Dennis
Hey there. Stay tuned to find out just what a Thunder Bulge is.

Dennis
Hi, I’m Dennis VanDerGinst join me in a series of entertaining and interesting conversations with entertaining and interesting people, we’ll explore various aspects of the human experience and what makes life more fun. This is Uncommon Convos.

Dennis
Welcome to Uncommon Convos. I’m your host, Dennis VanDerGinst. And before we get started today, I’d like to remind you to please subscribe to Uncommon Convos on your favorite podcast platform.

Dennis
It’s quick and easy and most importantly, it’s absolutely free. You can also visit UncommonConvos.com to check out the video version of this and all of our episodes. My guest today is Matt Garardarrard, a very uncommon individual indeed, which makes him uniquely qualified to be here on our podcast today. Matt is an improvisational comedian, a comic actor, a standup comic. He’s also known as Butter Thunder, a spotlighted dancer in Thunder Bulge, which is billed as the world’s most electrifying comedy male revue, kind of a comedic version of Magic Mike.

Dennis
He also happens to be my cousin. So, Matt, thanks for being here, man. How are ya?

Matt
Yeah. I’m great. Great. What an intro. What an intro.

Dennis
Yeah, it’s almost as if you wrote it yourself.

Matt
Right!

Dennis
Well parts of it anyway.

Dennis
Oh, it’s it’s kind of fun getting to interview my own, my own cousin. And of course, you know, I know most of the answers to the questions I’m going to ask you, but, you know, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t, like, take you through the rigors of the the process so that whoever’s listening in gets a better idea of who Matt Garardarrard is and what makes him an uncommon individual to be on this on this podcast.

Dennis
So first question, and this is one that I actually–I have a sense of the answer to, but I’m not sure I even know the answer. What is it? I guess when, how and why did you get that bug to perform in the entertainment industry?

Matt
Oh, yeah. You know, I started performing when I was a kid. You know, I think I was always kind of an obnoxious child, in fact. I remember your mother intentionally giving me noisy Christmas presents to annoy my father. Like, I think she gave me a harmonica at one point, which I thought I somehow knew how to play bad to the bone on. And but yeah, no, I started I started acting when I was probably like six seventh grade.

Matt
I had a music teacher. I went to Jordan Catholic Grade School there in Rock Island, and my music teacher noticed that I was particularly loud. And she she suggested that I take acting classes at her and her husband’s acting school, which is a place–

Dennis
Oh, yeah.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
See, I figure that she if she was your music teacher and she suggested you take acting classes, she was trying to tell you something else.

Matt
Oh, yes.

Dennis
No, maybe music’s not for you, but in any event.

Matt
Well, I did. I mean, you know, inevitably as you grow up, I did do my fair share of musical theater. And definitely I was a singer. I was in a Rock Island high school chamber choir. So that was a pretty pretty illustrious. They’ve got a pretty amazing choir program at Rocky. Dorothy McNamer, rest in peace. She was a wonderful, wonderful choir teacher. But no…Yeah. So I started pretty young doing plays.

Matt
And then, you know, as I went through high school, you know, you do more, you end up doing musical theater, stuff like that. And yeah, I just I loved being on stage. It was an outlet for all of this loud weirdness that comes out of me.

Matt
And now that’s kind of that’s kind of how I found it.

Dennis
Well, and I know in the bio that you you provided that you mentioned getting your first paying gig as an actor when you were 18 in the ghostlight theater in Davenport, Iowa. What was that? What was that? A musical? What was that? What was your role?

Matt
That was–I auditioned for their for their summer season, and they were they were a new theater company at the time, but it was cool because they were paying everybody. They didn’t last very long.

Matt
But it was really cool.

Matt
And my my high school drama teacher was kind of involved and he was like, hey, Matt, you know, you should come out, check these auditions for the summer. You know, you could do shows and make a little money. So I was like, OK, that’s great. And so, yeah, I auditioned. I ended up working on sets for their first two production. I think they did Will Rogers Follies and they did Gilligan’s Island The Musical.

Matt
Which was interesting, and then I was I was in I was in their production of Noise is Off, which Noise is Off is the what’s the guy’s name? Michael Frayn. It’s to the farce in three acts with the stage that that rotates 360 degrees to the entire second act is essentially pantomime while the state while a play happens on stage. And it’s a really cool show and actually gosh, now that I think about it. But I remember oh man, I was helping build sets and the company was they were they were using the theater.

Matt
I want to see Davenport North High School and there was something they wanted to do another weekend and there was some kind of some kind of disagreement between the theater company and the school. And for whatever reason, they ended up they wanted to do a third weekend because we’d sold out and we ended up having to–they got into an argument. And so we had to take this entire two story set and move it on the fly from from Davenport North High School, I think, to the Capitol Theater in downtown Davenport.

Matt
And we had to throw it together like a week. And it was insane. I remember opening night like the banister falling off the stage as this guy, Jason Platt, was hopping down it with his shoes tied together. The banister fell off the stage and people thought it was part of the show because all this craziness is going on. But it’s a cool show. Oh, wow. I haven’t thought about that in so long.

Dennis
It’s funny that you mention that show. I actually, ironically, was just talking to somebody this weekend and he was mentioning that show, which I hadn’t seen before. But the way you described it, other than the banister falling off the stage, was exactly how he described it. So you men–you mentioned also in your bio that you had been offered a theater scholarship, which you turned down at the advice of your drama teacher. Why would a teacher tell you to take this free money or opportunity?

Dennis
What was the deal with that?

Matt
Well well, first of all, it was a it was a scholarship to community college. So I guess I should roll it back a little bit.

Matt
But no, you know, the the person who was in charge of the theater program at the place that offered me the scholarship apparently was a nightmare to work with. And my teacher, who knew me very well, who helped me, you know, stay in school because I definitely almost dropped out and a lot of my friends did that. And I almost went down a very different path. And my choir teacher, my drama teacher, really took an interest in me and and help me help me, you know, get to the point where I graduated and got my life going.

Matt
So he had told me, you don’t want to work with this guy. It’s you know, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. And this scholarship is essentially indentured servitude, like you’re going to spend every night painting flats and that’s what you’re going to do for the next two years and you’re just going to hate this guy. And so I was like, OK. And because I was so excited, I was like, remember when I was going to drop out?

Matt
And now they’re offering me a scholarship. And he was like, don’t do it. And I listened. And it was probably probably the best move I could have made at that point, because then, you know, it pushed me in a different direction because I I was in school, I was taking all these theater classes, but I was one of maybe like two people that didn’t take the theater scholarship when I got there. And so there was.

Matt
But then I found out from two people that had graduated that there was this theater club and there was this, you know, this account. There’s a little bit of money. And if I could take it over and become the president of it, then I could use some budget and raise some money to just produce my own shows. And so that’s that was the direction I ended up going in. And that was all because I didn’t take that scholarship, which was awesome, because then I, I picked plays that I thought were cool.

Matt
I put them up, I directed them. I produce them, you know, we did everything. And yeah, we just got the experience of, you know, I had taken acting classes, you know, as a kid, blah, blah, blah, but, you know, really got the experience of building shows from the ground up on my own. And it was just like sink or swim. I held my feet to the fire and did it. It was cool.

Dennis
Yeah. And then we’re going to kind of circle back to that near the end of the interview, because I know it probably played an important role in what you’re doing nowadays and where you’d like to see things go as far as, you know, the production and of of of entertainment. But before we get to that, you went you’ve gone kind of a circuitous route to get to where you’re at now, including the next thing that I wanted to discuss was, I guess eventually auditioning for ComedySportz.

Dennis
Now, I think a lot of folks are familiar with ComedySportz, but there there may be people out there who aren’t. So in general, what is ComedySportz? What is that all about?

Matt
Sure. ComedySportz is it’s a really, really amazing thing. They’re they’re a franchise. When I was involved in it, I think they were in twenty four cities in the US and then they were also in Manchester, England. And I think there’s one that opened up in Germany. I don’t know how many cities they’re at now, but. Yes, really cool, it’s a train, they do short form improv, it’s all family friendly, it’s a really, really cool place.

Matt
And, you know, it’s especially the ComedySportz in the Quad Cities. It’s no longer exists in a slightly different incarnation, but it no longer exists there. And at the time, though, it was such a cool part of the community and the district of Rock Island. And, you know.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
No, and I know–and I know when you when you first auditioned, you you didn’t make the team, as it were, kind of like Michael Jordan not making his varsity team in high school the first effort, but then eventually you did. But before you did that, before you actually made the cast, you had also performed with “It’s a Mystery” which is another franchise, isn’t it?

Matt
Or is there not a franchise? That’s actually It’s a Mystery is a really cool guy, another local guy. And I guess Scott’s in Davenport. But Scott Naumann, that’s his mystery company. Yes. Yeah. You know, Scott Scott’s an awesome guy, Scott and Shelley. And they they ran that for years. And, yeah, I started that. I think I started doing that when I was about 19, 20 doing those shows. And that was know I was also fortunate to be able to get paid to act, you know, and they were such a cool company.

Matt
And, you know, you go you do these murder mystery shows, they’re probably 70 percent scripted. And then the other 30 percent, you know, was improv with the audience with one another. But yeah, what what a fun. And I mean, It’s a Mystery still exists. And Scott Naumann still does great shows. He writes everything himself. I mean, you know, I know people help within the cast. I’m sorry. I know there are.

Matt
But, you know, but it’s all locally produced. It’s all original content. It’s a really, really cool company. It’s a really cool thing that the Quad Cities still has. But, yeah, that was it was great. It really got me in that mode of doing improv because so much of that show, you’re just walking around in a room with people you know, and you have to–

Dennis
Right, right.

Matt
You mingle in character. And that kind of that kind of improv is really good.

Matt
And having having that before going into ComedySportz and then going into further improv training, I really feel like the experience that I got at It’s a Mystery really gave me a toolbelt to to move forward and the skill set that I needed to to continue with what I want to do.

Dennis
Yeah. And I know Scott and Shelley very well. In fact, I should probably have them on the podcast as well.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
But I think the reason I assumed it was a franchise is because it was so reminiscent. The, the template I guess of the show is reminiscent of Tony and Tina’s wedding, for instance. If you’ve seen that with Tony and Tina.

Dennis
Sure. Sure. Where you’re in character and you’re milling about and, you know, there’s there’s some some goal in mind, you know, for each of the shows as far as It’s a Mystery. But so you went from It’s a Mystery. You did get cast in the ComedySportz and you helped them actually reached the pinnacle of–

Matt
Pinnacle!

Dennis
Yeah. The World Comedy Championship. And that’s something because as you said, there were, you know, twenty four, twenty five whatever teams around the country at that time.

Matt
So, yeah.

Dennis
Kind of cool.

Matt
That, that is, that’s one cool thing to ComedySportz does. They do, they do a big tournament every summer and then you know, so players from all different cities come in and yeah we had we were hosting it in the Quad Cities that year and–

Dennis
[Inaudible] won, but.

Matt
But yeah, it’s strange–well it’s it’s it’s a weird thing in comedy that if you host a comedy tournament, the team from from the home city ends up in the championship. I don’t know how that works, but I know that we worked very hard to get there.

Dennis
Yes. Yes. Well, you know, and again, for those of you who have not seen a performance of a ComedySportz anywhere, as I mentioned, it is very family friendly. And they take suggestions from the audience throughout as they play games. They’re they’re they’re teamed up, basically, and they have to take these suggestions and incorporate them into the performance. And then I don’t know exactly how the scoring works, but eventually it’s–

Matt
It’s based on laughter. It’s very scientific.

Dennis
Exactly. It’s very, very scientific, very subjective. But no, it’s it’s a fun thing to do. If you have the opportunity to see ComedySportz in your neck of the woods, I’d certainly suggest you do that. So you mentioned ComedySportz, and it’s “it’s a murder” [sic] or It’s a Mystery, both giving you some some real sound background and in, I guess, practice to do improv going forward. How often, for instance, with ComedySportz were you performing?

Dennis
Was that a weekly thing or–

Matt
So at the time they they would run eight shows a month and then they would kind of be based on everybody’s availability. And then, you know, if you wanted to play more, you hung out around the theater. And, you know, if somebody couldn’t play one night, you were there like with your uniform ready to go. But I no I mean, I was I was playing I mean, almost every weekend, depending on scheduling and what I was doing, because I was also, you know, directing my own shows.

Matt
And I was also, you know, being involved in the local theater scene, which in the Quad Cities, as you know, is quite vibrant. So there’s a lot of stuff going on. But yeah. And then, you know, it was cool for me because I quickly I quickly got to the point where I was getting requested to do shows and, you know, you’re getting paid and not that it’s a ton of money, but, you know, when you’re 20 years old and you start doing improv and you’re, you know, immediately being given more shows than some people have been doing it longer, it feels cool, you know.

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
But yeah. Oh, go ahead.

Dennis
Well, no. Well, speaking of, you know, shows in and being 20 some years old at the time and getting started in a very competitive business, in a fairly competitive market. And then you went on to Chicago and we’ll talk about that in a minute. But you also did some stand up. Now the–tell me, you know, what the difference is as far as your mindset between doing improv, which I at least as far as I’ve seen, it’s always an ensemble effort with with improv.

Dennis
You know someone to bounce things off of–

Matt
There are people that claim to be able to do one person improv shows.

Dennis
I don’t know. Good for them.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
But obviously, if you’re doing standup, though, you’re you’re out there on your own. I got to imagine that’s that’s pretty scary. What what’s the buzz you get? What’s the fears you have, you know, what’s your preference between improv and stand up?

Matt
Sure, sure. You know, yes, you’re right. It’s an entirely different animal being on stage by yourself versus being on stage with an ensemble. And I mean, it’s a night and day difference. Like, you know, I’ve I’ve gotten to a point, you know, with improv where I’m pretty fearless and I was able to get to condition myself that way pretty early on, I think, in any aspect of performance. But in standup, you’re just there with your jokes and it’s it’s far more personal, you know.

Matt
And I think if you’re doing it right, there should be a level of vulnerability there that you that you really don’t have with improv. You know, I mean, in an improv show, I can I can cut to the next thing somebody come save can come save me, you know. But if I if I bare my soul to you and I think it’s funny and you don’t, well, then I’m just stuck here on stage like there’s nothing I can do.

Matt
All I can do is move on to the next thing I wrote that I–that I clearly, you know, misjudged you in the first…So it’s yeah, it’s it’s definitely different, but it’s it’s still a cool buzz. You know, I, I fell out of doing standup. I mean, I still I still love to do it and I would love to do more of it. But when I started, you know, touring full time with them, probably just where my schedule filled up, you know, and after you’ve been on the road for three weeks doing shows like you don’t want to come home and go to an open mic, you want to look at the wall in your bedroom and not see the people you’ve been in a van with for three weeks.

Matt
But, you know, yeah, it’s it’s such a different animal. But I love it. But, yeah, it’s it’s a. It’s a night and day difference, I think.

Dennis
Well, you know, and, you know, I think there are probably a lot of folks who have been to open mics and there’s nothing more awkward as an audience member and I’m sure as the performer then having someone just bomb one after another failed joke that, you know, you can hear the crickets and that’s got to be very unnerving doing stand up and not not having that, you know, that teammate who’s going to come and save you with the ensemble that you have with the improv?

Matt
For sure. And imagine imagine being that guy with those jokes and then you have to return to that same room the next week at the same time, because that’s what your schedule allows. And you have to do all those same jokes again and try to figure out how to make them not suck in front of the same people who saw you suck the week before and the week before. You know, I mean, it’s it’s a very masochistic thing, stand up comedy.

Dennis
Well, and then, you know, how do you learn whether it’s standup or improv–how do you get used to and how do you handle the occasional heckler? And some of course, since there’s a lot of drinking going on, some of these clubs, some of these hecklers aren’t–well, first of all, some of them are funnier than the comedians as far as the things they say.

Matt
That’s a very heckler thing to say Dennis.

Dennis
But they can obviously be brutal, too. So how do you how do you learn to deal with that?

Matt
You know, it’s an interesting question, too, because that, again, I think there’s a big difference in dealing with that person in a standup set versus an improv show, you know. Sure. When you’re when you’re doing a standup. I mean, the stakes are a lot higher in a stand up, you know, because if if somebody interrupts you before you’re about to hit a punch line, now your timings screwed up. Now your set looks bad.

Matt
You have to stop and deal with this person. You know, there are certain points where you could stop and deal with this person and certain points where you can’t. But in an improv show, it’s very easy to dismiss them, to make them look stupid, because I can just, you know, because it’s all it’s all made up and I know I’m making it up as I go along. So, you know, I can I can step out and do anything.

Matt
But I think that really is, you know, the the best way to do I mean, I try to shoot them down and make them look dumb. Now, that being said, I also think that there’s a difference between heckling and and and unconsciously participating, you know.

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
Like, I’ll see. I’ve seen people where, like, you know, somebody would ask a question and somebody instinctively would just answer the question because they’re drunk and they’re in the audience, you know, and I’ve seen people lose their mind.

Matt
How dare you? And it’s not like, OK, chill, you know, one one.

Dennis
Do I tell you how to do your job at McDonald’s?

Matt
You know, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. I saw Chris D’Elia do that at the Comedy Store and just looked like an asshole and that’s fine. But no. Yeah, a great example of it, when I was I was house staff at Second City in Chicago and I remember Brian Posehn came in and, you know, Second City they’re used to sketch show. This was at Up, which is a standup club that they opened when I was working there.

Matt
And so they had their sketch shows. And, you know, in the sketch shows, it’s very much a show like if you talk, you’re done like you’re getting warned maybe twice and then you’re booted. And that’s if you say a word. Whereas the standup vibe, you know, it’s a different crowd. And I remember Brian Posehn came in and he’s performing and Brian Posehn talks a lot about the band Slayer. And if you’ve ever met a Slayer fan, they’re they’re fun.

Matt
But like if you say Slayer, they say Slayer. Like, that’s that’s what they do. And so he talks about heavy metal a lot. And there were all these metal heads in there. And every time he’d say, Slayer, you know, they’re throwing up their heavy metal horns and yelling Slayer. And they wanted us to kick all these people out. And finally, I’m like, I’m like, no, like these that’s they’re not heckling.

Matt
Like, this manager doesn’t understand this–They’re not a show person. Like, you know, these people aren’t heckling like and they’re like, well he was very specific. And then after the first show, we’re cleaning tables and they’re apologizing to him like, I’m so sorry those people kept yelling Slayer. And he’s like, “oh, no, I expect that. I’m a metal head. This is what we do. No, no, no, no. Yeah.

Matt
Let that happen. Just don’t let any actual heckling happen.”

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
You know, I think you have to evaluate how you deal with it.

Dennis
Yeah. Well, and I want to get back to to Chicago. But before we–

Matt
I’m going all over the place. I’m sorry.

Dennis
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s all right.

Matt
You know, this linear structure I’m not used to.

Dennis
As an attorney, that’s what I do. I walk you through in a certain fashion. So before we get we lose our our our goals and our sights and our parameters too much, I wanted to revisit the Davenport Junior Theater because I know you taught there while you were doing some of these other things in the Quad Cities uh and I actually you know, I happen to be familiar with the Junior Theater a little bit.

Dennis
What was it that you did there? I mean, you’re teaching kids, right? Were you teaching them acting, comedy, all the above, none of the above?

Matt
All of the above at the time. I, I remember I was I was in a show, there was a theater company that was using the same theater called NewGround Theater. I was doing, and they used the same theater and it was another another one of these small local theater companies that was paying. And so I was like, awesome, like I’m, you know, 20 years old and getting paid to act. This is so cool.

Matt
But yes, I was in a show over there and the junior theater kids were kind of wander in and I was like, man, I’d really like to get involved with that. So I just started playing improv games with some of the students that were wandering in and then eventually like, oh, you know, all these improv games, you’re a ComedySportz guy, why don’t you teach here? And so I was like, oh, great, that’s what I wanted.

Matt
But yeah, so I taught over there and that was I taught acting, you know, basic plays. And then I would teach improv and then, you know, we would we would do these classes where I would essentially use improv to create original plays with all these kids. And so, you know, we would have these huge brainstorming sessions. And it was so awesome, like the things that that come out of children just, you know, completely uninhibited, like, you can just pull gold.

Matt
And so we would we would create our own plays and, you know, that were all based on the ideas that they had. So, you know, these kids could come in and we’d at the end of the class after we wrote it, we perform it. And then they would have their play that they wrote. And the one time that they their idea came to life. And it was this really. Sure, really cool thing. And it’s such a great program over there.

Matt
You know, I, I think, you know, acting helped helped me stay on the right path, or at least the path I wanted to be in life. And, you know, had someone not introduced me to it at the young age in a setting like that, I don’t know that I would have had it. So I feel very fortunate to use it.

Dennis
If that hadn’t happened to you, you wouldn’t have those lovely shoes, you know, that we can see in your background there. You’d probably be barefoot and pregnant somewhere.

Matt
There’s a lot of Adidas shoes over there, but yeah, barefoot…and I mean, I do still look pregnant, so.

Dennis
OK, so now I do want to talk a bit about Chicago, because that seems to be where things really took off. You started off with Chicago-IO [sic, “iO Chicago”], which you informed me before we got started here, used to be ImprovOlympics, but they had to stop using the the the Olympic term.

Matt
Yes. They were sued.

Dennis
Yes. They were sued.

Matt
Yeah. I mean that must be–

Dennis
Damn lawyers.

Matt
Right. Damn lawyers.

Dennis
Yeah.

Matt
You know, it was confusing people. I assume people were wandering into their bar on Clark Street and thinking they were going to watch some sort of Olympic competition. And then all of the sudden it’s a bunch of overweight, overweight white dudes going woosh! No..haha

Matt
But no–

Dennis
Where’s the 100 meter dash? I don’t know what we’re doing here.

Matt
I came here to see Shot-put, but no. So, yeah, they they eventually went on to iO, but iO was a cool place. I wanted to learn about long form improv, so that’s one of the things. So ComedySportz is, is short form improv. It’s all game based. Everything you’re doing is, you know, two or three minutes, you know, you rely on to get into these games.

Matt
It’s like Whose Line Is It Anyway. You know, that short form improv is that iO, I could learn about long form improv and long form improv. You know, you get a group of, you know, anywhere from two to eight or so people. I mean, you can go bigger, but–and you you take a suggestion from the audience and you do a totally improvised piece, you know, usually between 20 and 30 minutes as an ensemble based on that one word suggestion.

Matt
And so their–their take on it–and so Del Close is the guy who started iO and his his creation that created long form–gave birth to long form improv is a form called the Herald. And so that’s that’s the original long form improv form that you you learn. And that’s the basis for everything they do at iO.

Dennis
I know it would seem to me that that could either be great or horrendous. If you’re I mean, if you’re doing the short term stuff, you’re just moving it along. If it sucked, you’ve got another gig or another set coming up. With long form, though, if you’re committed to twenty five minutes, half hour or whatever, and it’s slow, it’s got to be really painful.

Matt
Yes.

Dennis
Again, on stage or off stage, I would imagine.

Matt
Yeah. No, I agree. There are some people that subscribe to the school of thought that there’s no such thing as a bad improv show. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought.

Dennis
Right.

Matt
And, you know, there’s I always say there’s a reason that you can get paid to do short form and you can’t get paid to do long form. And and that and that really is true. And that’s one of the things that you kind of learn as you go through these different improv schools stuff like that.

Matt
A lot of stuff has changed in the past few years. There’s a lot of upheaval. But, you know, it really is…you don’t get paid to perform, you don’t…I don’t know. It’s weird.

Dennis
No, that’s all right. Now, I’m not sure if I’ve got the timeline right here or I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong. But were you at the same time, were you going through the training at the Second City Conservatory?

Matt
Oh, no, no. I did them separately when I started–so when I started taking classes at iO, I really want–and I’m sorry, I don’t mean to rag on long form improv. Long form improv and the tools you learn in long form improv can make you an amazing performer and they really give you the tools to to do what you want to do. Sorry, I didn’t mean to–but no, but no when I started taking iO classes, I still lived in the Quad Cities.

Matt
I wanted to learn about long form but there was nowhere to do it locally. So I would drive three hours to Chicago, take a three hour improv class, sit try to catch a couple of shows, and then drive three hours home. And then I’d try to drive up at least once or twice a week to see different shows, different nights of the week. Just so I wasn’t constantly watching the same groups. So yeah, I did. I did that for a few months.

Matt
And then, you know, when you’re in your your level one long form improv class, inevitably you you have that conversation. Like, what do you want to do with this? What do you want to do? And I was like, I don’t know. I mean, if I could do improv in Chicago a couple of nights a week and say I did Chicago Improv, that’d be pretty cool. And so then somebody was like, well, why don’t you move to Chicago?

Matt
And I was like, that’s that’s a good idea.

Dennis
Makes some sense.

Matt
So, yeah. So I did that. So I moved to Chicago. I think I must have been like level two or three at iO? I don’t know how they’ve changed their levels. They restructured the class and stuff. Yeah. And then you know, from there you really get…At the time in Chicago and I think it’s kind of lessened, but you know, at that time…So this would have been I would have been about when I moved up, I think I was twenty two.

Matt
So what year would that have been? Last year, last year, when I was 22 last year, so, you know, 13 years ago, there was there was this this super vibrant improv scene going on in Chicago, you know, and seven nights a week, if you weren’t at one of the major theaters, you could be at one of more bars than you could count. And there’d be an improv show going on of some sort. And, you know, there still is a very vibrant standup scene and improv scene there.

Matt
But like, you know, it was really it was a cool scene to be involved in a cool time because there’s was just so much of it. And, you know, you’re seeing people like, you know, I remember people like Katie Rich and Cecily Strong and things like that, like people running around the scene and then watching those people get elevated to SNL status. And, you know, and you’re like, wow, that’s a that’s a real person.

Matt
Like, you know, those people are obviously performing on the main stage at Second City and things like that. But like that’s a that’s a real person that, you know, you could have very easily had a beer with at the Old Town Ale House last weekend and chatted with and, you know, watching them elevate, which really, you know, made this idea of, you know, comedy and whatever its form and being a way to make a living, you know, feel attainable and real because–

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
It’s there, you know.

Dennis
Well then how, what was your connection to–

Matt
Why didn’t I make it? Is that what you were going to ask?

Dennis
No, no, no, no, no, no. Because, hey, you’re still making it.

Matt
Right. Right.

Dennis
But but so what was your connection to Second City? How did that develop?

Matt
Oh, yeah, I was–

Dennis
Training and/or performing at Second City? What was it you were doing there?

Matt
Yeah, I did–well, so I was–I started off–I went through their conservatory program. So for their conservatory program, you you audition in and then you go through a few levels and then after you go through a few levels, you have to re-audition and they and they make cuts. So I, I went through that program and that program, it’s, it’s about a year long and you have different teachers. I was fortunate enough to have some really, really amazing teachers at Second City.

Matt
And iO honestly, you know, people like Rachel Mason, T.J. Jagodowski, which if you’re an improv person, T.J. and Dave are like the holy grail of improv. But yeah, so went through the conservatory program and in the conservatory program. You know, Michael Gellman, who’s been there since the beginning, you know, he does his day one boot camp with you where he explains to you that most of you will never be on stage at Second City.

Matt
You know, if you–they’re not training people to work there. What their goal in the conservatory is, is to give you the tools to create a Second City style revue. Once you have the tools to create a Second City style revue, then those tools should help you find work. And if you’re going to work in the Second City, take these tools and call us in ten years. You know, and that’s but that being said, that’s I loved that program so much because of that, you know, like going to the program

Matt
at iO, there’s really this dangling carrot. It’s like, am I going to get on a Herald team? Am I going to get on a Herald team? Blah, blah, blah. And the week we did our Herald team stuff, my dad died. And so I was a little a little divided. My attention was a little divided that week. But, you know, and there’s this dangling carrot. And so toward the end of the program, these people that I’ve gone through it with, I mean, I’ve made some amazing friends that are still lifelong friends.

Matt
There are so many of these people that, you know, we’re cool and you hang out at the bar with very competitive and very catty. And you really just saw some of the ugliness and some of these people come out because there was this thing they wanted and it got very cutthroat. At Second City, you didn’t have to deal with any of that because they laid it all out the first day. Like, you’re probably you’re probably not good enough to do this.

Matt
So let’s see how good we can make you. And that really allowed me to go into that full force.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
OK, so you took the tools, though. You took the training that they gave you and you latched on to something called Mission Improbable, is that right?

Matt
Yes.

Dennis
OK, so tell us about that. How how did Mission Improbable differ, for instance, from ComedySportz and from the long form improv at iO Chicago and what you learned at Second City? What was what was the how was it alike? How is it different?

Matt
Yeah, well, so Mission Improbable is touring improv company. And so, you know, I it was actually it was interesting. It was and had been. Oh God, I want to stay six months probably since my my dad died a year to the day from me moving to Chicago. And so it must have been I want to say, six, seven months later, I had kind of been in a slump, as you do when you’re, you know, twenty three and a parent dies.

Matt
Not that it’s the hardest thing in the world. There are people whose struggles are far, far worse. But, you know, that’s that’s what I was doing at the time. And so I fell into a slump and, you know, I was partying. Drinking far too much and yeah, I, I remember I had heard of Mission Improbable and they had an audition and I was like, you know what? I’m just going to I’m just going to get my drunk ass out of bed and I’m going to go to this audition.

Matt
I haven’t done anything to work toward my goals in six months. You know, part of my dad, you know, when he was dying, he really wanted me to get to Chicago to pursue what I wanted to pursue. You know, I remember he had been in a coma for two weeks and he came out of the coma and two weeks later, he was marching around in the winter, you know, in Chicago, helping me look for apartments because he you know, he was like, this is what you want to do.

Matt
This is what you’re supposed to do. This is what you love. We’re going to we’re going to make it happen. But so I had you know, I’ve been in the slump and, yeah, I hadn’t done anything to work towards my goals. And I was like, if I just go to this audition, I can just say that I did something, you know? And so I went and it was funny. I used to do a stupid thing at auditions where I I’ve never I never had headshots.

Matt
I was up–for whatever reason I was too broke or lazy or a combination of the two to get professional headshots done. So I would go into auditions and I would come up with the craziest story as to why I didn’t have my headshots, you know, ex-girlfriends, fires, whatever I could come up with. And this is weird, but I’m gonna bare my soul to you, Denny.

Matt
But no, whenever I would come up with, I would go in.

Matt
And if they if they bought my bullshit, then I’d be like, cool. Now I’ve got a one up on these people. And I felt like I had the upper hand. Super weird. So I went to this audition. I did that. I got in. Everybody, you know, everybody’s in their audition clothing. I remember, you know, their ties. And I was wearing… When I lived in the Quad Cities, I had worked at a haunted house called Terror in the Woods.

Matt
Mike and Penny Stein, also amazing people. And I had a t shirt from there and it had like a zombie holding a heart. And I was wearing jorts and I think maybe even a chain wallet. And that’s how I wandered into this audition with no headshot. And I just didn’t care. And I I had probably the best audition of my life. And I got I got cast part time.

Dennis
Right.

Matt
Which is interesting, I was also–I remember in that room, I auditioned with my friend Keith Habersberger, who does the The Try Guys on on BuzzFeed now.

Matt
He’s very famous, but yeah, actually I, I think they took Keith full time. And then they… But I went part time, obviously you show up like that, but it was, it was really cool. And then they started calling me for …They worked the college market primarily. And so they start calling me for these touring college shows. And again, I’d fallen into this thing where I was getting paid to perform again, you know, and, you know, I remember going to Chicago too and talking to my improv friends about all the opportunities I had living in the Quad Cities to get paid to perform and they’re like, you can get paid to perform?

Dennis
Just live in the Quad Cities.

Matt
Yeah, right. Just live there! But so I, I started touring with them part time. They’re also doing a show at Fizz, which was a bar in Chicago at the time. I don’t know if it’s still there, but yeah. So I started working with them and that’s, it’s short form improv. But it was, it was cool because, you know, you didn’t have to play clean. But you know, the strengths that I gained playing clean for so long with ComedySportz, I think made me a stronger performer than a lot of these people who had to go blue, but now it was it was a really cool experience.

Matt
So I started working with them. And then, you know, they have a full time touring company who I you know, that was that was a goal. And so eventually they hired me to go full time. And so I went full time with them for four years. And, you know, and that show you would you would be at a new college. You’re you’re basically on the road with the college school year. So eight months of the year, you’re out on the road, you’re in a van with three other people, new city every night, new hotel every night.

Matt
You know, and you do anywhere between like 15 and 25 shows a month, just kind of depending on depending on how busy it was. And we had we had the Mission Improbable show that we did. And then eventually the company created a Shot of Reality, which is an alcohol awareness program designed for colleges that implements elements of comedy and improv. You know, it’s a great program. Sure. And so they started feeding us that show to do so, you know.

Matt
Yeah, we drive around, do improv shows and live in hotels and do do alcohol awareness shows. And I mean, it was–

Dennis
As as you’re drunk half the time.

Matt
But, you know, I can’t speak to any level of intoxication.

Matt
We drank responsibly, which is what we encouraged in the show. Responsible drinking limits, take care of one another, make sure that everyone gets home safe. But that’s also the best part about the hotel lobby. You’re already home.

Dennis
That’s right, that’s right.

Dennis
Now, you did the you did the part time gig there for three years and four years full time and obviously doing a lot of performances during the school year. The performances, whether it was this this, you know, drinking advisement type of promotion–

Matt
Edu-tainment.

Dennis
–Or the the other Mission Improbable type of format, whatever you were doing there was this it was it sponsored by the school? Was it actually on the college campus or was it something that you get booked at, like the local pub, you know, college…How did that work?

Matt
Oh, my frat would love to have you guys! No, no, it’s a–

Dennis
Yeah.

Matt
There’s an entire industry built up around college entertainment. So Mission Improbable is actually with a booking agency called Bass/Schuler Entertainment. They’re one of the biggest in the business. And they have you know, they have their their improv group, but they represent stand up comedians, musicians, magicians, hypnotists, you know chain saw jugglers, just about just about any kind of entertainment …Inflatables. And so all of that stuff comes through NACA, which is the National Association of Campus Activities. And so they have these giant conferences.

Matt
They have several it’s changed a little bit this year, but they have traditionally they have seven conferences and a big national conference every year. And there’s actually there’s an episode of Crashing about it. If you ever watch the show Crashing and they they do a pretty good job, but it’s a… And so, yeah, they have these giant conferences regionally and nationally. And college students come and they shop for entertainment. They watch showcases throughout the weekend. And then they have you know, it’s like a trade show style booths where you come and you interact with students and, you know, you you try to get yourself booked.

Matt
And so, yeah, that’s how. And so all. So it’s all through the schools. They’re budgeted for this. You know, campus activities is a big thing. There are a lot there are people that work in campus activities as adults for their full time job. And, you know, that’s what they do. They they bring entertainment to these schools.

Dennis
So and after you’ve done this, this tour of duty, which had to have been, you know, both grueling but exciting, I would imagine you moved to L.A., which, of course, seems to be the place to be if you want to succeed in the entertainment industry and you end up working back from Mission Improbable as a tour manager. Now, was that like surrendering your goal? You know, now you’re kind of behind the scenes or what?

Dennis
Or did you just adjust your goals and decide now, you know, this this might be a different means to a different end?

Matt
Oh, no, not really.

Matt
I mean, I so I moved out here, you know, because I just wanted to pursue more. I didn’t know exactly what more meant, you know, excuse me. I didn’t know what more was going to be. But I was like, look, I’ve had, you know, everything I’ve done in my life, every step has kind of led me to the next thing. And so I’m very fortunate and blessed that way because I think a lot of people look and they don’t find things they want.

Matt
And for whatever reason, you know, everything just kind of leads to the next thing or has for me in my life with regard to this stuff. So I was like, I’m going to go out there and just see what happens. I was working in an office as a ticket broker, which is how I supported myself in Chicago. My dad did that. That’s a that’s a that’s an entire other episode.

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
That world. But, you know, and so I was working in an office for six months and then the tour manager position came up and it happened at a time, you know, I wanted to go home for Christmas and they’re like, we work every Christmas. And I’m like, well, this isn’t enough money for that. And so, yeah, I got off of that position and no it was cool. I learned so much, you know, you you do routing and you do organization.

Matt
And, you know, at at that time the company had five different shows. And so, you know, organizing twenty to thirty people that are on the road at any given time, you know, and that’s with the full time tour call. And, you know, working on all the logistics, you know, it’s a constant problem solving game, which I thought was awesome, you know, and again, it was another opportunity for me to gain more industry things, more tools and just more knowledge of how things work as opposed to just showing up, doing the show, you know.

Matt
And so, yeah, that it was really good. It was great. Now, you know, did it was it time consuming? Yes. Did it maybe distract me from some of the TV and film things I’d like to pursue? Yes. But ultimately, again, I feel like it’s just it was just the next chapter for me and then led me to the next thing.

Dennis
Well, and speaking of next chapters, let’s let’s talk a little bit about Thunder Bulge. At one point in time, did that come along? And I guess more importantly, why? Explain to the folks who are listening and or watching. Yeah, and by by the way, I’m going to have Justin, our producer, insert your promo video for Thunder Bulge at this point in the in the podcast. So–

Matt
Good.

Dennis
As we’re uh… before he does that, give us kind of the short version of what Thunder Bulge is and what it’s designed to accomplish.

Matt
Thunder Bulge is the world’s most electrifying comedy male revue. You said it fairly well earlier. Essentially, we are the the comedy version of Magic Mike. I’m there strictly for body positivity. The other guys are ripped. But yeah, we we do. We do. It’s a comedy male strip show. We use we use improv. We have fully choreographed dance numbers, audience contests. It’s an incredibly interactive show. You know, bachelorette parties love it, bachelor parties love it.

Matt
We it’s we celebrate fun. We celebrate sexiness, we celebrate inclusivity. We we make our audience members feel special and beautiful. And that’s what we do.

Dennis
And this is right where Justin is going to insert that video.

Promo Video
“The following is an announcement from the National Sexy Service. There’s a 100 percent chance of Thunder Bulge in your area. The seductive comedians descend from the heavens to bring you an interactive comedy experience like no other. Hot, sexy dance numbers, bootylicious choreography, wild audience contests, rock hard comedy, and, of course, whipped cream. Thunder Bulge creates a fun and safe environment. We don’t care how you identify. We bring this sexy to everyone. Wild enough for your bachelorette party, but naughty enough for grandma.

Promo Video
Seriously, Grandmas love us. Get ready to make it rain, and let Thunder Bulge bring the storm to your next birthday. Girls night out, boys night out. Or if you’re just looking for a sexy good time. Oh yeah. Follow the storm and rock hard comedy for booking and show info, visit ThunderBulge.com.

Dennis
So now we’ve seen we’ve heard the promo. And if you if you get the chance, if you haven’t seen the promo, you’re going to want to check out UncommonConvos.com so you can actually get the visual here that goes with this because you’re losing a lot if you don’t get the visual.

Matt
You’re really–the visual is–something else.

Matt
This is something that–

Dennis
Or go–yeah, or go to–oh what is it? Thunderbulge.com?

Matt
Thunderbulge.com. Yeah. Yeah. You can also follow us on all of the social media @RockHardComedy.

Dennis
There you go.

Matt
Yeah.

So so. So whose idea was that and how did that all come about?

Matt
That–Thunder Bulge is the brainchild of my best friend, Dave Sill. Dave Sill and I toured together for Mission Improbable. So we lived in a van together, you know, and–

Dennis
Down by the river.

Matt
Down by the river. Yup, yup. In a van down by the river. But yeah, you know, performed in almost every state together. And Dave used to work in Chicago when we were on tour during the summers, Dave worked at this place called the Kit Kat Club and the Kit Kat Club would do drag shows.

Matt
It’s a very big bachelorette party destination. And Dave was a busboy and he he had big dreams. He wanted to work his way up to shot boy. And we were like, Dave, you know, you’re you’re going to have to you really have to work hard

Dennis
–abs.

Matt
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I remember making this stupid commitment that if Dave ever made it to shot boy, that we would come down and do body shots off of him.

Matt
And one day Dave calls me up during Pride and says, “Matt, you’re never going to believe it. They promoted me to shot boy today, you better get down here and do a body shot off of me.” And so, like a good friend, I did.

Matt
And then Dave, you know, had this idea, you know, he wanted to bring that that party to a comedy show, you know. You know, Magic Mike had kind of come out the stage show wasn’t there yet. But, you know, there seemed to be this you know, there are male strip shows that exist. And I think, you know, they tend to be I’m sure people have fun, but they’re aggressive, you know, and it’s not it’s not a party, you know, it’s not.

Matt
It’s not fun, you know.

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
So we were like, if we can bring a comedic element to it, you know, we’ve got something totally different. And so, you know, that that was Dave’s dream and Dave’s vision and then, you know, out here in L.A. started putting it together. And so, you know, he he went shopping around for ripped comedians, which is an interesting thing, like, “hey, man, like I see you’re really fit.

Matt
Would you like to be in my show? I like what you got going on here.” Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dennis
You guys you guys actually went on The Gong Show with with with this with this entertaining effort. And to your credit, you didn’t get gonged. You didn’t win, but you didn’t get gonged. How did that happen? How you get–do you have to audition? Did somebody see you and say, hey, listen, we want you on this or whatever.

Matt
The Gong Show…

Matt
Yeah, The Gong Show was super fun, honestly. You know, it’s such a weird thing. Sadly, suddenly it’s no longer going to be filming. But they got a solid two seasons and–

Matt
It wasn’t our fault.

Matt
But no. Yeah, we saw that they were having auditions. And, you know, they they look for they just looked for weird stuff. And we’re like, you know, there’s there’s nothing like what we do out there, you know? I mean, and so we’re like, all right, let’s see, you know, let’s see what we can do. And we have these, you know, these 80s outfits that have these little purple booty shorts and leg warmers and wrist bands kind of workout thing.

Matt
And we have this this 80s choreography like, you know, pump up. I don’t even know what to describe it as that we do. And so we’re like, all right, let’s just go see what happens. You know, it’s a TV show. And worst case scenario, they tell us no best case scenario, you know, we we get to do something on TV with our with our group, you know, with the show that we create.

Matt
And so. Yeah, and this was probably about a year after creating it. And, you know, we’d been performing at the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica regularly. And they you know, they’re an awesome, awesome place that that’s Mission Improbable’s Theater. The guys who do Mission Improbable started that theater, but they. Yeah, but we haven’t done any TV stuff with it yet or anything like that, and so, yeah, we went in, we auditioned and the auditions for The Gong Show were weird and just the weirdest people.

Matt
I don’t I don’t understand.

Dennis
Well you fit right in.

Matt
Yeah, right. Right. But yeah. So we went in, we did our choreography, we ripped our shirts in half and they loved it and they were there are super cool with us. So then we kind of got with their producers and, and wrote a bit. So we had to go back and meet once, once they started talking to us, they’re like, OK, let’s figure out what you’re going to do on the show. And so, you know, we had to come up with a funny bit and then film it and go back and forth with them to decide what they like they didn’t like.

Matt
And then eventually, you know, we agreed on this thing with me eating a sandwich, which is the thing we like to do. Fat guy with a sandwich in booty shorts is always fun, but. Yeah, and so we we went on and it was very cool. We had to be on stage with Mike Myers. He’s in–.

Dennis
Wait a minute. Yeah. I’m going to say no. No, it wasn’t Mike Myers. Nobody knows that’s Mike Myers.

Matt
What’s his name. Tony. Tony. No wonder they call Tony Maitland or something like that? Yeah, it was a weird character bit. I don’t know. It was interesting, too, because like at when we. You do when you filmed it. When we filmed it, we did three run-Throughs of the show. And so we did like a dry run with, you know, where we just hit our marks. And then we ran through it once with Mike Myers and he was just no makeup like as Mike Myers.

Matt
And so I’m like, oh, that’s cool. And then he came back as the character in the– super weird.

Matt
It was kind of cool.

Dennis
Little freaky.

Matt
Yeah.

Matt
Yeah, he was. He was very professional, I imagine, you know, he’s been there for weeks with, you know, I mean, The Gong Show tries to get the strangest things they can find. And I think they you know, they intentionally try to find things to mess with the judges. So I can’t imagine the the number of people, weird people that he dealt with throughout the course of filming that entire season. But he was super cool to us.

Dennis
And I don’t I don’t want to race through this, but there’s some other things I wanted to talk about with. Yeah, with the Thunder Bulge, for instance, didn’t you have some kind of inquiry from AGT?

Matt
Yes.

Dennis
And what was the bridal convention story? I wanted to hear about it.

Matt
So tell us about these two issues.

Matt
Sure. Sure. The the I — well, AGT, after we were on Gong Show, a producer from America’s Got Talent reached out to us and they were like, you know, come in and audition. We think you could be good for this. And so we’re like, OK, cool. So we went to I think it was in like Pasadena at the convention center. So we go to the auditions and when they call you in, they give you a piece of paper so that you don’t have to wait in the giant line outside the building.

Matt
But, you know, like you show up, show ready. So we show up. We’re in our breakaway pants and booty shorts underneath and we’ve got vests on with no shirts, bow ties. And we’ve got some props because they wanted us to try to do some–you audition to to potentially do some bits with the judges as well, which they like. And so we had this bit that we like, OK, we could pull Terry Crews and do this.

Matt
And so we had some props and we show up at this place is packed and you have no idea how many children audition for America’s Got Talent. And when you show up in coconut oil, shirtless, to a roomful of children who are just there to dance, you feel you feel a certain kind of. It’s a strange feeling.

Dennis
Kind of dirty, don’t ya.

Matt
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Matt
So ultimately, you know, they they wanted we were going to they’re going to put us on, but they, they didn’t, they didn’t want us to do any Thunder Bulge stuff, you know. And so they you know, when we were on Gong Show they bought the rights to the Pointer Sisters for us and worked with us on a bit. They they led us on a few times like, well, if you come down, you know, they’re like, OK, you’re in, come down next week, you might get on.

Matt
And we’re like, well, we’re not going to come spend eight hours. If you’re maybe going to put us on the next week, you’re like, OK, you’ll definitely get in front of the judges and we’re like, OK. And they’re like, but what we need you to do is cut your cut your judge bit, change all of your music and change all of the choreography. And they essentially and they also the one producer is so funny.

Matt
I remember talking with her and she’s trying to just trying to be nice. She’s like, “you know, yeah, we like it. You’re funny. You know, just when you come, could you could you make sure that the I don’t know how to say this, that the big guy, the bigger gentleman is front and center.” And I’m like, oh you mean you mean to tall guy.

Dennis
Me.

Matt
But but yeah.

Matt
So they wanted us to change everything. And essentially what they wanted us to do was to come out and get x-ed, to be bad strippers.

Dennis
Sure, of course.

Matt
That’s not really representative of what we do. Like we have we have a full show that people love and, you know, that’s what we’d like to showcase. I mean it was super cool, but.

Dennis
So tell me then, of course, you decide to back off that. But somebody decided to back off you apparently at this bridal convention. What was that all about?

Matt
That was so stupid!

Matt
So we were doing–normally we perform in Santa Monica and we had booked a show at a room at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, which is an awesome room, Barb Holliday, I love you. But so were we–

Matt
We normally perform in West L.A. and we were performing in the Valley and West L.A. People don’t come to the valley.

Matt
And so. No, no.

Matt
And so we were nervous and we’re like, well, how can we get people, you know, how can we get people to come? And so there was this bridal convention going on and we’re like, well, you know, bachelorettes love our show. Let’s go to this bri–let’s just go to this bridal convention and see what happens. And so we showed up and, you know, same way with our no shirts on but vest and bow ties, I, I told–

Dennis
Oiled up, ready to go.

Matt
Yeah, I went I lied to the person at the ticket booth and told them we were DJs and we were working and they gave us all wristbands. And so then we’re like, OK, I guess we’re just going to walk around this convention and talk to people and try to flier em. And God, it’s so stupid. So we ended up making friends with some DJs who let us kind of dance in their booth and hang out. And it was going really well.

Matt
And then Dave Dave had another gig. Dave shows up late and Dave had made these stickers and these stickers. They they said Thunder Bulge. They had a lightning bolt. They might have looked a bit phallic.

Dennis
Maybe.

Matt
So.

Dennis
Dave–is Dave the one–is that Sugar nipples? Or Sugar Nips?

Matt
Baby Nips, Baby Nips. I’m Butter Thunder. Dave’s Baby Nips. We also have 2×4, Riptide, Rooster, DJ Britney…

Dennis
Oh, yeah.

Matt
But yeah.

Matt
[Inaudible] G-string.

Matt
So Baby Nips brought the phallic looking…

Matt
Baby Nips. Yeah, yeah.

Matt
Baby Nips brought the dong stickers, and he starts handing them out.

Matt
And the thing about Dave is people love Dave. Dave is like a puppy dog. Dave can do and get away with anything. So Dave’s handing these people and they’re laughing. But then I look over and there’s a woman on a Rascal holding a fistful of these phallic shaped stickers screaming at Dave. And we’re like, Oh, no. Dave gave out the dong stickers. And so we go over and she’s scolding him. She’s offended. She can’t believe that we would do this.

Matt
And yeah, we were then asked to leave the convention.

Dennis
Rightfully so, I can imagine.

Matt
But it was going so well!

Dennis
So so so how far–

Matt
People came to the show! We got people from that convention to come to our show. It was awesome.

Dennis
So imagine, first of all, with covid, you must have had difficulties with, you know, booking Thunder Bulge, right? But with that now? Are you still going forward with it? How far can you take it? You know what what are the aspirations you have for Thunder Bulge?

Matt
Oh, man. So we you know, during covid, we we did some virtual stuff. We did we did a really fun virtual show that we partnered with a company called The Perfect Package. They make phallic shape [inaudible].

Matt
We also we also had a wonderful sponsorship with the emojibatur, which is an emoji shaped personal massager, who I also did a commercial for–long story. But no. Yeah. So we got to do some virtual stuff.

Matt
We did a couple virtual bachelor bachelorette parties, a some virtual birthdays. And so that I mean, to be honest, you know, during the lockdown, it was super fun. You know, people really wanted to cut loose. It was very much like a happy hour thing. You know, we kind of treated it as a drinking game. And but we really just, you know, we did our thing and we really just focused on letting and highlighting our audience and letting those people be seen and be heard and just be wild, you know, in their own homes by themselves.

Matt
And it turned into such a fun, fun thing. But, yeah, we had–pre-covid we had just moved the show over to Rage nightclub in West Hollywood. It was amazing to stay on the–West Side was great to us. We love the West Side comedy theater always. It was just time, time to to punch up the show a bit. We needed a new audience. We wanted to start, you know, trying to market it in a bigger way.

Matt
And so West Hollywood made sense. It’s a, you know, a very nice, very nice performance space. Dedicated tech people. Just–it’s such a wonderful space. And so we did a show there. Sold out. It was amazing. We were, you know, really ready to take over West Hollywood by storm and then covid hit. And sadly, Rage has closed for good. However, it was recently purchased by Lance Bass of N-Sync. So, Lance, if you’re listening, Thunder Bulge would very much like to come back and continue to perform at Rage.

Dennis
And, Lance, if you’re listening, then you’ve got to get, you know, a life, apparently, but–

Dennis
But if you’re listening, give me a give me a call and we’ll get you on here, too. And we’ll the promo, you know, the new venue.

Matt
He’s on Cameo. We could you know, we could reach out.

Dennis
Yeah.

Dennis
So, I mean, let’s assume that you can’t rely on Lance to reopen for you or get you on there. What are you going to do with Thunder Bulge?

Matt
So right now, our main focus is we’re trying to pitch the show in Las Vegas. So, you know, it’s an interesting process. There’s no there’s no real playbook to creating an entire show and then a live show like that and selling it, you know, so there’s a there’s a lot of trial and error, but yeah. So right now we’re speaking with the production companies and things like that to see about possibly putting up the show and moving it to Vegas and and doing that full time.

Dennis
So are you guys represented? Do you have management and agents and all that to take care of that for you?

Matt
We have that we have some we have some solid connections. You know, it’s uh–

Dennis
Do you need attorneys, things like that?

Matt
Yeah, we might need an attorney! Yeah.

Matt
Yeah. Do you do do you do booty short related injuries?

Dennis
I mean, that’s what I specialize in.

Matt
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt
I did hurt my knee on stage once. I was on crutches for months, on Valentine’s Day. So I should have reached out.

Dennis
And I want to squeeze a few more things in. I wanted to talk about because you’ve formed Rose Entertainment Group. Is that your baby?

Matt
Yes, that is my baby.

Dennis
OK, and is that named after our grandmother or was that just a coincidence?

Matt
It it is. It is named after my fiance, Roseanne, and it is named after our dog.

Dennis
In that way. Yeah. And I was going to ask about that. So you guys are when is the wedding, by the way?

Matt
The wedding is 9/5. My invitations literally just got here today.

Dennis
I was like, well I haven’t got mine yet. I’m just saying.

Matt
Yeah, yeah I know we did–we set out our Save the Dates last year and then we had to we had to postpone the wedding for a full year. So we so we just decided we’re not going to do Save the Dates, we’re just going to skip skip right to invitations. And those should be coming in the US mail to you probably in the next week. But yeah, planning a wedding while starting a business, doing virtual shows. It’s been interesting.

Dennis
So Rose Entertainment [sic] is, I think…

Matt
Rose Entertainment Group.

Dennis
Rose Entertainment Group. Got you. That is to rep other acts? Is that correct?

Matt
Correct.

Dennis
As an agent?

Matt
Yes. OK, yeah. So when I, when I was working as a tour manager for Mission Improbable, the company created a new educational show for colleges. It was called The C word: Consent. It’s a sexual assault prevention and awareness program. The idea is that, you know, the the presenters use comedy to break through a wall and then have a really tough conversation with students. And it’s a really good program. And so they’re booking agency had a similar program and so they didn’t want to represent it.

Matt
And there’s a bunch of back and forth. And so I would always kind of lead the crew at the NACA conferences cause I have sales experience and I always kind of liked it and so they were like, all right, well, let’s just do this in-house. Let’s see what Matt can do to market this program. And so I took it on and, you know, I was really, really proud of the work we did. But I was able to take that show from script to product.

Matt
And I kind of I set a goal for myself sales-wise. And I was like, you know, if I if I hit that goal, then I want to take a look at becoming a booking agent–

Dennis
–yourself–

Matt
–getting involved in that world. It’s something that I’ve always liked and been interested in. You know, once I got involved in that side of the business. And so I more than tripled my goal in the first year. So I was like, OK, I’m going to I’m going to do this. And that.

Matt
So I stepped away from tour management to focus on that and did some sales briefly for another company. And then it just became and then covid hit and that kind of ended. So I was like, OK, this is. This is now my time to to create this company, and so I set another goal for myself, I, I was trying to figure out, you know, in this covid world what you can do performance wise because, you know, virtual shows aren’t necessarily great and, you know, virtual improv.

Matt
I understand a lot of people needed to do it, but you shouldn’t have.

Matt
No. But I–

Dennis
Yeah, that would be tough.

Matt
Yeah. And I was like, you know what?

Matt
What works? And so trivia shows, I was like you can do a trivia show. You can use breakout rooms on Zoom so you can still divide people into teams. They can all be seen and heard and throw in their two cents like a pub trivia. And so it’s like, OK, well, what if I what if I do that instead? So I created Laugh Out Loud trivia presents the virtual college trivia tournament. And so I was watching these people that I knew, you know, magicians, hypnotists, mentalists, things like that.

Matt
Comedians who would book out to colleges, you know, usually between, you know, probably around $2500 a night, you know, drastically lower their prices. But then, you know, they only do one show for them. So my thought was if I could offer trivia as a as a tournament package, so instead of selling you one show, I sell you a four to eight week package. Your students get something to look forward to every week, some kind of sense of normalcy routine in this weird world.

Matt
And so, yeah, so we they announced that they were going to hold NACA virtually. And so my business partner and I and some very close friends of ours created video promo for it. We submitted we were awarded showcases at the virtual conferences. So we then showcased and marketed to students. So I set another goal for my stuff. And I was like, OK, if I can if I can make enough money doing this to fund my agency for the first year, then I will move forward with opening Rose Entertainment Group.

Matt
So I set out with that goal. I again exceeded my goal. And so I was like, OK, well, this is what I said I was going to do, so now I’m going to do it. So we created the agency. We have 12 different acts that we rep right now. Some really, really amazing artists, amazing comedians. We’ve got a really amazing magician. I’m in the process of developing a hypnosis show, which is a whole nother animal, but that’s fun.

Matt
But yeah, so we’re we’re really looking forward to it. NACA is going to be having in-person conferences this year. So, yeah, we’re really looking forward to hitting the ground running. We’ve got some really, really great artists.

Matt
And and yeah. So, you know, there’s a lot going on.

Matt
I used I was able to use this pandemic time productively, you know. And, you know, while it’s been hard, once again, I found myself in that place where, you know, all of the circumstances in my life have led me to the next thing. And so, you know, here I am and I feel like the future is bright.

Matt
And, yeah, I’m just very fortunate and very blessed to be able to continue to do what I do.

Dennis
Well, and that’s that’s great. And, you know, I want to I want to go over, you know, the future being bright and getting to where you’ve gotten and taking advantage of the time that you’ve had during the pandemic. Those are all things that I think come about, you know, knowing your background and knowing what by whom you were raised in the family that you were part of.

Dennis
And, you know, being a Midwestern boy. And, you know, we’ve we’ve interviewed a lot of folks from all over on this podcast, many of whom are Midwesterners. And I think they have that, you know, do or die kind of attitude. And and they and they generally succeed because they’ve applied that. But one of the things that interests me when we talk about that kind of a success story is who was it that influenced you?

Dennis
Who who are or were your heroes that or your mentors? And what was it about those folks that kind of helped propel you?

Matt
Sure, sure. Now you mean you mean like people like real life people or like my heroes?

Dennis
All of the above all, anybody who anybody who influenced you to get to, you know, the next step along the way as you’ve been progressing.

Matt
Yeah.

Dennis
On this journey.

Matt
You know, I, I kind of touched on it before. But, you know, I’m I was really fortunate enough to have some really amazing teachers that, you know, Tom and Shelley Walljasper from–and they both still perform at Circa 21 in Rock Island. Took an interest in me at a young age and helped me. You know, and then, you know, again, my my high school choir teacher, Dorothy McNamer and Matt Walsh, who still is around in the Quad Cities, was my drama teacher.

Matt
Those teachers really, really helped me stay focused and get me to where to where I needed to go. And I really do think if it wouldn’t have been for those really amazing teachers in my life–

Dennis
–and great cousins–

Matt
–and great cousins, did I mention my uh– like my. Yeah, but, you know, also I mean, you know, my my dad always both my parents–amazing parents. You know, my my dad always, always supported, even though the theater world wasn’t quite his thing, you know, he was a truck driver, turned ticket scalper–“broker,” sorry.

Matt
You know, and but once once he realized, you know, I was doing what I loved, he he went in full steam and then supported me.

Dennis
Mhm.

Matt
Yeah. I–my family, my–I feel like that sounds cliche, but I mean, it really is true, you know.

Dennis
For sure.

Matt
And I think it’s a testament to, you know, the kind of teachers and the kind of people that you get in the Midwest.

Dennis
I agree.

Dennis
And so what’s the movie of your life called and who who’s going to play you?

Matt
The movie of my life.

Matt
Oh, wow.

Matt
I think it should probably be called…the movie of my life… Matt Garard, yeah, I said it…Getting Gararded, it’s Getting Gararded.

Matt
Yes, that’s that’s–

Dennis
I’m gonna go with Butter Thunder. But, whatever works.

Matt
Yeah, no, I think it’s Getting Gararded. And if I was going to be played by anyone, Chaz Bono.

Dennis
OK.

Matt
I mean, there’s no one who looks more like this than Chaz Bono. If you can–if you can find a side by side for Chaz Bono, it’s uncanny.

Dennis
Justin, we’ll have to see if we find that Chaz Bono that we can put next to him if you see one that looks like him. I get it, though.

Matt
Yeah. But as far as professionally, I’d say Bill Hicks, Bill Hicks, all time favorite comedian, I discovered Bill Hicks because he’s on a tool album. You know, when I was in eighth grade and Catholic school and downloaded every word that that man had ever said on Napster and just memorized it and it just cracked me open.

Matt
Yeah.

Matt
Well, OK. So now you mentioned some of the influences that you’ve had. What would conversely, what would be the best advice that you could give to a budding comedian/comic actor?

Matt
Oh, man. The best advice that I can give: never stop working. You’re never you’re never too good to work. But, you know, always, always work on yourself. Always be thinking about bettering yourself even when you’re in a bad situation, you know, whether you’re whether you’re bombing or whatever every experience is, is a learning experience, but also bet on yourself. Don’t you know there’s a different path for everybody to do everything. But, you know, like I remember traveling around teaching improv workshops to college students that are, you know, throwing away, you know, $75-100k dollars on a liberal arts degree.

Matt
And, you know, that that’s not going to get them anywhere. If you just bet on yourself, move to a big city. Audition. Just do it, go. Be broke. Have a backup plan. Sure. You know, if you want to get that college degree, get it in business. Something something that’s going to help you sustain yourself while you pursue what you love, you know, and that was I hate to keep bringing it back to teachers, but I had a professor in college when I was kind of at this impasse, should I continue going to school or should I drop out and move to Chicago?

Matt
He was like–

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
He was like, “go drop out and move to Chicago. That that’s the best thing for you. You don’t need you don’t need an education. You’re good or you’re not. Go see what you can do.”

Dennis
Yeah.

Matt
So, yeah.

Dennis
OK, so now I want to play a little bit of Would You Rather.

All right.

Dennis
And I was that is–your–is your bride-to-be near you right now? Did I hear you like looking, or are you…

Matt
She walked past.

Dennis
OK, well then she’ll like the first one.

Matt
Oh man.

Dennis
Would you, would you rather be gassy on a first date or on your wedding night?

Matt
I mean, I would say first date because I was gassy on our first date.

Matt
And and you know what I was like, I’m just going to own this and see what happens. And yeah, that that actually she appreciates that.

Dennis
She’s she’s past that. So that’s that’s it’s good.

Matt
You don’t want to be–if you get past that on the first date, you’ve got a future, you know.

Dennis
That says something for sure.

Dennis
OK, so would you rather have fortune or fame?

Matt
Fortune or fame?

Dennis
Yeah.

Matt
Oh, I’m so shallow: fortune.

Matt
OK, well I mean. Well hang on, that’s that’s a tough question. I mean, fortune or fame…? I like money.

Dennis
It’s one or the other. I mean, I know people always want to give me, you know, the hypothetical back and change it. Like…

Matt
Right.

Dennis
“But if I was famous, I could get the fortune.” No! You’re either famous and you have no fortune or your fortune and you have no fame.

Matt
Screw that. Show me the money.

Dennis
All right.

Dennis
Would you rather be an extra in an Oscar winning movie or be the lead in a box office bomb?

Matt
Oh, man, I, I take lead in box office bomb. I mean, you can wear that like a badge of honor matter how bad it is. And and there is, you know, there’s a certain point where it gets so bad it’s good.

Matt
I mean look at look at The Room.

Dennis
True. That’s true.

Matt
What’s that guy’s name? Tommy Wiseau? Oh wow.

Dennis
I was just talking again the other day with some friends about some movies. Some of them are intentionally campy, you know, but some of them just become cult, you know, favorites over the years. Things like, Motel Hell or what was the other one? Oh, The Bad Seed. I mean, if you haven’t–if you haven’t seen those, you gotta check those out. Those are amazing. So so would you rather watch nothing but Hallmark Christmas movies or just horror movies?

Matt
Just horror movies.

Dennis
OK, that’s fair.

Matt
Yeah, I mean, because you get you get so much out of horror. I mean, there’s obviously there’s horror, but there’s there’s comedy, you know, so much so much goes into to to making something in that genre.

Dennis
Sure.

Matt
But no, I I’m I love horror movies. Actually, my fiance can’t stand them. It’s it’s a massive point of contention. I would watch stupid horror movies all day, every day if I could.

Dennis
All right. Well, this will be an important one for her. Would you rather give up your cell phone for a month or bathing for a month?

Matt
Oh. Oh.

Matt
I would I would have to give up my cell phone. I can’t not I, I, I–

Dennis
She’ll appreciate that.

Matt
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh.

Matt
The thought of the thought of not bathing for two days terrifies me. Like–

Dennis
It terrifies those around you too.

Matt
As it should! Like. And make no mistake, I am addicted to my phone. Not being on my phone during this podcast has been a struggle. But I also have every used car salesmen in California calling me right now.

Dennis
Of course, you know, your warranty is about to expire?

Matt
Right. Right.

Dennis
Oh yeah.

Dennis
Would you rather be the funniest person in the room or the smartest person in the room?

Matt
Oh, funniest person in the room.

Dennis
Of course, right. Now, the–

Matt
The funniest person in the room, usually is the smartest person in the room.

Dennis
That’s often true. Now, this is the last one. So give it some thought. Would you rather have a mullet or a perm?

Matt
Oh, man.

Matt
In 2021, right?

Dennis
Right, right now.

Matt
Well, but that’s important. Oh, man. I–

Matt
I got to go I got to go mullet, because, you know, I mean, again, the philosophy of business up front party in the back is something that I really, really try to adhere to. I try to live my life…

Dennis
That’s a good enough reason. Yeah, well, hey, buddy, I mean, I really appreciate you being on here. We’re going to obviously have to have you back at some point to see how some of these things play out for you as far as Rose Entertainment Group and and everything else that you’re doing.

Dennis
And and I want to, you know, want to see you get that show up in Vegas and everything else doing so well. So thank you so much for being here, man. It’s–

Matt
Dennis, thank you so much for having me. I do have to say, I love that your sign-off comes from your mother. It’s it’s a pretty amazing thing. I mean, obviously, your father, too, but your mother, having recently passed just such not such an amazing woman that lived in so many people’s lives. And I heard that on your first episode, like, that’s why you’re doing that. And like, you know what? That’s that’s great.

Dennis
I appreciate that.

Dennis
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and I appreciate that. And of course, I miss your dad. And and, you know, it’s always it’s always great to catch up.

Matt
So, yeah, maybe next time we can do it in person.

Dennis
I hope so. Absolutely. So everybody else out there, thank you for listening today. Don’t forget, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to subscribe to Uncommon Convos. Also, if you haven’t done so already, check out Legal Squeaks our our other podcast so you can learn about legal and consumer issues which may impact your daily life. Also, if you want to see the video version of this and our other episodes, and I assure you you do because you do want us–you don’t want to miss that that promo about Thunder Bulge, so.

Dennis
So you can check that out at UncommonConvos.com. And then again, please join us next weekend–or next WEEK. And in the meantime, have a great day. Stay safe. And as Matt will tell you, I love you all.