Underdog Stories

Corey Martin Craig
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They told you you couldn't. You found a way anyway. If you've ever been the kid in the back of the class, the one with the label, the diagnosis, the difference, the something that made you feel like you didn't belong, Underdog Stories is the podcast you didn't know you needed. This is where the people the world counted out come to tell the truth. How they turned adversity into accomplishment. How they learned to laugh through life along the way. Your host, Corey Martin Craig, is one of you. On Ritalin at 3. Lost his dad at 6. Diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and Tourette's. Suspended over 30 times before he was old enough to drive. Now he's the comedy-trained mental health coach for people who were told they'd never make it, and somehow getting them to stand-up mics, magazine covers, and Lincoln Center stages. Each week, Corey sits down with guests whose stories will make you put down whatever you're doing: A 13-year-old autistic comedian the world told he didn't have a voice, until he found a microphone at Lincoln Center. A former correctional officer who spent 17 years in a wheelchair before comedy gave him the confidence to walk again. A cover model for IT Cosmetics who was told her whole life to hide the birthmark she now makes her brand. A 9-year-old with a stutter whose first stand-up set hit 8.3 million views, and made the stutter disappear. These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. Every conversation cracks open the same question. How did the thing they tried to bury become the thing that built them? Every episode lands on the same dare: "What would you say to your younger underdog self, knowing you're on this side of the journey?" Answered with vulnerability, humor, and the kind of one-liners you'll be quoting to friends by Friday. Because at the end of the day, nobody can beat you at being your best YOU. Subscribe. The underdog in your life, including the one in the mirror, needs to hear this. New episodes every week. Produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning director Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

Episodes

  1. Oct 2

    Lily Van Dang: From Trailer Park to Viral Stand-Up Comedian

    Daughter of a refugee. Raised in a mobile home park, mostly by herself, while her mom worked six and seven days a week. So scared of people that she spent her childhood staring at bugs instead. Today, Lily Van Dang has been published in Vogue Italia, had her music played on iHeartRadio, and has stand-up clips with over a million views each. In this episode, Lily sits down with Corey to talk about what it took to get from there to here. The father she never really got to know. The fear that kept her from doing anything at all. And the strange, vivid visions that kept nagging her until she finally said yes. This isn't a story about having it all figured out. It's a story about doing the scary thing anyway, and finding out you don't die. In this episode, Lily opens up about: → Growing up in a mobile home park and raising herself while her mom worked nonstop → Losing her dad to cancer at 17 before she ever really knew him → The ayahuasca trip in Mexico that led to a no-makeup "Neanderthal" shoot, published in Vogue Italia → Why she waited three years to take her first comedy class, and what happened when she finally did → Her philosophy now: facing your fears is how you grow Plus the question we ask every guest: "What would you say to your younger underdog self, knowing you're on this side of the journey?" These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. Subscribe and start collecting your own. — 🎙 Underdog Stories is now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you get podcasts. 🎟 See Lily live: UnderdogTour.com 🌐 CoolBeansComedy.com/podcast 📸 Follow Lily: @lilyvandang 📸 Follow: @MyCoachCorey + @CoolBeansComedy | TikTok: @MyCoachCorey Underdog Stories is produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

    Lily Van Dang: From Trailer Park to Viral Stand-Up Comedian

  2. Jun 25

    Austin Eletto: From Kindergarten Troublemaker to Lincoln Center Stand-Up

    Born in New York, suspended from kindergarten for biting a teacher, and moved 3,000 miles to California because the trouble he was causing was too much for the East Coast. Today, Austin Eletto is 14, the star of his own documentary Comedy Against the Odds, has performed at Lincoln Center, and is entering high school as the most confident kid in the room. In this episode, Austin sits down with Corey to tell the real story behind the laughs. The kindergarten suspensions. The diagnosis. The cross-country move. The Zoom comedy class during the pandemic that became the spark. The first time he saw himself on screen in his own documentary. This isn't a story about being on the autism spectrum. It's a story about what happens when a kid gets handed a microphone and decides he's done trying to be anyone but himself. In this episode, Austin opens up about: → Getting suspended in kindergarten for biting a teacher and peeing in the sandbox → The cross-country move that changed everything → Why his documentary Comedy Against the Odds outranked the Epstein doc on Documentary+ → The fans who now recognize him at gas stations → Why he's heading to New Roads High School next Plus the question we ask every guest: "What would you say to your younger underdog self, knowing you're on this side of the journey?" These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. Subscribe and start collecting your own. — 🎙 Underdog Stories is now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you get podcasts. 🌐 CoolBeansComedy.com/podcast 📸 Follow: @MyCoachCorey + @CoolBeansComedy | TikTok: @MyCoachCorey Underdog Stories is produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

    Austin Eletto: From Kindergarten Troublemaker to Lincoln Center Stand-Up

  3. Jun 3

    Alfredo Resendiz: Care, Consistency, and the Kids the World Counted Out

    Alfredo Resendiz grew up without a dad in Pasadena — and as he puts it, that "immediately shoves you into the role of underdog, even though you didn't ask for it." The men who pulled him out were his coaches. Today he's the Athletic Director at John Muir High School, his own alma mater — once written off as "Pasadena's ghetto school" — where he's spent 25+ years going back to coach the kids the world counted out. In Episode 2 of Underdog Stories with MyCoachCorey, Alfredo and Corey get into the philosophy that turns underdogs into champions — and the friendship that brought Corey into Muir's gym to run mindset training with the basketball team. In this episode, Alfredo opens up about: The two C's every underdog has to live by — Care and Consistency — and why "if a kid knows you care, they'll run through a wall for you." Why ~80% of his coaches are Muir alumni: the ones who give kids rides home and buy them meals, because someone once did it for them. Growing up "hood adjacent" in the Pasadena of the '80s and '90s, and how sports became the great equalizer. What's broken in youth sports today — the "pay to play" machine that prices out kids without means. Losing 80 pounds three times, a cousin's stage-four diagnosis, and finally putting his own oxygen mask on first. How Cool Beans Comedy gave a 25-year teacher the nerve to finally step on stage — and why "the second half of my life is going to be dedicated to comedy." Plus the breakthrough with the Muir basketball team — fears written down, said out loud, then run through a shredder — that had high-school boys in tears. And the question we ask every guest: "What would you say to your younger underdog self?" Alfredo's answer: be patient. Life's a marathon, not a sprint — and it's going to be okay on the other side. These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. — Connect with Alfredo: Instagram @funny_fredo Subscribe to Underdog Stories with MyCoachCorey for new episodes every week. More from Corey: www.CoolBeansComedy.com Follow Corey: @MyCoachCorey on Instagram + TikTok Underdog Stories is produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

    Alfredo Resendiz: Care, Consistency, and the Kids the World Counted Out

  4. May 20

    Paige Billiot: From Hiding Her Birthmark to Cover Modeling IT Cosmetics

    Born with a port-wine stain birthmark across half her face, Paige Billiot was told her whole life to hide it. Today, she's the cover model for IT Cosmetics, the founder of Flawless Affect, and an ambassador for the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation. In this week's episode, Paige sits down with Corey to tell the real story behind the headlines. The childhood bullying. The LA casting rooms that told her to "cover it up." The Hollywood apartment where she snapped the first photo that started a movement. The moment she stopped wanting to be anyone but herself. This isn't a story about a birthmark. It's a story about what happens when you stop running from the thing that made you a target, and start using it as the thing that makes you undeniable. In this episode, Paige opens up about: → The constant stares, the strangers who asked her mom "what did you do to her?", and the day she realized she wasn't going to be allowed to disappear. → Why she came to LA chasing acting, and the casting directors who got offended when she walked in. → The "f**k it" moment in her Hollywood bathroom that became @flawless_affect, then ABC, GMA, Yahoo, and Pop Sugar. → What it actually took to stop covering her face for the camera and start leading with it. → The "Flawless Effect" — her own psychological framework for becoming the person you want to be, starting today. → The Mattel Birthmark Barbie, birthmark emojis, and the bigger movement she's building. Plus the question we ask every guest: "What would you say to your younger underdog self, knowing you're on this side of the journey?" Paige's answer is short, fierce, and the kind of thing you'll be repeating to yourself in the mirror for weeks. These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. Subscribe and start collecting your own. 🌟 Connect with Paige: • Instagram: @flawless_affect • Flawless Affect: https://flawlessaffect.com 🎙 Subscribe to Underdog Stories for new episodes every week. 🌐 More from Corey: www.CoolBeansComedy.com 📸 Follow on Instagram: @MyCoachCorey + @CoolBeansComedy | TikTok: @MyCoachCorey + @CoolBeansComedy Underdog Stories is produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

    Paige Billiot: From Hiding Her Birthmark to Cover Modeling IT Cosmetics
  • 4 Episodes

About

They told you you couldn't. You found a way anyway. If you've ever been the kid in the back of the class, the one with the label, the diagnosis, the difference, the something that made you feel like you didn't belong, Underdog Stories is the podcast you didn't know you needed. This is where the people the world counted out come to tell the truth. How they turned adversity into accomplishment. How they learned to laugh through life along the way. Your host, Corey Martin Craig, is one of you. On Ritalin at 3. Lost his dad at 6. Diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and Tourette's. Suspended over 30 times before he was old enough to drive. Now he's the comedy-trained mental health coach for people who were told they'd never make it, and somehow getting them to stand-up mics, magazine covers, and Lincoln Center stages. Each week, Corey sits down with guests whose stories will make you put down whatever you're doing: A 13-year-old autistic comedian the world told he didn't have a voice, until he found a microphone at Lincoln Center. A former correctional officer who spent 17 years in a wheelchair before comedy gave him the confidence to walk again. A cover model for IT Cosmetics who was told her whole life to hide the birthmark she now makes her brand. A 9-year-old with a stutter whose first stand-up set hit 8.3 million views, and made the stutter disappear. These aren't pity stories. They're proof stories. Every conversation cracks open the same question. How did the thing they tried to bury become the thing that built them? Every episode lands on the same dare: "What would you say to your younger underdog self, knowing you're on this side of the journey?" Answered with vulnerability, humor, and the kind of one-liners you'll be quoting to friends by Friday. Because at the end of the day, nobody can beat you at being your best YOU. Subscribe. The underdog in your life, including the one in the mirror, needs to hear this. New episodes every week. Produced by Cool Beans Comedy. Directed by 6-time Emmy-winning director Suzanne Luna with producer Jack Sullivan.

Information

  • Creator
    Corey Martin Craig
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    Underdog Stories