Episode 85 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
Heroism is a Solitary Thing
Feb 27, 2018 · 1:12:51 · 24 segments, 175 moments indexed
- 1 min
Cold Open: Welcome to a Real Shithole in LA
#Tim opens from a rundown LA studio, joking with Ray Kump about the low-pressure nature of recording here versus a real away-game venue.
2moments
- 0:14Tim welcomes listeners to the show and announces a special episode
- 0:33Ray is described as rooting through garbage at Cheats gas stations
- 3 min
Career Anxiety, the Columbine Book, and School Shooting Heroism
#Tim riffs on feeling like a minnow in LA comedy, then pivots into reading a Columbine book on a plane, questioning the poise of school shooting survivors doing press, and concludes he's the type meant to survive and narrate rather than be a hero.
6moments
- 0:40Tim describes the recording location as a real shithole but appreciates the lack of pressure compared to LA gigs.
- 1:21Netflix and Comedy Central specials not yet released, making it harder to attract high-profile guests to the podcast.
- 2:02Despite being talented and hardworking, Tim feels like a minnow in the entertainment industry compared to other performers.
- 2:29Tim's guest was his first choice but he's never seen him perform because their careers haven't intersected on the same shows.
- 2:56What matters most to Tim is that podcast guests are fans of his show, not what credentials they bring.
- 3:14Tim is reading the Columbine book on the plane and wants to discuss it before introducing his guest.
ColumbineLos AngelesComedy CentralNetflixAll Things Comedy Studio
- 2 min
Tim wraps up his survivor/bard riff referencing a heroic Florida shooting victim, then formally introduces guest Connor McSpadden of the Mean Boys podcast, praising his roast comedy skills.
6moments
- 3:39Tim questions whether school shooting survivors seem too polished and media-ready, with their Twitter handles and talking points changing within hours.
- 3:57He notes how some survivors appear almost choreographed, as if they're about to break into song, despite claiming to have experienced trauma 72 hours prior.
- 4:14Tim mocks the media performance: a 16-year-old survivor asking the news anchor which camera to look at while immediately pivoting to political messaging.
- 4:38Story about a young Black kid at the Florida shooting who wedged himself against a door and took multiple gunshots to protect others.
- 4:54Tim admits if he were in a school shooting, he wouldn't be the heroic type—he's meant to survive and write a great Facebook status instead.
- 5:05His actual role would be getting on camera to talk about it for the world, using his unique skills as a survivor storyteller.
Florida school shootingColumbine
- 3 min
Connor and Tim discuss whether Connor is gay or just perceived that way, leading into a detailed story about Connor getting pegged by his girlfriend at 19 and making out with a gay comic on Roast Battle as a bit.
8moments
- 5:20Tim explains his view of heroism: he'd rather survive and tell the story than die heroically, since he's confident in his oratory skills.
- 5:54Nobody wants to see him bleeding to death in a library; they want him on screen.
- 6:16Connor McSpadden and Keith Carey are among the best roast comics in the country, particularly skilled at breaking down sexually confused male comics.
- 6:36Tim suggests he's being groomed and asks Connor directly if he's sexually confused.
- 6:50Connor explains he made out with dudes as a goof on roast battle, and Brian Moses brought up his bisexuality on TV.
- 7:02Connor reveals he has a bit about getting fucked with a strap-on, explaining where people get the ideas.
- 7:27The experience only got about 30% of the way in before Connor tapped out.
- 7:45Tim says he could have run with this material more if everything wasn't as public as it is now.
Connor McSpaddenmean boysKeith CareyBrian Moses
- 3 min
Tim quizzes Connor on his physical type preferences (lanky white trash guys), compares it to restaurant bread baskets, then Tim declares himself the main character of existence and everyone else exists to teach him a lesson.
6moments
- 8:22Tim's type: lanky, tall, white trash or rich people, nothing in the middle.
- 9:04Comparing romantic preference to a bread basket—different kinds of bread in a paper plate at a nice restaurant.
- 9:32Guest did well on Roast Battle but has tried to distance himself from it to focus on stand-up.
- 9:53After six years of comedy, guest felt pigeonholed by roast battle and wanted to be known for other work.
- 10:25Tim acknowledges roast battlers have a skill he doesn't possess and hasn't cultivated.
- 10:53Tim describes his podcast as giving the essence of himself like a religious figure would, not joke-by-joke like other formats.
- 3 min
They joke about whether Tim could have had a normal career like working for the World Bank, then Connor reveals he briefly tried webcam jerking off under the name Twinker Bell after getting fired from Ross Dress for Less.
6moments
- 11:20Tim believes everyone on Earth is here to teach him a lesson.
- 11:42Tim works in comedy, a business where everybody is very sick.
- 12:04At a crossroads with two specials coming out, Tim questions whether comedy is worth continuing.
- 12:21He admits there are more fulfilling things to do than comedy and feels guilt about not pursuing them.
- 12:58There's too much audio of him being horrible to people—he can't realistically get a real job anymore.
- 13:19The host suggests Tim could jerk off on a webcam and solicit donations as an alternative income source.
- 3 min
Connor tells the full story of leaving the safe open at his Ross cash office job and getting fired, while Tim compares it to his own embarrassing Long Island story about misjudging a friend's property size.
6moments
- 13:38Tim on being proud and reluctant to ask for help when he was very broke
- 14:06Low point: at a rich friend's house on Long Island, he miscalculated the property acreage and had to claim a rare vision disease to save face
- 14:34Once mismatched infant onesies sizes at work and was harshly reprimanded
- 14:50Worked the cash office at Ross during high school, four-hour shifts moving $7,000 to $12,000 daily
- 15:12Had daydreams about stealing the money and moving to Mexico as a disenfranchised twenty-year-old
- 15:50After getting fired, decided to start making porn instead of finding another job
- 3 min
Connor elaborates on his failed webcam career (two viewers, feigning enthusiasm issues), and Tim explains how he encourages attractive broke friends to become escorts or camboys, to their offense.
10moments
- 16:12Tim set up a webcam profile to make money for a trip to Fullerton, planning to quit once Old Navy responded to his application.
- 16:47He created the account, booted up the webcam, saw two viewers, and immediately questioned what he was doing.
- 17:05His username was Twinker Bell, which he thought sounded good in the moment.
- 17:23Tim explains his problem: he can't feign enthusiasm believably, always maintaining a blank expression that reads as someone who's been hurt.
- 17:47If he'd built up a following and cashed in chatterbay tokens, he could have fixed the studio.
- 18:14Tim tells attractive friends between jobs to become escorts or webcam workers, and they get very angry with him.
- 18:39He tells a really good-looking friend to just jerk off on a webcam for money, and the friend was deeply offended.
- 18:58According to Tim, people can upload photos of their feet and make money in this strange underground world.
- 19:09Building a following as a webcam performer works like building one as a comedian—you need to reach a point where people tune in to your room.
- 19:22Tim shifts to asking about people made out with on roast battle and the point of it.
- 4 min
Discussion turns to Connor making out with Jonathan Rowe on Roast Battle as a joke, then expands into a long defense of roast comedy as true inclusive comedy versus the modern punching-up-only orthodoxy that emerged after Trump's election.
10moments
- 19:28Tim explains his homophobic roast material was done seriously, not as a joke, then made out with Jonathan Rau after the battle.
- 20:08Roasting is about celebrating flaws and laughing at things that aren't that big a deal.
- 20:19Comedy has become obsessed with speaking truth to power and giving every word weight and gravity, when it should just be something enjoyed over chicken to get through the horror of life.
- 20:49Comedy should be racist, homophobic, and sexist because those are human traits, and humor illustrates how ridiculous they are.
- 21:12Louis Gomez made a great point about the hunger for inappropriate, edgy, subversive humor that people want to hear.
- 21:22Roast battle is the ultimate definition of a safe space because everybody's intent is to make people laugh and there's no disagreement over it.
- 21:53Since Trump's election, comedy has gone weird with people saying straight white guys can't punch down because of privilege hierarchies.
- 22:29The essence of comedy is having fun and making people happy; everybody's funny and something about everybody can be made fun of.
- 22:45Not every joke needs to punch up at billionaires; comedy also includes dumb jokes about people in lower stations of life.
- 23:08Tim made a joke about his transgender friend Robin Tran that she can't go to heaven now, which is funny because they're just being silly.
Robin TranLuis GomezDonald TrumpJonathan Rau
- 3 min
Tim continues the comedy-purity rant with his heaven joke about trans comic Robin Tran, a story about a comic roasting a disabled audience member in Brooklyn, and his theory that power-hungry people are trying to gerrymander comedy standards.
6moments
- 23:37Tim on being treated with kid gloves by comedians—it makes him feel more separate, not included.
- 23:56A comedian in Brooklyn roasted a handicapped audience member with a Tinder joke, then defended it by saying if she wanted different treatment she wouldn't have come to the show.
- 24:30Tim loves Roast Battle because many unfunny people have invaded comedy for power rather than to entertain.
- 24:49Certain comedians want to police comedy and gerrymander the business to make it work for their values and lower what's considered funny.
- 25:27Roast Battle fights back against the idea that comedy is precious by letting great comics do it in a way audiences love.
- 25:48Comedy reviewers write about specials as if they're analyzing political speeches, but it's just a joke, not an official indictment.
- 4 min
Connor talks about dating a successful comedian, the scarcity of gay comics to date, and why he keeps his gay material minimal, preferring to talk about diners and money instead of sex.
9moments
- 26:39Few gay people doing comedy means limited dating pool within the industry for gay comics.
- 27:07Gay comics in the industry have to either succeed or leave—there's no other path forward.
- 27:29He has only two jokes about being gay—one on his Comedy Central special, one on Netflix.
- 27:48Can't leave sexuality out entirely without omitting a whole dimension of yourself.
- 28:02Tim finds diners, real estate, and money more interesting subjects than sex or relationships.
- 28:32Coming out later in life means he doesn't have a million relationship experiences to draw from.
- 28:58He's concentrated more on his career than relationships and isn't the guy to give relationship advice.
- 29:18Part of him envies people who fall in and out of love constantly; they envy his focus on one thing.
- 29:37His gay jokes aren't "I'm gay"—they're actual jokes that involve his sexuality, like one about a guy who's never heard of Bretton Woods.
- 4 min
Connor and Tim discuss the sheltered nature of starting comedy young, how long you're allowed to stay broke, and Tim's own years grinding on tour buses before his career took off around 2016.
9moments
- 29:47Tim told a Grindr story on the last podcast that people found funny, making him reconsider how much he censors himself.
- 30:15Roast Battle works well for younger comedians who are great joke writers but lack life experience and perspective.
- 30:40Nobody wants to hear a 22-year-old give an indictment of the federal government's role.
- 31:20Growing up doing stand-up starting at 18 and only being 24 means you've never really had a life outside of comedy.
- 31:47You can stay broke until you're about 30, but after that it becomes embarrassing.
- 32:17The guest's strategy is to double down on comedy opportunities and max out credit cards, submitting to colleges and doing tours.
- 32:35Tim worked on a tour bus in horrible weather at 29 and 30, doing well in the city but with nothing to show for it yet.
- 32:58At a certain point being broke, borrowing money, and miserable forces you to ask if you have what it takes to keep going.
- 33:20Comedy can function as a way to avoid growing up, a form of Peter Pan syndrome that lets you avoid being an adult.
- 3 min
Tim theorizes that many people in the comedy/LA scene use it to avoid growing up and are just floating untethered, while others, like him and Connor, actually care about the craft.
7moments
- 33:44Tim describes a mid-30s party in LA where people were doing blow and dancing, floating in space despite the beautiful house.
- 33:59Being tethered to reality would be a negative in the LA entertainment business — you have to stay ungrounded.
- 34:23Tim reflects on his own path starting late in 2010, with things not going until 2016 — six years of attrition before success.
- 34:47Some people are just there to float around the scene for fun, but Tim says some of them actually give a shit about doing the work.
- 35:21The creative deadening of doing shitty one-nighters for money — he becomes a word plumber performing a service, not an artist.
- 35:38He can make crowds laugh for 45 minutes, take $300, and drive home, but it's all old jokes from when he was 19 about weed and sex.
- 35:59The question arises whether getting a day job at some point makes sense so you can skip shitty gigs and focus on actually getting better.
- 5 min
They discuss the financial anxiety of being broke, doing soul-crushing one-nighters as a 'word plumber,' and Tim's line about asking aspiring comics what their tolerance for hell is, capped by his tour-bus full-sized-bed foot story.
10moments
- 36:21Tim compares his life to purgatory: Chase Bank calls every day, but he has friends who are okay with living hand to mouth.
- 36:42He describes his pirate scumbag lifestyle, including visits to the food stamps office in Glendale.
- 36:55Tim's friend tells him he comes from a stable middle-class family and sees no version of Tim doing this at 34.
- 37:47Pursuing something you care about at the expense of physical and emotional comfort is important and defines you as a person.
- 38:10Tim criticizes people who just have a job to afford Instagram pictures with craft beer and their boyfriend.
- 38:40It's incredibly unhealthy for your whole life to be about chasing and scheming; there needs to be balance and security.
- 39:23Tim feels like a 73-year-old woman at a slot machine for six hours, believing the odds are in his favor eventually.
- 39:48The real test is staying in the game—who can stand out in the rain the longest.
- 40:22When people ask about moving to New York or becoming comedians, Tim asks them: what's your tolerance for hell?
- 40:37Being a six-foot-four guy sleeping on a full-sized bed with feet hanging off every night has to be worth it for the jokes.
- 4 min
Tim argues for balance between chasing a dream and eventually allowing yourself financial security, and insists that if you work hard and are good at comedy you deserve to be compensated, unlike people who bomb and waste people's time.
9moments
- 41:12Tim on people who live life only for security: they're missing it, but so are those who completely reject the idea of it.
- 42:01He has no problem with people treating themselves well if they work hard to make money, though he's not making a political statement about healthcare.
- 42:32Core principle: if you've worked your ass off to be good at something, you should get paid for it.
- 42:48Tim tells struggling comics in expensive cities to quit and do something else if comedy isn't working out, which makes some bitter people resent him.
- 43:24He rejects the idea that he only values comedy if it makes money—the real issue is that bad comics bombing waste people's time.
- 43:56The math: forty people watching a bad twenty-minute set equals eight hundred minutes of human time wasted by delusion.
- 44:08People accuse him of idolizing the rich, but he finds wealthy people interesting and talks about them—that's different from idolization.
- 44:27Tim's bottom line: if you're good at something, you should be compensated for it, whether or not you become a billionaire.
- 44:51Everyone who claims they don't like comfort or nice things is basically lying.
- 3 min
Connor tells a story about getting sent free Yeezys and realizing he does want money and nice things after all, and Tim argues everyone secretly wants comfort and there's nothing wrong with wanting to be paid for skill.
6moments
- 45:09Tim gets expensive Yeezys in the mail and discovers people admire them, sparking a realization that he actually wants to have money.
- 45:44At a certain point you get too old to be broke and have to start making tough choices that inspire you to work harder.
- 46:17Tim explains he needs to get rewarded for work at some point, otherwise why do it—after mortgaging comfort on tour, he's earned nice things.
- 46:44Rich people are more interesting than poor people because they've figured something out that poor people haven't.
- 47:07If you ask most people why they're not millionaires, you get varying excuses, but if you ask the 5% who are, their stories are actually interesting.
- 47:38Question posed about whether people who lucked into wealth, like heiresses, are interesting.
- 4 min
Rich People Are Interesting, Poor People Are Not
#Tim expands into his theory that rich people have figured something out poor people haven't, using an extended penis-size-in-a-locker-room analogy for the unfairness of inherited advantage, then pivots to whether heiresses like Paris Hilton are interesting.
7moments
- 48:21Rich families like the Hiltons and Kardashians are genuinely interesting from an anthropological perspective.
- 48:41The Kardashians are a clan of sociopaths skilled at not loving each other and treating family as a world domination project.
- 49:08Tim and Ray receive contradictory messages about the show's politics from all sides because they don't ram ideology down viewers' throats.
- 49:43No single economic or political theory explains how wealth and power actually work in the world—it's too random and happenstance.
- 50:08The Kardashians made a billion dollars by selling an idea—voyeurism and access to their lives rather than a physical product like traditional wealthy families.
- 50:57Kim Kardashian literally sells VIP subscriptions to her life through an app with photos she won't give to magazines.
- 51:28Tracing rich families back far enough, somebody originally made the money that enabled all the inheritance and real estate empires.
KardashiansKim KardashianParis Hiltonwealth and inherited privilegeJohnson and Johnson
- 2 min
Tim and Connor dig into what exactly the Kardashians sell — proximity and voyeuristic access to wealth and fame rather than a physical product — and how that reflects a deep human need.
6moments
- 51:44The Kardashians keep their money in shell corporations and live off the interest.
- 51:57Tim knows people who've squandered small advantages, like someone who crashed a car and couldn't afford a replacement.
- 52:15Some people who inherited money have managed it properly and actually made more with it.
- 52:32Most people are inhibited by religious beliefs—whether political or actually religious—that are impervious to logic.
- 52:59People can't contextualize anything or look at circumstances; their worldview is just the last thing someone explained to them articulately.
- 53:19Young people will adopt whatever ideology was recently presented to them, whether it's the fair tax or DSA socialism.
KardashiansDSAlibertariansshell corporationsGary Johnsoncommunism
- 3 min
Tim describes how getting older and having a little success made him more pragmatic and less ideological, no longer needing a guru like Jordan Peterson or Bernie Sanders to explain the world, and citing a local AM radio voter guide as an example of lazy political outsourcing.
8moments
- 53:37Comedians are more comfortable in chaos than most people because their job requires walking into unpredictable situations.
- 54:14People with predictable lives seek someone to impose order and provide scapegoats when the outside world becomes chaotic.
- 54:41Tim respects Jordan Peterson's intelligence but has always resisted needing an ideological father figure to explain how the world works.
- 55:10He started liberal as a teenager, became more conservative in his 20s, and now holds mixed views on different issues based on pragmatism rather than ideology.
- 55:45Tim no longer cares about winning arguments through verbal acrobatics—it means nothing to him anymore.
- 56:06Being ideologically nimble and adjusting positions based on context is more valuable than applying one-size-fits-all policy.
- 56:26Capitalism has gotten out of control and wealth disparity is insane, but that doesn't mean unrestrained markets can't breed innovation.
- 56:38Tim has become the boring centrist he always hated—uncertain and unwilling to hand people a list of ideological certainties.
- 5 min
Continuing the ideology discussion, Tim argues that not all inequality is systemic oppression, that success in entertainment isn't usually a mystery once you look at someone's hustle, and that the older you get the less you believe in grand conspiracies.
10moments
- 57:07Tim listens to a conservative AM radio show in California called John and Ken to get a counterpoint to mainstream narratives.
- 57:27Success has shown Tim that not all inequality is caused by oppressive structures—work ethic, luck, and innate ability all factor in.
- 57:53Getting older means becoming less convinced that anyone has it all figured out.
- 58:31Tim used to believe strongly in injustice in entertainment until he worked hard and got opportunities, then realized why certain people succeed.
- 58:59Looking at successful people's hustle and work ethic, it's not a mystery why they made it, even if you don't think they're funny.
- 59:31Tim rejects rigid ideological camps like the church of Jordan Peterson—nobody should close their ears to other viewpoints.
- 59:53If you're the same person at 40 as you were at 20, you've done nothing and there's been no growth.
- 1:00:25Most people debate the world with very few facts and little information about how things actually happen.
- 1:00:48Entertainment taste makers Tim has talked to are smart, well-intentioned people, not evil conspirators working against anyone.
- 1:01:10People in power aren't against you—they're just waiting for you to reach a point where you can sell them something.
Jordan PetersonJohn and KenKardashians
- 4 min
Connor and Tim swap hometown stories — Connor's friends still hanging around a Little Caesars in Chino/Ontario, and Tim's own teenage drive to escape his comfortable Long Island suburb by sneaking off to open mics — framing it as the fear that drove them into comedy.
9moments
- 1:02:19Growing up three minutes from a Little Caesars, going there on Fridays to get pizza and play video games.
- 1:02:50Tim describes living near a Little Caesars as the Nile River Delta of failure for someone with ambitions.
- 1:03:19His childhood friends still go to that same Little Caesars and won't even try Pizza Hut or anywhere else.
- 1:03:41Tim asks if the fear of becoming that guy — stuck in the same place forever — was what drove him to pursue comedy and take risks.
- 1:04:04His parents live three blocks away from his grandmother, which made him determined never to move that close to family.
- 1:04:22As soon as he got his learner's permit at 16, he started sneaking out to do open mics whenever his parents left town.
- 1:04:36He saved gas money four dollars at a time from his allowance to drive to Fullerton for open mic nights.
- 1:04:54Strip malls and high school buddies hanging around together at 45, still comfortable in the same place — that's what he wanted to escape.
- 1:05:18Now he's made it out and gotten his break, but ironically can't even afford to buy a Little Caesars pizza anymore.
Little CaesarsChinoJack in the Box
- 1 min
Tim and Connor close out the interview with jokes about their looks and habitable-planet-zone compatibility, and Tim plugs Connor's upcoming Mean Boys podcast tour dates.
2moments
- 1:05:55Tim jokes that he wouldn't speak to the guest if he were fatter, comparing their compatibility to habitable planets in the perfect zone.
- 1:06:23Guest describes himself as "a fine, good side of fine looking white guy" rather than outright handsome.
- 4 min
Tim runs through his own tour dates, upcoming Comedy Central and Netflix specials, and Moon Tower festival, then gets sidetracked mourning the death of an Instagram-famous Saint Bernard named Zacko the Beast.
9moments
- 1:06:59Tim announces tour dates: Chicago, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City, and the Creek.
- 1:07:10Ticket information available at MeBoysPodcast.com for a late-night show that combines morning zoo radio and sketch comedy.
- 1:07:31The show is legitimately funny—ninety minutes of three guys taking big swings with no filler like reading articles.
- 1:07:50Tim DillonComedy.com sign-ups alert fans twenty-four hours before bus tour tickets go on sale for New York and Los Angeles in spring.
- 1:08:07Comedy Central and Netflix specials coming out in summer, with announcement details to follow.
- 1:08:51Rock on the Range Music Festival featuring Tool, Big J, and Tim Dillon.
- 1:09:03A Saint Bernard Tim followed on Instagram died at only three or four years old—the dog was called Zacko the Beast.
- 1:09:32Zacko's owner writes posts as the dog on Instagram, narrating daily activities like going to the pet store and swimming.
- 1:09:44Tim describes a similar account he follows where the mayor is literally a dog in a town, posting in character every day.
Moon Tower Comedy FestivalMe Boys PodcastRock on the Range Music FestivalZacho the Beast
- 2 min
Tim wraps the episode plugging Gas Digital Network shows including Legion of Skanks and his other podcasts, thanks Connor, and signs off.
8moments
- 1:10:32Zachar the Beast, a Rottweiler, has died and gone to dogs' heaven
- 1:10:57Tim complains that the dog's family didn't tag him in their compassion post
- 1:11:14His girlfriend got tagged in a Disneyland Celebs post without him, despite being on TV
- 1:11:43Ray Kump will be back next week; Tim is doing a solo episode with people working it out
- 1:11:54Ray's last thing with a friend was one of the craziest things anyone had ever heard and got taken down immediately
- 1:12:07Pitch for Gas Digital membership and gasdigital.com
- 1:12:19Shows available include Legion of Skanks, Part of the Problem, Real House Podcast, and a three-person podcast with Louis Gomez and Nick Mullen
- 1:12:41Find Connor McSpad but don't sexually harass him—Tim says that's his job
GaS DigitalLuis GomezNick MullenRay KumpThe Real House PodcastKaren FianZachar the BeastLegion of Skanks+1 more