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so we got Matt re today and Matt re is uh obviously up and coming been up and coming for years though he's done it longer than people think I think uh yes 10 years in the business and then
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exploded in the last two years via Tik Tok to doing his own specials and now on Netflix he has a new special called Lucid where he does just
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crowd workor if you don't know what that means he's just improvising with people in the audience for the entire special
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and they've never had one like that on Netflix so that's his latest gig It's Tricky he had one before that that did well on Netflix he had a YouTube special that sort of got around and U he's been
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out there hitting the road and hitting the clubs for a long time from Ohio uh very good-look we all understand what
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it's like to be good-look and talked about that we related to him heavily no he's a very personable sweet humble guy
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he's he's sort of a little bit in the shock and awe of of the success he's had in the last two years and he's got a huge following and um he's uh he's
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really fun to talk to he's got an interesting story about how he started and his grandfather and all all kinds of things it was a very fun podcast yeah
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he's a good dude and uh we had a lot of laughs anytime we have comedians on it's really fun to just get inside baseball
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and just go just talk about everything top to bottom what it's like and uh that was really fun with him cool dude yeah
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mhm all right here he is Matt R I think you'll enjoy [Music] it oh someone someone's blow dryer broke today I love the I love the wallpaper
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what is that s a grandma this is a headboard oh a headboard so you're in you're in bed oh yeah I'm not gonna put on pants for this come on that [ __ ] Roar Shack test
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behind I've never worn pants you guys uh undisclosed location um Spades in La behind Mel's Diner like you uh oh look how Matt and I will relate I like you
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have a farm I'm at the farm wait how did you know I have a farm it's called research look into it oh my God yeah uh yeah that got leaked where I live now
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that's that's fun oh they didn't I wouldn't give an address so I don't even give a state but oh yeah give the address cuz some people don't have it
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445 375 you go down the the Dirt Road a Piece yeah there's four mailboxes only three of them are operative one has a blue
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flag operative stop there and make a uturn um anyway look we got our own crowd work special look at us go thanks for coming on in danger not at all thanks for coming on
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we always danger Will Robinson 60s old reference lost on younger long younger people uh anyway you're a phenomenon it's pretty interesting reading uh I read I
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read the New Yorker piece I don't know if that oh boy but it had it was pretty comprehensive but not too detailed but it kind of told me your
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story pretty succinctly you know it did it did okay it did okay didn't wasn't my favorite article ever written but it was uh here's the deal
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here's what you do uh when you're Adam Sandler before he was Adam Sandler because what happen you
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you you'd be interviewed by somebody and you go well that doesn't sound like me and it's a cut and paste and added and
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edited like well I never said that and now it sounds like I'm saying that so that's just that so Sandler very early
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on before he was Adam Sandler he'd only do once way they record it and then they
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take what you say and put it in there and even if they edit that it's it is at least what you said word for word
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so that's your next next interview I'm just learning it's interesting how people can interpret the interview that they had with you like how they
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perceived how you were saying something you're like oh sure I actually didn't mean it like that but yes it's always
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better on video I think Adam went totally off of print interviews for years cuz even I think uh they were
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going to put him on the cover of Rolling Stone he goes I don't want to do the interview um because it's another interview where the writer
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sometimes benefits by going I'm going to make a name for myself by spinning atam whatever way I want and then it just
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turns into well yeah I don't want you to go win some pullitzer so I'm gonna [ __ ] just skip that part so if we done this two months ago you would not
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have that New York article yeah thank you but I wish I could say I've never heard of such a thing an article you read that's not me and I didn't say it like that or that
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yeah well if it sounds negative I mean the truth is you worked hard you've got big specials out and you sell the places out I mean I don't know how they can spin stuff but that's the real story
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that oh than as long as that's what you got from it I'm happy with it well when all the dust settles that's I know well
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we had it with someone who we talked to the other day I can't keep track but uh you know people love to stir the pot oh
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it was uh bo and yang they just took one little quote and then they blew it up all over the web by the time I got to the 10th place it's showing up it's completely distorted so anyway it
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happens the rest of I didn't even I don't even pay attention to those kinds of parts of the article I just skim over
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them I don't don't even take them seriously I was it's funny how they can hang on one sentence there was I think I
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think it was TMZ popped up on me in New York one time they were asking like how do you describe your it was for my first
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special a little over almost a year ago they were like uh how would you describe it I was like oh I think this one's like
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a little bit more for guys and they were like Matt R basically says [ __ ] women
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this one's for dudes what did he mean by that I was like I mean there's like 20 minutes about come that's all I that's all I meant by it but people can har one
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I think I learned early on the TMZ as Chris Rock would say they're not your friend I mean they're friend Lee but
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their job is to get you to say something that gets pick up and I didn't even figure that out for a while they don't
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want hey how are you they want to dig in and get a question that no matter how you answer they got an answer and it's
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and if you if you stiff them and you don't say anything then they hate your guts and then yeah now it's another
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problem so play you sort of play along just to stay on their good side but it is it's a dangerous uh situation and you
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are in position you're a shiny new object like you're I've been at this business for so you know Dan is beat upun you are brand I'm so cynical I
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can't even but I I think it's an IQ test for the audience for people who read things could be true probably not you
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know you have to have it it's not cynical it's just like the way the world works but you're a shiny new object came
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out of nowhere I mean it according to the article you're pretty much thinking of maybe stepping outside this career
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two years ago basically in 2022 is that accurate yeah yeah absolutely I had uh I
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had been doing stand up for about 11 years and I've been in La for nine of them at that point and you know
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auditions would go well but it always came down to he just not right for this project and standup was just kind of
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stagnant like I couldn't I couldn't get on TV and I wasn't getting a lot of spots around town that I felt felt like
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I could actually grow and you know for making money I was having to like I'd have to go on the road and do one nighters and just feature for people for like a month straight to save up for
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like two months worth of bills so I wasn't getting to spend the appropriate amount of time in LA and the time I was spending there wasn't really
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moving forward at all so right I was like you know what I'm 26 or 25 I was I'm young enough that I can pick a new career if I want to but I was like well Austin's kind of booming a little bit
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right now let me like let me just leave La I'll give it one year in Austin where I can get a lot more stage time at least
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and if I don't feel like my standup career is progressing I'll just I'll go do something else cuz I mean the
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depression [ __ ] adds up man where you start to feel like delusional like am I chasing a dream that's like so
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unattainable like is is this not for me when I can you know I can go do something that at least feels more
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stable I suppose wow truck driving yeah you know you know it does feel like at least a 9 to-5 you get a paycheck like you know I don't think people realize that as good as a lap Factory improv and
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Comedy Store are which they're [ __ ] great and invaluable to be able to get on it's not a big windfall so I think
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when I started it was 28 bucks a set and then now it's I don't know it's 50 75 but it's not like you're getting $3,000 I thought when you went on Johnny Carson or like Jimmy Fallon when I was a kid
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watching it I go I in my head I guessed you get $10,000 just for no to do a stand up to do six minutes so I go those guys are raking it in and then someone told me once it's $450 I was like for
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that but that's even to this day my last Ellen I did was probably 700 bucks but that's just to get on to grow yourself MH but it helps their show but you're
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giving your best [ __ ] and then you're you know it's low money but say what you
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every want to say but I just I want I just so fascinated by your grandfather taking you a comedy club When You're 15
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but we can move on and get back to that but I've never heard that before that's a movie or something I mean oh I mean it
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basically like he was bad santa mixed with dirty Grandpa like that was him as he [ __ ] I mean he's the reason I I know who both of you are actually like I I grew up watching your guys's movies
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like crazy that's good so he uh he kind of that guy I love that he was great you
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could dig him up and thank him yourself is um Dan what are you doing this afternoon so you're like a freshman in high school or something and your grandfather says to you want to go to a
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comedy club kid I mean is it just that casual and you're like or were you already kind of funny and watching a lot
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of Comedy did he see something in you I mean I kind of spearheaded it I I would spend it every weekend with him and we would watch comedy movies like that was the thing he'd pick me up on a Friday after school and he'd have like
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six new DVDs that he picked up on the way home how fun yeah and then we would watch those and then from that this is
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when like Comedy Central presents was like really starting to Boom like the half hours so I would watch that pretty
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much every week night the combination of the two just really made me fall in love with comedy and then I found out what
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like an actual like standup comedian was and then I got wind of what an open mic
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was and apparently that was like the beginning for every comedian that's where you go to try out standup and the
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Columbus Funny Bone I was living with my grandpa at the time and it was maybe yeah he was a cook he would he would take me to this uh Open Mic I I I I emailed uh you know
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Dave Stroop I don't is that the Columbus Funny Bone he he owns like all of the funny bones I never gotten any funny bones are you serious yeah they didn't want me that's when you send your tape
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in and then they the the denunzio there was some people that own different clubs and they go nah no on the funny bones I
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was like oh my God that's like 12 [ __ ] weeks of work you have to send in a tape yeah you have to send in a
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half inch VC R whatever VCH and then they look at it and then they never get back to you that's the system no [ __ ] way I sent an email I
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was sitting in my grandpa's truck while he was laying tile and I emailed the club I was like hey I'm I'm 15 I know
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you have to be 21 enough to go in the club like if I had a chaperon with me like could could I still come he had no
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reason say yes like any club owner it would make total sense for them to be like I'm not going to risk my liquor license for a kid to like try a hobby
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but he said yes so my Grandpa would take me and he would pay he would buy five tickets because it was like a five
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ticket uh bringer show was how you would get stage time there and every week he would do that oh oh to go on I thought
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just to watch oh to go on no no no no no yeah he would still have to uh buy the five so I could perform yeah that makes
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sense bring her show that but that guy was cool to do that is H is your grand still with us no he just no no yeah he
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died about two years ago he died like the exact moment all of this happened for me so [ __ ] good with the bad I know
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I know you know what's funny you can't get uh that part not funny but it's you can't get super cocky because or you
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shouldn't be because the same with all of us it's such a grind and so shitty and you feel so down so much that when it goes good where it's I guess supposed to that's the goal that you just can't
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erase all the bad so you just go [ __ ] every day is lucky where you go it could
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go back to that I'm more used to that in a weird way when it was shitty yeah yeah and i' I've been I don't know if it's a
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good thing or a bad thing but I've been so busy since then that I was kind of happy that I I was too busy to really be
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sad but I don't know through therapy I'm learning that I I haven't really quite had like the the time to grieve I
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suppose but uh you know maybe I'm supposed to be this busy to keep me distracted who knows well I would just
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say without knowing him but from my point of view and where I'm sitting on the the life train he must have had a
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blast well you guys probably went to school together so take a guess we probably
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did you don't need to know look me up yeah Matt we'll email you later we'll tell you North of 60 South of 70 but I'm
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wherever I Amor yeah but look how look how good I look it's incredible right you look great it doesn't make sense for
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how old I am but my point is without we could tear up on a podcast we go wherever we want but um he must have got
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such a kick out of it he's got this grandson who's 15 obviously you're an affable agreeable cool person and and he
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must have just got such a kick out of that I just want to ask you one question because we talk about your very very very first set did you I'm guessing you
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kind of did you per outperformed did better or did you bomb cuz I usually people say the first sets maybe goes well and then you bomb for years after that after the first one it wasn't years
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after the first set went really well I forgot my set like three minutes into it and I like literally froze for like 10
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seconds and some of the audience was like you got it like they were very supportive and I got back on track I I I said something about them yelling that
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out uh and it ended up going really well my second set I was so confident I did I
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did a bit that was basically my version of uh Dane Cooks uh I did my best bit where it's like just you crying profusely and I like I got I was on the floor like kicking and screaming like
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this was like the big act out of this bit because my confidence was so high from the first show oh and the bit was
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over and I had to pick myself up off the ground to Absolute silence and to this day I cannot commit to a big physical bit it's so [ __ ] terrifying it was so
00:16:04
humiliating dust yourself off silence second and third time I ate [ __ ] uh and then I got back into like having fun but nobody ever told me about building a set either so I would go every single week
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for like five months and just do like a new five minutes which I didn't know was like not what you're were supposed to do
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oh I thought you're doing the same five which also you should be adding on to but that first one is like cocaine where
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if it goes good you're just trying to chase that first one and go holy [ __ ] because I thought it's interesting the
00:16:35
guy let you in because when you're like a regular person it's a little quicker than the
00:16:41
NFL like you say I wish I watch football every day I wish I could play It's almost like they go we don't we have
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tryouts with the pros on some nights and you're like really so you can actually get in but Open Mic nights are very
00:16:53
interesting that you just wait line and you can get in and then you're literally on a stage in a professional
00:16:59
Comedy Club good or bad oh yeah doing 3 minutes and 3 minutes sounds like nothing it's long if you're new and you
00:17:05
don't have anything where did you start you know I did it in Arizona and uh I my first night someone throw threw a book at me I
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was 18 and they threw a uh I this sounds so dumb or fake but I was doing my jokes
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about mustard and whatever I had some know pretty sweet s your mustard chunk I remember that one mustard is watery when
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you first squirt it out I don't don't steal my premises but that's was one of them I had a rock in my shoe and it
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moved every time I walked and it would go to a different part of my foot these were the things the hot you know cement
00:17:48
in Arizona Dana the funniest the funniest part about about Arizona was I built up a minuscule like N9 minutes and then someone said you can go to New York and do the clubs there and I'm trying to
00:18:01
do 15 with nine AZ minutes which eight don't work in New York CU they're about my block and you know what I mean you go I was at Smitty and they're like I don't know what that
00:18:14
is and I'm like the store and they're like that's the one store in America and it's in your town and I'm like really
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and it's just about things no one relates to so you have to get a broader you know what I mean Dana like you're
00:18:26
doing [ __ ] that no one gets and it's Arizona based even just the state it's a little wider but east coast was so
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different and foreign to me so it was just very hard I didn't it took me a long time to get better I want to ask
00:18:39
Matt what was your first kind of Surefire even if it's a quick fit or what the fit that oh yeah you remember
00:18:45
the first time he get something that okay that that always works anything referencing Justin Bieber
00:18:52
at that time cuz he's like two years older than me and he was the biggest thing on the planet when I saw stand up
00:18:59
oh and you're right in the pocket of his age and [ __ ] oh yeah my I think the first thing I ever said on stage was I
00:19:06
used to have like this really slick like gelled hair and I think my first bit was
00:19:11
like uh no I'm not Justin Bieber my hair is cool and virtually sperm free and it
00:19:18
just red the club I get it that is a classic turn I'm and then boom so those always work we
00:19:30
beibs is a good one I didn't have much beibs stuff uh but col Columbus is a good is it a good I'm I'm asking now is it a good comedy club it's right in the middle of where my parents uh both went
00:19:43
to Dennis which is a small school in Ohio uh so I I've heard great things about Ohio but it's right there there the Heartland Davidson okay go ahead it's uh the comedy was good yeah it was
00:19:57
good it was like like most comedy clubs it's in a mall it's an eastn Mall there oh and but the open mics were really
00:20:04
nice because you would actually have a crowd like I my heart goes out to anybody who starts comedy in New York or
00:20:10
LA because you're not getting a real opportunity opportunity to perform for a real audience it's mostly other Comics
00:20:17
who don't want to laugh at your [ __ ] they don't want to let you horrible horrible but for Columbus I mean you
00:20:23
would get 30 40 people in there it was really nice that's good those are real that's real I have a question for you
00:20:30
well I want to interrupt your trainer thought no what were you going to say sorry no I was going to say they've remodeled it since then but it used to
00:20:35
be like a 300 Ceder maybe at eight foot ceiling so I mean like when you got a PO
00:20:41
you really hurt it was perfect yeah no that is that is awesome I was gonna say that that this interim thing of uh
00:20:47
seeing a standup when you're first going in the open mics you haven't really got paid yet and he's a local stud or
00:20:53
something but he's not on TV no one's ever heard of him but he's really good and that was sort of like revelatory to
00:21:00
me like oh this guy's not on TV and he's really really good do you remember anyone blowing through that club and go
00:21:07
and seeing him and going he's not on TV but he's damn good you know yeah Road comic it's like inspiring you know it
00:21:15
was more The Host this guy named Rick who was he kind of looked like Barry cats a little bit uh but he was like 6 foot s just this giant Grizzly dude with
00:21:27
a n he would just you would never see his head he would move he would move a ceiling panel the he would murder but I didn't realize
00:21:39
he was doing all local material I didn't realize he had been at that club for like 12 years he knew every single
00:21:46
reference of every person who has ever lived in Ohio so he would destroy not knowing he had been doing that same set for like six years oh but at the time I was like how is this guy not doing
00:21:59
Arenas he would crush but that also is when I learned you know because like the first step kind of after guest spots and open mics like you do you have to host in clubs first that's when I figured out
00:22:11
like okay you have to test the water a little bit let the people know you know about them I suppose and where they're
00:22:17
at do a little bit of research when you travel an honor Dana to host like when Bud fredman gave me the Improv I got ped
00:22:24
he goes I'm going to have you host and I was like oh great so get here at 8: and
00:22:29
leave at 1:00 a.m. and you get like three or four up front uhhuh and that's what you think about all week and then you literally just stand on the hallway and go hi Kevin nean what do you want me
00:22:42
to say about you and then you have to and you might get one line in between and then you got
00:22:47
to bring up the next guy bring up the next guy and you're running late so they don't want you to do anything don't do any time just bring them up and then
00:22:54
that gets to be a grind but it it helps speaking of uh Kevin nean that's I Dana I don't know if you remember meeting me on his show like oh God seven years ago
00:23:05
I would say hi hiking Shing one no no when he used to do his uh new material night at the last oh yeah yeah we did
00:23:12
meet just briefly right you were going did you go on that night or you just there yeah yeah you were uh you went on
00:23:19
I think right I think right before me and I was so flattered that you stayed and like even acknowledged my set you
00:23:26
were super complimentary you were very nice a little flirtatious but uh it was it was [ __ ] awesome you were you were
00:23:32
you were so nice usually Dana has the door open and they run him right out into the limo right after his set of
00:23:38
laugh well I have a special room upstairs it's a key to get into it and it's a place that I chill it's beyond
00:23:45
the upper part it doesn't matter they bring wait you've never been in limo is that you just said never been in a limo [ __ ] thank God no idea what it looks like in there for real oh it's
00:23:56
unbelievable you know what it's car sickness I mean once SUVs SUVs came in oh that's much more comfortable you know but yeah it really is are there seat belts no in a LMO no one dies David did
00:24:10
you ever find that hard to believe nobody no one dies in LMO come on usually ODS yeah that's more OD
00:24:16
situation yes Dan you a question for me Tracy Morgan might have something to say about lmos because I think that's where
00:24:21
he got smacked I've met Matt off and on over the years and uh always Pleasant guy he's [ __ ] r with jokes any jokes oh I was watching your special and uh we
00:24:34
can jump into the special I have to say I get my notes out before we get to the special just quickly because I think
00:24:40
it's fascinating that you spent all this time you're down and out it's just two years ago and then in the modern world
00:24:47
you put out a Tik Tok yeah video and that sort of lit the fuse this is what I gathered which is fascinating to me and
00:24:54
and led to these other things so talk about that and that thing blowing up that Tik Tok video what it did for you
00:25:01
is it one or is it a bunch one really lit the fire under all the other ones um it's it's so weird because I'm it Tik Tok and social media
00:25:13
is so my generation but it's not for me I got the very tail end of what was like
00:25:19
the organic standup dream of exactly what you described right you go on Carson or Fallon you perform at the
00:25:26
clubs you get discovered at the clubs you get a five minutes then you go to JFL and then you get a deal for a pilot
00:25:32
and then you do a sitcom and then you do movie like that was kind of the blueprint for the what last 30 40 years
00:25:39
for sure so that's what I always dreamed of doing that's how I wanted my standup career to go I [ __ ] hate social media
00:25:46
if I didn't have to be on it I I wouldn't have one so I was always very reluctant to it and then when I
00:25:52
contemplated moving maybe like six months before that I was like you know what how long can I go against the grain you know a couple of guys Sam Morel uh
00:26:03
um Andrew sches like are starting to post these clips online and they're they're doing really well so I was like you know what let me just try I'll buy a
00:26:11
camera with money I don't have I'll have my friend teach me how to edit on like basic software and I'll just start
00:26:18
recording my one nighters because you know funny random things happen or a new bit maybe I'll toss it out there in the
00:26:25
first couple videos I posted on Tik Tok it did like 100 to 250,000 views which is like it's pretty pretty [ __ ] good yeah that's really big well I I got it then I was like oh Tik tok's genius I
00:26:37
see how this is immediately addictive and they reward new users new users get their stuff pushed crack before anybody else instant crack they get you hooked
00:26:49
yeah so I started posting and it would most videos would average between like 50,000 and like 300,000 views it was
00:26:56
really good I was starting to get a little bit of on there and then I did one show in uh in Arizona at Copper
00:27:03
Blues live like just north of uh Phoenix you know maybe 70 people there most of which came from like my first YouTube special that I put out on my own uh and this one lady was there I was working on
00:27:16
this bit in my set about red flags which was like a big social media pop culture
00:27:21
thing at the time where everybody would talk about their warning signs and relationships and I was going through
00:27:26
like three examples of red flags I had for women and just one night on stage I was like this seems kind of unfair I was like I want a woman's perspective on red flags like what are some red flags for
00:27:38
guys that began me asking the women in the audience for them and I was actually searching for material I was searching
00:27:45
for someone to say something that I could write about but it became so everything just got so rowdy
00:27:51
when I would bring it up or start talking to this person among the amongst the audience that it kind of was more fun than going home and turning it into
00:27:58
into a bit and I was like if I could have a new fun thing every single show why not keep doing this this woman at
00:28:04
Phoenix um yelled out he doesn't do anything which was different from what I usually heard like it was usually like oh he wears flipflops or he doesn't eat ass like something just kind of Bas
00:28:16
level yeah so I was like didn't do anything I was like what do you mean like in life he doesn't do anything or he doesn't do anything with you and she
00:28:23
was like in life he doesn't do anything I was like well what does he like do for work and she was like oh he's he works
00:28:29
in the ER like he was a [ __ ] hero like forgive Superman for not wanting to go to the farmers market with you after he gets done saving the world oh is that what it was he was too busy
00:28:41
actually yeah he was too tired at the end of the day to do anything uh with her and I just got to destroy her for like four or five minutes and that clip
00:28:51
took off and that clip did like 10 million views overnight and that video made everybody go to my profile and then that made every other video on my page do like a million views we just kind of
00:29:02
caught fire in that they also go to your special your YouTube special so it just yeah circulates around special I think
00:29:09
is at like 13 million views now the one I did after that was also off of Tik Tok views that one's like 20 million U that
00:29:16
one's actually named after my grandpa so that's probably my favorite one still uh is that a fun story it's it's called
00:29:24
Matthew Steven R uh because my middle name is Sten his name was Sten I with a story about getting him a pocket [ __ ]
00:29:29
for Christmas it was it was it's a fun so a if you if you were just so because I'm a little slow that this process is so fascinating how
00:29:43
succinctly if you met a met you a guy like you but he he's 18 he's frustrated you would say get a camera you know just you only have one angle I get into
00:29:55
the technical part it it you're literally in the back of the room set up on a little tripod you're hoping it's in
00:30:01
focus and then as they call your name you hit record and then run on the side just standing in front of it most of
00:30:07
your set yeah it's focused on like the back row of people's heads the whole time and the sound isn't always that
00:30:13
great because unless you're dial comes off authentic to a point as long as it's not too horrible but when you start
00:30:20
doing crowd work would you have two cameras then or someone swinging it around no the person wouldn't uh you
00:30:28
would just hear them for the longest time until much further into my career like a year later uh I could finally
00:30:34
afford to have somebody there with me to get another angle you know it was funny a funny
00:30:39
trick uh Dana you know this this when you're like in a big crowd and you see some comic and I go look at this [ __ ]
00:30:46
guy in the front row hey I knew curls every day and everyone laughs I see the guy and he's some Meek skinny guy going you're not talking to me but you can't
00:30:52
see him so everyone's just like oh he must be strong or or or the reverse of that because the camera couldn't get them i' throw out a reference and nobody would get it because you're like oh F you can't see it never
00:31:05
mind never mind but it was [ __ ] spot on so so they they blow up on Tik Tok they get into the algorithm and then they start exponentially getting bigger and bigger and bigger and then how do
00:31:17
you then they just find your special on YouTube it just all matriculate it all kind of and then ticket
00:31:24
sales yeah yeah the ticket sales was insane I I did my first tour that I kind of put together with comedy clubs called the chipped shoulder tour at the beginning it was like January through
00:31:36
June of 2023 and to me this was like this was like the epitome of what I thought a comedian could ever be I was like oh my God I'm gonna sell out comedy clubs and
00:31:46
we did for like six months straight every single weekend Thursday through Sunday it was a dream come true like
00:31:52
everyone was coming from the internet it was fresh it was new it was exciting you know six months before that I was doing
00:31:58
one nighters for just papered rooms of like maybe a hundred people if I was lucky um so everything kind of shifted
00:32:05
super fast and I was like oh my God this is I made it this is so cool and then when I partner partner with Live Nation they're like we're going to try some we're g to do some theaters I was [ __ ] terrified I was like I I maybe
00:32:19
i' played like two theaters ever opening for people and it's way different it's way more pressure for sure uh you can take your there's so much Intimacy in a comedy club versus a theater it's a
00:32:31
different type of performance so I was so nervous I was like well what if [ __ ] what if people don't come and we went on sale and then I woke
00:32:40
up the first morning of artist pre-sale which was just me sending out a code to my fans every show sold out in like five to 10 minutes and we were adding shows
00:32:52
immediately 600,000 tickets right in 48 hours yeah and we've added so many shows
00:32:59
since we're close to like a million tickets sold for the past uh past two years a year and a half really that's
00:33:06
amazing I don't recommend to anybody out there is super hard to do it's very tricky it's hard to sell them that fast but I think you're also more in the age of Not the One Direction Taylor Swift
00:33:17
but people know when they like someone and they're younger they [ __ ] get on it and they get online and they do stuff
00:33:23
and it's I kind of missed that because by the way no one was playing I'm not saying I would but no one was playing
00:33:29
really theaters when I was you know early on but not that early on I mean even when I was on SNL it was probably Leno Seinfeld but no one even thought that was a possibility really no one to
00:33:42
even when I was doing clubs 10 years ago you're just oh I added a night at the Irvine Improv oh I added a night here oh
00:33:47
I'm gonna sell out all five nights and that was the big victory yeah and then you start hearing about theaters and you
00:33:52
go wait they're playing a a real theater and you do instead of three shows you just do one in a bigger place it's s it
00:33:59
and then now it's kind of the norm but it's still hard to do hard for me it's extraordinary one thing I'm curious about Matt is like so now still
00:34:13
the timeline is so fast how has it affected you as a performer I mean have you gotten more confident more loose more in the pocket or you know just
00:34:24
you're you're famous and then the everyone's coming there to see you cuz they they love you before they're you
00:34:29
know it's just a huge leap how has it affected your performing are you just more confident looser better you think
00:34:36
or or or not at all or what do you what I mean it's such a huge fast leap what you definitely way more
00:34:42
confident you know I I I finally got the validation that I wanted for 11 years of
00:34:47
just wanting an opportunity to convince people I'm funny and now they're coming to the show and I get to show them that
00:34:55
and they're just fun it's is so interesting to perform for an audience of your fans like they they trust you so
00:35:03
you get to have more fun you can try new things um I will say there's more pressure as well I mean even though they are your fans like you you still have to and you won't always it's impossible to
00:35:14
please everybody but you want to meet that standard you you want to meet that expectation that they have of you and it
00:35:22
sucks when you don't and sometimes you can feel when you don't but when you supersede their expectation that feels and there's no there's no greater High than that I think than when you get to
00:35:33
just Crush for like 5,000 people and you all feel like you shareed the exact same
00:35:39
experience because sometimes you can know the crowd had a good time and you didn't have a good time or you can have a good time and you know the crowd
00:35:44
didn't have a good time it doesn't always match up so when it does um it's such an electric feeling and I love that
00:35:52
definitely more confident for sure just having more fun from watching uh some of your stuff I do think that you really um
00:36:00
you create a an intimacy even in the big room and it's very you're kind of a little bit referring to yourself it is sort of like hey it's Matt you know the audience is in it with you as a person
00:36:13
as you're doing this task and that's sort of a a skill set that's very nice to have that they you're there as a real person it's not just your act you know absolutely I think some of that's
00:36:24
inspired like my two favorite standups sorry guys uh are all right well but you mean your
00:36:30
third and fourth favorite third and fourth is perfect Dave Chappelle and Ricky D are my two favorite standups da
00:36:37
Dave who Chappelle I'll show you clips of him they're both they're both absolutely brilliant I know all about those guys is it on are Tik Tok go ahead they
00:36:51
are not they I I don't think they even have the app on their phone which good for them uh they've just T me like
00:36:58
patience and performance and seeing like i' I've opened for Chappelle at Madison
00:37:04
Square Garden which was [ __ ] insane not for not just for me to perform but to watch him
00:37:11
control what is that room in the round like 18,000 people yeah for them to all stay silent while he stays silent yeah like there's there's an art to that so
00:37:23
many people don't understand that shows get out of hand and it's it's too people that that can be a problem like if
00:37:29
they're coming to see you also there's a pressure of ticket prices are higher they got a babysitter now it's a whole [ __ ] Shenanigans they parked and they paid and you want them to walk out and
00:37:40
go I'm glad I did it instead of like you know you don't want him to go a shoulder shrugger it was all right but that's why
00:37:46
and then you want him to come again ABS longevity longevity I think is harder than you know the flash of success yeah
00:37:54
the thing that's where the pressure comes in now for sure Chappelle and this is what they always related to Cosby uh
00:38:02
pre all the Cosby stuff is that he mastered the level of confidence got to the point where he would tell his story and he'd be sitting on a stool and it wouldn't really be a laugh for 10
00:38:14
minutes they told me at corporate dates were which I did after whatever sometimes 20 minutes he's in his chair
00:38:21
because the ladyes said in the man and it's nothing funny and then waterfall of laughs start to happen yeah and I saw that with Dave too always a great standup but at some point his
00:38:34
confidence or whatever he did he made a leap into into this other level of a Storyteller where he is not afraid of
00:38:43
the silence at all and the audience feels that so go ahead I think Dave found his don't give a [ __ ] and when I when I say that you guys know Eric
00:38:55
Griffin right yeah yeah uh so he's a very good friend of mine and I used to open for him a lot when I was really young and he used to tell me I get off stage I didn't feel like I had
00:39:06
a good set and i' you know I'd be [ __ ] miserable in the green room and he would be like dude you have to stop
00:39:12
giving a [ __ ] and I used to throw a tantrum I was like how can you [ __ ] say that like people are paying their
00:39:17
hard ear money to come see you out for the night like you deserve like they deserve a good show you have to give
00:39:23
them a good show how can you not give a [ __ ] how it goes and I didn't understand what he was saying he he meant
00:39:30
confidence like you have to not give a [ __ ] what they think and trust and know that you're funny and you're going to give them a good show and not every show
00:39:36
is gonna go your way that's what he meant by not give a [ __ ] I think Chappelle found that you know he had so many like he had such a roller coaster
00:39:43
of a career of like severe ups and severe Downs that eventually he just stopped caring in the most in the most
00:39:50
healthy way possible and now that confident just that confidence just kind of like seeps through and I do think
00:39:57
I've always thought it was an analogous word alert um of a guy going into a singles bar and really wants to get laid it can and not gonna
00:40:10
happen the guy goes in it doesn't really give a [ __ ] well we'll see what happens boom it's it's applicable to so many
00:40:17
things in life but that is a good way to go to but I'm such a people pleaser I feel terrible if I don't levitate the
00:40:24
room if I don't get a stand Ovation I get cranky but I'm not that cranky I just I
00:40:32
do something you might find funny so I started playing the guitar at the end of my standup because um I just you know
00:40:39
they were tired and and then I do this big Jing and then I hold my guitar up by the neck way up and and when I do that motion upward I'm like 12 feet tall and
00:40:53
then I usually will get a standing ovation once I do that move so you could use that if you want I have a guitar on
00:41:01
stage that I never play and just lifted at the very end oh really as a funny prop yeah yeah I'll keep I have like several I have a saxophone a guitar a
00:41:12
keyboard and just throw then you go guys it's been an hour 10 I never got time to do the music but next time and then
00:41:18
they're like wait what I will sing the best of per Como we got to talk about lucid Dana we got to talk about let's get on to you're now um your specials on on on Netflix it it seems
00:41:33
like there was one a year ago was that a year ago it was pretty recently last November yeah natural selection fck hey
00:41:40
look at that that's pretty quick well that's why I kind of wanted to do the crowd work because I was like I can do
00:41:45
that anywhere anytime you know it's it's not r on me building a set so with Lucid
00:41:52
you're first kind of coming out on Netflix is kind of a you know it's it's a big deal to get a giant special and
00:42:00
there was controversy about that people said ask about the controversy I mean that was with natural selection
00:42:07
yeah that was the first oh that's natural selection not Lucid sorry that I always call it the crowd work special I
00:42:12
don't know how many are there Lucid is the new one and uh oh I was watching great go ahead Dan I just called The
00:42:19
Crowd work special sure that's more than like but you may you may it's better Lucid is better so anyway to the first one what did that do for you that was your first big big Netflix
00:42:32
special uh the first one it taught me that if people see any they will exploit any [ __ ] in your armor as
00:42:44
possible uh I love that special I think it's I think it's really funny I had I had some problems with the production of it but the material in it I [ __ ] liked I think it's really funny and
00:42:55
there was some controversy around the beginning the special special which was such which is total [ __ ] by the way
00:43:02
uh I learned that we we live in a society where it's it's like it's cool to hate something like we latch on to
00:43:09
one thing in a certain moment a couple of times a year and I got to be that thing that people went aha this is awful he's a piece of [ __ ] this isn't funny he's the worst person in the world and
00:43:21
the only reason I know that that's that wasn't a real thing um was because at least a million people have watched that special since January right
00:43:33
no one's complained about it since January not one single person has written a bad tweet not one person has
00:43:39
written me a mean comment nothing it was purely a pop culture outrage that people
00:43:45
knew this was also at a point in time in my career that if you just mentioned my name in your video or even just the
00:43:52
title of one of your videos you would get a million views like was able to make other people famous so it was a
00:44:00
[ __ ] controversy it wasn't a real thing I didn't do anything wrong so it was just a learning experience really
00:44:06
for me but it was a fun special I liked it it it did work on my Tik Tok when I mentioned you a
00:44:11
lot just hashtag just a hashtag I didn't really mention you just it works for and Mar I've legally changed my name to Matt
00:44:19
r as we've been mat my attorney just confirmed it yep I'm Matt r with two so I score just went down yeah that you know social media just obviously it's it's the Dark Side of humanity you just
00:44:34
came out of nowhere to a lot some people and you were incredibly successful OB some people go that's enough you're young oh absolutely you're hands you're handsome I mean comedians are usually
00:44:46
you know kind of funny looking or you know a you know so you're handsome you don't wear it on your sleeve you're
00:44:51
funny and I think that people come out of the woodwork I don't like this guy he's too successful well but people go
00:44:58
you got too big for your britches and you're like you gave me the britches yeah that's your third special you gave
00:45:04
me the bridges hey I don't really play up my handsome card I sort of just wear a hat I cruise
00:45:11
around anyway other than that other than that so then I like well this on Lucid I
00:45:17
don't know why I want to keep jumping Lucid no no this is lucid is is happening right now new one and um just
00:45:23
came out like the beginning it looks cool I like I sit on a stool for an hour you you're comfortable you got a green
00:45:31
uh hoodie that pops um and you talk a little bit and it is crowd work but it seems just a couple questions crowd is lit from underneath too like at the tables are they're like little like
00:45:44
candle is things to give them some light right because the whole thing is designed so we're going to talk to the crowd so anyone in the crowd can talk
00:45:51
yeah which is makes it really fun for them they start out as a good crowd right off the bat which I thought I've
00:45:57
had a special where they're not good right off the bed and you're like this is my [ __ ] special you're paying
00:46:02
extra to see me like it's unreal audience is always the time they're looking at the cameras they're look
00:46:07
they're like I'm going to be part of it and then they're nervous something about a special sometimes tightens people up
00:46:14
uh but I remember just the first couple laughs I go oh [ __ ] he's this is I'd be in a good mood if I was him because
00:46:19
they're having fun they like them already then you start going with the first guy and then you talk a little bit
00:46:25
and then you then you then you start going after someone else but I like that that way it was shot I guess do you hide
00:46:31
cameras coming this way or do they see them coming at them no so have you done the uh the Charlotte Comedy Zone I have
00:46:38
not that was in Charlotte yeah I haven't done it oh okay okay so the Charlotte comedy zone is uh kind of like the
00:46:43
original Columbus Funny Bone where it's very low ceilings about 350 people and I chose that club I had to do it in a
00:46:49
comedy club because for the sake of production everybody needed to be able to hear everybody absolutely if I talked
00:46:57
to somebody in the back of the room the people in the front of the room needed to be able to hear it for for the taping at least yeah and this club the the
00:47:04
walkway on stage is behind black curtains from the very side of the room all the way to the behind the stage you
00:47:11
come out and I knew because I've been playing that club since I was like 16 that I could poke cameras through the
00:47:16
black curtains and we could hide them from a lot of people and hide them from the other cameras yeah good I see I'm
00:47:24
just just before we go little because I interested of maybe very quickly what you were didn't quite like about the
00:47:31
production on the previous one but this one uh the beginning is great you uh M and Papas Dream Dream a Little Dream yeah yeah I mean then I'm already like
00:47:43
this is not a normal special and it feels so good and and dreamlike which is becomes your theme because that was the
00:47:49
other thing I thought okay you had the guy with the weird shoes you're doing all your stuff and then you're just sort of talking I'm going okay how no one is
00:47:56
yelling out at this moment how is they get Rowdy that's the fear they get too rowdy they could get Rowdy but it was uh I thought it was inspired um to say I'm I want to hear about people's
00:48:09
dreams like that's such a great hook to then get people talking so anyway well that was that was kind of deal with Netflix like they were obviously interested in doing something with crowdwork for me but and I totally agree
00:48:22
but they were like we don't want to just be like a highlight reel of you talking to random people about random things that there needs to be a theme to the
00:48:28
show so I spent a couple of months playing with different themes and it needed to be something everybody can
00:48:35
contribute to and everybody has a dream every single person has or has had some kind of aspiration so I went on I did I did four weekends and by weekends I mean
00:48:49
Monday Tuesdays the only two days I've had off for the past year and a half and I would go to comedy clubs near where I
00:48:55
was playing theaters and I would test it out I would do entire crowdwork shows which I've never done before like crowd workor is such a small part of my actual live show I do like 10 minutes of it maybe throughout the show and it's
00:49:08
perfectly placed like it has to do kind of like red flags where it's like it has to do with the bit that I'm already talking about it's not at total random
00:49:15
usually um so I had to feel I had to feel what it felt like to try to improv for an entire hour and I also needed to kind of hear make sure people had dreams
00:49:26
that they wanted to talk about and I didn't know if they were going to be super generic like just a firefighter or sports player or musician I didn't know
00:49:33
if it was going to be like you know the generic kinds that were going to get old enough to jump on yeah yeah exactly so
00:49:40
but going and doing these eight warm-up shows or eight weekends that I that I did that's when I realized he you're
00:49:46
right they could be super [ __ ] Rowdy like there were some shows that I was like this taping might be a terrible idea we might not get anything some
00:49:53
people really want to be part of the show and they keep yelling and you're like yeah yeah and alcohol plays a piece
00:49:58
in that too yeah and that's never the person who offers the most interesting interaction it's always the least
00:50:05
assuming person yeah when they they you're you're just doing your act you look over and someone has decided to involuntarily stand up and start yelling
00:50:13
stuff and then you're like we got a situation here you know exactly exactly go ahead I'm trying to answer you asked you asked three questions in one uh dreams something everybody could
00:50:27
contribute to um the only thing I didn't like about the production and natural selection was
00:50:33
just the editing we uh we went back and forth with the editor a lot I don't it the first 15 minutes was chopped so
00:50:42
quickly and that I didn't like I felt like a lot of the air was taken out of beats in jokes you need it you need it and you [ __ ] need it when I watched it on Netflix when it first came out and
00:50:54
I was so [ __ ] excited I checked my Netflix like four times cuz I thought I was watching it in Fast
00:51:00
Forward because so much of the air had been taken out from just with camera angles and they cut it like a Tik Tok
00:51:06
video or like it's something on where they go notion I hated that and I don't blame I don't I don't and I don't blame
00:51:13
anybody it was a group effort on that and but you know it was my first big special and I I could have done that a
00:51:18
lot better yeah I that situation and I said you're making the an audience member is in a
00:51:25
Magic Chair that all of a sudden I'm the size of an ant the next cut is full face
00:51:30
in screen then it's a hard left angle I mean what the [ __ ] we already figured out the money shot the Johnny Carson what they call the cowboy shot moving
00:51:41
just just that's a that's your primary shot so the last special I did they go uh we didn't really get the cowboy shot so they did not have any of that shot
00:51:52
they had head to toe or just neck up so yeah yeah Al learning experience so what what I guess I wasn't even thinking but when I when I saw Luc said yeah it seems it
00:52:04
just seemed very organic very real like you're there wasn't cut to pieces and tight close-ups it was just very comfortable and also being in a hoodie on a you know on the stool denotes uh
00:52:18
casualness like I like when you tell the crowd if this doesn't work it's equally your fault oh thank you because the
00:52:25
first critic review when that trailer came out was Matt R's already blaming his audience for how bad this is shut
00:52:33
SAR to God send you the article I like that that's that's so ridiculous it's funny like what they take forward to a career of
00:52:46
this I like the Twin Towers Joe you I mean I'm not going to go through all the jokes but it it I think people you know
00:52:55
crowd work it can get looked down upon with Comics or they can get looked up upon because how [ __ ] hard it is I
00:53:01
it's too hard for me to do I do it a tiny tiny bit but doing your act on the road you know it and you're sharpening
00:53:08
little tiny corners and it's hard to focus but when you have to focus on every goddamn thing that's going on with
00:53:14
crowd work what they're saying what the reaction is how to call back the last guy what he's tied into this make sure
00:53:20
that guy's not moving why is that weight just walking over there and and you're just trying to do that for an hour it's
00:53:26
hard so there's something to that to keep it going did you have to do two show I was thinking how would you do two
00:53:32
shows because people know the crowd now well that was the biggest thing in the edit um we had we had multiple tapings where I was like this could be
00:53:43
the entire thing so you had to go obviously you go through and you're like okay what's GNA be the best ones and we ended up having to use predominantly the
00:53:50
first show we did because of how because we obviously wanted everything to look the same right we didn't want exactly
00:53:57
what you were just saying where you see the front row is one person in a bright red hoodie and obviously I recognize
00:54:03
that guy and then the next shot is yeah yeah exactly the guy with the and and the flow of it you know what I mean like I didn't want to go from you know a [ __ ] story to talking about
00:54:14
some something so drastically different that didn't match the flow of the show so a lot of it wasn't editing that we
00:54:20
were like we're just G have to use predominantly one show and usually one show is the best sorry Dana but usually
00:54:26
stands out go ahead no I was just saying that you're okay you're doing you're doing your special and then you get an
00:54:33
occupation of a woman who teaches other women how to perform oral sex I'll just say it that way gift from Comedy Gods dude and then you're like okay let's unpack I mean you're like must have
00:54:44
thrown a little bit of a party in your head for a second like okay here we go because you move that up front is that
00:54:51
she was she was the first interaction oh I was thinking that would be great cuz I would have if that happened later I'd
00:54:56
probably go let's get the crowd going right away let's throw that right up front oh I definitely would have moved
00:55:01
it but she she was the first and I was like oh we're we're gonna have fun this and it was her daughter over here and
00:55:07
she was sitting separately which was funny I couldn't [ __ ] believe it her just mentioning that I was like oh we've
00:55:13
got 10 minutes we're good and the mom sitting on the other side of the room was so fun and she said was funny
00:55:20
everything the amount of people who think that's fake is so funny to me I'm like you don't f it was such odd answers
00:55:28
couldn't fake it couldn't plan it it I wouldn't write her to say those things I would make it different but just her
00:55:33
answers were weirder and weirder and then uh she was a gift yeah no it was it it was great they were they were a gift
00:55:40
the boots were a gift oh um but then you also get I I I was so happy that we kept
00:55:46
in the um the lady who had like the the daddy issues at the very end the girl who looks like walking Phoenix and Joker just because she was spouting [ __ ] nonsense and I got to have just an an
00:55:58
authentic moment of acknowledging like yeah this you're not always going to get a good answer you know not every
00:56:04
interaction is funny and sometimes you get fed some [ __ ] and we had to keep that in so you have all this um VAR
00:56:11
variables in in the show rather than just couples that are going to break up three in a row you know there all these
00:56:17
different yeah modalities and um yeah I just thought it was nicely done too at the end where you kind of froze on the people and said what they're going to do with life or whatever in the closing
00:56:27
credits oh thank you thank you that's a nice touch so it was you know I just wonder how if some of your peers would
00:56:33
think about this like because you're the first one to do a pure crowd work at least for Netflix right it's the first
00:56:40
one they've produced um Todd Barry had one in 2015 which was [ __ ] great but this is the first one that Netflix produced they they acquired his yeah he's funny guy but also like Andrew
00:56:53
Schultz has done a crowd work special before he did one the DCM prop uh I did one on YouTube two years ago as well um
00:57:01
all red flags um so I mean it's it's it's been done before but this is the first one on this scale I I suppose
00:57:09
that's good yeah I anything else for this guy no I just I just think that was a really cool idea good idea and it
00:57:17
worked out great we just we're fans we think you're extremely talented you've earned everything you got and uh oh we
00:57:24
this is where we get sincere tear up a little bit no but uh be proud of yourself and your grandpa's looking down
00:57:30
he's around he's here and you know just keep doing what you're doing I I wouldn't know what to say I just think
00:57:36
uh you know haters gotta hate but I think that's probably now everyone's used to you and they've seen two great
00:57:42
specials I don't you know I think we're all over any kind of it gets corny to make fun of you at a certain point they're like all right we did that that's over let's move on it's working
00:57:53
something's working over there well thank you man and I can't thank you guys enough for even want me to do the Pod
00:57:58
man you guys this is going to sound this is going to sound sappy and corny but you guys are genuinely like the reason I
00:58:05
I do comedy like growing up watching you guys you guys are my [ __ ] Idols so thank you so much for for having me do
00:58:11
this damn thank you bud appreciate I see you out there and uh see you all right man have a good day pleasure later you guys this has been a presentation of Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a
00:58:25
like or review VI all the stuff smash that button whatever it is wherever you get your podcast fly on the wall is
00:58:31
executive and produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey and Heather Santoro the show's
00:58:37
lead producer is Greg Holtzman