This podcast is brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer, your new flavors are here. Keep listening for more.

Hey, what's going on? It's Bill Bird, it's time for another wonderful episode of the Bill Burt Pod Cast. Oh. All right.

We have a an amazing guest this week. I like to think he's a friend of mine. You never know what this guy's a little shifty.

No. OK, so maybe not a friend, showbiz friends friend.

OK, I met him about he might be talking about me, Mike.

I met him about seven years or eight years ago on a movie starring Kevin Costner. Octavia Spencer called Black or White.

Oh, that's where you guys met. I was always wondering where you guys met.

Yeah.

And then he said, you know, he did stand up comedy at the Comedy Store, which has brought him back to doing a documentary about the Comedy Store, which is going to be out on Showtime.

The Wonderful, the lovely. The salt of the Earth, Detroit, the pride of Detroit, Mr. Mike Binder.

Hey, guys, thanks for having me on. I love this podcast and I'm honored to be on with you guys. So I really I mean, yes, we are friends, are good buddies, but it's the nicest thing you've ever said. You're really in a nice mood. I can tell you're proud of this project and you should be, because the clips that I've seen of it, how deep you went into this thing, I'm going to try to talk about it without ruining any ruining any some of the surprises, some of the the pictures, some of the footage you have.

Like if you're a comedy nerd, which I am, and you've been, you know, knowing about the Comedy Store for all of these decades. This this is the documentary for you. I mean, this is the Ken Burns version, as far as I'm concerned.

While we worked on this for two and a half years and I really I had no plans ever doing anything like this, I, I never planned on doing a documentary. This was an incoming call. I was out swimming in Malibu and I got a call from my old friend Mike Tolan. He said, Peter Shaw and I want you to do the ultimate Comedy Store documentary. And I didn't even think about it. I usually I usually have over the years have said no to everything about stand up comedy and movies, about stand up comedy, even being involved with that.

I'm dying up here, which I was a character in the book. I was in the book a lot and I just always said no about the Comedy Store and stand up and and I just went, yes, like that, which was so rare for me because I just instantly knew that was the right way to tell the Comedy Store story with the real stories and real comedians. And I knew how many great stories there were. And I didn't know how much work it was going to be and how much emotion and how hard it was going to be.

But I said yes instantly, and it just came together instantly. Why do you think you said yes so quickly after having said no to stand up related things for so long?

I just said why? I said yes.

Well, you're right.

I thought you said but but for some reason, this thing I just said yes to.

He does. I thought you just said I had years. I said, no, it's not perfect. No Bert interview ever.

I thought he just said, but the second he asked me, I just said yes.

I said yes because I knew this was the perfect way to do it, because there were because I knew there were so many great stories.

And so I saw this picture in you in the surf in Malibu, and I got carried away with the fantasy. Yeah, I got it to Mike. Mike, you threw a fucking curveball when you said, I'm swimming in Malibu. Bill and I just immediately went to triathlon training, if we're lucky.

I didn't like this guy's living the life. He's out there in the bubble swimming with the dolphins. Hey, you want to do a documentary on one of the biggest. No, I go out there for the cool water, you know, it's like, why do you go out into the ocean in Malibu?

For the quarter. All right, let's let you ask the question, OK? Let me out. Let me tell you how our interviews always go. Bill feels bad that we have you here and he wants to get you out on time. So and I like to make a meal out of it. And I'm going to start with my meal making.

My freshman year in college, my freshman year in college, Jeff Hartley came into my dorm room and said, we got to watch this fucking movie sets about these kids that run drugs into Canada, out of Canada. And it's fucking amazing. More importantly, the soundtrack is Fucking Killer, and that's your movie. And I didn't know this until this morning. It was crossing the bridge. And then from that, unknowingly, we became Mike Binder fans. This is the fucking bizarre reality now that I know you is then Indian Summer comes out.

Jeff Hartley is like, dude, we like crossing the bridge. We're going to love Indian Summer. We watched I've watched so many of your movies not knowing they're you, whatever motifs you have. For instance, Kevin Costner, hard drinking baseball player and in upside anger, that is. I love that character. I love that character. What is it when you I want to go to your before we get in too much about the store. When you create characters for your movies like these hero characters and crossing the bridge and in in black and white and like Kevin Costner is a fucking ideal.

Do you are you drawing them from something you had growing up? Because I feel like running drugs from Canada, something you would have done from Detroit.

Yeah, they're all based. Everything I've done in my life is based on something in my life. Everything I've never done any. There's only one movie I've ever done that is not based from me, and that was Blankman with Damon Wayans, which was something that basically killed my career for a long time. Are you serious? But but I had agreed it was the best man with such a great fucking movie.

I saw that in the movie theaters.

Yeah, but and it was by the way, I loved it. And I did it because I loved Damon and and my agent and I had just come off a high end movie that did well. And my agent said, don't do this, it's going to kill your career. And I was like, why am I working with a friend? It's his movie. It's like producing a buddy's album. And they went, no, it's not.

So in this, if you had you just had a hit movie, all it takes is one. That one, and then they put you on the bench or you go to jail so fast in this business. Well, what if what how many movies do you need hit movies? How much money do you need to make them?

No, no, no question. My Christ, I only got half through.

Go ahead.

Finish my question. How many hit movies can you make where you can actually have a flop and not get put on the bench? You have to have a lot of hits, but I would I was going to say you'd never use the word hit with my finger. I've never had a hit. I because I'm just, you know, it's like birds watched a bunch of my movies. He didn't even know the titles. He didn't even know again. It's crazy, Mike.

You're right. You're right. I'm dead serious. I've watched the majority of movies you've ever made, and I did. I'm by the way, I'm I'm friends with you because I like you. But like and I and I. I love the project you're on. I'm onto this morning. I was like, I know my son Michael, the man with a married man. I know. I know. He's done some stuff that I'm familiar with.

I know I knew that you and Kevin Costner were close. I knew that like black or white or maybe like and then I'm like going through it like every one of his fucking movies. I were like, what was the what was the what was the the the the Irishman's song in Crossing the Bridge that you used the Maurice Morrison.

Oh man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was that song. It was a mistake into the mistake bro.

That was, that defines my freshman year. We listen we bought that fucking we bought, we started getting into a bit more so because we be a movie because the guy gets his fucking finger shot off or cut off. Right. I mean I'm like my freshman year. We must watch that movie One Hundred Fucking Time, my movies.

And again, my movies have never lost money. They've always been made for a price, they've always made money, but like even like when I said a movie, they did really well and opened strong for and had a couple of good weekends, you know, and it makes 30 million dollars. It's not enough to be a hit in the in that business, you know. But so if then I come out and then I did this movie with Damon at Columbia, which was Sony, and they made it for the one thing.

I go over there and they're making it for like thirty five million dollars. And I'm thinking this is too expensive.

Why are they spending so much money on this movie?

I was making. You know, six million, seven million dollar movies, you know, too much and. You know, that movie came out, they spent a fortune advertising on it and it made nothing and boom, I go to jail, you know, and which is fine. Listen, how many people go to jail on a flop? The lead, the director.

Stop there. Like who who's left holding the bag, who's the Alex Cora in this movie? In this situation? Just the director, Yarkas Damon Wayans went on to make three more four more flops right after that.

You're right. I just I took the bullet and he wrote and produced it and started it was his movie. And I'm tell my agent beforehand, no, I'm not going to take it. I won't. It's his movie. I'm not gonna take the hit for it.

And then my agents are going to my man is going, no, that's not what's going to happen. And the truth is, even though I say, hey, I believe that that wasn't from my life, I didn't want to do it because I loved Batman as a kid. Yeah. And I thought, OK, it's this is kind of like a spoof on Batman, you know? But I've tried to keep really everything I do.

I only do things I absolutely love and and I can really just get crazy about, you know, and and, you know, the Comedy Store thing. I'm just.

I unless I can really, really get nuts in, like, you know, the thing is, it's like I have to bug people, you know, and if, like, even as with my movies, if I write a script and I sent it to Kevin Costner, I sent it to Ben Affleck or Adam Sandler, and they don't want to do it. I go, OK, I'm not going to push anybody to do a role because the last thing you want is an actor on a set.

Who doesn't believe in a role with this comedy store? You know, there were people like Michael Keaton and trying to think who else maybe be? A few other people that, you know, if I want to do that, and I would just say, no, no, you have to do this, you're going to be so glad you did it and you're going to be so bummed if you didn't do it. Because I knew that I would have been bombed if I didn't do it.

So this was a different kind of thing, you know, and I just had to stay passionate for two and a half years. And it was. Believe me and Bill, you know, because I would call you and whine to you about some of the craziness and there's a lot of personalities and comedians, the Comedy Store, it's like herding cats. And, you know, one thing is never change. You know, the personalities, the Comedy Store, the same thing.

You know, when I brought Letterman and Leno and and Michael Keaton and all the Richard Lewis and everyone back and and the people I tried to get would be, you know, Elayne Boosler, everything's the exact same. Nobody's changed. It was like everybody, you know, Letterman was great. He was so glad he was back. And then, you know, two hours later, he was mad at me again, you know, you know, and and Leno was back then.

I was you know, it's this everything's the same.

And your guy's generation, you guys are all great, fucking wonderful people. But by the same token. You can pick someone off so fast, it's unbelievable how mad you can get somebody for the slightest thing. And it's just like when I was there, which that was my high school, basically. So two and a half years of that, it gets draining. But you got to keep your passion up.

Here's a question I've had for a long time as far as all of those guys that you just mentioned. You know, we're running the store, we're down the store, we're we're the comedy store during their time and over the years, as time goes by, like ninety nine percent of that class moves on and just eventually just stops going to the store is like, oh, man, I haven't been here in 10, 20 years and stuff like that.

Sometimes I sit down, I think to myself, like, was there a time when I was supposed to leave? Because when I start now, at this point, I've been doing standup for twenty eight years and I think back to all the people I hung out with when and that was down the store or whatever club I'm at in the just the late 90s, I feel like there's me and like three other people left. And now that Rogan's in Austin, Texas, I, you know, I just was curious as to I've always had a fear.

That if I stop going down to the store, I was I was immediately going to start aging in dog years as a comedian and I was going to be like basically being I have Bill Clinton, you know, with this Monica Lewinsky. What's up with that? You just feel like if you stay away from there for like three years, all of a sudden you're going to go in there and be like you're doing material that would have worked on the Borscht Belt.

So I was wondering what gave you the. That feeling of like you've always sort of said, like the Comedy Store is high school, I knew where I was going, like, how come you weren't afraid to go to step off, so to speak, into other areas of the business?

That's a really good question, and it's easier to hear that.

But every once in a while. It's really funny because, you know, it's a double edged sword because you need to step off, you need to step away. There's some guys that stayed too long, but I also think. The guys a step away. Doing it there and at their own expense, because as you and I know, there's several we know several very, very big comics that I've brought back recently and we've hung with them and they don't feel like they're they have a contemporary sense of comedy.

And as a result, they're their comedy felstead. Yeah.

And I feel that because I've come back and gotten to know all you guys and even a group even younger than you, I feel very not that I'm funnier or funnier, but I'm not at all no help for you got me there.

But but but.

But you do need to be around to be crying, to be to understand.

And if you go away and you're not at the store or the improv or if you're not aware of what's going on even more every year, you know, comedy has gotten so fractional and so nice that, you know, when I talk to Letterman and Leno and Louis Andriessen and they do it myself, I don't didn't know about you guys.

You know, I got to tell you, Bert, you know how I found out about Bill? Oh, my buddy who built my house, who is my old buddy? He's building my house and he's telling me about this guy on YouTube.

This is long before Bill was Bill. He keeps telling me about this guy on YouTube, Bellbird, showing me these clips. He goes, How are you? Like Mr. Comedy? And you don't know Bill Burr.

I go, Okay, fuck off, you know? And he keeps going to rebuild. And he's this is my best buddy. So keep showing me this bill bullshit. And he's funny, but you don't on YouTube. Can he be. And then we're down in New Orleans, Kevin and I, and we're cast in this role and we're in the hotel, he's up there and his room and I'm in my room and.

We were having trouble cast in this role. It's a really good role and I've seen some time, Kohnen. And he'd that's that's the YouTube guy. And he comes on, he's killing Uncoated, and I called Costner up in his room to learn code and I'm watching the game turn on Kohnen. I want you to see this guy so the two of us on our phones are watching this guy on Conan and he's killing. This is the guy that should be your buddy and be your partner.

And we're laughing.

We're laughing. Who is he? I said he's a comedian. He's on YouTube. But I guess he's a real big comedian getting big. He's really funny, and he's I guess he's done some acting. I'm looking them up on IMDB. You know, he did a part in Breaking Bad. Well, let's let's get them. This is his good. You said he goes, you want to read them? I said, no, let's get them.

And that was like the first time I never had to, like, read. But I don't like to read I just asked this guy obviously fucking knows what he's doing. Let's get them here.

Turns out he's with Michael Rodenberg, who was my manager for 20 years and urged me to quit with the same management company that they became.

So here I go. Let's just fucking get them here. And but the fact is, I didn't even fuck I didn't know anybody at that point, I didn't know. You I didn't know Sebastian, I didn't know Rogan. I didn't know Whitney, I just didn't know.

So I'm a young girl. So then I get there and I know everybody within two months. I know of. Right. And then I'm interviewing Leno and talking a little on the phone, and he doesn't know anybody and he's had a show, but I know, I know, I know him my mind.

And let's be honest, the guy fucking podcast. And they got this and they got. But what does that good do. Good for them. Go, Jay. They're selling out. Amphitheatres, OK, no, not really, yeah, no, really, no, really, and I talked to Letterman about it, he's gone. I've never heard of any of these guys. Will they've been on your show to have, you know you know, and I talked to both of them.

They did like 6000 shows. I get it. But I'm just saying. But it's and and you talk to them and you talk to Rogen and, you know, Hedo, other than Leno and Letterman, there was nothing at the Comedy Store before him. He has no idea about me. He doesn't know. I have no idea about any comedians. I get there and I'm tell them, Peter Shaw, you know, the whole story about how when I got in a fight with his mother and she took down my my neon sign on the wall, which he knew, and.

To be nice, he puts my sign back up on the wall. Because, you know, I did an HBO special and I, George Carlin produced it right in Mizzi, wanted to produce. She took my knee and signed and she took my name off the wall, and Rogan has a shit fit, apparently. Why the fuck is this guy producing this documentary? Why the fuck is this guy that you put a neon sign on for this fucking day?

I've never heard of.

So he doesn't know anything about me.

Yeah, well, the new guys know nothing about the old guys other than Leno and Letterman and Leno and Letterman. Nothing about the new guys. And I'm the guy in the middle that knows the two things. Right. And which is kind of an interesting place to be. And you realize that that's the way it is.

You know, the generations, as much as everybody adores the store, the generations, and talks about how great the stories comics are so fucking narcissistic and so into themselves in their world that I'm interviewing this comic and Letterman and I'm realizing she has no idea of any comedians other than herself.

And what I'm talking about, I've done about David Brenner, Richard Pryor. That is so anti Letterman.

That is so I'm going she goes, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I got this. And so I go, you know, I'm filming you. You're telling me you don't know these people's name. She goes, I have no idea who you are. Joan Rivers. I know. You know, I do a comic. The late 90s. I was hanging out with their friend. We were going to go do something, swing by my place, and I was grabbing my coat and I had like VHS tapes, just how long ago was that?

I had Richard Pryor, the classic one down in Long Beach, live in concert. She goes, Oh, you're Richard Pryor fandoms, just like I'm a comedian. I mean, we're comedians. And she was a cocktail waitress. She goes, yeah, I've got to get around to watching that. And it just struck me as so funny. That I mean, I guess you don't have to watch it, but that would just be like I'm trying to think of another analogy like like you're a basketball player and you never stopped to watch Gordon.

Right. Just to see, you know, analyze him, learn about him, see what his mentality was, what he achieved, what you can learn from that. And I just I never forgot that. Like, I got to get around to watching that. I just I looked at for like half a second.

I was just like but my point is, I was what happens when you leave the store? If you're not in or you're not playing at these clubs, you don't really stay in touch with what's coming up. You lose a big part of a sense of comedy, and that does hurt you as a comedian. I think a way hurts you if you're an older comic. That's my point. Yeah, yeah. That that hurts you way more than life.

But you can be a young comic and not know the people before you.

Yes, but you're just you're in the thing that's been developed because of them. So you just sort of learn by like I think like a simulation or something.

But it's a weird it's a weird line because if you know too much about the older comics, you start inevitably emulating them and doing their tones and doing their intonations and their cadence. So like there are guys that are like big students of the older guys and you can just hear it in their acts. And you you've got a lot of people that don't that don't know anything about anything and just are doing because they love it. But at the same time, I think it's almost like like you feel like you created something, not knowing that people have been doing this well before you.

And the thing that you think you stepped on, you're like, oh, that that's funny. Liebman's thing. You didn't know that. You didn't come up with the saying the wrong thing at the end of the 20 Liebman's thing, you know, like or those type of things. You've got to go. Like you're doing you're doing what's his name act, and you're like, wait. I created this like, well, you should have watched.

It is also a thing that if too much time goes by, by the time they watch the person, that's amazing. So many people have taken from them that it doesn't seem like I mean, the amount of younger guys who have told me the Beatles are overrated. Richard Pryor hated the black guys do this, white guys do that.

It's like he did a little more than that.

Yeah, I tried that. But I always say to the Beatles, people like, you know, fair enough. But you will not find a musician of any caliber that would ever say that. It's just like but I understand what they're talking about, because if you go back, I mean, their catalog is now over 50 years old. They broke up 50 years ago. So really trying to get people to go back. I mean, that was like people trying to tell me, listen to Benny Goodman.

And it wasn't in stereo or Count Basie. And I'm listening to AC DC going like, well, what does this have to do with that? There is I don't know.

I'll tell you I'll tell you the analogy of this, maybe a mis analogy, but I remember one time I was at the Improv and Adam Sandler, I just talked to Rob Shuter about this. Adam Sandler came in to do stand up and he hadn't done standup in forever. Everyone's losing their fucking minds. He brings up a notebook. He's in gym shorts with sneakers and like black socks. I mean, really not did not plan on going. It did not like the one playing on the on stage.

I'm sitting next to a guy who we would all deem as a cunt. Right. Just a real bad comment. And and Adam Sandler is kind of figuring it out on stage, but he's fumbling and he's doing a little bit of the Bobby Bouchet voice. And he's like he's just a little all over the place. And this guy who I wish I could just say is fucking name was like Dude fucking sailor songs and just walks out. And I went, oh, wow, you're you're missing the entire scope of this business.

Like, I'm watching Michael Jordan take cuts out of fucking batting practice right now. This is not what he does right now, but this is what he's doing right now. And I will watch all of it. And then and then at the end, Sandler did this great bit about his about his wife, about he's not a big physical contact intimacy guy. And then he got a bulldog and his wife's like and he's with the bulldog playing with his balls and like and he's like and she called him on it.

And it was a great like no voice, just Adam Sandler talking about his relationship with his wife and his dog. And you're and I'm sitting there going, oh, this is if you just don't stand up, that's it. No movies. He would have taken something like this and blown it. And then you realize this is something he's going to say tonight and then he's going to go in and make a movie tomorrow. And he's like and he's like.

But I remember that kind of person that just was like, oh, Adam Sandler sucks and walks out on like, you'll never be good at this job. You'll never you don't have what it takes because you got to be you've got to be interested in all of it. I believe I believe I'm not I'm not shit on any Letterman at all.

I think that was it. No, that is that's not what David Letterman was. Taqwacores and Letterman. First of all, is a fucking great joke writer. Yes, yes, and second of all, she loves the process of stand up. That's not what he does, what he just does.

She's she's gorgeous, which is perfect. We're talking about is the process.

And when I was a kid and Bill and I have talked about this, I was just so lucky because I was there as a dorm. And every night when Pryor would come in and work out all his classic albums and concert thing, and I and I was there that the f the DNA of the store was built on prior going up and failing, you know, and flailing around, finding his material. And what hear Tuck, that guy that walked out.

He. Is not a comic. No, he doesn't understand that it's like comic grade comedy jazz. You know, it's it's like finding in playing it in.

You know what what is what? I think the guys that have gone on to be great after, prior and after is Adam and Dylan and Jim Carrey. And and just like that, I'll go up there and dig in and force of something out of it and find it and take it out of their lives.

And and that's what the documentary to me, what I was looking for is to figure it out, to show the audience that it isn't just, OK, here's a joke. It's like here's something that I took from here. And and I it took time to find, you know, and Sandler is a great example of that. You're right.

Because, you know, he he went away from it for a long time.

But when he came back to it. One hundred percent fresh is. Such a good special, you know, he he's got he's still that little boy, yeah, but it's man, man, boy, he's he's still at six and he's he's to me, I just liked it because it was there was so much shit going on in stand up at that time with all these people flipping out about every single joke it seemed and trying to cancel people.

And he came out and I just reminded when I watched the specials, I guess being a comedian is fun. It's fun to be silly and be over the top and just go out and make people laugh, and I just thought that when I watched his special, aside from it, just being, like, laughing out loud, hilarious, I just remember just saying, like, he's having a he's just having a great time. He's out there. He's he's he's just doing it.

He's in the moment. I love that it jumped around from different ones.

And I don't know how is it that I actually watch that right before I take my last one. And that was a thing that I was trying to remember. Like, just remember to have fun when you go up there.

He he has joy and he has a joy of everything he does and he works. So he's got a great work ethic.

You know, he he he really.

I do not. I do not. Yes, you do. You do that.

Your work ethic isn't part of your brand is playing a dumdum and you're not going to business people. I know what you're up to.

You work your ass off your career. So I am going back on the road. Burr is currently on the road and the new flavors from Bud Light Seltzer are here. Three great new flavors from Bud Light and their new remix, VPE starting this September Grapefruit Pill, Pineapple Bill and Cranberry. What do they call that where you are?

Every time they get a new flavor, you go on the road just to go try it out and rub it in my face.

There is no better feeling. This is this is a horrific branding thing for Bud Light seltzer. But when someone when you get a case of blood cells are like a 12 pack and you and a buddy got a tear through them before they get warm, that's a hot summer night feeling right there.

I will tell you, they are refreshing seltzer with natural ingredients and no artificial flavors. One hundred calories with less than one gram of sugar. And what I love and I love it because I read it here. And if you watch the commercials that they're playing on TV during football, you hear it. They're a five step filtration process for quality taste and a clean finish.

I had a Bud Light seltzer in the sauna the other night, Bill right there, refreshing. It's like, you know what it's like? It's like getting like a just a fizzy water, but with a little extra confidence in it. Does that make sense?

Yeah, no, the whole thing.

I mean, mouth water is when you read this stuff, just please get through the copy has a familiar Bud Light easy drinking name for those looking for an approachable brand with their for their first hard seltzer made from your bag with real sugar, real cane sugar for a high.

And that was close and there wasn't any real sugar was all that horrific stuff.

And if you're drinking this fall watching football outdoors on a big screen in your backyard with your friends, all of them getting warm, they're going to stay nice and cold for fall, watching much anticipated football or just sitting by a bonfire to get it delivered right to your door. You barely even have to leave the couch. Find the retailer near you, a Bud Light dotcom slash bill, Burt, Bud Light, dotcom, such Gilbert drink response. Enjoy responsibly.

All right. And lastly, but not least, it's my bookie out of fuck you doing. God, I love Mondays and Sundays. You know why? Two words, NFL action. I love Sundays almost as much as Brady used to love Sundays in New England.

Oh, they're killing me now.

He's in Tampa, where the only thing he's got to be excited about is that Florida sunshine.

You know, that would put pause on that because the Bucs covered yesterday. They did get a win. Yeah, they won and they covered and they covered. I covered all mine yesterday.

I went for and one I'll tell you what, in and Andrew.

Andrew hit a ten day thing there. All right.

I'll tell you I'll tell you what. On my book, he's got the whole online betting thing figured out. You sign up, you make a deposit and they'll match you dollar for dollar. You got some extra cash to play with. Plus they got all kinds of cash prizes, price contests and free bets tuned in late. Didn't play Chopin on time. No prob. Don't even sweat it because they let you bet the game live so you can analyze the game and then make your picks.

If nothing else, you got to check out this, the website because they got one hundred thousand dollars super contest and it runs the entire NFL season. You pick five games against the spread each week. You score the most points by the end of the season and you're going to walk away with twenty five thousand bucks. But that's not it. Every four weeks, the player with the top score wins five grand, five G's. Everybody, my book, he's giving it away.

If you trust your intuition, you can make a lot of money and have a lot of fun. So sign up with my bookie today and get your deposit matched all the way up to a thousand bucks. It'll be easiest money you ever make in your life. All you got to do to claim the deposit bonus is to use the promo code Bellbird B.I, LLB R winning season is finally here and it's only at my bookie.

What I, what I only thing I love about it when I Berts phone his cell phone for me is where I send my text is to get stamina from printed text.

And I said, hey, how's Wednesday at five fifteen? Nine months later, at 11 o'clock at night, I hear my phone, but how about six, 15?

What the fuck? And that and I know that just because the guy who you're you've you've got so much going on and you you work. I know how hard you work. Well, here's here's a weird question that that I, I want to pose and I don't know if you cover this in the documentary at all. I've only seen two episodes. I've seen the the first one and then the fourth one. The guys like Sandler, like yourself, like Letterman, like Leno, like Jim Carrey, like Damon.

Stand up as an occupation wasn't an option. You had to be able to pivot and get into movies, producing, writing, directing, hosting. You had to pivot. Whereas like for me and Bill I say Chappelle not I'm just saying mean Bill Chappelle, Rogan, Sagara like Joey Diaz, our group. Our group, Bobby Kelly. It's just stand up is the occupation, and we never learn how to we need never needed to learn how to pivot.

I think Bill and I are a little older than Sazegara, whose net literally is never pivoted from stand up. He does a podcast. Maybe he's acted in a couple of things, but definitely not his passion and not forced on him. He can make millions of dollars just doing standup work like. Does that do you know what I'm saying, like we never had to be forced to learn how to write and direct.

I totally agree with you and I think that is that is such a great thing. Observation because.

I've always said, well, you know, I wasn't that great of a stand up, so I but I do think if I was in your class, I would still be doing stand up and I would be I would be a lot better at it than I think, you know, when I was doing stand up, even though I gave it up, I got a half hour HBO special out of nowhere. And I wrote a complete half hour in about three weeks about getting married and and the wedding and this and that and recorded in Chicago.

And it was I killed. It was great, you know, and I put it together and then just didn't do stand up again for a year, you know? And I'm just saying, you know what I'm saying? But if if I were doing it now.

I would force myself to, but at the time, it was just it was so there were so many masters, you know, getting on The Tonight Show and getting on this show again, whereas.

I would have loved to be able to do my own show, in my own podcast, in my own thing.

It just I love I I love independence, you know.

So I started in independent movies and making smaller movies. And I love control what I mean.

And I 100 percent understand that because, you know, the funny thing is about now is I look at a lot of the opportunities that I get that I would not have got during your era because there just weren't that many nearly as many opportunities. I mean, the fact now that there can be one person that can have like they're on two different shows at the same time, like it's like Deon Sanders type shit that you're doing in this business.

And what I found. The crazy thing is like when you do it, it's so much easier now to get a TV show because there's so many slots and so much bandwidth to fill up. But the weird thing is, because now there's so many slices of pie. It's like you have to keep doing standup because you don't really make crazy money doing a TV show. And then the weird thing is, is it takes just as long to make it. So you're still doing just as much work for something that you probably wouldn't have been doing.

So I guess in a way, it's like I don't know. But there's definitely days, you know, like when I'm doing like F is for family on the days when it's working, it's like, oh, man, this is this is the greatest. But the days, you know, put the script in the table. It doesn't go well. There's a bunch of notes you just got to pull out, like the liver of the script and the whole thing on the respirator.

Those are the days when I sit there and I just think, like, I should just be in Des Moines at a penguins right now, knock out four shows, go have a beer and smoke a cigar. What am I slamming my head again? Then of course, we get the thing. We go into the booth and it's funny and all of that.

But it's funny because actually when I look at like a cigarroa who just sort of does the podcast, I guess, you know, I know he's in St. Bart's. The movie does great in it. But when I look at that, like I definitely know on my busier days, you know, trying to write a movie script and just that you can't get that one line. It's not bridging the gap. I definitely I always think that it's like or I could just do my shit jokes for an hour.

Well, I guess it makes sense because you stand up, you start and you're so in control. And then, like for me, for eight years, I did one pilot after another for the networks and the and they were series and they would only for so long and and you know, and then, you know, but and you just want to be in control, you know.

But I think today it's a great time to be a comedian, but you have to have patience. And I think a lot of these guys, people don't have patience that they don't realize it takes a long time to build a following to to have a podcast grow and and to have a following on the road. And these guys, they want will you guys have now?

You know, it's just like. You're not going to have that you work better than the people. We will always like that. I remember I used to think that I was ready to be passed, that the store and I wasn't. I think the amount of years that I thought I was ready to be in just for laughs and trying to figure out how I think part of being young, as you do want everything right now, you know, the bird said that in a great way in the dark.

He says, I told them, I said, I'm so ready for that for just for laughs. And what are you talking about? You know? So I know that feeling.

You know, looking at the line up, I'm just as funny as this. I could do this properly. Yeah. You start doing that. You drive yourself crazy.

Oh, it's I think I think it's funny. I feel like blowing my. Bridge the gap is the wrong term, but I think that we do we are tethered a tad bit to the old school, more so than the younger generation that we know that at the store. Like like I feel like we came up in the debt, get a tight can, get a sitcom, get a holding deal, get a development deal. Only only seven white guys get to be famous a year.

One black guy, you know, like one check. No gays like like I feel like that was the old system of going to studios, but I feel like we were at the tail end of it where you seem like you might have been at the at the at the salad days of it, Mike, where you showed up and everyone's like, let's do a sitcom, let's do a deal. Like give me just give me a price point real quick.

I know this is but like when you were signing deals to do sitcoms for development deals, what were they, what were they paying like five hundred thousand dollars. No.

You want to know what's really funny? I'll tell you. I'll tell you what's really funny. I did I I wrote an executive produced the only time I ever did this ever about I'd say about maybe 2007, FOX asked me to do a show for them. And I did I created a pilot for a sitcom called Two Dollar Beer, and I hired a bunch of these young funny guys to play an ensemble sitcom. And I shot it at Fox, the half hour show.

And I couldn't believe so they we had we put all these guys under contract and it was like the guys in Detroit while hanging out like, you know, a master of friends or whatever. Right. Yeah. They got forty thousand dollars for the pilot, you know.

And it blew my mind because in 1977. I did a sitcom for Norman Lear for ABC. And I my kind, I got thousand dollars. OK. So it's like they're getting the same thing. Forty years later, yeah, oh, no, it did go up, it was almost like NBA contracts and then there was like the Kevin Garnett deal and then they were like, all right, what are we doing here?

You know, it went in the like the late 90s, not holding deal that wasn't holding you.

That was just like taking hold the deal.

Yeah. Twenty five grand. My, my my per episode, my first sitcom deal I signed it was. Thirty five thousand dollars for the pilot. Twenty five thousand dollars an episode. Yeah, that's episode you're not holding. This is a different thing. These were just fees. Yeah. Forty thousand for the pilot and the thing was twenty five thousand an episode. Yeah. And it was the same thing 40 years later what these can. And it was like in New York you got, you got like, you know, ten bucks for a spot during the week and 50 bucks on the weekend for like 30 years.

Twenty five years and everything else had gone up. I remember they were so mad when we asked for more money and then when they finally agreed to bump it up, all they did was they just booked less comics on the show and made you do more time. So then they had like one less spot which saved them the 50 they were already paying. They actually were making more money. And by then, Comics', at that point, Ed. Broken up again, what we were all together.

Let's get more money. OK. Seventy five is spot and when they get that little switch on us. And I think Ted tried to get us all together again, it just would just add whatever I'm funny enough, I'll get the spot it should be. But there's a new way, Guidewire. You know, there's no loyalty. Here was the great thing about this. In 77, the studio and network executives were probably getting like a million bucks a year.

Wow, that's a lot yet back then, but then in this time here in 2007, there were like 15 to 20 million a year. So they're put their fees have gone way the hell up and the actors and stayed the exact same. You know, it was just like, that's the world.

I sometimes wonder, like, oh, my my big white whale has always been a multicam, like I've always wanted to do a multicam. I just feel like it's so it's so what I would enjoy doing, showing up to a set, having a big nuclear family, coming in, pitching jokes, pitching ideas, put it up in front of a live studio audience, having fun. And then I wonder if I'm like I'm like, you know, when you're like you look back at your childhood and you're like, man, I just want to play Little League again.

And then you get there and you're like, Oh, all the dads around the Horlicks and we don't get to keep our uniforms. This sucks.

Like, I wonder if it's like I don't like him. I'm like this. I could do I can get more money doing doing a podcast. You can get on at it.

But it's a shift. It's an old vessel. You regraded bird but. You first of all, they're not that funny, you'd find out what it is and you know why that is. It's because there's a live studio audience there. And I think people get nervous. They get nervous about groans in that, because there's always been like a governor on how funny you're allowed to be if you're on a sitcom versus a one camera shoot like the office is something like some of the jokes that they did on the office, if that was a sitcom.

Same time, same people, same writers, they wouldn't do those jokes if they believe they did.

The one where if they did think about it on a live studio audience, if they did the joke where Michael and Dwight show up with two Asian jokes and they can't tell them apart and they have to draw lines on their arms to figure out which one you imagine in a live studio audience who is like, I can't tell them apart. They'd be like, what the fuck? Yeah.

And plus with all, like, the political correctness stuff. But that's also why Everybody Loves Raymond Seinfeld all the way back to Mary Tyler Moore Show how great those were that they were able to do that. And the stuff they talked about all in the family cheers was another great one. If you can get on a great one, dude, like that's the gig just for the people at home. This is the gig. It's like Monday's The Table read.

You actually want to be an actor on it, too, because if you're a producer, you're going to be there all day Monday. Right? You go and you do the table read. If it goes well, you do a little bit of blocking. If it tanks, you don't even block because they know you're going to rewrite it Tuesday, rehearse network, run through or the producer run through. And then Wednesday with the network run through Thursdays blocking Friday, shoot the show.

You do it again next week and then you're off for a week. Was amazing. I love it.

You know, you want I'll tell you. But it's it's just it's it's a world that doesn't exist anymore. The great ones. You know, my first job you want to know my first really cool job was when I was a kid. I played Andy Kaufman's character all day long for him on Texte. OK, look, he didn't rehearse. He didn't rehearse, he didn't like to rehearse, and he didn't get along with the couple of the people in the cast, so they had auditions.

For Ladka and a lot of people thought, well, is he leaving? And I just said, thank you very much. Yes, thank you. Yes, I get that. Yes, not I understand. And I got the job because I had the same manager and I had a contract.

I was 18 years old and I worked I played at I rehearsed with the actors all week long. Oh, my God. Friday I didn't meet with Andy with the model of the set and I'd show him, OK, and here you doing this and here you doing that.

And you got to remember, like, it was only in like four scenes an episode. Right. So it was kind of easy. But the actors were so pissed that he got to do that, that they took it out on me. They were like mad at me, except for Marilu Henner and Danny DeVito were great to me. And Judd Hirsch was good to me. And Tony actually, Tony Danza was cool to me.

But couple who worked for Jeff Conaway was a cunt. Oh, he would name the whole cast except one guy. So did I.

There are a few others. But but. But. But I was a kid, too, because I was a young kid and I was hired and I was a comedian and I was at clubs all night and I was like, I would be late. And Jim would say to me, Mike? You can't be fucking late. First of all, you're not really in the show and there is stuff that you here don't they don't want to wait for an understudy.

OK, and I was getting two thousand dollars a week at 18 years old, OK? At 18 years old, the late 70s. It's amazing. And and I was getting rerecords money, rerun money.

So it was a great job. But and I was fucking laying out smoking cigarettes outside the fucking door and they'd all see me and they were all health freaks. And, you know, I was a stoner comedian, you know, and but it was it was great. Robin was doing Mork and Mindy there. You know, Michael Keaton was doing his show. It was I couldn't believe it, you know, but I was just a kid. And and but that was those were magic times and they were great.

Like you say, they show up at 11:00. They've done it for and then they'd work one day of shooting.

But today, the first of all, when they do even the multi cameras, they do ten episodes for Netflix.

There's no back end. It's nowhere near the job you got. You know, you got if you wanted to do really wanted to do a show, you do your own show, you put it up your own on your own thing and own it.

You know what was let's let's go back to your documentary here for a second. What was your favorite aspect? Was there any favorite like. There's so many stories down there, there's so much history was what was some of the things that you learned? Because I remember like I just from my generation, I had always heard about the strike and all of that. And Bert, I was there the day he was interviewing, I think it was Dreazen. And like all of the the the bad blood from the strike, what it was starts to kind of bubble up during the interview.

And I was standing outside there listening to them talking about this stuff that happened 40 years ago. No, no, it wasn't about this. It was about this. Now that they were trying to take out Mizzi novel and it got into like this heated argument. And I was just sitting there like as a comic going like, wow, I always heard that it drove a wedge in between the comics. And I was never quite the same after that.

So they here that blew my mind. So I was wondering, was there anything that when you went to do it because you go so far back at the store, was there anything that you learned while you were making this that you were like, wow, I never knew I was thought it was like this. I didn't know it was like that.

I didn't know about the whole program and see a thing.

Oh, wow. Oh yeah.

That was I didn't realize how deep that was. I didn't realize how bad things got at the store. I didn't realize. I didn't know the whole story, really. I really, really you know, when I started doing the dark, I'd go there. I knew Rogan was a big guy there. Adam introduced me to him. I go, hey, we can you do an interview? He says, Yeah. And he goes, You can't fill my act.

Is there no problem?

You know, he goes, I'm doing a Netflix special. And right away I just pissed him off. One night I go, Hey, can I film your act? He goes, No, I'm I finished my special. I go, Yeah, well, you said you could and he'd just fucking jump down my throat and we got off on a bad thing.

And I said, OK, well, this is the reoccurring story in Mike's life. Yeah, but but it's also in Grogan's life, too.

It always bugs people the beginning and then in the end they love. But same thing with Rove and Robert.

And I would tell you that because, you know, you piss people off, Mike, I go, hey, Joe, coming from you, people love more than you. OK, so anyway, I said, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe signed one hundred thousand dollar deal to piss people off. A hundred million dollars.

A hundred thousand dollars, my fame. So anyway, so I think OK, I'll just do without him. It's not a problem. I'll do the duck without him and then I get to a point I started. I realize I can't do this thing without Joe Rogan. I cannot tell the Comedy Store story. So it's like I can't tell it without Richard Pryor my my early. So I've got to tell Richard Pryor because he's the DNA, the first part.

But as a reporter, I'm not around in the story I want to is a story I didn't really understand that Joe saved the fucking store.

He did, because I remember when that stuff is going out. I was still on the East Coast and I remember seeing that and hearing those stories that when this particular comic would come in, like you'd have to stop doing your act.

And I know and I just remember thinking, like because I remember how toxic that place was when I left L.A. in the late 90s. I just remember thinking, like, I am so glad I am not in that scene yet or because I was the bullet.

He took the bullet and where the other guy was and where Joe was, he was past Joe's. So they actually went after Joe because all this town cares about as much. I think Joe lost his agent because he had to say the other guy. And then they said, you have to apologize to Joe Johns. Like, I'm not fucking apologizing. Oh, my God. He said he said no. See, so you said so I didn't know that any of this.

I had to that. And I'm interviewing all these people from different sides and they're telling me the story. And now this guy fucking doesn't dig me and fucking he's mad at me because I pissed off a. Letterman over something this enigmatic musician and he's not. And I just I said, OK, but and I my ego is up on the line and I'm not talking.

And I got to figure out how do I do this without interviewing battery within the documentary by going around pissing people off.

So exactly which which, by the way, is my hobby, as you know.

I don't you know, I don't have a lot of side things. So I. So and then I just figure I don't know how I'm going to do it. And then one night at about 11:00 and he texted me. He goes, Hey, Mike, it's Joe, I think we got off to a wrong start, but I think we should be friends and and let's go, you know, so I go, OK, fuck, Joe, you know, look at me.

And I fucking got a lot of respect for you. And I I need you to be in this things. I didn't. Talk to them for a year or ask them to do anything for a year. And I go, OK, let me know, so you and I are at the store one Saturday night and he texted me, says, Hey. And I haven't told you about any of this that's kept wanting to keep you out of it and it actually goes, hey, I'm we have the story a little better for you.

There I go. I'm here with Bill, but we're about to leave. But I'll stick around because. Yeah, OK. So I hang out, I'm smoking a cigar in the back. He goes, hey, I'm in the back of the main room if you want to come back and have a talk. I'm in the dressing room. I go, Yeah, come back. He goes away in the back, so I go in the back.

I go in the back and he's taking a fucking shit.

He's on the toilet it and I go, I know what is what is what are you fucking doing?

He goes and he stands up because.

Hey, hey, man, I'm fucking shit. I know what to tell you.

Just text me to come back and I go. So is that a mime fucking. Is that when you learn this from one of his interviews, the fucking happened and I start laughing and you go out and he's laughing. He goes, Sorry man, I didn't think you'd come that fast because I'm on this fucking beef thing and I fucking hate it real quick.

I didn't think it come that fast and I'm laughing my ass off and, you know, so, you know, eventually we start talking and. And. You know, it's such a busy guy and I'm again, going back to I'm in this situation where I've got to bug people to do these things, which is never how I make my movies. I never. In my movies, I just either want I only want people that love to be in the movie, and so I find a family.

And finally I'm going to say, hey, Joe, I got it. If we're going to do this, I really want to do a piece on you, but we got to do it. So he has me come down to do the podcast. And it fucking goes great. You know, it really oh, dude, you got to see the clip of it. It's amazing. Sorry I said a plug in my laptop. I was going to die.

I watched the Rogan episode. It was fucking awesome. Yeah. Episode four. Yeah, yeah. Episode four. And he's just great. But and it's to the point. And then he's in five to which you're going to really like. But I am at the point now where I cannot imagine. Having done this without Joe, I guess he's he's just he is the store right now, he is the current day. I mean, as well as someone myself who was not a store regular, did not go to the store, knew it was super toxic, especially around the Mancia times.

Everyone at the Improv knew if he showed up, he just disappeared off. So you didn't do your good stuff or you just go at it for me and just walk offstage. And the store was somewhere where I was like, that's it. And then when they did that, Rogen, every comic was like, fuck the store. Every comic was like, Man, that's bullshit that they do that. And then. Joe. Literally being put like we talked about, being put in a time out.

And then building himself back up the time when he came back to the store, it meant that the store was a safe place like this. You weren't getting back to the store. Everything was fair at the store. If the promoters were doing a show, everyone was paid evenly at the store like Joe. Really. I mean, he would like me saying this, but he really regulated the fairness of every aspect of that of that of that club in that.

Just his being there meant everyone had to be above above board and be like, we're going to be we're going to be we're going to be safe with this No. One.

Oh, Adam, when Adam came in and the old guard left, you and Adam came in and turned out to be this guy that like sort of a throwback, I would say, that loved stand up like to develop people like to give new people shots. I mean, you have to have that person in power combined with you needed sort of a stand up like a sheriff, you know what I mean? Like, I was just talking I was working with Tony B.

this whole week and we were talking about the Boston comedy scene when I came up in it. And there was like this bar, this level of quality that you had to be at are these headliners would not work with you. And if you stole the joke, you had to leave town because it was going to be like there was a famous story of a comic did want to Lenny Clark's bits. And Lenny went in and broke the guy's jaw. And then that was the tone.

It was like a hockey game. The tone was set. The tone was set. No parallel not come to get out of town. There's something else about Joe that I think is a throwback to the Pryors and rellenos. And those guys from my era, which and you guys are you know, he's kind of like this working class, hard working motherfucker. And you guys, to me, like Neil, Neil Brennan said, you know, the hardest working guys win in comedy and there's an intensity belt.

Rogen. That I fucking I understand, you know, it's just and I think. With when you see the clips of Mancia and you see the clips and I remember there were guys like that, that you just felt that they just were coming in and doing their shit and doing is just kind of having fun with it, but getting away with as little work as possible, almost, you know, and that kind of guy resents the fuck out of that about anyone taking shortcuts, you know what I'm saying?

And and I just feel like. Like. I remember I'll tell you who else was a hard working mother fucker and his dad, Eddie Murphy, really Eddie Murphy was such a hard working guy and had such a clarity about where he was going.

Hey, tell them that story you told me when you did that gig with them. Eddie was opening for Mike. Eddie was Eddie was opening for me.

I was maybe twenty one and he was 17, something at the comic strips. They had a place in Florida for. And maybe he was 16 and I was 20, but he just. You were at the bar and this was a you know, I wouldn't be the biggest comedian ever. Yeah, I'm cuckoo. Could you go? No, no, I'm telling you, like, fast to, like, in two years. I mean, the Beatles of comedy.

Yeah, cool. Very cool. No, no, I'm serious. You can be telling people this because I'm going to I'm going to make it fast. Like movies, TV fucking huge. Yeah, I know, I know, yeah, yeah, yeah, and it was like and he could see it in his eyes, you know, he knew it was like God put it in in there in his ear. And he just told them, don't worry about anything, just go do it.

And I've seen that before, I think Howie Mandel knew he was going to just go potty, really. And I think that confidence sometimes happens, but I also think it's that hard work.

I can also tell you 20 dudes who said that to me drunk at a bar that are nothing. Yeah, yeah.

That's that's one thing that you drink a lot. You run into that statement.

I can also tell you there's a bunch of guys who that should have happened to, but they didn't believe it. Yeah. Yeah. Self sabotage and everything. Because there was there was a couple of people that I saw on the way up. It was three of them. And. I was just like that they're just going to be the biggest thing ever. Yeah, and the only guy that I saw that got through was Kevin Hart, because Kevin.

Had it, knew it and then did the work and he was the only one, and then when he did that, I was looking at the other guys, it's like, oh, this guy isn't writing. Oh, this person, you know, is, you know, doesn't do the schmooze thing well or whatever. And it's just just a little flaw in your game can add like seven, eight years to your sentence out on the road.

But that's interesting, Bill, that's very accurate is that I remember seeing Kevin when he started and going how he had the most versatile Hollywood game in that he was funny as fuck on stage, like hilarious on stage, so likable offstage and wasn't getting fucked up and chasing pussy. He was just like, go there were drive back to Philly, go there, work, drive back to Philly, go there, work like he was focused and then and then I mean, I don't know.

He wasn't the funniest comic at the beginning. It took him a little while to figure it out with him. It wasn't necessarily stand up, he went and he was testing for a pilot, I think it was that Freaks and Geeks some Judd Apatow thing, and he was and he was still doing a spot that night at the Comedy Cellar. And I remember thinking, like, you know, I'm going to go home and study the lines. He goes numb and he goes, I feel pretty confident about it.

And I was like, thinking like, wow, man. I wish I felt like that when I was going to network.

And then he just booked it. And then I was just like, oh, he's one of those guys, but one some guys where it's just like they can go up late night at the club where they're comfortable in that comfortable, and then they get a new situation and they have to go through the whole journey again. Then there's other people. Once they get comfortable here, they can just they could just walk on all levels at that level. There's a very few people that I ever saw like that.

Kevin was like that. Any any was different, though, any any was like, if you can look at some of his early stuff at the comedy comic strip, he just walked on stage and it wasn't like a drunk tell.

It was like, I guess I'm telling it wrong because I was like going, I think he's right. I'm just I'm just too insecure. And I'm here and I'm like, I'm like kind of like shit. I wish I had that confidence. I wish I had that confidence, any of that grown up. And I was I think I was successful a lot quicker than anyone in this business. I got my first deal six months into doing standup, but I eat.

When I got the deal, I remember feeling like I don't deserve it. I don't. And then I got the TV show and I was like, there's better guys than me. And like my whole it wasn't until recently where I made a decision to say, no, I deserve to have a tour bus. I deserve to be working. I deserve to be selling tickets. I deserve to book a sitcom.

Remember, there's comics used to trash Kevin Hart saying he didn't deserve what he was getting and he would just be going, like, why? I went in and I auditioned. I booked it. You didn't what? Because you did the road longer than me. Yeah. In your auditions, there's a great moment in the documentary. You say anything. It was great moment in the documentary.

Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans are standing there talking in the in the parking lot. And and Damon says, I remember you used to get standing ovations in the comics. We're so jealous they'd go, you didn't really deserve that because he goes. And I'd say, they're standing. They deserve you. He deserved it.

Identified with what, Jim Carrey, that that conversation so much. I identify with that because there is a weird thing that happens where you go like, well, shit, I'm getting all the success. I want to be humble. I want to be I want to be like I don't want to be. The fucking guy shows up in a hundred thousand dollar car and be like, yo, that's what's up. Because to watch that guy fail is so enjoyable for other comics to watch him come back down.

You want to be humble, but at the same time, I had a really difficult time, probably 19 years of going. I deserve success. We're like we go. I deserve it. There's nothing bragging about it, but like, I've worked really hard, I deserve to be here. I yes, I do take my shirt off on stage. Yes, that can look like a cheap coat, but that is what makes me comfortable to do the thing I do.

And fuck, you suck my dick. I did it just like that. I really identify with that part with the Jim Carrey part that Jim.

Yeah. But by the same token, one of my favorite parts secretary is Letterman says to me and he again, he doesn't know a lot about you guys. He goes, there's this one guy. And I think he says, I don't know his name, but he takes his shirt off in the middle of that. And I'm thinking this is not going to be funny.

And it turns out to be the guy's funniest accent. That clip. I mean, the clip. Yeah. And and he goes, yes.

I think he says I'm like, this is not going to be funny. And, you know, and he he it's so funny that he's like, I can recite it to you if you I'm going to tell you what he said.

I can tell you everything he said. Let's watch that clip a million times. And then like a half an hour in, I'm laughing and I forget his shirts off. I'm like, wait, this isn't supposed to be. I send it to my you said, that's me. I sent it to my dad and my dad goes, Buddy, is he talking about you? And I was like, Yeah, that I just stabbed myself in the leg.

I was like, Yeah, Dad, you fucking. And he's like this. He's talking about you. That is the greatest clip I've ever gotten in my life.

OK, now here's now lives in Bill, which is what kind. This is what a fucking classic bird krischer. I send them that Guedes clip I've ever gotten in my life. A year later, he sends me back. Buddy, that was the greatest clip I've ever gotten in my life. I you know, you think if you send the guy the greatest clip the next morning, you go, dude, that fucking blew me away a year later.

Oh, by the way, did he say anything else?

Out of curiosity, let's help Burt out here. What is the expiration on. Oh, by the way. Oh, in here. Forget about it. He goes, but you can't say. Oh, by the way, by the way, you haven't talked to a guy for a year that should go with a sorry buddy.

Here's my other favorite. This is my other favorite thing in the documentary. And this is so funny to me.

It's on and roll show.

They're talking and Bill and Burt says, you know what, they're talking about the Comedy Store, and Burt says, you know what would be so great if somebody did a documentary about the Comedy Store?

I would love to see one in, Ari Shiftier says. Yeah, Mike Binder's doing what he's been working on it for like two years. And where it goes, wait a minute. I mean that I mean that he interviewed me for that and I've seen some clips of it. I mean that I can't believe I just said that. And so in the dark I go. I had made such an impression on this guy's life.

Like you sent me a clip of David Letterman telling me he thought I was funny. Do you realize you just you're the messenger in that? And it as soon as I got that, I went, I need to spread the word of this. I, I, I you got lost in the wash. And I just talked to my mom, my dad, my sisters, my wife's dad, my wife's mom. Like, I texted everyone and then at the end I'm just I'm like, oh yeah.

And like a month later, two months later, it wasn't a year, but it was probably definitely six months.

I was like, shit, I got to think, like, I cannot make an impression on this guy. I can't remember that he was in my documentary. He's seen five of my movies. I can't remember the title. You can't remember. It's like I'm like an invisible guy hovering around him.

How, Burt, is this just the way Burt is? It's it's it's not malicious. I'm a barracuda.

I know. No, he's the best. He's the best.

I just I all over his house in a helicopter and the video was about what a wacky dad he is up there risking my life. Why in this fucking hybrid fucking as the shared airspace between I'm not going to say where and I'm fucking trying to do that while keep my head on a swivel looking for this fucking news helicopter. And then I watched the video and it's all about him. It's not even about his kids. It ends with him with a big smile.

It's how Bert is hysterical. But when I have to say I have to say the thing that you did to promote your special with the band.

Oh, I love that. I, I looked at that and I thought, this is such a perfect example of having your own world doing your own thing.

Bring it on. I just loved it. It just you know, that's why when you say I do a five four camera sitcoms that you don't need that man.

You you're you're you're you're the boss. You're your own company. You know, you are the boss of your own company.

You know, when you say you don't work hard, do you hired an entire 40 piece orchestra.

It's not easy. And then I don't know how many takes you did, but you were running.

You were running like there was wolves chasing you. And I know, you know, I'm a few years older than you, but I know the amount of Bengay required after three takes of that.

That was brilliant. That was brilliant. And I just go that to my wife. I was like, look at this. This guy I remember saying and I said to my wife, Go, come and look at Bert. I go, Bert gets the Internet. Yes, I have a word I want to know.

So I got a couple of shows come out.

You guys seen the stuff that Kevin James is doing right now?

It's fucking great. It's great. It's genius. It's so it makes me think, God, what's coming next?

You know, there's no reason anybody has to work for the corporations or for anybody else. Everybody has to be their own boss and just make their own.

Tell that to as many young kids as possible, because I know agencies are trying to start like podcasts, networks. They're trying to reinsert themselves between you in the money coming at you.

Well, I try to remain relevant. So you want to talk about abuse and power. The shit that they're going to say to these young kids will help you develop a podcast. We'll get you on our network. Your money will come to you through us with our name in the upper right left hand corner. And that's when you're done, you're done. The money goes to them first. Forget it. Forget it.

The piece that you know, the slug where you talk about it in the dark about when Joe and Bill came to you.

Yeah, it really was an interesting little slug how those guys talk to you and how you took that and what you've done with that now is, to me, golden, you know, and you take that to your band thing and and you're dancing.

And and then I love when I heard about how you took said covid, I don't I'm going to do drive ins, you know.

You know, a smart comic can't be stopped. That's a great fucking that's a great stuff, should be a T-shirt. I think there should be an and unless after it, there's a lot of potholes to step in now, sometimes they just create a pothole. All right. Well, I got I got the kiddos. I got to get back to them out here on the road with my family here. I want to thank everybody came out to my shows.

I did 10 shows last week, two shows a night to say, you know, are you done now, Bill?

No, I got I got I got another six shows out here in Jersey. Then I'm done and I got a I don't know what I got to do.

What do you do and what kind of shows are you doing?

Oh, I got this like I have like a space heater and like a couple of plates that I spent in the end of the year. I'm a fucking comedian, Mike.

No, no, no. What's the venue look like? Oh, I did everything.

I really did a patch of grass behind a motel, did two shows. There had a woman come out of our house screaming at me that she shouldn't have to listen to that filth.

Then I guess I was on on this sort of stage making fun of what I thought was our house.

And it turned out she lived on the other side. And the guy who owned the house I was making fun of was sitting there listening to the show, enjoying it. So I felt bad, but he didn't pay it. So anyway, then I did a farm in Morris, Connecticut, that literally looked like Woodstock. You know, like, I don't know, twenty four hours before the bans, we're going to get that because it was like just people spread out and really set it safely.

Then I did Ridgefield and I did six shows at that one. Then I did two shows in Ridgefield, Connecticut, which was under a tent, but it was open on the side in this town, fell in love with Connecticut. And now I'm down here in New Jersey, couple blocks from the ocean, and I'm doing some shows here tonight. So it's been great. And my act, the final show I did Saturday night, wire to wire, I fucking murdered like the old days because so much of my set, the connective tissue was.

And what else did I used to talk about? Oh, freckles. Going back over to the thing I just made me trying to remember what I said next, a part of the show. And by the time I got to Saturday night, like, I didn't have to look at my set list, I just burned through. I mean, I had done my act nine times, so I feel like I'm back to where I was and I'm going to start doing more of these.

And I'm hoping a bunch of promoters on the West Coast are seeing with the way that they're doing up here and down south as the winter months are coming. But I don't give a shit. Those people in Minnesota are tough. If they want to come out and stand in the cold in November, I'll go. I don't give a shit.

I'll do a fucking. I will definitely do an ice lake in a heartbeat. See what it did.

It just piggybacked on my goodwill to Minnesota. He upped it and I went to an ice like this motherfucker. I'm telling you, you got to watch out for a hot, hot summer nights. Third party is trying to win the race.

I go back out on the road next week. I'm out for twenty one days. God bless. All right, Mike Binder, we appreciate you guys having me on. Love you, Mike. I and you guys, you guys are both such great energy for the dog. I really appreciate it.

So what is what is the actual is it called the store, the contents of the family store. All right.

So it's on this Sunday night. And actually, I think we're going to. Watch it at the Comedy Store night out in the back if you guys are around. I might have to come by. I have a cigar smoke. Yeah, we smoke a cigar and watch it. And anyway, I love you guys. You got your awesome. And I love you too much. You're the best. Thank you, buddy.

All right. All right, Mike, congratulations on this thing. I think it's right up there with that. Anything you've ever done, I can't say enough about it. It's on Showtime this Sunday, which will be October the 4th.

And by the way, this will be the one thing that Bert knows the title of of my things. The Comedy Store. The Comedy Store.

All right, Mike, love your brother. Thanks to my brother. Thank you.