Punched Up

Today's episode of Punched Up is life-changing! This is another episode that I have dug up from my archives to share with you. It features comedian and life coach, Leo Flowers. Leo has a fantastic self-help podcast called "Before You Kill Yourself." He has also been seen on MTV, Last Call with Carson Daily, FOX, and the E Network. Leo shares the idea of "Killing vs Connecting" and it's something that has changed my life and my comedy career. I hope it helps you too. Enjoy!

On this episode of Punched Up, I'm joined by comedian Jim Short. Jim shares a story about the unexpected things that happen during a live performance. Enjoy!

Comedian Ryan Hicks shares a story about his youth, chaos and psychedelic drugs. A truly unique story from one of my favorite new voices in stand up comedy. This episode is a rollercoaster ride filled with ups, downs and oh my God's you won't see coming. If you like hearing stories like you're about to hear today, please help me tell me more them by donating to our Patreon page and you can always follow along with us on twitter. More info www.PunchedUpPodcast.com - Thanks for listening.

This is a pocket sized episode of Punched Up. This is a small chunk of a conversation that didn't make it into the full episode with Ramon Rivas II. We talked about how performing stand up has changed since Donald Trump took office. This was recorded right after he was elected, a lot has changed but I felt like this was still an important conversation to be heard. To hear Ramon's full episode, check out 'Cleveland Rocks.' We discuss police brutality in the city of Cleveland and the...

Kiss of Death - RAW Cut Comedian Bill Blank’s first childhood kiss triggered a rush of anxiety attacks that still plague him as an adult. Bill talks about the peer pressure attached to hitting it off with girls, experiencing your first kiss and simply having a girlfriend even if the relationship is for a couple of days. Bill talks about the build up and the fascination associated with it all. He also opens up about his friends waiting for the ‘moment’ and when it finally happens, and how...

“I dunno what you’re going to call this, but we’re going to talk about how I became the monster I am today… which is just another name for ‘comedian’.” is how Lace started our conversation. Lace Larrabee grew up like a lot of comedians do. Playing dress up in their mother’s clothes and charging relatives for tickets to an exclusive living room performance. Lace spent her childhood in a trailer park in southern Georgia. Her parents worked multiple jobs to make ends meet to raise Lace and her...

One of my favorite comedians to watch, Jenny Zigrino shares here story about what it was like being trapped in the middle of her parent's multi-culture divorce as a child. Those complications in the divorce actually got so bad they led Jenny to getting 'kidnapped' by her mother. One summer she was supposed to spend a few weeks with her in Boston when her mother just never arranged a plane ticket for her to return home. So she had to start over in a city she'd never been to and in a private...

“I wish I had a cool ‘coming out story,’” comedian Leah Mansfield sheepishly confided. “I don’t,” she laughed. During a commercial break of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Leah casually turned to her family and told them the news. “Ya know that girl that’s coming to visit me this weekend? Well… She’s more than a friend. I’m gay.” After a brief pause, her mom broke the silence with, “Yeah, we know.” And that was that. Comedian Leah Mansfield’s family has always been progressive. She was...

"FUNNY TWIST OF FATE" Comedian Ben Gleib has a fantastic podcast called, "The Last Week on Earth." He covers politics, celebrity gossip, life advice and nothing is off limits. He kicked off his podcast with a parade of high-profile celebrity guests including Blake Griffin, Dane Cook, Meghan McCain, Aisha Tyler and Sophia Bush. Ben and Sophia hit it off famously and ended up attending Seth Rogan's "Hilarity For Charity" event. That's when Ben met Bryan Cranston for the first time. After...

"DO YOUR CHARACTERS" You already know comedian Becky Robinson, but you probably just don't recognize her without her wigs. Becky is known for doing bigger than life characters like Alan Ginsberg. "The World's Youngest Billionaire Tech" which "Mashable" and "Funny or Die" featured at a few tech conventions last year. Becky also has a character named Deb, who gives tours around hot spots in Los Angeles. Today, we are focusing on her latest character, "Ziggy" from MTV's Wild N' Out sketch...

"STRIPPED" Julain Fernadez was eighteen years old. Very shy and had never been to a strip club. So he calls the strip club down the street to inquire, "How it all works." Julian grew overweight and painfully shy. Two things I can directly relate to. Julian didn't really come out of his shell until after he found stage performance late in life. So he was kind of a loner. He never really belonged to any set of friends in high school. He was bad at talking to girls and never had a steady...

"MR. GLASS" To meet Ken Garr is to be immediately charmed. He has the cool demeanor of a Rat Pack member born to the wrong era. He’s a sturdy guy with a Midwestern ease and whip-smart whit. Dude is smooth. So, it caught me off guard, initially, when he casually mentioned he earned a bronze medalist in the 1988 Special Olympics. I don’t know what I expected a 1988 Special Olympian athlete to look like, but it certainly wasn’t Ken. “I did the math. I went back and looked at my medical...

"FIVE MINUTES OR LESS" Comedienne Melissa Shoshahi shares with us her struggle becoming what her mother wanted her to do, which was what she did. Pedicures and waxing or what she wanted to do with her life. Stand Up Comedy. Melissa is of Iranian decent. As a female in her 20’s, with a college degree and being the only child. Her parents weren’t thrilled when they found out she wanted to do stand up. They just didn’t get it. It’s not their fault. There wasn’t too many “Comedians” in...

"MEETING (JOHN) MAYER" John Mayer’s body may be a wonderland, but meeting him certainly was not…Let me back up. First, meet Kelsey Cook. Kelsey is the daughter of an International Yo-Yo Champion and a Professional Foosball player. Yes, those are real things. She’s also an up-and-coming comedian and Youtube make-up guru that is based in the beautiful city of Los Angeles. You’ve probably seen Kelsey doing stand up on one of the numerous television shows like FOX TV’s Laughs, Uproarious on...

"DEATH BY CHOCOLATE" Our story starts like most great stories start, on a cold dark night. Chris Cope was working a “Comedy Zone” Club in Harrisburg, PA. That’s about an hour away from the big Hersey’s Chocolate Factory. Saturday night after his shows Chris started having the worst chest pains of his entire life. He called 911 and an ambulance came and took him to the ER. He was determined not to die in Harrisburg! Mainly because he was weighing over 400 pounds at the time and it would be...

"KISS OF DEATH" Comedian Bill Blank’s first childhood kiss triggered a rush of anxiety attacks that still plague him as an adult. Bill talks about the peer pressure attached to hitting it off with girls, experiencing your first kiss and simply having a girlfriend even if the relationship is for a couple of days. Bill talks about the build up and the fascination associated with it all. He also opens up about his friends waiting for the ‘moment’ and when it finally happens, and how for...

"A STAB AT STAND UP COMEDY" Ricarlo Flanagan hasn’t lived with his mother since he was 16 years old because Ricarlo and his Step Father’s relationship is complicated. Well actually, calling their relationship complicated would be a HUGE understatement. Ricarlo's parents had him at a very young age. Ricarlo’s mother was only seventeen and his father was nineteen when they had him. Soon after he was born Ricarlo’s father joined the Military. His mother hated this decision and the young couple...

MEETING EDDIE Comedian Matt Kirshen tells us about meeting his personal idol and Stand Up Comedy legend Eddie Izzard. Eddie is one of the most prolific comedians of all time and resides in the UK. Matt was lucky enough to meet him on four occasions and every one of those times he made a complete dick of himself. The first time was pretty harmless but they escalated from there. One time Matt found himself backed into a corner with a decision to make. Apologize or keep a gag...

"FROM SPEECHLESS TO SHOWTIME" Ben wanted to be an entertainer since he was five or six years old. The only problem was he had a stutter problem that began around the age of three. I think you already know how this story goes, Ben had a difficult time in school and was bullied. Sometimes he would just lock up and couldn’t even say hello to people in the hallway. In 7th grade science class Ben was one of the most educated kids in class. Once he had to give another presentation he literally...