Fans of my podcast – or as I like to call them, “Dinner Guests” – are no doubt aware of the fact that in May I zig-zagged across this great fine nation of ours on the Road 2 Oddball Tour, a tour sponsored by Funny Or Die that featured myself, Howard Kremer and Brody Stevens. It was a whirlwind. I’ve never toured that constantly in my life and I’m legendary better for it. The shows were great, the fans were awesome and I really enjoyed getting to know the dude bros I was touring with better. And to learn that one should never refer to his friends as “dude bros.”
Lesson. Learned.
It was especially nice getting to know Howard Kremer. Howard and I were friendly before the tour, acquaintances mostly, having done a few shows together here and there but I definitely didn’t know him. I thought of him as this left-0f-center comedian who was kind a spaz in the best sense of the word and who had that illmatic Dragon Boy Suede flow. Which is all true. But one taco lunch together early on in the tour was all it took for me to see that Howard is this seasoned, learned veteran of not just stand-up, but also of Hollywood, with all the aspirations and pitfalls that entails; and as a result of that he really possess a profound wisdom about it all. And a good perspective. Howard has the air of someone playing the fame-game, but who never lets himself get too bogged down in it, who doesn’t feel those highs too high, or those lows too low – a very calm, zen approach to this comedy game that I admire and that I hope to emulate. Something tells me it was a long road to where Howard is today, but I like where he’s at. He’s a joy to be around and he puts you at ease. Plus if you want to talk hip hop with him the next thing you know you will have missed the exit for Philadelphia and be damn near to Wilmington, Delaware and you’ll have to circle back but it’s all good because you just get to keep the hip hop conversation going. Even if Howard doesn’t think the Roots are influential enough to join the pantheon of hip hop greats.
Different strokes, bro.
It was also very cool to watch all the die-hard Who Carted? fans line up after our shows for a chance to meet their beloved Howard. He spent time with every single one of them, signed their CDs, took photos with them, and left each one feeling like the trip to the club to see their favorite podcast hero was not only time and money well spent, but the personal experience that they had hoped it might be, but rarely ever is.
Lesson learned on that one too.
Simply put: I’m a big fan of Howard Kremer. I hope you enjoy this conversation from a Houston hotel room. We were exhausted after a long drive, the end of the tour was nigh, the traffic was rattling by on the highway just below my hotel window, and we decided to podcast. For your amusement. Because there is no me, or Howard, there is only you, the fan. The Dinner Guest. And I hope you’re happy about that.
Howard wants you to watch this. It’s a video called “Summertime is Great” by Three Beat Slide because of course it is. Summah. Howard Kremer. These are both great things.
Check out the episode on iTunes here.