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Takeaways:

• Comedy is a journey, and it's important to find joy in the process rather than just focusing on the end goal.
• You should keep a journal to jot down things that make you laugh to develop your comedic style.
• Don't quit; persistence is key in the comedy industry, especially during challenging times.
• Focus on what you can control, such as your writing and performance opportunities.
• Consider using a variety of writing tools, from notebooks to digital apps, to capture your ideas.
• The highs and lows of comedy are universal; every comedian experiences them at some point.

What's goody?

Hot breath of Earth.

Welcome back.

It is Hot Breath Live, your weekly comedy tune up with comedians Joel Byers and Yoshi.

Sorry about him, but this is the weekly live stream we do on our YouTube channel where we answer your questions directly.

So join our email lists and I'll send you a weekly reminder of this awesome meeting we do, all in the name of comics helping comics.

And today we got a very special episode, Yoshi and I.

First off, Yoshi, if you not.

If you haven't seen his special yet on the hot breath YouTube channel, you gotta go check that out.

American, African.

Yeah, go check that out.

And also I want to say congratulations to Hot Breath OG Bobby Sutton.

She's going to be in Vegas.

Nice.

For the Keenan Thompson Pop up Comedy Festival.

So anyone in Vegas, pull up on Jimmy Kimmel's Comedy Club.

That's very cool.

Love seeing the hot breath of verse out here doing dope things.

That's what it's all about.

I love that.

And speaking of hot breath verse, Yoshi and I had great show this past week at the New Helium in Atlanta.

Yeah, let's talk about it.

Yeah.

Super dope.

Several hot breathers.

I tell you, there were.

There were several hot breathers in the building.

I.

I don't forget.

But it's like when you meet.

Yeah.

And when people.

Yeah, when you meet people, they're like, oh, my gosh, hot breath.

It's helped me in X, Y and Z.

And thank you so much.

And then you're like, oh, yeah, we are.

We've been out here.

Yeah, we're doing things.

Doing things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

About once a week when I go to a open mic or something, I get a stop and people are.

I haven't heard anyone say, hey, that Hot Breath Network trash.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we've been doing it for a while and the opportunities to say that are abound and plenty.

But not once has anyone said that.

All I've gotten is nothing but positive feedback about how much we have helped, how much resources that people have gotten from it.

People listen regularly, which is freaking amazing.

I get stopped and people are like, hey, that last episode, they'll ask more questions.

I was like, yeah, of course I'll answer the question.

So it's been awesome.

Yeah.

So that show that we did at the Helium was awesome.

Lots of.

Lots of fans, let's put it that way.

Tons of fans.

Yeah.

And I was talking with Daniel Delano, a comic who was also on the show this past week.

He's been Doing a lot of festivals this year.

And he said every festival he's gone to, someone has asked him if they know Hot Breath because we're in Atlanta.

So that's pretty cool.

That's very cool.

That's very cool.

Actually.

He said if they know Joel Byers.

But I didn't want to make you feel bad.

Okay.

But it was Hot breath.

I'm good with it.

Yeah, I don't want to make you feel bad.

So I decided to say it anyway.

That's really what it was.

Completely.

I'm completely good with it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But, yeah, so I thought that was cool, too, that a lot of people at festivals.

So, yeah, it's just.

It's very cool to.

Just to see it all coming together.

It's so exciting.

Yeah.

So thank you all for listening and sharing it.

And when you're out at shows and you're talking to other comics and you say, have you heard of Hot Breath?

And you mention an interview or the live stream we do on Tuesdays, it just all.

It all helps, and it all adds up.

Yeah, it does.

Yes.

So us.

And we're happy to do it.

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, for sure.

And as.

As I have a child, I will be happy to do more.

I'm gonna lock myself in this room and never leave.

Yeah.

I remember this one time Joel said, hey, you want to not do it on Tuesday?

I was like, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, yeah.

You're like, no, this is my time.

No, no, no, no.

This is my time.

I.

I not only do I enjoy this, it's also good.

It's.

It's just good time.

Sometimes you gotta set precedents and let people know Daddy is busy at this time.

That's right.

No Daddy questions.

I'm a comedian right now.

I'm gonna do the comedian thing at this time.

So, yeah, it's been awesome.

Oh, and we got some good questions already coming in the live chat here, but I did just want to shout out all the hot breathers we saw at the show this weekend and at Helium in Atlanta, which.

Amazing, Amazing, amazing club.

Amazing, amazing.

Yeah, absolutely.

The lineup's coming through.

I mean, anyone in the Southeast not far from, like, the Atlanta area, it's worth driving in for.

They're bringing in the heat.

Shouty heaters.

Heat.

Heavy hitters.

Yeah.

From the jump.

Great people.

And I think, like.

I mean, I remember, like, maybe, like, first week that was out, I was like, okay, they've got a pretty solid schedule.

And then, like, days later, that schedule has filled up.

I mean, it's like weekend after weekend, a lot of one nighters as well.

Yeah.

That.

That schedule is filling up and so, yeah, as I'm.

Here's the thing.

I live less than 10 minutes away from that place.

Oh, that's beautiful.

I think I've literally been there probably like four or five nights since it's opened.

But I like that because I like hanging out at the, at the comedy club.

So before I had to like schedule out and ask for like, you know, hey, I'm gonna be gone for the next two hours versus I'll just stop in for like a couple minutes and then go home.

Which is awesome.

Yeah, Just put your face there.

Yeah, yeah.

So.

Yeah, yeah.

I was gonna say, speaking of Hot breath, I got to.

The next night after our show, I got to work with Moses Storm, who was.

Is a fan of hot breath as well.

Nice.

So you opened the show that.

That's the show that you opened?

I did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

How was that show?

Oh, it was super dope.

He's.

He's a wild man.

You know, he's like.

He's.

If you remember my.

When I used to host the Java monkey show on the coffee shop patio.

Yes.

Did a bunch of weird stuff and rubbed the walls and rolled around the floor.

He's like, if I honed that and did it in a way that people actually enjoyed and it was entertaining and not like a mental breakdown.

Like, I've been a fan of Moses for years now and his special, he has an HBO special called like Trash White.

Yeah.

Which is incredible.

About his story of growing up homeless and dumpster diving and all that funness he found humor in.

And just to say he opened up the show, he somehow ended up with an audience member shoe.

And then he put a cheese stick in between their toe and took a bite of the cheese.

Or he acted like he was going to take a bite.

I don't think he actually took a bite.

But all that happened.

And these were like rich.

They were on the front row.

These were like rich whites that you would kind of expect to go with.

That's my favorite kind of white too.

Exactly.

That's also why I like helium, because it's in a rich part of town and that's my audience.

But they were down from the beginning.

Like he went weird from the jump and they followed him the whole way and he killed.

He did over an hour.

Yeah.

So it was really cool to watch and just see the, the freedom on stage.

And it's a good reminder for all of us to Remember that this is supposed to be fun.

Yeah, I, I always have to remind myself of that.

I mean, even in my set list, I write have fun in it.

Every.

Like I, I keep saying, oh, I gotta get this joke and I want to try this new tag and oh my gosh, the booker's in the back of the room and I gotta.

And they gotta have fun and remember to lead with that intention and just to see Moses embody that and make that like, that's like his brand of comedy is.

He is.

You don't know what you're gonna get, but you know it's gonna be fun and funny in an adventure and it's just inspiring to see it done at a high level.

Yeah.

He's got a Robin William esque like character to him, which is just fun to see because, you know, there's not a lot of those really around either of a stand up perspective.

So it's definitely like a refreshing thing to watch.

Yeah.

I've watched the special as well and I was like, oh, wow.

Like, and I thought.

I was like, that is a lot.

Like, it's.

He's doing so much in my mind.

I was like, how are you not tired?

Like, that just looks exhausting.

But you could just tell he's having such a good time and everything flows and Which I truly like, appreciate.

It's like, oh, all this is like work.

He's working all these bits and they all like come in and out.

It looks like it's improv, but it's like, oh, this is very much owned jokes and I love that.

And that's why in Conan, he's one of Conan's favorite comics.

And like Conan's given him a lot of shine on his show and stuff just because of that.

He's such a unique voice.

Yeah.

I think Conan produced that special.

Oh, he did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Good point.

Yeah.

Which is.

That's.

That's awesome.

That's a nice little executive producer tag that you can have.

Yeah.

So definitely go check out Moses Storm, his specials on HBO and you can watch clips on YouTube and he's done several late nights and things like that.

So he's definitely one worth checking out.

We were, we talked about doing the interview.

We just did it.

We couldn't make it happen.

Yeah, it didn't happen the time.

It just wasn't the right timing.

I propose it just.

I.

Yeah, it just.

Life.

I.

You can't.

I can't just go for like.

I can't just go.

I can't be like oh yeah, I'll just be there.

And I, I have like, like this family situation where I have to be around and accountable and write thank you notes to everyone that bought us all gifts off our registry, which we're very grateful for.

So, so it was a lot of.

There were family things I could not avoid to then go.

But yeah, timing.

I'm still grateful we got to hang out.

I'm not as thirsty anymore, which feels good as well.

Of like I gotta make sure I get this interview with this person.

It was more about just connecting with them and hearing him say such nice things about the show and us kind of nerd out about comedy together and such.

So that connection's worth more than trying to force an interview at this.

Yeah.

Well, congratulations on the show, man.

That's awesome.

So you did two shows?

Two shows at the Helium.

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun.

It was so much fun.

And I saw Chicken Joe Clark ask if they give out a towner spots.

Not with that name.

I don't know how it works when it comes to out of town comedians.

They're doing an open mic every week now, but I don't know the signup process or any of that, but that's probably your best bet.

Yeah, and I mean I think one of the things about especially a club like this is they're just starting out so I don't know how much leeway they've got for stuff.

And I'll tell you just from a in town perspective, there's so many in town comedians that are like on the shows right now.

Which is awesome because you can see like the headliners are appreciative that the club has features and openers and things like that.

But I don't know, the out of town sort of drop in process.

Yeah, yeah, I don't either.

I, yeah, they've been open literally maybe three weeks.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

They're just kind of getting up and running and ironing out the kinks and stuff.

But it's, it's definitely worth at least going visiting.

So I don't, I don't know if I'll be able to make it.

But she is, if you ever see her anywhere in your area, you gotta watch her.

She is lights out, just hilarious.

It's, it's, it's, it's awesome to see and depressing of like.

Oh, you can be that good.

No, incredible.

Incredible joke writer and just, just a force.

It's like a hurricane when she's up there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She's like Tasmanian devil when it comes to stage presence.

Dude.

All killer, no filler.

All killer, no filler.

Yeah.

Lights out.

Yeah.

So let's get into these questions here.

And if you are watching live do hit the like button on these.

On these live streams.

Let's.

Let's get the algorithm going here.

Okay.

Let's.

We're, we're really.

We're.

Let's.

Let's get into it.

Hot breath verse.

We got here together, we're gonna get there together.

Boom.

Oh.

We got here together and we're gonna get there together.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah.

Bars.

Bars.

Thank you.

Oh, man, I have a feeling that's loud and I'm sorry.

Podcast, right?

That was very loud.

Chicken Joe Clark actually said that there's a group of his that watches this show together, which is awesome.

Oh, in Houston.

Oh, that's cool.

Appreciate that.

I'm sorry, I roasted your name.

Comedy.

Yeah.

We'Re still gonna roast you.

Thank you.

But we're still gonna do it.

So.

Yeah, hit the like button.

Share this on Reddit or social media.

Let's really start.

Let's start building up this show here.

Our wives greatly appreciate you and the first question I'm seeing here is from Mike Betancourt and he asks, what is your favorite notepad to write on?

So if y'all don't know, we nerded out about pins last week we went in deep on pins and the analytics reflect that.

But if you know, you know, shouty and we appreciate y'all that nerd out on pins.

Honestly, my favorite, I mean, I just use like my daily use is like a, like a composition notebook, basically.

I mean, it's just like one of those kind of black and white speckled composition books.

I do have a, like a kind of a quote unquote fancier journal I will journal in.

But that was like a, like a gift from my sister in law.

But in my day to day, like joke writing, it's in like a composition notebook.

And also when I go to shows, I use like a smaller notebook that I can fit in a pocket.

Right now I'm, I got like a pack of like the moleskin kind of not fabric, paperback one kind of paperback ones.

Yeah, they're just mobile, they bend, they're durable.

Yeah.

And I'll just do my set list in there and I use, you know, the Zebra F301.

That's kind of My.

That's my go to at showtime unless I'm feeling fancy.

Okay.

I don't like one thing I did recently.

Sam Altman.

Wait, Sam Altman?

Yes.

The open AI guy.

Right.

That's Sam Altman.

I thought it said Sam Walton, which I think is the Walmart guy.

Yep, yep.

Yeah.

Yep.

But I just saw a clip with him talking about his favorite notebook, and he likes the spiral notebooks because they'll lay flat.

And because there is something with.

When it's not spiraled, it does kind of, like, plump in the middle, and it can be kind of hard to get in all the way on the page.

So there may be some to the spiral I need to revisit.

Nice.

Yeah.

I don't know if I have a favorite notepad.

My thing, I.

I definitely write a lot on, like, I would say are, like, the index card notepad thingamajiggers.

I write a lot of my set list on those.

Like, just, like, little index cards.

Okay.

On those things.

But when it comes to like, actual, like, jokes and when I write.

Right.

I've been in marketing for so long, so I just have this collection of just Chotzkis and old notebooks from old companies.

Like, I think I have, like, a Cialis notebook or something like that.

Right.

Of just, like, random stuff, but I just have them.

So I would just use that notebook, write, like, the.

The year on it, and then write jokes for this year, and that's what I'll just be writing in.

So I usually try to separate out new jokes for different years, and that's, like, the only process that I have.

But I write with anything.

It doesn't matter.

Like, I don't have, like, a favorite feel of a notepad, but I'm just.

All the notebooks, and I have tons of notebooks that are just random from every conference that I've been in.

All these places that give you free stuff, like, from these different companies.

Some of them are still around, some of them are not still around.

And I'm just like, huh, what is this company?

No idea.

But they gave me a notebook at a conference in Louisiana one time.

That's what I'm using.

Yeah.

I got.

When I worked at the hotel, when I refilled mini bars, I would.

A lot of the people that were there for conferences would leave all that kind of stationary stuff in the rooms when they left.

So I.

I have a collection of those as well.

Of all those different.

Yep.

Like a free notebook.

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know if anyone else has in the Live chat, favorite notebooks.

But that's kind of the.

The.

The go to.

I write in a bigger one, and then I'll take a smaller one out to show.

Yeah, that's what I do, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have a notion More, too.

Oh, I've been.

I've been Notion freak, and I have a separate notepad, but, yeah, yeah, I've been.

I've been.

I've been notion it up lately.

Like, it's been helping me organize, but I've got, like, an old note.

I use this tool called Up Note, because when I got it, it was, like, cheap, and it just has every.

All the notes.

I imported all my stuff from Evernote because I was a big Evernote person until they started charging, like, way too much money, or at least for me, and I was just like, all right, I'm gonna just use this.

And it organizes all my stuff.

It's how I wrote the special.

It's how I organize the special.

And that's.

Oh, Up Note.

Yeah, up note.

Oh, interesting.

I have never heard of that.

Yeah, yeah, it's just a very, like.

It's a minimalist.

So I've been just trying to watch or, like, find, like, minimalist stuff because I realize I get way too distracted if something has too many features.

And this is just notes.

I was like, just notes.

Organize it in notebooks and tabs, and it just does exactly what I needed to do.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Not heard of that one.

Yeah, it's kind of.

I mean.

Yeah, we can all get lost.

It's kind of like what you're going to use.

You know, we can all get lost.

That's what I found, is that I was using so many different things, and so I imported everything into Upnote.

I was like, no more.

All the notes go in here.

And then I use notion just to organize my day.

So it doesn't.

So I've separated out my notebook from, like, my daily task and things like that.

Yeah, I'm starting to.

I've been testing notion for, like, daily writing tracking as well.

Oh, that's a good idea.

Yeah, it's kind of.

So I'm trying to think of all the different ways it's like, oh, man.

What.

What would help me?

Like, what would.

What would help other comics?

So I'm trying to put together, like, a notion template for students as well, to kind of check in and organize your jokes.

And kind of check off the day.

Like Seinfeld's, how he has that don't break the chain strategy where he puts an X on a calendar.

It's kind of the same premise.

So, yeah, I like that.

It's.

Yeah, it's.

It's.

Whatever.

Whatever y'all are going to use is really the best.

But the more accountability, the better to actually show up.

Boom.

Oh, and Alvaro said calmly, writer is another one.

Nice.

Ftw.

Notion.

Ftw.

What is FTW for the win?

Basically, they're saying.

Like an old man.

What's that?

Ftw.

What's that?

Ftw.

Yeah, I.

I have been so thoroughly impressed with Notion.

It is just good.

I mean, I think I used it at first to organize.

Like, I actually use it to organize my produced stuff.

So I have a database of all the comedians that I use, and I've got them literally tagged by the types of jokes.

Are they clean?

Are they dirty?

Can they do this kind of room, how many minutes I'm comfortable with them doing?

And then that's how I go through and organize who I want to put on a show.

So I've got that all organized in notion.

Yeah, we talked about that with our AI episode with Mike Tadasco, which, if y'all have not heard, you gotta go listen to that podcast, because that was a banger.

And we did a live writing session with AI and that was a winner for sure.

Yeah.

So we putting out.

Yeah, I know.

It's like it.

You know, sometimes we forget we're doing so many cool things helping comics that we forget until we meet y'all in person and we're like, oh, yay.

We appreciate the gratitude.

Yeah.

So speaking of, let's get to other comics questions here.

We just nerded out.

We almost just made a whole other episode about stationary again.

We were.

Last week was about pins, and now we're like, what.

What about stationary?

Maybe we get into card stock, different weights of paper.

So Daphne Steinberg can potentially triggering comments like, your body, my choice, be spun to be funny in any way.

Like joking about a cat and your face.

I would say.

I think anything can.

I think you can really spin anything to be funny if you absolutely pull it off with the right skill.

Absolutely.

I mean, I think anytime you hear things like that, I think it's always funnier to take it to a direction that people are not expecting it.

And I think that makes for a much more comedic.

Because at the end of the day, comedy is about surprise.

So obviously, some people might think you're going to go a certain way.

So when you would surprise them with a different avenue, that's what the open mic is for.

Try something that you see with my.

Your body, my choice.

See all the tags or see all the things that you want to write and see how it works in front of a real crowd.

And then go play with that later again, listen to it and see if you can find some more tags.

See if you can find some more ways.

I mean, just.

Just the way that you wrote the joke.

Your body, my choice.

With a cat and your face that feels funny already.

Like, I'd love to see where that goes.

I think as long as it's not like, just making sure it's.

Anytime you're trying to do a joke that could be potentially controversial or whatever, it's just making sure you're not punching down.

Boom.

And that's a great kind of way to ensure.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I warn comedians against this.

Like, I.

I sometimes feel like we get caught up in watching some types of comedians, like the Kill Tony like, universe, that are very, like.

I mean, I'll say that it's like, very mean.

It's very, like, just negative a little bit.

And it's very much like an ode to how much can I say to get away with it.

But I will also say, like, if you start writing that way, that becomes who you are and you're just not going to get booked a lot unless you have a fan base that is okay with that type of comedy.

It takes people a while to be like, okay with that level of comedy.

And as Anthony Jeselnik once said, if you are mean and you don't get away with it, that means you weren't funny enough.

And he's like the master.

He says very dark stuff and he gets away with it.

Allah.

That's why he's able to keep doing it years after years after years.

If you don't get away with it or somebody calls you out for it, that means it wasn't funny and it wasn't great writing at the end of the day.

Yep.

And it's always great.

I mean, especially younger comics.

It's kind of.

You may aspire to tackle these taboo topics or to be edgy and whatnot, but it is very valuable to kind of learn the rules before you break them.

So how can you make, you know, the weather funny or how can you make a joke about your dog or your job and kind of less edgy things, but just learning how to make certain things funny before you try to tackle these big topics?

You kind of got to learn the technique and then you can apply it to these bigger, higher concepts.

But it just takes time.

It takes time.

Yeah.

But yeah, there is a whole movement with Kil Tony and comics outside of the context of Kill Tony.

Yes.

Still think that it flies.

And that Kill Tony is it's.

It's its own.

I mean, you know, they sold out Mass Square Garden twice.

I mean, it's.

It's its own, like, world.

And outside of that world, all that offensiveness can be a little divisiveness, if you will.

For sure.

Yeah, yeah.

And if.

And it.

And the reality is, if you're trying to work regularly as a comedian, your Kill Tony set, that only people at Kill Tony Love isn't going to work at every club, and not every club is going to book you because of that.

Unless you can pull in your same audience.

You know what I mean?

So, yeah, unless you have the audience, which.

Unless you have the audience, then you can.

You write the same rule.

You write your rules the way that you want.

But if you're just starting out and you're doing that kind of material, it's just really hard for it to be like, massively appeal to a lot of people.

But you do you boo.

We're not telling you the right or wrong way, just kind of giving you some.

Yeah, we're just giving you some advice of what?

We've been doing this for hot minute now and we don't see.

We don't sink it.

We synced it.

Yep.

Which actually, speaking of getting booked, Chicken Joe Clark asks about EPKs.

What should comics not leave out of an EPK?

That's a good question.

I can tell you what you should put in an EPK rather than what to leave out.

Right.

In every epk, you want to put yourself a bio.

That's important.

Images of you.

Currently, how you look is also important.

Do not put Images of you 10 years ago unless you look very close to that now.

Right.

Like when people.

I've seen it where people would put old pictures of them damn near 20, 15 years ago.

And they get to a show and people are like, who is that guy?

So you mix it up.

Make sure you put like current pictures of yourself.

Not it doesn't have to be like weeks ago, but like six months or like even a year is a good.

So put pictures of yourself.

Put links to your actual sets, whether they be short, long, preferably short.

The majority of people that are looking for set list are looking for anything.

5, 7, 10, 15.

That's typically what they can tell and then if they ask you for like anything longer, then you send it to them.

But if you've got a 5 minute, a 10 minute and a 15 minute, that's typically enough for people.

You still there, Joel?

And then.

Yeah, the other thing I always say is also like reviews and.

Or what people say about you is also a good thing to put on there as well.

And then what's the last thing I'd probably say any kind of links or your like social links or social media and a way to contact you.

Those are the most important things to put on your epk.

Oh yeah, And I was just pulling up mine.

Yeah, there you go.

Just to show.

But it's like.

So mine has like my contact and name and title and like kind of a bio and a review from a past company and then I'll share this more with like companies and such.

For sure.

I don't, it's not like I, I don't.

It's not like I'm sending this to a club or whatnot.

I guess it doesn't hurt.

Yeah, clubs EPKs are usually different.

Like this is a very corporate EPK where.

Club EPKs.

Yeah.

They want to know what other clubs you've worked at.

Right.

Like they look more for like validation.

Oh, have you done this in other places or in other spots similar to ours?

So that'd probably be the only difference.

But what you have is a great starter for anyone.

Even if you just have those elements of your contact information, a picture of yourself, a bio, what other companies you've worked for, a review section and then you know, as I say, the testimonials or validation of who you've done this for.

Yeah.

I wouldn't get too been out of shape about an epk though.

I don't, I can't remember the last time someone was like, but do you have an epk?

Typically you should get be asked for an epk.

Don't just have it just to have it.

You should be asked for it and then go get it done.

Yeah.

And there's templates on Canva you can kind of follow and stuff.

For sure.

Yeah.

And I've done eps.

The only time I was probably say, the only time I've really submitted one is for corporate gigs.

Yeah, that's why I have, that's why I have mine.

Yeah.

So next question.

Good question though.

That is a good question though.

Yeah, we haven't gotten asked that one in a while, so.

Yeah, that's a great question though.

Definitely like a little, little professional Polish for you to.

For you to have in your back pocket when someone asks for it.

Yeah.

I would also say if you can put an EPK like on your website or on somewhere that people can just easily get to it, that's also a great, good look for you.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, that's a really good point.

So the next question I'm seeing is HS3 comedy winner.

When is the OG reunion show happening?

We got to work on that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I reckon so.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good point.

I like that.

We don't know.

We don't know.

That's a good question now.

Yeah, that would be fun.

We'll see.

We'll put it out there.

We'll see.

Maybe if the Helium Comedy club will let us do something like that, that'd be super fun like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be super dope.

Yeah, that's definitely something we can plan for 20, 25, for sure.

I like that we've kind of only done one hot breath event in a sense.

I mean, I did.

I did like a hot breath meet up in LA and the joke doctor came out and we did like a session, like a live right.

10 where people wrote and then went and performed the joke and got feedback from the joke doctor and me.

Yeah.

And that was.

That was a lot of fun to do.

We did that at Flappers in a Burbank and then people got Covid.

So it was a success all around.

It was a success all around.

Just like 15 people in a super tight room.

No big deal.

Fortunately, everyone was okay, so I can make the joke.

But at the time I was like, oh, my gosh, what have I done?

I remember comic drove from like Vegas to be People drove from all over from like Oakland.

Like, people really showed up for it.

So that's awesome.

Yeah, I mean, you showed up for it.

That's what.

That's what you get.

You get coveted jokes.

You came came for jokes, but you go away with COVID So the gift.

That keeps on giving.

Next question I have from Beardo asking if I've considered naming my child Remorse.

That's funny.

Like buyer's remorse.

Ah, that's hilarious.

That should be your next special Buyer's remorse.

That's pretty.

Pretty good, Pretty solid stuff.

And Eric Hansen asks if there's any tips on finding and honing your style.

That's a deep one.

I'd probably say once you.

I think one of my favorite things to watch comedians do when I see them figure out like a style that they have is to just double down on it.

Right.

Like there's a.

I'll, I'll gloat about a comedian who I'm a big fan of in town.

His name is Lanny Farmer.

Lanny Farmer is very, has a style about his comedy, but he digs into it.

And every time I've seen him and I've, I've actually like had him on many of shows of mine and to watch him just dig into that style is like my favorite thing.

Because you've seen all the work that he's done like over the years of just owning that style and he's a very much like a one liner comedian and that's his style and very dry and just like delivers the jokes.

But it's so funny.

So to answer the question, it's just do it more and dig into it.

Once you find what you like or what you enjoy, it's just do more of it as much as possible.

Yeah, it's really like, well, one, talking about topics that you enjoy talking about, that you have fun performing, that you're naturally interested in, that you're naturally curious about, that you naturally find funny.

So starting from that natural intention will help you to deliver your jokes more naturally.

And it's picking up on stylistically, it's, it's over time picking up on what the audience is enjoying about your performance.

So if you do facial expressions and you find people are laughing when you do facial expressions, it's doing that more.

I know for example with Jeff Foxworthy when he was on the show he, because he'll, in his delivery he'll kind of go up like this.

And I asked him about that and he, he said that just kind of evolved organically that he noticed when he went up and pitch like that people started to laugh more.

So just doing a lot of shows and starting to pick up on these little nuances that the audience was reacting to, he then started to develop his style around that feedback he was getting from the audience.

So now he's almost known for that high pitch.

But it all started with him doing it on stage a little bit here and there and then over time just making it a part of his act.

So just, yeah, being aware of when you review your sets or when you're on stage, if they're laughing at certain moments and try to do more of what evoked that laugh from a delivery standpoint and your style will evolve from there.

But start with material that you enjoy performing and you enjoy talking about and then that'll start to help you deliver more Naturally as well.

Yeah.

And when you start out as a comedian, it's also important, like when you're keeping a notebook, like take notes of what you find funny.

Like take a note of the things that make you laugh.

And I think that's an important factor to figure out.

Oh, what your style is.

Like if you find something that someone says funny, like jot it down and be like, why did I find that funny?

And try to remember, okay, there's something about this that I find funny.

And like making a note of what you find funny and what sort of is your funny style helps you also deliver in a better way and helps you deliver the way that you want to because you're like, oh, I like when someone does that thing in comedy or I like the way that that person delivered that joke.

So yeah, along with writing notes, I mean, writing your jokes down, also, like take note of what you find funny as well is super important.

Yeah.

Great question though there, Eric.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's an evolution, you know, for, for years I just did one liners and I was very.

Just monotone and didn't even think about the delivery.

And it just kind of evolved over time.

But it's interesting, you know, with their.

People are already thinking about these things now when, early on now there's so much information out there about comedy that, oh, comics, younger comics are now trying to do all these things that older comics.

I guess I am kind of an older comic.

But like when I started there wasn't.

It was kind of like, all right, you just grind for 10 years, then you film a special and you go from there.

Yeah.

But now it's like, you know, it's the wild west and comics have a bigger growth mindset than ever, which I'm absolutely, I envy in a sense.

I'm almost like I've been conditioned to feel like I have to grind until I hate myself and then an opportunity magically appears.

But younger comics are like, no, we're gonna go out there and make our opportunity.

Opportunity.

And I really, I don't, I mean I'm, I'm in that mindset now, but it is something I have to be intentional about as it's just the, it's just the norm for comics nowadays.

Absolutely.

Yep.

The game has changed.

Yeah, it really has.

Oh, and Bobby said we did a sold out hop breath show at the Hicksville that she put on.

Yes, we did.

I was thinking, I guess I was thinking about like meetups or whatnot, but yeah, an actual live show.

We did yeah, Bobby put that show on with Joyce, which was very cool to do.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Thank you for that reminder there, Bobby.

If when we do an OG, you know, Bobby is front and center for sure.

Oh, gee.

OG OG Yay.

Yay.

Wait, what's goody?

Angels on y'all.

That's Bobby's sound effect there.

But I guess we should angels on y'all.

There's Bobby.

Oh, we got one more.

And then maybe we should land the plane.

Yeah, let's do it.

We got one more.

So if y'all haven't already hit the like button on this video, share this on social media.

Let's really start getting these numbers up on these live streams.

And your homework for this week, go tell one comic at an open mic about hot breath.

That will be your homework this week, kiddos, because we're gonna spread the hot breath verse one comic at a time.

Yeah.

And then if you can get in two questions, tell them to go watch my special.

Yes, good point.

On the Hot Breath YouTube channel, go watch Yoshi special for sure.

Probably more importantly, they should go watch Yoshi special.

It's a good point for sure.

Yeah, we getting out there, man.

So, Dubs, general asked, do you ever feel like you're just always on go, never really getting to your end goal?

Does that cause you to be discouraged?

So do you're just always on go?

Yeah.

Just feel like you're just always hustling, but you're not getting to your end goal.

And does that discourage you?

I had a feeling this one would stop us in our tracks.

Good question, Dubs.

Good question.

I would say the answer is sometimes you have to be reminded that your end goals can change and even if you're not getting to them is to enjoy the journey of what you are doing and to be gracious.

And I don't know what the word is, but, like, find some gratitude in the everyday stuff that you're doing.

With comedy.

I know when I started it was always about, I gotta get on tv, I gotta do this, I gotta do all that other stuff.

And now I just like to work, man.

I just.

I like doing shows, I like doing corporate gigs.

I just like the ability to be able to get up as often as possible.

I like going on the road, and that's finding more of those opportunities is what my goal is now.

Yes, I have goals of doing more specials.

Yes, I have goals of, you know, opening for a big time comedian.

All those things are still on the goals list.

But I'm not going to stop I think for me, the biggest thing is I'm not going to quit.

That's the whole goal.

Don't quit.

I don't know if that's helpful or not, but that's, for me is sort of the driving force.

I tell myself that in the mirror every day.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

Oh, and we got a team of tips saying, hi from Russia.

Hello.

We out here.

We are out here.

I think when I do feel that stress or discouragement, I should be X, Y and Z.

Yep.

It's all it.

It all comes down to whenever I feel that way, I'm focusing on something I can't control.

So that.

And I've gone up and down and all around about this.

I mean, yeah, more lately than ever, honestly, with a kid on the way, I'm like, do I want to be on the road?

And then during the pandemic, I was like, do I even want to do comedy?

It's like, it's been up and down a lot, but.

And it all comes back to focus on what I can control.

And that old saying, you know, get better or get bitter.

And it's, it's really whatever's in your.

With your control, just focus on that and just keep trying to get at least just 1% better every day.

It's just like, how can I get 1% closer to whatever that goal is that you're discouraged about not getting to?

And it can also help to have a goal a lot of times.

And I'm guilty of this as well.

I'm frustrated about something that I'm not even, like, working towards or like, you know, it's.

I'm.

You're like, yeah, yeah.

I've.

I've seen this with many people.

They're like, get mad that they didn't get to a festival, get into a festival.

And I'm like, did you apply for it?

They're like, no.

It's like, what?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or I'll see a con.

Yeah, I'll see a comic, like doing a cruise.

And I was like, oh, man, I want to go be stuck on a boat for four days.

I was like, no, you really.

You don't like it?

But it, like there's that instinct with all of us.

Like, but I want to.

I got to be doing everything too.

But it's, it's really just that self awareness and just focusing on what you can control and being honest with yourself about what you want and what you don't want and being okay with that.

And it's Absolutely.

It.

I will say this is something comics go through at every level.

Every level?

Every level.

I mean, I know there's a lot of younger comics that listen and you may think that this is something that gets better with time.

I mean, you know, we've talked to a lot of comics that have been doing this a long time and there's.

They're all trying to figure it out and piece it together and it's.

We're all still trying to figure it out and there's highs and lows to all of this for everyone.

So absolutely.

The best advice, focus on what you can control and just be grateful and Try to get 1% better every day.

Get 1% closer to whatever that goal is.

Just that incremental effort really has a compound effect, which is why on like a, a less like dramatic level, just writing.

So many people don't write every day because we're overthinking the outcome of it instead of just seeing the success in the process and sitting down and just setting a 10 minute timer and just moving your pen for 10 minutes.

Absolutely.

That could be daunting when you feel like you have to sit down and write a.

Oh, you got to come up with something brilliant.

No.

90% of what you write is non sense.

And we'll never see the light of day.

We'll never see the light of day.

Yeah, that's everyone that goes through that.

You have to fall in love with the journey.

The journey is the thing, like just doing the work is the thing that will keep you motivated.

The outcomes and the sets, those are things that you have no control.

You have no control over who's going to book you.

But you do have control over how many open mics you do.

You have control over how often you write.

You have control over how many times you record.

You have control over how many things you put out there.

You have control over all those things.

Work on those pieces more than anything else and then let the chips fall where they may.

Yeah, and it's a marathon.

It's easy with, especially now with social media and people seemingly blowing up overnight, which some people are.

I, yeah, I can imagine there's.

Yeah, there's a lot of pressure there.

As a younger comic, they're like, oh my gosh, I've been doing this three months.

Why am I not famous yet?

It's, it's a, it's a marathon.

For the vast majority of you out there, it's got to be a marathon.

You're not necessarily going to win the lottery and just blow up overnight.

Yeah, for sure.

But you're like, oh, I did this tick tock dance and it got a million views.

I put my stand up special and I got four welcome to the world.

I'll post a clip and it'll get 100 views.

And I'm like, never mind.

So many times I've been like, this is it.

I'm posting every day until we.

We own fam.

And then I'll post like three days in a row and then, you know, that's it.

So, yeah, and I mean, even from everyone a lot.

I would probably say the majority of the people that we've interviewed have said that the thing that blew up was never the thing that they thought was going to blow up.

It was just the work.

They were just trying stuff out.

You know what I mean?

They were just putting things out there and they had no control over which one of these is going to blow up, but it just did.

And you never know what's going to resonate with people.

But they were just putting stuff out.

They were just doing the work.

They were like, okay, I'm gonna just try these and see what happens.

So, yeah, control what you can control.

Yep.

So, yeah, social media is one example of that.

But just the question, I think was a little more in general, just, yeah, the highs and lows of this comedy game, it's just for sure, yeah, it's a marathon.

So just I like to focus.

I think the higher the highs or the lower the lows, the higher the highs.

So I like to think when I'm.

When I'm at a really low point, I see it kind of as like a trampoline to where I'm really low on the trampoline.

It's about to shoot me back up.

Or it's like a slingshot being pulled really far back, and then you're about to be, like, catapulted further than ever.

So I like to approach the highs and lows with that mindset.

And the community helps too.

I mean, being a part of the Hot Breath of Earth, being in the Facebook group, being a part of these live streams, and connecting with us and other comics in the live chat, it's all that community aspect in your local scenes as well.

Having a support around you to really voice these feelings and realize you're not alone can really help to persevere as well.

Boom, boom.

Yeah, Bow.

Oh, and Devin Verma asked if I'm saying to write for 10 minutes without a goal in mind, instead of writing with the goal of making a joke, should I just free write.

I think.

Either one.

Yeah, either one.

I'm just.

I was thinking more of, like, writing focused on the process and not the outcome.

So, yes, the success is in starting.

The success for me is when I actually sit down and set a timer and actually just start writing.

And all of my writing starts with journaling.

I don't sit down and go, I'm going to write a joke now.

I always journal first just to kind of get the juices flowing, and then we'll go into material and kind of start working on material.

That way I just kind of ease into it.

It's not like an on off thing.

I kind of have to just warm myself up into it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, journalist key.

It's the artist's way.

If you've ever read the artist's way, it's about just writing, like, three pages before you do anything else or just getting stuff out.

But, yeah, journaling is very, very helpful.

And it's less pressure than trying to write a joke, too.

You're just putting your.

Whatever's in your head.

You're just putting it on paper.

Yep.

It's a great.

It's a great starting point.

Yep.

Starting the hardest part with all that.

Which is why I'm doing this writing cohort starting on Sunday that if you want to apply.

I'm only gonna let seven people in.

If you want to apply.

It'll be linked in the show notes, and it's also in the live chat for people in the live stream here.

They want first dibs on that.

Yep.

Up.

Well, we should.

We should probably land this plane.

We have gone over, but we appreciate everyone for hanging out here.

This was a good one.

This is.

Yeah.

What you got coming up?

What you got coming up?

What do I have coming up?

Yeah.

Nothing.

Yep.

I have a baby coming up.

That's.

Oh, I'm going a fundraiser for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Awesome, man.

That's sweet.

But I've done some work with them for the past few years, so I'm doing that.

And yeah, I mean, in.

In December, Av.

I mean, I've booked a few things locally, but it's.

Yeah, I haven't been, like.

I haven't booked anything on the road because I don't.

I don't.

Anything could happen, really, between now and when she's.

I would hate to be in a Hampton Inn in the middle of nowhere and my wife's like, oh, it's happening.

And then, yeah, like, I'm.

I can't be accessible, you know, so for sure yeah.

So.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

All right, cool.

What about you?

I've got Tampa Bay.

I said Tampa Bay, Tampa, Florida.

Coming up, featuring for the homie, the hot brethren, Adam Mueller.

All right.

That's Adam Mueller.

All right.

Yeah, we're going to be out there Thursday through Saturday.

We got a couple shows doing that.

And then next weekend I will be local at the Lawrenceville Aurora Theater as well.

Let's go.

What is that.

Nice?

Aurora Theater, Lawrenceville, Georgia, with the homie, Big Kenny.

Oh, that's.

Oh, I've done.

I've done that show up there with him before.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a killer.

That's an awesome show.

Yeah.

Fun set.

And then at the end of the month, also doing a show at downtown Duluth, Georgia at eop, opening for Karen Mills, who is an opener for what's her name?

Morgan.

What's the female comedian country Leanne Morgan.

Leanne Morgan.

She opens up for Leanne Morgan.

Yeah.

Karen Mills, right?

You said.

Yeah, Karen Mills.

Yes, yes.

Absolutely.

Hilarious.

Yeah, Very fun.

At the end of the weekend.

And then I've got my monthly show at the beginning of December.

So, yeah, I've got stuff coming up.

Super excited about it.

Yoshi out here working.

We outshiming.

We out here.

Very nice.

Yeah.

Let's land this plane.

Yeah.

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Of course.

Go join our email list where I will send you updates on these weekly live streams.

We do.

And I send out another email with a fun overview of all the hot breath happenings during the week and all that fun stuff.

But we're out of here.

We love you all.

Remember your homework.

Go tell a comic I didn't open mic this week about hot breath.

And we'll see you next Tuesday.

Hot breath.