HATE TO BREAK IT TO YA with Jamie Kennedy

The Manager Behind Chappelle, Burr, and Dane Cook on What It Actually Takes with Barry Katz | Ep 262

This week on Hate To Break It To Ya I sat down with Barry Katz — legendary talent manager, producer, and founder of the Boston Comedy Club — and what started as an interview turned into one of the most honest, wide-open conversations I've had on this show. Barry has managed or launched the careers of Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Dane Cook, Wanda Sykes, Jay Mohr, Bert Kreischer, Whitney Cummings, Jim Gaffigan, and more than a dozen other names you know by heart. He is, as I told him to his face, the last of a breed — a manager who actually goes to the club, watches the set, and builds the hour alongside the artist. Nobody does that anymore. We got into all of it: what Barry saw in me thirty-two years ago at a Stand-Up New York SNL audition and why he says the Jamie Kennedy on stage today is almost unrecognizable from that kid; the three things that actually make a great stand-up comedian; and why he believes I've been leaving something on the table. That part stung — and I had to sit with it — but he's not wrong. We talked about the 90-10 reality of the manager-artist relationship and why it's structurally set up to end in a firing, how Barry got fired by fax, by FedEx, and in person, and why he'd sign every one of those clients again without hesitation. We went deep on Dane Cook's social media revolution, the Brad Williams YouTube story that changed a comedian's business overnight, and why Barry thinks doubt is the single greatest dream killer working against comedians today. We also got into the Malibu's Most Wanted origin story — Nick Swardson, a spiral notebook, and a fax machine — which is one of the best stories I've heard in years. Barry is one of those rare people who makes you want to go out and destroy. By the end of this conversation I was fired up in a way I wasn't expecting. He's built more careers than anyone I know, he's taken more hits than anyone I know, and he's still smiling. That's the lesson. ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ About Barry Katz: Barry Katz is an American talent manager, television and film producer, and the founder of the Boston Comedy Club in New York City, which he ran for seventeen years and which served as the launching pad for some of the most significant careers in modern comedy. Over four decades he has managed or developed Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Dane Cook, Wanda Sykes, Jay Mohr, Bert Kreischer, Whitney Cummings, Jim Gaffigan, Darrell Hammond, and many others — selling forty-five out of forty-six comedy specials he has taken to market. He was the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated NBC series Last Comic Standing and has produced Grammy-nominated comedy albums, including Jay Mohr's Happy. And A Lot. He currently hosts the Industry Standard podcast, runs the Blueprint for Success mentorship program for emerging comedians, and continues to manage, produce, and consult across the entertainment industry. Follow Barry Katz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barrykatz/ X: https://x.com/BarryKatz Website: https://www.barrykatz.com ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Cold Open & Barry Roasts Jamie's House 00:03:20 – What Barry Saw at the SNL Audition 32 Years Ago 00:09:00 – The Three Things That Make a Great Stand-Up Comedian 00:16:00 – Barry's Honest Take on Jamie's Stage Persona 00:23:00 – Jamie's SNL Audition Story & Life After the Rejection 00:26:00 – Jamie's Career: Auteurs, Roles, and the Town That Changed 00:36:55 – The Gene Simmons Story 00:39:20 – The Dog vs. the Wolf: Barry's Philosophy on Creative Freedom 00:51:20 – The Boston Comedy Club & How Barry Got to New York 00:53:40 – The Client List: 20 Legends and Counting 00:55:50 – Jay Mohr, Addiction, and 30 Years of Partnership 00:58:45 – The 90-10 Truth About the Manager-Artist Relationship 01:03:40 – Barry's Strength Is His Weakness: Doing Everything 01:13:00 – Dane Cook, Social Media, and Changing the Business Forever 01:16:00 – The Brad Williams YouTube Story 01:29:00 – The State of Stand-Up: Too Much Noise or More Opportunity? 01:39:00 – Legacy, Lyrics, and What It Actually Takes to Leave a Mark 01:44:00 – Bombing, Thick Skin, and the Trump Blinders Metaphor 01:53:50 – Kill or Be Killed: The Comedy Store Mentality 02:00:00 – Stock Rising, Stock Falling, and Talent That Never Dies 02:05:50 – The Malibu's Most Wanted Origin Story: Nick Swardson & the Fax Machine 02:10:30 – Closing: Barry Gives Jamie His Flowers ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Support the Pod: 💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy 🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com 👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch 📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Barry Katz, Barry Katz podcast, Hate To Break It To Ya, Jamie Kennedy podcast, comedy manager Hollywood, Dave Chappelle manager, Bill Burr manager, Dane Cook social media, Boston Comedy Club, Last Comic Standing producer, Industry Standard podcast, comedy business 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Church Is a Business — Nathan Apffel Exposes the $1 Trillion Religion Racket | Ep 261 HTBITY

This week on Hate To Break It To Ya I sat down with Nathan Apffel — Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Christ follower, and the creator of the docuseries The Religion Business — and what started as a conversation about his documentary turned into one of the most wide-open, genuinely surprising talks I've had on this show. Nathan drove down from San Diego to be here, and I'm glad he did, because this one went places I didn't expect. Nathan's whole thing is the money. Not whether churches should exist — he's a believer, he's clear about that — but the legal architecture that lets a pastor collect $500,000 a week from a congregation, pay himself a tax-free housing allowance on an $18 million real estate portfolio, fold an investment fund and a TV network under the church's umbrella, and never show a dollar of it to anyone. Not the government, not the congregation, not the IRS. We got into how you can literally start a church today with nothing more than a state filing and an EIN number, how the LDS Church has $300 billion in investments and is the second-largest private landowner in the United States, and how Kenneth Copeland built a $750 million empire by mailing letters to elderly women. Nathan also told me about the time he showed up at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, with a sign asking the pastor one simple question about his housing allowance — and got surrounded by 15 security guards with expired licenses, had his phone grabbed out of his hand, and ended up in handcuffs. It's all in the show. We also went deep on the stuff I didn't plan for — the Big Bang versus creation, the Nephilim, 666 translating to Nero Caesar in the Hebrew numerical alphabet, why the King James Bible got rewritten, soaking, the celestial kingdom, entropy as a spiritual concept, and whether Jesus came to make bad people good or dead people alive. Nathan's a surfer from Burbank who got into editing after a traumatic brain injury at 16, directed one of the worst-reviewed films in IMDB history, and spent 15 years researching a documentary that Tucker Carlson and Sean Ryan both called essential viewing. He's the real deal, and this conversation earned every minute of its runtime. ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ About Nathan Apffel: Nathan Apffel is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur based in Utah, best known as the director and creator of The Religion Business, a multi-part investigative docuseries exposing financial fraud, abuse, and lack of accountability inside American religious institutions. He began his career editing action sports content for brands like Oakley after a traumatic brain injury ended his surfing and skating at age 16, later directing travel TV for Fuel TV and operating on shows including Temptation Island. The Religion Business — co-produced with decorated combat veteran and entrepreneur Chris Ayoub — is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube Movies, with Season 2 currently in production. Nathan has appeared on Tucker Carlson's show and the Shawn Ryan Show to discuss the series, and his Instagram platform @religionbusiness grew to over 100,000 followers within five months of launch. Follow Nathan Apffel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathan_apffel/ X: https://x.com/devouringmarrow The Religion Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/religionbusiness/ The Religion Business website: https://www.thereligionbusiness.com ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Welcome to Burbank: Nathan's Origin Story 00:01:49 – Traumatic Brain Injury, Final Cut One & Editing His Way In 00:03:24 – Chicks Dig Gay Guys: The Worst Directorial Debut Ever 00:07:06 – The Apffel Coffee Empire & LA History 00:10:54 – What Is The Religion Business? 00:16:01 – The $1 Trillion Unregulated Industry 00:26:39 – How to Start a Tax-Free Church in One Afternoon 00:30:01 – The LDS Church: $300 Billion, Defense Stocks & Soaking 00:43:45 – Kenneth Copeland, Prosperity Gospel & Mailing Lists 00:57:37 – Nathan Gets Arrested at Fellowship Church in Texas 01:10:57 – Joel Osteen, TBN & Buying Airtime With Donations 01:21:37 – Is Jesus Real? Creation vs. Chance 01:41:42 – The Nephilim, 666 & the Hebrew Numerical Alphabet 01:44:50 – King James, the Geneva Bible & Rewriting Scripture 01:56:52 – The Trinity, Interstellar & God Outside of Time 02:09:30 – Satanism, Epstein & the Architecture of Darkness 02:19:22 – Christ Came to Make Dead People Alive 02:29:00 – Season 2 & What Happens If Christians Actually Live Like Jesus 02:33:51 – Where to Watch The Religion Business ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Support the Pod: 💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy 🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com 👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch 📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Nathan Apffel, The Religion Business, Jamie Kennedy podcast, megachurch corruption exposed, church tax exemption scandal, Kenneth Copeland prosperity gospel, LDS Church investments, organized religion money, Hate To Break It To Ya, religion documentary 2025, church financial abuse, Nathan Apffel interview 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Kelly Dodd Gets Real: Getting Fired from TV, Cancel Culture, and Why She Has Zero Regrets | Ep 260

This week on Hate To Break It To Ya I sat down with Kelly Dodd — former Real Housewives of Orange County cast member, co-host of The Daily Smash, and one of the most polarizing personalities to ever appear on Bravo — and she came in with absolutely zero filter. Kelly is the kind of guest who makes you realize within the first five minutes that the reputation is real, the energy is real, and the laughs are very, very real. She's been through the Bravo machine, got chewed up and spat out, and she's still standing — louder than ever. We got into all of it. Kelly walked me through her five seasons on RHOC, the hostile first year where Heather Dubrow, Shannon Beador, and Tamra Judge came after her hard, and how she became the first person to drop a C-bomb on national reality TV. She talked about the "Drunk Wives Matter" hat that set Bravo executives screaming, the $16,000 fine they hit her with, and how the COVID anti-mask, anti-vax stance she took ultimately cost her the show. She opened up about her complicated history with Andy Cohen, the falling out over politics, and why she thinks she'll never be welcomed back on Bravo — and why she genuinely doesn't care. We also got into her daughter Jolie going off to college in Paris and coming home a completely different person politically, the Reddit rats who dox her and record every live she does, and the intra-group drama that erupted inside the Jeff Lewis Chump circle when a mutual friend publicly sided against her. Kelly is one of those people you either love completely or can't stand — and she owns that. She's been called a racist, a bully, a troublemaker, and a MAGA maggot, and she'll look you dead in the eye and tell you she's a registered libertarian who loves gay people, hates big government, and lived in mainland China long enough to know exactly what creeping socialism looks like. Whether you agree with her or not, this conversation is ninety minutes of pure uncut Kelly Dodd, and I had a blast. ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ About Kelly Dodd: Kelly Dodd is best known as a cast member on The Real Housewives of Orange County, where she appeared from Season 11 through Season 15 before being fired by Bravo in 2021. Born Kelly Meza in Scottsdale, Arizona, she is of Mexican and Native American heritage and lived in San Francisco and mainland China before settling in Orange County. She is currently the co-host of The Daily Smash, a daily news and commentary show she produces with her husband, veteran journalist and former Fox News senior correspondent Rick Leventhal, who now anchors The Leventhal Report on Newsmax2. Kelly is also active on Patreon and runs her own product line, Wise Beauty. Follow Kelly Dodd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyddodd/ ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Cold Open: Whose Shoes Are These? 00:01:46 – Introducing Kelly Dodd 00:03:23 – Rick Leventhal: How They Met 00:08:11 – Kelly's Path to RHOC 00:12:44 – Daughter Jolie Goes Woke in Paris 00:17:00 – Fighting With Family Over Politics 00:20:16 – Jamie's Mexican Heritage & the Race Conversation 00:23:10 – Kelly's Personality: Super Stans vs. Super Haters 00:26:15 – The Reddit Rats and Dodd Derangement Syndrome 00:28:31 – RHOC: The Traumatic First Year 00:32:47 – Dropping the C-Bomb on National TV 00:35:00 – The "Drunk Wives Matter" Hat and Getting Fired 00:40:59 – COVID, the Vaccine, and Living in Communist China 00:45:09 – Libertarian Politics: What Kelly Actually Believes 00:48:11 – Andy Cohen, John Hill, and the Political Fallout 00:53:19 – Will Kelly Ever Return to Bravo? 00:58:01 – LA vs. Orange County vs. Scottsdale 01:01:00 – Jill Zarin, the Golden Years Show, and Getting Canceled 01:05:00 – The Doctor Feud: Cloud Chasing and Baiting 01:13:32 – The Jeff Lewis Chump Family and the Crystal Drama 01:21:00 – Wrapping Up: Chumps, Beefs, and Keeping It Private 01:32:21 – Where to Find Kelly Dodd ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Support the Pod: 💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy 🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com 👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch 📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Kelly Dodd, Kelly Dodd interview 2026, Real Housewives of Orange County, RHOC fired, Hate To Break It To Ya, Jamie Kennedy podcast, cancel culture reality TV, Bravo Andy Cohen, Daily Smash podcast, Jeff Lewis Chumps, libertarian politics podcast, Real Housewives drama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Sheriff Chad Bianco Exposes California's Corruption, & Shares His Plan to Fix It All | Ep 259 HTBITY

This week on Hate To Break It To Ya I sat down with Sheriff Chad Bianco — the 14th Sheriff of Riverside County and Republican candidate for Governor of California — and I have to say, this one genuinely blew my mind. I've had a lot of guests on this couch, but when a sitting sheriff starts breaking down the machinery of corruption in plain English, you stop cracking jokes and you start taking notes. We went deep on everything. COVID, the lockdowns, the hypocrisy of who got to stay open and who got shut down, and how Riverside County's March Air Force Base was actually the first recognized point of COVID entry into the United States — with Chad's deputies quarantining passengers from Wuhan before most of us even knew what was happening. From there we got into the new outbreak fears, why Chad says he's not locking anything down again, and what he thinks is really behind these lab-created viruses. Then we moved into the five biggest problems destroying California — overregulation, oil suppression, the housing crisis, the fires, and the homeless industrial complex — and I promise you, the way he connects these dots is something you will not hear anywhere else. We talked about the lithium mine sitting dormant in California that could make us the world's supplier and end our  reliance on China. We talked about Newsom's wife's $20 million diaper deal. We talked about Prop 47 making all drugs a misdemeanor, the body broker pipeline flooding Skid Row, and the insane truth behind SB 54 — the sanctuary state law that literally forces ICE out of jails and into neighborhoods, then lets politicians blame the feds for the fallout. Chad Bianco is the real deal. He's not a career politician — he's a career public servant who pushed back on vaccine mandates, hired fired officers from other departments, and used overwhelming force to stop the 2020 riots in Riverside before they could burn the county down. He's running for governor because he believes California can be saved, and after two hours with this guy, I believe it too. ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ About Chad Bianco: Chad Bianco has served as the 14th Sheriff of Riverside County, California since January 2019, having first been elected in November 2018 and re-elected in 2022 with approximately 60 percent of the vote. A 30-plus-year veteran of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, he graduated at the top of his class from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Academy and rose through the ranks over three decades. He gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for refusing to enforce mask mandates and hiring law enforcement officers who were terminated elsewhere for declining the vaccine. He is currently a Republican candidate for Governor of California, with the primary election on June 2, 2026, running on a platform of ending the state income tax, achieving energy and oil independence, repealing California's sanctuary state law, and dismantling what he calls the homeless industrial complex. He and his wife Denise live in Woodcrest, California, and have four adult children. Follow Chad Bianco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheriffbianco/ X: https://x.com/ChadBianco Website: https://biancoforgovernor.com ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Welcome: Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County  00:12:30 – Lockdowns, Lab Leaks & Are We Headed for Round Two?  00:26:43 – The 5 Biggest Problems Destroying California  00:43:10 – The Lithium Mine That Could Replace China  00:57:06 – The Homeless Industrial Complex  01:07:55 – Newsom's $20 Million Diaper Deal  01:24:33 – Guns, Self-Defense & An Armed Society  01:33:59 – ICE, SB 54 & the Sanctuary State Setup  01:51:07 – The 2020 Riots & How Riverside Stopped Them  02:02:49 – Vote June 2nd: Why Chad Bianco Is Running for Governor ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Support the Pod: 💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy 🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com [http://jamiekennedy.com/] 👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch 📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Chad Bianco, Sheriff Chad Bianco interview, Bianco for Governor 2026, California governor race, Hate To Break It To Ya, Jamie Kennedy podcast, California corruption exposed, homeless industrial complex, California COVID lockdowns, Prop 47 California, SB 54 sanctuary state, California oil independence, Riverside County Sheriff, California 2026 election Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Hole Under My Driveway, Spencer Pratt for Mayor, and the Hantavirus Cruise Ship | Ep 258 HTBITY

In this solo episode of Hate To Break It To Ya, I get into the literal hole that opened up under my driveway — 35 feet deep, undisclosed by the previous owner, and possibly connected to LA's underground tunnel system. Or it's a leech pit. Either way, I'm thinking merch. We're also seeing angel numbers everywhere and the pod is growing, so the universe is clearly on board. From there I get into the LA mayor's race, and I'm all in on Spencer Pratt. I break down why a guy who lost his house in the Palisades fires and decided to run for mayor makes more sense than the career politicians who've been running this city into the ground. I react to clips of the debate — Lydia making the common-sense case, the other side rolling their eyes at constituents — and I get into the Lee Zeldin EPA hearing where he absolutely dismantles a blue-haired congresswoman who doesn't know what Loper Bright is. Then I go deep on the MacArthur Park needle program: why creating a drug utopia in the middle of the city attracts people from Barstow to Pahrump, why the Coffee Bean on Sunset has to lock up its stirring sticks, and why all of it is the same slippery slope playing out in slow motion. The back half gets into the stuff that's keeping me up at night. A teacher wishing death on the sitting president. Mark Hamill promoting harm and calling it activism. My prediction that by July 1st they're going to try to shut things down — and why I've already spent $900 on food prep. Then we go deep on the Hantavirus cruise ship situation: the Andes strain, the MV Hondius, 29 passengers from 12 countries disembarking at St. Helena, one woman collapsing in the Johannesburg airport, and why Jo'burg as a transit hub is the perfect super-spreader petri dish. We close out with ancient structures as circuit boards, predictive programming in a 1978 Superman movie, and the theory that the entire earth is a giant motherboard. Stack your supplies. Much love. ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Timestamps: 00:00:00 – The Hole Under Jamie Kennedy’s Driveway 00:03:15 – Angel Numbers and Pod Growth 00:08:09 – Spencer Pratt for LA Mayor 00:15:50 – Lee Zeldin vs. the Blue-Hair Congresswoman 00:25:10 – Career Politicians and the Homeless Crisis 00:40:28 – The MacArthur Park Needle Program 00:54:29 – Coffee Bean Condiment Lockdown 01:00:30 – Enabling Bad Behavior and the Slippery Slope 01:03:01 – Teacher Wishing Death on the President 01:10:08 – Mark Hamill and the Lunatic Left 01:11:44 – July 1st Prediction and $900 Food Prep 01:13:34 – The Hantavirus Cruise Ship Breakdown 01:27:35 – Pentagon UFO Drops and Predictive Programming 01:31:14 – Ancient Structures as Circuit Boards 01:34:02 – Subscribe, Come to Shows, Peace Out ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Support the Pod: 💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy 🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com 👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch 📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ Hate To Break It To Ya, Jamie Kennedy podcast, Spencer Pratt mayor Los Angeles, MacArthur Park needle program, Lee Zeldin EPA hearing, Hantavirus cruise ship 2026, Andes virus outbreak, LA homelessness crisis, Coffee Bean Sunset Strip, predictive programming, ancient structures circuit boards, 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]