My Crunchy Zen Era

The Business of Belonging: Building a Creative Home with Scott Field

• Nicole Swisher • Episode 16

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What does it really take to build something that lasts—through late-night doubts, hard conversations, and a global pandemic?

This week, we sit down with Scott Field, co-owner of Third Coast Comedy Club in Nashville, to trace the journey from a single improv class to a gathering place where friendships deepen, creativity thrives, and community shows up for one another. From a freezing Boston bridge to a drizzly Nashville parking lot, Scott shares how Third Coast grew—not just as a business, but as a kind of chosen family.

We talk about:

  • Surviving COVID as a small business—and what it taught him
  • The quiet power of consistent partnerships and shared values
  • Letting go of ego and building with others for the long game
  • The role of classes in forming connection, not just revenue
  • The power of listening

This episode is for the builders—the people crafting spaces that hold others up. It’s for anyone trying to run a small business with heart, grow partnerships that survive friction, and stay rooted in values even when the map changes.

Enjoy the episode?  Follow the show, share the episode who loves community and creativity, and leave a quick review. 

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Guest: Scott Field of Third Coast Comedy Club

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SPEAKER_02:

Uh what's something crunchier then that you've done lately?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh well, honestly, um I was thinking about this and I probably overthought it. Uh came up with 10 different things. But I'm just gonna go with the one we were just talking about um before you formally asked me that, which was I rode my bike over here to sit with you and talk. So I guess riding my bike through the city. So I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it kind of crazy in Nashville to ride your bike all over? Or you generally feel like I people give give way.

SPEAKER_03:

First, I'm just gonna say, because this'll be a uh an opening sort of understanding of me as a personality and person in general. I'm just kind of a weird person, I think. And I say that affectionately because I also don't dislike myself, but it's more just like I just I'm a little odd. I don't find it um like I just don't find it uh scary to ride my bike through a city.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to my crunchy zen era. This is a weekly podcast filled with a little fun, a little humor, and a whole lot of curiosity. I'm your host, Nicole Swisher, and this week my guest is Scott Field. Welcome, Scott.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you pronounced my name correctly too. Did I? Yeah, a lot of people, you know, they're like, uh how is it what do I do with the second T? No, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_03:

Also, it's the most vanilla Scott. I mean, and Field. I mean, it's just very easy to You had me.

SPEAKER_00:

I was like, um, okay, well, I'm very proud of myself.

SPEAKER_03:

I know. I was like, I'm not getting a response from her. What is going on? Okay, that makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That's welcome. Scott is one of the owners of Third Coast Comedy Club. Um, so I'm very excited to have you here.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's it this is fun. Uh I'm glad you invited me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

So, what's a memory that you'd like to relive and why?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, um. Oh, this is a good one. A memory I would like to relive. Um Okay. So this is this is in Boston, and um this is in 1996. Speaking of winters, it was just a wicked cold day. I mean, driving. And the thing about Boston is it's right on the ocean, so even though the water's cold, it like makes it warm enough that you don't quite get the snow, but you get like frozen, pelted like little pieces of ice particles, and it's very windy. Uh so I was finishing up a workout. Um I think I was in my late 20s, um, 27 or 28. And uh there was an indoor track at BU, and uh I had met uh some guys over there. We did this workout with a coach, and then we were doing a cool down, and I ran out into the snow with these guys, and we're crossing the Charles at like this really sort of wide part of the Charles River, and we got out on the bridge and the wind just kicked up, and like I was slogging through this piled up snow, and I just came to a stop. And I think I would like to revisit like what was going through my mind in that moment, because that was actually a big transition for me. Uh, but what I would really like to see again was just the city, sort of in that wintry sort of haze of s falling snow. So the lights are all kind of golden, sort of along the perimeter of the river. It was very beautiful. Uh it was beautiful just objectively, I think, and I would love to see it again. Um, it was just a really cool moment to hear all the snow and feel it, and then just know that, like, oh, I'm about to make a decision and just step back into my headspace in that moment.

SPEAKER_02:

So can you tell our listeners a little bit about Third Coast? And we have mentioned it a few times on this podcast.

SPEAKER_03:

So Yeah. Um, yeah, so Third Coast is it's a small venue. Uh it's actually, I mean, I guess technically we're we've we're reduced to two venues now. It used to be three. Um, but we have like a main stage venue. So it's a it's a comedy venue. Um, and we have a bar. Uh and by small, I mean we're we have 88 seats in the main stage area. And then at one of our upstairs venues, we could seat 30 to 50 depending on the configuration. And we're um fire marshal code approved for both of those numbers. So uh up to ninety up to ninety-nine downstairs. So uh but we have to leave numbers for the cast too.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. But um, so but what is it? It's it's just a comedy venue. Um and I would say most of what we book uh and what appears on stage is uh improv comedy, improvised comedy, but also stand-up comedy and some sketch comedy and some musical comedy. Um we do film and video uh sort of like mini festivals. There's some people in the community that do that. So we have all kinds of things on stage. But that's kind of our um I would say that's mostly what we try to do is just have as many interesting, kind of fun, creative things on stage, but comedy centric.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. And and Thurkost is actually where I started my stand-up show, Cheaper Than Therapy, in the loft, and that was very fun. You guys have been great.

SPEAKER_03:

How was that experience? That's a very small yeah, okay. It felt it didn't feel too small.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I like the loft because it was my first time producing anything, and um it's a very it's like a box and it feels very intimate. Right. Um, and we ended up selling it out, and so it was just completely filled, and I think we were up there for like quite a while before we went on to the main stage.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, I okay. I remember seeing the um logo that you put together, and I was like, who is this? What is this show? I'd like to see it. I didn't get a chance to see it. Um but that's the kind of nice thing about the theater, is there's in the community it's way bigger than anything I can reasonably keep track of, or or my business partner Luke. Um and uh that's really cool. Yeah, that's really cool. Um also I think that's the other part of the answer is um we're an incubator. Like that should be that's what you described, totally what we're about, but very appropriate for what we want to see happen and what should be happening. And if you compare to like other uh like venues like that, like Zany's, of course, not a competitor venue. Um that's they have I think six, it's a franchise, they have like six um venues they started in Chicago. Um and that's really strictly for stand-up. They they're branching out. I'd like to think it's because Luke and I started Third Coast and they added another stage. So Nashville, you're welcome. Instead of just one Zanies, you got a Zanies and a Third Coast, and you got a Zanies and a Third Coast, and now a Zany's lab. So now there's three stages in Nashville. Which is great. Which puts us on par with cities like Denver or Austin. I'm kind of being facetious. Nashville has, I mean two.

SPEAKER_02:

And how did you get into improv?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, um, that was in Boston, and my old theater was called Improv Boston, which sadly closed uh because of COVID. Um and COVID's a kind of an interesting, again, turning point, sort of a bridge moment um for a lot of venue operators, uh, which I can m uh circle back to uh briefly. But uh it was in it was improv Boston again in my this was after that bridge moment I described at the opening of your show. I made a decision not to run. Uh I thought I was a competitive runner. I had a sponsorship and I was like, oh, I'm gonna do this. But then I was like, what the hell am I doing? I'm not actually talented enough to run with national level. I mean, I can run with them, but I'm not like world class, so so I was like, what am I gonna do? And then I took an improv class at Improv Boston. Um and it was so fun. It was like eight of us. It was a tiny little group. My next level class had three of us, but they ran it anyway. Uh Improv Boston was in a small former uh um hardware store in uh it was actually in Cambridge, although it was called Improv Boston. But you know, if you've been to Boston, all those little cities kind of run together.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And they all just say Boston, because if you say like Somerville, I guess if you say Cambridge, people not from that area might know where that is.

SPEAKER_02:

I think Harvard, right? Yeah, Cambridge.

SPEAKER_03:

MIT, exactly. You got it. Um so um, so that's where I started, and I was there from '96 to two thousand four, which is when I moved here. Discovered there was nothing going on, found some other goofy goofers, and we started doing some improv on our own. Um in fact, there was a good friend of mine had moved here from LA. She was doing work at the groundlings, and so we created a little group uh that lasted for about five years until 2010, and then I just took a break and then uh was kind of intermittent for the next five years. Um, and then met Luke, and then we started uh Third Coast uh in a parking lot conversation in 2015 and opened in 2016.

SPEAKER_02:

So what was like the impetus behind it? Why did you guys think that Nashville needed it?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh well you your question presumes like some sort of level of a thoughtful engagement. But it was really more like it was really more like uh the place, actually, I was gonna say the building that my group was performing in, it was called Music City Improv. Music City Improv was kind of the leftovers from that previous version called Improv Nashville, which I'd started with my friend Emily Volman. And um uh we were gonna lose the space. And the space was actually called the building. Uh, it was subsequently destroyed by the tornado, leveled. It's behind Drifter's barbecue at five points in East Nashville. It's no longer there. Um and so uh we were gonna lose that space, and it was on the same night that Luke, uh his group, L O L Nashville, had secured a venue downtown, and he could tell you where it was exactly, but it was downtown. But then the venue operator called him the week before their show and said, Hey, got a last minute booking with a band. Their bar revenue is gonna be twice what you guys have done in the past, so you guys are out. And um Luke got upset, and I was kind of just like baseline upset, but I had this previous experience with Improv Nashville. We had a space on 12th South, actually, before it blew up. Um it's the building next to the park that's kind of set back. I think that there's like a Pilates studio on the second floor. That's where we were. We were there for about a year. Um anyway, uh, so I'd had that experience. I thought that was fun and easy. Um so uh and the real quick was we were teaching a class together. So I was doing stuff with Music City, he was doing things, and by doing stuff and doing things, sorry, those are vague words, I just mean running a class. Yeah. So uh we were running classes, but we didn't have enough registrants to actually make the class. Like I had four and he had four. And Luke was like, hey, what if we combine our classes? And I said, and I completed his thought. I said, we'll have eight students. Um uh thank you. That was really dumb. Anyway, uh so we did, and we enjoyed the experience of teaching together. So we did it a second time, and it was during that second time that we both had these sort of bad news pieces for our respective teams. And we were in the parking lot, it was a little drizzly, uh, but not frozen rain, just regular, you know, run-of-the-mill, human level, watery rain. And um he's like, ah, mmm. And I was like, what's wrong? He's like, I'm mad. And I was like, I'm upset too. He's like, what's wrong with you? And I was like, I'm not gonna have the space to do any shows. He's like, I just got kicked out of a show. Dang it. Um, and then he said, because this is important because he started, he said, I've been thinking about just doing something on my own. And I was like, I have been too. And then he said, Well, what have you been thinking? And I said, Well, here's what I've been thinking. And I described uh basically just opening a video. I mean, how complicated can it be? Answer, not really. It's just a space where there's you know an open area for actors, some place for the audience to sit, some lights. Um, so that's how it started. It was really just out of frustration.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And were you always in the marathon village where you're at now, or did you start somewhere else?

SPEAKER_03:

So that was about a year plus search. Uh, we were about to give up. Um, it felt like uh prices in Nashville were kind of going up as we were looking in that 12 months, and we could already not afford them when we started. So as we went through the process, we were less able to afford them. And uh, but uh Barry Walker, the owner of that property, um said, I like you guys and let us in. Um now that was a um sublease, but there was a gene manufacturing place called I'm a Jean and Willie's, I think. They they make like custom high-end jeans. And they had they actually had a place in there where they made them. So, because when we first walked in, it was just open. So if you've been there, you you know, the theater and then the bars in the back, that wall wasn't there. It was just a completely single uh box, open box. And there were parallel rows of like these four outlet um uh uh yeah, just like outlets hanging from the ceiling. Um and that's where they had all their sewing machines and things like that. And it was like very dusty in there, but like with fiber and threads and things. So we we took over their lease and uh Barry allowed it and they gave us really good terms undermarket. But I mean, you've seen the place. And undermarket means there's no conditioning of the air in the hallways. Um it's uh lighting is poor, um, the streetscape is not super well lit. It's much better than it used to be. It used to be just very dark and foreboding. And the bathrooms are terrible. You know, bathrooms are just I yeah, they are. Sorry, um sorry, Barry. But uh thank you. But also sorry about saying that about your bathrooms.

SPEAKER_02:

Was it uh uh now it is like a tourist destination. Was it different when you started over there?

SPEAKER_03:

No, because um the American Pickers people were there, which they've since left.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_03:

And uh there were there was not nearly the machinery that's in the hallway. Um and so uh but yeah, it was it was kind of touristy already. And um, it does ha that that kind of tourists was never our customer, so it's never been a benefit to us to be there. Uh the only benefit has been that we had a space that we could afford it, and there was uh uh relatively available parking. So and all of that's changed.

SPEAKER_02:

So I've had a I had a few shows so I think we we were every month for at least 12 months. And there were definitely a few shows where we had bachelor art parties show up. Oh and like one of them I remember they were just like front row and like ready to go. The comedians loved it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And they were so early too. I was like, what are you guys doing here? Because everyone's late to a stand-up show. That's kind of cute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, they of all the places they could go and things they could see, that they went over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. I feel like it was the name. They were like, we need therapy on this bachelorette party.

SPEAKER_03:

So Yeah, actually, that's a uh have you thought about that? Like bringing it back and like marketing it that way.

SPEAKER_01:

For bachelorette party.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh goodness, I am not supportive of the Bachelorette culture. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

So that that's I'm uh to be fair, I am also not supportive of any of that. But uh I was just thinking, yeah, you know, if you wanted to get some grocery money. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But we'll you could be subversive too. So there could be some messaging as part of your act that kind of just like gets in their heads, they go back to wherever they're coming from, start living their lives, and they're like, oh, you know, that comic. And then maybe they're different. I don't know. Just spitballing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So uh do you currently perform?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh yes, although I just um talked to uh my friend and director and producer and said, Hey, I need to take a break. Uh it was the murder mystery show, the improvised murder mystery show. Um so uh he invited me to join that cast when they created it. And that's really the um I mean I do have done kind of one-off things here and there, but honestly, uh since we opened nine years ago, I haven't really been a part of like a regular performing ensemble.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it uh related to like Third Coast taking up more time like running it or was it something like that?

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's I think it's honestly that. I think um there's uh and and my partner's kind of gone through the same phase, but he's much younger than me. So he was uh still had that sort of youthful energy where he could do both, and then COVID uh he was like, I don't think I can do that. But also he's uh over the years taken on more and more responsibility um because there was a while where I wasn't teaching full time, I was just at the theater. Uh, but it just was not generating the money I needed. I had I have kids and I had and a house and some major expenses, so I had to get a real job. So you're teaching high school. Turns out there's not a lot of money in improv. Yeah, so I teach high school. Um but uh um and so we're so we're both not really performing. We just and I think for well, I'll just speak for myself. I think it's just that um I like I'm there in that capacity of like very critically aware of like what's not clean and uh tracking down what happened with this customer and like um um making sure things are are uh full in terms of like stock and and um you know ticketing and point of sale and anything dramatic that may be developing among who knows, people in the community. Um and then I teach in the training center because I just like doing that. That's actually really fun and rewarding for me. But um but it's just it kind of it I wouldn't say it's like remove the fun. I think I'm actually in a much better headspace now. Like I actually really would like to perform again. Uh but I but I'm also just very busy with a number of other projects. But um but I but I could see myself doing it. It's just it's almost like it it I don't want to say ruins, but it just changes it. It's almost like you you have to intentionally kind of set aside the business side of it. Like I can't help myself. Even every time when I was on the murder uh mystery uh cast, I would just start like fixing things. I go get a screwdriver. If I found a doorknob loose, I'd go tighten it. I'm like, what are you what are you doing, Scott? Put that down. Just and I just can't it's hard for me to do that. Like I just see everything that needs to be worked on.

SPEAKER_02:

So I feel like Third Coast has a very loyal community fan base, however you want to put it. Um did you how did you guys build that up? Was that intentional?

SPEAKER_03:

Um I think no, we just sort of backed into it by accident. Um I think w obviously we wanted to have the the stage uh make it so that it was good for performing comedy. And we debated for the configuration whether we we should have the stage kind of where the office and tech board is or on that wall that we installed between the bar. Um but I was like, we gotta have it on this long wall so the audience can be really close. And Luke was like, Yeah, that that that's a much better layout. Um it's also just for the art form. So that's part of it. It's just a good space to perform and to watch and and have that experience as audience. Um the bar, we felt like this will never pay for itself it's if it's just tickets. We gotta we gotta have a bar. So neither of us have ever done that. So so that and then the bar is just a place to hang out at maybe before or after a show. And it doesn't happen a lot in that space. Um and that's kind of one of the downsides of that location. Um it but it happens enough. And um and then the training center, I mean, we've always just done classes again, just as another revenue stream to kind of support things. But I'll uh but uh but the backing in is like the training center has really become the heart and soul of the community. Like people meet each other in those classes, they become friends, uh, they start hanging out with each other, and they don't need third coast around at all. They just start hanging out as friends do. And um and there's been that's it just happens all the time. And then people just, you know, it's like no explicit direct effort to market. We've just are keep the doors open. That's it. We just keep the doors open. And people are like, ah, I feel good about Third Coast. Uh maybe they don't even uh have some introspection, like, why do I? But it's it feels like so obvious. Like I took a class, I met some really cool people, I'm still hanging out with those people. Um and so yeah, I think you're absolutely right. But it's because of those parts um and not because we had a plan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I feel like I feel like I'm not really selling myself, although I don't even know why I need to sell myself. I I don't really know.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think you need to sell yourself. I I'm a believer. I took your classes there, not from you particularly, but I have a massive text group to all improv. And I haven't even done improv for I think it's been two years now. Okay. Um, and I was only in a class and a half with them. Sure. But uh I would say like five or six people from that class are now they're doing the location island show at their coast. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

And they're just another show I haven't seen, I want to see that one.

SPEAKER_02:

It's really good, it's very fun. Um, Zita, who is part of it, was on here. She's wonderful. I know she's gonna listen. She was excited to hear you're coming on. Hey Zita. But yeah, I I definitely think so. Like the reason I ended up doing improv was because my therapist suggested it because at the time I was struggling a lot with some anxiety and then Did you take the improv for anxiety? I didn't. I actually just well, I just I did stand-up and then I did improv. I did it the other way around.

SPEAKER_03:

Pretty gutsy.

SPEAKER_02:

I thought why did you do it that way? Because I was Did you and your therapist just misunderstand?

SPEAKER_03:

It was a miscommunication basically.

SPEAKER_02:

I came back and she was like, that's not what we agreed on. But no, I I went to look at the website at Thurcos and I saw the stand-up class. And improv, it's always really scared me because I'm like, I'm not, I don't feel like I'm very quick. Right. I felt like you're in front of all these people you don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

Sure.

SPEAKER_02:

And I know there's stand-up, but with stand-up, I was like, it said basically like you'll prepare, and I was like, I can prepare. I also think I'm not funny, and so I'm going into this with absolutely no expectations. Like I wanted to be bad at something because it it I just wanted to have something where it didn't matter.

SPEAKER_03:

I love that.

SPEAKER_02:

And then I ended up going to improv later.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. And I And what did you discover that you were wrong about improv or that you were right about improv?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I was wrong about improv.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Like how were you wrong?

SPEAKER_02:

Um I really enjoyed it. Okay. I had fun. I didn't feel after like the first class, I felt very comfortable. It everyone was very supportive. Yeah. And I thought I'd be really bad at it, but at the end, um someone said, like, Nicole, I love being in scenes with you because you make it easy. And I was like, that's so flattering.

SPEAKER_03:

Probably because you're a good listener. I would say by profession, like improv, if you're gonna do it really well, I think you just have to listen. You just have to pay attention, just listen. Um, but yeah, I'm gonna guess.

SPEAKER_02:

That's opposite of what I thought it would be. Like I thought you'd have to be like thinking of like, how am I gonna be funny? And that wasn't at all what I had Mike as my um well, I don't remember his last name.

SPEAKER_03:

Mike Garvin.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He's great. I know.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so he's one of my best friends. He's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02:

I he he made everyone feel yeah so welcome and comfortable, and it was very clear, and he would give feedback in a way that you didn't realize you were getting feedback. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And that's Did he give it like through the instructions, like the setup of the exercises or afterwards, or would he side coach or like how like coach a little bit, but it was always very like encouraging, and he'd be like, Oh, that was really good.

SPEAKER_02:

What if we thought about da-da-da or something? And it was so minimal in the first that I I can't even remember a moment. I just remember thinking, oh, I thought I'd I thought maybe people would be critical. Um I had like the office in my head, Michael Scott. Just like put the guns away.

SPEAKER_03:

That infamous scene. Yeah, it's so great. Um that's so funny. Well, you know, we're doing the uh Nashville's uh funniest comic stand-up competition. Uh thank you, Scott Elam, wonderful artistic director. He's amazing, amazing, has really elevated what we do at the theater. Um and uh I will say this I think this is where Luke and I do a good job. We recognize that we don't know really much at all. And so we'd rather hire people that do know what they're doing and let them do it, like marketing. Um Emily Maynis is um our marketing person, and Max Kemp does a lot of work with the training center, and Scott Elam does the artistic directing and booking, and like um and we have Brit who manages our front of house people in the bar, and they're just really good. Um anyway, uh why was I saying that? Because oh, uh because we were joking about just it's a very different vibe, the stand-up community versus the improv community. Like improv is just like, and I don't know if it's it's sort of like the admissions filter of like it's improv, so it attracts a certain kind of personality. Um but you're absolutely right, you already said it. Um people are just supportive and positive. And like when you get like United States of Improv or any kind of competitive improv, people are like, oh, you did great. Let's you know, go out, let's go out there and kill it, or you know, whatever standard boilerplate positive, supportive thing to say. And then stand up is just not like that at all. People are like, you won? You know, or it's so different, yeah. Yeah, it's just like uh or or there's just not an organic, like, hey man, good job out there. Now, having said that, that's not entirely true. So I don't want to castigate an art form and the people that practice it, because that's not entirely true. It's just very different. I think it's almost like it's like improv, okay, calm down, improv. You guys, okay, yeah, I get it. You guys like each other. But it's a little too much.

SPEAKER_02:

When I went to like the I don't remember what it what it's called, at the end of the classes, there's like this party for everybody.

SPEAKER_03:

Kind of like a jam, open jam kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_02:

And I went after stand-up. And I think I was like the only stand-up there, and it was all improvers, and I was like, what is happening in this room? They're just all clapping and cheering, yeah, running up to the stage to participate. Whereas like in my stand-up class, like nobody wanted to go first, and it became a joke that was like, all right, Nicole's gonna go first. And I'm like, Yeah, because then I can get it out of the way and like enjoy you guys.

SPEAKER_03:

Love that approach, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It was so funny. Like, I I was totally overwhelmed. It was great, but I was like, oh, this is different.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, who are these people? Yeah, um, yeah, they're improvisers, yeah. They're so nice. They'll kill you with kindness.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, very different vibe, but it is. I love it. Um yeah, and I've you know, you uh you mentioned Mike. Uh I've known Mike for years now. I met him at Third Coast, and that that's just there's just so many people that I am very fond of, and I like I'll purposefully say that word. I'm just very fond of a lot of people, and I've met them at Third Coast.

SPEAKER_02:

So is there anything that really surprises you about where you guys are at now or how you got there?

SPEAKER_03:

I'm um I'm surprised we survived COVID. Uh and um honestly, it I think. I think I just I think what surprises me is not like that we're where we are now, just that it's just I think the surprising thing is just um maybe the luck or the good fortune I've experienced, like the fact that I met Luke, the fact that Luke has the personality that he has and the drive and the energy that he has. And I think he would say the same of me. He's like, oh, well, Scott's a very different personality. Uh, but we really nicely complement each other. And I I guess I'm surprised at how almost universally we're almost always on the same page about almost everything, but we like approach things very differently. Um uh yeah, I uh I'm surprised that we're that we're uh as successful as we are as an improv comedy venue. Um I think there's a lot of lessons moving forward. Um I think we just have to lean more into the being venue kind of a business rather than improv comedy venue. So I think we're gonna really look to diversify what we're offering, and that's already happening, but I think that's just a strategic thing. But uh so the short answer is I I guess I'm not super surprised. Um I just feel like everything's been very uh strategic and very straightforward decision-making over the years and largely on the same page about a lot of things. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

It's I find it interesting how well you say like you and Luke work together just because as somebody in law and the number of we call them business divorces. I know. I I was literally asked to work on something the other week, and someone at the firm was like, is this something you want to learn more about? And I was like, actually no, but I will help you. I was like, I don't like fighting. There's a reason I'm a transactional lawyer. Yeah. And so it I always when I hear people going into business together, it I'm always a little bit like, oh I will say you thought it through.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Um and I I'm gonna say the opposite. Uh I'm gonna flip your question. Uh what are you not surprised at? I think I'm not surprised at the level of ignorance that's led to success. Like just, you know, the blissful state of ignorance. Like, I just didn't know what I was getting myself into. And you're absolutely right to use the word marriage. Um, he is my business husband, he would say that I'm his business husband. And um, like there's so much at stake at our decisions. Like, we're we're just never free to make them on our own. And that is the definition of a marriage. Like, you make a decision, it has a consequence. Um I'm actually uh legally married, uh, to use a term from your profession. Um, and I've signed documents, you know, justice of the peace kind of thing. So my wife, Gabrielle Saliba, who um uh married me in 2015. So we were together for uh just a year when we opened Third Coast. And now in my defense, um, Gabrielle, if you're listening, and we've had this discussion many times, I didn't know it was gonna be this big. I didn't I just didn't think it was gonna be this big. And like once you here's the other thing is like I just that that's an ignorance place, right? The phrase I didn't know is is a label for that you stick on a place of ignorance in them. So that's a but um it just got big and it got very involved and very demanding, and I didn't know that was gonna happen. And um so yeah, uh I don't know. I guess I'm I'm I'm just not surprised at at how little I knew about any of it, and just how fortunate I got. Um had my partner and I not agreed fundamentally on a lot of things. And look, we we do have very different opinions about things, but we have some very similar values, and I think we didn't recognize that. We there was no values testing that we like, we didn't do a a depth discussion about it. But also I think you can just say something as a value because it sounds nice and in the moment strategically maybe you need to say it, if that makes sense. But is it a value that you actually have? I mean, the the the test is like a stressful situation, like what your values really come out. I think for Luke and I, the thing that we have absolutely in common is we love information, we really like the straight talk, we really like the real deal uh dialogue. Um we generally don't take things personally, but we also really feel it's important to vent if we need to, or like get something out. Um but then that now it's out in the open. And rather than being locked in the headspace of somebody privately, it's a thing we can now deal with and analyze or dismiss or make important or whatever we need to do. So I think just the value of that kind of straightforward communication. I don't think we realized well, Luke would probably say he realized he had it, but I didn't realize I had it.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you feel like your experience doing improv helped with your ability to like communicate and work together in business? Um I think so.

SPEAKER_03:

Um I mean, I don't know how you couldn't be affected by just the constant sort of reframing of things in a uh purely listening way or or um but it it's just very positive. Like there's nothing judge it's like anti-judgy, you know. You just want to accept things that it's very it's yeah, it's very Buddhist, very Zen.

SPEAKER_02:

So as you were talking about having similar values, honestly, it made me think of a marriage again. Because it's like I think I'm not married, but I I do feel like the people I know who have these healthy marriages, it's uh fundamentally they have the same value system, even if they don't agree on everything, which no one will. Right. And that's some of my closest friends, the people I tell everything to are people who I know their values that align so much that I would trust their feedback and guidance in my life, and the other people I try to be like, you don't need to be talking.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Uh that makes a lot of sense, I think. Um I think especially in a relationship too, you you kind of want to uh take care of each other and be very loyal to each other in a way that's like that's very caring as a baseline. So um and I think I think both of us really do genuinely care about each other and and other people that we come in contact with. So that's always very helpful um as it turns out, if you're building something that involves people, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I I know from all the information out there that like third coast is undergoing a lot of changes right now. Sure. And what are you excited about with this?

unknown:

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm excited uh about um at some point in the near future getting out from under the thumb of and I'm gonna mention his name again, Barry uh the owner of Marathon. Uh he was like the best and the worst thing that's ever happened to us. I mean, he was great great for seven years. The last three years he's just been increasingly antagonistic to us as a business. He just is one it's his right, he owns the property. He doesn't need to have anybody there at night, and that's what he prefers now. For whatever reasons, I have no idea. But uh so I think the thing I'm looking forward to is getting us to a place where we can just run our business and not have to worry about all this other stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And have have you guys thought about like what legacy you want to leave in the community?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no. Uh again, you're asking questions as if like we need to have a business. I have a whiteboard at home and it has all my uh I that's true, I do have a whiteboard, but it does a nothing with third coasts on there. It's like pay bills, you know, whatever. Cut the grass. Um call your kids. Uh no, and and look, I maybe this is uh maybe this is the effect of improv. Maybe again it's that filter admissions process of like I'm already this kind of personality, and here's an art form that I just kind of vibe with. Uh but I feel like the future will take care of itself. Um the biggest thing I think is uh if there's gonna be a legacy, it's gonna be because we're smart and strategic about the business. Um and we're genuinely caring and kind to everybody that we come in contact with. Um I was gonna say, don't be a uh but I don't know if I can say that on your podcast. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

We are a clean podcast.

SPEAKER_03:

Don't be um don't be a butt.

SPEAKER_00:

You can say that. That's fine. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Uh but yeah, don't don't do that. Like just let go of that. Like figure your own baggage out and set a lot of it down. I know you're still gonna have some, but so the legacy piece, I think again, this is an improv mindset. Just trusting in that process, it will happen on its own through no effort. And you just pay attention to your own authentic responsiveness to things, pay attention to your own uh need to analyze and be strategic and smart and wise about business and hiring and management and um you know, all the other stuff will take care of itself. So because I think people are just drawn to places where they feel safe, where they feel seen, where they feel like I can just be myself. Oh, there's these other fun people, and I get to hang out with them, and now we're friends, and that's uh that's a legacy, like that will just create its own. Because then it's no longer my responsibility to spend the time and energy doing it. It's just like we've already kind of mentioned it, like there are so many shows going on, and I'm like the co-founder, co-owner, and I don't even know what they are. I don't even know who most of the people are that come around Third Coast, and it's just crazy, but it's also really good. Like we'd even talked about getting to a place like that. Like someday we won't even know people uh that come here. And the community at the time was so small that it just felt far-fetched, but now it's just the reality, you know. Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Scott, what are you obsessing over lately?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh what am I obsessing over lately? Um, that is a really interesting question. Um I would say uh man. So I teach high school history. I think I'm just obsessing over this current historical moment and like how I communicate that to my kids by still allowing some space for hope.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. We all need hope.

SPEAKER_03:

I just I I I found myself in the last 12 months in in my class saying, well, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but this is the Constitution says this, but this is happening actually right now, and this is just not normal.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that'd be a really interesting time to be teaching.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Like I have a U.S. history class, and that just it just comes out of my mouth all the time. It's like, well, uh it's supposed to things are supposed to kind of work this way. Or like norms historically have but we're just in a weird moment and that's not happening. And um now it's okay. I'm in a private school, so I I'm pretty free to say and do whatever I want to do. Uh but I have friends in public schools, and so anyway. So I guess I'm obsessing over uh yeah, just I just want my kids uh to have some sense of like agency because they're they're hopeful and they're energized by the the possibilities, you know. Yeah. Uh whereas the reality is sometimes I'm like, oh. But yeah, anyway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you have a recommendation for our audience today?

SPEAKER_03:

Um I would say so. I'm just gonna laugh at myself. David Grant is this author I feel like I just discovered like two years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

And like I'm starting to just I've just been reading David Grant books. Um he wrote uh this book called The Wager.

SPEAKER_02:

Is it fiction or nonfiction?

SPEAKER_03:

It's sorry, it's nonfiction.

SPEAKER_02:

Nonfiction, okay.

SPEAKER_03:

But it reads like fiction. I love those kind of nonfiction, yeah. Um he wrote uh The Lost City of Z. Uh anyway, he's like a amateur historian, journalist, professional journalist who does deep dive research into like specific things and writes about them really well. Uh so um so David Grant, uh, he's just got a whole bunch of books out that are just so cool. And they're like the the wager was um uh it's a sailing ship. So it's like the sailing ship era. So that's I don't know, maybe it's just me like it's a an escapist kind of a thing, but like I often feel better after I'm reading about like how these guys got on a piece of huge, well-constructed, engineered wood, sailed thousands of miles, then it came apart and they were marooned and they survived in the you know 1600s or 1700s. Like, how did they do that? I would die in a month.

SPEAKER_02:

I think I would too, actually. We just don't have the skills that they used to.

SPEAKER_03:

No, exactly. Like, how did they do that? And then they made it back to England. Like they like a year or two years later, they they they suddenly appeared in port, and everyone was like, Oh, we thought you were all dead. And that's like the theme of all of his books. Uh uh anyway, I just yeah, it's all about explorers. And um I I'm just kind of into it. That's my obsession.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I've my obsession recommendation is very connected this week because lately I've been obsessing over what makes an organization like healthy. Okay. And um how do you keep people like happy and engaged? And I'm interested. Yeah, it's not a totally new obsession, but it's becoming a lot more. Um, I really love Pat Langioni's books.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, he talks about like how to hire the right person, get the right people there, and there he has a book called like Death by Meeting, and I'm like, I relate this.

SPEAKER_03:

You have a lot of meetings you die in.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we're cutting back. So I get it's sort of a joke.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that because you said something? Did you say, hey, these meetings, guys?

SPEAKER_02:

I did say something. Did you? But I don't think I was the only one. Ah, and like I like a meeting where it's like it's needed, it's efficient, there's an agenda. And I also do think every once in a while a meeting where you where it's very intentionally like community-based of like we're having lunch together, we're checking in. But it it's all very much I think needs to be intentional because all the time we spend at work takes us away from our family, our friends. So it's like death by meeting.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um who's the author again?

SPEAKER_03:

Say it one more time.

SPEAKER_02:

Pat Lincioni.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And he also has a couple of podcasts, and I took his assessment called The Working Genius, and it's all about how teams have like people have different skill sets that they bring to a team, yeah, and how you can help people like lean into that to make a more effective team um produce like the products. So for me, actually, I might have even talked about this already on here, but I'm like, I got discernment and galvanizing. And it like made so much sense to me about like why I struggled with certain things of like I can often identify like this isn't working and it probably be better this way. And then people are like, Well, how do you know that? And I'm like, I just know, like, you should just listen.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm a discerning person.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm just discerning. Uh, and then I like to get people excited about things. Okay. And people have said that I'm good at doing that. Um, but then like my worst traits are like tenacity and enablement. And I'm like, if you are constantly just delegating to me and like get it done, get it done, get it done, I'm like, okay. Like I'm exhausted now.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh-huh. So you'll say yes to a lot of those delegations until it's overwhelming.

SPEAKER_02:

And yeah, and in our in my profession, sure. That's kind of how you come up. And so after a while, I've started to get tired and been really trying to step more into leading and developing business and training people because that is where I get a lot of energy. Very cool. So clearly I'm obsessing over this. That's great.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I just learned something new. And I feel like as a business owner, that's great for me to know about. I didn't know about this resource.

SPEAKER_02:

So and he so his books, nonfiction, almost all of them are written as parables. And so I remember things better because he's telling stories, but it's based in the lessons, I guess.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So I gotta mention fiction, James S.A. Corey, who wrote The Expand series. I'm like reading it. Have you ever seen this sci-fi? If you're into science fiction, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And they have a new it's uh, it's two authors. They use one name, James S.A. Corey.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they write as a duo.

SPEAKER_02:

I didn't I don't think I've ever heard of people doing that.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't think I have either, but that's them.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh but yeah, really cool stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So what are you looking forward to this week?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh let's see. This week, um honestly, I think uh so this I love my job. So it's not a problem. Why'd you say it like that? Don't say it like that. Uh I'm I'm looking forward to rolling out a project with my students. So cool. We we do a lot of projects. And I I just I've it for me, it allows me to be creative and like think about things, but also I get to ask them like, what do you want to do? How do you want to do this? So my we just finished the union I called 1491. It's a new part of the U.S. history course. And um, so I just am like, well, let's do some research. You you get a partner, pick your partner, you get to do some research. Uh, it's gotta be credible. I gotta check the sourcing, gonna make sure it's good. And then you're gonna make uh a wall installment. Like it's gotta be to scale. And that's pretty much that's like my project idea. Yeah. So I'll just roll that out to my kids, and I'm just so excited to hear what they're gonna do with that. Because what I found over the years is if I give too much, especially with older kids, too many details. Uh well, anyway, now I'm getting into the weeds. Anyway, I'm just excited about that.

SPEAKER_02:

Cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I I think I'm gonna try and go hiking this afternoon. So I'm excited about that. Where? I I haven't decided. I was thinking like Percy Warner or um what's the one? No, no, Hidden Lake. Okay, I don't know. It's like down by Bellevue, I guess. Okay. It's not super long, but I've been hearing that it's kind of a nice spot. So I wanted to go see waterfalls, but you kind of have to drive a little bit further for that. I don't really have to.

SPEAKER_03:

Montgomery Bell State Park is also one that's close by. That's very hilly and if you like up and down.

SPEAKER_02:

I do like that. I should I've only been there once. I should go back.

SPEAKER_03:

It's really pretty. Um and I've only been there a couple of times. Percy Warren is one of my favorites. I feel like I've just rediscovered it. So I might go there tomorrow. Are you going tomorrow?

SPEAKER_02:

I would probably go today. Yeah. I like the Mossy Ridge Trail.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. Okay. And hiking, do you run?

SPEAKER_02:

No, I have in the past, but I don't anymore.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So you're thinking about picking it up, maybe?

SPEAKER_02:

No. Sorry, no. I uh Okay, long, long history with running. I I actually was training for a marathon. It was like 10, 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_03:

I've dropped out of two marathons.

SPEAKER_02:

I got really hurt. And so I got to the I wasn't in the like I was at in training, I was running 16 miles.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure.

SPEAKER_02:

And then I slipped on ice back home. And then I just like kept going. Cause I was like, I mean, I'm fine. And then that of course then I'm not fine.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So I went through like physical therapy for a long time.

SPEAKER_03:

And I've did you like fall and like where you impacted the ground with the injury? No.

SPEAKER_02:

I just like slipped and pulled my sartorius. What is that? Is that it's this muscle like that comes up across here. So like my right leg is always still kind of tight.

SPEAKER_03:

Even to this day.

SPEAKER_02:

Even to this day. It actually got better during COVID because I walked so much. Okay. And I'm like, all right. So I do a lot of walking, a lot of hiking. Yeah. I think there's too much impact from running now with it shakes up my my brain. So the whole nervous system. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

But you got very excited. I'm like, no, no running.

SPEAKER_03:

I yeah, yeah. Yeah. I've always been a runner, so yeah. But as I've gotten into my 40s and 50s, it's been harder and harder. So I now have a new rule. I can't run on consecutive days. But that's just to preserve my own.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that makes sense. So, Scott, um, where can people find you if you want them to find you?

SPEAKER_03:

Um Well, you gotta come and find me in person because I'm really not online. I have the social media accounts, but I think What about Third Coast? Yeah, I was gonna say Third Coast Comedy Club. Yeah. Um I'll be teaching a class either level one, two, or four, depending on what Elam uh assigns me. Um maybe I'll be at the bar, maybe I'll be in the audience in the theater. Be like, where's Waldo? Yeah, kind of. Yeah, you kind of like you have to look at this podcast to see what I look like so you know who you're looking at. But you can also probably Google me. If you do, you'll find that there's a Scott Field athletic field in Alabama, which is yeah. Uh but that's not I'm not grass. I'm not a hundred yards of grass.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for clarifying.

SPEAKER_03:

I was looking for a guy that looks like this, and it's a football field. I don't know who that is.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I had a great time with you.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02:

You're welcome. And thank you guys for listening and watching. Please follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts, and I look forward to seeing you next week.

unknown:

The end.

SPEAKER_02:

For listening to my crunchy zen era. Please subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. This podcast is produced by me, Nicole Swisher, and my good friends Summer Harcup and Liz Coulter. Editing is by Drew Harrison Media, and recording is done by Logos Creative in Nashville, Tennessee. Thanks for hanging out. We'll be back next week.

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Nicole Swisher

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