Name: Dusty Slay | You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes #podcast
Uploaded: 2024-07-10T15:00:34.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dusty Slay | You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes #podcast' from Pete Holmes on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-07-10. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dusty Slay | You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes #podcast' from Pete Holmes on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-07-10. Transcript available.

Dusty Slay | You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes #podcast

You made it weird, yes you did, you made it weird, yeah. You made it weird,
with Pete Holmes.
Yes you did, you made it weird, yeah. What's happening weirdos? This is the
incredible Dusty
Slay, who has a new Netflix special out on Netflix. Great, good start. It's
called Workin'
Man. Dusty is hilarious. I discovered him recently and immediately arranged to
have him
on the show, so if you don't know who he is, prepare to be delighted. If you
know who
he is, welcome to an incredible chat that I got to have with him. I'm so glad
you guys
are here. Not much to promote up top, PeteHolmes.com for tour dates. We just
added Madison, Wisconsin.
I think we got Milwaukee on there. I'm currently in Houston. There's a
hurricane coming in, hoping
to not be stuck in Houston, so I'll keep you updated on that. But also, oh, Largo.
Largo-LA.com
if you'd like to see me in Los Angeles. The next Largo date is on July 17th, so
that's going
to be super fun. In the meantime, enjoy this chat with the incredible, the
hilarious Dusty
Slay. I hope you get a kick out of it. Get into it.
How's it looking? We're open. We're good? Well, I want that hot Steve Martin
riff on there.
Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Katie. I totally whined. I've been hanging out with my
daughter too
much. Well, yeah. I mean, that album, if that's... I mean, Let's Get Small. You
know, when I
started comedy, when I started stand-up, a buddy gave me three albums. He gave
me a Mitch Hedberg,
strategic grill locations. He gave me this Steve Martin, Let's Get Small. And
then he
gave me a George Carlin album. I'm not going to know it. I don't know it that
well either,
but the other two was like, I don't know, I feel like it was my biggest
influence really
as a comedian. Yes. And I listen to that album now and I hear stuff that I do.
Like, and it's
I don't think people would listen to that and go, oh, that's what Dusty's doing.
But I can
listen and I go, oh, that's what I'm doing. That's the best thing you can do.
Yeah. Meaning, I think you get something in there,
like an influence in there to the sub-perceptual level. So it's in there. You're
still benefiting
from it, but you're not biting them, but you know, but if you watch that doc,
it cuts and he's an
executive producer on it, which is always, you know, funny to me when, when it's
a documentary
about you and you know that this person had say over it. Oh yeah. But in this
way, it's kind of cool
because it intercuts between like Jack Benny doing a bit and then Steve Martin
doing the same kind of
bit in the same way. You could do that with the Simpsons. You do that with
Steve Martin and me. Oh yeah.
But it's doing it very like unapologetically. It's also doing it with like
patter from magic
routines that were on TV. And then it shows Steve doing them. So everybody's
like doing their
influences. Oh yeah. Including him. Yeah. You know, I love that. Like the, like
I was listening. I like
when he goes, we're having some fun now, folks. I'm like, you guys pumped. That's
what I said to you
when I opened the door. Yeah. Or, or we're having a good time. I mean, that's
what I'm doing in a,
in a sense. And I didn't even really realize it till I went back and listened.
And then stuff that he does, he's like, all right, let's get started. You know,
he's, you know, he's 20 minutes into the album and he's like, you know, all
that sort of stuff.
That's just kind of like silly. It's like, you know, obviously we want to take
the job
of telling jokes seriously and write good jokes. But like overall we are just
like telling jokes.
And it's funny to make fun of what you're doing.
Yeah. Cause it's pretty ridiculous.
It is. Can I, I'm going to throw this to you. Okay. I'm in New York. I know you
were in New York
for a time. I did a month. Oh really?
I didn't move there and then go, I'm not going to be here. I rented an
apartment for a month
that my friend was living in. I said, I just want to experience it a little bit
and see if I want
to move there. And he talked his landlord into letting me rent for one month.
And then you taught him why you don't do that. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, I'm
out of here.
Yeah. I mean, it was great. I loved it. And I almost moved, but then I decided
not to.
Nashville. Yeah. Instead. Not for like a job just for a.
Yeah. I had just talked to someone and they, you know, they just, I talked to
actually Keith
Albertstadt and he shared that he's from Nashville and what kind of what he did.
He learned to work
the road from a, from Nashville where he had all these clubs and just a few
hours around you.
And then he moved to New York later. Chicago's like that too.
Yes. Yeah. I almost moved to Chicago at one point too, but I, I, I like
Nashville. I like
country music and I'm like, you know, so it was great. But anyway, I don't want
to go off
on that tangent because you were going to talk about New York. Oh no, no. I
liked that you
went with it because this is your time. And let me say, I think you're so funny.
I was.
Thank you. I threw on your album. You too, by the way.
Oh, I appreciate that. I, that's really kind. I, I threw on your album, not
knowing, sorry,
that, but I'm going to plug it here. You have a new Netflix special.
Yes. I haven't seen, but I'm going to watch for pleasure, which is the greatest
compliment.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
Absolutely. Not to research you, but like I, I put on the album and I was just
laughing.
So this is so stupid what I'm about to, I'm just saying, and I was just
laughing.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
But like, you know, I do know you, sometimes you put them on and you're kind of
appreciating
or you're respecting. And I was both appreciating and respecting, but I was
also just straight
up laughing within, you know, 12 seconds of you starting.
All right.
And I really like your vibe very, very much. And I like your style. And I know,
did you come
up with Nate? The only thing that I like that you and Nate have in common is it's
a space that's
unrushed and kind of nice to hang out in. So I'm not trying to compare you to
Nate as much as I'm
saying like, I like Nate for the same reason in this one regard, which is I'm
like, this is a porch
swing and I'm relaxed.
Oh yeah.
You know, well, we didn't come up together at all. I mean, I, I met Nate when I
moved to Nashville.
Yeah. Um, but I came up with Nate, so I know you didn't come up with Nate, but
I'm wondering like
when you, when you crossed paths.
You know, I moved to Nashville in 2014, the very first open mic I went to the
day I moved there,
Nate, and it was this really dumpy open mic and Nate was there and he wasn't
there as.
This is Nate Bargatze, by the way, I realized we never said.
He's not there. Like I'm still coming up in the, it was like, it was a big deal
to me. I was like,
oh man, Nate Bargatze is here. I was like, so.
He was just working out an open mic?
Yeah. He was just saying, I mean, you know, he, he probably knew everyone there
and, uh, yeah,
he was just hanging out, did a spot. And I was like, all right, I think I made
the right choice
moving to Nashville.
That's so cool. I like what's happening to the world. Meaning it used to be LA,
New York. Even Chicago was like, what? You know, a little bit.
Yeah. And now it's like, there's all these little hubs. You meet a comic and
they're like,
yeah, I'm based out of Orlando and we're putting down roots.
Yeah. It's so great because I'm able to, uh, I live in Nashville and I like
country music,
so I'm able to do stuff like the grand old Opry and the Ryman and do these
sorts of things. And then
also like work the road all the time. Our airport is getting better. I mean, I
still connect. I'm still
two flights almost everywhere I go, but it's like, uh, you know, I just get to,
uh, you know,
I have a wife, I have two kids and I get to live a pretty normal life, but
every weekend I get to go
on the road and now I'm doing theater. So it's like, it's cool. I get to do
this thing. And I don't
think of myself this way when I used to open for people doing the same size
theaters that I'm doing
now, I would think, oh man, these guys are famous. This is cool. But now I'm
doing it and I don't
feel like that about myself. I'm just like, this is great. I'm pumped. People
are coming to these
shows. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. You know, and I feel like the the, like I
started comedy in
Charleston, South Carolina, and we didn't really have a comedy club at all. So
I started doing improv
first. So we had these improv theaters and then we had these really nice
theaters in downtown
Charleston that we would do. Of course they wouldn't be sold out, but you know,
they would put on shows.
Yeah. But they would open these nice theaters to us. And so I learned to do
comedy in these
kinds of spaces. Oh, it's like a return to form for you.
Yeah. Cause then I started working the road and I'm like, oh, the club is
different. The
club was harder to me. Oh, of course it is. In fact, I'm not trying to disparage
club comedy
by any means. I just looked up and saw Gary Goleman's book over there. And I
think of Gary,
and to me, Gary is a guy who wrote his act to be done in a theater. Yes. Like
it makes sense in the
theater. And there are a lot of guys, guys that I respect and admire who are
best in a knife fight.
Like that's their best. Yeah. That's the best way to see them. And I actually,
just to make this,
this podcast real hard right now, I'm almost like, is it like a self love issue?
Like I belong in the
basement and like, did Gary get like more firmly attached as a child that he's
like, no, I want
to be at the grand old Opry. Like I, I don't know. But like, for me, I was like,
I don't want to be in
a saloon. I hate it. Yeah. Well, you know, it's interesting. The first time I
did a club,
I remember doing a contest at the Charlotte comedy zone, which is a club I
would end up liking,
but I was in there and I remember texting my friend that I hate comedy clubs
and I'd never really done
it, but I just, it did feel like more of an aggressive environment. It is now.
And they liked
it. I'm sorry. How old are you? I'm 41. Okay. So we're not that far off. And
like,
I'm older than I'm 45. You know what I'm talking about. There were places that
liked it. Oh yeah.
Almost like a carny culture. They relished that it was like, welcome to the
jungle.
Little motherfucker. And you're like, why is this comedy?
I always thought that too. Like when, when the audience feels like that, it's
like,
I'm just here to tell you jokes and try to bring you joy.
I say it on stage. I said, I did a show two nights ago and I was doing some
jokes and I just
felt them pull away. And I was like, we're on the same side. Like, I want you
to have a good time.
You want to have a good time. Like, I feel like the United Nations ambassador,
like talking to the
audience, being like, we have the exact same goal. Why, especially in the 90s
and early 2000s,
why was comedy like, you think you can make my girlfriend's boobs jiggle? Like
it was like
threatening or something. Bullshit. Yeah. I mean, you know, I was getting in,
I was getting in like mid to late 2000s is when I started, you know, messing
around with comedy.
So I think I missed some of that, but it was still like, you got the echoes of
it. Yeah. And I learned
to do, I mean, so for the next 10 years, I would do comedy and clubs all the
time with an occasional
theater, but I would do comedy and clubs all the time. And I'm like, I learned
to do it. And I learned
to like it so much that I even talked to my agent and I was like, I don't know
if I want to do theaters.
And then I did like one good theater and I was like, oh, I don't know why I
ever said that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is so much. Well, I think
because there's a certain survive. I don't know. I'm pretty black and white.
You get in the clubs,
you learn how to do it. You're like, this is good. Maybe you need to be nudged
the other way. Yeah.
Yeah. But, uh, that's, I had something that, where did it go when you, I was
just so surpri