Brandon Skelton

Drew interviews "The Church Comedian" himself, Brandon Skelton!  The two chat about booking church comedy shows, the benefits of NOT being a full time comedian, and their amazing ideas for fantastic future podcasts.  

Keep up with Brandon Skelton here!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And I want to tell you, if anybody's looking and doing church shows, you want to make sure that you leave there in favor with the pastor's wife because more than likely she's going to be the one booking the banquet.

SPEAKER_04 0:09

Uh, and also too, if she's not booking something and her husband's like, hey, let's get a brand and come back, she's gonna be like, no, listen to the clean welcome back to Clean Comedy Chats here with Brandon Skelton, our next comedy guest, is where I never introduced the guests this soon into the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I usually give a whole spiel and tell people this is the podcast where we interview comedians from the Clean Comedy Collective. Um, and this is how they're gonna meet their new favorite comedian. And it's also a way for me to make friends. But Brandon, you're already one of my friends, and we're live in my house today.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yes. How are we doing? Man, it is a joy to be here. And this is beyond what I could have ever imagined. I mean, it's the beauty and the splendor of this place.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

It's majestic, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It's majestic. You know, there's an aura. I think that that's the word people use now.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

When I walked in here, I felt like somebody that might be my dishes that have been cleaned in the sense that they're you all can't tell if you're watching this, but there are uh dishes in my sink. That's weird to tell people. They don't need to know that, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Like they want that stuff. Those of you on Patreon will find out there are dishes in the sink.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Right, absolutely. Uh listen, we're so glad you guys are here. We do every week we interview a different comedian and get to know them a little bit better, learn a little bit about comedy through their perspective. Um, and if you love this podcast, if you love the Clean Comedy Collective, or if you're just interested in learning more, uh check out our website, cleancomedycollective.com. You can pick any state in the United States that we have comedians in, which is like 32 of them, so it's not really any state yet. But um, both me and Brandon are in the Tennessee section if you want to check us out. Um, and then you can also check out the earlier podcast episodes. You can see what shows we have going on across the country. If you're a comedian, you can apply to be part of the Clean Comedy Collective. And if you're if you're just independently incredibly wealthy and you're like, I wish I could give money to these nice people, there's a donate option too. So Brandon Skelton, if you all don't know, uh he is he has a dry bar comedy special. He's a comedian based out of Columbia, Tennessee. Uh he is uh uh performs all over like corporate and church shows, and we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. Brandon, what else in your bio should I say? Like, what are the other things that I should include? What other amazing things have you done in life?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Um I've been on clean comedy chats.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

That's probably it's probably gonna be one of my lead-ins now. And and and I will say, Drew, um, and not to I don't I don't want to flip your ego, but I'm a huge fan, and I do uh I do follow a lot of your comedy work, your podcast work, and what an honor it is to be on the very first episode of the Clean Comedy Chat.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

The first episode. This this is it. Yeah, thanks for being the pilot episode. And I definitely haven't had seven or eight before this episode.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Wow, now I feel like that guy says, Well, if you'll do a local show, I'll be there.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Right. Oh my gosh. And then you tell them when the local show is, and they're like, I swear you could to some people you'd be like, I got a show in your backyard actually tomorrow. And he's like, you know what? Uh I'm going to be in my room.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Could you mow the grass while you're back there?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So but beyond your um incredible illustrious profile that I just shared, um, um, what who is Brandon Skelton beyond the bio?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

You know, I mean, big thing is family. You know, me and my wife coming up on 17 years, so yeah, that's quite an accomplishment. Uh, it's a long time to go without her poisoning my food. So that's that's pretty cool. But no, 17 years of marriage, and then you know, my father as well. So my daughter's 15, son's 11. So we're kind of in that fun phase of life. One's a middle schooler, one's a high schooler. And um, so family's a big thing. And of course, ministry is another thing I do outside of teaching. Um, involved in school ministry, sports ministry. So that's kind of all the things that make me click. The family, the comedy, the ministry.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah. Have you ever heard of the fellowship of Christian athletes?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

All right. So here's the thing about about anytime I go in public, I'm wearing FCA gear, and I tell my children, I was like, I'm like Tiger Woods had to always wear Nike. I had to always wear something with FCA. It's in my contract. They're like, Dad, it's not in your contract. You don't have a contract. It's just the only shirt you have. Because they were given to me.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

They the free shirts, man. One of the questions I want to ask you was because I don't think I actually know this about you, but like, how did you get into comedy? Do you remember your first show? Like, when when did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

So there's there's two phases. Uh so the the initial taste of comedy was I was actually in high school. And my freshman year, they had did a talent show. And the talent show was basically a bunch of people singing, and they were like, Well, you need to mix it up. So my sophomore year, they were like, We're doing a variety show. Of course, I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live back in the day. And so someone had said, We need to get Skelton to do his Matt Foley. I had never done a Matt Foley impersonation, but I guess they just assumed as a jovial, larger dude with some energy, that I could just do it.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

So we all we all have that same face.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, you know, so we all have a Foley in our past, but um, but no, so they pulled me in the classroom and the teacher that's putting it together said, do your Matt Foley. So I just went off the cuff, you know, and I'm not gonna do it here. Oh, yeah. Uh sorry about that. And I'll tell you why I had to I retired Foley a while back. But anyway, uh I'll get to that. So yeah, did that did the the school show, it ended up doing Foley as part of the next three years and got comedy gigs from it. Like there was different businesses around town. It's like, hey, come to our Christmas banquet and do comedy for. So that was the first taste. Now I did retire Matt Foley for a very long stint uh when I did it at a youth convention in Gatlinburg. And everywhere I went in Gatlinburg, hey, there's the Foley guy. And then they would do their impersonation, and the breaking point was at a urinal. And I was there, and then uh the guy beside me is like, I know you. I'm like, no, you don't. He's like, You're the Matt Foley guy. And I mean, wait till we get to the sink, at least, you know, have some common decency. So at that point, I was like, I can't, I can't get pigeonholes. I know how uh was it Christopher Reeves felt when he became just Superman.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Superman, yeah. That's I don't and I genuinely don't know anything else from Christopher Reeves other than Superman.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

This that was my Michael Keaton moment where I was like, I'm not going to just be Batman. I need to step away from Foley for a little while. But but no, so that was like, you know, high school, early college, and then for like 10 years I didn't do anything with it. And then I was at a Christmas banquet and for some pastors, and one of them was like, hey, come do our Christmas banquet. You're funny. I was like, okay. So I went and did their Christmas banquet, which turned to another Christmas banquet, then a Valentine's banquet. And then I was like, I probably need to figure out how to do colony uh comedy the right way. So yeah, the initial Matt Foley can only take you so far. Yeah, yeah. He he can open the door, but it can't keep you in the room. And so um, but no, so I think that was I was trying to figure up the year the other day. That was December 2017, is when I started doing stand-up officially uh doing those Christmas banquets. So that means yeah, I'm working on year nine now.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

So okay, well, and you kept doing it. So is it fair to say you do mostly church shows and corporate shows?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Is that yeah, so I my I had a website for a little while, ended up taking that down, but my email is still the church comedian. Uh my Facebook page is still the church comedian because for the first so seven years, that's about all I did. Uh the occasional I might get on a comedy show at a club with some buddies or whatever. Uh, but um until the last year, year and a half, and working with Clean Comedy Collective.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Oh, I've heard they're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

They are amazing. Uh, but working with you guys and working with Comedian Discovery, I've started doing a lot of like coffee shops and different venues. Um, actually, last year, last year I probably did more coffee shops and theaters and things of that nature than even church shows. But then this year, a lot of my bookings are starting to pick back up in the church world.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Right. And for anyone interested in starting clean comedy shows, coffee shops really lend themselves to clean comedy shows. Like it's a I I when I first started doing shows at coffee shops, um, I was a little nervous because most comedians who do not clean shows will tell you coffee shops are the worst place for comedy shows. Um, but some of the maybe the some of the reasons why they're not great for not clean comedy shows are actually the reasons why they're perfect for making comedy shows. So if you're looking to start a show, maybe try, you know, your local coffee shop.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah, and I like it too because it's like, you know, you put 20 people in a coffee shop. Yep, you've got a tight room, and that's that's a big thing. Like I've been in shows before where you know there's 150 people there, but the room sits 800. Right. And you're just like, hey, everybody come forward, and then everybody's like, no, we're kind of good where we're at, and you're like, okay, all right, we'll make this work soon.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

And then they feel so distant from the show and they don't laugh, and later they're like, We didn't have a good time. It's like, well, you should have moved up when I suggested it. So um, and we actually just did a by the time this episode airs, we just did a comedy show at the coffee shop that I run a show at at Sweetwater's. Uh, Brandon, how was that show?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

It was the best show I've been at this year for sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Let's talk about doing comedy in the church. Let's talk about church shows, let's talk about uh just the whole like I want to know uh if you like it, what you like about it, what's the challenges, what's the process, how is it different than doing you know other shows? And uh, if you want to share any tips on like how to get booked for church shows, and I'll bring a notebook and start writing. Now I'm just getting rid of the list.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Well, I guess we'll go ahead and dive into the the system that has worked for me as far as getting into comedy or doing comedy at churches, and I've told other comedians because it it's not an easy world to work in because there's so many steps a lot of churches have to go through, like, well, we got to get this committee to approve, and then the calendar uh board has got to talk and see when it's gonna work. So um probably what I did my my approach was you know, I found a few pastors who were close friends, you know, after I did those couple shows for the guys, and of course they were close friends of mine. And uh, you know, finding my closest friends, of course, I was a pastor too, so that was a world I was working in, and say, hey, I, you know, if you guys are doing something for Valentine's or if you're doing some type of retreat, let me come in and do 15-20 minutes. And so by getting my closest network to give me an opportunity and go in and making sure to hopefully do a good job with it, because word travels quickly, whether positive or negative, especially in the church circle. And so just kind of saying, Hey, can I join in and do 15-20 minutes here? I wasn't really necessarily pushing for let's do a church comedy show. But it's like if you're having your Christmas banquet, volunteer appreciation, pastor appreciation. And then what I would do on top of that is of course, um, you know, announcing that I'm going there. And there's credibility. It's like, hey, well, if this church is cool with him coming in, then maybe we should look at having him come do ours. And then after it was over, I would, you know, get a picture with the pastor and post pictures about it, and just kind of putting it out there, hey, we had to show it went really well, or we did comedy at this banquet. So it's kind of just the the seed dropping with folks. Like, man, Skelton does a lot of pastor appreciations and volunteers and this banquet, that banquet, date nights for churches. Uh, we should get him to do ours. So that kind of got it rolling with starting with my closest because I have found that if you just cold call email, uh, you know, like if you're just kind of going through Facebook, like, hey, there's 20 churches in this town, there's 20 churches on this street, you know, and you start emailing them, you probably won't even get a response. Right. So it's it's fine in your network. And then too, I mean, you know, a lot of times when you get booked at that place where you're like, I didn't even know anybody here in conversation, you find out, oh, so-and-so recommended me. So you know, we're gonna that circle in those recommendations and then putting it out there online uh to where people see what you're doing. And you know, that if this church trusts you, then obviously they can they can trust you too.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Right. Because even if they didn't know you were doing that show, when they see you were at that church, someone might be like, Oh, I'd know that church, I know people that work there, and we we were wanting to have a comedian, so if they did well that show, right, they probably do well at this one. And I that that's very the a couple of things that you hit on that I feel like are important for just like comedy in general is one comedy is a business of relationships. It's it is about who you know, it's about you know, people you you do a show really well, and then someone at that show might recommend you for another show.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Um, or and especially if you do corporate or church shows, if you do any kind of like not just comedy club shows, but uh you know, you should always have a follow-up email. Usually I'm like, thank you for letting me do the show. But then also you give them the opportunity through whichever platform you want to use to recommend you, to review you, to share, because that will make you look better for other people that are looking up. Um, and then the other thing that you mentioned, being intentional about posting it online, putting your best foot forward on your Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that. It sometimes, especially newer comedians, especially if they're like nice, good, humble people, they feel awkward posting about their accomplishments and stuff like that. But it's important because people see that you're doing it, and then when they want to consider you for something, I've gotten booked before uh well I took a break from comedy. Um, and then when I got back into it, I think I was doing like the world series of comedy, and it was the first thing that I was posting about that was doing, and then someone saw that and they were like, Oh, since you're in the area, could you also come headline the show? Now I wasn't getting paid anything for the world series of comedy, but it got me a booked headlining gift, right? And so that's kind of you know, that's how that kind of stuff works sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Um, and you know, really, of course, the nice thing is, of course, we're both bi vocational kind of guys, we're doing our our careers in comedy on is you don't have to always be driven by what's the payout gonna be. Yes. And so, like, there's been some some gigs that I've done that may have only paid a hundred bucks and I probably spent that much in gas and meals to do, but then I made a connection while I was at that show that totally like made it all worth it. So you just kind of take you know, take the steps and then you can look back and see where dots were connecting along the way. Well, here was here was a cool thing that happened. So a friend of mine pastored a smaller church, and I knew it was a smaller church, and and financially they you know, he'd even tell me, he's like, Man, we've we've had some families leave, we had a guy pass. So financially we're kind of upside down right now. And I said, Bro, I've we've already booked it, we're gonna do this. I said, I don't, I'm not worried about it. So, you know, personally, there wasn't a lot of not of pay that I typically would get in the December season, but while I was there, connected with a guy who has given our family tickets to go to Dollywood, the aquarium. Like anytime we were going to you know, Gatlinburg, he had a radio show and he would do these trade-offs. So he's like, Hey, if you're in the area, let me know. I might have some stuff, free stuff I can give you. So, I mean, you know, that that church show probably ended up being a thousand dollar blessing to our family with all this you know, free stuff in the African connection.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

That's so cool. I love that. Yeah, um, and it's just I mean, sometimes, I mean, especially when you're people like us that have jobs during the day, it's not always about the what you're getting paid for. Now, at some point, as a if you're a full-time comedian, you're gonna have to be like, well, I need to pay my bills, and I get that, but it is sometimes you do things just because this is a cool show or I like these people, or I or or it'll be fun, you know? Yeah, um, and then so another question I want to ask you about church shows. I know for me, with um with like my with with my comedy, with the different kinds of shows I do, um, that there's certain jokes I'm not gonna do at a church show that I'd I'd still do at a clean show, and then there's of course there's certain jokes I do at like a club show that I wouldn't do at a clean show or you or at especially at a church show. So I'm wondering with your act in general, do you have like do you have like it because some comedians I know do work the opposite. They say this is my act, and if someone's gonna hire me, this is the act they're gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Um Will, and that's as I say with churches. A church, being in a church circuit is good if you play by the rules. And you know, I've been a pastor, I've I pastored for I think 15 years total, somewhere in that range. And you don't want to have to clean up, you know, a mess after someone leaves. You don't want to always have to be putting out a dumpster fire. So you know, you don't just you know, as a comedian, you don't want to go in there and see how far you can push that line. Like, you know, now that I've been in comedy a little longer, unless it is a church that I've been into, like there's a couple churches I've been to multiple times that they love a good political joke, and I will drop one or two. But for the most part, I'm staying away from all things political. You know, I'm not gonna be pushing any any lines really to where after it's over, that pastor's gonna have to clean up a mess. Right. And so uh so yeah, that the the set is built around it, but I do love I I love church comedy. But with the audience, they may not be as loud and uproarish, you know, or you know, get all worked up like at a comedy show because they're paying to do comedy, because a lot of times with church comedy, it is gonna be part of another program.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Right, usually like a fundraiser, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Fundraiser or you know, we're appreciating our pastor and that kind of stuff. So you're a 15 to 30 minute spot in the mix, but the people are engaged, they do like it, they do laugh, but it's not, you know, you may not get as much feedback as if somebody paid$25 to purposely come to a comedy show. And so I think that throws some guys off with comedy. They're like, well, they just you know, they wasn't into it. Like, well, bro, they actually came for the pot roast.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

You know, the pot roast and honored a pastor. You just have to walk in there and tell some jokes.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, you kind of have to change your metric system of what's considered success, like what's the proof of the success. And you're right, some rooms, a lot of times church shows, a lot of time corporate comedy, um, they're not laughing as much. They haven't been trained, like as in a comedy club, to laugh as loud, but they're still having a good time.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Having a good time for sure. You know, and and too, I always say there's the plied audience, they're gonna laugh a little bit, but then they're gonna settle back in because they want to hear the next joke. Yeah, and you don't take it as like, man, that joke killed over here, but then for some reason they giggle, but then they got well, it's because they want to hear what you had to say next.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So they're they're locked in. I feel like we have to give church audiences credit because um there's a lot of barriers when you get up to a comedy show and you start laughing at a complete stranger, right? Like just the just the act of publicly laughing is like such a vulnerable thing. And so even at any comedy show, people strangers are getting together and laughing together at something in front of a random person. But I feel like it's even harder at churches because they not only are they laughing, which is vulnerable, they're around people that they kind of want to think that they're good Christian people, right? So I I notice when I do church shows that sometimes there's a at first there's a little uneasiness, like they're gonna wait to see if that person laughs. Is the pastor laughing? Because if the pastor's laughing, I can laugh, you know. So so do you find that to be true? Is that where there's kind of you you got kind of a you have to do kind of an intentional job of like for lack of a better word, like opening them up a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, yeah. You know, you you you come in and and you gotta build that connection first. And and a lot of times too, of course, you know, a lot of these churches I already know the pastor, and a lot of churches take on the persona of the leadership. Like if he's a laid back, you know, the if the pastoral family's laid back and you know, like the joke and like the laugh, then that reflects into the church. And then I've been in some churches where they're very straight-laced, very business, and you know, if if it was if it could have been a tough 15 minutes for us all in there, but but you know, once it gets going, you know, it's all good. But and a lot of things too is longevity. I say been doing this about eight years. Most churches I've been to more than once. So, you know, I already come in there with there's a connection, there's a rapport they remember the last time I was there, and so it makes it easier. It's not like I'm just walking in code. Now the the extra work is like I can't just walk in there with the same set that I had two years ago. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Because I remember that. Because for you, you've done so many shows since then, but to them, like, oh, we saw him two years ago. And for some of them, that's like the last time they saw a comedy show.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

So yeah, you're still sticking out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Um, and I feel like I want to compliment you on that's a test the fact that you're doing shows at the same church again, is a testament to your skill and merit as a comedy for people who are interested in doing more comedy or people just interested in the um skill and job of comedy. I've always said it's not that difficult to get booked at comedy shows.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

It's a little harder to get rebooked at shows. Like that's that's where it comes down to. And that's that's like as you build your career as a comedian, you want to build those regular clientels where like, you know, comedy clubs are perfect examples if you ever started headlining. Like you want to headline the show, and then the week after they say, Hey, when can we have you back next year?

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

And then if you get enough of those before you know it, next year's looking pretty booked, you know, and that's you know, those are paid gigs. So anyway, the fact that you were talking about churches bringing you back, I I mean that's uh I it's easy for us to pass that by because like it's whatever. But for people that don't know, that's an impressive thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

And I want to tell you if anybody's looking and doing church shows, you want to make sure that you leave there in favor with the pastor's wife.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Or first lady, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Um that's so weird that we call them first ladies, but yeah, whatever whatever title you want to go with. The queen of the church.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

The queen. Yeah, you want to make sure the queen's good with you because more than likely she's gonna be the one booking the banquets. Yeah. Uh, and also, too, if she's not booking something and her husband's like, hey, let's get Brandon to come back, she's gonna be like, No, I really didn't like him last time, made us uncomfortable. So, you know, you want to make sure that like I'll I'll be early to the show because I'm all about connecting with people. I'll get there early, hang out with them. I'm gonna hang around afterwards, I'll help them clean up if they'll let me help them clean up, but just giving them a good all-around experience to where they're like, we want to bring this guy back and we can trust him uh with our members that he's not gonna push any lines, offend anybody, all that kind of stuff. You know, sometimes you're yeah, you're gonna say something that might make somebody uncomfortable just because, but you don't go looking for those opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah. I was gonna ask you too, um, because I feel like most of the times when comedians talk about church shows, uh, the general way the conversation usually goes is like they're fine. Most people are like my favorite about the church, favorite part about doing church shows is like the paycheck that comes with it. And then you just kind of accept that it's gonna be like a less good experience, like this for a lot of comedians, I'm not saying all of them. It's like this is gonna be a less fun, good experience, but at least it pays or it's a gig or stuff like that. Um, but you as someone who enjoys doing church shows, I'm curious what's maybe like one of your favorite things or things that you really like exclusively about church shows? And I'm gonna say I'm gonna exempt the answer about like paychecks, like that, that because that's what everyone will say. They'll say, like, I don't like doing church shows, but I like getting paid to do them. So, like it you, as someone who's more of a fan of that world, what are what are the things that you really enjoy about doing church shows?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Uh one thing, all right. So, one of the things I like about church shows, I I see comedy as a ministry, uh, especially now that I'm not pastoring, I've kind of leaned into it more of a people need humor. And I found with a lot of my church shows, because people are used to giving testimony uh, you know, at a church, so I've had uh church shows more than any type is I will have people come up to me afterwards and say, Man, I needed this tonight because And then I'll share what's been going on over the last you know week or two because in a church environment, you're comfortable being a little more vulnerable of this is the struggle I've been having. So this comedian shows up and you've been having a rough couple weeks because let's say there's been family illness or work situations or whatever, and then this guy comes in and then for you know 30 minutes to an hour, however long they give me, they can put that stuff down and just laugh. And I that's one thing I really like with the church show is that people coming up to me afterwards and just kind of that reminder of the fact, hey, this was more than just this was more than a paycheck tonight. Right. This was giving people an opportunity to forget about the junk that's been going on and just have a good time and laugh. You know, the uh the other night did a did a show, and um some people tell me afterwards one of the ladies that had been with them, it's been a rough couple of years, her husband had passed, and they said she sat there and just laughed the whole time. And she was saying this was something she has not experienced since her husband's passing. And uh just a reminder. Yeah, and uh well, I'll give you another one and and tie in how comedy works. So I did a 19 class of 1960 reunion. Uh you can already tell that's gonna be fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Um sounds like it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

So, but the lady who had booked me had actually she her husband had passed, and it'd been about a year, two years after he'd passed, and she was at the Huckabee show the night that I've opened on the Huckabee show, and she said it was just the first time she'd really laughed since she'd gone through that. And she's like, I want to get this guy to do our reunion. So this past year I did that, and she was an amazing lady, and I realized she was the one paying me, not the class of 1960. And she wanted an hour. Uh, I ended up doing about 40, 45 minutes, but half that time the crew was checking out on me. I mean, the sugar was dropping after the desserts, and some of them, you know, they didn't wear their hairnades in the first place. I asked her afterwards, I was like, Did everything go well? She's like, Oh, the ones that could hear you enjoyed it. I was like, So half the crowd. But the funny thing was so there was this lady that got up there, and I should have knew she was setting me up because I do this to people. So before she went up there to talk after my set, she's like, No, your name was Brandon, right? I was like, Yes, ma'am. And because I do this to people, I make sure I get the name, and then I go up and I might have a little fun with them. So she gets up there now. She's 78, 79 years old. She's like, Um, well, I had something I was planning to say, but he talked so long I forgot it.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

And then which was funny.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

But then she like threw like five or six more shots at me to the point it was getting awkward in the room. People were like, Man, she must personally hate this dude. Like, what's going on here? But um, but now Miss Zola, though, she was a sweetheart, she was the one that booked me. I was like, because she had such a positive experience, so she brought me in and got to do that. But yeah, going back to church shows, I do love that people feel open to come up and say, hey, here's been the struggle, but this really helped them out.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, I love that. And I um got a good advice about churches from one of our mute mutual friends, Middle Miley, about how, like, especially when you're headlining, but you anytime you're performing at a church show, it's such a great opportunity to share about God in some kind of way, whether it's part of your routine is you mentioned something that relates to it. And usually when I'm headlining, I I add a little bit of inspiration to it, or like I think more often than not, it's like talking to people after the show.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Um, and you know, folks like us, like, I mean, like part of my act I talk about being a former pastor, so people don't feel uncomfortable talking about Christianity with me after the show. So, like, so it kind of leads in it, and I I love that.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Uh, even John Christ, I will say, had mentioned this. He's like, now, if you are going to a predominantly white church, go ahead and make a few jokes about the pastor. But if you're going to a predominantly black church, don't you don't go down that road. But even in picking at the pastors, I found uh, as long as I don't get too personal, but I maybe throw one like one of my favorite things to do. I like to find out who their favorite sports team is, and somewhere in the mix of the set, I'm gonna make a joke about their team.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Yeah, you know, it and everybody gives them a hard time about it, but it it wasn't like I personally went after the guy, I just picked on him that you know he's a big Dallas Cowboys fan or whoever it might be.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, so that's smart. So um another question I have for you is um what are some like looking forward for yourself, like what are what are some comedy goals you have for yourself? Like what are whether it's soon or even just things you'd like to do in the sometime in the future.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Well, one of the things, so I'm uh starting to push into a little bit and got some shows lined up to do. Um part of the organ or I'm part of a uh church organization, United Pentecostal church. And one of the things that we do within the UPC is called Move the Mission, and it's a fundraising uh ministry that we have, and it goes toward like getting vehicles to foreign missionaries. Uh there's a children's home that we sponsor called Tupelo Children's Mansion, and there's a boys' home called Lighthouse Ranch for Boys.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

So it's under this umbrella of Move the Mission, it helps fund those things. And so I've been reaching out to some churches, and I've got about three shows lined up over the next six weeks to where we'll go in, and I just tell them it's like, hey, you know, here's here's the low fee I'm gonna sell. Like, you know, just you know, pay me enough for my time, my travel, and I'm gonna promote the show for you. But really, I'm just wanting to get up there, use my gift of comedy, and help, you know, raise funds for this mood the mission. So that's one thing I'm looking forward to. And and hopefully these next three uh will go well enough that other people be like, we won't try that too. So it kind of goes back to just getting booked at churches. You know, after I do these first three, if I can get online and say, hey, this church, this church, and this church did this, went really well. We raised this much money, then others might be like, okay, someone else has tested waters. Let's do this.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Honestly, I feel like that I've learned now what a difference that makes with my own like entertainment stuff. Anytime I make an electronic press kit for someone, I'll post about it online where mostly comedians are seeing my stuff like on my Facebook or Instagram or whatever. And then someone else will reach out, like, hey, could you make me one as well? Yeah, and like I I always ask permission first, like, hey, this helps me get more business. Can I post that I bid this for you? And no one's ever been like, No.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Don't you put my kid out there?

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Yeah, I don't know what I would be like, okay, well, just delete it then. No, I'm just kidding. Um, but uh, so I do think there's something that I that is a very effective way of marketing yourself. So good job on that.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Um that's that's probably one of the next goals assays getting getting that developed and getting those style shows going because um it's it's something to give back. Yeah, I'll tell you a book I really enjoyed recently. Read his name is Michael Jr., he's a Christian comedian, yeah. And his book is Funny How Life Works, but he talks about his journey. But one of his big things he's always pushed is you know, laughter is a sign of hope. So we're hope dealers.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

And uh, you know, the the more I'm into it, I'm very happy. Now, here's one thing that's nice now compared to maybe times past. There's been times past where I wasn't as happy with my job outside of comedy, so it put the pressure on comedy because I was like, well, I need to get this to the point I need to get this to the point where I can do comedy full time. And so that stress of wanting to get comedy full time makes me start making bad decisions and taking gigs I shouldn't and pushing in areas where it wasn't time to push and all that. And so uh uh, but now you know I'm happy that with my career and where I'm at, so comedy is an extra thing I get to do. So now I can approach comedy to not of how can I make this be my full-time thing and and it bless me, I can look at comedy more like okay, I've got this Saturday open. How can I use that Saturday to go somewhere and leave it a little better than I found it?

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Yeah, I love that. And I was gonna ask you questions about the try, you know, balancing your day job and your comedy, and um, and I feel like you you shared a lot of wisdom already, but I I I just also want to say when I recently was going back into having a day job and not being a full-time comedian for many of the reasons you mentioned, but the stress of this is my whole thing, it's making me not as happy and making decisions maybe I shouldn't, because I feel like I have to. And um, there has been a lot of liberation for me personally in having the day job. Um, but and you were very helpful in that. Um, well, first first you were terrible. You were making jokes about how uh now that I had a day job, the clean comedy collective was gonna die. You literally sent me tombstone uh messages of the date that I started my job was the gonna be the death of the clean comedy collective.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Folks, this isn't a joke he's coming up with on the spot. There's there's documented proof of these things.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

It was so um I appreciated that um because it made me inspired to keep going. And that but but you also shared a lot of wisdom about uh how about how when you have your you know regular nine to five job or whatever your day job is, like it frees you up emotionally to do comedy and be less stressed about it. And I have I've seen that to be true.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Uh a nice thing is when you're I say you know, you got your your your mortgages met, rents met, got your insurance, whatever, you can actually be supportive of other comedians. Yeah, because when you're doing it full time, I'm I'm competitive. And so if you're doing it full time, you fight that being able to celebrate others because you're thinking, I should have got that gig. Yes. You know, but when you're just like, you know, you're just you're working it into part of your flow of life as as an additional thing to your job, you know, you can be excited for the guy that gets the other gig because it's like, well, you know, I'm still putting groceries in my refrigerator, he didn't take them from me. But if it's all you've got going, I mean, every you got to get every gig you can. You get in that comparison trap. And and two, I mean, comedians, you have to have a bit of ego. I mean, you're getting on a stage asking people to give you 15 to an hour, you know, 15 minutes to an hour of their attention. Um, so you know, you can fall into that ego trap and be like, I am so much better that other comedian. Well, he's only only getting gigs because he knows this person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it can become toxic. Now, I'm sure there's folks that's balancing it a lot better, but I just know my competitive nature.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

And so uh, so I love the fact that since I'm happy with my job and I'm doing comedy, and it's not like I'm trying to get out teaching to do comedy full-time, I can get excited when I see other guys getting booked.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, that's true. And so for a lot of people who are always like, Man, I I want to if if your goal is, I mean, it's okay if your goal is to eventually become a full-time comedian.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

But just so you all know, like, it's okay not to be a full-time comedian. And for some of us, it might be better. It, you know, my I I go backwards and forwards for me personally, but like I it is it it is there's a lot of blessings to being a not full-time comedian.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Well, you gotta know you and uh you know yourself, and I know how I'm wired too. I need a job that says this is the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Because for me, it's hard for me to flip the switch off. You know, even as I'm I'm a I'm a fully engaged father and husband, but also too, there's that thought like, well, part of being fully engaged as a husband and a father is I gotta provide.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

And so, yeah, it like it was when I did sales for a little while too. There was always that my my wheels were always turning, like, yeah, I'm sitting here having dinner with my family, but what's a way that I could be generating income so we can have dinner tomorrow that too?

SPEAKER_00 32:35

So it never stops. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

So, you know, if if a person is is well trained in themselves to be able to, you know, hang their hat on the door at the end of the day and give their brain rest from comedy or whatever it is, they can make it work. But if you just know you're that person that can't shut off unless you're told this is the end of the day, it's probably best to do it as a secondary.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Yeah, it's almost like we're all different people and we gotta go on our own journey. So one of the things you mentioned was about how it's hard for, you know, maybe it's easier for some people to like not be as competitive about um, I think at least for the kinds of personality types it takes to be comedians, we all struggle that with that. But I do think self-discipline is a real thing, and I think the sooner you start learning to not be so toxically competitive and coveting and like all that when people uh around you have good opportunities. I mean, we're start talking when you start comedy and you're doing open mics and you're getting on those local showcases that you know no one's getting paid, but you're all you know, doing a fun show at Dave's gas station down the road or whatever, and then you start seeing people get booked for that, and you're like, um, I've been doing open mics two minutes longer than them. I should be getting booked for that. Like, that's when you can start refocusing it, you know, because a big thing about comedy is your success doesn't mean my failure.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Like and is but but in this culture, in entertainment, oftentimes that is what we're told. And I'm not gonna get into my whole conspiracy theory about it, but the the people who started telling us that were mainstream like comedy clubs, and the reason why was because then they could justify paying us less to get the honor. Um so it was a good business move for them, but then it's kind of blown up to a not healthy thing for comedians. So um, that's uh like when I start my conspiracy theories and comedy podcasts, uh, that'll be the first which is launching in the fall. Here we go. Stay tuned. Um, okay. Uh speaking of podcasts, this is a fun question. Uh, we I feel like one of the fun things about me, Brandon, is that we come up with dumb podcast ideas on the regular. So, Brandon, what are some of your favorite and I I I I did I shouldn't call them dumb. That was the let me rephrase that quite. I feel like what we do is we come up with the best podcast ideas ever in creation. And they haven't been created yet. So if you're looking to start a podcast, boy, do we have some sales pitches for you.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Well, I tell you what, I will say the one that we mentioned earlier because you had mentioned that.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah, that was a good that might be the best one. It's it I wouldn't start with that one because it's a double one.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yeah, I'll I'll I'll I'll hand that over to you because you know we're not competitive here. All right, we're two brothers going, we're we're rowing in the same boat.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

We're rowing in the same boat.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

But probably the first podcast idea um that came up with that will never happen is there was like a three-day run there where we were doing shows. We did a show in Gatlinburg. Did we do did we do Sweetwater first and Gatlinburg?

SPEAKER_00 35:17

And then we finished out in Smyrna. Smyrna, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

So we we had a we had a lot of time together and some travel time in that weekend. And so, you know, just talking about our our beliefs and things, you know. We're both in ministry, but you know, I'm more conservative, you're more progressive. And I was like, we need to come up with a podcast. It's the Lord, he's he's he's like, I'm gonna kill this mic.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Be careful, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

I was like, we need to come up with this podcast where it's the progressive minister and the conservative minister, and we're just like totally going at those topics that are extremely controversial, and every podcast ends with a fight, and we say we're never gonna speak to each other again. And then the next week we're like, Well, folks, welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

You know, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

I even came up with the name, you know. I'm of course with your Italian heritage and my I don't know what it is. We're both gentlemen who are blessed with a lot of hair. Uh, and so since these are gonna be very controversial topics, it would be called It's About to Get Hairy.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

I love it. That's a great one. So that that's coming out in the fall as well. It's about to get hairy with Drew and Brandon. Then the other idea we had was um uh talking about just doing a podcast at a comedy show while the comedy show is happening.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

100%.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

And uh it would be one of the and it would be one of the things it would be the most annoying thing for the comedy show. They would hate it um because we're over here just chatting while they're full setup, while we're gonna like right here, like full setup. Um in the background, you see the attempt of the comedy show. But here's the thing they would never cancel us because we are gonna obviously be more successful than the comedy show. So everyone who comes out to watch us is paying tickets for their comedy show. And every now and again in our podcast, we're like, guys, we're so sorry there's a comedy show going on right now. It's it's it's hard for you to listen. Like we we we apologize. So um, did we come up with a name for that one?

SPEAKER_01 37:01

I don't think we would that one needs a name for sure, because that needs to happen. I mean, just yeah, a guy out there just work working trying to do his thing, and then here we are, just two obnoxious dudes with the full setup and and even our fans like yeah I I think I think it would be great, you know. And of course, obviously we're at a status where we can critique other comedians, of course, yeah. And uh, you know, right in the middle of a set be like, hey, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna take a break from our podcast here for just a moment, friends, but uh we're gonna have this guy punch when he moved back over, we're gonna have that guy punch little joke up.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

So yeah, I think that'd be great. Uh and they would be they they would be so receptive to it. They they they would love it.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

I think another hey, here's a podcast idea that hit right in a moment is after every great comedy show, or even really bad ones.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Keep going, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

You have people that come up to you and they will tell you a personal story of their own that is funny to them.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

And then they will always finish with you can use that in your set. I think that could be the podcast name. You can use that in your set.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

It's just us sharing what people told us we can use in their set. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Because, you know, you're sitting there listening, like, this is I mean, it is a good story. It's funny, it's funny for them, but for the most part, I mean, you up there telling this other person's story, no, you know, but yeah, no, and so many of them is so many of them.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Okay, it's nice when they're funny, but sometimes you're telling you that and you're like, I could not use that in my set. Like, then that would that would not work at all. Well, we're gonna get to the ask a comedian portion of our show. Give me a number between one and thirty-seven, and the number you tell me dictates which uh of the c questions that I will be asking you that have been given to us on Facebook, Instagram, or threads, and or just honestly, I had a guy last week email me a question. So, like so, anyone who's listening, if you'd like to add your question to the potential questions that I ask the comedians each week, uh we try to do three a week, sometimes we don't, but like that's the that's the goal. So we could always use more questions. So anyway, Brandon, for you, give me a number between one and thirty-seven, and I will tell you what the question is.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Twenty-three. That's in reference to Michael Jordan, who is the goat of basketball.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

He was a pretty good baseball player too, right? I don't know. I was thinking at the beginning of Space Jam. Um okay, so this uh question comes from a good friend of mine and a comedian, James Victor Cherry. Uh, do you know James? It's okay if you don't. I've not met James. I've learned that I have friends that you know not that you don't know every single one of my friends, and that's okay. Uh and the question is what is your favorite moment in comedy that you've ever had?

SPEAKER_01 39:37

All right, so I'll tell you one that has been a a game changer for me overall. Uh and I'm sure when I'm driving home, I will think of some other things, but uh just talking about like those moments when a door opens um there was all right, so there's a church here in Nashville, it's called First Church, United Pentecostal Church. Great church, very um well respected within our organization. Kind of one of those things like when people's like, hey, if if they get a stamp of approval from Nin, there must be something about it. So uh I'd had this running joke, they have a men's conference every year. And it'd been going on 20-something years, and I'd had this running joke where every year I would post about you know, this is the 22nd consecutive year that I did not speak at men's conference. And so uh you know, we was at our conference one time before men's conference, and uh, the pastor's name's Ron Becton, he's the bishop now, but he was announcing a lineup. And so I took his picture as he's announcing the lineup, and then I posted. I said, Hey, uh, you know, Pastor Ron Becton has just announced we're the 23rd consecutive year. I will not be speaking at men's conference. Well, somebody showed him because he doesn't do social media, somebody showed him, like, hey, look what Brandon said. He's like, Oh, I like that. So then he called me, hey, we want you to come do the men's conference. And so um, but that that was just such a breakthrough moment because as a getting that visibility because you have about a thousand guys there, a lot of pastors, but also too, just the fact that being allowed to be part of that lineup. And I just got it there for like I think I did about 12 minutes and it went really well. And so uh this year he's actually already lined me up to do it for the fifth time.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Oh, that's cool. So um but that's so cool. Did you, when you first got a word that you were gonna do it, did you post like an opposite post like, guys, I'm so sorry to announce I am going to be sharing at the men's conference?

SPEAKER_01 41:22

My my consecutive streak is now broken. You know, life's full of disappointments, and here we are. And then um, not to dive into another long story because I think there's another question or two. Um yes, big moments was being on the Huckabee show. That was huge because I was you know, uh uh I really liked Huckabee and what he did and how he did his show. So stumbling into that opportunity, they had actually booked a couple friends of mine, Austin and Leo, but they couldn't be there, so they were like, well, yeah, Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Going on and doing just that, I think it was like a six-minute set and went really well. I sent that set into dry bar that opened the door to do the dry bar comedy special. And now the dry bar comedy special was not my best set. I mean, I will say, I mean, I'm Southeastern Church humor guy, so put me out west with Mormons. You know, there there was some jokes I didn't get to carry with me, and I wasn't ready yet. That goes back to that thing of pushing when when I shouldn't have been pushing, but I was just trying, trying, trying, and it was good. You know, I I'm a lot more at a place now where I could do a better set if I went out there.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

But you know, I I reached out to them and they said, Well, when you pay off that first production cost, I was like, Well, I will not be coming out there then.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

So uh my next question is if there's gonna be a sequel dry bar.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah, not not yet, because we're a long way from production costs being paid off in the first drive. That's fair.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

That's when you get those uh churches to sponsor your next dry bar special. I think that's good. Well, uh, that's that that is very true. And it's so i I love that you how you talked about how like the opportunities led to other opportunities and doors opened, and that's often how it works. Is sometimes something that you may not even think is that amazing, um, or like a cool opportunity. Um, or maybe you think this is a one and done thing, it opens up to something else. So that's cool. Yes, sir. Um, okay, uh give me another number. One, two, th what did I say? 37 was the first time. One to thirty-seven, but without twenty-three, Michael Jordan. Let's go, let's go 16 uh for Joe Montana. All right. This question comes from a clean comedy collective comedian, Joe Whitey, and her question is where's your favorite place to share comedy? Share.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I don't know if that means like a show in a venue, or maybe just like in the bathtub and you're I don't know, like um, you know, all right, so I will say in the last year, of course, now church humor, and we talked a lot about church comedy and disloving at, but I've really, really enjoyed over this last year doing the the coffee shop shows uh because it it's a close, you know, close knit setting. Uh doesn't take a lot of folks there. Uh usually it's people I've never met, they've never heard me, and we just kinda walk in there as two strangers and leave as best friends.

SPEAKER_04 43:59

Uh but no.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Really enjoyed uh doing the coffee shop humor or comedy shows, uh, and and that definitely has moved up the list. And but and and it's got me too now, of course. All right, so I'm a church planner, or you know, had done church planning, I don't pastor now. But when I was church planning, and even still now, like when I'm driving around, I'll see an empty building, I'm like, man, that'd be a great place for church. So now that I've been doing coffee shop humor, anytime I'm in any type of establishment like that, I'm looking around, like, okay, we could put a put a speaker right there, we could get people here. You know, and because I'm just looking at every place as a venue, and that's the great thing with clean comedy, is every place can pretty much become a venue.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

Because it doesn't matter who walks in, there shouldn't be anything said that's offensive or uh divisive or those kind of things. So, you know, any coffee shop, which I know with a lot of the coffee shops uh shows is we're doing them after hours, like the place shuts down at two o'clock, because most people shouldn't be drinking coffee at eight o'clock at night. But uh so most times they shut shut down early and they open up just for the show. But like sweetwater though, they're just open.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Yeah. But they say open an extra hour for the show.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Okay, so they do an extra hour for us. But they know with it being clean, if if folks just walk in, it's it's not gonna be a big deal. You know, you're not gonna be saying things to make the dog gag. So yeah, um, coffee shops have definitely become uh one of those favorite places of mine to do comedy.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

I love that. I also I feel like I enjoy coffee shop shows. I still, I mean, I still like the places with the huge crowds, and oftentimes, you know, coffee shops you can only get 20, 30, 40 people. But what I do like is when you get a when it feels full, even if it's you know 20 or 30 people, it's like you said, you have that intimate, you like by the end of the show, you kind you feel like you know everyone who's in the audience. You know, I like what I like to do is I like it when it's a full room and lots of people, but I like to be able to look around and see the faces of everyone who's performing or not performing, watching stuff.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Yeah, and that is the cool thing is you can read the room, you can see the room. And and I'll say, like in the last year or two, I got the opportunity to work more theater shows. And that was a cool experience. One, it was it was a confident booster for me. It's like, okay, if I can if I can hold my ground here, I should be able to hold it in other places. Uh, and you know, you know, work in those bigger rooms and and in front of more people, but also two, just the expectation when you walk on a stage at a theater is is different than you know, it's not as just the chill layback and did you prefer the chilled laid-backness of the coffee shop shows or like the because I feel like I love theater shows.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

I love feeling walking out, feel walking at the end of my set feeling like a rock star because you hear the laughters are just louder. It is to a degree, it's kind of easier because they came here on purpose that all the seats are directed to like there's a lot that's going for you at a theater show. Did you so did you like the that kind of bet maybe better than the coffee shop? Or do you like the intimate where because you can't see everyone at a theater show?

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Right. And that was the thing. So yeah, I I liked it. I I like the the coffee shop setup, and I I of course I enjoyed the theater too, but that was one thing that was kind of lost. Like one of the theater shows, they dropped the lights so much I couldn't see anybody out there. Yeah, I didn't like that because I'm like, I can't tell what's going on out in the room. I'm just having to go off of the feedback from the laughter, but I'm not getting to see the response. And two, if the lights are up just enough, you can see where a joke hits somebody and you can take a little minute and kind of yeah, you know, navigate that.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

I did learn a cool trick when you're performing at theaters because you're right, you can't see everyone. Usually there's the bright lights and you can see the first few rows. But sometimes we have jokes where like when we're in a coffee house, we can point to someone and and and and say, like, you know, a tag that has to do with maybe how they took the joke or whatever. What I do now, if I ever do theaters, is occasionally I'll point far back, like it where no one can see it, as if I see someone, and I'll make that same joke as if I was directly talking to someone. And this was a tip a comedian gave me because then what happens is like 10 people think that I was talking to them. That's cool. Well, Brandon, thank you so much for being on this podcast. This is this was a good chat. Um, is there anything uh you want to promote or tell us where we can find you, or tell us just you know, anything you want to tell us? The floor is yours.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Okay, just the this the quick Instagram's probably where I put the most effort in now as far as posting things. Uh because in the Facebook world, you know, sometimes you get you know you get lost in the algorithm shuffle. Uh so it's just comedian Brandon Skelton on there, and of course I'll post the different shows. But you know, got some cool stuff coming up. Uh going to be at Just Love Coffee Tonight, which by the time you listen to this, it will be last week.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

That's but I also need to promote that show on our clean comedy collective things. That I was like, what did I forget to do today? Oh, promote the show that you're on. Sorry, I've no if nobody comes, I I'm partially responsible.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

That's all good. But you know, but yeah, but Brand Daniels does one there the third Saturday of every month. So even though you won't get to go there because you heard me speak about it to hear me, um, you know, next month, be sure to make plans for that third Saturday. And then what is it, the last Thursday of every month? Yep. There's the Sweetwater show there in Nashville, uh, going to be on there with you guys. But that's just a fun show every month. So yeah, this really what you gotta do is get on Clean Comedy Collective, check the shows.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

And if it's okay, since we're two non-competitive guys, I'll talk about another group that works clean shows is Comedian Discovery. Yeah, that's right. Uh Josiah uh Burke, he um you know, he he has a website, uh Comedian Discovery, and has a lot of shows. Of course, they do clean and and blue as well, they do a mixture of both. Um, but I've got several shows coming up uh with him, say those church shows uh that we got uh in the lineup for April and May. So that's two big things comedian Discovery, Clean Comedy Collective. Check the shows. I get to be on several of those from time to time, and I get those opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

And if you're listening to this and whatever or watching it on YouTube, if you scroll down to the episodes notes, there'll be a link to Brandon's Instagram. And then you can see like the shows he's on. You can also, it I'm sure it'll also connect you to like the Clean Comedy Collective Instagram or the Comedian Discovery Instagram, which they're I mean, I echo that. They're also great. Um comedy friends, like um me and Josiah, who runs the shows there. Um, we text backwards and forwards enough enough where I feel like I can say we're friends. Yeah. So um, and um man, you already told them about the cleancomedy collective.com. That's where you guys want to go to check out our when our next uh Sweetwater show, when our next uh just love coffee show. Uh, we have a bunch of other shows across the country. If you're a comedian, you're interested in uh being part of the Clean Comedy Collective, there's a the submission form you can do there. Uh there if you want to join our Patreon, we have um all of our episodes we keep to an hour or less for when we actually post it on the free things. But if you're if you want to hear our complete interview, the awkward silences and where I've forgot what my next question was. Uh there's even been in some cases, there's been uh on Zooms where the comedian's child comes out and makes dinosaur noises. Uh, there's been uh one time we just cussed and got into a bar fight that actually never happened, but maybe it did, and I'm lying to you. I don't know. But we have a lot of extra content in our episodes on Patreon. It's it's it's a similar podcast. It's called the Complete Clean Comedy Chats. Uh, and it's literally that. Um, but just thank you guys so much for listening. Thanks for chatting with us, and we'll see you next week.

unknown 50:48

You're welcome.