wait wait wait wait sorry I think there's a misunderstanding chopping air yeah man your Chicago room properties didn't do much for you not bad two yeah you got two almost almost got them all and there's actually a um a technique I learned uh from best of the best are you familiar best of the best no um uh Eric Roberts uh goes to Korea to uh beat up some Koreans in the uh fights okay and uh one of the Koreans is really good at this and he does this move he goes he goes like that he breathing work you know he does that stuff he didn't break any though no I know and I hurt the [ __ ] out of my hand all right you're in the corner over there all right like I said it's producer Rick I'll get silly in a sec all good I run a one-man show too so I get it man do you need any fake mustaches or no wings no I'm good that's weird okay oh you know what I wanted to do but you're in a t-shirt I wanted to wear this sweatshirt you want me to wear something well I want to put on I just want to put the AC on a little bit yeah yeah um yeah just put it on if I get too cold I will let you know you'll let me know yeah yeah will you let me know right away or will you do stuff like this first I'll let you know right away I'll let you know right away now that you mention it foreign thanks dude I'm trying to move out here so it's cool to see like uh apartments in different parts of town you're trying to move uh to Los Angeles from London yeah yeah are you worried that your arms might get tired I hear music [Music] already we just do the jokes huh I don't know man sometimes you gotta You Gotta Give the people listen this is our job sometimes you gotta give them the arms tired yeah yeah sometimes you gotta all classic yeah so what's the deal man you live in London I live in London yes and you moved there for I moved there for comedy and a woman in that order uh yeah and so that's why the woman's out of the equation now so the comedy's still there thankfully yes is the woman someone that you still speak to yeah we're still friends but we're not together anymore but is she real yeah yeah okay my my uh my ex uh who I'm still friends with she lives in London okay exhausted and uh I would always say that you know you don't you never met her but she's real people would always say that doesn't sound real why wouldn't I have I met her so I was just curious yeah it's real at one point people when I when I first blew up and people made a Wikipedia page for me right and then they found her name and what she does and she put her name on there and she was getting all these like weird Instagram follows uh but fortunately her brother works for uh a company doing like Privacy Law and stuff brother's a lawyer so he knows what excuse to give to Wikipedia to take her name off the page and I was like like oh sorry a privacy lawyers will put up their Instagram handle yeah they kind of uh what's it called that uh gdpr do you know about that here well I don't know what that is sometimes take product resources no it's I don't know what the acronym says I'm privacy thing in Europe no I don't know it so yeah they just invoke that law and you can take people's name off Wikipedia Europe is doing some better stuff you know they don't let certain red with privacy and with nutrition yeah I just know that like the Pop-Tarts here versus the Pop-Tarts there we'll put up a side by side of the ingredients are that popped it's there there meaning here or there they're meaning Europe they're mean in Europe yeah they are yeah I'm surprised European I mean Europe your breakfast just sucks man Europe food is great Europe or or London England I mean England's the food there is just completely terrible overall great Indian food yeah I got into Indian food because of London okay my arm's tired I'm sorry I just got to get them out of the way so we can meet each other you should make that into a sound effect you have a soundboard I so oh we were talking about before I don't know how much you made it in but from the beginning we were talking some tech stuff yeah and the reason I don't have monitors are these cam blah blah blah whatever I can't with these cameras I gotta upgrade um I really want to get a soundboard yeah where I could do that stuff you should I'm surprised you don't have one it's just another thing yeah okay what yeah well you have three cameras just add a soundboard to it it's fine all right give me when I get a sign board I'm gonna have one of them dedicated to an effect that you have okay so give me something I don't want to force you to be you know your uncle but give me something I'll do that on karate stuff you press it hi yeah how often will I use hiya I I don't know when you're disappointed in something I don't know people might think about coming across a little bit insensitive though right every time I do I'll have to put up a picture of you though I do have gifs on the internet if you search in any text message service giphy yeah John Michael I'm sorry we'll put a whole bunch of them here yeah it's not um what the [ __ ] are we just talking about Nigel breakfast just sucks man funny stuff hi I'm Rick Glassman from the take your shoes off podcast and today's sponsor is Everly well Everly well is offering 20 off of at home lab tests by going to everlywell.com that's everlywell.com for 20 off your at home lab test uh sound board yeah I want an effect on a soundboard on a move to LA I think the soundboard conversation's over so you moved to running from from Malaysia well I was Malaysia born and raised then moved to uh near Chicago for University I went to Northwestern Illinois Small World yeah small okay yeah I never remember when you use it exactly but that felt like it worked I mean that's I've been Illinois many times okay okay great and then I I went to University there worked there for a year worked where uh I worked at a company called Deloitte you know that big accounting firm and we'll follow them on Instagram I hate I hated that man it's just you had you had to get a job to stay in the US right Visa stuff so I just I was just dealing with that it was difficult for her getting a Visa uh or keeping it for that matter it is very difficult is that why you guys broke up because she got deported or something no no um I actually only talked about it a little bit I don't want to get it there's nothing private I just don't want to get into it okay okay but uh that wasn't what it is okay um but it was a bummer it is it's really hard and I hated the job I was already doing stand up at the time I started doing stand-up in 2011. when did you move to Chicago 2010. so you moved to Chicago big comedy City yes also let me just introduce for my audience who may not know uh you know you you're obviously you started in stand up but you have a huge YouTube following now yeah yeah things kind of got a bit out of hand you know with my uh Uncle Roger videos right um which I assume brought your audience then over to your stand-up as well yeah like you're selling tickets from people who know Uncle Roger and then on stage you're not Uncle Roger on stage I do both Uncle Roger is my opener wait a minute you walk on stage and then you leave I leave we take an intermission that's great come and intermission or if there's a if I have another opener then while he's on stage I'll change oh that's great and then I come back on as myself does it bother you that you're revealing to people that you're actually one person no because the whole point of the tour is for longevity right Uncle Roger has a shelf life you know I don't want to be like 55 and still doing hey I uh Jamie Oliver you know what if what if that was selling stadiums stadiums okay if it is then we'll reconsider I will you know reconsider anything for money but I I owe by the way really I'll reconsider anything for money would be a good merch we'll do that I also want people to know that I do stand up right and I also have that's why I also have the podcast where I'm just myself on there yeah uh I think that's that's more longevity right yeah well it's it's you know characters don't necessarily unless you I mean I guess they could but characters generally that's why cartoons don't they don't really adapt and as you go on as you change yeah so will your act but the the the the the character is kind of set yeah I know a lot of people become successful from a talent or a character or something and then they resent the fact that that's what they have to be for a long time and I think it's great that you still give the people what they want which is this character but you're then introducing them to what is more sustainable exactly so I hopefully I don't get to the point where I resent Uncle Roger as a character just yet well I don't stop doing all this yeah I don't think you would if it doesn't stop you from doing these other things yeah yeah it doesn't nobody uh after Uncle section finishes and I come by as myself nobody's left you know they still stay there and continue watching the show so thank [ __ ] yeah do you find that there's a certain kind of reaction that Uncle Roger gets and then you have to follow this character that they love already I wouldn't say the reaction is different they're just super excited to see Uncle Roger because that's the first thing they see is that the guy you know Uncle Uncle coming out they're just super excited and they they like it I would say uncle Roger gets away with more I can say meaner things as Uncle Roger than I can as myself do you think it's because they know Uncle Roger or that's just the benefit of playing a character I think I think it's yeah I better feel playing a character yeah like they know it's a joke they know it's a a cartoonish guy who's like stuck in his way he's a he's a middle-aged Asian Boomer you know so he's stuck in his way are we all in a way yeah I know you remind me of Uncle Roger you know I appreciate that same thank you so you you uh Uncle Roger is usually or is it not I'm sorry but I saw I saw like 10 of your videos and they're all cooking yeah it's mostly cooking I think at 90 it's about food yeah and does that translate on stage or is it just a character now who stepped away from cooking stuff uh on stage what do I do when I do Uncle Roger is like 20 25 minutes I have three prepared bits in there the others is just Kraut work so the prepared bits revolve around food yes and like uh you know things around uncle Roger's life like Uncle Roger Matt Gordon Ramsay so I just talk about that a little bit uh so yeah the prepared bits for Uncle Roger is mostly food related but then when I do crowd work I just I just [ __ ] on people you know and then figuratively uh yes yes thankfully we show on people literally here well I don't do that kind of show we'll cut to a clip hey what's going on guys Ben Schwartz here I'm at the Glass House baby is that what you're calling it we're at the glass house I am coming on the podcast that everybody knows which is called take your [ __ ] shoes off it's time to talk about real life in sports uh benchmarks see you there truncate it make it smaller sorry see you there I'm gonna be on the podcast next week guys and girls everybody anybody I'd rather not snap they know it that if I snap it's a thing it's a big thing it's a big thing on this podcast and we're back can I ask you I want to ask you some superficial I know it's gross but it's fun that people love it I know I want to ask you some superficial questions let's say don't worry about it if like I don't want to answer this or leave me alone okay um the amount of views that you get are like you Millions every every video uh yes yeah and you put them out weekly no no it's like two a month I'm too busy with a tour yeah gotcha so are you pre-recording stuff no I wish I could right that's why it's really hard right especially with comedy like I know a lot of food YouTubers like chefs they make YouTube videos about making food and that's to me it's a little bit easier to pre-record you just come up with the recipe you can just book you can book film five in one day but if you're doing something like a piece a video around a particular topic you know I don't know about you but I just like to be in that space for a whole week when I'm making on that video I just beat it filming for a week no no I've only filmed like the film actual filming camera on camera off is two two and a half hours but then it's pre-production before the filming the writing the thinking of the jokes what concept I recently reviewed one uh Jamie Oliver he has a beef with Jamie Oliver so that when I reviewed his uh video again I made it so I made it look like I was forced to review it I had rope around me I was kidnapped and forced to review this Jamie Oliver video so coming up with those ideas like can I show a little clip yeah who are you why I tie up like this uh Uncle Roger I've been sent by Auntie Helen she's not happy that you've been mentioning her in all your ouijos Auntie Helen my ex-wife Auntie Helen you tell her I'm not scared of her oh really she knew you were gonna say that so we have something special planned for you Uncle Roger what you have to review Jamie Oliver's Thai red curry no no no no please please no tell her to do anything she wants I think I I do have a company doing the the copyright stuff so if you get flat just let me know I'll tell them to White rest it uh but if you use like a small snippet like five ten seconds it should be okay yeah but if not I'll give you my personal you have a personal email and I just emailed you so just uh let me know oh did you email me yeah yeah I said I was outside oh that's what I'm saying I was waiting for that I didn't see that and then um but but uh so you have a company that deals with copyright infringement because you don't want people reposting your stuff well I don't mind if they repost it if they do like a some sort of transformation on it if they react to it or they review my review right that's cool but a lot of times they just rip it off and upload it right uh wholesale or they just put a mirror effect so it just left to right and then just upload the whole thing so that company helps me monetize those videos instead of taking it down the revenue those videos get right that's where the split comes in right uh it's a split sometimes I get something when I have a song on that they split it yeah yeah probably something like that yeah so you're doing video you moved to Chicago uh you started doing stand-up how long are you doing stand up before sketch before what YouTube videos oh uh between these in 2011 I started doing YouTube in 2019. so eight years you're doing yeah yeah just hustling and grinding away you know it's the same in the UK as to here you just do the road and yeah do very very terrible terribly paid gigs as you get the spot at the club yeah same thing how long were you in Chicago before you moved to London five years so 2016 you moved to London yep you do in London there you're doing stand-up in the UK for three years before you get on YouTube uh I moved to London in 2015 actually yeah 2015 and then I did stand up yeah because YouTube I wanted to sell tickets right and I see like a lot of people who sell tickets now they are big on social media so I said okay I need to do something yeah on YouTube so I just kind of threw [ __ ] at the wall and see what sticks that was edit some stuff we don't edit it you can just hear it just take it foreign will use that sound effect when something is thrown now yes I can be a Foley do you um did you was that your intention from the beginning was I want to sell tickets yeah as a standout call me isn't that the whole goal I'm saying your intention entirely when going on YouTube yeah yeah YouTube was was basically your your marketing movie trailer yeah yeah and then it just uh and then now YouTube's kind of become so big it's kind of its own thing I have to take care of now too although it still tell me helps me sell tickets of course uh but yeah that was the whole goal in the beginning and I was just experimenting a different format seeing what Stakes you know started a podcast that did some little YouTube videos that you know Cody Co Style just like reacting to stuff so I already had all those jobs I was editing my editing myself filming myself I know how to light a scene how to film a scene everything cameras so when Uncle Roger came about I had the idea of bubbling my head off the character right and then a fan of my old podcast they sent me this clip the video the BBC food egg fried rice video the very first video that blew me up and I was like okay this is so funny I need to review I was gonna review this anyway as myself but I was like okay I have this Uncle Roger character bubbling in my head let's do it as a character and that was a thing that just blew me up um we we kind of got ahead of ourselves and I don't always do an inner not we me I don't always do an interview a lot of times I like to just have it be a conversation but I'm very interested in um I want to ask like just some like you're you're born and raised in Malaysia yep and you have you have one sister a sister and a brother yeah are they still there my sister is in Malaysia still my brother's in Tokyo and what is what is life for in life in comedy there are you a funny kid uh I was and you know there was a group of funny people in my class and I was one of them I wouldn't say I'm the funniest I'm like one of the you know top five of my classroom okay well what makes you fall in love with comedy what makes you were you did you have friends were you I I grew up watching in Malaysia I think we just watched stuff on YouTube I never thought I could ever do stand up because to me just feels like this uh oh this American thing this Western thing right so we got I was watching who wasn't watching growing up Russell Peters Chris Rock Eddie Murphy Chris Rock is it translates over there yeah yeah yeah he had that bit um they talked about marriage and he talked about if you never wanted to kill yourself you ate you're not you had never fell in love yet the um his most signature bit here is like the the their their black people and in their n-words right that doesn't translate over there because we didn't um that that one that didn't really translate over there but he has other stuff about General like life and marriage and stuff and family jokes so that that works and then Louis CK popped up on my YouTube feed too when I was growing up so I also really liked him were you 31 yeah I just it's weird to me thinking like I didn't grow up with YouTube but I guess I just missed it how old are you 37 today 30s okay today yeah happy birthday no no I'm 37. it's not my birthday okay I meant today I'm 37. it's another classic one for the Boppers at home but uh so yeah I guess because YouTube came out right when I went to college so I guess seven years before that would have been 11. so you yeah you grew up with YouTube and you're watching these comics and you're thinking I want to do that no I think this is this is interesting and cool and then never thought about doing it until I got to America I got to uh Chicago and I joined this uh African-American improv group by accident really somebody just asked me to auditioned I don't know yeah it's called the ODB out they call it out the box but ODB oh Dirty Bastard almost to them sure uh I mean they always it's like a local and Living Color yes yes yes for the University and they always wanted you know they are trying to do like Chappelle Show type stuff so very race related humor uh and so they needed a person of every race and I was the only Asian guy who auditioned so they're like rats okay well join us you know yeah and I didn't know what I was doing I didn't know what improv was the the audition was just doing playing improv games you know playing freeze playing uh I only remember freeze I don't really like or do improv yeah freeze I think was is when you were doing a scene and then someone calls freeze and then they replace you yes and then you were like this now you have to be doing here are some shoes yeah yeah great game so yeah it's all right I just did that I don't know how I got it freeze okay let's switch spots you see how I'm sitting you have to be like this you know but you have to sit here oh okay no you know what I see if I were in a studio I could do it those are outside clothes I don't want you sitting here oh I just really [ __ ] the momentum out because of my OCD yeah it's okay though stay healthy right do you have a do you ever get covet I did it's not logical it's not germs even necessarily uh it's just like this rule that popped into my head that like my Consciousness said we'll subscribe to this and now you have to do it okay okay is that has that been a big problem or oh do you see you go see a therapist for it I do okay yeah um how do you fix this kind of thing or is that maybe you don't need to fix it well there's yeah those two sides are there's how do you how do you live a a more uh joyous less stressful life and then the other end of that is what what is it of where is the self to self-acceptance and this is who I am so you know it's a between the two but the biggest tool that I've had to help with this is it's just basic exposure therapy stand up has really helped I stopped doing stand-up during covet and I started again a few months ago okay and just touching the microphone disgusting microphone yeah and your mouth accidentally touching the disgusting [ __ ] thing and like I guess I guess I'm a dirt ball now but you also don't want to be the kind of comic who brings their own mic to the show you know you brought your own headphones yeah well this is fine it's not it's not a germ thing it's just like I don't like how it feels it's just very clampy you know what two things one I'm joking I actually bring my I during covet I would bring my microphone one of those he's like bring your own bowling ball to the bowling alley you know my own bowling ball but that's because I'm a good bowler okay [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] these headphones I got I've tried so many headphones because when you wear headphones for more than 10 minutes they just hurt yeah those are great you'll love those and those don't really look good on camera just makes you hit the head look so bulky you know should I do what do you think my views will go up if I switch to headphones like that I I don't think so I do you do all right try it then animate some headphones on me it's 300 good bit um so what's what's I mean my only understanding of Malaysia yep and the culture um and I apologize if this sounds ignorant but a Zoolander Zoolander okay that is a good reference I thought you would say the missing planes uh does that happen do they miss planes there yeah Bermuda in Malaysia because it's it used to be Zoolander until the missing planes and then now now it's the missing planes we lost like you know MH370 MH370 yeah yeah yeah so if we went from Zoolander to that uh but yeah Zoolander mentioned this in a passing comment yeah that film was banned in Malaysia by the way because oh really we have the thing we our government doesn't like when people insult or joke about Malaysia so that film wasn't shown at all how similar is the culture in Malaysia is uh to China the other similarities I was ethnically I'm Chinese so my great grandparents were from were from China and then Chinese Malaysians make up like 30 of the entire Malaysian population oh 30 of Malaysia are people that came from China yeah you yeah they're great grandparents are ethnic ethnicity is Chinese what's the other 70 uh malays and Indians so Malay Malaysians are like more like I would say indigenous people you know people from Malaysia or like Indonesia the surrounding areas a little bit darker skin that's how we tell them apart and that Indians they used to be great grandparents from India came over uh to work on the rubber plantations and they just stayed rubber plantations is that one of the exports there yeah yeah we make a lot of rubber yep condoms and everything oh nice for for her yeah yeah I don't want to say it but you know you know you guys do that over there right sometimes you know do people have sex in Malaysia the same way they do in the states I don't know have you had sex in the states yet yeah yeah it's all right [Music] you're okay with the OCD um I'm okay with Knuckles and I'm I'm telling you the past three months since I came back to stand up four months now I've been so much better okay so much better that's the OCD bleeding to sex sex is like dirty and gross and you know lots of liquids and sloshing around does not does not does not no actually I remember there was a uh I apologize for or just a you know it's gonna get a little dirty um that's fine but uh I just get super racist I'm not even talking about sex um but I remember a girl years ago uh came over and I told you to put your bag not on the rug because I cleaned the floors I don't clean the rug that much a vacuum but not you know soap okay and a girl came over and she uh she put her her phone on my bed which is disgusting I mean just as a phone yeah yeah yeah so I said I said will you not will you put your phone on the and she goes okay um I mean like I kind of was a little sharp with it and then 20 minutes later I ate her ass yeah and it's just like I mean what the [ __ ] these rules that we make up respectfully respectfully Listen People clean their asses though they don't clean their phones so here would be a good opportunity to have our sponsors tushy if I had a bidet Advertiser but I don't oh um but yeah you're right people clean their ass not their phones I actually do clean my phone at least once a day phone soap free plug by the way I found it on shark soap okay 10 minutes you put it in it's ultraviolet rays they same stuff like dentist stuff is used oh that that white box over there oh okay hey that's my that's my girlfriend you're talking about hey but yeah I put it in 10 minutes and it just 99.9 you know or whatever the number they made up is always clean my phone okay how do you know it works I don't know but it I'm satisfied because there was trials there are third-party trial tests that said it works and I'm not gonna be able to test it better you've probably Gone on YouTube and search for like that how to develop Box reviews I've looked at it well of course the reviews but I've also looked up some of the the data for the trials and um you read a sign scientific paper to buy a white box I bought it immediately then I read it just like I'm giving this a lot of trust but I used to when I guess would come in I would make them I would ask them clean your phone before you oh that's why you're sitting on a blanket but like the blankets aren't like you ever public bathroom yeah you put toilet paper down no I just do it and then hope for the best you know I haven't I haven't gotten any diseases from it yet so you know sometimes you know I know I know it's a disease and stuff sometimes I just like to live life you know less stressful hey man and the couch is meant to be used if it gets too soil and too dirty you can clean it and just buy a new one yeah um I don't know I'm not there yet but yeah it is on my my vision board you're like my parents they always had like uh plastic sheets on the on the on the couch they buy the new couch they keep the plastic on keep it clean and like what what are you keep being clean for for the guests and then the guest come the plastic's still hot and they're uncomfortable sitting on it and it's weird yeah and it's all like plasticky yeah it really makes that sound do you guys poop on the floor in Malaysia sometimes I think now it's more way more developed now I think I always grew up in a city so in the city you have like regular toilets it's all good I wasn't talking about in the bathroom well it depends how drunk I am okay yes it's not about that [ __ ] in the bed so uh yeah you get so drunk if we get if we go to court one day me I'm an ex-wife then you know that's gonna happen I kept telling myself it's it's not my time what's happening to me the next thing that I know I'm uh I Take a Tumble and there I am on the bed sheets on Johnny's side of the bed or I should not be I mean I should be on either side of the bed I shouldn't be on any bed I look around to my surroundings and all I could think was why am I so dry I'm sorry could you thank you oh [ __ ] I'm sorry I'm so sorry this is do you uh are you a big drinker I enjoy a drink yes I don't really go go black out though to me I talk about food a lot right in my head drinks alcohol it's like food you know I taste them like you know I have wines every region is different so I drink it like that instead of drinking to get drunk but you were you joking about the poop in your bed no no oh yeah I was I was joking I totally pooped my bed you know my bed's too nice you have a nice bed I have a nice bed it's spring inside it's not this foam memory foam [ __ ] man you know I know you do mattress adverts and I in London they have a lot of those same types of mattress come in the box and then like 100 day return policy I'll tell you Helix sleep for real is unbelievable okay I mean before I agree to do it I had to try it out and I sleep on it but it's foam though isn't I don't like Springs you don't like Springs I've had Springs that are okay but yeah I'm a phone I'm a phone book baby okay I I a little different on that I like I like Springs it's more breathable and it feels more natural what the foam molds around your body what foam are you using I don't know some sort of I don't know whatever bed I get in in London some sort of mattress do you like a firm bed uh medium medium's good okay I like it I want to I want it to be hard okay with a little give less is it what OCD again Jewish joints my back hurts also I think you just took shots at me and I what did I why let's no I'm just joking it's very easy yeah you have this mental illness that's still somewhat okay to make fun of but if you had like depression or anxiety Then I'll be a little bit more sensitive but I'm also like this at home outside of my house I'm a completely different person okay I just I don't wait I don't care I don't care if I'm dirty I don't care about touching stuff I just don't like bringing it into my house uh so outside in fact I've had people comment on this um podcast saying that they like when I'm a guest on other people's podcasts uh because I'm not so OCD about Jewish yeah well you could uh this is where you live right yeah you could have just rented a studio I've thought about it um I like the idea of people coming into my living room I like the idea I also intentionally don't have anybody here helping because I like the idea of people watching not a production but like I want the vibe to be like you're sitting in here with me I think that's that's a good vibe I think that's uh people like that Vibe now on YouTube you know if you go super overproduced super blurry background bouquet you know people actually get a bit turned off by it are you a director do you is that something you like doing or is that just because you need to make your own stuff oh yeah I'm a director by necessity right you know when I film stuff at location like Uncle Roger visits does a factory tour if Uncle Roger does a factory tour Uncle Roger does some sort of like cooking at a restaurant I have to be the one directing okay videographer I want a shot like this use this lens get a close-up here right that kind of thing b-roll of this shot you know yeah so director of necessity and it's for it's YouTube right you got to do everything yeah you even have to go to your own commercials sometimes yeah this podcast is sponsored by Everly well and when you know more that's right you could do more what if you could use science to discover more about your body find out what you need for your healthier tomorrow with Everly well now they sent me an at-home test I actually bought one too before they were sponsoring me but I'm gonna do one here to show you how simple it is this is a men's health test measure key hormones for a more comprehensive look at your overall health first thing you have to do is register your kit so you take a picture of this QR code sign up I gave my email address name and created a password very easy register kit your test was registered very simple instructions register kit fill out tube label which is just time date of birth and date and then provide the sample it's saliva the sample must be collected in the morning within 30 minutes of waking up before eating or drinking so I'll do it tomorrow but I mean that was it I really well is digital Healthcare designed for you with over 30 at home lab tests you'll be able to choose the test that makes the most sense for you to get the answers you need like the Women's Health test or food sensitivity test which I also got so Everly well ships right to your door with everything you need in one package you take it at home as you saw it's very quick to do when you get the results you could share them with your primary care physician help guide next steps and for listeners of the show Everly well is offering a special discount 20 off at home lab tests at everlywell.com that's e-v-e-r-l-y-w-e-l-l.com for 20 percent of your next at home lab tests everlywell.com and we're back do you want to direct like what's the goal for you is it stand up number one selling tickets is number one yeah so stand up yeah yeah so next year uh well I'll finish this tour next year where are you touring uh globally like right now I'm in North America right uh and then I'm coming and then I go back to London for two weeks then off to Australia and Asia and then July is off then Australia and Asia again and then America again we're putting up let's put up his tour dates while this is happening yeah I just search uh the Live Nation website you'll see all all the dates we don't even have to do that we'll put them right here okay put a link in the description where to get them great and you do 25 minutes uh as if your feature and then what do you do is you do an hour I do an hour so you do 90 minutes yeah ish 80 90. so you talk about what do you talk about regular stuff my life stand stand up right what do you talk about in stand up well something that that you're doing that I haven't experienced I've performed in the UK a lot but I haven't traveled the world and you're talking about things that is uh if you're speaking of your culture to different cultures I wonder if you have to kind of reformat so people could connect differently and what what that does to your act and you have to change it yes um yeah you have to tweak it you have to know what people know and what people don't know in the UK in in America it's actually easier because Asian culture stuff is so much more in the cultural fabric here but like in the UK most people don't know what bubble tea is they don't know what Boba is you know that's just an example so if you learn how to talk about and not every joke in my set is about Asian things I talk about General observational like microwaves are weird you know that kind of thing that kind of thing uh so not everything needs to be translated like that but because I've always been foreign in a foreign place I've kind that had those chops trained up and ready to go so anywhere you put me I'll be okay I might actually struggle more in Malaysia because I've never been like Hometown you know everybody knows what I know oh [ __ ] all this explanation has to go then you know it's just useless all right you have 20 minutes without explanation yeah I just saw uh I just watched licorice pizza and it takes place whenever it takes place but you know 40 years ago I really have no idea but in the past 70s maybe um and they were talking about this Japanese restaurant and they were like uh you know but we'll also have American Cuisine and if you're really feeling like uh uh extra you know adventurous you could try some Sashimi or something and it was like oh right I guess at a certain point the Japanese food culture wasn't integrated here and people weren't comfortable with it yeah um I never thought about it that way but is that what it's like in the UK with Asian Cuisine uh Sashimi people people probably know but they won't know Korean barbecue say people don't know Korean barbecue in the UK outside of London no even in London some of them probably haven't even tried it offer or ban me oh about me people don't know that in London oh these just feel like so almost I mean not American but like yeah they're everywhere yeah yeah over here that's that's why that's why I'm trying to move here man right really because of because of the acceptance of your culture um no it's food really the food of my Asian food here is better the Baseline of food here is better so even if you don't like follow trendy food bloggers you can just eat at most restaurants it's decent you know most taco trucks okay but over there in London even in London Metropolitan City you got to know I'm in the food scene right so I know I have Chef friends and I get recommendations on what restaurants are good but that even then it's so hard to book a place because there's so few good ones the Baseline is really really low most of the time if you don't research just walk into a restaurant it's gonna be [ __ ] most of the time what do you what's uh I know you want to move it is there something that has made you not move yet or is there something that you're grounded into the UK oh my tour I'm going all over the globe right now I can't really like settle down where would you start when yeah I tour I started in November last year uh why didn't you move before like is this a new decision you want to come here yeah yeah because I haven't been to the US before I've been in Chicago that's it and then I was all the way in the UK the whole time I've only been here on holiday but now I I come here I work here and the YouTube scene the podcast scene is much more developed here a lot of creators here yeah a lot of creators a lot of Asian creators as well a lot of good food it's good for my career definitely Asian creators by the way yes um and and the creators the the podcasting scene in the UK man so many of them are still just Audio Only and I I keep telling them hey man YouTube big audience out there you have some profile you got to put it up there but yeah no we're just gonna you know our production company doesn't do this so you know I it's a lot of like resistance to progress sometimes in the UK it feels like a very quaint small town still even in London um whenever I would go to London um I would whenever I go anywhere I bring all my equipment it's like uh it's a lot of yeah and then you do that because you're gonna make something yep and then sometimes one of the hardest parts about podcasting I have found not the most work but the hardest part is booking guests yes and sometimes I'll go there and I just can't get anybody and now I have all this stuff and you have to make something and I have found that I mean there's Comedians and there's people there but it's a lot easier here and people there don't really want to do it yeah where are you traveling to I'm talking specifically London oh London yeah London is it's tough it's tough last time I was in London I was there for a month I recorded three guests all three of them were American oh wow okay and I reached out to a lot of people yeah I don't know I think there's still that divide they they don't know a lot of American Comics like most people most comics in the UK don't know who Sebastian Maniscalco is and he's like the biggest he's one of my favorites yeah he's really really good uh the vice versa too right do you know any British Comics uh I do um but I always felt that it's harder to for a comedian in the UK to cross over to America than the other way around yeah because there I they do know like even like at some of uh like top secret it's just one club I'm thinking of but I've seen other like not even clubs but this theaters where there's pictures a lot of American Comics are up there uh-huh it is yeah it is easier but in Britain they still they still get American culture right but over here they don't really get British culture and then a lot of the times they can get too too British the vibe the references the sense of humor can get way too British I love it I find it easier to be honest with you really I I find that that people in at least in London uh-huh I say at least because I haven't toured the UK um they're more willing to accept that maybe this person's doing this on purpose like like Americans and this is very this is very much part of me it's very much a blanket of statement but Americans will know something even though they don't they know it okay there's nothing to question this is what it is this is what he's doing I I I like it I don't like it and I find that uh I found that in London people will be like what is this they'll ask a question I don't know and they're more willing to accept kind of quirkiness and silliness and dry humor they will they are more willing to act like silliness yes definitely that's a very it's a it's a British thing that kind of British uh weirdness right you'd watch like peep show or the in-betweeners that kind of stuff uh but as someone do you do the kind of weird [ __ ] I never seen your stand up before I've only listen to this podcast yeah but okay so yeah you should move there you you should move there soundboard mustaches they love that stuff man um I I I absolutely love it uh you should do the festival called Edinburgh Fringe they love that kind of out stuff over there that was a it's kind of last year I decided I think I want to do that yeah I think I want to build for that's that is a that is a a goal of mine is to do Edinburgh oh it doesn't need to be a goal anybody can sign up and do it it's not like a festival like Montreal there's no you just pay the money you're in the booklet but I'm not gonna do it unless I feel like I have the thing I want to do there that's what I I have this weird I don't know if it's a confidence or if it's just a lack of awareness but I feel like if you have the product the hour that you want to share for example with the product it's easy you get in any Festival you could sell any special anything you want once I feel like I want to share this thing there's that's the biggest obstacle I think I don't have an hour that I want to when I want to do that I just I've done stand up for four months in the past three years almost you know yeah but Edinburgh just just the idea of doing a one-man show instead of a stand-up special feels see I'm the opposite I like doing the stand-up stand-up thing that's why I hated Edinburgh it wasn't for me that's that's Edinburgh is one of the reasons I'm like I better [ __ ] do social media because this [ __ ] isn't leading me anywhere uh they they have they specialize in the kind of one-man showy type stuff yeah so people like like very bigly does really well over there you know and then because reviewers people will buy tickets because of reviews you know get the review by the guardian by the telegraph big newspapers there right and reviewers tend to like more of the one-man showy type uh content if you just do Straight stand up you know I've experienced this two stars three stars three and a half Stars Max and that's how you know you have a mainstream commercially potentially commercially successful show on your hands if you get like two three stars if you get four or five you're like okay critically acclaimed uh which is fine if that's what the kind of stuff you want to do but it's gonna be harder to do on like a weekend Club you know yeah like on the weekend people don't really go out to see like Hannah Gatsby right they just wanna stay yeah yeah Wednesday Wednesday so Wednesday thing nice uh very intellectual you know cigars afterwards maybe that kind of thing unless you have your own built-ins YouTube social media audience yeah and you can do anything you want yeah if you played your own audience you can do anything you want but sure I mean the product still has to be good so like the net is good show she will play it to her audience the audience likes it great yeah my audience expect me to do like like funnier mainstreaming type stuff so that's why I give them and how are ticket sales what kind of venues are you playing that's all right I'm doing the wheel turn this this Saturday so it's all right I think that's uh what 800 seats wow you know this is my fifth show here that's I've done four now about smaller venues Hollywood improv two shows region theater two shows [ __ ] I'm going out out of town uh also I don't know if there's even tickets left I would love to see it oh the Wilton hasn't sold out yet so there are a few tickets there but don't worry about it man I'm sure I'll pass yeah but genuinely I would I want to see because you're you're very I've seen your character and here you're just a [ __ ] mellow kind of guy oh I know that there's a big deviation I amp it up on stage of course I'm saying I've seen the performer versus just like chilling and talking yeah and I like that I like I like when people are just able to be this I mean you don't have to try so hard on this podcast right it's like supposed to be chill living room Vibes depends depends on depends on what the thing is I mean a lot of times I'm we're [ __ ] on each other and doing you know literally [ __ ] each other in the ass and just big dicks you know you could put a picture and picture of it it just you know um but but then I'm just I'm done for two days I'm drained after after every podcast recording it's a lot I don't want to get into it and you know it's just there's a lot before during and after such a broken person Rick oh yeah uh is it coming across is that no I'm just learning about you it's awesome it sounds so normal on the Pod like I was just listening to a few episodes I was listening to the Jim Jeffries one on the way here and you're just like a normal guy with no new roses you know but now I'm learning learning a lot so so I made a decision and I remember the episode I did it on was to wherever I am to be it and not because I didn't want to show all of this at once um I was kind of curating what the it is and what I want to be able to do is whatever and I'm just whatever we're all going through the stuff we're going through but I want to be able to bring wherever ever I am into this thing it's just easier yeah and I am I'm in it right now that's what people sign up to see so it's good it's a good thing you have no neuroses though I I yeah I don't know maybe it's some sort of like maybe I'm just not a smart person you know because I have like very intelligent friends who all have some Neurosis or they're like always depressed about the state of the world because they think a lot and I'm like well you know traveling is fun cocktails are nice I I'm doing at my house so I'm like oh let's pick some paint colors you know pharaoh and ball is a good brand you know do you get anxious not really not really people describe it anxiety and I'm like uh yeah maybe sometimes I'm like oh did I did I leave the iron on at home you know did I did I turn the stove on and then my and then my brain just tells me you didn't chill relax what's the weather gonna happen you know you have house insurance just just live your life yeah the way you talk house insurance buying a new couch when it gets dirty that's YouTube talking dude what do you mean YouTube talk I'll just you can buy cheap ones you know not me I don't want to send them a cheap couch watch this what's this couch Elm okay then you should be showing it off man don't cover it with uh I'm almost I'm almost there okay I am almost there okay but I I just think I'm not that intelligent of a person that's why I don't get any neuroses which is a blessing I guess they say ignorance is bliss yeah and I'm very ignorant so also very blissful do you I mean what so you you watched you watched stand up as a kid but that didn't inspire you to want to do it no you didn't even know what improv was until you were an adult yep you have no anxieties you seem like you're just like yeah I'll eat this I'll do this I'm happy what makes what do you think is that thing that made you develop this technique I don't know is it genetics maybe it's genetics because I when I first moved to the US and I realized oh wow everybody has uh some sort of like uh mental disorder here most people and not not in a judgmental way let's say in a judgmental way I did it was so common and then I heard the argument okay maybe it's the same proportion of people who have those neuroses in Asia it's just not diagnosed so there are also people are a bit more uh self-indulgent and speak about themselves and their feelings I have found here yes I think maybe it's that Maslow hierarchy pyramid thing you know whereas you guys are all the way at the top because you have all your basic needs met whereas in Asia maybe you're a little bit like a couple runs below so we are just happy oh I got enough food I got a nice nice shelter and a nice car I'm really happy but here it's about like my my my parents have all the nice things already so what can I do to you know better myself and that's why you you realize a lot about like self-fulfillment and everything and that's how you get depressed I think there's a lot of over to here yeah there is there is you know uh but clearly you're not in that position right thank you thanks YouTube You've Got A West Elm couch you're doing like five ad reads per episode holy [ __ ] two to three and then you do them all in once your pre-rolls yeah so what what there's a proof it's gonna be okay so we have to do uh I do them so if I have two ads each ad has two reads there's like a 15 second and then and then the minute here and uh at first I was like I don't want to do all that I just I don't want to break it up I mean I'm very particular with how I want to do this and then um but I'm like I need to move I want to make some money and then the podcast started making some money I was like whatever man just listen to the [ __ ] thing yeah yeah you have to money is what keeps this going money keep money help you know also money helps getting help to make it sustainable yes yes passion can only bring you so far man you need a bit of money in your life too I'm thankful that it passion brought me for for like 10 plus years uh-huh okay yeah it's good it's a great podcast I don't know I said it to you before we started recording but I really enjoyed it when when um I think my PR guys or agent sent it over I was like oh [ __ ] this is something new I've never seen anyone edit a podcast like this before thank you man and also shout out to John Michael who's been helping me a lot um but like uh yeah you you do so much work and none of it stresses you I mean yeah you get stressed out at times but then you you know meet friends and go do karaoke That's what I do every Asian friend I have and when I say every yeah I uh I I have at least I have yeah probably five I mean five is pretty good no I have more than five I don't even know if I have five white friends so so that's really good but what else he says they all karaoke yeah it's just a thing in our culture man you know what do you guys do what do white people do what's a wipe frisbee yeah probably frisbee every Red Cross some white people do lacrosse I would say lacrosse two Americans would be like uh uh martial arts to you uh so it's still somewhat Niche though yeah it's like people people think of it when they think of Americans they think of cut my [ __ ] ball you [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] Jew or whatever you know lacrosse players say and then but and the Wii picture you always just like yeah yeah is that what you said before it's used in a different context I thought you were saying hello what when you said hiya no Haya is like how we sorry we express like something that doesn't go your way hi uh you know that kind of thing I've almost forgot to ask I'm embarrassed when you chop a brick or wood do you bend your knuckles or do you go straight fingers I've never done it before so yeah wow not all of us do karate man you know I've just been traveling and not always play lacrosse yeah but we all play Frisbee hey uh I have been traveling but I I was wanting to set up uh see how many to do a competition how many bricks we could do okay you wanna do it now we can figure it out we'll fix it and post it yes how many do you want let's do three three all right um one sec this angle is good yeah that's right you can stand here okay yeah oh [ __ ] ew wait wait wait wait sorry I think there's a misunderstanding okay oh yeah oh yeah I was chopping air yeah man your Chicago improv dates didn't do much for you not bad two yeah you got two almost almost got them all well you know what I'm gonna see the one you got week not those that of the top part off I'm gonna see your two okay here get out of the way and there's actually a um a technique I learned from best of the best are you sure you're the best of the best no um uh Eric Roberts uh goes to Korea to uh beat up some Koreans in the uh fights okay and uh one of the Koreans is really good at this and he does this move he goes he goes like that he breathing work you know he does that stuff he didn't break any though no I know and I hurt the [ __ ] out of my hand I never I usually don't do it that way oh but what is it with oh [ __ ] me man what is it with with uh in Asian cultures that before they hit bricks they go what does that mean what are they saying I think it's just a psyched himself up you know to kind of hype themselves up and feel stronger right you don't do that in bed like before coming or just before like entering before I go on a date really I've just sit in the bathroom just doing my hair doing my doing taking a shower yeah that's a big difference in America we don't do that yeah in America we go oh really no in America when we're taking a shower we go like this we go come on dude show up for me tonight dude show up for me tonight it's all the depression mats man I don't take depression meds dude oh okay it's all the meds I I hear you guys are very uh drugged up people here not me okay good I like weed weed is that good I tried that before does that affect your does it affect like you know the fat girl the fat girl the fat girls I think that's what you said I don't know we'll cut back to it hmm maybe it's a Freudian slip but uh what we were talking about what were you talking about speaking of the Freudian slip did you know that Freud's mom had a really nice no I was gonna do a vagina um we were talking about being medicated and then weed and you've tried it once a few times in University not once a few times it's all right it's a nice thing to do to unwind sometimes yeah but you're just an unwanted boy so sorry you're always it's okay you're always Unwound you're just Unwound already ah thanks I guess is that a compliment yeah I mean that's why people do it I [ __ ] love weed man okay does that help does that not make your OCD worse no it makes it make it makes me you oh it makes me like you smoke more than it's great I do it a lot I don't smoke anymore it hurts my throat I take Edibles okay yo yo the wheat like technology here is just so far ahead of the rest of the world you got it right also if you didn't University in Chicago back in 2011 yeah it's a new sport baby yeah it's different now I'm just I'm sure the wheat now will [ __ ] me up well you dose it right like I take these Kiva chocolates each piece is five milligrams every time no matter what the bar you take you know exactly what you're getting it's always consistent I A lot of times like to take a half a piece which a lot of people come in [ __ ] idiot that doesn't do anything but two and a half milligrams for me is the amount to where and I've given this to people who have never smoked who do it all the time okay you could do two and a half at most you'll maybe get a little high but realistically what will happen is you either won't feel anything or you feel something where it's like you don't even remember like you're feeling a little different and you're like oh that's right I took a little chocolate so good it makes you a little silly makes things taste a little bit better it makes things a little it just makes all of your pleasure points better I think I need to bring some of that back to England with me I'll give you because the food is so [ __ ] there I'll take up edible and then go to a restaurant it would be fun to see you as a character not just playing but literally like getting high to try a meal that could be a new YouTube series huh it's getting high yeah let's do it Monday my brother has a restaurant uh a few restaurants here shout out to the Greyhound by the way we'll put up their Instagram handle um but if uh if you end up moving here coming back and there's time and you want to do one I would love to go to my brother's kitchen uh you don't even have to I mean we can do it I don't want to tell you what to put on your channel I mean if you want to collaborate with something I'll put on mine I would love for you to do that with them let's do it let's do it I I think I don't even I don't know how entertaining it would be we think it's a fun idea right but will the actual content be fun to watch that's different how do you know it'll be fun for us I don't know when you're when I'm stoned I just kind of retreat into myself and get very quiet and just enjoy the buzz gotcha you know so even more mellow than now and that's that's not good that doesn't make for a good video when you're an Asian guy with squinty eyes because you know he's he's like did you say that yeah my eyes are squinty and then on wheat it's even squintier it's just a physical attribute you know you you can't say it but I can say it about myself I would never say that yeah the most I would say is when Chinese people or Asian people in general uh hit a brick they usually go they make a loud noise yeah when you're writing something uh that is so heavily improvised though because you're talking to these people who are making stuff uh in what way like a YouTube video I mean okay how do you structure something like that how do you plan for that well first I I get like an expert Chef's help on the technique so I get the technical side down I know what they're doing wrong oh you learn everything specifically for what you're going in for beforehand yeah I just figured you know so much about cooking oh this Asia is such a big continent like there's no way like if you're a pro professional info you would not know a lot a professionally like for Vietnamese food they probably won't know anything about like butter chicken or even Ramen right they're such different disciplines so for me to do a good job I have to every type of Cuisine I have a certain expert that I hire and I talk to that I pay them for an hour after time and then they tell me like what this person did wrong and I do my own research the technical side of that and then I have my uh I work with a comedian friend who writes some jokes I write some jokes and then we combine them together interesting so you're literally as because of this character learning becoming a chef I'm learning the technique I can talk I can talk a good game but when it comes to actually chopping and stuff that still needs a bit of work have you retained a lot of what you've learned I think so because when you review I've reviewed Ramen like five six times now so I know I know the basics I know when someone's [ __ ] up you know I know the basic five components of a Ramen what are the basic five components is the broth noodles tari Aroma oil and toppings so if you need to at least have those five things and then within those five things there's certain ways to do things and if you have if you don't have those five things we know you're not like it's not a legit Ramen it's gonna be [ __ ] you don't know what you're talking about but if you do those five things you at least have those down even if it turns out not great we know okay this guy knows the basics if this is this this cooking world open up any doors to you outside of Comedy so many so many I'm I mean I'm actually really grateful for this because it gives you a different way of like monetizing your career you know the cooking world you can get very entrepreneurial so it's a different Avenue from from stand up you know so I I would like to I'm trying to work with this brand who they do like Robin vending machines and the ramen's pretty decent and I'm trying to get my own dish inside the vending machine and then I'm you know maybe no dishes and you have a brand of ramen no no I'll probably do some fried rice dish because it's more on brand and what would that mean your own thing is it is a recipe right so it's a collaboration with whatever yeah so they put the recipe the fried rice in their machine and then every sale maybe I get a small Kickback that'll be nice because I like being going down the entrepreneurial surround as well and being the food World opens that up to me in the comedy world it's to be an entrepreneur in the comedy world what you I guess you can start your own like network podcast Network or production company I've started my own uh trading cards oh let's see oh you know what can I touch them or are they like put in plastic yeah so let me show you some of the other ones wow I thought I had him with me one sec I want to show you these these are really cool and uh I have uh the fourth one just came out I don't have it down here but uh yeah I've been making cards of previous guests I'm a collector a couple words in comics and uh Marc Maron nice aren't those cool though by the way who's who's been the artist on these so is this your merch do you sell them to your fans nice they are very nice man are they aren't they it took a lot of time I mean outside the art that they'd like to find the printing thing and we I did and a multiple process and I got to tell you something I just think they're so [ __ ] cool because I'm a collector and I wanted to I'm start people are bringing them to shows now like to have me sign them and stuff and I was wanting to make a thing to where like people get front of the line or VIP access or whatever with these things um but the idea beautiful uh thank you the idea of being like an entrepreneur in comedy it's it's is there's merch there's take you have to be you have to tell your own tickets you have to be your own marketer you have to get people to stay relevant there's a lot of hats and then to go into vending machines yeah while you're touring the globe I don't know I just like it it's something cool you know I also want to have my own line of MSG out one day that's the ultimate goal explain to me because I grew up up hearing that MSG was horrible and then it was a David Cho I saw somebody was talking about David Chang probably they were Chang yeah yes thank you um and he was talking about how like MSG he's got bad PR's yeah what's going on why does everyone say MSG is bad and now I'm here and it's not I well I'm not from here so I don't know even well even in Asia we think we used to think msg's bad but I think it's because um MSG sometimes like say some shitty Chinese takeout places they would just skip on ingredients skimp on the real uh uh ingredients and the materials and I just put blasted with MSG to kind of make up for the lost in flavor so in essence you're eating a lot of it and then people say they get really thirsty they get headaches or whatever because it's because of the low quality ingredients not because of MSG but they conflated MSG with that but MSG is just a naturally occurring chemical compound it's in tomatoes it's in Anchovies and cheese you know I mean never complain that eating cheese gives a gives us a headache right I don't need cheese oh okay well uh some life experience would be good sometimes you know Rick oh man you're really burning me a lot sorry sorry you're nice enough to invite me to your home and let me sit here and on your on your blanketed couch sorry I shouldn't be this mean no it's okay man I just don't eat cheese because of the gives me headaches it's MSG in there probably you're gonna have a battle in America to retract uh speaking of entrepreneurs one of my favorite shows is Shark Tank are you hip to it yep I know I know about it yeah um and they talk one of the big things they talk about is no matter how good a product is it's educating the consumer and getting them to understand and accept and MSG out here man I think I think you know with my videos people are changing I get tagged in so many Instagram stories of people buying MSG and then Uncle Roger are you proud of me and I just post that back of my message YouTube is such a big asset it is it is I every day I'm just so thankful because if I wouldn't have a career 20 years ago if I were in in England my sense of humor doesn't mesh well with them and they a lot of the times it's panel shows that's how you get big I love UK pen that's I said and Burrows ago I have like these certain specific things that aren't like these huge goals but things that like I visualize that I want to be doing yeah panels and I love love love them okay you should try to get online yeah well I was considering maybe going there more when I was with Betty and uh but you know I don't know like I'm thankfully I'm working here at the moment and it's hard to be there for long periods of time it's not the right Vibe of humor for me though you know I get a bit like complainy and ranty you know you see my videos where I [ __ ] on people so it doesn't really work like that podcasted with you yeah yeah sorry uh but uh over there the the banter is more like gentle friendly banter which is really really funny that's not what I do so thankfully for YouTube you can find your own audience you know I just don't get why are you there why am I there yeah I had to move somewhere my ex-wife was uh German European we had to go somewhere and it probably still is yeah I know it's hard to change you have to shake that once you're European you're always European so I wanted to go to a place where I can do comedy in English still you know so we decided oh London's a great place to be because she wasn't American either visas stuff was tough for her too but in London we have we had none of the Visa problems because he's a European citizen right yeah uh is that a thing so I guess we don't need to get into brexit here but uh it's interesting it's still easier if you're European to live there than here so you both basically moved to a foreign country to split the difference of English-speaking comedy and close to Germany well English-speaking comedy and also uh London is like even a lot a lot of Germans go there for to to further further their careers right it's just a bigger city more things more jobs she works in advertising uh so it's just a bigger market for that were you a good comedian while you were in Chicago or are you two I was young okay I was starting to get good I think like right when I was leaving I was starting to feature and I was doing an okay job featuring doing 20 minutes I remember I featured for Eliza Schlesinger all those years back 2000 yeah uh and I think I did an okay job like it was fine possible not great uh not not terrible just possible uh money-wise YouTube is is your is your biggest resource I think now touring's uh and YouTube is like on neck and neck wow good congrats man oh thank you very much man and I just wanna you know I just want to make make a good living and be able to sustain this indefinitely yeah yeah yeah it's not about the uh the quantity of couches okay it's how it works with the space Rick yeah yeah you're the one who's like just got a new one yeah but like I'm saying if you if it's worn and torn down you can okay re-up you can reupholster it I [ __ ] up by getting this color I bought the color during the pandemic when I wasn't letting anybody over and I forgot about it gray is I think gray is a color that's kind of a little bit cold and a bit out of trend now I remember maybe a decade ago dark Grays was so Chic and trendy every house had like a dark gray wall or something I wanted it because I I was planning I'm still like I need this this is gonna I'm setting up an office upstairs so this is gonna be dining room stuff okay but like I have so many colors the curtains the rugs I'm getting more rugs so I wanted something that was a little calmer uh my dad and I have a saying we saw it in an Ikea billboard a long time ago and we still love it we say be bold not beige yeah we like colors yeah good you should paint the walls then I'm renting uh let's see I'm just I'm in that middle I'm in I'm in my I'm in my London here I'm not where I want to be yet Milan why London my London like my like I'm here because it speaks English and I want to do comedy okay you know but this is like I'm I want to be able to get out yeah you'll be there soon man this podcast is doing good thanks man yeah do you remember the bricks I'm leaving you the brick stuff that's not gonna pay the bills stop doing that you know what I'm gonna do I'm actually working but maybe we won't animate it and I'll save a little bit of scratch okay okay I'll use that money you have to pay people to animate oh yeah I guess you have to right yeah it's expensive animation shout out to Tom Bates will put his Instagram handle up here yeah let's cut that racist part out the podcast save you some money you know what was the racist part no I'm just assuming all Asian people can like do that that hot thing it's not racist I'm just playing around no that was I was saying I was saying it's it's similar to Americans in Lacrosse yeah not everybody can do it as you can see you only got two I know well it's all good man save that money save it for a house down payment uh it's crazy how many views you get and you just started your tour November and already you feel like ticket sales it's really like the YouTube is building equity and people that want to see you perform and then right away you could you could turn that into ticket sales that's incredible which is that's why I'm fortunate that I started doing stand up before the YouTube blew up you know you've have you seen tick tockers do stand up so oh yeah but you know the the argument that they could have and it's true even though it's not a great show is if people like you they'll want to see you they want to see you once right and then if they come back if the show is good they'll come back for a second time yeah but I worry a lot of the times they're gonna just burn that a live audience you know just do one one big tour get all the money and then they can't tour anymore because people will will go like ah it's not very good like an nft rug pull yeah well I don't know what that is I don't know what an entity is but people that have a big audience they will uh Hey buy my nft uh and then once it's done they leave the project or they're saying rug pulls that pull the rug out from underneath I see yeah you don't want to do that you don't want to your fans are the most important thing right you don't want to piss them off or trick them or be deceptive uh I'm a collector I've been for a while and I'm really loving nfts and I've been working on this project perfect for you yeah in fact I'm wearing uh shout out to the generate Apes um they uh on the Solana network but uh I've been building something for a few months now I'm excited about it but people who have an audience and use that audience to sell something that they haven't kind of earned is an interesting and I say earned I don't I mean that quite literally like you there are people that have a stage in front of millions of people but they haven't developed the craft yet yeah but what are they supposed to do not you know it's like it's a weird thing it's a predicament they will have to try their best to just hone it in silence secretly like go go to open mic and not tell anyone yeah but it's tough man because I remember only getting a good 10 minute set five years into my career and I'm like oh [ __ ] because this 10 is pretty strong I can I can crush with this 10 and that was five years in and I was like what if you have that that temptation is too high and then when you have that audience you'll probably be too busy to just take a three hour journey to do 10 minutes right for unpaid 10 minute spot because you have the audience you probably have like brand deals to do you have videos to shoot you have collabs to do so the time of you won't have the time to hone that craft so I don't know I feel for them I don't know what what I would have done if I were in that position I know a good amount of uh people that have a substantial following they do comedic sketches and brand deals and stuff they don't do stand up um they don't do stand-up because they're afraid they won't be good at it yeah yeah which is true but yeah but it's like you kind of almost can't relatively at least do it in secret anymore because people you know you could go do a show and be bad and lose a fan but like I'm not ready yet you know and how do you do it so I agree with you you gotta it's nice that you have developed that skill yeah and now if after this tour I need to put together the new hour right so I would just pop into clubs and unannounced so it's not me playing to my fans yeah and then make sure those jokes work in a neutral crowd because if they work there then I know my fans will love it what what is your take on uh because now YouTube you said this kind of before but now YouTube is like its own animal and it's accepted as a big form of entertainment and content creation three years ago it you know the term influencer and social and YouTube star uh had a bit of a stigma to it where it was like kind of like how commercials and TV used to be and now A-list movie actors are doing all of it you two kind of switched into like an accepted form of media yeah do you remember when that happened did you ever feel like I don't want to be known as a YouTube guy was that a thing for you yeah well those Comics we tend to be purists right so we just I don't want to be known as the YouTuber who does comedy but I think now to me that's just evolving at the times right you see the biggest people who sell the most tickets the the Tim Dillons the Andrew Schultz to all social media stars and they sell more tickets than people on on SNL and you're like okay that's that's something here like so I do it sure I think the stigma is still there I think some people who don't know that I've been doing stand-up for years they're just look at me and go uh this YouTuber is trying to stand up and I I openers who I work with on the road just local acts right they just when they come they're just kind of cold to me and then they see him I said they're like oh [ __ ] this guy this guy actually do stand up they're called you because they think that you don't belong yeah yeah or they're oh it's another one of those YouTubers who is trying to hand a stand up oh and then they think they're gonna smoke me out or bury me but I hold my own or you know of course I'm okay at this so um there's still a little bit of stigma there but I think with every development right there's always going to be like people who don't get along don't don't follow the trend and then they they just get left behind so you just have to see what's the trend the trend now is that social media people are selling the most tickets that's that's the trend now right so you have to see and then realize oh [ __ ] it's a real thing that's happening and better evolve and adapt otherwise I'll be irrelevant has your YouTube and your social media uh premise uh process adapted and if so how social media process yeah like you I understand how to adapt as a as a writer and as a performer but as far as using social media that you've said you adapted to what what have you learned that you have now adapted to um that you just have to do it that's what I mean by adapt if a new platform comes along tomorrow and I see the people on that platform are selling a lot of tickets I'm gonna work really hard to learn how that new person works yeah yeah yeah yeah my take talk is just mostly repurposed stuff from my YouTube though you gotta be efficient right and you want to take it off for this podcast uh I I have more followers on Tic Tac than any other social media and I barely post on it oh I do every now and then it's repurposed [ __ ] but it's just it really works it's just it works you you have to be on it I think that's the platform that has the most organic reach right now yeah I've been using it more great but it's uh you know I mean just I know you're gonna be like oh geez Rick you're really dark and complaining about everything but to reformat everything in different aspect ratios all the time when you're trying to pump out this every week it's just at a certain point it's it's just not sustainable you need to hire someone for that yeah yeah and I'm at the point now where I'm looking to get somebody specifically for that yeah it's a company called jelly smack that uh they do the kind of thing you know uh you work with them no no I use someone else uh but when I say that it just means you have to be on those platforms and see what other people are doing and then try to do what they're doing or make it better that's that's what I mean you said that that comedians like to think of themselves as purists uh where is like how large is the standard deviation between being an artist and versus being this other thing which is Tick Tock promotion finding Trends learning Trends where is if you were able to just focus on this one thing or the small amount of things would you stop YouTube would you stop making these things I would say if you could only focus on stand-up I think that's a big big big luxury I don't think that's how the world works anymore though for anybody yeah for anybody you are you need to be your own content creation machine because you know there's just so much good [ __ ] out there you have Netflix you have YouTube you have HBO Max you have everything you have Amazon as we see it yeah and and if you don't um you don't put any content that people forget about you right so quickly yeah so yeah I I don't think it's it's viable anymore the way I try to keep my that little bit of purism in me is when I'm on I'm on stage as myself uh I I just it's just me and a microphone and a mic stand that's it what about your podcast my podcast yeah yes uh what about it do you feel that way too it's just you uh yeah it's just me and a producer but it's mostly me talking yeah but when I travel around I meet people and I want to podcast with them I just rent a room and then we I just interviewed Jimmy oh Yang that the episode came out yesterday because I've been a fan of him and with this YouTube following Instagram following it opens some doors I can DM people and be like hey I love your work do you want to come do my podcast he's great yeah he's so funny he was one of my first guests but we didn't do video and I ended up never even posting a shame what a shame um animate the whole thing yeah right I went to his house I filmed Jimmy's kitchen with him as Uncle Roger so I did his YouTube video then he did my podcast and he asked me you want to do 10 minutes before I said I just kind of open for him so very very grateful for that turns out fans have a big overlap man because he had two openers the first first opener to finish his set and then he was like oh we have a special guest for you you know him as from YouTube as Uncle Roger and the whole crowd cheered I was like oh [ __ ] is that an Asian connection I think it's Asian and the food connection because Jimmy loves to cook and he has Jimmy's kitchen yeah uh so they they know who I am and it actually quite helped a bit with uh ticket sales so you know thank you Jimmy yeah yeah uh how does that feel for you when you because I like I said I just started doing stand up again a few months ago and before that it was pre-pandemic before my podcast isn't the biggest podcast but it has grown to a place that it's yeah um I was shocked at how many people now come out to see me and know me and know the podcast and and we just did a um I did a show uh Rick lastman a friend show I actually want to have a sizzle two one [Applause] [Music] somebody show me your [ __ ] beds [Applause] they're back breaking up foreign [Applause] [Applause] man you want to come in or what that was my boy's cool man he's cool all right I got that have a seat dude Hey Kevin it's in my cul-de-sac you ever seen that many Forks [Applause] baseball it's cool you're cool man yeah he's cool cool man he's cool well guys uh tonight was [ __ ] rock solid you know I was thinking about the best man you're the best man you're the king I was thinking of going down to the corner store picking up a bottle of Jaeger buying some bombs energy drinks come on over this way sweetheart and uh why stop it stop it when we can all just [ __ ] do cocaine all right and it feels really good to have people come out not to see comedy near there and they laugh at you but to see you yeah I um I never experienced that before to have 400 some people buy tickets to see me and in a kind of a corny way and bigger than comedy but like they've kind of accepted me and like now I just that's the hard part to what to make them laughed is is if like I was talking about before like you said a tick tock person who maybe hasn't earned it yet could get people to come out to see him once yeah um to get them to like me already I'm okay like this my things are fine and it's not going to get in the way of them being entertained it's just a really rewarding feeling that you obviously have much more experience with even on a bigger level but like you make these videos you're a character you're not even yourself necessarily and then people want to see you yeah it is a good feeling isn't it what you yeah like you can't I don't think I mean it would take so Bill Burr Louis CK took them 20 30 years Louis he needed his show before people like if you're just doing stand-up it takes them so long to get to know you because they only see you for an hour once a year if you're really pumping out a ton of specials um so this gives just an opportunity for the audience to get to know you well I would say Louis blew up with that first special chewed up Shameless the first one which I loved uh blue curtains in the background I remember that he was what 10 15 years in no people people outside of the comedy world didn't know who he was until lucky Louie ah okay and and if if somebody knows differently you know years here or there but he's even talked about that okay like you Sebastian how long was he doing it before he became a household name oh yeah 20 years I think it's yeah it's just so hard to get people to know you just from stand up yes yes it's almost impossible how like unless you have a stand-up clip that went that went really viral right I think Andrew Schultz is known for his stand-up right that's the thing that blew him up Bert Kreischer too yes the the the machine the machine story right yeah yeah he said he told me that that uh that special actually bombed but that clip of that story on YouTube took off and he said it literally his career is because of that YouTube clip yes you just have to use whatever means possible to go viral you know because going viral is actually putting your stuff out to people who don't already know you and then they like you and then that keeps going from there so yeah you post your stand up online I didn't see any I have a few Clips I have a few bits some crowd work a few written bits not a lot yet I'm prepping and stand up is like to me it's like slow content it takes a year two years to hone it after you get the hour then it takes another year to hone it and make it tight and nice so hopefully he's uh it'll be nice if someone on commissions are special but otherwise I'll film it myself either sell it to people or put it on my own YouTube channel Mark Norman and Sam Morrell do you know them not presently but I know the videographer who films for Sam yeah uh they do such a great job of putting out reels minute Clips here and there yeah yeah and so a lot of times it's crowd work so they're not burning stuff but like I think that's you know talking about Trends and what sells tickets I think that's the thing now specifically is it doesn't have to just be stand up it could be Vlogs behind the scenes of touring it just needs to be something entertaining so people watch it they get a good feeling from you oh let's go see him he's funny but but that's I mean that's what selling your I mean yours you know you're playing theaters now yeah yes but but even more Niche than that is to see the person as a stand-up comedian now like to actually see you doing stand-up stuff yeah I think is I'm working on that I'm working on that I posted a crowd work clip as Uncle Roger and that really pushed some tickets yeah for that but yeah slowly I have more uh you know I film a few stand-up shows now got a whole crew in to film like you know three four cameras and then that's cool man they still have the resources to do that it's it's it's a marketing expense right you have to do it you have to do it yeah I was I'm wanting to do when I I'm planning a tour now the money comes back to you you've got to spend money to make money hey I've said that for weeks yeah three weeks now I've been saying that uh I already put your tour dates up before but do you have this will be out probably end of May early June do you have some I know you're taking off July uh get some stuff you want to plug well I don't think early June I will be in Australia but I have I have I'm coming back to the US later in the year the dates aren't announced yeah I think we've only announced New York I'm back in there October 20th New York town hall but I also have other us dates all over all over the country so check that out you can follow me on Instagram at Mr Nigel UNG Mr n-i-g-e-l-ng or just search Uncle Roger on YouTube that's how usually people discover me then you can find other stuff is this your first tour yes I've done like the Edinburgh Fringe you know doing an hour every every day for a month I've done like a Soho theater run that's it but my first quarter it was an hour seven days a week for a month uh yes six days a week we get one one day off Wednesdays Hannah Gatsby yeah uh is it your first tour is a global tour yeah what's the name of the tour it's called the Haya World Tour small world gotta use it use the catchphrase man recognize it dude nice to meet you nice to meet you too thanks for having me yeah sorry for [ __ ] on you on your mental illnesses that's okay uh I'd like to end the podcast with me [ __ ] on you is that okay let's do it um okay here it goes hey nice shirt where'd you get that shirt I really forces [Music] sometimes it got into the poop dude you gotta give them what they want oh yeah foreign [Music]