 All right, welcome to another episode of Let There Be Talk. It is episode number, what is it? 706 or something like that? I don't know. I think, yeah, I think it's 706, 706, not 706. I don't know. Yeah, 706. And it is a solo episode. Lots to talk about, lots to explore on today's episode It's, what is it? It's out on a Monday here, but I'm actually doing it on Saturday because tomorrow I fly up to San Francisco for the last of the Dead and Co shows ever, ever. I don't think anybody's ever stopped on a farewell tour. Even if all the band members are done, dead, not around, farewell tour, then they come back. But who knows with Dead and Co? I know that they've done over 200 shows, I believe. Eight years, they've been a band, brought a lot of joy to me. A lot of great memories out there. I can't believe it's been eight years. I think about all of the times I've seen them and always, always as an adventure or a story. I remember when I saw him in Boulder and I was on the side of the stage. I put a video up of that a long time ago, but my buddy Matt, who worked for Oteo, or no, I think he was Mickey Hart's tech, got me in and sitting on the side of the stage. This is pre-COVID and that fucking epic giant storm rolled and it was wild just to see it from the stage. The band took a break, came back and it was one of the rare times that they did one set really because they started the first set and then the break was so long that they just continued the first set into the second set. So that was a wild memory. Another one was Rest in Peace, my good buddy Sharuki, who was their stage manager. He was in New York at the Metz. What was that? The Metz play? Is that the Metz arena, MetLife arena? I don't know, but it's where the Metz play. And he said, come on out, hung out with him all day. That was the first time I really got to see John Mayer's guitars and amps up close. I walked around on the stage in between the sets and really see the gear. I mean, that's such a gear nerd when you get to see good gear up close or gear that's been on the road for years, that's always amazing to see the patina on people's equipment. And he just looked at it and he go, well, that amp's probably seeing about, I don't know, 5,000 hours on the stage, maybe more. And you just look at like the Tolex or the guitars where the paint just starts to wear off from just the spots that rub on their bodies over all those years. But that was an epic day. Got to see all of John's guitars up close and Bob Weir's and their amps. And then of course, some of the great, great shows like Hollywood Bowl where I was sitting third row and about four songs in, these guys in black suits just walked onto the stage, leaned in and the band just put their instruments down and walked off, nobody said a word. And we were like, what's going on with that? And here comes the bomb dogs. I'm like, well, the band's gone, but we're right here ready to take the bomb. People freaked out and left. I'm out of here. Something's going, something's wrong. And then I remember just the, I was in the second or third row or whatever and the whole row kind of emptied up. They came back and Bob was like, yeah, yeah. I guess something weird was going down, but yeah, let's get back into it. And they got back into it. And I was like, I got my own row, Hollywood Bowl. I think they played two nights that time. I went both nights and a lot of good memories out there, seeing them over and over all over the place. And it'll be great to go see them. In San Francisco, my favorite ballpark, the Giants play there. I call it pack bell. I'll always call it pack bell. And I'm ready for that. Go up there. I'm gonna fly up. God, this is a brutal schedule. It's the only way I could do it. I'm getting up tomorrow at 8 a.m., which by the way, tonight I'm headlining a long show, a long set at the comedy store. So I'll be out late. I gotta come home, sleep, get up, fly from Burbank to Oakland, ride the old dirty bart over to Oakland or San Francisco. Then I'll just kind of walk around the city all day, get some food and take in the energy and dodge some of the cuckoos on the street. And then I'll go to the show and I'm not quite sure where I'm gonna stay yet if I get a hotel or not. Because I gotta fly out at 6 a.m. in the morning. So there's like that weird area, gray area, where you get the room. Do you get a room? And you just go lay there and you're just kind of buzzing from the show. Like, yeah, that was crazy. And then fly back and then drive to Las Vegas to start my residency at the Comedy Cellar for 14 shows, starting Monday the 17th through the 23rd. So it's gonna be brutal. I'm gonna be driving to Vegas pretty trashed and I'll get through those two shows on Monday and then I'll just rest. It'll be worth it because I do remember the time that I saw Fairly Well and it had Vegas in it too. I did the last show in Vegas at the Cellar and then I rented a car and I drove from Vegas to San Jose where they were playing for the Fairly Well. I mean, right after the show, I left. So I'm driving through the night, I'm fucking dozing off and shit and I get to San Jose, I don't know, like five in the morning. So it took fucking forever to get from Vegas to San Jose. And I just pulled into some side street and slept in the car for like four hours and then met Joey, my good buddy Joey De Bono and we went in and saw Fairly Well where we snuck into the owner's box, the owner of the 49ers box and just ate some of the finest food, just the most bougieest concert ever, just eating sushi, watching the dead. It was fucking crazy. And then after the dead played, I drove home to LA. I remember driving home and I got halfway up the five and I just pulled into some truck stop and was sleeping in the car, waiting for a serial killer to knock on the window. Those truck stops, not the truck stops, the resting areas are so spooky, man. I feel like they're definitely serial killer training, training grounds. None of the bathrooms have doors on them, nothing, it's just fucking spooky city. They still got drinking fountains there. Oh man. Anyway, so it's funny, the older you get, the more you need sleep, you're like, God, I think I can do this. And then you're in the middle of it, and you're like, I'm so fucking tired. You know, no fucking coke or speed. I don't even do caffeine. So you're just like, you're going on adrenaline and then it just crashes. So anyway, that's what I've got going. So I'm doing the episode right now on the Saturday afternoon. It's a hundred degrees out and I'm just chilling here at the house. I will tell you, I've been in a little bit of a funk. I'm trying to exercise and eat clean through it, but it's definitely just a massive funk, man, over the last, you know, six months. Of course my mom passed away and all that, but it's just kind of, I don't know what it is, you know? And I'm just trying to work through it by clean living exercise and try to keep my brain together and stay positive. It's just been a serious funk. It's weird, like there's these big highs of touring with Bill and just having a great time. And then there's these massive lows of like, what is going on, you know? And you start to think about that a lot because I was thinking about it, like to be honest, if I didn't have these Bill Burr shows this year, I really wouldn't fucking have very many shows, stand-up shows, which is fucking scary, man. And I'm working twice as hard. I'm like rioting, I'm trying to get funnier and I just feel like I'm constantly begging for spots, which is just, it's brutal, but that's just the honest thing of the business. So, you know, I always like to get it out there because I don't want people to think like, man, you fucking made it, you're touring with Burr. Hell yeah, it's a fucking dream come true, but without Bill, there would really not be that much work going on, which is scary as fuck. And I do not like to rely on Bill because I don't want to put that weight on his shoulders because I'm sure he wants to help other comedians too. But I will tell you that, you know, the honest truth is just like, I can't fucking seem to get any bookings. You know, I work a couple of nights a week at the store and I do some shows at Flappers in town, but on the road, man, it's definitely fucking dried up and that is for sure a, you know, the fact that there's no manager or agent has a lot to do with that. I don't have anybody in my court going, here, we need Dean here, here, here and here. And so it's been rough, man, it's been scary and it's definitely thrown me into a funk. My mom passing and the fear of not being able to work. That's the problem with comedy, is other people make the calls if you're going on stage or not. Sure, you can book your own gigs and you can rent halls and all that, but that really only works if the people come out. If they come out, then you have all the power in the world, you know, you go, hey, I'm gonna be in San Diego on Thursday. I'm doing a one night or at such and such. And, you know, if the people come out, it's fucking gold, but it's a double-edged sword. You start selling out rooms, then the agents wanna start working with you and the manager, it's like, oh, this guy's fucking doing good, let's grab him. So it's a fucking funky time right now for the old del Rey, but I'll never stop. I just keep fucking going. I keep writing, trying to get funny and try to stay positive. But that's just the honesty of where I'm at in the year number 13 and a half of my comedy career. My comedy career. Not gonna stop. Yeah, I always think about the people that stop and they never know, like, fuck, it could have just been right around the corner, buddy. And I don't wanna stop, cause I fucking love it. It's just, it's fucking hard, man. It is hard, I fucking, I'm working at it, man. I'm working at it, if you wanna help at all. Something simple as a review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or YouTube and spread the word to everybody on your social media platforms. That is the biggest thing you could do. Or join the Patreon. Speaking of that, patreon.com slash dean del Rey, Brian Spink. Thank you, my man, brand new Patreoner. And if you are a Patreoner, I will be talking all about the Dead and Co show on the bonus episode on Tuesday on Patreon. So that's where I'll be talking about that Dead and Co experience. Let's get into some more of the show. I've saw some amazing documentaries this week. I've been trying to watch a lot more stuff lately. It helps with the writing and keeps the gears spinning. And I started thinking, years ago, still I am addicted to Led Zeppelin, live Led Zeppelin mostly. Bootlegs, there was a time where I owned almost every one of their shows on bootlegs CD. And I went to Japan, went to Shinjuku and bought all kinds of those Japanese bootlegs. I was just obsessed with it. I have a book that's in here in the house with all of the Zeppelin live shows reviewed and what versions of the bootlegs to buy and everything. It's about 20 years old now, so it's pretty dated, but it was a great, great book. It was like a Bible that told you which versions were audience recordings of what were sound boards. And I was obsessed with Zeppelin, still am. I still think they're the top five for me of all time as far as live. They were kind of onto that kind of early Grateful Dead type of thing also where no show was the same. Every night they would take songs like Since I Been Loving You and No Quarter and these long, long fucking journeys on these songs, these jams that were just crazy. Song remains the same, No Quarter. Just really bizarre, bizarre versions that were not even the same as the record at all. They sounded the same, but then they would just take you for a ride. And it got you obsessed if you were like me of like, fuck, listen to this. This is LA Forum 77. Listen to this Eddie. This is a famous one. Eddie Van Halen was there or something, you know? Or check this out. It's fucking three nights in Australia. So my point is I got obsessed with it and I would listen to all of them and I would know different intricate differences or what is that word? And intricate cities. I am not smart. I'm thinking of that word and I can't fucking remember it right now. But I would listen to all the different years and I would go, okay, this is how they played in 69. It was totally different in 72. And then 75, Jimmy breaks a finger and he's different then. And then, you know, Plants Voice starts changing from 70 to 77. Then there's 80, which is the last 13 dates in Europe. And before Bonzo dies, and that's a weird version where they kind of wrangle it back in and they're not really jamming anymore and they're just being like a fierce fucking rock band with weird flange on the drums, on the recordings and all these different eras and different versions of Zeppelin, which makes it just fucking great. And I know there's people out there way more obsessed than me that know everything. You know, Jimmy used this guitar pick and then he changed his tube on the amp to this one. And that's why he sounds like that. And then Robert, you know, he fucking, after this happened, his voice was kind of fried. Oh, and then he broke his leg or whatever in a car crash and then mishap. They all have these crazy things. And you get around those people. And my point is, long way to the story is there's this documentary out called Mr. Jimmy. Now I had heard of this guy a couple of years ago and I looked at it and it was basically this guy in Japan. Okay, he hears Zeppelin, I think it's Zeppelin 4, immediately becomes obsessed with Jimmy Page and turns his life 100% into becoming Jimmy Page. Learning to play exact to Jimmy, then buying the exact instruments that Jimmy used, then buying the same amplifiers, then hiring this seamstress woman in Tokyo to make all of the outfits that Jimmy wore, exact. The 69 kind of pink burgundy velvety pants with the ascot and the shirt. And then of course the opium poppy pants. Then my favorite, everybody knows the dragon pants, the whole dragon suit with the jacket, then the Bolero era. And this guy goes full on and becomes Jimmy Page, gets three other guys and starts doing weekends in Japan playing Zeppelin shows. And they pick a night like 77 LA form and they would play it exact. All of the little nuances, all of the little wraps that plant might do, the moves. And he did this for years. And then one day Jimmy Page comes to the gig and it's just that this little club that holds like 50 people, like the baked potato in LA. He did it every weekend, I guess. One day Jimmy shows up, Jimmy's just fucking blown away. And watches the two and a half hour show, he's just, he can't believe what he's saying. He thanks the guy, the guy speaks no English, Mr. Jimmy. And basically just leaves and then Mr. Jimmy's married and Mr. Jimmy's wife goes, you need to move to LA and just fucking start going for it. Now, I can't even tell you how interesting this documentary is. It is mind boggling because of the guy's obsession. And it is a strange thing when you're in a band or you're even if you just work at your job and you're obsessed with it. Like I remember I worked at Harley Davidson and I was so into it and the other people weren't and you're just kind of like, hey, man, we're selling motorcycle. These are fucking two wheel freedom machines. These things are the greatest, man. Motorcycles and people, if they weren't into motorcycles like me, they're like, yeah, who cares? It's just a paycheck. So this guy is so obsessed, man. He moves to LA, he joins a lead Zeppelin cover band called Lead Zeppigan and he starts just taking control. No, you must play exactly like this. That's wrong. You've got to do that. And eventually just kind of gets the guys up and running. But the dudes, they know they're just in a cover band. They're like, look dude, we're doing a lead Zeppelin tribute but they don't have any, you know, any illusion that they're going to be the biggest band in the world. They're just doing this and picking up some money. But Mr. Jimmy has this vision of like, we can make this huge. And he's got a manager who started, he was part of the creation of Tokyo Disneyland. So the manager's like, yeah, we can really get this going. Now this sounds like a long-winded story but I'm just trying to give you the insanity of what this guy, I get it. His mind was like, it must be perfect. And that's a cool thing in the Japanese culture. Everything was perfect with him, the outfits, the guitars, the tone, everything. And he thought, if I have everything perfect, you guys should too. It is a wild story, man. It is a wild story from how he found this woman that could make the outfits, which I wanted to talk to him about it just so I could get a dragon pants suit. Have I ever shot a comedy special? I just wear the dragon pants, call the special dragon pants. But, you know, he finds a guy who can modify the amps, exact to Jimmy's sound. He's got all of the exact equipment. Excuse me. There are questions I have through the whole doco. It's like, how did this guy get enough money to get all of this great gear? How did this guy get money to have this woman make all these outfits? He worked a day job, but did he make tons of money? And also he left his wife and his mom to move to America and they don't really tell you if he was still married or if he just said, see you later. His wife told him to go. So there are holes in the documentary. It's not perfect, but really what you're watching is a man who's willing to do anything for the art. And that's what I loved about it. I could relate to that big time. And I felt like I've sacrificed a lot of stuff of my life to keep going on something that ticks in my brain of like, keep going. Keep going. And that's what he had going. So eventually the band says, you're fucking out of here. You're crazy. He tries to get his own Zeppelin cover band. He's living in Studio City in LA. Everything's on the fucking ground. And then one day he gets a call from Jason Bonham and now he plays in Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin experience. And there it is, man. It's a one in a zillion. It's like that lottery right now that's at 875 million. You probably could win the lottery before you would make it as a guy in a tribute band. But there's a few dudes out there that have done it. You know, those guys like the dude that ended up singing in Judas Priest. You know, like that movie, Mark Wahlberg did Rockstar or who else landed that thing where they're in a cover band. And then next thing you know, they're singing in the real band. Well, this guy is out playing for a living. They're doing the Greek here in LA and they're out on tour, Jason Bonham. And Mr. Jimmy is in the band. And it is fucking, it is a crazy fucking story. There was a part in the documentary where the Zeppelin, the spinal tap is so strong. It just lives forever. But the Zeppelin cover band's playing during the day at some swap meet. And you're thinking, this guy moved from Japan. He had all of the outfits meticulously made exact. He's got the exact amp, guitar, cables. I mean, learned to play for years. And there he is like, there's like 40 people at this swap meet and they're playing at the edge of the swap meet. And there's just kind of people on the lawn, you know, drinking like old Miller light beers, sitting down between their swap meet, walking around. It's like, son is out. Mr. Jimmy's in the sun. Oh man. It was, it was tough, man. There was a couple of scenes where I kind of teared up for the guy like, fuck, I could feel this guy's insanity, you know? Anyway, it comes out, I think, in a few months. And they're doing kind of, there's a website. I think go to Mr. Jimmy's website. And then in the middle of it, there's some detail on the documentary. And you can click on it. They're going to be showing it in movie theaters. So check that out, Mr. Jimmy. And you can YouTube Mr. Jimmy and all kinds of fucking footage comes up of them, even playing with Jason Bonham right now. Like his first gig with Jason Bonham was in the Australia, the Sydney Opera House. Can you imagine, you're going from the swap meet to the Australian, you know, Sydney Australia Opera House, unreal. The odds of that fucking guy winning. But that was just, that was just kind of like, I will not stop. And I related to it so fucking hard, man. But I don't have the delusion, you know, of like, he was a little delusional. And I think that might have helped him, because if he wasn't, he would have just tapped out, you know? So I saw that. And then I saw an incredible Sid Barrett documentary that comes out, I believe, this week, playing in theaters. And that's called, Have You Got It Yet? The Sid Barrett story. And, wow. And Sid Barrett, another great rock documentary. It was really cool to see early Sid Barrett, you know, his story. I didn't know he was a killer painter. This guy could paint. And there's way more to his story than just, he took some acid and freaked out and then just quit Pink Floyd or they pushed him out or whatever. There's way more to it than that. And it was a really good doc too. And it was just so wild to see two great, great documentaries on music in one week. I was just like, oh, shit, these are both great. So those are coming out. And I highly recommend it, either of them or both of them, of course, you know, that early Sid Barrett, Pink Floyd stuff. It's so different to where they went. That's a crazy thing, Pink Floyd. When they first start, they're a totally different band. Sid Barrett's the songwriter and he's the singer and he's pretty much, you know, the guy in the back. They got Nick Mason and, you know, and Roger Waters and, you know, the guys are there, everybody but Dave Gilmore, but then eventually Dave comes in because Sid's just kind of out of it. But that early Pink Floyd stuff, Interstellar, all that, the first record, I always love that stuff. It's so fucking different. And you think about, like they push him out because he's just fucking fried. And then, you know, David Gilmore and Roger Waters start writing songs. I just think about that. There's two dudes in the band that weren't even writing songs at the time. And then they start writing, like, I guess we got to write the songs now. And they write some of the greatest rock records of all fucking time. Unreal. I mean, on paper and with record deals too. They were on EMI. They go, hey, we're getting rid of Sid Barrett. The label immediately would be like, what are you talking about? You guys are fucking, you get rid of him, you're done. But they go, no, we're getting rid of him. And then I'm going to sing and David's going to sing. And they don't get dropped. That's fucking crazy, man. And then the label ends up having one of the biggest selling records, like three or four of the biggest selling records, but, you know, Dark Side of the Moon on the top 200 Billboard charts for like 50 years or something, 40 fucking years. So Unreal. Check out the Sid Barrett records too. If you never got into that, like the big thing on the dock was they were like, most people don't even know who Sid Barrett is, which is true. If you're a true music freak, of course you know who Sid Barrett is. If you're a true music freak and you like a band, you go all up and down their discovery. So that was a great talk also. And I think that's in the theaters this week. Check it out. Have you got it yet? Sid Barrett, the Sid Barrett story. Sid Barrett had a lot of girlfriends too. They interview them all. So funny. Yeah, Sid would come around. We fell in love. Sid, every couple of weeks we fell in love. Different girlfriend, I love it. Oh man, Sid Barrett also original hipster. Look how he's dressed and shit. He's out there painting. He's writing songs. He's riding a bicycle around town just like I'm Sid Barrett. Fucking cool. A lot of music talk today because of those two docks and then it got me way back into Zeppelin all weekend and Pink Floyd. And I was just loving listening to these bootlegs on YouTube. There's so many great bootlegs on YouTube. You can watch them all, listen to them all. It's cool. But one thing that happened to me and it was funny. I used to have this bit about the song Who Let the Dogs Out. And the bit was kind of like something where like if you go to Starbucks and the baristas just annoying you because sometimes you go to Starbucks or a coffee shop and they're just fucking dicks. Yeah. I used to have this bit. It was early on in comedy. Like an early bit like I thought it was genius. But they would, you know, piss me off. So they give me the coffee and I would just look at him and be like who let the dogs out. And I would just drop that little nugget in their head. There's songs that if somebody, you know drops a little nugget of it, it's in your head all day. So you got it now with Who Let's the Dogs Out. But the bit was basically then I walk away and then the guy's like, you know, two hours later who let the fuck that guy? Just planting the bad song. But Who Let the Dogs Out came up on my Instagram feed the song and I was listening to it. And I was like, you know what man, this is a pretty fucking, this is a pretty good song. Like, like as far as song writing, you're like, holy shit, is that a monster hook? So I wrote a tweet looking back on it now. Who Let the Dogs Out, that wasn't a bad jam. Just as kind of a funny, you know, thing. And someone DM'd me this Who Let the Dogs Out 26 minute documentary that's out on Vice. And they're like, oh God, you got to watch this on the song. I was like, is that fucking Doc on the song? So I'm watching it and it is fucking unreal the story of Who Let the Dogs Out. First of all, it's a cover song. I've had no fucking idea that it was a cover song. And I was just thinking like a cover song. So there was this band in the 80s called High Voltage. And they were big in the Caribbean, just playing gigs all over the place. And they ended up getting a record deal and they changed their name to the Bahamun, which by the way, Bahamun means man from Bahamas. So they get a record deal and they do like three or four fucking records for this record company. And it kind of gets into a do or die situation because they almost break out every time. They got a little bit of a hit, but it doesn't really blast off just enough to where they can keep making a new record. But it comes down to the record labels like, look, this is going to be it. So the leader of the labels like, I want you guys to do a cover. And the guy in the Bahamun, the head guy is like, no man, we don't do covers. And he's like, yeah, yeah, I want you guys to do this. And he plays it for them. And the guy's like, fuck no. We're not playing that horrible Caribbean accent. No, we're not playing that, man. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I love doing bad acts. No, we are not cover band, man. No, no. Somehow it's like a bad Jamaican del Rey. We're not, we're not playing that. We are the Bahamun from Calaribbean. Terrible, terrible. Anyway, the leader of the label eventually talks him into playing it. Now, this is a crazy story. And I want you guys to watch it because I don't want to go through the whole thing, but I will tell you this. The leader of the label, a CD got sent to him by this band called Fat Jack and His Pack of Pets. And he said it was awful. The CD was awful, but there was this song on it who let the dogs out. And it was like a hooky tune. It was stuck in his head. And he was, he put it in his shelf. And he was like, I got to have a band cover that one day and do it right. So he has the Bahamun do it. And on the night they're about to record it, the singer quits to join Lenny Kravitz to be a background singer. On the night they're going to do it. This is fucking crazy. So then the label guy, he tells the producer, we'll have an audition in the Caribbean and find a new young hot singer in the next couple of days. And we'll just have him sing it. The fucking band singer quits. Here's another band the singer quits and the label's still like, we'll just get another dude in there. We got to do who lets the dogs, who let the dogs out, it's going to be hears. The label guy's obsessed with who let the dogs out song. So the producer holds an audition. He finds three guys. He goes, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I got three guys. I got a singer and I got a couple of rappers. Let's put them all in the band. And they go in, these guys have never been in the studio. One guy's a waiter. Another guy like fucking rents jet skis or whatever. They get them in the studio the next day and they record who lets the dogs out. And the producer or the label guy is so obsessed with it that he insists that the barks are wrong. And he's making the guys do the barks for like three days. He's like, no, no, that's not wrong. So he goes in the studio and does the barks and he's all, now it's right. And so they release it and nothing, nothing crickets. No one cares. But he has this idea. And he's got a buddy who works in the major league baseball world. And he goes, if we can get him to play it in ballparks, maybe it'll take off. So he calls the guy, probably bribes him with some money or whatever, a new fucking Cadillac. And they start playing it in ballparks. And Seattle, it takes off with A-Roth. I think it was not A-Roth, somebody on Seattle. I forgot the guy's name. And then all the ballparks start playing it like seventh inning stretch or when a pitcher comes out. And then the song just starts taking off to where the radio has to start playing it. And it becomes a monster hit. It sells three million copies. Out of nowhere, this dude comes out and Suze them says, I wrote it. His name was Ansley Douglas. And he lived in like the Bronx in New York. He had recorded it and wrote it and had a huge hit with it in the Caribbean in like 1979. It was a different kind of feel and vibe, but it was that song. So he sues the label to get money. And then all these other people come out and go, no man, I wrote like, who wrote the dogs? Who let the dogs out in like fucking 74? They had all these early versions of people going, who let the dogs out? Look, man, go find it. Who lets the dogs out on vice and watch it? It's 26 minutes and it will fucking blow your mind. They won a goddamn Grammy. They became superstars, the Baja men. They still play right now. They're on like their 30th year or something. They started in 1980s. They're out there with those three dudes they found in the fucking audition. It is crazy. After all these years, they're out still touring, rocking that tune and that fucking producer. I mean, you know, his obsession. I think this entire podcast is dedicated to people that are obsessed with something, art or whatever, you know? And of course we're hearing about the success stories. There's a million, million, million people out there that are obsessed with something and it never happens. And I've seen documentaries over the years like you're like this fucking guy. Remember that dude, man? He made the horror film. I think it was called American Movie. Oh my God, he's watching grandpa on the bathtub. Remember that movie? Obsessed makes a fucking horror film, goes on Letterman to promote it. Oh my God, all the time, all the time those stories are just fucking cool. I think they're out there for little nuggets to help people that are trying to do something on their own and they watch that and they go, see? I can do it. I can fucking do it. Anyway, you gotta see the who let the dogs out dog. It's so fucking cool. Oh, real quick. You guys see last week, the tattoo episode, the tattoo removal, great episode. And they offered a cool discount for everybody. I wanna tell you about it. If you didn't hear last week's episode, go back and hear it. Cause it's a fantastic story about these guys that have this new way of removing tattoos and it's not by laser. It actually, you know, chews it up and brings it out of your skin where lasers just, you know, they're just not effective like this new process. And I'm sure a lot of people have tattoos out there. They don't dig, you know, some ex-lever's name, Samantha, Ronda, you know, or a misspelled, you ever see those misspelled band names? Pantera, Pantera, or Pam, Pamtera. Check out my Pamtera tattoo. 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And then the number two, and then awy.com slash dean and snag your $99 tattoo removal treatment. Turn the page on your tattoo story with tattoo away and be comfortable with the skin you're in. And also maybe you might have an area that's all covered up that you want to get rid of and put a new tattoo on because the new tattoos are so fucking good. Anyway, that's tattooaway.com slash dean and get a $99 treatment and start removing the bad tattoos off of you right now. It's a great episode. I don't want you guys to miss it because I thought it was very fascinating to hear how these guys started this whole company. They built the machines that do it. It's basically kind of like a tattoo gun kind of. And they just grind in circles, go to their website and look at it or their Instagram, tattooaway, their Instagram. And check it out. That's pretty good deal, man. You get the old first treatment for 99 bucks. All right, we've got the strike going on in town. So it's kind of a shit show. We've got the writer strike. Now we've got the actor strike and it's going to be an interesting thing to see what happens. I do know that most of America probably thinks, ah, fuck those guys, they're all billionaires. It doesn't matter. It does matter though, if you like movies or TV because what are you gonna be watching? You know, last time when that writer strike happened, it created all these fucking horrific reality shows. And look, the Kardashians are still around just making billions off trash. People are like, I love this stuff. I get it. It's an addiction. But I also feel that it's, after a while, it's just bad for your soul. You're watching that shit and you're just like, ah, this is just shit. I'm taking in shit and I miss the good stuff. And the good stuff starts to go away. You know, I saw the whale recently and it's, you know, in the 90s, there used to be a ton of indie type of films like the whale and all that, but not anymore. It's all Spider-Man's and Batman's and fucking hulks. And there's people out there struggling to do original ideas, writers. And now they're just sitting on the bench and the actors are out in the prime of the summer movie going. Now, I was wondering, I thought if people didn't go to the movies all summer and boycotted the Hollywood people, it would have a major effect like that fucking Bud Light protest that people were doing. But I don't think people really give a fuck really about actors striking. Like I said, they think most people are gazillionaires, but there's people like me right here. And I don't act a lot, but I have done quite a few movies and stuff and it's helped over the years of just a kind of little bump in the career. And I think that mostly what we're looking at is it affects the smaller people and it affects actors that work all their life and then retire or get aged out, which is a huge deal. And then they don't have that residual money anymore, the mailbox money, quote unquote. Imagine if the musicians actually had a real union. The musicians union has just never, never ever done anything for regular musicians. That was more of like musician union was like people that played in big band stuff like Broadway and all that stuff. But the sag after a union, I'm part of it. It's a fucking, it's a powerful organization because I tell you the first time I did a movie, I was blown away. Every Monday, my check would be in the mailbox. I was like, holy shit, somebody's chasing this down. There's a system to where every Monday, if I worked on a movie for six weeks, there'd be six checks in there. And then for the rest of my life so far, I get checks. Now, let me back that up. One will be like $2 and another one will be $8. There might be like $57. It's never more than a hundred a year, but if they were big movies, it would still be big money because these streamers stream these movies all the time. They stream them all over the world. They stream them in hotels. They stream them on airplanes. They stream them on Netflix, Hulu, Paramount Plus, all of those, Disney. And those films just get shown forever if they're big, big films. I mean, look, I was in an ice cube movie, The Long Shots. I was flying home a couple of weeks ago and it was playing on the goddamn fucking plane. And I still, I get some checks from that, 72 cents. One time I got one for a penny. It costs like 50 cents to mail it. My point is if you don't care or you don't really know what it's all about, I'm just giving you a little rundown of what's happening. And it's really fucks with the small people because the big stars have enough money to ride it out through the strike. Eventually, something will come to head and they'll sign. It could be a month, could be six months, could be a year. But the top actors are good. What we're really talking about here are the set designers, the makeup artists, the camera people, the, you know, the transpose, the catering, all of the fucking people from behind the scenes. You know, you do a movie and maybe there's like 50 actors on it. Maybe there's 10 actors, maybe there's four. But behind those actors are hundreds of people that are working in the business, the editors, the sound people, the, you know, everything, transpose, bodyguards, anything, you know, the people that go out and scout locations. I mean, there are so many jobs affected by this right now that it's gonna fuck up this city for a long time. We're just coming out of COVID and the movie industry is still in shambles. COVID destroyed the movie industry. People couldn't go to the movies and then it changed the way people saw movies. Now most people just watch them at home. You know, movie theater shooters, movie theater textures, high ticket prices, $20 candy, craziness. People talking at the fucking movies. Once COVID hit, people were like, well, I kind of just like watching it at home now. And it really fucking, you know, a lot of movie theaters went out of business. The arc light went out of business. The flagship of movie theaters in Los Angeles, gone. So we just got out of COVID, now we got this and it is fucking, it is gnarly. I'm glad I'm a comedian and a podcaster first. Because I can still go out and do comedy every night, but holy smokes, man. It is wild. And it was wild to see Ron Perlman, Mr. Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy, go off yesterday on his Instagram. I was kind of fucking floored. It was almost like he was thinking he was in Sam Crow, thinking he was in Sons of Anarchy. Some of these guys are, you know, kind of cool. I mean, he was on there like, hey, motherfucker, we know where you fucking live, motherfucker. You hear me? You talk and talk about taking away people's livelihood, motherfucker. I was like, whoa, man, whoa, dude. You're not doing a scene in fucking Sons of Anarchy. Jack's teller ain't gonna show up and help you out taking a dude out in the business. You're a fucking human being, an actor, and you're on a social media platform, threatening someone, you know, basically, almost like a, it's almost like a January 6th happens. We know where you live, motherfucker. And that's, you know, the strike ends and all of a sudden Ron Perlman's never working again. Now I get it, he's a passionate man and stuff, but first of all, who threatens someone like that on a platform? It's craziness, man. I'll fucking fuck you up. Oh my God, he was going nuts. And then he had a rebuttal after like, look, okay, I know it, but hey, but he still was a motherfucker. And then at the end, he couldn't figure out how to turn off his Instagram live. He was like, oh, what the fuck, honey, honey. Oh my God, how do you turn the, honey, I can't turn on, motherfucker, honey. I mean, wow, man, between him and the nanny, brand dresser. I feel like they feel like they're playing a part. I'm playing the part of vice president. Wild times, man. Wild times. I was just talking to buddies like, yeah, we got the strike going on and then we got the election next year. It is fucking crazy. We got fucking tornadoes and hurricanes and floods going on. It is grim reaper out there. It is grim reaper out there. Fuck, man. Crazy. It is insane. Ron Perlman acting like the heads of the studios are the Mayans. Look here, Mayans. We know where you live. Oh my God, fucking nuts. Anyway, I guess that's about it right now. I hope to see you guys out at some shows. I'm going to do this small run, a tour bus run with Bill Burr. And let me see, when is that? In September. It's September. No, I think it's September. Yeah, here it is. It's, I think it's, I don't know, 28, 29, 30. And then October 1st. Those dates will be on my website. I'm headlining out in Utah at the Boxcar Comedy Club and then I'm doing the Flyover Comedy Festival in St. Louis in November. I'm looking forward to doing that. It's really, other than Montreal, the first festival I've been asked to do in the 13 and a half year career. So that'll be cool. And that all came about from when I was touring with Marcus King, I was walking down the street and saw a flyover festival poster. And I just tweeted it like, hey, support this comedy fest. And the guys ended up coming to see me, open for Marcus and then asked me to do the festival. So I'm looking forward to doing that. That tour date will be on the website. Also, I have merch. I have a merchandise. I have some t-shirts and hoodies and hats. DeanDelray.com. It's all out there. I appreciate your support. And I can't thank you enough for listening to this podcast every week. Go check out Mr. Jimmy. Check out the Sid Barrett doc. Check out the Who Let the Dogs doc. And support the strike, my friends. Candles are lit and I will see you out there in Las Vegas this week, the 17th through the 23rd. If you're in Las Vegas vacationing or you live out there, come see me at the Comedy Cellar, 14 shows. All right, see ya.