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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Kings Network.
Hello and welcome. This man creates things, creates good things. He's got Teacher. That's on Netflix. That's a stand-up comedy special. He's got a second season of a scripted series, Bad Thoughts. Netflix, this month is where you catch it. He does a podcast with his wife, Christina, Your Mother's House. He does another podcast with his other wife, Bert Kreischer, Two Bears, One Cave.
And he's got a bit of a podcast empire, a media impresario. And Secret Latino. Secret, yes. White presenting Latino, yes. White presenting Latino, Tomas Segura. You could check it out. All his tour dates, everything you want. TomSegura.com because he's white presenting. It's not Tomas Segura. Thank you for being with us. I've been interested in just watching your career over the last few years.
You didn't imagine that you would be a content impresario, right? That's not something that was in the game plan. Definitely not. No, no. I mean, I also loathed the idea of sharing life details and stories. Like I never thought I thought I would just do.
whatever the work is, you know, stand up or a show and then do things like this, like do press, do media, but never be the person actually, you know, conducting the interviews. And like, I did not embrace it at first at all. Well, let's take me back to the beginning. These are largely biographical or we try to make them, they start out that way. So you're dreaming of what as a kid?
Definitely to be funny, but I always thought it would be like in movies, you know, like movies and television shows, like as an actor, but like comedy specifically was what I wanted to do. And, you know, I was doing, I was getting a communications degree at this small school in North Carolina.
And whenever we would have to do videos to hand it in for like the production aspect, I would always do like a comedy spin on it. And I was like, I like doing this. I had done some improv stuff. And then I discovered that, I found like, oh, that SNL track seems like the way to go. How do people do that?
And it seemed like a lot of them were going to the Groundlings, which is an improv school, but also a place to go watch a show in LA. And I was like, oh, like Fallon went there. Will Ferrell was there. I'm forgetting, like, I forget if it was, I'll forget her name right now. But from like Will's cast and other actress there, I was like, I'll just go do that.
So I moved to LA and I signed up for the Groundlings. I started doing the school. So I was going through the levels of the school And a couple guys in my class were like, man, you should try stand up. Just like, you know, unprovoked. Were you writing well? What were they seeing? I don't know what they were seeing.
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Chapter 2: What early dreams did Tom Segura have before becoming a comedian?
And this path, you at this point are still thinking, I'm going to be a sketch artist. I'm not going to be writing them. I'm going to be doing them. Performing them. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think I had just turned 23. So yeah, I was 22, 23. So your parents think you're lost? Or do they know that where you're going is the right way? Like, were you searching? They had different perspectives.
So my dad was like... You should really go for it. I think he was, you know, he was a financial advisor and he told me that really what he, his dream was, was to be a high school football coach. And that he told his father that, and his dad was like, no son of mine is going to be like a PE teacher. And he was, he's like, in that time, you didn't debate your dad. He was just like, fine.
So he was more like, you should go after really what you wanna do, but just be realistic. Like, you know, if it's not working, you have to pivot at some point. He was like a VP, right? Wasn't he a vice president? Well, I mean, that's like a... a financial institution title. He was just an advisor. Well, was he happy with what he was doing or no?
Yes, I think he found joy in, he really liked personal relationships. So taking care of, he was in Vero Beach ultimately, even though we lived in all these cities before then. I think he liked having the relationship where he could be like, call, Dan, how are you? What do you need? Have you... planned your estate planning stuff? He liked that dialogue with people. He liked people.
He was not an analyst who was breaking down percentages all the time. He just was like, I think you should invest in this. Well, I was just wondering where his advice was coming from to make sure that you follow something that you love. I think it was really that he really did, was affected by the fact that he loved his dad, but I think his dad...
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Chapter 3: How did Tom Segura transition from acting to stand-up comedy?
I think that broke his heart in a way that he always wanted. He really did love like athletics and really loved high school football. I mean, he loved high school football. He wanted to be a high school football coach. I mean, when I played high school football, that guy was like out of his mind. He couldn't work that day. He would pace up and down the sidelines. He was out of his mind.
But my mom was like, my mom's the Peruvian. She was like, this is crazy. You're doing what? And she encouraged me to get a job at the post office. And I was like, why? And she was like, because you'll have benefits and then you can have your time off at night to do your shows. I was like, yeah, I'm not doing that. That's not, no, I'm not getting a job there.
But yeah, they had different levels of encouragement. Your mom, the nickname Charo, is it from them? No, that's just a common nickname for any Rosario. So her name is Rosario, and then most Rosarios end up going by Charo. And so what kind of personality type was she in terms of support and where it is that some of this stuff was leading you? Because pre-'23, you're still a little lost, right?
You know what you want, but that's— I don't know how to do it, really. I mean, she was just— She was never really like, you know, go after your dreams. It's funny to look back and go like, what were they like? She was not like, go after your dreams. Neither was my father. My father was like engineering. My father, they're exiles, both of them. But my mother was the one who was supporting.
Yeah, you got to let the boy do what he wants to do. But she was sitting at the dinner table with a man who was unhappy with what he was doing, who was always complaining about his boss. Really? So, yeah, it's funny. I mean, you know, I also think there's some element to like... for my mom of being the Latin immigrant who's like, do what's secure and structured. Yeah, you can work a real job.
And this whole idea of like, I'm gonna perform just is insane to her. She was, look, she's much funnier. My dad died a few years ago, but my mom is actually very funny. And you could tell, when you're around, especially two people, you're like, this is the funny one, and this isn't. Like, he couldn't tell a story to save his life. She's a natural storyteller.
She adds color, she makes it dramatic, she knows how to like, her timing is impeccable. It's all just like a natural skill. Is that where your funny comes from? I mean, I have to think that some of it comes from there, for sure. Yeah, she's a very funny person. Like, naturally very funny. And I have two kids now, you could tell that like, One of them is naturally very funny. He's very funny.
He's a complainer, which is crazy. He's seven years old. He's like, this fucking table's in the way, man. I keep bumping my leg. He just complains about things. And you realize that... It's funny to complain. Like an indifferent person isn't funny. You know, having an opinion is funny. A seven-year-old spending a lot of time kvetching is funny. It's funny. He's always funny.
He's just like, how come you got nice clothes? I got like a t-shirt. What the hell is this all about, man? Why don't you buy me some nice shit? Like he's just complaining all the time. And you just can't help but laugh. But she, I do think a lot of humor came from being a kid. You're offensive to your mother, correct? Very, yeah. Yeah, she doesn't like it. But that's why it's fun.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Tom face during his early career in comedy?
mother-son dynamic. And for me, part of that is provoking my mom, doing things that I know will upset her because it makes me laugh. And you get to stay forever a teenager there.
One of the great frustrations I had, I don't know what your frustrations are working with family, but one of the great frustrations I had doing the television show with my father is everyone else there knew I was the boss. Yeah. but I was always just his first son. And so he just wouldn't take instruction from me. I was just his son and he never changed the dynamics.
So when you're talking about one, I wanted to change that. I wanted slightly to not be the rebellious teenager. I wanted my dad. I always wondered whether the show would be any funnier in spots if we could have just scripted some stuff for my father that wasn't just his natural funny, but he wouldn't take really instruction from me. It would take a, yeah. My mom is, has a bit of that too.
She's also just so obsessed with like, what am I getting paid for this? Like if I ask her to come in and like, can you just do this bit with me on the pot? She's like, what's it pay? She starts negotiating right away. Well, she goes right away. She's like, aren't you getting paid? Like when you do your thing? I go, yeah. She's like, right. So where am I, what am I getting? And I'm like, bro.
We're not doing that. Because my dad was the opposite. Anytime I was like, hey, will you, I need you to answer the phone to do this bit today. He would always go like, yeah, of course. And then he would tell, My mom, he's like, it's my son. Of course I'm gonna do anything he asked me to do. And she's like, he's getting all this money for this. We should get something too. And he'd be like, what?
Like, no, it's our kid. She still thinks like that. She still is like, I mean, also, yeah, she's like, I did a movie over the summer and I got her a part in the movie, a cameo. And the cameo was like, she's a bellhop at the hotel. She's supposed to carry the bags, and like walk them in, put them down, stand over there. And when this dialogue ends here, she has a line, right?
So we do like the walking, the blocking rehearsal. You got it? Yeah, I got it. First take, action. She comes in, I'm at this counter with Tim Boltz and Luke Wilson, we're checking in the hotel. She has her bag, she goes, tip? This is unscripted. And I'm like, and then Luke's like, yeah, I don't have anything. And then she's like, oh, you guys are cheap. Then she walks over here.
We're doing dialogue. She's like laughing, commenting. And then it comes time for the line. She adds like three lines cut. I go, what the hell are you doing? She's like, just like, I'm feeling it. I'm doing things. I'm like, don't do that. And everyone's laughing and they're all laughing that I'm getting upset. Right. And I go, stop adding shit.
And she's like, what, you guys don't like having a little flavor in this? I'm like, no. And she wouldn't listen to me. I had to tell the director to go over there and be like, just stick to what we just went through four times and do that.
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Chapter 5: How did Tom Segura's near-fatal overdose impact his life and career?
Oh, you couldn't do it yourself because you weren't going to get through. You had to send over somebody, a more powerful figure. Yeah, for her to actually take the direction. And that's on script for her, on brand for her, correct? To just do whatever she wants, just comes in and owns the place? 100%, yes. How did it come to be that you started working with her in general?
I just – it came from the fact that I knew that I could upset her because that always made me laugh. So I used to just have her do like podcast appearances where the idea was I know this is going to bother her. We just got her in. So second season of my show. So she's just getting you – it's vengeance to come on your set and then bother you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Truly, yes.
Because I do like to upset her. I just tricked her big time. She doesn't even know yet. I just had her do a scene for season two of my show where we gave her a fake script for her to respond to me. It's supposed to be on a phone call, but we didn't tell her what's really happening in the phone call.
She's going to find out when it airs because if she knew the real contents of it, she wouldn't do it. So you've written two different parallel universes, one just to trick your mother and the other for public consumption. Yeah. But I interrupted you. I'm sorry. No, no. You're beginning to tell the story of how it is that you came to.
It really was just like I knew that I could have a great laugh and I thought I could make other people laugh with showing them this dynamic. So it would just be like we would be doing a podcast like this. I would have her call in or zoom in and we would just try to. I would just try. I knew how I could provoke her and get a reaction that I thought was funny.
So I was just using the dynamic to get laughs. And then same way I use my father. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's the same kind of thing. Exploiting Latin comedy for your for the American people. Exactly. Yeah. I knew what would upset her. And, you know, it was just it was always just fun to get to get her fired up. It's just still fun.
It's just like when I was a kid, you know, you belch at the table and she would. Like, ay, por favor, grosero. And they just kind of dress me down. I do it to this day. I try to do things like that just to upset her today. What are the challenges with working with your wife that people wouldn't see or know about?
I mean, I guess the challenge, I don't know, you know, it's so second nature to us at this point. We started doing that podcast in 2010. So we would do it in our – we had a one-bedroom apartment and we would – first we did it at another person's apartment and then we took over the production ourselves. And it was just like walk in this room, sit down like this and record an episode.
And then it just kind of grew. And from there, I mean, the thing about it is like sometimes, especially like when I'm on tour or she's on tour, it's actually the most – Time and intimacy that we spend that week together is like we didn't realize it until later. We're like, you realize this is the longest conversation we've had this week is doing this. And you're like, oh, yeah, that's crazy.
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