TJ Miller | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #266

today's episode is brought to you by gray block pizza if you were wondering if you can have something in your mouth that feels like it's from another country you can Italy and that is pizza gray block pizza 18:11 Pico Boulevard on the way to the beach gray block get that header today's guest is a he's a film man and he's a comedian and honestly I don't even really know him that well so I'm gonna get to know him as you do but I do know that he is the star of the emoji movie TJ Miller [Music] [Music] yeah it is you know what and I just sometime I like to have something sometimes I'll work some glasses that don't have any lenses or just something I don't really like interview and so it makes me feel are not interviewing but sometimes I'm just not it's not really my strongest suit so you think yeah well one of the things is you riff on your own and with the voicemails and stuff like that so yeah you know it's and it's that's closer to stand up right when doing an interview and then I find that other people are almost more comfortable interviewing like that's one thing that I've thought is really interesting about I mean the joke with Marc Maron's podcast was always like fast forward through his part and get to the interview cuz he's such a good interviewer yeah and then Joe Rogan I think has slowly become more about the interview and being the interviewer then about it being comedic I don't want anything that yeah he's yeah he's not usually suit he's not very comedic or was some guess he is and some guess he isn't yeah but I didn't give you interviews really well but that's interesting that you don't feel necessarily comfortable doing that because we were talking about I have the show called Gore burger where it's a giant blue alien puppet that interviews people and that was on Comedy Central and there's a lot of it on YouTube and that I felt really good and I'm I was interested in interviewing it and he did Gore burger did Snoop Dogg's GGN Network and it was just an it's a real burger it's a fake burger but it's uh no it's like oh there it is that's it oh wow yeah he's and so it's a giant puppet and there's somebody else in the puppet is it you but I'm so I'm controlling his mouth using a radio controller and two other puppeteers are doing his eyes and sort of facial expressions mhm and so it's a lot it's like Joe Biden you mean a little a little bit less well that's incredible looking it's great and so I do these two guys the director brothers and it say it feels a lot more comfortable for me kind of what you're saying to interview somebody through the character because he's are talks like this and he doesn't really know anything about human beings and so he has kind of questions about what it's like to be a human yeah so the questions can kind of come from that angle instead of necessarily being you know TJ Miller asking questions yeah so yeah I really really like that and then my podcast caching him with TJ Miller is the conceit is that cash levy he's a comedian and an improviser a friend of mine and I tour with he has an interview show but he can never get another guest so I've been his only guest for like six years then oh really so the interview and he you know hit every time yeah every single time but it's it's more absurdists and it's kind of you know the interviews aren't about you know what's what are you up to what's going on with you it's more stuff like you know we have a thing where it's like if you attach a handle to anything does it become a ladle like if you put this just immediately become a ladle committin like right now the mitten would be a ladle that's exactly right that would be a better is that a better ladle than a glove mmm or can you use each of the fingers for the separate things that you want to ladle I think glove probably be better because a mitten is gonna have too much liquid he could get out of a mitten yeah I've kind of run water across the house and a mitten when I was young and it's it's answer I'd love to know with the context of that is just not having a car yes you just gotta get that water one way or another no kidding you're being fast yeah yeah doesn't matter well can you relate you think too that Ana like do you feel like you sometimes like because I feel like you to me like cuz we don't know each other that well yeah I know we kind of have crossed paths mostly through stand-up yeah yeah yeah do you feel like and you always seem to me like um like I always tell know that someone with y'all obviously cuz I always felt like there was like a fire alarm going off or something sometimes like I get that's the same kind of feeling I guess sometimes like me yeah not good I'm you are that's insane I like daddy behind your something pulled a fire alarm or maybe even you just pulled it on your own back and it's just like there's like there is that energy I've never heard anything even close to that but that's pretty right on and sometimes it's the energy of me coming in I live in New York now so and in in Manhattan I do and it's a much better speed for me because all right yeah in Greenwich Village and then I'll zip around to do three four five sets in a night and that is a better energy for me to just like run from the subway to the club go right up do the set you like get paid talk to the people then leave run to the subway get on a subway get out of the go to different that's kind of I feel more comfortable in that energy and I think that was always a problem for me in Los Angeles was that I had that energy but here it's a lot more laid-back not just that Cali attitude but also you know you do one show in a night maybe two shows and if you're gonna do - it's like a spot at The Improv and you'll make your way up to Lau factory so there's no rush yeah there's no newer energy like that and then you can hustle it's more hype than hustle yeah that's a good point there's no racial energy yeah and so the hustle energy with but that also works when you do film and television especially television because they are moving quickly they need every you know minute cost this amount of money and so they appreciate that I'm like all right let's go let's go and then I just riff like you know five six lines okay is that good let's do it all right let's get the cameras in a different position and you have moments of chilling and and relaxing on a film set and sometimes people say it's a lot of waiting but as soon as the knock comes on the trailer or you got to quickly get into it and go and they need you on set right away and you go in front of the camera and boom you got to go but do you feel like I like I feel like and I get I don't know PIME not being judgmental Bob oh I always feel like you're like it you remind me of like a character like you remind me of like uh it feels a little judgmental doesn't yeah no no I think that's right I mean here you ever feel like that now here's here's this sort of character is like I think it's funny like you I feel I feel like you're so town - man I mean I think anytime I've ever seen you perform I'm like I don't know what is going on inside of this - like this guy brought its own moon do you know guys don't think but there's you know I think my character would be it's just I'm I'm equal parts eccentric and kind of Awesome tations but all of that is because I think it's funny it's like I don't really care how I look I'd rather dress in a way that makes me laugh and other people laugh yeah that's kind of fun and then Kate she sort of fits my white kate is like you know also thinks it's funny and she kind of likes that I dress like this just because it's just clearly I don't give a [ __ ] you know money of like kind of an Ignatius Reilly do you remember can you bring that character up but more handsome he's like confederacy of dunces do you remember that yeah yeah do you ever do you ever feel cuz you're the only person I know that kind of rocks a mullet you know yeah and so do you ever feel a little within the contest of your accent and your sort of whole vibe do you ever feel kind of like a character or no no I feel like I felt like that sort of true to who you are in your background I think in my heart it makes me feel good having longer hair nice um and I always had like a big nose when I was like I've always still have it and I'll see that well is there a lot of brothers and sisters will come over to see what's up when I'm wandering around so that's how I know some of them a bird will stop down here you know that's when you know but so I think for me having long I would see pictures of myself with shorter hair and it would make me feel I don't know longer hair I feel like I can just hide a little bit you know I just feel sometimes like I need a little bit more space from the world a little bit that's really that's interesting because there are I think those are two types of comedians there's sort of a comedian that really actually in real life doesn't want to be gregarious and outgoing and on and all that kind of stuff and maybe even feels a little bit socially awkward and then it sounds like you take some pains to sort of say okay I need you know a little bit of space here a little bit of that and I I do a lot of things I don't all feel like I have to be on all the time as you can tell right now but I do kind of I do exude this yeah fire alarm or just like a truly nihilistic don't give a [ __ ] kind of thing but I'll change my appearance please Don based on characters that I'm playing a lot yeah first time I had long hair was for a character that had just gotten out of jail and that for me that's my fire alarm it is new battery and I had I grew long hair for it and I kind of grew a beard and then I sort of some people started to say others in fact Chelsea Handler was like you look a lot better with longer hair because your head is so a blog you know and I think that's true yeah yeah then I'll kind of stick with it and then Kate just kind of likes this cake is just kind of likes to she likes a six and a half o'clock shadow mm-hmm so I usually kind of keep that gone but yeah I mean I don't I'm less concerned about my parents like I'll cut wait for a role or I rented Silicon Valley I always gained weight for that character for Ehrlich and but just being like so like out like you're outs you've you seem like outspoken even like at your spirit kind of I like it that's any sense does it is that is that you is it just you or do you feel like you like no that's me because it would seem exhausting to be able like I you know it's like a you know it's like when you see a guy like have those plates on the thing you know on the spikes on those things yeah eat or whatever which I can do by the way getting you really yeah a lot of circus arts have actually in my act right that's perfect that makes perfect sense but I can spin plates and I juggle cigar boxes and I'm a juggler and and my act now is like this one man philosophy circus it's like I have a ventriloquist dummy with a smaller ventriloquist dummy with a smaller ventriloquist dummy that has a slightly larger ventriloquist dummy and the audience plays the slide trombone while I do one-liners and there's juggling and glow-in-the-dark juggling right so you have you need that much to be going on I do feel fun for me and I also love that show I love the idea of it being a real like a show so I have I'm more PT Barnum in me than Mitch Hedberg yeah put that and so that for me is kind of yeah that's my speed I also was born with an arteriovenous malformation in your heart no it's it's a brain condition where there's a malformation your brain in this case who's in my frontal lobe and because the brain so amazing the elasticity of allows it to sort of figure out how to act as a normal human being but with less brain matter and what we found cuz I have like a team of doctors that sort of monitor me and hang me since 2010 because I have a I had the AVM hemorrhaged and I had to go and get it removed so I have a golf ball sized piece of my brain that they took out so right in my frontal lobe there's like you know your thoughts important that's the tattoo and so what I think happened was I have less frontal lobe than other people so it has to work double time so I take a lot of medication both to prevent seizures and then one of the medications is to prevent seizures as see seizure preventative like components to it but it's also to control mania and I'm prone to manic episode so I'm not bipolar I'm not like a I get depressed and then I but I am prone to manic episodes if I laughs and the and those manic episodes are like your brain just is moving so quickly and you don't know you're in a manic episode anything oh well this must be this and it connects to this and it's this and so sometimes I think that that may have contributed a little bit in addition to how hard I worked and my work ethic that's a bad mix yeah yeah just not your work ethic but when you have to work really hard and you have some mental uncomfort going on and it's getting heavy it's mixed as scary isn't yeah and it can also just be a lot of can just be a go-go-go mentality but I wonder do I have that level of work ethic because I'm Anna or does working that hard sort of egg on the mania but I do really well especially on the medication it's just that you know that manic energy I think in some ways I'll take a dose right now if you know I'm saying there were times where I would take a dose of that if you had it yeah - right because you have so much going on yeah I'd won a little manic energy see this so this is the opposite so the medication kind of pulls pulls that maybe ever monitor the medicine just to see okay maybe I'll take you know do five Lesley so I can do it I do the only no no cuz I can do what I can do on the medication it's that if I start to get manic then I'll take it more of it I says it's almost like a and oh man I think a long time and now I don't smoke weed it's pretty weird now I right now I'm not smoking weed and I also Nick City here and I was also hi I'm just here to tell you I'm I'm Verizon and not only do I have Verizon I work for them so I'm gonna ask you guys to leave immediately yeah thank you big fan of your you guys but not your network yeah okay we have the largest 5g network thank you hey guys that's all right hightail it that's the T and t-mobile just get your tails out of here you're so nice I love to when you were like y'all from the church that there was hurt that first guy was throwing Church energy yeah he did have Church in it and then he had the little backup guy who was on recovery I like a guy did he's wearing exactly what you would wear if you're like so are you are you familiar with Jesus Christ and the Latter day Saints or you just know about Jesus yeah we want to talk to you about all the latter days of all the latter-day saints you don't like him Bobby a bear pants willing me we want to talk about all the greats mayor drew brees yeah they used to vote one time uh Jehovah's Witness came over when I was in Tucson and I had like no friends mangrove religious mmm I grew up going to church sometimes Oh God so but there was a lot of like just religion in the area you know a lot of people because we got is that area yeah and we have smaller environments people don't have as many places to go get together so it's like a lot of times church is a place also where you just get to see oh yeah it's community more than its about the god of yes yeah you'll go and you take your kids because they get to play with other kids from but yeah this man when I was in Tucson I was really struggling in college and this man you didn't have a lot of friends yeah I was just like real depressed and I just didn't have a lot of friends in this uh Jehovah's Witness would come over and then I had video games oh and then he was definitely slacking for the Lord because he would come over for the Lord with his autobiography slacking for the Lord oh he would come over and just like that's so good so it was almost like you're like I get a friend out of God and he's like and I could flip video game yes that's a good it's a symbiotic relationship so that's interesting to me that you you know you seem a little bit and tell me if this is not the case no it's okay how are do that to you wants ya know but I think this is actually an interesting thing that we like know each other but don't know that much about each other yeah so I just would never have taken you as a guy that had any kind of depression any sort of feelings of like I could use a little bit more manic energy any kind of with longer hair glasses or a scarf I give myself a little space from there to me you felt like kind of a crazy goodtime guy who was you know down to party whenever but that wasn't that wasn't your identity it just like you were sort of comfortable in any situation whatever and that's sort of how I see you when you're on stage is you have this energy of that with the audience yeah so that's really interesting because I would say that I'm as quick to get I feel as comfortable with people on stage as I do off stage I feel pretty comfortable being out and about Kate a lot of times is like TJ you have to stop burping in public right like he is burp like 10 20 times you're just passing by people and I'm very loud so a lot of times I've heard that yeah I'm not joking I was talking one of my friends I'll know it over here he's like oh I see that guy in our neighborhood sometimes he's always really loud on this is that real and he was starting an ice cream parlor so my buddy said where was it in New York in New York yeah really and I said I don't know I said I just you know I said I don't know the ice cream broke because I want to go and support if he opens it up I know he said you were starting one it sounded like but he also could have been eavesdropping so I never intended on staring at ice cream parlor but I definitely would have said yeah I see then the problem is I don't I'm I'm not as aware of my surroundings I'm just aware of like what is the mission statement what are we trying to do or how are we having fun so it's not really a so yeah so it's not like thing you're putting on it's just that's who you are no and I really it's even something that's even more like in your system if you have I mean that's wild bro if they just on Loeb I can't even imagine that it's pretty crazy and I never even noticed anything about it or thought anything of it until it becomes sort of like a medical emergency because that I did a bit about it on this is not happening but that surgery they came in and they go so this is a pretty serious like surgery and I was like yeah I assume you're opening up my [ __ ] head yeah and they sort of were like so about it's a 10% fatality right so about one in ten people who get this surgery done died and I was like okay what happens if I don't get the surgery because it was elective he said you don't have to get it so this is when I had ten people die or you don't you don't have to get it I said well what happens if you don't get it and he was like mmm you probably die in your mid-30s and I was like let's roll the dice and get the surgery done right one on a ten ain't bad my opinion here on it and some Dungeons and Dragons [ __ ] right there that's the ten sided die and so um you know I didn't take away near a hit point you think after you got it like is there times where you can feel an idea kind of going in and there's just so so that's a great point so what I said was I said you know I said so the the the main thing I want to ask you is why I still be funny after the operation and the guy was like what and I said like if I get the operation will I still be funny because that's my work I'm a comedian he goes I mean does it he almost like does it matter don't you want to like live and not have a brain hemorrhage and he said I mean I assume so I don't you know you're not using that part of your brain now it was malformed in the womb so we remove it we're not removing any of your like cognitive efficiencies you're not cognitively deficient right now so we wouldn't see why taking out a part of your brain that you don't use would because they think so I said because if it's not gonna make me funny I kind of almost rather do the maybe die in your mid-30s thing and that floored the whole room all of the doctors were like that doesn't seem like something we'd ever really hurt that doesn't check out yeah yeah cuz you know when you said that though did you really but I also have a very interesting relationship with death both like philosophically and following some philosophers specifically Epicurus which he has this great quote which is like because people would have always come to him who were afraid of death which was mostly actually in Greece noble men and people of great wealth because they kind of knew that all the church like stuff was [ __ ] but yeah that's a totally I mean that's you know it's like Zeus and all that Arab stuff but they would be scared about it and so they would say you know I'm afraid of death and he would say why I had stuff to yeah I don't want to die if you have right exactly if you don't have anything you're like let's check out a little more yeah let's see what's going on here yeah let's see what except it that's hilarious maybe I'll get a car in heaven taking the [ __ ] bus here on earth and so he says that when you are death is not and when death is you are not so you really never cross paths with death so why would you even worry about it or fear it because you'll never encounter it and so I was sending that stuff like on my own in high school and then kind of became an absurdist and sort of Annihilus as I entered college definitely and yeah feel it you feel that yeah oh yeah if other people are picking for the basketball team in PE and you're like you know you and death never really meet each other you just kind of cross paths yeah I think I did so I did the emoji movie in part because I like to entertain children I want those movies to be funny so that the parents don't want to like beat themselves over the head with a sledgehammer because they have to watch those movies all the time if you'd like some movie they're watching over and over oh yeah but I also do excuse me I did that movie yogi berra 3d and I did transformers and I did the emotion would be because I want a funny credit for my stand-up so now when I get introduced now you don't reduce me it's like TJ Miller from Deadpool or Silicon Valley it's you know young kids sometimes they'll come up to me and they'll be like so so how do you want me to introduce you you can tell they kind of are like I want to get this right so let me just you know get really clear because they're expecting me to say like well just put do this and this and this or whatever that whatever people do there and and I'll be like um just the star of the emoji movie you're like but what do you what do you want me to introduce is that women do CEA's and I'm like yeah and then kind of [ __ ] with him I'll go but I mean really hit star like the star of the emoji movie okay and it's good to emphasise emoji also cuz that's what the movie is about and you he's gonna hit even hit movie also because it is a movie so just but really it starts with the star of the emoji movie mic is he serious is he kidding whatever but I always found Ali's follow that up with like I honestly don't give a [ __ ] clearly because I'm telling you the emoji movie and so that's kind of how I approach life is like I'll do entire films sort of for the service of the joke of a stand-up credit being that thing so that's kind of my approach to life Janos I really don't take it seriously and people say don't take life seriously it's like no I really do not take any of it seriously it's truly I'm an absurdist and it's really really fun but so within the context of what you asked about the the doctors and is that true that you I really was sort of saying if I can be Who I am and continue to make people laugh because that's what's important to me not to be it's not to have people like me or laugh at like laugh at the things that I say but to make people happy if I only have forget how old I was then but it was like if I only have a decade or so left to keep doing what I'm doing now and I'm feel so blessed to be doing and I would only say bless on your podcast cuz it feels appropriate I appreciate that I'll bring the guys right back in yeah Verizon is the only network a stream straight to the Lord I'm sorry too we start pitching to them we're like you get unlimited data and unlimited wishes about what your heaven will be like we should have man God so I sort of seriously am I was like I'm so blessed what you haven't data and wishes also you don't get wishes in heaven that's a genie I don't know where the [ __ ] that came from dude it could be your heaven though it could happen if ya the wishes you could get to the wish in heaven the unlimited data and wish in heaven so I but I yeah I think I was very very to deadly serious in fact that I would rather continue to make people happy and do what I feel so lucky to be doing then kind of no longer be funny and just live longer yes I've never understood why that is the goal to just live as long you can't it's not some race it's not the competition or anything like that so you should really want to live you know 20 yeah 20 years more with purpose with sort of reward with feeling in and of yourself with kind of self-efficacy and those things rather than just go like 50 years to then retire and go on cruise ships now if that's living purposefully I talk about this in my act a little bit it's living purposefully is undertaking change from person to person if you know I look at somebody who works at State Farm and I don't think like oh geez nine to five two weeks of vacation and then you retire and go on Carnival Cruises and it's like know if that person is smart what they'll do is say I work in an industry where I help people feel safer where when the inevitable happens it doesn't [ __ ] them financially I have a consistent job so I can consistently provide for my family and see my work adding purpose to their life yeah and and maybe able to be present for my relationship and then all I want to do is go on Carnival Cruise Lines and see the world there's nothing better it's unlimited seafood yeah anything it's many scallops and pineapple and I usually do a scallop pineapple sort of mix yeah take two rings of pineapple put the scallops in between and that's with scallop conical sandwich but I think so I don't I think everybody can sort of live with purpose and live well and people sometimes look at me and they go oh wow you know I mean you just could you couldn't have a better situation then then TJ and it's it's like you know Kate and I have really like I cane I have so much fun that I went before the podcast to part of a movie with her Wow so she wanted to see this movie and I just wanted to go so we could like see 20 minutes of it together I was like I'm gonna take off so I'm not late to the podcast cos we got to leave later too because she's going to Dallas with me but that's very rare she doesn't go so I only see Kate 3 days a week so because like you I'm on the road every weekend do you are you're torn a lot yeah yeah I see you Criss crossing oh yeah same quick question to get back I'll just want it so do you find though that sometime like it does it ever affect like your because you the way you are is very unique you agree with that and now that you are is very well thank you appreciate that man and um that's true it's not it's not like a compliment because you gave me a compliment yeah it's just like I think the best stand-ups really I mean we all talk about having our own unique voice but the best stand-ups have sort of slowly not even whittled down but molded and shaped what it is that makes them wholly unique into a funny version of that yeah he can share with an audience on stage one never one and I remember when I was always like I don't want I don't care if they remember a joke I just want them to remember me that's what that's so smart I mean that I just wanted to be you remembered and he was like or not even remember I just wanted to be yeah what do you say going well I think this is interesting and tell me if you agree that people don't go to see the material they go to see you yeah and so you can have the best material in the world you can Mitch Hedberg has some of the greatest one-liners Steven right but they're the way that they were that's what you're really remembering you can quote jokes but you wouldn't be able to quote jokes if that was just a not memorable person and then some people figure that out and maybe they're not super hilarious but they decide I'm gonna stop being me and be Larry the Cable Guy right and now I own a jet and live on a thousand acres jet we can grill on top of - yeah oh my god definitely and so it is I think it's that it's not your material it's you and a big part of I think why I'm successful in film and television is I sort of seem like and I really have this energy in real life like you and I would be friends that's to everybody watching they're like oh he's really funny but they're like that I'd get along with that guy you know and that has more to do with me and and I do this all the time I don't look I wouldn't say I talked to strangers all the time but I'm always joking with people not to get laughs but because I want to add to their day so like yeah and I'm sure you do the same because yes sometimes yeah I'll definitely check in with people as much as I can when I'm just wandering around in person yeah to get a yet tell somebody nuts something nice make somebody smile that kind of stuff yeah I love giving I love giving compliments especially to girls yeah and I do it a lot when I'm with Kate so that they immediately know like oh he's not being creepy right cuz I don't do in a creepy way but sometimes if you're like yes I sent a raven over to [ __ ] drop a note into a ladies yeah it's almost always a crow and so you know I think that one of the things that I do like doing is kind of joking with people or I love to ask people questions that they aren't usually asked so I I sort of very interested in people in the component of you know I say to if I go and see a movie I'll say what have you seen that you like and it's this and then I'll ask them how is Impractical Jokers doing and then they'll he'll say you know what it's not doing as well to be honest with you and I was like do you think that's because this is the ArcLight or do you think that that might be happening across the board he's like I don't know I mean I guess the ArcLight maybe wouldn't be the demographic but you know what we get this this and this and those all did really well like do you think it's because you see it for free like it's on TV and it's on TV a lot and he and he was like yeah that's a really good point it's kind of free and then now you're asked and then just pay for it I say do you think that they kind of basically taught people we do this for you for free you can just turn us on whenever and now they're saying like you got to leave your house get in your car go to it and you're gonna want popcorn awesome and he goes yeah I do I think that's the case and then he goes from being who is he he's that take the guy taking the token selling tickets right then he goes from a ticket taker and the guy working behind the computer to now somebody who's thinking about the world of their work and also just gave me an analysis that only he can really give and I see him be like yeah I think that's exactly right and I'm like I think you're right and then there's this great moment where he's just like badass dude I I do yeah I connected the dots for this guy who's dressed like a [ __ ] lunatic yeah and I think is from the I think he's the star of the emoji me and Andy the star that's right you're right I got to start telling him to hit the edges yeah each of them a different level I'm gonna draw a chart it's like we want these sort of really high stars got to be a little bit higher emoji here because we want them to know what movies about but movie doesn't it can kind of be here because they know it's a movie it's good to remind them so the star and then actually of can be down here let's put up here yeah let's go bear star me actually do this is a half the the emoji movie yeah let's get there I'll play I play an audio recording worm that I did and I'm just like let me text this to my work phone so you have it this is bad news this podcast is gonna ruin many and openers life throughout the next decade do you think that do you think is so with your energy the way that you are it's a unique way do you think that it doesn't fit sometimes like in the template of things yeah by tryna just cuz the last thing I want is for people being comfortable because again I'm not really focused on me as much if anything I'm focused too much on other people I hate to let people down Kate said last night I had to cancel a show and I hate canceling shows and she said you have to be able to cancel the show you're double booked you're you're not gonna be able to do it I need you in this situation and so then I canceled and the the Booker Jay Davis who's awesome and as always one of those guys that believes in me text me every month or so to be like hey I know you're in New York but let me know when you're in Los Angeles nice guy she's a really good dude and cares a lot about comedy so I felt bad cancel but he was totally cool he was like no problem let me know when you get back so Kate has to sometimes remind me like it's okay to let people down when you need to sort of put yourself first so she'll actually say if she something will great yourself first a little bit more TJ no I appreciate that you're doing what you're doing but you got to think about putting yourself first because otherwise your family's pulling you in one direction your friends are pulling in one direction the book Kurds are pulling in another direction your agents are pulling in another direction so nose gotta be about me and you sometimes have just got to be about you yeah hey there this is a good episode I'm enjoying it I have to let you know though that inside of my pants there's something unique and I'm talking about Mac Weldon and that's not a man it is a man's name but probably the closest a man will ever get to my jump it is a premium men's essential brand that believes in smart design and premium fabrics Mac Weldon does indeed offer industry-leading underwear they are the Tony Stewart of underwear these things and they're so just they grip you they hold you were you going to work what do you got to do 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for the next year hmm this also grants you access to new products before they are released to anyone else I love my Mac Weldon I have them on right now my junk feels secure I feel like I could do I could do HVAC work I have to let you know for 20% of your first order visit Mac Weldon M ack wel do n.com and enter promo code theo if you are a man and you have genitals and but take care of them and these will be the greatest supplement you add to your crotch and rear I'm not joking Mac Weldon calm enter promo code Theo and now back to the episode hate to interrupt you but I need to because I'm not sure if you got any skills or not you know a lot of times I wonder who's listening what are they doing do they can never do a recipe can they build a fire you know what I'm saying could they make a kool-aid could they draw an art and I don't know that's why Skillshare is bringing you this episode Skillshare is an online learning community for creators with more than 25,000 classes and design business and more you'll discover countless ways to fuel your career your creativity and your curiosity there are classes in social media marketing mobile photography creative writing and even illustration whether you're looking to discover a new passion or start a little side hustle do this you know what I'm saying make a little something over there do that sell that get that or gain professional skills Skillshare is there to keep you learning thriving and reaching new goals are you a freelancer try bookkeeping for freelancers how to handle your finances one of their most popular courses join the millions of students already learning on Skillshare today our listeners get two months of Skillshare for free that's right Skillshare is offering this past weekend listeners two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free to sign up go to Skillshare comm slash Theo von again go to Skillshare comm slash Theo von to start your two months now that's Skillshare dot-com slash Theo von and do you I feel like so right now are you going through like a rebuilding phase in your work I feel like cuz you're getting back out on the road yeah I mean now I am wholly focused on stand-up because I started to see like gyfer I was like oh wow do you I mean I'm too in like 50 weeks out of the year and I take time off when it makes sense to be with Kate or really good news that I got yesterday the film that I did with Drew Barrymore getting to Tribeca Film Festival that to New York City I know I only have to walk 15 minutes to get there and that's great because I'm gonna take those two weeks sort of the weekends on either like move those and then take those two weeks and it's they're the perfect clubs because helium in Philadelphia and then Omaha which do you work though I'm a funny one when Colleen Quinn she's so sweet and she officiated our wedding acutely she married Kate and me and here's the redhead yeah and here's the strangest part hot yeah it should beautiful Kate and Kate chose that I didn't say hey I love this comedy club owner Kate had visited a couple times I think she's like she just has this energy I really wanted so I was lucky it's that Club and then another club that I'm very close to those people that are sort of booking and own those clubs and so I'm gonna move that chunk and then just be in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival and I'll do sets in New York I all the time will do three four five it's a big part of why I moved there right and but outside it out I'm trying every weekend because I realized that I was doing so much film and television stuff that um but just with regards to stand-up that maximum during Silicon Valley I could really do a sort of a bus tour and then maybe some clubs but that's just a month that's just thirty shows it's just 35 shows out of the year you know odd you do 35 shows in six weeks when you're when you're on the road and so now I'm really trying to put in the time and grind and hustle enough to not just be a really good comedian but hopefully be a great comedian and you know how much work that takes you know it takes a lot of work and there's the road as a whole different skill set like I'm so in awe of you guys in the way I did Adam Ray's podcast so just a tiger belly I'm really in awe of the way that you guys have the business acumen to have built these podcasts because I what I love about them is it helps your touring but it really does connect with your audience and you're providing something with them that sort of stand up ask but also has a lot to do with pulling back the curtain saying this is Theo von and this is the Oh with different people yeah and this is what the Oh Vaughn is interested in about the other people and this is what comes I think that's really amazing it's a place I feel like I don't have to be scared a lot of times sometimes it's still kind of scary you know like yeah III definitely hurts and it surely started out that way doing podcasting was like a place I felt like that didn't have to be I don't know just it's just it's such a life's hard to learn by yourself you know and a lot of people these days or about a lot of us are a lot of people kind of by themselves or feel that way I think yes especially with social media which was supposed to connect us I know that's just you online looking it's people that couldn't be further away from you and completely anonymous it's very very strange yes I think podcasting does a little bit of Brit it's a little bit more yeah like it's long-form it's like you get to you kind of get to enjoy someone for who they for what they are and what they aren't you know it's like you just get to it's almost it's kind of like a lesson a little bit in acceptance even when I watch other guys podcasts and stuff it's like man I might not agree with everything or that they say or some of their ideas and stuff but you know I care I do care about that person so it's like you get you know it's that I don't agree with you say but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it yeah so you really are kind of yeah tumblr yeah I watch it somewhere I steal all that stuff and I use it in conversation it's mostly how is much cooler not a new site yeah right yeah I like to blur and the tweeter yeah we had a video question that came in let's see it let's hit it no we put it out on social media these are all they knew you're coming in nothing's great I love Lisa did you a Canadian she does kind of a Canadian happy joyous outdoors is wood in the background yeah she's got a scarf like you one little space I go from the trees from the space in the space age I see oh my gosh GJ did she hear me turn it up no she's kidding I'm kidding people ask that oh yeah Eddie Bravo talk like a video question Bravo talkback someone for 11 minutes straight video yeah hi TJ hi Theo my questions for TJ I was wondering what was the first I wish that you fell in love with was the first wedge on wall not Canadian she said sandwich oh I like do you think she said armoire I did ah the first armoire I fell in love with was my parents my parents not bedroom buddies and the second floor of a bright it's turn in the center I thought I said it on water is that a chest of drawers what is that and my mother said no that's an armoire and I said it was love at first chest no I first sandwich I ever fell in love with I think yeah you know there's this sushi restaurant in Greenwich Village we have a couple places that we go and we eat and we feel safe actually I relate to you a little bit in what you're saying in New York and in general but it's a little bit more to do with feeling scared that people are I mean it doesn't freak me out so much but the fact that that guy's like he was really loud and is he's starting an ice cream parlor that reminds me of something that I don't think about very often which is I'm famous people kind of know who I am right and so we really pick and choose we didn't curate where we go so we don't go to many places in New York there's a jazz club that we feel very safe there's another great jazz club but we don't go there because that doesn't feel safe to us it's younger people drinking people are drinking a lot more it's not as much about the Jazz so we can't go places where will you become the focus and then there's certain restaurants as a restaurant called for Charles prime rib you can't really get a reservation there either you're not allowed to take pictures or talk to other customers really unless they're engaged and you're connected by the maitre d there's only 12 tables there's a sushi restaurant that we go to that only has 14 seats it's a sushi bar and it's just two employees and then this is called omakase room by Tatsu and Tatsu is the chef and he's you guys pick and choose where you guys spend time really do but the last course it's omakase so it's an 18 course meal each course is just a piece of sushi and the last piece is his it's the eel oh yeah which is it but also grills it does it anyway and the first time I had it immediately I am I went back to my childhood when my mother used to make a tuna fish sandwich on white bread with the crust and it tasted exactly the same and that was the first I would always ask my mother can I have a tuna fish sandwich because she had the perfect tuna de Mayo yeah to me a ratio right that's it the perfect ratio you can't have an obviously I was struggling and then he goes tuna to me oh yeah yeah it's she had that exact thing down and sometimes she put relish in it but really she loved it she had the ratio just perfect now is the first one I fell in love with and now as an adult I'm really obsessed with the perfect hamburger and that's all about ratio also it's all about which elements you're putting and how much of it yeah so there's a couple places that have the best burgers I've ever had in Los Angeles burger lounge is really up there and then over on Sunset no no there's one in Larchmont Village Way in Pasadena there's a burger line there it's so good it's all grass-fed beef and then in look the girth at Cal can do whatever he wants on his own time do but I'm saying is is the burger good man that's what I'm sure that's true too but the grass-fed for some reason tastes better to me and then there's a place in New York called B rgr which has sort of the perfect kind of it's it's just perfect and there's a place called burger joint which is in a hotel and that's a that sort of perfect ratio but a very different burger and then there's a famous hamburger in another place where we feel safe called Minetta tavern have you ever played the Comedy Cellar yeah so it's right on that strip on MacDougal and Minetta tavern has something called the Black Label burger and that's thirty-six dollars to buy that burger and it is well worth it you get you know you can only get a couple a year or something but it's the highest quality meat lease it's the perfect and you don't really put ketchup mustard or mayo on that it's just kind of the burger and they do Carmellini of burgers huh yeah kind of yeah right and then you I do cheese with it cuz I think that's enough you know I could see you doing that yeah throw a little cheese on there look I got to tell you straight up and straight honest that being healthy is the goal being fit is the goal but being sore and in pain from workouts not good you could spend a ton of money to hire a personal masseuse or you could do what I did and check out power dot power dot puts a modern spin on clinically proven muscle stimulation a lot of times you need to go to like a fancy healthcare place to get stem for your muscles but now with power dot you can simply apply the different pads to the placement where your muscles are sore and you can stem them yourself that's right it also comes with an app that guides you through the process with pre-designed programs like massage and pad placement photos for places like your lower back don't let them all on your cheeks 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with whenever you had the the we got a question right here what's up Theo what's up TJ say I'm from Arkansas had a quick question for you TJ do you have it in every one of your contracts that no matter what you can do whatever the [ __ ] you want with your facial hair kind of looks like you just wing it every time and I think it's awesome Gang Gang Gang Marquez's he's got he's obviously on break he's got the safety vest on safety first baby you know I think that's that's a good point and also from a gentleman with great facial hair look at how he's right in the middle he's got nothing going on he's doing what I'm doing which is taking off the soul patch but he's got a good sort of length of beard good on you man it's everybody might contract but I think it's understood just like that I'm gonna improvise so you can't expect me to just do the lines as written even sometimes I'll say I don't think this is the right lines yeah I'll notice that even when I walk on there I'm like he had there has to be yeah and I'll supervise I'm not gonna come and say I don't like that line what else do you got because I'm a writer I'll come and I'll say okay I don't think that's really the funniest line or doesn't quite fit here so here's about five other options that I came up with and let's talk like what do you think would be good um so just like people expect that they kind of know that I'm going to do with my appearance what I want the drew Barrymore film which is called the stand and in the stand in I did I I cut weight and had the same facial hair and haircut as my former manager mm-hmm Barry Katz that's the note that's the that's the character that I'm sort of playing is that as that manager I split amicably with hmm and and so they just knew I talked to the director about it but they just know I'm gonna have a very specific idea the weirdest thing that ever happened to me with regards to can I do whatever the [ __ ] I want as I did this movie called ready player one I should say this picture called ready player one and I was really nervous the night before I just was I'm not really an actor I'm a comedian should I be reading an acting book or something I'm about to go in and Steven Spielberg is gonna direct me and is that shahi should I be more prepared and I was just pacing outside of the weirdest state that they put us up and around this fountain just pacing pacing pacing and finally I was kind of like you know what you've never worried about this with any other film like just change your voice that's what you do for everything that's what you did for Wiesel and Deadpool that's what you know he surtax like this and then Erlich from Silicon Valley sort of talks more like this and I was like okay let's figure out what that what is the and I thought about it's like he's a bounty hunter in this video game world he's obviously a nerd because he plays video games non-stop all the time it's how he makes his money everything I said well who would be his idol Boba Fett right I mean obviously that's who we all love from Star Wars and this guy's actually a bounty hunter so I just studied Boba Fett's he only has like five lines oh wow cops that cop some of that vibe yeah cop that vibe and then went in and I was like all right I'm just gonna ask Stephen Spielberg you know does he think this is a good idea if it's not then I'm just gonna say to him what you know I'm open to anything else and just let him kind of direct you know is he handsome guy handsome guy the Avadh first person for that to be she looks like but also yeah let's pull him up but I think yeah he's a handsome guy he's definitely got an iconic look he kind of he's got a little bit of a look like you look there he is yeah yeah some guy but like he's got a look yeah I could see me look like David Spade's dead a little like - its dad we're getting some serious nodding in the booth with that observation right on it does not not very buddy he's the nicest guy you think how intimidating so I go up to him oh yeah be intimidated and I say so I was thinking you know his idol this I rock this I rock Saito would be Boba Fett you know because that's this so I thought I would change my voice and kind of talk like Boba Fett what do you think about that and he goes yeah I think that's great let's yeah let's do that whatever you think and it was so insane to have this guy kind of go well it's obviously whatever you want it to be yeah because to him he hired you I heard Woody Allen is like this he hired you and hiring you was the last he wants to do with you you're supposed to figure out what you're gonna do and he trusts that you're that's the reason he hired you was and even in that one I said thank you Steven Spielberg for having me in your movie he said oh yeah no there's no one else we wrote the part for you and I thought oh my god that's crazy but it's that he thought about the movie he's a fan of mine it's been helping me throughout my career and was like TJ you'll do great with this so whatever he wants to do he'll do with it and it worked out really well and he'll give you you know he'll give you notes and stuff obviously but it's really notes on how to improve your performance but as far as the facial hair and that one I did they did give a [ __ ] because I had to shave because I was in the game and so I had to have a hundred and fifty black dots all over my face and wear one of those skin tight suits with the ping pong balls all over it and a helmet with two little cameras and lights that so I was all motion-capture Wow most parts it was really that was a crazy experience but I guess the real answer that question is yes I or no I do not in my contract say I can do whatever the [ __ ] I want with my face sharks sometimes Steven Spielberg wants you be a clean baby boys but yeah on your face you got a show-up diaper ready driver ready do you find that like having so having like a kind of a you know I don't know if it's like whimsical do you feel like whimsical a lot of times like you know we're getting back to like some of the main ian Sep you're talking about like do you ever do you feel like that you're in control of yourself a lot of times or does it feel like almost uncontrollable it's very rare that I would feel like okay I'm out of control here with my thinking but it has happened I missed a day on Silicon Valley because I had a manic episode that night and when I see a manic episode I mean I thought that there were birds flying by there were actually drones and then which were probably bats and I thought I thought I really remember so vividly I was loading an Internet page and it said visit China you come see China China China China and then it changed they thought for sure they were watching me through the I could have been real the camera I know for reals well that's well I want to shake out recently it's okay that's why in the main I I don't think I'll ever go that's why in the main in the in the mania in the midst of a manic episode you of course you're like that could be real but in mania you're like that's definitely real and so I smashed the computer and because I was afraid they were watching me through that and you get and all of this makes complete sense to you but I would say that's happened five or ten times in my entire life it's much more and we say sense of whimsy whimsy first thing I think of is Kate because Kate is really she talked about that a lot she likes I love a sense of whimsy she likes things that are whimsical I think it's kind of I'm pretty carefree and it's really a positive nihilism it's like if not nice none of this means anything then and then anything can mean everything that's sort of the positive nihilist viewpoint nothing means anything then you decide what because anything can mean everything so for me it's making me laugh and doing that and that's why Annihilus true nilus would never have a conversation with a religious person and be like there's no God there's you know what are you talking about none of this means anything you wouldn't do that that's somebody who's like dogmatic and not truly a nihilist right that's somebody's more trying to push their agenda maybe yeah because if truly nothing means anything then who cares yeah there's a god but whatever even saying there's not a god doesn't mean anything all that language is totally meaningless bright so and if someone believes it why take them the task if it see if it makes them feel comfortable or them feel good yeah and that's that is I think a beautiful thing and positive nihilism is this idea of you make your own meaning that's that's we all in effect have become that concept of God where you can completely make your life meaning in any way shape or form again the State Farm agent where it's like you can make meaning in that or you can take other people's meaning and feel bad in which you had a better car and I always want the next biggest television well that's up but then again is it positive nihilist I'm going but if wanting a bigger car is gonna make you happy and having the net the next television of the next best television and that's really important to you and you work hard because of that then great that's the meaning that you've made right and so you get it gets to a place like you we're talking about acceptance you get to a place of really being accepting of other people and what they want to need and do the only thing I don't not very accepting of his hecklers do you get a lot of hecklers only in Oxon Hill Maryland last weekend that was really the only place he's like steer clear oxen Ville I got uh what happened to me oh well I got whenever like my career started to get busier about a like a year ago I started to have like a lot of control issues I didn't realize that I had like I don't realize I'm controlling I kind of was like I just in terms of what I just gotten used to being in a club and knowing what the space was like in the environment and then I felt so responsible for everybody's hat like Joey at the show in a theater and you can't see them or anything like I don't know if a lot of people realize in a theater you're just looking at lights a lot of times or even almost on any stage you're just looking at lights if you can't it's almost like two people trying to park boats and you can't direct them they're not listening and the you know and you'd like to park the boats and shut it off you know so I can it's almost like an experiment so just performing into a light sometimes you're like performing a little bit into a void and you know in a comedy club you can at least see the front row yeah and they have somebody yells something you can either maybe see them or you can kind of talk to them in a way where it's like we're in the same room right I mean in the theater they're like we're in the audience you're on the stage so we're our entity is audience there's a huge barrier between us and the stage and I talk in my stand-up a lot about ripping your attention away from these screens that are ruining our lives and how happy I am that they came to a setting like this which is live and is I'll never perform for this exact audience again no other audience will see this exact perform this is a singular sort of time in our lives that we're sharing together that doesn't work as well even that material doesn't work as well in a big theatre if I'm performing for a thousand people they're kind of like I could sort of be watching this at home on my television right now and when I try and improvise which I do every show in a theatre you're just further away and yeah feels detached you and people cannot really hear what people said you have to repeat it I [ __ ] up the timing so hecklers in that in those senses yeah I hate that yeah I hate that because he's invasive do you play mostly theaters now or mostly comedy clubs or mixed juice immensely a mix yeah I mean I've done a lot of theaters this past year but looking forward to doing getting backed into some clubs and doing just working on trying and working on some new material Manning that's that's that's a big part of what I love about the clubs but I would always rather do five shows at a 500-seat theatre than one show at a 2500 C theater and that might change as I grow older also the material matures or what you know how I want to present things changes but right now kind of back to what you're talking about with the shift and trying to become a great comedian that also just requires reps it's like I need five shows much more than one show yeah you know and that's why when I finished a weekend of doing five shows or six shows we had shows I'll come back to New York and I will at least one or two nights go and do sets just go and do spots all around town so I'm I'm performing a lot you know and that's why I moved to New York I moved because Cait is this famous installation artist like internationally but she's her world is in New York and so I wanted to be with her so I moved for love oh yeah and then also just to be able to do so many more spots and I love the feel like we were talking about in the very beginning I love the feel of the I love the energy the fire alarm energy of doing as being a stand-up comic in New York yeah yeah I think it it has like yeah New York definitely has more of a you feel like you're just part of there's always something going on it feels it feels fun the world feels alive there yeah and here the world feels a little bit more like package and like you're waiting for like Amazon to bring it by yeah a little sleepy a little you're in traffic and you're stopping and then you're starting and you're stopping in New York is just like go go go would you ever have you lived in New York would you ever live there I just live there about three minutes three months actually I rented a room from a I mean a fellas homosexual gentleman actually and he said let's make that clear so it was really well decorated and yeah I took his bed over for you know three months man so I've done some things you know some lovers and I actually still feel like I owe him $150 maybe to get them I don't know how to clean or whenever not but anyway um but what I'm telling you is yeah see there for three months and I really enjoyed it or I should fear let me stay at his place for a little while he's great I rent him a lot and Kate loves him she his energy she he is such a sweet dude and he's very present yeah and almost every time I have a conversation with him I walk away from it with sort of a little bit more perspective on things we've presently not welcome the Staples Center in Los Angeles yeah falling out with Kobe Bryant that make perfect sense right first I was like what did he do at the Staples Center and I was like oh I see yes yes no he's a su we got he also had that falling-out with Kobe Bryant or you know with that whole deal and so he but that coming from a positive nihilistic viewpoint and I talked to him we saw him after that Kate and I were just walking home and he was headed downtown I think to do the seller or yeah do the fat black and we searched stopped him and we talked a little bit and then I said you know with the mark Normand stuff mark Normand sort of spoke about how the people calling in death threats like why are we not focusing our anger on those oh that's really and Ari said yeah I heard that he said something kind of interesting about that he said well you know what it's like it's like you know you just because because you've had the media go out for you and I was like yeah and I do want to say because I wanted to say this to him I said and my thing is I didn't think it was a funny joke I didn't think it was funny but you didn't he's like then that's fine that's fine that's not the point of it I was like but I don't think it's wrong if that was your thing and that's what you do then I don't think you did anything wrong I think you got the reaction that you were gonna get by doing that yeah that's how you learn whatever it is you don't and you don't expect that people are not gonna react if you're being a provocateur then you expect people to feel provoked and to react in that way which is a form of art to a lot of people yes and it's assert Harmon Rory is one of my favorite directors yeah man and I saw him the other day really and I was so afraid yeah I met a guy well somebody introduced me to somebody through I met someone yeah somebody introduced me to that person and their name was harmony and it really really looked like him but I was so afraid to ask God he's so great gum oh I think it's one of the great but those films are so viscerally provocative yeah and yeah always always been provocative he's always been really that's his thing and he gets on stage and he'll talk [ __ ] about Jewish people and he's Jewish and he had the first thing I ever saw she was depressed really almost yeah yeah and the first thing I saw him in is the amazing race' so yeah and so that was so long ago but from the get-go he was walking around like an Asian geisha and just being like ladyship going back to Africa yeah right so it's like obviously the guy is into like jarring types of you really really pushing pushing pushing the focus a lot of people had never seen and you you get a whole new group we never heard of Arya and this is how the first time they hear about him so that's an easy picking for a lame purr that's the easy picking a hate you know it's weird like oh I got to hate somebody today this is the easiest the lowest hanging fruit right I'm gonna hate him but I think they probably also said you know it's just that that was she be able to say what he wants yeah I mean for Kate said he should have known better and I was like he did know just fine like he knew that and and what I said to him was it was like so how are you doing you're fine right and yeah you know you you realize you get all this hatred all this stuff it's like then you close the laptop and you look around like birds are chirping I live in New York it's beautiful outside so the problem was is that his family and you'll kind of think about this in the context of the hate that he got he said you know the problem was with my family I realized oh they're taking this seriously and it's on a national level and so I had to say to them I'm okay nobody's gonna kill me I'm being safe so that's what's really interesting is nobody really thinks behind all of that online hatred is a family that is really scared for their for their son her brother yeah I think if the Knicks had been doing better I think it would add more support out of New York I'm serious I love that but I do but yeah it was just look we've all told jokes that have bad timing you know like and sometimes it's it you you should just be able to joke like it and if you can joke and turn off your Twitter and turn that off if you don't care about that kind of stuff then you still can I had to get Google Alerts about yourself no I don't and I I did for a long time because I was just interested in what people had to say a while ago I kind of got some wild alerts to them man yeah but I I've also had people I've got Googlers well you don't have you written down in my little yeah yeah yeah but I've had people sort of say stuff like you know you weren't funny in this movie or you're terrible it almost feels like they're talking about somebody else I don't take that personally but I got to a point where I I started understand like it doesn't I still try and get on Twitter interact with fans and do that and I'm trying to interact more on Instagram but the healthier thing if you can do it is just to not you know just to do Instagram when it feels like it's fine and then that's my email it's Google Alerts for Theo von that doesn't come to your inbox yeah going on okay sure I'll text a Nick and ask him home okay yeah yeah yeah just gotta check in my day is getting home at the end of the day being like oh my god did I am i okay and where hey yeah like getting inside me like I'm okay everything yeah so you to it you have you have some sort of would you call it sort of are you an anxious person do you have some anxiety you think net yeah it like kind of a laid-back anxiety it's like a feeling that everything could go away at any moment which I guess causes anxiety I feel like is what I get anxiety no I think it's the easygoing anxiety but I'll say that they're wrong Andy Warhol was always afraid that it was all gonna disappear one so then I'm its do with a lot of artists you know yeah I don't know where that comes from there's thinking that everything's not gonna be okay oh wait I doing it when when I was young and stuff nobody ever told me that everything's okay there was never anybody in my life who's like just saying hey everything's fine you know so there was this narrative started in my head that everything just wasn't okay you know and so and so that's I think I like oh it's just a strong swimmer that's in my bowl is that you know just that everything is not okay everything's on--okay like I'll call people and like everything is okay right like yeah things okay man I think also Los Angeles has done that to me alive yeah Los Angeles is filled with sad anxiety I also want to say I love the way that you speak you have such an 80s synchronic way of speaking when you say I've got that's just swimming around in my bowl I said I would never no one else except for you would say it like that but it makes perfect sense just like the fire alarm analogy but Los Angeles has so much status anxiety and there's none of that in New York right I mean we really we came back and Kate went to his screening with a friend of hers and her friend was clearly had this just the status anxiety a little bit of desperation to her energy now and we hadn't seen her in a couple years and I actually didn't feel it it goes pretty well for me at the light I like the guys Laugh Factory I'm like buddies with Julia and Bobby Lee and stuff yeah that's always nice oh yeah I've used Sergio in if I did any side rooms and kind of all hipster type rooms there's just so much data things I it's definitely like that's your world no no and certainly not anymore because those people have become the like woke kind of I'll go out for you on Twitter that kind of stuff that's so for me i I really like the clubs here and in Manhattan I will do bar shows sometimes but I also just want to perform for real people because that's what you and I do on the road and so it doesn't help us a lot to like like I haven't even been to Brooklyn since I moved to New York and I feel like that now it's so we are so much more a Manhattan energy and couple and I'm so much more of Manhattan person to me first of all going to Brooklyn to get to Brooklyn do a show and come back I could have done three shows in Manhattan so what was the point of going to Brooklyn and second of all the audience is in Brooklyn that's not who I'm performing for an Omaha Nebraska nor is it who I'm performing for in Portland or San Francisco or Philadelphia right it's it is just Brooklyn and I don't need any of the Brooklyn cash yeah just a lot of judge it's it's definitely a lot of judgment comes out of some of those holes you know I don't do the cellar right now in part because that table has a lot of status anxiety and people are thinking about hey I got to I'm past the cellar and I get a little bit of energy of you know you don't you don't belong here yet you haven't paid your dues or something and no other clubs are like that so I that's the only place I experience status anxiety in New York City is in the Comedy Cellar proper and everybody else is nice to meet ya I didn't know we're in there and God for all those people are so nice to me but the younger class if it's not one of the girls so I get along with Nikki Glaser Rachel Feinstein like there's I get along with all they're like man almost though to this yeah - and they're just cool they're just like down-ass chick I just love that and so I'm I think that more and more I'm seeing that like if I stay away from that table at the Comedy Cellar and and and I don't play that room but I'll play Village Underground in the fat black pussycat i I don't really come across any I don't come across much saddest things I in Manhattan and so that's really helped me because I agree with you I think Los Angeles can kind of make you think where am i where am i compared to this person we don't see anybody here you don't connect you never like I know I'm a nice person songs because I'll see someone in the morning or anytime and Euler place you run into more people hey how are you how are you you share a little bit of what's going on if they're not doing well I can notice and say hey what's you know what's happening how you know yeah do something to be a part of somebody's day so you have more of a reflection of who you are somebody can see if you're not doing well whereas here you just get so it's just it's built in a way that if you don't make an extra an extra if you don't try harder to like you gotta get other make an extra effort yes effort but then you then you can get you can get stuck were you just looking at your own reflection all this I think that's right and you're in a car and to get from this neighborhood this neighborhood takes 20 minutes 30 minutes 45 minutes and that's why we've always lived in Hollywood because we have a place here we're just like a little apartment and it's in Hollywood so we walk a lot we don't really Drive in Los and that's nice I'd rather have somebody even throw [ __ ] at me just because somebody's around you know yeah yeah it's getting wild out here who's getting wild Hollywood is it's a sketchy grimy place but it was the closest thing we had to New York City and so we've kind of stuck around that area but yeah I I almost crave right when I took Kate I was upset that I had to take a car out here right away because I just will walk I walk so much out there and there's all these secret stairs and stuff and that just reminds you that Los Angeles isn't just Hollywood the machine it's also a city and we we drove from San Jose I have a classic car it's in 1992 Mitsubishi 3000gt VR four twin turbo you bring it up praise good it's red praise the Lord PTL baby and and so we took that from San Jose down the Pacific Coast one the the highway 1 through Carmel and Big Sur and then all the way down to Santa Barbara jerk-off in the trunk of that thing yeah you know wouldn't tell a soul boy you feel me dude I wonder is that you right there buy it over in that in that field over there on the right a little lower do you have it in your Instagram possibly yeah definitely right is that feel like that Instagram you saw it but it's no to the right a little up up left nope field look at that field man oh that's you it's on my Instagram yes that's me but from transformers 4 that's not my car do you got that you got a little bit of thick and your baby yeah you know what it is yeah dude you got to get a thong baby got to go to Miami yeah that's the way but yeah so we drove that down the coast because we wanted to remind ourselves that Los Angeles is not is not California yeah the the that for us that California isn't Los Angeles Los Angeles is just a part of California and huge man that was really really important and we had such a good time and we you know we renewed our vows and Big Sur a while ago and we love Santa Barbara so we got much more into the everything even if you get out like you know there's a podcast that I've done a few times that I absolutely love and I want to go do it again and it's called on me it would be pretty recently it would be like within the last month or so Kate and I would have been out and about that picture of me with the face on my chest with Kate oh yeah that's me that's pretty perfect mm-hmm that was from the Critics Choice Awards we did an opener with whistling bellybuttons so yeah it would have been if you live in just a few more down do you get nerve do you what is your relationship like with the media like you trust the media like you because you've had some you know you've had some wild stories via the Amtrak experience the reason is is because of the clickbait they're looking for sort of the clickbait of it all and when it is there it is that's it so that's yeah you can play the cars here I'll show you the car yeah that's it I mean yeah right isn't that nice yeah then that's the guy smoking weed and a bus that's what it's like - oh yeah Northern California the bus isn't in use though but yeah yeah I mean he was using him to get high for sure but no I mean I you can't and it's so sad that the the current narrative is kind of true that they'll just they'll either lie about you or they'll turn whatever it is into clickbait and they're kind of you know it's that's the problem with the media right now is they're they're trying to get ratings like entertainment like a television show or you know or movie with the box office that type of thing and so I try and really all you can do is tune that out I asked Jennifer Aniston about this in office Christmas party I said how do you deal with the tabloid stuff I'm and it's just so crazy there just seems such a team that's able to manage it so much well but they're just lying I mean you on the front of these things they say Oh Brad and and and you know they're getting back together or like Jennifer Aniston is so happy that Brad and Angelina are getting divorced and she was like I'm not happy I want people to be happy I'm not happy to assume that none of that is true I said so how you deal with it she said you know you just have to tune it out and just have to be Zen about you have to and it takes a lot of energy and it requires a lot of work and you got to know that the people that really know you know the real story and the rest of the world is gonna have to decide if they want to believe these sources that just aren't real you know when you had can I ask you about the Train experience thing only because we're still do you really get to meet the FBI it's not it's not as it's not as glamorous it's all that yeah but you with that that case hasn't been resolved yet because it was a minute as I say it's a miscommunication with the federal government yeah and so and so once the case is resolved they'll be able to talk about it more but that's an example of something that was like that was between me and the government you know me trying to if you see something say something and the government worrying that it wasn't anything and then TMZ just immediately was like he did this and it was false and he called it as a check and it's like and there's no rebuttal for people if there is something that said that's all about them are wrong there's no I have a about that that you can't you're totally the media can lie value with any repercussion or any recourse and you can't do anything you can't even sue people for defamation if you're famous so the second that they can prove that in some arena you are famous you're definitely famous and so if somebody could say something terrible about you in the press and you'd be like that's al I'm suing for defamation they would they would be able to say no that's not the case and and they could sue you right for something that isn't true and most likely the lawyers would say theö it's better to settle this out of court and you could say but this person is lying like this is what happened to me this person is just lying you just decided to lie and the lawyer will say well we actually know from running his past that he is a he has a history of suing companies and people and settling out of court so he's done this before and it's better for you to pay him money than to go in front of a court and possibly yeah yes yeah more money and not only is that a terrible reality what's also terrible is now when it says that was settled out of court the public is kind of like so did he do something wrong and just pay the person off I just like that yeah they just leave this this untethered end like kind of or whatever crazy do you think but but it then but doesn't it scare you to work in an industry that's kind of built on a lot of that like that absolutely well I think that's a big part of right now I'm doing stand-up and doing in in doing stand-up I'm actually in a lot of ways doing much better than I was doing when I was on a television show because financially it's the same if not better artistically you're in charge of your own everything in terms of like personal life I have much more flexibility and I get to spend a lot more time with Kate but I'm doing a TV show or movie movie I'm gone for three months and Kate really can't visit me because she has her own work and I can't go on the weekends to visit her so I see her a lot more doing stand-up than I would if I was doing film and television but like with the drew Barrymore movie I still love doing films and but yeah it's a it's stand-up is very different bill burr is a really good Conan interview Avicii NARS with him no I mean yeah he's great but he said the way you do it is don't have your own show and which is funny because he has f is for family but he was like the best thing you can do is just not have your own show then you can say whatever you want because they can't take anything away from me right and so that's I think what was really pounded into my face is that Hollywood almost darkly prides itself on the fact that it can take everything away from you to every moment that's in fact what the standin is about drew Barrymore plays a movie star and her own stand and she's playing two parts and it's about how Hollywood loves to take everything away from tear you down and then make you crawl to pull yourself back up and do an apology tour and apologize and say please you know I want to apologize to my fans I took slavery on are so not a slavery there's no it's like a slavery it's like they you know they can beat you and then make you apologize for making them beat you yeah sort of kind of like that and that is this way yeah like oh I understood why you beat me yeah and I want to apologize to you for and please give me a chance to not be beaten yeah it's almost like that and so stand-up just eliminates that possibility what seemed like such a I mean cuz you're such a I mean you're just very different you know and you and it's hard probably to fit I would imagine I couldn't imagine being I'm did you and fitting into because a lot of things are very systematic the world we live in is there's a lot of systems that work best because it facilitates all these moving people at once and I think that's a good point there is a component of me that doesn't fit in very well to predispose systems whether that be any kind of I mean really any kind of system whether that be like the rules at a theme park or you know the school system I had a real tough problem with that and the Hollywood system I think for a long time is not really known what to do with me especially because I'm self permis professed comedian na actor right so yeah but you say that before when I left Silicon Valley they didn't understand they're like what are you doing and I was like I just think this is a really funny ending to it if I sort of go off in this opium den and I think this is a good time for me to sort of and the series or in my part of series and then the series can change and grow and they're like but okay do you want to come back and do three out of ten episodes cuz HBO is super cool they were like you want to come back and do three out of the eight episodes were and I said no no I think it's really funny to end it just like this on this and this four seasons is great that was great thank you and they're like well what about the season finale I was like no that's okay and they're like just you're not even open and sees and what it was is they were like but you're an actor and you're on a successful television show this is what every actor always dreamed of so you how can you walk away from that and it's like because I'm not an actor you don't mean isn't my dream to be Erlich on Silicon Valley it was my dream to work with Mike judge and make a television show that people loved or be a part of one for sure but I also have made television shows like core burger or mash up the people of love I do stand-up which I really love and I make films that people love so it was kind of like I don't want to and so that's an example of Hollywood itself being like I don't like this guy doesn't give a [ __ ] or is he really act like he's he an arrogant [ __ ] or is he truly a nihilist what what is really going on with this person so I can be very confusing to those systems and I think that's why I thrive in kind of independent projects stand up being the most important film being sort of a capsule that happens it goes out and then I'm on to the next thing I'm not sort of on a television show for years and years and why I respect people like you who sort of have done this which is to create your own system and your own kind of and then you've thrived from that and then that becomes theaters you know and selling out clubs and stuff like that so that that and I'm think I'm also drawn to stand-up comics because they usually don't necessarily fit in any system they're not willing to fall in line yeah yeah you know I think that's something uh yeah I never I never wanted to if something wasn't unique I never wanted to do it or probably and you didn't want to be a part of it necessarily yeah I've had a tough time being a part of things yeah because I think in nature I never felt a part of things so then why would I naturally easily I would it would be tough to gravitate towards it sometimes you know um but you know I think it's interesting what you're saying man I mean I think yeah burr does a great job of it in the sense that he does stand up he created an animation he kind of jumps into things here and there but there's nothing that's like keeping him in a stable and a tether constantly yeah he's not tethered at all and he's pretty strongly a stand-up yeah he really is and that's been another interesting thing is to interact with people because so many stand-ups that I know really wanted to act you know I don't know how well you want you want to succeed and there's this there's this thing that like that Hollywood is the success there's this thing especially even with our parents our generation I mean I think I'm allotted in you but where they television is it like I could - around the world doing comedy but they're like oh if I didn't see on an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond are you doing okay or what's going on - you're homosexual yeah keep but it is you'll get the in the beginning your career you're like I'm headlining what was it I was like I was in a movie as in Cloverfield and I was in oh yeah yeah and then I was I was headlining clubs I'd been on a television show but got canceled then I went to a family reunion and somebody was like hey just keep at it you'll make it one day and I was like what I already did it yeah what do you want you're gonna get there I'm there over there it's currently out right exact over to this one sunset what do I need to do it's currently happening so people do think that and I've seen stand-ups who just wanted to from stand-up to become a television star our movie star whatever talk show host and that just hasn't been my end-all be-all and I'm so happy I'm doing an international tour you find the tickets on TJ Miller does not have a website comm we're announcing the tour very soon in May and June and I'm going all over Europe and then and then on to like other parts Auckland New Zealand it's yeah and so that's so exciting for me and I'm almost as certainly as happy but almost happier doing that than being on the cover of a magazine because I'm on a hit television show or I'm part of a big movie franchise or something like that so obviously I feel hashtag blessed for both or for all of it but I don't really think success is in success for me in a lot of ways this is less in what you get and more in how much control you have I think you're really successful if you have control of your own life and you're not you know that's why I feel bad for a lot of actors because they have to take actually after Tiger belly Bobbie Lee and I were talking and he just said he said are we so lucky TJ and I was like yeah and he's like you know to have comedy and I said oh yeah definitely goes we're just so lucky we just get to tour and make money and do this thing and it's so fun I just were so lucky and he was talking about we both were kind of talking about if you're an actor then the job ends and you kind of are waiting for the next job and you know we're talking about not in that you with stand-up this this is never gonna stop until you want it to so having that control that's to me that success being you know really really rich because you were the guy the one of the Nerds and the Big Bang Theory I don't know that that is you didn't have a lot of say in your life during that time and I I don't know how much money is that's worth to sort of relinquish that much control I would much prefer to not make as much oh it's nothing about Silicon Valley like don't you want to be rich I mean say that it's sort of like oh it always a bottom line of all of it don't you want to don't you want to do that yeah don't you want to be able to buy a boat big house but you wanna have a second wife Yeah right divorce be able to pay the alimony and I you know I kind of was like no I don't want a boat I don't need a I want to live in New York City and so we have this dope place in New York City and I don't need a pool and I don't need a plane one of the guys from Silicon Valley bought a plane Wow like what likes to fly planes and stuff but I was like I just want to be a comic in New York that was the coolest thing to me it's not like having a mansion in Bel Air or something is it addictive though whenever you get because you found me you I remember seeing when you did the UM the Yogi Berra edition right that was yeah yeah yeah I think and I was so jealous I remember seeing like man this guy he just so it's for Allison Jones I think he did it for was that right yeah totally matter that because you did a special audition right you did a special audition where this is what I heard this is just from okay this guy found a bear somewhere and got to go win and did a special edition next to a very dangerous bear yeah and got a really good take and submitted the and submitted that as the audition and said you should be a part of this so the truth is I went and I audition because I thought it would be funny to be in Yogi Bear 3d hmm because it would be a funny stand-up credit right mm-hm and it would just be silly to do that and then I kind of on a ferris was gonna be in and I was like oh my god that would be amazing because she's like one of my comedy idols and then I went and I do the audition with Allison Jones it went well and then I went and I bought a Ranger hat as a joke and I went in and I I went in and I was like hey I just wanted to look late cuz I brought my own Ranger hat and I was just wondering if I could use it I don't have to but it was $19.99 and you know I can't return it I can exchange it for something else but I bought it for the audition and they were kind of like yeah that's fine man I was like great and I put the I put on the Hat and they say say your name and slate you know the poor kid in the casting system that's got the camera say her name is Slade my joke with that is I'm always like TJ Miller auditioning for the role of Yogi Berra 3d I'm 6 foot 3 but when I act like crouch so I'm 6 foot 2 and then they're like okay we're ready and then I go I'm sorry can I just stop you guys real quick and there's this poor casting since I just ask you something how much about how much head room do I have because I'm gonna be doing a lot of hat work so if you can give me sort of enough so think of it less is head room more hat room it's how much hat room do I have and this kid's like I mean I don't know like about this much I was like yeah but I can't that's smaller to me than it is to you because you're far away so just tell me when to stop and I was like and he's like he's like no no stop before there I was like can you get can you give me this what about here ok cuz I'm gonna be doing kind of like that sort of stuff so do I have room to do that in this kids like yeah sure they're already cracked so now you've already got a lot of humor going before the auditions already yeah that's a key bro he hasn't gone so then Alison texted me actually out for the audition she was like you know there you're their first choice and I think this is you're gonna get good news tomorrow and I was like tell them that I want to submit supplemental materials to give them a better idea of what I would do with the part she was like I don't think he need to and I was like yeah but I have this great idea so that I did I when I rented a bear at the Hollywood animals oh really I feel like and then I made it send it to them and you have it was a joke the whole thing is right I get it but still as a resident as somebody that auditions stuff that would feel like suck to a regular person yeah for the full lobe yeah because you're like already have like I'm just be like I'm gonna I'm just 3/4 low bad guys and yeah I wasn't full loving it no way and so high I sent them this audition because you gotta think about if I've already gotten it and then I make a funny video like that's not gonna hurt the situation so I sent it and they watched it I thought it's so funny and they sent all the way up to alan horne who was the head of the studio at the time jewish hire or not he I'm not sure but I think I met him he warned he he goes yeah he's been I think he's the head of he was the head of Warner Brothers and now he's the head of he's involved in Disney somehow and he he never laughs at anything and he watched this good and he didn't laugh but he was like we should we should hire this kid he's really really funny and I said well yeah he was he was our first choice so I did that movie yeah 2010 and that's the film that right afterwards my actually while I was in the film my brain hemorrhage just slightly [ __ ] yeah and I started to go actually insane like clinically insane because there was just too much blood in my brain and then when I came back afterwards I was in like a really crazy state and I am that's when I had the seizures plural and went to the hospital they're like we need to operate on your plan yogi birdie brings it all around full circle that's amazing coast to coast and worldwide [Music] [Music] little town for me to sell that parking brake and let myself on my [Music] [Music]

Channel: Theo Von

Views: 453,856

Keywords: Theo von, this past weekend, theo von podcast, this past weekend podcast, tpw, joe rogan, joe rogan experience, jre, joe rogan podcast, brendan schaub, bryan callen, the fighter and the kid, below the belt, tfatk, theo von brendan schaub, king and the sting, king and the sting podcast, chris delia, chris delia podcast, joey diaz, bert kreischer, tom segura, bobby lee, tigerbelly, ari shaffir, tj miller, silicon valley, ready player 1, gorberger

Id: n8NYTBSu7pY

Length: 100min 8sec (6008 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/ManandGodandLaw]

They just have random T Mobile people able to walk into the studio unabated? They need to fix that like yesterday. Lock the fucking door Nick.

[u/bobhaffner]

I'm gonna be bummed if none of you pulled off a Jian-Yang prank call in

[u/dictaphones__lament]

This was amazing lol loved hearing tj talk about leaving Silicon Valley at the end there too

[u/blasphemics]

Phenomenal. Onward.

[u/ManandGodandLaw]

It weird. I liked the TigerBelly with TJ and thought this was okay, but I’m still not sold on him like I have been with other people on pods I’m not too familiar with, like Normand or Destefino. I don’t know. Maybe eventually. I don’t hate him or anything.

Edit: I love that fucking chain though.

[u/Lawlach]

I know they got a schedule to stick to, but why they gotta just start the music and end it mid convo

[u/RADDisNORRIN]

How much time does TJ spend talking about his wife?

[u/SerpentDetector]

Fascinating stuff about TJ’s brain

[u/Neely0Hara]

Theo was great but TJ is a total weirdo. He was either name dropping, talking about New York being superior to LA or weirdly talking about his wife. It’s cute when people love their spouses...but his vibe was more of superiority or something. I loved his character Erlich on Silicon ... but like they said when they fired him, he’s got problems!

Edited to add: I listened to the whole thing and it was entertaining, I just don’t like TJ. Lol. Theo saying “Are y’all with the church” and their reaction to the walkins cracked me up.