like, you know, I was like, Mr. Dafoe, you have a message. He's like, yeah, put it on my desk. I was like, oh, yeah, that makes a lot more sense.

[Marc Maron]

Couldn't charmul him. I couldn't either. I had him on the podcast. I couldn't get through. Yeah, yeah. No, he seemed very sort of mildly upset with me the whole time.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, you're doing great with me. Yeah, I'm feeling very charmed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, good. That's not a stretch.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. I'm hiding under tables.

[Marc Maron]

If you walk in, I'm just waiting for you to break into the hat thing.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. So then. Yes. So then I lost the name. I started doing, you know, hustling. I was in. I would hand all those idiots that are handing out flyers, and that's my fault. I was the guy who I. I was at the. I used to. I first I went to Boston. Well, I started. I started at Stand Up New York. I was the manager. So I'd wear, like, a fake.

[Marc Maron]

Wait, you got a job as the manager of New York?

[Rich Aronovich]

Not manager.

[Marc Maron]

I just were handing out flyers before you.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, okay, let me explain. So the. Yeah, for sure. But what happened was I was. I got a job for $10, and they would. They'd say, okay, you seat people and bring them their food.

[Marc Maron]

Stand Up New York. Yeah. When Carrie's still there.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes. Remember Kerry Hoffman?

[Marc Maron]

Of course.

[Rich Aronovich]

Who's this guy?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, he's your client. Okay. Put him on.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So. So what I do is because I was like, okay, they think I'm the guy handing them the food and seating them. They're not going to laugh at me. So I put on a fake glasses and a hat with a fake ponytail, and I switched shirts. I had, like, a disguise when I sat them.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So that they wouldn't know that that.

[Marc Maron]

Was the door guy, but they just know that guy's odd.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, they didn't. They didn't. I would be totally. Just when I. When I sat him, I was odd.

[Marc Maron]

The ponytail and the makeup was that good. The glasses, you were. You're fooling everybody with your hat.

[Rich Aronovich]

I was. I was. I had these glasses and ponytail with a hat. And then when I took it off and went on stage, they didn't recognize that that was the guy that just sat him. It was a different guy.

[Marc Maron]

So you did. Well, then I wouldn't say.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I was doing check spots, and I was. I think. I think Brad Chapman goes, you're funnier than your material. But then I went from there. I met Lewis Schaefer. Remember Louis Schaefer?

[Marc Maron]

Oh, My God. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So he had me bark and he taught me where at Stand Up Boston Comedy Club down in the Village. So he taught me these skills, and then I brought it to Times Square, and I started producing a sketch and improv show for Ha. Yep. And then I started doing standup, and it was like Fleet week, and we realized, okay, we do another show. Okay, I do another show.

[Marc Maron]

You started a sketch and improv show.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, originally. And then I.

[Marc Maron]

You always had a lot of hats.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah. Yes, man. That's right. A lot of hats.

[Marc Maron]

Outfits.

[Rich Aronovich]

Outfits, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Clown. So. Yeah, Clown.

[Marc Maron]

I feel like I saw you once in a clown outfit.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, probably.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I wasn't very good. I took, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Did you do juggling?

[Rich Aronovich]

I could. I can vaguely juggle. I can play harmonica. I can play guitar. I can, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I can make sounds. I'm like the white Michael Winslow. You know what I mean? I can.

[Marc Maron]

If I had no shame, I'd probably be you. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Shame. I have no shame.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

There's not a. If I can get a snicker, I'm like, I'm in anything.

[Marc Maron]

Shame. But not. Not in terms of what you do comedically. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm pretty. Yeah. It's very hard. It's. It's. It's really weird to have.

[Marc Maron]

Because I can play harmonica. I can play guitar. Yeah, yeah. I can wear a hat. I just couldn't do it on stage.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I lost all that. I shedded it away.

[Marc Maron]

I just do that take.

[Rich Aronovich]

It took a minute.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know. I saw the special. It looks like the opening is.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, that's the. That's the clown. That's the.

[Marc Maron]

I know.

[Rich Aronovich]

Like me, like me. Like me, like me.

[Marc Maron]

Was that the character?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, the dancing sort of thing happened during the pandemic. Someone challenged me to the TikTok challenge. I was like, what is this?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I go on tick tock, and it's like these young girls and the side boob and the butt cheek doing a dance challenge. And I think it's ridiculous.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I go, oh, you want a dance challenge? So I put on a bikini to make fun of it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then I started. It blew up. You loved it. And then I was like, oh, great. So then I was like, this guy. Well, I had nothing to do. So I was. You know, I started getting outfits and dancing in the. That was in the kitchen.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And people loved it. And. And I remember I was like, all right, this is. This is really like my. My parents Sat me down to have, like, an intervention.

[Marc Maron]

They did.

[Rich Aronovich]

They were like, yeah, you gotta stop doing this. It's mortifying.

[Marc Maron]

You're using your real name.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, exactly. And so. And then. And then this woman said, look, my sister's really sick. And instead of being scared, we're just laughing at your videos.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then I was like, that's when.

[Marc Maron]

You start visiting hospitals.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, that's when I was like, are you gonna buy my T shirt or not? No. Your sister has to pay up front. No. Then I realized I was helping people. Like, I was like, okay, this is a bad time. Everyone's scared on both sides.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And, like, I'm just doing this dumb thing to make fun of TikTok, but I now became the problem. But, like, it's helping people. So I went, all right, I'll do it. And then I realized it. It really. It exploded. So I went, all right, well, people, I can get. I can manipulate them into my stand up by getting. Oh, it's the dance guy does stand up. That was the plan.

[Marc Maron]

And then you can alienate them with the stand up.

[Rich Aronovich]

Then I can alienate them with the stand up.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, like, this isn't a fun guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, this is exactly. So the beginning of the special is sort of a nod to that. And then, like, I'm transitioning into. This is who I really am.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And then. And then I put out the special, and now it's. It's doing what it's doing, and I'm.

[Marc Maron]

You know, what's it doing?

[Rich Aronovich]

It's. It's doing. Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Plodding along.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's plotting along. Listen, I'm. Every time I look at the numbers or the. The likes of the comments, I'm dead in the wall. I'm dead. It's not. There's never a point where.

[Marc Maron]

What's it called again?

[Rich Aronovich]

It's called the Artist. It's ironic. The Artist. I don't think I'm an artist. With the hats and the. The kazoos and the big shoes and the Spitting flower. No, it's the Artist.

[Marc Maron]

No, it's all straight stand up. Yeah, it's like 20 minutes, right?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, it's 33 minutes. I broke it into two. Everyone said it's too long. So I took the first. I went, oh, great. Let's make it two specials.

[Marc Maron]

So there's another one.

[Rich Aronovich]

There's one in the. Yeah. Ready to. I'm gonna see how this one does. Wait a few months and I'll put out the other one.

[Marc Maron]

Launch the second half.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, it's Not a half. It's just its own separate thing.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, is there more outfits?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, there's no, there's no outfits.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, it's. There's no outfits.

[Marc Maron]

Dancing guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Again, no more dancing guy.

[Marc Maron]

So the second I think I talk about.

[Rich Aronovich]

I don't know if I talk about the dancing guy in this one or, you know, how I got into the dancing thing.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, I don't know if. I don't think you did.

[Rich Aronovich]

No. So then it's on the next one.

[Marc Maron]

So that's the thing, man. People are doing 33 minute hours.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I did it. I shot, you know, an hour and whatever and 10 or an hour and 20 or whatever. And I went cut this, get this. And then once I put it all together, everyone I talked to said, no one's going to watch an hour. So I said, oh, all right.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know why people say that.

[Rich Aronovich]

Because I think the attention span has.

[Marc Maron]

But is that window. But is it true? It's all based on algorithm. So in, in a general sense, they can make these statements because they can see when people stop watching it. But that's not all people, for sure, but it's a ratio game.

[Rich Aronovich]

But I mean, this idea that we.

[Marc Maron]

All have to accommodate, you know, people's inability. I mean, you know, the Brutalist was nominated for an Academy Award. That's three hours.

[Rich Aronovich]

And that's why I didn't watch it.

[Marc Maron]

Not. Not unlike my standup.

[Rich Aronovich]

But you're also, I mean, you're coming from a different time where they had our specials and there wasn't social media and people.

[Marc Maron]

No, I understand that, but I do believe, and I'm not advising you to do anything other than what you're doing, but I just feel that there are adult people that, if the show is engaging, can watch an hour of stand up.

[Rich Aronovich]

I agree with you. But that means that the next one, I have to write an hour now I have to write 30 minutes.

[Marc Maron]

You have to do the job.

[Rich Aronovich]

You have to do the job.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but I'm not create a new hour every year or so.

[Rich Aronovich]

As you can hear from this interview, I'm not prolific.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I mean, obviously I'm writing now.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I mean, I watched a special. I'm like, I did that joke in 95.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, you, you did.

[Marc Maron]

Just one.

[Rich Aronovich]

Really?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

It. You know what? It's, it's, it happens. But no, no, I'm not, I'm not.

[Marc Maron]

Upset about it and it's not.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm. Now I'm definitely going to Be thinking this is the only thing I'm going to think about when we leave. For sure.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, it's going to eat me alive. First of all, there was not one point you went. I liked it.

[Marc Maron]

No, no, I like the special. You're fun guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

You're funny guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Fish caught. Did you see that? He just put the hook in the water. No. No choice.

[Marc Maron]

Look, I. I knew what I was expecting and it delivered. Insecure clown, Diplomatic compliment. No, it was exactly what I expected from you.

[Rich Aronovich]

Mark, you can't hate me more than I hate me.

[Marc Maron]

I don't hate you at all.

[Rich Aronovich]

Okay, good.

[Marc Maron]

Never have.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, but I. I'm, you know, I'm concerned about. I haven't.

[Marc Maron]

What are you concerned about?

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm oversensitive. So I'm concerned about your opinion of me. That person's opinion. I want people to like me, obviously. Why would I be in these. These outfits?

[Marc Maron]

You should call the next half hour that.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I want people to like.

[Rich Aronovich]

I want people to like me.

[Marc Maron]

How do you feel about your time here? Are you going to leave feeling okay?

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm. I'm going to be a. I'm going to be. I've got to be a little bit in my head.

[Marc Maron]

About what?

[Rich Aronovich]

About the joke that you had in 1995.

[Marc Maron]

I wasn't gonna tell you.

[Rich Aronovich]

He just. That's gonna kill me. But that happens, you know, I.

[Marc Maron]

No, I know. What? That I don't care.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no. I. But. But this is.

[Marc Maron]

I don't.

[Rich Aronovich]

I had a situation where I stole it. Yes.

[Marc Maron]

I don't care.

[Rich Aronovich]

I know you didn't, you know, maybe.

[Marc Maron]

Watch my 95 HBO half hour. But that's, you know. But do that.

[Rich Aronovich]

When I was two. Yeah, I really.

[Marc Maron]

I am really with that kind of stuff. To me, it's sort of like. It's. It's a general joke, you know, in a way. It's not a point of view joke. It's not about me per se. And that's just, you know, that's, you know, everybody can do that. It.

[Rich Aronovich]

Look, it happened. Like, sometimes I'll see somebody.

[Marc Maron]

Listen, everyone talks about the same thing. We're both Jews. That's all.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Which one was it? Which one was it?

[Marc Maron]

It's just a line that I used to. I used to do a joke where it was about being in the south and I. And I used it as a tag. I'd pull it up without a whole bit attached to it where it would just be like. I would say, I'm a Jew, and then I'd say, I was down south once and, you know, I said that and I heard a guy in the audience go, I knew it.

[Rich Aronovich]

I knew it. Did I have that? I had that in there. Yeah, it was. That's in there.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it's not quite like that, but it was. I knew it. It was after you do this, sort of like, I need time to run the banks and. Yeah. And then, you know, and then it was like, you know. Yeah, I knew it. Yeah. It's easy.

[Rich Aronovich]

It was a throwaway.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's not a problem.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Okay. That's not a big. That's not a big deal.

[Marc Maron]

No, it's not. Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

I don't need to obsess on this and start. Hire a therapist and do an intake and say, you know, I'm an easy Jew joke.

[Marc Maron]

And I'm sure that you did it before me too.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah. Yes. All right, so that's. That's like a. Probably a throwaway. I was an improv. I don't need to overthink it is what I'm getting.

[Marc Maron]

You didn't steal a joke.

[Rich Aronovich]

Okay, good.

[Marc Maron]

And it's not the same joke.

[Rich Aronovich]

People, you know, there's people that are nuts about it. I got, you know, I. Someone. I had a similar kind of thing, and I said, look, we got a similar thing. I'm just letting you know, I never saw you do it. It's on my special. Da, da, da, da. And they forgot about. They said, oh, it's all good. And then months later, it comes out, you know, coming at you.

[Marc Maron]

That's because someone got in his head.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes, exactly right. Someone came in and said, this guy stole from you. And then they came in for guns a blazing. And I go, hey, man, we had this conversation. And I would. I respect you as a comedian and as a person, but it's. It's out already. It's not like I can cut it. It's too late.

[Marc Maron]

And it's. What is it? It's one day I have a joke now that, like, I. I've been doing it for a while and it's kind of a throwaway, but it's definitely a joke. And I can't remember, like, you don't know after a certain point whether someone saw you do it. And it's just one of those things. And any special is not going to hinge on one line, whether it's a throwaway or what, but if it's a signature piece. So that's why I try to do long form personal stuff. Because anytime you're talking about external things. Things. You know, you're in that. You're in that pool of people who are reacting to news or information. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't know anything. I didn't even register that those ladies went to space. But, you know, people were doing material on it for a week or two.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

I don't give a.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

You know, So I try to keep it as. As personal and cringy as. As I can.

[Rich Aronovich]

You're so cringe.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Rich Aronovich]

So they.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So then. And then. And even if I'm doing personal stuff, so I'm gonna talk about my kids or whatever. People have stuff about their kids. And so we're kind of pulling from saying, I don't know. I mean, you try to be as original as possible, but it's all. Yeah. Nearly impossible. I mean, nobody has got something that hasn't been touched on or something.

[Marc Maron]

There's thousands and thousands of comedians.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You just can't, you know, anytime, like, there are conversations about, you know, people stealing things, and then, you know, like, in the community, seems that. It seems to have sort of simmered down.

[Rich Aronovich]

But.

[Marc Maron]

But, you know, the jokes that they're always accused of stealing, like that joke.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

I've heard nine people do that joke.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right. And. Yeah, and there's also, like, reputation. I mean, at some point you go, okay, when someone's a known clippy person, we hear about it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, you know, who's kind of clippy and who you got to be careful of.

[Marc Maron]

I guess I don't hear about anything anymore. I just see people that do a similar joke. I'm like, I'm going to get. I got to get rid of that joke. Joke or, you know, whatever. Back in the day, I used to do a joke about, you know, smoking sections at airports, and I was on a show with a guy who also had one. It was a different joke. I'm like, you're middling for me. Can you not do it? So we don't double up, but I don't care if you do it right. Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I mean, I get not stepping on, you know, if you're opening.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I don't even. I don't really always know that anymore, you know, I don't even. It all goes away, dude. Yeah, yeah. That. That whole thing. I mean, there's other insecurities, you know.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, with other stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Well, unless, like, it's like, you. It's a It's a topic that's a little off road and it's a little surprising. And they're doing it too. You're like, oh, you know, that's just bad coincidence.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, but, I mean, look, you know, I tr. Since I'm obviously desperate to do well, which hurts the writing tremendously.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Because I'm trying stuff and I go, it didn't work. And, you know, and then try it again.

[Marc Maron]

What happened to the guy that used to do black clubs?

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, right.

[Rich Aronovich]

What happened to him? Yeah, he started tasting laughter. I like that better. I like success better.

[Marc Maron]

Where's the courage of that guy?

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I'm doing. I'm doing stuff, like. And. And I sandwich it between stuff that I protect it, but it's.

[Marc Maron]

Sure, everyone does. You know, you need to do it. Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

But I, you know, it's. It's hard. And then also, like, I'm doing some stuff that I don't know what's offensive or not. Like, I'm growing up in New Orleans where my parents are like, look, you know, tits are over there. You know, they. That we. They. We. I joked about the Holocaust to my grandparents who survived the Holocaust. So there wasn't a whole, like, sensitivity thing going on in our house.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Well, no, I mean, it seems. That seems to have turned. I mean, if you can shoulder the reaction. I mean, you kind of. I think you kind of talk about that, don't you? Make fun of the sensitivity of some people.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah, I. It's interesting. We did the show in Vegas, and then after I talked to this audience member who was, you know, this guy had a great. It's. It starts one way. It's a good. It's a really good bit about trans. It starts one way. So it seems like it's right wing and then it turns left wing. But she turned off. Her brain just went. Melted on the beginning and didn't hear. I go, actually. And then I'm like, why am I fighting and defending someone else's. Yeah, but it was sort of like. It was frustrating because it was like her emotions were the most important thing and that was all that there was.

[Marc Maron]

Well, my question is, why is anyone talking about trans people?

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah. Well, because it's. I guess it's. I mean, I'm not. But it's topical. I guess I have a bit about it, like, a little bit.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, if you want to disarm, you know, the weird kind of full momentum of the right wing scapegoating of them or targeting Them. I mean, that seems like a good thing to do. But it's just like I would see people at the Comedy Store, I'd see two or three people on stage and be like, I guess I gotta do my trans joke. It's like, you don't.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right, Right.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, why are you letting your mind be dictated by right wing talking points if you're not gonna push back on it? If you're just kind of making a joke and you think it's okay, but the joke doesn't end with the point being like, why are we talking about this at all then? Why do it?

[Rich Aronovich]

Right. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, there's some people that like, they go, they look at the trending topics and try to write jokes about it. So that may be their motive.

[Marc Maron]

Well, but that's the thing is like these people that are free thinkers, it doesn't seem that way because they're just regurgitating ideological talk talking points that have spread throughout every level of society. So that's not free thinking at all. You're just acting on the behest of this propaganda. Right. And it's the same with people who do like, you know, crowd work, you know, on Instagram. The only reason that people do that is it interfaces perfectly with TikTok and Instagram in terms of the way the timing works. So you're not even free thinking at all. And first of all, crowd work, you know, on some level, and I'm not saying you, but it's like, you know, a high school student can do that. Any fucking idiot can do crowd work.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, they'd be able to do it.

[Marc Maron]

Well, fine. Yeah. Well, what I'm saying, the reason it's popular is because it's short bursts that, that kind of make it seem like it's. It's happening in the moment. And it fits perfectly with the new platforms that distribute comedy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, it's also, you can't keep up with the demand. I mean, how are you supposed to put up three, you know, well crafted bits a week and not have them come to your show and know the punchline before?

[Marc Maron]

What I'm saying is that.

[Rich Aronovich]

So you could just crowd work and.

[Marc Maron]

They go, but the demand is created by, you know, a corporate platform that is dictating how you structure your art.

[Rich Aronovich]

Correct. And you can say, either screw this, I don't want to be part of it, and then not sell tickets.

[Marc Maron]

No, I get it. So. But when you sell tickets, you're expected to do the fucking dance with the people that you have to pretend like you want to talk to so you can get your little needs met. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I mean.

[Marc Maron]

What just happened?

[Rich Aronovich]

Forget about me. What did I do? What was the question? How did I like my time here? It was great till just now.

[Marc Maron]

I think you mix it up pretty good. I. I just think, you know, I think crowd work is a skill, and you do some of it, but it's usually transitional.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right. So, like, what I try, because I host a lot of the sellers, so I try to, like, you know, very little the beginning, just to get it sort of like the room settled and they feel like it's a unique experience. And I definitely leave in some material.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Because I don't want the next comic. You know, it's a. It's a disservice to the show if they think it's a conversation.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It becomes a heckle fest. It's not fair to the comics behind you. You know, I try to think of that like. Like, I always try to save material for, like, when they drop the. The checks or when they do last call at the seller. Yeah, that's when I'm supposed to.

[Marc Maron]

That's.

[Rich Aronovich]

That's the. Okay, this is. Your job is to eat, to take that. Don't bring someone up to.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Don't bring someone up to murmur. Yeah, yeah, you gotta. You gotta talk. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That was. The funny thing about being a headliner, is that, like, you'd always have to deal with a check spot. Yeah. Again, it's right. Right as you're setting up your closer.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

I learned to do, like, loud. Like, I go, okay, do. Do a sound effect joke. Do something loud.

[Marc Maron]

I got. Well, I got to the point where I'm like, oh, just get the checks. Well, let's just take a break, everyone. Good.

[Rich Aronovich]

Any questions?

[Marc Maron]

Got the. Do I have the attention back? All right, here we go.

[Rich Aronovich]

That's when you do the crowd work. Mark.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. There was a club that. And I lost my mind. It had a. They had the. The. The pay machine system.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Which is fine. You know, it makes. It's actually, I see how it's effective, but this particular bunch of machines that they were using beeped. So it wasn't just. It wasn't just a check spot. It was just, like, random. Like, what the fuck is happening? Has anyone brought this up to the owner? I mean, that's ridiculous.

[Rich Aronovich]

That's got to drive you crazy.

[Marc Maron]

Well, no, they fixed it, I think, because I lost my mind.

[Rich Aronovich]

You brought it up. Did you say it in a nice way?

[Marc Maron]

I don't have to say anything in a nice way. I know how to do that. But I said to the owner, I said, what are you doing? Because for me, it's like, I get this as a business and, you know. But the implication of the fundamental disrespect for the comic was sort of like you're overlooking that part where you're going to have the chirping machines all over the room through his entire closing bit.

[Rich Aronovich]

I mean, can't you put it on vibrate?

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's right. It was like some new system and they. And apparently they fixed it. But, like, when I was there the first night, I was like, I lost my mind. So then they had to do it the old way where they take the checks to the bar and pay them out.

[Rich Aronovich]

You're the jerk.

[Marc Maron]

Who gives a fuck.

[Rich Aronovich]

See, that's where I want to get to. Who gives?

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, look, I understand it's a little extra work for the servers, but ultimately, in terms of the show, like, if you're going to have a situation where people are supposed to respect the show, which is, you know, getting harder and harder in some ways with comedy, always has been. And I understand the relationship between, you know, we're just selling drinks. I get all that. But you're still running a nightclub that is about the performers at least a quarter as much as it is about making money. Right. And we can abide by rules, but, like, I'm just sort of like, you know, dude, you know what I mean? It's a good club and, you know, I like working here, but I mean, that's crazy.

[Rich Aronovich]

But this is. Why aren't you doing theaters?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this is when I was working out, I was just working out.

[Rich Aronovich]

So you were doing, like, new stuff?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I do clubs, and I don't mind doing clubs. I like doing clubs. But. But I just couldn't understand it. Just for other comics, even it wasn't about me. I don't care. I'm not going to be back here for a year. Right. But I mean, I said to the other comics, I'm like, what? How long has that been going on for? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, no one says anything. And they're like, no, they're too afraid. Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's a supply and demand issue. Oh, you're a problem. Next.

[Marc Maron]

Right? It's sort of like, okay, we go work somewhere else. But like, to me, it's like, come on, man, you know, give us a shot. You know, give. You know, we need. Yeah, whatever. It worked out. Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

How'd you think I did on the podcast?

[Marc Maron]

When? Just now, in the last ten.

[Rich Aronovich]

He was wonderful.

[Marc Maron]

It was very nice conversation. And then he got squirrely. He kind of got in his head.

[Rich Aronovich]

There it is. He got trapped in that news ticker, came back up.

[Marc Maron]

No, no, it was great. You feel good about it?

[Rich Aronovich]

I think so.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I'm not gonna turn the mics off until you sign off on it.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, oh, oh, really?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

That's interesting. Then what do you do? You do, like, a little recap when I leave?

[Marc Maron]

No, I had a wonderful time. No, I'm going to send the file to my producer. He'll trim it up and tighten it up.

[Rich Aronovich]

Oh, really?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And then you could cut out the part where. Which part?

[Rich Aronovich]

All of it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, sure. We don't even have to put it up at all.

[Rich Aronovich]

Wait a minute.

[Marc Maron]

You can just say, we did it.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'll use it as a credit.

[Marc Maron]

And people go, I can't find it. I'm like, yeah, we decided not to air it.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know what I like about your podcast is there's no listen to it. Oh, yeah, I listen to it. It's funny because I. I have a friend who said, you gotta. You gotta listen. You gotta. You. They wanted to give me advice, and I said, you can't. You don't tell. Don't know. I can't hear any. Anything you're gonna say is gonna be stuck in my head the entire time I'm talking to Mark. So I'm not listening to whatever. Don't. No, no, I know you know, but let me just say this one. No, you can't. This is what's known as a boundary. Respect it, or I'm hanging up.

[Marc Maron]

I can't hear whatever Giving you notes on.

[Rich Aronovich]

They want to give me on how to do this. And I was like, I'm just going to. I've known this guy a while. I think it's going to be okay. I said, it's going to go the way it's going to go. No matter what you say. If you. If you have control issues, keep them. Keep it at your. You know what I mean? Just leave me alone. And so. And so then it started making me get in my head. I go, well, what kind of. I should probably listen to a few episodes, and I love it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And so I just started listening to it. No, I listened to it last week.

[Rich Aronovich]

I listened to it before, like, way in the before. And then I was like, but I want to see how it's changed.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Rich Aronovich]

It hasn't changed much.

[Marc Maron]

No.

[Rich Aronovich]

And it's, it's. It's. I like it because it's not. It's a very honest conversation.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Rich Aronovich]

And you get in there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, I will say this, you know, in terms of this happening was. It was funny because it was a very funny moment. What? It was like a month ago, and I was like, I was having a real. They don't happen that often and I usually have other people to call, but I was having a real spiral of a certain type that, you know, I decided, you know, like, I need, like pretty basic, you know, detached recovery talk from someone I know.

[Rich Aronovich]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

And you know, I went through my phone.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm at a.

[Marc Maron]

No, no, no. I don't know how to not. I don't want to make it an insult, but I, I just decided like, that guy is not in my life. You know, he's a program guy. He owes me.

[Rich Aronovich]

I sat in that fricking car in Queens for an hour and a half.

[Marc Maron]

I changed that guy's life. Yeah, he's gonna, he's gonna. He's gonna. He's gonna be the guy.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, I text you every year.

[Marc Maron]

Every year.

[Rich Aronovich]

Every year at one time a year, I text you and thank you.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's very nice. And it's.

[Rich Aronovich]

And it's motive free.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, no, no, I know.

[Rich Aronovich]

I never, I never go. I've got to, because that's, you know, when this. So you called me. I think you talked about this on Nick Thune's episode.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, did I? Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

Yes, you did.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Rich Aronovich]

Because I went. I think he's talking about me.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

And you were going through something and you called me and we had some nice. Yeah, there was a lot going on.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. It was just a multi level kind of spiral.

[Rich Aronovich]

But I get spiral.

[Marc Maron]

Well, no, I know we all do. But like, I needed.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, no, not everybody. Not people. Don't understand people in the rooms. Yes.

[Marc Maron]

You know, like, it was basic stuff. Like, you know, I, you know, I couldn't get back into the present. I wasn't going to drink, but I needed to sort of like, you know, just, you know, talk to another alcoholic who knew enough about how to program talk. And it's not just sort of like think, think, think, or first thing, do what's in front of you. But it is kind of. Look, look, you know, you got a brain for it and I got a brain for it, but I'm not living in. In that brain as much as I used to.

[Rich Aronovich]

I, you know, look all like the thing That I realize what gives me most joy in this world by a billion percent, is when I'm just with my kids, being a dad. And it's all service, but it doesn't feel like service. It's just, you know, sitting there entertaining, helping them. Da. Feeding them, walking, doing all that stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

So I realized, like, that is the juice. That's the thing that really. All this.

[Marc Maron]

You don't want to ruin that.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, I don't ruin that. Exactly. I don't want to ruin that. But that is the most natural thing I've. I did not want to be a dad. I was afraid to be that. It is by far the I. I am. I love being a dad.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's crazy. I didn't think I was capable. I didn't think I would be able to do it. I didn't think I'd know how to hold my kid. I mean, I am like, super dad and I love it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's. To me, it's more like all this other noise that I make that the specials got to do. Well, people gotta go watch. I gotta. None of that matters. It's like I'm right there in that moment, and they're. Moment to moment. There's no future. There's no past. It's like.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, they.

[Rich Aronovich]

They're right there.

[Marc Maron]

Not until later.

[Rich Aronovich]

Not till later. I mean, right. Right now I'm. Yeah, exactly. But all I have is now.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

This is all I have. I have right here, right now. That's it. So when I get home, it's going to be me and them, and that's it. And in the morning, it's going to be me and them, and then they're not going to care. I'm going to get home.

[Marc Maron]

What about the mom?

[Rich Aronovich]

What? What about the mom?

[Marc Maron]

She there?

[Rich Aronovich]

Of course she's there. I'm in service of her, too. And she's in of service of me.

[Marc Maron]

You cut her out of that hole.

[Rich Aronovich]

No, but I'm just saying, like, it's a different thing. Because that's a.

[Marc Maron]

That's there. Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

It's a more complicated. This is just, you know, I'm Daddy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Aronovich]

You know, and that's in that whole field.

[Marc Maron]

That's why you have kids. It can be very entertaining.

[Rich Aronovich]

Well, they do think I'm funny. I'm not gonna lie.

[Marc Maron]

They do.

[Rich Aronovich]

They do. But they're also very funny.

[Marc Maron]

You should tell them to click on the. You know, that they watch your special.

[Rich Aronovich]

I'm gonna have to hide this episode from them. There's a lot of talk we're gonna have to have.

[Marc Maron]

How. How old are they?

[Rich Aronovich]

One and a half and four and a half.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I think by the time they find it, it'll probably be helpful to them.

[Rich Aronovich]

It'll probably answer a lot of questions.

[Marc Maron]

It was fun, man. It was good talking to you and thanks for helping me out.

[Rich Aronovich]

Do I, do I plug. Rich is funny. And until they find it. Okay, great.

[Marc Maron]

There you go. That was fun. Some good sober shit. His comedy special Rich Aronovich the Artist is available on YouTube. Hang out for a minute, folks. Feeding yourself is hard enough sometimes, but what about when you have a whole family of mouths to feed? If that sounds familiar, it might be time to streamline dinner time with Home Chef. Choose from more than 35 meals and 18 extras per week, including kids themed special meal kits. Home Chef delivers fresh ingredients and Chef designed recipes conveniently to your doorstep to simplify your cooking experience. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease for my type of diet. This week's menu has stuff like the roasted Korean tofu with mushrooms and snow peas or the veggie lover stir fry with noodles and peanut sauce. But you can take a look at the menu and find out what's best for you. For a limited time, Home chef is offering WTF listeners 18 free meals, plus free dessert for life and of course, free shipping. On your first box, go to homechef.com WTF that's homechef.com WTF for 18 free meals and free dessert for life. Stop trying to figure out what to make for dinner and open the door for Home chef. Again, that's homechef.com WTF and you must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Free dessert people. We've got some outtakes on the full Marin. This week you can hear some additional stuff from my monologues, plus segments from Seth Meyers and Megan Stalter's interviews that didn't make it into the finished episodes. I get actually nervous to do podcasts. You do? Yeah. I don't know. I always. I feel like I get too comfortable, say too much, that I'm begging people to take stuff out. Do you have to beg or do they just do it? They usually just do it. But I start going like, why did he say that? I got too comfortable. I. I gave too much away. Oh, really? Oh, what you mean like, about yourself? It'll be like. It'll be like, oh, I like. It'll be either gossipy or like myself or something. I'm like, people could take that the wrong way. Well, that's. It's funny because I've been doing this a long time, and that is usually the reason why people want stuff taken out is because they said something about somebody. It's never like, something about themselves. Usually. It's always like, that might not land the right way. And I didn't mean it to be. Well, it's never. I'm also never talking bad about a person. It's usually like, oh, I did a brand deal and they cut my hair too short or something like that. And that's the big worry all day. You're like, oh, am I not gonna be able to sell that stuff anymore? Yeah. And it's like, they don't even work with me anymore. Yeah. Why do I care? I hope it is hurt. That brand, that corporation. To get that episode and all the bonus episodes we do for the full Marin, sign up by going to the link in the episode description or go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast. Don't tell anybody, but there's a little TS Boomer Lives Monkey and La Fonda cat angels everywhere.