Interview · moment 11 of 13
Special Ed Class, Illiteracy, and the Push to Leave the Cult at 18
from Happy Wife Happy Life · #115
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minGuest
Moses describes testing into a special ed class despite never attending school, still struggling to read scripts today, and the different ways he and his siblings each left home, contrasted with Tim's 'paying your dues' framing.
- 42:55Tested so low on administrative exam that he was placed into a special education class for the summer
- 43:08Tim describes being in special ed with kids in wheelchairs while teachers treated them with extreme gentleness
- 43:39Every kid in that class was outpacing him in reading; he still struggles with literacy and memorizes teleprompters before shows
- 44:13Despite the dyslexia and rough upbringing, he's performed everywhere from Conan to major festivals while cushy kids can't crack the business
- 45:06Tim argues his difficult childhood shouldn't make him society's responsibility—it was just character building and paying dues
- 45:52He tried making his story his thing in 2015 but couldn't figure out how to make it funny; audiences didn't come to hear a book read aloud
- 46:19His relationship with his mom improved as he got older and realized how fucking hard it is to be an adult
- 46:45Tim connects the statement "it's hard to be an adult" to Muhammad Ata and 9/11, joking that at least his mom didn't kill the kids that day