Join Bob in conversation with 1 Nick, and hear his wild story about friendship, hardship, and giving away a kidney.

2 Nicks 1 Cup

Bad AI Transcript

Hey everybody and welcome. This is Bob. And today I am talking to one Nick of the possible two Nicks, but always only one cup. Is that correct? Yes. Always one cup. Only one cup ever. You never go like a Nick and three cups or two Nicks and five cups or anything like that? Sometimes we do two Nicks, one Bob. Okay. Where’s the other nick at then? We’re missing it. You know, he, during the day, it’s tougher schedule with him because he’s from socal and with his business, so sometimes it gets harder for him to do these interviews with me. So I kind of became, like, I always try to tell people, like, when it comes to us, we’re kind of like joe rogan and theo Vaughn, like,
At the end of the day, Joe Rogan always became the face of it. It’s the same way. I became the face, and I was the one that decided to do all the interviews. I got you. I see what you’re saying. You know what? I have a similar situation sometimes here. I have a co-host. His name is Miles Tidal, and he never shows up during the day. I think the guy’s a vampire, to be honest with you. He always shows up at night. it’d be like that. Yeah, exactly. So, uh, I was on pod match. I got a note from nick and he’s like, Hey, guess what? I think, uh, we should probably talk because i’m not reading this verbatim by the way. Uh, but because of the humor. And so i’m like, all right, Nick. All right. One Nick. I wasn’t sure. Uh,
Let’s talk. So tell me, let’s start out of the gate, because I always hate it when people are like, we’ll talk about what you’re doing at the end. No, let’s talk about it right now. So people can go listen to your show at Podbean, Two Knicks, One Cup. How would you describe Two Knicks, One Cup to a person who didn’t know anything about it? I’ll tell you. So my Two Knicks, One Cup started… With me and another live streamer, because I started off. Yes. Yes. And so me and DJ boy, AKA Nick number two, we started the podcast as two live streamers. And it was because the live stream game has changed. And in the world of content, it really isn’t about content now. It’s really just about people throwing money and kind of just recycling. And it’s just not genuine. It’s just not genuine. That impression is what you’re telling me. You mean the impression. Yeah. So it started getting to the point where it didn’t matter. TikTok favorited it.
see to where I was a top badge, meet me where I stand in the top 1000 out of 7 million streamers all time. Like, you know, at the end of the day, it all became a money grab and just people just shifting money. So I had a bunch of my number one gifters, a few of them being top badge, top content creators that said, Nick, you’re better than this. Go do a podcast, okay? You make people laugh. You talk about things that are serious. You’re all over the board with your sense of humor, and you’re all over the board with where you stand on what you talk about. So go start a podcast. So my podcast ended up starting with content creating and ended up going everywhere. Okay.
I mean, if you look at my episodes, it goes everywhere from mental health to traditional lives versus independent boss lives, from everything from Nick’s rants to continent blocking, which is when you block somebody trying to date a girl from another continent because you’re trying to date her. Mm-hmm. I’ve never heard of that. Yes. Everybody knows what cock blocking is. We have continent blocking. Continent blocking. Okay. I didn’t even know that was a thing, to be honest with you. I made it a thing. Does that happen all the time? It does in the live streamer world. Oh, okay. A lot of people from Australia tend to date U.S. A lot of people from the U.S. date people from the U.K., And a lot of us date people from Canada. So when you say date, though, I mean, you’re not actually going to dinner or anything. You’re just talking online, aren’t you? No, no. Like, I dated a girl and then flew over to Nottingham in UK. Really? Yeah, yeah. That is a big commitment right there. It is. It is. But I own my own security staffing firm there.
And I do stuff like Lollapalooza and Coachella. So I’m able to make that move. I have a daughter who’s 18 who’s going to play D1 college basketball this year. So I have that freedom to fly over to another country. Wow. Did it work out? No, not at all. I’m single now. Maybe, you know, Hopping Continents is not the play. Maybe, you know. You know what it is? Maybe see if somebody’s there. Listen, I’m a Dollar General daddy, okay? I walk into Dollar General, I’m a hard 11, okay? I’ve got options in Dollar General. I mean, I walk into a Macy’s, you’re like, eh, I mean, he’s okay looking. I walk into a Walmart, you’re like, hmm. I walk into a Dollar General, they’re like, god damn!
Oh, my goodness. All these rating systems are new to me as well. I didn’t think about that. I started the department store rating. Okay. Well, that’s fantastic. Yeah, I can see that now that you’ve mentioned it, I can see the scale in my head. You know what I mean? Like, I walk into Nordstrom’s, I’m like a five. I walk into Walmart, I got options, okay? I’m not in the NASCAR. Okay. That’s pretty wild. Okay. Hey, everybody’s got their place, right? The funny thing is if you don’t like what you’re rated, change the scale. Am I right or what? Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. If you don’t like where you’re at, okay, you’re not getting looks at Nordstrom, then okay, go walk into a Dollar General. Go walk in. Go be a Dollar General baddie, okay? Go be a Dollar General baddie.
So then, so you are one of the Knicks. Who’s the other Nick at this point? I know we had a previous Nick. Do you want to even mention that person or no, just move on? Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. The new Nick is DJ, your boy. And, you know, he’s another live streamer. He’s a good dude. And, you know, he rides with me. Okay. Only not during the day, apparently. No, only not during the day. Yeah, only not during the day. During the day, he’s busy, apparently, at the Dollar General picking up women. Yeah, I mean, I could see him being the Dollar General daddy. I could see him being an average at Nordstrom’s on the rating scale. Okay, so then, like, if you’re bringing this kind of energy, then what’s the other Nick bringing to the show? You know…
like to say he’s got the same energy i got. And, you know, to me, he’s a very good, he’s very good scotty Pippen. Okay, like, there’s days he knows to give me the ball and just get the hell out of my way and let me run with the episode. Gotcha, gotcha. And he knows how to feed me. He knows how to segue into the next topic. And, you know, he does what he does at a high level. Okay. And how did you meet up with the other Nick there? What was the antithesis of that? Because you had previous Nick and then he, I don’t know, he fell by the wayside. So you got new Nick. Well, previously, the problem was there wasn’t a dedication to building the podcast. Right, yeah. See, people get caught up with the streaming world because they think they can make money now when they’re not really making money. At the end of the day, instead of building something strong, okay, I’m somebody that my sponsor is giving me my own energy drink. Mm-hmm.
So, I mean, we have… Was it called Tunix One Cup? What’s the name of it? Actually, because my emoji in the lot is a lion in the streaming world, me and their marketer went with Fuel the Roar. Oh, okay. And it says inspired by BNIC Energy, and it’s at swiftenergy.gg. Oh, there you go. And if you put in the code, all capitals, BNICKENERGY, that’s the letter B, and then Nick Energy, 25, you’ll get 25% off your total purchase. Oh, gosh. That’s a big discount that you’re giving there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. You get 120 servings. There’s no jitters, no crash. I love it. So the – How long have you been with this sponsor? These sponsors have been with me now for about two months out of my four months of a podcast. Oh, okay. So they’re coming in early. Yes, yes. I mean, I’ve been blessed. Like, I got 1,000 downloads in a week. That’s great.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I look at the numbers. I like to know where people are at my phase. And at my phase, you know, when I go on Google and I look up statistics and numbers, the average podcast at my, you know, four to six months, you know, six months to a year, they’re doing like 170 to 250 listens a month. Right, yeah. So… when my average per month, I mean, I did a thousand in a week at four months at the, like the three and a half mark I did, you know what I mean? So like, I haven’t quite hit four months yet. And here we are getting, you know, a thousand a week, but consistently I’m getting two 50 a week, 300 a week. Yeah. Yeah. That’s good. So, uh,
So, I mean, where do you want to be? Obviously, you said you were doing streaming and doing pretty well. I love streaming. I love streaming and dedicated to podcasting because my top five gifters all time out of my top ten sat down with me and they told me they didn’t like who I was becoming. Told me that I was capable of bigger and better things. So to not lose my potential in streaming and, and, and, you know, Just sitting there staying neutral, right? Like doggy paddling to stay alive for fun and growing. Instead, they told me to take my talents and start a podcast. And so I went to my Instagram and And I literally reached across every streaming platform that I had been on. The people had known my reputation because I was a verified streamer on favorited. I was a top badge on C2. I hung out with people when I went over to kick and just hung out, you know, K I K I would go over to, you know, tagged and hang out once in a while and,
you know, just to get away from my app and just hang out with people that had different content. And, you know, I knew people from other apps, so SuperLive and BeGo. And so I took everybody I knew and I started just blasting my podcast, sliding in people’s DMs saying, yo, listen, you know, I’ve been your son for a long time. I’ve supported you in many things. Just do me a favor, check this out. If you like it, rock with it. Whenever you get a chance. You know, you’re in the car, you’re at the beach, you’re going to sleep, you’re cleaning, you’re at work, and you’re bored, just pop on a Big Nick Energy podcast to make smoke up. And then it just… It became that, you know, it ended up spreading to where I donated a kidney to my best friend of 23 years, to his son, who’s 16. So now…
I was in the hospital two weeks ago, and my nurse and my nephrologist, my kidney doctor, were turning around, taking down the name of my podcast and following me on Spotify right in front of me. So it just started growing. What made you want to give a kidney away? I mean, it’s a hardcore business right here. Because you know what? At the end of the day, that… I tell people that my best friend has been my best friend for 23 years. He has stood between me and anything that’s ever tried to hurt me. If it was my daughter on that table suffering or needed one, he would never think twice to give my daughter a kidney. So in that same moment, I did exactly what anybody would do. And I gave his son a kidney who I had seen grown up in front of me, taking his first steps.
from crawling, who turned around and, you know, shot his first basket, hit his first baseball, you know, went on his first date. Like, I’ve seen this kid since before he had facial hair, like when he was in diapers. So he might as well be my own blood. Now he technically has my kidney and is my blood. That is wild. I mean, that’s one of those decisions that people, you know, you don’t want to make. Honestly, because you’re like, you get this question, you’re like, oh, am i gonna do this? Am I not gonna do this? So what was that process like? I mean, obviously you had to match uh i matched i matched five out of the six blood points that you need. So therefore i was the highest, the highest odds of him not rejecting. Right. Exactly. And at the time I,
I went through the most intense physical you will ever have. They check for blood cancer, cells, infections, anything you’ve ever had. They are so into you at that time. And the reason why people don’t donate kidneys is because people like me are the reasons why. Because I’ve had a story where I’ve struggled after donating the kidney at times. I spent 50… Last year, I had to have… Infected tissue scraped from my kidney twice. I had sepsis three times that twice that almost killed me. And I spent 56 weeks in a hospital in a rehab facility. Oh, my gosh. So that’s why one of my best friend ran my business. So that’s why a lot of people that are like I’m hesitant don’t because it is harder on me.
than it is the recipient. Yeah, because I mean, well, I suppose they’re already doing poorly, and so this actually makes them better, where it makes you do less well because you’re taking away something that was functioning well for you previously. Well, see, right there, you think the same way I think. I usually compare it to a battery. You’re talking somebody who’s running off 15% to 20%. Now they’re running at 65%. Somebody who’s running at 100% now is running at 65%. Right, yeah. That’s wild, though. So now, you know, how old is this kid now? How long has this been now? It’s been three years. This kid’s now 19. Okay. So now he’s not even talking to you. No, no, no. Only when he needs something from Uncle Nick. Only when he wants to go to a concert do I hear from Antonio. My goodness. I mean, that is just crazy, wild stuff. I mean, those are the kind of questions that people always pose, and they’ll say, you know, very hard to answer. And if it actually comes to fruition, then you’re like, okay, am I going to go through with this? Because
I mean, it’s a lot to deal with there. Gosh. It is. It’s a crazy amount to deal with. And it’s a journey to get back to where you’re at. So I need a lung. Any chance? No, I’m just joking. I mean, I don’t know about lung, but if you need a liver, I can give you half. That will regenerate. No, I mean, that’s a high level of commitment. And obviously, the other Nick, not that high level of commitment that we’re talking about here because you’re not even here today. But so then, I mean, after you do that, then what do you get? What does somebody get you for Christmas or your birthday? You know what I mean? You’re like, oh, yeah, I gave a kidney. It’s my birthday now. Oh, you know, I don’t think I want ear pods. That’s all right.
even simple things still matter to me i don’t i don’t think much about it. Like, honestly, to be honest i i really don’t think about it much yeah i really don’t. Like, I don’t. At the end of the day, it really isn’t something that, like, even when i have an issue, I’m not really like, fuck, I should have ever did this like i should have kept that kidney. Yeah, I never say that. I never regret it. At the end of the day, you deal with it. I understand what it is. And I understand what I did. And I did it not expecting anything. And my best friend does everything for me. I mean, he called me at 6 o’clock this morning just to check in and check up. Yeah. He’s like, hey, hold on to that other kidney. I might need it. Like, he just…
Well, listen, the thing is, he’s O positive. If I needed a kidney, he is a donor. Oh, well, that came out in the wash for all this other business, I’m sure. So now he’s like, oh, he knows. He knows. He knows. Like, listen, there was a point I was struggling before my kidney function jumped back up. And he was the first one time a doctor that put him on a table. So having gone through all of this, right? What would be your like top five tips for people who are, are in a situation and considering stuff like this? I tell people this, if you’re going to be financially secured and you’re financially able to take a break or something happens, you’re able to go to the hospital for a week or a couple of weeks and
If you’re financially, you know, solid and you’re physically at the time of donating, you’re on point, you know, get there. I say that, you know what? Yo, keep drinking water. Keep being physical. Even if you don’t meet the BMI standards today. You know, keep working out till you lose some weight and hit the BMI standards if you really want to give and donate to somebody. Because at the end of the day, like, we all have two kidneys, okay? Yes, I went through some struggles. But we’re still able to turn around out there and give to somebody who’s losing their life 100% guaranteed. You’re able to… to let them live on borrowed time. And if you are in the right shape, like I was, I mean, I was 9% body fat when I donated to my nephew, okay, to my godson. At the end of the day, yes, I’ve probably put on about 35 pounds due to like water weight and stuff from hospital stays. But at the end of the day, I tell people this, like,
My godson is in the top 99 percentile in success rates when it comes to kidney donation. That kid is going to, if he does the right stuff, meaning no drinking, no hard drugs, he’ll live. And I don’t think he will because he got it young enough that it was drilled in him to be disciplined. That kidney will last him 20 to 30 years. Right, yeah. Yeah, that’s always the hard part about, I mean, we always see these things on, you know, in the media about celebrities, you know, like they get a new liver and then they ruin it or something like that. So you have to really be diligent and committed to not, you know, reverse all the good that’s happened to you.
Exactly. That’s the difference between George Lopez getting a kidney transplant from his wife in 2024, but he still got this, in 2004. They wrote it into the George Lopez show, into the script, that his dad needed a kidney transplant, when really it was George Lopez in his real life who needed a kidney transplant. And it ended up being his wife, his ex-wife, who donated. Yeah. Yeah. And he still has the same kidney 20 years later. Yeah. Huh. That’s wild. Wild stuff. So you’ve got the streaming, you’ve got the podcast that you’re going now, you’ve got this kidney thing. I mean… What else could be going on in your life? Well, you know, I have my daughter starting D1 basketball this year. So, you know, we’re going to go get some San Diego State Lady Aztecs games. Okay. We’re going to do some of that. Okay. They were, you know, they were in the tournament last year.
we’re going to do some of that. We’re going to, you know, still do the business and deal with, you know, music festivals and concerts and whatever.
you know, iHeartRadio events, which I do for a living. But we’re going to continue just growing with the podcast. Podcast is going to be first and foremost, first and foremost beyond streaming. Gotcha. Now, this title, I mean, where did you come up with that? I’m being a little facetious, you know. You know, it’s so funny because I’ve never even seen that video. I have not either, but I know about it, yes. But I know, I have an idea of what it is because people have talked about it. Right. But I’ve never seen it. And, like, people have been getting, you know, kind of quick with it, right? Like, you got, you know, Burt Kershaw, who’s got two bears, one cave. Gotcha. So we were like, yo, let’s do two mix, one cup. Yeah.
There you go. Yeah, the whole two girls, one cup thing, the whole big explosion on the internet. Gosh, how long has it been now? Gosh, it’s been a while. Yo, it’s been a hot minute. And I’m not going to lie, I have a secret name in my back pocket if it ever becomes just a solo Nick. Yeah, gotcha. Like, I’ve thought about it. You don’t want to spill the beans here. Nah, I mean, we got a couple of names, okay? We got Love, Rise, and Wi-Fi. You know, that was one name. Just we’ll throw that one out there. We had Love, Rise, and Wi-Fi. Then we got another one in the back pocket in case we ever got to make it, you know, it’s catchy, it’s good. If we ever got to go solo, I mean, I hope I don’t have to, but I mean, if we have to, you know, it is what it is.
It happens, it happens. So where do you see all this going? Let’s say five years down the road, where do you think it’s going to be? Five years down the road, I would love to have major, major sponsors. I mean, come on, we’re in talks right now trying to land Logitech. But I’m trying to get way more major sponsors now. So, I mean, five years from now, I’d like to be in the top 50 podcasts worldwide, if not the top 25. Okay. Yes. Yes. I think I bring that kind of heat and I think I’m capable of it. So what do you think? What do you think then, you know, since you’ve got those goals and so forth, you probably thought about this. So like, what would be like five major points?
that has to be part of the podcast in order to bring you to that level? I need to continue bringing on interesting guests, which I’ve done a lot lately, but keep continue bringing on interesting people. Keep my podcast on the path that it is, that I try to make it as relatable as I do to content creators. but also to the people that listen that I know are nurses, doctors, and the people that I’m getting multiple downloads from Singapore, Philippines, and Bangladesh, Ireland, the UK, Australia. I mean, Australia is number two on my downloads list. Number three is Canada. Number four is the UK. You know, my foreign streamers are really keeping me growing and going. And then other countries are spreading on. Netherlands, you know, thank you to Lena as one of my guest hosts. And at the end of the day, you know, big shout out to my social media manager, Sunshine. Like, she’s been amazing. She’s been my friend for over two and a half years in streaming. She’s my number six all-time gifter. And she’s the one that pushed me into streaming, into podcasting. And she does all my social medias for me.
except for my Instagram. And at the end of the day, I also feel that to continue growing, I need to get my social media following up. That’s a big thing that a lot of people care about. Like I bring in my following from other apps like TikTok, my following from, you know, Favorited and from my streaming community to show them I have a following. But a lot of people care about your TikTok numbers when it comes to sponsoring. So I got to continue growing those. And I want to continue doing podcasts like this where I’m also growing to other people’s, you know, communities and where they can continue and start listening to my podcast. And, hey, maybe they do something or they reach out to me and, you know, they come on. Yeah, there you go.
Oh, the guesting thing has exploded so much over the last few years, being guests and so forth. In the previous time period, there was people guested, but it was always because you knew them. And now it’s more guesting, you know, is kind of like a thing, right? So everybody’s doing it. And so there’s all these websites that are popping up like Podmatch and and now Blueberry is getting into it as well where they’re matching hosts and guests and all this kind of stuff now, which is kind of interesting. Do you think, because your subject matter is a little bit more broad and I’ve noticed over the last few years that for podcasting it’s become more narrow. Do you think the broad thing is going to hurt you? No, no. I think the fact
that I can take a topic. Because my episodes really do change up. You can really click on one of my episodes if you take a look at Two Knicks, One Cup on Spotify. You know, because I am on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Radio, and Boomplay. And you can turn around and take a look at my list and see that One episode may be about current events and things that are going on in the world that people are unaware of. And then one of my episodes may be something about floodlighting, which most people don’t even know what floodlighting is, which is when people in relationships in the beginning trauma dump, which makes people grow attachments quicker to people Because they feel bad. And you know. Like I may go into a whole episode. About something that people don’t know about. And it’s kind of. I always tell everybody. You listen to one of my podcasts. I guarantee you. No matter who you are. At the end of my podcast. You’re going to have laughed at something. If not multiple times. And you are going to leave my podcast. Thinking and questioning. About something.
Well, that’s interesting. Well, maybe that’s the angle then, right? So questioning things, questioning yourself, questioning what’s happening in the world or what’s happening to you or what’s happening to your friends. That could be a thing. It is. It’s a thing that I make people think and I make people laugh. It’s a little play off Jimmy Valvano’s. If you have a day where you laugh, think, and cry, then you have turned around and hit every emotion you can have in one day. There’s only three emotions is what you’re telling me? Those are the three major ones. I mean the three majors. What about, you know, whatever, you’re flat, right? Like there’s no emotion. That’s got to be something. It’s kind of like white to absence of colors. Maybe white is the flat. You don’t have any emotions.
I’m with you. There’s always some type of, like, it’s like when you’re not doing anything, you’re still doing something because you’re breathing. Right. Yeah, I know, but, you know, it’s kind of like a Zen kind of thing, right? Yeah, but to me, the three major emotions, like Jimmy Valvano said when he was dying of cancer, is laughing, crying, and thinking. Okay. No anger in there. So I don’t try to make anybody cry. No, y’all will make nobody mad. Even though sometimes, you know, I get them toxic episodes. I’m like, Ooh, I want to call some people out. Well, that’s interesting. Cause I always think of, uh, emotions is kind of like, um, you know, the color palette, there’s just infinite shades and variants and mixtures and,
and things like that. So it’s not always primary and tertiary and secondary colors. But no, it’s interesting take on things. I see what you’re talking about because people do like that. They love to go to those points, right? So that’s why they watch, you know, murder type shows about murder because they want to get a little bit scared. Or they watch shows that are romance because they want to have that feeling while they’re watching and so forth. And so, yeah, I see where you want to go to those. So I try to hit people’s emotions. Yeah. Like, okay, you had a bad day. Well, I’m going to make you laugh. But you know what? There may be something in your life that you thought you knew or something you thought about in a relationship or some type of thing. It can be anything. I want you to question that. The…
So have you ever done like stand-up comedy or anything? No, no. A lot of people are trying to push me into that too. Yeah. Not an interest or? I don’t know if that’s a thing for me right now. Like, you know, that’s a lot of dedication. You just start going to open mics. Being in the entertainment industry as I am, have connections to people, like, that’s if i wanted to do open mics. But to me, it’s a lot of, like, traveling for like a hundred dollars in free drinks. Like, I spent three hundred on a flight in one day, you know. But I got a hundred dollars and some drinks and some people so you know, you’re only gonna eat drink half the drinks anyway so facts and then I got a good drink, a gallon of water anyway full advantage of that so it’s not really a perk exactly so I think that’s my problem. Like, yeah, I would love to. And I think down the line, that may be a thing.
I mean, I look at someone like Theo Vaughn at, you know, I’m 36, but I look at someone like Theo Vaughn who’s 45. Didn’t really get put on the map. I mean, that guy did stand-up comedy for freaking 20 years, y’all. 20 years. Nobody knew who Theo Vaughn was. But in the last two to three years, Joe Logan’s made that more relevant. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s the way it works, apparently. Joe Rogan So that’s my game plan. Continue doing what I do. Continue getting noticed Like I have by bigger TikTokers and bigger Content creators on Instagram And TikTok like I have That have started to want to do My show and continue Growing with the content creating You know Community and that
Bring them on, but then hit them with real-life feelings and real-life stuff. Let them not know what they’re getting into. It sounds like a game plan. So for closing bits here, is there anything that you want to get out there? I’m going to put where to find the podcast ad again. Is there anything else you want to tell people and say, you know, this is what you need to know? This is what I’m going to tell everybody. If you have Instagram, check me out. It’s lowercase b, nickenergy underscore 2025. Feel free to follow me. Feel free to slide in the DMs if you have any show ideas or anything you want my take on. At the end of the day, my final thoughts is this was a great podcast, a great show I appreciated doing. I love the opportunity
amazing host. And, you know, I’m going to tell everybody times is tough in this world. So be humane. And as I always tell people, as I sign off on my podcast, do better to be better. I’m going to cut everything out except for that last few minutes. I’m just joking.
Nick. Big Nick energy to Nick’s one cup. Look it up. And, hey, best to you, bud. I mean, it’s hard running around with one kidney. Yeah, we still do it, though. There you go. All right, hold on just a second. Okay.