Breaking Into Comedic Passion // Episode 6243 - Dave Williamson

Original Recording Date: June 11, 2024

After ascending the corporate ladder in his family's South Florida car business, Dave Williamson discovered a passion for making his customers smile, but found true fulfillment in making them laugh.

Since then, he has excelled in nearly every major domestic comedy festival, consistently reaching the finals or earning "Best of The Fest" honors at events such as the World Series of Comedy, Boston Comedy Festival, San Francisco Comedy Competition, Big Sky Comedy Festival, the SLO Comedy Festival, among others.

Following his recognition as “Best Comedian in Miami” by the Miami New Times, Dave packed up his family into a 25-foot travel trailer and embarked on a North American tour, eventually settling in Los Angeles after 18 months on the road. This journey was captured in a series of shorts produced by Nickelodeon.

Dave continues to tour extensively, headlining his own shows and supporting Bert Kreischer in performances at prestigious venues like the historic Greek Theater, The Grand Ol' Opry, and Red Rocks. His latest album, “Trying My Hardest,” recently released by Stand Up! Records, quickly climbed to #1 on the iTunes Charts for Comedy. Dave often evokes the image of a quintessential dad at the grill on Football Sundays, passionate about BBQ, and he shares his enthusiasm through his podcast “Meat Dave.” Additionally, he co-hosts a comedy podcast with fellow waterman, comedian, and friend Forrest Shaw.

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Interested in being a guest speaker? blieberman@yicunity.org

Transcript

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[Music] Stay tuned for today's episode of Breaking the Biz, an informative podcast where we dive into the world of entertainment by interviewing seasoned professionals who have made their mark in the industry. Gain invaluable insights as they share their personal journeys, offering advice on navigating the dynamic landscape of the entertainment industry. Whether you're an aspiring actor, musician, filmmaker, author, animator, or any creative soul, tune in for expert career guidance, insider tips, and first hand accounts on breaking into the entertainment industry. Get ready to unlock the secrets behind successful careers and fuel your own passion for the limelight. Please remember to like this video and to subscribe to our channels for more great conversations. Greetings from Breaking The Biz Podcast brought to you by Yes I Can Unity Through Music and Education. I'm William Felber, your navigator through the intriguing universe of the entertainment industry as revealed by the visionaries and creators who bring it to life. Stay tuned as we delve into diverse insights from the forefront of entertainment. Hearing from pioneers, creators and agents of change, prepare for a journey filled with tales of innovation, resilience, and the undying quest for artistic brilliance. Awesome. I want to thank everyone for being right on time for Breaking the Biz podcast with the Yes I Can crew. We have got a great guest speaker with us. It's not often that you find someone who is able to merge all of their passions and things that they love, but we have Dave Williamson, who is a professional comedian, a pit master and a podcaster. After climbing the corporate ladder in his family's South Florida car business, Dave Williamson decided he liked making his customers smile, but loved making them laugh just a little bit more. Since then, he's excelled in almost every domestic comedy festival, making the finals of the best of the fest in the World Series of comedy, Boston Comedy Festival, San Francisco comedy competition, Big Sky Comedy Festival, the Slow Comedy Festival, and several others. Shortly after being named best comedian in Miami by the Miami New Times, Dave packed up his family in a 25 foot travel travel trailer. They traveled with him while he performed all over North America, eventually settling in Los Angeles after 18 months of touring. The trip was documented in a series of shorts by Nickelodeon. Dave tours heavily headlining his own shows as support act for Bert Kreischer, he has gotten to perform at the historic Greek Theater, the Grand Ole Opry, and one of my favorite venues, Red Rocks in Colorado. If you have not been to red rocks, it is magical. It's, it's just honestly like this big rock in an opening where the crowd just fills in and it's just amazing. And I've seen it from the stage, looking up. I've been at the very top looking down, and it is a massive venue. So amazing stuff there. His second album, Trying My Hardest, was just released by stand up Records and reached number one in the iTunes charts for comedy. Dave will remind you that one dad who holds court over the hot grill with a cold beer every football Sunday, he's obsessed with barbecue and hosts his own podcast called Meet Dave. That is by far the coolest name for a podcast, by the way. He also co hosts a comedy podcast with fellow Waterman, comedian, and friend for a shaw. Dave, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Yeah, my pleasure, man. I'm honored to be asked. Thanks for having me here, guys. So I want to know, like, obviously, you know, the talking about selling cars, did you always know you wanted to be a comedian? Was like, were you the funny guy in school? I mean, that's always the cliche answer, right? Is that you're the class clown or the funny guy in your group of friends. And, um, I had no idea that comedian was a viable, um, career path. You know, uh, people would consume comedy and entertainment in a different way back then. Like you, I would love Saturday live. I was addicted to Saturday live ever since I was a little kid. It was cool to me to see my parents, like, crack up at Saturday Night Live. And so, you know, for me, anyone who had the power to make these, like, adults that I looked up to, just crack up laughing, I just always admired a lot of the people on there and then, you know, like, we didn't have Netflix or YouTube or podcasts and things like that yet, so the only really stand up you got exposed to is the stuff that was, you know, the giants, Eddie Murphy and Gallagher had a moment and, like, you know, Richard Pryor, those kinds of people. So I think I always had it in me that I, like, liked, like, entertaining, and I liked holding court, and I liked, you know, being the center of attention and making everyone laugh, but I just didn't know it was a job possibility until I got much older and kind of just stumbled into it. Let's talk about how you stumbled into it, because sometimes, like, you know, you. You know what you're passionate about. You know where your talents lie, and you have to pursue and follow the dream and take certain, you know, steps. You said, you mentioned stumbling into it. How did you stumble into success? So it wasn't all just that one specific thing. It's a lot of different things that came together, and one of them being, you know, we talk about teachers and how they can influence us and everything. Well, I was in college studying business, so I was taking business classes because I thought my path was going to be I was just going to be in the car business with my father for my whole life. And I did really like creative writing, though. I really enjoyed, you know, reading literature and just being, being creative, more or less. It was my strongest subject, and I had to take this class called great books, and that was a core class that everyone had to take when you went to college, no matter what your major was going to be. And I had this professor that I just really liked, and I wrote a paper, and he asked me to stay after class one day, and I thought he was going to be mad at me for making a comment during class or he was going to tell me that it was obvious that I, you know, just up all night finishing the paper last minute, you know, but instead he just told me, hey, man, you know, this is a really good paper, and your insights are just really, you know, unlike anyone else's in class. And I really think you should consider changing your major to creative writing. And I was appreciative but a little short sighted at the time where I said, nah, that's not my future. But it at least gave me some encouragement, and I ended up minoring in creative writing, and it gave me some courage to explore different ways to maybe do this more often. And I ended up writing for a student magazine. And then you talk about looping in your different interests and how different things influence you and whatever. Well, I also love water polo. It's a very niche sport that a lot of people don't know a lot about. You get to see it a lot in the Olympics this upcoming summer. But other than the Olympics, the average person doesn't know a lot about water polo. But I played in college, and I would get mad that there was all these articles on the football team and the baseball team and the basketball team, but nothing on the fringe sports, you know, so I was like, I'll write about those sports. And I made every article funny. I tried to make it funny so people would want to read it, you know. And then I started thinking some other funny ideas of articles I could write. Before I knew it, I loved writing for this student magazine, you know. So then you fast forward. I chased my girlfriend, who's now my wife, after graduation, she took a job up to up in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I moved up there and she said, hey, there's this sketch comedy group called the Perch here in town, and it's supposedly really cool. And I know you love Saturday Night Live and comedy. I want to take you for a date. And I go, cool, let's go. So I went there and just sat in awe during the whole thing. Like, I can't believe something like this exists, you know? And so I was like, I want to write sketches for you guys, because I've never written sketches before, but I like writing funny stuff, and I think it would be really fun to write sketches. And they were like, well, we just write our own sketches, so you got to try out for the group if you want to write sketches. And I'd never been a performer before, so I was like, well, all right, fake it till you make it, right. So I just went in with a ton of confidence, like, how hard could it be? And I somehow got into the group, and then that was it. I was addicted. I would volunteer because you could, like, sit out. It went in two weeks, two week blocks. If you were in the show for one week, it had to be two weeks because they did the same show two weekends in a row. So I, like, barely took any weekends off. I was just, I could not write. I could not wait to write new sketches and see if I could get them into the show. And so I did that for a few years, and during that time, I tried a little bit of stand up comedy, and I liked it a lot as well. But then when I moved back to Miami after a few years, it was a little harder to find the time to put a group together, shop for wardrobe, shop for props, rehearse, rewrite, all that kind of stuff. But I found out stand up comedy, I could just think of an idea on the way to the club, say it out of my mouth, and get instant feedback about whether that was a good. Like, that's all you needed was just your brain and a microphone and an audience. All you needed. A lot of people don't realize, a lot of you are stand up comics in your everyday life, and you don't even realize it, because when you tell a story to your friends and they laugh, you realize, like, oh, okay, this is the funny part. This is the part that is too much of a lull. It's unnecessary. And then. And so when you tell a story, like, five, six, seven times over and over again, you're doing the same thing a stand up comic does, which is, you know, trim the fat from the story and maybe exaggerate a certain part to make it funnier, you know, and you're doing the same thing as stand up comedy does. And I just really enjoyed that process. So I started leaning into stand up comedy, and I fell in love with stand up comedy. It's awesome how, you know, you mentioned you obviously have a growth mindset where you're like, yeah, bring it on. Let's, let's try it. You know, like, what's the worst I could do is fail. You know, some people would be, like, freaked out, never acting, getting on stage, having that fright, and it kind of goes back. And I think of, like, my favorite part of Saturday Night Live when I watch it is the, the news thing where they do, like, just the news, and it's just, to me, it's just like, just quick jokes and you can tell that, like, those guys are writers. That's the only part that they're on for Saturday Night Live. And then you must imagine they must be writing for other, others on the show and writing the skits. And then there's that the writing group where they do, like, that one skit every so often, and those guys are hilarious as well. So I love that you take it back to Miami and you go there and you're doing stand up. How quickly did you start realizing that you really had something with the stand up? Well, you know, well, first of all, just to comment on what you were saying, though, about being the type person that goes for it, like, the way I've always been is I really fear regret. So I would rather do something that I feel compelled to do and fail and know that I at least tried. And either I'm going to try again harder and learn from the first time, or at least I got it out of my system and I could say I tried it, I didn't really like it that much and then move forward verse being this person who, like, years down the road be like, man, I wish I had tried that. So, you know, everyone's wired different. Doesn't mean that that's the way everyone should be, but that's definitely the way I just recognize I am, you know? And so then the second part, what you were asking once I'm in Miami now, you're doing, yeah, you're doing stand up. I mean, obviously, you know, you realize now, like, you got it, you can kill a crowd. When did you first know, like, oh, this is something I could really do. And it's, I have it. Well, I mean, it was a large sample size. You know, I did it as a hobby for quite a few years where I just make sure that my day off work was Wednesday because that was the night that the Miami improv had their open mic or their, yeah, their, their monthly open mic night or whatever. And a couple of my buddies and I, we started a show at a bar, so we had another place we could perform. And so you just, you know, you just keep, keep at it, and you start realizing, like, oh, I'm getting opportunities. Like, the club would start asking me if I wanted to mc on the weekends for the professional comics. And you start winning those little, like, amateur contests that you're, that you're joining, and you just, you know, you just start to see, like, anything. Like, okay, this is, this is something where I know I'm good at it, you know, like, and more importantly, I was enjoying the process. It was something that I was, I was really, I couldn't wait to go put myself in that uncomfortable position of being on stage and seeing whether I could make this crowd laugh or not. And it was going to be tense because it's a competition and you only got five minutes, and everyone's bringing their a game, you know, and everyone's bringing their own friends. So if they, if you have someone in the crowd that's, that brought 40 friends, like, are they going to even laugh at you? Because they're, they're rooting against you now, you know, because their friends competing. So there's just all these different things. And through all of that, the answer was always yes. I love this. Like, I can't wait to get to do it again, you know, and especially in those early days, like, it really was a hard time getting on stage. Like, there's only so much stage time. Cause you're, you're new, you're a rookie, you know, like, now I do it for a living. So I'm on stage every night, like, all over town because I've built relationships. I've built, you know, credibility, and I get invited to do shows to work on my material all over town. But back then, like, you know, you better not waste some five minutes you get at a coffee shop somewhere because that might be your only five minutes. You get that that week, you know? So I guess it was, it was quite a few years into it. And so, you know, I had a, I had an opportunity to take some time away from the business and really lean into the comedy more, and I had a lot of support. I talked to my wife. I talked to, we were married at that point. I talked to my dad. I talked to her business partners, my uncles, and I just said, hey, I want to give this a good try. And so I left the business for one year to see what it's like to be a comic, you know, full time. And, you know, that was 15 years ago. It's awesome. You know, when you talk about that leap of faith, you know, much rather not have regrets, you know, coming back to that growth mindset, having support is amazing. You know, everyone going, you know, what's the worst? What's the worst that can be? You know, if it doesn't work, you come back to the business that you've, you know, been part of in building when you would you say there was like, and I also want to give you kudos for taking every opportunity, like emceeing a show. You never know when someone who maybe is already established is coming through and they catch you and you're like, man, this guy's, you know, funny and kind of take you under the wing in your situation. Was there a break, so to speak, that helped you, you know, launch? I know you mentioned it was 15 years. You kind of. You're frozen on me. You were kind of frozen back again. Internet's little, we're good. It's probably me. Okay, we're good. You were frozen. No worries. Talk me through, you know, catching the break. Well, I mean, I don't know if there's any, like, one single break that I've truly experienced. It's just a bunch of little breaks that add up. Right. But I think you could never. My wife and I were talking about this recently with our sons. Like, first of all, you can't burn bridges. You know, you need to take everything as an opportunity and cherish every relationship because those relationships are going to add up. You know, I think actually twofold when you were talking about that, what I was thinking of, number one, is put yourself out of your comfort zone to go for something, and that doesn't necessarily mean that succeeding in that one thing can be the only positive in that situation. Because let's say after a while, you decide that comedy is not your route. I know a lot of guys who have then pivoted and opened their own comedy clubs or became comedy club managers or agents or writers behind the scenes, like you said. But that that foundation and being a comic is what led them to finding other parts of the business and ended up being more fulfilling for them, you know, and they would have never known it if they didn't start off by just trying to be a comedian. Now, with that said, you never know who's going to be in a position to help you down the road, right? So there's a lot of comics who, you know, I, if I lost to them in a comedy competition, I said, hey, man, great job. Way to go. You know, not. Not, man, this was rigged. I can't believe this bar. Because that guy wouldn't like me very much if that's how I behaved. And down the road, you know, I've helped him, and he's helped me. What if that guy decided to become a comedy club manager? I would have been like, man, I should have been nice to that guy. But, you know, not to say you should do it for those reasons, but you just, you should definitely cherish relationships, and you should be the kind of person that people want to cheer for, too. You know, be kind to everybody. Work hard. Literally. You're talking about breaks. There was a time when we. I've been very lucky that I became friends with Burt Kreischer earlier in his career, and we became friends, and he just knew he liked working with me, that I was professional and was funny and fun to hang out with at the same time. And so he started taking me on the road here and there, and then now I've gotten to perform at all those cool venues that you read in the bio because of that. And there was at one point where we needed another opener for something, and he was asking me to just refer people. And I remember saying, there was this one dude who's a nice guy, and I said, what about this guy? And he said, you know, he just doesn't work hard enough. Like, I see him around town and he's not working hard. So, you know, people want to give those opportunities to people that deserve them, you know, people who are good people, not just the most talented person. I think that's. I'm so glad you highlighted that, too, because I do believe people see your work ethic, people see how hard you work and your resiliency. And another thing you mentioned just being a good person. Like, you don't want to take someone on the road who's going to be like, I can't eat this, and where's the pre Madonna? You don't want to deal with that. And you mentioned you became friends with Burt early in his career. We were talking before we started the podcast that he brings out the ice bath, and things are kind of cushy now, obviously wasn't when, you know, you're very first starting, talk me through your love of barbecuing. Like, I imagine, like, you gotta have a trigger sponsorship or something or whatever. Smoker is your go to. Yeah, but, but I want to hear. I mean, I'm a barbecue lover. Talk me through the love and the passion of barbecue. Well, so it's funny, because I really learned a lesson with this whole barbecue as a hobby thing because I'm in my forties now, and I only. I've always loved barbecue. I loved eating it. I loved learning about it. I love cooking a steak and the burgers, but I knew nothing about smoking meat authentically, like, you know, the process of smoking meat, you know. And, uh, I I went to Texas one time, and I had amazing barbecue there. And then I came home and my wife and I went to the barbecue restaurant near my house, and it just, every time I go, I'm disappointed. And she's like, well, why do you keep coming here if you just keep getting. I'm like, I don't know. It's the only option we have. And I love barbecue. So I finally got mad. I go, you know what? I'm teaching myself. And so I went and I bought a smoker that day, a cheap one from home depot or something, and I started teaching myself. Now, there's so many resources. You could really learn anything, or at least the fundamentals, by just using YouTube or buying some books or following the right people on social media. If you can humble yourself and not be embarrassed that you don't know certain things and not be afraid to ask the right questions, you could really learn a lot these days. And I did that. I wasn't embarrassed to go to some of the guys who were doing the barbecue pop ups around town who I knew were legit barbecue guys and asking them questions. And that's how my podcast started. So many people were willing to talk to me about barbecue. And then as I started cooking myself and putting pictures up on Instagram, I noticed that when I went to the comedy club here in town and was supposed to do a set, instead of getting the normal cliche questions I'd normally get, like, oh, are you doing a set tonight? Have you been on the road a lot lately? You got any new joke? Instead of getting those, like, just generic questions, so many people were like, I saw those ribs you cooked last weekend. You did that at your house. And I'm like, oh, so not only do I want to talk to people about barbecue, but people want to talk to me about barbecue. So I started the podcast, meet Dave, and it's been such a fun thing to do because it's allowed me more of a reason to reach out to these people I look up to and to learn, and I've made some really great friends in the barbecue community. But my overall takeaway, what I was getting at, was that I feel like I've gotten a pretty great reputation, and I feel like I'm very, very good at being a pit master now. And five or six years ago, I was starting from scratch. So I just realized, like, you don't have to be born into something. You don't have to start something when you're very young to end up, you know, having it be a passion and a big part of your life. Like, this is something I literally started from scratch maybe six years ago, and now it's something that I'm known for. It's the first thing people bring up when they talk about me, that this guy makes amazing barbecue. So it is good reminder to me that it's never too late to lean into something new if you're passionate about it. Jeff, I love it. And asking questions, like you mentioned, nothing wrong with asking questions and asking people who are successful in what they're doing and, you know, more or less, you know, mentors out there. Is there a go. Is there a go to smoker that you're like, if you're going to get a smoker, this is the one. So I think that the. What you were. You brought up Traeger earlier. I get smokers from a company called rec Tech, which makes pellet smokers. So in the same, uh, genre as the. The traegers. And I think they're just, um, an amazing company, a really good, uh, product. So rec tech is the easy answer, but, I mean, there's all kinds of smokers. Let me see if I have a Wi Fi situation out here. I'll show you guys a little bit. I love it. Let's do it. We'll give you. We'll give you a tour. This is my front yard. All right, so this is my barbecue setup over here. You're serious? Smoker that. Look at you. Yeah. So this is. Oh, my signs down right now because I was using my pocket. So here's my meat Dave sign. I love the free smells. Yeah, there's my free smell sign that I got from a Jimmy John's here in town. They sold it to me. And then this is my rectac, and then this is my big. This is my big boy over here. That looks like the thing that could go to the Titanic. Yeah, it definitely. A lot. A lot of the neighbors say it's a submarine, but you could fit a lot of barbecue of that bad boy. Wow. Okay. Okay. And then this has got my custom meat Dave little emblem down here, too. That's awesome. And then. And then I got all kinds of other smokers and pizza ovens and everything out here, so. So your wife chose the right. The right guy. She's eaten. Eaten. Well, it'd be. It would be awful if you had, like, a vegan wife. Yeah. Depends what day you ask her, because some days I think she's grateful for that hobby, and other days, she's like, they're delivering another smoker to our front yard. I love it. Was there a mentor in barbecuing or comedy for you? Well, both, for sure. And several, you know, comedy. There's definitely the. We mentioned Bert, another guy, Ian bag. Um, you know, there's just been a bunch of guys who have been super kind to me and encouraging, and if I had a question, either creatively or on the business side, I felt comfortable calling up or even some of these guys just watching how they operate, you know, is really beneficial. And just seeing, you know, like a lot of guys when I first started, I'm seeing, like, a lot of people think, oh, you're a comic, so you just party. You know, you just party. And that's part of it. Whatever, dude. These guys, they did not get where they got by being unprofessional, you know, so they would not necessarily drink until the show's over, not have an adult beverage until after the show's done. And I was like, oh, man. All right, well, that's how you're supposed to approach it. That's the way I should approach it, you know? And then in barbecue, the same thing. Like, you know, these guys really take it serious, and then they practice. Like, it's not just cooking on the competition day or on the day that they're opening their restaurants and stuff like that. They cook constantly, all the time, and they're writing stuff down and they're trying it, and then they're asking, how's it taste? And they're making tweaks, and, yeah, there's no shortcuts at any of this stuff if you want to be good at it, that's for sure. When you go on tour, obviously, with someone like Burt, and you're able to bring a smoker, are you at that point where you're getting sponsorship from that company? And, you know, obviously they're delivering it to the front of your house. But, like, if you're going on the road, I mean, you've got the podcast. You're seriously a pit master. Do you have sponsorship at that point. Yeah, I have a couple. I mean, there's definitely a bunch of companies that send me product, whether it's the pellets that go into smokers or I got a couple companies that send me meat. So I just get these boxes of steaks that show up in my house and I'm like, this is a nice perk. What is your favorite thing to cook? Ribs. Tri tip, you know, what's your question? Yeah. And then what is your go to steak? Well, so my favorite steak to eat is probably a ribeye. Um, but I'll tell you, man, these Denver cuts, which are like flank steaks, kind of, you know, just real thin, um, you know, um, tenderized kind of steaks, they're, they're hard to beat these days, man. You have so much surface area. You can get so much seasoning in them, you know. Uh, and then I like as far as barbecue traditional, the barbie. I mean, a brisket's hard to beat, especially out here in California. Uh, not a lot of people can get great brisket. So when you cook it for the neighborhood, like they really appreciate it. They're like, dude, we don't, this is a treat. We don't get this often. But very California centric is, um, tri tip. So that's very popular. Was originated and made popular in, um, in central California. And um, it's much easier to cook than brisket is in my mind. You know, you're talking about a two hour cook versus a twelve hour cook. I mean, I, man, there's so many answers. I mean, a good rack of pork ribs is just so fun when you knock it out of the park. Good pulled pork sandwich. I mean, dude, I like it all. I can't pick just one. Okay, next question. What do you do for sauces? Are you making your own sauce or is there like certain sauces? You're like, you have not lived until you try this sauce. So I'm more of a dry rub guy than I am a sauce guy. I have not ventured too much into making my own sauces. That's something that I definitely want to get into at some point. I'm going to definitely graduate into that. I think my two goals of the next things I want to try are making my own sauces and making my own sausage. Because you can case your, you know, you could grind up the meat and case your own sausage and you know, it seems really fun, but I've been a little intimidated to do it up to this point. But I like, I like a Carolina gold sauce is like, my favorite kind of sauce. I do appreciate when places have a variety of sauce and some little creative. There's this place in Houston that I love called killings, and they make a coffee barbecue sauce, and I just. I love the kick that that gives. I'm a little different, but for most of the stuff, I don't use a lot of sauce. I like just to eat it, just to experience the meat on the first day, and then if I'm going to heat it up as leftovers the next day, then I start getting to the sauces to, like, just, you know, mix it up a little bit. Evan, I love it. You're a goal oriented individual, and I can see that you knock them out left and right. So I'm not. I will not be surprised in the next year when you have your own sauce and you're, you know, putting out sausages. What are the. What are the two goals for comedy right now? Um, well, and just on that note, too, I do sell my own all purpose seasoning and rub. Uh, so I. Let's go. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'll take you up on those. Um, and then my. My goals in comedy, I would like to shoot an hour special this year. You know, and back in. I have already self produced two albums in the past, but it's been quite a while. 2017 was the last one that I recorded. So I feel like my material right now is right in a place where I'm ready to maybe start looking into self producing it and then trying to sell it. And the great thing now is, even if you don't sell it to Netflix or Amazon or whatever, you can just put it on YouTube, and there will be an audience for it, you know? So it's kind of a fun thing about going on in comedy right now. And then I'd say another big goal of mine is I'd like to get a. I'd like to do a tv spot. I haven't done a tv spot since I did one on a Nickelodeon show years ago. And a lot of people say that, oh, getting on tv isn't as important as it used to be. You know, it's now it's all about how many followers you have on social media and stuff like that. And I've done a good job with that, but I just. I don't know, I just. Something. Something has been stirring inside me lately that I would like the opportunity to maybe do the Tonight show or something like that and have that on my resume. I have no doubt that that's going to happen for you when you talked about water polo and barbecuing? Obviously, great writers write about what they live, what they know, what they're passionate about, your material. What. What if you were to do a feature? What would it be about? If I was gonna do a feature movie? No, not feature movie, but just, like, if you were to have that, when you do have your hour spot, if it's Netflix or your own feature, you know, obviously you could do cover a lot of different things, but is there a certain thing that is, like, your go to when you're. When you're writing well? So I think that the best comedy comes from whatever's happening in your real life. Right? So my stand up over the past, let's just call it ten years, has been very strongly leaned towards being a dad and being a family man, you know, and you can sit at the computer and try as hard as you want to write new jokes, but you will never get anything more interesting than just things that happen naturally in life. So when you're at a basketball game or you're hanging out with your buddies, and you guys are all making jokes, cracking each other up, that's when it's important to pull your phone out and jot down the notes of going, oh, I got to explore this on stage. This is a funny scenario of what just happened. So I really think that just what's happening in your life is the best material. And I'm a storyteller, too. I'm not a political comedian like the weekend update guys or a one liner comedian. I don't really, my brain doesn't work that way. I tell stories, and then I make those stories funny and insert little jokes all throughout them. And I'll tell you, if I had to give you an answer on, like, what my material is leaning towards, collectively is a lot of my stuff has really taken a positive spin on it, you know, because I think that's just the way my brain works, is I'm kind of a glass half full kind of dude, and instead of going on stage and complaining about what's wrong with the world and what's in the news and just, like, what's bad about my life lately, a lot of my stories have had a little bit of a moral to them or a little bit of hope wrapped in there, and I try not to overdo it. I don't want to seem preachy when someone just came to laugh, but it's just really where my brain has been going these past few years. I love it. Did the college instructor who pulled you aside and was like, yeah, creative writing is something you need to explore. Has he followed your career? And it was like, this is what I saw. Almost like that Miyagi, Mister Miyagi, kind of passing it down to Danielson Rose again. Oh, can you hear me now? We're good. So that's Doctor Jim McKelly. I believe he's still teaches at Auburn University. And I haven't talked to him in a really long time, and he's never been out to see one of my shows, but I do keep it. I do touch base with him. Every few years I shoot him an email so he knows he had a positive impact on my life. I love it. Is there a mantra that you, you know, you're obviously very positive. You kind of talked about the cup being full. Is there a mantra, a positive mantra that you catch yourself saying daily? Nothing specific, but I think it's just attacking every day with that same attitude. It's really easy to catch yourself slipping into feeling sorry for yourself or focusing on negative stuff. But you just got to always have that same mindset that anything that you're not succeeding at or something bad that happens to you, it's for a reason. And how do you take that and turn that into fuel or knowledge to then make something positive happen for yourself? I feel like it's all the same thing. We're talking about being nice to other people, even if they're not nice to you. You never know where down the road that benefits you. And I just think it's a better way to live your life. Love it. If you could give any, any piece of advice to your younger self with all that you've experienced going on the road, touring the stand up, you know, working with the cars, what would be the one piece of advice you would give to your younger self? Hmm. Just surround yourself with good people, first of all, which I've been lucky to do throughout my life. But I think something that I would tell myself in hopes that I would do it a little better is even though I've always been good about going for stuff and giving it my all, I feel like there's been times when I was humble and was not in a rush to maybe like, you know, and I think that there was times that I could have maybe done things a little, I don't know, faster is the word, but gone for it even more aggressively than I already was. You know, like, I always just thought that if I was humble and kept going, someone would just put me on tv right now. You go hard at it, and then someone will have no choice but to put you on tv. Cause you're gonna be that talented, that undeniable, you know, so. And you could apply that to whatever you do. You know, don't just sit around and wait for someone to, uh, uh, because they like you to, um, promote you to the. The next level at your job or whatever. Right. Like, be so good at your job that they. That they have no choice but to promote you that it just makes sense, you know, I think that's fantastic advice. I mean, like, you're talking about, uh, appreciating the process, and, you know, you said, like, you grinded. Could you grind hard? Yeah. But, like, at the same time, you're balancing life, family, being a dad, doing all these other things, and in the end, you know, who's to say where you would go, you know? Like, you just got to kind of feel it out. So I want to ask. You've probably put in about 10,000 hours. You know, you need that 10,000 hours to master something. Have you done that in comedy? And have done that with the. Being a pit master? I mean, comedy for sure. I gotta believe I hit 10,000 hours, and I use that. So when I was in college, I got my pilot's license for fun, and I always like to use that as an analogy. Like, people are always looking for shortcuts in comedy, right? And they want to take a comedy class or get famous doing something else so that then they get accelerated on the comedy front, whatever, and that's all fine and dandy. But if you really, if what you care about is not just being successful, but being good, but being creatively good at it, then there's certain things you can't skip, you know? So it's not necessarily about, like, you know, getting to certain tiers. It's about the hours, because when we get a pilot's license, you have to log the hours in the logbook, so there's no skipping those hours. And whether that's doing shows like we were talking about earlier at an open mic or opening for somebody else, or just if people won't book you to headline, make your own show. I did two months of comedy and barbecue restaurants. As the pandemic ended, I just wanted to get out on the road so badly. And a lot of the comedy clubs were just book solid because the bigger named acts were knocking the rust off, and they weren't doing theaters, they were doing comedy clubs again. And so I was like, well, instead of competing with them for these dates, I'll just make my own tour. And I called up all these barbecue restaurants because I said, hey, I have relationships and I have an audience and barbecue. And I put a two month tour together where, I mean, I was exhausted by the end of it. I had so many dates on that tour, and it was one of the funnest things I've done in my career. So, you know, you just gotta, you just gotta get. Get those hours any way you can get them, I guess, right? And barbecue, I will say that I definitely took that lesson, the barbecue, because when I first started, I failed so much, and I just kept cooking. I would just put in a rack of ribs to put a rack of ribs in and practice. My wife's like, what are we going to do with all this? And I was literally giving it to the neighbors. I was just like, yeah. I was like, I have to practice, like, you know, and so. And then I would. I had my little, I have a meat journal, I call it. And I was just writing down, you know, I go, okay, it came out tough. Or I need a. I need to do this different or do that different, or this is how much I bought it for and where I bought it. So I would remember everything, you know. Is there a. Is there a secret with smoking a steak? So, uh, yeah, so if you're gonna smoke a steak, you're probably gonna do a reverse sear. So, uh, the only reason to smoke a steak would be if it's, like, thicker, I would say, like a good ribeye. Like a good thick ribeye or a tomahawk or something. And, uh, if you throw it in the smoker, uh, with some seasoning on it, and then, so a steak you normally would sear it is how you cook it. So normally, you put it on the fire, on your grill, and. And the fire hits it, and it cooks from the outside inward. And then you. And then you got to be careful because you got to cook it all the way through inside so that it's edible. But then, you know, you don't want to burn the outside while you're doing that. So if you're going to smoke a steak, instead of searing it, you're doing a reverse sear. You're cooking the inside first, and then you cook the outside. So you put in your smoker, you, the inside gets to about 100, 2125 degrees. Then you pull it out, and then you sear it on that hard. On that hard grill, and that crisps up the outside. So that's why they call it a reverse sear, you're doing it backwards. I love it. Do you do, uh, what, when you do your steak, uh, do you do it, like, on, um. What is the. What are those pans? I'm. I'm drawing a cast iron skillet. Yeah. Is that how you. Yeah. If I don't. If I'm not using my grill or charcoal outside, I got no problem throwing a tri tip or a steak on a cast iron skillet with some butter. And. And that's how I get my seer, for sure. I love it. As far as your career, you're, you know, you're. You're on that trajectory just to keep going. Is there a moment thus far that you are just, like, absolutely super proud of? Wow, that's a. That's a deep one. I mean, I would say that. That. That barbecue tour I did, I was really proud of, um. I would say the. That. That first, uh, tv set that I did, it was a show called Nick mom night out. Um, I did a really good job on that. I was really proud of it. And I was proud of it because, uh. Oh, and then, and then when I was traveling with my wife and kids, I think you brought it up in my, in my bio. But when we left Miami to move to LA, my wife and I came up with this idea to get the rv, and we were gonna go for four months from LA, and I booked up all this work, you know, and it was supposed to be a three month trip, and we ended up going for a year and a half. We just kept going because I just kept getting workbooked. And we were having so much fun traveling in this rv. And so it was just so cool having my family with me that whole time. Well, I sold that to Nickelodeon as a web series. And I was pretty proud of that because I did the whole thing. I pitched it, I negotiated it, I shot it, I edited it, and I. And I sent it off to them, you know, so it was like, it's pretty cool that something was. They were playing it on tv on Nickelodeon, and I was like, man, I did everything for this, like, start to finish. That's super. That's so dope. I get the chills because you're using all the skill sets. You're doing everything yourself. You got your family, you're traveling. I absolutely. I love it. You use all of the skills that we talk about in our program. You got resiliency, communication, an entrepreneurial mindset. I love the idea of thinking outside of the box and going like, man, all these a listers so to speak, are testing the waters again and getting out of COVID and you know, instead of, I mean everybody even in the music world, like the nobody band could not compete with all the bands all going back out to tour all at the same time. It was kind of like a cluster, so to speak, and then figuring out your own lane in order, you know, I just think that's super intelligent to make your own lane and you know, tap into the things that, you know, people follow you for. So the barbecuing, super, super amazing. Well the cool thing about the barbecue too is just that, you know, in comedy we're always, there's a lot of funny guys, you know, we're always looking at ways to stand out authentically. You know, I don't want to just wear a goofy suit and stand out that way or something. Like I want something that's. So the barbecue has been a way of being like, tell me you're a comedian who talks about being a dad without telling me you're a comedian who talks about being a dad. You know, it's pretty obvious when, you know, I'm the barbecue guy. Like, you know, oh, this guy drinks a beer, watches football, has his buddies over and is fun storyteller like you. You know what I'm about when you, when you know that barbecue is a huge part of my life, you know, I love it. So are you now in LA permanently or you're. Yeah, we've been out here like twelve years. Okay. Love it. So when, where can our viewers see you next? So once a month I actually host a show here in El Segundo which is over on the west side of town. And I cook barbecue and so people come and it's a rock and roll venue. It's this really cool place called South Bay Customs. And so people bring their chairs, their lawn chairs and set their lawn chairs up in front of the rock and roll stage.

And then at 730 I serve barbecue and then at 08: 47:32

00 we start a show and I host it and have some of my, my buddies on who are great LA comics, right? And it's, it's, I do it once a month. The next one's the 18th, it's a Tuesday. And then in, on Labor Day I'm actually going to produce in El Segundo once again the Gundo Comedy and barbecue festival. And we're going to be having comedy and barbecue going on all over town and putting those two things together. And then I'm, you know, I'm always around town, I'm going to be at the Hollywood improv, um, next week. I'm going to be, um, at the Chicago Improv for a weekend on 4 July weekend. And I'm going to be in Key West, Florida for a week in, uh, August, where I will be performing at the comedy club and also competing in a barbecue festival there, um, the same weekend. There it is. Well, I, I know for a fact I am locking it in and I am going to bring a chair and I am down for barbecue. Where can people buy your rub and all that good stuff? davewilliamsoncomedy.com has my, my rub for sale. It has my tour dates and anything else you might need. And then I'm most active on Instagram, which is@davewcomedy. And now I just started a barbecue pitch to MeatDave. Barbecue. Okay, I'll be right there. Someone's already coming for barbecue. It's probably some rubs or sauces someone mailed me. Honestly, I get so many free hot sauces and rubs mailed to me. I love it. That's awesome. All right, well, with the last few minutes, I want to just see if there's any questions, comments from our listeners that are with us right now. I see Clemente's got his hand up. Go for it, Clemente. Hi, Dave. Hey, bud. I appreciate what you said earlier about trying something, even if it didn't work out initially and then decided to pursue it anyway. This shows me the importance of facing our fears, trying things, and learning from our, from our mistakes. What have you learned from the things that you initially tried out that didn't work out? Great question. Um, well, some specifics. I mean, I think that the cooking is a great analogy for that, right? Because I was so, this is how silly it was, right. The first time I ever tried to use my smoker, I bought wood chips and I put them in the drip pan, which has nothing to do with where the fire in the woods supposed to go. And, you know, that's how, that's, I was starting from scratch, but I just used my little diary and I wrote down like, oh, I did them at this long, at this temperature, so I burned them, you know, so then I did it again and I go, I'm going to do it at a lower temperature for a more. And I just tweaked it little by little by little. And that's the same way I go about each joke that I write, right? I go and I try the joke on stage and I take notes and I go, this is what worked, this is what didn't. And joke writing for me is such a fun process. And what you're talking about with, like, things that don't work, because I'll have a joke that's working, but I feel like it should be better. And sometimes I'll take it, like, here's the beginning of the joke, and here's the end of the joke, and I'll just flip it and I'll do it completely backwards. And then you go, oh, my goodness. I didn't see that. But I tried it, and the audience obviously told me with their laughter, but that's the way I should be doing it. So it's always a process. Wow. Thinking of a joke that. Do you have a joke for us to show us? I should have been prepared for that. Should I? I should have been prepared. Let me think. Let me think. I can think of one that would be appropriate. Give me a second. Because I thought, yeah, I told, I tell stories. You don't hear a ten minute story. It could be anything inappropriate. There's nothing. My, my little, little one always goes, that's, that's appropriate. And I'm. All you trying to say that's inappropriate. You should. It's awesome. Well, I'll tell you. Let me, let me see here. This. I'll just tell you the short and skinny of one. I don't know if I'll tell the actual joke, but. So this is a true story. I got pranked recently where somebody put a photo of two lawn flamingos on Craigslist and they wrote free to whoever could pick them up first. And they put my phone number on there. And I was just getting all these messages all day from people where they were like, hey, what kind of time can I pick up those flamingos? Really excited about these flamingos. And I'm like, what did I do yesterday? I don't remember this at all. I couldn't figure out why all these messages were coming through, right? And then finally I found the ad on Craigslist and I realized why it was happening. And so what I decided to do was I went on Amazon prime and I bought a big box of lawn flamingos, and I texted every single one of those people back, and I said, hey, if you could pick them up today, they're yours. And then I had all these people come and I made every single one of them feel like they only had, they were the only ones getting lawn flamingos that day. And so that's a story that I, you know, I've added some stuff to make it funny and whatever. And I'm like, man, that was something that was, like, a negative thing that happened to me. I still don't know who did it. And, you know, it was somebody who did it out of being mean, right? Because if they were your friend, they would last, like, one day, and then they'd be like, have you been getting some text messages recently? Right? Like, they wouldn't be able to wait to tell you. And so I was like, man, someone just did this to be mean. But what they didn't realize is I made 14 new friends, and I have a new seven minutes of my act because of it. So they actually did me a favor and probably some extra flamingos lying around. So, wait, so here's a joke I've been doing on stage is that I really like people. I like meeting people, you know? And I know that most people don't like meeting strangers, but I like meeting strangers so much, I don't mind waiting in lines. Like, usually the person in front of me is losing their mind. Like, what's taking so long? I'm gonna miss my flight. And I'm like, I know, right? What are your hobbies? Just trying to get to know them while I'm there. And so I get on. I fly on airplanes, like, every week, and I always want to talk to the guy next to me, but I don't want to, like, be that dude, you know, because I just. I like talking to people. So when I see him scrolling the movies, I'll always be like, hey, man, do you want to pick the same movie and hit play at the same time? And that way, it's like you're watching the movie with a friend and not watching it by yourself. And so far, 100% of the time, they've been like, no, I don't want to do that. What are you talking. And, you know, although I do like people, I also feel like if you're not with me, you're against me. So now, at that point, I usually pick the same movie as them, and I just make sure I stay 10 seconds ahead of them. If you don't want to watch it with me, I'm going to ruin this movie for you. Right. I love it. I love it. See? And that it just. You could be so funny just with the stuff that you see. And that's. Honestly, that's that creative writing and any great comedian and can. Can tap into that. So I love it. I know that we are going to support you, Dave. I love it. I'm excited to eat barbecue. Definitely see some comedians and laughter. I want to thank you again for making time for us tonight, and I look forward to following your career just, you know, skyrocket. Yeah, I appreciate you guys, man. It's an honor to talk to you all. Thanks so much. Perfect. On that note, everyone, have a wonderful rest of your evening.[Host] - As we conclude another enriching episode. We hope you found inspiration in the stories shared today. Let's take a moment to honor Yes I Can's role in bringing Breaking the Biz to life. Yes I Can's commitment to empowering young people with disabilities through education, advocacy, and mentorship shines brightly, paving paths of opportunity and dialogue. This podcast celebrates the organizations dedication to nurturing talent and facilitating impactful discussions. Breaking the Biz is more than a podcast. Its a part of Yes I Can's broader mission to amplify voices, dismantle barriers, and craft a world thats more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Each episode is a chapter in our shared narrative of progress, education, and empowerment, driven by the spirit of Yes I Can. Thank you for spending your time with us on Breaking the Biz. Continue to challenge the status quo and share stories that resonate until our paths cross again. Lets keep transforming aspirations into achievements and infuse every endeavor with optimism. Heres to our advancing the landscape of the entertainment industry, one episode at a time. I'm your host, William Felber. See you next time.