Sam Buck Speaks on Bucked Up Podcast
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #29
Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$. Welcome to WORDS WITH WORD$. Today, I am bringing you guys an exclusive interview with stand-up comedian and podcast host Sam Buck.
He is known as the host and founder of the Bucked Up Podcast, which has had guests that include the likes of Conway the Machine, Westside Gunn, Estee Nack, al.divino, AA Rashid, and many more. A true fan of hip-hop, Sam has driven across the country numerous times to interview artists and attend shows. He shared that he drove his own car over 90,000 miles last year.
Recently, I was interviewed for an episode of Bucked Up recorded live in The Signet Club at Harvard. We recorded this interview after going to 38 Spesh’s show at The Middle East earlier this year. We talked about his beginnings with Bucked Up, traveling to see the Buffalo Kids Gallery, and what he has planned next for his comedy career.
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1000WORD$: What's going on? It's the Pope, 1000WORD$. I'm here with my man, Sam Buck!
Sam Buck: Happy to be here!
1000WORD$: What's going on Sam Buck? How you been these days, man?
Sam Buck: I’ve been good! The last few days I’ve spent with you we've had a good time, smoking weed, eating good food.
1000WORD$: We’ve been going around. We went to Lazy Dog, we went to Hooters. It was our first time.
Sam Buck: There was good food in a bar, a bar with a bunch of locals from Lynn and then Hooters.
1000WORD$: Some Saugus mamis. I was with my girl and shit I was with my girl it was kind of awkward. It was like a pregnant woman.
Sam Buck: There was a pregnant woman working at Hooters?
1000WORD$: It was kind of wild. I think it was like- she was like almost like I think in her final steps.
Sam Buck: But they were still making her wear the tight booty shorts.
1000WORD$: That's just crazy.
Sam Buck: They actually made her put on an outfit for the baby.
1000WORD$: On the baby's belly, it said “Hooters: Saugus, Massachusetts” like across the belly.
Sam Buck: The baby’s actually named Hooter.
1000WORD$: Shoutout to my boy, the Top Hooter, in fucking Boston for years. Look, man, I gotta say you've been fucking busy man. How was it headlining that show in Detroit? Was that your first-time headlining over there in Detroit?
Sam Buck: Yeah, that was my first time headlining a real club, like outside my city. Like when I started going to comedy shows at 16, I'd always go to the clubs and I'd see people from out of town headlining and be like, “That's what I want to do one day.” And so like, I've had live shows in New England and shit, but that was my first real club out of town. When I was on stage, it was like, “Damn, I'm actually living the thing that when I was 16, I said I always wanted to do.”
1000WORD$: Were you nervous? Like, I know, you got to play like a day before, right?
Sam Buck: Yeah.
1000WORD$: So how was it like driving up there though? You're about to do this? Like the last 10 minutes before you hit the stage.
Sam Buck: So actually, my boy Shamil Kumar, he produces my podcast for me. He traveled with me, he's a comedian too and we just talked about it the whole time. And it was crazy because he went with me to Buffalo for the first time when I went to the Buffalo kids opening, the gallery opening. So honestly, I was hella nervous. But to be with Shamil? We started together, like that's- it calmed me down. And I knew what I was doing. I just sold out a 150-seat room in Connecticut and did 50 minutes. So I was nervous, but I knew I was ready and it was one of those things where – you probably feel it too – when you know, you're meant to be doing something. Even if you're nervous, it just feels right. You just feel comfortable.
1000WORD$: How can we forget that time we went to the Middle East to see 38 Spesh?
Sam Buck: Well, I don’t know- I mean, we're talking about Hooters and Lazy Dog. We were at the legendary Middle East.
1000WORD$: That's about to close, I heard.
Sam Buck: Next month. It's one of the last probably 20 shows at one of the most legendary clubs in the world. Like, you should look up just Google, “Who's played at the Middle East?”And we were backstage with 38 Spesh.
1000WORD$: That wasn't your first time at the Middle East?
Sam Buck: No, the first time I was at the Middle East. Was that the first time? The first time I was at the Middle East was the first time I met Conway the Machine. Like 2016, at the upstairs smaller venue, and I followed him outside after the meet and greet because I didn't want to talk to him – you should never follow rappers outside – but we smoked a blunt and we talked and that's how he knew who I was.
1000WORD$: Nice. How is it from being in the crowd to just being backstage now?
Sam Buck: That shit’s crazy. It doesn't feel real. Like when you think… there was only 10 people in that green room–
1000WORD$: Yeah.
Sam Buck: And I'm one of ‘em. You know? It could have been like, “Fuck.” But he didn’t and that shit’s crazy. But it also feels right. Like I ain’t gonna lie. Like when I was in the audience, I was always like, “Damn, what are those dudes doing that they're there?” And now…
1000WORD$: Facts. How many miles you put in your car last year?
Sam Buck: 90,000. 90,000, maybe in like a year and three months but yeah, like 90,000.
1000WORD$: What's the longest you’ve driven?
Sam Buck: Bro. I drove back from Chicago during a snowstorm straight by myself. That was one of the worst drives in my whole life. It was all through the night, so I get to like middle-of-nowhere, Ohio. And there's a 20-mile stretch of highway that is unplowed with three inches, four inches of snow. No lights. I’m literally only driving through my GPS. I’m trying to figure out the road through by GPS because everything was just snow.
1000WORD$: Daaamn.
Sam Buck: It was crazy. Literally, I was like, “Oh, I have to turn because my GPS said the road looks like it's turning right here.”
1000WORD$: That's fucking crazy, bro. Thank God man you good and able to tell it.
Sam Buck: I crashed my car the last time I was in New York on the way back from a snowstorm.
1000WORD$: Word. Yeah I saw you post that – what happened?
Sam Buck: I was in Connecticut and I was pulled off in the rest area literally to take a nap. I was so tired and as I pulled off in the rest area, I hit a patch of ice and like, crashed my car and fucked up my axle. I had to get a hotel room.
1000WORD$: What's one of the most dangerous cities you visited? Like in order?
Sam Buck: Chicago. Let’s go Chicago, Detroit, Miami and Buffalo.
1000WORD$: You told me a story about Buffalo one time that you almost got-
Sam Buck: The day that I went to the Buffalo Kids gallery opening. So alright. It's the first time I've ever traveled for the podcast. We're at the Buffalo Kids opening, I meet Westside [Gunn]. I stand in line for 10 hours. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't anybody. I had to stand in that line from 6 am on.
1000WORD$: But it was beautiful because this show was like a festival.
Sam Buck: Yeah, it was. I'm so happy I did it. I met, you know, that started everything. But then I had a podcast afterward and then I got food and it's like 2 am and I didn't know but our very Airbnb was in like the worst part of Buffalo. So as I get to my Airbnb and get out of my car, a crackhead tries to rob me.
1000WORD$: How did you deflect that?
Sam Buck: Outside the Airbnb. Alright, see I’m big, and I was just tired after waiting in line all day. So he like comes at me and I'm like, “What the fuck do you want?!” And then he ran away.
1000WORD$: That’s so fucking fire.
Sam Buck: Like with a bear… not a bear. What are those animals where you’re supposed to act big around and yell at them?
1000WORD$: Probably like a fucking Coyote.
Sam Buck: Yeah, a coyote, like yelling at the coyote.
1000WORD$: What are some of the best Hip-Hop shows you've been to? I know you've been to a bunch.
Sam Buck: That's concerts, Hip-Hop concerts.
1000WORD$: Who would you label great performers?
Sam Buck: All of Griselda.
1000WORD$: Oh amazing show.
Sam Buck: Great shows. I saw Wu-Tang Clan when I was really young and they were great performers, but the stage was really small and how they never bumped into each other was amazing. I got to know if they were like choreographed dance moves because they never bumped into each other once. Dolf put on a really good show.
1000WORD$: You told me you went to a Playboi Carti show where he just made noises the whole time.
Sam Buck: Yeah, I was at Playboi Carti at his last tour and I took way too many mushrooms. And so I'm just tripping it up right on the side of the stage. And his songs played and instead of rapping every like minute or every 45 seconds he just goes, “Ca-caw ca-caw!” And that’s all the noises he made the entire time.
1000WORD$: And he’s just jumping around?
Sam Buck: Yeah, just “ca-cawing” and I'm tripping like, “Is this real?”
1000WORD$: Yoooo.
Sam Buck: And people are just moshing, at the fucking–
1000WORD$: How much were those tickets?
Sam Buck: Like $150.
1000WORD$: What? Damn.
Sam Buck: That was a bad investment. Now we're back there, on stage with 38 Spesh. It was crazy at Drumwork Fest being on stage with Fab, Jeezy, Lloyd, Wale.
1000WORD$: That's crazy. Conway, all of those–
Sam Buck: Well, we’ve been on stage with them before, but you know what I mean.
1000WORD$: That's why you picked up the infamous plush.
Sam Buck: The infamous plush. What's worse, the plush or the pillow?
1000WORD$: Do you lay the plush on the pillow?
Sam Buck: I should.
1000WORD$: That’d be good.
Sam Buck: I love how someone commented once, “You sleep with those pillows?” Like fuck no, those are decorative pillows only.
1000WORD$: That'd be crazy. If you would have slept with them shits but I know you probably just got ‘em like on your couch or some.
Sam Buck: Yeah I’m not sleeping with those or the Conway Doll.
1000WORD$: I like how you buckled ‘em up. What’d he do, bro?
Sam Buck: I love that I saw him like a week after I made it and he didn't say anything but I thought he was gonna be like, “Fuck you.” I thought he was not going to find it funny.
1000WORD$: How was it going to LA for the first time?
Sam Buck: LA. So, LA. It's so funny. There's like different parts of me traveling. There's me traveling pre-podcast and me traveling post-podcast like you feel this now wherever you go, there's now people that you know or people who want to like tap in with you, and that's dope. Like when I went to LA for the first time post-podcast – first time I went to LA I did stand up for the first time at the Comedy Store. I was 17 years old, I used a fake ID to get in and I did standup at the most famous comedy club in the world – but the first time I went to LA post-podcast, was with Jay Drizzle – shout out Jay Drizzle – and man I got to pull up to Isaac Pelayo’s house and do a podcast in his living room and see all his art. I got to do a podcast with Mariella Angela and I now talk on the phone with her like an hour every other week. I love her. LA was crazy. LA was crazy. It was. I pulled up to T.F.’s block at like 3 am, took a picture and then posted it. And then T.F. the next day was like, “Of course you only pull up when no one’s around, always pulling up at night.”
1000WORD$: I think that's when it’s like the most sketchiest probably.
Sam Buck: Probably, but I’m just posted on the block at like 3 am on Kansas.
1000WORD$: That’s legendary shit, bro. What you got lined up for this year?
Sam Buck: I'm just trying to push the podcast more, grow it because it's all independent. You know, we're dudes who just grow off our own shit. So I want to take it to the next level and keep it you know, keep it what it is. And stand up; so there's this club, Nick's Comedy Stop in Boston, and it's where every legendary Boston comedian started. It's probably one of the most like, famous – no like most legendary clubs. Like not that it has that same stature now that it did, but like all the greats came out of there like Bill Burr, Joe Rogan, like fucking… all the Boston greats and I got asked to headline that shit. And I'm the first of my grade of comedians, you know, like people that started around me to headline that, which is a real honor, April 28, and 29th. That's just crazy for me because I used to go to that club too when I was 16, and be like, “One day I’ll get to perform there.” And now I'm headlining it, like for a weekend not even like one show. So, I’m just trying to grow, just trying to keep my head down and push every day. Yesterday, we didn't know what was going to happen and it ended up being a legendary day.
1000WORD$: Yeah, off the rip, right?
Sam Buck: Literally.
1000WORD$: That shit was kind of wild.
Sam Buck: It was a lot, we just pulled up to the Middle East.
1000WORD$: Just got in that shit.
Sam Buck: You're like me where I always worry. I always worry about getting into shows.
1000WORD$: Yeah. Every time.
Sam Buck: Every time I'm like, “I don’t know…” And it’s always like, “Yeah!”
1000WORD$: I'm like one of those little billy goats that just keeps headbutting.
Sam Buck: Well literally the tour manager fucking-
1000WORD$: Word.
Sam Buck: -Dave was like, “I know who both of you are.” What the hell.
1000WORD$: That's why we'd be acting like we'd be looking around, but you know the vibes. That's why I asked, like, “Take us back there, my g.”
Sam Buck: Literally.
1000WORD$: Like take us back there because I'm not gonna hang out right now. I want to go see my homie Spesh. Shit was lit, we was chilling.
Sam Buck: Yeah. Spesh put on a great show.
1000WORD$: Facts, that’s my man Spesh. But Sam Buck, man. It's unique to see you grind because you grinding doing the podcast and doing comedy and it’s not more different than Hip-Hop because it's like you're on tour by yourself.
Sam Buck: Yeah.
1000WORD$: Like it's hard to really go on tour by yourself with no funding and no backing and so it's amazing to see that, man. How does – does your mom ever tell you to get a job? How does she look at it now?
Sam Buck: My family's super supportive of it now. When I first started comedy, I used to drink a lot and party a lot and I would work hard to do sets, but I wasn't like “push it.” But I hope that anyone around me sees that, I want it and I worked hard for it and it's all that I... do. So now, everyone's supportive – like, they were always supportive – but now they really do believe in the dream. Like it's actually working out, being written up and you know, the feeling to be written about in the Harvard Crimson. I could have never gone to Harvard. I couldn't have. I didn't have the money to go to Harvard or the intelligence to go to Harvard.
1000WORD$: I didn’t even have Harvard friends. I didn’t even have that.
Sam Buck: To be written about in the Harvard Crimson is crazy. Like that makes– that's something that my grandma can tell her friends. My mom can tell her friends like yeah, they can be like, “Oh Sam Buck is part of his rap group Bruiser Brigade with Danny Brown,” and they can be like “Oh Sam interviewed this rapper Westside Gunn,” but they don't know. They don't know that.
1000WORD$: You told me that they ask about Conway now, like the ladies.
Sam Buck: Yeah, all my grandma's friends will always be like, “How’s Conway the Machine?”
1000WORD$: Can I tell you a funny story?
Sam Buck: Yeah.
1000WORD$: Yo, rest in peace to Angie’s stepdad, right, at the time. His name was Frank. Rest in peace. But so, we was gonna to go down to her mom's crib for Christmas and I got some of the metal prints made and somebody ordered a Conway bed cover. So I send the bed cover with two pictures of Angie as well because I was going to give her mom a gift of a picture of Angie. So the package gets to the house I guess, you know. It got to the house. From my understanding, it was like, her mom opened it up and the pictures of Angie comes out and then the picture of Conway comes out… And she goes, “Is that Rome?” She was like no that’s this dude Conway the Machine. Well yeah, man. But Buck man, thank you man. It's been a great weekend bro.
Sam Buck: It’s been a legendary weekend.
1000WORD$: It’s been dope chopping it up with you my bro.
Sam Buck: We ate some sick dipping sauces.
1000WORD$: Fire. And we ate some wings. So you already know.