Unlikely Songbird Joey Diaz Gets Up Every Morning and Tweets Random-Ass Music From His iPod

Joey “CoCo” Diaz isn't really the guy you'd expect to go around singing songs in public. But we'll be damned if he doesn't post them on Twitter. Every day, the hefty, foul-mouthed comic wakes up his followers with a blast of noise, whether it's Tool or 2Pac. It's the kind of ritual that proves there's more to this New Jersey native than meets the eye, even for those who've followed his career. To really understand the mind of this Cuban-American comic, you gotta get up and listen religiously to his podcast, the aptly titled “The Church of What's Happening Now,” for which he mixes topical humor you'd expect from a comic with raunchy tales that never fail to put his friends on blast. This week, Diaz makes his way to the City National Grove of Anaheim, along with his road dog Joe Rogan, to bring his raw style of comedy that leaves no four-letter word unturned.
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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): Congrats on the new baby! I'm glad to see fatherhood hasn't affected your dirty language.

Joey Diaz: Thank you. Yeah, you know me; I'm still out of my fucking mind.

You post music daily on Twitter. Can you narrow down five favorite artists who stay in your rotation?

Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Biggie Smalls–that's the five I'd keep around if I could. Then again, I feel bad because I play a lot of Pearl Jam. I love them so much. This morning, I had on Metallica and Pantera. I mean, who would believe I like Pantera? It's so weird how I love Elton John, but they'd throw me off Twitter if I put him on. I put the B-52's' song “Rock Lobster” on there, and they were calling me everything but “gay,” “fag,” you know? It's hysterical. The reason I put the music on Twitter is to let you know the state of mind I'm in. Sometimes, you get up in the morning, and you go to pee, and the first song in your mind is the one I gotta get on [Twitter].

Your podcast starts at 6 a.m., Is there a reason why you do it so early in the morning?

You ever put the news on at 6 in the morning? They save the good [news] for the last six minutes. By that time, you've already had 54 minutes of bad fucking news! I've already had 54 minutes of kids getting abducted, women getting raped, students getting shot, and now you want to tell me about the blind kid who can play the fucking drums? Now it's too fucking late; I'm about to shoot heroin! I didn't want to do that, so I do my podcast at 6 in the morning to let you know to get out there and do what the fuck you want to do. End of story.

Why don't you ever change names of the real stories you tell about people in your set?

It's like I always tell Joe Rogan: I have 1,000 stories, but I have 10,000 I can't tell. If I'm telling them, everyone is involved, and we're all laughing. You can't have the listeners feel as though they're not good enough to be part of the conversation. That's why for The Church of What's Happening Now, it's very important to have my friends call up to put faces to the names for the listeners. If I tell you a story, you know I can back it up.

I'm sure you get a lot of people stereotyping you as some loud, obnoxious guy, but you are actually so positive once people take the time to sit and listen.

I could call you up and say, “Oh, it's going to be a God-blessed day!” And then I'm gonna go out there and cut somebody off in traffic and say, “nigger” 50 times. Me? I'm gonna call you and say, “Ali, wash that pussy and get yours. It's gonna be a great day, and you don't know if you're gonna bump into a fucking bus or a recovering cocksucker.” I could bullshit you, but I roll the other way.

Joey Diaz performs with Joe Rogan at the City National Grove of Anaheim, 2200 East Katella Avenue., Anaheim (714) 712-2700 www.citynationalgroveofanaheim.com. February 22nd, 8 p.m. $39.50-$49.50. For more info, visit www.JoeyCocoDiaz.net or follow him on Twitter @MadFlavor.

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