Erik Escobar, Comedian, Millennial and Baby Boomer Compare Notes on the 80s

Anne Marie chats with comedian, actor and TEDx Talk presenter Erik Escobar. They compare notes on the 1980's, she having lived it from the inside and he having admired the decade from the outside. Can a millennial teach a baby boomer something new about the decade of decadence?

Eric has appeared on Fox's I Can See Your Voice, BuzzFeed, NBC's Last Comic Standing (Season 7) and the feature VHYes alongside Tim Robbins and Thomas Lennon. As a standup comedian he has performed throughout the United States. Erik's TEDx Talk, Creating a More Fulfilling Lifestyle through Humor, can be found here: https://bit.ly/37jKdWk

Episode Notes

Erik Escobar
YouTube Chanel: http://bit.ly/3u2B26k
Instagram: https://bit.ly/37mcXh7
TEDx Talk, Creating a More Fulfilling Lifestyle Through Humor: https://bit.ly/37jKdWk

Also Mentioned in the Episode
Back to the Future
Anthony Jeselnik
Cable Television
MTV
Punchline
What the Constitution Means to Me
History of Film Technology

Support Armchair Historians:
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Transcript

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Anne Marie Cannon: 0:00

Hello, my name is Anne Marie Cannon and I'm the host of armchair historians. What's your favorite history? Each episode begins with this one question. Our guests come from all walks of life, YouTube celebrities, comedians, historians, even neighbors from the small mountain community that I live in. There are people who love history and get really excited about a particular time, place or person from our distant or not so distant past. The jumping off point is the place where they became curious, then entered the rabbit hole into discovery, fueled by an unrelenting need to know more, we look at history through the filter of other people's eyes. armchair historians is a Belgian rabbit production. Stay up to date with us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Wherever you listen to your podcast that is where you'll find us. I'm chair historians as an independent, commercial free podcast. If you'd like to support the show and keep it ad free, you can buy us a cup of coffee through coffee, or you can become a patron through Patreon links to both in the Episode Notes. And this episode of armchair historians, I have a lively chat with comedian actor and Tech Talk presenter, Eric Escobar. We compare notes on the 1980s me having loved it from the inside and he having admired the decade from the outside can a millennial teach a baby boomers something new about the decade of decadence. Listen on to find out. Eric has appeared on Fox says I can see your voice. BuzzFeed, NBC last Comic Standing season seven and the feature VHS alongside Tim Robbins and Thomas Lennon as a stand up comedian. He has performed throughout the United States, you can find Eric's TED Talk creating a more fulfilling lifestyle through humor on the TED Talk YouTube channel.

Erik Escobar: 1:58

To the counter.

Anne Marie Cannon: 2:01

Yeah, very formal. Eric Escobar, thank you for being here today.

Erik Escobar: 2:07

And Marie, thank you for having me. I'm super excited. I love history. I love podcasts, boom, put them together. It's gonna be a great time.

Anne Marie Cannon: 2:15

I think so. And I have no idea what you're going to talk about. Sometimes I know ahead of time, sometimes I don't. So I kinda like it when I don't

Erik Escobar: 2:23

need to. I like it when I get to surprise you.

Anne Marie Cannon: 2:27

Awesome. So I'm just gonna ask the question, what's your favorite history that we're going to be talking about today?

Erik Escobar: 2:34

You know what, I definitely had a lot kind of like circling around my head. I'm a big fan of just the majesty and the mystery around like Egyptian history. So I was thinking about that. I was thinking about the Renaissance, like the Renaissance, but I think I'm gonna mix it up. I think the point in history that we're gonna go with right now are the 80s. I would love to talk about the 80s

Anne Marie Cannon: 2:55

I didn't see that coming. I was looking at my outfit today. And I thought this kind of is 80s

Erik Escobar: 3:06

You got it got a good 80s vibe. I like it.

Anne Marie Cannon: 3:08

Yeah, I sometimes I really get dressed up for my interviews if somebody is talking about like the Victorian era. So I did not see that coming. Renaissance and Egyptian are you bringing those into this? history?

Erik Escobar: 3:22

I think I think growing up as a kid I hated school school was always like, Oh, it's so hard to remember these things. But Egyptian history I always thought was fascinating. And I think it was cuz when I was a kid, the King Tut exhibit came into town. And I saw that tangible illness. And I was like, That's so cool. As an artist, the Renaissance is super cool. But as someone who was born in 1990, and constantly hears about how great the 80s were, and about how fun The 80s were, and as comedian who wish they could have experienced the comedy boom in the 80s. I was like, yo, an MRI gets people all the time talking about ancient history. Let's go a little more modern. Let's go a little crazier. Let's go 1982 89.

Anne Marie Cannon: 4:05

Nationally, I lived it. So

Erik Escobar: 4:08

but you're only 21. How does that work out? I don't understand. It was

Anne Marie Cannon: 4:11

another life. It was really another life.

Erik Escobar: 4:13

Gotcha.

Anne Marie Cannon: 4:14

So, okay, have at it. Tell us about the 80s. And I'll probably chime in with my own experiences, if that's okay.

Erik Escobar: 4:23

I would love that. The 80s I think we're so cool. I kind of talked about it earlier. But as a stand up comic, as someone who travels the road all the time. It's a tough gig. You know what I mean? Like people don't pay as much as they should. It's hard to put together runs. But you hear all these stories about comics who experienced comedy in the 80s. During the boom when cable TV hit, everyone's watching their favorite stand ups on TV. They would go to their local clubs. Every city had a major comedy club, you would go and it was a giant party. There wasn't COVID you could hug people. It was a beautiful beautiful time and you I'm a big believer that You know, whatever period you look at the art is a true reflection of whatever was going on at that time. And let's look at like music in the 80s new wave was new and Poppy and fun and exciting. And then you just look at like the way these musicians and these artists performed. Remember, like the crazy haircuts just like hair metal, who would wear that today. But that's so cool. But they wore that in the 1980s. And I think that the pop of it and the the allure of it and the bigness of the 80s, the colors, the excitement, the party atmosphere, that's something I wish I could have experienced. And I think it's just so cool. So, so cool. So that's my historical period of the day.

Anne Marie Cannon: 5:44

So I lived it from the inside and beautiful. I was a I was I went to cosmetology school in high school, I graduated in 1981. And so I was doing that here. That's what I did. And it was it was very, everything was very garish and big, big hair product. teasing and, and all that stuff. It was all very decadent, and kind of in your face. But a little backstory about me is that. So in 1985, I had my daughter, and I did not experience a lot of the crazy TV maybe, but I didn't like live that like I had already sowed my wild oats maybe a little bit in the 70s. But it's I love this. You know that I'm seeing it from the inside, but you're kind of looking back and seeing it from the outside. What's the biggest thing that you would have loved to experience in the 1980s? Oh, jeez,

Erik Escobar: 6:50

Louise, I think Can I pick two?

Anne Marie Cannon: 6:54

You can pick as many as you want. Awesome.

Erik Escobar: 6:56

This is gonna be a three hour long podcast, here's my top 50 Here we go top 60 Why not? I think I'll just kind of like throw out a couple things. I think, like I said, it would have been great to go on tour in the 80s as a comic, to I think that as someone who wasn't bands when I was younger, and I did you know, get to perform in the Sunset Strip. It was cool, you know, go into the Roxy go into the whiskey. It used to be the Key Club. I don't know what it's called now. But it's cool to be able to have seen that, you know, in the 2000s and such. And it was, it was awesome. But you look at it, you're like this used to be so much more. You know what I mean? This used to be bigger, like, Yeah, you got a couple people walking down the sidewalk. I remember seeing pictures where people were just crowded on those sidewalks going from club to club. I think something like that would have been awesome to experience. And I also feel now as someone who is a big movie buff, I love film, I love television, whenever I get the honor of you know, being hooked on something as an actor or even working production. You see how things are so streamlined, and you see how things are. So you know, let's just do it. We know what we're doing. Here's the green screen. And you know, here's a prop in the 80s I think we were still kind of figuring out the magic of you know, big productions and big movies. And there were green screens. Like, I can't tell you how many sets I'm on now. I'm like, oh, okay, there's a green screen. Oh, they're just gonna put it in post. But I love like big props. You know what I mean? When I go to I love theme parks, and I love seeing, you know, the big King Kong or you know, the big dinosaurs on Jurassic Park. And to think like, wow, they used to make like big time set pieces, they would make a whole dinosaur just for two shots, they wouldn't just put it in their computer, I would have loved to see kind of like the movie magic back then. Because it was so different than what we have today.

Anne Marie Cannon: 8:43

Yeah, that's interesting. In that continuum, you know, my grandfather was a piece to make films in the 1930s. You know, he was a photographer, whatever. But, you know, I never thought of the 80s as being part of that continuum, because he didn't like he splice things and cut them together. And there was no sound. So they were all silent. And he put, you know, but there's that it is part of that continuum, the 1880s. And I would have never thought of that.

Erik Escobar: 9:16

Interesting. Well, as someone who my biggest, most favorite movie growing up was Back to the Future. And I don't know if it was that feature because I liked it or back to feature because they were the only VHS is beyond. But either way. I love that to the future. And you watch it now especially Back to the Future to when they're in Times Square. And they have all these futuristic cars and everything's all different. And you're like they they took a whole block by block and they turned it into a major set, where now that would just be you know, someone behind the map, just like putting in all the little details. I'm like, Wow, that's so cool.

Anne Marie Cannon: 9:51

Right? That is a classic though Back to the Future. It's a classic. Amen to that. Okay, one of the questions I always ask is Where do we see this? And I know, it's, it's a wide open question, and you can pick something. Where do we see this in pop culture, of course, you know, there's a pop culture of the 80s, there's a pop culture of today, which I just watched the night soccer. And that's, that was just a mash up of that time period. I mean, there's all different ways to like, think about pop culture in the 80s,

Erik Escobar: 10:27

I think it's, it's all over, you know, you, you really start when I think of the 70s, I almost think of like, like earthy tones, kind of like mild tones, you know, very organic, very, very beautiful, then, you know, from 79 to 80, it's like, bright pink, bright blue, bright green, everything is very big. And there's something, you see that the 90s had grunge, but you see that kind of continue in the 90s 2000s 2010. Like, there's something really exciting about that big pop art. And I feel like that big pop art really came through from the 80s. You know, there were obviously, you know, little submissions here and there before that, that's when it really popped out. And in pop culture alone, I look at music nowadays, and we almost don't have the idea of a rock star anymore, or have a band performing on stage. And it's just, you know, guitar, bass drum singer. There's a lot of electric components and a lot of produced pre produce components to a lot of our pop music nowadays. And that'll started with like, new wave and that synth, and that, you know what I mean? That was like the 80s. And it's, you know, in its birth, it was very electric II type music, which is everything we have today in pop culture.

Anne Marie Cannon: 11:38

Wow, you're giving me a fresh look at the 80s and definitely the 70s and the 80s I thought I never want to revisit them. Fashion wise. I see it creeping into my wardrobe. I have a lot of vintage pieces. I'm finding a new appreciation of it, I think, and of course, all fashion decades or whatever, they come back into fashion and even the 80s was a mash up of 1940s and, you know, there were all these different influences on it. So yeah, I have a new appreciation for the 80s Thank you, Eric.

Erik Escobar: 12:14

Oh, thank you for having me on. So we can talk about the 80s

Anne Marie Cannon: 12:18

favorite music 1980s

Erik Escobar: 12:20

Ooh, it's great question all the hits. You know what I mean? All the things that are classics because they're classics and people still see them you know, like, ah ha and it's weird because I feel like the 80s were also a very singles kind of age you know what I mean? Now you like bands you like musical artists? I love the song Take on me. I don't know if I've heard another aha song. You know what I mean? Like I love white wedding. I could probably name a couple other Billy Idol songs but ultimately I'm kind of like wait he maybe did and to myself something else? Those those big top hits are the ones that you remember I'm a big kind of like weird music guy. So you know a lot of like you're weird at songs that had you know some like some funk to them you know talking about like Flock of Seagulls and also metal I think metal was so big in the 80s so it's really popped you know your your Metallica is your your death metal started to become big your you know, your your hair metal, like your motley crews and all them they all kind of were coming up around this time. And it was wild because it was also a time when music videos were big. Think of some music videos from the 70s maybe 60s. But you look in the 80s and MTV totally changed the game. So seeing all these like hair metal music videos as a kid I remember being like that was extreme. This is so cool. They're while they're breaking stuff. They're wearing makeup they've crazy hair. Anything in that hair metal scene or new wave scene. I'm all about

Anne Marie Cannon: 13:48

Yeah, videos, because when every everyone you just said Flock of Seagulls Take on me, is that the name of the song?

Erik Escobar: 13:57

Take me by all Ha. Everyday for a while.

Anne Marie Cannon: 14:01

That was Aha, I heard the words go, you know the song going through my head. And that was the one with the cartoon. Right? That was the one with the cartoon.

Erik Escobar: 14:10

They were like going into like a sketch drawing. Yeah. And they were like going back and forth. And you didn't see stuff like that, you know from the Beatles.

Anne Marie Cannon: 14:18

Yeah, everything you just said was like a visual MTV experience for me. Wow. Okay, cool. I was not into the metal Not at all. My boyfriend is really instill into metal and he's Yeah, he's always telling Alexa to play metal music and I'm like, Alexa, Don't listen to him. But give it to him. I don't know. It. Just it disturbs me.

Erik Escobar: 14:43

I feel like it's one of those things where if you're into it, you're all in. But if you're not into it, then you kind of just sort of look at it on the side like I have, like my girlfriend's cousin. He wears Van Halen shirts every day. You know? He's always listened to records. He has AC DC welding, like everything he wears is like 80s metal. And I feel like when you're an 80s metal fan or a metal fan, you go all in, you know, very few people are like one foot one out. It's like, this is my life. Let's go.

Anne Marie Cannon: 15:11

Let's just go to music. And I don't understand that it helps them to settle down.

Erik Escobar: 15:19

I don't get it either. But you know what respect if it's your thing, have fun. Listen to some AC DC all day and calm down.

Anne Marie Cannon: 15:27

That's it. And he's good, because he'll go to concerts with me that I like, and I would never go to a metal concert. But he doesn't go to concerts. So thank you. But yeah, so music. Wow, that's another one movie. Is it back to the future?

Erik Escobar: 15:43

It's got to be the back the future killed trilogy, and I'm going to go it's not just Back to the Future, it's back to the future to that to the future one. Back to the Future three, there's my order of favorite 80s films,

Anne Marie Cannon: 15:55

is there a reason for that?

Erik Escobar: 15:58

I just thought that like in that future one, they had a great story. It was really, really cool the way they like put it together. You know, it's a megaphone that gets delivered via this. And I think they went out they made a movie, and went back to future one got big, I feel like the budget for backs and feature two, and back feature three were so much bigger, because they're like, we kind of hit gold on this. This is a really cool thing. So I feel like you watch Back to the Future too. And aesthetically, it's so cool. They're in the future. I mean, anytime something's in the future, I'm like, wow, this is what's it gonna look like? And it was just, just visually, I think it's the best of the three. I think it's so cool.

Anne Marie Cannon: 16:34

So one of the things that we did this summer with COVID is I live in this really great small mountain community in the Rocky Mountains. It's an old historic town, and I have friends, you know, we had our little pot of friends I'll say, and my friends the maze, they set up a outdoor drive in sit down thing in their yard. And we watch old movies, like the first one was jaws. And then we watch, you know, some of the movies from the 80s. And it was so interesting, going back and looking at them and how politically incorrect they were and the way that we thought and you know, we're really trying to change up the way that we talk the way that we think about race and ethnicity and, you know, sexes, the sexes, and it was such an eye opener to go back and look and see all those little things in the movies. That would today would never work ever.

Erik Escobar: 17:38

Yeah, it's weird because it was not too long ago. Urban Cowboy.

Anne Marie Cannon: 17:41

That was one oh my god, Urban Cowboy.

Erik Escobar: 17:44

Oh, I feel like I totally understand because there are things we could not get away with in film or TV nowadays. So how did back then boom, look at you

Anne Marie Cannon: 17:52

from your, you know, generation looking back and you watch these things? Do you? Do you see those blatant like things represented in those movies? And what do you think when you see them?

Erik Escobar: 18:03

I do. I think it's someone who's a millennial, whether that's fortunately or unfortunately, I'm a little more sensitive to Oh, wow, I can't believe they said that. Or Oh, wow, they're treating this person like this, or while they only casting Asian people or black people like this. You see it? As a comic. I'm very, like, you can create jokes about whatever, you know what I mean, you can create entertainment about whatever. I think as soon as we start limiting our mind, you know what I mean? Oh, I can't think that way. I can't see things this way. I think when we limit ourselves, it limits the art. And I don't say that to say you know, like, Oh, it's okay, if things are racist, okay, if things are sexist, no, I don't think that's great. But if in comedy, The joke is either parroting it or the the punch line is funnier than the actual offense level. Go for it. And an entertainment it's kind of the same way. I feel like if you use this as a tool to show like, how messed up things were back then or if you use this as a tool to show like, we're not going to censor what it was like back then. This is how it was. I think it's one not horrible because you know, you're you're not doing it to be mean the intention of racism or sexism isn't there, you know, you're using it to if anything, fight racism, sexism, or whatever it might be any ism. But to I think it's kind of interesting, because, you know, we can't always believe things were always great. You know what I mean? And when we look at these snapshots through film or TV of like, oh, Archie Bunker sure is not saying good things. It kind of shows us like, how how far we've come and how far we have to go, which is you know, it's been a it's a beneficial thing, you know, like it used to be this bad back then. Or this weird back then. Let's change it. We have changed and we can do better in the future.

Anne Marie Cannon: 19:51

I kind of think the depiction of Archie Bunker was before its time because it was such a parody of

Unknown: 19:57

Yes,

Anne Marie Cannon: 19:58

of that kind of race. I'm and, you know, I kind of grew up in that house, not that house. But you know, my father was extremely conservative and in that type of thing, so archie bunker. Yeah, I don't think they could do that today. But I never sight. It was brilliant. And the point of it was to, to basically show you this is, this is what it looks like when you're racist. And when you're all these things, that is an interesting segue into potentially another conversation. Because as you were talking, I was like, Wow, it sounds like everything was great in the 80s. And I'm not so sure that it was. And so what were other things that comes come to mind? In the 80s, that were, you know, the darker part of the 80s they Oh,

Erik Escobar: 20:49

totally. And nowadays, since we have social media, and you know, we kind of have this presence we put out there for ourselves, we really want to be the best people that we can be. So because, you know, ever there's eyes on us everywhere. You know what I mean? Wherever we go, there's the guys in the 80s. It kind of felt like there was this, like, no one knows what anyone is doing. So let's just do all this crazy stuff. Like, healthy or good. That is, that's probably not the best idea. There's a lot less, what's the word accountability? You know what I mean? When I go on tour, I like make my bed before I leave hotel room. The 80s was known for like less trash it and that's okay. The depiction of you know, women back then was so not great. You know what I mean? It was very objectifying. That's that's one thing, though, I was like, This is definitely something where I'm glad that's not still a thing. I'm glad we kind of come out of it. There's so many things about that time period that I feel we're so gritty and not good and not great. But also, that was kind of the reason why the 80s has this weird mystique about it. You know what I mean? Because it was the Wild Wild West. It was a free for all people were doing whatever they wanted to do. Everyone was on drugs all the time. Like it was

Anne Marie Cannon: 22:04

a wild one. It created Donald Trump.

Erik Escobar: 22:08

Yes. 100%, which I am not all for said mildly.

Anne Marie Cannon: 22:15

Oh, no, I'm just breathing easier every day, myself. And also, you know, the likes of Jeffrey Epstein. And you talk about women and sexism. You know, I just watched this really good show on Amazon. It's called what the constitution means to me. Have you seen that? I have not. Oh, my God. Well, it was it really. It's this woman who, when she was 15, she used to go around and do these debates about what the constitution means to me, and they were contests. And she won all the time she went, she went so much that she ended up saving enough money to go to college. Well, she goes back, it's a one woman show, I recommend it. If there's a woman in your life, I recommend it. And also, but what you're saying it's, it's kind of like, you know, we're just kind of coming out of the dark ages. And that, you know, the way that women have been treated throughout history is mind blowing. And we're still there, we're still in it, you know, just Yes, we have a long way to go racism and all that stuff. But there was just something about that, that really made me see what we thought is what we might have thought the subtle. Like, as we get further away from it, it's not subtle, it's blatant, you know, it has primed women to be subservient, and to be afraid.

Erik Escobar: 23:49

Yet, when we look at the 80s, we kind of pick and choose our favorite parts and be like, pick and choose our favorite things, while the bad things went down. You know what I mean? The way certain minorities are treated the way women were treated, not great, not a fan. And I think there's something really kind of exciting about the time we're living in now, because there's a lot more social responsibility. So in the 80s, I think it's so weird, because, you know, we kind of pick and choose our favorite things about it. We love MTV, we love the music, we love this. But really, it was, you know, a very dark time and a lot of bad stuff was kind of going on. So you know, you kind of look at it through like those rose colored glasses, like these are the good things. But oh, we can't forget about all of this. And I think now we live in a really cool time because of social media in the internet. Like, even if you grew up in a place and you only have a mentality of you know, this thing and this thing, this thing, you can go online and see different perspectives, which I think is really exciting to really judge for yourself, like, oh, women shouldn't be treated that way. minorities shouldn't be treated this way. And it's kind of cool because we're at a time now where people can, they don't have an excuse to be socially irresponsible. So at least we're living in better times. You know, there's great parts about it. There's worst parts about it, but that's definitely a big win for Everyone in these modern times of social media?

Anne Marie Cannon: 25:03

Yes, I agree, I agree with that. And I'm hopeful about that, too. You know, I just for me, I'm, I am a child of the 70s. And I have had to be really challenged the past few years with my internal systemic, you know, racism and all that kind of thing. And it's uncomfortable, but I think that, you know, getting to that point, it's making me a better person, it's making me look inside of what my norms are, and why are they norms? And how do I feed into the bigger problems of social justice? And so, I agree, I think it's a great thing. And, you know, reflecting back is helpful to looking back on that time period, and seeing, you know, seeing it how it was, and I agree, you know, it's like archie bunker, he was somebody's dad, he was a racist, you know, whatever. But he was somebody's dad. And you know, I don't know, it's a big mishmash of things. That is what we, you know, are dealing with today, but we're hopeful and it's the Age of Aquarius, they say, you know, it's an it's a new dawning. And, you know, if you believe in that stuff,

Erik Escobar: 26:20

I do, I do believe in the good energies, I believe, whatever good energy you put out, is what you're gonna receive. And every person is a person, every humans, a human, everyone deserves to be treated with respect, just like another person. And I think it's exciting, because, you know, there's a lot more open mindedness going on, or before it was like, I believe what I believe you go against me, screw you, or I'm gonna, like, double down on my beliefs. But a lot more people are being open mind be like, Oh, well, maybe the things that I believe things that I grew up with my experiences, like, they formed who I am. But that isn't necessarily the person that I have to be, you know what I mean, I could change that, if I see it in perspective. And at the end of the day, you know, when you put out that good energy, and when you try to make everyone just have a better day and happier. That's something that you know, we should be working towards. And when you see that in someone else, it kind of inspires you to be that way. And I think slowly, but surely all that goodness is kind of, you know, taken over, which is

Anne Marie Cannon: 27:13

great. I like that and reminds me of your TED Talk. Maybe we'll talk about that. I think the hardest thing for me, though, has been my boyfriend calls it the baby boomers last hurrah with this guy that just left our house, the White House. And, you know, there is there is an unmoving, unwilling to change element. And I'm hoping that by focusing on, you know, Somebody once told me that when you focus on the problem, the problem gets bigger. But when you you focus on the solution, then you have a solution. And so I think what you're saying is very simple. And it was it's something that I have always felt and believed as well. It's like what energy you put out, multiplies. But I'll tell you, I have put in such negative energy. The past four years, I'm having to reprogram and I love that message that you have. Was there anything else about the 80s that you wanted to talk about before we move into what I feel is a natural segue into your TED talk?

Erik Escobar: 28:25

You know what I think something super cool about the 80s as well is the idea of the idea of cable TV. Because now when you look at how artists and musicians, singers, whoever it is promote themselves. It's all through the internet. You know what I mean? viral YouTube videos, get big on Tick Tock get big on Instagram, everything's kind of in this virtual showcase of marketing. And I feel like that's kind of the 80s is where it all started. Because with MTV and cable TV, that's when you could really market yourself and sell yourself and show he got through a music video through a stand up special through whatever it may be. And before that, in the 70s, you know, people still promoted stuff, he still had radio, people would fire things up, he would have events, but in terms of like, virtual electronic marketing, the 80s is where it started. And I think it's so crazy how we went from cable TV to like Tick Tock videos, and it's all in the same thru line of get your name out there with some type of content.

Anne Marie Cannon: 29:23

Wow, I'm just, I'm just reflecting on my life and the progression of technology. I grew up in a house that started out with a black and white TV were my brothers. I there were five or six kids in my family and one of my best I was the youngest and my brother would be like, hey, Emery, go, go move the antenna. Oh, right there right there. And then don't move just and it's black and white. And then you know just how technology has progressed. And that you know the stopping points that I don't think of that you see very quickly. I love that. Well, I

Erik Escobar: 30:01

remember, I was the last generation to know what it was like to not have a cell phone. Straight up. You know what I mean? When I was in fifth sixth grade, you would go to the mall with your friends, you would be like, Hey, Mom, Hey, Dad, can you pick me up at eight? Everyone gets picked up at seven o'clock. And then you're stuck there for an hour. You know what I mean? You're not playing on your phone. You're not calling them for a ride. You're not like trying to look at your email. You're just you're just stuck there without a phone for an hour. And you'd make it work. You would go into Spencer gifts. You got some fries at Red Robin, you hung out at the mall. And kids nowadays they don't don't see that. You know what I mean? If you don't have your phone freak out, I freak out when I don't have my phone. And I'm pretty

Anne Marie Cannon: 30:45

well, I really been aware of when I'm, you know, in line stuck in line somewhere. I have to wait for a long time. I love technology. I'm one of those people. I'm one of those people who's like, you know, technology. And I love it because I look around and I think people are more patient because they have something to do. I'm more patient because I have something to do. I love it. But yeah, you're right. You're right.

Erik Escobar: 31:11

That's a weird time.

Anne Marie Cannon: 31:13

How old are you? If you don't mind me asking.

Erik Escobar: 31:15

I'm 3131 in just about a month, go Pisces?

Anne Marie Cannon: 31:21

Pisces? That's a very complex zodiac sign.

Erik Escobar: 31:27

I'm a complex guy.

Anne Marie Cannon: 31:28

My List. I have to

Erik Escobar: 31:29

write your thing. Yeah, no worries,

Anne Marie Cannon: 31:30

no carrot said stick to the script. Because I was just editing the podcast. It's going out today. And I went off on so many tangents. And

Erik Escobar: 31:39

I'm the same way sometimes that's where we find gold. So don't you worry.

Anne Marie Cannon: 31:42

You're right. I agree. Okay, so what one thing before we go on to the TED talk? What one thing? Do you want my listeners to remember about this history that we're talking about?

Erik Escobar: 31:57

We were talking we tangent, there you go look leads to gold, we tangent a little bit about how, you know, sometimes there can be a lot of hate, sometimes there can be a lot of anger. And I feel like we kind of live in a world where a lot of people, a lot of people would rather be right, than they would rather be good. You know what I mean? A lot, who would rather be correct and be like, No, I'm right. And they would rather just be like a good person. And I think we look at the 80s. And we look how fun it was. And we look how crazy it was. And there was a lot of wild things happening. It was exciting time. But there was also a lot of darkness there. And there was also a lot of inequality there. And coming to today, we kind of see how people would much rather not sort of be good than you know, be right, or like have their own selfish reasons. And I think that's the thing that I always try to remind myself and take away and especially with, you know, the last four years of who has been in the White House, it's okay to not be right, it's okay to have an open mind. I would rather be a good person and you know, be right. And I feel like a lot of other people would rather be a good person than me, right? And we can further this path. And we can further this idea. And further this mindset. If we all just try to be good people and treat each other with respect and fight for what's right. If you believe something before just having an open mind because that can change.

Anne Marie Cannon: 33:10

You are good man Eric Escobar. That's all it's practice. It's practice, not perfection. So yeah, the 80s was probably the most selfish decade that I lived through. It was all about me. And today, we have choices. And that is a great thing. One of the things that I saw out there on the internet about you was that you did a TED talk in I did, and it How does that happen? How do you do a TED talk to you apply to something or how does that work?

Erik Escobar: 33:45

So I was actually in grad school at the time. And I was really working a lot on techniques and humor and techniques that comics use that can lead to sort of talking earlier, a more open minded lifestyle, a happier lifestyle and more present lifestyle. And I think there were a lot of fun things I was playing with where I was like, Oh, this could really turn into a great talk. So I started pitching myself to you know, a little Ted events all over the country. Eventually Carroll college over in Helena Montana, where like we would love to bring you in. It would be awesome. I came in we prepped for months. And AnneMarie get this we I believe we had our TED talk on the 13th or 14th of March and the day before lockdown hit all of Montana. So we went from I

Anne Marie Cannon: 34:32

think it was like explains everything explains a lot.

Erik Escobar: 34:37

Because we went from like a 200 person sold out crowd to like no one can be in there. We're still gonna film it, but it's only gonna be for like a camera guy and the director. And it was so wild because I had this great idea leading up to it was like, I think it'd be a fun bit if I came out as my own warmup guy. And I didn't realize it till I actually stepped on that stage. Oh, I'm gonna do this bit wrong. A warm up guy, for no one, no one is in the crowd. So it was a great experience. And I loved it. But it was it was a weird one because I was literally doing it for near zero people in a snowstorm in the middle of Montana. And I'm like, I'm so grateful. I'm so happy. But what the heck is this?

Anne Marie Cannon: 35:19

It was brilliant. It was brilliant. It was inspiring.

Erik Escobar: 35:23

It means a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Anne Marie Cannon: 35:26

And you know, it's helping me I need to, I'm trying to reprogram or, I don't know, clear away the muck of whatever in your message was more fulfilling life through humor. That's what it was was.

Erik Escobar: 35:41

That's what it was through humor. And

Anne Marie Cannon: 35:44

you talk about when you walk into a room, you look for the humor? Yeah, like, like every opportunity is an opportunity to inject humor into a situation.

Erik Escobar: 35:55

I think to a degree, yes, I think what you're talking about is definitely on the money, right. But I look at it more in terms of just bullies being present. Because I think a lot of the times, you know, you go through life and you know, you get a new car, you turn it on you drive somewhere, Hey, how you doing? I'm good. You know, you might drive through somewhere and everything is so automatic. You know what I mean? I feel very rarely today are we are we present in a situation really engaging someone without having a bunch of canned answers, or just kind of like trying to get through it, looking back on the day and being like, oh, whatever, not even really remembering anything, because we were never present and in it and seeing everything around us. And I think when you are present, it lends itself to having more humor and seeing the jokes in life and seeing the funny things in life. And I think whenever you're present and you can create a funnier, create a bit or create a joke. That is giving someone sort of the perspective of like, whoever's trying to tell me a joke, whoever is trying to be funny, they're trying to make you laugh. If they're trying to make me laugh, they care about me. And they're trying to do something to make me happier. And that's, that's kind of like the main message, even if it fails, you're making someone happy.

Anne Marie Cannon: 37:01

That was a selling point you just reminded me was, you know, try it, even if you feel uncomfortable about it, because you're doing something good. You're trying to make somebody laugh. You know, maybe I'll be more brazen in the future, because because of that message, but, you know, do it because somebody's gonna see that even if it falls flat. Try it. Do it. I like I said, I grew up in a family of six. And, you know, humor was a very big part of everything. It still is. So we're always looking for the next punch line. We're always trying to be the one who makes the rest of them laugh.

Erik Escobar: 37:36

Exactly.

Anne Marie Cannon: 37:37

Are you from a big family,

Erik Escobar: 37:39

I am an only child. I'm from the opposite of that situation. But whether it's you know, being an only child who's having, you know, like a family and having everyone, all families have tension, it's tough growing up. And humor relieves that and humor helps you get through it. And whatever kind of bull is in the way whatever kind of anger or tension is in the way, a joke is so powerful and can kind of take away the evilness or the stress and anxiety and situation, because it's a joke.

Anne Marie Cannon: 38:10

So I recommend to our listeners, definitely check out Eric's TED Talk. And you can find it on YouTube. You have a YouTube station, right? Yes, it is.

Erik Escobar: 38:21

So I believe the TED talk that I did was actually under the TEDx talks for college accounting, but also my own, I put some stand up some fun stuff. But yeah, just look up Eric Escobar TED Talk, you'll see my beautiful face. I'm pretty sweaty, it's a good time.

Anne Marie Cannon: 38:38

It is it's a good time. And it's a very good message. And it's gonna you know, it's something that we're always gonna look back on and be like, that's the day after lockdown. I interviewed your friend, Zach, right. Zach Lyman. Yeah. And that's how it is with me. I connect with somebody and then I look at their world and who's in their world. And I landed on you. And you know, because you have a presence out there. There's a lot of bread crumbs out there on the internet. One of the things he said that day is, oh, my friend, you know, Eric Escobar, he just told me he's going to be on this show. What I realized is that my daughter had me watching the masked singer, and my friend Kevin, they both watch it and they're like, oh, watch this. So I watched it for about a season, you know, quickly. And then I saw that there is this offshoot of that and it's called, show me your voice.

Erik Escobar: 39:32

Yep. I can see your voice. Yeah,

Anne Marie Cannon: 39:34

I can see your voice. Okay. I can see your voice. I get that mixed up. And what I realized is that the one episode of that that I watched was you were in it?

Unknown: 39:45

No way.

Anne Marie Cannon: 39:49

I mean, I don't know how many episodes of that was and I just loved it. You were so brilliant. came out and you belted out that heart song. Like it was no You're not a singer.

Erik Escobar: 40:03

I am not. I'm a comedian. I'm a TED talker. But I am not a singer. I'm a lot of things, but not that.

Anne Marie Cannon: 40:10

So then I was like, Oh, I gotta get this guy on my show. How did that happen?

Erik Escobar: 40:15

So kind of like the TED Talk. What's insane is we were supposed to shoot my episode, I want to say March 24. COVID happened. So we put on hiatus we shot in, I want to say August. And then I think the show came out around November. Oh, we actually Thanksgiving were the Thanksgiving episode, which was really exciting. Oh, that was a trip. It was a super trip I actually got in because I want to say I was auditioning every year for America's Got Talent. I was always on my stuff in. And there was a casting person there who was super great, super amazing. And she was like, well, you can go for ATP again. But there's other things that I think you know, you might be good for. Check out I can see your voice. I submitted my materials sent in a video, they were like, hey, that's great. Can you sing worse, send another video where I sang worse, and they're like, be even better. And like, progressively getting more and more horrible, eventually brought me in. And it was, it was an amazing experience. You know, I consider that like my first major, kind of non commercial TV thing. And I had such a fun time on that show. It was so wonderful. It's it's a tense show, it stresses you out. I don't know about you. When I watched this season. I was like, oh, it wasn't gonna be that good. It created a lot of anxiety in my body.

Anne Marie Cannon: 41:31

stressful and it's very stressful to tell us the premise of the show.

Erik Escobar: 41:37

Was the premise of the show. If I can see your voice, I believe it I don't think started in the Philippines or Thailand or Korea, but I know it got big and all those markets. And essentially, you have a, let's call it like a deus about six singers. And some of them can sing. Some of them can't sing. And the contestant through all these little challenges has to figure out whether they're a good singer or a bad singer put their money on which one it is and see if they're correct. But the crazy thing about it is like some of these good singers are purposely doing bad things during their lip sync during their interviews during their whisper, you know, challenges. And some of these bad singers. They're pretty competent. They're pretty good liars. So you're basically having to put your money on these people where you've never heard their voices. They're going through all these challenges. And you're putting like 10 grand a pop on like, I think they're good. I think they're bad. And when they're good, you celebrate when they're bad. Oh, oh, I'm sorry.

Anne Marie Cannon: 42:37

I love it when they're bad, because they're so like, they're just so heartfelt about their bad singing.

Erik Escobar: 42:50

I love it when they're about to owe me because like, it's annoying to karaoke. You know what I mean? When you go to karaoke, if someone picks up the song, and they're nervous, they're kind of, you know, half assing it it's like, Alright, this is good. When you see someone who's dancing and rocking it and having a good time. They can be the worst singer ever. But if they're loving it, oh, I'm loving it, too.

Anne Marie Cannon: 43:09

It's infectious. It's infectious. And so you you were one of the actors. Who, what was I know you were wearing a security guard outfit? And are you you worked in a jail or prison or something? That was your thing? Yeah. So

Erik Escobar: 43:27

I actually I'm on the side, I actually teach improv and comedy workshops to kids who are incarcerated, prevents me I was working a lot, a lot of detention camps, you know, detention centers, a couple of schools that were very, very underserved in tough neighborhoods. And we kind of started doing a lot more zoom instruction and zoom workshops. But it's, it's tough in the camps. It's very, very difficult. But when they were asking me like, well, for your character, you know, what do you do? Who are you? Originally, I was supposed to be like this rocker guy, because like we were talking about earlier love metal, Ella Brock, and they were gonna do that. And then when we switched it up between March and August, because we're gonna shoot in March. And August hit, I think they switched up some of the voices. Some of the people they got, they gave someone else a rocker persona. So they were like, well, we can be a rocker anymore. Who do you want to be? I'm like, what I do this for a job. And they're like, cool. Let's make you musical bars. You're going to be the prison singer guy. And I'm like, cool. That's great. Sure. Yeah, I'll I'll do it. Why not? Oh, this is a very aggressive looking costume, but Okay, fine. You gotta just roll with it. Like to do this. Yeah, sure. And then next thing, you know, you're singing in front of Rick Springfield.

Anne Marie Cannon: 44:40

Oh, yeah, that's right. Rick Springfield. Oh, that's so fun. So these are all the breadcrumbs and following on the internet with you. And of course, there's your stand up comedy, which is what you do a comedy. Yes. Let's talk about your comedy. Let's talk about that. I would

Erik Escobar: 44:58

love to just a comedy nerd. Let's do Talk about all of it.

Anne Marie Cannon: 45:00

When did you decide Oh, I'm a comic? Like how did that come about?

Erik Escobar: 45:05

My dad growing up used to always love telling jokes. He's big joke guy. I remember we had like VHS of like Laurel and Hardy Buster key like a lot of like, you know, older comedy stuff. So comedy was kind of always in my life growing up, it was always kind of around. I feel like I I loved performing. Like in junior high. I started playing bass and guitar and I want to be musician. I think I really got to fun high out of performing for people and having a good time, whether it's music or theater, whatever it was. High School came around, I started doing football, I was on the JV football team, typical California story. We had football practice, it started raining, they canceled football practice because la people paid during football was canceled. And I was waiting maybe another hour, hour and a half for my ride to pick me up. So I was waiting. I actually stumbled upon my school's improv team just kind of walking around campus. And I was like, this is really cool. So I started, you know, jamming with them, we start doing some improv. The next day I quit football, I joined improv because I was like, this is really fun. And while I was on the improv team, I remember we had a coach who would come in like once a month, once every couple months. Amazing comic named Tom Clark. And I remember one time we were trying to schedule a workshop with Tom, like, can you come in the state? It would be a two hour workshop. And he was like, Oh, actually, I would love to do that date. But I'm on tour in South Africa that time. Can we do another date? And just casually saying, I'm on tour in South Africa. I was like, that is so cool. That's just part of your life. You're just simply jump on a plane, do a dozen shows and theatres in another country. Come on back, teach these high school kids improv. And I remember being so like, Wow, that is so cool that you do that as a comic, you do that as a, you know, stand up. So I ended up taking a class with him when I was in college. It was right around the time I was about to graduate, my undergrad. And I was kind of in a position where it's like, Alright, I can start applying to jobs, I can get a job right now, where do I want to work? Or I can while I'm young. I can do this comedy thing. You know what I mean? stay up late at night, do shows go on the road for a little bit of money. Like I think I'm, I think I'm at a point where it's like, I want to if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this now. Yeah, and I've never looked back. And it's, it's been a great journey. I love my life. I love my career. It's tough. It's very tough. It's very annoying. There's a lot of politics. There's a lot of kind of BS in it. But you know, every year gets better and better. And I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's a dream. I love it.

Anne Marie Cannon: 47:31

So what was the driving force for you to do this? Was it the laughter sack said it was one of the things that he really likes, is being able to engineer the joke and to refine it, and to pull it off. Like that whole process. He loves that. I would have thought it was just the last because that's what I'm going for. When I'm trying to make my siblings laugh. It's that feeling of, Oh, I made them laugh. You know, like, that's edifying to me. But I, the other part of it seems daunting. And I've watched you tell the same jokes in different video clips. And it's interesting. So is it the same for you? Or is it the laughter? Or both?

Erik Escobar: 48:13

It's, it's a bunch of things. I think one big thing for me is like, like, I don't know, if you ever had like a job where you did a task or project or whatever. And your boss like comes over and takes the time to be like, Hey, I think you did a great job on this. Like, I'm giving you kudos because you did great. That feeling feels so good. When you get that approval, you know, from like a boss or a manager, whatever it is. And the way I look at comedy is the people in the audience, they're your boss, you know what I mean? Because you're, you're working for them. But you're also working for the club, you're working for the book, or you're a producer, but that audience, right? Then they're your manager, their boss. And when you do a joke, and it lands, they aren't even taking the time to be like, let me tell him I did a good bit there organically, instinctively, just laughing. They're not even controlling their approval and their validation for you. And I think that's a such a magical feeling when you can make people laugh, because they're not even in control of their bodies. They just want to give you that approval to let you know, you're doing great. And we're connecting right now. And we're community right now and it feels good. And that would say that's the number one thing, like that feeling of making people laugh. And just feel so good. It feels so great.

Anne Marie Cannon: 49:27

But it's a two way street, isn't it you're giving and they're receiving, and they're giving and you're receiving.

Erik Escobar: 49:33

Yeah, and as profound and beautiful. When also let's make it a little less profound and beautiful. I also think also, you know, comedy is fun because it is a gamble. Every night you go out it's a gamble. Just like you go out and play your numbers on roulette, put it on black, put it on red, you don't know how it's gonna hit. You never know how a crowd is going to be. I've gotten a standing ovation and the 7pm show and I've gotten bottles thrown at me at the 9pm show. You gotta mean like the same show the same 20 minutes the same. killed an hour ago, that the gambling aspect, that aspect of it is a rush. You know what I mean? Cuz you never know what you're stepping into. And when you when you win when you lose, you lose. Oh, it's super addictive, super addictive.

Anne Marie Cannon: 50:19

So you just reminded me of one of my favorite scenes of a movie ever punch line.

Erik Escobar: 50:24

Okay?

Anne Marie Cannon: 50:25

Have you ever seen it? No, dude, you gotta see it. I will Tom, the Tom Hanks and Sally Field and they're doing the clubs. That's what it is. And Tom Hanks gets up, and he's his fit is funny, you know, whatever. And the next night or another night, he gets up, and he does it. And his father, who is a doctor who thinks he's going to medical school is in the audience. And he gives the same bit, and he ends up sobbing inconsolably. It's the same. And it was just so profound. Because I mean, that was specifically because his father was in the audience, and it shows you, there's a fine line between humor and grief, I guess you could say. I think it was the 80s I think it was a movie in the 80s. I definitely tell

Erik Escobar: 51:15

you how to be familiar with it. I just haven't seen it yet.

Anne Marie Cannon: 51:18

I think you would really appreciate it, especially after our conversation today. And so, you know, what is it that one time you give the same bit, and it's flies, and it's great. And then what are some of the elements that maybe later it wasn't like it didn't land the way that you wanted it to?

Erik Escobar: 51:38

For a multitude of reasons, it can always kind of go well, or go horribly, horribly wrong. Something that's really great about comedy is it doesn't matter really, what your bits are like what your jokes are lightweight writings, like which perspective is like, because that audience will get an opinion of you within the first five seconds of seeing you. You know what I mean? You hear about comics who don't wear patterns, and you don't wear logos, because you don't want to be distracting. A lot of comics, say like, beards hurt you. Because people just don't trust people with beards. If you're in a small town, and they don't like Mexicans, they might hate me. So there's so many factors where you just can't control it, you go in and do your thing. And every audience is different, you know, you could have a very blue collar working crowd for one show. And the next show is nothing but like bachelorette parties, I can do the same set, but both parties are going to take it very different ways. And they're going to feel it in different ways. And that's kind of like the the non gambling aspect of comedy, in that there is a gamble for a lot of your jokes. But there is a certain level of skill of instead of saying blue and that one joke, let me say pink and see if it works a little better. Or maybe for you know, in Texas or whatever, maybe when I have this joke about food, I can talk about barbecue. But when I do it in Seattle, I'm talking about fish and chips, there are little elements of every joke that you can change and make a little better to kind of tailor it to that crowd. Specifically, I do a bit in particular, where I always ask the bartender the server, like, give me some names of some towns out here I can make fun of because they're the same jokes, but it's different towns every time you perform it on the road. So I think that's the big thing of like, Why do some jokes work in front of other crowds and don't work in front of these crowds? Because every crowd is different. And he was a comic just have to like, tailor and tweak things to make sure every crowd is having the best experience possible for them. Because they're all unique.

Anne Marie Cannon: 53:34

Yeah. Oh, that's fascinating. Like I noticed from watching, I watched Zack and I watch your videos. And one of the things that I realized is you're really doing the same story refined. But you're doing it in such a way that it it seems like it's off the cuff. But that's a very practice thing. I guess I never thought about that before.

Erik Escobar: 53:58

Well, when you look at like, you're like, I'll put it this way, if I'm doing an hour for a club or whatever it is like that, that hour is going to be a lot of my jokes, like a lot of chunks. So you have your joke. And then if you have a couple of jokes on the same topic, you have your bit. And then you have bits on the kind of the same general thing that's a chunk, and then a couple of chunks, make your big set. So if I have a chunk about online dating, and I have let's call it a dozen jokes in there, I'm gonna do those dozen jokes for my hour. But if I'm doing a 10 minutes set, or a five minute set out of those dozen jokes, I might only do the best to, you know what I mean? Or I might only do the best one. So it's crazy because as you're doing these shows, you're doing like different forms of the joke. And then you're like doing different forms of like the meat of it. Like how much fatty cutting off are you going into a little more things? And then even bigger than that. I enjoy a lot of my jokes with crowd work. So it's like who's dating? You're a couple. How long have you been together? Get some magic there. Talk about my girlfriend. Do my girlfriend joke to my Partner joke to my stuff. And it's crazy because you have these like, jokes are almost like these living beings. But depending on the set, you're either going to do the full thing, half the thing, insert with crowd work, do a tag to a callback from a different thing. And it's crazy, because they, they're the same jokes, but the way you manipulate them every set is I think it's very exciting. And to see like, where it goes,

Anne Marie Cannon: 55:22

how would you describe your humor?

Erik Escobar: 55:25

When I was probably about 2122 really getting into comedy. I was really into Anthony gentlemen. And I think I love Anthony Joseph, so much for a couple reasons. One, I've always had crazy add, and it's hard for me to focus on things. And I think because of that I'm very, very attracted to short jokes. Like, if you have a 10 minute story, I'll like it. But it takes a lot of work for me to really stay engaged. If you got a 22nd joke, boom, I love it. And Anthony had very solid jokes as jokes, but he was also this kind of very, like dark, menacing, evil kind of guy. And I think when I was younger, as you know, like a dude in his early 20s, I was like, Yeah, I like that. I like that darkness. Like, that's scary. And it's the things and my perspective, right now my point of view when I go on stage, I'm very silly. I'm very unassuming. I'm very wacky, I'm very. I'm not like super serious. I'm a jokey joke guy. I like having that wacky, silly persona. But I think I still take with me that darkness that I was so attracted to that Anthony gentlement kind of like, ingrained in my life, when I was listening to him so much when I was a kid, or in my early 20s, that I've now had, like this mix of like, I'll get a little mean, I'll get a little evil, I'll get a little dark. But it's all done through like this silly, fun perspective tour as dark as it gets, we're still going to be okay. And I might have some like mean joke about something. But the end, it turns out to be like a joke about fruit or Disneyland. Like I like going into those dark places, but keeping it light as much as I can to counteract that balance. Yeah, that's where you drop,

Anne Marie Cannon: 57:10

you drop these little dark bombs. I'm thinking about the one where you're talking about living with your, and when one you were living with your mother was your roommate, the other one, and you're smoking and then your mom gets all upset. And you're like, it's only crack. Like, and then you go on you don't stop there. You just keep going. Yeah. It's like, I like that.

Erik Escobar: 57:32

It's fun. Because like I said earlier, every, every audience is different. And I'm always going to be me.

Anne Marie Cannon: 57:39

What are you doing now? And how is COVID affected your profession, and how you conduct yourself in it.

Erik Escobar: 57:48

So we got hit very, very hard. Every performing artists, especially comics, you know, it's, it's kind of a scary time. Last year, I was actually on the road, February to about may, I was on there about five months, and then March hit. And then I was like, Oh, well, I guess half of my shows are canceled. And this is like work that you're banking on to pay your rent. You know what I mean? This isn't like, Oh, well, whatever you should go some companies like no, like a college that was supposed to pay for this thing over here. So it was it was a little heartbreaking. It was a little scary. I firmly believe comedians, we are the hustlers and thugs of the arts world. All right. Like, we're always trying to get any little gig. It's like you can I make 50 bucks here. Yeah, let's do that. Do I drive eight hours for 100 bucks. You know what, let's go there. Like they're really crappy. You know what I mean? We try to get every gig we can. And because of that, when the pandemic hit, we couldn't go anywhere, all these zoom shows started popping up. And all these virtual shows started popping up. And I would say from about March when the lockdown hit, to even today, you know, looking at close to a year later, I was doing a bunch of zoom shows. And they would range from, you know, just a couple comics in a zoom meeting, trying to shutter to like actual, like corporate gigs and you know, a couple holiday parties and colleges who would want to bring you in to do 30 minutes of comedy, and they pay you and it was it was scary in the beginning because I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do for work. I don't know what anyone bring in. But eventually this virtual thing started being a little more profitable, not as profitable as it was pre COVID. But like, gigs were coming through, which was very, very exciting. Use that to look for him and chase him. when things started getting a little bit better. I actually started going on the road, I would say last September ish. So in September I did on the east coast of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, all outdoor shows, very fascinating, because I feel like a lot of the audience members were almost more like, wow, things are open and I can order a beer and I can sit in a theater. And I can look at these people over here. They were more excited about that than it was to watch a comedy show, which I thought was fascinating. Cuz you know, it's like, yeah, it is it is interesting to be around people. And some shows would be indoors, some chose to be outdoors, it depended on where you were. And it was really kind of like trying to stay safe throughout all that putting on your mask wearing your gloves. I've also done some other shows kind of on the west coast. I just did. Las Vegas just did. Arizona, just an Oregon.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:00:21

Well, you, you've pivoted, you pivoted into the needs in the market. Yeah, I commend you for that. I think that's really difficult to do for some people. And so that plus what you were saying, if there's anything we've learned in the past year is that we can't count on nothing. Yeah, so we just really got to fly by the seat of our pants, assess the situation, and then make the best choice to move forward. And, you know, hopefully, we won't always have that, you know, hesitancy, but right now, it's, it's out of necessity. No, that, is there anything about COVID? That's funny.

Erik Escobar: 1:01:04

I feel like I've written our code material, just because I was like, stuck in my house for like six months. And that was all I was thinking about. And I was putting on the paper, obviously, you know, the infections aren't. The deaths aren't hilarious. But I think there's something about any time. I'll put it this way. So look, at 15 years ago, we didn't really have the internet as much as we have. Now, there wasn't really social media, like there was like there is now. And I think we were living in a place where everyone would watch the same TV show everyone watch the big movies that were coming out. Everyone experience kind of the same experiences, and to some degree, so everyone was kind of on the same page. Like if you went into work on Monday or Tuesday, I would say half 75% of people in there. They all watch Jay Leno the night before Letterman the night before and you can talk about it. Like Did you see that thing on TV? You see, whatever. Over the years, we've lost a lot of that sameness, because there's a million shows there's a million streaming platforms, even every once in a while people are like, have you seen the Mandalorian? Have you seen Game of Thrones? It's not everyone. It's just a few people. So everyone's into what they're into right now. And it's different from everyone else. And I think that's fine. I think COVID really brought us all together.

Unknown: 1:02:26

You're absolutely right.

Erik Escobar: 1:02:27

While we're all going through the same horrible experiences, we're all trying to, you know, do the best we can. We're all making sacrifices. We're all not doing things together. And I think COVID if we're looking for really trying to be glass half full COVID is hilarious, and that this horrible thing had us and it made us all one again.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:02:48

And made me watch. What was it the tiger King?

Unknown: 1:02:51

Yeah, everyone.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:02:54

Yeah, I wouldn't never watch that. But I watched it. And I felt like that was another collective experience. Because everybody was watching it at the same time and talking about it.

Erik Escobar: 1:03:04

Of course, yeah. And it's, it's fun when those things happen. I would say some of the thing that I miss most about pre COVID life is I'm a big wrestling fan. And I didn't realize until they started doing like screens and no audience that like, half the fun of being a wrestling fan is watching how excited people get in the audience and seeing them chant at the same time, and boo for the heels and cheer for all their wonderful favorite wrestlers. And that's kind of happening in a weird way in the virtual world now, because we're all like talking more. We're all like, kind of almost a baby like, Oh, we hate this. We love this. And it's just a very interesting time to see community morphed in the virtual age. Yeah.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:03:51

What do we see in the future for Eric Escobar?

Erik Escobar: 1:03:55

Well, I'm constantly hustling trying to get more road dates in February. I'm working Vegas and Arizona again. In March. I'm working some shows in Florida in April, May. I think I have some St. George stuff in Utah. So I'm COVID has not stopped me. I am trying to be safe trying to you know, make sure everyone's good do the safe shows. But I'm still getting out doing shows. You can check me out on Instagram at Eric Escobar to catch me up and any new things I'm doing there. And then I'm also still auditioning. I'm still going out for some fun stuff. just hoping you know, life takes me in a fun, exciting, safe, financially profitable direction in the coming years.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:04:36

Well, I've really enjoyed talking to you. I've learned a lot which is like wow, get out of here out of this.

Erik Escobar: 1:04:42

I appreciate you. I appreciate the time and the fact that

Unknown: 1:04:48

you take care.

Anne Marie Cannon: 1:04:50

There you have it. Eric Escobar, stand up comedian, actor and Ted Talk speaker. To find out more about Eric, be sure to check out our episode. notes. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.