 With Chad, Ubrea. Yeah, it's like, I don't know, man. I don't have anything to say, bro. It's for the talent, man. I don't know if, like, I just believe in the work, you know. Right. And like, if the work speaks, I have to do less explaining. You know, because I would hate for sometimes the, what is it? People's assumptions do better for you than you giving somebody something very specific. So yeah, if I'm like, Hey, man, this is our goal. And you were like, and you received it as man, I thought this was that's it. You know, so that's why I'd rather just like that to work. Yeah, but that's why we're here because a lot of people may look at a five south and be like, oh, they just, you know, they got people that are already on. You know, they got DC and Carlos. Oh, yeah, exactly. See, that's what people don't get is they think a lot of people may think, oh, it just happened because they know the work is what I want to get into tonight. Man, it's, it's, um, I'll say this. There's like, nothing we do is an accident. Totally. Yeah, like nothing like, there's nothing that falls out of the sky. Yeah. You know, so. All right. So, um, what do I do? I need to do something. Something special. My name is Chad Ubrea. I don't even do titles. That's not even my thing, bro. I don't, you know. No, I think. Do I need one? Okay. Yeah. Are we out here? And I'm used to, you know, you know. You're right, dude. As soon as we met outside, he's like, yo, man, I don't even know why we're here. You know, we ain't doing much out here. You'd rather talk to, you know, Loser. I've had Los on here. Yeah. And I've had Clayton on here. Like it's, but it's about. Am I doing it? Is it? You don't know how headphones work. Man, I was, you know, I just put them on. I'm usually like, when I have the headphones on, I'm just listening. You know, we're doing our commercial. Right. Right. Yeah. You're just behind the scenes. I'm not even paying attention to what they're doing because I know that what they're going to do is what they're going to do. And then you just, you just turn it into like hashtags and like. Right. Man. Oh, I don't even do this social media. So. Oh, word? Yeah. Yeah. I don't even know how to log into the social media. So I actually hate social media. Yeah. It's a whole machine. Yeah. This is my thing, man. I have to like, you know, my role, I don't even like to say position, but my role is more like just kind of quarterbacking, man, from the, you know, calling from the big picture. What does that mean? So, you know, when you think about like strategy or anything that you do, especially when you have a plan, there's people that are actually executing on like the very specifics of it. And then there's somebody that has to like, from top to bottom, that the machine is moving and every button is being pushed and those sort of things. So that's my role. I hate to say position because I still have no problem. You know, I'll take trash out and get cars and drive for people. It doesn't bother me, but. So you're like, you're like the puppet master. I'm not even comfortable with saying that. So I just, you know, from the big picture, I just, you know, I try to see everything. Okay. I'll just say I'm not even comfortable saying puppet master because we all are very, we're all very like included in the process. It's not like, Hey guys, you do this and listen to what I say. My position is more of putting these guys in the best possible space in place with the best possible tools and environment as they can possibly be so they can exhaust every single talent that they have. How many people are on the team? Uh, total, uh, I'd say, uh, let me talk. In front of the camera, I'd say, um, it's four probably rotating. Obviously, that's Carlos Chico DC Clayton. And then behind it, it's myself. Um, our director Joe, our audio guy, Kat. Um, our music director, uh, J-Win, and there's another camera up, um, Craig. And actually there's another one we just brought on his name is there. So yeah, it's about, what is that? Like eight of us, seven, nine. I don't know. My math in the best. Yeah, you can tell. And then it rotates, man. Cause what'll happen is we'll go to a city. Um, you know, just depending on the space, cause different spaces, you have to shoot different or capture differently. So we may bring on another camera or two. Yeah. I feel like the live shows and stuff. Right. Right. And then, um, you know, we're all working moving around. So Joe may be in LA working on a project or, um, another camera. I may not be here. I may not be here. So you got to have somebody kind of feel in, but I mean, we kind of created a system where it kind of to a degree it runs itself. So. Yeah. You got to have a system in place, especially with all the people you're working with, even the talent alone and matching up with their schedules. That's. Yeah, man. Chore. Uh, that's, uh, yeah. Oh man. I'll get that. Uh, that's probably the hardest part, man. Cause it was, it was our, you know, it's funny even saying I remember when, cause we're not even that old, but. Yeah. It started like December of 2015. Yeah. So roughly we're going on our third year. But, but, uh, I just remember when it was like everybody had time. Like what y'all doing? You know, right? And that was it. You know, and it was like, it didn't matter if it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Y'all free. Let's do it. And then it became like, you know, what's your schedule like, you know, and it turns into get on people's books and calendar invites and scheduling out two, three, four, five months ahead. So, yeah. Yeah. The evolution man is like, I remember it seemed like when you started in December, you were almost, you were almost just dumping them, almost like flooding the streets, like crap. Yeah. You know, like they just wanted to get it out there and then start to draw it back and build the demand. Like you just wanted that awareness. Is that the strategy there? The strategy was like, let's figure it out. And like, all of us felt comfortable enough to, we don't mind figuring it out like in front of people. Huh. You know? Yeah. So I think some people take the mentality of, well, let's get it perfect, whatever the case is. But like, you know, this isn't like a car we're building where there's specific specs. Like it changes all the time. Like DC may go to LA and see something that just inspired him totally different. And now he comes back with a different perspective. Or I may have worked on a project and not known like, oh, shoot lighting. If you'd like like this, that's, you know, so you, we all come back with different perspective and then like experience and all that helps for it to evolve. And then you just learn, you make a lot of mistakes on a go, which like expedites the process of getting a little bit better. Yes. So what, like, I think what I've learned is like, and turn that mic towards you there. I'm sorry. For the people. For the culture. Right. Normally I'm you telling things. Right. I can't hear you, bro. Normally, I'm sorry. So, so for us, it's more like, I look at it like, I don't have like the perfect answer of what it's supposed to look like. But I think when you try a lot of things, you know exactly what it's not supposed to look like. So it's almost like, you know, if you're like, people are like, man, what's the, what's, what's your perfect job? Perfect partner, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend. Like most of us know what is not from like Xs or X jobs, but none of us really know like, man, the perfect job is our clocking at this time. None of us really, we just kind of working toward that. So like that's how we look at the podcast. And we just try to put as many like best practices around it. If that makes any sense. What are some of the best practices you found to be sustainable? Consistency. Okay. Yeah. Some people are like, jump into it. And like, a lot of people will jump into it, like very ambitious with these big goals and these big desires. It may be some people may be looking for Hollywood deal. Some people may be looking for some money out of it, whatever the case is. None of those things come without consistency. So I would say consistency is like number one. And just like pay attention to the details. So like if your audience is accustomed to a certain type of audio, like make sure your audio is always clean. You know, and like people, I've heard podcasts where it's like one day the audio was super clean. The next day I can only hear it out of the left ear. And it's like, man, y'all are getting lazy on the things that matters the most. Because if you have like the content is, they know what they're coming to listen to. But you got to provide like the best. You got to give them the best output that you possibly can like every single time. Even if it's not, even if you don't think it's the best. But like, there's been people that's come to us and like, man, this is that one song. I'm like, y'all like this? For real? But you don't know what people's palettes are. So that's why I say like consistency, man, because you're like creating this framework where you're creating a sandbox that people can play in. Or you're creating this palette that people can, you know, taste test from. And will you, in building it, do you listen to audio and feedback? And you're like, okay, they like more of this. That's my job. I have to. Okay. Yeah. So like, you know, so when you think of 85 style show, like at least for me, I think about it as like, there's this big umbrella, which is 85 style media. Right. And then we have like the day of the life stuff. And then we have the studio podcast. And then we have the live show. Then we have the variety show. Right. And I think we've put out a couple pieces of like cartoon pieces that we're partnering to work with, even from the merchandise side. So like, I'm always, always looking at these comments online. I'm always, I'm always, even when we go to live shows, man, like I try to be the most unassuming person. I'm asking them what they think about the show, who they like. Do they like this flow? Do they like this cadence? All those things matter to me. Cause like if the people don't like us, we don't really have too much. If they're not coming back, we don't really have too much. Is that what you think has contributed to such big growth is listening to the audience? Yeah. It's way more like, it's way more about the people. I can't tell you how many times, you know, we'll huddle after each show, after whatever project we're working on. Even from the talent side. Man, what could we have done better? And it never fails from a 200 seater to a, you know, 800 seater to 300 soda. You do 800 seaters? Yeah. We just came back from New Orleans. Oh, the House of Blues? Oh my. And then, and it's like, it never fails. Like the talent, oh, it's about the people. As long as they can feel like we can touch them. It's cool. And I think that's what we've done, man. We haven't. I say what we've done like we're, it's not a competition thing, but I know for us specifically internally, it's been about, it's been about like making sure that we're not untouchable. Okay. Or that we're not, like we're everyday guys. We're not like Hollywood guys that that make, I hate to say Hollywood guys, but you know, it is like that, that invisible line when you're dealing with some celebrities. Of course. We don't have that invisible line. So you guys will do meetings after every show? Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. To like what you can improve on and all that. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not, I'd hate to be like ignorant to what's going on or too high up, you know, like flying too high, you know, in that private jet where you're like 50, 40,000 feet up and you don't know what the ground looks like. Right, right, right. We try to fly like somewhere in the middle. Okay. Yeah. Hey, can you scoot in a little bit? I'm sorry, bro. No, you're straight. I just wanted to get you in frame there. I'm being the worst, bro. I apologize. No, this is our first time here. Yeah. Like I've been working with Amon Garner. He's been my engineer since like day one. That's important. Audio engineer is very important. No doubt. Oh dude. Yeah. Must. It's an overlooked asset. Yeah. So now he's built out this studio at his place where he's hosting podcast. This is dope. So this is the first time we've been here. It's a nice setup, man. Yeah. It's a good setup. This is sick. So we're figuring out like the camera angle we wanted to do and all this. I just want to make sure your face. You said you like to be unassuming. So I want to make sure Chad's face is in here. Right, right. I understand. So have we started or was that the intro or what? I don't know. Oh yeah, we're here. Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah. We out here, Chad. Just make sure. Yeah, yeah. Drop the music. For sure. Titty's in the building. All of that. Crazy. Yeah. And you say if you want water, that's your water. No doubt, man. Appreciate it. This is our Fontus water. This is like our Red Bull of you guys. You guys will have Red Bull. This is Fontus water. Yeah, we definitely have Red Bull. Made us custom labels. Educated escape. I like this. Local spring water. No doubt. Already. No doubt. Okay, cool. So we out here on different hustles and that's why I want Ben wanting to sit down with you and you told me you've been ducking. Yeah, I have. I kind of apologize. I kind of don't. But yeah, I'm not really one for a whole bunch of interviews. So the fact you even agreed to this made me. Yeah, man. I like, I've listened to a bunch of your, I don't like to walk into anything blindfolded. Right. So when you told me, and I obviously been seeing it, but I got that runs out so so we got two guys that kind of have a piece of it. And it was like, yeah, Chad, somebody wants to interview you. I'm like, man, you're right. Whatever. And I'm like, you know, I'm good, man. And then I kind of figured, you know, I checked it out. And I actually listened to a bunch of them on the road because I'm always interested in like information. You know, so. Right. One of my, you've done a bunch of really good ones. I really liked the one with the, what's my man, John from County Hype. Yeah. Pay attention to that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's another one you did. I can't think of who was on it. Was it, I was listening to the Carlos and the Darren ones and the Clayton ones, but it was one more. And I was like, man, that was, what's my man, you just did it with the guy that produces specials. Rob Rhoads. Yeah. Yeah. He does the comedy specials. Yeah. I'm always interested in that, man. I want to, you know, it's to be inspired and kind of know that we're kind of thinking in the same sort of capacity. You know, so. Yeah, dude. This podcast is all about learning and educating people. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I think, oh, let me tell you, there's another one. What's the DJ's name? Trauma. No. The one that was that runs with tip. What's my man's name? K.P. Oh, come on, crazy. That one was though. I'm a big fan of his. It's like on the low, you know. No doubt, man. So yeah, I'm a huge fan of his. So that was super, super. And I like, I think you got something good, man. So I like how you, it's, it's obviously it's, it's the space is comedy because that's where you come from. But it's necessary to have, I think you had a couple of designers on there that do branding and stuff like that. Yep. Yep. You have club owners. You have comedians. You have producers. All that stuff is necessary, man, because as much as it is art, it's definitely a business and you got to find that balance. So it's necessary, especially in comedy. That's, I personally don't think comedy has even been, the business of comedy has not been figured out. You know, I think it's like, I think there's a, there's a, again, there's best practices because what's been taught or what's been done for so long. But I don't know that there's necessarily like, I don't think people, I shouldn't say that figure out. I should say that I don't think it's been exhausted. All the opportunities have been exhausted. The heart is exhausting, all opportunities. And then it's like, who else? Yeah. And you don't really think of too many other names. You know. Do you think depending on who you are depends on the opportunities you have in business or everybody has the same opportunities? That's a good question. I don't, I don't, I don't think it's a black and white, like, definite answer. I think that if you are any sort of person that wants to create for yourself in this space, you need to, if you don't understand strategy, you need to connect with somebody that does. If it's a partner or if it's just paying for that information. Because like, everybody can't be Kevin Hart, obviously. Everybody can't be like the biggest guy. But I'm like, dude, if a comedian, let's say on a low end is getting anywhere from 500 to 1,500 a show, and they're able to tour, you know, and do some, you know, X amount of dates a year, like you're doing fine. You know, so then it becomes like, what are your goals? Are your goals to be able to feed your family? Then you're doing just fine. Are your goals to be like, you know, to use comedy to break into radio, then you need to work toward whatever that means and exhaust those opportunities. Are your goals to get on television? Well, these comedic platform can open those doors for you. So I think that, yeah, I think if you are a personality, you just need to make sure you're exhausting all your opportunities. But it's understanding where you want to end up. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, like I'm not, there's nothing that any of us do as a collective, and then individually, because I work with all the guys individually in some capacity, but nothing that any of us do as an accident. Even if you make a mistake, you know, I think you can purposely make a mistake. Yeah, because I've heard you guys have like a board at the studio with all your different goals and things, like what's all on that board? Yeah, I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing that, but we, yeah, man, it's, yeah, we definitely are trying to, you know, hit some attainable goals that we've hit some and now we're shooting for a couple more. But I think being able to, you know, man, I don't believe in like, as I've experienced more and kind of seen more and I guess being in different rooms and had a little, a little, a very little bit of access, I think that you, your world opens up a little bit more. Yeah. Or your perspective, let me say, opens up a little more and you're like, oh, so it is that close, but it is that far. So let me work towards that. And then you just kind of chip out of way back to consistency and you're like, oh, see, we got here. Faster than I thought we would. Or we're not doing this the right way. So let's, let's redirect. You know, that's happened too. So in like goal setting, what's a goal you guys made on day one that you've achieved? Live shows. Live shows. Yeah. So like the intent, I can't say this, like podcasting was our goal wasn't just to be podcasters. I'm not even really comfortable saying like the podcast. Yeah. Show. Yeah. It's a media company, you know. Oh, media company. Yeah. We, and just always keeping internal man. It was always. So my, my, my background is I used to work for Steve Harvey. Yeah. Where you guys started recording too. Yeah. And his studio. So I was me and my partner, Joe who directs the show. We managed all of his, his social, his digital. He, we worked our way up obviously, but managed all his at, by the time we had left his social, his digital creative. Anything you kind of saw come out online from a personal brand perspective. That was, that was one of us. For about, for about two years. Yeah. And then prior to that, Joe's experience was working at Tyler Perry and then mine was working for this, this agency here in the city that does sports and entertainment and television and movies and all those sort of things. So yeah, to be able to be in some of those rooms where you're able to see everything from conversations to budgets, what real budgets look like. Right. To, even like how you manage travel, all that stuff matters. You know what I'm saying? And I've been able to, between the both of us and then our audio guy, he's a board out for Steve. So I mean, he's doing it at this, the highest level. You know? He's what for Steve? He's a board operator for Steve. Oh. Audio engineer. Oh, okay. So he manages all that from like, he's like, yo, this is what he looks like. This is what it's like. Wow. He's done it from the very top, you know? And he's doing it for 85. That's a 85. And that's another reason that shows testament to why you guys are where you are. Yeah. I mean, people behind the scenes. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, it's important for us on our side, on the production side to be able to match the talent. I never want to feel like, I never want to be in any business relationship because, and obviously when you're starting, you're trying to, you know, people have to give you an opportunity to open some doors for you. We've definitely had those doors open for us. But as you, as you get to a certain level, any business relationship you're in, if you wanted to be an even exchange of talent, time, passion, and then pay off, you know, I don't ever want to feel like somebody's just doing me a favor. So I want any talent I work with to be like, yo, this dude's working. And he knows what he's talking about. Or he's giving me the best he's got, you know? Right. That's important for me. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know how he got to this, but, yeah, that's kind of, you know, what's a lot of this is just the context for. Oh, yeah. For sure. That's how we got there is like, oh, by the way, we came from working with Steve Harvey. We came to work with Tyler Perry. And now we're building this media company, not by accident. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was, it was extremely important for us to just be able to do something for ourselves. I'm still out of the set. I'm sorry. No, you're good. Yeah. This is the, this is the hustle right here. But you guys started in the trap. You know, you went from Steve Harvey to the trap house. Yeah. I mean, that was on purpose too. So. Like perception. It's like the come up now. I wouldn't say from there. I mean, it was a little bit of, it was a little bit of happenstance and a little bit of like, bro, like this is the truth. This is the truth. Look, I'm not a genius. All right. Carlos, DC, Clayton and Chico are the most talented people I've ever met in my entire life. Yeah. They're the wave. You can put those dudes underwater and they're going to be funny. Like I'm not, you can put them dudes in a trash can. They're going to be funny. You can put them dudes in the Catholic church and they're going to be funny. And they have a chemistry that like you can't create. I can't. You can't just put any piece together and make a puzzle work. You know, and like Clayton and Carlos have known each other since I've known them since I was 18 years old. And then DC and Carlos were like, Carlos was like the first person that DC kind of met in that comedy space from Atlanta. And then Carlos and Chico got on while and out together. So these are like, this is real chemistry that's been created that's been built over time. So it's not like, I'm just this magician back here, man. You got like the president's award and scholarship and college and all that. No, I'm not. I really didn't. I went to school. I did go to school. You sell some credit there. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think I have common sense. That's what I think it is. I don't think I'm smarter than like too many people. So I don't mind asking questions or trying to figure some stuff out or whatever, you know, whatever the case is. How did you meet Carlos and Clayton? So I was 18 years old and I was trying to get a summer job before I went to college because I played football in college. I had, you know, sports dreams. Jacksonville University, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You got a little research. Okay. Yeah. A little bit that's out there. I got you, Chad. Yeah. I went to school there and my girlfriend had a job, my ex-ex-girlfriend at the time, or a girlfriend at the time. She had a job at a... Do you remember when they had the malls? The middle of the mall, they had the kiosks and you would sell like AT&T plans. She had a job there. And I was like, dude, I wanted to work with this girl because I just wanted to see her every day. Right. So then we had to go do training for this AT&T. I couldn't even singular, I think it was called at the time. It was singular. Yeah, right. I just showed my age. So we're going to go do that, man. I'm 18, 17, 18. I had to be 18. And Lose was in the training. Right. So this is Lose at the time. Lose has hair. Lose has barely a beard like the little... And this dude, Lose has never... He's been Carlos since the day I met him. Funny, it was like a 40-person training room or whatever. And Lose is just like, got people crying, laughing in this room, dude. And I'm talking about not like, not like trying to be funny, dude. Just like everything he says. And I was like talking to him like he was a puppet. Like, bro, make me laugh. And he was like, man, you crazy. And like Lose is from Mississippi. I'm from New Orleans. So we already have like that country backwood sort of connection. And then I'm like, man, I ain't going to ever see this dude again. And it turns out we're working both in the middle of the mall. I forgot that mall was called in Kennesaw. Townsend and mall. Oh, yeah, yeah. And like, bro, nobody's walking in there, dude. There's a bunch of young people working in the middle of the mall. There's a bunch of dudes trying to get in some chicks. And then like me with my girlfriend. And then I see this big tall dude and it's Clayton. And it's like me, Clayton and Lose are like trying to sell cell phones. I sold zero cell phone. Clayton and Lose sold a bunch of cell phones and they were able to stop everybody. And I'm like, dude, you got, obviously I don't know how many people have had this job, but it's hard to get people to stop to buy a cell phone much less you the dude in the kiosk. So you got to extra validate yourself. And these dudes are stopping everybody, bro. Young, old, black, white, grandma. It don't matter, dude. Like people with cell phones are really interested in what they got to say because it's so funny, dude. They take over the room, man. And I'm like, these dudes are crazy. But I just want to get a good laugh. So then it turns out, so then I go to school. Lose has my number. And what's funny is Lose kind of always took on it. Like big brother role because he came to, I think, he came to Atlanta just on a whim kind of. He just left Mississippi and came here. And then so he would always call me, man, make sure I'm good, doing good, asking how school's going, trying to get some tickets. But I was always injured. So I wouldn't really get no playing time. And then he- What position? Receiver. I played summer receiver some running back, but I was always hurt, bro. And then so I come back my, after my freshman summer, I wanted a summer job. And I didn't want to do summer school or summer school hadn't started. So I needed a job for like a month. And he was working at Dick's Sportswear. He was like, man, I got you. He got me a job over there. I sold no shoes. Lose sold all. I remember like, I remember like the most like rural white moms in Lose like got these women captivated, buying all kind of Nike football cleats for their kids. And I'm like, man, this dude is genius, man. And so we just always stayed in touch. So one day he calls me, man, maybe like a year later, bro, because Lose is about five years older. And he calls like a year later. He's like, yeah, I think I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm like, man, you've been doing comedy. He's like, no, no, no, like for real, for real. Let me know. You got it, bro. However, I can help. I ain't gonna want it, but I'll help. I'll tell people about you. And then the next thing I knew, man, he did, was it Who's Got Jokes? Yeah, he did. I think- Yeah, that's the first time I saw him. And then he was on, what's that? Was it Hell Date? I remember he called. Hell Date. He's like, yeah, man, me and Clayton got Hell Date. I'm like, what's the Hell Date? And he was like, just watch BET. And there he was. I'm like, man, that's Lose, man. But he's doing it. Yeah. And we just quickly- Yeah. So every time I came back to Atlanta, man, he always made sure I got some free tickets and I was cool with my whatever little girl I am. And I said, we've always been together. So like, that was always my man first, you know, like my homie first. And then over the time we were, I was working at the agency. It wasn't too much. I was trying to get him a couple opportunities that kind of fell through, just as a friend in it. When I was working for Steve, that's when my partner and I kind of took on our own sort of production thing. Like, man, we can do this, you know. Because I always wanted to wait till 30 to be an entrepreneur. But we're like 24. And my boy was like, dude, there's nothing that they know that we don't know. They just got more money. And they were born before us. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And I got fired from this job for asking for a raise. What job was it? I was working- the agency I was working in. Yeah. And I asked for a raise. I got fired like a week later. Because I went straight to the boss. How'd you say it? Well, I hate to say this, but I was like, I put this whole presentation together, like one sheet or whatever. And I was like, I don't want to take anybody's job. I want to create my own job. Because this is when social media was trying to like, people were trying to figure it out. This is like when it was a new thing. And it was like, nobody really knew how to define it or whatever, but I'm like social media is necessary. Because obviously I'm one of the millennials that sees the wave or whatever. And I'm like, yeah, I want to do this like, coordinator slash social media sort of thing. And this is why- and this is what the average person is making. I don't want that much. I just want this much, a little bit more than I'm making. And he was like, have you talked to anybody about this? I took him out to lunch with my own little money. Whoa, the head boss. Yeah, like the dude signing my checks. And I'm like, I'm like, you need this. This is why you need it. These are all the things that I've done since I've been here. I started off as an assistant. And I'm like, these are all the things that I've done since I've been here. I've managed budgets. I've done client calls. I've done X, Y, Z. I've saved a couple of accounts. So I'm not asking for a raise. I'm just asking for a new position with a little more money. And he was like, whoa, have you talked to anybody about this? And I'm like, nah, why would I? And he was like, you didn't talk to your boss. I'm like, why would I talk to anybody but you? You don't want to sign my check. He's like, man, just give me some time. And I'll think about it. And I was like, all right. So the next day, my boss calls me in. He went and talked to Yada Yada without telling me. I'm like, you don't sign my checks? Not knowing that you're not supposed to, you know, chain to come in out there. I'm just ambitious like, bro, this is what I want. Yeah. And she was like, all right, I'll show you. A week later, I got fired. So from there, I'm like, hey, Joe, you know that thing you was talking about? Go ahead and do that, bro. I mean, I can only go up from here. He was like, all right. So we started, you know, creating for ourselves as far as photography, photography. I mean, photography, videography, a little bit of design. Is that the austere 87? Autority set. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So and that just started off as like video content or whatever. And we were starting to, you know, there was a space for like, even back, I say back then I'm sure people still do it, but like there were brands that will go shoot things. They would do an event and they would capture it to give it that extra sort of feel. Right. So you can feel like you were part of it, or you missed out on something. And we saw that there was a space for that. So we kind of jumped on that based on the little relationships that we had. That parlayed into an opportunity to actually, before I was working for Steve, I was working for as a business partner for Sean McDonald, who was Steve's business manager for about 25, 30 years. Yo. So I was here to sit. I'm sure you heard it. Yeah. I was his assistant. Whoa. Karen, his coffee, taking his car to get fixed, getting his mail, all the little things. But like, bro, when you're somebody's assistant, you hear so much, right? And you're talking about like, you know, half a million dollar budgets, five million dollar budgets. And this is like, he's doing this with his eyes closed. And I'm just like, I didn't even know that there was a world like this. You know, so I just kind of worked for him for a while. He promoted me to work for the company and then just kept, every time I asked, can you do something? He was like, yeah, yeah. He was like, you know anything about YouTube? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get on YouTube and learn about YouTube. Yeah. Can you build websites? Yeah, man. Get on YouTube, learn, or Google or whatever it was. Yeah. You know, ain't y'all know how to do photo shoots? Yeah, man. I'm looking up three point lighting and all that stuff. That's how we kind of worked that way. So we did all that to eventually get to Lowe's when he was hosting Cats all the time. And my mind called us as the funniest person in the world. But what I also learned was that like, there's kind of like a brand presentation that you got to have for people. Not knowing that's what it was at the time. So we would go to Cats and just shoot. Not even really knowing what to do with it. And just kind of putting it out. And you know, years later, a couple years later, or you hear people talking about his content. I'm like, content, you know, that's what we've been doing. Yeah. You know. You guys are almost ahead of the wave. We were just doing it. I don't know if we're not even thinking about it. Yeah, we're just doing it. I don't know if we's headed away. So then we're doing that, doing that, doing that. And then we was like, dude, whatever we do, it's got to be involved with Carlos. Because this number one is my man. And then number two, this dude is like a funniest person in town. I haven't been everywhere, obviously. But I've been in the room with a couple of comedians at this point because now you're next to Rossani, next to Steve. Like you mean a lot of people. And it's not a competition thing. It's just like, dude, Los is, he's that funny, you know? So we just, you know, we kept creating and kept creating. And then 85 came from, it was actually supposed to be a radio show that we pitched. We wanted it to be like a Saturday, midday sort of thing, like, you know, cookout, barbershop sort of show. And like Los, it was going to be a 90s sort of thing. Because the 90s music was making that comeback where they have the radio station, like 1029 and a couple of those stations. And this is like, I'd read some articles saying that they were like popping up. Like, you know, Texas had a big wave. That was making it happen in Atlanta. And there was one more state that was working on. You did the market research. Yeah, I get right. I guess so. Yeah, so we pitched it to Steve. And us not knowing any better, you got to understand that like Steve is up here. At the top of the mountain. So for you to pitch something, it's got to, he can't come down too far, you know? And not knowing no better. It's not a, you know, it wasn't a slight to us. It's just like, it's got to make sense. Because as busy as he is, it's got to make a lot. So we were like, no, you ain't got to, you just E.P. it in name, walk us through the door, we'll do the work. And like, he's like, that's not a bad idea. So we kept trying, kept trying. And we just couldn't make it make sense. So finally he was like, forget it, we'll do it ourselves. So we're emailing people trying to figure out who's who at what radio station. Nobody would answer email, take our call. One guy took our call. I want to say his name. He was like, man, man, ain't going to work. I was like, all right. I mean, I respect it. I understand I'm not mad at that. I get it. You got to make financial dollars make sense. We're coming from the art side. And so no radio station would kind of pay attention to us. And then we was like, man, well, why don't we, we thought about internet radio, not understanding that podcast and internet radio kind of two different things to a degree. And we were like, well, what's the podcast? How do you do it? Like, how do you even upload, you know? So we were like, well, who else can we find that would like match with Lowe's? Cause it's hard. Like comedy is one thing in front of people. Comedy on airwaves is a whole other thing. Cause like you don't get the feedback for radio like until like a day later or with podcasting until you a week later sometimes, you know, you don't really understand how that feedback is looking. So on the flip side, when we was working for Steve managing his digital, Joe reached out to DC's people. And we just wanted to work with him. Cause this was right before he kind of took off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like he was still doing the ratchet people meek thing. And he invited us out there. And we were like, dude, this dude is a genius, man. Like I don't think people understand how funny and how forgetful, just talented. Like people keep comparing to Chris Tucker. And I'm like, nah, this is Jamie Foxx, bro. I was thinking Jamie Foxx. Like anybody, every bro, this is like, this is Jamie Foxx. Yeah. And this is like what, three years ago when I met Fly? Maybe three, four years ago. And I remember it was him, Nav Green, a couple of the guys. I'm like, yo, all these dudes are like, they've got something. You know? So I don't want to take from that. I just want to know if you want to work with this and this is how it can work for you. So, um, so I remember one day after the ratchet people thing we were like, BT always invited Steve to everything. Well, every big media kind of outlet invites him obviously. I'm sure. So we would take those credentials and try to turn it into content because it's like, okay, if Steve's not going to go, let's go on behalf of Steve Hard Radio Network. And we'll just put it on his YouTube. You know, you do the music interviews or the festival interviews, whatever, whatever. So BT was doing the hip hop awards in Atlanta like they always do. And they did the green carpet thing. And I'm like, well, Fly, why don't you go on behalf of Steve and be the correspondent? He was like, all right. And I'm like, okay, he's that easy. He was like, yeah. So he gave me his number. He's like, man, call me tomorrow. I was like, all right, call him next day. And he didn't pick up. So I'm like, man, I got the bill. He called me back like two minutes later. Like, what's up, bro? My bed, I was asleep. Come pick me up. I'm like, all right. So I'm gonna meet you. He's like, no, pick me up. All right. Pick them up in the car. I got in the car with this man. We went to the, and I think it's still on Steve's channel somewhere, but it's Steve. Have you seen a YouTube video where he's like interviewing a bunch of people on a green carpet? Yeah. That's us. We produced that and shot that. And our goal was to show it to Steve and be like, look, this is the next wave. Right. Put these boys under your umbrella. We got access to them because these are really our guys. And it was fly low, a couple other comedians. Again, you got to make it make sense. And I guess it just didn't make sense to him at the time, but it was like, we're going to keep working. The fact he even gave you time though. Yeah. The fact you could be like, hey, Steve, I have an idea for you. Yeah. Absolutely. We don't even, we don't, we don't, and look, keep in mind, we're not the guys that's going to come to him with anything that we haven't vetted all the way through. Because we are, we've seen those people that come to him. Steve, I got this idea. But what they really mean is I need your money or I need your brain or I need your resources versus like, you know, meet me here and we can make this grow to a bigger thing. How do you thoroughly vet an idea? For what depends on who you're dealing with, you know, because you got to think about what you're asking for. If you're thinking, if you're asking, for him, we never really asked for any finances. It was more about, we just need that platform with eyeballs. And it's got to make, and then second, if we need those eyeballs, how does it make sense for you? Because whatever you ask, I believe in giving, wait before I ask. Boom. So for him, it was like, his return was, all right, man, if we bring this to you, now you're the godfather of like the new wave of talent. And now you're always good, even when you walk away. So you're the guy to introduce DC, Carlos, Chico, Clayton, any whoever else we got access to. That's not even a finance, that's like a legacy thing. Yeah. Oh yeah. And that's bigger than finances. So he was always interested. And you know, we still have a good relationship. But you still, you got to make some stuff make sense, make more sense into the details, which I'm not really comfortable with here, but. So that's a good note for like anybody who's wanting to pitch an idea to someone is first, vet it and think about what is in it for them and answer those questions. Yeah, absolutely, bro. What is in it for the person in your vision? Absolutely. Cool. Because people come to us with stuff. And like, I know what it's like for somebody to turn you down a million, million times. So I hate, but I'm like, dude. You got to, like, I'm nobody. You got to understand when you come to these guys, Will Packers, he Steve Harvey, he Kevin Hart's like, you're number one, understand you're in the room. Right. And like, you got to understand these guys schedule. Man, like there are some people in like, this is just how capitalism works. There are some people that do not have any time to wait. Like your 30 minutes with them could have blew them a check because that they could have had. They could have turned out a bunch of meetings that was as quick as the sign of deal. So for you to even get that opportunity, like understand that. And it's not nothing to be nervous about, but just understand that, like, make sure that you've thought about how they're going to win way before you're going to win. So if you thought about that for them, you can always back into how you win. Because sometimes the winners, I'm just, I'm next to you. There's a win in that. But like, if you're dealing with these people who have done the work who have gone through the process who are 10, 5, 10, 15, 20 years into this, but they've seen it all, you know. So make sure that there's some payoff for them. Make sure they're not doing you a favor. So is that how the whole Diddy situation came to be? Man, um, that, that was kind of crazy. That just came from just kind of doing the work. He can't, hey, I'd be lying if, I mean, he came to us. We don't really, yeah, we don't really reach out to people to be honest with you. Like after the Steve thing, we took it on ourselves and be like, you know, he's going to keep working. You know, because I believe in, we believe in DC, Carlos, Chico, and Clayton that much. Y'all are going to beat them guys in no time. No doubt. And when I say those guys, those guys that like the rest of the world has acknowledged, just don't. We've already acknowledged it. So we kind of took on that mentality. Like, we'll just keep working. We'll be all right. You know, so. You were right. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, we're not even nothing, you know, we got a long way to go. Bro, I'm serious, man. This isn't like, you know, we got a long way to go, bro. So I'm not, we're still working by all intents and purposes. So how does Pete Diddy reach out to you? Is this like a DM? No, listen, bro, somebody like Puff Daddy, it takes two phone calls. He didn't get, you know, he. But yeah, I mean, but you get a call and you're like, oh, it's Pete Diddy. You're like, wait, what? You know, he called, he actually called fly and then fly called me and I'm like, all right, bro. But you got to stay like a bunch of people get that fly for like the craziest stuff, which is not really like vocal about it. You know, so he reached out to him and then. But it's a thing like we, you know, again, like it's a. It's a big deal for me personally to be able to sit at the table versus somebody doing me a favor at this point in like business. So I, it was, it was a mutual thing, you know, and it's like, you know, even if nothing comes of that, bro, it's like we're on the radar, you know, and that means something. So that was cool. That was super cool. Like, listen, I'm the, anybody that knows me personally, I'll tell like Puff Daddy told me how to dance, bro. So like. Oh, you go way back with. Dude, like, man, I like, bro, listen, coming up, man, like being a kid and watching MTV jams, like the real MTV jams before you go to school and just seeing Puff and Mason and like master P and like all them dudes from back then. That's like, I was crazy. But you got to, you know, you got to be professional. You got to put that professional side on like you got to act like just another person. You played it cool. I have to, bro. Yeah. I mean, all of us did. And look, he's a human when it's all said and done, but they talking about a dude that's like about to be a billionaire on his own. So wait, he just, he just wanted to, he just wanted to meet you guys and get a photo. What, like, why would he reach out and use his valuable time? He's one of those people, like you said. Yeah. Well, um, I think it was, you know, I've also learned to when you kind of get in these spaces, a guy like himself who's really smart with what he connects himself with. I think that was, you know, just kind of getting a feel for everybody. And, you know, just seeing what's going on. Because it's one thing to see it on, you know, on social media or online or whatever. And it's another thing like, oh, okay. So this is, this is the human behind it. Gotcha. I think that's important too. So you get, you mean you're, you're in his office. Like did he fly you out to just come? Well, we were already going to be in LA. So we just had to make it make sense for everybody because it was supposed to happen probably months ahead. But again, the blessing with 85 is created opportunities for like kind of all of us. So we're not, you know, we're all of us a lot more but especially like Lois and Fly and Chico and those guys. But I think one time he and Joe were doing this project. We were working on it. Um, with Shaq and then there was, um, Lois was on the road another time DC was doing TRL. So we just had to make it make sense for everybody. That's all. Yeah. So there's revolt coming up. Is that the move? I don't know. You don't know? Just hanging out. Yeah. We just, we're going to try to figure something out. I don't know. That's what's so dope about podcasting is like, have you heard of Atlanta monster? It's a podcast. It's one of those crime drama podcasts. I have heard of it. But it went like super viral. It was like number one. That's it. It goes crazy, right? I have a friend. They do like, um, they were, I don't want to say like Netflix, but it's like, uh, like episodic, right? Yeah. Atlanta monsters like season two, I think. Yeah. My boy in LA is crazy about that. I know you're talking about. Yeah. I think they do a, a talk they did at switchards here in Atlanta. Switchard. Yeah. And they were talking about how they develop podcasts now, right? TV in mind. That's dope. Yeah. How they develop it. Uh, loud speaking network. Try that. You guys are on loud speaker, right? Uh, when I don't, we have a partnership. Oh, okay. Yeah. We have a partnership. We have a relationship with them, but, um, they're connected. Yeah. We got a good relationship with them. Um, what you call it? Um, loud speaker was trying that with, uh, um, um, the guy Chris Morrow, who is a producer over there and then, um, combat Jack rest in peace. Right. They were, um, producing, um, these almost docu-style audio pieces telling, but what they would do is, um, man, I can't think of the guy's name. He passed. He was an executive, a big record executive, but, uh, they would, um, like a docu-style leading up to like his, his work and, but they would take like a fat Joe who's working with him. So that's his episode. Whoever else is working with him and it'd be like a eight episode series. That was kind of dope. I don't know how well it did, but. Are you trying to do that with 85 is long-term transition to TV? I just, I just content. Just great content. Yeah. I think the traditional mythology is like there's television and there's radio, but the internet has opened up so much. Cause here's the thing that we pitched, um, Steve a while back. I remember watching, um, what's his name? Jerry Seinfeld changed the game in my mind. Yes. And I don't think, I think people are just now catching up to that, but I remember watching, uh, uh, comedies and cars getting right. And it's crazy seeing that come out because he put that out and like at the very same time, I remember being in Chicago with, with Mr. H and he was me and, um, his crew and my mom and Joe. And we're like, yo, you are like the coolest dude on earth for black people. You touch a certain type of demographic that everybody will listen to what you have to say. Cause you're like the OG and you're still relevant to like that 40 year old enough audience. Talking to you? Well, this is us talking to him. Talking to who? Talking to Steve. Oh Steve. Yeah. I said Mr. H. Yeah. I was like, wait, I'm not on Mr. H. My fault. Steve. Yeah. Yeah. We're like, dude, how dope would it be if you're like in the room? Cause he loves cigars. You're going to all your favorite cigar spots and whatever city you're interviewing and just kicking it with like your guys. And like, we say that in like two months later, comedies and cars in carbon comes out. I'm like, yo, I know I'm not stupid. Yeah. So like, obviously we didn't know at the time we're just kicking cool ideas. Like he loved it. We just, I don't know what that budget is. Like at that time, I don't know what that costs to do that. This is just, you know, us in the room. Now this isn't pitch room. This is like just kicking in room with Mr. H. Right. Like hang with Mr. Cooper. Well, he was hanging out. Man, there was some days he would just have us come around, you know, just for experience and exposure. And you, you know, you, that's a blessing. So he's like, man, what do you think about some thing I did? And I was like, well, I got this one idea. Those are always encouraging though. Like I've had jokes I've like started to develop. And then I'll see them on like daily show or something. I'm like, oh, well, that's cool. It shows your at least you're thinking on the right track. Yeah. Well, look, look, man, I think the thing about ideas is like some people believe that you should hold on to your ideas until it's the perfect time. And I understand that thought process. Cause I used to think that way, but I believe that like you people talk about you get your ideas stolen or jokes stolen or whatever. Like I understand that. But I personally believe that like I look at it like putting up shots and like something's going to fall and you become a better shooter with the more shots you put up. Cause I, there's ideas that I know for a fact that like that's my idea bro. That you've seen out there. Yeah. That I've seen like executed. And I'm like, come on. You know, it's like, but it doesn't bother me man. Like it doesn't, it's not like, I feel like I've been blessed with that, you know, with that gift. Even from the strategy side, are you from afar? It looks like, okay, these dudes are just churning out a bunch of content all the time. But how, how calculated is it? Is it like, okay, on this day, I'm releasing a photo on this day. We're releasing a YouTube video at noon. Yeah. The calculation is more just like the consistency. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The thing that you need to reset. I might. Yeah. I'm cool. I got, I actually am, this is the freest day you caught me. That's why I couldn't run from you, bro. So I'm actually free all day, bro. I just got to work out at 630. Run from you. Yeah. Yeah. I hope I don't sound like an idiot on here, man. Why is everybody? No, you're still on by the way. You sound like an idiot saying that. No, bro. No, man. I love when people get on here and they're so self-conscious, especially it's people that like don't normally. Man, interviews aren't really what I do. This will probably be the last interview for like 10 years, bro. You think so? Yeah, I'm good on interviews, man. What made you, what made you make the hot breath? They kept telling me to do it. 85 did? They was like, come on, bro, go do it. I'm like, nah, you know I got to do this. Man, just go do it. Nah, you know I got to do it. So they see us out of here? Nah, it's like, man, it's like, you know, interviews are good things. It's like, cool. I don't think I'm like the best orator. You're doing great, buddy. Thanks. I appreciate that. You're doing great. Mr. C, I'm just going to start. Nah, you ain't got to do that. I'm not even comfortable with Mr. anything. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Appreciate that. But even with it, with the hot breath, I've been really leaning into lately like the content side and trying to find new ways to generate as much content as possible. Dude, listen, man, I think you have something. I wouldn't just say it to say that I'm leaning into a couple of good parts. The ones that I've taken the time to listen to. Bro, listen, honestly, hot breath, I'm going to be honest with you. Hot breath is what I wanted 85 to be. And it was like, hell no. Like I wanted it to be like the rap radar for comedy, you know? Because I'm like, I'm the guy that, bro, listen, I remember being like somewhere through college when like YouTube was really blowing up. Watch Jamie Foxx interview. Like it's, you know, like I'm that guy to watch all those Denzel interviews, you know, watch those Chappelle interviews. Like that stuff is crazy. We were puff talking about how him and big, like I was, I love that stuff, man. So when I was like, man, we need to interview comedians. We need to have Dion Cole. We need to have Steve and ask him new stories from the night. I'm like, man, that's corny. And I was like, all right. I guess you're right. You know, but it's like us not knowing, you know, me not even understanding the full breath of like what we had. But what you're doing is a space for it, dude. Like there's a real space for it. And I think you're doing it right. Cause like it was tough. It's like, it doesn't matter how awesome Atlanta is. Cause I really believe in Atlanta. We don't have that foundation that like New York has or that LA has. Like we're getting it. And I know people say all the time, Atlanta's going to be it. But what that really means is like in 10 years, maybe, in 15 years, maybe you gotta understand like LA's been doing this. And there's a reason you have to go to LA to do a lot of things. There's a reason you have to go to New York to do a lot of things. Even in Chicago. So like what's your, like if you, if you were doing what you're doing in New York at LA, the, I think the eyeballs would be a little bit bigger than, or the perception. Let me say that I shouldn't say eyeballs. Cause I don't know what your number, but the perception. Yeah. Cause like, you know, podcasting is what it is. When it's all sitting done and you can kind of play with it and tinker with it to a degree. But like at the very traditional sense of podcasting, like you're not doing nothing that anybody in New York or LA isn't doing. You know, what's that? I listened to how I built this all the time. I love that. Yeah. That's exactly what this is. Right. You know, it's a different perspective. I shouldn't say Atlanta, but like a regional perspective and like a, with the comedic sort of foundation. Exactly. You know? Yeah, yeah. It's just as dope. If you ask me, audio sounds just as good. Presentation is just as good. You know, so. So what would you do to, cause I feel like, you know, I've done over 130 now. And I feel like I found my system as far as creating episodes and turning them out weekly and generating guests. But the eyeballs, man. Exposure was a strategy there. Have you figured out who your audience is? I think it's comedians, younger, younger comedians looking to learn about comedy and how they can get better at it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, so I can, I can give you our perspective, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm pretty familiar with our audience at this point. So we don't like really kind of leave our base. So like when you're thinking about your audience and how to grow it. Um, number one, I think you're doing a lot of the right thing. I don't, I wish I had a big secret for you. The consistency is like the secret. Your next step may be opening you up to a little bit. Um, guests that may have like bigger visibility. Cause I think your content is really, really good. Like in all seriousness. So it may be like a guest situation for you where it's like, there's that one guest that kind of blew me up. Cause I know you got that NPR. Like you got the love from NPR. Like you're doing, it's the content is there. It's just patience, I guess. Consistence, man. And then like, you know, it may be that one guest. It's like a. Mr. H. Yeah. Right. If that Dion Cole comes in or whoever the case is, they can kind of like break it open. Cause you don't know when like the quote on quote break comes. I remember when like, I was like, oh shoot, people are listening to it. What was that moment? Um, I want to say when we did, uh, we did an episode. We did this episode with, um, what's his name? It was with Nav. It was with DC. No, that wasn't an episode. It was with DC. Los in a piece of mold. That's what it was. And I don't know what she did. That was, I think she had just hit that kind of viral thing right at the right time. Like, I didn't even know who she was at the time to be honest with you. I was like, oh, you're the girl that did whatever, whatever. Cause Los in DC are connected to it. They brought her in. And then like, we hit at the right time. She did the interview and that like took off on YouTube. I was like, man, can people all kind of listen to it? Kinda. And then we just, then I think, um, Nav came not either Nav or Emmanuel Hudson came on next. And then we were like, okay, we gotta, you know, find a little bit of consistency and have her pushing this out. And then we kind of, I don't want to say took off, but that's when I was like, okay, I think, I think we're turning the corner. And then when we got to start doing those trap episodes and we got away from, we started focusing again on like the content and less about the guests and making it more about getting better with DC and Carlos. Cause I gotta, for one point, I was trying to keep getting guests at the guests. And I was like, man, this show doesn't depend on guests. Like we don't, these guys themselves can be funny for hours on hours, as long as they got the wind for it. So once we kind of focus on that and incorporate and like we got a little bit better with like some of our segment, I'll say segments, but loosely with our segments as far as like some topical things. Cause that helps online. What do you mean? Like just giving people direction or? Yeah. Well, I say, I mean, like topical as far as like, say Trump did something crazy, making sure they talk about it or, you know. So with all that online stuff, are you guys strategic down to even how you word the titles and maybe even the tags of the videos and like that SEO approach? Yeah. We have experience in SEO. You guys get into all that. What are some tips on that? What do you own the internet? You can't give away an SEO tip? No, no. You're looking at me like I'm asking for the sauce. No, no, no. Well, yeah, I can't give away the sauce, bro. I was told I had to give away the sauce. Go do the interview, but don't tell them anything. Don't give away the sauce. No. Look, I'm not the genius SEO dude. Like our technical guys do that. But I know that that's what they do. Yeah. Yeah. They focus on like a lot of that technical SEO keyword search and all that stuff. And I definitely know it helps. Yeah. You don't know anything about it though. Not as much as I should. For now. Yeah. These are the launch codes. You can't give away the launch code. No. I don't know. Well what? For like a, for, let's just say for like hot breath in general or a comedian trying to build a brand. Right. Your brand is on point. Like every, it's just every detail is accounted for. What are some tips for somebody who's like, well, why am I not getting more successful? What kind of tips do you have that maybe big mistakes you guys made that we could learn from? Man, I would say, I would say if you're looking externally, you'll probably make it. That's probably the first mistake you're making. Trying to figure out what everybody else is doing. I was like, look internally. And then if you're going to look at what somebody else is doing, it's like, if you're trying to draw some inspiration, I understand that. But as far as like trying to figure out what somebody else is doing, like, I'm probably wording it right. I would say look internally, that's what we've done. We don't really, I don't really know what too many other people are doing other than like what we're doing. Cause I can tell you all the mistakes that we've made. And then I can, I can tell you how we got better with that from how we put out, I mean, even little stuff, like making sure your audio is recorded all the way through. You know, how to travel, how to do merchandise, how to make sure your website is clean, clickable. And it looks good on the desktop. It looks good on the phone and the iPad, like, you know, all that stuff. You know, we have a little bit of experience and all that. So I would look internally first, man. And then again, figure out like what you're trying to do. Some people are trying to make some money. Okay. How do you go get some advertising dollars? You can do that independently, which we've done. You can go partner with some advertising networks. Loudspeaker doesn't, Audio Boom doesn't. There's a couple other ones. SideCast doesn't. Look up. Look at, look into those opportunities. Looking into building some numbers. Facebook has some algorithms. Twitter has some, I mean, IG has some algorithms you can figure out. And then kind of go from there, man. Honestly, podcasting is like not an easy thing. Yeah, it's a lot of work. I wish it was, man. I wish I could be like, bro, this is as easy as this, but it's not. So that's why I say like, you, you need to know to a degree what you want to do when you're doing this. We knew exactly what we wanted to do when we created it. It wasn't just about podcasting for us. So even, I would say this, for the first like, I don't think we saw a dollar for like the first eight months, but we was okay. That wasn't our goal. So, you know, our goal was to do what we were doing at the time and making sense of it. How did you figure out those algorithms? Oh man, just a lot of, but look, I got, we got some real nerves in our teams too, bro. Word. Like, you know, I wish it was as simple as like, man, we're just, he's Jean, like, bro, we'll be up all night trying to do this stuff. Right. Like, I mean, Los will be sending us links and articles. Like this is, it's important for me that all of us are pretty educated on both sides. Like I'm asking them, you know, on their side, like, yo, do you, does a wide stage feel good? Is the stage too deep? Is the audience, like, you know, what kind of spaces do you like to be in so I can understand from your perspective and they can understand when we're explaining them, you know, apparel and merchandise and how to cut some commercials and all that stuff on that side and why you're doing everything. We make sure we talk everything through. But when you talk about algorithms, man, that's something that's like, it's nothing that Google or YouTube can't teach you. And then you got to find it for yourself. I said, when I say find it for yourself, that's not like, I mean, like what works for you? Because what works for us may not work for you. Okay. Cool. Yeah. So I mean, we're like, but we're real like, we're nerds, bro. Like, you just, I don't really do too much, bro. I don't really do too much other than like, I'm like obsessed with work, bro. So. And this is your full-time, full-time gig? Well, we work for ourselves full-time. Yeah. So like 85 takes a lot of time, obviously, to keep that machine running. But what me and my partner do is we have a production company or I call it a content company called Authority 7. So we've created for Steve, we've created for Red Bull, we've created for Sack. We've created for the 100 Black Men of Atlanta. A couple other brands, Cox, you know, so we do content sometimes. Yeah. And I, as I talked inside, maybe I should tell more people that. It's on your website though. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even advertise a site. I need to update it, man. And then we work personally with, you know, personal brands as far as comedians. So like Chico, we're putting his site together. Darren, we've built his site. I love Darren, by the way. He's great. That guy's a hustler, man. Yeah. He thinks I can entrepreneur. Billy Sorrell, that's my man. Yeah, he's been on here, too. That's my man. Who else should we build for? Joel Byers. We can. White people, man. We're the white folk at. I have no problem with white people. I love black people, though. Yeah. I understand. Yeah. It's not our time. Crazy. Who else, man? So we, you know, we built, we work with Global Soul. The sneaker guys. Yeah. We built their website. So, you know, we do that on our time, on our spare time. And then what I'm really trying to get into is like signing more apparel and stuff like that for people. That's like, that's like my little fun thing. Yeah. The 85 South logo is insane, man. Man, we're actually, we're redoing it. What? Yeah. So it's funny that I appreciate you liking all this stuff, but I actually like hate everything that we do. Because it's not working, right? No, it's just like, I don't know, man. I'm always like, man, it could be a little bit better. I'm probably getting on all our guys' nerves with that. Like, man, that show is cool, but we missed a couple of things. It could always be better, right? Yeah. At some point you just got to, we did it. Yeah. Man, we used to, yeah. Yeah. So we work with Comedy High. We done some work with Comedy High, too. So, yeah. So like, you know, that's full. I don't have a job. That's what you're asking. I don't have a job anywhere. So like, we clock in to ourselves. Yeah. And then we, you know, we're working on some personal stuff with Lowe's. We've already directed and produced a special for Chico and Brand. We kind of like tag team that. And does branding require that internal approach? Like, if somebody's trying to identify- Yeah, yeah, man. Let me say it. One thing that excites me is like brand approach and strategy. That's like, I love that stuff. Well, let's get into it. Yeah. Yeah. So what was your question? Well, just you mentioned that people should look inward instead of outward. Yeah, absolutely, man. Same thing with a brand and building that. Yeah, bro. Because like, man, like, Carlos is not DC. Right. And DC's not Darren. And Darren's not Clayton. And none of them are 85 South Show individually. And at all, like there's, to me, there's clear separation. And a little bit of overlap, but always look internal, man. Because authenticity is what's going to help you last and not age. You're going to make it through the times when it matters. So like, nothing matters more to me than authenticity. Like even when I was working for Steve, you know, when you're at the level that he's at, there's a lot of brands that are connected with you. So you got to be very PC about a lot of stuff. But I think if you can kind of dig on his YouTube page, you'll see like a lot of the cool stuff that came out came from us. And we wanted to make it relatable, man. Like palatable and like, yo, let's do this dope. Yeah. Yes, you are getting off of a private plane, but that's OK because you work for it. And yeah, you are smoking a cigar, but that's what you do in your past time or your, you know, downtime. And like, we had a, he wanted to do his blog site at one time. We built this whole blog site for him. And just that site was at one point. I think it was off for like a year or two. It was doing like two million visits a month at one point. Yeah. It was crazy, man. Who's doing it, bro? So even in brand identity. Yeah. How, how in depth like with the branding I've heard you need to like almost create like an avatar of who is your target? Yeah. I mean, I hear that man. Look, that's a really good industry talk and I'm not mad at it. When you know it's rooms because I've had those conversations, but I mean, it's like, I like to say that I like to consider myself like a creator first and like an entrepreneur second. So I always try to put the art ahead of the business. And some stuff just kind of, you know, I was talking about like best practices, like there's a stuff that feels right. And then within that feel right of that art, let's make sure it aligns with some best practices or get as close as we can so you don't lose. So, you know. Okay. So, yeah, you can do all those things, bro. You know, and target audience and then you break down your audience into demographics, you know. Right, right. You can do all that. And that's cool. And that's necessary because you don't want to take shots in the dark. But some stuff, like if it don't connect and it just don't connect, none of that stuff matters. And I think that connection comes through like that sixth sense. You're like your personal instinct. Yeah. Taste is a word. Taste. Yeah. Okay. Taste is a word that I like to use. All right, cool. Yeah, so like. Yeah. Because you guys expanded the brand into like merchandising, which, you know, I mean, I've, I've had the shirts at one time and like this water here, but like none of it's really taken off. That's so dope, man. It's a good print. And it looks like a 70s sort of 80s sort of thing. Oh, cool. And then nobody really bought it. But that's okay. That's okay though. It's a good. That looks like something you find over in criminal records. So that's dope. Word. Yeah. Oh, so it's just, it's not timely yet. It'll, it'll get its time. Yeah. Listen, bro. Listen, there's some of our merchandise that I knew was going to be a hit. And I'm like, am I the only one that likes this? What was that? Bro, we did this, um, we did this, uh, t-shirt, this outcast t-shirt rendition with like DC, I think a problem. Is it for the tour? No, we did it for, um, we did it for, uh, we did it like last year. And it was like the stink on your album. And DC was, uh, Andre 3000. And Carlos was big boy. And like, we put it online and like nobody bought it. Did you make it? Did you design it? So I don't have the time to sit there and design like I used to, like get an illustrator. I'm not the best designer, to be honest with you. So we have a guy that we partnered with. This dude is like, I'm like, bro, this is the inspiration. This is, this is the palette that I'm looking at, the colors that I want. This is what I wanted to print on. But this is what I needed to look like. And we'll go through a couple renditions, a couple edits. That's it. Let's do it. Let nobody bought that one. The, the outcast one? No. I'm like, bro, I put the custom tags on it, bro. I put the choice in the back. Like the packaging was dope. It's hard, bro. And like, I guess the artist won't feel it, but they love that freaking braze one, man. That, and that's what I've heard is sometimes, and even with like musicians is like the hit song was the one they didn't like, wasn't the one they thought was going to be a hit flopped, but the one they just threw out there is the one that hit. Yeah. And like, that's the, that's the business side of it. The art of me is like, man, that was all right, but the people love it. So I'm never going to, it ain't about me. You know? Just listen to the people. Yeah. Man, I will say this one, we just did the house of blues one. I love that one. That's like that. Cause I, when I try to create apparel, I try to do peak, cause I remember man, like, you know, there's a vintage shop right there in East Atlanta, the, the versus place. And you walk in there and like, there's some tea. I remember I bought like a, I got from them like a little Kings of Comedy t-shirt that they had from like years ago. Obviously when I'm a child, bought it for like 15 bucks. And I brought it to Steve. I'm like, yo, this is yours, man. Wow. Right. He was like, man, this is dope. Where'd you find this? And I told him. And like, I want our shirts to feel like that when people, cause you can remember that moment, you know? So when we design, when I design, I try to, I try to create stuff like that, that feels like that. And like, you know, that's what the outcast one felt like. It wasn't a hit, it felt like. But the House of Blues one feels like that. Cause they had a whole thing where they called it like a bootleg tee. Cause we didn't get actually approval for that t-shirt until like eight minutes before the show started. Wow. Had to run it up the ladder legal and all that stuff. But which gives it more like a little story. Of course, man. And I appreciate it. Yeah, go ahead. Cause I, you know, I think about like our goal, man. It's like, I shouldn't say our goal, but we're working like in the same mansion as like Massapy. We're just doing comedy or like rap a lot of records. Like they were independent, you know, they did it on their own and they put up their own money and lost some of their own money. But they're in full control of what they're doing. Yeah. Whereas it's all about partnerships and we're not waiting for, you know, waiting for anybody else. So that's how I'm entirely wrong. When you, when you set these goals, just to wrap it up here and looking at maybe what your goals are now in, were you, like you said, after shows, you guys will huddle up and talk about what went well, what didn't, what they improved on. Do you, do you guys have monthly like audits where you're like, okay, we have this goal to achieve in what, six months? Do you like that way? Like the structure. They're not timetable ones. It's more so like, for instance, like I wanted to put, I will say this goal was to put like a 10 city tour together. Mm-hmm. That we booked on our own, produced on our own, traveled on our own. And we're, we've, we've, I think we got one more city we're about to announce or two more cities, but that'll be it. That'll be like in the play. That's a goal. Because then what you do is, the biggest strategy is you take that and you're like, hey, whoever, we've done it ourselves and look what we've done. So let's do this for real. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. So that's how we put, like, you know, the, the small fishes for the bigger fish, we put goals together. So even with apparel, it's like, hey, we want to move X amount of pieces by X amount of days so that we can say, hey, whoever, look what we've done. Gotcha. So you do set a deadline for like, let's say we want to sell 100 shirts in the first month. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, yeah. The deadline is more about being able to, I say deadline, but like, that's in, within the timeframe of like a tour or something like that that we're doing. But it's more of like, we're showing other people, like, this is our value. But even like subscription goals, like, we wanted to hit, we wanted to hit a quarter million that, I think we hit it right in time, like in like a couple months or years or whatever, when we realized where we were. Right, right, right. I said a quarter million, 100,000. And he's like, well, shoot, okay, we're pacing at this, let's try to get 100 by this. And then you see, hey, all of a sudden, come subscribe, come subscribe, and it becomes like, like a thing for us. But I mean, it's, yeah, I mean, we're not doing too much. It's not, nothing's like falling out of the sky. It's all strategic. You're looking at analytics and everything. Yeah, I mean, some stuff, I mean, look, when you got guys like Carlos and DC, that is your talent, some stuff they're going to do and you got to catch up to it. That's the truth too. Or just have the camera pointed at them when it happens. Yeah, like some stuff they do, you're like, okay, we got to scramble to put it together. You know, but there's not too much. Like there's a real framework and foundation. Like Los and DC aren't oblivious to what we're doing and vice versa. I'm not even comfortable in a relationship like that. So I've been around where the talent doesn't know what's going on. They're just being funny or just being talented. But I think that having that connection and that investment into the whole project creates that authenticity. And there's a trust. Trust. There's a level of trust that comes that like, trust is the most important thing. You know, because your decision making changes when you can trust somebody. Totally. You know, so I think that helps too. There's a comfort there that you can just, he's got it and I can do my thing. Trust and then peace. Let me say that. Peace. Peace comes from like, I can trust that person. I'm glad you trusted me to do one of your interviews, man. No, it's cool. You looked at hot breath. Like you wanted 85 South to be that. No, man. I think it worked out for you though. We're doing alright, bro. But no, what you're doing is dope, man. I would continue to do it if I was you, bro. I'm not quitting. I'm just looking to maximize the output. Bro, it may mess around and be something where, you know, and then like, and then if you just like, you know, say you expanded outside of, say you partnered with, say you became like the official interviewer for, what's that comedy festival they do down here? Yeah, Laughin' School. Laughin' School. You know, you could partner with them and do something. There's your, there's the reach. I mean, I'd be the interview. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or if you partner, what's that local outlet here? Creative Lofen. Right. Yeah, I've connected with them. Yeah, like partner with, they've got a reach. Yeah. You know, and you touch like that audience that's palatable. Well, it makes the most sense. So, and then like, I don't know, man, like all them festivals, why wouldn't you pull up to those festivals and get those interviews, just become part of the media? Like you can frame it how you need to frame it. Boom. That's where you get that access, that Joe Byers may not get by himself, which is fine, just understanding where you are. But if you become media and get your media outlet for whatever festival comes through here, you know Atlanta has X amount of festival. Why wouldn't you do that? That's what I was asking earlier, man. The strategy. What do I do? You put me on the spot. I think about it for a second. Well, I'm glad that came around. But yeah. And then like, bro, that t-shirt is dope. I think you have a website. I think I've been to it. I have a website. The podcast doesn't have like its own website, but I have a website. Joe Byers. Yeah. For sure. Joe Byers.com. Yeah, man. And then like, I mean, you run your social well, bro. You do. I think what you got is dope. I listen to it. I don't listen to everything. Nobody ever does. Yeah. Like people, like people go in and out on everything. Yeah. With the time, the title roll in and out. But yeah. Yeah. You listen to any of it. What's your, what's your viewership and audience and all that? I started too recently. Right. Just because I've hit a plateau. And I'm like, okay, it's like, how can I break to that next level now? How do you, the system's in, but now it's just the awareness. How do you, can I ask me the SEO stuff, man? That's the sauce. No, no, no. I was going to ask you how do you, how do you get, how do you, how do you calculate your feedback? What do you get? This was from comments or whatever. From feedback I get. That's okay. It's either online or in person. Like last night I did three shows and at two of them, somebody came up and like, dude, that interview you did. That's dope. Perfect, man. I need you to hear that. Bro, that's the, that's the stuff that keeps you going, man. Oh man. Yeah. I'm telling you, man. Like more people, flying low, it had to tell me that for the longest, bro. People listen. Trust me. I'm like, man, I don't know. I don't know, man. What we got to do? What we got to do is like, bro, trust me. But then like, I'd probably say, I'd probably rap because I can talk forever, but I'd rap it on this man. I think the biggest thing that's been for me this year is like, I'd like to feel like the people that I've been around or I've been, had been blessed to meet what separates them from everybody else is like this pace. And they have a pace that like is their pace. But I think that pace comes from confidence. And I think confidence comes from making a whole bunch of mistakes. Right. And those mistakes come from taking a chance. So I'm like, okay, I've taken a chance. I made the mistakes. Got a little bit of confidence. So let me figure out my pace. Yeah. Because I'm telling you, bro, if you walk into the room with Will Packer, you're like, I understand why he's Will Packer. You walk into the room with Puff Daddy. Like, dude, there's a reason this is Puff Daddy. He just controls the room and he has a pace. Los has a pace. Steve Harvey has a pace, man. Kevin Hart, all these guys we've done work with. Shaq has a pace, bro. And it helps that he's 7-2. He's a straight up mobile. Dude, genius, bro. Straight up mobile. And I've been blessed to just get all this free game from these dudes. Wow. So it's like, these guys have a pace about themselves that I think, I don't think hard work is a thing. I think hard work is a thing of the 50s as far as physical hard labor. You're working right now, but this isn't hard work. By how we're used to it being defined. So now it's like, let me find my pace within this hard work. Because some people work hard through stock exchange. Is that really hard work? Are you sweating when you're moving money around and making more money and losing some money? It just depends. Pace is my thing, bro. 85, I think, is fine in this pace. Well, dude, thanks for sitting down and sharing that with us, man. Seriously. I knew you had a lot of game when I meet you outside. You're like, I don't really have much to say. And then this is turning over an hour. So I'm glad we could crack open chat here. I appreciate it, man. I appreciate you having me. Who you should have on is DC. He's the only one that hasn't done it from 85. For real? Yeah. I was asking. DC is a genius, man. I've already researched him. I'm ready. That dude's a genius, bro. Some people have already researched it. If they're like, I'll do it in an hour. I'm like, all right, let's do it. I asked him if you want to do it. It's cool. This is cool, bro. I appreciate it, man. I appreciate you. What were you going to say before? Who do I need on here? You said? Oh, I don't know. I was going to say somebody. I was like, man, it'd be really good if you did. If you interviewed this guy. I'm sure I'll take you if I remember. It wasn't somebody related to 85. The comedian? I can't remember. I know. I cut you off to shoot my shot on DC. It's all good. Shoot the shot, man. Go for it. Keep shooting, bro. It's going to go in one day. I'll ask him. I ain't got no problem, man. Yeah. Yeah. And if you think of that person, let me know. Because you never know that. I will. I will. But this is cool, man. I'm glad you did your thing. Listen to the one you deal with. What's my boy up at Uptown? Not Uptown. What's the comedy club up there on Gwinnett? Atlanta Comedy Theater. Gary. Gary's play. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was right after the Steve Brown situation. That was crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was crazy. That was crazy. I liked Steve. Yeah, he was on here, too. Steve's cool, dude. Yeah, man. He came on the show. He was on the show. Yeah. I listened to that one to research, man, all that. Yeah. I was thinking of what I was like, man, this dude really does research, man. I hope he'll find out. I'm crazy. All I did with, all I found with you on connected with 85 South was like that time you guys did that show where it was wack and you almost didn't even think about doing the show. Like, I don't, there apparently there was a show back in the day that nobody showed up. The booker was tweaking or whatever. Now you're selling a house of blues, but what happened on that show? The hustle. Man. The dog. All right. So look, without giving too much information away, we had a show. So a lot of times it wasn't an 85 South show. It was supposed to be but budget, whatever, whatever. And this week it's got a trust of six cents, but I didn't. I just went for it anyway. Man, we're good. The guy was, most people, man, you're going to learn as you do enough business, you're going to learn who's serious and who is, it doesn't take long to figure out who's serious about it. You can be polite about it. You got to be rude. But this dude, like there was too many like hiccups, but I was still like, let's just do it. And the fellas was like, all right, you know, I got you. Let's do it. Get us all down to Tallahassee. And we pull up and I'm like, it's funny. Chico texts me right before we go to the show. He's like, hey man, make sure everything's good. And Chico never does that. It's always like, Chad, you got it. For him to do that, he already knew like something ain't right. And I think Losia's fresh off the show. So like none of us is on our A game to be honest with you. We get down there and the dude, you know how they do. Ah, man, you know, when they do the, ah, let me talk to you. Here we go. Man, well, you know, you know, we're going to have the money, but people in Tallahassee, I hear you, bro. People in Tallahassee. I hear you, bro. And I respect it, but I can't get on stage. Man, but you know, if you can just do us a, I hear you, bro. Then I respect it, but I can't get on stage. Okay. You want to tell them? Ah, nah, you know, just work with me. I'll work with you. I'll wait. I got, I mean, we already here. I'll wait as long as you need me to wait. So what's funny, we huddle with the guys. And I'm like, look, bro, this is what it is. And then these are my guys. So they're like, well, what can he do? So he goes, it was Craig. He calls his one dude. We shouldn't have did this man, but this part of the story now. He calls this guy, this guy appears like out of nowhere in his back alley behind the club. And he's like, hey man, come take a ride with me. And I'm like, no, I'm good, but I'll wait. As long as you need me to. That pace, right? That Chad pace. I'll wait as long as you need me to, bro. I have a lot of patience. I have more patience than you probably want me to. And he's like, all right, man. So this dude drives to wherever he drives, comes back with like the sack full of cash. And he's like, come to the back with me. And I shouldn't have did it, but I'm like, all right. So I walk in the back, go through like these back doors, back doors. This dude pulls out all this cash. Will they go on stage for this? I was like, yeah, probably so. So come back to the fells. I'm like, yo, that's what it is. He's got this. And then Los and Chico is like, man, we already done here. Let's just make an episode out of it. We'll make it work. Watch us. Trust us. All right. This is where I got to trust y'all. You got it. Right. Joe says something. What's crazy is my man. Well, nah, I won't share that. What up? Nah, I ain't gonna share it. So we get on stage. They do that thing. Yeah. They get on stage. We'll keep that internal. We get on stage. All right. We get on stage. They do that thing. And it's crazy. They're like roasting these guys. You've seen it, I'm sure. They're roasting the guys for like an hour. And that becomes like this classic thing. And I'm like, there's no way in hell Joe's going to put this out. And Joe's like, nah, bro, this is funny. I'm like, nah, there's no way. Because I was just sick. Because I'm thinking I messed up. I'm like mad at myself there. They put it out. Chico and Lowe's kill it. They was cool. It was like, man, let's get out of here. I got to go to Wildin' out tomorrow. Got them back on some flights. And we got back to Atlanta. But nah, that's like, hit boy was crazy. Puff, we in the meet with Puff. He was like, man, they had y'all on the Chitlin circuit. And y'all in Tallahassee, Florida. Who's the one that blew that? They all was like, Chad, I'm like, man. I was like, but that's the authenticity that we tell you about. We show it all. He was like, and that's why I love y'all. Boom. I'm like, it's dope. My man. That was cool. Dude. Yeah, that was crazy. Thank you so much for doing this, man. Yeah, nah, I appreciate it, bro. Is it before we get out of here? Is there anything else you want the world to know? Yeah. We have some shows coming up. Okay. And we want y'all to come to all of our shows. So go to 85southshow.com. There's going to be a link when you scroll down. It has all of our tickets. And we're adding more days. Houston has been active about getting us to come. We're working on it. I promise you Dallas, we're working on. I promise you LA, we're working on. And New York, we're working on. So please go to 85southshow.com and pay attention. I think right now we got Long Beach up there. We got San Diego up there. Memphis is up there. I'm missing the city. And then, oh, Charlotte. We're coming to Charlotte, too. And listen, also Atlanta's been telling us to come back. We have not forgotten about Atlanta. And you come back now that we've done what we've done. You got to do it right. So we're just trying to make sure it's right for y'all. 85southshow.com. Go buy some tickets and subscribe to our page. Whoa. And while you're at it, hot breath podcast. My man. Man, appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you, Chad. No doubt. No doubt, man. Nice. Yeah. Let's give one of those. Oh, I got a point. Okay. Pointed at it. Yeah. Cool. I hope they weren't that bad, man. Yeah.