- 1 week ago
GQ’s Zach Baron sits down for a tête-à-tête with comedic podcaster-turned-Hollywood star Stavros Halkias in the GQ offices. The Stavvy’s World host talks about his transition from podcasting to the big screen—and the cost that comes with his meteoric rise in Hollywood.
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00:00I just, I'm heartbroken with a belly full of oysters and I got to f***ing make a video for your
00:04friend.
00:05You want me to set the fantasy football order of your draft this year, right now?
00:09Dude, I can't do that for you, man.
00:21Seriously, like I said, you're a veteran of this?
00:25I'm but a child, so I'm going to try an intro.
00:27Great, go crazy.
00:28I can take over at any point.
00:30I'll do the intro if you need.
00:33Literally anything can happen.
00:35Stavros Halkeus, podcast king.
00:39From your years on Comptown and now Stavvy's World.
00:43That's right.
00:43You are a rising, some would say fully risen, stand-up comedy star.
00:49I like that.
00:50The new special is called Uncle Stav.
00:52Yes, sir.
00:53On Netflix.
00:54Uncle Stav right now, I believe.
00:55You are on Tires with Shane Gillis.
00:59You have recently become an actor in movies as well.
01:02You're in the Academy Award nominated Begonia.
01:05I know, isn't that fucking hilarious?
01:07I'm in an Academy Award.
01:09The first real movie I did went to the Oscars.
01:11Yeah, Best Picture nominee.
01:12Jesse Plemons robbed, by the way.
01:14Should have been nominated.
01:15Absolutely, I agree.
01:16Insane.
01:17Robbed.
01:17Justice for Jesse Plemons.
01:19Justice for Plemons.
01:21And more recently, Tony, the Anthony Bourdain biopic, where you have scenes with Antonio
01:27Vanderas.
01:28Another insane thing.
01:29I don't really know if any of that does justice to who you are and what your place is and
01:34the
01:34culture.
01:35But we're here to figure that out.
01:36So Stavros, welcome to One More Question.
01:39Thanks for doing this.
01:39Thank you for having me, Zach.
01:40I was saying to you before we started, I am genuinely intimidated.
01:44I've done a couple of these already.
01:46Little Oscar winners who are extremely comfortable on camera.
01:50Now I'm with the podcast.
01:53Yeah, now you're here in the mud with me.
01:55Yeah, exactly.
01:56Honestly, culture has degraded so much that famous people have to podcast.
02:01These are the sewers of entertainment, which I have risen out of.
02:04I'm basically the toxic Avenger of entertainment.
02:07Yeah.
02:07And now even GQ has to do it.
02:09Everyone, it was like, once Smartless happened, that was like the canary in the coal mine.
02:13It was like, oof, a lot of these motherfuckers are going to start podcasting.
02:18I can't believe it's the only profitable part of show business.
02:21I know, I know.
02:21And here we are.
02:23I feel like I'm going to be too sincere and too organized for you.
02:26That's okay.
02:27No, no, no.
02:28I can match it.
02:29Listen, you give me whatever.
02:30You be the bass.
02:31I'll solo over it no matter what you're going with.
02:33You know what I'm saying?
02:35I can catch up to your rhythm.
02:36Normally, this would be an insane place to start.
02:39But it's where you start your special, more or less, which is with your body.
02:43You basically say in the special, like the first, I don't know, two minutes where you're
02:48like, I needed a cortisone shot in my back to be here.
02:50Yeah.
02:51I'm taking steroids for my voice.
02:53Yeah.
02:54How are you feeling today?
02:56Pretty bad.
02:57Yeah.
02:58My body's just crumbling, dude.
03:00I mean, I'm better than I was at the special, but that was like, that was the nadir of my,
03:05I mean, this whole year has been, my health has been insane.
03:07I threw my back out right before tires started.
03:09The week before I like was deadlifting, which feels unfair to have a like injury from trying
03:16to get healthy.
03:17Right.
03:17And so through my back out right before a tour and filming tires.
03:21And then I broke my arm before filming this movie, Comeback King, Judd Apatow and Glenn
03:28Powell.
03:28And, and then I had to postpone my special for it.
03:30So yeah, I feel bad.
03:32It's kind of been nonstop since the special, which turned around like six weeks because
03:35I wanted to keep the same date as when I had before I broke my arm.
03:39So it's been like a really insane sprint to get everything done, but yeah, it's bad.
03:45I'm trying to stop doing drugs and eating like shit all the time.
03:49Cause that's the best way to get through a stress for me.
03:52So how's that going for you?
03:54The stopping doing drugs.
03:55And I tried, I tried in the middle of like, cause I was like, all right, we shot the special.
04:00Now I'm, my work is done.
04:01And then no, I still, you know, you have to edit it.
04:04You have to, you know, all this other, do this kind of stuff, which I'm happy to do,
04:07but you know, I want people to, to find out about it.
04:09So you have to like promote it and do all this other shit.
04:12So, uh, I tried and then my back hurt and then I couldn't sleep.
04:17I tried to basically stop taking, it's really pathetic.
04:20I'm addicted to edibles.
04:21Like it's, it's so funny to be like, they are the like drugs for children.
04:25Like you see, that's a whole other thing, which is like the way we do drugs now is like
04:29gummy bears, which is like what a pathetic infantilized generation millennials are.
04:34I'm addicted to those.
04:35I take two men, I take a handful of candy that fucks you up every night.
04:39And I tried to stop and I couldn't sleep.
04:42And my PT was like, for my back, I go to PT three times a week.
04:45And he was like, Hey, is something different with your sleep?
04:47And I was like, yeah, man.
04:48I'm like, I'm trying to stop smoking weed.
04:50And he was just like, legally, I can't tell you to do anything.
04:52But he was like, I wouldn't do anything that disrupts your sleep right now.
04:56So a doctor told me to keep getting fucked up as far as I'm concerned.
05:00So I'm back.
05:01I've regressed, I've fully relapsed.
05:03And as long as I make it through this press run, I have three more weeks.
05:06Okay.
05:06If I stay alive through that, I think I can fix my whole life.
05:09Okay.
05:09But only after that, not today, not during.
05:13I have no ability to multitask.
05:15If I'm being successful, I am dying.
05:17I see every, every time I succeed, it's like I'm trading part of my life force for this success.
05:23It's purely transactional.
05:25That's a grim thing to say.
05:26I, it's what it's, that's what has happened to me.
05:28My two, the two most successful years of my life easily shaved four to five years over
05:33my total life.
05:34I would have to say.
05:35Is that a trade that you accept?
05:37No.
05:38If I, if I had known about it ahead of time, no.
05:40But isn't that like the classic, this is Aesop's fable shit.
05:43Yeah.
05:43It's like you get everything you want and it kills you.
05:45You know what I mean?
05:46It's like, you should have been happier with a more modest life.
05:49There is a very, again, insane thing to bring up with someone who's basically a stranger
05:54to me, but there is a joke about this in your special where you're like, a time not that
06:00long ago, I was going to bed and I didn't know if I would wake up in the morning.
06:03Yeah.
06:03Yeah.
06:03Yeah.
06:03It was, I phrased it more funny than that.
06:06It was really sad when you said it.
06:07It's like, yeah, that's what I do.
06:12I say fucked up shit, but people laugh.
06:14Are you familiar with the concept of standup comedy?
06:16Yeah, I'm trying to find humor in the darkest moments of my life.
06:21Yeah, it was my job to take all the humor out of it.
06:24It's, there were definitely, the first like taste of mainstream success I had was probably
06:30like, I forget the year, maybe it was like, it was after the pandemic, maybe 23 or 22.
06:35Either way, it was my first theater tour.
06:39And during that, I got a Netflix special.
06:41Like I was told I could do it.
06:42I also, because I wanted to act, I wrote an indie movie and we were shooting.
06:46So in that year I did a theater tour, shot my first Netflix special, second special overall,
06:53did an indie movie.
06:54We shot season one of Tires and I started Stavi's World that year.
06:58And that was just all great stuff, right?
07:00But that theater tour came out of nowhere.
07:02I've been a club comic my whole life.
07:03I've always liked working clubs.
07:05I just never thought I'd be a theater act.
07:07That all was happening in a way.
07:08I think it was all the crowd work clips.
07:10That was going so crazy that it was bringing like a whole new audience of people who didn't
07:15know me from anything else.
07:16I wasn't prepared for that.
07:17I wasn't prepared for that workload.
07:19I wasn't prepared to do that many things.
07:20And I had no guardrails back then.
07:22And it was also like off the pandemic a little bit.
07:24It was like, leave your house and just go get fucked up, do all the fun stuff you haven't
07:28been able to do.
07:29And it was just bad timing.
07:30It was like, you're handed everything.
07:32It was like both celebratory and stressful, which is the perfect, like, it's a perfect
07:38storm to just be a complete, just get just completely given to your vices.
07:42And so, yeah, that year, it was like, I was just taking so much.
07:46I was just like eating like shit, getting high, you know, a couple pills mixed in, a little
07:52drink.
07:52I wasn't really, I'm never really a drinking guy to get through it, but also because I
07:56had a good time doing it.
07:57And I was like, damn, like, it's kind of hard to breathe right now.
08:02You know, like, it's like, I hope the CPAP, I hope if somebody unplugs the CPAP, shit's
08:06going bad in this, in this Marriott, in this courtyard Marriott, you know, like, so, yeah,
08:11there were times where I thought that for sure.
08:13Yeah.
08:13I mean, again, not to take comedy literally, but you joke about hitting rock bottom, except
08:18rock bottom is, I think it was acid, ribeye, fuck a stranger every day.
08:23Yes.
08:23Try and fuck a stranger every day.
08:25I didn't always work, but yes.
08:26That doesn't sound like rock bottom to me.
08:28That's what's funny about it.
08:29It shouldn't be rock bottom.
08:31That's, that's, I, the joke, the kind of the overarching, overarching joke of that is
08:35like, what's going to kill me is having too much fun.
08:37Yeah.
08:38And like, no one, that's not really sympathetic.
08:40Yeah.
08:40You know what I mean?
08:40It's like, yeah, all of those things are like, did you, are you, do you deserve to die
08:45if you live that, that luxuriously?
08:48Yeah.
08:48You know what I mean?
08:48It's kind of like the end of The Witch.
08:49It's like, would you like to live deliciously?
08:51Like I was living deliciously and you die if you do that too much.
08:55Well, there is a fascinating thread that I think runs through a lot of your work.
08:59On the one hand, it's like, I have the best life ever.
09:04Yeah.
09:04And on the other hand, and this is another sort of special joke, I can't keep a gun in
09:08the house because I might shoot myself.
09:11You're really highlighting the stuff to make me sound suicidal.
09:15That's the one joke about killing myself, Zach.
09:19Well, I was like, yeah, I was like, but they, it is an intro.
09:22I'm curious how those two things interact.
09:24I mean, I, it's not that, that doesn't seem that weird to me.
09:27You know, it's like, I mean, to want to have this kind of weird life, something's wrong
09:33with your head.
09:33Like you have to be mentally ill to want to do this, right?
09:36Like I was always like a little kid who loved attention.
09:39You know, I have some kind of learning disability where it's like, I can't focus on anything,
09:43but when I lock into shit, I'm really in the zone.
09:46And I think the classic mix to make an artist, you have to be a narcissist.
09:51You have to believe in yourself so fucking much.
09:52And you also have to think you're a piece of shit.
09:55And I think I had the classic, like over doting immigrant mother, like a caricature of like,
10:01like my friends would come over to just like pick me up for the movies and she would flag
10:05them down and make them wait while she made brownies.
10:08You know what I mean?
10:08Like the sweetest little, little Greek lady of all time.
10:11And my dad, who was just like very charismatic, very funny.
10:14I get, I get a lot of stuff from him, but he also was just like, he was a lot
10:18harder.
10:18He was a lot sort of like, I felt a lot of pressure from him.
10:21And there was just kind of like the classic, like your mom thinks you can do anything you
10:25want.
10:25Your dad thinks like you can only do, so it doesn't really believe in you.
10:29And then you throw in like body image stuff.
10:30You throw in everything else that other people deal with.
10:32And I think I noticed this in a lot of people who do standup, who do other creative stuff.
10:37You have to think you're super talented to want to do this, but you also have to like
10:41think you're, you suck and you're a piece of shit to keep trying to improve.
10:46Right.
10:46And then if everything starts going good, I just think everything in my career has been
10:50turned up and in my life so much that it's like those two things, the logical conclusion
10:55is my life's awesome and I want to kill myself at the same time.
10:59Yeah.
10:59You know, when everything's cooking.
11:01And you were like joking about this CPAP machine, but the litany of stuff that like you're
11:05dealing with is long.
11:06It's like, you're like sleep apnea.
11:08Totally.
11:09Zep bound.
11:10Zep bound.
11:10Yeah.
11:11Like food, stuff, drugs.
11:13Totally.
11:13It's a, it's a lot.
11:14Yeah.
11:15No, I guess it is.
11:15I mean, sometimes I'm like, damn, I can't believe I did this because it's like, I couldn't
11:20walk.
11:20Like we put out a tour documentary to go along with the, to go along with the special.
11:25And in January, when I threw my back out, I was, it was right before I was doing some
11:31shows in like Tampa or in Florida, I was doing the casinos, shout out to the Hard Rock
11:35Casino in Tampa and Miami.
11:37And I, and we have video of it.
11:39I could not walk to the stage without taking a break.
11:43Like before the cortisone shots kicked in my first scenes in tires, it's actually the
11:47episode I'm in the van.
11:49And I actually like, this is what a piece of shit I am.
11:51I was like jumping and doing shit.
11:53My back was so fucked up.
11:54But that episode, if we weren't shooting, I was laying on the floor flat.
11:59Like I just could not move at all.
12:01And when I got into position in that like little chair in that van, I was like, guys, I ain't
12:05moving for the rest of the day.
12:07We got to shoot all my stuff now.
12:08And I just could not, you know, it was re it sucked, but it was just one of those things
12:12where you're like, well, what are you going to do this?
12:15The production is not about you.
12:18So many people came together to make this happen.
12:20Your friends, particularly tires.
12:22It's like, these are my friends, right?
12:23I don't want to let like Shane just texted me one day to do something that I thought was
12:27a YouTube series.
12:29And it changed my, and just being like, yeah, it sounds fun.
12:31I'll fucking come to Westchester for four days and fuck around.
12:34Totally changed my life, right?
12:36I don't want to let those guys down.
12:37So it's like you're powering through and then breaking your arm.
12:40I just, you know, Comeback King, which comes out in February, that whole movie, I had
12:45a broken arm.
12:45So I don't even, I might've fucking, this might be the last time I'm in a movie.
12:48I might be in that movie, just wincing.
12:50You know what I mean?
12:51Like I just had to pretend it wasn't broken, which is insane.
12:54But again, this is like whatever, $30 million production.
12:57You can't just change this shit.
12:59That's what, that's the other thing you learn is that you think this is more successful.
13:02You get like the more space you get to do stuff, the more whatever, but it's like, actually
13:07the stuff you're doing is like, everything's riding on it.
13:09Yeah, everything is kind of, everything heightens.
13:12And even though there's more resources, there's less shots at it.
13:15Like that's kind of how I felt about my special too, where first time we had to put someone
13:19because I broke my arm.
13:19And the second time I had lost my voice two weeks prior to that completely.
13:23And it was starting to come back with all the stress.
13:25I was starting to lose it.
13:26And I felt really bad.
13:28Like I really wasn't, I don't think those are the best shows of that tour, right?
13:31Like I think those are somewhere, you know, I think they're good.
13:35They're good.
13:35And we did four shows for a reason.
13:37And I still, I really believe in the special, but in a perfect world, I would have just waited
13:41a week.
13:42If one more week, that's, I think my performance is way better and I don't need to be on steroids
13:45to do it.
13:46But Matt Johnson directed it.
13:48He's about to do a movie in Toronto.
13:50We had already moved 8,000 tickets at the Lyric.
13:53We had moved them once.
13:54Baltimore, my hometown saved me.
13:56Cause like, that's fucking insane to just ask 8,000 people be like, Hey guys, actually,
14:01let's do it in six weeks.
14:02That's nuts.
14:03Right.
14:04And the Lyric didn't really, didn't charge me.
14:05Another theater would have killed me.
14:07So that's when you realize like you, it's a lot of the times the, the more, the cooler
14:13shit you do, it's kind of like hitting the little, the little zone on the death star
14:17where you're like, everything's got to go just right.
14:19And that's what the special felt like because particularly cause of having Matt involved,
14:23it was like a lot had to come together.
14:24And Johnson who also directed you and Tony.
14:26Yeah.
14:27So yeah, it was just one of those things where it was a lot, but it's like, you just,
14:31it just has to get done.
14:32And at the end of the day, it's like my dad, when I was a kid, tore a tendon, a
14:36ligament
14:36in his left arm and he was a carpenter and he kept working.
14:40So I could, I could, you know, tell dick jokes with a broken arm.
14:44You know what I mean?
14:45Like it's not the, it's at the end of the day, my job's not that hard.
14:47Yeah.
14:48Very poor setup for my next question, but I'm going to ask it anyway, which is, you've
14:52been sort of very upfront about, you know, your demons, I've already talked about some
14:56of them, but I'm kind of curious about how you're dealing with what I would say is probably
15:00the newest demon in your life, which is fame, the success that you're talking about.
15:04Yeah.
15:05I, I, I really don't like it to be honest with you.
15:08Like I just, it's fine.
15:09It's cool.
15:10But I see fame as like, I want to do a lot of cool shit, right?
15:14I do love movies.
15:15I, I honestly, I never imagined that I would have this career this quickly.
15:21Like Yorgo Zlantimos, I owe him so much.
15:23Like I got bailed out by a couple of random texts from more talented guys, right?
15:28Like Yorgo just saying, I want that guy crazy.
15:33And I think like my goal, when I made that, you're good in the movie.
15:36I appreciate it.
15:37But like, I think I am good.
15:39Don't get me wrong.
15:40But where the fuck did he find me?
15:42Yorgo's watching tires season one.
15:45Is that where he fucking found me?
15:46What?
15:46I hadn't done shit.
15:47You know what I mean?
15:48Like did he watch let's start a cult?
15:49I don't think so.
15:50But the reason I did let's start a cult was because I was like, hopefully one day I could
15:55be just in the character actor stable of a great director, right?
15:59Like what I wanted to get to was like, maybe in 10 years I could be, you know, I could,
16:04I could, you know, be like, like how the Coen brothers have their repertory guys.
16:09You know what I mean?
16:09Like I could be Pulido.
16:11You know what I mean?
16:11I could be, I could be Dennis Franz in, in, uh, you know, early De Palma stuff.
16:15Like I was hoping one day I could, I could be that guy.
16:19And I got that opportunity before I got to do a broad comedy, which I couldn't understand
16:23to be able to do that kind of stuff.
16:25You kind of have to be famous.
16:26You kind of have to, especially now where the entire industry has become sort of a bringer.
16:30Like when you first start comedy, it's like the shows you go are like, Hey, you can do
16:34it, but you have to bring five people.
16:36Now it's like, Hey, you got to bring a million Instagram followers.
16:38If you're going to be like, you have to keep being famous.
16:41You can't just be good at something anymore.
16:42That's done.
16:43That's actually crazy.
16:44It sucks.
16:44It sucks.
16:45Yeah.
16:45I mean, that's how I feel about standup.
16:47I love standup, but I feel like it's the thing I have to trick people into coming to
16:52because they see me podcasting, acting, they see a clip go viral, whatever.
16:57In general, that's how the entertainment industry feels now.
16:59It's like you will, you have to quietly work on your art and be good and get better at everything
17:05while also being famous because nobody has any infrastructure anymore.
17:10Everybody expects you to do everything.
17:11And so you kind of have to keep getting famous because I want to keep making movies.
17:15I want to keep doing standup specials.
17:17I want to tour till I die.
17:18I love standup.
17:19I want to do it in a way that doesn't, you know, a healthier and I want to do it
17:22a little
17:23travel less, but I want to do standup until I die, whatever to do that.
17:27You just kind of have to have fans and be famous.
17:30But I see it as like, you know, if you work at a nuclear reactor, you got to put
17:34a suit on so it doesn't get to you, right?
17:37Yeah.
17:38And that's how I feel about fame.
17:39It's like, you got to protect, you got to remember you're just, you're not, you're nobody.
17:42You're not some fucking big shot just because like people you don't meet offer to go do
17:46stuff for like somebody's here.
17:48Her job is to bring my water if I'm thirsty.
17:50That's fucked up.
17:51You know what I mean?
17:52Like I should, it's like, that's just how this works.
17:55And it's like, you have to remember like, that's just logistical.
17:57You're not more important because you're doing that.
17:59It just makes this go faster.
18:01And I think that can get to your head if you're famous.
18:02Well, and also it's like, nobody likes to talk about this because it sounds like you're
18:06complaining, but also the fabric of your daily life, I'm sure it's just deeply weird where
18:11you're like walking through an airport or whatever, like whatever.
18:14Again, like it's, it's not cool to talk about, but it's also, I think if people haven't experienced
18:19it or been around it, it actually is.
18:21It is.
18:22Yeah.
18:22It can fuck a day up.
18:23I mean, look again, my perspective is other people's workplace hazard is getting black lung.
18:29Yeah.
18:29My workplace hazard is a bunch of guys that look like me, stop me when I go get bagels.
18:34You know what I mean?
18:35Like, and most of the time I actually really like it.
18:37The only time it's tough is if you're having like a bad day.
18:40Like I, I remember one time I had just made an attempt to get this girl back, right?
18:45Like we were talking, she had started dating somebody who was fresh and I was like, I think
18:48I might have a little window here to get back in.
18:51Maybe I can grab the cheese before the trap hits me, you know?
18:54And I gave him my all, you know, we're getting oysters.
18:57I'm like, picked a beautiful restaurant.
18:59I'm like making my pitch.
19:00I'm like, let's be together, baby.
19:02I fucked up so bad.
19:03She hits me with a, no, absolutely not.
19:05Are you out of your fucking mind?
19:06I tried to do this.
19:08You're just a piece of shit who can't accept love until it's gone.
19:11And that fucked me up.
19:13And I'm like, you know, walking home, like trying to keep it together.
19:15And some guy's like, stop, let's get a, my fucking boy Flacco.
19:20And I'm like, come on, I'm fucking crying, dude.
19:23I just, I'm heartbroken with a belly full of oysters and I got to fucking make a video
19:27for your friend.
19:28You want me to set the fantasy football order of your draft this year?
19:32Right now, dude, I can't do that for you, man.
19:34So that's the only time it's a problem.
19:36But most of the time, like I said, I live a hysterical life.
19:39On a regular day, if I got to say hi to a couple of people, that's nice.
19:42That's, I actually like it, you know.
19:43Is there a moment you noticed when it kind of like really flipped?
19:47Like I was on a plane a week or two ago watching like an Eagles preseason game with the sound
19:52off.
19:52Oh, yeah.
19:52And then I just like saw you pop up.
19:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:55And I was like, I was like, I don't think this would have happened even like two years
19:57ago.
19:58No, no, no.
19:58I mean, honestly, the moment things were like different.
20:02It's so funny because again, famous changed so much.
20:05There was never a thing, right?
20:07If anything, it was when I started posting reels and TikToks of crowd work.
20:12That's so funny.
20:13It really was, dude.
20:14It was like there was I remember a specific time I was in Vegas doing a like a short film,
20:19right?
20:20And I was like, again, I'm just trying to like learn how to act.
20:23And so I was like, fuck it.
20:24Yeah, I'll come to Vegas.
20:25And my buddy, Ben O'Brien was with me.
20:28They're my creative producer.
20:30We've been friends since Baltimore.
20:33An incredibly talented person.
20:34I love Ben so much.
20:35In Vegas, where it's like a tourist destination, a lot of different people.
20:39People just kept coming up to me.
20:41And, you know, I had had the odd compound fan.
20:44I'd had the odd stand up fan, like super fan coming, whatever.
20:47But it would be like a person a day, maybe.
20:50And we were like in Vegas.
20:51And it was just like so many people and like not weird little internet dwellers.
20:57Right.
20:57It was like older Latino couples, like a nice, a nice, you know, like a nice professional
21:03woman in a, you know, like a Hillary Clinton pantsuit.
21:06You know what I mean?
21:06It's like I remember Ben being like that.
21:08That was just like a nice lady.
21:10Now I feel like you have to kind of be famous in a hundred different ways.
21:14And with everything, there was another layer, right?
21:17Like begonia happened.
21:19Different types of people started coming up to me.
21:21You know what I mean?
21:21Like people that read The New Yorker started coming up to me after that.
21:24You know what I'm saying?
21:25And like, and it was like every single time when I, when I like started doing part of
21:30my take, it was like, you know, a lot of barstool bros will come up, will come up to
21:33me.
21:34And it's like, it's just every single thing you do kind of layers an extra thing on.
21:38But the one thing that changed my life hilariously was putting up the part of my crowd work that
21:44I, that I saw as like refuse.
21:46You know what I mean?
21:47That I saw as like curds after I'm trying to make milk or whatever.
21:50And it's like the shit floating to the top.
21:52Maybe cheese.
21:52I don't really know.
21:54It tracks.
21:54You got it.
21:55But the stuff that I would throw out at pasta water, basically, that's what I look at as
22:00crowd work.
22:00It's like people like, whoa, whoa, pasta water is fucking good.
22:03Fuck pasta.
22:04You know what I mean?
22:05And so that's what did it.
22:06It was short form.
22:08It was the algorithm hitting at the right time, dude.
22:10Truly.
22:10Both amazing and kind of haunting in some way.
22:14It is.
22:14Yeah.
22:15And then all of a sudden you're in an Academy Award nominated film.
22:18So you're on set doing scenes with Jesse Plemons.
22:21Emma Stone is presumably there.
22:23She's hanging you up.
22:23Did you feel like you belonged?
22:25Going into it, I was really nervous and no, but they legitimately were so cool that it
22:30was.
22:31And that set felt closer to an indie than every other movie I've done.
22:37Like even Tires felt like more of a production.
22:40Yeah.
22:40Then, and we shoot that at like our friends, dad's, my office in the show is Steve Gerben's
22:46father's real office, you know?
22:47And so Begonia felt they built that house, right?
22:50It was real.
22:51They dug out the basement.
22:52They didn't use sets.
22:53It was a real house.
22:54There were no trailers.
22:56You just kind of, everybody had a, had a room in the house.
22:58And we all had lunch.
23:00We had lunch at the table where he like, she, you know, she stabs him with the fork.
23:04Like we, that porch, we would hang out all the time.
23:06And so it felt like just hanging out.
23:08And it is really funny because Clemens and Stone have been in my life forever.
23:14I mean, Jesse was literally in fucking like Mike.
23:16Like I remember seeing him when I was in middle school.
23:18And super bad was like, I was a fat loser.
23:22I was Jonah Hill's character.
23:24And so you build these people up and you're like, these are movie stars.
23:26And then you meet them.
23:27You're like, oh, they're also 36 years old.
23:30We just say it.
23:31Like when I met Blake Griffin, I was like, whoa, this is some athlete.
23:33It's like, he's a 36 year old who happens to be one of the most impressive.
23:38And so because they were so normal and they were so chill, it felt, it, I felt like I belonged
23:43until Jesse started acting.
23:45And then it was like, oh, like, hold on.
23:48You know what I mean?
23:48Like, don't let go.
23:49I felt like it was like, you know, cliffhanger or whatever.
23:51I'm like, hold my hand, Jesse.
23:53Pull me up.
23:54I'm fucking blowing it.
23:55He was so, like when action started, I was like, I shouldn't fucking be here.
23:59But every other moment, they were very nice and I felt like I belonged.
24:03And then when you do Tony, same thing.
24:06Like there's like, you got just scenes with Antonio Banderas.
24:09Banderas was like, it was surreal.
24:11I will say Tony is really special to me because it was kind of the first time I felt like,
24:17oh, they really like, they need me for this specifically.
24:22Right?
24:22Like, because Begonia, it was something I was trying for the first time, if I'm being completely
24:26honest.
24:26But what I was doing in Tony being like the bully.
24:30Yeah.
24:30Like, I could do that.
24:31The very kind-hearted bully.
24:32Kind-hearted bully.
24:33The bully with a heart of gold, right?
24:34The like, you know, my goal is to have the like, blank with the heart of gold.
24:39Kind of your lane.
24:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:40Exactly, dude.
24:40I want to be the scumbag with a heart of gold, the cuck with a heart of gold, the like,
24:43you know, the criminal with a heart of gold.
24:45Like, I want to do all that stuff.
24:47But Tony was really special because I really felt like a true collaborator.
24:51Not like I was like, holding on for dear life.
24:54Yeah, yeah.
24:54And Matt's style, like, Yorgos obviously is like, he's a, like, he's a, truly a legendary
25:00figure, specifically for Greek people, like, culturally.
25:03And it was intimidating for my first movie to be like that.
25:07And he's not, you know, in my experience, not a very, like, talkative, showy director.
25:12Whereas Matt is like, we're kind of this, we're not the same guy, but we have such similar
25:17sensibilities.
25:17It was just like making something with a friend, even though we really only knew each
25:21other, you know, over like Zoom.
25:23We had talked about some other projects that never went anywhere.
25:25But that felt really special.
25:27And it kind of felt like, I felt like I was a part of something special because that whole
25:32cast was super talented.
25:33And they were also like kids.
25:35It felt like kind of hanging out with like, you know, my little cousin, because like Dom
25:39and Amelia and like, and Leo was the man, he would host like barbecues at his, you
25:44know, house every weekend.
25:45And so it was kind of like spring break.
25:48Yeah.
25:48And movies are like a dream of yours.
25:50This is like something you want to do.
25:51It's beyond the dream, dude.
25:52My dream was to make $80,000 a year before taxes doing like B-level comedy clubs.
25:58This is like something I couldn't even fathom.
26:00So yeah, it's like.
26:00But you are in a funny position where a lot of people like desperately trying to do it.
26:05Yeah.
26:05You're successful in other worlds.
26:06Like you don't have to be six on the call sheet, get paid nothing, wait around all day.
26:11Like you don't actually have to do that.
26:13No, no, no.
26:13And you could argue, I don't know if I'm going to do it much longer.
26:16It's fucking annoying, right?
26:18There are annoying parts of it, but I'm insanely lucky because like I, I can pick stuff that
26:24just really is artistically interesting to me.
26:28Yeah.
26:28It's selfish, right?
26:29But like, what's the point of making it if you can't live like your most insane dreams,
26:34right?
26:35Help your family out and then get to do whatever you want.
26:37I do feel bad for my actor friends because like, it's a hard job.
26:40You wait around.
26:41They don't fucking care about you.
26:43Unless you're the star.
26:45It's like, nobody gives it.
26:46You're so replaceable.
26:47There's so many people who, you know, who want the job and they just make you wait around.
26:51And it's like kind of bizarre sometimes like, all right, we're actually going to shoot your
26:54most emotional scene at 4am, even though we were just, be ready, bro.
26:58Just be ready.
26:59You know, you're, you know, your mom just died.
27:01Go, you know, but I, for me, what's really exciting is my favorite, the favorite time
27:06of my life was when I was like in my twenties and I was doing standup and I was learning
27:10how
27:10to do it and I could feel myself getting better.
27:12And I'm not saying I've mastered standup or anything like that, but like now I'm at the
27:16point where it's like, okay, you know how to do it.
27:18Now create a great work of standup and that's really the, that's the North star in my life.
27:24Still, I, I, Uncle Stav, I, I got closer.
27:27I'm not, I don't think it's like, I still want to do better.
27:31There's still a couple notes I have for myself, but acting is now the thing where I can just
27:35be like, I love feeling like I'm getting better at this.
27:37I love feeling like I'm being challenged artistically.
27:40And, and I also like that it's a team sport.
27:42I like setting picks for Dominic Sessa.
27:44You know what I mean?
27:45Like I don't need to be a star as an actor.
27:47I don't, I'm never see that for myself, but I love being around these super talented
27:51people and being able to like elevate them and to collaborate.
27:56And like, you know, Matt, me and Matt hit it off so much.
27:57He directed my special, even though he was about to start this other Vice movie.
28:01So I love that about it.
28:03It's, it feels like a team again.
28:04It's funny.
28:05All of this comes from a podcast called Come Town.
28:09Yeah.
28:09Yeah.
28:09Yeah.
28:09Which you did with Adam Freeland and Nick Mullen.
28:12Yes, sir.
28:12Are you surprised?
28:13Like you guys did not think that would be successful.
28:15I thought we would do eight episodes.
28:17I like, I was doing it to appease my buddy, Nick.
28:20I, at the time he was like, let's do a podcast.
28:22I was like, dude, podcasts are over.
28:24Marin did it.
28:25Like, it was like, like I was, it was like in 2015, it felt kind of like that first wave
28:29of podcasts had crested.
28:31Little did we know, I think the year we started ended up a whole bunch of other things like
28:36launched, you know, like we launched the Doughboys, pardon my take, which number one,
28:41you know, huge sports show, blank check.
28:43There's a lot of weird, like 2016, a lot of like, they'd feel like there was like a second
28:48and I'm sure I'm missing a ton.
28:49Those are just the ones I, you know, in my, in my world.
28:51And Nick was right.
28:52And no, of course I didn't think it would work.
28:54You know, it was one of those things where it's like, yeah, who gives a fuck?
28:56We can, we can, we have 80, we can buy a Zoom and three microphones and see what happens.
29:01And it ended up being wildly successful beyond anybody's dreams.
29:05Was that strange when, when, did you understand at the time what people liked about it?
29:10No, there was no thought, thought about it at all.
29:13I mean, it wasn't, we like, no, we had no, I mean, I guess you just realize, I think what
29:17people liked on a immediate level is just like, it was like recreating the middle school
29:24cafeteria.
29:25Yeah.
29:26You know, it's like three dumb asses saying insane shit to make each other laugh.
29:30How funny can you get inside the intimacy of a real friendship?
29:34And how fuck can you say once you have buy-in and trust each other, the funniest jokes to
29:38make are saying the most fucked up things because how far can you push it while the other person
29:43still knows you're a good person is kind of the, it's kind of the joke.
29:46And if you're really good friends with someone, you can say insane stuff.
29:49Now we happen to broadcast that to people who do not know us personally at all.
29:53And I think that's something you don't think about what the, you know, people can take
29:56it the wrong way.
29:57But I think a lot of people like that.
29:59A lot of people are like, it's nice to say fucked up things with people.
30:01We fundamentally seem to think are good people.
30:04I mean, some people would disagree, but you know what I mean?
30:06Like, I think that was the ultimate appeal.
30:09I don't know.
30:09And really it's just, it was funny as shit.
30:11I mean, Mullen is, is one of the best in terms of riffing.
30:14Nick Mullen is like a savant on pocket.
30:17Like that's that mother, nobody is better at podcasts off the top of the, off the top
30:21of the dome than Nick, I think when he's really in his zone.
30:23This may be a weird question, but you guys were actually friends.
30:26I feel like I was like reading something and it was like, some days they weren't even talking
30:30before they went on.
30:30Well, no, what happened was we were friends for sure.
30:33And we're still friends now, by the way, we're, you know, we're boys, but doing the
30:37show when it started, yes, we were just broke friends who couldn't get anything going.
30:40And we're like, let's just do a podcast.
30:42And there were definitely times within it where you work that closely with people, shit
30:47gets, you know, it's tough.
30:49We, to, we had very different like styles, all three of us, just like as guys, truly,
30:54it was mostly like planning shit and organizing.
30:57Like we just never had a set schedule the first like two, three years.
31:02And that drove me fucking crazy, you know, and we always recorded Nick's and it was like
31:05these petty things.
31:07But I do feel like we had an incredible chemistry when we were really, you know,
31:12when we were really cooking.
31:13But yes, there were definitely times where we, we quit, almost quit the show.
31:17We didn't want to do it, whatever.
31:18And it was for the dumbest, pettiest bullshit.
31:20And I think getting a little break from it has really just kind of allowed us.
31:25And then when I left, it was like, yeah, you just, I felt like I have to, for a little
31:29bit, separate myself, show that I'm something different.
31:32Because when you're, when you do something that's so successful, you do have the risk of
31:37being like cast as that guy.
31:38For context, for people to know, in 2022, I think.
31:42Yeah, I don't know.
31:43It was like the, like the show is super successful and you quit it.
31:46Yeah, we were making so much money and I quit.
31:48It was like the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
31:50I was, it was like, we're making like, I was getting a check for like, I don't even
31:53remember, like 40 grand a month or something.
31:55Yeah.
31:55And I just quit it because I just felt like I didn't, it was like almost getting what I,
32:01it was like, it was, it would have been fine.
32:03I would have been, if nothing else happened in my career, but that I still would have
32:06considered it a success.
32:07No, you don't get to that level in comedy.
32:09Most, most of the time I was working clubs.
32:11I was doing basically my initial dream, but I just realized like, it wasn't exactly what
32:16I wanted.
32:17Right.
32:17And, and as much as I love Nick and as funny as he is, it was his show first and
32:21foremost.
32:21And I did feel like, uh, you know, again, a support player, which now I'm happy to do
32:26in like these broader contexts.
32:27Cause it's stuff I'm interested in, like movies, whatever.
32:29But I didn't want to be the, like the second guy, uh, on a come podcast when I, when I
32:36was
32:3645.
32:37Right.
32:37Yeah.
32:37And so it was a really scary thing to do.
32:39And I had just paid for my first special out of pocket.
32:42Nobody wanted it.
32:42So I did it myself on YouTube and I just lost like 50 grand on that.
32:47I had to spend another 50 grand on like the Stavis world studio after that.
32:51And so it was a really scary moment, um, right after leaving, but I was just like, great.
32:57Do you think it could have kept going or do you think it kind of had to end?
33:00It had to end.
33:01It was already, I mean, that's the other thing that thing, that's a young man's game.
33:06Like Adam Sandler isn't still doing the songs about, you know, she can stuff three cocks
33:11in the cheek.
33:11You know what I mean?
33:12Like at a medium pace, one of the funniest things of all time.
33:16Adam Sandler's not still doing that, but that dumb, like to me, I'm like, we made awesome,
33:20dumb bullshit.
33:21The stuff I would have loved when I was 14.
33:22Yeah.
33:23We made that.
33:24And that's cool.
33:24But you got to, you know, you don't want to be that guy forever.
33:27But I think, you know, that, that, that, uh, relationship can go on in different ways.
33:31You know, like, you know, Nick comes on my podcast all the time.
33:34I've had Adam on, I'd love to someday collaborate on something when it makes sense.
33:38But in that context, no, I don't think it could have gone on.
33:41It was so specific to the time too.
33:43I think.
33:43Do you feel like you learned anything interesting from doing it?
33:46I just got better at talking.
33:48Like you just have to fill up the time and it is like, um, it is that simple.
33:53I mean, it's like learning how to riff, like, and again, Nick is so good at that, that there's
33:57no way helping to yes and those bits and kind of like, and it also did help me become like
34:02a complimentary player in a lot of ways.
34:04It might've set me up to just be like, I'm good at this.
34:06I'm good at finding, at finding the best of other people.
34:09And I think that is kind of my skill in a lot of podcasts.
34:12Like I'm a heightener.
34:13I can like see where somebody is going and make it funnier while also being pretty funny
34:16myself, whatever.
34:17But I think I learned that.
34:19And I think like, honestly, it kind of helped for getting famous because a lot of our fans
34:25hated me and still do.
34:27I think the original ones and it was like, oh, it was kind of like getting inoculated for
34:32fame.
34:32It was like, it was a vaccine.
34:34It was like, there's no one who's going to hate me more than these motherfuckers hate
34:37me.
34:37You know what I mean?
34:38So, you know, it's funny because as you're sort of like becoming famous, you know,
34:43famous for this kind of like lightly edgelord, whatever thing, you have this very sincere
34:46dream, which is to become, you were talking about it.
34:49It was just get good at standup comedy.
34:51That's it.
34:51I want to make one great standup special.
34:53That's the only thing I want to accomplish.
34:54Do you feel like you're good now?
34:55I think I'm good at standup, but I, but I think that doesn't mean you've created a great
35:00special.
35:00I think you can be great at standup and great live.
35:03And that doesn't mean you've created a great lasting, you know, there's no testament, you
35:09know, one thing.
35:10And look, it might end up, that might be naive, right?
35:13Maybe what's going to be great is a body of work, right?
35:16But still, you still want to chase that one, one, just like undeniable special.
35:22And look, for me, it's also the kind of thing where I think my rep, my reputation, because
35:28what you had to do to get famous was do crowd work clips.
35:30And I happen to be good at it.
35:32I think a lot of people only think of me as a crowd work comic.
35:34And that does annoy me because I think I'm a good joke writer.
35:36And I tried really hard on this special to highlight my joke writing, to make it very
35:40dense, to make it a lot of laughs per minute.
35:43There's very little crowd work in this one.
35:45And so you kind of have to become good, prove to people that you're good.
35:50And then once they're expecting greatness from you, then actually deliver that greatness.
35:56When do you feel like you got good?
35:58I mean, honestly, everybody says 10 years.
36:02And that's about, I think I did hit a different level 10 years.
36:05But it's just, it's a boring answer.
36:07But it's like, when I started performing, when things started going well, and the tour
36:13before the theater tour, I started adding, I was doing eight show weekends.
36:16And I was doing Thursday to Sunday, three weeks out of the month.
36:19And then, and I've just been touring kind of nonstop since 2022.
36:23And so I think I got good on a bunch of different levels.
36:26Like you do a bunch of clubs, you do shitty, like my career has started at the absolute,
36:30I've played every, from the worst bar of all time to literal arenas.
36:35And I've been very lucky in that, that I've gotten the chance to do a lot of different
36:38stuff.
36:38And I think just the breadth of experience and thinking about it all the time has helped
36:42for sure.
36:43And yet you still pocket.
36:45It's fine.
36:45It pays so much fucking money, dude.
36:47I was going to say, why?
36:48Because it fucking paid.
36:49Because like, I got to pay the bill.
36:50But like, you know, it's like, it's like, uh, yeah, it's a, I see podcasting as the
36:55most blue collar thing I do, right?
36:57It's on a schedule.
36:59We, we do it, we book it, we, you know, and, and people depend on it, right?
37:03I do think of all the things, like I like podcasts too, right?
37:07And I would be mad if my favorite podcast just stopped or if they were late a day or
37:11whatever.
37:12And so it's the, it's the most job like thing I do.
37:16Now I think I've created learning from come town because it was hard because it was just
37:20us.
37:22And that's hard when you travel because you can't stack them.
37:24And so I've built the thing where it's like, it's, it's on the guest.
37:27It's interactive with our fans.
37:29My true best friend, eldest is my producer.
37:32We have like a, such a weird codependent relationship where I can spend countless hours with them.
37:37So my boy's there, we just got a new, new studio.
37:41So it's like fun to be there now.
37:42And I've done it in a way where I'm like, oh, this is actually really fun now, but would
37:46I stop if I financially, uh, you know, didn't need to, I don't, honestly, I like doing it.
37:54The only reason I might is because I do have this sneaking suspicion that there's no way
38:00I'm just wasting a lot of being funny on the podcast, which other generations would get
38:05to channel into their standup.
38:06I do, I just think there's so little of your, there's only so much of yourself you can give.
38:11And it's not, I don't want, it's not, it's now ceased being, I don't want to do it because
38:16I'm miserable.
38:16It's now like, I do wonder, are we as shittier at standup as a generation because we're all
38:22podcasters.
38:23And I do think about it all the time.
38:24And even just getting too famous, I think we're worse at standup.
38:27You know, I think like when you, when you go on a couple tours and then you're doing
38:29theaters, you're not that, you know, that's not, that's not that doesn't feel earned
38:33it to me, but you know, for those that don't know Stavi's world, people call in and give
38:38them advice, half advice show, half interview show.
38:40You've joked in the past that it's basically like incel outreach.
38:44Yeah.
38:44Yeah.
38:44That's part of it.
38:45I mean, how, how much truth is in that joke?
38:47Again, it's one of those things.
38:48It's like, I never planned it to be that way, but I mean, I do think it like in the,
38:54where
38:54so much of culture is like a bunch of jacked dudes telling you to like be mean to girls
39:00and do karate.
39:01It's like, I think I'm like, Hey, no, actually I'm like fat and bald and I, my life's fucking
39:07awesome.
39:07And maybe you're not listening.
39:08I'm like, I'm not, I'm not saying you, you could hit this lottery, but if you're just,
39:13if you're just a rare lottery, I've said it, I don't think anyone who looks like me has
39:17a better life.
39:18I think I have the best life for these stacks.
39:21But still it's like, dude, I do think I provide a, a separate thing, which is like, find something
39:27you like, gain a little confidence, develop a sense of style.
39:31It doesn't have to be conventional, right?
39:33Just kind of be yourself and just treat women as people and like, and shit will be good.
39:38Imagine that.
39:39And I do.
39:40And I, again, I say it all the time.
39:41If that, if this insight, if this like a manosphere shit was around when I was a pathetic
39:46little, you know, 13 year old that couldn't make eye contact with girls.
39:50And they're like, actually you have to be racist and then they'll fuck you.
39:54I'd be like, nice.
39:54I guess I'm racist now.
39:55You know what I mean?
39:56Cause you're like, as a little kid, you're so, all you want is attention from girls.
40:00And if they're like, you have to control them, you have to trick them into loving you.
40:04I would have been like, whatever you say, Andrew Tate, it's, it's completely fucked.
40:08And that's, so I'm just trying to be like, I want to save, you know, past.
40:12I know there's plenty past me's right now.
40:14And it's like, you don't have to be that boys.
40:16We got another way.
40:17We got, here's, here's another way.
40:18Another path.
40:19There's kind of a running joke in a lot of your comedy where you're kind of like my
40:23fans are like people who can't see their kids, you know?
40:26Has that actually been your experience?
40:28No, that's, that's just a, that was a transitionary punchline again, Zach.
40:32I was, the hour, the hour, the hour was kind of lagging there.
40:36So I wanted to put a joke.
40:38I don't actually believe most people in my fan base can't see their kids anymore.
40:42I actually think I got a pretty nice fan base, honestly.
40:45Now listen, there's a, there's definitely a nice.
40:48It's a portion of them, but you know, and I want that.
40:51I want a coalition scumbags, non-scumbags.
40:54Give me every type of person in my fan base.
40:56There's a funny thing prepping for this.
40:59I feel like I encountered, for lack of a better word, like many Stavs.
41:03I encountered like the, the sort of tender therapist of like, you know, Stav's world.
41:08The kind of, obviously like the kind of apathetic ghoul on Comptown.
41:12I said that in a, in a, in a, in a, in a proving way.
41:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:15There's that kind of self-loathing main character energy of the, of the stand-up.
41:21And then there's kind of this like newer character, this almost like NPR character that's like
41:25out promoting Tony.
41:27Sure.
41:27Whatever.
41:27Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:28Are you, are you like aware at this point in your life of like code switching between
41:31different?
41:32I don't feel that way.
41:33I mean, I've, I, I, from a very early time with stand-up, I, it was always important to
41:38me to play every kind of room, right?
41:40Like it was always important to me to go to like, you know, play the college, like coffee
41:44houses, play, play alt rooms, play comedy clubs, play like traditional black rooms.
41:49Like I grew up in Baltimore, right?
41:50And that's where I started comedy in DC too.
41:52And, and also by the way, the black rooms in Baltimore are different than like the, you know,
41:55the blue collar Baltimore rooms versus the like kind of white collar brunch, brunch shows
42:00in DC.
42:01And so it was very important to me to be able to go anywhere and be funny.
42:05My goals in term creatively are be able to be funny with anyone, relate to anyone, make
42:11anybody laugh.
42:12That's like one of the main things and, and, and like, you know, keep improving, whatever.
42:18And so to me, I just, I kind of see that as a strength.
42:22I don't, I don't feel like, oh, and, and to be yourself, it wasn't a shot.
42:27It was totally, I guess it doesn't feel like code switching.
42:29It just feels like I'm just me in every situation.
42:31And then, yeah, if, if I'm talking to some, you know, if I'm talking to somebody at NPR,
42:35it's going to be different, maybe a little different.
42:37I'll pick up, like I said, I'll pick up whatever you're kind of laying down.
42:40So I kind of, I like that.
42:42And I, I love that.
42:43I want to do more shows that you wouldn't expect me to be on.
42:45Um, that is, that's another thing that I think is very important is true is being yourself,
42:51the same guy on stage and off stage.
42:53And an extension of that is being able to be funny in every environment.
42:56One thing I find very endearing is it feels like underneath all those characters is a
43:01very sincere person who's like core beliefs are like people don't talk to other people
43:05enough and we should have more communal spaces.
43:08A hundred percent.
43:08Yeah.
43:09Yeah.
43:09It's funny because it's like the reputation I think is of this, of this guy, like, you
43:14know, it's like the, the Comptown version of you or whatever.
43:16And I'm like, no, this guy has kind of like almost like sincere boomer beliefs at heart.
43:20Sure.
43:20Sure.
43:21Sure.
43:21Yeah.
43:21Like, well, I don't even know.
43:23I'm fortunate.
43:23I don't think those are boomer beliefs.
43:24If they, if they were boomer beliefs, our fucking world would be a lot better.
43:27Boomer beliefs are like, I'm not selling my fucking house.
43:30Stop buying avocado toast.
43:32Like, like, yes, I wish more.
43:34I wish we need more third spaces.
43:36We need to invest in infrastructure.
43:38I wish those were mainstream boomer beliefs, but they're not.
43:40I've always said like entertainment comedy wise, I am a pull yourself up by your bootstraps
43:47conservative, right?
43:47Like, I'm like, there are no handouts.
43:49You just have to make it happen.
43:51I don't give a fuck.
43:52If he's a Nepo baby, go be funnier than him.
43:54You know what I mean?
43:54Like shut the fuck up.
43:55No one, no one deserves an entertainment career.
43:58Just try and do it.
43:59Yeah.
43:59But in my life, I'm the exact opposite where I'm like, well, that's, but for just being
44:02alive, everybody, we should have a social safety net.
44:05People should not, you know what I mean?
44:07Like people shouldn't be disposable.
44:08Your boss shouldn't be able to just say, just ruin your life if you cross them, you
44:13know?
44:13And so, you know, and I don't even see those as controversial beliefs at all.
44:17I mean, but also that's not really what I'm interested in talking about or maybe making
44:22art about it.
44:23Maybe.
44:24But it would have to be like, I don't want to be interviewed about that stuff.
44:26I want to like make a movie or a show.
44:29No, no, no, no, no.
44:29It's not your fault.
44:30This actually, I appreciate that you actually watched my special.
44:32Because like I said, a lot of this stuff is everybody's just trying to fucking go viral.
44:36And the thing that works is arguing about politics in the comments.
44:38So I get so many like explicit political questions.
44:42I appreciate like you asked me about the, my creative output instead.
44:46But yeah, it's like, uh, I just, I want to be able to like, I don't feel like the way,
44:52the way I can voice those opinions at the best is through my art is like what I make stay.
44:57And I, you know, it's crept into this hour for sure.
44:59Um, and then, you know, hopefully I want to make TV shows.
45:02I want to make, uh, movies and that kind of stuff.
45:04And I, and I want those beliefs to kind of go out that way.
45:07But that's, that's, that's where that comes from.
45:10The new special is, uh, it's sort of, obviously it's called Uncle Saab because, um, your brother
45:16had a kid and you sort of use this as a way to, if not embrace adult responsibility, at least
45:23contemplate the possibility of doing it.
45:25Is that something that's really on your mind?
45:27Absolutely.
45:27Yeah.
45:27It's like, yeah, I mean, I'm 37.
45:29I feel like a little ass kid.
45:31I mean, that's the thing with the, with entertainment or any bullshit career.
45:34You're not around like people who actually fucking have to live real lives with real
45:39response.
45:39Like, I remember my brother was telling me, he was thinking about having a kid a few years
45:42ago and I was like, he's a baby boy.
45:44He was fully 33 years old, but I was like, yeah, you just got married.
45:49Like all my friends, like my friends just had, my friends just had a kid at like 50, you know
45:53what I mean?
45:53Like that's, and so it's a reminder to be like, oh, you have to like, and that's another,
45:58like that's the analogy of like putting the fame, you know, hazmat suit on.
46:03There's another thing where it's like, what are you going to be?
46:04You want to be like one of those pathetic old guys with plugs and veneers trying to fuck
46:08the hostess at a restaurant.
46:10You know what I mean?
46:11Like, I don't want to be the, like, you see a lot of fucking old dudes in entertainment
46:14who are fucking creeps and it's like, that just happens because you just are untethered
46:20from real life.
46:20And so, yeah, it's a thing of like, what kind of person do I want to be?
46:23I've been very lucky in my career.
46:25I've had all these opportunities, but if you just chase that, I've done the math and I don't
46:31like where that goes, but I'm also not just going to be a fucking, I'm not going to have
46:34the normal life that my brother has.
46:36So it's like, how can I split the difference in a way that feels authentic to me, uh, where
46:41I can stay, you know, I don't just authentic to who I want to be while also making art.
46:46Do you feel like you've figured that life out?
46:47No.
46:48Fuck no.
46:49If I don't, listen, come back in a year.
46:52If I'm healthy, shit's going, I'm giving myself a year to figure it out or then I'm
46:55completely just be like, all right, fuck it.
46:56I'll just be a Hollywood scumbag.
46:59No, you can't do that.
47:00No.
47:00Maybe two years.
47:01The special is about your brother's kid.
47:03What does he think about the special?
47:04My brother?
47:05Yeah.
47:05The kid, the kid doesn't talk yet, but my brother, yeah, yeah, yeah.
47:08I couldn't have phrased the question better.
47:11My brother really likes it.
47:12I mean, my, my brothers both have a really great sense of humor.
47:16They're my biggest fans and he's, I think he liked, he, he really likes it.
47:19He's pumped.
47:20He's pumped.
47:21Yeah.
47:21What does your family make of your success in general?
47:23I mean, now it's gotten really surreal, but they've, they're really proud of me.
47:26I mean, I've talked about my mom always thought I shouldn't do standup because she thought
47:31I was too smart and I would rid the world.
47:34I would, I was holding the world.
47:35I was taking a genius that could solve the world's problems.
47:38She has since, you know, she's cooled off a little bit, but they're, you know, they're
47:42really proud of me.
47:43It's, it's weird, but they're, they think it's, it's cool.
47:46You have talked in a bunch of contexts now about just trying to figure out how to lead
47:50a normal life.
47:51How are you doing on that journey?
47:53I mean, this year, my career was the focus of my life.
47:58And I think next year, my life will be the focus of my life.
48:01And do you know what that will like look like practically?
48:03I think it just looks like not traveling every weekend and like spending most of the time
48:08in your apartment, you know, and like eating vegetables and doing low impact cardio and
48:13then sticking, sticking with your, you know, going to die, actually treating your back instead
48:18of taking cortisone for four months so you can get through a movie, a show and a standup
48:22special, you know?
48:23What do you think young Stavros would make of, of this goal?
48:27The new one?
48:28Yeah.
48:28I think he wouldn't, he wouldn't understand it at all.
48:30What are you doing, dude?
48:31Go.
48:32Girls are finally paying attention to you.
48:34You're in, you're in movies and you want to stop to fucking do, to eat broccoli.
48:38He would be pissed.
48:40He'd be like, go get some ice cream and do drugs.
48:42But, but I've been listening to him too much.
48:44So time to listen to old Stavros.
48:47Stavros, thanks for doing this.
48:48I appreciate it.
48:49Thank you for having me, buddy.
48:50It was awesome.
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