Episode Transcript
[00:01:18] Burrill: What's going on, everybody? We have got a very special guest today, a brand new episode with our first time having a comedian on. We told you guys when we rebranded to Outside The Round that we were going to be mixing things up a little bit. And we've got right here, we've got with his live album, Twice Removed, we've got our boy Evan Burke in the house, the pride of Atlanta, Georgia, living here in yeah, yeah.
[00:01:41] Evan Berke: Thanks for having me, dude.
[00:01:42] Burrill: Thanks for being here and doing this, brother. Totally big fan of the comedy scene here in town and trying to learn more about it because we work a lot in music, obviously, totally do events like that. But I've really enjoyed watching your bits. My favorite one from Twice Removed was you talking about Loves and Buckies, because as a guy who's traveled around in a van and done that corridor, a lot of hitting. Loves hitting buckies. You described it perfectly.
[00:02:08] Evan Berke: Thank you.
[00:02:09] Burrill: You really did.
[00:02:09] Evan Berke: Thank you. Yeah, I mean, you spend so much time on the road and there's something about when you're in those environments just like slowing down, like looking at everything, just being like, what's funny about this?
Even that bit in particular, I almost challenged myself. I really like Jim Gaffigan and I love how that guy can talk about a peach for like twelve minutes and just you're like, I didn't realize there was that much to talk about a peach. So with that, I was like, I remember we were just on the road so much and I'm like, I'm just going to write a joke about love's travel stops and I'm going to try and talk about it. Do the best. How long can I go talking about this one topic, you hit it on.
[00:02:59] Burrill: The head because I've been in Loves at three in the morning. I've been in Loves at three in the afternoon, but I've also been in Buc EE's on a Sunday in the south, after church lets out. You hit the Buc EE's in Calhoun, Georgia, after church lets out, it is chaos.
[00:03:13] Evan Berke: It's the new Cracker Barrel.
[00:03:14] Burrill: It is.
Texas is just going all over the world.
[00:03:18] Evan Berke: Totally.
[00:03:18] Burrill: And, you know, they're building them on every like so you live here in Nashville?
[00:03:21] Evan Berke: I do.
[00:03:22] Burrill: So they're building on all the entry and exit points to Nashville. They're building a bucky's. Like, there's one east of town, they're building one west of town, they're building one in Clarks.
[00:03:29] Evan Berke: There's an ulterior motive behind Bucky's. Anyone that thinks Buc EE's is just here to make your road trip more know, a better experience, I think you're wrong. I think that Buc EE's is planning a full on takeover of the Bro.
[00:03:44] Burrill: And yeah, they've gotten into the Southeast and they're starting to like my thing is there's no truck stops really, up north.
Could you imagine folks from New York going into a Bucky's and being like, what the fuck is this?
[00:03:58] Evan Berke: I know. Like, we have to pump our own gas.
[00:04:00] Burrill: Jersey. We have to pump our own gas. What do you mean? I got to make a left turn out of here. Where's the jug handle?
[00:04:04] Evan Berke: Yeah, but no, I mean, Loves is like it truly is. Like I don't know, I feel like it's the perfect representation station of the epitome of a travel stop, like epitome of all of these different people you're going to find in the south. Again. It's like a Waffle House kind of thing where you could be a millionaire, you could have $2 to your name. But at Loves, at Waffle House, we're all the same.
[00:04:28] Burrill: Yeah. And it's the highest of its level because it is better than pilot, it's better than flying. J just like Waffle House, in my opinion, is light years ahead of a Denny's. If I want to walk out covered in syrup totally, I'm going to go to a Denny's.
[00:04:40] Evan Berke: Well, you know what you're going to get. They have uniformity across all locations. And when you're traveling, when you're road tripping I mean, that's why chains do so well in America, right? Because if you're traveling and your average person I don't want to say, I don't want to speculate, but your average person, if you've got Judy's Diner on the left, little hole in the wall, or an Applebee's on the right, I feel like your average person is like, well, I know Applebee's, so I'm going to go to Applebee's, right? And that's where love corners the market.
[00:05:12] Burrill: Yes.
[00:05:12] Evan Berke: All the same, no matter where you go, who does.
[00:05:14] Burrill: So how long have you been here in Nashville?
[00:05:16] Evan Berke: So I've been here about three years. I got here September of 2020, right out of COVID Right out of COVID COVID was still kind of going on. But yeah, I got here.
I was living in Los Angeles prior to COVID, and then COVID hit within about a week or two, I kind of realized that this was not just going to be two to four weeks. I was like, I'm going to get out of California. I'm going to get out of La. I packed up my car and I want to say that it was like March 27, 2020, I drove from Los Angeles back to Atlanta.
[00:05:54] Burrill: Wow.
[00:05:54] Evan Berke: In three days. I did three, like, eleven hour just sprints back as the world is shutting down. As the world is shutting down. Like, no joke. The highway is completely empty. I'm going like 110 miles an hour because no one's on the highway.
[00:06:09] Burrill: Fucking movie.
[00:06:10] Evan Berke: What cop is going to pull me over? I might have COVID.
And no, I stopped in Albuquerque was my first stop. Then I stopped in Little Rock, and then I was able to make it back to Atlanta. But dude, staying at a hotel in Albuquerque, like, right as the world is shutting down, like, literally, I got into the hotel and the remote to the TV was like, in a bag.
Everything was covered.
[00:06:37] Burrill: Hotel breakfast sucked.
[00:06:40] Evan Berke: The hotel in Little Rock was sketch, to say the least. Yes, I'm like the only person at this hotel. I'm like the only person traveling. So yeah, so I ended up being in Atlanta from about April 2020 until about September of 2020. And then I moved here. And my whole plan initially was from La. To move to Nashville even before COVID So that was already kind of the plan that I had in motion. It took a little bit longer. Just waited for the country to reopen.
But yeah, so I've been here three years, and I love it.
[00:07:15] Burrill: Yeah. Was it some culture shock coming from La. To seeing Nashville be open as much as it was? Because we started doing events in June of 2020. We were kind of in that renegades of doing the live events. Totally, like touring and stuff. Yeah.
[00:07:28] Evan Berke: I mean, it was kind of crazy.
Yeah. I'd say coming from La. Because, again, I was only in La. For like a week of COVID so everything shut down. I want to say that the whole country was on the same page during that time.
But then again, being from Atlanta, born and raised, my whole family's there, all my friends, I wasn't surprised when the south reacted the way that they did at all just by opening up earlier, basically being like, whatever risks are associated with this, I'm fine taking those risks kind of thing. So I wasn't necessarily surprised.
But I spent just about all of COVID in the south because I got straight to Atlanta, and Atlanta took a little bit longer to open.
But yeah, I mean, I will say, like, zany's here in Mean, and even during COVID so many comedians moved here from all over the country and whether they're still here or whether they just moved here for like a year or two, this was a place where you could keep doing comedy. You could keep getting on stage, you could continue to make a living and earn a living. I mean, I don't think people realize, once you decide I'm going to be a professional comic, what I mean by that is all of my income is going to come from comedy.
I mean, I don't think people realize what two to three weekends of no shows does to your bank account does to your livelihood.
[00:08:58] Burrill: Yeah, I saw it with touring. It's the same thing with music.
[00:09:00] Evan Berke: Totally.
[00:09:00] Burrill: You're making your money as part of the road crew, selling merchandise for a band, and then, okay, this next month is out, then the month after that, and then totally, you have to just reset and pivot and totally.
[00:09:11] Evan Berke: And so, I mean, even I got some opportunities around, like, September of 2020 to start doing shows with one of my budies, Dusty Slay, Nashville comic.
[00:09:20] Burrill: Love Dusty.
[00:09:20] Evan Berke: Yeah, he's the best. I've known him a long time. And so right around September of 2020, as clubs were beginning to open back up at 50% capacity, what have you, dusty was taking gigs and he was asking me to go, and I was like, I mean, I'm not going to say no right now. It's still an opportunity to do comedy. It's still an opportunity to help this small business stay afloat because their whole livelihood revolves on putting on shows and having people there buying drinks and food. It supports the small business. It supports my friends, Dusty's small business, him being a comedian, I'm like, whatever I can do so that people don't fold. I mean, at that point in time, as much as I was like, yeah, I still want to be doing comedy, my motivations to get on stage were more about, like, what can I do to support this industry and these small businesses within it that I really care about.
So being down here definitely was there was still an opportunity to get on stage where that just didn't exist in other parts of the country.
[00:10:23] Burrill: Yeah, dude. And the independent venues.
Live Nation doesn't own everything.
There's something to be said for the independently owned venues. Zanies, I think, is correct.
[00:10:33] Evan Berke: Zany'S is owned yeah. They are like family owned.
Third coast here is owned by individuals.
People here were doing what they had to do to, again, keep their businesses alive, keep people entertained while still being as smart and safe as possible.
But it's hard just to say, yeah, I'm going to let my business go under right now.
[00:11:02] Burrill: Absolutely.
[00:11:04] Evan Berke: It was nice being here during that time just because yeah. There was still opportunities to do something.
[00:11:09] Burrill: Yeah. Now, growing up down in Atlanta, did you get to experience all the different college towns that are down there in Georgia? Because Georgia to me has one of the best college scenes of any state. Maybe I'm biased because I work in country music, but there's something to be said for a Friday night in statesboro, georgia statesboro.
[00:11:25] Evan Berke: Then you got Millageville Tifton, you go.
[00:11:27] Burrill: To AVAC with all them the trades, man. Totally.
[00:11:30] Evan Berke: Then you got like yeah. You got Athens, which is like next level.
[00:11:34] Burrill: Even Kennesaw. Even Kenneth Kennesaw.
[00:11:35] Evan Berke: Yeah, I mean, I'm from Marietta, which is right next to Kennesaw.
Yeah.
I went to Athens a lot. My cousins went to UGA. A lot of my friends went to UGA. So I would go there and, I mean, that is one of the world class college towns.
[00:11:50] Burrill: 80 bars. 80 bars in a square mile.
[00:11:52] Evan Berke: Athens, Georgia, is amazing. I almost went to statesboro which what? Georgia Southern, right?
[00:11:58] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:11:58] Evan Berke: Almost ended up going to Georgia Southern. It's just so hot there. Oh, my God.
[00:12:03] Burrill: And those kids are freaking wild.
[00:12:05] Evan Berke: It is hot. It is wild. There is not much going on there, which is a breed for just getting into trouble.
[00:12:11] Burrill: Yeah, dude, it is the STD capital of the south. Yeah, it is. That's something they tell you when you go down there touring for the first time. Be careful down there, especially. And that was the first show I did after the pandemic.
[00:12:24] Evan Berke: I know folks with battle.
[00:12:26] Burrill: I mean, I'm from up near Jersey where you have Rutgers University and they call it Rutgers Red in New Brunswick.
[00:12:32] Evan Berke: Totally.
[00:12:33] Burrill: Because you spent time in New York, too, right?
[00:12:35] Evan Berke: So I lived in New York for five years. So I went to College of Charleston in South Carolina.
[00:12:40] Burrill: Oh, nice. Yeah.
[00:12:41] Evan Berke: And then right after college, I moved to New York, and I was there for five years from about 2013 until 2018.
[00:12:49] Burrill: Cool. Did you like it up there?
[00:12:50] Evan Berke: I did. I mean, New York was great. Especially like moving there fresh out of college.
I'm glad that I moved there when I did. I mean, if I'm being honest, if I had to do it all over again, maybe I would have moved to Nashville right after college because this seems like a great place to be, like right after college and as you're figuring out kind of what you want to do, where you want to be. But in hindsight, I'm very grateful to 22, 23 year old Evan that was like, no, just go ahead, go throw yourself into New York. See if you can swim. See what mean? Honestly, you know, the cool thing about was, you know, I moved there having done comedy in college for four years.
Know, I got a degree in college that I also wanted to continue to put to good use. But I got to New York and I just really felt like anything is possible.
Whatever I want to do with stand up, I'm going to go do it. That'll be fun. I have a degree in media communications. Let me go try and get a job just meeting people. There's a certain insanity that New York brings that also opens up wild opportunities that might have never even been presented.
So I like New York. I always lived in Brooklyn.
[00:14:12] Burrill: That's where my brother lives. Brooklyn is the spot, I would say to be. I grew up in the suburbs, just outside, and I'd go in for field trips and Yankees games and concerts and shit like that. But Brooklyn is like the spot. All my friends that still live in the city, it's like Brooklyn or Astoria. That's it. Those are the two spots.
[00:14:29] Evan Berke: When we first moved to New York, we found a place in Bushwick off the L train. Wilson Avstop Knickerbacher, and, you know, my girlfriend, who was already living in New York at the time, went and saw the apartment for us and was like, yeah, it's a good apartment. It's fine. Get here, just live somewhere for a year. So we're in Bushwick, and this apartment looks like newly renovated, but it's in a very old building.
[00:14:55] Burrill: Gentrification.
[00:14:56] Evan Berke: And we moved in in September, and that was the year or the winter of like, the polar vortex, if you remember the polar vortex.
[00:15:08] Burrill: I remember that.
[00:15:09] Evan Berke: And our apartment, we had those floorboard heaters, right? So the winter hit and got so cold, our heaters just, like, were not working.
We had two separate seven day stents where our pipes completely froze.
Our floorboard heaters were not working. No joke. One of the nights when our pipes were frozen, it was snowing like crazy outside.
We were like, we can't use the bathroom in our apartment. So we had like a family dollar and like a laundry mat across the street that we would use during the day. But this was at night. This was the middle of the night, so the pipes are frozen. And at this point, we have decided we cannot use our bathroom for any reason. We have to find another way.
So I wake up in the middle of the night and I got to pee. So I'm like, I guess I'm just going to go outside and go out back.
And I go, I'm out back. I pull my pants down, I'm starting to pee. And I slipped.
[00:16:21] Burrill: Oh, no.
[00:16:24] Evan Berke: Fell right on my back and just peed on myself. And then I couldn't take a shower in my own apartment. I had to just wear this for the next twelve to 18 hours until.
[00:16:38] Burrill: I went warms up a little bit.
[00:16:42] Evan Berke: Then to put the cherry on top. Even though our heaters weren't heating up the apartment, they were still on and they were working overtime.
So we got our electric bill.
[00:16:56] Burrill: Oh, yeah.
[00:16:57] Evan Berke: $1,500 for one month.
Call my landlord.
I'm like, it is 38 degrees in our apartment.
Can't use the bathroom.
[00:17:09] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:17:10] Evan Berke: Yet we just got charged $1,500 for.
[00:17:13] Burrill: Heat that we're not getting at all. Yeah.
[00:17:16] Evan Berke: And out of the goodness of my landlord's heart, he paid half of that.
[00:17:20] Burrill: All right, that helps. That helps.
[00:17:22] Evan Berke: 757, 50 for no heat.
[00:17:25] Burrill: Whereas you could have been paying that at the time for an apartment here in Nashville. Flat.
[00:17:30] Evan Berke: So we ended up moving out of that apartment after one year, and then we ended up moving to prospect park. Leopard's Gardens.
[00:17:38] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:17:38] Evan Berke: Love that neighborhood. That was an amazing neighborhood.
And, yeah, that was my first living situation outside of college. Outside of college. And in New York.
[00:17:50] Burrill: Did you run into any subway creatures?
[00:17:52] Evan Berke: Oh, my God.
[00:17:53] Burrill: You had to have five years. You saw some.
[00:17:58] Evan Berke: Mean. I'm trying to think if there's, like, one in particular that stands out, but especially with where I was living. And honestly, I feel like I was a subway creature when I was living there. I was moved to New York. I'm 23, don't have to drive. I don't have a car. I'm a drink because I'm just taking the subway home. And there were many nights where I would just go out with people and not cut myself off because I'm like, I got a train home. I got a train home. And then I would just pass out on the train. I'd wake up, I'm like, at the end of the line. I'm like, all the way out at Coney Island?
[00:18:33] Burrill: I'm like.
[00:18:36] Evan Berke: But yeah, man, the subway creatures.
[00:18:39] Burrill: Yeah, there's something what was your favorite? Did you ever go to any of the parades in New York? Because we do a lot of parades, especially back then. Yeah, ton of parades. Like St. Patty's Day is an event. Even pride is an event. Puerto Rican day parade is a I'm.
[00:18:52] Evan Berke: All about that mermaid parade, dude.
[00:18:55] Burrill: The mermaid parade.
[00:18:56] Evan Berke: I loved the mermaid parade. Yeah, the mermaid parade. And I love Coney Island. Like, to me, Coney Island, if I was to move back to New York, I'd be like, let's go live on Coney Island. You got the got there's a beautiful concert venue there. Now there's a minor league baseball stadium and team. I'm like, this is everything that I want.
[00:19:15] Burrill: People's been parked on the boardwalk, the Cyclones.
[00:19:18] Evan Berke: I remember one night we had some friends visiting from out of town, actually, my friend Kean, who's in the band brave Baby out of Charleston, he's their lead singer. He was visiting with his now wife Vicky Victoria. And I was like, let's go to Coney Island. Let's have a great time. And we showed up to Coney Island, like, 830, and the whole place was closed. The amusement park was closed. All the things were closed. So we just, like, walked around a desolate Coney Island, and it was one of the greatest nights that I've ever had in New York. Hell, yeah. Being locked out of Coney Island.
[00:19:49] Burrill: Yeah. And then for you, being of the Jewish faith. So I grew up in a town called New City, New York, in Rockland County, New York. And I worked for the town's parks department and stuff. I remember one year, and we've done it many a times, but one year, specifically, when I was working there, when I was in college, right out of high school, we hosted I forget how you say it's, either the Macabre or the Maccabee Games.
[00:20:11] Evan Berke: The macabre games.
[00:20:13] Burrill: My hometown has hosted that multiple times.
[00:20:16] Evan Berke: Really?
[00:20:17] Burrill: Where I'm from. It's like I did the Macabre games, bro.
[00:20:20] Evan Berke: I competed. Yeah, dude, what year is it?
Did you host? Because when the Macabre Games come, our.
[00:20:29] Burrill: Parks were hosting stuff and they also.
[00
:20:31] Evan Berke: Ask you to host athletes.
[00:20:32] Burrill: Yeah, I didn't host to stay with you. We had more temples than churches in the town. I grew up in, like, bar mitzvah and bhat mitzvah. It's like a season you collect the AMIC.
[00:20:41] Evan Berke: And I grew up in the opposite. Like, I grew up Jewish, surrounded by, like, in the Bible Belt, by the but, you know, I did the Macabre Games. My brother did the Maccabee games. My dad coached, so I did baseball.
[00:20:52] Burrill: Okay.
[00:20:53] Evan Berke: Wasn't any good. Made the team because my dad was the coach. But we ended up winning Silver wow at the Macabre Games. And we went to our Macabre Games were in I believe it was San Antonio or Dallas where I competed and gosh every year, though, for the baseball. It was like Boca Raton was where they're, like, feeding these kids, like, steroids pastrami. You're just looking at these kids and I'm like, we're the twelve to 13 age group. I'm like, this kid has a beard. I'm like, what is happening? Every year, it was like Boca had just these studs.
So we lost to Boca in the championship. But, yeah, I did the Macabre games. They're super fun and it's just a cool way to compete. And the little Jewish Olympics.
[00:21:50] Burrill: Yeah, obviously, the JCC goes a long way. It's cool. Yeah, because I grew up a lot of folks down here don't get that culture. We had an area called Muncie, New York. Largest population of Hasidic and ultra orthodox outside of Brooklyn. And, yeah, like, I grew up around it.
[00:22:11] Evan Berke: What was that like for?
[00:22:12] Burrill: So my family had a business where I would deliver. We had a franchise of a water company called Culligan Water. So we would go in the homes and deliver for water. Softeners the cooler bottles, things like that. So I'd go in the houses, and it was just a different culture. You have all the kids everywhere.
You have the shaved heads with the wigs, the mannequin heads with the different color wigs, and the husband picks out you see the buses go by, and there's the cloth in the middle where the women are on the one side of the man. It's just such a different thing. Dude.
[00:22:41] Evan Berke: Dude, you probably know more than I've never been in a home with, like, Hasidic Jews before.
[00:22:48] Burrill: I've been to the Mikvahs. You know what the Mikvahs are? They're bathhouses. They all bathe together. Water softener for that. I've seen some shit. Wow.
[00:22:55] Evan Berke: Did you bathe with the Jews?
[00:22:57] Burrill: No.
[00:23:00] Evan Berke: That's what this clip is going to be called. Bathing with the Jews.
[00:23:02] Burrill: Bathing with the Jews. I look inside of a Rockland County mikvah.
No, but I also got because if.
[00:23:09] Evan Berke: You do, you got to clean the drains, bro. A lot of hair in there, dude.
[00:23:12] Burrill: I'm joking, dude. But I got spoiled. I'm not Jewish or Italian, but my family, I always say, is the most Jewish and Italian family.
[00:23:21] Evan Berke: What are you?
[00:23:22] Burrill: Because I'm Protestant. Like Episcopalian for religious wise. And then just like English, German, Scottish, like a mixture of just a whole bunch of but like, I grew up around in New York. You have the Mecca of just awesome. Totally Jewish and Italian foods, man. Like bagels, bro. Yeah, I was spoiled with bagels locks and bacon, egg and cheese and all the good shit. And going to Cat's Deli and buying the $30 pastrami sandwich that's bigger than your head. But you have to get it totally because it's a staple. So growing up there. But coming down here was best decision I ever made. I love being down in Nashville.
[00:24:02] Evan Berke: So what made you come down here? What was your deciding?
[00:24:06] Burrill: I was a radio DJ in New Jersey, and I worked in the country music scene. And I had some friends that were like vocal artists and made their move down here in 2018. And they'd been telling me, hey, you got to get down here. Hey, you got to get down here. So I came down to visit, and by the end of it, I worked on Broadway. I was a security guard awesome. On Broadway here in Nashville.
[00:24:23] Evan Berke: Awesome.
[00:24:24] Burrill: Which was I learned a lot of shit real fucking quick, bro. You talk about some shit working the door at Whiskey, bro.
[00:24:31] Evan Berke: And just the humanity down here. When you see people thinking there's no consequences to their actions, which, again, Broadway.
[00:24:39] Burrill: Scoop Nashville tells you there are consequences for your actions when you come here.
[00:24:43] Evan Berke: Totally. Yeah. So country music was something that brought you down here. I'm also huge country music, which is weird. Growing up Jewish in the south. Like, we're a country music family.
[00:24:52] Burrill: But you're in Atlanta. You have all kinds, literally every kind of music. Atlanta is such a big music town from like you talk about I mean, you guys had the hip hop scene and still do in a lot of like from where it started in New York and was in La. Outcast with the south. Had the south got something to say?
[00:25:09] Evan Berke: Totally.
[00:25:09] Burrill: You got to grow up in that era.
[00:25:11] Evan Berke: I mean, people love country music in Atlanta, but there's not the culture that's kind of built around it like there is here. I mean, my first concert was a country concert. It was Brooks and Dunn in Big and Rich Bro. They were co headlining I was in, like, 6th know, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy had just come out. I was super into the song Red Dirt Road.
[00:25:37] Burrill: Yes.
[00:25:37] Evan Berke: And ain't nothing about you.
[00:25:39] Burrill: Yes. Ronnie Dunn just sings, and it's his voice, the voice of God.
[00:25:44] Evan Berke: His voice was one of the first voices I heard being like, this dude has the greatest voice I've ever so, you know, I was like I told my mom, I'm like, Dude, we got to go to this concert. So it was at Hi Fi bys Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta.
Dude, that was my first concert, and I didn't even know what to expect. I didn't know what a concert was. I almost thought you went to a concert and just listened to the songs really loud. With the band also there, like I didn't realize that they put on a whole show.
[00:26:16] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:26:16] Evan Berke: I didn't know what to expect.
So I was like the first concert I ever went to. And my brother, huge country music fan. My brother is Kenny Chesney. Like, no shoes. Radio.
He is no Shoes Nation. He's got the flags, dude, when he comes to town. My brother's got the tailgate set up. He's got a pirate flag fly they're.
[00:26:40] Burrill: Set up for Kenny Chesney tailgates. They used to set up up in Jersey. They would set up like two, three days before people would get there. It's like the dead's coming through.
[00:26:47] Evan Berke: Since I was in 6th grade, I think every summer with my brother, we've gone to see Kenny Chesney. Really? I've been to more Kenny Chesney concerts than most people have been to.
[00:26:56] Burrill: That's that's insane.
[00:26:58] Evan Berke: It's like our ritual.
[00:26:59] Burrill: It's like our yearly and and for an East Tennessee guy to do. And then he's like, I want to be a pirate. And then he just comes out. We got Beach Chesney, and he takes it to the floor. Bama. And it's just awesome. Totally.
[00:27:11] Evan Berke: But country music, I mean, it's been amazing because so much of how my brother and Late, we connect and we relate to each other a lot, but through music and just, like, shared artists. Right now. We love Eric Church. We're about to go see him two nights in Atlanta.
[00:27:24] Burrill: Hell, yeah.
[00:27:26] Evan Berke: Which we're super pumped on.
[00:27:27] Burrill: Yeah, dude. I just saw him up in Cincinnati and it was awesome because we travel a lot. We go to a lot of music festivals with raised rap. That's, like, how it got started. Was my business partner 13 years ago started going to festivals and it's just like a festival crew. And now it's evolved into what it is now. But we go to a lot of concerts. One year, I think I did 100 and something. Concerts. Wow. Up in Jersey, New York, traveling out to Pennsylvania, going up towards Maine, going all around. Because to be in the country scene in New York wasn't what it is down here where you can go and see a rising artist. At the Blue Room in Statesboro or at the Gaff in Athens.
[00:28:04] Evan Berke: When I was a freshman in college, eric Church came and did the Music farm in Charleston, South Carolina. 800 person venue, standing room only. All he had was a big Jack Daniels banner behind him, and it was just rock. And who knew that this guy would go on to be, like, one of the biggest acts in all of the genre?
Yeah. Did you find it hard to be in the country music scene, like, in the Northeast? I want to say when I was in New York, I think they said there was only maybe one country music station in New York City.
[00:28:38] Burrill: And it came in in 2013.
[00:28:39] Evan Berke: And it came in, yeah, while I.
[00:28:41] Burrill: Was there, because 2013 is the year I graduated high school.
[00:28:44] Evan Berke: Did it coincide with when they did, like, the CMA or the CMT Awards in New York or something?
[00:28:50] Burrill: They did a big award show there, and then they had a festival there. They tried to do a country festival at Randall's Island, where they do Governor's Ball, and it just didn't do well. The Hicks way out in Long Island are only going to come.
[00:29:00] Evan Berke: Only my brother came to visit me in Brooklyn when Eric Church was there, and we went and saw Eric Church at the Barclays Center. And it was a fine show. But there's something about seeing a country concert in a area, whether it's the Southeast or, like, the Midwest or just a place that's very enthusiastic about the whole culture of yeah, for sure.
[00:29:23] Burrill: Yeah. Because I went to a lot of shows at MSG for country shows. I haven't been to a Billy Joel. I never went to a got to a Billy Joel. You saw Billy Joel here?
[00:29:30] Evan Berke: Yeah, he did. Him and Stevie Nix did the co headlining. That had to be sick because my girlfriend is from Oyster Bay, Long Island, where Billy Joel is from. And I've met him a couple of times in Long Island because he has a motorcycle museum. He has a motorcycle collection, and he basically found a way to display it, like, tax free by opening a museum.
[00:29:52] Burrill: Okay. Jay Leno style.
[00:29:54] Evan Berke: And so there's been a couple of times where we've just been walking around downtown Easter Bay where my girlfriend lives, and we'll walk into his garage just to look at the motorcycles, and he's just been in the back, just, like, smoking a cigar. And if you go up and talk to him, he'll just talk to you about motorcycles. It's pretty cool.
[00:30:12] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:30:14] Evan Berke: So we saw him down here because the MSG thing is just like it's.
[00:30:17] Burrill: Hard to I saw I've seen Aldeen at MSG. I saw FGL at MSG, and then I got to see Garth at Yankee Stadium, which was pretty sick. Garth at Yankee Stadium as a Yankees fan. So you're a big baseball guy, right?
[00:30:29] Evan Berke: Huge baseball fan.
[00:30:30] Burrill: Big Braves fan.
[00:30:31] Evan Berke: Go braves.
[00:30:31] Burrill: Congrats on having just the success that you guys have had after the years of the Georgia choke being a real thing between what was going on in athens, between the hawks making the playoffs every year and getting shut. Out by LeBron to them. Taking the damn hockey team away from you guys. To Braves.
[00:30:48] Evan Berke: Getting so close to the Falcons.
[00:30:51] Burrill: The biggest choke in NFL history.
[00:30:53] Evan Berke: I mean, seriously. Yeah, no, the Braves are, I mean, the Braves are so important to my family.
We love the braves. We bond over the Braves and yeah, ever since like 2018, they've had this like something cooking and if you've been paying attention to what they're up to, none of this is a surprise.
[00:31:11] Burrill: No.
[00:31:11] Evan Berke: To the rest of the league where'd the Braves come from, this is all so crazy. I'm like you just haven't been paying attention.
[00:31:17] Burrill: Signing all their stars to contracts that they can afford. And as tough as it was to see Freddie go, they brought in a hometown guy, power hitting lefty bat the moment because the Yankees were going to try to get like this would be great. He's going to hit bombs out of our short porch, our small band box playing, but he has been Matt Olson. I mean, Sean Murphy. All the additions and then locking in Acunya. Locking in Albies, locking in locking I mean, Dan's believing was tough, but locking in Austin Riley and then just seeing.
[00:31:46] Evan Berke: How much this team enjoys playing with each other. Right. You look at all of these other teams and it's like, yeah, the Dodgers are a great team. Yeah, the Yankees, they're a great with. When I look at the Braves, I look at like Marcel Azuna specifically. Right. This guy who big powerhouse over the past couple of years had some off the field issues, kind of struggled on the field. But to watch the way the rest of the team and the young guys support this dude, lift him up when he's doing well and now he's having literally people at the beginning of the season were like, get rid of Marcel. Now he's having an incredible season and so much of it is because of the way that this team is, know.
[00:32:31] Burrill: Picking each other and as, and as a veteran he's bringing along, mean, the year that he's having, it's history. Insane.
[00:32:40] Evan Berke: Yeah, history. Anytime you're watching like history unfold in front of you, it's amazing. And just to know I grew up going to the Braves, watching them at Turner field.
[00:32:48] Burrill: Yeah. Do you miss Turner?
[00:32:49] Evan Berke: Not at all. Because you'd go downtown, it's hard to get to and then there's no fan experience around the stadium.
That's what the Braves have now with the battery, the new stadium and Smyrna.
[00:33:06] Burrill: I love the it's.
[00:33:08] Evan Berke: You're able to go, you're able to build like a real fan experience. I mean, I went to a game earlier this season on a Monday night and it was sold out. That would never happen at Turnerfield. You would never have a Monday night sell out.
[00:33:23] Burrill: You had it at Fulton County back in the day.
[00:33:25] Evan Berke: Exactly. But so now it's nice just that there is this enthusiasm. And again, when you look at the most successful baseball franchises, so much of it is, yes, the team is good, but they've also built a brand around like the Yankees. The Yankee hat is one of the biggest brands, the Dodger hat. Outside of baseball, just the branding.
So I'm almost looking at the Braves and I'm like, well, we have Braves country, right? New York Yankees. It's New York. The La Dodgers. It's La. And obviously you have fans everywhere. But when you think about the Braves, we should be doing that same thing because we represent a whole region of the country.
So I feel like that's beginning to happen for the Braves, where the brand is being reinvigorated outside of the mean.
[00:34:16] Burrill: That's my another proud Charleston girl and a huge I have nothing. I have nothing against the Braves. And that's one thing I like about living in Nashville, is like, the Titans are an AFC team. I'm a New York Giants fan.
[00:34:32] Evan Berke: Right.
[00:34:33] Burrill: Rangers are an Eastern Conference team. The Predators are a Western Conference team. So I can pull for those teams. What do you think of the idea of them bringing the MLB here? I think it'd be cool, but it'd be tough because the Braves are like the team of the south.
[00:34:45] Evan Berke: Right. So I've been thinking about this because yeah, anything that affects the Braves fanship, like, I have to think about. So I think that Nashville could totally support a Major League baseball team. I think it's more about 162 games. So can you get close to selling out 80 of 80 games in a season in these MLB stadiums? They're huge.
They're not small. So the Nashville Soccer Club does really well.
But so much of that is because there's only a couple of games a week, if that tops. So there's less going on.
So then I don't I don't think it's a good idea to bring an MLB team to Nashville if you're going to keep the sounds.
[00:35:39] Burrill: Yeah, you have to have one or the other.
[00:35:44] Evan Berke: I think if the sounds go somewhere else, you bring a baseball team and all the baseball attendant is going to the MLB franchise, I think it's going to be very successful.
But I think if you keep the sounds, you're kind of diluting the potential of the team. But who did I read that they were thinking? The White Sox.
[00:36:05] Burrill: Which would be fucking wild, dude.
[00:36:07] Evan Berke: That would be wild.
[00:36:08] Burrill: And it'd be cool because it'd be an American League team. So you would have that opposite thing and it would give an interleag rival. It'd be weird for the city of Be, but there's so much of that upper Midwest that comes down here. People don't know this when the Titans came up from Houston and the Predators were created, it coincided with General Motors opening a plant down in Spring Hill. So you had all these people from Michigan coming down. You didn't have a pro team here. You didn't have hockey here, you didn't have football.
[00:36:37] Evan Berke: Right.
[00:36:38] Burrill: So I think that was part of why they did that in the could be. I think it could be cool. I'd love to see some Yankees games here, but if it was team, we'd get we'd get games a year.
[00:36:47] Evan Berke: But I think Nashville is becoming like where Atlanta has been like the capital of the south, and it still kind of is. I think Nashville is kind of taking that title a little bit just because I don't know, I just think the quality of life here, it's a bit smaller. There's a lot of enthusiasm. There's a lot of concentrated enthusiasm here that doesn't necessarily exist. And then when you think about the way downtown is built and how it can support big conferences, big events that attract a lot of out of town traffic, atlanta is not the best place to come for an out of town thing. You're going to have to uber. Are you going to be able to walk to the event? Probably not. You might have to rent a car.
Nashville, it's like, just get here, get to your hotel. Everything is super convenient. And when you think about know you brought up UGA and you think about Atlanta being a neutral site, especially for things like the SEC championships and stuff like like it's not a neutral site anymore. Every SEC championship game is a home game for UGA at this point.
Even the national championship to some extent. Like, it just depends.
Whereas I think you start moving some of the stuff to know. I think that it's probably a better experience for the fans and it actually serves as a neutral site.
[00:38:14] Burrill: Yeah, the Music City Bowl is a lot of fun when they do the games here, it's awesome. I would say Nashville is rivaling it in traffic now, too. Yeah, Atlanta traffic. I've gone down 75 a bunch, man.
[00:38:26] Evan Berke: The only difference is you're sitting in traffic a little less because you have less distance to go, typically. But yeah, the running joke in Atlanta is atlanta is roughly 1 hour from Atlanta. It's like the running joke.
[00:38:37] Burrill: Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much.
[00:38:38] Evan Berke: Whereas here it's like, how far is this? 15 minutes, 20 minutes, everything's 20 minutes.
[00:38:43] Burrill: With them to open Broadway back up. It's been such a cluster fucking because they blew up the damn bridge.
[00:38:50] Evan Berke: I know.
[00:38:52] Burrill: Blow it up right in the heart of the summer when you have all the tourists here and all the chaos.
[00:38:56] Evan Berke: Crazy.
[00:38:57] Burrill: It's been a mess, man. So how has the comedy scene been? Was it pretty welcoming coming in here and doing the comedy thing in Nashville with Zanies and Third Coast and the influx of guys like guys like Theo moving here. Totally. And then guys like Dusty and Nate already being here.
[00:39:15] Evan Berke: Totally. Yeah. I mean, I would say this town has been super supportive. I would say a lot of comedy scenes are going to be very similar in how comedians interact with each other, where, again, the guys at the top who don't necessarily feel like anyone is competition because they're so good and established and comfortable with who they are. Super supportive, want to help people out. Nate is now producing other comedian specials out of um. He's got the Nate Land podcast, which know a bunch of local guys on that. And then they know guests.
You know, Dusty runs a monthly show at zany's, dusty Slay's grand old comedy show, where he brings a lot of locals on, guys that are finding their footing. And he's like, I think you're funny. Come to a big set in front of my sold out crowd at one of the best comedy clubs in the country.
And then for a guy like me, who I tend to come up with wild ideas. Like, I'm one of those people that's like, how can I do this without relying on other people or relying on someone to give me an opportunity or relying on permission from an entity to move forward in my career creative goal or pursuits or, you know, this album, I pretty much it was self produced.
[00:40:42] Burrill: I love the fucking picture on the front.
[00:40:44] Evan Berke: Hey, show that picture. Shout out to Michael Scott Evans, the photographer.
[00:40:48] Burrill: Michael Scott Evans.
[00:40:49] Evan Berke: Scott Evans. Yeah, Michael Scott Evans. And it's funny. My name is Evan Scott Burke.
[00:40:54] Burrill: Hell, yeah.
[00:40:54] Evan Berke: Very funny.
He did that.
He I want to say he was voted by The Nashville Scene as best local Photographer, or maybe by the readers of The Nashville Scene. And it was his idea. He was like, I've always wanted to put a comedian in the trunk of a car. And I was like, let's try it out. I got an album that I'm going to come out with called Twice Removed. It kind of fits the theme.
So even as just like a creative as someone that yes, obviously I'm interacting a lot with the standup scene. I teach comedy at Third Coast.
I would say the support that I got and have gotten from people outside of the comedy Scene has been incredible, amazing, inspirational in the sense of, like, I had this idea to record this album and record this special, and I know that I can't do it alone, right? Because I'm a comedian. That's what I'm good at. So I need to outsource these other things. I need to find a good filmmaker. I need to find a great audio engineer. I need to find a great photographer, a graphic designer. I need to find a venue that's going to support this.
The enthusiasm. There was enthusiasm from within the comedy scene, obviously. But the thing that I found most amazing about Nashville was, like, the enthusiasm that all of these other creatives have had. People who are world class in audio engineering, people that are world class in photography.
Again, I paid everybody. But whereas in other cities, when you're trying to do something like this, you ask someone, hey, I want to work with you.
They tell you what their rate is. In Nashville, I found people ask me what my budget is.
[00:42:42] Burrill: Yes.
[00:42:43] Evan Berke: And that game changing for someone who has just, like, an idea that they know they need to kind of do themselves to be around insanely talented creatives that were open to hearing my budget and working with that versus being like, my rate is this or not at all.
I'd say that's the thing about Nashville that has just blown me away and exceeded my expectations.
[00:43:10] Burrill: Yeah, it's definitely different from New York in that aspect. I felt that when I came down here, especially being in the music world, and it's like, I'm not a songwriter. I'm not an artist. I'm not even a musician or a producer or anything. I'm a personality within the whole grand scheme of things. So the music scene kind of lives where folks go to Red Door, and folks do that.
Where do the comics hang out? Where's y'all's watering hole where you guys go? Totally.
[00:43:33] Evan Berke: So a lot of the comics do go to Red Door. Okay. A lot of comics hang out, like, at Lakeside Lounge yes. In East Nashville.
[00:43:40] Burrill: That makes a lot of sense. I was over there last week, actually. It's a great place to go after or before a show at the base.
[00:43:45] Evan Berke: Mickey's. A lot of comics hanging out at Mickey's.
And then when you want to talk about where are comics hanging out to do comedy pretty regularly. Well, Tuesday nights at the East Room is, like, one of the it's called the ultimate Comedy open mic. That open MIC's been running for maybe over a decade, probably longer. So every Tuesday night at the you know, anyone can throw their name in the hat. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm funny. I'm funnier than all these other people, go to the East Room on Tuesday night, throw your name in the hat, and then on Wednesdays, Bowery Vault, right next to Mickey's, comics are hanging out there. And then on Friday nights cafe Coco, cafe Cocoa. Yeah. So that's where comics are hanging out to do comedy. But when comics are just hanging, um, I would say it's like Lakeside it's Mickey's. And then, like, places like Bastion kind of in that.
[00:44:40] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:44:41] Evan Berke: Um, yeah, there's a lot of kind of hanging out going on down there.
[00:44:44] Burrill: I've noticed the comedy. It just seems to be growing in Nashville. Like, Nashville's got it's a destination, and you have the comedy festival that comes through here.
[00:44:53] Evan Berke: It's massive, and it attracts the best. I mean, got to talk about the Nashville comedy Festival bro. This past year, Nate Bargatzi broke the attendance record at Bridgestone.
[00:45:03] Burrill: I went to that.
[00:45:03] Evan Berke: Yeah.
29,365 people. Which one of Nate's buddies made a comment that Nate's been doing comedy every day for 29 years. 29 years, 365 a day. And that was the number that broke the attendance record, which is crazy.
[00:45:19] Burrill: Yeah.
[00:45:21] Evan Berke: And then yeah, I mean, as it relates to comedy. And there's going to be comics that probably listen to this and are like, this guy has no idea what he's talking about. That's fine. In my experience, you go to New York or La, you're going to be doing five minute sets everywhere you go. You're going to get five minutes unless you're booked on a show, which takes a long time and it takes credits and it takes credibility. And you're only going to be doing five to six minute sets everywhere you go. That's kind of all you're going to get. So you have to develop your material within these five to six minute increments. And then you got to keep starting and stopping, starting and stopping. And by the time you get momentum in your set, you're already done. You're getting the light. The thing that I've found about cities like Nashville and also like Austin is becoming a lot like this, very similar.
[00:46:07] Burrill: To Nashville in a lot of ways.
[00:46:09] Evan Berke: Even places like Denver, right, is you come here and yes, if you're doing the open mics and you're relying on those types of opportunities, you're going to be five to six minutes. But there is a lot more opportunities in regions like this to do a ten to 15 minutes set even before you're ready. But at least you're getting ten to 15 minutes on stage to stretch, to see so that you can have time to build momentum. And then you have a lot of opportunities to go to Indianapolis and do a 15 minutes set, go down to Alabama, do a 15 minutes set, go over. So I think the thing that comics are finding attractive about a city like Nashville, Austin, is you can actually develop a longer routine because you are able to get more stage time. And the stage time that you're getting is a bit more extended than just the five to six minutes that you're getting. And you're getting an audience that, for better or worse, might be more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. In New York or La. They're like, 2 seconds. Is this guy funny? I've already made up my decision whether or not I'm laughing at the rest down here. There's a bit more like this person's growing. They're developing. Let's support this aspiring artist. So there's also a change in the audience's mindset.
[00:47:31] Burrill: It's similar to the music to the music scene as well. When you go to a writer's round, like we host over at Live Oak, when you see guys or girls that are newer to town and you're like they're getting there. They have some stuff that's good, but they got to work on this. But it's the support system, and it's having that. And also, too, with Nashville being a tourist city, it's a destination. I'm sure so many folks flew in for Nate's show at Bridgestone.
[00:47:56] Evan Berke: Absolutely.
[00:47:56] Burrill: So many folks went to the Kid Rock thing at the Ryman or went to this event or went to that event.
[00:48:01] Evan Berke: I had people fly in for my recording just because I did it in Nashville. Like, friends were like, dude, we're coming to Nashville for your recording. I was like, that's not why I did it here. I did it here because you have an inherent audience that just wants to support live performance. But even I experienced people being like, oh, you're recording your special in Nashville. We're coming. I'm like, cool, make a weekend out.
[00:48:24] Burrill: Of yeah, where's a city that's very underrated for comedy? Where's a town that you see it on the calendar when you go on the road with Dusty? You're doing your own thing where you're like, oh, fuck, yeah, I'm going here.
[00:48:34] Evan Berke: OOH, that's a great OOH, that's a really good question.
[00:48:45] Burrill: There's so many random little towns that you wouldn't think especially, like, Midwest or even Northeast or, like, states that people doesn't come to mind.
[00:48:52] Evan Berke: Originally, like, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio.
[00:48:55] Burrill: Oh, Columbus, Ohio is a fun columbus.
[00:48:59] Evan Berke: Ohio has like and there's this new thing called Don't Tell Comedy. Maybe you've heard of it. It's not terribly new, but it's one of the most popular comedy shows all over the country. They have different chapters in every city, and even in Nashville, some of the best shows happening outside of zany's is Don't Tell Nashville. Don't tell comedy.
[00:49:19] Burrill: What's with the name of Is?
[00:49:21] Evan Berke: So Don't Tell is it's basically it's a secret location and a secret lineup.
[00:49:24] Burrill: It's like a house show.
[00:49:25] Evan Berke: So basically, if you say, oh, if you and Erin are like, what are we doing this weekend? She's like, I want to go to this Don't Tell comedy show. You'll buy a ticket, but then you won't find out the location until the day of, and then you won't find out the lineup ever. You just go to the show, and it's a secret surprise lineup every time.
[00:49:44] Burrill: It's for people that love comedy and just want to be just that's kind of cool. I like that.
[00:49:49] Evan Berke: But what's cool is Don't Tell is now providing a lot of opportunities for guys like me so I can hit up a producer of Don't Tell Columbus and be like, hey, I'm coming through. Can I hop on your show?
But the cool thing about Don't Tell is because they're so established nationally, they have great marketing. So all of those shows are pretty much sold out in every city.
But Columbus has apparently one of the best Don't Tells and just like, indie comedy scenes in the country.
[00:50:19] Burrill: Yeah, I've had good times in columbus. There's a venue up there. Because working in country music, especially on the small level, when you're ten deep in a van and you're going to podunk towns like going to your going whether it's like a college town like a statesboro or a millageville or it's like a Boaz, Alabama or some random bum fuck town, columbus is I like Columbus a lot. Yeah, that's cool that you said that.
[00:50:42] Evan Berke: Yeah. And again, it's all so close here. That's why people are choosing Nashville is because in any direction, there's probably a great city with a good scene or a good opportunity for you to you know, there's a lot of comics where that's their goal is like, I want to tour, I want to be on the road. I want to be in a different city each night.
[00:51:02] Burrill: What's kind of your goal with what you're doing now?
[00:51:06] Evan Berke: Yeah, great question.
I love performing. I love doing stand up. I love getting on stage. I love telling jokes.
So right now, the goal is to have as many people see this special as possible that I created, but also start working and building towards the next one. But I also have a lot of other passions and interests.
I was on TMZ for that in.
[00:51:36] Burrill: There, and I heard you say that. I think that works with my wanted to I didn't know how much you wanted to talk about all that, so.
[00:51:43] Evan Berke: I worked at TMZ for a few years where I was a correspondent, and I was also, like, interviewing celebrities on the street. And then I would go and present my interview on the TV show, and then I was actually a news reporter for them, and I would go on their show and deliver the news. So I do enjoy TV presenting. I enjoy hosting things that have nothing to do with comedy.
So that's a great question, but I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there because that's what you do. You speak things into existence.
[00:52:19] Burrill: Fuck it. Go for it.
[00:52:20] Evan Berke: Ultimately, I want to find a role, being a personality in professional wrestling, bro. I love professional wrestling, bro. I love WWE, and I've always wanted to be the ring announcer. So not Michael Cole or Jr. Not the guy on doing color commentary. I want to be the guy that's like coming to the ring. Weighing in at 289 pounds from Chattanooga, Tennessee, like, I want to be that guy.
[00:52:46] Burrill: Want to be PA.
[00:52:47] Evan Berke: I want to be PA.
At the end of the day, I like to be a part of things that bring joy to people, that inspire people, that provide an escapism for people. And I've always enjoyed just taking on a role within these different things that allow me to serve the project, but also allows me to do things that I enjoy doing. And with that, it is kind of open ended. There's a lot that I enjoy doing. So to say what is my one specific goal?
I don't totally know. But I know that I want to continue to be a part of these entertainment enterprises that make people happy.
[00:53:33] Burrill: Yeah, wrestling. That's a cool one. See, I grew up watching I wasn't as big into it as some of my other friends were growing up. I didn't have a John Cena or ahhh shirt.
I know what Degeneration X and all that kind of stuff was.
When I was doing radio, we had an Am station in our building, and we'd go and do the weirdest events through central New Jersey, which is a very you see all kinds of shit. The true army basically call it the south. Yeah, well, it's like the south, but you just see a lot of weird shit. So there was in Nutley, New Jersey, they would do a benefit, like a professional wrestling thing, and it was all these guys, but then they'd bring out guys like Tito Santana and, like, Tommy Dreamer. I watched Tommy Dreamer hit this poor guy that was like a real amateur wannabe wrestler. I saw him hit him with a trash can, and I was like, Jesus Christ, what is going on here? And then I've been to the micro wrestling things because a lot of the venues that we went to with Trey, there were sometimes where we would show up and before our load in, they'd be finishing up like a wrestling event. There's actually one in Statesboro, one of the times we went there, and it was like a micro wrestling event in Statesboro before the yeah, it was just like you see, that's a wild it's.
[00:54:46] Evan Berke: Just this I just love the chaos of it all. I love the enthusiasm.
[00:54:51] Burrill: Storylines are fun, too.
[00:54:52] Evan Berke: The storylines I mean, I went to an episode of Monday Night Raw when I was I want to say I was in 7th grade. And The Rock came back to wrestling on this night. Like, he returned.
And I have never been in a it was March 1, 2004. Look it up. Monday night, Raw the Rock returns to defend Mick Foley from evolution. And I have never been in an arena that just lost their mind, the volume, just the energy, the love and the passion. And I don't know. I think one of the things that draws me to wrestling is that I compare it to comedy a lot.
No one's asking us to do this in a way we want to do it. We bring meaning to it.
Wrestling is this thing that ultimately doesn't make sense. But when you have a whole arena that has suspended their reality and is engaging with you in the one that you're presenting, well, now you've added meaning to it. And it's kind of the same thing with comedy. It's like you're in a room with a microphone, and it could go one of two ways. People could be like, what is this? Or this is comedy.
And then just the years and years and years of grinding that no one sees within both, whether it's wrestling or comedy, performing in high school gyms, performing in statesboro or whatever, it's like equivalent. And then after 1520 years, hopefully you get the opportunity to be showcased at the highest level. Yeah, but within those years, you're battling self doubt, you're battling people judging you. You're battling all these things.
So there's something I always relate to with it, dude.
[00:56:37] Burrill: Yeah. I mean, I feel like that being in music, too.
My journey of being a bouncer downtown. I thought I was going to get a part time radio gig down here to going out on the road and selling T shirts. To going out in the road as a babysitter and being a tour manager during COVID Do you like tour managing? I enjoyed it, man. I got off the road in January, but last year we traded 40 dates with Kid Rock. So I got to see that side of touring, which was quite the experience. But then it was fun, man. It was a good chat because we did 2021. We did like 120 something shows all over the country, mostly in a van, and we went all over the place. But at the time it was fun. And it's cool to be like me and Trey have always been very close, and he's a really good buddy. So to watch his life change and be able to watch the rocket ship kind of go, it's fun, but I mean, you see some shit out there.
[00:57:32] Evan Berke: Totally. But then also to be able to keep it in the right. Like, I don't know if you feel this way about Trey, but there's a piece of you that probably he feels like family, and there's an element of, like, it's a family business that we've created out here, and you got to preserve it because these things go away real quick.
[00:57:50] Burrill: And that's probably how you feel with guys like Dustin.
[00:57:52] Evan Berke: Totally. Where it's like, whatever I can do to I know how hard he worked and how hard it is to get to where he's at. So there is a piece of me with all my friends. I'm like, anything that I can do to help keep this thing going for you. Yeah.
It feels like family. And that's when the whole thing takes on a new meaning. It's not just comedy anymore now it's like no, it's more than that. We go way back. So even if comedy wasn't a thing, we'd still be doing whatever we can to support each other.
[00:58:25] Burrill: Yeah, dude, that's awesome, man. So what do you got on tap for the rest of this year? Now we're getting to the fall. The year is totally flying by.
[00:58:31] Evan Berke: Totally. So rest of the year. I've got a few shows coming up. I'm in Atlanta September 15. I'm in Asheville 1 October.
And yeah, I mean, right now I put the special out.
People are watching it, people are enjoying it.
[00:58:48] Burrill: Did well on Apple.
[00:58:49] Evan Berke: It's got some views on the album. Debuted number one on the itunes comedy charts when it came out, which was for an independent, self produced record. Like, very proud of that. Yeah, put the special out on YouTube, on my own YouTube channel. That when I put it out. I only had about 100 subscribers to my YouTube channel, and now I'm at like, 1300 subscribers.
[00:59:15] Burrill: Let's go, dude.
[00:59:15] Evan Berke: That's fucking thank you. Awesome. So again, so much of this has just been me learning as I go, but also truly believing that it's the kind of thing where a lot of comics were like, don't put the special out until you have more of a YouTube subscribers or don't do this. And I'm like, you know what? I'm putting it out. I'm seeing what happens. So I'm taking that risk.
For the rest of the year, I'm going to be doing as many shows as I can to spread the word about the album. And then, yeah, I'm really just going back, as they say, just going back to the lab, man, and just starting from scratch. Just like, really there's a piece of me that I know I'm going to do stories from this album when I perform, but moving forward, it's like, yeah, the goal is to write a whole new hour that is better than this one, that I feel just as good about living life.
[01:00:15] Burrill: Exactly. Honestly, it comes from living life and having those moments, having those Larry David moments where you're getting ready for that flight to the Bet Awards. Totally. And I'm just like you, man. I'm California, so right. I quit drinking a little over seven years ago, but I still am very 420 friendly. And when it comes to getting on a plane, I like to try and get higher than the plane.
I'm right there with you, bud. So I could relate to that. When you were telling that moment and dude, Poor, what was it said? Poor said, that guy's a legend. I mean, he helped you out. He did what he could.
[01:00:50] Evan Berke: What he could.
[01:00:51] Burrill: He did what he could with what he had.
[01:00:52] Evan Berke: Exactly.
[01:00:53] Burrill: And then what he had, he put on the second floor.
[01:00:55] Evan Berke: Totally.
But yeah. So I'm just really focused on as we've kind of touched on, I like to go places and then start over. I like to go places, kind of build something up, go back to the bottom and start over. And I definitely feel like I'm kind of obviously I'm not starting from the bottom and completely from scratch, but a lot of this material is stuff that I've been doing over the years and slowly but surely just making it better and punching it up.
So now I'm at a point where I'm like, how to continue to do comedy without relying on any of this material completely starting over from scratch. And I'm the kind of person that writes on stage a little bit. So I like to have a bullet point topic. Like I want to cover this, but then I like to go up on stage and just kind of ramble about it and record myself and then go back and listen to what I said, what worked, what didn't work, and then kind of start the process.
You know, I got to get myself back in that headspace of going out and just bombing night after night all in the name of developing more new material.
[01:02:12] Burrill: And where's the place where you go? Do you do that? Mostly at yeah.
[01:02:17] Evan Berke: Bowery Vault on Wednesdays, cafe Cocoa on Fridays, third coast on Mondays. There's an open mic in this town at least once a week, sometimes two A, just continuing to do headlining gigs on the road with some of this material, but then while slipping in some of these newer jokes in between so that you're kind of masking the fact that it's new.
[01:02:46] Burrill: I haven't been to one, but how cool is New Material Monday at zany's? I feel like there was one night Aaron and I were going to go, or I was going to go. I think Aaron had her daughter that night and my buddies went to it and both Nate and Dusty performed. Like, you never know who's going to hop up.
[01:03:01] Evan Berke: I can't, I can't speak any more highly of New Material Monday at zany's. It is where you're going to see the best locals, the guys that are working really hard, making a name for themselves, like having really good sets at these dive bars. And then it gets back to zany's and they're like, let's see what this guy's got. So you're seeing people get opportunities that they view as life changing for themselves, which again is very fun to watch and be a part of. But then yeah. New material Monday. If there is a nationally touring act that is rolling through Nashville on a Monday night, they are going to be at New Material Monday. And that could be anybody. Kathleen Madigan's, I think showing up to new material Monday. Nate's there pretty know Dusty's there regularly. John Christ might be there every single then. But then, yeah, you get these out of towners who sometimes people are left over from the weekend and they'll stay for so and then I want to say, I think it's still true that if you buy a sweatshirt if you buy a zany's sweatshirt and you wear it there, you get in for free to every new material Monday.
[01:04:11] Burrill: Wow.
[01:04:12] Evan Berke: For life.
[01:04:13] Burrill: That's a good merch.
[01:04:15] Evan Berke: Buy the Zanies hoodie and you'll get into New Material Monday for free for life.
[01:04:19] Burrill: Wow, that is some good but during.
[01:04:22] Evan Berke: Pan, during COVID and the first six months of New Material Monday might have been the best show in the country, really, because you just had all of these people living slay, you know. Nate john Chris, Kathleen Madigan, Angela Johnson.
[01:04:41] Burrill: They had nowhere to and they had.
[01:04:42] Evan Berke: Nowhere to do comedy but Zanies. And so during COVID it was mind blowing. Who you'd see there on a Monday night.
[01:04:51] Burrill: That's awesome. Yeah, that's how I felt doing the music stuff during COVID because all the artists were here and someone would be having a party in their backyard, sitting around a fire. You never know who was going to show up or doing events in town. Like, you could see somebody at a Whiskey Jam.
[01:05:05] Evan Berke: What's been your biggest holy shit Nashville moment?
[01:05:14] Burrill: Well, for me, like a full circle thing was I had my college radio show from 2013 to 2017. And I was able to get guys that are really big now, like get them to come on my little 25 watt college radio show in central New Jersey. I had Morgan Wallen on there, Luke Combs on there, like when they were little, like baby, like early on. And when I remember first moving to town and going to revival when it was at Tin Roof, which was an institution, it's not there anymore, but it's still here in town once a month. But I remember going in there, and I moved on the Thursday or the Friday of Halloween weekend. And then that following Tuesday, I go to revival. And Luke Combs she got the best of me had just gone number one. And I remember going to that, and it wasn't advertised. Luke was going to be there. But then you walk in and there's this big crowd of people. And then you look up in the booth and there's this chubby, bearded dude with camo on and crocs. And he's got a spit cup here and a Miller Light here. And then he got up there and sang, like the biggest song in the country at that time for country music. And I was like, holy shit, Nashville's fucking cool. Then, like another one, too. I mean, we used to get Walling in at Whiskey Row. We used to get like but they were always fucked up. And I'd be checking their IDs at the door. Like artists getting out of the cars and things like that. I did a Whiskey Jam takeover for my birthday in January. And Chad Kroger from Nickelback was there, which that was pretty cool, too. That was pretty cool. Which we love. Butt Rock. I don't know if you're a big.
[01:06:36] Evan Berke: Butt rock guy or saw the I don't know if this constitutes, but I went and saw the Goo Goo Dolls with Oar.
[01:06:44] Burrill: That absolutely constitutes I think it constitutes a little bit. I'm all about it.
[01:06:49] Evan Berke: That song name, dude.
[01:06:50] Burrill: Yeah.
[01:06:50] Evan Berke: I was like, oh, my god, I haven't heard this in like, 15 years.
[01:06:58] Burrill: We do it twice a year and we have it coming up. We're going to be advertising it soon. We call it nothing but rock night. So it's like it's butt rock. So it's the radio System 129 the Buzz. Nothing but rock.
[01:07:09] Evan Berke: I love that.
[01:07:10] Burrill: And we do full band karaoke. So we get our budies that play down on Broadway and we rotate like band guys. And then we have country artists covering Nickelback, Hinder Creed, saliva, limp bizkit three doors down Lips of angel, st. Bro. Like we do all of that stuff.
[01:07:25] Evan Berke: I used to have a joke about that song, bro.
[01:07:26] Burrill: Really? Yeah.
[01:07:27] Evan Berke: It just sounded like Satan was, like, really in love with somebody. It's really good to hear your voice.
[01:07:34] Burrill: Saying my name sounds so sweet.
[01:07:38] Evan Berke: You're like, wow. Is it sweet? You sound mad.
[01:07:42] Burrill: Yeah. Sound angry. Yeah.
[01:07:44] Evan Berke: That's awesome. Big butt rock guy.
[01:07:46] Burrill: Yeah, dude, I'll show you. We have an account. It's called butt rock night. Our budy Brian Fraser, who spends a lot of time at zany's and stuff, too, he's an artist in town, but really, him and his wife Holly love comedy. And they're always over there at zany's. And he's one of the guys that runs the account for us. And it started out with like 100 something followers, and now we're coming up on, like, 30,000 and it reaches at, like, millions. It's just butt rock memes, right? It's just Fred Durst memes. It's creed memes. It's like, how can we make these people think that Scott Stapp is our that that kind of shit.
[01:08:21] Evan Berke: He lives here, right?
[01:08:22] Burrill: He does, yeah. He lives here at the three doors down. Guys live in Murphysboro. Nickelback has a lot of roots here now. Daughtry just oh, my gosh.
[01:08:29] Evan Berke: Three doors down. Kryptonite right.
[01:08:30] Burrill: Yes. Daughtry just signed a country deal. Aaron Lewis lives here from Stains.
It's all coming back. Did you see the cruise they're doing? Creed is doing a cruise, the Summer of 99 cruise. And it's like Creed three doors down, buck Cherry Tonic. Like all those fucking bands. Then that sold out so quick, they announced the second one for the spring and it's got Daughtry on it.
[01:08:54] Evan Berke: These bands are coming back. There's something about it's, like, people want.
[01:09:00] Burrill: Yeah, people want butt rock. Total want 2000s rock.
[01:09:03] Evan Berke: Totally.
[01:09:04] Burrill: And you hear, like because the songs were good.
[01:09:06] Evan Berke: They were good, well written songs.
[01:09:08] Burrill: Yes. And then you have 2000s pop coming back too. Like Olivia Rodrigo sounds like sounds like fucking paramore. Totally. It's all coming back, dude. So it's exciting, man. And I'm super stoked to have you on, man. It's been a fucking blast to have you. And it's great to hear about the comedy scene. Great to get to know you, man. I can't wait to come out and watch you let me know what open mic will do because I haven't been the one. And I know Aaron goes to him sometimes. And the comedy shows I've been to here in the Tennessee area, we did Kid Rock's comedy Show at the Ryman, right? Yeah. Trey got up and kicked the night off playing Dick down in Dallas at the Ryman. Which was just a spectacle. But I went to that.
[01:09:49] Evan Berke: I think Dusty has a picture in his podcasting studio of that yeah.
[01:09:52] Burrill: Of that whole lineup. Trey's just standing there in the corner. He's like, what the fuck am I doing here? And then Nate saw Nate at Bridgestone. And then we went and saw Dusty in Knoxville recently when he did his special.
[01:10:04] Evan Berke: Oh, yeah, I was there.
Did I meet you that night?
[01:10:10] Burrill: You might have.
[01:10:11] Evan Berke: I think I ran into Aaron.
[01:10:12] Burrill: But getting it was like I was on a flight.
[01:10:16] Evan Berke: We were all flying.
[01:10:17] Burrill: We were higher than the corn, maybe, praying to the Lord.
[01:10:19] Evan Berke: We were all celebrating Dusty that evening.
[01:10:21] Burrill: We were celebrating.
It was his birthday. Big recording at that theater. And he killed it that night. I'm excited.
[01:10:28] Evan Berke: Cannot wait to see the final product.
It's going to be one of the best moments in comedy, I think, ever.
[01:10:35] Burrill: Yeah, I'm very excited for that. But where can people go to find you? Is it Evan Burke on there?
[01:10:39] Evan Berke: Evan Burke. E-V-A-N. Last name is B-E-R-K-E. So Evanburke.com is my website on Instagram. Just my name at Evan Burke.
My Special Twice Removed is on YouTube. It's on my YouTube channel. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I plan on releasing a lot more videos now that I know I have subscribers.
[01:11:04] Burrill: Hell, yeah.
[01:11:05] Evan Berke: I feel like I have a lot to maintain now.
Yeah, that's where you can find me. So please watch the special. If you laugh even once, share it with someone that will also laugh at something. Because that's how you can support independent artists, is just by we've made it so easy with social media. Just the share button that's all independent artists want.
[01:11:26] Burrill: And a follow, please. Share.
[01:11:28] Evan Berke: Yes. That's all we're looking for.
[01:11:30] Burrill: That's it. We all be sure to check out our boy Evan Burke, Twice Removed. It's fucking hilarious. Me and McElain were watching it earlier and basically pissing our pants. It was fucking awesome. So y'all be sure to check out our boy Evan Burke, Twice Removed, follow on his website. All that stuff he was just telling you, go and do it. Shout out to our friends Big Friendly Productions, saxman Studios, our boy Mitch Wallace with the Digital Marketing Agency. And of course, Whale Tail Media. If you guys want to know more about Raze Rowdy, look up Razerowdy.com, give us a follow on there. Come out to one of our events and mark the calendar for Butt Rock Night. So for my boy Evan, right here, for old sweet boy behind the camera, I'm Matt Riel and has been outside the Round.
