Episode 14: My father was right to leave

April 18th, 2019
Hosted by Brian Birnbaum
Guests: David Wiswell
Produced by Katie Rainey

For the fourteenth episode of the Animal Riot Podcast we invite Dave Wiswell, comedian extraordinaire and victim of the true artist's necessarily depraved upbringing (kidding but not kidding). After giving and overview of his spectacular new YouTube show, Pop-up Interviews, Dave delves into his trajectory as a comedian, taking us on a tragicomic tour of his rise as a comedian and, hilariously, the nearly implausible litany of foibles and contretemps that came with his first few years of trying to settle in New York City. So gather round and give a gander as we expand on our fuckery-filled quest for literary and artistic community.

>> Brian: Welcome to the 14th episode of the Animal Riot Podcast brought to you by Animal Riot, a literary press for books that matter. I'm your host, Brian Birnbaum. We're here today with Dave Wiswell, host of pop up interviews on youtube.com/idiotpresents. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a second. Dave is a comedian from upstate New York who made his bones in San Francisco before moving back here to the city. Tonight's brand of fuckery is brought to you by rose and the problems that bring on drinking rose. We discussed that...we have an order of operations here. We're going to talk about why you got into comedy first. Give us...

>> Dave: Yeah, well, is that I love ‘brought to you by rose’. First of all, I love that. Brought to you by rose and not eating dinner. (laughs)

>> Brian: Yeah, I didn't add that. That's true. That's a very good point. It's a very good point.

>> Dave: But I always wanted to do comedy. I was always drawn to it ever since I remember being like five, and it was like an interesting confluence of like I loved, like Robin Williams, Mork and Mindy.

>> Brian: Did you see his documentary on HBO?

>> Dave: I did. Yeah, I...

>> Brian: God that was beautiful.

>> Dave: There's been so many great comedy documentaries recently. It's been really fucking cool... the Garry Shandling one. The one on the Dana Carvey Show is unbelievable.

>> Brian: I've got to check these out.

>> Dave: You should definitely. If you have Hulu. Don't watch my show. Watch this documentary. Watch the Dana Carvey Show.

>> Brian: Okay now you're plugging everyone else except for you.

>> Dave: They discovered both of the most famous Steve's in the world: Steve Carell and Steve Colbert. They plucked them out of obscurity. Charley Hoffman

>> Brian: More so than Steve Martin?

>> Dave: Oh, that's a good one. Steven Wright would be the fourth. And I think there's a huge drop off in Steve's... Oh Steve Jobs.

>> Brian: Anyways. So you started in upstate New York. But before we do that...

>> Dave: I started living in upstate. That's where I started in life.

>> Brian: So tell us why you got into comedy, because I do think it very much parallels why fiction writers start writing fiction or you know, creative nonfiction.

>> Dave: Yeah, yeah, I think it's pretty universal for artists. I mean, just, you know, it's a way to make sense of the world. That's what we were talking about last week. It's just like it's a way to make sense of the world. Like Judd Apatow put it really well, where he was like, You see the world and like, everything seems wrong, right? Like who has power? Like who gets the girl who gets the money, All this stuff, It all seems like everything is wrong, and comedians seemed to have kind of put that in perspective, and you can actually smile and be happy about it.

>> Brian: It's like comedians like, You know how everyone has that little private conversation where it's like, Oh, yeah, no one's as happy as they seem. Comedians are like empirical proof of that.

>> Dave: It's true. And everyone says that like comedians, are fucked up. I can't remember who somebody had a great observation that it's like everyone's fucked up. That's why comedy works. That's why you're relating to that because everyone's kind of fucked up. Yeah, and it's also one place where you're actually given positive reinforcement for honesty. Every other job, they fired me for being too honest. But comedy was the one place where that's actually rewarded, so it's a very good point. So when I was five, I always wanted to be a comedian. I saw Steven Wright I saw early on I love those one liners. I love all kinds of jokes. You know, I saw the Andy Kaufman movie "Man on the Moon". I even love like Fozzie the Bear. Even he was like one of the things for me when I was a little kid where I was like, I want to do that.

>> Brian: So you knew very early on you wanted to be a comedian.

>> Dave: Yeah I remember really about five years old thinking about it. My idea was like I was going to dress like a comic book. This was my, like, shitty five year old's comedian mind.

>> Brian: Like an actual comic book?

>> Dave: Like in a suit made of comic books and I was going to think I'm a comic.

>> Brian: That's a good Halloween costume.

>> Dave: I was like, I fucking figured it out. I was punning it up. Yeah, I remember telling my mom and my mom was always cool. She always got me... She always was into that. She got me books on comedy, books on comedians, which oftentimes, like comedians, books like The Drew Carey... She got me Drew Carrey's book about his life. And it's all about, like, trying to kill himself. And, like, cocaine and hookers. My mom had no idea. This is the host of the Drew Carey Show. Like, who thought?

>> Brian: Yeah, I would have seen that coming. Despite Whose Line Is It Anyway, I would have seen it. Him and Wayne Brady are like...

>> Dave: He's such a friendly, jovial guy. I really like that guy. I think he's cool, but yeah, you know, it was until I was about 20 that I got drunk enough to actually try it.

>> Brian: We met up last week and talked and you said that alcohol did not really jive with the process that much?

>> Dave: Well the problem was more that it jives really well. And my thinking was like, I've got to be able to do this without the alcohol because I think I'm gonna have to be drunk to get on stage.

>> Brian: Who's the Australia that I'm thinking of right now?

>> Dave: I'm assuming Jim Jefferies.

>> Brian: Jim Jefferies. He's just hand off the bone every single set.

>> Dave: I love that he did one bit on gun control and all of a sudden...

>> Brian: And now he's a huge. He makes fun of that himself.

>> Dave: It's just ironic that he's like he made his bones like being the Australian who says cunt. Like that's his thing and now he's like this political voice. I don't know. I'm not like shitting on him. He's a great host, but it's just funny. Like I remember the first time I saw him when he first got to the States, he was doing this bit about trying to get a vibrating egg that he'd gotten stuck in his asshole out with chopsticks. And that's his big bit.

>> Brian: This is before gun control?

>> Dave: Yeah, gun control was recent.

>> Brian: It was a few years ago, I'd say, like three years ago. Yeah, something like that.

>> Dave: And then he came to the States in 2009?

>> Brian: I have no idea.

>> Dave: Something like that.

>> Brian: So yeah, so tell us about your show. Give us a little... It's kind of hard to explain. Start at a basic level as if we're all idiots and we don't know what chat roulette isn't.

>> Dave: Yeah, please go to youtube.com/idiotpresents. It's called pop up interviews. And essentially, it initially was called The Chatroulette Interview show. And now it's not. That's in my theme song, but pop up interviews. It's essentially that I set up a talk show set in my living room, and I have, like a little live audience that sits and watches as I spring a talk show on unsuspecting people online. So there are these websites that I thought everyone knew about, but I guess not everyone knows about... chat roulette was really big and crazy.

>> Brian: Crazy. Yeah, most people don't know about chatroulette. I remember being in college, I went to University of Maryland, and I would travel up to Towson because I had a couple of friends who went there and we would just go up there and be like Woah this is a shit show. And that's where I learned about Chatroulette.

>> Dave: (laughs) But essentially, for those of you out there who don't know, it's essentially a site that connects you randomly with people for Skype-like conversations. And it's just like you click next and you're just to another person all over the world.

>> Brian: And there are a lot of people who show their dicks.

>> Dave: There are. It's less than it used to be.

>> Brian: That's good. I guess...

>> Dave: It's less than it used to be. There's a couple where it's just me vs penises. It's just me mocking these penises because at first, like the audience is like "ugh, ugh, ugh", and by the end of show... because we shoot for three hours and we'll get about nine, ten episodes out of a shoot, it's just like a fun laid back time. It's a lot of fun because you just never know what's gonna happen. And then just every once in a while we're just talking to a kid about his parents. It's gets serious for a second and all of a sudden, like we go all right, Well, thank you on then it's just a dude with a giant... And they're giant. These guys are on here for a reason.

>> Brian: They need to show someone.

>> Dave: It's impressive. And by the end, like everyone's like like it's fun, you know, like it's just enough where it's funny.

>> Brian: What do you do when there's a dick that comes up?

>> Dave: I've done all kinds of things.

>> Brian: Do you just compliment them?

>> Dave: We now have a whole new set up... Yeah, I've complimented them, insulted them. And I'm always very impressed by the guys who can maintain or gain some type of erection...

>> Brian: Yeah, without with absolutely no stimulation.

>> Dave: With my ridicule. Yeah, I mean, it's not just stimulation, it's ridicule.

>> Brian: Yeah, it's anti-stimulation.

>> Dave: Yeah, I've started to try to interview them about their mothers, and I've actually converted one of these into an interview. I did a two part interview.

>> Brian: So what do you do? Do you blur out the dick or what do you do?

>> Dave: Well, in that circumstance, we didn't actually see his dick. He was trying to solicit me. So sometimes they'LL have the camera facing up and they're just trying to solicit something. And so this guy's starting. He starts off by going naked, naked, get naked, naked. And then I guess he's not looking. And then I go, Hey, you're live on pop up interviews and he looks up and he sees what's happening. And he can't stop laughing because we're not seeing his face. We're just seeing like his forehead and like pictures of his family.

>> Brian: But where's his dick then? He's got it ready?

>> Dave: His dick is off camera. But he loved the show. He couldn't stop laughing for like a minute. I explained to him what the show is, and he was like Alright, let's do the interview. So we interview him. It was a really interesting interview. He tells me like his cousin was Andy Kaufman, which, by the end, I actually believed, which was very strange.

>> Brian: Your belief was strange?

>> Dave: And he told me about his time in prison. He told me a little bit about it. He told me that his wife of fifteen years, left him for her own cousin. He didn't get into it but he said, essentially like something connected with that is why he went to prison.

>> Brian: Where was this individual from it was somewhere, I believe, in the South. I want to say, like the mid South. But he was definitely American, but he didn't say... I just want to say one more thing about that. At the end, he had been so forthcoming in the interview that I actually like, offered him up. I was like, Listen, man, if you wanna, like, masturbate to the thought of me, that's totally fine. And he was very excited about it, which made me feel kind of good about my...

>> Brian: Excellent. Excellent.

>> Dave: Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you knew that this is, like a really intellectual show. And that it's the kind of thing you would plug on a literary podcast.

>> Brian: Absolutely. Yeah, we'll ask you about your influences.

>> Dave: A lot of Chaucer (laughs)

>> Brian: Oh wow, I was gonna say Burroughs. I will say there was one episode that I saw that there was a dude, the camera just goes on him, and he's just rubbing his dick with his gun.

>> Dave: Yeah, we've had guys show their gun collections.

>> Brian: And we just really wanted him to stay on. You're like you're on pop up interviews and just like you could hear the brightness in your voice. And then he's and then he's just like, Oh, no, we can't do that.

>> Dave: That's one of the funny things is I get really excited when something because I'm like, Oh, this is good content for my show. So you hear my voice gets really excited like that when they told me that I used it in the promo materials. At one point I cut a teaser where I used it, where I just go Your wife left you for her own cousin! (laughs) I couldn't be more happy about...

>> Brian: Oh, it's really funny because it sounds like there's just straight debauchery, but there's actually like families that get on here. There was one family, and just like there was one episode with his huge family, I forget all their names. But if you're asking them, you're like, Oh, who's the annoying one? Who's the cool one?

>> Dave: Yeah and they told me they'd start dishing the dirt on each other so you get... It's just like you never know what's gonna happen, which is such a great format for a comedian, because comedy, I think, is at its best when it's a reactive. So I don't have time to, like, pre plan or, like, write a joke on, then rewrite it and ruin it. And then it's great for editing that. Just cut to the laugh if he gets a laugh, if it doesn't get a laugh. But it's like we have this young Canadian girl who, like talked about her first kiss with a boy.

>> Brian: I saw that one too. She was super shy. She kept typing. She wouldn't talk to you. She was just typing. And you were like, Come on, just talk and everyone in the background cheering her on.

>> Dave: And then we actually got to the front page of Reddit with a gif from her episode which was great because that was one where I wasn't sure. I always assume that the most salaciousness episodes are going to be the ones that are going to get the most clicks, but the fact that I was worried about putting that one out because I loved that you could really find out about this person. I like to try and get that sociological element into the show. As much as it's a parody show, I'd like it also to be its own, you know, kind of serious interview show.

>> Brian: Despite the fact that you're in your boxers. And a jacket and tie.

>> Dave: Yeah, so the guests see that I'm wearing a suit and tie but the audience at home can see that I'm not wearing pants because I think it's important not to...

>> Brian: It's very important not to wear pants sometimes in a professional setting. Talking to high schoolers. (laughs)

>> Dave: Sometimes when there's a kid on the show, I'm like, This is like has a different context.

>> Brian: It's like I wish I had pants.

>> Dave: I'm turning into my father.

>> Brian: (laughs) Yeah. Speaking of which, let's talk about where you came from

>> Dave: My dad's balls.

>> Brian: That is true for most of us. If not all of us.

>> Dave: My dad's balls were the progenitor. The Africa of balls.

>> Brian: Unless... some of us in a petri dish. Let's not... we were adopted from the petri dish.

>> Dave: My dad was actually adopted.

>> Brian: He was?

>> Dave: Yeah.

>> Brian: Do you think that is responsible for all of your problems today?

>> Dave: Listen, I think it's part of it. I think abandonment is the gift that keeps on leaving. So I think that's you know, that's a factor.

>> Brian: Good. Very good. (laughter)

>> Dave: That's a great interview tactic. You just pause and you wait to see. I know that trick, dude.

>> Brian: Yeah. We're going to use all the tricks, and one of them's gonna work.

>> Dave: No, I appreciate it. This is what I do. I trick people into saying shit they shouldn't have (laughs).

>> Brian: Where should we start? Because we jumped, like, all over the place when we first met up last week. And I don't think we need to be chronological here. I don't write chronological narratives.

>> Dave: Let's do this like a Tarantino movie. Let's cut it up.

>> Brian: Yes. Or some Christopher Nolan old school Memento shit. Maybe we just forget everything. Like I don't know.

>> Dave: Yeah, maybe we should get high (laughs).

>> Brian: I guess. So, Yeah. Where should we start? I mean, cause, like, there's just so much. Let's start with you getting ready to leave New York State. You like you're doing comedy already?

>> Dave: No, no, no, no, no, no.

>> Brian: Not until you get to San Francisco.

>> Dave: Not until I got to San Francisco. So I wanted to be a comedian, you know? You know, my dad split when I was young. I was very much of ah, very good kid. A sweet people pleaser type and, you know, just something happened. And I guess they say if you don't rebel when you're in your terrible twos like it happens in high school and you know, just a lot of shit happened. There weren't a lot of adults present in my life. And I went a little bit off the rails. I definitely was, you know, drinking and getting high a lot. Cutting class. You know all that shit right now? I was kicked out of school and I started working construction. You know, I thought of moving on to San Francisco. A lot of my friends started doing, like, heavier drugs, like, you know? Like crack became part of the picture and it felt like a rock and a hard place. I could see the end of my life. Every once in a while, I think about what the other life would've been if I hadn't moved to San Francisco and tried this.

>> Brian: I totally understand what you're saying. When I graduated college... you should talk about how not going to college affected you because I think that's kind of cool. I think, especially in this day and age, going to college is a thing that is becoming very, very. What's the word for it... Better? (laughs)

>> Dave: I don't have one hundred thousand dollars in debt which is nice. That's a big thing I find.

>> Brian: So what was your thought process when you're leaving New York and you're going to San Francisco. You want to do comedy. You're saying I'm not going to go to college. Fuck that. Were you scared? Were you saying I'm going off the beaten path or was that all just some convention that you're like, I'm already comedian. I don't think about this shit.

>> Dave: I don't know if it was much like that. As like, it was like I wanted to go. I think I did get scared. And I think I almost didn't go. And then that's when I got mono and I almost died of mono. I almost died. I couldn't eat for, like, two weeks. I couldn't drink for like, a week. I literally couldn't get fluids in my throat. The doctor apparently went to my mom and was like, Yo, tell everybody to say goodbye. She told me she called my dad and my dad just was, like, couldn't be bothered. He was in another state already, and he just couldn't even fucking be bothered.

>> Brian: Massachusetts? He was up there?

>> Dave: Yeah. Mattapoisett.

>> Brian: That just sounds like where alcoholics go to live.

>> Dave: Yeah, his wife actually just died. I didn't hear that from him. We don't talk. She died this last summer? I forget how we found out. Like, I think just every once in a while, someone in my family would Google to see what's happening because we'll just not know, you know?

>> Brian: So this is how broken families function?

>> Dave: Exactly. And well, it's like because every once in awhile I will Google and when is that little doubt in my mind that he comes back... When does that fucking end? I think you always kind of think about that. Well, I don't know, not everybody, but I always kind of, you know, even though, you know, it's not healthy, like he was like, definitely like a bad... Well, most of my memories of him are like memories of, like fear. So, you know, he's ah, you know, he's a difficult person who doesn't take responsibility...

>> Brian: How do you think that affected you going into comedy? Because I think comedy is... they call it a mature defense mechanism. Yeah, I really do think I mean, because, like, you know, I was actually just talking about this on the last podcast that we did about how all of us saw the absurdity and things. And I think it's because we came from a place of sadness in a certain way, and that allows you to see the absurdity and to make humor out of it. Because what else are you going to do? I don't know. What's your take on that?

>> Dave: Yeah. I mean, you know, I think it's equal parts like what we were talking about before, Like trying to make sense of the world and also, yeah, I think it's definitely a defense mechanism. Because people I have this thing about dark humor that a lot of times people think dark humor like people like just behaving badly for the sake of it. But I think of it more as like your kind of processing the world. It's usually the people I know, with the dark sense of humor usually are the most sensitive there, oftentimes, really sensitive people. It's very hard to deal with, You know, the world, all these things that we know in the world. So comedy's away to face that in a positive way. Like manure is a great fertilizer is how I think of it.

>> Brian: Okay. Sure. And how did you know, at five years old that you wanted to do that?

>> Dave: Because I knew I was sad already.

>> Brian: Wow.

>> Dave: No, I'm kidding.

>> Brian: I was going to say I didn't know until I was eleven. (laughter)

>> Dave: No, I didn't come to terms that until like a couple years ago. No, I'm kidding you. What was the question again?

>> Brian: Something about sadness. Yeah, let's get back to you going to San Francisco.

>> Dave: Yeah, so I get there and got mono. And I almost died, and then I got out of it, and I was like, I just got to fucking do it. So I went, and that's where I started stand up. I started going out to open mics. There was a famous one in San Francisco. But the first one I went to what was at the back of this coffee shop, but the first real one where we used to go regularly, it was one of the bigger open mics in town for comedians was Thursday nights at the Brainwash, which was the Brainwash was a bar / laundromat / cafe.

>> Brian: So that's where they also go to DJ?

>> Dave: I assume they did that. I know they did music.

>> Brian: I heard about laundromat DJs, like, apparently that's a thing.

>> Dave: It would make sense. I'm sure they had all kinds of stuff there at the Brainwash. I think the Brainwash actually closed down, but it was actually named after Patty Hearst.

>> Brian: Okay, Yeah.

>> Dave: Interestingly enough, I definitely saw people perform there that were crazier than her. I saw a clown juggle fire out in the street because he didn't take his meds. I've seen...

>> Brian: He was saying I didn't take my meds, so I'm juggling fire?

>> Dave: I mean, you know, not at the time. He said that and juggled fire. It was like a part of the act. But yeah, Just like a lot of crazies went through there. But I saw more than one person pull out a gun. It was just a crazy place. But I started standup out there. I love the form of standup. I love doing stand up.

>> Brian: You were there for, like, seven years?

>> Dave: Yeah, I was there for about seven years. Around that. That is why I started doing stand up. If you want to see a clip of me doing stand up there. There's a clip of me doing stand up at the Punch Line. San Francisco, if you look up David Wiswell, stand up at Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco. Some combination of that, you'll find that on the channel youtube.com/mediapresents where you could find pop up interview...

>> Brian: Good job.

>> Dave: (laughs) Plugging it, but yeah, I love stand up. And that's where I kind of developed my my point of view, which I think is really helpful to how I, you know, do my sketches and all that stuff now and then I moved back to New York. I remember when I was about to move back to New York, I was living in this crawl space situation, working a couple of jobs. That was shit. You want to hear about my first three months in New York?

>> Brian: Yeah, Let's let's go through that.

>> Dave: So I moved in... I didn't move in, but I just moved over here. I was staying with my ex girlfriend for a brief period, and, you know, I had to get out of there. And then I moved into this place for three hundred dollars a month. I moved into this place in Brighton Beach, which was, like, just like...

>> Brian: For three hundred dollars a month, you might as well get murdered. That's what you're paying for.

>> Dave: Cracks in the walls. Just like tons of rats. And like, just like you know...

>> Brian: The plague.

>> Dave: Yeah, just every kind of bug crawling all over the walls. Giant bugs. And one night I'm like working late at night on my laptop and the ceiling just opens and just water just pours all over my shit.

>> Brian: And this is after a snowstorm, right?

>> Dave: Yeah. I'm a romantic so I moved there on New Year's, you know, and...

>> Brian: Good omens. Resolutions.

>> Dave: It was right after this giant fucking snowstorm. And like, there was some strike with the union. So no one was plowing. And in Brighton Beach and...

>> Brian: No one plowed your roof?

>> Dave: No, I'm talking about the roads.

>> Brian: Yeah. And the roof?

>> Dave: No, I doubt they did. Yeah, but yeah, in those conditions, it's literally like living in Siberia. It's very strange because no one speaks English. It's a very Russian vibe. So I got to get out of there. I find another place I'm living in a garage for, like, three fifty a month.

>> Brian: So you pull all your shit out of a snow caved in place and just go somewhere.

>> Dave: I mean, it wasn't snow caved in. It was like the pipes burst.

>> Brian: Oh the pipes burst.

>> Dave: Yeah, but I get all the stuff out of there. I moved to this garage, and I'm starting to feel weird. I'm there for a week or two, and I'm starting to feel really weird. Like kind of hopped up. So I find this nice paint set in the fucking closet. And so I go. I tracked down the chick who was living there before me to give her paints back. And she goes, Oh, yeah, Well, thank you. And, you know, you should know this, that there's, like, an operational meth lab, like, literally right above the garage. And I was like, Wow, thank you for telling me that. And I that's why I'm feeling weird. That's why I'm having trouble sleeping.

>> Brian: Thank God they're not acrylic (laughs).

>> Dave: Yeah, but that's why I'm having trouble like sleeping and feeling weird because those fucking fumes seep.

>> Brian: Yeah, but are they're not like meth fumes, right? You're just getting kind of, like fucking woozy or something?

>> Dave: I don't know. I wasn't feeling normal. I don't know. I'm not, You know, I'm not an expert.

>> Brian: You're not Walter White? (laughs)

>> Dave: Yeah. Not yet. I aspire. So I got to get out of there, right? And so I find a place where this guy, it's another place. It's like four hundred dollars a month for a room and it's fairly close by. He says in two nights he goes, I can move in even though the room is like vacant currently. When I go the first time he seemed relatively normal. He was wearing like long sleeves and, like, seemed relatively normal. And when I go back, I guess when your methed out you seem normal. And when I come back, I move all my stuff in. I sit across from him. I'm still smoking cigarettes at the time and I sit down. I start to have a cigarette and pretty quickly in the conversation. And so he's not wearing long sleeves anymore.

>> Brian: So you can see the track marks?

>> Dave: He's wearing a wife beater so you can see like he's got tattoos and they're not, like, cool, like hip web designer tattoos. They're, like, weird, like old world like you either got these, like in prison or like...

>> Brian: Paganist. Satanist.

>> Dave: Or like on a ship. I mean, yeah. So he's laughing. He keeps telling like these weird bad jokes and then laughing and slapping his leg really hard. And when he does that, I can see like he's missing like the back teeth, as if it's from like drug use.

>> Brian: Meth use.

>> Dave: Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, I was getting an unsettling, but anyway, quickly he goes, you're not planning to get a lot of sleep tonight, right? I was like, Well, yeah, I was planning on sleeping. It's like ten o'Clock or something at this point and he goes, Oh, yeah, he's guy, I've got something I've got to do and I'm like Okay, but there's like a huge red flag and I'm like, What the fuck's going on? And I asked him, You know, like what he's talking about, and essentially he starts telling me that like he is part of this religion. It's essentially like there. And I looked it up later, like they're the sect of, like, Greek Orthodox people that kind of fell away to like the old like, pagan traditions like these, like Satanist Things. And he's telling me how he's gotta sacrifice a rooster in the other room and he's sacrificing it to this entity, which comically it's like named Derek. But he said it was named Derek, which was such a strange name.

>> Brian: You know, I heard that about seventeen to twenty thousand years ago, Derek was a very popular name. It's just come back into vogue. So...

>> Dave: Really?

>> Brian: No (laughter).

>> Dave: I was like, could be. It could be one of those things.

>> Brian: I'm emphasizing this dude's absurdity. (laughter)

>> Dave: But it was it was so fucker crazy. So anyway, so he tells me there's this rooster in the other room and he starts telling me that I can't see Derrick. He can see Derek and he has to sacrifice something. And this is like, a special equinox. I looked it up later. It's like once every sixteen years, it's like a special moon thing.

>> Brian: And at that point you say, Oh, I get it. You can see Derek. I can't see Derek. It's been sixteen years, seventeen years? Of course. The cicadas are coming out.

>> Dave: Yeah, I mean, so he says he has to do a sacrifice once a month. This is a very special one, he says. The larger the thing he sacrifices to Derek, the better it makes his life. And when I looked it up later, this was like the scary it start. It's true that there are three. The three things that they can sacrifice are a goat, a rooster, and it said a fucking human. And I start to realize that he's trying to get me into the room to, like, take part in this, and it's a small apartment and I start to realize, like roosters air fucking loud, like if there's a rooster in the other room, I'm going to hear that fucker. That's when I looked out the window and, like I could see, it was a full moon. And I'm like fuck, I got to get the fuck out of here. And Jesus, I remember doing everything I could to just try and get him because he's big enough where if he wants to, like, do something, he could just kind of do something, you know? And so I'm freaked out, and I'm trying not to let him know that I'm freaked out. Like I'm trying to pretend like now I'm like, he's like, trying to get me to come in there, because then you know, it'LL make his life better. And I start going No, no, no, no, no. You know, I got my whole other thing. I start like, showing him Bob Dylan songs. Like just on pulling shit out of my ass. I'm trying to act so confident that I asked him if I can smoke At the time I was smoking pot asked him if I could smoke pot and this is the funniest shit He goes to me. He goes, Alright, Just blow it out the window. Like he can sacrifice to an entity in the house. But I can't. Oh, my God. It's so fucking crazy.

>> Brian: Blood is scentless, isn't it?

>> Dave: Is it?

>> Brian: I don't know. I'm just saying trying to, you know, corroborate this guy. And last week when you were talking to me you were like, I was trying to act like I saw a bear. So if I see a bear, I just gotta act normal.

>> Dave: Yeah, that was like going into it. Like, because if you show a bear, you're scared, he will fuckin kill me, right? So I'm trying to, like, act calm and just wait till he goes to the bathroom so I could fucking get out of there. So anyway, it gets to be about three, three thirty in the fucking morning, and I just can't turn my back on this guy.

>> Brian: Or he might stab it.

>> Dave: Finally, he asked me one more time because he keeps coming back to it and trying to get me to come into the room. And finally I go No, no, no, I'm not going to I shouldn't. I shouldn't. It's late and I'm like, I think I'm gonna turn in and he gets up and he looks really angry. And as he's turning around, he screams "Derek's going to be screaming tonight" and he's like, really fucking pissed. And he goes and I start to walk like he's starting to walk towards his room and I start to walk towards my room and just try and sound like I'm setting up my bed...

>> Brian: Are you guys sharing like a common room here? Does he have access to your room?

>> Dave: No. No, he does not. We have, like, these two rooms in the back, and it was like it just a small apartment with, like, a living room in the center. And there were like, two rooms. Oh, yeah, and he told me that the who's in the room... He used the term had to be removed, which when I thought about it later, was like a really weird...

>> Brian: There was a girl in the room?

>> Dave: Not when I was there. She was their prior.

>> Brian: And she had to be removed. That is not good.

>> Dave: That was early on in the conversation, and then just later on, I was like, God, that choice of words... Yeah, that's not good. So anyway, it was fucked up, so anyway, so I hear the door close, He goes to the bathroom, I hear the door close, and that's when I finally, like, actually felt the fear. I had been acting so much that, like I had actually stave it off and I swear to God like it started in my back and just went like down my spine down my legs, my legs almost fucking gave out. It was like all the sudden I was just hit by all this fear, And I just remember I just bawled my fists up and I just had not me, Not today. I grab my laptop, I grabbed my bag and I ran towards the door, and now I've never left this door before, and there are like a bunch of different locks on the door. So I'm like doing this Three Stooges routine like... and I'm like, freaked out at this point, I'm like going down the stairs. It's like this dark hallway. I've got a pen out and I'm just like, whipping around the corner.

>> Brian: Like you're going to stab someone with a pen.

>> Dave: and I just start walking as fast I can kind of running and then turning around and I kept seeing in my face like it's like Friday the 13th. Like I keep like thinking he's like, right behind me. He's just going to be there, so I just start texting people, I just moved to this city. I don't really know many people. It's the middle of the night, and I start texting everyone I know like a and then my old friend from high school was like, Okay, come over. He comes to the door. I start to explain it to him, and he his reaction was like, Man, just take my sword. He wanted me to go back with his sword.

>> Brian: And he's in New York.

>> Dave: He's in Astoria. He's living in somewhere in Astoria.

>> Brian: I would have taken in and thrown it out the window like, fuck you, man.

>> Dave: I slept on his cement floor. I wake up, he wakes me up at, like, six. He's kicking me because he's got to go on a date.

>> Brian: That's a lie. That sounds like a fucking lie.

>> Dave: Yeah, that sounds like a lie. Yeah, he was a douche. Yeah, he told me he was like, You know what? You should go to a priest, and I'm like a priest? It's like I don't believe in Derek. I believe in the fucking psycho trying to kill me. And that's the weird thing. I went up to my mom's after that. Like we can get into where I had to go back and get my shit after this. But I went up to my mom's afterwards, and it was my grandfather's birthday. This was like, a couple days later, and we brought him to church and we're walking in. It's just me and my mom. And she starts like, grabbing like double hands full of holy water and whipping it at my face. And there's some woman walking in behind us and I just turn to her and go, I really needed it (laughs). Got a pretty big laugh. So now I got away. I call these guys from Craigslist, so it's the same way I got the shit I called the three guys from Craigslist with the van and I asked, I need two big guys and I try and explain it to him. They're not understanding what I'm saying. I'm waiting outside for the van and I try to explain it to him again. They still aren't really getting it. Oh, and when I call the guy on the phone, I go, you know, it was like, whatever it was like sixty bucks, you know, for the van rental or whatever, and I explain it to him on the phone. He doesn't seem like you really get it. He goes, that'LL be an extra twenty. I was like I thought to be at least another one hundred, like, you know, there's like a violent, potentially violent kind of psychopath.

>> Brian: He doesn't know, though, right? Like he doesn't know that Derek is waiting? The muscle, the muscle.

>> Dave: And I tried to explain to them like you do pretty much what was going on. That, like I moved into this place. I need people, and they're just not clicking.

>> Brian: Yeah, right.

>> Dave: They don't have the top brass for sixty dollars moving your shit in a van on Craigslist.

>> Brian: I guess you give him the twenty bucks, and if he doesn't get it, he dies anyway. So do you. So it's no skin off your ass. Right?

>> Dave: Right

>> Brian: There you go. And so you show up, you show up with the with the muscle?

>> Dave: I show up with the muscle.

>> Brian: And where's what's your plan to move in again? Your plan is to get the shit out.

>> Dave: Get the shit out, and then I'm gonna go back to the first place.

>> Brian: The meth lab?

>> Dave: Not the meth lab. The first place in Brighton Beach. He told me he's like, I got an even shittier room. Don't even worry about it.

>> Brian: This is New York, Everyone, this is it. This is what you do. You move here, you go from apartment to apartment, and there is a cataclysmic issue if you pay below five hundred dollars a month (laughs).

>> Dave: And I remember going like, how did Frank Sinatra do this? New York really is hard. I remember saying Good God. So anyway, so I call him up, and I know because I don't have keys, so I can't just, like, go in. I've got to get him to open the fucking door. So I call him up and I go, Hey, uh, you know, silly Dave. I forgot that I left in the middle of night.

>> Brian: Canadian ohh.

>> Dave: ...and I went over to my buddy's house like it was crazy. And he sounds pissed and go, Hey, could you just let me in? He comes down, he opens the door, he sees me in these two guys. He closes the fucking door, and these guys were just like fucking freaking out.

>> Brian: He's going to get Derek (laughs)

>> Dave: I see him go up and I see him moving the curtains. I'm just I'm just like I don't know if he has a gun, like I don't know what the fuck's going on. I'm so freaked out these two guys couldn't be less concerned. They have know that we're on completely different levels. So I call him up again. I go, Hey, and I'm just trying to be confident even though, like, I'm, like, literally shitting my pants. I go, Hey, I'm not trying to fuck with you. I'm just here to get my shit. And he goes, Hold. I'm like oh fuck. Every second's an hour Like I'm just feeling my heart in my chest He comes down, I hear the door unlock. And then, like a minute later, I hear him go... He goes okay. And I'm just like I got like a pen in my hand like I'm opening. Yeah, because I'm like a comedian walking around with a pen and paper, that's all. That's my weapon.

>> Brian: It's like do you have a permit for that? (laughter)

>> Dave: Yeah. I open the door, I'm going up the stairs. We don't see him. We get our shit we get in the van, I hop in the back of the van. These guys there, I'm like, banging a bit. I'm like, Let's goo. And finally they go, What was that about? Only I told you, dude, I told you. I said to him one more time. And he goes, you go, Well, that'LL do it. And I just remember this surreal feeling I'm just laying on all my shit in the back of this van as we drive back to Brighton Beach. It was like, you know, is like the classic hero's journey. Like you battle your way away to battle your way back.

>> Brian: Yeah, the amount of endorphins that are probably going at that point, I'm just like Jesus.

>> Dave: And I was so exhausted, and I just toss the mattress down on this, like, dirty, dilapidated floor and I just didn't put sheets on it. I just fucking lay down and I passed the fuck out.

>> Brian: Is the roof still caved in?

>> Dave: No, this was because they fucking rented that room out. Technically, like this was technically a month that I'd paid for it because I paid for two months that first time. So that's why he like, when I left, he just rented that room out. So he just had this, it was like a bigger unit, but it was, like, even more disgusting. And it was the downstairs basement area, and it was just so fucking dirty. But then I just moved in with this guy in Astoria with night terrors, and that was much better (laughter). It was now followed with night terrors. And I just remember, like, this reminds me of home.

>> Brian: Did your father have night terrors?

>> Dave: He must have. I mean, he was a screamer. He was a screamer. Yeah, I remember me and my brother and my sister were watching The Shining a couple of years ago, and we all just had this moment where we go, Oh, that's him. Like Jack Nicholson from The Shining.

>> Brian: That's fucked up.

>> Dave: Yeah, right down to, like, failed writer, alcoholic, angry. Yeah.

>> Brian: My God. And now he's in Where Massachusetts? What city?

>> Dave: Mattapoisett.

>> Brian: Mattapoisett?

>> Dave: Yeah.

>> Brian: Oh, yeah. Brother and sister. Who are they? Who are they? What are they?

>> Dave: My sister works for. I don't know if I should like say stuff. She's a flavor chemist at a beverage company.

>> Brian: That's great. Wait. You say you shouldn't say that as if that's just not true. Or like that's a front for something.

>> Dave: I just don't know if it's true. You know, I'm kidding. I know that that is true. I just don't know that, you know, like she's not like in entertainment or anything. So I don't know that she wants, like, people like, you know, I probably shouldn't say my dad's in Mattapoisett and tell these stories about what an asshole he is. And then, like, you know, somebody goes like I'm in Mattapoisett. Let me go look him up. He's got a Twitter. Oh, my God. And that was a crazy thing when we found out when we found out his wife died, we checked one of his social networks said, single, and it was like the day it's like, Are you already out there getting poon. How old are you?

>> Brian: That is amazing.

>> Dave: But anyway, God bless him. He's a good man.

>> Brian: Is he?

>> Dave: No, not all. Not to my recollection.

>> Brian: And so the next seven years or so were smoother in New York?

>> Dave: Smoother than that. Yeah, definitely smoother than that. That's, you know, and I started doing that's where I started Idiot Presents, my YouTube channel where I started off just doing like sketches, you know, character based stuff. You know, the whole creed to the channel is that it's high quality, low budget entertainment. I'LL do sketches or man on the street stuff. So, like character based sketches that just doesn't require any budget. Now I do a lot of the green screen stuff because I have a green screen. I was actually working on a thing today, Kippy... I gotta work on the title. That's not finished. But Kippy, the inappropriately depressing child singer. Essentially, it's kids folk songs that are, you know, he just thinks about like how his wife left him and the military industrial complex stuff.

>> Brian: Yeah, wow.

>> Dave: I was actually working on that all day.

>> Brian: That's ranging from the personal to the universal.

>> Dave: It's all just likes all dark, but it's all like with this, like, happy kind of kids folk think. But I do tons of sketches.

>> Brian: So you're still doing that stuff even with the with the show?

>> Dave: Yeah, pop up interviews is the main show that I do that I put out a video every Thursday. I've done a couple of like this show called The Reddit Review, where I go through Reddit and well...

>> Brian: Oh, this sounds great.

>> Dave: Oh, thank you.

>> Brian: I love Reddit.

>> Dave: It's very fun.

>> Brian: I value anecdotal evidence over empirical evidence every day, any day.

>> Dave: And I think that's their tagline.

>> Brian: That's their tagline. Yeah, tell me how this affected you and we'Ll believe that it affected everyone else the same way (laughter).

>> Dave: It's a great lesson in group think, But you know what? I did one that was the best of reddit 2019. So essentially like I you know, it'LL be me and then I'll have a couple people sitting on the couch and we'll just kind of troll through specific subreddits and we'll sort by, You know, we did the best of 2018. What we just did the best of then we did specific subreddits. It's like we did RoastMe was a really fun one. InstantRegret. We did with this one I love "found paper" and then, you know, just a bunch of different subreddit. We don't do the funny ones.

>> Brian: What do you mean when you say you're doing them?

>> Dave: We'll just do like a segment.

>> Brian: It's like a video or...

>> Dave: Yeah, it's like a video.

>> Brian: New posts with videos and then you got the... People are commenting on them or how does it work?

>> Dave: Oh, no. So we just go through the subreddit. It's we go through the actual content on the subreddit will sort by whatever we're doing like the best of the year. The best of the month and we'll go and we'll do like ten fifteen minutes where we go through the best of you know, the specific subreddit. About ten fifteen minutes to the best of the roast me. And then we go through and then we'Ll do our roasts on the person, and then we will read what the best roasts were. Then we will go through that, you know, instant karma. We looked through the best of those things and we just kind of comments and react to what's going on there. So it's kind of like a long form reaction.

>> Brian: Interesting. Interesting. So, speaking of that, let's talk a little bit about like you have investors and stuff and like.

>> Dave: Yeah.

>> Brian: So you're not a fiction writer, whatever. But at the same time, how did you come across the business opportunities for this? And I guess you know, we'll figure out how that applies to other people out there figuring out what they're going to do with their lives.

>> Dave: So you know, I mean, I just have been just dedicated to making content. I just make them I make this stuff I would wanna watch. Pop up interviews is the exact show that I would want to see, And so I make it. I take what I like about, you know, a talk show, and I take that stuff and I reject all the stuff that I don't care about: so pretentiousness, the production value that like having a studio. It's just  an asshole in this living room with a handful of people on his couch.

>> Brian: And some whiskey and some coffee.

>> Dave: Yeah, my whiskey and coffee I always have on this show. I call it the poor man's Eightball.

>> Brian: You do.

>> Dave: And, you know, we go through and we try and have authentic conversations with people. And so, you know, I found that people just... it's the law of attraction. Just people who like that. Sorry, people who like the same things are going to be attracted to it. You know, one of his friends, my investor, one of his friends had stumbled across the show and sent it to him. He called me up, took me out to lunch. We talked, we hit it off. He's a really cool guy. He really loves comedy, and he's just kind of been following me for a couple years, just like watching what I've been doing. He's been a big fan. We talk every once in a while.

>> Brian: I think this is what every writer just kind of dreams of. They go to a reading and there's an agent in the background, going, Oh wow, yeah, that's what everyone thinks. You're the voice of our generation.

>> Dave: Well, I think it's like when you go into any of these pursuits, I think we all have that delusion that you're just going to walk down the street and someone's going to go 'that girl'. (laughs)

>> Brian: It is. It's a delusion, isn't it?

>> Dave: When people ask about getting into comedy there like they think like somebody just anoints you like somebody just walks up and goes, I think you're the guy... you know, like it's, No, you have to, like, do painstaking, crazy amounts of work. And then maybe you get a shot to get a shot at something that maybe gets you a shot to get it. It's a constant audition.

>> Brian: It's a dangling carrot.

>> Dave: Yeah, it's a dangling carrot and really lt's at some point you just realise there's no God and you're never going to be happy, you know? (laughter) And that's the key to happiness is recognizing... That's what the Buddhists think, I think right? I think Buddhism and Irishness are so fucking similar except that they think that everyone matters. And we think that we all just don't matter (laughs).

>> Brian: Wait, let me get this right. You think the Irish people think that no one matters?

>> Dave: I think we do.

>> Brian: And the Buddhists think that everyone matters?

>> Dave: Yeah. But we have the same outcome. Is that like accepting the void is the key to life.

>> Brian: Inherent.

>> Dave: Yeah. Just I think they have a more positive spin on it.

>> Brian: Have you ever seen The Departed?

>> Dave: Yeah, sure.

>> Brian: One of my favorite movies. Matt Damon, and that says that it's a great movie. Yeah, he goes like... I'm gonna butcher this. But he has his line where he's laying in bed with his psychiatrist girlfriend who also is going to fuck DiCaprio at some point. And he's like, yeah, I'm Irish, like you know, I'm like, I need to be happy. I'm butchering this. But look, I think I have to like it's like I can't function if I'm not happy. I'm sorry.

>> Dave: Yeah. Yeah. They have that Freud line that that Irish are the only people that are impervious to Psychology.

>> Brian: What's going on? We're looking at a YouTube channel. What am I looking at? Dad? (laughter) What is this? Explain this?

>> Dave: Oh, this was a Youtube comment I got. I want to make a  thing on this. I think this is from the Racism is Great? Is that from the Racism is Great sketch? I forget what that's from. There was somebody commented on my on on one of my YouTube videos and they just wrote faggot. And so this is actually on my birthday last year.

>> Brian: Oh, I would've been like, Thank you.

>> Dave: Well, I wrote 'Dad' and question mark. (laughter)

>> Brian: Okay. I understand. So my luddite did not understand what that was like. I was like what is this? And I know it's someone calling you a faggot and you just say Dad question.

>> Dave: I felt like that's the best way to disarm.

>> Brian: I would just been like, Thank you, thank you. That means I have better taste than you. (laughter)

>> Dave: But yeah, I think that's when I have this one video that the comments section of it, I kind of want to do a video on the comment section itself. It's this strange organism. I did this tongue in cheek video eight reasons. I think it's called eight reasons Why racism is great and I did a long time ago. It's all these tongue and cheek, you know. It's like it's if you watch the video, you can't mistake it and think I actually like racism.

>> Brian: So it's irony laden.

>> Dave: It's like Martin Luther King wouldn't be a great man. He'd just be some guy, you know, all this stuff.

>> Brian: That's good.

>> Dave: You just could not mistake. And if you watch the video people, because it's probably partly my own fault, like I put a lot of the tags were like racism, racist. So probably some people are watching actual important videos about race getting really worked up. And then they just see my title and they react.  But I've got all these people who are...

>> Brian: It's like an Onion article. It's like they don't realize it's an Onion article.

>> Dave: You know, it's kind of like that, but yeah, but it's from all sides. I've got social justice warriors attacking me without watching the video, taking it a face value, right? And then I've got racists who are mistaking it and thinking it's good and writing about how great I am. I got shared by a chapter of the KKK.

>> Brian: Oh my God after. That is horrifying.

>> Dave: And my deepest fear is that somewhere there's a KKK meeting where someone's going like, you know, as the great Dave Wiswell once said.

>> Brian: Wiswell kind of sounds like...

>> Dave: (laughs) The grand Wiswell? The exalted was well, strange. But anyway, so I've got this strange confluence of like people attacking me from all sides, people defending me from all sides. And then I've got, like, people who agree with me and then people who don't agree with me defending me against people who are getting this sketch I've got, like, racist defending me and it's so strange? I'm not doing it justice. I really want to do a video about this.

>> Brian: You should.

>> Dave: It's its own organism. It's so strange.

>> Brian: I don't mean to say that comedy isn't a high art forms because I absolutely think it's the if not one of the highest art forms. But at the same time, don't you think it's kind of strange that people are getting so worked up on one of the least serious, if not the least serious formats that there are on there, you know, And it's like they're taking this very seriously.

>> Dave: Yeah, there's a couple of pieces that, I think Ricky Gervais had a great thing where he said, people often mistake the subject of a joke for the object of it.

>> Brian: Okay.

>> Dave: So if you make a joke about racism there, they leap to the worst possible conclusion. Or the whole like, rape joke thing. Like if you're making a joke about rape somehow like you don't sympathize with rape victims when there's, like so many different angles with which you could tackle any of these. And Jim Norton has a great thing where he tackles about how, like you would never give that kind of parameter to any other artist. Like you would never say Edward Norton cannot play that character from American History X.

>> Brian: Yes, yes.

>> Dave: You understand that there's a context for what he's doing, where as comedy, and I think it's because people are so it's not a reason. And just like comedies are not respected. There's never been a comedy that's won best picture.

>> Brian: It's very true. Superbad 2008 should have won. No, I'm kidding (laughter)

>> Dave: Ace Ventura is a stupid movie. Dumb and Dumber is a stupied move. But it's the best movie.

>> Brian: Oh, don't say that. Oh my God, Ace Ventura of the original pet detective is, honestly the greatest Jim Carrey movie ever.

>> Dave: What's most amazing about it is if you read that movie, you would be like this is the worst thing ever, And that's how he got the part. He could not get a leading man part to save his life.

>> Brian: He only got paid twenty four, twenty five grand for that movie. I don't know if you know that.

>> Dave: Yeah, because they brought that to everyone. They brought that to Robin Williams. Robin said, Get that away from me. Everyone was like, This is the worst script. And Jim Carey was the only one where he was like, I'll fucking do it and I'll make it great and he fucking did. He took the worst script ever, and God bless him. Yeah, I don't care that he's lost his mind. (laughter)

>> Brian: He's like that he's not vaccinating his kids.

>> Dave: If you watch these interviews with him, you're like, Wow, he's gotten really off the deep end. He's done so much acid like, but I don't I don't care what he could. He could, he could. He could kick me in the face and I'd be like, That man's a genius and I love him.

>> Brian: But that's an interesting thing, because the thing is, I think the reason people take comedy so seriously is because it is such a widely disseminated art form just like, say, hip hop, right? Like anything like that, it's going to get more attention because it has more eyeballs or years like, you know, so to speak. I think that's the reason is

>> Dave: And it can be, you know, it's kind of scary. Like I don't like politicians going on SNL and like showing their personality to get a vote like No, no, no, that's not what we're voting for you for.

>> Brian: Yeah, we're voting for the policies.

>> Dave: We're voting for the policies. Anything else I see that is like... Mark McGuire's not allowed to fucking take performance enhancing drugs. But this guy gets to get his hair ruffled on fucking Jimmy Fallon? That's fucking bullshit. That's cheating that matters that affects policy in everything. Like we're voting for you because he's funny. Like Obama is so funny that I forget all the things I don't like that he did. Stand up so very similar, like skateboarders, skateboarders and professional wrestlers and prostitutes, you know, it's all about like

>> Brian: I'm trying to process that.

>> Dave: Take us, take getting a skinny getting up, getting hurt and getting up and trying it again. Now, buddy, stand up. Comedy is about so much failure. You have to fail so many times.

>> Brian: That's why I can't do it, because writing is the same in all formats, you have to fail a lot. But stand up comedy, you have to stand up in front of people and they, you see on their for faces, your failure. You know what I mean? And like in writing, it's like it's like I'm going to take more years to understand how greatly I failed. But at least I don't have to see it on your face because it's so traumatizing.

>> Dave: Yeah, a lot of people think like comedians are like it takes trauma to make a comedian, and I don't think the humor aspect...

>> Brian: I don't think that's the case in any art form.

>> Dave: I think it's what creates the kind of person who could put up with the kind of pain it takes to get to that end goal. I think there's plenty of people who are not fucked up.

>> Brian: I think it's people that understand it. They understand suffering. That's it.

>> Dave: And they're okay with it. You have to be okay with suffering. You have to be okay with, like, fucking bombing group. You bomb and you go back to your shitty apartment. You know, You're renting a room, and then you remember having three hundred dollars a month and you're just counting the tiles on the ceiling and you're thinking about your fucking... Dad was right to leave. You know, like I mean, it takes a specific kind of person, and that's very interesting. But I think you could work things out, like in any art form. But I don't know. I think a lot of people think you have to be traumatized to be commedian.

>> Brian: Well, how do you think it played a role in your specific trajectory? Because you've gone through significant trauma. You know, you've dealt with alcoholism vicariously. Your siblings have dealt with divorce. You know, all that stuff and that shit is like, you know, I've never been through that. A lot of people haven't. So how do you separate from that from the fact that you did become a comedian, you do feel like that. You know, dealing with that does is a, you know, a necessary, you know, activation energy into being and becoming a comedian, you know?

>> Dave: I mean, there are a lot of theories on it, right? Like some people, a lot of people say that comedian to things that really helped create a comedian are a really, like you wanted, like, warm up your mother. You want to help your mother not feel so sad or like having like a withholding father. And I think both of those were really motivating factors for me. I mean, there's just, like a need for attention and the need for love. I think that's definitely obviously a huge component, you know, like, you know, like mirror neurons?

>> Brian: No

>> Dave: It's like a visual thing, where what you see refracts back on how you feel about yourself. So if you see like a baby or a cute puppy, it makes you feel very sweet. Or that's how pornography works. You know, you're like you're thinking that's happening to you, and that's so that's all mirror neurons working. So I think in that way it can kind of act like an antidepressant. If you're seeing all these people smile and laugh, that's reflecting back on you, and that's helping, you know. So in that way, I think it's like an antidepressant in that way. And then it's an achievable goal. I'm obsessed with, like, joke writing, too. So there's like a mathematical element, like I also like, write songs. I love writing songs, too.

>> Brian: Funny songs?

>> Dave: Also serious songs. I got a fucking couple albums worth of songs that I'll never put out anywhere. I love making things like that. So there's, like, the achievement of the goal, and I find a song writing equally to comedy helps me kind of understand myself and its bit more introspective in that way, because I think a lot of times with comedy, I'm trying to understand the world outside with song writing some kind of understanding the world within and the vacancy there.

>> Brian: Well, let me let me put it to you for a second. Because you know, I mean, I do the same thing a lot. I think about writing, and I'm like, Well, what are universally why do people get into writing, right? Like, you know, any of those are forms. But for you, specifically can you think... I mean, you joke about how you were five years old, you know, you want to be a comedian. But at the same time how do you feel like your specific experience played into, Like, I have an actual pain or a trauma or whatever you want to call. You know, because I do think trauma is thrown around a lot these days. I mean, because being a human does entail having trauma, and a lot of people have gone through it.

>> Dave: Absolutely, and if you don't have it then you'll invent your own. We need it.

>> Brian: Someone who's been has experienced something on the street will say that. And then, like other people that have been in the Iraq War, we'll say, you know, those are very different things, but at the same time.

>> Dave: They have streets in Iraq. (laughter)

>> Brian: Good point. Anyway, I'm not trying to differentiate them. That's the opposite. What I'm trying to say is like, What did you specifically go through? Can you recall how that has influenced you to this point? What do you think when I'm making a joke? Is there any connection to holy shit like my life has actually been very hard and I'm trying to transfigure this in a certain way. You know, I know this is a difficult question. If I was put on the spot, there would be very difficult.

>> Dave: I'm not big on self pity. I'm not big on, like trying to create some sort of narrative where I've lived... You know, I tell these stories because I think it's funny, you know, I think everyone suffers all the time. I think a lot of people have suffered way worse than me, and I think they've handled it better. I do my best to you know, I'm driven by... I love comedy. I love making people laugh. I love making things. I love sharing that with the world. Pop up interviews is, like, helped me tap into this other part of me who's, like, very curious about people. And it allows me to, like, tell stories of these, you know, these people that are dying to have their stories told. I think in a weird way, like I found what these people we're looking for.

>> Brian: Oh, so let me give you and example. Those dudes who were I saw one. I saw one episode, and I don't know, I forget which country they were from. It was definitely like an old, like Soviet bloc country.

>> Dave: Oh, yeah, yeah.

>> Brian: You know what I'm talking about?

>> Dave: That was when we first working out a new look.

>> Brian: And that's what I'm saying. Like, you know, you published that interview and I'm sure you decide like some of them you don't publish, right? Is that not true?

>> Dave: I had this one chick that asked me not to publish it. She worked at a morgue and she told me about how they prank each other with the bodies they like Weekend at Bernie's.

>> Brian: Oh, my God.

>> Dave: And I didn't realize... I should have just blurred her face out because it was one of the best interviews and I deleted. That was early on. It was one of the best fucking ones. She admitted all this shit about, like, Halloween, some guy comes down and the body was out

>> Brian: Oh, my God.

>> Dave: And then she just found me on Facebook like hey, please don't put that out. I'm like, Why the fuck did you waste 30 min of my shoot.

>> Brian: She was American? I'm assuming.

>> Dave: Yeah, Yeah, And I should've blurred her face out which have done since, like with people, you know, like there was a recent one where it's like sometimes it's just like sometimes it gets into something darker like that. Sometimes it's just childish. I try and find what the interview could be. So we did one with these high school girls who I asked them who the worst person that ever knew was. They said it was their friend that ditched them for this other girl. And so I go, let's call her. And so we call her on the air.

>> Brian: I haven't seen this one.

>> Dave: It's one of the recent ones and it's it's fun. It's a fun interview where all of a sudden we're calling her and she's like, So what's going on? So they called her and they're on the video screen and we're confronting her. We're like, Why? What the hell? Why did you, you know? And it was just a very fun. So we try and, you know, there was one person who didn't speak English. They were from Mexico. I think she didn't speak any English at all, so I just went into the audience like, Does anybody speaks Spanish? And somebody had brought somebody who his girlfriend spoke Spanish, so I had her come sit and and I crouched next to her and we just did the interview that way where she interpreted for me. So it's all about just like finding what the interview could be and those Eastern Bloc guys. That's one that I'm... it's not by far the best episode, but I'm really proud of it because everything went wrong and I still made that. The tech went wrong. They couldn't see me.

>> Brian: You're absolutely right. Latency...

>> Dave: But nothing kills the interview more than them trying to be funny because, like, if I asked you a question and then you have a shitty joke about it, not only like now there's a shitty joke in the show, but also like I can't then... the whole format is like I asked you a question. You tell me something about yourself. We learned something about you, and my whole theory in the show is every ten seconds I want you to get a laugh or we learned to love, hate or otherwise understand this person

>> Brian: Right.

>> Dave: One of the most popular episodes is me getting a debate with this old Marine who was, like, all racist. He's this dude who was like, starts talking shit about people from other countries.

>> Brian: Is this serious? Is there any comedy? I have not seen this one.

>> Dave: I make it funny but I go at him at some point.

>> Brian: Oh shit, I should have watched him.

>> Dave: It's one of the more popular ones. Yeah, it's racist Marine versus hosts. And that was back when it was called ChatRoulette Interview Show. That's with the old setup.

>> Brian: Oh, I got to see this one. And you know what? Honestly, this is (barks)... Rosetta. Yes, you should be upset with the racist. Good job.

>> Dave: We'LL talk to people about where this guy about his DEA bust. We've talked to more than one ex con. This guy talked about getting tricked into going to prison by his girlfriend and then immediately so that they so that he could have his clean thing with the law and that when he got out, that could be (barks) oh sorry. I tried to pet the dog.

>> Brian: You know what? You know, you brought up a really good point because I have noticed that a lot of people that get out of the Army or the Navy or the Marines, you know what have you and they come back and they deserve to feel like they've done some things that we haven't done in a certain way because of where we are as a society, maybe. But at the same time, a lot of what I hear is how could you be so possibly outraged? I heard on Ah, Joe Rogan. There was an ex marine or something like a next that of some sort saying like, Oh, my God, like you're sitting out like you're in line at a Starbucks in your tweeting and you're complaining about something and it's like, I don't understand why people think that just because they did something like, say, fighting for a country which will be viewed as primitive in a couple centuries, like if not sooner, right? And they can't understand. They like it just seems like so many people are unwilling to take the time to say I understand this side that you're coming from. Like just because you went and fought for something doesn't mean that what you're fighting for isn't more oppression on the other side. I still don't understand that.

>> Dave: I've gotten a lot of Marines who've reached out or commented in the comments or on the Reddit Post because that that did really well on Instant karma on Reddit. I've had a lot of Marines reach out and say he does not fucking speak for us. You know, like this is not the typical Marine attitude.

>> Brian: I'm sure. Especially if you're going to go and sacrifice yourself like that. I don't think most of those people that go do that are going to have that kind of attitude. I really don't. And that's why I don't hold it... like I don't generalize that, like, you know, a lot of people say like, you know, Army people, Marines you know, are skinheads, like whatever. Like, you know, they're pro American of the point where they have certain opinions, like, you know, and I really don't believe that.  I totally agree with you.

>> Dave: There are assholes everywhere.

>> Brian: Yeah, there are assholes everywhere.

>> Dave: That's the thing, they speak for the group. The assholes are the loudest.

>> Brian: Because they are angry.

>> Dave: So people end up thinking, you know, like, that's how stereotypes, you know, it's not like every fucking you know, it's just the loudest person in the group, speaks for the whole group, and then they take the fucking pool. So then, you know, you hear a fucking marine do something like that, and that's why I love when those guys will come into the comments and be like, Hey, this doesn't speak for us.

>> Brian: Yeah, right.

>> Dave: It's because usually good people shut their mouths. Assholes are loud. And so that's why it's important for...

>> Brian: Good people are humble. They have humility. They understand what they're voice means. They understand that it's like, Oh, I'm just one person out of seven or eight billion people in this world. Now, what was the response of that episode? I'm like, you know, I mean, not just in the comments and stuff. I mean, literally. When you get done and you have this little audience, by the way, you do shoot in Harlem. I don't think we don't think we mentioned that.

>> Dave: Oh, yeah, In my apartment. I have an apartment studio. Yeah, I don't know if we said that. The studios in my apartment. We currently got the investor so we've upgraded everything. The quality is much better. It's around like episode like, I don't know, like, seventy six. There's a huge... We go through a couple of phases of what the show looks like. And now we've done all this new logo stuff and we're going back to the designer to figure out thumbnails because that's going to help us move forward a lot.

>> Brian: In what? In what sense?

>> Dave: Well, so I realised this recently is like my click through rate my they call it in impressions. Click through Rate is not as high as I would like it to be.

>> Brian: Now we're getting into the serious just algorithm, dystopian...

>> Dave: And I realized that my...

>> Brian: No, no, no, no, no. I'm completely down to get into it now.

>> Dave: Part of the show is the concept of the show, and I realize my thumbnails aren't selling what the concept that show is. Once you click on it, you know what's happening. You'll understand it immediately. Even people that don't know. Like there was this producer that up and has been trying to help me sell this other show. And I've been working on that. I tried to pitch him the show he didn't understand because he didn't know what Chat Roulette or Omegle was. And then he saw it on Instagram and he goes why didn't you tell me about this and I go, I did. I did tell you about this. I tried to and he goes, I don't know what the fuck Omegle is.

>> Brian: I don't either.

>> Dave: But as soon as you watch it, he goes. I don't know what that was, but as soon as I start watching, I know what it is. So I'm trying to get that whole dynamic of the room that I've got a little live audience that I'm springing this talk show and unsuspecting people.

>> Brian: So what did they say after that video chat sites with that marine?

>> Dave: We went back and forth, because, I mean the funnest part was he said at one point, he just like he was trying to insult me. But he was trying to be, like, kind of PC about it. And he's trying to, like, act like he was the hero. So he said, Like, Listen, he goes, throw your dick and all... because I was like, you know, he started dropping n bombs, and that's when I start going fuck you.

>> Brian: Did you publish this?

>> Dave: Yeah.

>> Brian: And did you have to bleep out those n bombs?

>> Dave: No, because that's what he said.

>> Brian: That's interesting. I don't have an objective opinion on that. Like, I have no idea. I think you know, exposing that kind of thing is kind of important.

>> Dave: In this point of the episode. It's me like nah... because that's like I try and let people take a jab or two. And at some point, I'm like I'm a joke writer. You're just not going to win this fucking battle, you know? And then so I just start going at him.

>> Brian: And that's important. That's an important point that you just brought up there. There's a level of gravitas that people bring to their lives, and it's like That's the whole problem with who you are. But you believe this thing so much that you need to impart it. And it's like the perspective is just so much broader than that.

>> Dave: You know, it's hard for people to see through their self obsession.

>> Brian: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

>> Dave: We're all the heroes of our own stories. Because we're the narrators.

>> Brian: And those narratives are false.

>> Dave: Like my dad, it's our fault that my dad fucking left like that's how he sees it like it's our fault that he split to another state and that he stopped calling.

>> Brian: Has he told you this?

>> Dave: Yeah. That's kind of his thing.

>> Brian: So how does that play into your comedy career? Like, you know, that's what I'm curious about.

>> Dave: I used to do bits about my dad, you know, back in the day.

>> Brian: And you stopped, or what now?

>> Dave: Yeah. I mean, I do bits about a lot of things, you know, I did a bit about growing up Catholic and all kinds of shit. You know, you just do bits for awhile, and then, you know, you stop doing them. But there was one point where I do a lot of bits about it.

>> Brian: Let's talk about where you like, where you're out with your show and what you want to do in the future and tell us like not not just that. Here, Let's start with this...

>> Dave: Well, here's one thing I want to talk about.

>> Brian: Yeah, go. Let's do it.

>> Dave: Once I hit certain thresholds of subscribers, I do these videos where I perform punishments and thank random subscribers.

>> Brian: What the hell are punishments?

>> Dave: Punishments. Just random thing that I come up with. I come up with these different things. I did on at one thousand. I did one that was the wheel of punishments. Well, we just spun the wheel and I had to either get slapped in the face with whipped cream. I'm extremely ticklish. I was tickled for that was that was that was that was one of the punishments. And that was after the wheel of punishment. So I did the wheel punishments where I did all this shit all this awful stuff I had to do. I got a fucking spanked by this thing and for every punishment, I thanked ten random subscribers. So it's a way to thank the subscribers. It's like, What do you call that when you sacrifice a virgin? It's like a tribute to my subscribers to thank them.

>> Brian: That's one way to put it. The Incas would put it another way. You put some moonflower and you know I don't want to get into it.

>> Dave: The next one is all it is all about Moon Flower (laughter). Yeah. No. And then Yeah, and then that was a little bit more fun When I did that at about, I think was two thousand. I did that one where I let the Internet roast me. I had a little audience, just like I do pop up interviews and a little audience sit in, and we did, You know, on Reddit there's a subreddit called Roast Me. You put a picture up of yourself, you tell a few things. So I armed them to the teeth. I said my dad left a ten. I wet the bed until I was twelve. I cuddled with a dude while I was on Molly. You know, I just gave them every fucking thing they could and they fucking let me have it. And I had a comedian friend of mine read out the roast. I also let my Instagram followers. If you guys want to get on the show, follow my Instagram. David Wiswell, I always post about when I'm going on the show. We still have had people trying to get on, but no one yet has gotten on the show.

>> Brian: I'm gonna tell you right now, I not only want to, I will. And if you put a document in front of me, I will sign it, and I will be there on the date that you put in ink that I signed.

>> Dave: My ultimate hope is I want to get somebody on who is close. Because I like those.

>> Brian: Yeah, we're close geographically.

>> Dave: Like I mean, I have somebody who authentically gets on the show and we find out their close and they will come over and then I want to hear the buzzer during one of the interviews. Like, dude, that's fucking Mike. All right. And Mike comes in, have him sit in. That's why I want that so bad.

>> Brian: Yeah, but here's the thing. Like, can that happen organically, can I just do the thing that you're talking about? We'll work on it because I'm not gonna lie. Since I met you last week, I was like, Dude, I gotta be involved on this because this is like I grew up as an imp like all I want to do is fuck with things on people and just like...

>> Dave: Well, you guys should come over and sit on the couch.

>> Brian: And I want to be a part of this like so badly. You don't understand how badly I want to be apart.

>> Dave: I appreciate that. That's why put so much effort in this is because I lose faith in ideas. I'm so self loathing, I lose faith. But people get really galvanized about this idea. They love it. And so that's what keeps me excited about it. I've done over a hundred episodes. So just one more thing about the punishment thing the ultimate goal is at one million. And I swear on my life I swear on everything. I will be hit in the face with a penis and I will thank one lucky subscriber. That's what we're working towards.

>> Brian: That not bad enough.

>> Dave: That's pretty bad, Dude.

>> Brian: No, no, no I'm trying to say like the punishment needs to be worse. I will work on it. Continue. I will work on it.

>> Dave: Usually people are very excited about that one.

>> Brian: No that's not enough. That's not enough. I'LL take that any day. Oh I'Ll take that any day. I'Ll take that any day. Come on.

>> Dave: Anyway, the next goal is at five thousand. We're a little over a thousand away from hitting that goal. When we hit five thousand I'm going to write a song where the lyrics are... on guitar... All the lyrics They're going to be a string of subscribers names that I'm thinking and I'm gonna eat one of like those you know the world's hottest peppers.

>> Brian: Jamaica pepper?

>> Dave: The Reaper or the Ghost Pepper. And a Carolina pepper. And then so I'll do the song once through and then I'll do it again

>> Brian: Get out of here. You won't be able to do it.

>> Dave: That's the point of the punishment.

>> Brian: Get out of here. Our producers are...

>> Dave: Yeah, she's really concerned.

>> Brian: The scoville scale just got extended by 3 times (laughter).

>> Dave: But get on and subscribe. We'LL get there. And so this is one other one that I want to do. It's something I actually don't know if I'm going to do it. Like if it's really funny or if it's like psychotic. But the idea is that I'm going to call my dad, who I haven't talked to in I can't remember. I haven't seen him. I have not seen my father in, like, over fifteen years like since he got...

>> Brian: And honestly, we need to have you back because I want to talk more about that. I thought that was very interesting. And I know that's a more touchy, sensitive subject. We'LL talk about that more because, you know, I will say just my little spiel is that I am very into addictions. I'm very into the whole psychology aspect. But I won't get into it too much right now, but I think we should get into it.

>> Dave: Yes, I want to call my dad. I want to call my dad and authentically tell him how he hurt me like really vulnerably And then I'll have a little timer so every like, twenty seconds I think a subscriber. So it's like "I just lived in a state of flight, complete fear you know, and I just never really felt loved. And I'm just kind of coming to terms with that now. Thank you, Barfi Man forty five.'' But the whole gag is that I have to be as vulnerable and authentic and honest with him, and I can't ever tell him.

>> Brian: You think you can pull that off?

>> Dave: That is well, saying I mean is it will be the hardest. It'LL be the hardest video I've ever done. But I'm thinking about doing that when people kind of seemed to like that idea and I need it just scares me like I almost... it almost scares me as much as that fucking Satanist guy, like, you know, literally, I'm afraid just thinking about it.

>> Brian: No way, because the thing is, you're just...

>> Dave: Do you know how hard it is to be that vulnerable dude? It's fucking hard.

>> Brian: I just don't know if your dad is going to stay on the phone past, like, one or two fans.

>> Dave: I mean, and how good is that video to see the heartbreak in my eyes that my dad won't sit through it.

>> Brian: That's almost voyeurism.

>> Dave: I know what that's why I'm not sure if it's funny or if it's like psychotic. Yeah, and I definitely that make a good video that I'm not even... I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. I just know it scares me.

>> Brian: Okay. Okay. Our producers are saying we've had enough. I could fucking sit here and talk for, like, three hours.

>> Dave: We should do this again. This was fun.

>> Brian: We will definitely do this again. But more than that, I want to be on your show. I want to be involved. I'm serious. This is what I'm all about. (laughter) Why are you shaking your head Producers? Producers Don't put your hands up defensively. Defensively. Leigh, My wine. Wow, I'm getting I'm getting chastised for my drinking habits.

>> Dave: Right now, this episode has been brought to you by LeVille firm Rose.

>> Brian: You we shouldn't say that because we haven't been paid by them. This shit is like swill.

>> Dave: It's from France. My girl's in France right now. It's been brought to you by bleep bleep, bleep rose.

>> Brian: Bleep bloop.

>> Dave: That's all, folks.

>> Brian: All right, I'll deal closer.

>> Dave: This was a lot of fun.

>> Brian: Yeah, I know. I want it. I want to do this again. I feel like I feel like there's just so much to talk about with you right here.

>> Dave: Yeah, Let's do it. I mean, I'm close by, so this was nice, you know? But I actually walked.

>> Brian: Okay, I'm gonna do this closer. Okay, that's it for today's episode, if you like what you heard... Oh, my goodness.

>> Dave: Did I just ruin your thing (laughs)? Sorry.

>> Brian: No. Here, here, here's to you.

>> Dave: He's taking a drink right now.

>> Brian: Okay, that's it for today's episode. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and review on whichever platform you're listening to. You can get in touch with us on Twitter at @AnimalRiotPress or Facebook and Instagram at Animal Riot Press or through our website animalriotpress.com. This has been the fourteenth episode of the Animal Riot Podcast with me, your host Brian Birnbaum featuring Dave Wiswell. The Grandmaster Wiswell (laughter). That's awful. That is awful.

>> Dave: Youtube.com/idiotpresents?

>> Brian: Yeah, Jesus Christ. This is terrible. And is produced by Katie Rainey, without whom we would be nearly three of Shakespeare's thousand monkeys banging on a typewriter.