 The David Feldman radio program is made possible by listeners like you. You sad pathetic humps Rich Scheidner joins us he's got a new book kicking through the ashes my life as a stand-up in the 1980s comedy explosion Wow, rich Scheidner is just an amazing human being he's done stand-up on all the late night talk shows He's written for some of your favorite sitcoms and he's also a Connoisseur of stand-up comedy he co-authored a book on stand-up called I killed in 2010 he produced and performed in an award-winning documentary on the world of stand-up comedy and titled I am comic Welcome rich Scheidner and your dog barking in the background Who's the dog The dog that dog is Bobo Bobo and there's another dog swear. Let me close this back You're joining us in Los Angeles, right? And we're doing it via FaceTime Why the fascination with stand-up comedy? I'm always amazed by guys like you. You're a lawyer No, no, I was a lawyer was going to law school. Oh You're not a lawyer. I did not become a lawyer. No, okay, but you went to law school. Yes, and you dropped out to become a stand-up comic Yes, why the fascination to this day with stand-up comedy? well, I I Didn't have a choice really I mean once I got Doing stand-up and a friend in law school took me to this coffee house in Washington, DC and said, you know You got to try this. I don't even know if we knew it was stand-up. We don't think we call it stand-up I just I knew I'd seen stand-ups, but I Went down there. I got like that one reaction just like one guy just goes at one point of something I tried strangers, you know, this is strangers wasn't Being funny in a situational moment with friends It was something I planned to try to get a laugh and got sort of a laugh and I then I started doing it And once I started getting laughs It was it was just something I couldn't stop. I could not And I had to do it. I just had to do it. So And so funny look at that and so there's no plan and to this day you're still fascinated by it Yeah, I am I am I am it's a person goes in front of a bunch of strangers goes into some place a room a theater whatever and Makes them laugh on cue like orchestrates their laughter, which is you know a spontaneous reaction it's Unnatural to fake a laugh so he has to completely surprise them or she moment after moment after moment and They laugh and it's the most pleasurable thing in the world. You know yourself I mean you're attracted to people like Kevin Rooney who make you laugh hard, right? Mm-hmm Right. So I mean it's the most pleasurable thing in the world and To do it as a profession. It's I look back I got I had no idea what I was doing how I was getting into into it What was my plan? I had no plan. There was no road laid out. Oh, you do this then you do that So I'm not like in law or some profession. They go well you do this then you move to here Then your next stop is there then your next place is there. There was no road laid out There was no way to make money all the comments that I've met in New York had straight jobs Nobody was making any money in 1979. I started in 77. I was going Washington DC just Opening up for bands that was the only work I could get there was no road laid out There was no career path You know, it's interesting You say laughter is the most pleasurable thing And yet there's no drug to help men who can't laugh You never see a guy Sitting at the top on top of a mountain Laughing this drug really were I mean people I Guess Prozac maybe right maybe that I don't think that helps you laugh I think that helps you not kill maybe helps you not kill and it helps your girlfriend laugh at your flaccid penis When did you do the tonight show with Johnny Carson? 84 That was 1984 Canyon man. No, that was like I didn't do the canyon man thing until The special on on and I did tonight show with it too, but I did the HBO special and in 89 90 So doing that doing Johnny Carson in 1984 was like doing the Ed Sullivan show in 84 doing Carson It was a make-or-break moment years later not so much, but if you were comic in 1984 and you were Doing your first tonight show That was everything Everything was leading up to that moment Yeah, were you drinking were you drinking and doing drugs in the early 80s? Yeah Right up to May 11th 1985, but I had my first tonight show Managed to stop. I just I said I can't drink or do drugs for around maybe maybe up to a week Maybe that's all I could handle. That's I I knew I had to quit So I managed to stop at that point The second one I didn't the second one the best I could do is not do cocaine the night before I drank But I didn't do coke and I thought that was a victory. Did you drink before you the day of no No, I didn't I didn't like to drink and go on stage I tried going on stage under the influence of every possible drug acid coke Everything that I could think of and marijuana everything, but none of it Helped me be funnier or it really messed up the performance. It became an iffy proposition if you're the normal and So you're doing the tonight show it's 1984 Jeff Garland describes doing Letterman It just you know I'm waiting to do it It's the day of I'll stand up in the hotel room. That's not good. I'll sit down. No, that's not good I must stand sit down Just it's the worst experience of your of your life and you just want it to be over with What was it like doing Carson in 84? How nerve-wracking was it? Extremely nerve-wracking. I mean you're you know, you said you Jeff said you're what do I do now? I'm ready, you know, you you practice this thing over and over again You know, okay, I have to drive over to Burbank. I lived in West Hollywood. I'm over the Burbank You know, you plan I'll leave at 40 there for 30 whatever was it show take the 530 whatever was it came Exactly, but you know, you got to get there an hour ahead of time, you know How long it's gonna take you to go to Burbank, you know when you got to leave you got your suit hanging there You know your jacket you tie you got everything sitting there You're sitting here and just pacing around the house waiting just killing time you watch TV You can't think of anything else. You can't think of anything else. There's nothing else that come into your mind They're going oh, let me watch this TV show nothing There's nothing else that can come in your mind I Got a message on my message machine from Jerry Seinfeld Remember listening that he said You've already hit the home run. Don't trip rounding the bases. It doesn't look good for the fans So that's all you think is the only thing you do is mess up. You've already prepared. You've already thought yeah All you can really do is mess up. I mean remember I just think you've worked it out so many times, right? How many Weeks did in advance did you know you were doing a tonight show I Jim McCauley the booker saw me I was in New York City at the improv. I came off. I didn't know he was there I was kind of escaping the LA Olympics in 84 just getting out of town I went to New York for like the summer kind of thing and He said that is fantastic. You're ready to do tonight. You want to do it in two weeks. So I like two weeks So you didn't even know you were auditioning No That's interesting. So you had two weeks and When did you start getting nervous? At the moment he said you're gonna do it in two weeks and What was your drug and alcohol consumption like in the lead a lot a lot a lot? When we went out to talk about my tonight show shot I had to say women I'll be right back and I went over and bought an eight ball from a coke dealer that catch rising star we'd go over to catch then and Because he wanted to see somebody over there then after he saw that person that we would have the so I was like I had coke on me. I was drinking with him. I continued that for a couple days and then Did you sleep? Did you sleep? Did I did I sleep? No, I didn't sleep what I was doing cooking And were you doing sets at night? Did you do sets at night? Oh, yeah, yeah I'm sure that I went back out to Improv or catch your comic strip Hi, you know, I if I would go I'd wake up or whenever I wake up or pass out or get up and then you just go Okay, well, I got to do a set so I'll just drink some coffee and not do anything, you know But I always had that it was like a security blanket I knew I had the drug in my pocket when I went on stage so I know I could do it afterward Mm-hmm and after you did the tonight show How long did it take before you were drinking and doing coke? I walked off the tonight show they handed me a beer Really when I when I got behind a curtain to hand it a beer hand me a beer. It's fantastic. You did great Stand over here Right, and you'll stand there and wait there and when Johnny finishes show He'll walk by and you'll have a moment with him. He'll walk by like he had the same route He took from his desk to the his office like yes or whatever and there was just you know You stand along the road there and he will stop and For a second you'll have a moment and he'll continue and I was just standing there I that was my first beer I started drinking and and I continued right through the night I went so he walked he walks by and what happens He stops you go that was fantastic. You know, I'm sure I can remember exactly said I'm sure you're very funny I'm bad something like that. Did he call you over. Did you get an okay? No, I did not get that did not get the panel the first time. No, did that bother you? No You're very few people got first time. I mean you see someone extraordinary like Stephen Wright Maybe Drew Carey and his first when there's ones who were just outstanding Breakthrough kind of sets are there any Kevin Meany did maybe Meany did I don't know well talk about me in a second We'll get to Meany, but What was I gonna ask you oh You're a student of comedy. Yeah How many comics got the a okay sign from Johnny on their first shot got called over and never went on to make it? Do you know of any? Yeah, you know what you just pointed out something Johnny was pretty good on picking them wasn't he wasn't he I don't know Yeah, I think he was pretty good. I think his tastes were pretty Chewed into America. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head who got panel on their first shot And then didn't go in to do something big with it How many times did you do cars? Tonight show with Carson 14 Wow with Johnny Carson 14 times. I think wow The audiences if you do 14 tonight shows Where the audience is different each time in terms of their response where they could you know hot cold or where they Never felt like the audience was ever different problem. They're always this great tonight show audience They you know the show was set up for the stand-up comic You know they start this show Johnny do a he didn't do long a monologue, right not too long Then they have a couple of guests and one guest and then at 12 or 1205 The comic would come out if you were you know like I was the comic who was the added You know dish to the menu because I dish Right not like a Billy crystal or Steve Martin or something like that So you come on a 12 1205 and the audience is happy to see they're happy for that break of like just pure Blast comedy right at when Johnny is doing his monologue. Are you watching his monologue to see what the crowd is like? Yes, of course You're standing backstage watching the monitor And there was never a big car never I know anytime I ever saw a Johnny have problems with it was at the very end when there was this to me was famous. I was over there I had a development deal with NBC. So this had to be like 91 90 Morrissey remember Morrissey from the Smiths. Yeah Morrissey was a guest And the place was packed with Morrissey fans and Johnny did not understand it I mean he mentions Morrissey they go crazy. They sort of mocked laughing Kind of didn't they didn't give him a laugh or they gave him a mock laugh on his monologue jokes They were like just like you're an old guy. You know that you could see he was like wow He could not get his footing and Bill Cosby was a guest and he came out and he sort of he understood What was going on and he was Mocking the Morrissey fans but he would mention Morrissey just so they cheered and he'd do it back to back and they cheered like like the cream dogs mm-hmm Interesting and did you find with the Tonight Show audiences? That you could get laughs big laughs from them But those jokes would not play in the clubs No, because I never did a joke on there that I hadn't Played doing in the clubs the clothes were different, you know people were accustomed to comics working clean Mm-hmm And so it wasn't like they expected you to curse or work blue or it's I think it's more today That's like kind of like you're expected to throw in a little few curse words here and there right and most in most clubs I mean, I've actually worked at club once where I finished it in the club owner went Hey, you were great, man. We just too clean for my crowd Yeah, which was different back then in the 80s for sure and So I never would did a joke that hadn't worked in the clubs And you get applause more on the Tonight Show they would applaud That was unusual So I had to learn that when they applauded if you had any tags after that Do you normally do with the joke drop them? Don't do them That was just signaling that was fantastic clever idea. We loved it next Kicking through the ashes my life as a stand-up in the 1980s comedy explosion What is this about is it about I? Try to cover, you know, I obviously my journey as a comic. I try to cover every aspect Of the stand-up experience the heckling I have these are little chapters so a little bit on a heckling a little bit on Joke writing a little bit on prop comics a little bit on Joke thievery every little thing I could think of I covered and and of course the people I met stories about Kenison Hicks bill Hicks Jay Leno had a dream about bill hooks last night really. Yeah, I Had a dream. I was talking to him. I had I'm I had a dream that There was I was doing my podcast. I was interviewing a female comedian and there were all these People sitting around this big round table and Bill Hicks was He sat down and I said well bill Hicks is here. We're gonna Just talk to bill for a little second. I remember something like I haven't seen you since you died or something was it was This is my dream. I'm not trying to be funny I'm just trying to know but it is funny. Come on. I know and I'm I'm just I'm trying to remember the dream And I remember in the dream feeling really Proud that bill Hicks was sitting at the table of my podcast But we were gonna interview this the comedian who was booked and that I you know bill was just hanging out That was my dream. I Don't know what it means But it was like bill wasn't he said a few things and then he just sat back and Anyway, I don't know what that means Did you know bill? Very well. Wow very well, you know, I'm Had a chapter there. We we met I think it was like the second time I was in Austin, Texas in 82 And he was the middle act for me. Wow We just got along great. Yeah, and we became friends and Now we became friends that you I opened for you in Francisco Man, you killed me. You had You know, I fell in love with you that one joke about your daughter I always think well, you fix that joke and I always think of you and we would go out for noodles. Let's talk about Kevin Meany hmm I'll say I'll say something about Kevin Meany and then I Would when I was starting out in San Francisco I would go watch comedy and I really am not a fan of stand-up comedy It really you really have to surprise me. I just I just I I don't I just don't like comedy for the sake of comedy. I always view comedy as a as a tool a means not an end That's interesting comment give you a means to what what's a weapon comedy to me is a weapon and In a more tween sense To mock and and yeah, yeah politically powerfully the way Kevin Rooney Uses comedy that comedy is is a tool Not the end, you know, you know, you know to me to say let's go out and see comedy It's like let's go out and see music. Well, what do we what kind of music are we who are we watching? Why are we okay? Okay, so you discriminate in your face, but you don't want the laughter, right? I mean you want the comedy Yeah, but I like a message you want a message, but you want the comedy you want the comedy have a message Uh, well, that's why I laugh at But it doesn't have a message it it has to have a It has to be a weapon Somebody has to be bludgeoned with it Everybody there's all every joke somebody gets a pine a face everybody some yeah, somebody's getting a pine a face on the joke It has well, but anyway, so except Kevin Meany Well, maybe the the pine Kevin's face was oh my god, there's a guy in a loud jacket and a bow tie Who won't stop? he and This obliviousness so I would go watch I go over the punchline and there'd be somebody up there on stage who was you know uninspiring uninspired and Really not making the audience laugh that much, but they were famous and then I'd go over to cops and Kevin Meany would be up on stage in verably not doing too well with the audience and I'm thinking I want to I want to be this guy that's that is what comedy is that is the the soul and essence of comedy I I I love your description of the obliviousness. I mean the guy who would not stop He's kind of got it. We'll get them. He would get them. He would get them and he and Carson loved him. Oh My god, yeah, I mean they got it cut away Carson his head down on the desk pounding it I Mean that's he was at huge Kevin did it at such a level because Anyway, I go ahead. Tell me about Kevin Meany. No, I want I mean to me What you just said is true. It's just exuberance. It's the wild freedom He had who goes on the tonight show the first shot and is singing I don't care than the nonsensical zoom zoom bing bing. I mean that stuff. I mean right in the middle of his set I mean he had those great bits, you know, obviously mocking his mom mocking his family He had those funny bits, but then in the all out of nowhere is I don't sing it. I don't care who it's And he's and he's loving it. He's he's loving it more than anybody else. I Worked with him. I Always see him around. He's always friendly and funny. Of course everybody there's that's the thing about it He was just off stage. This would get you know, you hang around with comics a Lot of times you hang around with them off stage. They're not that funny, right? Kevin so I'm working in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is again early 90s I'm trying to you know, when everybody was trying to turn their stand-up comedy into a one-man show to try to You know put a new hood on me on that piece of junk car and see if it'll sell I was one of those guys so I'm down in North Carolina Charlotte trying to reconfigure this beast and And Kevin mean he was headlined the comedy zone one week. So we're staying the same hotel the first day He sees me. He's saying he sees me going to the general work. I say I need to work out Can you work out when you can I go with you? I said sure So the first day we're gonna just older guy comes and I say older because I was probably like 30s Kevin right in there Somewhere close and and this guy comes in and he's Older than us and he's in terrible shape terrible shape One of those guys would go and do like one curl with no weights and then go out in the hallway and smoke So you're at You know, he's he stretched like lazy stretch For five minutes and sit down and drink a soda, you know And so he's in the gym kind of half work Every time he got in the hallway the guy would disappear for a while Kevin would do an impression of him and he's cracking me up He's killing he's doing the guy, you know, he's strutting around a guy was struggling He's just doing it. He's killing me making me laugh And then one time the guy goes out in the hallway He doesn't come back for a while and we hear this commotion in the hallway and we go out and the the older guy Work that guy is dead. He's on for dead. Really? He had a heart attack so he's dead on the floor and everybody's around me was he's dead He's dead and then we go back into the gym and Kevin goes. He just starts with this over in trouble now, man Oh, God, he heard everything And he did that for the next hour, he's killing me with that. He goes, oh, it was you Shadry you egg me on I would have done any of that. I would have done any of you're just as in this as much as me Oh my god, right? I mean, there was no there was no break and then for the rest of the week every time we'd work out He'd be doing like he he he goes he goes he'd check his pulse. He'd look in a mirror check his eyes. Am I okay? Do I look okay? I mean, you know, he's a young thick guy He's and he was just doing like worried that he was gonna gonna collapse and work out You go have that guy stretch with he think was the problem stretching. He do the guy stretch Yeah, that that's what happened. I'm all stretch like that now. Oh, I just did stretch like that. Oh my god So the guy died Oh, yeah, the guy died and how quickly from the time he cooled hit room temperature till Kevin was making jokes. I'd say 20 minutes You know, I remember we'll move on because it's just too But to me that that's that's how funny the guy was he's one of those guys he needed the audience of one He just needed me. That's all he needed. You know some comments They need an entire room full of people before they turn to switch on But he was one of those guys like Steve Pearl, you know, Steven Pearl like that He just if you just hit one person and he he bites into it. That's all he needs. I Opened for Kevin in Boston 20 25 years ago He was easily it was a Friday night easily. He had eight shows to do that night easily I'm spits and he had to go to Salem and Come back so he did like two shows Near the comedy connection and then he picks me up and I'm opening for him in Salem and he's got to get back He's got like 90 minutes to go to Salem and to a show and then get back And there's just no way he's gonna be able to do it and we hit traffic in downtown Boston, which as you know Is the worst and he leans on his horn I'm going oh my god, and he would turn to me What a rocking chair today Got a beautiful rocking chair I was just rockin and rockin rock All I do all afternoon. I was just sitting on my porch rockin and rockin And I You know at Boston drivers are like and I'm I'm I'm laughing hysterically and at the same time terrified that we were gonna get killed And then somebody would like walk over to the car because he was And they'd look in the window and Kevin would just with the horn still going would wave hey And they would see that it's Kevin and they'd laugh and he just had He we for 15 minutes in traffic the horn was going and he was just talking about my rocking chair totally unfazed By the traffic that he was gonna be late for Salem, you know the show and we got up to Salem and he did it He did a show Yeah, I can't I can't even but I remember he was going witches You're all witches Because of the Salem witch jump and he did we are the world and he gets a standing ovation this that Yeah, yeah, we get back in the car and he did four more shows, you know on unphased unflappable Yeah, because it was no different to him He you know he so he's not like like I would be frustrating pounding a wheel We're gonna be late. We gotta make this and he was like well, there's a show here too if I want it Yeah, but people were waiting for him Yeah, yeah, but I mean he's in the moment of like being funny in the moment all the time right right Which is that's what made him so unusual to me is a comic There are very few people like that they can I know he had his dark moments I know he had his the side of him that he had the struggle with of something everybody does But as a comic if he's around another person he and he feels that you know, there's a funny moment here He's gonna take it You know the greatest compliment For Kevin, but I can think of his You know he he appeared so stupid, you know, it was just the act just out of the surface Yeah, it was just so Stupid and meanwhile, I'm you know in my blazer trying to be smart Do you think it's appropriate to label comics modern-day philosophers? I've noticed that right now You know Kevin mean he was anything but a philosopher. Maybe he was a lot. I don't know but Maybe he was but his is that too highfalutin? Yeah Yeah, we're not philosophers No, we're not flossers or comedians flossers or flossers or comedians I mean you get some people who hit some truths and that's great But if there's not funny behind it if there's not laughter behind it then maybe if they can give enough people to Follow their philosophy they can be philosophers, right, but I haven't seen philosophy clubs pop up lately and Last I heard philosophy professors don't make that much money I don't know what philosophers are making these days I have to check the the Forbes charts to see where they are. Well, actually terms of entertainment Marco Rubio said we need more college kids majoring in Technology than majoring in philosophy and they did a study and they found out that actually philosophy majors and undergrad make more money In their professional careers not as philosophers, but no no not as philosophers No, but they had the ability to you know, they go into law. That's a great place to go into law from right You know because you get the Socratic method and all that sort of thing. It's that that works for law But um, yeah, there's not a lot of firms. I don't think the accounting firms or engineering firms looking for philosophy majors so My account and always says think of your bank account is half empty Or half full I'm You know the comedy boom We saw it die Because people ran out of jokes and we're all talking about the same thing and now there's a new boom where It's very autobiographical and confessional people are Unique on stage, but they may not have jokes But there seems to be especially among the millennial the fascination with comics who get up on stage and talk about their lives and Talk about embarrassing moments without too many jokes And I think that yeah, I think that's kept stand up alive. I can't do that I have to have a joke I I only got there for one reason But there is a look it goes along with the whole culture that the rise of narcissists that the whole Social media thing I think that you get the selfies that's all self-involved everything self-involved So the confessional comic of today, you know just to go up and just talk about every little detail You know it's ten minutes story about one of the dry cleaners. Can I have a joke in here somewhere? I mean, you know your right irony of Getting plastic to cover the I don't know what it is But it's just and it there are not every comics like that obviously we're not talking about the whole generation but there is a lot of that and So people works between the whole social media. I think that's why you people you see people You know, you talk about the political correctness. I think part of it is just the income. It's inconsiderate when it was in the crowd Hello, yeah, yeah, I'm thinking as you're talking you you were in the Steve Martin movie Roxanne, which is a master piece by the way I always think if you and I Had started in the 60s Mm-hmm, and now we're at our age now and a guy like Steve Martin comes along in the late 70s Mm-hmm. We'd be going He has no jokes. There's no point of view. What's he doing up there? An arrow through his head He juggles that's not comedy Don't you think we run the danger of Not understanding the value to confessional and autobiographical comedy if it's if it's funny, it's funny I'm not saying the confessional if they're funny. I just have to have the funny with it I'm not saying every comic doesn't look I truly understand what you're saying Every generation is different the language is different. I Remember when Steve Martin came and I like my friends who all loved him and our dad's got him so he was perfectly Suited for that era that me decade that he parodied that decade perfectly So anybody who got that hole, you know, I'm okay. You're okay decade that part of the 70s that late part of the 70s I Get what you're saying. I don't think that them If there's anything wrong with confessional comedy as long as it's comedy Funny with let me let me just say this about young comics. I Run with them. I do I do stand up in New York and I like to be around the 20-some things Yeah, sure, and they're they're very supportive of comedy and they love comedy for the sake of comedy and My I just hate them because they're in their 20s and I Just want to you know, I Hate them for their youth And we run the danger. I always say, you know, I'm gonna I have other questions. I want to ask you, but Hillary Clinton is This is just me. Let me just say this has nothing to do with anything other than my one and I get something off my chest which is a This I Think there's ageism In Hollywood and in a way it's justified and it's why I don't want Hillary Clinton to be my president you become a victim of your own expertise and Hillary's gonna be a disaster I'm voting for her, but she's gonna be a disaster because Anybody who's held the job and goes back to it is a failure Donald Rumsfeld was the youngest secretary of defense under Gerald Ford and under George W. Bush He was the oldest secretary of defense and he was a disaster as secretary of defense under George W. Bush because he was a victim of his own expertise and George W. Bush was a disaster because he wasn't gonna repeat the mistakes that he saw his father making in the Oval Office and Hillary Clinton like Nixon who? Was an expert, you know, he was vice president for eight years. He You know Hillary Clinton was married to Bill Clinton and knows how it's done and When you know how it's done You end up failing because this country And it's same applies to stand up it applies to stand up and show business and politics We like it fresh and new She's gonna be a disaster She's gonna go vote for Trump and get it fresh and new well He's what somebody's got expertise. How about if somebody doesn't know I can have a government works Go with complete ignorance, and I'll be fresh and new fresh in the same with comedy I don't care if the comics old if he's funny or she's funny I don't care if they're young if they're funny right just as long as they're funny if they know what they're doing up there But I guess the point I'm making is this That if you're in your 50s or your 60s your 70s You got to do a stutter step around comics in their 20s and 30s and watch yourself because The your the natural inclination is to be dismissive of them and go I don't get this No, I'm not gay. You know I'm saying yeah, no, but I don't feel like that I love the younger they're better than ever. They are they've the yes that the art form keeps improving They come preloaded. They've watched you know, we were coming up. You may have heard some comedy albums You rarely got to see some comics on TV on a tonight show or maybe one of the daytime talk shows for a couple of minutes These comics they they hit the stage at 18 or 19 They've grown up watching a million YouTube videos comedy central specials HBO specials seen comics live That it's they're preloaded. They're like they come in Far more knowledgeable about the art form and what it takes to do it and what the thing is than we did absolutely You know, I remember about Kevin Meany. What I remember thinking about Kevin Meany Is that he's at another level than I am because he is seen so much more comedy than I have And I agree with you. So there are guys who are just starting out now Who are comedy Einstein's who've just you know, who are who are gonna reinvent it and I despise them Yeah, you quit No, I mean, you know as a comedy writer, you know, I'm now the oldest guy at the table and You can't say We tried that already in 1914 and it didn't work That's what happens when that's why you have to get out of the room because you like we've already done that joke and they go Well, we didn't do it today. So yeah, yeah, so and and you know You retired from stand-up for 13 years Yeah, it was not an official retirement and you have to have people notice you retire for that I just go to step down a line and the line took one forward step I I just was writing for TV and doing less stand-up and eventually I wasn't doing stand-up at all Yeah, you know what it's like stand-up. It's like you I I have a friend Who has a baby daughter who's the year old and then I don't see that friend for 20 years And I go has your baby daughter and they say oh she just graduated from medical school I go really they're letting one year old babies now into medical school And this the same thing happens with stand-up comedy is you know When we stop to go take a writing job, I have literally announced I would if I got a writing job I would go to the improv and say attention stand-up comedy You must now stop evolving because David Feldman is abandoning you for a year or two Just freeze do not change. I want to be able to recognize you when I come back Yeah, it gets harder and harder to And I don't think that's a function of getting older. I just think the longer you stay away from it It's it's what it's you come back. It's changed and the comedic language is changed I got that feeling When I came back, I mean, you know, remember when we were young and you hear some older comic and you go You could tag them as being over you even got to see the person To know by listening to them that they were from a different generation the style they did the way they did the jokes It sounded like cat skills or sounded like Bob Diller older, right? And we're like that now to the younger comics because of our style like I go for comedy I mean I try to make them lamp. I work at it. I'm performing the bits out Like I saw people like Richard Pryor do and a lot of the comics today They're like, you know, they're art like you said this conversational really ultra conversational relaxed professional is to almost act like you're not even doing comedy Right, they're getting a laugh. I'm not saying I can't last but their style is totally different I mean we we didn't we were heavy on sarcasm and satire and they're heavy on irony and parody These are just different languages They used to say there's no place for comics to be bad Now I say there's no place for that to be good I just being What is the recovery comics website is this to help comics recover from I don't I don't need that Don't get part of that's a scam. Don't even get into that. That's a I is mine Am I still up on that thing? You're listed as one of the comics. Yeah That's a bait-and-switch operation there and the guy who runs it is a terrible comic who he does is Now I'm not name my names. Hey names I Can't think of his name right. I honestly. I'm blanking his name Kirk something. Anyway, it doesn't matter What he does is he has all these good comics up there and it's classic and then they call and they want one of the Good comics is yeah, get them and then you know a couple weeks before this because that guy's not available. I'll come do it Don't worry. Oh That's one of those operations. I can't believe I'm still up on that thing Okay, I told her to take me down I am comic. What was the name of your book? I killed what was the name of the book? I mean that I killed was one of Mark Schiff and I we were co-compilers of everybody's stories I just told my story. We were working for Robert Smigel and we shot the closing of the Taj Mahal for a special order for Hulu and I was Walking the boardwalk of Atlantic City and I told the story that's in the book my mother I was playing the Tropicana My mother comes to see me and I'm on stage for 45 minutes Not one laugh And I'm standing backstage or my mother comes back. She says this was worse than daddy's funeral I went uh-huh. Uh-huh. She said, you know, I understood why daddy died You know, he was sick. There are seasons to him to our existence life ebbs and flows It can be explained The people in that audience I have I don't even think they're human Did they speak ink? You know, at least she wasn't blaming me for bombing. She did turn up You remember Lenny Bruce's bit the palladium Mm-hmm The bad comic goes to England and after your bombs the last time the booker comes backstage. That's what reminds me your mother My god, what happened out there? Yeah, you bloody mouth mouth. Do you like your friends coming to see you perform stand-up? What do you like friends coming to see you perform? Oh, yeah, it's more pressure But if I go back to my hometown once a year of the last three years I've gone back once a year I might not do it this year, but I go back and I do a show in front of My hometown all my friends I grew up with their kids They're now grown But if you're on the road my relatives if you're on the road and you and you get a call. Hey, it's uh Rich, rich rich field stain. Uh, um, yeah, I'm gonna come to your show tonight Rich fields team. Yeah, and I go, yeah a few you're gonna come to my show tonight Now you don't want you don't even want them coming at all. No I don't want my friends watching me perform. I'm working. I'm making a fool out of myself You're gonna be sitting there judging me Trying to figure out how much I'm making You're oh you talking about a comedy friend. No, no, no, no just friend friends You like let me work. I'm gonna say some horrible things I'm gonna be sweating Dancing making a fool out of myself. Give me my privacy. You're dancing in your dancing in your act out. Yeah I didn't know that like when people say to me. Oh, I saw you last night on that the comedy special I go that's an invasion of my privacy Why are you doing? You're my friend. Why would you watch that? Why would you watch me? You're my friend just We keep our friendship compartmentalized. I like to keep my friends You know, you're just a guy I I played poker with. I don't want you to know any of the part of my life I came to the shack. I'm here at the comedy magic club. I want to see you perform. I want to have a good time At my expense My expense you're gonna have a good time I'll give you an even better time when I bomb right because then you're gonna drive home And think you know what I didn't make the career decision that david did I became a lawyer? But I wanted to be in the arts, but looking at david's life. I'm glad I didn't do that because that's pretty pathetic Can't can't you do that for your friends? Can't you give them that moment at least? That's all I can do. What kind of friends do you have anyway? You have a real transactional relationship with your friends, man. Rich Scheidner You'll come back Of course, I'll come back. You you crack me up man. I love you, buddy. Say hello to kevin rooney I will man. Okay. Bye