Month: April 2021

Bill Fichtner- Longevity In The Film & TV Industry

Actor, writer, producer and director, Bill Fichtner has had a long successful career in film and television and joins us to share his insight and perspective on the changing industry. He is currently seen on CBS in the popular sitcom Mom and his film Cold Brook can be seen on Showtime.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/william_fichtner

Transcript:

minddog 0:00
What’s the secret to longevity in the movie business? We’ll talk about it on this episode of the mind dog TV podcast.

minddog 0:25
Welcome my friends to another episode of the mind dog TV podcast. I’m Matt nappo. Thanks for coming. It’s great to have you here, special daytime taping of the podcast today to accommodate my guests who is out on the west coast. My guest today is an accomplished film actor for more than 30 years. He’s a writer, director and producer, and has some great insight and perspective to share with our film filmmakers and creative community in general that a part of the mind dog TV audience and part of my kind of extended family here. So without further ado, please help me welcome a man. Please open your ears, open your minds, and help me welcome in Bill fichtner. To the mind dog TV podcast, Bill fichtner. Welcome to the mind on TV podcast. Thanks for coming. Glad to have you here.

Bill Fichtner 1:17
My pleasure, man. Nice to have some sort of presence on Long Island.

minddog 1:23
So pardon my ignorance, but I haven’t had a television in my house for 10 years. And that’s on purpose. I kind of got tired of all the noise that cable TV news produced and just was sick of it. So I I took it out of my house. So I’m not very familiar with anything that’s happened in television in the last 10 years. And I’m kind of culturally on hip in in that regard. I understand that you’re on a current production on television that is produced by Chuck Lorre.

Bill Fichtner 2:05
Yeah, it’s a show called mom. And well, we got we got 20 of the 22 episodes in this year before they they sent everybody an email in early March and said, if you want anything in your dressing room, get it now. Because we’re shutting down. This is season seven, I think you know, you know Long Story Short. during season three. Chuck Lorre had reached out to me and had a conversation with me about playing a role on there. Just a guest spot like three or four episodes. Small Ark and, and a you know, I listen, I don’t get a lot of calls in my life for multi cam sitcoms. I the only other one that I’ve ever actually had in my life was like 28, nine years ago with another Chuck Lorre show called grace under fire. Remember that one? Yeah. In the first season, I played this Petro chemist named Ryan sparks and and Chuck hired me for that way back then. I don’t know what check, see something that no one else in this business does. But I’m glad that he does. So he called me and he said, Listen, if you come on, well, you got to give me three or four episodes because I want to do this arc with the character. His name is Adam Jana koski. And so, so I went and I did the three or four episodes. And then on the last show that I always do, you know, wave to the audience, and you do a little hug as you’re walking, you know, with the writers and the producers and everything. And he said to me when you say goodbye, listen, I’m not done with this. And I was like, Well call me. So a couple of months later, the writers called and Chuck and everybody to run the show and said, you know, would you be interested in coming back? full time and then so I went back full time season 456 and now we’re just finish, you know, or a little bit short of season seven. And there’s another season eight to go whenever that spills out, you know? So yeah, that’s my that’s my whole mom thing. Well,

minddog 4:14
Chuck is obviously a success in just about everything he touches these days. So but seven years in television, seven, seven long seasons is is the mark of a very successful television show.

Bill Fichtner4:30
Yeah, for sure. You know, mom is one of those shows where I mean, listen, I I know everybody says this about the show that they work on. But I can say this and it’s absolutely true. You don’t get better writers than in Chuck’s group but just about everything that he does, especially with mom, these these people are so under unbelievable. It’s exchange it all week long as we work on a building up to the Friday night to the live show. And by the time Friday night comes along, it’s tight and it’s really good and you know, for me Personally, the one thing that I do want to say about mom is that I’ve done two series in my life. And each one was when each one of my sons was in high school. And, you know, doing a series is the closest thing to any sort of like, you know, regular regularity or regular job to ever have in showbiz. Right? Yeah. And I’ve been so grateful especially, I mean, I did the show called Prison Break when my older boy was in high school, and but now living in California at that time, well, now at that time, I just moved out here to but I, you know, now with my younger son, who’s a pretty big sports boy football, baseball and, and, you know, Warner Brothers is like, 15 minutes from his school. And I have to tell you, I finished work, and I don’t miss many games, and I love it. And I’m so grateful to have that show. Not only creatively, but you know, just to logistically have, you know, my life and family and everything that it’s been a bit of a godsend, and I’ve been really grateful and so happy for it.

minddog 6:04
Well, I just wanted to touch on mom, because, you know, I know, it’s something you’re doing now. But one thing that intrigued me, looking up the show is that you seem to be the only male kept on the show.

Bill Fichtner 6:17
Oh, no, I meant. There’s a guest spotter, too. But, you know, sometimes this is God’s honest truth, man I’ve had, I’ve had each of the ladies on the show. And they’re an incredible group of six women. And at some point or another, I think every one of them has said to me, and some of them multiple times. I don’t know how you deal with all these women. But and I look at them. And I say this is this is I grew up. My parents divorced when I was young. And that was in the mid 60s. So I grew up with my mother and four sisters. And and I look at everybody a mom, they’re like, how are you doing? I’m like, Ah, it’s just like I use you know, when you grow up, and you’re around, you know, like, really dynamic women. You get it? I get it. Yeah, no, smooth as silk.

minddog 7:07
So I’m glad you mentioned your upbringing, because I want to use you to kind of give some insight to my audience who was largely in the creative arts and a great deal of them are filmmakers and actors, directors and, and upcoming, and they think your insight and perspective would be incredibly valuable to these people. So when did you always want to be an actor? Was that always your ambition in life?

Bill Fichtner 7:41
I have to tell you, it is God’s honest truth. I don’t ever remember in high school, even going to any, like high school production or play. I mean, I’m sure they had them. And I know that because I’ve seen them in the yearbook. But you know, I mean, the group that I hung out with, we were right out the back door and probably right over to the hockey rink. But growing up outside of Buffalo and check the log in New York. No, not even slightly. Matt. I, you know, All I knew is I had a I had a counselor in high school that said to me, Mr. Ryan, and he said to me, you know, William, if you do a little bit better, you know, you could you could go to college, and that was kind of like, you know, wow, wow, it really would that be a possibility? So, and then my dad suggested, you know, there’s a school on Long Island, SUNY Farmingdale, and criminal justice might be an interesting degree. And it’s not like I was really thinking about it that much in high school, but I thought, wow, I love the island. I’ve got relatives from one end of the island to the other. And, you know, I could, I could see my aunt Charlene all the time over these days. So I thought, wow, I gotta, I gotta go. I gotta go check out Farmingdale. And I did. And I applied, and I got it. And so I went to farming as a criminal justice major. And then farming at the time was a two year school Ag and tech school. So then I had to transfer and I transferred to SUNY Brockport outside of Rochester, still not, you know, as a criminal justice major. But long story short, when I when I got to Brockport, I was there about a week and I got a call from an admissions counselor. And they said to me, Listen, you’re short, one fine arts course that you need for your core. And I said, Oh, okay, so what’s that? And they were like, Oh, you know, like an intro to theater class. And then I’m like, Well, what else you got? And they said, Well, we have an improv class. You can take that and I was like, what’s improv? Well, and they gave me a course description. I’m like, Oh, well, it’s more of an intimate class. Sure. I’ll, I’ll do the improv class. Now, that, you know, give credit where credit is due. There was an admissions counselor at Farmingdale, a gentleman named Don Harvey, and I met him and that’s one of the reasons why I really wanted to go to Farmingdale too because he was such a cool guy and supportive. You know, he took me one time to see a Broadway show. I was, you know, he was like a mentor. I was really close to him when I was out of Farmingdale. And, and so that was really mind blowing to see like, you know, the first time I ever really saw play was like, you know, Broadway show, which was incredible. But then when I transferred up the breadboard, so I took this improv class. And I had a teacher and Aaron, her name was Sally Rubin. And she said to me, after about a month or six weeks into the semester, she asked me to step up to class one day, and she said, Listen, I don’t say this a lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever said this. But I really, I think, I think you should do this. I think you should do this in your life. You understand a moment you understand what it is to like, Listen, these are like things that make an actor and I have to tell you that as that would be like saying to me, you know, once you go build a spaceship in your backyard, I mean, out of the blue, and I’m like, I get always a compliment. But it’s not like I’m thinking about, you know, I really want to go down this road and be an actor. But I loved this improv class so much. And then for the next two years at Brockport, I took selected, like, you know, things that I could take, you know, as a non theater major, and then I graduated, and, you know, it was, it was decision time, like, what are you going to do in your life, you know, I, I applied, I was taking a federal police exam in Buffalo. I remember being in the middle of the exam thinking, I don’t think I’m going to do this. And I, I researched and I and I did an audition for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, a regional audition in Syracuse, where I did it somebody’s office and, and I got in, and I just shifted my life on a dime and got on a bus in Buffalo and got off at Port Authority, and stayed with my aunt Tootsie and a story and, and started waiting tables Matt, and going to school. Wow. So how it really how it really kind of began,

minddog 12:06
I asked this question of Eric Roberts. Last weekend, I was kind of surprised that his answer. And I basically I, I posed it as is. A lot of people see what you do. And maybe it’s not hard work. But they also tend to think, well, it’s just a matter of luck, and and not really so much hard work. And Eric, you basically blew me away with this answer. what degree do you think luck plays in in your career?

Bill Fichtner 12:40
I think you create your own luck, I don’t think I don’t think there’s a lot of luck. That’s what

I the answer. I I don’t think there’s a lot of luck. Listen, you know, what, what, what I always do say to people over time, I do believe this. You’re in it long enough, you put your 10,000 hours in my first agent in New York, you know, little tiny desk in the old equity building in Times Square with an ashtray that was about six inches high. And he said, Put your 10 years and Bill. You know, it might happen before it might happen after but you put your 10 years. And what I do think is that if you hang in, everybody’s going to get a shot. Are you ready when you get it? Right, right. Everybody’s going to get a shot. Now, that being said, you know, you know, there’s a lot of avenues to go in the entertainment business, a lot of people begin as an actor, and it may not be, that might not be your thing. In the end. I remember getting when I got into my first after the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, I, which is the time when you went there was a second year and you were invited back for that. And I got invited back to the second year. Not all kids work. I chose not to go for a lot of reasons. But what I wanted was I wanted a good scene study class. They call them studios. I mean, there’s like the Michael Howard studio, there was the William Esper studio, the different acting playwrights horizons, these are a lot of things I remember back then I’m sure they’re different now. But back then I wanted to get into one of these like Acting Studios. And so I got into one of those. And I remember the first one that I was in a teacher named Peter Thompson. And there were 20 kids in that class. And they were really talented. And I wish I thought like everybody knew more than me, because I didn’t do it in high school. I didn’t really do it in college, I never really did a play a whole play outside of a scene or something. And I could tell you out of those 20 Kids after a few months, they were all good. But I could point out the five of them that were that were really in it. And and I think you know what I mean by that like, really in it. That’s the We’re gonna do, we’re gonna, and I, and I kind of felt at that time, that that was one of them. And, and I thought everybody in the class was really amazing. But there was a difference. And I think that there’s a tenacity and and never give up. But also, you know, acting is one of those things too, that I think you can teach somebody how to you know how to get better. But I don’t know, if you can teach somebody how to act, I think there’s an innate thing about, you know, being in a moment. Wow, listening, I really do I, I’m not sure if you can teach that one thing. I don’t know,

minddog 15:35
I tend to agree with you. On on this point. And I mentioned this about a young actor who I had on the podcast recently. And what it is, is authenticity and a believability about them. And a natural idea, I know this guy, I can relate to this guy, no matter what role they’re in. And I don’t think everybody can do that, especially on camera. So you know, stages is kind of different. But I think with you, and I’m not blowing smoke, everything I’ve seen you when it feels like you’re a real person, it doesn’t feel like you’re acting. And I you know, I’m not sure if that’s training or natural ability, but you’re very, you’re very real to people. And authentic is the word I like to use. And I don’t think you can teach authenticity.

Bill Fichtner 16:28
Well, thank you. I think that, you know, there’s also something to be said about this to about what I said a minute ago about, you know, I don’t think you can teach somebody, you know, a lot of people have the innate ability to do certain things, whether it’s an inner calling, whatever. But, you know, I can tell you this much from the field of being wanting to be an actor and wanting to be a working actor. There’s a lot of stuff that comes with that. And there’s a lot of worry, there’s a lot of, you know, fear. Am I good enough, you know, you know, there’s nervousness when you’re younger than that. I remember walking into auditions and walking out one time and just saying, I, I can’t, I can never do that again. I mean, I was just so nervous, like, I can’t, I can’t do something that makes me sick. But so there’s that element to it. People have to fight through that and get through the other side of that, right. You know, I think you know what I mean. But then, then it gets back to that tenacity thing, you know, right. I remember one day when I had an epiphany moment when I was like, 25, six, or maybe 27 years old, and I was living in the West Village. And I just one day, it was just, I had no money, I had nothing, I had no job at nothing. And I had to go back to getting another job waiting tables, and I kind of worked a little bit got away from that. And I was going back and I felt like I was falling backwards. And everything sucked in I I thought I walked back to my little tiny apartment, I said, That’s it, man. I’m going back to school changing my life. Well, that lasted about like, 25 minutes. And I’m like, Alright, there’s nothing else I want to do. So why don’t you get over that bill and get back at it. I don’t think once the creative bug bites you. You’re kind of diseased with it for the rest of your life. But what you said what you just said right there, I think applies to everything in the creative arts, whether you’re a musician, a comedian, writer, whatever, you whatever you do, I think we all will all that you just said kind of applies to all that the the moments of self doubt the moments of I feel like I’m falling back instead of moving forward and all that stuff that you have to fight through.

Unknown Speaker 18:50
Yeah, yeah, it is. There, you know, and, you know, for those that hang in and, and are lucky enough to, you also have to have things go your way. Not Not to say like I said earlier, I don’t think luck has anything to do with it. I don’t think luck has anything to do with how much of your heart and soul you put into it. That’s an inner thing. I then there will come a time later on. Sure. You know, you know, the stars got to align a little bit you could call it the universe, smiling on you call it luck, but you’re going to need a little bit of that. And everybody will get a little bit of that. I think moment happens, you know, what do you do with it? Right?

minddog 19:36
I think there’s a point where and I think a lot of people get hung up on this is, as you mentioned, it’s kind of like you make your own luck and you build your own luck by your networking by you by working hard and making the right contacts and people seeing that your work is good. And seeing that you’re you’re have some integrity in your work. And that kind of opens up more doors. And the the key thing is to recognize opportunity when it comes your way. So, with that in mind, have you? Have you ever taken roles that you didn’t like just to work? Or? Or did you just Will you? Have you been blessed to have always been part of productions that you really felt good about?

Bill Fichtner 20:25
I love this question. And I will say this, and I don’t. And I mean, and I don’t wear this is like a badge of honor of like, you know, man, I drew the line in the sand of that. But I’ve always had a thing that if I didn’t believe in something, I’m positive that I’m not going to be very good. And, and it was a big fear. And I remember as a young actor being in New York, and I remember one time is Disney before I ever did a film because listen, I moved to New York when I was 21. Everybody I knew got a job in a movie before me. And not that I didn’t want to do things on stage. But I really wanted to work in film someday. And I did my first official film, I did a small little part, but I didn’t really count that it was kind of like a glorified extra. But my first official film that I got, I was 36 years old. 15 years of going for it and never getting a getting a job doing it. Wow. And yeah, no, that’s how long and then when things shifted, everything shifted. But, you know, getting back to this thing about I, I always had this fear that if I if I didn’t believe in something that I would be bad, and it was a big fear, and I want to be bad. So one time in New York, I’m a young actor, I finally got an agent. And I get an audition for this is pretty popular, pretty successful, very well known casting director in New York, I read the script, it was a big of is a Hollywood director. I’m a young guy trying to get a job in a movie. I read the role. I didn’t like it was the role of a pedophile. And I was like, Listen, I’m an actor, you know, I go out on a road I try to find, find the guy in that. But I read that I don’t want to find it’s, it’s my choice. You know, and then, you know, I had people I remember friends at the time going, Well, that’s acting, and I said, Well, we’ll then go active while you try to get it. I don’t feel like I don’t feel like going down that road. Because I didn’t believe in it. Right. And my agent at the time said to me, Are you out of your mind? And I said, Wow, I’m sorry. But I do you want me to do you want me to go in there and meet this famous casting director and, and director and tell him Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, when I’m really not interested in it. Because that’s walking in there in line. So I’m gonna you want me to go in there and lie to them. I don’t want I don’t want to play. I don’t want to do that. And they were like, Well, you know, and then the casting director was like I said, this big famous casting director, apparently said back to my agent at the time, I used that kid out of his freakin mind. He never called me again, ever Wow, ever called me again, for anything that he ever cast after that. I’m like, you know, and I felt bad. But I’m like, Well, what are you gonna? Do you make your choices? So to answer your question, to get back to it, know that I don’t take things just for money. And it’s not like, I don’t need to make money and ever family and all of that. I got offered a film one time, that was another part that I was just, I couldn’t stand it. And it was, you know, an indie independently financed film, and it was more money that I had ever made in a movie, at that point in my life ever. And I was and I hadn’t worked for like six months. And I got the script, I showed it to my wife, I went down in my man cave. I got about halfway through it. And my wife came down. And she said, so how was it? You know, she was so excited. I said, Oh, I stopped that two page like, 50 it sucks. She knew right then and there, it’s not going to happen. I’m gonna just know I can’t.

minddog 24:08
So but on that, on that note, is it more important that the entire story be really good? Or is it enough that the character that you are going after the role for is really, really inspiring and something you want to do?

Bill Fichtner 24:27
It’s a combination of all of it, you know, it’s, you know, there’s a lot of parts to like, like a film or television show or something? Who are the fellow actors? What’s the story? I mean, it all it all and I’m old school in that way. If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage at all begins with a great script. Who’s doing the part? You know, you find, you know, you never know what it is, you know, maybe one area comes up a little shorter. Maybe it’s a, you know, maybe it’s a director you’ve never heard of before, you know, I mean, I, I had a guy send me a script, this past October and first time director but didn’t know the guy didn’t know anything about the guy had a conversation on the phone with him. I was like, awesome, dude. I’m in. Wow, man, I just I believe, I believe what he had to say. I liked the role a lot. I liked the whole story and everything. You know, it’s whatever it is, you know, enough stuff come together and you’re like, that’s a worthy journey. I want to take I want to take that journey.

minddog 25:28
You mentioned the pedophile role and is does that come into your thought process? I don’t want to play a guy that people are gonna associate with the bad guy.

Bill Fichtner 25:40
You know, man, well, listen. Listen, I’ve my good buddy Kim coats and I that’s a Canadian actor that I met shooting Black Hawk Down and and we’ll talk about him in a little while because I shot that film that I wrote with another friend for me and Kim coats to do together. But cozy and I got this thing that we say to each other which is Come on man. If you’re if if you work in movies in this business, you have blue eyes and cheekbones you kill people. That’s it. I’ve played my my chair of like heavies. I tend to, I tend to call them like misunderstood characters. But yeah, yeah. But I listened. I I’ve even I found this thing that well, it’s, it’s the words that I use for it. Which, if you if I can’t find anything that a character cares about, then I don’t know how to play him. Because he’s not like a real person, you know, that people don’t think they’re bad. So what makes that a real person, even though he is he could be a bad guy or a bad guy in that script? What does he care about? When you find the answers to that, and then he gets to be a real person. I’ve read scripts where I thought there’s absolutely no redeeming quality whatsoever. And, you know, I was what do I do with it? And you know, not really, just not for me.

Bill Fichtner 27:07
All right, shifting gears a little bit here, just a tiny bit here. A lot of upcoming. People, people who are young, and and want to be in film, start from one perspective, I want to be an actor, I want to be a director, I want to be a producer. And they end up being all of those things. And they feel it’s out of necessity. So a lot of people think young people, especially the young filmmakers, I’m talking to be bad the writer, director, producer, and all of that even editor and sometimes even camera man, or you know, they do at all? I know, you’ve had some experience with that, but I’m not sure your experience applies so much to what they’re doing. Because you weren’t established after before you started doing that stuff. But maybe you can speak to that a little bit about the the toll it takes to do all the jobs the the emotional investment you have to make when a film is all yours. And, and the the long process that you’re buying into when when you do that.

Bill Fichtner 28:21
Yeah, you know, that’s a it’s a big question with a lot of what a lot of offshoots but you know, two things to say about that. One is this. Everything is so different in this day and age today than it was. I graduated college in the spring of 1978 and moved to New York. And you know, people back then looked for jobs, like on Broadway or Off Broadway, then then 10 years after that five years after that it was anywhere that you could get a job smaller theaters, it’s things were so different is they are today today is you know, the age of information happened. And you know, the technology of what people can do with iPhones people are I got a buddy that shot a film a feature film, a friend of mine named Bobby out of Dallas, Texas, he shot a feature film with his iPhone, right? And he got into the Toronto Film Festival with it. So things are different where where do you get your opportunities? If if somebody is so inclined that like you know, it? I would imagine if that same technology that is out there today, and the possibilities and what’s available to young artists, you know, boy, I think we all would have been making movies back then. We’re doing what people are doing today. Again, it was different back then it was like you know you wanted to be an actor you that’s the road you’re on. Didn’t seem like many people split away from that. But, you know, to be more specific about your question. I can tell you this from my experience. Instead of making a feature film that I thought about for 10 years, and then to go through to produce it directly and co write and play the CO leading it and everything, it’s, it is the most total, most fulfilling, hardest freakin thing that I ever did. Life can’t wait to do it again. Bad but it is, it is it creates it creatively. Anybody that that can that can take that road and put it together, and to actually get it to people. And if you are so lucky, because now, not only is it you know, the percentages are small for those that can do all of that and finish it. But if you can finish it and actually make something if you could get it into a film festival, if you could someday sell it, the percentages go from like 10 to 15. You know, I mean to 10 to eight to six to four to two, and then someday to ever see the light of day and see a movie screen. You know, people think, oh, you go on you make a movie, people are gonna see it, I think you’re in the less than, like, 1% I’ll ever see a screen or to get released. My point is this, if you’re so inclined, and that’s how you creatively, you know, you’re so moved, God bless you go for it. hardest thing in the world, but go for it. Because it is those that will take that chance, just like it was for somebody back when I decided that with my criminal justice degree to get on a on a bus in Atlanta Port Authority, you know, with $60 in my pocket. Boy, you gotta have something inside of you go for it. Because if you don’t, it’s never gonna happen.

minddog 31:40
I’m really glad to hear you say that. You can’t wait to do it again. Because a lot of the guys I’m talking to are discouraged by that process. And I’ve asked several, you know, what’s it worth it? Just Just as a matter of back then the movie you would just kind of talking about was that colebrook? Yes. Oh, yeah. Great film. I like a movie that that sticks with you after you’ve seen it? And you think about it for a few days after?

Unknown Speaker 32:08
Or

Unknown Speaker 32:09
and and that that film definitely had that for me. But the question is, now, when you’re doing something like that, now, you said you thought about it for 10 years, when you’re writing a piece like that, do you take into account what it’s going to take to produce this as you’re writing it, or you just write three, you know, from your heart from, you know, put down what you want, and don’t think about how you’re going to fund it and produce it until it’s time to fund it and produce it.

Bill Fichtner 32:41
But listen, I’m gonna, I’m sure that that part of what I’m going to say is even going to be useful, even to someone who’s just beginning, you know, put themselves on the road to doing this in their life. There will be some value in this, but I have to tell you, there were times when when I met some co producers, a couple of folks from Canada, great people that really believed in the script and wanted to get behind it and be a part of it. There were times when the conversation would go. Well, you know, we should think about that for you know, it felt like there were times when the conversation would almost be like a means to an end. And what I mean by that it’s like, well, we should think about this, because that way that’ll be smarter for like foreign sales. And there’s real value in that because the truth about it is, you know, it’s show business, not so friends, let’s go have a good time and try to do something, you really you want to make something that’s creatively, you know, your, that you believe in, but at the same time, you know, you have investors, you want to pay these people back. That’s my big commitment about Cole brookton. To get to that point someday. But there also is this thing, where you got to stop and go, Oh, more than a few times. And this is the old school and mead said, Hold on a second, wait a minute, wait a minute. It’s a movie isn’t any good? If it’s not, if it isn’t the best that it could be? Well, that you just skipped the step right there. You know, that’s what let’s not put the cart before the horse. Right? You know, I remember there were times when we were, you know, running out of money in post production, and we weren’t going to have money for the sort of music that I felt needed to be in there. You know, we really fell on this, like American folk rock sort of, you know, soundtrack to it. And that would be the sound of the film. And, well, there wasn’t any money. So why don’t we just get like, you know, 10th music that’s like, from like, you know, some GarageBand and I’m like, No, no, no, we’re not gonna do that. But you know, that’s, that’s not. So now we’re thinking about it. Now we’re putting band aids on thing or we’re not going to really give it 100% in every single area of the movie. And I’m like, Well, I can’t do that. Well, what’s the point that you know, maybe Sometimes you’re going to be forced into certain things, knock on wood that I’m that, you know, while I did call Brooke, I was working on this show, as we talked about mom, and I’ve got a massively understanding wife, because I remember looking at Kimmy gone, I’m sure she goes, well then fix it darling. Because you have to write and and I do believe that anybody that creatively has taken this walk down the road, boy, draw a line in the sand and know where you can go and can’t go and do whatever you have to do to have it be your vision. Wow. Because if you don’t have that, it is not vision by committee. Right? You know, people are going to are going to put their two cents in and I have to tell you something, I wanted people’s two cents I really did. It may not, it may not be a thought that has any value to my journey or what I want. But there’s an awful lot of people that told me stuff that I was like, Oh, thank you. I didn’t see that one. Budget don’t lose. You know, what you’re trying to say? what your vision is, what you’re feeling is? Because if you do, I don’t know what you’re making that and you probably won’t know it either. Right? Right,

minddog 36:11
I get it. So you mentioned how the industry has changed. And it truly has now for young people trying, they finish their film, right. And they have so many possibilities of how do I get it out there do I shop it around, whatever. But some of those seem to be. And I hate to make it all about money, some of them seem to be a dead end road where it’s never going to be feasible to pay back your investors in any of that, anything like that. And I’m talking specifically about like, you put a film on as, say, Amazon Prime, and I’m not singling them out, I’m just that’s an example. But and you put it on there and you every time your movie gets paid or played for two hours, or whatever it is, you get like six cents or whatever. And so it’s ridiculous to try to think that it’s ever going to make its money back this that come into your thinking when you’re making a film where How am I going to distribute this? Or do you in your case? Do you know in advance where it’s going to go and how it’s going to get distributed?

Bill Fichtner 37:19
Well, first of all, no, you don’t know because you’re making the film at that point. And all I want to do while I’m making the film, is make the best film that I could possibly make, to tell the story as best as I can to have it be seamless in the moments were all of those things that make a complete thing. Now once you have that, like you mentioned amazon prime, you know not well, you got to sell it to Amazon Prime. If you if you go out and you get a distributor, the distributor will try to sell it to Amazon Prime and every other place they can including potentially cable stations, whatever, HBO Showtime, you don’t know you want, you want all the best possibilities. And those collectively, little by little like you said, you’re going to get six said, well, you get six cents, you know, 2 million times you’re going to you’re going to help start to pay some people back. But, you know, truth be told, you know, even even when I shot called Brook, at my age right now, I have to tell you something, I went to school. I mean, I earned I earned a master’s and 12 months, you know, figuring out what to do with this stuff. There were there were so many things that I truly was unaware of, of distribution of what you had to do. But the only thing that really drove me and let’s face it, anybody else that makes a film, go out there and, and, you know, plan and pray for the 17 miracles, you’re going to need to have happen because you will need them and they will come. And but even with all of that. There were things that I was I was unaware of disown aware of and learned on the fly. But I never lost sight of the one thing as I said, which was make the best movie that you can i because that’s the best shot you have of ever having people see the film.

minddog 39:18
I really appreciate that answer.

Bill Fichtner 39:21
Oh, yeah. And you know, listen, listen, we’re in. We’re in the throes right now with colebrook sure, you know, in the process of getting, you know, the tax incentive back from upstate New York, great, you know, we’re in the process of you know, I got a distributor for it. I took it to film festivals didn’t get into every festival, but the earthy kind of ones like like Woodstock in upstate New York and Napa Valley Film Festival out. You know, a lot of these earthy kind of festivals that are great festivals. They really got the film. And so I took it to these festivals and we want awards at these festivals. All, you know, in my mind, I’m thinking, Okay, I got an indie film here. One of these days, if I ever get a distributor, I’m gonna make a post about for this film, and I’m not posting I’m gonna put some laurels and, and it’s gonna be that I won some things that these indie films, you know, it means a lot to me. Yeah, I mean listen to it meant a lot to all of us when we all went to the festivals, all the actors in it and other people involved and just had an awesome time celebrating the movie, but I knew someday it would help, it would help someday in selling the film. It’s just a little piece of the puzzle. And people recognize the song. So it’s these things and when you start to put them all together, and getting back to does the movie work, and then then you can start to see, and this is where the education really came in for me of how does everybody make the money back. And it’s, it’s my commitment. I’ll tell you this much too. And it’s important to say this, because, and I’m not saying anything that any young filmmaker probably hasn’t experienced, multiple times, or the first time for sure, which is, I remember the conversation where we needed something while we were shooting called Brook. And I was like, we didn’t have the money. And I’m like, Well, you know, pay my co writer but defer my payment on as a writer, as someone else came up. And you know, we’re in post production and well, the for my payment is producer. Oh, yeah, we got this thing here. We’re short on money for music differ my payment is what he called us as a director. You know, the only thing that I got paid on was Screen Actors Guild because you have to, but everything else that was did come down as a choice to me, it was like, put it back in the movie. And you’re going to have things like that. And you have to, because it makes a better movie. And in the end, you have to give yourself the best shot to have success for the film. And it all comes back to how good is the film? Is it everything you wanted it to be? Did you put everything in with that you could set your best shot.

minddog 42:06
So having that experience. I’m not sure if you have any advice, but I got to ask for a young guy who really wants to be an actor, but feels like he has to write his own because he’s not getting the opportunities. I’m not sure even have had, they would follow that path in today’s world. But if you’re really serious about I just want to be an actor. But I feel like I have to make this film myself. I have to write it and produce it and directed. Do you have any advice for that? Would you say stick to your your true strength in acting or directing or whatever it is, rather than go that route and try to make your own film right from the start? Because, again, I know you were an established actor, before you even took that upon yourself. A lot of these guys are coming out of the gate thinking that’s what they have to do.

Bill Fichtner 43:00
Yeah, you know, you know, Listen, man, it’s even the thought that of like, not getting seen as an actor and I’ll make my own thing. I mean, that is so that’s like speaking a foreign language when I when I was young. Nobody you know me now. It’s just like, out of the book. Imagine that thinking, well, nobody’s gonna hire me as you know, as a chef, I’m just gonna open up my own restaurant.

minddog 43:28
That’s what Stallone did, though with Rocky. I mean, I know he was in some parts before that. But I think he felt like he wasn’t getting enough. At least this is from what I’ve read that he he wasn’t getting enough part. He wasn’t getting enough opportunities. So he just said, You know what, screw it. I’m just gonna write my own thing, direct it and produce it.

Unknown Speaker 43:48
That’s what I have read over time as well. But you know, listen, what you know what happened with Stallone and Rocky and who was it? Who’s, what’s the Hollywood folklore that Who was it that the studio’s really wanted to play the part? Oh, yeah. Somebody like Robert Redford. You know, and, and, and apparently still on was like, No, no, no, it’s me. A you know, listen, I love that story. It’s a great story. It’s a great film. He’s great in it. And that’s, I mean, that’s like beyond rare,

minddog 44:24
right? lightning in a bottle for sure.

Bill Fichtner 44:26
Oh, just lightning and and a really, really, really big bottle and a little diesel lightning that was just magic. But, but listen to to somebody. You know, if a young actor CAG can’t get a job, you know, it isn’t making a movie isn’t necessarily going to put you on the road to be a better actor. Right? You know, you can never let go with the fact of how am I a better actor. Listen, I every three years I still read the same acting book I bought 40 years ago. goal. So you know, everybody’s gonna make you know, and I always find the little something new in it. But, you know, you’re always a student of that. But. But if you go down that road and put all your heart and soul and energy into writing and producing and what it takes and directing and everything, you know that you might just find out that Wow, you’re one, you’re one heck of a storyteller, and you’ve just found your calling. And you might not. But But again, you aren’t going to know until that is? And I don’t really know, you know, that’s it. I find interesting, you know, even the question that you asked, there’s a guy that can’t get an acting job. Is that a, is that a real place to go? If you’re inspired to go there? And you want to show your stuff in that way? That is this day and age, you know, and stranger things have happened, right? Well, I’m how tell people can, can, can can make a difference in their life?

Unknown Speaker 45:58
Clearly, I don’t have the insight and experience you have the might, my tendency to answer that question is, if you really want to be an actor, you should concentrate on being an actor, because getting involved, especially when you’re young, I’m thinking I’m playing. Because getting involved in writing and directing is great for the future. But if your goal is to be an actor, don’t let other things distract you from that. Because, again, I know you know this from going through it. And I’m actually going through it right now making my own film, that it’s a life investment, when you when you actually go to make a film and you are the guy, you are the director, you this is your film, you’re you’re giving up part of your life to make this film, it’s like it’s worse than having a, I’m not going to stay in it because all fine ladies, it’s like having a child but not as painful physically.

Unknown Speaker 46:57
It’s, you know, as I said, before, hardest road I’ve ever walked down. And a little bit of, you know, my own personality, I’ve you know, I’m the guy that wakes up in the morning and opens up the curtains looks in the backyard. And if I see one shrub, that’s kind of like weird, you know, I’ll end up getting a cup of coffee and a pair of little scissors, and I’ll go out there. And so I’m the was the same way making colebrook. You know, I just, I couldn’t put a bandaid on anything that I thought could be just a little bit better. So yes, it is. It’s a massive, massive commitment. You want if you want to be like the most incredible actor that you can be? Go Go find out how to work that hard to be that I do agree with you. I just think that there were there’s never really been any rules. But there’s a lot less now than there were when I first moved to New York, right? It just feels like things are reinvented on a weekly basis, you know, or a daily basis. Yeah. And that is that is our world, you want to you want to reinvent yourself and, and, you know, take a journey. Go for it. You You may find that is that is your thing. It’s it’s, it’s almost in some ways, it’s almost an impossible question to answer. Because my answer would be one of my experience that was, you know, began 40 years ago, and my experience is not the world. Right. And, but but I still have some, but But then again, you know, listen, the old sensibilities, some of them, you know, are always true, right? You know, I remember when, you know, the first time my mother came to visit me in New York, and I was in the late 70s, I had a little apartment and queens and. And she came to the city and we went around on the subway and looked at things and she went back to my apartment and, and she said, Well, it only looks like there’s two things you have any control over honey. And I said, What’s that mom? She goes, how much work you put into it, and how clean your apartment is? And that’s it. That’s how much are you willing to put into it? Great.

minddog 49:13
So a lot of the young guys filmmakers to directors feel like they need to really pursue a name or actor or somebody who’s a household name and get frustrated when they can’t, you know, you know, you’re not going to get a superstar actor to commit to on first time directors film unless the script really knocks them out. And you can even get the script in their hands and that it can be impossible, but a lot of them feel like if I can’t get a big star to do this movie. It’s not worth doing. You have any perspective on that?

Bill Fichtner 49:50
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Especially after having gone through and making coldbrook you know, it’s it is it is our world today. It is As they sell things in a though things change and everything, you know, they sell things on, on on the who’s in it. There’s There’s no doubt about it. It’s like foreign sales we have an I my, what kind of film is that? What is it? I called Brooke as a film that’s, that’s like a PG rated film about friendship, how far do you go to help a stranger? There’s, there’s no guns, there’s no violences there’s, there’s no sex, there’s no nudity, nothing blows up. I mean, I had people when I was looking for a distributor going, Yeah, it’s gonna be a tough one, really, you know, people would see the movie at festivals and go really good movie, man, I don’t know what to do with it. Because a lot of those things are elements that people do sell movies on, you know, you know, to foreign markets, and, and you sell it on name value. Now listen, I’m I’m a, you know, recognizable actor to whatever degree and, and I was fortunate enough with cold Brook that I raised, you know, or my co producers really, along with my help raised the money from the private sector. So one of the upshot of that whole thing is that I didn’t have some producer over my head from Hollywood, or somewhere telling me, you got to do this, we got to do this, we got to hire this person, if you don’t have this person in the movie, you’re not gonna be able to make it. So because we, you know, raise money privately, I was able to go to who I felt were the best actors to be in the film, that the actors that blow my mind, and I went to them and they did the movie. But you can’t say, and I can’t say, I, I put someone in there that has the sort of name value that’s going to make a big difference to people in the world that might really need that in order to purchase a film. If I had if I had a household, you know, name that was in, in the film, what would it have been easier for me to sell? coldbrook? Definitely, no doubt about it. It might not have been the same film and it might not have been, you know, every element changes something makes it a you know, slightly different painting. But it does make a difference. Yeah, I mean, I get that. But then again, people go out and, and they make films and if you’re lucky enough to have somebody see it and go, I have no idea who’s in that movie. But that was unbelievable. Right? Well, it doesn’t happen often. But it happens. And and then all of a sudden, I mean, look at the people who went and spent $60,000 on their credit cards. It made Blair Witch Project. Yeah, it’s gonna make a scary movie, but like $60 million, or whatever. Yeah. You know, Blitz depends on what it is. I mean, I have a good buddy of mine, listen to this, you’re gonna love this as a good buddy of mine that produced a film that I was in about four or five years ago. And, and, and he said, I, you know, I keep in touch. And we say, Bill, man, I really want to see you. I really want to see your film. I sent him the film and and I had lunch with him. And he sat down with me. He goes, What? Why? Why would you make that movie? I like, I’m like, what kind of questions why would you ask me? What do you mean? Why would I make that movie? In this day and age today a movie about like, how far do you go to help a stranger and finding an inner calling to do the right thing? Yeah, but But what are you ever going to do with it? And, you know, I got his point. But it’s, but it is the movie that I wanted to make. The next time that I make a film, do I? Will I adhere to those sort of standards? Or or? Or things that people might expect in this business to help you sell a film? Well, I guess the next time around, I certainly don’t ever want to make a movie for someone else’s. You know, what they think is that movie I should make? You want to make the movie you want to make it but at the same time? Sure, you know, I’ve I have a better eye about maybe how to how to blend those things together. Though I still think that cold Brook, if I was to start it all over again today, I still think I would have made the same movie.

minddog 54:19
Right? And my perspective and my might not be yours. But my and I understand that everything is a business and money makes the world go round. But from my perspective as an artist, and I don’t care what creative art you’re involved in, being proud of the work and being really happy with with the work that you’ve done and produced is the number one way I would measure success.

Bill Fichtner 54:49
Oh, there’s there’s a lesson and then but then again, it comes down to That’s such I mean, that’s a huge thing. And that’s a my thing. You can eat away. But it’s not everybody, right?

Bill Fichtner 55:12
Okay, it won’t pay. You can eat it or bite. But it’s the most it’s the first step to me. I’m not saying it’s the only measure of success. Again, I understand this the business, but if I’m not proud of the work I’ve done, and it makes a million dollars, I’m gonna end up drinking or doing drugs or something. Because Because I’m gonna, I’m gonna feel like I cheated somebody.

Bill Fichtner  55:35
I there’s Yes, exactly. Yeah, you did. And I feel the same way. And you cheated yourself. And I don’t like doing that. Right? And I don’t live that way. And I don’t want to listen, I have, I have an issue. And the older that I get, it seems to come on more and more. I don’t really like watching myself. You know, even when I started working in films, I would get asked to like, do you want to watch dailies? And I’d be like, No, no, no, thanks. Is it smart to do that? Sure. You can learn things from that from watching stuff. I just, I just would never mind things. Then the older I got, the only times that ever really see a film was like at the premiere, or when you had to do some sort of ADR looping you know, sound on it, when they were putting it together. I don’t have that thing where I need to, I don’t get this sort of gratification where Oh, man, I gotta watch myself, you know, because I’m so good. I don’t have that. I’m a little Actually, I’m a little hyper critical of my own thing. So here I come trying to make this film, you know, in the last couple of years and, and boy talk about, you know, I don’t like watching myself, but yet I played the CO lead in this. And I got a great editor. And I told this young editor that I met that I just believed in, met him on the phone, actually, it didn’t even see his real. And I think I talked to him for an hour. And I’m like, gearin, I love you. What’s your name again, buddy. He’s my editor. And I can’t imagine not wanting to work with him the next time I do something, and but I said to him, I’m, I might cut myself out of this movie, and I won’t serve the film. So you edit the scenes we’re going to work on you show me what you’re thinking about. Because I don’t want to do that. Wow. And that’s what we did. And actually, it was a lesson learned on the first, the first day of editing was the first week, first couple of days. And I was picking things out going, Oh, I liked that moment. I liked that moment. And we worked on this big opening scene, and the scene that opens the film. And he played it for me after two days. And I was like, it doesn’t work. And and I know what I’m doing. I’m getting in my way, I’m screwing myself up. Because I don’t like watching myself. And I love everybody else that’s in the scene. I can’t do that. So let’s let’s adjust something right now. you edit the scene, and let’s demo start to bounce some thoughts off of it. And and, you know, at the end of the day, I you know, getting back to you know, a couple of years go by and make the film gets distributed. Thank God, it’s out there right now on these platforms. And, and but when I look at the film now, you know if i grown up since then, sure. Am I smarter about things? Absolutely. But I’m still proud of it. You know, I? Boy, if I didn’t have that? I don’t know what I would think if I didn’t if I wasn’t proud of it. I you know, and I would hope that nobody ever saw it. Right, you know? Yeah.

minddog 58:44
Wow, this has been a really insightful and powerful conversation. I hope a lot of the young filmmakers and you know what musicians guys can can relate to what everything you said to it’s just a different medium that they work in. I got to tell you a little story before I prefaced My last question to you because it’s something I asked every creative person. I play in a band. And I was buying an AMP off of Craigslist. And the guy told me to meet him in a in a mall parking lot. And you might be familiar with $1 what Whitman? What were more parking. I know where it is. Yeah, sure. So I got there before him. And I’m thinking why you know and amplify something you need to plug into why isn’t this guy having me to his house, he must. He must have something to protect, doesn’t want strangers to pass, I can understand that. I got there early. He pulls up and I knew right away the guy had a lot of money by the vehicle he pulled up with. His wife was like covered in diamonds and pearls. He was with them in the passenger seat. And we got to talk and they said what are you doing? And I said I play in a band and he said, Oh, you’re living the dream. And I laughed in his face. I actually and I didn’t mean to be rude, but it was just a natural reaction. I said, You don’t understand. I’m not rich. I’m famous, I’m not a rock star. I play clubs, I play beaches, I play at nursing homes, I play private parties. My wife, I’m a working stiff musician. And he said, You don’t understand. I’ve been a day trader all my life, I’ve made a ton of money. I always wanted to be in a band, I’m selling you my amp, I’m retired, it means I’m never going to live my dream. You’re living my dream. And I went, Whoa. And I decided I got to make a film about this to show what it takes to really pursue no matter what you do. Whatever you do in life, there’s a price to pay you never know somebody else’s life into your actually step into their shoes. But there are a lot of people who go through life, never pursuing their dream for one reason or another, they you know, money becomes more important, or other things become more important. And they are, for lack of a better way to put it not courageous enough to follow their dream. So I have to ask you, do you feel like you lived your dream?

Bill Fichtner 1:01:07
Yes. Wow. Yeah, I remember. moments when I first made a decision that I thought I How could I might my college girlfriend, I was I was telling you, you know, taking these classes at SUNY Brockport. And when I graduated, my college girlfriend gave me a paperback book. And it was called How to be a working actor. I am actually in my little man cave off my garage, and I’m looking at it right now on the shelf. And I read that book 10 times that summer. And it was just the nuts and bolts of how, what do you do if you go to LA? And where do you study? And this was four years ago? And where do you go? If you go to New York? And how where do you study? And how do you do it? And, and I read it over and over. And I remember at the time, when I read that book that it was so exciting, that it was a world that I was just having a new dream about. And and was dreaming about it during the day and at night. And but it was a dream every moment and in something back then back then. Did anybody really know an actor living in check the log in New York that was so that was on television? Or? Or an Hollywood guide? You didn’t know actors? Right? I mean, so to, to get to that place and to have enough, enough inside and you know, and then that probably comes from my mother, you know, just always given you the confidence that you can you can try it, you can do it, whatever it was, and, and to go to New York to go through that were the hard times did I ever Honestly, I can’t believe I’m gonna say this. Did I? Did I ever really? Do I feel at my place in my life right now that I filled every dream that I ever had? Absolutely not? No. But I ended up with a few other ones that I didn’t think I was going to have. And they were really freaking good. So but I put myself on a road did I did I get as far down the road as I thought, maybe not. But I but I got on the road and and I live on that road. And it’s it’s, it’s, you know, it’s the road that I that I chose back in the summer of 78. When I turned in that police exam and said, This just isn’t going to be my road, I’m going to go on this road and I have no and it’s not like I knew anybody in the business, nothing, nothing. But I’m going to go on that road. And I’m going to try to get down that road. And I live on that road now. So you know the other thing I want to say too, about what you were saying before about playing in a band and buying that amp. I will say this much about the things that I’ve worked on in my life. Every single thing that I have done in my life is is is like a piece of the puzzle of whatever your life is. Are you proud of every piece that you put into the puzzle? The finish something and feel like you did it in every way possible that you can then be proud of it? Because if you’re not what does it mean? What your puzzle misses a few pieces. I don’t care if you if they’re all the pieces that you dreamt about. But boy, man, if you care about it and care about each piece you put in there, then you puzzle you’re going to be proud of it. And I try to live like that and everything. Especially the shrubs in the backyard. You know, man, I can’t let it go. As soon as I get off the phone with you. I’m in the backyard today. It’s my job. Well, I’m gonna but it’s gonna look good. It’s gonna be a good piece of the puzzle.

Unknown Speaker 1:04:53
Right? I get it and and that’s that’s inspiring itself and i and i think that’s inspiring. If you’re still a young person, that’s a great, you know, I’m what I’m talking about young person, a teenager, somebody who hasn’t quite grown up yet, you’re just starting out, and you have maybe some idea of where your life is going to go, you just be open to the possibilities and opportunities that come because things change, as you said, you know, you were pursuing a criminal justice degree, and, and didn’t even the thought hadn’t even occurred to you to be an actor until it happened. And then you were open to it. So I would say for very young people who were, you know, trapped in an idea of this is where my life’s gonna go with at 15 years old or whatever, be open to possibilities that it’s not going to go exactly as you plan. And there might be something better to coming your way that you don’t even see on the horizon.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:53
I you know, the old expression, listen, you know, your pictures not coming. But keep your eyes open, because it might, it might be a better picture, right? You know, just, you know, add self belief will, will help you paint your own picture.

minddog 1:06:11
Wow. Well, I can’t thank you enough for for spending this hour with me today. And providing your perspective and insight through, like, whatever it is 3540 years of experience in in acting and film. And I hope it’s been really powerful, as powerful for the people who are listening as it is for me, but I again, I just want to express my sincere gratitude for you taking taken an hour of your time today to spend it with me and share your insights.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:44
Absolutely. My pleasure, sir. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:47
You have a good day with the shrubs. And

Unknown Speaker 1:06:53
what else do I do? I’m running out a project. I don’t leave the house

Unknown Speaker 1:06:57
I hear you know, it’s a very it’s a very troubling time and and, you know, a lot of people are really fixated on the lockdown and I say dude, do something you know, creative in this time you got nothing else to do find something creative to do.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:15
Right? Shut thoughts down, do something right, gentle rain, meditate, you know, just do what you can. I mean, it would be these are these are tough times in so many ways, you know, in so many ways for so many people. God bless all of them all. But you know, and for those in the creative thing, if anybody was tuning in today, you know that, that anything that I said has some meaning for you. That’s fantastic. What an honor to share it with you.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:42
Great, thank you again, Bill. Have a great day.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:45
Till the next time my friend Yep. You got

Unknown Speaker 1:07:49
my for now.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:49
All right back.

minddog 1:07:52
Bill Fichtner everybody. great insight there. I can’t imagine that if you’re a creative person, you didn’t get something of real value from his insight and perspective and I really grateful to have him. Join us today and share it with us. Just a note, I want to thank my good friend Vinnie Florrie for hooking this up for me today. He actually was responsible for getting billed to be on the show and I did not want to say goodbye without thanking Vinnie, Vinnie. So Laurie, thank you very much, buddy. Till next time, and I hope you got a great deal out of this show. I hope you’ll share it with your friends. I hope you subscribe. Till next time, I’m Matt nappo for the mind dog TV podcast. Bye for now.

 

 

Robert J. Sciglimpaglia – Belair Productions – Voice Over Legal

Robert J. Sciglimpaglia, Jr. is an award winning actor, producer, best selling author, and attorney in the fields of entertainment, copyright/trademark, personal injury, and real estate law.His book Voice Over Legal”. covers all the legal aspects of becoming a voice-actor, from starting a business and establishing an LLC, to the proper contracts required to work as a voice actor. It also covers some of the basics of the business like agents and Performance Unions, such as SAG-AFTRA. Just two years later, his book was the #1 best-seller in Amazon’s entertainment law category.

Robert has a production company, Belair Productions, that has three short films that have brought home a combined 75 awards (and counting), which are running the festival circuit and are available for streaming on Amazon Prime and other platforms. Robert has appeared on National Television many times. He is best known as the DAD on the 2012 Chevy SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL, HAPPY GRAD. He appeared on HBO’s “The Duece” and has appeared several times on Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum”, Discovery ID’s “My Dirty Little Secret”, History Channels “Engineering an Empire”, a Recurring Role on Discovery ID’s “Watching the Detectives” and several others. He has appeared in a Guest Starring role on “The Perfect Murder” and “I’d Kill for You.” Robert’s very first venture into the acting field was a show called “American Experience: Hijacked!” which aired nationally on PBS-TV and was narrated by Campbell Scott. Since that time, he has appeared in numerous national projects with many big name stars, both in acting and voice overs such as: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnson, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon, Amy Adams, James Marsden, Denis Leary, Tatum O’Neal, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Edie Falco, Uma Thurman, Will Smith, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Chris Noth, his friend Ian Ziering in Sharknado 2, Lance Henriksen, Robert John Burke, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro and numerous others.

Besides television, he has done many film projects in leading or supporting roles. Most recently he shot a short film called “Within and Without” that he produced as well, where he won several best actor awards, and the film has won over forty festival awards. He also shot a Sci/Fi project where he is lead actor called ONE, starring opposite LANCE HENRIKSEN (“Aliens, Close Encounters. Millenium). Prior to that he shot another film with Lance and ROBERT JOHN BURKE called “BEING” and prior to that he shot a Romantic Comedy called “Get Happy!” in a supporting role, “Robert Robbins.”One of his most notable roles was a film called “Home/Sick” where he played the lead character suffering from agoraphobia. His portrayal of the character was so real, an actual sufferer of the disorder wrote him to express that to him. The film finished in the Top 10 out of 400 films for fan favorites in an on-line film competition. Other roles include films called “The Maltese Murder Mystery” where he played the supporting role of “Tony Figlia”, “A Fine Layer of Darkness” which premiered at the HFC Film Festival, where he played the lead role of “Samuel Halford”, “E:8 Think Tank”, “Mind Morgue” and “Demon of Lataran” produced by Legion Films, and a short film called “Il Portiere (The Janitor)” which won the San Marcos Film Festival, where he played the lead role of “The Janitor.” He has also worked on big names films like “Music and Lyrics”, “Enchanted”, “American Gangster”, “Julie and Julia”, Oscar winning “Man on Wire“ and “Life Before Her Eyes”.

Robert also played the role of Howard Wagner in a recent production of “Death of a Salesman”, as well as leading roles in the off Broadway plays “Tables”, “Downsized” and “Assaulting a Vagina” and “Widow’s Paradise”.

 

Websites & Social Media

https://www.robpaglia.com

https://www.robscigesq.com

IMDB – https://www.imdb.me/robertpaglia

Instagram – @robscig

Twitter – Robscig

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/robscig

Youtube – http://youtbe.com/robscig

 

The Queen Bee Of All Conspiracy Theories

The Bee Man has figured out a nationwide conspiracy to get people fat, lazy and porn addicted. He lays out and incredible plan perpetrated by them to get us. Some of the concepts discussed are graphic and include anal creampie gangbangs, a foot in the ass and 700, 000 piss videos

https://patreon.com/worldrecordpodcast

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/minddogtv

Sponsors:
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https://mybookie.com Promo Code minddog

https://record.webpartners.co/_6_DFqqtZcLQWqcfzuvZcQGNd7ZgqdRLk/1

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Entice Me Home

Transcript:

that’s, that’s kind of become, yeah, there’s a whole generation of people that because of the Kardashians, and because of reality television, that’s like, if you ask a lot of I bet if you asked a lot of high school kids what they want to be, and I don’t I don’t want to diminish the whole I’m sure there’s still like some smart kid, you know, whatever. It’s not a whole generation. But majority. There’s a lot of dumb asses. Where if you ask them, what they want to do what’s what are the what’s their goal? It would be just to be like, I don’t know, to be famous. Like, I just want to walk into the club, and have everybody turn their heads and know I’m here and it’s like, what do you want to be famous for? I don’t care. Like, I don’t know, rap or acting or, or just like, you know, just being me, you know, doing me. And that’s just like a real

Unknown Speaker 28:44
it’s just a real dumbing down of, I mean, I feel like this whole country has been intentionally dumbed down no question about it. Absolutely. He’s maybe I’m trying to, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but I think it’s probably somewhere in the 80s

Unknown Speaker 29:03
like even even down to like the

Unknown Speaker 29:07
you know, like the the like like the Bill Murray movies and stuff like the like where the hero was a total schlub loser who like Didn’t you know, didn’t want to exercise didn’t want to work that and it’s like getting a bunch of kids to idolize these like slackers maybe? Yeah, part of like a larger conspiracy of like, just have everybody just want to fuckin you know, party. Do beerbongs be like a Hawaiian shirt, dopey guy.

Unknown Speaker 29:37
party animal. Nair do well. And then another big thing I’ve been I’ve been talking about this with people lately because it’s just dawned on me. But like how is because this is also affected. We’re at a point now, where there’s a whole generation for the past 20 years where pornography has been

Unknown Speaker 30:00
plentiful and free. And an easy is easy to access as making a telephone call. And I find that to be very, very curious because the government can regulate anything they fuckin one. They can write a and it’s like, oh, the internet’s a new Oh, two new thing they didn’t know what to do. It’s like bullshit. Because that could have been the top story on every channel is like, okay, we have this new thing, the internet. There’s a lot of pornography. How do we figure this out? And it would have been very easy to put laws in place where you can just like, just have if you want to watch pornography, you have to put in a credit card number, and we’ll charge you one penny. We just need to. We just need proof. The only way you can’t just click and say yes, I’m a teen, there has to be a way for us to prove that you’re not eight years old about to watch an anal cream pie gang.

Unknown Speaker 31:04
Also, another thing with this plenty full free, readily available pornography. Things have been none of this shit existed 20 years ago, there was never such a thing as an angel cream pie, gaping to khaki gang bang, caulk gagging whoever, like there’s things that have been invented and like and like abusive, kind of like, you know, spinning in your faces slapping each at like, it’s like, This is all because everybody, you know, back back when we would have like a porno tape that was stashed away. And you get a chance or the inkling you get like a little warning or like, you know what I’m going to watch. I’m going to cue up my favorite part of that porno. Rub one out and my day, right now. It’s, uh,

Unknown Speaker 31:58
you know, it’s just regular meat and potatoes like you see, like, Oh, she’s an attractive lady. He’s an attractive man. Oh, look, they’re made. They’re having sex. I see everything graphically. You weren’t like, okay, I’ve seen enough of that. Can he try to stick his foot up her?

Unknown Speaker 32:16
acid right, like, for

Unknown Speaker 32:20
like, I mean, you just go on any like porno site, and they have all the categories. There’s there’s no world and hey, I’m not if you’re into pis, that’s fine. Like if you’re into getting peed on, whatever that’s that’s been around for a while, you know, like kinks had been around. But there should not be 750,000 pistes videos available on corn hub or whatever, whatever site and I feel like that has damaged because like what’s an easier society to take over? Like you feed them processed food for 30 years? give them free pornography. You got a bunch of fat people jacking off?

Unknown Speaker 33:03
What’s an easier country to just to conquer?

The Bee Man Cometh – Brendon Walsh – Host of The World Record Podcast

https://www.patreon.com/worldrecordpodcast

Brendon Walsh hosts the second funniest, and most mesmerizing podcast in the universe, The World Record Podcast, which can feature real celebrity guests, fake celebrity guests, prank calls and mayhem.

Bendon started performing stand-up comedy in Austin, Texas in 2002, He has appeared on The Price Is Right, Premium Blend, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Conan, Last Comic Standing, in sketches on the G4 network, @midnight, and The Bob & Tom Show. He toured from 2005 to 2008 as the opening act for Doug Stanhope.

Walsh has performed at the Vancouver Comedy Festival; Just for Laughs in Montreal; South by Southwest (SXSW); the first annual Bentzen Ball in Washington, D.C.; the Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas; the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon; and the Aspen Comedy Festival. In 2007, he won the $10,000 grand prize on the comedy stage at Famecast.com. In 2008, he was named one of the “Top Emerging Comedians” on AskMen.com.

On March 12, 2010, Walsh performed at A Night of 140 Tweets, a benefit for Haiti at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2011, he appeared on WTF with Marc Maron and The Joe Rogan Experience. He previously co-hosted a podcast, The Bone Zone, with Randy Liedtke, and Do You Know Who Jason Segel Is? podcast with Nick Thune on the All Things Comedy network. He currently hosts The World Record Podcast, wherein each week he and a guest analyze a different world record. Guests have included Melissa Villaseñor, Josh Gad, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Nolan, Jared Fogle, Michael Keaton, Tom Brady and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Ted Danson also appeared on the show to discuss his pursuit to break a bowling world record. In December 2020, he interviewed veteran celebrity traspo captain Dicker Troy.

Transcript:
Unknown Speaker 0:01
Everybody ready for the mind dog.

Minddog 0:25
And welcome my friends to yet another episode of the mind dog TV podcast. I’m Matt nappo. Thanks for coming. It’s great to have you here. As always, I know some people were expecting Rick Lee, the drummer from 10 years after today has been rescheduled to next Wednesday. I have a guest. I’m really excited about having on today actually more far more exciting. No, no offense directly. But I’m far more excited about the guests that I ended up having today. And I’m fortunate to have him here only because I stopped basically would not take no for an answer. He’s here today. And he’s got the best podcast that I’ve come across in a long time. Most interesting podcast, addictive and most unique, a podcast called the world class podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, please open your ears open your minds and help me welcome in the fabulously funny. Brendan Walsh wedding. Welcome. First order of business called the world record podcast will record what they call it world class podcast. It is a world class podcast it is. I have a problem with that. The brain is not connected often to the mouse. And as I mentioned it briefly before we got started. I’m a little nervous today because I wasn’t sure whether I was getting the B man or the stand up comic that Brendan Walsh is or George Washington scholar who makes me feel like I better be careful about the questions I asked. Well, the the Brendan Walsh the stand up comic is is dead. He’s now the big man. What happened was

Brendon Walsh 2:05
I Brendan Walsh was an investigative journalist on the side of being a stand up comedian, and I uncovered a plot by all the beekeepers to put mind control drugs in the honey in the honey supply. I uncovered that plot. And then one night, the beekeepers caught me snooping around their bee hives, and they all attacked me. They swarmed me. They held me down, they filled my mouth with bees. And then they sewed my mouth closed. And then the bees got into my system. And I became one with the bees. And now I’m the beam man. I’m don’t seem to be allergic to you. But I’ve tried to relate this story to my wife. And I’m glad you put it in words that I can actually play it back for it and concise, detailed events about what happened. So was that an assault or that was an assault? Basic run of the mill origin story to any superhero.

Minddog 3:07
So how has it affected your life? Being happy? It does it? Does it put any like changes on the way that you have to live your life.

Brendon Walsh 3:18
I just I have more powers I have the powers of the bees, I can summon bees. And I wouldn’t say I’m half and half. I mean, it’s just kind of intertwined. It’s like, way when Jeff Goldblum became the fly most very cool stuff. Like it’s all it’s all mixed into my system. A little scary. So the beam man now is, as I mentioned, is the moderator of the host of and the facilitator, I guess, of the world record podcast and I apologize for getting that wrong. The most, the most unusual podcast ever. And I have to tell you, I came in here one night to work on editing my podcast. And four hours later when my wife said, What are you doing? I said I got to start working on my podcast. She said he came in in four hours. I said I started watching this thing. And I went from one episode to another I can’t take my eyes off it it’s like fucking era when Oh,

Unknown Speaker 4:17
that’s that’s really good to hear. I’m glad to hear it. I’m glad to hear that you were watching it too because we started doing

Unknown Speaker 4:24
started doing video about

Unknown Speaker 4:27
maybe about 30 episodes ago. I’m not sure which episode we started with just you know, audio where I like, I like audio episodes I grew up listening to like Bob and Doug McKenzie and Cheech and Chong like all those old comedy albums like sketch comedy albums. And

Unknown Speaker 4:48
I always I, there’s just something about that, that I like because it’s not you know, it’s leaves a lot up to you to, to, you know, put together what these guys look like, and what’s going on and paint your own.

Unknown Speaker 5:00
scenario. And when we started the podcast because I had two podcasts before the world record podcast, I had the bone zone podcast. And do you know Jason Segel is they’re both just audio, and then starting this one, I was like, you know, I want to get more serious, you know, like, let’s, you know, that’s really a while serious, but I mean, you know, I guess my point is, like, you know, this isn’t going to just be a hobby, because we did the bone zone for six years. And there was no income ever really generated from that, even though it’s the funniest podcast that was ever made.

Unknown Speaker 5:38
So with this one, I’m like, let’s, you know, let’s really, let’s, let’s do this one, right? And everybody was saying, you need to everybody does video, you have to do video now. And I’m like, you know, our podcast isn’t just, you know, three comedians sitting around a table, telling road stories or whatever. So if I’m going to do video, I want to do something that lends its I want that to be another layer of the podcast. So absolutely. I get that. But it seems like it’s a lot of work in post or to get all the effects that you have for the video stuff, and makes it a much bigger job than doing just an audio podcast. Yeah. Yeah, it really does. I’ve been thinking about because also, I still don’t think, you know,

Unknown Speaker 6:25
I think the majority of the people are still just listening to it. Which is fine. I mean, that’s that’s how it was made. But I I’m into the video stuff we’re doing, I found a great, there’s a guy named drew Brown, who is a listener, like I kind of put a call out on discord or on the Patreon or something if anybody wants to help with editing and then he stepped up and he does, you know, right off the bat just doing started doing a great job. So Oh, good for him. And good for you. I’m Oh, by the way, the Patreon link is in the scroll there, it’s going across the bottom of the screen. It’s patreon.com slash world record podcast, I really urge you to support this thing, folks. And if you haven’t checked it out, please check it out. Now you do it’s weird, because you’re doing a premiere that seems like it’s live. Is that Monday nights is that when when you’re doing it, or is it every Monday night. I mean, that’s, that’s a new thing I just note because like I’ll upload to the way the you know, the episodes go we generally record about an hour and a half to two hours. And then I’ll put in you know, the way Patreon works, I put about half of it out for free and then the other if you want the other 90 minute or whatever, 40 minutes, whatever, it’s on the Patreon so with with the free videos, I put them up on YouTube. And I just noticed when I was

Unknown Speaker 7:50
uploading them, there’s an option to set as a premiere. And so I just like did that one night as a goof and was just kind of promoting it like whoa, big premiere live chat blah. And so, so I did it that night and it was kind of fun. And so I’m just like that’s just kind of another stupid layer of like the podcast to just have this like kind of pointless premiere of your free video.

Unknown Speaker 8:21
But it was fun to be part of the chat room and just

Unknown Speaker 8:26
but to see you there chatting chatting along. It’s like it’s can’t be live because he’s here answering questions. Yeah. Yeah, it’s kind of confusing. Yeah. might as well do it if they’re giving you the option to do I just don’t I guess other people do that. I don’t know. I don’t know what the point of the premiere is why premiere is is is not my thing. But I have pre taped interviews and then done the live thing through here played that video back through here with the live thing going in the corner and people advocate it was live and just watched it along with them and just kind of chuckled to myself with people thinking this is live and they’re trying to ask questions of the guests.

Unknown Speaker 9:06
There’s no way I could possibly do it because it happened last week. But yeah, remember there was a Mr. Show sketch. I assume you’re familiar you watched Mr. Show.

Unknown Speaker 9:17
There was a Mr. Show sketch for David Cross was doing a call in show like a live call in show where people would call into answer questions about a topic but it was the topic was pre taped. So everything everybody was calling in for he’s like that was last week. This week we’re talking about I forget exactly the dynamics of it, but it was one of those it’s such a funny sketch because it’s such a dumb idea. Right. But on the audio side now people are not going to get the fact that Tom Brady’s Tom Brady is wearing a helmet throughout the whole thing you have ever have to stop and say we need to describe this to the listeners because like

Unknown Speaker 10:00
You I have most of my listeners, most of my audience is on the listening side. I do the live stream just to kind of keep people engaged and stuff. But the numbers are minimal compared to that. So yeah, I have to always remind myself, I’m really doing this for the audio people. So I need to remind people of what, and explain to people what they’re looking at. Do you have that? Uh, you know, I feel like more recently we’ve been because now I feel like the what we’re doing is more geared like we’re starting to gear it more towards that, assuming everybody’s watching it, you know, like, not so much visual but there there are kind of a lot of visual gags that are Oh tensional and, and then with the editing, the stuff drew puts in there is you know, definitely adds another comedic element visually. But, uh, no, I always forget to you know, like the Tom Brady. I don’t know if I told any wearing helmets all times. I know. So if you only heard it on, on the audio podcast, you need to go check out the video now and see what you’re missing. That’s that’s my point there. I’ll also be on the Patreon too. He shows he shows his penis at the end of the of the end at the end of the episode. Oh, I just joined Patreon this morning. I’m gonna have to go check that out. Very at the very end of the night like I’m hungry to see Tom Brady’s penis, but it’s it’s naturally curious. I am a little curious about it. Because now that you’ve said also, you’ve gotten some great guests and with veal. You know, obviously, before Brendan died when he was doing stand up you always knew it was humor. NET sometimes we’re on the podcast stuff your old podcast, the current podcast I taught to tell when you’re kidding and when you’re when you’re trying to be funny or you just are being funny or just really being serious and you get me sometimes

Unknown Speaker 11:58
with the Cooper Minh tire guy was the first time I saw you almost break character and crack a smile at what was going on and kind of hit that there were some humor there. Sometimes you you just take the call so seriously. The man is is locked in the zone here with asking these questions. It’s just it’s it’s remarkable see you don’t break character and laugh tough there was a I lost it recently. Oh, when man the a train Amanda and her backstory is that she was carrying a bunch of batteries. She’s the a train she has the speed of the trains. And she was carrying a bunch of batteries across the train tracks and then got hit by a train and she got fused with the batteries. And now she has the speed of a train. But we were calling New York pizza places

Unknown Speaker 12:55
just acting like it just saying we need a slice of that New York pizza.

Unknown Speaker 13:00
And

Unknown Speaker 13:02
and I said then I told him we call one place and I said I’m gonna get I was like you need to deliver it to the top of the Empire State Building I’m going to eat that New York pizza

Unknown Speaker 13:12
and I’m gonna diary off the side of the Empire State Building off the top of the Empire State Building. And then the a train said you know, you have to be careful because if you do diarrhea from the top of the Empire State Building it builds up so much velocity that it could kill somebody on the street when they’re walking by and that I couldn’t contain my you that made me laugh really hard. Superman tires thing.

Unknown Speaker 13:38
I actually just designed a T shirt for Cooperman tires that I’m going to start selling

Unknown Speaker 13:44
but the when we called the the and I can send you a clip. I don’t know if you play clips but I have a short clip of that call.

Unknown Speaker 13:53
We call the tire place. Lizzie Cooperman was our guest and I just randomly introducing her one time because she’s been on the podcast a handful times she’s a great guest we just like have a lot of fun with her. And I just I introduced her I said

Unknown Speaker 14:09
CEO or the heiress of the Cooper my entire fortune

Unknown Speaker 14:13
and just Cooperman tire just sounded like it sounds like a real thing right and so we just kind of stuck with that ever since I you know made her the errors and CEO of Cooper tires now Now we so we call the tire place and she said that they have a new line of fruit roll up tires. tires that are made of like fruit roll up material I guess we call the place seeing if they could

Unknown Speaker 14:40
if they if they got the shipment of fruit roll up tires and and the guys like I don’t know what you’re talking about. We know we don’t have flavored tires here. We just have regular tires. And Lizzy said Oh no, I think it might be because we sent them prove tires and I said oh is that what it is? Did you get pruned tires and there was a

Unknown Speaker 15:00
New incidents? And the guy said due to incident that’s what I’m most laugh because I did not expect the guy say, I don’t know what what are you talking about due to incident? There was no who did I don’t know what you’re talking about we don’t have tires and lug doodoo.

Unknown Speaker 15:16
He said, I mean, that’s one of my favorite calls. I mean, granted it’s it’s very recent but it I mean to have somebody say do to get them to repeat a new incident or do it wasn’t doing similar do do it was to do it today. Yeah, there were two terms that I was using. But either way Yeah, to get him to say just do repeat do two, four or five times, right? Like I mean, that’s just like a gold star in the crank call.

Unknown Speaker 15:47
handbook. It did you do a lot of crank clothes as a kid because you seem to have the knack for most people in your situation doing that, at some point with like, wow, this person is so stupid. I don’t know where to go from here or just lose, lose the ability to keep them on the line, you have an uncanny ability to keep some of those people on 1415 minutes where I know if I tried that they would be bailing in 30 or 45 seconds. Yeah. Is that a skill you learned as a kid? Did you? Were you trained in that self train? Well, I mean, you know, like any kid around, you know, anybody around my age? I feel like maybe within 10 years of

Unknown Speaker 16:32
I don’t know, crap, making prank calls was just a thing that you did as a as a kid, you know? especially before even caller ID or when caller ID came out that kind of put the Yeah, I probably stopped a lot of people from making prank calls. And

Unknown Speaker 16:49
now with cell phones, I mean, you can’t you can’t you’re limited to businesses because nobody answers a strange number.

Unknown Speaker 16:56
But yeah, I’ve been doing it my whole life, I guess. I mean, I’ve just always had I always liked that stuff. You know, like the jerky boys. When I was introduced to the jerky boys, I was just like, this is next level. And that was even this is how old I am, is that I was working. I was probably like, I don’t know, 19 or something. And I had a job as a security guard, like an overnight security guard at this place at this, uh, this building in Philadelphia. And one of the guys that I worked with one of the other security guards who worked upstairs came in and he had a cassette tape. And he’s like, dude, have you ever heard of the jerky boys? I was like, no. And he gave it to me. And this was like the bootleg before the jerky boys had like a record deal. And before the internet, like things would just kind of spread people would make copies of the tapes. That’s the same thing with the south part. That Jesus versus Santa as like a Christmas card to I don’t know, they made that and it just kind of got passed around. And then you know, and then it becomes a real thing. But I got the jerky boys, bootleg. And then you know, all there, they have more albums than people realize, too. And they’re just they’re so funny. It’s some of them are dated. There’s one I was playing for Amanda, we’re on a road trip. And she had never really heard the jerky boys. were listening all the time. And really, you know, great stuff. But there were a couple where you’re like, oh, man, this is so like, there’s one where, like, it’s so even before 911 you know, like it’s like a few years before 911 and a guy called one of them because it was the guy Johnny Brennan. And then I forget the other guy’s name, but he was like, Middle Eastern or Indian or something. And he would always do like a call like this. And he calls he calls it a bomb threat to a pizza place. He’s like, I bomb you. I blow you up and it’s just like, oh my god that like that just shows you what a different world we’re living in. I mean, not that it’s acceptable to do that ever but

Unknown Speaker 19:03
on like a published like that wasn’t a bootleg that was like released by Capitol Records or whatever.

Unknown Speaker 19:09
On like jerky boys three or four. They had more albums than you remember. I actually did something very similar way before jerky boys existed. I was working in a gas station during the midnight shift. You know, one of those, you know, you just stay in the booth and people give you their money, that type of thing. And so guys came up friends of mine, that we smoked them joint and they went over to jack in a box across the street and to get some food and I saw them waiting on line. I said Man, this is a long time. So I called the jack in the box and I said listen, there’s two men at the counter. One of them has a hand grenade. The other one is got a machine gun. And don’t don’t feed these men. They are very dangerous men. So they were standing there on one like 45 minutes. All of a sudden I saw cops coming into the parking lot getting on the roof and the whole bit cops get behind my friends and they’re standing right behind them online and all of a sudden you see them throwing them against the wall.

Unknown Speaker 20:02
And then they got him interrogating them. And they asked him, Do you know anybody who might want to set you up like this? And they didn’t see me across the street like, laughing.

Unknown Speaker 20:12
They did not rat me out, but I didn’t know. And this is like 1979 or something. My friend, my friend had a half and a half pound of weed stuck in the back of his jacket. The cops found it. And they were but they couldn’t do anything about it because he was a victim. Not not. It was an illegal stretching, set up and

Unknown Speaker 20:31
a half pound of weed like wow, yeah, that’s an awful, awful, awful thing you did.

Unknown Speaker 20:38
I know. I was. I was kidding. There’s a long time. I don’t think I’m still on the hook for that. 1979 but I was not.

Unknown Speaker 20:47
I wasn’t good with the prank call for prank phone calls. Like you wouldn’t be able to hold them up online. I don’t you know, it’s kind of shifted to with the crank calls that we’re doing are like,

Unknown Speaker 21:01
I feel like they’re getting less. I mean, not less jokey. I mean, I still think they’re I feel like they’re a lot of them geared towards just like, interesting, where it’s almost like a social, like kind of just finding out like that. There’s just people that are completely different than you are especially like, not to sound like a fogy. But, you know, like young young people, like people that are like 20 not even that young. 30s didn’t know how David Letterman was. And I was like, how can you be 30 years old and not know David Letterman? I mean, that’s true. I, but you know, everybody’s Do you have to?

Unknown Speaker 21:41
You know, I mean, that’s just like, if that’s not the world you grew, you know, like the guy I think was in Florida, worked at a pet store had sounded like he had kind of a rural upbringing. Like if his folks weren’t watching David Letterman. And he doesn’t have like a bent you know, if he’s not like interested in comedy outside of, I don’t know, the hangover or whatever, then I don’t know. Like, I feel like I can. It’s easy to just jump to like, Oh my god, you idiot, but it’s like,

Unknown Speaker 22:14
Yeah, I don’t know. I can cut people some slack sometimes, but it is baffling. Like, like, cuz that guy like didn’t know anything. Right? Everything I threw at him. He’s like, Nope, never heard of that. No, no.

Unknown Speaker 22:29
Like, I don’t remember specifics, but like he didn’t know David Letterman was he didn’t know Jimmy Fallon was. Yeah, Jimmy Fallon. Right. How can you be 30 in that? No, Fallon?

Unknown Speaker 22:40
I don’t know. Yeah, I bet he knows who the Kardashians are, though. You know, I’m the opposite. You can hit me with anything. You know, that’s really current. And I wouldn’t know it cuz i don’t i took television out of my house, like 12 years ago. So I feel like here’s but with like the Kardashians and shit like that. You have to go. You still have to buy food. So you have to go to the grocery store. And every fuckin like the Kardashians are just like a trillion dollar industry or something like they have. They must. I would love to get behind the scenes of like, what makes that fucking awful, awful machine. oiled and still going for more than a decade? Because every time you go to a grocery store, I you know, see for yourself. There’s at least three magazine covers with a Kardashian or a big Kardashian. You know, if it’s not a photograph of one of them. There’s a big bowl by Kardashian brought a ferret or something or like Courtney’s weight loss secrets or, and it’s like how many people you know like, how many millions of dollars are they spending on like these weird fucking PR firms? Are you because you know, there’s a there’s somebody who’s just like, on top of Like Us Weekly where they’re like you Okay, what’s the Kardashian? We gotta have a Kardashian. We don’t get a Kardashian on the cover, then you don’t get the fucking Ryan Seacrest story. Like there’s got to be just like a couple companies that control that are like the spicket of bullshit fucking gossip, that then they just like work with these awful magazines. And they’re just like, Listen, okay, we’ll give you a fucking Blake Shelton story, but you’ve got to run this fucking Miley Cyrus. It’s just it’s just awful. Awful that it’s like because you can’t really escape it like you go to the grocery store. And you’re gonna you got to stand in line at the grocery store. That you don’t really I go to the the self checkout No matter how much I have just to point out there’s there’s still like the mat. They still have like the gum and candy like they have that impulse buy shit and

Unknown Speaker 24:53
yeah, and there’s a famous now for 20 years or more for having absolutely no talent or

Unknown Speaker 25:00
not adding anything to humanity, no value to the world. It’s genius. honest, it’s kind of genius because it all just started from a sex tape from Kim Kardashian. Like, blowing a guy. Like a rapper, AJ.

Unknown Speaker 25:17
And she was like getting boned and sucking and fucking and.

Unknown Speaker 25:22
And that got leaked out. Maybe by them or maybe I mean, it’s definitely turning, you know, lemons into lemonade. I mean,

Unknown Speaker 25:31
yeah, I don’t know. But that’s really that’s what it’s all about. I mean, the timeline, the chronological. I mean, the her father also, you know, defended OJ Simpson and was friends with oj, I remember that very well. Yeah. And then but then the second coming was like her blowing a guy and then all of a sudden, a billion dollar a year, multi billion dollar a year industry because like, they all kind of have their own bullshit that people are buying into, which is fine. doesn’t take any money out of my pocket. I mean, I think it’s just, it’s just shows how vapid a lot of people are. Absolutely. And you know what, we went through a period between 2000 to 2010, where every I think you’re right about the idea of leaking it yourself. Every celebrity or every girl celebrity young girl celebrity was trying to was caught with a blowjob tape, or purposely put out the blowjob tape making it seem like somebody else had done it surreptitiously. But it was a way to get more attention on them, you know, inside the blow job paperwork. thing of 2000.

Unknown Speaker 26:36
That’s a good, that’s a good alias to sign into a hotel under BJ tapes.

Unknown Speaker 26:43
Yeah, like Paris Hilton had one after that. And I wonder if that was like, if she’s like, Hey, I’m fucking pointless to but I can, like, you know, because it’s just like, Oh, I have even I’m equally as untalented and pointless as this Kardashian. Or, I can do the same thing and maybe get more money even though my parents are like, you know, already super wealthy because my great grandfather started a fucking hotel chain. Right. Yeah, I think that that was definitely the case with her. I mean, it was anything for attention. And, you know, she was trying to do everything, record albums, and whatever. And but, you know, famous is a strange thing. Some people just want to be famous. I had a kid on the show who that was his whole quest. And he mainly went as far as like, making, trying to capitalize on a gay bashing attack that happened to him, who came on the show, basically wanting to tell a story about that. And then he opened up with a big blazer and tattoo on his chest and said, Avenue entertainer and said, I started by saying, I gotta get on Elon, that’s like, what the fuck does that have to do with getting attacked? I mean, so you using me? and telling the story just to be famous? It’s just like, well, that’s, that’s, that’s kind of become, yeah, there’s a whole generation of people that because of the Kardashians, and because of reality television, that’s like, if you ask a lot of I bet if you asked a lot of high school kids what they want to be, and I don’t I don’t want to diminish the whole I’m sure there’s still like some smart kid, you know, whatever. It’s not a whole generation. But majority. There’s a lot of dumb asses. Where if you ask them, what they want to do what’s what are the what’s their goal? It would be just to be like, I don’t know, to be famous. Like, I just want to walk into the club, and have everybody turn their heads and know I’m here and it’s like, what do you want to be famous for? I don’t care. Like, I don’t know, rap or acting or, or just like, you know, just being me, you know, doing me. And that’s just like a real

Unknown Speaker 28:44
it’s just a real dumbing down of, I mean, I feel like this whole country has been intentionally dumbed down no question about it. Absolutely. He’s maybe I’m trying to, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but I think it’s probably somewhere in the 80s

Unknown Speaker 29:03
like even even down to like the

Unknown Speaker 29:07
you know, like the the like like the Bill Murray movies and stuff like the like where the hero was a total schlub loser who like Didn’t you know, didn’t want to exercise didn’t want to work that and it’s like getting a bunch of kids to idolize these like slackers maybe? Yeah, part of like a larger conspiracy of like, just have everybody just want to fuckin you know, party. Do beerbongs be like a Hawaiian shirt, dopey guy.

Unknown Speaker 29:37
party animal. Nair do well. And then another big thing I’ve been I’ve been talking about this with people lately because it’s just dawned on me. But like how is because this is also affected. We’re at a point now, where there’s a whole generation for the past 20 years where pornography has been

Unknown Speaker 30:00
plentiful and free. And an easy is easy to access as making a telephone call. And I find that to be very, very curious because the government can regulate anything they fuckin one. They can write a and it’s like, oh, the internet’s a new Oh, two new thing they didn’t know what to do. It’s like bullshit. Because that could have been the top story on every channel is like, okay, we have this new thing, the internet. There’s a lot of pornography. How do we figure this out? And it would have been very easy to put laws in place where you can just like, just have if you want to watch pornography, you have to put in a credit card number, and we’ll charge you one penny. We just need to. We just need proof. The only way you can’t just click and say yes, I’m a teen, there has to be a way for us to prove that you’re not eight years old about to watch an anal cream pie gang.

Unknown Speaker 31:04
Also, another thing with this plenty full free, readily available pornography. Things have been none of this shit existed 20 years ago, there was never such a thing as an angel cream pie, gaping to khaki gang bang, caulk gagging whoever, like there’s things that have been invented and like and like abusive, kind of like, you know, spinning in your faces slapping each at like, it’s like, This is all because everybody, you know, back back when we would have like a porno tape that was stashed away. And you get a chance or the inkling you get like a little warning or like, you know what I’m going to watch. I’m going to cue up my favorite part of that porno. Rub one out and my day, right now. It’s, uh,

Unknown Speaker 31:58
you know, it’s just regular meat and potatoes like you see, like, Oh, she’s an attractive lady. He’s an attractive man. Oh, look, they’re made. They’re having sex. I see everything graphically. You weren’t like, okay, I’ve seen enough of that. Can he try to stick his foot up her?

Unknown Speaker 32:16
acid right, like, for

Unknown Speaker 32:20
like, I mean, you just go on any like porno site, and they have all the categories. There’s there’s no world and hey, I’m not if you’re into pis, that’s fine. Like if you’re into getting peed on, whatever that’s that’s been around for a while, you know, like kinks had been around. But there should not be 750,000 pistes videos available on corn hub or whatever, whatever site and I feel like that has damaged because like what’s an easier society to take over? Like you feed them processed food for 30 years? give them free pornography. You got a bunch of fat people jacking off?

Unknown Speaker 33:03
What’s an easier country to just to conquer? Yeah, yeah, I get that. And you’re absolutely right. I mean, ain’t no cream price. A gang bags did that not exist in my day, we had stag films that your uncle captain, you had to kind of figure out how to get the screws off of the hinges so you could watch it. But I think they run out of things to shock people. But I had an 18 year old freshman college student comedian, just beginning comedian right before COVID hit. He did his first couple of stand up gigs. Beautiful bit about the night they turned off the dorm. turned off the pornography. He said just the audible scream what you could hear from a mile away. And then we ran out into the hall and every guy that is sticking his pants

Unknown Speaker 33:51
sticking around. They turned it off. So like they blocked porno sites on the on the Wi Fi. Yeah. But they don’t know I’m not a you know, I’m not approved by any means. But I just you know, like I said it’s something and yet 20 years later, I mean, I had bits about that about how like, things are being invented and like CoQ gagging is like it’s like why are you trying to do that? She’s a nice lady. Why are you doing that? You’re already down there giving you a Billy Joel. Why are you trying to murder her? That’s one of my bits. Yeah, that’s a mosh pit to be man has new deuterium. Oh, yeah. Well, one of your old bits. I Brendan’s old bits from 2012. I saw recently and I thought wow, how far behind New York is because you were talking about getting your medical marijuana card. I just got mine. That was 2011 2012 or something. I just got mine two months ago. And a month later, they made it legal in New York and I called up my friend I said, they made it legal in New York. He said you know what this means? I said, Yeah, it means I wasted fucking money on a medical marijuana card. That’s what it means. But what is that right?

Unknown Speaker 35:00
Do you like 50 bucks or something? Oh no yeah doctor visit was 145 and then another 75 or 80 for the card and then you have to renew it but I’m not gonna renew it now but well they had that out here with I mean now it’s you don’t need anything you can just go to a dispensary

Unknown Speaker 35:16
but even when it was the medical marijuana cards there were just these, you know, store shop places you’d walk into, they’d say, what’s wrong with you? You’d be like I’m scared of everything. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 35:29
That’s what it was like for me with the doctor was a zoom call and she said, What’s the matter? I said, I got chronic pain. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so it’s still that way. And but it’s a matter of money. But it’s another thing you know, like the government Well, whatever. I’m not trying to get on a big my hair’s like doing like a like, what it is Yeah, mine is

Unknown Speaker 35:53
but just the the you know, the fact that marijuana has been illegal this whole time. And like cigarettes and alcohol, which are proven to just be fucking awful for you not to get into a whole conspiratorial thing but I’m just like, you know, the government like there are kind of vast conspiracies like you know, when people talk about like anything like 911 it’s like oh, that’s impossible. Nobody would do that. It’s like look at fucking do some research see what governments have done throughout history nothing’s fucking impossible. You know that just be that dismissive.

Unknown Speaker 36:30
Just watch the Godfather if history has taught us anything, it that you can kill anybody?

Unknown Speaker 36:36
Yeah, totally. And it’s usually is like the the first person like yeah, watch a, you know, Forensic Files. It’s like, yeah, it was the wife or the husband. It’s whoever benefits you know, and then that works on grander scales, like governments and

Unknown Speaker 36:53
you know, and corporate you know, corporations and governments like can collude and do things to fuck everybody over people do that, you know? Every day Yeah, guys right now figuring out a way how to screw their friend out of $100 Yeah, why do you think the further up you get there are people like that? Well, it’s just that it’s really hard to keep a secret and the bigger something gets the more people get involved the more likely is somebody is going to come out and spill the beans somewhere along the line that’s that’s my whole take on some of the big conspiracy theories. I got to get your take on this because everybody’s fleeing la all comedians are fleeing LA and going to Austin you started in less than a year out in LA. What is your take on this whole mass migration of funny people out to Austin? I mean, you know, it’s honestly it’s it’s funny we were talking about you know, last year, probably last year around April of last year when the all this because it’s been insane here in Los Angeles with just like,

Unknown Speaker 37:59
you know, businesses going under like the lockdowns and it’s been it’s been over the top and and work to and the cost of living so I was talking with

Unknown Speaker 38:13
with the a train about like, maybe we should move to Austin you know, cuz I was like, we need to get out of here. I can’t fucking take this anymore.

Unknown Speaker 38:23
And I couldn’t I’d like to move to the to the Pacific Northwest. But either way, Austin I’m like, I know Austin. I love Austin still when we look on Zillow for places to rent I know exactly where they are and

Unknown Speaker 38:37
and then about you know, five months later Joe Rogan out there and and that’s that’s really the you know, that’s that’s why it’s Joe Rogan is is the most powerful person in he’s the most powerful comedian he’s he’s a cult leader in history in history. Yeah. in history in the sense that like he could and I’m I I’m friends with Joe I’m not you know,

Unknown Speaker 39:07
I’m not as entrenched in like the, you know, that whole scene click. When I mean, I’m friends. I’m friendly with all those guys. And, and Joe, I did you know, I toured with Joe a little bit a while back. And so I’m, you know, I’m not saying this with any kind of, no, I mean, it’s a but because it is kind of but Joe’s like a cult leader. I mean, he is like, the power that he has to

Unknown Speaker 39:35
like people do because there were guys like Sam Kinison, right he used to tour around with a group of guys called like the outlaws of comedy. And then when Sam died like, you know, some of these guys their careers went on but they went from you know, doing like these arena shows to back at like these, you know, clubs, small clubs, and granted they wouldn’t keep doing arena shows, but Joe’s path

Unknown Speaker 40:00
Is that like he can, he could get, he could pick a random person off the street, have them on his podcast, and then say go see this person do comedy. They’ve never done comedy before. But they’re going to be at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Friday and Saturday go see them, those shows will sell out. Just because Joe said, Go see this person, they’re gonna try comedy for the milk, no doubt about he made 30 million sales on a book that kind of suck because he said it was a good book. I mean, and not not to take away from the author who wrote the book, I thought it sucked that put it that way could still be subjective. But his power and influence isn’t astonishing, considering where it started, because I looked at some of his first podcast episodes, and there’s no way and you would think in nine years, 10 years down the road, this is going to be the most influential person on the planet as far as getting being able to sell merchandise, sell a new comedian, sell a new musician, whatever. I know, people who’ve gotten into bands, like the black keys, just because Joe had him on on his podcast, and that’s like, it’s, it’s amazing. And that’s like, yeah, that’s my only

Unknown Speaker 41:13
idea. Just,

Unknown Speaker 41:15
it’s Yeah, it’s really incredible to see that kind of power. And I think it’s like, I get you know, like, I’ve never talked to Joe about it, but that it’s probably I mean, he’s very healthy and like, you know, the amount that he exercises and stuff. I mean, I think he needs to do that to keep his head screwed on straight. I mean, the the weed smoking. I mean, I think if I achieved that level, I it would be hard to keep it together mentally, you know, totally, totally. I you know, you’d start I mean, I don’t know I you know, be that’s it. That’s a different that’s a level where, like, people are taking notes. Like, you know, the government knows about Joe Rogan. And they’re watching Joe Rogan, and I, you know, I’m sure I don’t know if he’s ever gotten a call. And I know, I’m sounding like Alex Jones, but, I mean, I’m sure there aren’t like, you know,

Unknown Speaker 42:08
there are things that maybe you would that I mean, if I were him, I would be like maybe I shouldn’t really delve too deep into this thing that we’re you know, I don’t know like an Epstein thing or I can’t even think of an example but

Unknown Speaker 42:25
I want to know knocking on my door. Or it gets some weird No, you know, saying like, Hey, you better candidate on the fuckin Epstein shit if you know what’s good for you.

Unknown Speaker 42:36
But I don’t know. I mean, he’s I don’t I don’t listen to his show that much.

Unknown Speaker 42:42
So I don’t know. I mean, I feel like he he gets into conspiracy stuff. And he’s not afraid to talk about anything. So I think most his friends like Eddie Bravo will come on and talk conspiracy stuff. He generally is the voice of reason in that room and I don’t listen that much anymore. He that there was a time when I listened like every day when I was traveling, commuting. I don’t commute anymore. So there’s no no reason to. But it’s funny that you say mentioned called and it’s because I had done a video on the cult of Dan, Doug Stan hope and basically thing saying that his influence over the killer termites was very cult like and the killer termites loved it. They I mean, they they were like, Yeah, he right on you got you hit it, right. I think, you know, sometimes, you know, influence can be a dangerous thing. But and sometimes, you know, people can just latch on to that and be proud to wear that. You know, I would think if you said I was in a cult, I would be a little insulted. But I always expected to kind of have to defend myself. Nobody. Nobody got angry at me. They’ll say yeah, that’s pretty. Pretty, right? It is like a church like a cult. Religion. But the thing about stand up I said for a guy who, who is totally anti religion and most of his materials against different religions. It kind of is a religion. Right?

Unknown Speaker 44:01
It kind of changes the ballgame in some some respects. Yeah, but enough that those guys they don’t need us talking about them. Well, me. Yeah. Let’s talk about you. Let me bring that back in. Where is that? Oh, well, record podcast, the most unusual a different type of video podcast, vlog vodcast if you want to call it you’ll ever find

Unknown Speaker 44:28
it you have to see it. It’s beyond explanation. But I have to warn you this you cannot just watch one episode your wife will have to or your significant other will have to come in and drag you out and say get the wife in on it. You know, my pregnant I’m still trying to explain to her the whole baby thing and I don’t I don’t do it very articulately. And

Unknown Speaker 44:51
she’s just looks at me like

Unknown Speaker 44:55
I had my mouth filled with bees. So to close them out. The bees got into my system and now I’m wondering

Unknown Speaker 45:00
The BS. She said, Does he really believe that? Yeah, I said, You know, I can’t tell when he’s kidding. And when he’s not. I know you have to go. you’re short on time, but I do have to kind of get get some clarity on. You and I have something in common. I think I’ve got bad banned from Twitter more than you did. You got you got banned from Twitter for

Unknown Speaker 45:27
pretending to be Donald Trump Jr. But not really pretending that you made it pretty obvious that you weren’t him, right? No, it was pretty. It’s pretty confusing. And I have to give a shout out to jomar neighbors who’s a another super funny comedian who’s legitimately crazy. I love jemar and jemar. On Twitter, he he did this first like one night I was scrolling through Twitter.

Unknown Speaker 45:53
And he changed his profile to be Donald Trump and changed you know, if you have a

Unknown Speaker 45:59
What do they call it with the check? idea. So if you have a verified account, you can change you know, your handles still the same, but you could change the banner, the photo and then the name. So he copied everything from Donald Trump’s Twitter page. And and the only thing that would tip you off it said at Jamar neighbors but that’s in small like you don’t barely see that. And it’s verified. So I was scrolling through Twitter and I came across like a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. That just said like, something completed just said, like y’all are gay or something like that. And I was like, What the fuck? And it took me you know, took me a couple seconds I go, Oh, shit, that’s jamara That’s hilarious. So

Unknown Speaker 46:45
another night or either way, you know, I messaged him was like, dude, that’s the funniest shit I’ve ever seen. And then he would always he would impersonate different celebrities change his whole page, and just tweet this crazy shit. And one night we were but I was up late, scrolling through, and he’s acting like Donald Trump again. So I changed, like Mike Pence. And we’re get it you know, we’re just having these insane conversations on Twitter. And it really at first glance, it really looks like Donald Trump and Mike Pence, they’re saying these things. And so then on the day, that and then and then we change our things back and nothing ever happened. But then the day that they whatever day that it’s on my new Twitter account.

Unknown Speaker 47:31
Like November, whatever day they called the election when they said Joe Biden’s the winner. I was like, Oh, you know, it’d be funny. I’ll just change my profile to Donald Trump Jr. For a few minutes and do some tweets. And I just was like, you know, this is bullshit. Me and Eric are putting out a pot of coffee and we’re gonna figure this thing out. The Trump Organization is the wheels are in motion for the Trump Organization to buy the White House So good luck getting in there sleepy Joe. I literally did like five tweets or something. And people you know, the replies were everybody you know, everybody was kind of in a frenzy at that point. like yeah, we won or like fuck this shit and and

Unknown Speaker 48:10
literally did it for about 10 minutes and then I was like, okay, that’s I’m gonna go change my change it back to my own profile and and then it said, your account is suspended and

Unknown Speaker 48:21
and they won’t give it back. They tried.

Unknown Speaker 48:25
But this stupid in some way. I mean, I’ve been stupid and I gave him credit for because when I got in, this happened to me a couple of times. Now I’ll confess I’ve been bad. But when I had to go to great lengths to try to not let them know that it was me starting a new account again, you’re new and I don’t know if I should even say this, but your new account doesn’t go far to hide who you really are, and they can’t figure it out. That’s my new account. Well, you know, you just you need a whole new email address. I mean, and that’s kind of getting my Twitter account taken away from me with that Donald Trump shit was

Unknown Speaker 49:01
one of the worst moves that I’ve made like not that my life revolves around Twitter, but you know, I had about 80,000 followers verified account which does make a difference when it comes to like promoting things like it’s you’re elevated in the feed and you know, again with this with the world record podcast, my only real

Unknown Speaker 49:24
promotional tools are Twitter and Instagram and and it really kind of like neutered me that Twitter it’s like nobody seeing any of the you know, I have like six 7005 don’t even know what I have.

Unknown Speaker 49:39
But a fraction of that and I doubt they’ll verify me again. So like it’s ruin that, you know, that promotional tool and another side effect was I had a great thing going for about 10 years. I had a family on Twitter Trish and Trevor Walsh and and we would get in these fights it next week.

Unknown Speaker 50:00
Trish while she lived in Philly, hated me. And I was behind on my child support. And then Trevor was like this little psycho. And I would get in these fights with them. And, you know, it was a fun, great thing. And a lot of people didn’t know, like I had people who should know better. Back when I started, where they’re like, do you have an ex wife and a kid in Philly?

Unknown Speaker 50:19
And now people don’t know when you’re getting even your friends? Don’t I’ve put this to the test. But how well Yeah, no. And I discovered that to that again, until it wasn’t until my

Unknown Speaker 50:32
well trician Trevor, all my side accounts that I would have fun with all got caught, I guess they just looked at the IP address they came from or something, but they managed to just shut down all the fun that I was having. And

Unknown Speaker 50:47
the

Unknown Speaker 50:50
I forget what I was gonna say, You’ve lost your family. I mean, basically, they took that away from you. And I and I, the the the other thing about not knowing when I’m joking, is I just don’t you know, Twitter. I don’t I don’t take anything that seriously. I mean, I take things seriously, you know, I have kids, and you know, I’m not a total whack job. But as far as Twitter, I’m like, I’m a fucking comedian. This is a platform like, you know, be all about whatever social, you know, any social stuff. Go ahead and tweet about whatever, you know, you want to tweet about. And I but I feel like everybody else is picking up the slack on that. Like, I don’t need to broadcast that. Like, yes, I’m on the right side of history with everything because I’m a rational guy. But I assume people know that about me and they don’t and I tweet these insane things like on my old account, like one good thing about the account being shut down. I’m like, Oh, well, now. It’s gonna be you know, people are gonna dig up something from 2009 rice. It’s something wildly inappropriate. Just because it was more acceptable to say something out like completely outrageous.

Unknown Speaker 52:03
They can’t cancel you. What are you gonna do SWAT? Yeah, get some raid. I mean, I do enough. Yeah, I could cancel myself.

Unknown Speaker 52:11
become self canceled. I come close to it. But yeah, but the I my old. I was talking to one of the guy Dan Cronin, who’s a writer for Conan Dan Cronin, writer for coding.

Unknown Speaker 52:25
But he we were messaging about something. And, and I said, it didn’t dawn on me until they took my Twitter account away where I was. I thought, I wonder if Twitter if my Twitter account has cost me work by tweeting crazy things, and, you know, getting in weird fake fights. And I mentioned that, because I think we’re tweeting or texting about work or whatever. And I was like, yeah, you know, I think Twitter might have, I might have fucked myself with my old Twitter. And he was just like, you definitely did.

Unknown Speaker 53:01
And he’s like you. He’s like, I thought you were an insane asshole until I met you. And we did a show together. And you’re a totally normal, nice guy. But your Twitter presence, you seem like a psychopath. And I guarantee you, you’ve been up for jobs. And they just googled, you looked at your Twitter and said, You know what, I don’t know what this guy’s deal is. But he just said like, I support Bill Cosby. Or

Unknown Speaker 53:27
like some other outrageous. Yeah, and you’re absolutely right. You definitely have been because I have been in I am crazy on social media. But I don’t reach to some of the depths that you’re doing. I say that in a very complimentary way. I want woke up. I woke my wife up one night, laughing hysterically and at the phone, she said What the fuck? It’s so funny. And I pointed to one of your tweets about peeping tom in your heart was beating. It seems like it’s real. Why is he Why is he posting it? I said, I’m pretty sure it’s just kidding about this, but you’d never know what this guy I that’s, you know, it’s hard for me to I get caught up in the moment of making myself laugh. Get involved in the comedy business.

Unknown Speaker 54:12
I feel like not a lot of things. make you laugh. Like, I mean, obviously, I’m friends with some of the funniest people on the planet.

Unknown Speaker 54:21
But as far as like, watching comedy movies and comedy TV shows, you’re kind of watching it through a different lens. Because you like you, it gets to a point where you just know people who are involved in everything and and you’re kind of you know, it just kind of takes away the it’s just like this peek behind the curtain where you can’t just innocently watch a comedy. And so I it’s up to me to really give myself these like juvenile giggles and and yeah, and that’s another thing like I don’t think about it on the surface, but I have a whole thing where I’m a peeping Tom. Like I just I go out and I talk about how I’m like, Look

Unknown Speaker 55:00
In Windows and

Unknown Speaker 55:02
the floorboards, my heart is beating through my chest.

Unknown Speaker 55:06
I took a picture of

Unknown Speaker 55:09
I was like I try I saw a lady in her bra, I tried to take a picture, but that was on and it’s just like, a picture of like a street. Like I just went to my back door and took a picture with a flash. That’s the one I was cracking up about. That’s the one that she thought was real, because it’s real enough, you will put an emotional,

Unknown Speaker 55:28
emotional attachment to it or, I mean, you do have to think about because then like, you know, I saw a friend of mine recently, she tweeted that there was an actual, you know, that their neighbors saw somebody looking under Windows or whatever. And I’m like, the reality of it is awful. So and like even when I’m doing the peeping tom things I’m thinking like, Is somebody gonna write people love to be fucking angry and call people out and I’m just like, waiting for someone to be like, you know, I’m glad you’re having fun with all this, but I actually had a peeping Tom, who, you know, did terror terrorized my life for two years. And and now you know, and he’s in jail. And he tried like, and it’s like, yes, I’m not. I get it like that. Everybody has a lot of experiences. I mean, if you boiled everything down to, you know, well, this might offend somebody then don’t just never speak because there’s always going to be somebody who’s like, Well, my uncle has a wooden leg, and he slipped on a banana peel once and fell in. Oh, man. Do you think that’s funny?

Unknown Speaker 56:31
I love that complete, federal detailed, mock up of ridiculous over the top reaction to a joke. Banana peel manhole cover you got you covered all the bases.

Unknown Speaker 56:46
I had an uncle who had a wooden leg and they call them hop. And that would never go anywhere. It’d be like what are you being mean to him and being but he actually embraced being called top.

Unknown Speaker 56:57
You know, things used to be

Unknown Speaker 57:01
sensitive. One more time. I want a promo Yeah, I’ll let you go. Because I know you have things to do today. And I do appreciate your time here. Well, record podcast, it’s available. And you can go to the Patreon page. That’s where you should get it because you get the full length and all the bells and whistles and everything that comes with it. I guarantee you, you will not regret becoming a fan becoming a member of this podcast. It’s probably the best use of your time on podcasting stuff other than issues with Andy which you know, is that my current favorite, and I appreciate you coming on Brendan, and you can watch the on YouTube too. There’s a bunch of a few 100 tests, right one is before you jump into the Patreon It’s uh, yeah, and I do appreciate you being here. I wish you good luck with what you got going on today. And thanks for coming, man. Really? This? This meant a lot to me. And I’m sure we’ve means a lot to the the listeners and viewers of the show. So thank you. No, thanks for having me. Anytime. That was That was fun. I know. I know. I regret now after this. I’m going to sit down and regret 90% of what I said. No, no, no, no, it was all good, please. Fine. I I do feel like we should I’m like, we will whatever. You don’t need to talk about Joe Rogan. Everybody knows about Joe Rogan. Yeah. But the it was important to the Austin conversation because it is why the Austin thing is going on. So yeah, and now I don’t know if we’re gonna Well, yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t keep that from but now it’s almost like cliche. You know, we were talking about it a year ago. And now it’s just kind of like, when you mentioned to people that I’m thinking about getting out of LA and you’re just kind of like, oh, we’re gonna move to Austin. And I’m like, Well, I mean, at least it’s not Brad Branson. There was a time when people thought it was cool to move to Branson. He was like, What the fuck do you want to become a hillbilly? What the hell is that? At Branson, Missouri. Anybody knows of good places to move that are fairly inexpensive and

Unknown Speaker 58:59
fun. Yeah. And there’s still places to work. Also. Yeah, yeah, that’s a good, that’s a difficult one. Thanks for coming. Good luck today. And I’ll talk to you again. Bye. See you man. Thanks a lot. Guys. Have a great day. Bye.

Unknown Speaker 59:12
The one and only Brandon wants to be man. I’m sorry. Brandon Walsh is no longer exists. It’s the beam man. And he’s the host of the world record podcast. Link is in the description. the Patreon link is in the description. I hope you check it out. That’s our show for today. And no sponsors for today. I’ll see you tonight we have another episode of meet the author. To be honest, it’s gonna be a little bit of a letdown for me after getting to talk to Brendan today. So I hope you enjoyed this program. Hope you tell your friends about it. hope you come back. Hope you check out his podcast and till next time. I’m Matt nappo for the mind dog TV podcast. Thanks for coming. Have a great night. Bye for now.