transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Tax Act can think of a million things more fun than filing taxes. Tax Act is going to name some now. Sitting in traffic, folding a fitted bedsheet, listening to your coworker talk about his fantasy team, digging a hole, digging an even larger hole next to that original hole. Unfortunately, Tax Act's filing software can't make taxes fun, but Tax Act can help you get them done. Tax Act, let's get them over with.

Speaker 2:
[00:31] Refreshing Wild Cherry Cola meets Smooth Cream.

Speaker 3:
[00:38] The treat you deserve.

Speaker 2:
[00:41] Pepsi Wild Cherry and Cream, treat yourself.

Speaker 3:
[00:45] I had a comic say something to me one time back in the day. He was not religious at all, but he said something that really struck me. I was doing comedy one night and I had people from a church coming and I was saying, I go, I can't do this joke or this joke tonight. I got people from a church coming. And he goes, it's interesting that you care about what people from your church says, but you don't mind doing those jokes in front of God. And I go, oh, that really hit me in a weird way. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[01:14] The history of our earth is so different from what we can imagine. The Smithsonian, if they found out about a large skeleton somewhere, was to go get it.

Speaker 4:
[01:27] I'm going to assume at least one person is right, because if one person is right, it busts the paradigm. It all goes back to the fallen cherub. And the problem with the modern day church, they have a very truncated view of the supernatural.

Speaker 1:
[01:40] This backdrop that's just pregnant with all kinds of meaning associated with this Mount Hermon event. And this guy defects from the kingdom.

Speaker 2:
[01:53] That's a big deal!

Speaker 5:
[02:01] Welcome back to Blurry Creatures, we're excited. We're back in the basement, and we've got Dusty Slay, comedian Dusty Slay, in the house.

Speaker 3:
[02:07] Okay, all right, thank you.

Speaker 5:
[02:09] Thanks for coming. You're a podcaster, comedian, obviously, and you're gonna be an author, or is the book out?

Speaker 3:
[02:15] Oh, the book's not out. You know what, I should have brought a book to think, maybe I could send you a graphic and you can post it, but it's, yeah, I have a book called, We're Having a Good Time. It's out in November, you know? I think the, you know, I don't think people are reading as much as they used to, and I think the idea is to try to get those pre-sale numbers.

Speaker 5:
[02:32] Exactly. We're having a good time. We're going to be having a real good time in November, obviously, but yeah, we talk about all the weird stuff here and thank you for coming in our basement. I know it's, you're probably like, what do these guys want to talk about? But we ask everybody off the top of the hour, what's your thoughts on Bigfoot? That's kind of how we kick it off here.

Speaker 3:
[02:51] Well, I think, you know, I think that we always feel like as, that we've discovered everything, right? We're always like, ah, there's no animal we haven't seen. And I think it's, there's so much forest, there's so much cold area that nobody, I think Bigfoot and the Yeti could be out there. And I don't know, I don't watch any Bigfoot shows where they're finding Bigfoot, because I know they're not gonna find Bigfoot, you know? So it's like, that's not fun to me. But, you know, I've read stories and stuff where people talk about having like encounters where their cabin is all clawed up and stuff like that, and, you know, I think it could be out there. I think, you know, there's a whole, you know, you ever hear like Anunnaki things? They call these Bigfoots like hominoids or something like that. And they say the Anunnaki wanted something from our planet and they couldn't survive here on the planet, but I don't believe this, but I love to talk about this. But then the hominoids, the Bigfoots lived here. So the Anunnaki mated with the Bigfoots and that's who we are, the kids of the Anunnaki and the Bigfoots.

Speaker 5:
[04:03] How much body hair do you have, Luke?

Speaker 2:
[04:06] Enough.

Speaker 5:
[04:07] We'll see.

Speaker 2:
[04:07] Enough for this theory to sound interesting, but not true.

Speaker 5:
[04:11] I've seen a couple of dudes that look like they could have been part Squatch out there.

Speaker 2:
[04:15] Yeah, there's some guys that are wearing sweaters. I mean, they're sweaters. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[04:19] It definitely gets weird here. I mean, the theories grow. I mean, you married a Canadian, you said, so there's no stories in your... Canadians have some Bigfoot stories up there. That's where he is.

Speaker 3:
[04:30] That's what I'm saying. When you get so far north and it gets so cold that it's like, you can't be exploring that all the time.

Speaker 5:
[04:37] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[04:38] I think.

Speaker 2:
[04:38] You're just trying to stay alive.

Speaker 3:
[04:39] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[04:40] Well, plus it's really interesting. If you ever looked at where the people live in Canada, it's like they live like right along the border of the United States, right? So there's just all these northern territories and northern territory and all those places. It's sort of just no one lives except for like the Inuit and maybe some like old fur trappers and stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[04:58] And my wife is from Peterborough, which is, you know, it's not way out there, but it's north of Toronto. And if you drive up like at night, once you get out of Toronto, it's dark. The interstate is dark.

Speaker 5:
[05:10] Yeah. It's creepy up there.

Speaker 3:
[05:11] It's not like America where it's, you know, there's giant signs for McDonald's and it's dark.

Speaker 5:
[05:17] There's no Flying Jays.

Speaker 2:
[05:18] There's a lot of Tim Hortons up there.

Speaker 5:
[05:21] We should have just jumped the fence and said, how do you think Bigfoot's doing out there, Dusty? How do you think he's doing?

Speaker 3:
[05:27] I think just great, right?

Speaker 2:
[05:29] It's gotta be.

Speaker 3:
[05:31] Right. I mean, just like, I don't know, you know, it's like, what kind of creature is Bigfoot? Is Bigfoot a conscious, like does he have consciousness like us or is he just an animal? Does he know we're looking for him?

Speaker 5:
[05:45] Well, that's when I think that we started the podcast because if you go into those stories for too long, Bigfoot starts talking to you and your, in your mind, he starts, they, they, they have sort of this telepathic thing that they do with a lot of encounters. And there's the whole animal camp that won't accept the weird and the woo of Bigfoot. So it's funny, you have to have an open mind with that, with the Sasquatch, but there's a lot of people who just are irritants, I guess, with this idea that it's just an ape of some kind. And I don't, it doesn't last very long if you get into it.

Speaker 3:
[06:19] Wasn't like just the early 1900s when we discovered gorillas?

Speaker 2:
[06:24] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[06:24] Isn't something like that?

Speaker 2:
[06:25] In the Congo, yeah. That was a mystery, right? It was like, and then they made a movie called Gorillas in the Mist. I mean, we didn't really jump the shark, but.

Speaker 5:
[06:32] Oh man.

Speaker 2:
[06:33] No, that was a whole thing. Like there were legends of these giant apes out in the Congo.

Speaker 5:
[06:39] Yeah. They didn't discover the giant panda till like the 40s.

Speaker 2:
[06:43] Which is amazing because those things don't really do a whole lot. Except like roll around and eat bamboo.

Speaker 5:
[06:46] But all the locals knew it was a thing. So they'd go out and they would come back and be like, I saw a giant panda. And it was like, everyone knew they existed. But the science didn't say it existed.

Speaker 3:
[06:56] I think some people think pandas are fake.

Speaker 2:
[07:00] There's a theory.

Speaker 5:
[07:01] This is a new theory.

Speaker 3:
[07:02] Yeah, that they don't exist, that they're not real, that it's all like costumes and animatronics, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:08] Who thinks that?

Speaker 3:
[07:10] Well, people have to. I never like to talk about the people that I watch or the podcast I listen to or videos that I watch because nowadays, if you're like, oh, I was watching this guy and he was talking about this, people go and they find that guy saying something else that I don't believe and then they go, oh, you believe this too. And I go, I don't believe any of it. I was just watching it.

Speaker 5:
[07:35] Guilty by association.

Speaker 3:
[07:37] Yeah, I feel like certain people are able to watch and comprehend things without being like, yeah, I believe this. I just am open to the possibility.

Speaker 5:
[07:47] Well, we deal with that. You bring on someone on your show, you're trying to talk to them about Pyramids or Bigfoot or something or UFOs or something and then everything they say, you're an accomplice to that.

Speaker 2:
[07:59] Oh yeah, or someone has a view on scripture or eschatology and they go, well, that's what you guys believe. We're like, no, we just had a discussion about what somebody else has believed and that's okay. Yeah. I mean, you have a podcast, it's just about having conversations.

Speaker 3:
[08:12] Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about this the other day. It's like, if I do a podcast every week for an hour, I'm sitting in a room by myself talking for an hour. That means I've talked for 52 hours. And it's like, at some point, I'm going to say something that's stupid. And I go, I'm just talking, guys. People go, oh, you complain about so much. And I go, I just need content. Am I really that upset about this thing that happened at the airport? Not that upset, but I wrote it down because I need to talk about something. I got to have some conversation.

Speaker 5:
[08:48] Do you like to interview people at all or no?

Speaker 3:
[08:51] I do a little bit. I had Tara Lee Cobel of the Bible Recap Podcast. She's my only interview in a long time.

Speaker 2:
[09:02] Did you guys recap the Bible?

Speaker 3:
[09:03] Well, a little bit, yeah. But I just was like, she listens to my podcast and was interested in being a guest. And I was like, oh, that's great. I love that.

Speaker 2:
[09:14] You're like, we don't have guests, we'll do it though.

Speaker 5:
[09:15] Well, people probably also assume you can't be serious either. If you're a comedian, you tell jokes, you can't actually have serious thoughts about anything.

Speaker 3:
[09:22] Yeah, I just got a comment the other day and this guy, he was commenting on my podcast and he goes, this wasn't really that funny. And I go, well, this is my podcast. You want real funny, come to my standup comedy show. My podcast, I think it's funny, but I'm also, if I could do an hour long podcast that's as funny as my standup every week, I'd be the greatest comic in the world.

Speaker 2:
[09:46] Oh, yeah, you'd have that much material?

Speaker 3:
[09:50] I'd be unbelievable.

Speaker 5:
[09:52] Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's like a lot of prep goes into your material and presenting the jokes. It's a craft. I think it's the hardest thing you can do as a creative because you bomb forever, right? You just come out, you tank, and then you have to tell yourself, this is part of the process. I'm gonna suck for a long time or maybe not. Maybe some people just come out and they're just funny and all.

Speaker 2:
[10:14] Yeah, how do you get into that?

Speaker 3:
[10:16] Well, even now, after all this time, I'll write a joke and I'll go, oh, this is good. And you go out and tell it and it's not good. You're like, I still don't know. Sometimes it is, but you still have to work it. But yeah, you just, yeah, I mean, I don't know that I completely bombed for a long time, but for a long time, you're like, you're just figuring it out all the time. Like if I go out now, say I'm doing a 10 minute set somewhere and a joke's not working, I can just switch gears and go into some other material. Or if I'm trying new stuff, I just switch to the old stuff. But when you're new, it's all new stuff.

Speaker 1:
[10:55] Yeah. Right.

Speaker 5:
[11:03] One of the coolest parts about this podcast is we get to work with cool companies, and PreBorn is one of them. And people matter, life matters. Every mother out there who's just found out that there is a baby that is real and moving, we hope that she chooses life. And that's why we partnered with PreBorn to help them.

Speaker 2:
[11:20] You know, and recently, Nate, we heard from a listener out in Colorado who serves at a pregnancy center that's been deeply impacted by PreBorn's support for doing the Lord's work out there. And oftentimes women facing unplanned pregnancies are pushed to make decisions quickly. Let's not stay quiet, let's stand together. PreBorn Network Clinics, women are met with compassion. They're given a free ultrasound. They get to see their baby, sometimes the first time. And in those moments, they're offered something more, which is the hope of the gospel and the message of Jesus. This April, the goal is to have 11,000 gospel conversions in preborn clinics across the country.

Speaker 5:
[11:52] For just $28, you provide one ultrasound. And $140 sponsors five ultrasounds for mothers in crisis. Every dollar helps save babies and share the hopes of the gospel. As preborn celebrates 20 years of saving babies, there's a moment right now that can save countless lives for years to come. An ultrasound machine doesn't just show a picture, it introduces a mother to her child. And many clinics don't have one, nor can they afford one. So preborn's goal is simple and urgent. Place an ultrasound machine in every clinic across America that needs one.

Speaker 2:
[12:21] If you have the means, would you consider a tax deductible gift of $15,000 to save countless lives? So donate to our Pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's Pound 250, baby. Or go to preborn.com/blurry. That's preborn.com/blurry. Dusty, when do you decide that you want to be a comic? I mean, how does that even work?

Speaker 3:
[12:50] For me, it's like, I have nothing else going on in my life. There is no prospect that I will be successful in life. I'm living in Charleston, South Carolina, I moved there. I don't know anyone, I'm working at Office Depot. Everyone I work with is old, and my life is not looking good. And I go, I got to do something. And so you just, I took some improv classes, and I go, okay, I'm around some young people, this is fun. And then I meet some people talking about stand up, and I go, this is a good way for me to meet people. And then I go, oh, I'm pretty good at this. And then I start drinking after, and then I go, I start really tanking it all. But, you know, that's what I was doing for a long time, was just doing comedy and then getting drunk after and going, life is a party. And then when I quit drinking, I got like real serious about comedy. And then I also got into YouTube and I started, a lot of my world narrative started to fall apart.

Speaker 5:
[13:56] Is it like sports world? You're studying films, getting better, seeing where you could get better at your comedy?

Speaker 3:
[14:02] Yeah, I think so. You're watching standup comedy. And then in Charleston, we didn't have a lot of professional comics coming. And then when I moved to Nashville, I started working Zany's. And then I start to see all these professional comics. And you're like, you're just really studying them and seeing, oh, this is good.

Speaker 5:
[14:20] How much of the body language makes something funny, you think, versus the actual stuff you say? Is it like a big part of it? Because I think that...

Speaker 3:
[14:29] I don't know, because I see people... Sometimes I see people and I go, I watch a comic. Maybe I don't know this comic, but I see them take the stage and I go, oh, these guys are going to be good. Because you see they're like very confident. And then they're so bad. And I think if you watch my comedy on mute, you would say, this guy's really bad at comedy. And, you know, because I look uncomfortable all the time.

Speaker 2:
[14:54] Are you uncomfortable?

Speaker 3:
[14:56] Yeah, probably. Probably... I don't know. You know, I'm pretty comfortable on stage, but it's not a natural thing to just be standing there in front of people that are basically saying, make me laugh.

Speaker 2:
[15:12] Yeah, we're here to laugh.

Speaker 3:
[15:12] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[15:13] Yeah. Do people always want you to be funny now, everywhere you go? Is that like the thing?

Speaker 3:
[15:17] I think so.

Speaker 5:
[15:18] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[15:19] But I, you know, that's what people want to hang out sometimes after the show. And I go, you've just seen the most fun version of me. There's really, even like conspiracy stuff. I think sometimes people want to talk to me about that because on what used to be Nate Land, now the Public Figures Podcast, people, I talk about it, and so they want to talk to me about it. And then I think it stops being funny because it stops being a bit.

Speaker 5:
[15:45] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[15:45] And I'm really now talking to you about it.

Speaker 2:
[15:48] We're into this.

Speaker 5:
[15:49] We're actually getting into it.

Speaker 2:
[15:51] Dusty, what about, we were talking pre-roll. You said you quit drinking in 2012.

Speaker 3:
[15:58] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[15:59] What about your faith? Where's your faith at in this journey? Like, because I know we talked pre-roll and people that are listening now didn't get privy to that, but you're talking about your podcast and what you do. And you're like, man, it's just about people encountering Jesus.

Speaker 5:
[16:14] Yeah, there's not many comedians who've read Dr. Michael Heiser.

Speaker 2:
[16:17] Yeah, dude. Yeah. So, I mean, how does that...

Speaker 3:
[16:19] Well, I've, you know, I said this one time and people said, well, that can't be true, but I've always been Christian. And they say, well, you can't always be Christian, I guess. But I'm like, yeah, I mean, my parents were divorced and not necessarily, we weren't necessarily going to church every week, but it's just kind of always been my belief. But I would, you know, I would read this book here and there, you know, but I would read some religious book and I'd be going to church. I went to church, hung over a lot, you know, because I don't know, it just like, it seemed like drinking was socially acceptable and I was Christian. And so I was like, I don't know, I was just doing both. Even though that's not okay. In my eyes now, it's like not okay to be as drunk as I was all the time, but I would, you know, I would go home and I would pray drunk and I, I was kind of always trying to escape this drinking lifestyle that I was in. Yeah. Even though I don't know if it was dark, like that sounds dark, like if you're drinking and then you're like praying to get out of it. I don't think it was dark like that. I was just like, I don't want to stay on this path.

Speaker 5:
[17:25] Do you feel like creative people struggle with that darkness a lot? Like seems like there's a lot of, there has to be something in you to get crazy enough to put something in the world.

Speaker 3:
[17:36] I think so. Yeah. I mean, I think people are, you know, it's like, I don't know. I feel like if you're living a totally normal lifestyle, like everything in your life is perfect, there's less chance that you're going to be super creative. Right? It's like, I feel like I used to, when I was growing up, I'd go to my grandmother's house and she had no, you know, back then there was no internet. My grandmother didn't have any games. There was no TV really. She had TV, but we, there's a little chance I was going to get to watch it. She didn't have an air conditioner. This is in Alabama. My grandmother just sat there crocheting. There was nothing to do. So I would draw pictures. I would just draw all the time. And it forced me to be creative.

Speaker 5:
[18:18] Yeah. Yeah. Kids these days, they don't know how to be bored.

Speaker 3:
[18:22] Right. If I had an iPad back then, would I even be doing comedy now?

Speaker 2:
[18:27] That's such an interesting idea. As parents, right? We're both parents of younger kids. Nate's got a little bit older than ours. But yeah, you wonder about that. We grew up in the 80s. You're 82 just like I am, right? I mean, it was such a different time. I remember I played Nintendo the first time in kindergarten, the original NES. And that was fun. But we used to ride bikes everywhere. We used to, you turn sticks into swords. And I mean, we just, we did dumb things because we play outside and be bored. I remember my parents would throw us out in the yard until they go play until it's dark, right?

Speaker 3:
[19:06] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[19:06] Like go entertain yourselves out there.

Speaker 5:
[19:07] Well, some of those Nintendo games, you couldn't get past the first level.

Speaker 2:
[19:10] That was so frustrating.

Speaker 5:
[19:10] So you couldn't play for very long.

Speaker 3:
[19:12] Yeah. And also they're basic enough to where you're like, you do get bored and you're like, let's go outside. Like I, it used to be like, if I'm in my hotel at night and I'm on my phone, I'll never go to sleep. But if I put my laptop on and watch a video, I'll fall asleep to the video. But now I feel like the latest laptop I bought, I feel like even it keeps me awake.

Speaker 2:
[19:34] It's like a drug.

Speaker 3:
[19:35] There's something in the screen that like forces you to keep paying attention to it.

Speaker 2:
[19:40] Weird. When this journey did you start getting, I mean, you said you found YouTube, but when did you really start to get into, because like you talked about, the podcast formerly known as Nate Land with Nate Bragazzi and some other comics that come through there, you're the conspiracy theory guy that in some ways, that's what you talk about. But when did that really become like a thing you became interested in?

Speaker 3:
[20:02] Well, even when I was like a little kid, we kind of talked about this on Instagram, but I found like these books and they were kind of these unsolved mysteries books. That wasn't what it was, but it was like this volume of books and it had the Bermuda Triangle in it. It had Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, all sort of stuff like that. And I remember being like, oh, this is really cool. And we would talk about the Bermuda Triangle, whether we knew anything or not. I remember other kids in the trailer park being like, yeah, ships can't fly over, or planes can't fly over and ships go around it because they'll sink. And I don't know if any of that's true, but I just remember being like, whoa, this is crazy, this little area. And then you start, I started watching Unsolved Mysteries and I started seeing ghost stuff and alien stuff. I was terrified for most of my childhood because I was afraid that aliens were coming. Or I remember one Unsolved Mysteries. In this episode, a ghost saved these people's life, right? Like the house was on fire and they said, their bedroom door was open and a ghost came to the doorway and woke them up and saved their life. But I was so terrified of ghosts that I would never sleep with the bedroom door open because I didn't want a ghost to come into the doorway. And I, you know, remember, what is it? Three men and a baby, that scene where everybody said there was a ghost in the curtain.

Speaker 2:
[21:32] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[21:33] I just, I would rewind that VHS over and over again to that spot. Even though it was scaring me to death, I kept watching it.

Speaker 2:
[21:43] And there's like a gunling against the wall. There's a whole thing on, that's a whole thing. In that scene where there's supposedly the girls in the window that was killed in the home. They're filming it.

Speaker 3:
[21:53] Now there is an explanation. I don't know if, you know, but if you want me to-

Speaker 2:
[21:57] Yeah, debunk it for us.

Speaker 3:
[21:58] Well, what they say is, and I know, I don't even remember the movie, but Ted Danson is apparently like fairly famous in the movie. And there's these cardboard cutouts of him from a book signing or something. And so, that's what's in the curtain, kind of leaned up against the wall is like Ted Danson cutout. But I don't know. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[22:20] I don't know. We actually did our last episode with Dr. Michael Heiser on ghosts, particularly. And it's like, you know, the guys in the Bible see ghosts all the time. And it's-

Speaker 2:
[22:29] Well, they think Jesus is a ghost when you're walking across. They think the Greek is fantastic.

Speaker 5:
[22:33] And they knew, they kind of knew the difference between, oh, that's a ghost and that's a demon and that's-

Speaker 2:
[22:38] Wasn't Peter getting out of jail when he knocked on the door and they think it's his ghost?

Speaker 3:
[22:41] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:42] And that's such an interesting worldview that people just like skip over. Why would they think Peter's a-

Speaker 3:
[22:46] Yeah, I mean, they have angel encounters and people are, you know, they're terrified of angels. You know, they always bow to them and the angels say, don't, you know, don't bow to me.

Speaker 5:
[23:03] Back in the 80s, we used to love a show called MacGyver. You could walk into the fridge, like an archeologist entering a sealed tomb, and he could be like, oh, there's some sauce, a half an onion, just some shredded cheese, and MacGyver could fashion it into dinner. But for the rest of us, Luke, dinner cannot come from those ingredients, and that's why we need Home Chef.

Speaker 2:
[23:19] Yeah, and Home Chef is helping us reset with simple recipes, fresh ingredients, and meals that feel balanced and achievable. Solving the mystery of what's for dinner tonight and what we can prepare, Home Chef is the easy button. It's rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipe ease. And it makes things simple, Nate. It's fresh food delivered, easy recipes to follow, and meals that actually taste great. This last shipment of mine, barbecue pork tacos, one-pan Korean-style barbecue meatballs, I guess I have a barbecue theme here, and creamy basil pesto chicken pasta all showed up. Family loved it, kids loved it. Easy to do. I mean, less than 30 minutes and all the ingredients are measured, pre-proportioned. You just gotta put together and cook it. It's like a portal from which dinner arrives.

Speaker 5:
[24:05] You can't mess it up. It comes together, all the proportions, and all you gotta do is read the directions, throw it in the pot, put it in the oven, whatever you gotta do.

Speaker 2:
[24:13] And listen, it's not one size fits all. You got 30 meal options each week with different choices, different diets, different tastes, and it's affordable. Saves an average of $86 per month on groceries. So for a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com/blurry. That's homechef.com/blurry. That's homechef.com/blurry for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. homechef.com/blurry. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.

Speaker 5:
[24:52] You alluded to your own ghost story. I don't know if you want to tell it.

Speaker 3:
[24:55] Well, yeah, I mean, I saw this thing later where people talked about shadow people, and it's not a thing that I had ever heard of at this time. And the moment I heard it, it's like seeing a silhouette of something. The moment I heard it, I got really freaked out because I used to live in this old house. When I was first living in Nashville, then an old house, it was built in the 1800s, but it had six bedrooms and I was living there with five other dudes. And then when I met my wife, we were dating and we rented another room. These are details you don't need, but it was the two of us living with four other dudes and a lot of rats in the house.

Speaker 2:
[25:38] Other than the dudes.

Speaker 3:
[25:39] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[25:39] That's quite an experience. Like, hey, honey, we're going to live with four other dudes.

Speaker 3:
[25:43] So many rats. One time I set out glue traps in this closet, I caught seven rats in one night. It's insane what's going on in this house.

Speaker 2:
[25:50] You could have made a hard right into like the pest business.

Speaker 3:
[25:53] Well, I used to sell pesticides before I started comedy. That's how I knew I could take care of them.

Speaker 5:
[25:58] Paranormal pest control.

Speaker 2:
[26:00] Dusty.

Speaker 3:
[26:01] But this door, this house was old, had a lot of sounds, and you could hear all the doors close. Nothing was quiet. And one night, me and my wife are in bed, and I hear this kind of click of the door, and I thought, and then I see something, and I think it's one of my roommates coming to tell me something, which they've never done. No one's ever come into my room at night to tell me something. But it was all so real that I felt a presence of another person, like somebody was coming to tell me something. And I look up, and it looks like the silhouette of a person at the foot of my bed. And I was kind of like half asleep, half awake. But I remember like jumping back in a way in the bed that enough that it kind of freaked my wife out, and then it disappeared. And it was just really weird, like at the foot of my bed, like a person was there and then was gone.

Speaker 5:
[27:06] What's the difference between a shadow person and a ghost, you think?

Speaker 3:
[27:10] I would think a ghost is almost like this translucent person.

Speaker 5:
[27:16] Glowing?

Speaker 3:
[27:17] Yeah. But like the shadow person was like, as I'm telling this story, you have like, it looks like a bear rug in the corner, but it's like a silhouette of a person, like almost like...

Speaker 5:
[27:29] It's a dark figure, it's there.

Speaker 3:
[27:32] Yeah, like Lord of the Rings, like these people.

Speaker 2:
[27:34] Or like Peter Pan where he tries to catch a shadow and it's cruising around.

Speaker 5:
[27:38] People say like the women in white, a lot of people encounter, you know, that ghost or that era of ghost. I don't even know it doesn't, it's really confusing as you get into it, but they can tell it's a woman, she's confused, and it's like a hologram. It's not a shadow. And that seems to be mostly what people would describe as a ghost. It's like someone just took the opacity down to like 15%.

Speaker 3:
[28:05] Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like I've always been freaked out by ghosts. I used to pray all the time as a kid that I would not see ghost, that I would not see aliens. I used to pray all the time because it was like, you know, and the Bible talks about kind of a veil to the spiritual realm. And I didn't know it at the time, but it was like I was praying, don't let me see into the spiritual realm. And I don't know why, but I was so freaked out. Now, this is, my dad has never talked about this, and I'm sure it's not true, but the house my dad lives in, his dad built, and his dad, you know, had a heart attack in the house, didn't die in the house, but had a heart attack in the house and died on the way to the hospital. And my sister, we have different dads, and my sister, who used to try to freak me out all the time, would tell me that in that house, after my granddad passed away, he would wake my dad up in the morning by calling his name. And I don't know if that's true. I never talk about that with my dad. Probably not true. But I used to stay in that house, and it freaked me out all the time.

Speaker 2:
[29:17] It's weird. That is weird. I hope it's true.

Speaker 3:
[29:20] Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, he still lives in the house. So it freaks me out.

Speaker 5:
[29:24] Yeah. I feel like as you do, like these having more conversations about these things, things just get a little more nuanced. And I think that's hard for a lot of people, because obviously Civil War people see those guys here all the time in Franklin, and the ghosts of the Civil War soldiers. And I don't want to make heads or tails of that, but-

Speaker 2:
[29:43] Yeah, it's like, it's so weird. It's almost like a time thing. It's like-

Speaker 5:
[29:47] Well, I mean, and it's very divided amongst Christians. Like Kirk Cameron came on like last week, told a story about his sister. She had twins, one of them passed. And then the other twin is growing up without her sister's past in the womb, right? And then the child asks his mom, hey, do I have a sister? And she's like, you wouldn't have known that. You have no idea. And it's like, oh, well, she's interacting with, you know. And-

Speaker 3:
[30:15] This is kind of stuff. They always gives me chills.

Speaker 5:
[30:17] But people say immediately the reaction is it's demonic or I can't believe that that's amazing. It's not like, whoa, that's weird. It's one or the other. It's just, we as Christians have a hard time believing. Anything is spooky and weird. We just, we slap demonic on it and we move on. It's like a reaction. But then there's other people who are like, man, that's an incredible encouragement for her. I'm like, I don't understand.

Speaker 3:
[30:44] Well, they talk about like, the Bible talks about like necromancy, like trying to communicate with the dead. And that's what, that's where I get like, I think it's like they say, like if a house where like a lot of pain and torture and stuff went on, that demons will be attracted to that. And so they'll, they like that sort of thing. So they'll live in those sort of, like my dad has a couple of rental houses that he owns and they're all really old houses. And the one that my dad says I will inherit is one that-

Speaker 5:
[31:18] It's the creepiest one?

Speaker 3:
[31:19] Yeah, which I've said to my dad and my wife that if I inherit that house, I'll bulldoze it to the ground and we'll never step foot inside there. But I've been in there and it used to have an attic. When, before my dad bought it, there was a closet that you could go in and open the door. And that's where the stairway to the second floor was at, was inside the closet. And he said before he owned it, there was a family that lived there and they had a kid that was like special needs, like I guess had down syndrome. And he said, this was during a time where people like would hide those people away. And I don't, yeah, I don't know. These are just stories they're telling me. And so this kid stayed in the attic and where it was very hot up there. And eventually the kid died. And now they say that kid like haunts that house. And my dad said, many people that have rented the house will come to him later and go, you know, that house is haunted, right? And my dad will go, yeah, right? And I'm like-

Speaker 2:
[32:22] This is why you want to bulldoze it, I get it.

Speaker 3:
[32:23] Yeah, but people say that, you know, one person that lived there said they were sitting on the bed and then next to them, like an imprint of a person sitting there, like popped up next to them and they swiped it away and said it came back. And they said the fans will cut on out of nowhere. The sinks will drip and they'll go turn it off and then it will drip again. And it's like, I'm like, yeah, I mean, I will never occupy. I mean, I'll go in just to show the construction workers where to bulldoze or whatever.

Speaker 5:
[32:59] It turns out it's on a cemetery.

Speaker 2:
[33:00] It's always like the fascinating stories, Dusty, are in this space because as Nate was saying, like there's, this is what we talked to Mike Heiser about. His last podcast he ever did was with us. And it was about this idea of ghosts and spirits and how we sort of delineate biblically speaking between the two. And we, I mentioned beforehand, there's like, the disciples think Jesus is a ghost walking across the water. There's this, they think Peter when he breaks out of prison or broken out of prison, it's his ghost. So there's this reality within the scriptures of this other that's not, they don't think it's a demon pretending to be Peter. They don't think it's a demon pretending to be Jesus. It's another thing, right? And-

Speaker 5:
[33:37] Yeah, the ghost of Samuel too.

Speaker 2:
[33:38] And it's hard, that actually was our Bible study last week was that- The ghost of Samuel was the witch of Endor and this-

Speaker 3:
[33:44] But the ghost of Samuel is like, what are you doing?

Speaker 2:
[33:47] Yeah, why are you waking me up? I already told you.

Speaker 5:
[33:49] But she knew it was actually him. That's why she freaked out.

Speaker 3:
[33:52] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[33:53] Because she was like, oh man, it's actually you.

Speaker 3:
[33:55] The witch who, yeah, she's like, oh, I did it.

Speaker 2:
[33:57] Yeah, but not, this is what I didn't want. Didn't want this to happen, yeah.

Speaker 5:
[34:01] But it also, ghosts have their own personality of almost like they don't know why they're there. It's like the demonic stuff is creepy and evil and it's scary. And when people encounter that in a haunted house, like sleep paralysis and all the stuff that they see or these creatures. But then sometimes it's like a ghost is like, it doesn't know, it's scary because you're seeing something, but it's not trying to scare you. That makes sense? Yeah, yeah. It's not trying to make you afraid of it.

Speaker 2:
[34:29] It's almost like a loop or something. Like it goes and looks out the window and then it's gone. And then you have this whole thing like, what?

Speaker 5:
[34:34] That doesn't fit into the demon box in my mind because it's not intentionally trying to frighten you. It doesn't-

Speaker 2:
[34:41] Like a poltergeist is scratching you or lifting you out of bed or anything crazy.

Speaker 5:
[34:44] Like the woman in White Star, these girls told on our show, it was like they were walking home from one farmhouse to the other when they were kids. And there was just this woman standing there looking, almost like she's calling somebody and they see her and she's glowing and it's illuminating the ground around her. But she doesn't notice the kids. I'm like, well, if it's a demonic entity, she's gonna be like, come here, little kid, freaking them out. She's like, they're like watching like a time. Like she's living like 75 years in the past having a moment. So what do you do with that? Why, where do you put that? Where do you file that, Dusty?

Speaker 3:
[35:18] Yeah, it's like, I think there can be things like-

Speaker 2:
[35:22] Ghost expert, Dusty Slay.

Speaker 3:
[35:24] With like VHS, right? You record something, you record over something or in somehow it bleeds in the old recording, somehow bleeds into the new recording. Like we're in some sort of simulation or like in the sense of like, to us, there's this time, we're living time, but to God, everything exists all at the same time, right? It's like there's, if you, if there's no beginning, there's no end to God, as God has explained to us, everything is born and dies to God, everything has always been. So I don't know, maybe, you know, maybe all these things are existing at the same time, but somehow they bleed into a single moment.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 5:
[36:21] More fiber.

Speaker 2:
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Speaker 5:
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Speaker 5:
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Speaker 2:
[37:57] Yeah, it's kind of like when we talk about the transfiguration, there's a bunch of really cool theories about transfiguration, about Jesus transfigures, and there's Moses and Elijah, right? Which is, of course, the typical responses to law and prophets. Of course it is, it's Jesus being the fulfillment of the laws and the law and the prophets, right? But there's some fun theories that because of the place on the mountain that you're looking at a space and time where it's Jesus, Yahweh, meeting with Moses on top of the mountain at the same time, Elijah meeting, what you're seeing is this thing happening in space and time, which is, we don't know, but it's-

Speaker 3:
[38:33] I have heard that though. So like when Moses is in the mountain, when Elijah's in the mountain, and then when Jesus like, they're all happening at different times, but when Jesus is there, they're all there at the same time.

Speaker 2:
[38:44] If God is outside of space and time, which he is.

Speaker 3:
[38:46] I love that.

Speaker 2:
[38:47] But it's interesting to think, like, and to your point, like there's this, you know, God is outside of space and time. So we experience, and we talked about this with Troy, time in a linear fashion, right? It's right now, it's playing out in front of us, right? But God is the Alpha and the Mega. He's at the beginning and the end. He sort of sees it all as it is. And his experience of time is different. The Bible says that, like, to the Lord, a day is-

Speaker 5:
[39:12] Thousand years.

Speaker 2:
[39:12] Like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. What do you do with that? You're like-

Speaker 3:
[39:16] In the sense that they're all afraid, right? It's like, even like when people see these things, I mean, they see angels, everybody's afraid, like we are when we see a ghost. And then, like, you know, when the Hebrew people are like, when Moses is with them and God speaks to them, reveals himself to them on the mountain, they all go, hey, next time, Moses, maybe you just talk to him. We're afraid. You just do this, okay? Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[39:46] Do you feel like that stuff helps your faith grow? Cause I know for me, once, you know, the typical church setting and going to church and being a part of Christianity, it was like, it allowed me to kind of click into autopilot, just kind of cruise. But then when the weirder stuff I started, I'm like, okay, this is real. Like all the things that I've heard my whole life, is that, were you always into the paranormal and the strange and the fun stories, or were you later in life, you kind of get into that and then it helps your, it seems like there was a point when you got more serious about your faith.

Speaker 3:
[40:19] Yeah. I mean, I've always been into it, but yeah, I mean, when you start to read stuff like the Hebrews verse that is pretty popular amongst conspiracy theorists where it's like, or, you know, where it's like, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but have been spiritualities and Principalities.

Speaker 2:
[40:36] Principalities where it's like Ephesians, Paul.

Speaker 3:
[40:38] Oh, it's Ephesians. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[40:39] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[40:40] But it's like where you start to go, oh, there's something outside of our reality that's happening. Yeah. And almost like there's like things above our world leaders that are happening, that are, you know, that like we're supposed to be praying against those sort of things to, you know, help for the good. You know, I don't know. I don't have the right way to explain it, but yeah, to answer your question, I do think it strengthens my faith to go, oh, there is stuff beyond this life. You know what I mean? Where we're living in this reality, and I feel like even talking about this stuff, I'm like, I feel like I'm in some kind of weirder space now. Not that your space is weird, but you know what I mean? Like a weirder head space. When I used to talk about ghost stories when I was a kid, with my friends, and then it would freak me out to the point where I was like, I don't want to talk ghost stories anymore.

Speaker 5:
[41:39] Yeah, they do get a little scary, a little creepy, and you can freak yourself out. I didn't like them either. I didn't like watching those movies as a kid either.

Speaker 2:
[41:45] Me neither.

Speaker 3:
[41:46] I don't watch any horror movies now at all.

Speaker 2:
[41:49] Me neither, none. I don't like that stuff. I mean, we've actually talked to, like we talked to Chad Hayes, who wrote The Conjuring, right?

Speaker 5:
[41:56] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[41:56] And he's a believer, and it was an interesting conversation, but doesn't make me want to watch the movie.

Speaker 5:
[42:00] Nah. How does your faith play into your comedy? Obviously, I don't think a lot of, I don't know, I feel like when people listen to comedy or go to a show, they just kind of want to be, they don't want to think about anything for an hour. They don't want to actually have to process themselves. That's kind of a hard combination to put those two things together, I would say.

Speaker 3:
[42:18] Well, on my podcast, I go, I don't even advertise my podcast a lot, so I go, if you found it, you've searched for it, and now I'm going to talk about other stuff. But for my comedy, I'm like, I'm just going to make you laugh. I'm just going to do comedy. I'm not going to bring you here and then try to have some ulterior motive. I'm just going to do comedy. But for my podcast, that's where I talk about the Bible. I talk about more serious things, but I still try to be jokey and fun. But for my comedy, I don't make jokes about the Bible. I don't make jokes about Christianity. I don't really joke about any religion.

Speaker 5:
[42:58] You're not South Park. You don't go after everything.

Speaker 3:
[43:00] Right, right. But even if something might be funny in the Bible that I read, I'm not going to joke about it. Because maybe I just don't understand it, but I don't make jokes about the Bible. I don't joke about God. Like even when I was younger and I was like, I used to live in this trailer when I was doing drugs and whatnot in the trailer. And I still had a picture, which I'm not into putting pictures of Jesus up because now I'm like, well, we don't know what Jesus looks like. So I don't know who this is I'm putting on my wall, calling them Jesus. But I had the picture up and I had all these wild people coming in and out of my house. And me and my friends would never let people say GD, because we're like, hey, let's have some respect here.

Speaker 2:
[43:49] You know what I mean?

Speaker 3:
[43:50] Let's don't mess around. Because I'm like, no matter what you're doing, you got to have respect for God.

Speaker 2:
[43:56] Yeah. And he said, what is it like doing clean comedy, right? Because this is, I think this was a very interesting space. And guys like your friend, Nate Bargatze, is blowing the biggest comic really in the world right now. In fact, his tour will do maybe the biggest tour ever. Rock band, doesn't matter what it is. And he's committed to doing, he's also a believer, committed to doing clean comedy. What's that like? I mean, because it had a whole stigma, right? It had to be like this Christian comic and you had to perform at Spirit West Coast back when we were like, you know, in the tent. And it wasn't like a...

Speaker 3:
[44:32] First off, his workout thing is incredible. If I do one tour like that and make that money, you may never see me again.

Speaker 2:
[44:39] Dusty's gone. He's on YouTube, watching YouTube.

Speaker 3:
[44:44] But yeah, I mean, I think there was a bit of a stigma about it and which is why I don't necessarily advertise my comedy as clean. I say relatively clean because I also don't want people to complain if they go. I thought he was clean. He talked about weed for 15 minutes.

Speaker 2:
[45:00] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[45:01] But yeah, I think there is a turnaround. I think that probably originally comedy was clean and then things started to get edgy. Then it was the edgy stuff was cool because it was like, oh, this is not something I can hear anywhere else. And then it went so far to where it's like, oh, there is no edge anymore. You've already said everything in the world. And I think there was a hunger for people like, well, I want something that's not so crazy. I want a podcast I can listen to in the car with my kids and not like, I realized I was so desensitized to this sort of stuff when I started listening to my normal podcast in the car with my kids. And I go, oh, I can't listen to this. I didn't know they dropped 50 F-bombs in this. So I think there was a hunger for like, can I listen to this around my kids? Even my shows, I say, I don't want your little kids to come because I do talk about weed a lot, but you could bring your adult kids to my show and not be embarrassed that you brought them. People tell me all the time, yeah, I can finally watch something with my kids or I can finally watch something with my parents.

Speaker 2:
[46:10] I feel like, too, my experience with comedy is that I feel like it takes more effort and talent and skill to be funny without it being shocking or to be so vulgar. I remember I saw Tracy Morgan when I was in college, end of my college career, Chico State in Northern California, and I was real excited because I loved him on SNL, the Bryan Fellows and all the stuff he did. And he came out and it was so obscenely vulgar that I even just left. I was like, it was so disappointing because I felt like this shtick was, let's just be so shocking that it wasn't, I didn't even feel like I was like, man.

Speaker 5:
[46:54] That feels a little easier to me.

Speaker 3:
[46:55] Well, I agree. And I think that about a lot of podcasts, too. Even that joke I made about myself earlier, someone saying my podcast is not that funny. And I go, well, you're probably listening to a lot of super filthy podcasts, where these guys just say anything that they want to say. There's no shame about them at all. And then you think this is hilarious. And so that when you listen to a guy not doing that, you think, oh, this is boring or this is not as funny. And it's like, well, you've ruined your palate. You know what I mean? When you hear the worst things in the world, hearing somebody be clean, that might be boring to you, but you need a palate cleanser. You need to fast from comedy for a bit.

Speaker 2:
[47:38] Yeah, but I also think that when you're not in it to shock people, you have to actually be funny. Because you gotta be like, well, I gotta create, I have to tell jokes to situations that are actually funny. It's not just like-

Speaker 3:
[47:50] Yeah, and that's what I'm, I try to create a whole show right where I want, I want bits and I'm now talking about, I got a lot of neighborhood jokes that I'm doing. So I'm bringing you in, now I'm talking about the neighborhood. And then I got callbacks to where it's like, if you listened to the jokes earlier, now you get these jokes on a deeper level because now I got layers of jokes.

Speaker 2:
[48:10] It's like an orchestra. It's like a joke with an orchestra.

Speaker 3:
[48:12] Yeah, I'm trying to create, when I was growing up, I liked music albums where I could listen to the whole album. I really liked Pink Floyd because I would listen to this and it feel like the album would almost call back to an earlier and I love that. I like the complete album. So that's what I like.

Speaker 5:
[48:31] That's hard to do. I mean, I feel like a lot of times pastors kind of get into sermon mode and they preach, but I think comedy is such a feeling oriented. There's a lot of moments of silence. You have to put that in there. It's very hard. I think I'm just, I'm impressed. And we joke a lot about how Blurry Creatures might've been a Mitch Hedberg joke of his bit on Bigfoot. And-

Speaker 2:
[48:57] That focused monster.

Speaker 5:
[48:58] Yeah, that focused monster. Right? Like, so we're going to, we're going to tell you, we want a little, we want some Bigfoot bits out there. Give us some-

Speaker 2:
[49:05] You got the hat.

Speaker 5:
[49:06] Give us some paranormal.

Speaker 2:
[49:07] We're halfway there.

Speaker 3:
[49:07] Well, I thought this was, you know, this is, you know, as you know, this is the monster truck Bigfoot.

Speaker 2:
[49:13] Of course.

Speaker 3:
[49:14] But I was like, this is perfect. I love this hat anyway. And I was like, this is a perfect hat for this monster.

Speaker 2:
[49:19] What was it like being a comic in 2020? Cause this is one of the times when, you know, this is what broke a lot of people's paradigms was what happened with the shutdowns and all those. And everything that kind of went, but there was this massive like de-platforming and censorship that was going on. And it felt like-

Speaker 5:
[49:38] They shut down your industry.

Speaker 3:
[49:39] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[49:39] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[49:40] Well, my, you know, worldview, my old worldview and paradigm was broken long before, right? So COVID coming in was, wasn't, I mean, it's like, it's shocking in the sense that the world actually shut down. Cause I was, you know, out doing shows and I was hearing people talk about this COVID coming. I go, I'm not worried about it. It's going to be fine. I was in, in March, I was in March of 2020. I was in Florida, Sarasota, Florida doing shows. And I was talking to my wife. I remember saying to my wife, I go, as long as nothing crazy. Cause this was like, that was the first year that my, I had, I had, my, my year was really sad. I had a ton of shows. And I told my wife, I go, long as nothing crazy happens, we're all set. And then I flew home and she was wearing a mask and rubber gloves when she picked me up from the airport. I made fun of her. And then I didn't leave the house for two weeks. And I was a little freaked out at the beginning of COVID, but I got over that pretty fast. Cause I didn't know what was happening. Nobody knew what was happening, but I got over it pretty fast. And to me, it was a pretty great time. I learned to edit videos. I had an hour long comedy set that I had filmed that I learned to edit. I blew up on TikTok, for me blowing up. And still my largest following on a platform is TikTok. And in May of 2020, I got invited to Dallas to do comedy at the Addison Improv. And I was like, yeah, let's do it. I mean, I've been stuck in the house for two months. And a lot of comics were definitely not doing comedy during that time. In May of 2020, I might have been the only headliner in the country doing comedy.

Speaker 2:
[51:21] Biggest show in the country.

Speaker 3:
[51:22] Yeah, and we were 25% capacity. And it was fantastic because people were so excited to be out of the house that I really, I mean, that time in a lot of ways, I loved.

Speaker 5:
[51:36] So the fear didn't get you.

Speaker 3:
[51:38] No, I mean, there were times where I was like, oh no, I'm sick. But then I never, you know, I wasn't, but I was flying in May. People didn't really care about mask in May. You know, I know that came about a little later.

Speaker 2:
[51:52] Well, cause I told everybody that they wouldn't do anything until I told them that it would. There was the whole reversal of-

Speaker 3:
[51:56] Yeah, it wasn't a big deal. In early May, we were flying without mask. People were not yelling at us. Now we had them with us, but I had a bandana and people were not freaking out. The plane was mostly empty. They were very excited that we were flying. The hotel was mostly empty. The hotel was very welcoming. All the restaurants I went to were so happy.

Speaker 2:
[52:18] I was so happy, anyone showed up.

Speaker 3:
[52:19] It was just like a beautiful time where it felt like everybody appreciated your business. Everybody appreciated comedy. And it was like, I was wonderful. And then there came a time when I started, I was sitting in the airport and I go, ah, the world is coming back. And it was a little disappointing because I was like, here's all the people that were afraid to leave their house and now they're back. Now they're back and they're being loud and they're in my way.

Speaker 2:
[52:50] You were like a pioneer. You're like, all the real ones are out right now.

Speaker 5:
[52:53] You had an I am legend moment. You're just like living, living large, no one's around. I feel like conspiracy theories prepped a lot of people in the creative space. They knew what this was. They're like, maybe not all the details behind the curtain, but we know there's a curtain and whoever's behind it is pulling the strings. And so it wasn't as, I think we, most of us spent about two to three weeks where we were like, is this real? Oh, I know what's going on here.

Speaker 3:
[53:21] I had already not trusted Bill Gates eight years prior to COVID.

Speaker 2:
[53:27] Microsoft Office is sketchy.

Speaker 5:
[53:30] But it's just like every, all the creators are like, okay, I gotta, now I have to really get creative. How am I gonna like keep going? If I can't go out and get people in a room, what do I do? I'm gonna turn to TikTok or I'm gonna make a YouTube channel or I'm gonna try to.

Speaker 3:
[53:44] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[53:44] Get my comedy out some way, right?

Speaker 3:
[53:47] Yeah, I mean, it was depressing in some ways. Yeah, of course. Because I thought, oh, things are not gonna come back.

Speaker 2:
[53:54] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[53:55] I thought things are not gonna ever come back the way they were. When I started seeing plexiglass go up everywhere, I thought, oh, this is a permanent situation. Like when they were going up at the grocery stores and when TSA started putting up plexiglass, I go, we'll never go back.

Speaker 2:
[54:11] Thank God we did, man.

Speaker 3:
[54:13] And I even told people that we're never going to go back. And I've never been more happy to be wrong about something. Because there is that thing of like, I was a little disappointed when everybody started to come back. And I was like, oh, this moment of everybody appreciating my business is gone. But on the other hand, I love my life. I love being able to travel anywhere I want to go, do comedy and have a blast. I was just in a cigar shop in Poughkeepsie, New York, on Friday with way too many people. I'm sure we were breaking. I invited my show out and not as many people came as I hoped. But in the end, I was glad they didn't. But we packed this little cigar shop out and it was too many people. But during COVID, nobody would have did that.

Speaker 2:
[55:01] No. My Florida moment for COVID was the same. We were to a wedding, shout out to Kerry and Vanessa Spear. We were down there and they actually told them they couldn't get married at the spot. We were already in Florida and everything started getting weird. They had to move the wedding last minute. I remember the craziest thing was we were at the hotel and I walked out to the pool to go to the pool bar and it was closed. It said this is closed due to COVID-19. I'm like, when we were there, I was like, what is happening here? They had to move a wedding, shut down the pool bar at Hilton. In the same way, I remember I went to a show, Dan and Shay, Shay Mooney has been a great friend forever, and Dan as well. But I remember they started their first, it reminds me of you said, their first arena tour, first show was at Bridgestone, went to the show and then everything got canceled. So this whole arena tour, there was one show and done.

Speaker 3:
[55:50] Wow.

Speaker 2:
[55:50] Like, and I think for a lot of people, the reason I brought that up is that like there was, that became the red pill moment for people being like, wait a minute, so if they can, if they, you know, it's can do this, then what else is possible? What else have I heard that is, it's true. And the comedians though, to, you know, to your, you became the truth tellers, right? Like, because they couldn't, they can't cancel. Comedians should have carte blanche to talk about everything, right? And they were trying to cancel everybody.

Speaker 5:
[56:14] Well, that's a big part. That's a big thing going on.

Speaker 3:
[56:17] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[56:17] Cancel culture and you guys, like.

Speaker 3:
[56:19] Yeah, I mean, you know, and which is why, you know, I don't really talk about a lot of stuff, but you know, on podcasts and stuff, I try to, in a jokey way, get some of these things out there. But I find that, I feel like if I believed in conspiracies, like I do, and I wasn't Christian, it would be the most depressing thing. But I just find that Christianity, I go, all right, well.

Speaker 5:
[56:45] Why do you think that is?

Speaker 3:
[56:46] Well, I feel like the Bible kind of tells us a lot of these things are gonna be happening. People are going to be trying to do bad things to us. So you don't necessarily expect, cause some people think, like there's that Luke Bryan song, I believe most people are good. And I go, oh, I don't know why you believe that. Most people are terrible. And there are some good people. But I feel like the Bible lets us know everyone's bad. And we strive to be good through Jesus, but everyone's bad in some way.

Speaker 5:
[57:22] Well, there's a spiritual realm and it really affects our realm. There's a, or at least there's another, people call it a dimension or spiritual realm, unseen realm, all the, and we don't really understand it, but we know that, oh, there is something above, like you were saying earlier, that's kind of affecting us. And I was thinking about a writing comedy. Do you visualize a set? Do you visualize how it goes? And how do you deal with negative self-talk? Because if you don't, if jokes don't perform and people say negative things to you, how do you process that? How do comedians work through that? Is there like comedian support groups that you guys meet secretly places?

Speaker 3:
[58:05] Well, we do talk. Green rooms are those secret spots. If you do a showcase, I think if you're in New York or LA, you have more of these showcases. So you will be on more shows with colleagues. In Nashville, we actually have a pretty good scene. We have a lot of headliners that live here. That's nice because we're out dealing with our own things on the road. We're not together on the road, but we come back and we go to Zany's and we're in a green room together, we get to talk. But I find that online, as long as there's more positive talk than negative talk, I'm fine. But it's like you could read a million positive comments and one negative comment can really get you. This one guy goes, he goes about me, he goes, yeah, I saw this guy in Phoenix and he was just a regular boring comic or something like that. I just thought, oh, so boring that you had to come watch another video.

Speaker 5:
[59:07] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[59:08] Yeah. But it stuck with me. It stuck with me that am I boring? But I'm like, I think I'm boring if you're stupid. I think if you're a stupid person who doesn't know how to get the jokes, it might be boring to you.

Speaker 5:
[59:23] Yeah. But I mean.

Speaker 3:
[59:25] Cause I'm not jumping around on stage. I'm not humping the stool, you know. You gotta go for it. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[59:32] I mean, I think it's just an interesting thing to put yourself out in the world, but actually have, you almost have to have two people. You have to have this guy that's like, I'll just, I don't care. I'm going to just do me.

Speaker 3:
[59:43] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[59:43] But then there's this real person that kind of comes back and goes, that hurt, that things you say. And then, and it's like, you need that to, to hone your craft, to get better at what you do. You do need some negative, right? So how does that?

Speaker 3:
[59:56] For sure.

Speaker 5:
[59:56] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[59:57] And I think for me, I like to comment people in the comments. When they, when they comment, I like to go at them, but I, I like to try to do it in a way that I don't embarrass myself. I like to try to still be jokey with them.

Speaker 5:
[60:09] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[60:10] You know, but some people can't do it. And then I just block them. But like some people get, they try to get real personal with you. And I, and it makes me think, are you a person that I know in my life?

Speaker 5:
[60:20] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[60:20] And you're like, you're like trying to come and do personal attacks. Like people try to, some people try to attack me about, somebody was trying to attack me about being religious. And they go, oh, it's weird. Cause I pretty sure it used to be a druggy and an alky. And I go, do you not know religious people? I mean, this is what a lot of religious people are. They were alcoholics or they were drug addicts. And they found the Lord and changed their life.

Speaker 2:
[60:44] Christ transforms your life. That's the whole story for everybody. Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 5:
[60:49] I think every single person God uses struggled with, like what I would categorize as sins of the flesh. Like when he runs up to people with sins of the spirit, when they're super prideful that they won't listen to anything he has to say, it seems like those aren't the people that get used in the story. But like, David and Moses, these guys were drinkers and they liked women and blah, blah, blah. They were normal people who struggled with things, right? But they didn't have so much pride to where they couldn't go, maybe I shouldn't do that. But they did. And then they self-regulate, they figured out, and then they come back humbled and they try again. And I think that you're not allowed to be a human in the church for the most part.

Speaker 3:
[61:30] Oh yeah.

Speaker 5:
[61:31] You're not allowed to be real.

Speaker 3:
[61:33] I feel like, yeah, I mean, as much as I talk about Christianity, I feel like a lot of religious people are who come at me the most about stuff. Like I say, geez, a lot of go, geez. And some people talk to me about saying, that's short for Jesus. And that's what you're saying. I go, well, I'm not really saying his name, but I started to get convicted about it. And I talked about that on my podcast and somebody goes, oh, you're convicted about Jesus, but yet you still smoke cigars. And I'm just like, buddy, just let it.

Speaker 2:
[62:03] But you can't win with those people. Because it'll be the next thing, the next thing, and the next thing. It's fascinating. And we've talked a few times on the show about just how sometimes, unfortunately, Christians are the worst people to other Christians. And it's sad, man, because you know what? Everybody's on their own journey. And as you said, no one shows up clean on a white robe. I've always been this way, except for Christ. We all need that transformation, right?

Speaker 3:
[62:33] Even if people think they are.

Speaker 2:
[62:35] They'll ask the problem.

Speaker 3:
[62:36] Yeah, you're not, you know? It's like you got something going on.

Speaker 5:
[62:40] Yeah. People say truth is stranger than fiction. And I feel like we're truth seekers, right? Looking for the truth. But comedy, it's like when you tell the truth, it's the most funny. It's super funny. And how do you, why do you think that is? Why do you think like when some of the best comedians, they can just say something that we all know, but for some reason, that guy put it into words. And it's hilarious because it's like, yeah, we all do that, right?

Speaker 3:
[63:08] Well, I think that's why, right? Because we all relate to it. We all go, ooh, I wish I had thought of that. Yeah. You know, and I feel like-

Speaker 5:
[63:17] You're telling the truth.

Speaker 3:
[63:18] Yeah. I feel like some of that's gone because we're all on our own algorithms now, right? We're on the internet. The internet is our shared experience, now there's like something for everyone to find your own little niche, to where it's like, used to be, we all watched the same TV shows, we all read the same magazines, we all watched, like we knew the same actors in the same movies.

Speaker 2:
[63:44] Like shared culture, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[63:46] Yeah. It's like, who would we even do impressions of if we were doing them now? Yeah. Like who's the-

Speaker 2:
[63:52] Wrestlers.

Speaker 3:
[63:53] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[63:54] The 80s. The sad bitch, dude.

Speaker 5:
[63:55] It was a moment.

Speaker 2:
[63:57] That's interesting, though, because to the point, like people, when you do these impressions, it has to be something older because it's a shared, it'd be a shared culture of experience, people that went through it, right? Like I love watching like Macho Man impressions, right? Cause I just think they're so funny.

Speaker 3:
[64:11] Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
[64:12] But like it's this, it's a shared culture of people that grew up and I was telling Nate on the way into the studio this morning, I was like, I think they're like 80s and 90s, wrestling has like hacked my ticket of algorithms. Cause all I get is like macho man promos.

Speaker 5:
[64:27] But somewhere along the line, the truth became offensive. Like South Park used to be able to like make fun of everybody.

Speaker 3:
[64:33] Oh yeah.

Speaker 5:
[64:33] That's like the one thing I could think that they take digs at everybody. And then it started to change where, like you're saying, maybe the algorithm and all of a sudden, like you can't sell that joke.

Speaker 3:
[64:44] Well, the people, it feels like the people who tell you what you can and can't say, like somehow got power.

Speaker 5:
[64:51] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[64:52] And they're like, you can't do that. And then you like, and like, that's why if we look back at the 80s and 90s and you didn't grow up in that, like people go, oh, the 80s and 90s was wild, huh? It's like, no, it wasn't wild, it was just regular. And we got real sensitive.

Speaker 5:
[65:09] Back then, you could have a husband and wife and she could be a Democrat and he could be a Republican and they could stay married.

Speaker 3:
[65:15] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[65:16] And now you can't have that.

Speaker 3:
[65:17] Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
[65:18] Or even if you've got movies that were made even more recent than that. We always joke about like The Hangover or Tropic Thunder.

Speaker 3:
[65:24] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[65:25] Never greenlit. That would never get made in 2026.

Speaker 5:
[65:28] Yeah, it's just a different time.

Speaker 3:
[65:29] And that's why most comedy movies aren't funny. They're not good.

Speaker 2:
[65:35] Yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 3:
[65:36] I haven't seen a good comedy in a long time, like a new one.

Speaker 2:
[65:40] Yeah, I'm trying to think.

Speaker 3:
[65:41] I don't watch a lot of movies, but it's like.

Speaker 5:
[65:43] It used to be half of the movies would come out and be like, you know, the Tommy Boys and the.

Speaker 3:
[65:48] Oh gosh.

Speaker 2:
[65:49] Wedding Crashers. I'm thinking about the things. That's like 20 years ago.

Speaker 5:
[65:51] Or even SNL. I watched that in live and it's like, it used to be when I was a kid, it was like hilarious. And it was clean for the most part. And the best skits were the most creative, were very clean and hilarious. Now you watch it and you're like, this is just not funny.

Speaker 3:
[66:06] Yeah, because it's like our shared, like our politicians are now our most famous people. They're our influencers. They're all over the internet. And I always think when like somebody from CNN or Fox News gets fired, I feel like they're just like, no, we're gonna move you to YouTube, but we're gonna fire you to make it seem like you're edgy now. And then they just become influencers. And then that's who we all know.

Speaker 5:
[66:36] Like when I think about that Mitch Hedberg joke, I think it's just, he's making fun of how people take a picture, right? And it's universal. It's like, yeah, we all, but it's hilarious. Everyone's laughing. And I feel like some of those, the innocent PG jokes.

Speaker 3:
[66:49] Like this is a picture of me when I was younger. Every picture was a picture of you when you were younger. Here's a picture of me when I was older.

Speaker 5:
[66:58] How do you, like, when you create comedy, when you create it, like, all the bits. Yeah, the set. I'm trying to think of the word. When do you know, when do you feel like, oh, it's all working together. It's good. I'm done with this. This is ready for the public. Whereas you, instead of tinkering in the shop for longer, trying to figure it out, when do you, when does that happen?

Speaker 3:
[67:18] Well, for me, I go right to the public with it. I mean, it's, for me, it's the only way that I know if something's going to be good or not, is if I can get some laughs off of it.

Speaker 5:
[67:27] You don't know, you just, you try to-

Speaker 3:
[67:29] I have an idea and I go, oh, this is funny. This is gonna be funny. And then, you know, and then as you start to tell it, if I have a longer bit, if I can find just a little bit of funny in there, I go, okay, now I can run with this and I can keep working it till it's better. But, you know, I don't know until I say it. Like I found something the other day that I thought was really funny. I thought it was like a moon landing, like it was like a NASA thing. It was like NASA seems like NASA's like, oh, we can't, you know, they seem like they're like peaked in high school sort of thing. They're like, oh, we can't land on the moon now, but you should have seen us back in the 60s, man. Back then we could do it, we can't do it now, you know? And I thought that was hilarious, but you know, I got the reaction that you gave to the audience.

Speaker 5:
[68:21] I never thought about that, that like, you know, we used to be more unified.

Speaker 3:
[68:26] Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 5:
[68:28] As a, like, as a group of people, we used to, like, comedy used to be funny because we had a more shared experience. So I feel like maybe the comedy now has to be kind of dumbed down, right? So that, well, we all take our trash to the curb, so I can make jokes about that, but I can't do anything in the political space because I know this is divisive.

Speaker 3:
[68:47] Right, you'll lose half your audience right away. And it's like, to me, sometimes it's like, it feels like even if you make that joke in the room, it may get divided, but people may take it so personal that now they don't like you at all.

Speaker 5:
[69:02] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[69:03] Because you made this joke.

Speaker 2:
[69:04] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[69:05] Now you've offended them.

Speaker 2:
[69:06] Which is crazy because you're like, it's comedy. The whole point is to be funny and maybe slightly offensive. Like it's supposed to make you a little uncomfortable. It's why you laugh. That's the point.

Speaker 3:
[69:18] I made a joke on the Public Figures podcast about Helen Keller. It wasn't even so much of a joke.

Speaker 2:
[69:25] We're already laughing.

Speaker 5:
[69:28] I'm just because I'm like, where'd it go buddy?

Speaker 2:
[69:30] That's bold. I cried laughing about Helen Keller jokes.

Speaker 5:
[69:33] There was a lot of jokes when we were kids.

Speaker 3:
[69:36] Well, mine wasn't even so much of a joke, but apparently Helen Keller wrote books. My thought was, if you can't see and you can't hear, what are you writing about? Do you know what I mean? And it's a genuine question.

Speaker 5:
[69:52] People are offended right now.

Speaker 3:
[69:53] But a lady commented on the video and said that I was a waste of humanity. And it's like, why? Like you've never wondered that? You never, like even how you would communicate it. And then what it is that you're writing about. You're writing about how things smell and it seems like I'm making fun of her, but it's a genuine question.

Speaker 5:
[70:16] Yeah, but it's funny and-

Speaker 2:
[70:17] It is funny. You know how we let Helen Keller fly a plane?

Speaker 5:
[70:20] We just got a lot of cancellations, Luke.

Speaker 2:
[70:22] This is what the whole joke was. I was in Montana fishing with a bunch of guys and we started talking about, these are all movie producers. And we were kind of making a joke about like, what if they recasted Helen Keller as like a hero film? But then they were like, did you know they actually let her fly a plane back in the day?

Speaker 3:
[70:35] Did they?

Speaker 2:
[70:36] And they're like, who's making that call?

Speaker 3:
[70:38] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[70:38] I mean-

Speaker 3:
[70:39] Well, I remember plenty of Helen Keller jokes.

Speaker 2:
[70:41] When you can't see, can't hear, you're like, hey, Helen, why don't you fly this plane?

Speaker 3:
[70:44] It's all, you can feel it. But I had one, now I'm not gonna say it, but I had one back in the day that was really funny, but it's like these days, you know, like you can't.

Speaker 5:
[70:54] It's a tough time. I mean, even, I mean, just like the last seven episodes we did, I was telling Luke, I'm like, people were offended about this. Every episode, people were offended. And we get more and more people, if we just have a discussion, getting offended by our content or saying whatever. So it's kind of like you're forced into creating your own little echo chamber and you can't ever step out. But comedy is supposed to get out outside of the echo chamber. It's supposed to make us all feel like, okay, we're all a little bit ridiculous and we all can't take ourselves so serious.

Speaker 3:
[71:24] Yeah. I mean, I just watched an hour of Norm MacDonald jokes on YouTube the other day. And I go, he's so great.

Speaker 2:
[71:29] Norm is so great.

Speaker 3:
[71:30] And, you know, people would not be able to handle a lot of those jokes.

Speaker 2:
[71:35] Yeah. I just watched one with him when he was making a joke about, it was the longest one. I think it was to, gosh, it was a Tonight Show or something and all the whole cast was on there. It was Sandler and the end was him making fun of Rob Schneider when Rob Schneider was sitting next to him. But it was the longest joke of all time. Like Norm was just, he was ahead of his time.

Speaker 5:
[71:54] You have to be an interesting person to do it.

Speaker 3:
[71:56] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[71:57] You got to have like this part of you that just doesn't care. It's like this, I'm going to go out there, right?

Speaker 2:
[72:04] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[72:04] And it feels like even then it's like you could really not care. And I guess there are some people that managed to pull it off. And I guess you just have to. But it's like, feels like then you could not care. And it'd be funny to go, man, that guy's wild. And then now, if you don't care, they go, that guy should never be on TV again.

Speaker 2:
[72:21] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[72:22] At least they're not banning people off apps like they were. But I mean, people would get banned from Twitter.

Speaker 2:
[72:27] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[72:28] A lot of people on our show get banned.

Speaker 2:
[72:29] You too. Just gone.

Speaker 5:
[72:31] Because they talked about some theory about the pyramids. You're like, what is this? This is ridiculous.

Speaker 3:
[72:37] People go, that's dangerous. It's dangerous what you're saying.

Speaker 5:
[72:41] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[72:41] People say, I talk about space not being real. And people go, this is dangerous. And it's like, guys, there's nothing dangerous about it. OK, people believe space is not real. And some people do. Nobody's hurt. Unless you're trying to fly a spaceship into space and you hit the dome, and that's dangerous.

Speaker 2:
[73:01] That sounds dangerous, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[73:03] It's dangerous to believe in space.

Speaker 5:
[73:06] Well, people thought they would sail off the end of the world if they got in a boat back in the day, because they thought the earth was flat and they would sail over the edge of it.

Speaker 3:
[73:15] And then they realized they were just going in a circle. You know?

Speaker 5:
[73:19] I mean, yes. It's definitely, it's interesting.

Speaker 3:
[73:22] They got to Antarctica and the government was like, you can't be here.

Speaker 5:
[73:25] Yeah, you can't be here. And the aliens were guarding it.

Speaker 2:
[73:28] You were just posting about that.

Speaker 3:
[73:30] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[73:31] There is just a fine line in all of that. But I do think comedians are brave individuals these days to get out there. And I mean, in some ways, when there's a group of, like a band, that's where I come from. It's where I kind of cut my teeth being on a stage. But I had all these dudes with me. And we were out there.

Speaker 2:
[73:49] Not by yourself.

Speaker 5:
[73:50] And if we bombed, we bombed together. If like the speaker blew or someone's guitar, like cut out, there's somebody else to help you kind of keep the song going. It's just you and a microphone and a bunch of people who kind of want you to fail.

Speaker 2:
[74:05] Dance monkey dance.

Speaker 5:
[74:06] They want you to fail because they're not going to get up there and do it. And that is some pressure.

Speaker 3:
[74:11] Yeah. I mean, I feel like now as I'm doing my own shows, doing a lot of theaters, and it's my audience, and I feel like they are rooting for me to succeed because they spent money on hotels and babysitters and tickets, so they want this to be a funny show. But I also want it to be funny because it's funny, not because they're my fans and already know who I am.

Speaker 2:
[74:35] Right, because you want to be good at it, right? You want to be good at what you do.

Speaker 3:
[74:38] Yeah, that's why it is, I think it is important to go get in front of audiences that don't know who you are or maybe are not fans of you and go, can I make these people laugh?

Speaker 5:
[74:47] Yeah, how do you come up with material? How does it happen for you? Is this like moments of brilliance, just living life?

Speaker 3:
[74:54] I, yeah, I mean, I guess there would be no, I wouldn't call it moments of brilliance, but I, yeah, it's just things happening where I write something down and then I, and maybe it doesn't work now, but I keep it written down. I always have a list of jokes that I'm like, these are ones that I've attempted and I think they're still funny, but they've not been funny for me yet. And I will write them down and keep them. And then as I start creating new sets and new things are happening, I may go, oh, I bet that would work with this.

Speaker 5:
[75:27] You storyboard it.

Speaker 3:
[75:28] And then, yeah, and then I'll bring it back and I'll put it, you know, I may put it in amongst a joke. Like there was a joke I told about my dad on my Working Man special about him, a home videos. And then I go, oh, I remember a home video that I had that, a home video joke that I liked where I said, well, I don't even know if I remembered the joke, but it was a short joke. Oh, it was about my finding a home video that said Christmas and court. And, and it's like, it was, you know, basically about one of my dad's divorces, but it was, I was like, this is a short joke that by itself.

Speaker 2:
[76:04] It's hilarious, dude.

Speaker 3:
[76:06] But in amongst the home video joke, now it's even better. But by itself, it was like just some kind of weird out of place joke, you know?

Speaker 5:
[76:15] So you had to fit that into a series of jokes that come together.

Speaker 3:
[76:19] And then, so I just try to do that and try to keep the old jokes and maybe, you know, it's like, this idea is funny, but I don't know how to write it yet. So in a couple of years, I'll be a better writer as long as I keep writing. That's what I think is good about the modern day age of comedy, is that you have to keep churning out material. So it keeps you writing. Whereas back in the day, you could get an hour and just travel around the country doing your hour all the time. And you never necessarily get better. You just get really good at doing that hour, but you've kind of forgot how to write jokes.

Speaker 5:
[76:58] Is it like transitions are the hard parts? Like one joke to the next?

Speaker 3:
[77:03] I feel like that can be hard, but I think if you're good, you can just move into the next joke without really, without seeming like you're even doing jokes. You just go on to the next thing and maybe that just seems like it just came to you.

Speaker 5:
[77:18] Yeah, cause it feels like, you know, being a chef, like you don't think these things are gonna go together, but you need all these pieces of, you know, different types of food in order to make this a good dish. You know, I feel like comedy to me is like, you gotta have all these different parts to make it all one presented meal.

Speaker 3:
[77:36] Like I got some neighborhood jokes now, and part of the neighborhood, how I start the neighborhood joke is the jokes as a guy like coming to my backyard and being shocked that it wasn't more trailer park like, you know, so I go, I used to live in a trailer park, but in order to get into that, I tell some kind of gross joke about myself or I don't have good manners, and then when that joke's over, I say, I grew up in a trailer park, you know? So the idea is like, that I'm like making fun of how I don't have any manners because I grew up in a trailer park without saying it, but then that gets me, I grew up in a trailer park, but I live in a neighborhood now, and that surprises a lot of people. So that way you're kind of, that's kind of the transition without a direct transition.

Speaker 5:
[78:24] Do you still get nervous or?

Speaker 3:
[78:26] It depends on the show.

Speaker 5:
[78:27] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[78:28] I did Kill Tony and that made me nervous. I didn't do, I did a panel. That made me nervous because that's a different type of show than what I normally do. So I got a little nervous there, took a walk around Sixth Street in Austin, which is insane. So that can calm your nerves.

Speaker 2:
[78:44] You try to joke that on your wife or she get tired of the comedy?

Speaker 3:
[78:48] Well, my wife used to do comedy. And I feel like she's more critical than most, so I don't really try them out on her. I'll tell them to her later when I go, hey, I got a new joke I've been doing. And I'll tell her. But if I tell it to her first, I feel like there's a chance that my confidence will be ruined.

Speaker 2:
[79:06] She'll shoot you down. She's like, not good, Dusty.

Speaker 5:
[79:08] What's the code of ethics between comics stealing each other's content and having original? Is there like an unspoken rule somewhere?

Speaker 3:
[79:16] I feel like you don't do it. But just like we talked about now, I feel like there's almost like less common, like there's less shared stuff in a way that the shared stuff that we have is so small that if you're talking about kind of current event stuff, it's likely that you're gonna have the same idea as somebody else. Like I had a joke about how I hate how new cars, how the engine shuts off every time we stop at a red light. And the reason I hate it is because I've had too many cars that don't do that on purpose, right? And-

Speaker 2:
[79:59] It's traumatic. Yeah, you're like- Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[80:01] And I did that joke on the Tonight Show. And then another comic accused me of stealing that joke from him. And I go, buddy, listen, it's a pretty basic idea. If you grew up poor, you're going to hate that feature. You know? And it's like, and I found his joke and I watched it and I go, yeah, we're talking about the same thing, but our joke is not the same. And I think that's the line. It's like if, cause there's plenty of comics out there that have jokes like mine, but it's not word for word, the same joke. So I feel like that's where it's kind of at these days.

Speaker 5:
[80:38] And now we have AI.

Speaker 2:
[80:39] Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[80:40] What are you thinking about that?

Speaker 3:
[80:41] Well, so far I'm skeptical of AI, but so far there's, I'm not seeing any good AI jokes.

Speaker 2:
[80:48] The machines aren't funny.

Speaker 3:
[80:49] Yeah. Right. Exactly. So, so far I feel pretty good. They're not bad on music. The music feels soulless, but it can pull something together. But with comedy, I've not heard a good AI joke yet, but I'm sure there's many comics out there.

Speaker 5:
[81:05] Dusty, this is the most important question maybe I've asked on this podcast. Tell us about God's sense of humor. And when you're a Christian, like does God have a sense of humor? And do you see it when you read the Bible?

Speaker 3:
[81:18] Well, I think he's got to have a sense of humor, right? I mean, look at some of the animals that are out there that he's created. Some of them are like the, I feel like other people have talked to this, but like the duck bill platypus, like what a weird animal.

Speaker 2:
[81:32] Easy target.

Speaker 3:
[81:33] Yeah. Right? And so, God's got to have a sense of humor. I don't, that's like we talked about earlier, where I like, I don't make jokes about the Bible, but like-

Speaker 5:
[81:43] But you gotta read it and see it. You gotta be like, that is funny.

Speaker 3:
[81:46] Yeah. And I don't know what I could point to right away, but yeah, I mean, I think God does have a sense of humor.

Speaker 5:
[81:54] Because we hear that phrase, like God has a sense of humor. God has a sense of humor. You hear it all the time.

Speaker 3:
[81:58] Well, even, I mean, maybe this would not be funny to people, but even Moses in Egypt, when God was sending the plagues on people in Egypt, he was plaguing them by things of their own gods of that time, right? Like the frogs, and they had a kind of a reptile thing that they worshiped. And apparently the locusts were a lot like, they had a god that they worshiped that was like a dung beetle. And that was kind of what they were being plagued with, was their own gods. And that's pretty funny. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[82:40] In the Nile, they worship the Nile, and then he's like, I'm gonna turn it red.

Speaker 5:
[82:43] There's no cancel culture in the Bible. So that leads me to believe that it's funny. Because it doesn't placate to like, it doesn't say that's, we're not allowed to write this story the way that it happened. We have to change it in the editing room so that it's more palatable.

Speaker 2:
[82:59] What about Noah? I mean, that was hilarious, right? Like dude spends 40 days with his family and a bunch of animals on a boat. First thing he doesn't get off is plants of vineyard. He's like, man, I need a drink. And you're like, this is funny.

Speaker 5:
[83:10] And I think that's why Bibles are selling at record amount right now. Because people are like, they just want it to be told how it is. Don't shape it, don't rewrite it.

Speaker 3:
[83:19] Well, even Moses with the staff, he turned the staff into a snake. And then the magicians were like, we can do that. So they turned their staffs into snakes. And then Moses' snake ate theirs. That's pretty funny.

Speaker 5:
[83:33] It is funny.

Speaker 3:
[83:34] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[83:34] Yeah, it's like...

Speaker 2:
[83:35] We're talking about the same joke. Like we got this joke too. He's like, no, it's good. It's not as good.

Speaker 5:
[83:38] Yeah. You know the disciples were hanging out with Jesus and they were ribbing each other.

Speaker 2:
[83:43] And a bunch of dudes, right?

Speaker 3:
[83:45] And even like, when Jesus went, we talked about transcending on the mountain, and he comes back and the disciples are asleep. He's like, he can't even stay awake.

Speaker 5:
[83:56] Or even there's a storm going on and Jesus is asleep.

Speaker 3:
[83:59] Yeah. That's funny. That's a great one because the disciples are terrified and Jesus wakes up and goes, guys, guys, he settles the storm. And he is like, hey.

Speaker 5:
[84:11] He's just taking a nap. And he's just laughing there like, these guys.

Speaker 2:
[84:15] So why are you waking me up, dude?

Speaker 5:
[84:17] Yeah, I just think it's funny because you don't think God, you don't think humor, you don't think I can relate to God at all. Like, he's the mad dad, I'm in trouble, I did something. I told the bad joke. I mean, as a redheaded kid in school, I was always in trouble. So I've always equated that to whatever authority is over me, doesn't like what I'm doing. I'm not paying attention. I have too much ADHD. I forgot to turn in some, you know, I've always sort of associated all of that with my relationship with God. Like maybe not consciously, just like in my heart kind of, you know, like something's wrong. I did something wrong always, but the humor part of the scriptures kind of makes me like come back to it and just like, that is so layered and that's what comedy is. There's so many layers and that's what makes it like, that's a really good, that was a great show.

Speaker 3:
[85:10] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[85:10] That's how I feel.

Speaker 3:
[85:12] Well, yeah. I mean, the layers to me, yeah. I mean, that's what makes a show funny. That's what makes it a complete show. That's what takes it from just being a hour of jokes to this was a show.

Speaker 5:
[85:24] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[85:25] Like a story.

Speaker 3:
[85:25] Where there's some connection and things weave in and out and you know thought was put into it because a joke you heard earlier comes back now. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[85:34] And that's the scripture, man. I mean, all these old events or like prophecy, they're playing out in the future.

Speaker 3:
[85:41] All the time, even like a pretty deep, I don't remember what Psalm it is, but somebody, this was TikTok and TikTok is great, but they were talking about-

Speaker 5:
[85:51] You're the only one who'll say that.

Speaker 3:
[85:53] How Jesus on the cross says, why, how have you forsaken me? And they said during that time, the Bible wasn't numbered. So people would know scripture by the first couple of lines of that thing. And it was, so that was a reference to Psalms where it prophesies the crucifixion of Jesus. And so Jesus is basically just saying to the people around him, this has been prophesied.

Speaker 2:
[86:22] It's a call back.

Speaker 3:
[86:22] And it's like, it's like super deep and amazing.

Speaker 5:
[86:28] How does your like faith play into like how you, like you said, you don't like write jokes about the Bible and stuff, but are you trying to communicate a message, a deeper message, a hidden, a layered message, and are you just trying to help people kind of cut loose from reality and-

Speaker 3:
[86:46] Yeah, I'm really just trying to help people cut loose. And I think that, you know, I think a lot of that, like people email me a lot and they go, I really liked your comedy and I connected with your comedy. And then I found your podcast and I saw that you're a Christian. And I realized, you know, why I connected with you so deeply, you know? And I, you know, I just want, you know, obviously I want people to find Jesus because I think the, the world is kind of unhappy right now. And I think that Jesus is great. And Jesus is the religion for everyone. There is no, you know, it's like, you don't have to be anything to have Jesus. It's the religion for everyone and all races, all countries, everybody. And I think it's beautiful. And I think it makes people happier right away to have Jesus.

Speaker 5:
[87:37] I love it. A lot of comedians and, you know, like know who's, who's the funny guy. And they can kind of spot it from, you know, from a crowd. I like that guy's funny. Who do you think of the Bible was funny? Who do you think would have been a comedian? Like all the characters in the scripture. Like that guy was probably a funny dude.

Speaker 3:
[87:53] I don't know. I mean, I guess maybe Peter.

Speaker 5:
[87:57] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[87:57] Was maybe funny.

Speaker 2:
[87:58] He did some funny things, I guess.

Speaker 3:
[88:00] Peter on the, he's praying on the rooftop and, you know, I don't know. What do you, you got-

Speaker 5:
[88:05] I don't know. I'm just thinking like, there's some characters, you know? And I think that we just, we sort of strip away all their humanity and they're kind of boring, just followers, and they don't, they're just like machines. And I think that God loves a personality. Clearly, there are certain people he says, that guy's got a lot of faith. That's an interesting guy. He likes Elijah. He likes Enoch. These guys have something else that the old regulars don't have. I just feel like there's a lot of characters.

Speaker 3:
[88:31] I mean, Job might've been pretty funny. I mean, in the end, Job went through a lot. And you got to think when he finally got his new family, he's probably laughing a pretty good bit about what God put him through.

Speaker 2:
[88:44] John would be pretty funny too if you think about it, because John reminds us that he's the one that Jesus loved the most. And then he reminds us he's faster than the other disciples. He made in the race of disciples, racing up the empty tomb, he was number one. So it kind of had to be either that or he was very needed to remind everybody.

Speaker 5:
[89:02] I think Noah was the funniest. I think Noah was out there year 85 building his boat and being like, you're all morons. You know, just making, making jokes. Cause they're heckling that dude all day long. So he had to have some bits.

Speaker 3:
[89:14] Yeah. He had to be, I always think my, my sister tells me that he wouldn't do this because it would be prideful. But I always like to think of the image of Noah coming out after the flood has come. And he, and he comes out on the deck of his boat with a cup of coffee and just goes, in his underwear.

Speaker 5:
[89:35] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[89:35] He goes, I did it. I made the right move. People called me crazy for years and I did it.

Speaker 5:
[89:43] He's got to be the best. He's the most hardened to the criticism. He would be out there in his, in his whitey tidies with his fresh brew of mushrooms or whatever he had for coffee and just-

Speaker 2:
[89:55] He probably had coffee, dude.

Speaker 5:
[89:56] Just like-

Speaker 3:
[89:57] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[89:58] He took- It's a gift from the Lord.

Speaker 5:
[89:59] He took 120 years of negative comments in the comment section.

Speaker 3:
[90:04] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[90:04] And he just plowed through that. What a guy.

Speaker 3:
[90:08] Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, you gotta think even God is like, don't save him. I mean, if they don't want to get on this boat with you before, don't do it now.

Speaker 5:
[90:17] I mean, his heart was broken, but at that point he's like, they're not gonna listen.

Speaker 3:
[90:20] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[90:21] What about, you know, he could have gave up along the way. In your career, did you ever feel like, I maybe I'm not funny. Maybe this isn't gonna work. I'm gonna quit. I don't know. I don't know how I'm building this comedy boat here.

Speaker 4:
[90:32] I'm working on.

Speaker 3:
[90:33] I don't know that I ever had that kind of, but when I was, you know, I did comedy from 2008 to 2012 and I was drinking that whole time. And then when I quit drinking in 2012, I considered not doing comedy anymore. I just, because quitting drinking coincided with me digging deeper into the Bible, discovering some new things. And I just thought maybe I'm on a different path now. Maybe this comedy is not my path. I quit my job. I did, I made a lot of changes. I just thought maybe I'm on a new path, but I had already entered a comedy contest, just a small contest prior to quitting drinking. So I just was like, I'm going to do it. And then I won and it just, I don't know, it gave me, you know, who knows, maybe-

Speaker 2:
[91:20] Shot of confidence there.

Speaker 3:
[91:21] Yeah. And I go, all right, maybe I am into this. And so what I did was though, I just basically threw away every joke that I had and started writing new jokes, a cleaner path. And I just became a cleaner comic. And that is something I focus on. Actually, I had a comic say something to me one time back in the day. He was not religious at all, but he said something that really struck me. I was doing comedy one night and I had people from my church coming. And I was saying, I go, I can't do this joke or this joke tonight. I got people from my church coming. And he goes, it's interesting that you care about what people from your church says, but you don't mind doing those jokes in front of God. And I go, oh, that really hit me in a weird way. And so I try to, you know, I'm sure I have some jokes that are not pleasing to God necessarily, but I try to, you know, just be funny and not be that kind of crude, crass, joking person.

Speaker 5:
[92:24] Well, your book's coming out in November, right?

Speaker 3:
[92:26] Yes.

Speaker 5:
[92:26] How do you write that? Is that like comedy or is it just like a personal, like your journey? What's the?

Speaker 3:
[92:33] It is a little of both. Because I want, I mean, I was trying to write a more serious book and the editor really got involved and was like, we need, this needs to, we need to punch in.

Speaker 2:
[92:42] Two serious Dusty.

Speaker 3:
[92:43] Yeah, because I wanted to get into some stuff, but yeah, I mean, it's a walk through my childhood, a brief, you know, there's a chapter here, chapter here, and then I get into some couple of wilder stories that I've never really shared about myself. And then, you know, going through comedy and how I got where I'm at and in a deeper way, because I, you know, so many stories I've already told, there are a few hidden stories that I saved for the book, but a lot of this stuff, you know, I've already told, but the book gives a deeper dive.

Speaker 5:
[93:16] Any moments where you met your heroes and you were like, whoa, I made it. Like I never thought that this would be happening.

Speaker 3:
[93:23] Well, yeah, I mean, in a lot of ways, I mean, that's what my whole life is now. I mean, I get to do comedy at the Grand Old Opry and I'm like, as a lifelong country music fan, I never thought I'd be hanging out backstage with Clint Black. You know what I mean? It's wild to me. Like hanging out, but not even in a fan, like I am a fan, but not even in a fan kind of way. Like we're both on the show.

Speaker 2:
[93:49] It's like a meet and greet. You're like, we're both performing.

Speaker 3:
[93:51] Yeah, and it's so wild to me.

Speaker 5:
[93:54] Because I feel like musicians respect, because I feel like if you visualize it, the most naked you could be is a microphone. At least those guys have a guitar and a voice and they know what they're going to do. They're not free.

Speaker 2:
[94:10] They're not writing a song as they're going up there.

Speaker 5:
[94:12] I mean, comedians are the most exposed, I would say. You have just blackness and you got the light shining and a microphone and then your head and you just have to pull it out. There's no...

Speaker 3:
[94:24] Yeah, I feel like you reach a place though, where you got enough material and you've had enough wins. What you don't want as a comic, like I could bomb a time and then be fine because I'm like, oh, I got a hundred good shows, more than a hundred behind me before I hit this one. Well, what you don't want is too many of those in a row. Like sometimes you do a corporate gig and it goes great. Other times it's not good because it's people at work. They don't care about the comedy. The boss likes you and they hired you for themselves. And the employees are like we're just, we've been listening to people talk all day. We don't care about another guy talking. And so you go, all right, well, at least I got one of my own shows tomorrow. But if you were doing corporates every week, I mean, I'm sure if I were doing corporates every week, I would figure out how to do it. And I would go, I'm about to start nailing these corporates. But they're few and far between.

Speaker 2:
[95:23] A lot of Office Depot jokes.

Speaker 3:
[95:25] Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[95:27] They know, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[95:28] What it's like, I know how to do corporates. I'm not bombing corporates gigs, but they don't all make you feel good.

Speaker 5:
[95:34] Is that the end of when you haven't made it, like you're doing bar mitzvahs and you're doing, and in the music world, you're doing the fair circuit. You start going playing the fairs. What happens to the comedians when they're bombed too far?

Speaker 3:
[95:46] I feel like if you bomb too hard, I think you're out.

Speaker 5:
[95:50] You're just out.

Speaker 3:
[95:51] You're out. And I think, you know, and I got friends that do cruise ships, but I think cruise ships is kind of one of those where you're like, all right, I'm not gonna make it in the way that I wanted to make it, but I can still make money. I can take my wife with me on these cruises. I can see parts of the world. I can be on a boat all day, have drinks and do shows. That's not what I want to do. But if I, you know, if something happened and it all dried up, I could go, yeah, I'll just ride the cruise ships and tell jokes.

Speaker 2:
[96:25] Dusty Slay on the...

Speaker 5:
[96:27] So we're here in Nashville. So when you get off the airport, are you going to the airport? You get off an airplane, you walk past like Tootsies and you see like the guys trying to make it.

Speaker 3:
[96:36] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[96:37] What about comedians? Do people like hit you up? Like, how do I make it? How do I make it dusty? How do I, what am I doing wrong? Give me some advice. Or do you have like...

Speaker 2:
[96:45] Open mic at Zanies, right?

Speaker 3:
[96:46] Yeah. Well, I did, you know, I did, on my podcast, the We're Having a Good Time podcast, I did season two, the first 10 episodes are my how to become a comic series that I did. But I, you know, if you want to do comedy, the first thing you got to do is find the open mics in your town and go do it and just see how it goes. Don't be too hard on yourself, but be honest with yourself. Did I do good? But don't be too hard on yourself because chances are you're not gonna do good. But did you get any laughs? Because if you got a couple of laughs, you're like, all right, there's something here. But if you're, you know, because if you're just funny for your friends, that doesn't mean you're gonna be funny for the audience. But if you've never been funny for your friends, you're probably not gonna be funny and stand up. I've seen comics on stage where I go, have you ever made anyone laugh in your life? What made you think this was the path? You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:
[97:48] People are just suckers for pain, dude.

Speaker 3:
[97:50] Yeah, but it's like, go try and don't just try it once. Try it 20 times. And then if you can't do it, just, I've seen people, I know they're successful in their lives. They have good day jobs, they're making money, and they try this open mic thing for a while. And then you start to see like, they feel like they're not successful as people. And I go, just get out of here. Just go back to being successful in everyday life and forget about this comedy thing. You're making more money than everybody in this room. Just go live your life. Forget that you ever did this because they start to, it's like their self-worth is crumbling. I go, don't let comedy do this to you. Let comedy be for the people like me who had no other success in life. And I'm just going to, that's why I think there's less women in comedy than men. It's because women go do comedy and then they're like, they go, ah, I'm sitting in a room with all these dudes talking about jerking it. And why do I need to be here? People like me in other places of the world. Whereas us dudes, we got nothing else going on. We're just going to hang out with these dudes and this is fun to us.

Speaker 5:
[99:16] Yeah, the text thread is like, is set out loud now. Cause guys get kind of ridiculous in a group. We just-

Speaker 2:
[99:24] Everyone's got the group chats.

Speaker 3:
[99:26] Well, I've never, you never see a group of men more deflated than when you're at an open mic, or a bunch of single guys in an open mic room and an attractive girl shows up and does comedy. We're all like, oh yeah, you know? And then she goes, yeah, my boyfriend. And then you're all like, ah. I've seen it a million times.

Speaker 5:
[99:45] Yeah, it is interesting. It is more of a, it's more dominated by men than it is. And also because I think they're, if you're more of an emotional creature, it's hard to bomb. It's hard to like have all the hecklers and people say you suck all the time. And you can only handle it for so long.

Speaker 3:
[100:01] And the comment threads are harder on women. I mean, my wife did comedy. I know a lot of women in comedy. And I read the comment threads and I go, geez, just let them tell a joke. You know, the comment threads are, well, they are sometimes about my appearance, but it's mainly about, it's honestly, my comment threads, thankfully, mainly positive. Let's go. But you know, when I do the Tonight Show, I've learned after several Tonight Show appearances to not look at the comments until a couple of days later. It seems like there are people that are waiting to go, oh, they never book anybody funny. Oh, they get the ugliest people in the world. Who dresses this guy? You know, I gotta let my people start to roll in.

Speaker 2:
[100:49] Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 3:
[100:51] It's a Walmart kid rock out here, you know.

Speaker 5:
[100:56] You use those in your material.

Speaker 3:
[100:58] I do have some jokes about my appearance. Yeah, I get a lot of, I used to get a lot of dollar store Billy Ray Cyrus and I get a lot of that.

Speaker 5:
[101:08] Because self-deprecation is a big, it's a really, it's a good on-ramp to having a great career. Just make it funny yourself.

Speaker 3:
[101:16] I was like, this guy looks like Jay and Silent Bob.

Speaker 5:
[101:23] Oh, gosh, yeah. You know, you put yourself on the internet these days, you're a brave individual. It's always funny. Like sometimes it just comes down to like, there's some people out there, you know, they're 400 pounds. They know they're working on how they're looking, but they pick up a guitar and they just don't care. I'm gonna put this video on TikTok of me doing this cover song. I know half the comments are gonna be about how I look and how much I weigh, but I'm gonna sing my heart out and put it out there. And those videos will blow up. And I'm like, good for that person.

Speaker 3:
[101:54] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[101:55] Like that's hard to fricking do.

Speaker 3:
[101:57] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[101:57] And there's something about those people that are like, I don't care, I'm gonna go up against... Cause when we grew up, there wasn't an army of internet trolls that attacked you for everything you tried to do.

Speaker 2:
[102:07] Well, they have to say to you in person.

Speaker 1:
[102:09] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[102:09] It was a way different ball game.

Speaker 1:
[102:11] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[102:11] I do remember though, being in high school, at the homecoming game, someone else's, and now on the free throw line, about to shoot a shot, someone yelled out Doyle rules. And the whole gym starts laughing.

Speaker 3:
[102:25] Was it you shooting?

Speaker 5:
[102:25] I was shooting.

Speaker 3:
[102:26] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 5:
[102:27] I was like...

Speaker 3:
[102:28] Did you hit it?

Speaker 5:
[102:29] I don't know. I can't remember.

Speaker 2:
[102:30] I think it's probably a no. Threw me in the loop. If you don't remember.

Speaker 5:
[102:34] The worst part about that game...

Speaker 3:
[102:35] Because if you hit it, you go, a Doyle rule.

Speaker 2:
[102:38] That's right.

Speaker 5:
[102:38] Yeah, 100%. Well, I think I was crushing. So they were like, man, this guy's like a Doyle out there. But the worst part about that game is someone, the nerdiest guy on the other opponent team hit a half court buzzer shot and we lost. And I was like, a Doyle rules and we lost.

Speaker 2:
[102:54] Yeah, old carpet league basketball, Christian school carpet league basketball.

Speaker 5:
[102:57] It was actually Faith Christian.

Speaker 3:
[103:00] When they said Doyle rules, you didn't feel bad, that felt good.

Speaker 5:
[103:03] No, I was like, oh yeah, of course, pick on the redheaded guy.

Speaker 2:
[103:07] Danger jokes, yeah. Those never get old.

Speaker 5:
[103:08] The white pasty guy.

Speaker 2:
[103:10] That's what I do on this show.

Speaker 3:
[103:11] This is my life though.

Speaker 5:
[103:12] It's like always the guy that was in trouble getting picked on in the corner. I was used to it.

Speaker 3:
[103:17] Even the Bible, Esau, redheaded guy, turns on his brother.

Speaker 2:
[103:21] You can't trust him, it's truly true, Dusty.

Speaker 3:
[103:23] Actually, Esau, I gotta think there was some underlying bad stuff about Esau that we don't see because if you just read it, he really got screwed over, in a way, Esau.

Speaker 2:
[103:32] There's probably more to that story.

Speaker 3:
[103:34] I think that's what I'm saying. There's gotta be more to it.

Speaker 5:
[103:37] I did think of a funny story in the Bible, and we can maybe close out with this. Was it Elisha when he was walking and they called him Baldi? They called him Baldi. Remember the bears came out of the woods and the guys had made fun of him for having...

Speaker 2:
[103:50] He was a pretty funny guy. He went up with the Prophets of Bale, and he's like, where's your god? Where's your god? Is he in the bathroom? Is he basically more or less the translator? Is he off taking a dump? Where's he at?

Speaker 3:
[104:03] Oh, it is funny when he's bringing down the fire.

Speaker 2:
[104:06] But he's basically trolling the Prophets of Bale.

Speaker 5:
[104:09] But I'm just saying that you can't make a bad joke. Those guys made a bad joke. They tried to talk about his recession on his dome, you know, is going bald.

Speaker 3:
[104:20] They messed up.

Speaker 5:
[104:22] And God's like, that's not a funny joke.

Speaker 3:
[104:23] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[104:24] Send the bears.

Speaker 2:
[104:25] You can't test a man's lettuce.

Speaker 5:
[104:26] Yeah. You should read that stuff. That's a confusing one. You're like, okay, I don't get it. It's just called the guy bald, but apparently that's enough to do it. A man's hair must have been sacred back then.

Speaker 2:
[104:37] It probably still is. Still is, Dusty.

Speaker 5:
[104:39] Dusty, your hair is sacred to you.

Speaker 3:
[104:41] Well, people think my hair's attached, but I like people to know this is the real deal. I mean, I feel very blessed to have the hair.

Speaker 2:
[104:50] It's a good, it's a solid hairline.

Speaker 3:
[104:52] I have friends that I went to high school with and I'll meet up with them sometimes and I go, oh man, I don't bring it up, but I think you guys are losing it.

Speaker 2:
[105:01] That's a W there.

Speaker 3:
[105:02] And I don't feel bad for them because their lives are good, but I do think, I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[105:10] Everybody had those buddies too in high school started losing their hair in high school. I mean, you imagine just holding on to it for like 17 years, and you're like, it's already going.

Speaker 5:
[105:16] It just moved from here to here.

Speaker 2:
[105:18] Yeah, it just started to migrate.

Speaker 5:
[105:20] Then they got a little Esau and them going.

Speaker 3:
[105:22] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[105:23] Man, this has been great.

Speaker 2:
[105:24] Thank you.

Speaker 3:
[105:25] Thank you. Hey, I know you guys said earlier, you have a big following in Texas.

Speaker 5:
[105:30] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[105:30] And I just wanted to say, I don't know when this comes out, but I have, May 1st, I'm in Dallas, Texas. May 2nd, I'm in Houston, Texas.

Speaker 5:
[105:38] Tell our fans where you are, how they can follow you, when's the book, all things Dusty.

Speaker 3:
[105:43] Well, dustyslay.com has all my stuff, all my dates, all my social media is at Dusty Slay. And I post a lot. I got a lot of stuff going on, try to keep it funny. It's all good and fun. My book is called, We're Having a Good Time. You probably just go to Amazon, or I bet I have a link on my website, or even on my socials for that. And yeah, Dallas, May 1st, show is basically sold out, I think. I do very well in Dallas. I've not been to Houston as much, so that show is not sold out, so get some tickets.

Speaker 5:
[106:17] Come on, Houston.

Speaker 3:
[106:18] Yeah, but I love Texas. I've been going there a long time. Honestly, I love the whole country.

Speaker 5:
[106:23] There's a NASA joke in there, somewhere with Houston, ticket sales. Somewhere, I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[106:29] Maybe they are mad that I say space is not real.

Speaker 2:
[106:32] A private show in Arkansas? Bigger than.

Speaker 3:
[106:34] Yeah, I mean, I'd love to do that. But yeah, you know, I'm all over. I do love the whole country. As I travel this country, I go, it's great. I grew up in the south. I thought everything above the Mason-Dixon line was all cities and everybody was rich and it was violent crime in all the cities and everything was crazy. And as I travel, I go, it's great out here. I love the country.

Speaker 5:
[106:57] Yeah. What's in the future? Like what's some bigger visions, ideas, and then?

Speaker 3:
[107:01] Well, the book has been one that I've had to sit on for a while that I've, you know, but I don't know. I like doing comedy. Comedy is what I like. I got two podcasts, my podcast, the We're Having a Good Time podcast. I do the Public Figures podcast. All great and funny. Yeah. You know.

Speaker 5:
[107:18] I love it. If you ever want to tell us some Bigfoot jokes at a conference, we'd love to have you.

Speaker 2:
[107:22] We'll have you out there.

Speaker 3:
[107:23] I'm going to work on some. I'm going to get some Bigfoot jokes.

Speaker 2:
[107:25] You got the hat, man.

Speaker 5:
[107:25] You're almost there.

Speaker 2:
[107:26] You know, we're almost there.

Speaker 3:
[107:27] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[107:28] I think there's a lane there. You can have like a couple of funny Bible bits, making fun of some of them.

Speaker 2:
[107:33] And then just go, man, you know, Bigfoot, all I got was this monster truck from the 90s.

Speaker 3:
[107:38] Yeah, Bigfoot, that's slapped by John Lithgow and Harry and the Henders, is that what you mean?

Speaker 5:
[107:43] Yeah, those were the days. Well, thank you so much. I know you're busy. I know you're on tour. I know you've got a lot of people pulling you in a lot of places. It means a lot that you- Thank you.

Speaker 3:
[107:51] Well, I appreciate you guys. This is great.

Speaker 5:
[107:53] Hopefully it was fun.

Speaker 3:
[107:54] I had a great time.

Speaker 5:
[107:55] You can roast us.

Speaker 2:
[107:56] Well, that's your thing too.

Speaker 5:
[107:57] Once we turn the candles on.

Speaker 2:
[107:58] You had a good time?

Speaker 3:
[107:58] We're having a good time. I've had a good time. I like that the background here that I had on my laptop for a long time, it feels Bigfoot like.

Speaker 2:
[108:07] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[108:07] He's there.

Speaker 2:
[108:08] It feels like home.

Speaker 3:
[108:08] Yeah.