Welcome to Wednesday a Wednesday edition of Good
News York. I'm Mike Brindisi Matt is off. I don't
know chasing tornadoes or something who knows
so it's just me today, but I'm not alone and
For those of you that have been listening or
watching the show you understand why this is
such a special episode I a while back talked
about my favorite viral video of all time. Fast
forward, we find out as we're watching the video,
someone recognized the sign. I think it was Matt.
And he said, dude, that looks like that's in
Syracuse. Long story short, it was. My favorite
viral video was not only shot in Syracuse, but
we found the guy and he's here, Mr. Steve Peterson.
He's much more talented than just the llama guy.
We'll talk about that. But to me and my world,
dude, you have brought more laughter and joy
to me and my family than you realize. I can tell
you that, you know when people say like, what's
your top 10 favorite movies or what's your favorite
viral video? It's like, dude, there's like 10
million. I don't know. I can honestly say I have
a bunch of favorites. But my absolute favorite
viral video is you and that llama and I'm going
to explain why but first I want to I want to
play a video Danny our producer Danny Chipotle.
Love you play the first video. So here's me Steve
talking on the show About this this is how to
really have the video that I think is the funniest
video of all time And we found out that that
the video was actually shot in Liverpool. I'm
gonna hunt this guy down I want to interview
him on the show just I need to know what was
going on that day and why there was a llama just
running at his car. I did a little digging. I
think I found through comments and stuff of kind
of why it was happening. But I do want to explain
to you first why I think it's the funniest thing
ever. First of all, there's the obvious, right?
You're getting out of your car in a urban area
and a goat walks up and you are like... Anybody
kind of like what the hey buddy and you're so
sweet to this goat and then around the corner
comes this llama And we're gonna play the video
in a second for me it is Your reaction is is
I hear it in your voice. It is this like What
the fuck is going on? But the thing that makes
me laugh the hardest is it's also there's this
childlike excitement in the tone of your voice
It's like the perfect mix of What the fuck is
going on? And oh my god, I'm so excited I get
to see a llama. And I just thought it was so
funny. So let me - let's play that clip. And
uh, and we'll get this thing really started here.
So here it is. I found the original. Oh my god,
who's a vikri llama? What is going on? I just
got back from a service call and I go to my truck
and a goat and a llama run up to me. What are
you guys doing out here? You're not supposed
to be here. It is sup sup. Oh Steve, you know,
I should have said this first. Welcome to the
show. Maybe I should have said welcome and did
some pleasantries before I played that, but I'm
just overexcited. Thank you for coming in. I
know it's a bit ridiculous that someone is this
excited over a video, but I think it's the way
it played out that, first of all, it made me
laugh harder than I've ever laughed, and second
of all, just the way it unfolded and we found
out that it was shot, you know, it happened right
here in Syracuse, and then finding you was amazing.
But it turns out that there's way more to this
story than we thought, which is you actually
come from a background of broadcasting, and let's
talk about that. Yeah, I went to college in Aswego,
SUNY Aswego. Nice. Graduated with a communications
degree. Didn't really know what I wanted to do.
I thought I wanted to make movies, turns out
at the time. Sure. Syracuse wasn't great for
that. Now it's great for it. Yeah. And I was
actually an extra in one of the Adrian Brody
movie. Oh, no shit. Was that the American High?
It was through American High, I think. Okay.
I stood outside a crucible for 12 hours. That's
awesome. And then the scene got cut. Yeah, so
yeah, worked at Channel 3, worked at WSYR Radio.
When the society collapsed in 2008, I... I didn't
really know what I wanted to do, so I started
working at my family's plumbing company. So you
see in the video, that's right out there. Shout
out. Is it Peterson Plumbing? Yeah, we're going
to definitely make sure we throw in graphics
contact. We definitely want to make sure we plug
the family business for sure. Yeah. And that
day, it was after hours. I had... Like, the stars
completely aligned to make that video happen.
It's amazing. There was a service call. I had
to go do a service call after hours. And my parents
invited me to go out to eat. So I had to decide
what I wanted to do. We could go out to eat and
then do the service call. I could do the service
call, then go out to eat. I decided to do the
service call, meet them at Luigi's in the valley,
rest in peace. And yeah, then I got back. After
that, so yeah, I just parked my truck, locked
the gate, and came around to my pickup truck.
And I thought, I thought it was a dog. I thought
I was about to get attacked by a dog, so I was
ready to jump in the back of my pickup truck.
And oh, that's a goat. So I get my phone out,
and it's filming, and... That's where you see
you know the magic happens, and it is magic and
that fucking llama comes wheeling around the
corner Yeah, and again what am I right was your
was it a mixture of like what is going on? And
also like this is like like a child like you're
like this is amazing Yeah, it was I was really
excited as you can tell from yes as you should
I was also scared I was worried that I was about
to get attacked well And I didn't know how much
damage a llama can do, but this thing was charging
at me. You hear about these stories of animals
that you think are very loving animals, and you
find out they're like, no, actually, they could
slit your throat in 3 .2 seconds. And let's be
honest, there's not a lot of info out there about
llamas, right? So I too would be like, this is
great, but is this thing going to charge at me?
Is it going to kill me? So we gotta know I'm
assuming you found out what was going on and
this is this is great because I want to put it
to rest I I heard that it was they got loose
because of a filming of a movie. I don't know
if that's true. What is the story? No, there
was I so I Face timed my my girlfriend at the
time now my wife We'd actually just started dating
at the time. Yeah, well, when she saw that video,
she was like, I gotta marry this guy. I live
a very strange life. I need to prove, dude, this
is real. It's, uh... Yeah, after that, I called
my dad, and he's like, oh, yeah, so -and -so
has a little, like, pen that he keeps some animals
in. Oh, like a local... Yeah, I don't give it
away because I don't want people to go and try
and find it. And I know it's old news now, but
at the time, I was worried that people were gonna
try to, like... hunt these things down. Yeah,
I'm never gonna make it as a reporter because
I'm having you on, like, five years after this
happened. Ten. Ten years after this happened.
Just hit the ten -year anniversary. That's amazing,
actually. Okay, then let's call it that. I knew
that it was the ten -year anniversary, and I
wanted to have you on. Dude, that is wild. So,
did you call the guy who came and got him? No,
I played sheepdog, and I literally, like, corralled
them back. You are the best. Yeah, so there were
these guys in the building. It was like a big
warehouse, and they were all working on these
trucks of some sort, and they... I've got these
animals back there, and I walk into the building,
and they come at me, like, mad. They're, like,
ready to fight me. Like, what are you doing in
here? Like, I just brought you a goddamn animal.
Like, all right, I'm... Guys, I got a llama and
a goat. Chill. This has been quite the ordeal.
Yeah. So, yeah, I got them back home safe, and
then, yeah, that's... That night, I texted the
video to some of my friends, and I was like,
hey, this just happened. They're like, you have
to post that. And they were right. And so you
did? Yeah. So you were the original one that
posted it? Yes. OK. And so was this like an overnight,
you woke up, and you're like, holy cow. Yeah.
So I posted it on Instagram and YouTube. OK.
Yeah. Both the full length videos on Instagram
and YouTube. And I went to bed. I don't know
how, I don't know who found it, but somebody
reposted it to Reddit. Ah, there it is. That's
when it blew up. Yep. So I woke up, I posted
it, no views. A couple comments from some of
my friends. I woke up to 5 ,000 views. And by
the end of the day, I had like 250 ,000. That's,
and by the way, I mean, 250 ,000 views now is
a lot, but those can happen. Like we just had
a video about an oil change. just got like a
we hit the hundred and twenty mark ten years
ago that that is viral that is you know that's
a lot of views and so did what was life after
like a few days after were you getting calls
emails or anything like that yeah it went pretty
crazy for a while for a few months I I hooked
up with a company for licensing yep I don't think
they did a good job yeah I should have went with
a different one but Oh, well. The problem, well...
I was trying to remember it all. I know. Well,
it was 10 years ago. That's when it started hitting
TV shows and stuff. But the big problem was it
got stolen. So at the time, there was no way...
You weren't making money off Facebook. Right,
they didn't have... It wasn't monetized back
then, yeah. So Ladd Bible stole it and... That's
when it got billions of views. Like I would put
the hits probably somewhere in the billions at
this point from how much it's been circulated.
Holy. But my video on YouTube only has a million
hits. The original. So yeah, like, you know,
I license it out. I made a little bit of money,
but nothing crazy. Today if it happened today,
I'd probably own an island somewhere So that's
frustrating now You weren't able to contact it.
Is it Danny is it Ladd Bible or LAD Bible? I
never know. Yeah, whatever who cares now They
should there's no repercussions for that at the
time. No, they didn't Nobody. Yeah, there was
nothing you can do. I actually contacted a media
lawyer and they absolutely they said You're up
shit creek. There's nothing in writing. Yeah.
Oh, man. I'm sorry to hear that I'll tell you
this if it helps we will not promote Vlad Bible
and I will not follow them dude that is such
a great story and I just I love the way that
you were so kind to the animals and but also
just a hilarious reaction and I I can't thank
you enough, but Forget that I Know the feeling
of like being known so I've been on stage or
in front of a microphone my whole life I remember
my sister got her own tick -tock and she got
tens of millions of views of Videos of scaring
me and I'm like, you know, I've worked my whole
life at honing my craft You know in in radio
and film and music and now I'm gonna be known
as the guy that got the shit scared out of him
So there's way more to you than the guy that
saw a llama. I want to be fair So you worked
in, you said, TV, and so when you graduated,
I know you said you didn't really know what you
wanted to do, but were you more of like a behind
-the -scenes guy or more of on -the -air guy?
Yeah, no, I'm a behind -the -scenes guy. I actually,
I wanted to be a video editor. You've got a great
voice, by the way. You do have a great radio
podcast voice. Yeah, no, I do voice acting. Oh,
there you go. I do freelance, so. Look him up,
Scott Berkstein, freelance. Steve Steve, what
did I say? Oh Scott Peterson's the murderer.
Yes. No, that's another funny thing I get called
Scott all the time. I just do my entire life
like Everywhere everybody calls me Scott. I am
so sad. I also knew and I have a acquaintance
who's a Scott Peterson I promise I know your
name is Steve. Obviously. I'm your biggest fan
Steve Peterson. Look him up freelancing. But
anyway, yeah, so I After I decided I didn't want
to do TV anymore. I thought about being a reporter.
I went out with a reporter. I can't remember
his name now, but I actually did like the, you
could shadow a reporter and they'd set you up
and shoot. That's cool. Get some like test reels.
We're set up, he goes, okay, ready, go, and I
just freeze. I can't do it. I can't be the guy
on camera. I'm much better behind the scenes.
Well, that's okay. That's a good thing that it
happened that way and not, you know, live on
the air or something like that. Yeah, so then,
you know, I took a, excuse me, I took a detour
for a few years and ended up plumbing. I thought
I was gonna take over the family business. Then
I realized that I hated it. It really did not
want to be a plumber at all. Yeah So I took some
odd jobs. I was a screen printer for a while
I Did yeah, I worked for a screen printer then
I started my own shop in my basement worked literally
across the street of VP supply for a bunch of
years and Then I got a really great opportunity
where I am now working for government contractor.
Good for you. It's been quite the adventure.
I can relate, man, because I always talk about
this. I don't mean to, but it just keeps coming
up. But I did. I went back to school late. I
went back in my 30s and I graduated in 2022 from
Park School of Communications at the college.
Shout out. And, dude, I had two years where I
couldn't. I mean, I probably applied for 75 something
jobs in. what they call, I guess, digital media,
which is the new term for television radio, what
we did. And I got to a point where I'm like,
I guess I'm not just, I'm not gonna work in this
business. And I worked as a long -term substitute
at an elementary school and bartending, you know.
So I know that feeling of being like, God, I,
this is what I'm good at. I just can't find a
gig. I think, honestly, if you want to look at
Glass Half Full, I think you were lucky that
you have a family business that you could fall
back on. You know, I mean, that's a great thing
to have, and look, everyone needs plumbing, you
know? So... I don't... I definitely, like, changed
my life. Sure. I was directionless after college
and after Channel 3. I didn't know what I wanted.
The day I got laid off... I had a show with my
band at Dinosaur Barbecue, and then we were leaving
for tour that day, so I got my severance package,
and then I had three months off, and yeah. So
you do music as well? Yeah. I was in a band as
well. What was the name of the band? That band
was the Andrea Doria. That was a long time ago,
but you might know my so -called band. Yeah,
we were yeah, I was the bass player and vocals
in my so -called band the 90s cover band. That's
so great We did that for ten years that happened
like we started that right after the llama video
So yeah, 90s cover band did that for a long time
It's fun and it's fun until it wasn't fun anymore.
Yeah, that's I had a band I had a band as well
and we did pretty well for ourselves Our last
show we played was in Ithaca. That's where I
live. And we opened for Tim Reynolds of the Dave
Matthews band. He has a band called TR3. And
we got off stage that night. And at that point,
we'd been spinning our tires because things have
changed so much. You know, we were three albums
in. It's rock music. People aren't consuming
rock music like they used to. It's hard to make
a living doing it. We finished the show that
night. And because it was we weren't traveling
together because we weren't on the road. It was
at home. We all kind of like... just said like,
we all left out of different exit and never like
said, hey, I'll see you at practice this week.
And when Wednesday came, we just never just kind
of ran its course. And I think we were all feeling
like, just not fun anymore. Once it's not fun
anymore. Yeah. You're not in it for the money.
But see, I knew there was way more to you than
just the llama video. What do you do? So you're
still working at the at the family home place
now or? No, no, no. OK. Well, government. Yeah,
I do a hybrid. Remote stuff cool and a contract
we What I can say yeah, we make sure that drones
don't blow people up okay. Yeah, I love that
It's it's it's good work. It's yeah, it's interesting
Kind of you know, it's It's work. Yeah, I mean
look work is work. That's what I had, you know,
I always had my decide gigs I always did the
I do the voice acting freelance. I did the band
kind of like helps me stay creative. It's your
creative outlet. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. When
you're creative and you're not per se working
in a creative field, you want to scratch that
itch, you know? And so it's important to have
those outlets or else you go crazy. Yeah. You
know, until I found this gig, I was just about
on the verge of insanity because I'm like, I
don't know what to do. What am I doing here?
Let's talk real quick before we go about the
voice acting. How'd you get involved with that?
I mean like I said you have a great voice. It
was always something I wanted to do and it was
It was tough to like break into it was you know
Unless you know somebody right unless you like
have somebody gives you I don't know It's tough
to like it's a niche opportunity. Yeah, so I
finally I My friend Sarah texted me and was like,
hey, you're a voice actor, right? And I'm like,
absolutely. Yes, I am. Yep. Yep. Oh, yeah. My
friend needs somebody to start narrating these
audiobooks. No, they were educational courses
for a local company, Pro Literacy. And I narrated
a ton of their started narrating a bunch of their
courses for English as a Second Language students.
And, yeah, they kept coming back. Then they referred
me to, like, other branches of it. So I started
working for Pro Literacy of Boston for a little
while. And then I went on one of the pay -to
-play sites, voices .com. And basically, you're
just auditioning, audition, audition, audition,
audition, and maybe you'll land something. I
had a little bit of luck on that. Good for you.
I paid my subscription back. And then, yeah,
so... It's slowed down now a eyes. Yeah, I know
I know a little bit, but I know it's still it's
still something I do for fun That's great, man.
So let me let me ask you this It's a perfect
in a perfect world I'm sitting here with you
and I say you know what you can have your dream
gig right now in whether it's music voice acting
Production what what is it that you would ultimately
love love to do man? You know I would love to
be That's tough. I know I threw a hard one. We
can edit this so don't worry about don't worry
about taking your take your time I had honestly
I love the media Like the media aspect of what
I was doing I miss I Miss Voice acting I miss
I loved editing videos and it is you know the
stuff like that I really enjoyed like being like
part of production and creating you know creative,
creative, creative. Just being in a creative
environment. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know,
I'm blessed. I'm very thankful for what I have,
but it's tough to, like, find that now, especially,
like, with the band done. Well, I still do have...
I work with my friend Mark on Summer School Electronics,
the local guitar pedal company. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I do all the artwork for that. We do
some building. We get to travel around. So I've
still got like my part there. We're going to
start doing some more long form content. But
yeah, in a perfect world, it would just be me
getting to be creative. That's it. You just nailed
it because before I took this job, you know,
you know how it is over the years. It was like,
ah, I'd love to, you know. sell millions of albums
and get to tour the world or I you know my dream
was always I want to be on SNL you know and and
things I've learned that preconceived notions
really can kill you because I had it all planned
out how it was gonna happen and as you know life
it just doesn't happen that way one day you wake
up and there's a fucking llama running at you
but uh but what I do know is that I found along
the way that I was like you know what I just
want to be paid to do what I love and that's
to be creative in some capacity and and like
you it was like You know, I love music. I love
acting. I love voice, you know, doing radio.
So listen, we don't know where this is going
to go. Um, but we're, you know, we're growing
day by day and I can promise you, Mr. Steve Peterson,
that, uh, if there is a job opening, we'll have
to look you up because, uh, you're a great guy
and you have brought, I mean, if you go into
my house right now, and if I said to my kids,
kids, this is, this is Steve. This is the llama
guy. They'd be like, Because, you know, my son's
five and this morning I said, I said, bud, I'm
gonna go meet the llama guy. He goes, you are?
I go, yeah. He goes, can I say one swear word?
I go, I looked for his mother. Yeah, go ahead.
He goes, it's a fucking llama. That's great.
So, dude, you're much more than just the llama
guy, but I mean, it must feel nice to know that
that silly little video brought so much joy to
my family, dude. And we need more of that these
days. Yeah, it's... You know, the hype has died
down, but I'm really glad, like, that I can reflect
back onto all the joy that it's brought. Yeah,
well, and look at that. And I didn't get killed.
Yeah, and you didn't get killed. Although, I
think, do llamas spit? Yeah, that's what I was
really worried. Like, when I got, like, real
up close to it at one point, I was like, I'm
gonna get spit on. Spit on. That might be, like,
you know, the way hockey players love when they
have a tooth missing. Maybe if you're a llama
enthusiast, it's like you get spit on a llama.
Maybe it's good luck. Listen, before we go, last
thing. Are there any plugs? I mean, obviously
your social media handles, the pedals, anything
you want. You got something coming up? Check
out summer school electronics, local guitar pedals.
But yeah, we're growing. It's been a really great
adventure with one of my oldest friends. And
he was actually in the band with me. Awesome.
Yeah, then there it is. You can find me on Instagram,
but it's kind of boring. I just mostly post pictures
of guitar pedals. That's great. People love that
stuff. Steve Peterson, thank you so much. You're
a busy guy. Thank you for coming in and taking
the time to meet me and talk about this silly
video. And I really do wish you the best of luck.
And maybe we'll be working together eventually.
Steve Peterson, what's the name of the pedal
company again? Summer School Electronics. Summer
School Electronics. We'll make sure we get all
that stuff. On graphic and put up for you. Thank
you for taking the time and Good luck with everything
man. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks
for watching good news York. Thank you for tuning
in