Craig Shoemaker: How the Lovemaster battled Depression, Addiction and Found Salvation Through Laughter: Comedy Saved Me Replay

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Comedy saved me comedy subjective. Some people object to some things that we say. I have a saying stop global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining. Oh my God, I feel like Yoda. How bad did you are? A crap I do not give. I'm Lynn Hoffman host of the comedy saved me podcast. And if you like this podcast, thank you. I'd like to recommend another podcast I host, which is called music saved me a podcast that explores the healing power of music on comedy saved me. We delve into the lives of comedians and explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. And today I am so excited because we have an incredible guest. Dare I call him the Godfather of comedy. He has been making us laugh for decades. Craig Shoemaker is here. He is a legendary comedian and actor and author. And he's also been a pioneer in using comedy as a tool for healing and growth right up my alley. He also has some very cool projects that he's working on right now and he's also been doing for many years that we're going to discuss. Welcome Craig Shoemaker to comedy saved me. I'm just excited to talk to you again. We used to hang out in Boston when you were you were the big cheese on the radio in the morning. Yes. John Lander brought you into my life many years ago and then subsequently every Friday that you would perform at the comedy connection you would come to the studio and inevitably I would end up on the floor in tears laughing and I couldn't even they would have to go to a commercial break. I just love that I had had it happen the other day I did TV in Vegas and she was crying to my face hurts and that's one of my favorite things is to hurt people in that way. I do a 90 minute show and they say I have bells palsy if I give you bells palsy by the end of the show I know I've done my job. Oh yeah that is for sure and you know what you laugh it's a release it's a pain relief and and it's wonderful to see that I don't understand if laughs laughter is the best medicine. Why is it not being deployed as such exactly. Why do we see these commercials constantly you don't say any comedy commercials all about some drug. It's like they they give you the fear they get you scared and then they have that the commercial that handles the fear that they just gave you the anxiety. I got a pill for what we just sold you was some anxiety some stressor and now here's the pill for it something you can't pronounce it's all stuff you can't pronounce either is you don't even know what you're putting in you it's it's up with the names for those things to begin with. I think they get stoned ago how about Zimbabwe and I don't know sounds too much like a dolphin I don't know how about Pupupasa. You gotta go under you gotta wonder but they I don't know I don't know how they come up with these things but they don't sound very you know I started my work and laughter heals in a cancer facility and I don't know if you knew this. It can't what they put in them like Timo they call it the red death. Now what kind of a thing is that you just want to I mean now you're trying to live right with this cancer and trying to survive and heal and you're putting something in you called the red death I mean why do they call it Santa Claus or bashful. Something in your body we feel like oh wow this is a positive energy it's a positive vibration and that's what laughter is the positive vibration. Well that's exactly why I'm so excited to have you here because you know like you just said wouldn't it be great if a commercial came on TV and said hey laughter we figured out a way to put laughter in this patch just slap it on your face and you'll laugh all day long you know. The laugh patch. The laugh patch. I've always said they should have you know they have a fit bit how about a laugh bit count your laughs. Oh my God that's a great idea. That'd be great and then have what we actually have a business that we're pitching it today you should come to our pitch meeting. We have laughter works we go to companies and corporations and give wellness a sense of humor corporate wellness certainly needs that. Oh yeah. And I teach something called guided lafitation and chuckle chatter. Wait guided lafitation. Yes instead of meditating I'm not a great meditator and I'll bet you're not either you have a DD just like I do. Look a squirrel. Right. Exactly. I know you even though it's been 20 years I know you you're not a great meditator and I'm not either because we had something going on. Yeah I'll be going. Oh I forgot to put the wash in the dryer. I mean whatever it is. Oh my God the kids. So I just I came up with this lafitation. It's something we all love to do. It's really great for you to laugh. Yeah. So it's it's there's no jokes. You don't need jokes. The whole premise for me is in all my study I've been studying this for years. I have a nonprofit laughter heels and I worked in a cancer facility to develop this program. And I just laughed as a choice. It's not like you need a joke just like you. You don't know if you're on a stair master or on a hill your body does not know the difference. Right. It's getting the benefits of whatever that workout is. You don't have to have something that even you don't even need a trainer necessarily. I'm not saying anything against you trainers out there but working out is working out. And so is so now you're just doing silly squats or laugh lunges. Whatever it's a choice. And then the thing is about comedy. I know yours is called comedy but comedy subjective. Some people object to some things that we say. A lot these days. So my God. I'm complaining. I have a saying stop global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining. I love that. Oh my God. I feel like Yoda. Offended you are a crap I do not give. I mean I'm so sick of people. Everybody's a victim now. Let's charge of our lives and start laughing more and stop looking for people to offend you and hurt you because they're not really hurting you. You're just putting it on them. That's on you. So it's the same thing with laughter is comedy is subjective. You remember Patch Adams. Remember that movie. Oh yeah. Yeah with Robin Williams. Yeah. Yeah. Remember that was a true story. I yes. I'll patch Adams. I think he works out of Baltimore. He would go to hospital rooms dressed as a clown to make kids laugh make people laugh. That's subjective. If a clown shows up in my hospital room I'm pulling the tune. I'm like Paul the plug. I'm going to put a plug in the clown. My room. And the clown in big shoes in my room come ready take this mask off. That's what I would be doing because it's not funny to me. As a matter of fact it's quite sad. This guy's got shoes that are too big and he thinks it's funny. Now there's nothing against him but that's the moment I went that was my ha ha moment one of my ha ha moments when I said what if we do laugh atation where it's a choice just like meditating you breathe. Yeah laughter about breathing breathing so good for you and all of that and so it's been working. It's awesome. I take people through these guided laugh atation retreats and things like that. It must be so I don't know fulfilling when you know that you're helping someone heal with with laughter just by being yourself. Yeah you wanted you want to do a little little meditation at the laff atation right now. I do. All right. That's that's a great idea. Let's do it but I don't have any tissues and I feel like I'm soon going to look like a big mess on on this but whatever. Oh you mean you're going to cry is that what you mean. Well I cry when I laugh. Do you remember when you used to make Lander and I laugh so hard we were both crying and you thought we were crying but we were he was another one he had big tear dots. It's both of you. I never met anyone like that. It was we had to have tissues in the room whenever you showed up. Well let's do a short one. How's that so you don't get into full tears but just is this is really great for work when we're at work and relieve stress ready just take a break breath through everybody do this along with us. I was just going to say can everyone at home do this too. Everyone do this ready take a breath through your nose and let out a ha but listen to the ha the sound and the resonance from the ha. It's a very spiritual word. It's cleansing allow it to cleanse you you know in churches hallelujah. Yeah is aloha in Hawaii. The hot is a beautiful word anyway here we go breathe in. Is that feel better already. You know that hot that's a hot sound. Let's do one more breathe into your nose and a hot. Good now we're going to giggle at the end and giggle until the gas runs out in the car ready. And do it with me. It's contagious here we go look at me here we go. You're killing me. See. That's a really short version of guided laugh atation and when you're ready towards the end of the interview I'm going to take it up or level to chuckle chatter. Oh I love that you know it's all there by the way how are you feeling right now a little stress less stress right no pressure. I feel less stress but to be honest with you I was so excited to see you again after all these years I'm a little nervous because I want to make sure that I do everything right by you because you know you're you're my people. But laughter does that though it takes you out of that out of your and puts you more into presence awareness. It's mindful to laugh we rewire we rewire the brain when we do this and it's it's amazing the results that have happened. You're oxygenating your body healing endorphins are released stress is being relieved which is a huge cause of illness. So people realize this that really is the best medicine there's the way to deploy it is the laugh atation and we'll get to the chuckle chatter later. But even if you are nervous. It takes away the nerves you need to be a professor at a college and teach this as well. But you know what you're saying you don't make enough money for me I got to make a lot of money. I have two ex-wives by the way all my shows my comedy shows are benefit shows and all proceeds go to my ex-wives. If you pay a cover for my show it goes to Botox and Pilates class. Oh my God to the ticket line and the cult of my ex-wife joined she's in a cult so it all goes to the cults. Hopefully it's a good cult but what we got to laugh about that. You have to I love that one of the things that you do is you're like well first let me just say this laughter it does have what you just did that exercise when I was looking at you and we were doing that together I can imagine being in a business place and everyone looking at everyone and just bursting out laughing and ages when Landor and I would do something with you on the show and we'd start laughing and then he'd have to go go to break go to go to commercial because we can't even talk no one can even talk. People would call us in their car having to pull the car over on the highway and say I don't even know why you're laughing but I had to pull over because it made me laugh too. That's it right there you got that that's the magic that's the secret yeah it's so contagious. We're so busy being angry with one another projecting our resentments and going in our fear it's everybody's afraid and they don't know how to deal with their fears laugh through it and then you'll be you'll become a better person. When we want to spread spread that contagion around is laughter and joy and be in joy. Do you have to laugh at yourself. That's what I do all the time and you're you know the title of your program that's I've had to do that my entire life my my dad left when I was born right away gone. Oh yeah gone gone yeah and then he became a cult leader it's a long story but jeez I had a really really difficult time in life and the only thing that saved me was laughter. We would get what we would watch television together it's the only time we bonded. My mom was always working she's trying to make a living in secretaries whether she was secretary or law firm and I was alone alone a lot and I was you know really tiny so I was picked on and beaten I was kidnapped when I was 13 by a serial pedophile. What yeah what I'm not going to be a victim to that though this is where I learned resilience is really really important in life not to be a victim everybody's like a hashtag this and ribbon this like we're supposed to get on to your whatever you think you're a victim of and a lot of times not even a victim of it they're choosing who else is the victim right as a victim. I say that none of us are none of us are we need to really really own our lives have take ownership of our lives and the one way you can do this look more to laughter and not to the news which is all negative and they keep you in that condition. It's an addiction. So you know I'm I'm the long time sober now and all of those things happen because of those difficult circumstances I learned how to live and a lot of it had to do with laughter we my my mom I wanted my mom married so bad and I thought my dad's name was doesn't pay the child support I thought that was his name because he didn't pay any child support. He would pop around every few years and I would try to fix my mom up with with comedians on television there's a show called Hollywood Squares. Yeah. So center square named Paul Linde right. He was Uncle Arthur on Bewitch's. He wanted to set mom up with Paul Linde. I did I wrote him letters here Paul Linde. You should meet my mother because I read an article he was single I didn't know why he was saying I thought he was happy. Hello. Oh I love him. Oh love right and I may have my mom would laugh and she goes he's adorable. My mom would say he's a tiny handsome. My mom never got who was gay. She did not. She thought Liberace was just flamboyant. My mom could never admit that anyone was like the word gay wasn't even used back in her time right right and just like a woman who was a lesbian was a spinster or whatever she would call it would never be all they were together like sexually. Oh my God God forbid but my mom loved Paul Linde. I wrote him letters I said you should meet my mother. Here's a picture of a belly dancing outfit. That's a true story too. And and he never wrote me back but my my goal in life when honest to God when I was a kid is how innocent I was. I wanted to be I wanted him to adopt me and marry my mother and we would be the first father and son team on the Hollywood squares. What like they would be in the box together you know like Wayland and Madem always had their own box. I was picturing them going I'd like Craig and Paul Linde for the win please and we'll be in the box don't take it son. It's a sports question. He's there. We wear double ass cuts. So that was that was my visual of life. I really wanted that. But guess what Lynn the law of attraction. I ended up on Hollywood Square 75 episodes 75. How did I miss those episodes. Was that when whoopee was producing Tom Bergeron was hosting. Yeah exactly. And the only problem is I'm not a big celebrity. So I was always Craig she made she make her to block. They used to block. They only use me as a block. Oh my God. They would never pick me first. I was always whoopee or some big star. Yeah. Like once I'm looking on a monitor I'm like the only way to go. She goes I'll take Antonio Banderas for the loss. Try to pronounce shoemaker but everybody could be shoemaker. That's so funny. I was on the Hollywood squares too by the way just so you know. Wow. I was I played the game. And then I had to cover behind the scenes for Channel 4 in Boston. Oh OK. So I got to go in the chair in the center square where you wanted to go with Paul. Oh you were doing a you were doing a piece. Yeah I was doing I was doing a piece for the local news. Oh but they let you sit in the square. So they get they let me tour all around and then I did my whole intro. And but you know what they had to do. They tape five shows and five shows like Saturday and Sunday as you remember or at least 10 shows on weekends like right in a row. So they kept the audience in there and they're like OK Lynn get Lynn. It's time for her to work. I'm like you mean I have to do this thing for Boston in front of the entire audience waiting for me to finish so they can get back to tape another episode of Hollywood Squares. I thought I thought I was going to poop my pants. I really I don't know how I did it. I don't even remember what I said but those boxes are really uncomfortable and cramped and they are not luxurious at all on the inside. No luxury yet. They have a new Hollywood Squares. I don't know if they do luxury anymore but they made that fix. But yeah they call it the Lin Hoffman chair as a matter of fact. That's yeah they have plus chairs now they call it the Lin Hoffman chair. You know so I had an effect. That's pretty cool. Inspire you inspire Dollywood Squares to shift a little bit. So with their production designed by Lin Hoffman. But yeah I mean my life was all about this really is difficult for me to deal with being beaten or whatever it is or kidnapped. What am I going to do about it. You got a lot you got a few choices and I'm not up for the other choices of being a victim I'm not up for being felt sorry for any of that kind of stuff. I'm up for let's make a difference with each other with a vibration of love light and laughter. Let's bring that and we all and the rising tide floats all the boats. It does. If we lift each other up everybody wins. You're a pioneer using laughter as healing as we were discussing. You've also had an incredible career in movies and television. You had roles in parks and recreation one of my favorite shows and Matlock. Last time I saw you were going to work on a movie with Farrah Fawcett. Oh wow. Yeah. Wow that's a long time ago. That's not the last time I saw you. That movie was done. It was Farrah Fawcett did my movie The Love Master. You know my character the love. That's right baby. Yeah. Lin yeah you see naked and afraid I get naked you'll be afraid baby. Oh yeah. I'm the love master baby. I wasn't even going to bring it up but here it is. I put my pants down looks like a giraffe getting in a mini Cooper baby. Oh yeah. The doorbell the doorbell is what gets me every time. That was the scene with Farrah Farrah was doing the movie. The call the love master directed by my friend who we're going to get to Michael Goldberg. She was I couldn't believe it that she was doing my movie for like a hundred dollars. So we're in a car rehearsing together just alone. I was practically calling her Miss Fawcett like thanks for doing my movie Miss Fawcett. And she goes oh shut up. I'm here but I just want to know if that love master is real. She reaches over and there was no there was no hoard in my crotch. I'm not Kara top. But anyway you get the idea. She reaches over for my junk. Really. Now. Oh yeah full on Farrah Fawcett groped you. Absolutely. And I was not going to sue. I was going to actually ask for what's the opposite of restraining order. I was going to ask her to ask her to stalk me. Thank you ma'am. Can I have another? Exactly. Unfortunately I wasn't ready for my close up. So I had an innie. It's my regret in life that I go okay I'm ready now because I was I had like a soprano voice talking. Oh she just grabbed me. No I was not ready. Now I'm ready baby. Oh yeah. You might need two hands to handle the whopper baby. Oh yeah. But she was so sweet and yes the doorbell was in the scene. She asks for the love master actually maybe she was getting in the character. She has to we go on a date and you know allegedly in the scene and I said oh thanks because I'm always like a nice guy and stuff and she goes oh shut up and where's the love master. Oh that's a character my act and she gets you hangs and she shuts the door in my face her door and then her doorbell rings and she answers it. Yes there wasn't my hand that rang the doorbell. Oh yeah. And then she goes come on in because that's what the women know the women that's why the love master came about because the girls in high school would all use the f-word with me. You know the f-word fun friend. I was always a freaking friend. I was so tired of being the friend. I was really tiny and I'm 6'2 now but I was like 5'1 in high school and really tiny high voice and they would go to the bathroom together. You know girls go to the posse P. Yeah. They took me with them. That's what a geek I was. They would took me with them on the posse P. Come on Craig let's go. What did you do while they were using doing the makeup in the. I just said sit on the tub you know everybody's smoking cigarettes back then and everything. Oh then they go Tommy's hot George's hot. I'm going yeah I'll fix you up. I know those guys. Yeah yeah because they were always bad guys and that's when I'm. You were a professional wingman when you were a kid. I was a wingman before there were wings. No wonder you went into comedy. That's exactly why another thing that again. That was a pain point for me. You know I wanted girls and they didn't want me. I asked 13 girls to go to the prom. Wow. I actually had a funny thing happen. Again these are all law of attraction things. I want to tell people just be patient with your life you know just you know. It will unfold the way it's supposed to unfold. So I'm on I was on a TV show with Cindy Crawford. That's great advice by the way what you just said really good. Yeah thanks. I'm sorry. Yeah I mean just wait you know be patient. Grand Canyon is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen but it was not created in three days. Sometimes these creations need to take their time you know in the pace of a higher source not our own pace with our own fears. So I'm on this NBC show with Cindy Crawford. She got they gave her a week on NBC to have her own show late night show and I was one of her guests. She was she went to the premiere of the show and she she's talking to me. She goes Craig you must have had a lot of girls because you're the love master. I go oh no Cindy matter of fact I asked 13 girls of the prom and the one who went with me Linda Scott. She made out with Ricky out of there in the corner even though I paid for her corsage and all that. And I looked in the camera go well Linda. I'm sitting here with Cindy Crawford. So then it turns out he was watching and so was Ricky out of there's wife because they emailed me. Get out of here. I got a little revenge for her fifth. She was the 13th one asked out because she would look good for the photos. I didn't wasn't dating or anything but yeah she made out with Ricky out of there. He was there with someone else and I saw them in the corner. But you know those those things will cause comedy and comedy is truth. If you can tell the truth out there that makes for the best comedians. And the truth is we all have pain but sufferings the choice. I choose not to suffer. Yeah that that's for sure. And and you share that with people which is like the best part of all. How do you navigate though the challenging landscape if you will of comedy especially with the way society has sort of evolved in the last I don't know decade. It's really interesting time. It's a funny it's funny who used that word it's devolve. Yeah this is evolving. It really is when you're playing the victim role and finger pointing and taking somebody's words of like maybe 280 characters and make that their entire character and attack them for that. And it's amazing to me. This is another paradigm I'd like to switch is. Let's embrace the comedians. Let's lift the comedians and let us have that voice that is going to expose the people that are corrupt. We are the curtain pollers. We have no money behind us. You know there's no union. No I have a friend did comedy for years. My opening act with Godfather my son. He's he's almost homeless because he can't work. He has no residuals. We have nobody to support us. I'm not playing a victim either but that's just the fact is comedians are out there literally giving you your medicine literally making you happy. That's our goal. It's our only goal. Yes we're going to make some money but there's not that many multimillionaire comedians definitely not very few billionaire comedians. But the billionaires get away with everything because the lemmings that follow them do their bidding for them. But what part of the bidding is I'm going to attack the messenger the comedian who's trying to expose these things in a funny way. That's what's really odd to me is how many people are attacking and canceling comedians go cancel a congressman. It's amazing. Cancel a lawmaker cancel a lobbyist. Cancel somebody poisoning you poisoning your crops. Cancel somebody who's making drugs that are really really bad they're fettin all and stuff to go cancel them. Not a comedian who for one joke. If you don't like the joke I say move on to the next one is another one coming that you're going to like. It's like New England weather just wait a minute. Yeah or New England clam chowder you might not like the potatoes I don't like the potatoes I love the clam. Well just don't eat it if you're laughing because that coming through your nose is not as night and it will with me. I tell people all the time Craig I live in this world of television commercials advertising and things and I try to tell the close people in my world that I speak to. Being victim that you talk about is sort of just being lazy and and and also if there's so much think like you said if they can keep you scared they can control what you do. And there's no use in arguing about it. It's more like you know you're just willing to follow the pack as opposed to kind of blaze your own trail and and that's not easy for people at all to understand. I've always liked you and now I'm realizing why you have a wisdom about you that you even had when you were 22 years old. That is absolutely so wise what you just said. What did I say. No I don't even know what I said. You're on to the formula that they get you in fear and then the masses follow and so on. That's paraphrasing what you were saying but that's that's exactly what it is obvious. But we just fall for it. If you're but they but people don't believe me and I'm I'm embedded like I'm here. I do imaging and marketing and and commercials and things that so I understand how they're and now it's really scary Craig because it's literally like one to one advertising like. You say something your phone hears it and you turn on the TV. Bam there's a commercial specifically for you not the next door neighbor. I know. So it's gone to the days like did you see that hilarious spot on TV. No no I didn't see it because I was watching the same channel but something else came up for me. I'm hoping that it comes up. You won a billion dollars. I'm thinking that's my screen sometime but you won a billion dollars. It's amazing to me. I actually said I wonder if my hair is being lost here and then boom every day. Yep. Here's transplants ads for coming across my phone. It's insane. I'm trying to figure out the guy working on my house. He's I got to go. So why you got to go. Oh my dad called me and he told me did you see that commercial for shingles. You better go right now. And he and I was like what what. What you're like you're working on my house. No I met the shingles on my roof. But yeah start hammering. It was so weird but but I but I saw that that fear in his eyes like well if I see it and they're and they're scaring me. It's easy to control when people are scared. It's easy to control what you do what you buy all of it. I'm just amazed how people aren't listening to their true sense. But I speak and when I you know I coach now I do a lot of coaching executive coaching. That's why I wanted you to come on here because I know you're an expert at laughter and healing and. So I love I love some of the work that I've done to have people have personal transformations and none of it happened from popping a pill. It all happened from some changes and shifts that they needed to make some mindset shifts. And it's amazing to watch how they transmute this pain into into pleasure and happiness and joy. Yeah. And it's an easy choice but it's amazing how. We don't make it because all they're doing is feeding us that crap and now they're literally feeding us crap. We have the most of the obese country in the world. We're the first world country but we have these third world problems of diabetes and heart issues and everything else. And then they get mad at somebody for saying you're fat shaming or whatever it is. Well how about try your do your own inventory on this. Watch what you're eating and really be conscious about what you're eating. But not only that be conscious about protesting comedians as opposed to protest the people that are making this crap that you're addicted to. It's so hard for people to process foods. Of course it's hard. Everything is hard. It was really hard for me to deal with no support when I was kidnapped and I came back from being kidnapped was 13 really really hard. I was suicidal. By the way talk about laughter. So my mom raises by herself and you know and I told my mom what happened. She said don't ever tell anyone this again which I would never do to my children. You cannot keep secrets like that. Oh no. Because that's a point of shame and you know you're going to shame and I started drinking at 13 and stuff like that. Well then I suicide. I wanted to kill myself. I had no reason to live. And this was a guy I empowered to be like a father figure and he took me away and it was a really bad situation. My God. But so I put these neck ties. I tied these neck ties together and I threw them over the closet door and I tied them on the doorknob. And I made a news that I learned in Boy Scouts and I started dangling and choking and my mom comes in. Just oh my God. What are you doing? She goes those are new neck ties. No. Get up. Only you would turn that into a comedy situation. But it's true. Holy moly. She did say that. Wow. And I could get up by the way. I was on my knees. I just got up. You know, I mean, I wasn't really doing it, but there was some part of me that wanted to be checked out. Yeah. Instead of now and check in all the time and just you know, be who we truly are. We're meant to be love, light and laughter. That's what we're meant to be. You know, let's do a laugh bit. You know, children laugh 300 times a day and adults laugh 20. We need to catch the kids here. You know what I mean? Like that's why we need a laugh. We need to we need to laugh that much. We're instinctually, I call it the seventh sense, our sense of humor. Oh, I never heard of that before. That's awesome. You're so right. It's the seventh sense. We all know the sixth sense is intuition and things like that. We all know the five senses are seven cents, which we ignore. We don't even call it that. I'm starting to call it that with my business. It's something we ignore, but we need to have that sense of self, our sense of humor. Yeah. Because it goes away. We're born laughing, right? Peek-a-boo makes you laugh. Yeah. It's the simplest thing in the world. We don't analyze it. Disappearing thumb. All that stupid stuff. Three stooches. Yeah. No, honey. It's just laughing. It's the silliest crap ever. There's no punchlines or anything. But it's so simple then. We make it complex because we indoctrinate children to believe you must follow and regurgitate. You regurgitate the information we give you. I can still tell you 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, Nina Pintas Santa Maria. I can still live, right? Wow. Yeah, that was good. What purpose does that serve me? Right. And it turns out he wasn't such a great guy either. They're like, took the holiday away. We grew up, hey, Columbus, that's a tired day. Now they're going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He annihilated entire cultures. I mean, anyway, I'm not going to get into the politics. People get upset. The point is I'm just regurgitating what they told me to learn. And that's what school is. Yep. And for your compliance, you get an award and award, whatever it is. Even if you go to war, you get a little metal, get a little metal here. Do your job. We're going to tell you who to hate. We're going to tell you who your enemy is. You're going to go fight for us. And that's how the world operates. I'm saying, listen to your true sense of self. And at once, none of that doesn't want violence. It doesn't want to fight or be angry or raging or hate. That's not what your true self wants, but we've been taught that. So I have a program literally when I coach groups, individuals to recondition to be who we really are. Reprogram through a programming that I've developed. And including what you did earlier, just a little bit of it is shifting your vibration through the power of laughter. There's something about vibration that is scientific, like you would mention up front. Another thing you're wise about that's exactly right. We are all energy. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we are. We have electricity in us. Like what we don't plug into a wall. That's always been baffled me. And now we have false electricity guiding us. These smartphones that make it idiots. Oh, yeah. Dumb phones. I mean, it's making me into an idiot. You know what's happening is I scroll. I'm guilty. I scroll. Okay. And I late night scroll, which is not good. That's bad for it. Like give you insomnia. I'm the boo boo boo boo. Now what's happening is my hard drive in my head only has so much space, right? We only have so much space. So valuable stuff has to leave my brain. So crap like what you have for dessert on Instagram goes in. That's everybody so self obsessed. Oh, let me show you what I have. My life, how beautiful it is. So now it's like now it's being programmed into me. So now everybody. So there's a new custom probably last 20 years. I'm in the restaurant. It comes up. He goes, my name is Cade. I'll be your waiter. I go, you'll have to memorize your name. Is there going to be a toast? You just, you just replaced my social security number. Don't give me the specials. I'll lose my Gmail password. Gmail password pisses me off. By the way, it's always fighting with me talking about fighting. It says not strong enough yet. They're calling me a wuss over here. They're arguing. That's my password. And they go try a symbol, try a number. How's this pound, pound, pound in jackass. Yeah, every square in the book. Yeah, that one gets right through. Yeah, of course. I all know my Gmail password. Is this the classes that you're teaching? Is that part of laughter heels, the laughter heels foundation? You started that a while back. Yeah. And that was inspired because I will tell you positive and I don't want to call anything negative, but, but, you know, I've been doing comedy for years and I, all these people come up to me, especially Detroit. That was the first time it happened. I'll never forget. Kim's, hey, thank you so much. I just thought they were saying thanks for the laughs that night. And I said, no, really, we were told we couldn't have a child. We tried in vitro everything we gave up. We saw your show, went home. My, my, my husband pretended he was the love master. We had a wonderful time and we had a baby girl nine months later, right? So that's when I thought to myself, wow, laughter is good medicine. And I thought, wow, you're not trying to have a child. You're just allowing, you're creating space, a laughter space and all that. So then I had all these other people set up like one has, I have a photo. I should show it to you conceived in the parking lot of the Bray Improv minutes after my show. They couldn't even wait till they got home and there's this little girl who came out laughing. It's the funniest little picture that they sent me. How does that, how does that make you feel when, when that happens? Oh, I just love it. I love it. I embrace it because I'm saying it's not an ego thing. I go, oh, laughter works, not Craig works. Now I happen to be the messenger of the laughs. That's great. But I always tell people go wherever you need to. You might think I stink. It doesn't matter to me. Just go somewhere else and go get the laughs or do a guided laugh atation. That's your choice. So, and then my, my child, Jared was adopted and no breast milk. Guess where his breast milk came from. Brett and Mindy couldn't conceive. I said, come to my show. They did. They had sex and they had baby Cooper who was born one week. They're Jared. Yes. One week. Stop. So we would go to the farmers, farmers market and get Mindy's breast milk like a drug deal. Did she ever fridge all stocked up? Yeah, she froze it for us. This is for Jared. This is for Cooper. Oh yeah. Because this, I gave them life and they give, they give Jared life of, you know, of this, it's this 20 years ago. I mean, so, What a gift. Anyway, all to get to the story of Michael Goldberg. He wrote Cool Runnings, Little Giants, one of my best friends from Philly, but Eagles parties every, I mean, we just were bonded. He directed the Love Master movie with Farrah Fawcett. And we're in Arizona filming some of it. And is what they wanted to have a baby. Karen, who actually was my blind date at first, he married her. And so Karen says, I'm ovulating. We're in a condo about to watch our Eagles actually. And I said, Hey man, do the Love Master. It works for a lot of people. It's a fertility clinic over here. They said, Yeah, it's a great idea. So I said, I'll go get sandwiches. I wasn't got sandwiches. Came back. They're already done. I guess Love Master did his job. Wow. Baby Kayla was born nine months later. What? Yeah. So how many kids is this? How many kids is this now? I can't. Well, I five, I count five for sure. Wow. Conceived by guys doing the Love Master. Do you keep in touch with them? Well, I'll tell you the story with Golds. His name's Golds and Michael Goldberg. Oh, again, a comedy guy. Really funny, dude. We bonded through laughter, which is another thing we bond with our kids. I talk about this when I coach is it. Who do you bond with from your childhood? People you laugh with, right? You share laughter together. That's the, you don't want to hang out with some miserable gloom and doom person, right? Yeah. Although misery loves company sometimes. But anyway, a year and a half after Kayla was born, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. They gave him three months to live. That was my moment. Why I'm on your show because that was the moment I went, ah, if laughter is the best medicine, let's prove it. And I started this program and a cancer facility in the Valley. He showed up for all of it. I just was making it up as I went along. I did a lot of research. There's a lot of science that backs this up. And my new business of laughter works. We actually have the top neuroscience from Harvard. He's with our, he's on our board now. And this is all backed up. This is serious. Let take laughter seriously. I mean, it really is what it does to you for your healing process. And if anything it does, it gives you a will to live the more you want to laugh. He took all my prescriptions. I said, Hey, let's all exchange our favorite comedy movies. Even saying the name of the movie is funny and fun. Or a quote from the movie. If I say those aren't pillows, planes, trains, automobiles, and then people laugh just at the thought of that scene of those aren't pillows. Uh-huh. Anyway, how about the bears game? Housekeeping. You're laughing just at the thought. That's the vibration that's being exchanged between us right now. He shows up for all of it. Does all the prescriptions. I said, go to comedy shows. He doesn't. So many of my shows. It came three months. Livy lived 15 years past that. Prog. 15 years. Oh my God, Craig, I'm going to cry and I don't have any tissues. Now you're making me cry. Holy crap. And he had a team of about five of us would like, you know, look, he went through the chemo's and stuff like that as well. But he had this will to live that you can't coach. He really did. And he showed up for all of it. And then if I may get a little people can tune away. If you don't want to hear a semi crude story, but it is funny. Okay. It's a little risque, but let's, how about you just take those things out of what you think is risque and just listen to the story for what it is. The true story. He was in hospice and it was the end. He was actually living in an old folks home at 50 years old. And it's so sad, you know, to go in there. By the way, if ever I'm in need of a self esteem boost, I can get laid in these old feet, old people's home. I'm a stud in there. That was just walk up and go, let me take you to closet. I have no teeth. I'm perfect for you. It's unbelievable. I will. I never felt like such a stud. I mean, wow. So anyway, that's really, do you say venereal diseases are up in retirement homes and old age homes and stuff. So that is true. Let him have fun. What the hell? Exactly. What else are you going to judge them? They don't even judge anymore. Who cares anymore at that point? Well, I go in there and we film this actually for a movie called laughter heels. But I have a nonprofit called laughter heels, which I formed for him. And we go to hospitals after care facilities, wounded warriors, first responders. We help people find this joy and this laughter in their lives because they're dealing with difficult circumstances and this will shift them in no other way, no, what, no better way. So he shows up for office and then he ends up in a coma using literally in a coma. We have, we filmed it. And I said, what can I say? Gold's what can we do for you? He's just staring, literally staring in this. I was like waving my hand in front of him. What can I do, man? What can I do to help you? I leaned in. I said, want me to give you a handy? I never did anybody but my own. I'm really good with my own. I'll give you a handy. He came out of a coma and he goes, and he left. Shut up. I thought I was going to whack him off. I believe that's called. No, I shouldn't say it. Sorry. Oh, say it. Say it. I think that's called handy. He left off the J for my crude comedy friends. I didn't know that from now on. When I tell the story, I'll make it up that I didn't say J. I actually said, I'll tell you what I said. I said, you want me to jerk you off because that's a photo. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. You want off you. That's that's the big. They'll call you J.O. with the accent. You're a J.O. It's the worst thing. But he woke up. He woke up and laughed. He laughed. Were there doctors in the room that saw this happen? Well, it was definitely one of our friends was in the room because he was filming it and. Whoa. Mark Bennett. He was a director and he, yeah, he was there. And yeah, I think there was a there was a nurse there that saw this. He was a wave in my hand. There was no way he was. And he had been in a coma before. I remember like years before and when he came out of a coma, I actually said, you could hear us. Couldn't you? And he goes, yeah, I can hear you in a coma. They act like they can't or they don't or whatever the case is. But anyway, he heard me and he laughed because he knew that was and he died two days later. But I'm happy and proud that I made him laugh. Oh my gosh. You know, and that's a great legacy. I'll take that one all day long. And by the way, I didn't go through with it. I did not. I wasn't even going to ask that, but thanks for letting us know because I know you're my Jewmaker. Did you complete your promise, Jewmaker? No, I know J.O. Well, you know, it's interesting that you bring that up because this was leading me to my next question. I can't imagine where J.O. goes to your next question. Don't you love that? This is called the J.O. Segway. This is a first. I guarantee it's a first. There's a J.O. Segway. How can Lynn take that and roll it into something else? I'm waiting. I'm sitting back. Where's Lynn going? I know she's a genius on the microphone. Let's see where this is going. Go ahead. Well, I wouldn't go that far, but thank you. I'll take it. Looking back on your career, which has been long and lusturious because I don't even know if that's a word lusturious, but I found stuff from you from like the early 80s and stuff. So you've been at this a long time. Yeah. And if you look back on your whole career, especially with everything that you've been through, we didn't even touch on your relationship with your dad when he came back into your life. I do believe I were. Yeah. Yeah. There was a. But what do you hope for, especially with all of these foundations, what do you hope that your legacy will be? And how do you want to be remembered in the world of comedy? It's funny. You just say that there's a difference between comedy and laughter. And that's something I feel like me finding that difference is important for the world to understand because we're divided on what makes us laugh. We're not divided when we are laughing. That's a good quote, isn't it? That is. You should put that on a t-shirt. Yeah. Write that down. All right. I only have a Sharpie. It's not going to come up with all these quotes. The other day it came up with seven cents. Actually, I love it. But we're recording this. So it's it's in there. Yeah. I want my legacy to be, for instance, I have a legacy business now laughter works where we're going to change corporate wellness and turn it on its head. And it's a huge business. And look, I've found out in life that's not about awards and rewards. I was I was a community here at American Comedy Awards. It's like the big it's the Oscar of comedy. It's on ABC was presented by Lily Tomlin. You know, you know, was the loneliest night of my life. Really? Yeah. Because I got there and I'm going, wow, first there's no there there. Then I see people backstage, my contemporaries are shining me off. You know, that night they did. I was driving around in a limo with my big award and you get imposter syndrome. And it was a really, really lonely night. But it also became a point where I could go, OK, what is this about? Is this about my ego? So what's the legacy? The legacy is if I can teach people and guide people into a new realm of possibility with the power of laughter, then I'm doing my job. It's not about me being rewarded like I have a trophy next to me. I got to I don't want to brag, but I do what I want to brag about. Let's see it. So I've got a couple of me's back here and I've got the Community or American Comedy Awards supporting actor and all this kind of stuff. But here this award right here, keep it next to me. I won the horse's ass award at my accident reunion. That's an ass of a horse made into an award. Holy mother. I won this trophy. The horse is asked of my ex wife's family reunion from, by the way, your area, Massachusetts. I won that award and I deserve and I deserve to earn that reward and award. Wow. Are you still friends with your exes? Um, no, on one of them for sure. No, I don't know that that could ever be repaired unless something happened with her like a lightning bolt. Understood. Wake her up into. I've done my job with both. I have done my job literally all the forgiveness, all of the amends or everything that I need to do to clean up my side. Some people I don't think are capable. You know, I used to say to my, to my sons, I say, and she puts her head to the pillow. Does she really believe those things? Cause she would accuse me of these things. Like a lot of women are doing this is very sad, but they work the court system and they don't get punished for bringing up false things. They do not get punished whatsoever. And that stuff sticks to a guy when you hear the stuff that she would say about me cost me like a million dollars to prove my innocence. It would have gone to my children. That's all my everything I do ever do in life. Call goes to kids, my kids. And yet the wives are preventing that from taking place because they take it through this revenge system that we're in a family court system. It's not built for the man because we're still paying for the, you know, for the 1950s fathers to get my slippers, bitch. We're still, they think that we're still that guy. Yeah. And so if you get a something attached to you, your bully abuser and oh, it's done. You know, that's it. I believe her is literally a statement you'll hear out there. Well, the bad situation to be in so I can only bring my kids who I truly am. So if you say I, the one I definitely don't speak to the other one, she joined a cult. And so Are you serious when you say that like a literal cult? She's been, she was literally just completely brainwashed. My kids say it too. They spoke to the police about it. Yeah. She's completely enamored with this cult leader, this woman. She just follows everything that she does. She has a podcast. It's just, it's really, it's heartbreaking though to see somebody with this kind of, you know, it's mental health, which again, that's what I'm helping people with is mental health. Her mental health is so far compromised by giving all of her power over to somebody where I'm saying you have the power within you. It's happened to that potency, that potency, which is filled with joy and laughter, happiness, gratitude, grace. That's who we really are. And she went down this other path of greed and selfishness and, you know, blew the whole family up for no reason. But in that case, there's a much better chance because first we have two young children. It was really close. And during the fires, again, my highest source and highest good, we evacuated. I invited her to the beach house that I rented and she moved into the beach house. So there we were, you know, still divorced and still, you know, in a legend battle. And we walk in the beach together and laughing and going on dunes and cartwheels and making fun of me, of course, that's always part of a dad's part. Of course it always is. Dad's always by the brunt of the joke. Make fun of Greg. What's great about comedy is I get to reverse that on a stage with a microphone, but it was really beautiful. And in the moment, not to say it stayed, you know, there's, but that's where I'm going to keep returning to. I'm going to keep returning to that, that true essence that I really am. My true seventh sense is my sense of humor. I'm going to keep returning to it. And with sense of humor comes love and light. And that's where I hope that we could all get to, obviously, all is never going to happen. But more people, if we do follow this indoctrination, if you will, we're indoctrinated to be in fear. Why not be indoctrinated to look for more joy, look for more laughter? Keep your laugh bit. Pay attention to, whoa, look at how many times I laughed today. I guarantee you're going to feel better, right? I think that we need to call Apple immediately after this call and pitch them on the idea because I think that is genius. I also think that you're genius because of what you're doing with your craft because it helps so many people. And the question I have for you is, you know, you're giving of yourself and people want to get what you're giving and have it work. And I've had so many people tell me through my life when I would say to them, you know, happiness is a choice. And you have to force yourself and teach yourself. You have to learn behavior. And if you learn a different behavior and you've been doing it for so long, yeah, it's hard, but you can. The old saying people don't change is I think it's bullshit. I think people really work hard on something and they want to. We can hang out more for God's sake. We need to hang out more. You're in complete alignment. Actually, one of my books is called Get Out of Line and Into Alignment. Well, that's a chiropractor. You know. This is alignment with your true self. You're out of these people's lines. Right. And that's so important. Even the topics of your podcasts, it's out of line. That's not in line with them telling you to pop a drug for your answer or eat something bad for you. That's you're in alignment with yourself, your true self, which is probably why you still look 22 years old. And you're not 22 anymore. I know it. I Googled. Craig, thanks so much for being on Comedy Saved Me. And thank you for the joy of laughter and the therapy that you continue to spread and give everyone because I think you should be a doctor of laughter. Life has changed, but you and I haven't. Can't wait to hang with you when I come back east. There you come out west. All right. Craig, thank you.