500: Jay Schwedelson Interviews Denny Corby

Welcome And What The Show Is

Denny Corby 0:00

Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the show where you get the scoop on life inside private golf and country clubs. I'm your host, Danny Corby, and each episode is a real conversation with club leaders, the pros, the people and partners who help clubs thrive. We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing, governance, and so much more. If you want practical ideas, better teams in a club experience, members actually feel and talk about. You are in the right place now. Welcome

Why The 500th Episode Is Different

Denny Corby 0:30

to the show. Welcome to the 500th episode of Private Club Radio. Wow, wow, wow. Thank you all so much for being here and being listeners and subscribers and followers of the channel. Thank you for helping us get here to the 500th episode. Wow. Cannot believe Cannot believe it. Crazy, crazy. And in this episode, it's gonna be a little bit different because I'm gonna be the one being interviewed. I thought it'd be a fun change of pace for the 500th episode. The other big milestone episodes I've done recaps and different things, so for this one, I thought why not have the interviewer being the one being interviewed? So I was racking my brain, and a friend of mine recommended another friend of mine, and that is marketing guru extraordinaire, amazing person, Jay Schwedelson. He is the host of Do This Not That podcast, the number one marketing podcast in the entire world. Just has a brand-new book out called Stupider People Have Done It. It is amazing. And I asked him, could not believe he said yes, so he is gonna interview me for the 500th episode here on Private Club Radio And I won't give away any spoilers. You're gonna have to listen to it to get the good stuff. And right before we do, if you're a listener, you know always gotta have the

The Shameless Plug And Live Events

Denny Corby 1:56

shamelessplug. If you or your club is looking for one of the most fun member event nights, you have the Denny Corby experience. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic, mind reading, and comedy. A ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps. If you wanna learn more, head on over to DennyCorby.com. Over 350 plus club shows performed, great testimonials and reviews over there. Check it out. And if you're a club professional looking for something different, if you're feeling a little burnt out, come burn out with me and 50 other club professionals from all over the world for my Management in Motion. It's a really cool, fun little leadership event. Very exclusive, only 50 people. It's at the Monticello Motor Club in New York, September 21st. We're gonna rip up BMWs M2s, 3s, and 4s, drifty- drifting, drag racing, high-speed laps, all the fun stuff you wish you can do on streets. Or if you ever just wanted to push a vehicle a little bit more, you can do it in a really cool, fun, controlled, safe space. And the education is absolutely killer 'cause it's done by you, fellow club professionals who have their own motions. It's whatever their motions are. For some people, it's cars, biking, running. It's all different motions, and how they use that motion to relate back to their leadership and bring it back to the real world. So a really great day of fun, education, adrenaline, and I host a poker night at night. It's, it's a, it's a blast. You wanna learn more, all of it is at DennyCorby.com. Enough about that, though.

Jay Joins And Sets The Stakes

Denny Corby 3:20

Private Club Radio listeners, welcome to the 500th episode and welcome to the show my friend, Jay Schwedelson Mr. Jay Schwedelson, the man, the myth, the legend, cannot believe you are here interviewing me for the 500- 100th episode. Did not expect you to say yes at all.

jay schwedelson 3:35

Well, first of all, I'm honored. Private Club Radio is a great show. You've done 500 episodes. I, I... We have to dig into how crazy wild that is. But I, I... You won't say this about yourself. You're a very humble dude, so I'm gonna say this about you. Uh, and by the way, hi, everybody. Jay Schwedelson. So Denny Corby, and I know you all know 'cause you listen, but Denny is a big deal, okay, in the world of entertainment. You may think he's a magician, all right? But that's not what he is. The guy has gone to over 350 different clubs, okay, around this planet, and he has brought energy. He's brought positivity. He's brought happiness, and the guy just infuses it wherever he goes, and he, he lives this. He cares about this. He's not just checking a box, trying to get a paycheck. He really cares about bringing a different kind of entertainment, a different kind of vibe, and I've had Denny at many of my events, and he often is the thing that people say, "That was my favorite thing at the thing." All right? So I'm honored to be here. You, you're doing a great service by putting out your content. You're inspiring people, and I cannot wait to dig into your story.

Denny Corby 4:44

Oh, boy. Yeah. Oh, boy.

jay schwedelson 4:46

Don't screw it up now. I know. All right, so let's jump into this. I know. Since I'm interviewing you, you can't talk. I get to interview you. How did this, how did this all come to be? What I mean by that is, uh, uh, how did Denny wind up being this dude who's, like, all over the private club world? How did Private Club Radio become a thing? Give us the Iron Man origin story.

From Scranton To Private Clubs

Denny Corby 5:07

Okay, short story long. S-, uh, you know, I, uh, born and raised Scranton, Northeast PA. Uh, so if you watch the TV show The Office, uh, that's what a lot of people know, know Scranton for. Uh, my family owned the paper supply company in Scranton, so came from a very just entrepreneurial family. Uh, if you watch The Office, the big brick tower in the opening credits, uh, that's my family's building. Uh, so worked, worked for my dad in one of his companies or another for many, many years. But like, not just like showing up, like stripping and waxing floors, cleaning bathrooms, worked in the warehouse, loaded the trucks, crashed the trucks, delivered the stuff, whatever I had to do. And, um, through all of that, you know, I, they, my family knew I didn't love it. So I was mid-20s, they knew I loved entertainment and magic and just performing, so they were like, "Hey, why don't you go give the magic a shot? We don't want you to be 30, 40, 50 going back like, 'Ah, what if I would've tried?'" And, uh, somehow, you know, made it, made it work. You know, I've just... You know, y- y- you have your ups and downs. You always do. But, uh, I found private clubs early on and just really clicked, not just with the staff and the, and the, and the GMs and the crew, but like the members more importantly. And I think from being around my dad and the employees and his people, but then also his buddies and his people, you know, I was, I was cleaning industrial buildings. No one knew who the hell I was, right? I was just another person wearing the company T-shirt cleaning the toilets. So being able to adapt and talk to every level of people and have conversations and good conversations and relate and just, I think that kind of gift of gab, that sort of personality, being able to connect with almost anybody. You know, now I can just walk into a room, like a, like a private club, and just have fun with people. I can bust chops, I can have some fun. And whether it's the highest of the highs, like the, the lowest of the lows, uh, that's sort of, I, I think where it sort of came from. And early on when I s- when I did a couple clubs, I was like, I really enjoy the audiences, I enjoy the people. I think it's a really good mix. Uh, I think I can work the crowd well. Crowd work is my sort of specialty. And, uh, I found a, found a cl- you know, I was mid-20s, I was like, "I wanna travel all, all over the place." So I found a couple clubs in, uh, Louisiana, cold-called a random GM, and he is now one of my best friends. I would, I would call him family, uh, at, at this point. Uh, his name's Lee Stahl, and called him. He called me back. He said, "Hey, send me some references and we'll take it from there." And, uh, to him, I would, I, I owe a lot of my career in the club space to him. He opened up a lot of doors for me, um, and, and really, really, really appreciative of that. And, uh, you know, Private Club Radio, that... Uh, so it was already in an existing show. So I have about 250 episodes in plus, or about 260 I think at this point. It was already an existing show that, uh, a friend of mine had. He was doing more club, like marketing, branding, kind of the assets, all of that stuff, and pandemic hit a lot of people differently. Um, he kind of pivoted to some other stuff. Instead of being more B2B, he went more B2C, so he was doing more now consumer products, so like reviewing golf clubs and all that. So the show kind of went silent for a little bit, and I was doubling down in clubs, and I was like, "Oh, I wanna do a podcast." And instead of just starting my own, I was like, they had a great name. I've been on it a few times. So I reached out and I was like, "Hey bud, how much?" Uh, so you know, he and I went back and forth, came up with a deal. And, uh, so, um, right now this is the now 500th episode, and about 260 of which are, uh, mine. Y-

jay schwedelson 8:31

you know, your story is really incredible for a lot of reasons because, uh, kudos to your family, 'cause I thought your story- Huge was gonna be that, "Hey, I want to do this whole entertainment thing, and my family was against it, but I did it anyway, and I said, screw off you guys, and I proved them wrong." But the fact that you had, uh, a supportive family saying, "No, you go do you and, and explore this path so you're not l- turning around, you know, uh, when you're, you know, at the end of life and saying, I wish..." Uh, the fact that they didn't allow you to have that regret, um, that's incredible to have that support network. But I have a different question. So you go out and you're like, okay, you go to a private club or whatever, the first few that you do, and I would imagine if you had to rewatch those shows now of yourself, you'd be like, "That guy sucked," okay? Um, but even putting that aside, at what point were you able to say, "You know what? I can make a really good career out of it." Because how do you go from doing a couple tricks, a couple whatever, and say, "Yep, I'm gonna double down and this is gonna be my career"?

Buying The Podcast And Going All In

Denny Corby 9:33

It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work, more than anybody thinks, and it's, and it took about almost a year. You know, I think you, when you're young and excited, you're like, "Oh, I'll put up..." Or anything. You put up, "Oh, I'll put up a website, and people will book me." Right. And then you're, like, six months in, you're like, "Oh, I actually have to do, like, work. I have to be proactive. I have to make calls, relationships," right? There, there's a, there's a, there's the business side. It's, and it's mostly business, right? The, it's almost like you- Yeah it's like the sh- the show's free. You pay for me to, like, do the business side and to, like, sh- you know, all that stuff. But, you know, after about, like, a six months to a year of going like, "Oh, like, okay, I have to, like, do some work," that's when it really took a turn, when I took it more serious and realized, hey, I have to proactively, a little bit every day, follow up, touch, connections, emails, birthdays, thank yous. Like, all of those little things add up. I think it was Jeb... Is it, is it Jeb, Jeb Blount? He's the, uh- Yeah. Yeah he's, like, a author and speaker and stuff, and I'm m- I'm, I'm paraphrasing. But it was basically, like, the work you either do or don't do today will either show or not show itself 90 days from now. And he was talking about sales. That's really anything. Like, if I look back or any- if you look back to anything, like, if I have, like, a little, a slow month, I can look back three, four months. Like, oh, it's because I was super busy then, and I wasn't doing as much outreach and whatever. So, like, I can always go back, like, 90 days and figure out why some sort of issue has, like, happened or, or progressed.

jay schwedelson 10:58

So, all right. And, and now this is something for everybody out there. Everybody, I don't care what they do for a living, uh, there may be a Zoom call, maybe it's a conference room that they're walking to have a meeting or some sort of big thing where they're giving a speech or they're presenting, trying to entertain people. Everybody walks into a cold situation, and you walk into these rooms, and they... It's horrible. It's gotta be horrendous because these people are expecting to be entertained, to laugh, to feel good, and so you, you have to capture this room fast. So what is the Denny Corby, "Okay, this is what you do. Doesn't matter who you are. The second you walk in, do these things or don't do these things." 'Cause how do we do what you're doing?

Intention Surprise Connection To Own Rooms

Denny Corby 11:42

Intention. So it's funny 'cause I, I, I talk about this, because, like, it's, it's the art of control, right? How do you own the room? Yeah. And it comes down to three things: intention, surprise, and connection. But it really, it starts before you, before you even step on stage. It's the pre-show. A- as you probably know, it's, you know, you're... Like, I'm not one to just, like, wait backstage. You're kinda like working the room a little bit. You're seeing who the people are coming in. You're saying hello. There's always the people showing up super early. "Hey, how's it going? Thank, thank you so much for coming." So it's building those connections, building those relationships, those little, those little threads before you even go up, those little friendships sort of, if you, if you will. So you- you're not really always going up cold, unless you really want to, but you can kinda make those friendships. You can make those connections. You can work the room, and usually I will work the room, whether I'm emceeing, performing, whatever it is. Just, "Hey, how's it going? Oh, my... Thank you for coming. Thanks for being the first person. Oh, my... We... Are, are you always an early bird?" Right? It's just creating those little friendships, those little moments, and to me, those are also callback moments for the show later on, or to have someone's... or have, to have a couple names in the crowd that you already know. Now it's, that's just fuel for the fire and being able to be like, "Okay, now Tim, remember? Oh, you know, we were talking earlier. Remember that thing?" And just being able, the audience is like, "Oh, he was talking to people. He knows people's names." Right? It kinda creates that, "Okay, we're already friends. He already kinda knows us."

jay schwedelson 12:58

Well, I, uh, first of all, I think it's so valuable for everybody to hear, 'cause I don't care if somebody gets on a Zoom, right? And there's seven people there. I always try to get there a few minutes early, and I ask people, you know, where you're from, what'd you do this weekend, what'd you have for dinner. And then, like, to your point, like, later on in the conversation, I'm like, "All right, uh, uh, Jim over there, he looks a little tired. He gave up on coffee two weeks ago. He just told me that before the call." You know, being able to insert that adds humanity, you know, to everything. So but something else that's interesting, I've always been curious about your path, is here you are, you're locked in on private clubs. Private club radio, it's a thing. You do all these private clubs. I would imagine, I don't know the answer to this, you do a great set or whatever you call it, okay? And now all these members are coming up to you and like, "Oh my God, my, my daughter's having a wedding. We're having a 50th anniversary party over here. Uh, we need you to go to Guadalajara and do this over here." Do you- Try to stay in your lane, like, "No, I wanna be the private club dude. I won't take any of these gigs"? Or are you like, "Listen, bring it all on"? Because I'm always, like, debating is it better to be known for that thing, or is it better to take on all this other business?

Denny Corby 14:02

You talk about it in your book. No, um- Yeah, that's fair so I, I, I mainly f- a lot of my efforts are on the clubs. I do take other stuff, but it's really about, like, vibe and a connection. Like, do you Like, do you Are you looking for a body or are you looking for me? Right? If you're looking for me, then, then it's a different conversation. So it's one of Like, I, I realize I have a, I have a quirky show, a quirky personality, and I know I'm not for everybody. So to me it's more of fit more than, more than anything. So it's, "Hey, do you, do you really want me there? Do you think it's gonna be a good time?" So when people see me at a thing, like, "You would be great here," then that's always a, "Okay, well, let's talk next." Like, you know, what are they What's, what's the whole event look like? You know, l- how do you see it being a part? Um, that sort of So I'll still do other stuff, I just mainly focus and go after clubs. It's just, I just really appreciate that audi- It's just, you know, just become my thing. I do do, like, other stuff, but I mainly just focus on that. Unless, like, you know, if s- if something comes my way, great, but I kinda stopped focusing on some of the other markets and things that I was going after

jay schwedelson 15:05

So I've only ever seen you crush it. Okay? Denny's at my events, everybody loves him, whatever. But, uh, I mean, I fail all the time. I embarrass myself all the time. I'm the big loser, whatever. Do- have you had any, maybe any recent things or anything ever where it didn't go according to plan? Or does everything you do always come out perfect?

Bombing On Stage And Learning From It

Denny Corby 15:26

Okay, so we're going there. I, I, I, I, I, I was ju- I, I just bombed pretty hard, uh, in front of my audience of all club managers, which was even tougher. Oof. And what made it even worse, it was a talk about the art of control, how to own the room. And I lost, and I lost the room. Um, it was, it was, it was, it was pretty ba- Not as bad as I thought. I watched most of it back. It's not as bad. It w- and, and it's all on me. Like, I know, like, it was all boils down to me. There's no excuses. Looking back, there were, like, little triggers or, like, moments that happened. Um, but, like, I'm a very anxious person. Like, I run hot all the time. Like, my anxiety's always through the roof. I hide it fairly well. Um, but I j- I was, I was already... I was emceeing the conference, which to me, like, why I bombed was all internal. It was like I just doubted myself to the nth degree. And, like, it was all my people. Like, I emceed the first day. They all, like, it was all p- We had a great time. We have a great back and forth, the banter, the fun, in the hallway conversations. People, "Oh my God, this is such a great time." All of that, and I just g- It, it just... I went so far down a rabbit hole of self-doubt and anxiousness that I don't think I fully recovered. Um, I, I sort of recovered, maybe. Um, it was, it was... But it was like, so I have note cards for all of my shows, so looks like this Anytime I emcee a conference, if you're watching it's, or if you're l- listening it's not gonna make sense, but like these like note cards. Very like talk show-y. Mm-hmm. So I put all my notes in the back for what's supposed to be next, 'cause I don't like looking at the teleprompter and stuff, so I- I... it's like having this. And plus, for like pictures, this looks fun on stage. Mm-hmm. Um, and I just don't know what to do with my hands half the time. So I, early in the morning, spilled my water all over all my note cards. Done. Okay. Uh, I had w- I had coffee before eating, which is basically like giving me a controlled substance. That, that, that wasn't good. Um, the AV team, uh, could not load my presentation, so up until like 10 minutes before the, everything started, not even doors, but up until it started, it, it got like settled. As, as we're all figuring this out for 45 minutes, people are texting me, "Can't wait. This is gonna be so much fun. Coming over to the tech booth. You're gonna crush it, bro." Like, and now like the, so the pressure's just like, oh my God. Like I'm just, I'm running hot. And I just get on stage and I just, uh, you know, y- you miss a couple lines and I'm like, okay. Yeah. And uh, I put in a slide the night before that I really regret, which was kinda like, "Here's why you should listen to me." Like I was, it was the night before, I was running through my whole presentation- did like one last run through and I was like, you know what, let me just add in this one slide just because it was like my, it's like people I admired and looked up to for, not like looked up to- Yeah 'cause I'm not gonna be like a GM, but just people I've admired for years, and there's friends and there's clients and there's vendors and all these people out there. And I just went down a huge... A- as soon as I went to that slide, I like started like justifying myself. I just felt everything just unraveling in my brain. All my co- everything just left. So I'm now about 20 minutes into my presentation for 90 minutes, and I, and I went, "Time out." I need a minute." I said, "I'm gonna... I forgot to play my intro video. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna start from the beginning. I'm gonna re- I'm gonna start my intro video." Wow. "I'm gonna go off stage. I'm gonna come back in 90 seconds. We're gonna restart." So I left the stage, came ba- and, like, did the, did the video, came back on.

jay schwedelson 19:05

Wow.

Denny Corby 19:06

Was it great? No, I still missed some s- you know, it, I'm s- 'cause I was s- the heart's still going, right? I was- Yeah my heart was... Than- I, I should've been wearing my Apple Watch. It would've freaked out. Like, I was pumping. Uh, it was still fine. Half the people thought it was part of the shtick. Um, but i- you know, a lot of people after came up, and you had the couple jerks who were li- you know, say things- Yeah and whatever. But a lot of people shared their own stories of how they bombed and they failed. Yeah. And then a v- a lot of... In, in, in this audience too, there were some people who were from foreign countries coming up, "Hey, can you help me with public speaking?" And I'm like, "Did you just watch the dumpster fire- Yeah. that just happened?" Right, right. Um, so you know, it was one of those, it was probably for the better maybe, you know? It... Because y- you've, and you're a great speaker, and you probably see some of these speakers that are so-

jay schwedelson 19:51

Oh

Denny Corby 19:51

well polished, and every point is on, it's the same cue. It's the same s- 90, 6- 60 minutes every time- Yeah to the T. And I think some of them appreciated the, like, realness of-

jay schwedelson 20:03

Yeah

Denny Corby 20:04

just being up there, and it's not the normal every day. And for someone who... And it's, I think it was just one of those too. It wasn't like I was talking about marketing or magic. It was, like, how to own the room, right? And I was just- Interesting failing. Um, so that, that, that was pretty bad. It's still pretty, pretty fresh. Uh, I've sort of talked myself out of it. Like, I think I'm like, okay. Uh, but that's gonna be one, one for the books. I

jay schwedelson 20:28

think, I think that that's so important, first of all, for people to hear. But I think we're, you know, we're in this world now, of course, of all the AI slop, and this world of everything is so polished that I promise you, 10 years from now you'll remember that, and the people that were there will remember that. If you had done your set perfectly, no offense to you, they probably wouldn't have remembered your set, and you wouldn't remember even, you know, being there. And so these moments of humanity are... That's, that's powerful. It's like, it's like bloopers. When I'm on Instagram, there's all these, they have bloopers from, like, you know, Friends or Seinfeld, whatever. Yeah. I watch that more than I watch the clip of the show because it's like, oh, everybody's real. So I love the realness, and you probably made more connections from that than half your other shows that you do

Denny Corby 21:16

I, I would say so, or at least I connected with people a little bit different, right? Yeah. It's that second layer of connection. It's not that surface level. Now it's like, you know, people sharing their own personal failures and stories, and that's a whole different, like, level of just, "Hey- Yeah you'll, you'll, you'll get 'em next time." Like it's

jay schwedelson 21:35

Yeah

Denny Corby 21:35

like it's, like, you know, more than just they're like, "Hey," you know, "That was good," whatever. It was that surface level of, like, you know, people waiting to tell you that, their, their struggle, their story.

Why Private Club Radio Exists

jay schwedelson 21:45

So, so let's talk about this show, Private Club Radio. Um, why does it, why does it exist? What I mean by that is, um, are there... And I should know this, I don't. I'm incompetent, I know nothing. Is there a void for people that are in leadership of clubs to really be able to talk about club, the world of running clubs and entertainment and all that stuff? Why does this show... Does it... Do, do you put out the show for that? Do you put out the show to bring on guests and meet people? Do you put out the show because you have a massive ego and you like to hear your own voice? Like, what are we doing here?

Denny Corby 22:21

All ego. No, uh- Y- as you know, these are... Doing a podcast show is a lot of work, so definitely not for the ego. Uh, and if it was for ego, I'd be showing my face more and not doing audio. Uh, so, um, for me, just, you know, I've been doing clubs for a while, and this was now 2022. 2023 is when I took over Private Club Radio.

Pandemic Pivot And Virtual Show Explosion

Denny Corby 22:44

Clubs helped me get through the pandemic in- when I was... A lot of people don't know is when the pandemic hit, I saw my whole career just going downhill. Like- Yeah it was just gone, right? Yeah. All live events gone. I just came off my best year ever on Penn Teller: Fool Us!, plus, plus, plus, bing, bing, bing. And then every- it was, you know, February, March, all, all my shows just gone. Um, I went back to work for my dad in the warehouse, cleaning the warehouse. Mm. So I... He just acquired a, a, a competitor, and this was maybe, you know, a couple, couple weeks in. And after being at home, not doing anything, drinking at least a bottle or two of wine a night with me and my now, uh, wife, I was like, "Eh, you know, I don't know if this is gonna be two months, three months, six months, however long. I just don't wanna do anything." And now it's a year, you know, six months down. Now I'm going into, in savings or investments because, you know, I didn't do anything, so like, "Let me just go do something to get the ball rolling." So I called my dad. I was like, "Hey, do you guys need help?" I, I didn't ask any, just, "Do, do you guys need help?" And he, "Hey," like, call like Bob. Bob was the, the, the head, head, uh, like, operations guy. He's like, "Hey, we just acquired a company. Can you... We need space in the warehouse. Can you come?" Like, clean. Like, just organize. I was like, "Sure."

jay schwedelson 23:56

Oh.

Denny Corby 23:56

So I went from crushing shows to m- like dusty, nasty, gross warehouse work. Like, I remember going home just filthy, and I got my first check. I, I, and also didn't ask how much I was getting paid, and I was like, "Screw this." Yeah. So that's, it, it was like a little moment. I'm like, "Okay, who's, who's gotta be hurting? My club people have to be hurting because people can't go to the clubs. How do clubs still show their value?" 'Cause now clubs are a... It's like a extra thing, and if s- shit's really hitting the fan, well, some of the first things to go are luxuries. So how are clubs still providing, you know, owning and s- being, being valuable to, to their members? So I just did a... I was like, "Oh, uh, virtual show's 250 bucks." I was like, "No one's gonna pay for this." My inbox flooded, right? Just emailed my whole database, "Hey, two, two, hour, 45-minute show," whatever. And now, so within two weeks, I'm a big fan of commit first, figure the rest out later.

jay schwedelson 24:49

Always.

Denny Corby 24:50

Put together a, put together a virtual show, and I did my first show on April Fools', on April 1st of 2020, and I did four of my existing good clients on that day. So I knew, A, it was people who already know, know, like, and trust me, and B, it was April Fools' 'cause if they really sucked, it's be like, "Ah." Ugh. "April Fools'. You guys thought this was gonna be a good... Get outta here. Thank you, guys." You know, I, I at least had, like, an out. And I think in April, I ended up doing over, like, 80 virtual shows- Wow or something silly. Because no one el- Like, I made such a quick pivot, no one else really did it, and it just kinda, like, s- just snowballed from, from, from there. Um, so- To go back to it, from doing so many clubs in person, you know, and virtual, but really in person, uh, you get to meet some amazing people, and I love people's stories. How'd you get to where you're at? I just love stories, conversations, and there really wasn't a, a s- a, a venue for that. And granted, like, uh, their Private Club Radio did do interviews and stuff, but I love people's stories. So for me, it's not always about a certain topic or thing for Private Club Radio. Like, sometimes I'm like, "Oh, this would be something neat. Hey, who can talk about that? Oh, I think I know Bob can come over. Joe, you know, can come talk about this." Really, it was about just showcasing people's stories. "Hey, how'd you get here?" You know, "What do you like about..." Uh, it was more just giving, giving other people a voice who sometimes might be voiceless. So it's not always GMs, right? It's not always about really deep subjects. Sometimes it's just someone I just think is fascinating. "Hey, let's just come on and chit-chat," and we'll find a story in there, and we'll find an episode, and we'll, and we'll, we'll, we'll find content. Um, so it's, so it's really just about giving a voice to people also who might not always have one.

jay schwedelson 26:32

Yeah, I, I agree with you. I, I, I'm glad that you were like, I... My goal is to get as many people to listen to this thing as possible, and all that different type of stuff, 'cause that, that's a, that's a horrendous reason to, to put out any kind of, you know, uh, uh, content like, like a podcast. And so you are... Connecting with people, to me, is the number one reason to have a show, and I love that that is your, your North Star, and I will give you a plug. You didn't tell me to, but I put on some of these big virtual conferences, and I've had Denny perform at, I think, three or four of our virtual conferences. We have thousands of people, and if you have anything you're doing virtually out there, the dude crushes it. I mean, crushes it virtually. And those are the hardest shows. I mean, crushes it. So if you do anything virtually, you got, you gotta think of Denny for sure. I have a random question, though, for you.

Choosing Contentment Over Vegas Fame

jay schwedelson 27:21

If I was doing what you did, and I had the skills that you have, which I don't, I can only make food disappear, um, I would have this dream in the back of my mind, "Oh my God, I gotta get on America's Got Talent. I gotta get to Vegas. I gotta do all this horse crap. I wanna be the next Penn Teller. I wanna be, uh, you know, not Siegfried Roy 'cause I don't think they're alive, or David Copperfield. That's what I wanna do." Do you... Have you ever had that feeling? Or are you like, "No, no, no, no, no, I don't even think about that stuff"?

Denny Corby 27:49

In the, in the beginning you always do, 'cause the, the ego does get involved. Um, I did cruise ships for a hot minute back during, during the pandemic, 'cause it also filled, like, a weird, a weird void too. Also, like, back in, like, 2022 when things kinda opened up, but not really, and was kinda getting strange. Um, and that was always like a, a dream, like, cruise ships. That... You see the stages and all that stuff, and I, I, I did a bunch, and I was like, "Eh." Like, to me they were easy shows, 'cause, like, you're... Like, you're the guy on the ship. Of course- Yeah they're gonna come primed, ready to go almost. Um, so I, I did some of those. That was, like, okay, but I realized, like, eh, not really my thing. Vegas AGT, like, all that stuff, if, if an opportunity came, great, but that's not what I'm going for. Like, I'm very content with where I'm at, the people I serve, what I... You know, the shows I do. Um, I've, I've built a... You know, I'll, I'll toot my own horn. I'm, I'm fairly happy with the little business that I've, that I've built and the relationships that I've built. Um, so, you know, you know, if something happened and all that stuff, like, I don't... Like, I don't know if I would love a Vegas show. I kinda like going to new places and the new people and all that. That's probably me saying that, 'cause I don't have, like, a Vegas show, but-

jay schwedelson 29:02

No, no, I, I believe you. Like- I believe you

Denny Corby 29:03

it's one of those, like... I, I, I enjoy going to these, to these shows, clubs, whatever it is, co- corporate events, different thing. They do, like, a decent amount of, like, corporate and business events too. Um, you know, I, I love going into these spots, 'cause, like, to me, I also am proud of a little bit of the, the, the show that I've built. You can kinda almost put me anywhere and I'll do a decent jo- Like, I'll do, like, a good job. Yeah. So being able to go to some of these places where they're like, "Hey, we really don't have a stage," or, "Hey, we have, you know, 100 people, but the, the sound system or the, we don- the stage didn't make it. Can you still do..." Hell yeah, just give me the audience, give me the people. We're gonna, we're gonna have fun. So to me, I also kinda like being that flexible person. Like, hey, just give me a room, give me some people, and we're gonna have a good time.

Rapid Fire Travel And Magic Questions

jay schwedelson 29:45

All right, now we're about to have a good time. I wanna do rapid fire questions. You gotta give me rapid answers. Are you ready?

Denny Corby 29:49

Ooh, go.

jay schwedelson 29:50

Okay. Totally random. Denny travels a lot. What are the must takes? What are the things you must bring when you travel, no matter what?

Denny Corby 30:00

Uh, LMNTs, some snacks and protein bars, uh, wallet, some cash. Al- uh, always have some cash on me. Uh, don't, don't ever steal from me, but in the front part of my, of my backpack I always have at least, like, 20 bucks. Uh, yous never know when you're gonna need cash. Uh, but definitely snacks, and I usually fly with, like, my show on me. Like, not, not necessarily- Yeah the case, but, like, I'll have most of my props and show with me. Um, so that way- Okay if, yeah.

jay schwedelson 30:31

Now you're on the airplane. Yeah. Person sits next to you, they're a talker, okay? Are you talking to them and then all of a sudden are you busting out a trick or two? Or you're like- No "No, no, no, I'm saving my talking for when I get there."

Denny Corby 30:43

Yeah. I, I'll, like, I'll smirk smile. If they're, like, a frequent traveler I might indulge in some more conversation, but, like, if I can tell you're just on here, you don't fly... Like, no, no.

jay schwedelson 30:55

Yeah. Okay.

Denny Corby 30:55

Also, I'm... I, I usually fly first flights out 'cause I'm paranoid, 'cause I know the later you go on during the day- Yeah the worse the delays- Yeah get, so I'm usually first one out. So that's usually 5:00, 6:00 in the morning. No one's usually too chatty. But yeah, no, I'm not a, I'm not a hu- If you saw me in the airport, off s- off stage, off sh- I wear all black. Like, I have my headphones in. It's a Johnny Cash- Like, I look like I look like the Unabomber coming through the airport. Right. Like, you know? Right.

jay schwedelson 31:24

All right. You go out to dinner, you and your wife go out to dinner with another couple, okay? And it's really your wife's friend, and she don't really know the dude, whatever. You go, "What do you do? What do you do?" Okay. Now they're like, "I do this entertainment stuff," you know, magic, all this stuff. Are they like, "Show me a trick," and you do a trick at dinner? Or are you like, "Nah, I don't do that when I'm out"?

Denny Corby 31:44

Usually not. It depends on, it depends on the situation, depends on the vibe, but I've found sometimes it... that's just people's natural response to just say, like, "Show me a trick." Yeah. So to me, I'll, I sometimes make them, not earn it, but, like, let's have a conv... Like, if they bring it up later or say something that's maybe a little bit specific about magic or show interest, now that's different. 'Cause you can just tell, like a lot of people are just like, "Oh, you... Just do a trick." Which is weird, 'cause you don't... Like, if you meet someone, they're, they're like a dentist, like, "You know, can you look at my tooth? It's been hurting me for the past week. Can you just give it a quick peek?" It's one of the few, like, jobs people, like, expect you to do. Like that and, like, comedy. Like, "Oh, tell me a joke."

jay schwedelson 32:23

Yeah.

Denny Corby 32:23

Like, come on. Like, it's we- like, it's not environmental. So it really depends on the scenario of the situation, but usually not, um, and especially not right away.

jay schwedelson 32:32

Okay. One of the greatest movies of all time is a movie called The Prestige- Mm-hmm which you obviously must have seen, with Hugh Jackman. Yep. And it's all about, you know, th- these magicians or whatever. So I'm curious, when you're somewhere and there's an entertainer on stage doing illusionist stuff, magic stuff, are you sitting there like me, being entertained, like, "That's amazing," or are you, like, in your mind trying to figure out how they did that? And for 99% of the time you know exactly how they did it.

Denny Corby 33:00

It's both. I love to be fooled, I love to be entertained. Um, y- y- I can't always shut it off. And sometimes it's, you just know patterns. So it's like you know, okay, he... You just know certain patterns or movements, so like, oh, something's about to come, or, oh, he just did that move because I know usually after someone does that move they usually have this mannerism or something. So it's not always intentional, but sometimes it's just in the back of your head, like you just know X, Y, Z happens, so you just kinda put the pieces together.

Gratitude Closing And Where To Follow

jay schwedelson 33:32

All right. Uh, uh, this has been incredible. Is there anything you wanna say to the people before we kinda wrap up this 500th episode of Private Club Radio, which has been such an honor for me to be a part of? What do you wanna tell the universe?

Denny Corby 33:47

Catch y'all on the flippity-flip. No, um, no, I, I'm just happy to be where I'm at. I'm, I'm grateful for the industry. I'm grateful for the trust and the friendships, relationships, clients, vendors, partners, people who've supported me from the beginning when I was a nobody. Like, I... It's, it's, it's been a very warm industry, um, very, very great industry, and I'm just grateful for everybody and everything in it.

jay schwedelson 34:10

Yeah, you're a good dude. I'm not just saying that. You're a genuinely good dude. I love the show. I love everything you're doing. I feel, I, I feel honored to be your buddy and your friend, and this was fun.

Denny Corby 34:22

Thank you, Jay. Appreciate you.

jay schwedelson 34:23

All right. See you at the next episode. All right.

Denny Corby 34:26

Yes, sir.

34:27

hope you all enjoyed that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jay. Thank you each and every one of you listeners. Your support, your listenership, everything genuinely means the absolute world. If you wanna learn more about the stuff I got going on, head on over to DennyCorby.com. Enough about all that, though. That's this episode. Until next time, I'm your host, Denny Corby. Catch y'all on the flippity-flip