0:00

Hey, six degrees listeners,

0:02

Kevin becon here, I got a treat

0:04

for you this episode. This is the

0:07

one and only hilarious

0:10

Patton oswaldt joins

0:12

me for a conversation that is

0:15

funny, funny, funny, funny, but

0:17

also extremely insightful. As

0:20

you probably know, this guy knows how

0:22

to make you laugh. What here is a little

0:24

teaser. Patton may have ended

0:26

up on a different career path if

0:29

not for his very blunt

0:32

dad. I think we got to

0:34

thank them though, because you know, the world

0:36

needs this dude doing his

0:38

comedy thing and it's stick

0:41

around. Also because we shine a spotlight

0:44

on a grassroots organization doing

0:47

amazing work supporting students

0:49

throughout the entire year, not just in the back

0:51

to school sessions. Yeah, I haven't

0:53

really been looking forward to this one. I'm

0:55

a big fan, so lean in.

0:58

I'm glad you're here.

1:08

Patton Oswald, thank you so much for being

1:10

here with me.

1:11

Ken, thank you fix having me on.

1:13

Man. Hey, you know it's

1:15

one of those weird like I don't know I've

1:18

are well. Of course, you know, I play this

1:20

dumb game where I try to figure out connections

1:22

between people. But I don't think that our paths have crossed

1:24

as far as I know, I don't think we've been

1:27

in the same thing, which is kind of shocking.

1:30

Yeah, it is weird. We've never

1:32

crossed directly. I'm sure there is no

1:34

more than a two or three person

1:37

gap between you and I. Apparently

1:39

my wife was telling me. My

1:42

wife, Meredith Salinger, said that she this

1:44

is back in eighty six, so if you don't remember this,

1:47

don't even worry about it. She had just done

1:49

a movie called A Night in the Life at Jimmy

1:51

Reared, and she met you somewhere,

1:53

either at a dinner or something, and you were joking

1:55

and like, oh, you just did that movie with River Phoenix.

1:58

I'm probably gonna play his big brothers day.

2:00

That's probably I mean, I'm sure she's

2:03

not lying. I mean,

2:05

I'm sure she's not making it up, and

2:07

that would be something that I would have thought

2:09

of. In fact, you know, it's you know, that was such a

2:11

you know, sad thing I was. I loved her. I

2:13

thought he was great and yeah, and

2:16

definitely you know, when

2:19

he was younger, he definitely, you know, we

2:21

look like we could have been brothers for sure. Absolutely,

2:24

yes, But the fact that you have been

2:26

I mean, I think you've been in like two hundred

2:29

movies or something like that. It's

2:31

great, it's it just blows my mind,

2:33

and it makes it even even weirder

2:36

that we haven't been in the same thing together. Well, but

2:38

you know, life is long, so we'll

2:41

we'll get to do that.

2:43

Life is long, and show business is weirdly small,

2:45

so eventually everybody coides

2:48

with each other.

2:49

Absolutely, absolutely, thank you, thank

2:51

you so much for being here with me. You

2:53

know, I want to I want to first off say,

2:55

I don't know why I have this obsession with this.

2:58

The people that listening

3:00

to this podcast. I've heard me mention this many times. But

3:03

how do you feel about your name? And can

3:05

we talk a little bit about it? About

3:07

the genesis of that name.

3:09

Well, Daddy

3:12

was a marine and he

3:15

my mom wanted to call me either Andy or Chris,

3:17

and he thought those names were kind of bland and forgettable,

3:20

so he proposed Patton

3:23

as a first name. I haven't met a lot of first

3:25

name patents out there, but

3:27

weirdly, you know, he had been he had done three

3:30

tours in Vietnam. So even though he named

3:32

me after a World War Two

3:34

general, he was always very vocal about I

3:36

don't want you ever.

3:37

Going to war or joining the military.

3:40

I know because I've seen the worst of it,

3:42

and I do not want that for you. So

3:44

what I went into being a comedian,

3:46

he could not have been happier.

3:48

Wow, Okay, yeah, that is a very I think that's

3:50

a very unusual, unusual

3:53

story. I would think. I mean because

3:55

because you know, listen, I often have said, I think

3:58

I've played four Marines in my life.

4:00

I get I get them, I get the marine

4:02

gigs, and the one thing, oh yeah, absolutely

4:04

sure that I could never do

4:07

is become a marine. I mean, I wouldn't last

4:09

five minutes through any

4:11

of those you know of boot camp or those procedures.

4:14

But I do know that a

4:17

lot of the Marines that I've I've been with

4:19

have had sort of the opposite reaction, you know, they

4:22

kind of they they want to pass that on to their

4:24

sons. So I'm I'm I'm wow,

4:26

I'm not surprised, but I think it's but I think it's interesting,

4:28

and I think it says a lot about your dad that he's like, no,

4:31

I've seen it and it's not for you.

4:33

I I don't think he was down on the Marines.

4:36

He was down on the idea of us being

4:38

sent to war. You know, he had been doing. He

4:40

came from a I come from a long line

4:43

of war veterans and warriors.

4:46

So but my dad saw

4:48

I think he saw some really bad stuff during those three

4:50

years and he got shot in the leg.

4:53

He's still alive, but you know, he

4:55

just saw a lot of really dark

4:57

stuff and he was like, yeah, war is not what

4:59

I I thought it was going to be.

5:01

And did he talk to you about that stuff?

5:03

He talks about it, but he does it in

5:05

that oblique way where it

5:08

actually the stuff he doesn't

5:10

talk about weirdly speaks

5:13

louder than the stuff he can talk about

5:15

directly. That the stuff that he that he clearly

5:17

is deflecting from and can't face

5:19

head on, you can infer what it

5:21

is he's talking about.

5:23

And it's pretty dark.

5:24

So and I've learned to like,

5:27

what is the point in me dredging

5:29

it up? I think he's so much more happy to

5:32

be with his sons now alive, rather

5:35

than let's go revisit this

5:37

as he called it one time, he just said

5:40

war is brutal and completely

5:43

pointless. And again,

5:45

that's a guy that was did three years of it, So

5:48

you know, I kind of that was

5:50

my way of going, Yeah, let's not push

5:52

too we don't need to push too deep here.

5:54

Sure sure, yeah, sure. So you said

5:57

you have brothers and sisters, got.

5:59

A younger other.

6:01

Also very funny, comedy writer,

6:05

great on threads

6:07

and online, great writer. And also

6:10

just like he was actually flirting with joining

6:12

the Air Force. My dad was like, listen,

6:15

I love you. You are not.

6:17

Going to do well in the Army. Go do something

6:19

else.

6:19

And he wasn't saying it like oh you

6:21

little whip. He was just like, I know

6:24

how your mind works, and this

6:26

ain't for you.

6:27

Uh huh uh huh Yeah. What were what were

6:29

you were? An army brought it? Did you move around

6:32

a bunch of a bunch?

6:33

And yeah, a little.

6:34

We moved on it when we were really really young. But

6:36

then when we got to just

6:38

before high school. And I remember this very

6:40

clearly because my dad grew up his dad

6:43

was an Air Force pilot and they

6:45

moved constantly. He went to four different

6:47

high schools. He just was and

6:50

moved all over the world, Morocco and

6:52

Germany and Spain and then all over the United States.

6:55

And he said, as adventurous as

6:57

that was. I never had like

6:59

a home base. I never was had

7:01

like a place I could build rep or build

7:03

my roots, and I want that for

7:05

you guys. You know, because my dad also really

7:07

loved sports, and a lot of times he would suddenly

7:10

move to a new town and the coach was

7:12

like, you're doing really good work, but this kid's been

7:14

here since freshman year, and he's

7:16

like, he's you know, it's his time, and

7:18

I don't know what to tell you, you know, So he's

7:20

like, I don't want that.

7:21

So he took a desk.

7:23

He was like a test pilot for a while, and then he took a

7:26

desk job in the Marines

7:28

in DC testing

7:31

just so that he could. He was like, I don't want that experience

7:33

for you guys.

7:34

So when you say sports, you and your brother were playing sports,

7:36

or your dad was coaching, or.

7:37

My dad my dad played sports in high

7:40

school. He saw very very early that,

7:42

oh, I have not given birth

7:44

to jocks, given

7:46

birth to movie nerds and

7:49

D and D players and possible filmmakers.

7:52

These guys are not going to be I mean, I tried every

7:55

sport. I tried football, I tried

7:57

soccer, I tried baseball. I was just

7:59

absolutely awful in all

8:02

of them.

8:02

Well we share that, we share that.

8:04

Really did you try them all and they'd just nothing?

8:06

Really well, well I didn't, you know. It's like when

8:08

I say I tried them, we didn't. I didn't really

8:10

go to a high school that had

8:13

We didn't have a foot There was no football. I mean it

8:15

was a kind of an inner city Philadelphia

8:17

high school, so that we didn't have any

8:20

room to play football. We played football on the street, but

8:22

it was just touch football. Or we would play like,

8:25

you know, half ball, stickball, you know, oh

8:27

yeah, stuff like that, street hockey. But

8:29

I was never really good, never good

8:32

at any sports. I

8:34

actually feel, you know, kind

8:37

of lucky that for the most part,

8:40

I haven't been asked to do anything

8:43

that is specifically ball athletic.

8:45

I mean I've been asked to do things and involved

8:48

you know, movement and dance and fighting, yes,

8:50

you know, all those kinds of things. But the

8:53

one, the one time that I did a sports

8:55

based movie was this pretty forgettable

8:57

movie called The Air up there where

9:00

I patted it. Yeah,

9:02

I played a trust

9:04

me when I say it doesn't really hold up. I

9:08

play a guy who goes I'm

9:11

a recruiter. I go to Africa and

9:14

the great NBA great Bob McAdoo,

9:17

who was was our technical

9:20

advisor on on that on

9:22

that movie, and you know, was tasked

9:24

with, you know, trying to uh,

9:26

you know, get everybody to kind of choreograph

9:29

the games and you know, cast the players

9:31

that could play and stuff like that. And he he once

9:34

did an interview and said that one of the hardest

9:36

things he ever had to do in his career was make Kevin

9:38

Bacon look like a basketball player.

9:40

So and

9:42

make make you look like someone who knew how

9:44

to tell people how to play basketball.

9:46

Like that was the easy

9:48

part. But there was a scene where I come

9:50

in and actually, you know, save the day,

9:52

you know with my outside shooting, you know.

9:55

So, but

9:57

that's fantastic.

9:59

Yeah, it was. It was, But you know, listen,

10:01

I think it's really again. I think

10:03

that I like your dad

10:06

without having met him, for

10:08

those two reasons, one saying you know, I

10:10

don't want you to go to war, and to saying, hey,

10:13

I see something else in both

10:15

of you. That edit eight you know,

10:17

football and go and

10:19

do your thing. I mean I think that's I think that's

10:21

fantastic.

10:22

Yeah, And I've actually carried that on because I'm

10:24

not going to be the jock version

10:27

of a nerd dad to my daughter. Like I remember,

10:29

I showed her Star Wars and she was like meh,

10:31

And I wasn't, like you are going to sit

10:34

down and you're a good wall, you know, I

10:36

said, Oh, I didn't land with her.

10:37

That's fine.

10:38

Like, I'm not gonna force her

10:40

into something that she's not. That's a I think

10:42

that's a crucial thing that parents need to learn

10:45

and from my dad, and I'm doing it

10:47

now.

10:48

I agree. I totally agree. I don't.

10:51

I don't try to force them into something that they don't

10:53

that they don't want to do, you know, other than you

10:55

know, trying to lead

10:57

by example, to be a good person

11:00

and you know, try to whatever, have

11:02

some empathy, but try other than

11:04

that. I mean, I totally

11:06

agree. Well, so

11:10

you mentioned that you had a great love

11:12

and you mentioned Star Wars with your brother. You

11:14

and your brother were kind of movie nerds. You like to

11:18

watch.

11:19

I was way more of a movie nerd than

11:21

my brother. He got into movies a little older.

11:23

He did like watching sports,

11:27

he wasn't big on playing them, even though

11:29

he's very kind of fit

11:31

and he takes good care of himself, but he

11:33

wasn't into like the team sports up. I

11:36

was just from a very early age, just

11:38

hooked on the whole.

11:39

You know.

11:40

I don't know if you it sounds like you grew up

11:42

in Philly in the seventies, sixties

11:44

and seventies. Yeah, so you probably had your

11:47

version of the Saturday morning

11:50

horror movie.

11:50

Host that there.

11:52

I said, there was a monster movie and then an Abbot Costello

11:54

movie, totally, and I just devoured

11:57

all of them. And then me too, eight

12:00

years old, Star Wars came out and that was it. It

12:02

just kicked the side of my head in and I was completely,

12:05

Oh, that's what I want to be doing. I want I

12:07

want to get on the other side of that and be in that world

12:09

somehow.

12:10

Right, right, But how does that how

12:12

does that walk its way to comedy?

12:16

I was or was that not? Even the impetus at

12:19

the jump?

12:20

At the jump?

12:21

It was, well, I wish I had a

12:23

deeper, more artistic

12:26

story to tell you, but it really

12:28

did get to the point where it was that summer between

12:31

freshman and sophomore year of high school, Well

12:33

that's the no, no, I'm sorry. The summer

12:35

between freshman and sophomore year of college. That was the

12:37

summer of nineteen eighty eight. I was okay, I

12:40

just completed my first year of college, and that's the first

12:42

time in your life when you really start to feel like,

12:44

I better start figuring out what I'm going to do

12:47

because in three years this is over and

12:49

I'm out in the real world. And I

12:51

did a bunch of different jobs that summer.

12:53

I did everything. I was working at a law

12:55

firm, and I was DJing weddings

12:58

on weekends and it was just and

13:00

I started doing open mics in DC and

13:02

that's what stuck. It just and

13:05

I was getting no positive reinforcement.

13:07

Nobody was like what I was doing. But

13:09

I loved the hang and I loved the life,

13:11

and that's what I wanted to be doing. And

13:13

it just clicked, and I'm like, oh, that's what I should

13:15

be doing. I just I knew it. I knew it without

13:18

being able to really articulate it. I knew that's what

13:20

I should be doing.

13:21

Well, it's so interesting that you say that

13:23

you love the life, and I'll have to tell you why, because

13:25

I I it.

13:28

When I think about comics, first off,

13:31

I think that dollar

13:33

for dollar, going

13:36

to a comedy show might be

13:39

my favorite kind

13:41

of form of entertainment. I absolutely loved

13:43

movies. I love it. I love to go to the theater,

13:46

Yeah, But when I look at what

13:49

I get from

13:51

a from a comedy show, a

13:54

special, you know, a single comic

13:56

special. Oh yes, I'm talking about it.

13:59

You know when people get up do you know ten minutes

14:01

or seven minutes or whatever it is, you

14:03

know you're going to see people

14:06

do really well and do really

14:08

badly. So there's this kind of like

14:11

electric sort of edge that

14:13

happens that and

14:15

and when it's when it's really

14:17

great, as a collective group,

14:20

you all feel this tremendous

14:23

sense of just you

14:25

get so thrilled to be laughing that

14:27

hard, and you get so thrilled for somebody

14:29

when they're when they're doing well, and you feel so bad

14:32

when they're not. And whenever you go to a comedy show,

14:34

you're going to see that you know, and you're gonna

14:36

be jokes that are gonna land and aren' gonna land, And

14:38

there's a kind of danger to it that I really

14:40

love. But the thing that blows my mind is that

14:44

you went one day

14:47

having never done this and you

14:49

just walk up to a microphone. Yeah,

14:52

I mean did you had you had you written

14:55

it down, or had you stood in the mirror like

14:57

what like like like like doing

14:59

it, or I've done it for your friends, or.

15:02

I wrote stuff down on

15:05

a piece of paper at the law firm I

15:07

was working at and I lost that piece of paper. I

15:09

had that for the longest tumm and I don't have it anymore, which

15:11

is just as good, because the material was terrible. I

15:15

wrote what I thought where it sounded like jokes

15:17

based on what I've been watching on TV, on the cable

15:19

shows and stuff like that, and

15:22

so I just kind of went up, yes,

15:24

exactly. But it was also that classic like

15:26

I'm so not speaking in my own voice.

15:28

Yet I'm not comfortable enough on stage to

15:31

just go, hey, here's what's going on. I

15:33

was trying to do the rhythms of stuff I'd seen on

15:35

TV. I mean, what's you know?

15:37

And so it was almost

15:39

like stand up karaoke in

15:41

a weird way. And

15:43

what you realize is, and I'm sure you experienced

15:45

this as an actor too. Starting out, one

15:48

of the first jobs you have to do is

15:50

to get over the fact

15:52

that going on stage is a big deal. You have

15:54

to get to the point where you don't think about

15:56

that anymore, and that's when you can really

15:59

start to cook. I'm sure the first

16:01

time that you had an acting gig,

16:03

you're like, Okay, where do I put my feet?

16:05

Where? What do I I'm gonna walk in

16:07

here? Like that has got to become second

16:09

nature and then you can really be present

16:12

in what it makes you're doing, you know. Yeah, So,

16:15

I mean so I had to I had to get over that

16:17

first.

16:18

That took some time.

16:19

And so is it the type of thing where like you

16:21

go and you do one open mic

16:24

and like a couple of things

16:26

work, and then you try it again and a couple

16:29

more work or or or or am

16:31

I romanticizing it?

16:32

You're romanticizing because I went

16:34

up and nothing worked, okay,

16:36

But what I loved was the

16:39

two hours before I

16:41

was able to go on stage, sitting watching

16:43

the other comedians, watching people riffing

16:46

off of each other, and just that whole

16:48

energy of it. And then you

16:51

just keep going up over and over

16:53

and it gets a little bit better each

16:55

time, and

16:58

again you get over the oh I got to

17:00

think about going on stage, and then you're more and

17:02

you can be more real. I mean, if

17:04

you go to comedy shows, I'm sure you've seen

17:06

those nights where someone does a joke

17:08

and it doesn't land and then they make a joke about

17:11

it not landing because they're so present in the moment

17:13

and that gets a laugh. So when

17:15

you can get to that point where you're like, here's

17:17

this you're so present on stage,

17:20

But that just comes from repetition. And yeah,

17:22

there's a lot of there were a lot of open

17:24

mics where oh boy.

17:26

It was. But you know what, here's what's great.

17:28

When you completely fail,

17:30

I mean completely turf out.

17:32

There's nothing better than waking up the next day and

17:34

going, oh, the world didn't end. It

17:37

didn't matter. I could just keep doing this

17:39

over and over and you get over that fear. And that's

17:41

the best.

17:48

I have a buddy who's a comic

17:50

and you talk about the you

17:54

liked the world and seeing the

17:56

energy, and I really

17:59

like I would go sometimes with him and

18:02

you know, just kind of hang not not go

18:05

to not necessarily go to the show, but kind of what

18:07

the process was of the hang it and

18:09

it it is really amazing.

18:12

Well, for one thing, there is probably

18:15

not always and I might be romanticizing

18:17

this as well, but that there's kind of a sense of community.

18:21

Oh yeah, people that are you

18:23

know at

18:26

one point, you know, everyone is obviously

18:28

competitive with each other, but also I

18:31

get the sense that that people are

18:33

also happy when somebody else, you know, kind

18:35

of does well because it means that you have

18:37

a chance of getting far ahead.

18:40

And if somebody nobody's getting paid, that's the other thing

18:42

that's like amazing, No, it's

18:44

getting paid.

18:45

I did a show two nights

18:47

ago here in the valley, right like five minutes

18:50

from my house on Ventura, and for

18:52

some reason, I guess they didn't promote it very

18:54

well. A lot of just kind of old

18:56

people sitting in this room that were not really

18:59

tuned in. And it was other friends of mine

19:01

on the show, and we were all the backstage

19:04

was that weird camaraderie of like we

19:07

are at an AARP conventions

19:09

and I don't know what is happening out there, And

19:12

that actually made it kind of fun that each of

19:14

us was gonna go out and just support the

19:16

and then you would come off stage to

19:18

nothing.

19:18

This audience was so awful, But then.

19:21

That kind of became the event is watching

19:23

the comedians kind of talk to

19:25

each other even when they're on stage, like hey, Alonso,

19:28

you were right, this is oh my god, what is happening?

19:30

Like that stuff? Then

19:32

that kind of made it an event and I love stuff

19:34

like that.

19:35

Yeah. Yeah, well now you have done

19:38

the multiple multiple specials.

19:41

Yeah, and they're they're amazing. And

19:43

when you do those, how

19:46

does that work? Is that? Is that a Is that a

19:48

routine that you have toured

19:50

around for a while before you actually do a

19:52

special on it? Is that? Is that the way?

19:54

Yeah, you tour with it, you get the hour

19:56

together and then you

19:58

you know, nowadays, actually because there's so many

20:00

streaming platforms, you go

20:03

to Netflix or Amazon or Hulu or

20:05

HBO Max or whoever wants to Hey,

20:08

I've got this hour. A

20:10

lot of times, you know, if you're new, you

20:12

shoot it yourself. You invest a little

20:14

bit of money and shoot it yourself and then see who wants to

20:16

buy it from you and and broadcast

20:18

it. Other times, if you're lucky, if you are

20:20

enough of a name, a platform will go, we'd

20:23

like to do a special with you, and they'll promote it and stuff

20:25

like that. But it is right

20:28

now, there is that kind of nineteen

20:31

sixties American International

20:33

Pictures drive in thing of like we shot

20:36

it, who wants to pick it up.

20:37

And buy it?

20:37

Kiddn't know that?

20:39

Oh yeah yeah, because so who finance is

20:41

it?

20:41

Who actually puts the

20:43

money up? You get an independent

20:46

investor or the comedian themselves.

20:48

Or get an independent investor the comedian themselves,

20:50

They go to their friends, they do a kickstarter

20:53

campaign and a

20:55

lot of it. Like, you can really make

20:57

something kind of captivating and

21:00

and charming if you do do it super

21:02

low budget, and it's like, oh, this isn't a rather

21:04

and there's nothing wrong with these beautiful

21:07

specials that are shot in like Madison

21:09

Square Garden or you know, but

21:12

there's something about like a.

21:14

Small the corner of

21:16

a club.

21:16

And it's tightly packed, and you like some

21:19

of those actually can feel way more immediate.

21:21

It.

21:21

It's the difference between like a late

21:24

Zeppelin album versus an early Ramones

21:26

album. You know, they both have their value, but that

21:28

Ramones album really hits when you hear It's

21:30

like these dudes carried their own

21:32

equipment and I don't think they had more than a day

21:35

in the studio, and this feels really

21:37

raw and really amazing.

21:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, and

21:42

I think, I mean, how do you feel do you feel that

21:45

that the possibilities of

21:47

you know, we're just coming out of the strike, so it's like, you

21:50

know, kind of like, you

21:53

know, I almost hesitate

21:55

to say, hey, streaming is awesome,

21:57

but there's a lot of there's a lot of in a

22:00

lot of ways it is. But I think that for comedy

22:02

it's been really good. I mean, it just seems

22:04

like, yes, so many people are getting

22:06

so much more exposure to uh,

22:09

to so many more interesting comics.

22:12

And I think that I talk to a lot of people

22:14

that have just watched you know, one one

22:16

special after another, and I've discovered people

22:18

that I just were not on my

22:20

radar at all.

22:22

It's it.

22:23

There's there's good and bad to it.

22:24

The good thing is, yes, newer voices can

22:26

get themselves seen way easier. They

22:28

you know, there's there's more production

22:31

and post production ability

22:33

in this thing than Orson Wells had when he did

22:35

Citizen K. Like that's the level we're.

22:37

At right now.

22:38

But the problem, the only drawback

22:40

is one of the advantages I had

22:42

coming up in the I started in eighty eight

22:46

was I had my time in the wilderness.

22:48

I had my time getting to work on my

22:50

craft with no one watching me, and I could

22:52

figure out who I was before

22:55

I made my debut. Now people are literally

22:58

filming and posting their first open mind on

23:00

TikTok, and sometimes early

23:03

on you can find a voice that works

23:05

for you early on, but then you evolve beyond

23:07

it. But if you establish that that's your

23:10

voice and that's what's getting you to go viral

23:12

and get a million clicks, it's hard sometimes

23:14

to break out of some of.

23:15

Your first choices.

23:17

And I do wish

23:19

that there were certain young

23:22

especially young feens coming up there I think are really brilliant.

23:24

But it's like, oh, if you had just stayed

23:26

in the wilderness for one more year, you would have

23:29

really solidified who

23:31

it is you are, you know what I mean?

23:33

Right?

23:33

But like I wish that for them. I don't wish them to be

23:36

obscure forever. I just want the time

23:38

for them to develop on their own terms and

23:40

at their own pace.

23:41

Right. Well, it's the ten thousand hours thing,

23:44

right and then.

23:44

You absolutely why

23:46

were the Beatles so great because they

23:49

did eight hours sets in strip

23:51

clubs in Germany where the audience

23:53

wanted to murder them, so they learned

23:56

to get really good, really quick.

23:58

Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever have you ever

24:00

been to the Reaper Bomb? No,

24:04

yeah I have. Yeah. I went there

24:08

actually with my son. We we took a

24:10

father son trip a

24:13

few years ago. Uh you know

24:15

he my my uh his

24:18

cousin. His cousin's dad said

24:21

to me, you know, I took a trip with

24:24

with Whitney. We just did like, you know, a father son

24:26

thing. And I was like, man, I want to

24:29

do that. So I asked my son, thinking

24:31

that he would never say yes, and he was like, yeah, sure,

24:33

I'll go. I was like, where do you want to go? And that

24:35

was one of the places he wanted to go, was Homburg. Not

24:38

not specifically to the Reaper Bomb, but just he

24:40

just wanted to get for some reason. I

24:43

think maybe having knowing

24:45

something about the Beatles in those in those

24:47

days and stuff like that. He's a musician, and

24:49

uh it was. It was interesting. I mean it's

24:52

still you

24:54

know, you can it still has enough

24:56

of the the feel

25:00

that you can picture you can

25:03

kind of fantasize about these young dudes

25:06

being here and playing these

25:08

you know, crappy little clubs and doing eight shows

25:11

a day. As you've pointed out.

25:12

Well, that's okay.

25:13

So you're a musician too when you go into a space

25:15

like that, because as a musician you play

25:18

all different spaces, Graham theaters.

25:20

Smaller clubs.

25:21

When you go into the Reaper Bond, was there also that

25:23

leftover vibe of like, oh, I

25:26

here's how I would have adjusted what it is

25:28

that I do to slay in

25:30

this room, because sometimes you have to make adjustments,

25:32

oh hundred rooms. So did you get that feeling

25:35

like, oh, this is where the Beatles sound came out of because

25:37

they adjusted to this.

25:39

Yeah, I mean that that And yeah,

25:42

I mean if they had grown up, you

25:46

know, playing in

25:48

you know, concert halls, it would be right,

25:50

be different. I mean, be a different man,

25:53

for sure. I mean, and I think that also.

25:56

You know, there's a lot of stuff I don't want to get too deep

25:58

in the in the into the but there was a lot of

26:00

stuff. For instance, the the

26:04

how they learned to be able to hear

26:06

each other and

26:09

to be able to harmonize and

26:11

be that tight in loud clubs

26:14

with terrible, terrible sound, and oh

26:16

my god, you know they monitors.

26:18

I mean, it's it's it's it's kind of it's kind of

26:20

remarkable. But so

26:23

I want to ask you one more comedy question and then

26:25

I want to talk about some other stuff. But I

26:29

you know, there's a lot of kind

26:32

of back and forth when it comes to talking

26:35

about comedy and pain and

26:38

painful experiences which you know,

26:40

I know you have, and

26:43

and and the use there's

26:45

a lot of talk about the use of

26:49

UH comedy to help other

26:52

people deal with pain,

26:54

right, But my question is like,

26:57

how what does it do for you?

27:00

And is it when when you

27:03

can take something that is UH.

27:05

And by the way, I come

27:07

to this also thinking about the comics

27:09

that I know, they often seem like they're coming

27:12

a lot of them through difficult times

27:14

or you know, painful experiences,

27:19

And I wonder if there's a if

27:22

turning something that is UH,

27:24

you know, tragic or hard in

27:26

one's life and turning

27:28

it around and making people laugh is

27:31

also has its own level of therapy

27:34

for you. That's That's what I'm curious

27:36

about it.

27:37

Yes, it absolutely. I mean even before

27:39

I was doing comedy, I was using

27:41

comedy. Maybe I wasn't necessarily

27:44

writing it, but I was very awkward in middle school,

27:47

early years of high school were kind of awkward. I

27:49

would turn to Monty Python

27:51

to embrace the absurdity of the world, or Richard

27:53

Pryor and George Carlin to vet

27:56

my rage, and there was all kinds

27:58

of ways that that was a release, much

28:00

same way as music and movies. I

28:03

just realized that I

28:05

could, I guess

28:07

I could emit it in a way that

28:09

could make other people laugh. And when you make other people

28:12

laugh, not only do they are like, oh, I'm

28:14

not the only one going through this, but it's this nice

28:16

little reassurance that, oh, I'm not the only

28:18

one going through this.

28:19

Like we are all.

28:21

We all encounter the

28:23

kind of weirdness, and I mean, life is about

28:25

loss and that could be really scary,

28:28

but you can't turn away from that. You

28:30

have to somehow

28:33

embrace it. And one of the ways I guess to soften

28:35

the blow of things

28:37

being stripped away is to make a joke

28:39

about it. And because

28:42

I have a friend named Todd Glass

28:45

who says, if you can mock it, you can manage

28:47

it. And I've always believed in that, like

28:49

that is what comedy is. I'm mocking

28:51

it, you know, That's what like if

28:53

you read something wicked This way comes

28:56

by Ray Bradberry that the devil, the thing.

28:58

The devil cannot stand in that book because people making

29:00

jokes about him. It's like, no, no, I'm

29:03

scary and I'm the one thing you can't make jokes. And

29:05

then when the guy starts making jokes at it, starts

29:08

to lessen his power. And I think

29:10

that's such a great metaphor for the things

29:12

in your life that are trying to get you down. If you start

29:14

making jokes about him, they're like, well he doesn't

29:17

like then you have you have.

29:18

Power over it.

29:19

Ah yeah yeah,

29:22

so by so bye bye bye.

29:25

But by making other people laugh

29:27

at things that are are, you

29:29

know, traditionally thought of as sad or

29:31

or that would normally be thought of his sess, you're

29:34

you're able to just

29:38

to kind of confront things for yourself.

29:40

By I love that. If you can mock it, that I

29:43

I you can make it,

29:45

you can manage it. If you can mack it, you can manage

29:47

it. Let me write that.

29:48

Down exactly, seriously, write that down,

29:51

so.

29:52

That but here you

29:54

are. I mean, it's

29:57

not just you're acting.

30:00

You're doing a tremendous amount of

30:02

voice acting. Grammy

30:05

nominations, Emmy nominations.

30:07

I think you've written a book or two

30:10

couple.

30:10

Written two memoirs.

30:12

Two memoirs. I mean that

30:14

you are a busy guy. Now now

30:17

have you have you? Do you have a podcast?

30:19

I actually I had a podcast briefly

30:22

during the pandemic.

30:23

My wife and I did one. But we got

30:25

to the point where it's I mean, doing a podcast,

30:27

you know, it's a lot of work. People think that,

30:29

oh, you just go and you blap. No, there's work.

30:31

Involved in doing the podcast, really, and

30:34

it was just getting to the point where it's like we're

30:37

fighting a lot, Like we're actually fighting on this podcast

30:39

that was meant to do.

30:41

So said, We did tip to two episodes. We're

30:43

good.

30:43

I mean, I will eventually do a podcast

30:45

again when there's something I really want to connect

30:48

about, you know, like this what you're doing here,

30:50

this feels very organic and very like, oh here's

30:52

what.

30:53

But I have to wait. You

30:55

have to wait to let that happen organically.

30:57

You know. So that you mentioned you

30:59

mentioned your wife doing a podcast with her. I just

31:01

had my wife as a guest on

31:03

this podcast. Really was Yeah,

31:06

which was interesting because

31:08

I don't I don't I don't tend to interview

31:11

her.

31:12

Yeah, it feels like an interrogation.

31:14

Yeah, it's like an interrogation. Uh.

31:17

And and you know what was funny about it is that

31:20

it was I thought,

31:22

well, this is gonna be kind of goofy and fun.

31:24

We'll just you know. It was actually one of the more

31:27

serious kind of ones that that we I

31:29

mean, yeah, yeah, which was kind of interesting.

31:31

Plus we were also in

31:33

the same house in different rooms.

31:36

That's how we did it. We Oh my god, we'd

31:39

be in different rooms.

31:40

Yeah, god, yeah,

31:43

that's hilarious.

31:44

Right.

31:44

But you guys is you guys Instagram

31:47

videos during the strike where you were cut pair

31:49

of goofballs when you were doing Saturday

31:51

in the Park with Kazoo and you

31:53

have to don't step in. That

31:56

was like there was so much going on

31:58

in that little clip.

32:00

It was great. Yet you know, we you

32:03

know, I realized about that doing that kind

32:05

of stuff during the pandemic. And the

32:07

whole Instagram social media

32:09

thing is that, you know, long before social media,

32:12

I'd love to make little movies.

32:15

I would send them to because you know, I'm

32:17

on the road or she's on the road out of

32:19

town. You know, I would always buy a video camera

32:21

and send little things home to the kids. Or

32:24

or to her, you know that, so that like that's

32:26

sort of just a natural extension that the social

32:29

media thing of what we already do to try to

32:31

kind of. But it's also you

32:34

know, I got it. I'm

32:37

a little bit of a work a hawk. I gotta stay

32:39

busy, create something. Yeah,

32:41

And that's what that that

32:44

that's what we were able to do during the pandemic, and

32:46

it was fun to make it. But

32:48

the reason I bring up having a podcast

32:50

is that I

32:54

you know, first, yes,

32:56

you're right, it is more work than they

32:58

tell you. And being

33:00

on the other side of it, you know, having

33:03

done you know, you know, for forty

33:05

five years I've been doing interviews or

33:07

something like that. To be on the other side

33:09

of it is a completely different thing

33:12

and one that you know, I haven't put

33:15

in my ten thousand hours, but I'm

33:17

you know, I'm trying. Yeah,

33:19

you know. One of the things that I always think is

33:21

there's certain questions that I get

33:24

time and time again, and I'm like, I'm not going to ask

33:26

those questions. And then here we are and

33:28

I'm just about to ask you the

33:30

same fucking question that I was hoping,

33:32

you know, never to never to get asked

33:35

of all these things that you do, between

33:38

writing and comedy

33:41

and acting and voice

33:44

acting, what is

33:46

the one that you can't

33:48

do without.

33:50

I mean, it's the one that brought me to the dance

33:52

at stand up comedy, and I'm not there

33:54

are certain people that do stand up

33:57

comedy to get out of stand up comedy and move

33:59

to movies and TV shows. I do movies

34:01

and TV shows to keep my visibility

34:04

up there so I can do more stand up. I will always

34:06

do stand up movies and TV.

34:09

Writing that comes and goes, and

34:11

I'm always grateful when it comes, but I

34:13

will in the end, I'll still be doing stand

34:15

up. It'll always be so I can keep doing stand

34:17

up.

34:18

That's okay, that's

34:20

my focus.

34:21

That's a great that's a that's a perfect

34:23

answer. Yeah. And do you feel

34:26

that Is

34:29

it something that

34:31

you feel you are constantly trying

34:34

to get better at or

34:37

is it just that you really love doing

34:39

it and you want to keep doing it? Is it? Do you

34:41

walk away from a you know, say, a special.

34:43

I mean, I don't know how many how many specials have you

34:45

done?

34:45

I mean full like eight at this point.

34:48

Yeah, I mean, that's that's a that's a true I

34:50

don't think there's a lot of people that have done eight specials, have

34:52

they? I mean, that's a tremendous amount.

34:54

Of it's a lot.

34:55

I mean a lot.

34:56

The thing with the here's any comedian

34:58

will tell you this, And I'm sure you've

35:01

experienced this as a musician. When

35:03

I record a special, like a week

35:05

to two weeks after, I suddenly think

35:08

of, oh, if I had cut this

35:10

one part out of the bit, it would have been better if I had

35:12

done this one thing. So I'm sure

35:14

you've laid down an album and then a week later you're

35:16

like if we oh dead

35:18

like and it drives you

35:21

crazy.

35:21

I don't do it all the time. And you know, part of the part

35:23

of the reason that you realize that is because you start

35:25

playing the songs out yes, and

35:28

then all of a sudden you go, you know, this actually

35:30

should be like two or three bpm

35:33

faster, and then the song grooves

35:35

like in a way that it never did, or you

35:37

think one hundred percent yeah,

35:40

I mean yeah, I mean it's

35:42

also I mean, listen, I bet that think it applies

35:44

to acting too. I like

35:47

to say that, you know, I figure

35:49

out scenes when I'm in the van on the way home.

35:51

You know, I go, that's got to drive you

35:53

crazy.

35:54

It does.

35:55

We're like that, why didn't I own

35:57

my it totally does?

35:58

It totally does. But that's that's part of

36:01

the process, you know. You can't Oh yeah, yeah,

36:03

but you apply.

36:04

I mean again, I want to keep doing

36:07

stand up, yes, because I love doing it, And yes, I

36:09

want to get better that there's people coming up

36:11

that no one knows about yet that are amazing,

36:14

that keep inspiring me. I want to keep getting

36:16

better at what it is I do. And

36:18

what can I talk about that that shouldn't

36:21

be funny that I can make funny? How can I

36:23

what can I get away with? I mean, I just I'm

36:26

a big believer in that. Be wary

36:28

of someone who goes, I've been doing

36:31

this for thirty years, when in actuality,

36:34

they've done it for one year and they repeated

36:36

that year twenty nine times. Like I

36:38

want to actually do

36:40

thirty different, constantly growing,

36:42

evolving years. And

36:45

I'm sure we know people that are like, you've

36:47

done this one year and you kind of repeated

36:50

that.

36:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, You're absolutely right.

36:53

We've met that kind of person, you know, But especially

36:55

again, I'm a big movie buff you take

36:58

weird lefts and writes. With your acting

37:01

career, you are always like, oh, this

37:03

might not work.

37:04

I'm gonna do this. Let's see what

37:06

this does.

37:06

You know what I mean? I for

37:09

better or for worse? That is something that I

37:11

do. That's it true?

37:13

Hey, same with me.

37:14

There's been times I'm like, I'm gonna try. Oh

37:16

good lord God, why did I sig you for that?

37:18

Yeah?

37:19

But that's what the people makes it exciting.

37:22

Is there anything else that isn't entertainment related

37:24

that you do in your spare time? And are what's

37:27

your other? Or is this all

37:29

where it gets your relaxation?

37:31

It feels relaxing doing it.

37:33

It's not that I don't have a life. I still hang out

37:35

with my daughter, my wife, I

37:38

read a lot, I hang out with my friends.

37:40

But it's still it's

37:42

all revolves around creating stuff. To me, it

37:45

just feels fun. I'm not like, oh

37:47

God, I gotta go do this. It's like, let

37:49

me relax by.

37:50

Going on stage and doing ten minutes. That is

37:52

relaxing to me.

38:00

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38:32

You know you also have a I

38:34

think a lot of people have

38:37

noticed and completely respect your

38:40

you know, your activism and use

38:42

your platform try a

38:44

light on all kinds of really

38:47

important things that it just

38:49

demonstrates a lot of compassion

38:51

and understanding and caring

38:54

about about the world. But where do you think that

38:56

comes from?

38:59

I mean, I'm still very

39:02

very aware and very much remember everyone that

39:04

helped me out coming up, all

39:06

the little moments of grace and when someone

39:08

else like stepped up

39:10

to help me out when they didn't need to.

39:12

You know, I always say, and

39:14

this is a paraphrase of what Roger Ebert

39:16

always said, I never cry in movies when

39:18

things are sad. What makes me

39:20

cry is when someone decides to step up

39:23

and help someone else out. That is like to

39:25

me because it happens so rarely

39:28

in our real lives. A lot at least

39:30

it seems to be these days. So when someone's

39:32

like, no, I'm gonna step up and help

39:34

people out, that always really.

39:36

Lands with me. So why not pass that on?

39:39

If anything, do it for the selfish reason

39:41

of it makes it a better world for me to

39:43

live in. If you're totally

39:45

self centered, then do it for that reason. But

39:48

I mean, it just feels like you

39:51

didn't do this by yourself. Give

39:53

a little bit back, Yes, nothing wrong with making

39:56

money and being successful. Give a little bit

39:58

of it back. Just put it back out circulation.

40:01

Why do you want to sit on your pile and just stare at

40:03

it? It doesn't make sense, all right?

40:05

Right, well listen, I think that's a perfect

40:08

segue to bring on Ron

40:10

Fitzsimmons from Alice's Kids, which

40:13

is this nonprofit that you have,

40:16

you know, decided to highlight here

40:18

today. Yes, yes, Ron, thank

40:21

you so much for coming to the show. I know

40:23

that you've met Stacey from six degrees dot

40:25

org. You are based

40:29

out of Alexandria, correct

40:31

or somewhere in that.

40:31

Area, Mount Vernon, Techno,

40:34

Vernon.

40:34

Yeah, right, right, and

40:37

and and I've read some stuff about

40:39

what Alice's Kids is, But

40:42

maybe you could just give us a give us a

40:44

you know, a thumbnail on on what

40:47

it is and how you started it and where the name comes

40:49

from.

40:50

Sure well, first of all, Alice was my mother

40:53

who has passed.

40:56

The idea came basically from my childhood.

40:59

We had a very rough childhood living up

41:01

in West Islip, New York, and

41:04

my father abandoned us in nineteen sixty

41:06

three, I believe, and we were forced

41:09

to go on the welfare state system

41:11

up in New York, bringing in two hundred dollars

41:14

a month. My mother wanted

41:16

to stay in the same neighborhood. It was in middle

41:18

class town. She wouldn't move to what

41:20

was then called the projects, I think, and

41:24

so right away we started to stick

41:26

out like a short thumb. We became the welfare

41:29

kids in West isslife.

41:31

We would go to.

41:31

School wearing the same shirt every day,

41:34

not being able to participate in field

41:37

trips things

41:39

like that. Every once

41:41

in a while my mother would I'm

41:44

assuming illegally go out and

41:47

pick up a few extra dollars washing

41:51

clothes, ironing

41:53

clothes, and she'd come home very

41:55

excited to announce

41:57

that we were going shopping. Forget

42:00

these these days when she would say,

42:02

let's go to EJ. Corvette's and get that baseball

42:05

blood, or to my

42:07

sister, let's go get I'll ever forget this. Let's

42:09

go get that new record

42:11

by those kids in England. So

42:15

it's funny you were talking about the Beatles

42:19

that lifted us, and it made

42:21

us proud. And the next day I couldn't wait to

42:23

go to school with my new Converse sneakers

42:26

with a new Dy Crockett chirp. Jump

42:30

ahead many years and I was between

42:32

careers or pondering careers,

42:35

And one day I

42:37

was substitute teaching at Mount Ernan

42:40

High School and

42:42

a kid was crying in the corner and

42:45

I asked one of her friends what was happening. She

42:47

said, well, Latrice can't go to

42:49

the prom. And I said oh, and

42:51

she said yeah, she can't afford it. My mother doesn't

42:54

work and she doesn't have the fifty

42:56

dollars. I went down

42:58

and pay for the ticket. But then

43:00

I had a thought, uh, And I started

43:02

walking around to teachers in the school and I started

43:04

asking them do you pay for things

43:07

like this all the time? And

43:09

they said, of course, we pay for

43:12

books, we pay for art supplies, we

43:14

pay for field trips, yearbooks, whatever

43:16

it is. So this start,

43:19

the thoughts started to evolve about creating

43:21

charity that does that for

43:23

children. I went to all the other charities

43:25

in the area and I asked

43:28

them if they do things like that, like do you put

43:30

out fifty dollars

43:33

for a back to school uniform?

43:36

And they all said no. One person said they don't

43:38

have petty cash drawers. So

43:42

we created Alice's Kids with the

43:44

thought that we would be the petty cash

43:46

drawer for these kids

43:49

who just needed a little bit of a

43:51

lift.

43:54

It started off very slow. This was about twelve

43:56

years ago, and the

43:59

big issue was how do you find the kids?

44:02

Where are these kids who indeed this kind of help.

44:06

So we started to establish a network of

44:08

teachers in the Moulverne area

44:11

who would refer to us kids

44:14

that needed some help, and

44:17

we would give them gift cards.

44:21

Everything exploded three

44:23

years later when a columnist named Teresa

44:26

Vargas of the Washington Post heard about

44:28

us, and she wrote a column

44:31

and overnight we exploded nationally.

44:34

The media helping out, the media

44:36

doing something good, positive exactly.

44:40

It's crazy what happened that weekend. I

44:42

think we raised about three hundred thousand dollars

44:44

our budget at that point was about twenty five

44:46

thousand dollars. Wowow money

44:49

Cake kept. And

44:53

so immediately we became a national

44:55

charity because we started getting money from across

44:57

the country and

45:00

and we started getting increase from

45:02

people in Iowa and

45:04

Nebraska, teachers and social

45:06

workers saying, hey, can I send you a request?

45:09

M So we started fulfilling them.

45:13

Yeah.

45:13

So that's basically how it started. And shortly

45:16

thereafter after we started, I

45:19

got an email that said

45:21

a guy named Patton Oswell had.

45:23

Donated that was gonna

45:25

be my next amount of money.

45:27

Okay, no, it's fine, no,

45:29

no go, let's hear. Yeah.

45:32

So I was hauling and every time we

45:34

get a donation, I get an email, and

45:38

I saw a donation from Patton

45:40

Oswell, and I knew

45:42

the name. I'm going Pat Malls.

45:45

Of course, my age, our first thing

45:47

is Lee Harvey. You think of Lee Harvey for

45:49

some reason, which I'm sure you get that

45:51

bad. Yeah, but I'm

45:54

thinking, thinking, think, And of course I didn't

45:56

google it, but I recall asking

45:58

my son, one of my sons. You know

46:00

Patton Oswald. I know that name. He's

46:03

the voice of Remy in Ratiituey

46:06

he's this, and he's this. So

46:08

I flipped out. I

46:10

emailed him and thanked

46:12

him profusely, and much

46:15

to my shock, within like

46:17

an hour, he responded,

46:21

and I'm going Holy hell, and

46:23

he said, no problem,

46:25

man, like what you do and then he

46:27

said the magic word. He said, let me

46:29

know if there's anything else I can do. And

46:34

so we went from there, and because

46:36

of Patton, Steve

46:38

Carrell learned about us,

46:41

and so Steve is now a big supporter.

46:44

Eric Roberts,

46:47

you know, Alan Toodick. I

46:49

mean, we've got a lot of good support out

46:51

there because Pat kind of started that train.

46:53

Though, Patton, what was

46:55

it about this one or maybe

46:58

it's one of many, many, many causes

47:00

that you decide to support, But was it

47:02

something specific that you read or what

47:05

was that moment?

47:05

Like, yeah, the thing that really

47:08

really landed with me. And

47:10

it's something that because I was never really able to articulate

47:12

this, but it's very disturbing

47:15

how in this country and you don't really

47:17

see this in other countries as much. There's

47:20

there's a weird level

47:22

of poverty shaming

47:24

that goes on almost we treat poverty like it's

47:26

some kind of infectious disease. That

47:29

it will you'll somehow catch poverty

47:32

by you know, so you you you point

47:35

it out, you make fun of it to like almost drive it

47:37

away from you. And I think that that causes

47:40

it causes a lot of problems later on

47:42

in life. I mean, I think that it causes

47:45

a lot of people that you see a lot of people

47:47

now that there's a lot

47:49

of millionaires that

47:51

I think did experience some

47:53

poverty early on and now are

47:56

vengeful about it and are about, like,

47:59

I want to get rid of social services because

48:01

I had to use them, and I bet I could have made

48:03

it without him, but I never got the chance.

48:06

So I've got to feel.

48:07

Like they're all trying to erase whatever

48:09

shame was heaped on them by other people.

48:12

And if we could get so this whole

48:14

idea of doing it anonymously so

48:16

that these kids, so that these kids

48:19

can have a childhood, so

48:21

they can just have a childhood and some dignity.

48:24

I don't think he realized the astronomical

48:28

dividends that pays off later in

48:30

terms of just the mental and

48:33

psychological health of the population.

48:35

So that the fact that Ron and his

48:37

organization were really.

48:38

Able to pinpoint that, and also that Ron faced

48:42

a lot of the stuff that he was just describing that he

48:44

grew up with, and he remembered it. Rather than

48:47

trying to tamp it down or attack

48:49

it. He was like, no, we're going to

48:52

this happens, and we're going to actually fix

48:55

this problem. And it

48:57

just the amount of empathy

49:00

and that really struck me.

49:02

Yeah, and it's interesting too because as

49:05

you point out, you know, you could go, you

49:07

could go in the other direction, but clearly ron

49:10

you you having having taken

49:12

taken that experience of yours. Now I'm actually

49:14

struck with a lot of people that I do connect with,

49:17

uh on the on the on

49:19

this podcast, who

49:21

were who were involved with those causes

49:23

and and they do have a personal

49:25

connection like like yours to this

49:27

thing literally being that kid

49:30

you know, on welfare with a

49:32

with a single mom who just you

49:35

know, really could use a baseball

49:37

glove or whatever it is. You know,

49:40

it's it's it's amazing that you've taken

49:42

that and and turned it into this this thing.

49:44

Alice's kids, what would

49:46

you say elaborate that kind of yes, please,

49:48

please please explain.

49:51

When we were kids, we did get a lot of well intentioned

49:53

charities coming to our doorstep giving

49:56

those boxes of clothes and food and stuff.

49:58

But honestly, but while we appreciate it, it

50:00

was embarrassing, especially when they take

50:02

your picture and put in the newslettersh

50:06

Like Patton said, there's a lot of shaming. So what

50:10

we do is we get a request

50:13

from the teacher, let's say in Des Moines, asking

50:16

for us to for a dick Sporting Goods card

50:18

gift card for you know,

50:20

for shoes, for soccer shoes. We

50:23

get the request and within twenty four hours

50:25

we send a gift card to the teacher. The

50:28

teacher points out the gift card,

50:31

gives it to the parent. Avery

50:34

can then turn around to the

50:36

child to say, hey, Johnny,

50:39

let's go to Dick's Sporting Goods this weekend and get

50:41

those soccer cleats or get those sneakers.

50:44

The kid doesn't know, like Patten said, that they're

50:46

getting charity. Yeah, they look

50:48

at mom and say, oh my gosh, Mom, thanks

50:50

so much. The teacher has

50:53

a chance to shine. The kid

50:55

goes shopping. You know how

50:57

many of these kids would never see a Dick's

50:59

Sporting Goods if it wasn't

51:01

for that gift card.

51:03

So it doesn't interest and the parents

51:05

get to have some dignity, right,

51:07

Like everyone.

51:08

Wins in this. It's so it just again

51:11

the payoff is exponential.

51:14

What are the types of things that the kids are

51:16

most in need of that you're seeing are most in need

51:18

of these days? Curious about that.

51:20

Well, it's it's clothes.

51:23

Kids always need clothes. You know, there was growing

51:25

out of clothes. Or we

51:28

see a lot of school uniforms. A lot of schools

51:30

are requiring school uniforms and kids are

51:32

staying home because they can't afford

51:34

school uniforms. We

51:38

just got a request the other

51:40

day for a kid

51:42

who got accepted into a competition

51:45

for future educators, but they

51:47

required a certain dress mode

51:50

and her power was unemployed

51:53

and she couldn't afford the dress code

51:55

uniform. So he paid I think it

51:57

was fifty dollars we paid for that

52:00

uniform. It could be a band outfit.

52:03

Yeah, yesterday

52:06

it was a girl who's growing too quickly

52:08

and she

52:10

she's very embarrassed by her large

52:13

chest. When she goes to physical

52:15

education. She has a horrible bra and

52:18

she's you know, she's very embarrassed when she asked

52:20

to do jumping jacks. This is an actual

52:22

request that we got we paid

52:24

for two bras was seventy

52:27

five dollars. It was nothing to us,

52:30

but it's a it's

52:32

a it's a game changer. And

52:34

you know, people talk about kids

52:36

want new sneakers and stuff like that. What

52:39

people don't understand is that these

52:41

kids who were already

52:43

stigmatized, they don't

52:46

they don't want to stand out. They

52:48

want to blend in. So

52:51

when they go to school, they're not going around showing

52:53

off their new shirt necessarily. They

52:56

just want to blend in. They don't want to be stigmatized

52:59

by the bully in that school.

53:02

Yeah, and also you were pointing

53:05

out these there

53:07

are some exceptionally

53:09

talented kids who get opportunities

53:12

academically athletically,

53:15

but then that opportunity gets stimy

53:17

because they can't afford the equipment. They have

53:19

the ability, and then that ability gets

53:22

thwarted and nipped in the bud because then they can't

53:24

afford it.

53:24

So especially when.

53:26

Like this person made the national

53:29

marching band but cannot well, it

53:31

definitely paid for that stuff because that's a talent

53:34

that's just going to feed their self esteem

53:36

and help them see the world. You know,

53:38

like that those really really land.

53:41

Yeah, that's amazing that is

53:43

amazing. Well, Ron,

53:45

what would you what would be the what

53:49

would be the best way for I mean, I'm sure that

53:51

there's a we can talk about where

53:53

people can go to donate. Is there also

53:55

opportunities for volunteerism or

53:57

are you also on the UH

54:00

website looking for people, because

54:02

I bet you you're gonna get flooded with people calling

54:04

and saying I know a kid that needs this, and how

54:06

can people help out? Give us the This

54:09

is the call to action?

54:10

Okay, many ways. Our website is Alice's

54:13

Kids dot Org. You

54:15

go to the website and clear as day, there's

54:17

a donate button. Every

54:19

dollar that we raise, you know, will

54:22

go into that one pot. The

54:24

more money we raised, the more kids

54:26

we can help.

54:27

It's that simple.

54:28

And we've done very well in the past years because

54:30

of Patten and others. You

54:32

know, a budget a few years ago was about one hundred

54:35

and fifty thousand dollars. Now it's one

54:37

point two million dollars. In

54:39

fact, I'd have to say that big

54:42

chunk of that was at one two hundred

54:44

and fifty thousand dollars for us on Celebrity

54:46

Jeopardy.

54:47

Early Awesome, Wow,

54:50

Wow, Kira just went on Celebrity Jeopardy, Patent.

54:52

Well what women she did?

54:54

She did yet it was like

54:56

just her worst nightmare. She hasn't

55:00

trying to think anyway.

55:03

Yeah, she was it hard.

55:05

It's it is so I don't want to take away

55:07

from run. It's nerve wracking. And what's

55:09

the worst part is the easiest questions

55:12

are the ones that you think twice on because you're like,

55:14

wait, it cannot be that obvious,

55:16

and then you freeze up and then someone else gets it.

55:18

That's what, by the way, crazy.

55:20

By the way, I think it's great the highlights

55:22

Celebrity Jeopardy because now we're seeing the

55:24

where it actually goes and we're talking

55:27

to the receiver two of this. So

55:29

when you watch Celebrity Jeopardy ladies and

55:31

gentlemen and you see Pat

55:33

and Oswalt sweating it out,

55:36

you literally know that this is that

55:39

this is time and possible

55:42

embarrassment. Well spent, but two hundred

55:44

and fifty grand that's amazing.

55:45

Yeah, we were all sweating it out. Yeah.

55:48

Yeah, and Adam

55:50

got a commendation from

55:52

the Virginia House of Delegates.

55:55

Were doing that because he went

55:57

to William and Merritta,

56:00

which I think I sent it to you. Pat,

56:02

Oh, I have it.

56:03

Don't think I don't have it.

56:05

And by the way, you if

56:07

they go to and I'm just I don't mean to speak for you, Kevin,

56:09

but if you go to al is it Alice's

56:12

Kids dot org. Yes, if

56:14

you go to Alice's Kids dot org and donate

56:16

because you listen to this podcast, technically

56:19

you are one degree.

56:21

Away from Kevin Bacon. Kevin, there,

56:24

you are now connected to Kevin Bacon.

56:26

Yes, I'm not I am not above

56:29

selling degrees of separation. It's

56:31

for a good cause. If

56:33

it's for a good cause.

56:35

Yeah, And Kevin, I want to reiterate

56:37

that what you do and what Panda it really

56:39

does have an effect, you know that Teresa Vargas

56:42

column. Like you said, media really

56:44

has an impact, particularly

56:46

when that's why Panda. Hate

56:49

to say it, but Twitter is so powerful

56:51

for us.

56:52

Yeah.

56:53

And Pat, so I was retweeting our stuff or

56:55

re exing our stuff. But

56:57

what you all are doing for other charities,

57:00

yeah, but particularly it is very

57:02

very commendable.

57:02

I appreciate it. Well, what you're doing is very

57:05

much in line with what we're

57:07

trying to highlight here, both on this

57:09

podcast but also at sixty degrees dot org and

57:11

that you know, we we like the

57:14

fresh ideas, the cool ideas, you know what

57:16

I mean, the new things that you just

57:18

kind of come up with something you see a need

57:20

and you figure out a way to help

57:22

in their grassroots organizations. And there's

57:24

a lot of really really giant charities

57:26

that are doing great work and have

57:29

great exposure and have very very lavish,

57:31

you know, kind of events

57:33

and stuff like that. But we also want to

57:36

give a voice in a microphone to people

57:38

like you Ron who have this you know, this

57:40

idea and it's it's growing

57:43

and it's helping kids. And

57:45

I just want to say thank you and thank you guys

57:47

so much for being here today.

57:49

Thank you very much.

57:50

Yes, thank you seriously. Nice seeing it again,

57:52

Paton, great, seeing you again.

57:54

Kevin.

57:55

I've again don't want to be a movie nerd. Been

57:57

a fan since Animal House, you all, and

58:01

one of my favorite of many

58:03

movies you're in. You're scene in Tremors

58:06

with Fred Ward when you

58:08

realize, oh my god, we can't make fun of that

58:10

guy's lifestyle anymore, the crazy right

58:13

wing gunnut who actually kills one of the worms,

58:15

and your look on your face, you look genuinely

58:18

concerned that, oh, we can't make fun of him anymore,

58:20

and that was like.

58:20

A big part of our lives. One of

58:23

the best line readings.

58:23

I love that. Thank you, thank you

58:26

very much.

58:26

Yep, sorry, I had to run that in there.

58:28

Sorry, just doing what I can with

58:30

what I've got. There you mentioning that,

58:34

all right, fellas, Thank you so much for being here.

58:38

Hey, thanks for listening to another episode of Six

58:40

Degrees with Kevin Big. To learn more about

58:42

Alice's Kids and all

58:44

the special work that they are up to, all

58:47

you gotta do is head to their website

58:49

Alice's Kids dot org. You

58:52

can find all those links in our show

58:54

notes listen. If you've been following

58:56

along all season. I

58:59

just got to say special

59:02

thank you for supporting these stories

59:05

and all the great work that these

59:07

organizations are doing, just to

59:10

try to make this world of ours

59:12

a little brighter. As

59:14

always, if you like what you hear, you

59:16

can subscribe to the show. You can tune into

59:18

the rest of our episodes. Trust me, there're

59:20

some good ones. You can find Six

59:22

Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,

59:25

Apple Podcasts or wherever

59:28

you get your podcasts, and see

59:31

you next time