(upbeat instrumental music) - Hello, will you "Consider This?"

Look at this, all this newness and beauty and a fresh new start, and it's great to be back.

I had a nice little time off, but I do have a little something to share with you all, if you'll bear with me.

Okay, so in January I was coughing incredibly, I mean, a persistent cough.

It was really annoying.

And when my grandchildren even said something about it, then, you know, they're six and five years old, that was bad.

So I went and had some tests done, and I was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, trying to keep it together.

I'm very fortunate because only 3% of all non-small cell lung cancer patients get a good result with this new pill that the first generation was like 2017 or 2018.

I'm in the second generation of this pill, and I respond to it very well.

So I'm a whole new person.

I'm taking that magic pill every day.

My oncologist said, "You know, you've hit the cancer lottery," and, you know, well, you know, that's a real fun thing to say, but I did.

I really, truly am grateful.

I've had a lot of improvement.

I've had a lot of tests, a lot of tests.

And I keep telling them, I really do think that these people are vampires because I've given a lot of blood already since January.

Anyway, I'm doing quite well and I'm so happy to be back.

And I have a special guest with me right now who's had his own crosses to bear, and that is my friend, and my kid's friend Matt Stein, - Hey.

- also known as BlindStein.

- How are you doing, Mama Z.

- Okay.

And that's what he calls me.

So that's all good.

I'm great.

I'm well, I'm doing much better.

- Yeah.

- And if I were any better, I'd be twins, but the one that hadn't been diagnosed.

(Matt chuckles) Okay?

- Fair enough, yeah.

- (chuckles) Okay.

- Always need a spare.

- So- - Yeah, exactly.

(Matt laughs) Well, we know about the royals in that one.

(Matt laughs) So tell me, let's start with you.

You are a homegrown Peorian.

- Yes, born and raised West Peoria, you know, proud to be from the blue collar bubble, you know, and yeah, grew up, went to a public school here in Peoria, Coolidge, Whittier in Coolidge, and then did my parochial transfer over to Peoria, Notre Dame, that's where I encountered your son and your guys' awesome family that now you've been stuck with for 23-plus years.

- We love it, we love that.

(Matt laughs) And, okay, so, but I mean you were going along, everything was fine in your life.

You had no idea that your vision was going.

- Yeah, I've been diagnosed with the genetic disease of retinitis pigmentosa.

A few people in my family have it, so there was always like the possibility of me losing my sight growing up.

As a kid we knew that there might be a chance 'cause once the streetlights kicked on and all this kids were playing outside and got the visual bell to go home, I was actually happy because once that happened, the world just kind of flipped on itself.

And so playing catch, couldn't see the ball anymore.

Tag people just kind of disappeared just from like the light, like the different concentrations of light.

- Yeah, and you were how old about that time?

- We noticed, like, I started to notice, like consciously notice it probably when I was like, probably about eight years old, - Really?

- or so.

- But you didn't say anything?

- No, I didn't really say anything.

Just learned how to toughen up my shins by, you know, running into coffee tables and, you know, (Christine laughs) and as your son knows, like my forehead can take on a couple trees.

So.

(laughs) - Yeah, and it has, so that explains a lot.

- Yes.

- But, okay, so that was eight years old and then, oh, and your brother also has the same - Yeah, and my oldest brother, Eric, has the same eye disease.

Mine was more rapid degeneration than his.

He's four years older than me.

He now uses like a cane to kind of get around.

But he can still read like computer screens and if he has like high contrast on his phone, he can still kind of make out things.

My progression was definitely a little bit more rapid.

This is- - And is there a reason for that?

- I don't know, probably diet.

No, I mean.

(Christine laughs) (Matt chuckles) - Beer?

- Yeah, yeah, (laughs) yeah.

(Christine chuckles) Lifestyle.

Not sure.

- Uh-huh.

- It's, I mean, with all the specialists we've been to, with like the University of Iowa and Chicago and the Illinois Eye Center here who have all been great.

It's just like anything, like in your fortunate case where, you know, it's like, or your unfortunate case with like your cancer, where, you know, it's like some people, they have the same thing.

It affects them differently.

Other people, it, you know, it's not as rapid and, you know, there is something that kinda gives you the opportunity to like, to keep moving forward with it.

My personal opinion is just like, you know, the big guy upstairs, like, I needed this to learn my lesson on like how to just be a better human in general.

- I like that.

Well so that is really interesting when, so high school is where your vision really started to go.

- Yeah, started to kind of, yeah, high school was when the tunnel vision started to lock in.

Like I played football.

And then like by junior year, once we went to night games, I was out and then drove until roughly about the age of 19.

And that's when my peripheral vision completely closed off.

And I was, you know, vision was within my shoulders.

- Mm-hmm.

- I stopped driving 'cause when I was living in Madison, Wisconsin at the time, I almost took out a cyclist, and I was like, eh, yeah.

okay, that's it.

- I'm good.

- That's it, yeah.

- Then from there, you know, that kind of stayed steady for a little bit.

And then right around 2011 was like the year where everything kind of drastically started to fall off.

- Mm-hmm.

- One morning I woke up, after a normal night, just got done listening to the movie "40-year-old Virgin" and finishing up "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy on DVD, and next morning woke up right eye was completely blocked out.

- Gone.

- And then that's when I noticed the compensation of that eye for my left eye 'cause then it was like looking through like a paper towel roll.

- Mm-hmm.

- And that's the first time I've ever experienced a panic attack.

- Wow.

- You know?

Got up off the couch, ran into the doorframe, kind of was just like, oh, what's going on?

Turned back to scan the room and realized I could only see a third of it, and I had blacked out.

From there, I kind of went into my little self-doubt of like, you know, what do I do now, - Mm-hmm.

- kind of thing.

- [Christine] And you kind of had a pity party?

- Oh yeah.

It's like, just like anybody.

And like, you know, and of course like we're all very good of like being one way inside ourselves and then being another way projected out into public, you know?

- Mm-hmm.

- So my way was just to act like everything was fine and dandy, you know?

Oh, who cares?

Let's, you know, I went from kind of being a smart Alec to being optimistically funny.

Which that's what kind of led me into the comedy world.

- Uh-huh.

- 'Cause when I lost my sight at that same time I was working at Haddad's Grocery Store where I thought I burnt the store down (Christine laughs) because I was, I was running the fried chicken program at the time when that happened, and then- - With not a whole lot of sight.

- No, no, this was pre.

- Oh, right before that.

Okay.

- This was in January of the first year.

- Okay.

- And then in April of that following year is when like my vision closed off.

- Okay.

- So 2011 was a- - Pivotal year.

- Yeah.

It was a wild one where it was like, you know, when are we finally gonna hit the bottom of the pool so we can push off of it?

- Right.

- You know, kind of thing.

And so with that happening and then like my sight being lost, it was just like, I was kind of at a loss of like, you know, how am I even gonna pay for what I have?

- Mm-hmm.

- So I did the empowerment, you know, lying thing to myself where I gave everything away.

So like before I lost it, I took the control of like, well, if I give it away and I don't have it, at least I had a little bit of say in that.

- Yeah.

- Opposed to everything slowly just being like taken.

- Right away from you, yeah.

- And so- - Losing total control.

- Yeah, and so, and that's when I had stripped my life down to basically two suitcases, and wanted to, before the vision went any worse, I wanted to go see a mountain sunset.

So I went out to Denver, got to see the golden glow over the Rockies.

- Awesome.

- Ended up doing a comedy competition at Comedy Works.

Came in first and it was the first time I had ever done standup.

- Uh-huh.

- And so that was like, all right, maybe there's something to this.

- Okay.

- So I just kinda kept being a vagabond and bebopping around - For how many years?

- Man, that was probably from 2011 all the way up to about 2018.

- All right.

- I was residency free, and just a professional couch crasher.

- [Christine] Okay.

(chuckles) - And just- - That works?

- (chuckles) Yeah, and just, you know, just, but throughout that time period of doing that, you know, I was also gaining some very bad habits, - Mm-hmm.

- that rockstar road, road life and also trying to mask- - Drinking and smoking.

- Yeah, a lot of drugs and alcohol.

You know?

- Mm-hmm.

And it's amazing how you don't have to worry about things when you can't remember things.

- Okay.

- Well that, - And...(Matt laughs) - there is that, wow.

- And that was my mentality for, you know, almost nine years, which then kind of brought me into a very, you know, all puns intended, dark place.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I realized that like what I was doing and who I was becoming was not who I liked.

- Okay.

- And I had that epiphany moment of, for myself, it's like, this is what they mean by selling your soul.

- Mm-hmm.

- Because I realized that like I was becoming the caricature of BlindStein, and Matt Stein himself- - Was disappearing.

- I didn't even know who he was anymore.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And like I recognized it a little bit because some of my stage presence, it's like I'm doing and saying things that like I as a person don't even agree with, you know, but the crowd enjoyed it so, well, they're the ones currently paying.

- So you sold it.

- Yeah.

Paying my lifestyle.

So I sold it to the populace.

- But then you went into rehab.

You put yourself in rehab.

- Yeah, the- Yeah, the best thing that could have happened was, honestly for me was Covid, leading up to that.

Because of that all the comedy circuits were shutting down.

I realized that I had literally painted myself into a corner, and did the thing that a lot of people have a problem doing, where it's like, I finally asked for help, and realized that like what I was doing for myself was actually the thing that was working against myself.

- Mm-hmm.

- And went to rehab and got cleaned up, and I'll be six years sober come October.

And I realized during that process of like both the counseling and therapy and rehab, and everything that I, primarily, I was lying to myself.

I was trying to surpass the grief process of actually losing my sight.

- Mm, sure.

But, you know, but it's understandable.

- Yeah, well, it's like, you know, when you read about the seven steps, you think you can skip a few of 'em.

- Yeah, nope.

- But you're gonna go through all of them.

(laughs) - Okay, yes.

(chuckles) - They will come up maybe not in the order that a book tells you to, but, you know, just in the actual mental capacity.

- Right.

- It's going to happen.

And then once that happened, so like with everything kind of shutting down, and the comedy circuits getting closed, it forced me to kinda, you know, actually get to know myself.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know?

And at that same time, I had just started the process of getting sober.

So it was perfect for me.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then I realized that like I don't think I'm an extrovert.

(Christine chuckles) I actually, I kinda like just hanging out by myself a little bit, which was a good thing.

- Interesting, yeah.

- And, but, you know, with that too, when there is like kind of a calling per se, 'cause unfortunately throughout the time of like me doing standup in those previous years was I had a lot of people like, "You know, it's inspiring that you're doing what you're doing," 'cause for that nine years, I went to 15 different states, you know, 40+ cities - And met a lot of people.

- Met a lot of people.

Did it all on my own.

You know?

- Mm-hmm.

Equal to I was fortunate that Peoria seems to be peppered everywhere throughout the US.

(Christine chuckles) - Yeah.

- So there's always some, you know, that's- - Some connection.

- Yeah, yeah, everyone's Kevin Bacon.

You know?

(Christine laughs) So there's a way of finding someone that you know, through someone, - Right.

- in a city that you don't know.

(Christine chuckles) And so that was great 'cause it was just a nice networking.

- Mm-hmm.

- But, I forget where I was going with that.

But like, but, you know, by doing all that stuff by myself, everyone's just like, "You know, it's so inspiring."

- Right.

- "I can't believe that you did that."

- That's where you were going with it.

- Yeah.

And that's- - Okay.

- And that's where I kind of got caught up in the sense where it's like, although I don't wanna bear this cross, you know, if by me just being like my true authentic self - Mm-hmm.

- makes other people just go out and do something that they wanna do, - Then you've- - then I gotta do it.

- Then you found yourself.

- You know?

Yeah, yeah, that part, yeah.

- That's for sure.

- Yeah, and it's- - Okay.

- And it's a very fortunate thing.

'cause I think the comedy club room is the great neutralizer.

- Mm-hmm.

- It doesn't matter your gender, your age, your race, your social status.

You know, you can have two people that outside of that room think that they have absolutely nothing in common.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then I can bring those same two people into said room, say one thing, - And, - Make 'em both laugh at the same time.

- Exactly, good, good, good.

- And realize that like, we're not that different.

(Christine chuckles) You know, like society may wanna make us think that we are, - Yeah.

- but we're all the same.

- That's cism, okay.

So tell me about, so BS Entertainment, you have this skull, but it's not a cross bone.

It's really a folded, - Yeah.

- walking cane.

- White cane.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, so, yeah, the skull on cross walking stick that was the branding that me and a couple of my friends up in West Canton kind of came up with a few artists, - Mm-hmm.

- because in comedy no one remembers a comic's name unless they're super famous.

It's always, "You know, that one guy with the one face that says that one joke."

- Mm-hmm.

- And we were trying to figure out a way of basically branding.

And so we came up with the skull on cross walking stick, one, because my comedy, although it's not like super harsh, it is edgy.

- Mm-hmm.

- So it's a good warning symbol to allow you, like, it's not gonna be rainbows and unicorns.

- Okay, no psyop, it's like, yeah, (Matt laughs) like the skull and crossbones on poison.

Right.

Okay.

- It's a warning.

you know, it's a warning.

- Okay.

- and not all things are poison.

They're only poison if taken in excess.

- Okay, exactly.

(Matt laughs) Or taken the wrong way.

- Way.

Yeah.

- Yes, yeah.

And then it's just a way of kind of putting that caricature that I was putting on myself literally just into like an artistic form.

- Okay.

- And then that way when you see that symbol, you can kind of, the goal is, is as long the time that like you'll see that and then you know that like, okay, that is equal to this quality of show.

- All right.

- And so, and that's where the BS Entertainment came up because, you know, there aren't too many options for comedy.

But when a lot of people start to venture out and do their own stuff, the standard in quality sometimes can be overlooked.

And that's where with the 10 years of being on the road, I acquired a great Rolodex of other comics.

- Uh-huh.

- And so- - So you can bring them in for shows here?

- A 100%, yeah, and it's just, once again, in life it's all about connections and networking, and, you know, like, you know, all tide, you know, high tides raise all ships, - Right.

- So if you can get a good group of people together and everyone can bring, you know, quality, fun, entertainment.

And, you know, of course I have my clean comics that we can make sure that, you know, everyone's happy with.

There's some people that are a little bit darker.

So, those niche cults can kind of come in, but it allows for the avenue of just like Peoria where there is a very diverse, you know, plethora of humans.

- Mm-hmm.

- Like that's what I love about this city, and I'm able to then- - It's a melting pot.

- Yeah.

And I'm able to kind allow that to pop up on different stages throughout the community as well as cross-promoting with those communities that we have here.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know, everyone has a good in service, but as humans we tend to get into our routines.

- Exactly.

- And we like our one or two spots, - Mm-hmm.

- and if I can be the mortar between the bricks to kind of help pull people from one space to another that they may like, it just helps kinda spread the pieces of the pie around a little bit more.

- So you are are looking for a home for your comedy.

I mean, you've been, you know, a couple of different spots, and so we think you found it for right now.

- Yes, yeah, right now we have a great partnership working out with the the 3300 Event Center.

- Okay.

- And then the beauty of like, my business model is like we're a mobile turnkey.

So even if you just have like a big event space, you know, area that like you have, let's say like a membership of some sort and you wanna bring 'em entertainment, we can literally wheel in, set up sound, stage, lighting, backdrop, and transform your room over for whatever activity you want.

- [Christine] So who's on your crew?

- It is a very thin skeleton crew.

- Okay.

(chuckles) - It's my buddy, well we call 'em Pig, but Adam Watts, my sound guy, J. Edwards, their wives and girlfriends are always kind of get sucked into the vortex.

- All right.

- And then, you know, your son, Zach, kind of, I'm able to pull him in on some things I need with.

- Mm-hmm.

- So it's been a nice network of people in Peoria that are willing to help not only just out of charity or sympathy, but actually, you know, would like to see the community have More- - An option.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- And so it's just a good team of people that like that are willing to help and everyone gets compensated.

You know, it's like, I don't lean on my checkbook.

Gets fat and skinny really fast.

- Okay.

There you go.

(Matt laughs) There you go.

Well, so what's been the most interesting approach that you've taken to any comedy?

I mean, you're kind of going towards anything right now.

- Yeah, I mean, I put myself in vicarious situations and then see what happens.

- Okay.

- And then I just transcribe that out on stage.

- All right.

- It's, you know, the- - Do you gauge the audience first?

- Yes.

Yeah.

- Okay.

- I do what I call like my machine gun round.

As soon as I get up on stage where you kind of test bomb everything.

- Mm-hmm.

- That's another thing that I love about being able to bring in comics that I know is we all kind of understand that format of like, where you're at in the lineup is to help the succession of the show.

- To build to the last act.

- Yeah.

And like, yeah, - Yeah.

the very first person might have to take some slings and arrows, - Mm-hmm.

- but they're actually setting, you know, boundary posts so that the next person knows like, okay, like how big of a area do we have to play with?

- All right.

Is that discussed backstage then as you watch?

- Not... With good comics, it's just kind of known.

- Okay.

- Like there is no format where it's like I need you to talk about this, so that I know - Okay.

- Not to talk about that.

- Got it.

- But it's just with the team that I've collected of comics, I know everyone's style and kinda like what demographic that like, they tend to tickle.

- Okay.

- And so just judging by their reactions, just over time by working with them, it's like I can almost to a tee break down the demographic of that room from how old they are to gender, to, you know, to- - [Christine] Even though you can't see 'em?

- Yeah, a 100%.

- So when you're selling tickets though, do you know who's buying the tickets?

I mean, obviously you don't know if there's some 70-year-olds or some 30-year-olds.

- No, that's the one.

Yeah, I'm not able to have that much data, but my IT guy Joe Rinke makes sure that like that process goes smooth and seamlessly.

- All right.

- And you know, I mean, we probably could cheat and be like, "Hey, how old are you?"

You know?

- Oh yeah, there you go.

(Matt laughs) - But it's like- - You're not allowed to ask that question anymore.

- Yeah, yeah.

And nor would I want to?

- Right.

- Because like I don't think your age should define like what type of, I mean look at Keith Richards.

(Christine laughs) He's 13 years old in my eyes.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Even though he's- - And still wrinkly and shriveled up.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And so the demeanor and personality is huge.

- Right.

- It has nothing to do with like the ticker of the world, you know?

- Right, well, okay.

Bounce a little bit off.

You are also bodybuilding right now.

- Well, powerlifting.

- Powerlifting?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Okay, well I guess you gotta body build to power lift.

- Okay, sorry.

- Yeah, yeah, once- - My bad.

- Yeah.

Once I swapped out that lifestyle change of the bar life of the barbell life, it's been a great thing.

I think that there are a lot of parallels between like strength training and working out in the gym to life in general.

- Okay.

- There's no, there's no cheat code.

You know, it's my favorite Steinism is, you know, if you try to cut corners in life, you end up circling back to where you started.

- Ah-Huh.

- You know, so- - I like that one.

- So you can't do, you gotta get square, you know?

- Ah, you're so far beyond in your years.

(Matt laughs) Yeah.

- And just with weight training, it's time, persistence, and dedication.

- Mm-hmm.

- Just like anything in life that you do, if you wanna do it, it takes time, persistence, and, you know?

- How did you decide you wanted to do that?

- Well, I was, after stopping to drink, I needed to get in a better shape in general.

- Okay.

- And then once I fell in love with the sport of powerlifting, I realized that like, I'm never gonna change my diet because I like food.

- Okay.

- And when you powerlift, you actually get to eat more food.

- Aha.

- So due to the high caloric intake was what, (laughs) - That sold you on it.

- led me into that, and I've done one competition so far with the UPA Lifting Association at the Peoria Civic Center.

I surprisingly won my division.

- Hmm.

- I wasn't personally happy with like the numbers I hit.

'cause you know, we all have our own personal goals.

- Yeah.

- But then I realized that, I thought, I asked one of my teammates, "I was like, is this because I'm blind?

Is this like a disabled thing?"

And they go, "No, it's because you're old."

- Oh.

(laughs) - Yeah.

(laughs) So, but- - But you're only 38?

- Yeah, only, yeah, but powerlifting is a young man's game.

- All right.

I mean that's a- - Got it, got it.

- So apparently I won the Sub Masters category, so I beat everyone between the ages of 36 and 42.

- Ah-hah!

- And so, and so age was on my side that day.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

(Matt laughs) So back to your other business.

So that's some of your playtime.

So back to BS Entertainment.

You have some shows coming up and how would you like to proceed in the future?

You wanna have a show every month or how do you wanna do it?

- Yeah, I mean we have so far, we currently have one about every month, coming up in August and September.

October, it gets a little fuzzy because I actually go out on the road.

I have gigs in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Montana, - Uh-huh.

- So- - [Christine] Oh yeah, that's, you know, direct route.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) - I can see that, yeah, huh.

- And so we're doing that, and the goal is if I could have a monthly residency to kind of help build kind of a following, or figure out if there is a desire or need in the Peoria area for the entertainment that we bring.

And then the ultimate, you know, three, five-year goal is to maybe not be as mobile and you know, find a building, and- - Settle down.

- And potentially have another comedy club, - Uh-huh.

- option in Peoria to choose from.

But, you know, there's a reason why I'm 38 and single.

I don't like commitment, so mortgages are about the same, (Christine chuckles) you know, and so unless I know it's wanted, you know, I'm willing to pour my lifeblood into the project itself.

- Mm-hmm.

- but to actually set the roots really depends on just the population.

- Right.

- You know, and it, you know, if they want it, you know, I'll help 'em get it.

If they don't, then I'll just kinda- - If you build it, they will come.

Is that then correct?

- A lot of people, - I know.

- a lot of people think, - Say that.

- it's the field of dreams.

- Okay.

- But, you know.

- Yeah.

- Last time I checked, you know, the ghost of Richard Pryor hasn't been showing up to people, so, (laughs) - Okay.

(chuckles) So withdrawal - So what's you're- - isn't quite there.

- So what's your favorite joke or your favorite topic?

- My personal favorite joke is, is pro... (laughs) - Uh-oh, keep it clean.

- So, you know, yeah, well, it's like, - Okay.

- you know, I'm currently single, - Uh-huh.

- You know, 'cause apparently my ex-girlfriend thought just because I couldn't see other people meant that she could.

- Ah, okay, got it.

- So the double entendre - (chuckles) Yip.

It is, that's good, yes.

- Yeah.

- And so, and topic-wise it's, you know, everything, nothing is off limits, - All right.

- except for politics.

- Okay.

- I don't touch politics with a 10-foot pole.

- Well- - Guaranteed to split the room 50/50.

(Matt laughs) - It definitely will.

And there might even be something breaking out.

- Yeah.

- In the audience.

- [Matt] Yeah.

It's not worth it.

- All right, so what's your favorite joke then?

Other than the ex-girlfriend?

- Ah, like that- - But, and you're very topical, I mean, you know, what's going on in the world?

- Yeah, I mean, it's, I have a couple segments that I really enjoy doing, but I've learned in the decade of doing it that like you can script a set as much as you want, but really you have the rule of the triangle.

- Okay.

- Where they love it, they hate it, or they don't get it.

- Yeah, okay.

- And it's your job to be able to- - To wrap it up.

- To spin it around, so.

- Got- - If the river's flowing one way, don't fight the current, but if you hit a rock, you know, know how to bounce off, - Go the other way.

- Maybe I can go the other way, yeah.

- Yeah.

I'm being told that I need to wrap this up.

- Certainly.

- Okay.

- And so, yeah, if anyone wants to check out what we have coming up, if you just go to blindstein.com, all the BS Entertainment shows will be up there.

We also have a great charity that I'm involved with just from a couple years ago, Santa Bill and the Hospital Helpers that takes kits - Yeah.

to the children.

And so if you go to my website there, he has a couple events that I'm pared with, with like Joking and Jamming, and a- - Very awesome.

- And a few other things, so.

- Okay.

- Yeah, so, - Thank you.

- you just gotta help out everybody.

- Thank you my dear friend BlindStein.

- Thank you Mama Z.

- Yeah.

I hope you enjoyed him like I do.

I do, he is a lot of fun to be around, and I hope you like our wonderful set, everybody's got a story, - It looks great.

- and everybody's got something to tell where they live, whatever.

If, you know, if you got something, please get ahold of me here at the station, and let me know, and we'll "Consider This."

Thanks for being with us.

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