Steven Kimbrough Comic/Actor/Producer of TV & Movies Show #225

Great interview with entrepreneur Steven Kimbrough. He started as a standup comic; but over the years worked in Chicago, New York, & Los Angeles, and ended up running a comedy club, producing Films, and Acting. What you might call a "Renaissance Man".
Steven Kimbrough has had an incredible career in stand-up comedy, making his mark at renowned venues like Caroline's and being introduced by notable figures such as Eddie Brill. He is closely associated with podbrother.com, a significant platform for his comedic work, where he also shares his admiration for his brother, Stephen Pod Brother Kimbrough. Steven appreciates Stephen's multifaceted approach, blending stand-up comedy, comedy films, and podcasting, and is proud to feature him on his podcast. He directs his audience to podbrother.com to explore Stephen's work, emphasizing the impact of his brother's innovative storytelling and his ability to turn everyday situations into entertaining performances.

(00:08:20) "Comedy Club Focused on Fundraising Success"

(00:15:11) "Diving Skills and Comedy Success Interview"

(00:19:47) Laugh Across America Comedy Tour

(00:26:30) Pod Brother Nation: Comedy and Media Innovator

(00:29:08) "Cocoa Puff in a Box of Krispies" Stand-up Comedy

(00:33:02) Mirrored Contact Lenses State Trooper Stop

(00:39:16) "Developing Stand-Up Comedy in Three Minutes"

Transcript

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. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the podcast. We have another fun interview for you. A talented gentleman out of, originally out of Chicago, but he bases out of Los Angeles now, and he is got his fingers in everything. He's doing podcasting, he's a stand up comic. He does film production. He does all kinds of exciting things. And we met through Podfest, which is a great organization for podcasters. So I'm excited to share them with my audience. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show Stephen pod. Brother Kimbrough, while the crowd goes nuts. Stephen, good to have you on the show. Thank you so much, Scott. And the crowd did go crazy last night on my mother's Day show, so it fits. It fits, bro. Oh, you did a Mother's day show. How awesome. Congratulations. Well, that's what was kind of exciting to me is we're both kind of into podcasting now, but you have your roots in stand up comedy. I've seen you on stage. You're very, very funny, and it seems like you're doing it for a while. Did you start comedy while in Chicago? I did. I did. My ex wife thought I was really funny. Funnier than the evening at the improv comics back in the day, where the very first cable network that was launched a and e did evening at the improv, and we were glued to the tv watching that show. And she's like, you're funnier than these guys. You should go for it. And she booked an open mic at the comedy cottage in Chicago back in the early eighties. I did well, and I've been on that track ever since. I think it's funny. She goes, hey, you're funny. I want a divorce. But, you know, that's great that you got into it that way. And there's nothing wrong with seeing stand up comedy done professionally and then saying, you know, you want to try that. One of the things I like doing on this podcast is encouraging people to get on stage, even if it's just once or twice, because I think the experience can be so rewarding and teach you so much about yourself. How long were you doing stand up in Chicago? Or should I say, when did you make the move to Hollywood? Well, I was in Chicago for about a couple years, and when I got my divorce, my wife actually did give me the ultimatum to quit comedy. And then I said, try to call Amari. I'm here all week. And where do I sign the paper? Oh, well, I have an ex wife, too, so I've been there, but that's. That's really funny. Well, stand up can be difficult on relationships. It's been shared a couple times through other interviews that it is difficult when you're a professional comic. Now, if you're just doing open mics, it's different. But when you become pro and you start traveling around and doing shows, it can be really challenging on a relationship. So I'm sorry that the marriage didn't work out. My condolences on that. But you burgeoning career as a comic, did you go pro? Were you touring around? Yeah, I went pro, actually, before I got divorced, which is why I wanted to. That was how I was justifying quitting my job to do comedy, and she didn't want me to quit my job to do comedy. And I'm like, look at the money that I'm making here as a pro. You know, I'm making more money doing stand up than I could ever make on this job, you know, and I was a top sales rep for a janitorial supplier company. And I said, you know, I got to do this. I got to put my two weeks in. And she's like, if you put your two weeks in, I'm leaving. And I put my two weeks in, and she was gone when I got home. So once you lost those ties to Chicago, it freed you up to move to California. Well, what happened there is I moved to Boston. Oh, Boston in the late eighties, early nineties, was the hottest comedy city in America. That was the town that had over, like 40 comedy clubs scattered throughout New England, from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut. And there was so much comedy happening, and there was such a rich petri tray of comedy talent that most of the New York tv shows were pulling comedians out of Boston to write on their shows. One of my best friends out of Boston, Brian Kiley, wrote for the Conan O'Brien show for 22 years. He also got an Emmy writing on that Ellen DeGeneres show. So a lot of people became tv writers from that pool. And I was in Boston from 88 to 93. Then I moved to New York in 93. I was there until I moved to California in 2003. While I was in New York, I owned a comedy club on 39th and park. And it was so, so cool. Dave Chappelle came through, and Donna Rollins and Jim Gaffigan and Tony Rock. Who's Chris? Chris Rocks brother. And it was probably one of the funnest comedy chapters of my life, to be in Midtown, to be in, you know, the industry magazines. I got a job doing comedy commercials for Apple Vision, which ran in all the hotels in Manhattan. So I'd be walking around Midtown and people be like, hey, I saw you on tv in my hotel. Like, you're the guy that plugs all the comedy clubs in Manhattan. I'm like, yeah, that's me. So it was cool. I had a little, like, little micro celebrity success in New York with that, and the Knicks players used to come down to my club and hang out. It was cool. And then I wanted to get into film and writing and acting and directing, and I was trying to do it from New York. They had such a beautiful life there. But all the decisions, well, most of the decisions that are made in, in film are made in Los Angeles, and you really need to be out here. Well, let's, I'm going to interrupt you, Stephen, just to say, before we jump to that chapter of your life, I wanted to touch on a couple things. First, I thought it was great that you brought up Boston. I think everybody in the general public thinks that all of standup comedy comes out of places like San Francisco and Hollywood and New York, when actually there were some really strong hubs of comedy in, like Seattle, Washington, and down south and in the Dallas area. But Boston, as you brought up, was a real hotbed. In fact, one of my early acts, Paula Poundstone, got her feet wet in the late seventies, early eighties in Boston, and that's where she came out of and developed from. And Boston was a real center for stand up comedy for a while there. And I'm glad that you brought that up. The other thing I wanted to touch on is that you mentioned in passing, oh, and I opened a club in New York, and as a former club owner, as my audience knows, over 20 years of owning a chain of comedy clubs, I think that was one of, I agree with you. It was one of the best chapters of my life being a club owner. But how did you transition or make that decision? Because one of the things I've tried to express to people, that being a stand up comic is very creative. But you also have to have some business skills because you're your own marketing, you're your own booker. You have to learn some business skills to make being a stand up work. But it's also different to own a club, because now you have all these other things like employees and leases and other business responsibilities that are far away from being a stand up comic. So how did you make that choice and transition, and how long were you a club owner? What was the name of it? It was called Laugh is Hope Comedy Club. I actually came up with the idea talking with some comics in Boston because there were so many comics that were going to New York, getting writing jobs and getting on tv and doing stuff to write. Kimbrough, you need to come to New York and, you know, get in the mixed because you're funny and you do all these fundraisers. Boston had a ton of comedy fundraisers. A lot of them were political, but there was, like, so many fundraisers left and right, and most of them wanted clean comics. So I could do blue, I could do clean. So I became that go to comic for fundraisers and for clean and for colleges. And we were sitting around having some drinks, and someone said, you know, wouldn't it be cool if somebody opened a comedy club that just focused on fundraisers? All you need is 3365 organizations. You do a fundraiser once a year. You got your whole year booked, and people love, the shows are always packed. You know, it's always great. You know, people can get paid. And I thought, you know what? When I moved to New York, I'm going to open a comedy club and just focus on doing fundraising for nonprofits. And that, that's how that idea came up. And when I moved there, I talked to a lot of my friends that were there who knew a lot of foundations and charities, and they're like, dude, we would do one, no problem. And so I just started booking these comedy fundraisers, and next thing you know, we were, like, really having some fun. And in between the fundraisers, we would just have these amazing showcases. People would get a chance to work out. And that's, that's when, you know, Dave Chappelle and Jim Gaffigan and all these guys would come down and work out their sets for Comedy Central, and I, we became, like, that cool little place to go in 39th and park. We were in the basement of a tequila ville restaurant. And you're right, there's a lot of leases, there's a lot of employees. There's marketing. There's this and that. The tequila Ville restaurant is owned by a company called the Reese Corporation. They own all of the TGI Fridays, the Dunkin Donuts, and the tequila bills in Manhattan. And I literally had to go through a corporate chain of pitches that almost lasted four months before I could even get the deal to do the lease. Yeah, but you didn't have to go out and lease a building and a full space and all that you picked back on this other restaurant, which is interesting, Stephen, you don't know my history, but I opened in 1980, and I actually made a deal with a restaurant where I use their banquet room when they weren't using it. And that's how I opened my club, laughs Unlimited, and turned it into a chain of clubs where I actually own buildings and had leases and stuff. But it started in the banquet room of a restaurant, and it sounds like that's what you did. You made a deal with this taqueria. Hey, we'll use your space and bring in some people to buy food, and we'll do some comedy. I think that's a smart way to start, Steven. Yeah, that's exactly what I did. That's the business model. Nice job. Yeah, it was a win win for everybody. And how long were you doing that? I did that for about two years, and then I got a job opening for the Rock the boat Cuddy tour. I did that for three and a half years, and I was out on the road on a tour bus with three doors down thing. Nickelback, our lady peace. Getting a little concert experience. Yeah, I was getting that concert experience, and I was a promotional company because I realized that with my comedy club, no matter what you do, what your business is, you have to have a marketing company, a marketing department, a marketing program. And from doing that, I got experience in marketing very well in Grand Central Station, Penn Station, Times Square, down in a village. You have to market, market, promote, promote, promote and market. And from doing that, key to success is getting the word out there. But to go back to your story, so you kind of get your feet wet in comedy in Chicago, then you go on to Boston, and then you go on to New York. You're very transitory, Steven, but you're learning something and trying something different at each spot. And we've gotten you from open micr to professional comic to club owner and producer, what led you to Los Angeles? Because I know you ended up doing some, you're doing some film production. So that's a whole nother world. Maybe explain to my audience how you go from running this club in New York and then touring, which, by the way, touring for bands can be, make you some good money, but it's tough as a comic because the audience is. Yeah, the audience is there for the music, not for the comedy. So that could be tough. But we've discussed that you. That's another edge you've brought to your story. You multifaceted, Stephen, and I think that's fascinating, but I know that your real focus in the last few decades has been the film production and getting into Los Angeles. How did that come about? Well, I was trying to get into film. I mean, I've always acted and did extra, and I was always on a production crew all throughout my travels. And when I got to New York, I hooked up with some production companies, and I was kind of behind the scenes. I did some voiceover and a few background stuff. But I always wanted to be producer, director, writer, act, you know, get, like, really embedded above the line in the film industry. And I was. I had such a beautiful life in New York. I was making good money, and I thought now would be a good time to take that next leap into film. Since all the decisions are made in California, I had to make that move. So I, after the tour, I decided to, because I closed my comedy club to go on tour, and I did the tour, and I banked up a bunch of money, and I'm like, okay, now I can go out, put my. My name and a hat and see what happens. And, like, the first week I got out there, I got a job opening for the Kelly Bolin band, which is a folk band. And he was doing all these great festivals and things out here in California. And I thought, okay, this is a great way for me to get integrated. Booked to do a show on the Queen Mary in Long beach. The Queen Mary was like, we're looking to open a comedy club. We saw that you own the club in New York. Would you be interested in opening a club here on the Queen Mary? And I couldn't turn that down. Oh, no. Great opportunity, Stephen. I could not turn it down. So I opened up the laugh is Hope west coast on the Queen Mary. And then that got me. NBC's last comic standing was like, hey, Kimbrough, can we put season six on the Queen Mary? That was the year that Jeff Blue won. That was the year that Gabriel Iglesias got kicked off. And so that was a real cool season. They hired me to be an audience warm up act before the taping. That, you know, was an amazing experience. And then from there, I was able to create some relationships with film and studio and with some comedians and producers. And I just put my name in a hat to get hired for production work, because I wanted to learn everything that you could learn behind the scenes. So craft services, grip, pa, anything that I could do. Driver. I became a really good driver. I used to drive for teamsters way before I became a comedian, so I could drive box trucks and pool trailers and that stuff. So that experience came in handy when you're looking to get a job on a film crew. I did. I got a job as a transportation captain driving a box truck with a picture car towed behind on a 20 foot dolly to Arizona on black ice through fog. And that was an experience. A lot of people don't know the behind the scenes, scarier parts of film production. It's not all what happens in front of the camera. It's all the days, weeks and months of prep and getting everybody and all the equipment to a location, setting up and everything. It's great. What I like about your story, Steven, is that much like other entrepreneurs, when you pick a goal, something that you're interested in, you understand you're not going to go in and necessarily be the boss. You have to learn the trade. And so you go in and you, you're in the film industry. You're taking on these other positions to not only make connections, but learn the various aspects of filmmaking. And I know that that led to some success for you because you have created some tv commercials, you've done some 3d animation. You took driving a truck for production into starting your own production company. I mean, that's a pretty big leap. Yeah, it's one of those things where, you know, you have to be in it to win it. And you, and, you know, I love the frame, and I don't know who said it, but I love it. It's start ugly, grow pretty, and I, you just jump in and learn as much as you can, learn as fast as you can. And don't worry about perfection, because nothing is ever perfect. But if you're better today than you were yesterday, that's a perfect track to be on. You know, that's where I am. I mean, I go as hard as I can for everything that I'm doing. I decided that comedy is my main thing. No matter what I touched, there needs to be a comedic element to it. And all roads lead to my comedy mission. And I firmly believe the two most important days of your life as the day you were born, because you're actually put here in a physical manner to accomplish something. And the second greatest day in your life is when you discover why you're here. And for me, it's comedy. On any level, on any platform, with any paradigm, with any tool, as long as all roads lead to making people laugh, whether it's film, tv, podcasts, film festivals, stand up comedy, skits, improv, or just observing something at the counter at Ralph's. When I'm buying groceries, then I can make the cashier laugh. No, finding the funny in everyday life. I mean, there's a lot to be said for that, Steven, and to catch everybody up. So you've had all this various experiences from Chicago through New York to LA, and now you're doing some support work in the film industry, but you're able to transition that to your own small production company. But you kept your foot in stand up as well. Aren't you still doing some kind of roaming comedy shows or these the fundraisers you were talking about? How are you still doing involved in the stand up industry? Yeah, I still do stand up. Every week I try to have at least one show. You know, I want to get on, you know, as many as three, three stages a week, but I at least try to do one show a week. And my phone is still on. For fundraisers, I'm working with pay give that has access to thousands of nonprofits. And anytime they need me to do a fundraiser, I'm open for them. I just did it several months ago, fundraiser for Parkinson's, for pay give. And then I have my own resident club at the Comedy Chateau, where I host every Sunday and some Thursdays. But now I'm launching this national comedy tour with Podfest. It's called the PNN Academy podfest comedy track tour. And we're going across America, and we're doing open mics, comedy showcases, comedy podcast, and we're doing sports comedy podcasts with the penalty game, which is my sports comedy podcast. And so I'm right now organizing a national tour, hitting every state in the union, the lower 48. It is a blast. I have so many comedy venues and podcasters and sports bars that want to be a stop on this tour, and it's been super, super exciting. I'm excited to get you on as a coordinator, and if there's any place that you see we can stop either with a podcast or a sports club or a comedy club or an improv theater, I'm open to collaborate with you on, on that. But, well, just like the, the way this podcast interview has gone all along, you've jumped ahead again. But I think it's interesting. And I'm getting, and let's get to that topic because I wanted to share with the audience that here's a guy that started off as an opening open mic stand up comic, has gone through all these transitions and growth and following various dreams to the point where you're a successful entrepreneur and you have several productions and companies that you're involved in in anything to keep your life busy and fulfilled. But part of that, and most recently, is you got into podcasting. And that's how we connected through Podfest, which is a organization out of Florida where they try to connect podcasters of various ilks and share that moment in that experience and being a podcaster. So where in this story did you decide that, hey, I want to do a podcast and jump into that. I know you played with it early in the two thousands, but that's not the podcasting that we're seeing in hearing today. Your current shows and the ones that you want to take on tour, please explain to the audience what made you make that decision, and how's that going for you? I am loving, loving, loving it. The Pod Brother was born at the John Levitz podcast Theater in Universal Citywalk in Universal, California, which is where Universal Studios and amusement park is. John Lovis had a comedy club there, and he was smart enough to recognize that podcasting is something that's here to stay, and it's going to blow up. This was in 2010, 2009, and I was working with three D at the time, and I went to John Levitz, and I said, you know, I would love to install some 3d cameras, shoot some 3d comedy. And that's where I learned about the John Lovitz podcast theater. And I was like, oh, wow, we could shoot 3d podcast shows because he had Kevin Smith, Adam Carolla, you know, a bunch of celebrities that were doing live stage show podcasts. And I'm like, I want to do that. So John Lovitz was coined the pod father at the time. And so I'm like, I want to do my podcast show, and my stand up comedy name is Kimbrough, my last name. So my first podcast was the Kimbrough podcast. And I had all my friends and my guests, and we were on stage in front of a packed audience doing a podcast live stream. And I thought, this is awesome. This is where I want to be. At the end of the show, this drunk guy came up to me and he says, hey, man, you know, your pod brother show was awesome. So in his drunken stupor, he kind of fused Kimbrough and podcast with Pod brother. And I thought, okay, yeah, dude, yeah, I'm the pod brother. This is the, this is the pod brother show. You, like, you do the pop brother thing again. I'll be back. When you going on now? Like, well, we're gonna do it next week. So right there, I went on my computer, I registered podbrother.com, and. And then that from that point on, I was doing live pod brother shows at the John Levitt podcast theater, who is coined the pod father of podcasting. And that's where the pod brother was born. And from there, I never look back. I combined stand up comedy and comedy films and film festivals with podcasting. And no matter what I do and I touch in comedy, podcasts always has something to do with it. My, my podcast endeavors touched that. Then once the Internet developed to the point to where we could do live stream, that's when people were like, hey, I want to do my podcast with the pod brother. And I developed Pod Brother Nation so that I could scoop up other podcasters that I could stream along with the pod brother. And that's when I launched Podbrothernation.com and I got a live stream platform so that I could stream myself along with my friends. And then film festivals were like, hey, can we submit our films to Pod brother Nation? And when can you come with your podcasters and come down and interview some filmmakers? And I'm like, hell yeah. So the pod brother with Pod Brother Nation would interview filmmakers and they could submit their films to the Hollywood drive in film festival, which has the Pod Brother Nation podcast. And next thing you know, I'm a comedic live stream. Pod Brother Nation, Hollywood Film festival conglomerate. And that, that's my story. Yeah, that's a title that's not going to fit on a business card. And by the way, I think it's always important to know. It's always great to know that a drunk guy can come up with your name. Yeah. Well, Stephen, you've had such an amazing career in standup comedy, and you've taken it in so many facets and done so much with it. I think it's an incredible story, and I thank you so much for sharing it on my podcast real quick so that people can find your various podcasts. I know you have this tour coming up, which you gave a good plug for earlier, but maybe share with the audience your website or the best way to learn more about Steven Kimbrough and the Pod Brothers programs. Yes, if you want to catch my comedy, that's podbrother.com. my live stream is podbrothernation.com. and if you want to learn how to do stand up comedy, you can go to pnnacademy and you can sign up for one of our stand up comedy classes. And that's also where all of the information for the PNN Academy Podfest Comedy track tour is also on that website. So if you want to participate in any way, shape or form. If you want to be a film festival or a podcaster or a comedian or a venue or a sports bar, theater, you can go to pnnacademy.org. and you can, like, sign in to participate and join in the fun and the laughs and the joy on our tour. And if you would, for me, Scott, give me a small favor. If you can do my slug line on the way out, which is stick with the pod brother, that would be greatly appreciated. Well, I'm definitely going to post this information in your website, in the show notes. And Steven, we'll make sure that people can find you. But podbrother.com, it sounds like, is a good place to start. And Stephen, you've had such an incredible career. Thanks so much for sharing it with my audience. I also, it all starts with standup comedy. So I do have one of your sets, in fact, a good friend of, I guess a mutual friend, at least a friend of mine, Eddie Brill, introduced you at Caroline's, and I got a nice little bit of comedy view. I'd like to share it with the audience. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you get a chance, check out podbrother.com or go to pnnacademy.org and those will be in the show notes. And check out this incredible talent and producer, Stephen Kimbrough. And to also bring it back down to the basics, I'm going to share a little bit of a stand up comedy right now. Stephen, thanks so much for being on the podcast. Thank you, buddy. That was a pleasure, man. This was a blast. Thank you so much. All right, here we go, ladies and gentlemen, a little live stand up comedy by Stephen Kimbrough. Man, beautiful crowd, man. Nick has thanks for showing me that love, man. Cause I was nervous. Cause I feel like the only. I feel like the only cocoa pork in a box of Krispies from ready. To refill that hole race. This kind of reminds me of my home, really. I got lights hanging out the ceiling. Shake a board over the pant. Bunch of white people looking scared. Just play the queer. Oh, man. I do. I am. I'm the director of entertainment for the Liberty one. I don't know if you heard about that. It's that gaming ship out of Brooklyn. You heard that? That ship, you know, and she said, babe, at us. It's a wild gig, man. Cause people, come on. First of all, the mayor, like, shook us down because he wanted to make sure that everybody involved with the ship wasn't involved with the family. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm so sure. A brother's gonna be director of entertainment if it's the family's involved, right? Oh, yeah, that's. Yeah, that should've been a dead giveaway. I'm seeing mafia involved. Oh, wait a minute. Is that the brother book of the. No, it's cool, it's cool. Oh, but all kind of people. Come on, man. This is, you know, we're in Brooklyn and people come on and be asking some stupid ass questions, you know. So where's the ball in LA? We're on a ship, Sparky. Like, the pens are gonna stay still. Hold still. Anyhow, I'm not a gutter, but I like doing a lot of stuff, man. I love this comedy gig. This comedy gig is a lot of fun. Gives me a chance to travel all over the place. And I love the drive. Cause I got this brand new car, man, this black Mazda Rx seven convertible. This thing is sweet. It is, man. Like, black tires, black paint, black canvas convertible top, man. It got the black leather dash and the black speakers and the headrest. I be listening to the black box from the black cd flying out the highway. Black beret, black pants, black shirt. Champion. I'm sorry, props. It's more like feeling, saving a bat, missing this guy's face when he's straight. He's like, what's with the boom boom there? I'm always teasing you, man. He look at me like I'm balling. Your own at night. He's got that serial killer look on his face. No, you're. I love this card over in his car is cool. I'm. I get pulled over a lot, though, in this car, and I'm telling you, I get pulled over a lot. You can't be a brother driver, convertible. And I get pulled over and every comic has a state trooper story. I gotta tell you about mine. But first of all, since, you know, I'm on the cruise ships and stuff, I need to find out if anybody has been on a cruise before. Has anybody been on a cruise? So you back me up on this, man. When you're on a cruise ship, you know, it takes you a couple days to get your sea leg. A couple days, right? And when you first get on, you're walking down there like you got a load in your pants. You're not real comfortable, but after you're out in a while, you get your sea legs. You could be in a hurricane, you know? Shit, you be walking no problem. But when you get off, you're on dry land, you still got your sea legs. When your head's kind of woozy. You're walking around like Bambi on ice. True story, right? I was running late, and a friend of mine asked me if I could pick her up at the airport, and I said, no problem. And I was in my car, man. Boom. Had the tops down. And on the way there, you know, I was thinking, I'm like, I hope she calls me if I'm late. Cause I have the cellular phone in my car. But it didn't matter. Cause I'm driving. Had the cd, kicking the tops down, the braille. Nice day. Flying out of the black top, running a little late, GM kick ass feelings. And I get pulled over by this state trooper, man. Now you got an attitude tattoo, baby. Don't tell it. Let me tell you about this. We're giving up for the state troopers in the house tonight. While driving, I get pulled over, he comes up to my car, and I'm a little nervous, right? Because I have, you know, have all the papers, license, insurance, all that stuff, you know, turn the music down, you know? You know, I'm waiting for me. I look at my rear view mirror, I see him get out his car. He unfolds out of his car. He like, six pin. He like walking like a terminator. I ain't going to walk up to my. He got Billy club, hand cooked guard rope. I'm like the top star knucklehead. What do you want? He's just getting ready to ask me that question. You know the question they always ask you, right? But it was great. My cellular phone ring right when he's getting ready to ask me. Talk about perfect timing. He was like, yeah, you know what? Just a minute. Yeah. How you doing? Oh, yeah, baby. I'm running a little late. Oh, why? Some knucklehead pulled me over. That was bad, man. He had mirrored contact lenses. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you could hear right there how funny Steven is as a stand up comic. And we appreciate him being on the interview and sharing a little bit of his comedy. But Stephen, I have him back on the podcast. There was one thing I wanted to touch. I think it's fascinating that amongst all these entrepreneurial challenges you faced as a comic, growing up from Chicago to New York to LA, going through Boston, you've done so much, and yet your joy is diving. Yeah. Yes. Did you ever do it collegially, or where were you? Learn how to be a good diver. We're talking about jumping off a high dive into a pool, folks. This guy's really good. Yeah. I didn't even know how to swim when I was in high school, and I always wanted to learn, and the swim coach was missing a diver. And I was really good with, like, tumbling and the trampoline and somersaults, and I was a good gymnast. I could do backhand Springs and all that fun stuff. And he was like, hey, we need a diver for our team. Would you be interested in joining the team? I'm like, I can't swim. It's like, don't worry about it. We'll teach you how to swim. We're basically throwing you in. You'll figure it out. Yeah, we got the lifeguard poll. We'll reach in there. Can you hold your breath? Just hold your breath for two minutes. We'll scoop you out. But those dives are amazing. I'm a senior in high school, and I didn't get a chance to participate in sports because my, I, my grandfather wouldn't sign the guardian thing, and I was a super, super good athlete and all the coaches wanted me. And I'm like, I'm not leaving high school without participating. So without knowing how to swim, I joined the swim team to be a diver, and I learned how to swim. And because I was a late bloomer, I went into it with just carefree. I'm like, I don't care if I win anything. I don't care how far I go. I'm just going to be loose and free, not worry about the outcome, work as hard as I can and just see where it takes me. And from that experience, I won. Well, I didn't win, but I qualified for the regionals. In qualifying for the regionals, I qualified for the state. In qualifying for the state, I qualified for the nationals. And then I went to the nationals and I qualified to be on the US Olympic team. No. Well, not to be on it, but to at least try out, they take it well. Yeah. I mean, you took something that, that was kind of a lark and you made it into something. And, folks, Steven's, you know, an older gentleman now, and he's still an amazing diver. And I think it's great that you held on to that, as. Is something fun for you. Yeah, it is. It's fun. It's relaxing, it's cool. It impresses a lot of people to be my age and still get up there and throw a somersault and it's pretty cool. And unfortunately, I wasn't able to go try out with the Olympics because the Russians were not playing fair on the world front and us boycotted the Olympics, which was in Russia in 1980. So I qualified to try out for the team, but I didn't get a chance to actually see how far I could go with that because we never went to the Olympics that year. Well, I just brought it up after the fact. We've had all this great conversation and how focused and dedicated you are, and that when you pick a goal, you go after it. And I remember seeing a video of you diving, and you're really good and and not, you know, young. You're over 50, and you, you're, you still have that in your back pocket as something that's relaxing and fun for you. But again, it goes back to the basic of all your success, Stephen, and that is that whether you're a middle aged stand up comic or film producer or a 17 year old trying to learn to swim, when you focus on something and dedicate yourself and work hard at it, you get good at it. And I just wanted to share with the audience because I thought it was kind of unique and different, that not only everything else is amazing that you've touched in your life, but you're also a terrific diver. Yay. Yeah. Thank you. Well, you know, I'm working on a comedy documentary film that covers a lot of those chapters in my life. And the title of it is everyone has three minutes, which is kind of a theme for learning stand up. You know, as you know, if you work hard, everybody can do three minutes. You may not be a professional comedian or you may not be on tour, but if you work and put a little effort in it, you could come up with a good three solid minutes of stand up. So everyone has three minutes. Scott. All right, well, Stephen, that's amazing. I'll look forward. We'll have to have another conversation when that comes out. Keep an eye out for it, ladies and gentlemen. Everyone's got three minutes, and I happen to believe that myself. Anyway, again, we've already said thanks. We've already said amazing interview, and now we know you're a diver as well. What a story. Ladies and gentlemen, Stephen Kimbrough. Thanks for being on, Stephen. Thank you, Scott. Appreciate you. We hope you enjoyed this episode of stand up comedy. Your host and Mc. For information on the show, merchandise and our sponsors, or to send comments to scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhostandmc.com. look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near.