You can't break out by trying to fit in! That's the mantra we’re diving into today as we chat with the hilarious Jimmy Failla, who’s gone from New York City cab driver to comedian to comedy radio kingpin, middays on his network FOX Across America show...which has exploded onto another 10+ stations just since we recorded this interview!

We’re talking all about how you have to be your unique self in a world that’s constantly trying to squeeze you into a box. Simple, but not easy. Jimmy shares his wild journey and how he crafts his show, blending humor with the serious stuff, like current events and even politics — you know, the fun topics! Plus, we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of how to connect with audiences across different platforms, including his top-rated TV Show and best-selling books!

So, grab your earbuds, kick back, and let’s explore the art of being a one-of-a-kind voice in this crazy media landscape!

Check out Jimmy's

• Radio show - FOX Across America with Jimmy Failla
• Podcast - FOX Across America (on Demand)
• TV show - FOX News Saturday Night
• Books by Jimmy Failla
• -A Life of Laughter and Love ‎
• -The Cancel Culture Dictionary
• -Follow That Car!: A Cabbie's Guide to Conquering Fears, Achieving Dreams, and Finding a Public Restroom
• Appearances

One Minute Martinizing - Company (read here)

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You can't break out by trying to fit in.

So don't look around you and try to just be a part of what you see working.

Try to be that unique thing that you are.

Cause that's what Rush was, to whatever.

Extent you are too.

Jimmy.

Well, thank you.

But I say that knowing that's my background in stand up Brand with On Demand.

Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

You know, there's so many stories about how the station you're on might change its programming directive and there you went, or something like that.

So if you can start establishing, it's almost like these side businesses for us, these turnkey businesses, you can leverage these platforms into other growth streams.

Because the one thing I'll tell anybody who followed comedy, the old adage goes, in comedy, we get paid weekly, very weekly.

You know, so you get creative.

Now, your guides through the media morphosis, David Martin and author of the book Brand with media branding coach Kipper McGee.

Hey.

This time, kids, we're diving into the world of comedy media and a new take.

A brand new, fresh take on talk radio.

Our guest has mastered the art of blending humor with sharp insights, transitioning from a New York City cab driver to a standup comedian.

And now a celebrated media personality.

Known for his witty takes on current events, he's become a fresh voice in American media, reaching audiences nationwide with his syndicated radio show.

Now he's taking center stage once again with his own show on the Fox News Channel, offering a comedic break from the week's headlines.

Today we explore his journey, his take on the media landscape, and his vision for the future of broadcast comedy.

In a time of deep divides, Brand, with On Demand is proud to welcome the network radio host of Fox across America and TVs Fox News Saturday night, Jimmy Fallon.

Crowd goes wild.

Yeah, thank you for that flattering intro.

You read it just the way I wrote it down.

Of course we did.

So, Mr. Fearless, sir, from.

From cab driving to comedy and radio, what key lessons have you learned about connecting with a variety of audiences across different platforms or even the same audiences in different venues?

Let me give you this, okay?

I have a superpower for real.

This matters.

Okay.

And it's the fact that I've spent so much time in the consumer's position as a cab driver because you understand when you're driving a taxi in New York City, you're either getting cut off or shot at, or you're just driving along listening to the radio.

So when I wasn't talking to hobbits, and time travelers, you know, and people teleported into my taxi from other dimensions.

Seriously, anybody who tells you we don't have life on other planets has never driven a taxi in New York City.

Okay, I've met it all.

But the one thing I can tell you, okay, especially when it.

As it pertains to radio, is if you're behind the wheel for 12 to 15 hours a day, as I was six days a week, you're consuming an awful lot of radio.

And what you come to quickly understand, and this probably travels into other content mediums as well, is we're all kind of in the companionship business.

And what I mean by that is I always tell people who are trying to get into radio you're starring in a buddy cop movie.

When you host a radio show.

Every.

Every one of those buddy cop movies begins with a guy getting into the squad car, hearing a new partner's voice, and fighting whether or not he can ride along with that guy and fight crime.

Well, the key to being a good radio host is people have to want to spend time in the squad car with you and vibe.

If the atmosphere you're creating leaves them angry or filled with some type of angst or hostility, then your space becomes hard to inhabit, and they eventually ask the sergeant for a transfer, which in this case is them just changing the station.

So my superpower is that I take the air every day as a listener a lot more than I do as a host.

Great stuff, Jimmy.

Your radio show, Fox Across America really creates a new kind of talk radio, blending humor with current events and common common sense and, yes, even some politics.

Plus all those wacky drop ins.

How do you balance being funny while tackling serious issues?

And how did this concept come about?

Well, a lot of it, to answer both questions, is the drugs.

Obviously, you know, we got a lot more bandwidth than we know.

I'm kidding.

Again.

The process for me of what I'm trying to do when it comes to radio is I'm trying to put their vitamins in their applesauce.

Do you know how they trick a kid into taking the vitamins he doesn't want?

Or they trick the dog into taking the vitamins they don't want by burying it in something sweet that they'll enjoy.

That's essentially what I'm doing.

I'm tasked with covering hard news for three hours a day, but I'm trying to be mindful of the digestion process.

So that was the brainchild for all of these sound drops that I play and song parodies and Sketches that I write is I want to make this stuff more accessible, meaning emotionally accessible.

I want it to feel good going down.

So it's amazing because I've chronicled what often feels like we're starring in the series finale of America.

We've had such a great time doing it that I don't think a lot of us realize they're now, you know, the Statue of Liberty is basically selling feet pics for all intents and purposes, Right?

You're listening to my show, you feel good about it.

You're like, well, they're going to be big feet, but I'll buy a pair.

I think I'll buy a pair.

Yeah.

Funnier if that weren't so true.

Wow.

Okay.

I gotta ask you one thing about all the sound effects and drop ins and stuff.

I mean, how do you collect all those things?

And more importantly, how do you play them?

Do you do the buttons or do you have them?

I, I, you know what I, I do, I play them myself.

So I have 10 pages of drops on an Enco page.

So let's say each page has a hundred drops is I add about eight or nine of them every week and get rid of some and add new ones.

But I know where they are in real time and I'm playing them off a mouse.

So when I'm talking to you, I have an idea in my head of the point I'm trying to make.

So there's two conversations, the one I'm having out loud and the one I'm having in my head about what might accentuate a point I'm trying to make, what might break this up a little bit.

That is all me in real time, but it's completely improvisational in the sense that, yes, I know where these drops are in my head.

No, I don't get on the mic with any plan for an individual break because I need this to sound organic.

And for me, I'm better at trusting my average than I am at scripting my average.

Do you follow what I'm saying?

Yep, absolutely.

1,000%.

Yeah.

Good.

Yeah.

Like when.

What I mean is, if these stations knew just how unprepared this show is, none of them would clear it, but it actually works better.

I mean, we started on 27 stations, we're on 160 stations, which, I know there are bigger shows, but that's a lot of growth because we've grown with a lot of independent stations picking us up just because the atmosphere is a better way of digesting talk radio.

Yeah.

So on that note, given all this experience both on stage and on air, what in your mind does it take to make a great segment?

Whether it's radio, podcast, tv and how do you decide which topics are worth your time in covering and making it to the show?

My primary focus, okay.

Is to filter it through the lens of not radio or TV host Jimmy, but through cab driver Jimmy.

Meaning does this story impact cab driver Jimmy?

Is it about crime or safety or the economy or the quality of local education?

Is it something that has a deliverable for the consumer?

Because the truth is, in order for them to care about it a lot, number one, it has to relate to them.

But you need to care about it.

And for that reason, it's weird, but I find more fun in topics that might seem heavy than I do in topics that might seem superficial.

If only because you care about that heavy topic and how it affects people.

Like, I can give you two great minutes on whether or not JD Vance wears eyeliner, but his ability to put on eyeliner doesn't affect your ability to pay for, you know, groceries.

Right.

I'm usually having more fun in that serious area than I am in that superficial area.

But I think the.

It's the deliverable metric.

Does this offer a tangible deliverable or an impact on the listener's life?

And I think that was a lesson learned.

I came into that election as a cab driver.

I came out of it as someone who was starting to appear infrequently on tv.

But the one thing I wasn't surprised by was the outcome.

Because I knew for as much as the media was dissecting Trump's tweets and his attitude towards debate moderators and stuff of that nature, I knew the boots on the ground were hearing a different story.

They were hearing things about jobs, you know, and maybe about America not getting ripped off by our enemies or allies alike and certainly border security.

That resonated with people.

And in my head I was like, wow, I'm actually more equipped to do this than most of these so called experts because the experts analyze along the lines of what the other experts are talking about.

So I try to be just mindful of, again, cab driver Jimmy would care about this, whereas TV Jimmy is around people who might care about that.

Now, to be honest, I'm not around anybody because I need an extra hour a day in the makeup chair.

Yeah, okay.

I'm in a different lane.

Most of these people on Fox look like TV stars.

I look like I installed your tv.

Okay.

But that's Another superpower.

It's relatability, man.

I'm one of them, not one of the TV people.

I'm one of the listeners.

Absolutely.

With your success, Jimmy, on radio and certainly on cable too, in addition to your standup, do you see any emerging trends in media that content creators that are working in audio and video or whatever other distribution platform they happen to be on should be thinking about?

What do you see coming next?

All right, two things.

Okay.

One is we're in a really fragmented landscape when it comes to content consumption.

It's fragmented in a way it's never been before.

People used to have a few basic options for entertainment now because the portability aspect of the phone means everything is in play.

And the truth is people are gravitating towards things, number one, that make them feel good.

There's a very limited market for anger.

There's a very limited market for bile and hostility.

And I think you are uniquely positioned as a broadcaster right now.

If you can tell people, you don't have to tell them what they want to hear.

You don't need to be in a confirmation bias business, but they need to personally trust you.

I think it's become more intimate now and that people do have an intimate relationship with every host they consume because they not only see you on TV or hear you on radio, they're now looking at a picture of your dinner on Sunday.

They're now it's ball game finding out whether or not Lincoln's team covered the spread.

As I'm so focused on.

So I think the truth is you're a companion now more than you are just a host.

I think you are a lifestyle.

And I think if your lifestyle is agreeable, like you're kind of cool and they know you're bargaining with them in good faith, they'll take a lot of rides with you that they wouldn't traditionally take with other hosts if they're genuinely of the mind that you are this thing you're presenting to them.

So authenticity is number one.

That's really, really big.

But number two is entertainment.

And this is what's really so overlooked by Rush Limbaugh is so many guys came along and tried to kind of ape his style, and that might have meant militant political analysis, but Russia's superpowers.

He was a great entertainer and people, and I can tell you this, as a cab driver, found him to be a great companion in the car.

He was somebody you could ride along with and fight crime every day.

And self awareness to the show, even when it was a self Awareness to how obnoxious he was being.

He'd be like, yeah, we got to take another obscene profit break.

You know.

But people found that endearing because he was leaning into the reality of who he was.

So I think for people who are trying to break through this very fragmented landscape, okay, you can't break out by trying to fit in.

So don't look around you and try to just be a part of what you see working.

Try to be that unique thing that you are.

Because that's what Rush was, to whatever.

Extent you are, too.

Jimmy.

Yeah, well, thank you.

But I say that knowing that's my background in standup.

So really quick, and you guys might appreciate this, you know, prior to me coming to Fox, getting my own show, obviously in comedy, I was the guy who would go on before the guy you had actually heard of.

You know, there's.

There's a two drink minimum.

You're gonna need both of them to get through my act.

And you're the middle, right?

And then the guy you wanna see is coming on stage, and that's kind of where I started.

And that's fine.

But that leaves you in the green room having a lot of conversations with other celebrities that might be friends with the celebrity you're opening for.

Well, one of the things Larry David.

Larry David Kirby, Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Larry David told me is he said that his character on Curb youb Enthusiasm is who he wishes he could be in real life.

Meaning in real life, he's not that confrontational, he said, because someone would have shot him by now.

Because the law of averages say you can't get into an argument over every innocuous thing just because he said, basically in defining his TV and media Persona, that's who he would be.

In a world of zero consequence, how does he really feel?

And TV was his opportunity to act out on it.

Well, if you want to break through as a broadcaster, you really have to look at yourself that way.

How would you be in a world free of consequence?

And I know people might say, but hold up, there's consequence, there's censorship, there's everything.

But if you're bargaining with your audience in good faith and you're operating free of any type of malice or malicious intent, there almost isn't consequence anymore.

Okay?

There isn't.

You know, we're kind of past that now because we don't have the luxury of policing speech the way we did two years ago, four years ago and eight years ago.

Like, if you notice, nobody's canceling comedians anymore because they're too busy working a second job to pay for groceries.

The culture is a luxury.

So be the superhero version of you would be my advice to anybody who wants to break through.

And speaking of that, Jimmy, it seems that more and more broadcasters, and particularly those with spoken word chops, morning shows on music stations and talk hosts, it's more common that they are doing live shows with some sort of audience, a studio audience, or maybe they're doing a comedy show or something like that.

Is that becoming more and more part of a host revenue portfolio?

Should local hosts and content creators, what should they be doing to secure their longevity in a changing media landscape where their pay might be flattening or even decreasing from the radio gig?

Yeah, you should absolutely look out into those alternative streams of revenue.

Like if you have the ability to do a live act.

Okay, whatever that live act might, you might not be a comedian, but let's say you're a radio host and you just want to have like a town hall where you take questions or you just want to do a live version of the show where people get to interact with it, then yeah, I would explore finding a venue that might partner with you on the proceeds and putting something together because one, it builds your relationship with your audience and that you get to meet them so they have a bigger investment in you.

But two, it does create your ability to generate revenue independently of fickle overseers.

You know, there's so many stories about how the station you're on might change its programming directive and there you went or something like that.

So if you can start establishing, it's almost like these side businesses for us, these turnkey businesses, you can leverage these platforms into other growth streams.

So yes, it is imperative that people do that.

If you can get to book writing, anything you can do that gives you that flexibility.

Because the one thing I'll tell anybody who followed comedy is the old adage goes, in comedy, we get paid weekly, very weekly, weekly, you know, so you get creative.

We are with the incredibly entertaining Jimmy Fader.

What a guy.

He's a network radio host of Fox Across America on radio and on cable tv, Fox News Saturday night.

Know someone who'd be a great guest or have an idea for a topic we ought to cover?

Well, let us know.

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Coming up, Jimmy Fala reveals something that Fox forgot to tell him during the job interview.

Here at Music Master, we can help with a lot of things because we've heard a lot of things.

Have you ever heard this?

Of course you have.

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Or how about this because cuz you left me.

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Radiocontentpro.com what they didn't tell you at.

The job interview brand with On Demand.

Now we're talking with New York cab driver turned comedian turned radio and cable TV star Jimmy Fayla.

Jimmy, thinking about moving to radio and tv?

What's the one thing they forget?

Got to tell you in the job interview.

That you're not allowed to eat carbs anymore.

That was a big, that was a, that was a big, that was a big breakthrough in tv.

They have me walking around with a shock collar on so I stop eating food.

But no, to be serious, here's the truth.

Radio is better than TV if you're actually trying to have a good, productive conversation because you have a lot more room in the break.

What nobody tells you making that jump from radio to TV is just how finite the time is on the air.

Like you think about it.

When you have a guest on your radio show, you're going to talk to this guy for 8 minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes if you have room, okay?

In TV, the guy's on for three minutes.

There's a different story than the one you're talking about streaming across the bottom of the screen and a picture in the corner of the guy.

Coming up next.

It is such a smash and grab medium that there's an efficiency to tv.

Okay.

That really does help you in radio become a more targeted broadcaster, but really does often deny the consumer a more fleshed out discussion because it's like, what do you got?

Why do you got it?

Who's coming up next?

We'll be right back.

So that's the biggest change is the management of time as a broadcaster.

So I prefer radio better for substance.

I prefer TV just in terms of as a comic, you know, your ability to do visual things.

Sure.

Absolutely.

Great stuff, Jimmy.

Great stuff.

Our thanks to the very talented Jimmy Filo.

We have links to his podcast, the TV show, his books and more all in the show notes.

Just scroll down on your phone.

Kudos to exec producer Cindy Huber for incredible coordination all the time and our associate producer Hannah B For only booking the best.

Speaking of which, coming up next, omnx.

Brand with On Demand.

It's me, Scott Bertram, general manager of wrfh, Radio Free Hillsdale at Hillsdale College and lecturer in journalism.

Here.

We'll talk a bit about the the next generation of radio and audio talent.

I'll talk a bit about substack and my podcast on 50 years of Saturday Night Live.

All that coming up on the next Brand with On Demand.

That's a wrap, Kipper.

It's all about company being good company, a good companion.

It's really a secret to success in the show.

Notes@brandwithondemand.com I'm Dave Martin.

And I'm Kipper McGee.

May all your brand width be wide.