The Comedy Castle Podcast · The Comedy Castle Podcast

Podcast #252: Matt Holt

·38 min·2 clips

Matt Holt says a Big B Coffee sponsor paid him for every Michigan show that used “Big B Coffee” instead of Starbucks.

1. The Comedy Castle Podcast centers on Matt Holt’s return to Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle for Christmas-week shows in Royal Oak. 2. Joel Fragomeni hosts and introduces Holt as the weekend headliner, while Holt matters because he has not been at the club in over six years. 3. The episode asks what Holt has been doing since his last Comedy Castle booking and what material he is bringing back to Michigan. 4. Joel gives specific show times for Friday, December 26 and Saturday, December 27, including two sets each night. 5. Holt says he was a Michigan comic for a while and worked more within Michigan than outside the state during that period. 6. Holt says he started comedy in 1999 in Indianapolis and kept returning after doing well enough at an open mic. 7. Holt says Bob and Tom was a major part of his career, especially in the three or four years before the pandemic. 8. Holt says he also worked with a comedy record label and helped launch a podcast network that ran for a couple of years. 9. Holt says he produced Stuart Huff’s podcast for four seasons and calls that a successful stretch. 10. Holt tells a Big B Coffee story in which a man offered $200 per Michigan show for replacing “Starbucks” with “Big B Coffee.” 11. Holt says he texted the sponsor about his remaining shows and was told, “yeah that’s eight hundred dollars.” 12. Holt says the Big B Coffee arrangement later turned into a company party booking with a holiday crowd. 13. Holt says the sponsor wanted him introduced as a new vice president and wanted him to “scare these people” before doing stand-up. 14. Holt says he improvised fake corporate policies, including a “roundup” idea and a “hipster discount” for fedora wearers or chain-wallet customers. 15. Holt says the room stayed uncomfortable until he finally revealed, “my name is Matt, I’m a comic.” 16. Holt says he later learned the audience had just come from an award ceremony honoring a worker who had been electrocuted and died on the job. 17. Joel and Holt talk about Bruce Springsteen concerts, including Asbury Park, the Stone Pony, the Wonder Bar, and Broadway. 18. The tone stays conversational and loose, with both men trading road stories, club memories, and holiday plans. 19. Listeners who like road comics, club stories, and Michigan comedy. 20. People wanting polished bits only, not long backstage stories.

As heard by us

A loose club-room catch-up that stays anchored in the weekend run and a long road-story detour.

The episode opens with the weekend lineup, then settles into a long catch-up with headliner Matt Holt. Joel notes that Holt has not been back in over six years, and the talk moves through road history, old gigs, and the way time piles up.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a holiday-week catch-up with Matt Holt at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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