Tom Sawyer - Cobb's Comedy Club Owner Part #3 Show #195

This was a Special interview with Tom Sawyer, who took over Cobb's Pub, and then created the legendary "Cobb's Comedy Club" in San Francisco. Starting in the early 80's, he ran one of the main independent comedy clubs for over 25 years. Tom then went on to be the Booker for "Live Nation" for another 7 years. He knows comedy, and worked with Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Dana Carvey, Paula Poundstone, Wil Durst, Kevin Pollack, and many other talents just getting started in their careers. For me, talking to a peer who helped develop such amazing talent, really made this interview fun!
Such a great interview, it lasted 90 mins, so broken into three parts for your enjoyment.

Transcript

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Announcer 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.

Scott Edwards 0:22

All right, ladies and gentlemen, I think you're enjoying this interview. Uh, here comes part three. Hey, thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

It was really important to me that Cobbs be a place where it was sort of like cheers, you know. It was like a place where you go to feel at home, and you know, hang out, have a beer, shoot the shit, and uh, you know, and relax. You know, just relax. You know, we had poker games every Monday. You know, we had a regular Christmas party, we had a regular Halloween party. We would just have parties, and I would literally give, you know, beers away, you know, and stuff to people. Comics were well taken care of. They never paid for their food or their beverages. You know, we we just had a place where people could just go to and even just hang out. You had a rough night at another club, come over here and hang out and relax and you know, let it let it go away, you know. So that's the the that's the big thing for me was making everybody feel, you know, at home that um, you know, was respectful of the club and respectful of of uh what we were trying to do.

Scott Edwards 1:33

I I'm so happy to hear you say that, Tom. And I and I didn't realize how much we had in common because if you treat your staff as family, they're gonna stay around. If you have fun, they it everybody works harder because they get invested in the business like it's their own, which is something I always preached. You know, you're spending so much time at work, as much as you spend at home, treat it like you're home, you know, keep it clean, be a part of it. Uh you know, uh one of my other things is no wasted trips. If you're walking through the showroom and you see a dirty plate, it doesn't matter if you're not a busser, pick it up. But it's the family part, you know. For us, we had bowling night and we had boat trips. And once a year after a big hard weekend, I would take uh run a houseboat and take all the staff out for a weekend. Uh I I rented buses and took everybody to water parks. But it was the it was the after hours parties that you mentioned that we did a lot of, and the trips, and the treating people like family, that exactly the staff stays around, you build that family atmosphere, and then the comics love that because at the corporate clubs, they're just the meat on the stage for that night or that week, and nobody gave a shit what they did, you know, when they weren't on stage.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

For us, we close the door to get out of the get the hell out of the building. Right. Right.

Scott Edwards 3:01

Um but we were building relationships with these guys because of the after parties and the backstage conversations. And and like you said, it probably wasn't smart financially, but I always had an open bar for my staff in comics after the show. I mean, it was it was as much fun for me, and I wasn't that much older. I mean, I started my club when I was 24, so I was a kid myself. And it was turning up the music because it's your place, what the hell? You know, uh, you know, like you said, cranking the tunes and having some fun. So I'm really glad that you uh I didn't know that we shared that in common, and I think that's another reason why you were such a success at Cobbs, because you treated the comics and your staff as family. So congratulations on that. I know that you got as much out of that as I did, and I do agree that that's the best part of being a club owner. Now, you've gone through a lot of transitions as I have. I think one of the biggest challenges or changes for you, I won't say challenge until people go see your movie, but going from a 200-state room, which I think is ideal, to a 400-seat room had to be a difficult time for you. But you know, as an entrepreneur, you aspire to grow. Um did you find answers uh or what would you recommend to people that are thinking of you know opening a four or five hundred seat room compared to uh 200? No. Okay, that's short and succinct and absolute true.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

If Tom Sawyer today could tackle Tom Sawyer of 2000 and four, 2003, uh he he'd he would be welcome to do so because it it really um uh I honestly think the a comedy club shouldn't be no more than 275 seats. That's like the absolute max, you know, in that ballpark. The thing about 400 was again, anytime you any anytime you had less than you know, 200 people, it looked like a disaster. And that was when I was like having when I came to that revelation that I could literally have I could take cobs in the cannery and have that be sold out like all week long and lose money because I needed to have I I needed to have 275 to to make money. And coming to that revelation was was just frightening. I mean I was when I had that epiphany, uh I was having cold sweats every night. I was just I never had cold sweats in my life. I had cold sweats every every day. I because it's uh this is the other thing people don't realize about a nightclub, uh, you know, is we book shows way in advance. We book shows like, you know, three, four, five, six months in advance, because we want to nail down our talent. You know, because some of these guys are in demand. So you've got to, you know, you're booking some people, you're giving you're booking them for, you know, twice a year. So you're giving them the two dates that they're they have uh for the year, you know, then and there. And if though and if that guy is a disaster or he's uh uh um or he doesn't draw, then you're stuck with them. And it's the same thing with the comedy club. You're you're I booked already booked like the first four months at this club, and I knew from the first, you know, from the first month of that we were open, opened that those shows, most of those shows would be a disaster, financially a disaster. And I was gonna lose not just not make money, but I was gonna lose money on those shows. So I'm I'm having a panic attack, not just for what's going on that day, but for what's going to be happening like two, three, four months down the road. And by the time I figured out, which was one month, you know, into it, what I needed to do to change uh direction, you know, it's like steering the Titanic away from the iceberg. It's not something you go, oh, there's an iceberg. Let's just turn the ship and get away from it. No, it takes a long time to turn uh the Titanic away from the iceberg, and you're gonna hit the iceberg. And we hit the iceberg with the 400 feet room. And it was one of the reasons what led us to go to reach out to um Live Nation. We also reached out to another planet, but they were really slow on the uptake. And Live Nation sent the A-Team. They sent Jeff Wills out and the the uh I forget the name of the fellow who was general manager of the punchline at the time, but they knew the business and they were really nice. And another planet didn't really know the business. And I felt at the time I felt more comfortable because I was hearing all the right things from Live Nation. Uh, they wanted to open up more rooms, they wanted to be, you know, uh and I was gonna be the guy. And and uh, you know, so I thought, well, this I'm gonna have a you know, I'm gonna make all this money, I'm gonna have an amazing career, I'm gonna be, you know, doing, I'm gonna be like Johnny Appleseed and making all these little cobs and the punchlines around the country and developing the comics that I wanted to develop and develop them the way I wanted to develop and have these rooms developed and the relationships that that we were talking about earlier with your great staff and great shows and all these things that had this complete ludicrous vision of grandeur that that was popped the day I walked into the to the live nation offices and saw that the uh uh uh the guy who was president of Live Nation SF was had Yankee blue on and Yankee stuff all over his office. And you have to understand, I'm a Red Sox fan, born and raised in Rhode Island. Oh, yeah, one in 2004. They had just beaten the Yankees four straight, never been done in history. Yankees were demolished, like emotionally demolished, uh, in 2004 by the Red Sox. And here I'm walking in my with my Red Sox jacket on and my hat and this, and then the and this guy's looking at me like I I just shat on the carpet, like right down and took my pants off and just took a big steamer right at his like on his desk. And uh and that our relationship was shit right out of the gate.

Scott Edwards 9:27

Oh geez, what a bad way to get off on the wrong foot. But it's funny, my wife's a huge uh baseball fan, and she goes, It always comes back to baseball. That's a great story. Uh, I I uh sorry that you went into that, and I want to bring up Live Nation in just a second. But before we leave that club that you did rebuild after the uh a tragic fire and make sure you guys go see the comedy club, the movie that's out, and we'll talk more about that in a second. But I wanted to just club owner to club owner, uh, give you credit because you know, as an entrepreneur, you do want to aspire. And I I'm sure in your mind's eye that a 400-seat room would be great. But you there's a couple basics that you need to know about building a comedy club. One is you need to try to keep the ceiling low. You want to keep the seating at a at a level where you can make money but not make it feel empty or be able to divide it with a curtain or something. But one of the things I really liked about that room is the stage set that you used because my clubs were always old school brick. You know, I was in an old building that had act actually had the old brick. My first club, it was a black curtain, and then the the main club, it was actually brick because it was an old brick building. And then when I had to move, I was forced and had to move to it and build a location. I made some of the same mistakes. I made it a little bit bigger, which meant it wasn't as full. I had the ceiling a little too high, but I built a really nice stage set. Mine was more of a city streetscape. Yours was like uh uh an artistic bed uh living room. Um, I just wanted to say, from an artistic point of view and for the comics to have somewhere to play, I appreciated the size and the design that you put into that stage set.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Yeah, that was super fun. Uh that was that was it was really we had we actually put a lot of energy and um a lot of uh we we often we looked for set designers, actually people who worked on the plays, and you know, we found I um I wish I could remember the the woman uh name, a great uh German set designer. She's out of LA now, but um she did an amazing job, and you'll see it in the documentary of the stage, which by the way, when Live Nation took it over, they took it, they took it out. They didn't even discuss it with me. It was really uh that was like another thing.

Scott Edwards 12:02

No, they took it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

And uh just put a black curtain behind the thing.

Scott Edwards 12:10

I didn't know that. Um I hadn't been to that club. That's just tragic.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Yeah, we put this amazing work into this this stage, which was so much fun. What's what's I again really ironic about that stage was comics either loved it or hated it. And but the comics who hated it got so much mileage out of coming on stage and making fun of it, it was hilarious. I I I would have to afterwards like oh dude, just you got 10 minutes of out of your hour making fun of the stage and the audience laughing at it. You got you got material out of it. That's what it was there for. That's why I did it. Jeez, it's sort of like, you know, I didn't mention this, but in the in the you know, the 80s we had an opportunity to buy the Holy City Zoo, we bought it, but we couldn't use the name. So a bunch of comics, we all sat around thinking of a name, and we all decided we wanted to come up with a name that was so bad it was funny. And uh, it was Greg Travis uh who came up with the name Ha ha a go-go.

Scott Edwards 13:13

And we remember that Durst was a big part of that.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yeah, and we laughed, we were on the floor laughing, and so that's what we went with. You know, the cartoon balloon thing, ha ha go-go, and then the chronicle re goes the opening night, they review the club, go worst name of a comedy club ever. Whoever, whoever came up with that name should be, you know, throttled. And it's like, dude, it is the worst name ever. That's the joke. Don't you hate it when somebody goes, somebody actually mentions the thing that you're, you know, why don't you ask? Why don't you even ask? Who came up with this name? It's the worst name ever. And then we all go, yes, that's the point. The worst name ever. It's supposed to be funny. It's so bad, it's funny.

Scott Edwards 13:56

People don't get the joke. Oh, that is such a great uh you know, vision that you just shared is that that when dealing with the press or reviewers uh or even corporate people coming in and ripping apart a beautiful stage set, they don't get it sometimes. And instead of talking to you so that they understood, you know, if they sat if Live Nation sat down and said, This is why why do you have this stage set? You go, well, it gives them an area to play and it gives them something to make fun of and it it gives them room to do this. Maybe they would have gotten it, but they don't bother asking. And the same with Haha GoGo, I've I've talked to Durst about this. It was such a creative idea. The fact that you couldn't use the Holy City Zoo, which I still don't understand that because I know Dirst got the sign. But the fact that you went with that to me is hilarious and still shares that it's a comedy club. I mean, it there is some assemblance. It was funny because in your movie somebody joked uh one of the comics to saying Cobb, how does that relate to comedy at all? And you you created the word Cobb through history to make that equate with comedy. But the Holy City Zoo was again one of those names that didn't really give it lend itself to comedy, but it built itself into that name. Ha ha, a go-go at least gives you an semblance of an idea of what's going on inside. So uh I it's just crazy how people miss what's right in front of their face.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Yeah. Well, that's it that well, again, it is it's it's the it's the whole thing about humor. Humor is risk, you know, great humor is great risk, you know. That's the thing. It's like uh I I always, you know, I always have um these guys who kill. They come to your club, they kill, but you can't even remember a joke that they did, you know, a week later. And then they go, you know, or they're they're freak they're they're feature acts and they go, hey, I kill every time I come to the club, you know, and then why don't I headline? Well it's not it's not that you kill, it's how you kill. You know, it's how you make the audience laugh that's important. You know, it's if you go the easy route, yeah, but no one's gonna remember you. You know, if you're making people laugh and you're Sam Kennison or you're you know John Oliver and you're talking about this heavy you're talking about heavy stuff and you're making it funny, you know. Um Russell Brand being mystical on stage and making hilarious, you know. Uh all all these people that do all these things. Dead Rita Rudner was the most deadcan person on stage, hilariously funny. You get all these people that go on stage and be and and they're unique because they are their unique self, and you're just going up there being Johnny generic. Well, you know, I'm sorry. There, there's you know, there's really look at the calendar. Look at look at who's played the club. Who's Johnny generic? You know, who's the who's you? Yeah, who's the guy that you Yeah, everybody stands out. You're going, wow, so amazing the people that are playing here. Well, it's amazing, it's amazing the people that are playing here because they're amazing comics. That's what you got to become. You're gonna become an amazing comic. And the road you're on right now is you're gonna be the serviceable guy. You know, you're good, you're the guy that headlines in a pinch because you'll do the job. So the is that who you want to be, or do you want to be somebody who stands out?

Scott Edwards 17:31

Wow, that's such great advice and so important for uh any artist or or talent to think about. Tom, you you're sharing so much important stuff. Thank you so much. Hey, I wanted to touch on a couple things. Uh, I know as a club owner, because I went through it uh ups and downs financially, I ended up uh selling my club, and that's my I was able to cash out in a in a good way. Uh by the way, side story, when you're your stage, they went in and stripped it down without talking to you. I sold my club and I had gone to great expense to put in a really nice hand-carved uh oak bar. And within uh two weeks of buying the club, the guy that bought it ripped out this really special antique custom bar and put in like this really bad uh acrylic thing that everybody stuck to. And it was like, why would you take out, you know, something that was that had meaning and and had character that gives it people to look forward to when they come into? It's like you know, it's just it they just what it just makes you cringe. But what you were going through the financial ups and downs of being an owner, live nation, and you come to an agreement. Did that help you uh get whole and maybe uh make some money selling the live nation?

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Oh yeah. Yeah, my just put it this simply, my my ex-wife, who we were still partners after we divorced, which is another story, you know. We seven years of our 17-year uh partnership, um, we were married, and the other 10 we were divorced. So uh, but we still uh had to figure out how to work together. So, which we did, and we're we eventually have become uh even better friends than we were when we were married. So um, in fact, my wife and my and uh my ex-wife and my current wife are really good friends. So uh yeah, so it's good for you personally. Yeah. Again, I try not to burn bridges. So um, you know, it's you know, you I don't forget, I got off a t on a little tangent.

Scott Edwards 19:43

I'll try to make it a more succinct question. It had to be a big decision to sell to live nation, but because part of the contract was.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Oh, how do we do right? Yeah.

Scott Edwards 19:52

Part of the contract was you staying on. So maybe share with the audience, because I've been through it, so I know, but share with the audience what it meant to you.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Oh well, I'll put this way. My uh, and this is where I was going with the ex-wife uh analogy. Um, my ex-wife hasn't worked since we sold the club. You know, so let's put it that way. We did well. Um, you know, you know, we so she she never worked again. She's been she bought a little um uh cabana in the uh mountains of Mexico out uh she you know, she's got especially three cabanas there, uh, and then she has a house in Wisconsin. And so she's and then she likes to travel around the country in her um camping van. And so she's doing she's doing we did well.

Scott Edwards 20:43

So financially it was rewarding, and then for you personally, going from club owner to booker, you've related to it earlier, and I know it's in the movie, which we're gonna talk about next. But uh was that how challenging was it? And at the same time, you did have a career for the next seven years. So good, good and bad, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:03

Yeah, well, it was good it was good in the sense that because I had the the leverage of Live Nation, I we we had some people I might not have had if it was just me uh in that room. Um Jeff's Jeff Wills, who is the guy I was working for technically, is a very competitive guy. I mean, we we had um a very good relationship when we were uh you know on opposite teams, uh, mainly because we respected each other and I still do. I think the guy's you know brilliant. Uh I just worked wish he worked for a better company. And but uh I just we respected each other, we kept each other's ground, we were you know uh we were competitive. And so we here here you go, two competitive guys now now that are working together. That part was great. That part was awesome because we were both like guys who were obsessed with being number one and what we were doing, so that that was really good. We had some amazing. Amazing, amazing show there. And um and I really appreciate that part of it. And I actually um the the guy who was the Yankees guy got eventually got shit canned and the next two people yeah the next two people were good the current uh person is was really nice, Jody Goodman, she's an awesome person. But the whole organization, as far as I'm concerned, uh when you when you put people second, when you put your I mean you and this is probably what's wrong with just about everything in this country, when you put your investors or or your stockholders first and your the people who work for you second, everybody gets that. Everybody understands that you're you're a thing and you're not a person anymore. That feels awful. That is that is terrible, and it's and and um it's not uh it doesn't make for a good place to work when you when you feel that you're you know you could be easily replaced tomorrow by at least on their mind, you know. And so I was kind of I was actually kind of done when we when we parted ways. Um and so it wasn't as big in emotionally for me uh as it probably would have been. I mean it sucks getting let go no matter you know what position you you are, but I I had kind of been done there because I they weren't coming through at their end of the bargain, they weren't we weren't opening new clubs, you know, I was doing the same thing over and over again, except I wasn't eat I wasn't doing a lot of the my favorite things about it, like working with the staff and working with young comics, you know. So uh it wasn't as rewarding for me as the days on Chestnut Street or the days in the cannery. And um it was working with people who really didn't for the most part didn't seem to give a shit about you. And that message was loud and clear.

Scott Edwards 23:55

Well, it's it I I have to uh just give a comparison when I sold my club. Um I was supposed to stay on. The guy that bought me out broke the contract, we ended up in a lawsuit, and I had to do a cold turkey out of the comedy world, and that was really difficult. I had a tough, you know, six months, my wife would say six years, but it was tough for me to be forced out of that world that I just love and appreciated so much. And it was, you know, I did find financially. It wasn't about the money, it was the leaving the comedy world at that point was challenging. I'm kind of appreciative and and a little envious that you were not only to get out strongly financially, but be able to continue in the business for another seven years, even though it wasn't as personally rewarding for you. At least you had a chance, like you said, to let it get old and stale, so it wasn't a big deal to get away from. Congratulations on that. I know that it wasn't something that you particularly planned, but I think that your entry into the world of comedy, your life in the world of comedy, and your exit in the world of comedy, whether you know it or not, was really good. You know, it was um accidentally uh well planned out. And that's just my opinion. I don't know how you feel, but I I think you did good. Now, you came out with this movie. I want to talk about it. We've mentioned it a few times. It's called the Comedy Club. Uh, you can see it on Amazon, uh Freezy. Uh it was released in 2021.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

My question actually is a really good way to do it because it's really because it's free and you don't have to pay anything, is like Tubi or Plex. Those those sites, you don't have to pay anything. You just download the app and you can watch the film.

Scott Edwards 25:49

So I just just a couple quick questions. I want you to explain the film to uh this documentary to the audience. But I was curious because it's about uh you losing your club at the cannery due to a tragic fire and the your heart and soul that you put into the new room that ended up making your life a little challenging, but it was your room. You designed it. That happened many years before the movie was released. Maybe explain the movie and then uh how it came about.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Well, um it's uh it basically came about. Um David Shendel, who is a documentary filmmaker who made the uh documentary Yang Tanks, came up to me and said, Hey, Howard Meehan, who's a or Michael Meehan, who's a friend of mine, said that you guys are reopening and I was wondering if we could do a documentary. And I was saying, you know, sure, whatever. You know, document it's supposed to be like kind of a short documentary, the the the the building of a comedy club kind of thing. And so I said, sure, we signed releases and stuff like that, and and we had these cameras around uh all the time when we were building uh Cobb, which is on Columbus Avenue. So if you're fan of that club and you're a youngster and you know you don't know kind of the history, it's really a good movie to check out because you'll see how this club got built. And you'll also know the history of the club that you're going to each days on uh the cannery and on in uh on Chestnut Street. So um yeah, so David came up to me, it was gonna be a short film, and Carolyn and I agreed to do uh that this would be fine, and and so they started filming, and eventually uh David just found more and more stuff to make it to put in the film, and it went from being a short his his version was being a short documentary to being uh feature-length documentary. It's an hour and a half long. And then you know, he helped what helped was finding he found found some rare footage of Robin at Cobbs on Chestnut Street, and that's in the film, and then you got all this stuff with uh you know Sagitt and uh Carve. There's so many people of Carvey, Dada Carvey, Paula Poundstone, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Nealan, Mark Pitta, Bill Maher, uh Arj Barker, George Wallace. I mean, all these people are in the film. Um and uh it gives you a lot of history. There's a lot of drama to it, you know. Uh a lot of stuff about my, you know, my folks is in there and and uh it's a little tough for both of us to w watch. You know, I've been to three film festivals and did Q ⁇ A after uh afterwards. The hardest part is like watching the part with my that my you know went we went through with my folks. And they came back actually their first time to that we had a reunion was uh opening night of the Columbus Avenue Club, and that's in the film as well.

Scott Edwards 28:51

So I thought it was really funny that the doorman didn't want to let him in. Oh, oh, you're you're Tom's parents. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Yeah, that would have been that would have been very embarrassing. Do you have a ticket? No, no, we're on the guest list. I don't see your name.

Scott Edwards 29:09

Well, what was and was the delay in the release just him doing his editing and putting it all together, or or did they have trouble with the release?

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Well the delay in the yeah, the well the del the delay in the release is uh, you know, was the um uh you know it w it had changed plans several times and then it needed money to finish it, you know, with uh uh it's a very low it's pretty low budget, but it's like really well done for the considering the budget uh in general. It's just well done. But it I think it was one of those things where it was like, who's this guy? You know? Um it's not like um it's not like I had been famous outside of San Francisco, you know, and um you know the producers of the film was trying to they were trying to convince me I should go on a killing spree to uh get a little publicity for the film. Maybe if he was a serial killer and a comedia comedy club owner, that would be that would sell some tickets. That's hilarious, Tom. But the pandemic actually helped us out in finding a distributor because content, everybody was dying for content. And here we are, we have this movie, and it's actually it's actually pretty entertaining, you know. Um when it comes to name dropping it too.

Scott Edwards 30:25

Yeah, when it comes to name dropping and seeing people when they were young, it's a great movie for that. I was uh envious that you have the movie because uh I produced two TV series and I have a lot of great uh uh professionally shot footage of people when they were just getting started, but I I I don't have a movie to put it in. I thought that this was a genius way to tell your story.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

And everybody filmmakers out there. There's a there's a crazy, there's a crazy amount of footage in this guy's basement.

Scott Edwards 30:55

Well, everybody should go watch the comedy club. Not only were they learn how you, Tom Sawyer, were so important to the industry, but how you personally put yourself and your family and your staff and and everybody, uh your right-hand man, through this process of going through the tragedies and yet the rebuilding, the rebirth, the you know, the Phoenix out of the fire, literally, to keep Cobbs going. And this movie is is uh free and available on Freezy. It's on Amazon. Uh everybody should go to be in Plex.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Yeah. And actually, you if you want to hear what I'm doing currently, uh on my website, Tom Sawyervoices.com, has all the stuff about Cobbs, the history about Cobbs, has uh stuff about the documentary and where you can watch it. Also has a lot of my voice uh over stuff that I'm doing, my favorite auditions, my demos are on there. So you can hear what I'm doing right now. I'm really having a lot of fun doing voiceover and uh well I think Tom, you're you're psychic because that was where I was going next.

Scott Edwards 32:01

Uh so first off, I'll put the web page on the show notes. So everybody will be able to find the webpage. But that was my next series of questions is you've you know you run a club for a couple decades, you book a club for a decade, you uh get out, you transition. How did you become a voice actor? And you're you're pretty good. I think your Vincent Price is right on. Oh, you flattered me too much there. How did you get into voice acting and and how is that fulfilling your need for uh creative outlet and business?

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I started out um in Florida. When I went to Florida, I got really involved with theater. I did a lot of community theater, a lot of dinner theater. So I was in uh about a dozen plays while I was out there in the four years I was out there. And uh so I really liked acting. And um, and then when Cobbs happened, you know, that part of my life was put on hold. And when I stopped doing Cobbs, you know, I went through my what was me phase, and then I was like talking to some people and talking to Carlos Alas Rocky, and um who's the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua and the voice of Rocco and Rocco's March World, and um and many other things. Guys, one of the voiceover legends as well as Tom Kennedy is like one of the biggest names in voiceover, Death SpongeBob. And they were like, hey dude, you do so many voices and impressions and stuff. That's that you should get into voice uh voiceover. And I looked for a school or looked for a place where I could learn voiceover, and lo and behold, there was a place in South Lito that's one of the best in the country, uh, voice tracks. And I went there and you know, and from there I went and got signed by um JE Talent in uh San Francisco and uh Aperture Talent in LA. And uh, you know, it's not I'm not doing um, you know, I'm not doing the big business right now that uh that I am, but I'm every everything's uh I'm failing upward, I should say. Well, I just I'm getting Pixar auditions now, uh and I'm getting Disney auditions, and I'm getting Nickelodeon auditions.

Scott Edwards 34:21

So um, you know, that's amazing. That's I'm so envious because one of the things is we get to our age and you're looking for that next adventure, you found it by getting back to your roots in acting and then taking your original talent as a comic, which was doing impressions and getting back to the the nut of your talent and getting into voice work, which is by the way, uh I as a producer and working a lot with Hollywood know that it's very difficult to get into that voiceover club or click. And what you did by going through the training and then already getting listed with a couple agencies, I'm so envious and so jealous, that's awesome. But you're right. I had a chance to work with Tom Kenny, and Carlos and I are still really good friends. And hooking up with two of the major voice talents in this country, Carlos Alasracky and Tom Kenny, was a great entry into this world of voice acting. Congratulations. And it sounds like you're you like you said, you're upwardly mobile.

SPEAKER_03 35:33

Yeah, yeah. So uh yeah, and I'm having a blast. It's so much fun uh, you know, being in my little booth here and creating a character. I kind of lose myself. You know, just uh I I just love doing auditions. I do them all from home. I have a little, I have a my voiceover booth, go in there and I become the the character. And I, you know, coming up with crazy voices and doing things. I mean, it's most everybody that goes to my website and listens to my demos and my and my auditions and my the work the work I've done, uh they go, they're all you, right? And I'm like, Yep, every single one. I think there's a woman in there for one little clip, but everything else is me. And people, most people they get blown away by that. They have no idea. And they're going, Can you do the guy that the general lizard guy? And I go, Yeah, because they can't believe I can do it right in front of them.

Scott Edwards 36:26

So well, I used to love when uh Carlos would uh, or or Dana Carvey who did in in Kevin Pollock. I mean, anybody that does impressions and can do work like that is so fun. One of the guys that I helped develop and and we're still good friends, Stan Sellers, uh, has made a terrific career at voice acting and and still uh you know, five days a week is is laying down tracks for movies and TV shows and uh has had an amazing career. What voice is the most fun for you? You want to give us a little taste?

SPEAKER_03 37:02

I well, I like doing the ones that uh are um so kind of not so so removed from myself because there's one that I I really like, which was the general uh I forget the what the the series was, but you have a voice like this, um you love to talk for many minutes at a time. Sometimes hourly, you know.

Scott Edwards 37:32

Well, that didn't sound like you at all, and yet it was perfect for a general. Awesome! Oh, wait a minute, we should very good, very good. Tom, that sounds like so much fun. You know, I I'm sure you realize it in the back of your mind, but if you're anything like me, we don't dwell on ourselves so much. But it it I want to tell you as a comedy club owner peer that you've had an incredible life. And even though there's been challenges and ups and downs, you've always came out on top and had uh opportunities open up to you because of your dedication to the art form, to business, to everything it takes to succeed. And uh congratulations. You you uh have had an amazing life and and uh I hope you uh appreciate uh how lucky you are. I just so awesome that you shared it with my audience. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 38:31

Well, I pinch myself every day, Scott. I pinch myself every day. So you have a lot of brewers. Well, it's a my fetish.

Scott Edwards 38:42

Hey, real quick, and I know you're doing the voice acting and that's kind of your next adventure. 2024, is there anything that you're looking forward to? Any projects coming up? Have you thought of doing a book? Because you have a great story.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Um yeah, I've been kicking around that idea, but right now I've got my I got the website up, I got the documentary out. I'm gonna, you know, get the good word out on both of those things. You know, I'm hoping the to do um, you know, my PR company is talking with Joe Rogan's people right now. I might be out in Austin in September, October on that show. We'll see where that uh, you know, I think that'll be a lot of fun. And uh we'll you know, you know, I just take every day, you know, take every day one ship at a time, one day at a time.

Scott Edwards 39:32

Well, as Peter Golke used to say, I want to live forever. So so far, so good. So good. Well, Tom, it has been uh such a joy to talk to you uh about the business, about the art form, uh, about our uh parallel lives. Thank you so much for joining me on my podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, go to his website, go watch his movie, The Comedy Club, and keep an ear out for Tom Sawyer, the voice artist, as he continues his life of total success and artistic talents. Tom, thank you so much for being with us.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Thank you so much for having me, Scott. Really appreciate it.

Scott Edwards 40:17

Ladies and gentlemen, stay tuned. And next week, another great show. Uh, one last big appreciation moment. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, the one and only from the famous Cobbs Comedy Club. Tom Sawyer. Thank you, Tom. Thank you, sir. All right, that does it. You listened to all three parts of a really fun and special interview with Tom Sawyer from Cobbs Comedy Club. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to tell your family and friends, rate us if you can, leave a review on Apple. It's a big help. We appreciate each and every listener. You guys uh take care, stay healthy, and have a great day.

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