From The Comic's Comic

Episode #406

Forty years after his first screen credit as Modell in the Barry Levinson film, Diner, Paul Reiser is enjoying a career renaissance, co-starring in the biggest series on both Netflix and Amazon in Stranger Things and The Boys. Now in his 60s, Reiser has returned to his first love, stand-up comedy, embarking on a nationwide tour in the fall of 2022. Reiser sat down with me to talk about stand-up then and now; rebooting Mad About You and then now co-starring in a Hulu comedy about reboots, called Reboot; making passion projects that might not get seen nowadays thanks to streaming platform algorithms; making Beverly Hills Cop movies with Eddie Murphy, and how it all comes back to The Comic Strip in the end. Or doesn’t.

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Last Things First, if you could indulge me for just a second — I mean probably a half hour, at least — is there by any chance an alternate take from season four of Stranger Things where — no spoilers — but when they find you, you say the words “This is not my office”?

Hahaha. There is no alternate take. That would have been a smart move. I’m looking for an alternate take which shows me alive and well and marching into season five. I have not been shown that, an indicator that that exists. So it’s funny, people ask me what happens next year in Stranger Things. I go, I can’t even tell you what happened this year, and I was in it. I’m the wrong guy to ask.

I don’t know if, it might be my neighbor Tom, or just watching Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop 2 so many times but “This is not my office” is just a line that has resonated with me for so long.

It was “this is not my locker” which really was the line in the movie. But what was really crazy about that. That was a silly improv on the day 40 years ago, and for some reason more than any other line of anything I’ve ever done, that’s what people will come over to me on the street and say. It took me a long time to understand it, because people sometimes would put little twists on it, thinking I would get it. I’d be in an airport, some guy would say, ‘Hey. This is not my suitcase.’ I’d go, What? This is my suitcase. ‘No, this is not my suitcase.’ I’d go, ahhhhh. Right.

— NOTE: As Det. Jeffrey Friedman, Reiser played Axel Foley’s partner in the Detroit Police Department. In the first film, he says “this is not my locker” to excuse himself from an argument between Foley (Eddie Murphy) and their boss, Inspector Todd. In the second film, he helps Foley by taking a phone call in Inspector Todd’s office, and excuses himself when Todd shows up by saying, say it with me: “This is not my office!”

You’re doing a thing.

Yeah, he’s doing a thing. Set it up next time so I don’t walk into it cold like that.

Those movies also ties you back in a full circle way, especially since they’re not rebooting but they’re reviving Beverly Hills Cop again, with The Comic Strip guys, because you were a Comic Strip guy.

Yeah.

Eddie Murphy was a Comic Strip guy. Chris Rock made his debut in part two, was a Comic Strip guy.

It’s funny. I was talking to Eddie not long ago, and he was saying, The Comic Strip was the least sexy of all the clubs. And it was the least, in some ways, respected. But probably per capita, more guys came out of that with careers than perhaps some other clubs. But I remember…I was really just starting, I was 22 or something and at The Comic Strip, you know, and we’re all starting out. We’re working at the club. And there was a rumor, there was a buzz, guys who would come in from Long Island would say ‘You know what? There’s a kid you got to see the only works the island. He’s 16. His name is Eddie Murphy. He’s so funny.’ So we had all heard about him. Then I remember when he came in the first time. I just went ‘What is this? This guy is just so magnetic, and confident.’ He was what, maybe 17? He had that magic and that power and confidence from day one. When he did SNL during the lockdown, it was so joyful to see him, as even as the show progressed, even that 90 minutes progressed, he just seemed to be enjoying himself and being so childlike in the best sense. He’s not doing ‘Raw.’ He’s just having fun and being silly and excited. And he looked like a child. A joyful, playful child. So it was really, really fun to watch.

Is that how you feel now getting back on tour as a stand-up?

I don’t feel youthful. I feel you know, I always quote, I think it was George Carlin, who said I perform for free, but you got to pay me to go through the airport. So that’s the drag part. I don’t know that I feel youthful, but I feel totally connected and in sync with whoever I was at 18 when I went onstage the first time. There’s almost nothing you can do in your 60s that feels the same as your 20s, but stand-up is one, and maybe the only. When I hadn’t been onstage for a long time and I went up and went back onstage — this is maybe eight years ago — I was struck by how identical it felt. I mean, it was worlds different. I was older, and I was known so it wasn’t audition night, but it was the same excitement, the same nervousness, the same fears. Like oh, this is not going to work. And then the same joy when something works. The same excitement and energy of I can’t wait to come back tomorrow, try that bit or drive into the club and go OK, you know what, I’m gonna do the same set as yesterday, but that new line is going to help. I don’t get that animated about anything. But trying to find the little bricks in the wall that make a bit work, make a set work is exciting, and to a person, when I talk to comics that I came in with, there’s a shared sense of that. We all feel that….Yeah! You know, I remember my son Michael would go, ‘You’re driving down 45 minutes to do 10 minutes onstage? And then you’re going to drive 45 back?’ I go Yeah. He goes they pay you? I go No. Why would you do it? I go because that’s how you do it. That’s how you become a comedian.

I remember you were part of a round table at the Improv on Melrose when Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler did Funny People. How much did that experience put that idea back in your head that oh, maybe there’s still some stand-up left in me?

No, that had nothing to do with doing that.

That was a scene in the movie. No, I was you know, I was basically staying home and I hadn’t done anything and I was enjoying staying home and I hadn’t been onstage in about 20 years and I got this call, come in and be in the scene, and actually remember feeling very uncomfortable. Because it felt phony. I mean, I knew everybody at the table, and I would’ve loved to hang with them. But we were hanging for a scene in a movie that I knew nothing about. And I didn’t know Judd. I knew Adam, but I didn’t know the story, you know, and Seth, I had never met Seth. You know, it’s kind of sacred. That love of going out and we did that. I remember comics, we would go out after sets and we would hang out and we would support each other and critique each other and bust each other’s balls. And that was a huge part and that was real. I just remember that day feeling very uncomfortable. Because you’re asking us to fake it for your movie. That feels like, as an actor, I don’t feel comfortable because I don’t know what this movie is, and as a comic I feel a little bit usurped. We can’t just turn it on and pretend so you can have your scene.

I wasn’t sure if it was one of those things where they just have you sitting around and then after a while they just hope you forget the cameras are rolling and they might catch magic, lightning in a bottle.

No. If it looked like that, then good for Judd. I think that’s probably what happened. But I’m never a big fan of that: ‘Just turn on the cameras and something will happen!’ No. Not really.

So what what did flip this switch for you then? Because you just said you were enjoying being at home, having a family, all the normal quote unquote normal stuff.

Yeah, well, you know it was coming off seven years of very intense Mad About You. When it was over, we had our second kid and moved into our house and I was really to take a break. And then I was really enjoying not working all the time, but I was. I was writing. I wrote a lot of pilots and I wrote a lot of things. But I wasn’t out there. But in my mind, I was always intending to go back to stand-up. So you know, during Mad About You, I just didn’t have the bandwidth to do it. And then I was enjoying being home. And now it’s 10 years, now it’s 12 years. And then my son who was maybe eight, he came home one day, and in my head I was thinking what a great treat. Dad is home. Dad is there when he comes home. What a treat for him. It must’ve been second grade or something. He said, ‘Dad, What do you do?’ The other dads all seem to do something. What do you do? I went oh, I should probably get out of the house. So there was always this general thing of I’ll know when time is right. And you don’t really. You just have to say, fuck it, here it is. But what really triggered it, one night I sort of emceed a charity event. I must have been honoring a friend of mine. I forget what it was. And it was just loose. As an emcee, you don’t have to really perform. You just get up, joke a little bit. You make fun of your friends in the audience, whatever. And it was just one of those nights and it was like it was funny and I was on and I was getting laughs and suddenly, that reactivated this thing. Right?! That’s fun. That’s not film. That’s not TV. That’s just being funny in front of people and getting laughs, getting your paycheck so to speak right away. You don’t have to wait til the movie comes out. You don’t have to wait til the series is picked up. Oh, just be funny. So I think that was the night that I went, I’ve got to do just do it. I think it’s time to jump in the pool. It’s hot out and the pool looks really cool and inviting, but for some reason I’m not jumping in. After that, I went: Yeah. I’m gonna jump in.

So when you decide to jump back in, how did you do it?

Exactly the way I did it when I was starting. I went down to the club. I didn’t have to audition anymore. So it wasn’t audition night. But there’s a club down in Hermosa Beach, The Comedy & Magic Club, which is legendary and really great. They treat comics well. They don’t put them through sort of hazing that I remember, even the new guys, even the rookies. I think I had five minutes of stuff, just ideas that I’ve worked on it but you don’t know until you get onstage if it works or not. And I remember going on and they were oh so nice to see you. Welcome back. I hadn’t been there in years and they put me up as a surprise guest and the audience is, oh, hey, we know this guy! It’s Mad About You boy. There’s nice enthusiasm, nice wind at your back. That lasts about 20 seconds and then they’re kind of looking at you like, what is it you wanted to tell us? Like, I got nothing. And I realized, so I would go back and I have five minutes and then maybe a month later, I’d have seven minutes. And I realized, I was reminded because I did learn this the first time, but I had to be reminded that it’s not just the material that your shaping, it’s your confidence, and it’s your authority and your skill. And those skills are sort of intangible. It’s memory. It’s like oh wow, I have to remember how to remember. Like, this is not three lines in a scene, this is 20 minutes or more. I had to remember how to be functioning after 8:30 at night. Oh, right. it’s not pajama time, it’s showtime. I can look back at those tapes. Because they tape everything in the club. So when I first went up eight years ago, 10 years ago, it makes me cringe a little. It’s like wow, I was so raw and not confident. I remember talking to other guys who were headlining. I go, when you go out how long do you do? They go an hour, hour 15. I go WHAT? That’s insane. And now, you know, I don’t know how to do less than an hour. I’ll be onstage now and go, 95 minutes? That didn’t feel like 95 minutes. I just talked for a whole movie. Which is kind of absurd and narcissistic, I guess.

One thing that might be a little different in your 60s compared to your 20s is retraining yourself, not just on the idea of being out late, but on the idea of oh, I need to go out every night or I need to go out multiple nights a week to stay sharp.

Yeah. And that’s one of the things I loved about it. So many interviews say stand-up has changed, hasn’t it? I go No, it hasn’t. It hasn’t at all. I mean, the content may change and the news may change but stand-up is exactly the same as it’s ever been. It’s you, it’s what you think of, your skill in delivering it, and the audience receiving it. And there’s no way to accelerate it. There’s no act that makes you get better faster. It’s only by doing night after night after night. And to be honest, I wish I had a club 10 minutes from home. I wish I could go on every night because I see it. If I go out on three nights a week, and I can see, oh, that bit’s working now. If I take a week off or I don’t have a gig for a week straight. I go, oh, that bit has dragged. What did I do? I can’t remember. There’s a line right there that made that work. And then it’s kind of lost into the ether. And no matter how much I try to record it or note it, journal it, it’s like nah, what was it? I said something funnier last week and it’s gone. And I love the old school low tech quality of it. That it’s just elbow grease and commitment.

One that has changed is all of the new platforms out there to present stand-up (FX on Hulu just launched their first this past week). But you have an old special that’s called 3 1/2 Blocks From Home. You talked about wanting to have a place close to home. That was the title of your Showtime special! Not only that, going back and watching that special reminded me — comedians and journalists like talking about the difference between a comedy special and a comedy normal. But you have an opening joke in that Showtime special that’s that exact joke, about how it’s not a regular it’s a special, because you paid for an orchestra. If it was a regular you wouldn’t have the Paul Reiser Orchestra. So I think you might be the first comedian that actually has a joke about what makes a comedy special special.

“Thank you, and the sultry sounds of the Paul Reiser Orchestra, ladies and gentlemen. Right off the bat, that costs extra money. That little string thing. Thousands of dollars. But we do it for you. Why? Because this is a special, ladies and gentlemen. This is a special. We do special things. If it was a regular, we wouldn’t knock ourselves out like that. But it’s a special.”

That’s so funny. I don’t even remember that. Yeah, I saw a clip. Somebody’s finding all these clips from me and pulling clips from that show. I was like Jesus, 30 years old. I’m 40 pounds thinner and younger. And it’s funny, because the venue was a theater that I grew up in, that I used to go to as the movie theater. It was an old movie palace kind of theater, but in a neighborhood that was going downhill. And then it became a venue. So it felt historic to me but the layout of the room was very strange. It was not quite a club, it wasn’t quite a theater, and it looks nice. When I see it, oh, it was lit well and nice looking.

Right, it was banquet seating.

Yeah, And the lighting of the tables was actually used. The audience was a bit more well lit than you’d want normally. I don’t need to see that many faces. I was relieved to see it: Oh, that’s funny. I was funny for an hour. That was good.

When you first started getting back up onstage in Hermosa Beach had Red Oaks come out yet?

No.

So you really were kind of coming up cold for some people in the crowd.

I had done nothing. I went back up in 2011, maybe? Just started to go up and then ‘12, I started to go out and work, do a full show. Took a full year before I felt confident enough to do an hour. I remember the first gig they booked, it was an Improv like, an hour away or something. The Improvs, they’re actually beautiful clubs. There’s like three or four of them and like 300-400 seaters and they’re really nice. And the first gig I did, I was really anxious about it. They said there are shows at 8 and 10. I don’t know if we can do an hour, don’t make me do it twice. And that was the first time I had done it. And literally the end of that hour, I went, Ah! I should have done a second show. I would love to do another right now. I’m ready. I’m ready to go right now. And that surprised me. In retrospect, it doesn’t surprise me. I love stand-up and I’ve always loved doing it. When I was in high school and I was really diving into it. I had a handful of buddies and we’d talk about Carlin who was on Johnny Carson the night before, or to see Albert Brooks’s thing. We were really into it. And I don’t think I had in my mind I’m going to do that, because who would have the balls to think that? I was 16. I’m going to do that, why? I don’t know how to do that. But I was drawn to it. And then I was lucky that those clubs as we know them were emerging. And more specifically, there were people who had emerged from the clubs who you knew in your living room with David Brenner and Gabe Kaplan and Freddie Prinze and Jimmy Walker. When you’d see these comics on The Tonight Show, just like oh, they came from there. So that’s the place to go. And because absent that sort of roadmap, I don’t think I ever would have found my way into doing it.

But a lot of what people know you from now is completely different from what people my age know you from.

It’s so funny to me. It’s nice to hear, you know, just enough to sustain me. Someone will say I remember a bit you did in ‘84, and I’ll go wow. Or, an executive studio exec will say you know, you played at my college. Oh God, so that’s how old I am now. And so, but somebody told me that they had a conversation that somebody was a little bit put off, some younger guy going, what a minute, Dr. Owens from Stranger Things, now he thinks he’s funny?! My friend had to go, he’s always been doing it. I’m finding that it’s really interesting. I mean, I’ve been so lucky that I’m on all these big shows. Some bigger than others. But they don’t necessarily translate because I’m not necessarily funny, like, on Stranger Things I’m not funny, so you wouldn’t go, Oh, I gotta go pay money to see that guy. But it’s interesting. I can definitely see the audience grow and diversify, in terms of demographics. I can go, that’s my core Mad About You crowd. Those younger? Oh, that’s Stranger Things. Little old people? That’s (The) Kominsky (Method). Those guys with the tattoos? That’s The Boys. OK. I can see them starting to come from different paths.

It has to feel even more startling now, after — just before those these big projects like Stranger Things and The Boys — you had this period where you were doing projects, like you’re in a new show called Reboot, but you went through the whole process of rebooting Mad About You, but it was on a platform that you could only get if you watch Spectrum.

Yeah, it was one step below Al-Jazeera.

But even lower than that you did There’s… Johnny! for Seeso which imploded before anybody had a chance to see it on Seeso.

I’ve had networks cancel my show. I was the first show to cancel the network. We were their big fish. And then we broke them. And they just folded. I talk about this often in interviews. They’ll go, you’re on so many things. Yeah. The things that seems to be the biggest, which I’m I’m thrilled to be invited and included in, Stranger Things is a global juggernaut. But I have nothing to do with it. I mean, they invited me to play this role and it’s great. It’s wonderful. But it’s not my baby. And the things that I care about are often the ones that see the least amount of daylight. So There’s… Johnny! which I had been trying to get made for 12 years, you know, we needed Johnny Carson’s blessing. His company, they were very, very protective. And so they kept saying no, and we couldn’t go forward. And then he died. Finally a couple of years later his company said sure. So that was on Seeso. Seeso folded, and then I had to literally call executives at Comcast. And I said, you know, this show is great, it shouldn’t disappear and they owned a little of it. Comcast owned Seeso, and they had a relationship with Hulu. So I said this is too good to die. And they went, you’re right, and they found a way to put it on Hulu, but they put it on Hulu in such a funny way. This is why Reboot is so fun, because you get to sort of bite the hand that feeds you, make fun of the machinery. So Hulu had it. But they didn’t own it, they didn’t create it so they felt like it — I always felt like we were the foster child. They had to feed us but they didn’t have to give us the same food they were giving their own kids. So they put us on but sort of reluctantly. And I remember saying, you know it’s on in two weeks, you guys were doing any publicity? One of those crazy meetings, you shake your head. I’m meeting this guy who’s, you know, maybe 28. And he’s the head of all their algorithms. I said, well how are people gonna know about this shows? Well, if you have Hulu, you turn it on, we’re gonna have it featured on the homepage. And then if you go to any of the people involved in the show, it’ll send you to this show. So if you’re watching Hulu, that’s 17 million people. I said, let me ask you this: What if you don’t have Hulu? How would you know to come to Hulu to watch it anyway? He went oh well, whatever you can do to help. So I did Conan. I got on a couple of shows, you know, I did a bunch of these (interviews). And the good side about the streaming, one of the good things about how many platforms there are: It does’t have to be a hit out of the gate. You know, it’s there, which is all I wanted. I don’t even need publicity. Don’t spend any money on it. Just put it out there. So if people word of mouth go Have you ever seen that show? Check it out. It’s on Hulu. Somebody told me, I got an email like you know, it’s not on Hulu anymore. I go, when did that happen? Then I come to find that oh, they only had it for two years. And the minute they were done, they went goodbye. And then I had to go door to door again. And I called Peacock, which was just forming. I said, if this isn’t the show that’s right for Peacock, I don’t know what is. It’s about NBC. It’s about the Golden Age of The Tonight Show. The NBC peacock is in our show. They went yeah, this would be great and it’s already made, costs us nothing. So I go, just fucking put it up. So there it is. So again, Peacock’s not the widest. But periodically I’ll hear from a person here and there that saw the show. Oh my god, this is great. I know. I’m really proud of that show. And I love everyone’s performance in it. But it’s like a well kept secret.

So I’ve come to accept that that’s just sort of how life is. I guess I can’t complain. I’m getting to do a lot of things I wanted to do. But the things I end up doing a lot of press about have little to do with me. You know Reboot is a bit of a more than Stranger Things. It’s a small ensemble and I’m part of that world. And it’s a world that is something I really know. Stranger Things, I don’t get that world. But a show about making a half-hour sitcom? That’s fun. And we have executives, characters playing the executives, who are as clueless as some that I’ve met. Not the current Hulu people. They’re great.

Have you been able to bring your own reboot stories to the writers room for Reboot?

I’ve had a couple of ideas and I’ll throw them to Steve Levitan. I remember, right before we started production we were on this mandatory HR sensitivity thing, which is well-intentioned and good to know and thank God we’re doing that, but it’s also, you’re talking mostly to the converted. We are with you. And if you’re going to be an asshole, I don’t think this is going to turn you around. But, so I remember I was just sitting on my hands trying to chime in with something wildly off color just to be funny. I remember saying to Steve, we have to do a scene about that. If you’re doing a show that’s coming back 20 years after the original, that’s certainly something they’re gonna deal with. They’re gonna deal with what’s acceptable, what’s not acceptable? What’s really fun on Reboot, if there’s a phrase or a word or concept that you is going to ruffle feathers now that would have been unnoticed 20 years ago, writers will sit in a room and they’ll debate it, and they’ll go OK well let’s do this. But to me the conversation about why you can’t is what’s funny. So there’s a scene where I just passing reference about calling somebody an Eskimo and they went, he can’t say. I go, when did that happen. Is Eskimo bad? Is it derogatory? If I said Canadian, is that, you know? So if it was up to me, you get to actually do the joke you want, and then you have the chorus that says you can’t do it. And then you have the other side, which is why? Why is it we can’t do it? Explain it to me. And it really is a very authentic-looking show. I mean it does feel like making a half-hour show, but instead of it being about this silly sitcom inside of the show, it’s about the cameras are reversed, and it’s about the people behind the cameras making the show.

We mentioned earlier another Beverly Hills Cop. It sounds like it’s finally happening.

They’re doing it and it’s a big secret. Well, they’ve announced that Netflix is doing it. Eddie is doing it. I’m not allowed to say I’m in it. Yet.

You’re allowed to say whether you receive the email chains?

I can’t say anything. I never heard of you. I’ve never heard of anybody.

Well, one thing that I already mentioned that you guys were both involved in was the Strip. And also, since the pandemic, Richie Tienken died. I’m guessing he never got his hooks in you as a manager or a rep as he did with Eddie and Chris?

I don’t know that they set out to manage anybody else. They weren’t looking to the managers, I think. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes. Eddie was such a shooting star and they must have just, somebody realized, you know, it was Richie Tienken and Bob Wachs. Bob Wachs was the attorney and Richie was a bar owner. And their whole premise, they built a club because they couldn’t get into Catch a Rising Star and they realized they could make money on the overflow. These people throwing people out? Hell, we’ll open up down the street, which they did, and they had a 30-year run and made a fortune. They didn’t set out to be in show business. They were just working a cash register. But when Eddie walked in, they went Oh. And phone calls probably came in for the first time, they went, we should have a piece of that. But when Richie was the guy. I was working The Comic Strip in Florida. They were doing so well. They branched out, they opened one in Fort Lauderdale, in ‘80. This was a few years after, I think The Comic Strip opened in ‘76, maybe, so a few years later they opened Florida. So for us that was our first road gig. And it was, you know, we were idiots. We were 22, whatever, 23, going to Florida and they had a house. A shitty house, four comics drinking beer, swimming in a pool and having girls over. And we got to do a show for 20 minutes a night, It was like heaven. Well, how long is this going on? But I was there when I got — I had auditioned in New York for Diner, which is my first job. First anything. I didn’t have an agent. So I didn’t know anything. I stumbled into the audition by accident. So anyway, cut to a week later in Florida. I get the call. I don’t remember what I was doing in the club. Because it was daytime and I remember they must’ve called the house and said the club they’re gonna call and I spoke to the producer and he said you got the part. I went, Oh! Are you free? Can you be in Baltimore next week? Oh yeah, I’m free. I’ve got nothing to do. And I didn’t have an agent. So Richie, who was this Bronx barkeeper. He had a saloon in the Bronx. He was my showbiz connection. He said let me read it. Should I sign the contract? Basically whatever they said. You’re getting $14. Great. Thank you. It was an MGM movie. Jerry Weintraub. OK, this is great. So, my part was not written, really. Which by design, Barry Levinson said it’s five guys and you’re going to be the sixth guy and we’ll find it on the day.

We’ll find the magic!

Which to his credit, he found it. So at the time, So Richie said, Listen, I said should I sign this contract? He goes. I don’t nowLet me read the script So Richie the barkeeper club owner, reads the script. Gets to the end. He says, what’s your character’s name again? Modell. He famously said, yeah, I don’t know how to tell you, but you ain’t in this.

He wasn’t wrong. So I know I’m not in it, but I’m gonna be. So he says, take whatever the fuck they’re gonna give you and don’t bother me. So it was like yeah. Can you hold out for scale? I don’t remember what scale was then…But I was thrilled. It’s so funny. My sons are 27 and 22. My oldest son is older than I was then, and my younger son is exactly that age.

And so obviously if I have gotten older. I am further down the track, but I remember and love those days so vividly. And so frequently. I just, you know not that I’m longing to go back there. I’m thrilled with how life has worked out since then. I don’t know if it’s the same now for young comics. But to all of us it was new. What? There’s a comedy club in Florida that has a house and we get put up there and we’ll make money and drink beer and get laid? This is great. OK. And what? Sometimes people come in and have jobs in movies and TV shows. OK, sure, put me down for that. So that was my design, and as I said, Diner opened. It was my first job, which is crazy and it turned out to be this really notable, wonderful and somewhat important movie, in terms of just adjusting the tone of movies somewhat. So that was my calling card. So suddenly I was comedian. That’s how I got on The Tonight Show. I wasn’t getting on The Tonight Show personally. Oh, he’s a new guy in the movie. He’s got a new movie come out this young comedian, OK. Because apparently, I hadn’t passed the mark yet. So that opened the door for Tonight Show and that opened the door to, that’s a credit like, oh, you saw him in a movie and if you didn’t see in a movie, he was in a movie. So here you go. Here’s this guy who was in a movie. And then one thing led to another and the truth is, that’s when I tell people I got sidetracked. I’m very fortunate, you know, one thing led to another and then I got to create Mad About You and that changed life in so many ways. But my goal was to do stand-up. And I’m still trying to get up. I had a show the other night that was just, it was fine. You know, I was playing in Northern California and it was just, you know, maybe wasn’t a packed house and the energy wasn’t there and I went OK, this is one of those nights. I’ve got to shift gears. I got to lean on a different skill set. I got to adjust. I called my wife, she goes how was it? I go interesting. She said bad? It wasn’t bad. I learned something. Or you’re reminded of something you learned and I hadn’t had to go through. And it was great. I mean, 95 minutes and they went home happy. I worked a little harder than I meant to. I didn’t have the wind at my back. I had to propel myself and make the show happen. But it’s like, oh, I’m still learning. Yeah, not that I ever thought I wasn’t, but that’s the fun of it. You’re still learning every night.

And you get to be 22 again, Paul, thank you so much. I really appreciate having this time and getting to see you back on the road again. Whether or not whether or not we ever see you back on the strip.

If I’m ever playing anywhere you are come, say hello.

Will do.