Ryan Hurst

Summary

Podcast Summary: You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes – Ryan Hurst (March 6, 2024)

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Episode Overview

This three-hour episode features actor, voice artist, and Kundalini yoga teacher Ryan Hurst (known for Sons of Anarchy, Remember the Titans, and voicing Thor in God of War, Ragnarok). The conversation between Pete Holmes and Ryan is a sprawling, high-vibe exploration of spirituality, comedy craft, creative energy, synchronicity, and personal transformation. Listeners are treated to stories spanning Hollywood, Kundalini yoga, alien encounters, and deep dives into what makes life, art, and connection both weird and wonderful.

Tone: Playful, spiritual, sincere, tangential, and filled with mutual admiration.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kindred Spirits & Synchronicity (02:55–08:44)

• Fan-Mutuality: Ryan shares that he’s a longtime You Made It Weird listener and was profoundly moved by similarities with Pete’s spiritual perspective, especially after reading Pete’s book.

  • (05:04) “I have never heard somebody give voice to a very, very private… insatiable, tender wonder that you have for what is all of this.” – Ryan

• Synchronicity: Both reflect on how simply “being out here” and sending a message can lead to transformative opportunities.

  • (03:43) “They all had one thing in common, which is like, we out here, you know, just kind of being around.” – Pete

• Hero’s Journey Parallels: They joke about archetypes and rarely finding another “Luke Skywalker” (08:06), likening their meeting to Shaun of the Dead’s alternate-universe scene.

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2. Mystical & Spiritual Influences (07:07–16:13)

• Joseph Campbell: Both credit Campbell with expanding their spiritual worldviews and map this onto their lives and artistic work.
  • (07:12) “For me, one of the reasons I was so intrigued… Joseph Campbell… archetypal, metaphorical, mystical stories.” – Ryan
• Ram Dass & Teachers: Personal stories about meeting spiritual teachers and having “face-melting” mystical experiences.
  • (08:48) “Your face melting… guru experience. Same thing happened to me when I met my teacher.” – Ryan
• Power of Myth: Pete and Ryan praise Campbell’s accessible pop culture teachings, especially The Power of Myth.
  • (15:39) “He’s Obi Wan.” – Pete

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3. Comedy, Art, and "Going for Broke" (17:14–23:57)

• Role Models: Robin Williams was Ryan’s childhood hero; Ryan tells the story of working with him on Patch Adams.
  • (24:11) “He grabs my hand, pulls it to his chest and leans into me and just goes, ‘that’ll get me through today.’” – Ryan ([24:11])
• Giving it All: Both discuss the importance of attacking their art “like your hair’s on fire” (22:46), citing a Tibetan saying.
  • (22:46) “Meditate like your hair’s on fire… Look, you came here to do it. Do it.” – Ryan
• Comedy as Sacred Play: The necessity of committing fully, “play with all your strength”, and creating life-energy through performance.
  • (20:19) “Play with all your strength. … Not to win, but to play with everything you’ve got.” – Ryan

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4. The Energy of Gratitude and Human Connection (26:49–32:13)

• Gratitude Practice: Pete talks about deepening his gratitude practice and truly absorbing compliments from fans.
  • (25:19) “I’m hitting save on it so hard and connecting with them so hard... Now I’m really trying to mean it and embody it and have a moment.” – Pete
• Energetic Exchange: Ryan and Pete explore the special energy in fan/artist encounters—offering and receiving the “best versions” of themselves and recognizing light in each other.
  • (28:37) “They’re projecting a very heightened, happy, perfect part of themselves onto you. And that exchange can be as precious.” – Ryan
• “Having the Same Dream”: Being present with others, especially in a creative context or fan interaction, so you inhabit the same “dream” rather than parallel but divided experiences.

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5. On Structure, Prana, and Rhythm (38:06–39:55)

• Creative Structure: Watching Spielberg direct taught Ryan the power of preparation plus adaptability—a lesson Pete connects to his own life.
• Rhythm Equals Energy: In both dog training and yoga, creating predictable, positive rhythms generates trust, reduces stress hormones, and boosts creativity.
  • (38:20) “Prana, or energy, is king of the mind. … The king of prana is rhythm. So what is rhythm? It’s that you can predict this is going to happen. … We’re no different.” – Ryan
  • (39:08) “I’m going after life energy and then if I can make my day as much like this, I can produce more of it.” – Pete

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6. Dog Training, Fitness, “Shoulds” vs. Curiosity (46:04–54:53)

• Change by Curiosity, Not Fear: Both reject aversive, “should”-based motivation. Instead, curiosity and genuine desire, in both humans and dogs, foster real engagement.
  • (46:50) “Teaching your kid is like holding a gun to your kid and saying, make your bed. … You’re not teaching them to make their bed. You’re teaching them to be afraid of you.” – Ryan
• Push vs. Pull Motivation: Pete and Ryan share techniques to reframe fitness/creative goals from fear/obligation ("push") to positive, aspirational "pulls."
  • (50:20) “A push is, ‘I should work out.’ A pull is, ‘If I exercise, I’ll be an inspiration to my daughter…’” – Pete

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7. Non-Duality, Service, and The Value of the Finite (55:11–62:22)

• Non-Dual/Finite Paradox: The most fulfilling experiences come when holding both ultimate reality (non-duality) and everyday life (the finite) together.
  • (57:35) “Holding both ultimate reality and relative reality. That’s a big interest for me.” – Pete
• Service as Spiritual Fulfillment: The path leads not to detachment but to happiness and service, echoing Buddhist and Vedantic teachings.
  • (61:18) “To be of service… in that state of bliss when you’re of service… it feels fucking fantastic. You’re high as a kite.” – Ryan

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8. Everything as Transformation – Growth, Ego, and Story (63:14–66:58)

• Growing Bigger Circles: Life, relationships, family, and creative projects all serve as ways of experiencing “larger and larger versions of ourselves.”
• Mythic Structure of Awakening: Fairy tales and hero’s journeys resonate because they mirror our unconscious knowledge that we’re “royal”—divine by origin.
  • (65:13) “I thought I was an orphan living under the stairs. But my parents are, to use his [Rohr’s] word, divine… I have royal blood. And waking up to that… changes everything.” – Pete

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9. Kundalini Yoga & The Guru-Student Dynamic (67:29–108:24)

• Kundalini Path: Ryan details his journey into Kundalini yoga, influenced by Joseph Campbell, then a fateful meeting with teacher Tej—described as a “Yoda”, both nurturing and fierce.

  • (83:05) “Kundalini is known as the mother yoga… it uses kriyas… asanas, meditations, mudras and mantra… all of these things to reach this non-dualistic heightened state.” – Ryan

• Transmission & Teaching: Ryan reflects on the sacredness of the teacher-student and guru-disciple relationship.

  • (94:17) “When I find a teacher that I trust… it’s all or nothing. It’s empty cup, fill it.” – Ryan

• On Being a Student and Teacher: Initially resistant to teaching yoga, Ryan learned to see his perspective as a possible service, echoing themes of authentic transmission over ego-driven "teaching."

  • (107:29) “I did not want to be the teacher… But slowly I came back out… I did have some perspective that could be of service.” – Ryan

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10. Comedy Craft, Vulnerability, Taste and Energy (113:08–121:38)

• Essence > Punchlines: Great comedy transcends punchlines; it’s about sharing an essence and merging with the audience, evoking “energy” more than laughs.
  • (118:02) “You wanted to be at that guy’s lunch table. The jokes… were an excuse to hang out in his energy.” – Pete (about Mitch Hedberg)
• Vulnerability Breeds Greatness: The best work happens in vulnerability and risk. Stand-up, or any art, is where uncertainty meets personal authenticity.
  • (119:28) “What’s coming out when Mitch says, ‘you don’t like me yet?’ It’s a little bit of acknowledging fear, which is a great thing to do… to label it.” – Pete

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11. Spiritual Upbringing, Sikhism, and Synchronicity (134:32–140:01)

• Sikh Identity: Ryan feels deeply “at home” in Sikhism, finding it to be uniquely centered on service and vibration, with a non-dual (ego-dissolving) core.

  • (135:26) “There hasn’t been any dogma that I have personally run into that is not anything but welcoming and of service.” – Ryan

• Synchronicity Magnet: His life is filled with extraordinary coincidences, like discovering his high school drama teacher received his doctorate thanks to Ryan’s father on a gameshow.

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12. Parenting, Love, and Transformation (141:45–146:16)

• Parenting Practiced as Divine Service: Both discuss parenting as gardening, being a “space heater” (guardian presence), and modeling abundance.

  • (141:57) “At the end of the day, what are we? …We’re going to be a voice in their head, an experience, and a guardian angel, trying to help them along.” – Ryan

• Faith and Letting Go: The wisdom in “walking away”—giving a child space and implicit faith—is the ultimate mic drop in loving parenting.

  • (144:48) “I just want you to know that the people that you’re hanging out with [doing drugs], you have so much more to lose than they do. [And] walked away.” – Ryan’s mother

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13. “Wow” and Perception (148:58–150:24)

• Being in “Wow”: The spiritual aim is to live in a state of “wow”—perpetual awe and openness, as exemplified by Ram Dass in his later years.

  • (149:17) “Every atom of us is not enveloped in wow. …Wow is that place.” – Ryan

• Survival Mind vs. Vulnerability: Survival instincts try to resist “wow,” but it’s in vulnerability and awe that transformation happens.

  • (149:28) “Don’t do wow, look at exits. …But ‘wow’ is… being vulnerable enough to actually allow something new.” – Pete

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14. UFOs, Out of Body Experiences, and the Edge of Weird (161:01–172:32)

• Out-of-Body Experiences: Ryan describes childhood spontaneous OBEs (out of body experiences) and lucid dreaming. Pete shares curiosity but personal apprehension about such states.

• UFO Encounter: Ryan details an intense, “fully awake” alien visitation, marked by an explosion of white light, a gray being, and a sense of “total absence of emotion.” After “asking to go on the ship,” he is abruptly returned to a dream state—solidifying his belief in the event’s otherworldly nature.

  • (168:24) “I sit up, I’m vibrating… and I look in the doorway. Token fucking little alien dude… Gray. Classic the business. Eyes, big head, gray… there was nothing. There’s no emotion.” – Ryan

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Play and Art:
  • “Play with all your strength. It’s not play to win, it’s play with everything you’ve got.” – Ryan (20:19)
• On Spiritual Paradox:
  • “The finite is the gateway to the infinite.” – Pete (Richard Rohr paraphrase, 57:35)
• On Service:
  • “To become nothing but service is the height of the height.” – Ryan (61:58)
• On Parenting:
  • “We live to be our children’s ghosts.” – Pete (142:21)
• On Teaching/Energy:
  • “If you tune into the teaching… even the dirt from a holy man's clothes will make you clean.” – Ryan (104:48)
• On Wow:
  • “Every atom of us is not enveloped in wow.” – Ryan (149:17)

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Notable Timestamps

• Star Wars analogies, “meeting another Frodo” – 08:06
• Working with Robin Williams – 24:11
• Power of ritual, gratitude, and energy – 25:19–32:13
• Spielberg, structure and adaptation – 35:06–39:55
• Push/Pull and identity in self-improvement – 50:20
• Kundalini yoga origins and teaching – 67:29–108:24
• Comedy, artistic essence, and vulnerability – 113:08–121:38
• Parenting wisdom, faith, and “walking away” – 141:45–145:11
• Out-of-body/UFO stories – 161:01–172:32

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Memorable Moments

• Robin Williams grabs Ryan’s hand, “that’ll get me through today” ([24:11])
• Ryan’s Kundalini “guru meets student” moment with Tej
• Ryan’s childhood drama teacher got his doctorate from winnings alongside Ryan’s dad on a game show
• Ryan’s OBE bike accident, watching himself walk home from a tree ([166:23])
• UFO/alien visitation: “Oh, I get why people are afraid of you” ([168:42])

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Conclusion

This episode weaves together spirituality, the mechanics of comedy, creative energy, service, and the joy of curiosity. Through stories and insights, Pete and Ryan model a living, breathing hero’s journey—inviting listeners to embrace their own weirdness, dive into wonder, and recognize awe and service as sacred practices.

Keep it crispy!

Transcript

[A]

You made it weird. You made it weird. You made it weird.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

You made it weird. Yes, you did. You made it weird with Pete Holmes.

[C]

What's happening, weirdos? This is Ryan Hurst, who you may know from Remember the Titans or Sons of Anarchy or is the voice of the Norse God Thor in God of War, Ragnarok. That's where I knew him from. He's incredible. He's funny, he's talented, he's insightful. He's a Kundalini yoga instructor. He's got alien stories. He's got so much to share. This is a three hour episode. We haven't had one of those in a long time. But it turns out Ryan is a big fan of the show. We had a lot to cover and he came to play. I'm so glad you guys are here for this wonderful episode. Only a couple things to plug up top. We just added another night in Chicago. Friday and Saturday sold out. So if you'd like to see me on Thursday, May 23rd, we added a night. Go to PeteHomes.com we also have Dana Beach, Florida at the Dana. Dania. Is it Dana or Dania? Dania. It's in Florida. Go to PeteHomes.com I'll be there April 12th and 13th and also May 4th I'll be in LA for the Netflix as a joke fest. All of those have [e-mail] I also have my Largo show. May 23rd is. I'm sorry, March 23rd is the March date. But every month I'm at Largo in Los angeles. Go to largo-la.com those are always the highlights of my month. Last time we had Adam Sandler. It's just always, always, always so fun. So I hope you can make it to one of those. And in the meantime, enjoy this chat with the incredible Ryan Hurst. If you're watching this on YouTube, I've checked out my hair a couple times. Modern mammals. Get some. Modern mammals. It's no joke. Best shampoo in the world. Modern mammals dot com. All right, go. This is Ryan Hurst. That's it. Get into it. You just have dog treats with you.

[A]

Yes. And I know we're rolling already. Okay.

[C]

I look. All right.

[A]

Look, look.

[B]

All right. Okay.

[C]

And I know we're rolling.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And there's mold in the ceiling.

[C]

We're having it fixed.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And that is. Wait, I'm talking about the mold.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. You know.

[C]

Hello. Literally having it fixed.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Ready?

[C]

This is Scout for. Is Scout in the shot? Yes. Scout gets a Little cameo.

[A]

Oh, good job.

[C]

Okay. You were about to say, I want to know why you carry dog treats. Other than that's an incredible thing to.

[A]

Do, because I knew that Scout was going to be here. I was hoping Brody would be here. I have so much. Okay.

[C]

Get it, buddy. It's Friday. This is all we're doing.

[A]

Dude, I am so unbearably excited.

[C]

Oh.

[A]

To do this is. But I mean. I mean, like, you know, I. So I messaged you. I messaged. I messaged you, you know. Okay, so this was all under the.

[C]

I messaged you.

[A]

I. I mean.

[B]

You messaged me. Yeah.

[A]

And it was all under the guise of, like, you know, just talking about relating to comedy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It was a fucking ruse.

[C]

It was a ruse.

[A]

Is good for you.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just mean, like, that's what I was just talking to my friend.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

How many opportunities in my life have come out from just kind of being around.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And we were, like, walking back all these, like. I don't know what you want to call them, but you call them a coincidence or just synchronicities. Yeah, synchronicities. But they all had one thing in common, which is like, we out here, you know, just kind of being around. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And sending a message to me was being out here. And I checked out your page.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So you're saying you were kind of like, I am the pod.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So is that not right? Tell me. So I.

[A]

Man, I really don't know where to start. The only. The only thing that I can say is. Let me start by saying this.

[C]

Yeah. Just turning my phone off.

[A]

Yeah. Go for it. Is I. I live in Juu land. Was born and raised there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know what I mean is that. That. That experience, that phenomenal experience of, you know, of being, you know, a spirit, having a human experience. But to hear. And I'm shaky as I say this because I've never. I've never met somebody who. And when I read your book.

[C]

You read my book?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But is I really need to. From. To start this up? Just from heart to heart to say I have never heard somebody give voice to a very, very private, intimate feeling that I have had my entire life. Is this insatiable, tender wonder that you have for what is all of this?

[C]

What is this? That's what I was going to ask you.

[A]

Is that what lit you up from the get go? But then, you know, and I've been a fan of yours. You know, I started listening to this podcast when it started.

[B]

No way.

[A]

And have, you know, I live in Synchronicity Land. And I remember after reading your book, my wife goes, oh, what did you think? And I went, dude, I'm fucking weirded out. And I never get weirded out. And I was like. And she was like, why? And I went. I was like. The similarities between him and I in regards to experience and perspective are something that I've never dealt with before. And, you know, whether is. Is. It's just been fucking weird for me. And I mean, like, literally. Literally these little tiny things that are these very private thoughts. Whether they're small and inane to too large. Whether it's. It's. I'm just interested, you know, from a. From a psycho spiritual, like, sociological experiment is like, you know. And, you know, you're. Gosh, where to start?

[C]

What was one of those thoughts that pulled right out of your head? The similarities, I guess.

[A]

When Joseph Campbell changed my life.

[C]

Yeah, me too.

[A]

Is.

[C]

I was just thinking about him.

[A]

Is. And to riff on that for just a second was like. For me, one of the reasons why I was so excited and intrigued by getting to meet you is, you know, I mean, you know, these sort of archetypal, metaphorical, mystical stories and, you know, that have similar themes. Is. One of the. Is one of the things that you never see in a lot of stories is, you know, is Luke Skywalker doesn't meet another Luke Skywalker. Is Frodo doesn't meet another Frodo is. So I'm.

[C]

You're right. At only known photos.

[A]

Yeah, it's one of my.

[C]

There are other photos.

[A]

You still meet them? No, but, you know, it's the only. I'm hoping. I'm wondering if this. If this meeting is going to turn out to be a little bit. Did you see Shaun of the Dead?

[C]

I have seen it. It's been a while.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, in Shaun of the Dead, like, they're, you know, they're making their way to the pub. You know, they're all together and they meet an alternate version of all of the. I remember this and I was like, I wonder if this is going to be like that.

[C]

Also Seinfeld.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Where Elaine's friends with another group.

[A]

Correct.

[C]

You're so right there. These microclimates and they don't really interact because they don't. We already have a Kramer. Yeah, we already have a George.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But. So Joseph Campbell changed my life. Your. Your face melting. Sort of, you know, guru experience. Experience. Exact same thing happened to me when I. When I met my teacher.

[C]

You mean my. Literally, when Ram Dass's face is melting.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That's what.

[C]

That's the painting of what he looks like.

[A]

There he goes. Called Dickie Albert.

[C]

Dickey Albert.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

There he is. But that happened to you as well.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's crazy. Not with him and not with Maharaj.

[C]

For the millions of you who haven't read my book. I'm just kidding. But the story is that I was sitting with Ram Dass and his face was very irregular. We were gazing at each other, so that's not entirely unusual. But then he turned into my dad and stuff. It was really. It was literally trippy. It was far out and really cool.

[A]

And really special when the circumstances leading up to me meeting my teacher were just as strange. And again, I had sort of essentially what amounted to your. Duncan Trestle was my best friend, whose name is Jackson, who's still. I've known him since second grade and is one of the strangest. Yes, most.

[C]

Okay, so let's jump in because in the Star wars analogy, I feel like Duncan is Han Solo.

[A]

Okay, sure.

[C]

Is there something. And I would say this. If Duncan. I wish Duncan was here. He'd love this. But there's something a little wicked about Duncan.

[A]

Yeah, sure.

[C]

Of course. He's a. He's a smuggler. Yeah, yeah, a smuggler. He's like a. I'm not saying he's a full coyote.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But he's a little bit like a weird coyote. You know, I mentioned in this. In the book that, like, before we started, he put three drops of THC on his hand and just licked it up like he. And at that point in my life, that was kind of weird. I'm not a big weed guy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But, like, that wouldn't weird me out as much. But here's this guy being like, I'm glad you're here.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[C]

And it was. And there's like crystal balls and all this stuff. So here's this. You could also do the Matrix. And I think in the book, I liken him to Morpheus.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is also a criminal.

[B]

Yep. Yep.

[C]

That's kind of being like, yeah, I'm going to show you how to get off this planet.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[C]

So your friend Jackson was your Cheshire Cat?

[A]

Han Solo. Cheshire cat.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Or, you know. Or the. The, you know, the caterpillar in is. Is. Who are you? Yeah, you know, I mean, it's that.

[B]

It's that.

[A]

It's that, you know, mentor, friend, character. But he's. But he's always been that to me. Is. He is one Of. I've known him since second grade and still cannot tell you anything about what he's going to do, which way he's going to go. Yeah, he's just. He. He's just an Andy Kaufman, you know, Buster Keaton type. He's just.

[C]

I feel the same way about Duncan.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm doing stand up on helicopters.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I. I don't even know. I don't even think he's doing anything that weird. Maybe settled down. But he. He's one of those.

[B]

That.

[C]

My squareness kind of gets challenged by Duncan because he's out there.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And he'll.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Burn things down.

[A]

Isn't that the best?

[C]

It is the best. But I'm the skywalker that's going like, yeah, power converters. Like, I'm. I'm a lot squarer than Duncan.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And is that how you feel about Jackson?

[A]

Yeah, for the most part. And he was the one who. It was so funny. I was going to the gym and he never. And he would always, you know, go do whatever you're going to do. We'll hang out later. And this day he was like, I'm coming to the gym with you. And I was like, all right. And he's wearing jeans. And I was like, all right. And he's like, I'm. I'm. I'm coming to the gym. I was like, great. So we go to the gym and I'm working out, and I look at him. He's on the treadmill and he's in jeans and he's running full tilt, and he's got a. He's got a giant book in his back pocket. And I'm like, what the fuck is he doing? I like, walk up to him on the thing. I was. And I go like, you all right? And he goes, yeah. And he goes, oh, yeah, here, take this. He goes like, hold this for me. I was like, okay. I look at it and it was Christopher Vogler's the Journey of the Writer, which, you know, you read the back and it's just, you know, it's a movie interpretation of Hero of the Thousand Faces.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[A]

And the journey begins.

[C]

Wow. I don't know about that because I tried to read Hero with a Thousand Faces.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's not without a little embarrassment that I say it was a little too thick for me because Joey Campbell, I like Pop. Joseph Campbel.

[A]

When you said Joey Cams, I was like. I was like. I was like, who is this man? I mean, you know. You know, when you hear this a lot but it's in a. In a spiritual sense. You know how. You know how alcoholics. A lot of the time when they go to aa, they say, you know, somebody gets up there and they tell their story.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they go like, oh, my God. You know, I thought that these were so private. Is to hear the way that you relate to it. I'm going, like, what the fuck is going on? Whether it's. Whether it's joy cams, whether it's Ram Dass, whether it's Is. I remember in your book, when you're talking about, you know, saying something, you're accessing the fifth dimension about, you know, sort of like saying something. Who is that voice in the head? Using the analogy of who is it seeing out your own, you know, looking out your eyes. I use the thing of closer than the air you breathe. Is the. Is that to. That to you talking? I remember I was listening to one of the. To one of your podcasts. You said you were talking about cold plunges. Been enormous.

[C]

You gestured to where it used to be. It used to be right out there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it. Enormous part of my life. And I'm.

[C]

Is it really, dude?

[A]

For.

[C]

Not because of that. Because of everything you've said.

[A]

I'm just 15 for 15 years. And I'm sitting there.

[C]

Before it was cool.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

No, before it was high school.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's incredible.

[A]

And I'm sitting there going, I bet he doesn't know about, you know, that you have to move because there's a thermal layer. I was like, mother, did I talk about the third dude? I was like, what?

[C]

So, yeah, after 90 seconds, you got to shift around a little bit, but you don't want to.

[B]

No.

[C]

So.

[A]

But here with a thousand faces, is. Is. It is thick. It's meant to be thick.

[C]

Is.

[A]

Is. You know.

[B]

Right.

[C]

It's academic.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just like the pop culture Joey Kims. I like when he's coming to, like, bring out. And then there's. There's a series of DVDs that are. That are a little bit thicker. It's not power myth. It's another one and it's called something like logos or something.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's just him teaching and it's really fun and really cool, but not as condensed. Power myth. They're always steering it back to Christ. They're always steering it back to, like, relatable western things. Star wars and stuff. So it's very digestible.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And you've probably heard me say it's probably on my bookshelf. It is the power of myth. See the black one up by the little singing bowl there?

[B]

Yep.

[C]

That's the transcription of the full power of myth conversation, which is incredible. It's awesome.

[B]

That's.

[C]

That's a great way to get. If anyone's interested in him. So what did he do for you? Were you like me that you were like religions bullshit and then this like, what is. What is Joey in the. He's like an elf or something.

[A]

Who?

[C]

Joey Wizard.

[A]

Maybe Joey Camps is the mentor dude.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A million percent.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

He's Obi Wan.

[C]

He's Obiwan.

[A]

He's is. He's.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's funny when you look at your book too. Follows the hero's journey.

[C]

It does.

[A]

Very, very nice.

[C]

Yeah, it really does.

[A]

I was like, did he do that on purpose? I don't know.

[C]

But somebody said that about CR too. And I was like, we didn't do that on purpose. And that's what makes myths true.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Is they're not true. And then they're. They're truer than true.

[B]

They're.

[C]

They're truth so big, they can only be told with lies. But then sometimes when you look at your life, you realize that it was true. It was also literally true.

[A]

Absolutely.

[C]

And the, you know, Arty in. In crashing was sort of like the Obi Wan and they're different.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Not the Obi Wan. I'm sorry. He was the Han Solo. But anyway, when you found Joey cams, where were you in your life and what did he do for you?

[A]

So, I mean, I was always. When I was younger, I was always, you know, enamored with. And kind of just by the way.

[C]

I don't feel like I gave enough attention to how great that treadmill story was.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Because he gives you this book. Life changing book. Everything that in jeans, running full force like a gazelle.

[A]

Everything that this dude does is like a Cohen. You know, it's like. Is. He's just. I. You know, we'll get to it at some point. Is. But I remember I'm a skydiver. I've been a skydiver for 25 years. And I've been. I do lots of weird stuff. I've been a skydiver for a long time. I'm a positive reinforcement dog trainer. I've done a Kundalini, yoga instructor, all of this kind of stuff.

[C]

Oh, no way.

[A]

But is like, I remember when I is. I was going skydiving and he was just going for his first time and he Was going, you know, tandem with somebody strapped to his back.

[B]

And.

[A]

And I'm like, you know, and I get there and I already have my license and the kind of thing. I open up the side of the plane and I'm all like, you know, jazzed up. And I'm like, all right, buddy. Like, I'll see you on the ground. And he's like, that's where we're going, right? I'm like, it's calm as can be.

[B]

Just.

[C]

That's where we're going, right?

[A]

Yeah, that's it. I was like, that's why I love this dude. That is.

[C]

That's.

[A]

He's. He's such a beautiful. He's. I mean, just. Just to give my. My best friend some. He's not an actor anymore. He just kind of does his own thing. But he tried acting for a long time. He is one of the funniest people. He's the Bill Murray type. Is the guy dry? Well, just is. Bill can. Bill decides it's funny and then it's funny.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, it's. It is. And he's just one of those.

[C]

Wow, that's a great expression.

[A]

Comedy Alchemists is just like, oh, this is funny now. Oh, right. Okay.

[C]

That's so funny. I just was shooting something and I was looking at lines and I was like, you know, I don't always do this, but I was like, how would Robin Williams say this?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I was like, oh, that would be really funny.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I wouldn't do it that way. But I was like, what is my way of making that funny? Can you make, like. Here, hold this a second?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[C]

Robin could. And Bill Murray could.

[A]

I mean, just to divert for a second. So Robin was. Growing up. Robin was my hero.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is. You know, when I was. I remember back when VHS tapes were like $250 to buy, you know, is. You couldn't buy them. So is. When I was 8 years old, 9 years old, saved up all my money and bought Robin Williams at the Metropolitan Opera House.

[C]

I was thinking about Live at the Met.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I found that special to be confusing because he's. Is he on cocaine?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. Because I was watching. I never. I had no frame of reference, so I was kind of like, what am I looking at? Literally, I keep using this analogy, but, you know, when you buy a new TV and you can see the frames.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

It's too. Resolution's too high.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, I think I have to return this tv. Then the next day you watch it and you Can. Your brain has caught up and you can do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's how I felt about Live at the Met. The first time I watched, I was like, I don't understand.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That way. About Richard Pryor, too. I'm like, why are they laughing?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

This sounds like a sad story.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's like, oh, yeah.

[A]

You have to be.

[C]

You have to be older to get some of that stuff. Including Robin, which was confusing because he was the genie from Aladdin.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, So I didn't know what was going on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I just adored the spectacle when I was younger. Is the spectacle of it. I was just like, here is somebody. You know, the way that my mother is an acting teacher and my father's an actor, and, like, sort of the way that I. The sort of ethos that I was always raised with was in life or in parts or whatever is play is. And play with all of your strength is that space is a. Is a sacred space.

[C]

Play with all your strength.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is it. Is. It's not play to win. It's not just play. It's play with everything that you got. And so I saw that as that when I was younger. Here's a guy who's, you know, going for broke.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I like that about Farley, too. When I read the book, I think it's in Truth and Comedy, they talked about how far they would attack the stick.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

And I was like, I just hadn't. I had never thought of that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's what I like about comedy is we talk about killing.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[C]

In the improv world, I think they use killing. They do. What am I saying? I know the improv world, but it's not the same.

[B]

No.

[C]

We killed different from. I killed.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I don't know why, but. Yeah, that's an ego trip. Maybe. I don't know. But that was Farley. He was like, well, I'm gonna go and kill.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm gonna do a big gorilla.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And fuck it up. And Robin was doing it too. There's something also respectful about when you see someone who's disinterested and like, oh, is that.

[A]

Sorry about that.

[C]

Take it, do it, do it, do it. When you see someone.

[A]

I have notes.

[C]

Oh, you do?

[A]

Can I bring them out?

[C]

You can.

[A]

That'd be a fucking door.

[C]

I love it. But when you see someone who's disinterested and disengaged in their life, think of somebody in a movie. Not even the dmv, but the DMV in a movie, which is the Only place worse than the DMV is how they make it the DMV look in a movie and they're just kind of like. They hate it. There's something like, disrespectful to life about it. I think it happened to that person. You know, they were beaten down by the bureaucracy of the dmv. So I have compassion for that. But you know what I mean, when you see someone like Robin doing it, like, they might explode after the show. Something that I've always wanted to do on this podcast that I know you would enjoy.

[A]

Yeah, please.

[C]

Is I go, let's talk like we're gonna die some.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know what I mean? And when you watched Farley and I know both of these people are dead. I'm not trying to be cute, but when you watch Farley and you watch Robin, you saw people that were like, I don't know what's gonna happen.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

We're here in a weird dream right now, and I'm not gonna save it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, that's what I don't like about Valentine's Day and stuff. I wanna. Val and I always try to say, what if this was a first date? It's something we got from Emily and Kumail. If this was a first date, would we go on a second.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's not to be sweaty and panicked. But it's to go like nothing's promised.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So there's something divine about going for broke.

[A]

Absolutely.

[C]

There's something deeply important about being energized and fucking. Like. Ah.

[A]

Well, I mean, that's the old Tibetan saying. Right. Which is like, meditate like your hair's on fire. Is. Is. I've never heard that. Yeah. They're like, what the fuck are you doing? Is. Is. Look, you came here to do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is. Everything's happening all at once. So what the are we waiting for? There's nowhere to go.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Just do it.

[C]

That's right. You know, I was just reading that this morning. They were self realization. Isn't even. Isn't even. I think you said activity. It's not even a. It's not even something that happens.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's just something you recognize.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is different from something happening.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And we're all waiting for something to happen.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

That's why we're waiting to do. We're waiting to.

[C]

And know that we've done it. And he's like, well, then you just kind of stepped out of it again. But that's another way to whatever Keep going.

[A]

What were you talking about? We were talking about Robin Williams. Real quick, just to finish it up. Was. Loved him, loved him, loved him. And then it's still one of those sort of like crown jewels of, of my, you know, personal and professional, like, whatever career. But was the second movie that I ever did, I got a tiny little role in Patch Adams.

[C]

No shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it was. They cut 90% of the stuff, but it was me, an actor named Alan Tudyk, who's phenomenal. He's on that show Resident Alien. He was in Death and a Funeral. Really, really, really very beautiful far sewer. And, and, and why am I forgetting his name? He played the, he played the, the, the. The little guy, redhead guy in, in Fisher King too. Derek. I'm forgetting his last name. But it was us three and Robin for three weeks.

[C]

No.

[A]

In a room, just fucking riffing.

[B]

No.

[A]

And it was a dream come true. And on the first day I walked up to him and I said, like, hi. Hi, Mr. Williams. I'm Ryan, playing this character. And then I told him the story about how when I was younger, you know, I wasn't out playing with, with my friends, I was sitting there memorizing, you know, Robin with me at the Metropolitan Opera House. And. And he grabs my hand and pulls it to his chest and he leans into me and he just goes, that'll get me through today. That'll get me through today.

[C]

Oh my God. I was like, you know, I am dead.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Can I tell you?

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

I've been really upping my gratitude practice lately, which is a huge game changer. Neil Brennan told me. He's like, you know, Muslims pray five times a day. He's like, I'm going to do gratitude five times a day. That's my practice. And he's like. Because he was like, that's the right number of times to pray. But my prayer will be gratitude. And I thought that was beautiful. And one of the things that's been happening is when a fan approaches me and tells me something like, even right now, I know you're not just a fan. Not just a fan. But I mean like someone on the street comes up to me and says anything I'm now not as an ego trip, as a beautiful wet heart, spacious, all of us together thing. I'm hitting save on it so hard and connecting with them so hard. And I'm trying to be a little bit. And I am being more thoughtful to say like. And what I say, it's similar to what Robin says. I go, that just made My damn weak. Thank you for brightening my day. Like, really. And it's kind of weird to think I was saying stuff like that, but now I'm really trying to mean it and embody it and have a moment. And then when I'm doing my gratitude later, I think about them. I know that sounds maybe like I'm thinking about my precious possessions, but it's not. I'm thinking about these. Someone. I just saw this woman at the Improv, and she was like, you're why I'm here tonight. Thank you for all the joy and what? Dude, I'm just in a place where I'm kind of coming back to myself, and I hadn't lost myself in a big way. I lost myself enough that those things were kind of like, thanks so much.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

[C]

And it doesn't even happen to me that much. I'm not fucking whatever. But it was happening enough that I would just kind of normalizing it. And we're doing that with everything. Normalizing that we get in the car and it's starts. We're normalizing that there's food in the pantry. We're normalizing that. I have a podcast that you wanted to do. Yeah, it's nuts. And. And the key is to take nothing for granted. And like I said, hit save on everything. The. The visual for me is like. Like beautiful angelic dust falls on everything. Like, we're capturing it, like, from mocap. You know what I mean? So I can have it in my heart.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Instead of just like, I was never rude or. But like a really. So I love that story. That was a long way to say, I love that story.

[A]

But what's. What's fun about it? I mean, what I. What I hear you saying is for the personality structure is not meant to continually appreciate that outside of. Thank you. Thank you. So. Oh, I'm really happy. But on an interpersonal, energetic level, what's happening? You know, I remember hearing Jim Carrey talk about this once, is how he would talk about regardless of whether somebody was a fan, is when somebody was walking up to him, they were presenting him with the best version of themselves. Right. So it's like if. If this whole thing is just some weird project, you know, it's. It's like, you know, is we're not able to actually perceive reality. Right. Where it just. It's just this sort of subjective idealism that we're, you know, projecting onto something.

[C]

So.

[A]

But they're projecting a very heightened, happy, perfect part of themselves onto you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that exchange can be as precious.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Is to be able to recognize that as. Not Pete, but as whatever it is in them that is. That is light and glowing. And to recognize that part is. That's the. That's the juice. That's what.

[C]

I completely agree. Two things. One, when people. You know, Rupert Spara is one of my great teachers, and. And when people compliment him, sometimes people get emotional in the Q and A's, and they just say, you're so. And he goes, I'm just a part of you telling you what you already know. And it seems sort of like, I guess somebody watching could be sort of like, he's just being modest.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And I'm like, no, I've been in that place. I know what he's talking about. And he means it very literally.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And when you can merge with a fan, sometimes not everybody's safe to merge with. I'm not out here connecting my energy to everybody because some people are a little vampiric in their nature. Maybe you want to protect yourself from that. Usually very drunk people, but, you know, you can have that. The other thing that that brought up for me was energy. So, again, not to toot my own, but I did a show. It was a different show at the Improv. Been going to the Improv a lot. And on the way out, I met a young comic named Matty, and we had this nice chat, and he was telling me that crashing meant a lot to him, which was so important to me for comics to see themselves in that show and feel supported. And, you know, I trying to get home. I'm driving home to Ojai. It's an hour and 15.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So the difference between me chatting for too long is whether or not maybe I'll see Val.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So there is some urgency, but when you have the energy and energy. I'm fascinated with energy right now.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I know it's a no.

[C]

I'll have them send you some. I was able to have the energy. I just been energized by doing a set so that I had a lot of energy, but also I've just been doing a lot of energy work. Gratitude is energy work. Gratitude is like increasing a positive vibration in yourself. Then you have more energy. It's a type of coffee. So I had that prep, and because I had the energy, I was able to say, like, while I'm talking to him, I'm remembering when I was at the Boston Comedy Club and talked to Demetri Martin and how he talked to me for five minutes, and it Changed my life.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Or Chappelle. How? Chappelle said. I said to Chappelle, I moved to New York because of you. That's all I said. And he said, you did the right thing, man. That's all he said. And I was like, literally, God bless you.

[A]

Because.

[C]

What am I saying? I moved to New York because of you. What's the subtext? Did I do the right thing? Because you did the right thing, man. He just cut right to it. Changed my life.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Now, I'm not saying this was that for that guy. I don't know what it was for that guy, but it put me in my feet. I was standing where my feet were, and I was having the same dream as this guy. Instead of. I'm having the dream of wanting to leave. I'm having his dream that he'd like to have this conversation.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then I was the character in his dream.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I was like, wouldn't it be nice if I was this.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

He was like, I know you have to go. And I was like, yeah. This is all we're doing, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh.

[C]

Like I said, dude, we're walking in. I go, oh, I sat on the party. It goes Friday. It's all we're doing. Let's have the same dream. Yeah, let's have the same dream.

[A]

That's beautiful.

[C]

Not two different dreams.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I've been in a lot of dinners, family dinners. Everyone's having their own dream. Sure.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

There was a line in my book where I go, five people or four people at a table, nobody getting what they want because we were all having different dreams. Different. Different goals, different. Whatever it was mom wanted, dad wants us.

[A]

This is a random. Like, another one of my closest friends who actually reminds me very, very much of Jackson, an actor. Mark Boone Jr. Who's one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

[C]

Boon Jun.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Boon Joon. Oh, why have I never thought of that? Oh, my God.

[C]

And I run a nickname service on the side.

[B]

That's good.

[A]

That'.

[C]

Just give me the name. I'm like, Ms. Cleo. Call me now. What's their name?

[A]

But he. He. He's just. I. I remember he. He played Bobby on Sons of Anarchy that I was. That we were on together. And I remember, like, the second day I showed up to set, and he was wearing a sarong, and I was.

[C]

Like, what is a sarong?

[A]

It's like a. It's like a floral. Yeah. Robe.

[C]

Like, dress.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And, you know. And he's, you know, five foot four. And, you know, you know, 300 pounds, and. And I was like, I love this guy. You know? And the first thing that he ever said to me, he walked up to me and he's like, you think you can walk around just with nipples like that? And then just walked away. And I was like, oh, I'm in love. This guy's.

[C]

These are people that are nudging us away.

[A]

Oh, yeah, totally. We were at some dinner. We. And everybody was talking, and, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, you're talking with somebody and this conversation ends, and then. And we kind of. You know, there's five conversations, and I just kind of, like, look across at him, and he looks at me. I just kind of stare at him. He's staring at me. And then he just goes, I found a human skull in Central park in 1976.

[C]

These are beautiful people. Just get to it.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And he just wants to tickle you a little bit.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

My friend Rob Bell has the story of Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. He's on a panel, and then there's Desmond Tutu and there's the Dalai Lama. And they walk towards each other, and he's in between them, and he's like, what are they gonna do?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

These two holy men or whatever. Great. Whatever you want to say. And he goes, they just start tickling each other.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I'm like, yeah, too much.

[A]

That's the stuff.

[C]

It's too much. And that's a little tickle.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's so good. Are you here? It's a sonar ping. Yeah, I'm here. You're here. What's going on? Yeah, there's a lot going on in that nipple comment.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

So in the room with Robin.

[A]

In the room with Robin. That was it. It was beautiful.

[C]

He's like, that'll get me through the week.

[A]

And. And. And I took that. And. And then when he.

[C]

Oh, yeah, I believe he said the day, actually.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, that'll get me through today. That'll get me through today. And he held it to his heart real hard. Real hard. And I'm just. You know, I was 19 probably at the time, and I remember just going, like, you know. Yeah, I was supremely lucky with meeting is. You know, they said, never meet your heroes.

[C]

Ah, get out of here.

[A]

But was. Is. It's been. I've been beautifully lucky with that. With. With him. And, you know, and a lot of, you know, like, you know, go ahead. It's a lame drop. But was. When I met Spielberg, it was One of those, like, fucking.

[C]

You did Saving Private Ryan? Yeah.

[A]

It was ridiculous.

[C]

That's incredible. That's one of. That's big Spielberg.

[A]

Yeah, but it was ridiculous for me. It was, you know, I went in Auditioned leaving. You know, it's like one of those dream scenarios, you know, you're leaving and they go, yeah, you got it. And I was like, okay, great. And they're like, can you get on a plane tomorrow to go to England? And I was like, yeah, sure. So I go and get off the plane, I'm like, totally jet lagged. They take me straight to the set. They put me in wardrobe and they take me to the set. And I'm like, you know, I'm half awake and I get to this field and there's 1200 backroom players and extras. And I see this guy running towards me and it's Spielberg running towards me. And I was like, what's happening right now? And he goes, you're my guy. And I go, I'm your guy. And he goes, well, we're bringing for lunch. Do you want to go have lunch? And I was like, yeah. So it was me and him, and we sat down at lunch. We're sitting there talking just like a bunch of cinephiles. Just total movie nerds just geeking out the entire time.

[C]

No.

[A]

And this is like, you know, this is like making a hole in one and having nobody around. I was like, nobody's gonna fucking believe that. And so we're sitting there and we're talking and he goes, you know, you really remind me of Orson Welles. And I was like, dude, fuck you. I was like, what? So I went and I did my scene that day, that afternoon, and then afterwards he goes, so you're done because I just had one scene. He goes, how long do they have you here? And I said, I'm supposed to be here for another 10 days. And he goes, well, come hang out. So it was like 10 days of Spielberg, script supervisor, me just sitting there and I was just absorbing watching this guy.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

Be a master and directing old T hanks.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

No.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

How was that?

[A]

It was fantastic. It was beautiful. You know, it was you know, to just like anything else, just like, you know, is, you know, had his homework done to the T. You know, is everything was storyboarded, everything. But it was just. If the dance was to a different tune, that's where we were going.

[C]

They changed his adapt.

[A]

His adaptability was to watch somebody make it look so easy and to make it it so organic was. Was really, really, really Fun to watch pattern recognize.

[C]

Like, he's like, this isn't working. This isn't in the flow. This isn't right. So let's change. But also, boy, I've just been on a tear about this, like structuring and planning. I just haven't been much of a structure or a Planner. And I'm 44 now and I'm like, I just started kind of doing it. Like I just said to Katie. I was like, I'll record the intros on Sunday. It'll give you guys more. That was their suggestion. But I was like, that's great. That'll be the day I record the intro. Why aren't I doing that? I get so stressed on Tuesday.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's five o'.

[A]

Clock.

[C]

I just fucked over Katie and Joe.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And like, I'm like, let's just make a day for that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And as much as we can, we do the podcast on money. Anyway, how does this relate to what you just told me? Spielberg knowing what he's doing gives you the calm to be able to adapt.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Instead of being overwhelmed and then you're adhering to something rigidly and poorly.

[A]

That rigidly and poorly never, never works. But it's a double edged sword. Right. Because. But it's also, it's like behavior. It's yogic science and it's also behavioral science, which is like, it's one of the things that we do in dog training, but it's the same thing with yoga. In yoga, what do they say? They say that prana, or energy is king of the mind. And they say the king of prana is rhythm. So what is rhythm? Rhythm is that you can predict this is going to happen. It's the same thing with behavioral.

[C]

Oh, shut the fuck you just said. Exactly what I said. But eloquently and with wisdom. I mean, I love that. Because that's it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's all that it is.

[C]

I'm going after life energy and then if I can make my day as much like this, I can produce more of it. That's why I'm sleeping less and having more energy. It doesn't make any sense, dude.

[B]

Right.

[A]

If when you know what's. It's one of the things we do with dog training is when the dog knows that something positive is going to happen. It's the same thing with people is when you know that a positive thing is coming and it's coming at a steady pace, all of the stress hormones go away. The cortisol drops is dopamine and oxytocin go up. All this kind of stuff happens. And we're no different. Is. What is this? This is just a rhythm. A rhythm. And when it's, you know, when we're excited, it goes like this. But it's, you know, is when we're calm, is we feel, you know, to. Mathematicana hit.

[C]

Yeah. I was actually thinking about that because I auditioned for Wolf of Wall street, and I knew it was one of those, like, they're gonna tell us to get on a plane.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I couldn't. I forget what I had, but I had something booked. And they were like, are you available to this day? And I was like, I'm not.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I was like, I think I just. Just walked out of a Scorsese movie.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is. I'm okay with that. I like watching that movie, enjoying that movie. But when you thought of Patch Adams, you got it next day.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

They were like, that's how Marty is. I guess you got to be available. I was like, yeah, but I got this thing. It must have been a big thing. But anyway, that came to mind. So here it is again. This episode is brought to us by our friends at Vita Coco. You might see me and Ryan drinking Vita Coco here on the set. I love Vita cocoa. Vita Coco is my favorite coconut water. It's the one that comes in the cardboard bottle. It's the one that comes in fun flavors. We got pineapple. We got original. We're talking about flavor. We're talking about a boost. It gives me a great boost in energy. It ups my mood. It's natural. It's not filled with chemicals or artificial sweeteners. It's from the earth. It tastes great, and it's packed with nutrients. It's real, it's natural. It's from the earth, but it still tastes like a tree, and it is hydrating as heck. Get some balance into your life with the number one coconut brand in the United States with beverage. With a beverage that is actually fun. It comes in, like I said, pineapple, peach, and mango. They are incredible. And the nutrients supercharge you and make you feel so good. Helps amazingly with recovery after a workout for a hangover. It replenishes you and keeps you performing at your best.

[B]

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[A]

Okay, well, you're fit. I'm a professional chameleon. I is tell me. Look, dude, these meat suits are fucking rentals. And you know, is I've done anything. And everything in between is hearing your stories about you in junior high school and high school is that is I was £340 in high school. Oh wow. And have at this height been that heavy and then been down to in my 20s and early 30s, like 175.

[B]

Wow. So.

[A]

And, and everything in between is whether it was starving myself and being on a bike or bodybuilding or the whole business. So I've done.

[C]

I go all over.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, when I searched your name to do some research, like a lot of fitness things came up. People have gone to you to be like, hey, will you tell us how to do this mindfully or well, or whatever it may be. But what struck me about this and sorry, everybody knows I'm going through this fear period where when I got really clear about why I want to work out and what I'm after, suddenly I'm working out as opposed to I should work out which is like the least compelling story in the world.

[A]

That never works.

[C]

That ties to dog training, doesn't it?

[A]

You're right on it. Right, right on it.

[C]

It's like, tell me.

[A]

Like, it's. Well, it's just like, you know, is one of the things that they, you know, the old school is. Is this aversive. Like you have to teach the dog through a verse of me, which is like, you know, teaching your kid is like holding a gun to your kid and saying, make your bed. It's like you're not teaching them to make their bed. You're teaching them to be afraid of you. And interpersonally, we do the same. The same thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is one is. And also. But what's been interesting to me is it's such an easy tell when you relate to when there's. That should. Is. That's not anything higher speaking through you. You just go, oh, that's ego talking. That's. This identification process is whenever there's fear involved, you can know that it's not coming from some source. The source never puts anything in with is the expansive feeling that you feel in meditation or when you're. Or when you're with your guru is, you know, what do you call it? A honey avalanche? Is. Is. There's. Is when you say fear to that, it's like it's just of such a lower dimension. It's of a different quality.

[C]

It doesn't make any sense.

[A]

It makes no. It makes no sense.

[C]

That reminds me it was a ketamine experience, but I do think it was divine. I know I don't know how people feel. I feel very strongly about that. But I was asking it if it loved me. And I was really talking to myself, but I was like, does, does awareness love me? And it was the silliest question. And I talked to my friend Michael Gunger about it. And this is kind of high level meaning. It's a long walk up the mountain to get to this conclusion comfortably. But let's just get to it uncomfortably. We were like asking God or Source if it loves you is a little bit like my daughter asking me if I love her imaginary friend whose name is Pokey Shallowhole. If she said, you love Pokey, I would say of course. And I. I do in a sense, because I. I just love everything about you. Like I. But like the way I put it is. It's like water gets things wet. And this being is being is wrong. But this, this.

[A]

I got it. I'm with you.

[C]

Awareness is yes. Or it is expansive it is light. And we introduced, through the survival mind and through the superego and conditioning, fear. So when you're saying lower frequency, you're putting something in the field of expansive. Yes.

[A]

Love.

[C]

And then in that field is this, I should. Or I'm a piece of shit, or I'm unworthy or. Or my. I have limiting beliefs that I'm too much or, like, I'm not a fit person. I'm just not that kind of guy. Like. And like. But that's being added over the backdrop of expansive, infinite, correct love. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[C]

So it's not like a. A conflicting vibration. The other one isn't a vibration. That's right. The other one is the ground in which you're having the other vibration.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

That's what's being added.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Beautiful.

[C]

So I was just a little curious and selfishly looking for even more motivation that I'm like, again, it's a. It's a Tony Robbins thing. He has. A push is I should work out. A pull is If I exercise, I will be an inspiration to my daughter. Like, I'll be strong. Like, let's just get petty. I want her to think my big, strong dad.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[C]

I want my wife to go look at my fucking husband. I know it's shallow or whatever. I just want her to be like, God damn it. I want to be able to pick up my baby and her friends. I want to be that guy at the playground. And I know that's my happiest place, because when I'm thinking about what I'm grateful for, I'm thinking about the times that I got a kid under each arm and I'm running them to the slide. That's joy for me. So what does that take? I'm getting older, working out all of these things. As an actor, what opens up? If I Chris Pratt myself, what opens up? So now I'm being pulled to it. So that's the difference. Push is I should. My fucking doctor said I should. It's good for my cholesterol. Whatever. That's push. Pull is. And he goes, label it a title. Make it your identity. And I called it Leading Man. Not just. Not just an actor leading man, but like a leader of my family and a leader of my own body. And then you do this. It's very Joe Dispenza. Like, every morning, I'm picturing three goals, and I'm imagining that they've already happened. And one of them is this body that I'd like To create for myself. But you imagine that it's already happened. And then when the. The free. I only work out for like 20 minutes. So it's like the free 20, 30 minutes shows up, I get no, you're like me.

[A]

We cry on the peloton. I'm right there with you.

[C]

Then the choice is less. It's less of a choice. I just have this. I'm like a dog. And I trained myself to go, you like running with kids under your arms at the playground?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, that's what you get for doing this. And when I'm in that place after a workout where it's a little mushroomy, it's like everything feels expanded and clear. And that's probably hormonal testosterone. My eyes are wide and I'm in this, like, almost like a peak state.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

When I'm in that state, I go, this is working out. I tell the dog, I go, this is what I was trying to get you to do.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Isn't that fun?

[A]

That's great. That's wonderful. That's what I mean. That's. It's putting. Putting yourself in the place. Position of should is always going to induce fear.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's always going to come from a dualistic point of view.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Is the. The antithesis of that dualistic point of view is curious. Is to be curious. Is to be pulled. Is. Is. And. And, you know, it's the same with dog training and just people training and person training. And. And is. Is when you're curious whether. And you can use that when you're playing a scene. If you go into a scene and go, like, I gotta do it like this. I gotta cry here. I gotta do this. Or I have this preconceived idea of how I'm supposed to react in this. But if you go into it continually curious of.

[C]

Yes. Curious is contemplative.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Instead of running all your old patterns, you're actually being vulnerable enough to letting the present moment actually impact you, change you, which is vulnerable.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

We actually hate vulnerability. But everything good comes from vulnerability.

[A]

It's a wonderfully Zen yin yang kind of. You have to use the dual to reach the non dual.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's like what they always say, which is whether it's mantra mudra, you know, prayer beads, you know, whatever is the practice isn't the prayer is the experience and the feeling that whatever it is that gets you there. That's the prayer.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So. And I always try to find, like, when I'm in that space is to Really? I mean, because in the Tibetan traditions is, you know, all of this stuff, whether it's the Kalachakra, whether it's Manjushri, you know, all the sort of Tibetan symbology, this is all stuff that's just inside of us. This is just, you know, it's Gospel of Thomas stuff is. All of this stuff is just internal architecture. And so when I'm in that space of like, right, this feels expansive, this feels. I feel curious, I feel creative. Is to really kind of nail down the vibration and kind of like see it smell, you know, it's just like that old manifesting stuff is use all of your senses to really kind of, you know, is not just breadcrumbs to it, but it's like, let that be your. Build that palace so that you know.

[C]

Where it is and where you're pointing.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I love all that. In fact, that's what it's called. Tony Robbins priming, if anyone wants to do it. But you can watch on YouTube, it's free. But like he says, what were you feeling? What were you seeing? What were you smelling? And when you're feeling like you already have that body or you already have that, you already sold that show.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I picture myself at rap of this thing and we're all clapping and the crew is. And I'm like, I'm there.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I'm. I'm. I'm. He the one that I like. He goes, breathe the way you would breathe in that moment and celebrate it. Don't just kind of like cool, like, ah, like, and make that energy bigger. And I'm like, oh, Jesus is so fucking cool. Let me put this to you because what's been happening with me as a, as a, you know, you want to take me all the way down in the elevator. I'm a non dual person. Seems so stupid. To say I am a non dual person is so stupid.

[A]

Can I tell you that when. When you and Neil Degrasse Tyson were talking about Vedanta and he was like, what? And then goes. And then what he says after that, that is pure Vedanta clay.

[C]

Yeah, Yeah, I know.

[A]

It's so beautiful.

[C]

I've always wanted him and Rupert Spira to talk because I'm just like that. We're so close.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

To being brothers.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's there. We're getting there is all.

[C]

It doesn't even matter. But yes, we're close. We're even close enough right now. It's fine. Yeah, but what was happening and everyone that listens to the show regularly is. I was just getting very dry. I was getting very. This is God's dream. It's already over. Everything happened at once. My friend David nicht turn. The Buddhist goes, some teachers, all they teach, they go like this.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's what they say.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

They're like, what is this? And they go, yeah. And I'm like, God. So I got. I really took that in, and I was like. I noticed that I was just maintaining my life. A lot of the juice had run out, very dry. Because I was just like, it's all, we're in heaven already. We never left home. It's all done. So I got kind of a little detached. And then I started getting more juiced about my life through some of the things we were just talking about. And then I'm supplementing my Rupert with Richard Rohr. And Richard Rohr is again, who I've always loved, but I'm bringing him back into my daily practice. And he's like, what you just said. He goes, the. The finite is the gateway to the infinite. Like, meaning, as I'm telling you about this show I want to sell in this body, I want to have in this conversation that I'm enjoying holding both ultimate reality and relative reality. That's a big interest for me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Is I'm like, does this matter? But it's yes and no. I was in a real phase where I was like, no. And that was really drying me up. And, you know what was happening. And I'm gonna put it all to you. I just wasn't much use to people. I just wasn't very useful. Meaning I was having my own little trip.

[A]

But that's all part of it, dude.

[C]

And it was okay. But I'm coming out of that phase. I'd love for you to talk about it.

[A]

Well, I mean, Ram Dass talks about that, too. Is everybody goes through that renunciate phase. And then, you know, I remember hearing him talk, and he was like, that was a point when I wasn't touching money. And it's.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was like, okay.

[C]

He literally wouldn't physically touch money. Yeah.

[A]

That's like, what I say. You go through that. You know, that's all.

[C]

But isn't it funny that when it was happening, I didn't go, oh, I'm doing that. I was just like, this is ultimate reality. And it was very selfish. I'm being real. Like, I was having my own. And Richard Roy defines sin as a state. And one of the ways. Not a little naughty thing you do, and one of the ways he defines it, you could call it disconnect, but he goes, it's. I don't know if he says perverse or extreme, but I'm going to say perverse autonomy, where you're just. It's just you by yourself. Meanwhile, Rupert is talking about serving and loving and forgiving and incorporating everyone. And of course, in Miracles is talking about all these things that was in there, but I was just sort of like, like, no, no bother.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Who cares?

[A]

Of course.

[C]

And my life was drying up.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So I'm very excited to share that. That when you say the way to the infinite is through the finite.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And Val is always there for me to just. She's laughing at me going, like, I've been telling you it's your body, and I've been telling you it's your relationships. And the great secret of, like, having a Sunday dinner with kids, running around and cooking for people, feed people, love people, serve people, informs the cleanliness of my antenna to ultimate reality. Now I can receive it a little bit more cleanly because I'm taking care of myself psychologically or physically or mentally or socially. Even though ultimately you can say that doesn't matter. It's a paradox. It does matter, and it doesn't matter. And it does matter.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

I want to end with, it does matter.

[A]

Well, yeah, it does. I mean, at the end of the day, one of the practices that I have is like, look, this human experiment mission is that everybody comes here with one, regardless of whatever sort of karmic dharmic responsibility that we have is that the name of the game is twofold, which is one, that you have to find a way to be happy. And that's a totally subjective experience. And, you know, and depended upon, you know, whatever sort of karmic, you know, whatever psychic DNA that you bring into this equation from the get go. And then. And then on top of that is, you know, which is easier said than done, obviously. And we.

[C]

Ramnath says that's like your software.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Your hardware is your body. Your software is all this. You could call it karma, call it your DNA, your conditioning, what, all this stuff. So that's the program you're working with.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

But the. The other. The other side of the coin is of a different dimension, which is that you. To be of service. And, you know, is in that, you know, and it's not entirely, you know, altruistic, obviously, because in that state of bliss when you're of service, what. How does it feel? Feel Fucking fantastic. You're High as a kite.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and. And, you know, that's the whole model of. Of, you know, of the. Of the. The Tibetan Buddhist, you know, the Bodhisattva, which is like, I'm gonna come back and help everybody until everybody's out of here. Is. But why? Because it feels good to do that. What do they say that the biggest disappointment of the ego is? Enlightenment is to really know that there's no there there, but is to become nothing but service is.

[B]

Right.

[A]

The height of the height.

[C]

And then you are mirroring the attributes of. You could say your creator, or you could say awareness.

[A]

Absolutely.

[C]

But I was kind of forgetting that. That, like, when you get in touch with the. The characteristics of your true nature.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Then those bring that nature into this world.

[A]

That's right. That's right.

[C]

And that. I don't even want to say it's not important. It is important.

[A]

It is important.

[C]

Feeling really important.

[A]

Well, it's. Look, there's no wrong way to eat a Reese's.

[B]

You know what.

[A]

You know, it's like, you use what you got is. You know, like, is.

[C]

And we're here.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I always go back to that. And Richard's very like, that. This is happening.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I have caught myself. I was getting away from thoughts like this, where I was like, I'm not just gonna push this away, because if this is happening, this is what is happening. And it. What I'm saying is, like, I anthropomorph. Anthropomorphize. The idea of God is like, then God wants to do this. God would like to dance this dance or put on this show or play this game or whatever it is to. I had lost touch of some of those. Like, to do it to know itself, to change and grow and adapt and fall in love and have your heart broken and all that stuff.

[A]

But that's also. But it's. So it's inherent in the human experience also, which is like. I don't know. If you look at this from a spiritual, like, trajectory, which is like, all right, so we're all part of this. We're all part of the creator. We're all part of this, you know, this boundless, formless, infinite thing. We take form into something that we become a part of. You know, we are a part of our mother. And, you know, a baby is born, baby comes out. What happens, you know, is, you know, psychologically, they've talked about that for the first. I don't know how many months, but that the. Psychologically, the child still feels that they are a part of the mother. And then the individuation process happens. But from a spiritual point of view is. It's just. It's just a circle getting bigger. You know What I mean is. Is we do the same thing is we get married because we want a larger experience of ourselves. We have children or, you know, or a profession or, you know, a project. A project or a church or a community or, you know, is just like. Is find that thing that resonates that feels close to home to you. But is the human experience is we didn't come here just to. You know. Which has it.

[C]

We came to grow. Yeah.

[A]

We came to experience larger and larger and larger versions of ourselves and to use all the sort of dualistic parts of that to experience the limitlessness of us.

[C]

Yes. Right. I mean.

[A]

I mean that's the fun stuff.

[C]

That's what Rupert says is sometimes like narcissism. Ego trips is an unconscious desire to bring the qualities of your true self into the world. You're like I want to be big and loud and special because, you know, somewhere deep down again. I've said this a million. But it's. It's great is that Richard Royce has like stories like Harry Potter and basically every fairy tale.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Are all the same. Is like I. I thought I was an orphan living under the stairs. But my parents are. To use his divine.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

My parents. I come from something royal.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I have royal blood. And waking up to that.

[B]

That.

[C]

And then that changes everything.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And why do those stories resonate so deeply and then. But it even explains some bad behavior. As you're like well then I am going to own everything because it's all mine anyway. But it can also come out in a smaller.

[A]

But those are always. Those are. There's no longevity in those. Is you. Is whether it. Whether it's the worst that humanity can sort of. You know, whether that's Hitler or not. Is when. When those things. They're unsustainable. Which shows you how the expansive quality of things will always win out.

[C]

Well isn't that funny that every spiritual quest journey could be psychedelic. Could be otherwise. Kundalini's brought me to some fucking trippy ass. I'd love to ask you about that. But the little Duncan Trussell in all of us. The little Morpheus in all of us seems to always whisper the same thing. Which is like nothing lasts. Like that's. It's a little wicked joke. And a lot of people have bad trips in that way. But you can also have a good Trip. Because you just go like, why am I taking this so seriously? I'm a melting ice sculpture. Or that's a little too personal. The whole thing is like sand underwater. And that's kind of scary until you start to trust the water. And then you're like, oh, oh, I'm the water. And the sand is just kind of a game. And it's frightening, but it's also exciting. And it's just a play. And you can let go.

[A]

But also, if you really want to dive into it is nothing lasts. Which is the perspective of you seeing that sand in the water is nothing, is everything. And that part does last.

[C]

Right, Right. Right. No, that's. I'm so with you. You have to take your medicine with the other thing, which is like. And then also what you are wasn't born and can never die.

[A]

Absolutely. That's the.

[C]

That's the whole thing.

[A]

That's the whole thing.

[C]

That's the whole thing.

[A]

That's the whole thing.

[B]

Right? Yeah.

[C]

That's good. I like that. Okay, so tell me a little bit about Kundalini.

[A]

So what is Kundalini mean?

[C]

Yeah, I'd hate to stump you on a simple. Yeah, it's like if you asked me a stand up question, I was like, I don't. I don't know.

[A]

I don't know.

[C]

That's not in question. I don't know. Like sometimes people say some classic stand up thing, like the 1000 year old man or something. Like, I'm not familiar with that. I don't know.

[A]

The thousand year old man.

[C]

I actually do.

[A]

I picked one.

[C]

I knew.

[A]

Have you ever had the other way? I remember I was standing there, so I was talking with some guy and he knew that I asked about what I did and I said I was an actor and he's one of these kind of like, you know, one of these kind of guys. And he just kind of stood there and he was. So you guys have C stands? I was like, shut the up. Yeah, you're with Season, right? We got craft service. Right, Right. Okay. He's trying to make a connection. I was like, this is beautiful.

[C]

You're gonna watch the. Watch the dailies. I could be wrong, but in that moment, a lot of people are playing these unconscious status games and they don't. They don't want you to win. I like, oh, yeah. Like, I need a classical pianist. And I'm like, white keeps black because you don't want to lose. Yeah, I know what you are. I got you. And that's what our brains are doing. All the time.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

We're compartmentalizing. Going. I know what you are.

[B]

Yeah, I got it. Yeah.

[C]

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[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'll give you the, I'll give you the, the, the, the Cliff note version.

[C]

Who is Kundalini?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is so read here with a thousand faces. I'm reading here the thousand faces and listening to power myth and it was the first time that I heard Joseph Campbell talking about Kundalini and he was talking about the chakra. I still literally remember power myth going, this is muladhara. It means root base. And I just remember going like. And it just had this. I was out of everything, I was drawn to that. I kept reading over and over again and seeing all of the things that he spoke about with. With the chakra system and yoga and was just totally enamored. But just to go back a little was growing up, I was always. I went to Sunday school and Hebrew school. I went to, you know, in junior high, I deeply studied Islam. And then out of high school was when I started into, you know, Mahayana, Theravada and, like, bits of Zen, which gets way, way, way sort of out there in the pyramids parts of it. But I was always just really taken by what the fuck is all of this stuff. And Joey Cams was the one who integrated this sort of Kundalini idea. And I was just so taken by it. And then in my late teens and early twenties, started doing yoga.

[B]

Yoga.

[A]

I started doing every form of yoga. I did Iyengar for a couple of years. I did Ashtanga for a couple of years. I did hot yoga. Is. I was doing, like, religiously, like, doing all of these forms of yoga, but I was only studying Kundalini. I was reading everything that I could on Kundalini yoga. It was this weird dichotomy. And so I was very well versed in and well versed and unpracticed in what Kundalini was. And then the strangest, you know, one of the, you know, talk about these synchronistic things was. Which I'll hit you with in my notes. Oh, my God. So I had. That was one of my first records. Yeah, dude. Sorry. Was Russell Brand said to me, he came and did a, like, sort of a web talk thing on Sons of Anarchy. And I avoid interviews. And I'm infamous for, like, not doing the red carpet. It's not my bag. It's like, here's a fake conversation. Let's have it again. It never has been. It's just something that I'm averse to. But something said you're supposed to do is. Something said, russell has a talk show and you're supposed to do it. So I called him and I said, you know, I'd met him and there was this strange little Bugs Bunny trickster vibe with this, you know, library of sort of alien knowledge pouring through this guy. And I was like, you said alien knowledge? Porn?

[C]

Yeah, well, yeah, that's.

[A]

Yeah, that too. And something said, you're supposed to do this thing. So I called him, I said, can I be on your show? He said, yeah. He said, we're filming the first episode next week.

[C]

This is Brand X yeah, yeah.

[A]

And I went, okay. So I go. And I'm like, I don't even know. But I've learned over my life to listen to that little voice. So I'm just there and not really liking it and kind of like sitting in the. In the dressing room. And then they call me, they say, you're ready. And I walk out into the hallway, and it was this little, tiny. I remember it was this little tiny hallway. And I turn into this hallway and there's this little old woman all dressed in white with a white turban. And she goes, hi. She's right like this. And it was that experience that you had with Ram Dass. And I'm standing there, and I look at this woman and she's just, what's your name? And goosebumps are running all over me. And I'm going, I'm Ryan. I'm supposed to be on the show. And she's like, oh, how old are you? Having this very, very mundane conversation. And during this conversation, I felt like I was having eight conversations with this woman.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And I was. And I was just taken. And she goes, okay, well, nice to meet you, and left. And I just remember, like, shaking it off, going like, what the fuck just happened? You know? And it reminds me. Makes me want to cry too. It's one of the most sort of, like, closest parts of me. It's like when you hear the story and autobiography of Yogi, when Paramahansa Yogananda meets his teacher, he's just walking along and something says, turn down this alley. And then he goes down there, and his teacher is standing there going, I've been waiting for you. For whatever reason is the teacher, student, the guru disciple relationship, I just have such enormous reverence for is. Whatever that is in this human condition is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I've always held that very, very, very, very close. I remember the side Story was. One of my favorite movies growing up was the Last Dragon. The Last Dragon was kind of like this black guy in Harlem who was. Do you never seen it? Oh, it's great. And. And it's kind of a. It's a kung fu movie set in Harlem. And. And early in the. The very beginning of the movie is there's this student, and he's kind of. And he's sitting there with his master, and his master's shooting arrows at him. And. And he's blindfolded. And, uh. And there's one arrow with a. With a ribbon. Ribbon to it. And he's chopping all of the Arrows and chopping the arrows. And he catches the one with the, with the ribbon on it. And his master says like, how did, how did you do that? And he goes, I. I just knew. And then, and his master kind of like looks, looks away and starts packing up his things and then walks up to him who has a little like karate badge and rips it off him and says that he's leaving. And he goes like, are you going on a mission? Like, are you going on an adventure? Are you going to study in the mine? He goes, no, I'm going to visit my brother in law in Florida. And he goes, but I am no longer your master. And I remember being a little kid and just crying because he goes, there's nothing more that I can teach you. And it reminds me a lot of, you know, like when, when maharaja would, you know, kept kicking Ram Dass out of out, like you'd come back and you know, and you go, you got work to do. Get the out of here. Yeah, yeah. But in any case, so, so I go and I do Russell's show. We have this great show. You know, for whatever reason, at the end of the show, I picked him up, picked him up like a baby. And then, you know, it's after the show and I'm getting ready to go and there's tons of people backstage and I'm literally walking out the door and he goes, and he calls me from, he goes, ryan, Ryan. I said, yeah. He goes, what are you doing tomorrow? I go, nothing. And he goes, you want to come to Kundalini? And it was, and it literally, it reminds me of like, remember that part in, in west side Story when like Tony sees Maria and everything, everything else blurs. And it was like I just on this resonant level, this thing was like, ding. You've been practicing all this time for this? And I was like, yes, you had.

[C]

Been studying it but not doing it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I said, yeah, yeah, I do. He goes, okay, I'll text you, I'll text you the address. I was like, okay. And I'm driving there the next morning and I go, that woman in white is the teacher and she's my teacher. And I'm walking into the place and, and she comes walking in right beside me and there was a, there was 150 people in the class. And she's walking in beside me. She goes, oh, I remember you. And she goes, she goes, yeah, you're a friend. It's good to have a friend when you go to your first class, isn't It. And I went, yeah. She goes, okay, let's go. I went in there and the first kundalini experience just, just, you know, it was just a, you know, an explosion.

[C]

Now tell people who have been out of the loop, Kundalini is energy or. I know.

[A]

So Kundalini is known as the mother yoga. It's the sort of oldest form of yoga. Is it gave birth. They called the mother yoga because it gave birth to every other form. Is through a lot of the other forms of quote unquote yoga. What we consider yoga is these sort of stretchings and postures which can get you to a certain level of serenity, peace, enlightenment or whatever. But it is. Is, you know, just like everybody thinks that their modality is the best, but they say that kundalini is. Is really the fastest because it, it uses kriyas, which is. Or, you know, asanas, which is physical things that you do with your body and then meditations, mudras and mantra as you use all of it, use all of these things to reach this non dualistic heightened state.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And the, the basic idea in, In. In the pure sort of Kundalini form and also referencing back to. Which is just so fun to be able to say this to you and to hearken back to listening to Joseph Campbell 25 years ago, was that we have these energy centers within our body. And Kundalini, there's lots of different interpretations of what the actual words mean. Whether it's coiled snake or whatever is symbolically that there's a snake at the bottom of your spine which represents this primordial energy, this primordial force of creation.

[C]

And you can get it to kind of like go up your spine, through your crown, out your head kind of thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And as it goes through these energy centers in the body, the energy, that primordial. That primordial energy gets refined and heightened. So it's like a distilling process. So by the time it comes out the top of your head, it's a pure form of that energy. And you know, and that energy is just one of the forms of, you know, just like whether it's, you know, Vishnu, Krishna and. And Shiva or the Son, Father and the Holy Ghost or. One of the things that I like the best because it's more of a pragmatic sort of way of describing it is God, which is like generating, organizing and destroying. They're just sort of like these three tools. And by the time it leaves here is that it's a refined form of energy and that you get to experience this Very non. Dualistic heightened experience. That's the big idea.

[C]

If I were to explain it to somebody, I've only done it once or twice, I would have just gone. It's breath yoga. I know that's oversimplified, but there's a lot of breath stuff.

[A]

Some stuff.

[C]

Some stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like the thing that I do in the morning, I'm realizing how similar. The priming exercise that I do.

[A]

It's exactly the same.

[C]

Have you done the priming thing? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It's.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Is in. In Kundalini. It's one of the foundations. They call it ego eradicator, which is. Is basically just this. You don't do the pumping, but is you do with both hands and it's that sort of bellows breathing.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Which I will give you a secret. And to any secret out there, if the next time you go on an audition, go into the bathroom three minutes beforehand, you're getting the job.

[C]

Do it.

[A]

Is. It's. Is really Is. Well, because what is breath is. Is you're just flooding the system with energy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is when the energetic state, you know, prime. You know, is. He calls it a state. But it's. If the state of the body is heightened in energy, then what happens is, is, you know, when we don't have enough energy, we react instead of respond. When there's enough energy, you can respond instead of react.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And in that responsive state, you're the most creative. You know. And you hear everybody talk about Bill Murray is one of them. He says, you know, I think that people do the best work when they're the most relaxed. Is so for me, his relaxation is enormous. And Alan Arkin was the same way, who has written two great books on sort of meditation and sort of how it made its way into. Into his life. But is. Is priming the. The system with enough energy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is you're only going to make better decisions?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know.

[C]

Yeah. That's wild. And then the second part of the priming is also very Kundalini. As you picture a swirling light going in and into the earth and then coming back and actually out. So into the center of the earth and out. And while you're doing that, you're, you know, he's saying these things, but compassion and patience and love and virtue and heal me and strengthen me and cleanse me and all this stuff. And you're just like, it's. I look forward to it. Look a little brag. It's not even a humble brag. I've been getting up at 5:30 every day. Because I can't wait to do it. And that's been the. This great revelation of my 40s is I'm like, energy isn't just sleep and food. It's having purpose. And when you're gonna get up, so I get up. It's dark. Boy, I can't. I can't. I love telling people this because it's been so meaningful to me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's 5:30 in the morning. I get up, I go outside, it's still dark, the stars are out. I get in the cold plunge. And I've been doing it so consistently that I don't even mind getting in the cold plunge. I know. You know, I want to talk about that too. But I get in and it's. And then when I'm in the cold plunge, I do box breathing. That's how I get through it. It's also how I time it. Because four box breaths is.

[A]

I got a hack for it. That's that I came up with that. I was like, somebody else must have come up with this. Tell me it's a really good one for cold plunging.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Along with the box breathing.

[C]

Because that's a thing.

[A]

Totally. But is. And I heard you talk about this once. Is you have to convince yourself that you like it.

[C]

I smile.

[B]

Smile.

[A]

Same thing.

[C]

I smile.

[A]

I. I smile right before I get in. I smile and I go, best thing in the whole world. Best thing in the whole world.

[C]

Yes, that's right. I go, this is the opposite of death.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Is it one of mine?

[A]

So, but it's just like.

[C]

This is the opposite.

[A]

I think you got your next special. Is. Is the. One of the things. What does everybody do? Everybody gets in and they do this and they try to Wim hof it. They'll try to. And I was just like, well, all right. So if that's what everybody does and it's not working, what's the opposite? So I started doing this thing. And it totally works. When you get in, especially if you're, you know, if you're really below. Below. If you're like 30, 29, 27. If you really make it cold, cold.

[B]

Cold.

[A]

Is get in there and with the box breathing with your exhales is. Is make sex sounds. Is whatever sounds you make while you're having sex. It does. There's a must be a vagus nerve thing that happens. But is making the sounds of you in actual pleasure.

[C]

Val and I are love going, it's not exactly my sex sound. I won't do that here. But It's. It is similar. And when we're stressed, we go. And Huberman, the Internet's neuroscientist, told us that sighing for like 30 seconds, just doing like that has a profound change on your physiology. So that's a great little hack.

[A]

I've always been so enamored by those little hacks that, like, you don't have to believe in shit, you just have to do it. And the effect is enormous. Like that old psychological study. What is. Whatever it is, is you look at somebody in the eyes for four minutes and you fall in love with them. That kind of thing is like, who stumbled on that shit. I know when I think about those things, I just always remember back to the pre Vedantic, the real Rishis, the guys who like. Because what does Rishi mean? Rishi means they listen. These are people who. That internal orbit, they found that stuff because that stuff is amazing.

[C]

No, wrong way to eat a Rishi. Yeah, it sounds like I do ketamine a lot. I don't. I've only done it like three times in my life, but one time I did it. You know, your body feels so good. You're incredibly present. And I just started kind of like doing tai chi, even though I don't know tai chi. But it didn't feel egoic, like, I know Tai chi. It made me feel like, oh, no, someone discovered Tai Chi. Yeah, Tai chi was in us. And someone, Reishi, Someone listened and brought it back from that place that we all have access to. And I was like, this is weird. And I fucking loved it. Yeah, really cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I've always vibed with the people who live in that place. And. But the people that I actually vibe with the most is the people who have a pure residence there, but also use their prayers to find a fucking parking spot. Is. You know, is. Because both worlds. Yeah, well, you have to, because, look, one of my teachers says, you know, look, without an ego, you wouldn't remember where your car is, you know, and so is the idea is, you know, that you have to be able to use these things. And my specific teacher, whose name is Taj.

[C]

Is this the woman? Yeah, because I have my pinky up here and it's to remember to ask you about your teacher. So there's a life hack for you.

[A]

And a pinky is so. Yeah, she.

[C]

What's her name?

[A]

Taj. Taj, yeah. Which was funny because, like, either last night or on the way last night I was listening to Ram Dass just getting your vibe. And. And. And he was Talking about he was giving a story of the Buddha and he was talking about how when the Buddha reached enlightenment, how this sort of radiance comes out. And he goes, it's. Oh, and that radiance is called Tej. I was like, oh, very good.

[C]

No way.

[A]

But that is what tej means. It means that sort of celestial radiance.

[C]

How are we spelling that?

[A]

T, E, J. Tej.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And she. So I went up to her. I went to one more class after that and I was about to leave and Russell just takes me by the hand and holds my hand and brings me up to her and just kind of like leaves me there. And she goes, hi. And she goes, here's this 40 day meditation. You can do it, right? I went, yep. I was like, it just came out, if anything to pat myself on the back.

[B]

Back.

[A]

I am a good student. Is there is no. When I find a teacher that I trust.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And I don't trust anybody.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

When I trust them as a teacher. Is. It's. It's all or nothing. It's. It's empty cup fill it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Is they. They can do no wrong.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And that was the decision. There was some pre karmic thing and she leaned right into it. And. And also, you know, is she. Is. She is the, you know, in the. In the. In the sort of Kundalini la. You know, there's. There's lots of, you know, just like when you talked about going to Hawaii and you're like, oh, there's gonna be a lot of hippie dippy, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is Taj is very, very different because she's the Yoda. This is the one who doesn't suffer fools. And I remember we were in class and my stick. Yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much little soup. But is Tay's too old, you know, Is just that kind of too old.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is the. I remember I was in class class early on and I brought my wife and in the middle class, giant class and we're in the middle of a meditation and I was doing something wrong and she just yells at me, just lays right into me. And I remember I just was like, like this. And my wife was like, I didn't like that. She yelled. And I was like, I loved it. And I was like. And she's like, why? And I was like. I was like, have you seen the way that she treats?

[B]

If.

[A]

If you're a tourist, if you're a spiritual tourist, it's oh yeah, it's oh like good for you.

[C]

But she's giving you the real.

[A]

And she's going, you want to get rid of this stuff?

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Let's get rid of it.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And so I. And which is the perfect. I don't. Is very, very early on. One of my earliest teachers. Talk about weird, like, synchronistic things. Was one of my biggest teachers of acts, was my high school drama coach who had a double doctorate from USC and taught at USC.

[C]

Double Ds.

[A]

Yeah, double Ds. Big Ds. And his name was Doc. But he's taught at USC for 25 years and then left and started teaching in high school. So he was this library of knowledge. But he was one of my first teachers. And I remember, I. Where was I going?

[B]

Oh.

[A]

So I went to my first class. I'm sitting there, he's big, he's loud, he's incredibly smart. This guy's a 200 IQ was just, you know, a force to be reckoned with. It was my first class, and I got up there and I did a. A monologue that I memorized the night before. And he goes. He goes, stop. And he goes. He goes, you tell me the truth and I'll give you an A in this class, okay? And he goes, how many times have you done that? I go, I think I did it twice last night. And he goes, so you've never acted before? Not really. And he goes, okay. And sort of took me under his wing because he saw something.

[C]

Oh, he did.

[A]

He saw.

[C]

I thought this was going to be a bad story. Get the out of here. That's what I was waiting for.

[A]

But. But the way that I'm getting to how it relates to Taj is. Is he was infamous.

[C]

That's like Chappelle, by the way. You know that Chappelle story?

[B]

No.

[C]

He blew his audition trying to do a monologue to get into the art School in D.C. but they let him in anyway because they were like. They saw potential. They saw something going on.

[B]

Very cool.

[A]

Is so I. He was infamous for when you were in a play with him in the. Inevitably, what happened in the middle when people were trying to find what. You know, when somebody had committed to something that was, you know, and they were trying to push and it didn't work, is he would go into these 45 minute screaming sessions that were dubbed the you suck speech that inevitably would end with him going, you suck. I mean, this little Irish guy from Boston with the handlebar mustache who is smarter than anything, saying, you suck. And I remember the first time that I got sitting there crying, you got it.

[C]

You Suck.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I got. I got a couple.

[B]

Couple.

[C]

But why do I feel like you were lucky?

[A]

Because when I look back on it is when. When you see it from the outside. All right, so here's this guy who's. Who's creatively traumatizing these kids is if. If you're not going to be an actor, you leave there going, that guy's an asshole. If you weather that, that's the best. Is how many times as an actor are you in your own head going, you suck. And you gotta keep going. You know, it's just like Chappelle getting booed off at the Apollo is when he was sitting there going, this ain't so fucking bad. Is this the worst? Oh, this is the worst. Oh, I can do this. It's the same thing, is that you suck when you internalize that and go. And you got to keep going, and then you're gonna be brilliant.

[C]

That's Glengarry Glen Ross, where he goes, you think this is abuse?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You can't take this. How are you gonna take the abuse? You get on a sit.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And a sit is a sales call.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

So weird.

[B]

Just.

[A]

I have so much to share with you. But he. So I started. My first play was the. I was a freshman. And then at back to school night, which my mother would usually only come to, my dad decided to come to that one. I was like, why are you. And he came, and we walk into. Can I have one?

[C]

It's nicotine.

[A]

I know.

[C]

It's 6 milligrams of nicotine.

[A]

Is.

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

That's a lot.

[C]

That's a lot.

[A]

Okay, let's just play it out. The Maharishi, it's for beginners. You're comfortable with that amount?

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Okay. So. So my dad comes back to school night, and we walk into the theater, and my dad looks at Dr. His name is Dr. Ford. Looks at Dr. Ford. Dr. Ford looks at him. They both scream, run. And my dad grabs him in a bear hug and picks him up, and I go, what the fuck is going on?

[B]

And.

[A]

And Dr. Ford said when he was younger, my dad was an actor. He was on Dukes of Hazard.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And my dad was on the $25,000 pyramid. And so is Dr. Ford being this smarty pants that he was. Was on Jeopardy. And $25,000 pyramid. And one Jeopardy. And one $25,000 pyramid with my father as my father and him won the $25,000.

[C]

What a crazy synchronicity.

[A]

And he says to him, and he goes, the money that I won on $25,000 pyramid, I used to get my doctorate. He goes, I'm a. He says, I'm a doctor because of that money that your father. And I was like, how much did he win?

[C]

I'm just kidding. It's in the name.

[A]

And the craziest part was back in back. Is a week later, I come home from school, I turn on the tv and I saw it. I turn on that point where they were. They were sitting, and I was like, shut up. It was wild. It was wild.

[C]

Your whole life was folding in on itself, dude.

[A]

So there are so many of those. There's so many. Is. Is those the type of experiences that I. That have been happening to me my entire life, and I live in that space, and the less that you're affected by them, the more that they come. Right.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

There's. But in any case, is. Is the. Those types of teachers. Is. I've always like whiplash.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Is.

[C]

I worry that we're. You know, I watch whiplash. I even hear that story, and I'm like, I don't love it if someone yelled at my daughter like that. And then I'm also aware. I'll put it like this. I love to. I loved teaching my daughter how to swim because the pool was a much harsher teacher than I was.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because I'm too doting.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But the pool would make her cough up water.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

And then I watched her learn how to swim. And it wasn't just data being there and helping her. It was when she got dunked and, like, scared and all that stuff. I was like, you know, these teachers are mimicking nature or they're mimicking an aspect of reality.

[A]

That's. That's. That's exactly right. Is. To me, the teacher is.

[B]

Is.

[A]

It's. There's. There's a million. There's a million teachers out there who are strict and trying to impose something that. That they've learned in a certain way.

[B]

It.

[A]

For me, it's. It's always been an energetic thing when you know that there's no ego behind what they're doing. It feels different.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is. This is. Is. This isn't. Has nothing to do with them.

[C]

It. This has.

[A]

Is. You know, it's like that. I forget the name of the deity, but there's a Buddha with, like, 10 different heads. And the idea is. And the ones near the top are sort of, like, animalistic and wrathful. And the idea is that you have to have access to all of these different. If somebody's in. You have to meet people where they are. And even for compassionate beings, is. Is if you have to be in a wrathful state to be able to access the person.

[C]

You know those stories about the teacher that goes up to a student while they're walking in the garden and he hits them with a stick?

[B]

No.

[C]

And he's like, if you were being present, you would have heard me coming sort of thing. It's like, how did you not hear a guy running up behind you?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

That's fierce.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So it's. To me, I've always just been very acutely aware of like, is this the person or is the is? And I've always just resonated with you. Follow the teaching, not the teacher. Is. If you tune into the teaching, what's that old saying which is like, even the dirt from a holy man's clothes will make you clean. If they're just using the parts of the personality to color the situation, then that's fine. But the foundation of it is something great. It's not, it's not, it's not a personal trip.

[C]

And how did this tie back to Taj?

[A]

It's just that she's been. She's been a teacher that. That takes, you know, if. If you're going to study under her. Is. Is you're gonna get. You're gonna get.

[C]

What is your relationship? Do you go to the classes or do you have like a one on one kind of thing or is that even available?

[A]

Yeah, I go, I go to the classes, have been going for. For years and years. And I remember talking about this relationship that I've had this resonance with, the sort of teacher, student, guru, disciple relationship that I hold so dearly is. It was a big snag for me was they were doing a Kundalini yoga teacher training and. And something was telling me to go. And you know, is, you know, you fight with that part and you go, you know, because you're going. I was like, no, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. And. And something said, well, ask her whether you should go or not. And she was having a conversation with somebody else after class. And I walk up to her and. And I'm walking up and she's in the middle of conversation. And she was goes, you're going. And I went, wow. All right, okay. So. But even then, when I was in the training, I was in the middle of training, you know, and you know, you're putting in all of your hours and doing all of this stuff and learning everything and. And then it's supposed to be your first time. Like you're training wheels of teaching somebody. You're supposed to just buddy up with somebody and teach them, you know, a very, very three minute meta, you know, meditation. And it comes to that part and I go and I hide in the fucking bathroom. And I was like, what is this? I was like, I did not want to be the teacher. It did not is something went. Held such reverence for the institution of what it is to teach.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

To transmit something.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, I mean, you know, Ram Dass would talk about that all the time. He's just like, look, I. He's like, I haven't lost one of my neuroses. I'm not realized I'm a teaching, not a teacher. But then slowly I came back out and there was this old guy, big, long beard and big like this. And he was the guy who got put to me. And I was like. And he goes. I was like, all right. So I sat there and I taught him the first meditation. And then I was like, oh, not a big deal.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And then it was also, you know, there was a. There was a revelatory process that I'm interested to hear your perspective on too. Because a lot of the things I see you communicating to other people.

[C]

I.

[A]

See the look on their face that I've seen so many people I speak to to is that. That's so transparent, that's so foundational. And I realized that maybe I did have some perspective that could be of service. That could actually, you know, is. Is where you know this. You've spoken about it before about this need to give advice, you know, and how that can drive people crazy. Is when I've always been of the same mind, is when I see people lead with a weakness or live by a weakness, I just go like, we can look, we can do this. We can get this out of the way.

[C]

You should have seen me at the. Yesterday, I was joking, making fun of myself. And I. I was like, what's the problem? You have let me help. Because I was catching myself being very advicey. But I just check in now I go, is everybody liking this? But you can't even trust them to.

[A]

Say, no, no, no. But is. I felt. I remember when you were talking with Rain Wilson, who I know Rain also. And you were talking and I forget exactly what you were talking about, but it was about being able to do something or not do something. And you were saying, yeah, but don't.

[C]

It was parents did the best they could.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Was that it? Yeah, I still think about it.

[A]

And. And you were like, and I've so been there. And. And. And you were like. And I was like, oh, I wonder if he's gonna pull out a good metaphor. Yeah. And. And Rain was just locked in.

[C]

Teetering. Yeah, he was.

[A]

He was locked into. No, they could have done better. You know, like, if they could have, wouldn't have.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And how the. The analogy that I always use is like, well, if you're at the gym, you don't try not to lift the weight. You don't go, you know, if a dog doesn't do a behavior, it's not trying not to do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

This is. Rain was for those that didn't listen. Rainn was saying, I said, your parents did the best they could. And he said, did they? They could have done better. And what's interesting about that is even the notion, there's a humility to it, the notion that you could do better or that you could learn from somebody or you could ask for help or you could read a book or what were their resources? Right. What was their curiosity level? How. How many of their needs were being met then? I. I stick firmly to, like, they did as best they could. They would like to. But they might not even be aware of the potential of a better situation.

[B]

Right.

[C]

So they don't even know what they're going for.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

So that's the best they could do.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And it's a slippery slope. I get it. Is like, in terms of. Because a lot of the times, you know, when we're. When we experience some kind of trauma, especially if it's parental, is, you know, if we come out the other side of it, we go, yeah, but if they wouldn't have done this, then I wouldn't be who I am now. And I feel like a lot of the times there is enormous validity in that insofar as, like, you know, my parents chased me with a gun up a mountain, and if they wouldn't have chased me with that gun, I don't know if I'd be up this mountain. Like, well, we don't need to totally excuse that behavior.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It can be both. It can be both.

[C]

Go ahead.

[A]

That's it. Go ahead.

[C]

I was thinking, Byron, Katie has that quote where he goes where she goes. You can argue with reality, but you'll only lose every single time.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

And then when her teaching the work, which I find very profound, if you apply it to this situation, my parents could have done Better. There's a lot of assumptions there, one of which is my parents should know what I want, what I would have liked. They should have known what my standard and my desires were. They don't. They're just. Who knows what they're doing? I have to do this with my own folks.

[A]

The thing that I always like about this, somebody said this once, and I went, oh, I'll use that one. Which is just like. Expectation is just resentment wearing different clothes. It's just in disguise, is any expectation is just. You're just waiting to go. That was one. That's one that I used.

[C]

I love that because I always say expectation's the enemy of comedy. Meaning if I think it's gonna be something, it's gonna be. I'm in the wrong place. I can have a desire that it be good. But you have to be, like you said, curious to what it is to who your parents are and what the mountain is.

[A]

And in relation to comedy is. It's why I've always felt like punch lines. Yeah, I remember. Always need to be surprising and inevitable.

[C]

That's what Matt Johnson said.

[A]

Did he say the same thing?

[C]

I loved it. I'll never forget it. So I'm so glad you said it.

[A]

I'm just reiterating.

[C]

No, did you listen to that one?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Surprising, but inevitable.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I was gonna go a different place because I've always had a weird relationship with the idea of punchlines. I don't like that it's reduced to like. And that's the funny line. As if that's what's going on. And I've always likened that to saying, like, an erection is blood and semen rushing to the phallus. Like, get the out of here. Because, again, I did a show recently, and it was one of those great nights where you kind of steal the night. It's one of my favorite things.

[A]

Things.

[C]

Everybody's doing great, but then you go up and you figure something out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You merge with the audience in a way. And I'm like, it's not because I had better punchlines. It had so much to do. Just like sex. Phallus blood. Had to do with eye contact. It had to do with a vulnerability. Had to do with, like, folding them into the experience, letting them in, telling them that they were good, not to manipulate them. But I was really being like, you guys are great. That joke didn't work. That stinks. You just cut it and they're, like, going nuts now. It's an incredible set. Had nothing to do with the Punchlines. I just those are the notes on the paper but like the spirit of the the pianist playing it. That's what we're really engaging with.

[A]

You know what I'm saying man. Thank you. But I, I, I really you know is six year old Ryan is Thank you. Because I've been a comedy savant since I was younger is and I've never heard somebody talk about it the way that I've felt about it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's the reason why I never got is I wanted to be a stand up comedian. When I was younger I had no interest in acting at all. But I also knew that you know I've always been drawn to the sort of Me personally my personal you know preferences are like kind of like the umami of comedy. You know is the people who are you know to me Bamford is Mick Jagger. She's doing something that is or it's all X factor.

[C]

Yeah. It's all something special but it's people who are really.

[A]

I referenced this before when I was texting you is I remember Mitch Hedberg.

[C]

I was just thinking about that right before he said it.

[A]

Yeah. Early on when he was had a stand up bass guy who stood behind him or there's a guy out there now.

[C]

Chuck.

[A]

Yeah yeah.

[C]

When the joke doesn't work. Pick it up.

[A]

Chuck.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And and, and and listening to Mark Forward. Mark Forward is doing some wild out there stuff and and also like those sort of truth tellers like Gerald and stuff. And I knew that the courage or the I didn't have those bones is that I wouldn't like what I was able to offer because that's what I liked and I didn't want to go. You know there's a lion tamer quality of being a standup and I did and I knew what I would probably become in that process of you know in taming the audience. But to hear you talk about folding them in is everything that as a.

[C]

Soul.

[A]

Is just it's emerging. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing to hear you.

[C]

I appreciate that that. Yeah. I, I remember reading a lot of books when I was that meant every, I loved every part of that. I'm not dismissing it. When I read books about stand up and they would give examples of what a punchline was. I still remember what it was. It was. What was it? I'm a writer. I write a lot of checks. It's fine. Mostly fiction. That was the three. They go. The setup is I'm a writer. The punchline is is I write a lot of Checks the tag is mostly fiction. And that's all fine, but I remember reading that and thinking about Robin Williams Live at the Met, or whatever it was. I was like, I'm still. I'm really firmly of the opinion that no one's coming to hear. I'm a writer. I write a lot of. And when I thought about Mitch, who writes jokes like that. Do you want a frozen banana? No, but I want a regular banana later. So, yeah, joke.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

But when you think about him, you're thinking about an essence. I'm thinking about his smile and his glasses and his hair. Not just his image, but what he communicated. You wanted to be at that guy's lunch table. And the jokes, I feel very firmly were an excuse to hang out in his energy.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And then to recreate in that space and to just. What if we looked at the world through this guy's eyes? Not for his ego, but for the break of it, for the joy of it. And, like, that's what I think about when I think about Mitch or Steve Martin. Steve Martin's jokes are pretty dumb. I'm not saying that I think he would agree. Grandpa bought a rubber.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, I'm not saying it's stupid. I'm saying it's silly. It's a silly joke. And if I went to an open mic and someone did that poorly, I wouldn't. But if their energy matched the material.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Also, what I was thinking when you were talking about wanting to be a standard up. Forget where I heard this, but every artist has to go through a period where they disappoint their own taste.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

Like, you're not as good as. Like, you got into it because you knew what was good. And then the humiliation is you have to go through about 10 years of not matching your own standard.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And some people never match their own standard.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think my. For me is that my standard was so versed that I was like, you know, is when I would watch Mitch, you know, especially, like, his first special or some of his early stuff, when he would come out and he would break the fourth wall by just kind of saying, like, oh, you don't like me yet? Yeah. Let. It is the savage. Whatever. The savage courage is that. That kind of stuff.

[C]

I'm all about it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm at the.

[C]

This is. This show that I told you that I won.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I hate to say that I won, but I'm just gonna own it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Meaning I just won my own set.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

I brought home a big fucking carcass. It was awesome. I'm watching the show, and I'm like, this crowd is tired. This crowd is not into it. I don't know about this. And I'm also, you know, I'm shooing away thoughts like, if you hadn't done this show, you would have tucked Leela in tonight. You would have read books to her, but instead, you're sitting here watching kind of a bad show.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So I go up, and I'm telling you this just because I really feel strongly you're going to enjoy it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

I go up on stage, and they're done clapping before I've gotten the mic out of the. It's like a. Yep. It's. It's nothing.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And it dies before I've had time. And I don't dally.

[A]

I'm going for it.

[C]

And I pointed at one guy who I just happened to see was right in the front, and I go, you didn't clap at all.

[B]

All.

[C]

And he starts clapping, and I go, no, no, no. Not until I've earned it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Then I do my set, and it's. This is a nice little war story. Killer.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Killer. And at the end, I look at him and I go, now you can clap. And it was.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm so privileged. My life is pretty boring in the best way. I'm a dad. I'm a husband. Going around getting eggs from the church. Chickens.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's my life.

[A]

Chop wood, carry water.

[C]

And then every once in a while, I go out and I fucking tell someone when to clap. I tell another. Another grown man on a date, and he loves it, and I shake his hand, and we're happy. Oh, growth challenge. It was scary.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

What's coming out when Mitch says, you don't like me yet? It's a little bit of acknowledging fear, which is a great thing to do with fear, is to label it. You guys didn't even clap for me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, God. How's this gonna go?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then at the end, it's this whole little arc.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And I'm like, for Valerie, it's dance. She goes out and dances, and she comes home with the exact same energy as me when I come home from a set. So I'm not telling anybody to be a comic. I'm saying, find your. Your little. The little woods you go into to find whatever it is you eat.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

And it should be dark, and it should be a little unpredictable and wild.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because then, you know, now we can talk about neuroscience. Dopamine is released when Expectations are exceeded. So I was like, it's going to be a bad show. And then it was a great show. And then you're like, always.

[A]

The way it works, too. I mean, it's like that way with an audition, you know, is you walk in, then you try to. And then it never failed. And you walk in there and go, I don't give a. And they go, we love you. It's like that old Elias Kazan was looking for the role in the Rebel Without a Cause. And he tells the story about when James Zane walked in. And he was like, yeah, do you have any questions about the material? He goes, yeah, can I use your phone? And he walks in, he calls his friend and talks on the phone for like, five minutes with his friend. And he hangs up and he goes, yeah, I gotta go. And he leaves. And the last goes, that guy? No, and I think it was a genuine thing. Is that just that he was. He was not. You know, he was. He was what? What? He was along those lines just to tell you a really funny story, because.

[C]

If it was fake.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But nobody would book that guy.

[A]

But I'll tell you another reason just to revisit. I don't know, I'm talking about Jackson so much, but was when he was trying to be an actor and he said. And he was getting, like, really down, you know, just like all geniuses. Like, nobody recognizes any of the shit that he's doing. And. And. And I said, well, you have to make these auditions fun for you, too. And I remember seeing this little twinkle, and I go, oh.

[C]

Oh, fuck.

[A]

And so he went on these auditions, and I would. And. And I would ask him about. And I go, like, what happened? And he told these stories, these two stories, and he's my hero because of this. He went into this one audition, they said, you know, yeah, do you have any questions about the material? And then he just kind of went into this litany of questions, even down to like, why the writer chose this font for the. And. And down and asked all of these questions. And they kind of, you know, humored him and said, okay. And they said, you ready? He goes, yeah. He goes, okay. And the scene started. The scene started with him coming in a door. So he goes out the door. He goes out the door and left. So. So they're. They're waiting for him to come in and start the scene, and he left. I was like, I love this guy. He did another audition.

[C]

He didn't get it?

[A]

No, he did not get it. He did another one where he did. He did the audition and he did it straight. And then he went to the casting director and he shook his hand and he had $20 in his hand. That's for you.

[C]

That.

[A]

I was like, oh. I was like, you.

[C]

That is good. I love that stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That is just such. And. But the key is, is it's not faked. Like, Steve Martin is silly. He does a silly joke. It works. James Dean is that guy. By the way, very similar Luke Perry story to 90210. Did you hear that story? Apparently he came straight from work and he was in his work shirt. He took it off. They said he stunk because he was doing construction all day. And I'm pretty sure he smoked a cigarette. And everybody was like. And the person that mattered.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Was like, that's Dylan McKay.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But it's.

[A]

You gotta. You gotta stand by what that internal.

[C]

A lot of the times show us who you are.

[A]

You really gotta.

[C]

But know who you are. And if you don't, we don't want to see your guests.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And we. And. And we don't want to see your best guess either.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Or what you think is your best.

[C]

Or what you're supposed to be. That's the comedian that goes up and they're like, I'm a Bill Burr type. I'm like, have you talked to Bill? Because he's exactly that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah, he's exactly that. He's a little. He's more balanced and more nuanced maybe, or gentle.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But it's that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And that. That's when the.

[B]

The.

[C]

It really sings. Is when you. But then the. The best work is self. Work is working on yourself, figuring out friends, relationships, projects, all inform your art so much. It's not just. I see comics that just do sets and then they just become the robot that does sets.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And I'm like, yeah, I'm not so sure about that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Where's the. Where's the great story? That's why every comic in the 80s was talking about airline peanuts, because all they were doing was flying.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

[C]

Yeah, it's not that interesting.

[A]

Yeah, I think I told you. I kind of was. Again, like, being so enamored with. With comedy also is like sort of is. I grew up with all of these comics is back in the late 80s and early 90s when they were handing out, you know, sitcoms to comics, you know, at the airport. Is. Is. I don't know how, but my mother became this sort of beacon to the. To the studios.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, tell them.

[C]

Tell them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And just to. To. To comics to teach them how to act. So I would be sitting in the back of her class, and it was just, you know, it was George Lopez, George Wallace, Craig Shoemaker, you know, Tim Curry mentioned.

[C]

Tim Allen, too.

[A]

Yeah, Tim Allen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And one of my favorite George Wallace stories was there's this girl who was very new to acting, and she had an audition where she had to be changing her clothes, and she was. She was a bit overweight, and she. And so she was in front of the class, you know, putting her pants on, you know, and she was really nervous, and my mom kind of. Of like, talked her through it and got it got her up and got her feeling good about it. And immediately afterwards, George Wallace walks up there and he just goes, this is for you, baby. And he drops his pants, and he's wearing leopard underwear. Oh, I love this guy. And then another one of those synchronistic things was when I did Lady Killers, he played the sheriff in Lady Killers. And I was like, I'm Candy Canucky. And he goes, oh, my God, I remember you. Da, da, da. There was a funny Tom Hanks bit of that, too. Was. Is when I was in lady, this you'll like. This was. So the two VHS tapes that I.

[C]

Had was kind of sounded like Tom Hanks just said.

[A]

People have said that before. I don't know.

[C]

I'm getting a lot of bridges. I've been waiting to say, okay, yeah.

[A]

Kundalini and I just love doing some breath work.

[C]

It's our thing.

[A]

It's what we're about, man. So two funny Tom Hanks bit was one, like. So going in the makeup trailer and getting my makeup done, and he's in there and he's doing the old actor prep shtick, red, leather, yellow. And he's doing all this stuff. And I look over at him, he goes, yeah, I do all that garbage. And I go, it made me feel so good. There was that.

[C]

It's like James Hetfield in some kind of monster going, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. I was like the most metal guy. So beautiful. Me, me.

[A]

You have to do it.

[C]

Yeah, fuck you. Fuck your ego. Do it. Get in the stairwell.

[A]

But that. And then. And then we did a scene. We did a scene where he had this long monologue, and they shot everybody else's coverage first, and he was nailing it, and then turned around onto him, and he kept fucking. And he turns to me, he goes, don't you fucking hate that? He goes. He goes, the Camera's not on you. And you. And I can't go wrong. And he goes, put it on you.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And I go, oh, my God, I love that so much. But the. The funny bit was the other VHS tape that I had was. Punchline is, watch it over and over and over and over again. To speak to. One of the reasons why I ended up not becoming a comic was I remember there's a little bit in that movie when they're sitting in the diner, which is like one of the best scenes, and he's like, eat the food in such a fucking charismatic way. And. And Sally Fields is talking to him and he. About being a comic and what she thinks it is to be a comic. And he just goes, what do you need it for? You have your life. What do you need it for? And I remember just. And I remember even being fierce, young, and kind of going, there are things that I need, but I don't. I don't need it like that. I don't. That. That part. I don't. For whatever reason, there's. There's another need that I have to scratch, but it's not that. And I know. And something in me said, unless you have that.

[C]

Well, that's what I tell comics. They go, like, I tried it, and then I stopped for four years. And I'm like. I don't say stop in my head. I'm going, like, yeah, maybe it didn't bite you. And that's okay.

[A]

There was a friend of mine growing up who was a box, and he was really good, and I met him, and I don't know if he went Golden Globes or went to the Olympics. And then I met him years later and I said, like. And he. And he was. I forget what he was doing, but he was not boxing anymore. And I go. I go, what about boxing? And he goes, you know, I was raised as a boxer. I was boxing my whole life. Loved it, Loved it. And he goes. And then I fought somebody who really wanted to be a boxer.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[A]

And I was like. I was like, okay, okay. I was like, I get it.

[C]

That is a great. You're full of such great little stories. It's amazing.

[A]

But the Tom Hanks bit was. We were in between takes. It was fantastic.

[C]

Can I just stop? Then I met someone who really wanted.

[A]

Yeah, isn't that good? I remember I said it, and I was just like. It was such a whirl. I was like, yeah, yeah, that's a pill. Yeah, I get you. So.

[C]

Right. Yes.

[A]

Go on.

[C]

Tom Hanks.

[A]

But was Tom Hanks, like, meeting the Dalai Lama? I'm dropping names everywhere. Just doesn't disappoint. He's exactly who. Just like Bill is like, he's exactly. What you want out of Tom Hanks is he is the most down to earth, smartest, hard working, amazing human being. Called me on the weekend. He was like, yeah, you want to go to a Dodger game? I was like, yes, I want to go to a Dodger. I mean, it was just fantastic. But we're sitting there and we're in between takes and it was me, him, and J.K. simmons was in whiplash. And. And wow. And. And Marlon Wayans. And we're sitting there talking and we're riffing about something and he tried to pirate one of his lines from Punchline. He goes like we're talking about superheroes or something. And he goes, yeah, and Wonder Woman, you know, she has an invisible jet. How did she find it? And like, I was vomited out of my mouth the rest of his set. And I went. And I went, you know, I went, table guy, you know, he fights crime at dinner for four, you know, big lady. I would just run into the entire. And he just looks at me, goes, you're fucking weird.

[C]

I go, yeah, what if he took your hand? And that'll get me through the game?

[A]

There you go.

[C]

That'll get me through the game. Oh, wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Still amazing, though. He probably loved it secretly. What do you say? Except. So you met the Dalai Lama as well.

[A]

Crazy. You know, I'm not even go into that whole story of how I ended up there.

[C]

Golden ticket and a chocolate bar.

[A]

Pretty, pretty much. It is. I'll tell it to you off camera. It's quite a woo. Woo is for somebody who lives in Woowooville. It was, it was up there really, about how and why it all transpired, but he was like, Tom Hanks. He didn't disappoint. It was that he was that guy.

[C]

I kind of want to hear the story.

[A]

Yeah, I'll tell it to you. Just because it's one of those things kind of like sometimes those experiences are so sort of out there that when you tell them, you. You feel like you're bringing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I don't want to.

[C]

I get it.

[A]

So. But in any case, the question, you know, I was there for an hour and the. He goes, you know, do you have a question? And I was there sort of for a different reason. But the question that I asked was comedy related, as I said, you know, I once heard you speak and you were saying that humor and comedy is your secret weapon. I said, how. How would you suggest that people integrate laughter more formally into their spiritual practice? And he gave me one of these. And that was sort of the teaching. And then he went into talking about the. The nature of, like, sort of ohm. Heartedness or like, agape, that sort of that. That loving compassion, and spoke on that.

[B]

But.

[A]

But yeah, it was. That was. That was phenomenal.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

That was phenomenal.

[C]

That's great.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, we didn't really cover. We cover spirituality the whole way, so I feel like we don't have to. But you are a Sikh.

[B]

Ish. Yeah.

[C]

Seekish.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You have a knife on you.

[A]

No, I don't. I. I usually cover.

[C]

My Sikhs carry knives. That's to be helpful, not to be scary.

[A]

I do always wear my. My coat. I would consider myself a Sikh. Is. I haven't taken amrit, which is, you know, like the orthodox version of becoming Sikh, but is. Out of all the religions that I sort of investigated and really kind of like, is. It's one of those ones that I have no logical way of explaining why it resonated with me. Out of everything that I'd studied, everything that I practiced, everything that I'd believed, there was just an. The first time that I went to India, that I went to Amritsar.

[B]

It.

[A]

Just must have been some past life thing is the Gurmukhi, the language and all of the trappings of it, for whatever reason that I hadn't no experience, none with, felt like home to me. And I was like, huh? And I'm still continually in awe of why this resonates so profoundly for me.

[C]

You know, that Bob Thurman story, He went to Tibet, I think, and he learned Tibetan in, like, three weeks. And he was like, that's because I used to speak it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just don't remember.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[C]

That's so cool.

[B]

Absolutely.

[C]

Thurman's dad.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I heard him tell that story. I was like, that reminds me of that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's really cool, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No, is when I went to India, I was having these dreams that I was inside of the Golden Temple, which is kind of like the epicenter of Amritsar, which is. The Golden Temple is one of the largest religious structures on the planet. And I had these dreams that I was. Was inside there cleaning, and then. And then I was speaking with one of the savedars, the guys who run the place. And. And I told one of them that. And. And they're like, well, let's See, and we tried to get me in there just to be able to go in, and then they closed it and they started cleaning it. And there are these guards out there, these guys called nihongs, which are like the savage guys, these big giant guys with spears and all this kind of stuff. And. And one guy goes up and talks and says, like, you know, can you let him in there?

[B]

And. No.

[A]

And I just could have stood there and just kind of like in the best way that I could just open my heart kind of like. And I just stood there and this guy watched me for about 20 minutes just staring at me, and he goes like this. And he goes. He points to this big iron bowl, and he goes, go over and pick up this bowl. And he goes, put it on my head. And he goes, I walk in there.

[C]

With the bowl on your head?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just part of the cleaning process. They were just cleaning the joint and. And I bring it and I put it down. Come in here. And then there's all these saved us all dressed in white singing. And they hand me a broom. I'm like.

[C]

It'S your dream.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was like, wow. And there was a lot of. A lot of things like that in. But Sikhism, for. For me, it's been the only religion, you know, formal religion, that I haven't found a dogma that limits. For me, it's just so is. You know, the way that I always put it is like, you know, in the. In the. In the human experience, like, Sikhs to me are always like boy scouts. They're always going to be cool. They're always going to be there to help you across the street. You know, you can walk up to any Sikh and say, like, hey, can I have your shoes? They'll go like, yeah, here's. Here's my.

[C]

Right. Big service.

[A]

It's just big, big service is that. There hasn't been any dogma that I have personally run into that is not. Not anything but welcoming enough service that there's no. Is it. It's incorporative of every other religion. It just. It has this vibratory effect that for me is, you know, if. If. If there's a certain sound and I'm the wine glass. Is. Is. Is whatever reason, it really, really feels like home. And it just feels like home, man. It really does. And. Which is so fricking weird.

[C]

I love it. I'm glad you found it. I'm glad you found it. Is it non dualie at the bottom?

[A]

Absolutely, Completely, totally. Ego disillusion is the joint. There's enormously synchronistic things between Hinduism, bits of Hinduism, and especially Buddhism is. All the different forms of Buddhism. But is. Is along with that is really. This idea of service is. Amritsar is the largest free kitchen on the planet as a part of the. You know, the church is. They have the largest kitchen. So anybody can go there at any time, 24 hours a day and get food. And get food. But yeah, it just. It feels amazing to me.

[B]

Wow. Yeah.

[A]

That was my thing.

[B]

Thing.

[C]

I love it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I know there's no way we got to everything on your notes.

[A]

No, that's just.

[C]

That's just bound to happen.

[B]

No.

[C]

Is there one thing you want to hit on the notes before I ask you the time you laughed the hardest?

[A]

Let's see two things real quick. Has anybody brought up the reason why everybody loves to see you and Birbiglia? Oh, slow boy. Birbiglia. Together? There's a def. Definite Yogi and Boo Boo going on. There's nobody.

[C]

Am I Yogi?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

I better be Yogi. I was talking to him on the phone the other night, and I go, I wish we were rolling on it. Because I go, you know what you look like? You look like a guy who's had a hard couple months. I was like, that's just your look.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

No matter how your life is going, you look. If you go, I've had a hard couple months. We're like, yeah.

[A]

My wife and I do. We. We do quote him. Just because our daughter. We don't know where she got it, but she. What this is her new thing is we don't even do that. She just goes, shh. So when we start talking, she goes, shh.

[C]

Yeah. That's the age where they go, don't talk.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I just go, she doesn't like it when we talk. She wants us to be quiet.

[B]

So fun.

[C]

Yogi. Boo Boo.

[A]

Let's see. Joe Cam's Ram Dass mentor. Face melting, homesickness, being under the blanket with God. Great stuff. Space heater parent. That is. That has been my style when you talking about being a space heater. As a. As a parent, that's like, what I've always felt like.

[C]

I said that. I don't remember.

[A]

You said, I just want to be a space heater heater for her. She was sitting there doing Legos, and I was like, that's a.

[C]

Literally space heater.

[A]

Because at the end of the day, what are we gonna.

[C]

Of course I like it. I said it.

[A]

Yeah, but I mean, at the end of the day. What are we? To me, it's like you. We're just the. The end of the road is that we're gonna be a voice in their head. We're gonna be an experience, and we're gonna be a guardian angel, you know, hopefully trying to help them along so the most that you can prep them for that, the. The better.

[C]

Interstellar. We. We live to be our children's ghosts.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

Ghosts to our children. Like, just a memory. And. And, yeah, I. I have. I. I didn't make it up, but it's like we're gardening. I'm here to pick weeds, give you sunlight, give you water.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

Pick weeds, sunlight. What I. I tell her all the time. I just go, is this your first.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

I go. I just go. I'm here to help. I'm on your team. I don't understand. Like, when she's yelling, I'm just like, I'm on your side. Like, I want you to go to Taekwondo because you love it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then she goes. And I go, did you love it?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I'm like, do you remember? Like, she's getting there. She's getting that. Then the other one, because I'm very generous. I don't. You know, someone told me spoiling is an outdated thing. But anyway, I don't want to give her too much because I don't want her to think that's what love is or that's the only place where joy is. But I like to say if she. If I'm giving her too much love, I'm like, wait till she meets God. That's how I feel.

[B]

Feel. Yeah.

[C]

And I go, as long as you think if you have someone modeling abundance and generosity to you, and it's not just for this reason, but I'm like, then she won't settle for somebody.

[A]

That's exactly right.

[C]

That's what I'm trying.

[A]

Well, you're setting a vibratory signature.

[C]

This is what it looks like.

[A]

This is what.

[C]

And this is what it looks like with mom, too. Like the way she sees me with Val.

[A]

So when she sees that in somebody else, she goes, oh, that's home.

[C]

That's right. Those are. These are all those unconscious patterns.

[A]

Enormous.

[C]

That we're trying to.

[A]

Enormously.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My mother was. Has. Was a master teacher of a mother is like, when I. Especially being a parent now and watching what she did is. And also just being a teacher. She was the Eric Clapton. She was. The soft hand of everything is her ability to understand that the only way to teach is through the side door. It's never for the front door. Is. And I remember, like, when I was, you know, I was in high school and I was doing drugs and this and that and. And I was always totally open with my parents. Never lied because I would go, I'm doing this. And you know, and just couldn't. Couldn't not. I couldn't lie.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And I. I remember when I was doing drugs and she just took me aside and she said, I. And it was such a master stroke move. It was such a mic drop as a parent. Parents. She was like, I just want you to know that the people that you're hanging out with, that you're doing drugs with, you have so much more to lose than they do. Walked away.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

It's like, like when I think about me being in that position, is. Is to the. The walk away was the big one. I was like, yeah, it was. Is that.

[C]

You know what that is? You're going, yeah, yeah. That's what that is. But it's.

[A]

It's the. The walk away is. Is. I have faith in you. Yeah. You know, to be.

[C]

You're empowering them to figure that out on your own.

[A]

Yeah. But it's. It's a. It's a very spiritual concept. I remember I was watching some Disney movie lately. I forget. I forget which one it was one with the water dragon. I forget the name of it.

[C]

Oh.

[A]

No, no.

[C]

Sorry. I didn't mean to say that so bluntly.

[A]

Awkwafina played.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Raya. Raya.

[A]

That's a beautiful concept. At the end of it. At the end of that. That's a beautiful. That's a complex concept. And I have two more things to say is at the end of it, which is what I took away from that movie, is trusting somebody who doesn't deserve to be trusted transformed them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's a beautiful. Is. That's a complex thing. Is. Which is such a.

[C]

Because the dragon's like, let's go to our enemy with a gift.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And they're like, but that won't work.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it doesn't work in the direct way, but it does work.

[A]

It's crazy, but it is. To be the lighthouse for somebody teaches somebody to be a lighthouse.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know what I mean? And just to bring this back to comedy is, like, wonderful. I remember you talk about it a lot of the time, as, you know, at their base layer everybody, when you get them, relaxes in you, which is like Buddha field, Buddha mine.

[C]

Yeah. Bring anyone down to their base.

[A]

Wonderful. Wonderful stuff.

[C]

Nobody speed metal down there.

[A]

It reminds me of a emo Phillips bit that I've loved since it was my favorite bit of his was when I was younger because it shows you how we actually operate. It's a complex little joke. And he goes, I was walking down the street and I saw monster friend Timmy from elementary school. And I ran up to him and I picked him up and I said, timmy, Timmy, Timmy, it's so good to see you. And Timmy began to cry. And then I realized he would have grown up too. Oh, my God. But that's the way that we live our life is we project the These things onto everything.

[C]

Yes. We're not seeing the world.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just told that. Who was I telling that to? Oh, Val. We walked our baby to school today in the wagon.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it was really fast for me and it was really slow for her. She was like, that seemed to take forever. And I was like. And I was like, look, I'm not Pete splaining anything, but I've really been tripping out on. We don't see the world.

[B]

We.

[C]

As it is. We see. See the world as we are.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I was like, I. One of the first things I noticed, especially getting up so early is I see how. How is time today really? What I'm saying is, how am I today? The cold plunge went really fast. The priming went really fast today. The reading went. Everybody was awake before I knew it. So I already was like, oh, time's going fast today. And time was going slow. For Val, that's not bad. But the walk seemed really fast for me. But it was, because it sounds like I'm instructing Val. But I was like, it was just a little cobwebby in there. It was a little gunky.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And I bet she doesn't feel that way right now because she's done her things.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And she's cleaned it up.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Is. We can never. I mean, it's like that mind only school of Buddhism, which is like, we can. We can never actually perceive what reality is. We can only perceive what we've experienced in the past. Is it like we're always. We're always up against that. We're living life like it's a rerun, you know, Is. Is. That's the. That's the. The big stuff. And the more that the. That you get that stuff out of the way is. It's one. It's one of the most beautiful. And why I am so endeared to Ram Dass is those Last, those last few years, what was the mantra?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Is I firmly believe that as human as spirits, if there's any reason why we're sort of, whether you can see it as a gift or a prison, sort of like quarantined on this plane of existence is because every atom of us is not enveloped in wow.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Wow is that place.

[C]

And wow is a vulnerable place.

[A]

It's a beautiful place.

[C]

The guy that's going wow. Get sucked into the tornado. That's so the survival mind goes don't do wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Don't do wow. Look at exits.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Like never sit with your back in a restaurant. All that stuff. But the wow is we're back where we began. The contemplative gaze is being vulnerable enough to actually allow something new to happen.

[A]

But I agree and I disagree. I think that at its core that.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Is impenetrable is anything that bumps up against it is if it's met with resistance, that's just an egoic thing. It's just a dualistic thing that's the trap. Whether it's a modality, a method, a religion or whatever or an expectation is like anything that is nothing is going to actually take away that wow. Yeah. You get swept up by the tornado fucking wow. That's okay too. I mean that's the biggest a wow.

[C]

That transcends sends your life situation.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and what was the other thing?

[C]

I thought you had two things or.

[A]

Maybe like were the two things you've.

[C]

Given us more than.

[A]

I know, more than enough.

[C]

I know, I don't mean time wise. I just mean you packed it with.

[A]

With trying to get good stuff. I've. I, I love the fact that your laugh reminds me of Slim Pickens writing the fucking and Dr. Strangelove. The abandon that your laugh has. Have you ever read a book called the Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind?

[C]

No.

[A]

That's a fun one.

[C]

Really?

[A]

That's a fun one because it deals a lot with. It talks about how as early as like 2,000 or 5,000 years ago that the way based in literature. It's a fun one.

[C]

Is the origin of consciousness.

[A]

Yeah, the origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It's this neuroscientist guy who basically said that the way that we experience the world via looking at all of the literature that's ever been written informs that the ways that the brain communicated with the hemispheres has drastically changed. And the way that he puts it is essentially that Instead of you, Pete, having an idea and going, oh, I had an idea. And that being that there's actually interconnection between the hemispheres is that the way that we experience the world was through auditory hallucinations. Is whether, you know, is. That isn't me thinking it. It's not me perceiving it. It's God speaking to me. And how. It's not the origin of perception. It's the origin of what we consider to be consciousness. That's a fun one. And what he talks about is the eruption, the beginning of metaphor. And you've talked a lot about metaphor and you know about that. You know, the guy didn't run like a deer. He is a deer. And it's a fun little one to tinker around with in the brain. Is like the idea of a metaphor. That's like some alien technology shit. That's like a thought virus that, you know, is when you really think about. All right, so if you took metaphor out of the equation would be lost.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is. Is. Is what's going on with. With what metaphor really does to us as humans in our ability to experience the. The world.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know.

[B]

Yeah. Wow.

[A]

So there was.

[C]

I love that. You know what it reminded me of? I don't know if you'll feel that this is as on topic as I do, but, you know, let's say we're all. It's all awareness.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Ultimately, it's all awareness.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I feel this, but that's. I'm aware of the feeling. This, ultimately, is awareness being experienced by awareness and pizza character in the dream. But the real dreamer is consciousness itself. Then you're like, okay, so let's go back to an origin myth for today. Because I was like, how does naked alone, awareness, objectless, just knowing. Manifest the world? Because we've always been curious about that. Then I was like, well, what the fuck are you doing all goddamn day?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You hear a song in your head, you created a song. You picture your grandfather, you created an image. Okay. If you're not on board, every night you dream an entire world.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's how.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's not as crazy. Ex nihalo. The Latin. Out of nothing, you're creating ex nihilo.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

Every fucking second. You've never done anything except what we can't wrap our minds around.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I just. I always say picture Michael Jordan. How the are you doing that?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's how the world got made.

[B]

Very good.

[A]

I love that. I love that. I love that.

[C]

There you go.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

All right, let's get out of here. Just because.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I got a thing.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Who cares?

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

You don't need to know that.

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

My pleasure. You do get. Do you have a hardest laugh moment in your life? You don't have to.

[A]

I don't have a hardest laugh one, but I do. You. Are you still doing UFOs?

[C]

Yeah, of course.

[A]

This is a. Again, like one of the.

[C]

Woody. I got a chills that were all in the.

[A]

The, the. The laugh one was really quick. Was it was that. It was that experience with Jackson when I jumped out of the plane. I laughed all the way down. I was sitting there.

[C]

That's where we're going.

[A]

Flying in the sky, going this. Wow. The.

[C]

The skydiving like cold plunging. Does it feel like a similar like boost of Absolutely. All the good feeling feelings is absolutely.

[A]

I was hooked by Scott. With Scott, I mean the. The very first time that I did it, 25 years ago, I'd always. I'm a Superman guy. Always been a Superman guy. Always wanted to fly. And I remember I went up for my first tandem jump and I'm nervous and excited and scared. And they open up the side of the plane and this little Japanese woman looks at me with no fear and goes bye bye and jumped out. And I went. It was this revelatory. Before I left, I went like, you can jump out of a plane and have no fear. And I was like, oh, I'm doing this until I'm not afraid. I was like. It was just like. I didn't know you could do it.

[C]

And you can now.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

[A]

So, yeah, so that was. That was that story.

[C]

That's awesome.

[A]

But yes, it is. It's just like. It's, it's. It's the most amazing. It's just like a cold plunge is you're. You're flying.

[C]

And the feelings. I know it's silly to compare it to sitting still in cold water, but that rush that you get has to be. It's like saying there's only one happiness, there's only one excitement. So I just imagine you're getting a big dose of the same kind of thing.

[A]

Enormous. Enormous.

[C]

And does it fade or do you get it similar.

[A]

It does fade. You know, it's kind of like being. You know, it's just like when you. When you're in a cold plunge, if you try to do 12 minutes in 26 degree water, it's like there is a numbness. I remember because I'm a free flyer, which means you can fly in your head and fly in your back and all this kind of stuff. And again, I had is. Little did I know at the time, but is I became friends with the six time world champions, your free flyer who was just a cool dude. And then, and then somebody was like, do you know who that is? But I was working on something early into flying and I was like trying to master head down or something. And I remember flying in the air and I was worried about trying to do it something a certain way. And then I remember going like, holy shit, I'm not afraid at all. I was like, oh, I crossed the finish line and I didn't even know that. I was like, oh, right, right. I'm like working on this instead of being afraid at all.

[C]

How much respect do you have? This sounds like a. I don't know what this sounds like, but I mean it. And I, I really want to know how much respect do you have for like the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible jump that they did over and over and they shot it practical and you know, the camera guy's jumping out first like this. Is that incredible to you or are you like, oh, yeah, you can do that.

[A]

You know, it's like you watch on a comic, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, all right.

[C]

Really? It's so cool. I've never talked to somebody that would.

[A]

Be like, yeah, sure, yeah, yeah. Because I have, I don't know, like, like 2500 jumps is you. You do. Is.

[C]

Is 25.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

But what. But the, the. The best part that I look back on that on is that Jackson and my other friend Mike came up right behind me and there's. I don't jump as much now because having a daughter and, and all that, but is there's a lot of videos of. Just to know that I learned to fly with my friends. And there's a bunch of videos of us all just flying together and videos of us just like. It was two of my best friends in the sky, you know, hanging out.

[C]

My friend Sam just told me this. He's like, depressed. People that need to be immersed in community doesn't just mean going to a dinner party. It means engaging in a challenging project with other people. So that I buy a million times that you're like, we risked our lives, we risked our. We faced fear together. That's why the phenomenon that like in World War II, London is being bombed. And some of the people say it was the scariest time in my life. It was the best time of my life because everybody had one purpose.

[A]

Absolutely.

[C]

It was life and Death and life was vital and community was. Was your oxygen.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And that's what human being. That's what cure human. That's what can cure depression.

[A]

At the same time, I shouldn't say cure depression.

[C]

You know what I mean? It's the enemy of depression.

[A]

That's what I'll say. Sorry. I was talking with Dale Dye, who was on. I did. He was one of the. He's an actor but also a military supervisor. On all the movies you've seen, you go, oh, that guy. But he. I was in We Were Soldiers and he was on that. And then he was on Saving Private Re. And him and I were talking sort of like over the fire one night and I was talking about. Because he'd been in Vietnam and he told me a story just that helped me play the part better, but also just emotionally realize it. So he was talking about that sort of the intimacy that happens when, you know, in. When there's a challenging thing is when life and death. He said, the relationship that you make with the people that are in your troop is closer than your mother, your father, your brother, your wife. He says there's an intimacy there that is untouched by anything else because of the stakes. And then he said, and then that person that you have this intimacy with is killed. And he said, and the first thought that you have is, thank God it wasn't me. And he goes, and that's the part that ruins people. And I was like, whoa, okay. Right.

[C]

It's not. I thought you were going to go full noble and be like, that should have been me. But really the way that we're wired as self preservational animals is thank God that wasn't me. And you can't handle that guilt.

[A]

And you can't. It can't.

[C]

Or the shame, maybe.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Wow, that's fascinating.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

All right. Ufo.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

So what was. Not into a ufo. Not a part of my.

[C]

This is a key part of the story. Because the guys there, you know, smoking a J, looking at the sky, it's always a little bit convenient when they're like, I saw 28 UFOs.

[A]

Nothing. It was not a part of my anything. Had no. People say UFOs. I goes, sure, you know, I wasn't. But it's totally dispassionate to the whole scenario. In my early 20s, besides the fact that I had sort of like weird prophetic dreams like that for my entire life. Like I would visit places that I'd never been before and then six months later I would go there and I would know how to walk around them. Weird. Weird things like that. I would leave my body when I was younger, which I thought everybody could do. Like, when you're about to go to sleep, I would just kind of pop out and kind of of like, fly around. I was like, oh, everybody can do that. And my mom was like, what are you talking about?

[C]

No way.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Not anymore.

[A]

No. Yeah. No, no, I do.

[C]

You can.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Shut up. I've always been too scared.

[A]

Oh, it's fun.

[C]

I get real close, and I'm like.

[A]

That's what happened to me. The first time that it happened. I was at a medium with my dad. My dad was there, and some. Some medium was talking, and I was sitting there, and I was falling asleep, and I was. I was like, nine or something, and I was, like, falling asleep. Sleep. And I felt myself. And I remember feeling my. My knees in my chest, like this thing lifting out of me. And I got out of my body, and I was like. And I was like, what the. And then I, like, kind of, like, forced my eyes open, and I was like. And I fell. Oh, wow.

[C]

Like, so that's like Robert Monroe. It happened to him involuntarily. He woke up on it because he felt his seal. He felt his back on the ceiling, and he opened his eyes and he was in the bed.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then he. There's a lot of fear involved.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Well, how do you do it? What's your method?

[A]

Is different. Different ways. It's not unlike in a lot of the meditations, when they talk about, you know, just retreating from the senses, is it? To me, there's. There's lots of different ways, but it's kind of like taking your hand out of a glove or, you know, or like, there's. There's different, like, physical ways that you can. That you can visualize yourself.

[C]

I've heard the roll. There's, like, the rolling out.

[A]

That's what I do.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Is the roll.

[C]

I've also. The rope.

[A]

You've never done. Never done that for me.

[C]

That's never the blue light above you pulling you out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

They all get me real close, and I start shaking.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I hear a nervous.

[B]

That's.

[C]

I hear a loud whoosh, and then I go.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

The shaking is just the nervous system. System is just the spirit disengaging from the nervous system. Is. Is that your nervous system is firing with lots of peat in there, and you're pulling Pete out. And it goes just like when you. You know, if you watch somebody who's like, who does those? You know, tries to hold their breath for nine minutes. The body starts to do this when you retreat from the senses. The. The. That's what the nervous system.

[C]

They fire back.

[A]

Yeah, that's what the nervous system does. But I do the.

[C]

So you get into a deep meditation, and then you just picture your essence rolling on your body.

[A]

But then also, I'm not in complete control of it sometimes I've been in meditation, and it will happen involuntarily. And when that happens, it's more like what you're talking about. I will hear a whoosh, and it's really loud and tinny. For me, it's real. And that feels much more. More. I wouldn't say violent the word, but intense.

[C]

Yeah, it's intense.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And is it the world, like. Or is it the world blurring a little bit? Is it goofy?

[A]

No, it's just the world. Yeah, it's just the world, for the most part.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because a lot of the accounts are like, I flew to my friend's house, and they were playing with a giant Frisbee, and then I called them, and I was like, what were you doing? They were like. We were making pizza.

[B]

Pizzas.

[C]

And it's like. So it's like, a little bit off.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Not for me.

[C]

Not for you.

[A]

Not for me.

[C]

Not. Not. You know, I'm not from a skeptical place. Have you ever done something like, taped a playing card on the side of a window and been like, I'm gonna fly and look and see what it is?

[A]

No, I never done it.

[C]

You should try it.

[B]

Never done.

[C]

Just for your own.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, how cool would that be if you were like, eight of clubs?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Jesus Christ. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll give it a try.

[C]

Do it and text me again, not in the spirit of skepticism, but just like, how cool is that?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

The first time that it happened to me was that. That it formally happened was. Was an accident. Was.

[C]

I was.

[A]

I was in elementary school. I was coming home on my bike, and I was going down this hill, and I was going as fast as I could, and the bike started to shake, and I must have fallen off, but I didn't scrape my hands. I ended up scraping just my. I must have skid on my face off of. But I blacked out and I. And I wake up and everything is orange. Everything in front of my face is orange. And I'm in the middle of the street and some guy is getting out of his car. Like, to check on me. And then I black out again. And I'm in a tree, watching me in the middle of the street. And this guy. And I. And I must be saying to him, like, I'm okay. I'm okay. He gets into his car.

[B]

Car.

[A]

And I get up and I watch for 10 minutes as I'm walking my bike all the way back to my house. And I'm just in the tree, just hanging out, just like, oh, there. There I am.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

It was so.

[C]

Your body had agency.

[A]

My body had total, total full control. There was no consciousness in it. I was up in the street, totally un. Just like. Which is. You want the. And the after effects of that. Here's the strange bit is still, to this day, if I'm in public and out of the corner of my eye, I see somebody who looks like me, I go like, oh, well, there I am.

[C]

Over there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's weird. Wow.

[C]

Fascinating.

[A]

So just the UFO thing was just. I started having these dreams. I would be in the middle of a dream, regular fucking, you know, weirdo dream. And. And then all of a sudden, there would be this. I still really struggle to be able to explain it. It's like an explosion of light is. There would be this enormous bang. Everything would go white. I would sit up in my bed, and I was vibrating, and it. My whole body hurt. It was like. And the best way is it was like I became a bolt of lightning. And it happened quite a few times. And I was like, what is going on? I remember, like, looking up stuff online, and there was a thing called exploding head syndrome, which is like some nervous thing. And I was like. I had some of the symptoms, but it happened half a dozen times or a dozen times. And then this one night, I was asleep in the middle of a dream, and it happened again. There was this large explosion.

[B]

Bang.

[A]

Everything goes away.

[C]

I sit up.

[A]

I'm vibrating like this. I'm sitting up, I'm awake. And I look in the doorway. Token fucking little alien dude.

[C]

What color?

[A]

Gray. Classic the business. Eyes, big head, gray. And I was like. And I was like, I'm awake there. And I remember the first thought that came into my head was, oh, I get it. Why people are afraid of you. I remember kind of going like, oh, I get it. No offense, but I had an understanding. There was something. It was there. There was an alien there.

[C]

I have, like, biological.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Breathing. Yes. Like, made of fleshy stuff.

[A]

Like you and I. Like, you and me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, the theory that they're us. They're just the evolved version of us coming back.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

When you hear Ray Kurzweil talking about by 2030, we're gonna have.

[A]

The singularity is near. Is that what you're talking about? That guy?

[C]

Yeah, yeah. The blood cell size things, I know they're going to clean our arteries, but he's like, they're also going to go to your brain and they're going to connect to the cloud and you're going to have all the information, information all the time. And he. And this is his words, he goes, it's going to multiply our intelligence by a billion.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

This, by the way, if you don't know who. Ray Kurtzwell. He's a futurist and he's been right about everything.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's been nuts. And this is what he's saying. And he's giving us a timeline, 2030. So if that happens, our bodies would get weak, our eyes would get dark to look at screens and all that sort of stuff. And then there. There they are. And you're like, I get why you're scary.

[A]

Well, yeah. Is the feeling. The thing that I just remember was I remember going like, oh, I get it. Why people are afraid because there is an absence of any emotion. It's not that they feel is that there's nothing. There's no emotion. And I remember going like, oh, now I get away. People are afraid.

[C]

If this happens, that's somebody who's going to. Of would. Might cut you open.

[B]

Right.

[C]

You know, I mean, it has the coldness of a. Right executioner or a surgeon or a butcher.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So that's frightening.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then what happened was I was there and I was looking and kind of like telepathically communicated for a minute. And then I remember going like, I want to go on the ship. Right. Like I. And I. And I go. And I go. Like to start to get out of the bed, like, take me. So you're a leader.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I start to get out of the bed and wham. The same thing happened. There was this bright flash of light.

[C]

And a skydiving son of a gun, like, you're scary. Let's go on here. Let's go where you live.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And here was the tell for me, was there was this white flash of light and then I'm back in the dream that I was dreaming before.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I was like.

[C]

It brought you back a couple clicks.

[A]

Is that. Or I just remember being in the dream and going. It was. And I lucid dream too, so. But. But I was like. I was like, this is a fake ass dream. Like, this is. So I was like, they got some kind of dream ray. Yeah, that was the big tell more than anything for me. Even though I knew he was there, I saw him. I was totally awake. I was like, I am awake now. This is not half asleep. I'm not. Like, this is not sleep paralysis and I'm, you know, shadow people and all that. This is. I am awake. There is an alien. Okay. And then when I. When they. I got zapped back, I was in the same dream. And I remember going, that's the tell.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's my story.

[C]

Well, I don't like it. I'm Dracula dead and loving it. I blended a couple well, sir, you were a day off for me. What a joy.

[A]

Thank you so much.

[C]

Thank you for doing it.

[A]

Thank you, man.

[C]

What a gift you are.

[A]

Oh, and you, would you say keep it crispy for us? Yes, of course. Keep it crisp. Me?

[C]

Would you say it as Thor, from God of war, Ragnarok. Keep it.

[A]

Christie. Chris.

[C]

Christie.

[A]

Keep it. Chris. No, let's say keep it crispy. Ooh.

[C]

Bafta.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Thank you, my friend. What a joy. Give me that cuz I got. I got all sweaty in the palm. Thanks, man.

[A]

Thank you. It.