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ParentsUncut Pod
This is a Podcast surrounding the adventure, struggle, beauty and intricacies of new parenthood. Hosted by three parents, totally 10 kids in together, they go through their mazes and phases of parenting styles, parenting norms, modern day parents, their trials and tribulations whilst keeping it raw and unfiltered. Thanking you for joining us on this journey and we hope we can bring some value to new parents, old parents and those thinking of becoming parents
ParentsUncut Pod
Facing the Unthinkable: Navigating Life After Losing a Parent | Episode 8 w / Alex Quow
Strap in for a rollercoaster of emotions as we unpack the paradoxical blend of comedy and the raw touchpoints of parenting and personal loss. They say laughter is the best medicine but rarely do they mention how it's often prescribed with tears. That's the poignant concoction we brewed in our latest session, with our guest, the comedian Alex Quow, who sprinkles his unique brand of humor across our conversations. From honoring the legacy of his late mother to finding his place in comedy. We navigate the tightrope walk between Comedy and heartache, proving life's script is as unpredictable as it is entertaining.
Ever wondered what powers a comedian's punchline or the stories behind their stoic faces? Our chat is a backstage pass to those sacred spaces. We celebrate the stumbling blocks of amateur nights, the resonance of persistent laughter in the face of booing, and the serendipity of finding our voices in the school corridors. We tread softly through the grieving process, sharing tender tales of our parents, the turmoil of loss, and the shared solace we discover in the art of storytelling.
Come for the laughs, stay for the soulful insights as we blaze a trail through the tangled woods of modern humor and cultural sensitivity. It's a candid reflection of how personal narratives shape our professional journeys, and in the midst of it all, Alex Quow reveals his own leap into the limelight, finding laughter in grief, and the parallels of his journey through comedy. Join us to unwrap these stories, because when life gives you lemons, sometimes you just have to crack a joke.
Thank you for being here, thank you for your time and energy. We hope that we can ALL build this incredible community for parents by parents with parents.
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So I keep her. They put a little bit of her ashes in this right, so I said all right. So I'm like, since you didn't come to a show every time I'm on stage, you're just going to be in this now, so you're on stage with me. You have no choice. Only time I've ever seen my dad cry was the day it happened. I've never seen that man cry, ever, ever in my life except for the day my mom died.
Speaker 1:That was crazy. I didn't even think he was capable of that. To be honest with you, that got nothing. Phases him, but that was the only day I saw him break down. No, this is a lot of fun, y'all. What I didn't know, I ain't know this is, this is cool as hell.
Speaker 4:We're even a secret. This is cool as hell. You know what I learned?
Speaker 1:Yo, parents are freaky as hell. I'm being so real. Yo, right here, I did, I could tell.
Speaker 4:Oh like me, I did a, I did a school fundraiser a couple of weeks ago, right, but again, because, even if your parent has a past, one of your biggest fears as a parent, your biggest fear is losing your kids, exactly. But, as Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to parents on cut podcast. I'm your host, handsome Contreras, and this is Jossi's joy with Jax. She did it again, I did it on purpose.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm going to say my whole government name.
Speaker 3:So you know I'm going to say the first and last name. This is I'm Jax Jackie, jackie Lee. That's all you're getting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm mean just mean jazz.
Speaker 4:Just Johnny Emile Contreras.
Speaker 3:Wow, you said that so fast and we have a special guest.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was like what the hell We'll bring you in, because the people that aren't watching, they can't hear you. And that's true. Now they do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And we have a special guest this week, that's right. Indian and entrepreneur Alex Quo. Hey, I appreciate you, Appreciate you. Well, it's good, I appreciate it yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm good, good seeing you, good meeting you all officially. I've been seeing your work for real. It's actually amazing, really.
Speaker 4:Thank you, we watch your work too, you do yes.
Speaker 1:Hopefully not everything, because sometimes I have to be pulling them just down. Nah man Me or ask.
Speaker 3:Why no? It's funny.
Speaker 1:Now the algorithm is a crazy game.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, your voice. I can't get over it. Like I'm like where's your accent from?
Speaker 4:What accent oh you?
Speaker 2:don't hear an accent in his voice Like she's like yeah.
Speaker 1:She was like where are you accent from? I said New Jersey. She was like wait, what no, south Jersey? I was like not even know, this is like right there.
Speaker 3:Literally right across the Hudson. I can't.
Speaker 1:I get that all the time. Literally everybody's like oh, you're so southern, like where are you from? I'm like Jersey, that's crazy. I'm from south of New York.
Speaker 4:Yeah, New.
Speaker 1:Jersey, 10 minutes south of the city, Like yeah, what do you want me to say?
Speaker 3:I don't know as far south as we would want to go. No, I'm just kidding, I want to go more south. Yeah, I love the south Forever.
Speaker 4:I love Kentucky. Lexington what up Kentucky? That's random stuff. My father was there.
Speaker 1:Oh, only Dominicans in Kentucky. It's not the Colonel. Nobody shot South Kentucky.
Speaker 4:That's crazy. They better start, they better start.
Speaker 2:They are the only Dominicans there.
Speaker 4:The only Dominicans in Kentucky, the.
Speaker 1:Dominicans in. Kentucky.
Speaker 3:They are now. Yeah, they are now there.
Speaker 1:Yo wow, I love it.
Speaker 2:So, alex, you want to tell the parents' audience about yourselves.
Speaker 1:Sure, I could do that. What's up gang Names? Alex, I'm not a parent, let's start with that. I'm not a parent. Don't come to me for advice. I joke about parents, though. I'm a stand-up comedian. I do this all the time. Oh shoot, I'm a stand-up comedian, I know who it is. I'm a stand-up comedian. I tell lots of jokes. I travel, do a lot in the Northeast. Further West, up Gone's Idaho, that was fun. Further South Up Gone, oh, west Virginia. We went to West Virginia one time. That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:But, I travel, I travel and I do comedy. I'm a comedian. So thanks for you guys having me on. But yeah, for a little bit of an intro. Been a comedian since 2016. November 2016,. I started the day before Trump won. I was like the day after he won, Because he won, I said he do that, I could do this.
Speaker 2:You know what?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Inspiration bro, it went just like that I was like all right, we're all going to shit Mind as well.
Speaker 2:So here we are. Well, we may need him back to fix it.
Speaker 1:No, lord, but yeah, but I do this now, that's who we're looking for to fix this shit.
Speaker 3:It's what. I owed, that's what I owed.
Speaker 2:I'm moving to Canada. I'm going to say the same thing Take whatever can.
Speaker 1:But like yo y'all crazy, because like y'all will bully people in the voting, like I've seen that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought he was talking about y'all in general. I'm like I'll pay off, no, no, no, I'm talking I'm talking about Dominican friends.
Speaker 1:They will bully me. They blocked the bathroom. They said so who you voting for? I said what the so what's going on in here. I just want to take a leak, Like it was like.
Speaker 3:I mean, you could always not tell them.
Speaker 1:I just tell them what they want to hear.
Speaker 3:And then you go back and just pick the other guy.
Speaker 2:But growing up like it was like, so, like forbidden, like no, you couldn't talk about it. My parents like you don't say who you're voting for. I'm like what the hell? What's going on why?
Speaker 4:do we have this Beef in the streets you ever have to vote for?
Speaker 1:you ever have to like be like your parents. Vote Like my mom used to do that. My mom loved politics, loved politics, but she wasn't a citizen, so it's like she watched everything. Where was she from? She was she's my family's from St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Caribbean, right? Ok, they immigrated here in the 70s or 80s, I forget, they'll tell me. But my mom loved politics more than she watched everything, but she wasn't a citizen. Like, she didn't pass the test. So she would just we would be her vote. So, like November, whatever the day November came around, she's like like when Obama was running. You're voting for Obama twice, Like I was like, but I only get one vote. Well, you better figure it out. Like I wasn't, I couldn't go home until I voted for Obama.
Speaker 3:Yeah, double tap, really fast, Really fast.
Speaker 1:Like if it wasn't black, he wasn't on my vote. That's all. I'd never been bullied in the voting, but that's what my mom used to do. Yeah, it was crazy. Were you always funny? If you ask me? No, I think I got funny at 14 years old. 15, like 14, 15. Like it was a All right you ever be in school. And like you have to do like the group projects, but like you're the only one who does the project.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a situation like that, right. So I'm there. I still remember the three people I did it with I won't shout them out, rob Borre, but I won't shout them out but these guys didn't do anything. And then so I like I had to make a whole PowerPoint presentation. I go into school the next day then I learned we had to present. I didn't know we had to present, so I was really quiet. I was a quiet kid. So I'm like well, you guys don't know what I did, so I'm a presented, right. So I just start talking.
Speaker 1:This is the first time I really started talking and people just started laughing. It was weird. I thought I was going to get in trouble, right. So class ends, I go to the teacher. I said look man. I said I didn't want to make a joke out of women's rights. That's not what this was about. But it's funny though. But I was just like I didn't, I didn't want to make a joke out of anything, but he was just like. He was like no, it's just that when you talk, it's funny. And I was like oh. I said really, oh, she did the hand trace thing. Yeah, I'm taking notes.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought you were predicting the future. We looked at each other.
Speaker 2:We're like oh OK, I thought you were predicting the future.
Speaker 4:I don't think women's rights is funny.
Speaker 1:I didn't say that, just so be clear. I don't. I didn't say that. I didn't say it. I didn't say it.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait. So wait till we get out of the studio, Johnny.
Speaker 1:They gonna beat you up, bro, the way they was talking. They gonna beat you up.
Speaker 2:We, and we have the right to. They were like not for you.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm not reading your eulogy. I promise, I'm not reading.
Speaker 2:So how was your childhood?
Speaker 1:We were broke. Yeah, we were, we were broke. We grew up in a. How many are you? Oh wait, how old am I? No, how many. How many? Three of us? Well, five of us. But my mom, my dad, my two sisters, I'm a child. I'm the only boy.
Speaker 2:Oh trouble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm the favored one. I don't think so, but yeah, so it was the five of us. We grew up in Newark, new Jersey, newark, irvington Pretty bad neighborhood.
Speaker 4:That's the hood, bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you already know so it was. I wasn't allowed to leave the crib, but we was just in the apartment the whole time, right? So it was so as far as how it went, we didn't have much, but like we, we may do what we had. I joke about that a lot in my comedy too.
Speaker 4:Like I didn't know how broke we were when things started happening, you know you just had to go through a neighborhood and tell you these are where the lower income kids live.
Speaker 1:Oh they didn't even tell us that they were just like. I thought. Everybody lived like us. Just we lived off of McDonald's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw that Like yeah, listen, but I was. That made you happy, though. As a child I used to love when my mom got her coupons. Back then she had the actual food stamp booklet.
Speaker 1:Yeah it was the last book. You remember that? Yeah, and.
Speaker 4:McDonald's used to take it at that time, so every time she got her food stamps we were going to McDonald's. They still do. You know 7-Eleven takes EBT. Why do you know that?
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't think so.
Speaker 4:Let's just say I game the government, I only make $12,000 a year. You have to say that for his accountant.
Speaker 1:Right, your accountant needed to hear that she is, but it was now. It was like that. We grew up on junk food. It was the cheap food, it's all we had. You know, yeah, and my parents worked hard. When we were eight years old, we moved out of there and we moved to Springfield, new Jersey. That's kind of where we grew up. So, and yeah, my sisters don't do comedy, they're both doctors.
Speaker 3:Wow, what a balance yeah.
Speaker 1:I know it's weird. How does that feel? I mean, I'm definitely way more entertaining than them.
Speaker 3:So I am not, I would think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like Does it judge you? You know what's crazy. They don't take me serious. It's funny because I mean, I mean I know it's not a joke about all this stuff. It's so funny because it's like they never take anything I have serious. Like I talk about my knee hurting sometimes I call my sister. She'll give me a joke answer To a real problem. I'm like why are you like what's wrong with the knee? Why did I just call the doctor? Yeah, I'm like why don't I just you remember she, your health insurance? So it's like yeah, Listen, at least you have that instead of Google.
Speaker 3:No they're not giving him a real answer.
Speaker 2:No, you know at least you know when they need to be serious they will, because I Google stuff, my symptoms and I'm like I'm going to die. I have cancer.
Speaker 1:That's the thing it's like. I go to my sisters I don't get real answers. I go to Google. I got to real answer, exactly Like Google will make you. You ever go in with one thing yeah, my leg, or you come out, I may have brain cancer.
Speaker 4:Like you don't know what's going on. Have a senior old time, bro. Google will convince you with some shit. I always think I'm dying, Like I have a neck pain. I'm like, oh shit, I had an aneurysm and I don't notice, oh my god.
Speaker 1:And WebMD will be like but did you check your ass though?
Speaker 3:Like you're like your neck hurts. Check your ass If your feces are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, WebMD is like yeah, your neck is hurting, but if your ass is green, like.
Speaker 2:Oh, I can't Imagine me yesterday with my lip Yo.
Speaker 3:I went to the club yesterday. My lip, your lip, was fucked up. What's wrong with your lip? This lip, the top lip, too much activity Right.
Speaker 1:There's only two things that could be First of all, I have zero activity.
Speaker 3:You know my sad life. I was going there, oh, ok.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:OK, all right, well, I did.
Speaker 4:I did.
Speaker 1:I'm stressed from the work.
Speaker 2:So I went out drinking on Friday night and I had to espresso my teeny flight, and one of them had peanuts drizzled like with caramel. I'm allergic to peanuts but I didn't eat the peanut Like I just wiped it.
Speaker 4:But I guess the peanut residue Hello, the nut residue just got in the nut residue.
Speaker 2:Yes, I woke up yesterday and my lip was swollen and it was tingling and I'm like what the fuck is going on in my lip? I'm googling it. It's all these weird shit. I saw her picture. I'm like I don't know what's going on in my lip. She's like you're not going to be able to do the pot tomorrow. I'm like, ah.
Speaker 3:I said take the ZerTech right now.
Speaker 2:I took two allergy pills you need.
Speaker 1:Benadryl, benadryl, knock you out, yeah.
Speaker 3:But if you take the ZerTech you won't have to get knocked out.
Speaker 4:You have to get knocked out but you get solution. But she's still got the solution.
Speaker 2:I'm immune to Benadryl. Right now it works for me, but it only feels because I take it so much. I'm allergic to everything.
Speaker 1:Is she an Avenger with the hell? Is no, she's an immune.
Speaker 3:She's allergic to everything. And she's immune to the.
Speaker 2:Benadryl. No, seriously, my body's like whatever You're like popping I'm like a superhero.
Speaker 1:I'm immune to Benadryl I never, sleep what?
Speaker 2:No, I don't feel like a superhero. I feel like everything hurts.
Speaker 1:I mean, you guys are parents, so you guys are superheroes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, thank you.
Speaker 1:Now let's fact I respect what you all do the moms yeah.
Speaker 3:No, there's dad.
Speaker 2:You know what? Take shots all you want man.
Speaker 1:No, Johnny's a great dad. I know what I'm doing. Johnny's a great dad.
Speaker 3:There are dads out there that absolutely deserve to be recognized. Mostly the moms, but the dads they should Like, Johnny.
Speaker 1:Thank you, you know something. I joke about. It's in my set. I talk about it a lot. You've probably seen the clip, but I talk about the differences in the two. It's like because even good parents have bad parenting moments. That's what I said. Oh, that's sad, yeah, and if you're good enough, the kid never notices it. So it's like, for instance, I joke about it. It's true, though, dads just don't care. That's the main I joke about. Dads don't care.
Speaker 4:I'm freestyle bro. Yeah, Like I have a video after the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you already know. It's like I talked about where I used to sleepwalk and do dangerous shit, what I used to dangerously sleepwalk. I used to walk around. My dad took me inside one morning. It was like you got up, went outside, did a lap and traffic came back inside. I went back.
Speaker 2:Oh hell, no, yeah, and I'm like pops.
Speaker 1:You didn't saw me, he was like yeah, but you was asleep, I didn't want to bother you.
Speaker 2:I'm like Is it true now that if you wake up a sleepwalker, they will attack you, they will go crazy?
Speaker 1:Apparently, if you wake a sleepwalker up when they're sleepwalking, they go into shock or something You're not supposed to wake up.
Speaker 4:That's what I heard.
Speaker 1:You're supposed to let it happen. But I'm like where do you draw the line? What if I'm robbing a bank? We're just going to let me commit a felony.
Speaker 4:I'll let you rob a bank by the way that you walk off the plane All right, he's leaving the house.
Speaker 1:He's got a ski mask Like what.
Speaker 3:What he's driving the car, yeah right.
Speaker 1:But like driving it well, it's like obeying traffic laws, oh my god, you look that bad.
Speaker 4:I like to drive.
Speaker 1:Like he drives better sleep than he do awake, but yeah, you know I didn't.
Speaker 2:We should have been more prepared to have a comedian here, why? Yeah, like with the laughing, you know like I'm like fuck, I should have peed. He did Shit, your bladder's full. Oh, you walk around, no, Moms, you know, we sneeze a certain way Mom bladder. We laugh too much. Mom bladder is a thing we're going to pee on us all.
Speaker 3:Mom bladder I've never heard of that yes, so our, you know, you're.
Speaker 4:Think about it. The baby's putting all that pressure on it. Things get out of shape. Yeah, she got four.
Speaker 1:I got four, she got four, three. If I sneeze, hey, that's what's up. Listen, that's it.
Speaker 3:If I sneeze.
Speaker 1:Allergy season is taking the fuck out of me. Oh what? Oh God, damn so bad.
Speaker 3:And then I'm like fuck.
Speaker 2:That's all it takes. No, my kids, now they've been like really mom yeah. Mom, why are you always peeing?
Speaker 3:on yourself. I used to always make a fun of my mother. Oh my God, here we go. 15 minutes later she got to pee again. That's all calm now. Now, yeah, forget it, I don't even want to drink water.
Speaker 1:I don't want to drink any water.
Speaker 3:Anything.
Speaker 1:I might just be all.
Speaker 2:Call his sister. No, don't do that. Yeah, yeah, send her a heart Instagram.
Speaker 3:There's pelvic floor exercises that we should be doing, that we don't do yeah but we don't do any exercise at all.
Speaker 1:Keebs. Oh yeah, and Bowflex, remember Bowflex. Remember that. Yeah, all of that, you remember Bowflex. Bowflex was there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we didn't do it, but remember that.
Speaker 4:Is your family supportive of your comedic career, like your?
Speaker 1:sister.
Speaker 4:They are now your parents. Well, yeah, the first five years.
Speaker 1:Hell, no, what. They all laughed at me. I remember. All right, so I All right, so Trump wins the election. The next day I started doing stand-up comedy. That Thanksgiving because it was on November word got out that I was going to comedy clubs. Wait, wait, where were you doing this? Yeah, we were like, oh, it's pretty good. How did you go about it? It was just a comedy club in my town and I just went, I said Wednesday, amateur night. They said Wednesdays, so I would do it once every week on Wednesdays, and you had something written, or you just I would come up with new jokes every week. I didn't know you could use your jokes from the week before, so I would just come with new stuff.
Speaker 3:OK, so you got a lot of material.
Speaker 1:It was garbage. But yeah, I can't do, I can't say what I said last week.
Speaker 2:But then I got. Did you get some applause, like applause?
Speaker 1:No, no, I got booed a couple of times.
Speaker 2:Oh damn Really.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I got the best booing of my life in South Park, New Jersey.
Speaker 3:Kudos to you because you're still doing it, because I would have been like. I'm not good at this.
Speaker 1:I mean, who's good at anything when they start?
Speaker 4:Fact. So what they boo you?
Speaker 2:You got to watch our first episode, amir Amir is clearly.
Speaker 1:This guy just tells me this stuff all the time. I just don't listen, I don't listen.
Speaker 4:I mean.
Speaker 1:Well, that's to be determined. We don't know. According to WebMD, though, he's right.
Speaker 3:I think you're right. I'm on the spectrum. I think I'm on the spectrum. Oh my god, you don't.
Speaker 4:Out of yourself. No, I think. I'm I wouldn't be a good podcast host if I weren't.
Speaker 1:There you go See.
Speaker 4:It's got to be it somewhere. My slight to rest is worse, like instantly bro.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I was booed the best time I ever got booed and I always I told I told the guy this I was a place called Susie Q's barbecue in Orange, new Jersey, right.
Speaker 2:I thought it was a strip club it was.
Speaker 1:It's silent, don't it? But I'll tell you, the baby back ribs is fire. I was there and I had no business being on this show, right, because it was a stacked lineup, but at the time I was killing at the amateur rooms. They're like all right, let's get him, like you want to do, five minutes up top, right? Ok, the host of the show is this guy named Mike Britt. For those who don't know, mike Britt and Mike, I've had this conversation with you. He's legendary.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people in the underground comedy scene who a lot of people don't know. We're just Mike Britt. Mike Britt, the B R I T T. Ok, you can look him up. I'm a little moment. Even Andrew Schultz has talked about him. Andrew Schultz talks about. He says everybody has a Mike Britt moment. Oh, wow, he performs. And then you follow and you just look stupid, right, I looked great a stupid following him. Right, he had the whole crowd dying. It was like Def Jam back in the 90s. And then I go up and man, I did so bad. You know you're doing bad when you hear somebody go. Oh, that was it. I was like you could actually hear somebody. You could hear somebody coughing and you know, nothing wrong with the crowd, because they would have time of their life and I'm like damn. So I went, I left the stage, I didn't say bye to nobody, I ordered some ribs and I went home. I'm leaving here with something.
Speaker 2:At least you got some ribs.
Speaker 1:I'm leaving here with something I need to get paid.
Speaker 2:You've been doing comedy for how long now?
Speaker 1:Seven and a half years now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I know your mom has passed. Was she around when you started doing comedy?
Speaker 1:Yes, and she never came to a show, so she's never officially seen it. But here's the cool thing about parents and why I love joking about them when she was alive we never talked about comedy. We never did. She would know I would do it, but she never came to a show and to me she never talked about it. When she passed and then when the funeral happened and everybody came, everybody came up to me Are you the comedian she always used to talk about? I had no idea. I was like what Everybody they were like you're the funny guy she kept talking about.
Speaker 1:So it's like she was my biggest supporter, but just not to me personally. So what happened was Sounds like a Dominican mom, Black mom, that's what that is for. So I keep her. They put a little bit of her ashes in this right, so I said all right. So I'm like, since you didn't come to a show every time I'm on stage, you're just going to be in this now, so you're on stage with me. You have no choice. And she used to hate the public, spotlight and everything. So every show I do, I got that on me.
Speaker 2:What did she want you to do?
Speaker 1:She had so many different ideas. Alex, I see you being in technology like your father. Wrong, I hate technology. She was just like well, I mean, your sisters are going in the medical field. No, no, I'm good, that wasn't me. I always tell people this If you, god forbid, something happened and you get sent to the hospital and I'm the guy you're looking at, just die, just go. It's over for the both of it, I promise you, I'm being real.
Speaker 1:You don't want me helping you. No, I know where I'm supposed to be, where I'm not supposed to be. I'm not supposed to be in the yard. But yeah, then when I kind of learned I had a voice, because she was like you have a very distinct voice. She was like you can do something with that radio and I thought about that for the longest time. But then radio is kind of like a dying art form. This is kind of what the new radio is now. So I didn't really make an effort to go seek out podcasting. I just kind of stumbled on it, but that's just kind of where the conversation ended, because then she just kind of passed on. But then comedy has only grown more and more since she's been gone. When did your mother pass? August 22nd 2020. Middle of the pandemic, not of COVID. She had a heart attack. It was her second one. Third, I don't know if that middle one was a heart attack. We think it was. Could have been a stroke, but she didn't have it. She was having health problems her whole life.
Speaker 2:Did she have heart problems?
Speaker 1:Yeah, she had a heart attack when I was in college, I remember, because I was in an accounting class when I got the call and that was weird. So then I remember I was in Pennsylvania, I went to school in Pennsylvania, then I came back to Jersey to see her in the hospital. But from there her health just kind of it didn't spiral, but it was just kind of under a steady decline. There was one day she woke up. She couldn't feel the right side of her whole body. Now that's the telltale sign of a stroke. I didn't know that at the time.
Speaker 1:But I was the only one home. So then it was crazy because she was like don't call an ambulance. Ambulances are expensive, so she's not wrong for that. But I didn't know what a hospital was, so I ended up stopping. I had to get an ambulance and then I followed the ambulance to the hospital. We were there for like 12 hours but then she was fine. Then she felt fine and then her latest, the last heart attack she had. This is how crazy it is. I mean now I know right, but her chest felt fine. She was having gastrointestinal issues.
Speaker 1:I didn't see her the last day. She was alive. I didn't see her, but I heard that she was like throwing up. But when I woke up the morning had happened. I heard her bathroom was being used. It was like 6.22 in the morning. I heard her bathroom was being used. So I said, oh, let me go check on mom, right? And I went to go see her and she was like slumped over.
Speaker 1:At that point it was already happening, but I didn't know right. In my mind COVID was all the rage and I had just gotten over COVID. So I was like you know what I'm going to do. I said I'm going to go to CVS and I'm going to get a pulse examiner, right. Then they put on the hand. I said I'll get one of those just so I can see how she's doing, just to make sure that she's breathing. It never occurred to me that maybe she stopped breathing right. So I left the house. I actually went to CVS, had a great time at CVS, got the thing, came back and when I came back I saw two cop cars in front of the house and then her health was already kind of failing. So it was like I kind of already started to see what it was. So then when I got there they were trying to resuscitate her, and then just one after another, after another.
Speaker 4:It goes on for hours, usually when that stuff happens.
Speaker 1:Well, she was pronounced dead in like 20 minutes. So both my sisters one lives in South Jersey, like Philly area, the other ones in North Carolina they both came immediately, as fast as they could. My sister from North Carolina was there a couple hours.
Speaker 1:That's how crazy it was who was with her, so I stayed with my parents, so I was with my mom and my dad. I remember I did a comedy thing that day. There wasn't a lot of comedy going on because it was 2020 and the pandemic. But I came home late and I saw my dad was sleeping in a different room and I was just like how come you're over here? He said your mom's not feeling well, could be COVID, we're just going to isolate her. I said, all right, that to me was already weird, but I'm just like, ok, it is what it is, whatever. Yeah, that was a crazy time. You know what's even crazier? I didn't think about this because I'm really talking about it again. I remember a dream I had the night before it happened. This is going to be weird, but hear me out. I remember a dream I had. It was really weird.
Speaker 1:And she was being chased by these three dogs right in front of our house and I was just kind of standing like where the hell did these dogs come from? And the dream ended when one of the dogs got her and then I woke up and then I went to go check on her. I never forgot that. But it's like, yeah, Life comes at you hard sometimes. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Well, that's so significant.
Speaker 4:Did you continue to do comedy right away? Did you take a pause? Was that your medicine? You?
Speaker 1:know what's crazy? There was no comedy hat, that's the thing. So comedy already, because you know pandemic and everything. But I remember I didn't want to stop. I was like I just want to keep going. If anything, I maybe want to work harder. You know what I mean. That was the immediate reaction.
Speaker 1:I remember feeling that. I remember I even called a friend of mine at the time. I was like we got to go into that nitro now, like there is no going back, I have to do this. He's a comedian as well. Yeah, I don't really fuck with him no more, though, but he's a comedian as well.
Speaker 1:Ok, but yeah, I remember that was my initial feeling of I have to do this, like there is no going back. So I never took a pause, other than the pause that COVID made everybody take, but it was just, yeah, that was interesting. I really think about it. Yeah, I do remember, though I remember when my funny came back, because I felt like I lost it for a few days, right, because when that happens, obviously it's shocking. It was because, you know, it's like flashball memory that happens. Next memory is my whole family's there.
Speaker 1:Next memory is, you know, then people kept visiting throughout the week, but again it's COVID. I'm like, guys, I don't, like we don't want this happening again. You know what I mean. But I remember my dad's friend and that whole week I didn't, I just wasn't myself. My dad's friend came over one day and these guys, this guy's a fucking dork. He was just being weird. And that's when I felt my funny start to come back. I was just like yo, who's man is this Like yo? Who let him here? Like you know what I mean. It was just. And then it was in a moment like that where I was like I was like, oh, it's not gone, it's still here. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, and then you just you did that, though. How did he handle everything?
Speaker 1:I mean you guys. You guys are minority parents, have minority parents. He's the tough guy. Never Only time I've ever seen my dad cry was the day it happened. I've never seen that man cry, ever, ever in my life except for the day my mom died. That was crazy. I didn't even think he was capable of that. To be honest with you, that got nothing phases him, but that was the only day I saw him break down, even to this day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and everybody grieves differently. Yeah, and I learned that after my dad passed away, he died. He died similar to, like your mom, my dad um. Before he passed, he was having these episodes where he couldn't breathe really.
Speaker 2:And a year before that he died. Um, he, he was at my sister's house and he couldn't breathe. He was like I love you to my sister. And then he, like his eyes closed. Ambulance came by, the grace of God. We got to the hospital. They were like you need to make a call. What are we going to do? They were about to resuscitate him. He came back like nothing happened. The next day they released him and they were like this is a miracle.
Speaker 1:He was aware of it. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:He was aware, yeah. So after that they were like you need to see a respiratory doctor because he may have COPD. My father was a smoker back in the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, and then he stopped, but I guess the longterm effects caused the damage. So you know, my father was stubborn, he never wanted to go to a doctor. Then, you know, he kept getting these episodes where he couldn't breathe. So during the last month right, he died in September 2019. That month, the weekend, like two, twice that month he had to go to hospital by ambulance. The week before he passed it was on Sunday. I remember I was going to church and he couldn't breathe and we had the nebulizer. But at that point, when you can't breathe on COPD, nothing is going the airway, yeah. So the ambulance came and they gave him a shot and I remember, looking at his eyes, my father never showed emotion and I was like, does that hurt? Like they give him a shot, like so, like clear, it's like like a adrenaline kind of yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And he just went like this to me and I felt so bad and I'm looking at him and he's gasping for air. You know they taking him in the ambulance. I went to church, though, because I got to pray for my father, because they're not going to let me do nothing in the hospital. Right, I come home. He's discharged already. No way. Making bacalaitos, what? Making food for me and my sister, like nothing. And this was Sunday. Wednesday, I saw the hospital made an appointment for him for the respiratory. It was in two weeks. I was like Papi, I'm going with you, you're not, no excuses, I'm going with you to the appointment. So this was Sunday.
Speaker 2:Then, on Wednesday morning, I was doing my makeup in the bathroom at my parents' house, and my father always used to make breakfast for me, but that day he made oatmeal and he gave it to me and I was just like I don't want this, I want Starbucks. So I only took like a bite, and then I remember I'm getting ready to leave. He's like no, don't look. No, don't look at me, I'm going to translate. So he said you didn't get the oatmeal. This is the last time I'm ever going to make oatmeal for you. Oh my gosh. So I was like damn, I feel bad. So I left. I went to work, go to Starbucks. I left my phone at work. Across the street my nephew's girl comes running. They're trying to call your father out of heart attack. I worked around the corner for my parents' house at that time, thank God.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I ran over there. Um, they didn't want to let me in the apartment. I'm like, my daughter was there. It was my mom, my dad, my mom's home attendant and my daughter was three at the time. I was like my baby's in there, I have to go in. They were in the room pumping on my father's chest. My sister was with him. Um, they will hang out, they're not doing anything.
Speaker 2:I see his eyes are open, his mouth is open, but in my mind he's not dead. Right, I'm not. So I'm just like you guys need to resuscitate him. Um, that's when they put the tubes down your throat. Yeah, my father always said he never wanted them to put tubes down his throat. Um, so they did it. We go to the hospital and he had three more heart attacks on that ride to Jamaica Hospital, which was only 10 minutes from the house. So, total from from when he first had the heart attack in the house, he went 30 minutes without oxygen. So when we get to the hospital, they're doing all these tests and then his eyes are open. So I'm like is he? So he made it to the hospital.
Speaker 2:He made it to the hospital with the tubes and his throat and everything. Wow, Um, they're not telling that. They're doing a whole bunch of brain scans to see if there's any activity because he lost so much oxygen. The next night, um, my, the hospital's flooded. My whole family was there the next night. I'm the youngest. I'm the youngest, my siblings, I have two sisters, two brothers. They were there. They were a mess. I don't know what. I guess it was the faith that had in me. I don't know what, the strength that had in me. I'm, I was just like my father didn't want to live like this. I was like, if he survives this, what? What is his life going to be?
Speaker 2:And they're like he's going to be in a bed, he's going to be a vegetable. So I was like my father didn't want this. I was like so we had a call. Uh, we had to decide to put him in hospice. Pull the plug. This was Thursday. Friday they pulled the plug and it was. They moved him to hospice, but he didn't die right away. We were all there with him waiting for him to take his last breath. There were over 50 people in the hospital with us at this time. Um, he didn't die. He's, you know, he's breathing, still like taking breaths, but not like good breaths. Um, we, we said like Spanish people, like he doesn't want to leave without saying goodbye to his family. Family came from Puerto Rico. The last person to come came Sunday his brother.
Speaker 2:During this time, me and my siblings and my mom, we were sleeping 24 seven. We were in with him by his bedside waiting for him to take his last breath. Can you imagine? Just watching someone and thinking that breath is going to be the last breath is terrible. Um, finally, monday came and my mom was like, maybe my father was private. He didn't show emotion. Um, we were like maybe he just wants to be alone. So everybody left the room my mom sat with him. They were watching a Yankee game big Yankee fan and he passed when my mom was just dumb too. I can't imagine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was, it was Sudden, you know. Yeah, this was like I developed a panic disorder after that PTSD.
Speaker 2:it all happened so fast and me waiting, I guess.
Speaker 2:all of that trauma, not sleeping, all of that I had to move in with my mom and for a couple of months after every day I would come home from work, I would have to lock myself in the bathroom because I would have panic attacks. Just knowing my father stopped breathing, that he died in that apartment. Literally he died there, you know, because he was in a hospital but his brain was not there. You know, I was in a hospital but his brain was not there, you know. So it was. It was tough and I'm still grieving you know, get over, you get used to it.
Speaker 1:That was my question.
Speaker 4:My question was like what's the bounce back like? Because obviously you still have one of your parents there and they're still going through it very different than what you're going through, like how does your dad handle? How did he handle life after that? Like, how was, how was your relationship with him at that point as well, cause you two were still living together and mom is not there anymore.
Speaker 1:We kind of it's weird because we don't really open up to each other. It's funny. I was actually telling my sister this just two days ago. I said he doesn't open up to me, he opens up to you. You know what I mean To me. We're me and him are like roommates. That's what kind of what it turned into. You know, like we. You know we get into the petty squabbles and everything, but it's like it's crazy how fast life just changes. You know what I mean, cause I was.
Speaker 1:I talked to my sister about this all the time. For me it feels like and maybe you can relate to this it was like a before and after. There's before, where life was when everybody was here. Then there's the after of what it's like when. There's like that whole. You know what I mean. Yeah, it's like, how are you trying to? You know everybody grieves differently. It's you know, it's crazy. I can't even tell you what I did. I don't know. I do you just kind of keep moving. You know what I mean. It gets easier to talk about, like I'm in a place where I could talk about it, right, you know. But it's like you just kind of I don't.
Speaker 2:It's you have your moments, definitely yeah, everybody has their moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know you, every single day you think about it. There isn't a single day that goes by where I don't think about either that day or my mom, always, but it's just, it's very much. Just in passing, you just kind of.
Speaker 2:I guess this is all part of the process, you know you know, one day you come sorry, one day you look at a picture and you'll laugh. You'll be like I remember that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you look at it again another day and you're just like crying.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you, the craziest part is, too, I joke about my mom and my stand up. So it's like I now I'm at a point where I could, I could talk to her, talk Well, I do talk to her, but where I could talk about her and talk about the fact that she's not here. But even trying to bring that up with an audience is tough, because I'm trying to keep the happy go lucky mood. I want you to laugh at some pain that I went through. Yeah, that's what's tough, but if you can manage that, big doors open up for you. So it's like and I'll be honest, I'm still not perfect at it, I'm still not good at it, Not the greatest, I should say, because there are, even though it was the hardest thing I've ever dealt with, funny things did happen. You know what I mean. You acknowledged it. I'll be so honest with you guys. That funeral happened because it was COVID, literally everybody all the good. I don't know what you call funeral, the people who like lead funerals. I don't know what you call them the morticians.
Speaker 4:No, no, not morticians.
Speaker 2:It's a funeral.
Speaker 1:The director funeral directors, right? Or the guy who was going to do the sermon at the funeral. All the good ones were booked because COVID, everybody was dying. So my uncle just booked this random guy and he didn't know the person who got booked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he didn't know the person who died.
Speaker 1:He thought he said uh, my mom's name is Lauren, but we called her fern, or at least her sister's called her fern, and she has a sister named Faye. So the guy goes up front. Guys were all here together and, over the memory and loss of Faye, like no, faye's there. No, no, fern is gone. Like like bro, you didn't do the homework.
Speaker 2:You just started talking. You didn't do the homework.
Speaker 1:To me that's hilarious, yeah, cool. So it's like in hindsight yeah.
Speaker 1:In hindsight it's funny, but it's like that's something I've always wanted to talk about. It's so interesting too Cause there cause. You know, like I said, with each, it's the funny thing about comedy it's like the worst thing could happen, but with tragedy there is funny attached to it. You talk about how my dad coped. You know what my dad did when my mom passed away. I'm your sees all my jokes, so he knows he's my mom, my dad, he, uh, he kept my mom's phone number Right. He kept it because he go ahead. Oh, amir's on the mic.
Speaker 4:No, you know you're gonna tell it Okay.
Speaker 3:I'm going to insert the video.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't think we have a video this one. Oh no, no, we do, we do, yeah, we do, yeah, okay, okay, yeah, that's the AGT one. America's got talent in me. Up for this job. They like this one Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They like, they like this one. Yeah, we and him are working on this for like a whole month, all last month. Um, yeah, so my dad kept my mom's phone number right and obviously I still got to save. We also got it saved, right, you know. But he but she was on the family plan. So he was like, well, I just have another phone that I can use. But he casually used it to call his kids. Oh, no, Like, just as like another phone. But he didn't tell us anything so he would just keep using it. Right, it was the craziest thing in the world.
Speaker 1:So one day he calls my sister and my sister sees mom is calling, she goes, she comes up. She's like guys, mom's calling. I didn't pick up and we're just like well, you didn't pick up. Why didn't you pick up? She was like, cause my plan don't allow for long distance, I didn't pick up. We were like. We were like well, call it back. Like what happened? Call it back. Right, she calls it back. My dad, goofy ass on the phone. Hello, Like dad, what are you doing? But he's joking, he's like I ain't your dad, I'm your mom. Like, oh, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:So the seat is there, yeah, so he's like I would have a heart attack. We were just like.
Speaker 1:I literally voted my last text to my mom's phone number. It's sad as it sounds, cause our last conversation with the text conversation, I had to text my dad. Can you stop using this number please? Like, bro, what are you doing? He's like okay, sorry, and I was just, oh, my God, the true story. So it's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:You know what you have to laugh at that.
Speaker 1:But you know, since we're on the topic of it, the joke I tell before that again, another true story is, and again it goes back to parenting. I think I don't want to say my mom was a better parent than my dad. That's not fair. But what I will say is my mom was better at certain things than my dad, like picking up the phone. My dad doesn't pick up the phone right. So one time I went to city MD for a COVID test and I go to fill it out.
Speaker 1:Like you know, you do a little screen thing and it goes do you want to update your emergency contact? And my emergency contact is still my mom and I was like, actually, I'm going to leave it alone, I'm not going to. This is fine, it's up to date, I'm not going to change it, cause my dad never picks up the phone like at all. He just won't do it, that's just the thing. So it's I'm like telling how I would tell it out of order. But it's um, I told my dad that and I just don't. I'm like, yeah, you know. The answer is mom was still the emergency contact and he got mad. He was like, well, why don't you change it? Like like, come on, man, I need you to change it. And said bro, there's a better chance she's going to pick up before you pick up, right?
Speaker 4:Oh, he got a phone, so you know.
Speaker 1:I was well, I didn't know that at the time, maybe that's why he did it, but I was like she'll pick up. Before you pick up, swear to God, because if it's not his door that shorter, he's not going to pick up. Oh my God. But then he was just like, yeah, you probably right. Yeah. So it's like you know, even in that horrible moment, and even though your life changes forever, you talking about it, you sharing your experiences, even you sharing your experience with me just now, helped me through mine.
Speaker 1:Honestly, it's the simple, small things like that and that's why it's like, even though it's the hardest thing I've ever done making jokes out of making light of something like that I feel like it's such an important reason for me to do that because people are going to identify with it. So what I was just telling Amir yeah, america's Got Talent hit me up. They saw that joke, he edits it, I post it and they were like they hit me up. They said we love this joke and we want you to do this on TV, right, and so it's like going through the motions of that.
Speaker 1:And then I remember, when I talked to her, she said um, she was like I have a dad in hospice care. She goes, I'm a parent and it's like I related to this so much. I think you she was like I think you're a great writer, I think this can go really far. So I kind of told me it was like okay, this is important. You know so many people can relate to this kind of stuff, so I try to definitely implement it way more than I did before.
Speaker 4:I think even when you were explaining the day that it happened, you started talking about digestive issues and how that could be a sign of heart attack. I don't know that in my life. Yeah, I didn't know that till August 22nd. How you share that information, other people watching get an idea of it and God forbid. You know your parents going through something, your mom. It might be a little more serious.
Speaker 1:We were so used to just the pain through the arm and the chest pressure. All of that GI issues. We had no idea.
Speaker 2:What's your greatest memory with your mom?
Speaker 1:No one's ever asked me that. Holy crap, I have so many. I have a question. That's my greatest memory. That's insane. A couple things jump out at me, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:There's a couple, yeah, the bad and the good, hard to live.
Speaker 1:The first one that jumped out at me was she taught me all the cuss words by accident, like she, she, she taught every, every single one of her my two cousins and my two sisters and myself. It was always the five of us. She taught all of us how to cuss, but not to us, of course, you wouldn't do that, but she would cuss out other people in front of us. We went to, we went to I never told you this a bit. We went to chase bank one time and you know this is back before online banking, what it is right now. It's like the nineties. And she goes, pulls up to the drive through teller and I'm telling you she was like I make a withdrawal or whatever, and the teller is like you don't have, ma'am, you don't have this, you have. And then she says her balance.
Speaker 1:Now, granted, we're all kids, we don't know what this means, but my mom saw red. Every single cuss word in the book came out to this teller, but she didn't even tell him an order. Fuck you, bitch, motherfuck. Like it was just. It was just one. She was going backwards, he was in the forward. I'm just. What are these words mean? Like these weren't all Nickelodeon. Like I never heard that one on Nick Jr. Oh man, she cusses her out, she drives away and she was like, by the way, never say those. And then she just kept going you want ice cream? Like how are we going to get ice cream? It's me.
Speaker 1:Oh that's funny that was. She was a crazy lady. I act like her. That's why. So it's like my mom was super. She was super social. She was a real comedian. If I'm being real with you, she, the way she acted, she was very, she was very like clueless in how she would act. Right, there's a photo one of her coworkers sent me. It was when she got she's got these like UV sunglasses for the first time and they told her not to look at the sun, and then the first thing she did was just, and it's just, I can't see nothing. She was like that. So I act like her, but I sound like my dad, cause I have my dad's voice and my dad talks very loud. So it's like that's such a good question. I don't know if I I don't know if I have the greatest memory of the top of my head, but that's one that sticks out.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a couple Go ahead. I shared. No, well, I shared before. Like when we talked about spankings and stuff, I said I never got hit as a child cause I was a little angel. But one day I told my father, shut up, and he broke one of those folding tables on my head.
Speaker 1:Oh no.
Speaker 2:So that was a funny, but it wasn't my greatest memory, of course. You know cause I got a now, the pocketing, the pocketing, the pocketing. You know it was like a wrestler in that moment.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, it's like parents turning to like 10 degree black belts, when, as soon as disrespect shows up, my mom would use a belt like those, like nun chucks Bruce Lee, like where did you learn this move? She would pull out like a special move Like putang. She would start doing all of this. I'm like there isn't enough disrespect in the world for me to make you do what you're doing right now. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:You know what I?
Speaker 2:hate when I try to hit my son because lately he's been testing me. He runs, he runs. I have the island in my kitchen.
Speaker 1:So he run and I'm like you know, I'm too fat to be running.
Speaker 3:So I'm like going this way, he's going that way, let's kill you. Oh, my kids watching this shit when this airs run from me, I dare you.
Speaker 4:I dare you run from me. That's what my mom will fuck me up, though. And then she'd be like oh, your brother never ran from me. I'm like, yeah, he's dumb To her. That was respectful, that he was just standing and taking.
Speaker 1:You ever have it where I remember we were kids, we learned what child protective services was Right.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, I know y'all have been through this. So we were like, oh, so we could call for backup. Like we didn't know, right, I remember today my mom got mad. It wasn't directly at me, I think it was my older sister, because she was the smart one. She was able to put context clues together Like, ok, if we get to the phone because with no cell phones we get to the house phone before she does we could get her locked up. Right, she'll be in jail by five o'clock. No, so my mom will be like, go ahead, and then she would just take her phone and just call them Yo, my father used to give it to me.
Speaker 3:All of a sudden, you forget the number my father used to give it to me. She was like call them yeah one time my dad, it was a setup, I know that now he was like who do you think you are? And I was like Jacqueline Frances Perez. Oh, mama Rocked me.
Speaker 1:And I was like ah, Give him the government name and he still hit you, fucking up.
Speaker 3:He was kicking my ass. What were you supposed to say? And then I was like, oh right, what was?
Speaker 1:that that was a fucking setup. He gave the government name. I got an answer up at the top. I knew it was a setup. I tell you no, I'm a child of God, I'm a police, I'm a police. I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police, I'm a police.
Speaker 3:It was like by the time they get here, they're going to have to take me for real and I was like, oh shit.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, they turned the thugs.
Speaker 4:My mama would always tell me go ahead, call. You're the one that's taking out the home, Not me. Have fun with your new family.
Speaker 1:That's what it was. That was it. That was it. That was the line. That was the line that was the line. I thought save them more money than I. I mean, you stop, my mama would always do it.
Speaker 4:She should get dark. She was. You know what they going to do to you over there. You see what they do to foster kids. You see what I'm saying. My mom used to fuck with my head. Crazy, that's crazy. She's smart.
Speaker 1:It's a cold line Hit me already, you got it. My dad was always like the peaceful one, where he was just like no, I'm going to just talk to you guys after. He's what parents should. Yeah, so it was a good balance. But he worked throughout the day, so it was just our mom that we had. We would have get you. It was good cop, bad cop, a bad cop was always on, so it was like good cop was like between eight and nine o'clock. Well, bad cop was working for 22 hours.
Speaker 4:He had times of development.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, so we would get like four different stories, but he would be tired, he would just go to sleep and bad cop would just yeah.
Speaker 1:He was like y'all figure it out. Oh man, could it get away with nothing? Man? Oh my God, I used to throw up a lot as a kid, right, why, I don't know? Because they used to force me to eat breakfast, because you know what they used to say, but most importantly, me all the day, not true? He used to force me to eat breakfast, so they would force me to eat it. Then we would get in the car, we would drive to school, get to school, I'd throw up in the car all the time In the car, in the car Right.
Speaker 3:That's the thing.
Speaker 1:After the third throw up, my mom was like throw up again, Throw up again.
Speaker 2:You're going to eat that Right?
Speaker 1:You should do it again, not in my Honda Accord. I was putting your face in it like God do it again, Because I was just like you be trying to keep it together.
Speaker 2:Were you the kind of kid when you throw up you start crying.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you think I don't want to do that. I didn't want to do that. Oh my God, I'm crying and everything. My mom was like Jesus Christ, that's it.
Speaker 2:No more brushing she cut me off from breakfast, and then she's cursing while she's cleaning it up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, no, no, I can't. I never was able to clean up the vomit it's impossible. I'm like nope, Somebody come and get this. I can't do it. You start gagging. I can't do it.
Speaker 2:Oh, he has a disease. Vasavago, Vasavago. What the hell is that? That sounds like a what?
Speaker 1:the.
Speaker 4:So I have an overactive imagination and then you have a vagus nerve which controls all the A vagus nerve. Look it up the vagus nerve controls all your the gamble, bro.
Speaker 1:That's what that's about VA. It's like a gamble. What the?
Speaker 4:fuck are you talking about? It's actually my fan duel just hit. I'm so excited right now.
Speaker 1:You got a vagus nerve. Yeah, oh shit, it's a real thing. Longest nerve in the human body, autonomic nervous system. It's a key part of the oh my God, you have a vagus nerve.
Speaker 2:Sure, I guess we all go, but we don't use it.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So if I hear like I start imagining certain situations not vomit stuff like that, but like random shit, like surgery you start talking about yeah, you know, when they cut me up the blood was just coming out and all of a sudden my mind just goes off and boom, I can pass out. It's called vasovagal Amir. Put it on one of our episodes. He's gonna do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, excuse me, yeah.
Speaker 1:I just learned what proclivity was two weeks ago. That sounds sexual. Why?
Speaker 4:does that sound sexual?
Speaker 3:It's not Proclivity, that's provocative.
Speaker 4:That's provocative.
Speaker 3:I hear clear and I'm no, she heard I told you.
Speaker 1:No one knows what proclivity means.
Speaker 2:She broke up the word. What does proclivity mean?
Speaker 1:She said ooh, that sounds hot. No Proclivity.
Speaker 4:Go ahead, it's actually not gonna be hot, I don't have my glasses.
Speaker 1:I cannot read that oh yeah, this is what I remember this an inclination or predisposition towards something, especially a strong inherent inclination towards something bad. So, if you like, something bad essentially, that's just way too deep. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, like you went from, you have a Vegas, a Vega Vagavula, whatever Vegas nerve, vegas nerve to. I have an overactive imagination. You should have just said that. Say that next time.
Speaker 2:So I complicated, like this definition my bad Bro said yeah, the parlay just hit. You said yeah, yeah, no. You said that I'm throwing up.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna come up and get all crazy because of that. It has to be like surgical no.
Speaker 3:Once we start getting into like.
Speaker 4:Like anything fucking All types of shit.
Speaker 1:Doctoration stuff like that. I actually can't handle it like that. To be honest, my biggest phobia is large amounts of blood. I can't handle it and I don't like hospitals, mainly because I had to go see my mom in a hospital all the time. I hate hospitals.
Speaker 4:So you say your mother had issues before, right? Did that in any way impact your sister's choice of like your younger sister where she went?
Speaker 1:That's a good question. They were already kind of into what they were doing, okay.
Speaker 4:They put the doctor's shit in their head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they already had it. My oldest sister was already kind of in healthcare because she used to help my mom out, and then my younger sister she's like more going more the PhD route, but they kind of already had that in their mind. It didn't really it impacted everybody, but it impacted everybody career-wise. We were all kind of going towards what we were gonna do anyway.
Speaker 4:How do you come up with material? Is it all like personally based? You know what's funny? Everybody does it different.
Speaker 1:It just comes from my life. These things that happen. It's like typically it's like I'll think back about something that I think was funny and then it's like I'll just put it on stage, I'll just talk about it. It doesn't always have to be funny when I first start working it out, but if funny things happen it's literally all drawn from my life.
Speaker 4:So then okay, so you think of a story, right? Or you just live the story, I live it, that's what it is. You live the story and then when you're thinking back on it, you tell it to yourself regular. You start saying okay, this comedic bit of it or not?
Speaker 1:even I, just for me this is gonna sound so weird, but I promise this is real. For me, Funny is a feeling. It's not logical. It's very much. When I feel funny, I really feel it.
Speaker 4:It's like what's funny guys, am I being gaslighted again?
Speaker 1:They clown in the shit out. I didn't know what it was for, but they clowning you for sure.
Speaker 3:First of all, I just started this shit. There goes the Mike Hager, but she said it's so low and my ADD is trying to listen here.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna let them rock out and see where it goes.
Speaker 2:I can't, I can't. I got a penis.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna see when the show goes when Jackson is hosting. Sorry.
Speaker 2:We just have ADD. No, it's fine.
Speaker 1:I got that shit too. So I completely understand, don't worry, amir knows it's pretty bad, it's pretty Remember. Yeah, it's all done by him, right. I took. He sent me something to post and I posted it wrong, right. And I was freaked out. I said oh no. So I called him and I said, amir, I think I might be mentally slow, so I took a test online. I took a test online. I don't know if we allowed to say you can believe it, but I took a retardation test online Retardation.
Speaker 1:You're not saying calling anybody the test called me, though, and then when I took it, I got my results and said congratulations, you scored a 73 out of 100. Technically you are. I said, oh wow. So I sent it to Amir. I said, amir, don't get mad at me, because according to this test I took, I am, oh my God. And then he's just like, well, you just shut up and repost it. I'm like, but the test is like, just repost it. Yeah, that's what it takes. And then that was it, and it worked out fine.
Speaker 2:Wait, there's an actual test for that.
Speaker 1:Yes, and they give you a. You print out the certificate.
Speaker 2:I think I will get 100. I got it.
Speaker 3:I have a certificate.
Speaker 1:I sent it to.
Speaker 3:Amir, I have a certificate, I can show it to you guys.
Speaker 1:They're like congratulations, you are this much. And then I was technically, according to my results and like you know, like when you take the government test in school, like there's the percentile, my percentile was 110% slow, wow, okay, so at least you're not the only one out there, oh man, it was, it was. I liked the certificate they gave me, though I ain't gonna lie, it was, that's funny. You gotta put that on your resume.
Speaker 3:You gotta put that on your resume.
Speaker 2:72% retard 73%, 73%, 73% retard. Come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 1:That's 72.
Speaker 4:Yeah, don't shortchange him Retardation.
Speaker 1:I'm a man, yeah, the retardation scale I am.
Speaker 2:Just bleep me out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she said she's 100.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if I'm 100,.
Speaker 1:I will be, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm just um. I'm not the first six. I got wrong.
Speaker 2:If there's math in there, then I'm feeling it was crazy.
Speaker 1:It was like which one of these don't belong and I'm like all of these look great Okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, that is like. Don't say that. Oh my God, these all look great.
Speaker 3:She tried so hard not to laugh. She's drinking more water, so we all know what's going to happen?
Speaker 1:She gonna say there's going to be a puddle on the chair.
Speaker 3:Putt on the chair, oh my God, I'm not cleaning it up. I'm not cleaning it up.
Speaker 4:But that's your question. Yeah, sorry, johnny, you gotta clean it up. I got you.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's where the jokes come from. It's just everyday life. That's literally it. I got jokes for days on everything. There are certain things I have too I haven't even put on stage yet Like, but I want to Like. Even when we just talked about here. I would love to put that on stage, but it's like the culture of today's society is super, duper sensitive, so you just really gotta be.
Speaker 4:That's terrible. That's kind of. I was going to ask you that because my favorite comic of all time is George Carlin.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, good pick, good pick. Okay, I respect you.
Speaker 4:And it was even more solidified. Chris Rock is one of my favorites as well, and Chris and Dave Chappelle said about George Carlin when he passed away they were talking about it Like one of the things people underestimate about George Carlin is the reason why he's one of the best comics of all time is he had a new special every year for over 20 years. He wrote so many hours they were like to even think about doing that is insane, it's crazy. So my question to you is who inspired you, like who are our handful? It doesn't have to be one person. Oh, we got three, yes, three.
Speaker 1:Richard Pryor, eddie Murphy, martin Lawrence those are my top people. Eddie Murphy, bro, Eddie, it's crazy, I love Richard by the way.
Speaker 4:Most people don't really see old Richard Pryor shit, they just think about it in films? I don't know, if you watch Richard stand up, that shit was dark.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, his stand up is great, he opened the door for everybody Because he started talking about his life. That was the thing when comedy is still observational. But Richard opened the door on his problem, his trauma. You know what I mean. So once he did that, he paved the way for everybody else. I like Martin Lawrence. Like Martin is, oh my gosh. Look back at anything from Def Jam, eric Martin Lawrence. Just that was he's one of my go-tos. It's just so natural.
Speaker 4:I slept on that man. I gotta go back and look at old Martin stuff. Oh, I love Martin. I haven't seen that old footage in a hot minute. I just saw crazy the other day. I don't know if you remember Jamie's Fox had a special in like 2002. Where he had the piano. Yes, yo bro. And I was like holy shit, I forgot Jamie Foxx was this funny. That bro was talented as hell. Because you just put them into boxes after they become actors. Yep, it's insane.
Speaker 1:There are so many. There are so many influence, even from Patrice O'Neill, Like there's so many people. But it's like Patrice, yo, Patrice. I got into stand up action, though because of Kevin Hart, that's who got me into it. I knew what comedy was. I didn't want to do it, though it was. I was actually in college and you know, when you in college, I got my first Netflix account. So I'm watching all these and they had just started experimenting with comedy. It was a second special, Seriously funny. I watched that. I killed over laughing, but then, amidst me laughing, I was like wait a minute, I go to my roommate. I'm like don't I kind of do this already? I'm like I think I do this. It's just like you do. And I'm like do you think I could maybe do this? You think you definitely can.
Speaker 4:That's a good roommate, bro. You know how many people will look at you like come on.
Speaker 1:But like he said it and he was like Netflix, he was like you want to cook a pizza now. It was just that, was it?
Speaker 3:But then, but still it sparked. That's that little seed, yeah, oh, you needed that.
Speaker 1:That told me I wanted to try it. Yeah, and then, three months later, the first time I ever did comedy was actually 2014. That didn't start till 2016. I was in school and I had ordered pizza at the same place actually and I saw the auditorium doors are closed and I was like, oh, that means there's an event going on. I'm gonna go see, I open it up and there's students doing stand up in front of a huge crowd of people and at this point I had already thought about trying it.
Speaker 1:So I'm like whoa. It's like go to somebody. I'm like who's running this? And they pointed to a guy over there. I'm like all right, I'm gonna go talk to him. His name was John. Never forget, I'll go up to him. I'm like yo, I said no. One told me there was a funny man competition on campus. I was like, let me try, yeah, and he said no. I said please. He said no two more times. He said five times, total, six time. He was just like all right, fine, I'll give you five minutes, it's a perfect. Then I sat down. I'm like what the hell am I going to say? I don't know and I don't remember everything I said. I went on stage I started talking about my dad killing some flies and it's all I remember.
Speaker 2:The Caribbean way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't even know if there were jokes attached to it, but I had to tell him about my dad killing these bugs and everybody was rolling and I'm like, oh, I can do this. How are your nerves? That first time with me it's like when I'm in the moment doing it I don't feel it, but like leading up to it, when I sat down I kind of got a little nervous because I was like I don't really know what I'm about to do, but I'm going to try it, you know. And then it was like even like now there are no nerves when I do it. Now it's just, you know, just go up and do whatever.
Speaker 1:But even with new material, like yeah, because it's like new materials, like, for instance, the thing about my mom and the bank teller. That's a joke. I've been wanting to try. I've never done it. But when I tell it, it's just you just tell it how you tell it, you know what I mean. But it's like, um, yeah, it's like the nerves only are only there in the beginning, when you're not used to it. But once you've done like well, over like 500, a thousand shows, it's just like all right, you're just talking to a new group of people. If they laugh, great. If they don't laugh, that's great too. But it's, you know, it's, I'm going to do it. It's, it is a little bit.
Speaker 3:You got to see if it works or not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got to somebody's got to hear these jokes. Yeah Right, I think I'm great. But then I'll tell it to y'all and y'all tell me that that didn't even know that.
Speaker 4:Do you do that with your friends?
Speaker 1:Like a little like no, I hate when people do that, when they put bits in the conversation. I don't, I don't like doing that. That's, that's annoying.
Speaker 4:No, no, I mean that'd be kind of weird. I'm just like just say, hey, yeah, I want to perform this real quick.
Speaker 1:Uh, I used to do that, right, and then that doesn't work. No, the way I look at it, very much my comedy is like talking to a friend. So, like the way I would do comedy is very similar to how I'm doing this with you guys. It's just more people. You know what I mean. So it's like if I have a funny story to tell, I'll just tell it and then, whatever parts get the laugh, I'll either remember it, I'll just put it in my phone and then when I tell it the next time, you just key in on the parts that got the laugh and then eventually you just like trim the fat on a joke and then it's just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Speaker 3:Like that you know that makes so much sense, yeah.
Speaker 1:It takes a while to get there. But yeah, but you, but on the flip side of that, you need people who are willing to say if I say something, that's a little, you know, like it's a little sensitive, you got to be willing to like rock with me on it, like I'm gonna, I'm bringing you somewhere. You know what I mean. Yeah, so it's like that, and that goes back to even talking about my mom's death.
Speaker 1:It's crazy Cause it's like I was asking a comedian in front of mine this the other day how do I, how do you bring that up? Do I tell all the alive jokes first and then I do the dead jokes, like this is what we think about? Or it's like do I tell her, do I tell them she's dead up top, and then we just do? What I learned is I do the alive jokes first. Okay, because when you think she's here, there is no inhibitions, right. Then when we switch, then I'll drop, then I'll pull the rug off from underneath the by the way, she's not here. People always feel bad, always. There isn't a time they don't kind of tense up a little.
Speaker 4:But again, you can relate because, even if your parent has a past, one of your biggest fears as a parent, your biggest fear is losing your kids. Exactly, but as as a child, your biggest fear is losing your parent. Here's the crazy thing about death, the child.
Speaker 1:the one thing about death. Everybody has to relate to it at some point. Right, that's the one thing. The only two things, three things guaranteed life, death and taxes. That's it. Everybody has to go through it.
Speaker 2:You better do yours, bro, I know right, you better figure yours out.
Speaker 1:She saw. Look at the ceiling. When I said Texas, it's like everybody relates to it. So if you can walk that line as a comedian and relate to more people with that, it's not even about the fan base at that point. It's about whose lives are you changing through these jokes? It's crazy. I've had people come up to be like, even if I didn't get the biggest laugh in the world, I really appreciate you talking about this, because that's something I'm personally not. Yes, and it helps everybody get through it.
Speaker 4:That's why I hate when they start to prohibit certain things in comedy. Right, because comedy is always an escape. If you're taking comedy at face value, like if you're my politician, there's a problem, right? Comedy needs to be understood. Obviously there's stuff that's grotesque and you shouldn't go certain routes, but on the stage, realistically, it's like it's for that. It's entertainment, exactly. I'm here to be entertained. I'm going to walk out of here in two hours and doesn't mean I agree with everything you said, yeah, but I was there to laugh, and what didn't?
Speaker 1:make me laugh. I wouldn't laugh. Some people will go to a comedy show and be like a journalist at a press conference and looking for you to make statements Like oh, you said this, that the third. Take it out of context, put it online. He said this, that the third. And then somebody out there I hate this, that the third. Then all of a sudden, everybody just starts resharing it and then you're out there making a political statement apologizing for a joke taken out of context. Fucking trolls.
Speaker 2:Do you hold back more now Like? Are you like more cautious?
Speaker 1:Of course, you know I have ideas for things I want to talk about and I, I, yeah. The answer is yes, Because it's like I kind of want to tell you guys what. I'm not going to lie, but it's like you know, it's not even bad, but it's like space, it's part of your life.
Speaker 3:This is a safe space, then I'm glad to tell you guys, we're parents who will never judge you.
Speaker 2:We're going to applaud you, even if it sucks.
Speaker 4:I'll leave your breast.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to talk about fucking titties at 13.
Speaker 1:This is wild, but I have a.
Speaker 4:I haven't actually viewed 13 and sucking titties.
Speaker 3:You, that guy, you the man.
Speaker 2:No, my son is 12. Like he's fucking on titties. No time soon.
Speaker 3:We don't know this you don't know what he does, especially if the girl said maybe or yes, y'all too safe of a strength. Oh, we need an update on that, however.
Speaker 1:Yes, but one thing I really want to talk about is my cousin who has Down syndrome. I would love to talk about her.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to talk about it because I think she's faking it. I'm not going to lie to you. I think she's not with you. I think there are moments where, like she, I'm like she's faking you gotta do the test, because it's like she's really, she's a thug.
Speaker 1:She's been a thug for our whole lives, because when we were, she's the same age as my older sister, right? So when we were all growing up, all she would say is I love you. And she'd be like hey, like yo, jazz, I love you. She would be like that, right. But if you don't tell her you love her I mean outwardly, you don't tell her you love her, she will fight you. What? And I'm not talking verbal exchange Like she will fight.
Speaker 3:No, I'm scared.
Speaker 1:There was one time we was having a cookout at my house, right, and my younger sister, she was just having a bad day. Nothing was wrong with her Just having a bad day. I, uh, stefan, I said what's my cousin that she come up to? She was like hey, justine, I love you. And justine was just like all right, yeah, don't worry about it, I got you. And Stefan was like Justine, I love you. Like, what's going on, I love you. She's like yeah, I know, it's just, she locked the door. So, justine, I love you. Right, she said it. And then she was like and sometimes love hurts, oh, what a warning, right, no one had just jumped right into it and I need you to know how much I love you. Body slammer, I can't even say what I love. She body slam my sister. She came out crying Right and, like I remember talking to him, what happened, she was like oh, Steppy, body slam me. I'm like did you tell her you loved her? She was like no man, you know.
Speaker 1:It's your fault. To this day, to this day, I've grown up bigger than her, stronger than everything. Every time she says Alex, I love you, I love you, I love you to take a selfie, do everything, everything.
Speaker 3:She's an inspiration.
Speaker 1:I love saying you know it's like, but she's not hurt, love hurts, but you know what? Yeah, love hurts, yeah, actually. But you know what the thing is? It's like if I were to go down on stage and say that as soon as they hear I have a cousin with Down syndrome, people immediately tighten up, immediately. Oh my gosh, she's about to jump about his cousin with no, if you hear what I have to say, she's beating us up.
Speaker 3:I think you need to go into it with. I don't give a fuck what you think, because that is it yeah, because I want to get counseled.
Speaker 4:That came back for her, but you know what?
Speaker 3:But she's right, it's first of all, it's comedy and I feel like this, all of that sensitivity that is out there. Fuck them. Go fucking drink your chocolate milk and get out of here. Oh, like I can't, it's that shit pisses me off. Like, why are you so fucking sensitive?
Speaker 1:Calm the fuck down If you're making hurtful statements to her, like if I'm singling you out and say I don't fuck with you, you're whatever, whatever you know. Okay, that's not comedy, you just hate this man. But if you're talking about your life, these are the characters, the people in your life have free reign to do so, that's it. But we're just kind of in a situation right now where it's like yo, yeah, so a joke. Like I just told you guys, one comic I have respect for he's really big right now named Shane Gillis. He jokes about his uncle with. He's very funny because I haven't looked him up he jokes about his uncle with Down syndrome. I saw the joke, his joke, for the first time just yesterday so I said, oh, he does it. I said, okay, I'm gonna try it.
Speaker 3:No, you got to do it. Yeah. No, you're 100% right, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:You want to, even. It's crazy. The best comedians are the ones who you feel like you know personally. You know it's like when you, when they give you like, this is who I am. Those are the ones you really identify with the most, and I also feel like.
Speaker 3:So this is something I was talking about earlier. Like Matt Reif, right, he had someone in his show that was in like a wheelchair he has cerebral palsy yes. And he was going at it Like he was. He was very nice to her, he was still joking, he was still out of pocket. People want to but tasteful.
Speaker 1:But tasteful exactly.
Speaker 3:You can walk the line and they want, and let's okay. They have a condition. Whatever it is, nobody wants them. Like you're singling them out and you're not joking, exactly? Oh, I can't.
Speaker 1:I can't talk about their part. Everyone wants to feel like they're a part of, a part of a part.
Speaker 4:Yeah, fuck that Joke about me. That's a good point.
Speaker 1:I saw a clip just the other day. There was a blind person on a comedy show sitting up front and the comedian was just like why are you blocking up a good seat by sitting up front? You don't see what's going on, like you know. It's things like that.
Speaker 2:But I hear it's true Shit and it looked it Like yo.
Speaker 1:this is what people, you know people want that, yes, Deep down, I genuinely feel like that. But what do they call it? The vocal minority? Definitely a vocal minority, looking to just kind of.
Speaker 3:They're just trying to be relevant.
Speaker 1:I genuinely think so.
Speaker 3:It's like the. You know you don't like this, Just keep scrolling, Just keep scrolling. Mind your business.
Speaker 4:I think that trend is going to die soon, though, man. Little by little. Look at Chappelle right, for instance. He got all this shit. What he did? He attacked it head on.
Speaker 1:Right, he's like okay.
Speaker 4:And that, to me, was a wake up call for a lot of other comedians and not only comedians, but people on camera period, even creators, people that do podcasts to realize, like yo and I for nothing I'm not being hurtful Like you're getting hurt by it because you're taking that context, but taking it in context, it's a joke. Exactly, and I'm going to the way he flipped it, and there was one special I forgot which one was part like two years ago, and I was like, oh shit, he did well right, because I was then trying to see it from that lens, like all right, what can they pick out of this? They still did, they still found something.
Speaker 4:People always look for always look for something, but the approach was done well and I see that slowly going like the Ovan is good at that. He's great. I love him, bro. He's really good at just attacking shit that you shouldn't be attacking but adding a humor to it that you're kind of like all right, but I've also had people like talk to me about jokes and it's like you know, but they've been respectful about it.
Speaker 1:The one thing I remember I told I was in Brooklyn it was a Bushwick Actually. I did a show there. This may be like three or four years ago, I think I made. I mean, it wasn't even a joke, it was the comment I said it was. I have a friend who does dating apps and she's really she's really into like secular, like really Muslim guys, and she told me she was like you know, I really I started studying up on the Quran just so I could meet these guys, which I thought was insane.
Speaker 2:I'm like what I think they were going to be on the apps.
Speaker 1:That's me neither, right? I'm like, wow, that's insane, right? So I think I said that on stage and I was just like, yeah, my friend, she's a. She's actually Dominican too. She'll know who she is, she'll see this, but it's I joked about it. I was just like, yeah, she's, she was studying the Quran. Just to meet an Arab guy Somebody after the show DM me on Instagram. They were like you. You were really funny and I think you could learn a lot from this. Let me educate you on why. That may be a distasteful joke and they gave me a whole thing and, I'll be honest, I don't really remember what it said, but I'm like I was. I appreciated the fact that that's how they did it. You know, instead of coming at me, you fuck you man, like instead of that you know it was.
Speaker 1:I don't really like this, but at least you seem like a nice guy. This is how I could. This is how you could learn from this, right.
Speaker 3:Did I learn? Yeah, I guess, and also maybe not. Maybe I don't give a shit and I'm going to say the joke again.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 3:Because I mean and and did okay. Were you offended by that? Okay, well, I'm sorry that you were offended by that, but then there's a whole other group of people that are offended for you. Like and and like so people are like oh my God, don't say that, cause they're going to be so offended. Really, Are you why?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like when people feel offended for you. Yeah, it's like I have a. I have one friend. He's a white comedian and his name is John Marco. He's so good, john Marcus. He's amazing and I respect. I have a lot of respect for him because one time this is like maybe two years ago, when we were in Midtown it was a, it was a midnight show, it was a black crowd, right, and I don't remember the exact lineup, but it went John Marco to me. He's on Comedy Central and everything. Now he's great. But I remember he went on stage and I'm thinking black crowd it's. I kind of have the advantage, right, I'm comfortable, I'm like all right, I know what I'm going to do. He goes on stage and he starts talking about this is around the time of, like the George Floyd stuff that's happening.
Speaker 1:He talked about a march in his neighborhood as a white guy in an all black room and he had him crying like and I'll quote his joke even, because that's how good of a joke it is, and this is straight from him. He said you ever go to a rally or not a rally? You ever go to a march and then the March turns on you. I said that.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God Funny.
Speaker 1:Yikes, that is so funny. He said the people, they were chanting against the juncture fires. They went into his neighborhood Then they started chatting.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:I said, sir. I shook his hand after I said that was funny as hell and like that's been posted online or anything. So I'm not stealing nothing that's he posted that. He told that at chocolate sundaes at the laugh factory that's like the best black room in the country. So I saw it when he was working on it. To where he took it there. That's what I like, where it's like. You wouldn't expect that from him, but he challenged your preconceived notions and he and he's just so funny, so I was I like.
Speaker 1:So that goes to what you're saying. It's like you know, let people say what they have to say. They're good enough, they're gonna. They're gonna teach you something too. Cause here we are thinking about the awful tragedy that would have happened a few years ago, but from his perspective, somebody who wants to be for the cause right, but what it's like through his lens, I love that. You learn from that and it's so funny.
Speaker 1:That's what comedy is. Learn from other people's experiences, but laugh at the things that you know that you can relate to, cause at the end of the day, we're all people, you know. Black, white, asian, I don't care what it is. At the end of the day, we're all people just trying to figure this thing out together. That's it. That's really all it is. But people forget that and that's the part. That's why, at least what I like, anyway, it's like. Another question I've been asked before is like well, what kind of comedy is like? You know you cater? Like black comedy. Like you know, if you come to my show, I want you to laugh, that's it. I don't care what you look like, I don't care where you're from. Whatever the case is, if you're listening to me talking to a microphone, the idea is for you to laugh for the next hour. That's all it is. Cause it's like like we're all just trying to figure this out, that's it.
Speaker 2:You know it's a. You know when you're stressed out everybody, laughter is key. Oh my God, with anything For anything, you know you have a bad day, want to take talk? Laugh at somebody?
Speaker 1:busting ass, that's what the rules are. Yeah, you know the best part about reels it's literally just boom 10 to 15 seconds or like a minute, whatever it is, just just for you to get that laugh. So I agree with everything you said. People do like to take it out of context, but at the end of the day it's like we just all want to have a good time?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's it. So the question we like to ask every guest that has no kids.
Speaker 2:when are they coming? Damn, we like to ask that question before we ask that question.
Speaker 3:This is where it starts.
Speaker 1:Was that on the itinerary?
Speaker 3:Nope.
Speaker 4:You know, it's funny, you know it's funny.
Speaker 1:I can actually answer that because I had a similar conversation with my dad earlier. My older sister same one I was just talking about she had a kid two weeks ago. Oh, congratulations, I'm an uncle as of like two weeks ago and she's doing great. And so my dad, I just went to visit her. He just got back, literally this morning, and I was like so what was it like meeting your grandkids? He was like I don't know, I was winging it. It was just crazy.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:And I was just like that's so cool. And so I was just like, yeah, I said everything I'm learning about kids I'm learning through my sister's experience. I talk to her every day, so she teaches me a lot. My dad was the same thing. You just said my dad's like oh, you think I'm having some. And I was like, well, yeah, I would love to have some, but it's. And then he made the comment. He said, yeah, I mean like what's life if you're not just passing your genes on to the next generation? But I was like, no, I think it's more than that, Because I think, in the sense, it's like how can I bring somebody into this world and tell them to follow their dreams if I didn't follow mine? You know what I mean. So it's like they love telling us that when we're kids, oh, you can do anything you want, Be whatever you want, Do this, do that right. Until you start doing it, they're like whoa, chill, chill, chill chill Me and me like that how you going to get paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly right. Then all of that reality quote unquote reality starts to creep in, right? So kids are something I definitely love to have, but it's like, at the same time I'm like I got to. I want to make sure I'm doing what I'm here to do first, once I'm in a comfortable position, then I can bring them into my life as well, because they look at you as leaders. I'm sure all your kids look at you guys as like their first lens into the world is y'all. That's insane. You know what I mean. So it's like, what is it? I'm just big on what we're teaching the people that come after us. I'm big on that Cause it's like yo, all right, yeah, you could bring somebody into this world. But it's like, if you're not teaching them the right stuff, are you helping the world or are you hurting it? This is the way I look at it. What?
Speaker 2:kind of parent do you want to be?
Speaker 1:I laugh because I talk about this on stage.
Speaker 1:I talk, I talk. You know what the clip I haven't had you at an American. This is a joke. I tell a little bit about being an uncle, cause it's like nobody teaches you how to be a parent. You just do what your parents did before you and just hopefully it's not as fucked up, that's it, and then hopefully it's good. But it's like you also need good role models and it's like I ain't talking shit on my uncles but it's like I don't think they were the best role model. I think the best uncle I had, the best uncle I had was probably I don't want to say today, cause they gonna get mad at me Him, like they gonna get mad.
Speaker 1:They gonna get mad but he was from the nineties, he was just the most fun. He was just, he was fun. I want to be the fun uncle, but he was only fun cause he was on crack cocaine. That he was out of his mind. Oh my God he was. He was crazy.
Speaker 3:All I know is Michael Jordan. Okay, he's a hell of a drug.
Speaker 1:Michael Jordan was the best basketball player I've ever seen, but I don't know Mark could take him. Oh my God, the way he was falling, bro. I'm like how are you jumping so high?
Speaker 4:Oh, you said the name I don't know the fuck.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm gonna bleep it out.
Speaker 3:He's not editing that I don't Shout out to your uncle.
Speaker 2:I don't care shout out to you.
Speaker 1:I don't even go to fuck man, I want to be fun but I want to do drugs. That guy was the same. Yeah, I know Different times bro, he was the double dutch by himself. That's it, that's it, that's it. Oh my God, you need two people on each side of the road. He would do it by himself. Oh my.
Speaker 3:God, that's it. Oh, my God, and I'm over here trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at my helmet. I'm like how?
Speaker 3:Oh my God, crack, crack.
Speaker 4:Say no to crack, please. Again, I used to talk about that as kids, like there was this one crack ad that we would see on Cleveland Street. So these are the train stations. Yeah, and by the time we would walk to Mikey's crib in Norwood. Literally the guy was coming this way, no train, no, nothing. We'd be like yo that's crack ad speed, bro. Damn, no, fuck. Was he going this way and then coming this way later? Yo, he already done this.
Speaker 2:He would have to multiple times man Crack ads have the most strength, oh my.
Speaker 4:God, yo Crack ad strength is real. First of all, your uncle was not a crack ad. Let's not fucking put the wrong one. He was oh he was. He was passed away oh, he's all right, he was crack ad.
Speaker 1:We saw him light up. Well, I never saw him light up. My sister did. Okay, she gave me the whole game. She was like yeah, when you light it up, the crack rock turns yellow. I was like oh, you really seen it then oh okay, that's what the hell happened.
Speaker 3:Webmd don't tell you that. Webmd don't tell you that. All right, so I have a question. Go ahead. What's one thing you will not do as a parent?
Speaker 1:One thing I won't do you believe you won't do.
Speaker 3:You believe you won't do yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll never tell my kids they can't do something Never. Because I mean so many people told me when I started doing comedy I mean the very, very beginning a lot of people told me I couldn't do it. So many, actually, damn near everybody. I can think of one guy at the time who didn't tell me it. But so many people were like I mean you could do it, but you know I got a lot of that. Or like I got people laughing in my face. You can't do that. I had so many people do that right Now that I'm seeing my marginal success and it's growing, it's growing, it's growing. Now everybody's on board, so I don't fault them for that. That's just the reality of it. But if you, you know you learn things through your life. If I've learned anything, it's whatever it is. As long as you're not hurting themselves or somebody else, I'm gonna support them through it. You're gonna do that. I don't care what it is, because it's your life. At the end of the day, what you make of it is on you.
Speaker 3:So Just don't be a crackhead.
Speaker 1:Just don't, don't, don't, don't crack his whack, and it's better not come back. That's all I'm saying. Just don't, don't do crack.
Speaker 4:Oh my God, we wanna thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 1:No, this is a lot of fun y'all. I ain't know, I ain't know, this is, this is coolest hell.
Speaker 4:You're receiving us a secret. This is coolest hell. You know what I learned?
Speaker 1:Yo hey, it's the freakiest hell. I'm being so real. Yo, right here, I could tell yo like. Not me. I did a, I did a school fundraiser a couple weeks ago, right.
Speaker 2:It was like cookies.
Speaker 1:And then no, this was like a comedy show.
Speaker 2:No like cookies, cookies oh oh, oh she a freak, she a freak nasty.
Speaker 1:All right, but I didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 4:I didn't Go to chatwithhansoncom to check out her stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:Yo, I did. I did a school fundraiser At a comedy club. They were like all right, they wanted me to host it, like can you host it? Right? And I'm thinking I was talking to the guy. I was like these are parents Like? Are parents like? Are they down to like? Are they, are they with the shits or are they like? Are they like like?
Speaker 3:you know, like what are they here Right?
Speaker 1:And I just went up there and I'm doing my stuff, I'm talking, and then I'm like, oh, wait a minute. I said wait a minute. I said y'all a bunch of freaks, and then they all lose it. I'm like, oh, parents are just we're all. We are who, we are Just that different stages and like y'all know, like when we were kids growing up, like you look at the generation before you like, oh, they got everything figured out.
Speaker 3:Then you become that generation and like we don't know shit about anything. We still haven't grown up.
Speaker 4:No, we're 40. That's the point of this show, and that's why it's so fucking funny. You are 40 and we are joining you.
Speaker 3:We're going to be joining you soon. I got another 20 years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, three months, 20 days. Oh man, what you doing for your 40th? Absolutely nothing, man.
Speaker 3:We're going to surprise them. We got to do something.
Speaker 1:I am more than surprised. I'm like what?
Speaker 4:Social security. I know right, like here you go. You only got the early check for you, bro.
Speaker 3:Actually this year started at 40.
Speaker 1:She beat herself. It's over. She beat herself. No, it's over.
Speaker 3:You got to clean that shit.
Speaker 4:You already got the check. She got a bottle. I can't.
Speaker 2:I need a check though. Hey, if you have, if you're a sugar daddy with the social security check and you need to subscribe to our Patreon for $3 a month.
Speaker 4:That's 10 cents a day to get in her social security pocket.
Speaker 2:Not in mine, I'm getting in theirs oh whatever works.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's only $3.
Speaker 2:And then the travel offer right now she might let you in her pocket.
Speaker 3:You never know.
Speaker 2:Not for $3.
Speaker 3:No out of pocket. What about my 10?
Speaker 2:But the social security. Ah yeah, Alex, you are a blast and we have to come and see you at your next show. So let us know when you have a show and we'll come when my next one.
Speaker 4:I am oh, we can't make that one, so just tell us the next one after that.
Speaker 1:I was going to talk about the show yesterday. I was in Harlem yesterday. This week coming up, I'm in Jersey City on Friday and I'm doing a college in Staten Island, a college in Staten Island, on Wednesday and Saturday.
Speaker 3:Well, people go to Staten Island Wow.
Speaker 2:I'm just asking.
Speaker 4:Why are you trying to get video? I can't.
Speaker 2:Where can people find you? I've gone to Staten Island.
Speaker 1:Alex Crowe. That's Q-U-O-W on everything. I got my shows. I got the podcast that I do with my man, nico White, as well. That's one piece of my podcast. We talk about anime, manga and all this other funny comedic stuff. Give that a check out if you like it. And yeah, I'm on everything TikTok, youtube, instagram, the whole deal. Facebook, if you rock with it. A lot of people rock with Facebook. I mean, not a lot of people. The parents. Do you have a website? If not, I can build you one. I do. Do you build websites? Yeah, I have one, but it's like it's very bearable. We'll talk after the show.
Speaker 4:You build websites. Wow, oh, I have people that build websites Really.
Speaker 1:When you talk about how broke he was in the Patreon segment, I thought you would.
Speaker 4:I am broke, anyway, take care.