0:00

Do you have the Jaden Smith tattoos still? I have

0:02

two. Can you show them

0:04

or is it a place that you can't show? I can

0:06

show, I mean, it's on my thighs, yeah. It's a little

0:08

odd of a thing to do. It's odd. Because

0:11

he's a person who exists. Who exists. And when

0:13

you got it, he was like 20 years old.

0:15

Fifteen. That

0:24

is the voice of the great

0:26

Sal Vulcanos. Sal Vulcanos from Impractical

0:28

Jokers. Possibly the most

0:30

popular comedy television show in the

0:32

history of the world. Just a

0:34

massive, massive show. And

0:36

my experience with it was

0:39

I didn't think it was something, I always was

0:41

kind of like, yeah, that's not my thing. And

0:43

I watched it. I

0:45

get really drawn in. Because it's just a bunch

0:47

of friends on the show. They're all friends

0:50

in real life. They've been friends for a long time. And

0:53

it's just a super fun show. And

0:55

we talk about that today. He

0:57

is a brilliant improviser. I think he's a riot.

1:00

I think he's got a big heart. He's

1:02

a very honest person. Sal has

1:04

a new stand-up special called Terrified,

1:06

which you can watch on YouTube.

1:08

Thank you to everyone who's been coming out to

1:10

my Please Stop the Ride tour earlier

1:13

this month. I was at the Beacon in New

1:15

York City this week. I'm in Atlanta at the

1:17

Tabernacle. We added a second show. Charlotte,

1:19

we added a second show. Richmond,

1:22

as well as a fourth and final

1:24

show in Washington, DC, on Sunday. The

1:28

tour continues to Niagara Falls, Sag Harbor,

1:30

New York. Only a few

1:32

tickets left. Red Bank, New Jersey, Seattle,

1:34

Portland. We added a third and final show. San

1:38

Francisco, Oakland, Philadelphia, Minneapolis,

1:40

Madison, Milwaukee, Champaign, Illinois,

1:44

Indianapolis, Ann Arbor, Detroit,

1:46

Dayton, Pittsburgh, Louisville, come

1:48

on, Nashville, Knoxville, Asheville,

1:50

Charleston. We're trying to

1:52

go everywhere. Thanks for all

1:54

of the suggestions in the comments of other

1:56

cities I should add. Today on the

1:58

show, Sal Vulcano, I've

2:01

known him for a whole

2:03

bunch of years. I

2:05

love talking with him, enjoying my chat

2:07

with the great Sal Vulcano. If

2:22

I'm being completely honest, I was snobby about

2:24

when the show first came out. I could

2:26

imagine. I was like, oh, hidden camera. There's

2:28

a lot of hidden camera stuff over the

2:31

years. And I

2:33

remember my turning point was I saw

2:35

Doug Stanhope post about it. Oh yeah.

2:37

He was an early supporter. Yeah. And

2:40

Doug Stanhope is one of my favorite comics on the

2:42

planet. He has more

2:44

artistic integrity than

2:46

almost any artist I've ever seen. In

2:50

the sense that he has full

2:52

commitment to his ideas, which are

2:54

insane. And I don't agree with

2:57

any of them. Sure. Disclaimer.

2:59

But I love him. He's a

3:02

very, very dear friend. He's an extraordinary comedian. So

3:04

he posted about it years ago.

3:06

And I was like, what is this all about? And

3:09

then I watched it and I go, Oh,

3:12

what's, I think what's special

3:14

about it is. It's

3:16

a hidden camera show, but ultimately

3:19

it's about the love between friends.

3:22

Yeah. I think. Do

3:24

you think that that's part of it? I think it's

3:26

a real friendship. It's a hundred percent real.

3:29

You're forcing each other to do things you

3:31

don't want to do. Pretty much. Yeah. It's

3:33

a social football. I mean, it's like, it's

3:35

basically friends competing. Yeah. And

3:37

at this point, you know, like this many

3:40

episodes in, we're always trying to like evolve

3:42

the show. Yeah. And so we've come so

3:44

far and just even the sensibility of the

3:46

show, we gain more creative control.

3:48

And so we were able to like now

3:50

in the later seasons, way more put our

3:53

sensibility on there's like, we let things

3:55

breathe and there's much more of like

3:58

scenes. And like, like. It's way

4:00

more of a journey through stuff. Where in the

4:02

beginning we were under the network thumb, basically, and

4:04

they were just like, we want this many things,

4:07

we want quick cuts, you want you get out,

4:09

you want this many jokes. And

4:11

the guy that was there at that time

4:13

was insane. Oh, really? Dude, he got fired

4:15

because agents from all the talent got

4:21

together and went to his

4:23

boss and was like, he doesn't know how to treat people. So

4:27

he would always just be like, just get like some

4:29

set. So one time he goes,

4:32

here's what I'm gonna do. Cause we wanted to

4:34

raise. Cause the show was a big hit.

4:36

Like it was a big hit. Yeah, yeah. And

4:38

yeah, I mean, we wanted to raise. I think it was in between

4:40

the first and second season. And they

4:43

gave us what amounted to like, it was like

4:45

a 5% raise or whatever, but

4:48

the show was really big and we were making

4:50

nothing in the beginning. Yeah, of course. I could

4:52

have worked at any normal, like regular non-entertainment job.

4:54

People think you're on television, you're rich. I

4:57

was just making money just like I would have been

4:59

at my job before that. And

5:01

he said, here's what I'll do. He goes,

5:03

I will do a focus group and

5:06

then we'll poll you guys. And

5:08

whoever is the least favorite in the focus

5:10

group will fire that person. And the other

5:12

three can absorb their salary for your raise.

5:15

That's what heavily said to us. Yeah, it

5:17

was wild. I've never heard of

5:19

anything like that in my life. I'll keep going. Then

5:23

he told us he wants all the jokes in advance.

5:26

And we said, what do you mean? And

5:29

it's like an improvised show basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We

5:31

have buckets and stuff, but

5:34

also one of the things I love about our show

5:36

so much is just being in the moment, it's exhilarating

5:38

because it keeps it fresh. For people who haven't seen

5:40

the show, like a lot of times it'll be, you'll

5:43

be in James Murray's ear and

5:45

you'll tell him he has

5:48

to say something at

5:50

a convenience store or a laundromat or something

5:52

like that. And he really has to do

5:54

it. Yeah, he really has to do it.

5:56

And so you're either saying lines that you

5:58

wrote in advance and

44:00

it's not working the way I need it to. Now,

44:04

that took me, I got really upset with that

44:06

because I do have integrity, right? So I just

44:09

was like, I got, I wrote back to the

44:11

guy, I said, why

44:13

didn't you just come to me and tell me you had

44:15

a problem before going to eBay? Because it's like a three

44:17

strike rule. I was like, I was like, now you're gonna,

44:19

I sell stuff on here and now you gave me a

44:21

strike. I was like, I would have worked with you to

44:25

figure it out. But now since you went to them and

44:27

reported me, now you're coming to me saying that you want

44:29

help. I'm not inclined. And I said,

44:32

I know I forget this, I said, and I'm sure that it's

44:34

just the fact that you don't know how to operate it. That's

44:37

funny. Not that it's inoperable because it was NIB.

44:39

This is what I told him, which was lingo

44:42

for new in box. So it was

44:44

sealed, this thing was sealed. So this wasn't on me. So I threw

44:46

that right back in his face. And I wrote

44:48

him, I wrote him, so

44:50

this ends the story of you and

44:53

I. Oh, that's wow. Right? So.

44:56

It's like medieval language. It was great, right? Yeah, yeah.

44:58

It's just fun. It's fun for the man. It's fun for

45:00

me. Yeah, yeah, fun for you. Two

45:03

years later, I

45:05

came home from being out one night and I used to

45:07

live in this little studio apartment. My desk was a desktop

45:09

and the desk for the desktop was in my kitchen. And

45:11

I sit down, it was like three

45:14

in the morning and the new

45:16

emails come up and I look and I

45:20

had an email from

45:22

that guy. Like I

45:24

opened it up and it was an email from that

45:26

guy from two years earlier from the external dinner. And

45:31

all it said was, you're

45:33

an ass. That's all

45:35

it said. You're an ass, three words.

45:38

And I was like, this can't be, I

45:40

had to look back. I was like, this

45:42

is the guy from Arizona. From the DVD

45:44

burner, yeah. Two years ago. It

45:47

was February 4th, 2004. Because

45:49

I called my friend up, because we, I mean, this

45:51

blew my mind. I'm like, what was

45:53

the turn of events that made this

45:55

guy log in two years later? And

45:57

you're an ass, which also really. He

46:00

annoyed me. Yeah. It's kind

46:02

of like your niece being like, you're boring. Yeah,

46:04

it is. And then you're like, am I an

46:06

ass? Right. Maybe I'm the ass. No,

46:08

I was pissed at this guy, right? I was like,

46:10

this guy is such a dick. So my friend like

46:12

looked him up. Like we found him through Facebook. And

46:14

I got, to this day, I have a little picture

46:16

of him. It's this big. It was from his like

46:19

LinkedIn profile. So I know what he looks like. Wow.

46:22

Right? And cause, so I

46:24

was like, how do I respond to this? Right?

46:26

How do I respond to this? And I was like, I

46:29

want to say something to this guy, but he's insulting,

46:31

but it's like genius kind of. Yeah. Cause

46:33

he got under my skin. But what did he come home

46:36

drunk and remember? Yeah. Like how, why did

46:38

he two years later do this at this late? Yeah.

46:41

And dude, I

46:44

wrote February 4th, 2006 on a piece of paper and

46:47

I put it on my fridge and

46:50

I waited two years. Oh my God. To the day that

46:52

he wrote me that. This is impressive. This

46:54

is a commitment, a true life commitment. Two

46:58

years and on February 4th,

47:00

2006, it was

47:02

four years from the original purchase. I

47:05

opened up my email and I wrote him back, no, you're

47:08

the S. You're the S. That's beautiful. Two

47:10

years later. That's a beautiful story. And so that's

47:12

something I'm like, oh, that's a, I'm definitely going

47:15

to try to work that out. That's a great

47:17

bit. Yeah. I mean, I want to

47:19

try to find him. Oh yeah, that

47:21

would be good. Yeah. That would be a good

47:23

way to take it. Yeah. Nate was, uh, Bargazzi

47:25

was like, you should, there

47:28

might be a thing where you name the special like

47:31

February 4th, 2006. And

47:33

then like the whole point is

47:36

like get, finding him through

47:38

the bit or whatever, like, like whatever.

47:40

So something like that. I

47:42

was like, yeah. Or like something where

47:44

you show up where he

47:46

lives. Well,

47:49

that would be aggressive. That

47:52

would be aggressive. I'm there. But then you like show

47:54

him how the DVD burner works. That

47:58

would be fantastic. wrong

50:00

way, that could be a potential

50:02

financial windfall for me. Oh my

50:04

god. This is crazy. Why

50:06

on earth would you say this? I

50:09

thought, because it's so ridiculous. This

50:12

could be a huge financial windfall for

50:14

me. It's the exact words I used,

50:16

which I thought were so ridiculous that

50:18

she was going to start laughing. Right.

50:22

Am I really going to sue you for

50:24

something? No way. No way. Not to mention

50:26

a person you have one degree of separation

50:29

from knowing. Right. A huge

50:31

financial windfall. I told her to watch her mouth because

50:35

he's listening and he's ready to strike. And it

50:37

could be a huge, I will sue you. Right.

50:40

Like that's basically what I was saying. And I thought she would

50:42

laugh. And she, she, she, she went and

50:45

she smiled and like crooked her head, like

50:47

in a way, like I, and then I

50:49

saw her reach her

50:51

hand back and hit her, her whatever

50:53

her husband, a boyfriend, whatever, hit him,

50:55

like save me. Like

50:58

she hit him. And then he turned around and I

51:00

guess he knew the thing and he goes, Oh, we should get

51:02

going. She goes, yeah, we really, we,

51:04

we got to go. He was talking to her for

51:06

40 minutes and she left after like 30 seconds

51:09

of the first thing I said to her. So

51:11

that's something I remembered recently that I was going to like

51:13

try to like, you know, again, it's a story. So it's

51:16

like, but I was going to bring that to the stage

51:18

and figure out like where that kind of goes. I

51:21

think that's good. Yeah. I think

51:23

that's, I think it, it's short. It's got a lot

51:25

of laughs along the way. It's short,

51:27

a bit of an ending. It's

51:29

short, like a punch line to put a button on it. But

51:32

I feel like it's like, there's so many

51:34

ways you could go, right? There's like a

51:36

million ways you can go. So

51:39

you know, so I send her an email two

51:41

years later to the day and I said, Hey,

51:43

I have this idea. I think it

51:45

could be a huge financial windfall. You know what I

51:47

mean? And then you could call it back to the

51:49

other one. Yeah. Yeah.

51:52

Cause is that in the same hour or what's going to be the same hour? Yeah.

51:55

eBay thing probably and the Rachel Mcgaughan story. I mean,

51:57

that's so new. I don't know if I'm going to

51:59

put it in, but yeah, that's. It would be in

52:01

the same, it's the same group of like stuff I'm

52:03

working on. I think that's very funny. I think it

52:05

could be a huge financial windfall. I

52:08

mean, it's so funny. I'm trying to think of anything

52:10

else that would be like

52:13

a capper to it. Yeah,

52:15

I mean, so I, you know, so

52:18

I had my lawyer draw up a lawsuit and

52:22

I wrote up the story that I

52:25

just told to you just now and

52:27

I added in like a few things she didn't

52:29

actually say. And then I said at

52:32

the end of it, what I'm looking to

52:34

obtain as the end game here is a

52:36

huge financial windfall and I sent it to

52:38

her. You

52:41

could do it. I mean, you could do it.

52:43

You could have your lawyer send that. Yeah, that's

52:45

true. I could do that. Yeah, I

52:47

like that a lot actually. That seems good. Yeah, another thing

52:49

I do and every time I'm on a late night talk

52:51

show, I cross the amount that I get out on the

52:53

contract I get to sign and I write 10,000 dollars. I've

52:59

done it for 40 appearances.

53:01

Oh my gosh. And I'm always like, this will pay

53:04

dividends. Like someone's gonna call me up, like, like, Seth,

53:06

Harry, I've done it to so many people, Jimmy, and

53:08

no one's ever said a word. I cry and I

53:10

take a picture of it. So I have all. You're

53:12

a lunatic. You're a genuine

53:15

bonafide lunatic. I can't even believe

53:17

we're talking right now. We're

53:25

gonna do a thing called working out for a

53:28

cause we give. We donate to a

53:30

nonprofit that you think does a good

53:32

job. Oh, all right,

53:34

excellent. How

53:37

about Doctors Without Borders? Oh yeah, the great organization.

53:39

Yeah, I have a few that I go to,

53:41

but it's been a while since I've donated to

53:43

that one. We're gonna donate to Doctors Without Borders.

53:46

We will link to them in the show notes. We

53:48

will contribute and encourage you to

53:51

contribute to listeners as well. Sal

53:54

Valcano, it's an honor. You're

53:57

a hilarious person. I'm so glad to sit down with you.

53:59

It's been a minute. All right.

54:02

I'll see you then. That's going

54:04

to do it for another episode

54:07

of Working It Out. You

54:13

can follow Sal on Instagram at

54:15

Sal Vulcano. You can find

54:17

his tour dates at salvolcanocomedy.com.

54:19

He's on tour with Impractical Jokers

54:21

this summer. And then the

54:23

fall, he's doing solo stand up. See

54:26

him live. He is a hilarious

54:29

performer, hilarious human being. Check out verbigs.com

54:31

to sign up for the mailing list

54:33

to be the first to know about

54:35

my upcoming shows. The full

54:37

video of this is on the YouTube channel. Our

54:40

producers of this podcast are myself, along

54:42

with Peter Salomo and Joseph Verbigali and

54:44

Mabel Lewis, associate producer Gary Simons, sound

54:46

mix by Ben Cruz, supervising engineer Kate

54:48

Balinski, special thanks to Jack Andenov and

54:50

Bleachers for the music, special thanks to

54:52

my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein.

54:55

Also thanks as always to my daughter, Una, who built

54:57

the original radio fort made of pillows.

54:59

Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show,

55:02

rate it and review it on Apple

55:04

podcasts. Tell your friends, tell your

55:06

enemies. Let's say you're making

55:08

a show with a bunch of your friends

55:11

for television network and you get a bunch of notes

55:13

that don't really make any sense about

55:15

how you should change your show into

55:18

more of what they want it to be. Here's

55:22

what you do. You say, you know what

55:24

you should do? You should listen to this

55:26

show called Mike Verbigali is working it out

55:28

and it's all about process and how to

55:30

give notes that are more

55:32

effective to the vision

55:34

of the creator of

55:37

what the actual show is. Thanks

55:39

everybody. We're working it out. We'll see you next

55:41

time.