Hey, Joe.
What are you doing here on a weekday?
You didn't call for an appointment, man.
It's gonna be a while.
I was afraid of this.
Go ahead and sit down.
- Ooh. - My Lord.
You got to wait, son.
This is an emergency. - What?
That ain't cool, Dez.
You could always let Harold cut your hair.
His chair's wide open.
Nah, nah, nah, I can wait.
Joe, get your butt in this chair now.
Should I even ask you how this happened?
The cat did it.
Stop sounding insane.
I mean, um, I was, um, distracted
getting ready to play with Dorothea Williams tonight.
Dorothea Williams?
That's big time, Joe.
Congratulations.
Joe ain't getting no gig, Dez.
You know he's Mr. Close But No Cigar, ha-ha.
This guy.
Joe, ignore him.
Now let's fix you up.
You're keeping that cat on your lap?
Is it OK that I do that?
Suit yourself.
You're the boss.
I am?
When you're in this chair, yeah, you are.
So can I have one of those?
Uh, sure, Joe.
Cool.
Mm.
I like being in the chair.
Hey, get your head in the game.
[BUZZ] - Ah, double chainsaw.
You need to settle down.
If you keep this [MEOWING].
Look, I can deal with some freaky stuff.
But if this cat don't chill, we gonna have to put it outside.
Well, what's it going to be, kitty?
Meow.
Sometimes change is good.
You have been rocking that same style for a while.
Well, Dez, for hundreds of years,
I've had no style at all.
You can say that again.
[LAUGHTER]
But then my life changed.
Oh, yeah?
What happened?
I was existing as a theoretical construct
in a hypothetical way station between life and death.
I heard that.
JOE: And by the time I got to mentor number 266,
I was seriously asking, like, what is all the fuss about?
Like, is all this living really worth dying for?
ALL: Right.
You know what I mean?
ALL: Yeah.
I never knew you had such an interesting education, Joe.
I just thought you went to music school.
And another thing-- they say you're born to do something,
but how do you figure out what that thing is?
I mean, what if you pick out the wrong thing
or somebody else's thing?
You know, then you're stuck.
Been there.
I'll take one of those.
I wouldn't call myself stuck, but I never planned
on cutting heads for a living.
Wait, but you were born to be a barber, weren't you?
I wanted to be a veterinarian.
So why didn't you do that?
I was planning to when I got out of the Navy.
Then my daughter got sick, and barber school is a lot cheaper
than veterinarian school.
Well, that's too bad.
You're stuck as a barber, and now you're unhappy.
Whoa, whoa.
Slow your roll there, Joe.
I'm happy as a clam, my man.
Not everyone can be Charles Drew inventing blood transfusions.
JOE: Or me playing piano with Dorothea Williams, I know.
You are not all that.
Anyone can play in a band if they wanted to.
Don't pay Paul any mind.
People like him just bring other people down so they can
make themselves feel better.
Oh, I get it.
He's just criticizing me to cover up the pain
of his own failed dreams.
[LAUGHTER]
You cut deep, Joe.
I wonder why sitting in this chair
makes me want to tell you things, Dez.
That's the magic of the chair.
That's why I love this job.
I get to meet interesting folks like you, make them happy,
and make them handsome.
Wow.
Am I crazy, or do I look younger?
I may not have invented blood transfusions,
but I am most definitely saving lives.
I don't know about this crazy cat guy thing, man.
But it is nice to finally talk to you about something other
than jazz, Joe.
Huh, how come we, um, never talked about your life before?
You never asked.
But I'm glad you did this time.
MAN: Looking good, brother.
Great show.
I grabbed a couple road lollies.