Welcome to the Chucklebucket - Comedy in Storytelling - BONUS CHRISTMAS EPISODE!

A great comedian is one who tells stories in a funny way, not to be confused with telling funny stories. Our guest on this BONUS episode is none other than Dave Coulier! Born and raised in Detroit, Dave is an actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, and television host (and massive Detroit Red Wings fan). He was of course, Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, he's also voiced Peter Venkman on The Real Ghostbusters, and Animal and Bunsen on Muppet Babies, just to name a few of the many characters he's portrayed and voiced over his illustrious career.

Folktellers Studios | Folktellers Universe

Dave Coulier

 

#StoryTelling

#Comedy

#FolkTellers

#DaveCoulier

#FullHouse

#FunnyStories

#StoriesToBeShared

#FullHouse

 

Welcome everyone.
Week 13,
we call this episode a welcome to the Chuckle Bucket because we're talking about comedy in storytelling.
Uh This is Joseph and I'm here with my enigmatic Stephen and the Stoic.
What is this podcast,
by the way,
you didn't mention that?
Oh,
this is,
uh,
well,
Steve calls this the bonus Christmas episode because for people that don't watch,
uh,
Steve is British and Canadian and American and people who don't watch British television,
actually,
their,
uh,
their season changes,
the Christmas episode,
unlike,
right.
So,
uh I have a word for you today.
What's that?
You're a logo,
file,
a logo,
file,
logos is Greek for words,
isn't it?
You're someone that loves words.
I do.
So I had to look that up.
I mean,
you've been giving us words adjectives all the way through this series.
So,
you know,
I actually took the time.
Well,
to search Google for like three seconds.
Find that word for you.
Well,
I do my thank you.
Um All right.
So here's our,
here's our quote.
And by the way,
uh we've got a,
we've got a really cool guest for our bonus Christmas episode.
Uh Dave uh comedian,
actor pilot.
Uh,
he's,
you'll be shocked when you hear all the things that he's into,
uh,
he's gonna be our guest on in a little bit.
So,
um,
here's our opening.
Um,
this quote is a great comedian is one who tells stories in a funny way that is not to be confused with telling funny stories.
And then the other piece is,
this is the,
the equation for comedy,
comedy equals tragedy plus time.
So,
I,
I will,
I'll open with that.
What do you guys,
how does that make you feel?
Yeah.
The first thing that comes to mind to me is that sometimes it's too,
it's,
it's too close to the truth to be funny because of the timing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you hear that?
What's,
what's that expression?
Uh,
oh,
too soon.
I think that's what,
isn't that what they're referring to?
Like,
uh,
not enough time has passed to make this funny,
to make this funny?
So,
so that's where the math comes in,
in the equation here,
I guess with my engineering hat on,
I'm looking at this and going,
this is an equation interesting.
What would you call,
what would you call it?
I know.
I see a plus symbol.
A sign.
Well,
you put them there.
That doesn't make it.
I didn't put them there.
I guess that makes it come just the fact you're making this into an,
that's,
that's funny within itself.
Here you go.
What a way to start,
what a way to start.
Um OK,
so I wanna,
I wanna add on to this,
so this idea of uh comedy Eagles tragedy plus time.
Uh So,
so sometimes the stories themselves can be funny but sometimes they're,
they're actually heartbreaking stories with humor injected and that makes them more palatable that,
which they otherwise would be too hard to hear.
Do you think that's true?
They use comedy for that?
Like Shrek win?
What do you mean by that?
Well,
Shrek,
I mean,
it's a sad story but I mean,
there's comedy interjected all the way through it.
Yeah,
there's some depth ogres are like onions,
layers,
layers.
Yeah,
I think the biggest thing about comedy for me is it,
it has to relate to where I'm at today,
right?
You talk about the timing of it.
In other words,
I could hear something that was funny.
We,
we were just talking about that.
Actually,
I had some college teammates,
we got together the last couple of days and we were talking about things that were funny to us during college.
We don't find as whimsical now,
right?
Or whimsical,
whimsical now.
And so uh so that even though as our lives change,
that comedy might change as well,
yeah,
it's definitely timing is a key part to,
to comedy,
not just in the moment,
but you know,
in the era,
right?
There's lots of comedians like,
like stuff that Eddie Murphy did many,
many years ago that I used to just piss and now I look at it and it's like,
well,
yeah,
it's not as funny as it was back then,
but it was definitely funny in the day.
So,
so do you think your sense of humor changes with age?
Absolutely.
It does.
Yeah.
Yeah.
In fact,
it probably diminishes with age,
I think sometimes.
Right.
I don't know if it's for you,
Kurt,
how has it,
how has it changed?
Yeah,
I think for me,
uh,
it's become more sophisticated.
Right.
I'm not as,
it,
it,
it doesn't take,
uh,
somebody farting for me to fall out of my chair now.
I mean,
yeah,
I still chuckle a little bit but it's not as funny as it was wrong.
I'm sorry?
Yeah,
you look at,
uh,
the blazing saddles.
The scene around the campfire when the guys are eating beans and blazing saddles is funny and I still find that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's still parts of it that are definitely.
But again,
timing too.
Some of that is very controversial today than what it was.
Well,
you always have to fart at the right time.
Not just the farting scene,
but is there a wrong time?
No,
not really.
Well,
our audience,
I think,
yeah,
if there are any women,
they're like,
you guys are disgusting.
That's the other thing too.
It's like when you're with women that's a bad time to far.
Unless they're farting.
I,
I'll,
I'll tell you what my there and then my,
my far is not going well.
This is my,
this is my,
like,
fart scam,
uh,
dating far.
What I would do is I'd open the door for my date and then I close the door and then I,
when I walked around the car,
that's when I let them all out because,
you know,
you had to like those all built up over the evening.
Do you know what that is?
What's that timing?
It was timing.
Here you go.
It was a tragedy.
You know,
I'm starting to think that your formula is correct.
Well,
it was,
it's not my formula.
I can't take credit for it.
Oh,
my gosh.
So,
so Kurt,
I guess farts still are funny.
Certain parts.
Yeah.
Far.
No pun intended.
Oh my God.
So,
where do we all right.
Where do you move from there?
Yeah.
Where do we?
Well,
everyone,
we're so happy and excited to have,
uh,
Dave on with us.
Good morning,
Dave.
Good morning.
Is it morning everywhere?
Um,
it's what says that a Jimmy Buffett song,
uh,
it's morning somewhere or something.
It's,
it's somewhere,
it's somewhere.
Well,
you're here with Joseph and Kurt and Steve.
Then it is a good morning.
Yes.
Top of the morning to you,
I'll start with the voices and then that was just to Tu of Dave because you're the expert.
So,
so for people that don't know,
Dave Cooler that have been under a rock for 40 years.
Uh Dave is not only an actor,
a comedian but uh he has a bunch of secret talents like being a pilot and a home builder and,
and many other things and Dave.
So today we're talking about comedy in storytelling and we teed up,
uh uh before you came on,
uh the equation,
I'm sure you've heard it before.
That comedy equals tragedy plus time.
Do you buy that?
Do you think that's true or like as a,
as a comedian?
You know,
what's your take on,
on,
uh comedy and storytelling?
I never took any of those courses.
You know,
my joke is I,
I didn't go to college.
I couldn't find a parking spot.
Um So,
you know,
comedy for me is a lot of the time listening because when I write jokes,
I'll hear something and it,
it kind of triggers something inside of me where I just try to turn that into a laugh.
So for me,
it's being very aware of your surroundings listening and to,
to go back to your point.
Uh I didn't have a tragic childhood but in some ways it was a disappointing childhood because I grew up very Catholic.
I went to Catholic schools my entire life.
Uh from second grade catechism to third grade through eighth grade in a,
in a Catholic school.
And then an all boys Catholic High school,
Notre Dame High School in Detroit when I was,
when I was nine years old,
uh,
everybody I knew was Catholic.
And so,
um,
you know,
I,
with that in mind when my parents got divorced at nine,
I was the only divorced kid.
So I kind of carried around this banner of,
you know,
banner of shame.
Yeah,
it was,
it was guilt and it was guilt and shame and every other thing that,
you know,
that you're supposed to feel at that moment.
So,
for me that's when I got funny and I gravitated towards a hockey locker room where there was a built in audience.
I gravitated towards funny kids.
My friend Mark Sands and at that point,
I just really started to devour comedy.
So,
so to,
to talk to your point,
Joseph,
it's,
it,
it is rooted somewhat in tragedy for me and it was overcoming the sadness that I felt when I was home.
Hey,
Dave,
this is Kurt and,
and having grown up 12 years of Catholic education myself,
I just wondered how the nuns and the priests handled that when,
when that came out at age of nine for you.
Well,
um,
you know,
it's funny because when I was,
um,
you know,
doing sound effects and voices and stuff,
the,
the priests and the nuns all and my teachers all called it noises and then,
and then,
and I was very disruptive and,
you know,
then when they would come to my shows later on when I started doing stand up,
oh,
my gosh.
You were such a funny kid.
Those sound effects you did.
Suddenly the complexion of who I was as a child completely changed.
Once there was an audience you were a professional at doing it now.
Yeah.
At that point it's funny.
Yeah.
That's actually really interesting.
Actually I grew up Catholic too and I found out that sort of,
that repressive um,
environment,
uh,
really lent itself to elevating uh,
the,
the humor,
like,
like,
you know,
if you were,
if you were at mass,
like,
just,
just like the worst place.
But what about the Catholic girls?
What about them?
Well,
the Catholic girls were always the rat girls.
The public school were always the kind of the tame calm girls.
So,
you know,
I went to an all boys Catholic high school and right next to Notre Dame was Regina high school and,
you know,
they were mooning more than guys.
It's easy with the short skirts,
I guess.
And back to the back to the repression,
you know,
you put that kind of pressure on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Something's going to squeeze out the side that it reminds me of,
uh reminds me of Gary Shandling's joke.
He would go on stage and he'd say this is a dress shirt,
but I wear it with pants all the time.
So I,
you know,
I was thinking like we,
when we've talked before,
so you moved from like sort of you used comedy and and,
and storytelling and,
and characters and,
and,
and doing voices,
uh,
from a,
from a tragic moment in your life.
But then you,
you know,
you made a,
you made a living at it.
And what I found really interesting when you were talking to us before is how you really sort of codified that into like that you actually have to write because I think a lot of people when they see a comedian up there,
uh,
telling stories and telling jokes,
um,
that it,
it,
it feels very like they just made it up on the fly when actually,
you know,
you've prepared.
Um,
I mean,
there's like a whole rhythm.
I think you,
Dave,
when we were talking before,
you compared it to,
to like a jazz performance.
But how did,
so how did you move from sort of this innate organic,
uh,
uh,
abilities into making a living at it?
Well,
I,
I,
um,
I didn't know it at the time but I was focused and I was really focused on how do I do what I'm listening to on records and seeing on television?
I,
I was watching stand ups and I thought,
how do I,
how do I make that transition from?
I'm a funny guy in the locker room to,
I want to be the funny guy on a stage in front of 1000 people.
And so there wasn't comedy college.
So he went to a,
you know,
college prep high school.
I remember going to the counselor that senior year and they would just go Dave,
I don't even know what to tell you.
And I,
and,
you know,
and at that point I had already been doing shows in the cafeteria and,
and on stage and,
and so,
and I,
and I had a great partner,
a couple of partners in crime and we used to call ourselves the Three Stooges.
And there was two guys named Mark San Drowsy and Tom Keenan.
And we were the Three Stooges and we would do shows and,
and hearing those laughs in high school,
we put together a whole two hour program at the,
at the Regina stage next door and it sold out like 800 people came to this show that we,
that we promoted ourselves.
And it was just because I had this focus of how do I become a professional funny person.
And there really wasn't anyone I could talk to.
There really wasn't anything that I could gravitate towards.
I,
I drove my car when I was 17 to Chicago and I snuck into second City and a bunch of comedy clubs there.
And so I was just searching and,
and I had to do it by myself.
And then miraculously,
the Comedy Castle opened in Detroit and I was 18.
And suddenly it was,
if the,
you know,
the,
the Pearly Gates opened and I suddenly had a canvas to paint on and there were other young comedians there.
And for me,
that was Comedy College,
that was suddenly getting a forum where I could just try things.
And it was,
it was incredible because I had this,
this support system of guys,
Tim Allen and Mark Ridley,
who owned the Comedy Castle and other young comedians who were trying to do the same thing.
I was so suddenly,
um,
everything that I thought in my head about the possibilities of being professional came true.
Well,
and,
and Dave,
you know,
you talk about that era that you were coming through there with Mark's Place there,
what,
you know,
you think about some of the other names,
right on top of yours.
And that you mentioned Tim Allen,
who,
who was your idol at that time?
Did you have an idol at that time?
And who was it that you were trying to emulate?
Well,
originally I gravitated towards Jackie Gleason because I thought he was so funny as a physical comedian and an actor.
And so Jackie Gleason was my favorite.
And then I started listening to albums and I gravitated towards George Carlin,
but I didn't have his acerbic wit.
I just,
I just marveled at how he was such an incredible wordsmith about,
you know,
uh politics and,
you know,
he was right on the pulse of what was happening politically and,
you know,
socially and so that,
you know,
was a bit of an influence,
even though I knew he couldn't be that ever.
Um And then when Steve Martin and Robin William Williams burst onto the scene,
I realized that doing voices and characters and wearing a funny balloon on your head was all in the realm of possibility.
So I was doing characters and voices and,
and music and suddenly I thought,
wow,
this is,
uh,
this is the new frontier.
And so,
um,
you know,
like every kid my age,
I listened to Cosby and I was blown away by Richard Pryor.
And,
um,
you know,
I would listen to Monty Python and,
and I used to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus at 11 30 at night um during high school.
So there were all of these things that I searched for and I started to kind of mold who I could possibly be.
So,
Dave,
I mean,
obviously a lot of people know you uh from full house that when I met you,
uh the thing that interested me the most is how multifaceted that you are.
Um And also like you,
you really kind of move,
you really like tech,
which kind of blew my mind,
right?
And everyone thinks,
oh,
he's just a comedian but you're not,
I mean,
you're a pilot and you do many other things that probably a lot,
a lot of people don't know that you do.
But my question is like,
what gravitates you towards those other things like tech.
It's um having a right brain and a left brain that are in constant conflict with each other and,
and,
you know,
as much as I love creativity,
I love the creativity that goes into technical as well.
It's all about creating,
it's all about possibilities and,
and I've always thought those things out,
what are the possibilities.
And when I got my first IBM computer and you had to,
you had to basically write dots and C++ if you wanted anything cool to come out,
spit out of it.
That's for sure.
I,
I really thought,
wow,
this is just a whole different creative dimension.
And you know,
my dad flew and my son's a pilot for fedex and,
and I flew and I still fly and I always loved the mathematical equations that could bring you into this extremely creative world of I can go anywhere I want in a 3d space.
So,
so,
so my right brain connected with my left brain,
but it was all about the creative options that both of those hemispheres,
you know,
uh Good support,
Dave,
like how does all this roll back into comedy and into storytelling?
So clearly,
you're a creator and you're using both sides of your brain.
Um Like we've talked throughout this entire podcast about the different facets and applications of,
of storytelling and,
and you really are so much more um than just a,
just a comedian.
So how do you like in your life if you view,
you know,
the life and the way you communicate um as storytelling or like,
what's your,
you know,
what's your perspective on that?
Well,
like a great song,
people will always sit and listen to a great story over and over and over again.
And,
you know,
you can go back through the history of all time and you will listen to a story each time,
even though you know,
the beginning in the middle of the end,
you still are going to listen to that fascinating story.
And so,
you know,
what I do is,
um there is no different than,
you know,
writing a book.
I'm just writing a book that gets laughs for an hour.
So,
so that's with stand up.
And when I write a TV show or movies or right now,
I'm in the middle of um selling an animated series that I created um called Yum Yum and,
and it's,
it's for little kids,
it's for five year olds.
And so yesterday we pitched to um uh Christopher Updike at,
at um the Peacock Network.
And,
and so,
you know,
I have to get into my five year old brain,
but it's,
it's still telling a story for a five year old and,
and,
you know,
it's,
it,
it all,
you know,
is,
is encompassed by my own professional immaturity.
Um It sounds like a little fun sometimes getting into our five year old brain,
professional immaturity.
Well,
some are in it all the time.
Yeah,
I just,
I just,
you know,
I've always told people I,
I don't want to grow up because I'll be out of a job.
Right.
And,
and so,
you know,
when we talk about,
you know,
the right and left hemisphere of my brain,
my wife will tell you,
I don't think he has a brain because somewhere in the middle,
the way,
not the way he acts at home.
You know,
and it's like,
because I'm,
I'm immature,
you know,
but that's what fuels me.
You know,
if I,
I can't see someone bend over without thinking about making a fart sound.
There we go.
You stick a fork in the crack or something.
You didn't hear the beginning of the podcast.
It was all fart joke.
Yeah.
Kurt Kurt said,
uh,
farts aren't funny anymore and we,
no,
no,
no.
Wait a minute.
I didn't say as funny as funny.
Ok.
And we,
we,
we strongly disagreed.
Hey,
Dave,
I got a question.
Is that as spelled a ss,
the farts are as funny as funny.
Dave.
I got a question of all the titles.
I mean,
I've heard the title comedian,
uh,
obviously pilot,
um,
you know,
creator.
Which one of those resonates?
How do you identify yourself?
You're missing the key one,
which is hockey player,
hockey player.
Yeah.
In Dave's mind.
What?
That's,
that's the only one I worry about.
What is it that you identify as yourself?
What you,
you like?
Don't go there,
don't go there.
I love,
I love chocolate.
So I'm a Hershey.
That was Sao joke.
I,
I'm gonna tell you just,
just because I love Bob so much and how irreverent and,
and silly and stupid he was,
he would sing a song and he goes,
sometimes I feel like a nut sometimes you don't,
I've got two big nuts.
My mom don't.
That was from his dad.
That was from his,
um,
you know,
I,
I identify just,
you know,
um,
Steve when you,
when you mention hockey,
hockey,
to me again,
is creativity on the ice because it's so fluid and,
and improvisational and it's constantly changing and you get to be,
if you have the puck,
you get to be creative with the puck and even if you don't have the puck,
you get to do something creative to where you have the possibility of receiving the puck.
So to me that fluidity of hockey is,
is creativity and,
you know,
it's,
you know,
it's the only sport that I've ever played where you get to experience that kind of creativity and adrenaline,
especially,
especially at high speeds.
Yeah.
Which I don't experience anymore.
It's all relative.
Yeah,
I'm,
I'm looking for the drop pass going both ways now.
It seems like.
Um,
so,
so I,
as far as identifying,
I love,
I'm like the guy on the Ed Sullivan show,
I love spinning all those different plates and keeping them going.
That's what,
that's what drives me and that's what fuels me and,
and,
you know,
I,
I wanted to build our,
our home,
which we're building now here in,
in Michigan.
My wife and I,
how's that going?
Um It's,
it's,
you know,
juggling contractors is like juggling cats.
They just land everywhere and are never where you think they're gonna be.
And,
and,
you know,
uh,
I've heard every,
the dog ate my homework story.
Um,
you know,
so it's,
it's a challenge working with so many people.
I liken it to when I'm directing a TV show because the plans are the script.
But man,
sometimes you have some really shitty actors and,
and sometimes,
you know,
when you're building a house,
that's the case where you just have to go.
Well,
we still have to do the show.
Um You know,
some of the actors aren't going to be as strong as our star.
But you know,
you do find those stars and,
and get the house built,
you know,
but um iii,
I enjoy doing lots of different things that,
that's what fuels me.
So I could never,
I,
I think probably stand up is my favorite thing because it's live and you get to hear the instant feedback for something you wrote earlier in the day and it's such gratification.
Well,
if you want some more practice juggling cats,
you can come over to my place anytime.
So jeez,
we got lots of them.
Hey,
Dave,
I got a question for you.
You know,
we talk about stories on this uh podcast here and,
and obviously yours has been AAA journey.
How,
how do you,
how do you see this journey continuing or,
or um I don't wanna say ending because I don't ever want to see it end for you.
But what,
what do you see this story for you?
Creator director?
Yeah.
What,
what is it that your journey for your journey?
Uh I don't know,
I,
I honestly don't know,
you know,
um life is like being in an improv class,
you know,
it's like sometimes you're gonna get rewarded with a laugh and you'll be able to finish the scene and other times you have to scurry off stage so somebody else can get up there,
you know.
So I,
I really don't know.
I know that it gets more and more exciting,
the more with the more history that I had behind me.
And I think being able to,
to look back and say,
wow,
I have a real history here.
Um I get to enjoy it all over again.
I'm,
I'm doing a podcast called Full House Rewind.
And um we're standing down for the moment to support our fellow um uh S A and uh A a and WG A um you know,
our,
our unions.
So,
um but I get to relive all 192 Full House episodes of which I've,
I've never watched the show.
So for me,
it's like going back in time and seeing this 27 year old comedian become an actor on national television.
So I get to kind of look at myself and go,
oh,
that kid was kind of funny.
That's pretty cool.
So,
it's so,
it's a,
it's a journey that I get to look both ways now and,
and,
um,
I don't know what the forward journey is gonna be like.
And to me that's really exciting.
I know that terrifies a lot of people,
but for me,
I don't know if I'm going to get a phone call later today.
You know,
people saying,
hey,
were you on the Folk Tellers podcast?
Man?
I wanna,
I want you to be the head of General Motors.
It's a usual transition for our guest,
isn't it?
Yeah.
So it's exciting both ways now,
you know,
and it's,
and it's,
um,
it's really quite lovely that I,
that I get to experience this.
Hey,
so Dave,
you know,
I heard you mention 100 and 92 shows,
a full house and you've not watched one.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
Yeah,
I,
I would see little snippets of myself,
but it would be once the show was in syndication and I'd be walking through an airport and I'd hear my own voice and look over at a monitor and go,
wow,
that's a really bad haircut and even worse outfit.
And so that,
why,
why is that,
that you had a hard time watching?
Well,
because when we were airing,
we were shooting and I never had time to and I was also,
I was also hosting America's Funniest people on ABC.
And then I was also recording the real Ghostbusters cartoon for ABC and the Muppet Babies cartoon for CBS.
And,
and then I was also trying to do stand up because it was,
you know,
everybody told me,
you know,
stand ups who I really respected guys like Robin Williams,
you know,
would say stuff like grab the fucking money now.
And,
you know,
and,
and I was,
I,
you know,
I was,
I was like,
you know,
going out,
I was playing Pine Knob in Detroit,
played there three times.
I,
you know,
was playing big theaters,
you know,
10,000 cedars.
And,
um,
you know,
that was really exciting.
I was exhausted jumping up on the stage after,
you know,
working on my shows.
But,
you know,
uh everything kind of also ended at the same time.
Full House America's Funniest people.
Muppet Babies and Ghostbusters all got canceled the same season.
And so there I was just going,
ok,
well,
that was a hell of a roller coaster ride.
Now.
What?
And so I was never really interested in watching Full House because I was on,
you know,
I was moving forward of,
ok,
what do I do now?
That,
that's behind me.
That was great.
But then Full House kind of had a cumulative effect in my life where it just kept catching up with me because of the popularity of the show and syndication.
And then Fuller House came back and,
and I just thought,
well,
it's never gonna get better than that.
So let's embrace it.
And I thought the best way to embrace it is to talk about it on a podcast.
Well,
Dave,
we appreciate you coming on today.
And,
um,
before you go,
I have to ask from a,
to storytelling perspective not to put you on the spot,
but like,
what's your,
what's your like one of your go to stories that you know,
is gonna kill,
whether it's a joke or a story that's gonna kind of kill every time long or short.
What's your,
what's one of your go tos?
Well,
uh,
I have a bunch of them,
uh,
because I do have that history that I talked about earlier.
Uh,
one of my great thrills was being able to go up in an F-18 with the Blue Angels.
And,
um,
I got to fly my airplane out in California to El Centro where they were practicing the Blue Angels show.
And so I flew out there and,
um,
when I got into their airspace 2 F-18s,
uh,
saddled up next to me and escorted me down to where I was landing and when I was landing,
they both peeled away with full after burners and it was really loud even through the drone of my,
my,
uh power plant on my bonanza.
And so it was a huge thrill for me,
but then I still had to take this,
this ride.
And so they told me the night before,
don't eat,
just don't eat.
Ok.
I'm like water and they're like,
yes,
water is,
is ok.
But don't eat the night before and don't eat the next morning.
I was like,
oh,
ok.
So I'm like,
hm,
I guess the words vomit comet really?
You know,
start this.
So I got there to the base and the,
and the navy people were unbelievable.
The blue angel team were,
were just,
you know,
above and beyond my greatest expectations.
And then for three hours,
they pretty much programmed me and took me through what was gonna,
what I was gonna experience on my,
my flight.
And so by the time they,
you know,
ran me through this,
I was so hungry and I was feeling like I was hypoglycemic and,
and so much expectation and adrenaline and they show me this hook maneuver and they said,
you know,
when the pilot says,
stand by,
stand by and then hook on the second standby grunt as hard as you can because you're not going to be wearing a G suit and you're gonna try and keep the blood from,
you know,
going out to your extremities.
And so I practiced my hook maneuver and then got in the plane and my pilot had never given a VIP ride.
They call it before and his nickname was hoops because he was the tallest pilot that they'd ever had in their squadron and he was good at basketball.
So I climb in with hoops and he's sitting in front of me.
Um,
I'm in the back seat and,
um,
we take off and,
you know,
we're rolling out 100 and 60 knots.
And he says,
all right,
Dave,
um,
stand by,
stand by hook and he,
and I didn't catch the hook maneuver properly and we went straight up with full after burner and I woke up when we were upside down over the field and he said,
oh,
you want to sleep there,
Dave you good.
And I'm like,
yes,
I'm good.
And so then he goes,
ok,
let's go enjoy your ride.
And I thought,
oh,
no,
I passed out on the first maneuver I hadn't done for.
So I passed out a bunch of times and,
um,
you know,
I was upside down at one point and for some reason I thought,
I think I have to crap my pants.
You,
you should have,
you should have been wearing your G string.
Exactly.
Exactly.
To,
to combat the G forces that I was feeling in my pants.
So I'm upside down and all I could think the comedian comes out of me as my body is in total panic mode.
And I'm upside down and I thought if I crap right now I'm upside down,
it's going to go into my own face and all I could think of was maybe this is where the phrase shit face came from.
And so that was,
that was my ride.
And,
um,
they,
uh,
beat me up so badly.
Hoops beat me up so badly.
They reviewed the cockpit footage that they had of me and the lieutenant of the squadron said,
Dave,
look,
hoops beat you up pretty bad.
We looked at the footage,
if we can convince you to stay overnight,
we'll give you a better ride tomorrow.
So I actually,
by passing out as much as I did,
uh,
got me two rides and instead of just one and where is that footage?
Now?
Uh,
that was classified.
I said,
can I watch it?
And they said no,
it's,
did you actually poop?
That's what I'm,
I know.
II I didn't,
I didn't,
I didn't poop but man,
did I blow a Navy seal.
But,
um,
oh my God,
it's all back to poop.
I,
sorry,
that was beautiful.
That was,
be a beautiful way to,
to wrap up our interview with Dave.
Dave.
Where can,
uh,
people learn more about your adventures and all the things that you're doing?
Uh,
they can just go to my website.
It's my name dot com or,
um,
you know,
if you want to hear,
uh,
my podcast is a TV show so you can watch it on youtube just,
uh,
you know,
Search for Full House rewind and our first episode is pretty fascinating.
You'll hear some stuff that you've never heard about.
Full House as I interview the creator of Full House Jeff Franklin.
Cool.
Excellent.
Well,
Dave,
thanks again for being on.
It's always a joy and a pleasure and a laugh to uh to speak with you and to and to have you in our presence.
So,
thank you so much.
Thank you.
I thank the world to you guys and um you know,
thanks for having me.
All right,
take care.
We'll talk to you soon.
Take care.
Bye bye questions here.
So,
um uh Dave did not disappoint.
Uh No,
so we got into sort of the craft of a little bit of comedy and then the crap of comedy.
Um So let's talk a little bit about the,
the storytelling piece of it.
Um In your guys' mind what,
what kind of stories make for the best comedy I I think for me it's real,
right?
It's gotta be real like the stories he tells and the story he told at the end,
especially about.
Uh it's very real,
right?
It's,
it's taking a life experience and making that chemical in my opinion.
What,
why,
what,
why do you think it has to be real?
To me,
it doesn't have to be real,
but to me it,
it makes it funny to understand this is a comedy in that situation.
Uh You know,
I I can't help but think about Seinfeld,
right?
This is a show about nothing.
And so he takes nothing,
he takes situations in life and makes him funny.
I would say the reality piece grounds it.
I mean,
ii,
I agree with you,
Steve.
What do you think?
It,
it's like the,
the gentle poke at societal norms.
I mean,
George Carlin was gentle.
Yeah,
it wasn't very gentle.
No,
he wasn't gentle.
But,
uh,
you know,
it is,
those,
those pokes at those norms.
Right.
Uh,
those definitely make for comedy.
Um,
but that's a timing thing too.
I mean,
it can be not sensitive if it's not done in the right time frame.
Right.
So,
so that's a good point.
So,
um,
what kind of storytelling do you think doesn't fit a come?
When does,
when does it,
uh,
ring poorly,
like,
or poorly executed comedic story in your mind?
Yeah.
I think in,
in my opinion,
it's,
it's when the tragedy is,
is I don't wanna say too big but it's,
it's like,
oh,
it's not really funny because,
you know,
eight people died or these Children were whatever happened to these Children.
And,
yeah,
when,
when it's something too tragic,
I think that takes away from the comedy of it.
I mean,
can we,
can we have a,
a different viewpoint about it?
Sure.
But when you're trying to make something as tragic as a huge event,
um,
in my opinion,
especially if it's a sensitive thing,
Children,
uh,
you know,
things of that sort in my opinion,
but there's certain genres that are very hard to put comedy into like science fiction,
for example,
it's hard to do that.
Um Irwin Allen was an expert at it lost in space and a lot of those other things that he did,
uh,
even Paul Verhoeven,
I mean,
I,
I've mentioned,
you know,
total recall once before,
which I'm not supposed to mention.
But,
uh,
but that movie has comedy in it and that's hard to do in,
in dealing with those types of themes,
especially science fiction and things.
So and so it's,
it,
it,
it's very hard to do in,
in,
you know,
that type of stuff and stories.
But what,
what,
what it really impressed me about Dave though was how everything he's experienced his whole journey,
his story and yet how grounded he is.
In fact,
I,
I didn't get a chance.
I wanted to ask him about that.
If what grounds you,
what,
what keeps you,
your feet on the ground when you have your head in this class like this,
this plane?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Playing hockey perhaps.
I mean,
he love,
I,
I like II,
I spoke to him in length about hockey and he loves hockey and uh he's so right about,
you know,
you,
you played a lot of sports,
it is the creativity of the game and how things you know,
change directly in real time in front of you.
That's why we keep playing sports like that.
But um,
he also gets to play with all his buddies,
all the kids that he grew up with,
he's,
uh,
I think he plays on the same line now that he did with,
with one of his friends that,
uh,
he went to high school.
It says a lot right there.
Yes,
he's,
he's,
um,
he's grounded,
very grounded with his friends and family.
That's why he move back here.
He said,
I think,
um,
you know,
coming back to where you grew up and having friends and family around you and you're in the same geography now,
um,
that has a gravitational pull,
I think.
But what,
what do you think about your question?
How do you answer your question?
What was my question?
I don't know,
that was a while ago about one thing about when,
uh was it,
uh the storytelling when comedy is not when it doesn't ring true.
Uh Well,
I think in this day and age you've got to be,
I remember Will Ferrell saying,
uh,
um,
true comedians are fearless,
like fearless in what they say and what they do.
And I think it's very hard um,
nowadays to be that type of fearless comedian because,
you know,
everyone's so hypersensitive and,
um about,
about whatever and,
you know,
we don't need to go down that rabbit hole.
But,
um,
I,
I think a modern comedian that's probably the biggest challenge is all of a sudden,
you know,
and for comedians in,
in the,
in the construct of comedy,
nothing should be taboo to talk about.
It's a joke.
And you hear the comedian say,
I'm telling jokes up here,
I'm telling a funny story.
And uh it's supposed to be provocative.
What people don't realize is,
um,
in tradition,
the,
the comedian,
the fool was the truth teller and they got away with it.
They could say it to the king because they told it as a joke without getting their heads chopped without getting their heads chopped off.
So,
and like,
and in Shakespeare,
the only one who told the truth was the fool and nobody listened to the fool.
So even the tradition of comedy is the tradition of truth telling in a,
in a funny entertaining way.
But it's a high risk geek.
It's social media that's changed that today because whatever is trending today could actually make things something funny or not funny.
That's how timing affects that formula that you put in.
I mean,
it's,
it's really totally different times to your point.
It is harder to now today to do something to make it funny because you have to be,
especially if there's money attached to it,
like he said,
chasing the money,
right?
If there's money attached to it and you offend somebody or somebody gets upset and they are writing the check,
it changes everything and you're canceled,
correct?
Yeah,
I mean,
Dave came up at a time.
What,
what people who are,
aren't as old as we are.
What they don't realize is,
you know,
back before Comedy Central,
which came out,
I think it was mid eighties,
maybe,
um,
cable television.
And there was a renaissance of stand up comedy before that.
It was like,
kind of like,
you know,
the,
the nightclub comedy,
like the comedians,
uh,
from the fifties and sixties and you'd see on Ed Sullivan and then there was like,
there wasn't that in the seventies but into the eighties,
uh there was a whole renaissance of stand up stand up comedians and comedy.
That's when Dave came in.
So he came in at a really,
really a really good time.
Um But now,
you know,
I think it's a lot harder,
um,
trying to be funny on youtube.
Yeah,
or in a podcast with what I,
what I appreciate about Dave is because we all remember the class clowns,
so to speak,
you know,
infamous class clowns growing up.
And what,
what was neat about hearing Dave's story is how he talked about.
I,
I did it purposely,
I saw what was happening and I thought,
boy,
I wanna do this for a living.
I want to do this because I love it.
Uh He did the homework,
he put the work in,
he put the grind in to be able to continue that.
I mean,
I think about some of the class clowns that I grew up with and I'm like,
well,
where are they now?
And what are they doing?
I see them on Facebook all the time.
And I wrote to myself,
those guys are pretty funny,
you know.
But they,
they just didn't get the opportunity.
They didn't put the work in.
That's it.
Exactly.
Like you hear,
you hear if you step back from Dave's story,
so his comedic chops were honed on a tragic event in his childhood.
But so he had that sort of innate creativity and he's a creator.
So he had the,
he had the,
the chops,
but he also had the work ethic and the passion to say,
I wanna,
you know,
I wanna do this for a living.
I wanna,
you know,
I want to make a living at this and it's that balance like,
and,
you know,
he was talking about the right side,
left side of his brain and he's so interested in so many things.
But the reason he's successful is because he has the balance between the vision and the creativity and then the work ethic and the ability to like codify II,
I remember Dave saying to us uh something before when we had a breakfast with him um about what his father said,
you know,
it's like he didn't really understand the work that went into what Dave was doing.
It's like,
oh,
you just get paid for telling jokes and that,
right?
But the fact of the matter is,
it's not,
it wasn't that easy.
I mean,
it's not that easy.
If you're gonna record that many shows,
that's why he didn't watch all those shows.
He didn't have any time.
He's,
he's working on the next,
on the next thing he's not sitting on,
you know,
sitting on cable or back then it probably be antenna.
All right,
good one guys.
Thank you.