Trae: Are we, what, what's where we at on cussing on this show? I'll do whatever you want.
Evelien: Let it fly, Trae. Let it fly.
Trae, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I'm a huge fan of yours I think you're super talented and crazy smart.
How are you doing? I know that you are in LA How is it for you? I mean, it must be a little bit of a culture shock.
Trae: Uh, A little bit. I mean, I've been out here since 2017 at this point, so, you know, I mean, I'm fairly used to it. Yeah. I've got two sons. They're about to be, very soon they'll be turning 10 and 11. So we moved out here when they were like, the oldest one hadn't started kindergarten yet, so they're like, they're kind of little Californians, you know what I mean?
I mean, not kind of really they are, one of 'em is a vegetarian for like moral reasons, you know what I mean? Very, It's true. I go back home and my buddy tells me a very like, heartfelt story about his daughter, shooting her first deer on a hunting trip or whatever, and I'm like, Yeah, that's, that's incredible.
Yeah. Yeah. My son's vegetarian.
Evelien: That's a whole nother episode. Yeah.
Trae: I've had all kinds of material about the sort of like the culture shock part of it or whatever, how, you know, I feel people look at the south or the rural south or southern accents and that type of thing.
Like, it's definitely something that I, you know, get into in my standup. But but yeah, I'm fairly adjusted to it. And there's certain things about all the same things everybody knows about living out here that are hard to adjust to, like the traffic and like, if you're in show business specifically people out here and of, you know, very bullshit type of city in a lot of ways. all that same stuff is annoying.
It's insanely expensive, But I mean, if everybody in the damn country wanted to live in Toledo, Ohio, it'd be very expensive too. So I get it. So I go back and forth on it. I miss Tennessee a lot, but also then headlines will come out about what Tennessee's up to, and I'm like, well, okay.
I'm feeling okay about not being there uh, right now. But other times it's like, no, that's where I'm supposed to be, you know.
Evelien: Well, listen, Trae, that shit's happening everywhere.
Trae: Yeah, I know. I mean, I've traveled the country extensively doing standup, for like six years. I mean, I've been a standup since 2010, but I've been like a professional full-time touring standup since 2016.
And so, I've definitely have found that it's, it's much more of a, like urban, rural divide than it is like a geographical thing. Like I've driven from Spokane, Washington to Seattle, Washington, and you drive across the state of Washington and culturally in terms of what you see in the people and stuff, there's not a huge amount of difference than driving across the state of like South Carolina or something like that, Like geography and all that different.
But you see a lot of the same bumper stickers, a lot of the same road signs and, and that type of thing.
Evelien: Yeah. That's a whole nother episode, Trae, that I'm gonna have to have you come back on. But here's my thing. I'm thrilled for your success. You're, you're obviously on tour with your comedy. How would you describe your comedy for people who may not have discovered it yet, which by the way, you really need to all go check out Trey, because he is hilarious.
But for those who may not be as familiar with your comic routine or style, how would you describe it?
Trae: I, uh, it's like if, uh, if Jeff Foxworthy was a very verbose, progressive I guess, which is like, that seems to not make any sense to people, but that's kind of my whole deal. I don't know. I call it like I don't wanna say intellectual, but like I use big words and stuff and I talk about things that you're not gonna hear most other quote unquote blue collar comedians talk about.
But I grew up in the rural south, I had the accent. I talk about all that type of thing a lot. So it is kind of a mix, sort of an unholy mix between like Bill Hicks and the sort of, you know, blue collar comedy tour type of thing. It's like different version of that. So again, I know some people hear that and they're like, That sounds insane.
That doesn't sound like that makes any kind of sense. But, you know, it comes together. It plays, I think.
Evelien: It comes together very, very well actually. You actually call yourself the liberal redneck, which is I think is a great snapshot of what you do in many ways. Give us a little bit of a history of how that nickname came to be. And a lot of your standup takes on critically important social issues like prejudice, racism, bias.
You know what, Look, at the end of the day, let's, let's just say it there is bias everywhere, regardless of skin color, gender orientation, but all the way to accents.
And, and also, you know what city you're from, right? So I'm in New York City, so you guys can look at me in the deep south and say, I'm an elitist liberal, right? Crazy tree hugging liberal. So the idea of liberal redneck, where did that come from? And also, can you talk about how socially aware your standup is?
Trae: I guess I'll do the cover, the liberal redneck part first. So, first of all, I've always said like a. The liberal redneck is a character slash group or a series of videos that I do for the internet, but I mean, I've done hundreds of 'em and it's just me doing, you know, redneck style car rants, basically like you see all the time people who are mad about something yelling at their phone about it and putting it on the internet.
Like I do that and I've started as like, making fun of that. But at this point it's just like, I'm another person who does those, which is, fine with me. But I've always said that liberal redneck is only a character in that it's me cranked up to 11 really. And honestly, in the current iteration of the videos, if you go back to early, the first videos were way more of a character cuz I was really cranking up the redneck a lot more than I do now.
Now it's kind of just me with my accent. like I said, I grew up in a very redneck town in rural Tennessee called Celina, Tennessee. No traffic lights, no McDonald's, middle of nowhere. But also as long as I've been politically aware at all, I've been, a liberal or a progressive.
And we can, you know, I probably will get into, why I think that is, or the origin of that or whatever, so I've always just been that person from the very beginning. I've always wanted to do standup. I started standup in 2010 in Knoxville, Tennessee. From the very beginning
I wouldn't have called myself a political comedian, but like I talked about like racism or homophobia or I'd make fun of the Bible or I had, I had jokes about abortion, like pro-choice jokes about abortion and things like that. Like stuff you're not supposed to talk about in the south. Like I was always doing that kind of thing.
And then One of the bits I had was, the premise of it was people think when they hear this accent, they all think the same thing. And I get why they think that it's because the only time they ever hear this accent in the media on the news or represented anywhere publicly, it's the same type of Bible thumping, troglodyte, you know patriot with a snake flag at a rally.
It was actually a tea party rally in the joke at the time, cuz that's how long ago this was but I don't like that cuz I'm, I'm not like that. So I figured out, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna try to combat that. The only way I know how I'm gonna start going out in public and being just as loud and just as crazy and just as redneck.
But I'm gonna say a bunch of really progressive stuff to try to like, balance the scales a little bit in terms of the stereotype. And then I would start just screaming a bunch of like liberal talking points in a very redneck fashion. I was doing this on stage as a complete nobody. Right. And it's funny cuz that's that whole what I said, that's literally what I ended up doing,
But at the time it was, you know, like I literally started going out in public and doing what I said I was gonna do. But at the time it was just a bit I had, and it used to work even in front of like rednecks type, more rednecky crowds. It would still kind of work because to them it was just like, it was just such a ludicrous premise, I guess.
it was a bit, I had that. Was doing well. And when I would write down a set list like before a set, I wouldn't write out full bits anything, but I'd just write little, two word bullet points where it's like, do this bit, do this bit, do this bit.
When I would do that, that bit I just described on my set list, I called it liberal redneck. That was the liberal redneck bit. But I never said the words liberal redneck on stage. It was just how I identified it. And I would talk to my friends, my comic friends at the time, and I would be like, Hey, you know that liberal redneck bit that I do well, I thought about maybe making like a, internet series around that as like a character or something.
And every time all of 'em immediately would be like, Yeah, that's a really good idea. You should totally do that. but I was like, I don't know, man. Like I'd have to save up money and buy a nice camera. I'd have to learn how to edit and learn how to light things. It's like, you know, it seemed like a high barrier to entry to make actual videos.
And those were just excuses, but I didn't realize it at the time. But also I really did think that, I was like, Well, I don't [00:09:00] wanna look like an amateur, you know? And then in like April of 2016, I saw this preacher in North Carolina who was going viral on the far right. So it was like people I went to high school with were sharing his video on Facebook.
That's how I saw it. And he was this
Evelien: ultra conservatives right?
Trae: Right.
Yes. Right. And they were sharing this video of this preacher in North Carolina who was in the woods for some reason, standing by his truck for some reason, yelling at his phone. And it was about the North Carolina transgender bathroom thing was going on. Right. And he was yelling at his phone about the evils of these perverts being in the bathroom with our little girls and all this stuff.
And he's just preaching fire and brimstone about how terrible it is. Not making any jokes, not a dick joke in sight, You know what I mean? Despite the subject matter wasn't funny at all. And it had like 15 million views. Right. And I saw that and it was like this light bulb went off, like literally it's like a switch flipped or something.
And I realized, I was like, Okay, , if this dude. is the thing , that I want to make fun of, that I wanna satirize or whatever. Then I don't need fancy equipment or to edit it or to be like, that would be a mistake. all I need to do is exactly what he does, which is pull my phone out and yell at it.
You know? once I realized that, then it all just sort of came together very easily. I made the first video a a few days later, and it was actually, the first one was about my home state of Tennessee was at the time considering making the Holy Bible, the official state book of Tennessee.
So I made a video ripping on that. It got like 70,000 views, which I was over the moon about. I was thrilled with that. I was like, Okay, clearly I'm onto something, I'll keep going. The second one I ever made was also about the North Carolina transgender bathroom bill. And it got like, Tens of millions of views and went like crazy viral and changed my life overnight and led to everything else immediately.
And I just called it the liberal redneck because of it came directly from that bit I had that I referred to as the liberal redneck bit. So that's sort of the origin of that whole thing.
Evelien: I mean, Trae, you crush the internet. But here's the thing, going back to the guy standing at the truck screaming at the phone, and yeah, you do scream at the phone, which by the way, I need to say your breath control is amazing cuz how you get all of that in one breath, It's really impressive. But your pieces are very, very acutely aware of. You know, both sides discrepancies and hypocrisy and disconnects that, that exist that people either are not aware of or choose not to be aware of. So your pieces, every single piece is more pointed. do you write all this out of beforehand?
I mean, are you purposely infusing comedy to it, or this is just how you express yourself? Because all the things that you're saying have a point to them. You're not just sort of satirizing all of it. Can you talk about, the social awareness that you're. Bringing to every single thing.
And you know, before we even get to that, let's just, just put a pin in that for a second. You are progressive in a very rural, deep south. I mean, clearly you're not from the Bronx. So I know that you had a gay uncle that you love and you're very close with? Talk about where sort of that progressive or how you're not the super conservative, you know, most people would think in the deep south, Most people think are ultra conservative.
You're not way. Where did that sort of come from?
Trae: Right. yeah, a couple of things. I used to pretty much entirely chalk it up to my gay uncle who you mentioned because like when I was a kid, my mom wasn't around really. My dad raised me and my sister mostly, and my dad had only one sibling. His little brother, my uncle Tim. And my uncle Tim is an openly gay man and him and my dad were very close.
My uncle Tim and my uncle Mike, his partner, were there for every Thanksgiving and they were around all the time. They come over every Sunday, watch the Titans games and all that stuff. So I grew up with that and uh, loved them both dearly and also didn't even really know that people had, my dad had told me when I got little older, he al's like, listen, you're probably gonna start hearing things about your uncle and you know, stuff like that.
and I did, but also the biggest thing that I attributed it to in relation to that is because of that. I assume directly related to that, my dad didn't make us go to church. He didn't go to church. We didn't go to church at all. Most people there grow up in the church at least a little bit. But I grew up pretty much completely a religious really, and I've always thought that had a lot to do with it.
However, I've since met lot of other people, including the two guys I tour with Corey and Drew, who are very similar. They're also progressive, deep Southerners and they grew up heavily in the church and they accredit that with their, because it pushed them in the other direction. You know what I mean?
So it can go can go both ways, I guess. But for me, I. completely outside the church. I was very defensive about my uncle. People, would say things I got, I got called homophobic slurs and stuff like that. Not just for having a gay uncle, but just for being, for reading books and stuff.you know, for being, being, kid, oh. Yeah. Yeah. I was like I got mocked
Evelien: help me understand that.
Trae: I just used, you know, I don't know, reading books was just not cool, but yeah. And my name rhymes with gay. I have a gay uncle. You know, all that stuff just sort of came together in a perfect storm of you know, being called a queer, pretty much I but also like I got, and this is, this part's super wild to people, but it's true. First of all, my accent is way thinner now than it used to be. Used to be much thicker when I first lived in and left my hometown, but also,
Evelien: right
Trae: when my accent was thicker, I got made fun of as a kid for talking proper for talk mostly cuz I use big words and stuff, but like I'm saying, I got mocked for talking like a city boy or something because a lot of people in my hometown literally talk like this.
Like that's how thick their accent is and I'm not even trying make fun of 'em. They're just, a lot of them really do talk like that. But also I was the smart kid and I made really good grades. I was extremely confident that I was smarter than all these people. And I'm not anywhere near as smart as I thought I was at the time, but because of. I never had any thoughts of like, Oh, well, maybe they're right about all this stuff, you know, about, about God, or about gays, or about any of it. I never ever thought like, Oh, I wonder, maybe I'm, you know, I'm mistaken. Maybe they're the ones know, all these other people, it wasn't everybody, but you know, just the of everybody's like, on the other side of this, for me, maybe that means I'm wrong.
I never had that because I was like, No, I'm smarter than all of them, so of course I'm right.
Evelien: So you were steamrolling over all of them pretty much.
Trae: I mean, I thought, you know, I felt like I was, wasn't making of an impact. But also, I'd have to admit, I don't even know that it's as complicated as that because I mentioned my dad, but not just my dad and my uncle, but also their parents.
And I don't think it's because they had a gay son either. they were all Democrats. When I was a kid, they all voted for Clinton and and Al Gore and everything. And my grandpa died in 2004, but the rest of 'em voted for Carrie and then Obama, so I was honestly kind of raised this way, which is odd cuz most of the other southern progressives I know, like my wife and the guys I tour with, I mentioned earlier, they're all kind of the blue sheep of their family, you know what I mean?
And most people I meet at my shows, are the blue sheep of their family. And it, I almost feel bad sometimes cuz those people will ask me at shows, they'll be like, you know, can you gimme some advice on how to deal with my family at Thanksgiving or whatever, You
know what And,
I just, I don't really have to do that cuz I have a very small family and all, every single one of them is on the same page as me politically, like my 84 year old Memaw will not shut up about how much she hates Donald Trump.
You know, even now, years after him leaving office, she just can't stand Can't stand the side of him or thinking of him or anything like that. So yeah, it came very, very naturally to me, but I was super aware that it was, different or not the standard. Last thing I do wanna stress. I had plenty of friends, the guys that I'm still close with today, even back then growing up, who they weren't as politically aware or cared about politics as much, but who were much more like me than the opposite. Not, religious, not racist, totally fine with gay people. And now most of them, as far as politics goes, are, lean left as well.
So I wasn't a unicorn, even in my hometown. I wasn't the only one. You know what I mean?
Evelien: Yeah, but you were basically the only one that was speaking out in the way that you do, and, and being very pointed about it.
Trae: Yeah. this one time in you know, we're very small school. We didn't have like a debate class. So like one day a month, the English class would become debate class, just so we could do some debate stuff. And I remember one, one of those days the subject was gonna be the war in Iraq.
We hadn't gone into Iraq yet. They were pitching all the WMD stuff and it was all over the news. And the teacher was like, all right, everybody who thinks we should go to war in Iraq, raise your hand. And about half the kids raise their hand. And she was like, Okay, you guys are on this side of the room Now, everybody who thinks we shouldn't go to war with Iraq, raise your hand. And it was literally just me. I was the only one. And she was like, Okay. What about anybody who doesn't have an opinion or doesn't know what we should do? And then that was the other half of the students, you know, and she was like, Okay, you guys are with Trey on this side of the room. But I was, you know, the only one who said no. And I remember getting so frustrated during that whole experience because the people on, you know, the kids on the other side were all, they just kept bringing up 911 and stuff and they were like, they attacked us. They got it coming, that type of thing.
And just wanting to pull my hair out, you know, even then over, not being able to get these people to see reality or the truth of the matter, you know what I mean? And that whole dynamic has only gotten a million times worse in the intervening years. But I mean, yeah, I was never, ever shy about, speaking my mind about that type of stuff.
Evelien: It's really admirable that you are as honest as you are and, and you have picked apart both sides.
But was there ever a point where you found it really hard to come up against, all the other side, quote unquote, whatever that topic is? Like for example, when you were a kid, even though you were really confident that you were the smartest one in the room, was there ever a moment where you were just frustrated and like didn't know what to do or say when people pushed back at you and said, You're wrong.
it must have been exhausting at some point, right? Like, how did you deal with that?
Trae: The first thing that pops into my head that's like similar to that is, growing up this whole time, I was never shy about speaking my mind. And then I got into college, same thing I was in college in 2008 and the night of the 2008 election, I literally drove around campus with my windows down blasting. My President is black by, by Jeezy. Because I was such a big, you know, Obama guy, but I've always worn it all on my sleeve or, you know, lack of sleeves, whatever the case may be but for most of those years, when I was a kid and all that stuff, even though I was openly disagreeing with people, they mostly treated it as like uh, that's just, that's just Trae.
That's just how he is. You know what I mean? Like I was weirdo or whatever, but it didn't get me ostracized or anything. You know, mostly they were just like, kind of rolled their eyes or whatever, be like, you know, or teachers would say stuff like, He's so smart for his own good, ain't he like that type of thing, But most people just sort of laughed it off. And that was kind of the, the mood and the tenor of that type of thing back then, I feel like, for me, honestly, and it's a cliche answer, but truthfully, a lot of that stuff changed with Donald Trump for me because when Donald Trump came around and, started opening the various cans of worms that he opened, there were many different moments throughout that process.
And I'm not the only person from the south I've seen say this, but where I had the thought, , like, Man, I really thought I knew these people or whatever, you know, like I would be more defensive about them. I'd be like, No, they're not. It ain't like people think that, yeah, sure they're conservative or whatever, but you know, they're good people and it ain't like that and they don't have hate in their heart or whatever.
That type of thing. And then just some of the stuff I've seen them say and do and espouse and all that, in the years since Trump rose to prominence has just been extremely difficult. I mean, impossible, to reconcile for me. it's been , hard for me to deal with and admit, like we were talking a little bit before we started about California and staying here and moving back or whatever.
And that's what I'm saying. It's like I lived in Tennessee my whole life and I never felt like it was any kind of problem. Being on the other side of most people politically or whatever. Cause I knew I wasn't alone. it's not as crazy divided as people make it out to be. But just, I don't know the direction it's heading and the way everybody's so much more angry. So that sort of broader, more general shift politically that I think that we've seen and the sort of outward attitude and disposition that people have and take where politics are concerned now in this country. It's like probably been the, the thing that's been the most difficult for me, you know, to deal with or to reconcile.
And that I find the most disappointing.
Evelien: Yeah. I mean, disappointing is is is probably the understatement of the century, and I think regardless of where you live, I think a lot of people on both sides would look at each other and say, I'm shocked that you actually, you know, believe it. Regardless of what side, I think, you know, people think, Oh, I didn't know that you actually embraced whatever ideology you may subscribe to.
Having said that, when you're on tour and you are doing your bits and you are socially aware, and I'm not a comedian, Trae so you correct me if I'm wrong, but I have been working in television for, you know, many years. I believe as a producer, from a producer point of view, that comedians and comedy is incredibly difficult.
And you need to be super smart and aware and observant to be funny successfully, and you certainly do that. But now that you're on tour, and unfortunately to your point, the chasm between sides so to speak, has deepened sharply, , to say the least. So what kind of pushback have you been getting?
What are you hearing when you're out, you know, on tour? Because what you're saying is funny and I love your comedy and I absolutely love everything that you're doing, regardless of whether I agree with what you're saying. But you must be hearing it from both sides.
So what are you getting now that you're aware that people are much more active in their hates and in their quote unquote debates?
Trae: Well, thankfully, you know, knock on wood or whatever, so far I'm not dealing with it much in person or at shows physically because like the people that come to my shows are there to see me, which means they're fans of mine. So far I exist apparently at a sort of. hateful internet comment level of disdain for the other side.
You know, like they don't wanna buy a ticket and leave their basement to, you know, yell slurs at me or to cuss me out or whatever. Like they're content just to write it in an internet comment or something. That's where most of my pushback comes from. It's just from hateful comments and like, if you're gonna be on the internet, you know you're gonna have that.
So I mostly just deal with that. listen, I'm not gonna lie, I don't want that to start happening. I don't want people to come, like start protesting my shows or anything like that. The conservatives who do come, cuz it does happen, but pretty much universally they get drugged to the show by either a, their liberal brother or sister or their liberal spouse or something like that.
And usually, When I talk to those people, and maybe they're just being polite, but typically what those people say is something like, I don't agree with a single thing you said, but you are pretty funny though. you know, about the level of appreciation that it gets, which is fine.
I'll take that all day. But also, you gotta realize, again, those people I think are more inclined to be a little more open-minded because they're married to a progressive or they're, you know, close with their sister progressive or something like that. it's not truly, indicative.
So it's hard to say. when I do go back to my hometown, run into people there, who are on the other side as me, it's mostly fine too. But again, the context there is a little different Just cuz they've known me for so long or whatever. So I'm not getting accosted publicly by Republicans or anything like that yet.
Yeah. Again, thankfully, cuz I, you know, I don't want to have deal with that.
Evelien: But I think eventually, unfortunately you're gonna run into it.
Trae: Right. But yeah, anybody could tell that it's taken on a whole, meaner, frothier flavor in the past few years around everything. it's scary.
Evelien: Your routines and everything that you're doing. It really just takes a lot of socially conscious and awareness. And I, I wanna go back to your idea cuz we, we did a prep call and you talked about how you've always sort of poked holes at things. And, and you cover everything from race to gender to orientation to riots even, and bias and how bias is unfortunately so insidious that it colors everything that we think of and do in our perspectives.
And I think you did a great bit about how there like, you know, white riots are different from black riots. Can you sort of recap that a little bit and, you know, when you're writing this material and what's the perspective that you wanna kind of infuse with your comedy?
All the things that you're saying are so relevant, and they're so important and it's very informative in a very, very smart, funny way. And I think that sort of blend that you're able to do, Trey is like magic.
Trae: Well, you gonna give me the vapers being so sweet and complimentary to me over the course of this interview. I appreciate that.
Evelien: Really mean it
Trae: So the thing you were referring to, technically, the first thing I ever went viral with was just a post, like a text based post on Facebook.
Back when the, like Ferguson Missouri, you know race riots were going on, which that's been years ago now. I couldn't, was it 2014 ish or something like that. The Post just said something like it was like, All right, let's count it up. You know, X number of people dead. This many people wounded, this many people, you know, arrested this many millions of dollars in property damage.
Eight police cars set on fire. Dot, dot, dot, you know, and I said, I'm talking of course about the 2012 Vancouver Stanley Cup riots when the mostly white citizens of one of the most affluent cities in North America set it on fire because their hockey team lost. But hey, whatever fits narrative, you know?
And that got shared around a lot. Popped up everywhere. But it didn't really amount to anything for me. It's not like a video doing that or something. It's a whole different experience. As far as like, what am I looking for? I, I, I mean I can't really account for it honestly.
That's just my own perspective. there's always pretty much I read what the discourse is on any of these given subjects whenever they're going on, and I see what people on the other side are saying, and I find. That usually . Whenever I'm reading the stuff that they're saying in my head, I'm like internally screaming.
I'm like, Yeah, but that's not, that's not what it is. What or what about this? What are you talking about? Why would you say that? When you all think that like, I'm just screaming already at what I view as the inconsistencies or the mental gymnastics or whatever. Just by my nature, you know what I mean?
I don't have to like, try to do that or find it. it just comes up. Like I said, I read whatever their narrative is or what they're saying, and nine times outta 10 by the end of that um, already mad and the points I wanna make or whatever, just sort of come to me very organically because I'm sitting there screaming 'em in my head like, What are you, what are you talking about?
It just kind of happens. And thinking back, even though like we were talking about when I was a kid and it's always how I remember it. Like stuff about you know, with church and God and that type of thing. And pointing out like, Okay, but what about, it's just stuff that's always sort of occurred to me to, call out or that just seems off, It's not something I have to try to do really.
Evelien: Vapers are not Trey. I, you're so fucking funny. And part of me feels like when I'm watching this is like, is this just you, like just espousing, you know, and expelling what's going on in your head? Or do you have to consciously also go, Oh, let me just, you know, take this and make this a little funnier so it's easier to deliver for people that you know, are, are, you know, on the other side or whatever. So I wanna know about that, but also, you are ranting and screaming in, in a car a lot of times, but you are still, you, you think of your, you're still a very positive person. You still have a positive outlook in sort of the dumpster fire we're in right now. So can you speak to that point? That surprised me a little bit, but then again when I sat down and thought about it, I can understand like how you can see that and say, and you are a positive human being actually.
Trae: Yeah. So to the first part you know, it's a compliment when you say, Oh, it seems like you're just sitting down and just letting all this out. And I get those types of comments a lot for people who think that, but I mean, I've always been very open about it. No, that's not what's happening. Typically the process is I decide I wanna talk about something in one of my videos, and then I just sort of start trying to figure out what that's gonna be.
And I mean, I literally talk through it out loud, I will just start with the camera off and everything. I'll just start ranting about the subject, but then,that, that's good or that's funny, I can use that and then go, but I need, you know, and then I just sort of piece it together until it's somewhere between two and three minutes usually.
And then once I have what I think is the thing, then I will run it two or three more times to sort of, you know, to like memorize it. But I don't write it down. I don't use a teleprompter app or nothing like that. I just sort of memorize it. Then I go out there and, and, you know, get it in one take.
So if I mess up, I'll delete that take and then just do it again. But usually, cuz you know, they're just two to three minutes long. Normally I could get 'em in, you know, one to two takes. But yeah, that's the, they're not just off the dome. They, they're typically you
see a video, I probably started trying to put it together at, you know, two hours or so before I posted it.
So that's typically about the timeline. But but yeah. And as far as the positivity.
Evelien: You make it look easy..
Trae: Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. Some of 'em are easier than others. Sometimes you know, some of 'em just sort of come together like that and, almost like they write
themselves then other ones take longer and are more difficult.
And I've given, there's been times where I'm like, I'm gonna try make a video about that. And then a couple hours later I'm like, All right, that just ain't happening, and I'll move on to something else.
So, I mean, it just depends.
On the comedic part, and I know some of 'em have more jokes than others, but I was a comedian before this, this was meant to be a comedic project.
When I started it, it blew up, became thing that I'm known for. But I tour as a comedian, I tell jokes. So it's like important to me to not just be, you know ranting about what I think about something, or just making points. Like I always want to include how, you know, some of 'em are funnier than others, but like I always want there to be at least, a handful of jokes in one of the videos just because it's important to me.
that's a huge part of my thing and I think a whole lot of people care much less about that part. It's just, it's more the, the takes or the points or the messages or whatever than it is the jokes. But I care about the jokes being in there, so it's an important part.
to me, you know?
Evelien: I appreciate that in this world. I think, you know, having a conversation is almost impossible these days. That's one of the reasons why I created this platform. But also I do think that it, a good comedy is incredibly difficult. Going back to what I said earlier and I think you have a really great handle on sort of that magic number or whatever dial it is where you are so smart about it, about things that you're talking about, but you're also really funny in terms of how you're pitching it.
And I think, you know, for whatever you're doing, like just keep doing it Trae, cuz it's like a fucking magic potion that you've got a lock on right now. But the thing that I think was really interesting, and going back to the positivity is you're not just ranting. And that's a thing that I wanted to kind of say from my perspective.
It feels like it. you're ranting,but for me, I feel like you're getting things off your chest, but there is such a level of positivity about you ultimately. Can you talk about that? And is it hard for you to be positive in this world, Especially doing what you're doing and you, you see all of this that's happening, the discourse and the, the disconnects, and then you have to sort of figure out how to incorporate into comedy.
So talk about you being positive. You're not actually angry or are you?
Trae: I think you could be, angry and still try to maintain some positivity. I used to be, again, Donald Trump changed a whole lot of things for me and for everybody in the world, pretty much. But this re it's relevant to this particular subject. So pre Donald Trump, I was a very positive person about these types of conversations. Cause I would always be like, I would tell people like, look, you know, I'm from the deep south. I'm from a small town in the south. Do you have any idea how much my hometown has changed from when like my grandpa was in high school to when I was in that high school in terms of like racism and acceptance and things like that.
Like it still exists, but dude, it's a whole, it's complete.... it's night and day, you know what I mean? Like, there's been a lot of progress. Look at the south in general, the progress and also in this country. I, I was a very fervent believer in the idea that, if you take a broad enough view of everything, we only really ever move in one direction, right?
We continue to make progress. It's slow in the moment. You look around, everything feels slow, and we're still behind where we need to be. But ultimately we only move in that direction. And I was a very strong believer in that. So I had ultimate optimism. I was like, \ no, we'll just keep plugging away and it'll be all right.
We're not gonna start going backwards. Right. And then Donald Trump happened, and we already mentioned, you know, the cans of worms and how people started being more openly racist and hateful cuz he gave him a license to, and that type of thing. And for the first time ever in my life, it felt like, okay, we're backsliding now, or at least some of the country.
And I'd never, I'd never felt that way before. So you know, that was hard to sort of deal with. But I still, I, I mentioned, I think I mentioned, I have two sons, so I also, I feel like I need to maintain some general sense of optimism and positivity. That whole idea again. I used to be very resolute in my long term optimism.
Donald Trump chipped away at that, but I still try to maintain it because I also have children. But the final piece of it is I know that I'm ranting, I know that I get mad sometimes and all that stuff, so it's like a conscientious decision I make to include some element of positivity. Even if it's just the little love y'all sign off at the end, or sometimes
much more than that just because I feel like we have enough, vitriol and everything already and it's like I, okay, so sometimes I'm adding to that, but at least I can sort of temper it with a little bit of kindness or or hope or love or whatever you want to call it.
Cuz it just like that's what you should do right now. So yeah, that's sort of where all that comes from.
Evelien: You have this perspective of being a comedian, Things that we just talked about, you know, reading the papers and reading what's out there, and you've already got like this sort of spinning wheel of, of response or thoughts and perspectives in your head, but you also have this perspective of being a father.
Now, I'm not a parent, but even I'm looking around going, Oh my God. What kind of world are we giving our kids or leaving our kids? And what are we passing down in terms of perspective and values? So when you have this dual lens of being comedian, being concerned parent as well, how do you reconcile that and what are your thoughts on that?
Because you must be worried about the kind of world we're leaving our children and what we're teaching.
Trae: Yeah. Uh, I mean, I definitely am, as far as the environment goes, I don't have good answers for it until we finally, at least attempt to, clean up our act a little bit. And that part worries me in the extreme. But as far as just general, you know, politically speaking and the climate and the culture and all that stuff, I think one of the things I try to tell myself about it is, and it's unfair to put this burden on them, but like, I have a lot of faith in the uh, younger, generations.
The Zoomers and below, like, I, I just think that they're better socially in a lot of ways are more, naturally progressive, more technically adept and all that type of stuff. And. That kind of gives me hope for the future. As you know, the boomers sort of make their exit gradually and are, replaced.
I just hold out hope for them being on the right side of things in numbers large enough to make a difference. And that's basically the number one thing that I tell myself. There's young fascists out there they exist, but I feel like the majority of them are, you know, pretty Okay.
So as they continue to get older, and I also, I think millennials are mo, which is what I am, are mostly all right. Again, we've got hard dick heads too. The cliche of, you know, progress happens one funeral at a time, that that whole idea like essentially the root of my optimism when it comes to like the youth and the, you know, the forthcoming generations and that type of stuff.
Evelien: I'm gonna remember that next time I hit like a low point.
Trae: Yeah. Yeah. That's not mine. I don't know. I don't know where that originated.
Evelien: Well, I don't care. I'm, I got that from you, Trae. So I'm, I'm giving you this, the credit. But with your comedy, what is it that you hope to do besides make people laugh and entertain people? Cuz I feel like you really do bring so many elements to your work and your talent.
What is it that you hope your routine and your comedy... what is it that you hope to bring? a
Trae: If I have any kind of mission at all, it's actually more to, I just wanna show people another side of where I'm from or another side of the south or just kind of like combat those stereotypes and make sure people understand that, it's not a monolith, we're not all like that, that things are more complicated and nuanced than they believe.
And then also just to try to do my best to be on the right side of history, basically to do stuff that ages well and that I won't be ashamed of a few years down the road. Yeah, be on the right side helping support whoever I can and just align myself appropriately in terms of when I look back on it years from now.
I don't have any illusions about my comedy, changing things or nothing, or anything like that. Other than maybe the sort of, like I said, if I am able to get high profile enough, maybe some of the like perspectives or perceptions of,you know, people like me. But in terms of like politically and whatnot I'm not just talking about myself.
I've always been skeptical of comedy's ability to actually change things like big issues and stuff like that. I still think it's vitally important because I think it gives people a way to talk about stuff that's harder to talk about or to laugh at, things that are harder to laugh at and all that.
And so I think it's really important. And I think one of the most, biggest purposes of comedy is to sort of grapple with these types of big issues and stuff. I think that's like one of that should be a mission statement of comedy as far as I'm concerned, but not in, not in hoping that it'll like necessarily change things.
Just making it easier for people to deal with, laugh at, talk about, think about and that type of thing. So that's about as far as I take that.
Evelien: That's wonderful, and I appreciate and respect that. But after being a producer for 20 something years in the business, I will say that your point of view and your approach to what you're delivering, be it a story, a joke, it does have the ability to change someone's perspective versus a straight debate. So I do think what you're doing has the ability to widen perspectives and to at least make someone think a little bit differently without directly coming at them.
Trae: I mean, like anecdotal.... it's not that I think that's impossible. Anecdotally, I've been told specific examples of that happening either for people at the shows or even like Corey that I tour with or had a, a comic that did some shows with me in Vermont recently, people, telling me versions of like, my dad or my father-in-law, or my uncle or whatever is, super conservative. I showed him your video on, you know, insert subject here. And that was the only thing that, you know, made him go like, Right. Well, you like, so I've heard that before. I'm not saying it's impossible, I just don't, I'm not gonna, like, that that should be
the that I don't have like you know, targets and my like numbers.... I'm trying to hit minds, numbers of minds changed or anything like that. I know it's possible. I'm just not basing everything around the hope that I'm gonna lead to grand sweeping philosophical changes and like that. But it can be done.
Evelien: I respect that. I think it's so important to, to always infuse that positivity and a wider perspective in everything that we're doing, and to question things you know, in a legit way versus just kind of putting your blinders on.
So I'm gonna ask you to sign us off Trae, would you please let me know who you are and what you represent?
Trae: I am Trae Crowder and I represent the New South.
