I first met Josh Wolf on the Chelsea Lately show. I was hired to mix audio shortly after he moved from a tiny studio in Santa Monica to Universal Studios. A hallway filled with celebrity guests and their friends ran the length of the studio behind the stage where Josh often mingled among them when he wasn’t on camera. There’s a funny thing about this business in that you expect people in showbiz to be crummy. You just expect the worst, but I have rarely seen that to be the norm. Josh, however, takes being cool a step further because even when he’s surrounded by famous folks or demanding producers, he keeps his cool, says hello, or nudges you on the arm to let you know that he’s aware of you.

And it’s those little things that matter.

Those human interactions that remind us that we’re all connected.

During the Chelsea Lately wrap party, while standing in line for some tasty mini burgers, Josh said to me, “I’ll be seeing you later.” I knew what he meant even though at the time I hadn’t known him for that long. He and two producers from Chelsea had sold a show to CMT. Sure to his word, I was hired later in the year to mix his show. And I’d never seen a happier group of folks. Josh surrounds himself with decent, kind-hearted people. Everyone knows everyone. From the grips to the producers, first names were common and respect was a given. Even his son worked on the show, and his wife was there most days.

I loved working on Josh’s show. I would have done it forever. I wish it had continued, especially because it was doing great. The ratings were high and the audience was growing, but there was a shuffle at Viacom and heads had to roll. That’s the stupidity with corporate America. It’s often blind by bad decisions that are made for either profit… or worse, ego. So some new guy came into CMT and budgets had supposedly been allocated for the year to other shows, despite Josh’s show being profitable.

I don’t know about you, but if I had a property making me money, I wouldn’t get rid of it.

Just seems kind of dumb.

Regardless… we’ll see more of that pot smoking, ball cap wearing funny man. He’s often on tour hosting his blog, Fairly Normal, or with Chelsea on Netflix.

But for the moment you’re stuck with my interview.

Without further ado … Josh Wolf.

Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?

J.W. I am a HUGE sandwich fan. Chris Franjola and I used to joke about how my wheelhouse was “sandwich humor.” My wife makes the best sandwiches and I will tell you why. There is something about sitting on my couch, in my house, and having Beth make me a sandwich. I know it sounds silly, but it makes me feel special. No matter what is on the sandwich, it tastes extra good. This isn’t a subservient, sexist thing. This is a “it feels nice when somebody goes out of their way and does something for you” thing.

I’ve always said, you can get me the same thing every birthday/Father’s Day/Fill in the Holiday: a blowjob and a sandwich. Not necessarily in that order. Pretty simple person, I guess. Ha!

Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?

J.W. My mom is a better baker than she is a cook so, hands down, the best thing she makes is her coffee cake. I will cut a mother-fucker for a slice.

Q: How did you meet your best friend?

J.W. Don’t have a best friend. I have a ton of people I could call if shit went down, but not one dude who is at the top of that ladder. Hmm. I would say that Beth is my closest friend. She definitely knows me better than anyone else in the world.

Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?

J.W. I got on stage for the first time when I was 15 and fucking loved it! It helps that I’m not good at anything else.

Q: How did you pursue it?

J.W. I pursued it by moving to Seattle and getting on stage anywhere and anytime I could. My attitude was, “Any night I wasn’t on stage, somebody else on my level was…so I better get on stage.”

Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing it? Who were they and what did they do for you?

J.W. No real mentors, per se. I picked up things along the way from a ton of people. I think, in life, it’s not great to get all of your insight/inspiration/views on the world from one source because then it is totally biased. Pick and choose what you like from what life has to offer and make your own path.

Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it? If so, then what is the goal?

J.W. I am living my dream, right now. Well, the big  “dream” was actually when I was shooting “The Josh Wolf” show. Some people have asked me if I’m bummed about what happened with the show and that answer, like most, has a few layers. Am I bummed it didn’t get more of a shot? Big time. But, at the same time, how many people get to say they lived out their dream, even if it was only for a few months? I feel pretty lucky to have that happen for me.

Q: What would your 15-year-old self say to you now?

J.W. Go see more baseball games.

Q: If life were a person what would you say?

J.W. Stick around for a while.

Q:  If you were in charge of the world and you have no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?

J.W. I would give unlimited resources in ALL parts of the world. Clean water, oil, food, etc. to everyone so we all have a fair shot at this thing called life…which is hard enough as it is! No need for any more obstacles.

Q: Has morality disintegrated to the point that we now need Yelp for people?

J.W. Fuck Yelp and the lonely motherfuckers who have enough time to go on there and spew hateful shit. If you don’t like the sandwich, don’t go back. Things like Yelp, and comment sections in general, make everyone feel like experts and WE’RE NOT.

Q: How is society getting things right?

J.W. Society is what it is. An ever-evolving thing. Not sure it’s ever 100% right or 100% wrong.

Q:  What do people need in order to see each other as equals?

J.W. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! MDMA in the water system? Never gonna happen. …Had no idea these questions would be so funny.

Q: Do we still need religion?

J.W. The people who feel like they need religion, need religion. Not for me to judge.

Q: Do you have hope for the future?

J.W. I think Millennials are the most tolerant generation in our history. I definitely have hope for the future. Now, if we could just get them to not be such big, giant pussies about everything. Ha!

More thought-provoking questions:

1:  Do Americans have the right to complain about immigration?

J.W. Anybody has the right to complain about anything. This is America. We all have first amendment rights to say whatever we fucking want. It’s one of the things I love the most about this country. What we’ve lost is the ability to hear those opposing views, process them, and have intelligent conversations about them. Anyone who thinks that the status quo right now at our southern border is working is not paying attention. However, that doesn’t mean we should vilify the people who are already here. And anyone who thinks we should let Muslims OR ANYONE ELSE into the country without a bit of a background check, at this point in history, is also not paying attention. But that doesn’t mean we say all Muslims are bad and want to kill us. There is a difference between taking precautions for safety and being bigoted assholes.

IT IS POSSIBLE to take a little from both sides and make something work. It’s called compromise and common sense.

2: If our value system is based on scarcity then what of a human life, now that the population is in the billions?

J.W. Is our value system built on scarcity? Have no idea. Gotta take another look at the stuff in my safety deposit box.

3: Would life be easier if racism were accurate?

J.W. Not sure that question makes sense. No matter what your color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, favorite sports team or political affiliation is….there is somebody out there that hates you. Impossible for it all to be accurate. I hate that question. See? Ha!