Henry Zebrowski—Last Podcast on the Left
Comedian. Actor. Podcaster. Henry Zebrowski is many things, including inspirational. Henry talks about his comedy roots, the Last Podcast on the Left, his role in Wolf of Wall Street, aliens and the state of the world. Listen to find out more.
Full episode transcript below:
Transcript:
Jeff:
You know, we're dealing with this situation, this pandemic now. It's changing life as we know it. Like we were talking about, Hollywood is reeling, music is reeling. All these industries are reeling. Thankfully we have essential workers out there doing their part and—
Henry Zebrowski:
Holy shit—who knew that being a grocery ... working at a grocery store, you're on the front lines of protecting our fucking country right now. You are literally the people that are keeping things going so that people can eat. I don't know what the hell they're all. ... We have no leadership from the government right now. So doesn't even really matter. But I wonder what you could do to celebrate these people. They got to have something because this is ... there should be some sort of statue of a cashier with a sick mask on, or something after this.
Jeff:
At the very least, I hope that it just changes the world mentality as to how we view different jobs, how we view different people's places in the world. I hope, like you said, it's going to end. We will get through this. As the world, we're going to get through this and we're going to come out the other side, and I hope we're better for it.
Henry Zebrowski:
I really hope so. I hope that ... I mean, we haven't learned a lot of lessons as a society, so I don't really know what lesson we'll get out of this. 911—we learned that you can get a forever war that will fuel an economy for decades. This, I don't know what's happening. I feel like ... at least at 911, the government made money, which is why maybe they let it happen. They managed to make ... I don't really understand. Maybe it's a hot topic to really just jump into it, but I don't see anybody making a lot of money out of this virus.
Henry Zebrowski:
I don't know where the real lesson will be other than help the elderly or we are all in this together, but what ... we've been trying to teach this lesson to ourselves for a very long time, but hopefully this is the time. Maybe it takes—
Jeff:
Maybe it takes ... I don't know. They're calling for pandemic-level deaths and everything. Maybe that'll wake people up.
Henry Zebrowski:
I mean, who fucking knows, man, people just have to be responsible.
Jeff:
It's true.
Henry Zebrowski:
That is what's very difficult, I think, is that this is really dependent upon people that are very self-reliant to help those that are not. It is a lot to ask of people because they're not used to it. They're not used to truly living for their community.
Jeff:
It's true. Again, I hope that there's some silver lining like that coming from here. One of the things, speaking of industry and stuff like that, what we're doing right now we're doing from the comfort of our own home, but it's nice that podcasting has become this thing. In fact, I bet you there's going to be a podcasting boom from this.
Henry Zebrowski:
Oh boy, it's already begun. There's so many people just putting out shows just from home because you have the technology, and you could do it. We shall see. I feel like that there is ... we don't need to pressure people to create if they don't want to. I feel like there's a lot of that. In America, we really do believe that every minute of our free time should be filled with opportunities to make more money or for side hustles and all this kind of bullshit.
Henry Zebrowski:
I think that we are looking at. ... Now everybody's trying to figure out how do you... everybody's in a tizzy to figure out what to do. I think that it's important for people who want to start podcasts. They really only do it because they want to do it, and now they have the time to do it. You don't have to start a podcast.
Jeff:
Right. I totally agree. Do it because you want to.
Henry Zebrowski:
Literally this is ... I think it's the opposite. I feel like, yes, it's a really good time to focus on creative projects, if that's what you want to do. But also, I think, technically, this is a really great time to spend time with our fucking families.
Jeff:
Truth.
Henry Zebrowski:
It seems like it because I know I'm a workaholic. This is an opportunity for me to just be with my family more often. That is one really nice aspect of it. Cooking everything in my fridge. Really paying attention to the way I live my life and the way I treat other human beings. So it's a ... at least there was a meditative quality.
Jeff:
Yeah, and you mentioned it. You are a workaholic. I definitely want to dive into all of your work, including what is "business is normal" for you guys right now. Last podcast network has become this juggernaut. But you guys are still going strong even through all of this being able to record at home, and you're still going to be doing the streams and everything too, right?
Henry Zebrowski:
Everything still [inaudible 00:04:38], man. No, but this is ... when your DIY's like—essentially, we built all of our shit ourselves. We can build all of this stuff. We have home studios, everybody's able to record. I feel like it's ... I'm going to go and say our duty to America to keep the fucking ... keep the notes coming. Keep the fucking content coming and work hard. Now we have plenty of opportunity. We're in the middle of this JFK conspiracy series.
Jeff:
Which is incredible.
Henry Zebrowski:
But now we are fucking really deep in it. We got a lot hours to do it. We have more shows rolling out, we're going to be producing more shows for the network. For us, this is us just being ... we're going to keep you entertained as much as humanly possible because we don't have any other function in life. This is what I do. I don't have any other skills. I'm a clown man. My job is to strut and fret for the chuckles of the humankind. That's what I'm going to continue to do.
Jeff:
Well, we're so thankful for it too, because for anybody who's listening who hasn't caught your JFK series, definitely dive into that. I think you guys are going to solve everything with all the research you're doing.
Henry Zebrowski:
Really funny to go ... because it is well... it's not well-trodden territory. I mean it is. Some 2004 books have been written about the JFK assassination. What our goal is, is to really synthesize the facts that can be. ... to capitalize on facts that have been collected for the last fucking 60 years. The idea of ... the things that we know that are concrete for real, and then the next two episodes, we're taking the Phantom ideas, the conspiracy ideas, and layering them over the facts that we know to see what makes sense.
Henry Zebrowski:
We've already put together ... this is the combination of nine source books, this entire series. All of this is just a pile of bullshit that we're really getting in on. What I'm hoping is that at the end of this we have at least a form of unique take, or we have the last podcast take on it at least.
Jeff:
Well, you're doing a great job on that as well. All the content that you guys are doing. You mentioned family earlier. Last Podcast network is a giant family. You guys—
Henry Zebrowski:
It's real family. It's my sister.
Jeff:
Which I was going to mention. Jack is the reason why we got connected because Jack—he was a guest on this show as well. It's so great that you guys ... you said it before. You guys all got into this because you wanted to do it. It wasn't about any higher purpose. You guys just wanted to create for the sake of putting stuff out there and now have turned it into this amazing network. I think you should be applauded for it.
Henry Zebrowski:
I'm not going to say ... I don't know how to say it other than there is luck and happy accidents and mistakes along the way that actually led us to this point, but it really did start as just a bunch of people wanting to yell into microphones and make their friends laugh. Last Podcast on the Left, in particular, which came from the "Round Table of Gentlemen." "Round Table of Gentlemen" really was a very natural coalescing of these comedians who just were just doing. You're just poking ... make it a radio show for years for free.
Henry Zebrowski:
Didn't see a fucking dime. Last Podcast on the Left—we did not see ... we did not make money until January of 2017. We did not make a single dollar off the show. Besides, whatever—when we had just started doing various live shows and shit like that, but we ... it just came from our natural conversations that we were having. Then we started amping it up every year because Marcus and I were super nerds, and we realized that we wanted to become experts.
Henry Zebrowski:
We wanted to really be resources in the world of the paranormal and true crime. Now we are, but it does take your life down weird roads.
Jeff:
Yeah, but I mean, again, the act of creating for the sense of just wanting to do it, like you said, wanting to make your friends laugh or just getting out there and because you're giant nerds. It's the most purest way for anything to be created. It really shows with everything that you guys have put together from this whole podcast network. But that wasn't ... you didn't start out being like, "I'm going to be a podcaster." You actually coming out of college, correct me if I'm wrong, you were pursuing comedy specifically, correct?
Henry Zebrowski:
Oh yeah, of course. I think that's one of those funny things that when people find the show, especially earlier versions of the show, these years gone. ... I think people are like, "Man, these couple of chuckle heads in the closet really made it going." When we started Last Podcast on the Left in 2010, Kissel and I had already been doing comedy for fucking seven years. The two of us had been ... we were already deep into it. I moved to New York City with my sketch group Murderfist.
Henry Zebrowski:
We started in 2003. So that's fucking 20 years coming up. That's really crazy. We were just doing shit in New York. We were just tearing it up doing whatever ... just doing comedy. That's what I wanted to do—was just legit comedy, our comedy or fucking movies, TV. I just wanted to do stuff. I just wanted to make people laugh. Now, it's just weird what happens.
Henry Zebrowski:
It's weird where your skills go, and the more you create, that love really can create a wave that can ... 10 years later, all of a sudden, you are still doing the same thing. The energy of the first birth can really lead to a long, I guess, a career at this point. We fully call it a career.
Jeff:
Totally. You mentioned it. The first time I ever was aware of you and your sister and that whole crew is Murderfist, the early days of you two when you guys were putting out all that stuff. But moving to the city, and like you said, 2003 and pursuing sketch comedy for real. So many people have that dream and never take that actual step in doing it. You did that. Take yourself back to that moment. Was that terrifying at all or was it always like this is who I am, this is what I'm going to do?
Henry Zebrowski:
A chunk of us graduated college in summer of 2005. They moved ahead of us to New York to essentially set up a camp. They moved up there to be like, okay, we're going to go see how brutal this is. All reports back were like it's bad here. Please come. We need reinforcements. We moved in January of 2006. We got to New York, and I remember me and my roommate, Jeff Darlin. We're unpacking our truck to move into our two bedroom, like this one.
Henry Zebrowski:
Little hole in the middle of Bushwick. We were moving the stuff in, and at one point, Jeff and I looked at each other. It was like, at some points, our dads did this. They did a thing where they realized our fathers were just like us. They were really stupid and realized in a moment, I have no fucking clue what I'm doing. I have no clue what we're about to do. I think what really happened ... what helped us was the fact that we had a network, and we really just jumped in and just said, "Fuck it."
Henry Zebrowski:
We just jumped right in, got jobs, started hustling, putting Murderfist wherever anybody would fucking have Murderfist. It was a big deal for ... we didn't understand that there was an option not to. We were just doing it. We were already. ... Once the train left the station, we were like, all right now, we're doing this. And then literally cut to 15 years later—I mean, people are still doing it. Murderfist is still. ... We have never been, we've never quit. I mean, our group has never broken up. But it's just ... we're in LA and in New York and everybody's doing various things within the entertainment community.
Jeff:
Now you moved to LA just a few years ago, right?
Henry Zebrowski:
Yes. 2017.
Jeff:
How has that transition been?
Henry Zebrowski:
Great.
Jeff:
You still enjoy being on the West Coast?
Henry Zebrowski:
LA is fucking ... it's beautiful. Sunshine outside. A lot of people wearing masks right now. There's just nicer apartments here than in New York.
Jeff:
It's true.
Henry Zebrowski:
I moved in with my beautiful wife, and I have a seven pound chihuahua. We live a nice life. That's one of the things I've now positioned to. It's like my sister's my neighbor, and Larson lives around the corner from me. We got a good network going in Los Angeles. It's a productive town. This is a place where you go to fucking hustle. We are all hustlers already. This town has a lot to offer hustlers. We're just out here. To me, it's a perfect. ...
Henry Zebrowski:
I don't think that there's a coincidence that my moving to LA helped the network grow too because having the two ... having a hand in New York and having a hand in LA really plugs you into show business a little deeper.
Jeff:
Totally. It must help, too, when you guys are booking live shows and tours and stuff like that. You really have the whole country at the palm of your hand at that point. I think that's—
Henry Zebrowski:
It's just nice to know what's going on in each city. Then we can have a meeting in either city. The boys go into whatever is happening in New York, they go and do for just the business end but also keeps people legit. What's nice is that you have two representatives of the two coasts feeding it into the show. You have boots in the ground in New York that know what's happening in New York. You have people in LA that know what's happening in Los Angeles.
Henry Zebrowski:
We are hoping to produce more shows from other cities too to give that. People literally record outside of the LPN studios and send this in the show, but it gives it a fun national feel where you have people plugged into different city networks knowing what's happening.
Jeff:
Oh, that's so awesome. Outside of podcasting, I mean, you also are an actor and you enjoy that.
Henry Zebrowski:
I was.
Jeff:
Well, I mean—
Henry Zebrowski:
I was. No, of course.
Jeff:
I was going to say—
Henry Zebrowski:
I was doing a movie called "After Midnight," which is really cool. This a new fucking horror movie, which is actually pretty sweet.
Jeff:
Nice, love horror.
Henry Zebrowski:
No, I mean pilot season is canceled, my friend.
Jeff:
It is true. But when you were in New York and you were pursuing sketch comedy, was that always on your mind to, or did acting come into your career later?
Henry Zebrowski:
I seriously mean it when I say I was just trying to make as many human beings laugh as possible.
Jeff:
Got you.
Henry Zebrowski:
Because when we ... the way I was raised, especially from the beginning. ... People I met within the first managers and agents, was that I learned that the first thing is you got to have a live show. That was what I was always taught. We were like that. We just ... I don't know. I just love performing for people. We did Murderfist because it was such a natural extension of who we are as human beings, and we didn't really have any choice.
Henry Zebrowski:
That's why it's like, when I realized that how lucky I am. That I knew what I wanted to do fairly early and got positive validation from the thing that I wanted to do, which helped me want to do it, is that we learned in front of audiences. We went from sucking to halfway sucking to crushing over four hard years. But at the end of it, we're like we really have something.
Henry Zebrowski:
This is before you had to go to a comedy school in order to do comedy. Before you had to do pay to play or essentially pay for friends at a BB or one of these places. We just did comedy in front of human beings, and they told us if we sucked or not. That really ... it hones you. It makes you something. I will never forget those. Those years were incredibly important. Now really, again, that the ship still is being like, I'm just trying to entertain as many fucking human bodies as possible.
Jeff:
That's awesome. You do it through all sorts of different things. Your credit list is endless sometimes, if you want to go down that route. But I do want to mention, one of the funnest things I think that you're doing right now that you've been doing for the last few years is Adult Swim: "Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell."
Henry Zebrowski:
I love it.
Jeff:
That seems like it's just pandemonium. Short-form television. You guys just ... I mean, I know that this is a script. I know that you guys put a lot of hard work into that. But it just seems like a good, fun time the entire time.
Henry Zebrowski:
It's really metered by the physical experience, too, because it's so crazy. The whole scenario is so crazy. [inaudible 00:17:48] people. But I mean, we shoot for ... we'll do 15-hour days when there's no reason to. We have a lot of time and a lot of fun improving, but most of the times, it's like we'll do all scene, and we're like, none of that is going to make it to television. [inaudible 00:18:06] in a half-minute television show.
Henry Zebrowski:
None of that is going to get in. The makeup is both ... it's entirely essential to the experience because number one, you look in the mirror and you don't see ... you don't see you anymore. You're a fucking human cartoon. It really does help extend my abilities because you're a human cartoon, but it's also physically very uncomfortable. Your day is very uncomfortable all day in the makeup.
Henry Zebrowski:
But it's kind of a funny tension that's added to the comedy because it's so highly. ... When we talk about our show all the time is that it's actually closer to [inaudible 00:18:45] than anything else. It's like a berry-sailing sitcom that is harder.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Henry Zebrowski:
What we do—it's you feel the torture. The makeup and stuff is torture and, every once in a while, Dave Willis, who created the show with Casper Kelly, he will give a note of being like, "Henry, in this scene, I need you to remember you're in hell." I was like, if I were to always remember that, I would literally just be going [inaudible 00:19:11]. It's just like, I know. Just feed it through, which is really fun. Oh, it's [inaudible 00:19:20]. I've said this before in other shows. But if I saw somebody else doing Gary, I would fucking kill them in their sleep to take their job.
Jeff:
Oh my God! And your perfect is that too, and what's great is that is just the model that Adult Swim has honed over the years. You guys obviously know. Last stream I left to do that through Adult Swim as well, but having shows like this, I've been watching Adult Swim since the inception, and it just always makes me so happy that there ... it seems the number one mission statement of Adult Swim is creative first. If you got a creative idea, let's throw it against the fucking wall and see if it sticks.
Henry Zebrowski:
Basically that's ... it is really fun that that still is there. That vibe is still there. They have not inherently changed. But yes, it was definitely ... I try to live my life to make sure that I would make 10- to 12-year-old Henry as happy as humanly possible.
Jeff:
It's so great. I have to ask then—on the other side of acting, I mean, again, "Your Pretty Face Goes To Hell" is... again, it looks just like pandemonium. It's so much fun. It's Adult Swim to its purest, but then you go the other side of the spectrum. What is the difference between working on something like that and then working on "Wolf of Wall Street"? I mean a giant picture.
Henry Zebrowski:
The key is catering. That is really the true difference. The true difference between sets is the ... in "Pretty Face," you got your little bit of jerky, there's a lot of granola bars, but that's really it. In "Wolf of Wall Street," it's literally like [inaudible 00:20:58]. It's all of this beautiful spread. But you know, one is you couldn't ... it's just night and day because Adult Swims, you're pretty basic. "Going to Hell" is as close as you can get to in the television as exists.
Henry Zebrowski:
We're in a big, old empty warehouse. We get washed outside. There's only two showers that are also the main bathrooms of the entire set. I have to shower in the fucking dump mist of a grip every time. "Wolf of Wall Street"—it's literally no expense can be spared. It's the most money ever put into a thing, and it's just insane. The difference is ... that's the kind of shit that's insane.
Henry Zebrowski:
With "Pretty Face," what's nice is how much agency I have. That's the other difference, is that with "Pretty Face," I have a lot of control. I have a lot of control over Gary. I can really fuck around. I'm not wasting that much money. While on "Wolf of Wall Street," that is Scorsese's fucking ship, and you have one job on the ship. My job is I move this or this way when he points at me and that's what I do. I'm not ... obviously, I tried to put my own spin on it and shit, but there's really not much control you're going to have over your performance or what comes out.
Henry Zebrowski:
Especially because you don't know what people ... how it's going to be edited. You have no clue. "Wolf" specifically—that's really the first time I was like, wow, they actually did use a lot of me. Because at the end of it, we're all going to be cut out of this ship. None of us are going to be in this movie. It was very nice that they kept us in.
Jeff:
Oh, definitely. The performance was amazing. You know what, you can say that you didn't have a lot of your way to push yourself into that, but for someone who—
Henry Zebrowski:
I did as much as I could.
Jeff:
You definitely did because for people who listen to you on the regular, know who you are. That's you.
Henry Zebrowski:
He was really cool. Scorsese was really cool, and he really let us do it. Because we also had weeks of rehearsal where we probed. ... It was crazy. I would go from my "Murderfist" sketch meetings, to a gymnasium with DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Scorsese, all of the wolf pack in a room writing the script. Working with the screenwriter and just fucking throwing shit into a pot and it was ... I can't believe that I had that experience. We had a big improv meeting at fucking DiCaprio's house.
Henry Zebrowski:
We went just fucking ... we literally were improving in his living room. We had some supermodel just not having it. She was not [inaudible 00:23:43] little fat man in her house. She was not used to it. There weren't producers. You know what I mean that I ... you have five people that look like Harvey Weinstein with no Oscars. No one's happy.
Jeff:
No one's happy. That's crazy. The other aspect of acting but also what you get to create is creating. You said it earlier, you're a workaholic, you love to create. I wanted to mention, you came out with a short film, "Dig Your Own Grave."
Henry Zebrowski:
Yes. We have a lot of ... my buddy directed, who was my fucking neighbor, which is great.
Jeff:
It's great. Again, it's indie, but it looked great. The story was amazing. What was it like creating something like that? From a short film perspective?
Henry Zebrowski:
It was literally my neighbor Kirk Larson, "Wrote a script. You want to do it?" It's like, "Yep, I'll do it. Sounds fun. I want to play Hitman." He wrote it with Amos Vernon. He's like, "Do you want this?" Said "Yep." Natalie, he was like ... he went to my wife Natalie, who's a stunt coordinator. Said we used to do this stunt recording. She said yes. We just made it.
Henry Zebrowski:
I mean, we've done this ... I guess it's so old hat to me. I guess it's a thing that I ... is it not as regular. I think now there's way more lo-fi, do-it-yourself stuff where people are doing little videos on their phones. The school I came from was that we were making full sketches. We were during the YouTube boom. We always did this. We were always just making essentially short films for fucking years.
Henry Zebrowski:
It felt like that. It felt like wow, it's cool to get back on the saddle and go to fucking sketch again, because it's been a minute, but now they're going to go ... now it's really ... you hit a couple of film festivals, but you never know where that stuff goes ... what that stuff will do. After midnight, I did that indie horror movie. I was doing it for me because I wanted to be in a horror movie.
Henry Zebrowski:
But I knew it was going to be fun as hell, like I want to do this. Already they knew my work, and I knew Aaron Morehead because he went to high school with my sister. I went to go do that and then ended up going to TriBeCa and getting all this notice. That's one of those things that you've got no fucking clue what you're volunteering for sometimes. Sometimes it really pans out and does beautiful things for you. Other times, it's a waste of your time.
Henry Zebrowski:
But what's nice is that you get in front of camera. Every rep in front of camera by a foreign actor is incredibly important, because you got to keep sharp for when something big comes down the pipe.
Jeff:
Ah, that's awesome. Well, it was really cool to see something like ... just like again—
Henry Zebrowski:
As cool as hell.
Jeff:
He's talented. Kirk is super talented. But now, you know, there's not a lot of stuff for directors to do right now.
Henry Zebrowski:
It's true.
Jeff:
Well, I want to roll that into the theme of the show then. Through everything that you do, whether it's acting or podcasting or creating or whatever it is, you're leaving your mark on this world. You're making people laugh, you're doing what you set out to do. I got to ask, what fuels you to keep doing that? What fuels you to keep wanting to work and wanting to create?
Henry Zebrowski:
The void inside. Not just that. I truly got to have them laughs man. That's really what it comes down to is I got to have them laughs. I like to make people laugh. I like doing my shows. It's my function. I feel like there's a lot of people ... I don't want to be one of those that feels like there's a calling, but I wonder sometimes. I wonder if that is indeed true that there are people that are meant to do certain things and fulfill certain roles in society.
Henry Zebrowski:
My job, what I'm trying to do is live up to the version of that role in my own mind as somebody that is a reliable source of entertainment, inspiration, creativity. Trying to do as much as humanly possible, who's trying to add a story to the world as much as I can. That's what I'm always moving towards is how do I be the most authentic me? I can always get to being more authentic. I can always get to being better at my job.
Henry Zebrowski:
There's always an extra half inch I can move closer to what is entertaining/ vulnerable/real/different. So it never stops. It's like ... I've been doing a lot more of fucking yoga recently and listening to yoga teachers talk about how each pose is never static. About how, yes, you do the same poses again and again, but each time as you approach what you do, it's how am I approaching it today? And what can I do today? What's my focus today on it?
Henry Zebrowski:
What's my focus on my work today? What am I trying to add to it? What layer? What flavor? What I'm hoping is, is that by getting out of my own way, worrying about numbers or worrying about are people going to like this blah blah blah, by getting out of my own way, I can get closer to an authentic voice, which is just the. ... That's basically what I'm doing now is the everyday struggle of being a fucking artist, which is you just want to be best. I want to be like Melania. I want to be best as much as possible.
Jeff:
Well, it's inspiring to hear that because what comes across in anything you do is that you like what you're doing. If you didn't like it, it would. ... You are an authentic person. You're very authentic. I think that's why people are drawn to everything you create. It's evident in there. You're right, you can always be better. You can always be best. You can always reach that higher echelon, but you are achieving that to some degree, and I think it's evident in everything you do.
Henry Zebrowski:
Thank you, man. We're trying our fucking best because now we've been doing the Last Podcast for 10 years. The boy that started Last Podcast is very different than the guy that I am now. I'm not even going to say a man. I'm going to say the guy, the 35-year-old guy I've become. Now, you want to track those things. I think a lot of people, they want the same old chaotic energy as you go forward.
Henry Zebrowski:
You're like, it's a little bit difficult because that dude has been through 10 years of shit. Now that guy, that Henry Zebrowski, is now a new Henry Zebrowski. What I'm trying to do is make sure I'm staying me no matter what. How could I not love my life? I live this ... I do have a very dream job. I'm incredibly lucky. I deal with it all. Sometimes I talk in therapy about it all the time, like literally just even feeling guilt for this type of luck that I got to lead this life.
Henry Zebrowski:
What I'm trying to make sure is that I'm constantly earning it, that I'm earning what I got. Don't worry about that. That's why Last Podcast has become so intense. I really feel like we've gotten very intense, especially information-wise because we're just really trying to get it in there.
Jeff:
We are, I do believe in luck. But I believe that you've put in the work, you've definitely worked hard at what you do. But I have a big belief in this life with the power of intention. Magical thinking. That kind of idea. At a young age, when you said, all I want to do is make people laugh, all I want to do is just create something that put a smile on somebody's face and get out there, get on stage and have that vision. You put that out into the world and you're achieving that every day. I think that it really speaks to that power of intention. I think you keep that.
Henry Zebrowski:
Oh, dude. I don't want to talk too much about. ... There were ... I done magic rituals for the success and survival of Last Podcast. I've talked about it openly on the fucking show. It's one of those where we ... I will give credit where credit is due. I think that you also got to show up. You got to put up and you got to do all the shit. I'm not going to say God, but the universe helps those that help themselves.
Henry Zebrowski:
You got to do it both. You could put out the intention, but then you got to serve that intention. That's how ... that's really what I believe. I believe it's both. ... It's ritual and action that gives you both because what I think ... what's important, especially for me, it's you have to have the means, you have to have the skills, but I think a why do you do this? Why is incredibly important? You need a mission statement for yourself of why do I get up and throw myself into the rain? Why am I trying to do this again today? And reevaluate it all the time.
Jeff:
Totally and so inspiring. I think more people if they have that why, they have that idea, I think ... who knows what people can achieve. I think that's amazing.
Henry Zebrowski:
The why's got to be ... I'm just trying to ... I just want people to hear my show.
Jeff:
Exactly.
Henry Zebrowski:
I just want ... I got a show too, and I want them to see my show. It's like, that's enough lie dude. If I can put your shit up, again, this is the time if you want to. But also, I really think that this is the time where you can just read a book.
Jeff:
It's true.
Henry Zebrowski:
If you really want to, if you're not feeling the hustling thing. This is a good time to maybe get good with yourself.
Jeff:
It's totally true. At the end here, I had a curve ball thing. One of the things that you talk about a lot on your shows, and it's something that I'm very interested in as well and I just wanted to pick your brain a little bit, is aliens.
Henry Zebrowski:
Oh, yeah, buddy.
Jeff:
I mean, I love the question, especially now when we're all stuck at home and we're all dealing with a worldwide pandemic and we're thinking about the earth as a whole. Then we start to think about the universe as a whole. That age-old question of are we alone? It's something that you really believe a lot in, correct?
Henry Zebrowski:
What I believe is that our reality is a lot more complicated—
Jeff:
Yes.
Henry Zebrowski:
... than we originally think it. I really do. I am starting to come to the belief that we are one node of intelligence on this layer of reality and that there are many layers of reality with their own bullshit. We might just be in some form of a holding cell. I don't know if you want to call it a simulation or something like that. We know that our government is throwing a lot of money into researching this, even though they said that they stopped.
Henry Zebrowski:
I don't know where the hell that is, but I know that anomalous behavior, anomalous activity is happening still all the time, but I think it's about our personal connection to the other more than anything. It's not just like a fleet of starships coming from Saturn to here. They live inside Saturn, this real like nuts-and-bolts kind of thing. We are actually in this swamp of reality, and shit pops up. It's very personal. It's an ongoing conversation between literally just your mind and how it interprets reality.
Jeff:
What drew you to this? Have you always been thinking like this ever since you were a kid, or is this ...
Henry Zebrowski:
Like a mushroom star. I was always heavily interested in this content—ghosts and aliens as a little kid, but it's definitely ... I mean, hallucinogens helped a lot. Hallucinogens helped a lot. Meditation helped a lot. I saw some shit in meditation. I saw kind of stuff ... it's just about ... I decided at some point, I'm going to take my brain seriously. I feel like so many people are more willing to say stuff like, "That's my imagination," or "Blow off these inner impulses," because it fucks with your money-making abilities.
Henry Zebrowski:
If you're really concentrating on your subconscious, unless you're an artist, it is very difficult to then go separate and be a stockholder or go do all that bullshit you have to do during your day. But I like to take my brain seriously and say, I don't throw any one of these experiences away, any of the visions I've had on mushrooms or half asleep dreams or ... I don't throw any of it away.
Henry Zebrowski:
It's all useful data to me and can be interpreted because that is my reality. What I'm seeing and everything that I experienced in my own brain is my reality. There is no separate. I am the entire sphere of my reality. Your shit can only affect me up to a point that I allow it to. I believe that we need to take our brains more seriously. That's why it's more like the future is not out there, the future is in here. The future is in your fucking third eye.
Jeff:
Wow, that's odd. That's coming from someone too ... we can make the joke about psychedelics. I've been there too, but you do your research. You really have thought on this. I love when you talk about this on the show and when you talked about this—your different beliefs on this, and you've actually mentioned to that you've even taken it a step further. You're a member of Mufon right?
Henry Zebrowski:
Yes, I am a member of Mufon, and I still pay them money. Yes, I do.
Jeff:
Is it worth it?
Henry Zebrowski:
I got the lanyard. I have access to all of their sightings information, which is like they've got ... there's different levels of quality. It is still the only real national UFO network. One day, my goal is to make a new one. I'm already in talks with several people to do something like that.
Jeff:
Really.
Henry Zebrowski:
But we just have to get it going. I'm trying to focus on Last Podcast, so it's very difficult to add more. But that's a seed we're trying to plant right now. Oh, that's exciting. I hope you get that seed germinated. No, I want that shit. I want that shit. I'm already in talks with some very brilliant people.
Jeff:
That's amazing. So then, my final question would be, I totally agree with you on your third eye and how we really need to be unlocking what's in here and not just what's out there. But do you still believe that we're not alone in this universe?
Henry Zebrowski:
I believe that we're definitely not alone. But there is a ... I wonder why we have not been obviously told. I think that there obviously is a hedge. There is something that is either, I don't know, blocking our general awareness of it. Literally there is a thing inside of us that might be keeping us from actually seeing it. Or typically, because it's so outside of our purview. It's so outside of something we can't understand.
Henry Zebrowski:
It could be that they are all microscope ... we are microscopic robots. They're literally dealing with nanobots that it goes that way, which means technically, we're on the right path of following technology towards a revolutionary top unless it kills us in the meantime. I really don't know why there hasn't been some massive true ... besides the Phoenix Lights, the Hudson Triangle, those kind of things. Those things are all about these mass sightings, which they seem to do is it's never about them.
Henry Zebrowski:
Whatever that intelligence is, it's never about them. They never seem to want to just show up in front of the Empire State Building in a big ship waving with a parade. There's something about the 50-50 relationship with us and whatever that intelligence is that they want us to consider our place in the universe. They use these light shows as a way to communicate with us. I don't know, but that is my only hitch—but I mean, the universe, the fact that ... the concept of there not being any other intelligent life in the universe does not hold a lot of weight for me.
Jeff:
Me too. I love talking—
Henry Zebrowski:
There's a lot of reasons why not though. There's a lot of weird reasons. There's a lot of people say that maybe these things go completely robot and then they can turn entire planets into batteries, that they have gone completely dormant in waiting for the heat death of our universe so that you can lower the heat quotient so it's easier for them to come back online because of how much heat there ... just a battery creates. Because that's what they're saying. The main thing is if they are robotic, there must be heat traces. There has to be something or just shit that we have to have no fucking clue how to look for yet.
Jeff:
Right, yeah. Elements that we haven't discovered, things that ... ideas of life that are just. ... It's such an incredible topic.
Henry Zebrowski:
We've done the science pack of the psychedelic side. Maybe there's a fucking way to literally go into our dreams. Who fucking ... who knows?
Jeff:
Who fucking knows? You got me really excited that you're even thinking about creating a society because you're definitely the type of person that I want spearheading something like that.
Henry Zebrowski:
Our goal would be to do it too. Is that it's all weirdo shit.
Jeff:
I will be the first person to sign up, I promise.
Henry Zebrowski:
All right, buddy. I meant it. Look for it, seriously.
Jeff:
I can't wait. At the end here. For all of my listeners, obviously, the best way to follow you is through the Last Podcast network and your various social medias. But we did talk very briefly in the beginning about a really cool initiative the Last Podcast is doing right now with a brand-new merchandise you guys are coming out with.
Henry Zebrowski:
We got our ... our new merch stores coming online. We haven't had merch in fucking two months because we've been working on a massive merch store release, and we have a new merch store coming online on Friday of this week, which we'll be pumping out through @LP on the left on Twitter and Instagram. We're going to be giving a big chunk of our new merch releases. We're giving to charity, We're going to be given to one of these [inaudible 00:42:31].
Henry Zebrowski:
Basically we're working on right now one of these programs for the people who've lost their jobs and [inaudible 00:42:37] light currently and are going to be in the near future. Because our goal is to try to give back as much as possible because we have so many of our listeners, other real-working people of this country that are not comedians, that work for a fucking living, and so we want to make sure we can do as much as possible to support them.
Jeff:
That's so excellent. We get to support you guys by buying sweet-ass merchandise.
Henry Zebrowski:
We have good, new merch.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Henry Zebrowski:
Good new merch. I love merch. That's what ... I think our goal is for fucking sweet, new merch, and that's what we were shooting for. But we've been planning this for about two months, and then this happened. Now we are doing our best to make sure we give back.
Jeff:
That's so awesome. You guys are giving us new stuff every single week. I can't thank you enough for all that you do, all that you create, and I can't thank you enough for sitting down and talking with me.
Henry Zebrowski:
Dude, thank you for having me, man. Thank you for the fucking coffee, dude.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Henry Zebrowski:
Keep the coffee coming, dude.
Jeff:
Keep you caffeinated.
Henry Zebrowski:
Fucking honestly no, it keeps me juiced.
Jeff:
Awesome ...