Greg Warren (comedian)

Greg Warren is a stand up comedian and actor. He has new special out titled “The Salesman” this is available now for free on YouTube. We discuss the new special, his old sales jobs, working with other comedians and so much more! Fun episode and Greg’s second time on the show!

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:45 - Warrens
0:02:30 - New Special
0:06:35 - Caffeine
0:10:05- Uncomfortable Seats
0:12:25 - Peanut Butter
0:15:28 - Corporate Job
0:16:55 - Jump to Comedy & Kevin Pollak
0:18:10 - Sales
0:21:55 - Dirty Vs. Clean Comedians
0:23:55 - Crowd Works Vs. Scripted
0:28:30 - Creating New Material
0:31:05 - Offending Nurses
0:32:55 - Taping the Special & Fixing Errors
0:39:39 - Starting New Material 
0:42:00 - Comedian Friendships & Generosity
0:45:47 - Letterman & New Special
0:47:55 - Joe Rogan
0:50:10 - Success & Being Cancelled
0:53:30 - Comedians, Depression & Substance Abuse
0:55:59 - Mitch Hedberg
1:01:10 - Jeff Foxworthy & Danny Devito
1:02:45 - Jimmy Dore's Tip to Greg
1:04:05 - Being Nice to Comedians & Fans
1:07:35 - Charities 
1:10:15 - Other Comedians & Making Money
1:12:44 - Outro

The Salesman Special:
https://youtu.be/ZtlUKRxYnVw

Greg Warren website:
https://www.gregwarrencomedy.com/

Wounded Warriors website:
https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Children International website:
https://www.children.org/

Covenant House:
https://www.covenanthouse.org

Chuck Shute website:
https://chuckshute.com/

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:00

All right, comedian Greg Warren is here. And you may remember him from Episode 38 on my show way back before we even had video and we went over a lot of his backstory in that episode he went to West Point he was a college wrestler, a salesman for Procter and Gamble and finally a comedian. And he now has a new special out titled The salesman, directed by Nate Barr Ghazi and it's totally free on YouTube. Very funny stuff. We're going to talk about the special selling peanut butter offending people opening from Mitch Hedberg and so much more stay tuned. I'm just trying to check out all these pictures on your wall here. Is that Warren Moon,

Greg Warren: 0:50

that is Warren Moon Warren Sapp.

Chuck Shute: 0:52

Yes, Warren Sapp

Greg Warren: 0:54

Warren Hart at Warren G. Harding. The president.

Chuck Shute: 0:57

Oh, because now I'm getting near Greg Warren. Although Warren's

Greg Warren: 1:01

okay Warren Ziva. John, Lesley Ann Warren. Warren Beatty. Warren Haynes Chief Justice Earl Warren, and the movie poster from Warren Piece.

Chuck Shute: 1:15

Wow, that's that's pretty good. I want to I probably would have never figured that out. And she told it to me like that.

Greg Warren: 1:21

Oh, in the corner there. Smokey Warren that's the Eastern king of Western swing.

Chuck Shute: 1:27

Check. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's I'm gonna have to google that one. I'm not a music guy

Greg Warren: 1:32

like yourself. Should should know that. But yeah,

Chuck Shute: 1:35

I do like music. Yeah. Warren Zevon. I know that one he passed away, though, didn't he?

Greg Warren: 1:41

Yeah, recently, I think and then, you know, Warren Haynes was the Allman Brothers.

Chuck Shute: 1:46

Is he still around?

Greg Warren: 1:48

I don't think so.

Chuck Shute: 1:50

We're losing. It seems like every day. In fact, today a celebrity died. Jerry Springer dies Jerry Springer,

Greg Warren: 1:55

man, but Lesley Ann Warren is still with us. So which one is she was in the movie Pure country. She was nominated for an Academy Award for something. Okay. Warren G Harding. Sad to say he's he passed away quite a while ago. Check.

Chuck Shute: 2:12

Yeah. Warren Moon. I know him because he's, he's from Seattle.

Greg Warren: 2:16

I was he really? Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 2:17

he went to U DUB and then he was the he was the Seahawks like play by play guy for analysts wherever you call one of the guys the real

Greg Warren: 2:24

Yeah, look. Yeah. Big fan of him.

Chuck Shute: 2:27

He was good. So this exciting, new special. How's it how's the reaction been? It's already out. Usually. Like, before they come out and yours is ready for people to watch right now.

Greg Warren: 2:37

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they can go it's it's it's out came out. It's been out for a little less than a week. And as good of a start as I could have hoped for. Yeah, it's, it's people watched it a lot. It's on. It's on YouTube. It's on Nate land, YouTube, which is my friend Nate Barghouti, really funny comedian doing really well, and Nate directed it and produced it and put it on his YouTube channel. So

Chuck Shute: 3:01

yeah, how does that work? Why is it that you have YouTube channel? I can't remember I

Greg Warren: 3:04

do. But I have put zero effort into it. I mean, I put a lot of effort into like Instagram, like, you know, I got followers and a bunch of clips with a bunch of views, but I never really did much on my YouTube channel. And Nate's he's really trying to sort of cultivate like, a channel for comedy that's, you know, family friendly, something you watch with your, your kids and stuff. It's, I hesitate to say that because a lot of people immediately like, oh, it's gonna be lame, and I swear, it's not there's definite edge to it. But yeah, so Nate's just got the idea and he produced three one hour specials with different comics for Yeah, for his channel. So it's so far so good, man. He's Yeah, love fans.

Chuck Shute: 3:49

Yeah, I watched yours last night. And then I started it was the other one started to play.

Greg Warren: 3:53

I've Oh, Mike Vecchio? Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 3:55

that one was good. The first joke I was like, oh, okay, I'm kind of hooked. And he's awesome. Is this because yours like starts out there's no intro? And actually, there's not much of an outro either, it starts abruptly is that on purpose? So that the next one starts and you don't like have to like wait or something? There was no I

Greg Warren: 4:12

mean, I think on this one, I mean, I'm not exactly sure all the reasons that was Nate was kind of hands off during the editing process, but he we went we had like, you know, music and me walking to the stage and and, you know, welcome Greg Warren and not me saying thank you. Thank you. And Nate. It's sort of late in the game was like, Man, I think this is better. He goes, I really like your opening joke. I think it's better if we get right to it. Just start with boom, opening joke. And I was like, I don't know, man. And then I watched I was like, Yeah, that's exactly what I want. And I kind of like it because, you know, there's probably more people know who Nate is than they know me. So there's probably some people that don't know me. I've pretty good amount of fans that have been really supportive, but some people probably don't know me and they're like, alright, let's give this three minute See if we like it and this Joe I get right to the action on this one there's there you know, there's it goes pretty fast pretty early.

Chuck Shute: 5:08

Well, yeah. And so that does make sense with YouTube though because like yeah if they're watching the neighbor Ghazi thing or the other the other guy the mic guy or something else Keown, yeah cookie on. He's hilarious, but or just whatever. Like sometimes algorithm just picks a video so they could just pick that video. Instead of having an intro and people go, Oh, I don't know this guy and then turn it off. Like it gets right to the joke. And then they might you might hook them immediately.

Greg Warren: 5:29

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping it. Yeah, I'm hoping they give it you know, give it 10 minutes. And I think they'll, they'll there'll be and if they're not after that, you know, give it another 10 minutes? No, it was good. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 5:39

Some of the stuff I heard of you kind of been honing this material for a while.

Greg Warren: 5:43

Yeah, I think you heard it because it none of it has ever been released. Live. You saw me in Phoenix, and that was kind of I, I had gotten at that point. I was like, Okay, I'm ready to do a special now let's spend a six months polishing it. So when I saw you a little while ago in Phoenix, I was getting close. Maybe not quite that far down the line. But I was like, I know what the beats are now I just got to polish it. And, you know, make it a little funnier. Yeah, you. You definitely saw a lot of that in Phoenix. I've been working on this for a while.

Chuck Shute: 6:19

Yeah, no, it was good stuff. Especially like, yeah, the like, I remember the like, because I remember the jokes because I remember laughing. I was like, Oh, this insurance card joke. I was like, yeah, yeah. So tell me tell me the story about or telling my audience because I already know the story a bit about how you were, you didn't do caffeine for like three months before this. And then and then on the day of the special, then you have like Starbucks. That's a really interesting strategy. So then it really affected you. Yeah, I

Greg Warren: 6:46

mean, I mean, I feel sort of silly. Talking to you about this, because I know who you interview. It's like all the like, insane rock stars. And all these guests. It's so and I'm here talking about how I really use caffeine to get me going. Like, these guys are like, yeah, man, we did a pile of cocaine. I'm talking about, you know, mostly music. But I mean, I, I have trouble sleeping sometimes. And I was like, Alright, I'm gonna get off of caffeine. Almost all the time. I have trouble sleeping the night before a big performance. And I used to worry about it. Because I was like, Man, I feel horrible. I got no sleep last night. And I'm not going to be able to concentrate and I'm going to perform poorly. But over the years, I've learned actually, I'm pretty good. Even when I feel bad. Sometimes I perform better, you know, you sort of just let it go. And just don't try too hard. But I was like, Okay, I'm probably not going to sleep the night before. And I didn't man and I was off caffeine for like three months. And I knew that day I was gonna, I was gonna I was gonna have caffeine and it was gonna give you a little jolt because I've done it before. I was off of it at one point for more like medical reasons. And I had a big audition for something. And I was like, Man, I'm drinking caffeine. I was like, This is amazing. I feel like Superman. Do you ever get off of caffeine for three months and then get on it. It's the first few days are pretty crazy. So I waited till like kinda when we were going down to do, you know, blocking and wardrobe and makeup and stuff. And my buddy Tim was with me who opened for the special Tim Convy. And Tim and I, we go down and there's a Starbucks in a target, like right by the hotel and by the venue. So I walk into the target. I'm like, Dude, I gotta get some I go get me a venti Emperor's cloud tea. Okay, which they put two tea bags in there. And as I get me two extra tea bags, because I want to do this again. I'm going to have it now to wake up. And then in between we taped to shows us again between the first and the second show. I'm going again. All right, and, and I'm gonna get I'm gonna get more caffeine. So I go do my stuff. And I come back and Tim hands me this tea. I'm like, Thanks, dude. Uh, where's the where's the other two tea bags? He's like, they're in there. What are you talking about? Because they're in the tea. I thought you wanted me to tea. Like, I had, like it's, I don't know. 1620 hours tea with for tea bags and hair. Which if you haven't had caffeine for a long time. It's like jet fuel at that point. So yeah, I felt great, man. So you

Chuck Shute: 9:29

feel great. So you don't get see I'm kind of like a nervous person though. I feel like the caffeine could have an effect on me where I get really nervous. Like it would essentially

Greg Warren: 9:38

Yeah, yeah. I yeah, I was so tired at that point that I was like, I don't care if I'm nervous. I'd rather be nervous than She'll miss. Okay. Yeah, so it worked out man.

Chuck Shute: 9:52

Ya know it when I look back when I heard that story after watching this special night when I think back ago, he wasn't really high energy.

Greg Warren: 9:59

Yeah, was probably maybe I was too amped up now that I thought it was great. It was awesome.

Chuck Shute: 10:03

I like you had a joke about a restaurant where the seats are uncomfortable that I was like, oh yes, somebody's bringing this up. That is such a pet peeve of mine. Oh, yeah. Like sports bars like a comfortable seat. I don't know if you go to sports bars ever but yeah, I do man of course party like you're gonna watch like usually like maybe at least a half of a game a couple hours. And yeah, when you get those like metal See, I don't know that. There's like this new trend, where all the trendy places have these like, just metal seats with no back on it. I think that's what you're gonna

Greg Warren: 10:34

see. Ya know, back man. Yeah, when I walk in there and like, we're not eating here. You know, I came to have a meal and that strengthen my core. You know, like, I want to relax. I don't like I don't like any of the high top tables either. You know, I like if for some reason I don't like a high top table.

Chuck Shute: 10:54

See, I like the high tops. If there's a comfy seat, there's a cheap, you have long legs. So I like being able to stretch my legs. I

Greg Warren: 11:01

don't care for man. You put me in a high top. I feel like I'm a child at a high chair. And guess what? I'm gonna I'm gonna throw my vegetables on the floor in the restaurant like I did when I was a child. Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you another chair on a like Chuck. I don't like the you go to a coffee shop. And they have the chair with the the slatted seat, you know, it's like, like a piece of wood and then a space. And then a piece of wood and then a space instead of one giant piece of one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it feels like at any given point half of you is falling through the chair. And I think when they they were like, Hey, we have enough wood to make 20 Good chairs. Or 40 Cheap chairs. Let's make 60 Really cheap chairs I think is what's going on there. Yeah, and

Chuck Shute: 11:53

that's funny though, because too because sometimes those coffee shops they have the really ill ever seen the ones with a really elaborate chairs like the like the velvety like really don't eat much. It's much

Greg Warren: 12:04

too much. Those give me that Starbucks has got good, man. They get there. They're utilitarian. They're sturdy. Although the coffee shop I've been going to to write lately as they got a couple of rockers. They got some rickety tables, you know, that are back and forth. jokes don't come out all that well on those.

Chuck Shute: 12:22

Now. That's bad too. Yeah. You mentioned you mentioned peanut butter a lot. JIF Peanut Butter in the special Did you sponsorship from them or anything?

Greg Warren: 12:31

Nah, man. I mean, that was my old employer. Chuck I worked for Jeff. Yeah, it was Procter and Gamble,

Chuck Shute: 12:37

if you like would have reached out to them and said, Hey, I'm gonna I did a bunch

Greg Warren: 12:42

of smokers owns Jeff now they don't own Procter and Gamble doesn't own them. And this guy I know an old friend of mine that I worked with at Procter and Gamble and what the college with is like the number two guy at Smuckers he's the Chief Operating Officer John Brazi. So I you know, he's a good friend, and I was like, Hey, dude, I just distinct just came out. It's, it's like a 20 minute commercial for you guys in the middle of my special. And, you know, and he watched it. He's like, Dude, it's awesome. Anyway, so he then he texted me on Sunday. He's like, Hey, man, you're not gonna believe who watched this special. I was like who he goes. Mark Smucker. The CEO of Smuckers watched my watch my special man so you know, it's royalty is watching this stuff now, Chuck, but they

Chuck Shute: 13:27

didn't give you a kickback for it can give you get some free peanut butter or anything? Or,

Greg Warren: 13:31

you know, Chuck, I can't believe you even asked me something like that, man. You know, I'm not some sort of corporate shill. Okay. I'm an artist. I like to I'm independent. I'm not going to go out here. And you know, I'll take a couple of T shirts. So yeah. Like a hoodie, like a GIF hoodie. Or maybe even a little product? I'll I wouldn't mind you know, mine. A two pack of 40 ounce to pack a club pack with Jeff. I don't mind that. You know, what

Chuck Shute: 13:56

if they even better than all this? What if they just shared the special on their Twitter? I bet their Twitter has a big following.

Greg Warren: 14:03

Yeah, man. I was actually hoping for that. You know, I'm gonna look right now and see if they've done that man. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 14:09

they should have or you should have tagged him or something. I mean, you mentioned I mean, you sell the peanut butter in the special. I feel like you're still selling it like

Greg Warren: 14:19

they have not done yet. But hold on. Let me see. And Jeff has said anything. Well, they would have tagged you I would assume, right? You don't know these guys, man. Really? Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 14:30

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I was just thinking that was watching was like, Man, he's really like given them I don't

Greg Warren: 14:36

know, man. Kudos like they should give and share. Here you go. First of all, Jeff has less followers than I do.

Chuck Shute: 14:45

They do. That's yeah, that's really bad. To their

Greg Warren: 14:48

last week. There last week was like in 22, man. Wow. Okay, so I don't know. Let me let me take a look at there. What else should we look at Instagram? Maybe? Maybe? They're maybe they're they've gotten with the times. Hold on.

Chuck Shute: 15:02

Maybe Yeah, I don't know. That's where you think like a billion dollar corporation would buy followers or something bots or they'd have some

Greg Warren: 15:10

Jeff brands do a pretty good with Instagram. Okay. Yeah, Jeff brands up they got 100,000 followers. Okay. You should at least

Chuck Shute: 15:17

like post a clip. I don't know if he posted a clip up where he mentioned their name and tag them and maybe they'd share it. I mean, I feel like,

Greg Warren: 15:23

Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 15:25

I don't know. Yeah. It was interesting. I heard you talking about when you worked there for when it was Procter and Gamble, or whatever. And like, like, all you talked about was, and this is like, this hit home for me, because it was like when you talked about what you were doing for lunch every day, and when will you retire? And I was like, Oh my God, that sounds like when I worked in education, it was the same thing every day.

Greg Warren: 15:47

Where did you say that? Wonder where you heard that? Because I don't say that that often. But that is exactly what it was. That's when I knew I had to quit because I was like, I'm 33 years old. And all I was talking about was like, Yeah, where you guys want to go to lunch? You know? And that's all I look forward to. That's all I thought about was lunch. Yes. And then, you know, in the afternoon be like, hey, what's our retirement is all stock based. So that what's the stock at man? You know, you think it'll split a couple more times when you guys think you'll be able to retire? I'm like, Dude, I'm 33 I'm not. I did in 30 years, I can retire. Well, I'm gonna spend my life talking about one show in retirement. So yeah, yeah, well, yeah.

Chuck Shute: 16:25

And I think like, I remember for me, I remember just being around some some people that that were retired, and they're like, in their 60s, and I'm going, is this I'm really waiting for this. Like, why can't I leave? Now? Why can I do what I want to do? Now? I don't have to wait till I'm in my 60s Like, right, right. Same thought that you're just sitting around waiting? And then life's gonna be great. I'm like, No, that's not how it should be.

Greg Warren: 16:47

Yeah, yeah, that's kind of and I don't mean it. Like I actually did enjoy working there. I mean, there's it was pretty cool place to work. But yeah, I I quickly got pretty passionate about comedy. I mean, I was not that good for a while. And so I was like, Yeah, I love this. But, I mean, it doesn't work. And then I started getting pretty good. Towards the end. And I was like, I think and I did this. I did a gig with Kevin Pollak is uh, oh, yeah. Yeah, really cool, dude. And he was, yeah, impressions, great actor. He had a great comic he was, had just done the, you know, a few good men within the last several years at the time. And I got to work with him. And at the end of the week, he was really cool to me. He's like, Hey, man, you know, you're you could do this for a living, you know, you could you could do this full time, you know, if you tried it, and at that point, I did go back to work. But I think on some level, I knew, like, I'm not long for the consumer products. World. I'm gonna I'm gonna go try this. Yeah, when you're

Chuck Shute: 17:51

opening for a guy who's in the Oscar winning movie, I mean, yeah, that's like, and he's telling you not just the open forum, but he's telling you you can do this like you got he was

Greg Warren: 18:01

really cool about it, man. He was he was a great guy. Yeah, really cool.

Chuck Shute: 18:05

Yeah. When you wouldn't know when you did sales. Was there fun in in like, making a big sale? Like, like, cuz I feel like we're kind of both still in sales. Like you selling the comedy me selling the podcast? Yeah, you sales techniques or tips that you learned? Oh, God.

Greg Warren: 18:19

I mean, most of them. Were not. I mean, one of the things that I liked the older guys would do, they would they would do this thing where if the buyer said no. They'd say, Okay. What's your main objection? Like to what you know? And then they would tell him, they go, hey, what if I could show you a way to handle that? Would you still be interested? You know, here's the trick with that one, Chuck. You need to be able to show them away. Like, what if I could show you

Chuck Shute: 18:55

show me? Show me how you'd fix it? And then then you freeze?

Greg Warren: 18:58

Yeah, show me. What if I could show you how to maintain 30% margin and be the price leader the market? Would you be interested? Yeah, show me away. I'm saying what if, like, what? That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? You know, like I I'm a I'm a peanut butter salesman. I'm not a magician here. Okay. Yeah, so that was, yeah, I mean, there. I'm trying to get the other sales techniques. The assumptive close, you know, like, don't ask them if they want it. Ask them when they want it.

Chuck Shute: 19:35

I think that's what my gym did to me. I think they were just Okay, so you're ready to sign up, but I was like, oh, like, I guess I guess I'm yeah, you

Greg Warren: 19:44

fell for it? Yeah. Did they do we'd be like, Hey, these are the new is the new GIF. reduce fat. Would you like this delivered on Monday or Friday? Maybe like, I don't want that crap on Monday or Friday. I don't like you You don't like your company? I think I'm gonna get rid of the whole product line. You want me to do that on Monday or Friday? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I I guess I'm sort of I don't know if I'm, I think I have like a maybe a little bit better business sense, but I just don't. I don't think I'm particularly persuasive.

Chuck Shute: 20:27

You don't so you don't try to sell your stuff to like people or to friends or whatever or tried to.

Greg Warren: 20:35

Now I mean, I mean, I think with comedy that, you know, if you're out there really trying, it's like, people are gonna knock on this guy, obviously. It's terrible. Yes. Did like, trick me into watching. I mean, I you know, I talk

Chuck Shute: 20:48

to people. It's not a lot of marketing, just because there's so much stuff in the comedy market. I mean, seems like every day is got a new special. So how do you don't have to stand out? And

Greg Warren: 20:58

I hope it's just the jokes, man. I honestly, I hope it's just like, not that there's not a ton of great comics out there. But I hope what I'm doing, you know, is a little different. And I've developed a style and I hope they like it. I mean, I don't think there's a lot of guys doing peanut butter material out there. Chuck. Top five peanut butter comics working today. Really?

Chuck Shute: 21:21

Well. Yeah. And also, like you said, I mean, your stuff is relatively clean and for families, and I feel like that is definitely there's huge market for that for sure.

Greg Warren: 21:29

Yeah, I hope so. Yeah. I, and I'm not it's funny people like, oh, man, that's the that's the, you know, the highest form of comedy. Like, it's not, like there's guys that are really dirty that I think are some of the funniest people I've ever seen. They're geniuses. It's just not my style. It's not really what I do, but I enjoy all different kinds of comments.

Chuck Shute: 21:51

Oh, yeah, me too. Who's your favorite like dirty comedian right now? Um

Greg Warren: 21:59

I it's funny you say dirty because I like I mean, I guess David tell is is not like clean it but he's, it's not like it's not offensive. It's just silly when it you know, it's like kind of it's silly when he but yeah, he's he's certainly not clean. And that guy's a he is a genius. You know, there's there's, if you say like, that's not the highest form of comedy. You're crazy. That guy's he's incredibly good.

Chuck Shute: 22:28

Yeah, he is really good. This doesn't seem like there's a lot of like, like, I remember in the 80s when it was like Dice Clay came out. And it was like, really risque. Yeah, not a lot of people like that right now. Although like Dave Chappelle is considered super, like edgy material that he's doing. It's not necessarily it's dirty, but just like the material is politically uncorrect it?

Greg Warren: 22:50

Sure Sure. Sure. Yeah. And I like a little profanity here and there. When it's appropriately used. I don't but I you know, I don't do it really anymore. But not for a long time. But I enjoy some of it. Yeah. Especially if you're doing like a character if you're talking about somebody, and there's dialogue between you and the character and the character would speak like that sometimes that I enjoy that one that

Chuck Shute: 23:13

it can be more powerful when you do drop a swear word, because said it every 30 seconds, and it's like it doesn't kind of loses the meaning. Yeah, I did. Sorry. Go on.

Greg Warren: 23:25

I don't really you know, I haven't done the last several things that I put out, there's really nothing on there. And I would say 95% of time you come to see me at a show you're not going to hear any anything but every now and then I don't really show off throwing in nothing. Every a little bit just a little bit and I sometimes I regret it. Sometimes it's when I forget. And somebody in the audience does something and I lose my concentration a little. Oh, does

Chuck Shute: 23:53

that happen a lot like you? You call? Are you pretty good at crowd? I can't remember like if you did crowd work at that one.

Greg Warren: 23:58

I think I'm pretty good at it. I don't I don't do it that often. You know, there's guys that you know, taking it to an entirely different art form like Harlan Williams or Ian bag or Bob zany or something Jimmy Pardo like those. It's a whole different thing. But I yeah, I do it. And I think I used to be like, I'm not doing any of it. Because it's I'm a purist and I'd rather work on new material. And then I'm like, No, I think some level of spontaneity is is good for a show. My friend Mike Birbiglia sort of convinced me of that he was like, guy that I started with, and Mike's really, really funny and he had, he likes to incorporate just a little bit of, you know, a little bit of spontaneity, a little crowd work into the show. So now I'm, you know, I do that every now Especially now, when I'm like learning. I don't have I have to start over you know, I just put this thing out. I need to write another hour. And sometimes you can find a few avenues with the crowd. It's like, okay, I got this premise. It's three quarters there. Let me do it. And then sort of let it breathe a little bit and see if the crowd takes me in a specific different direction. Sorry. Yeah, no,

Chuck Shute: 25:08

because I think sometimes that's those are the best clips that I see online is like when people are being spontaneous, because I felt like that, to me, that is the hardest kind of comedy to do. Because you have to think immediately you have to think of the joke as somebody saying it within a second or two, you can't you know, if you could sit down and write, I mean, you could take hours, that's a little different than be able to think within a second or two.

Greg Warren: 25:32

I disagree. Like I yeah, I would say. Now, there's guys that do it. And there's guys that have taken it to another level. And it's like they made an art form out of it. But for the most part, I think any comic that's been working for 10 years can do crowd work and do it pretty well. It's a skill is less than an art. Now David, tell it like David tell at the comedy cellar at 1230. At night, it's an art. I mean, he It's incredible what he does, but I think for the most part, it's just like, man, it's everybody can do it. I'd rather hear what it what did you sit down? What what did you think of that nobody else thought of, because if you took all the crowd work and lined it up against each other, you'd be like, Hey, man, there's some stuff that's pretty amazing. But it's also like, I see a pattern here where it's a lot people are talking about a lot of the same things. So yeah, I tend to I liked I think it's I like to have a little bit of in the show, but I think the my the pure joy that I get from watching comedy is like a guy thought of something for a long time. And twist it in a way that I would have never thought you could twist it.

Chuck Shute: 26:38

Okay, yeah, that's a good point. Because I wonder, too, I mean, obviously, comedians have like, lines kind of set up for like a heckler or something that they

Greg Warren: 26:47

read is garbage. Like that's just old school. There are guys that truly, you know, they'll say something, the crowd will say something and they'll, you know, when I'm in the zone, I think for a minute or a minute, I think for about two seconds, then I say whatever is off top my head. And sometimes it's I'm like, wow, that that was actually that was pretty good. You know. And I watched a lot of guys that do that. And I think it's cool. But again, to me, the thing that's really hard to do is like let's think of something that nobody's thought of before and try to try to make it funny. Ya know? Located. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 27:19

Isn't it amazing? If they think of that thing on the spot? Yes, that happens sometimes. Like do you ever watch? I don't know if you're familiar with Faheem.

Greg Warren: 27:28

fan. I know who he is. But I haven't seen a lot of his stuff, man.

Chuck Shute: 27:30

Oh my god, you gotta watch his channel. He has he does these weekly shows now. It's called for him works on stuff. Oh, yeah. New Material every week. And it's all phenomenal. But wow. One where I feel like he was making up the joke. Like he thought of it as it was in the moment. Like he was like talking about teaching or something. And he was talking about how when they would bring in the the old TVs remember back in the day? And yeah, yeah, this whole bit and it felt like he just thought of that on the spot. I could maybe it was material he had done before. But

Greg Warren: 28:01

I fell never know. You know, I bet you some of it is I mean, you know, you'll never know because good karma can make you think, Well, like I just thought of that like, but sometimes it is, you know, just true. Like I just thought of it. Yeah, that's I know, that seemed like that I would want to hear about because I've never heard anybody talking about those OLED TVs? That's

Chuck Shute: 28:23

Oh, it was Yeah, I have to find that he does so much new material, like how much material? Do you try out? Do you try out new material every week?

Greg Warren: 28:31

Man. Maybe I don't know. But I should. I don't know if I do it every week. But I gotta tell you like it. Unless there's some people that are like next level geniuses. But I would say if you're on average, if you're cranking out a new 20 to 30 minutes every year that that's good that you know, that means when you when you at the end of the year you have 20 or 30 minutes, it's like okay, this is really good material. It's solid. It'll work on a special or an album. And I'll keep it you're way ahead of the game. Your way I'm now there's guys that can put an hour out a year and that's what it's hard. It's really really hard. Yeah, it's it's real hard.

Chuck Shute: 29:14

Yeah, cuz it seems like the new wave is these guys that are I mean, maybe maybe I'm just seeing the clips but so like Mark Normand I feel like I watched his stuff he's watching great man clips all the time and it's like it seems like it's mostly new stuff it's crazy

Greg Warren: 29:28

yeah, I yeah, I mean marks a friend and one of the best guys out there and really good at crowd work too. But marks a joke i i guarantee marks not putting it out. You know he's not putting out an hour every six months. I bet you it's every he may be a guy that every year or every couple years which is insane. Joe list is starting to do like a big bunch of material but yeah, to put out stuff that I think is like it's worthy of a special there if you're doing a new special every year Louis had it for a while and people were like, This is insane. And he even I think has said I probably should have waited on some of it you know, and but most guys to have an hour of really really good material every It's nuts. It's almost impossible but Begley, I'll put it out every two, three years, maybe something like that. And he's, he's a workhorse, man.

Chuck Shute: 30:20

So yeah, cuz you're, you're the salesman is 2023 And then the last 120 20 Okay, so it's three years. So three years is kind of your goal for

Greg Warren: 30:29

three is Yeah, three or four. And I think I'm getting, you know, I think I'm, hopefully I'm getting better. So I should be able to do three is when I sort of have been able to I put it out when it's about ready. And I can tell about six months ahead. I'm like, Okay, I think I can figure this out. Oh, yeah. But, um, yeah, I don't know, I had a lot of time to sit around and during the pandemic and think that's true. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 30:53

And then I like I think, because the other ones you did were more albums. And the last two have been video and they're like, professional produced.

Greg Warren: 31:01

Yeah, yeah, we Yeah, I really liked the way they shot this. Yeah. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 31:05

That's cool. Well, you talked I mean, we talked about how you're, you're more clean and not offensive, but it's funny that you actually did offend somebody with your nurse practitioner joke. Somebody who was a nurse practitioner. Yeah. Yeah. crazy to me. Yeah.

Greg Warren: 31:18

I got a I got a message from somebody. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. But you know, you'll get a couple and I got one that she started with. You are despicable. I've been a fan for a long time. And I'm a nurse practitioner crazy. She's a fan. Not she's not anymore. She's not Chuck. anymore. Yeah, she's she's resigned from the Greg Warren fan club. But she's, she's now out to No, I don't I and I always try to play it's, you know, like, kinda like, straight with those. We I just respond. Hey, you know, I, the last thing I wanted to do is make somebody feel bad with comedy, and I don't. But if you can't see that I'm kidding. On this, like, it's a joke. You know, it's a joke. And usually, maybe not as much in this album on this special, but usually the person has taken most of the hits in the specialist me like, I'm pretty self deprecating. So yeah, I'm kidding. And I would I bet most nurse practitioners are like, that's, that's funny. You know, why live? And the most people that people will laugh at the most aren't nurses?

Chuck Shute: 32:27

I would think so. Yeah. I mean, if somebody's a joke, well, podcasters I'd probably think it's funny. Like, I would probably get it.

Greg Warren: 32:33

Yeah, man. It's like, okay, because it's, I mean, usually you're finding some something that's sort of true, and you're twisting it around and that exact Exactly. That's a joke. Maybe what a joke is, yeah, unless she maybe she's not cheating, like jokes. Or maybe she was in a bad mood that day. Yeah. Maybe it's somebody that I've dated in the past. And she hates me.

Chuck Shute: 32:55

I was interesting to her you talked about? Did you say that you forgot a line in the special on one of the jokes like it like, like one like a couple of words or something could make a difference in how the audience perceives.

Greg Warren: 33:08

I mean, I know we did two shows, and most of it is from I think the second show, but we saw them peppered in a little bit from, you know, the first show, and one of my buddies, Chris Conde came up to me after the show, the first show, he's like, Hey, that one it was it was the nurse stuff. He goes, Hey, you messed up a line there. And I was like, I did you say you said this. I'm like, oh, yeah, that that wrecks the joke. So I had to remember to fix that in the second show. And I did fix that in the second show. But then there was this line of this peanut butter joke. And I think the the punch line was like, type two peanut, goo choo choo, or something like that. And I just flub that on the first show. I just did. And I was like, Ah, screw it. I'll get on the second show. You know, they still laugh. But I was like, I wouldn't be something I want to put out. So the second show, you know, it's towards the end, I just did an hour and it was great. Everything worked. And I'm killing. And I just kind of I was a little bit slap happy. Maybe the caffeine wore off. But I was like, towards that end. I was like, I'm a little goofy here. And I just kind of I flubbed it again. And, and then at that point, I didn't have another show. So I'm like, Hey, guys, I hate to do this. But I did say that joke over.

Chuck Shute: 34:24

Okay. And you actually did that in this? Like, I

Greg Warren: 34:27

mean, I'm letting you guys behind the curtain here, which I probably shouldn't do. But yeah, I was like, I need to say this joke over. Okay. And you guys, you know, you need to pretend like you just heard it for the first time. Well, this is one joke. This is one. Yeah. So I say it. And I mess it up again. I mess it up again. And at this point they're loving it, you know, because the audience was it. And then I think like on the fifth time I got it and they gave me like a standing ovation on the job. And I'm like, well, that's not gonna work either because nobody's getting the joke wasn't that good? Like, they're not gonna believe that people gave me a stand up a standing ovation on type two peanut goo choo choo. Like that. You know, like that's.

Chuck Shute: 35:12

That is funny. Yeah, that's hilarious. So yeah, I mean, I don't know, I kind of want to rewatch it.

Greg Warren: 35:19

Yeah, man, you know, again, I'm letting people behind the curtain here at Chuck and I hope it doesn't, you know, people are like, Ah, this guy's a fraud. You know? No,

Chuck Shute: 35:30

I mean, that's part of the entertainment business like whatever.

Greg Warren: 35:33

Yeah, it was. I mean, I think it happens on most comedy specials. There's some guys. Yeah, I think Rory Scovel did one that was purely like improv new material. That guy's you know, he's unbelievable performer and really good at innovation. And, um, yeah, he didn't want to, and it was, it was pretty cool. But yeah, I think that was a fun moment. And then I think like, you know, you wear the same shirt on both shows, because you might cut in something from both shows. I think I got done with the show. And Nate was that their director, and he came on stage and I was like, Hey, he came on stage. And then I got I went offstage to the bathroom, and I go the bathroom, I come back. And Nate's like, Man, you've been gone for 45 seconds, and you have water all over your shirt. We can't have that and it doesn't look the same. So here's us just ripping on me to the crowd. They're like this idiot like schmooze guy is 45 seconds. And he's getting looks like, you know, a complete slob.

Chuck Shute: 36:36

continuity errors?

Greg Warren: 36:37

That's what they call continuity. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 36:39

yeah. Well, what about all the

Greg Warren: 36:41

shave the mustache for the second show? And

Chuck Shute: 36:45

like all the arms and the arms and the likes? How do you get rid of those? Like, do you have to practice? I don't

Greg Warren: 36:51

I mean, honestly, if you watch Sema, and you're just picking this special apart, Chuck, it's gonna be nothing after you get done with it.

Chuck Shute: 36:58

No, but I just meant in general, not even when I looked at

Greg Warren: 37:01

it is a little bit I have somewhat of a deliberate delivery style, like I just did there. Like, like, I do say, like, and I do say, um, I do, just asking because I do the same, probably more than I would care. But I was I also think it's part of how I talk. And rather than get rid of them all, if you get rid of it all, now you have this robot and people don't want to watch robots do it. That being said, there's probably three or four that I wish I could go back and take out but I'm like, couple just like I did there. And I don't want to do this, you know, I was like, Look, this is who I am. It's every night in the club when I say that. So let's not completely make it something that it hasn't been for the last three years. That's the nice thing about stand up comedy. You go out every night and you try these things. And you the audience will vote yes or no. And if they keep voting yesterday, okay, this is probably a pretty funny thing. I should put this in. So yeah, I think every now and then it becomes a little bit of an affectation, which I do not care for in myself. But some of it is just the way that I speak. Right? No, I

Chuck Shute: 38:07

think it's more natural because I I made that decision a long time ago. Like, do I edit my podcast to edit out all the hums and ahhs of like, No. And it's like, dude, that would take so long. And then it's like you said, I feel like it's robotic. If you do that

Greg Warren: 38:21

much. Yeah, yeah. Then you have some AI special or whatever. Yeah. I don't think so. It took me a while to learn that it really did. Somebody told me like, human beings make mistakes. Nobody wants to watch a robot, they want to watch a human being exactly the only time it seems too polished.

Chuck Shute: 38:39

Right? The only time I sometimes do is if I'm trying to do a clip of the podcast and it's too long. So I'll try to take some of the pauses and stuff. Squeeze it into a minute. So it'll fit.

Greg Warren: 38:47

Yeah, I've done some of that. I tend to like to start. I got a couple of buddies that are writers, one in particular, and the writers kind of like, a lot of clips for me, because I was not in on the clip world until about six months ago. Oh, yeah, that's huge. Yeah. And I had some that have gone crazy. And I, it's cool on what I learned with a clip, start, like, you can start in the middle of the joke. A lot of times, don't take the audience for idiots. A lot of times you start in the middle. And if you start at the right place in the middle, they'll they'll contextually be like okay, I know what happened before this. I know what happened before this.

Chuck Shute: 39:28

Well, especially if you have a good thumbnail or title or whatever. And if you have a caption so that because a lot of people are on their phone and they have the sound off. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a big one. It's kind of nice, though. So then when you finish a special now you can start new stuff because you get sick of doing the same jokes because it's kind of like, you know, musicians I interview I'm always like, they gotta be sick of playing that song. They've been playing for like 30 or 40 years. Yeah. So now you don't have to do that as comedian like once you retire a special like, you're pretty much done with that material right?

Greg Warren: 40:00

To an extent, I mean, I think, like, if you come see me this weekend in Iowa, you'll see, I don't know 1015 brand new minutes, you'll see maybe some stuff that didn't make it into the special that you know that I shot, but you never saw some stuff that got taken out, you'll see something that wasn't this, I think I'll still do the peanut butter stuff because it's a, there's some jokes that I didn't do the special people like talking about it, even if they've seen some of the jokes. And then you'll see some, like sort of an assortment of old bits that sometimes they want to hear or sometimes they just haven't been around to watch me. I wish I could tell you hey, man, I already have a new hour. I don't. But I can if you watch this special I did in Dayton. And there was a guy that was in the front row. And he he had just watched it on his phone 10 minutes before he sat down. Because I go, Hey, has anybody just see this special? Because it just came out? He's like I have I'm like, Okay, I don't know about sketches. And I was like, okay, and I hadn't thought about it. And I was like, Okay, I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do some stuff that's special, but only like the peanut butter material. So yeah, I think it's, I'm kind of looking forward to it right now. I need to get back to work. And it's different every time. I don't like my dad this morning was like, well, what's the next one going to be about? I'm like, I have no idea. I know. I mean, ask me in a year I can. I'll try to think of as many funny things, as I say and see which ones the funniest or do three or four of them sort of linked together. And then you're like, Okay, I think this is what the theme is. But for right now, it's just any funny thought I've ever had and not done on stage. I'm going to use.

Chuck Shute: 41:46

Yeah, that's good. No, it's cool. How yours have like a theme like the sales. It was all about the sales job in the peanut butter. That was like the huge. It was all connected mostly to that.

Greg Warren: 41:55

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah, you're

Chuck Shute: 41:59

talking about like your friendship, like I was. It's crazy how these all these comedians that you're friends with, like So Nate burger. I didn't know you guys. How do you know Nate Markazi. Like he's huge.

Greg Warren: 42:09

Nate, we did a we did a thing together for country music television. Like, when was it that was maybe 2006 or seven or something like that. And he was young back then. And he but he was you could tell this guy's really good. So we did. That's where I met him. And then I moved to New York, in 2012. And I was there for four years. And Nate was living there for a good part of that. And I you know, I'd see him around and we do some stuff together. Yeah, really good guy. really generous. You know, that's, this is kind of really cool. What he's doing. Yeah, well, they

Chuck Shute: 42:49

it seems like everyone says that about you. Like that's what Nikki Glaser was saying, like, every time you guys go do something you always buy her like Starbucks, or food or whatever. And,

Greg Warren: 42:58

yeah, it's funny. I mean, I, you know, Nikki's like famous and rich now, but I still think of as like my younger sister, because she's, we went to the same high school and Nick, Nicky went to high school with my brother. I have a brother that's 18 years younger than me and Nikki Oh, wow. Him were in high school at the same time. So, you know, and I saw when she first started doing comedy in St. Louis at the open mic nights, so yeah, that was Yeah, I don't know. I I had guys that were pretty good to me. I think that's just part of Stanhope family, especially the road. Yeah, you know, you get in LA New York, it's a little different. I don't know how that all works out. But I know, I've lived in both places. And there's a really cool community, put on the road. It's back when I started, like, you go out. And usually there's an opener who's lives there. And he's local, and so on. And then there's a feature actor came in from out of town, he's making about 500 bucks for the week. And if he's lucky, they give him a hotel room too. And he's got to drive there on his own. And then there's a headliner. And as a headliner, you know, you're making some money, and you're doing fine. And a lot of times the, you know, the headliner was cool to me. You know, I always feel like you should try to I don't always do this, but I feel like you should take the feature act out to lunch, at least, you know, and, yeah, just and then some guys were generous with their time they, you know, they buy your lunch or, you know, I remember specific guys just encouraging me early on just getting Billy bardell Who's really doing well here. Billy's an actor now. I mean, he's a comic too, but he's, you know, he was Mike and Molly, he was my okay. Yeah, that's why parts abishola He's got another sitcom that he's doing great on. But Billy I remember working with him in Dayton, Ohio. And I was just kind of getting started and he was like, Hey, man, what you're doing is right. He goes, what you're doing the style that goes just keep doing what you're doing. It's good. This is gonna pay off for you. And he's been cool to me, Larry. The Cable Guy was cool to me. My whole career the he was always nice to me. Yeah, I saw

Chuck Shute: 44:58

that you open for him with Nik Hoff who I had on the show.

Greg Warren: 45:02

Yeah, yeah, Larry's Yeah. Yeah. You know always been cool. Everybody. Jeff Foxworthy is a nice guy. Kathleen Madigan was really really good to me. Ron White was good to me. Yeah, there's there's a ton of them.

Chuck Shute: 45:17

Yeah. Jamie Kaler. He did my show. He's an actor too. Oh, yeah. I know, Jamie, you know him.

Greg Warren: 45:22

From we lived in LA around the same time. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we? Yeah, we used to do shows together in LA.

Chuck Shute: 45:28

And then David, Kepner you're you're friends with him, too?

Greg Warren: 45:31

I don't know. David. Yeah. I don't know. I'm from the same state.

Chuck Shute: 45:35

follows you though. Does he?

Greg Warren: 45:37

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know him. He's very funny guy, man. Yeah, I

Chuck Shute: 45:44

was like, really close to I thought I was gonna get him on. Oh, yeah. It was like him and Pauly Shore. I was like talking to the people. And then they're like, maybe not. I was like, Yeah, you have some of those. Like, you probably had some of those kind of close calls in your career where you almost got an acting gig or comedy gig or something.

Greg Warren: 46:01

Yeah. Yeah. Didn't get any of them. No, you had like, I made me out as I was so positive that I had booked the Letterman was it was like a, you know, I did Seth Meyers? I did. Ferguson was really good to me. He I think I did it like four times. Yeah. But I was, you know, I was a big Dave fan. And every comedian is to some degree, and I was living in New York. And we did a showcase at Caroline's and I mean, nobody had a good setup. Except for me. I mean, and it was just the night that I killed. And it was good stuff. And, you know, there's managers coming up the actors. Hey, do you have a manager? You know, like, you know, when you had a good set that night, and I call my agent, I was like, Hey, man, I, we're going to we're going to get Letterman out of this. And it just didn't happen. I don't know why just it just didn't happen. So I've learned not to get too, too low or too high. Just kind of trying to make it about the jokes. No, that's great. What about sad, this is a big moment for me with this special. It's I'm probably more proud of it than anything I've done. And every it's great because we're on the internet right now. So everybody can go watch for free by just going to YouTube finding the salesman. I'm sure Chuck will have a link to it. But yes, every little bit helps man if you watch it and share it or comment or tell your friend about it. Every little bit helps on this stuff. It's I love it. And I want everybody to see it. If you like comedy, I think you'll like it.

Chuck Shute: 47:31

No, we liked it. We watched it a thumbs up to it. And I commented I camera what I said like kick ass or funny or something. But yeah, I think I always tell my that's great.

Greg Warren: 47:39

Chuck swear, swear in the comments on my clean comedy special.

Chuck Shute: 47:43

No, I don't think I saw her. I think I said Yeah, yeah, but no, I tell my listeners to support the guests. And I think that I think they are they're trained to do that. So ya know, especially people that like comedy. What about Joe Rogan follows you if you've never done?

Greg Warren: 48:00

Yeah, I don't know.

Chuck Shute: 48:02

Yeah, I was just because I was looking at your Instagram. I was like, and he's got a lot of connections. Because I just,

Greg Warren: 48:08

I It's funny because I Joe and I worked together. This is when I was still selling peanut butter and Cincinnati. Wow, Joe was like me, I think he was still on what's that great sitcom, News Radio, video. And, and I was like, just an opener. And Joe came through Cincinnati and he was great, man. He was really really nice to me. Really nice to me, man. Very encouraging and was like, just a cool dude. And he was on his way at that point. Obviously, he was on a sitcom. But he was nobody knew he would go on to be like, the kingmaker in comedy. So Joe was he was he was really cool. Yeah. And funny, dude. Always. I always liked him.

Chuck Shute: 48:49

Yeah, I love his podcasts. Like, I think I like his I like his podcast, more than his comedy is good, too. But like, his podcast, some of those discussions he has are just fascinating to me. Like he has really interesting people on and just yeah, he Yeah, it's weird how

Greg Warren: 49:01

he it's amazing how a guy that's a stand up comic is turned into like the world's greatest listener, you know? I mean, like, yeah, he really was, yeah, he really draw stuff out of people. And you know, he's, he's a great interviewer. And I, you know, that part of it probably isn't an accident. He's had so many different roles. He was that he was great. And that sitcom, and that sitcom was like, one of the best of all time, then he does Fear Factor, I think was this thing. And then and then he kind of would sort of came up with the MMA, and part of that is, um, you know, I wrestled when I was in, in college, so yeah, we talked about that lesson. Yeah. So a lot of the guys I know know, Joe, I still am a big wrestling fan and I'm not a giant MMA fan. I don't dislike it. I just, I'm more about wrestling, but I know a lot of the Missouri wrestlers that went on to be do well on the MMA, and they know, Joe, so I you know, I kind of feel connected to him through that way. Yeah, you should

Chuck Shute: 50:00

try to get on the show to promote the special that'd be huge.

Greg Warren: 50:03

Yeah, I mean, you know, trust me, man. We're always always working on that stuff, man.

Chuck Shute: 50:09

What do you see? I think it's cool that you're, you're obviously you have success, but you're not at this like giant level like it's gonna be weird being like it's real cool, Chuck. It's

Greg Warren: 50:18

real cool. I'm glad you liked it. Do you think that's better? Because yeah, I'm gonna get exactly it's so much better man. No, I think I have the shot for mediocrity my whole career Chuck. Yeah. Not at that level

Chuck Shute: 50:36

of like the Joe Rogan. I feel like it's just you're just like waiting to be like Louie CK. Like, you're just waiting to get cancelled. I'll take a shot at it. You know, I didn't give it. You know, I don't. Okay, well, no, I think he's a good example. He's a guy that got more famous later in his career. Like, he's, what was he in his 40s or 50s? When he really got big?

Greg Warren: 50:57

Probably 40s. Yeah, I bet you Louis and I are similar ages. Yeah. Yeah, he was calling me to the little interaction. I have a Louis. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 51:07

Yeah, I got he was. It just sucks to see those guys. Like try to get people almost feel like they're trying to cancel them or whatever. Like,

Greg Warren: 51:15

yeah, and I don't I mean, I

Chuck Shute: 51:16

think when you're on the top, yeah.

Greg Warren: 51:19

I mean, I really try not to speak much about this. But um, why? Cuz I don't know. Controversial. Yeah, I don't like talking about anything all that controversial in my act or publicly. And from what I can see, Louis did some stuff he shouldn't do, but I don't think I don't think he should have been kicked out of showbusiness, either. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 51:43

Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like the audience sort of decides it, too, in a way because like, I mean, if there's, if there's an audience for him, then then he's gonna eventually come back because people are gonna want it. But I guess comedy club owners could say, No, we don't want you here. And

Greg Warren: 51:56

he's doing fine. Now he's selling. I mean, Louis is doing just fine. But yeah, I again, I don't know. And none of us will ever know what happened. I think he's even. I don't know, I this just from an I don't I didn't like didn't obsess over it. But I was like, yeah, it looks like that was not right. And that was not right. And that one. I don't know if it's all the way in. Yeah, I think he did some stuff he shouldn't have done. I don't know. I don't know what the punishment should be for that. But

Chuck Shute: 52:26

that's the thing. It's like the punishment. Yeah. It's like, because we all make mistakes. And then it's like, okay, so then should they just never be a comedian ever? Because that's what he does. That's what he's good at. I don't know. Yeah. I

Greg Warren: 52:36

mean, I don't think that Cosby should ever be a comedian. You know, you know, I

Chuck Shute: 52:42

might be in prison. I

Greg Warren: 52:43

don't yet. Know Exactly. That's where it's all sort of gets lumped together. And I kind of hate talking about it. But I also don't want to be gutless and say, you know, I can't talk about anything. So yeah, I think it seems like whatever. If Cosby did with what they say did and it seems like there's a lot of evidence that he did, and yeah, that's, that's really, really bad. I don't see. And I don't I wasn't in the situation. Louis did some stuff that you know, hurt some people. But I also I don't think it was anything at all close to what, you know, Weinstein or, or, you know, these miserable people did.

Chuck Shute: 53:25

Now those people are like monsters of scary. But it's interesting. Like, I don't know, you, you follow John Mulaney. And he just had a special too. And he did a joke about Robin Williams. And how people have this misconception that all comedians are dealing with depression and darkness. And he's like, it's bullshit. It's, he's like, yeah, some of us are fucked up. But you know, I don't if you saw that joke, or that specially No, I

Greg Warren: 53:48

didn't see it. Yeah, yeah, it is. What

Chuck Shute: 53:50

is your thought on that? Just that all comedians deal with darkness? Because you don't seem like a kind of guy that gets depressed very often or anything like that?

Greg Warren: 53:58

Yeah, I mean, I think I do. But I also think like, I've had a pretty fortunate set of circumstances in my life. Yeah, I also get

Chuck Shute: 54:11

mixed up with the drugs and stuff, right, that I know it's gonna

Greg Warren: 54:14

you know, and I have friends that ton of my friends have gotten, you know, had substance abuse problems. So yeah, I think I, you know, I certainly have dealt with the different levels of depression, but really, I think, I think I think I'm way more fortunate than most I had great parents. I had a lot of as given a lot, a lot of great stuff. But yeah, it's I think it's but and the thing is, I think everybody has those thing. You know, if you get older, you're old enough. I think everybody's dealt with something. And yeah, I do probably comedy does require you to be pretty introspective. And so maybe there's a little bit more of that and I I do think that, you know, also probably less today, but back in the day, like the freedom of it and the lifestyle was perfect if you wanted to be an alcoholic or drug,

Chuck Shute: 55:14

you know, like it was free drinks on the road and drinks late nights

Greg Warren: 55:18

and a lot, you know a lot of drugs around especially at from what I understand in the 80s and 90s. And at that point, man, just get some material, get 45 minutes together, the common clubs were booming, and just you can go out and work and work for a long time and get paid pretty well. And then somebody started figuring out, oh, I need to sell tickets to like, I need to I need I need to be a guy that not only am I just the guy behind the microphone, I'm the guy that you know, other people really, really want to go see. And to do that. I don't think there's some guys that you know, so my favorite comedians dealt with substance use right up to the end, and they put out some of the most amazing stuff you'll ever see. You know how like Mitch Hedberg. I opened for Mitch.

Chuck Shute: 56:03

Yeah. Oh, tell me this story. I love Mitch.

Greg Warren: 56:07

All I can tell you is he's one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet man. Very funny. mean to, you know, but really cool, man. He was like, he did like, tipped me back then. And the club which most headliners don't do that his wife was like, hey, Mitch wanted to have this and she gave me some money and

Chuck Shute: 56:25

why? I didn't even know that was the thing.

Greg Warren: 56:27

That man it's basically it's rarely is a thing. But you know, just that was just some random feature. And Mitch, after the week, Mitch was like, or Mitch, his wife, Mitch didn't want to do it. So she was like, Hey, hold on a second. I'm like, what she's like, Hey, here, this is for you. And this for you. It's from Mitch. I'm like, Yeah, that's amazing. And he, you know, he was interested in like, I think, man, I think I worked with him. I don't know. a month, two months, three months before he died. And back in that time, I was really trying to get a Comedy Central special, a half hour special. And I remember Mitch was like, Hey, man, I think this is gonna be the year you're gonna get to Comedy Central special. Are you like he like he cared enough to be interested in that. It was pretty neat. And he was you know, at that time he was blowing up, man. I mean, he one time I saw him by a shot for the everyone in the crowd. It was like a 300 seat Comedy Club. There's 300 people there. And Mitch is on stage. He's like, hey, I want to buy everybody a shot. And I'm like profitless, then the waitstaff was like kind of laughing and the managers like, Haha, and I was like, Hey, he he's doing this. Like, I know. You think he's kidding. He's doing this like, no, no, I want to buy like, he bought everybody in the audience a shot

Chuck Shute: 57:41

was the same thing. Or I don't Yeah, I don't know, man. I Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. His character like that kind of stone. If you watch his early stuff, he doesn't really do the stoner kind of voice as much. Oh, really? Yeah. So I wondered like is but is that how we talked off the stage? Like he that's just how

Greg Warren: 58:01

I didn't notice a giant difference? I don't I don't think I noticed a giant difference. Um, and Mitch, on and off stage. I think there's man, there's probably some guys that are exactly who they are onstage often. But it's rare. I think everybody, every comedian has some slightly heightened version or some people that you know, are not my favorite comics are like a cartoon version of themselves. But everybody has some slightly affected version of themselves. On stage. Yeah. And you're probably a little different than you are, you know, just walking around and when you're

Chuck Shute: 58:37

in good mood when I'm on a path, because I'm like, somebody's bad mood, you know, like, it's like, oh, that's the same guy that does.

Greg Warren: 58:44

Yeah, yeah. But Mitch, I don't think Mitch was that different than his act? Yeah, he was genuine. You know, his mind. I'll tell you a story that I heard about Mitch. Lin Mitch, his wife told it to my friend Henry Phillips. Mitch was, uh, he was this was towards the end and he was like, he just carried cash. I guess he just had cash. And they went into like a Red Roof Inn. And the retrofitting goes like, hey, I need a credit card missus, I don't have a credit card. I got cash and you had like, a lot of cash, which was made, you know, he was making a bunch of money at the end. And the guy's like, why I can't take that credit card. Mitch said. Knowing this. The credit card is representing this, he said and this is one of the most genius things I've ever heard. He goes, that will be like if you hired a Frank Sinatra impersonator. And Frank Sinatra showed up and you're like, No, man, I hired the Frank Sinatra impersonator.

Chuck Shute: 59:51

Like, oh, my god man. Joke is one of his routine.

Greg Warren: 59:55

He did that joke man. And I sort of be I shouldn't be saying Mitch is like story that somebody should be making some money. They should be on a documentary somewhere. It should be Lynn telling the story about me. But yeah, that is one of the greatest things. I was like, That's how his mind worked. It was like something that all of us see. And Mitch sees a little differently. And

Chuck Shute: 1:00:16

yeah, it was so great about his comedy. Yeah, it was just like it was stuff that you you could relate to, but like you hadn't like thought of it as a joke. It's so yeah, it was brilliant. I

Greg Warren: 1:00:26

mean, yeah, I was. I think my first album was with Comedy Central records. And the guy that ran at the time was guy named Jack Vaughn. And Jackie, really cool guy. And he, you know, that back then was CDs. You just had all these, you'd go in and he was like, yeah, he goes, what comedians you like, and we're up in Comedy Central. He's like, Yeah, I got, he gave me a bunch of CDs, you know? And I was like, well, Mitch, you know, and I gave, I think I can't remember what I gave the Mitch CD to my mom, and my mom, like, had to pull the car over at one point. She was laughing so hard. She told me she like she couldn't believe she loved it. You know, my mom loved Mitch. which always makes me feel good.

Chuck Shute: 1:01:10

That's funny. That reminds me like one time it wasn't my grandpa's house. And I was like going through his record collection because I was really into music at the time. And I was like, I don't know this stuff. And then he had a Jeff Foxworthy tape and I was like, Foxworthy, and I asked him, I was like, Hey, grandpa, can we listen to this? He goes, Yeah, sure. He put it on. I've never heard my grandpa laugh so hard. This is awesome. Yeah, my grandfather laughing so hard. And I thought it was funny too, because he was all

Greg Warren: 1:01:36

mad at me. And when I first heard actually, I still remember as it my cousin augis house, and I remember them playing that. And I was like, this is not this is great. And then yeah, I my dad, I think the first time I saw him laugh like that was he went through the TV show taxi. With Danny DeVito. Yeah. He just thought that was the funniest thing in the world, man. I remember, just see him just cracking up the whole time.

Chuck Shute: 1:02:00

Have you ever heard the story of how Danny DeVito got that job? Oh, yeah. So this is what I when I was in college, I took these acting classes, and my acting teacher told the story. So I think it's true. I don't know. But he said that. Danny DeVito just came in to the audition. And he started like, yelling at people and telling people what to do and stuff and like acting like the character and then everyone's like, what was wrong this guy, but that was he was like doing the character. Really? Yeah. And that's how he got the job.

Greg Warren: 1:02:25

That's amazing. That's so cool. Yeah. Right is yeah, those stories like they work out, you know, one out of every 500 times and then you see me go in there and be like, Hey, man, what are you doing? Get on here? Should you try like on a ship? Do you have a lot of positions? La in New York, I did a handful here and there. I remember one time my friend Jimmy Dore, who's a comic Iraqi

Chuck Shute: 1:02:51

party loves Jimmy Dore. You're friends with Jimmy Dore? Totally.

Greg Warren: 1:02:53

I mean, we YEAH. Jimmy was great comic you know, he's. So Jimmy and I lived in LA and I had some hosting audition. And, you know, they would write copy for the host. But they'd have comics. And so I and Jimmy say, Hey, man, what they really like, it's just write your own copy for like, these jokes is some writer and they don't put much into it. Just write your own jokes. Make them funny. And you know, you'll be better than that, you know, so, so I walk in there. And they're like, Okay, and then I start doing I start doing to do my jokes. And this guy's like, he lets me go for like 30 seconds. Hey, man. He goes, What are you doing? I got I put my own jokes in there. He's like, Yeah, man. Don't do that, man. Don't do that. Just do the stuff that's on the page. Thanks a lot, Jimmy. Thank you. Yeah. So it's gonna be with fucking with you know, he wasn't he was just the thought that was. I mean, a lot of cases. They do want that. But I just happened to be the one guy that did it. And I called up to me like, Hey, man, did you say oh, man, I'm sorry. I use it works for me. Okay, it works for Danny. DeVito. But yeah. Get out of here, man. Don't do that. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 1:04:04

that's funny. That reminds me of the I won't spoil the joke. But your joke about Nikki Glaser that you did in the special about that. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Did you do that kind of shit with comedians a lot. You fuck with them?

Greg Warren: 1:04:14

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:04:19

I think we all do. Yeah, but you help them too. So it's all

Greg Warren: 1:04:23

in good, fun Big Show. I think. You know, I think I've helped my fair share. Well, they

Chuck Shute: 1:04:26

seem to be kind to you and Nate's having you on his podcast and Nikki on her podcast. Yeah, man. Yeah, it's like it pays off later. It's like pay it forward.

Greg Warren: 1:04:37

I hope so. Yeah. You know, I don't know I'm no saint. I hope I'm sure there's some guys like Yeah, that guy was not friendly at all. Yeah, I don't know man everybody do road gets the after a while and sometimes just you know, I hope I've never been bad anybody but sometimes you're just like, you're exhausted. You did radio and you flew in. You're like and you just beat and you're like, I don't know. I'm I just gotta get through these shows and you're like in the greenroom, the guy was like, Hey, man, what's gonna be like? Yeah, what's up man? Like You I look back. I'm like, Man, I should have just been cruel, been nicer to the staff and nicer to the, you know, the other comic and been interested in what they were doing. And I'm sure there's some times when I have not, I've not been, I'm going to do better Chuck, I want to do better.

Chuck Shute: 1:05:21

Well, that's tough. Because I talk to musicians, it's the same thing. Because, you know, like musicians, they don't, they don't make anything off record sales anymore. So now, every band has to do like a meet and greet. And I'm always, like, you like doing the meet and greets. And like, I mean, they always say like, oh, yeah, love me. I don't buy this shit. Like, I think 80% of them would rather just be in the greenroom and relax after a show and not have because they didn't have to do that back in the day.

Greg Warren: 1:05:45

Sure. I mean, you know, I've done some, and I've, you know, and I think I don't sell stuff anymore. I used to, like, sell stuff after the show or whatever. And I don't do that anymore. You don't? Yeah, I just, I kind of just grew out of it. And I let my opening acts do that. That's how I can get them some money is I try to sell their stuff. But yeah, you got to you got to, I think every everybody in all of life would rather just just sit on the couch and watch TV, you know, like, like, so. If the question is, hey, do you want to go out there and meet all these people and talk to him? You know, you're like, I don't know. But, but you need to, you know, and chances are you enjoy it. A lot of times I do enjoy it. You know, I really like, you know, I like talking to people after the show, isn't that?

Chuck Shute: 1:06:30

I mean, does that give you a thrill or I mean, obviously, probably still doing the standup itself. And hearing the reactions and the laughter That's like the biggest Hi, but does it also give you a high when someone's like, hey, that joke. Really? Yeah.

Greg Warren: 1:06:44

I love it all. I love it all. And what you you got to stop yourself from doing which I've done at times, or? Like a couple of times out here, hold on. Sorry. Yeah, I can't see. I can't hear you. You can hear me. Okay, good. Yeah. Yes. So I feel like I'm talking to like Martians or something. Yeah, you can take it for granted. What you don't want to do is like, yeah, people tell you great things, but you hear it, you know, a lot. And you start to not realize that everyone is it's all special, and you need to treat it that way. And like I said, Man, I'm going to do better, Chuck. Thanks.

Chuck Shute: 1:07:23

All right. Well, no, I think you do go that was I was trying to I am like a Martian cheese. Okay. Yeah. We'll get out of here because I don't know. I'm having technical difficulties. I don't know how to fix it. Oh,

Greg Warren: 1:07:32

man. This is a good look for you.

Chuck Shute: 1:07:34

It's an improvement. Yeah. Last time you were here to charity. Wounded Warriors. Covenant House. Children are national. You want to promote those again, as well?

Greg Warren: 1:07:44

Oh, yeah, man. Did I'd say some of those. Yeah, I always

Chuck Shute: 1:07:47

end with a charity. You promoted those last time. So yeah, wounded warriors.

Greg Warren: 1:07:50

That's a good one. Yeah, I'm back. I'm back. Yeah, wounded warriors. You just remind me, I think my I think my credit card numbers messed up at Covenant House. So maybe I'm not giving them any money right now. Which I should. Oh, a children's International. Yeah, that's, yeah. Okay. We talked about the last time. That's interesting. Yeah. Because, like some guy out of Denver, I was in Denver at Denver comedy works. And I worked there forever. And I was walking. And I was like, things have been going really well. And I was like, man, things are going well. And this guy, you know, those guys that are out in the streets, we're like, Hey, you want it? Can we talk to you about children's International? I gotta pay it back things. Were going too well, for me right now. So I was like, Okay. And I was like, that was 15 years ago, probably. And I've been you know, every month since then. Am I God? Every month since then something comes out of my account for children's international just because so if you're a charity work, and you're out there trying to set aside people up. Sometimes it works. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:08:47

Well, that's what you were telling me last time how? See, again, this goes to you being a good person, because you were saying how like, when people ask you for charity, you think about like, Okay, how hard is it for me to like, have to sell a comedy album and stuff like, yeah, you try to have empathy for those who do that. And I think and you did for me, because I was like, Hey, can you do my podcast? I had, like, you know, I don't know, like 30 podcasts or something? And you said Yeah, so that was really nice. Yeah, I think

Greg Warren: 1:09:10

it's you know, I think you do have to do that because you got you gotta realize man to make it even for like somebody who watches special who doesn't know me for this thing to be huge. It's got to be a lot of people that don't know me. There's people that know me that like me, and I'm grateful for them. But there's got to be a lot of people that like, alright, I'll give this guy a shot so you can't go broke but every now and then you gotta like or somebody will send me their stand up and I don't know at all but you Hey, man, would you watch this guy man? The last thing I want to do this watch, stand up and then be like, Yeah, well, a lot of people don't want to watch your stand up either. So do it. Oh, sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's not but

Chuck Shute: 1:09:45

like younger comedians will send Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I

Greg Warren: 1:09:47

don't have new hearts not sending me his stuff being like, can you check this out? I was

Chuck Shute: 1:09:53

just thinking, because you said that you hadn't. You hadn't watched a lot of for him stuff. I was like, Dude, I kind of want to send you this but if you get a lot of stuff I mean I don't know, send

Greg Warren: 1:10:00

him in. I'll check it out. Yeah, I mean, I It's funny I watch a lot just by osmosis because you're in the club. So I don't watch it online because it's like I get it every night. But I do I enjoy listening to it a lot. Sirius radio does a really, really good job of curating comedy. You know? Yeah, they like, it's not like, where they just put everything up that they get. It's like, no, they get submissions. They're like, I like this. I don't like this. This is going on this isn't so you know, there's like six or so channels on there where you listen, it's I'm like men's this is this is good stuff. And I've never heard of this guy. And there's something like dusty slay fantastic comedian. That guy's awesome. I have no idea who he was and just heard him 10 710 years ago on Sirius Radio. I'm like, Yeah, who's this guy? Wait a man. Okay, well, this guy's good. This guy's legit. Yeah, you're like this guy's this guy's really good. Leanne Morgan who's blown up now. I first heard her on Sirius radio. And I remember just reaching out being like, Hey, I heard your stuff. I don't know who you are. But you're really good. And I've been friends with her for a long time.

Chuck Shute: 1:11:05

That's really cool. Yeah, cuz that's how I found you, too, I think is from Sirius because Yeah. You don't think you'd posted a lot of Instagram clips. That's how I find I feel like that's how a lot of find a lot of comedians now is Instagram clips. Are you? Yeah,

Greg Warren: 1:11:16

I'm way into it now. Like, we're all in on that. But yeah, up until about six months ago, I posted nothing.

Chuck Shute: 1:11:22

Is was serious. Because last time we talked I think you were saying serious was pretty good. income for you. Is it still

Greg Warren: 1:11:28

good? Yeah, the royalties and series are extremely generous. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:11:31

That's crazy. And you said you think they pay musicians to for playing the songs? Yeah, positive they do. That's awesome. Yeah. It's it's tough for musicians and even comedians. I feel like it's, it's tough to get to make money and a lot of those avenues in terms of like, say like comedy album sales, you're probably not shit. Yeah, a lot of money off of that.

Greg Warren: 1:11:53

But nobody buys comedy albums. It's so funny. Every comedian will be like, I had the number one iTunes album this week, and I think I've done it or I've said I got the number two album this week. It's like, given you sold six copies.

Chuck Shute: 1:12:07

Congratulations. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it's that's it's kind of that's what's cool about seeing the other ways that the you can make money but like I said, with the bands of the meet and greets, I feel like I kind of feel bad for them. Because I'm like, I don't think they want to do this, but it's probably a huge part of their income. Yeah, yeah. Very cool. Well, everyone can see the special I'll put the link in the show notes along. Thanks. Great talk again, man. Yeah, you too. Yeah. Stay in touch. And yeah, let me know if you, I guess reach out again and a couple of years. I'm going fuzzy again, when when you have special? I will absolutely man. Okay, cool. See you later. All right. My thanks again to the very funny Greg Warren. Check out a special the sales minutes on YouTube. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok. He's got a lot of good stuff, funny clips. Some of those clips on Tik Tok are like one in like 3.6 million or something. So check out his website in the show notes for more information. And also remember liking, sharing, commenting on episodes and social media, and YouTube helps out the guest and the show. And of course, make sure you subscribe wherever you watch or listen, preferably YouTube, but show is everywhere. And if you're on iTunes or Spotify, if you can give us a five star rating and review we really appreciate that. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great day and shoot for the moon.