A-List Comedian Ghostwriter: “Your Worst Day Is Your Best Content” | Ep 4

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:07:05

Forbes

My girlfriend and I broke up today. And yeah, I know. Right, brother? And you know, I. Yeah. Oh my God.

 

00:00:07:06 - 00:00:22:20

Brady

In that moment when the comedian is doing his thing, you have stopped thinking and outsourced your entire mental faculties to the thing that he's got planned. And if he does it right, he's going to reach inside your head and he's going to find something you didn't know is there? He's going to tickle it. That is the magic of comedy.

 

00:00:22:21 - 00:00:40:23

Brady

Today I'm going to walk you through, step by step, one of my favorite humans on the planet. His process, his mind, and the actual dozens of times that I have had doubled over belly laughs as a result of his comedy. So buckle up. This is forged.

 

00:00:41:00 - 00:00:41:14

Brady

Forbes.

 

00:00:41:14 - 00:00:43:06

Forbes

My brother. Hey man.

 

00:00:43:08 - 00:00:45:13

Brady

You are actually one of the funniest people I know.

 

00:00:45:14 - 00:00:51:09

Forbes

Well, you don't know many people. That's cool up here.

 

00:00:51:11 - 00:00:52:10

Forbes

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

00:00:52:11 - 00:01:12:06

Brady

But what is it that makes something funny? Because we've also seen open mics, and I have watched someone that was so convinced that their bit was just top shelf. Yeah. And it degrades down to this, like screaming, weird, frenetic thing. It's like incoherent and they find it hilarious and then they test it across the room. Nobody gets it.

 

00:01:12:06 - 00:01:17:01

Brady

So what is their disconnect with what is actually funny?

 

00:01:17:03 - 00:01:36:20

Forbes

That's a crazy question about what is actually funny, because comedy and humor is the most nuanced form of communication. There's different settings where, you know, you can kill with a joke in one setting and then in a different setting. It's terrible. Right? Or you could do the same. I've done shows, the seven and the nine where the seven.

 

00:01:36:20 - 00:01:51:23

Forbes

It killed the nine. It sucked. Or vice versa. You know, comedy. What makes it funny is when people feel connected and when people feel connected, they let their guard down. And that's when people laugh. If people can't connect, people aren't going to find it funny. It doesn't matter how good the material is.

 

00:01:52:01 - 00:02:14:23

Brady

But connection kind of feels subjective in some regard, because people will connect over self-deprecating humor, or they'll connect over misery or trauma bonding. But then some people like us, like, we'll kind of toot our own horn here. We'll connect over like vision over the fact that we have started from where we started from, got super obsessed, and are now demanding success at every corner of our life, and we bond over that.

 

00:02:14:23 - 00:02:19:16

Brady

So, I mean, connection feels kind of subjective in that sense. Maybe that's why some work, some don't.

 

00:02:19:17 - 00:02:46:11

Forbes

I think connection can be subjective in terms of like I relate to what you're saying, but the universal language of comedy is really authenticity. If you're authentic and you're honest, that's when something comes across is funny and it can be dark, it can be silly, it can be totally elaborate or over specific. You know, all the different types of comedy that there is, but it has to start from something authentic, like that's, you know, when it's it's no different than music, right?

 

00:02:46:13 - 00:03:04:09

Forbes

Like, the music we like is when we can tell it's authentic, when there's real pain in the artist or real joy in the artist. That's music that we enjoy, right? It's the same thing with comedy. It's never as good when someone retells someone's bit because it's not their bit. You have to find your own voice in your own sense of humor.

 

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:25:10

Forbes

And that's what's funny. And your sense of humor isn't going to be for everybody, right? But your sense of humor is a unique part of your personality, right? People have similar senses of humor, but no one will have the exact same sense of humor. And, you know, in my career as a ghost writer, working with different thought leaders and brand development, but also with comedians.

 

00:03:25:14 - 00:03:30:17

Brady

Huge comedians that we're not going to mention. But yeah, means literally every human on the planet is seen and listened to.

 

00:03:30:17 - 00:03:47:10

Forbes

And they're and the magic is when you figure out how you can step inside their sense of humor, right. How you can lend it to say, I know that this is your tone and this is your style, and this is what is funny. This is your brand, right? And then I can once I'm in there, I can help punch it up.

 

00:03:47:10 - 00:04:05:10

Forbes

The thing is, people think that it's like some skill that you have to develop. I would argue that you have to unlearn a bunch of stuff to find it within you. I think it's innate and unique and you already have it. People will think that they have to go and learn how to do it. And, you know, this is a great video that we have.

 

00:04:05:11 - 00:04:23:20

Forbes

But, you know, the spoiler alert is really about unpeeled all the things that you thought that you were told that you learned that wasn't funny. To find out what makes you funny, the closer you get to your authenticity and unpeeled all the BS, the closer that you'll actually get to finding your sense of humor.

 

00:04:24:00 - 00:04:47:04

Brady

I wrestle with that word authenticity. Yeah, I find it to be this dead horse. There are like some certain words like brand, like, oh, you get to build your brand, you gotta be authentic. And it's like, on its face, I understand exactly what it's saying. Right? And so maybe because I believe I understand it so thoroughly, it does nothing for me.

 

00:04:47:06 - 00:05:09:20

Brady

So I'm either so divorced from the actual meaning of it or I get it and I'm just maybe there's layers and understanding because being authentic, it's like, well, okay, what is the opposite of that? Being performative or like trying to be someone else that you're not like, okay, sure, I've seen that in people right where they are in different groups and then they're a chameleon and that's a survival mechanism for them.

 

00:05:09:20 - 00:05:27:23

Brady

It's also a sales principle, like you kind of match and mirrored the tone, pacing, breathing, cadence and the energy of the room. I wouldn't say that that's not authentic, that's just being flexible. So then there's being flexible in adapting to maybe what you're around, but what the fuck does authentic mean?

 

00:05:28:00 - 00:05:48:06

Forbes

Well, I'm glad that you said flexible and adaptive, because the way I define authenticity is authenticity inherently is not rigid. Authenticity changes every day, and it changes by scenario, right? So you can be authentically yourself in a different day. Like, you know, when people have a personal brand, they commit to it, you know, and they're like, this is my brand.

 

00:05:48:06 - 00:06:14:17

Forbes

This is who I am. Okay. But is that you every day, you know? Right. Like, how do you allow yourself the permission to expand on it, to change, to adapt, to evolve. That's where I think authenticity lives. Is authenticity that's certain is fake. But authenticity that's uncertain is real. Because anytime someone is overly certain, this is how you do it.

 

00:06:14:17 - 00:06:31:14

Forbes

This is how it is. Let me tell you how it is. Like those are the people to be wary of, right? The unknown and being comfortable in the unknown and being yourself and the unknown. That's really where authenticity lives, you know, and it goes to how every different day is a different challenge. And it's a different gift. Right.

 

00:06:31:15 - 00:06:51:13

Forbes

And every there's no, you know, every interaction we've had has been different people. Right. Like the guy that we talked to last week, you talked to me and I talked to you last week. Those are two different dudes today. This is a different dude, right? Like because you're constantly evolving. You were never the same person. You are ever.

 

00:06:51:14 - 00:07:11:05

Forbes

Right? Like, every moment you're a different person because you've learned, you've grown. You've changed. Right? The guy who I was yesterday is not the guy I am today. And the guy I am today is not going to be the guy I am tomorrow. So how can I what consistency can I have of just kind of being in that moment day to day where I'm adaptable and I'm willing to change.

 

00:07:11:05 - 00:07:39:08

Forbes

That's I think we're authenticity is, you know, like the problem with bits in my stand up career is that some of them have a shelf life. Right? Like when I was mentally ill, my suicide stuff killed, right? Literally. You know, that was my best material. I'm in a much different mental place now, right? It's difficult for me to tell those jokes and get the same laugh.

 

00:07:39:09 - 00:07:45:11

Forbes

The words didn't change, the cadence didn't change, the timing didn't change. It's just become inauthentic because I'm different.

 

00:07:45:12 - 00:07:45:17

Brady

Yeah.

 

00:07:45:18 - 00:08:02:22

Forbes

You changed. Yeah. Artists evolve. Right? Like, I mean, you know this from all the art you've created. You look at the first version of art and you're like, I can't believe that that was my art, right? But in that moment, that was your art. You were authentic then, right? And so you just have to be honest with your sense of humor.

 

00:08:02:22 - 00:08:12:16

Forbes

That's what I'm saying is, like, you have to be authentic in the sense that you're different every time you're you're at a microphone.

 

00:08:12:18 - 00:08:42:15

Brady

Which is funny because if you take it to the limit and you become the most famous comedian in the world, or you become like, oh, I miss the old Kanye. Yeah, like the second year art evolves, you're going to have people pissed about it, which is super funny, but that's maybe just a reflection of their own inflexibility. But it is probably the truest, the truest path forward is not trying to be a one hit wonder, because I think that that's the issue is like when you talk about your mental health bits, you're like, this is my my thing.

 

00:08:42:15 - 00:08:52:10

Brady

Now I'm going to make like mental health jokes for the rest of my standup career because it kills here. And I'm not willing to take a gamble on something outside of that, because what if it doesn't.

 

00:08:52:10 - 00:09:27:05

Forbes

Work, right? Well, and then it's the nuance of comedy, right? Like, you can tell you said something earlier about performative, right? And so stand up comedy, for example, is by nature performative. You know, there is a version of you that goes on stage, right? But the performative and the authentic self have to merge. Otherwise you're, you know, in that example of telling an old suicide bit, I'm performing, I'm on stage, I'm in performing mode, but I have to work extra hard to really perform this bit because it's out of line with who I am authentically.

 

00:09:27:05 - 00:09:29:02

Forbes

And it comes across that way.

 

00:09:29:04 - 00:09:30:01

Brady

Yeah, because people can tell.

 

00:09:30:02 - 00:09:48:23

Forbes

So you can perform and you can be performative, but just you also have to have that other half which is authentic of you right now. Right. So I've you performance in the microphone literally as an amplification of who you are. Right. When you go into a room, your job as a comedian, you know, some of the lingo in the industry is hot stage.

 

00:09:48:23 - 00:09:49:23

Forbes

Cold stage. Right.

 

00:09:50:00 - 00:09:50:14

Brady

What does that mean?

 

00:09:50:14 - 00:10:00:22

Forbes

You don't want to let someone come up to a cold stage, meaning that the audience is going to need to be warmed up and they're not primed and ready and excited. The energy is low.

 

00:10:00:23 - 00:10:03:02

Brady

The sacrificial lamb is the first one, right?

 

00:10:03:02 - 00:10:16:17

Forbes

That's where I cut my teeth as a, you know, an opener on tour for, you know, A-list acts was you have to be the guy to go and break the ice. It's an ice cold stage. Your only job is to make sure it's red hot for the guy that they paid to see.

 

00:10:16:18 - 00:10:20:16

Brady

Oh, my God, that's brutal. Versus a hot stage.

 

00:10:20:22 - 00:10:38:01

Forbes

Versus a hot stage. Sometimes the stage can be too hot. I've had people go before and just crush so hard that no matter what I did, they're like, bring the other guy back. You know, Bill Burr has this quote about comedy. He's like, until you're killing so hard that people don't want to go after you, you don't have it yet.

 

00:10:38:03 - 00:10:46:15

Forbes

But when you're in that moment where you're just killing and people look at the lineup and they're like, I don't want to follow that. That's that's when you know, you're really, really good.

 

00:10:46:17 - 00:10:48:05

Brady

Damn.

 

00:10:48:07 - 00:10:48:17

Forbes

Yeah.

 

00:10:48:18 - 00:10:50:23

Brady

Oh my gosh. Perspective.

 

00:10:50:23 - 00:11:12:17

Forbes

So I don't know if that answers your question, but 100% the room is all about energy, right. And so you when you're performing you're capturing you're projecting the actual energy in you, the authentic in the moment energy. Right. So, you know, it's really important you'll you'll see that there's a bunch of like the really good comedians. They have a way to get into the right mindset before they go on stage.

 

00:11:12:19 - 00:11:32:11

Forbes

The ability to leave all the crap from today outside the green room and really be able to amplify what you have because you can only fake it so much. If you've got crap in here and you're going to go pretend it's not, people are going to pick up on that. When you're performing, when you're doing art, it's just an amplification of the energy that's inside you, right?

 

00:11:32:12 - 00:11:57:23

Forbes

And this is like a little hippie dippy kind of. But, you know, we're all energetic human beings, right? And sometimes when I'm on stage and I'm like, if I'm hosting, right, that's really my jam is my ability to build the container and get the energy up. I sometimes I feel like I can feel it in my feet, and it's so loud that I find myself in my tiptoes because I'm, like, just overflowing with energy, right?

 

00:11:58:00 - 00:12:07:23

Forbes

But at the same time, you know, if the energy is low, I can feel myself like literally dig in with my foot into the stage to try and find where that energy is to pull everyone in.

 

00:12:08:00 - 00:12:12:17

Brady

So it's like a physiological thing that you tap into when you're in that flow state.

 

00:12:12:18 - 00:12:13:14

Forbes

Yeah. Well.

 

00:12:13:15 - 00:12:15:07

Brady

And then trying to find the flow state.

 

00:12:15:08 - 00:12:27:13

Forbes

And then that's where, you know, we started the conversation talking about like the context of a joke. Right. It's really just an energy, you know. Right. Like we all know the guy who makes the joke at the wrong time.

 

00:12:27:15 - 00:12:32:05

Brady

You're like, I've never done that. What you're talking about.

 

00:12:32:07 - 00:13:03:22

Forbes

We're like, dude, not now, right? That's it's not that's not the joke. That was bad, right? It was. And people call it timing or whatever. It's an understanding of the energy in the room. Right. I've unfortunately had to bury very close friends. Right. And there is no atmosphere. So ready for a joke than a funeral. Like, people are so full of emotion that they really are waiting for a reason to just let it out.

 

00:13:04:01 - 00:13:24:21

Forbes

Some of the biggest laughs I've had in my career were the worst days of my life, where my best friend's funerals and just nailing it because it's it's the right time, it's it. People are on board. Energy doesn't have to necessarily be happy. Like but people all were sharing that energy, right? It was grief, you know. But we were all in it.

 

00:13:24:21 - 00:13:46:08

Forbes

And it's like a balloon that fills up and then you can pop it when it pops, then it, then it really pops. And that's one example. But, you know, energy is energy. Think of a comedy club of how it's designed, right? It's designed where people are so close to each other, the lights are low. The reason people sit so close to each other in a comedy club is because laughter is contagious.

 

00:13:46:08 - 00:14:07:07

Forbes

It's literally like a wildfire, right? So, you know, there are there are people that have lifetime free tickets to shows when I'm in town because their laugh is so good. And I tell the club I'm like, put him there, you know? Because when he laughs, you know, it's it's new stuff. I'm not like planting it. He's not like paid to be there.

 

00:14:07:07 - 00:14:16:02

Forbes

But when he laughs I know it explodes. Right. You see really famous comedians that laugh on stage. Kevin Hart's a great one.

 

00:14:16:02 - 00:14:18:11

Brady

Kevin Hart says that too. Yep. Yeah. Right.

 

00:14:18:12 - 00:14:45:08

Forbes

When they start cracking up while they're on there, you can't help but laugh with them, right? It's energy. That's all comedy is. It's energy management and conveying a thought through energy that you talk about comedy being hypnosis. It is a form of hypnosis. It's a form of connection. Right? And the more authentic you are, the finer tuned your signal is.

 

00:14:45:10 - 00:15:08:04

Brady

So the more authentic you are, the more congruent you are. Meaning you're more ready to kind of service. Because that's what the comedian in that environment does is he's the mouthpiece for enough of a shared thought or like a shared consensus of enough people. So then people go to the low hanging fruit, they'll make a joke about Trump or Kamala or whatever, and you're like, enough people are going to like that.

 

00:15:08:04 - 00:15:30:21

Brady

So I'll be the mouthpiece for that bit, and if I structure it well enough, I'll at least get a petty laugh. And then that spreads. But so then you're basically channeling through pre-prepared material and sometimes deviate from it, but you're channeling the consensus of the room. And if you miss it and you think you understand what people like or think, but you're way off the target, that's when you get a cold audience.

 

00:15:30:21 - 00:15:49:09

Brady

So that process is what I think everybody is. It's so nebulous to them. How do you start to understand what is in other people's heads? Step one is probably being authentic because then you're congruent and aligned. What's the process like? Do you go for the low hanging fruit like, oh yeah, I'm going to make a joke about traffic, airline food, like politics.

 

00:15:49:10 - 00:15:52:12

Brady

What is in your process? How do you start?

 

00:15:52:12 - 00:16:15:17

Forbes

I think it's called low hanging fruit because it's not particularly close or personal to you. And it's just like whatever, you know, like everyone can have the same thought about politics, you know, like to to do a joke like that and really have it work. You have to really be masterful in how you do it, right? You have to have really good wordplay or a really good misdirection or a really good escalation.

 

00:16:15:18 - 00:16:31:05

Forbes

Okay, to get away with something so broad, right? It comes down to as far as a process goes. It comes down to curiosity, right? Being curious about something in the wild, seeing something and being like, now why is that like that?

 

00:16:31:05 - 00:16:31:22

Brady

Yeah.

 

00:16:32:04 - 00:16:56:05

Forbes

You know, and because once you and then following on that train of thought, why is that like that? You know, what if it wasn't like that or what if everything was like that and start asking these questions, start playing, right? It's just play to figure out what you're going to find, where you find the funny, and then that's where, you know, like comedians like Seinfeld are really good at that, right?

 

00:16:56:07 - 00:17:05:18

Forbes

People are like, yeah, why is that like that? You know? And that's where you get the relatable factor is people go, oh, I have noticed that. But I've never stopped to wonder why it's like that.

 

00:17:05:19 - 00:17:24:01

Brady

He talks quite a bit about his process and he hand writes every single joke. Yeah, he will count syllables in the joke, which is a big part. It's not just your tone which colors the way that you're driving the point, but it's also in the pacing.

 

00:17:24:02 - 00:17:25:00

Forbes

Yeah, there's rhythm.

 

00:17:25:00 - 00:17:25:17

Brady

There's rhythm.

 

00:17:25:17 - 00:17:47:06

Forbes

To it. Yeah. I mean, it's spoken word, right? Like just like slam poetry. Just like rap. Just like music. Just like that. It's it's spoken word, you know, to the point where when you have a bit. So down in your head you can, like, recite it a cappella. What I mean by a cappella is no crowd in front of you, but you can still hear the laughs.

 

00:17:47:07 - 00:17:48:00

Brady

Oh, wow.

 

00:17:48:04 - 00:17:53:04

Forbes

Because you're like, just like how when you sing your favorite song, you.

 

00:17:53:05 - 00:17:55:13

Brady

You don't need the or the drums, but you know where it is.

 

00:17:55:14 - 00:18:15:01

Forbes

You know when your line is you, you naturally wait. And then you sing, right? Because otherwise, if you're just singing words together, you're not singing a song, right? Like rests are the most one of the most important parts of music. When people aren't playing, they're just as important as making sure you hit the note when you do play it.

 

00:18:15:02 - 00:18:20:14

Forbes

So it's cool that Seinfeld count syllables. I didn't know he did that, but that makes sense. It is a cadence thing.

 

00:18:20:15 - 00:18:42:13

Brady

Yeah, it is a cadence thing. And he also talks about how he writes every single day. Yeah, he never misses a day that he writes. So there's certainly the muscle of writing that plays a big part of it. But I think music is like the perfect analogy for trying to break this, like this complicated shit down. It's like, okay, well, if I'm in the shoes of someone trying to go like, you know what?

 

00:18:42:14 - 00:19:01:10

Brady

All my friends tell me I'm funny and I believe that I have some novel ideas or views around the world. It's like, clap for you. You're so unique. But like, how does one determine then what their pacing is? Because if you look at the spread of comedians and the best, I'll do it differently, right? So Mitch Hedberg. Right.

 

00:19:01:11 - 00:19:19:17

Brady

Like what? How the hell do you land on something like that versus, you know, Anthony Jeselnik, where his thing is this, like, beat and then a delivery and then, of course, the left turn. But then you've got a Chris Rock or whoever else, and they're just, like, firing. Firing, like, how do you determine your cadence, your time signature?

 

00:19:19:18 - 00:19:24:12

Forbes

Yeah. I mean, so you you record everything you do, right? And you listen to the tape.

 

00:19:24:16 - 00:19:26:14

Brady

That's agony for some people, by the way.

 

00:19:26:15 - 00:19:33:18

Forbes

Yeah. Well, and then the the other important thing is you eat shit a lot.

 

00:19:33:20 - 00:19:38:07

Forbes

The, the times you eat shit are the times you learn the most about your comedy, right?

 

00:19:38:09 - 00:19:41:04

Brady

Like, say that one more time because I know that that's true.

 

00:19:41:05 - 00:19:56:04

Forbes

The times you eat shit are the times you learn the most about your comedy for real. Just like anything in life when you like. Success is a lousy teacher, you know, you can listen to a time that you murdered and you're like, man, this jokes great. And it's like, is it? Or was the crowd hammered, you know? Right.

 

00:19:56:07 - 00:20:17:08

Forbes

Like like there's all these different extenuating circumstances, right. And the interesting thing about comedy is it's uniquely live, right? So like you listen to your favorite song, the studio version, and then you listen to it live. Right? Some people really like the live version, some people like the studio version. But you can tell that there's some nuance, some difference in it.

 

00:20:17:09 - 00:20:31:22

Forbes

Standup is uniquely live. I think it was Chris Rock that made the comparison between music and stand up, where, when you go to see your favorite concert, your favorite band, you want them to play all the old shit, all the songs.

 

00:20:32:01 - 00:20:32:19

Brady

100%.

 

00:20:32:20 - 00:20:56:12

Forbes

You go and see your favorite comedian, you better have new shit, right? You don't go to hear the old stuff, right? I think that's Chris Rock that said that. And so it's it's interesting with as it relates to the writing habit, it gets better the more you write, to the point where as I'm writing, I can hear now moments where I'm like, that could get a laugh, you know?

 

00:20:56:13 - 00:21:14:06

Forbes

Right. Like you start to get so in tune with your own voice. So to answer your question about cadence, where that comes from, it comes from listening to the tape. You just have to listen to it over and over, and you'll have notes every time, right to the point where you're revising down to getting rid of specific words.

 

00:21:14:08 - 00:21:14:22

Brady

Well.

 

00:21:15:02 - 00:21:35:02

Forbes

To the point where Bill Burr has a, you know, a joke where he talks about this terrible domestic violence joke and he's like, it's a good joke. There's no fat on that joke. You need every word in that joke, right? Like, that's the the joke of the joke, right? Is that if it's so concise that there's one word you can't lose, then you're really dialed in.

 

00:21:35:03 - 00:21:36:23

Brady

That's the one.

 

00:21:37:01 - 00:21:48:07

Forbes

I say, you know so much, it drives me nuts. It's my filler. It's my what was I supposed to be saying?

 

00:21:48:08 - 00:21:51:13

Brady

Word you do not consciously.

 

00:21:51:15 - 00:21:59:09

Forbes

Well, you know, I do a ton of podcasts now, right? You know, with extraordinary stories and.

 

00:21:59:11 - 00:22:03:12

Forbes

Listening to the tape just makes you pull your hair.

 

00:22:03:13 - 00:22:05:19

Brady

Out and you're bald.

 

00:22:05:21 - 00:22:07:22

Speaker 3

Bald? Hey, it. Was that a good joke?

 

00:22:07:23 - 00:22:10:00

Forbes

That was. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right on point.

 

00:22:10:01 - 00:22:12:23

Speaker 3

Like, you know, call out something obvious that's, you know. No.

 

00:22:13:01 - 00:22:46:13

Forbes

Like, what I mean, is it the other thing about making a joke in the moment is people have to be willing to receive a joke, right? Like, sometimes people give a joke like, there's, you know, when someone's really trying hard to be funny, but they're just being an asshole, right? And you have to, like, tell them like, hey, man, they don't like this humor, right?

 

00:22:46:15 - 00:23:07:13

Forbes

You know, like improv. Everything's. Yes. And, you know, I'm hyper aware of accidental denials, right? How do I accidentally say no to what someone's giving me? Right. So when you're like, you know, I say, I'm pulling my hair out and you're like. And you're bald. And it's like, yeah, right. You gotta. Yes. And. Right. If I were to just have been like, good one, you know?

 

00:23:07:19 - 00:23:25:02

Forbes

Right. Yeah. Like like that's a denial. You see what I mean? Right. There are some audience members that are there to deny their audience. There are some people that are just so stuck in their shit that they'll sit there. No, not gonna make me laugh. And those are my favorite.

 

00:23:25:06 - 00:23:28:05

Brady

Why do they go to comedy shows? What is that?

 

00:23:28:07 - 00:23:32:16

Forbes

That's because they're because they're asking for help.

 

00:23:32:18 - 00:23:34:07

Brady

They want to go to a therapist.

 

00:23:34:09 - 00:23:36:11

Forbes

They're just asking for help.

 

00:23:36:12 - 00:23:36:15

Brady

Oh.

 

00:23:36:15 - 00:23:58:10

Forbes

My God. We were talking about authenticity earlier, and I want to get to, you know, how to tell a joke and how to write a joke. Like, you know what we're here to talk about on forged, but it really is just being in touch with yourself and being honest, you know, and being being sad if you're sad in the moment, like it's a great time to write a joke.

 

00:23:58:11 - 00:24:02:11

Forbes

Like my outlook on life is that everything's a bit. So the bit is like.

 

00:24:02:16 - 00:24:03:08

Brady

What is a bit?

 

00:24:03:09 - 00:24:22:01

Forbes

It's like a joke. It's not necessarily one joke could be a series of jokes. It's just this nebulous. It's a bit right. It's like not necessarily a full story, but you can find some gold in it and a bunch of bits together makes a good story when someone tells us to sink. Funny anecdote. People say that's a good bit.

 

00:24:22:04 - 00:24:24:11

Forbes

They mean that little anecdote.

 

00:24:24:12 - 00:24:28:01

Brady

I'm trying a thing. I've got a little thing that I say, yeah, people.

 

00:24:28:01 - 00:24:34:03

Forbes

People develop bits naturally all the time. You know, let me tell you about this time I was driving home from work. Right. That's a bit.

 

00:24:34:07 - 00:24:36:02

Brady

So there I was, drunk driving. Yeah.

 

00:24:36:03 - 00:24:39:17

Forbes

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's got stale. Yeah.

 

00:24:39:19 - 00:24:42:17

Brady

Cool. Whatever.

 

00:24:42:19 - 00:25:05:07

Forbes

But everything's everything's a bit, you know, like here. So here's a here's a curveball for you. My girlfriend and I broke up today, and. Yeah, I know. Right? Last time I was in your studio, I had a broken foot. Yes. For that other podcast that you run for that guest. Right? Broken foot, broken heart. Don't fucking doubt my dedication, brother.

 

00:25:05:08 - 00:25:08:03

Forbes

And.

 

00:25:08:05 - 00:25:09:02

Forbes

Oh, don't don't.

 

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:10:04

Brady

Play that. He.

 

00:25:10:06 - 00:25:14:01

Forbes

Why would I? He threatened to break my kneecap if I wasn't here. He said I don't care about your emotions.

 

00:25:14:02 - 00:25:17:15

Brady

You were half hour late, I was chill.

 

00:25:17:17 - 00:25:20:02

Forbes

I was crying.

 

00:25:20:04 - 00:25:21:20

Brady

Wait, your car was actually charged?

 

00:25:21:21 - 00:25:23:00

Forbes

No, no, it wasn't.

 

00:25:23:02 - 00:25:27:21

Brady

To charge it. You're like, yeah, no, I told you my battery was dead, but really, I was emotionally unavailable.

 

00:25:27:21 - 00:25:48:14

Forbes

Well, everything's a bit right. You know, the day that your relationship ends is the day that your car is dying, right? You know, like, everything's everything's a bit, you know, and. But no, like, that's this is this is what I'm getting at. Everything's a bit in the sense that it's a, it's my outlook on life. Everything has something funny in it.

 

00:25:48:16 - 00:26:05:23

Forbes

Right. Like there's no there's no bad days. There's days where we win and there's days where we learn and then there's really bad days which give us really good content. Right. And as it relates to, you know, I'm Mister Blue Sky, right? That's kind of my M.O., you know, like.

 

00:26:06:01 - 00:26:08:12

Brady

What does that mean? Because blue Sky is an app for liberals.

 

00:26:08:13 - 00:26:13:06

Forbes

Well, Mr. Blue Sky is an Electric Lights Orchestra song. Where.

 

00:26:13:12 - 00:26:15:19

Brady

That is such a nice reference is.

 

00:26:15:22 - 00:26:41:06

Forbes

I know it is. And it's, it's like in every movie, you know, but Mr. Blue Sky, everyone, it's a sign about optimism and happiness. Right. I, I was Mr. Blue Sky for Halloween, and I went to a party that my comedian friend Jess was throwing, and her boyfriend's a pilot. And so there was, like, a bunch of pilots there, and they were like, so what are you, like, a good day to fly?

 

00:26:41:07 - 00:26:50:06

Forbes

And I was like, this costume fucking sucks.

 

00:26:50:08 - 00:26:51:12

Forbes

And then I was like, yeah, man.

 

00:26:51:12 - 00:26:54:06

Speaker 4

That's what I am.

 

00:26:54:08 - 00:27:22:04

Forbes

But no, Mr. Blue Sky is a way of like, it's a mentality that, what I would say to people who want to find out what's funny, it's like, don't, don't trauma dump on people, but process and understand what you're going through in the moment. Be authentic with who you are in the moment right now, what you're feeling, you know, and then find a way to tell that later because people who have gone through a breakup will be like.

 

00:27:22:05 - 00:27:22:12

Brady

Oh.

 

00:27:22:13 - 00:27:44:21

Forbes

Shit, I felt like that in my breakup to. And it's a fine line between just trauma dumping on somebody. But if you can show growth, if you could show what you learned, if you can show some evolution, you know, that's that's how you get away with that, because other people want to be along with you for that part of the ride.

 

00:27:44:22 - 00:27:57:05

Brady

Well, it's a story arc. Yeah. And so if you're like, don't leave me at the lowest point of this, tell me that there's a light at the end of this year. Tunnel. Yeah. Because if I am going to sit there captive listening to your, your your breakup story.

 

00:27:57:07 - 00:27:57:17

Forbes

Yeah.

 

00:27:57:18 - 00:28:12:10

Brady

And if I, the best storytellers, will take you through a ride of emotions, you'll go up and down and they manage to guide you through the whole process. That's a really good storyteller. The hero's journey, you know, any kind of beginning, middle and end. Yeah. So that's kind of seems like it's what you're alluding to.

 

00:28:12:10 - 00:28:32:09

Forbes

I didn't have the bit fleshed out because it's very new, right, of like the evolution of it. But what I can say and like the thread that I was coming up with on the drive here was, you know, okay, break up. What are you going to do about it? Go on a podcast.

 

00:28:32:11 - 00:28:42:00

Forbes

And I told you I was like, you know, I have something to bring up. And you were like, what is it? I was like, I'm not going to tell you because I wanted that reaction that you gave me, which is, what the fuck, dude?

 

00:28:42:02 - 00:28:49:05

Brady

That was, I see why you held it out. I would have probably told you to go home if you told me that the for the damn episode started.

 

00:28:49:07 - 00:28:55:03

Forbes

Yeah, we should just open with that, because now we're laughing a lot more. And this is a fucking thing about comedy. I've been swearing a lot, should I not?

 

00:28:55:04 - 00:28:55:12

Brady

Fuck.

 

00:28:55:13 - 00:28:56:02

Forbes

Yeah. Okay.

 

00:28:56:03 - 00:29:12:00

Brady

No it's great dude, that is another thing. I was raised very, very devout in a in a high commitment faith. And I have all the love in the world for it. My faith is evolving and I hold dear all the values I was raised with. Yeah, I also have been swearing since I was 15 years old and just kind of concealed it and measured the room.

 

00:29:12:02 - 00:29:15:05

Brady

And so now I'm like, it's not an excuse.

 

00:29:15:05 - 00:29:15:21

Forbes

To read in the room.

 

00:29:16:00 - 00:29:31:19

Brady

Yeah, read the room. Yeah. It's also not an excuse to be like, great, now I'm in a ten x. It like the joke is like, when a gay person goes under anesthetic, they they wake up, and then the voice is gone for a little bit. Who's anesthesiologist? Swear to God it's a real thing. Anesthesiologist will talk about it all the time.

 

00:29:31:21 - 00:29:34:17

Brady

They'd be like.

 

00:29:34:19 - 00:29:37:05

Forbes

Yeah, okay, do this depression. Let's do it. Yeah.

 

00:29:37:07 - 00:29:51:05

Brady

Let's do the impression that's not my bit, but they'll talk about it all the time. They're like, they'll have the patient come in and the patient is the game. They live a life. It's great. Whatever it's. But then when they go under and they come back out, the voice is gone temporarily and they're just like, what is that?

 

00:29:51:05 - 00:30:11:20

Brady

You know? And then it can become muscle memory. But the point is, is that in your display of who you authentically feel you are, there's probably the versions of it that are feel like to your core. That's your OS. Yeah. You're not even thinking about it. And then there's kind of this like additional layer where you're like, hey, I'm trying to jockey myself as kind of somewhere between here.

 

00:30:11:20 - 00:30:25:04

Brady

And then there's the aspirational level of it, okay, that's and so maybe somewhere in between trying to identify the core things that are like the nearest, truest, most relevant right now. You just went through a breakup. I'm going to write art out of that.

 

00:30:25:04 - 00:30:51:15

Forbes

I don't think performance like, thank you for saying that, because you just gave me a new perspective on what I've been saying. And I think a way to make it clear, I don't think performance and and authenticity conflict. I think I think when you, you know, like like if you're hamming it up, you know, right. Like that's authentic because you know that it's going to work.

 

00:30:51:16 - 00:30:56:03

Forbes

You know, like when I do like a really sexy voice.

 

00:30:56:05 - 00:30:57:13

Brady

I'm bricked.

 

00:30:57:15 - 00:31:46:13

Forbes

That's performance. But it's the authentic part of me. The joke of it is I. I'm doing it like I know what I'm doing, right. You know? Is it my normal voice? No, but I am honest enough with myself to know I want this reaction. So I'm going to do this thing, you know, like comedy. One of my great mentors, the guy who really did a lot from my career, he always said that it was comedy, was kind of this, like, funny way of saying what everyone else is thinking, to a point where even if it's like really controversial, you can get people to admit that they do it to write like, you know, like

 

00:31:46:14 - 00:31:56:01

Forbes

that, that. Right. There could be a bit about a guy intentionally using a sexy voice, right? You know that. Then guys are like, I do do that sometimes, right? Yeah.

 

00:31:56:02 - 00:31:56:18

Brady

You know, like, shit.

 

00:31:56:18 - 00:31:58:21

Forbes

That's me. Yeah. Shit. Yeah, right.

 

00:31:58:23 - 00:32:01:03

Brady

Or my business voice when I'm in a business meeting.

 

00:32:01:06 - 00:32:10:07

Forbes

Well, I mean, just how many takes are guys doing when they're putting their voice prompts on hinge? Like, you know, that's not a one thing. Oh, you've been you've been out of.

 

00:32:10:07 - 00:32:11:21

Brady

The game. Married man bro.

 

00:32:12:03 - 00:32:20:04

Forbes

Even boys prompt yeah. You've put a voice prompt and like I'll be honest dude I'm doing like 1213 takes to make sure it's like really hot bro.

 

00:32:20:05 - 00:32:29:00

Brady

I saw Instagram one where the guy, I didn't even put this together. He made the waveform because you can see the waveform and he made it look like a dick.

 

00:32:29:01 - 00:32:29:18

Forbes

Brilliant.

 

00:32:29:19 - 00:32:34:06

Brady

Yeah. So it was like brown and then shout and that's.

 

00:32:34:08 - 00:32:37:00

Forbes

That's brilliant. Good for him dude.

 

00:32:37:01 - 00:32:40:08

Brady

They didn't really put together what that was. Now it's all clear to me.

 

00:32:40:10 - 00:32:53:23

Forbes

That's the other thing man. My jokes do not land on dating apps, bro. Like I don't know, there's there's something about a written joke versus a spoken joke versus a joke. When you're in person, you know, you ever make a risky joke over text?

 

00:32:54:01 - 00:32:55:09

Brady

Yes, I have done that.

 

00:32:55:10 - 00:33:03:01

Forbes

Yeah. And then you're like, boy, you know, if they had heard me say it, they'd get it a lot better then. Yeah.

 

00:33:03:03 - 00:33:03:10

Brady

What have.

 

00:33:03:10 - 00:33:05:03

Forbes

I done? You know, like.

 

00:33:05:07 - 00:33:13:21

Brady

You'll send me some text and I'm like, I think Forbes is like, pissed right now. And then I got to know you better. Over the last couple of years, I was like, he's just doing a bit well.

 

00:33:13:21 - 00:33:39:05

Forbes

So, you know, written word for spoken word, it's an important part of comedy is, you know, so you can italicize stuff. Right. Which is a code word and written for emphasis, just like how you, you know, you emphasize certain words when you. Yeah, you know, the screenwriting, like tests, like what they teach you when you learn to write movies is there's a sentence that says, I didn't say we should kill him.

 

00:33:39:06 - 00:34:01:22

Forbes

And you can italicize any letter in that sentence. And when you read it aloud, it's an entirely different sentence. So the sentence is, I didn't say we should kill him. Utilize I, I didn't say we should kill him. I didn't say we should kill him. I didn't say we should kill him. I didn't say we should kill him.

 

00:34:01:23 - 00:34:07:19

Forbes

I didn't say we should kill him. I didn't say we should kill him. I didn't say we should kill him.

 

00:34:07:19 - 00:34:09:16

Brady

Oh, my. That's great.

 

00:34:09:17 - 00:34:24:20

Forbes

It's just. It's like a nuance of delivery that people. It's so subconscious that people don't think about it. And that's why my jokes don't land on dating apps, you know, that's. I'm sticking to it.

 

00:34:24:20 - 00:34:33:03

Brady

I that grace is extended because you you have also the discipline to look back and be like that's probably the issue is the medium.

 

00:34:33:04 - 00:34:49:16

Forbes

Well, I mean, that's the other thing about like I'm making a joke when I say that. Like the one thing that drives me nuts that I hear comedians say is like, that crowd sucked. It's like that through. That crowd didn't suck. You sucked. Okay? That crowd, like people in the audience, is another thing my comedy mentor taught me.

 

00:34:49:17 - 00:35:04:08

Forbes

You got to show up, correct? Right? When you're doing a show, because people paid for tickets to the show, people probably got a babysitter. People probably went to dinner, they paid for parking or an Uber. Right? And then they gave you their time?

 

00:35:04:09 - 00:35:05:10

Brady

Yes.

 

00:35:05:12 - 00:35:26:15

Forbes

What makes you think that they owe you anything, right? It goes back to the energy conversation we had earlier about, you know, how to control the energy in a room. They don't give you energy. It's your job to create the energy and to amplify energy and give it back to them. It is not that you, you know, are owed nothing.

 

00:35:26:16 - 00:35:49:07

Forbes

That's why it's a cold stage when the opener goes on, because they're not going to just start laughing. You got to earn it. And so when people say, you know, oh well, it's just the medium or the the audience. No, dude, that's not right. You know, I say, you know, I'm calling myself out right here saying, like, my jokes don't go well over text.

 

00:35:49:09 - 00:35:54:22

Forbes

That's because I'm not writing good text jokes, okay? I'm just typing the things that I would say.

 

00:35:54:23 - 00:35:57:01

Brady

Yeah, no waveform decks. Do you try harder? Yeah.

 

00:35:57:04 - 00:35:58:17

Forbes

For real. Man. Jesus.

 

00:35:58:17 - 00:36:21:12

Brady

So your idea here is like, probably the most important thing. Like a stranger finding this going. I want to get better at comedy. What are some of the easy, you know, pitfalls that I can avoid? And this one relates almost everywhere universally, which is you've got to stop being so self-centered and in the context of going to a show and being like, that crowd sucked.

 

00:36:21:15 - 00:36:41:01

Brady

You are so fundamentally divorced from reality because you don't realize that 50, 60, 100 people got babysitters. We say the same thing at beast. So when we were filming at Mr. Beast, every single thing that we did was to design the video for the person working as a line cook at Wendy's. And people, well, this is the biggest channel on the planet.

 

00:36:41:01 - 00:36:59:11

Brady

Why would we worry about that? It's like because the viewer themselves, if you don't signal to them that you respect their time, love it, they're going to not ever watch your shit again. And so we did everything, I mean everything. So most people don't know this Mr. beast is like six foot seven. What? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It's the first thing everyone says is either MrBeast give me money or.

 

00:36:59:11 - 00:37:22:18

Brady

Oh, my God, you're so tall. And the reason no one knows that is because the way that we would film him. If my water bottle here was a camera is we would hold the camera up above our heads and tilt it down. Well, not because we're trying to hide the fact that he's tall. What we're trying to do is create a psychological environment where when you click on the video, the first thing that you see is not MrBeast towering over you with this dominating presence.

 

00:37:22:19 - 00:37:45:23

Brady

Instead, you're being invited in. Come into our fun world. You're up high, that's come on down, and you can come and watch our video and do all the fun things. We buried Jimmy alive. It's gonna be a blast. Yeah. So the psychology of getting out of your own ass and understanding and respecting the audience, the viewer, anything else is so fundamental because what it really speaks to is like, stop being so self-absorbed.

 

00:37:45:23 - 00:38:05:06

Brady

We think everybody cares about what we where we think everybody is thinking about what we're saying, and they're going to go home and and make fun of us for an hour. It's like no one cares. And it is the most liberating thing in your life to get into the place where you go. Absolutely nobody is thinking about me, because the second you get on the other side of that now, you can write comedy authentically.

 

00:38:05:06 - 00:38:18:11

Brady

Now you can get on a podcast. I've put this off for years because I've been so in my head about this. I'm like, I'm the podcast guy. I've got like dozens of shows that we do and incredible people that we work with. If I get on there and I'm asked, everyone's gonna look at that and be like, where's the podcast guy?

 

00:38:18:12 - 00:38:26:15

Brady

No, but it doesn't matter. No one cares. Yeah. And it's like, it is the most liberating thing in your life to realize that no one cares. Go ahead and dominate.

 

00:38:26:15 - 00:38:47:09

Forbes

So I said this exact same thing to a university that I was speaking at last week. Really? Yeah, speaking to their entrepreneurship fellows who they were trying to figure out where the gumption was for public speaking. Right. If you're an entrepreneur, you got to go. You got you got to pitch all the time, right? You know, you got to be the number one cheerleader of your company, right?

 

00:38:47:10 - 00:39:04:11

Forbes

I told them exactly what you just said. Take the pressure off by realizing no one cares about you. Everyone just wants to go home. That's what everyone wants to do. We wake up, we leave home, and all we want to do all day is go home.

 

00:39:04:12 - 00:39:05:12

Speaker 5

Oh my God, dude.

 

00:39:05:14 - 00:39:21:04

Forbes

And once you take that pressure off, then you realize, okay, you know, Polk speaking is not scary. Public speaking. The idea that it's scarier than death that was created by us public speakers to prevent you from being competition in the public speaking.

 

00:39:21:06 - 00:39:22:17

Brady

That's a hot take. I like.

 

00:39:22:17 - 00:39:23:16

Forbes

It 100%.

 

00:39:23:17 - 00:39:25:00

Brady

That's a conspiracy theory. I'll buy into it.

 

00:39:25:01 - 00:39:31:09

Forbes

Dude, I'll tell people all the time. Like, if you know. Oh, yeah, dude, it's not for the faint. I don't know what to tell you, man. I'm. I'm just built different.

 

00:39:31:10 - 00:39:32:14

Brady

You know, get up there. You might die.

 

00:39:32:15 - 00:39:37:06

Forbes

It's bullshit. Dude.

 

00:39:37:08 - 00:39:47:08

Forbes

I just don't care. You know, like like today, you know, with the podcast, you know, Aaron was like, maybe we should reschedule. I was like, man, nobody gives a fuck, you know? Right? Like, everyone's got their own crap.

 

00:39:47:09 - 00:39:49:18

Brady

You know, I was trying to tell you to reschedule. What the hell?

 

00:39:49:20 - 00:39:55:12

Forbes

Well, he was, like, trying to look out for you. He's like, so what are you going to talk about? I was like, I don't know, funny.

 

00:39:55:14 - 00:39:56:11

Speaker 5

I do my best.

 

00:39:56:12 - 00:39:58:17

Forbes

I don't know. Supposed to talk about what's funny.

 

00:39:58:18 - 00:40:03:00

Speaker 5

My damn car is not even charged.

 

00:40:03:02 - 00:40:15:06

Forbes

No. But you you said something else earlier that I wanted to touch on, which is if you're new and you want to figure out how to start doing comedy, start with something that's funny to you and then ask yourself, why is this funny?

 

00:40:15:08 - 00:40:15:23

Brady

Okay.

 

00:40:16:02 - 00:40:20:00

Forbes

If you're just like, oh no, it just is lazy. No one's going to care.

 

00:40:20:02 - 00:40:30:13

Brady

So start with something that is funny to you and reverse engineer it. Would this. Why is this funny? We do that with content. Why did this one stop my scroll? Why did this one get me to click on the ad? But you do that as well in comedy.

 

00:40:30:14 - 00:40:48:10

Forbes

Yeah. I mean that's like so if people are like, you know, that was a bad crowd or something like that, right? Or someone tells a joke that just bombs in like their friend group or something, you know, they're like, well, it's funny, but why? If you can't answer why it's funny, then you didn't do the work to be able to say it and get people to laugh.

 

00:40:48:11 - 00:40:52:21

Brady

And you think that's requisite? Because sometimes I'll say something and I would.

 

00:40:52:23 - 00:40:57:15

Forbes

Laugh and we're like, Holy shit, that's funny. Why is that so funny? You know?

 

00:40:57:17 - 00:40:58:11

Brady

Yeah, that's.

 

00:40:58:13 - 00:41:18:16

Forbes

But we're on the same page. But, you know, we're sharing a moment, but I think it is if if you're going to go up on stage or you're going to use this line on a date, or you're going to use it at work, or you're going to use it with your friends and you're going to expect people to laugh, then you should have done some research as why they should laugh.

 

00:41:18:16 - 00:41:31:06

Forbes

Why do they owe you that laugh? Like what? Like they're just going to laugh because you think it's funny. Why is it funny? That's what separates people from, like, having a sense of humor to being delusional, you know?

 

00:41:31:08 - 00:41:36:11

Brady

Yes. Oh, I feel like that's the crux of the issue. You have to have a.

 

00:41:36:11 - 00:41:36:22

Forbes

Degree.

 

00:41:36:23 - 00:41:37:15

Brady

To me. Yeah.

 

00:41:37:16 - 00:41:38:12

Forbes

Why?

 

00:41:38:13 - 00:41:45:14

Brady

Well, there's a there's a superpower in being delusional. Like, from the standpoint of an entrepreneur, everyone's all your business is a terrible idea. Whatever. And to.

 

00:41:45:14 - 00:41:47:15

Forbes

Be delusional, to be a stand up comedian.

 

00:41:47:16 - 00:41:48:00

Brady

That's what.

 

00:41:48:00 - 00:41:52:12

Forbes

I'm saying. You have to be like, give me the limelight. I want all the attention. Right.

 

00:41:52:12 - 00:41:56:08

Brady

Yeah. As I try out new material, and there's a great chance no one finds it funny at all.

 

00:41:56:09 - 00:41:57:03

Forbes

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

00:41:57:04 - 00:42:08:01

Brady

So two things can be true at once. You have to hold in your head that you have to have a delusional sense of self, or at least delusional level of confidence to go up and do that. And then what was the other one that you were saying?

 

00:42:08:06 - 00:42:26:00

Forbes

You know, you gotta you gotta put it in the work. Like, why? Why is it funny? You have to be able to like put some effort into it. You know, you got to be stupid enough to go on stage, but you got to be smart enough to know why you should. That's ultimately what it is. When I started stand up, all my friends said the exact same thing.

 

00:42:26:01 - 00:42:30:06

Forbes

They said, yeah, but you're not funny. Like I started stand up out of spite.

 

00:42:30:07 - 00:42:32:00

Brady

Your friends are me, bro.

 

00:42:32:02 - 00:42:36:09

Forbes

I was like, oh, so you're not going to support me? They're like, no, we're definitely going to come and watch. I'm watching.

 

00:42:36:11 - 00:42:36:15

Brady

This.

 

00:42:36:15 - 00:42:55:10

Forbes

Train wreck. Yeah. You know, you gotta figure out, like, you know, why is this funny to me? And then once you figure that out, then you're like, okay, now that's when you start to understand your sense of humor a little more, right? And I'm not talking about the what special mechanic makes it funny, but I mean, really, why is it funny?

 

00:42:55:14 - 00:43:02:05

Forbes

You know, you're going to do a Trump joke. Why is it funny? You know, how is it different from what everyone else is saying? You know, the.

 

00:43:02:05 - 00:43:02:11

Brady

Low.

 

00:43:02:11 - 00:43:23:20

Forbes

Hanging fruit, the low hanging fruit are the jokes where people didn't ask, why is this funny? You know, when they're punching down in the comedian term, which is to like, you know, poke fun at people who aren't either there to defend themselves or, you know, like, whatever. Right. Yeah. Making fun of victimizing someone. Right. Why is that funny?

 

00:43:23:21 - 00:43:49:09

Forbes

You know, like, Jeselnik is really good. Where you think he's punching down. And then it's really funny because you can tell he figured out why this is funny. It's not just. It's not just funny to say something. It's funny because he figured out why it's funny underneath. Right? And then you can defend yourself of and you can learn like, you can stand up and say, oh, I told this joke because I think it's funny for this reason, right?

 

00:43:49:11 - 00:43:59:21

Forbes

But then you can learn, okay, this joke didn't work. So maybe I thought, why this is funny isn't true. It's it's it goes back to curiosity.

 

00:43:59:22 - 00:44:07:14

Brady

So you'll think something is funny because you've got a supposition of the truth underneath it. But then for literally everyone else, their truth and how they'd interpret it, it's totally different. And so.

 

00:44:07:15 - 00:44:14:21

Forbes

Yeah, you know, like some of the things that I think are really, really funny, some people are like, that's not funny, you know? And then I have to be like, okay, maybe that's just for me.

 

00:44:14:22 - 00:44:28:08

Brady

Okay, well, let's do this then, because you did a joke like a year and a half ago that literally killed. And it was you were telling a story about an ex-girlfriend who would. In the shower.

 

00:44:28:09 - 00:44:28:15

Forbes

Yeah.

 

00:44:28:15 - 00:44:46:19

Brady

Yeah, yeah. Take her hair and stamp it on the side of the shower wall. Yeah. As, like, a sociopathic, like, territory marking. And it was so funny because everybody showers. Everyone's hair comes out. If you're married or in a relationship, you know your girls hair is in the drain, too. So it's like everybody finds the common thread there.

 

00:44:46:19 - 00:45:00:15

Brady

But then the characterization of like, oh, this is like psychopathic, like marking your territory on the wall or something like, I'm like, everything about that was so funny. And it wasn't even attached to like, knowing the person. It was just in principle. It was so funny.

 

00:45:00:15 - 00:45:20:18

Forbes

So that was a bit that I developed on the road with Rob Schneider, and he helped me kind of figure like I was like, hey man, this is funny, but I don't know why it's funny, right? It was the the hair in the shower. Yeah. I had noticed it right before we went on the road. And I was like, I know that this is relatable.

 

00:45:20:18 - 00:45:42:22

Forbes

I know it's been done. Why is this funny and why is it funny to me? You know, and he helped me kind of zoom out and we realized that it's more it's less about hair on the wall, and it's more about the changes a guy goes through when he moves in with his girlfriend. Right? And so then it's like, okay, now we can structure a bit, right?

 

00:45:43:00 - 00:45:57:02

Forbes

Because the. Why is this funny? Isn't that she puts hair on the shower wall? What? This is funny because guys are constantly learning about what it's like to live with a woman, right? They're almost learning what it's like to be a woman by living with a woman.

 

00:45:57:05 - 00:45:57:19

Brady

Right, right.

 

00:45:57:21 - 00:46:24:17

Forbes

And after I did that, I did it at the Arlington Improv in Texas, and we spent the afternoon working on it. Rob was always so generous at this time with that. You know, while we're on the road, we're just shooting the shit, and we're helping each other with jokes, asking critically, why is this funny, you know? And afterwards, he's like, I gotta tell you, man, I didn't know that that was going to do that well, but it really did well.

 

00:46:24:19 - 00:46:25:13

Forbes

So what is that?

 

00:46:25:14 - 00:46:26:23

Brady

He's been doing it for decades.

 

00:46:27:00 - 00:46:28:05

Forbes

Well, because.

 

00:46:28:07 - 00:46:28:18

Brady

We were.

 

00:46:28:18 - 00:46:49:19

Forbes

Well, but we were new, newer to each other. So he didn't understand my voice at that time, right? Like the way that we now understand each other's voices, for example, you know. Right. So the way that the bit works is, you know, I moved in with my girlfriend. Thank you. I say to thank you because that's just a throwaway, you know, I'm authentic.

 

00:46:49:19 - 00:47:12:03

Forbes

The authentic there, the vulnerability is. Yes. I'm surprised I have a girlfriend too, you know. So I moved in with my girlfriend. Thank you. And I learned a lot living with my girlfriend. The first thing I learned about living with my girlfriend is her dog becomes your dog. Right. Example a right. There's rule of three, you know. Right.

 

00:47:12:04 - 00:47:31:15

Forbes

Example A, you know, you know, then do funny dog jokes about this unique dog that people relate to. People love dog jokes. You know everyone immediately. They're never thinking about your dog. You're thinking about their dog, right? That's the other part about comedy is it's never about you. It's about them. Right? So the guys in the room aren't thinking about my girlfriend's dog.

 

00:47:31:15 - 00:47:33:17

Forbes

They're thinking about their girlfriends dog.

 

00:47:33:18 - 00:47:36:18

Brady

Yours is the placeholder allowing them to go to a dog they like.

 

00:47:36:19 - 00:47:55:22

Forbes

Remember, nobody cares about you. They're only caring about themselves. Everybody wants to go home, right? So they're just thinking about themselves and they're seeing it. So bit one, you know, boom. Your her dog becomes your dog you know. And then there's a couple tags. So tags are where you have already a bit. Think of it as a wave.

 

00:47:56:00 - 00:48:10:16

Forbes

So the build up is a wave going up. And then when a wave breaks that's the punchline. And then when a wave breaks and it crashes that's tag. Tag. Tag. Tag. Tag. So set up. Punchline. Tag. Tag. Tag.

 

00:48:10:17 - 00:48:15:01

Brady

Tech text tag would just be like a small joke built on top of the big body of the joke.

 

00:48:15:02 - 00:48:35:13

Forbes

Escalating on top of it. Right. Her dog. I learned a lot. Living with my girlfriend. The first thing I learned is waves built. Her dog becomes your dog punchline, right? You know, and then it's. He's a great dog, but his name is this. And his name is that because he's so big, he has no idea how big he is.

 

00:48:35:13 - 00:48:55:17

Forbes

He walks into the living room and it's like how Godzilla walked into Tokyo. He walks past the coffee table. He's like, fuck your laptop, right? When we're all together, he plays his role, but when she's not there, he's what I assume having an angsty stepson is like, because I'm standing outside, I'm like, go potty. He's like, you're not my real dad.

 

00:48:55:19 - 00:48:56:04

Forbes

Tag tack.

 

00:48:56:05 - 00:48:56:13

Brady

Tactic..

 

00:48:56:14 - 00:48:57:02

Brady

Tag.

 

00:48:57:04 - 00:49:00:13

Forbes

It all on. The punchline of girlfriend's Dog is now lie.

 

00:49:00:13 - 00:49:02:04

Brady

Down and you're keeping him warm.

 

00:49:02:06 - 00:49:18:01

Forbes

Yep. And this is one section of the bit. It's a bit within the bit, right? Right. You know, because remember, it started with hair in the shower and we realize it's not about hair in the shower. It's about, the changes of man has to go through once he starts living with a girl. Right. So then we expand further.

 

00:49:18:01 - 00:49:37:18

Forbes

And the second bit is her hair is everywhere. It's just floating in the atmosphere of our apartment. I woke up the other day with one of her hairs wrapped so tightly around my balls that my stomach hurt, right? Okay, so wave, build up, crash at her hair is everywhere, right? Graphic example.

 

00:49:37:19 - 00:49:38:15

Brady

Talking about my balls.

 

00:49:38:16 - 00:49:44:13

Forbes

Ha ha ha. Well, how many guys have woken up with their girlfriends hair around their balls and they're like, Holy shit. I know exactly what that guy is talking about.

 

00:49:44:14 - 00:49:48:12

Brady

Yeah. Or in my ass hair.

 

00:49:48:14 - 00:49:50:02

Brady

Surprisingly, yeah.

 

00:49:50:03 - 00:50:08:12

Forbes

This episode got dirty. You know, and I looked down at it and I was like, I'm gonna need to cut myself out of this, you know? Right. Okay. Boom. Tag. Tag, tag. Okay, we've got two things now. Everyone's ready for the third thing, right? The shower dude. Oh, my God. We were going through a bottle of drainer a week.

 

00:50:08:18 - 00:50:29:22

Forbes

I said, yo, baby, we got to figure something out about this. So now she does this really cute thing where when the hair is coming off of her head, she takes it and she slaps it on the shower wall. And I always make sure that I slap against the back wall behind me for that extra noise. The women always go, yes, because they do it and the guys are like, oh my God, I know that, right?

 

00:50:30:03 - 00:50:46:05

Forbes

So the buildup, the break is that hair on the wall. Right. But that's not funny, right? You got to tag that right. So then I'm like, oh yeah, every time I open the shower curtain I'm like, oh, I forgot. Or the Natural History Museum. This is what a wooly mammoth looks like. You know, she's writing stories to me in hairy glyphs.

 

00:50:46:08 - 00:50:58:05

Forbes

Do you understand? It looks like a fucked up first graders art project, right? Like a serial killer's trophies. You know. Tag tag tag tag. The hair came from an audience member when I was on the road with Rob.

 

00:50:58:06 - 00:50:59:04

Brady

Oh, no.

 

00:50:59:06 - 00:51:08:01

Forbes

Afterwards, he said, I thought you were going to make a joke about hieroglyphics with hair. And I was like, dude, can I use that?

 

00:51:08:03 - 00:51:18:01

Forbes

That's how you write a joke. You asked the question, why is this funny? You know, because if I were to just be like, bro, you ever have hair in your shower? Yeah. Me too.

 

00:51:18:02 - 00:51:21:03

Brady

Dude, that's great man. She's dead.

 

00:51:21:04 - 00:51:35:06

Forbes

Yeah, right. Dead in the water. Because it's not about her hair being in the shower. Why is that funny? Because I'm learning what it's like to be a woman by living with a woman. Okay, then what are the other things? Dog. Other hair examples. Hair and shower.

 

00:51:35:07 - 00:51:36:13

Brady

Bow wow.

 

00:51:36:16 - 00:51:38:08

Forbes

Yeah.

 

00:51:38:10 - 00:52:00:23

Brady

So when you're doing this, Chris Rock talks about testing material and tiny clubs. Sure. It's like you have to do. You can have the best you can be working with Rob Schneider, working out the best bits. But if you're doing it, you get up on stage. There are all of these second order effects that come from being in front of people, and a having to memorize it and be having to figure out the cadence and the pacing.

 

00:52:01:01 - 00:52:13:11

Brady

Because when you're in front of 50 people, you're going to go pretty quick. So learning how to slow down and pull back the pacing and the energy like a speaker, someone gets up there and you're like, that dude is freaked out right now.

 

00:52:13:12 - 00:52:34:17

Forbes

Yeah, I wish that when I started public speaking in comedy that I learned that when you're nervous to talk slower instead of talk faster. When you're coming up and stand up, you always have a time that they're giving you, right. You got five minutes, you got seven minutes, you got three minutes, you got 15. Sometimes they'll say you got 15.

 

00:52:34:17 - 00:52:50:17

Forbes

And then right before you go on, they say you got seven. So you got to mentally rearrange in your head what you're going to do. Right. People get so stressed about the time. People will get stressed about how much time they get. Kylie gave me three minutes. Fuck you. He didn't need to give you any. Give you three.

 

00:52:50:23 - 00:52:52:03

Forbes

Don't make them good. Three.

 

00:52:52:04 - 00:52:53:15

Brady

No one cares. Get over yourself.

 

00:52:53:16 - 00:52:59:22

Forbes

So many people when they're starting. I got ten minutes, bro. You got five at best.

 

00:53:00:00 - 00:53:00:17

Brady

It's high five.

 

00:53:00:18 - 00:53:23:23

Forbes

Yeah, you got ten minutes of crap, you know, you. You got two minutes. Something good. So to answer your question about testing, I'm not really at that stage in my career where I just get to, you know, I don't show up at a club and get to go up. I have a lot of club friends in town that will put me on shows and, you know, testing material.

 

00:53:24:01 - 00:53:33:02

Forbes

Yeah. If you're like, getting a festival or you're on tour opening. A comedian told me this. Do the stuff that got you booked.

 

00:53:33:04 - 00:53:34:18

Brady

Interesting.

 

00:53:34:20 - 00:53:56:00

Forbes

Don't go up there and disrespect their stage with some new shit, some new half baked whatever. There's micro experiments where you try a new tag, you try a new way of wording a tag, you try a new cadence to a joke Mike experience like that. But you would never disrespect someone stage and just go up there and just try some new stuff.

 

00:53:56:02 - 00:54:13:03

Forbes

Now as it relates to trying stuff in smaller rooms. Yeah. I mean, you got to cut your teeth doing open mics where no one cares about you. You know, you gotta you gotta write it out. You gotta say it to yourself. I'm not a huge believer in the. You have to do it in front of a live audience.

 

00:54:13:03 - 00:54:41:13

Forbes

If you have enough of an understanding of your voice, you can rehearse it enough in your hotel room in front of the mirror to have the cadence down, to feel confident of launching something new because you have an idea of where the laughs are. Why is this funny? Where would they laugh? You have those kind of ideas. If we go south and go south, the reason you get to understanding your voice like that is by doing hundreds, if not a thousand shows in bars where nobody cares about you.

 

00:54:41:15 - 00:55:06:10

Forbes

You know, I've been doing stand up for like 13 years. Going on tour with other comedians made me realize, like this. This ain't the lifestyle I want. You know, I realized, like, I could be a comedian with a message or it could be a really funny keynote. One of them pays a lot better than the other.

 

00:55:06:12 - 00:55:28:05

Forbes

But comedy in humor, it's a critical skill for anything in life. You don't have to be a comedian to want to. To learn how to be funny. You should learn how to be funny. Funny people, probably close more deals. You know, they're probably more attractive. They probably have more friends. People are attracted to people with a sense of humor.

 

00:55:28:05 - 00:55:40:09

Forbes

Why are they attracted to people's sense of humor? Because people with a sense of humor have done the work of understanding themselves. To know why that's funny. It's a signal that you can tell to other people. I'm self-aware because I'm funny.

 

00:55:40:11 - 00:55:44:10

Brady

And a big part of that is making peace with bombing.

 

00:55:44:12 - 00:55:45:09

Forbes

Yeah, man.

 

00:55:45:10 - 00:56:06:07

Brady

I we had a head writer at beast, and it was kind of the first time I saw this because he was always working out bits on us. So we would be moving around. It would be Mr. Beast in the main talent and me, and like, two other guys. Yeah. And this was before it was like hundreds of millions of subscribers.

 

00:56:06:07 - 00:56:28:20

Brady

And so it was a very small group. And so we were always together in our head writer. At any point when we were filming, we'd feel like, what do we do to punch this up? We'd just turned to him and he would give us something. But he was he was always on. He was always doing this. And so he would make observations the entire day and he would try and say something, he would test it out, and then he would kind of hit us with a bit and then watch.

 

00:56:28:20 - 00:56:36:17

Brady

And then if no one left, his bomb bit was, yeah, well, y'all ain't shit. And that was always funny.

 

00:56:36:17 - 00:56:43:10

Forbes

You can always have a backup. You know, my backup is. I really thought that would land better.

 

00:56:43:12 - 00:56:44:04

Brady

Interesting.

 

00:56:44:05 - 00:56:44:23

Forbes

People laugh at that.

 

00:56:45:00 - 00:56:48:14

Brady

It's self-aware. It's a it's a pity laugh or something.

 

00:56:48:16 - 00:56:52:18

Forbes

The worst thing you can do while you're bombing is try and stop bombing.

 

00:56:52:20 - 00:56:54:02

Brady

Can you just get off the horse?

 

00:56:54:04 - 00:56:55:15

Forbes

You just lean into it, man.

 

00:56:55:16 - 00:56:56:03

Brady

Okay.

 

00:56:56:04 - 00:56:57:05

Forbes

It's off the rails.

 

00:56:57:06 - 00:56:57:23

Brady

Well, that's what he did.

 

00:56:57:23 - 00:56:59:04

Forbes

I just lean into it.

 

00:56:59:05 - 00:57:13:11

Brady

So funny. He would like. And some of them crushed. Right. But then he would try. He was like, nah, y'all ain't shit. And he's like, man, you mommy shit. Like he would. It was like he owned it. And it was so funny to see the quantity of how many times he had to do that to actually get one that landed.

 

00:57:13:16 - 00:57:19:15

Brady

But the the corpus of all of those instances, all of us still thought he was funny. Yeah. Well, because.

 

00:57:19:15 - 00:57:20:19

Speaker 4

You're authentic.

 

00:57:20:21 - 00:57:40:04

Forbes

Again, the vulnerability and floors are the key. Vulnerability and floors are what's going to make you interesting. You know what I say in my upcoming book is that the closer you are to certainty, the closer you are to your own destruction.

 

00:57:40:06 - 00:57:45:07

Brady

The closer you are to certainty, the closer you are to your own destruction.

 

00:57:45:09 - 00:58:09:04

Forbes

I am certain that this is right. Every time I was certain was the time I fucked up my life. I look at this relationship matter. She's the one boom, I'm certain. Right? When you when you are certain in something, you know, the more pressure you put on it. It's like squeezing sand. The harder you squeeze sand, the more sand you lose, right?

 

00:58:09:09 - 00:58:29:22

Forbes

You got to be curious. You got to be a lot less clenched right when you're on stage or just in life in conversation. You know, like if you're so certain you're going to do well and then you start bombing and you lean into certainty, no, I should be doing well. No, this material works. No, I know that this works.

 

00:58:29:22 - 00:58:47:03

Forbes

It killed last night. It killed at the 7 p.m. show. The more certain you are, the further the more you're going to bomb. But if you take it as an opportunity to be curious and be like, man, you really don't like that joke? I wonder why you didn't like that joke, right? You start playing with it and that's when you're gonna win people back.

 

00:58:47:04 - 00:59:13:01

Forbes

You know, when you're okay with bombing, it's because you're curious about how you can improve. Earlier in my career, when I hated bombing. You know, I it was because I the the feedback was painful. Right. But feedback is a gift, you know, if you choose to accept it. And the weird thing about comedy versus any other medium is its immediate feedback.

 

00:59:13:01 - 00:59:32:12

Forbes

And it's right in your face. They're right there. The lights are bright where you can't see everybody, but you see those first few rows. They're right there, and when it's not going good, that's tough. And that's when you have to just be like, yeah, you know, be curious about everything. Be curious about why you got into the business, you know?

 

00:59:32:13 - 00:59:44:07

Forbes

Right. Be curious. Be curious about why you thought you were going to be funny, you know? And the more curious you are, the, you know, Mr. Blue Sky, you know, what can I create today, right?

 

00:59:44:09 - 00:59:46:19

Brady

Yeah. I still don't know that reference, but I like everything else that you.

 

00:59:46:19 - 00:59:53:16

Forbes

Said you can't license. It's probably too expensive for you, too. It's like in every movie I would sing it, but I don't want to get you flagged.

 

00:59:53:20 - 01:00:00:04

Brady

Okay? Okay. So speaking of which, you and I, for the last, we've hosted comedy shows here in our film studio.

 

01:00:00:05 - 01:00:00:11

Forbes

Yeah.

 

01:00:00:12 - 01:00:08:03

Brady

Man, we've done tons of, like, riding rooms. We've we've worked on tons of projects. Yeah. You've always encouraged me to be like, dude, you just got to put some of this.

 

01:00:08:03 - 01:00:09:22

Forbes

Guy do. Yeah.

 

01:00:09:23 - 01:00:11:22

Brady

So I'm going to have you.

 

01:00:12:01 - 01:00:12:21

Forbes

I'm really curious.

 

01:00:12:22 - 01:00:30:05

Brady

Roast the hell out of this. Let's hear it. I'm going to do my best. I have not tested out the cadence, the intonation. I haven't even read this out loud. Okay, but I think it's funny. So in real time, everyone that thinks they're funny. Haha. I'm going to be such a great writer. You get to live vicariously through my public humiliation.

 

01:00:30:05 - 01:00:30:17

Brady

K? Ready?

 

01:00:30:18 - 01:00:38:20

Forbes

Yeah, this is your your no, no audience is cold. That's crazy. Let's go. Yeah. That's, I love it, man. All right.

 

01:00:38:21 - 01:00:50:00

Brady

This feels. Because you told me you had. You talked about, like, funerals you've been to. And I'm like, I don't know if I should do this now. Don't do it. Okay, good. Because it's 100% where it starts. Okay? Okay, great.

 

01:00:50:02 - 01:00:50:17

Brady

Okay.

 

01:00:50:18 - 01:00:52:16

Forbes

Good funeral, by the way.

 

01:00:52:18 - 01:01:17:09

Brady

I haven't. I'm reading this off my damn iPad. Okay. I recently had a friend pass away, which is tragic. Death is one of those things that nobody really knows how to talk about. We all know that it's coming for everyone. And yet every time it happens, we kind of have no idea what to really say beyond the basic stuff.

 

01:01:17:10 - 01:01:18:07

Forbes

Sure.

 

01:01:18:09 - 01:01:29:09

Brady

So we kind of just show up, say, I'm here for if you need anything. What I find strange is that nobody is allowed to ask how it happened.

 

01:01:29:11 - 01:01:51:09

Forbes

Okay. All right. Okay. See. I'm not done. All right. I want to put a pin right there. We'll return to it. That is. Now I know, I know the game. Right. That's the first curious thing you've said. Why does nobody ask? How'd they die? Okay, perfect. All right. Go on. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

 

01:01:51:10 - 01:01:52:01

Brady

I'm getting points.

 

01:01:52:01 - 01:01:54:06

Forbes

On the board. Okay.

 

01:01:54:08 - 01:01:57:01

Brady

Nobody is allowed to ask this. But you want to know?

 

01:01:57:02 - 01:01:57:19

Forbes

Yeah, I do want.

 

01:01:57:20 - 01:02:03:22

Brady

In fact, everyone in that room would like to know. But you are an asshole if.

 

01:02:03:22 - 01:02:06:07

Forbes

You ask.

 

01:02:06:09 - 01:02:12:00

Brady

Now, there's a reason and I've broken down. Why is it we all want to know? Okay, well, part of it is self-preservation.

 

01:02:12:01 - 01:02:13:06

Forbes

Yeah. I don't want to die like he did.

 

01:02:13:07 - 01:02:32:18

Brady

You're, like 48. Like, everybody is like, what did I have for breakfast? Like what kind of accident? I go out and about, I do things. What was his accident? You know, it was an accident that I would never put myself in. I'm fine. That one's me. Proof. Like I'm good. I've already moved on from that one. Yeah, but that's not really why we want to know.

 

01:02:32:18 - 01:02:40:20

Brady

We're not, like, hedging our bets. We want to know deep down because we're fascinated.

 

01:02:40:22 - 01:02:41:13

Forbes

Okay?

 

01:02:41:19 - 01:02:55:10

Brady

Death is the one experience that every human being is guaranteed to have. Guaranteed. No exceptions. No one gets out and nobody can tell you what it's like. There's no fucking young page.

 

01:02:55:10 - 01:02:56:16

Forbes

For this. Yeah, yeah.

 

01:02:56:18 - 01:03:18:04

Brady

And so nobody comes back and says, here's what to expect. We're all staring at the same locked door. And every cause of death is a tiny piece of intelligence about what's behind it, crowdsourcing information. And no one can survive long enough to report back. So the delivery system is insane. The universe has roughly 27 billion ways to close your tab.

 

01:03:18:06 - 01:03:20:07

Forbes

Close your tab. That's great.

 

01:03:20:09 - 01:03:23:16

Brady

Falling airplane debris. You're struck by lightning. You choke on a hot dog.

 

01:03:23:17 - 01:03:24:03

Forbes

That's funny.

 

01:03:24:04 - 01:03:33:02

Brady

I almost didn't make it here. In 1992, I choked on a hot dog. My dad had him like me. But that brings me to what I've actually realized about death. Based on the hot dog thing. Which is that your.

 

01:03:33:02 - 01:03:34:20

Forbes

Death dog thing.

 

01:03:34:22 - 01:03:40:22

Brady

Is the end of your law, and so you don't want it to suck.

 

01:03:40:23 - 01:03:45:18

Forbes

Go out by choking on a fucking hot dog.

 

01:03:45:20 - 01:04:04:21

Brady

That was an asshole. Huge cuts. Puts this half hot dog in his one year old man. He's got it, champ. Go get him. Listen, your death and the way that it ends, this is the end of your law. Yeah. So everything that you've built, everything people will whisper about you at the bar at the funeral. This is the whole story of your life.

 

01:04:04:21 - 01:04:24:06

Brady

This is the last chapter. And so you got to kind of way out, like how it's going to go. Right? So if you were a Navy Seal, you did three tours, cut off the head of Saddam Hussein. You were the man came home, built a business, raised incredible kids, and then you died in a fucking golf cart accident corporate retreat in Scottsdale.

 

01:04:24:06 - 01:04:24:21

Forbes

Yeah.

 

01:04:24:23 - 01:04:34:14

Brady

That's your chapter. That's the end. It's like, yeah, dude, he was incredible. He saved so many American lives. The golf cart situation at the end.

 

01:04:34:14 - 01:04:35:16

Forbes

But yeah, yeah.

 

01:04:35:17 - 01:04:45:08

Brady

You're like, that's it. That's the punchline. That's that's you on the way out. So it's got me thinking about my own final chapter, which is I have two options. Basically option A is that it's peaceful.

 

01:04:45:09 - 01:04:45:20

Forbes

Yeah.

 

01:04:45:21 - 01:04:56:04

Brady

Which everybody kind of wants. You want your family around you kids, grandkids, wife, you know, someone holding your hand. And then right as you go you say something so profound.

 

01:04:56:06 - 01:04:56:18

Forbes

Yeah. There you go.

 

01:04:56:21 - 01:05:01:04

Brady

Your grandkids repeated at Thanksgiving for, like, 40 years to come. Like that's.

 

01:05:01:04 - 01:05:03:04

Forbes

What Papa? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know.

 

01:05:03:06 - 01:05:05:08

Brady

Close your eyes. Now there's option.

 

01:05:05:09 - 01:05:06:05

Forbes

B.

 

01:05:06:07 - 01:05:24:12

Brady

Which I'm also evaluating, which is I haven't worked out every detail, but there's a hillside involved. A belt fed machine gun. My family's already safe. I'm having the time of my life, and at some point, I go down in a blaze of glory. So option A people cry for a week, but option B, they name a park bench after you.

 

01:05:24:14 - 01:05:24:23

Forbes

Okay.

 

01:05:25:03 - 01:05:37:16

Brady

Kind of lit. I like it. So it's got, you know, it may be a park bench that, you know, homeless people are smoking crack on, but it has your name on it. So really there's only one right answer to me. I just need to find some enemies.

 

01:05:37:18 - 01:05:40:12

Brady

So I haven't got the ending. Fantastic.

 

01:05:40:14 - 01:05:40:22

Forbes

Hey, man.

 

01:05:40:23 - 01:05:42:01

Brady

But there's something there.

 

01:05:42:02 - 01:05:50:11

Forbes

Okay. Really, really good job. Why do you think I would say that? That was good.

 

01:05:50:13 - 01:05:52:02

Brady

You're on my podcast.

 

01:05:52:04 - 01:06:21:02

Forbes

No, because it made me curious and, like, three different points. Okay. You know, the curiosity. Right? What's funny is, you know, why? Why don't we ask how someone dies? But better yet, why do we want to know how someone died? Right? Self-preservation. That's that's hilarious. You know, some great examples, you know, like that's okay. Build up wave crash.

 

01:06:21:03 - 01:06:41:09

Forbes

Right. Tag tag tactic tag. You know, what are your tags going to be right? It's hilarious to say like, oh, he went out that way, but I don't ride motorcycles, so I'm good. Yeah, right. I thought that was fun. Yeah. No. That's good. The other thing that was really good about that was, you know what the other curious thing was?

 

01:06:41:09 - 01:06:48:08

Forbes

What are some really lame ways to go out? You know, I almost choked on a hot dog and died, you know.

 

01:06:48:10 - 01:06:49:00

Brady

That that stood out.

 

01:06:49:00 - 01:07:05:19

Forbes

To you? Yeah. No, because because you're saying something so profound. And then all of a sudden, I'm thinking of a hot dog, you know? Right. Which is just like, you know, like, it's like when someone, some really epic character just dies in, like, the shittiest way, you know? Right. Like, I forget who, like, Tarantino's really good at that.

 

01:07:05:19 - 01:07:09:00

Forbes

Like, he'll just kill someone. You're like, that's how they went out hundred percent.

 

01:07:09:02 - 01:07:10:04

Brady

Game of Thrones, death to you.

 

01:07:10:08 - 01:07:35:22

Forbes

Yeah, right. So that's really funny because here you are. You're saying something so philosophical and, like, deep and then and then, but then like, there's like this a realism of, like, you could choke on a hot dog and die tomorrow, you know. Right. And then the other thing that was really curious that I'd wanted, that I'd encourage you to explore more into is, you know, the last words thing is fucking hilarious, you know?

 

01:07:36:00 - 01:07:56:16

Forbes

Right. Like, what are my options of what my last words could be? You know, that would be like, damn, you know. But also, what are some of the worst last words you could have, you know? Right. Like, I'm sure, a lot of people's last words are, trust me, you know.

 

01:07:56:18 - 01:08:00:03

Forbes

Right there, you know. Yeah.

 

01:08:00:05 - 01:08:01:11

Brady

Yeah, yeah.

 

01:08:01:12 - 01:08:19:19

Forbes

What could go wrong? Yeah. You know, I got tased one time, and, by a by not a by not a cop by, like, a security guard who was shot down a party at ASU. And I didn't like the new shutting down my party, so I was a little lippy, but he had, like, knee pads and, like, elbow pads on, like, he was like, you know, he took it serious, you know?

 

01:08:19:20 - 01:08:21:03

Forbes

Right. And he.

 

01:08:21:03 - 01:08:21:17

Brady

Whipped on.

 

01:08:21:17 - 01:08:34:00

Forbes

His belt. So he whips out this cattle prod, you know, and and speaking of last words, I was like, what are you going to do, tase me?

 

01:08:34:02 - 01:08:55:03

Forbes

No. So that's that's really good in the because of the curious angle, you're wondering and the wondering is what is important because now I'm thinking, yeah, why do I want to know why everyone died? Because I do. You touched on something relatable. You know. Yeah. And then. And then I wasn't thinking about what my last words would be.

 

01:08:55:03 - 01:08:59:11

Forbes

But now you got me thinking, like shit. What would my last words be? You know, like, I want.

 

01:08:59:12 - 01:09:02:00

Brady

For the deadpan, the the bedpan, rather. And you're just like.

 

01:09:02:02 - 01:09:14:11

Forbes

Yeah, right. You know, I got a profound. So. Yeah. No, it's good because it's it's. You are. So here's my question for you. Yeah. Who died?

 

01:09:14:13 - 01:09:20:04

Brady

Well, I've worked on I wrote this out like a year ago, and then I've just kind of built onto it.

 

01:09:20:05 - 01:09:21:16

Forbes

So who died?

 

01:09:21:18 - 01:09:26:17

Brady

I've technically had a bunch of people that I know dies objectively. No one specific. Okay. Yeah.

 

01:09:26:18 - 01:09:27:00

Forbes

Okay.

 

01:09:27:01 - 01:09:29:01

Brady

So is that the problem? Is that the thesis I.

 

01:09:29:01 - 01:09:35:11

Forbes

Think you just got? No, I think you just got to go back to whatever you were feeling in one of those deaths. And, like.

 

01:09:35:14 - 01:09:56:19

Brady

I just felt like a sicko because I was like, I had to go to a funeral. And I was like, yeah. How did how'd that go? It's like, who are you going to ask in the room? You're like, dude, I'm so sad. These little tiny, like, snacks are great. And you're like, do you know what? But you're like, okay, well, fuck you, because I know you're a little curious or you already know, so you're making me feel bad.

 

01:09:56:19 - 01:09:57:13

Forbes

About it. Yeah.

 

01:09:57:18 - 01:09:59:02

Brady

That's the other side of it, you know?

 

01:09:59:03 - 01:09:59:17

Forbes

Right, right.

 

01:09:59:18 - 01:10:00:07

Brady

Gatekeeping.

 

01:10:00:07 - 01:10:23:03

Forbes

Some secret. I mean, you don't have to, like, divulge and, like, you know, expose somebody or use anyone's name or even paint a scenario. But my question, the reason I had it is I was like, there's a reason he wrote this. Something happened, you know, you weren't not at a funeral when this popped into your head, you know?

 

01:10:23:05 - 01:10:34:19

Forbes

You know what I mean? Right. And if you can find the root of that, then you'll have your authentic moment. That then is going to really connect with people.

 

01:10:34:21 - 01:10:54:10

Brady

So this is the tip of the iceberg is what you as a trained writer and a comedian, you go there's something to this. And just like the hair thing you have to kind of reverse engineer the parts in your brain that piqued you curiosity and you're like, oh yeah, that is kind of a common sentiment, which everyone goes, oh, someone passed away like, damn, how did it go down?

 

01:10:54:11 - 01:11:00:18

Brady

Not like, oh my gosh, did they have a will know the first thing everybody asked like, shit. How did it happen? Yeah. So every time.

 

01:11:00:18 - 01:11:15:04

Forbes

You've got the you've got the curiosity the morbid curiosity we'll call it. Right. Bit a bit. Be is boy there's there's worse ways to go, you know. And then bitsy is what does my way out look like? And how do I make it epic, right.

 

01:11:15:05 - 01:11:18:05

Brady

If any of you take this bit, I will find you. This is my shit.

 

01:11:18:06 - 01:11:23:08

Forbes

But this is where you make it uniquely you. A, B and C, right? But what is this really about?

 

01:11:23:09 - 01:11:23:22

Brady

Yeah.

 

01:11:23:23 - 01:11:47:15

Forbes

Like the hair thing wasn't about hair in the shower. It was about. Oh, I'm getting a glimpse into knowing what a being a woman's like because I live with a woman, right? What are you learning by asking these questions? Is it a fear? Is it a memory? Is it a premonition? Something that I use in, like, sales training?

 

01:11:47:15 - 01:12:00:00

Forbes

And just in my keynote speaking. And a key part of curiosity is to always ask yourself, while someone's telling you something. Why are they telling me this?

 

01:12:00:01 - 01:12:01:19

Brady

Like, what's their motivation or what?

 

01:12:01:20 - 01:12:12:23

Forbes

Why are they telling me this? Okay. Exactly. You know, because then people will really reveal what they're actually. Because whatever someone's telling you, it's not actually about what they're telling you. There's something over it, right?

 

01:12:13:00 - 01:12:19:12

Brady

Yeah, well, there's an angle. It's usually sales pitch. Or they want you to believe something. They want you to land on a conclusion that they want you to hold. Right.

 

01:12:19:13 - 01:12:27:09

Forbes

Yeah. But also on a personal level, it's it's it's an insecurity. It's a fear. It's a challenge. It's a success okay. It's a lack.

 

01:12:27:11 - 01:12:31:16

Brady

Name dropping. There's always there's a motivation behind the delivery obviously. You know. Yeah.

 

01:12:31:17 - 01:12:46:14

Forbes

Like the piece of feedback I get when people who know me from the business world come to my comedy shows for the first time, is it's not. Wow, Forbes, you were funny. It's. Wow. Forbes. You were actually funny. Now, that word.

 

01:12:46:14 - 01:12:47:05

Brady

Actually.

 

01:12:47:06 - 01:12:50:11

Forbes

That word actually. It's it's.

 

01:12:50:12 - 01:12:51:11

Brady

God that's candid.

 

01:12:51:13 - 01:13:07:01

Forbes

Well, it tells a lot more than you'd think, right? And they don't mean it. But people are accidentally always tipping their hand to you. If you're like, why are they telling me this? You know, they didn't. If they said, hey, Forbes, you were funny. Why are they telling me this? They're grateful they had a good time, you know?

 

01:13:07:02 - 01:13:25:04

Forbes

Hey, Forbes, you were actually funny. Why are they telling me this? They thought I was going to suck, right? The word still is another one that people will accidentally give away. You know, people don't say, hey, Forbes, you doing comedy? They say, hey, Forbes, you still doing comedy, right? Like that? That means a whole other thing, right?

 

01:13:25:05 - 01:13:37:18

Forbes

It does. Anything that comes before or after the phrase if you want, when your girlfriend or your wife or your partner says it, it is not a suggestion.

 

01:13:37:18 - 01:13:38:10

Brady

It's not optional.

 

01:13:38:10 - 01:13:52:19

Forbes

It is, in fact, a command. Right? You know, sounds like a suggestion, but it's not right. You know, you can go close the door if you want. Okay. Why are they telling? Why are they saying this to me? Not suggesting that I.

 

01:13:52:21 - 01:13:54:02

Brady

Want to work.

 

01:13:54:04 - 01:14:15:23

Forbes

They want the door closed, right? So when you're doing a bit, you have to ask yourself. Why am I telling them this? If you assume that they're asking why? Why is he telling me this? And you've thought about that, then you know your message is getting across. Because we don't do stories, we don't do bits just for the story and the bit.

 

01:14:16:02 - 01:14:38:15

Forbes

It's to convey a message. It's to influence. Everything is meant to influence you, right? I want you to see the world in my way. That's all comedy is. You know, it's saying like, hey, isn't this funny? Why don't you see it? How? I see it for a second, right. There's an influence to it, you know. There's always a message.

 

01:14:38:20 - 01:15:00:11

Forbes

So why are you telling someone that bit? And then if you can answer that, then you've got a really good bit, you know, like the, the girl from bit. You know, why was I telling people that? Because I was really struggling living with my girlfriend, you know. Right. Like it's. And I knew that while I was writing it.

 

01:15:00:13 - 01:15:09:22

Forbes

And that's where it came out because it was funny. I was able to make light of it. But people, you know, a lot of truth is said in jest.

 

01:15:10:00 - 01:15:30:15

Brady

Yeah, a little bit of truth to every. JC so in identifying that in your example, yeah. Because you were struggling to live with your girlfriend, the more you are clear on why you said that, the better your writing is, the more you are able to stick to the universal message built into it. Is that kind of the incentive?

 

01:15:30:16 - 01:15:38:18

Forbes

I was it was it was more relatable because I wasn't faking anything. It was honest. I'm struggling with this.

 

01:15:38:20 - 01:15:40:12

Brady

And I'm not the only guy that's lived with a woman.

 

01:15:40:12 - 01:15:59:21

Forbes

Before, right? And even with it, you know, they were seeing it from the other point of view. But if they were struggling, they were like, I get it. You know, he's making fun of me, but I understand what it is, you know? Right. Like, so the real motivation has to be clear to you, right? You know, why is that funny?

 

01:16:00:00 - 01:16:14:02

Forbes

Right? But then why is someone telling me this? It's the it's my it's my interviewing hack. It's it's it's my little takeaway for you is always ask yourself why is someone telling me this, and then you'll figure it out, you know? Wow.

 

01:16:14:04 - 01:16:21:04

Brady

Brother, this was phenomenal. Thanks, man. You are an incredible speaker. Thank you. You were one of my absolute favorite friends.

 

01:16:21:04 - 01:16:34:22

Forbes

You are one of my favorite friends. Dude, I'm really, really glad that we got to do this. It made my day, to be honest with you. I mean, it was, you know, nowhere but up, but, you know.

 

01:16:35:00 - 01:16:37:02

Brady

Turn the camera. Oh, my.

 

01:16:37:02 - 01:16:37:12

Speaker 4

God.

 

01:16:37:16 - 01:16:39:19

Forbes

No, man. Thanks for having me this. Love you.

 

01:16:39:21 - 01:16:59:07

Brady

Thank you. I love you and thank you today with this audience showing them a new neural pathway that up until this episode, they didn't have. And so if that clicked with you, if you saw something different for the first time, consider subscribing to this channel. This is the entire goal is finding brilliant, remarkable, articulate people that at the end of this episode will give you a new neural pathways forged.

 

01:16:59:07 - 01:17:09:09

Brady

And so if you learn something. Feel free to send this to your mom and your neighbor. And if that's two people, so that'll be three for me. So go ahead and do that. Much love. Peace.