What can comedy and entertainment teach us about health?
After years of running Beacher’s Madhouse, a vaudeville inspired theater and variety show that sold out in cities across the country, Jeff Beacher found himself weighing in at 440 pounds and his friends wanted him to get stomach surgery.
Jeff went to work on himself and shed over 200 pounds!
And he’s one of the very few unicorns who somehow managed to lose weight during the lockdown.
In today’s show with Jeff, you’ll hear about…
- Jeff’s journey to shedding an astounding 200+ pounds
- How Jeff has been able to lose weight even during lockdowns
- How he’s adapting his business from live theater entertainment to online
- Why he’s supporting businesses and products that help people be healthy
- The unexpected benefits of help and accountability from a group
- And tons more…
Let’s hang out with Jeff.
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Jeff Beacher: Shedding 200+ Pounds (Even During Lockdown!)
Abel: Jeff is best known for being the man behind Beacher’s Madhouse, a vaudeville inspired theater.
Once upon a time to get attention, Jeff snuck into the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM and stripped down to a Speedo before belly flopping into a 10,000 gallon fish tank.
He was named the new Mr. Vegas and called “The Best Showman on the Strip” by Rolling Stone.
Most recently though, Jeff has turned his focus to health.
Jeff got in touch with us last year as a fan of the show, and filled me in on his journey of dropping over 200 pounds.
And on top of that, he’s one of the very few unicorns who somehow managed to lose weight during the lockdown.
He’s one of the very few unicorns who somehow managed to lose weight during the lockdown. @jeffbeacher Click To Tweet
Jeff, thanks so much for joining us, man.
Thanks for having me, buddy.
Abel: Maybe we’ll just fill people in a little bit on where you’re coming from as a person and an entertainer, and then we’ll get into the health thing.
But I would like to know, why did you eventually make that transition to the world of health? Because we do need you more than ever.
Well thanks, I really appreciate it, Abel.
I was in entertainment. It was a lot of fun, obviously.
I was doing it for almost 20 years, and I was in all the coolest hotels at all the coolest times.
And I had the show, and it was modern vaudeville. You know what vaudeville is?
Abel: Yeah, a bit. But I think you should explain it because a lot of the younger people, especially, I don’t think would.
They don’t.
So, vaudeville is basically live performances—magicians, impersonators, little people, comedians, musicians…
About 120, 150 years ago—before movie theaters—vaudeville was the only thing to do.
It was a big event and people would go out, they’d go to vaudeville theaters.
Well then, movies started. And instantly, out of nowhere, everything just got cancelled.
They cancelled all the vaudeville shows because all the theater owners said, “Alright. I can put a screen in and a projector, and get rid of 50 employees.”
Abel: Right.
Just like that, vaudeville slowly… not even slowly, but instantly, it was dead. And then it slowly dwindled down to nothing.
And it took decades, but I brought it back in the early 2000’s on Broadway.
We made a vaudeville show, a variety show with comedy and magic and music.
And you’d sit down like you would at a theater, but you’d be at a cocktail table. And it would be for 1,000 people, and it would be a huge party and it was a lot of fun.
We did it on Broadway, then we went to Vegas.
We did it at the Hard Rock in Vegas, then the recession hit.
In 2008, we went on tour, we did 81 cities.
We were doing 4,000 or 5,000 person venues all around the country. Primarily in the Bible Belt, which was a lot of fun.
Abel: Really?
Yeah, Louisiana, Mississippi.
Abel: Wow.
Yeah. And those were crazy shows and crazy times.
Abel: Yeah, I can only imagine.
Yeah, but with that said, then we went back to Vegas.
Well, actually, firstly, we stopped in Hollywood at the Roosevelt Hotel.
That was unbelievable. And by the way, during all these times, I lived in hotels.
Abel: Okay.
So you asked me how did I gain weight? How did I get to 440 pounds at my peak?
Well, I was living in hotels and drinking and eating, and drinking and eating and gambling, and gambling and drinking and eating.
Abel: But probably not cheap hotels, right?
Which is also worth saying, that just because you’re a high roller or whatever, doesn’t give you a free lunch when it comes to health.
Yeah, totally. I was just thinking about work, and running this crazy party theater group, which is really just a crazy party.
It was the craziest time. It was so much fun so I just didn’t care.
And I was fat and it didn’t stop me from having girlfriends and having a social life and having fun, and I just didn’t care.
But when I started to care was when I reached a point in October of 2014.
After being in Hollywood for 5 years, I signed a deal with MGM—a 20-year contract. And I moved back to Vegas.
We had a crazy opening. It was one of the biggest… probably the biggest opening in Vegas history.
Miley Cyrus was hosting it with me, and Katy Perry was there, Selena Gomez.
I mean, we had 40 A-list stars there, and it was just an unbelievable opening for a 500-person theater. And it was great, it was fun.
And then just 10 months later, I was at my peak weight of 440 pounds.
And then just 10 months later, I was at my peak weight of 440 pounds. @jeffbeacher Click To Tweet
I started having… I couldn’t sleep for a couple of days.
I was taking a couple sleeping pills to try to get to sleep and that wasn’t even working.
The fat was just like, it was like choking on my own fat, it was crazy.
So, my friends wanted me to get the stomach surgery, and they gave me a fat intervention.
I said, “Look, let me just go… There’s some other things I want to do. Let me just try them out.”
And I found this vegan place in Florida, that a friend of mine went to and had a total life reboot, called Hippocrates. And I went to it.
And I had my right hand guy, this little guy named Donny. He emceed the show for me while I was gone for a month.
From Mr. Vegas to Vegan Health Buff
It was the first time I took off, too, in 15-16 years, whatever it was. Yeah.
I left and for the first time, I spent a month concentrating on myself.
And I said, “Alright, I’m never going to have this time again. Let me dive in and just concentrate on myself and see what happens.”
It was incredible. I worked on my brain. I did therapy for the first time. I did guided meditation for the first time.
I’ll rephrase that. It wasn’t the first time I did therapy, it was the first time I took it seriously.
Abel: Okay.
And I really liked and enjoyed the people I was working with and trusted them, which is a big deal when you’re dealing with your brain.
Abel: Yeah.
So, it just felt amazing. And I remember going into one session with this guy who did tapping. You ever hear of tapping?
Abel: Oh yeah.
It’s a little complicated to explain, for me, to people. Do you want to explain what it is?
Abel: Well, I think it’s easier just to kind of do it. Just lightly tap different areas of your body, if you’re curious about it, and you’ll notice that you get an effect.
And then start looking into it, and you can find different areas of the body that have very specific effects.
And it’s a whole field, really, that’s worth studying.
Yeah, it’s hard. I can only do it where I’m guided by a teacher at this point still, and this is a couple of years into it because it’s complicated, but it really worked. It was amazing.
But I went into this session with the guy, and I remember walking in the room and looking around and it was dark. And the sun was out, but everything was dark and it was like a bad dream.
And I walk in, and I remember just having a complete mental breakthrough.
And I come out, and the birds are chirping and it’s sunny, and I was just happy again. And then the weight just flew off.
I worked on my brain while I was there. I worked on my soul while I was there, and then the body just came naturally.
I worked on my soul… and then the body just came naturally. @jeffbeacher Click To Tweet
Well, I think I lost 60 pounds in a month there. But I was perfectly eating, raw vegan.
I was off sleeping pills in a week. And just got incredibly healthy.
And then I went back to Vegas.
I quit my show, and my buddy was the president of the hotel, he was like “You’ve the best deal, you’re crazy, you can’t quit.”
I’m like “Dude, look at me. I can’t even fit in the chair,” and I couldn’t, I couldn’t fit in the chair I was talking to him with.
Abel: Yeah.
So I quit the show. We did a year to get out and slow the shows down and everything.
Then I moved to LA and just started doing consulting and I got just incredibly healthy.
I dropped 240 pounds. But I didn’t finish it. I looked great, but I was still chubby.
You know, I wasn’t skinny. And I just kind of coasted for a couple of years.
I did consulting, had a great career.
And to have a great career, it’s awesome, but I really have to finish it off, which I’ve been doing during quarantine.
Abel: Yeah.
When quarantine started, I said, “You know what, now is the time, better than ever, to get happy and healthy and really get focused.”
And especially during these hard times, the best way to deal with it, and the best way to deal with any problem is to be a happy and healthiest self.
If your mind’s clear, you can make really sharp and clear decisions.
And if your body is clean, your brain loves you and can reward you with giving you the best thoughts and happiness.
Abel: Have you found that you’re almost like a different person?
It sounds like you have different habits, kind of a new way of approaching life, in a lot of ways.
Yeah, I’m a completely different person than I used to be.
How To Make A Major Transformation
Abel: So what is that? It’s really difficult from where I’m standing for a lot of people to make that transition.
From being the jovial, big guy or whatever, and joking around, not caring about anything, to being chastised for drinking smoothies and electrolyte drinks, or fasting or eating vegetables in public or whatever.
How do you make that transition?
I would say, whether people chastise me, I don’t give a s#*t.
But, yeah, some people hit me up on, like, “Stop posting health stuff,” and this and that.
But I don’t care. It’s funny to me.
It’s like a fat, miserable friend of mine, like “Alright dude, sorry. That’s in your head. You’ll get out of that eventually. Hopefully, I get to change you by you seeing all my healthy posts, but if you don’t, I live my life and you live yours and it’s all good.”
Abel: Yeah.
Yeah, I was in a different world. But it’s like anything else.
You lose a couple of fans, you gain another 100. And those 100 you gain are going to be super fans.
I might lose people where people don’t want to play with me because I’m not, I’m not drinking and partying and doing drugs and being crazy.
“Alright, it’s cool. That’s your world. You can go do what you want to do. I’m going to go in this happy, healthy world because it feels better and I’m not going to die.”
I used to think, literally, I used to always say in my 20s, “I’ll be dead by 35. It’s all good. I’ll die around the age of Belushi or Farley and I’ll be all good, I’ll have a sick career.”
And I had an epic career.
I lived an incredibly, extreme, fun life and that fun life almost killed me.
So, I just had to make a pivot and a change and I’m in this healthy life now.
And I’m still learning and I’m still growing and it’s really fun, too. It’s just a different life.
Abel: Yeah.
I go to sleep now without sleeping pills. That’s a big deal for me.
I took sleeping pills on and off for years, for a long time. And during Corona, COVID, I haven’t taken sleeping pills.
Abel: That’s really cool.
So yeah, I’m really proud of that. And I haven’t drank.
So, no drugs, no alcohol. Couldn’t be prouder and happier with myself with that one.
Abel: I wonder how much of that is getting out of that environment, of being around a bunch of people who are partying, you’re staying up late, doing shows and stuff like that.
For me, as a musician, sometimes I’d go on stage at 12:30AM, 1:30 in the morning.
And it’s pretty hard to tune down from that, get sleep, recover, and have your life in order if you’re living that lifestyle. So I’m curious about that.
Well, right now, I think it has a lot to do with it.
I’m still not strong enough to be in that environment for a long period of time, and not break and drink and whatnot.
So, if I go to a party now, not now but pre-COVID, if I go to a party or an event, I like to bounce in and out.
And people are like “Dude, you’re only here for 20 minutes. What’s wrong with you?”
And I’m like “Yeah. Because I just don’t want to be around it.”
And I’ll go in for 20 or 30 minutes, or maybe an hour. Where I used to stay all night.
And I’ll pop in, pop out, say hello to people, and bounce.
Because I can’t be in that environment right now.
Abel: Yeah.
And maybe that changes in the next year, two years, five years, I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t ever change.
Maybe I just can’t be in those environments anymore.
Time will tell, but right now I’m fine.
I go into an event. I mean, with COVID, it’s a different thing, but when the world resumes and there’s events and things, my goal is always to be asleep by 11PM or 12 o’clock. Where it used to be for 4AM or 5AM.
Abel: Wow.
And I used to sleep till noon, too.
Abel: Yeah.
I was on a crazy schedule like that.
Abel: You have to. I mean, you have no other option really.
When I used to do that pretty often, just by function of having gigs, because that’s when they were, you learn that the circadian rhythm of your body is really disrupted by that sort of behavior and that massive amount of drinking starts to add up.
What I’ve learned also, though, is that some of the fittest people I know are also still able to have one or two beers every once in a while.
Or sometimes you even exceed that and find some amount of balance.
Where it doesn’t have to be this totally Spartan thing, where you’re either having a lot of fun and going out with friends and partying or whatever, or you’re doing zero fun and zero partying and you’re in this Spartan health person lifestyle.
It doesn’t have to be like that either.
So, I’m curious how you’ve adjusted your way of eating as the time has gone on.
As you’ve had the weight come off, have your cravings changed and your habits? What does that look like?
Yeah. My cravings, of course, changed. And how do I explain this?
So, my diet during the quarantine was, in the beginning, I was just doing protein shakes and green powder shakes and eating a salad of sprouts, and throw in some fake vegan meat on top of it.
And then everyone would DM me saying it’s not healthy and this and that.
But it was great. It was great for me and then I was losing a lot of weight. A couple pounds a week.
And then, I was getting a little more hungrier so then I went and ordered from a supermarket near Crazy Mae and just started cleaning off the vegetables.
I would get watermelons and oranges and grapefruits and all these vegetables and fruits.
And then, I’d just start eating a lot more and I don’t even count calories or anything. I just eat when I’m hungry, and I just eat good stuff.
I just eat when I’m hungry, and I just eat good stuff. @jeffbeacher Click To Tweet
And then, once or twice a week, I eat fattening vegan food—fake cheese and fake eggs, and stuff like that.
Abel: Have you experimented with meal timing or intermittent fasting? Eating windows, that sort of thing?
I have and it works. It’s hearty. I keep a regimen stuff, it works. Yeah.
And I’ve done juicing. I’ve done green juicing diets. That works, too.
I’ve done it where I juice one day a week to give the system a break. That works well, too.
Abel: It’s cool. It sounds like what you’re doing is just sampling different things in this health nut world, which is endless.
You know what I mean? It’s like, you can find endless little fun things to learn about, distract yourself with, new things to cook.
What’s it look like for you in the kitchen? Are you preparing a lot of your own food?
The kitchen is like, half the kitchen is vitamins and supplements.
Abel: It’s worth staying there. Mine too. It is, Yeah.
Yeah. So, I got that going on. And then, yeah, it’s like, I’m learning about the kitchen.
I mostly lived in hotels for 20 years.
Abel: Right.
So, I never had a kitchen. This isn’t an exaggeration. I had a hotel and then a house.
Occasionally, I rented a house or I had a house on a lake in Vegas, or a condo. But for the most part, I’ve lived in hotels for almost 20 years.
Abel: Wow.
So, and that’s no kitchen. I didn’t exercise. Occasionally, once a quarter, I’d go down the treadmill or something in a hotel gym.
So, I’m learning how to cook. I’m like an iceman that was frozen in time, and then came out in 2020.
I don’t know. From relationships, I’m learning all that because I didn’t have relationships in the hotels.
I’d date, or hang out at party but it was nothing serious.
And so, from that to cooking my own food, I’m learning everything right now.
I’m like an 18-year-old again. It sounds crazy but it really is.
When it comes to my personal life, my work was always like that. My work, I’m on top of the world and I crush it but my personal life, I’m 18 years old again.
Benefits of Self-Sufficiency During Quarantine
Abel: Yeah.
So, I’m learning how to cook, I’m learning how to eat, I’m learning how to draft. I’m learning.
Quarantine for me, I’ve just been learning. I never put stuff together inside a house. I’m putting stuff together.
I’m dealing with my jacuzzi. It doesn’t work because it’s an old jacuzzi. I have to change the drain myself because I don’t want people in the house.
Everything from the garage, to the fence outside, to the stuff inside, to the garden.
I planted sprouts and I planted lemon trees, and I have to water the garden and then I have to cut the garden. And my gym’s in the backyard.
I don’t want people back there right now. So it’s a lot, it’s a lot.
Abel: But it gives you a lot of confidence at the same time, that you can be self-reliant? That you can learn new things.
I love it.
Abel: I really like it when things break. I grew up in that house where my dad loved fixing stuff and was doing that all time.
I’m not really like that, but when something breaks and I’m forced to fix it, I feel really good about myself.
I do and I love it. I literally love it and I’m not complaining about it. Just stating it, what I’m doing and it’s cool.
It’s been like school for me. And I watch YouTube videos, which I never did, and I learned on YouTube, I watched it on TV.
I didn’t use the TV for YouTube or Netflix. Netflix was on my phone.
Now, I’m using it on the TVs, and it sounds so silly, but to me these are huge deals for me.
Shifting to Online Entertainment
Abel: I’m curious about your take on what online entertainment looks like compared to in-person entertainment.
What are you noticing, just being forced into this all pretty much online world now?
I love being forced to do it, because I was very hesitant.
I’m an old school kind of guy. I ran live theaters.
And not just live theater, I ran the most fun, coolest live theaters in the world.
And when I had my Beacher’s Madhouse Theaters, they were always number one wherever they were.
And going from live theater—I didn’t even do TV, when I had the theaters.
I never did a TV show. I never did live TV because TV and live theater entertainment are two different things.
Abel: Totally.
So I knew that, and I was like, “Oh I don’t want to do it.”
But now, it’s like, with the influencers and how big they are and social media, people are used to looking at videos and the way things are headed, it’s just all different.
Everyone has to do it now, so people are going to get very used to it, very quickly.
It’s like when you hear a new song from an X Y Z artist and it sucks, and you’re like, “This song sucks.”
But they play it a million times.
And then you’re like, “Oh, this song’s good.”
It’s the same thing as these videos and these influencers. It’s like, if you’re a Star Wars fan, it’s like the old Jedi.
I come from a time of live interaction and personality, and it’s all important.
It’s not really important anymore. You just have to accept it.
It’s about marketing, it’s about editing. That’s just the new world.
That’s what it is.
You can keep talking about how great it was in the past, but the past is over.
Abel: Yeah.
So you have to adapt to the new world.
My buddy, Jeff Ross, the comedian, you know who he is?
Abel: Yeah.
Jeff is one of the best comedians in the world. He’s a Roast Master, and we came up with this concept.
Right when the quarantine started, I was like, “Jeff, you have to do an Instagram roast, call it Insta Roast, where you’re roasting people.”
He’s like, “That’s a brilliant idea. I’m going to start it this weekend.”
I produced it with him and it’s all virtual. He goes on Instagram Live, people come on and he ranks on them. It’s amazing.
And sponsors are coming on now. And, that’s him. He adapted, because he’s one in a billion.
Comedians, even the funniest in the world, they don’t have that ranking.
It’s a very specific skill set that a very few people have. And it’s just perfect for him.
He’s been branded like that for 25 years, so he figured it out. Not everyone’s figured out how to adapt.
Abel: Right, because doing comedy and satire, especially online, is harder than ever because of censorship, shadow banning, all of these issues with not being able to use certain words in certain platforms, and various things like that.
I’m curious about your take on the future of free speech, free thought, especially around comedy.
Because if we want it to be online and exist in a way that actually isn’t just poop jokes or whatever all the time, then we’re going to have to be a little bit more laxed than most of the technocrats are being right now.
Yeah, I think you just adapt. I think you just work in whatever the new formulas and systems are so you keep going and thriving and growing.
And it sucks, but it is what it is.
I think people are going to be forced to survive to do whatever the new norm is.
If the new norm is working at or performing in your living room or your basement for the next year, then that’s what’s going to happen.
And there’s so much cool s#*t you can do. We’re re-launching a bunch of theaters in about a year, a year and a half, and we can now do it from home and you can make the backdrop on a jpeg, and you can still do it.
And you can actually reach more people.
Like with Jeff Ross, if he was to do an arena or a coliseum, it’s a 20,000 – 40,000 people, right?
Abel: Yeah.
And it’s a big deal to sell all that out, and in the production, and all that.
But we’re reaching that with one Instagram Live.
Abel: Right. Yeah. It’s amazing. It really is.
And he’s roasting people all over the globe. Jeff Ross Roasts the Globe, so it’s a lot of fun.
Abel: Do you sign up to be roasted, or is he just like burning people left and right?
We could get you on this weekend.
Abel: No, I’m not asking about about me. I’m just curious like, is he going and burning whoever?
No, he just picks people. It’s hard, that’s why. I like, pause for a second, because we had a really hard time.
We even spoke to Instagram yesterday, and they’re trying to figure it out too, because everyone’s having the same problem.
Like, The Rock called in all his buddies, like Mayer, all those guys called in, and they were texting and he just couldn’t find the request, all that kind of stuff.
Abel: Right. Yeah. Well, that’s another thing. With all these different platforms that set up their own little multiple inboxes and stuff like that, it is super hard to communicate and keep it all straight online.
I’ve put out some snarky stuff and made jokes, and then you’re attacked, because people make the wrong assumptions about what it means.
In a live setting, you can kind of like deal with hecklers, and you look them in the eye. Online, it’s not like that.
A lot more cowardly stuff starts happening.
How do you envision the future of that?
You have to just get over it and not give a s#*t. And I’m perfectly in the middle.
Like, I started really giving a s#*t when I started doing corporate consulting.
I worked for the biggest, smartest, most brilliant unicorn founders on the planet. And I worked for the biggest companies, and I had multi-year contracts and I love those guys.
But, the companies, it’s just not a good fit for me at that level.
I’m good when I’m outside of the company and I bring stuff in, but being in the company, where it’s literally, they make everyone in mold, and you have to be in that mold, and you have to be that.
That’s not me. I’m not a mold guy, so I like to float in and out.
And I call it like… It was like, became like… Silicon Valley, to me, became a joke because it was…
I made a list of buzzwords.
I’m not even exaggerating or joking with this.
I made a list of buzzwords because I’d be in meetings and people would talk, and this is lower level people.
They would talk and they would say things.
And you’d sit there and be like, as someone who’s one of the most brilliant marketing people on the planet, and I’m sitting there across from someone using buzzwords, and they don’t even know what they’re talking about.
So, I would take out my list and I would use core values and all the words that they would use and throw it back at ’em…
And I don’t, literally, not even… I did this all the time. I make out the paragraph using just buzzwords.
Abel: Right.
If I wasn’t using the phone right now, I’d take out the list ’cause it’s so funny. And I go down the list, and I tie ’em all together and I throw it back at it and I go,
“Alright, what are the next steps?” And I would do that in every meeting, and then people would be like, “Oh, oh… ” Alright.
And then, and that would end the meeting. Right?
Abel: You’re such a consultant right now.
But that’s what… That’s what it would turn to, and then I would just go execute s#*t and get s#*t done.
And it’d be like, these meetings are killing, and that’s what it’s like, about.
It wasn’t fun after the first two or three years, it wasn’t fun anymore.
Abel: Right.
And so that, I don’t even know where I’m going with this tangent, but that was what consulting became to me, so I personally said to myself, I was like,
“You know what, I want to… With the health business and being healthy, I’m going to turn that into a business.”
I started so big consulting checks and all that. That’s all going to be on hold for a long time.
People are going to get fractions of what they were making, with everything going on, until people know where the money is and what’s going on and all that.
So I was like… I want to get into brands and things that I really believe in, people I love working with.
We launched this vegan ice cream, and this was before the pandemic.
And my buddy, Craig, and he owns the coolest restaurant in town and he’s got a whole vegan menu and it’s…
Everyone loves eating there and it’s celebrity packed. And so, we launched the vegan ice cream, and it killed it during the pandemic.
We literally killed it.
A vegan chocolate that’s made from organic vegan products, like this thing called chocolate.
So, I just got involved in all these companies, and that’s kind of where my life is going.
I want to be healthy. I want to own products that help people, products that help make people healthier, and I want to help teach what I learn.
I want to also just track what I learned out in my brain.
This interview is helping me figure out everything because I never formulated what I did.
Abel: Yeah.
I never really organized, because people hit… I get hundreds a month, of people hitting me up.
Could you talk to me? Could you talk to my brother? Could you talk to my friend? They’re 400 pounds and 500 pounds. What can you do?
Abel: Yeah.
And I had a system first, and it wasn’t working. This has been going on for a couple of years.
And then I went to a friend of mine who runs rehab centers. And I’m like, what am I doing?
He says, get on a group. And he’s like, a group, a group helped.
When people are at a group, they’re more accountable, they help each other.
Abel: Yeah, 100%.
So, then I started putting everyone together in a group, unofficially, and then I got great results.
Now, I have over 100 people that I’ve helped that have lost 100 pounds, 200 pounds. Yeah.
Abel: Wow. Dude!
We have a small Beacher army out there of people that lost a lot of weight. @jeffbeacher Click To Tweet
Abel: Yeah.
And I’ve got some people that are really f*cked up and I… Sorry, I’m cursing again.
Some people are really screwed up and I don’t know how to help ’em, I’ll convince them to get the stomach surgery because that’s a great tool, too.
Abel: Yeah.
And… So, if… And then, the stomach surgery, I’ll teach people with that.
If you go get that first, you have to then go work on your head.
Because with me, I worked on my head, which enabled me a year later to get the stomach surgery, and not go back to being fat.
Because a lot of people get the surgery, they lose weight and they gain it back.
Abel: Yep.
Yeah, but… The surgery is just, gives you a window of a year, a year and a half, to really go fix your shit.
And if you get your stuff together while you have that stomach cut, then you could… Then your goal then, because you could trip the stomach surgery. You can still gain weight.
Abel: Right.
You can drink liquor, you can drink fattening smoothies, you can drink milkshakes. You can eat ice cream.
You can gain weight so it gives you an opportunity to change what goes in your system, get healthy, and then fix your brain, which is always, which is the key to all weight loss.
Abel: Yeah. And giving yourself that self-motivation which I find comes from doing things yourself.
And for me, I’d be curious to hear your take on this, because I’ve gone through this journey of starting by doing everything myself…
From the show and the business and the websites and programming, and researching and performing all that, to being able to outsource a few years ago, many of those things, and forget how to use the new platforms and forget how to – or never even know how to do certain things, and siphon yourself off into the more like public figure, or celebrity or entertainer category, where you’re essentially living at hotels in some ways of your life.
Like, you put your blinders on, you forget how to do things. What I’ve learned in the past couple of years is, I really appreciate…
And sometimes it’s hard and really frustrating, but doing those things myself, like being able to fix your drain, no matter how much money you have or how big you are, or whatever.
And I think there’s this illusion, still throughout society, that celebrities and influencers live above this golden platform, and it’s nothing but rainbows and life is wonderful, because you’ve reached this place, when in fact, it’s not quite like that.
So, I’d just be curious around your own personal experience throughout your own life, but also some of the people that you’ve seen, because I know a lot of them are pretty high level players.
A lot of people do get to that place where it is delusional, and they don’t…
I lived that life, that world for a long time, where like, I mean, even pre-quarantine, after quarantine, just setting up.
I just bought this new house, right? Nice humble small house and top of Beverly Hills and it was supposed to get re-done.
And they started re-doing it, and then I got quarantined, 10 days before everyone else got quarantined because a bunch of my friends got the virus, so we thought I had it, me and my doctor.
So, I literally stayed in quarantine in this unfinished house.
And I have another rental house that a buddy of mine and I stay at, and I didn’t want to be around him and he didn’t understand this virus thing.
No one really understood it yet, so I came to the unfinished house I just bought, and I moved in. I went…
I literally lost my mind, like a lot of people are during this.
And, luckily, I knew how to get out of mental breakdowns. We can get into that in a minute, but I’m going to get into the house part of it.
So I’m in this house, it’s unfinished, and I’m used to living this luxurious lifestyle, where everything’s catered, and I don’t deal with anything.
And I just deal with my social life and work, and now I’m inside a house. And I have to really learn the house.
From the sink, the sink that broke four times, to the dishwasher that I had to have replaced, to the garage door that I had to have fixed.
I mean, you take a checklist of the house, lights, plugs, cable, everything I had to fix with someone on the phone, stay on hold for hours, stuff that I hadn’t done my entire life.
Abel: Yeah.
It was crazy. So I learned every aspect of the house, literally, every aspect of the house. I’ve learned how to do and fix.
Even just last night, I used for the first time I used the bathtub jacuzzi, and the water’s still in it, so I have to replace the drain and I have to screw out the things.
I watched an hour of videos last night on how to fix this tub, and whatever the thing is. It turns cold, you turn up and down, I forgot the name of it.
Abel: Yeah.
That goes in the tub, and then, so I have to… That’s my project for the weekend. Hopefully, it’ll only take a half an hour, but…
Abel: Yeah, that’s awesome. But so… Do you prefer this or being on a pedestal, not knowing anything?
No, I like this. It’s a great… It’s great. I mean, I like it a lot. I’ve got… I got my expenses down to nothing, and I just… I’m eating a whole foods based vegan diet and it’s amazing.
And I’m doing everything myself for the most part, at that house, and it’s great. It feels great. It’s easy. It’s not a lot of pressure.
I know people around me I might get stressed managing, or anything like that. It’s been… It’s been really liberating and really a great feeling.
Abel: Yeah. One weird thing that’s interesting about this is that, I was talking to one person who’s another author, and he said that maybe this time actually isn’t that weird.
Everyone says, “This is such a weird time,” and in some ways, it definitely is.
But what he was saying is that, in history, we were all kind of just shut inside of our own house and had to have a garden and fix the stuff that broke, and know how to do that, and build our own, just kind of skills of self-reliance and liberty…
And also learn how to get along with each other in ways that maybe we could have outrun if we were traveling all the time or working all the time and not really in the same closed quarters with each other.
This actually could be, in some ways, a more historically accurate way of living and existing with other people, but whatever the case, a giant reset button is being pushed right now.
And we’re going to have to find our way out of this.
I’m curious, for you, as an entertainer and as a person who wants to get out there in health, like, what are you looking at and what are you hoping for in the next few years?
Well, in the next few years, I think everything will kind of pretty much get back to normal.
I think you have a good year, year and a half where it’s going to be a little bit weird, a little bit different. Not weird, different.
And people are just going to be figuring out. Just like Jeff Ross figured out when his Instagram roast, people need to figure out what to do. And how do you pay?
The restaurant’s have to figure out what to do. My buddy that owns a restaurant, I keep talking about Craig’s, he was one of the few restaurants in LA that stayed open.
And he’s doing, I think, I don’t know the exact number, but they’re doing almost as many dinners as they would’ve when they were packed and open every night.
Abel: Wow, Yeah.
Because he pushed through it, and his team was dedicated and loyal, and he’s loyal to everyone.
And he really cared about the community. He cares about the community.
That restaurant thrived during this, where, unfortunately, probably half the restaurants are going to go out of business.
Abel: Yeah.
You can’t, with a lot of… The government, including, didn’t factor in.
They gave all this relief, but a lot of restaurants didn’t get the relief.
And then on top of it, if you’re a small mom and pop shop, or even a big one, and you close, to restock that restaurant costs 100 grand.
Abel: Yeah.
Forget about the employees and all that for a second. 100 grand to restock it. Then you have to re-market it. What is that going to cost?
Then you have to re-launch it. It’s a lot of money. It’s a lot of money, it’s really hard. And that’s just a restaurant, what about a theater?
Say you own a theater in Vegas and there’s 500 seats. Your numbers are based on doing over 300, 350 to break even.
If you have to sit every other seat, you’re at 250. You have to sit every third seat, which it’s probably going to be, you’re losing money even on a sold out day.
The math doesn’t make sense for a lot of businesses for the next year or two.
Abel: Yeah, Yeah. I’m not really sure what the way forward is except for we have to adapt.
And as entertainers, that’s what… At least, musicians and a lot of artists and entertainers, performers, do their entire careers because you have a show for a while and then that shuts down or doesn’t work out, right?
You go to the next thing and you focus on the next thing.
We only have a couple of minutes left, but I would love for you, Jeff, to maybe just get on your soapbox a little bit and try to convince some other people who have done really well for themselves, had successful careers and are fortunate enough to be able to pick out maybe where they want to go next, that next career.
And just try to push them into the realm of health because we need it so badly right now.
Well, that’s what I’m doing. My show was… I showed Crazy for 20 years. I showed Crazy and it was a lot of fun and I wish we were friends then because you would’ve loved…
Abel: Me too, man.
You would’ve loved Crazy Beacher, you would have loved the Crazy show.
And I’m even going to do them when things get… When you’re allowed to have a party with 200-300 people.
I’m going to do them because everyone’s asked me to do it for fun.
Abel: Oh, that’s cool.
And I’ll be sober during it and I’ll be healthy and I’ll have crazy people running it so that know how to make fun.
But, so you’ll be able to enjoy it if you ever come visit.
Abel: Beautiful. I would love that.
So, the Beach Health Show is going to be my final show, you know. This is what I’m going to do for the next 100 years, and I’m really excited by it.
I’m going to start a group, you know officially start a group where there’s a website and an app, and give away free books and teach people how to fix their body and their mind so they can both work together to get really healthy.
Because everyone’s going to need to be healthy—mind, body and soul—going into this next year or two of change. Cause change is hard.
It’s really hard on a lot of people to pivot and change, and say, “Alright, I’ve done this for my whole life this way,” well, now you’ve got to change, and you have to do it a different way.
You’ve got to figure out that way.
And to get people to that place where they accept it, it’s really hard.
You know, there’s books on it, there’s people that take — to change a company’s thinking and the way they do business, you know, people were all in an office and now they’ve got to be on phones and be happy with it.
You know, it’s a lot of work.
Abel: Yeah
So, I’m not looking to get into changing cultures at work, and doing all that stuff.
I really want to help change the people, and let them work on that.
So, I want to help people lose weight, get healthy.
Forever I wanted to own a brewery, right. I had this batch of the beer made, this light beer, cause people are going to drink no matter what.
Even though I’m not drinking, I love beer. So, I made a lite beer. And it was 100 calories or less, and it was gluten-free and we’re making a non-alcoholic beer, what is that called.
Abel: Near beer. There’s a lot of names for it. I like near beer the best.
Yeah, and so we’re making one of those.
We had this batch come in at the beginning of the whole quarantine.
And I said, “You know what, just sell the beer, and give all the money to mental health.”
So, we’re going to donate 100% of the money to mental health.
Abel: Very cool.
Yeah. So, just doing stuff like that.
So, I don’t really have a full plan, but I’m doing it, I’m working on it, and I’m going to figure it out.
And that’s the new Beacher Show.
Abel: Right on, man. Well, we are out of time now, but what’s the best place to find you, Jeff, and the new Beacher Show and all the stuff you’re working on?
Where To Find Jeff Beacher
You know, it’s still all over the place.
But go to my Instagram: @JeffBeacher
You can go to JeffBeacher.com, and that will take you to all my different stuff.
Abel: Right on. So all you people listening out there, I think it’s important that we look at different perspectives, look at different people who have been through the ringer in their own way.
And I can speak to helping people lose 100, 200+ pounds, but I have never been there myself.
So, if you are there, and a lot of people more than ever are there, talk to Jeff and talk to people like Jeff. And get in touch, because what I’ve noticed, especially as people make that transition into health, it’s a very generous transition.
And we’re doing it because we want to help people, and connect with people, and kind of pull the survivors over to this side.
You know what I mean?
Yeah. DM me on Instagram to get in the makeshift program we have right now, and we’ll put you in the big program when we launch it.
Abel: That’s awesome. Jeff, thank you so much for taking the time, man.
Oh, thank you for having me. I appreciate it, pal.
See what Jeff is up to over on JeffBeacher.com, and learn more about the Beacher Method to shedding fat and reclaiming your health over at BeacherMethod.com.
You can also find Jeff on all the social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and definitely check out his website.
Before You Go…
I want to share a note that came in from Melanie about a recent episode that we aired with our friend Shaun T.
Melanie says…
“I absolutely LOVED this show.
I really learned so much and I so appreciate Shaun for sharing his personal story in such an honest and loving way.
He has a beautiful way of engaging the listener without judgement. Very powerful stuff. So glad you did this!”
– Melanie
Melanie, thank you so much for writing in and sharing this.
Honestly, you know, especially recently, as I’ve been a little bit more outspoken and maybe even on the edge, we’ve been getting a lot of hate, but a lot of love too.
And it’s been so inspiring hearing from people like you, Melanie, and others, you know who you are who.
You know, I go out on a limb and maybe say something that you may or may not believe in, but then I get flamed or people try to cancel me, and you have my back.
And I am so thankful for you, because if you didn’t have my back, it can be crushing getting some of this.
So, in a similar way with Shaun and other creators, we’re all out there right now, kind of taking heat for different reasons in different ways. And the more that we can get together and be non-judgmental about what’s going down, the more likely it is that we’ll succeed and come through this stronger.
So when we did that show on ABC TV, My Diet Is Better Than Yours, a few years ago, that’s when I met Shaun T and his husband Scott in person. And so many other people from the show—Kurt, Jay, Dawn.
I’ve been in touch with many people recently, and it’s lovely that these communities continue on. That’s why we all have to stick together, and sometimes that means we have to veer outside of the world of health even a little bit, or at least seemingly so in a literal way.
And if we dial it all back, I believe that mental health is really the driver of so many of the positive changes in people’s lives, or it can be the opposite.
So, it’s kind of rough out there right now, so if you want to help us keep going, there are a few ways that you can do that.
One way is by checking out my new book. It’s called Designer Babies Still Get Scabies. It’s a #1 international bestseller in humor and in poetry in several different countries.
You can find that at DesignerBabiesBook.com.
And if you sign up for our new Patreon channel, I give you my new book, Designer Babies Still Get Scabies, as well as the audiobook for free as part of signing up.
You can sign up for our ‘Cuppa Coffee’ Club for as little as $3 bucks a month.
I also have a small amount of coaching slots available for you. And we have group coaching, as well.
So anyway, check all of that out by going to fatburningman.com/tipjar, or you can just go directly to my Patreon page.
And if you’re interested in high quality nutraceuticals and supplementation, then please check out our project Wild Superfoods, that’s at wildsuperfoods.com.
We have what we believe is the very best tasting protein powder out there, we call it Collagen Cocoa—you can enjoy it hot or cold.
I’m actually going to have some right after I finished recording here today.
We also have Future Greens. Those of you who are carnivore or going a little heavy on the meats, maybe you should try out some shelf-stable fruits and veg that tastes good and you just mix it in water.
We like having them around when we’re camping, traveling, disaster preparedness, all sorts of things, just daily supplementation in the form of whole food. Future Greens is where it’s at.
We’ve also got Vitamin D Stack, Mega Omegas, Fizzy C, Probiotic Spheres, Vitamin C Stack, Adrenal Stack, and much more to come.
You can find special deals and giveaways that we’re running over at WildSuperfoods.com.
And, of course, you can sign up for our newsletter, I’ll send you some free meal plans on the house.
And I really appreciate hearing from you, drop me a line any time. I love hearing from you.
Thank you for joining us for this very fun show with Mr. Vegas himself, Jeff Beacher. Drop a comment below!
In today’s show with Jeff, you’ll hear about Jeff’s journey to shedding an astounding 200 plus pounds. How Jeff has been able to lose weight even during lockdown. How he’s adapting his business from the live theatre entertainment to the online thing that we have going now. The unexpected benefits of a group and tons more. Let’s go hang out with Jeff.