#1844 - Tom Segura

Joe Rogan (0:13)

Not only are you an author, but you're a New York Times bestselling author.

Tom Segura (0:17)

Pretty crazy, man. Pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_3 (0:19)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:19)

That's pretty crazy.

Tom Segura (0:20)

I know. I really didn't think that would happen, to be honest.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

It's wild. You got a wild following now, Cal.

Tom Segura (0:25)

I know. It's just, I remember there, you know, that's the whole thing. Once you have everything in, they start talking about the sales, obviously. First is the work of writing the book, which is its own thing, and everybody's like, don't do it. At least comics are.

SPEAKER_3 (0:40)

They're like, don't fucking do it.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

Everybody I know that's done it said exactly what you said. It's a grind.

Tom Segura (0:44)

Yeah, yeah. It is. What it is, too, is that for somebody that's out of school work for so long, it's the thing that feels like going back to school the most. Because you have deadlines.

And we know we don't write debt. You don't have deadlines in stand-up.

And you send it and you get notes back. And they're like, there's blood all over the pages, right? And they're like, this doesn't even make... How do you connect these two? And you're like, I don't know. And they're like, well, that's what you have to do now. You're writing it. You're like, fuck, okay. So it feels like you're back to work. You're back to doing work again.

Joe Rogan (1:19)

How's your typing?

Tom Segura (1:21)

It was rough with the arm, with the hand.

Joe Rogan (1:24)

Oh, that's right.

Tom Segura (1:25)

So I actually, I started writing this book.

I got the deal for it when the pandemic was like, just had to, when it was clear everything was shut down, so everything started in March. And then it was like April, May. I feel like in that window is when I got the deal to do this. And I was like, yeah, I'm not going to do any touring. Like, they were like, remember, touring's like done. I'll write a book.

I sent in like, I don't know, I sent in 10,000 words.

And then, a little while later, I sent in 20,000 more. And I remember that I gave it to the publisher.

And she took her time with it, you know, to do her notes. I don't know how many pages that is, but let's say it's like 100 pages or something. So it took a while. So I'm just like, waiting to get notes back. And then, when they come back, it's like right before I get injured. So I think I'm then in the hospital, and I have an arm that doesn't work for a while. And they go, how's the notes coming? I'm like, I'm not doing them. I can't write right now.

And when I finally did get to them, it took a while. Some chapters you get notes on say things like, you know, just add something here and there. And this works great. Make this more clear. And you're like, oh, that's not bad at all. And you flip the page, and the next thing is like, just, we don't know what the fuck this story is about. And it's just like lines all over the place. Lose this, add this, add humor. And you're like, oh my god.

Joe Rogan (2:58)

Add humor.

Tom Segura (2:58)

Add humor, yeah. That's definitely one where they go, this story is a good story, but you need to add humor to it.

Joe Rogan (3:04)

Why do you have to add humor to a story?

Tom Segura (3:06)

Because you're a comedian.

Joe Rogan (3:07)

Yeah, but you're also a podcaster. Isn't that the best thing about podcasting?

Because you don't have to hit a very specific note, you can kind of talk about anything, serious, goofy.

Tom Segura (3:20)

And you get comfortable, it's weird because most comedians, you see it, are so uncomfortable with moments without laughter sometimes.

Joe Rogan (3:28)

Mark Norman.

Tom Segura (3:29)

Oh really?

Joe Rogan (3:30)

Comedy. He's not uncomfortable, he just can't help himself with the one-liner.

Tom Segura (3:34)

Yeah, yeah, he just zings.

Joe Rogan (3:37)

He's got like a file in his head that just comes flying out.

Tom Segura (3:40)

It does, it comes flying out. Yeah, I just did his podcast with Sam Merrill. Oh yeah? Yeah, very fun.

We Might Be Drunk, it's a great podcast.

But, you know, you see comics who also on stage, I mean obviously you want to get laughs on stage, but there's comics who can't even take a beat, a moment. Right, they get scared. They get real scared, like there's not laughter right now. And then you see people who really are super comfortable setting up those moments.