Welcome to Fit to Be Real and a little extra.
We have a very special guest and I know I say that to all of our guests, so they're all special,
but this one is really special because he is overworked and underpaid for what he does here for Seafit
and for Fit to Be Real and for Carly's marriage.
So hopefully you know who we're talking about. It's Andrew!
Andrew Dykman! Let's figure out what he does for a living.
So we're going to find out and I'm excited to have him on.
Music
We are so excited to have Andrew on my husband of how many years now, let's say 12 years.
Going on 12 years. Father to Melody Lewis and Dean, awesome unofficial CEO of Seafit.
And today we're actually going to find out what he does to make money because nobody ever knows.
Well, he started as an actor in New York City.
He did, right? He grew up in upstate New York. He is not from Delaware County and when he got here, he was like,
what is this world that you all live in? What is Delco?
But now he wears sweatpants to Wawa.
And he used to count how many people wore pajama pants and sweatpants and now he's one of them.
But he's from upstate New York, Cooperstown. He went to Williams College for English actually.
And he became an actor and that's how we met. We met doing theater in the Poconos and now we have three awesome kids
and we're going to find out a little bit more about Andrew.
From acting, he got into the concert scene. He worked for a company that put concerts together.
Yes, he did VIPs.
And he did singers, not just theater.
Right. So he worked for a lot of country artists and he would do VIP, anytime you go to a concert and there you know that the artist is actually somewhere else in the arena doing a small private event and he would work those small private events.
And he worked for a company that was very much for one, at least one time, filtered into a Super Bowl VIP.
And then he got the dream job, which is with Speakle World, which is what he will talk to us today about, which is more Vegas type entertainment.
Yes, and it's super fun and I'm excited for you all to hear what he does.
Yeah, because I really don't know.
Like Andrew, he knows how to do a bunch of stuff. He's the roadie. He's the on stage talent.
He's the ticket guy. He's the guy who just like, if you want to ask him something, he's Google. He's our personal.
He's yes, and he's the most level headed, calm person you will ever meet, which is the calm to my crazy.
And he's like, look up, there's Google. Look it up.
We're like, yeah, you do it for free.
Let's talk to him.
I'm Victoria. Hey guys, I'm Carly. Hey guys, it's Andrew.
Wait, that was good. Do it again.
Hey guys, it's Andrew. Oh, we've got options. Third time. Best time.
Hey guys, it's Andrew.
There's a lot like the second one. That's kind of like Robert Goulet.
Hey guys, thanks for inviting me to come over here. Not at all. Last minute. Not at all.
Totally, totally planned and calendar and Andrew loves lists.
Not at all. Hurry up. We've 20 minutes. Don't be bad. Be good.
Listen, Andrew has been trying to get me on a calendar share like a family calendar for, I don't know, 16 years.
But you two are the family. I know.
Can't you just talk? Well, yeah, that's what I do. He doesn't like when I say things.
Well, yeah, I mean, I do like when you say things, but we have different organizational approaches.
I'm organized and you're not. Accurate.
He likes it to be written on his phone. I like things to be written in pencil.
But you don't even do that. Well, no, but if I were to do it.
But that's not it. No, you like nothing. Yeah. Well, because I got it all up here.
You organize. You keep it mentally organized, but then you your style of communicating that sometimes.
I say it. Just say it out loud and you repeat it a lot and that works for you because you like it hammers it home in your mind.
But it just goes in one ear and out the other for me because that's not how I actually work.
Because when I talk, it just goes in one ear and out the other.
This makes total sense.
And it's not that I didn't ever operate like that, but I'm I've adapted to modern work tools.
So I have a calendar and I have a list and I have communication tools and I use those all day every day.
And you are on a completely different system.
He's working.
My brain doesn't actually literally doesn't function that way anymore because like those synapses have withered and died.
He's working smarter, not harder.
I know. And we do dumber and longer. I mean, dumber and harder was that part of it.
It's off to exhibit a exhibit a.
Okay. So, and besides being Carly's husband, which is a job and a dad of three and the CEO of Seafit unofficially and kind of.
And you don't want it, but we're forcing it on you.
Yeah. And the sound guy and the lighting guy and kind of everything else guy for Seafit.
You're Chandler Bing. What do you actually do for your job?
I'm Chandler Bing. Me. You just don't know. I work in live events and I am a production manager.
I'm the head of production, comma, creative for speed.
Comma creative. Yeah. We have other heads of production, but I focus on the creative development process.
So it's basically like a management role, but you know, with the production focus, you know, it's basically anything that's physically produced as part of what we do.
The production team handles and takes care of.
And what he's talking about are shows in Vegas type of entertainment.
Right. You used to do concerts and venues and what we do now is that we have a focus on building new entertainment venues.
So it's really construction and it's a construction process.
The current project, we're just opening up the hook in Atlantic City and that's been a two plus year timeline.
So it's everything from the beginning of that, which is, you know, the drawing everything in detail and coming up with the creative concepts and then handing that over to a team of consultants who then actually produces real working drawings like electrical drawings and architectural drawings and, you know, every little detail bit and Bob about the venue.
Bit and Bob. Love them. And see in person was committed like in a drawing to paper first so that the people who need to build the venue understand how to build it.
And then there's a whole process of them, the people who are building it kind of questioning what you designed and all of that gets documented and then we're kind of right in the middle of like managing that whole process and answering questions and then going back to our creative team and figuring out what they want to do or what their vision is and then just sort of gluing it all together and
communicating everything there is to, you know, everything that needs to be shared between all these different people and then owning kind of like the budget and account.
So they just opened, they have a couple shows in Vegas, but they just opened a restaurant and a show in Atlantic City.
So that's, we're happy because it's Atlantic City and his travel commute is shortened by a plane flight for now. But it's a really cool Cirque du Soleil type of show. I always say that to people Cirque du Soleil, but it's not.
Yeah, that's like that. That's the easy touchstone for people is to think of variety and circuses Cirque du Soleil, but we're kind of like the anti Cirque du Soleil and not in a bad way. We're not like enemies of Cirque du Soleil.
No, what we do is very different. It's like a dirty show. Yeah, Cirque du Soleil is like a big giant picture frame where you're very far away and looking at this beautiful spectacle and a Spiegel World show is something incredibly intimate where you are literally two feet away from the performers and they're, you know, you can see every beat of sweat and you can watch their muscles strain and, you know, being that close gives it a sense of excitement and danger and, you know, you can, you can see them working.
Yeah. You know, through their act.
Or you can see how effortless it is for them and Marvel. And then it's a mixture of that and like really kind of raunchy comedy, usually. Yeah, which is we don't usually find in like a Cirque show.
No.
So Spiegel World is your company and just rattle off the names of all of the shows that you're in charge of or Spiegel World. Yeah, we've got three shows in Vegas. Currently we've got Absinthe, which is like the OG flagship.
We've got the Atomic Saloon show at the Venetian. And then we've got OPM at Cosmopolitan and our restaurant Super Freakos also at the Cosmopolitan kind of like right next door to OPM.
We've just opened up the hook in Atlantic City and we've got two more and as well as the second Super Freakon, we've got two more venues in partnership with Caesars that are opening over the next two years.
The next one's going to be in Vegas like same time next year over the summer of 24 and then New Orleans is after that. We're trying to get New Orleans in kind of like around the time of the Super Bowl.
I'm trying to get it soon too because I've never been and I'd like to go.
So we're having right from one fire into the next.
So when you say restaurants, are there, is there entertainment pieces to the restaurant as well? Or is it strictly a restaurant?
Yeah, yeah, no, what's part of like the brand for Super Freakos is that the restaurant is activated, we call them by Super Feats.
The treats are, you know, it's like performances that happen within the space or they're like moments. They're not really, it's definitely not like dinner theater.
They're like silly little vignettes during your meal.
Vignettes is a good word. It's a moment, it's a vignette, something that happens and it's usually only involves a few people in the restaurant.
So they're like small little vignettes while you're eating dinner. They're like little mini performances of like 10 seconds and then they're gone.
You really have to like, you watch them, but you're not really involved. They're just the waiter?
No, they're performers that just have to like go around and do their little 10, 20 second act and then they go away.
Yeah, it's performers in the show and part of their show, their performance track, we work in moments where they go through the restaurant and they have a thing that they do.
Vignette is a perfect word because it is short. It's a moment, for some people it's an intimate experience and for other people you're watching it happen to another table and enjoying it that way.
I like it that way. I don't like it when it's happening to me.
It adds a lot of energy to the restaurant and excitement and brings something new and the whole point is that it's not something where you need to stop and what you're doing and watch.
You can kind of either catch it out of the corner of your eye and enjoy it or you might get wrapped into it more deeply or you can ignore it and go on with your dinner, your conversation.
I feel like you're describing yourself at Seafit. You are a vignette that happens on the left side of the stage that you either catch or maybe you don't or maybe you're involved.
Oh, that's my performance track.
The people on the left side get a show every Saturday morning and during the week when he comes to, but definitely every Saturday morning left side of the room gets a full on performance from Andrew.
We should be paying you more.
Yeah, you know my style was born out of like a survival tactic at the beginning.
I was just like out of my comfort zone. It was me, ladies, which you know, isn't a bad thing, but I had to learn to act.
My method of coping was to get a little silly with it and that's become my trademark style.
Yeah, it is trademark style. We totally get it. Super freak out. Andrew and Seafit.
Andrew, what is your favorite thing about working with us at Seafit CEO?
We're switching gears. Got it.
My favorite thing is the feeling of excitement for where Seafit is going and you can be real. This is a real.
You can be real. Potential of Seafit.
Was that real? That was real. I didn't even tell him to say that. Like I tell other people to say things.
It's just like an awesome insight to what home life is for you to. Amazing.
Look how positive and hopeful though. I like that. I like that, Andrew.
What is harder? Opening up a brand new restaurant, show commuting to Vegas and back or Atlantic City and a home or working with Carly?
Sorry, which is harder? See, he totally like went away a little bit.
At work we've got our lanes. Things are very well defined. With working at home, it's all about figuring out who's doing what.
I think communicating about roles and then also differences of opinions sometimes. I mean, they all have their own challenges.
We're not allowed to have a difference of opinions. So Carly is harder. Basically, the answer is Carly.
We always say, is Andrew here? Because he's so quiet. He's just so quiet. And I am not.
Are you just too loud? But that's what I mean. He could be next to you and be like, oh, Andrew, hey.
Because he's just a very quiet person and he's always been like that, right?
Yeah. Right?
Well, yeah, I mean, I have a twin brother and when we were growing up, we had our kind of own sort of silent communication.
And then we did have to overcome that and learn how to actually verbalize. And that was a big step and a big challenge.
But I do remember distinctly like, for some reason having some meeting in the guidance counselor's office, we were talking about,
there was something to do with college admissions and there was this conversation about, you know, I don't want to say talking out loud more,
but it was something more about like using our outside voice. Your big boy voice.
To express our internal life more clearly.
So that was, is that just a twin thing? Because you were able to kind of, I don't know, it was a twin thing.
Telekinesis.
But I mean, it was something that we had to deal with.
Not all twins. Who knows? Who knows really?
Yeah, I don't really know. That's just kind of how we communicated.
We would have full on kind of conversations. And it was a lot of little phrases and words and sounds and stuff, which sounds silly,
but it's like when your kids are like singing a little song or then they change it. You know, they're laughing about something you kind of don't really understand what they're talking about.
You're in language. You're in your own language.
Yeah, it's not like it was like fucking Klingon or something. Or like Elvis or whatever. It was just, you know, it's...
Oh my gosh. I really, that's what I'm picturing though. That's what I'm listening to.
No, it was just little words and phrases and sounds and snippets of a song or what, you know what I mean?
Basically just little jokes back and forth or, you know, expressions or just a lot of things that when you're side by side with somebody who's a...
Since you were a baby, like you just developed these...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you think that contributes to the miscommunication.
Yeah, bring it back full circle. No, you were asking about why I'm so quiet.
I also grew up in a house where you could hear everything. So we learned to be stealthy ninjas.
Stealth is kind of your house now.
Yeah. So Andrew grew up on a 100 acre property in a house, like a wooden house.
So you can hear everything on lots of land. So like when you went outside, you went outside to land. You didn't go outside to Wawa, you know?
So every floorboard creaks in his house. It's like a big cabin in the woods basically.
And our house has a lot of wood in it and it's like very open and you can, you can hear everything in our house, but his is like a pin.
Oh my gosh. I don't know how you guys talked on the phone as teenagers without the entire house hearing.
Maybe you didn't.
We didn't have a phone.
You did too.
Yeah, we did. But when I was growing up, we literally had like two landlines.
We had courted phones for a while and they're only like two phones in the house.
So we did get a handheld. So you just would take the handheld and go in your room.
For those of you who don't know, Andrew is a little older than I am.
So there's a, there's an age gap. Okay. So just so we all know.
Basically Andrew is way more cultured and doesn't just listen to in sync.
Every time we just went on a road trip two weekends ago and he was like, whatever you want to listen to. And I was like in sync.
He was like, no, no. And he never says no to me.
And he was like, no, no, we didn't listen to smart list. A podcast.
Carly likes her things.
She likes her things and she doesn't like change, which is why you two are very compatible.
Well, you met Victoria when she was only 15 years old. Can you believe that? Oh yeah. She was only 15.
You were only 19. I was only 19, but when and Andrew was, I think it was 42.
See guys, if you listen and you let him talk sometimes he's funny, but nobody ever lets him talk.
Okay, not in this family, not in this family.
But it was like when he would come visit because he didn't live in Springfield. We lived in New York.
My mom would make him sleep in our basement and I slept in my room and Victoria slept in her room.
And even though we live together in New York and I'm like, mom, come on. He's 26 years old.
Like why can't he sleep in my room? And he was like, I have a 15 year old daughter.
I would never let him sleep in your bedroom. She is 15 years old.
Secretly Andrew was like, thank God, I'm in the basement. This is awesome.
Quiet. We go see you guys and go to bed. Do you remember that?
Yeah, I mean, that was the summer during which, are you talking about that summer?
Summer of 2005, 2006, yeah. Those two summers, she was 15 and 16 years old.
Those were the year? Yeah.
We wanted to bring Andrew on today so you could get a little glimpse into what he actually does.
And he's not just the Seafit handyman go to every man, which he is.
That is his side hustle, which he doesn't get paid for. He gets paid for in love and temper tantrums.
It's his side sacrifice. It's his side sacrifice.
But he actually does have a real job when he's not around. He's really not around. He's in Vegas or Atlantic City.
But we all need to go see the hook. Look it up. Atlantic City. Go. You will have the experience of a lifetime.
Before he leaves, though, we're going to play a little game.
That I like to call sure or psych man.
What? Because his name is Dykeman. Oh my God.
Psych man. Like, sure, that's true or psych man. That's false.
Okay, I'm going to say things, Andrew, and you are going to say sure, that's true or psych. That's false. Are you ready?
I'm ready. All right. Sure or psych. You met Carly in 2005 doing theater.
Sure. Yeah, that's 100% sure. It means true or false.
We used to have a dog growing up named Balboa.
Psych man. What was it? Rocky. Yes. Very good.
Carmella once gave you rose petals in a box and told you after two weeks of dating me that if she could dream up a guy for me, it would be you.
Sure. Yeah, you can't make that up. That is 100%. Sure.
Victoria loved living with us in New York. Psych man.
Accurate. You broke up with me two times. Psych man. How many times was it? 18.
No. Andrew broke up with me three times before. I actually thought that was true. Two? No, it was three. You broke up with me three times.
No, it's 100% sure. It's awesome. Carly knows how to make coffee. Psych man.
Victoria knows how to make coffee. Sure. Yeah, that's true.
Carly and Victoria looked forward to having business meetings with you all the time. Psych man.
Andrew likes to tell us how we need to improve and we like to shoot every idea down is basically what how those meetings go. Sure.
And Carly's aggressive. Sure. Sure. That was worth it. That was worth it. That was worth it.
Up until two weeks before Dean was born, his name was going to be Duke. Sure. Yeah, that is 100% sure.
The blanket to prove it. Carly is super handy around the house. Psych man. Psych.
This is a good one. If you want something done right, call Carly. If you want something done really fast but wrong and then cry about it all day, call Victoria.
Surely. I don't know what to say here. Sure. Say it again. Yeah. If you want something done right, call Carly.
If you want something done really fast and wrong and then cry about it, call Victoria. Psych.
I've never done things right on the first time. That's what I'm saying. This is also. Oh, that's right. You got it right. You got it right. Yes.
Oh my God. Your favorite seafood sister is Carly. Sure. Your first. Your first one. Wait, we need to hear that a little louder. No.
You said, sure. Like you didn't even say it. No, because he's obligated. There's a ring on his finger, but you got it, Carly. You won.
Saying the word sure. Sure doesn't have like a, it's hard to make that sound snappy. Sure. I mean, you can. You're an actor.
Sure. You should see her eyes. You should see the level of her eyes she just gave him. Keep going. That is it. That was my last one because I thought he would end with a sure. Nailed it. Nailed it.
Guess what, Andrew? Nice try, though. No. You won. Oh, nice. Nice. You are no longer a psych man. You are a dyke man. Fantastic. I enjoyed that one. Oh my God.
So for your real tip today, we're advising you that you go check out the hook in Atlantic City if you're local, of course, you take one night schedule it with your friends and have the best time.
And one now you know kind of some of the ins and outs of someone who put it all together. And number two, I have not seen it yet personally, but I will be soon and I already know it's going to be amazing. If you are not local and you want to go to Vegas, check out one of Spiegel World
shows out in Vegas again, plan it with your friends, have the best time and and just forget about your lists of everything of life for one night. I always do. You forget. Well, we learned you like to pencil it in in your head with imaginary lead. So real tip plan.
Check out a Spiegel World show and have the best time.
And now for your real extra tip of the week. It's called you stay classy Atlantic City. Oh my God. What does you stay classy Atlantic City mean?
It means if you're anything like me, you have a closet full of clothes that you've never worn, but you always intend to get dressed up and go out. But you always sort of dress down a little bit.
Yeah. If you're going to the hook in Atlantic City or you're going out, get dressed up, put on the dress, put on the nice clothes that you've been saving for a special occasion. The special occasion is now. I guarantee you wearing something from your closet. Do not go buy something. You don't need it.
You've got the nice clothes in your closet will make you feel so good and be so happy. Take the pictures, take all the selfies and you stay classy Atlantic City.
It's so true, though, we're always like worried about being too overdressed. Yeah, we're always like, Oh, what are you all wearing? I don't want to want to dress down. Yeah, I don't want to.
I don't want to jeans if you're into weapons. Yeah, something like that. Just put the red lipstick on have have a blast. I agree. I like that. Just just to put a fun fact in for this episode.
So we all listened to Carly and her extra tip, right? She names it. She tells us the name of it. And then she says, What does it mean? Like she has we know what it by now basically.
So we're teaching. I forget which which class but we're teaching a class at Seafit. And she did something that she does all the time, every single time. And we're making fun of her the whole class. Everybody knows.
Shocking, shocking. And this she meant to say, I'm a creature of habit. Like that's what she meant in her brain. She penciled it in and that's what she meant. But she didn't she couldn't articulate it.
And so what came out was I'm a person of consistency. So the next time you have an explanation to someone where you're like, I'm a creature of habit, I would like you to try to say, I'm a person of consistency.
Listen, saying you're a person of consistency is way harder than saying you're a creature of habit.
It's about I feel like it goes with state class. The Atlantic says, What does I'm a person of consistency mean? I'll tell you.
Remember, you're always fit to be real and always allowed to be a little extra. Let's say goodbye to Andrew. Okay.
We love you, Andrew. Thank you for coming on the cast. He's so busy. He has a meeting right now. He's running late for his meeting. Goodbye.
Bye bye.
For legal reasons, we have to tell you that this podcast is meant for entertainment and educational purposes only. We are not healthcare professionals. For all of your health, wellness, fitness and self care needs, please refer to the medical professional in your life, your primary care physician, your therapist, a certified coach, whoever it may be.
And then let us know what they say because I guarantee we need to know what to do. Okay.
Okay. Bye.