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Disclaimer twenty one plus Intellect states gamp problem called one eight hundred Gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash RG for Colorado, Iowa, Minneapolis, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, in Virginia one hundred. Next step or text next step to five three three four two seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, or visit CCPG dot org slash chat for Connecticut, nine with it for Indiana one eight seven seven seven seven oh stop for Louisiana. Visit m D gambling help dot org for Maryland. Tennessee red line one eight eight nine and nine seven eight nine for Tennessee. Visit KS gambling help dot com for Kansas, five to two four seven zero zero for Wyoming, or visit www dot one hundred gambler dot net for West Virginia. Hello, everybody, Welcome to the session. How's it going? What's up? I hope everybody is doing great. Um, we got a cool episode here for you guys. Non Wrastling to a degree, even though he's a big Wrastling fan. Brian Quinn Q from The Impractical Jokers is joining me. Um. Just a really cool conversation with an awesome dude that just as like God remains so freaking humble after having such a hugely successful show for like twelve years on the air. Really really cool stuff. Um, yeah, we obviously talk in practical Joker stuff. We talk um the fire department wrestling all of the different things that make Brian Quinn Brian Quinn with a little bit of love to Jennifer Coolidge because she deserves it. Oh um, look, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. Let's just get into it. Guys, this is Brian Quinn. So do you normally agreed to do podcasts when you're schmammer drunk at a wrestling show or is this an exception? I never agree to dost so no. I was excited. Even when I got sober the next day, I was like, Oh, that's cool. I'm gonna do it. To be fair, you hold your liquor quite well because I honestly would not have owned that you were drunk. So hey, hats off to you. Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. Yeah. I don't drink a bunch at all anymore. So there was like four beers and I was like, I was like feeling like whoa, Like what's going on here? You know, you don't want to be that guy. It's not my show, Like I was backstage at your show. I don't want to be the guy walking around drunk. So I think I was a little sensitive to it. You know. No, that's when you're allowed to be you didn't have to do anything. You've got to just be there as a fan, so you're allowed to throw back the beers. I mean, that's that's the vibe, right it is. But like sure, if they were like, hey, here's a couple of tickets going, you know, going your seats and enjoy and have a beer or two, that's one thing, yes, because then I'm part of the crowd and going crazy. But if I'm backstage where you guys are all working and I'm you know, and I'm blundering around drunk, that's no good. So I was probably like being hard on myself. If you don't even noticed, that's great. No, I had no idea, Honestly, I would not have had a clue. But do you get like an emotional hangover after something like that, especially if you don't drink a ton and then all of a sudden you're layer you are, You're in the midst, it's loud, it's fun, all these things are happening. Do you like the next day be like, oh my god, was that weird? Like I feel like I do that a lot to get like that anxiety of like I said something dumb jeesus like come on, get it together? Do you do that to yourself? Yeah? That pretty much defined my twenties. That feeling. My buddy Chris calls it the shame cave. Like when you wake up the next day and you're in the shame cave? What did I do? It's never as bad as you think. I think most people are like slightly amused when people are drunk. But you know, I don't know. It's a it's a thing, you know. I I worry about it. I feel like I got worse as it as I got older. When I was younger, I was like, it's fine, that was all. We were all in the same boat. As you get older than I'm like, oh my god. People don't need to see that from me. I'm like swearing a ton. It's just it's aggressive. Anyways, I like what you just described, so that sounds fun to me. We would get on. Just find that next time. I'll partake with you. If. Um, did you have fun? You were there at full gear? Um? Was that your first time being at an aid you show? I know I've seen you guys backstage at w w E before. No, that was probably my fourth or fifth. I flew to Vegas for the pay per view out there was there any time they're in the area of being a salad, I try and go for sure. Hell yeah, good, good good. Um, I saw that you posted about m JF. We don't really have to get into it, but it's fine. We can, I mean, and we can talk about that piece of garbage anytime you want. Piece of ship. Oh my gosh, okay, let's talk about you. Um doing my research getting ready for this interview, dude. December two thousand and eleven, when you guys debuted on TV, Holy sh it, Like honestly, like for a TV show to be on that long, for you guys to have the success that you've had within practical Jokers, do you really get to sort of kind of look back on that and like just relish and what you guys have been able to accomplish. It's pretty crazy. It's not. It's not really. We're just starting to get some awareness of how um of how bananas it is, because like, you know, you're in it. When you're in it, you're in it. And I said, and then the pandemic went down, you know, brought us all down for two years, and like, I don't know, there's this thing now where one. Now we're shooting season ten, which is like that's a big number. How many episodes do you guys do a season. We've been doing twenty. We've twenty six episodes of four specials for nine. That is a lot of cameras, a lot of lo of Mike's on you. That's a lot. It's a lot, but it's you know, it's a fun job. It's not like it's difficult. Um. The thing now, it's weird because we live you know, I don't stand I still live in uh, you know, on State Island. I'm still here. We don't live in California. We're kind of removed a little bit from the industry in a in a in a weird way, so we never really have all the trappings that come with it, like I'm just home. I'm just you know what i mean, wearing them all the time. But there's this thing lately where it's like kids are coming up to me. I want to say kids. I mean like people in their twenties are coming up to me and they're like, oh my god, Like I started watching the show like when I was like in high school. Because we've been on twelve years now, so you know, a kid that started with high school fourteen is twenty six now and they're like yeah, They're like, when you got me through high school, you got me through college. We were sitt in the dorm now and at work and you know, I'm working a job, I'm married with a family. And when I hear that, I started to be like, oh, man, like seez, I feel old. You're a staple in some people's lives and like to be sort of I guess like the way to look at as well as like you've been welcomed into people's household. They have chosen to watch you guys for twelve years, Like yeah, you really become a thread of like somebody's life to a degree that's kind of bizarre. Yeah, and it's an honor. Like I get it because there are things that do that for me, you know what I mean. There are shows that I go to when I'm just home, I'll throw on whatever, you know what I mean and just turned it off. What are those things for you? What are your like go to feel good, you gotta have it on. You gotta have it on for me. Look, golden girls, it's gonna be tough to top. Girls. I love Golden Girls that'll be on like what we do in the Shadows, um ah versus Evil Dead. I watch over and over again. Um, just like just tons of shows, you know what I mean, Like I try and we watched Got Me in the animated series every few years. And my husband's really into that big into the Batman stuff. It's Batman. Yeah, who's not right, I guess listen. I think it's fine, but I think it is for like guys within that age range of what you're like, seventy four. Yeah, well he's eighty five, so yeah, I guess like within that age range if you guys are into like Batman. And did you missed the Ninja Turtles bandwagon? No? I was all in on Ninja Turtles as a kid. Yeah, I was there when the first movie came out. I had a serve Donna tell no it's Rafael on a trench coat and a thing on my wall. I had that. I loved it. Man. I've always been like that, So I've always gravitated towards like, um stuff like that. Like I mean, look, I mean you look around, it's like it's all comic book stuff and what I've always gravitated to. Yeah, it's like a geeky little kid. So I mean to the point of like having stuff on that you're just like the feel good stuff. Like for us, it's Frasier. We always have Frasier on. That's like the going to bed you put on Frasier. I fall asleep to the Crane Family literally every night for the past like at least seven years. Um So, anyways, to the theme of being a threat in somebody's life and you guys being on television for twelve years, what do you think it is to the longevity of what you guys are doing from like when you guys started that like initial pitch of what Impractical Jokers is going to be, to what you guys have been able to build over the last decade plus. Well, I think that we got lucky with some factors. Well first and first almost, I like to think it's a funny show, you know what I mean, So people like to laugh. So like that's where people like right away, we don't we don't challenge you. We don't want you to think, you know what I mean, We're not asking you to like do anything but sit back and laugh. And I think that that is something whoever is delivering that to you is going to be uh welcome. And then especially like we just had this perfect storm of time. And I think because like you know, I don't have to tell you what the world has been like the past six seven years, you know what I mean. So I think that there was there was two things going on. One in the entertainment industry, there was not a premium on shut off your mind and think, like it was like everything had to be a message or something or something like that. So we Squeaked In as one of the few shows that were kind of like, hey, you could just shut your mind off and think. And I think that that that helped us. I think people are like, oh man, I could just watch the show and like shut up and laugh and they remind you my friends or my cousin or my brothers whatnot and anything. I think too, It's like we were on True TV, which helped because they didn't have anything else. Um, so they weren't going to cancel us because they didn't have anything else. So it's like thank God for that, right God. So many shows nowadays too, it's like even if it's something that is great and you feel like it could have some really great substance. I feel like, you know, networks often have such a knee jerk reaction to canceling things. It's really awesome to be somewhere where they can let you grow and develop and figure out your voice, your tone, all that stuff. Because I you look at something like even like Ship's Creek that got yanked early on, and like to see the way that that show was able to grow and change and now people are like so obsessed with the show like that. It's nice to be able to have a network back into that degree. Yeah, and and and to that to that end too, it's like we went through four different regime changes at true, like the people who hired us were fired and new people were brought in, and then they were fired, and then new people brought in. There's some lucky breaks, like you know, they would come in and like, all right, well and now I'm in charge of this network. What's working? And practically jokers, okay, just renew them, get get them. Nobody wants to be The people came in and were like canceling practical jokers. It didn't make any financial sense for him. So we were able to kind of slip through the rain drops and like the show because it's a reality show. Um, they don't have to pay us to air it. It's not like like like Frasier, they're paying him every time they air it. They don't have to do it, and like that's a condition of signing a crappy contract when you're an unknown. But in a way it's helped us too because they because you turn on True TV, it's Impractical Jokers. It's always on and they can do that, and that I think bolstered our popularity because we're when your channel search and it's always on. Yeah, you can't not know what impractical Jokers is. So we got lucky in that way. So so we we do get lucky breaks, and we worked hard, and we worked really hard. So I think that, you know, it's just a mixture of what's worked for everybody, just the right break at the right time and the right people around you. So I have worked alongside my husband for many years, whether in w W now in a e W. What is your take away from being able to work alongside your best friends since high school and to have this project, this family, this baby together the ups and the downs that come with that. It's as good as it seems from the outside. We are really lucky and that we get along really really well. We we don't have like we're very considerate of each other. Like I love those guys, you know what I mean. And it's like not to say that every day has been like a joy, you know what I mean. You have days where you're like, you know, we all go through I mean, god, we've been doing it so long, and life changes and everything, but for the most part, it's just like those guys I genuinely love. And it was like, so you want to be respectful, and I have faith in them and their talent. So if Murray says something's funny, even if I don't think it's like funny, I'm like, well, let's back this play because he's a funny guy. So it's just this really weird thing. We don't have problems, like we don't have there's no ego issue, there's no there's no anything like that behind the scenes, because we just genuinely get along. And I think that that is the biggest thing that has gotten this far without any problems. I love it. I love going to work. I love we have in jokes. I mean, I'm around them more than anybody else in my entire life. So if you don't like him, you're kind of you're kind of screwed. The contract has been signed. You gotta show your ass up to work anyways. You might as well enjoy everyone that's there. Um, is there any kind of lining to being in like that boy band and there's like the one guy that always ends up wanting to break away and do their own thing and have that solo career? Has that ever been like kind of a thing that's ever been a blip for you guys? Not really. I mean I think there's an interest. There's a higher interest now in doing stuff outside of Jokers than there ever has been before. But that's just as the nature of like, look, after twelve years, you even if you want to keep doing this, you want to do something different, you know what I mean? You have to. You know, Joe left the show, which was a surprise to me. I didn't see that one coming. Um, you know is the action when that happened, Like if you want to get into that, it wasn't really anything like it was just I was just blown away because I didn't see it coming and I was like, whoa, Like that's I didn't know you felt this way, you know what I mean. I didn't know that these things were going on with your family in a lot of ways, So it was it was but personally again, like I loved Joe and it's like I talked to him all the time. So it's like it didn't cause any problems, like the show didn't get canceled. If the show had canceled and I lost my job, then there might have been some tough conversations that you know what I mean. But since that wasn't the case, then it was more of an emotional toll than anything else. But the guy put in ten years, like what you know? How how much more do you gotta do? Um So Salow stand up? He always wanted to do stand up, so he does a lot of stand up now and Murray tours solo as well. But really, for the most part, I like being collaborative, I think, so I don't really want to do much without them or other friends. I think also too, it's like I'm forty six and like I've had a TV show for twelve years. It's been a good show. I don't walk around being like what else do I have to prove? Or doing like what you know? What it's like at the end of the day, you just get home and you're like, oh man, I'm just having to be on the couch and watching White Loaded, you know what I mean. Yes, by the way, we got up on the last episode last night. What a great show, great shown. Unbelieva Coolidge, the rerise of a Jennifer Coolidge, unbelievable. She's just spect She makes a line when she goes spoiler alert to go into the new episode, but like when she goes to snort those that cocaine, and like she even does this thing where like she doesn't get the straw on the line if it's like bumps around and it's the most subtle thing. It's like, you know, she's doing it on purpose, and it's so funny. It's so funny, and I think most people won't even notice that, you know, no, it's so nice. Which I just saw an article or an interview with her as well, where she was saying that it's like not wanting she didn't want to watch that perfect package of somebody on television that doesn't have these flaws and have these other things to just make somebody that interesting kind of character. And the fact that a character like her, and I feel like so many people just assume that that's how she is in real life, these characters that she plays. That's sort of like did see aloof? But to know that she is putting so much thought into all of those little things that she does just make her such a well rounded character. It's it's amazing, like true artist that's really clean, really fresh, you know what, it is really nice. I think once you've been able to like cement your own career, to have your show for so long, and then I don't want to say, like take your foot off the gas pedal, it's not that, but I think there's something to being able to just kind of like pause and enjoy the stuff that's around you and not feel like you have to like go go go so constantly. And I want to do things. I definitely want to do things, but I think I'm sure you feel the same way. Like the pandemic just changed us, I think fundamentally, where it's just like we went from working six seven days a week for for ten years, so like somebody I was just sitting on my ass for two years, I can love did you know I was worried about the world that like everybody else was, but like you know, I just loved it. I got to spend time with my cats, I got spend time with friends, family was it was. It was like, you know, aside from the accidential dread that we're all experiencing, I was like, man, this is this is all you know. I don't know, I think it changed me. I just think I need more of that in my life. No, I agree to that a big time. I think it also like puts in perspective when you've been able to have a job in television for so long, like that's the accomplishment, Like what a pat on the back to Bick I did that. Not a lot of people get to have a show for that long. And like I've been able to have a job in television for such a long time, Like how fucking lucky are we to have been able to do that, to now be able to just like kind of enjoy the things that come with that and not have to be in the rat race onto the next Very lucky. I think so too? Is I think so too. I don't know, Like you know, it's just a thing where you just like just try and be grateful. I'll do the show as long as they want me to. If truths like, look, we want you to do five more seasons, I'll do five. We'll see right into that Betty White show they were off the rocket, like, I'll go right into that. Like I don't ever want to stop doing it. So like I don't know, I just have immense gratitude and stuff like that, which, um, which I think when people lose that is when you when they want to leave shows and stuff like that. Okay, So that being said, sitting in that gratitude, all the great things are there, but you did mention there are some other things that you want to do. What are some of those, uh, some scratches that you want to etch? Well, plenty of it. Yeah, no, I got it so itchy. That's funny. What a quote. Um, Look, I love comic books and stuff like that. I I really want to I would really love like DC Commers has always been my thing. I love those characters so much so I want to do something in that space before it's all over, whether it be a comic book, whether it be an automated show, whether it be something like I just want to get paid to write Superman. I don't know. I've always loved them, So there's that. Then I've always loved horror, like I'm a classic, Like I just checked boxes of like you know, like a gen X geek, like I want to do like I love horror. So it's like I want to do something in the hors So I got to do a horror movie and it was so much fun. What kind of horror are we talking? Like? What is your sweet spot in the horror genre? Like I said, man, my decade of growth was the eighties. I like slasher, like corny, like just blood spurting everywhere, and like not even realistic who cares, Like just sort of fun horror. I don't think I could do like you get like Mike Flanagan, the guy who does he did like Oculus and you did Midnight Mass and all these great shows for Netflix. Now I was on, I can't do what he does because it's like that's a real cerebral moody, atmospheric car. But like if you need like a fun like slasher ghost thing, I'm like, I'll do that. I would love to do that. I just more version of ship that you don't have to think about, you know what I'm saying, Like, Yeah, Superman like is the brightest, friendliest guy in the world. Don't think too much about it. No, I hear you on that. There's something I don't want to say like formulaic about it, but just that kind of like fun layout. You know what you're getting, and you're right. You can zone out and just go along for the ride and enjoy that whole thing. Um, dude, you got to be in Piccard. Oh my god, how great is that? How great this is? Camera for you? That's okay. So I'm not a treky, but Picard is incredible. Oh my god, what a great show. What was your experience like working on that? Well? It was nuts? Because all right, So it's actually an interesting story behind that that that I like to like to tell. Like so that. So the guy who who show runs the Card is a good buddy of mind, My buddy Terry. He created in the TV show Twelve Monkeys, and he ran mcgever. Now he's on Picard, now he's on some other things, and he's a fan of jokers. That's how we met he when Twelve Monkeys premiere. I went to the premiere party in l A. We we hit it off really well, became really good friends. So he put me. Twelve Monkeys is his character named Dale. It's a small scene and I'm on a date. I'm on a first date with someone. I had this ugly s tie and then Twelve Monkeys ended. Then when he started mcgeiver, he's like, hey, um, would you be interested in flying down to Atlanta to shoot Dale in in mcgeiver? So great, let's do it. So now I have a scene where mcguy is on a date and sitting at the next table. I'm wearing the same tie. I have the tie and somewhere right over here, um, and Dale's there and Dale kiss mcgeivers something that allows him to like, you know, I'm a guy that makes a paper clip into some ship. Um. Now we're like, well, this is really exciting because now Dale has been in two shows, and if you two shows across two different networks, and if you follow the storyline from the first like from the first date to the second date, there's actually like a loose story. So now he's like, now, I'm sure, running Picard, how do we get Dale into the card? So he writes dalne into it, and I'm like, I'm like this is great. I'm like, so now there's a storyline. Now this story. Dale's story continues. It car this is your own spinoff. You call it the Dale Verse. And then I get Dale of the practical Jokers in a scene. So now Dale's been in four shows across border for networks. Dale's got that sidecard. Baby, he's gonna get it. So now all but Terry doesn't tell me that he's putting me in a serious scene. I thought he was gonna put me like, I thought, you know it's me. It's like, you're not gonna put me the serious scene. But sure enough he throws me in a scene with Patrick Stewart and it's a serious scene. I was like, Terry, I'm going to ruin this. I'm gonna ruin this scene. You don't understand, you can't do this, and do trust me to be great? Great? And it's COVID. So like now we have to be in an actor's holding pen and it's this really weird thing where it's like they take blue tape and they put it on the floor and they put the actors in this and they're like you can't leave and nobody can come in that it's COVID. So I'm in this box with Patrick Stewart for six hours. Oh my god, Oh my god, oh my god, Like what would you doing, Like, what do you do in that situation? What's like, how do you spark up a carver station? With Patrick Stewart's it turns out pretty easily because he's he likes telling stories of the old days, which is like unbelievable, like you just unbelieve. He's telling stories about acting on the stage in London and stuff like that. And of course he had never heard of the Practical Jokers like ever, which is crazy because when we pitched him Practical Jokers in the original pitch, we were driving around to these stupid bits in a talking van and we wanted, uh, Patrick Stewart to voice the van, and the van hated us and the van and we had it. He was narrating. So when True, when we when True brought the show, the first thing that got rid of is just like, we're not we're not reaching out to Patrick Stewart, Alright, no problem. That we did the Practical Jokers movie and we we wrote apart for Patrick Stewart in it, and then once again they actually this time they reached out and his people just flat out said no. When I talked to Patricks to it. I was like, I told him everything. I just told you, and he was like, I've never heard of that. He goes, he goes. I might have done it if they had told me, he goes. I promised they didn't tell me. So there was a little bit of back and forth, but mainly was just me in awe and like trying not to talk too much because I'm like, I don't want to. I don't know if he's got a process, you know what I mean. I don't know anything. I know nothing. What do I know. I'm an idiot. So it was crazy though, Man, it was crazy. And then and then and then when I saw the episode, I was like, man, I look fat. So that was my That was my take away from being in an in a scene, being like the card scene partner, was that I look fat. So you know, oh my god. Literally, anytime I see myself on television, like to my arms look thin? Where my arms at? That? They look all right? That's like my that's my big hang up? Is it whether or not my arms looked? Then? So I I hear you. I can tell you they did. If you wear a large sweatshirt, no one can really tell the difference, So it's fine. It's fine. Sir Patrick Stewart, though, ma'am, what an absolute legend. That is so cool, not only that you got to work with him on camera, but just to get to spend that time I'm off camera with him to like shoot the ship. It was great. And I stepped on one of his lines in the scene and I was like all in. The director of the episode was Leadiah Thompson, who I still have a crush on from Back to the Future. So like when I went so now getting directed by Lorraine McFly, like I said, like, I love on stand out. We don't have these experiences here, so it was like it was pretty out there. It was great. Oh my gosh, that's really like the Who's Who. Because her daughter, Zoe Deutsch, I'm a massive fan of hers. I mean, damn, that girl's career is just on the up and ups with every little thing she does. She's she's special. Um. You must obviously follow Patrick Stewart on Instagram. He's one of the best Instagram falls. Just him in his lab so wholesome. Yeah, it's him being super fun and stuff like that. Yeah, he came across to me exactly like he comes off on that that feed. The NBA season is underway, and it's the perfect time to download fan Duel, America's number one sports book because right now, new customers get a no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars. There's so many different things you guys can rattle off here on this app. It's amazing. Fanduelist all of your favorite bets, from the money line to point spreads to player props. You can even combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payoff with a same game parlay. Plus with live betting, you'll get updated odds on games that have already started. The Fan Duel sports Book app is safe, secure, and super easy to use. So download FanDuel today and used to promo code renew that's r E n E to get your no sweat first bet up to one thousand dollars. Make every moment more this season with fan Duel, the official sports book partner of the NBA. Disclaimer twenty one and select states first online real money wage. 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Okay, So going back to like when you guys started, because you guys really broke out on like that YouTube, my space, like really taking over what those social platforms were to get out there BC and and get a television show from that. But looking at the way that that has all changed over the course of the past god, however many years, Um do you have any advice for people that are trying to be seen on all these multiple platforms and how to make that work, because you guys did it, but it's obviously changed so much since then. I don't even know how to work half that crap anymore. Like I'm like, I'm like, does that freak you out? Not being able to work those things? I think my life is better because I can't work those things. I think it's like they're not on my radar, so I don't worry about it. My advice to anybody would be just and and I think the value of consistency is under rate. I think it comes down to consistency. When I was in that version of the game, like you have to you have to give people a reason to come back. So whatever that is, like, as long as you're constantly doing it and constantly giving people a reason to come back, I would say that's it. I think a lot of people started I'm gonna start a YouTube channel, and they do like three videos and then like a week. Yeah, it's a lot of people don't realize that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it just comes down consistently and outlasting people, like just never stop. If you never stop like you've already kind of want in a way. But we like when we when we pitched Practical Jokers, our agents told us and I was three five when we're pitching jokers, and my agent said to me, asked, the four of us, you guys are too old to be on TV. Don't try to sell the show for yourself, like just make it for teenagers. And you know, that's our agent telling us that we were too old, you know. And if we listened to them, you know, we wouldn't be in the place where we are today. It was we just kept our head down and kept going. And it's just hard working consistency. I think that's there's really no shortcuts around around that. I think it's really crazy when you think of some of the advice that you get along the way. And I know I've definitely fallen to the trap, you know, along the way through my career. You assume that your agent knows best, or this person knows best. But being able to like be selective about what advice you're actually gonna take in and what you're going to apply to your work. Um. I think it's a big one too, because not everyone sees the picture of the same way that you do. Yeah, and I've I've gotten bad advice and and and acted on bad advice and regretted it. They're so good at making you feel like you're lucky to be there. Oh my god. Yeah, Like that is the power that I guess the people in the industry have over over people like us because they're like, there's this version of it where it's just like, hey, if you don't want to do it the way we want to do it, you know, what are you gonna do? Someone else is going to do it. They're not wrong, but the same time, it's just like that you've got to find your own value. And they still do that to us, Like we still hear that all the time, Like now it's like now the refrain that we hear actually not since Discovery took over Water Brothers, it hasn't really been this as much. But the refrain was, well, we already have three episodes, so what do we need more from you? So you're lucky to still be making And it's like come on, man, like, at what point does the respect, Like when did it come in? You just gotta laugh and be like it is what it is, man. You can't get you can't get caught down by it's gonna follow you hard. Old the cliches is all I can give anybody for advice. Trusting yourself, keep your head down, work hard, that sort of thing. Consistency is key, definitely. Um okay, So you've been working for some time, busy, your life has changed to a degree, but still you're on Staaten Island. You try to keep things as simple as possible. What's the bougiest thing that you do? Now? Now, if I fly, I will fly business class, but that's because I toured so much. If you're taking five flights in a in a weekend, like I just wanted to be as easy and as and and most of those are showing spenses anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. But you get like a skin regime. You've got like some good I creams, what's going on over there? You buy some nice boots, a big car loop Wrangler that I only have because I had a two thousand sixteen that they blew up on the show. They lined it with dynamite and fired a tank out and blew it up, so I needed a new car. Um But I'll yeah, So there's that. I always wanted to buy Delian because I grew up like says, so I think I might buy a Dolian. But even that's only like forty grand. It's not like, you know what I mean, It's not like out of control. Um. Everything I'm wearing I've had at least five years. I don't. I don't really. I think I just sere like a big saver. Then you save all your money, yeah, but I don't think of it as like saving. I just think of it as like I don't really have. I like, you know what I say all the time, I'm Amazon rich, you know what I mean. I'm like, I'll go along Amazon and it's like if I want something, I'll just order it and get it here the next day. It's twenty three dollars, twenty four dollars, and that's fine. I don't even think about that. That's nice. But who turns of big purchases like, you know, I don't really have. I wish I want an answer. I I want this. You know, I have a seventy five television, But who doesn't you know what I'm saying? Really no, I'm looking around, like what's what's the thing that I got? As I'm asking that question too, like what do I have this boogie? Like? I don't know. I guess I could get like facials done. Is that count? But I think lots of people do that, but everybody does that. I don't know what the heck I really want to come up and answer for you on this? Is there like a stoop, not stupid, but like a sort of like a frivolous purchase of something that maybe you wouldn't have got before, like if it was like a collector's item thing or I mean, the DeLorean obviously falls in that category, but you've not pulled the trigger on that. You're about to where do you acquire a DeLorean? How do you get this? Oh? Yeah, there's um there's dealership, Like there's the dealership in Texas that sells like refurbished ones and stuff like that, and get it all all up to you. Um, but you could just you know, I guess anywhere. You just needs the age of the internet. If and when I buy it, the DeLorean will be the big, the big, the big purchase that I've made. I really don't like feeling I'm trying to find something for you. It's all right, we can marinate on it. Maybe something else wo come to mind, Maybe something will come back. Yeah maybe. Um okay, So you were recently just announced as the Friends of Firefighters Person of the Year. What does that What does that mean to you to have that honor? I mean you you were a firefighter in New York for eight years and now yeah, a little under eight years. It was it was fairly huge to me because I I want I didn't think I deserved it. I was like, guys, like the stuff that I've done for you, guys, is I'm like worthy of it? But whatever, I'll take it. I I man, you know, I love the fire department so much, and it was such a big part of like my twenties were spent getting ready to go into the fire department. So what I wanted to do, I want to be a firefighter. Then I got into the fire department and I loved it, loved my house, I love the guys. I still talked to them all the time, like they're very very close. And but when I left the department, it was hard. It was a hit to my identity because it's just who I wanted to be and and being on TV wasn't what I wanted to do. So it was a big switch. Um, Like, my struggle after I left the department was always to still be part of the department in some way. So the way that I found that I was able to do that besides spoiling the guy at my firehouse, I will send stuff to the fire at like they'll just like a hockey table, will just show up for them because I, yeah, like I love him, start trying to do that. But but more than so, when I started doing the charity stuff with through the fire department, it was like, well, this is a great way to stay connected to them and one that benefits other people. So it's like it's a home run. So get the award was really like more than anything, it was like, oh, like I've been successful in maintaining that tie and that's kind of how I how I saw it. So it was very meaningful for that and the Friends of Firefighter. I mean, the organization is great that just there for firefighters, like and anything that kind of needed rose out of nine eleven and stuff like that. So uh, it was it was it was it was a validation of like what I wanted, which was just to still be part of the fire department. So it was great. Talk to me a little bit about what that identity crisis moment was. Like, you grew up on to be a fire fighter, you were in there doing that. Now you have this massive opportunity to go create the show with your best friends. What was that kind of pull between those two the first because the first season and a half of Jokers, I was still making the ship. I was still on the fire department. I would go to set and I shoot from like nine to five and get to the firehouse by six, working overnight at the firehouse, then go back to set them next morning, shoot, then go back to the firehouse, work another overnight, and then go back to So like there were times where I worked like yeah, crazy, but the guys in the firehouse were very supportive of me. If I needed to shift off, somebody would cover it with no question and stuff like that. I'll tell you what really happened. Then season two came along and they computerized the f d n Y, so when you clocked in, it was no longer like just write a name in a book. It was like, now everything's in the computer in the city could see who's working, and they started noticing like, hey man, like how come this guy like he owes like fifteen tours to people. He has fifteen shifts to people. It's like and the guide book says you can only owe one tour for a month. So like they started getting wise to it. I took four years. So then I took a leave of absence and I pushed it as long as I as I could. At the end of season five, contract with True was up, and that coincided with my uh with my leave of absence being up, so I was like, great, I'll just go back. And then True came back and was like, well, we want to sign you for three more seasons. I couldn't get any more leave of absence with the fire Department, so that was it. It was a choice. And I went to True and I said, hey, if I left the show, what would happen? And they said, if you leave the show, will cancel the show. And that was that. What could I do? You know, I was getting closer to forty, Like now I go to the firehouse and they were all in there like early twenties, you know what I mean. They don't need me, you know what I mean, Like, like trust me, if this you could pick someone to come into a fire to help you. It's not this guy, it's it's you know, the kids that are doing so it was tough man, and it was a moment on the show. Um, they shot a punishment for me where I was on stage and that there was I was a play a musical about my life, and I didn't know anything. They just threw me out on the stage and Alex Brightman, who's he's playing Beatles you some Broadway right now, narrated this song in my Life about how I'm useless now and how I used to help people but now I'm just a fat piece of ship who like MA said, you know, this is comedy thing. And the curtain opened and it was all the guys from my firehouse. Like the other three guys got them to come to be in the audience. They didn't know that after I was shooting that day, I was going to the firehouse to tell them that I was retired. So when the curtain opens on the show, they left it in the edit. You see me do this move where I look away and it looked like I was laughing, but I started crying, like I started tearing up because all all my guys were there and it just hit me and the like in the cameras rolling, so you can't explain that. So it just kind of sucked it up and got through. But it was that was then after that, I just went out drinking with the guys as one does. Yeah, one does. Yeah. It was it was hard. It was really hard. I felt like I was good at the fire department. I liked it. I was useful, and now I'm just gonna go do this bullshit. But you know, you still participate the Person of the Year. That's that's really a cool accomplishment. Um. I know that you've been very open talking about your your struggles with depression and whatnot. And I was reading an article earlier about how you would also talk about the stuff when you were at the fire department. Did you did some of that, like openness of your conversations about depression and mental health and whatnot. Did some of that start with those guys in the firehouse or was it prior to that. It was prior to that, I think because I got a friend of mine named Scott Moager, and he's a great, great guy. He produced the movie Clerks and Clerk City Live, early Kevin Smith movies, and he just directed that animated Grinch movie that came out. He's been like a mentor to me my entire life, and like when I was going through things in my twenties, he was so open and supportive of me that he kind of destigmatized it for me. So I was always very free and open talking about it. My friend Brian Johnson and stuff like that was going through similar things, so it never it was never for me anything that was something that had to be hidden. And then when I got to the fire department, you know, the guys in the house, Look, it's two things. It's like, the way we expressed love to each other is by calling each other an asshole. Like that's just what you do. If you walk in the firehouse and within five minutes nobody's called you an asshole, that means that they don't like you. No, that's my favorite kind of affection. Actually, I love that. Yeah, it's the best. It's I don't even know how to operate out of that paradigm really like kind of you know, so yeah, get out of here. But but the guys, you look, it's a tough job and you see a lot of crazy ships. So I didn't find there was that thing of guys wanting to like if something was real. There was fifty guys in the firehouse and you like forty eight of them and they were all open, and yeah, there is a very supportive environment. It's couched in, you're you're an asshole piece of shit, but like it's it's really like very supportive. And you know, I see, like I don't want to bring this down, but like you would go to car accident and would be a hurd kid or something like that, or you know that that's hard, especially like you know, you go back to the firehouse and there's like guys who were like, look like it's okay to talk about this and stuff like that. And plus I got on, I got on after night eleven, I got into five, and the department was still reeling, I mean reeling from that. And I think that everybody understood that that you know, talking about it was a good way to go. So it wasn't like how people like aside toxic masculinely like I never really encountered that there so anyway that treat that I've always been that's it's just the people around me. You have always made me open about it. Yeah, No, it's great. I mean we have tons of conversations about mental health, depression, addictions, anxieties, all those things that I think that it's such a great conversation to have we do it here on the show. I mean, whether it's with an athlete, a pro wrestler, and actor, musician, whatever it may be, but nobody is safe from that, and I think us talking about it definitely helps to break that stigma even further. Um. Okay, So what I would like to end this conversation on is um, if you could just run me through and you got attacked by a shark, that would be great. Uh. Yeah, I almost got attacked by a shark. Yeah. Yeah. So it's so funny, man. They first of all, we so we shot a special for Shark Week this year. Uh and it was a blast. It was so much fun. And they're like, does anybody want to do a dive to the bottom the seabed. But I'm like, yeah, I'll do it. I'll definitely do it. So I go to a local stand ym c A and I get my Troy certification. Never been in the ocean. It's all like splashing around in the pool and stuff like that, like they did in the first season. A white Lotus when they did, right, yeah, it's that to get that certification. And they're like, all right, well, how deep is the dive? Okay, great, you know, get the certification, fly out there, we get you know, we get it. And they're like okay. And then on day three, we're gonna go down to the sixty ft dive to the wreck of it. And I'm like whoa. I'm like, what do you mean sixty feet and they're like, yeah, no, the recks that's where the sharks are, so you gotta go down sixty ft. And now I because, like I said, I'm a firefighter, Like I know what sixty ft is, like it's a six story, seven story building. So it's like in my mind, I'm like, dude, nobody told me that. But like I can't be the guy that's like I'm not gonna do that. Like I'm like, I gotta do it. So there I go. I get down. I get in the water, pure panic because like they're like, hold on the anchor rope and just you know, you know, slowly go down. And I look down it's like there's the wreck sixty ft down, which sharks circling it, and the water is filling the wet suit and I'm like, oh my god, I'm like, I gotta from water, the water, and I'm mcbrian, calmed down, calm down, take a breath, go down, get down there. It is amazing, it's great. He's eight foot brief. Sharks are swimming around and Dr Craig, who is the Shark Week doctor, great, great guy, says, look, when you're down there, keep your keep your arms in because if they see your hands going, they'll think it's a fish. They'll come and they'll they'll they'll bite it just to taste it. Right now, mind you, the year before, the Jackass guys do a special and Poopsy almost got his hand bitten off by a shark. It's the same crew every year, so they're telling me the story over and over again, and you're like, well, this is you. Guys told me this wouldn't happen, but it just happened. And they're like, yeah, Poops, he's an idiot. He went into bloody water and stuff like that. And I'm like, I don't know that. I don't know, Poopsy, but it sounds like you told them the same ship. You're telling me, like I sure Poopsy felt safe. Like now I'm down there, but like we're shooting a comedy that I had a hold claymation shark thing and I had to point into the thing, and you're at the one here at the bottom of the ocean, so you're all you're all loving it. So I just start like an idiot, waving, you know, my hand at the camera, and just as advertised as six foot sharks walking, and it sees me and it's fins dropped down into it like an attack position, and it dives in my hand and Dr Craig and you see it going. It's on camera to air. He's going. Dr Craig just puts his hand on the sharks nose and shoves it away and the sharks just goes. And I didn't even tell me about it until I was like and then I got off the boat and they're like, did you see that chart going a bite your hand off? And I'm like what, No, I know, yeah, And then I saw the footage and I'm like, I'm like, oh man, maybe I gotta stop doing Maybe it just gotta stop saying yes to every single thing that comes my way, Like maybe starts saying no every once in a while. Oh my god, that would have been a long sixty ft ascent back to Oh my God, and then the blood's going in the sharks and yeah, it would have been horrible. You don't like what a w because like I'm trying to get involved with you guys, and I'm trying to get over there and get involved and they're like and they're great, I mean, such a great crew over there, um, and they're like, yeah, you've got to go to like training just to even get in the ring because like I'm just like, put me to retain all I don't care. And you're like, yeah, all right, they're like just talm down, you know what I mean. So I think maybe I gotta learn. I gotta learn to like just look out for myself a little bit. Yeah, some little baby steps. The other day, I was trying to show John how I would execute a kick in the ring, and he's like, get out of here. You're not like you don't know what you're doing, but sometimes you know, you get a little big for the booster. I can do this, no problem. You cannot, so dopable. They're so good at it, and like like you know what I mean, And I'm not trying to say like like I don't look at it like I can do that, but I do look at it like I want to do that. And if you were rides common sense, you know, then you're like you're talking to athletes. We train all the time at doing it and the experience and perfect all this stuff. What do you want to do? What do you want to do? You want to come in and like manage somebody, or you want to like what what would your like ideal thing? Be my deal thing? And I don't think they'll let me do it? Is I just want to be a heal Like I want to come in and just like the scream at the audience and tell him they suck. But they won't let us. They won't. They won't let me be heal. I don't think like anything. I just want to be part of it. Yeah, I just want to be like I just love it so much so to be in the ring looking out of the crowd from that perspective and being a part of it. I don't know, man, I want to be involved in like silly story, like a silly story, like I don't think anything serious would would call for me in it. Maybe we can get you in like the Jericho appreciation society and get er. Yeah, what's entertainment. I love it. Yeah, but you look at like what the Jackass guys did. I keep saying, I love jack a huge fan, but what they didn't wrestle me? And you're like it was great, it was fun. They all had they all had their spots, they all had their moments, you know what I mean. Sammy's sam came out looking like a million bucks. Totally. No, that's like a great example of something that like, I don't want to say the bar was like low on that, but I think they're like, I don't know what we're gonna get, but like, man, it worked out BEAUTIFU flee it was they had like a good amount of time. They got to tell the great story. Yeah, we man got involved. I know this is unbelievable, and I just want to be a part of that, you know what I mean. I just want to be a part of it somehow because I love it so much. So I think that's that's what I'll do anything. I'll do anything they want me to do really well good. I look forward to us being able to be um co workers to make that happen. Hell yeah, well, Brian, thank you so much for drunkenly agreeing to doing this podcast and then following through on actually doing it. I appreciate you taking the time my pleas, No, I'm a fan. I gotta tell you, um before we go, I do want to say, and I've said this to you before, but I just want to really listen to this to know, um, the w W shows. You know, when I started seeing a w like, it's it's not always like comfortable back there to be a guest because you don't want to get in anybody's way. You don't know who knows you, who doesn't know you, you know, you know, you were always so warm and inviting, and I like, notably thank you every single time, even if it was just in passing, like I felt like I belong there and and I'm not just saying this summit like like you're a big part of that, Like just so nice every time, which is why I was like, I really appreciate that. Thank you. This makes me want you to come work at a W even more so we can continue to do that. Well hopefully I'll see you soon. Yes, I'm sure you will. Awesome. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you to Brian Quinn for joining me, Um, I really cannot wait for him to get to do something in a w that would be fantastic. I really hope that that happens for all of us, for all of our sakes. I feel like the cool thing, like obviously like wrestling is great and television shows are great, but it's like the people that you hang out with during that downtime is really what makes that stuff really special. So I feel like having Brian Quinn around would just add to that, just add a little spiciness back there. I like it a lot. Um. Well, guys, thanks for hanging out, thanks for listening. Um and Practical Jokers will be back February nights, So set your DVR, set your reminders, set all of those good things, and uh I will see you guys next time on the next episode of Session