Episode 363: Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson: Exploring Fame, Fitness, and Funny Stories with a Comedy Legend

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, crush it.

So,

here we are.

I didn't want to say anything before we started rolling because I have so many questions for you, and I didn't want to get all the good stuff.

Right, right.

No, it's hard when you're sitting up.

We're talking, like, but you saved it for the show.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah, because I have to tell you, I hope you didn't do all the good stuff during the pre-show.

I hope not either.

Because I have been legit fascinated, fascinated by you probably my whole life.

Oh, wow.

Like at least 20 years.

I've always thought you were so exceptionally talented.

And just the fact that you've had the longevity you've had in this career, like you've been in residency in Las Vegas for 30 years almost, right?

Yeah, yeah.

It's crazy.

Are you the longest ever to be on the camera?

I have to ask you that.

I'm not, I'm up there.

I don't know.

We've never really done the,

but I'm up there because, yeah, as far as longevity, especially in one particular hotel, I've been at the Luxor now coming up on, it'll be 19 years.

So it's a long time in one property.

That probably, I own that probably record.

For sure.

And then about 30 some years in Vegas itself.

I'm 40.

It'll be 40 years in comedy coming up.

Well, it's kind of exciting, 40 years.

40 years.

You were at MGM Graham, weren't you, before?

Right.

And then you came to Luxor and been here forever.

So when, by the way, I was so excited to have you.

I didn't even say who I have on.

This is Carrot Top.

Right.

Yeah.

People could think I'm Reba.

Yeah, this is carrot top i have carrot top riba's letters up riba's got some guns hunter yeah you like you're like crazy fit but by the way we're gonna get to that okay what but your real name is scott thompson scott thompson now you know why i went by carrot top yeah pretty boring name scott thompson well and there's a kids in the hall there's a guy from the kids in the hall named scott thompson that's right and kids in the hall is canadian and i'm right oh yeah yeah that's right and so i thought well scott thompson is already kid and i know him and and this is kind of a funny story why real briefly they i when i lived in la they sent me on a on an an interview, or what do you call it, audition.

And I get there and they're like, I come in to read this part and they're all like, Carrotop?

And I'm like, yeah, and they're like,

okay.

How did you get this interview or this audition?

I'm like, an agency sent me.

And they're like, they're all just like dumbfounded.

And I'm like, did you get, oh, did you guys get the wrong Scott Thompson?

And they're all like, yeah.

And I'm like, kids in the hall.

And they'll go, oh, my God.

Yeah.

So you're Scott.

I said, yeah, you probably wanted him.

And then I come walking in my hair out there.

And I said, well, thank you, though.

That's very sweet.

I said, well, no, I'm going to read.

I mean, I came all the way down here.

I'm going to read the part.

You know, maybe I'll get it.

Did you get it?

No.

But I read for the part, and then I remember thinking, it's so funny.

They were looking for the other Scott Thompson.

That is really hilarious.

Right away, they were like, what are you doing here?

Well, it's funny because I, how many people actually even know that's your name, right?

No, but

lawyers in the government, people like that.

Right, exactly.

Like lawyer, that's basically, and your mom.

My mom.

I don't know if my mom even knows my, but yes.

No, my grandmother used to call me Caratop, and I always found that really weird.

Well, I kind of like, my grandma's like, my nephew, is this my nephew Carrot Top?

And I'm like, it's Scott, grandma.

Yeah, that's really.

Well, do you, do you, who do your friends call you?

I have no friends, so they know.

They call me Scott.

Yeah, Scott.

They call you Scott.

Yeah, nobody calls me CT or Carrot or no, it's Scott.

Like when you walk in here, so we're, we're doing this podcast in, in Scott, aka Carrot Top's backstage dressing room.

When you walk in, do people say, oh, hey, Scott?

No.

Yeah.

They don't say, hey, Carrotop.

No, no one ever says, no one.

Down to security, down to anybody at the hotel, no.

So I would never think no one's addressed me as Carrotop.

When you walk in here, do you go through the main entrance or do you have a back door entrance or how do you?

I go through the back door.

You go through the back door?

Yeah.

Okay.

Front door?

I don't go through the front door.

I'm Carrotop.

Well, I figured, do they even have one?

Like, do people always stop?

No, they recognize you.

It's not really about trying to not be recognized.

I mean, I'm going to be in stage an hour, but it's just easier.

Well, you're pretty recognizable.

It's just easy to, we park in the back and we get through.

It's a lot easier to get into the hotel and out of the hotel.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So when I'm not one of those guys, though, I, you know, don't look at them kind of thing.

thing no of course you're like the most you're actually

look at my jean shorts look at my jorts you look really nice you look you're very friendly and super nice and seem to be very kind and down to earth everybody who works for you have been here for like a hundred years 18 years 17 years 19 years home all my crew from day one pretty much that's crazy yeah so how did you let's start from like the way beginning okay when did people start calling you carrot top and how did you even start i started in college on a dare from my uh my roommates they had an open mic and I went up and I told like joke jokes, you know, like old jokes, you know, guy walks into a bar kind of thing.

And I did great.

And everybody said, man, you're funny.

And then they had it every

semester.

They had another one.

And so my friends were like, you got to do it again.

That was great.

And I went up and did it a couple more times like that.

And then there was a comedy club that one that had the same similar thing, like an open mic.

And I went down to audition for them.

And the lady was like, I still remember her name's Colleen McGar.

And she looked at me and she's like, I got down.

And I had to like audition in a sense in the comedy club.

Never been in a comedy club.

It was just first time on stage, just in front of her with her clipboard.

And she's just looking at me.

I'm like, do I do it in front of a crowd?

She's like, no, do it in front of me.

I'm like, okay, it's weird.

So I did my act and whatever I called my act.

And she's, remember, looking at me, I've never forget a seemed like yesterday.

She's like, those aren't your jokes, right?

I said, no, no, they're just like knock-knock jokes and, you know, George Carlin joke and Joan Rivers.

She's like, okay.

Do you have any like your own jokes?

And I said, no.

She's like, you got to have your own jokes.

And I said, oh, you do?

And she's like, yeah.

I'm like, oh, well, that makes it difficult, a little harder.

So she said, go home and like, try to think of something that's, that's, you know, you and, and, and natural, like that would be your organic you.

So I went home and I just started thinking, I need a name.

Before I even had a joke, I said, I need a name.

I need like the Rolling Stones tongue, the Grateful Dead sticker.

I need a, I need a name.

And I just wrote down Caratop.

And I drew a little logo.

It's in here somewhere.

I drew it with a Sharpie and I said, Carrotop.

And my roommates came in and said, what's that?

It says, my logo for my, you know, for my, my company and my, uh, my career as a comic.

They're like, you're not a comedian.

I said, I know, but I have a logo.

That's the important part.

You know, the hard part's over.

I got the logo.

I mean, I think I'm kidding.

So I had like a logo.

I printed it up on a t-shirt.

I said, look at the carrot top.

And they're like, boy, you need an act.

And I said,

that'll be the easy part.

So I had a neighborhood crime watch sign that I had stolen when we were in college.

It was in my dorm room.

And as I was drawing my Carrot Top logo, I was kind of looking up at this neighborhood crime watch sign.

It's a metal, you know, four by four crime watch.

I said neighborhood crime watch.

And I thought, there's something funny there because when we took the, we took the sign, there's nobody watching.

So I thought, how good is our crime watch?

And then I'm watching us take the sign.

So I took it off the wall and I went down to her and I said, this is, here's one.

Is this funny?

And she said, oh, that's really funny.

I like, and I like the visual aspect of it too.

But I didn't know that everything was going to be visual at that time.

I just, that was just one organic joke that I could come up with an idea.

And she said, I love that.

And I said, okay, I'll try to think of more things.

And I started doing, no, I said, do you want to go steal more signs?

And she said, no, don't do that.

And I, in my head, said, that's what I'm going to do.

So I went around town and there was a lot of street signs that were funny.

There was one that had slow children at play.

And I had

a kid with no feet.

And I said, well, no wonder they're slow.

They can't, they have no feet.

There was one, no train horn between certain hours.

And I said, that's when the hours that the train horn isn't there is when we need it.

We can see during night.

So it was really clever.

It was like a, it was like a, what do you call it?

Like just a five, you know, a show and tell kind of thing.

And I would do the signs.

It was all signs.

And I ended on the, you know, the best one was Butts Road.

That was the name of the, the street that went right through Boca Raton.

I said, I, this is Butts Road where all the assholes live.

And it just killed.

And she said, this is great.

I love the idea of you with the signs.

But then I ran out of signs.

So I, there's a whole bunch of them, reduce speed ahead.

I said, there's cheap drugs ahead, you know, all these dumb things.

And I was known for this like sign bit and it killed.

And she said, you need, you know, grow off that.

What's, what would be the next thing?

And I just sitting there and I said, how about a hat for old people when they drive so their head goes above the seat?

So I made this like, just like this, a hat.

I got a mannequin head and I tied it on with a wig, a gray wig.

And I'd say, you wear this for old people so they could see their head when they drove.

And all of a sudden, it was kind of like props, you know, kind of came into, she was like, this is fascinating.

This is great.

And no one's doing props.

Oh my God.

And then how many do you have?

I'm like, well, right, as of now, that and the signs, but I'll keep thinking.

So I just literally exhausted everything in my brain.

I was like a cowboy boot with a kickstand so drunks don't fall down an ice tray with a level so you wouldn't spill the water putting it back in the freezer there's tons of hangers it was a hanger for a bachelor didn't have a hook you know just went on the ground and uh she was like this is brilliant this is great and it was all original she's like this is the best part because back then when i started it was all about doing original stuff it wasn't about doing someone else's act yeah and so i was kind of proud of the fact that i i was doing original stuff and any comic that would give me grief which they all still to this day give me grief i would always say at least i'm doing my own thing i don't know why you would think just the opposite, that they all get behind you, right?

In a sense, like he's doing something different.

Totally.

But more hate came because I was doing something original and clever and people loved it, but other comics hated it.

And then, you know, I guess.

Why?

It doesn't matter.

Is it jealousy?

Yeah, sure.

It's all that.

It's like, you know, but you know, it really, when it comes down to it, like, I might have spoken about this on a few other shows, but I think that when it finally came down, because, you know, I'm like anybody else.

I mean, we're, we're humans and we want everyone to love us.

We want everyone to love your brand and your comedy.

And comedy is very selective.

It's like music and then politics, everything is, is so, is, is so, right?

People love Carrotov.

People hate Carrot.

And I get that.

I know people that hate the Rolling Stones.

It's unbelievable.

Like they're, they're horrible.

They're hacks.

I'm like, are you out of your mind?

But anyway, I think the one day that just dawned on me was when like George Carlin, you know, who was a mentor and a magnificent mind,

I was at an airport and he walked up to me or I walked up to him.

I don't want to bother you.

He said, not bother me.

I said, you're great.

I'm a comic and I just wanted to say you're great.

And he goes, Carrotop.

And it was like, it was like two things that happened.

One, he knew who I was, which was like, what?

And then he said, your stuff's funny.

And I said, oh my God, you're kidding me.

He says, no, that paper cups and string thing is brilliant, dude.

How did you come up with that?

I'll never forget that.

And I said, how did I come up with that?

How did you come up with like stuff, that whole bit about stuff?

He's like, that's just crap.

But that cup thing is really i said dude it's you know paralleled how we think where he's a comic i'm a comic he thought this this way and i thought this way but i i loved his observational stuff and that's what he loved about mine and he said it was very uh clever he's not a you took not a dummy so the joke was it was a paper cups and string telephone and it was during the my early part of my career i said you know they have the cups and string phone and everybody's had that when you're a kid hey what's going on i said we should have an updated version has call waiting you know the cup that comes out and he just was like that's great and so then I had three cups that come out.

It was conference calling.

And then I had a clear cup for Carler ID.

I said, I know what you pick up.

I'm looking at it.

And so it just grew as a bit.

And then when he told me that, it kind of legitimatized me as a comic.

Yeah.

And he gave me confidence that I'm actually doing something good and not worrying about all the other comics that were hating and bashing on me.

I'm like, George Carlin likes me.

So you kind of forget about.

The guy in the basement, you know, texting crap to me.

Right.

And then you get, you know, Gary Shanling saying to me, you're great.

You know, George Carlin, you're great.

Jay Leno, Bill Maher, all these people that I admire are fans of mine.

Like real legends.

Yeah, real legends.

Richard Pryor said to me, yeah, damn, you're fine.

And I said, you know, that was the part that it took a while to get to that.

But once I had that in the back of my head, I was like, yeah, I'm doing something good.

And it's something.

And the show has grown exponentially.

I mean, literally,

it was just props for the longest time because I was nervous and scared to do anything else.

I was afraid to just tell a story.

So how long were you just doing props for?

Well, for a good while.

And then when I would do, it's just,

even like with the tonight show and Regis and Kathy Lee and all the shows that I,

yeah, I remember I used to do all those shows.

I still do them.

I mean, it's no more Regis, but I still do.

What's her name, Kathy Lee?

Kelly.

But when I would do like the Jay Leno shows and all the other ones, our senior, every show,

they wanted the props.

They didn't want me to come up and tell a story.

They wanted Carrotop with the trunk of stuff, which I get.

And then when people see the live show, they're like, oh my God, I thought it was going to be like an hour and a half of what I see on Jay Leno.

I'm like, I would die doing doing that for an hour and a half.

You just can't go and manic for an hour and a half with proper, proper, you die.

But when I opened for, you know, people back in the day, like opening act for a big, you know, I would do 10, 15 minutes of that.

It would work fine.

But doing an hour and a half of that.

Yeah.

So once I started getting

theater shows and live shows and that, it had to evolve into more of a show and not just that one aspect.

So, you know, I started using my video all with jokes and I started telling stories.

You'll see tonight.

There's like, I might go 45 minutes without holding one prop.

It's just, it's just storytelling, which I never did.

And it happened,

two things happened.

One was COVID.

And prior to that, I broke my leg snowboarding because I looked like Sean White.

So I thought I was good.

You do look like Sean White's good.

Yeah.

No, by the way, you look a lot like Sean White.

Yeah, which is good because he's not my age.

So I was good at that.

And we're good friends.

And we're good friends.

I know Sean Friends.

So he'll say that.

He's the only people say Sean.

I said, I get Sean White.

He gets character.

You know what's interesting, though?

Like, in all of these years, there's there's never been anybody who has been able to replicate what you do.

I don't think there wants to,

anyone wants to be another carrot.

You'll see that it's not.

But that just says so much about how talented you are.

Nobody can do it.

Well, I don't know if any, I don't know.

That is true about the, not that part, the second first part, not the, not the talented part.

The part about another carrot top kind of ish show.

There hasn't been.

And people, like my agents have been with you for 30 years.

Where's your agent?

CAA, LA, LA, C-A-A.

Oh, CAA, okay.

But anyone will say, like, there's no, or go to comedy clubs, they're like, there's no, look on TV, there's no, there's no like a new carrotop.

There's not a guy doing what.

So I don't know if they just, maybe I just, I just burned them all out.

No one wants to do it.

No, but no one knows how to do it.

Like, you know, it's kind of a, it's a different kind of format.

Most people know stand-up comedy, and especially now because it's, you know, like with the roast, I did plenty of roasts.

I would just do my stand, I would do that.

And maybe I'd have a proper to like Flavor Flaves clock.

I made a one for him that was like an old-fashioned clock.

I saw that.

So I mean, I would always do my thing and then a prop, but, but, but, like when people mostly know where they stand at, that's why people are like, what is a prop comic?

I'm like, I'm not, I am a prop comic, but if you saw the show tonight, you'd say, oh, it's, it's props, but there's not, it's not a prop comic.

There's props in it, but there's storytelling.

But I think what's interesting is even if you, I even said prop comic, because to be able to think that quick on your feet for so many years and be topical and current, like, like you were just saying, it's not like you're pulling out and doing the same joke from like 1984.

You have to be on point and stay current with whatever you're doing.

And to think and be observational like that is very, very hard.

And like, even if you're only doing a portion of that for the show now, you weren't, you were doing like, you were going on all these shows.

And when did you say that as of late, you said you've incorporated all these other storytellings and stuff?

But I'm sure what for the first, how many years were you just doing props?

Because it was hitting the show.

Probably, probably for the first, first you know eight or nine or ten and then that's a lot yeah yeah because then that was like i said i was known for that but when i started doing like colleges and that i have like an hour show it had to be evolving to more of a show it had to become not necessarily a vegas thing but we still do the road i mean we take the show on the road we go to kansas city we go to ohio we go to you know right san diego so it's not a vegas show that's what i always feel like you bring a vegas show no it's not a vagas it's just a show we're going to bring to you it's not vegas so because you're here like what six nights a week yeah we're here six nights a week so it i mean our show is definitely more, you know, probably people now know that are, you know, like

Vegas, but they don't know that I, you know, go to do other things.

It's like, yeah, the Vegas guy.

Yeah, it's the Vegas show.

You know, it's like, well,

did you, by the way, when you were younger, like before college?

I was never younger.

You were always the same.

I feel like I was younger.

When you were like before college, did you even know that you were funny?

Were you considered the funny kid?

Did you do funny things?

Yes, but I wasn't, I was not like the class clown out there trying to get the laughs.

I was kind of the quiet one that had the punchline ready.

Everybody would laugh.

Were you a good student?

Could you have to be?

I was okay.

Yeah.

I mean, I was okay.

I wasn't, my brother was a student, went to the Air Force Academy, swimming scholarship, and I got Bs and Bs and Cs.

And I was in the band, but I never got into arts and like showback.

I never went into acting or anything.

I just went, you know.

I wanted to be a comic.

As a kid, like I tell a story in the show, I was eight and I would do like an impression of like Casey Kasem or something.

And my mom was like, you're so funny.

And she would,

I would entertain her and her friends.

Like I always had something in me.

And as my neighbors said, he's so, he's so unusual and different.

And I was.

I, you know, I skinny red-headed kid.

Everyone where I grew up were blonde surfers.

And I'm like this red-headed kid on the beach.

I hated it.

I wanted to be a blonde surfer.

So that's where the, you know, the comedy kind of started because I'm, you know, like Jim Gaffigan always says the same thing.

You know, being a guy like me, it's true.

Like you're, you know, you're red-headed people in in general.

People just stare at you in general that you're different.

And then that was my defense when they would pick on me.

That was my comedy.

Yeah.

So they would definitely go to

pick on me and then, and then I would say, you know, I would make a joke about it.

Or I would have observational things as a kid.

You know,

I think one thing I told Gallagher, who I was probably 13 years old, and somehow I went to go see him.

I wanted to learn comedy.

And I was standing there with him.

I was standing there with him.

It was a big door.

And it said, this door must remain closed at all times.

I'll never forget this.

And I said, Why is there even a door?

And he just looked at me and he said, That's funny.

And he put it in a show.

And then he says, You know, Scott, Scott wrote that.

And I did.

I just didn't write it.

I just said it was an observation.

You know, why is there a door?

If it says this door must always be closed, then don't have a door there.

And he thought that was genius.

You know, it's like a Carlin kind of thing.

It is.

It's really.

So I kept writing a lot of those, like, you know, can you run with a Walkman?

You know, why does the host for 2020 wear glasses?

I had all these, like, these clever little one-liners and i started putting them in in into the into the show so i wasn't doing a prop i was doing kind of a stand-up and it slowly started doing stories and then it really started changing i broke my leg snowboarding and i had to what year or two i had to set up a knee scooter well a couple of times i said no but the first time i just i don't think i i just didn't do it i you know now who i am i couldn't just like i'm gonna take six months off and heal yeah so i broke it and i was on stage the very next night and it wasn't how we got to this i said we'll get a knee you know with his knee carts.

I remember you did that.

So I did it for like six months.

I did the whole show just on a knee scooter with no, with nothing.

I couldn't reach back to get my props.

I couldn't.

So I did an hour, almost like a monologue thing on one knee.

And it was so incredible that for me and everybody watching it grow into this thing that had never happened.

And then COVID hit and then we had a doubled, you know, that and then COVID.

And they put me in this room.

We were the first show back because I was the only guy on stage.

There's a whole bunch of rules they had with this.

So I, you know, they, none of the dancing shows, you know, to just stand up, they asked everybody, and I said, I'm not doing it.

And they said, you want to come back?

And I said, no.

And then finally, they're like, you'll be the first one to come back.

And I said, well, you know, do I have to wear a mask?

And they said, yeah.

And I'm not going to do comedy with a mask on.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

So they finally came back and said, you can do it without a mask, but the audience has to be not only distanced and spread out from, it was a 3,000-seat theater at the Luxor.

And they is it 3,000 people?

No, at the other two here.

There's one for the, that no one uses now.

It's, a it used to be like a big room oh okay okay um how many people are in this room like 350 for me okay which is perfect for a Vegas especially with visuals and all that show was that showroom was great but it was it was too big even for my act so but they had them all spread out so that the they had like 200 feet of tarp before the first audience member

and then two people two people four people two people swear and we'd have I think max you're allowed to have 100 people so I came back from Florida you know a year off and we went into the room and I'm like wait, what are we doing?

And they're like, see the X's?

That's where people are going to be sitting.

And I'm like, yeah, I ain't doing it.

And they're like, no, it'll be great.

I'm like, it's not going to be.

I mean, how are you going to do comedy, especially visual comedy with people spread out so far?

And the first audience member was, like I said, he was literally 500 feet from me.

And we did it.

And that was the between that and my leg, it just changed the whole dynamic of how I did my show.

I just started telling more stories because I pull out props in the beginning.

It's like the very first part of the show is kind of of a rapid pace, just props.

It's like the old carrot top.

And then it goes into, it slows down and gets into a little bit of a rhythm, but you couldn't hear anything.

And so then I stopped and just started telling stories.

It was, it was better.

You still couldn't hear them.

And then they allowed us to have 200 people.

And then finally, we went back into this room and it was back to, you know, normal kind of setting.

But there's a lot of things that kind of happen and change the dynamic of how I performed and how it just changed and evolved.

Are you friends with other comics that are just definitely not?

I I don't know any comics.

You don't know any?

When I lived in LA, of course, I'd always go to the comedy clubs and sit in the back.

And

I pretty much know most comics.

The newer comics, I don't know that well.

I feel bad about that too.

People ask me, who's your favorite new up-and-coming comic?

I'm like, Jim Gaffigan?

No, no, new.

I do like Jim Gaffigan.

Seinfeld?

Gaffigan?

I don't know like the new, like, but I had the roast for whatever.

I didn't know anybody on that.

You didn't know anybody?

One person.

I mean, I knew, I knew Tom Brady.

I knew Kevin Hart, but all the comics,

Jeffrey Ross.

I know Jeffrey Ross.

You know, Jeffrey Ross.

You also probably know Nikki Glazer, don't you?

No, no.

I don't know Nikki Glazer.

You've never heard of her?

No, I never, I've never heard of her.

Oh, you never met her?

Oh, okay.

You never met her.

But, like, okay, so how, like, how do you know?

Comics, we're all, you know, we're all friendly to win.

Everyone knows, you know, we know each other.

Well, how about like in the Vegas community?

I mean, do you see the same, like the David Copperfields, the Chris Angel?

Like, do you guys hang out together?

Cause you all like our residents for here for so long?

We have been, we have, you know, hang out.

We don't like go get sushi with David Coffee.

Why not?

You guys are.

I have gone to dinner with him, and I have gone to dinner with Chris Angel.

We have

it's not a normal basis thing where you don't hang out with the rat pack thing.

No, we don't hang out.

Well, yeah, like the rat pack.

I just went to see him.

Which one?

Chris.

Okay.

Because he was giving me so much grief that I hadn't seen his show in a lot.

I said, dude, I work six nights a week, and the night that I get off, I'm not going to go to your show.

Sorry.

Right.

You know, I don't even want to go to my show.

So

he finally talked into me going, and I went, and it was phenomenal.

And it really was a great show.

And I, and I, there's a trick I put in the show tonight that I, that I, it's, we're doing well, and it's all based on after I, that's how the creative happens.

I went and saw him, and I said to myself, I need a, a magic bit.

And then we just created it, or I did say we, I just kind of thought of the idea.

I already have all the bells and whistles with the smoke and the thing and the boom-to-boom.

So I said, let's just come up with some kind of bit.

And that's what I do.

And then I give him the, I give them the thing.

Like, you know, I owe that to Chris.

If you want to see it done properly, go see Chris Angel.

Oh, so you go, you guys collaborate kind of thing.

No, no, no.

If you want to, I know, I know.

He didn't help me with it, but I think he would like to.

Do I say collaborate like you help promote each other kind of thing?

Yeah, yeah, I think he, I hope he, yeah, yeah.

I love all the every, you know, I've been here so long.

All the shows here are great.

You know, they wouldn't be here because, you know, if they weren't good.

Well, people obviously like come back for 18, 30, whatever, 30 years.

You obviously have an audience.

But how do you like it?

Does your mind ever shut off?

I mean, because do you have to think of things all the time?

Like, do you sleep?

Are you like, what, how are you able to?

I'm a pill popper, but I, but I, no, I, yeah, I can't, I don't shut it off all day.

But I don't I don't sit around juggling salt and pepper shakers at the restaurant either.

Like I'm a very quiet guy.

You are in real life?

Yeah, like very shy and quiet.

I'm usually by myself when I go out.

So people that live around here know me.

In fact, they always say, you want to sit with us?

You always feel lonely.

I'm like, no, I love sitting by myself.

Right.

Are you a

kind of thinking?

That's what I'm kind of thinking.

Yeah, I'm totally a loner.

Do you have that?

I don't like being around a lot of people.

And it's weird because I do it for a living, but if I had to go to a party and sit around with

100 people and talking to them, I would lose my mind.

Right.

So I don't go to social functions much.

That happens a lot, though, with entertainers, though, because you're so used to it.

I'm not a neurotic about it.

I just don't really have, I don't want to share small talk about it.

And the last thing I want to hear when I go to like a thing, especially if it's here in Vegas.

So, oh, so, you know, so six nights a week?

Yeah, yeah, but let's not talk about our shows.

Yeah, exactly.

That kind of thing.

But do you, okay, wait, do you have a family?

What's your personal life like?

I rent a family.

It's a lot easier.

I got like a car, literally.

You get done with them.

You just turn them in.

No, I have a family, yes.

My mom lives in, I had lunch with her today, actually.

My mother, your mother, she lives in Vegas, she's a stripper.

She's doing great for her age, actually.

No, my mom had lunch with her today.

Your mom lives in Vegas?

Yeah, yeah, she's lived here longer than I have.

She moved here one, yeah, we all lived in Florida, and then my mom got married to a new guy and went west.

And she just ended up out here.

And we even said, Where are you, mom?

She's Vegas way before I was doing Vegas.

So she was my mom.

Yeah, and then I got a show at Bally's.

Was that the first show you did?

1994.

Yeah.

Wait, so can you tell me me something before?

Do you have kids?

No.

Are you married?

No.

Do you have a boyfriend, girlfriend?

None.

Neither.

Okay.

And so are you single?

Yeah.

Do you date?

No.

Are you on apps?

Do you go out?

Definitely not.

You don't go on dates?

No, I've not.

No.

I am happy just being single and no dates.

No dates?

No dates.

So you really don't like social media.

No, I really don't like anything social.

I really do.

I go home and I watch Sports Center or watch a little bit of something to keep me up to date with the world, like for the show, like a news thing.

Right.

So you can keep current.

A little politics just to say i'm on so i know what's going on so i don't do something on stage and they're like he already picked his vice president idiot yeah so i gotta know what's going on but you'll see there's a little politics in the show but it's it's all lighthearted and fun it's like but i but i'm not like yeah i'll make sure we clear this i'm not like this crazy neurotic guy that doesn't like social no no i thought i just like i just go to the i go to the gym by myself then i go to lunch usually by myself and then i go here and i then i see all the people and then i go home and i'm by myself well wait a second i yeah i mean by i like it i'm not it doesn't seem weird so what is your i was gonna say say, a lot of people have to be surrounded by a lot of people.

I have friends that like have to have a girlfriend.

And every time, even if they fight and they hate each other, it always has a new girlfriend.

I'm like, why don't you just try not having a girlfriend?

It's just kind of

enjoy yourself for one night.

Oh, I can't do it.

I got to have somebody.

How do you just sit home and not by yourself?

I'm like, I don't know.

Just like I would say to you, how do you sit home?

I know.

It's true, though.

So it is true.

I don't know.

I've just, I've, I like aloner-ness is fine.

No, I think that, listen, I think that you're probably around, you've been around people your whole life.

When did you have a girlfriend like recently?

Yeah.

She went went to lunch today with us oh she did okay she's we're just still best friends you're still good friends okay but tell me what time you wake up like what is the day in the life then you were just kind of saying it

what time did you wake up when and what what happened that you became such a fitness fanatic i've always worked out that's what's so funny all the way back to 13 14 years old i was in high school when i was on the wrestling team and swim team and i always worked out that's why people talk about like all of a sudden you just got i'm gonna go back when i'm 14 i my yearbrick picture i i always had i always had muscles i always worked out because you looked like to most people, like you went from being like a regular.

Yeah, no, I was all, I mean, there's pictures of me in the show.

You'll see I'm the same exact.

I weigh exactly when I, I was like 165.

And when I graduated high school, I was 155.

So I'm like 10.

I'm literally my same exact.

Well, you look scared to me.

I think I'm leaning.

And so the leanness comes out, makes you look more jacked.

But you're also like wide.

Yeah, a little bit.

You're super, like, I don't know if you see what I see, but you look really fit.

I try to.

I try to.

It's all makeup and lighting.

You know, and and he said it all up.

It is true, but no, but like, I don't remember you being this jacked.

Well, probably just 10 years ago.

Yeah.

Easily.

Well, how long?

When did you start this new

class?

No, no, no.

But then you, would you say that you weren't this jacked for a while?

No, yeah.

All the way to comedy clubs.

I'd bring my own weights in my truck.

You think you're always okay?

You always look like this?

Yeah.

You can look back on my internet and say, oh, yeah.

Really?

That's when people always shock.

Like, when did you get muscles?

I'm like, I've had them all time.

Were you not showing them for a while?

Maybe I wasn't showing them.

I mean, on stage, I don't show them.

I wear baggy clothes.

So maybe that's what it is.

Well, I was, I'm into definitely more baggy.

And I just went to, I came literally from the gym here.

What are you working with?

When I walked in, I said, should I put on some

clothes?

Yeah.

No, just say how you are.

I'm like, okay.

But also, you're like also 59.

And

you look like you are like 30.

So what are, okay, so I want to know what are your tricks and secrets of looking this health, like this fit?

I don't know because I don't do any kind of diets.

I don't do anything.

Do you eat a lot?

No, I don't eat.

that's my problem i don't eat a lot i mean i'm surprised i have a build that i do because i don't eat anything i eat like my father i just don't whenever i go to lunch i have uh yeah nothing what do you mean would you have two well i had

in fact my mom used to say eat more of your sandwich and i said mom this is how much i always eat so i'd eat like a half a sandwich you know today that's it did you have break do you eat no i don't eat breakfast i get up and i i go for a run and then i go back and i kind of run in this car

you got to get up early and then i and then i blew all my, I do like, I'm like this like, yeah, normal guy.

I'd blow all my leaves and water my, I planted all these flowers yesterday, went to the nursery, plant flowers,

my music, and I, you know, I do, I get everything all pretty for the day.

And then I go to lunch because I don't go to dinner.

So I go to lunch and then I go to the gym and then I come here and do a sound check and do a show and go home.

And I have my social time here, like with the crew after the show.

That's, you know, you don't eat so you eat a little bit for lunch and you don't eat anything.

Yeah, I'll snack when I get home a little bit, but nothing like monstrous.

Really?

No, and

I don't drink a lot, but I drink.

I mean, I have a glass of wine every day at lunch, but that's it.

I mean, it's not that I would drink.

I just, I don't, I don't love, I don't like, I don't enjoy, like, I haven't been drunk ever since I was born.

Now, I sound like Trump, never had a drink, but never did, never had a drink.

You know, the best way not to get drunk is just don't ever drink.

But I never, no, I literally, my, my friends, my girlfriend, and my mom will tell you

she've never seen me drunk.

And it's just not, I just don't, it's not in me.

I don't even know.

Yeah, you still wake up.

I don't even know how to get drunk.

I don't, I mean, I don't do shots.

I don't pound shots.

And when I go out for dinner, I have a glass of wine, and that's it.

I don't, I don't go drink.

I don't go to a bar and drink.

Right.

You're not interested.

Yeah, but I like, I like a, when I get done with the show, I love a crown on the rocks and sip on that when I go home.

And then, and then I, I drink a little red wine and go to bed.

But yeah.

But how do you have the energy to work out like you do?

Like, how long is each workout?

You just find it.

You know, it's like this show.

You've got to, because people always, that's the most fast people always fascinated by that.

Even today, they're like, you got to go to work tonight?

I'm like, yeah.

I'm like, oh, my God.

I'm like having dinner.

I'm going to go to bed and I'll be in bed by eight.

And I'm like, yeah, I'm just getting ready to start my day.

So it's just, you just, you just do what you're used to doing.

It's kind of becomes same with going to the gym.

It's just in my blood.

I go to lunch and then I said, like, oh, mom, you're going to go to the gym.

I was like, yeah, I'm going to go to the gym.

And I go.

Do you do body parts, do you?

Honey, I eat like a, I do a sad of espresso right for her and like some honey.

That's what I did when I was, you know, 14 years old, a swimmer.

Honey was like instant, you know, energy.

It's not great for you, but it's way better than other things.

Yeah, so and people are amazed when I'm at the gym.

You eat like a thing, like a honey bear?

I'm like, yeah, that's horrible for you.

I'm like, well, okay.

You burn it off in the workout.

So, so my workouts is only definitely under an hour.

I'm there 40 minutes, and I just do one thing, you know.

You do one body part after that.

Yeah, I do like today's back and buys because you're doing

back and so I throw back and buys.

Now I'm talking to Joe Rogan, do back and buys, and I throw another, let me do chest J.

And then I run every day, so I don't really do a lot of legs because I have great legs.

So I don't have to.

I was going to say, how are you so much?

Because I run.

I make a joke.

If I didn't shave them, they'd be even bigger.

Those legs are, I mean, you run every day?

Pretty much.

How many miles a day?

It varies.

Some number of the heat now, a little less, but up to five, usually,

four miles, three miles.

Three, four miles a day.

Every day.

Usually.

And then you go to the gym every day or five times a week?

I take a day.

I didn't go yesterday because I, yeah.

Yeah, I take a day to sometimes.

And so do you do like the sauna?

But I don't don't do a lot of, like I said, my workout sauna at like three.

I have guys in that workout in my gym like three hours a day.

I'm like, dude, you're killing yourself.

And you're not going anywhere.

You're not getting any gains.

Yeah, you're not getting games.

No, you're not going to do that by overworking yourself out three hours.

It's actually going to do the opposite.

Right.

30 minutes, you hit it hard and you're out.

You're going to grow and take a day off and then go back.

And I take, when I go home to Florida, usually a week off, I don't do anything.

I just kind of just, I run still in the morning, but I don't go to the gym.

Do people ask you all the time about your jackness?

No.

No, they always say you're in good shape, yeah.

No, but don't, I remember years ago, that was like a big thing in the press, like how you looked so jacked.

I think people, well, that one, there's one photo they used that they just completely AI did or something, and that was funny.

I think I even put it in the show at the time.

I'm like, okay, first of all, let's break this photo down.

That's not me.

I mean, it's not, they had, yeah, they had this literally like in a movie, like,

you see that where they do that on, oh, I'm fine, it's on the thing, yeah.

But when you see it, you're like, no, it wasn't me.

It wasn't, it was just funny.

And that's what I thought it was funny funny because it's like, it was so clearly obvious that they put my head on something.

But, and then people see me in person, like, oh, you're not as big as I thought you were.

I thought you were like this big, huge.

I'm like, no.

No, you just look really fit.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah.

So do you, okay, people always think I'm smaller than I am when they meet me.

They're like, oh, you don't, you're smaller than I thought you were.

I thought you were like really big, muscular, and like 6'3.

I'm like, no.

I did.

I weigh like 145 pounds.

Well, how tall are you?

6'5.

6'5' Minus what, like seven?

No, I'm like 5'10.

5'10?

Maybe with a hat on.

What

do you do in terms of other things?

I used to do that, by the way.

Here's a joke I used to, not a joke, when I knew I was funny.

Okay.

My mom would take me to the doctor's office, and this is, you know, young, eight, nine, and she would bring me in.

And the doctor, the nurse would come in and say, okay, Scott.

And I said, Scott, how much do you weigh?

I say, I'd say, like, 150.

And she get 150.

And how tall are you?

And I said, 6'4 ⁇ .

And she said, right, 6'4.

And what did you finally get?

You're not, wait a minute.

You're not.

And I do that every, I still do that when I go to the doctor.

Are you serious?

Every time.

I was, I had something I had to go.

No, every time I've ever been to the hospital, anywhere they ask you questions, I always do the same shit.

And they always, they always just write it down because they're just doing their

go to the, for my colonoscopy, whatever, you know, because I'm old and I didn't check, and the same, I'm still doing the same material that I did when I was eight.

And it still works.

And it still works.

How many drinks do you have per day?

I'm like, oh, 23.

And they're like, 20.

Do you really?

I'm like, no, I don't

two or three.

Did I put two to three, not 23?

But, you know, who to call in an emergency?

I said, a fucking, you know, a doctor.

Yeah, that's exactly.

That's about the whole thing.

You know, nearest relative.

I'd say eight miles.

You know, I just dumb shit.

But that's always just stupid stuff.

I always do.

What else do you do

for healthy wellness longevity modalities?

Are you doing lasana, the cold plunge?

None of that.

Are you taking supplements?

No.

Are you taking anything?

Nope, vitamins.

Nope.

Supplements.

You don't take supplements even?

No, no, nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

No, literally nothing.

Not even a multivitamin?

Nope.

I should.

Hormones.

No.

HGH.

Nope.

Never done anything.

Nothing.

Cialis.

I do take a Cialis.

No, I'm not kidding.

I do.

No, no, no.

I'm not.

But it's a daily one, so it's not dangerous.

It's good for you.

My doctor said it's good for you.

It's good.

You don't like blood pressure every day.

It is.

It's kind of like blood pressure.

But it's funny.

I actually take it.

And then my friend, you take a Cialis every day.

I'm like, it's really my blood pressure pill, but it's more fun to take a Cialis.

Do you really take a Cialis every day?

It's five milligrams, so it doesn't do anything.

It's not like.

What is it supposed to do?

I was just joking about the pressure.

Oh, Cialis.

It's It's supposed to give you an erection.

No, I know what it is.

But it's giving you one.

That's the fallacy behind these.

Well, the fallacy behind those pills, because that was jokes every comic would do.

Yeah, you don't just take one and you're like, boy, I don't like it.

No, you have to be aroused, first of all.

So all it does is enhance your arousement.

So if you were on sales and you got aroused, it would enhance your erection.

You don't just take one.

You're like, well, sure, I got a boner.

No.

Oh, so you have to be aroused first.

Yeah, it doesn't just, it doesn't directly, that's why those stupid commercials, if you have an erection, it lasts longer than eight hours, you know, just say, thank thank you, God.

That's what you say.

Oh, my God.

Last longer than 30 seconds.

Eight hours.

God damn.

Don't call for help.

Just enjoy it.

Enjoy it.

Yeah.

Why would you take one every day, though?

Just for blood pressure.

It's just really, it really is like a blood pressure.

I was just joking about that.

Yeah, I wasn't really expecting that.

So, can I?

Prostate, prostate?

Oh, for the prostate.

Okay, I have some questions for you with regards to like finances and business.

You don't have to answer me, but I want to know, okay?

Because the longevity of your career,

having a residential show this long, like you must be loaded for the fact.

You have to be.

That's the biggest fallacy in this whole thing.

There's a website.

It makes me laugh.

We did it one night with my crew in here, whatever it's called, Celebrity Wealth.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Celebrity network.

Celebrity network.

So you can punch in carrot top celebrity network, and it comes up something silly, like 75 million or something.

Oh, that's like less than I would even think.

Well,

but it says on there.

Okay.

75 million, right?

So then when COVID happened, we were all making a joke and my remote remote manager said, oh, dude, you went down.

I'm like, down, what?

You're now at 74 million.

I'm like, oh, man, they counted and I lost a million because I was off a year.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I'm like, well, it's not the right number, but I think I find it funny because, yes, I'm at 75 million.

I guess I should be happy.

But then I have friends.

They have, you know,

300 million.

And I'm friends with them.

They're not worth 300 million.

Yeah, they're not.

No, that's what I'm saying.

Those things are like a bunch of people.

No,

I don't even know how they come up with it.

I don't know.

I think they just make it up.

Right, they do because

they don't calculate.

He's been doing comedy 40 years.

he must be paying and i don't know how they would even do it yeah you you count in like when i'm on vacations too and i get paid i so

well no because they say like i mean you like some of these crazy residencies that you hear about like j-lo all these people get raised money for it yeah a lot of those are bs too and they they say they get a hundred million dollar contract yeah that's not true that's not true no all these contracts nowadays that are out here at these hotels are four walls which is what i have unless you get like what's four was what you're four wall means you own four walls and you pay rent so basically my i own this show and Luxor doesn't own this show.

It's my show that I use the property, but the Luxor has nothing to do with my show, except they let me do the show and me promote it here, but they don't own a bit of my show.

Now, someone like Katy Perry or one of these people that come in, they do this like residency.

Adele, they probably do

a two-wall, probably they split it probably.

Or like with Elton John or the thing, it's a completely different deal.

And the residencies in general are for two walls.

Someone like Elton John probably is not.

It's just

they pay him, you know,

whatever they sell.

So there's probably some of those that they probably give him $50 million

for four, five, six shows or whatever it is.

So wait, hold on a second.

So you're telling me you own.

So you basically rent space

at the Luxor.

Yeah, basically.

And

they continue to want me to be here, so they let me extend my extension.

They extend extension.

So if they ever had one day they didn't like what I did or wanted me to go, they could just, yeah, in a sense.

It was a moral conscience, something.

They can't just be done with me unless it was something that they felt like they needed to do.

It was some distance.

So your show then, all the money you make night, every night, that's that you have, that's your money, and then you have to pay everybody.

So it's like, so the bit, it's a carrot top business that that, so they're not, there's no like, it's not a partnership really with Luxor, except the fact that they just house you here.

You pay rent like I would somewhere else.

I didn't know that.

So is that the same deal with Chris Angel and Dave, David Copperfield?

I don't, I don't really know their deals.

I have no idea.

But if people are staying here for like years on end, like Chris Angel must have been or what for like the same amount of time.

Yeah, I don't know.

I really don't know his deal.

He might have a different deal, but our deal has always been that we work really for ourselves.

Wow.

I didn't know that.

So then come banking off my name, you know, to sell the tickets.

So, so

you're taking a risk if you don't sell tickets.

And hotels aren't going to do two walls unless someone and they have a good name because they're not going to take a risk.

They'll give everybody a four-wall because they can come in and eat shit and be gone.

Right.

Well, because you pay rent.

How much are you paying rent, though, for this type of thing?

Well, I don't know.

That all varies.

Like, what is if I wanted to rent four walls here, would they give it to me?

No.

Yeah.

They're slanted walls, though.

So it's different.

But like, you basically will pay like a big chunk of rent monthly.

Yeah, rent we pay for 30%.

You pay monthly like I would at an apartment.

Rent, we pay for the ushers.

We pay for the local, the local union crew.

You pay everything.

Yeah.

Wow.

And my crew.

So then you have to like make a lot of seven houses.

No.

Do you have seven houses?

You live here?

I live here in Orlando.

So like you have to be like working all the time.

Yeah,

that's why I work every night.

Yeah, that actually now makes more sense to me than why you would do six nights.

I got bills to pay, man.

It actually makes sense.

So the two-wall deal that you just said, like a I don't know.

I don't even know who has an M anymore, but that there's such a thing.

I don't know who has one.

Yeah, well, I guess like, I guess right now the stratosphere is like a huge deal here in Vegas, and they bring in you two and they bring in.

you mean the sphere, yeah.

I call it the stratosphere,

definitely different than the sphere, the sphere, but that's more of like a that's more of like a concert venue.

That's a bad example, but like yeah, that yeah, that's a good idea, yeah, for sure.

For usher, they but yeah, they

whoever plays the sphere, I mean, they're I don't know, I don't even know how that works.

That's different, but like

if Usher comes in and does a deal with whoever, I think it was who was it, I don't remember.

I don't either.

I thought they don't pay, like, it's more of a ticket split.

Is that really how it works?

I really don't know.

I just know my deal.

I have never asked about other people's deals.

I just know we do a four-wall and we've been doing it for, well, ever since day one.

How much longer?

30 years.

How long do you want to be doing this?

Oh, just another week or so.

And then it's going to get through the weekend.

That would be great.

Now, how long do you actually have?

What's your contract to?

We have till 2025.

So we've got about six more years left on our

25.

I mean,

30.

Oh, you have another five years left.

We have five and a half, six years left, yeah.

Because we have one year left on our private, but previous before COVID thing that we didn't get to do.

So we have five-year extension plus one.

So we have like six years.

Do you want to be doing it that long?

Yeah, I mean, what am I going to do?

You don't get tired of it?

No.

What else would I'm definitely not one of those guys that

retire?

Yeah, well, I mean, I look like a teenager anyhow.

Why would I want to amount to it?

No, but I mean, what am I going to do?

Right.

So you love to work.

Yeah, no, there's nothing else.

There's more, more fun.

I mean, yeah, and I get to do it and I feel good.

And people still come out and I get to laugh.

And yeah, nothing more fun than this job.

I can't even imagine.

I remember they asked Willie Nelson this not long ago.

They said, when are you going to retire?

And he said, from what?

I thought it was a great answer.

That's a great answer because this is who you are and what you do.

I don't know anything else.

Like, did you ever think in a million years you'd have this type of longevity?

No, absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Even when I was at the M Gym Grand after five, six years there, I didn't think that I would have, I didn't know.

You'd never know your destiny, your future.

I didn't know we'd be here.

I mean, I was at the M Gym for 10 years and then David Caulfield came in and they wanted to take the room.

The four-wall room.

I don't get it.

I don't know.

Mine was there.

Yeah, your room was there.

Mine was four there.

But you had a four-wall there, yeah.

We've always have, unless we do road shows, I think it's a guarantee kind of thing.

But he wanted the room, and I remember saying, well, you know, David Copfield, Caratop, so I guess, you know, fuck, there I go.

And I said, but I don't want to leave Vegas now.

I'm just starting to have fun.

Yeah.

And they said, well, the MGM has a property across the street, the Luxor.

You want to go look at the room?

And we went over and looked at it and completely different than the MGM Grand Room.

And it was just instant like, hmm, let's give it a shot.

So it kind of, it worked for a little bit.

And then I was like, hmm, I don't know if I want to do this.

And then now it's been 19 years, almost 19 years.

So it's great.

And like, how do you keep your relevant?

Like you're still relevant so many years.

How do you stay relevant?

Because it's like different generations, it's generational.

And these generation, people still know who you are.

And you're doing a lot of TV.

Yeah, I've said there's a lot of, I mean, a lot of things that you do like.

You're a family family guy, there's a lot of things that continue to put you in it, yeah, you know, pop up in public pop culture that keeps you relevant.

So, there's a lot of those.

There's roast that comes on Comedy Central that keeps showing that I did years ago.

The family guy, the you know, the TV shows

recently, I see hacks.

So, I mean, that's a new one.

So, yeah, you try to keep yourself relevant by doing

the good shows that are out there.

You pitch yourself and see if they want to, you know, do you pitch yourself?

Yeah, that one particularly.

Well, that kind of happened by I was watching, I was a fan of the show, yeah, me too.

And I was my phone, it was just weird.

My phone

was going off.

And they said,

you ever see Hacks or it talked about you on it.

So I'm like, well,

I've watched it.

I didn't see it.

It was the last episode.

Don't ruin it.

I haven't seen it yet.

So then I watched it and the girl, the daughter

is dating me in the show.

Oh, shh.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The blonde girl.

Yeah.

She's in the kitchen all crying and upset eating, you know, pancakes and cookies and just, you know, depressed.

And

Gene Smart walks in and goes, oh, for God's sakes, get over it.

You can do better than Carrotop.

And I watched it and I was like, that's great.

So I called my, my people and I said,

reach out to them and see if, you know, since they, they like me and I'm supposedly dating her on the show, maybe we could go on.

Yeah.

And they were absolutely beyond thrilled.

I remember they were like, oh my God, yes, we'll come up with something.

And we got to the stat.

They sent me a kind of a script and we got there and we improvised most of it once we we got there, but she's brilliant.

And she's brilliant.

Great.

Great lady.

Great lady.

She's brilliant.

You improvised that?

A lot of it was because we kind of, when I got there, it was kind of like, you wouldn't do the, what would you do?

I don't know.

They had to be doing something different.

I said, I don't know.

We just went off my energy of what I would do in a situation.

So we just kind of, it was written and we had fun with it as well.

But it was great.

And they were, they were stoked that I would do it.

And I was stoked that I got to do it.

It was a great, you know, it's HBO.

It's a number.

It's a great show.

It's a great show.

So, yeah, keeping yourself relevant, it helps, you know, and I've been doing years of different things.

You'll see in the show tonight, I talk about when I did, you know, ATT commercials in the 90s and or 2000s or whatever it was.

I don't even know now.

And they were on every day, like every day.

And they were like, like the floke progressive commerce.

They were just so annoying.

The progressive ones?

No, you mean the ones that are on every day?

It's all state or progressive.

I totally remember.

That was like me.

I was doing collect call commercials and they were on every day.

Every day, all day, all night.

So

I could walk a foot down the street like, dude, fucking the phone guy.

I totally remember that.

But then I became the phone guy.

Like, it was great.

I would do theaters in like, you know, Birmingham, Alabama.

And the meet and greet, they're like, you know, what are you doing?

You don't do, what's the show about?

I was just stand up.

And they said, oh, it's like phones.

And I'm like, phones.

And they're like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, the whole show is about making collect calls.

And they're like, really?

You make that funny that way.

Then I'm like, no, it's a comedy show.

There's nothing about fucking.

I do that for a paycheck.

I don't feel like it.

So they come to the show and they go, oh my God, you're a comedian.

I just thought he was a commercial actor.

They didn't know that I did comedy.

So it was just, it was so powerful and strong.

And they were out every day.

Yeah, people just knew who they just knew who I was.

They knew Karatov, but they didn't know what I did.

You have such an iconic image, right?

Because of everything about like, by the way, having back to that one time when you're in college, when you created that brand, that was actually a smart thing to do.

You didn't have to have a whole bit because you actually created a name and a brand that actually had a lot of longevity to it.

Would you say that that was your like, what was what would you say was your big break, though?

Was that your big break?

Because I thought you were on Star Search.

Yeah, no, I had, I had a, you know, it's interesting.

I didn't have that normal person's like big break, you know, where they went, but I was on Star Search, but I lost on the Star Search.

It wasn't a big break.

But this I was on a lot of shows at the same time is what I think what my break was.

So it was, it was

back when I,

this is a long time ago when i when i started doing like television there was a lot of tv shows that had comedians on their comedy shows it was called you know comic strip live

all of them there's 20 of them yeah so i was doing all those and i'd register and kathy lee jay leno arsenio you name it whatever show talk show i the view you name any show i i i was am on them and so i had all the break it wasn't like one big personal thing that just that just broke me i was in a movie chairman of the board nobody saw it it wasn't a big break But probably all combination of things really was the break.

It just I was I was saturated.

A cumulative.

Yeah.

And it was on every platform.

I would have a college in Notre Dame.

And then the next morning I'd go to New York and do Regis and Kathy Lee and then do like a college in New York and then go to Atlantic City and do the weekend in the theater at like Trump Plaza or something.

And then next week I would go to,

so I had college kids watching me on the college campuses, and then the old people watching me on Regis.

And then I would go on Leno, and that would get like the middle ground.

And then I'd had a show on Cartoon Network where kids, I was called Ahem Mayhem with Keratops.

So I had every age group.

So it was weird.

Like people would always say, what's your demographic?

And I'm like, we don't have a specific demographic.

It's like all ages, like not young, but I don't like the Cartoon Network was not what I wanted to come to my show.

But the show here, it's all over the place.

There'll be 14-year-old kids, 15-year-old kids, and probably 80-year-old people.

Do you repeat any jokes?

Because people don't remember from like 10 years, 15 years, 18 years.

Repeat them?

Yeah, like the, do you, do you have like the prop stuff?

Like, you could pull stuff out, people won't remember from no,

I mean, I do, I do some stuff in the beginning that's kind of just gets going with like kind of the current stuff.

Oh, no, like more classic Carrotop when I start, no, but the and then when I bring, then I go into a whole bunch of it just from the topics that you, and even when you pull stuff out, you still use them that are topical i feel like i've heard you do stuff where it's like this is donald trump's face orange whatever you always do like funny things well you can do i can i can well one example you'll see tonight was i had a dinosaur on a rope it was uh dick cheney's dog i think it was dick cheney whoever was old at the time it was either dick cheney i think it was dick cheney yeah dick cheney yeah it was either dick cheney or or whatever the guy running for president uh um senator from arizona it's either him or dick i think it was dick cheney And so I had Dick Cheney's dog.

And it was Joe because he's old, you know, he's a dinosaur.

So I'm in my warehouse that long ago.

It's really good.

Yeah, it's great.

It's visually funny.

So I'm in the warehouse and I'm going through stuff and I see it.

I'm like, God, that was a great one.

And it just hit me.

Why don't I make that Joe Biden's dog?

Yeah.

So that's an example of one that I can take back and restructure to work now.

That's so good.

That's hilarious.

So now it's, it was one I did.

So I'm getting mileage out of one that used to be.

So they wouldn't know the Dick Cheney one, but they know now and the Biden one.

So there's an example.

That's a really good one.

So like,

how are you using today's time to kind of, are you using social, like I know you're on social media now, Instagram, but are you, are you using the platforms to really kind of promote to a younger generation?

Because again, like this stuff is still...

I don't do that.

I do TikTok and I do things like that.

That's a really funny one.

Yeah, yeah.

That's a great joke.

It is.

It's easy too.

It's instantly funny.

It's one of those, you don't have to think about it much.

It's pretty funny.

But like the fact that you think about that, like, how are you so alert all the time?

Like, you have to be thinking constantly.

That's the

curse of being,

I think, not forget our comic, just an artist or general.

I mean, it's not, I don't think there's a songwriter that never is sitting around not thinking of a song.

Of stuff, yeah.

Just like a comic is never not thinking about a new joke or something that, you know, something happens in conversation, like, oh, it's funny.

I'm going to use that.

So, yeah, it's, it's just what we do.

It's what, you know, like I said, songwriters probably do the same thing.

They never just go out to dinner or go for a walk.

They're thinking of a song, a new song to write down.

Yeah.

You know, constantly.

Have you ever seen, like, we talked about this earlier that there's nobody who's done it like, like, no one's doing it?

Has there, like, who do we say that there'll be three Carrotops tomorrow?

I know there will be, but no one will be ever the real Carrot Top with the orange hair and the look.

And you know, everything works together beautifully.

That's the other thing, right?

Like, as you're like a caricature that works.

It's definitely a brand and a caricature of that kind of was

in a sense, in a sense, somewhat manufactured in my head, but it wasn't like, you know, I have friends in the band like InSync, and they've been friends of mine since the Earl from Orlando and all the boy bands that they've, you know, they manufacture those guys and put them in and did it.

They made it like a, that's why they all had the same, you know,

and they have the yellow shirt, blue shirt, red, you know, green, the rainbow shirt.

Yeah.

I, I had an idea for a brand.

My, my, I always had, I mean, I did, I didn't do this for like, I had, I was a surfer.

I had long hair, so I had carrotop, and then the hair kind of went with the brand name.

My logo, you'll see, it's like a kind of a shadow of me with my hair, which is funny because a lot of comics said to me, Well, what happened if you lose your hair, dude?

That's true.

I said, I know it's my logo, you know.

I was going to ask you, yeah, so I know.

Yeah, I'm glad I have on my hair.

I was going to say, you, is that your real hair?

Yeah, this is on my hair, yeah.

It's just kind of like dreaded up right now at the time, but that I was going to ask you that I didn't want to be real.

No, no, this is all my hair because, like, what would happen if you lost your hair?

Because that is your no-top.

I don't know, but yeah, I got lucky.

You got really lucky, no-top.

What happened, man?

It's so true.

Like from Peter Frampton, you know?

That's that's Peter Frampton.

Even now, you're like, what happened to Peter Frampton?

It's a hundred percent.

But I've been lucky, but it was like I said, so the brand was, you know,

I did well think it out.

I was a marketing major.

So when I, when I, the very first time I was on stage, very first time, where I had my trunk, I had only four things in it.

Right before I went to the club, I drew out on a cardboard, you know, carrot top, like the name and my logo, and put it in the lid of the trunk.

And I remember people thinking like, and I thought, well, it's marketing.

I'm marketing myself because when I'm on stage, the whole time they're watching me, they're reading my name.

So when they get done in the evening and they ask

who'd you see tonight, they're going to say, oh, some guy from Carrotop.

And we saw, there's no way to forget

the brand.

I mean, it was kind of forcing it down their throat in a sense.

See, this is what I was going to, I wanted to talk to you about because you have to be business savvy.

Like, no matter how you're very, obviously you have the stamina of like a child.

But besides that, you've always been super business savvy marketing wise you branded yourself and it's been very it there's a been it's been thorough ever like for everything like no one cannot know who you are that's because everything works together the the the look and yeah the the way you branded yourself what you're doing where you go how you put the load it's a blessing and a curse is what i tell people is it what's the what's the what's the well because you're stuck it's carrots i mean i could have been queen latifah but i went with carrot top yeah that's well that's true but what what are the downside what's the downside of being carrot there's no downside i'm just being silly like first time i went across campus and I told the guy to bring me up his carrotop, and then people were yelling across the campus, Carrotop.

I was like, oh, my God, what have I done?

Yeah.

I'm really going with this.

This is going to be my carrot top.

It's going to be the monker.

It could be a better one, you know?

I don't know.

No, it worked out fine, but I'm saying

it was meant to be.

But, you know, I already looked like this.

It wasn't like I have to stay like this.

Like, if I wanted to change my look, I could.

I could shave my head and still go on stage and say, look, no, top, what happened?

But I like my hair and I like looking like this.

So I don't, you know, I try to keep it.

I mean, to be honest with you, my people,

my people hate my hair right now because it's like dreadlocked and purple and green and red and orange.

And they're like, dude, your carrotop, it should be all orange.

And I'm like, it's my brand, bitch.

I'm going to do what I want to do.

So I do all this because I like to do this.

So it's still orange enough to get the joke across from Karen.

It's definitely orange enough.

They're like, go back just the orange hair.

Really?

Who's saying this to you, though?

You know,

the beta carotene.

Yeah.

I think they want you.

Yeah, I got to go do a sound check so we can do this.

Oh, my my gosh.

Okay, so I guess I'll have to just wrap, but I want to say, guys, Caratop is at the Luxor

right now.

Right now, actually, as we speak.

And if they want to know more about you, can you tell them?

Yeah, Caratop.com.

I've got Instagram as Carrotop Live.

Carrot Top on my Facebook, Real Carrotop.

And you travel too, you said.

And we do road shows as well when you tour.

We just toured.

We did a few.

We're not doing some.

But we can check our calendar.

I think for the rest of this year, we're just doing Luxor dates.

Perfect.

Okay.

And it's just by the looks of it, it's a great show.

I can't wait to see it.

We'll see.

It's going to be happening soon.

Uh-oh.

And I, yeah.

And that's it.

And I'm going to go watch it now, guys.

And you're the best.

Seriously.

Thank you.

I appreciate the fun.

It was a fun chat.

You really are amazing.

Thank you.

Really?

Thanks for watching.

Thanks.

Thanks for doing it.

Thank you.