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HB! Live #023 - Keith Robinson Joins Us for a Comedy Masterclass

Keith Robinson joins us to answer your questions and promote his new Netflix special. With 30+ years in the game, he drops a lot of must hear gems for comics.

Some topics covered are:

  • How to write authentic jokes
  • Most common young comic mistakes
  • The problem with crowd work
  • How to act in a green room
  • +MORE

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Transcript
Joel Byers:

What's goody?

Joel Byers:

Hot breath averse.

Joel Byers:

Welcome back to Hot Breath Live.

Joel Byers:

This is our weekly livestream where me, comedian Joel Byers and my co host, comedian Yoshi so answer your comedy questions.

Joel Byers:

And today we are bringing on the Comedy Godfather.

Joel Byers:

This is the gentleman who has helped so many comedians throughout his career and is now getting his well deserved shine with a brand new comedy special on Netflix streaming now.

Joel Byers:

Ladies and gentlemen of the Hot Breath verse, please welcome the one and only Keith Robinson to the show.

Keith Robinson:

I've had two hands.

Keith Robinson:

I would clap.

Joel Byers:

Well, Keith, I know your time is very valuable.

Joel Byers:

What time you have left.

Joel Byers:

So we're gonna jump in to this online.

Yoshi:

Wow, he's trying to kill you already, Keith.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, I know you don't have much time or whatever you got left.

Keith Robinson:

We want to do the final video.

Joel Byers:

I'm just trying to make you feel at home.

Joel Byers:

I know that.

Joel Byers:

I know you like the jabs, so I'm just trying to loosen you up a little bit.

Joel Byers:

As we jump in here.

Keith Robinson:

We know.

Yoshi:

Your clock is ticking, so let's get this, brother.

Joel Byers:

No, but we already have people.

Joel Byers:

People in the live chat are already asking questions.

Joel Byers:

So we're going to get into some good comedy questions.

Joel Byers:

But to jump into it, you know, we want to make sure people go and watch your special.

Joel Byers:

So if you could, Keith, even just tell us a little bit about the special and how you're feeling about it.

Joel Byers:

The Netflix special, you know, this is.

Joel Byers:

This is kind of like the Mount Everest for comedians.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, man, it's great.

Keith Robinson:

I feel great, man.

Keith Robinson:

And then Netflix special is called Different Strokes.

Joel Byers:

Mm.

Keith Robinson:

Meaning I had two that great.

Keith Robinson:

So I had to get a better one.

Keith Robinson:

You know me, I need one and knock my voice right out of the box.

Keith Robinson:

This stroke was.

Keith Robinson:

This joke was a catch.

Keith Robinson:

Meow.

Joel Byers:

Well, the special was too, man.

Joel Byers:

It was killer from beginning to end.

Joel Byers:

Just laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh.

Joel Byers:

It was all killer.

Joel Byers:

No filler.

Joel Byers:

So we appreciate you as an OG showing these younger comics.

Joel Byers:

You know, if you're gonna drop a special, make sure that it's bringing the heat.

Keith Robinson:

Yes.

Keith Robinson:

I mean, on this one, I just told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Yoshi:

Yeah, it was great.

Yoshi:

How'd you prepare for this special versus your other?

Yoshi:

You've done well.

Keith Robinson:

What is special?

Keith Robinson:

I had a stroke, first of all, and then that was part of my prep.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

And now I just start, you know, start working it out.

Keith Robinson:

When I thought I was running, you know, when I felt I was running, I went on stage and started working on it because I Didn't know if I can talk or not, you know, now sometimes I can talk better than other times when I was.

Keith Robinson:

I was nervous that my voice wouldn't come up for sure.

Keith Robinson:

You know, I was in the hospital.

Keith Robinson:

I tell a story and the true story.

Keith Robinson:

And the speech pathologist said, London, B words and the F words.

Keith Robinson:

Bah, Right.

Keith Robinson:

You know, fa, fa, fa, ba, ba.

Keith Robinson:

And learn to repeat those words, you know, whatever the words are.

Keith Robinson:

And I said to my speech pathologist, I think I got it.

Keith Robinson:

Let me call someone, you know, And I call my friend, my good friend Robert Kelly, and I'm like, bob's a fat ass, Bob.

Keith Robinson:

And miraculously, my voice started coming back.

Yoshi:

That's the best thing ever.

Yoshi:

That's great.

Keith Robinson:

That is a real story.

Keith Robinson:

Now Bob's like, what are you doing?

Keith Robinson:

Get my voice back.

Keith Robinson:

Shut up and let me.

Joel Byers:

That is hilarious.

Joel Byers:

And something you're able to do that I've heard you talk about for young comics is telling your life in your comedy and making it to where it can appeal for everyone.

Joel Byers:

I know Kevin Hart has said something that you helped him with a lot, and something I heard you say in an interview was that comedians start as themselves, and then they get a lot of different advice and information, and then they start to go away from that.

Joel Byers:

And then, like, seven to 10 years later, they get back to that original self.

Joel Byers:

How do comics tap into that original self and stick with it and not get veered off?

Keith Robinson:

It's hard because the owners of clubs and all that don't care about your growth.

Keith Robinson:

What?

Keith Robinson:

They don't know.

Keith Robinson:

They don't care.

Keith Robinson:

All they care is about how we selling tickets.

Keith Robinson:

And if you're taking your time and walking through things.

Keith Robinson:

And then they get mad like, oh, wait, man, we gotta have 30 seconds of laughter apart.

Keith Robinson:

Every 30 seconds, we want to hear laughter.

Keith Robinson:

We don't have time for you to, you know, work on stuff.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

So a lot of times it's hard, but eventually you find yourself again because everybody got advice for you.

Keith Robinson:

Do this, comics.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

Open the mouth.

Keith Robinson:

Well, find yourself, find your voice.

Keith Robinson:

Always saying, you don't have nothing.

Keith Robinson:

Start with the truth and work away from there.

Keith Robinson:

The truth will never let you down.

Keith Robinson:

So if I'm talking about having a stroke, it may not be funny when I first talk about it, but I'm gonna make him funny.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

What is interesting first, I just had a stroke.

Keith Robinson:

You go and set up a listen now.

Keith Robinson:

When I'm gonna do with that stroke, I'm gonna find the beats.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

You know, so whatever your situation, Is find something truthful about it.

Keith Robinson:

Find something a lot of people like.

Keith Robinson:

I mean, I think every comic should be well read and look at news or whatever.

Keith Robinson:

Cause the more, you know, the more you can talk them out.

Keith Robinson:

And that's what people look for, to do information in a funny slant away.

Yoshi:

Yep.

Keith Robinson:

And nothing worse than a dumb comic and don't know nothing.

Keith Robinson:

You know what's going on, man?

Keith Robinson:

Well, you know.

Keith Robinson:

Oh, man, Obama.

Keith Robinson:

Obama was president a while back.

Joel Byers:

What are some common mistakes you're seeing young comics make nowadays?

Keith Robinson:

Nowadays, I think we call the Internet is actually made a lot of comics lazier.

Keith Robinson:

I think they've gotten lazy to just find that quick laugh and getting likes and clicks.

Keith Robinson:

That's our drug now on drug is likes and clicks.

Keith Robinson:

So we don't vet and joke out as much.

Keith Robinson:

You know, before you had to go, all right, I'm on stage.

Keith Robinson:

Now they have crowd work extra.

Keith Robinson:

I'm a crowd work expert.

Keith Robinson:

Shut up.

Keith Robinson:

You don't have no material.

Keith Robinson:

Stop lying.

Keith Robinson:

There are people who are absolutely great at crowd work, But I think it has to come naturally and not force.

Keith Robinson:

I'm not going, hey, how y'all doing?

Keith Robinson:

I'd rather keep thinking of.

Keith Robinson:

Cause you have a crowd work face.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, that is.

Joel Byers:

That is the trend now is.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

Chasing the crowd work clips more.

Joel Byers:

They're trying to develop material and stuff.

Joel Byers:

So it's a weird balance.

Keith Robinson:

I always think about crowd work is gonna come naturally.

Keith Robinson:

We're working in jokes is hard.

Keith Robinson:

So I believe, like I'm in New York, Main New York.

Keith Robinson:

That's a gym.

Keith Robinson:

And in the gym, you walk out, you know, you stay in the gym working out.

Keith Robinson:

I don't work out.

Keith Robinson:

Crowd work comes.

Keith Robinson:

I want to work out on a new angle on a joke.

Keith Robinson:

And that's so much to talk about.

Keith Robinson:

Where you from?

Keith Robinson:

What really.

Keith Robinson:

It's like, hey, so what kind of work do you do?

Keith Robinson:

Yuck.

Keith Robinson:

Work those damn jokes out.

Keith Robinson:

You'll have that for the rest of your life.

Keith Robinson:

That muscle.

Keith Robinson:

Work that muscle.

Keith Robinson:

That's what I absolutely believe.

Joel Byers:

So when.

Joel Byers:

When a comic starts with the truth, how do they then start to work it out to being funny?

Keith Robinson:

Add on to it just.

Joel Byers:

Just keep experimenting with different ideas and lines.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, I mean, like I said, I started out when they're stroke.

Keith Robinson:

Well, when I'm doing this stroke stuff brand new and being handicapped.

Keith Robinson:

So when the joke came when I laughed at other handicapped people, so I forgot that I was handicapped.

Keith Robinson:

So the evolution of boom, boom, boom, that's the first thing I noticed, you know, like, man.

Keith Robinson:

And I'M one.

Keith Robinson:

Somebody walked past me like, ah.

Keith Robinson:

They got like, wait a minute.

Keith Robinson:

Look at you.

Keith Robinson:

Look at you.

Keith Robinson:

You don't walk much better than me.

Keith Robinson:

I'm like, oh, yeah, I really forgot.

Keith Robinson:

But I put that in.

Keith Robinson:

That was absolutely the truth.

Keith Robinson:

You know, a girl smiling at me, asking me, and I'm thinking, we got something going on.

Keith Robinson:

But I know she felt sorry for me.

Keith Robinson:

She wanted to give me a sandwich.

Keith Robinson:

I'm like, am I dressed that bad?

Keith Robinson:

You know, I don't need your damn sandwich.

Keith Robinson:

So.

Keith Robinson:

And then you start to build from there.

Keith Robinson:

You start to see things happening, and you go from there.

Keith Robinson:

And that's building of something that's going on in life.

Keith Robinson:

And you notice them and then bringing out like, okay, this is different.

Keith Robinson:

I'm officially handicapped.

Keith Robinson:

You know, my grandson came in, he was 4.

Keith Robinson:

He said, Pop, pop.

Keith Robinson:

You sound like Squidward.

Keith Robinson:

That's another piece.

Keith Robinson:

But then I had on my grandson in a relationship, you know, I'm coming.

Keith Robinson:

I'm going to come off.

Keith Robinson:

It's kind of.

Keith Robinson:

I'm a come off the bench granddad.

Keith Robinson:

I'm not a starting granddad.

Keith Robinson:

His favorite granddad, he's a star.

Keith Robinson:

Nobody, you know, I can't off the bench.

Keith Robinson:

You know what I mean?

Keith Robinson:

He's real down.

Keith Robinson:

So you got something there.

Keith Robinson:

What's real is what really hurts a little bit.

Keith Robinson:

But then, you know, then you start to add on and add on to the whole life experience, and then you have something, and that's way better than shitty crowd work.

Joel Byers:

Moral of the story?

Yoshi:

Yeah, moral of the story.

Joel Byers:

That's great.

Joel Byers:

Well, I know, I know we have just a few more minutes here, so I do want to get into some of the questions from the live chat here, because I know we have comics watching live with us or listening to this afterwards, which, if people are listening to the podcast, please go watch Keith's new special out on Netflix now.

Joel Byers:

And if you enjoy this episode, reach out to Keith on social media, tag him promoting his special.

Joel Byers:

We're.

Joel Byers:

We're all about comics helping comics here.

Joel Byers:

And Keith was taking time out of his day.

Joel Byers:

Yes, thank you.

Joel Byers:

I don't.

Joel Byers:

I'm gonna.

Joel Byers:

I don't mean to pander, you know, so the.

Joel Byers:

The first question we have here is from Kathy Pinkard, who asks, how do you remember your jokes on stage?

Joel Byers:

Do you have a topic, enroll with it, or perform it so much that it's in your memory?

Keith Robinson:

No, sometimes I think about it and then I try it on stage.

Keith Robinson:

And when I go on stage, because I'm closer to the truth, I have Ideal when I want to talk about.

Keith Robinson:

And I as I'm talking about on stage, you know, in what, what I just said about coming off the bench and the granddad, I just thought about that one today.

Keith Robinson:

Just come out because that's what I'm doing.

Keith Robinson:

I'm not as.

Keith Robinson:

It's kind of funny to me when I'm not a starting granddad, I'm a second, I'm a second, a second string granddad, you know, and that, that's real, that well.

Keith Robinson:

And I don't care who like that or not, but I know being second string kid, second string, whatever, and just fun enemy and that can't go wrong.

Keith Robinson:

People can't boo you off the truth.

Keith Robinson:

They might not like it, but they gotta hear it.

Keith Robinson:

Well, that's a real sentiment and how I feel.

Keith Robinson:

So I love it.

Keith Robinson:

I really don't care if somebody else don't like it.

Keith Robinson:

That's an actual sentiment.

Keith Robinson:

That's real stuff.

Keith Robinson:

So I put it out there for you, you know, I'm putting out there how I feel.

Keith Robinson:

It's still interesting.

Keith Robinson:

And you can ask me, well, why would you feel like that?

Keith Robinson:

And I can go deeper into it, you know.

Joel Byers:

And that makes it easier to remember on stage as well.

Joel Byers:

If you're talking from a truthful place, then it's, it's not almost reciting it, but you're almost just speaking naturally as well.

Joel Byers:

Mm, very nice.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, good question there, Kathy.

Joel Byers:

Another question we have here from Juan demarco.

Joel Byers:

Do you like the new up and coming comics?

Keith Robinson:

No.

Yoshi:

He should get you canceled, Keith.

Keith Robinson:

Especially Juan DeMarco.

Keith Robinson:

Of course, of course, of course I like them.

Keith Robinson:

And bringing in new life to anything is always good.

Keith Robinson:

Whether we like it or not is a good process.

Keith Robinson:

And seeing a new firing hot comics come in.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, you gotta make space for them and hopefully help, give them help, you know, and there's nothing better than seeing new, good new comics come in.

Keith Robinson:

And there are a lot of hot ranked comics out there, you know, and I love all of them.

Keith Robinson:

I like the Joe, listen, the Mark Norman, all those guys are funny.

Keith Robinson:

Little Reggie Conquest, Monroe, Martin, Derrick Gaines, that's my Philly crew, Zaynab Johnson all.

Keith Robinson:

I love them all.

Keith Robinson:

All the new ones that's coming up making noise.

Keith Robinson:

You got Andrew Schultz's door, Arenas.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, that makes me angry.

Keith Robinson:

That makes me very angry.

Keith Robinson:

But it's good.

Keith Robinson:

Comedy is still growing.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

And doesn't stop.

Keith Robinson:

And they're taking it to different levels.

Keith Robinson:

Shane Gillis and all those guys, you gotta love them, you gotta go.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

All right.

Keith Robinson:

I never been a kind that was jealous.

Keith Robinson:

I never got bitter.

Keith Robinson:

I got better.

Keith Robinson:

And that's the main thing to all these topics.

Keith Robinson:

Young and all don't get better.

Keith Robinson:

Get better.

Yoshi:

Bars.

Keith Robinson:

And that's real, you know, because I know I was getting.

Keith Robinson:

I'm better than him.

Keith Robinson:

Who's the common thing.

Keith Robinson:

Why he got that?

Keith Robinson:

I.

Keith Robinson:

I'm better.

Keith Robinson:

No getting better.

Keith Robinson:

Getting better.

Keith Robinson:

I love that and have that because it's like your turn is coming up.

Keith Robinson:

Everybody's gonna get that shot.

Keith Robinson:

Is what you do with it when you get it.

Keith Robinson:

People like, I want to do that.

Keith Robinson:

When I do this, I'm a show.

Keith Robinson:

And then when they go on, it's a big dud and nothing happens.

Keith Robinson:

But don't even let that get in your way.

Keith Robinson:

Shake it off and keep going.

Yoshi:

For sure.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

Next question we have here is Daphne Steinberg asking if you can be more specific.

Joel Byers:

What aren't young comics doing that they.

Keith Robinson:

Should be the work, I think re investigating.

Keith Robinson:

Writing.

Keith Robinson:

Writing jokes.

Keith Robinson:

Go on.

Keith Robinson:

Stop looking for that instant high, that quick high on the Internet.

Keith Robinson:

Do your research.

Keith Robinson:

Research and joke.

Keith Robinson:

Random joke.

Keith Robinson:

Find more.

Keith Robinson:

Enjoy and then joke.

Keith Robinson:

That's what I believe.

Keith Robinson:

I believe you can still do the Internet.

Keith Robinson:

That's fine.

Keith Robinson:

But the main reason I came in here is to tell jokes, make people laugh.

Keith Robinson:

So don't forget that.

Keith Robinson:

Do not forget the process.

Keith Robinson:

Get on the stainless.

Keith Robinson:

And I mean, I know it's hard not to worry about likes and clicks.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

But at comic thing better than me.

Keith Robinson:

Don't worry about the construction of a joke.

Keith Robinson:

You know how to put them together for the man.

Keith Robinson:

I don't put my jokes together for a dumb algorithm.

Keith Robinson:

Oh, look at the algorithm.

Keith Robinson:

I fooly.

Keith Robinson:

I put it together because I like it.

Keith Robinson:

You know, my algorithm.

Keith Robinson:

I really believe in the jokes.

Keith Robinson:

People are writing for algorithm.

Keith Robinson:

I can't even say it right.

Keith Robinson:

You know, my stroke is not on an algorithm algorithm.

Joel Byers:

Need to go back to the speech therapist for that one.

Joel Byers:

This ties into the next question from Bobby Sutton asking, what do you think today's audiences prefer observational comedy or personal stories.

Keith Robinson:

Either one is good.

Keith Robinson:

Either one is good.

Keith Robinson:

If that was you do and you do it well.

Keith Robinson:

Everybody's not going to have personal stuff because they don't like it.

Keith Robinson:

But if you have observational or you know what topical, well, do it to the message you endure.

Keith Robinson:

That's why, you know, comedy is comedy no matter when you how you deliver it is how you deliver it.

Keith Robinson:

I prefer talk.

Keith Robinson:

Start with the truth and then going from there.

Keith Robinson:

But you may move far prefer observational.

Keith Robinson:

Whatever Your strengths are you'll find them and maybe, just maybe, you'll do both and personal, so it don't matter, but as long as you keep writing.

Joel Byers:

Beautiful.

Joel Byers:

And I can kind of combine these next two questions from Bobby Kramer and Frank Herrera, who asked, Bobby asks, how long did it take you to build the hour for Netflix?

Joel Byers:

And how long did you spend refining it?

Joel Byers:

And also Frank asked if Netflix filters any of your material.

Keith Robinson:

No, nothing.

Joel Byers:

Nice.

Keith Robinson:

Not one, thank God.

Keith Robinson:

But it took me.

Keith Robinson:

When I got back and started to build was almost a year and a half, two years.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

I was performing at a comedy seller, the Fat Black Pussycat, every Monday or Tuesday for hour and building and building and building.

Keith Robinson:

And as life happened, the special happened more and more and more.

Keith Robinson:

You know, what I thought and what I came across or what I remember going through in the hospital.

Keith Robinson:

Now I had to learn how to make it funny.

Keith Robinson:

So I was working on that right away when I noticed I'm on stage.

Keith Robinson:

People look at me like I was in the Special Olympics and they felt sorry for me.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

Instead of laughing, so I tell some mean jokes and they go, wait a minute, this guy's an.

Keith Robinson:

You know, you notice everything, man.

Keith Robinson:

And if you don't, you can always address it.

Speaker D:

Yeah, yeah.

Keith Robinson:

And I did a one show and it was a lot of handicapped people on the show, but even they looked at me like, oh, man, come on, he's not a real handicap guy.

Keith Robinson:

Cuz I wasn't born handicapped.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

You know, they're like looking at me like, oh, he was asking for it by the way he ate and all.

Keith Robinson:

But I noticed that.

Keith Robinson:

And looking at me like, nah, nah, you're not a part of our crew.

Keith Robinson:

You know, we're the boy with crew.

Keith Robinson:

You hoa or pop, whatever you pop, caffeine your way into this.

Keith Robinson:

We're the real one.

Keith Robinson:

We're handicapped OGs.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

And that's real, though.

Keith Robinson:

And I, you know, I'm like, okay, I get it.

Keith Robinson:

Well, that discrimination everywhere.

Joel Byers:

Yo.

Keith Robinson:

You know what I mean?

Keith Robinson:

Even in the handicap community.

Keith Robinson:

They look, who is this guy?

Keith Robinson:

Like, wow.

Joel Byers:

So we're, we're about to land the plane here.

Joel Byers:

Just two more quick questions.

Joel Byers:

One from Mike Jump, asking some do's and don'ts when meeting a successful comic in the green room.

Keith Robinson:

Oh, don't go in there eating all in their food.

Keith Robinson:

Don't do that.

Joel Byers:

Hilarious.

Keith Robinson:

Don't tell them you got jokes you've written now for them.

Keith Robinson:

You know what?

Keith Robinson:

I know this because I want thought one comic kicked me and my trees O'Neill out of his ring room.

Keith Robinson:

Take those both out.

Keith Robinson:

When I.

Keith Robinson:

Wait a minute.

Keith Robinson:

We're sitting there tying up the chicken lamb, like, get out doors out.

Keith Robinson:

We're like, all right, so give colleagues that space, whatever space we may need, and ask the owner or whatever in the club or wherever, always ask, is it all right?

Keith Robinson:

Well, we were just eating feet up in the air.

Joel Byers:

Hilarious, man.

Keith Robinson:

But trees.

Keith Robinson:

Get out of there.

Joel Byers:

Both of you in there eating.

Joel Byers:

He probably ate everything.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, big guy.

Keith Robinson:

Anyway.

Joel Byers:

Well, the.

Joel Byers:

The final question here we have for you, Keith, is do you have any closing advice for the next generation of comics out there?

Joel Byers:

Anything you've Learned from your 30 plus years in the comedy game that you could bestow upon this next generation?

Keith Robinson:

Watching tempers.

Keith Robinson:

Watch how you treat people.

Keith Robinson:

And even the owners are bulkheart.

Keith Robinson:

You know, I.

Keith Robinson:

My main thing was not knowing how to deal with industry.

Keith Robinson:

Like one woman said to me at NBC saying, keith, you got a deal.

Keith Robinson:

I'm like, all right, you're not happy.

Keith Robinson:

Like, what do you want me to do?

Keith Robinson:

You know what I mean?

Keith Robinson:

I could have been handled that situation better.

Keith Robinson:

When people want to give you something, you know, don't bring whatever baggage you had in it.

Yoshi:

For sure, sure.

Keith Robinson:

doing missour at Comedy Store:

Keith Robinson:

I'm like, yeah, but then I won like a dummy, man.

Keith Robinson:

I wanted to clarify something.

Keith Robinson:

So what do I do next?

Keith Robinson:

She said, get the hell out of my face.

Keith Robinson:

That's what you do next.

Keith Robinson:

And I got so mad, I cursed that and all that when I should have just had.

Keith Robinson:

Yeah, you're right.

Keith Robinson:

Thank you so much.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

And it still bothers me to the day that I didn't give her the respect that she deserved.

Keith Robinson:

All because, you know, you know, I'm a hood dude.

Keith Robinson:

You don't talk to me that kind of way.

Keith Robinson:

But I didn't.

Keith Robinson:

I was so dumb.

Keith Robinson:

They're not, you know, being gracious enough to know this woman has an icon.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

At a time of a dumb comic.

Keith Robinson:

So watching Temple, you know, you don't have to take a lot of everybody's.

Keith Robinson:

Well, you gotta take some.

Keith Robinson:

And, you know, and it gets you farther, faster than that ego.

Keith Robinson:

The ego will get you in trouble.

Keith Robinson:

So set that ego at the door.

Keith Robinson:

Cause it always levels to this thing.

Keith Robinson:

And, you know, I had to learn the hard way, you know, and that's one thing that always messed with me thinking about it for Missy Shore is a legend.

Keith Robinson:

Some snot nose comic trying to get, you know, I should have Knew, like, hey, remember.

Keith Robinson:

Sorry, man, whatever.

Keith Robinson:

That's what I should have.

Keith Robinson:

Did I let my ego, my temperate, my background, whatever.

Keith Robinson:

No, don't take shit from nobody.

Keith Robinson:

This is a take from people and industry enemy.

Keith Robinson:

All right, so that was my thing.

Keith Robinson:

Mind your temper and how you talk to folks.

Keith Robinson:

Anybody.

Joel Byers:

Well, we appreciate you talking with us today, Keith, and taking time out of your schedule.

Joel Byers:

So people listening.

Joel Byers:

Go watch Keith's special on Netflix right now.

Joel Byers:

It's called Different Strokes.

Joel Byers:

It's available now.

Joel Byers:

This guy is a comedy vet who is all killer, no filler in this special.

Joel Byers:

Just like you learned a lot listening to him today.

Joel Byers:

You're going to learn a lot just watching the special and seeing comedy done at a very high level.

Joel Byers:

So, Keith, we appreciate you as always helping the next generation of comics.

Joel Byers:

And is there anything else you want to promote or people to connect with you or anything like that as we get out of here?

Keith Robinson:

I'll be on tonight's show.

Keith Robinson:

I'm coming out the 10th, the 11th.

Keith Robinson:

I'm taping a breakfast club.

Keith Robinson:

And on the same day I.

Keith Robinson:

I take the reference club, I'll be doing the View, and there'll be a lot of angry women.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Keith Robinson:

Thank you.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, thank you, Keith.

Joel Byers:

Absolutely appreciate you.

Joel Byers:

Have a great day out there, buddy.

Joel Byers:

And we'll be sure to keep spreading the word on your special.

Keith Robinson:

Thanks so much, man.

Keith Robinson:

I appreciate it.

Joel Byers:

He dropped some.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, he dropped some bars.

Yoshi:

Yeah, bars, bars.

Joel Byers:

He dropped some bars.

Joel Byers:

I think a few that stood out to me.

Joel Byers:

Starting with the truth was interesting.

Joel Byers:

Hearing he said the phrase find joy in your jokes was an interesting approach to comedy writing.

Joel Byers:

And also, as he said, start with the truth.

Joel Byers:

And then how to find the funny for him seemed very organic in that it was okay.

Joel Byers:

I have this premise around me being a handicapped person now, and that's basically the truth.

Joel Byers:

So then basically, he said as he lived more life, the joke started to reveal itself to him.

Joel Byers:

So he.

Joel Byers:

I know we can really emphasize sitting down and joke structure and writing, writing, writing.

Joel Byers:

But Keith, 30 years in the game is now at a point of, oh, I have a premise.

Joel Byers:

And now throughout my life, I'm going to start looking for things that reaffirm that premise.

Joel Byers:

Almost like, oh, I want to buy a new car.

Joel Byers:

I want to buy a new Honda.

Joel Byers:

And then everywhere you go, you see, like, that Honda car everywhere.

Yoshi:

So he's observing, like, constantly observing everything with the premise in mind.

Yoshi:

Like the handicap.

Yoshi:

I'm handicapped.

Yoshi:

What other.

Yoshi:

What's interesting about this?

Yoshi:

People walking past me, people not thinking I'm part of the Handicapped community, all those different elements and then going deeper inside of that.

Yoshi:

So, yeah, it's.

Yoshi:

It's pretty solid.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, I love that approach and something.

Joel Byers:

I'm actually doing a joke writing workshop when I'm in Florida this weekend, and I feel like that's something to incorporate as I do want to.

Joel Byers:

I do want to help comics not be as formulaic because I feel like if you're too formulaic, then you sound formulaic when you deliver it.

Joel Byers:

So I am trying to find that happy medium of structure, but also helping to be organic and authentic as well.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

So I think that that's a good approach to that as well.

Yoshi:

Yeah, I mean, he was talking about either the hour every Monday and Tuesday for weeks.

Yoshi:

You know what I mean?

Yoshi:

Reps.

Yoshi:

I think that's an important factor of just getting the reps in, especially as you're working on the hour, is.

Yoshi:

I can imagine how often it kept changing, how often it kept refining how often he found more and more stuff and even like finding like the handicapped people that were, I guess, at the show and finding comedy in that scenario as well.

Yoshi:

So he's.

Yoshi:

While he's working on the special, he's also observing what other things are different about my condition, even while I'm on stage.

Yoshi:

So that was just a, like.

Yoshi:

It's like that constant observation, I think is so important and just like basically saying, don't ever be a dumb comedian.

Yoshi:

I'm such a fan of that.

Joel Byers:

I love that.

Joel Byers:

Be well read.

Yoshi:

Well, you gotta know things.

Joel Byers:

Like, you're gonna know the more you can talk about.

Joel Byers:

He said, yeah, if you're going to.

Yoshi:

If you're going to have an interesting take on something like, about it, like, know the thing, like research, do your homework on the topic so you're just not saying it just for the sake of saying it.

Yoshi:

You actually know about it.

Yoshi:

So I like that a lot.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

That really resonates with me on this new material I'm doing about sugar and it being poison and processed food being owned by tobacco companies and all these things that I've just been reading about on my own that I'm now starting to try to incorporate into my comedy.

Joel Byers:

It's kind of interesting timing of thinking, oh, yeah, talk about the things, you know, talk about the things that you're naturally interested in that are truthful to you, and then start to find the funny within these things you're already well versed in.

Joel Byers:

So that's it just.

Joel Byers:

It's an interesting time to be hearing that.

Joel Byers:

Is that kind of the direction I'M taking my material of things I'm more interested or educated about.

Joel Byers:

That really resonated with me, and I hope it did other people as well.

Yoshi:

Yeah, Yeah, I like that.

Yoshi:

I mean, I think I like that as I'm, you know, I don't know about you, but after I take the special, I've only been thinking about the next hour.

Yoshi:

Right.

Yoshi:

Or the next 30 minutes.

Yoshi:

Right.

Yoshi:

And so I'm, like, trying to build that material, just like you're trying to build your material on the sugar thing, which I think is super dope.

Yoshi:

And I've heard it and you've expanded on it even from before, like, because I think you've had the sugar thing for a little bit, but the way you've crafted it now, it's like, layered, right?

Yoshi:

It's like, what are the layers to this?

Yoshi:

You could.

Yoshi:

I could tell you've done the research on sugar.

Yoshi:

I feel like you've just been Netflix binging on, like, documentaries or something, which is.

Yoshi:

Which I think is super important to make the jokes work, right?

Yoshi:

To make, to.

Yoshi:

To be the most, like, I don't know what the word is, but, like, I think about who does the Hot Pockets joke.

Yoshi:

What's that guy's name?

Joel Byers:

Jim Gaffigan.

Yoshi:

Jim Gaff.

Yoshi:

Again, no one will ever do another Hot Pockets joke, right?

Yoshi:

It's.

Yoshi:

It's been done.

Yoshi:

He's literally done everything around it.

Yoshi:

So it's like whatever your material is, you want to be able to cover all the bases around this material, around this thing that no one else can really take away from you because you're the one that experienced it.

Yoshi:

But you do all the research, you hit all the tags, you hit it from multiple angles.

Yoshi:

And I think to your.

Yoshi:

To his point, that's what makes a well rounded comedian.

Yoshi:

Somebody that knows a lot about the topic, but makes it funny for the audience.

Yoshi:

And I love sort of just getting back to that, like, the jokes, like, over and over again.

Yoshi:

Get to the jokes.

Yoshi:

We are joke writers, right?

Yoshi:

It's like, don't practice crowd work.

Yoshi:

How do you practice crowd work?

Yoshi:

Just write jokes.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

And he said something like, the jokes are going to last a lifetime, as opposed to crowd work is kind of in the moment, a poof of magic, and then it's kind of gone forever.

Joel Byers:

You can't really redo that crowd work.

Joel Byers:

But a joke, you find a good joke.

Joel Byers:

You do that for years and years and years and years and years.

Yoshi:

And also, I think we also have to, like, I know we're pooping on crowd work, but the People who do crowd work really well use the crowd work to capture clips, to get people to come to their shows and watch their material, because that's material that they've worked on and crafted.

Yoshi:

So it's like it's done for a reason.

Yoshi:

It's done for the attention span of most people, which is like the eight seconds.

Yoshi:

But they're doing that so they can hook you to come to the show.

Yoshi:

And obviously that's got some ramifications because now people think they're part of the show, and we don't want that.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, some comics do, but then some don't.

Joel Byers:

You know, it is a.

Joel Byers:

It's an interesting time to see where all that is.

Joel Byers:

And I'm not trying to be an old, grumpy old man like these kids and their crowd work.

Joel Byers:

I just think there is a balance to be had.

Joel Byers:

That.

Joel Byers:

Honestly, it's.

Joel Byers:

It's tough for me to even, I don't know, connect with as much because I can't imagine trying to figure out how to ride a type 5 and trying to figure out how to do crowd work and edit and post these clips.

Joel Byers:

You know, when.

Joel Byers:

When I started, it was just stand up, stand up, stand up over and over and over again.

Joel Byers:

There was nothing.

Joel Byers:

All these extra variables at play to where, oh, my gosh, if I go viral, I may start selling tickets and can go full time as a comedian.

Joel Byers:

So it's.

Joel Byers:

In a lot of ways, it's tough for me to connect with that New balance comics have to find, and I think they just have to find what fits best for them and what they want their career to be.

Joel Byers:

But there is, I think, a big value in knowing how to write jokes, because the ROI on a good joke is much longer.

Joel Byers:

You can do it for the rest of your career if you want.

Joel Byers:

I'll do marriage tattoos for the rest of my life.

Joel Byers:

You know, that one liner still, you know, Burt Price, you're doing the Machine.

Joel Byers:

I mean, he's.

Joel Byers:

He still does that, so.

Yoshi:

Absolutely.

Yoshi:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yoshi:

You got to do what works.

Yoshi:

And the joke.

Yoshi:

If the joke is that good, then it will literally be enough to last you your career.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, for sure.

Joel Byers:

Oh, and Kathy said she missed.

Joel Byers:

We did ask your question, Kathy, at the very beginning of this, so thank you for asking that question.

Joel Byers:

Keith had to get off early, but we were here just kind of reflecting on several of the big takeaways that we thought from Keith's interview, which was great.

Yoshi:

So good.

Yoshi:

Such a.

Yoshi:

Such an og, like, three decades, man.

Yoshi:

That's.

Yoshi:

That's wild, man.

Yoshi:

He's been through so much, but you gotta think he has injected his knowledge into so many people.

Yoshi:

I mean, he was driving Kevin Hart and Okerson to New York for weekends for years.

Yoshi:

Isn't that wild?

Yoshi:

Just be like, no, no, just come.

Yoshi:

Just come roll with me and just do the circuit and do these clubs in New York.

Yoshi:

This is how you' get good.

Yoshi:

And you look at those two right now and they're crushing it.

Yoshi:

Two completely different styles, but yet they got their own thing in comedy and they're doing great.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

And speaking of crowd work, I mean, Big J Oerson, one of the best crowd work comics ever.

Joel Byers:

So it's masterful.

Yoshi:

Masterful.

Joel Byers:

Unreal.

Joel Byers:

So it's, as we say, you know, relax on crowd.

Joel Byers:

We're going to learn jokes.

Joel Byers:

Big J is legitimately one of the best crowd work comics ever and can do it whenever and to whoever he wants.

Joel Byers:

And it's going to be lights out.

Joel Byers:

So, yeah, it's kind of, what kind of comic do you want to be in, finding that balance?

Joel Byers:

I think for comics, it's kind of a personal choice of, I don't want to make it all or nothing or you're doing it wrong.

Joel Byers:

It's just what you want your comedy to be, I think.

Speaker D:

Yeah, yeah.

Yoshi:

I mean, but I mean, even if you look at Jay Okerson's last couple of specials, this last one that I know he did on Netflix maybe like a year or two ago, it's all jokes, man.

Yoshi:

And the jokes were phenomenal.

Yoshi:

Like, they were so good.

Yoshi:

Like he's.

Yoshi:

Because he's just.

Yoshi:

They were personal.

Yoshi:

They had layers where you learn more about him and they just had jokes like it was just legit with jokes.

Yoshi:

He's a phenomenal storyteller and, yeah, it was pretty fantastic.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, agreed.

Joel Byers:

So, yeah, I think my big takeaways are starting with the truth and finding the funny around the truth.

Joel Byers:

And I mean, the other quotes.

Joel Byers:

Find joy in your jokes.

Joel Byers:

I think that's gold because sometimes when you're doing an open mic in front of 30 comics in their notebooks and that's.

Joel Byers:

And there's a barista grinding beans for the homeless person waiting outside for free coffee, you know, TV on in the background.

Joel Byers:

TV on.

Joel Byers:

Finding joy in your jokes will help you to perform in those settings joyously with a lot more enthusiasm than otherwise of, oh, we're here again.

Joel Byers:

So finding joy in your jokes and the more, you know, the more you can talk about.

Joel Byers:

I mean.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, yeah, those are gold.

Yoshi:

Yeah, I love that.

Yoshi:

I love the observe and keep observing to Add to your jokes.

Yoshi:

Like, just.

Yoshi:

It's almost like your joke isn't over yet.

Yoshi:

You're just observing life on how this feels.

Yoshi:

When you start with the personal, then you get more out of it because it's your personal experience.

Yoshi:

So, yeah, it's.

Yoshi:

That was stellar.

Yoshi:

That was really good.

Yoshi:

Sometimes you almost need that refresher.

Yoshi:

I feel like you just gave, like, a master, a quick master class on comedy.

Yoshi:

You know me, the art of it is.

Yoshi:

Oh.

Yoshi:

And then he ends it with, hey, what's the biggest advice?

Yoshi:

Be nice.

Joel Byers:

Yep.

Yoshi:

Check your ego.

Joel Byers:

Yeah.

Yoshi:

To people.

Yoshi:

Watch your temper.

Yoshi:

I mean, that's.

Yoshi:

That's our whole philosophy.

Yoshi:

Like, don't be an a hole.

Yoshi:

Be good to people and work on your comedy.

Yoshi:

Get on stage.

Yoshi:

It's like, yeah, that still universally rings true.

Joel Byers:

Be nice, be funny.

Joel Byers:

That.

Joel Byers:

That old mantra.

Keith Robinson:

It's the old.

Joel Byers:

The oldie but a goodie.

Joel Byers:

It's very true.

Joel Byers:

Be nice, be funny, do the work.

Joel Byers:

It's.

Joel Byers:

There's no way around it.

Joel Byers:

And I do.

Joel Byers:

As he was saying, comics start off as themselves and then get a lot of different feedback and start to veer from that.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Joel Byers:

I do want to be mindful of.

Joel Byers:

We do give comics a lot of advice, and it's coming from a place of.

Joel Byers:

Not of.

Joel Byers:

We know better than you, but this is what we learned from our professional experience.

Joel Byers:

But you figure, like, you apply what applies to you, but that is something to be very mindful of.

Joel Byers:

Even the feedback we give to make sure it is still coming from a place of take with this and apply to.

Joel Byers:

Make it your own and not apply.

Joel Byers:

Take this as law to follow this or else you're doing it wrong type deal.

Yoshi:

Yeah.

Yoshi:

I mean, but here's the thing.

Yoshi:

Like, when we've done feedback Mike stuff, then we're very conscious of that versus we're just giving advice.

Yoshi:

Like, here's the thing.

Yoshi:

The be nice and be funny.

Yoshi:

There's no.

Yoshi:

There's no like.

Joel Byers:

Right.

Yoshi:

Sugarcoating that.

Yoshi:

There's no like.

Keith Robinson:

No.

Yoshi:

That you shouldn't do.

Yoshi:

No, no, no.

Yoshi:

You should for sure be nice.

Yoshi:

And you should sure work on be funny.

Yoshi:

And then you should for sure do the work.

Yoshi:

Like, those things are universally true.

Yoshi:

You mean what I think about a sugar joke versus what Joel thinks about your sugar joke.

Yoshi:

Now, that's an opinion based on how we both write, based on how we perceive things.

Yoshi:

That kind of stuff you can take with, like, a grain of salt on how you do it.

Yoshi:

But we've also have seen stuff, so I think it's also important to know that we are coming from a place where we do want to help you out and get better at this comedy game because the more, the merrier.

Yoshi:

The more we see comics doing well, the better that this game works out for everybody.

Yoshi:

And to your point, said before, comedy is making a huge comeback.

Yoshi:

I don't know, a city, a town, we're in Atlanta, I don't know, a brewery that doesn't have a comedy show.

Yoshi:

It's like, I don't know, a restaurant that hasn't thought about it.

Yoshi:

Like, there's just so many people that enjoy comedy at this moment.

Yoshi:

It's making a huge boom.

Yoshi:

It's like it's a resurrection and I think it's good for comedians overall.

Joel Byers:

Amen.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, yeah, amen.

Joel Byers:

And that's what we want to do is help comics make the most of their comedy careers and create their own success.

Joel Byers:

That's what we're all about here, helping that next generation of self made comics.

Joel Byers:

So, you know, speaking of self made, I think we're both in Florida this weekend.

Keith Robinson:

We are.

Yoshi:

You're on a different side of Florida.

Joel Byers:

Yeah, I'm, I'm in Pensacola Thursday, then Sandestin Friday and Fort Walton Beach Saturday.

Yoshi:

Oh, wow, you got trifecta.

Joel Byers:

We got, we got a little run going and that Saturday I am doing a workshop in the Panama City area.

Joel Byers:

So if you are in that area, hit me up on social media at joelbyers Comedy and I can share more details.

Joel Byers:

And where are you?

Yoshi:

I'm in Fort Lauderdale on Friday is my show, but I get in town on Thursday so I'm gonna try to see if I can go up sometime on Thursday and then so I'll be in Fort Lauderdale Friday and then I'm in Islamorad on Saturday, so.

Yoshi:

Which is like a little bit north.

Yoshi:

It's like four hours away, but yeah.

Joel Byers:

Whoa.

Yoshi:

Three shows out there this weekend, so looking forward to it.

Joel Byers:

Very nice.

Yoshi:

Saturday night.

Yoshi:

One show Friday night.

Yoshi:

Yeah, we crushing it out here.

Yoshi:

We're trying to put in this work, baby.

Joel Byers:

So anyone in those areas, holla at your boys.

Joel Byers:

Pull up.

Yoshi:

Absolutely.

Yoshi:

Yoshi.

Yoshi:

So on IG Yoshi with two E's, hit me up if you're going to be in town, holla at me.

Joel Byers:

And we appreciate everyone that watches these live streams that we do every Tuesday and we'll be back next Tuesday.

Joel Byers:

Thank you, everyone.

Joel Byers:

We love you all.

Joel Byers:

We'll see you all next week.

Joel Byers:

Bye, y'all.

Keith Robinson:

Hot breath.

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Hot Breath! (Learn Comedy from the Pros)

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Joel Byars