Creating Your Own Break: Resilience, Risk, and Reinvention with Stand-Up Comedian Max Maisel

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It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. starting a business can be overwhelming you're juggling multiple roles designer marketer logistics manager all while bringing your vision to life shopify helps millions of business sell online build fast with templates and ai descriptions and photos inventory and shipping sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl that's shopify.nl it's time to see what you can accomplish with shopify by your side We are Allie and Erica, certified integrative nutrition health coaches in gut and hormone health and the hosts of the podcast Courageous Wellness. We are committed to destigmatizing conversations in the wellness space and celebrate the experiences and lessons of our guests in pursuit of physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Listen to Courageous Wellness wherever you get your podcasts with fresh episodes every Wednesday. Hi, everybody. You are listening to Judging Megan with your host, Megan Judge. I'm like, I look like a like a she wolf today. Like I have so much hair. I'm wearing Max. I'm going to introduce you in a second. But don't be jealous of my pink earphones that literally look like they're my daughters. And they're not. I asked for pink earphones for Christmas. And I got like a pair that a third grader would take for like star testing. So looking looking good. But I wanted to start out with the fact that it's raining. Are you in L.A.? You're in L.A. right now, right? Okay. Okay. So I live in Manhattan Beach and there has been a house being built across the street from me for, I mean, I don't, it's never going to end. Like, I think we're going into year two and all they finished is the basement. And so every morning I have to take an eight point turn to get out of my stupid freaking driveway because they are all blocking with cars on both sides. So in Manhattan Beach, listeners and Max, in case you're not familiar, like the street I live on is super narrow and that we have a parking spot in front of our house. So a lot of people, residents like that live on in our neighborhood park, have a parking spot in front of the street and then they also have their driveway. So it's that parking spot is like gold, right? If you don't want to park in your driveway, it's technically like ours, but it technically belongs to the city. So every morning this I'm being mean because he I'm sure he's a nice guy. But because of what they do to my life, I and I'm a nice person. But every morning I walk out of my house and I want to be like, go after yourself, because I cannot. I totally carrying out on them every single time I get out of my driveway because I have to take an eight point turn and I can't get my kid to school on time. So it's a complete nightmare. But today's been really nice, Max, because there's no rain. I mean, there's no work. There's no like construction. And so most people in L.A. hate the rain, but I'm like, hallelujah, it's raining. Yeah, it's real suburban problems that I don't have. So. Okay, well, should we just end now? I mean, it's gotten I'm just joking. No, but for me, like the housewife that I am living, I mean, it sounds these, this problem is so obnoxious. And I sound like a complete ass with everything that's going on in the world. But it was a nice morning to be able to get directly out of my driveway, without having to do an eight point turn. Thanks for making me feel like crap right now, like about my thing that I was all excited for you to be real, like be able to relate to Max. Your life is so hard, Megan. I just like don't know how you get out of bed sometimes. And I put your pants on and live life, given that. I know. I know. It's really. This is hard. It's really awful. OK, if you can't already tell, Max Mizell is a stand up comedian. He is currently on tour with Tom Arnold. so if you're listening I mean Tom Arnold Arnold is was like on Roseanne when I was a kid he um he was in like all the what Arnold Schwarzenegger movie like yeah he did true all of them okay so I remember true lies when I was a little kid he's been in a ton of movies he's really really funny I listen to him sometimes because my listeners know I'm a huge fan of Jeff Lewis I listen to it like five days a week, it always makes me laugh. And then I don't know how you and I connected, but somehow on Instagram, and he said, Oh, can do you have comedians on and I think because of all the crap that's going on in the world. I was like, you know what, I want to have a comedian on and I want to talk to you about your life. I'm so interested to find out what it's like to number one, be on tour with Tom Arnold. I'm sure that must be a trip. And number two, what it's like to be a young, handsome comedian touring the United States and how sometimes that can be a hard life, right? And people don't really think about what it's like to always have to be on. So welcome to the podcast. Thank you. I'm honored. First comedian. I hope it goes well, said it's not the last comedian, but we'll find out what happens. Well, I mean, after the driveway comment, I don't know about that. This might be my I'm just joking. It's fine, though. It does sound like a really obnoxious story to start with. But if you could understand, like how many nails I've had in my tires and all of the stuff that goes along with it, maybe you would have been more sensitive, huh? Yeah, I'm just gonna start there. If I had kids, I would probably understand truly just like what a pain in the ass, just getting them ready for school and keeping them alive every day is. Yeah. So maybe you should rethink your snotty attitude. Okay, so let's start here. I want to find out about you. So tell me, where are you from? Let's start there. I always start the same way. So I grew up in North Jersey and in Connecticut. I'm a total like tri-state area guy. My family is like New York, born and bred from Brooklyn and the Bronx. And they all talk like this big, loud Jewish family. And I was in the city after college for like 12-ish years or 13 years and then moved to LA during the height of 2020 when it was completely shut down. And here I am today in LA. I mean, that's a great time. I'm from DC, so I'm an East Coaster too. And lived in Connecticut for a skosh, which is in Greenwich. I know. Oh, you are? Okay. Because you said you were like, oh, I can't relate to you, whatever. But yeah, I lived in Connecticut for a scotch of my life and grew up in Maryland, DC area. And I love, I always say this when East Coasters come on, I love an East Coaster that has moved to LA. It's a whole experience because I did it too a million moons ago, right? Yeah. I do not like LA. I really don't. I'm not, this is not a bit. I genuinely think that people are very weird. No, it's an industry town where people like come to LA to be famous. And I just like, don't like gravitate towards the kinds of people that have moved here. I really don't. I'm, I gravity towards the East coasters who like to bust balls. And yeah, you're like a sit, Well, they say you're either a New York person or an L.A. person. The problem with me is when I was there, because I wasn't like pursuing acting and singing when I was young. I'm a total germaphobe and I didn't understand getting on a subway and I would get lost all the time. And I when I was young, I would get like cat calls and all these things. And I hate it. It made me so uncomfortable. And I freaked out. I would be like that stupid blonde, like running to theater audition. in my heels like I did not fit New York I'm definitely LA but it is a place and I think because I'm in a different part and I have kids and I kind of I was kind of in that whole like Hollywood scene I was married to an actor move to the to the beach community there are people in the industry that are totally full of it and it's a hard place to if you're new to LA to really understand. It took me a long time to understand it. And I think people are just, I don't know, it's like a city, a place of transplants. It's spread out. People don't aren't honest. A lot of times like they don't like we're more from the East Coast. We tell it like it is right. So they don't want to hear the kind of things. It's a lot of like fluff. Yeah, but it is LA is a very hard place to, to number one, like make it in the business. And number two, like find real people, find real friends, find real connections. I am sure like I was young once dating in LA, it's a hard place to meet someone and have a real relationship. I think that for sure. So, so tell me this, why did you leave New York during the thick of COVID to come do stand up in LA? Yeah, great question. You know, I was in New York, mostly running the racket of being a very unemployed actor. I was always doing acting classes. I always had an agent, always had auditions, but I just wasn't, it wasn't, I wasn't putting it together. And I casually done stand up. I did improv just to like get on stage and do stuff because as an actor, you're doing so much waiting. and so I didn't pursue it as a career. I was mostly hustling as an actor, doing all the things. 2020 hit and there was just like no reason to be in New York anymore. I never wanted to move to LA but I always thought that I needed to try it and COVID really was a blessing in that it made it like there's no other excuses. There's nothing in New York right now for you. You kind of felt like I was at the end of my rope and so I moved out to LA at the same time that a good friend who I also creatively collaborate a lot of stuff with. She was out here, too. And I was like, all right, now's the time to do it. And so when you moved out, like transitioning from because I'm assuming you did a lot of like open mics and you said you did improv and that kind of stuff. Did you was the comedy scene in New York a lot different than the than the comedy scene in L.A.? I didn't really know the comedy scene in New York because I was just randomly doing open mics at like dingy bars with literally seven people. I had never gotten on like a real show because I just wasn't at the clubs hanging. I literally did like the worst soulless open mics you could ever dream of. And that's like the extent of what I was doing in LA, in New York. And then in LA, I wasn't doing comedy yet. I still hit the pavement doing the actor thing in LA. I had a new agent out here. I had gotten some better auditions out here. And then there was this shutdown. Three summers ago in July, there was the writer's strike. And no one was going to work again for another year. And at the time, I was teaching group fitness classes at this place in Santa Monica. And I was having like the same conversations with all these guys who were just like, hey man, how's it going in acting? Is it slow? Oh yeah, it's really slow. Is your agent getting you out? Oh no, my agent's not getting me out. and I was like, oh my god, I'm now not making it in LA too. I'm like, wow, you really couldn't hack it, dude. And so I was like, I gotta do something now or else I gotta just find something else to do with my life. I think you gotta go coach football or something like that. And so I was organizing happy hours for this fitness studio and once a month on a Friday, like 30, 40 people were coming out to this really cool bar next to the place and I was like, all right, this is a fun jam. I'm making some friends. You know, I'm getting into this community. And I'm like, why don't I just turn this into a comedy show? You know, I've done enough open mics that I have material. I'll plug in a speaker. I'll figure it out. And the venue is like, all right, that sounds cool. And I'm like, I think 70 people will come to this show. 143 people came to the first show. And I never put together a show before. I never been on a show that was that size. I knew a couple of comics, paid them well, and they all came down. And I started this comedy show. Okay, because it's, this is a business. I mean, I know, because I million years ago, I pursued it, my husband was a working actor for 30 plus years and, and quit the business actually in COVID in 2020. He had had enough, it's a very, very, I hate to say this, but most people admit it, the percentage of people that make it in the business is so small. And like you said, in the beginning, so many people are full of it. So you go on these auditions, you're competing with other people to be able to, to like, and then you're getting the commercial agent, they're sending you out, they're not sending you out, you start to spiral. I went through this, I worked in the Hollywood club scene, I knew every doorman, I, you know, I knew every, all the actors were coming in, but it doesn't mean that you're, because you connect with people, they're going to help you. It just doesn't work like that. So the fact that I think a lot of people are just so selfish and want to just help themselves and they're out for themselves, it does become like a debilitatingly lonely business, right? So what I I admire in you is that you took the horns and you thought of doing something else. Like, let's make this work. I think there's a lot of people that do not do that. And they just kind of sit around and they wait around and they're like bartending until they like 45 and then they wasted their whole you know and I hate to say that but it true right But that that what I was doing I was not generating my own work in New York I on paper was doing all the things you're supposed to do as an actor. I was well educated. I took all the classes you're supposed to take. I did all the casting director workshops you're supposed to take. I've done all the things you're supposed to do on paper, but I was not generating my own work. I wasn't doing funky little plays downtown at coffee shops. I wasn't doing things that kept me busy so that if the audition came in, it was just part of my day, not the day, right? Waiting for that email to come through. Now, I'm so busy with my own generated work that I'm thrilled to get an audition, but it's kind of like in my way of my other day. And as a result, these auditions have gotten away better because there's not everything hinging on this. I do it. I think it's good. I throw it away. I send it in. Whereas like back in New York, it's like, you know, the deal, it's like, oh, my God, you fantasize about this job can change my life. I can work for two weeks, I'll pay my rent. And there's no way you're going to generate any semblance of a good audition. When that is the mindset. You know, let's talk about that, too. Because it's it can be so I mean, I know, because I went through it, and it was so hard to be like, oh, okay. I mean, I could get this, I could get this. And, and then all of a sudden you don't, and then you go through these horrible ups and downs of depression. And I think just like being a comedian, like you are now and kind of, that's so impressive that you were able to bring all those people in. Cause I think of myself, um, doing, I, at one point produced a show with a friend of mine and we would just, we were just trying to do like throw things up against the wall and have them stick. And so we did a play an actual play. And it was so hard to have people come, you know, like I was like, please come please tell your friends. And, you know, we were lucky if like 25 people showed up and we'd never made any money doing it. So the fact that you must be such a good networker to be able to do that, but also to keep that going and keep it. It's almost like dating, don't you think? Right. So you go on a really good date and you think something's going to come of it and then nothing ever comes of it. And you're kind of like, oh, OK, I guess I have to do this again. It's a constant thing of like getting your hopes up, your hopes going down. So I love what you said that you were like, I'm so busy now that like the acting stuff is an afterthought. And I think that's how it happens. It's almost like what I just said when you're dating someone. So before I met my husband, I was dating somebody pretty famous and he was not very nice to me and was cheating on me all the time. And then I wasn't really looking. And I met my husband at that exact moment when I wasn't looking. So it's a good comparison to like when you don't really care and you do care, right? Because you have to make money, but it just starts to happen and snowball. And I think there's a lot of people that have made it in the industry and did it that way. Don't you agree? I think that like we all we pursue this. We want to be in a situation where they say you. We I found you. Right. We want to get picked. We want to get discovered. Want all those things. But it's just like such a pipe dream that like, all right, hopefully you're waiting tables at the right restaurant. when that guy comes in and says, I want you in my movie, which does happen. But like in the fifties in LA, you know what I mean? That happened. Not like it's just not happening like that anymore. And so generating my own work came out of me on like my last leg being like, dude, it's not going the way you thought it was going to go. So either do something now that literally comes from you making something happen or go do something else with your life because the world needs plenty of bartenders and you don't want to be a bartender for your life. So go figure it out or go do something else. Yeah. That's kind of where I was. The show came out of me just being like, this is it, man. This is it. I think I'm done with this. Okay. So then once you started doing the show and you started having people show up and people, you know, it was kind of a standing thing, right? I mean, in five years to grow to the point where you're on tour with somebody pretty famous, it's really impressive. So tell me kind of how it started taking off. Yeah, so my first show was August 2023. That was the first show that I did. And I saw that so many people were happy to just get out of the house on a Wednesday, you know. So it's only been two years. Yeah, 2026, like three years. Well, we're in 26, but technically, yeah, that's impressive. Yeah. The show got hot right away. I mean, listen, it hit to a specific market. It was like, the West side is kind of sleepy. It lacks action and interesting things to do. And I was seeing these happy hours. I was like, oh, people generally want a place where they can go and jam and meet somebody and talk to that person that you've seen in your fitness class, but don't want to talk, go over during the class. So I just kind of like created that selfishly because I wanted to make new friends. I was new to town. And then the comedy stuff was like, all right, let's generate something out of this. So 143 at the first show, I'm like, all right, got to do this again. Same deal, 140. Did it three times at this space. And then I'm like, all right, I got something here. What do I really want to do with this? I wasn't enjoying going to comedy shows. I felt like they kind of felt stuffy. And I still wasn't pursuing comedy. I wasn't really doing other shows yet. I just was getting my feet wet doing mine, trying to meet comics in LA. And I was like, what else do I want to do with this? All right, I've done it three times. Let's have a DJ. That could be kind of fun. All right. My friend started playing for an hour before the show started. I was like, all right, what else? Let's get like a pizza truck. That sounds fun. Let's have a pizza guy. Great. Did a few more shows like that. Everyone was leaving after the show. I'm like, no, no, no, I want to have an after party. All right, DJ friend, let's play after the show too. So then I started cooking. And now the word got around, even though I was new in town, I would get great comics from the comedy store. And they would tell their friends, oh, this guy Max is new in town, but he throws this pretty sick show. 150 people are coming to this show. You've got to come do it. So I was able to get pretty big comics right away to come down to Santa Monica. And then it just became throwing new things in the blender every month. What do I want to try? What do I want to do? And like the rules are endless, you know. And so is this like grown into something where it's more like nightclub, I mean, comedy, like party kind of thing, like a running club night party with comedy thrown in? Yeah, it's a good question. And, you know, the show evolves. It really does. You know, I wanted to generate a bit of a nightlife element to it. So I moved it to Fridays last year. It was always on Wednesdays and Thursdays. And Fridays just like didn't seem to hit. It was like too many other people had other weekend plans. I wasn't selling tickets in the way that I was before. So now with the tour, I've moved it back to weekdays. And it just seems to be better for people. It's not a rave. it's like you come hang, you see the show, and then you hang with your friends for a half an hour afterwards and have one more drink and then you go home. So part of what's fun about this show is that I just kind of build it and then you get to walk in and decide how you want to enjoy it. If you want to dance, go dance. If you want to go hit on somebody, go hit on somebody. If you want to go home afterwards, go home. I just kind of want to provide the space for you to do what you want to do for those three hours and then it's up to you. I wonder because I haven't been single in 500 years. It's also like because the club scene has changed since like the mid centuries, like when I was single. What is it? Is it a good way to meet people? Because it's so hard in L.A. I mean, from what I understand and being single is so different now, like everybody's swiping right. Tell me about that. I think also the the piece of what people go through now to be single. When I was young, we would just meet people in person and talk. And it was about the human connection, which is so huge. Now everything's on a phone and the Internet and like Instagram and however else. So I love what you're doing because there's nothing better, in my opinion, than laughing and doing something different. Like people, it's not the same as it used to be where a guy would see a girl and they would say, hey, and look at you. And right. Hasn't that game changed? I know that you talk in your in your set about being single and like meeting somebody. So tell me about that. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it is for some crazy reason, harder than ever to go up to anybody and just say hello, whether it be a guy that you want to be friends with or a girl you want to date. for some reason there's so much in the way of just saying hi to somebody and it's so crazy in the year of our lord 2026 that that's a fact um so similarly to what you just said i had had a hard time dating in la so i started to try to bring in a singles element to the show so now when you walk in you can take a bracelet it's a big led bracelet so everyone in the crowd has a glowing bracelet green if you're single red if you're taken purple let's get weird yellow it's complicated. And I'm just setting you all up to go up to someone and be like, all right, so it's complicated. What's going on? Oh, purple. Let's get weird. It's just designed for you to find one more in to that person you see across the room. That's the whole design. Oh my God. No wonder it does well, because it's such a good idea. From what I understand, because I've heard it's really, really hard. Nobody goes up and talks to people anymore. If I were single again, I would be like probably the weirdest like old lady. I'd be like, hey, what are you doing? You know, like that's not what people do, right? I know. I mean, listen, I think that a lot has shifted as well. It's like, to be fair to men, if you talk to a woman the wrong way, she'll blast you on Instagram and get you fired. so there is a reality about just how like it's been made a little difficult you know like you can't say anything wrong everyone's very offended all the time about everything especially in this town so there is a complete fear genuinely that there will not only be a no by asking a girl out but there might also be a genuine consequence of like getting shamed or something like that too You know what I mean? I don't care. I like to take a swing. But there seems to be a real struggle right now to authentically try to connect. And that's why there are run clubs. That's why people are going to these sauna and cold plunge parties. People are just trying to pull things out of their ass to get people together, not at a bar, just to be like, where can we jam? I think it's so sad it it really breaks my heart and I'm a mom of two girls and that just makes me sad I think they're the pendulum needs to just go the other way and I'm hoping it does because that that sucks that's not how it used to be and I think that's really hard so tell me about like you're always you're touring a lot so tell me about how you met Tom Arnold and that started to take off where you got onto this tour with him. And are you doing that same, um, like model that you're doing with your, your comedy here, or is it his tour and you're just opening? Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah. I'm just on tour opening for Tom on his, this is his comedy tour. Okay. So basically I was doing my show for like 10 months and I really wasn't out at the clubs yet hanging and like doing the thing that you got to do as a comic yet where it's like are you making this your life are you going out every single night and the best advice i was given by this comic who just like randomly stumbled on my show one night she was like hey this is important for context about the tom stuff um she invited me to the comedy store to hang one night it was the first time I'd been to the comedy store and I'd been doing my show for like eight months. And she was like, so what's your deal, man? And I talked to her about the stuff that I just talked to you about. And she goes, wait a minute, how many people are coming to your show every month? I said, I like 150. And she says, this is your first time at the comedy store? I said, yeah. And she says, you're a comic? I said, yeah, I think I am. And she goes, these people have to know who you are. Because you have, outside of the clubs, you have the biggest show in LA. So why don't these people know who you are? What are you doing? You need to be here every single night. You need to be hanging all the time. So get to work. And that was really big advice for me because I wasn't. I had my little thing on the west side. I wasn't getting on other shows. I wasn't meeting other people. And after that, I was like, all right, this is it now, every night. And so then through that, I started getting on other shows, hosting other shows. And this one guy that I met was booking shows in San Diego. So two Octobers ago, I hosted a show in San Diego. It was like a 9 p.m. show on a Monday for like 50 bucks. But like I'm getting work, so why not? And Tom was headlining that show. So I met Tom, had a good night. and we had a mutual friend. So I exchanged numbers with him and I felt comfortable saying, can I keep in touch with you? And texted him, didn't really get a response back, said hello. And then about a year ago this time, I said, hey, saying hi again, I'd love to work with you. If you have any dates coming up, love to host a show. And he said, I actually don't have any dates coming up on the calendar but I like to And I was like well why don I help you book a tour You know I not an agent but like I feel like I could email a club And he didn't get back to me right away. And then he was like, hey, like, can you, you can actually do that. I was like, listen, I'm not an agent. I don't know what that process is like, but I could Google fucking clubs. Who cares? So he sent me over what he asks for in his term sheet. and within like a week I'd booked a lot of money for him. I did not ask him for anything at this point. I just wanted to present to him what I could do. But my goal was to essentially be his guy on the road. And we don't know each other. I'm just texting him by this point being like, hey, are you free March 30th? Are you free April 30th? Blah, blah, blah. And his calendar was open. So after like the sixth weekend that I booked for the guy, I called him up and I was like, Hey, Tom, do you have a guy on the road with you? You know, I'm an extra set of hands. I'll carry your bags. I'll do all the dumb stuff that you don't want to deal with. But I want to be your opening act. And he said, all right, if the clubs can also pay for you to come out there. So I added that to the deal memo. And that was that. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. I mean, that's incredible, Max. Because what you are is you're a hustler. I mean, that's part of what I think is going to get you places. It's like constantly because most people would never think to do something like that. And to be able to get it done like that. I mean, seriously, that's very, very impressive. Can I tell you something truthfully? Yeah. It was so easy. I would be emailing these guys. I'm like, you agents get 10% for this. This is so easy. It was like so easy. Literally in seven weeks, I booked a nine month tour. Yeah, it took seven weeks. That's insane. And also, like, I think what I think is great about you, too, is I just happened to, I don't even know, like, if you followed me or I followed you and you just reached out and you were like, do you want to have a comedian come on your mental health podcast? And I went, you know what? I do. Also, I knew who you were because I had heard you on Jeff Lewis. So I was like, oh, that's great. Come right on. I think that's a really good lesson for my listeners if they're listening, which is such a weird thing to say. Of course, you're listening. Why do I say that? It's so confusing when I say things sometimes. Don't be afraid to ask. It's a rule that I get. I think we all get afraid in life to ask for things. I'm horrible at it. I feel like I get scared that I'm going to get turned down or somebody is going to judge me for asking. And when you're somebody like you and you're bringing something to the table like you were. And then on top of that, who doesn't love Tom Arnold? He's freaking funny. You know, I mean, he's such a character. So he has so much to bring to the table. You can't when he comes on, Jeff Lewis, I can't turn him off. Like I don't turn off the radio. There's certain guests that come on and I just go, oh, my God, like I can't most 90 percent of them. I want to listen. He's one of them that you just go. How is this person real? Right. Oh, yeah. He's an absolute character. And it's just me and him on the road. OK, so that you have to tell me about and my listeners about this. What what is that like? So going into this tour, like I've said, I'm still very new to comedy. By this point, I'm just doing my show every month. I'm hosting a little bit around L.A. So when you go on the road with a headliner, there's a host. There's what's called the feature act. And then there's the headliner, right? The host just does the warm up stuff, talks to people. That's what I was doing in L.A. The feature act needs to be the middle guy who just goes up there and drills material, and then you're setting up the main guy who's going to do an hour on stage. So I never featured before. I'd only hosted. So I called up a couple of guys who go on the road with a couple of big comedians, and I said, what advice do you got for me? I've never done comedy to this degree. And they gave me amazing advice, and it really took some pressure off. they said don't even worry about being funny i said what do you mean i'm going on stage before tom like what does that even mean he's like tom's not taking you on the road because you're funny there is a hundred idiots in la that can go do 20 minutes on a comedy show you are on the road with tom arnold because you are going to make his life easier you're going to book his flights You're going to go tape all of his sets. You're going to go deal with the annoying club owners. You're going to go grab lunch for him so he can just chill in the hotel all day. You're going to set up his merch table. You're going to do all the things that he just doesn't want to do so that he can't even imagine going on a show without Max Meisel next to him. So worry about that stuff. And then the funny will come because you're just going to be doing it every night. and I was like wow great advice because I already know how to build a show from doing my backdoor comedy show so taking all that literally building a show every night in LA I knew exactly how to deal with all the producerial annoying stuff with Tom so it seemed like all that prep work led right into tour and now all I had to do is go on stage and just keep writing and keep performing and keep listening and keep getting good. And by the world of repetition, that became very natural, you know? And then with Tom, it's just about like making sure he has what he needs so that he can go up there and do two shows a night for over an hour and then do an hour of autographs and pictures. It's a lot of energy for Tom, you know? So I just make sure he's got what he needs. So is your material based? Because I would assume a lot of your material will change and might be centered around what you're going through organizing this show. Like, talk a little bit about what you talk about. Yeah, it's been really fun, like, evolving as a comedy guy and a writer. You know, I'd say prior to the tour, my comedy is very much geared for New York or L.A. I talk about being a short guy trying to get laid. I talk about doing drugs with my friends at Burning Man. Like, it's very for the coasts. And not that it wasn't hitting in middle America. It just, like, wasn't relatable enough. But then just, like, taking a quiet pause and being like, oh, my God, I'm in Nebraska. These men are farmers. I've never had a job in my life. These are, like, real men. I'm such a pussy. And, like, just really funny jokes were coming out of that self-reflection. So now I have all these different kinds of jokes about just how, like, I feel like I'm below these people because you guys know what it means to really work. I live in L.A. where people think that their hard life is a parking spot, you know, like shit like that. Or backing out of their driveway. Exactly. I'm around people who have like real hard lives and I'm in this cushy world where it's just like parking sucks. Oh, my God. It's raining. Oh, my God. And it's just like I get to rip on L.A. too. So I'm like really proud of like where things are going in terms of what I am now saying up on that stage. And it's changing literally by the week, because again, it's like, I'm only first now in year three leaning into this professionally. So in the same way that like, if you start working out, you've never worked out before, all these changes are happening all the time because your body's just getting like blasted with all this new stimulus. I feel like that's where I am creatively right now. And also, I love that self-deprecation, I think, is so great. Great. I hate it when you go. And I think that's my favorite thing about other people is when they can make fun of themselves. There's so many people in like the comedy space or the acting space or, you know, in, in any kind of career, and they take themselves so seriously. And I think when you can step out of it and just be like, you know what, like, this is what's wrong with me. I saw one of your bits where you or maybe I heard you talk about this, where you talk about going out on a date and the girl thought you were gay. I thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Can you just like quickly tell my listeners about that? Because it's such a funny story. It's become an amazing part of my routine that like I've really like gotten way more detailed and like, why does she think I'm gay? And like, how does that really make me feel? basically I was teaching group fitness at the studio and I asked this girl out she was a total catch and we're like gonna go on this date I asked her she was like oh my god we should totally go out I'm like fuck yeah and so we go for drinks I remember she didn't dress nice for the date when I first saw her I was like oh she's a little casual for tonight and I dress nice I'm at this very small restaurant tables are all on top of each other very intimate having a great night we're learning about each other talking to her she seems into it i'm into it and like halfway she was like so is it hard meeting guys in la i think i'm on a date with a girl so i have no idea what she's referring to so i was like yeah it's been really hard meeting guys in la because you know my friends are my everything i got boys from growing up in new york and she's like no no no no no wait well you're not gay she was like looking for a gay bestie yeah 100 oh my god i was like i was like wait i thought this was a date she goes yeah no this is not date i thought i was hanging out with like a new gay best friend i'm like oh my god this table next to us is laughing their ass off they hear everything i'm like god damn it i'm like you know what i guess we can split the bill fuck off um so I guess I don't have to pay for this now. I gotta write that down. That's funny. That is funny. But I was like, god damn it. And then I asked her, just for reference, why did you think I'm gay? She's like, I don't know. You wear short little shorts. I was like, well, that's the uniform. But she goes, you know, you play Britney Spears and Sharon. I'm like, alright, these are good songs. It's like, there's some reverse homophobia here. But it was so funny and so ridiculous. You know, outside of that date, some people do think I'm gay and so I try to work it out on stage and one girl last week in the audience is like oh you look gay because you're short she said that which became a hilarious avenue yeah yeah well I guess just the shorter you are the gay you are midgets are gay men like it just yeah but I also know that like I care about my hair I wear shirts like I get it but it's a very weird trope because it's like, I guess the standards for straight men have just gone so by the wayside that if you're mildly attractive and you care about your looks and your appearance, oh, you must be gay, which is to me very hilarious because men are just trying to skate by saying that dad bods are cool. So I think it's so funny. My husband is also very, very metro and wasn't at like a pretty boy actor. And so I remember one time going to the Abbey with him and every single I mean, there were times when we were young, where people would just hit on him. And he's definitely not gay, but he would get the same thing where he people just thought that about him. And I just I thought it was really funny. But that story is so funny to me. Okay, I want to ask you a question. What is it So you kind of brought up in the beginning, like how you can't stand LA and how hard it is. And like people are full of it and all the things. I remember thinking when I came out here, because it was very, very lonely for me. It was really, really hard. And I was struggling so much for I think I lived out here for two years. And I was trying I had no money. I was like cocktailing and going out every night and not taking like the auditioning seriously. I was doing groundlings. I was doing like you all the classes, but I felt so lonely and so sad. And I was kind of like, why am I here? I want I'm nothing I'm doing is getting me any closer. Like I remember I tell a funny story or I have in the past. I used to work. This was many moons ago at this place. It used to be cool called the colonial. out. This was, I don't even know how many hundreds of years ago it was. And this CAA age in quotes came in and, or no, sorry, William Morris at the time. And he would always come in with his friends. And he said to me at the time you the next um Kim Basinger And I was so stupid I believed him and I called my mom You look like him actually so Oh thank you No I don Not at all But at the time like I believed him and I was so stupid and I, I, you know, called my mom back East and I was like, mom, I'm finally going to make it. Um, I'm going to William Morris right now. It's probably like on a brick cell phone. I'm going to William Morris right now, wish me luck. And so I check in at the front desk, and the receptionist calls and it kind of takes a long time. And then I go up into the office. And I could see like scrambling. But I was so such a moron. I realized that at the time, he's like, Oh, we're so interested in working with you, blah, blah, blah. I left, I call my whole family, everyone back East, I'm getting signed with William Morris. Well, turns out the guy was trying to date me and he was he was an agent assistant. OK, so he wasn't even an agent. And it was and I remember at that time I was so poor. I had no money and I was so depressed. And I was thinking I'm never going to meet anyone. I'm giving up like my years of being cute where I could have married somebody in DC and like, you know, being able to go back to my country club and I'm wasting all these years. And then all of a sudden, like we talk about things started to happen. And then I happened to meet like the stupid, like he's not stupid, but the guy that was famous that I dated. And then at a party, I just met my husband and we've been together ever since. I mean, the 20, we're going on 25 years. we met pretty young. So I, I, I, I know that feeling though of the loneliness and the, the almost like it's so hard because as even if you have things going really well with the comedy and all of that stuff, but the lonely part also of like going on tour and living in hotel rooms. And I want you to talk to me about that, like what that piece of it of being like, am because I'm assuming you're single. No, I mean, I could be wrong. Okay. So I would assume, are you trying to meet someone? I mean, I might have people for you. So let's talk about that offline. But do you know what I'm saying? Like, tell me about that of just the going to the clubs and being surrounded by alcohol and, you know, drugs and all of that stuff late nights, like that is hard. Right. And listen, I just turned 40. And you know, I very much you look like you're like 25, by the way. So whatever you're doing, keep it up. It's because I'm gay. Um, that's exactly why. Yeah, totally. That's why. Yeah. Um, yeah, I really want to have kids, you know, that's really important to me and I want to find a life partner. Um, I don't know when, but I'll have children regardless of whether I find a life partner or not. Cause I do want to be a dad. Um, if I was married with children, being on the road would be extremely hard. There's no doubt about it. I mean, Tom is a single dad. He has two kids that he has custody of. It is tough. And I see what it's like on the road for him. He FaceTimes his kids all the time, and this is how he's bringing home the bacon, so he has no choice. He has to do this. He never complains. He's always in a good mood. But I know for a fact he'd rather go watch his son play basketball, you know? So for a guy like me who has no ties to anything or anyone right now, this is great. I'm learning. I'm in a crash course. I get to do this as a professional. So no problems. About the loneliness part, I'm in a different part of my life. You know, I moved to LA and I'm like right now a man on a mission. I am really lucky. I have so many great friends back home. I have a billion people in my support system. I've done all the parties. I've had all the wild sexual adventures you could possibly have. I've done all the fun drugs. I've like done it all. There's nothing I have not done that you're going to tell me that I haven't kind of already hit. So coming to LA where I meet people who are kind of doing the opposite, a lot of people I've met here got married at 23 in Wisconsin, Wilson, woke up in 34, said, I got to do something else with my life, came here. And now for the first time, they get to see the things that I was already doing. So they're running a different racket out here than I am. For me, it's like, there's no party that you're going to invite me to out here that I haven't already kind of done. And so I have no distractions. That's the best part. I have no distractions. I am on a mission right now to do this thing that now I need to kill myself for just to have a shot. Forget making it. I have to put in this energy and even more just to maybe have a prayer. I'm also 40. The things that I'm doing right now, I got to keep up with guys that have been doing this for 15 years that are my age or guys that are in year three, like me, who are 27. So I have to have more energy than all these guys. And luckily I have pretty good natural energy for this kind of stuff already or else it wouldn't go well. But I'm like kind of built to stay out late and to be up early. So whatever I got to do, there's no distractions. I'm really lucky in that it seems like everything that I've done over the course of my entire life truly has enabled me to be as all in as possible right now. Sincerely. Do you think that, like, where do you see yourself going? Like, so you're, are you constantly like evolving? Are you trying to get to the point where you like want to write scripts or you want to make this, like you could even make this tour into like a movie. It's kind of a really brilliant, funny idea of what you did. And there's like just having a creative brain, I think is such a gift. to be able to do something like this, you know, and by the way, like that stuff will come for you. Like, I have no doubt. I'm not trying to say I'm psychic or anything. But I love that you're really focusing on this. And, you know, you're young, like 40s young, you're, you're a guy. So you're not like, having to like, be worried about not having enough eggs or something like that. There's so much for ahead for you. And it's almost better. I think a lot of times when people meet people older, because they know who they really are. And especially for somebody like you, who's worked so hard to get to where you are. I just really think the universe sends us people or, you know, kids or whenever those things are supposed to happen for you, when they're supposed to happen. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I feel like I'm in a much better spot professionally and so as a result of that personally and that I do trust that those things will come going back to what we were talking about earlier when you're just like struggling to like book one line in something it's like hard to feel good about yourself and the other aspects of your life I just there's like a big gaping hole because you're not like doing well at the thing that you've slaved away at for a decade trying to be good at. Thousands of dollars on education for it and telling your friends and family, no, it's going to happen for me. It's a lot. It's a lot. And not that that still won't be part of my journey. The tour will end. I'll struggle in another way. I'll be back to finding other comedy shows to get on. So the role never ends. But the ball is rolling now. Like, like generating your own momentum doing comedy is so much easier than generating your momentum as an actor. Yeah, I remember that whole thing, too, about about, you know, you because I'm like you. I have all my people back east. Like, those are my people. My best friends are from when I was a little girl, you know, and and I don't know. There's like a loyalty there that I can tell my friends from home anything. They've known me my whole life, you know, and they don't there's no judgment. It's just real authentic friendship. But I remember being like, they would be like, oh, my God, Megan has like a one liner on like so and so. And you would think this is my big break and I'm about to make it. And then it's it ebbs and flows. I just think it's so important what you're doing now. And I and I just I'm telling you, like, I can't wait to see what you're going to be doing in a couple of years because there's big things for you. okay so in closing what where do you that's a good question where do you think you see yourself in like a year from now what is what do you want to do you want to keep touring with tom do you want to like end up doing your own tour yeah i right now i'm in the sponge phase of this where it's like i need to just keep learning and writing and developing and really getting to know how this goes. Like this is a marathon, you know, this is something that you need to be able to do for the next four decades of your life. And so I don't feel like I'm in a rush. Um, what's been great about this tour is that now I have the opportunity to headline a couple of dates, uh, on weeknights and like really develop an hour of material. So that's been the next phase of, of this year. Um, so over the course of the year, I want to get my hour really polished and really tight, and that will take multiple years. But now it's like, oh, now you can even actually think about putting together that much decent material. So that's the mission. Really write. Really hone your craft. What do I want to say up there? And just like developing what you think is funny is really hard to do, and it takes forever. And just like the stuff that I was saying in 2025, I think is now marinating into like way deeper stuff that I want to say in 2026. I have this tour. So I keep having a field to go play on. And now I got to go get good. That's the advice I'm getting from a lot of comics. It's really funny. So I'll ask all these comics. I meet them all the time. And these are people who go on the road with big guys. And I just said, what do you got for me? What do I got to do? And they're like, you're on tour for a year. Go get funny. and it seems like the worst advice ever. What do you mean, go get funny? And they all say it the same way. They're like, go get fucking funny. And what they're saying is write endlessly. Listen to your audiences all over the country. You don't have to do these stupid little open mics where there's four people in the crowd. You get to go to a packed house all over the country and hear what different kinds of people feel about your material. Mm hmm. So go develop all these muscles to go get funny. I love that you that that's what they're saying to you. You know, it's also such a good time to get funny and be funny like people like I mean, I'm sorry, but our country is what it is. And people need to laugh right now. So I think like there's no better time to have to go like like I want to go laugh. I want to go see a stand up show. I don't want to be on my phone and be upset or watching the news. So I think go be funny like you are funny. You had me laughing when you made fun of me within the first minute of realizing my story was really stupid and obnoxious. but again the workers really make me mad and steal my parking spot um max i think you're great i'm so happy that you came on today and everyone where can tell everyone where they can find you sure um my instagram is maximizell 86 and my website is maximizell.com m-e-i-s-e-l and i post all of the dates that I'm doing with Tom and for me. I have my monthly show in LA. Everything is there. And those are the two places where you can find me. I'll give you my phone number to give to your friends. I won't put it on here, but. Oh, I might have cute friends for you though. I'm being serious. Wait, I do have a question. Is where's your, is the show that you do in Santa Monica, just for my local, cause I'm in Manhattan beach and people that might be listening in LA, where do you do the show here? Yeah. My show is like the anti-comedy club kind of show. So I'm at different pop ups like I'll put it in warehouse spaces. I did it at this funky yoga event space last night. It's at places that like wouldn't normally be a place for comedy. So I've done it in Marina del Rey, Venice, Santa Monica. So it varies, but it's always on the west side. OK. And is it like an age range of like 20s, like just so people know that are listening? I would say for backdoor comedy, the age range goes from like late 20s into mid 40s. OK, so listeners, if you're like 65, maybe maybe stay home. They can come. They can show up. There's not a cage cut off. You should be able to come and watch comedy. And if you want to wear a purple bracelet, you said you could wear a bracelet cover color and it says like you can go be crazy. Like you could be 65 and still do that. Go for it, ladies. everyone max thank you so much for coming on everyone please do me a favor i'm horrible about asking for reviews on apple or spotify or wherever you're listening i always forget and i would really appreciate you taking two seconds to just leave me one if it's not going to be good don't do it um and what else i'm just i want to remind everyone that you know some of my past podcasts recently have been kind of a little bit upsetting and I've been going through things. We all do. We're going to get through this. Like things are bonkers right now, but I love what Max said. Like go laugh, go see a show, go see Max's show. If you live in LA and you're not, you know, I might go. So in closing, you matter, your story matters. Keep going. Thanks, Max. Thank you, Megan. That was a blast. I appreciate it. Judging Megan with Megan Judge. Thank you.