Rory Scovel
Appearances
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I still don't know what's in the vaccine, and I'll never know what's in the vaccine. I'm not so stupid, I'm gonna go sit down to find out how fucking dumb I am. Yeah, I got the vaccine. Yes, I got all the boosters. If it saves my life, fine. If it kills me, great.
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Had to be Catholic. Had to be Catholic. I didn't want to make the assumption, but I wanted to make the assumption. Jim Gaffigan has the best joke ever. And it's such an old classic of his. I mean, before he was wildly famous, it was just always like, whenever someone says how many kids they have, they always say Catholic.
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Yeah. So my mother passed away when I was really young, and it was me and my older sister. My dad remarried when I was six or seven, and then I have five half-siblings. Okay.
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I did. Kindergarten through eighth grade, as did all seven of us. And then my older sister and I are the only two that then went to a private Episcopalian high school. I went there until I basically failed 10th grade. And my dad was like, this is so expensive. What are we doing? I went to public high school and was immediately on the high honor roll. No shit.
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Yeah, I mean, I was ADHD, still ADHD. I don't know if it ever stops. Or maybe it does. Maybe we're learning now that our diets contribute heavily to that. I was diagnosed in high school, and I could not have been a more obvious case. And they put me on Ritalin to start, and it messed with my appetite. So then they put me on Adderall, and this is the 90s when it's like... The go-go 90s.
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Yeah, the ADHD of it all is kind of new to this world of something that someone has. And even still... Someone would just say, well, you're choosing to not pay attention. And what's so funny or interesting about that is that the person with ADHD myself was always being told that by an adult where I was like, oh, yeah, I must not be choosing to pay attention.
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As opposed to arguing on my own behalf of... It must be something beyond a choice.
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Well, I think you buy into it because the way your brain works is that if there's something you're even slightly interested in, you almost crush at it so hard because you're in it. And if you're not even interested even a little bit, you can't fake it. You cannot turn your brain on to retain any information. So it's always interesting to me to be like... You're choosing to not pay attention.
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It's like, well, I wouldn't choose to fail 10th grade. I don't want to choose to walk into a test and always panic not knowing what to do. Anyways, going back, they put me on Adderall and I immediately start just soaring. My grades are incredible. But the downside is that, probably a surprise to no one, is that I would go home and do my homework and then I would just sit in my room
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like in a chair with just my mind, zero stimulation, and just spiral out into deep thought about anything existential. Yeah. In a way where... deep personal thought like that can be healthy, but the Adderall wouldn't release me from it. I would just be sort of stuck in that, and it would depress me. And then before college, I took myself –
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off of it and i i just sometimes think that there's just predetermined choices i don't know why i took myself off of it but i had an instinct that this was not good for me and i took myself off of the thing that was making my grades yes incredible i was like no you know this if
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Essentially meth. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of meth. And then you... You know, nowadays, you take everything with a grain of salt because someone is feeding you real science and then someone's feeding you fake science. Oh, my God. And you're like, just give me the truth.
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I'll do it if you just tell me the thing to do. But I...
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saw some study about kids being fed healthier foods and that's a contributing factor i've also listened to podcasts talking about how trauma is a contributing factor to adhd so it's i don't know what any of it is but i will say eating healthier uh i'm finally able to read a book without reading each page five times oh my god isn't that the worst
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Oh, I agree a million percent. I think that foundation is healthy eating and then getting healthy sleep. Sleep, yeah. And so many... contributing factors that we're starting to learn are massive contributors to just a healthier life. And yet, for some reason, there are people out there that pretend as though we fully understand the human experience and that none of that stuff Yeah. Yeah.
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Yeah, it's about, I think, you know, there's certain things you can... If someone says, look, 5G is these waves out in the world that cause cancer, you can go, all right, well, I don't know what you want me to do about that. Yeah. But if there is something to be done about that, I could probably, on a local communal level...
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start to defend the fact that I think there should be accountability for local politicians and government employees on the most local district level, and then regional, and then statewide. And then eventually you go, well, if that accountability has grown into a beautiful flower, then more than likely we'll get to hear the truth about what 5G is doing.
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Because we will have un-muddied the waters. But instead, to your point, people get very tribalistic, and they don't realize how driven they are by their own egos that they can't put it away. And the irony is that a lot of them are deeply religious. And I think that's supposed to teach you to get rid of your ego. I think it is. But, you know...
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I don't adhere to it, and it isn't because I despise it. I think that a lot of early education, going to church, being taught about Jesus from a child standpoint, I learned a lot about Jesus. And my perception was this is the blueprint of what everyone is supposed to try to aspire to, is to behave this way and to treat others this way. And I think anything beyond that... is just so unnecessary.
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It's also wildly outdated. That one element of how to be a person is universal and eternal. That will never change. Yes. All the other minutiae Mm-hmm. Yes. From what I can gather, watching, listening to modern Christianity, and this extends probably to other religions, I just know Christianity. But to me, the modern version of it has lost sight of that.
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And the only reason I say that is because of the people who tell me they're Christian, and then I see their actions. The words can always be the words, but that was another thing we learned as a kid. Yeah. The words don't matter. It's all the actions.
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And so that's all I'm going off of is a politician or a political leader or a religious leader or people who locally want to go out and be religious and be sort of street evangelicals. Just listening to them, feeling them, sensing what energy they're putting beyond religion.
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What they're saying, I'm sorry, I'm like, that just, to me, doesn't line up with Jesus, and it doesn't line up with improving the world or opening people's eyes. So, sadly, I think religion is really kind of a... A communal club. It's another great example that we as humans crave community. That's unfortunate that it's now been tainted.
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Yeah, I'm addicted to it. Yeah, me too. In my earliest days of doing stand-up, I just always was drawn to hypocrisy, even my own. And I gotta say, you can become a better person through your craft if I'm gonna go on stage and talk about other people's hypocrisies that I'm confronted by my own. And I have to say also, if I'm gonna go on stage and talk about...
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someone else's behavior, then I have to confront my own past behavior and reconcile, do I think I'm an improved person now? I think a lot of people just want to be born into a world where they go, this is what I was taught and this is who I am and this is how it is. It's wildly bland and incredibly boring. I think it's wildly more interesting for someone to go, I have made many mistakes.
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And you go, well, then who are you now? Because if you're past those mistakes... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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But the last thing you will ever see me do is Google what's in the vaccine and then sit there and pretend as though I understand the words that I'm reading. Whoa, Glorbosol, whoa, whoa, whoa, actually, whoa. Actually, that is like a big deal. I didn't know we were there yet with Glorbosol.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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That's right. Yeah. No, no one's emotionally connected.
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They might like it, but they're not emotionally connected. I wanted to know how it ends. It's like, well, you probably don't. You're just going to miss the laughter. Right. Yeah. But, you know, a show like physical, it's like, you know, why not give it at least a fourth season? Exactly. Wrap it up a little more eloquently.
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To also fill you in, it's after that third season is when you have to renegotiate contracts. They'd rather not pay us actors more money. And so instead they go, let's just end the show. And we save that money and go start another show. And then at season three, we'll end that show. And so it's unfortunate because it's art that is storytelling.
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Storytelling is our most natural human thing, I think, in terms of our connections. Of course. Definitely. And instead of supporting it, it's just like, well, we don't want to pay you more money. And it's like, well, you've already changed everything where your profits are more than they used to be. And you're paying us less than we used to make. Right.
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And also streaming has absolutely destroyed what used to be where someone could just go be on a show for a couple seasons and actually do great with royalties. Right. But instead... It's one paycheck and done. Residuals, I mean. Yeah, residuals. But instead, that doesn't exist anymore. And it's kind of one and done and get out of our face. And you're like... All right.
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And also things just, there's so much content now. It's tough. I got to say, I'm fortunate to be a stand-up comic, but living in the world we live in now economically, I don't know how sustainable all this stuff actually is.
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Yeah, absolutely. Those three guys, Adam and Ben and Andrew. It's so funny that the start of that show was when Amazon was getting into streaming shows. And I remember this was absurd to everybody because everyone was like, Amazon is where I buy packages. And yet they were going to now do TV. So it seemed crazy.
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But they decided to do this competition where they would give all these applicants a certain amount of money to make a pilot. they would post all the pilots and whoever got the most views, the top two would like get a show. And so these guys came up with this show. They hired me to play the principal. These are my friends on the lowest budget shooting something at a high school in Denver.
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And I didn't take it seriously at all. I showed up to wear the most ridiculous clothes and, I'll try to find a picture to send you guys of what I look like for the pilot that was never used. But I had them straight iron my hair. And I had kind of longer hair. And it was so creepy looking. I had a big beard. And I didn't take one scene seriously.
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I set the lines, but I just kept trying to get them to break. Yeah. And we'd come up with stuff and we'd just keep shooting. But at no point did it feel like a job. Then they did the competition. They ended up getting either the most views or the second highest views. But Amazon just wanted to pick the two shows that had a celebrity on it. Yes. So the view thing never mattered. It never mattered.
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And then they made it and they were like, do you want to come on and be the principal? It's now going to be an official, you know, 10 episode. I don't know how many episodes we did that first season. And I, yeah, I was like, yeah. And I just kind of kept doing the same thing. I was like, my friends are my bosses and I'm not taking anything seriously.
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And I say all of that to say that the reason why it was so fun and why I loved it is because at that point I was too inexperienced to To let doubt or expectations seep in that I just had fun as an artist. And I look back now and I go, man, I wish I could somehow get back to that mental state when I step on set, even if it's a dramatic scene that has no jokes. I wish I could get back to...
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um fucking play just yeah yeah put up these expectations and don't feel like uh i mean a lot of scenes i step into um you know in something like babylon where it's like here's all these stars i walk in going don't be the guy who gets past the ball and dribbles it out about right and that's no way to be yeah well yeah the guy goes when i catch it i'm shooting it
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And that's the mind frame you have to have to really soar. And yeah, I look back fondly at that show because I unknowingly was in that headspace.
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I'm going to text Adam because even as I told that story, I was like, oh, I don't know where that picture is and I would actually love to see that because I looked psychotic.
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You know, it's interesting. I don't know how long you want this answer to be, but it could be. Well, I got all day. This could be wildly lengthy. Go. I will say, as someone who started to stand up, but also wanted to act and be in stuff, I don't know that I ever thought I'd get as far as I currently have gotten in any of the things that I've done.
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I thought it was great just to get to be in a few commercials when I lived in New York City. I thought, oh, wow, people will see that. driven by, I want people to see that I did succeed at stand-up.
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Specifically, when you say people, it's like family and friends that you grew up with. Sure. Be like, hey, I chose a different path and I want to show you it worked out. So you're driven to sort of prove that you think you're good enough to do these things, to be an actor and maybe be in something, to be a stand-up and do it. And I think...
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something happens where you get to a point and you realize while that might have been a good motivating factor early on, it also shouldn't be a motivating factor in general as an artist because you don't create anything new and you also don't necessarily put anything out there that's wildly personal or vulnerable or has the potential to fail because you are specifically trying to succeed to show other people you succeeded.
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And again... I think that is a fine motivating factor early on. But then eventually you go, well, who am I doing this for? And you sort of reconfigure who you think you are as an artist. So myself, now 44, going through the thing I just described, I think for a while I wanted my dad to notice me doing this. I wanted him to be like, oh, wow, my son is funny and accomplished these things.
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And I think that was my dad's... I think that's how he felt. My dad passed away during COVID. And I thought stand-up was done. And I kind of thought most things were done. As we all sort of thought things were maybe done. But then as stand-up came back, I thought I wouldn't do it. And then I went back to it. And I got to say, going back to something like that is a strange thing.
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thing when you are only now realizing you were sort of doing it for one audience member it changes you when you realize you don't have that audience member anymore and you go well then what is it that i'm trying to do and for who and what am i trying to say and it's one reason i'm so proud of that special you just watched the one on max yeah because it's probably the one
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that I worked the hardest at and applied myself the most. But today at 44, I realize I have done a little bit in acting, and I've tried to do some in acting, and I've gotten enough flavor in acting that I think if I really applied myself, I think I could get really good Yeah. Believe that I could. I don't know it, but the suspicion is there.
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And in stand-up, I do already know in my soul that I'm very good at stand-up. I know it. I just know it. And I think I've also only gotten so far in stand-up because I like acting and I like stand-up. And so I think I've given each... Half effort. And so I think that half attention success on both sides shows me, man, if I really would just kind of maybe commit to one, I could maybe really soar.
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And so today, as I sit here talking to you... My brain is in stand-up mode. However, I know that at the end of April, I will be going back to start shooting other stuff that I've been fortunate enough to be cast in. And I'd like to think that maybe... When I go back to shoot, while also doing stand-up, I'll go, well, let's not just do enough. Let's try to be remarkable. Yes.
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Even if I'm only saying a couple things in the scene and I don't carry much weight, let's care more than we used to. That's my hope for you.
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No, it wasn't? It was. Yes, thank you. It was improvised. It wasn't intentional is what I mean to say. That was the second show. So, you know, for your listeners who maybe don't know this, when you shoot a special, you shoot two or more shows for reasons of... One camera didn't work during one of them. You know, it's to cover yourself. Also, what if the audience sucks during one of them?
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Someone sneezed when I was telling my joke. Yeah, yeah. The whole thing. Yeah. And so you shoot at least two. And the first one I did really well. I forgot one joke. And I got off stage between, you know, setting up the next show. And I said to the whole, you know, team that was in my green room, I said, I think we got it. Like, that felt good. I just got to remember to do this one joke.
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on the next show, and everybody in the green room was like, we got it. That was a great show. And so I'm standing behind that curtain. They're about to start the song, and I'm about to walk out to do the second show. And I just, as I try to do, I try to clear my head. And the one thought that popped in my head was like, you got it. You already got it. So why have any fear?
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Why care about perfection? Let's go out and really just fuck around. And I went out and I fucked around so hard that I forgot where I was in the act. And that's why I did naturally have to pull that paper out. And I got to say, when I turned around away from the audience, I was furious at myself because all I could think was, what am I fucking doing?
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I'm shooting a thing and here I am losing the momentum of the crowd that I'm going to have to get back. And for whatever reason, my brain was like, The crowd doesn't know that this isn't in the show. They don't know that I don't do this every time. So let's pretend I do this every time.
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And then I stood up and I go, all right, then my biggest oh fuck moment is I just, to your point, I got to get us back to the main road. But let's not pretend as though I've never taken this left before. Let's take this left and every second act as though This was all part of the gig. Yeah, I will say that final special is mostly the second show. Oh, that's crazy.
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Very, very little of the first show. If there's anything you see from the first show, it's because maybe one or two jokes were better. But also it's just for camera's sake.
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So I'm starting to put a lot of dates together. I got to say, I put the special out that we were just talking about in late February a year ago of 2024. And so I'm trying to get better at getting a new hour faster. I'm very slow about it. And a lot of that is, honestly, it's out of work ethic. Yeah. I'm like, oh, let's just go have fun on stage and let's not worry about a product.
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But I'm now realizing things are going so fast. You really got to get to that product a little faster. I don't think you have to get to it as fast as people do get to it. I think that's a little too quick for me. But I could stand to speed it up a little bit. So right now, if you were to come see me on the road, you'll be watching someone who is in the early phases of this hour. It's a good hour.
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I love it. Hopefully in the fall, I will go out on an official tour with this hour more hammered together as like a show, which will probably admittedly have less improv. But if you're someone who likes me and you like seeing me do improv, you should come see me right after I put out a special for about eight months. Are you coming near Atlanta? Uh, I will.
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I save Atlanta when, uh, it's like, for instance, when it's time to go home, come to Atlanta. I would wait for the fall because I'd be, I'd rather come to Atlanta and go here, guys, I'm bringing you like the show, the good show.
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I appreciate that a lot, and I appreciate you guys.
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Glad that's in there, but I'll tell you what, that tetratranazine, that's got me wondering, who's really in charge?
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The start of that show was when Amazon was getting into streaming shows. And I remember this was absurd to everybody because everyone was like, Amazon is where I buy packages. And yet they were going to now do TV. So it seemed crazy. But they decided to do this competition where they would give all these applicants a certain amount of money to make a pilot.
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I am in Denver, Colorado. Mile high. As of, I don't know, six months or something. I love Denver.
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you know it's now very uh it's very popular it's always on the list of top 10 mid mid-sized cities in the country uh which has not been a good thing for them yeah because it has now flooded the city and now real estate is uh crazy in a in a negative way if anyone grew up there is like i'm gonna buy a house now it's like well
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They would post all the pilots and whoever got the most views, the top two would like get a show. Yeah. And so these guys came up with this show. They hired me to play the principal. These are my friends on the lowest budget shooting something at a high school in Denver. And I didn't take it seriously at all.
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I mean, your family still live there? I've got a lot of family there. And I'm one of seven siblings. And so the three oldest all moved away. My older sister lives in Virginia. I live in Denver. And then my sister just after me lives in Seattle.