WEBVTT

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This episode is sponsored by 5 .11, a company

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that I've used for well over a decade and continue

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Behind the Shield podcast, and you will hear

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from Thorne. Welcome to the Behind the Shield

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podcast. As always, my name is James Gearing,

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and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome

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on the show, Eric Stolhansky. Now, Eric is part

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of the Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe, who are some

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of the comedic geniuses behind Super Troopers,

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Beer Fest and many other productions. So we discuss

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a host of topics from his early life, growing

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up with a prosthesis, his journey into comedy,

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working with Michael Clarke Duncan, the speeding

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ticket that inspired Super Troopers. fostering

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and so much more. Now, before we get to this

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incredible conversation, as I say every week,

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please just take a moment, go to whichever app

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you listen to this on, subscribe to the show,

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leave feedback and leave a rating. Every five

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-star rating truly does elevate this podcast,

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making it easier for others to find. And this

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is a free library of almost 700 episodes now.

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So all I ask in return is that you help share

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these incredible men and women stories so I can

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get them to every single person on planet Earth

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who needs to hear them. So with that being said,

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I introduce to you Eric Stolhansky. Enjoy. Well,

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Eric, I want to say firstly, thank you to Ben

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Duff for connecting us. I always want to thank

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the people that bring great people into my life.

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And then secondly, for you, I know you've been

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extremely busy. We've got all kinds of things

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that we're going to discuss today, as well as

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the world of foster parenting, which is another

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kind of feather in your cap, as it were. So I

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want to thank you so much for taking the time

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and coming on the podcast today. Thanks, James.

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Great to be here. Thanks for having me on. So

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where on planet Earth are we finding you today?

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I am in a town called Pensacola, Florida. Oh,

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you're up just up the road from me then. Well,

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the long road, but yeah. Floridians, man, it's

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a hot week. Pensacola, Florida is known as the

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aviation of naval, cradle of navigation. Let

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me get this straight. Start over. In the movie

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world, we'd say take two. It is the cradle of

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naval aviation. That is a tongue twister though.

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I don't think I could say it 10 times, let alone

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two. Cradle of Naval Aviation. A lot of Navy

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pilots come out here. So if you want to become

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a top gun pilot, you got to start here and learn

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how to fly. And then you'd go over to San Diego.

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Yeah. And you got to learn how to play shirtless

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volleyball as well. Yes. All right. Well, let's

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start at the very beginning of your life's journey.

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Because I think there's a lot of people out there

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that don't understand, you know, the... the um

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adaptive athlete element to your life story i

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think there's many many people that you know

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still don't understand that under those pants

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you know are are two two of these legs legs don't

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seem like the other as it were so let's start

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at the very very beginning tell me where you

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were born and then tell me a little bit about

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your family dynamic what your parents did and

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how many siblings yeah interesting uh i was born

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in a suburb of minneapolis minnesota in a town

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called Hopkins, Minnesota. Small community, just

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first ring of Minneapolis. Really warm community.

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I still talk about it today, man. I just run

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around the neighborhood, you know, got home from

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school and just cruise around, kids everywhere.

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It was a good place to grow up. Nine months of

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the year was winter, so a lot of winter sports.

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And down the road was what I find unique about

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where I grew up. They used to just take Zambonis

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and go out to parks in communities and they would

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just create outdoor skating rinks and then put

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up a warming house. So my winters, which were

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like nine months of the year, often meant walking

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down the street, going to a skating rink, and

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then a hockey rink was connected to it, and then

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hanging out in the warming house. Actually, I

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went to preschool in a warming house of a skating

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rink, if that sort of sets the picture of early

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life. So I grew up basically on skates, and I

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loved to ski as well as a kid. And in the summers,

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I loved to play baseball. My mother and dad,

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when I was born, were both teachers. My mother's

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an English teacher. My dad was a business teacher.

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He since went on to go into business administration,

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and he ended up becoming administrator of a large

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clinic. And he since has retired. With your parents,

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what has been their perception of the world of

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education during the kind of length of their

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careers? Because when... We talk about this particular

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subject. There's a lot of chess beating about

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being the greatest country in the world. And

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as a lot of us know now, if you're going to choose

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a kind of a league table for countries in certain

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areas, education is not one that we are at the

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top at compared to places like Finland, for example.

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So have they seen an evolution, a devolution

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of that particular profession in their careers?

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You know, I've never had an in -depth conversation

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with that. My father got out and went into business

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administration when I was pretty young. But since

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my sister became a teacher, so she got her master's

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in education. She teaches inner city elementary

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school, which is a challenge in its own. You

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know, she's got a heart of gold and the tenacity

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and determination to want to help. in a challenging

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environment is very admirable but she has seen

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it got to the point where a lot of teachers are

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rotating out so we haven't necessarily had it's

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always been challenging but now it's getting

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the point where some teachers are having burnout

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whereas before they just found it challenging

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and now they just find it too much And so I don't

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know the solution to any of that. It's not necessarily

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my world as much. I sort of talked secondhand

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about it on holidays. But I hope we can find

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a solution. I don't know. We talked about foster

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parenting and just being in a family of teachers.

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I don't know. I have this conversation with parents

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a lot. But how do you live in a world where you're

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not allowed to discipline much anymore? Or if

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you do discipline, you get in trouble. So I feel

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like sort of that authoritarian mantle has been

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taken away a bit. Would you agree with that in

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this sense? Yeah, I think. I think yes, for a

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start. I mean, you know, you have to be able

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to draw the line in the sand. And I actually

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was talking to someone the other day about this.

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I started off, you know, being smacked a lot

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as a kid that as a parent, okay, this is what

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you do to discipline your child. But I had an

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interesting transition from just simply smacking

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on the thigh, not beating, but to when he got

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to a certain age, realizing that teaching him

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to understand that basically all his actions

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were either kind or unkind. That really worked

00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.279
well in forging him as a human, but that takes

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a lot of time with that child. And I think one

00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:55.320
of the things that's against a lot of people

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is they're just so damn busy trying to stay afloat

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with the financial element. I think our schools

00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:04.539
are setting our teachers up for failure because

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these poor children have just been taught to

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pass standardized tests rather than the holistic

00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:12.629
child. So I think it's like any... any conversation

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there are so many different facets and it's not

00:12:15.269 --> 00:12:17.250
complicated it's just we need to bring them all

00:12:17.250 --> 00:12:19.789
into the conversation and then we i think we

00:12:19.789 --> 00:12:22.149
we have a mental health element that's got multi

00:12:22.149 --> 00:12:24.789
-generational trauma so people like well it starts

00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:28.009
at home so yeah but maybe that home is a single

00:12:28.009 --> 00:12:30.009
mother or a single father doing everything they

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can just to feed and clothe their child you know

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it's not that simple so i think we have to have

00:12:33.850 --> 00:12:37.029
that whole the you know the community conversation

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going back to it takes a village I have a complex

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answer to that. I know in certain classrooms,

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it's almost like they dump the kids in there

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and they expect the teachers just to be the parents.

00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.960
And there's not a lot of follow -up at home of

00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.360
the parents being the parents because they are

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busy or they have a lot going on if they work

00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:02.980
two jobs. So it's not just putting a blame on

00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:05.580
anybody, but classrooms are getting large. So

00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:09.940
then the teachers are getting overwhelmed. The

00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:12.340
kids aren't necessarily disciplined at home or

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told that they have to listen to the teachers

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so the kids will just get up and leave the classrooms.

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And you can't discipline them or the teacher

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gets in trouble. So I don't know. It's a challenge

00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:28.019
that I hope somehow will be addressed. I don't

00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:31.820
know how we find a solution to it, but there

00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:33.840
are challenges out there. Yeah, absolutely. And

00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.120
I think the other issue, especially probably

00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.639
I'm assuming with her, the inner city, tends

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to be that some of the schools that are struggling

00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:41.279
get less funding because they didn't do well

00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.179
on their testing. You know, I think Finland does

00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.600
the opposite. If you're an area that's struggling,

00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:47.820
they give you more resources to bring you up

00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:49.340
to where everyone else is. And I think we've

00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:52.340
got that backwards in this country, too. Yeah.

00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:54.840
Yeah. I wish I had a better solution or an answer

00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.559
to it. All right. Well, then let's talk about

00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:00.620
you in school. So unbeknownst to a lot of people,

00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:03.320
you had some physical challenges when you were

00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:05.379
born. So talk to me about that and then walk

00:14:05.379 --> 00:14:10.889
me through. How, if you were being treated differently,

00:14:11.029 --> 00:14:14.889
affected you in your formative years? Sure. For

00:14:14.889 --> 00:14:16.429
anybody who doesn't know, I was born without

00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:20.470
a fibula. So my mother had to make a really tough

00:14:20.470 --> 00:14:23.389
decision. She was 26 years old, if you can imagine.

00:14:23.990 --> 00:14:27.990
And I was born without a fibula. And the doctor

00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:32.090
sort of gave her the choice. Either amputate

00:14:32.090 --> 00:14:35.549
my foot, and I would have to be raised on a prosthesis.

00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:41.440
thesis or uh we could see what happens and i

00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.620
would try to have sort of adaptive shoes and

00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:50.159
things that might help me grow um surgeries different

00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:54.720
type of orthotics so man i i i can't imagine

00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:57.820
trying to make that decision at 26 years old

00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:01.480
to have to amputate your son's foot Obviously,

00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:04.500
without my consent, because what's that conversation

00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:07.940
be at 18 months old when I had my foot amputated?

00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:11.860
But I'm glad she did it. It's a really hard decision.

00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:13.779
I'm sure she consulted with a lot of physicians.

00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.879
And I have my first cast from when I'm 18 months

00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:20.840
old. It's about this big. And for two years,

00:15:20.980 --> 00:15:23.240
my mother, after my amputation, dragged me around

00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.240
in a red flyer wagon because I couldn't really

00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.899
walk and I wasn't fitted with the prosthesis

00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:31.480
until I was a little bit older. And, uh, and

00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:34.820
then I, just getting into preschool and then

00:15:34.820 --> 00:15:37.659
going into kindergarten, I had a prosthesis and

00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:40.740
I had a wooden leg because growing up prosthetic

00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:44.879
technology has advanced quite a bit, but, uh,

00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.620
not even that long ago when I was growing up,

00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:49.639
I, I was just raised on a hunk of wood and it

00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:51.940
was just like a chunk of firewood we had sitting

00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:53.820
around on the side of the house and threw a foot

00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:57.720
on it. Uh, so it was literally made of wood and

00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:00.490
I had like this rubber foot. And when I would

00:16:00.490 --> 00:16:02.570
grow, they would just add an inch of wood to

00:16:02.570 --> 00:16:04.330
my ankle. They would just spin the foot off,

00:16:04.389 --> 00:16:07.110
add an inch of wood, spin the foot back on. As

00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:09.950
I grew, that was my leg. You could measure my

00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:11.870
growth from the rings around my ankle. It's like

00:16:11.870 --> 00:16:19.610
a tree. So, you know, as you know, kids can be

00:16:19.610 --> 00:16:22.669
a little cruel. I think they are sort of naive

00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:25.450
in their cruelty. necessarily something that

00:16:25.450 --> 00:16:28.570
they singled me out and like picked on me by

00:16:28.570 --> 00:16:32.950
choice but i was an oddity um i was a kid that

00:16:32.950 --> 00:16:35.610
was walking around school with a fake leg you

00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:39.090
know so there's a lot of curiosity uh my nickname

00:16:39.090 --> 00:16:43.769
immediately was woody um i don't know it's interesting

00:16:43.769 --> 00:16:48.309
kids are accepting and they pick on you at the

00:16:48.309 --> 00:16:52.009
same time the picking on was uh you know semi

00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:55.990
harmless I mean, what it was was on the playground,

00:16:56.049 --> 00:16:58.549
they would yank my leg off and throw it over

00:16:58.549 --> 00:17:00.990
my head, playing pickle in the middle with me

00:17:00.990 --> 00:17:03.309
in the middle trying to catch my own leg. Or

00:17:03.309 --> 00:17:05.430
one kid would yank my leg off and he would just

00:17:05.430 --> 00:17:07.309
run on the playground and chase girls with it,

00:17:07.329 --> 00:17:10.809
swinging it after them as he's running the playground.

00:17:10.809 --> 00:17:12.829
I'm standing there on one leg waiting for him

00:17:12.829 --> 00:17:15.569
to come back and get my leg back. But I don't

00:17:15.569 --> 00:17:17.970
know if it was like super cruel in the sense

00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:19.710
that they were trying to be mean to me. It was

00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:23.670
just this weird oddity in my childhood. Childhood

00:17:23.670 --> 00:17:27.069
is very strange. I will leave it at that. And

00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:29.650
unique. So whereabouts is the amputation? You're

00:17:29.650 --> 00:17:32.329
below the knee. How far down? Below the knee.

00:17:33.349 --> 00:17:37.730
They amputated my foot. And I was born without

00:17:37.730 --> 00:17:40.190
a fibula, which is the growing bone. Sort of

00:17:40.190 --> 00:17:42.549
the growing plate of your lower leg is the fibula.

00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:46.329
And so I was born without that. So I have about

00:17:46.329 --> 00:17:51.369
six inches below my knee. I just have a tibia

00:17:51.369 --> 00:17:55.849
bone. the front leg. And then when they amputated

00:17:55.849 --> 00:17:57.589
my foot, they tried to bring the heel underneath

00:17:57.589 --> 00:18:01.809
to give me some padding. So as you said, the

00:18:01.809 --> 00:18:05.009
intent may not have been malicious, but I'm sure

00:18:05.009 --> 00:18:09.849
the effect, the impact was still felt. So from

00:18:09.849 --> 00:18:12.230
a mental health stance, when you look back now

00:18:12.230 --> 00:18:15.849
at yourself as a young boy, what was the impact

00:18:15.849 --> 00:18:18.170
regardless of the intent of the children around

00:18:18.170 --> 00:18:21.750
you? Yeah, it's interesting. You know, I mean,

00:18:21.769 --> 00:18:25.910
I was always it destroyed my confidence with

00:18:25.910 --> 00:18:28.490
women. I will tell you that in the sense that

00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:32.309
I always felt that it made me feel handicapped.

00:18:32.329 --> 00:18:36.190
So I always felt like I was maybe perhaps less

00:18:36.190 --> 00:18:41.250
than in a sense. It probably developed my comedy

00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:43.369
chops a little bit in the sense that I wanted

00:18:43.369 --> 00:18:45.750
people to like me. So I would learn how to roll

00:18:45.750 --> 00:18:48.539
with it. I treated it as something that was always

00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:53.099
funny, tried to use it as a way to create a joke.

00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:57.099
And so I probably honed my skills on the playground

00:18:57.099 --> 00:19:00.480
as I was trying to get kids to like me subconsciously.

00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:06.019
Yeah, the thing that damaged my self -confidence

00:19:06.019 --> 00:19:08.740
of women is the fact that they were clearly uninterested

00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:12.160
in me for about 18 years. So I got that too.

00:19:12.299 --> 00:19:16.059
But I was very skinny, dry skin. kind of well

00:19:16.059 --> 00:19:17.759
english teeth so i probably blended to just find

00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:22.140
them but um kind of awkward and so what i found

00:19:22.140 --> 00:19:24.079
is that you know when people would make fun of

00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.160
me i was developed kind of like you and i'm not

00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.920
a comedian now by any means but um a sense a

00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.240
way of making a better joke about myself than

00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:34.480
anyone else could and it almost like um disarmed

00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.119
them because i think subconsciously they were

00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:37.579
like well shit if he can say that about himself

00:19:37.579 --> 00:19:40.440
he can say that about me too did you find that

00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:42.700
element within your own kind of journey into

00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:46.440
comedy I think so. I mean, I always use my leg

00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:55.940
as a method of creating a joke. So I can tell

00:19:55.940 --> 00:19:58.619
you a story that I've told several times, but

00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:02.660
the reason I actually got into the path with

00:20:02.660 --> 00:20:05.200
my Broken Lizard comedy group that went on to

00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:08.539
make Super Troopers and Beer Fest, if you have

00:20:08.539 --> 00:20:11.240
a minute, I can share the story of how I... got

00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:14.319
into comedy because of my leg. Yeah. So it started

00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.700
back in those years, uh, on the playground, but,

00:20:17.779 --> 00:20:20.900
um, I got to college and I, um, at Colgate university,

00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:22.440
I always wanted to be a baseball player, but

00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:24.799
Colgate was a division one school. And it turned

00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:26.319
out that I was a captain of my high school baseball

00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:27.980
team, but I just wasn't big enough and strong

00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:29.559
enough to make a division one baseball team.

00:20:29.980 --> 00:20:33.180
So, uh, I didn't make the team. And, uh, I, I

00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:36.240
had an interest in. Comedy films growing up,

00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:39.119
Animal House, Fletch, Caddyshack and that kind

00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:40.960
of thing. So I don't know. Naively, I walked

00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:42.920
by the theater one day and I thought, hey, maybe

00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.559
I'll see if I can't try my my act, my attempted,

00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.319
you know, my acting to my acting chops might

00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:52.980
be. So I walked by the theater and I saw an audition

00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:56.019
for a show and I auditioned and I didn't get

00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:58.319
all back. And then I auditioned for like two

00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.819
years and I never got one single call back. But

00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:05.480
then a friend of mine. So, well, why don't you

00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:07.579
sign up for acting class? So I figured if I sign

00:21:07.579 --> 00:21:10.220
up for acting class, I can at least try to figure

00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:13.619
out what I'm doing wrong. Kind of naive in the

00:21:13.619 --> 00:21:15.039
fact that it would take me two years to figure

00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:16.819
this out. But I signed up for acting class. And

00:21:16.819 --> 00:21:19.240
first thing they make you do is build sets on

00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.759
a Saturday morning. So college. So Saturday morning,

00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:25.500
I was probably hungover. And I show up and I

00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:29.000
have to. build some sets. So I'm hammering away

00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:30.839
and I look over and there's this kid next to

00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:32.660
me and he's hammering away. And we started having

00:21:32.660 --> 00:21:35.339
a conversation and he said, Hey, where, you know,

00:21:35.339 --> 00:21:37.160
where are you from? And I said, I'm from Minneapolis.

00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:40.180
And he said, Oh, I'm from Chicago. Yeah. My football

00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:41.880
team's way tougher than yours, but no big deal.

00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:44.839
And I was like, Oh, here we go right off the

00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:47.599
bat. So we started having a, this contest of

00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:51.230
one upmanship and. He starts telling me the Bears

00:21:51.230 --> 00:21:54.210
are much tougher than the Vikings. And so I said,

00:21:54.250 --> 00:21:56.450
oh, Chicago, you're so tough. You think you can

00:21:56.450 --> 00:21:58.250
do this? And I pick up the hammer that we're

00:21:58.250 --> 00:22:00.970
building sets with and I go, whack! And I smack

00:22:00.970 --> 00:22:04.170
myself on the ankle and I hand it to him. I'm

00:22:04.170 --> 00:22:05.789
thinking, that's it, you know. It's not really

00:22:05.789 --> 00:22:07.529
going to go any farther than this. But to my

00:22:07.529 --> 00:22:10.690
surprise, he grabs the hammer and he goes, oh,

00:22:10.710 --> 00:22:12.880
you want to play this game, do you? And so he

00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:15.380
takes a hammer and he goes, whack! And he smacks

00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:17.960
himself on the ankle. His eyes roll on the back

00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:19.940
of a head. He drops down. He's like, oh, that

00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:22.799
didn't hurt. What else have you got? I'm like,

00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:27.759
oh, you know we're going here. So I see that

00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.079
we're in this theater with the proscenium arch

00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.160
that's made of cement. So I said, oh, maybe if

00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:34.180
I go kick that cement wall as hard as I can,

00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:36.980
there's no way he'll do it, right? So I run across

00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:39.759
and I kick this cement wall with my foot as hard

00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.640
as I can. thinking that, okay, that's it. He's

00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:43.700
like, yeah, I thought he was just going to bow

00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:45.180
down and be like, okay, okay, you're tougher

00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:47.380
than I am. Instead, I hear, screw you, Minnesota.

00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:50.460
And he comes flying across and he kicked the

00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:52.380
cement wall straight on as hard as he could.

00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:55.220
And he had Birkenstocks. Again, he drops down

00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:57.920
to the ground, tears coming to his eyes. He's

00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:59.740
rolling around. He's like, oh, it's not so bad.

00:22:59.859 --> 00:23:01.900
It's not so bad. I'm like, oh my God, this guy's

00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:04.519
crazy. Guys, they're way tougher than I am. We're

00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:08.410
just plum crazy. So I'm like, OK, I got to find

00:23:08.410 --> 00:23:10.289
something now that's just going to end this because

00:23:10.289 --> 00:23:12.589
this guy's out of his mind. So I look around

00:23:12.589 --> 00:23:14.690
and I see that there's a pneumatic staple gun

00:23:14.690 --> 00:23:17.269
that we're using to build sets and I pick it

00:23:17.269 --> 00:23:19.369
up and I'm like, there's no way he's going to

00:23:19.369 --> 00:23:21.150
do this. Right. So I take the pneumatic staple

00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:23.490
gun, I pick it up. He's like, you don't have

00:23:23.490 --> 00:23:26.210
the guts. And I was like, oh, yeah. How about

00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:29.369
this brown clown? And I go and I put this brown.

00:23:29.450 --> 00:23:32.309
I say brown because I'll tell you the story.

00:23:32.329 --> 00:23:36.390
But anyway, I put the. the staple into my leg

00:23:36.390 --> 00:23:39.250
and he comes over he's like there's no way you

00:23:39.250 --> 00:23:41.309
really did that did you and he comes over and

00:23:41.309 --> 00:23:43.170
inspects and he goes to pull my pants and sure

00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:46.089
enough that staple is in my leg and he starts

00:23:46.089 --> 00:23:48.650
sweating and he's like oh my gosh did it hurt

00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:49.930
i'm like yeah you're probably gonna have to take

00:23:49.930 --> 00:23:51.369
me to the hospital afterwards man you don't want

00:23:51.369 --> 00:23:54.369
to do this he goes i don't want to do it i have

00:23:54.369 --> 00:23:58.690
to do it so we're in this now for city pride

00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:03.640
right so he starts finding the area on his leg

00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.299
where he thinks it's not going to hurt as much.

00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:07.619
And he starts settling on the back of his leg.

00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:09.140
He's like, oh, it's kind of fatty back here.

00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.079
It's not going to hurt as much. So he puts a

00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:13.279
staple gun up the back of his leg where he thinks

00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.839
it's not going to hurt as much. And he's just

00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:16.279
about to pull the trigger. And I'm thinking to

00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:18.900
myself, oh my gosh, should I let him do this?

00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:20.819
And then finally I'm like, nah, I got a conscious.

00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.660
I got a conscious. I said, stop, stop, stop,

00:24:23.660 --> 00:24:26.079
stop, man. Are you out of your mind? This leg's

00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:28.279
made of wood. And I pulled my leg off and I show

00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:29.759
him and I thought he was going to kill me, but

00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:33.509
instead he... Breaks up laughing and and he reaches

00:24:33.509 --> 00:24:35.589
out his hand. He's like, oh, man, that's ridiculous.

00:24:36.430 --> 00:24:38.230
He's like, thank you for not letting me do that.

00:24:38.309 --> 00:24:41.730
But hey, my name is Jay. Jay Chandrasekhar. So

00:24:41.730 --> 00:24:46.289
Jay and I became best friends after that. We

00:24:46.289 --> 00:24:48.049
became college roommates. And he's like, hey,

00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:49.829
man, you got to come try out for this comedy

00:24:49.829 --> 00:24:52.609
group I'm putting together at school. and uh

00:24:52.609 --> 00:24:57.089
and so that was my intro my start into uh my

00:24:57.089 --> 00:24:59.630
real like the reason i am now 30 years later

00:24:59.630 --> 00:25:01.569
in a comedy group was all because of that day

00:25:01.569 --> 00:25:06.609
but it was just using my leg um as a method of

00:25:06.609 --> 00:25:09.430
i don't know i'm trying to be funny you know

00:25:09.430 --> 00:25:12.990
i it turned out to be a longer like drawn out

00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:17.730
funny little episode that he and i had uh that

00:25:17.730 --> 00:25:21.519
day but it was my way of trying to use it as

00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.880
a method of levity. That reminds me of a story.

00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.299
I had a police officer who was hit by a car,

00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:31.319
lost his leg, and actually went back to the service.

00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:34.140
Amazing. But he said it comes in handy sometimes.

00:25:34.380 --> 00:25:35.880
Like if someone tries to slam a door, I just

00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.299
put my foot in their way. If there's a rabid

00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:40.059
dog, I just stick my foot in their mouth. I was

00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:42.980
like, huh, there you go. It's very true. If there's

00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:44.920
a dog that's like crazy, you can stick your foot

00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:46.680
in. There's so many things that you can use it

00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:50.539
as a battering ram. a putter if you uh can't

00:25:50.539 --> 00:25:54.079
find when you golf bag a cup holder you can take

00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.259
it off and on the beach and use as a cup holder

00:25:56.259 --> 00:26:00.299
there we go um but yeah it's been it's been a

00:26:00.299 --> 00:26:03.960
method of coping i guess but it has its positives

00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.299
and its drawbacks just as all of us um you know

00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:09.220
i'm i've been working on a book and when i do

00:26:09.220 --> 00:26:11.140
get my title it's uh everyone has a wooden leg

00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:14.160
So even though I might have a prosthetic body

00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.039
part, everybody, and you talk about your challenges

00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.579
with women growing up, whatever, but we all have

00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:22.059
our sort of wooden legs, whatever that may be.

00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:24.920
It might be mental, emotional, physical. But

00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:26.480
everybody has something, which I find interesting

00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.000
when we get a chance to go around the world and

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.240
talk to people. It doesn't matter where you are.

00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:32.420
Everyone's got something. Absolutely. I mean,

00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:34.059
it's funny. You talk about acting, and we'll

00:26:34.059 --> 00:26:36.539
get into your journey in a minute, but I went

00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.819
to drama school following a girl. discovered

00:26:39.819 --> 00:26:43.559
that I am probably the world's worst actor, apart

00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:45.539
from people that were part of Backdraft 2. But

00:26:45.539 --> 00:26:50.380
aside from that, I'm just so bad. But I found

00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:52.259
stage combat and ended up becoming a stuntman.

00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:54.420
So it was like, okay, when I'm moving and my

00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:56.900
mouth is closed, I can act. The moment I have

00:26:56.900 --> 00:26:59.500
to stand still and say words, then, yeah, I'm

00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:04.079
as wooden as your leg, basically. Well, I want

00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:06.339
to move forward on that. But before we do, I

00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:07.799
think it's an interesting thing that needs to

00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:10.450
be told. A lot of people that have been on the

00:27:10.450 --> 00:27:12.950
show who had some sort of, you know, physical

00:27:12.950 --> 00:27:15.849
challenge, you know, compared to most of the

00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:18.529
people around them. More often than not, the

00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:21.970
parents have an element of you need to learn

00:27:21.970 --> 00:27:23.630
how to do this. We're not going to, you know,

00:27:23.630 --> 00:27:26.009
wrap you in bubble wrap and, you know, consider

00:27:26.009 --> 00:27:29.079
you special. so how did that factor in because

00:27:29.079 --> 00:27:30.960
you talked about playing baseball in high excuse

00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:33.740
me baseball in high school and skiing and skating

00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:36.460
so walk me through the kind of philosophy that

00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:38.480
you grew up in with your parents and how you

00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:41.119
were able to adapt way before the kind of adaptive

00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:45.039
athlete movement really took hold yeah it's um

00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:47.480
i compare it do you ever heard the story of the

00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:50.339
boy boy and the butterfly it sounds familiar

00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:52.880
but i can't remember it specifically no book

00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:56.960
um The boy, I think it's the boy, he opens up

00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:00.920
the cocoon for the butterfly and it dies. But

00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:04.640
the idea is that it needs that struggle to survive.

00:28:05.940 --> 00:28:09.900
Right. So it's that we often try to shield people

00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:14.400
from the struggle. But it's that struggle that

00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:18.640
really creates the life. Right. So oftentimes.

00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.140
We think we're being helpful by stopping people

00:28:22.140 --> 00:28:25.680
from having to struggle. But it's that idea of

00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:29.539
struggle that we need. So growing up, you know,

00:28:29.539 --> 00:28:34.519
my parents were supportive and. I wanted to go

00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.619
out and do these things that somebody with one

00:28:36.619 --> 00:28:40.980
leg might be too challenging for them. Like I

00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:43.240
started playing football and ultimately my parents

00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:45.259
were like. football might not be the best sport

00:28:45.259 --> 00:28:47.319
because if you really hurt your other leg, then

00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:50.500
you can't walk. So baseball for me was a good

00:28:50.500 --> 00:28:52.519
sport because it was sort of non -contact. It

00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:54.480
was like trying to hit a pitch and then running

00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.640
and you're not really getting tackled. And then

00:28:57.640 --> 00:28:59.380
skiing to me was something I was really interested

00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:01.420
in. And the thing I find interesting about skiing

00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:04.880
was, to me, it's sort of what formed my life

00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.819
lesson when I look back on it, was one day I

00:29:08.819 --> 00:29:10.720
wanted to go on the mountain. My mom and dad

00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:12.339
were very supportive, which I think is really

00:29:12.339 --> 00:29:14.599
important. like i said to help with the struggle

00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.019
he said sure let's go try it right so went out

00:29:18.019 --> 00:29:19.880
to minnesota which the mountains aren't too big

00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:23.980
they're sort of hills but um they got me outriggers

00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:26.839
you know like you lean down on your hands and

00:29:26.839 --> 00:29:29.779
you have two skis you have an outrigger on each

00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:32.819
arm and on the end of that are little skis at

00:29:32.819 --> 00:29:34.720
the end of a pole it's like crutches with skis

00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:37.259
on yes they're like crutches with skis on it

00:29:37.259 --> 00:29:40.220
right and i tried one run and i said you know

00:29:40.220 --> 00:29:43.880
i was pretty young i said I don't want to ski

00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:48.240
with these. I don't, I don't know. I felt, I

00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:51.440
don't know. I respect anyone that uses them.

00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:53.119
It's great because you get to go outside and

00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.099
go to the mountain and feel the wind in your

00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:55.559
face and all that kind of stuff. But I was like,

00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.559
I want to try skiing on just two skis. I want

00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:01.940
to be just like everyone else that's skiing out

00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:05.420
there. And my mom and dad were like, but it's

00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:07.400
really hard. I mean, you only have one leg and

00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:10.059
one's wood. And I was like, I know, but I want

00:30:10.059 --> 00:30:13.259
to try it. And they're like, let's try it. They're

00:30:13.259 --> 00:30:15.000
like, you're going to fall down. I mean, you're

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.480
going to fall down a lot. And I was like, okay.

00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:21.960
And I did, man. I remember just like spending

00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.240
the whole day, just like wiping out, you know,

00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:26.940
trying to find the balance. I couldn't turn.

00:30:27.099 --> 00:30:29.920
I don't have an ankle, you know, it was a mess.

00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:32.319
You know, I fell down a lot over and over and

00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:35.000
over again. And then finally my runs got a little

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:38.220
longer and then a little longer. And by the time,

00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:40.779
uh, I don't know, a couple of weeks, maybe a

00:30:40.779 --> 00:30:42.519
month went by. I was able to go from the top

00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:45.259
of the hill, the mountain, and ski all the way

00:30:45.259 --> 00:30:47.839
down to the bottom. And then by the time I got

00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:49.920
in college or even high school, I guess I'd go

00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.400
on ski trips out to Colorado with my mom and

00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:52.920
dad in high school. I was skiing double diamonds

00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:58.680
in Colorado. But it's that struggle that we have

00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:01.220
to put ourselves through some time that is always

00:31:01.220 --> 00:31:03.839
hard. And sometimes we don't want to do it to

00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.000
find the life that we have in each one of us.

00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:09.980
So how did you do it as far as the skiing? Was

00:31:09.980 --> 00:31:12.680
it a single ski and the other leg was balanced,

00:31:12.779 --> 00:31:14.480
or did you have a prosthesis that allowed you

00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:18.720
to use a second ski? I just put two skis on,

00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:21.980
just like anyone. Two ski boots, two skis, and

00:31:21.980 --> 00:31:26.460
I just figured it out. It's hard. I mean, to

00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:28.460
this day, when I go skiing, it's hard. I don't,

00:31:28.460 --> 00:31:31.529
you know, I don't, I can't. I don't have a right

00:31:31.529 --> 00:31:33.670
ankle, so when I want to stop, it's the same

00:31:33.670 --> 00:31:37.089
as skating. I had to figure it out. I can't stop

00:31:37.089 --> 00:31:39.529
going to the right, but I can stop really easily

00:31:39.529 --> 00:31:42.950
going to the left. So if I have to turn around

00:31:42.950 --> 00:31:46.349
when I'm skating and I like playing hockey, I

00:31:46.349 --> 00:31:49.210
had to go left and do a 180 and flip the other

00:31:49.210 --> 00:31:51.309
way, but I did it so many times I could do it

00:31:51.309 --> 00:31:53.569
as fast as anyone that would stop skating to

00:31:53.569 --> 00:31:58.000
the right. Amazing. It's just adaptive. Yeah,

00:31:58.019 --> 00:31:59.779
and as I was saying, this is an environment when,

00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:01.559
and we're going to talk about disabled American

00:32:01.559 --> 00:32:06.819
veterans in a while, but through CrossFit, which

00:32:06.819 --> 00:32:09.480
we'll also talk about in a moment, you know,

00:32:09.500 --> 00:32:12.259
I've watched the adaptive community just explode.

00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:14.119
And obviously that lines up with, you know, the

00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:16.740
two wars that we were in. But back then, before

00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:18.759
that, I mean, there wasn't the prostheses that

00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:20.400
were around. There weren't these inspirational,

00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:22.539
you know, Instagram posts of all these other

00:32:22.539 --> 00:32:25.279
adaptive athletes overcoming this. So this, I'm

00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:27.500
assuming you were. probably somewhat alone in

00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:30.859
this journey when i grew up i never i don't i'm

00:32:30.859 --> 00:32:32.259
trying to remember the first time i ever met

00:32:32.259 --> 00:32:35.420
another person with a prosthetic it wasn't in

00:32:35.420 --> 00:32:39.220
minnesota that i remember anybody when i was

00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:41.319
out there skiing or playing sports i was the

00:32:41.319 --> 00:32:43.740
only kid out there with a prosthetic i mean for

00:32:43.740 --> 00:32:46.380
sure it's amazing well i know in one of the interviews

00:32:46.380 --> 00:32:49.829
i read um it's the only thing i i heard this

00:32:49.829 --> 00:32:52.190
mentioned, there was a woman that came to speak,

00:32:52.210 --> 00:32:55.109
a model named Ivy. So talk to me about her and

00:32:55.109 --> 00:32:58.309
the impact that had on your own journey. Yeah,

00:32:58.329 --> 00:32:59.930
I think that was one of the first times I really

00:32:59.930 --> 00:33:01.670
even experienced someone else with a prosthetic.

00:33:02.130 --> 00:33:04.569
I went to a Episcopalian high school in Minneapolis

00:33:04.569 --> 00:33:08.970
called Breck, and we would have chapel. One day

00:33:08.970 --> 00:33:11.529
a week, we had all school chapel, and they'd

00:33:11.529 --> 00:33:12.990
bring in speakers. And one day, they brought

00:33:12.990 --> 00:33:16.670
in this woman named Ivy, who was a speaker. I

00:33:16.670 --> 00:33:19.049
think it was Cancer Awareness Month. So she got

00:33:19.049 --> 00:33:21.609
up and she was talking about surviving cancer.

00:33:22.230 --> 00:33:26.130
But she had a prosthetic and she was a model

00:33:26.130 --> 00:33:29.609
out of New York. So she was a very successful

00:33:29.609 --> 00:33:32.430
model. And when you saw the photographs of her

00:33:32.430 --> 00:33:34.710
on stage, you didn't even notice that she had

00:33:34.710 --> 00:33:37.710
a prosthetic. And that was the first time I feel

00:33:37.710 --> 00:33:41.109
that I was sort of like kind of blown away. I

00:33:41.109 --> 00:33:42.690
never really had anyone to talk to about it.

00:33:42.690 --> 00:33:45.960
I never had any role models. And I never spoke

00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:48.380
to Ivy or anything. But when she came and talked

00:33:48.380 --> 00:33:52.559
that day at the school, I felt like I may be

00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.660
able to do something larger than just be able

00:33:55.660 --> 00:33:58.480
to play baseball in my community. It made me

00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:03.359
realize that you can do things that are bigger

00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:07.579
than yourself. I mean, she did something that

00:34:07.579 --> 00:34:10.079
you're not supposed to be able to do. Like, you're

00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:11.980
not supposed to be a model and only have one

00:34:11.980 --> 00:34:15.289
leg. And to me, it's like, oh, wow, that just

00:34:15.289 --> 00:34:18.190
opened up the world to me. And I love that idea

00:34:18.190 --> 00:34:21.269
of dreaming big. And when I sort of talk about

00:34:21.269 --> 00:34:23.090
mindset or go around and talk to people, the

00:34:23.090 --> 00:34:25.610
idea that oftentimes there are things that we

00:34:25.610 --> 00:34:28.349
can do that we don't think we can do. And for

00:34:28.349 --> 00:34:30.650
me, that was the first person that sort of opened

00:34:30.650 --> 00:34:33.889
the world to me in that way. I don't know if

00:34:33.889 --> 00:34:36.849
there's any, there are people now, but are there

00:34:36.849 --> 00:34:40.079
people out there? I know a buddy of mine that

00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:43.139
does it. He's sort of an amputee actor as well,

00:34:43.219 --> 00:34:45.699
but he's sort of newer in the last couple of

00:34:45.699 --> 00:34:48.480
years. But there aren't many people out there

00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.860
making movies or comedies that only have one

00:34:50.860 --> 00:34:55.500
leg. No, no. Unless they need an extra for some

00:34:55.500 --> 00:34:57.059
war movie or something and they're lying there,

00:34:57.179 --> 00:35:01.059
you know, covered in moulage. And that's the

00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:02.980
thing. We can talk about that if you want, but

00:35:02.980 --> 00:35:05.159
I never wanted to tell anyone I had one leg because

00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:08.119
I never wanted to get typecast as only... Being

00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:09.920
able to play someone who came back who got their

00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:14.139
leg blown off in a war. Yeah. Even Gary Sinise,

00:35:14.179 --> 00:35:16.360
you know, did it digitally in Forrest Gump, you

00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:18.940
know. They just, it was, I don't know, people

00:35:18.940 --> 00:35:20.940
can always, they don't think you can act or they

00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:23.940
think he only can typecast you in a certain way.

00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:29.260
I got exposed to the Hollywood typecasting. I

00:35:29.260 --> 00:35:32.320
was working as a firefighter in Anaheim. My ex

00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:34.679
was doing extra work and she's like, hey, they're

00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:37.460
looking for... real firefighters for this film

00:35:37.460 --> 00:35:41.019
oliver stone's doing and so i you know obviously

00:35:41.019 --> 00:35:43.300
had a acting background by that point stunts

00:35:43.300 --> 00:35:44.840
and things so i gathered a whole bunch of people

00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:47.900
and hey this is going on and sends it to the

00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:49.800
casting director and she's like that's great

00:35:49.800 --> 00:35:52.980
and i said well okay so do you know am i in this

00:35:52.980 --> 00:35:55.039
group and she's like well the problem is you

00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:58.130
look to california i'm like what the fuck are

00:35:58.130 --> 00:36:00.909
you talking about i'm english but she in her

00:36:00.909 --> 00:36:03.329
mind and you think casting people would be open

00:36:03.329 --> 00:36:06.190
-minded and imaginative and artistic but no unless

00:36:06.190 --> 00:36:08.489
you basically look like an italian or an irishman

00:36:08.489 --> 00:36:10.849
that that was it and we're talking about way

00:36:10.849 --> 00:36:13.250
back but basically silhouettes in this movie

00:36:13.250 --> 00:36:16.409
and so i had to like persuade her no i'm you

00:36:16.409 --> 00:36:17.809
know i brought you all these people i'm gonna

00:36:17.809 --> 00:36:20.670
be going as well but yeah i i just imagined that

00:36:20.670 --> 00:36:24.300
you know the same kind of artistic imagery that

00:36:24.300 --> 00:36:26.260
would be involved in creating a film that someone

00:36:26.260 --> 00:36:28.500
in casting would have that open -mindedness because

00:36:28.500 --> 00:36:30.420
an actor can be a million things or a chameleon

00:36:30.420 --> 00:36:33.539
but no it was it was the opposite they were caricaturing

00:36:33.539 --> 00:36:36.460
so many people so i can see you know oh you're

00:36:36.460 --> 00:36:38.739
an amputee beautiful we're doing a pirate movie

00:36:38.739 --> 00:36:43.139
next year if you want to audition for that yeah

00:36:43.139 --> 00:36:45.340
no i don't know if it's any different yet but

00:36:45.340 --> 00:36:49.280
yeah all right well then you're in high school

00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:52.000
before you get to the stapler war of college

00:36:52.590 --> 00:36:54.670
At that point, what are your career aspirations?

00:36:54.789 --> 00:36:56.469
Are you thinking the arts or is there something

00:36:56.469 --> 00:36:58.829
else in your mind? Not really at that point.

00:36:58.909 --> 00:37:03.449
No, I had sort of had dabbled at a couple. You

00:37:03.449 --> 00:37:05.150
know, I took acting classes and stuff like that

00:37:05.150 --> 00:37:06.949
in high school a little bit. I enjoyed some of

00:37:06.949 --> 00:37:10.070
it, but it wasn't out of my mind, no, at all.

00:37:10.150 --> 00:37:13.510
No, it wasn't until Jay did that. Jay put together

00:37:13.510 --> 00:37:16.409
a sketch comedy group in college and we had a

00:37:16.409 --> 00:37:18.849
good time. I mean, it was never a career aspiration.

00:37:20.059 --> 00:37:22.039
And after we graduated college, we really had

00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:24.500
a good time doing it. I had moved back to Minneapolis.

00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:27.300
I got a call later that summer and Jay said,

00:37:27.340 --> 00:37:28.860
I think we're putting together a comedy group.

00:37:28.900 --> 00:37:30.760
We're thinking about putting back together the

00:37:30.760 --> 00:37:33.619
comedy group that was at school. Would you have

00:37:33.619 --> 00:37:35.880
any interest in coming out to New York City?

00:37:36.739 --> 00:37:39.659
And really, it was only a way of postponing life.

00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:42.059
I didn't have a job. I wasn't quite sure what

00:37:42.059 --> 00:37:43.760
I was going to do. And I was like, that was fun.

00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:49.139
And I went out and. I was like, I don't have

00:37:49.139 --> 00:37:51.639
anywhere to stay. I don't have any money. Jay's

00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:53.739
like, I crashed my floor. So he had a feather

00:37:53.739 --> 00:37:55.820
bed. He would take the feather bed off his bed,

00:37:55.980 --> 00:37:57.500
throw it on the floor. I'd sleep on the floor.

00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:01.019
Soder came out from Colorado. He slept on a Naga

00:38:01.019 --> 00:38:04.019
couch in the living room. We had like eight guys

00:38:04.019 --> 00:38:05.880
in an apartment. I mean, I don't know. There

00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:07.619
was no career aspirations. It was just kind of

00:38:07.619 --> 00:38:10.059
putting off life and really enjoying it at the

00:38:10.059 --> 00:38:13.420
time. Now, were you at just regular college or

00:38:13.420 --> 00:38:15.420
were you at drama college before that drama school?

00:38:16.010 --> 00:38:17.530
No, we were at a regular school. It was liberal

00:38:17.530 --> 00:38:20.389
arts. None of us majored. They didn't even have

00:38:20.389 --> 00:38:23.789
a major in theater or acting. History, English,

00:38:24.090 --> 00:38:27.909
Lemmy, I think was art, political science, just

00:38:27.909 --> 00:38:31.989
liberal arts stuff. So many people think that

00:38:31.989 --> 00:38:35.869
success is overnight. I know you've been asked

00:38:35.869 --> 00:38:37.510
this in other interviews as well, but I think

00:38:37.510 --> 00:38:40.150
it's an important thing. When you really dive

00:38:40.150 --> 00:38:43.539
into a lot of people's career, Most of the successful

00:38:43.539 --> 00:38:46.500
ones, you're like, oh, okay, now I see them as

00:38:46.500 --> 00:38:48.179
an eight -year -old in this movie. Maybe they

00:38:48.179 --> 00:38:50.980
have been doing this for a long time. Walk me

00:38:50.980 --> 00:38:55.980
through the grind and all the disappointments

00:38:55.980 --> 00:38:58.719
or all the no's that you got before whatever

00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.300
the first kind of turning point was for the group.

00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:09.219
Man, how much time you got? A lot. I've been

00:39:09.219 --> 00:39:12.760
listening to this Beatles podcast. And it reminds

00:39:12.760 --> 00:39:15.000
me of them when they were just just hammering

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:16.539
it out at Hamburg, you know, just getting their

00:39:16.539 --> 00:39:18.820
10 ,000 hours playing clubs every night for hours

00:39:18.820 --> 00:39:21.440
and hours and hours and hours. We started out

00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:24.239
performing in Greenwich Village in a cabaret,

00:39:24.260 --> 00:39:28.219
cabaret bar where downstairs. I mean, it was

00:39:28.219 --> 00:39:29.960
kind of, you know, as that let's see, it was

00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:35.039
like early 90s and stand up comedy is very popular

00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:37.059
in New York City. So any club basically just

00:39:37.059 --> 00:39:38.579
had a really small stage and one microphone.

00:39:39.579 --> 00:39:41.739
And we were trying to be a sketch comedy group,

00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:44.119
which was a little bit rare. We loved Monty Python

00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:47.280
and we loved Kids in the Hall. But there weren't

00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:50.639
that many places to have like a bunch of people

00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:54.320
put on a show. I mean, we were like eight people

00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:58.000
at the time with costumes. We had to lug a television

00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:02.000
to VHS and put on like a show at a comedy club.

00:40:02.059 --> 00:40:04.579
And it was very unusual. So the only place that

00:40:04.579 --> 00:40:07.539
we could. find to really do this was a place

00:40:07.539 --> 00:40:11.000
called the duplex in greenwich village and downstairs

00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:13.260
was the piano where people would be in drag and

00:40:13.260 --> 00:40:15.059
singing and you'd have to go up these back stairs

00:40:15.059 --> 00:40:19.360
into this room that sat maybe 30 40 people and

00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:22.159
they had a stage but the back the changing stage

00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:25.340
was like four four or five steps that was a fire

00:40:25.340 --> 00:40:27.119
escape and that's where we would have to have

00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:29.590
eight people and change costumes And they had

00:40:29.590 --> 00:40:31.769
a piano on stage where we had a musician play.

00:40:32.309 --> 00:40:34.590
And then we'd have to lug a television in there

00:40:34.590 --> 00:40:38.170
and we'd have to shoot videos, lug a television,

00:40:38.230 --> 00:40:41.670
hook up a VHS, shoot videos, edit them, put them

00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:44.210
on a tape and then play them with a remote control.

00:40:44.670 --> 00:40:46.869
I mean, obviously today everyone has like YouTube

00:40:46.869 --> 00:40:48.449
where you can just shoot something and put it

00:40:48.449 --> 00:40:50.010
out in the world, Instagram or social media.

00:40:50.090 --> 00:40:52.489
But we'd have to bring an audience to a theater.

00:40:53.530 --> 00:40:56.590
uh show them our videos and we made a short video

00:40:56.590 --> 00:40:59.550
so we could change costumes in between sketches

00:40:59.550 --> 00:41:03.489
um it was a tremendous amount of work to do this

00:41:03.489 --> 00:41:05.969
and we would do a show for three months we'd

00:41:05.969 --> 00:41:07.489
take off a couple months to write a new show

00:41:07.489 --> 00:41:09.710
and then we'd do another show and we did this

00:41:09.710 --> 00:41:13.849
for about five years in new york city uh the

00:41:13.849 --> 00:41:15.570
night like let's say it was show friday night

00:41:15.570 --> 00:41:18.010
we'd have to go get jay jay was the only one

00:41:18.010 --> 00:41:20.230
in a car kept in a parking garage you'd have

00:41:20.230 --> 00:41:23.139
to go get the car drive into crowded Grinch Village,

00:41:23.380 --> 00:41:26.639
lug a gigantic television down three flights

00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:29.699
of stairs, VHS, put it in his car, drive it to

00:41:29.699 --> 00:41:33.940
the club, haul it through a cabaret bar up the

00:41:33.940 --> 00:41:36.900
stairs, plug it in. And then afterwards, after

00:41:36.900 --> 00:41:38.619
the show's over, you'd have to do the opposite,

00:41:38.780 --> 00:41:41.400
pull a car into crowded Grinch Village. I mean,

00:41:41.420 --> 00:41:43.699
it was so much work. And the reason I tell that

00:41:43.699 --> 00:41:48.179
story is we slugged it out for, man, I don't

00:41:48.179 --> 00:41:50.730
know. five six years everyone thinks when super

00:41:50.730 --> 00:41:52.550
troopers came up like where these guys come from

00:41:52.550 --> 00:41:56.150
but the reality where we were kind of doing what

00:41:56.150 --> 00:41:58.150
the beatles did early on when they were in germany

00:41:58.150 --> 00:42:02.070
was just getting our 10 000 hours um for years

00:42:02.070 --> 00:42:03.889
and years and years i mean people thought that

00:42:03.889 --> 00:42:05.690
we came out of nowhere but we worked really really

00:42:05.690 --> 00:42:10.170
hard um trying to develop our comedy skills and

00:42:10.170 --> 00:42:13.480
more importantly our writing skills And then

00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:15.880
one day we were in New York City and we saw these

00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:17.179
sort of independent films that were starting

00:42:17.179 --> 00:42:20.980
to come around. It was Clerks, Richard Rodriguez,

00:42:21.559 --> 00:42:24.780
El Mariachi, Reservoir Dogs. And a lot of these

00:42:24.780 --> 00:42:26.599
movies were going to this thing called the Sundance

00:42:26.599 --> 00:42:28.880
Film Festival. And they were getting in theaters

00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:30.840
that we were going to watch and they were really

00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:32.639
entertaining. great movies that were made for

00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:35.179
low budgets so we said well maybe we can take

00:42:35.179 --> 00:42:36.780
some of the skills that we learned doing sketch

00:42:36.780 --> 00:42:39.739
comedy and we can adapt them into a feature because

00:42:39.739 --> 00:42:42.780
we thought well after five years of uh actually

00:42:42.780 --> 00:42:45.789
losing money putting on these shows in Grinch

00:42:45.789 --> 00:42:47.429
Village, like, how could we ever try to make

00:42:47.429 --> 00:42:49.389
a career of this? You know, we've been now dedicated

00:42:49.389 --> 00:42:51.489
about five years of our lives after coming out

00:42:51.489 --> 00:42:53.530
of college. And our parents were like, seriously,

00:42:53.710 --> 00:42:55.090
what are you guys going to do with your life?

00:42:55.269 --> 00:42:57.010
Like Kevin, who plays Farben Super Troopers,

00:42:57.010 --> 00:42:59.329
went to law school during this time. I put myself

00:42:59.329 --> 00:43:01.409
through acting school in New York. But it was

00:43:01.409 --> 00:43:04.710
sort of this idea of like, what's next from our

00:43:04.710 --> 00:43:09.090
parents, right? So we thought, well, wow, these

00:43:09.090 --> 00:43:12.070
guys are... making films and they're getting

00:43:12.070 --> 00:43:14.570
them up on the screen and we loved monty python

00:43:14.570 --> 00:43:17.110
growing up what if we started writing and taking

00:43:17.110 --> 00:43:18.789
some of these skills that we learned from doing

00:43:18.789 --> 00:43:22.369
all this sketch comedy um wrote a script that

00:43:22.369 --> 00:43:25.050
had a narrative but sort of had these sketch

00:43:25.050 --> 00:43:27.190
elements to it with a narrative that tied it

00:43:27.190 --> 00:43:29.690
all through and we shot a film and tried to go

00:43:29.690 --> 00:43:32.909
to sundance film with film festival with it so

00:43:32.909 --> 00:43:36.369
we made this movie called puddle cruiser uh wrote

00:43:36.369 --> 00:43:38.570
it you know asked everyone that we knew as a

00:43:38.570 --> 00:43:41.250
favor to come in like kevin's brother was a locations

00:43:41.250 --> 00:43:45.210
manager his other brother was a grip um any favor

00:43:45.210 --> 00:43:49.309
that we could get to shoot a feature film and

00:43:49.309 --> 00:43:52.190
coincidentally lucky enough we got into the sundance

00:43:52.190 --> 00:43:54.090
film festival with this movie called public cruiser

00:43:54.090 --> 00:43:57.090
and it was our stepping stone we didn't get into

00:43:57.090 --> 00:43:59.409
theaters but it showed people that we sort of

00:43:59.949 --> 00:44:01.929
had the ability to put together a feature film

00:44:01.929 --> 00:44:05.170
and sort of the tenacity, determination to grind

00:44:05.170 --> 00:44:07.610
it out, make an independent film, that we were

00:44:07.610 --> 00:44:10.409
able to raise funding to then make Super Troopers.

00:44:10.469 --> 00:44:12.409
So Super Troopers was our second independent

00:44:12.409 --> 00:44:16.150
film that we made. And then we sold it to Fox

00:44:16.150 --> 00:44:18.489
Searchlight at the Sundance Film Festival. But

00:44:18.489 --> 00:44:22.349
that was 10 years after we first started. So

00:44:22.349 --> 00:44:26.909
kind of a long story, I apologize. It's funny

00:44:26.909 --> 00:44:28.570
when you think someone's an overnight success,

00:44:28.690 --> 00:44:31.469
how much work they had to put into it. Absolutely.

00:44:31.769 --> 00:44:33.989
Super Troopers, funny enough, became, I would

00:44:33.989 --> 00:44:36.110
say, hands down one of the top firehouse movies

00:44:36.110 --> 00:44:37.949
as well. And, you know, you'll hear people quoting

00:44:37.949 --> 00:44:40.909
it all the time. Again, I read just in a random

00:44:40.909 --> 00:44:43.230
article that there was a speeding ticket that

00:44:43.230 --> 00:44:45.369
was the genesis of that. So what's the backstory

00:44:45.369 --> 00:44:51.779
of Super Troopers and that theme? Yeah, we. We

00:44:51.779 --> 00:44:53.719
used to have to spend a lot of time together

00:44:53.719 --> 00:44:55.539
in a car, the five of us, like we had the one

00:44:55.539 --> 00:44:58.219
car. And sometimes we'd get a comedy show outside

00:44:58.219 --> 00:45:00.820
of the city. We would all pile into one car together.

00:45:01.380 --> 00:45:04.119
And while that's where a lot of just kind of

00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:06.960
comedy and the sketches came all from that experience

00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:09.300
of being in that one car. And then one day we're

00:45:09.300 --> 00:45:12.119
cruising along and we get a, Jay is his car.

00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:15.079
So he got pulled over for speeding. And he's

00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:16.980
like, oh man, I'm going to tell this guy off,

00:45:17.039 --> 00:45:18.239
right? We're like, yeah, let's see if you got

00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:20.619
the guts, right? And that guy comes up and Jay's

00:45:20.619 --> 00:45:21.980
like, oh, yes, sir. Of course, sir. Yeah, whatever

00:45:21.980 --> 00:45:23.780
you need, sir, right? And we laugh as we leave.

00:45:23.960 --> 00:45:26.000
And we're like, oh, these cops have so much power,

00:45:26.139 --> 00:45:28.519
right? It's just that we just thought it was

00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:31.079
so, I mean, they really do have just so much

00:45:31.079 --> 00:45:33.480
power when they come up to that window and they're

00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:35.500
like, but they're just normal guys, just like

00:45:35.500 --> 00:45:37.559
anybody else, right? I mean, they're just like

00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:40.360
brothers or uncles or we all have friends who

00:45:40.360 --> 00:45:42.599
are cops, right? And then we thought, well, what

00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:45.139
if they're like us, where we love to just joke

00:45:45.139 --> 00:45:48.059
around and laugh and have a good time, that if

00:45:48.059 --> 00:45:50.719
you realize and knew you kind of had that power

00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:52.699
when you go up to a window and you know these

00:45:52.699 --> 00:45:54.699
guys, you're like, these guys are smoking pot,

00:45:54.940 --> 00:45:57.239
right? Let's go mess with them. And that was

00:45:57.239 --> 00:46:00.139
kind of the idea for the kind of the genesis,

00:46:00.199 --> 00:46:03.880
the original kernel of Super Troopers. But like

00:46:03.880 --> 00:46:06.659
the bear incident, like the bear. I can swear

00:46:06.659 --> 00:46:11.019
on here, right? Yeah, I just did. So the one

00:46:11.019 --> 00:46:13.780
sketch I played the bear fucker in the movie

00:46:13.780 --> 00:46:16.920
and we're cruising along in the same car and

00:46:16.920 --> 00:46:19.260
we're on this long stretch of highway and you

00:46:19.260 --> 00:46:21.159
have woods everywhere. I'm like, what would happen

00:46:21.159 --> 00:46:23.420
if you looked over and you saw someone having

00:46:23.420 --> 00:46:26.079
sex with a bear over there? uh they're like and

00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:27.960
you call that end of the police station and they

00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:30.159
got that call like would they come out and investigate

00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.199
if they came out and investigate and they saw

00:46:32.199 --> 00:46:33.719
someone's actually having sex with a bear in

00:46:33.719 --> 00:46:35.760
the woods like what would they say to them right

00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:38.119
so it's just these funny things that were happening

00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:39.960
in the car at the time as we were cruising around

00:46:39.960 --> 00:46:42.159
so you write that stuff down and then you can

00:46:42.159 --> 00:46:43.880
turn it into a scene like i said you kind of

00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:46.119
take these sketches and you put a little narrative

00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:49.699
through it solving a crime And but a lot of a

00:46:49.699 --> 00:46:51.940
lot of those ideas came out of that experience

00:46:51.940 --> 00:46:54.639
of being five of us together in small spaces.

00:46:55.739 --> 00:46:58.159
So there's so many troops out there. I mean,

00:46:58.199 --> 00:47:01.739
like I said, through my stunt world journey,

00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:03.400
I've met obviously a lot of people that are on

00:47:03.400 --> 00:47:06.599
the comedy side as well. What was it about the

00:47:06.599 --> 00:47:12.789
the synergy between you guys that. when maybe

00:47:12.789 --> 00:47:15.170
some others don't? It's not being negative towards

00:47:15.170 --> 00:47:17.110
them. What was that magic thing you think that

00:47:17.110 --> 00:47:19.949
you guys had in the dynamic of your troupe? Yeah,

00:47:19.969 --> 00:47:22.130
I mean, I don't know exactly. I know a lot of

00:47:22.130 --> 00:47:23.829
people will come up and say, it just feels like

00:47:23.829 --> 00:47:26.610
you guys are friends. And then it feels like

00:47:26.610 --> 00:47:28.949
you guys, like I've had some people come up and

00:47:28.949 --> 00:47:30.969
say, is that whole movie improvised? I'm like,

00:47:31.130 --> 00:47:33.289
are you kidding me? No way, man. We spent years

00:47:33.289 --> 00:47:36.289
writing that and crafting it and writing 25 drafts.

00:47:36.289 --> 00:47:37.869
It's flattering when someone says that because

00:47:37.869 --> 00:47:40.929
we spend so much time writing every single word.

00:47:41.630 --> 00:47:43.710
And when we shot it, I don't know if anything

00:47:43.710 --> 00:47:45.969
is improvised in Super Troopers, but the fact

00:47:45.969 --> 00:47:48.869
that somebody might think that makes it feel

00:47:48.869 --> 00:47:51.389
like we had a natural delivery. And that probably

00:47:51.389 --> 00:47:53.070
comes from years and years and years of spending

00:47:53.070 --> 00:47:57.230
hours together in closed spaces. Well, so you

00:47:57.230 --> 00:48:00.090
talked about going to drama school. I got stuck

00:48:00.090 --> 00:48:02.309
in that vicious circle when I came out where.

00:48:03.179 --> 00:48:05.599
I did a showcase. This agent was actually William

00:48:05.599 --> 00:48:08.659
Morris. Because I did something very physical

00:48:08.659 --> 00:48:12.500
versus the usual monologue. Like we do, but that's

00:48:12.500 --> 00:48:15.860
someone else's area. So call me when you have

00:48:15.860 --> 00:48:17.679
a role. And I'm like, oh, okay, sweet. I'll call

00:48:17.679 --> 00:48:19.940
you when I have a role. Unbeknownst to me, you

00:48:19.940 --> 00:48:21.860
need an agent to get a role and you need a role

00:48:21.860 --> 00:48:24.139
to get an agent. And so I literally was in this

00:48:24.139 --> 00:48:28.219
revolving door until I just gave up. You're obviously

00:48:28.219 --> 00:48:30.300
doing this on the side. Did you jump into the

00:48:30.300 --> 00:48:33.530
whole... actor audition scene at the same time?

00:48:35.329 --> 00:48:37.570
Not so much at that time. I was lucky. I started

00:48:37.570 --> 00:48:39.690
working for a casting director in New York and

00:48:39.690 --> 00:48:41.710
going to showcases and just trying to take in

00:48:41.710 --> 00:48:43.429
as much as I could. I tried to see a lot of plays

00:48:43.429 --> 00:48:46.969
in New York. But the comedy thing that we were

00:48:46.969 --> 00:48:48.429
doing at the time was very time consuming because

00:48:48.429 --> 00:48:49.829
I'd have to wait tables, you know, of course,

00:48:49.849 --> 00:48:53.110
during the day. Well, you're an actor. Yeah,

00:48:53.110 --> 00:48:57.670
of course. My job for 10 years was waiting tables

00:48:57.670 --> 00:49:00.820
versus being an actor. We would do comedy on

00:49:00.820 --> 00:49:04.119
weekends for no money. Also, we could work single

00:49:04.119 --> 00:49:07.119
and double shifts and brunches during the week.

00:49:07.820 --> 00:49:10.679
So, yeah, I wasn't like you said, you know, until

00:49:10.679 --> 00:49:12.500
you get I wasn't I didn't get an agent until

00:49:12.500 --> 00:49:15.239
we had made Puddle Cruiser and I went to Sundance

00:49:15.239 --> 00:49:17.079
and we actually went to the Hampton Film Festival.

00:49:17.949 --> 00:49:20.590
with Puddle Cruiser in one first place at that

00:49:20.590 --> 00:49:23.670
film festival. And it was only then that we got

00:49:23.670 --> 00:49:26.750
an agent. So we kind of had to create something.

00:49:26.829 --> 00:49:29.150
It's that Catch -22 you're talking about. You

00:49:29.150 --> 00:49:31.010
can't get a part until you have an agent, but

00:49:31.010 --> 00:49:32.170
you can't get an agent until you get a part.

00:49:32.289 --> 00:49:34.429
So we had to create that part by making independent

00:49:34.429 --> 00:49:38.869
film and then highlighting what we could do.

00:49:38.929 --> 00:49:40.590
I played this kind of out -there character named

00:49:40.590 --> 00:49:43.449
Freaky Reaky in our first movie called Puddle

00:49:43.449 --> 00:49:46.070
Cruiser. And it wasn't until sort of creating

00:49:46.070 --> 00:49:48.190
that, selling the film, that I was able to get

00:49:48.190 --> 00:49:51.010
an agent and then start auditioning after that.

00:49:51.829 --> 00:49:53.690
Well, when you think of that, you think of Rocky

00:49:53.690 --> 00:49:55.789
or Sling Blade, you know, where people create

00:49:55.789 --> 00:49:59.059
their own. production and when you again reverse

00:49:59.059 --> 00:50:01.900
engineer to your early life overcoming the adaptation

00:50:01.900 --> 00:50:05.219
that you had to make physically here you are

00:50:05.219 --> 00:50:08.039
now and I was in this revolving door and you'd

00:50:08.039 --> 00:50:10.679
already figured out a way okay well if we create

00:50:10.679 --> 00:50:12.679
this production then we kind of circumnavigate

00:50:12.679 --> 00:50:14.179
that element and ultimately you'll probably have

00:50:14.179 --> 00:50:17.429
people knocking on our door So, you know, after

00:50:17.429 --> 00:50:19.769
you make Super Troopers, kind of walk me through

00:50:19.769 --> 00:50:21.949
the next few years. I was talking to a friend

00:50:21.949 --> 00:50:24.090
who was on Band of Brothers and I didn't realize

00:50:24.090 --> 00:50:27.090
that took about 10 years to really take off.

00:50:27.190 --> 00:50:29.809
Yeah, he was the medic in it. He was doing like

00:50:29.809 --> 00:50:31.730
dinner theater before he got that gig. So again,

00:50:31.829 --> 00:50:34.769
a lot of grinding. But was it an immediate upswing

00:50:34.769 --> 00:50:37.570
or did it take some time to gain momentum, become

00:50:37.570 --> 00:50:41.519
the cult that it became? Took a long time. I

00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:43.940
mean, Super Troopers did OK in the box office,

00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.059
but it wasn't really until people started passing

00:50:46.059 --> 00:50:49.539
a DVD around. And so you can imagine how long

00:50:49.539 --> 00:50:54.280
that was after the movie came out. Fortunately,

00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:57.000
Fox Searchlight that distributed Super Troopers

00:50:57.000 --> 00:50:58.800
was interested in trying to make a follow up

00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:03.000
project after that. So we we had spent a lot

00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:04.860
of time being in the police uniform promoting

00:51:04.860 --> 00:51:07.039
and you know how long it takes to shoot something

00:51:07.039 --> 00:51:09.079
and be. So we were in that cop uniform for so

00:51:09.079 --> 00:51:11.389
long we. We wanted to try something different.

00:51:11.449 --> 00:51:13.130
We were a sketch comedy group and we had done

00:51:13.130 --> 00:51:14.730
a lot of different characters. So we did a movie

00:51:14.730 --> 00:51:17.630
called Club Dread afterwards. Fortunately, the

00:51:17.630 --> 00:51:19.030
studio was interested, but we spent a lot of

00:51:19.030 --> 00:51:23.289
time working on them with that. So that was a

00:51:23.289 --> 00:51:26.949
nice change of pace, having to make two independent

00:51:26.949 --> 00:51:31.250
films and go sell yourself at Sundance. So it's

00:51:31.250 --> 00:51:33.610
nice to finally have our first studio film, which

00:51:33.610 --> 00:51:35.230
was Club Dread, which was our third film that

00:51:35.230 --> 00:51:40.340
we did together as a comedy group. Enjoyable

00:51:40.340 --> 00:51:44.079
shooting that Bill Paxton came on MC Ganey. We

00:51:44.079 --> 00:51:48.179
had a really good time. Brittany Daniel. It opened

00:51:48.179 --> 00:51:50.539
up against the passion of Christ, which was a

00:51:50.539 --> 00:51:54.840
tough weekend. Another knee slapper. Two comedies

00:51:54.840 --> 00:51:58.360
in the same weekend. So they, I mean, churches

00:51:58.360 --> 00:52:01.599
just bought out theaters and they just bust people

00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:03.980
in. It was a really interesting weekend to open

00:52:03.980 --> 00:52:08.809
a movie. And that didn't do. I think people were

00:52:08.809 --> 00:52:10.750
expecting more Super Troopers. They weren't trying.

00:52:10.809 --> 00:52:12.349
They were really expecting like a comedy horror

00:52:12.349 --> 00:52:15.769
film was really sort of against type for us.

00:52:16.030 --> 00:52:19.530
So commercially, it didn't do very well. And

00:52:19.530 --> 00:52:23.010
then after that, we ended up making. It's funny.

00:52:23.130 --> 00:52:24.989
After that, Adam Sandler called us in one day

00:52:24.989 --> 00:52:26.409
and said, hey, when I saw Super Troopers in the

00:52:26.409 --> 00:52:28.170
movie theater, I'd like to meet you guys. You

00:52:28.170 --> 00:52:30.250
guys kind of make films kind of like I do. I

00:52:30.250 --> 00:52:34.130
like to surround myself with my friends and we

00:52:34.130 --> 00:52:37.269
kind of work together as a group. and he called

00:52:37.269 --> 00:52:39.550
us in his office, and he was a really nice guy,

00:52:39.710 --> 00:52:42.090
and he said, maybe I could help. What are you

00:52:42.090 --> 00:52:43.349
guys working on? We said, well, we wrote this

00:52:43.349 --> 00:52:46.230
script called Beer Fest. And so we actually took

00:52:46.230 --> 00:52:49.750
it out with Adam and his company around. He had

00:52:49.750 --> 00:52:52.929
a deal at Sony at the time, and they were sort

00:52:52.929 --> 00:52:54.530
of interested, but we got a call from Warner

00:52:54.530 --> 00:52:56.590
Brothers saying that they were interested in

00:52:56.590 --> 00:52:59.889
making it. So we ended up making Beer Fest after

00:52:59.889 --> 00:53:05.340
Club Dread. So it became a little easier. Then

00:53:05.340 --> 00:53:07.760
having to slog it out, raise your own money and

00:53:07.760 --> 00:53:09.579
make movie independently. So we made the next

00:53:09.579 --> 00:53:11.920
movie club dread with searchlight pictures. And

00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:13.860
then we made a Warner brothers. We went to Warner

00:53:13.860 --> 00:53:17.260
brothers and made beer fest. And then the writer's

00:53:17.260 --> 00:53:19.519
strike happened. So we pulled, we weren't sure

00:53:19.519 --> 00:53:21.099
how long that was going to go. So we grabbed

00:53:21.099 --> 00:53:22.699
a script off the shelf since we weren't allowed

00:53:22.699 --> 00:53:24.519
to write anymore or one that was finished. And

00:53:24.519 --> 00:53:26.780
we went out and independently made a movie called

00:53:26.780 --> 00:53:30.860
slamming salmon. Before then going back and making

00:53:30.860 --> 00:53:33.819
super troopers too, which is a whole. possible

00:53:33.819 --> 00:53:35.860
episode and tenacity and determination because

00:53:35.860 --> 00:53:38.679
we crowdfunded that movie we went back to searchlight

00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:40.219
pictures but they weren't sure if the audience

00:53:40.219 --> 00:53:42.119
for super troopers was still there after 20 years

00:53:42.119 --> 00:53:44.480
like i said we wanted to try different characters

00:53:44.480 --> 00:53:45.900
and different roles and stuff like that so we

00:53:45.900 --> 00:53:47.119
probably could have made a sequel right away

00:53:47.119 --> 00:53:50.099
but we waited 18 years and they were like i don't

00:53:50.099 --> 00:53:51.480
know if the audience is still here there after

00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:54.260
18 years so we turned to crowdfunding and we

00:53:54.260 --> 00:53:57.639
weren't quite sure how it would work if anybody

00:53:57.639 --> 00:54:02.159
would want to um Try. I mean, we didn't know

00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:04.360
if anybody was going to be interested in backing

00:54:04.360 --> 00:54:07.119
us in Super Troopers 2. So the first day we were

00:54:07.119 --> 00:54:09.039
very surprised. We ended up reaching our goal

00:54:09.039 --> 00:54:13.579
in 24 hours, I think. Really? I think we got

00:54:13.579 --> 00:54:15.420
our goal for it. And then we crowdfunded it.

00:54:15.500 --> 00:54:18.800
And then we made Super Troopers 2. Now, how was

00:54:18.800 --> 00:54:20.400
that received? Because, I mean, obviously, when

00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:23.250
you make something so iconic. it's going to be

00:54:23.250 --> 00:54:26.269
extremely hard to have the exact same impact,

00:54:26.369 --> 00:54:27.969
especially if you're doing it 20 years later.

00:54:28.070 --> 00:54:31.329
Not so much from the naysayers or critics, but

00:54:31.329 --> 00:54:33.769
overall for you guys as far as satisfaction and

00:54:33.769 --> 00:54:37.670
impact on the audience, the true audience that

00:54:37.670 --> 00:54:40.130
you were trying to reach. Yeah, that's a good

00:54:40.130 --> 00:54:46.349
question. I don't know. You hear both sides.

00:54:46.510 --> 00:54:49.789
You hear positive and you hear negative. Paul

00:54:49.789 --> 00:54:53.230
and I, We played Foster Weird at Comic -Con last

00:54:53.230 --> 00:54:55.929
week up in Cincinnati. And we heard a lot of

00:54:55.929 --> 00:54:57.630
people came up and said, yeah, you know, you

00:54:57.630 --> 00:54:59.849
can never match the original. And then we heard

00:54:59.849 --> 00:55:01.469
a lot of people that came up and said, we thought

00:55:01.469 --> 00:55:03.250
you guys picked it up right where it left off.

00:55:04.030 --> 00:55:11.250
So it's both. It's a complex world out there.

00:55:11.329 --> 00:55:14.429
So thank you. Yeah, no, I enjoyed it. And I see

00:55:14.429 --> 00:55:18.269
on IMDb. It says Super Troopers 3. Is that actually

00:55:18.269 --> 00:55:20.829
a real potential now or is it just up in the

00:55:20.829 --> 00:55:22.889
air? Yeah, no, it's real potential. The nice

00:55:22.889 --> 00:55:25.110
thing about Super Troopers 2 is it was commercially

00:55:25.110 --> 00:55:28.510
successful in the box office, at least enough

00:55:28.510 --> 00:55:30.469
for the studio to be interested in realizing,

00:55:30.650 --> 00:55:33.269
well, there really is an audience for this. Let's

00:55:33.269 --> 00:55:35.250
develop a third. So we are currently writing

00:55:35.250 --> 00:55:38.369
it. And actually tonight I have a Zoom meeting

00:55:38.369 --> 00:55:42.099
with all five guys to try to get. We are three

00:55:42.099 --> 00:55:44.940
or four drafts in. We've completed many drafts

00:55:44.940 --> 00:55:46.519
and we just keep trying to plug away. Like Super

00:55:46.519 --> 00:55:48.219
Troopers at the original, I think we did like

00:55:48.219 --> 00:55:52.420
20 to 22 drafts. So we like to write and write

00:55:52.420 --> 00:55:55.639
and write and write. So it's good right now.

00:55:55.699 --> 00:55:57.280
I love it where it is right now, but we just

00:55:57.280 --> 00:55:59.679
keep plugging away and making it better. Brilliant.

00:55:59.820 --> 00:56:01.780
Now you talked about Adam Sandler and some of

00:56:01.780 --> 00:56:04.099
the other actors that you've worked with so far.

00:56:04.679 --> 00:56:06.539
One that struck me when I looked at, I think

00:56:06.539 --> 00:56:09.340
it was IMDB or one of those ones, was that you

00:56:09.340 --> 00:56:11.570
worked with Michael Clarke Duncan. Now, the reason

00:56:11.570 --> 00:56:14.909
that's pertinent to me is when I talk about mental

00:56:14.909 --> 00:56:17.210
health, especially in the first responder profession,

00:56:17.670 --> 00:56:21.449
there to me is no better metaphor than his character

00:56:21.449 --> 00:56:23.730
in The Green Mile taking on all that trauma and

00:56:23.730 --> 00:56:26.349
all that pain from people. And by not offsetting

00:56:26.349 --> 00:56:28.530
it, ultimately it sends him, you know, which

00:56:28.530 --> 00:56:30.610
is a good thing, sends him to heaven. But, you

00:56:30.610 --> 00:56:32.670
know, it can also be a metaphor for maybe not

00:56:32.670 --> 00:56:34.949
being able to cope. So what was he like? I mean,

00:56:34.949 --> 00:56:36.849
obviously he's passed away now. So talk to me

00:56:36.849 --> 00:56:39.260
about working with him. Michael, yeah. I mean,

00:56:39.280 --> 00:56:41.059
it was a real honor to be able to work with Academy

00:56:41.059 --> 00:56:43.840
Award winner, nominee. I'm trying to remember

00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:50.599
if he won. Great actor. You know, he loved to

00:56:50.599 --> 00:56:52.460
improvise, which was a lot of fun. By the time

00:56:52.460 --> 00:56:55.059
we got to sort of slamming Sam and we were improvising

00:56:55.059 --> 00:56:56.480
a lot more than they originally had with Super

00:56:56.480 --> 00:56:59.380
Troopers. And there were times when, and Kevin

00:56:59.380 --> 00:57:02.300
was directing this one, where he would do what

00:57:02.300 --> 00:57:03.960
was written and then he would just start going

00:57:03.960 --> 00:57:06.519
off. And Kevin would be like, just let the camera

00:57:06.519 --> 00:57:09.619
roll. And so a lot of stuff that ended up being

00:57:09.619 --> 00:57:11.059
in the movie was stuff that he would make up.

00:57:11.179 --> 00:57:14.239
So he was, he was a really fun guy. He was, it

00:57:14.239 --> 00:57:16.739
was sad that we lost him. He had a congenital

00:57:16.739 --> 00:57:21.000
heart condition and he passed away. But even

00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:22.599
coming into shooting Slammin' Salmon, he had

00:57:22.599 --> 00:57:25.079
lost a hundred pounds from the green mile and

00:57:25.079 --> 00:57:29.019
he still was twice the size of all of us. A very

00:57:29.019 --> 00:57:31.219
large, strong man. Great stories from growing

00:57:31.219 --> 00:57:33.239
up. Talk about overcoming adversity. You know,

00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:36.420
he came from a, challenging upbringing and went

00:57:36.420 --> 00:57:39.679
on to become an academy award nominee did he

00:57:39.679 --> 00:57:41.920
win for green mile or nominee i think it's irrelevant

00:57:41.920 --> 00:57:44.159
i mean i've always talked about this about i'm

00:57:44.159 --> 00:57:46.420
always kind of perturbed not perturbed but just

00:57:46.420 --> 00:57:49.579
confused of the concept of being called the best

00:57:49.579 --> 00:57:52.800
picture the best actor because it's art so i

00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:54.679
was i think it's one of the best performances

00:57:54.679 --> 00:57:56.880
you know the whole film one of the most powerful

00:57:56.880 --> 00:57:59.099
dramas has ever been filmed so it doesn't to

00:57:59.099 --> 00:58:01.500
me doesn't matter if he won or not yeah me neither

00:58:01.500 --> 00:58:03.099
it doesn't matter to me whatsoever i was just

00:58:03.099 --> 00:58:06.400
um semantics that, you know, you get critics

00:58:06.400 --> 00:58:08.440
coming, Hey, he didn't win, but I'm like, it

00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:09.440
doesn't, not that it matters at all. I mean,

00:58:09.480 --> 00:58:13.280
he was great in it. Um, and so, I don't know.

00:58:13.300 --> 00:58:14.699
It was an honor to be able to work with him.

00:58:15.980 --> 00:58:18.340
And, um, he was fun. He was, he had a great,

00:58:18.400 --> 00:58:21.340
he's great stories. He was a prankster. He was,

00:58:21.360 --> 00:58:22.960
he kind of fit in with us. He was pranksters.

00:58:23.019 --> 00:58:25.139
His pranksters were, he would, he was, we're

00:58:25.139 --> 00:58:27.500
a little more serious. He would, um, I'm trying

00:58:27.500 --> 00:58:30.380
to, uh, he used to love to play his game. Could

00:58:30.380 --> 00:58:33.670
you defend yourself? Like he would go to meetings

00:58:33.670 --> 00:58:35.250
and he'd lean across the table. If I would jump

00:58:35.250 --> 00:58:36.730
across the table right now, could you defend

00:58:36.730 --> 00:58:39.289
yourself? Like, well, Michael, no, I don't think

00:58:39.289 --> 00:58:42.030
I could. You would have me by 200 pounds. I think

00:58:42.030 --> 00:58:45.849
you'd. I don't know. He was, he had a lot of,

00:58:45.869 --> 00:58:49.670
and we actually, you know, we, the original character

00:58:49.670 --> 00:58:51.710
was sort of based on a Mike Tyson and it's supposed

00:58:51.710 --> 00:58:53.889
to be a heavyweight champion. That's so unpredictable.

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:57.099
That when he comes into work where you're waiting

00:58:57.099 --> 00:58:59.340
tables, if he owned the restaurant, you wouldn't

00:58:59.340 --> 00:59:01.059
know if he was going to punch you that day or

00:59:01.059 --> 00:59:03.239
make you laugh or adopt you as a kid. Like he

00:59:03.239 --> 00:59:04.960
just didn't know what his behavior is going to

00:59:04.960 --> 00:59:07.699
be kind of based on sort of a Mike Tyson character.

00:59:07.960 --> 00:59:09.719
And we're like, you know, Michael Clark Duncan

00:59:09.719 --> 00:59:14.099
had such dramatic chops. We were like, but, you

00:59:14.099 --> 00:59:15.699
know, do you think he could handle this comedy

00:59:15.699 --> 00:59:18.599
script? Because it was a lot of dialogue. So

00:59:18.599 --> 00:59:20.219
we talked to Adam McKay and he's like, oh, yeah,

00:59:20.340 --> 00:59:23.800
he's he's great. That scene when he's with Will

00:59:23.800 --> 00:59:25.119
Ferrell and Will Ferrell's in the wheelchair

00:59:25.119 --> 00:59:28.639
and in Talladega Nights and Will Ferrell stabbed

00:59:28.639 --> 00:59:31.079
himself in the leg with a knife. And then he's

00:59:31.079 --> 00:59:33.239
Michael Clarke Duncan starts yelling, don't you

00:59:33.239 --> 00:59:35.199
put that on me, Ricky Bobby, don't you put that

00:59:35.199 --> 00:59:38.619
on me. Adam was saying there's no real script.

00:59:38.780 --> 00:59:40.679
They were just a lot of improvising that he said

00:59:40.679 --> 00:59:43.880
Michael completely could hold his own. So we

00:59:43.880 --> 00:59:46.119
felt confident after that, bringing him on and

00:59:46.119 --> 00:59:48.960
he was terrific. Amazing. Yeah, it's funny with

00:59:48.960 --> 00:59:52.460
the awards shows. I remember with the Oscars,

00:59:52.460 --> 00:59:54.599
there was one year where it seemed to be like

00:59:54.599 --> 00:59:57.119
everyone was African -American winning and Denzel

00:59:57.119 --> 00:59:59.699
Washington won it for training day. And I'm like,

00:59:59.739 --> 01:00:03.199
so this is the guy that Malcolm X and cry freedom

01:00:03.199 --> 01:00:06.039
and he wins an award for training day. You know,

01:00:06.059 --> 01:00:08.260
I think that that's to me why some of these awards

01:00:08.260 --> 01:00:10.219
ceremonies are so bogus is some of these people.

01:00:10.940 --> 01:00:14.260
They've done so much better roles and been part

01:00:14.260 --> 01:00:16.900
of such incredible productions, but it wasn't

01:00:16.900 --> 01:00:18.780
flavor of the day, so they didn't win it that

01:00:18.780 --> 01:00:21.500
time. And in the stunt world, there are no...

01:00:21.739 --> 01:00:23.940
oscars for stunt people which is which is mind

01:00:23.940 --> 01:00:25.440
-blowing because these especially in these modern

01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:28.739
you know uh action films usually they're doing

01:00:28.739 --> 01:00:32.119
80 of the work so yeah it's a it's a weird thing

01:00:32.119 --> 01:00:34.000
as someone that's disconnected from that that

01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:37.260
world looking in going hmm can you really say

01:00:37.260 --> 01:00:38.960
that was the best actor when all these other

01:00:38.960 --> 01:00:41.099
phenomenal you know productions are going on

01:00:41.099 --> 01:00:43.900
that's interesting yeah you have an interesting

01:00:43.900 --> 01:00:46.739
perspective on it yeah just disconnected being

01:00:46.739 --> 01:00:50.840
a horrible actor i can be objective It does take

01:00:50.840 --> 01:00:52.880
a village to try to get a performance together,

01:00:52.980 --> 01:00:57.300
though. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, shifting

01:00:57.300 --> 01:01:00.340
away from the, I guess, performance world for

01:01:00.340 --> 01:01:03.780
a moment, talk to me about how you came across

01:01:03.780 --> 01:01:06.800
P90X and Tony Horton and then walk me through

01:01:06.800 --> 01:01:10.119
your involvement and the unveiling of the leg

01:01:10.119 --> 01:01:14.530
during that journey that you were on. Yeah, that

01:01:14.530 --> 01:01:17.190
was an interesting chapter in my life. It's still

01:01:17.190 --> 01:01:20.710
going 100%. I still work with Tony and have a

01:01:20.710 --> 01:01:22.769
lot of respect for Tony Horton and still currently

01:01:22.769 --> 01:01:26.190
work with him. One day, I was at a gym. I used

01:01:26.190 --> 01:01:28.969
to go to the World Gym in Santa Monica. And I

01:01:28.969 --> 01:01:30.570
was trying to stay in shape. I think it was Club

01:01:30.570 --> 01:01:32.030
Dread because I knew we were going to be down

01:01:32.030 --> 01:01:35.190
in Mexico and probably might require some scenes

01:01:35.190 --> 01:01:36.789
without a shirt or something. So I was trying

01:01:36.789 --> 01:01:39.510
to exercise and work hard. And right there's

01:01:39.510 --> 01:01:41.349
a bulletin board there and it had a flyer that

01:01:41.349 --> 01:01:43.150
said, come be part of the hardest thing that

01:01:43.150 --> 01:01:44.510
you've ever done in your life, mentally, physically,

01:01:44.590 --> 01:01:47.010
emotionally. And you have to understand back

01:01:47.010 --> 01:01:50.849
in the, this was probably 15, somewhere between

01:01:50.849 --> 01:01:55.489
15, 16, 17 years ago. As you know, the idea of

01:01:55.489 --> 01:01:59.690
extreme fitness didn't really exist. There were.

01:02:00.449 --> 01:02:03.070
Beachbody had Power90 or something like that,

01:02:03.170 --> 01:02:05.550
but it was more Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons,

01:02:06.090 --> 01:02:09.550
Cheryl Teagues. The idea of home fitness videos

01:02:09.550 --> 01:02:13.130
were just for people to do aerobics, but this

01:02:13.130 --> 01:02:14.849
company, Beachbody, wanted to create something

01:02:14.849 --> 01:02:17.409
called P90X where somebody who was an athlete

01:02:17.409 --> 01:02:21.309
could do it so they could be a really good soccer

01:02:21.309 --> 01:02:25.380
player. basketball player, anything that was

01:02:25.380 --> 01:02:27.239
like a weekend warrior, but somebody really wanted

01:02:27.239 --> 01:02:28.599
to step up their game. And they thought it was

01:02:28.599 --> 01:02:31.139
going to be kind of like a little niche video

01:02:31.139 --> 01:02:33.659
that a small select group of people would do.

01:02:34.219 --> 01:02:37.320
So I saw this in a flyer and it said, if you

01:02:37.320 --> 01:02:40.239
come be part of the test group, you can work

01:02:40.239 --> 01:02:42.780
out for 90 days, but you just have to commit

01:02:42.780 --> 01:02:44.420
to it. You have to commit to be there for 90

01:02:44.420 --> 01:02:47.239
days, follow the food plan, you know? And I said,

01:02:47.260 --> 01:02:49.139
well, maybe this is a great way to get training.

01:02:49.260 --> 01:02:54.130
I was a, as you know, a broke actor. barely squeaking

01:02:54.130 --> 01:02:56.710
by and so i said hey free trainer you know here

01:02:56.710 --> 01:02:58.829
we go get in shape for the film so i signed up

01:02:58.829 --> 01:03:01.489
and i go and i was like damn this is hard you

01:03:01.489 --> 01:03:03.489
know and i did it for a while and after a while

01:03:03.489 --> 01:03:04.710
i was starting to get a little more confidence

01:03:04.710 --> 01:03:07.989
because it was really hard plyometrics yoga all

01:03:07.989 --> 01:03:10.570
this stuff i'd never done before and it was a

01:03:10.570 --> 01:03:12.469
great workout and then one day and i'd always

01:03:12.469 --> 01:03:16.010
go and tony will tell the story he's like i still

01:03:16.010 --> 01:03:18.170
ask you still be in the same spot you know we

01:03:18.170 --> 01:03:20.349
all kind of are in the same spot when we do things

01:03:20.349 --> 01:03:22.070
we go to a class or something always in the same

01:03:22.070 --> 01:03:23.630
spot he's like every day i'd look down the left

01:03:23.630 --> 01:03:25.130
and there you were this kind of undescript kid

01:03:25.130 --> 01:03:26.630
just sitting on there you always had sweatpants

01:03:26.630 --> 01:03:28.969
on i don't know why i always had sweatpants on

01:03:28.969 --> 01:03:31.389
and then one day you show up and you're wearing

01:03:31.389 --> 01:03:34.550
shorts and like everyone in the class like look

01:03:34.550 --> 01:03:39.150
over and like what the hell is that And I just

01:03:39.150 --> 01:03:41.070
kind of had gained enough confidence after like

01:03:41.070 --> 01:03:43.630
60 days of doing these really hard workouts and

01:03:43.630 --> 01:03:45.969
balancing routines and yoga and all kinds of

01:03:45.969 --> 01:03:48.090
things. I said, screw it, man. I'm going to wear

01:03:48.090 --> 01:03:51.349
shorts one day. And I showed up and people were

01:03:51.349 --> 01:03:54.170
kind of like, did a double take, but everybody

01:03:54.170 --> 01:03:56.849
was cool. And I don't know, it gave me kind of

01:03:56.849 --> 01:04:00.210
a new self -confidence of being able to do harder

01:04:00.210 --> 01:04:02.170
workouts than I ever thought that I could, especially

01:04:02.170 --> 01:04:05.150
with my prosthetic. And it was a great workout.

01:04:05.230 --> 01:04:06.929
And I really thought it was very genuine and

01:04:06.929 --> 01:04:11.130
authentic and really the real deal. And by the

01:04:11.130 --> 01:04:13.550
time we finished that 90 days, Tony and I kind

01:04:13.550 --> 01:04:16.090
of become pals. And he said, hey, Stolhansky,

01:04:16.250 --> 01:04:18.750
I want you to be in the plyometrics routine.

01:04:19.590 --> 01:04:21.889
Would you do it? I thought about for a second.

01:04:22.010 --> 01:04:24.869
No, no way. I'm not going to do it. He's like,

01:04:24.869 --> 01:04:29.150
you want me to like in shorts? No, no, no, thanks.

01:04:29.610 --> 01:04:31.769
He's like, come on, come on. You got to do it.

01:04:31.829 --> 01:04:33.480
I was like, I don't want to do it. Like, why

01:04:33.480 --> 01:04:36.820
not? He's like, I'm kind of I don't I think I

01:04:36.820 --> 01:04:39.940
mentioned before is I'm trying not I don't want

01:04:39.940 --> 01:04:42.719
anyone to like pigeonhole me. Like, I don't really

01:04:42.719 --> 01:04:45.099
want to go out into the world, especially in

01:04:45.099 --> 01:04:48.559
a video in shorts, because then everyone's going

01:04:48.559 --> 01:04:51.539
to just look at me as the guy with one leg. I'd

01:04:51.539 --> 01:04:53.579
rather be the guy that can go do these broken

01:04:53.579 --> 01:04:57.699
lizard rolls and nobody can tell the difference.

01:04:58.529 --> 01:05:01.690
and pigeonhole me and say, oh, that guy can only

01:05:01.690 --> 01:05:04.429
play certain parts. I just want someone to think

01:05:04.429 --> 01:05:06.989
of me as just a normal actor and a comedian that

01:05:06.989 --> 01:05:09.309
they don't even think of and talk about it. And

01:05:09.309 --> 01:05:12.409
he's like, well, maybe you're running away from

01:05:12.409 --> 01:05:14.230
something. Maybe you're hiding something that

01:05:14.230 --> 01:05:16.710
you don't need to be hiding. If you were to do

01:05:16.710 --> 01:05:18.349
this exercise, there are people that struggle

01:05:18.349 --> 01:05:23.010
with diabetes, mental health, just lack of motivation,

01:05:23.190 --> 01:05:26.949
certain things where they'll be like, That dude's

01:05:26.949 --> 01:05:29.269
doing these exercises with one leg. I got to

01:05:29.269 --> 01:05:30.730
get off the couch and get up, get up there and

01:05:30.730 --> 01:05:33.949
do it too. So I was like, Oh, that's kind of

01:05:33.949 --> 01:05:37.030
shifted my perspective on realizing that maybe

01:05:37.030 --> 01:05:38.869
something that I've kind of been hiding from

01:05:38.869 --> 01:05:41.110
my whole life was something that I could use

01:05:41.110 --> 01:05:44.789
as something that's positive, which I never really

01:05:44.789 --> 01:05:46.090
kind of had thought of it in that direct way

01:05:46.090 --> 01:05:48.869
before. So I said, all right, all right, man,

01:05:48.909 --> 01:05:53.300
I'll do your P90X Tony Horton. Damn you. So I

01:05:53.300 --> 01:05:55.440
did another 10 days of workout and we did about

01:05:55.440 --> 01:05:58.739
100 days and then we filmed the video and no

01:05:58.739 --> 01:06:01.940
cuts or anything. It was just a whole 60 minutes,

01:06:02.000 --> 01:06:04.900
I believe, of plyometrics, which is German skiing

01:06:04.900 --> 01:06:07.619
technique, as you know, and bouncing and skipping

01:06:07.619 --> 01:06:10.579
and jumping and hopping. And it's brutal, super

01:06:10.579 --> 01:06:14.519
hard. But we got on video. And at first it didn't

01:06:14.519 --> 01:06:16.099
really take off. And then people started posting

01:06:16.099 --> 01:06:18.599
before and after pictures and seeing really how

01:06:18.599 --> 01:06:22.199
great of a workout P90X was that it just took

01:06:22.199 --> 01:06:25.079
off. And it became one of the top exercise videos

01:06:25.079 --> 01:06:28.639
in America for a long time. And now it almost

01:06:28.639 --> 01:06:30.800
seems like tame because there's like we can talk

01:06:30.800 --> 01:06:34.380
about CrossFit and all sorts of extreme home

01:06:34.380 --> 01:06:37.000
fitness videos. But that was sort of the first

01:06:37.000 --> 01:06:40.530
one of its kind. Well, I remember distinctly

01:06:40.530 --> 01:06:43.110
being in Orange County, so here in Florida, at

01:06:43.110 --> 01:06:44.969
the fire department, one of the real kind of

01:06:44.969 --> 01:06:46.869
outlying stations, it was a trailer, and then

01:06:46.869 --> 01:06:49.849
there was like a butler building where the engine

01:06:49.849 --> 01:06:53.610
was, and going to look for our engineer for something,

01:06:53.730 --> 01:06:57.409
and he's out there doing P90X in the bay. And

01:06:57.409 --> 01:06:59.690
I have to say, aside from CrossFit, which I think

01:06:59.690 --> 01:07:02.289
has done so much for the fire service, if I was

01:07:02.289 --> 01:07:04.170
going to name something else, it would be P90X.

01:07:04.329 --> 01:07:09.130
So Tony absolutely, I think, found a way to bridge

01:07:09.130 --> 01:07:11.769
that barrier to entry for a lot of people like

01:07:11.769 --> 01:07:13.789
i'm intimidated by these machines i don't really

01:07:13.789 --> 01:07:16.429
know how to use these barbells or whatever and

01:07:16.429 --> 01:07:18.650
with him it's like all right find a space the

01:07:18.650 --> 01:07:21.210
size of a yoga mat pretty much and put somewhere

01:07:21.210 --> 01:07:23.829
to put your laptop or your tv and we'll just

01:07:23.829 --> 01:07:26.210
go through this together so between you know

01:07:26.210 --> 01:07:29.650
as you said plyometrics or the yoga part or obviously

01:07:29.650 --> 01:07:32.170
the overall strength and conditioning part i

01:07:32.170 --> 01:07:37.949
saw what was as you said initially a niche workout

01:07:37.949 --> 01:07:40.789
video really permeate into the tactical professions

01:07:40.789 --> 01:07:43.849
and benefit a lot of first responders that's

01:07:43.849 --> 01:07:45.090
really cool to hear and i know that would mean

01:07:45.090 --> 01:07:47.949
a lot to him he's really genuine i mean he's

01:07:47.949 --> 01:07:49.949
the guy that walks to walk talks to talk i mean

01:07:49.949 --> 01:07:51.750
he's he's become like a brother to me and like

01:07:51.750 --> 01:07:57.010
that guy eats breathes and lives fitness it's

01:07:57.010 --> 01:07:59.469
incredible what he can do at 64 i mean put him

01:07:59.469 --> 01:08:02.429
up against a 22 year marine and give him a fight

01:08:02.429 --> 01:08:06.750
for his money you know he guy's in shape so with

01:08:07.309 --> 01:08:09.829
The kind of unveiling of your leg and now probably

01:08:09.829 --> 01:08:13.369
a new level of acceptance. It kind of, to me,

01:08:13.389 --> 01:08:15.949
reminds me of Jonah Hill. I'm sure Jonah Hill

01:08:15.949 --> 01:08:17.670
in his mind was like, if I lose this weight,

01:08:17.810 --> 01:08:19.430
I'm not going to be the funny fat guy anymore.

01:08:19.770 --> 01:08:22.369
And now he's this jujitsu athlete and everything

01:08:22.369 --> 01:08:24.670
and still working and still is funny. He didn't

01:08:24.670 --> 01:08:27.109
need the extra adipose tissue to be humorous.

01:08:29.289 --> 01:08:30.949
But you have that unveiling. Around that same

01:08:30.949 --> 01:08:32.869
time, we go to war in the Middle East. We start

01:08:32.869 --> 01:08:34.689
getting all these veterans coming home, missing

01:08:34.689 --> 01:08:38.329
limbs. I watch the CrossFit arena especially

01:08:38.329 --> 01:08:41.670
really start blossoming some incredible adaptive

01:08:41.670 --> 01:08:44.489
athletes, whether it's amputees or cerebral palsy

01:08:44.489 --> 01:08:47.850
or all these great humans that show other people

01:08:47.850 --> 01:08:50.109
like themselves and then inspire people that

01:08:50.109 --> 01:08:53.170
are nothing like them, that it's not you can't

01:08:53.170 --> 01:08:55.609
do it. It's just, okay, how can I do it? And

01:08:55.609 --> 01:08:57.869
you start seeing a genesis of prosthesis, for

01:08:57.869 --> 01:09:01.710
example. What was your observation of all this

01:09:01.710 --> 01:09:04.270
and what was your involvement in this as we started

01:09:04.270 --> 01:09:06.770
progressing and then the adaptive community really

01:09:06.770 --> 01:09:10.210
started becoming, had the exposure it deserves

01:09:10.210 --> 01:09:13.710
and the understanding it deserves? It's funny.

01:09:13.770 --> 01:09:16.069
I see some of these guys in CrossFit, you know,

01:09:16.069 --> 01:09:18.390
nationally that compete in these tournaments

01:09:18.390 --> 01:09:20.289
and some of the guys now they're coming out and

01:09:20.289 --> 01:09:22.970
being on the screen. And I feel like a relic.

01:09:22.989 --> 01:09:27.229
You know, I feel like these guys are unbelievable.

01:09:27.789 --> 01:09:31.729
I mean, some of these athletes that are amputees,

01:09:31.729 --> 01:09:35.109
I see in the Paralympics or I see in CrossFit.

01:09:35.189 --> 01:09:37.310
I mean, they blow me away. I was doing a CrossFit

01:09:37.310 --> 01:09:39.369
routine this morning. I know you and I talked

01:09:39.369 --> 01:09:42.010
before we got on here, but I joined a local gym

01:09:42.010 --> 01:09:43.590
down here and I joined because it was close to

01:09:43.590 --> 01:09:45.489
my house and it turned out to be a CrossFit gym.

01:09:45.949 --> 01:09:49.350
And so I've been recently starting to do some

01:09:49.350 --> 01:09:53.369
CrossFit and I got humbled this morning. My gosh.

01:09:54.170 --> 01:09:56.470
I have a couple of routines that are my Achilles

01:09:56.470 --> 01:10:00.010
heel. And burpees are one of them. I had to do

01:10:00.010 --> 01:10:02.109
double unders. It was double under burpees and

01:10:02.109 --> 01:10:05.409
then pull -ups. And I was wiped out. Like I had

01:10:05.409 --> 01:10:08.189
to sit down by around seven. I was just sucking

01:10:08.189 --> 01:10:11.210
wind. But I've seen some of these guys and they're

01:10:11.210 --> 01:10:13.310
just incredible. I mean, CrossFit's been great

01:10:13.310 --> 01:10:16.649
for a lot of people who are adaptive athletes

01:10:16.649 --> 01:10:18.590
and amputees. I feel like a relic, you know what

01:10:18.590 --> 01:10:21.069
I mean? I feel like I may have been there early

01:10:21.069 --> 01:10:23.529
on doing this P90X thing, but I've gotten passed

01:10:23.529 --> 01:10:26.579
up. by some of these athletes that are just incredible

01:10:26.579 --> 01:10:28.979
to watch. So I love it. I mean, like I mentioned

01:10:28.979 --> 01:10:30.760
growing up, I didn't have these mentors or see

01:10:30.760 --> 01:10:32.239
other people with prosthetics. And now you see

01:10:32.239 --> 01:10:35.340
people out there just out in the world. Everyone's

01:10:35.340 --> 01:10:37.619
just people. You know, that's what to me is the

01:10:37.619 --> 01:10:39.000
most important takeaway is that we're all just

01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:40.720
people. Like we don't have to be separated. We're

01:10:40.720 --> 01:10:43.380
cast in a certain way. And why can't we just

01:10:43.380 --> 01:10:46.260
all just accept the fact that everybody has a

01:10:46.260 --> 01:10:49.420
wooden leg? And like, I don't know. I don't know

01:10:49.420 --> 01:10:52.279
what else to say about it, except for to me,

01:10:52.319 --> 01:10:54.079
we're all just, everybody struggles with something.

01:10:55.340 --> 01:10:58.539
And I love seeing these people doing CrossFit

01:10:58.539 --> 01:11:02.739
and just crushing it or P90X, Tony Horton's thing.

01:11:02.840 --> 01:11:07.359
I mean, it's great. So I'll follow up with one

01:11:07.359 --> 01:11:10.279
thing. What I'm currently doing with Tony is

01:11:10.279 --> 01:11:16.279
he has his program. So Tony is with PowerNationFitness

01:11:16.279 --> 01:11:20.100
.org, and he has the four pillars of health,

01:11:20.199 --> 01:11:27.710
fitness, nutrition, mindset. I'm trying to think

01:11:27.710 --> 01:11:33.970
of the fourth. Mental, emotional, physical, supplements.

01:11:34.270 --> 01:11:38.930
Nutrition, yeah. Nutrition, right. So on there,

01:11:39.010 --> 01:11:41.890
he has speakers. He has people that talk about

01:11:41.890 --> 01:11:44.149
what food to eat, the right proper food to eat.

01:11:44.909 --> 01:11:47.409
He obviously does the workouts, and then he has

01:11:47.409 --> 01:11:49.189
speakers come in and talk about mindsets. There's

01:11:49.189 --> 01:11:52.180
some Olympians. Some people talk about how do

01:11:52.180 --> 01:11:54.279
you get over some of these hurdles to try to

01:11:54.279 --> 01:11:56.420
become the best person we can be. And so I tell

01:11:56.420 --> 01:12:00.020
my story. He has these Paragon events where people

01:12:00.020 --> 01:12:01.779
go to his house for a weekend, and he filmed

01:12:01.779 --> 01:12:05.079
my last talk about overcoming growing up with

01:12:05.079 --> 01:12:06.560
a wooden leg and then going on to make Super

01:12:06.560 --> 01:12:08.899
Troopers and the challenges, not only that I

01:12:08.899 --> 01:12:11.539
had as a kid, but how that helped me adapt, as

01:12:11.539 --> 01:12:13.619
we're kind of talking about today, when I had

01:12:13.619 --> 01:12:15.579
to try to ski down that mountain, which was Hollywood,

01:12:15.760 --> 01:12:18.960
getting from the top to the bottom. It should

01:12:18.960 --> 01:12:23.739
be the opposite, right? So that will be out on

01:12:23.739 --> 01:12:26.920
PowerNationFitness .org. And that's how I'm currently

01:12:26.920 --> 01:12:28.939
working with Tony is working with him on that

01:12:28.939 --> 01:12:32.119
aspect of mindset and how important it is in

01:12:32.119 --> 01:12:35.119
having whole health. Like, sure, we can do push

01:12:35.119 --> 01:12:36.739
-ups and pull -ups and all these kind of exercises

01:12:36.739 --> 01:12:39.000
all day, but it's really important to meditate,

01:12:39.079 --> 01:12:43.520
do the yoga, center ourselves, keep, you know,

01:12:43.520 --> 01:12:47.079
clear our mind and the nutrition, eating the

01:12:47.079 --> 01:12:51.060
right things. trying to be a better person in

01:12:51.060 --> 01:12:56.460
many different ways than just exercise. So P90X,

01:12:56.539 --> 01:12:58.859
like I said, is phenomenal. CrossFit is phenomenal.

01:12:59.140 --> 01:13:01.640
But those two are very different to each other.

01:13:01.819 --> 01:13:04.260
What were some of the things that after doing

01:13:04.260 --> 01:13:07.720
P90X for so long that you found were different

01:13:07.720 --> 01:13:10.119
and therefore beneficial as well? I mean, there's

01:13:10.119 --> 01:13:12.560
no one way to eat. There's no one way to exercise.

01:13:12.640 --> 01:13:14.920
So what did it bring that you hadn't had before?

01:13:16.450 --> 01:13:18.210
Well, you know what? It was interesting about

01:13:18.210 --> 01:13:21.270
P90X is I loved it, but I found it very hard

01:13:21.270 --> 01:13:23.829
to maintain for myself. I know a lot of people

01:13:23.829 --> 01:13:26.569
just took off and they did P90X 2 and then 3.

01:13:27.489 --> 01:13:30.109
For me, I did it to get in shape for a movie,

01:13:30.189 --> 01:13:32.890
but I found that doing really, really hard workout

01:13:32.890 --> 01:13:36.949
100 days in a row, I found I couldn't maintain

01:13:36.949 --> 01:13:39.569
it. But what I was able to do afterwards was

01:13:39.569 --> 01:13:41.789
find things that I love to do, like I joined

01:13:41.789 --> 01:13:46.170
a softball group afterwards. completely helped

01:13:46.170 --> 01:13:48.409
with my softball game, which you'd think is not

01:13:48.409 --> 01:13:50.210
something that would be adaptable, but it was

01:13:50.210 --> 01:13:53.569
very helpful. I loved biking. I'd hop on my bike,

01:13:53.609 --> 01:13:55.149
you know, in Southern California and just go

01:13:55.149 --> 01:13:56.949
off from Los Angeles all the way down to like

01:13:56.949 --> 01:13:59.869
Manhattan beach. It helped me stay in shape.

01:13:59.909 --> 01:14:01.930
So I was able to sort of like, and then I started,

01:14:01.949 --> 01:14:03.770
kept working out with Tony every Tuesday, Thursday

01:14:03.770 --> 01:14:06.590
after that for years. And we would just do pushups

01:14:06.590 --> 01:14:08.409
and pull -ups and stuff like that. And I don't

01:14:08.409 --> 01:14:12.390
know, I was able to like, just help me be active.

01:14:12.920 --> 01:14:14.939
in the real world after that, just staying active.

01:14:16.319 --> 01:14:18.380
Now with the adaptive world, I know you started

01:14:18.380 --> 01:14:21.399
working with DAV, Disabled Americans, Disabled

01:14:21.399 --> 01:14:22.720
American Veterans. I don't know why I struggle

01:14:22.720 --> 01:14:25.539
to say that. Talk to me about what you do with

01:14:25.539 --> 01:14:27.800
that organization. Yeah, I love them. They're

01:14:27.800 --> 01:14:30.579
great. One of the things that we do is they have

01:14:30.579 --> 01:14:33.579
an adaptive sports clinic out in Colorado, Snowmass.

01:14:34.079 --> 01:14:37.220
So I went out there a couple of times and I've

01:14:37.220 --> 01:14:39.520
given my talk about overcoming adversity and

01:14:39.520 --> 01:14:42.229
perseverance. We did a screening of Super Troopers

01:14:42.229 --> 01:14:46.170
2. I get on the mountain, I ski with them and

01:14:46.170 --> 01:14:47.869
we have a good time and laugh and I go down,

01:14:47.909 --> 01:14:50.050
you know, just go down the runs with the guys

01:14:50.050 --> 01:14:55.449
and we race. And it's great. I mean, the guys

01:14:55.449 --> 01:14:59.109
have great spirit. I learn a ton from those guys

01:14:59.109 --> 01:15:03.590
and just enjoy the weekend. There's a group called

01:15:03.590 --> 01:15:05.810
Operation Enduring Warrior that I, you know,

01:15:05.810 --> 01:15:09.810
have. been involved with and they take um wounded

01:15:09.810 --> 01:15:11.430
warriors so it can be military it can be law

01:15:11.430 --> 01:15:14.529
enforcement um through obstacle courses they

01:15:14.529 --> 01:15:16.550
do diving and skydiving too but obstacle course

01:15:16.550 --> 01:15:19.069
is the big one they're working with spartan and

01:15:19.069 --> 01:15:21.369
i've seen it myself one of my friends was a law

01:15:21.369 --> 01:15:23.229
enforcement officer that was shot multiple times

01:15:23.229 --> 01:15:25.930
basically a murder attempted murder in a parking

01:15:25.930 --> 01:15:27.529
lot of a grocery store where he went and got

01:15:27.529 --> 01:15:30.939
supplies for a family they just flown over from

01:15:30.939 --> 01:15:33.579
puerto rico um i think it was during the hurricanes

01:15:33.579 --> 01:15:36.880
if i'm not mistaken and uh anyway so drew and

01:15:36.880 --> 01:15:39.420
he watching him at the beginning and watching

01:15:39.420 --> 01:15:42.060
him at the end there was a complete metamorphosis

01:15:42.060 --> 01:15:47.039
from the the self -doubt post -injury to holy

01:15:47.039 --> 01:15:49.819
shit i can do these things and i'm and as i'm

01:15:49.819 --> 01:15:51.880
going through this that guy with the mask on

01:15:51.880 --> 01:15:53.479
has only got one arm and that guy's only got

01:15:53.479 --> 01:15:55.680
one leg because some of the masked athletes that

01:15:55.680 --> 01:15:59.300
assist them are amputees themselves so what are

01:15:59.300 --> 01:16:01.920
some of the the things that you've seen as you've

01:16:01.920 --> 01:16:03.760
taken some of these, you know, wounded warriors

01:16:03.760 --> 01:16:08.680
down these winter sports? Yeah, I mean, the ideas

01:16:08.680 --> 01:16:11.180
of some of these people that are in wheelchairs

01:16:11.180 --> 01:16:14.579
or quadriplegics, paraplegics, and you get them

01:16:14.579 --> 01:16:16.399
on a mountain and the wind's in their face and

01:16:16.399 --> 01:16:18.680
they're skiing down a mountain. You know what

01:16:18.680 --> 01:16:19.979
I mean? It's not like a hill. It's like they're

01:16:19.979 --> 01:16:22.100
in Colorado at snowmass, like going from the

01:16:22.100 --> 01:16:25.159
top of the mountain to the bottom. I don't know.

01:16:25.199 --> 01:16:27.880
It lifts my heart a lot, just seeing people outside

01:16:27.880 --> 01:16:30.460
in nature and getting to experience that feeling

01:16:30.460 --> 01:16:34.520
of flying down a mountain. I don't know. I like

01:16:34.520 --> 01:16:36.479
seeing the community, the aspect of people that

01:16:36.479 --> 01:16:41.159
volunteer to help. Some have the guides for some

01:16:41.159 --> 01:16:43.680
of the sleds. I don't know. It just brings the

01:16:43.680 --> 01:16:46.079
community together. We talk about a lot of things.

01:16:46.260 --> 01:16:50.039
It kind of takes a village to raise kids sometimes.

01:16:51.789 --> 01:16:53.810
I don't know. It's nice to see everybody kind

01:16:53.810 --> 01:16:56.229
of come together in the spirit of community that

01:16:56.229 --> 01:16:58.409
we can all be together to help each other. I

01:16:58.409 --> 01:16:59.729
mean, I think it will be a better place if we

01:16:59.729 --> 01:17:03.010
all just all got along. It'd be nice if we weren't

01:17:03.010 --> 01:17:04.609
all divided and just work together together.

01:17:04.810 --> 01:17:06.630
Yeah. Work together together. It's not a very

01:17:06.630 --> 01:17:09.670
proper English, but. Yeah, no, it'd be nice to

01:17:09.670 --> 01:17:11.590
have a leader that unifies rather than divides,

01:17:11.810 --> 01:17:15.329
unlike the last two. All right, well, then you

01:17:15.329 --> 01:17:16.689
talked about it takes a village. I just want

01:17:16.689 --> 01:17:18.489
to make sure that we do cover this topic. So

01:17:18.489 --> 01:17:21.170
I know that you became a foster parent. So talk

01:17:21.170 --> 01:17:24.090
to me about what made you decide to do that specifically

01:17:24.090 --> 01:17:27.130
and then educate us on the world of fostering.

01:17:27.130 --> 01:17:28.369
Because I think there's a lot of kind of urban

01:17:28.369 --> 01:17:31.329
myths about adoption and fostering. So what led

01:17:31.329 --> 01:17:34.390
you in there? And then talk to me about that

01:17:34.390 --> 01:17:38.310
world. My wife read an article in the paper that

01:17:38.310 --> 01:17:40.609
there's a great need in the community. Like talk

01:17:40.609 --> 01:17:42.189
about just trying to help out a little bit. There's

01:17:42.189 --> 01:17:45.029
this great need. And I don't know, I just broke

01:17:45.029 --> 01:17:46.810
our hearts to think there were children out there

01:17:46.810 --> 01:17:49.930
that didn't have a place to live. Fostering the

01:17:49.930 --> 01:17:55.270
main goal is to try to reunite children with

01:17:55.270 --> 01:17:57.189
their families. They do the best they can. And

01:17:57.189 --> 01:18:01.350
ultimately, if you can't reunite children with

01:18:01.350 --> 01:18:04.979
their families, there's an option to adopt. the

01:18:04.979 --> 01:18:06.840
main goal of fostering is trying to reunite children

01:18:06.840 --> 01:18:09.600
with their families so we currently foster we

01:18:09.600 --> 01:18:12.319
you know have this old house we are renovating

01:18:12.319 --> 01:18:17.840
an old 1902 house it's kind of a big big house

01:18:17.840 --> 01:18:19.500
that was destroyed by hurricane my wife and i

01:18:19.500 --> 01:18:20.880
have been working out for a while we finally

01:18:20.880 --> 01:18:23.399
got it back into shape and we're like yeah we

01:18:23.399 --> 01:18:25.859
got this cool house you know and rooms you know

01:18:25.859 --> 01:18:27.359
why don't we see if there are some children that

01:18:27.359 --> 01:18:30.000
need a place to sleep and have a roof over their

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:32.659
head uh so we got certified it was a long process

01:18:32.659 --> 01:18:34.460
took a long time to get certified you got to

01:18:34.460 --> 01:18:36.819
take training and go through it but i don't know

01:18:36.819 --> 01:18:39.000
it's just uh it's wonderful if you have the space

01:18:39.000 --> 01:18:40.619
and the capacity in your life i know a lot of

01:18:40.619 --> 01:18:42.399
people are busy they're their own kids or don't

01:18:42.399 --> 01:18:44.640
have the time or energy we just happen to be

01:18:44.640 --> 01:18:46.539
at a place in our life where we have the capability

01:18:46.539 --> 01:18:49.380
to try to help out the world a little bit uh

01:18:49.380 --> 01:18:52.260
so we currently um have been fostering some children

01:18:52.260 --> 01:18:54.979
in our house that's amazing has you had kids

01:18:54.979 --> 01:18:58.479
prize of that we had not no no okay Beautiful.

01:18:58.479 --> 01:19:00.399
Yeah, I think that's such a great opportunity

01:19:00.399 --> 01:19:02.380
for people as well. I mean, you hear of sogracy

01:19:02.380 --> 01:19:04.479
and things, but, you know, the foster and adoption

01:19:04.479 --> 01:19:06.880
world are, as you said, there's a big need from

01:19:06.880 --> 01:19:09.359
what I hear over and over again. So what an incredible

01:19:09.359 --> 01:19:11.239
opportunity for someone that hasn't experienced

01:19:11.239 --> 01:19:13.979
parenting yet to be a part of that whole world.

01:19:14.760 --> 01:19:18.640
Yeah, it's very rewarding. I love driving the

01:19:18.640 --> 01:19:20.500
kids to school in the morning and, you know,

01:19:20.500 --> 01:19:23.140
just the joy that they come back after learning

01:19:23.140 --> 01:19:25.439
after a day of being in school and getting to.

01:19:26.180 --> 01:19:27.600
socialize with their kids the other day they

01:19:27.600 --> 01:19:29.180
had an open house the school we got to go see

01:19:29.180 --> 01:19:30.979
their desk and their cubbies and stuff like that

01:19:30.979 --> 01:19:34.399
so we were very proud parents proud foster parents

01:19:34.399 --> 01:19:37.079
you know absolutely all right well i want to

01:19:37.079 --> 01:19:38.840
hit on one more topic before we go some closing

01:19:38.840 --> 01:19:43.220
questions tacoma fd is obviously my profession

01:19:43.220 --> 01:19:45.699
now that you guys found your ways in so i know

01:19:45.699 --> 01:19:48.600
i don't know how involved are you in that project

01:19:48.600 --> 01:19:51.060
and then again what's the origin story of choosing

01:19:51.060 --> 01:19:54.720
that profession next Oh, funny. Yeah, that is

01:19:54.720 --> 01:19:57.119
I'm not involved with Tacoma FD. That's Kevin

01:19:57.119 --> 01:20:01.199
and Steve side project. So, yeah, that's their

01:20:01.199 --> 01:20:07.260
solo album. And I think Kevin's uncle was a firefighter.

01:20:07.260 --> 01:20:10.399
And so he's been a technical consultant on it,

01:20:10.460 --> 01:20:13.539
if I'm not mistaken. But, yeah, that's sort of

01:20:13.539 --> 01:20:18.300
a solo project, a solo record of Kevin and Steve.

01:20:18.810 --> 01:20:21.210
But I do love it. You know, I obviously have

01:20:21.210 --> 01:20:23.470
great admiration for firefighters out there for

01:20:23.470 --> 01:20:26.510
all you guys do. So I hope that the comedy can

01:20:26.510 --> 01:20:29.430
be a nice piece of levity for everybody. Absolutely.

01:20:29.770 --> 01:20:32.329
I'm sure. All right. Well, then the first of

01:20:32.329 --> 01:20:34.850
the closing questions, is there a book or are

01:20:34.850 --> 01:20:36.970
there books that you love to recommend? It can

01:20:36.970 --> 01:20:39.229
be related to our discussion today or completely

01:20:39.229 --> 01:20:46.350
unrelated. I just finished a cool book on Monty

01:20:46.350 --> 01:20:51.159
Python. Huge Monty Python fan. It's a book where

01:20:51.159 --> 01:20:55.399
it's all interviews. And so on the jacket cover,

01:20:55.500 --> 01:20:58.979
it says it's the closest thing to an autobiography.

01:20:59.680 --> 01:21:02.899
It's called Monty Python Speaks. And so it's

01:21:02.899 --> 01:21:05.300
just these paragraphs, these chunks of words

01:21:05.300 --> 01:21:08.340
from each of the five. Well, Graham's not in

01:21:08.340 --> 01:21:11.300
there because he passed away, but big chunks

01:21:11.300 --> 01:21:14.319
of paragraphs from all the other four. And it

01:21:14.319 --> 01:21:15.760
was great. I mean, it talks about from the very

01:21:15.760 --> 01:21:18.079
beginning, how they started all the way to the

01:21:18.079 --> 01:21:20.020
very end where they currently are. But it was

01:21:20.020 --> 01:21:23.000
like 500 pages, very thorough. But I really thoroughly

01:21:23.000 --> 01:21:24.659
enjoyed it. That's called Monty Python Speaks.

01:21:25.220 --> 01:21:27.340
Have you crossed paths with any of the original

01:21:27.340 --> 01:21:31.380
cast? Oh, I wish. No. No, they're in a different

01:21:31.380 --> 01:21:35.039
world. I mean, at the end of the book, it was

01:21:35.039 --> 01:21:39.079
talking about they were asked to do a show at

01:21:39.079 --> 01:21:43.140
the, is it the O? Yeah, the O2 Arena, probably.

01:21:43.630 --> 01:21:47.850
o2 arena and they were going to do one night

01:21:47.850 --> 01:21:51.369
that sold out in like 48 seconds and they ended

01:21:51.369 --> 01:21:53.810
up selling out how many people are in that arena

01:21:53.810 --> 01:21:57.109
i mean it's where um the fa cup was i believe

01:21:57.109 --> 01:21:59.090
it's used to be the millennium stadium so it's

01:21:59.090 --> 01:22:02.510
it's a massive sports arena basically i'm afraid

01:22:02.510 --> 01:22:04.109
i'll throw the wrong number out but it's gigantic

01:22:04.109 --> 01:22:08.609
they sold out 10 nights in a row i mean the legacy

01:22:08.609 --> 01:22:12.359
that that group has is incredible Did you watch

01:22:12.359 --> 01:22:15.640
them growing up or? Oh, God, yeah. Yeah, because

01:22:15.640 --> 01:22:18.000
I just loved it. I mean, I've always loved the

01:22:18.000 --> 01:22:20.680
ridiculous humor as intelligent, ridiculous humor,

01:22:20.760 --> 01:22:24.260
you know, not just crazy slapstick. But yeah,

01:22:24.399 --> 01:22:26.779
I mean, they they were phenomenal. Just so British.

01:22:26.819 --> 01:22:29.260
Like if you're a young British boy, I think a

01:22:29.260 --> 01:22:31.840
lot of, you know, young British person. I think

01:22:31.840 --> 01:22:33.720
a lot of us were just exposed to certain things

01:22:33.720 --> 01:22:35.600
because there were only three channels when I

01:22:35.600 --> 01:22:37.140
was growing up. So it wasn't like you flicked

01:22:37.140 --> 01:22:39.880
through 100 cable channels. You know, you watched

01:22:39.880 --> 01:22:42.000
Indiana Jones and Star Wars at Christmas. You

01:22:42.000 --> 01:22:43.779
watched Monty Python. You watched all these things.

01:22:43.880 --> 01:22:46.800
So, yeah, Benny Hill. So you were exposed to,

01:22:46.840 --> 01:22:48.859
I think a lot of us were really just kind of

01:22:48.859 --> 01:22:51.199
fed the same things through the TV. But, yeah,

01:22:51.239 --> 01:22:53.680
Monty Python was absolutely as British as it

01:22:53.680 --> 01:22:56.699
comes. Yeah, it's a great book. How about you?

01:22:56.720 --> 01:23:00.090
What are you reading? I am actually trying to

01:23:00.090 --> 01:23:02.210
write at the moment, so I'm not reading. I normally

01:23:02.210 --> 01:23:04.890
read a lot, but I'm trying to write my second

01:23:04.890 --> 01:23:07.449
book, which will be a fiction, which I hope in

01:23:07.449 --> 01:23:11.310
a pipe dream that I can get it written well enough

01:23:11.310 --> 01:23:14.529
to become a TV show or a film. Because there's

01:23:14.529 --> 01:23:16.970
a message, there's multiple messages in there

01:23:16.970 --> 01:23:20.840
that if articulated properly would... have people

01:23:20.840 --> 01:23:23.460
thinking about stuff when they left maybe maybe

01:23:23.460 --> 01:23:25.060
looking at people in their community differently

01:23:25.060 --> 01:23:27.859
than before they walked in the cinema so that's

01:23:27.859 --> 01:23:30.039
pretty much it so between the podcast and everything

01:23:30.039 --> 01:23:32.659
else this massive library behind me i haven't

01:23:32.659 --> 01:23:34.479
picked up any of them because i'm trying to actually

01:23:34.479 --> 01:23:38.520
funnel the other way now for a bit admirable

01:23:38.520 --> 01:23:42.060
so but we shall see we shall see um all right

01:23:42.060 --> 01:23:43.520
well then the next question what about a movie

01:23:43.520 --> 01:23:50.109
and or documentary that you love oh hmm I love

01:23:50.109 --> 01:23:53.590
I'm really into music documentaries with Paul

01:23:53.590 --> 01:23:57.729
Soder, my comedy group. We do a nacho and nacho

01:23:57.729 --> 01:24:00.569
and movie night and we pick a band and we watch

01:24:00.569 --> 01:24:02.350
a documentary about them. We make different type

01:24:02.350 --> 01:24:06.850
of nachos. We haven't done that in a while, but

01:24:06.850 --> 01:24:09.430
we had done several documentaries. The police.

01:24:09.970 --> 01:24:12.189
I really, you know, a documentary I loved recently

01:24:12.189 --> 01:24:15.779
was the Bee Gees. Have you seen the Bee Gees

01:24:15.779 --> 01:24:18.340
documentary? I haven't. No, most of my docs recently

01:24:18.340 --> 01:24:22.020
are on mental health or war or psychedelics.

01:24:22.039 --> 01:24:26.220
So it tends to be themed. So educate me. It was

01:24:26.220 --> 01:24:27.819
great. I don't know. I just went all the way

01:24:27.819 --> 01:24:29.520
back to them. When they were in England back

01:24:29.520 --> 01:24:31.199
in the 60s, people didn't realize that they were

01:24:31.199 --> 01:24:33.739
as big as the Beatles. They sort of started as

01:24:33.739 --> 01:24:36.579
this young pop group in the 60s. And then it

01:24:36.579 --> 01:24:38.159
wasn't until later that they kind of became,

01:24:38.279 --> 01:24:40.680
you know, icons in the disco world. But they

01:24:40.680 --> 01:24:46.470
had a much... much more you know complex career

01:24:46.470 --> 01:24:49.029
than people might expect didn't well i think

01:24:49.029 --> 01:24:50.689
someone was telling me about this recently actually

01:24:50.689 --> 01:24:53.750
wasn't there quite a dark mental health element

01:24:53.750 --> 01:24:56.909
to their story as well i don't remember that

01:24:56.909 --> 01:24:58.989
part as much yeah i believe i want to say if

01:24:58.989 --> 01:25:01.529
you look in the history of you know that family

01:25:01.529 --> 01:25:04.189
i think there was you know some some mental health

01:25:04.189 --> 01:25:06.189
challenges and some real struggles as they went

01:25:06.189 --> 01:25:07.369
through as well because i mean what do you think

01:25:07.369 --> 01:25:09.250
when you see them performing it's all teeth and

01:25:09.250 --> 01:25:12.149
smiles and high voices you know but i think actually

01:25:12.149 --> 01:25:14.250
if you look the backstory a lot of them you know

01:25:14.250 --> 01:25:16.329
had some pretty challenging childhoods from what

01:25:16.329 --> 01:25:18.789
i understand yeah i i could see that i don't

01:25:18.789 --> 01:25:21.569
know andy gibb obviously i think right something

01:25:21.569 --> 01:25:23.529
happened to andy gibb which might have been involved

01:25:23.529 --> 01:25:26.289
with that yeah yeah quite possibly okay well

01:25:26.289 --> 01:25:28.340
then um But then also I was watching the Beatles.

01:25:28.399 --> 01:25:29.680
The other great one I was watching was called

01:25:29.680 --> 01:25:32.760
Get Back to the Beatles. It's like a marathon.

01:25:34.659 --> 01:25:37.020
Who was it? Didn't someone, was it Oliver Stone

01:25:37.020 --> 01:25:38.659
or someone just did a Beatles one not too long

01:25:38.659 --> 01:25:41.020
ago? Peter Jackson. Oh, Peter, that's right.

01:25:41.119 --> 01:25:42.380
Yeah. Was that the one you're talking about?

01:25:42.800 --> 01:25:45.520
Yeah. Okay. It's eight hours. I think it's eight

01:25:45.520 --> 01:25:48.199
hours. Okay. It's eight or 10, but I've been

01:25:48.199 --> 01:25:49.680
on a Beatles kick recently. It's eight hours

01:25:49.680 --> 01:25:52.659
of footage of them in a studio. It's fantastic.

01:25:53.710 --> 01:25:55.989
Brilliant. Yeah, he did one, They Shall Never

01:25:55.989 --> 01:25:58.130
Grow Old, They Shall Not Grow Old, where they

01:25:58.130 --> 01:26:00.890
colorized the World War II, excuse me, World

01:26:00.890 --> 01:26:04.350
War I footage and put background noises and got

01:26:04.350 --> 01:26:07.609
actors to match the lip reading. You know, it

01:26:07.609 --> 01:26:09.470
was incredible. But I mean, this is this grainy

01:26:09.470 --> 01:26:11.170
old footage that they brought to life. And that

01:26:11.170 --> 01:26:13.470
was Peter Jackson as well. I heard that was terrific.

01:26:13.729 --> 01:26:15.310
It was amazing. I actually took my son to the

01:26:15.310 --> 01:26:17.710
movie theater to watch that. That was a moment.

01:26:18.310 --> 01:26:20.800
Yeah. All right. Well, the next question, is

01:26:20.800 --> 01:26:22.640
there a person that you recommend to come on

01:26:22.640 --> 01:26:25.479
this podcast as a guest to speak to the first

01:26:25.479 --> 01:26:27.420
responders, military and associated professions

01:26:27.420 --> 01:26:31.840
of the world? Like somebody I know or like? Yeah,

01:26:31.880 --> 01:26:33.880
I mean, if you know them even better, if you

01:26:33.880 --> 01:26:38.640
don't, then. I don't know. I wasn't expecting

01:26:38.640 --> 01:26:42.260
that question, James. I'll have to think about

01:26:42.260 --> 01:26:46.489
it. Somebody that would come on. Let me think

01:26:46.489 --> 01:26:47.770
about it. Can I get back to you on that? Yeah,

01:26:47.810 --> 01:26:49.470
absolutely. Just while you're thinking as well,

01:26:49.550 --> 01:26:51.510
if Steve or Kevin would ever want to come, I

01:26:51.510 --> 01:26:54.090
know Steve was on one of my friend's firefighter

01:26:54.090 --> 01:26:56.470
magazines, Crackle. He did an interview for them.

01:26:56.609 --> 01:26:59.869
To hear the Tacoma FD story and maybe some more

01:26:59.869 --> 01:27:02.109
of the Broken Lizard story would be amazing.

01:27:02.949 --> 01:27:06.250
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, those guys have

01:27:06.250 --> 01:27:09.590
been just with that show. They write, showrun,

01:27:09.789 --> 01:27:13.920
act, and edit. So trying to squeeze Broken Lizard

01:27:13.920 --> 01:27:16.659
into their schedule, it's been a challenge. But

01:27:16.659 --> 01:27:21.100
tonight we have a meeting, so we find ways to

01:27:21.100 --> 01:27:22.760
make it work. And we shot a movie called Quasi

01:27:22.760 --> 01:27:25.399
last fall that will be out at the beginning of

01:27:25.399 --> 01:27:28.560
next year on Hulu. Fantastic. I'm looking forward

01:27:28.560 --> 01:27:30.819
to that. All right. Well, then the last question

01:27:30.819 --> 01:27:32.500
before we make sure everyone knows where to find

01:27:32.500 --> 01:27:34.720
you and, you know, obviously the upcoming projects.

01:27:35.199 --> 01:27:39.460
What do you do to decompress? Oh, I love exercise

01:27:39.460 --> 01:27:42.659
in the morning. My routine is I get up and I

01:27:42.659 --> 01:27:45.800
cook breakfast for the kids, drop them off at

01:27:45.800 --> 01:27:48.960
school, and I love hitting the gym. 8 .30 and

01:27:48.960 --> 01:27:51.300
9 .30, that's my sort of decompression. Then

01:27:51.300 --> 01:27:53.819
I get to work after that, do a lot of landscaping,

01:27:53.880 --> 01:27:56.020
try to get to the beach, have some of the most

01:27:56.020 --> 01:27:57.979
beautiful beaches in the world here in Pensacola,

01:27:58.060 --> 01:28:01.880
Florida. I'm trying to get there tomorrow. It's

01:28:01.880 --> 01:28:05.479
going to be 94, as you know. Florida is probably

01:28:05.479 --> 01:28:10.899
hot right now. Can I ask you a question? Yeah,

01:28:10.899 --> 01:28:15.899
please. It's so freaking hot right now. It's

01:28:15.899 --> 01:28:17.720
94 out there. I don't know what the heat index

01:28:17.720 --> 01:28:22.399
is. But July, August, September in Florida, I

01:28:22.399 --> 01:28:25.380
try barely to even go outside. And one of the

01:28:25.380 --> 01:28:27.439
things I think about all the time is how in the

01:28:27.439 --> 01:28:31.920
world is someone a firefighter in Florida? Honestly,

01:28:32.100 --> 01:28:35.840
my entire career, I've been, I would like to

01:28:35.840 --> 01:28:39.180
say, in very good physical shape. But it is the

01:28:39.180 --> 01:28:41.739
heat that cripples me on fires and things because

01:28:41.739 --> 01:28:44.460
our gear doesn't let us offset heat as well.

01:28:44.640 --> 01:28:48.060
But I think it goes back to you on the ski slope

01:28:48.060 --> 01:28:51.659
is it's not comfortable. And we're in this environment

01:28:51.659 --> 01:28:54.060
now where, you know, I've got my AC on here at

01:28:54.060 --> 01:28:57.420
75 and there's a roof. There's no sun in my eyes,

01:28:57.439 --> 01:29:00.920
you know, but. You just have to be a firefighter

01:29:00.920 --> 01:29:02.779
in Florida. It's just that simple. The same way

01:29:02.779 --> 01:29:06.199
as you see those crazy pictures of the northeast

01:29:06.199 --> 01:29:08.979
where they're flowing water and the hydrants

01:29:08.979 --> 01:29:11.579
are all frozen and there's ice down on this burning

01:29:11.579 --> 01:29:14.199
building, which makes no sense whatsoever. So,

01:29:14.220 --> 01:29:16.460
yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing with the

01:29:16.460 --> 01:29:19.720
fire services. It is uncomfortable. It's really,

01:29:19.840 --> 01:29:22.680
really uncomfortable. And, you know, that's the

01:29:22.680 --> 01:29:25.479
hard thing is like getting comfortable being

01:29:25.479 --> 01:29:27.699
uncomfortable, as they say, like constantly putting

01:29:27.699 --> 01:29:29.840
yourself in a bad place, having recovery days

01:29:29.840 --> 01:29:31.840
and rest like you were saying with, you know,

01:29:31.840 --> 01:29:34.380
100 days of P90X. You've got to have that downtime,

01:29:34.779 --> 01:29:37.880
that deregulation. But if you're not going to

01:29:37.880 --> 01:29:40.760
a horrible place, you know, ideally in gear,

01:29:40.880 --> 01:29:42.460
but now this whole thing with the gear and the

01:29:42.460 --> 01:29:44.840
cancer and everything. Finding some other way

01:29:44.840 --> 01:29:46.779
to be brutally miserable in something similar

01:29:46.779 --> 01:29:50.279
to gear. It's going to be a real rude awakening

01:29:50.279 --> 01:29:53.140
if you have a prolonged structure fire or extrication

01:29:53.140 --> 01:29:55.060
or something in the Florida heat because it's

01:29:55.060 --> 01:29:57.619
horrible. And I worked either here or in California,

01:29:57.939 --> 01:30:00.439
Southern California. So hot as hell, but just

01:30:00.439 --> 01:30:03.739
dry heat. And I'm from England. I'm from a cold,

01:30:03.819 --> 01:30:06.340
wet little island in the middle of the Atlantic.

01:30:06.479 --> 01:30:08.359
So it's just one of those things you just have

01:30:08.359 --> 01:30:12.550
to suck it up and constantly. maintain that level

01:30:12.550 --> 01:30:15.789
of discomfort because as i am now once you retire

01:30:15.789 --> 01:30:18.890
you know i've put the gear on a few times a fundraiser

01:30:18.890 --> 01:30:20.649
and stuff but i'm always so glad that i don't

01:30:20.649 --> 01:30:22.689
have to wear it anymore because i've gone away

01:30:22.689 --> 01:30:27.029
from that discomfort now you have to be comfortable

01:30:27.029 --> 01:30:30.810
being uncomfortable that's a great i love that

01:30:30.810 --> 01:30:32.970
i'm gonna love that that might be something to

01:30:32.970 --> 01:30:36.949
leave on it's it's something i've had to live

01:30:36.949 --> 01:30:39.340
with my whole life Exactly. Maybe that's how

01:30:39.340 --> 01:30:42.840
we all survive is we're comfortable being uncomfortable.

01:30:43.279 --> 01:30:45.500
Well, and I think that discomfort, as you said

01:30:45.500 --> 01:30:48.600
earlier in the interview, is... part of being

01:30:48.600 --> 01:30:51.100
human i was talking to a retired police officer

01:30:51.100 --> 01:30:54.060
yesterday um he was going through some food poisoning

01:30:54.060 --> 01:30:55.979
stuff but he's a big holistic you know wellness

01:30:55.979 --> 01:30:57.939
coach now and you know i was saying but that's

01:30:57.939 --> 01:31:00.220
the problem is that people think that medications

01:31:00.220 --> 01:31:02.039
whatever are going to stop you suffering like

01:31:02.039 --> 01:31:04.399
suffering is part of the human experience and

01:31:04.399 --> 01:31:06.340
it's okay to suffer and it builds some resilience

01:31:06.340 --> 01:31:08.000
you don't want to suffer all the time and if

01:31:08.000 --> 01:31:11.250
you can into that intelligently healthily minimize

01:31:11.250 --> 01:31:13.829
some of the suffering great but when life is

01:31:13.829 --> 01:31:17.130
so comfortable normally you have to you know

01:31:17.130 --> 01:31:18.829
allow it go mow the grass in the middle of the

01:31:18.829 --> 01:31:20.710
day in florida yeah it's going to be brutal and

01:31:20.710 --> 01:31:22.789
you're going to be drenched in sweat but you're

01:31:22.789 --> 01:31:24.229
going to be a little bit stronger from it versus

01:31:24.229 --> 01:31:25.970
you just stay in your home and pay someone to

01:31:25.970 --> 01:31:28.850
mow your grass for you yep yep it's that struggle

01:31:28.850 --> 01:31:33.869
that uh allows us to grow our wings absolutely

01:31:33.869 --> 01:31:37.829
well for people listening I'm sure they're looking

01:31:37.829 --> 01:31:40.010
forward to the book when it comes out, obviously

01:31:40.010 --> 01:31:42.170
learning about Quasi and Super Troopers 3 and

01:31:42.170 --> 01:31:44.770
Tony's project. So where are the best places

01:31:44.770 --> 01:31:46.989
online for people to find you on the web and

01:31:46.989 --> 01:31:50.689
then on social media? Great. Yeah, I mostly probably,

01:31:50.930 --> 01:31:53.430
well, I have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

01:31:54.029 --> 01:31:57.710
So Eric Stolhansky, hard to spell, but if you

01:31:57.710 --> 01:32:01.310
put it into Google, it mostly comes up. E -R

01:32:01.310 --> 01:32:04.350
-I -K. Most people spell it C. E -R -I -K. Last

01:32:04.350 --> 01:32:08.210
name is S -T -O -L -H -A -N -S -K -E. Swedish.

01:32:09.569 --> 01:32:13.750
So, yeah. I'll post updates on Instagram, Facebook,

01:32:13.930 --> 01:32:18.609
Twitter about all upcoming projects. Fantastic.

01:32:19.010 --> 01:32:21.329
Well, and then your website is erikstorhanski

01:32:21.329 --> 01:32:24.310
.com. Have I got that right? Dot net, I think.

01:32:24.369 --> 01:32:26.750
Somebody had dot com. I think it's erikstorhanski

01:32:26.750 --> 01:32:29.630
.net. And it kind of has my information on there,

01:32:29.670 --> 01:32:31.890
but probably social media is where I update things

01:32:31.890 --> 01:32:33.689
the most. It's probably the same a -hole that's

01:32:33.689 --> 01:32:38.329
got BehindTheShield .com. Fuck that guy. It's

01:32:38.329 --> 01:32:41.989
unbelievable they do that. Well, Eric, I want

01:32:41.989 --> 01:32:46.149
to say thank you so much. It's been an amazing

01:32:46.149 --> 01:32:50.000
conversation. It's such a diverse... area of

01:32:50.000 --> 01:32:52.500
topics here from fostering to you know disabled

01:32:52.500 --> 01:32:55.260
veterans and everything in between but as with

01:32:55.260 --> 01:32:57.420
everyone that comes on here each of these stories

01:32:57.420 --> 01:32:59.720
you know there's so much to pull from someone's

01:32:59.720 --> 01:33:02.159
journey through life so i want to thank you for

01:33:02.159 --> 01:33:04.100
being so generous and coming on the podcast today

01:33:04.100 --> 01:33:06.340
thanks james great talking to you appreciate

01:33:06.340 --> 01:33:07.159
it great interview