Jason Salmon | From “Biscuits and Gravity” to “Another Weird Week” | Stayin’ Ornery

00:00 Jason Salmon joins Story & Craft

00:00 Jason Salmon: Part of the reason I got the job, the guy told me later, he said, "You had the worst resume I've ever seen in my life," which was good. But he told me, uh, he said, "The reason I gave you that part is 'cause you scream like a woman better than anybody who auditioned."

00:16 Announcer: Welcome to Story and Craft. Now, here's your host, Marc Preston.

00:20 Marc Preston: All right, here we go. Back again, another episode of Story and Craft. So good to have you back. Thank you for popping in, and hey, if this is your very first episode, welcome. Glad to have you here. Uh, today we are sitting down with actor and comedian Jason Salmon. Great conversation. Really been enjoying watching his stuff.

00:39 Marc Preston: He has some really cool YouTube videos, a weekly wrap-up where he touches on politics, and, uh, well, we'll get into it. Uh, but, uh, we talk baseball, we talk election stuff, uh, and this was recorded just a little bit before the midterm elections, so keep that in mind. And, uh, do me a favor if you would, make sure to just grab your, uh, podcast app, your phone, whatever have you, make sure to like, follow, subscribe.

01:04 Marc Preston: Uh, that way you get notified every time a new episode comes out, and if you leave a review or stars or whatever, helps people to find the show, and I appreciate that. Also, just did a redesign on storyandcraftpod.com, the website. All the past episodes, all the past guests, it is all right there. Plus you can send me a voicemail.

01:24 Marc Preston: You can, uh, send me a note. Uh, good to hear from you. Okay, so let's go ahead and get on into it, because today is Jason Salmon day right here on Story and Craft. Mr. Salmon, how are you doing today, sir?

01:38 Jason Salmon: I'm good. How are you doing, Mr. Preston?

01:41 Marc Preston: I recognize, I recognize the brick wall right behind you. Yeah. Don't you do your, uh, some of your web videos from this, uh, this spot right here?

01:47 Jason Salmon: That is the place. Yeah, this is the backdrop.

01:50 Growing up in Allen, Texas

01:50 Marc Preston: It's a famous... It's a, it's a legendary New York spot, you know. Um, now I know you're from Texas, but I don't know where you're from in Texas, though, so you gotta help me out there.

02:00 Jason Salmon: Are you familiar with Allen, Texas?

02:02 Marc Preston: I'm familiar with the big debacle of their high school football stadium.

02:06 Marc Preston: Yes, I am. Yeah, that was-

02:07 Jason Salmon: Yes.

02:09 Marc Preston: Yeah. Didn't they build, it's like this multi, multi-million dollar football stadium, then they realized- Mm-hmm ... the foundation was bad, so they had to tear the whole thing down- Yeah ... and rebuild. Yeah, no, I'm sure it's-

02:18 Jason Salmon: Yeah, it was like three years of an unusable multi-million dollar complex.

02:24 Marc Preston: I'm a Richardson kid originally, so.

02:26 Jason Salmon: Oh, are you really?

02:27 Marc Preston: Yeah. Okay. Yep, yep, yep. Uh-

02:28 Jason Salmon: Just up the road.

02:29 Marc Preston: Yeah. Now, uh, and I s- uh, and did spend some time in, uh, Southern California, and then 20 years, uh, in New Orleans. Okay. So once the kids all got out of school and they all went off to college, I made my way down to South Padre, so this is where I'm planted right now, so.

02:43 Jason Salmon: All right. South Padre,

02:44 Marc Preston: huh? Which, yeah, I'm sure you've had to have come down here at least once. I

02:47 Jason Salmon: have, I have spring break,

02:49 Marc Preston: yes. You've spring broken. Yeah, that's, uh, it's-

02:51 Jason Salmon: I have spring... Yes, I believe that is the official term- Yes ... uh, that we remember it by.

02:55 Marc Preston: So, so I saw somewhere you went to A&M, so you're one of them, huh?

02:59 Marc Preston: So, uh, Aggies. I am. I am one

03:01 Jason Salmon: of them.

03:02 Marc Preston: I, I, I got no dog in the fight. I went to UNT and Texas Tech. Okay. And I should have stayed at UNT, because that was more my speed. Yeah. But-

03:08 Jason Salmon: Go Eagles, right? They were the Eagles? Fight

03:10 Marc Preston: Eagles

03:11 or

03:11 Jason Salmon: whatever.

03:11 Marc Preston: Yeah, ex- yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. And, uh, the rest of my family, though, went to UT, so you know, it's that whole internal battle down this way.

03:18 From engineer to New Jersey salesman

03:18 Marc Preston: So how did you make it to New York? Was that, like, an educational thing? Like, you made your way up there to go to school, or how, how did you,

03:25 Jason Salmon: how did you- No, it was a, uh, it was a post-educational thing. I, uh, I ended up taking a job out of, uh, Texas A&M, uh, where I had intended to be an engineer for the rest of my life so.

03:39 Marc Preston: Really?

03:40 Jason Salmon: Uh, I went, I went to A&M for engineering. Uh, I took a job out of school that took me up to, uh... It ended up taking me to, uh, Boston area, Worcester, Massachusetts for training, and then it, they transferred us to a, a sales territory, 'cause I ended up going into the sales end of it.

04:00 Marc Preston: Oh, okay. Okay.

04:02 Jason Salmon: Uh, and so I ended up going to New Jersey.

04:06 Jason Salmon: That's where I landed. I had- I, I told them I wanted to go to, uh, Texas or the Southwest, 'cause that's what I knew, and I was a little homesick having been up in this-- having spent my first winter in, uh, in Massachusetts. Uh, I was like, "Uh, I'm, I'm cool with Texas and Southwest. That, that'd be great." And so they said, "New Jersey.

04:27 Jason Salmon: We're gonna send you southwest of Massachusetts. That's where we're gonna send

04:31 Marc Preston: you." Yeah, it's kind of like being in the military. You know, they have that thing where you, uh, give them your handful of where you kinda wanna go. You know, and like, I think it's like five destinations, you know, and they, they try to place you, and it's never really exactly where you wanna go, you know?

04:46 Taking an acting class to meet women

04:46 Marc Preston: So, so how long did you do the, the corporate world thing?

04:49 Jason Salmon: Uh, I did it for a couple years. Uh, I hated it from the beginning. Uh, but I also knew before I graduated school that I, I wasn't, this wasn't what I wanted to do somehow. So I was like, I was in this sort of wanderlust. Um, I actually got into, uh, performing because I took an acting class in New York City to meet women-

05:16 Jason Salmon: because I didn't know anybody.

05:18 Marc Preston: I'd say there is a pretty healthy percentage of currently working actors who, uh, who did view the theatrical arts as a way of meeting the opp- opposite sex, you know. Plus, you're able to learn something new at the same time, you know? So, you know, you gotta find your pockets and your people in, in some way.

05:35 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm. So did you find that, that the actors and folks, are they more your tribe? Did you kinda get that feeling?

05:41 Jason Salmon: I did. I-- it was, it wasn't that specific. I mean, I, I... that was the first time that I was like, "I might, I might be decent at this specific thing." Like, I thought, "Oh, I, I could be good at this maybe."

05:53 Announcer: Mm-hmm.

05:54 Jason Salmon: Um, and, and I did meet women, so that also was taken care of. I got to check that box off. Um, but shortly after that, I, I was living in New Jersey, and so I just looked in the newspaper to see if they had any auditions. I was like, "I should audition to see what this is, what this feels like." And so I auditioned for this, uh- Commu- uh, community, uh, theater, uh, playhouse, uh, production of, uh, Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.

06:28 Jason Salmon: I had no idea what this play was about. I didn't even know that that was the play I was auditioning for.

06:34 Marc Preston: Well, is this something you did in high school, or was this just a continuation of something, or-

06:38 Jason Salmon: I did, I did it all the way growing up, uh, in church a lot. Mm-hmm. And then I did it in, and then I did it in school, and I did it in high school.

06:46 Jason Salmon: But I was always in athletics, so it always sort of, uh, I always had to fit performance in separately. Right. So it was never the focus. I always wanted to be, I wanted to be an NFL football player. That's what I wanted to be.

07:01 Marc Preston: Um- Yeah, it's, it's so funny, but our hearts are always broken. I think the last time the Cowboys won, we were in college, I think.

07:07 Marc Preston: Uh, they won a Super Bowl, you know.

07:09 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

07:10 A lifelong Texas Rangers fan

07:10 Marc Preston: It's been a while. You know, one of the first show- by the way, I, I, you know, a total detour. One of the first shows I saw of yours, you were, were in a Rangers cap. So I gotta know, are you a Rangers guy?

07:19 Jason Salmon: I am a Rangers guy. I am full-scale Dallas-Fort Worth area sports.

07:23 Marc Preston: Okay. I got... Okay. Have you been to the brand-new stadium yet?

07:26 Jason Salmon: I did. I went for the first time this summer. I t- I took my wife there, uh, to go see them lose to the Astros. I, uh- Well, that's

07:34 Marc Preston: always hard

07:34 Jason Salmon: to watch ... I am a, I am an albatross around the Rangers' neck. If I go see a live game, they will lose. That is all I've proven.

07:42 Marc Preston: Well, the new stadium, you know, my kids love baseball, so let's, when we're in Dallas, let's g- let's go there. And then, and I hadn't really been back in a little bit, and I didn't realize it used to be, you know, back in the day when we were young, you'd have to go to the games, you'd have to go all the way down and take the I-30, and then, you know, go by downtown.

07:57 Marc Preston: Now, just cut right across George Bush. I'm like-

07:59 Jason Salmon: Oh, yeah ...

08:00 Marc Preston: anyways, so- So much

08:01 Jason Salmon: easier.

08:01 Marc Preston: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we go there, and the funniest thing that my youngest daughter, Emma, she, the last time she went to a game in Texas, it was for the RoughRiders, their, uh, their, their Double-A team, I think in Frisco. Frisco. I went there-

08:14 Jason Salmon: Yeah, yeah

08:14 Marc Preston: and, and we were out, out in the outfield, and then they had the camera on her, and she was on the big jumbotron thing. And that was, she was all of like, you know, seven years old at the time. Now we're back in Texas. We go back to the, the brand... It's our first time at the brand-new stadium, and my daughter goes, uh, you know.

08:29 Marc Preston: You know, they're showing people on the jumbotron thing. She's like, "They better not put me on." I mean, literally five seconds later, I'm like looking up, and I'm drinking a drink, and she's sitting right next to me. I'm like, "Oh, we're back on the jumbotron again," you know? And so, but I gotta tell you, I still, I, you know, the new stadium's pretty amazing.

08:45 Marc Preston: It's the indoor. It's what every stadium wants to be now. Yeah. But I got a soft spot in my heart for the, uh, the old, new stadium. You know, the, that's- Yeah ... that's kinda- The

08:54 Jason Salmon: ballpark?

08:55 Marc Preston: The, the ballpark in Arlington. Yeah. The, uh-

08:57 Jason Salmon: Barl- ballpark in Arlington.

08:59 Marc Preston: Yeah.

08:59 Jason Salmon: I thought that was legitimately my favorite of all of the Rangers stadiums.

09:04 Marc Preston: Yeah.

09:04 Jason Salmon: Um, there's something to be said, and I know it's a terrible... I, it makes- Oh ... more sense from a business standpoint because of the heat But there's something to be said about being in a, in a-- at a game in July in Texas and Not thinking about the sun at all. That to me is absurd. It was a little weird, I gotta be honest.

09:26 Jason Salmon: Um-

09:26 Marc Preston: Yeah, and you get, and you go home and you got that really weird looking tan line, and it's like, you know, I guess- Yeah ... um, but you know, I gotta know who, who was your Rangers player? Who was your guy?

09:35 Jason Salmon: Or guys. I always liked, I always liked the, I always liked the dirty guys. I always liked the guys who like, whose like uniform by the time we were in the third inning had red dirt on it.

09:46 Jason Salmon: Like, I was a David Hulse, uh- Like a Rafael Palmeiro

09:49 Marc Preston: or?

09:49 Jason Salmon: Palmeiro was a little too much of a sweet slugger guy- Oh ... for me. I was, I mean, uh, Rodri- Pudge Rodriguez, he was probably, he's probably the superstar I related to the most, 'cause he was just sort of this scrappy... He was always getting dirty. He was always making plays.

10:04 Jason Salmon: He was- Oh, he, right ... mediocre hitter who became a good heater, hitter.

10:07 Marc Preston: Yeah, you remember how- He what? You remember how he got on the team? We had the, uh, the, um, forgot the guy who, who was the catcher at the time, but caught a ball in jaw, broke his jaw or whatever, and they had to call him, they had to call Pudge up, you know?

10:19 Marc Preston: Nobody- Pudge

10:20 Jason Salmon: up, yeah ...

10:20 Marc Preston: he was this real young kid, but I mean, he got to catch Nolan. He was

10:22 Jason Salmon: like 19 at the time.

10:24 Marc Preston: Yeah.

10:24 Jason Salmon: He got called up on the d- his first game was the day his wedding was scheduled.

10:29 Marc Preston: Really? I didn't know that. He,

10:31 Jason Salmon: he was supposed to get married, so they had his wedding at the ballpark. He had his- I am-

10:35 Jason Salmon: wedding at the ballpark his first

10:37 Marc Preston: day. You just, you just gave me some, some education there on the, uh... I, I'd never knew

10:42 Jason Salmon: that. I'm pretty sure. I'm... You know what's crazy is I just said that, and I haven't thought about that for ages. And, uh, so go fact check me on that- Yeah,

10:50 Marc Preston: it's, it's funny. I thought- ... 'cause I might be wrong

10:51 Marc Preston: I thought you were about to say, "No, I just said that, but it's total bullshit." No, that's what I thought you were gonna say. I

10:57 Jason Salmon: mean- It could be, but it wasn't intended to be. That's the r-

11:00 Marc Preston: Yeah. Can you imagine being 19 years old and catching Nolan Ryan? I mean, that was, you know. That's something else. But Nolan was my guy, though.

11:06 Marc Preston: Yeah, I was, uh-

11:07 Jason Salmon: Nolan was great.

11:08 Marc Preston: Oh, yeah. I

11:09 Jason Salmon: rem- He's, he's the greatest. Uh, he's like what the Rangers' identity became for a while.

11:16 Marc Preston: Yeah. I, I have to admit, I was working at a, uh... Well, you're from Dallas area. I was working for KLIF. Mm-hmm. And I think, I think statute of- Okay ... limitations is run. I was this 18-year-old kid, and I had to do a report in school, and I was like, it was the last thing.

11:28 Marc Preston: I was like, "I wanna get a 100 on something I've done in high school." And they said, "Well, you need a visual thing- Yeah ... and a video or something." You know, long story short, I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna shoot a video and go do like a micro-documentary thing about the Rangers or whatever." And then I abused my press passes essentially is what I did.

11:43 Marc Preston: And so it was bas- ... gonna be based around Nolan Ryan. And so fast-forward- Yeah ... among all the other things, uh, we, well, my best friend and I, we w- went to the locker room. This is at the old O- this is the, the original stadium, right? And so we were- Yeah ... we went in there, and Nolan, uh, coming out of the shower.

11:59 Marc Preston: I'm sitting there going, "Okay, you know, it's the first time we're seeing Nolan Ryan, uh, you know, besides Whataburger commercials." Yeah, outside of the being on the field. I go and I shake his hand. I mean, he was still wearing a towel, and he, you know, he was like, "Come on over," you know. And, um He signed a little, like, com- you know, they had a commemorative baseball bat.

12:16 Marc Preston: I still have that- Mm-hmm ... baseball bat. 'Cause I remember being seven or eight years old, and, uh, 7-Eleven used to have these Slurpee cup things. The very bottom, they had a little coin- Oh, yeah ... it would pop off, of different players, and mine was Nolan Ryan, and I was, like, seven or eight. Didn't know- Oh, God.

12:31 Marc Preston: He was with the Astros, and they called him up as, like- Okay ... oh, that's the first name I knew. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm just going, went into this whole Rangers diatribe. I got excited 'cause living down here- It doesn't bother

12:41 Jason Salmon: me

12:41 Marc Preston: at all ... living, living down here in the Rio Grande Valley, everybody loves Cowboys, but everybody loves the Astros.

12:46 Marc Preston: So I'm, uh, I'm the odd man out. Yeah, I believe it. But,

12:48 Jason Salmon: uh,

12:49 Marc Preston: but yeah, I tell you, when they won that World Series, I was on the sofa with my, my, uh, son and my youngest daughter. I was, like, tingling. I was like, "Did, did that just happen? Did they really just win the World Series?" Yeah. You know, that was, uh, that was good times.

13:01 Marc Preston: But you've got your collection of sports up there. Are you a sports-going guy checking out, uh, like, the Yankees games and stuff?

13:07 Jason Salmon: I do. I like to, I like to catch a game. Uh, a- and the good thing about it, Yankees play the Rangers once a year. I try to make it out to see the Rangers play at Yankee Stadium.

13:18 Jason Salmon: Same thing with the Mets. Every couple years they play, 'cause now the interleague's, like, every year. Um, you're playing all the teams. So, like, whenever, every other year they come and play at, uh, Citi Field, so I'll go to a game there, and it's, it's fun. I enjoy it, you know, a day at the park. Um, I've started with my travels doing standup comedy.

13:39 Jason Salmon: I started going to different ballparks anyway, so it's always, it's always interesting- Yeah ... to have ballparks to compare them to.

13:45 Marc Preston: Uh, do, do you have a stadium that is your kind of favorite if you caught... Have you ever caught a game- Um ... and go, "This is what baseball should be in the, this, this venue."

13:53 Jason Salmon: Yeah, I will s- Camden Yards in Baltimore to, is still...

13:57 Jason Salmon: I've, I've seen, I've seen a game there three separate occasions, and every time I'm like, "This is still my favorite park." Yeah.

14:04 Marc Preston: Really? Well,

14:05 Jason Salmon: that- And I'll add three or four or five new ballparks on in between each visit, and I still am like, "Yep, hands down."

14:12 Marc Preston: Well, you mentioned you, you were a sporting guy back in high school.

14:14 Marc Preston: Were you doing all the sports, or were you zoned in on football as being your, your thing?

14:19 Jason Salmon: Uh, football was my true love. Basketball was number two, baseball was number three, and then, uh, everything else was just noise.

14:27 Marc Preston: I remember Allen was growing, and then it got big, and then it became the new Plano- Got big

14:31 Marc Preston: kinda. You know? And- Yes ... which is, you know, y- you know, Plano, you had, for those who don't know, outside of the Dallas area, I think the senior highs had, like, 5,000 kids in them, so they were just- Oh, yeah ... they were basically just, you know, state championship factories there 'cause they had so many kids to choose from.

14:47 Marc Preston: So what'd your folks do, uh, back in Dallas?

14:50 Jason Salmon: Both of my parents were in education. My mom was a teacher, and my dad was a principal growing up, so, um-

14:56 Marc Preston: Really? Okay ...

14:56 Jason Salmon: yeah, I, I was constantly around teachers trying to teach me things.

15:01 Marc Preston: Well but were you receptive? Were you receptive to teaching?

15:05 Jason Salmon: I was. You know what?

15:06 Jason Salmon: I was a, I was an observational-type kid, so I was, uh, I, I was, I was open to some Uh, to some feedback. I, I didn't love it a lot of times, you know, 'cause my parents would be around kids doing the exact same tricks I was about to pull when I got, when I was home. So every time I'd do something, they'd call me on it, you know?

15:27 Jason Salmon: My- I would come in with some gossip and my mom would be like, "Well, how do you know that? Have you talked to her? Did you check your sources?" You know?

15:33 Marc Preston: Oh, those guys.

15:34 Jason Salmon: Yeah. And I'm like, "Come on, just let me be petty for five minutes here." Let me

15:36 Marc Preston: just be a mean girl one day, you know? Um

15:38 Jason Salmon: I know. I, I was definitely never gonna be a mean girl.

15:41 Jason Salmon: I, I wouldn't have been ... Even if I had aspired to it, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish it in that house.

15:47 Marc Preston: Yeah. My, my school, I went to J.J. Pearce, which is, you know-

15:50 Jason Salmon: Okay.

15:51 Marc Preston: Yeah, I know Pearce ... and so we were, and they did a thing where they went down to, they went down to 4A, and then they decided to go ahead and pull the ninth grade up in the school.

15:57 Marc Preston: I think they bumped back into 5A, but I think- Okay ... I think back when I was in high school, they had Grand Prairie was like a big... Now people listening- Yeah ... outside the Dallas area going-

16:06 Jason Salmon: Fantastic ... "

16:06 Marc Preston: I know nothing of these schools." Yeah. Uh, but yeah. Well, this is Texas for you. Uh, so they- This is

16:11 Jason Salmon: Texas.

16:12 Asking Kyler Murray to quiet Whataburger

16:12 Jason Salmon: That's

16:12 Marc Preston: what we're talking about ... but, uh, it's funny, I was talking to Rex Lin- the actor, uh, Rex Linn, not too long ago, and we got on topic of Whataburger. He's like, "Oh, you gotta send me a picture the next time you eat a Whataburger. It's been so long." So you, you probably had many a Friday night after a football game where you've kind of rolled in there and-

16:26 Jason Salmon: Oh, yeah.

16:27 Jason Salmon: Yeah. I, uh, my last, uh... Well, the thing about it is it's, 'cause Whataburger's open 24 hours, so since I've been in comedy, a lot of times what would happen is I would finish doing shows, and I would wanna go write somewhere. And you could sit in a booth in Whataburger, grab a burger, some fries, a shake, you know, and, and sit there and, you know, work on some material or work on a screenplay or work, or, you know, whatever I'm working on.

16:54 Jason Salmon: Um, and the last time I was in there, or not the last time, but one of the times that I went in there doing shows, uh, it was late on a Friday night, and it was when Kyler Murray was the, uh, who ended up being the Heisman Trophy winner and the number one draft choice in the NFL the next year. He was the quarterback for Allen, and he was in there, and I remember I was like, I, I looked, 'cause they were all in there.

17:23 Jason Salmon: It was after they had won some big f- 'cause they won everything when he was there. So they won some big game, and he's sitting there, and everybody, just cacophonous. It's just so loud. And I'm over just sitting there trying to work, and I, I looked over at him, and he, and because I'm like, "You're, I know you're the boss-

17:40 Jason Salmon: of this whole group." You know? And I just looked over at him. I go like that. I was just like, "Just a little, you know, can we..." And he's like, and he sort of, he sort of calmed the crowd, so-

17:59 Marc Preston: a comedian, but if, if I did do that, and I, after a show, I'd be like wanting to kind of come down and just chill, not go back into writing. So is that kind of your process? Or like when you're doing a show, do things come to you and be like, "Oh," you know. Are you, are you kind of not necessarily writing during a show, but are things popping like, "Okay, when I go to Whataburger, I need to write this down," kind of a thing?

18:20 Jason Salmon: It, uh, well, there's a lot of times what I'll do is after a show, the writing that I'll do will, will not necessarily... If I go do a writing after a show, it- I'll write about something differently. Like I, I started working on, uh, a book idea, and so sometimes after finishing up a sh- a show, I'm adrenalized.

18:41 Marc Preston: Oh, yeah.

18:42 Marc Preston: Yeah.

18:42 Jason Salmon: And so I'm not gonna... So it's either, it's either go sit somewhere and watch TV Or go sit somewhere and do something.

18:50 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

18:50 Jason Salmon: Um, you know, I mean, to be fair, I probably could have, you know, just sat, you know, and s- stared out at the stars, you know? You know, you have one of those scenes where you're just laying on your car hood and staring up at the stars, but with nobody there to talk to, you know?

19:05 Marc Preston: So, so when you're- I

19:05 Jason Salmon: could do that ...

19:06 Marc Preston: it's actually something that's kind of like game day. You're kind of, you're pumped at the end of it, you know? Mm-hmm. Uh, so okay, cool. So I d- so I could see where, you know, it's kind of hard to kind of come down. Being, being in New York, you've got- Yeah ... that seems like the perfect city to be doing it in, 'cause you got all kinds of

19:19 Jason Salmon: places,

19:20 Marc Preston: you know?

19:20 Jason Salmon: It is. It is, it is pure energy, the city itself, so, like, there's an adrenaline just in the existence in this city. Um, but at the same time it is, uh, it, there's so many opportunities and there's so many great comics. I mean, I'm going to do a set tonight and inevitably it's at this, you know, at this big comedy club in New York City, and inevitably I'm gonna see some comic do some joke that's gonna make me think, "Oh, I need to write more.

19:46 Jason Salmon: I need to write better."

19:47 Marc Preston: See, isn't that, isn't that great though? When other people, you, like, it's not necessarily they're so much better, it's just they're like, "I, I gotta, I gotta stay on this wave," and,

19:54 Jason Salmon: you know.

19:55 Marc Preston: Yeah.

19:55 Jason Salmon: You're like, you can't coast. Not New York reminds you all the time. It's like you just gotta keep getting better.

20:01 Marc Preston: I think you and Derek Stroup are kind of holding down the fort for southern guys up in New York, you know?

20:06 Jason Salmon: We are. I love Derek. He's-

20:07 Marc Preston: His take on st- he, he, he, I saw a video he did about his take on almost romantic views, like this is a good Chinese restaurant. You know, there's, there's a kid in the corner- Yeah

20:17 Marc Preston: the owner's kid's doing homework, you know. He went through this whole- Right ... I was like, "You're 100% right." We don't have that here on the island. I miss that kind of, you know, utility- Yeah ... Chinese, it, throw it in a wok, it's done in two seconds thing. But- Right ... uh, but God it's, I, I love eating, so New York's kind of, you know.

20:32 Marc Preston: I, uh, whenever I go there I know I put on some weight. Oh, yeah. But is your wife from, uh, from the New York area?

20:37 Jason Salmon: No, she's from Cleveland. We, uh, we both met here in New York City. We were both personal trainers, 'cause that's how I was earning steady money while I was trying while I was trying to earn performance money whenever it came around.

20:51 Marc Preston: I know you said, uh, you're in the, uh, if I'm not mistaken, the third year of a four-year marriage is what you said.

20:55 Jason Salmon: Yes. Yeah. You're- Yeah, we're way past that at this point.

20:59 Marc Preston: Yeah. Um, the, the, the lifestyle though of, you know, uh- Mm-hmm ... 'cause when you're going, let's, let's say, like, when you're doing an evening set, do you go into a comedy club and say, "Hey, I just kind of wanna get up, kind of working, working some stuff out.

21:15 Marc Preston: Is there a spot open?" Is that how it works? How does it work if you're wanting to start working your thing out

21:20 Jason Salmon: in New York? Generally speaking, it's, you sort of, you sort of schedule things out. Some comedy clubs schedule by the week, some of them schedule by the month. So what I'll do is I'll say, "Hey, I'm available these nights."

21:32 Jason Salmon: Uh, and there's so many comics in the city that, you know, there's, there's plenty of comedians to fill every slot every night. Mm-hmm. Um, and some sh- some comedy clubs run-- Uh, there's, there's, uh, one comedy club that's got four rooms in one block, and they're-- each of those rooms is running four shows a night.

21:50 Jason Salmon: So, you know, you're talking 16 shows, uh, in, in that one block for that one club. So there's, there's a lot of opportunities, and every once in a while you can go, "Hey, I'm gonna... I, I need to run some time. Could I get on this show?" Um- A lot of times with, like, bigger clubs, they're like, "Our shows, you know, we book our shows ourself.

22:10 Jason Salmon: We don't just let people pop onto the show."

22:13 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

22:13 Jason Salmon: Uh, although the show I'm doing tonight, uh, is a, is a new joke show, and I'm like, "Oh, I need to work on some stuff. Do you mind if I pop on this?" And she was great. She po- she put me on it. So it's, it's all sorts of different. Some of it, uh, is day of, some of it, uh, you, you know, you ask for a favor, "Can you put me on next week?"

22:32 Jason Salmon: And some of it's scheduled and nothing changes with it. So yeah, it's, it's a, it's a machinery- Well, you- ... uh, most of the time.

22:39 Marc Preston: Well, when you're working stuff out, of course, the name of the game, you wanna have a good solid hour, uh, of stuff, right? Mm-hmm.

22:44 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

22:44 Marc Preston: Is that... So how long does it take you from the time you like, you, let's say you just had a special.

22:48 Marc Preston: It's out there. Yes. So you gotta start all over again. How long does it take you to w- ramp back up to another hour that's ready to put out on the road?

22:56 Jason Salmon: Well, most recently, my last special came out in, uh, 2023. Uh, and my next one is gonna come out in 2027. So, uh, so that's roughly four years. But, uh, I mean, it's weird because it's, you, you do different things.

23:15 Jason Salmon: Like I've, I've done different versions of the thing because I got into a lot of political stuff.

23:21 Announcer: Mm-hmm.

23:22 Jason Salmon: I now, my, my special is, uh, is I'm gonna do some political stuff, but I'm gonna split that off probably, uh, you know, so I keep all the stuff that's evergreen and could be watched in 20 years and not be a time- Yeah

23:37 Jason Salmon: capsule of this moment, you know?

23:38 Texas politics and James Talarico

23:38 Marc Preston: Yeah, I think after the midterms, we're gonna have a, people are gonna be sick of hearing about politics for... I'm, I, I, I tell you, I get- I can show you my phone. I got a damn text message from the, uh, uh, Ken Paxton campaign at 1:26 a.m. the other day, and like I'm getting- Did you really?

23:54 Marc Preston: I'm getting three text messages from him every, him and- Oh, yeah ... whoever else. I'm like... See, you and I grew up c- probably like during the Ann Richards era of Texas, you know? And- Yeah. Yeah ... and I think Texas was a kinder, gentler kind of a th- like you, you knew there was arguments about stuff, but everybody would get a beer afterwards.

24:10 Marc Preston: It's chill. Now there's, there's- Yeah ... there's a, I wa- watched a very interesting video, uh, with Ann Richards, former governor. Democrats were just always voted in here. She said, but a lot of- Right ... the people who would be considered Republican or a little more conservative were actually part of the Democratic Party, but she said, uh, the goal was to kinda help split them off 'cause they needed two strong parties in Texas.

24:33 Marc Preston: 'Cause that push and pull- Yeah ... is what makes things work well. It used to be, it's like, "I'm from Texas," and there's a, a, there's not a mythos to it, but now it's sort of like you say that and people think you are, you know, you are a, uh, a Neanderthal basically , you know? It's like-

24:46 Jason Salmon: Yeah. Well, it's, it's the government sort of has, has begun to define it because it sort of became this sort of testing ground for all of the more extreme You know, whether it be, uh, you know, the abortion laws or, uh, or school voucher things like, like, like...

25:04 Jason Salmon: I mean, school vouchers, they certainly weren't the first ones to do it, but- Mm-hmm ... but, like, it, it, it's a testing ground for a lot of more extreme versions of, of the right-wing policies, and so it's, it's interesting. I had a joke, uh, about being from Texas and about how it's always had a mythos.

25:22 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

25:23 Jason Salmon: Uh, but, like, I remember when people would hear I'm from Texas, and they would be like, "Oh, you know, full eyes, clear hearts," you know?

25:32 Marc Preston: It's a different vibe, definitely. The tone's being set by the knuckleheads in- Yeah ... Austin. Uh, I don't mean- Yeah ... the people who live in Austin, I mean the, the people at the Capitol. Yes. Uh, but yeah, I think the tide's turning, don't you think, a little bit? I think that, uh, fe- people are- Well- ... kind of getting a little bit of a, uh, feeling like, well, this isn't very kind.

25:49 Marc Preston: I mean, I'm seeing people... We're here on South Padre and, and people are posting videos about ice. I'm like, "Why is ice on South Padre? What's g-" You know?

25:56 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

25:57 Marc Preston: And, and it's just like, this is not what I grew up and have it... You get to a certain age and you're like, "Am I just looking wistfully at the past and disregarding some of the stuff that-"

26:05 Marc Preston: you know, just g- got parked in a box in the attic in my mind, and I forgot about it?" No. Yeah. I, I seem to remember the... I go on just the tone, kinda how the vibe-

26:13 Jason Salmon: Yeah ...

26:13 Marc Preston: was. Uh, what are, what are your thoughts about... Well, 'cause I know you do some great commentary. You do your weekly wrap-up of kinda what's going on- Yeah

26:20 Marc Preston: which I l- I don't know how long it takes you to put that together. I'm like, "That is the coolest thing you do, the weekly wrap-up." I feel like I should probably- Thank you ... my mental health would be better if I just watched that as opposed to CNN. Um, but, uh, what, what, what's your feeling about the kinda tone and the way things are going and, you know, the whole, like...

26:36 Marc Preston: 'Cause you see what's happening here, and, and, and all the national- Yeah ... news networks are really paying a lot of attention to what's happening in Texas. I think it's kind of the, maybe the valve that's gonna get released. I don't know.

26:46 Jason Salmon: Yeah. I think, I mean, Texas is unique this year specifically because they have both a, a very, uh, good candidate on the left.

26:57 Jason Salmon: Um, even if you don't, even if you d- disagree completely with his ideology-

27:02 Announcer: Mm-hmm ...

27:03 Jason Salmon: he's a-- If you listen to him talk, he is a reasonable speaker. He is, he's not, you know, a firebrand. He's not... He doesn't have any of the, uh, uh, the extreme sort of, uh, positions. And I know, I know they try to pin little, like, things that he's said over the years, but it's like they gotta reach.

27:24 Jason Salmon: Like, you know, the-- So- Oh, man ... so he's, like, one of those candidates- Yeah ... that from either side, if you're like, "Oh, I would love this guy to be our candidate," you know? "If he had our ideology, I would love for him to be our candidate," and I would say Talarico is that guy. Um, uh, uh, and then, and then on the other side, you have a uniquely bad candidate Because, uh, I mean, in order to describe him, you would have to say he's like all of the corruption that you hate in the Republican Party, but also all of the criminality that you hate in any party.

28:01 Jason Salmon: So he's not a good speaker, and he's slovenly looking. Nothing about him is marketable without a ton of extra something layered onto it.

28:13 Marc Preston: Yeah. I would like to think that people are kind of awakened to like, okay, it, it's not even a politics thing. I think we've kinda moved beyond politics. This is more like- Yeah

28:21 Marc Preston: you know, Jedis and the Empire thing. Now, uh, but, uh, no, but I really, I, I honestly believe that, uh, you know, and I'm a Jewish kid, I'm sitting there going, "From what I know of this Jesus character, Tallarico's got him kinda down," you know? And- He's got

28:34 Jason Salmon: a handle on it ...

28:35 Marc Preston: yeah, and it seems like, uh, in, in Texas that I grew up remembering the, you know, I don't wanna get too political, but the real far right, but the ones, white nationalists, that's the words I'm looking for.

28:44 Marc Preston: I'm- Militant,

28:45 Jason Salmon: yeah,

28:45 Marc Preston: yeah. Yeah. It, it's like that's just, you know, that can take many forms, but 30 whatever years of Republican, you know, rule, it's time to balance things back out, and I think that it's a, it's a great state with a lot of... I mean, all the s- I mean, most of the cities' populated areas are all blue, you know?

28:59 Marc Preston: It's just all the-

29:00 Jason Salmon: Yes. I think that what I found with Texans is as on a human level, regardless of how I feel about you politically, we all wanna be James Tallarico. Yeah. That's what's crazy. He is- On a human level.

29:15 Marc Preston: Yeah. I, I think he seems like

29:17 Jason Salmon: a

29:17 Marc Preston: just good

29:17 Jason Salmon: guy. Because, because he's kind, he's thoughtful, he, he tries to live by the principles of Jesus.

29:22 Jason Salmon: Like, there's not a single Republican I know who, who if I gave them those three stipulations, they'd be like, "Yeah, that's what I aspire to." Um, and you know, and then Paxton on the other hand, is all of the things you don't. You're like, "Do you want your own staff to re- whistleblow you for fraud to the government?"

29:45 Jason Salmon: No. That's not how anybody... Like, it's, it's, it's interesting that because of the starkness of this contrast, you're, people are sort of reconciling. They're like, "Oh-" Maybe this ideology that I've been taught is maybe the Democrats who, who a lot of people I know in Texas have been taught are evil. Maybe they're not evil.

30:09 Jason Salmon: Maybe they're real people who are coming at this from a real perspective that they believe to be true and can easily reconcile with the teachings of the Bible, you know, which, you know, is blowing some people's minds, I think. Yeah. Uh, it's a great thing that Talarico does, is he talks to people who disagree with him, and I think that-- and he does it in a very civil, very respectful, and a f- gives them thorough answers.

30:36 Marc Preston: Well, that's something- And really ... that we haven't had in a very long time, and I think that because I think, uh, people- Yeah ... they vote off emotion. You know, I think it's, and- Oh, yeah ... as opposed to, to, to logic. And once upon a time, it used to be everybody wanted the same-- I mean, maybe I'm, I'm looking with, you know, wistful as it were, but it seemed like everybody kind of wanted the same thing.

30:55 Marc Preston: It's just we all had a different path, you know? That was kind of the deal. And so- Yeah ... doesn't-- and so if, you know, different candidates, you know, it wasn't really that somebody was a staunch Republican or Democrat. You had a lo- you had a lot more people towards the middle in Texas when I grew up. I think that's kind of the feeling I got.

31:10 Marc Preston: Yeah.

31:10 Jason Salmon: I think, I, I think you really still do. I just think that, that the messaging-- I mean, I, I think there's, um, basically it's Talarico's ideas versus Elon Musk's money.

31:22 Marc Preston: The, I don't know if you saw him recently. He's, you know, they have SpaceX just six miles south of us here.

31:26 Jason Salmon: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah,

31:26 Marc Preston: yeah. Now he's trying to buy 1,300 acres, which is actually protected land.

31:31 Marc Preston: He's trying to buy that now, and they're trying to ha- Yeah ... and down here in Cameron County, they're doing, uh, behind closed doors meetings about this. And so, you know, there's some money getting thrown around, and I think that's what's- Oh, yeah ... a, a lot of people around here are getting really agitated about this.

31:44 Marc Preston: Like, okay, now, now they're worried. They just had this thing coming out. They're worried about the vibrations from all the rockets messing with the bridge or so- Sometimes I sit back with a bucket of popcorn and just kinda watch the show 'cause I'm like, this is like, I couldn't have predicted this 20 years ago, you know?

31:58 Marc Preston: Yeah. Um, some billionaire's rockets are, you know, irritating people and it, it, it's just kind of a funny thing to think about. I know. Um, so when you are looking at your career, going back when you, when you departed the corporate world, did you have a kind of a target set for this is the kind of thing I wanna be doing?

32:15 Getting the acting bug from Shakespeare

32:15 Marc Preston: I wanna be... W- did you, did you say, "I wanna be doing political commentary as, as catharsis," um- ... and make a commit?" Or because you've kind of embraced the social media thing in kind of a cool way. Did you think, hey, maybe acting? Uh, what, uh, you know, on camera? W- what was the goal or what is the goal still for you?

32:32 Jason Salmon: Well, when I first, when I first started out, I didn't know. I, stand-up comedy was the last performative thing that I chose to do. Um, I did-- So the first thing I did was theater, uh, and I, I got that role as the, uh- as the one of three characters in Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged that I randomly auditioned for.

32:56 Jason Salmon: Uh, so that's when I got the acting bug. That's when it, it bit me because it was a phenomenal experience, and I, I loved the theatricality of it. I loved, I loved expanding and being funny and being serious and being able to do all of the things. And of course, Shakespeare was involved, and I was too... I didn't know anything about Shakespeare, but the guy directing it taught Shakespearean sonnets as his real job at the local college.

33:24 Jason Salmon: So he, like, helped me appreciate Shakespeare's words and things like... So I remember shortly after that, I saw one of my best friends who went to J.J. Pearce High School. She, I'd, I met her, uh, she had gone to A&M with me, and, uh, I met her, you know, uh, when I was back home, and she was back home visiting her family.

33:45 Jason Salmon: Um, and I told her, I was like, "I don't know what I'm gonna do, but this has to be a part of it somehow." Like, I didn't know if I was gonna-

33:54 Marc Preston: So, but that's, but how old were you about that time?

33:56 Jason Salmon: I was, like, 25. I was, like, young. Yeah.

34:06 Marc Preston: So you're locking in and you're connecting with your friend, uh, and you go like, "This is what I wanna do." So kind of where-- how did things progress from there for you?

34:15 Jason Salmon: So I, you know, at that point I just-- I mean, that was my first work as a, as an actor. And then, uh, you know, I, I felt like I, I did pretty well, and the guy who directed me did pretty well, and he also did some children's theater in New Jersey, so he said, "You should definitely audition for this, you know, and be part of this traveling theater group."

34:38 Jason Salmon: Um, so my first job, I got my equity card shortly after that, uh, which is the theater union for anybody who doesn't know, and I got my first job doing this traveling show, and I was like, "I'm making money being an actor. I'm gonna quit being an engineer." And that was a terrible choice financially. Um-

34:59 Marc Preston: Well, it's a terrible choice financially maybe at the time, or maybe a challenging choice, but did, did you feel like you were getting...

35:05 Marc Preston: you were locking into your groove at that, at that time, though?

35:09 Jason Salmon: I didn't, I didn't even know what my groove was, but I did feel like I had found the direction I wanted to go. Um, and because of that, and I, and I-- definitely it wasn't the job I was working in. And I appreciate it. I had a home office. I had a company car.

35:25 Jason Salmon: I had a expense account. I had, I had a real nice setup in that job. You... That, yeah. Uh, but zero of those things made me happy. And doing that play and exhausting myself and having these conversations with these thespians over, you know, a pint of beer at the pub next to the theater, uh, you're just... You're like, "Wow, this is okay."

35:52 Marc Preston: Yeah, the crossroads- Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely ... like you go this way, and you have a template. You've seen many people ride out a career- Oh, yeah ... with all this, this nice comfortable vibe. Right. Or you could, you know, move in a direction that satisfies you in a much more dynamic way- Yeah ... you know. When did the comedy things start for you?

36:09 From improv and sketch to stand-up

36:09 Marc Preston: When did, when did that become something that was realistic to you as being a- an avenue?

36:13 Jason Salmon: So I will say that that production, part of the reason I got the job, the guy told me later. He said, "You had the worst resume I've ever seen in my life," which was good 'cause I mostly transposed, I mostly transposed my, uh, uh, little sketches I did as a camp counselor as if they were plays that I performed in Texas.

36:32 Jason Salmon: Um, so yeah, it was the worst resume you will ever see. But he told me, uh, he said, "The reason I gave you that part is 'cause you scream like a woman better than anybody who auditioned for that." And, uh, and what I did was I, in that production, he allowed me a lot of space to sort of explore my comedic timing and...

36:52 Jason Salmon: So I got to do a lot of comedy in that role, and so I got to do physical comedy and, uh, vocal comedy and, and, and just, and timing and inter-interchanges and, and, you know. And so I got to explore a lot of what acting and performing in comedy was. So then It was a real easy trans- it was a real easy, um, uh, journey to doing improv comedy, uh, taking classes for that in New York City, and I got in a sketch group, uh, and did sketch comedy.

37:26 Jason Salmon: And, uh, and then I did short-form improv comedy, you know, over the years while still doing some TV and film and, and theater and all that stuff. And I, I got to the point where I was doing a regular weekend show, uh, for this short-form improv group And one of them was like, "Are you a stand-up comedian?" I'm like, I'm like, "No, I'm not."

37:49 Jason Salmon: And they're like, "Oh, I would've thought you were a stand-up comedian." And it just flipped a switch- Mm-hmm. Yeah ... in my brain. I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna perform in New York City, I've done all of these things. If I'm gonna be in New York City as a performer, I should at some point be on stage alone with just my words.

38:07 Jason Salmon: One man show. When you

38:08 Marc Preston: first started doing it, was it intimidating? You know, 'cause- Oh, yeah ... I always look at comedy as like everybody has that moment when they're just bombing. Everybody has it, and you gotta find your way out of it, you know, or what- and maybe you don't- Yeah ... and you have different kind of crowds.

38:22 Marc Preston: You do. And it's a different relationship with an audience 'cause they're, they may push back on you, whereas theater, they're there observing, you know. Did you enjoy the club aspect of having a crowd that's... It's more interactive, let's say. Did you enjoy that?

38:35 Jason Salmon: I did. I... What's interesting is in New York City, a lot of times what you do to start out is you go to an open mic, and that's what you would do anywhere.

38:44 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

38:45 Jason Salmon: But in New York City, the uniqueness about the open mics is nobody who's a paying customer or who's just there to watch co- nobody's there to watch comedy. All of the people at the open mic are comics who are wanting to go up. So it's already a very, um, combative, it's a very adversarial crowd, which is not good if you're wanting acceptance.

39:07 Jason Salmon: But it's phenomenal if you're trying to do a joke that's gonna make a audience who doesn't want you to succeed inherently, uh, if you make them laugh, it's like, that's a good joke. That's a good joke. So you realize... And, and I will say as I moved through the open mic scene before I actually went on stage, 'cause I wanted to be good before I went on stage in front of a real paying crowd.

39:33 Jason Salmon: Uh, so I... 'Cause I had seen, you know, being a, being a trainer in New York City, some of my friends who were personal trainers had, had had stand-up comedy shows and they, and they were bringer shows, so they had to bring a certain amount of people.

39:47 Marc Preston: Oh,

39:47 Jason Salmon: okay. And so then I'm like, "Yeah, I'll go, I'll go and watch that show."

39:50 Jason Salmon: Wait, wait, wait. And I saw-

39:51 Marc Preston: So that's a thing? You could h- get on stage as long as you bring, like, 10 people with you to dr- that will be drinking

39:56 Jason Salmon: and

39:56 Marc Preston: kind of

39:56 Jason Salmon: thing? Yeah. Yeah.

39:57 Marc Preston: Really? Okay.

39:57 Jason Salmon: Ideally, ideally, you can figure it out where you don't always have to bring 10 people 'cause, 'cause depending on where you are in comedy, that's a lot of work for those people sometimes.

40:08 Jason Salmon: Um- Well,

40:09 Marc Preston: it's such a hustle though, it seems, you know, to, to do comedy- It is ... 'cause you're writing, you're creating, you're, you're, you're out, and the h- the hours, when I say the hustle, the hours are usually late at night, but usually folks are having to do something else at the same time, uh, to make money.

40:24 Marc Preston: Yeah. Was it a lifestyle that, that made sense to you or did you have to adapt to it? You know, the, the late night comedy scene.

40:32 Jason Salmon: I had to adapt to it. I am not a late night comedy scene guy. Uh, and, and part of the thing was at the time- I had, I had become a personal trainer because that was the perfect gig to do with acting.

40:46 Jason Salmon: Because you train people in the morning, and then in the aft- afternoon you do any auditions, 'cause most of the time auditions would happen sometime between noon and 4:00.

40:55 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

40:56 Jason Salmon: Uh, and then if you had a show you were doing, you would do that show at night. So for acting it was great. Also the, you know, the psyche of being a personal trainer as opposed to a, a, a waiter, uh, because as a waiter people are constantly telling you what to do.

41:11 Jason Salmon: You're sort of working as everybody's servant. Mm-hmm. And then you're going and getting rejected at auditions all day. That's a lot on your psyche. Whereas being a personal trainer, I was just going and people were hiring me to be their boss for an hour, and I'm like, that sort of makes... It sort of shifts.

41:25 Jason Salmon: It was real good for, for waiting, or for, uh, trying to be an actor. But for trying to be a comedian it was terrible, because I would have to be up at, I would have to train somebody at 6:00 in the morning and, and the, you know, the open mic would go till, you know, 2:00 in the morning. So that wasn't a thing I could, I could do.

41:48 Jason Salmon: I, to be fair, I'm not a late night person naturally. Yeah. I am now. Uh, but I'm, you know, so i- it's not, I'm more of a homebody too. I really enjoy being at home and being with my wife and sitting down, having a nice meal and watching TV a little bit. That's great. But, you know, it's, what we do is we sort of, that's the time that we're together, is we have a early dinner together, watch a little bit of TV, and then I go to work.

42:17 Jason Salmon: You know? So- Well- ... it's, uh, we figured out how to make it work ...

42:21 Marc Preston: I, I look at comedy, it, it's gotta be a great vibe when there is a personal satisfaction, but you're bringing joy. Yeah. You can hear the immediate response, people laughing and, you know, we love it when we're doing something people enjoy, you know?

42:32 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

42:33 Marc Preston: How long did it take you to develop a sense of how to deal with, and, and I've seen this a few times with, I don't wanna say hecklers, but problem children in the crowd. H- is that, is that something you had to kinda learn or did that kind of come easy to you to manage those folks?

42:46 Jason Salmon: I mean, you're constantly learning.

42:48 Jason Salmon: There's always somebody, you know. I h- I have, I, I don't have as many hecklers now and, and you'll have hecklers sometimes when you're in New York City, but the good thing is, is when you're doing the bigger clubs in New York City, they have people so that they're like, "If you heckle, we will remove you from the show."

43:06 Marc Preston: Oh,

43:06 Jason Salmon: okay.

43:06 Marc Preston: Okay.

43:07 Jason Salmon: So, so the good thing is, is that there's not a lot of that, but you, but you also have audience interaction and, and it's, I am not somebody who goes out there and seeks audience participation, 'cause I, I do, a lot of mine is written and it's very specifically crafted. Uh, and you jumping in in the middle of that is gonna derail it more so than it's gonna help it.

43:33 Jason Salmon: That said, it's gonna happen. You're gonna have interactions and, and I think that's where you go, "Well, I'm glad I took an improv class. I'm glad I learned how to do this." So you just, you just sorta, everything is, you're sort of crafting it as you go along, even though you're also showing them a product that is ostensibly finished.

43:56 Jason Salmon: Uh, it's still taking shape. And I mean, even after I recorded my first album and my second special, I still have jokes from those that got better after they were done. Mm. And, and that's technically done. But I still, like, I came up with a better ending and so everything, it's constantly moving and, and it is, uh, you are right, it's very enjoyable to be able to be in a place And say a thing in a way that allows someone to access a level of joy in themselves that they can't get to all by themselves.

44:28 Jason Salmon: And that's a magical, magical thing.

44:31 Marc Preston: There's a heaviness in the air, I think. I, I think that's- Yeah ... generally a feeling. There's a little bit, I think in, in general terms, and it's nice to know there's like, okay, there's some levity at least in this moment, and I facilitated that. I think that's a very- Yeah

44:42 Marc Preston: cool thing. You know, uh, it's funny, I, I spoke with, uh, Chloe Radcliffe the other day, and she's got her- Yes ... YouTube thing where she's riding on a tandem bike and, and, and it seems like to be a comedian in this era, you've gotta have a social media presence. You've gotta have something you're doing online.

44:59 Jason Salmon: Mm-hmm.

45:00 Why he started talking politics online

45:00 Marc Preston: How did you land on kind of giving some commentary and letting some of the politics come in there? Was it just something you feel like you knew about and you could talk about? Or, you know, developing your... I, I, I don't know. There's probably a better way of putting it. Your social media thing, you know.

45:16 Marc Preston: How did you come up- Uh-huh ... with that as being, okay, this is gonna be my avenue. This is gonna be my lane.

45:21 Jason Salmon: It was sort of accidental. I, uh, I've, I've been a political junkie ever since, uh, the first term of Trump, uh, in part because It, I've always been in comedy because I'm fascinated with the human brain.

45:37 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

45:37 Jason Salmon: Uh, and, and just the psyche of humanity and how we approach everything. Um, and suddenly when he got into office, I was like, suddenly it felt like there wasn't this sort of universal psyche anymore. There was distinctly these two separate pathways. And I was very curious about my friends, specifically from high school and elsewhere, who had voted for him, and I wanted to understand why.

46:05 Jason Salmon: And I wanted to, to pay attention to what was going on 'cause I didn't wanna just... And because the difficulty with him as a, as a, a candidate and as a president is that he thrives on emotional responses, both positive and negative, and people tend toward very extreme versions of those responses. If you love him, you love him, and if you hate him, you hate him.

46:32 Jason Salmon: And I was trying to come at it from a standpoint of, "I don't like this dude," 'cause I've lived in New York City long enough to see him rip off some of my friends.

46:39 Marc Preston: Um- You know, that's what, that's what I've heard a lot of people say about being

46:43 Jason Salmon: a New Yorker. Yeah, no, in New York City, he is widely regarded as a, as a, a, a con man.

46:48 Jason Salmon: I mean, legitimately. Yeah,

46:49 Marc Preston: I was watching a, a... It was yesterday, day before, Chris Cuomo spoke with, uh, Malcolm Gladwell. You know, he said in New York, nobody took him seriously. He was, uh- No ... just a guy who was out at parties. He was a scammer. Right. I, I will say I blame two people. There's two people in the world I blame for the rise of, uh, of Snoke or Trump, whatever his name is.

47:10 Marc Preston: Have to weave in a little Star Wars here. Um, but Mark Burnett, the producer of The Apprentice- Yeah. Producer of The

47:17 Jason Salmon: Apprentice ...

47:17 Marc Preston: and Merrick, and Merrick Garland, 'cause I'm like, we had how long to actually do something about this? And, you know.

47:22 Jason Salmon: Yeah. I mean, I will say that when, when Merrick Garland got into the position, I did And this is, this is a flaw, I think this is one of the major flaws of Biden, is Biden believed too much in the system working to correct wrongs.

47:42 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

47:42 Marc Preston: Uh-huh.

47:43 Jason Salmon: He was such a, he was such a system guy, which on a positive end of spectrum, part of the spectrum is that is how we got an infrastructure finally passed, an infrastructure bill. That is how we got like a bunch of legislation passed, 'cause he believed that legislatively was the way to solve a lot of these problems, and he believed in the system working itself out.

48:06 Jason Salmon: So he believed that playing it very astutely and, like, taking one step at a time and covering all your bases and crossing all your Ts and dotting all your Is, he believed that that was the way to do this so there was no loophole that somebody could slip through. The incorrect part of that was there was a timeframe.

48:25 Marc Preston: The clock was ticking once he got in there. Yeah. Yeah,

48:27 Jason Salmon: exactly. And that's the problem. And to be fair, I agreed with the, I agreed with the approach. I really did early on, and then you look at it and you go, "Well, in retrospect, I was wrong." Um-

48:37 Marc Preston: Well, I think I, I don't think any of us are really wrong. I think it's 'cause, well, we're-- these are the rules we've always...

48:42 Marc Preston: Not, I don't even say rules, the, the modus operandi that we- Yeah ... operate on because we're, you know, America. And- Yeah ... I, I will say this. My father ran car dealerships. I, I grew up around car salesmen, so there's something very familiar about Donald Trump to me. Right. Yeah. And, you know, and it crossed over, like I said, I don't believe it's politics anymore.

49:01 Marc Preston: I think it's, it's something else. It's something cultural, and I think it's more or less- Right ... he's the most visible thing of something that's, uh, occurring. Yeah. You know? There was a lot of ICE activity happening, uh, somewhere around, and somebody, uh, it was here on the island, and I saw some of the comments.

49:18 Marc Preston: All these people who were very, uh, pro-Trump. It's like, "Well, if you're illegal, don't worry about it." And I was looking, like, the last name Martinez, Gomez. I'm like, "Folks, you don't-- You know, if you're still on board- Yeah ... this guy wants you gone," you know? It's

49:32 Jason Salmon: like- Yeah, you might not wanna be riding your bike past these ICE, uh, vehicles 'cause-

49:36 Marc Preston: Yeah, and they, they, I-

49:38 Marc Preston: they will pin you

49:38 Jason Salmon: down ...

49:38 Marc Preston: I just saw that in San Antonio they have this Dia lo, Dia Los Muertos, the, uh, the, like Halloween, this big- Yeah ... festival thing, and they had to cancel it 'cause they're worried about ICE, you know? Yeah. Uh, like, I'm like- Which is

49:48 Jason Salmon: crazy ...

49:48 Marc Preston: which is like, are we really-- It's almost like this upside down we're living in.

49:52 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

49:52 Marc Preston: So you've got the catharsis of talking about it. I think the thing that I love about your video is you distill it in a way which is you have-- You kinda know your opinion, but it's, you're getting the info out. You look at the, all the news networks and, and they're going to do- Yeah ... like independent media now.

50:09 Marc Preston: These folks that have gone to do, uh, mostly through, like, Substack or YouTube, which is fantastic. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I see them falling into that thing where, like, you look at the little icons or thumbnails on YouTube and there, there's a whole theory behind that. You're still playing an algorithm. Yeah. I miss being able to have, you know, Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite- Right

50:29 Marc Preston: uh, Tom Brokaw and, you know, Ted Koppel. Mm-hmm. It just, it's just news. There's not really a feeling... And so I'm finding whenever I watch news- Yeah ... I wanna get the meat and potatoes, but when they go to panel, boom, I'm gone. Uh, you know, I don't need- Yeah ... to hear people talking back and

50:43 Jason Salmon: forth. You know what I advise to people all the time, I'm like, "If you wanna watch straight up news, the most, the m- uh, from a, just a visual standpoint, just from watching actual news on television, PBS NewsHour is the most bipart- like they, they wanna stay as, as nonpartisan as they- I agree.

51:02 Jason Salmon: If they bring on somebody to discuss a topic with on one side of the aisle, they make a, they make a policy of bringing on somebody from the other side of the... They wanna get... But, but they just give the news, and they also give a lot of news that you're not hearing because unfortunately, and I've had people since I've worked in New York City I know who've worked for different, uh, you know, major news stations, ABC, NBC, CBS, that sort of thing.

51:28 Jason Salmon: Um, and a lot of them run their stuff off of what's gonna be the most popular news story. So- Mm-hmm ... you're as, you're as likely to get a story about somebody fighting on an airplane as you are to get a story about, uh, some random ICE raid in your hometown, because one of those is just fun to watch for people.

51:49 Jason Salmon: They're like, "Well, I wa- I like to watch people fight," you know? It's not important.

51:54 Marc Preston: Yeah,

51:54 Jason Salmon: that's- I'm not concerned with, with the flight from Toledo to, to Omaha. Yeah. I'm not concerned with United Airlines flight from Toledo to Omaha on Thursday. That does not bother me at all.

52:06 Marc Preston: Well, I,

52:06 Jason Salmon: I- I'm concerned

52:07 with

52:07 Marc Preston: what happened

52:07 Marc Preston: also watch our BBC. Do you ever kinda catch the... 'Cause some- that's-

52:10 Jason Salmon: BBC is good, yeah.

52:11 Marc Preston: You know what's funny? Is it tells you a lot about our ti- this is something I just came up with k- a coup- couple days ago. I think I was watching- Yeah ... ABC News out of Australia, and they're talking about the mechanics of American politics.

52:22 Jason Salmon: Mm-hmm.

52:22 Marc Preston: Like, their people that they're talking to know what the hell... I'm like, you g- uh- Yeah ... I know, I know that the capital's in Canberra. You know, that's about as far as it goes- Yeah ... on politics in Australia for me. That's how much other people are dialed in and watching us right now. Mm-hmm. You know, they're very concerned- Oh,

52:37 Jason Salmon: the amount of, the amount of commentary I get on my posts from outside of the US, uh, is, is wild.

52:43 Jason Salmon: I get a lot of people who are like, "Look, this is my favorite way to consume US news," because it's at least You know, it's at least- At least we're not that ... looking at it from the same vantage point we're looking at it from. You're like- Mm-hmm ... this is weird.

52:58 Marc Preston: Um- Yeah, for them to look in, I, I think they're probably like, at least, you know, things are bad, but at least we're not the US right now.

53:04 Marc Preston: You know, the same thing with, uh, being a, you know, Jewish kid, you know. Israel's great. Not a fan of Netanyahu, you know? It's- Yeah ... you can dislike the people in government and still love the place. Absolutely. You know? Go, go back to your Ranger. By the way, my golden retriever under my feet's Ranger, just throwing it out there.

53:19 Marc Preston: Oh,

53:19 Jason Salmon: nice.

53:21 Chris Rock, George Carlin and his heroes

53:21 Marc Preston: Um, he even has a little Texas Ranger name tag. Uh, it's a little brass- Nice ... with our engraving. So he's got a little... He's a, he's an official dog. Who was your Mount Rushmore, like when you were coming up comedy-wise? Like, who were, who were the folks- Um ... that you watched that... Were you very cognizant like of the Sam Kinison era to, you know, Richard Pryor to- I was

53:39 Jason Salmon: aware of it.

53:40 Jason Salmon: I was aware of it then. I think the first, the first comedian I ever heard was, uh, this guy named Mike Warnke. He was a, you know, I grew up in, in the Bible Belt, so- Hmm ... uh, he was a religious comedian actually, and it was the first album I ever heard, and my whole family listened to it, you know? Uh, g- and he was good.

54:01 Jason Salmon: He was actually, it was actually really funny, and I remember it, and, uh, that so, while that wasn't somebody I would put on my Mount Rushmore, uh, he was formative because that was me going, "Oh, not all comedy is what you..." Like I had never pictured it being also religious sometimes because that was- Yeah

54:22 Jason Salmon: this man's perspective. Um, I remember early on listening to, uh, uh, some, uh, Steve Martin. I remember somebody, somebody had some Steve Martin. I remember Eddie Murphy, like his specials were- Oh,

54:36 Marc Preston: Eddie Murphy Raw was- ... famous, famous ... that was- Yeah ... it was a, I mean, one of the s- I remember going to my friend Chris's house.

54:42 Marc Preston: We, we went to Blockbuster and got Domino's, you know, the cl- quintessential Gen X- Yeah, yeah ... kid thing to do. Then, then I got into Carlin early. Carlin, if he was here right now, would literally be the most relevant of your tribe, I think. He, uh, he was talking about this stuff back in the day, like almost like a prophet, you know?

55:00 Jason Salmon: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's like the famous quote that, uh, you know, history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Yeah. Um, you know, and that is legitimately, he was dealing with the same topics as, uh, way back then. Um, Carlin is definitely would be on my Mount Rushmore. Uh, I think in that vein, I think, I think Chris Rock, uh, as much as, you know, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy and, and Dave Chappelle and those guys all brought their own sort of vision to that sort of lineage.

55:32 Jason Salmon: I don't... Like, 'cause you can draw straight lines to each of those guys. I guess Dave Chappelle's the least com- uh, in that crew.

55:38 Marc Preston: Yeah. '

55:39 Jason Salmon: Cause sort of, uh, um, uh, Eddie Murphy sort of followed Richard Pryor wh- and then Eddie Murphy took I, I, I rem- I work at the Comic Strip here in New York, and Eddie Murphy literally was being managed by the owner of the Comic Strip.

55:54 Jason Salmon: Really? Walked in the Comic Strip, says, "I'm about to go on the road. Do you have any Black comics I can take with me?" And they go, "We got that guy stacking chairs." And he was, like, really young. Like, he

56:03 Marc Preston: was only... When he was on SNL, I think he was only 19. Oh, yeah. Was he 19 or something like that?

56:07 Jason Salmon: He was about ni- I think he was about 19, yeah.

56:09 Jason Salmon: And he was literally stacking chairs to get time on the show when Eddie took him on the road. So he sort of got thrown into the mix fast and furious, you know? And he, uh, d- to his credit, you could have flamed out big time from that sort of early on, uh, gifting of opportunity.

56:30 Marc Preston: Yeah.

56:30 Jason Salmon: But he became one of, he became one of the preeminent comics.

56:33 Jason Salmon: I would say Louis C.K., uh, the, the, uh, burgeoning of his career, uh, like when his career really blew up as a standup was in part because he saw Chris Rock do a set at, at a comedy club in New York City, and he's like, "That is what we need to be doing." Mm. Like, whatever he's doing. And Chris just went on the road and worked and wrote and worked and wrote.

56:58 Jason Salmon: Um, so those are the guys who I... And, and, you know, and as simple as it is, Jerry Seinfeld, the guy creates a meticulous joke. Um, you know, he's one of those guys who just, there's nothing substance-wise that is, that is, uh- There's no

57:16 Marc Preston: fat on the bone ... inherent. Yeah. It's, it's,

57:18 Jason Salmon: it- Yeah. But there, but there's also nothing that's inherently timeless in what he's discussing, but the way he says it is so musical that it makes it timeless.

57:29 Jason Salmon: Uh, his bit about, you know, socks escaping the dryer, like, uh, they're just trying to, you know, get out. Like, they use the dryer as a- A portal ... as the way that they, uh, sort of escape the prison of being laundry. Um, it's just, it's just so good, like, just how well he crafts it. So, you know, I would, I would put Chris Rock on there.

57:53 Jason Salmon: I would put, um... 'Cause I think Chris Rock was the pinnacle of that whole ascent. Like I, I... There's some great stuff that Richard Pryor did. I, I, like you said, I, uh, uh, Eddie Murphy was formative, but Chris Rock I think was the pinnacle of that style of comedian who's, like, dealing with some real substance, but doing it in such a funny, funny, and, and unique way.

58:18 Marc Preston: Well, that unique, that's the thing that I think has creatively turned me on when it came to, uh, you know, when I was a kid and watching comedy. Like, first time- Yeah ... I saw Mitch Hedberg, I'm like, "What the hell is this?" But it's- Yeah ... funniest, you know, the- Steven Wright is in that world ... I'm like, I was about to say Steven Wright, the same kind of thing.

58:34 Marc Preston: Like, you're like, "I don't know where this, what frequency he's operating on, but I feel like I'm seeing- Yeah ... a portal into another tra- universe here."

58:40 Jason Salmon: Anthony Jeselnik is a guy who's a more contemporary and darker version of both of those guys.

58:45 Marc Preston: Who do you like to watch right now, uh- Oh, man ... that is, that's out there in the world?

58:51 Jason Salmon: I mean, there's some-- The great thing about being in, in, uh, the city is, is that you encounter comics all the time. I, I love watching Gary Gulman, uh, do stuff 'cause he's got such a unique take on the world and a unique delivery of his comedy. He's a- Mm-hmm ... he's a wordsmith. Huge fan of that. I'm a, I'm a wordsmith myself.

59:10 Jason Salmon: I like, I love words- Yeah ... and just that's one of my favorite things. Uh, it, um, one of my friends, uh, Leah Bonnema, she's this woman who just has this just the right amount of rage and just the right amount of whimsy perspective on being just alive during this stretch of time. And, uh, she's great. Um, uh, Nathan Macintosh is-- he's got this great stuff about AI and about tech bros, and about how we sh- we should, you know, we should have beat up the nerds.

59:41 Jason Salmon: We stopped beating up the nerds- ... and now we have tech bros. Like, he's got that. I mean, just there's such, there's so many great... Dan Soder's great, Mike Vick. You know, there's just so many great comics that so few people have heard of. Um-

59:53 Marc Preston: Yeah, I just went on a binge, and I was just watching on Y- And this how it came up some time ago.

59:57 Marc Preston: You came up, like, in YouTube. Like, uh, I was talk- like I said, I was talking to Chloe, uh, Radcliffe the other day, and I said, "You came up." Uh-huh. I was watching Kelsey Cook, and then YouTube just kind of, like, recommends and drops another thing. I was like- Yeah ... "Oh, what's her story?" And it was the funniest thing is literally I watch her, like, I dig her vibe, and literally the next- Yeah

1:00:15 Marc Preston: morning I had an email from her folks. You know, it was like, "Hey." It was like- That's great ... you know, it was like, not her parents, her, her people, you know? Yes.

1:00:21 Jason Salmon: No, yes, her people.

1:00:23 Marc Preston: But, uh, gotta clarify. It's like, "Yes, our daughter." No. Um, the- What do you have working right now? What's, uh-- I know you have a special you're working on for next year.

1:00:32 Austin special and a book about his dad

1:00:32 Marc Preston: What is it that you're working on to kind of crack 2027? What do you got going on?

1:00:37 Jason Salmon: Uh, well, yeah, I am recording my special in Austin at the, in December, and then, uh, it's gonna release next year. So that's a lot of what we're ramping up to right now is I'm doing a lot of. But, uh, I'm also beginning, you know- Well, how, how'd you

1:00:50 Marc Preston: choose Austin as the destination?

1:00:53 Jason Salmon: Austin, uh, well it's, you know, I love Texas, I love, uh, and, and I, and I've enjoyed playing Austin. I've done really well in Austin, and it's a, it's a crowd that's sort of the right mix- Mm-hmm ... of my vibe. Like, it's a very Texas mix, but a very liberal mix, and also a very sort of like friendly, weird friendly mix.

1:01:12 Jason Salmon: Like, it's the right amount of weird and, and, uh- Yeah. Yeah ... and, you know, sweet. Uh, actually, uh, Talarico's parents came to my show in Austin last time I was there, so, uh- Yeah. And so by virtue of that, I ended up meeting him, uh, later on in the year. So it was, uh, it was a real... And he's a, he's a nice guy, uh, you know, e- even in person.

1:01:33 Jason Salmon: Um, but, uh, yeah, I'm doing that. I'm working on a book about my dad. My dad, uh, passed away of Alzheimer's a couple years ago, and, uh, and, uh, I started writing when I, uh, it was, uh, when I finished my previous special, the first thing I did, because I felt like I needed to talk about my dad's Alzheimer's and the journey that I'd had, been a, uh, bl- I'd been blessed to be a part of his journey through it.

1:01:59 Marc Preston: Right.

1:01:59 Jason Salmon: Um-

1:02:00 Marc Preston: Were you an only kid, or did you have brothers and sisters around, or-

1:02:03 Jason Salmon: No, I, I have, uh, I have a sister, um, and she, you know, she's back home, and she's, uh, she did some stuff. You know, she was, she was helpful and everything. Okay, see, yeah, you gotta- My mom was the primary caregiver ...

1:02:14 Marc Preston: you know, folks I know who have, uh, traveled that path, I know it's, uh, it's uni- it's, everybody has a little bit different experience, but-

1:02:21 Jason Salmon: Yeah

1:02:22 Marc Preston: uh, but, but the book you're writing, is it kind of a, the summary of kind of what it's a... Is it just your experience, or is it sort of like kind of a- It was...

1:02:29 Jason Salmon: No, it was originally, I mean, because the, my thought process whenever I finish a special is I just start writing about what I, what I'm thinking about.

1:02:37 Jason Salmon: Like, what are the things I'm thinking about, and how am I gonna do this? And a lot of what I was writing was about my dad. So I was like, "I'm just gonna write out everything I wanna get out about my dad." And so I intended it to be a comedy set originally. Um, but then I got, I got about 100 pages into it, and I'm like, "I feel like this is more of a book."

1:02:58 Jason Salmon: Um- Yeah ... so, so I went back and started organizing it. But, uh, long story short, it's, uh, it's sort of how, as an optimistic comedian- Finding out my dad had Alzheimer's, and my goal was to make it the best thing that ever happened to him. So

1:03:15 Marc Preston: 20, 30, whatever years from now or whatever, that's not gonna be as big of an issue, you know, if science keeps going the direction-

1:03:21 Jason Salmon: Yeah, I hope, I hope it's not.

1:03:22 Marc Preston: Yeah ... and i- i- and if we don't end up in an Idiocracy kind of a situation, you know? I

1:03:26 Jason Salmon: know it.

1:03:26 Marc Preston: You know,

1:03:27 Jason Salmon: it's, that's the fight.

1:03:28 Tracy Morgan and his first TV job

1:03:28 Marc Preston: That's, uh, that's wonderful you're doing that. So you, any acting? Anything, uh, on camera that you're

1:03:33 Jason Salmon: doing? Uh, yeah. I, I'm still auditioning and jumping out there on things. Uh, I just filmed a, I just filmed a episode of, uh, Tracy Morgan's, uh, the, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.

1:03:45 Jason Salmon: I filmed an episode of that. Um, so yeah, I'm s- I'm still out there acting and, and, uh, doing what, you know, whenever they'll have me, you know? Yeah. I'm trying to get, I'm trying to get in a lot more things that are allowing me to get on set, but, you know.

1:04:00 Marc Preston: Well, I, I got to love Tracy Morgan. I saw him on stage once saying, "Everybody here's getting pregnant tonight," or something like that.

1:04:05 Marc Preston: He just- He, he-

1:04:08 Jason Salmon: What's funny is my first, my first ever... 'Cause he's a stand-up and I've seen him in, in person, like, you know. I, the great thing about New York and stand-up is you intersect with people all the time. Yeah, yeah. So I've, I've hung out with him randomly in, you know, in a group of people. Um, but my first ever gig on TV, uh, the first ever, uh, job I ever got on TV was on 30 Rock.

1:04:34 Jason Salmon: And I, I didn't have a scene with Tracy, but I had a dressing room right next to Tracy's, and so I listened to Tracy for four hours just regaling about stories about what happened last weekend, and b- it was fascinating.

1:04:58 The Seven Questions

1:04:58 Marc Preston: One of the last things I do, uh, I always love my seven questions. Just a quick little- Okay ... extra bit of fun. I al- I always talk food, and you're in New York, so it's gonna be kind of fun. But-

1:05:06 Jason Salmon: Yeah ...

1:05:07 Marc Preston: well, you're a Texan also, so I gotta know, what is your comfort food? If you could say, you know, that one thing, it's a great day, it makes it better, crummy day, it kinda elevates you a little bit.

1:05:15 Marc Preston: Uh- What's your favorite comfort food? My,

1:05:17 Jason Salmon: my comfort food is steak and baked potato. Stuffed baked potato with all the fixings. Steak, nice steak, and a, and a, uh, you know, like a little, a little corn on the side. You know, like that's- Mm-hmm ... that is the food, that's what I love. I love more than anything.

1:05:36 Marc Preston: Well, a little side question, Dallas area kid.

1:05:38 Marc Preston: What, where, where's your, uh... What's your fav- What's that one restaurant you think of, like, when I come back to Dallas, I, I gotta hit this place?

1:05:45 Jason Salmon: Uh, when I come back to Dallas, I will tell you there's, uh, barbecue or Tex-Mex, because that is the thing that you cannot get in New York City. You can get a good steak here.

1:05:56 Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

1:05:56 Jason Salmon: For sure. Uh, but there's a, there's a couple places. Hu- Hutchins Barbecue is a great barbecue place in, in Dallas. Uh, Heim Barbecue is phenomenal, uh, barbecue spot in Fort Worth. I think they're, uh, they've expanded. I think they've even maybe- I thought... You know,

1:06:12 Marc Preston: my cousin took me to, uh, Hard Eight, uh, out, uh, in, in- Hard Eight.

1:06:17 Marc Preston: Okay ... like, uh, they're serving it to you brown paper by the pound. I'm like, "This is my-" Yeah. But, you know- Yeah ... of course, when we grew up it was Spring Creek, you know? And, uh- Yeah,

1:06:25 Jason Salmon: Spring Creek. That's the standard. Yeah.

1:06:27 Marc Preston: Yeah, I, I got a thing for Campisi's. Always gotta hit that when I'm in town. That's good.

1:06:31 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

1:06:31 Marc Preston: Um, next question. I- I- if you were to sit down and talk story, uh, for a few hours, a whole afternoon- Uh-huh ... have coffee, you and three people, living or not, who would those three people be you'd want at your table?

1:06:43 Jason Salmon: Oh, wow. Uh, from a p- from a political perspective, I gotta be honest, I would love to ha- I like people who present conundrums.

1:06:53 Jason Salmon: Uh, like I would like to have Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the f- words in the Constitutional preamble of all men are created equal and owned slaves till he died. Like, I wanna get inside that mind. I wanna know what is, what- D- didn't he

1:07:11 Marc Preston: even write his own Bible or his own version of a Bible or something like that?

1:07:14 Jason Salmon: He may have. Okay. Like, he was a prolific writer. He really was. He was, I mean, and, and, and he was a, he was a, a brilliant man, but he had this tragic flaw of-

1:07:26 Marc Preston: Yeah ...

1:07:27 Jason Salmon: believing that he needed, like, everybody should be equal eventually, but not yet. But, like, I, I still need this in my life. And it's like that, that's fascinating to me because the capacity for that genius while having the depravity to believe something differently or feel something differently is, that's fascinating, I think.

1:07:50 Marc Preston: Um- I, I, you know, what I think that tethers into is a sociology of, like, a time. Uh, this is no justification for it, but if you- Yeah ... live in a society where nobody says- Yeah ... this is a bad thing, you know, it just, it, it ev- y- you gotta figure that guy, if he was living in this era, he would be a more evolved kind of a, you know, dude or just-

1:08:08 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

1:08:08 Jason Salmon: But I mean, at the same time, would he be the type of guy who's like, "Yeah, we should definitely, like, ideally in the future we give kids free lunch for school, but for now I just want tax breaks"? Like, I mean, that's sort of- Yeah. It... You know what I'm saying? Like- Yeah ... like, like what makes you the greatest is the ability to transcend that.

1:08:28 Jason Salmon: I mean, I think- Yeah ... I think one of the other people on the flip side of that coin is Lyndon Johnson, who was legitimately, like, he was a, like, he, there was a lot of, I think, corruption in, like, his rise in politics. Like, he was playing all the games and doing all the, and trading all the favors and all that stuff, but that man sort of catab- he sort of imploded his own career by signing the civil rights law- Yeah, yeah

1:08:52 Jason Salmon: and by, like,

1:08:53 Marc Preston: he sort of did the opposite. Well, I, I think 'cause he was a teacher, ultimately. He had a soft spot in his heart. He saw- Yeah ... the Latino, the, the Mexican- Yeah ... population as... Those kind of people are very interesting, the, the ones that kind of-

1:09:03 Jason Salmon: And I would like to have those two guys go head-to-head in a conversation.

1:09:08 Jason Salmon: And I would like to- Yeah ... and I would like to have, uh, myself and, uh, then, uh, George Carlin to, to, to referee. You know, I think that would probably be a really interesting-

1:09:20 Marc Preston: The, that'd, that would be a... God, that would be fun. I'd just like to have Geo- George Carlin at any, you know... I gotta have him at my... I always think of my table, I always kind of think of my grandfather and Alan Watts, a philosopher, and Anthony Bourdain.

1:09:32 Marc Preston: Yeah. He's kind of a, you know, one of those guys that- Bourdain ... has,

1:09:34 Jason Salmon: like, car- Or like bringing in somebody like bell hooks, like the, the feminist author. Yeah. Like, she's one of those people who, like Who like brought a joy from like all of this trauma that she had. Like she's somebody that'd be... I'd- c- Ketanji Brown Jackson, like the endpoint of the all pe- all men are created equal, you know, the, the Supreme Court Justice, you know, is

1:09:56 Marc Preston: that- Well, you know what I like is you have that 30,000-foot view where you're looking at things more objectively.

1:10:01 Marc Preston: But I want- Okay ... folks to check out your, your, it's your Friday weekly s- it's a Friday summary, right? Is that what it is?

1:10:07 Jason Salmon: Yes. It's, uh, Another Weird Week. I do it every Friday. It's a three-minute summary on all the social media of, uh, everything that happened this week. Uh-

1:10:17 Marc Preston: I th- I, I think it should be required listening for folks.

1:10:21 Jason Salmon: I will tell you this, if you don't feel like watching the news, it's a good three-minute supplement to, to make sure that you're caught up for the week. I will say that.

1:10:30 Marc Preston: Uh, who says news shouldn't have a little comedy worked in? Um, now next qu- question I got for you, who was your celebrity crush when you were a, a young dude coming up?

1:10:38 Marc Preston: Who was your very first one? Oh.

1:10:40 Jason Salmon: I mean, probably the one that, that lingered the most was, uh, Elle Macpherson. I think she was a- Oh, yeah ... 'cause she was, she was Sports Illustrated supermodel, then supermodel, then actor. But like she w- she w- she actually acted in this movie called Sirens, which to be fair, I went to see because, uh, she was not wearing a lot of clothes in it.

1:11:08 Jason Salmon: Um, but it was a phenomenal movie. It's actually a brilliant movie. Um, it's a, it's sort of an analogy or a, yeah, just sort of a, a Garden of Eden type morality tale. Um- Okay.

1:11:23 Marc Preston: I remember

1:11:24 Jason Salmon: the name now. Yeah ... uh, it's a really in- Sam Neill's in it. Uh, Hugh Jack- or not Hugh Jackman, Hugh, uh- Who was the big guy back in the '80s then?

1:11:32 Marc Preston: Oh, uh, Hugh, uh, yeah, he was in, like, Notting Hill or something.

1:11:36 Jason Salmon: Yes, yes. Okay, uh- What is-- I can't believe I can't think of his name . It'll

1:11:40 Marc Preston: probably come to us in just a minute, yeah .

1:11:43 Jason Salmon: But like, what's interesting about that is she was both my crush, but she also began my crush on indie films, 'cause that's when- Yeah

1:11:50 Jason Salmon: that was in the '90s, and- Oh, I talk

1:11:53 Marc Preston: about that all the time ... and that was when I really- I miss indie film. I mean, I've missed kind of the- Yeah ... this, I'm predicting we're gonna have a little resurgence of that. With the world of entertainment, everything going on, I think we're gonna find- Yeah ... some people creating some of their own stuff.

1:12:04 Marc Preston: Uh, it's gonna come out- Oh, yeah ... you know. Uh, but you're right, I'm a big fan of independent film. Besides that, any specific film pop out in your mind as being, uh, I'll say your Mount Rushmore, but your definitely, you know, s- a, a film or two that you remember that you really liked, uh, from the era- Yeah

1:12:20 Marc Preston: independent-wise.

1:12:21 Jason Salmon: Like Water For Chocolate was one of my... That, uh, that was in, in Spanish. It was a, it was a foreign film, but it's this beautiful, um, it's this beautiful sort of Mexican fairy tale about this woman who was able to, uh, communicate her love through food. Mm-hmm. Like, so, so the, it's based on a book, and in the book, each chapter starts with a recipe, and it goes into, you know, how she was, she was just this sort of maid who fell in love with this guy, and it's, uh, it's beautiful.

1:12:55 Jason Salmon: It's this lovely fairy tale. Beautiful movie, amazing movie. Um, yeah, that's one of my all-time, uh, it's probably one of my top five movies ever.

1:13:04 Marc Preston: The next question I got for you is if, uh, let's say you're gonna be on an exotic island, somewhere you really wanna be. It's a resort, somewhere you really wanna be.

1:13:10 Marc Preston: Okay. But you're gonna be there for a whole year. All right. Uh, no streaming, though, so you gotta bring one CD with you and one DVD. And so s- if you- Wow ... you got one, one, or a box set, something you can listen to over and over and over again for a whole year- Okay ... and something you can watch. What would that, what would the music and what would the film be for

1:13:27 Jason Salmon: you?

1:13:28 Jason Salmon: Ooh. Oh, man. Um, film would probably be Princess Bride. That's one of those, that's one of those movies that I could legitimately watch once a week and I'd be fine with it, I think. Um, great storytelling, whimsical, uh, makes you feel good. Some of the best comedic performance of that era. Um, so that's definitely the DVD.

1:13:53 Jason Salmon: The, uh, CD, wow, that's, that's a, that's a tougher one. Uh- Gosh, it would have to be a greatest hits, of course. Mm-hmm. Uh, somebody's greatest hits. Probably, probably either, uh, Journey or Toto's greatest hits.

1:14:14 Marc Preston: Oh, very good. Maybe. Very good.

1:14:16 Jason Salmon: Yeah.

1:14:17 Marc Preston: And yeah, I just got another political text here. You know, God, I cannot wait for this election-

1:14:21 Marc Preston: to be over with. Um, the, uh, late great Rob Reiner, that was... You know, I, I've gotten Princess Bride many a time, and plus I wanna... I would love to talk to Mandy Patinkin at some point. Seems like he would be like- Yeah ... a real cool dude to connect with. Um- Yeah. Now, if I was to say to you, from the time you get up to the time you go to sleep, i- if you were to say at the end of the day, "This was a perfect day," what were the component parts?

1:14:42 Marc Preston: What were the ingredients for you to say, "This was a perfect day for me"?

1:14:49 Jason Salmon: I was outdoors. I was, uh... I felt grass. Uh, I, I... Like, the blue sky. Like, so, uh, I ate well. I, I talked with people. I, I, I saw friends, uh, and I kissed my wife. That's probably, probably a great day.

1:15:12 Marc Preston: The, the next question, guys, if you were to say, or somebody came to you and said, "Listen," you know, "this whole comedic thing, this, this writing, this creating, this is not available to you anymore," what do you think would be another vocation, another career that would bring you joy?

1:15:28 Jason Salmon: I mean, my, my body is built to, uh, to do manual labor, so, uh, my, my brain is too curious. Uh- So, uh, I do think that the, the fact that my brain wants to go wandering, I'm not designed to be, uh, in an office job. I think, I think it would be- Oh,

1:15:50 Marc Preston: uh, me, me either, yeah.

1:15:51 Jason Salmon: Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think it would be me doing something very physical, uh, but like to where it was just a very specific...

1:16:01 Jason Salmon: I did a physical work, and then I went, like, like being a... I would say, like, being a, like a, like a, like a farmer almost. Like, that's almost what it... But, like, not a... Working, like working on a dock or working, uh, working, like being a, being like a Alaskan fisherman-type guy. I don't know. Uh- Yeah ... yeah, it would be physical for sure, and then I would have the time off at the end of the day where I would just...

1:16:31 Jason Salmon: That's when my mind- The brain can go and, and

1:16:33 Marc Preston: go

1:16:33 Jason Salmon: and do its thing. Yeah, my brain could, like, I could put stuff on paper or whatever the case was, but yeah.

1:16:38 Marc Preston: Very good. Very good. Um, I identify with that. Sometimes it's just... The last question I got for you, uh, if you were to jump into a DeLorean and you were able to travel back to when you're 16 years old, and you got a few minutes with you.

1:16:51 Marc Preston: You're gonna just hang out- Yeah ... and go, "Okay, I'm gonna drop a little wisdom, a little advice to, to make that moment a little better, maybe get on a different track," what would that piece of wisdom or advice be to younger you?

1:17:01 Jason Salmon: Uh, I think I would just say, I think I would just say, "None of this matters. Do what you love, find who you are, find the people who appreciate both of those things, and travel forward."

1:17:16 Jason Salmon: I mean, that's, I think that's... You know, and, and what that is, is at that time what I loved was playing football. Do it. Play football. Yeah. You know? But- Recognize the people who appreciate you for who you are, you know? Recognize the people who can find things that you didn't see, you know, in who you are.

1:17:34 Jason Salmon: Yeah,

1:17:34 Marc Preston: find, you know, finding, I think finding your tribe is one of the great journeys we should all go on. I think sometimes- Yeah ... you try to get yourself fit in a box going, "Well, these aren't necessarily my peo- Like, my people I don't think are 9:00 to 5:00 in a cubicle. I think my years of working in radio, and I started working in, in Dallas.

1:17:49 Marc Preston: Yeah. I think that was my proper, like, fellow weirdos, you know? It's like that's, uh- Yeah ... and now, now as I try to tell my kids, "Your dad used to be cool once upon a time, back when radio was a thing," you know? Um-

1:18:01 Jason Salmon: I will say if I was telling myself on how to date, I would say, "When you go out on a date, quit selling yourself and listen.

1:18:07 Jason Salmon: Ask questions and listen." And if you do that, your love life will be so much better than it will ever be otherwise.

1:18:14 Marc Preston: I, I appreciate you sharing some of your time with me. I know you're, I know you're a busy guy, and, uh, it means a lot and I, I love, uh, be- being able to tell some folks about you. And, oh- Thanks so much

1:18:24 Marc Preston: and Ranger, just wait a minute.

1:18:26 Jason Salmon: I like it.

1:18:27 Marc Preston: He, he, he know- Oh, just while we're

1:18:28 Jason Salmon: at it, while, while I'm catching up on your surroundings, just so you know, that is what has been hanging above my head this whole time. A

1:18:34 Marc Preston: nice, uh, the OG Texas Rangers hat. You know. The OG

1:18:38 Jason Salmon: Texas Rangers hat. Yes, sir.

1:18:39 Marc Preston: Yeah, they, whenever they have the retro out uniform, like I remember that...

1:18:43 Marc Preston: And, and they did that, I don't know what that uniform is that they wear that's got like, it looks like- Similar ... just too much stuff happening. I think it's supposed to be- Yeah ... integrating a lot of the old y- I don't know what it is. I asked my son, my sons, uh, knock on wood, he became a Rangers fan, thank goodness.

1:18:58 Marc Preston: Uh, but I was trying to have him explain the uniform. It looked like a dis- I don't know what it is. You know, in the uniform I'm talking about that's just this, looks like somebody had a bad ADHD moment and said, "Let me just throw all this together-" "... and this is our sh- this is our special uniform," or whatever.

1:19:12 Marc Preston: But I don't know. I'm not a fan. I like the old school, you know, uh, uh-

1:19:16 Jason Salmon: I like those light blue, those powder blue

1:19:18 Marc Preston: It just brings you back, you know? Oh, yeah. Brings you back to the old stadium, and, uh-

1:19:22 Jason Salmon: When we didn't win anything.

1:19:23 Marc Preston: No, and we'd had no expectations, and then of course Ron Washington- It was so bad

1:19:27 Marc Preston: Ron Washington got us there two years in a row. He did. All that was is, like, a lot of foreplay and nothing else afterwards. I know. It was

1:19:34 Jason Salmon: very painful.

1:19:35 Marc Preston: And it was like, oh, it was, it was painful. Uh, and then, but anyway, I'm still riding the high of winning the World Series. Oh, yeah. You know. I do miss Rangers games.

1:19:43 Marc Preston: I love being able to sit down, eat a hot dog, drink a beer- Yeah ... and watch someone else work, you know? Um- I know

1:19:48 Touring until the Austin taping

1:19:48 Jason Salmon: it ...

1:19:48 Marc Preston: but, um, are you gonna be going out on a, a, on tour dates anytime soon, or?

1:19:53 Jason Salmon: Yeah. I'm, I'm basically every weekend for the remainder of the year until, I record my special in Austin on the 10th and 11th of December.

1:20:00 Jason Salmon: And up to then I am Out of town most of the time.

1:20:04 Marc Preston: We'll get you some Franklin Barbecue when you're down there, man. Oh,

1:20:07 Jason Salmon: yeah. And, uh, think of me fondly, but- Oh, yeah. Will do. I will be, uh, I will be imbibing.

1:20:10 Marc Preston: Well, if you ever make your way down here to the, uh, to South Padre, you let me know. We'll, we'll, we'll get you, we'll get you fed proper,

1:20:16 Jason Salmon: and, uh- Absolutely.

1:20:17 Marc Preston: But, uh- Count

1:20:18 Jason Salmon: on it ...

1:20:18 Marc Preston: well, well my friend, I appreciate y- your time greatly. He just knows when the interview's wrapped. I don't know how he knows it, but he just- He knows

1:20:23 Jason Salmon: he's ready. It's his turn.

1:20:25 Marc Preston: Yeah, he, he's like, "It's time to go." I know, I know. A lot of big feelings. Um- But I appreciate you greatly, and I'm gonna go get this mongrel outside, and, uh- All right

1:20:37 Marc Preston: but, uh, best of luck to you, my friend. Hopefully I have a chance to catch up down the line.

1:20:40 Jason Salmon: Thanks so much. I appreciate you having me.

1:20:44 Marc Preston: Well, there you go. Jason Solomon. A cool dude, great comedian, uh, great on the social media commentary. Make sure to head to storyandcraftpod.com. All of his links are right there, uh, so, uh, make sure to subscribe to his socials.

1:21:00 Marc Preston: That way you get his, uh, weekly commentary. And since we are talking comedians and comedy, uh, just checked out Dane Cook's documentary called Funny Money on Netflix. It was really intriguing. Dane was on the show. In fact, you can check it out, uh, back, uh, November 29th, 2022. Check out the episode with Dane Cook.

1:21:20 Marc Preston: Um, he even brought up the, the subject matter that was covered in the documentary. Don't wanna spoil it for you, but it was some great storytelling, and, uh, just a wild ride. So, uh, again, it's called Funny Money. It's on Netflix right now, so check it out. Uh, I'm gonna get on out of here, but before I do, gotta remind you, make sure to grab your podcast app.

1:21:40 Marc Preston: Make sure to follow, subscribe. That way you get notified every time a new episode comes out. Leave a note, leave a review, stars, whatever have you. That way it helps people to find the show, and I appreciate that. And as I always say, I appreciate you making what I've got going on here part of whatever you've got going on.

1:21:56 Marc Preston: It does mean a lot. Uh, tell you what, I'm gonna get on out of here. Really enjoyed the conversation with Jason, a fine fellow Texan. And coming up in a couple days, another Texan. I don't know, it's Texas week here on Story and Craft. But, uh, another great conversation just a couple days away. So, uh, you go take care, and I look forward to connecting with you again right here on Story and Craft.

1:22:18 Announcer: That's it for this episode of Story and Craft. Join Marc next week for more conversation right here on Story and Craft. Story and Craft is a presentation of Marc Preston Productions, LLC. Executive producer is Marc Preston. Associate producer is Zachary Holden. Please rate and review Story and Craft on Apple Podcasts.

1:22:40 Announcer: Don't forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. You can subscribe to show updates and stay in the know. Just head to storyandcraftpod.com and sign up for the newsletter. I'm Emma Dylan. See you next time, and remember, keep telling your story.