E35: "Cool" Culture with Jay Whitecotton

We gave Comedian Jay Whitecotton (as seen on Fox, Hulu,and FusionTV) the microphone to discuss his thoughts on confidence, control, capitalism, and comedy.

Threshold (4 mins in): COOL CULTURE Jay's history growing up with mental illness. Reality testing. Why "fake it until you make it" is dumb. Humans invented social constructs. Everything is trial and error. Comedy over-rewards the negatives. Co-opting mental illness. Our personalities are dictated by the personalities around us. It’s ok to lie. Three rules for life. How we fucked up comedy. You're going to fail. (Mentions: Tim Ferris, Vulcan gas company, Joe Rogan, Brian Redban, Benedict Cumberbach, Kenny Van, Eckert Tolle)

Recap ( 52 mins in): Boredom and suicide. People love to be manipulated. Reinforcing what you want to be true. Suspending disbelief. (Mentions: Tom Hanks)

Approach ( 57 mins in): Overconfidence. The attention economy. Problems with self-diagnosis. Theories on existence. "Do you do anything that matters?" Living in a simulation. Impost Syndrome. Profiting off the counter argument. How to control society. Empathy Exhaustion.Virtue as your brand. The mystiq of celebrity. The root of psychosis in comedy. Untruths: “killed it”. It’s ok to be a fraud. The perception business. Get better at that thing you enjoy. (Mentions: Mel Robbins and Bill Cosby).

Road Back (1:19 mins in): Be aware without all the awareness. Comedy traps. ‘I’m a thing”. It doesn’t fucking matter. There is no counter culture. Old white money. "Versus” culture. Fallible humanity. The leisure culture we were promised. Busy work is not an art. You’re only in control of the things you can do. Good thoughts. Good Words. Good Deeds. Bullshitting yourself. Psychology, philosophy and politics all revolve around one thing: bullshit. Bullshit is fluid. Fluid is good. (Mentions: Joe Pettis, Matt Beardon)

Jay's Recommendations: Billy Wayne Davis, Jay Whitecotton Jazz Funeral Covid19 edition, Siddhartha (book), A Monster Calls (movie), The Global Brain - Howard Bloom