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Episode 38| Thriving and Thrifting (feat. Ryan Rinz)

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This episode of the Add To The Convo podcast features guest Ryan Rinz, a comedian and reseller, discussing the grind of building a career in the digital age. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the importance of consistency, the evolution of social currency, and the realities of the modern gig economy.

SPEAKER_02

What's up, John Man? This is Sean here from Ad to the Convo. This is Ad to the Convo podcast. Got my man Jeff A. We're in the building. Let's get it. Man, Zero Films. Don't forget to double up. You know what I'm saying? We got a very special guest today, man, Ryan Renz. What's up, my guy? What's going on, Ryan? I mean, so Ryan, I I've been seeing you on like on the gram, you've been on social media, TikTok, YouTube, reselling and stuff like that. Also, you're a comedian as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I've been doing comedy for like seven years, reselling for like over 10 at this point. And now we're just into the the later years here. I gotta like really grind out this last 10 years. It's like nice that you guys are so young. You guys have youth behind you right now. That's good. You guys are at a good age right now where you start start this now, stay consistent, you do this over the next 10 years. It's gonna be much better. To me, it's like I'm like my YouTube's probably three years old now. Okay. At this part, like where I'm like really pumping the content out. Now I'm really starting to get into it more, but now I got like 2500. Okay. I'm close to 2500. I'm gonna be 2500 soon, but it's just that it's consistency and growth.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's dope. That's what's up, man. You just gotta keep going though. A lot of people quit. Oh, my first month. I ain't hit 100 sub too early, quit too early.

SPEAKER_01

Some people can't take uh putting content out and get 20 views. Yeah, and it's it's tough, it's a grind. It's humbling in a sense, it's sure it is, but it's like then you just realize you're like, all right, well, I guess we can get 20.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01

It's still an audience, like, yeah, and then you just start to learn. You learn the game, you're like, what's gonna get more views? Should we do more things like outside? Should I like do a public event? Should I like go meet people? And you just talk to people that have followings, and you just collab with them, you fucking try to like build that.

SPEAKER_02

So, like with growing YouTube, right? Do you collab with other creatives?

SPEAKER_01

I try I I'm starting to get into that now. Okay, I mean, it I didn't I probably should have done it more. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but now it's like looking back, I'm like, dude, I've bought I've met some pretty big YouTube creators. Like, there's a guy I met out at a flea market in Jersey one time. Uh, I was just walking around, had my chest mount. I just started doing the chest mount, which is crazy. It's like it kind of annoys me having a chest mount camera on because it's like it exposes what I'm doing, right? It's like back in the day I used to freehand it and it would just hold it in my hand, and it's like way more discreet. But now it's just like when you have that thing just sticking out of your chest, it's just like fuck. But at the same time, I would have never met this guy. He popped up to me. He said, Yo, man, what do you what do you do? And I was like, Oh, stop the video. I pulled out my thing, I was like, Let me get you Instagram. That's like the biggest form of networking. And that's honestly, we were talking college a little bit earlier. Honestly, what I paid for most was there was like three teachers that all said one thing each. And it's like, well, that stuck with me. But this one teacher, I'll never forget it, it was an e-marketing class, and she said, uh, you know, whatever you get paid doesn't really matter anymore. Like your salary doesn't matter because social currency is worth more than actual currency. And she was saying that in 20, she was saying that in like 2014, you know? So it's just like you sit there, you're saying to yourself, you're like, I was able to see what she was saying. I was like, all right, that makes sense. I was like, yeah, it's like obviously if you have a following, it doesn't really matter how much money you make because you got the people behind you, you know. Yeah, because like even if like there's Patreons, like I guess familiar with Patreon, yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's like if you get to that thing where you're like, yeah, I charge a dollar a month, and it's like, but we have a thousand people, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

That's why I've been telling people like it's so important to build community. If you got if you got a consistent hundred people or a consistent 50 people that can support you every month, or every time you make a post or every time you drop, you have a solid community. All you gotta do is build off there. I didn't notice that too. Patreon is a good example too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you can sell you can sell merch, you can sell live experience tickets and stuff like that to people. It's so many like avenues you can do when you got like a group of people that really support you, yeah. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Even you got 50 people, you can still make a lot of money per year catering to 50 people that really that's what you got really.

SPEAKER_01

And that's 100% right. That's even with the comedy. Like, I make money doing comedy now. It's like, I've been doing it for seven years. It's like, yeah, when I my first show, I made eight bucks, but now it's like my going rate is anywhere from like 50 to 150. I've been paid like 250 for some shows sometimes. It's like, and you're doing like what five to ten minutes, twenty, but that money is just like you think about it, you're like, wow, this is crazy. And you're like, I don't even need to be the biggest comedian in the world. But if I'm like, I'm just adding to the brand of me and and the money I'm making, you know, monthly, you know, that's all it is, is trying to make as much money as you can per month, and you just stacking and just keep going. But like that's just the extra income.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's a lot of things you could do because I'm on a carnival cruise like a few years ago. It was a dude, he did um he had it like a comedy.

SPEAKER_01

I've met some cruise ship comics, they they make a killing, they make a lot of money. They wanted to get free room in lodge. So you're like, all right, I don't need an apartment, I'll do a I'll do a year of cruise ships. And what you do is once the cruise ship gets to the one port, you get off that cruise, go to the next cruise ship. It's like it's all connected.

SPEAKER_03

It's like I heard the carnival was a vibe. Yeah, it was a vibe.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah, I've I've been on Carnival and Row. I like them both, they're both good. It's essentially like a comedian tour, right? So you're just going from a different basically. You can eat in a lot of tours that nowadays are self-funded tours from comedians. I'm noticing that a lot of comics are just blowing up just off their following. Once you get the whole number right now, it's 10k followers. I'm sure that number's gonna change at some point because a lot of people are starting to reach 10k followers. And it's like, I bet it's gonna be 100k at some point. That's gonna be the new 10k of social currency, you know? It's like that's the currency. It's like how many followers do you have on Instagram? If I had 10,000 followers on Instagram, I could like pretty much walk into any comedy show and be like, yo guys, can I get on the show? And then let's meh, you don't want to do it because you probably seem like an asshole, but it's like in most cases, if you hit up the book and you're like, dude, look at this file I got. Or the booker will just see it.

SPEAKER_04

I think worse looking at it is it's like, okay, like 10,000 people are attached to whatever your portfolio is. Yeah, so it's like they trust in whatever number that they see. Yeah, they see that. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

So my example on it changing is like so YouTube. My goal when I started my YouTube channel like three or four years ago, or however long ago it's been now, uh, was to get one of his plaques. I just won one of his awards. I think we did my award was like you get 10,000 subscribers, they mail you a nice black on your wallet. If you want a second one, you gotta you gotta pay for the second one. Yeah, somebody said that's the gold one, right? Because I I yeah, because I talked to my I talked to my homie about it, and he was like, I'd get you one, but it costs money if they want a second one. But uh, because I I I know a guy who's got a million subscribers and he he's got a play button as I just let me hold it one time. That's a diamond jump, right? Yeah, it's kind of I ain't never seen that one. It's crazy to see a person. But now it's like so the the threshold now isn't 10k anymore, it's 100k. They fump it to 100, so it's like 100k is a different type of flex. Because they're saying it's like, I mean, like if you already have like a following on Instagram and you start to YouTube, motherfuckers are getting 10k followers on YouTube right away.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I in the beginning of the pod, we talked about like the job market, right? You feel like how do you feel about the job market right now, currently 2026?

SPEAKER_01

It's one of those things, if you have one, you're lucky you have one. And if you're looking for one, it's a tough market to get into. I mean, I'm fortunate enough to have a job where I work from home right now, which is great, but um it wasn't easy getting it. And it's just like at the same time, too, it's just like you like have to have a side awesome. I don't know people who can buy without having a side awesome. Yeah, I mean like because like I sit there and it's like I mean, I'm at the bar, I watch my friends spend money, I watch them gamble and shit, you know, throw money on sports and shit, and I'm just like, huh. I know you're like me, I'm not reselling every I every Saturday and Sunday, I'm out at 6 a.m. trying to like go to the flea market and try to buy shit.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you are early.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's like, but I'll do the same shit though, like like you were saying, I'll be out late as shit. People people be in my DMs sometimes, they'd be like, I don't understand your timeline and you're like you're going to bed at like 2 30 in the morning, you're waking up at like six in the morning and you're at the flea market. I'm like, I'm I'm hungry and I'm trying to make money. Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to do this when I'm like I and it's also 50-60. Yeah, my timeline is shrinking too. I'm listening that too. Because like I've watched people in their 40s do shit. They their only job, like Jay-Z's got a line. My only job is cutting time in half. Yeah, it's like as you get older, that is your job. Cut time in half because you're running out of time. Yeah, your urgency, your sense of urgency goes up a lot.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you know, that's why you gotta get straight to it. You uh like you said, it's good that we started this joke. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

So we can't have the game already, you stay consistent, you do this over time, you're gonna have to follow people are gonna follow you, they're gonna go back, they're gonna watch everything.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's just crazy now with the job market now. I feel like it's it's like we're not getting paid enough, but it's like also too, it's like they just surging up the prices for everything. Apartments, everything. You you gotta have more you gotta have three or four hustles out here for inflation, bro.

SPEAKER_01

The prices, they're not doing single pricing right now, which is fucked up. You know what else killing niggas? Gratuity, bro.

SPEAKER_04

Is that gratuity, bro? I'm telling you. Y'all go out to eat, y'all think that shit. No, seriously, still gonna be like 50, 60, and shoot up through a bean, I'm telling you. You paying at least a bean.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, you have like six people, they're like, we gotta add another fee because you're with six people.

SPEAKER_04

And that's only one activity that you do throughout the whole day. Imagine you gotta spend more money throughout the whole day.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, costs to come off the hood, man.

SPEAKER_04

You at least spend it three, like two, three hundred dollars on a good day.

SPEAKER_01

What hurts is when you start breaking down costs. Yeah, when you start breaking down costs, you're like, I make like if you break down how much you make a day from your job, I mean in my head, I'm like after taxes and shit's probably like a hundred bucks, maybe. Maybe that's why it feels like a hundred bucks. I'm sure it's like 120 or 150. But you had lunch that day, you had this that day, you got a tank of gas that day, and then you got groceries that day. You're like, all right, I'm already at a negative on the day here, and that's why that's why I'm like, I don't understand how people don't have side-off system. Like, I don't even surviving right now. No, sure. People live in nicer apartments than I do, and I'm like, mine to me is pricey. I'm like, I'm paying like $1,300 a month for a single apartment, you know.

SPEAKER_02

It'd be crazy. And then people be like, I had a manager at one of my old jobs, he sees me with fresh sneaks all the time and stuff like that. He said, Man, like how you making this on this salary? I said, bro, this is not all I do. Yeah, hey, and I was like 20 years old with that. I ain't got no responsibility for it. For I was hoping to pay bills, but like, yeah, I think people be so closed-minded, it is like I'm not the person, I just can't do one thing. Yeah, even if it did pay me a lot, I still gotta be out here just doing something though for for real. Because you look at it like your bills, right? Like, say I make a $125 a day. People pay for parking, that's $30 right there. Yeah, you buy it lunch, breakfast, and dinner, that's another $60. So for for real, you only make $30 a day.

SPEAKER_01

Logistically, it doesn't even make sense. I broke down how much I made on the year.

SPEAKER_04

You can't like once you add all of that shit into the like into your day, it's just like, how much profit did I actually make? If I'm spending this money on shit that I need, yeah, lunch.

SPEAKER_02

That's why that lunch time, I ain't gonna lie. I I get a nice little slice of pizza, something drink. Five dollars. Yo, you gotta do you gotta live below your knees.

SPEAKER_01

For sure. I'd be eating one meal a day. Yeah, get good like that. I'm not like hungry or anything. If I'm hungry, I'll eat. But it's just like it definitely saves money. And I eat nice as shit. I mean, I eat a filet mignon every day, but it seems expensive, but it's not it's like $12 steak. You know, like alright, that that's the budget for the that's like eating filet right now is cheaper than eating now, which is pretty cheap.

SPEAKER_02

You're like, all right, just eat filet. Do you feel like when it comes to like the job market now? Do you feel like what job you feel like is the best place for somebody to go in? Like, say you speak to like a 19-year-old, he'd say, Well, like, what career should he go for?

SPEAKER_01

You just you gotta work for yourself at this point. At this point, trade you gotta do, yeah, trade a hundred percent. That's it. I drive by I drove by the donor on the way here. It said uh get paid to learn a trade. I was like, anybody who didn't go to college and immediately went into like a trade, they have a house right now, they have a truck right now. I think we're pretty much started right now.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think the CEO scare me, man. Because like I was riding by a guy who was riding a fucking bicycle on the side of the road, and he was like riding in the lane where you're like supposed to share the road, I guess. I was just like, dude, why do you do this? Like, what are you doing right now? He's like jeopardizing everybody else. Like, I gotta go around you now. It's like that's a picture of like an 18-wheeler trying to like pass this guy. Yeah, but that sucks for that guy. Like, he accidentally clips this guy his whole life, so we're like, Yeah, those scooter boys be killing me, bro. It just be and then you just I mean, but then again, any job you do right now, it's like you almost want to look at it like, could I make money filming myself do this job? Right, because that's how you're gonna double your income. You're just you're literally gonna be like if I was a truck driver, videos of me fucking just like it's a dude that goes viral with me in my truck, you know. This is how I this is how my day is like a daily video.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because the road is full of content now, like yeah, any piece of content is going up.

SPEAKER_01

It's the same what people watch.

SPEAKER_02

They got the bed in the back and stuff like that. It'd be crazy.

SPEAKER_01

We we didn't even talk about it with that guy humble Zach.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, dude, watching him, it's pretty crazy. I mean, I got in early on that. I remember day one, his first post. I was there, I was like, this is crazy. I was like, this man's really about to walk from Philly to Cali. I was like, that's like because like to concept that you're just like fuck, like I think Lewis and Clark were the guys who did that, right? They were to travel from east to west. They encountered so much crazy shit, they almost died along the way. And so he's almost going through like the same shit. Got hit by a car, and then I actually learned what a sundown town was and it from him. I I was like, Sundown town. He's like, I'm going through a ship. I had no idea. I've never heard of that. I heard by ice cream what it is, but I didn't know the name was Sundown Town. Me, I was thinking like vampires or something.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's it's a it's it's it's a um a town in um like deep in Delaware, bro. My school, we used to go for like um like a field trip, like the like that the like the first week, that Thursday and Friday, like a camping field trip. Bro, we stopped at the gas station, bro. It was like you saw the Jim Crow stuff on like people's doors. Yeah, it was a um what's it's what's that day? It's like it was a scarecrow, but it was a a black person, like Jeepers Creepers, like yeah, it was it was so crazy. I'm like, yo, I said I talked to my personal flags out here, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Confederate flags are out of out of control. Yeah, they should be out of here.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they should be that happens.

SPEAKER_05

It's crazy. I think about it, like it's freedom of speech. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what America is. Yeah, but it's like we don't have people walking around with Nazi flags, and they were like, nah, you don't get to do that.

SPEAKER_04

But like they you you it's a difference in in between something and then you expressing it in a in a real world. You know what I'm saying? Like you, like that's a that's damn near a hate crime.

SPEAKER_05

It's nothing perfect. I mean, yeah, yeah, but we just co-chat it with that because of what I hired for private.

SPEAKER_01

I know what they're doing for these guys. Right.

SPEAKER_05

I'm saying it is racist, brother. I'm saying it is racist, but at the same time, it's like that's what America allows. You feel what I'm saying? It's not like that's what America allows for the person.

SPEAKER_02

And then and also too, we could we could just say it like our country is fueled off negativity. Hey, negativity like that, but like this. Like our they say um they do all this like reform stuff for the jails, not knowing that like the government the government enable that shit. We enable it, though. Yeah, but the government makes so much money from people getting in trouble, you borrowing money from banks and stuff like that. They gotta like it's a business, it's a business. That's like say, bro, you commit a crime, bro. Like it's a public defender. Who's gonna find about that? It's the state and stuff, and also they put money aside from when we kids, bro.

SPEAKER_05

If we go to jail or not, that's some real shit. You think that when you go to jail, that's why he's cool. And then you get booked, you come home, you and you and you get found goosey. You restitution is the court calls.

SPEAKER_01

Even with the DUI, yeah. It was like, if I got a public defender, I thought about going to public defender. I was like, all right, let's see what we see, let's see what the system's like. The public defender, they were like, Yeah, it's free, but uh like this is how this is what's gonna happen here. And then it was like a list of like shit. It was like, all right, you're gonna go, you're gonna, you may do jail time. And I was like, all right, call a lawyer. The lawyer was like, yeah, it'll be like 2500. And he's like, I will make sure you don't go to jail, I'll do this, I'll do that. I was like, damn, like he's guaranteeing shit.

SPEAKER_05

I was like, the public defender was like, we'll do what we can, but you gotta think about it dealing with so many cases on it. That's why crime is a I don't think people realize how profitable crime is. The business around crime is profitable. You could be the criminal, you get the worst sentence, but people will make so much money of you doing some shit for 5,000, they're making 100 eggs. And it's like you got your family taking out loans on our houses, then your grandma can't pay a loan back. Yeah, they come take the house. Yeah, like that, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, everything's all distractions, too. I realized yeah, I was thinking about that the other day.

SPEAKER_02

It's all all this is is meant to discourse us from the overall goal, discourse us from ownership, believe reaching our higher potential shit like that. It's like even sitting in the news that they like people promoting the news. This shit is all to take our attention off of what's really true.

SPEAKER_01

Sure, it's like if you don't like sports, okay, we'll distract you with politics. If you don't like politics, all right, we'll distract you with like video games. You know, you got Xbox or PlayStation. If you don't like that, fuck it, we'll go Papa John's Domino's. It's like every level of video. Like, fuck it. There's intelligent people, and then we got dumb people down here. Yeah, every level of addiction is two different brands. They're like, they're like, yeah, you can't have a monopoly because we need two different brands so people can be mad at each other. It's like, oh yeah, that kind of makes sense. But at the same time, you're like, huh.

SPEAKER_02

That's like that's like even where all right, the Diddy stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It was a it was that that movie director, dude, what's what was his name? I think it's uh uh Epstein.

SPEAKER_01

Uh oh, Weinstein. Weinstein, Weinstein, right? Because nowadays you watch those movies and it goes, you're like, man, this movie's so good, and you're sitting there with your homies like this movie's the best, and then just goes Weinstein production.

SPEAKER_03

You're like, it don't hit the same no more.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it just hits a little different. A lot of people don't even know. You see how he just didn't know. Yeah, see, it was it was like the whole Me Too movement. This guy is a creep, he's like an older movie director, but he was making people like suck his dick for roles. What?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, he was like beating making it creepy because it's like you said he's like he like I wonder who not a lot of you funny, but I'm like, I wonder who he made suck his dick for this movie.

SPEAKER_01

Apparently he was messing with Jerry Cruz.

SPEAKER_05

Oh my god, I'm like, did Weinstein make white chicks? Because he was on some Asian white chicks though, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But then it's it's it's it's crazy how they like not saying Diddy wasn't wrong or nothing, but it's like I f feel like they just replaced the Weinstein stuff and put Diddy stuff just play as everywhere. I heard the Diddy's.

SPEAKER_01

None of that would have happened if he wouldn't have said nothing to rock.

SPEAKER_05

I'm not gonna fuck you here. Remember when Trump was named in the Weinstein case? Yeah, what happened right in there? He bombed Iran. As soon as they said his name was in the Weinstein case. Soon as he said his name was in the jail, they bombed, they bombed, they bombed Iran, bro. Like, if you look at the the the the time from when they said Trump was probably in this to when he was about to release the documents and to when the war started, that was a distraction. He joined, they've been wanting him to join the war. Why would why would you want to do it now and at the end of the at the end of your president pres presidency? Yeah, you started us into a war, we about it, we're about to be in a war for the next president. Like, we not get out, we're not gonna get we're not squashing in no time soon, bro.

SPEAKER_03

That's over.

SPEAKER_02

It'd just be crazy in the score. And I noticed that like in high school, like they just really do a lot of shit to really take our minds off the future. The dumb shit that's going on.

SPEAKER_01

That was the set that was another thing I learned at college. It was there, I had this one professor, he was he was a nutcase, that guy. He was a psychology teacher, and he used to say at the end of his class, I mean the whole semester goes by, I felt like I learned nothing. But then at the end, he just had one last slide, it was like question everything. And I was like, huh. That's gonna stick with me. I guess you put that in bold. But I was like, okay, that guy to learn that. And I was like, all right, question everything. Now, anytime I'm at work, anywhere in life, I'm just I it's like provoke the question of like why are we doing something? You know, it's just like I don't know, in any situation in life, like I don't know, a girl rejects you, you're like, Why? We're telling you.

SPEAKER_04

It's good to have that curiosity though. Yeah, I just feel like if you like, I just feel like it it gets to a point where once you start questioning shit, you just start having anxiety about a lot of shit. For sure.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna be honest with me. I feel like when something is meant to be, it's not if if something is really meant to be, like, I don't really question like if it's like you say with a girl, right? Yeah, girl, I mean, that's cool, that might be saving me. Yeah, very true.

SPEAKER_01

Like that, and that's also true. That's like in that movie. I don't know if you guys see that new movie, Obsession. Yeah, that is, I mean, that movie right there made me think I was like, man, that that's like it's a good movie, because in the sense of like the theme of the movie is like, yeah, you wouldn't want to be with a girl that doesn't want to be with you anyway. Right. You know, and it's like obviously it's like you realize that early on in life when you talk to enough girls, you're like, all right, well, I wouldn't want to be with this girl anyway, that'd be not fun.

SPEAKER_02

The reason why people chase people because they just want to feel like they conquer something. Like changing somebody's mind.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

Because I I walk with a girl and she rejects me, right? I want to get her to say, I like I won the war. In my head, like people got something in their head, like, I gotta conquer this. That's the crazy psychic. Uh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

A girl would reject you and you'd be like, all right, well, that's it. Like, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, want you to do more.

SPEAKER_01

She's like, I want you to try it. Put a little effort in.

SPEAKER_03

She wants you to put some effort in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Because women don't look at like the reciprocation of chasing men nowadays. Like, no, women chase men. You just gotta be worth it. Yeah, yeah, you just gotta be that bull. But that's contrary to things, though. If I was the if I like, let's just say for that's animal nature.

SPEAKER_05

That's literally animal agents. Yeah, it is. But if tigers don't go to the the woman tiger, it'd be one tiger, you got a bunch of fucking female tigers and shit, bro. They're gonna go all the women going track, all the women gonna attract the who they the best suitor, regardless. Even if it's the best suit, it's just about looks. What is the best looking? If it's about money, if she is it's about what that woman desires, bro. If she wants if she desire this, she wants the best person in this category. If she desired this, she wants the best person in this category.

SPEAKER_02

That's really what it is. I and me, um, I'll be 26 next week, right? I learned like chasing the wrong chick, you'll lose so much money, uh missing so much time and stuff like that, bro. And it's not even like the really the best woman, this goes for women. This goes for women as well. This chasing women and men, chasing the wrong person really will cost you a lot of wasted time and stuff like that, bro. And it definitely be sad because you really think about you can't get that time the fuck back. No, you can't. So you gotta really learn your lesson the first time when when dealing with these people, like it took me too long to figure it out sometimes.

SPEAKER_01

I think about it. I'm like, man, I'm 32, I fucked up all a couple of those. But I mean at the same time, you just like a couple of them fucked it up too. So it's like wouldn't have worked, wouldn't have been it wasn't meant to be. Look at the guy, she's not here right now.

SPEAKER_02

Like I stopped, I stopped like second guessing stuff. Like, all right, we didn't link, or she or she didn't text me back and stuff like that. Should probably happen for a reason. Yeah, for that's what I'm saying. That's how I look at everything too. Like, I I like my homies, they uh flaked on me. Should probably happen for a reason. It probably wasn't meant for me to stay in the house. I probably would have got in a car accident if I went outside them. You know, yeah, so stuff you saving sometimes too. Yeah, we just don't see, but we look when you really look back at it, like alright, a lot of shit do happen for a reason. That's why I don't clutch this stuff no more.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. You just gotta dial up, dial in too.

SPEAKER_03

For sure. Yo, so Ryan, what uh what what got you into comedy though?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, honestly, it's tough to say. It was uh it was one of those things, like I was always like when I was younger, it was like, okay, like I mean, I was exposed that I was I felt like I was older from the gate. I mean, I was four years old, my best friend was like 12 or 13 at the time. He lived across the street. I mean, he Devin and then my boy Hank, they put me on like everything. They introduced me to all this stuff when I was like four or five. I'm getting introduced to like Eminem, I'm getting introduced to like Nightmare on Elm Street. I saw that four, I was like terrified of that guy for like four or five years. Freddy Krueger, man, that was nightmares for years. That guy had me in a death grip. I was like, man, I can't sleep at night. This guy's gonna eat.

SPEAKER_03

No, that's a kid.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was brutal. It was like four years of that. Then it was like eventually I was like, all right. Then I found out Cena wasn't real. I was like, fuck. Yeah, yeah. Alright, maybe Freddie Krueger's not real too. Yeah, that bastard.

SPEAKER_02

It's not even that. I ain't gonna lie, you know what broke my heart when I found out it wasn't real? WWE.

SPEAKER_01

That broke my heart. That broke my heart when I was saying that shit wasn't real for that.

SPEAKER_02

No, like when I found out that, like, like it was a fun ride though.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, it was a definitely fun ride.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. When I found out that was fake, bro, like WWE, that really broke my heart.

SPEAKER_04

What kind of convinced me was when they was like, you know, like when they would have some fights and they would be bleeding and shit, I'd be like, hold on, this shit might be real.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like you can hit with a still chair and stuff like that. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_04

With the steps and all that, you know, the steps that's on the side and all that, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the the toughest time wrestling too was like uh I'll never forget it. It was like you we were in middle school, I guess, and it was like you were not supposed to like wrestling anymore at this point. Everybody was like, it was like nobody was talking about it. Then me and my one friend, we would always like talk about it when nobody was around. And then uh the one week his he told me it was like we were like pretty much out of it at that point. And and his mom was like, Yo, I bought you guys tickets to Survivor Series in Philly. Because they came to Philly 2006. I'm somewhere in the crowd holding up a ring of screws. But uh, yeah, that was just a wild thing. Yeah, it was I was a triple H type boy. DM H. I mean they had the DX. Yeah, the DX.

SPEAKER_03

I said I said DMX, DX. Show Michaels. Yeah, I want to. I was a John Cena boy too. That was my man too.

SPEAKER_00

I remember seeing John Cena was just traveling.

SPEAKER_03

Bro, that was my man, bro. John Cena was my boy, he was the man.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Jeff Hardy was in, man.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Jeff Jeff was different.

SPEAKER_02

Let me interrupt the second. I want to interrupt the setting, right? I know y'all watching this at home. That was crazy, though. Zero just said he said he said you said Ray Mysterio is just shot. That was crazy. That was crazy.

SPEAKER_04

Yo, no, why not just get over my head, though? I'm DMP.

SPEAKER_05

I was letting it right, though.

SPEAKER_04

No, I can't let it run. I'm sorry, I cannot let it run.

SPEAKER_05

I know how you talk to me.

SPEAKER_04

I had to do that. I don't give a fuck.

SPEAKER_03

Why is you so crazy? Yo, I thought I'd talk about six one. That's all definitely over my head, though.

SPEAKER_04

Everybody, everybody was trying to figure out what it what his face looked like now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, that's my whole childhood. I was like, Yeah, they better not show this guy's face ever. Then you then I got now as an adult, I've seen him with without a mask. I'm like, dude, just leave the mask on. Yeah, it's like Batman, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

That's the Lucha Libra is shit.

SPEAKER_02

That's that's great. So what so when it comes to comedy, right? Like who's somebody like your top three comics? That you watch.

SPEAKER_01

So it's like Gavin, he put me on Chappelle at an early age, and I was like, Oh, I was then after that it was like Seinfeld right there, because it was like I'd be trying to watch the Simpsons, and Seinfeld was always on before the Simpsons, so I was like, alright, this guy's kind of funny. And then um, and then it just expanded from there. I mean, I was into everybody. I mean, I was just I watched that all of all these guys, but um the thing with that is it's just like I was like didn't know what I was gonna do at an early age. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna get on stage. I don't know what it's gonna be though. I was like, I'm gonna get in the rap. Will I do that? Yeah, because Eminem was demanding. Just my name. Right, right. Right. Album coming soon. I'm not counting it out. It could come out at any point. Yeah, the turf album. Yeah, the turf album. Yeah, it could happen.

SPEAKER_02

Your name should have been Rincycle. Rin Cycle.

SPEAKER_01

I I've entertained that. I'm definitely, I'm sure I've got it that rinse and repeat, like shit like that. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, it's just like all that shit right there, it was just like, and then eventually just transitioning to a point where I was like, okay, I was like, comedy's a fucking action, I can make that happen. I was like, because even at the early age, I watched that, there was a Fresh Prince episode where he was like, I'm gonna try stand-up, and like he tried it and he got he did terrible, and his homie came out of nowhere and just like stand-up was crushing it, and was like, Alright, that's like an art to it. And then he's about to find out there's like a guy, he's like taking the same jokes and he's taking them around town, he's like trying them in different rooms, seeing if it works in different rooms. I was like, I don't know, this is kind of crazy. And then we just start writing jokes for a few years. And then after a while, I was sitting at this desk job, and uh I was talking to people like, yeah, somebody randomly brought up, they were like, Yeah, you remember the guy, you know the guy who was here before who had your job before you? And I was like, now like what was he like? And they were like, he quit his job to go do comedy, and none, nobody at the time knew I was like writing jokes all day long, comedy all day long, and um I was like, huh, that's funny. And then like a month later, I just quit that job. So let me let me ask you something.

SPEAKER_04

How do you go about writing jokes for a comedy show?

SPEAKER_01

So I feel like once you kind of structured it, yeah. It's one of those things where you you'll you'll walk around in your daily life and you'll you'll be like, okay, like what's you try to like when I first started, I was like, man, I'm not good at writing jokes, but you write down something that you think is funny, and now it's just like it kind of comes naturally now where you're just like, oh, that's a joke, that's a joke, I could do that. It's like I could turn that now. I'm trying to write five minute bits, and like I've studied enough now where I'm like, all right, five minute bits, you do like you know, ten of them, you could shoot an hour special. That's the goal, is try to get an hour special on the same theme of some sort. Now you're just watching guys taking notes on them, just seeing how they're doing shit. But then at the same time, when you go to write a joke, it's it's kind of like something situational will happen, and you'll be like, That has legs or something. Like if I this is an example, actually. I got my notebook right here. Keep it on me. That's who sucks.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's how you do it. You gotta write it down, but don't count you on writing it down.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so like, all right, so I I thrift and I buy shit and sell shit online all the time. Yeah, there's a website I use, it's called uh Pirate Ship.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01

It's the best shipping website in the world. I'll stand by that. They don't pay me, but I'll I'll promote them like they pay me because they take care of me.

SPEAKER_02

They're good for Shopify and stuff. Great, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And um, but it's funny, like when I I ship the package before it's a $600 item that gets damaged, and I reach out to them like, hey man, this package is damaged. Can you help me with this? Yeah, they respond back, boy, maybe we hear your packages hit troubled waters, and you're like, dude, knock the pirate shit off. Like, we're talking about a damaged item right now.

SPEAKER_00

Like, can we like let's get a little serious here?

SPEAKER_01

Let's cut that talk. We get that you have a pirate theme here, let's cut that back, and you're like, all right, well, like that could be funny. Like, people will laugh at that. How can I make that funny? How can I add my and it's funny, I don't think a lot of people put a lot of focus into this anymore. But it's like trying to find um how you can get eight to ten laughs per minute. You want to you want to laugh every 10 seconds with your comedy act. Like, if and if you can do that, you string them all together, it's a lot of laughter in one set, which is hard to do. But it's like if you can do that, then you got the room. And it's addicting too. It's like if you can get a room one night, then you're like, fuck, I can do that again.

SPEAKER_04

Because I've seen a video um last time, I forget who said it, but um, he was like, I forget uh I forget the name of the comedian, but he was like, make this red cup funny. And everybody was looking at him crazy. He was like, You could be a comedian, but are you funny?

SPEAKER_01

See, are you actually funny? And that's funny, that's a difficult thing to do too. It's one of the funniest things ever is when you're walking around in your daily life and somebody's like, Oh, you're a comedian, tell us a joke, and you're like, Oh fuck, this is like suicide. You know, it's just like say I've there's so many different ways to get in and out of that, and it's just like I've tried them all, and it's it never works anyway. I mean, even telling somebody a joke when they ask you never works, but uh it's just like you get caught, you know, you're like, what the fuck? Like, I can tell jokes, like I tell jokes all the time. What am I doing here? And then just like then you walk away from it, and then you just think there's I mean, one of my favorite videos of an example of that is uh Dave Chappelle, he's hanging out with Kanye West. They're all hanging outside in Wisconsin somewhere, and they're all outside, they're about to take a photo, and somebody's taking a video, and Kanye turns to Dave, and he's like, yo, man, tell us a joke. Like, tell us a joke right before the photo. So we're like all laughing, and Chappelle was like, uh I was like, man, that's so relatable. I was like, I'm happy that's happened to Chappelle still. Like it made me think, I was like, Oh, I don't feel that bad about that anymore now when that happens. I even got caught at the yard cell the other day. This guy was like walking around his yard cell telling me all these jokes, like they're dumb, like dad jokes and shit, like 2 30 and shit like that. And then at the end there, I'm about to leave. He's like, Yeah, man, like I've told you jokes, tell me a joke.

SPEAKER_03

Just go joke for joke.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's exactly what he was trying to do. I was like, oh fuck. All right. So that I fired off one of my jokes though, but he was just like, That's good. And I was like, Yeah, that was like I knew that was gonna go like that. I should have just told this man to fuck off, or I should have just told somebody else. I would have I should have just told a joke I already knew, which is like my favorite joke, Eddie Murphy. I don't know. A lot of people don't know that Eddie Murphy was fucking hilarious back in the 80s. Yes, he was. Yeah, I I sometimes you talk to people, like, that guy's not that funny anymore. I'm like, dude, but you have to think he had a death grip on us all at a point. I mean, he was putting out movie after movie after movie, and then he went through a whole kid era of movies, yeah, put out the song party all the time.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, then he had a whole documentary about his um about his comedic career and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

He just did. It's called B, I think it's B and Eddie or something, but it came out like some house. I I think it's the house that Shrek built, is what he calls it. But uh, I mean he was shot in his house like it was a fucking sports stadium. He was like, let me close the roof for a minute and he pressed this button.

SPEAKER_03

You've been getting money for a long, long time. Super long time.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, my I don't even know if it's his joke or if it's Gilbert Godfrey's joke, but he tells it in one of his specials, and he's like, uh, you ever uh and this is probably my new joke I just tell people when they say tell me a joke. Because like I'm like, fuck it, why not? Add you still on it. I don't even know if you read it, but it's like um a bear and a rabbit are taking the shit in the woods. And uh the bear turns to the rabbit and he goes, uh, hey man, do you have a problem with shit sticking to your fur? And the rabbit's like, no, no. So then the bear takes the rabbit, wipes his ass with the rabbit.

SPEAKER_02

You know what's pretty though? Right with comedy, right? I'm glad we got you on the show. Do you feel like it's a difference between social media comedy and stand-up comedy?

SPEAKER_01

For sure. Because like I watch people, I mean, granted, I'm I don't want to knock it, but I see people with like a couple 50,000 followers, 100,000 followers, and like I'm like, huh, um, I think I'm getting more laughs than them per minute on stage right now. But then again, it's just like there's an audience for everybody, you know. I think there's I think there's plenty for everybody. I do think there is enough for everybody. It's like you find your audience, somebody like again, we don't really need that many people. True. We talked about it earlier. If you find your audience of just like a solid 5,000 people that just love you, yeah, you probably don't have to work that much if you have the following online, you know, and they're all giving you a dollar a month, you're making five grand a month, you're like making 60 a year now. Just people watching me, as long as I keep doing what I'm doing, putting the content up.

SPEAKER_02

It'd be a few like comedians I see that like that do social media comedy, they do stand-up and they'll really be like crickets.

SPEAKER_04

That's because they cut and edit it. Like when you cut in and editing it, it's a difference, and I'm not even a comedian, but you can see it in other people's like crack. It's a difference in somebody being situationally funny, yeah, is somebody who's actually funny, like somebody who can come back from having a bad joke and then or like having a good joke, like you able to like recover from that. A lot of people who are online or making like funny content, they do it in a moment, like you know, when like you record something and then you think of another idea, oh like this will be funny. A lot of people, a lot of people can do that on the fly, but it's an art for both people because you still it's an element of being funny, it's just different for the people that's going on stage, and you feel me?

SPEAKER_01

It comes with time too and experience. They say it's like they say with anything. This is another book somewhere I didn't read it, but I hear people talk about it all the time. But it's getting that 10 the first 10,000 hours of anything. Once you do 10,000 hours or something, then you should apparently like an expert at it, you know?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it just me with people though. I I feel like like a lot of people say I'm funny, but I feel like I'm conversational funny. You put personality funny, yeah, like personality funny. Like like like when I was like in uh middle school, high school, people would say, like, oh yeah, you should do like comedy and stuff like that. And it's like I said, no, I feel like it's a different art. Like I just I'm conversation funny, like we having a talk like this right now. We'll I probably say something to make everybody laugh. I don't think I I probably could. I ain't gonna say I can't, but I I just say it's like really like it's easier said than done. Yeah, for sure. You go on the stage and make 200, 300,000 people laugh.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because it's like Drewski is a great example of that, I think. I mean Drewski's fucking hilarious in sketches, yeah. But like, could he do an hour stand-up? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04

I don't think he could, but it's like I don't think he would want to. But that's what I think. He's taking different things of what he sees. Like, it's all about like what people can relate to. Yeah, what people think about, but they don't really bring it to a comedic. Like when he made that skit about um about the British actors taking all of the roles and stuff like that, like you don't even really think about that shit until you like until somebody put it out there. So that's what makes him funny because it'd just be like you be maybe you may be having an unconscious thought about like, oh, he British and real life, but you would never think that this all right, this could be funny. Yeah, that's what makes him different from a lot of other people because you take like a lot of unfunny aspects and you make it funny. Yeah, like that's what makes Drewski different, in my opinion. But I don't think he could do stand-up though.

SPEAKER_02

I think everybody got these strengths, like like I I feel like with Kevin Hart, dude, even though he said he got writers, but like to do that show at the Eagle Stadium, that was that's not that's kind of scenes, bro. That's heavy scenes, bro.

SPEAKER_01

I saw him recently, uh I saw him at the Met. He did uh he did a streak of shows at the Met, I think it was in December, but he did like I it was one of those things where I was like, I have to go see what this man is doing because he was just like two sold-out shows on Thursday, two sold-out shows on Friday. I was thinking about going to the Friday one, and then he added two more shows on Saturday, so both of them out. Then I was like, fuck.

SPEAKER_03

He's just sold everything.

SPEAKER_01

So then I was like, then he added two more on Sunday, and I was like, I'm gonna go to the Sunday, but fuck it. I was like, this guy sold up every day this week. This is crazy. So he's doing ever there. And it's like, yeah, I mean, I at a certain point I I feel like out of my most comics ended up with writers. And it's funny too, it's just like just to see it. I mean, like you I've definitely been on chairs with people that have a social media presence and they struggle on stage. I'm like, okay, like you know, it's like you wonder if it'll ever come, but I don't ever discredit anybody. I'm like, I I mean, I'll just credit them in my head, maybe, but I I'm not like I'm not gonna knock them, be like, dude, keep trying, maybe it'll be funny, you know. It's like a it's it's like a fine line.

SPEAKER_02

You gotta work towards it though.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I was definitely that guy who started at a point. Uh you gotta remember, you're like, oh fuck, I started with nothing too. Yeah, because like I was not a comic at a point. I I came here and told people I was, and then like they were like, No, we don't respect it until we've seen you do it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, because like saying like seeing your first joke when you on stage and nobody left, that that's like that's humbling in a sure.

SPEAKER_01

It happens all the time sometimes too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. So like you ever had like a time where were you bombed on stage?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, there was one recently, my buddy shout out to Chase Lamar. This man, he's been taking me around with him every now and then. He gets a show or something, but he took me to this uh 40th birthday party, and um, I mean it was like it was a very nice venue. It looked like a wedding. And man, was it a bad setup for comedy, in my opinion. Like, granted, I mean it was it was I had fun still. I got chased through some money, but uh even then I was just like the bad setup. I mean, like, it's just like picture being at a wedding, right? Yeah, tables all around, people are eating and stuff, right? So then there's a DJ playing music, right? He's spinning music, he's playing awesome music, and uh, which is hard to compete with music is as a comedian, you're like, this guy's just pressing buttons, he's playing awesome hits. Drake's on right now, I gotta follow Drake. Uh you know, and then I then you get off, you get the mic, he's like, Chase comes up and he's like, Yeah, you gotta grab the mic, you're gonna do 10 minutes, and then you bring me up. I was like, dude, what? It's like it's a it's like a well-lit room, too. So that's also like, and there's no stage, it's like a round, you're working in a round, and it's like, dude, this is crazy. Because typically you want to be a little elevated from the crowd, so it shows that you're at a comedy show and all this, but it was just like a weird spot for comedy, but it happened. And uh, so a white dude at a black birthday party, everybody's black there. I might have been the only white person in the room. Yeah, so it's like I'm interrupting Drake now to tell them jokes for 10 minutes, and like on the fly, I'm like, yo, I gotta clean up the act because there's kids here and there's grandmothers here. So it's like I don't want to talk about like jerking off or any of that shit. Yeah, there goes all the eight-list jerk off material at the end of the night. I I like I think I said the word porn one time, and I I just like saw a grandmother just like clutch her chest.

SPEAKER_02

Almost had a heart attack. Oh sorry, Granny Friday. Yes, she was, yes, she was.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but so that didn't go well. And I just remember sitting Chase's car, he's like, Yeah, man, we can do that. But yeah, yeah, right. He's like, anyway, you host this draw next month. I was like, Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03

That's crazy. So what's the uh what's like the biggest lesson you learned so far, Ryan, like in the comedy space?

SPEAKER_01

Biggest lesson in awareness is uh just be consistent. That's definitely the big one there. If you're consistent, you're gonna be alright. And if you can constantly come up with new shit and just constantly be at open mics and constantly just getting up, you're gonna be alright.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because like it's just one of those things where it's like, you know, you get your moments where you're sad and shooting like an opportunity, but then I don't know where you're just like, dude, the opportunity's gonna come. It's just a matter of time talking to the right people, talk about who you know.

SPEAKER_03

Networking.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, networking's key. If you go to all these mics, you smoke weed at all these mics, and then you just like don't talk to anybody, you're not gonna you're not gonna be doing anything. Never gonna grow for it for it. Yeah, you gotta make friends with everybody, even the people that you hate, you know. Yeah, it's just the business. It's just like if I could I'll kiss hands, shake babies, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. But man, this is this episode 38, man. Brian, I wanted to say before we end the episode, man. I appreciate you for coming out. There's many more collabs with Ryan Wrenz. You was when I hit him up, he was so like genuine. He was genuine, energetic. Of course, bro, that'll be awesome, and stuff like that. I appreciate like stuff like that because people really want to make content. You know, nowadays people feel like they're too good to collab with people and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

I would, yeah, and that's one thing I would always uh one thing I'll never forget. I mean, even if I do blow up one day, if I don't blow up one day, but I know that you know, you just I would say yes to everybody at the end of the day. I mean, I don't think I would ever say no. I I meet guys that say no to people right now, and I'm like, they're turning down money for money, and I'm like, that's crazy. I would just try, I would try my best to do everything I can to do everything because it's just like all you want is the social currency. Most of the time, I don't even give a fuck about the money either. Yeah, people at characters will try to pay me like 10 bucks or 20 bucks for doing time. I'd go too, all right. But now I'm like at a point now where I did talk to an older comedian, I was like, yo man, like when should I stop turning down money? It's like dude, why are you turning down money?

SPEAKER_02

It sounds crazy, but then people I realized too, like it's like even being a rapper, a pop rapper, right? People's like, oh no, uh let's say I do shows for 50,000. Somebody got 15,000 for me to walk to the club. A person ego will say, No, I get paid 50,000 for this, but whole time people don't know. Your window of being on, yeah, it's kind of like it's like this. You know what I'm saying? So you gotta take advantage, right? Yeah, I'm one of the people I only none on the table for for real. Now it depends on the situation, though. But like, yeah, man, but that's a great attitude, and I just want you to keep being who you are, bro. Genuine. That's what you guys think.

SPEAKER_01

And like having questions on anything, man. Like in a flip shit or whatever, you know, yeah, bro. For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we're gonna be doing more content in the future, bro. Yeah, bro. Convoy yourself vlog. That'd be crazy, right? That'd be crazy. That's fire. That's fire, that's dead, bro. So I just want to say appreciate you again, bro. Yeah, thanks again for asking. Keep being yourself, man. Let's add to the convo. Sean here for add to the convo, Jeff 8 World. Double O. Double O. Seeing you here, man. Episode 38. Appreciate y'all, man.