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To learn more about Thorn, go to episode 323 of the Behind the Shield podcast with Joel

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Titoro and Wes Barnett.

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

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As always, my name is James Gearing and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome on

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the show one of the founding members of the Broken Lizard Troupe, star of Super Troopers,

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Beer Fest, Tacoma FD and so many more Firehouse favorites, Kevin Heffernan.

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So in this conversation we discuss a host of topics from his early life, his journey

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into the world of lore, the story how he met Steve Lemmy, the formation of Broken Lizard,

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Super Troopers, Beer Fest, how they brought Quasi to the streaming services, how his cousin

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was a big influence on the creation of Tacoma FD, overcoming censorship and so much more.

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Before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment,

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go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and

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leave a rating.

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Every single 5 star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for

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others to find.

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And this is a free library of almost 900 episodes now.

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So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so

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I can get them to every single person on planet earth who needs to hear them.

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So with that being said, I introduce to you, Kevin Heffernan.

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Enjoy.

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Well, Kevin, I want to start by saying firstly, thank you to Eric Stolhansky, I'll just start

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on his name then, for connecting us and to welcome you onto the Behind the Shield podcast

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today.

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Yeah, he's a fellow Floridian to you, isn't he?

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He is, yes.

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And yeah, no, he put us together, which is great, which is great.

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Absolutely.

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Thanks for having me.

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Yeah, well, thank you.

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I mean, obviously the timing is perfect.

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You know, we were going to be connected a little while ago, but now with Tacoma FD just

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being on Netflix as well, there couldn't be a better time, I think, for this conversation.

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So I always tell people it's not if it's when and, you know, when the time is right, it

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will happen.

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So here we are.

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Yeah, no, I know.

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It's been a good couple of weeks.

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We've been on the show has been on Netflix for a couple of weeks now and a lot of people

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are finding it.

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So this is a nice.

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This is a good time to talk, man.

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100 percent.

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All right.

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Well, very first question.

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Where on planet Earth are we finding you today?

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I'm in Los Angeles.

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I live in Los Angeles.

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So I was just on the East Coast for the holidays and I got out of there right ahead of the

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blizzards.

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So I made it back to sunny Los Angeles.

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Thank goodness.

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So where about in LA are you living?

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I live out in the Valley.

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I live kind of I don't know about half an hour out of town.

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And it's nice because we we shot our show out here.

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So it ended up being a good place for me to live near near the near the location of our

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show.

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So beautiful.

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I lived in Burbank for a while and then Huntington Beach when I worked for Amaheim Fire.

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OK, yeah, I'm on the other side in the Thousand Oaks area.

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OK, gotcha.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Beautiful.

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So we're going to start with the very beginning of your timeline so we can learn a little

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bit about your backstory.

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So tell me where you were born and tell me a little bit about your family dynamic, what

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your parents did, how many siblings?

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OK, I grew up in Connecticut, West Haven, Connecticut, which is just west of New Haven,

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Connecticut.

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And I have two brothers and a sister and my parents.

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My dad was a kind of a local lawyer.

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He was a lawyer for many years and a judge, actually.

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And so he was a judge for about 30 years in my hometown, 28 years.

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And so, yeah, so I just grew up in Connecticut, pretty normal childhood.

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And I ended up going to Colgate University in upstate New York.

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And that's where I met all the other fellas that we made these broken lizard movies with

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the Super Troopers and Beer Fest, and we started doing comedy there.

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And from there, we moved to New York City and just started making comedy.

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And at the time, I wasn't sure if it was all going to work out.

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So I ended up going to law school at the same time.

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And I became a lawyer in New York City for a while and then luckily was able to shift

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gears into the comedy world.

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So I don't know.

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That's the grand scheme of covering about 40 years right there for you.

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Well, I'm going to go back.

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So let's talk about growing up with a dad in law.

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Firstly, what area of law was he practicing?

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He was kind of a general practice guy.

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He was the kind of small town lawyer that people would hire if they had some sort of

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injury or workplace problem or whatever.

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And he also kind of specialized in estates, very dry stuff.

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And it led him to be a judge for 28 years in that area of estates and that kind of thing.

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And so yeah, I mean, we had grown about that.

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And I grew up, you know, and I think that's probably what I aspired to, to follow my dad's

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footsteps, you know.

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And so I kind of was on that track for a long time.

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Did having someone in law as a parent factor into you being more careful when you were

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a teenager, not getting into too much trouble?

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It's funny, we would hear stories and I'll talk about my older cousin, this guy named

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cousin Bill, who's a firefighter, was a firefighter for 30 years in my hometown.

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And he was much more of a troublemaker.

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And we'd hear stories about my dad going down and bailing him out of jail.

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And it made me think that maybe I should keep myself in order.

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So yeah, I mean, we tried to let that be a thing that kept us in line.

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And sometimes it didn't work out, but you know, we tried to stay on the stage straight

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and narrow.

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Now, what about sports?

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What were you playing when you were a school age?

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I don't know, we kind of did it all, you know, we played hockey and baseball, I played football,

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played basketball and, you know, kind of the big four or whatever.

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And so, you know, we played in those leagues as kids and little league and pop Warner football

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and, you know, all that kind of stuff.

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And we do that all the way up through high school.

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So it was kind of very, you know, straightforward.

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I was never that great at any of them.

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You know, I was, you know, moderately okay.

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And but, you know, it was that was the kind of way that you engage with other people and

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have fun with your friends and that kind of thing.

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When I was little, I was very small, had a blonde Afro, buck teeth, dry skin, and spoke

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differently than a lot of the kids because I went to a private junior school and then

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at like a state school, you know, the public senior school.

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And so was constantly having to be a bit of a chameleon and definitely became a bit of

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a sniper when it came to saying funny shit.

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I wasn't the class clown or anything, but comedy became kind of an armor for me, I think,

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when I look back.

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And a lot of the people that I've had on the show that ended up in comedy, there was, you

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know, more often than not an element of bullying or low self-esteem when they were younger

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and that comedy kind of came out of that.

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When you look back now, is there any of that genesis on your story?

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I don't know.

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I think there probably was a little bit.

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I was always a heavy kid, you know, so I was always a little fat kid who's the, you know,

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the kid who's always tends to be the jokester.

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But I don't, yeah, I don't think like you, I don't think I was necessarily the class

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clown.

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You know, it was.

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But you know, I definitely gravitated towards like the funny stuff and the wisecracking

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and you know, I always enjoyed, you know, watching comedy and that kind of stuff as

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a kid.

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I don't think that I fill the role of like tortured artists or bullied kid that turned

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to comedy.

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I don't, I don't really fit that role.

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I don't think I think I was just, you know, you know, Steve Lammy, my partner in crime

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in Tacoma, you know, we always talked about the traditional funny fat guy and I was like

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the little funny fat kid.

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Well, what about career aspirations?

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I know you ended up in law.

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Was that what you were dreaming of becoming when you were in school or is there something

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else?

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I think so.

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I mean, I think I was always on the track, you know, I worked in a few different law

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firms and things like that.

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It sounds very, it's very unsexy, but I, you know, I think I was definitely on track for

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that.

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And and but in the back of my mind, you know, I always enjoyed, you know, performing and

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you know, I'd done plays and stuff like that and you know, and when I got into college,

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you know, we started doing some comedy shows and that that really kind of clicked for me.

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And so I think by the time we got to college, I don't know that we ever realized it would

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go where it did.

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But by the time we got into college, I think, you know, you're hoping that that's the direction

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you could go in, you know, and, you know, so I did dual paths, you know, I when we were

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in New York City as a as a young comedy group and doing shows, you know, by day, I would

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go to law school and by night we would do comedy shows and just, you know, see which

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track won.

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You know, I was watching an interview, I think it was a ABC, one of one of the TV stations

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anyway.

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And you were on with Steve, I think it was promoting Tacoma, if I'm not mistaken, but

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the origin story of how you met that involved a party in an overcoat.

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So I'd love to hear that story if you're able to recall it.

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Well, Steve Lemmy is kind of a rake, you know, he's always kind of an impish kind of guy.

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And he was a year younger than I was at school.

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And so, you know, I was a member of this fraternity house and he was a freshman below us who was

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trying to get into the fraternity house.

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And, you know, we would have this and I had never met the kid before.

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And we would have these parties at this fraternity house.

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And it was an upstate New York, it was very cold.

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Everyone would show up in their winter coat, everyone take their winter coat off and throw

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it in the middle of the floor.

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And then they go party or whatever, you know.

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And so one night there's a party and I went to the pile to grab my coat to go.

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And my coat was gone, it was missing, somebody stole it, you know, which happened occasionally,

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but I was pissed off because it was freezing out.

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And, you know, I lost it.

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And so I went a couple of weeks without my coat and then there was another party.

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And I saw my coat in that pile, you know, I was like, holy shit, there's my coat.

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And I went, I grabbed it and I reached inside of it and the guy apparently who was the thief

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who stole my coat had left his college ID in the pocket of the coat.

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I pulled it out and it says Stephen Carlos Lemmy.

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And I was like, who is this guy?

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And somebody said, oh, he's a freshman, he's trying to get into the fraternity and whatever.

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And he's in the other room dancing, you know, and I was like, oh boy.

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So I went up to him and I said, hey, buddy, you stole my coat.

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He said, no, I didn't.

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He said, yeah, I found your ID inside the coat.

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And he went, oh my God, the same guy that stole your coat must have been the guy who

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stole my ID.

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And I thought that's a great response.

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And from then, from that point, that was the first time we kind of met.

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And then ultimately we were thrown into this comedy group together and we just kind of

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hit it off and started writing stuff together.

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But it was not an auspicious beginning to our career because I hated him.

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I didn't like the guy, you know, and, you know, I've come to like him a little bit over

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the years.

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So how did you get over that, though?

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Because I mean, at one point, you know, this or the only thing you know about this guy

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is that he's a thief.

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And now you put in this group together.

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It's funny because we because we had started this comedy group in college.

230
00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,080
J. Chenner Sekar was one of the guys was the guy I started with.

231
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,720
And ultimately, you know, he went on to direct Super Troopers and we did our group together.

232
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,180
We still have our group.

233
00:13:49,180 --> 00:13:52,800
So Jane, I kind of started that group, that comedy group at school.

234
00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,240
And Jay really wanted to have Steve be a part of it.

235
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,680
And I was like, I'm not putting that guy in this thing.

236
00:13:58,680 --> 00:13:59,680
You know, the guy's a thief.

237
00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:02,080
You know, I don't like him.

238
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,560
You know, he's got long hair and earrings.

239
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:05,560
I don't like that.

240
00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:07,040
You know, all that kind of stuff.

241
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,120
And he's like, oh, you know what?

242
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,260
We'll get him in there.

243
00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:13,000
He can play like the scumbag roles.

244
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,880
You know, he can play like the the, you know, the the guys who were, you know, you don't

245
00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:18,880
really like that much.

246
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:19,880
And I was like, OK.

247
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,120
And so I let him, you know, I said, that's OK.

248
00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:23,120
He can come in.

249
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:24,120
And so he joined.

250
00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,720
And then from there, though, you know, we actually are have a very similar sense of

251
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,400
humors and things that we like.

252
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,860
We became, you know, great friends at that point because we were kind of thrown in this

253
00:14:33,860 --> 00:14:34,960
thing together.

254
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,960
And and from then on, we just kind of, you know, had a great time writing things together.

255
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:44,080
We would write sketches together for the two of us to star in and act in or whatever.

256
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,200
And it kind of just ended up growing from there.

257
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:48,200
What about Eric?

258
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,560
When did you first come on your radar?

259
00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:55,040
Eric was Eric was also a year below us.

260
00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,280
And and I didn't even know him that way.

261
00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,040
He came into our comedy group the second year.

262
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,800
And but he was also a member of our fraternity.

263
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:09,080
And and he he I knew him as a member of the attorney before I knew him as like a performer.

264
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,160
But he was kind of a theater guy.

265
00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:17,000
And you know, he came into the group and he used to do this like funny, like ridiculous,

266
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,800
like lizard character or something.

267
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,640
And you know, we would we made like we would shoot videos of it and stuff.

268
00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,800
And so, you know, he joined us the second year.

269
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,240
And then when we moved to New York City, he has another year of school.

270
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,120
And after that, he came and joined us in New York City and and lived with lived on our

271
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,680
couch or whatever.

272
00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:43,240
But yeah, I mean, that was, you know, that was in the in the early 90s.

273
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,760
So you know, we've been together for a long time.

274
00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,360
Do you get angry again now that long hair and earrings are back in fashion?

275
00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:50,360
No, no.

276
00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:56,760
I say, you know, I love, you know, my kids got long hair and I, you know, I don't I love

277
00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:57,760
that.

278
00:15:57,760 --> 00:15:58,760
I like Lemmy's long hair.

279
00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:03,800
I just like to give him shit about it because he had a very New York look.

280
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,840
You know, he had a he had, you know, long hair and like multiple earrings.

281
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:13,320
And he would wear like this suede coat with tassels on it that he would walk around town

282
00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,120
on and you're like, are you kidding me, pal?

283
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,600
But on the inside, I actually really liked his look.

284
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:26,920
So what about the the kind of genesis of the style of comedy that you guys ended up creating?

285
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,680
Because I mean, you know, I'm obviously growing up with Monty Python and some of these other

286
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:32,520
more obscure comedians.

287
00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,880
And that's embedded in British culture.

288
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,960
But when it comes to the fire service, Super Troopers, Beer Fest, some of these films that

289
00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,760
you ended up making were absolute firehouse favorites.

290
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,280
And I'm sure you heard that many, many times.

291
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:51,400
So when you're surrounded by the spectrum of comedy from the super cheesy sexes like

292
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:56,200
baseball stand up comedian all the way through to the obscure, how did you guys find the

293
00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,000
area that you created?

294
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:04,720
You know, I think part of it was just this group dynamic that we had in that, like, you

295
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,160
know, a lot of the goals at the time was to make each other laugh and what it was to make

296
00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:10,160
each other laugh.

297
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,760
I think everyone drew on whatever they came from.

298
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:17,600
You know, I mean, I think, you know, at the time, you know, you know, certainly, you know,

299
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:23,360
we grew up on, you know, early SNL and we grew up on, you know, the John Landis movies,

300
00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:30,280
you know, like the Blues Brothers or, you know, or those Lampoon movies or, you know,

301
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:31,920
you know, Animal House and stuff like that.

302
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,160
I think those were kind of the things that informed us.

303
00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:41,080
And a lot of it was like a group of people, a group of usually guys together, you know,

304
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,520
having a good time, making each other laugh.

305
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,600
And that was always something that we kind of focused on, I feel like.

306
00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,840
I mean, another kind of thing I think that we always kind of focused on in that vein

307
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:59,820
was that idea of creating worlds where or situations where the people who are watching

308
00:17:59,820 --> 00:18:03,240
the audience felt like they were a part of something or that they wanted to belong to

309
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:09,320
something and, you know, it was never we were never a mean spirited group.

310
00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,720
We were never, you know, targeting people or whatever it was.

311
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,440
It was more of like, let's create this environment where we're all going to have some laughs

312
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,760
together because that's what we're doing anyway.

313
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:19,760
Right.

314
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:21,600
We're that group of college guys who are like, you guys are funny.

315
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:22,600
You should make a movie.

316
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,600
And then we actually did make a movie, you know.

317
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:30,520
And so, I don't know, I think it was that kind of like good natured camaraderie.

318
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:32,920
And those are the kind of comedies we liked.

319
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,960
And that's the common comedy we decided to make.

320
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:36,960
What about naysayers?

321
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,520
There's a lot of people that are very successful now and they had to navigate so many people

322
00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,760
saying, oh, you'll never because, you know, what was the resistance that you were getting

323
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,880
from some of the other people in your arena?

324
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:52,760
Well, I mean, I think you certainly get that from, you know, to a certain extent from parents

325
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:57,520
and things like that who think, you know, maybe it's a little bit of folly, you know,

326
00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,720
that you're heading down this road.

327
00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,360
And also, it's just, you know, it's a hard nut to crack.

328
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:05,080
You know, it's a hard business to get into.

329
00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,760
And once you get into it, it's a hard business to sustain and make a living at.

330
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:13,960
So I think those were the big, the kind of big naysayers were like, ah, you guys will

331
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:15,960
never get anywhere.

332
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,600
And you know, I think it was weird because like even from our younger states, we had

333
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:28,040
just enough success each time to keep us going to the next step and to keep us kind of persevering.

334
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:34,720
And you know, I think that helped us overcome the naysayers and that we had, you know, a

335
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,520
certain level of success, whether it was, hey, we got into this film festival or hey,

336
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,760
we sold this movie or we sold this TV idea and we just kept rolling, you know.

337
00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:48,280
So I think, you know, we ran into the normal obstacles that everyone had.

338
00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:52,780
But you know, I think I don't know if it was dumb or just persevering.

339
00:19:52,780 --> 00:19:54,960
We just kind of pushed our way through it all, you know.

340
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,880
I got a feeling that when you're told, oh, you'll never do that, you're probably on

341
00:19:57,880 --> 00:19:58,880
the right track.

342
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,600
That means you're further enough out of the comfort zone to challenge the way people think.

343
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:03,600
Absolutely.

344
00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:05,360
You're like, oh yeah, okay, fine.

345
00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:06,360
You know.

346
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:11,640
And again, you know, it's also, you know, we were so lucky to have a support group.

347
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:12,640
You know what I mean?

348
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,520
It's like so many people try to jump into this business and they're alone or whatever

349
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:16,520
it is.

350
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,480
We walked into this business with, you know, four of our best friends that we've known

351
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:20,980
for many, many years.

352
00:20:20,980 --> 00:20:24,320
And you always had that support group.

353
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:28,760
And you know, if you couldn't get into someone's movie or you couldn't get into someone's

354
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,360
whatever, you just made your own with the guys that you had.

355
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:35,040
And that was always the mentality.

356
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,120
So what about the origin story for your first film being about troopers?

357
00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:40,120
Yeah.

358
00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:42,600
Well, I mean, that was kind of weird.

359
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,560
We had made a film before that.

360
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,800
It was called Puddle Cruiser and we had sold it.

361
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:49,200
We brought it to the Sundance Film Festival.

362
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,480
It was a movie we made for about 200,000 bucks and we shot it at our old college and it was

363
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,380
kind of a college romantic comedy.

364
00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:57,860
And that was a little bit of the calling card.

365
00:20:57,860 --> 00:21:04,400
So we brought that to a few festivals, went to the Sundance Film Festival back in 97 or

366
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:05,520
98.

367
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:11,240
And it ended up, you know, giving us a foothold.

368
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,320
You know, we met a lot of people and so it made us feel like, hey, we could do this.

369
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:21,160
And so let's make a big movie or not a big movie, but like a real movie.

370
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,080
And so we had been batting around a couple of ideas.

371
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:29,000
And at the same time, it was kind of, we were at that age where you're like, you know, like

372
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,280
you're in your like your thirties or your late twenties and like all your buddies get

373
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,240
married and you're going all these weddings and stuff like that.

374
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,880
Like I haven't been to a wedding in a long time, but there was a time where you hit like

375
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,160
five in a summer, you know.

376
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,000
And I remember we would jump into Jay's car and we would drive around, you know, five

377
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,120
or six of us and go to these weddings.

378
00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:50,100
And you know, and occasionally we would get pulled over by the cops.

379
00:21:50,100 --> 00:21:54,680
And we always thought it was hysterical where, you know, these five kind of false bravado

380
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:59,000
guys ride around in a car, you know, cracking jokes and whatever.

381
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,000
And then the moment that cop walks up to the car, it's yes sir, no sir.

382
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,440
Your tail is between your legs, you know.

383
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,440
And we always thought that dynamic was really funny.

384
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,160
And so we just started riffing and riffing on scenarios where that would be the case

385
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:17,000
where, you know, if you're on the cop side of it, what power did you have?

386
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,640
What ability do you have to fuck around with the guys on the other side?

387
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:25,000
And you know, I think we just started writing almost like sketches, you know, like what

388
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,000
if they did this?

389
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,160
What if they did this repeater game?

390
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,640
And what if, you know, the cops were trying to say meow all the time, you know, whatever,

391
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,760
we had all these ideas and we just kind of started writing these scenes.

392
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,640
And then we started stringing them together, you know, with a plot.

393
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:43,660
And you know, I don't think any of us ever expected the success that would have or how

394
00:22:43,660 --> 00:22:49,480
it would resonate with people, but you know, it was basically a series of cop sketches.

395
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:54,240
And I think the kind of the unique thing was we were on the side of the cops, you know,

396
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,680
and that and cops loved that.

397
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,240
I mean, the whole kind of law enforcement, the guys in uniform loved that, you know,

398
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,360
the military guys, everybody that you were showing that these guys were human and that

399
00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:10,520
they, you know, they liked to have fun and they were good natured people and that kind

400
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:11,520
of stuff.

401
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,000
You know, that was probably the thing that resonated.

402
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,800
And then it just kind of slowly took off.

403
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,080
You know, we made that movie.

404
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,280
We didn't necessarily know what we were doing.

405
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,400
We brought that to the Sundance Film Festival and then we sold that there and it was put

406
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,920
in theaters, which to us was like, holy crap.

407
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,920
And it just kind of took off from there.

408
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,360
It was a little of a slow burn in the sense that, you know, a lot of people didn't go

409
00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:37,680
to the theater and watch that movie.

410
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,680
You know, you watch that in your DVD and you watch that in your dorm room and you watch

411
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,240
that with your buddies or you watch the guy, you know, in the barracks or you watch in

412
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,360
the, you know, in the fire station or whatever it was.

413
00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:52,040
And then it just kind of grew from there.

414
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,160
You know, what about technical advisors?

415
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,520
I had Dale Dye on, he's actually coming back on again, cause they've just made a sequel

416
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,520
to Band of Brothers and amazing.

417
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:01,520
I worked with him.

418
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:02,780
I did stunts for a long time.

419
00:24:02,780 --> 00:24:07,260
So I worked with him doing like a little prep bootcamp for a stunt show that I did years

420
00:24:07,260 --> 00:24:09,520
ago in Japan.

421
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:14,600
But he obviously prepares these actors for serious drama roles, you know, dramatic roles

422
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,960
and playing the soldier properly.

423
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,240
How much technical advising did you have for super troopers?

424
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,160
Did you kind of inquire in that community or did you do it more blind?

425
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,040
No, I mean, like I remember like a funny moment.

426
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:34,640
It's like, you know, like I said, we just kind of wrote these sketches and we didn't

427
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:40,880
have a whole lot of technical, like Tacoma, we really kind of like, you know, crossed

428
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,880
our T's and dotted our I's with technical stuff.

429
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,280
But I think then we didn't know.

430
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:50,600
And I remember one like funny incident where, I think it was like the first or second day

431
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:56,760
we were shooting and we were on this highway and we shut down the highway and to shoot

432
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,600
and to do that, you had to have, you know, local police officers come and do that for

433
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,200
you and some stay.

434
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:07,240
And so we had, you know, some state troopers there and some local police officers and they

435
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,920
started kind of arguing over who, you know, was going to be in charge of this, you know,

436
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,080
the highway and closing it down and opening it up and whatever.

437
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:16,680
And we thought that was great.

438
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,760
And we started talking to those guys and we started asking them questions.

439
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,480
And you know, really we started filling stuff in on the fly, you know, from the guys who

440
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,240
were on our set just to shut down traffic.

441
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,600
And we're like, what about this?

442
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:30,600
And how does this happen?

443
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:31,600
What do you do with the?

444
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,000
And then, you know, once it's the same way with the firefighters, once you start them

445
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,400
talking, you know, they have a hundred stories, you know, they have a story about the rookie

446
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,600
and what they did to this guy and the prank they pull on that guy.

447
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,920
And so that was a really kind of on the fly technical advisor stuff where we were talking

448
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:49,640
to the cops who were on the set.

449
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,040
Because we didn't, I mean, we didn't know any better at that point.

450
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,320
You know, we put together a certain, you know, shoestring budget and just went there with

451
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,680
some cameras and started shooting that movie.

452
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,400
I mean, luckily, I think, you know, I mean, there's plenty of stuff in there that doesn't

453
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,440
fly, but I think, you know, luckily the cops didn't actually call bullshit on us because

454
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,040
they, they enjoyed the movie so much.

455
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,040
It wasn't the documentary.

456
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:18,240
Oh, we try very hard to not let people call bullshit on us or to avoid that at least.

457
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:19,240
Absolutely.

458
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:20,760
Well, what about Beerfest?

459
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,360
Your last name is Heffernan.

460
00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:24,160
Do you have German ancestry?

461
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,160
Was that somewhat of an inspiration for it?

462
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:27,160
Was it completely detached?

463
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:28,160
No.

464
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,720
No, it's all Irish for me, you know.

465
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:38,000
Yeah, no, Beerfest was, it was, you know, we came out, we made a movie called Club Dread

466
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:43,080
after Super Troopers and it was a bomb, you know, and I love that movie, but it failed,

467
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:48,320
it flopped, you know, and we were criticized, you know, we were criticized for being sophomoric

468
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,640
and you know, you know, like fart jokes and whatever it is, you know, that kind of stuff

469
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,760
where you get, you get knocked for, you know, maybe low, low, low brow humor or whatever

470
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,920
it was and so Beerfest was a reaction to that.

471
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,120
It was kind of like, oh, you think that we're sophomoric?

472
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,320
You think we're, you know, whatever, frat boys or whatever.

473
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:14,960
Let's make a movie called Beerfest, you know, and we had gone on a tour to Australia for

474
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:22,040
Super Troopers, the original Super Troopers and, you know, a tour in Australia is very

475
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,960
different than a tour in here, you know.

476
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:33,280
It's a much, you know, kind of more raw and, you know, raucous movie tour, you know, so

477
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,880
we would go to a lot of beer gardens and we would go to a lot of bars and, you know, whatever,

478
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,400
show up there in uniform, whatever it was.

479
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:47,920
And I remember we were at a beer garden and what they decided the promotion would be is

480
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:53,920
that we would get up on stage, the five of us, and we chug beers against five local Australian

481
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,440
guys.

482
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,680
And so, we're like, all right, let's do it, whatever.

483
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,960
So they call us up on stage and there were these five guys who were like at a bachelor

484
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,520
party at this beer garden and this big crowd outside this outside garden and they pull

485
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,560
these five guys up on stage and they said, all right, you know, we're gonna do a line

486
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,840
chug against these guys and it's gonna be a boat race, you know, it's gonna be a race,

487
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:15,840
you know.

488
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:21,520
And so we started the race and the crowd went crazy.

489
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:29,760
Like it was like yelling anti-American shit, you know, whenever it was like this fervent,

490
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:37,120
like people were rooting for their guys so hard that ultimately they had to take us off

491
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,560
after the thing and we lost and they took us off the stage and they put us in a van

492
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:44,000
and had to get us out of there because it was this raucous thing.

493
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,200
And we thought that was one of the funniest things we'd seen and one of the coolest things

494
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,880
we've seen and that was the genesis for that beer fest that day.

495
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:55,840
It was like, oh my God, what if we made this nationalistic Olympic competition of beer

496
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,960
drinking and the fans are drunk and everyone's crazy and whatever.

497
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:04,320
So that was the kind of this Australian trip was the genesis for that idea.

498
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:10,600
And then in response to, you know, us being criticized for being sophomoric, we decided

499
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,040
let's make this movie.

500
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,400
And you know, it had kicked around a little bit.

501
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:24,040
We tried a couple of different places and then ultimately Jay Chandrasekhar had directed

502
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:29,720
the remake of the Dukes of Hazard and he did that for Warner Brothers and it was a success

503
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:30,720
for them.

504
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:35,780
And in response, they said, well, you guys can go make beer fest.

505
00:29:35,780 --> 00:29:39,700
And so we made that on a shoestring budget and that was, you know, one of the most fun,

506
00:29:39,700 --> 00:29:41,560
you know, movies that we ever made.

507
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:47,560
You know, we had those German bad guys and we got, you know, some real kind of bodybuilder

508
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,880
guys and we got some great comic guys like Will Forte and that faction, Eric Christian

509
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,400
Olsen and they played the bad guys.

510
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:59,120
We got, you know, guys like Donald Sutherland in there and, you know, it was just a really

511
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,080
fun movie to make.

512
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,640
And, you know, I think that resonated with a whole nother group of people.

513
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,480
You know, it's like you meet people and it depends on what their age is.

514
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,880
But you know, some people are Supertruth fans, some people are beer fest fans.

515
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,600
But that was a great, it was a great experience to make that movie.

516
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:21,660
Again, that was a movie that did not succeed at the time in the box office, but since has

517
00:30:21,660 --> 00:30:26,400
had this huge life kind of afterwards that people connect with.

518
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:31,120
I wrote a book three years ago and when you release the book, you're like, oh, it needs

519
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:32,860
to be a success now.

520
00:30:32,860 --> 00:30:35,560
And then you have a realization that you made it.

521
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:39,400
It doesn't matter when it takes off, as long as it's out there.

522
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:45,920
And listen to the story about Band of Brothers again, they released it in 2001 and then 9-11

523
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:46,920
happened.

524
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,760
So it didn't really have that, you know, the old eyes on it at that point.

525
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:54,600
And it was actually the 10 year anniversary when most of us really learned about Band

526
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,320
of Brothers and it really took off and that was 10 years later.

527
00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:58,320
Yeah.

528
00:30:58,320 --> 00:30:59,320
Yeah.

529
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:03,280
It just takes, you know, the time and the problem is there's so much fervor and so much

530
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,400
weight placed on the release time of things, whether it's a TV show or a book or a movie

531
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:09,660
or a song or whatever it is.

532
00:31:09,660 --> 00:31:13,600
And then you forget that you're still putting that thing out into the world and people are,

533
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:14,840
you know, people are going to discover it.

534
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,920
And that's been the case with every one of our projects, every one of them.

535
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:24,320
You know, Super Troopers was like, you know, three years after the movie came out, we're

536
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:29,240
walking down the street in New York City and some guy comes running out of a bar and he's

537
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:30,640
like, you're the Super Troopers guys.

538
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,440
And we're like, yeah, come on, let me buy you some beers.

539
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,920
You know, and that was that kind of stuff didn't happen until years after Super Troopers

540
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:40,240
came out, you know.

541
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:45,520
And it's the same thing with Beer Fest, the same thing with we just made a movie called

542
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,520
Quasi which came out on Hulu last year.

543
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:55,640
And we wrote that movie 20 years ago and it just takes a while.

544
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,000
But ultimately if it's good or if you know, you have a fan base or whatever, they'll discover

545
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:00,000
it.

546
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,760
So what was your experience going from the regular movies to the streaming service?

547
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:08,280
I think when Eric came on, it was literally right before Quasi and it was funny.

548
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,960
I was literally walking with my wife a few days ago and we were laughing about the rack

549
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,160
scene, how every scene he gets taller and taller and taller.

550
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,360
You know, there's that sense that, you know, people on the rack before they get ripped

551
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,120
apart, they probably feel really fucking good, right?

552
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,480
You know, a little decompression before I die.

553
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:31,640
So what was that experience like because some people have had on the show, obviously there's

554
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,640
a negative side to the streaming and the royalties and that kind of thing.

555
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,480
But what made you guys make the leap to that and what has been your experience so far?

556
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:45,560
Well, I think it was really a function of, it was a result of the circumstances, you

557
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:46,560
know.

558
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:51,280
It's like, obviously that was coming down the line, you know.

559
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:58,840
It's so expensive to put movies in movie theaters now and to kind of crack into that market.

560
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,880
And I think that, you know, the companies are realizing that.

561
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:06,440
And it was the pandemic, I think, that really brought that to fruition, you know, where

562
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,680
nobody was going to the movies and they, you know, they realized, God, we better get these

563
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:15,160
services farther along and, you know, that they realized that maybe there was more of

564
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:20,000
a life with people sitting on their couch, you know.

565
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:24,000
And I get it, you know, maybe, you know, there are certain elements of in the film world

566
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,440
where it's not considered as prestigious or it's more of an event to go out to the movie

567
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:29,440
theater.

568
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:30,440
And I understand that.

569
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:35,560
I mean, from our circumstances was we made that quasi deal to be in the movie theaters.

570
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:39,800
And then when the pandemic hit, there were no movie theaters, you know.

571
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,600
They were closing them down and they didn't know what the future of it was either, you

572
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:43,600
know.

573
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,080
They didn't even know if they were going to come back.

574
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,440
And so you didn't really have a choice at that point, you know.

575
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,600
And the company said that came to a searchlight and they said, you know, look, we have this

576
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:52,600
deal with Hulu.

577
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,560
There are no movies and movie theaters right now.

578
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,480
Do you guys want to convert your deal and we'll make it a streaming deal and you guys

579
00:33:58,480 --> 00:33:59,480
can make the movie.

580
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,120
And at the time we were kind of like, hey, look, however it works, you know, however

581
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,360
we can get this seen by people were great with it.

582
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:11,960
And so, you know, I think we were, you know, we had to make that decision at that point

583
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:12,960
time.

584
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:18,560
And now it's the T it's the Tacoma stuff to me that's made me realize that, you know,

585
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,880
the most important thing for me, you know, we tell funny stories and the most important

586
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,560
thing is for as many people to laugh at that as you can or just spread it.

587
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,480
And, you know, the streaming has become the way to do that.

588
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:35,080
And we're finding that with Tacoma is that it's a way to reach more people, you know.

589
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:42,380
And, you know, we don't make superhero movies and we don't make huge blockbuster movies.

590
00:34:42,380 --> 00:34:46,240
And so that seems to be the way to reach the people these days.

591
00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:48,480
So I'm totally fine with it.

592
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:49,480
You know, however they watch it.

593
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:51,760
I love that people are watching Tacoma on Netflix right now.

594
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:53,560
I think it's great.

595
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:57,960
And and, you know, you hear from people and fans, people discovering it.

596
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:04,800
So yeah, I mean, it was a weird experience for quasi because you were used to the build

597
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,080
up to opening weekend, right?

598
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:08,080
Everything's about opening weekend.

599
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:17,000
And then Monday morning, whether it's, you know, a failure or a success, the balloon,

600
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,640
the air is out of the balloon on Monday morning.

601
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:19,640
You know what I mean?

602
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,160
It's like there's two to three days and then you're done.

603
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:23,480
The streaming stuff not like that.

604
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,160
You know, it's it's you know, it has a life.

605
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,960
And I really like that about Tacoma.

606
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:30,240
I liked about quasi to me.

607
00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:35,220
Quasi had a nice run for like three, four months on Hulu.

608
00:35:35,220 --> 00:35:37,680
And it did quite well, you know.

609
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,520
I think that's the better side of the streaming thing.

610
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,320
But you know, it's also just just the future.

611
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,040
You know, it's not streaming.

612
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,440
I don't know that it's going to go away, you know, and I don't think that theatrical movies

613
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:50,440
are going to go away.

614
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,080
You just have to figure out how to make them cost effective, you know?

615
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:55,080
Yeah, absolutely.

616
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:59,040
Yeah, it's funny when you when you publish a book on Amazon, which is what I did.

617
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,880
I think everyone is the number one bestseller for like a day.

618
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,700
No matter what you've written and how many people buy it, you're a number one seller.

619
00:36:06,700 --> 00:36:10,880
And then all of a sudden, you're actually, you know, book number twenty seven thousand,

620
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:11,880
whatever.

621
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:12,880
And it is.

622
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,680
But then you just kind of reframe it and go, you know, it's out there now.

623
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,080
And I think that's what's good about streaming is I can watch it today or I can watch it

624
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,400
a year or five years from now.

625
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,840
But there's two points in life.

626
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,800
You haven't seen it and then you've seen it.

627
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,080
So does it have to be the day it come out?

628
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:29,640
Or is it 10 years from now?

629
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:35,040
When as an artist, as long as that person hopefully sees your work or reads your book

630
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,480
or whatever it is, when is kind of irrelevant?

631
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,520
Yeah, I mean, two years from now, someone's going to read your book for the first time,

632
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,480
you know, because I love it.

633
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:49,280
Oh, you know, it's not going to matter that it came out on April 13th or whatever.

634
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:50,280
Yeah.

635
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,240
I mean, yeah, when it was the number one bestseller, by the way.

636
00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:54,240
Yeah.

637
00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:59,260
And that's what I think that's what TV has taught me because movies become so precious

638
00:36:59,260 --> 00:37:02,280
about building to a date and all that kind of business.

639
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:04,200
And if you don't build that day, it's like somebody died.

640
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,920
You know, I remember getting calls, you know, Monday morning after like Club Dread came

641
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:09,920
out or whatever.

642
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:11,920
And they're like, we're so, so sorry.

643
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,280
You know, like what, what does we do?

644
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:15,720
We made this or whatever.

645
00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:21,400
And it's like, oh, and it was like, you know, it was like, you know, somebody in your family

646
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:27,320
had died, you know, like, well, now they're going to be able to discover that thing, you

647
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:28,760
know, and then we'll watch it.

648
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:32,600
And, you know, the movie begets movies, you know, so people who are Broken Lizard fans

649
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:36,000
watch Tacoma and people who are Tacoma fans go back and watch the Broken Lizard movies

650
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,080
now and, you know, I think it all works out for the best for us.

651
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:42,080
I mean, I don't know.

652
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,120
Well, you made some very unique films.

653
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,600
I think we're about the same age, roughly.

654
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:51,360
I'm at a point now where I yearn for new stories.

655
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,200
They've rehashed so many stories.

656
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,200
They've remade, you know, the films from our childhood, The Karate Kids and all these things

657
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,720
over and over and over again.

658
00:37:59,720 --> 00:38:03,440
What is your kind of perspective on the audience these days?

659
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:08,880
I can't help but feel like people are yearning either for more, you know, true stories or,

660
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,560
I mean, obviously, the reflection of real people like Tacoma, you know, in the real

661
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:19,800
profession or, you know, brand brand new stories or, you know, more raw stories.

662
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:20,800
I think that's another thing.

663
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:24,600
I think that, as you said, the superhero has just been milked to death now.

664
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,760
Marvel and DC have squeezed every single penny out of those stories.

665
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,360
Star Wars franchise.

666
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:37,320
So to me, a film has to be worthy of someone taking their children, spending 80, 100 dollars,

667
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,240
you know, on sitting in a movie theater.

668
00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:40,240
So I don't know.

669
00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:42,720
I don't even know if there's any question in there.

670
00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:46,760
But what is your perception now on what the audience wants in 2023?

671
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:52,400
That's why the world is so, you know, the industry is so weird now, you know, because

672
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:58,120
it's like you do have to justify and you have to justify up your corporate ladder, you know,

673
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:02,000
why someone's going to go to that movie theater or why someone's going to watch your material.

674
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,200
And you know, that's why, you know, we're in this stage right now.

675
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,040
It'll shift, I think, but they're in this stage now.

676
00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,680
It's that there has to be and they told us this when we put, you know, Super Troopers

677
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:15,920
2 out in the movie theaters, it was like going to the movie theater has to be an event now.

678
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:17,400
It has to be an event, right?

679
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:20,800
It has to be, hey, it's not just, hey, let's go catch this little film.

680
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,360
It's like we got to go see the new this and we got to go see the movie that this person's

681
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:25,360
in.

682
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:30,000
And whether that's what America or the viewing public wants or whatever it is, that's just

683
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,240
the way the corporate mentality of it is, right?

684
00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:35,120
So you have to overcome that.

685
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,080
And sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.

686
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,120
You know, when we made Quasi, our feeling was, you know, this is a kind of a different

687
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:42,760
weird movie for us.

688
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,600
You know, it's not something that people have seen us in or whatever.

689
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:50,640
And we're not going to get anyone to bite on putting this, taking a chance to put this

690
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,200
in the movie theaters, right?

691
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:59,400
Maybe our best chance is to get some streamer to put some money up on it and do it.

692
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:09,360
And I guess my feeling is that I still go back to that thing that I said that I think

693
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,280
people want to be a part of something.

694
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:20,360
I think people want to watch something and connect with it and be like, hey, that's like

695
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:25,200
me or that's, you know, that character is like, I've been through that, you know, to

696
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,920
me, I still think that's the best driver of entertainment.

697
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:33,120
And I think, you know, when we make Tacoma, we keep that in our mind where it's like we

698
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:36,040
pull real life stories of, hey, that happened to me.

699
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:38,560
And you know, I hate moisturizer or whatever it is.

700
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:39,560
I like mayonnaise.

701
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,320
Get in there and people, you know, connect with that.

702
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:45,360
I think that's what, you know, make people want to watch it.

703
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,840
I still believe that that's the driver.

704
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:49,120
And so that's kind of where we go.

705
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:50,800
But I don't know if the industry believes that.

706
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:56,680
And I, you know, yes, it's easier to put Aquaman on a poster and, you know, get people to come

707
00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:01,840
out to watch it than to put, you know, when we made super troopers, the poster for super

708
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:07,480
troopers, they put us upside down on the poster because we were completely nobody who we were.

709
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,480
And they didn't want you to think that they were nobodies in a movie.

710
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:11,480
So they put us upside down.

711
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,480
So you couldn't recognize who's on the poster, you know.

712
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,920
And I think that still exists kind of today.

713
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:24,840
But, you know, I don't know, it's it's cyclical, I think, you know, like it'll come back to

714
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:26,640
people are like in this kind of a movie.

715
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,680
And then, you know, there'll be another surge of superhero movies and then there'll be another

716
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:34,560
surge of whatever and zombie movies.

717
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:35,560
But it's hard.

718
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,440
You know, I just kind of stick with the fact that I think I think people want to connect

719
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:40,600
personally with things.

720
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:45,040
So however that happens, you know, we do it through.

721
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:49,000
100%, which is how you connect in the fire service to, you know, I mean, we see horrible

722
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,840
stuff and laughter is the way that we connect and decompress.

723
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:52,840
Absolutely.

724
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:53,840
Absolutely.

725
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,760
And, you know, we've talked to a lot of guys about that.

726
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,080
And they're like, hey, you should do a story about this.

727
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,240
We can't do a story about that in this show.

728
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:03,240
It's a little dark.

729
00:42:03,240 --> 00:42:04,240
You know, whatever.

730
00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:08,360
But, you know, we can take this and make a spin on it.

731
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,000
Well, speaking of that, then, so you mentioned cousin Bill, walk me through, you know, your

732
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,960
experience with him when you were young and your perception of the fire service, however

733
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:21,640
that was, and then how that factored into the creation of Tacoma FD.

734
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:26,440
Yeah, I mean, you know, in my hometown, it was always kind of like a family business,

735
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:31,720
you know, and my cousin was there and there were always like families, you know, that

736
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:32,720
had people in the fire.

737
00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:36,800
It was fathers and brothers and cousins and they were on the local fire department.

738
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:41,040
And if your, you know, kid had something stuck in their throat, you'd walk them down to the

739
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,160
fire department in the corner and they'd get the thing out of his throat or whatever it

740
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:50,460
was, you know, it was a very kind of like community oriented, you know, operation.

741
00:42:50,460 --> 00:42:52,160
And that was something that we always loved.

742
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:55,400
And as we were trying to make the show, it goes back to kind of what I was saying about

743
00:42:55,400 --> 00:43:00,280
what you connect with is that we pitched this show as a family show because a fire house

744
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:01,280
is a family.

745
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:03,760
You're there 24 hours a day with the guys on your shift.

746
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:04,760
You sleep with them.

747
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:06,740
You eat with them.

748
00:43:06,740 --> 00:43:09,880
And then at the same time, there are families within where there's cousins and brothers

749
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:13,640
and fathers and daughters and whatever in the service together.

750
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:19,680
And that was a big attraction to the idea for us because that's, I think that again,

751
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,360
like I said, that's how people connect with it.

752
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:28,320
And so, you know, we were batting around these ideas, Lemmy and I, and, you know, my cousin

753
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:33,600
Bill always been a fan of our stuff and he would always say to us, hey, you think cops

754
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:38,200
are funny, come talk to me when you want to do a firefighter thing because firefighters

755
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,480
are way more funny than cops are.

756
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:42,920
Okay.

757
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:48,220
And so, you know, Lemmy and I were kicking around this idea and part of it was self-serving

758
00:43:48,220 --> 00:43:54,100
in the sense that, you know, we wanted to, we'd spent many years, you know, writing different

759
00:43:54,100 --> 00:43:55,760
TV shows and trying to get TV shows in the air.

760
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,960
It's a tough nut to crack and we've tried to do it for a long time.

761
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:03,960
And we've constantly come up with ideas about, you know, what we can capitalize and what

762
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:05,280
people like of us and whatever.

763
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,880
And it's like, hey, people like our mustaches and people like us being in uniforms and let's

764
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:11,880
talk about a firefighter show.

765
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:18,560
And we were actually, we were in Tacoma at the comedy club doing a comedy show one weekend,

766
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,560
just Lemmy and I, and it was raining out and whatever.

767
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:26,960
And we were like, you know, we have pretty funny firefighter show premises that you put

768
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:32,800
the show in the rainiest city in the country and then you can create the idea that like

769
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,720
super troopers where there's not a lot of traffic so you can have some fun.

770
00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:40,280
There's not a lot of fires in the rainiest city, so you can probably have a lot of fun.

771
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:44,760
And so we were kind of batting that idea around and we went to cousin Bill and we were like,

772
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,000
hey, we're thinking about it because that's a great idea.

773
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:52,160
You know, I got, you know, these stories and we just started kind of talking to him and

774
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:57,120
kind of building the world out a little bit and trying to make this family feel, you know,

775
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,400
you know, of the show and guys who like to have fun.

776
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:08,200
And, you know, it was funny because it was an inauspicious beginning with the real Tacoma

777
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,960
Fire Department.

778
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:16,520
You know, we were, we had announced at the show, we were going to make the show and we

779
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:22,440
were, we were in Seattle and we were doing, Lemmy and I were doing comedy shows in Seattle

780
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:27,400
and the owner of the club came back.

781
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:35,760
The owner of the club came to the backstage and he said, hey, there are a bunch of Tacoma

782
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:38,040
firefighters out there and they want to talk to you.

783
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:42,600
And we're like, oh shit.

784
00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,840
And so after the show, we went out and we met with these guys.

785
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:50,600
There's like, you know, seven or eight guys and, and they're like, hey, we heard you,

786
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:52,600
we hear you want to make a show about the Tacoma Fire Department.

787
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:54,200
And we're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

788
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,040
We were going to make that show.

789
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:59,960
Like, and what the joke is that it's always rainy so we don't work.

790
00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:02,720
We were like, no, no, no.

791
00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:05,000
It's like, listen, we work very hard.

792
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:06,400
It's hard as any fire department.

793
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:10,160
Like we, I know we know.

794
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:13,560
And so we kind of, we talked to them and we said, we're not going to, you know, we're

795
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:14,560
going to make you look bad.

796
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:15,560
We're going to make you look good.

797
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:18,480
And, you know, look at super troopers, you know, that's what we're going for.

798
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:22,120
And they finally at the end, this guy, you know, one guy said, okay, all right, fine.

799
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:25,960
And then the guy reached into his pocket and he pulled out a business card and he said,

800
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:30,960
if you need a technical consultant, I'm willing to help you out.

801
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:32,280
Thank you very much.

802
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:38,080
And we ultimately, you know, ended up making, you know, obviously make the show and ended

803
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,880
up having a very good relationship with those guys.

804
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,720
But you know, in the beginning, I think fire, you know, the firefighters were a little nervous

805
00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:49,280
that we were going to make them bumbling idiots, you know, and that was never our intention.

806
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:54,760
It was always like, Hey, let's make a world, you know, very similar super troopers where

807
00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:56,640
you want to hang out with those guys.

808
00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:01,800
They're good at their jobs, but when they're, they have downtime as firefighters have, you

809
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:06,520
know, they're having fun, having a good time and giving each other shit.

810
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:09,240
So cousin Bill was also a fire historian.

811
00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:10,240
Have I got that right?

812
00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:13,880
Yeah, he's he was kind of like the local fire.

813
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:17,760
He retired last year and so he's kind of taken that on.

814
00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:18,760
That's one of his jobs.

815
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:24,320
He's taken on now where he's he's kind of the official historian of the local fire department.

816
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:27,800
And you know, he's got all kinds of great stuff.

817
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:34,120
And you know, he's the kind of guy who amasses funny stories in his head, you know, firefighter

818
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,880
stories, which is what makes him a wealth of information for us.

819
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:44,760
And he also is a guy who was very much a stickler for, you know, authenticity.

820
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:49,160
You know, like he was always kind of like, if I'm going to be on the show, my name is

821
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:51,840
on the show as a technical consultant.

822
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,520
This stuff's going to you know, the guys who are sitting in the fire department on Thursday

823
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,440
night watching this thing together are not going to call bullshit on us.

824
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:01,240
You know, we're going to make it, you know, and whatever you have to you have to do that.

825
00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:03,720
Sometimes you have to shade things, you know, sometimes.

826
00:48:03,720 --> 00:48:08,280
But for the most part, you know, he was very aggressive about making sure that we, you

827
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:10,560
know, we wore our equipment properly.

828
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:15,360
We had the proper equipment and, you know, you know, and he'd make fun of us.

829
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:21,000
But you know, we'd get figure out how to get the SEBAs on and, you know.

830
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,000
So what is your technical training look like?

831
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,560
And did you use that guy who gave you the business card in the end?

832
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:26,960
No, we didn't use that guy.

833
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:33,240
Although we became friends with a lot of those guys and I think they were very happy.

834
00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:38,480
We actually had a couple episodes where they came down, a bunch of the guys from the real

835
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:39,960
Tacoma firemen came down.

836
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,440
We had a firefighter ball episode and they were at the ball and they were extras and

837
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,320
they, we hung out with them for a few days there and that was fun.

838
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:51,400
And, you know, we've done some earlier in the seasons, we would do some promotional

839
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:56,000
stuff up there, which is who we've got a great, they would send us stuff to put on the walls

840
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:57,560
and things like that, like real to call it.

841
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:00,680
Here's an axe and here's a whatever, you know.

842
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:02,080
And so we would, we would do that.

843
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:06,520
So our relationship ended up being, you know, really, really great with them.

844
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:10,760
But the, you know, the technical consultant stuff that we do with Bill, you know, Bill

845
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,200
ended up being a guy who was always on the set with us.

846
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:18,720
And you know, our show, partly because it was low budget and partly because that was

847
00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:21,840
the premise, it was like, we don't really fight fires.

848
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:26,640
You know, we don't, we do like one fire a season because that's all we can afford really.

849
00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:29,400
And so it's more about hanging out at the station, you know.

850
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:37,240
So when we did have those big, you know, shoots where we gear up and, and, and, you know,

851
00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:40,480
we'd fight a fire or whatever it was, you know, Bill was very adamant being there.

852
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:41,480
Here's how you do it.

853
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:42,480
Here's how you enter the building.

854
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:44,440
You know, here's how you do this.

855
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,480
And, you know, we would spend a lot of time on that.

856
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:52,840
But a lot of it was just like, you know, for Bill, it'd be like, hey, you know, we're on

857
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:53,840
the apparatus floor.

858
00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,400
You know, what's on the wall?

859
00:49:56,400 --> 00:50:00,160
You know, or, you know, we're driving the engine.

860
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:01,160
What's inside the engine?

861
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:05,680
Or, you know, it was, it was kind of a lot of, you know, how is the hose, you know, packed

862
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:09,480
and, you know, a lot of stuff like that.

863
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:12,400
And then it was terminology, you know, like he would get very, very, very, very, very

864
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:16,600
angry with us when we would say garage, you know, it had to be the app floor or the apparatus

865
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:17,600
floor.

866
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:23,120
You know, he'd get, he'd get angry at us when we would call superiors by their first names,

867
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,480
you know, as opposed to captain and chief and whatever.

868
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:31,640
So that was always kind of a fun, you know, and he was, you know, not afraid to jump in

869
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:35,200
and say that, you know, and he, he'd get in a fight with the prop guy and it's like, that's

870
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:38,240
not the proper ladder that you would have in this situation, you know, that kind of

871
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:39,240
stuff.

872
00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:42,880
So yeah, we always got like a lot of enjoyment out of that, but in the, at the same time,

873
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:46,440
you know, we meet a lot of firefighters now and say, Hey, you know what, you know, I think

874
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,880
that is, you know, a very authentic feeling show to us.

875
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:54,480
And I think it's a credit to cousin Bill for all the years he's spent in the department

876
00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:58,080
and helping us create that sense.

877
00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:01,960
It is really jarring when you work and I can't imagine being a cop, how many times people

878
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:04,760
get it wrong with the FBI or something like that.

879
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:10,160
But I worked on the world trade center film with Nicolas Cage and got a few directed

880
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:14,040
it now, Oliver Stone, but I was just simply a glorified extra.

881
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:18,760
That's all I was, but I'd been in, in acting, I became a stunt man in the end, but I, we

882
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:23,540
got this, this gig and I got a whole bunch of my Anaheim firefighters onto the film,

883
00:51:23,540 --> 00:51:24,640
but it was the other side.

884
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:30,940
Like we had FDNY gear down to the point, but when it was the final cut, we were just like

885
00:51:30,940 --> 00:51:32,360
shadows in the background.

886
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,840
So the, you know, attention to detail on that point, you know, it was obviously wasted on

887
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:41,720
a lot of these shots, but when you see average firefighters in a scene, oh my God, it's just,

888
00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:45,080
it's awful because they've got everything is wrong.

889
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:46,080
Everything is wrong.

890
00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:50,760
Even I hate to call them out this film out because one of the guys from the film is on

891
00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:55,600
the show, but there's a film, Paramedic came out recently and this woman is doing compressions

892
00:51:55,600 --> 00:52:00,160
on a guy with a, with a Kevlar vest still on, you know, and it's like, did you not ask

893
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:01,160
anyone?

894
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:03,880
Did you even just watch a CPR video?

895
00:52:03,880 --> 00:52:06,080
American Heart Association for something.

896
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:10,800
But yeah, so even though it's, you know, it's a comedy show by making sure all those things

897
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:14,160
were right, it keeps us, which is, I'm sure there's a lot of firefighters watch the show.

898
00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:18,800
It keeps us engaged with the jokes rather than what the fuck is that on his back?

899
00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:19,800
Yeah.

900
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:24,320
No, uh, you know, we had a bunch of that kind of stuff and, uh, who's the guy that does

901
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:31,680
like the green screen, um, um, who does the green screen gags where they take the scenes

902
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:34,880
from firefighter fire department chronicles, Jason.

903
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:35,880
Yeah.

904
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:36,880
Jason.

905
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:37,880
Right.

906
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:38,880
We use his coffee.

907
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:40,680
We have his coffee as a, you know, I think, but Jason, yeah.

908
00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:45,400
So, um, um, but Bill was always cousin Bill was always like, I don't want to be in that

909
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:46,400
green screen thing.

910
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:47,400
Okay.

911
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:48,480
So we're going to make sure.

912
00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:51,240
And then we would start making jokes about it because, you know, there'd be, there was

913
00:52:51,240 --> 00:52:56,160
one firefighter show where I can't remember what it was, but like, you know, a guy gets

914
00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:01,600
hit by a meteor and, uh, and they're, they're trying to revive them.

915
00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:04,920
And you know, the, the joke, you get hit by a meteor, you're dead.

916
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:08,700
You know, the thing's going to go through you or whatever it is, you know?

917
00:53:08,700 --> 00:53:16,360
And so, um, you know, we, we opened our, uh, our, our, uh, last season scene with a guy

918
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:20,600
getting, with a guy getting hit by a meter, but you'd find out it's a fake, you know,

919
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:22,800
a fake TV show, a firefighter TV show.

920
00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:28,240
But we, we started to joke about what, you know, the firefighter shows would do and,

921
00:53:28,240 --> 00:53:30,920
um, and, and then try to kind of capture that in the thing.

922
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:36,240
But you know, luckily we don't, like I said, we don't have to get super technical because

923
00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:39,600
we don't do a lot of, you know, calls and fires and that kind of stuff.

924
00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:43,720
You know, it's just, you know, what, what feels authentic around the station, you know,

925
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:48,160
the way we talk to each other and the, and you know, uh, what, you know, populates our

926
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:49,840
world kind of a thing, you know?

927
00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:55,880
And um, but the firefighters I talked to, they're like, that is, you know, they, they

928
00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:58,600
love it because that is how they feel their station is, you know?

929
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,840
And I mean, they're like, you know, whatever it's, it's a heightened sense of com comic,

930
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:02,840
you know, whatever.

931
00:54:02,840 --> 00:54:06,040
And you know, there are some episodes of ours that are just getting, you know, very silly,

932
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:10,680
but, but for the most part, it's that sitting around, you know, having your coffee and

933
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:13,840
bragging on another guy, you know, which is what a lot of it is, you know?

934
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:14,840
Absolutely.

935
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:18,400
Well, it shows, you know, the Probie jokes, uh, the calendar episode was brilliant.

936
00:54:18,400 --> 00:54:21,960
The testicle popping episode was hilarious.

937
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:24,360
So yeah, but it's, it is all, all the things that we do.

938
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:29,280
And again, the real dark side of what we do and there's, there's a huge amount of that

939
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:33,360
firehouse, you know, dark humor, um, to gallows humor.

940
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:34,360
Yeah.

941
00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:35,360
That is how we offload.

942
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:39,320
And I think that's why films like yours are so popular in the fire service is just because

943
00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:43,040
it allows us to just, you know, laugh and not think about anything.

944
00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:47,200
Cause if you look at the psychology of laughter, it down regulates the nervous system.

945
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,920
That's why we laugh, even if it's a dark joke.

946
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:50,920
Yeah.

947
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:55,000
And I, and I, it's funny cause we, you know, we would try to every once in a while, you

948
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:57,880
know, like, like bill or somebody will come up with an idea where we were like, that's

949
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:02,400
a little dark, you know, like, but you try to find what the funny part of is, or at least

950
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:07,040
what the, you know, the important part of it, you know, like we did an episode on kind

951
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:13,240
of the PS, the PTSD kind of, um, thing where, you know, you know, um, you know, bill would

952
00:55:13,240 --> 00:55:17,960
always talk about how when he started on the fire department, it was like, suck it up,

953
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:20,480
you know, you're a pussy, don't, you know, whatever.

954
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:25,360
And then realizing that you, that the firefighters see so much shit that you have to release,

955
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:29,380
you know, and that, um, you know, talking to people or whether it's, you know, therapy

956
00:55:29,380 --> 00:55:33,640
sessions or whatever it is becomes an important part in keeping, you know, mental health for

957
00:55:33,640 --> 00:55:34,640
the firefighters.

958
00:55:34,640 --> 00:55:38,880
And he said, that's, you know, as I became a, you know, higher up the ranks, that became

959
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:43,320
a very important part of our lives and dealing with that issue.

960
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:46,160
And we were like, well, it's hard for us to deal with that issue because then you have

961
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:48,880
to deal with what inspires that issue.

962
00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:51,560
And you know, and then you don't want to get into situations, you're making fun of it,

963
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:52,560
you know?

964
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:59,440
And, and so the trick is, Hey, how do you do the group therapy session episode without,

965
00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:06,360
uh, well, delivering a positive message, um, and not getting too dark, you know, and cause

966
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:11,920
firefighters see so much dark stuff, you know, and, and, um, the other kind of great thing

967
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:18,480
about this is as the show has become more successful or more people see it, firefighters

968
00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:23,600
reach out to us with stories, you know, and, um, you know, some of them are like, well,

969
00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:27,080
we find this dead guy behind a dumpster and you're like, well, we can't do that.

970
00:56:27,080 --> 00:56:29,040
I'm still waiting to find the joke.

971
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:30,040
Where's the joke?

972
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:31,040
And to us is hilarious.

973
00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:33,040
He's traveled around his ankles.

974
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:34,040
Yeah.

975
00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:37,960
And so, you know, there are all those things and you're like, um, and you, you know, this,

976
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,440
we found this guy, he was covered in shit and we had to do this.

977
00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:42,840
And you're like, okay, we can't necessarily do that.

978
00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:46,920
You know, and the funny thing is trying to figure out how to do something like that,

979
00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:51,480
but not, you know, so, you know, I either there's so many dark things that firefighters

980
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:56,120
see, we just can't really tackle that world because we're trying to keep it light and

981
00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:57,760
fun for people.

982
00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:04,480
So speaking of that, just as a tangent for a moment, it's been bizarre the last few years

983
00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:10,160
seeing the politically correct element start to put into the point where it almost squashes

984
00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:11,400
out everything.

985
00:57:11,400 --> 00:57:15,520
It's like the person who develops allergies and all they can end up drinking is water.

986
00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:16,520
You know what I mean?

987
00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:17,520
It's, it's like that.

988
00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:21,880
So in the world of comedy, obviously that the parameters are exactly where you're exploring,

989
00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:25,920
you know, the South parks and Daniel Tosh and some of these, you know, which I think

990
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:30,320
South Park is hilarious because the fact that they haven't been canceled when they are,

991
00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:34,600
you know, literally putting pushing the balls from all areas, I think maybe that's the key.

992
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,600
They push all the walls.

993
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:38,680
Yeah, amazing.

994
00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:39,800
But so what about that?

995
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:45,880
I mean, between the shows and the films and also your live comedy, have, yeah, has there

996
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:46,920
been a resistance?

997
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:50,800
Have you found the environment changing or have you just stayed doing what you've done

998
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:52,400
and it just keeps working?

999
00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:55,760
Yeah, I think mostly we say stay where we are.

1000
00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:56,760
I get it.

1001
00:57:56,760 --> 00:58:03,520
I get it that people maybe feel that the room is shrinking a little bit or whatever.

1002
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:04,520
I don't know.

1003
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:10,440
I've always in the guys that we work with here in Tacoma, it's always interesting to

1004
00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:13,160
find how to get around those problems.

1005
00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:15,080
I always find that to be the fun challenge.

1006
00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:22,600
You know, it's like, I think, you know, there's definitely this feeling that, you know, that

1007
00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:26,680
maybe people maybe are over sensitive or whatever, but I feel like we've been able to navigate

1008
00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:29,160
that and still find all the funny things.

1009
00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:32,480
I think there's still plenty of funny out there and I think there's still plenty of

1010
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,360
things that you can do.

1011
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,640
And so, you know, I know there are a lot of writers and comics and we're kind of wring

1012
00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:43,680
their hands about, you know, you know, I'm being kind of restrained from doing what I

1013
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:44,680
want to do.

1014
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:48,680
And I guess I just never have felt that necessarily.

1015
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:55,240
And you know, maybe it is another thing I think about it is that if you are generally

1016
00:58:55,240 --> 00:58:58,760
a good natured person, you can get away with more.

1017
00:58:58,760 --> 00:58:59,760
You know what I mean?

1018
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:05,240
Like if you are a firebrand or and you are known for, you know, throwing those bombs

1019
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:07,600
and whatever, people are going to focus on you.

1020
00:59:07,600 --> 00:59:10,520
And when you do it, they're going to attack you.

1021
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:15,600
But like I said, our angle has always been, hey, we're nice guys and we're good guys.

1022
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:22,960
And if every once in a while you throw something out there that maybe is questionable in, you

1023
00:59:22,960 --> 00:59:28,800
know, whether, you know, whatever it is, I think people give you some leeway or at least

1024
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:30,440
that's what I found for us.

1025
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:35,960
You know, I mean, there are definitely some jokes that we have made, you know, in stand

1026
00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:38,880
up or whatever, like, oh, boy, there's there's where we're getting canceled.

1027
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:40,780
You know, it doesn't happen.

1028
00:59:40,780 --> 00:59:45,440
And I think part of it is because, you know, we're not mean-spirited guys, you know, so

1029
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:47,040
maybe that's maybe that's a good thing.

1030
00:59:47,040 --> 00:59:48,040
I don't know.

1031
00:59:48,040 --> 00:59:49,040
Maybe that's a lesson.

1032
00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:50,040
Absolutely.

1033
00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:57,400
I did the film, like I said, I did a TV show as well, two TV shows on a history channel

1034
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:02,600
portraying a pirate that looked like Brian May from Queen.

1035
01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:06,800
And it was such a bizarre experience because, you know, it's so steep.

1036
01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:09,760
Yeah, and terrible.

1037
01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:15,320
And add to the fact that I'm the world's worst actor as well, which is why I got in the stunts.

1038
01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:17,120
But but then you do the live show.

1039
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:21,280
That's what I did most of the stunts with was live shows in Orlando and L.A., you know,

1040
01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:22,280
Bueno Park and all these areas.

1041
01:00:22,280 --> 01:00:23,280
Right.

1042
01:00:23,280 --> 01:00:25,920
We had a bunch of guys that we did that we knew who did this stuff.

1043
01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:26,920
Yeah.

1044
01:00:26,920 --> 01:00:29,240
I mean, it's a great on ramp for for a lot of things.

1045
01:00:29,240 --> 01:00:34,880
But there was no comparison when you do a live stunt show, a pirate show, you know,

1046
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:39,520
a show in Universal, whatever it is, you immediately get that audience reaction.

1047
01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:44,280
But then when you're on a set, you know, especially a huge production, you know, you you do it

1048
01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:46,600
and then it takes an hour to reset and you do it again.

1049
01:00:46,600 --> 01:00:47,600
And there's no real feedback.

1050
01:00:47,600 --> 01:00:52,360
And I've heard a lot of people, you know, high level actors say they have no idea how

1051
01:00:52,360 --> 01:00:55,560
the film is going to turn out because they're not in charge of editing or anything.

1052
01:00:55,560 --> 01:00:56,920
So, you know, it could be amazing.

1053
01:00:56,920 --> 01:00:57,920
It could be terrible.

1054
01:00:57,920 --> 01:01:01,400
And they put the exact same performance on.

1055
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:06,840
What is it that you love about the live stand up compared to what you're putting on screen?

1056
01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:11,440
Well, I think that's the truth is that, you know, the immediate reaction, you know, I

1057
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:13,680
mean, there's nothing like that.

1058
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:20,520
You know, and and it's like also the experimental kind of atmosphere to fix things.

1059
01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:26,400
So like if I have five shows in a weekend, I'll try a joke out the first night.

1060
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:27,620
Doesn't quite work.

1061
01:01:27,620 --> 01:01:33,160
I can change it, see if it works, you know, eight hours later, 12 hours later.

1062
01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:34,560
If it doesn't work, I can change it.

1063
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:38,760
I can, you know, there are great things about being able to work that you can't do that

1064
01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:39,760
in the TV show.

1065
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:42,320
You have to do that through editing or in the movie.

1066
01:01:42,320 --> 01:01:48,640
You do this through editing, but the ability to do that live and to know, you know, there

1067
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:49,640
are jokes that people laugh at.

1068
01:01:49,640 --> 01:01:50,640
You have no reason why they're laughing.

1069
01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:52,760
You have no understanding as to why they're laughing.

1070
01:01:52,760 --> 01:01:54,920
It's like, did they laugh at that joke?

1071
01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:55,920
OK.

1072
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:58,720
And then you find those jokes that always work like that.

1073
01:01:58,720 --> 01:02:02,160
And those are the great things about stand up is like when you hit those moments and

1074
01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:07,160
you know that you have automatic reaction that you're going to get, you know, it's

1075
01:02:07,160 --> 01:02:11,560
much more of a much more of a crapshoot in TVs and worse in movies like TV.

1076
01:02:11,560 --> 01:02:16,000
At least you can you can throw a shitload of jokes at the wall.

1077
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,080
You know, it's like we've done this all the time.

1078
01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:19,080
It's like, well, you know what?

1079
01:02:19,080 --> 01:02:22,240
If that one doesn't hit, the next one will, you know, and, you know, if that doesn't hit,

1080
01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:26,520
then episode two, three, four, five, whatever for a movie, it becomes very precious.

1081
01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:30,640
And that's why you end up, you know, test screening things and reediting them and stuff

1082
01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:32,240
like that.

1083
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:35,560
That's the beauty of live comedy is that you don't have to have that, you know, and that's

1084
01:02:35,560 --> 01:02:42,560
all you can be much more topical or much more, you know, you can make fun of something that

1085
01:02:42,560 --> 01:02:43,560
happened yesterday.

1086
01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:49,880
You know, you know, a show like Tacoma will put like a topical joke in it and then the

1087
01:02:49,880 --> 01:02:51,560
world will not see it for a year.

1088
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:53,880
And then that joke's bullshit.

1089
01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:56,760
You know, it doesn't it doesn't mean anything.

1090
01:02:56,760 --> 01:03:02,840
And you can't, you know, live comedy is so much better than that.

1091
01:03:02,840 --> 01:03:06,840
And so, you know, I love live comedy, but I do definitely I love make part of it.

1092
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:11,680
Why I love making the TV shows and the movies is because I am in all the steps.

1093
01:03:11,680 --> 01:03:16,240
You know, it's like you make a TV show, an actor, you shoot it a year ago and then you

1094
01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:17,240
never see it.

1095
01:03:17,240 --> 01:03:19,440
But for me, I it's my life every day.

1096
01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:20,440
Right.

1097
01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:23,600
So I'm in the edit room every day and I'm doing this, this and this.

1098
01:03:23,600 --> 01:03:28,920
And yeah, as the actor, you haven't thought about it in a year, but I have been with it

1099
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:32,440
the whole time and I'm crafting it and figuring out how to make it work.

1100
01:03:32,440 --> 01:03:36,520
And so that's still very satisfying to me, you know.

1101
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:40,920
But I get it why, you know, actors and comics and stuff love love the live comedy.

1102
01:03:40,920 --> 01:03:41,920
And I like it, too.

1103
01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:44,920
I just like traveling around.

1104
01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:49,320
Traveling around was the biggest pain in the ass to me of doing live comedy.

1105
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:52,040
And let me know I did it for 10 years, you know.

1106
01:03:52,040 --> 01:04:00,240
But you know, I guess I if I have my druthers, I would stick with making TV shows.

1107
01:04:00,240 --> 01:04:04,000
You know, I love that part of it.

1108
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:08,100
You mentioned about a lot of the stories you just couldn't make into an episode just because

1109
01:04:08,100 --> 01:04:09,200
of the darkness or whatever.

1110
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:13,520
Is there one story that you've heard either from your cousin or some other firefighter

1111
01:04:13,520 --> 01:04:18,480
that you wish you could but you couldn't but you can tell it here?

1112
01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:24,720
You know, I don't know all the ins and outs of this, but cousin Bill had a he always had

1113
01:04:24,720 --> 01:04:30,320
he wanted us to make a an episode about I guess an incident.

1114
01:04:30,320 --> 01:04:31,600
I can't remember what parade it was.

1115
01:04:31,600 --> 01:04:35,920
It might have been the St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston about guys going there and getting

1116
01:04:35,920 --> 01:04:42,600
you know, just wasted and ended up in the back of a of a police van, you know.

1117
01:04:42,600 --> 01:04:46,120
And he always wanted us to make like a parade episode where guys get drunk.

1118
01:04:46,120 --> 01:04:49,280
And part of it was like, dude, we can't make a parade episode because we can't pay for

1119
01:04:49,280 --> 01:04:50,280
it.

1120
01:04:50,280 --> 01:04:51,280
Like we can't.

1121
01:04:51,280 --> 01:04:52,680
You know, we don't we don't.

1122
01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:55,480
It's too big, you know.

1123
01:04:55,480 --> 01:04:57,320
But you know, there was there was that thing.

1124
01:04:57,320 --> 01:05:01,840
There were those kind of things, those kind of debaucherous kind of things, which we tried

1125
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:06,520
to kind of keep a little of a lid on.

1126
01:05:06,520 --> 01:05:12,320
And then, yeah, I think the other stories were just the kind of much more traumatic

1127
01:05:12,320 --> 01:05:13,320
stories, you know.

1128
01:05:13,320 --> 01:05:18,560
And it was like, you know, the people that you found or the people you deal with or,

1129
01:05:18,560 --> 01:05:24,320
you know, a lot of their stories were about drug dependency or people, you know, that

1130
01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:27,280
kind of stuff or people were strung out on this or whatever.

1131
01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:33,640
And it just, you know, it just didn't fit in the in the world that we were trying to

1132
01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:36,640
create, you know.

1133
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:38,440
So it was more of that kind of stuff.

1134
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:42,240
But then there were just, you know, there were, you know, great stories that we heard

1135
01:05:42,240 --> 01:05:46,080
that we would put in, you know, it's like I remember we were at a firefighter event in

1136
01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:51,040
Austin and we were meeting with a bunch of guys, having a great time talking to guys

1137
01:05:51,040 --> 01:05:53,960
and hearing stories.

1138
01:05:53,960 --> 01:05:57,080
And one guy told us a story about when he was a rookie.

1139
01:05:57,080 --> 01:06:00,800
And we've talked about the story before, so you may have heard it.

1140
01:06:00,800 --> 01:06:08,900
And he was he was a proby and he joined the shift and all the guys had these tattoos.

1141
01:06:08,900 --> 01:06:10,160
And this is the guy telling us his true story.

1142
01:06:10,160 --> 01:06:13,960
And all these guys had these tattoos, these goofy tattoos that were representative of their

1143
01:06:13,960 --> 01:06:17,560
shift like, I know, the unicorn or that was, I don't know.

1144
01:06:17,560 --> 01:06:19,480
And they told the guy, hey, these are our shift tattoos.

1145
01:06:19,480 --> 01:06:22,200
You have to go get this tattoo.

1146
01:06:22,200 --> 01:06:26,520
And he was like, OK, so he goes and he gets the tattoo and he comes back and shows him

1147
01:06:26,520 --> 01:06:32,160
the tattoo and all the other guys wipe theirs off because they were temp tattoos.

1148
01:06:32,160 --> 01:06:37,280
And they go get this real stupid tattoo on his arm.

1149
01:06:37,280 --> 01:06:40,280
And we were like, oh, my God, that's a hell of a prank.

1150
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:41,380
You know, that's a thing.

1151
01:06:41,380 --> 01:06:48,560
And so, boom, we wrote that episode and and had a great kind of a runner thing about that.

1152
01:06:48,560 --> 01:06:54,400
And but those are kind of those real stories which you get from these guys that are perfect.

1153
01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:58,960
You know, it fits fits so well, you know, and cousin Bill would tell us that these stories,

1154
01:06:58,960 --> 01:07:03,160
you know, it's like I think we put it in either the first or maybe the third.

1155
01:07:03,160 --> 01:07:06,800
I can't remember which episode we put it in, maybe the third episode.

1156
01:07:06,800 --> 01:07:15,200
You know, the the story about how, you know, a guy had to give mouth to mouth to a cat.

1157
01:07:15,200 --> 01:07:19,320
It's like they rescued a cat from a they rescued a bunch of people and the cat from a burning

1158
01:07:19,320 --> 01:07:24,000
building and the firefighters walk out and they're doing CPR on someone and they get

1159
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:28,520
a little closer and they realize the guy's trying to revive a cat.

1160
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:30,800
And we thought that was the greatest thing in the world.

1161
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:33,160
We put that in that episode.

1162
01:07:33,160 --> 01:07:37,120
And you know, the more you talk to the firefighters, every one of them has got 100 stories, you

1163
01:07:37,120 --> 01:07:39,040
know, that are just hysterical.

1164
01:07:39,040 --> 01:07:41,280
I'm sure you have a million funny stories.

1165
01:07:41,280 --> 01:07:43,480
I'm a terrible storyteller, but they're in there.

1166
01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:46,440
I just need someone else to tell them for me.

1167
01:07:46,440 --> 01:07:48,600
That's what you need.

1168
01:07:48,600 --> 01:07:51,200
And so, you know, what we were finding is like, hey, can you make a TV show?

1169
01:07:51,200 --> 01:07:52,680
Yeah, yeah, we got millions.

1170
01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:54,280
We got a wealth of stories.

1171
01:07:54,280 --> 01:07:58,480
And, you know, we still have a, you know, a document that's like, you know, 40 pages

1172
01:07:58,480 --> 01:08:02,920
long of stories that just so funny to us, you know.

1173
01:08:02,920 --> 01:08:05,320
And every episode has one in them.

1174
01:08:05,320 --> 01:08:11,240
Well you talked about discovering this other side of our profession, you know, the, I guess

1175
01:08:11,240 --> 01:08:15,360
you could say the price of service.

1176
01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:20,000
Were you aware of that through having your cousin being in that world or was that something

1177
01:08:20,000 --> 01:08:23,760
that started to kind of unfold as you started talking to more and more of our profession?

1178
01:08:23,760 --> 01:08:30,640
Oh, it's definitely after the fact, after they unfold, you know, I mean, I think I didn't

1179
01:08:30,640 --> 01:08:36,840
realize, you know, how prevalent and important it was to the community now in terms of, you

1180
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:43,640
know, you know, people's mental health and making sure that people are okay on the job

1181
01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:44,640
and that kind of stuff, you know.

1182
01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:49,720
It's like, you know, my cousin would tell stories about guys who committed suicide or

1183
01:08:49,720 --> 01:08:53,840
guys who, you know, just end up couldn't deal with it anymore.

1184
01:08:53,840 --> 01:08:57,240
And, you know, I don't think growing up, you heard those stories, you know, I don't think

1185
01:08:57,240 --> 01:09:02,480
you heard that that was the case, but I think now in a good way, I think that those stories

1186
01:09:02,480 --> 01:09:09,480
are out there now so that people can, you know, I mean, we're just actors, you know,

1187
01:09:09,480 --> 01:09:13,160
it's amazing to think that, you know, day in and day out, these guys see these things

1188
01:09:13,160 --> 01:09:17,480
and they see kind of the worst things and whether it's, you know, mangled bodies in

1189
01:09:17,480 --> 01:09:22,840
a car accident or whatever it is, you know, it's like they see the worst underbelly of

1190
01:09:22,840 --> 01:09:26,080
our world.

1191
01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:32,840
And it's going to mess with your head, you know, and I think, you know, I didn't definitely

1192
01:09:32,840 --> 01:09:36,640
did not appreciate that until, you know, cousin Bill kind of would bring things to light for

1193
01:09:36,640 --> 01:09:38,080
us and say, oh, here's what we do.

1194
01:09:38,080 --> 01:09:39,720
And, you know, here's how we deal with that.

1195
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:40,880
And we're trying to deal with that.

1196
01:09:40,880 --> 01:09:49,320
And we're trying to counter the old school idea or suck it up and, you know, and, you

1197
01:09:49,320 --> 01:09:54,240
know, deal with it, you know, that they're trying to counter that kind of mentality now,

1198
01:09:54,240 --> 01:09:55,240
which I think is a great thing.

1199
01:09:55,240 --> 01:09:57,400
I think that's seems to me what's important.

1200
01:09:57,400 --> 01:09:59,920
So, you know, toss it was like, let's not make fun of that.

1201
01:09:59,920 --> 01:10:08,000
Let's not, you know, let's support that and, you know, maybe put like a kind of a fun or

1202
01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:12,960
if you can put a fun spin on something like that, then that's what you try to do, I guess.

1203
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:13,960
Yeah.

1204
01:10:13,960 --> 01:10:17,280
But I don't know, do you find me like, do you find that that's changed in your career?

1205
01:10:17,280 --> 01:10:21,480
Like over the, you know, over the course of your career that the perception of that kind

1206
01:10:21,480 --> 01:10:22,480
of stuff has changed?

1207
01:10:22,480 --> 01:10:24,480
Yeah, no, it's literally.

1208
01:10:24,480 --> 01:10:27,880
I would say only.

1209
01:10:27,880 --> 01:10:31,720
I don't know if it's even nine years ago that we really started talking about it.

1210
01:10:31,720 --> 01:10:35,400
This is one of the reasons why I started the podcast, you know, after seeing a lot of the

1211
01:10:35,400 --> 01:10:40,240
dark side going to the funerals, you know, and realizing that we were just doing the

1212
01:10:40,240 --> 01:10:41,680
same thing over and over again.

1213
01:10:41,680 --> 01:10:46,240
And what's what's strange about the American Fire Service is we're so siloed, you know,

1214
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:49,880
you got a city and they won't talk, which you, you know, you kind of illustrate in the

1215
01:10:49,880 --> 01:10:53,080
show, you know, police and fire don't like each other, city and county don't like each

1216
01:10:53,080 --> 01:10:54,080
other.

1217
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:55,960
So there's no knowledge exchange.

1218
01:10:55,960 --> 01:10:58,440
So everyone's kind of keeping themselves to themselves.

1219
01:10:58,440 --> 01:11:01,080
Everyone's reinventing the wheel.

1220
01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:05,720
But what I had was unusual is I had a very gypsy view to the fire service.

1221
01:11:05,720 --> 01:11:07,120
I started in the Miami area.

1222
01:11:07,120 --> 01:11:13,080
I trained in Orlando, worked in Miami, then California for a few years, then Orange County,

1223
01:11:13,080 --> 01:11:17,240
which is the county that Orlando is in, and then Reedy Creek, which protects Disney World

1224
01:11:17,240 --> 01:11:18,240
the last five.

1225
01:11:18,240 --> 01:11:22,740
So it's a very, you know, 10,000 foot view on everything.

1226
01:11:22,740 --> 01:11:27,840
But so, you know, when my generation went in and generations before, it was all about

1227
01:11:27,840 --> 01:11:31,860
service and sacrifice, courage and fitness and all the things.

1228
01:11:31,860 --> 01:11:36,920
But then as you get into this point and they're like, wow, you know, people aren't doing well,

1229
01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:40,600
you know, we're so we're so beat down and tired that a lot of times it's hard for us

1230
01:11:40,600 --> 01:11:43,920
to even have that realization because all we're thinking about is the next call, the

1231
01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:47,600
next shift, you know, my kid's birthday party, whatever it is.

1232
01:11:47,600 --> 01:11:52,600
So really, when I transitioned out five years ago, just to do this, to really try and be

1233
01:11:52,600 --> 01:11:58,000
the voice for this profession and networking with people from all over the world, you realize

1234
01:11:58,000 --> 01:11:59,720
this is a this is a global issue.

1235
01:11:59,720 --> 01:12:03,080
You know, the Australian firefighters, the British firefighters, they're all going through

1236
01:12:03,080 --> 01:12:04,080
a lot of these.

1237
01:12:04,080 --> 01:12:09,040
And so now it's like now that we're talking about it, now we actually have to act and

1238
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:11,120
not trying to be doom and gloom on this conversation.

1239
01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:13,080
But at the moment, there's a hiring crisis, too.

1240
01:12:13,080 --> 01:12:18,720
And I think it's because of this people are now understanding the whole picture.

1241
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:23,320
And unless we change it, we aren't going to have people lining up to do this job anymore,

1242
01:12:23,320 --> 01:12:27,400
because even though it's the most incredible profession, which is why I advocate years

1243
01:12:27,400 --> 01:12:33,200
after taking the uniform off, there are some things that are really detrimental to the

1244
01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:37,880
the human and that person's family as well that we have to address to put it back to

1245
01:12:37,880 --> 01:12:41,440
this incredible profession that we all adore.

1246
01:12:41,440 --> 01:12:42,760
Yeah.

1247
01:12:42,760 --> 01:12:50,960
And it feels like it's also, you know, yeah, trying to overcome the the mindset of the

1248
01:12:50,960 --> 01:12:57,200
old school is a big, huge part of it.

1249
01:12:57,200 --> 01:13:02,960
And you know, I think, you know, just in talking to Bill and when he was a rookie, yeah, like

1250
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:05,720
you said, it's in the last 10 years, you know.

1251
01:13:05,720 --> 01:13:12,600
And then in his thing, like from an administrative point of view, it's those issues that

1252
01:13:12,600 --> 01:13:20,640
dominated his last few years because the perception were changing and things were coming out much

1253
01:13:20,640 --> 01:13:23,560
more about how to deal with this stuff.

1254
01:13:23,560 --> 01:13:27,520
And I found it fascinating.

1255
01:13:27,520 --> 01:13:30,040
And that's kind of why we want to make an episode about it, but realize that it was

1256
01:13:30,040 --> 01:13:35,560
difficult to navigate for us in terms of trying to keep it light and fun and that kind of

1257
01:13:35,560 --> 01:13:36,560
thing.

1258
01:13:36,560 --> 01:13:41,240
But I don't know, hopefully we can just provide some sort of enjoyment for the firefighters

1259
01:13:41,240 --> 01:13:47,200
anyway, just kind of a light release for the guys.

1260
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:51,720
Well question for you, I want to round off, but just one last kind of lens from you, because

1261
01:13:51,720 --> 01:13:55,140
you do sit in a unique place at the moment.

1262
01:13:55,140 --> 01:13:59,080
We have done a terrible job of storytelling what we do in this profession.

1263
01:13:59,080 --> 01:14:03,200
I would say only the brave, you know, obviously back draft, ladder 49 and probably about the

1264
01:14:03,200 --> 01:14:06,000
only ones out there that really reflect what we do.

1265
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:10,360
And even someone pointed out recently, which was a very good point, even the reality television

1266
01:14:10,360 --> 01:14:14,840
shows that feature fire, the cardiac arrest always survives.

1267
01:14:14,840 --> 01:14:17,080
You know, they always get the person out the car, you know.

1268
01:14:17,080 --> 01:14:22,960
So again, it's kind of showing our successes only.

1269
01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:28,560
How do we as a profession do a better job of branding ourselves, of educating the public

1270
01:14:28,560 --> 01:14:31,640
on what we actually do?

1271
01:14:31,640 --> 01:14:35,160
Well yeah, I mean, I think, you know, and I can only speak from the kind of this, this

1272
01:14:35,160 --> 01:14:40,680
kind of like, I guess, lighter perspective of it.

1273
01:14:40,680 --> 01:14:42,440
But it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier.

1274
01:14:42,440 --> 01:14:48,440
It's like, part of the nice thing about Tacoma, the TV show is showing these firefighters

1275
01:14:48,440 --> 01:14:55,040
as real people, you know, it's showing them not, you know, doing the call or fighting

1276
01:14:55,040 --> 01:14:56,040
the fire.

1277
01:14:56,040 --> 01:15:02,840
It's them in their lives and how they're real people who have fun and have friends and family

1278
01:15:02,840 --> 01:15:03,840
and that kind of stuff.

1279
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:12,320
I mean, you know, I feel like, you know, that helps the perception of firefighters in general.

1280
01:15:12,320 --> 01:15:16,440
It's like, you know, the more we puncture the sense of like, these guys are invincible

1281
01:15:16,440 --> 01:15:19,360
heroes and more that they are real people.

1282
01:15:19,360 --> 01:15:21,120
I think it helps everybody.

1283
01:15:21,120 --> 01:15:27,620
And I think, you know, we try to do that in our very kind of light, you know, non-messagey

1284
01:15:27,620 --> 01:15:28,840
kind of way, you know.

1285
01:15:28,840 --> 01:15:36,040
But I think that helps the greater message in the sense that, you know, if people can

1286
01:15:36,040 --> 01:15:41,640
connect with firefighters as humans, you know, I think that helps everyone's perceptions

1287
01:15:41,640 --> 01:15:42,640
more.

1288
01:15:42,640 --> 01:15:45,440
It helps push the world forward, you know.

1289
01:15:45,440 --> 01:15:46,440
Absolutely.

1290
01:15:46,440 --> 01:15:47,440
I don't know.

1291
01:15:47,440 --> 01:15:49,800
That's just kind of my perspective, I guess.

1292
01:15:49,800 --> 01:15:50,800
Yeah.

1293
01:15:50,800 --> 01:15:51,800
Well, I mean, I appreciate everyone's perspective.

1294
01:15:51,800 --> 01:15:55,160
I have people that are in literally branding and business and, you know, people entertainment.

1295
01:15:55,160 --> 01:15:56,160
It doesn't matter.

1296
01:15:56,160 --> 01:15:58,960
Obviously, the way we've been doing it isn't working very well.

1297
01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:03,640
So I'm open to all suggestions, you know, people that might experience it.

1298
01:16:03,640 --> 01:16:06,760
Don't you think it's like, it is progressing, don't you think?

1299
01:16:06,760 --> 01:16:10,200
I mean, it's getting, it's better than it was, don't you think?

1300
01:16:10,200 --> 01:16:11,200
We're starting to.

1301
01:16:11,200 --> 01:16:12,760
The thing is, I live in an echo chamber.

1302
01:16:12,760 --> 01:16:14,320
So I look around and go, oh, everyone gets it.

1303
01:16:14,320 --> 01:16:15,320
And I forget.

1304
01:16:15,320 --> 01:16:20,200
That's because in the show, everyone's coming on because they've brought solutions.

1305
01:16:20,200 --> 01:16:23,880
But I think as long as you start, it's the same as to parallel.

1306
01:16:23,880 --> 01:16:28,720
It's the same with the division that we've seen forced upon the US from both sides the

1307
01:16:28,720 --> 01:16:31,360
last eight years.

1308
01:16:31,360 --> 01:16:37,560
It's the more that we can pull people back into, you know, the middle, you know, the

1309
01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:40,060
more of the paradigm shift that you can create.

1310
01:16:40,060 --> 01:16:42,600
So you're not trying to fix everyone straight away.

1311
01:16:42,600 --> 01:16:48,680
But if you can just grab one more department, one more firefighter and keep pushing the

1312
01:16:48,680 --> 01:16:52,680
improvements, then eventually there will be a tidal wave and it'll sweep over the whole

1313
01:16:52,680 --> 01:16:54,760
country and everyone will benefit.

1314
01:16:54,760 --> 01:17:02,760
No, I think that's totally true is that the more you bring people who disagree or have

1315
01:17:02,760 --> 01:17:09,080
opposing opinions or whatever together for, you know, the communal good.

1316
01:17:09,080 --> 01:17:10,560
And you know, I think that's a good thing.

1317
01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:14,960
It's like, you know, we've always joked about for us, even our comedy is very purple in

1318
01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:21,080
the sense that, you know, we have, you know, our red state fans and we have our blue state

1319
01:17:21,080 --> 01:17:25,240
fans, you know, and it's, you know, we have guys in uniform and we have stoners and we

1320
01:17:25,240 --> 01:17:28,320
put them in the same room together and everyone has a big laugh.

1321
01:17:28,320 --> 01:17:34,240
And I think that's a helpful thing, you know, and I think it's probably the same thing for

1322
01:17:34,240 --> 01:17:35,240
Tacoma.

1323
01:17:35,240 --> 01:17:39,960
We have, you know, fans on all spectrum of the political view, but they all can watch

1324
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:43,020
the show and have a good laugh at it.

1325
01:17:43,020 --> 01:17:50,640
And to me, it's that those things that remind us that we can get past the divisiveness and

1326
01:17:50,640 --> 01:17:52,720
enjoy each other despite our differences.

1327
01:17:52,720 --> 01:17:53,720
Yeah.

1328
01:17:53,720 --> 01:17:54,720
100%.

1329
01:17:54,720 --> 01:17:55,720
We got way more in common than we have difference.

1330
01:17:55,720 --> 01:17:59,120
And the most of the differences you can celebrate anyway, because they're unique.

1331
01:17:59,120 --> 01:18:00,120
Yeah.

1332
01:18:00,120 --> 01:18:01,560
Everyone can laugh at a fart joke.

1333
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:02,560
100%.

1334
01:18:02,560 --> 01:18:03,560
100%.

1335
01:18:03,560 --> 01:18:04,560
Yeah.

1336
01:18:04,560 --> 01:18:06,920
And even a laughing baby, how can you not smile when a baby starts laughing?

1337
01:18:06,920 --> 01:18:07,920
You know what I mean?

1338
01:18:07,920 --> 01:18:08,920
That's contagious.

1339
01:18:08,920 --> 01:18:16,920
So you've got four seasons on Netflix now, was True TV now all streaming on Netflix.

1340
01:18:16,920 --> 01:18:20,520
I'm assuming you're probably going to be creating more seasons of that.

1341
01:18:20,520 --> 01:18:24,680
Talk to me about what's coming as far as Tacoma and if you have anything else in the pipeline

1342
01:18:24,680 --> 01:18:26,800
for Broken Lizard.

1343
01:18:26,800 --> 01:18:27,800
I hope so.

1344
01:18:27,800 --> 01:18:29,440
I mean, I hope we get to make more.

1345
01:18:29,440 --> 01:18:34,200
You know, we made these four seasons and I think, you know, whatever, not to get in the

1346
01:18:34,200 --> 01:18:40,040
weeds of the industry, the company that we've worked for has been taken over four times

1347
01:18:40,040 --> 01:18:42,320
and we've had four hierarchy shifts.

1348
01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:47,600
And each time, I think, I don't know, the new person cares a little bit less about us.

1349
01:18:47,600 --> 01:18:51,840
So we've been kind of overcoming that, but luckily we've been doing the seasons.

1350
01:18:51,840 --> 01:18:54,620
And then this Netflix thing gives us a lot of good exposure.

1351
01:18:54,620 --> 01:18:58,000
So hopefully all that will lead to us making more Tacomas.

1352
01:18:58,000 --> 01:19:03,320
Because like I said, we got to stack more of firefighter stories that we want to tell.

1353
01:19:03,320 --> 01:19:07,600
And hopefully we'll get that opportunity.

1354
01:19:07,600 --> 01:19:09,280
We'll see how this Netflix thing shakes out.

1355
01:19:09,280 --> 01:19:22,440
And then at the same time right now, we're riding SuperTubers 3 and we hopefully, I would

1356
01:19:22,440 --> 01:19:25,500
imagine maybe later this year, we'll try to shoot that.

1357
01:19:25,500 --> 01:19:28,680
It's weird because, you know, for those who don't know, we're coming out of these strikes.

1358
01:19:28,680 --> 01:19:34,840
You know, the industry has been kind of, had legs chopped out by these strikes that happened

1359
01:19:34,840 --> 01:19:37,560
last year and we're just coming out of it in a few months.

1360
01:19:37,560 --> 01:19:41,560
So it's a weird landscape where people are trying to figure out what's still alive, what's

1361
01:19:41,560 --> 01:19:46,480
dead, what can happen, how we can move forward, how the world has changed.

1362
01:19:46,480 --> 01:19:49,280
But SuperTubers 3 seems to be on track for us to be able to do that.

1363
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:52,520
That's kind of the next big broken lizard project.

1364
01:19:52,520 --> 01:19:55,680
And then, yeah, Steve and I are selling some other shows.

1365
01:19:55,680 --> 01:19:58,640
You know, we've been working on a couple of things.

1366
01:19:58,640 --> 01:20:02,760
We've been working on a military show actually, Steve and I, based on a lot of stories and

1367
01:20:02,760 --> 01:20:07,360
a lot of friends we've made in the military, based on, you know, guys who like our stuff.

1368
01:20:07,360 --> 01:20:13,600
And so we've been working on that and we've been doing this podcast, we've been doing

1369
01:20:13,600 --> 01:20:15,480
this companion podcast, Talkoma.

1370
01:20:15,480 --> 01:20:19,920
It's a video podcast we've been doing, which is on YouTube.

1371
01:20:19,920 --> 01:20:23,120
And I don't know, we're trying to stay busy.

1372
01:20:23,120 --> 01:20:25,120
You know, I'd love to make more Tacomas.

1373
01:20:25,120 --> 01:20:27,400
That's kind of the big thing.

1374
01:20:27,400 --> 01:20:32,640
Now the podcast, Talkoma, you advise people watch an episode, then listen to the podcast?

1375
01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:34,080
Yeah, I think so.

1376
01:20:34,080 --> 01:20:35,080
Yeah.

1377
01:20:35,080 --> 01:20:40,160
So what happened was a couple years ago after we did season two, it was COVID, it was the

1378
01:20:40,160 --> 01:20:42,680
pandemic and everything shut down.

1379
01:20:42,680 --> 01:20:48,960
And our network, True TV and TBS, they had a lot of sports that they lost.

1380
01:20:48,960 --> 01:20:52,720
They had basketball and, you know, they had March Madness, they had baseball and all these

1381
01:20:52,720 --> 01:20:54,960
things got lost.

1382
01:20:54,960 --> 01:20:58,720
And so, you know, we were in some meeting with some executives and they were kind of

1383
01:20:58,720 --> 01:21:00,560
lamenting the fact they had nothing to put on the air.

1384
01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:06,120
And we said, well, you know, we've been thinking about this companion show called Talkoma,

1385
01:21:06,120 --> 01:21:09,240
where we talk about the episode, you know, and they kind of laughed at us like it was

1386
01:21:09,240 --> 01:21:10,600
the dumbest thing in the world.

1387
01:21:10,600 --> 01:21:14,120
And then about half an hour later, they called us up and said, were you guys serious about

1388
01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:15,120
that?

1389
01:21:15,120 --> 01:21:16,120
And we said, yeah, we were very serious.

1390
01:21:16,120 --> 01:21:18,140
And they said, okay, let's do it.

1391
01:21:18,140 --> 01:21:24,280
And so after season two, we did a companion piece, you know, like they do for like Walking

1392
01:21:24,280 --> 01:21:26,000
Dead or whatever.

1393
01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:30,120
And we put it right on after the episodes and people loved it because it was like, we

1394
01:21:30,120 --> 01:21:31,240
would tell real stories.

1395
01:21:31,240 --> 01:21:35,440
We would have, you know, cousin Bill on, we would have, you know, guests on and they would

1396
01:21:35,440 --> 01:21:37,960
talk about the firefighter stuff.

1397
01:21:37,960 --> 01:21:45,640
We had we found out one of our fans was Stipe Miosic, the UFC champion, who's a firefighter

1398
01:21:45,640 --> 01:21:47,280
in Ohio.

1399
01:21:47,280 --> 01:21:50,360
We had him on and it was a fun thing.

1400
01:21:50,360 --> 01:21:52,480
And so we decided we would do it again at the end of the season.

1401
01:21:52,480 --> 01:21:55,440
And then it got a little bit derailed by the strike.

1402
01:21:55,440 --> 01:21:58,680
And so now we've got to back up and running again.

1403
01:21:58,680 --> 01:22:02,600
So it's a thing that people kind of liked in the past and we brought it back.

1404
01:22:02,600 --> 01:22:05,440
So it's a video podcast that people can find on YouTube.

1405
01:22:05,440 --> 01:22:06,920
And it's a lot of fun.

1406
01:22:06,920 --> 01:22:11,240
We have guests and it's a lot of me and Lemmy making fun of each other.

1407
01:22:11,240 --> 01:22:15,160
But yeah, so we got that.

1408
01:22:15,160 --> 01:22:18,560
And then, yeah, we got our movie Quasi, which is still on Hulu too.

1409
01:22:18,560 --> 01:22:20,320
That's still kicking around on Hulu.

1410
01:22:20,320 --> 01:22:22,520
If people haven't seen that, check that out.

1411
01:22:22,520 --> 01:22:24,280
That's a little bit of a departure.

1412
01:22:24,280 --> 01:22:26,680
It's a medieval period piece.

1413
01:22:26,680 --> 01:22:30,840
With a chiropractic twist to it.

1414
01:22:30,840 --> 01:22:31,840
That's right.

1415
01:22:31,840 --> 01:22:34,680
So yeah, I mean, we got a lot of stuff in the hopper.

1416
01:22:34,680 --> 01:22:36,120
We're trying to stay busy.

1417
01:22:36,120 --> 01:22:37,120
Brilliant.

1418
01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:41,040
Well, I want to throw some quick closing questions at you before I let you go, if that's okay.

1419
01:22:41,040 --> 01:22:42,040
Yeah.

1420
01:22:42,040 --> 01:22:43,040
Okay.

1421
01:22:43,040 --> 01:22:44,040
All right.

1422
01:22:44,040 --> 01:22:45,440
First one, is there a book or are there books that you love to recommend?

1423
01:22:45,440 --> 01:22:50,280
It can be related to our discussion today or completely unrelated.

1424
01:22:50,280 --> 01:22:52,680
Books that I love to recommend.

1425
01:22:52,680 --> 01:22:55,560
Oh my gosh.

1426
01:22:55,560 --> 01:22:56,560
I'm terrible.

1427
01:22:56,560 --> 01:22:57,560
I'm terrible at reading.

1428
01:22:57,560 --> 01:23:02,360
My daughters keep giving me books to read and I've been trying to do a good job at that.

1429
01:23:02,360 --> 01:23:05,240
They read all these fantasy books now.

1430
01:23:05,240 --> 01:23:07,840
But I try to get them to read the Stephen King books.

1431
01:23:07,840 --> 01:23:10,640
I was always a big fan of those when I was a kid.

1432
01:23:10,640 --> 01:23:12,480
And then we compare notes.

1433
01:23:12,480 --> 01:23:16,280
They think all the books that I have read were outdated.

1434
01:23:16,280 --> 01:23:17,280
There's better stuff these days.

1435
01:23:17,280 --> 01:23:18,280
But I don't know.

1436
01:23:18,280 --> 01:23:24,400
I used to read a lot of scripts, man.

1437
01:23:24,400 --> 01:23:28,120
Have you read his book on writing because I read that right before I started my second

1438
01:23:28,120 --> 01:23:29,120
one.

1439
01:23:29,120 --> 01:23:30,120
I read it long ago.

1440
01:23:30,120 --> 01:23:31,120
Yeah, I read it long ago.

1441
01:23:31,120 --> 01:23:32,120
Yeah.

1442
01:23:32,120 --> 01:23:37,720
But like that guy wakes up at like 5 a.m. and he writes like for six or seven hours or whatever

1443
01:23:37,720 --> 01:23:38,720
every single day.

1444
01:23:38,720 --> 01:23:41,600
And I'm like, oh my God, God, if I could do that.

1445
01:23:41,600 --> 01:23:42,600
Yeah, I can't.

1446
01:23:42,600 --> 01:23:43,600
I would have a hundred books published.

1447
01:23:43,600 --> 01:23:44,600
You know?

1448
01:23:44,600 --> 01:23:45,600
Yeah.

1449
01:23:45,600 --> 01:23:48,800
It took me, I don't know, a long like two years to write my first one.

1450
01:23:48,800 --> 01:23:52,080
And I think about the year and a half mark of writing my second.

1451
01:23:52,080 --> 01:23:55,240
So clearly not even King.

1452
01:23:55,240 --> 01:23:56,920
I end up reading just biographies.

1453
01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:58,360
My kids can't understand it.

1454
01:23:58,360 --> 01:23:59,840
Like I just read biographies of people.

1455
01:23:59,840 --> 01:24:05,480
Like I just finished a biography of John Bonham, you know, the drummer for Led Zeppelin called

1456
01:24:05,480 --> 01:24:08,080
Beast, which was awesome.

1457
01:24:08,080 --> 01:24:10,680
That's an amazing story.

1458
01:24:10,680 --> 01:24:11,680
Yeah.

1459
01:24:11,680 --> 01:24:14,000
And my kids are like, what do you read biographies for?

1460
01:24:14,000 --> 01:24:15,000
I don't know.

1461
01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:16,000
Maybe because I'm old.

1462
01:24:16,000 --> 01:24:17,000
I don't know.

1463
01:24:17,000 --> 01:24:20,520
How they say truth is stranger than friction a lot of times.

1464
01:24:20,520 --> 01:24:21,760
That's why I love this format.

1465
01:24:21,760 --> 01:24:24,120
You know, people's real lives are incredible.

1466
01:24:24,120 --> 01:24:25,560
You know, I know.

1467
01:24:25,560 --> 01:24:26,560
That's what we say.

1468
01:24:26,560 --> 01:24:30,120
It's like the stories that we get for firefighters, we couldn't possibly make them up.

1469
01:24:30,120 --> 01:24:31,120
You know what I mean?

1470
01:24:31,120 --> 01:24:34,320
The real things are just you couldn't possibly make them up.

1471
01:24:34,320 --> 01:24:35,320
Absolutely.

1472
01:24:35,320 --> 01:24:38,560
Well, we've talked about, obviously, all the films that you guys have made.

1473
01:24:38,560 --> 01:24:42,160
Are there films or documentaries that you love to recommend?

1474
01:24:42,160 --> 01:24:43,160
Yeah.

1475
01:24:43,160 --> 01:24:49,520
I mean, you know, I love I love a good comedy movie.

1476
01:24:49,520 --> 01:24:51,440
I love a good action movie, though.

1477
01:24:51,440 --> 01:24:53,000
I'm always a good action movie guy.

1478
01:24:53,000 --> 01:25:00,840
Like, let me I will joke about that, you know, you know, and you run through like the Schwarzenegger

1479
01:25:00,840 --> 01:25:04,240
and the Schwarzenegger resume.

1480
01:25:04,240 --> 01:25:05,920
We like to have a good laugh about that.

1481
01:25:05,920 --> 01:25:09,840
But I went to see look, you know, I don't claim to be very sophisticated, but I went

1482
01:25:09,840 --> 01:25:13,840
and saw Die Hard in the movie theater two weeks ago again.

1483
01:25:13,840 --> 01:25:17,880
And God damn, I love that movie.

1484
01:25:17,880 --> 01:25:19,200
So I'm a simple pleasure guy.

1485
01:25:19,200 --> 01:25:22,160
You know, I like I like a good action movie.

1486
01:25:22,160 --> 01:25:23,280
Brilliant.

1487
01:25:23,280 --> 01:25:24,520
What about guests?

1488
01:25:24,520 --> 01:25:29,160
Is there a person that you recommend to come on this show to speak to the first responders,

1489
01:25:29,160 --> 01:25:31,360
military and associate professionals of the world?

1490
01:25:31,360 --> 01:25:34,640
Yeah, I mean, well, whatever.

1491
01:25:34,640 --> 01:25:39,720
I know I've been talking about a lot, but cousin Bill is a guy who is a great guy to

1492
01:25:39,720 --> 01:25:40,720
chat with.

1493
01:25:40,720 --> 01:25:43,120
I mean, he has a zillion stories.

1494
01:25:43,120 --> 01:25:48,520
He's got, you know, a wealth of background in this world.

1495
01:25:48,520 --> 01:25:55,620
I think, you know, he's well versed in the issues, you know, that that the firefighters

1496
01:25:55,620 --> 01:25:57,480
face these days.

1497
01:25:57,480 --> 01:25:59,000
He's also running for office right now.

1498
01:25:59,000 --> 01:26:01,400
He's running for state representative in my mind.

1499
01:26:01,400 --> 01:26:02,400
Really?

1500
01:26:02,400 --> 01:26:03,400
Yeah.

1501
01:26:03,400 --> 01:26:04,400
Yeah.

1502
01:26:04,400 --> 01:26:06,320
So he's going to get a bigger voice.

1503
01:26:06,320 --> 01:26:10,620
But he's a great guy, you know, to to chat with about these things, I think.

1504
01:26:10,620 --> 01:26:12,000
And then, you know, we had Stipe on.

1505
01:26:12,000 --> 01:26:17,200
I don't know if you've ever met Stipe before, but he's such an amazing story.

1506
01:26:17,200 --> 01:26:20,440
You know, we had him on our podcast.

1507
01:26:20,440 --> 01:26:25,800
And here's a guy who's the UFC heavyweight champion of the world.

1508
01:26:25,800 --> 01:26:35,400
And yet he's, you know, scrubbing toilets as a probie, you know, and in the fire department.

1509
01:26:35,400 --> 01:26:39,120
And you know, he has great stories about, you know, they made him wear his heavyweight

1510
01:26:39,120 --> 01:26:44,880
belt while he scrubbed toilets.

1511
01:26:44,880 --> 01:26:49,520
And I don't know, I just the marrying of those two worlds was just great.

1512
01:26:49,520 --> 01:26:55,240
And it inspired us to write an episode where Stipe comes to visit our station.

1513
01:26:55,240 --> 01:27:00,840
And we shot that in the second season and or the third season.

1514
01:27:00,840 --> 01:27:03,200
And that was a blast.

1515
01:27:03,200 --> 01:27:06,080
He's a great guy to have on as a guest.

1516
01:27:06,080 --> 01:27:08,080
Yeah, I've tried, sadly.

1517
01:27:08,080 --> 01:27:13,320
Yeah, a lot of these people, there's the person between you and them.

1518
01:27:13,320 --> 01:27:15,000
I haven't had very much, I'm just gonna leave it there.

1519
01:27:15,000 --> 01:27:16,000
I haven't had very much.

1520
01:27:16,000 --> 01:27:19,840
And it was like over a three year period this happened.

1521
01:27:19,840 --> 01:27:24,760
So Stipe, if you're listening, if you yourself want to come on, the invitation is there.

1522
01:27:24,760 --> 01:27:27,720
But sadly, I tried and tried and tried.

1523
01:27:27,720 --> 01:27:31,240
But yeah, I mean, I love I'm a martial artist myself.

1524
01:27:31,240 --> 01:27:33,960
So I watched him, you know, go all the way at the ladder.

1525
01:27:33,960 --> 01:27:34,960
And he's amazing.

1526
01:27:34,960 --> 01:27:41,480
And I can see the video of him scrubbing the toilets and the humility it takes to be at

1527
01:27:41,480 --> 01:27:45,720
an absolute pinnacle on one thing and have the humility to be a pro be in another area

1528
01:27:45,720 --> 01:27:48,280
where you're actually, you know, service.

1529
01:27:48,280 --> 01:27:49,640
I think he's phenomenal.

1530
01:27:49,640 --> 01:27:54,160
So yeah, maybe one day he was just a charming nice fellow.

1531
01:27:54,160 --> 01:28:02,320
We had a one instant where he we were shooting a scene where he punches Gabe Hogan who plays

1532
01:28:02,320 --> 01:28:05,840
the firefighter I crystal and he punches him.

1533
01:28:05,840 --> 01:28:09,040
And whatever we had set it up so he wouldn't really punch him, you know, the fake punch

1534
01:28:09,040 --> 01:28:10,620
and whatever.

1535
01:28:10,620 --> 01:28:20,120
And we're shooting the scene and he goes to swing at Gabe and he caught him and Gabe goes

1536
01:28:20,120 --> 01:28:24,000
down, you know, because Stipe's hands are like the size of my head.

1537
01:28:24,000 --> 01:28:28,200
Like when you see them, you know, and he just caught him with a finger like across the face

1538
01:28:28,200 --> 01:28:29,200
or whatever.

1539
01:28:29,200 --> 01:28:32,560
And and Gabe went down like a ton of bricks and Steve was like, oh, my God, and we have

1540
01:28:32,560 --> 01:28:33,560
it on camera.

1541
01:28:33,560 --> 01:28:34,560
Oh, my God.

1542
01:28:34,560 --> 01:28:35,560
I hit him.

1543
01:28:35,560 --> 01:28:36,560
I'm so sorry.

1544
01:28:36,560 --> 01:28:37,560
I hit him.

1545
01:28:37,560 --> 01:28:38,560
And he felt so terrible.

1546
01:28:38,560 --> 01:28:43,280
It was fine, but it was like this moment of like, oh, my God, his life flashed in for

1547
01:28:43,280 --> 01:28:50,200
him in front of his eyes as Stipe's fist is coming at him and grazes his face.

1548
01:28:50,200 --> 01:28:51,200
That was great.

1549
01:28:51,200 --> 01:28:52,200
That was a great moment.

1550
01:28:52,200 --> 01:28:53,200
It was fun.

1551
01:28:53,200 --> 01:28:54,200
It's fun to have Stipe.

1552
01:28:54,200 --> 01:28:55,200
I'll see.

1553
01:28:55,200 --> 01:28:56,640
I mean, I got, you know, I don't know.

1554
01:28:56,640 --> 01:28:58,920
I don't know what kind of ends I had with Stipe anymore.

1555
01:28:58,920 --> 01:29:00,400
I'll put in a good word for him.

1556
01:29:00,400 --> 01:29:01,400
That'd be great.

1557
01:29:01,400 --> 01:29:03,760
Like I said, the invitation has been there for a long time.

1558
01:29:03,760 --> 01:29:09,340
But yeah, I know, I know the initial time he was working with someone doing who they

1559
01:29:09,340 --> 01:29:10,760
were doing all this professional stuff.

1560
01:29:10,760 --> 01:29:13,920
And I know they parted ways and there was an issue with lack of communication.

1561
01:29:13,920 --> 01:29:17,660
So he may never have heard the invitation himself.

1562
01:29:17,660 --> 01:29:20,440
So yes, that would be phenomenal if you were able to help.

1563
01:29:20,440 --> 01:29:21,440
Thank you.

1564
01:29:21,440 --> 01:29:22,440
OK, OK.

1565
01:29:22,440 --> 01:29:23,440
See what I can do.

1566
01:29:23,440 --> 01:29:24,440
Brilliant.

1567
01:29:24,440 --> 01:29:25,440
All right.

1568
01:29:25,440 --> 01:29:29,200
Well, then the last question before we make sure everyone knows where to find you.

1569
01:29:29,200 --> 01:29:33,680
What do you do to decompress when you're not on stage and doing all these films and shows?

1570
01:29:33,680 --> 01:29:34,680
It's funny.

1571
01:29:34,680 --> 01:29:38,120
I've just had this argument with my kids.

1572
01:29:38,120 --> 01:29:45,080
My kids are they they range from like age 15 to 20 right now.

1573
01:29:45,080 --> 01:29:49,640
And they've asked me that question because they because I don't know.

1574
01:29:49,640 --> 01:29:54,160
I just work, you know, like over the last few days, I go work like we went to the East

1575
01:29:54,160 --> 01:29:57,300
Coast for for the holidays and they went skiing and stuff.

1576
01:29:57,300 --> 01:30:02,280
And while they went skiing, I would sit in the lounge or whatever at home and I would

1577
01:30:02,280 --> 01:30:04,280
just be working and editing and whatever.

1578
01:30:04,280 --> 01:30:06,840
So but I don't know.

1579
01:30:06,840 --> 01:30:08,800
I just I like to hang out with my family.

1580
01:30:08,800 --> 01:30:10,900
You know, that's probably the biggest thing.

1581
01:30:10,900 --> 01:30:15,120
You know, we watch movies or we go, you know, whatever, hiking and that kind of stuff.

1582
01:30:15,120 --> 01:30:20,120
You know, it's like, you know, whatever time I could spend with the family, that's really

1583
01:30:20,120 --> 01:30:22,520
my decompression time.

1584
01:30:22,520 --> 01:30:26,800
You know, I love to watch movies and TV, but then sometimes I feel like I'm doing it because

1585
01:30:26,800 --> 01:30:27,800
of work.

1586
01:30:27,800 --> 01:30:30,440
You know, like I feel like I'm researching or whatever it is.

1587
01:30:30,440 --> 01:30:32,840
And so, you know, sometimes it doesn't quite work out.

1588
01:30:32,840 --> 01:30:37,360
But yeah, just hanging out with the family is really my decompression time.

1589
01:30:37,360 --> 01:30:38,360
Beautiful.

1590
01:30:38,360 --> 01:30:43,060
Well, the entire, you know, four series now are in Netflix.

1591
01:30:43,060 --> 01:30:45,760
So that's where they can find Tacoma FD.

1592
01:30:45,760 --> 01:30:49,920
Where are the best places for people to find all your other work and reach out to you,

1593
01:30:49,920 --> 01:30:52,240
whether it's social media or anywhere near the area?

1594
01:30:52,240 --> 01:30:56,720
Yeah, I mean, yeah, Netflix, you can just stream like crazy if you want.

1595
01:30:56,720 --> 01:30:57,720
That's great.

1596
01:30:57,720 --> 01:31:00,280
And then, yeah, our latest movies on Hulu, Quasi.

1597
01:31:00,280 --> 01:31:06,640
That's a broken lizard movie about Quasimodo.

1598
01:31:06,640 --> 01:31:09,840
And then I think all the other ones are, you know, on the on the basic streamers and stuff,

1599
01:31:09,840 --> 01:31:11,800
Super Troopers and Beer Fest and Club Dread.

1600
01:31:11,800 --> 01:31:13,640
And people can check that stuff out.

1601
01:31:13,640 --> 01:31:17,160
Slammin' Salmon, another movie we made.

1602
01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:19,880
And then for me, I'm at Heffernan Rules.

1603
01:31:19,880 --> 01:31:22,480
I think on pretty much everything.

1604
01:31:22,480 --> 01:31:26,600
Heffernan Rules on Twitter, Heffernan Rules on Instagram.

1605
01:31:26,600 --> 01:31:31,560
You know, we have Lemmy Heffernan as our YouTube page.

1606
01:31:31,560 --> 01:31:35,240
But I think those are, you know, those are the handles that people can hit me on.

1607
01:31:35,240 --> 01:31:36,640
I'm not a great social media guy.

1608
01:31:36,640 --> 01:31:38,040
Are you a good social media guy?

1609
01:31:38,040 --> 01:31:43,680
I repost a lot of videos of either first responder stuff or kindness and compassion.

1610
01:31:43,680 --> 01:31:45,920
I try and put a lot of the good stuff out there.

1611
01:31:45,920 --> 01:31:50,460
Me personally, I don't look at social media apart from to find those videos.

1612
01:31:50,460 --> 01:31:55,560
So I would say, you know, outwardly, yes, but inwardly, no, because I'm fully aware

1613
01:31:55,560 --> 01:31:57,320
of how those things could just suck you in.

1614
01:31:57,320 --> 01:32:01,040
So I try and leave my phone as far away from me as I can.

1615
01:32:01,040 --> 01:32:04,320
I feel like I could be better at whatever.

1616
01:32:04,320 --> 01:32:08,840
But sometimes we get some people to help us out with that shit.

1617
01:32:08,840 --> 01:32:10,480
Some young kid who knows what he's doing.

1618
01:32:10,480 --> 01:32:11,480
Yeah, exactly.

1619
01:32:11,480 --> 01:32:14,360
He understands the algorithms and content and all those other words that I have no idea

1620
01:32:14,360 --> 01:32:15,360
what they mean.

1621
01:32:15,360 --> 01:32:19,100
Well, Kevin, I want to thank you so much, firstly, for, you know, just just coming on

1622
01:32:19,100 --> 01:32:20,100
full stop.

1623
01:32:20,100 --> 01:32:23,680
But secondly, again, for this unique perspective that you have.

1624
01:32:23,680 --> 01:32:28,720
I mean, to do the comedy film when it came to law enforcement and now you're doing the

1625
01:32:28,720 --> 01:32:33,140
show coming from the firefighter perspective.

1626
01:32:33,140 --> 01:32:35,560
These are all, as I said, firehouse favorites hands down.

1627
01:32:35,560 --> 01:32:37,080
I'm sure it's the same with law enforcement.

1628
01:32:37,080 --> 01:32:42,840
But they are, as you said, also humanizing the men and women in uniform because we do

1629
01:32:42,840 --> 01:32:47,940
get we do become a little two dimensional only to the public, but to ourselves as well.

1630
01:32:47,940 --> 01:32:51,500
So I want to thank you so much not only for your work and what you've done for our professions,

1631
01:32:51,500 --> 01:32:54,160
but also for coming on the Behind the Shield podcast today.

1632
01:32:54,160 --> 01:32:55,160
Thanks, Ben.

1633
01:32:55,160 --> 01:32:56,880
I mean, that's great.

1634
01:32:56,880 --> 01:33:00,960
And congratulations on getting that message out.

1635
01:33:00,960 --> 01:33:03,520
You know, I think that's an important message that you're doing there.

1636
01:33:03,520 --> 01:33:04,520
So but thank you.

1637
01:33:04,520 --> 01:33:07,540
I mean, you know, we like to think of ourselves as court jesters.

1638
01:33:07,540 --> 01:33:10,920
So you know, we just kind of try to make people laugh.

1639
01:33:10,920 --> 01:33:22,920
You know, so thanks for having me on.