RatedPG
RatedPG is the podcast where movies and shows are the starting point, but real life is always part of the conversation. Hosted by G5 (George) and Philip, each episode mixes reviews, recommendations, and honest interviews that stay light enough to enjoy… while still going deep when it matters. Expect faith, fitness, family, friendships, and plenty of opinions — all RatedPG.
RatedPG
Martha, Conan, And All The Rest - Talking Entertainment With Ryan Clark - Rated PG Episode 5
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Hey Ryan.
SPEAKER_00Hey, it's good to be here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Hey.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for coming.
SPEAKER_01I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER_04And we've got Rice on our technical board today, too. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
SPEAKER_02He's our production. Yes. Yeah, for sure. Ryan's our special guest. He comes from uh Los uh you said LA, right, California? LA area.
SPEAKER_01That's right, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And uh and uh I've heard a lot of good things about him, so I thought we'd have him on and hear his story and uh talk some entertainment. Just have a good time. Uh but let's start the beginning, Ryan. Uh where does Ryan start?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, well, thanks for having me on. Uh this is great. I haven't done a ton of podcasts, I've done a few, but this is great. It's always fun. Uh I am yeah, so I live in I live in Los Angeles area uh with my my wife and kids. And uh we'd been on here. I moved to LA in about 2009. Um, and I I moved back to Florida briefly and then back to California uh pretty soon after that. But I grew up in Florida. Uh I I was born in um this small-ish kind of city called Ocala, which is a little bit uh south of Gainesville. And um yeah, I mean I spent the first several years of my life there, and it was a cool place to grow up. I mean, I think a lot of people growing up um, you know, would always kind of talk sort of poorly about Ocala just because it's there's not a whole lot to do there. So people call it like slowcala. There's a lot of horse farms and a lot of older people. I don't know if you've ever heard of the villages, which is kind of this old retirement community, but it's it's right there in in uh Florida and and close to Ocala. So um, but I loved it. I mean, I I had a great uh you know fun childhood. I feel like I was a pretty happy kid. I was the youngest of uh three boys, and it was always something like exciting going on in the house. And um uh yeah, my my parents, uh my dad was a school teacher for several years, and my mom um was as much of a stay-at-home mom as she could be. She actually cleaned uh like houses and uh she cleaned our church building growing up and cleaned a few like doctors and dentists' office and things like that. And um, and she was always kind of available for us as much as possible. And uh, and uh so yeah, I had a great like relationship with my parents and um, you know, just a just a really good like family dynamic and family relationship, really close with my brothers. And um, and my my middle my oldest brother was always very um smart and very athletic and was just always like playing baseball and you know was like star athlete, star student. Um my the middle brother of the family, Colt, he uh he was always just uh an incredible performer, like since he was a young kid, and learned how to play all these instruments, learned first, I think, on the drums, and then switched to guitar. And he just was always performing and wanted to be in front of people and wanted to be on stage. And and um, and I was kind of the observer. Uh for a while I was I was um I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to uh draw cartoons. That's all I did for a while, actually. And then um I started uh my brother, my middle brother, Colt, he would, he would, um, he had this talent manager, and there at the time they were doing more stuff in like Orlando and Miami uh for uh acting stuff. And um, and so my brother started getting these acting gigs, and I would go with my mom to these to these gigs, and um and you know, they would occasionally bring me on for like being an extra or something like that, and I was kind of like, oh, this is fun. And then, you know, there was this one commercial that uh my brother got the part in, and I was on set, and the director was kind of like, yeah, who's this other kid? And and uh and they they they swapped me and my brother. They're like, Oh no, actually, this guy's might might be better like for for what we're looking for. So uh, you know, luckily like that my brother doesn't hold that against me, but um Okay, good. That was sort of the that was kind of the intro into me being like, Oh, I actually really love acting and uh performing. And I was at like eight or nine years old. Um, and so I was in like second grade. I started doing, started going to auditions like all the time for commercials and shows and um, you know, uh was really fortunate because I actually, you know, I booked quite a bit of things uh at a young age and really loved it. It was it was kind of a weird thing because no one else like at my school was doing that, and so I would get I would get pulled out of school to go to auditions or go to shoots or whatever, and um really loved it. And I I actually like from you know kind of like second to maybe like sixth grade was really, really into it. Um and because I was so into it and because I was getting pulled out of school so much, I actually I asked my mom if she would be willing to homeschool me for middle school. Wow. I just felt like I was missing so much school. And uh so she homeschooled me sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Uh and I it's funny because like people are like, oh, that must have been kind of boring or whatever. I loved it, it was the best. I I seriously, like some of the best years um of my life because you know, middle school is just a weird time for for life, you know, you're going through stages. Exactly, yeah, exactly. And I had you know, luckily I had church, and so I had church friends, you know, I didn't ever feel like I was like missing out on things. Um can I ask a question? Yeah, something.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I mean, uh to me, I think, okay, and you can correct me. I picture if a parent, you know, uh a parent taking their kids to these auditions, I picture this stage parent, you know, and they're like, here's my son, and you know, I'm yeah, you know, kind of like I, you know, I don't know what word I want to use, but like, you know, here, you know, pushing Johnny forward all the time. How did your parents, you know, because I don't know if I would be ready to take my son to auditions now. So how did your parents think about that? How'd they handle that? How'd they get started even wanting to do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, it was a very like natural occurrence. I think there was someone else at our church who knew a talent manager. Again, my brother Colt was always like performing, and they were just like, You gotta get this guy on camera. Like, he's so funny, and like he's just so he's he's just all over the place. Uh and so it kind of just started very organically. We weren't really seeking it out. And my parents were of course, like approaching it very cautiously, you know. Um, there would be scripts that they would send over that my parents would be like, Absolutely not, we're not gonna do this. Um, if there was ever an audition that happened on like a Sunday, they'd say, like, sorry, we can't make it, you know, we're gonna be a church. Um, so and and I always, I mean, it'll always stick out in my mind like every audition, you know, you did see those stage moms or stage dads. It was mostly moms, but no, nothing against it was just mostly moms that would take their kids to auditions. And um, you know, you did see those types, but my mom always encouraged humility, and we would always kind of be off in the corner, and before I would go in or my brother would go in, she'd always pull us aside, and she would like we'd say a we'd say a little prayer together. And um it just was always it always was approached, I feel like, in a very healthy, natural way.
SPEAKER_04I wasn't saying your parents were stuck. No, I didn't think that, but it's just kind of like uh that's my um like persona when I think about a kid going to you know try out some like oh my their parents are nuts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it seemed like it seemed like they were supporting your interests, but then also understanding like priorities and things like that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean 100%. You can do anything, you know, it it doesn't make you not a Christian by what you're you know, mostly by the you you can, you know, do it in a Christian manner, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So it sounds like you you did.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, it's just and I think the cool thing, the the cool thing was like my dad, you know, he was always he always wanted all of us to play sports, and he always really wanted us all to play baseball and was always trying that, you know. Um and I think like I said, no they were not expecting us to be into like acting or performing, but when you have kids and you see kind of what they're naturally good at, you start to say, like, oh, maybe we should let them pursue this thing that they're actually good at and actually enjoy doing. Um so yeah, I always felt really just it was always a very healthy thing. And then and then, you know, by the time I got to sixth grade, actually, it was like, I think at that point the reject the rejection did kind of start to sink in a little bit more, where I was kind of like, I don't really like traveling three or four hours for these auditions and then not booking it, or you know, getting my hopes up about this callback and then not getting the the part, you know. And I think just for a kid, it it you know kind of does kind of weird things to your mind. And so I just decided, okay, I don't want to do this anymore. Uh and uh and I I had these neighbors who lived across the street, and we had uh they had a camcorder, and we were always just making movies, and I was like, this is this is way more fun because we're doing our own thing and we're you know getting to do whatever we want, you know, and performing our stuff. And uh so that kind of started that love, and then and then by the time I went to high school, I I was in public high school, and our high school had this um TV productions program, and I got super into that, super into to drama and musical theater in high school. And I think the combination of those uh TV productions and drama and musical theater was just like the perfect combo for me. Um and it kind of steered the course for my adult life, honestly. I had this great, great TV productions teacher. Uh his name was Mr. Krisalka, and he uh he was just incredible, and he taught me like so much stuff about recording, editing, and I just you know I didn't even realize at the time because I just thought it was fun, but I didn't realize how much it would actually like shape my future and my interests, and um so uh yeah, I mean, high school for me, again, like I know people have like weird high school experiences and things like that. Um I it was actually hard, like ninth grade going in from being homeschooled. I didn't know anybody. Uh, it was a very shocking thing to see like you know, kind of where I left off in fifth grade at public school and then like just jumped to ninth grade, which was just like, oh my gosh, this is completely different um in so many ways. And uh, you know, it took a little while to like find my footing and like find my group of friends and stuff like that. But um yeah, I was always very comfortable doing what I was doing and didn't feel like pressured to like, you know, be someone that I wasn't or you know, go to these parties or or things like that, you know. I was always the guy with the camera walking around interviewing people at school, which was cool because I actually like that's how I got to know a lot of people, you know. Yeah. And how they're interesting. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um did y'all have any type of like TV station or media that you did for the high school or something like that?
SPEAKER_01Or yeah, we had like a high school news channel. That's cool. So yeah, I was always trying to make videos, like I always wanted to make like the um the intro video for the news, and I always wanted to make like these sort of cutaway segments and stuff like that. Um and uh yeah, it it it's uh I I still have like the tapes, all the all the tapes of what I did, you know, in high school. And uh sometimes I'll go back and watch it and be like, wow, I can't believe I thought that was good. And and or maybe that that was actually like not that bad. Uh you know. Um, but uh that's funny. Yeah, yeah, some good, good memories. But yeah, and then and then I I really you know I debated for a while about going to film school because it was so such a huge passion. And uh, and I was looking at a couple film schools, I was looking at FSU, they had a good program, and you know, of course there was full sale, which was super expensive. And you know, I um I was going to the the like church camps and stuff like that, and Florida College kept coming up, and I was like, oh, maybe maybe I should do this. My brothers went there, my parents actually met there and stuff. So um, you know, at the end of the day, I was like, okay, I can I can go the anywhere, you know, but I I I kind of want to see what Florida College is like and try it. And so I I gave it a try and it was great, you know, and uh and I'm I'm happy I did, you know.
SPEAKER_04I uh what'd you get a degree in? So for anybody that doesn't know what Florida College is, it's a small uh private Christian school, obviously in Florida, but correct, yeah. Yeah. Uh yeah, not a not a huge university or anything like that, but no, not at all.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, it's I mean it was for a long time, it was just a two-year um liberal arts college. And uh people would go, they'd get their AA and they'd go somewhere else. And um by the time I I went there, they had started some four-year programs. Um, and so, you know, I just decided to go try it out for a year or two. Um and yeah, really like just fell in love with the culture there and um, you know, the people had a great time. Uh, it was it was great. My, you know, my wife and I actually met there. Uh, we did not um know each other really that well while we were going to school there. And then um we were placed in this uh public relations group together. Um, at the end of my freshman year, it was the end of her sophomore year, and we put we got put in this public relations group together and traveled around all summer, um, going to these different camps and uh yeah, just got to know each other really well that way. Um we started dating shortly after long distance. She was in Kentucky, I was in Florida. Uh when you're 19 or 20, like long distance is uh it's pretty pretty tricky to to do. But uh yeah, we we had we had broken up a couple times and kept getting back together. And you know, I think that was also like you know, it was just a a tricky time because we were both trying to figure out our lives. We were both trying to figure out what we wanted to do, and you know, she wanted to be a nurse and go to nursing school. I wanted to work in television, and felt like in order to do that, I had to move somewhere. Um, and so I was, you know, trying to find some opportunities, and uh, I actually had gone up to New York City with a buddy of mine just to for a you know, spring break trip or something like that. And um we went to a church up there and just were talking to people, and I met this this woman who worked at the Martha Stewart show, and she was we talked for a long time and talked just kind of about backgrounds and stuff like that. And she was like, You should come by the show and just check it out and meet some people or whatever. And so I came by and uh and and met's met a few people, and there was this one woman I met, uh, her name was MT, and she she was like, Hey, have you ever thought about being an intern at a talk show? And uh I was like, Well, not really, but uh that sounds really cool. And I was like, Does it pay anything? She's like, No, it doesn't, but it's a foot in the door. Uh, and so I came back to Florida and was just like, I couldn't stop thinking about going back to New York to work for this this show for free. Uh yeah, right. And I in New York my parents, and they were just like, no, I don't think this is a good idea. Like, I don't think you should do this. And you know, so I was I had a little a little bit of a hard time because it was all I could think about. And you know, when you have your mindset on something and you just feel like this is this is it, this is what I have to do, you know, uh it's hard to kind of like do anything else. I think I was I was working at the Apple store in Tampa and you know, um so is this post-graduation? This was kind of mid this was mid-college, actually. This was like uh fourth, fourth year of college.
SPEAKER_04And what'd you get your I know George asked, and I think I interrupted so did you get your degree in earlier?
SPEAKER_01Uh I ended up getting my degree. I actually I I was a religious studies major for a a bit, and then I changed to um business uh and then I got my degree in business administration. And okay um, yeah, and so part of the business program at Florida College was to do an internship somewhere. And so um I kept saying to my dad, like, you know, I just want to go up there and try this out and see see how it goes, you know. And uh yeah, I mean I finally finally convinced him to, you know, be okay with it. And I and I needed that. I needed like his blessing. I I just wasn't the type to be like, see, I'm going up to New York, you know. Oh interesting. Yeah, I I just needed like to know my parents. It goes back to the whole acting thing and them just kind of being in my corner for my whole life. It just didn't feel right when they weren't, you know.
SPEAKER_02Something was off, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so I needed them to know, like, hey, I I I want to do this, uh, I think it's the right thing, and I think it could be interesting. And so, yeah, it and and long story short, I went up there and um, yeah, I mean, Martha Stewart, man, that was uh that was an adventure. I spent uh four or five months working at the show there.
SPEAKER_04And what did you do there at the show? What were you sawing?
SPEAKER_01So um yeah, so they had um they each semester hired about four or five production interns, and it was uh it was interesting because I had never really watched the Martha Stewart show. Of course I knew who Martha Stewart was. Um it was a good thing, yeah, exactly. Uh and she had um you know, she had this studio space in Chelsea where she did her talk show, and then she had like three or four other like major locations in New York where she was doing stuff. And um, and so I yeah, I was a I was a production intern, and that just kind of involved a little bit of everything. Um and yeah, back at back in 2008 when this was this was before some sort of like I think there was some sort of lawsuit, I don't know, not with Martha, but with just internships as in general. And um this so this was like pre-getting paid for internships. So we were just five interns working for free, and like, man, we got worked pretty hard. I mean, there was always stuff to do. Yeah, I mean, there was just always stuff to do, and and you know, we would get there at like 6 45 or 7 in the morning, you know. I would come from uh the upper east side where my dorm was, and I would, you know, take the bus to the train and walk and blah blah blah, and and get there at like 7 a.m. And yeah, I mean, it was just like a little bit of everything. It was like uh, you know, everything from doing coat checks for the ladies coming in and sitting in the audience to, you know, going out and getting coffee for people or what was Martha?
SPEAKER_04So was it her like lifestyle show or was it an actual talk show she was doing?
SPEAKER_01It was a talk show, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Oh, so she interviewed people. It wasn't like her around the house thing that she does.
SPEAKER_01It was a little bit of everything because they had these sort of segments in the field where she would do certain things, or we would do episodes like at her house and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04So what was she like?
SPEAKER_01You know, um, you know, I sh honestly, like I was really fascinated by Martha. Uh because and I and I recognized that like right away. I'm like, this this woman's like pretty amazing because she's built this empire. Uh-huh. Yeah. You know, and she has all these fans, and it was just kind of it was really like eye-opening to see. And I and I really like enjoyed every minute of just sort of analyzing, like, okay, what does it take to make a show work? What does it take to make an audience happy? Like, what you know, what is she doing that is working so well for these people? It was really like a it was a study, it was a it was a college course, you know. And um, you know, I mean, people at the Show, of course, were like stressed and running around like crazy and trying to make sure that everything got done on time, and that's just kind of the nature of a live show, anywhere, you know. But when you I think you you have someone like Martha who has such a reputation, um, you have some nerves and some stress that come along with that, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I was always really um impressed by the people who worked for Martha who were totally cool and kept their composure and knew what they were doing. And it was those people that like Martha trusted more, you know, who knew that this was uh that everything was gonna get done that needed to get done. There's a trust there, you know. And um, and you know, not to flash forward too much, but I I had left the show and went to work for Conan O'Brien. And, you know, I was an intern. I really didn't feel like I had a couple interactions with Martha. I really didn't feel like she would remember me after I left or anything like that. But she came on Conan one time as a guest, and I just happened to be standing in the hallway, and she walked by and saw me and gave me this big hug. And wow, like, oh my goodness, Ryan, it's so good to see you, you know. Wow, that's great. And uh, and so I was like, Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know, she remembered who I was, and well, you know, you you have an image of people that she's a certain way, you know. I mean, you just picture she seems very particular, which she probably is, but that's amazing that she remembered you from the time before, you know. So yeah, I mean she appreciated you, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, she had such a good eye for things, and that was what was amazing, and that's what I think like propelled her into such success, was just like it really was like she had an incredible uh knack and an incredible eye for things. And there were some funny things that happened. I mean, you know, while I was there as an intern was the first time that she had Snoop Dogg on the show, you know, and then that that blossomed into this other kind of relationship between the two of them. Um, but it was pretty hilarious actually because like we didn't have guests like that very often, you know, that came on the show. Snoop Dogg was like a pretty peculiar guest that came on the show. And he came on and he had like his, you know, his entourage of people with him and stuff like that. And I just remember standing downstairs and uh this this costume uh wardrobe assistant running down and she was like frantic and she was like, uh what size uh waist are you? Like talking to me. And I was like, uh 30. And she goes, Are you are you are you wearing a belt? And I said, Yeah, and she said, Snoop Dogg needs to borrow your belt. His pants keep falling down. And she's like, We don't have any men's belts on our show. And I was like, Okay, sure, you know.
SPEAKER_04So I took off my belt and uh and so Martha couldn't make a belt, like at the moment, not that quickly. I don't think hand sound leather or something, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right, right, right.
SPEAKER_04Out of apple cores.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, she probably could have. That's the thing. She probably could have. They probably didn't even let her know. Yeah, that's probably they didn't want to stress her out. Yeah, that's not her job, yeah. Yeah, so that's funny. Snoop Dogg, uh, yeah, he borrowed my belt for the show. And then, you know, it's funny, he was walking, he's walking out, uh leaving, and you know, he's getting in the car. I'm like, I don't have my belt, you know. And uh I was like, Oh, I don't have it, I don't have money to afford to buy a new belt. I'm you know, working for free here. And uh, and so, you know, uh, I chased after it. Like, we're I like ran outside. I was like, excuse me, uh, excuse me. But Mr. Dog, yeah, yeah. DOWG. His people were like, hey buddy, back up, you know. Um I was like, no, no, no, he's he's got my belt on. And so he took off his belt and gave it back to me. So that was nice. But uh yeah. Um that's funny. Yeah, yeah, it was good. You know, it was a good, it was we did we did get college credit for that internship, by the way. It wasn't just like completely free. Yeah, it was like they had to, they actually like had to give us something, and and so they, you know, college credit was was uh was what we got. But while I was yeah, oh go ahead. No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Uh how'd you make your living there in New York? Like, how'd you afford to live there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I I um when I went up there to work at the Martha Stewart show, I told them like, hey, I'm only gonna be available three days a week. And actually it was perfect because Martha only filmed three days a week. So I was only there on the show days, and um and then on the other days, I think it was Monday, Friday, and Saturday, I went and worked at the Apple store at uh just a you know, specialist salesperson.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that was super cool too because um, you know, I feel like at that time, 2008, you know, the Apple store was kind of still this sort of novel location. And you know, there were only there were only three locations at the time in New York. There was Soho and 14th Street and um that Cube location. And uh and it was cool because at the Soho location where I was, they actually had this like stage and theater and they would have concerts there. And so we would we would have these like bands come and play. It was pretty, pretty awesome. Yeah. I can't remember, like I know I know Randy Newman came and played a show while I was there, trying to think of some other people.
SPEAKER_04So all this all this time in New York, you know, uh do you miss your family? Were you homesick or were you too too having too having too good a time to even think about it?
SPEAKER_01I was really busy. I was really, really busy. And that as a matter of fact, like Kate and I had been trying to do long distance. She was in California, I was in Florida, and that was just really hard just because very long distance, yeah. Yeah, long distance, time change, busyness. And so, you know, during that that time uh in particular, we had broken up, and uh that was hard. And I remember it was hard for both of us, you know. But I think just going back to like I was so busy with work, Martha, and also uh I was I was doing like online courses at the time too. So it's just like there was never a dull moment, you know. And I did miss my family, and I think my mom had come up to visit, and my brother came to visit, and I had another friend that came to visit, so it was like pretty like you know, stacked. I didn't and I didn't have much time to think about anything else. But and then I went home for Christmas, and then you know, I had to break the news to my dad, hey, I have this other opportunity in New York that I really want to go back for. And I was like, but after this, I I will come back, you know. Um, and that was for for Conan. Uh I had gotten an internship at the the late night show uh with Conan before he moved out to the to LA to do the tonight show. Um, and I was just uh I couldn't be I couldn't have been happier because I had been obsessed with Conan for so long.
SPEAKER_04You kind of have Conan hair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is a little well right now, especially it's very Conan-ish. Um but it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_04I don't have any to mess with, so that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01Um but yeah, I mean Conan and and SNL, like I had just w I had tapes in my closet of just like so many sketches, and um, you know, he was just my favorite. And I and I I managed to get this internship opportunity there, Conan, and couldn't believe it. You know, I was like, I have to do this. His show's his show only has three months left, and then it's moving to LA. This is like a chance to be a part of this iconic franchise of late night TV. I mean he started in '93, and this was in 2008. So this was the very end, and man, it was just it was the best. It was like uh it was you know, I I was um I loved my time at Martha, and I was really like really grateful for the opportunity, but it kind of made me feel like maybe I don't want to work in television. You know, I had that thought while I was there. I kind of thought, like, I don't know if I really think that I think just the the um kind of the environment a little bit, it it and I think that might have just had something to do with the show itself not being something that I was like super into, you know.
SPEAKER_04So it's you know it's hard like when you're not really like more of a woman's show or women's interest or just not your interest. It may be just not mine, honestly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and especially like at that time in my life as like a you know 19, 20 year old guy, I just it was not something I really had my my uh interest in. But yeah, um I learned a lot from that show. I learned a lot, and that was one of the cool the intern coordinator there at the Martha show was so good about being like, hey, what do you want to learn today? Do you want to sit in the control room? Do you want to work with the director? You want to work with the show carpenter? Like she was great, and I had so many opportunities to like just do different things there, so that was awesome. But you know, when I went to Conan, I kind of had my faith revived a little bit and just like, oh, maybe I can work in TV because maybe there are other gigs for me that would would be more interesting. And um, and so yeah, I mean that was just a that was a blast being at Conan. And it changed everything for me because I was just like, I have to be, I have to do this, I have to work here, you know. Um, and I think a lot of that had to do with just like Conan, um, and the writers there, and also just kind of the energy. I was a totally different energy doing going from morning talk show to like late night talk show. You know, yeah, completely different. Yeah, yeah. Um, and so it it fit me way more at the time, I think, you know.
SPEAKER_04And so was it a little more free and loose, maybe?
SPEAKER_01Well, you still had the demands and the pressure of being like, hey, this is the show itself, daily show that has to happen. Yeah, but yeah, the show itself, you saw them just kind of goofing around more. Yeah, you know, it's like it was uh artful goofiness, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Especially on a show that's supposed to be predominantly funny, or you know, he's supposed to be funny and entertaining and right, right? He's not serious in any way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and um yeah, it was a really just uh amazing time. Um, because it was the last three months of late night, and because it was the last three months, I mean the guests were great, the musical guests were great.
SPEAKER_04Um who'd you get to see that were like somebody amazing for you or like that stood out as a guest?
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness. I mean, that was the thing, is like there's there were so many people that came on, and you were kind of like, I can't believe I'm standing a few feet away from like Jerry Seinfeld in the hallway, like you know, and how you got the whites, the white stripes coming in to play the last show, and um yeah, I mean I I just yeah, it was incredible, it was really incredible. And you know, one thing, and I feel like I'm talking so much, so anytime you guys want me to stop, please just cut me off. I love listening. Um one thing that was so different about the internship at Conan was was when I got there, I was kind of shocked because I went from a place that had five interns, which were really like leaned upon, to Conan having about 50 interns, 40 or 50 interns.
SPEAKER_02Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I was kind of like, what is going on here? And a lot of these interns had been there for several months, and I was like a little discouraged right away because I was like, there's no way I'm gonna make a name for myself here. Like, I'm not gonna like cut through the rest of these interns that have been here for longer. And what I kind of realized pretty quick was like Conan, they they liked having a lot of interns because one of the main parts of the show was rehearsal, or one of the main parts of the day was rehearsal, where they would bring everybody down into the audience, and Conan would try out jokes, he'd try out sketches, and they would kind of lean on these this group of college age students and interns to see like what was working and what wasn't working. And so that was kind of a big part of the job for these interns. And so um, because of that, I think a lot of interns felt like that was their only reason they were there, and they didn't really like doing anything else. Not to like, you know, not to like dog on anybody, but like some some of them just got kind of got like a little bit lazy. We're just like, well, I'm just gonna go down to rehearsal and watch rehearsal. And so no one wanted to do like the coffee runs or the lunch runs or like you know, go on these kind of mundane tasks to get things. So I was like pretty quick, like, I want to do everything, you know. I want to answer the phone when it rings and like go to Eighth Avenue and pick up this random tape for somebody, like and research or whatever, you know. And I just started doing as much as I could. And and um, you know, I'd walk around the offices and just ask people, like, hey, do you do you need anything? Like, can I get can I get you anything? And um, yeah, uh and then I kind of was just like, I can't, I can't stop working here. It's so great. And I knew they were gonna come out to LA. I also was just kind of like in the back of my mind, well, in all of my mind, I was thinking, is there a way, is there a way I can get back together with Kate, who was out in California. So I was like, maybe I can go out to California, try to work for this show, maybe get back together with Kate. And uh, so I was asking around, I asked HR, I was like, can I cut, can I come out and keep interning in LA when he does the tonight show? And they were like, no, no, it doesn't work that way. They were like, it doesn't work that way. Sorry. And I was like, Well, I not there's gotta be a way, you know. And so um I there was these, there were these two producers, Sarah Fedorovich and Tracy King, and they were just um these two amazing producers, and I started, you know, just started asking them how I could help them and you know, do stuff for them. And so I got kind of close with both of them, and I just said, hey, you know, if when this ends, if you guys go out to LA, like what would happen if I just showed up? Would you guys let me keep interning? And I think they were kind of like, uh, they had so much on their mind, they were like, I don't know, I get like sure. If you want to come out there and intern, like fine, that's fine. You know, again, this was Okay, that's a deal. Yeah, well, this is pre-the days of getting paid for internships. So uh they were kind of like, yeah, I guess if you want to drive out and work for free, like that's up to you. Um and so that's exactly what I did. I mean, I th I the show ended end of February, beginning of March. I got my car, I drove out to LA and literally just showed up at the Universal Studios lot and was like, Were you still a student at FC or had you graduated? I was still a student. I was still doing online courses. Um and yeah, I just I just was like, I gotta I gotta do this.
SPEAKER_04You drove from New York to Los Angeles. That's a drive.
SPEAKER_01I flew back to I flew back to Florida and drove to Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_04That's still quite a drive, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And um, yeah, and uh it was uh it was it was pretty crazy. I I came out here and started interning at the show, and I was also working at an Apple store. Back to the Apple store. Yeah, I always had that card, you know, same song, different coast, exactly, yeah, yeah. Sold a lot of computers, a lot of phones. Um and uh, you know, they pretty quick were like, hey Ryan, like it would be really great if you could be here five days a week. And I was like, I just I gotta make some money, I can't do that, you know. And they're like, Well, we'll we'll give you a job, we'll actually like bring you on staff. And so that's how I got a job at Conan. And I started working full-time, and I was a production assistant at first, and then it's like once the show kind of started getting staffed up and the producers came back, there was this producer Dan Ferguson who heard that there was this kid who drove across country to work for free, and he was like, uh, I kind of want that guy as my assistant. There we go. Yeah. Talk about initiative. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So um, so this guy, Dan Ferguson, and this other producer, Rachel, they hired me as their assistant. And uh, so they were the they were the producers who did the guest segments on the show. And so anytime a guest came on the show, um, what they would do is they would do like a pre-interview with the guest. They would call the guest, talk for about an hour, um, more or less, and just kind of scratch the surface on like, okay, what are some interesting things going on in your life right now? What are some funny things that have happened lately that Conan could talk to you about? And they would sort of weed through all these stories and things like that to try to find the most interesting little nuggets, and uh, and then and then they would have a meeting with Conan and go through everything and sort of narrow it down to a an eight-minute kind of segment. And um, so I learned I learned a lot doing that job, and um tonight's show was so fun, it was so amazing, you know. I mean, you have this sort of like prime time new show on NBC, all eyes are on the show, all eyes are on Conan, a lot of pressure, and I and I definitely everyone saw that. Um, and uh it was it was great, it was really, really cool.
SPEAKER_04So you were would you actually call the celebrities yourself and talk with them, or did you just work in that department?
SPEAKER_01Or um, I would mostly uh there were some times where I would be on the call too, but most of the time I would be the ones talking to like the agents or the managers and setting up the times, okay. Um, and then making sure the call happened when it was supposed to happen. Okay. And then I would transcribe the interview. Um this was pre pre-AI, so I would be the one typing out typing out the whole hour-long interview.
SPEAKER_04Did it so I guess I didn't even realize that thing type of thing happened in the entertainment world on interviews, but I guess it does. So so you somebody from your office or would call, like, say Mariah Carey and be like, hey, what's interesting about you? Or would would it just be talking to the agent? I I just have trouble picturing a star, would you know, want to talk about that, but I don't know. That's why I'm asking.
SPEAKER_01So you know, that's a good question, honestly, because um I I would say like maybe I guess for someone like Mariah Carey, you can easily look up what's interesting, you know. Well, you can't. So, like so that's actually an interesting point. So we had a team of research people at the Conan show. There were like three or four people in research, and what they would do before the interview is they would give the producer this huge file that said, like, here's everything that I was able to find about this person right now. And so usually seven times out of ten, they could get the guy, the the actor or performer, whoever it was, the guest on the show on the phone. And so the producer would have done their research, figured out what they wanted to ask this person on the phone, and usually have an hour of interesting topics or things like that to cover, you know. Okay. Um, if there was a celebrity or guest that was like super hard to get a hold of, of course, there would be some communication like via email of like, can we talk about this? Can we talk about this? And that just didn't happen too often. I feel like everybody that came on the show knew that was kind of like protocol, you know, for you do these you do these talk shows, you have to kind of like be kind of pre-screened as far as like what we're gonna talk about, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. All right, yeah, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01All right, interesting. Yeah, so um, you know, the tonight show, uh, for those who maybe listeners who don't remember, this was uh 2009, and the show started in June of 2009, and then there was a whole thing with Jay Leno that happened, and uh February of 2010, the show was canceled and uh and ended.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I remember he didn't have a long tenure on the tonight show, but I can't remember all about it. Yeah. So um and I think Jay Leno decided he wanted to do it or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Uh right, so like Jay Leno's contract was up, he didn't really want it in the show, but like they gave Conan the Tonight Show. Jay Leno felt like he still wanted to be on the air, so they gave him like a 10 o'clock slot, which didn't exist really at the time for different you know, talk shows and stuff. So Jay Leno started hosting a talk show at 10 o'clock, and the ratings were very good. And so they thought, well, maybe we should move Jay Leno back to 11:30, where we know he works, and then maybe we can move Conan to 12 and it's still be the tonight show, but it's at 12 o'clock. And it just was just it was just kind of a you know messy situation, and um, you know, at the end of the day, it just didn't didn't work out, and so uh, you know, they ended their their contract Conan, and Conan was incredibly loyal. I mean, Conan, let me just say, is is so so amazing. I love Conan. He's such an amazing performer and writer, and he's just has an incredible mind, and he's just a good person in general. And um he was he was devastated for his staff that all moved across country to work for his show. And so, you know, there at the time there was a lot of momentum, and so Conan got this, you know, settlement from NBC and he paid all of his employees uh for four months just to like stick around. That's really nice. Yeah. Uh and he said, you know, we're gonna we're gonna have something. I just know we're gonna have something. And so all these people were just kind of waiting and and sticking around, you know. Um so yeah, that was kind of uh that was that. Um it was it was great. I mean, it was a great time and uh really just an incredible experience.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that's amazing. Yeah. So after Conan ended, so they're out of the job.
SPEAKER_01Um, you know, it's kind of interesting. I stayed in LA for a little bit. I got an agent and started going to auditions um because I had the time. I actually had like free time to go to these auditions and stuff. And was kind of like, oh wow, like I remember this thing that I used to do a long time ago where I would go to auditions and you know. And um I something something was kind of nagging at me to go back to Florida for a little bit. And so I that that was when I went back to Florida uh for about a year and just you know, lived at home. Um, you know, I needed to finish a couple classes at at Florida College and did those. And uh and then yeah, was just like really missing Los Angeles, uh and and just you know, missing Kate, missing the Conan show, and just felt like okay, I need to get back out there. And so um, you know, moved back out again in 2011, and um, yeah, worked for Conan on TBS. That was great. Was the writer's assistant there um for a little while, and that was incredible because I was actually on the monologue team. We would work with Conan every day on the show monologue, which was just uh so much fun, you know.
SPEAKER_04And did you help write that?
SPEAKER_01I would so I would I would every morning would just be scouring the news, and I had a team of uh interns under me too. Um, and we would all just be scouring the news, looking for different premises and things like that that were interesting, and we would send those to the team of monologue writers who would then just spend all day writing. And throughout the day, we would just continue to look for premises, and we would write the premise and send it to the to the monologue writers, and they would, you know, finish the joke and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04I'm so naive, I just assumed Conan wrote his own monologue. Like every day he woke up and he's like, These are the funny things I'm thinking. Here's my monologue, but I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01You know, and that wasn't well. You know, you had you had people who kind of put together a little bit of a blueprint for him, but the amazing thing was like sitting in these meetings with Conan and seeing how his brain worked and seeing how he could take a joke that was already funny, but rewrite it to make it even funnier, you know. Yeah, and you got to see her in real time. Yeah, yeah. I got to see that, and um, you know, just have such a huge appreciation for him. I mean, I learned so much from from just not only Conan, but these amazing writers, like you know, there's a my my boss was Brian Kiley, who I just think is one of the funniest people in the world, and there's Josh Comers, and there's Jesse Pop, and there's Laurie Kilmartin, all these other writers that are just so so talented.
SPEAKER_04The delivery is what is you can write, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Uh you you can write a great joke, but it's the delivery that's funny. So if he doesn't deliver it funny, you know, so obviously he has a talent for that. So just like you were saying, hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%, 100%. So um it was cool, it was a cool job. I mean, we had um at the time there was uh one uh year where he hosted the White White House Correspondence Dinner, and that was crazy because it was like we had the show, we would do the show every day, and then we would stay three or four hours later every night and work on the White House Correspondence Dinner jokes. Wow. Um, and that was like you know, a month or two of doing that. Um, but everything was just everything was such a cool learning experience while I was there, and you know, really feel thankful and lucky for my my um and yeah, uh I in about 2014, I had been married for a couple years to Kate. We finally made it work. Finally got it going. It's about time.
SPEAKER_04Good greed.
SPEAKER_01I know. We finally said, you know what, it's it's all or nothing here. We either get married or we break up again and we never speak.
SPEAKER_04That was like a soap opera storyline that took some time to happen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I know, I know it really was uh it really was. Bless her heart for for just sticking along for the ride. So patient. I know very patient. Um, she had she had gone to nursing school, become a nurse. She was a pediatric ICU nurse. Um, she was working at the children's hospital out here, and um, and then I, you know, I was working at Conan. We had been married for a couple years, and just I felt like, okay, what's the next step in my career? So I started looking around, and there was a guy that had worked with me at Conan who had left and gone to Disney about a year before I left, and and he really loved it and called me up one day and said, Hey, I have this job, it's in the on-air promo department at Disney Channel. Um, I think he'd be really good at it, and and why don't you come over and interview for the job? So it just it happened very organically, and um, and I went over, I had no idea what on-air promos meant. I didn't know what that was. I didn't know that was a team of people that put these promos together. And uh yeah, so that was a huge, huge shift for me and a huge jump. And I actually so I I went over it was in graphics, it was a graphics coordinator job, um, which was way different than what I was doing because I was doing writers assistance. Yeah, and uh I was like, I don't know if I if I'm the right person for this. And this guy, Chris, was like, so you'll be great, you have production experience, you have a good eye. That's all that's really like you need for this job, and you need to be like a good manager of um vendors and agencies and stuff like that. And so I did it, and I honestly like it was it was a really tough transition for me because I loved Conan so much and uh had such a good time there. And then yeah, you start on a new team, totally new people, totally different vibe of what you're doing. And I just had a hard, hard time for like a year just being like, Did I make the right choice? Or is this the right thing for me? And you know, um, of course I love Disney, like I came from you know the Orlando area, so I grew up going to Disney and uh and just was like, man, I there's gotta be something here at Disney that can work for me. And I had been performing a lot um here in LA at this uh theater called the Upright Citizens Brigade. It's like an improv theater.
SPEAKER_04And um what kind of improv were you doing? Just I guess this was anything, yeah.
SPEAKER_01This was like long-form improving? Yeah, sorry, making it up as I go. Uh uh I had a team that I was on, and we had just taken classes together, and we had done all the courses at this school, at this uh Upright Citizens Brigade School, and we started doing the show, and it was actually like a really great show, and um we had a blast doing it. They gave us they gave us a spot at UCB to do the show every month, and yeah, it was really cool. It was it was a lot of fun. And this one creative director at the time who was working for Disney Channel, he came to me one day and was like, Hey, like I know you do comedy stuff, and he's like, I'm having a hard time with these sketches that we're trying to do. And he's like, Do you think you could come take a stab at them? And um I was like, This could be the moment, this is my moment to actually like change, get out of this job. So I started doing that, and it just went really well. And I opened this door that I needed to be opened, and it was um to you know, write and produce promos for Disney Channel, and it was a it was a really great change, it was a change that I needed, and um that happened around 2016. I started doing uh promos for Disney XD, which was kind of like at the time it was uh sort of more like animation that was aimed and targeted towards boys like 8 to 11, 8 to 12. Um you had shows like Phineas and Ferb and Big City Greens and uh Amphibia and you know stuff like that. So I got to start producing these promos. And so for those listeners who might not, you know, know what that is or whatever, if you're watching Disney Channel or Disney XD and they cut to a break, you have like these um spots which are like 15 second or 30-second spots, which are promoting future episodes or new show or something like that, and uh it's packaged in this little 30-second format. And um and yeah, it was super fun. I mean, the the writing and producing was everything from finding the music for the promo, writing the script for the promo, finding the sound bites, um, doing the the scratch voiceover, and then uh and then working with an editor to kind of piece it all together. And then you have to go through all these rounds of approvals with uh creative directors, and then there's the showrunners and things like that that all get to see it. And then uh, of course, there's the finishing part of it where you go to a finishing house and you do the color and the audio mix and you do the final uh voiceover with the voiceover artist. So um it's a really like fun puzzle, and I kind of I kind of was this amazing awakening inside of me of like, man, all these things that I've done in my life with writing and with playing music and with doing acting and like working on uh film and doing editing stuff, all kind of coming together to do this thing of making promos, which again I didn't even really know was a job. I was kind of like, oh, this is this is actually a really good fit for me. That's cool how it all works together. It's amazing. Yeah, yeah. So, and now that I mean, so that was 2016 when I got that job writing and producing.
SPEAKER_04I'm still stuck, I gotta ask you something. I'm still stuck on the uh improv part about how I mean I've gone to some of these improv shows and they're absolutely amazing, you know. How you just throw an idea out. I mean, how I mean, like I can think of something on the fly funny at times, but not as a group, you know, not me working with a group or someone else, you know, working with things together. I mean, how how do you do that? I mean, how is it just you can't really practice, obviously, or do you have some set things that you know to say to each other? I mean, just tell me a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, you know, I think with improv, it's like you either love it or you don't, you know? And uh, and so we, you know, so many people in Los Angeles come to LA and they want to be actors and things like that. And all these agencies will say, like, hey, you gotta have improv experience on your resume. And so that's why these improv theaters are so popular is because you know, these these actors come to take improv 101 at the groundlings or second city or I.O. or or at UCB. And so, you know, that it that happens in 101, that improv 101. And then it's like a lot of those people say, Hey, I'm gonna do this again for improv 201. And that's when they start introducing a little bit more of the rules of long long form improv. I mean, I say rules, they're kind of these unofficial rules of like, hey, like, if you want to be good at it, you gotta do it this way. And there is a technique, and there is there are things that you need to follow. You start learning this improv long form called the Herald, and and it gets it gets really hard, like pretty much.
SPEAKER_04So there's a lot of study that goes into it. It's not just being funny.
SPEAKER_01There, there is. I mean, being funny, and like there are people who are naturally funny and naturally gifted, but there definitely is a form and a and a and a way to do it. And so what happens is a lot of these people who kind of sign up for what improv 101 just thinking like, hey, this is a fun thing to do, realize like, hey, this is like not as fun as I thought it was, and they they get out of it pretty quick. Yeah, and so you start realizing, okay, like this other person I'm doing the class with, you start seeing these people more, and you're like, hey, you're funny. We kind of work well together, we have sort of similar sensibilities. And so um, I think it was like two improv 201 or 301. I started hosting this practice group. You you mentioned the thing about practicing. Um, we would hire an improv coach and just do like extra practi uh practicing outside of class. And you know, you had people who would kind of come not all the time, but sometimes. And um, and there were a few people that just sort of were always there, and you just kind of had a good relationship with, and um, so that's kind of that's kind of how our team formed, and then we just started doing shows together. And and yeah, I mean it's just the more the more you hang out, the more you perform, the kind of you kind of start to know uh or be able to sort of predict what the other person's going to do or how they're gonna, you know, and so it just kind of works well together. But you have a good dynamic with them, yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's great. Yeah, okay. I and that's and the funny thing is I can't I haven't done it in several years, you know. I think both both with cov COVID COVID shut down the theater for a long time, and so our show had uh it basically ended, and um, and then just with kids, like I have kids now, and it's just a different life, yeah, different, different life.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. So um 2016, you were at Disney. Did you are you still in that's 10 years ago, so are you still in the promo department or have you moved past that or um yeah?
SPEAKER_01So I um I was I had bounced around a little bit. I did Disney XD and then was kind of uh did stuff for Disney Channel and Disney Jr. And then when they launched Disney Plus, I started doing stuff for for that. I did a couple launches for for some shows on Disney Plus. And then um about three and a half years ago, I joined this other team that is part of the Disney Studios group, and it's a creative advertising agency, it's like an in-house agency, uh, essentially. Um we work for the studios and we do uh trailers and promos for Disney Studios um content, and that and actually now it includes more things, it includes Disney Parks and Disney Cruise line and and things like that. But we um we the the team that I'm on um we started basically I think it was actually around 2016. Yeah, it would have been 2016. It started from the Force Awakens trailer. They had given um uh they didn't want the film to leave the studio a lot because of security reasons and things like that. So they said, Hey, we're going to edit the trailer here on the lot, and they started this like sort of small agency where they were working on that trailer, and then it was such a huge success. That trailer is amazing, and they said, Okay, let's let's start giving this team more secure titles. So Avengers, Infinity War, and Endgame, and um is it was that Infinity War? Is that the name of the movie? Um Endgame and and so that was sort of how this team was born, and uh and and now it's just sort of evolved into like, yeah, we still do trailers, we still do promos for these movies, um, but we also do Disney parks, we do Disney brand as a whole. Um, we do stuff for cruise line, like I said, and I saw one for your cruise line with Robert Daniel Jr. Yeah, yeah, we just did that recently, and that was really cool. Um, that was pretty amazing, actually, because like yeah, like the cruise lines, they have each Disney cruise line uh ship has what they call a godparent, which basically is like a kind of an unofficial spokesperson, and they christen the ship and they you know um yeah, it's pretty cool. So in the past, it's funny you mentioned Mariah Carey. I think Mariah Carey's the the godparent of the uh fantasy ship. Um that makes sense, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um and so yeah, they they have this brand new ship. They had this brand new ship going out of Singapore called the Adventure Ship, and it has this iron, it has this uh Avengers or Marvel, it's a Marvel landing, and it's got um like this Avengers uh area and an Iron Man cycle uh roller coaster. And so yeah, they reached out to Robert Downey Jr. asked him to be the godparent, and he he said yes.
SPEAKER_04He agreed, yeah. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01And um so we did a piece that was basically announcing Robert Downey Jr. as the godparent, and it was it was pretty cool, man. We we um we wrote this thing and uh it was a kind of a mixed media started with him on camera, but then went to this like stop motion thing with um animation and and uh so we got to shoot with Robert on the ship and it was it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was really cool.
SPEAKER_04That's awesome. That's really cool. Was he cool to work with? Was he enjoyable?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_04I loved it. Yeah, it was a really fun day, and he was great.
SPEAKER_01I think he was really like excited about it. And uh that's good. Yeah, yeah, it was cool.
SPEAKER_04That's really nice. That's you've made a great career there, it sounds like. And it's if you've been there that long, obviously something's clicking and working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've been really fortunate, honestly. Uh, I've loved my time being there and have just learned so much and continue to learn so much. Um, and really, really grateful for the opportunities. I mean, you know, and and I'm and I think that like uh I just always want to continue learning. You know, that's that's kind of always been my thing of like, okay, what can I do that I haven't done yet? And how can I get my hands dirty, so to speak, and get in there and like, you know, do stuff. And uh opportunity, it's really cool. Yeah, it's been really fun. Really fun.
SPEAKER_02Well, that kind of I have another question that kind of introduces another thought is like, what's the future now? What's your like hopes and dreams?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's hard. I mean, you know, I'm so like thankful to have had this life with Kate, and we have four kids, and I don't even know how that happened. Like, the rapes. Uh, currently nine, six, three, and one.
SPEAKER_04Um I guess you don't know how it happens because it keeps happening.
SPEAKER_01Can you guys explain it to me? Uh okay, yeah. Yeah, we've got to keep it right up the screen. Uh yeah, no, I I mean we just God has just so uh blessed us and just I mean, you know, we really have like left it to him, and we've prayed about things and like seen how different doors have been shut and different doors have been opened, and yeah, um it's been it's been really amazing. I mean, life is a little bit crazy and overwhelming at times with having four kids and a crazy demanding job, but um Kate's an amazing partner to like work with and um just navigate parenthood and this life with. It's it's really is she still in nursing? Yeah, so she actually like was an ICU nurse at this pediatric hospital in Los Angeles for uh uh so many years. Uh I think it's 13 years total. She was a nurse there. Once we had our third, it was a little too much for her to to work, uh try to navigate working throughout the week. And so she resigned and um and she's still she's actually a school nurse. Oh, okay, uh yeah, which is great.
SPEAKER_04So maybe maybe a little better hours.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah, okay. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04So I I guess one question I I would have is you know, in the entertainment business, sometimes it's not always a Christian environment or putting out Christian content or you know, even content someone agrees with. Have you ever had trouble reconciling that in your life? Or, you know, uh like a cognitive dissonance, you know, between what you're doing and what you know is being put out with a company or things like that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I absolutely. I mean, you know, I think about that a lot. Um, and you know, I'm sure there's like a scripture that I could back myself up with here and just sort of like support myself. But, you know, I I have always kind of thought about, and I guess you could maybe say like Matthew 6 about being the light of the world and the salt of the earth, you know, like I try to bring that energy and that mindset with me wherever I go and think like, okay, you know, I know that in my my job as both an employee, as a believer, um, you know, I'm trying to like bring light into this world and bring glory to God in my and my actions and my activity. And um, you know, I do think, yeah, there's definitely a part of me that like wrestles with like, okay, like, you know, obviously um some you know material on this movie or this show or whatever isn't something that I totally feel comfortable with or agree with, but like um this is also like my job and I'm providing for my family and things like that. So um, but yeah, sure, there's definitely a part of me that like wrestles with that. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_04Well, I can uh I mean just even in the entertainment business. I mean, every company you work for, if it's a large corporation or larger than you know, a few people, you don't always have to say in you know what's put out or what's done with every aspect. So that's understandable. I was just, you know, probably you a lot of people wrestle or deal with that. So I was just kind of kind of curious. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, and and you know, and entertainment has always kind of been a hard area to navigate, even going back to being a kid, you know, and and seeing certain things and scripts come in that my parents would be like, Ah, like it's probably not a good idea for you to do this one, you know.
SPEAKER_04Um you know, it shows uh you know, it seems like a lot of people that start early in entertainment end up messed up, you know, and obviously you have not. So that's that's a great thing.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh I you know probably that might be subjective.
SPEAKER_04You don't well you don't appear messed up. How's that?
SPEAKER_01Well good, good, good. Okay, that's good. You appear pretty stable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Good, good, good.
SPEAKER_01That's um yeah, no, I think I think it's always just been important for me to like keep a head on my sh good head on my on my shoulders, you know, and um and that goes that's a that's a lot of a that's a a lot of personal um work as well, you know, and thankfully, you know, I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear me say thankfully, but like I have a a bit of a commute to get to the office and stuff like that. So it's a lot of time for me to sit and kind of alone with my thoughts and and um or you know listen to different podcasts or things like that that sort of like help me get get get me in the right mindset, you know. And of course like going back to my wife like she is such an amazing spiritual partner in my life and um that's great. You know and so I think too like raising kids, you know, um making sure we're on the same page there and like just making sure like the priorities are set, you know? What is the priority and like so also being a good example as far as like what does work look like what is a work life balance look like and where are the priorities you know so would you ever put your kids into acting now or do they act? You know um that's a a good uh it's a good question. I I would be cautious. I'd be very cautious to approach it. They have done a couple things here and there but nothing like major. So like my daughter loves drama she's uh she's very involved with drama at her school she likes performing um I I think that like uh if I wish I could go back in times at times in my life and introduce voiceover way earlier in my life I think that that is a um uh a very interesting avenue to explore for performing and it's a it's a fulfilling uh area to to to be in as well and so um I think that on camera for my kids makes me a little nervous for a lot of reasons um voiceover I'm a little bit more comfortable with but I think like live performing like at their school and stuff like that it's great that's perfect yeah but yeah I'm a little I I approach it cautiously but open minded I think you know um it's a different time than it was when I was a kid you know and it it's it's a it's a lot trickier to I feel like navigate the right way and I just want to make their safety and also like just their their is uh priority for me. So yeah it's funny though like my son River um he has such a look to him like where he's just like he I feel like belongs in commercials you know and it's funny because like a couple a couple producers at Disney like they've reached out to me for certain things and they're like hey we need we need like a boy who's like at Disneyland he's like looking kind of like an awe and I'm like oh I've got plenty of that on my camera you know and I like passed it over to them and they're like do you happen to have anything of him like on small world where he's like looks at you and he like waves I'm like I actually do like I'm gonna give that to you wow and so uh yeah there's there's been some cool stuff that uh that's popped up for that yeah yeah that's great um let's see uh georg any other questions for for him at this you do a really good job at just telling your story and filling in the gaps where I might yeah for sure questions yeah yeah well I I hope so sorry if it was like really long I felt now it's great it's really interesting feel free to any of it out I'm assuming you can hook us up with Robert Downey and Mariah Carey for the podcast to be our upcoming guests and I know you keep saying Mariah Carey I don't think I've ever actually I don't know why I said that it just okay Robert Robert Downey Martha Stewart Snoop Dogg they could all be on the pod Conan yeah man oh man would be great give me their digits you know it's funny like certain things like that have happened over the time like being in LA and just like weird you know with situations where you're like this is so strange like that this is happening right now you know um I remember my boss back at Conan like he and I were he and I got pretty close and we would go on these hikes together in Griffith you know area and like stuff like that and um you know he would always occasionally be like hey my other buddy's gonna come with us or whatever you know and he was he had been in this industry for so long and so there were a couple hikes that we would go on where it'd be like I'd look over and I'd be like your friend is so and so like you know like um I like we would hike with like Freddie Prince Jr.
SPEAKER_04is like it's just like you know and uh yeah so there's like stuff like that that's happened where you're kind of like that's kind of strange but um I I feel like I don't really have any uh celebrity friends so sorry I can't probably for the best can't open those doors okay all right well so you know we like to talk about entertainment here some so what is your you know these are mundane ish questions but do you have a a favorite movie in your life or favorite TV show or something that you're watching right now that you're just you that you're really loving and it doesn't have to be a Disney show yeah I mean man favorite movie one um I definitely have like that I can go and I can turn on anytime and I just like love to have on because it's like a little bit of a a comfort thing for me.
SPEAKER_01I think like um you know I think about like uh Interstellar is like one of my favorites and um uh whiplash is I don't know how that's not PG and I don't I don't want to recommend that one but uh man I once that's one of those movies that like if I accidentally turn on or if it's on I can't stop I can't look away from it you know it really is like the perfect train train wreck of a movie. The anxiety in the best way. Yeah um you know I there's this movie that I always recommend to people just because I feel like it was so well done um but the movie about time uh has like throughout my life I feel like I watched it an ear you know earlier on in my marriage and now it's so different being a parent watching it again and so that's one that like I'll I'll I'll watch every once in a while and just like love every time I watch it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah there that was the that was one that when we ended our episode on our favorite movies I forgot to mention that one and that one is up there for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah it's it's an excellent movie.
SPEAKER_02So good just a good observation about life and time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah um yeah the I mean I think like a hundred percent I think like a more stereotypical answer of like timeless kind of classic films like I've always always loved Forrest Gump. I know that's like a little cheesy or whatever but like Forrest Gump is like a great movie. I it's funny because like when you ask about shows my wife and I are always trying to find a show or a movie like kind of like the perfect like benchmark or whatever I don't know if what you would call it of like okay this movie and also like this movie. Cause like Mystic River is so good. And Mare of Easttown that was such a great series and we're always always we're always like trying to find like the great like this great sort of like thriller kind of intriguing you know movie like that. Yeah. Yeah as far as like stuff lately um we I I loved Project Hail Mary I read the I read the book and um I really was happy with how they did the movie. I thought it was I thought it was really fun. I liked it um I know a lot of people are kind of like I didn't know it was gonna be like that but yeah I think a lot of people were kind of surprised but um uh we just let's see we just watched the second season of the pit um I really like the pit do you like it I actually like it's it's totally not my type of show I would never want to watch that type of show I love it I love it um really I watched it because my wife was like I want to see if this is like she's always kind of judging how accurate certain shows are like in the medical field. She's like there's not there's it's unbelievable how accurate it is and it's like she's amazed by it. And so um because she was so into it I was like I want to watch this too and so uh it was it was great. I loved it um we watched uh Task with uh with Mark Ruffalo which was great um I and then there's there's certain shows like for me that I love that my wife just like doesn't get as into and uh I recall them like my comfort comedy shows like um Nathan for you I don't know if you've ever watched Nathan for you but no I have uh oh my goodness you gotta watch it it's uh it's so good man uh it was on comedy central for years and then they moved it I think it's on H I think it lives on HBO now but um this comedian Nathan Fielder he's just yeah there's just not many people like him um I'll check that out yeah yeah it's uh he's it's very dry he's a very dry humor but he ne the the crazy thing is is like he never breaks character which is fascinating to me it's like so so great to watch but um um what else you know I always when I'm talking to people about like movies that like I feel like stuck with me for so long um did you guys ever see the movie Bernie? I feel like please say you have yeah yeah being at churchgoers in Texas I feel like it's like it must be uh essential for you to watch that movie is uh where he's breaking down Texas oh yeah yeah he's like and uh West Texas that's a question mark uh yeah yeah yeah um man like I I know what to expect yeah I did not know what to expect by that movie but man it it stuck with me I'm like that's so good yeah um so that's great those are all good uh I'm trying to think if there's anything else that it's like I mean uh the office will always be one that I can turn on anytime and just like yeah you know I've only actually finished this whole series like maybe twice maybe three times I I was like took a while for me to actually watch like season eight and nine you know is hard yeah as soon as Michael leaves yeah yeah I'll like I mean I'll go turn on a random episode from like season two or three or four so good how does that compare like have you seen Parks and Rec? Yeah I loved Parks and Rec. I actually did like Parks and Rec. I have not rewatched Parks and Rec much um I need to I I would give it a rewatch for sure yeah it's up there I I feel like they're the same for me. Yeah um I'm trying to think if there's I mean you know I think one of my all-time favorite shows is uh Freaks and Geeks and uh The Wonder Years was a great I mean I I just that was the show I feel like growing up that I kind of latched on to um as a kid what do you think about all these reboots you know they did a Wonder Years reboot I think they did uh Malcolm in the middle reboot they're doing all these reboots sign uh uh Frasier it's like I don't know I just it feels like it's just recycled stuff I know everything's getting a reboot or a sequel um you know I think it's hard because uh well first of all it's getting harder and harder I feel like to to come up with original ideas um I mean not to say that they're not out there but you know it's I think harder to find ones and then it's just like risk it's it's risks you know it's a huge risk to like to go out on something original. You have these things that are like okay we know that the having this cast come back is probably gonna like bring a certain audience you know I'd be actually really interested to see what Devil Wars product to like the numbers after it's its box office run just because they got everybody back and you know had like a pretty pretty big following and 20 years I think 20 years have passed so that'll be a really interesting to see you know um yeah yeah my wife was excuse about that Fraser fan she loved the original show and then they did the reboot and she only watched a couple episodes so it just wasn't you know it wasn't the same. So I don't know I mean uh I was trying to think I think you know some of those they just don't it doesn't have the same appeal just you know when it comes to exactly yeah yeah so exactly I mean you're always hopeful that they're gonna like re recapture that that magic and that lightning in a bottle that they had you know and um I'm trying to think of one that might have like actually worked uh I don't know I don't think there is one yeah I don't know I I mean this is like so different from kind of like sitcoms and stuff like that but I mean they they did the the Blade Runner 2049 and I actually love that I thought that was really good you know uh I think pretty pretty decent sequel.
SPEAKER_04Yeah sometimes it's like you know a show started 20 years ago and they're bringing it back and it's like wow you know is they is that even you know are those people still alive alive to watch it you know I know I know uh I'm a huge X-Files fan I love the X Files and then they came back and did a couple of like reboots and one series one series or one uh season was really good the second one was just I I don't know it was just a dud and then the way it ended was a dud and it was just very it was just very depressing. I I don't even the way it ended I didn't even play like it ended I just made it my own ending in my head because it was so so bad. It just wasn't good. So it's like sometimes you just have to leave it alone you know leave it alone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and sometimes it's funny how like sometimes there's there are things that are good. Like for instance there's you know breaking bad of course is like this perfect show and then they had that like um that extra movie that came out was it El Camino or something like that. Yeah and it was good it was pretty good but like I haven't felt the desire to like go back and rewatch that movie.
SPEAKER_02I will say I mean to your point like the uh Better Call Saul like sequel or kind of the yeah that was pretty good that was pretty good actually yeah I agree I really loved that TV show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah yeah um but you know I will say like to kind of transit pivot a little bit and transition um it's been fun having kids and now like being able to of course like with kids and especially younger kids you kind of rewatch the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. But now like with uh my daughter getting to be nine and River being six um you kind of get to this point where you're like okay what was a good movie from like my childhood that we could try to watch and you know a lot of those like you kind of forget about certain things and you're like okay this is not uh so how was I allowed to watch that scene at eight years old you know yeah so we so to that point we we uh my wife and I always loved the movie Chicago.
SPEAKER_04I mean I wasn't a kid then we were but we were just first dating I think when it came out and then we saw the Broadway show and I was really depressed with the Broadway show or it was just not not good. The movie though was excellent so uh my we watched it with my son and then we read so then I was like oh man I forgot how raunchy this movie was with my you know with my son here. There's like a lot of I mean I it it was just like a lot of implied things and it was kind of like oh wow I for I forgot that and then yeah the other night we watched Clue with him because there's like a clue Broadway show coming to town that we're gonna see. So we watched the clue movie and it was hilarious and it was just my favorite kind of like it was from oh probably 86 or whatever you know yeah it was it was one of my some of my favorite types of humor you know it was just it was really funny. But yeah but Miss Garlet in the clue movie is not Asian and she should be Asian because on the board game the original board game she's an Asian and that's how I grew up playing it she was just Asian and she should be in the movie but that besides that it was awesome. Yeah so yeah that's my people call that you should write that on IMDb you're complaint should have been that's probably culturally inappropriate for me to say that no no you're probably that's actually like I feel like more cultural appropriate on the old board board box game she was laid out on this chase lounge and she had one of those long smoker deals and she was an Asian and then Leslie and Moran played her in the movie and she was funny but she wasn't the right she wasn't right physical for me. So yeah well uh Ryan we've kept you a long time I appreciate you talking to us.
SPEAKER_01Oh I think I've kept you a long time it's been a great time I enjoyed it a bunch of great interview great talk yeah yeah likewise and feel free to uh feel free to edit anything out uh that you don't want uh it's trim it down a little bit just my random comments probably yeah now um I did I did get a little a question before we started rolling about Jimmy Jimmy Fallon you know um I think I do these Jimmy Fallon impressions I don't know why but um you know I I so in New York when I was working at the Conan show um you know Jimmy came in to do the late night he took over late night when Conan left and so we were in um I can never remember if it was studio 6A or studio 6B I think we were in 6A and he was in 6B and so right across the hall you know from each other he's getting his show set up and we're finishing our show and you know so they had interns from the Conan show go down and watch Jimmy's rehearsals and test shows and things like that you know and so you always saw Jimmy like walking around and you know it's just like of course this is pressure on him to have this new show and you know he's got this like high energy and stuff like that you know and uh and I saw him you know one night I was like leaving and he was waiting for the elevator so it's just the two of us and I was like I was like hey Jimmy like um you know I've been watching rehearsals and it's it's really funny like I think it's gonna be great you know and and he's like hey buddy oh my oh my gosh really oh my gosh buddy thank you thank you so much buddy uh uh uh you think so really uh that's really good and uh yeah he kind of always has a little bit of like a it sounds like he has a little bit of a cold all the time it's a little really that's funny that's how I hear it yeah like he has a little bit of a a little bit of a stuffed up sound. Yeah yeah that's funny yeah um but uh yeah it's funny I I always had like uh I mean that and then I would have a couple more interactions with him after that but like he was always he was always really friendly and really nice and um you know I actually like growing up watching SNL and comedy and stuff like that like I always felt like Jimmy was a really good impersonator like he could do some really great impressions and he was musically talented and like I always I always really like thought he was was really good.
SPEAKER_04I know that he's got some some critics out there for sure but you know no he is good yeah yeah some good SNL yes yeah for sure well man well Ryan we appreciate it so yeah I'm glad I sneak that impression there we're glad you got it we might have to have you back for another just do impression do you do other impressions is that a full a full another show I yeah I think it is another show yeah it's another show I can give you a list have some callins have some okay have some callers okay all right sounds good excellent very good all right well we appreciate your time and it's been a great great talk great interview and nice to nice to get to know you yeah yeah likewise yeah thanks so much for asking me all right thanks a lot all right for everybody watching we appreciate it um subscribe to the podcast and we hope you enjoyed this show talk to you sooner
