The Madness Continues

I sit down and talk with pillar of Chicago comedy Bert Haas who's been in the space for nearly 40 years. He originally started as a waiter in the 70's, but quickly worked his way up to booking talent.

We talk through his view on comedians getting paid, what makes a professional, and how comedy and audiences have changed in the last 40 years.

I talk with Dylan Scott, hero of both song and story. He's one of the founders of Commit To The Bit Comedy and recently debuted his one man stand-up show All The Sad Stories in Chicago.

It was such a success that he's doing two other dates, one on 6/21, 7:30pm at The Crowd Theater in Chicago and the other on July 13th at The Tower Theater in Oklahoma City.

I talk with Travis Spotts about buying his house, doing the World Series of Comedy, getting gay married, and his amazing son and the struggle to be a father and see him.

I have a lot of respect for what he's been able to do. He works the road, has a day job, he even bought a house.

Check him out on Travisspotts.com

On the occasion of my dad's retirement I got him drunk enough to sit down and tell me about his career.

We discuss his first job, quitting work to go back to school, and how he met a bunch of famous comedians in the 70's.

Corey Wood is probably the nicest guy I know. He's honestly amazing.

He makes you believe that the concept of a southern gentleman exists; if that gentleman also drinks and smokes.

Corey is formerly and still kind of a Christian. I am too. We connect about God, North Korea, comedy, Chicago, Texas, and all things funny.

I talk with Chicago comedian Tyler Ross about him developing his comedy business from scratch. It's pretty amazing how he's done it.

He's hustled up residences, a market nobody has thought about, and gotten a real platform to travel around telling jokes for built-in audiences.

I talk with professional actor and improviser Law Tarello. He's from Brooklyn and is seriously one of the most pleasant to talk with and entertaining people I've had the pleasure of conversing with.

Law's done a lot of work becoming a grounded man. He talks about his experiences throughout his life and beginning to understand himself and the world he grew up in through performance art. Everything he said resonated with me, I might have to take his class!

My apologies about the equipment failure not once but TWICE during the episode...

Get at him at www.lawtarello.com/

Check me out on YouTube at goo.gl/DU5oxs

Follow me on Twitter at goo.gl/Yo8BvN

Find me on Quora at goo.gl/im4NDG

Matt Brown is only 20 years old, which is goddam ridiculous because he's talented and hilarious. Nothing makes me feel older than hanging out with a talented person who is more than a decade younger than me and is ACTUALLY an adult.

He tells me about growing up and how accepting himself has never been an issue, how to have a powerful relationship with the audience, how he wants to be taken seriously and his love/hate relationship with the gay community.

At some point Matt Brown and I might make out. I don't know why, it's just part of his aura.

Follow Matt @mattbrowncomic on twitter and instagram!

Check me out on YouTube at goo.gl/DU5oxs

Follow me on Twitter at goo.gl/Yo8BvN

Find me on Quora at goo.gl/im4NDG

I sit down and talk with the funniest comedian you've never heard of Ron Ervin. He has one approach to getting booked on shows: just be funny enough they have to notice you.

If you haven't yet seen him live on stage you might've seen him on Chicago Fire, where he plays a variety of "on the side of the frame" roles.

Ron and I talk about his viral video Don't Talk Shit About Norwood (goo.gl/6JxiLr)and starting comedy in Cincinnati. We discuss how it's better to start off bad and bombing as a comedian than doing well (my curse).

We weave around subjects like getting booked on television shows as an extra, the #metoo movement, Aziz I'm Sorry, showbiz and how to get booked as a comedian!

Twitter: @RonErvin

Instagram: @RonErvinComedy

Check me out on YouTube at goo.gl/DU5oxs

Follow me on Twitter at goo.gl/Yo8BvN

Find me on Quora at goo.gl/im4NDG

I'm on a roll of amazing women on the podcast! Meredith Kachel, Adrienne Brandyburg, Chanel Preston and now Merrit Landsteiner! She's a comedian in the windy city and doesn't take shit from nobody.

I first became acquainted with her around the comedy scene and always admired her no-nonsense attitude and focus to get on stage and make people laugh.

What I didn't know was that she straight-up moved to Chicago cold to pursue comedy and became addicted to getting in front of live audiences right away.

She talk about growing up on a farm in Minnesota and what happened to bring her to producing two shows in America's Second City. All that passion can be a burden when you discover it, and we talk about what it's like.

Follow her on Instagram @merritlandsteiner

Follow her on Twitter @merritlands

Check me out on YouTube at goo.gl/DU5oxs

Follow me on Twitter at goo.gl/Yo8BvN

Find me on Quora at goo.gl/im4NDG