#1967 - Mike Vecchione

Mike Vecchione (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan (0:13)

How are you, man? Pleasure to meet you.

Mike Vecchione (0:15)

Thanks for having me on, Joe. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Joe Rogan (0:17)

Hey, my pleasure. You're a funny motherfucker, man. I enjoy your shit.

Mike Vecchione (0:19)

Thank you, man.

Joe Rogan (0:20)

How long have you been doing it?

Mike Vecchione (0:22)

Twenty-three.

Joe Rogan (0:23)

Nice.

Mike Vecchione (0:23)

Started in October of 2000, did about three-and-a-half years in Philly with DeRosa, Big J, those guys, and then moved to New York at the end of 2003

Joe Rogan (0:36)

Nice.

Mike Vecchione (0:37)

I was a teacher.

I got a master's in special education. I was working with kids who had behavioral problems for about eight years.

Joe Rogan (0:45)

You seem like a guy who would work with kids with behavioral problems. You're very calm.

Mike Vecchione (0:48)

Yeah. Very calming. Very calming, but it was very, very challenging.

Kids would flip a lot. Every day at work was something different.

Joe Rogan (0:58)

Oh, man.

Mike Vecchione (0:59)

I worked in a behavioral school for a while, and then went back at night and got my master's because I figured if I'm going to do this, I might as well teach, and then taught in a classroom in three different public school systems.

Joe Rogan (1:11)

When did you decide to leave to go comedy full time?

Mike Vecchione (1:17)

I did about... I started going to open mics. I was in a relationship, and I thought we were going to get married, and it broke up. I think a lot of comics have this story, where it's like a heartbreak situation, and then I was just on my own, kind of out there finishing up my master's. So I started just going to open mics at the Laugh House, which is not there anymore. It's a comedy club on South Street, and I just started going every Wednesday, and then I started going on Thursdays and a little bit more, and then... I wasn't funny at first. At bomb, I would do okay, bomb, do okay, bomb, but I was like, I'm probably not going to be able to do this, but it's going to help me public speaking-wise. It's going to help me somewhere down the line. I got a good vibe for it. So I was like, let me just keep doing it. And at that point, I was alone, and I was going through a tough time, so I was like, I kind of don't care if I fail.

I kind of just don't care. I'm going to just fail and just figure it out and just keep coming at it.

Because I'm a sensitive guy, so it's like, failure has been tough to take.

So I just kept doing it, I just kind of dropped off because I was going through a tough time. I didn't care about failure. So I just kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And then at the end of 2003, I was working a job I didn't want to do anymore, and I just decided to move to New York. And that's when it really, like I'm a really, I don't know how much time you spent in New York, I know you're a Boston guy, but I'm a product of the New York City comedy clubs, really is what I like to say.

Joe Rogan (2:44)

Just hopping, going from club to club.

Mike Vecchione (2:46)

And it's not so much like that anymore, but it used to be, I don't know how much time you spent there, but it was like you would just run from club to club to club to club to make money. And that's how I would do it. You know, and the big club was a comedy cellar, still is, but it's like the Boston comedy club.

I started in New York the last days of the Boston comedy club with Nate and Dustin Shaffey and a lot of these guys. So I started there. And then what we do is I go to an open mic first to make sure you got stage time. And then I would go to the Boston and the Boston different comics would run the week nights. So you would go and hang out and see if you could get on.

So I then I would do that. And then at the end of the night, you would go to the cellar and just hang out and just hanging out was a big thing back then, because you just get your face around, get people to know who you are. And every club had their different every city has their different scene. And in New York, we'd end up at the cellar with Patrice, Keith Robinson, Jim Norton, and those guys. And you'd hang out and they would just break balls at the table. Different time, you know, everybody would break balls and then people would get to know you slowly.