Does that affect the way you do your deliveries or just get out there and go?

You know, it's interesting.

He does it in the round.

That's how, you know, so which is always fun.

It's like an interesting we adapt really quick.

I always I always tell me they always go, how do you do that in the round? And.

comedians we get so used to a different environment every night we forget how good we are at adapting so it's like you know the first couple minutes you go oh this is interesting and then eventually you're just like i know how to do this but you're playing to the cameras a lot in a big arena like that you really you know and you've got different cameras that you're hitting nate has four cameras one in each corner so you kind of want to make sure you're delivering punch lines You know, you're timing it so that as you're rotating in this 360-degree environment, you're nailing punchlines to a camera, and that helps.

You do really resemble a slightly younger Jerry Seinfeld.

So, Ryan, were you on the tarmac, and they canceled the flight, or you just didn't even get on the plane?

I had a direct flight, so nice, and then they said that it was canceled because of lack of air traffic controllers is what I got back.

Ah, okay.

Then they put me through a layover in Detroit, and then we had weather in New York, thunder, lightning, and we said they couldn't...

We could take off, but we couldn't get the bags on the plane because of lightning.

So, like, they couldn't...

That's right.

Oh, yeah? Did

No, I don't want their names.

Okay.

Um, I had a guy one time, this just, just comes to mind real fast.

He, he, he...

I have this hot air balloon joke that is, like, one of my go-to, like, if, if people go, if they request a joke, that's it.

It's about going on a date on a hot air balloon.

And this guy came to open for me, and he was like, "Hey, everybody says I have a hot air balloon joke, but it's not like yours.

What's the closest you got to a fist fight on stage?

Was writing this special actually part of how you healed, and, or did the healing have to happen first before you could actually find that funny?

You know, it was interesting.

It, I im- my brain was in such a mode of, you know, when you're a comedian, you're just kind of constantly in this grabbing little observations and going, "That's interesting.

Let me work on that.

I'll take that to the stage tonight." And so I was in that mode.

Uh, I had just started back to work.

It was at the end of COVID, so I was just getting back into that mode and kind of thinking about things in that way.

Hmm.

and i had said to you before we were recording like um i said you know i asked you when your first sip of alcohol was and you said you grew up mormon this is the pond right here huh

Wow, yeah, it's pretty big.

It's a lot bigger than I remember.

Maybe it's gotten bigger.

But yeah, that's it.

That's it.

It's beautiful.

51.

Where was it recorded?

We recorded it in, uh, Seattle at a theater called The Neptune, um, which oddly enough, I had lived about a five-minute walk from there.

When I first started doing comedy full time, I moved to Seattle for a year.

And, um, this venue, I'd had some of the best shows of my life in this venue and, um, they had the right date, and so we just grabbed it.

Um, i- yeah, I ended up doing it in Seattle, which w- I, I, I really enjoyed.

Um, we shot it way back in October, so it's just finally getting out now.

It took me a while to edit it.

Uh, h- does that affect the way you do your delivery? Is it, or just get out there and go?

You

know, Wendy Liebman was just raving about it on Facebook.

Oh, she's so sweet.

Yes.

I texted her after I saw that.

She was so nice.

It's called This Just Hit Me.

What else

Here's a little tease.

I don't even use my gym.

I wander in every three months and I go, I don't know how to do this.

My entire workout, the whole thing is based on whatever machine is open.

That's how I do it.

I walk around like a lost toddler for three and a half minutes.

And then I go, I guess I'm going to do neck today.

We

We

have all these devices constantly broadcasting our location, right? So here's what dating has become in the modern world.

Who's right here, right now? It's like we're hunting fugitives on the run or something, you know? Set a 10-mile perimeter, close all the roads.

She's got a 5-mile head start, move it, move it! It's like, who are you interested in? Everyone in a 100-yard radius, basically, I'm just...

I'm not really into long distance relationships.

But what's your type? Just people near me.

yeah well you have a crazy story which we'll get into in a moment because people want to call in and try to one-up you with times they almost died but when you came to la you you lived here for only six weeks but it was because you were in recovery because of a story that i thought to be honest i don't never know with comedians is this a made-up story or a real story in your particular case a very real story yeah and it was basically you arriving at lax and immediately getting run over by a shuttle bus

Yeah, well, actually, I was in L.A. for like 10 days with COVID is what happened.

We

have all these devices constantly broadcasting our location, right? So here's what dating has become in the modern world.

Who's right here, right now? It's like we're hunting fugitives on the run or something, you know? Set a 10-mile perimeter, close all the roads.

Hello.

She's got a five mile head start, move it, move it! It's like, who are you interested in? Everyone in a hundred yard radius, basically.

I'm just, I'm not really into long distance relationships.

But what's your type? Just people near me.

yeah well you have a crazy story which we'll get into in a moment because people want to call in and try to one-up you with times they almost died but when you came to la you you lived here for only six weeks but it was because you were in recovery because of a story that i thought to be honest i don't never know with comedians is this a made-up story or a real story in your particular case a very real story yeah and it was basically you arriving at lax and immediately getting run over by a shuttle bus

Yeah

... w- how you feel about things.

So, uh, I, I, you know, I have some buddies who are into watches, and it's just a thing where I w- I have a very small wrist, so I could never wear a great watch.

So I was always on the hunt for, like, what's the watch for me? And this is, like, one of the cheaper ...

high-end watches that you could buy really.

And, but it's, it's so perfect, and it's just praised as, like, it's nothing but a watch-

Ooh

... that I really like, that I've been we- like, I, for summer, I think is great.

Tell us about that connection.

Well, I've known Nate for a long time and we've had a great relationship.

I moved to New York and he was already here a couple of years and I saw this guy and I thought, this guy's fantastic.

He's amazing.

He's so unique and original, even at that time, just really killing in a unique way.

And we were both in that kind of same observational broad realm.

So we were aware of each other and then he's just really blown up, and he approached me and said, I want to produce this thing.

kind of like that

It's a speedball.

It, it kind of surprises me.

[laughs] Yeah.

But it's interesting.

Yeah, I don't know.

But I, I find when you, this idea about, like, getting stuff stretched out, it's like I've always thought, and maybe it is, like, when you're working in this broad kind of observational way, you get some momentum, and the momentum is so much more valuable than s- it's so much easier to keep it going than start a new bit.

So that was eye-opening.

Wow.

I could

get angry, but I would feel real guilty.

That's what happens to me.

I carry that around.

Yeah.

But I don't know.

But I think you should do...

What do you mean?

It's very

wild.

Yeah.

It was one of my first gigs back after COVID.

Okay.

And I was just...

I was flying from Hawaii to LAX and it was like, I was so happy.

right right it's almost like an aftermath yeah like after it happens you go wow it could have been worse right but at the time like why did this happen

Was it, what do you think was harder about doing this stuff? Was it because it was so personal that you were, like, going through it?

It was in that, it was a bit of that in the beginning, but I, I got through that eventually, where it became kind of like I was numb to that part.

Um, uh, but I think the hard part at The Cellar especially was that it's, you know, I'm kind of resetting the room with a weird tone.

And so, uh, I had to, like, I had to figure that out 'cause it was like, "Oh, this is kind of a bummer, but I gotta work on this stuff." And it was a long story, so it would often be, like, the whole set.

And it was like [laughs] I would get laughs in there, but it was just like, you know, you don't really hear one topic through the whole set at The Cellar and also it being, like, a little bit traumatic.

So it, it, it, it put a weird vibe on the room, you know? Um, so I think that was the challenge of running it in short spots.

Uh, and then doing it long, it just kinda grew, and, um, it was hard.

Right

I mean,

I was writing for Amy Schumer.

They had three hosts that year and she had a lot of her monologue already done by the time I got there.

She's such a polished standup, but it was a crazy year because it was the year of the whole slap incident.

And so, yeah, it was really nuts.

Yeah.

It was really nuts.

setting when when the slap happened

Now, when did you decide, I'm going to head on out to New York?

I graduated college in Utah, and I started comedy there, and I was working out in Utah for years.

My first television appearance was Comedy Central, and they had this TV appearance, and somebody canceled the show called Live at Gotham, which is often with comedians' first television appearance, and they called me up.

They go, do you want to do this? Do we need somebody? I think they thought I lived in New York, and I just said, yeah, I'll do it.

And I traveled to New York and kind of never had been to New York city in my life.

And, uh, it was also Amy Schumer's first television appearance.

And, um, I got off stage, and I happened to have a good set, and Amy, who I'd never met, walked right up to me and said, Hey, I'm Amy, and you're going to move here, and we're going to get an apartment together.

How'd you guys come in contact?

How do you adapt to that? I know it's not your first rodeo, but that is a different environment.

For sure, it's a different environment.

It's really fun and interesting to have a different environment.

It's like the arenas are...

I mean, the theaters are different.

The arenas are different.

And the arenas in the round especially are different, which is the way Nate's doing it.

Was it a I mean, was it a culmination? How did you know when it was? It's a silly question to ask, but how did you know when it was kind of ready? Or did you have a date and you're like, it's got to be ready by then?

all your jokes killed on the Oscars that night? Yeah, I mean, I was writing for

Amy Schumer.

They had three hosts that year, and she had a lot of her monologue already done by the time I got there.

She's such a polished stand-up.

But it was a crazy year because it was the year of the whole slap incident.

And so, yeah, it was really nuts.

Yeah, it was really nuts.

far away were you sitting when the slap happened?

[laughs]

Uh, the moment between becoming tired and actually getting to sleep is a very difficult part of life.

You got... [laughs] You're faced with a whole series of humiliating tasks.

You gotta steel yourself to look in that bathroom mirror with the mouth guard in and just go, "Sleep is dangerous for me."

[laughs]

I, I turn into a vulnerable Sean Connery for about five minutes before bed.

"I'd like to go to sleep, but I'm so scared."[laughs] I, uh...

Oh, thank you.

Here is comedian Ryan Hamilton.

I recently went skydiving.

Yeah.

The first time you go, there are two methods.

You can go tandem or static line, which means you have a line attached to your chest, and they just kinda kick you out of the plane.

[laughs] And then the line pulls the chute for you, and you just float down alone and hope you don't land on a freeway or, uh-

[laughs]

And there were other people on the plane, these solo jumpers.

Well, I'll go get the car.

I'm just gonna go pick it up right now.

I'll be ready to go first thing.So I'm just walking, I'm so happy, and I hit the light at this intersection.

I hit the button, I watch the light turn, and I start walking, and this guy coming out of a hotel in his shuttle bus ran a light just on his route going over and over and over again.

Mm-hmm

... it's just so different.

Um, I don't know.

I mean, I have this joke now that's about, I don't know if it'll ever be my default setting.