CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 1:55
Settling in Nashville & building an hour on the road
Joe welcomes Nate to Austin and they talk about Nate moving back to Nashville for family reasons while touring heavily. Nate explains how he uses local clubs like Zanies as a "workout room" and how road time helps him build a full hour.
- •Nate’s path: Chicago → New York → LA → back to Nashville
- •Touring schedules make location less important than having a routine
- •Zanies as a home-base club for working material
- •Why long-format sets (an hour) shape how you write and refine jokes
- 1:55 – 3:15
New material strategy: opening with fresh jokes & managing audience expectations
Nate and Joe compare approaches to structuring sets after releasing a special. Nate explains why he opens with new jokes, how crowds grant more patience early, and how he signals when he’s switching to older material.
- •Opening with new material to leverage early crowd goodwill
- •Mixing old/new can confuse audiences about what’s fresh
- •Post-special reality: you may only have 30–40 minutes of new material
- •Old-guard vs modern cadence of frequent specials
- 3:15 – 5:16
Nate’s first Comedy Store moment—thanks to Joe (and the awkward intro)
Nate tells a formative story from 2003/2004 when Joe helped him get onstage at The Comedy Store. The open-mic introduction frames Nate as Joe’s "best friend," creating instant tension with other comics and a memorable early-career lesson.
- •Joe calling in a spot for a new comic visiting LA
- •Open mic culture and resentment around "connections"
- •How small early breaks can become career-defining
- •Being new: not even knowing what questions to ask veterans
- 5:16 – 9:45
Early encouragement, road-gig lessons, and the ‘zen’ mindset for grinding
Joe and Nate reflect on how compliments from respected comics can fuel years of persistence. They segue into Tony V’s advice about accepting travel and hardship with a calm "this is what I’m doing now" mindset, then broaden it to discipline and routine.
- •Joe’s Lenny Clarke story: one compliment as long-term motivation
- •Nate’s $500 gig story and losing the money (and never forgetting it)
- •Tony V’s ‘go zen’ approach to long drives and hard routines
- •Applying the same mindset to exercise, writing, and choices
- 9:45 – 12:24
How comedians write: essays, gold-panning, and onstage discoveries
Joe describes his writing method—freewriting long thoughts and extracting usable pieces—while Nate shares how real-life moments can become a special-worthy opener within weeks. They also talk about the insecurity that hits right after you film a special.
- •Joe’s ‘essay’ method: write wide, then extract the bit
- •Ideas can arrive at dinner, onstage, or from random moments
- •Nate’s ‘Olivia?’ golf incident becoming his special opener
- •Post-special anxiety: feeling like a beginner again
- 12:24 – 16:40
Pandemic comedy: drive-ins, masks, and timing without laughter
They discuss how comics adapted during COVID—especially drive-in shows and masked audiences. Nate explains the surreal challenge of performing to honks and headlights, then details taping his Netflix special with masked crowds and mic’d tables to capture laughs.
- •Drive-in shows: horns as laughs, headlights as heckles
- •Bert Kreischer’s early adoption of drive-ins and big-energy fit
- •Timing problems when you can’t hear/see reactions
- •Taping at Universal Studios with masks + table mics to amplify laughter
- 16:40 – 30:09
Mask politics, per-capita confusion, and distrust in shifting guidelines
The conversation shifts to public behavior around masks and the social power of enforcement. Nate jokes about graphs and "per capita" stats, while Joe explains why per-capita framing exists and they react to changing distancing guidance (6 feet vs 3 feet).
- •Mask enforcement as social power and friction in public spaces
- •Regional contrasts: Miami/Florida vs Austin/Texas vs Phoenix clubs
- •Per-capita statistics explained and why they change narratives
- •Frustration with shifting rules and public communication
- 30:09 – 36:36
Patrice O’Neal, Kurt Metzger stories, and why comedy ‘sounds mean’ without context
They reflect on Patrice’s influence—especially the idea that jokes come from the same place even when they misfire. Nate shares stories from New York with Metzger and Big Jay, plus a Patrice anecdote about dinosaurs that shaped Nate’s open-mindedness.
- •Patrice as a cornerstone of fearless honesty in comedy
- •‘Trying to be funny’ vs ‘trying to be mean’ distinction
- •Metzger road stories (conditioner-as-lotion, odd brilliance)
- •Patrice’s ‘dinosaurs’ party story and valuing weird conversations
- 36:36 – 40:03
YouTube rabbit holes: flat earth, ‘space is fake,’ and why conspiracy videos persuade
Joe explains how persuasive presentation can make nonsense feel credible when no one challenges it in real time. They discuss flat-earth momentum, how people ‘want’ certain stories to be true, and how conspiracies become identity and community.
- •Eloquence + no rebuttal = believable misinformation
- •Flat earth as a ‘mental contagion’ and rabbit-hole effect
- •Desire to be ‘in the know’ fuels conspiracy attachment
- •Art Bell’s ‘time traveler line’ and the entertainment value of fringe claims
- 40:03 – 52:18
Bigfoot deep dive: Missing 411, Pacific Northwest forests, and ‘Samurai sounds’
They pivot into Bigfoot, using Missing 411 as a springboard to discuss disappearances and how vast forests distort perception. Joe breaks down why bears and dense terrain can produce Bigfoot sightings, then plays and critiques the famous ‘Samurai sounds’ recording.
- •Forest scale and why people underestimate how easy it is to vanish
- •Bears standing upright + dusk + distance = Sasquatch misreads
- •The ‘Samurai sounds’ tape (Ron Morehead) and skepticism about experts
- •Les Stroud’s Bigfoot detour and credibility backlash
- 52:18 – 1:08:15
UFOs and spacetime tech: Fravor’s Tic Tac, Bob Lazar, and military vs aliens
Joe brings up claims about Navy-linked spacetime modification concepts and ties them to UFO lore. They revisit Bob Lazar and Area S4, then discuss the 2004 Tic Tac encounter and the possibility that UFOs are either alien craft or classified military tech.
- •Claims of ‘spacetime’ tech and how it would change everything
- •Bob Lazar’s back-engineering story and the ‘sport model’ craft idea
- •Commander David Fravor’s Tic Tac encounter: extreme acceleration claims
- •Alternative explanations: alien tech vs secret programs vs deliberate cover stories
- 1:08:15 – 1:29:07
UFC fandom: once-in-a-lifetime fighters, Dana White’s candor, and fighter realities
Nate explains how UFC pulled him in by highlighting generational talents like Jon Jones and Khabib, and by making greatness legible to casual fans. Joe and Nate discuss Usman vs Masvidal, training camps, injuries, and why women’s MMA became a standout product.
- •UFC’s ability to market greatness to ‘average’ sports fans
- •Dana White pressers vs canned answers in other sports
- •Usman vs Masvidal rematch context: short-notice fight and camp time
- •Women’s MMA as a proven draw: Rousey, Nunes, and promotion differences
- 1:29:07 – 1:40:29
Weed business & legality: cash-only risks, dispensary history, and CBD vs THC
They explore how state legality clashes with federal scheduling, creating banking and security problems for dispensaries. Joe shares early LA medical-marijuana stories, explains CBD’s uses, and they compare weed risks to alcohol and prescription drugs like Ambien.
- •Federal illegality as an ‘attack vector’ for businesses
- •Cash-only dispensaries and robbery/security realities
- •Joe’s early dispensary experiences and grow-room anecdotes
- •CBD for pain/anxiety vs THC intoxication; comparing harms with alcohol/Ambien
- 1:40:29 – 2:07:31
Food chaos: chain-restaurant comfort, diet soda, donuts, and ‘hot’ Krispy Kreme logic
Nate admits to living on chain food and sweets, from McDonald’s to Krispy Kreme, and jokes about hiding his donut habit. Joe discusses diet soda and additives, late-night eating behavior, and how exercise changes what sugar does to the body.
- •Nate’s chain-restaurant identity (Applebee’s, Outback, B-Dubs)
- •Diet soda as a gateway to worse food choices (and aspartame concerns)
- •Krispy Kreme obsession and the ‘hot light’ misunderstanding
- •Late-night snacking psychology and the nutrition vs enjoyment split
- 2:07:31 – 2:26:15
Fame, time travel, presidents, and Tesla vs Edison (plus eccentric geniuses)
They riff on how internet access demystified celebrities and how little most people could prove if they time-traveled. The conversation bounces through naming presidents, historical figures, and Tesla’s brilliance and eccentricities as a model for ‘too-smart-to-be-normal.’
- •Celebrities feeling ‘make-believe’ before constant online access
- •Time travel joke premise: not knowing enough to prove you’re from the future
- •President-name limits and historical memory gaps
- •Tesla vs Edison, genius quirks, and why extreme intelligence skews eccentric
- 2:26:15 – 2:58:46
Comedy lineage & the grind: Boston/New York scenes, bad gigs, and evolving the craft
They zoom out to comedy history from Lenny Bruce to Pryor, then talk Boston’s club density and the brutal early-stage realities of tiny crowds. Joe recalls seeing Bill Hicks bomb fearlessly; they discuss why hardship seasons build better standups and how podcasts changed audience understanding of the process.
- •Modern standup as a recent art form (Lenny Bruce → Carlin/Pryor)
- •Boston as a comedy factory; club ecosystem and constant stage time
- •Tiny crowds exposing ‘fat’ in your act; cross-training in hard rooms
- •Bill Hicks’ room-clearing confidence; value of adversity and long timelines
- 2:58:46 – 3:08:18
Closing: Nate’s Netflix special details, filming challenges, and the Zanies dump-truck story
They wrap with Nate’s upcoming Netflix release and how he avoided making it feel like a ‘COVID special,’ even keeping helicopter interruptions tied to a real police chase. After farewells, they trade a final story about Zanies’ wall art getting hit—specifically Nate’s face—by a dump truck.
- •Special release date (March 18) and mask-audience concerns
- •Opening with light COVID material to acknowledge the moment without anchoring in it
- •Helicopters during filming (later revealed as a police chase) and riffing through disruptions
- •Zanies wall portrait accident: dump truck rolls and hits Nate’s face section
