Dominican stand-up star Ian Lara breaks down how he built his new special “Material Boy”: writing faster, turning reps into a kill-every-line hour, getting passed at the Comedy Cellar, and why material beats crowd work. Real talk on going viral too early, owning your release, and staying private while touring the world.
“Material Boy”: why it’s joke-dense and built for rewatch value
The Chappelle mantra: Write faster
Seller audition stories + following monsters on stage
Crowd work vs. material in the TikTok era
Building an audience before the industry calls
Touring overseas and pressure-testing the hour
Keeping your personal life private in public careers
Links & CTAs
Watch Ian’s special “Material Boy” (YouTube + major free streamers)
Follow Ian: @IanLaraLive
Tell us your favorite bit in the comments + rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest. All right. Uh, this man 0:05 is like probably one Now, I'm not gonna say probably. I think he's like the best. 0:11 You probably going to be like, I don't know. Don't be saying that, but I I honestly think this man is the best 0:17 Dominican standup comedian there is right now. My maybe I'm being biased 0:22 that that I I'm probably being biased because, you know, like like I see I've seen his 0:28 special. He has a special coming out soon, November 7th. And I was there and I saw that shit for myself. So everybody 0:36 give it up for Ian Lara. Thank you, man. Thank you. Those are 0:41 very nice words. I appreciate you saying that, man. You're my favorite, bro. I thank you, man. Thank you. I I I 0:48 disagree, but but thank you. I know. No, I'm my favorite. Yeah. Yeah, motherfucker. You can't disagree with 0:53 what's my favorite, motherfucker. All right. No, I hear you. I hear you. No, I I there's a You know what's crazy? 1:00 When I started, and we've spoke about this off camera. When I started, bro, there was not 1:06 no any. There was one, maybe two. Who was it? It was Vlad. Okay. Vladimir Kamano. 1:11 Kamano. Yeah. He was the only one. He was the guy that was doing it like mainstream. Like when I started, he had just got a 1:17 TV show with uh NBC. He got a pilot. It was about him and his Dominican dad 1:23 being a super in a building in the Bronx. That would have been such a great show. They made it too. They shot the pilot, but the NBC just didn't pick it up. Um, 1:31 but yeah, he was the guy. He was like the Dominican guy that was like coming up and and all, you know, there wasn't 1:36 many of us. And then I and then I started. Now there's so many of us, which is nice. It's nice to see like is it really so many of us? 1:43 I mean, compared to one to compared to one. Compared to one now, it's a lot of people who are killing it. It's a lot of 1:48 people who are doing good work out there. Um, so compared to one it's it's I mean not compared to the white guys 1:55 but because I feel like we could still like on one hand like the dudes that are actually doing it like especially like 2:01 they're in the clubs that doing it nationally that's been doing it for a while now you know you know like we got 2:07 the IDA we got Orlando we got Vladimir you yeah 2:12 you know I I'm in but I'm not I don't even see myself at that level because 2:18 you you know what I'm saying I know what you mean. Yeah, Ida. Ida. Well, at that at that time, Ida was I think she was in LA, but she hadn't 2:24 moved from Miami yet. So, I got I got to know her a little later. And um and 2:29 Orlando, he was around, but he was in LA and he hadn't he hadn't built the traction that that he has now. But like 2:35 now, like you said, Ida, Orlando, Vlad, like me. I mean, obviously Marcelo who's 2:40 took it to like another who's took it to another level. Um so, yes. is like before compared to zero that that's 2:48 compared to one or two. What got you into comedy though? Like what is it that you be like yo I got to do this? I I started comedy because I enjoy like 2:54 I actually now it's so funny cuz now it works backwards. Now like people start doing sketches and then they're like I I 3:00 want to monetize this so I need to tour to make the money on this. But I never really looked at standup as the thing. 3:06 And I was so reversed like I looked at standup as a thing. Like I always thought standup was cool. Like I always 3:11 thought standup comedy was the coolest art form. Like you just go up there, everybody's quiet, you speak into a mic, 3:17 you make them laugh for an hour. I thought that was the coolest thing. Okay. And then after that you were like, "Okay, what where was the first club you 3:22 went to? You were like, I'm going to do this." Broadway Comedy Club on 53rd. Yeah. 53rd and I think 8th Avenue 3:28 and then you went there, you were there for a hot minute and then afterwards where you you hopped off to 3:33 Yeah. I mean it it builds slowly. Like at first when I first went I I started I went to an open mic and I fell in love 3:39 with it. I was like I'm gonna keep coming back. So I used to keep coming back to that open mic. It was just once a week. 3:44 Then you start meeting other comics who are a little bit further along. They're like well you got to do it more than once a week. And I'm like where do I go? 3:51 And they you can go here. You can go. All right. I'll go to those things. Then I started doing it twice a week then 3:56 three times. Then four times. And after a couple while after maybe two years or so I was doing it every night. 4:03 Like real talk, like I I was there in your special. The funny thing is they sat me in the front. They sat me in 4:09 front of his special. Actually, I sat in the front. 4:15 Some lady comes over my shout out to Mala. She was like, "You can't sit here in the 4:20 front." I'm like, "Why?" "Cuz you're a comedian." I'm like, "Yeah." And I was like, "No." She came up to me. She was like, "Are you a comedian?" And I was 4:27 like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm a comedian." And she's like, "Oh, you can't sit here." I'm like, "What do you mean that you're 4:32 going to have to Ian cannot know anybody in the front row?" Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, that I had this problem with my 4:39 family, too, cuz my Dominican family, they all want to sit in the front, too. That there's two reasons for that. The 4:44 first reason is when you're doing a live show, comedians sometimes without us trying, we are a little bit more 4:50 analytical about what we're watching than a regular audience is. And it's not like hate or anything, but sometimes 4:55 you're watching the art form of it. So, you're just like, "Wow, that was genius." like you're you're kind of like 5:01 like I've been watching comedy where I'm like, "Oh, that was so cool how he tied those two together." And you're so into it in that way that 5:06 you forget to laugh. Oh, right. Cuz you're analyzing like analyzing the sport of it. You're like, "Oh man, 5:13 that was a good call back there. Like, I like how he used that tag." You forget to laugh. So, obviously, we don't want nobody 5:19 sitting up front row who's like analyzing, right? And then there's the other problem where let's say I'm 5:25 killing, I'm destroying, everything is going well and we shoot it and then you look at the front row and it's all my 5:31 family. People going to be like, "Oh, he's just performing for his family." Like that's why he's killing this way 5:37 cuz his family's in the front row. That's his sister. That's his cousin. That's his best friend. They're all laughing. That's why it sounds like 5:42 that. That makes sense. I didn't think about it. Yeah. Because I do I did find myself a lot of analogy. I'm like, man, that's a good joke. you put two also you talk 5:50 you talked a lot about um relationships and oh when when a guy's broke right and 5:55 then I remember like even going like man that makes sense like when you you know you talk a lot about like 6:01 that's what comedians do like when we're w sometimes we'll be watching comedy which we enjoy but we'll be like oh that's good I like that angle damn why 6:08 not think of that that's and I we just we just for a special we only have two shows to get it you want to put yourself 6:13 in the best position to not have to like cut stuff out or you know So that's why that makes sense. The funny thing is I I 6:20 I was offered to do a special, right? And this was for Comedy Dynamics and and I I was like, "Yo, listen, don't 6:27 do it. You're not ready yet." And then sometimes I was I there was a time I was contemplating. I was like, "Man, I 6:32 should have just done that shit, right?" And and I went I came to New York and I 6:37 saw that you posted that you're going to record your special. I was like, "Oh, I got to go there." You know, this is a Dominican making this shit happen. You 6:44 know, this part of the mission, right? Right. So I was like, "I got to go over there. I got to show up. So, I did whatever I fucking can. It was fucking It was 6:51 fucking freezing that day. Yeah, it was. It was. We did it December. I think December 21st. It was one of the coldest days of the year, 6:57 bro. I'm coming from LA, bro. LA is warm. Yeah, you're my little going to see this 7:05 nigga. And shout out to everyone for the second show who waited online outside because that line was like around the 7:11 block and you know we were we were taping so they had to wait a little while and they still waited and then they came inside and they were the best 7:17 audience. And real talk though, I'm glad I went because I was like that night I was like I walked out and I was like I'm glad I 7:24 didn't record my special. That's the highest honor from a coming from a comedian to another comedian that you 7:30 that you want like any anyone like obviously when you're when you reach a certain level of of comedy of doing it 7:37 you you do enough things where like people a comedian might be like oh yeah you're funny that was funny and you're like thank you you know I appreciate 7:43 that like but you know I've been doing this a while like I know I make people laugh but when a comedian tells you like 7:48 even like I had a conversation with Ida and other comedians who came who were like man I went to watch your stuff and 7:53 I I went back to writing I was like no I got to tell you That's an honor for me because I see other people do it and I think that like 7:59 bro, your shit was line by line, bro. I appreciate that, bro. I I've always been one of those guys who like I don't 8:06 have no time to waste. I'm not wasting nobody's time. I'm not trying to tell you no story. I'm not I'm not It's not a 8:12 oneman show. I'm trying to make sure almost everything I say is a joke. I Bro, I saw that, bro. 8:19 Yeah. Like just boom. I was there was boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. There was no dead 8:25 55 minutes. Yeah, no dead space for 55. No dead space. Don't Don't get me wrong, it doesn't start off that way. Yeah, I get it to 8:31 that point. Like I I it starts off just like everybody else. But instead of like, you know, when you made that 8:37 decision of, oh, I'm not going to tape right now. I actively make that decision a lot. Instead of like I could tape like 8:43 I can tape in a year. I could tape a new special, but I'll be like I'm not going to. I'm going to tape three years instead. So by the time you do in three 8:49 years, you've been doing these jokes, they're so tight. They're so ready that you can get it to a point where you're like, "It's more boom boom boom boom 8:55 boom." It was beautiful to see. If you're a fan of comedy, bro, if you're a fan of comedy and you're watching this, watch 9:01 the fucking special. Thank you, brother. Which is coming out November 7th. November 7th. I'm having it. It's going to be out on all the streaming stuff, 9:07 but I'm pushing everybody cuz I I got a distribution deal where they're going to put it on Amazon and Tuby and all that 9:12 stuff, but they're also letting me keep the rights to it. So, I'm putting it up on my own YouTube. So, I'm promoting it 9:17 on my YouTube. Go check it out on my YouTube and then check it out. It's on Pluto TV. It'll be on Amazon. It'll be 9:22 on TubeB. All those things. But I'm I'm drawing my fans to go watch it on my YouTube also like 9:28 and leave a positive comment. Yeah. Yeah. Comment, bro. Like I real talk like if you follow me and you 9:33 support me, bro, support this man cuz I think and also what I see is when it comes to any other comedian, black, 9:40 white, there's a whole lot of support. They support each other. They do. And I think that's what we need within our 9:45 community. We need to do as much as possible to be like, "Yo, Ian is coming out with a special. Did you see it? 9:50 We're going to have a watch party." I remember you came out when you did your your HBO special came out. 9:56 Yeah. We were like, "Oh, no. We're having we're going to watch at my cigar lounge." Yeah. But I I find that I find that 10:02 we've been doing like I find that there is that community. Like I find that Yeah. When it Yeah. When it comes to 10:07 Latinos and Dominicans, um I find that we are like I don't really see anybody beefing. Like it's a couple people who 10:14 I've heard say some hating stuff, but they don't they not doing nothing. Most of the people I did I did hear hear somebody say some 10:21 hating and stuff and I was like fuck that motherfucker. About me or about you? It it was he was there at the special 10:26 that night. Yeah. About me? About you? Yeah. That that's going to happen. Like and and I was like, "Fuck him." 10:33 What What What did he say? What was the thing? He He was like He was It was He was a hater. Yeah. I could I knew he was a hater. It it 10:40 came from a friend of ours, you know. She was like, "Oh." And then she was telling me that that this man said he 10:47 didn't tell me. Okay. You know, I'm like, "This man said uh that the the special was okay." And this 10:55 girl told me and I was like I was like, "That nigga's a hater cuz cuz 11:04 he's Dominican, too. He Dominican. He's Dominican. He's like a director or some shit." Yeah. Yeah. whatever. He's Dominican. I'm like, "Yo, 11:11 you hanging out with us, all this extra shit." I'm like, "That shit was masterful, bro." Yeah. No, I look I don't even to be 11:16 honest, like with that with with that opinion, I don't even consider that a hater. I just consider that that's his opinion. Like, he has he has a brand of 11:24 comedy, I'm sure, that he enjoys that that that there's there's a type of comedy that speaks to him. And I just 11:29 wasn't doing that. I'm not offended by that. It's comedy. It's not supposed to be for everybody. He was a hater. I I 11:34 But you're not even a comic. Why he hating on me? Like, I'm not I'm not stepping on his, you know? I I feel like there's a lot of Latino 11:40 men tend to do that. Yeah, I do feel like make me laugh. Yeah. Yeah, they do. 11:45 But the whole room is laughing. I mean, yeah. Like I don't know. Did he watch it? Like if he sat there the whole 11:51 time and just left and was like that was pretty arrogant, right? To be like to be like everybody here is laughing, but I'm 11:57 I I know better than than the 400 people that are in the room. But I'm like, bro, like like bro talking I 12:03 told Shy I was like what we saw that night was masterful. It was It was back to back. It was like And I think because 12:09 I'm a comedian, I'm able to see it and I'm like, "Okay, this is line by line, bro." Like, no special does that. 12:15 I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Especially I mean, you're a comic, so you you see it even more. I mean, he's whatever. You said a director, whatever. 12:22 I don't know how much how well he knows comedy or how well he knows any of the thing. But I'm not offended by like even 12:27 if you watch it and some people might watch it and they might not enjoy it. That's fine, too. Like, I'm just not not 12:32 for you. the best people like Bad Bunny is the biggest artist in the world and when they announced him on the Super Bowl 12:39 like a good point. Yeah. A good amount of the country was like this sucks. So it's like if Bad Bunny's getting 12:46 there, who am I not to get not to get the hate? Yeah. I I I respect the humbleness. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? 12:51 Yeah. He's he's he's cool. I was talking to a friend of ours and she was like I saw the I read the 12:57 article that she posted, right? and she was talking about that you're fucking very rigid when it comes to this like 13:02 discipline to the tea. Yeah, she uh I know who you're talking about. I I I think I'm more I I don't 13:07 know if rigid is the word. I'm more pragmatic, meaning I I I break it down. I simplify and I just do the things I 13:13 have to do. I'm not rigid like I'm up at 5 in a.m. running three miles to get ready. I'm not rigid like that. I'm 13:20 in You're writing every day. No, no, I don't write every day. No, no, I don't write every day. I I think every 13:25 day and I work on on my craft every day, but I I don't necessarily sit down with a pen and write every day. I have ideas 13:32 that I let them sit in my head for a little while and then when when when it feels right, when it feels like I I have 13:38 something, then I'll sit down and I write. What I do have is even though I don't write every day, when I do when I 13:44 when I get on album mode, which is what I call it, is like when a when a musician is creating an album where he locks himself in the studio and he got 13:50 to do song after song after song to create the album. I find that when I'm in that I I tend to come up with stuff 13:56 fast. Like I won't write every day, but I'll sit down and in a week I'll come up with five minutes, which is a lot. 14:01 That's a lot in a week to come up with. I've I've sat down with and and in one sitting come up with a 14:07 seven, eight minute bit, that's a lot cuz you got to think of you trying to fill 55 minutes to sit down one time and 14:13 make eight. That's almost one of the thing that's that that usually takes months to come up with a good eight minutes. So I've been lucky in that in 14:19 that sense. But I also have months where I come up with nothing. It's an art form. I I don't I don't even put the pressure on myself like that. Like I 14:25 need a new thing right now. Like I'm just I love that idea of like album mode. If you think about it like when you are like creating an album when it comes to 14:31 a special like oh I got to lock in right now. That's how I see it. A lot of people don't see it like that but that's how I see it is like album mode. And I'm still 14:38 early enough in my career where I always got to outdo the last one. So my last 14:43 one was a HBO special where my whole family came out in New York City and filmed it. So, with this one, I was I 14:50 was I financed this one myself, but qualitywise, I had the same family members that came to the first one in 14:57 the audience. There was a lot of people from the HBO special came to the second one. I had to top the HBO special, at least funny wise, where I had to where 15:03 where they left thinking that the HBO special one was funny, but after this one, my family, you know, they were 15:08 like, "No, this is like you're you're at a different level now." Like, you're you're operating at a different level. And then the next one, I got to push it 15:15 even more. You Why Why Material Boy? Um, I chose the name Material Boy. It was kind of uh I 15:21 was at a when I came up with the name, I was feeling a little bit more I was a little bit more angry than I am now. I'm 15:27 not angry at all now. And I don't know if angry is the right word, but I was kind of annoyed with uh social media's 15:33 uh uh uh falling in love with comedians all doing 15:38 crowd work and the material being disrespected. As if that's not the hardest thing to do. Like I always 15:44 believe the hardest thing to do is the material, right? You got to create a story without an audience and then I got to perform it in front of the audience 15:50 and make the audience come into my story, make them get it, make them see my point of view. That's difficult. This is very difficult. Not to say that crowd 15:57 work can't be difficult because crowd work can be difficult, but it's it's easier than than 16:03 they're actually coming up with material. They're coming up with material at home that's consistent. Yeah. And that makes people relate. So, 16:09 so I I called him Material Boy because I was a person who always like and if if you come out to the clubs, if you come 16:16 see me like in the in the New York comedy world, I'm known as a person who like always has like material. Always 16:22 has like new bits, new material that he's working on. So, I just I took a play on Madonna's Material Girl and 16:27 Oh, I like that. We did material. Do you feel like comedy is changing right now? Because I feel like there's a lot of people I I I feel like I when I 16:34 go on, you know, on stage, I see a lot more people like trying to talk to the a trying to talk to the comedians. There's 16:41 a lot more heckling. Yeah. I feel like Do you feel like comedyy's changing in a way like that is being 16:47 applauded a little bit more? Of course. Of course. When I started comedy in 2000, the first time I did comedy was 2011. When I started comedy, 16:54 that wasn't a thing. I mean, crowd work was a thing that comedians did on stage when their jokes weren't going well. 16:59 Yeah. It wasn't like the thing you did. It was like if you were if you were falling, it 17:04 was a parachute you could pull so you can so you could bring them in. Yeah. To fall lightly, you know? It's like you got pushed out of a plane and 17:11 you had this parachute called crowd work where you can talk to people and make them feel engaged and bring them into you and then hopefully you can make a 17:17 safe landing with that. That used to be like our little secret, but then after the pandemic it seemed like Tik Tok 17:23 it just shot off like everybody's doing crowd work. I catch myself. I do crow. You know what I mean? I do it too. you know, but I feel like 17:29 it's taken over now. It has. It has that now people are just coming into the club and just heckling. 17:35 It has 100%. Yeah. Not only that, but like there's networks that are releasing full specials of just crowd work. 17:41 Yeah. Which is and they're not good. Which is, you know, that's that's it used to be 17:46 like it used to be we're going to pay you for these for this hour of ideas that you 17:52 you created that are funny. And now they'll if you're big enough, they'll pay you to ask people how long they've 17:58 been together, which is kind of it's kind of crazy to see where we where we've where we've come. But I but I'm not even approaching it from like a like 18:05 there was a point where I was like, what are we doing? Like this is this is societyy's falling apart. Like how are we valuing this? 18:11 You're like the old man like Yeah. Like Yeah. I felt like a dinosaur. But but 18:16 but now I'm not I don't look at it that way. I I shout out to everyone who's doing it. I think you know I think that's how you really feel. Material 18:22 boy. Yeah. I mean, I for them for them. Yeah. For them, I feel like it's not it's not for me. Like I, you know, I 18:29 I like I said, I did not decide to do comedy to go to a club and ask people 18:34 how long they've been where they work and how they met their wife and how they proposed. Like, I'll do that sometimes, 18:41 but that's not what I got into it. That's just like You got into it so you could for the love of Who was who was your 18:47 inspiration? Like if you could be like, "Yo, these were the comedians that inspired me." Like like uh growing up there was so 18:52 much. And I I do this new thing now where like I don't have favorites. I'll just name names. But there's no favorites cuz it's an art form. You 18:58 shouldn't. It's like whatever I'm in the mood for, but like growing up I was a fan of like Jamie Fox, Chappelle, Martin, Chris Rock. 19:04 Um even like George Lopez. Like yeah, a big fan of George Lopez. Um it was so 19:09 many of them. Like I was just I was just around that standup comedy thing. even like Steve Harvey and the Kings of 19:16 Comedy and all those people and it was uh it was it was a lot of them who I I 19:22 was just because my brother would watch standup and it was just part of like I remember watching Comic View and watching all these things where I would 19:28 just become a a fan of it. So yeah, I remember like back in the day we had P like BET and we also had Comedy 19:34 Central and then you see like the contrast of the standups, right? You go to the Comedy Central, you see the white comics, you see the white 19:40 comics, the black and the black comics and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I always like the BET one, but I ain't 19:46 going to lie. Yeah. No, it's a it's like I said, it's a art form. Like some people some people sometimes I got to remind myself of 19:52 this. Like going back to like the guy at the special, like he he watched it and 19:58 I'm not even mad at him. Like to him personally, to him it was okay. Which okay is not bad. I think it's I think 20:04 it's better than okay, but to him is okay. But he doesn't realize that it's only okay to him because he has this 20:10 idea in his head of what comedy is supposed to be to him because of his life experiences and that's what he 20:16 wants to see which is like just go see a comic who does that. I see what you're saying you know like I like there's different 20:23 there's different I'm not for everyone. No one is like I don't get it. No one no one is for everyone. 20:29 And what's and what's the future for you? Like what do you say like what what is the goal for you? like like what you what you feel like is the goal that 20:35 you're striving for when it comes to standup. Um I think I'm doing a lot of the things that I'm striving for. I want to 20:41 continue to grow and continue to do standup and just have more people know about me cuz I'm at a weird place right 20:48 now in my career where like some people know so much about me and some people never heard of me. 20:53 Yeah. So, it's like this weird thing like even even out in public like I'll run into a thing where like 20:59 I like I went I was in I went to Puerto Rico to see uh Bad Bunny and one of like the most surprising thing was like when 21:05 we went it happened a couple times throughout Puerto Rico but when we were at the show in El Choli like I remember going out to 21:11 the bathroom going to get drinks and like people like recognizing me and asking me for photos but then the person they're with is like who the hell is 21:18 that? So it's like one person like which is still is fucking good though. No, it's great. It's great for me, but 21:24 I'm My thing is like, how do I get that second person to be like, "Oh, I think I've heard of him." You know, but I I think that you're in a perfect 21:30 position because I feel like you didn't blow up before you were ready. That is there. That is the the the 21:37 bright spot of it. That I think I think that does happen a lot. And and that's career cancer, bro. Yeah. 21:43 There's so many people How many people We're not going to name any names, bro, but there's a lot of people that blew up before they weren't ready. 21:48 Most people now. Most people now. and you see their stand up, you're like me and then right now they're they're tainted with that. You 21:54 know what I'm saying? It's it's tough. It's tough cuz it's not their fault. No, they didn't they didn't like we all like 21:59 when I No, no, because when I started like just like them when I first started, I wanted to blow up immediately just how they 22:05 did. Like I I was the same as them. It just didn't happen for me. For whatever reason, it did not happen for me that way, which in hindsight was kind of a 22:12 gift. But at the moment, it didn't feel like a gift. At the moment, I was like, I wish I could go viral and be super popular and do all these venues. But I I 22:19 I tell these guys cuz I speak to some some of them are my friends. I'm like, "But as long as you keep working and do the work, like the rest of us are 22:25 working our asses off and you're not going to skip the line." Like you you might skip the line in in 22:31 ticket sales and the money you make when you tour, but you're not going to skip the line in the craft. Yes. So you got to catch up to us who've been 22:38 grinding at this for the last 10, 15, 20 years every night dedicated their whole life to that. You're not going to skip 22:44 us. Like as far as the the skill goes. Yeah. I see. I see that too cuz I like when we had a conversation you were like 22:51 uh I was like cuz you know I do want to get a lot in the the bigger clubs and one thing that I liked you were like oh 22:57 you know what when it came to me coming to this club you're like I like that you were like people came up to me. 23:03 Yeah. When I was ready people came up to me and asked me to yo you should be in these clubs instead of me trying to get 23:08 into these club like you know what I like that perspective because they're looking for you. Yeah. I think for me that's the way it 23:14 happened for me. I don't know if it was my that to me that I don't know if that's all good. It might have been some 23:19 of my stubbornness of like my New York stubbornness of like I'm not gonna ask nobody for nothing which can be that can 23:25 hurt you too. Like you you there there there are there's spaces where you do have to advocate for yourself and speak 23:30 up for yourself to get the opportunities. But for me that was like a thing like I ain't asking nobody for nothing. Like I'll do it when when they 23:36 want me then I'll go do it. And and I got lucky that way where eventually they did it. It took me a long time though. 23:42 Took me like eight years. Yeah. But like once you got there, you ready? It's not like you got there and you're like, "Oh man, bet." 23:48 Once I got there, I was able to work every single night at the place that allowed me to do it. Like there's people 23:53 who they'll get in three years in and they be in for a little while, then the club stops booking them because they 23:58 know that they can't like on stage for 15 minutes, they can't hold their own or maybe they can't follow other comic. But 24:05 I was lucky enough that the clubs asked me like to come audition and then when I did, they worked me ever ever since. So 24:10 I was lucky in that sense. But to answer your question, the goal is I just want to keep growing as a comedian. I want to keep growing. I'm going to keep putting 24:16 out standup specials every two, three years whenever it's ready. And I and then I also want to act. I want to get 24:22 into acting and and movies and stuff like that. I want to try to pivot into that lane. I feel like we could do that now. Uh I 24:29 think the studios went down, especially LA. People are leaving LA, bro. 24:34 Well, that's another thing with like I I learned this with the special cuz like I financed this myself. I paid for it. My 24:39 life savings. I pay for everything and and you were there. It's like a big it was a big production. It wasn't like it wasn't like a little thing. So now my my 24:46 I'm pivoting. I I directed. Yeah. Shout out to Ida. She's the second special. She directs for me. Um, my my 24:52 uh goal now is I want to build my own platforms, build my YouTube, build like I'm I'm I'm releasing on my YouTube also 25:00 because I want to have a thing where like when I film the next one, I want to be able to just go straight to YouTube 25:06 with with the with not like I'll give myself a release date. I'll pick the title. I'll pick everything. Nobody 25:12 tells me nothing and the people going to see it and they they'll watch it and it'll be something that they enjoy. I want to have that option for me. So my 25:18 next goal is to create create that create that. So like that you have your fan base to you either way, right? Which is that's the that's the route 25:24 everybody's going anyways. That's the route. That's Yeah. Like and you have complete control over yourself. Yes. Yeah. You have to now like when you 25:31 when you have when you make a special whatever the if you're in if you're like one of the in guys or whatever the first 25:36 step is to take it to Netflix just because they'll give you so much. They'll give you money for it's a big platform. They'll give you the money for it. They'll give you $200,000 for it for 25:43 your special. So So yeah. So your agent is I mean it costs half that to record. So, it's not like you're walking away. 25:49 Then you got to pay managers, agents, and taxes on the 200. So, you don't leave with like 200, you know? That's why you got to fire them before 25:55 you You'll be lucky if you leave with 30 40,000. You'll be lucky if you if you finish with that, bro. Like, for real? 26:01 Yeah. If you' be lucky with that. And it's also like a special needs marketing. You need to hire a publicist. You need to market it so people can 26:06 watch it. All that goes into that. Are you doing that, too? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm 26:12 going Do you sell yours afterwards or you like I I took a I got a distribution deal with a company called Cineverse where 26:18 we're doing a partnership where they're putting it on all the streamers and we're splitting the revenue that it makes on the streamers. Um it's for free 26:24 but they're doing they do ads. So the ad revenue we we uh we split it on it which is like I wanted to have it accessible 26:30 everywhere. I wanted to have it where when people watch it, everyone when like 26:36 when people want to watch it, they can go anywhere to watch it. From YouTube to Tony to Pluto to Roku to Amazon, it'll 26:42 be everywhere if somebody like like if somebody were to start standup today, right? What 26:47 would the advice you would give them? I don't know cuz a lot of people ask me that, but sometimes I'm when I speak to 26:53 a new comic, I'm like I don't know if I can give you advice because it's not like when I started. So my advice sounds 26:58 a little bit outdated because I personally would tell you like don't worry about social media like worry 27:04 about being good at standup and then once you're good you you pivot it to social media and then that's when 27:10 lightning strikes when you could match both those things where you match your following to your to your skill on stage and it 27:15 takes time like don't listen to me listen to whoever you respect as a standup from the greats Seinfeld 27:20 Chappelle Carlin Prior whoever it is they all tell you it takes time to get good. 27:26 Yeah. Eddie Murphy, I remember he was doing an interview and they asked him like I think he was doing this is when Arceno had just came back in in like 27:33 2008 or nine. Aro had just came back and he did our and they asked Eddie Murphy. They're like he was like hey are you 27:38 going to like go back on tour? Are you going to go back on stage? And Areno was like you can go do standup right now to 27:43 Eddie Murphy live on the camera. Eddie was like no I'm not going to do that. Like you guys think this is like a natural thing. No. He's like I got to go 27:49 to the club. I gotta go to the club every night and get an act develop an act. Like that's the that's how it is. 27:56 That's the that's the game. You know, people do it differently now, but that's the advice I will give. But I don't know 28:02 if I'm in a position to be to give advice cuz I'm like you ask these other guys who are killing it cuz it seems like that's what you I think you're in a 28:08 perfect position to give advice because like you got to where you are because of 28:14 one your work ethic. Two, you understand the craft a whole lot better than a lot of cats. And a lot of cats I think are 28:20 coming in for the wrong reasons. Of course. Yeah. Right. That's unavoidable. I can't stop that. But I could tell I could tell pretty 28:26 quickly what like I like it it shows itself pretty quickly. Like with you for example, like when you started doing 28:32 standup and then when you came to New York, it showed pretty quickly that you were the type of person that wanted to 28:38 follow the right path that you already had some clout. You already had some some viral things and 28:44 you already had that, but like when you came to standup, you were kind of eager for the information to do it the right 28:49 way. A lot of people are not like that and we can see that immediately. Yeah, a lot of people are not like that. Or they pretend to be like that and then 28:56 when you give them the information, they don't like the information. So they're like, "Yeah, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to" and they and they disguise 29:02 it with, "I'm going to do it my own way." And it's like, you're really just being lazy. Yeah. I see that a lot. 29:07 Cuz your own way is just being home and doing nothing. Come on, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 29:13 Like that's just a little bit of laziness. And to be fair, I'm lazy, too. I get it. I get it. But when people be 29:19 like, "I'm going to do it my own way." Their own way is never like, "Oh, I'm going to," like, for example, let's say you don't want to do the comedy clubs. 29:25 Let's say you're anti that, right? And people be like, "I'm going to do it my own way." Their own way is never like, "Well, I'm going to go to whatever 29:32 open mic they have here in Uptown every single night and I'm going to do three of these open mics every single night to 29:38 Cuz if you told me that, I would be like, "Okay, well, that's a way to do it, too. That that is a way to come up, too. That's stage time, right? You're getting your stage time." But it's never 29:44 that. No, their way is also is just like, "I'm going to sell out Madison Square Garden. that's doing it 29:50 their way, which maybe they'll figure it out. I don't know. Like I I have love for them, too. Like I have love for 29:55 those people, too. I'm just I'm just like happy that as as Dominicans, there's like so many people doing it in 30:01 so many different avenues. There's different ways to Yeah. But you're you're absolutely right about 30:06 like their own way has never been like, "Oh, let me let me get into this club or this is how many stage times I'm going 30:13 to do so I could get there or this is how I'm going to fill." Their own way is never I'm going to do 30 spots a month. No, that's never their 30:18 only way. No, it's never. It's never that. Yeah. It's always I'm going to do four spots a 30:24 month. Yeah. And you're like, that's your own way? 30:29 I could have Yeah. Yeah. That's a nice that's a nice way of doing it. I mean, if if it if it will work for you, then 30:35 it'll work for you. Um, but generally speaking, like this is I don't want people to listen to this and like feel 30:41 away. These these aren't my rules. Like, I'm just relaying the rules of like the game. like I'm I've been able I've been 30:49 afforded the opportunity to to be at in rooms and at tables with the the legends, the greats. I mean, Chappelle 30:56 flew me to his house. I spent a weekend at Chappelle's house. You spent a weekend with me? Yeah. Where we were just talking comedy 31:01 the whole time. I'm telling you what like the the game is. He did this. Yeah. What the game is. They give it to 31:07 me. I repeat it like on a thing on podcast. What was the best advice that you got from Chappelle? It was a pretty simple one. He said he 31:13 talked about when he was like young. and he was like, you know, maybe 20, 21. And at that point, he had already been doing comedy for like a little while. And he 31:20 felt that cuz a lot of people forget like they see Dave Chappelle as like so big now. coming up like he wasn't the guy that he was like a young guy who was 31:26 funny and would get a lot of opportunities but until some opportunity but until Chappelle show took him off he 31:32 like other people were blowing past him like in in the sense of fame like like Martin came and blew past him like even 31:38 Cat Williams at the time kind of blew past him and like like at that time he was insecure about where he was in his 31:44 career and he told me a story about talking to his dad he was like every time I like I try to do I'm doing these 31:49 bits and then I hear somebody else come up with the bid or they'll do it on TV like before me or whatever and his dad 31:55 was like, "Why don't you just write faster?" And that's pretty that's pretty simple advice. Like just write the joke 32:01 faster so nobody can take it from you like and put it out faster. Pretty simple advice, but it's it's there's 32:06 genius to it because it's true. Like if you have a issue, if you're not happy with where you are in comedy and you 32:12 feel like you deserve whatever you feel you deserve, the only option you really have is to just put out more material. 32:18 Let people see what you see that they can't see yet. And I I took that and that really stuck with me. The right 32:24 faster. Write faster. So come up with more jokes basically. Just come up with more jokes. If you feel like people don't know how good you 32:29 are and come up with more jokes, let them know jokes. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah, that's pretty that's pretty sage advice. So like I said, I'm not I'm not 32:36 trying to like give people my own opinion. Like when somebody like asks me like a new comic asks me like, "Oh, what 32:42 do I think?" or "What what advice I would give?" I I summarize all the advice that I've gotten from from people 32:49 I look up to, from comedians to managers to agents to everyone when we speak. I I 32:55 summarize that and then I give them the advice. But the advice a lot of times they don't like it because it involves working 33:00 and people generally don't want to work. If you were some be like, "Oh, out of all the advices that I got from a whole 33:06 lot of people, all these dope greats that you met, you're in you're in it." So, what would you say like this was 33:13 this has been the most impactful one? What would that be? Um, I don't think I don't think there's like one that's most impactful. I think 33:19 the right faster one is one that has stuck with me and and it's kind of a a phrase that I remind myself whenever I 33:25 feel like I'm a little stuck and I and it's kind of like, you know, it's kind of a thing you tell yourself like on the treadmill like keep going, keep going. 33:31 You know, you just do it, just do it. It's kind of like a Nike affirmation like just do it right faster. Right faster. Um, so that one has has 33:37 stuck with me, but all the other ones like to be honest, I I I heard I saw I 33:43 saw this on YouTube and I don't want to butcher it, but somebody was this guy was talking on YouTube. He was like 95% 33:48 of the time like you already know what you need to do. You just don't like it. So, you're seeking you're out seeking 33:56 other information, right? Other options because you know what the work is. Like if you want to be 34:01 a standup comedian, I I imagine if you want to be a standup comedian and and you know anything about the business, 34:09 majority of people know that if you want to be a stand-up comedian, what you have to do is you have to go do open mics 34:14 every single night. That's true. You have to dedicate your life to this art form and get on stage every single 34:20 night wherever you can as much as you can. I'm not saying that if you miss a night you're going to fail. I'm not 34:26 saying you got to miss everything. I'm not saying you got to miss all your family events. I'm saying generally speaking, every single night, meaning 34:32 most nights, you have to be on stage performing comedy for people who aren't your fans. 34:38 Yep. That's that's everybody knows that. Like that's common sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I think like 34:45 everybody knows it, but we ignore it. We ignore it because you want somebody to tell you something different because that involves work, which I remember I 34:51 when I was coming up and doing that for free, a lot of times me paying to perform at the open mic, 34:57 it sucked. It was terrible. It was brutal. Like I hated it. I hated it. I just I just thought that one day I could 35:04 get out of it. But when I was in it, I hated it. I did not want to be there. So I get it. But if if if somebody asked you like, 35:10 "How do I become a basketball player?" You would say, "Go practice. Go practice." Right? 35:16 How do you become a baseball player? How? You go to the park every single day and start taking grounders. And in 10 35:22 years, you're going to be like, "Oh shit, I'm pretty good at taking grounders." Yeah. Yeah. Like Gary Vaynerchuk talks 35:28 about that sometimes like when it's like playing baseball. You just got to go up to the plate and bat and sometimes you'll hit first base, sometimes you'll 35:34 strike out. But guess what? One time a year you'll probably hit a home run. It's not that complex. 35:40 Yeah. People just want another option. Another option. I think we want the fast track, right? Which I get. I I again I I never 35:47 want to come off to like the the newer guys like I'm being like I'm being judgmental or looking down at them. I 35:53 get it. when I was coming up a lot of times I would have took that route had it been presented to me. I didn't have 35:58 the option like it took me a long time to get anything like like now people 36:03 look at some of the stuff I've done and even in in the industry like people think that like I'm an industry guy like I'm an industry darling cuz I got the 36:10 five appearances on the Tonight Show and the HBO and Central but it's like sure I've gotten to that point now but it 36:16 took me a a long time to get there. Like when I started, all my people blew past 36:21 me. Like I was still doing open mics when they were out, some of them doing TV stuff. Even now, I have people who 36:28 came up under me who have blown past me, who like like I'm not some overnight 36:34 person. Like I'm I'm a person who's just kind of like worked at it and has stuck around and continues to like come up 36:39 with new stuff. But like I remember I remember uh Marcelo, he he 36:45 told me that Marcelo was like a my little brother. Like I remember we were having a conversation recently and he 36:50 said that he found um a podcast that he did in like 2018 2019 before he was 36:55 Marcelo. He's this huge star now. And um they asked him like oh what comedians do you like? What comedians do you look up 37:01 to? It's like in 2018 and he brought me up. He was like do you guys know like this Ian Lar kid? He's like in New York. 37:07 He's Dominican. He's killing it. And now I've watched Marcelo go from like he used to bark outside the grizzly 37:13 pair. Bark for the people who don't know Barkin is he used to stand outside the Grizzly pair and ask people to come in 37:19 to watch him perform. I watch him go from that to being like I couldn't the other day I walked by the Grizzly pair 37:24 with him. I couldn't even I can't even walk down the street with him cuz he's so famous. He went on SNL and killed it 37:30 and and just and it worked perfectly for him and he's and he has all these opportunities that he deserves cuz he's 37:36 like a super funny comedian and he's he's a super funny guy and and he was another guy like I can vouch 37:41 for this when he was coming up. He was like how I said you were. He wanted to know how do I do it? Like what's the 37:48 right way to do it? Like do I get on stage? I got to get on stage every night. Cool. He moved from Miami to a room here was on stage every night. He's 37:55 a person that deserves all the everything he's he he gets because he he got it relatively quickly compared to 38:01 other people, but he paid the dues. As long as you paid the dues, no one could get mad at you. And that's super dope and and cool that 38:06 it's happened to him. And it's happened to many other people, too. But but as long as you like pay the dues, people 38:12 don't want to do that though. That's true. Which I get. I don't want to do it either. 38:17 Shit. Uh when it came to you like you, bro. And also like like when you're a fan of comedy, you learn so much about 38:24 what's going on, right? And I also want to be respected. When I first started, I even when I was working 38:29 at Pedro, like I didn't invite people to my show, so I didn't want people to come over. Yeah. Like even perform in front of your 38:35 fans, your fans are going to laugh at your shit no matter what, right? That's how much I love it. But you are also 38:42 like when when you know how comedy works, especially here in New York City, you are part of like I would say the 38:50 mecca of comedy, right? And we're talk about the seller. All right. And I went 38:55 to the seller the other day and I was like these motherfuckers are hilarious. We're talking about I feel like I feel 39:00 like the seller is like the NBA for basketball. Oh, sure. For sure. Yeah. Definitely the 39:06 major leagues. Yeah. It's definitely the major leagues, bro. Yeah. How was it for you to get into the seller? Like like what was your process 39:13 getting in or or like you know your experience? Well, like you said like when coming up it it took me it took me years comp and 39:20 I'm and I'm saying relatively compared to the people who I started with who were doing a lot more things than I was 39:26 doing at the time. Um and that all that stuff was out of my control. But one thing that I did value 39:32 is like you said, I was like, but I want the respect from the people. Like I want your 39:38 favorite. Like you could think I you could think I suck. You're and and and I mean this respectfully, but like like 39:44 whoever it is, you could think I suck, but respectfully your opinion is irrelevant. You're just one single person, right? If everyone thought I 39:51 suck, that'd be a problem. But just you thinking I suck, that doesn't mean anything because one, you don't know anything about comedy. You're not 39:57 dedicated into this field. You're not respected in this field. No one comes to you for your opinion on comedy. So why 40:04 should I ruin my day because of your opinion? And also name me your favorite comic. And I'm pretty sure if I ran if 40:13 he's like New York or LA based, there's a there's a pretty high chance that he knows me and respects what I do on 40:18 stage. I like that. So that was the only thing that I can control. So when I got into the seller, 40:23 I I had I had just done my first Tonight Show. And when you do the Tonight Show, one of the things you do is the night 40:30 before the producer from the Tonight Show, the Booker, he flies in from Los Angeles and you go around and you do the 40:35 set that you're going to do on television, you run it at the clubs. So I like I ran it at the seller. I I 40:41 wasn't a past comic, but with obviously with the Tonight Show with uh him, you you you were able to supersede that. So 40:47 I went I ran the five minutes and it was great and I was like, "Damn, this feels nice. This feels this feels cool." Then I didn't think anything of it. And a 40:53 couple like a month went by and then one day I got a text message out of nowhere from the manager and she was like hey 40:58 people keep recommending you to me here. Would you like to audition for the club? And I was like I would love to. And then 41:04 she sent me the date. And then I went and I auditioned and I remember leaving. I didn't hear anything back. And then a 41:10 couple days later I got another text and she was like hey send us your your um head shot and all your credits and this 41:16 is how we do the booking. And I they did basically the onboarding. Were you like nervous when you auditioned or what? Um, I wasn't too 41:22 nervous because like I said, I I do it I was maybe a little anxious. I don't want 41:27 to make it seem like I'm a robot. I was like a little anxious, but it's just like I anything you do a ton, you're 41:33 going to get comfortable with. Like eventually you're going to get comfortable with. Like so many people are like, "Oh, I could never do public 41:39 speaking. I'm so shy." And I'm like, if you started public speaking today and you did it every day for the next 10 41:45 years, in 10 years when I ask you, do you get nervous about public speaking? You're going to say, "No." That's true. you're gonna say this is 41:50 just what I do every day. It's like tight your sneakers. Yeah. It's like every I do it every day. So, I wasn't um like too nervous out. I 41:57 was a little anxious, but I was just like, but just do what you do. It's just I always had this mantra in my head um 42:03 when I'm performing at these big clubs or even like on television or any type of big thing where I'm just like, it's 42:08 just telling jokes in front of people. It don't matter the room. It don't matter where we at. You're just telling jokes in front of people. 42:15 You do that. You tell jokes in front of people. So, no matter what venue you at, you should be able to figure it out. And sometimes it goes terribly, but that's 42:21 okay. Also, bro, they and then is there anybody that you were like because but they tell me 42:26 like when it comes to the seller that they put you right behind like a a top dog like I had a friend of mine that he 42:31 he auditioned for the seller and he's like I went after Miss Pat and I had to do five minutes and they never called me 42:37 ever again. I'm like oo. Yeah. Yeah. So what was your question? Like you do do you ever go after 42:44 somebody that you're like nervous about? Yes. But I want that smoke though. 42:49 Yeah, for sure. But I but to me I'm like I mean I've like you name it. I've I've 42:56 went up after Chris Rock. I went up after Kevin Hart. I've went up after Louis CK. I've went up after Chappelle. 43:01 I've went up after Aziz. I mean who's who do you think is great? I've went up probably after Amy Schumer. Was it nerfing when you went after Kim? 43:09 Well, one time the first time I went up after Chris Rock like he's probably the first guy. I was like damn I got to follow Chris Rock. And Estie at the 43:15 seller she was like it'll be the best set you've ever had. like they're so happy that they got to see Chris Rock. 43:21 You kind of just got to learn how to ride that wave. And then I and then I I took that advice and I went up and it was fun. It was a 43:27 lot of fun. Like they're already in a good mood. And even if they're not, like I'll bully you into being in a good mood. I'll be like, "Oh, you're not 43:33 going to laugh at me. Like you just saw Chris Rock. Like come on. Like what more do you want? You paid $12. You just saw 43:38 Chris Rock and now you're not gonna laugh at me. This how entitled?" And they they'll laugh at that and that'll they'll be like, "You're right. You're 43:44 right. All right. Let's have a good time." So, no, I I enjoy, but honestly, I'll say this at the seller, you don't 43:49 got to worry about like it's not the Chris Rocks that you got to worry about following because a lot of times they're 43:54 working out new stuff. They're just trying to they're not doing the stuff you see the a material you see out of special. They're trying to figure stuff 43:59 out. You got to worry about the no names who have something to prove. Like the people at my level, 44:05 like who nobody knows about, but they they're trying to make a name for themselves and they'll rock 44:10 cuz those are the people that bring the heat. like they'll they'll put 15 minutes of heat in front of you that 44:16 you'll be like, "Damn." And that that has happened at the seller. Like I remember I remember uh following Shane 44:21 Gillis at the seller. Uh like which I Shane is another one that I watched Shane like blow up. I watch him move to 44:27 New York, did everything the right way, funny as hell, then blow up and become huge. And I remember following him at 44:33 the cellar where I mean I thought they were going to get I thought they were going to carry him out like from from how hard he was 44:38 killing. Yeah. like he's did stuff from that from his uh special. He did the bit about uh he did a bit about how n about 9/11 and 44:46 how al-Qaeda they were the ones that are brave. How our military is brave in New York City. He did this joke and it's 44:52 murdering. It's so funny. Mur and I got up there and I was like I got to give it to him, man. That's that's just like I 44:58 literally was like I got to give it to him. Like I said 45:04 al-Qaeda I said a pro al-Qaeda joke in New York City like a week before 911. 45:09 Like I got to I got to give him that like you know that that that's what it is. I I I follow I remember now like 45:15 like now following Marcelo is tough. I mean he's a celebrity now. Like like I remember before it was a comic. It's one 45:22 thing when a comic kills cuz at the end of the day you the audience feels good but it's a comic. But it's another thing 45:27 when the comic kills and he's famous and women want to sleep with him. That's 45:32 tough to follow. That is difficult to follow cuz because you gotta get up there and I'm like guys 45:39 guys I know I know I know you want to sleep with him. I know but you can't you can't he's leaving like what the fuck is Yeah. Like you can't you're not gonna 45:44 sleep with him. So just forget it. Just forget it and just start listening to me. I have you have a way better shot of sleeping with me than you do with 45:50 Marcel. It had to go afterwards after Marcel went up. Yeah. Uh no you you figure it out. You figure it out. I've been doing this bro. 45:55 It's going to be 15 years. Yeah. It's going to be 15 years. So even if it it'll maybe it'll start slow. Maybe it'll start slow by the end. I I'll I 46:02 usually get them. Like I'll get them by the end. Yeah, they say they say confidence comes from hard work. Yeah, I I agree. I agree with that. 46:08 And I could tell your confidence like you're like, "Oh, yeah. No, I'm gonna be okay." Like like for you not to be that nervous to be like, "Oh, to perform at 46:14 the seller or or to do the audition." Yeah. You were anxious, but you're not like nervous and be like, "Oh, man. What am I doing?" Like that also comes from 46:22 the years of practice. You already know what you're going to say. You already know what works at that time, right? Yeah. No, I I I I lean on that in 46:29 times of like high nerves and high anxiety. I lean on on but you did the work as long as as long as you can tell 46:36 yourself like whenever whatever the opportunity came in like I remember being backstage at the Tonight Show like 46:41 right behind the curtain where right before Jimmy's about to announce you and you hear Jimmy and he's telling the audience about you he's like he's biging 46:48 you up telling them like you know all your your stuff like he's great you're going to love him whatever and I remember standing back there and just 46:54 reminding myself like trying to calm my nerves and just reminding myself you did the work you did the work like that's 46:59 all you can do you did that part you did it. Like now you just go out and do it again. You've done the work. I remember 47:07 being times where I didn't do the work and then not having that to lean on and 47:13 feeling like shit, I didn't do the work on this. And you feel it. You feel it. You're You're like, "Fuck, I should have I should Yeah, I didn't do the work on 47:20 this. I I shouldn't put myself in this position. Never again." Yeah. I got too confident. Got too cocky. Yeah, I do that, too. But then it 47:26 happens again. I'm like, "Man, I should have done the work." No, it's happened. It's happened to me. I'm human, bro. It's happened to me, too. It's happened to me, too, where I'm 47:32 like, you didn't do the work for this. To me, there's nothing better than the feeling of like you did the work. Like, 47:38 with the special with Material Boy, like whether you whether whether people love 47:44 it or think it's okay or whatever the case is for me, I did the work on that. 47:49 Like, I worked at I wrote I wrote I tooured the whole world. I performed 47:54 that in front of so many different audience. Not just my audience, not just Dominicans, not just people from New 48:00 York, not just people from Queens, not people who look like me. I took that to North Dakota, South Dakota, California, 48:07 all through San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Anaheim. I went up to Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, 48:14 Edmonton. I went to Dubai, Abu Dhabi. I toured that in France. I toured it in Israel. I took that everywhere. I took 48:21 those. You took You took it outside the United States. Everywhere. Everywhere. And it worked out there, too. So I So 48:27 when I when I'm released something like that, I'm like, look, I understand that you think is okay. 48:32 First, if if we're being clear respectfully, you have no idea what you're talking about. It would be the equivalent of you're a director. It 48:38 would be the equivalent of me going on set. I don't know anything about directing and try to tell you like, hey, this was okay. When I have absolutely no 48:44 idea what I'm talking about. So at least if you take one thing away from this, take that you give your opinion on shit 48:50 you don't know what you're talking about. Which is fine. I do that also. We all do that. It's fine. That's a human. That's a human thing. That's a human thing. I'm 48:56 not knocking them. I do it also. And I So I got to remind myself like you don't know what you're talking about. You ever say some shit and then in your head 49:01 you're like I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. That's just stupid. Yeah. So I've done it too. But I but I but I will also beg to to explain to him 49:07 or them or whoever it is is like but but understand that I did the work on this. You know who it is. I did the work on this. I can send you 49:13 like like if you think if you think this is okay, I can I can send you tapes of 49:20 standing ovations and overseas over there. I can send you that if you want. Like, so maybe that'll 49:26 convince you that maybe you don't know what you're talking about. No, he doesn't know. But it probably won't convince them because people just think that they 49:32 know. They know more than anybody else. Yeah. Which is fine. It's fine. I appreciate him coming. Why would you 49:37 come to hate on it? I I feel like there was ego there and they I And it happens a lot with us 49:43 Latino men. I'm like, there's this ego. They were like, Especially we But he wasn't even a comic. He wasn't even a comic. 49:49 So where's the ego come from? Like you could go like that would be like me going to like watch the Mets and being 49:54 mad that Sodto Homers, right? Like I'm not a baseball player. Why would I be mad at that? 50:00 That's true. Or maybe he just honestly maybe to to be fair to him, maybe he just genuinely thought it was okay. 50:06 That's true. It's not like he said something that was that it was bad. Yeah, right. At least he didn't say that. But 50:12 come on, we were in the same room. I I agree. I mean Yeah. I I'm I'm on your P. I agree. I I like for me for me 50:20 personally as a person who's been doing stand up for 15 years all over. Yeah. That night both shows you came to show 50:26 one, right? I think it was the first show. Yeah. That night, show one and two, that could not have went better for me. 50:33 Like I've done it I've done this for 15 years. I've done different venues. I've done huge venues. I've opened for 50:38 people. That night couldn't have went better for me. So what I mean what else is there? That's why like now like we we 50:44 sent it and and and also like we sent it before I decided to go the route that I I'm releasing it now. We sent it to uh 50:51 to YouTube and No, we sent it to Netflix and we sent it to uh HBO. Mhm. 50:56 And they were both like so complimentary of it like which that 51:03 Do you do you try to send it? So you said YouTube and HBO? No, it's Netflix. Netflix? 51:08 Yeah. We we try Netflix like yo, give me that shit. No, they they loved it. She was so complimentary about it. She was so like 51:15 so was HBO. But um I I I think it's it's just where 51:20 we are right now. It's just I don't have right now I don't have the clout I think 51:26 that would warrant them pulling the trigger on that. And I and I get it cuz they're executives. At the end of the day, if they give me money for the 51:32 special, they have to sit at a boardroom and explain to their bosses why they gave me money and not the Tik Tocker 51:37 with 10 million followers. Bro, the That's just the truth of it. It just doesn't make sense, bro. Like, 51:44 like the whole point is if you have something that's dope, right? The material works. You supposed to be the 51:52 one to be like, "Yo, let me buy let me buy this shit because the material is dope." So, I could show my fans like, "Yo, we believe in this motherfucker." 51:59 So, that's not the point no more though. But that so people could trust you. That's not the point no more. No more. They they people stopped I was just 52:06 having this conversation. People stopped in the in the in media. They stopped 52:11 glorifying being taste makers, right? It used to be a point where they were taste makers, right? They used to There was a 52:17 time where Netflix would tell you, "This is what's dope. Watch this. We We're experts at what's 52:24 dope and we think this is dope. Watch it." Exactly. They're no longer there. That's not a 52:29 thing anymore because they started bringing up all these people that weren't ready and giving them specials. Well, it became I think it's bigger than 52:36 that. I think business-wise that business model went away. Business-wise, these corporations, which 52:42 like Netflix, somebody put this in perspective to me where they were like, Netflix is a app. Okay. 52:47 They're not like this. You think that Netflix is like this major studio that they're an app that wants people to go 52:54 to the app. That's all they want. That's fair. That's all they want is people to click on their app and subscribe to them. 53:00 That's all they want. Mhm. So if you if if you if you simplify it like that and you look at that's their 53:06 only goal, why would you give somebody like me a special, right, when you can 53:12 give somebody who has who comes built in with 10 million people that are going to watch this? It just doesn't make sense 53:19 business-wise, which I get. I don't hold it against them. I think it's on us as artists to like we got to now we got to 53:25 elevate our brand to we got to become the people that have the 10 million things so it's all equal. That's one thing I was like, there was a point 53:30 where I was like, I just hope everyone goes viral. I hope everybody has five million followers because then you got to go back to the skill. 53:36 You gotta go back to the skill. If everybody has five, as long as you have 5 million on me, you got something on me. Yeah. Because I I feel like that's what 53:41 it was like back in the day when a DJ like that's what like me was for. Like DJ, the taste makers be like, "Okay, you 53:48 know what? This is what's hot in the street." You break a song. You And it would look like you found it. Exactly. Like like you have a ear. 53:54 Yes. That you know hits. You found it and now you're giving it to your audience. HBO and Netflix used to be. 54:00 They're no longer that. But also nowadays I'm like, "Oh, somebody got a special. I'm not watching it." They're no longer that. Which is fine. 54:05 We like like I There was a time where I might have been more bitter about it, but now like 54:10 You don't need it. I need it. Netflix, if you're listening, I need it. 54:17 No, but I I need it. But I'm just like, what am I? What am I going to be a dinosaur? Am I going to go extinct? 54:22 Like, you just adapt to the thing or or or quit? What are you What are you going to do? You going to sit here and complain, oh they didn't want to give me 54:28 this, they didn't want to give me that. Why should they give me it? They should because the product if the product is good, they should put the 54:35 product on. That's how I see it. If you want to get the respect of the audience again 54:41 that's where you benefit. Like if if I go like, yo, this person is dope. Like there's people that think it's dope. 54:46 Like let me highlight this person because that's not how it works no more. That's crazy. Tell me who who was the last comedian that Netflix broke. 54:53 They don't break them anymore. They don't break them anymore. No, they don't break them. They they give specials to comedians who already 54:58 have a massive following. That's true. Who come in with their built-in following that they know that worst case scenario, their following will watch it. 55:04 And if your following is 5 10 million, that's a lot of people. Or they'll give a special to the the the legends, you 55:11 know, the legend people who who are on the thing. Um or or they'll give, you know, or that that's really the the only 55:18 two. The reason the reason why it bothers me because I feel like that is hurting comedy. 55:24 You see what I'm saying? Yeah. But I'm in it I'm in it for the long run. Like I'm in it for the long 55:30 run. And I've had because of my path in comedy. I've already been at a point where, like I said, where I already seen 55:37 when I started comedians, my my contemporaries kind of blow past me in like credits and what 55:43 they're doing and stuff and then I'll catch up and go buy them. Yeah. So that's happening again. Like now it's 55:51 not even my contemporaries like younger the younger guys who are like who I have 10 years on doing this are getting the 55:58 stuff and a lot of them they deserve it you know to get in these stuff and I have the patience to know but like I do 56:04 the work so it's like eventually I don't know if it's going to be next year and 5 years and 10 years maybe in 20 years but 56:10 eventually your work is going to be compared to mine. 56:16 Yes. and you're going to see the difference. And not because I'm better than you or because I'm naturally 56:21 gifted. I don't believe in this naturally gifted. Just because I work harder than you. Yeah. They said that it could always be 56:26 too early, but could never be too late. Right. I I agree with that. I agree with that. I think that look Netflix, you 56:34 know, I I still love Netflix. I still love HBO. They didn't give me a special this time, but maybe like let's do a 56:40 good job on on this one. Maybe they'll give it to to the next one. Some people are doing it vice versa. Some people got 56:45 a Netflix special this year, but they're not going to get another one. They're not going to get another one. Yeah. So, what's, you know, what's the difference? I I'm still proud of the 56:52 work I do. I'm still proud to have like respect from people like you and and other comedians and people who 56:59 respect from people who are in comedy and people who aren't still respecting stuff. And I'm I'm very grateful for that. And I still I'm not going to sit 57:06 back and wait for these big networks to be like, "All right, Ian, it's your turn." I'm going to keep cranking them out. I just did my fifth Tonight Show 57:12 two weeks ago. I got the special coming out. I'm already working on a new on a new hour. My goal is I'll film again, 57:18 maybe end of next year. Film another one. See who wants that. I I got a question for you. Like your material is a lot about relationships 57:24 and stuff like that. Are you dating? No. No. No. 57:30 I I was reading I was reading in the article, you know, and the article said that you work on this craft so much 57:36 that's hard for you to date. Is that what's getting in the way or what's going on? Yeah. I mean, your time, right? You don't have time. Like I'm always 57:41 traveling. I'm always on the road. I'm always like out and and all and also I'm also like I'm I'm also like pretty um 57:48 open about this. I'm the kind of guy that one day I'm going to post pictures from my wedding and people are 57:55 going to be like what what the fuck? Yeah. Like like I I I you keep it low-key. 58:01 Yeah. I I keep it private, but if you look at my page, everything is like like my page is only standup stuff. 58:06 It's like it's no family stuff. It's no like I have a big family who I've spent a lot of time with the big Dominicans. 58:11 We have part. We just went to a baby shower the other day. Ended at three in the morning. Um that's some Dominican. They had a bag at the baby shower. 58:20 No, it was lit. It was lit. Um but I don't post that. I don't post none of that. I don't post I like I this this is 58:26 a weird thing that we're in like this thing of like getting cuz people get into your lives and people get involved 58:32 in shit that's like none of their business. Yeah. It it feels weird even posting somebody that that's not especially like you have like what like almost 200,000. 58:40 200,000 a little bit over two. Yeah. 200,000 bro. Like still a 200,000. You're going 58:45 to want to post somebody that you also got to really be conscious like do I want to put this person in a big old 58:51 platform? This is a big platform. I don't I don't want to put like a girlfriend on a on a on a platform for 58:58 it. I mean I think you're just setting yourself up to fail. To fail. Yeah. I think you're just setting yourself up to fail. Like whenever I'm in a 59:05 relationship, everybody who I care about knows I'm in a relationship because the girl is always with me at stuff that matters. Yeah. 59:10 Why do I have to like say it on the Tonight Show? Yeah. I dated one girl like we her and I 59:16 used to do videos together and then her her and I broke up and then when I talked to her again years later she was 59:22 telling me I am tired cuz people still ask me about you. Yeah. 59:28 Yeah. No. Yeah, bro. That's that's Do you see what Gabriella is doing? Yeah. I also like that I get embarrassed 59:34 of shit like that, too. Like I'm going to post my girl then people going to DM me like, "Oh, well I have her nudes." And I'm like 59:40 I I should have just kept this to myself. I think we all should do that. I think everybody like I'm not saying lie about it. Like the people who are 59:46 important in your life should know what your status is. That's true. But everyone like respectfully everyone 59:52 who's a fan of my comedy is not like important people in my life. They're important in the sense that like I 59:57 create work and jokes and art for them, but not important in the sense that they need to know my dayto-day, you know, 1:00:06 everything, bro. That's how I see it. I think we also grew up in an era that was like you keep your private life private. 1:00:12 Exactly. You don't have to tell everybody. Exactly. I'm more from like the JCole school. Like who's JCole's wife? 1:00:18 Nobody knows. Nobody knows. He got wife. He got kids. Nobody knows. He don't even have Instagram for real. Yeah. 1:00:23 Shit. I've seen him riding city bike in the city. I've seen heard. And I've seen him at a comedy show like I remember coming up coming up. I saw 1:00:29 him at a open mic one time and you know why he went to the open mic? What? It was like late. It was like 11:30 at night. He was just at a open mic 1:00:35 watching open mic comedy. JCole and people asked him like after they was like this was JCole like when he was 1:00:40 like popping like he's still popping but he was like you know um and they asked him why you why you at this open mic and 1:00:47 he said I'm around the block at the studio working on my new album and I had writer block and I just needed to get 1:00:53 around like young artist creating just to like open up the motivation so I just looked up a open mic and this was here 1:00:59 so I came to the open mic to watch. Oh I love that. That's dope. That's dope. No one will question that J.Cole Co is 1:01:05 like an artist. Like he's really he's a real one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His swag, everything has been like different, especially from the get- go. He's always 1:01:10 been like, "Right." I think I'm more from that school of like of like in the sense of I I really respect this thing that we do. 1:01:17 I take it real seriously. I like to put in the work. I want people to enjoy it. Um sometime I say that at my shows like 1:01:24 sometimes I'll end like that like I before I do my um my last closing my closing joke like I'll ask the audience 1:01:29 I'm like, "Did everyone have a good time tonight?" And generally, I mean, they always say, "Yeah." I'm genuinely 1:01:35 asking, but they always say, "Yeah." And I'm like, "Good." Like, "I'm glad you had a good time. Like, I know you paid money on your night, on your free night 1:01:42 to come be entertained, and I hope that I was able to entertain you guys cuz that's what I do this for." Like, I 1:01:48 literally just say that. That's deep. Yeah. I say that. No joke. No joke, no nothing. And uh it is cuz if you see me, 1:01:54 you know that like everything else is boom boom boom boom boom boom joke. And then right before I do my clothes, I'll stop and I'll be like, "Guys, did you 1:02:00 guys have a good time?" like you guys are we good? Like you guys felt like the money you got your money's worth and there if they say yeah I'm like all 1:02:06 right great I I want you guys to get your money where it's important to me that you guys felt like that and I'm glad you do and I'll do the closer now 1:02:12 and I'll wrap it up. Yeah man, I want to thank you for coming. I know this it was a trip. You came all the way from Queens. Yeah. Came to the Heights but I 1:02:18 appreciate you man. This is the start of my uh my promo tour. You're the first podcast that I'm doing. So I'm sorry for 1:02:24 everyone. Y'all going to see me on all these podcasts now cuz cuz I'm promoting the special, but YouTube Ian Lara live 1:02:32 is my Instagram. Ian Larara Live. The special is coming out November 7th at 700 p.m. I believe material boy. It'll 1:02:39 be streaming. Give it a thumbs up. Please help the algorithm. Give it a thumbs up. Comment. 1:02:45 If you don't have anything to comment, just simply write, "I came from Gadia's podcast." Yes. Write that. I came from Gadier's 1:02:51 podcast. Yes. Gadier's podcast brought me here. That's it. You also have a plug in your podcast too. And if you and then once you once you 1:02:57 watch a special, follow the page Ian Lar live on YouTube. And I have my podcast called the Adulthood Podcast, which is 1:03:03 me and my friend who's a DJ. Just us trying to figure out life and all the weird shit that we go through. So check 1:03:08 that out. But it's very important to me that if you guys like the special, if you love it, even if you think it's 1:03:13 okay, comment that was okay. I'll take that. Comment that was okay. 1:03:19 I'll take it. And if you love it, like give it a share. Share it on your Instagram. I have a bunch of clips that are going to be coming out. I hope those 1:03:26 clips, you know, do perform well. Just give it a thumbs up. And that's that's crazy because I feel like that's the 1:03:31 easiest way to support. You want to support your people. I don't need your money. I don't need Don't even come to the show. You don't even have to buy a 1:03:37 ticket. I want you to, but you don't have to. Give it a thumbs up. Like it and share it. Don't say I hit like for his video. 1:03:43 Thumbs up, share it, and just send me a DM and tell me what was your favorite. Tell us what you think. Yo, thank you 1:03:49 guys for coming. Leave in the comments. Tell us what you think about the podcast today and this episode. And thank you 1:03:55 guys for watching