On the Mic with Scott Friedman

Scott (00:02.131)
Alright, so now you want to...

Beacon (00:02.188)
Welcome back to the Bridgeton Beacon. I am here this afternoon with Scott Friedman, stand -up comedian who is not standing up, he is sitting down. However, I figured I would let him join. Are you there, Scott? All right. I figured I'd let him join and continue his recitation of his afternoon, which sounded like it was going into a stand

Scott (00:20.659)
I am.

Beacon (00:30.7)
routine so I figured we might as well record so back at you Scott.

Scott (00:33.654)
Not really, I just think these things happen to me. when I'm not doing stand -up comedy, I do a combination of real estate and insurance, which, you know, why not be everything that everybody else hates? know, used car salesman probably next. But I have an office in Ocean City for real estate and I have an office in Northfield for insurance and I like to go between the two. Today was a particularly rainy day, as those who may know on this Friday.

And I said, you know what? I'm going to get my lunch at the drive -thru. I'm going to grab a salad from Wendy's. And it's 12 noon. I'm the only car on the drive -thru. It was exciting. I was very, very happy. But downpour, downpour, downpour. So I get up there, and I put my window down a little bit. And then I realized, I'm not going to be able to hear these people, so I put it down all the way. Monsoon in my car. Absolute monsoon in my

I have every confidence that if I had just gone to Wawa or some other place, got out of my car, I would probably have had less water in my car than putting my window down to wait what turned out to be at least 30 seconds before somebody finally came to me and said, can I help you? That was one. And then I was like, all right, let me raise it up a little. I'll raise it up half. I'll bring my window up half. And I start ordering my salad. She asked me to repeat my order three times.

I mean, I don't think this was happening, but it seems like she was probably back there turning the mic off and giggling every chance she had. Like, let me see how many times I can get him to keep doing this in the rainstorm. Three times I had to repeat my order for my apple pecan chicken salad. By the way, I love them. They are great, wonderful at Wendy's, but yeah, so.

Beacon (02:17.887)
First world problems, Scott. First world problems.

Scott (02:19.574)
It's a first world problem for my $8 salad, but very, very, very, very wet. The whole car, I used all the napkins as I was driving to wipe down the car. was gross. It was

Beacon (02:29.972)
Well, thank you for joining me today. You know, I'll just start by saying we met through a common friend, John Jesperson, who many of my listeners knew very well. Long time, long time, Cumberland County attorney, prosecutor, private attorney. And he left this year ago. And, but you and I met, I think actually

Scott (02:31.542)
You're welcome.

Scott (02:41.034)
Mm -hmm.

Beacon (03:00.38)
on the mic singing together about a year and a half or so ago, two years ago now, on one of JJ's got us together playing with a band. So how did you meet JJ?

Scott (03:01.683)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Scott (03:09.481)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (03:21.46)
So the house that we were at when we did that is a long time friend of mine and client. So I've him that house and he's moved multiple times and thankfully helps put my kids through college. But he got on the river there and I think during one of the trips, I forget, because I know he didn't live near JJ. JJ lived in Ocean City, but I believe he met him at

Beacon (03:42.505)
The of the notion city for a long time.

Scott (03:47.026)
And or he met him through somebody and said this guy can really play guitar. So JJ was at one of his original jams because this guy does jam once or twice a year, whatever house he's in. And so that's how he met JJ either at Clancy's, which JJ liked to go to Clancy's every so often, but doesn't exist anymore. Or they met that way. And then we just all became friends. have another mutual and the four of us used to hang out pretty often.

And then JJ, like he did with everybody, would send us videos of his seagulls and pictures and stuff like that. yeah, yeah, definitely. Scooby.

Beacon (04:27.036)
Yeah, I miss that. I miss that. were you always a musician or were you kind of swooped in and asked to just sing along with everyone else?

Scott (04:37.142)
I... Well, I can sing, but you know, I'm not a singer, but I can sing, so that was kind of it. And one of our guys sings, if not, and he's better guitar player than he is singer. So I wouldn't call myself a musician. I can blow on the harmonica if you tell me what key the song is in, and I can sing if I know the song. So that was my part. was either that or tambourines, I think.

Beacon (05:07.257)
So we were speaking about a week or so ago and I didn't realize you actually spent a long time on the radio. radio to real estate to insurance to stand up. Tell me how this all fits together. Because the reason I am having you here on the Bridgeton Beacon, just so my listeners know is you are going to be performing at the Eastlyn Golf Club.

Scott (05:15.699)
Yes. Yeah.

Scott (05:24.956)
I no idea.

Scott (05:31.508)
Mm -hmm.

Beacon (05:35.014)
And is it at the golf club or at the Greenview Inn? Because they are Yeah, and and You know, I was checking out Eastlyn golf course and Greenview Inn Facebook page and it looks like they are We're starting back up with their Friday night comedy nights beginning on July 26. Is that the event you're going to be at? Mm -hmm.

Scott (05:38.613)
I believe it's a golf club itself.

Scott (05:48.308)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (05:59.123)
Yeah, yeah, I think they do them quarterly and the Booker.

He has a country club circuit basically and I'm actually running the circuit. I'll be running through the circuit this summer. Avalon Golf Club and Kate May Courthouse has me as their in -house host so every three months I'm there. But the other two, one's in Ag Harbor Township and then of course Eastlyn, they don't want repeat comics. So I played Eastlyn probably about two years ago I think. you you come back. Because what people don't seem to know is that comedians typically don't change their material unless

famous. So if I were to come in, you know, every three months to do something, I have to come up with new material all the time. So that's why they don't like to do that. But yeah, I'll be at Eastlyn on the 26th. I've been there before. It's a great place and it's a great venue. The dinner and the show thing, they put up a wonderful buffet. The food is wonderful. And then the show is just we just, you know, we go crazy and have some fun and get everybody to laugh.

Beacon (06:58.457)
And are you going to be back again in September? OK.

Scott (07:01.406)
Me, no. I'm sorry. I'll be in Vineland in September, though. have a gig at the Savoy. It's for... Yeah.

Beacon (07:08.876)
Okay, I didn't realize that okay great well went before we wrap up I want to run through all of your all of your dates But so you're gonna be at this avoid in September, but it's Eastlyn in July excellent. Okay, so I interrupted you

Scott (07:14.685)
Okay, sure.

Scott (07:20.627)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

It's your podcast. I just don't know what I would want to do when I grow up, basically. I wanted to be on the radio from the time I was a little kid, and I did it locally. Some of your listeners may have been listening to 100 .7 WZXL. It's a classic rock station. I did a morning show in the mid -90s, and then again in the 2010s. Joe and Scott show, my partner, Joe Cipana. And we did about five or six years each time. Yeah, yeah, from Joe and

That's me. So that was something I always wanted to do. I left it in the original version in the year 2000 because I found myself separated, young marriage, separated, getting divorced, kid, and needed to make money. so just...

Beacon (08:13.878)
That's not radio.

Scott (08:15.24)
Right, not radio at all, especially small market radio, which is not Philadelphia, not New York, not Boston, Chicago. So I happened to know somebody who knew somebody, and he listened to my show, and he owned a real estate company. I asked him about it, and he said, get your license and come on. So I kind of did that and transitioned into

took a long, long slog into coaching and speaking. I was traveling the country speaking and training in real estate and all. And then the recession hit. And then my partner came to me, my partner Joe from the radio show said, let's get the band back together. And it took us about a year, but we got back on ZXL. that iteration, I think we started in 09.

And I said, I was listening to, it either the Borgata or the old comedy stop at the TROP, which doesn't exist anymore. I was listening to one of those commercials and I said, you know what? I used to do standup comedy in college and I almost turned professional. Cause I had a booker who wanted to book me and I just walked away from it and I went into radio and I'm like, I'm tired of saying I used to do standup comedy. Let me see what I can do. And that's kind of what happened. So they let me guest host one night there

Ultimately, I actually was at the Borgata. I was a regular at the Borgata for a while, but they changed bookers. So they don't know me anymore, and so I'm not there. I'm 50 -something years old.

twice divorced now, because I'm really good with relationships apparently. Two kids, one's an adult, one's almost an adult, and I just, I'm not driving around, I'm not going on the road and all that. I did a little bit of that, but I'm kinda happy to be playing what I call the Look Ma, I Made It Country Club Circuit Tour, you know?

Beacon (10:03.496)
All right. I saw, and I saw that that's great. And there's a lot of local venues. mean, between Atlantic city, Cape May, and now, you know, the venues that you're going to be at in Carmelin County. It's fantastic. It's a tough, it's a tough gig. really? Delandis. Yeah. That's a nice location. So you're going to give us, I going to say it's a tough, it's a tough, it's a tough thing to have to do. mean, you've got, have you been heckled ever? Yeah.

Scott (10:07.561)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah?

Scott (10:15.059)
Yeah, I used to play the Landis a lot too. Yeah. -hmm. Yeah. Mm -hmm. It is. It's a horrible gig.

Scott (10:26.697)
Well, yeah, it's immediate feedback, right? Yeah, I've been heckled, yeah. Usually the people who heckle you are drunk though, you know.

Beacon (10:36.895)
so can heckle him back.

Scott (10:38.311)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm one of those comics who I've always been good with the microphone. I've been good, quick -witted when I was on the radio or show. We were dealing with live callers and things, and my partner and I would go back and forth. So there's not much you could say to me that I can't fire something back and have something funny and all.

But I don't encourage that, of course, because that does throw off the rhythm. And you didn't buy a ticket to the show. I mean, you bought a ticket. You didn't buy a ticket to get on stage, right? And I have the microphone, and you've been drinking. So that kind of stuff. But yeah, it does happen. You get heckled.

Beacon (11:12.722)
but you enjoy

Scott (11:14.791)
Yeah, you know, usually if I'm gonna get heckled, it's either somebody saying something completely stupid and they don't realize what they're doing, or I deserved it. So, and if I deserved it, I'll take it.

Beacon (11:25.81)
So are you going to give us any kind of preview tonight of your show or do have to? Yeah. No.

Scott (11:29.175)
You mean do some of my set? Nah, I usually tell people buy a ticket. It's kind of, it's fun.

Beacon (11:35.368)
thought maybe you'd give me a little tidbit.

Scott (11:37.429)
Well, I got to create a joke and a situation. I mean, there are people who, whenever I do a fundraiser show, like a VFW or a fundraiser show, you always have to walk in and get to the ticket table. And they want to take your ticket. They want to know that you paid because they don't know who you are. And usually, I get to point to the flyer or I just say, hey, I'm one of the comedians. 99 out of 100 times, somebody at the ticket table says, oh, you're a comedian. Tell me a

That's just what it is. That's what happens. So most of the

Beacon (12:09.914)
Right. Well, I mean, what do you draw on your personal life experiences, like going through the Wendy's drive through? Am I going to hear that?

Scott (12:14.517)
Absolutely. Yeah. You probably won't hear that one. Yeah, no, but I do. definitely do. Some people know that I had a heart attack about five years ago. That is definitely part of my material. I got a lot about 10 minutes out of that. know, that's just so many things that happened. Right? Right? Exactly.

Beacon (12:35.423)
That's positive.

Scott (12:39.157)
My main thing, the main thing about the heart attack is that the doctors all say, everybody came into my room after the, I had a stent put in and everybody came in and said, make sure you take your meds. And to this day, I take meds twice a day. And when I was in the hospital and you have nothing to do and you're just contemplating life and your mortality, I'm reading my, the new meds. And the uses of one of my meds literally said on the pamphlet or on the bottle said to prevent death.

And I'm going, who the hell's not taking that? Why do you have to remind me to take that one? Yeah, exactly, Right? Yeah, this one to prevent death.

Beacon (13:11.418)
Right. Right. That's, that's an inspiration. In case you were worried about forgetting your medicine, we're going to tell you what happens if you

Scott (13:27.382)
Wow, that was a big one. Yeah. So yeah, I do. I draw on the fact that I'm 53 years old and I'm dating. Oh, that's fun, right? That, you know, I've been divorced. I have kids, you know, things like that. It's just, it's regular stuff. I think the comedic mind just, you know, most people go through life and go, oh, that was funny. Comedy people, we go, oh, I can make that funny. That's funnier if I do this. Or, wow, that's really, you know, weird and let me make it funny.

you know, everyday stuff.

Beacon (13:57.23)
And most people can, many people can, I'm sure can relate to a lot of the things that you talk about.

Scott (14:03.037)
absolutely. I'm not going to say it here because it's being recorded and I don't want to get anybody sued, but I have a bit about a restaurant chain that we all know and don't love. And it's just normal observations, but it's very funny because it's just, oof, wow. Right? And that's what it

Beacon (14:18.596)
Right. Right. Well, I mean, I like, I like talking to you because had I not run into you, honestly, I don't think I would have realized that right in Cumberland County, you can go hear a local standup. You know, and here on the Bridge and Beacon, we focus on people, places and things in the area that are really neat, that are inspirational, that are fun, that make the area a great place to live, work and play.

Scott (14:32.33)
Mm -hmm.

Beacon (14:48.214)
when you said you were doing a routine over at Eastlyn, I thought, that's fantastic. I gotta have you on the Bridgeton Beacon. And now to hear that you're doing another one in September at the Savoy, well, that's just fantastic. That's great. How do people, do you know how people get tickets or that's all booked through the different venues?

Scott (14:57.81)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (15:07.253)
Typically it's at different venues. Eastlyn has its own website, so you can go on there I believe. And the country club ones you definitely want to, you definitely want to go there because they're the ones handling it. Dinner and a show, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Reasonably priced too. I mean, I think it's like $64 or something like that, but that gives you the buffet. You can go up as many times as you want. And then the show with three big comics. Oh, that's the funny thing by the way. If you go on the Eastlyn website.

Beacon (15:18.659)
And you got to get the tickets ahead of time.

Scott (15:35.317)
I have about four shows coming up in the next month. I'm only on the flyer for one of them. There's just accidents and whatever else. It shows how great of a comic I am and how much of a draw I am. But if you go on the website now, you'll see the two comics of the three that are on the show. But yeah, you go on the useful website and you can book it. And I mean, these days, if you're trying to get, you know, if you go out to dinner without a show for $65 a person, come on, right? So.

Beacon (16:01.496)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, if you go to the Eastlands Facebook page, says, comedy tonight is returning here at the Eastlyn golf course and green view in join us for a night of good food, drinks and laughs for all courtesy of cool Bubba ice and Zachary Pickett call to reserve your spots. Eight five, six, six, nine, one five, five, five, eight extension too. And I'll repeat that at the end of the, of our conversation today, but I'm assuming you are not cool Bubba ice or Zachary Pickett.

Scott (16:19.41)
Yeah, those are two of the three.

Scott (16:31.805)
No, and I've never worked with Cool Bubba Ice. I've worked with Zach a lot. He is hilarious. The shows that get booked, so I have no doubt that Cool Bubba Ice is gonna be funny. The shows that get booked here are great shows. But yeah, that's one of the three of the four I'm in in the next month that I'm not on the flyer for. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Beacon (16:51.051)
That's okay, we're getting there. Baby steps, Scott. And you are going to be down in Wildwood on July 20th. Correct me if any of these dates are wrong. We've already talked about Eastlyn on July 26th. Kate May Court, well, let's go back. Where are you in Wildwood?

Scott (16:58.622)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (17:08.277)
This is a funny story. So Wildwood is Tammy Pescatelli is from Netflix. She's a great comedian She's gonna be open actually closing the show the headliner of the show. It's at the synagogue in Wildwood I think it's Beth Judah. It's not a religious show though It just happens to be they have an auditorium that they want to use but not a religious show You don't have to you know, any money to the cause or you're not gonna pray or anything like that It's I don't think they're gonna give out matzah balls

Beacon (17:23.272)
Really?

Beacon (17:35.552)
Well, Scott Friedman, you were

Scott (17:37.513)
Well, I probably am the token Jew on the show. But other than that, is not religious. There's a few of them this summer that they're doing monthly at the synagogue there in Wildwood.

Beacon (17:38.965)
You said it, not I.

Beacon (17:53.781)
Okay, that's kind of neat. That's fun. Excellent. So July 26, we talked about it, Eastlyn. August 2nd in Cape May courthouse. Where are you on August 2nd? That's Amlon Golf Club. Got it. Okay. You got to update your flyer because I can't tell where you're at. If you've got the city on there.

Scott (17:59.816)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (18:04.168)
That's the Avalon Golf Club. So, yeah. Yeah.

Scott (18:12.37)
Yeah. Yeah, I know. I didn't want to type all of that and say every... If you want to ask, you'll ask.

Beacon (18:17.151)
So too much work. August 17th, EHT. Where are you on EHT? that's a nice place.

Scott (18:22.577)
Mm -hmm. Harbor Pines Golf Club. Yep. And happens to be right down the street from where I live now. So that's, you know, I could probably walk there. Yeah, yeah. It's a better gig, right?

Beacon (18:30.748)
Even better, even better. Yeah. And then September 15th in Vineland at the Savoy. Okay.

Scott (18:39.954)
Yeah, I think it's the 14th. I think I screwed up. I think it's actually the 14th. Yeah. Mm -hmm.

Beacon (18:43.216)
you told me that, right. So September 14th. So not only is your flyer does not have the venue or the times, it also has the dates. I shouldn't say it's a flyer. It was on your Facebook page.

Scott (18:53.287)
Right, but what you'll find, yeah, my Facebook post, what you'll find though is if you get in the lovely world of stand -up comedy, it doesn't matter. Until you become a name, nobody cares. Everybody tells you, I wanna go to your next show, when's your next show, when are you playing local, when are you playing local?

they, I couldn't make it, I forgot. So if somebody's really hell bent on coming to see me at the Savoy in September, we'll get the dates right. And when I reprint it, I'll do that. that's for the, I think it's for the BUNA parent -teacher organization or something like that. BUNA schools, yeah.

Beacon (19:29.357)
awesome that's great so are you booking all of your own gigs I would imagine you handle correct that's my question

Scott (19:38.143)
Do you mean do I have a manager? Yes, good question. I do not. I didn't push for it. I would have to really, really want to go out

Beacon (19:42.916)
You not,

Beacon (19:47.779)
Cutting out the middleman.

Scott (19:49.3)
Yeah, well, yeah. And these gigs are small potatoes for a comedian anyway. unless I was going to be working 40, 50 weeks a year, which I was thinking about that. was actually, I think about 10 years ago, I actually had about 40 weekends I was working. But I've dialed it down, as I stated before. And I think that a manager would get so little money from me right now, it wouldn't be worth it. But yeah.

Beacon (20:15.526)
I would imagine that you're doing this because you enjoy

Scott (20:18.389)
Yes, yeah, really, it is. It's one of those things where I, well, for example, I hadn't played Catch a Rising Star in Princeton in a long time and somebody called me up and asked me if I would be able to fill in, it was a week's notice, right? Usually you get booked a couple months ahead of time and it was a Saturday and my daughter is 16 and I have her pretty much every weekend. So.

I said, well, it's a two hour drive from where I am, hour and a half to two hour drive, I said, and I have my daughter typically, I'm not gonna go out.

come back and they said, well, we'll give you a room. So I got a double bed room. My daughter was all loving the fact that she could order room service. She stayed in the room on her phone, on her computer while I went and did the show in the hotel and then did that. if I can make that work, I'll do it. But I'm not really looking to until she goes to college, maybe running out somewhere on a Saturday night where I'm going to be three hours away or whatever or have to do overnights. Yeah, so I do it for fun.

Beacon (21:16.634)
Right, it's just a fun time for you. Who are your inspirations? Who are your favorite comedians?

Scott (21:23.784)
George Carlin, big time, number one. I liked Eddie Murphy. I liked Robin Williams. I I liked all of the, you know, I guess the comedy. Yeah, well, yeah. I have some favorites now, but I I liked, you know, I did growing up, was.

Beacon (21:32.442)
showing your age.

Scott (21:42.096)
Eddie Murphy, and Raw, and Delirious. was all of George Carlin. I could recite every George Carlin bit he had on every album. He had Robin Williams live at the Met, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby. They were all great as comedians. So, yeah.

Beacon (21:57.732)
I always wonder, do different venues, know, because comedians, can range on their appropriateness, right? So do different venues ever kind of say like, no, this, no, this, no, this, no, this? do you have free reign as a comedian?

Scott (22:08.093)
Yes.

Scott (22:12.678)
Absolutely.

It really depends on the venue, as you said. The type of gig and the venue. For example, if I were to be working for a school system, you know, it's the parent -teacher thing or whatever, I don't typically do very raunchy stuff anyway, but I would tone down any raunchiness that I could. Really depends. I mean, I have been in situations, I used to play in Northeast Philly

One of the things I've always done and it's really nothing other than the fact that I'm just big I always hide try to hide my my gut. So I wear a jacket, right? I'm always dressed up I have jacket and jeans but a dress shirt or whatever and I played this venue for the first time and you could tell not even I was closing the show So I was the last comedian the headline or whatever and just you could see throughout the night just

rockets Northeast Philly crowd. And my first thing out of the gate was, wow, this is my first time here. I am really effing overdressed, right? And I didn't say effing, obviously I said, you know, and they went nuts. So that whole night, anything I said, if I threw an F -bomb in front of it was going to be funnier for them. But, you know, going down with Tammy and playing in Temple Beth Judah, not going to do

Beacon (23:26.498)
You, right, you tested the waters in it. It was okay. Yeah.

Scott (23:30.396)
Yeah, yeah. But you do get told ahead of time a lot of times. Or you ask. Sometimes you ask, like, what is the, you know, what's the rating here? And they'll tell you PG -13 or, you know, whatever. But for the most part, for me, I've never run into an issue because, you know, most of my stuff doesn't require any kind of blue language anyway. So, you know, it's just a matter of if I tone it down.

Beacon (23:56.96)
Got it. So you're no longer on the radio, right? You're on two different times. So full -time gig is real estate and insurance, stand -up comedy on the side. is that, are your routines kind of year -round or is it seasonal?

Scott (24:00.861)
Correct.

Mm -hmm.

Scott (24:11.815)
Mm -hmm.

Scott (24:17.204)
I do anything. played, you know, I do the winter, you know, and I actually will change up some of my jokes because now you're talking about Christmas time and Hanukkah and all that, yeah, throughout. Christmas is tough because sometimes, you know, people have Christmas parties, so, but there are private parties too. That's a weird thing. People will invite you and pay you to come to their house and tell the jokes in their living room. It's the oddest thing ever, but it happens. I've done a, I've...

Beacon (24:40.821)
Really?

Beacon (24:45.385)
Really? you done that? I'm curious, what is that like? Is that like you have Aunt Edna over and they're worried about it a slow, evening? Or is this like bachelor party type situations? Okay.

Scott (24:46.929)
Yeah, I've done a party in somebody's basement.

Scott (25:01.677)
No, it's definitely not a bachelor party. But they gear up. The biggest problem is, and this happened early on, you're a comedian. Why don't you come to a show? People do have to plan for it. If you don't plan for it, it's not going to work. I had somebody want me to do some party they had at some club. And I said, OK, is there a stage? Does anybody know there's going to be a comedy show?

So it's a DJ and dancing, and you just want me to stop in the middle of the dance floor and start telling jokes? No. Right, exactly. You talked about the jam party that we go to, where we met. Everybody there knows I'm a comic. And for whatever reason, every single time we're there when I'm on the microphone, if there's a lull, because we haven't figured out what song we're going to do next, somebody yells, come on, start telling jokes.

Beacon (25:35.397)
It's not gonna work.

Scott (25:56.113)
And then everybody goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, tell jokes, tell jokes. It's not gonna work. It's not, yeah, it doesn't. This is not a comedy show. You guys didn't pay to do this and that's not what we're doing. We're doing music now and you might think it's funny, but it won't work. So, know, hey, take my wife, please. It's not gonna work.

Beacon (26:00.862)
doesn't quite work that

Beacon (26:09.588)
you

Great.

Beacon (26:18.026)
That's funny. So the comedians that you're working with now, tell me a little bit about them. Who do you like to work with most?

Scott (26:29.819)
there's so many. That's actually the biggest problem with being a comedian is that you don't necessarily see some of your comedy friends. That's one of the reasons I actually like social media, because I actually see my comedian friends more that way than I do. You'll go years and years and years, and somebody you love, you're just not booked with them. Especially if you get to a level where you're closing shows and they close shows.

you're not gonna be on the same show, right? Unless it's some sort of superstar show.

Beacon (27:00.807)
Right. Who's a hard act to follow?

Scott (27:05.627)
gosh, one of the best ones out there is Jay Black. I don't know if you've heard of him. Jay Black used to be an English teacher at Shawnee High School. He's out of Medford Marlton area. I knew him from the start of my comedy career. We actually both were friends with the deceased Big Daddy Graham, who hooked us up.

you know, had me meet with and all that. Jay is a brilliant, brilliant comic. actually does, he writes for the Hallmark movies, Hallmark channel, Lifetime channel, all that he has. He writes and produces movies for that. But he's incredibly funny. I mean, he's just somebody you will not follow. I mean, if you do, good luck, you know. He's got the crowd and it's nuts and you're gonna go there and be like, okay, let me tell you about my divorce now.

Beacon (27:57.802)
Yeah, that would be a challenging situation, I would imagine.

Scott (28:01.71)
Yeah, yeah. He's just, there's so many. you know, I'm friendly with Mike Egan. Mike Egan was known for being the general manager at Catchy Rising Star in New York City. And he passed Chris Rock and Colin Quinn among other comedians. he basically, they would perform and he would get to say, yes, you can come back here or no, you're stuck on the open mics or whatever. And Chris Rock actually

references him a couple times. was even, I think he was on that Jonathan Lipton after studio thing and mentioned Mike and things like that. Mike's older now, he's kind of, know, in his retiring years, but not retired by any stretch. Just a brilliant funny comedian who just low -key just sits there and just tells these just puns and jokes that are just, it's really good. He's a really good guy.

Beacon (28:54.744)
You said that you did stand up in college. Where did you go to college? Okay, where are you from originally?

Scott (28:57.648)
Yes. Montclair State.

Medford Lakes?

Beacon (29:04.546)
Med for Lakes, okay. And you went to Montclair State and I mean, how did, I mean, just for my listeners, how did you decide and get started? Was it just on a whim and you kind of enjoyed it or how'd that work?

Scott (29:16.723)
Yeah, it was. So my senior year, I had done some variety show stuff with a freshman friend of mine. We did some like comedy magic routine for like the senior talent show and whatever. And he was really into standup, but it never occurred to me. I think I was just so heavy into wanting to be on the radio. It never occurred to me to do standup. So I drove him to the Comedy Works in Philly and we sat there at an open mic.

Right? He didn't go on to like 1 32 o 'clock in the morning. And he was so nervous. forgot, I got like five minutes, I think, and whatever. And he forgot half of his stuff. I was actually prodding him with some of the things I knew that he knew in his set. Like we're just, three of us sitting there in the audience at that point in time. And I was like, wow, how'd you feel? He's like, oh, I was so nervous. I'm like, great. All right, whatever. I'm not going to do that. Fast forward to the fall. I'm in college.

and they've got an open mic night and one of the things on it was, and I'm involved in some of the student clubs and they're like, oh, we have bands, have this, we have poetry and standup comedy. I'm like, standup comedy, open mic night at college, what could possibly go wrong? And I came up with 10 minutes that was pretty decent by standards of having never done standup comedy before. Part of my thing is I'm not afraid of a mic. I'm not afraid of being in front of people. So that's a big deal.

Beacon (30:38.884)
That's a plus. Yeah. What was your major?

Scott (30:40.091)
Yeah, that's a big plus. So I just have to be funny. History. Not on purpose. Not on purpose. But yeah, so I I did that and I ended up...

Beacon (30:45.595)
so for all those history majors out there, you see where it gets you.

Scott (30:59.11)
The incoming freshmen were greeted at this college in the summer, a series of weekends, and they had orientation workshop leaders that you had to be a sophomore and have a certain grade point average to be to maintain it, and you would lead them around for the weekend. And it was always, it culminated in the night before they went home was a comedy show.

And the person running the thing had a relationship with a booker. So he was getting all these comedians that at time I had no idea, but now they would be me, somebody like me. And he had me host the shows. He asked if I would be willing to host the shows. So I actually had to come up with my own sets. And from there, that's where I was actually going to get booked. And then walked away. Yeah, 20 years later, yeah. 20 years after college, I said, maybe I'll give it a try.

Beacon (31:40.948)
Excellent. The rest is history.

Beacon (31:49.819)
Try it again. If anyone wanted to reach out to you, whether it's a business or a family that wants to have you in their basement, now, anybody that wants to book you, do they get a hold of

Scott (31:51.056)
Yeah, exactly.

Scott (32:03.313)
That does not sound good. If you just want to book me, it's comedyscott at gmail .com. That's real easy.

Beacon (32:14.081)
comedescott at gmail .com. All

Scott (32:17.189)
Yeah, you can ask about bookings, you can ask where I'm gonna be, you can book me, whatever, talk to me that way. That goes direct to me.

Beacon (32:25.491)
Okay, all right, great. So any final words you want to share about yourself since you're not going to give us any tidbits on your, and I can understand, but you're not going to give us any tidbits on your standup routine.

Scott (32:40.146)
Well, mean, buy a ticket, you know? This is about buying a ticket. you know, if I tell you one joke and you don't like it, then you go, I'm not buying a ticket, you know? So, no, I'm not gonna do

Beacon (32:44.267)
Fair enough. I agree that that makes a lot of

Beacon (32:51.69)
Well, I mean, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on because I have been spending a lot of time speaking with different people about how the arts are alive in Cumberland County. And there's a lot of fun, different neat things to go and do and see and hear. You just have to know about it. So we're trying to get the word out. And I would encourage everyone to reach out to Eastlyn Golf Course. And I'm going to give that phone number.

Scott (33:04.837)
Mm -hmm.

Beacon (33:21.215)
If you want to reserve a 856 -691 -5558, extension 2, to head over to the Friday night comedy night and see Scott Friedman on the Look Ma, I Made It summer comedy tour. And also, if you want to see it in September on the 14th at the

I would imagine they would just reach out directly to the Savoy.

Scott (33:53.201)
Yeah, or they could do the comedyscot at gmail .com and I'll direct them to, I think it's Buna, the school system. I'll direct them to that to be able to get the, or the PTO to be able to get tickets for that.

Beacon (34:03.847)
Is that, well, let me just be clear. Is that open to anybody or is that just? is. Okay. So it's a

Scott (34:07.226)
Yeah, yeah, that'll be open to the public. yep, it's a fundraiser, Absolutely.

Beacon (34:11.966)
Excellent. All right. Well, we'll have you come back again. Keep us posted on your tour and how it goes. And if you're going to be anywhere else local, I would love to know and be able to promote it here on the Birchland Beacon. So I'm going to ask you to do the sign off.

Scott (34:26.373)
Thank you so much. Thank you very much. I don't even know what that is.

Beacon (34:34.161)
Yeah, come on, you're a radio guy.

Scott (34:36.518)
Just okay, alright, just say the bridgeton beacon, right? That's all we're gonna say. We're out of here. We're done. I mean, you know.

Beacon (34:39.805)
Yeah,

Beacon (34:45.171)
Thank you, Scott.