Zach Zucker: Turning Stamptown into a Netflix Special

Zach Zucker (0:00)

I famously got a letter of intent to play baseball at Harvard, and that was because I cheated on my ACTs. My mom doesn't believe me, but girly, it's me. I spent my whole life learning how to read a Scantron.

Tom Papa (0:10)

How can you cheat on an ACT?

Zach Zucker (0:12)

You don't think I didn't figure out how these Scantrons work?

Tom Papa (0:14)

What do you mean?

Zach Zucker (0:15)

You have, so by the different Scantrons, there was different, like, if it was the, every five, it would change color, like green, white, green, white, and then it would have the lines on every 10th, so I would know where I was. And I would know that, like, where the name starts was number 12, where the surname starts was 17, so I had my little markers so I could bust them up and kind of take these little glances, and I had really good eyesight. I'm a hustler, baby, you know, work smarter, not harder.

Tom Papa (0:38)

It's Breaking Bread.

Yeah, no, you're very talented. We're lucky to have you.

SPEAKER_3 (0:43)

Save it for when the microphone's on, you know?

Tom Papa (0:45)

It is on. Oh, wow.

Zach Zucker (0:47)

Wow, that was crazy and unprompted.

Tom Papa (0:50)

Yeah, that's how we do intros around here. No, really, thank you for being here. It's really, really cool.

Zach Zucker (0:58)

Have you ever done a full podcast where it's like, no, no, no, truly, thank you.

Tom Papa (1:00)

Thank you for having me. No, thank you. Thank you.

There was someone recently who I was saying a bunch of things to and they weren't giving it back. And I was like, I don't think they know who I am.

Zach Zucker (1:18)

I'm excited to hopefully have more of those moments. I think I only have those in really small, really meaningless environments. It's like at this clown seminar right now. Don't you fucking know how much money I paid for taking clown class in my life?

Tom Papa (1:31)

Are you big in clown community? It depends. Because there's not that many that break through.

Zach Zucker (1:36)

That's true.

Tom Papa (1:37)

Right? Like mainstream-ish.

Zach Zucker (1:38)

I agree. Yeah. I think whether or not people like us, they're aware of us. And I think is the most diplomatic way to say it.

And I hope to be like a positive influence or like a beacon for it or a flag bearer for me.

SPEAKER_3 (1:53)

I mean, it's just whether people rock with it.

Tom Papa (1:54)

No, because there's definitely, I was thinking about, there's like, the magician thing is similar.

And, you know, the very tight community, all successful, doing stuff. But like Justin Willman, who's broken through. Of course, Magic for Humans. Yeah.

And, you know, David Blaine, it's happened before. But there's, for everyone that breaks through, there's just that whole community that never really gets that light shining on them.

Zach Zucker (2:21)

And there's also, I find, unfortunately, at least in the American team at times, it seems to be sometimes we like to eat our own before, it's like, everyone has to like kind of shit on the person that breaks through versus being excited and being like, yo, let's all lift up together. Totally. And it's like, guys, it's awesome if any of us get any sort of coverage.

Tom Papa (2:40)

I know. But that's kind of just human nature. That's like everywhere.

Zach Zucker (2:44)

But I tried to not believe that that's the case, but I, time and time again, have been proven that it shows itself a little bit more than I would like it to.

Tom Papa (2:50)

I know. And the ones that we deem not justified, they do kind of sting a little bit. I remember saying to, I tell this story a lot, but Nick DiPaolo is a comedian out of New York, and he was complaining about somebody who came, it was like this up front, so all of the sitcom people were in New York.

And I remember him like, just kind of bemoaning this one person who got through. And I said, it's all right, Nick, it happens in every business. He said, yeah, but in other businesses, you don't have to see the guy's face on the side of a bus.

Zach Zucker (3:30)

That's true, you don't have to watch him on your phone. Yeah, it's a bummer. I've been trying, I always tell people, eyes on your own paper, because it doesn't help to be, you know, bitter or jealous. That's not a good look either.

Tom Papa (3:41)