November 13, 2025 • 38 mins
Enlivening the pod stu today is Recess Therapy and Celebrity Substitute creator, writer, comedian, actor and podcaster Julian Shapiro-Barnum, who takes Kyle on his creative journey from theater student to viral sensation for his playground interviews with kids during the pandemic and a hit second show plus podcast. The guys discuss why children are such refreshing interview subjects, what Julian has learned so far from his award-winning career, Kyle’s sage parenting advice, Julian’s comedy improv troupe, playground slang, Pokémon and wallets, before channeling their inner Jim Henson for Finger Puppet Friend Time.
Tune in every Thursday for new episodes of What Are We Even Doing?
Executive Producers: iHeart Media, Elvis Duran Podcast Network, and Full Picture Productions Executive Produced for Full Picture Productions by Desiree Gruber + Anne Walls Gordon
Produced by Ben Fingeret, Nora Faber, and Maia Mizrahi
Editing by Mikey Harmon and Nicholas Giuricich
Research by Kimberly Walls
Music by Yatta
Art by Danica Robinson
Additional GFX by Chris Olfers/The Southern Influence
Styling by Dot Bass
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TikTok: @wawedwithkyle
YouTube: @KyleMacLachlanOfficial
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do we even do?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What are we even doing?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Hey there everyone, I'm Kyle McLachlan, and we're about to
jump into what are we even Doing? Where we speak
with artists, musicians, creative people that are shaking up the
internet to discuss their creativity, their process, what really motivates
them and why they do what they do.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And I am so fortunate today to have a special guest.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Julian Shapiro Barnum with us, the host of Recess Therapy,
writer comedian, just very happy to speak with them. Welcome
to the podcast. The pod stew as we sometimes refer to.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Kyle, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
It's so fun to have you here. I am so
curious about what you have done, what you've created. I mean,
just the subject is unusual. It's like you you decided
you were going to speak with kids about everything, how
they feel and what's going on.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's been a fantastic adventure of it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, yeah, I bet what sort of brought you into this?
I asked you, was there a core memory, let's say
it was there. There's something that triggered this, and he went, Hey,
this is something that I want to do for you.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It's one of those things where it's like I, you know,
you look back your life and you can see the
bread crumbs and you're like, oh, it makes sense that
I got here. But like inciting incident was I was
in college at Boston University, okay, and I'm very young.
I was there when COVID happened.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Okay, I hate you because you're so young, but that's right.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I can feel the resentment. I was studying theater. I'm
a theater kid, and I was doing a lot of
like improv and playwriting and just making things like just
any chance I could. And then when COVID happened, all
of a sudden, we couldn't make anything together. And have
you did you during COVID do any like zoom theater
or nobody?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
But you definitely?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I started to zoom.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I actually have a wine business, and so I would
do tastings with people online over zoom because it was
the only way.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So we would send the wine out and do that.
So I kind of use it for that.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
But I think there was a I think maybe you're
going towards this is there was a kind of a
creative possibility here in a different way.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, I was just like my entire life, I had
been really drawn to doing things in person and like
doing theater and live comedy shows, and all of a sudden,
like it actually felt like torture to do a scene
with somebody through a computer like in my bedroom. And
so I was all of a sudden really drawn to
doing things outside and on the street, right, And I
think in one part it was like a loneliness thing.
(02:31):
It was I wanted to get out and connect with people,
kind of like right at the beginning of twenty twenty,
when COVID started, I would leave my apartment with a
microphone pack and like a camera, and sometimes I wouldn't
even talk to people. I would just be like wandering
around and the possibility of conversation like very aloring to
talk with me.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I did that for quite some time, and then end
of April I'd kind of gotten to the spot where
like every week I was gonna go out, I'm do
an interview. And one day I was in a playground
just relaxing with my friends. We were like enjoying the
sun whatever, and there were all these kids running around
and they were laughing and screaming and like literally just
(03:13):
having such a genuinely good time, and we were all
sour pusses and being very grumpy and like complaining, and
we were like, what the hell do they have that
we don't have? So we were very jealous, some might
say of the joy that the kids pos assed, And
so I was like, what if we asked them? What
if we were like walked around and asked the kids
like how they were so happy when they were also
(03:35):
in the online school and like dealing with COVID And
I went and I got a camera to a microphone,
and there's a lot of really funny, awkward early footage
from the first time I did this.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We we're like, are we really going.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
To like go up to these families and like ask
but if you could go, we did and it went
really well, and it was like I'd made a lot
of stuff that was like all right, we'll put this out,
but like it didn't really have anything to it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
This felt very special.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Immediately, Yeah, you're onto something.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, it felt it felt like.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Deeper, yeah, and genuine I think that's one of the
things about the show. There's an authenticity to it that
I really respond to, you know, I think coming from
the theater where I think one as an actor, one
is very very open and very accessible, and you want
to connect with people really quickly, you know, because you
have to work with them and do a scene with them. Probably,
But with kids, I think they I think they respond
(04:24):
to that. The genuine interest that you have, that you
bring and the way you respond and work with them.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Is is is very very special. You know, yeah, you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
There's no condencension or condensation unless I really want that.
I find really special because it sort of reminded me
as a dad. You know, my son was very very
young and he did start asking questions and things like that.
It's like, how do you respond, how do you how
do you really let them feel comfortable and also at
(04:56):
the same time answer the question but don't belittle it
or put it down. I don't think it's important. And
I think you really you handle that really beautifully.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
And so many people come up to me and they're like,
I hate kids, but like, like you make it so
vud and like you already down on kids, And I
really feel like my theory about that is I think
they're very interested in what they're interested in, and I
think it could sometimes be uncomfortable or like hard to
put aside your own interests and really just like throw
yourself into talking about like minecraft or like a big
(05:28):
rock or like something.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think a lot of it has to do with
as an adult you're speaking to a child who's like
you have to basically go to them.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Like one of the kids I work with, Miles, Yes,
I've known him for three plus years, and the other
day we were filming something and he was like, I
don't know anything about you, And in my head, I
was like, guess don't. We don't really talk about me.
Like it's a lot of like me asking him about
his ideas and I share information about myself. But I like,
I don't need that from that type of relationship. Like
(05:56):
I have adult friends, but like I get so much
out of hearing them talk about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What they care about, what they care about.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
What was your son like obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So well, all all the regular things.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Legos was something, And honestly, I found that when we
were doing an activity together, whether it was building legos
or you know, if we were riding scooters.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Somewhere, that that stuff just starts to talk. You know,
they talk about it. As the kids get older, of course.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You're driving in the car next to them and they
start talking about, you know, something that's on their mind.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's the same thing with with lego. So we build
legos together and we still.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Do and like it just lead the natural conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yea, the conversation comes up and this and that.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So how did you navigate like talking about kind of
the more complicated or painful things about the world.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know, it's really about I always feel like it's
about trying to give them or present them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Maybe it's this, you know what I mean? Or are
you kind of leading questions?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
How do you feel about that? You know, it's like
what is it where? And where does it where? He'd
always say, you do I feel it right here? You know,
And I'm like, that's a good place to feel it,
you know, and I think just kind of a supportive,
nurturing but totally engaged. You have to be totally engaged
because they will turn off just like that if you're not,
if they don't feel like you're involved. You mentioned your
work with Miles Yes, who is now seven a half
(07:12):
and a half almost day, but you said something that
was very interesting because he said he turned to you,
and he said, I don't know anything about you, and
I was like, oh my god. That is the beginning
of It's of not so much just toward me self aware,
but it's like they're turning the camera out now and
they're like, tell me about you and I and that
(07:33):
process is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's very exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Because now I've been doing this for I'm in my
fifth year of doing of interviewing kids. Wow, And it's
like I have these ongoing relationships with these families and
these kids, and you start to see them like literally
do that. And like even these two girls, I mean
and Avery, who I've known since they were like four
or five. They're a little too old to come on
the show now, but like every four or five months,
(07:56):
I get dinner with their family and like now they
like ask me about what I'm doing, and it's like
they have these whole things going on and they're starting
to form their own interests and like this one girl, Sophie,
just wrote her first like book. It's handwritten and like
hand illustrated, but like she shared that with me and
it's like very cool. I feel like I'm this unique
position where I'm like.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Not a teacher. I'm like, not a family member, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You, like a friend.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I'm like a friend, and they share with me what
they're interested in working on. And I've already written one,
like a letter of recommendation from middle school, like I'm
in this. And when I was filling out the form,
it said like relationship and I put coworker, which I
thought was that's funny to me. And one more thing
I'll say is like when I started the show, the
big thesis was like, what can I, as a young
(08:41):
person learn from kids? How can I be a better adult?
And that was when I was like twenty yeah, and
I'm almost twenty.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Six, and what have you?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I like, I feel much more like an adult now
than when I started the show at least, and I've
grown up a lot too over that time, and I
feel a lot more self assured. And I feel honestly like,
maybe not because of the kids entirely, but like, alongside
the kids, I've also come into myself in a lot
of ways. So it's been a cool dual experience.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Do you think kids are in your future? Your own kids?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Is that something I feel too young to think about it. Yeah,
but like I think i'd be a great dad.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I think you'd be a great dad too.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Did you want kids of twenty five?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I did not? Right, No, I didn't have kids. I
had kids late. I had our son who was of forty.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Oh wow. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Part of it was about meeting the right person. And
I think part of it was just me growing up
to be honestly, Yeah, and I don't know. I mean,
I grew up with three brothers. We had a great family,
really close together, love each other very much. But my
youngest brother he got married early, had kids, three kids.
My other brother, my middle brother, no kids. And me
we have one boy, my wife and I and we're
just thrilled. And it is truly. There's nothing that I
(09:46):
can say to someone who doesn't have kids to make
them understand.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And maybe you probably be.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
The closest, but because you don't realize there's a there's
a door in your heart, right but you don't see
the door.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, and it's completely covered.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
And suddenly when you start this journey, you see the
outline of the door and then you open the door
and you and there's a whole another world of love
that exists through that door that you didn't even know
was there. I don't care if you have your real
close friends or your family nieces and nephews's, that's a
certain kind of love.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But for your own child, it's very specific.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I see that with parents a lot, especially with your parents.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
It's like it's very exciting and very like beautiful, and
it makes it can make me a It's made me
emotional before just seeing parents watch their kids do things
and do them to varying degrees of success, but always
feeling as excited.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, can I ask you a question? Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Sure, I was just talking about like DC's of shows
and stuff. I feel like anytime someone takes on a
new project, that's like I feel like there's always some
personal growth. I'm wondering, what are you hoping? What growth
journey are you hoping to go on with this project?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh my god, it's really a journey of discovery. I guess.
I mean that sounds dumb.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
But you know, I like talking to people, which I
never really thought I would enjoy. But it started with
the wine, to be quite honest, and talking about my
wine and meeting people that I didn't know and just
talking and chatting, and I really enjoy it. So I said,
you know what, there is there is this whole other
wave of things happening, and I see it happening with
my son. Primarily, there's a motivation there because it's like,
(11:19):
what is that world?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How old is he now?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
He's seventeen almost seen, it'll be seventeen in July.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Are you guys friends now?
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oh yeah, we've always he's we have a really good relationship.
He's he's very We've always just spoken to him kind
of the way you treat with talk to kids. You
just talk to them and you genuinely are interested and
you don't try to push them away or do anything.
You try to really help in the moment and be present.
I mean, there's nothing that's that I think is the
most important thing. Just be present with your kids.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I have a lot of parents.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I have a lot of parents, and I think like
having five, there was a six for a while they
broke out, okay, but like having adults at a young
age talk to you with like some level of equality.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I don't know, I think.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You'rephistication necessarily, but just.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Like I think that is an interesting experience as a kid.
Like I remember being kid and being sitting at the
table and I was like with like my dads and
like my uncles and like trying to keep up with
the conversation and feeling like I was like getting away
with something or like it was very exciting, and I
don't know, it's a thrilling experience.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
That's a really good memory. That's a that's a core memory.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I think right there, I like hope when I work
with kids they feel like they're like getting to be
part of the adult conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yeah, I feel and I feel like you do that
and I feel like, you know, in front of the
camera with all the stuff going on, I think you
accomplish it.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I think it's not easy.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, it's not easy, but I think you demonstrated so
beautifully and it's so and it's so interesting to have.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Honestly, you don't know what's going to come out of
your mouth.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
You never know. We I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Stories we have complete editing control.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
We can keep it so after a lot of discussion
with the parents, with the team, we're posting something. We're
talking to children about outer space and aliens and this
little girl gem she's in kindergarten and we're wrapping up
the interview and I go, there's anything else you want
to say before we go kind of I always say
that at the end, it's or anything around. She goes, yes, yeah, yeah,
(13:18):
I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to you about nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And I went, wow, okay. She went that was bad,
and I go, I know. She goes, I wasn't born yet.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I go, I was.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
She was like, it was really hard for a lot
of people. I go, yeah, I go, why do you
Why do you know about this? And she was like
this girl she was nine, she told me, and I
was like, that's so interesting, and then she changed the
subject just like that. But it was just like I've
never I never expected to talk to kindergartener about nine
to eleven. I didn't want to provide any additional information.
(13:52):
I was fascinated that she was thinking about it and
I had something to say about it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, and concerned and genuinely sort of seemed like kind
of worried about it.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I was worried about it. It was bad.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
We've anticipated something landing different. Like we had a little girl.
She had her own n f T business and she
was selling her n f ts from like a lemonade stand,
so she like had a like little jar of money
and like images of the n f T s and
you could buy one. This is back when NFT is awesome.
Love NFTs and I had this fantastic interview with her.
(14:24):
It was very interesting. Her mom was like helping her
draw these like unicorns and I was like, oh, this
is so bizarre, and.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It was unicorn NFTs. It was like I want one
the apes the apes Rember.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
We posted it and every comment was like this is disgusting,
like this is what's wrong with this country, and I
was like, that's not what I want. Like I was like,
this is like funny and interesting, and people were like
being mean, and I think whenever people are being mean
about a child, it's not worth giving people that platform.
(14:58):
Something I'll say about the Internet that I find challenging
that like, you know, you've dealt with like reviews and
people's opinions, but like, what's so challenging about posting something
on the Internet is it's as if, like you know,
the reviews are right under it. Oh yeah, like you
can't separate them. They're right there. I think it definitely affects.
It's me and what I put out.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
How can it not you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
How can I not Because you have a certain way
of you're presenting something and you think of it, You're
coming at it from a certain point of view, and
many people will also come at it from that point.
And then there people who won't, you know, for whatever
reason they choose not to. They strikes a chord something
probably in them. What they really should be doing is
sort of looking inside themselves and going, how why am
I having misreaction to something that's obviously done nothing to do? Yeah,
(15:42):
in a different way, but anyway, that's sorry. Anyway that
will be our psychological exactly we'll do later on. I
love the story about sitting at the table and having
because I feel like you had the experience that that
kind of experience of being part of the group, of
having your opinion, matter of people being curious about you,
that developed very early on, and and I feel like
(16:04):
with Callum it was sort of the same way. We
always spoke to him really, really clearly and directly and
told him what was kind of going on. I mean,
you know, there's things you don't you don't talk about,
but just so that he could sort of understand, and
he always seemed to be pretty he seemed to take
things in and he was pretty pretty available and made.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Good decisions, you know. So it's a it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So I think it does wonders. I genuinely feel that way.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, So you are perhaps one of the busiest men
working in the business right now.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
You know, it's really hot. You know, we get calls
every day from agents, manager, But are you.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Doing stand up as well?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Well?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Is that right? Or do I have that wrong?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Much less?
Speaker 4 (16:41):
My research is telling me that you do comedy, improv comedy,
which is like the poor man's stand up comedy.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I think it's more what's pretty comedy?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Improv is darn I love I do you have you
done improv?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I've done improv? Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It's it's fun. Fred Armison and Carry Brown seen landa together.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I mean I went to you went to acting school
and I went to acting schools, like, yeah, improv is part
of the curriculum.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I was terrible.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You know, it's terrible because I'm in my head all
these things and and that's.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Why you're doing a podcast. I loved it. It is
one of the most challenging things.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It is for me.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It's like, I don't care what happens with my career, Well,
that's not true. I do it butt or well in
the in the service of the sentence, that's true. No
matter what happens in my career, I hope I never
stopped doing improv shows for audiences of three to ten people.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That's my church. I love that. Only three though, that's no.
I don't want to any market.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
That's what you need.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I like love doing improv.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
It feels like you have to put aside ego in
a certain way to a good improv. Audience is happy
to watch you do anything as long as I know
you're trying your best, and I just feel like there's
something very It's like pure creativity. It's like whatever you're
thinking of it's suddenly it's like playing pretent. It's like
being not you know, there's other facets to me that
(18:03):
my work with kids, but in a sense it is
the only or my only experience of like playing pretend
as an adult. I feel like playing pretend is such
a core way that kids navigate the world and understand
the world, and then we kind of lose that at
a certain point, and then I think comedy improv is
like doing that. But like as a whole room, like,
(18:23):
you're all engaged.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You do you involve? Is everyone involved? Are you sort
of solo? Are you picking up people?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
We're called the he has a troop.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
We're called the Doppelgangers. It's me Lisa Walter, Aaron bal
and Josh Yeah. And we all look exactly the same
and we do a comedy improv show. I think I
love it and I've been doing improvs Does in the
third grade.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I was reading this.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
You were out out and about doing interviews and things
like this or was this improve that you started or
did you because it was involved kind of interviewing people,
which you spoken about earlier. But tell me about the
years old you're improving your Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
When I was, I wish no.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
I yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I come from a family of comedy entprisers.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
No.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
My only nepotism is that my parents growing up wore
kids themselves, and so that's I think that's a lot.
They also raised me as a child. But anyway, I
when I was in the third or fourth grade, they
did a great job.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Thank you. Yes.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
These two improvisers, Mike and Laura came into my elementary school.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Petwey one okay, shout out.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And you know, you never know what you're gonna put
in front of a child that's going to change their life.
And for me, it was just these I remember every
part of the lesson. I remember them like we passed
all the energy. They did this example where they got
up and they were like, here's how to do bad
improv and one was like, fantastic day to be at
sea and the other one was like we're standing in
a classroom, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And I was like, yes, you got it immediately it
was bad yea.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
And then full circle moment was last year I started
a new show called Celebrity Substitute.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Where we have oh my god, I know this, Oh
my god, it's fun where we have Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I got nervous watching it, but go ahead, you should
come on it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You You welcome anytime.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
And I want to ask you, what what do you
think I should teach?
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah, let me let me let me think think
about that.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, but finish the story. Finish the story.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
We had Keenan Thompson from SNL come teach improv my
elementary Good kids amazing, And it was like this really
cool full circle moment where I was also like teaching
the improv with Keenan and like, you know, he's so lovely.
And saw a kid from that shoot the other day
and she was like, when can we do that again?
(20:39):
Like when when can you come back and do more
improv with that song. I was like no, but like
you can do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, yeah, you've got to. We found we found a person.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
What would you teach an elementary school class wine taste.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Penmanship would be, we're gonna learn cursive.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Do you have good penmanship? I do? I don't, I do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I had the fourth grade Missus Matson, Missus Mattson would
not allow me to move forward into fifth grade unless
site and so I was literally you know with those
remember of the paper it was like kind of more
horizontal like this with the lines across it, and we
had to do a's and these all the way through.
And I think it began to appeal to the ADHD
(21:19):
and me.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I began to like, go, I like this and I
would make and I try to get more and more perfect.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
It appealed to like I need this to be perfect now.
So suddenly I started paying attention to something and I really,
I really liked that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I thought I could be a calligrapher. It was like,
this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Well, that's fantastic, and then look at you now and
look at me now. I can always fall back on
calligraphy if this doesn't want.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
It's a huge market for me.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You know, do you ever see cursive anymore?
Speaker 6 (21:44):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well. I think that was one of the last classes
to take.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Cursive were because we did cursive and typing, and I
don't think people learn either of those anymore. I think
you grow up learning how to type and cursively. I
was not in the third second grade. If your handwriting
was good enough, you would earn the ability to use
a pen because your words were worth saying.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I never got one. Holly Stewart, I love her to dad. Yeah,
but she never believed in me.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Dang.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
No, she believed that she wouldn't give you give me
a bad.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Dang, that's terrible. We had a kid in school I remember,
in first grade, and he would make all his letters.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
With a ruler. Wow, not easy to make a circle
with the hard ass, and he would. Yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
I mean, his writing was impeccable. Maybe he went on
to become an architect.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
That's like joping like it's like, do it without that,
I'll be a ruler.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I mean I was like, wow, that's intense, Kyle.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Why don't we ask about the playground slang and then
maybe this whole carry a wallet situation that is true?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
So slang is yeah, slang is also an important thing,
So I riz, yeah, because I know some because of
my son, and you know you have to pay attention.
So Riz, I got s give it the I remember
that it's changes.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
So quickly, can you give me like right to the camera, like,
what a fan it's I don't know if I like,
I think it funny of him.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Okay, so let's do a new intro to the pod.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Okay, so I would just like, what a fam it's
your boy, But don't include me saying okay.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
What up, fam, it's your boy. You know what happens
with that?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
What do you want to start gesticulating in a different
way and you're like, what up, fam, it's your boy?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You want to start say Kyle, you know, like, really,
what a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Fam it's your boy? Kyle McLachlan here at the podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Say check check it Yai.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, that's I would never say that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
No, I felt you just did.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
But that's because I know, I mean, the know, what
are the kids saying these days?
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So you you deal, they're pretty young, do they have So.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Here's my experience.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I hate when the kids say slang to me. This
is a bit of a soap box of mine. Back
in the day, back when we were kids, Yes, wait, give.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Me your hand.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
When we were young, when we were young, well, when
we were young, dial was never young.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You've been like, well, they were like micro dialects. There
were like slang that was regional. It didn't travel, didn't
travel like.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
You know, when I was a kid, I grew up
in Brooklyn, moved to Philly. In Philly, I was like,
what the hell are they talking about? They'd say things
like that's chalked, and like bowl young bull right, so sorry,
I want some chill bowl. And then but in New
York they say like brick to which means cold and
now means have an erection, but like slang.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
But anyway, what I was gonna say, learning, we're learning.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
But now it's like, because of TikTok and social media,
every kid speaks the same language. And then when they do,
it disappoints me because it means that they've Like when
a kid says bru.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
To me, do you know bruh?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, it hurts.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I don't say bruh. Yeah, you're you're letting the man win.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, you're losing your your regionalism. You're you're your low,
you're who you are, your person some of your personality.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Is I want like folklore, elementary school specific folklore. Yeah,
like I don't want everyone to know about like just
like like whatever's trending, like I don't care.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, sorry, it goes quick. I mean the things like, yeah,
when I was younger, what was groove? Groovy? That was good?
It was groovyvy I know that was and even cool.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It's cool, you know, I mean that had happened before,
but that was pretty universal.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Was cow Bungo when you were a kid?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Cal Bungo was cal? Yeah? Definitely for surfing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, but that was because of well, you know, you
get your slang sometimes from from the albums. He listened
to the album so Beach Boys, you know, Endless Summer.
You know you listened to that, or or comedy albums.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I learned a lot from Robin Williams. Oh albums I
shouldn't have learned.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Oh, god, oh, you shouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Thought of.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Like, my mom raised me with a lot of like also,
Gilligan's Island. I don't remember a lot of that, but
he's favorite stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, one of my favorite shows.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Really fantastic.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I grew up with Gilligan's.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Island and Julie and Galligan's ile skipper around Professor.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, yeah, I like how they My favorite fact about
that show is the know they did the theme song
and then after season one they like tacked on the
Professor and Mary and even though they were there the
whole time.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
No, I didn't know this really they came in later.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
No, No, they're in the show the whole time. Season one.
It's like the Billionaire and his wife.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
The movie SA and then and then rest and who
they are professor who didn't get a name? Yeah, yeah, anyway,
they shot the gilding. I love Gilligan's Island and I
did this year. I did this very short lived half
hour and we were filmed at the CBS Radford and
this is where they shot Giligan's Island. And they said
(26:37):
we would point to like it was like a parking
lot and said, oh, that's where the island was really yeah,
was gone, Yeah, totally, but I was like, wow, that's
that's it.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I had a weird experience on a lot semi recently,
which is I I've been filming my show Slabrity Substitute,
and it was like week after week just being in
elementary schools. And then I went to lay to do
something with Abbot Elementary and I like walked into a
Philadelphia public school that was on a sound stage and
it was very brain wow because it looks real.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
They captured it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, why Yeah, they do such a good job.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
They do such a good job. I know they can
make stuff. So speaking of that, so celebrity, what am
I going to do? Celebrity substitute?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We'd probably make you do some acting something.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
So I'm kind of acting thing. But it's sort of
hard because kids are just actors.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I mean, yeah, they do it.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I mean that we're crushing they're acting circles around those.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And Andrew he did everything I did. He in a
comedic of course. But the bit was that I was
the worst actor there, which was devastating. After it, you know,
I earned my BFA. I got the chance to be
in a big movie that I was making.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I have a BFA two. By the way, Really, University
of Washington, did you finish? I did? Really? I did?
I finished. I was there, I did the three year training.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I actually left a few months early to go got
a job at Ashland the Shakespeare Festival.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Started working.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yeah, I started working right right out right out of
the out of the gate, which is really good.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Make it five hundred dollars a month. Yes, that's pretty
I mean out of school. It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
It's prettyod.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Nineteen eighty two, I started recess therapy and they were
offering me two hundred dollars an episode. I started and
that was like, I like literally couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And it would take me like a week of work
to make.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
I would be like like hour for hours in the
sun gathering material.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You want to talk about my wallet?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
What do you want to know?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I want to know because I'm I'm really intrigued with
this because I would also like not look.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
This is my wall.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So I get as small as I possibly can. I
know there's a smaller version, but I'm sure you have
ears is on your phone. I'm gonna show you something, Okay,
show me what I can do?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
This is my phone. This is my phone background.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Okay, perfect throwing a town, great likeness.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So with Apple Intelligence, you can never So I here
are my cards?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, Well one time I posted back of my
credit card on Instagram and it was not buddy, and
then I keep my ID just back here, you tucket
back there. And then if I go to a cash
only restaurant one time I had to look at you know,
you can track your friends. Yes, I saw who was
(29:09):
around and I called and I said I need And.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You could have just gone to the bank, you know,
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I don't have any cards on me my name.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Okay, so you couldn't. But you can do. Can you
not do the tap touch list or if you cut?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I didn't know. Maybe I actually bet you cult chase.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I think you can do it.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah. Wallets are for suckers, and.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Listen, look at me. I'm a sucker.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Do you have anything silly in your wallet? I used
to carry like a Pokemon card really, which one shinks?
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:39):
What?
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You don't know that one. That's like I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
That my son started playing Pokemon.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, when I first started, you know, when Ganguar was
like the first thing.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
See huge huge. Who's your starter?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
My starter? My first Pokemon?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, the couple to start.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I don't think I have anything fun in here.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
You have a Crisp one hundred in the back.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I do. I wish I had my library card. That
would be really fun. Did you ever have a library card?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I did as a child. Yeah, I wish I still
had one.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
But now, I like, I honestly feel some onus to
like support local bookstores. Oh like, I feel like that's
such a struggling agree industry that I'm like, I agree,
but libraries are also important. I don't know, it's honestly,
it's a lose Liz.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, we are going to take a break, but when
we come back, we're going to have a special program.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And I might just reveal my surprise and a surprise.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
So stay with us.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
We're back.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Hello, everybody, We're back for finger Puppet friend time. No
idea what's going to happen? So you're a big puppet fan?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yes, going, I was really obsessed puppetry as a kid.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
My mom grew up with John On Henson, who was
Jim's son. They were like high school friends, so she
grew up going to Jim Henson, who, for those not
in the know, created the Muppets as Same Street, labyrinths
Ark Crystal, among other things. And so my mom was like,
grew up with that magic and raised me with that magic.
And then when I was thirteen, I was like, fuck it,
(31:18):
I'm gonna be a puppeteer. And I came pretty darn
close to.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Go was there a specific type of puppet that like
Muppet style?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
And then I was like, the truth is it was
like a very lonely thing to do as a thirteen
year old, Like it was just hours in my basement
making all my own friends sort of troubled.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And by making friends, I mean like puppet friends. Yeah, showing.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
So then I went to comedy improv. So we're from
what I understand, I feel as though you're justice in
the dark as eye. I think we're just gonna do
kind of some long, short, medium form improv.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah talking maybe as the puppets are shoking about a subject.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I think we're gonna see. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I brought I knew that this is happening, and I
brought some puppets that I made as a thirteen year old.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's not very sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
It could be fun.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Kyle Kyle, show us yours ours looks small and losory, but.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We are Yeah, we are small and insignificant, but we
have cool cat.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Have cool cat, chicky baby.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, ooh the microphone or the entertainer another entertainer.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Wow, they Yeah, we have these three cat orchestra prompt.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
They're a little their little piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Oh okay, sandworms in space.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
That sounds kind of cool.
Speaker 7 (32:38):
But is this an iracus specific it's sandworm or just
a beetlejuice sandworm?
Speaker 6 (32:43):
I think it could be any kind of sandworm.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
You know, the first sand worm I ever met was
a fantastic fellow.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
Gave gave me a whole new meaning to the word
sand worm.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
They get a bad rap out there, but really they're
just trying to do their best.
Speaker 6 (32:57):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
They really are.
Speaker 7 (32:59):
It's not How would you feel if you were a
thousand foot long tube?
Speaker 6 (33:04):
I would I would feel very free.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Actually, oh wow, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I would feel like I'm in my tube and I'm
exploring this sand wherever I go. I don't even know
what kind of voice I'm doing, but now needs a
cool cat. Yes, I'm a cool cat. I love the
idea of a sand worm. The idea of writing a
sandworm would be even more special. How do you do that?
Speaker 6 (33:25):
There's you could do hooks, you could do suction coups.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I have claws.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Do you have my wall?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (33:31):
I see, yes you do? Oh you yeah? Perfect? Well
I could I could grab on and then throw you
a rope. Ah, yes, let's climb. I would I would
love that. Fantastic writing. Should we not lext prompt? Yes?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Shall I go? Oh? This is good?
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Mm?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
You look hungry?
Speaker 7 (33:54):
Excuse me? Oh sorry, sorry, I'm just enjoying my newspaper
this morning.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Oh, I wondered if you might join me. I'm ordering
a slice of pie?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
What type?
Speaker 6 (34:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Pie?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Well, I like cherry pie. But do you have a favorite.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
I'd have to say I like a cherry pie panther.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh oh yes, that sounds really good.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Come over, come over here, come over, so yeah, tell me.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Do you have the coordinates?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yes? I do?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Seventeen okay, dash okay, fourteen great, dash too great.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
He'll be dead by morning.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, he will never know, he'll never know what hit him.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
No, it'll be a cherry he'll be a pie fest. Yes,
we're going to bounce with a pie. Yes, well, death
by Cherry and scene.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
And see all right our prompt as Bodega Princess.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
I love Princess. My microphone was slip just a little bit,
gonna keep moving my mouth when.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
They would you like to order anything, sir?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, this is a special place for me. I
have my favorite every every time. Do you have anything sparkly?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, well, uh can we get out of my uh
uh chop cheese making?
Speaker 6 (35:21):
No chop cheese, that's too violent.
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Massage to caress cheese cheese? Yeah, puts put some uh
sprinkle sprinkles, sparkles, Yeah, make a pretty style, Yeah, a
little confettie spark.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Let's get a t R on that.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Yeah, gr would be so good.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I'm so good.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
And is there any other any slippers?
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (35:43):
You got some some some some some slippers.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
On that toe. We're gonna make that, make it the
pretty way. Yeah, pink pink is possiblely good, pink pink slippers. No, no, no,
pink no shoot maybe no, I'm sorry midnight purple. They
don't work. Yeah, that's my second. All right, very good,
I'm ready, all right, we got it. Okay, thanks, I'm
going to enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It's gonna be fantastic.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
I'm about dake a cat. No really, yeah, I thought
you were extinct. They led people to believe that.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
But there's all the community of us where.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
You live in the in the show, so no one
can see you. Look. Oh I am I know you're
maybe royalty. Some have told me yes, actually I am
my parents. Do you have any salmon?
Speaker 7 (36:26):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Salmon? No, that I do, But it's very expensive. Yeah,
I want to resell it.
Speaker 7 (36:32):
Okay, the resell value is insane on fish fresh.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
It's very fresh. Okay, so I think you'll get a
good price. All right, let me send over my guy, please. Yeah,
I don't know about this.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
This is an old show. It's a complete show guy.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Oh wait you look.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
No, I'm new.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
Oh the ears gave it away.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
I do fish resell.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
Oh wow, did you go to school for that?
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Of course?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (37:01):
You but also sense for you because don't mess.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Yeah, you look really dangerous. I bet you're a good
fission seller. Gimme all right, hang on a second, let
me get it. Okay, it's a small piece, but it's good.
You're gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Have a good day.
Speaker 7 (37:20):
Now.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
I used to work with you pleasure. See all right, yeah, goodbye.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yes, thank you so much for Julian for being here
with me on what are We even doing?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
What are you doing next? Then?
Speaker 4 (37:33):
I just finished a book that I wrote that's coming
out in summer twenty six hopefully.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Congratulations. That's all we have time for today.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
I mean, there's more time in the day than not
for me.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
But not for us.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Actually we've got to go, but I want to thank
you all for joining us. I don't know what accent
I'm doing, but it's an accent and fantastic Thank you
for joining us to help us solve the greatest.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Miss Thank you for having me ky oh.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
It is a great, great pleasure. I don't know we
found out what are we even doing?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
But it's a little closer.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
We certainly did.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
It's a real pleasure.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Well sah, thank you a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
What Are We Even Doing? Is a production of iHeartMedia
and the Elvis Duran podcast Network, hosted by me Kyle
McLachlin and created and produced by Full Picture Productions Yay,
featuring music by Yata and artwork by Danica Robinson.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
For more information about the podcast, please visit our Instagram
and TikTok at wawed with Kyle, Please rate, review, and
subscribe to What Are We Even Doing on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Exclamation point
What do we even do?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What are we even doing?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Hey there everyone, I'm Kyle McLachlan, and we're about to
jump into what are we even Doing? Where we speak
with artists, musicians, creative people that are shaking up the
internet to discuss their creativity, their process, what really motivates
them and why they do what they do.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And I am so fortunate today to have a special guest.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Julian Shapiro Barnum with us, the host of Recess Therapy,
writer comedian, just very happy to speak with them. Welcome
to the podcast. The pod stew as we sometimes refer to.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Kyle, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
It's so fun to have you here. I am so
curious about what you have done, what you've created. I mean,
just the subject is unusual. It's like you you decided
you were going to speak with kids about everything, how
they feel and what's going on.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's been a fantastic adventure of it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, yeah, I bet what sort of brought you into this?
I asked you, was there a core memory, let's say
it was there. There's something that triggered this, and he went, Hey,
this is something that I want to do for you.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
It's one of those things where it's like I, you know,
you look back your life and you can see the
bread crumbs and you're like, oh, it makes sense that
I got here. But like inciting incident was I was
in college at Boston University, okay, and I'm very young.
I was there when COVID happened.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Okay, I hate you because you're so young, but that's right.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
I can feel the resentment. I was studying theater. I'm
a theater kid, and I was doing a lot of
like improv and playwriting and just making things like just
any chance I could. And then when COVID happened, all
of a sudden, we couldn't make anything together. And have
you did you during COVID do any like zoom theater
or nobody?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
But you definitely?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I started to zoom.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I actually have a wine business, and so I would
do tastings with people online over zoom because it was
the only way.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So we would send the wine out and do that.
So I kind of use it for that.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
But I think there was a I think maybe you're
going towards this is there was a kind of a
creative possibility here in a different way.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, I was just like my entire life, I had
been really drawn to doing things in person and like
doing theater and live comedy shows, and all of a sudden,
like it actually felt like torture to do a scene
with somebody through a computer like in my bedroom. And
so I was all of a sudden really drawn to
doing things outside and on the street, right, And I
think in one part it was like a loneliness thing.
(02:31):
It was I wanted to get out and connect with people,
kind of like right at the beginning of twenty twenty,
when COVID started, I would leave my apartment with a
microphone pack and like a camera, and sometimes I wouldn't
even talk to people. I would just be like wandering
around and the possibility of conversation like very aloring to
talk with me.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I did that for quite some time, and then end
of April I'd kind of gotten to the spot where
like every week I was gonna go out, I'm do
an interview. And one day I was in a playground
just relaxing with my friends. We were like enjoying the
sun whatever, and there were all these kids running around
and they were laughing and screaming and like literally just
(03:13):
having such a genuinely good time, and we were all
sour pusses and being very grumpy and like complaining, and
we were like, what the hell do they have that
we don't have? So we were very jealous, some might
say of the joy that the kids pos assed, And
so I was like, what if we asked them? What
if we were like walked around and asked the kids
like how they were so happy when they were also
(03:35):
in the online school and like dealing with COVID And
I went and I got a camera to a microphone,
and there's a lot of really funny, awkward early footage
from the first time I did this.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We we're like, are we really going.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
To like go up to these families and like ask
but if you could go, we did and it went
really well, and it was like I'd made a lot
of stuff that was like all right, we'll put this out,
but like it didn't really have anything to it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
This felt very special.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Immediately, Yeah, you're onto something.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, it felt it felt like.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Deeper, yeah, and genuine I think that's one of the
things about the show. There's an authenticity to it that
I really respond to, you know, I think coming from
the theater where I think one as an actor, one
is very very open and very accessible, and you want
to connect with people really quickly, you know, because you
have to work with them and do a scene with them. Probably,
But with kids, I think they I think they respond
(04:24):
to that. The genuine interest that you have, that you
bring and the way you respond and work with them.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Is is is very very special. You know, yeah, you don't.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
There's no condencension or condensation unless I really want that.
I find really special because it sort of reminded me
as a dad. You know, my son was very very
young and he did start asking questions and things like that.
It's like, how do you respond, how do you how
do you really let them feel comfortable and also at
(04:56):
the same time answer the question but don't belittle it
or put it down. I don't think it's important. And
I think you really you handle that really beautifully.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
And so many people come up to me and they're like,
I hate kids, but like, like you make it so
vud and like you already down on kids, And I
really feel like my theory about that is I think
they're very interested in what they're interested in, and I
think it could sometimes be uncomfortable or like hard to
put aside your own interests and really just like throw
yourself into talking about like minecraft or like a big
(05:28):
rock or like something.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think a lot of it has to do with
as an adult you're speaking to a child who's like
you have to basically go to them.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Like one of the kids I work with, Miles, Yes,
I've known him for three plus years, and the other
day we were filming something and he was like, I
don't know anything about you, And in my head, I
was like, guess don't. We don't really talk about me.
Like it's a lot of like me asking him about
his ideas and I share information about myself. But I like,
I don't need that from that type of relationship. Like
(05:56):
I have adult friends, but like I get so much
out of hearing them talk about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What they care about, what they care about.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
What was your son like obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So well, all all the regular things.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Legos was something, And honestly, I found that when we
were doing an activity together, whether it was building legos
or you know, if we were riding scooters.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Somewhere, that that stuff just starts to talk. You know,
they talk about it. As the kids get older, of course.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You're driving in the car next to them and they
start talking about, you know, something that's on their mind.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's the same thing with with lego. So we build
legos together and we still.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Do and like it just lead the natural conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yea, the conversation comes up and this and that.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So how did you navigate like talking about kind of
the more complicated or painful things about the world.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know, it's really about I always feel like it's
about trying to give them or present them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Maybe it's this, you know what I mean? Or are
you kind of leading questions?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
How do you feel about that? You know, it's like
what is it where? And where does it where? He'd
always say, you do I feel it right here? You know,
And I'm like, that's a good place to feel it,
you know, and I think just kind of a supportive,
nurturing but totally engaged. You have to be totally engaged
because they will turn off just like that if you're not,
if they don't feel like you're involved. You mentioned your
work with Miles Yes, who is now seven a half
(07:12):
and a half almost day, but you said something that
was very interesting because he said he turned to you,
and he said, I don't know anything about you, and
I was like, oh my god. That is the beginning
of It's of not so much just toward me self aware,
but it's like they're turning the camera out now and
they're like, tell me about you and I and that
(07:33):
process is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's very exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Because now I've been doing this for I'm in my
fifth year of doing of interviewing kids. Wow, And it's
like I have these ongoing relationships with these families and
these kids, and you start to see them like literally
do that. And like even these two girls, I mean
and Avery, who I've known since they were like four
or five. They're a little too old to come on
the show now, but like every four or five months,
(07:56):
I get dinner with their family and like now they
like ask me about what I'm doing, and it's like
they have these whole things going on and they're starting
to form their own interests and like this one girl, Sophie,
just wrote her first like book. It's handwritten and like
hand illustrated, but like she shared that with me and
it's like very cool. I feel like I'm this unique
position where I'm like.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Not a teacher. I'm like, not a family member, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
You, like a friend.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I'm like a friend, and they share with me what
they're interested in working on. And I've already written one,
like a letter of recommendation from middle school, like I'm
in this. And when I was filling out the form,
it said like relationship and I put coworker, which I
thought was that's funny to me. And one more thing
I'll say is like when I started the show, the
big thesis was like, what can I, as a young
(08:41):
person learn from kids? How can I be a better adult?
And that was when I was like twenty yeah, and
I'm almost twenty.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Six, and what have you?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I like, I feel much more like an adult now
than when I started the show at least, and I've
grown up a lot too over that time, and I
feel a lot more self assured. And I feel honestly like,
maybe not because of the kids entirely, but like, alongside
the kids, I've also come into myself in a lot
of ways. So it's been a cool dual experience.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Do you think kids are in your future? Your own kids?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Is that something I feel too young to think about it. Yeah,
but like I think i'd be a great dad.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I think you'd be a great dad too.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Did you want kids of twenty five?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I did not? Right, No, I didn't have kids. I
had kids late. I had our son who was of forty.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Oh wow. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Part of it was about meeting the right person. And
I think part of it was just me growing up
to be honestly, Yeah, and I don't know. I mean,
I grew up with three brothers. We had a great family,
really close together, love each other very much. But my
youngest brother he got married early, had kids, three kids.
My other brother, my middle brother, no kids. And me
we have one boy, my wife and I and we're
just thrilled. And it is truly. There's nothing that I
(09:46):
can say to someone who doesn't have kids to make
them understand.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And maybe you probably be.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
The closest, but because you don't realize there's a there's
a door in your heart, right but you don't see
the door.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, and it's completely covered.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
And suddenly when you start this journey, you see the
outline of the door and then you open the door
and you and there's a whole another world of love
that exists through that door that you didn't even know
was there. I don't care if you have your real
close friends or your family nieces and nephews's, that's a
certain kind of love.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But for your own child, it's very specific.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I see that with parents a lot, especially with your parents.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
It's like it's very exciting and very like beautiful, and
it makes it can make me a It's made me
emotional before just seeing parents watch their kids do things
and do them to varying degrees of success, but always
feeling as excited.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, can I ask you a question? Sure?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Sure, I was just talking about like DC's of shows
and stuff. I feel like anytime someone takes on a
new project, that's like I feel like there's always some
personal growth. I'm wondering, what are you hoping? What growth
journey are you hoping to go on with this project?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh my god, it's really a journey of discovery. I guess.
I mean that sounds dumb.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
But you know, I like talking to people, which I
never really thought I would enjoy. But it started with
the wine, to be quite honest, and talking about my
wine and meeting people that I didn't know and just
talking and chatting, and I really enjoy it. So I said,
you know what, there is there is this whole other
wave of things happening, and I see it happening with
my son. Primarily, there's a motivation there because it's like,
(11:19):
what is that world?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How old is he now?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
He's seventeen almost seen, it'll be seventeen in July.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Are you guys friends now?
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oh yeah, we've always he's we have a really good relationship.
He's he's very We've always just spoken to him kind
of the way you treat with talk to kids. You
just talk to them and you genuinely are interested and
you don't try to push them away or do anything.
You try to really help in the moment and be present.
I mean, there's nothing that's that I think is the
most important thing. Just be present with your kids.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
I have a lot of parents.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I have a lot of parents, and I think like
having five, there was a six for a while they
broke out, okay, but like having adults at a young
age talk to you with like some level of equality.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I don't know, I think.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You'rephistication necessarily, but just.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Like I think that is an interesting experience as a kid.
Like I remember being kid and being sitting at the
table and I was like with like my dads and
like my uncles and like trying to keep up with
the conversation and feeling like I was like getting away
with something or like it was very exciting, and I
don't know, it's a thrilling experience.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
That's a really good memory. That's a that's a core memory.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
I think right there, I like hope when I work
with kids they feel like they're like getting to be
part of the adult conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yeah, I feel and I feel like you do that
and I feel like, you know, in front of the
camera with all the stuff going on, I think you
accomplish it.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I think it's not easy.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, it's not easy, but I think you demonstrated so
beautifully and it's so and it's so interesting to have.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Honestly, you don't know what's going to come out of
your mouth.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
You never know. We I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Stories we have complete editing control.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
We can keep it so after a lot of discussion
with the parents, with the team, we're posting something. We're
talking to children about outer space and aliens and this
little girl gem she's in kindergarten and we're wrapping up
the interview and I go, there's anything else you want
to say before we go kind of I always say
that at the end, it's or anything around. She goes, yes, yeah, yeah,
(13:18):
I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to you about nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And I went, wow, okay. She went that was bad,
and I go, I know. She goes, I wasn't born yet.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I go, I was.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
She was like, it was really hard for a lot
of people. I go, yeah, I go, why do you
Why do you know about this? And she was like
this girl she was nine, she told me, and I
was like, that's so interesting, and then she changed the
subject just like that. But it was just like I've
never I never expected to talk to kindergartener about nine
to eleven. I didn't want to provide any additional information.
(13:52):
I was fascinated that she was thinking about it and
I had something to say about it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, and concerned and genuinely sort of seemed like kind
of worried about it.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I was worried about it. It was bad.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
We've anticipated something landing different. Like we had a little girl.
She had her own n f T business and she
was selling her n f ts from like a lemonade stand,
so she like had a like little jar of money
and like images of the n f T s and
you could buy one. This is back when NFT is awesome.
Love NFTs and I had this fantastic interview with her.
(14:24):
It was very interesting. Her mom was like helping her
draw these like unicorns and I was like, oh, this
is so bizarre, and.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It was unicorn NFTs. It was like I want one
the apes the apes Rember.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
We posted it and every comment was like this is disgusting,
like this is what's wrong with this country, and I
was like, that's not what I want. Like I was like,
this is like funny and interesting, and people were like
being mean, and I think whenever people are being mean
about a child, it's not worth giving people that platform.
(14:58):
Something I'll say about the Internet that I find challenging
that like, you know, you've dealt with like reviews and
people's opinions, but like, what's so challenging about posting something
on the Internet is it's as if, like you know,
the reviews are right under it. Oh yeah, like you
can't separate them. They're right there. I think it definitely affects.
It's me and what I put out.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
How can it not you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
How can I not Because you have a certain way
of you're presenting something and you think of it, You're
coming at it from a certain point of view, and
many people will also come at it from that point.
And then there people who won't, you know, for whatever
reason they choose not to. They strikes a chord something
probably in them. What they really should be doing is
sort of looking inside themselves and going, how why am
I having misreaction to something that's obviously done nothing to do? Yeah,
(15:42):
in a different way, but anyway, that's sorry. Anyway that
will be our psychological exactly we'll do later on. I
love the story about sitting at the table and having
because I feel like you had the experience that that
kind of experience of being part of the group, of
having your opinion, matter of people being curious about you,
that developed very early on, and and I feel like
(16:04):
with Callum it was sort of the same way. We
always spoke to him really, really clearly and directly and
told him what was kind of going on. I mean,
you know, there's things you don't you don't talk about,
but just so that he could sort of understand, and
he always seemed to be pretty he seemed to take
things in and he was pretty pretty available and made.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Good decisions, you know. So it's a it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So I think it does wonders. I genuinely feel that way.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, So you are perhaps one of the busiest men
working in the business right now.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
You know, it's really hot. You know, we get calls
every day from agents, manager, But are you.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Doing stand up as well?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Well?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Is that right? Or do I have that wrong?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Much less?
Speaker 4 (16:41):
My research is telling me that you do comedy, improv comedy,
which is like the poor man's stand up comedy.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I think it's more what's pretty comedy?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Improv is darn I love I do you have you
done improv?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I've done improv? Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It's it's fun. Fred Armison and Carry Brown seen landa together.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I mean I went to you went to acting school
and I went to acting schools, like, yeah, improv is part
of the curriculum.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I was terrible.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You know, it's terrible because I'm in my head all
these things and and that's.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Why you're doing a podcast. I loved it. It is
one of the most challenging things.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It is for me.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It's like, I don't care what happens with my career, Well,
that's not true. I do it butt or well in
the in the service of the sentence, that's true. No
matter what happens in my career, I hope I never
stopped doing improv shows for audiences of three to ten people.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
That's my church. I love that. Only three though, that's no.
I don't want to any market.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
That's what you need.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I like love doing improv.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
It feels like you have to put aside ego in
a certain way to a good improv. Audience is happy
to watch you do anything as long as I know
you're trying your best, and I just feel like there's
something very It's like pure creativity. It's like whatever you're
thinking of it's suddenly it's like playing pretent. It's like
being not you know, there's other facets to me that
(18:03):
my work with kids, but in a sense it is
the only or my only experience of like playing pretend
as an adult. I feel like playing pretend is such
a core way that kids navigate the world and understand
the world, and then we kind of lose that at
a certain point, and then I think comedy improv is
like doing that. But like as a whole room, like,
(18:23):
you're all engaged.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You do you involve? Is everyone involved? Are you sort
of solo? Are you picking up people?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
We're called the he has a troop.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
We're called the Doppelgangers. It's me Lisa Walter, Aaron bal
and Josh Yeah. And we all look exactly the same
and we do a comedy improv show. I think I
love it and I've been doing improvs Does in the
third grade.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I was reading this.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
You were out out and about doing interviews and things
like this or was this improve that you started or
did you because it was involved kind of interviewing people,
which you spoken about earlier. But tell me about the
years old you're improving your Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
When I was, I wish no.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
I yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I come from a family of comedy entprisers.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
No.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
My only nepotism is that my parents growing up wore
kids themselves, and so that's I think that's a lot.
They also raised me as a child. But anyway, I
when I was in the third or fourth grade, they
did a great job.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Thank you. Yes.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
These two improvisers, Mike and Laura came into my elementary school.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Petwey one okay, shout out.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And you know, you never know what you're gonna put
in front of a child that's going to change their life.
And for me, it was just these I remember every
part of the lesson. I remember them like we passed
all the energy. They did this example where they got
up and they were like, here's how to do bad
improv and one was like, fantastic day to be at
sea and the other one was like we're standing in
a classroom, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And I was like, yes, you got it immediately it
was bad yea.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
And then full circle moment was last year I started
a new show called Celebrity Substitute.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Where we have oh my god, I know this, Oh
my god, it's fun where we have Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I got nervous watching it, but go ahead, you should
come on it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You You welcome anytime.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
And I want to ask you, what what do you
think I should teach?
Speaker 7 (20:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah, let me let me let me think think
about that.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, but finish the story. Finish the story.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
We had Keenan Thompson from SNL come teach improv my
elementary Good kids amazing, And it was like this really
cool full circle moment where I was also like teaching
the improv with Keenan and like, you know, he's so lovely.
And saw a kid from that shoot the other day
and she was like, when can we do that again?
(20:39):
Like when when can you come back and do more
improv with that song. I was like no, but like
you can do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, yeah, you've got to. We found we found a person.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
What would you teach an elementary school class wine taste.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Penmanship would be, we're gonna learn cursive.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Do you have good penmanship? I do? I don't, I do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I had the fourth grade Missus Matson, Missus Mattson would
not allow me to move forward into fifth grade unless
site and so I was literally you know with those
remember of the paper it was like kind of more
horizontal like this with the lines across it, and we
had to do a's and these all the way through.
And I think it began to appeal to the ADHD
(21:19):
and me.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I began to like, go, I like this and I
would make and I try to get more and more perfect.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
It appealed to like I need this to be perfect now.
So suddenly I started paying attention to something and I really,
I really liked that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I thought I could be a calligrapher. It was like,
this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Well, that's fantastic, and then look at you now and
look at me now. I can always fall back on
calligraphy if this doesn't want.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
It's a huge market for me.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You know, do you ever see cursive anymore?
Speaker 6 (21:44):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well. I think that was one of the last classes
to take.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Cursive were because we did cursive and typing, and I
don't think people learn either of those anymore. I think
you grow up learning how to type and cursively. I
was not in the third second grade. If your handwriting
was good enough, you would earn the ability to use
a pen because your words were worth saying.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I never got one. Holly Stewart, I love her to dad. Yeah,
but she never believed in me.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Dang.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
No, she believed that she wouldn't give you give me
a bad.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Dang, that's terrible. We had a kid in school I remember,
in first grade, and he would make all his letters.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
With a ruler. Wow, not easy to make a circle
with the hard ass, and he would. Yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
I mean, his writing was impeccable. Maybe he went on
to become an architect.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
That's like joping like it's like, do it without that,
I'll be a ruler.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I mean I was like, wow, that's intense, Kyle.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Why don't we ask about the playground slang and then
maybe this whole carry a wallet situation that is true?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
So slang is yeah, slang is also an important thing,
So I riz, yeah, because I know some because of
my son, and you know you have to pay attention.
So Riz, I got s give it the I remember
that it's changes.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
So quickly, can you give me like right to the camera, like,
what a fan it's I don't know if I like,
I think it funny of him.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Okay, so let's do a new intro to the pod.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Okay, so I would just like, what a fam it's
your boy, But don't include me saying okay.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
What up, fam, it's your boy. You know what happens
with that?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
What do you want to start gesticulating in a different
way and you're like, what up, fam, it's your boy?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You want to start say Kyle, you know, like, really,
what a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Fam it's your boy? Kyle McLachlan here at the podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Say check check it Yai.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, that's I would never say that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
No, I felt you just did.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
But that's because I know, I mean, the know, what
are the kids saying these days?
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So you you deal, they're pretty young, do they have So.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Here's my experience.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I hate when the kids say slang to me. This
is a bit of a soap box of mine. Back
in the day, back when we were kids, Yes, wait, give.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Me your hand.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
When we were young, when we were young, well, when
we were young, dial was never young.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You've been like, well, they were like micro dialects. There
were like slang that was regional. It didn't travel, didn't
travel like.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
You know, when I was a kid, I grew up
in Brooklyn, moved to Philly. In Philly, I was like,
what the hell are they talking about? They'd say things
like that's chalked, and like bowl young bull right, so sorry,
I want some chill bowl. And then but in New
York they say like brick to which means cold and
now means have an erection, but like slang.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
But anyway, what I was gonna say, learning, we're learning.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
But now it's like, because of TikTok and social media,
every kid speaks the same language. And then when they do,
it disappoints me because it means that they've Like when
a kid says bru.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
To me, do you know bruh?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, it hurts.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I don't say bruh. Yeah, you're you're letting the man win.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, you're losing your your regionalism. You're you're your low,
you're who you are, your person some of your personality.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Is I want like folklore, elementary school specific folklore. Yeah,
like I don't want everyone to know about like just
like like whatever's trending, like I don't care.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, sorry, it goes quick. I mean the things like, yeah,
when I was younger, what was groove? Groovy? That was good?
It was groovyvy I know that was and even cool.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It's cool, you know, I mean that had happened before,
but that was pretty universal.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Was cow Bungo when you were a kid?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Cal Bungo was cal? Yeah? Definitely for surfing.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, but that was because of well, you know, you
get your slang sometimes from from the albums. He listened
to the album so Beach Boys, you know, Endless Summer.
You know you listened to that, or or comedy albums.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I learned a lot from Robin Williams. Oh albums I
shouldn't have learned.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Oh, god, oh, you shouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Thought of.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Like, my mom raised me with a lot of like also,
Gilligan's Island. I don't remember a lot of that, but
he's favorite stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, one of my favorite shows.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Really fantastic.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I grew up with Gilligan's.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Island and Julie and Galligan's ile skipper around Professor.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, yeah, I like how they My favorite fact about
that show is the know they did the theme song
and then after season one they like tacked on the
Professor and Mary and even though they were there the
whole time.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
No, I didn't know this really they came in later.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
No, No, they're in the show the whole time. Season one.
It's like the Billionaire and his wife.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
The movie SA and then and then rest and who
they are professor who didn't get a name? Yeah, yeah, anyway,
they shot the gilding. I love Gilligan's Island and I
did this year. I did this very short lived half
hour and we were filmed at the CBS Radford and
this is where they shot Giligan's Island. And they said
(26:37):
we would point to like it was like a parking
lot and said, oh, that's where the island was really yeah,
was gone, Yeah, totally, but I was like, wow, that's
that's it.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
I had a weird experience on a lot semi recently,
which is I I've been filming my show Slabrity Substitute,
and it was like week after week just being in
elementary schools. And then I went to lay to do
something with Abbot Elementary and I like walked into a
Philadelphia public school that was on a sound stage and
it was very brain wow because it looks real.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
They captured it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, why Yeah, they do such a good job.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
They do such a good job. I know they can
make stuff. So speaking of that, so celebrity, what am
I going to do? Celebrity substitute?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We'd probably make you do some acting something.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
So I'm kind of acting thing. But it's sort of
hard because kids are just actors.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I mean, yeah, they do it.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I mean that we're crushing they're acting circles around those.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
And Andrew he did everything I did. He in a
comedic of course. But the bit was that I was
the worst actor there, which was devastating. After it, you know,
I earned my BFA. I got the chance to be
in a big movie that I was making.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I have a BFA two. By the way, Really, University
of Washington, did you finish? I did? Really? I did?
I finished. I was there, I did the three year training.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I actually left a few months early to go got
a job at Ashland the Shakespeare Festival.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Started working.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yeah, I started working right right out right out of
the out of the gate, which is really good.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Make it five hundred dollars a month. Yes, that's pretty
I mean out of school. It was pretty good.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
It's prettyod.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Nineteen eighty two, I started recess therapy and they were
offering me two hundred dollars an episode. I started and
that was like, I like literally couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And it would take me like a week of work
to make.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
I would be like like hour for hours in the
sun gathering material.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You want to talk about my wallet?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
What do you want to know?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I want to know because I'm I'm really intrigued with
this because I would also like not look.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
This is my wall.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So I get as small as I possibly can. I
know there's a smaller version, but I'm sure you have
ears is on your phone. I'm gonna show you something, Okay,
show me what I can do?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
This is my phone. This is my phone background.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Okay, perfect throwing a town, great likeness.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So with Apple Intelligence, you can never So I here
are my cards?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, Well one time I posted back of my
credit card on Instagram and it was not buddy, and
then I keep my ID just back here, you tucket
back there. And then if I go to a cash
only restaurant one time I had to look at you know,
you can track your friends. Yes, I saw who was
(29:09):
around and I called and I said I need And.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You could have just gone to the bank, you know,
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I don't have any cards on me my name.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Okay, so you couldn't. But you can do. Can you
not do the tap touch list or if you cut?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I didn't know. Maybe I actually bet you cult chase.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I think you can do it.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah. Wallets are for suckers, and.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Listen, look at me. I'm a sucker.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Do you have anything silly in your wallet? I used
to carry like a Pokemon card really, which one shinks?
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:39):
What?
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You don't know that one. That's like I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
That my son started playing Pokemon.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, when I first started, you know, when Ganguar was
like the first thing.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
See huge huge. Who's your starter?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
My starter? My first Pokemon?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, the couple to start.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I don't think I have anything fun in here.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
You have a Crisp one hundred in the back.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I do. I wish I had my library card. That
would be really fun. Did you ever have a library card?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I did as a child. Yeah, I wish I still
had one.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
But now, I like, I honestly feel some onus to
like support local bookstores. Oh like, I feel like that's
such a struggling agree industry that I'm like, I agree,
but libraries are also important. I don't know, it's honestly,
it's a lose Liz.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, we are going to take a break, but when
we come back, we're going to have a special program.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And I might just reveal my surprise and a surprise.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
So stay with us.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
We're back.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Hello, everybody, We're back for finger Puppet friend time. No
idea what's going to happen? So you're a big puppet fan?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yes, going, I was really obsessed puppetry as a kid.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
My mom grew up with John On Henson, who was
Jim's son. They were like high school friends, so she
grew up going to Jim Henson, who, for those not
in the know, created the Muppets as Same Street, labyrinths
Ark Crystal, among other things. And so my mom was like,
grew up with that magic and raised me with that magic.
And then when I was thirteen, I was like, fuck it,
(31:18):
I'm gonna be a puppeteer. And I came pretty darn
close to.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Go was there a specific type of puppet that like
Muppet style?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
And then I was like, the truth is it was
like a very lonely thing to do as a thirteen
year old, Like it was just hours in my basement
making all my own friends sort of troubled.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And by making friends, I mean like puppet friends. Yeah, showing.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
So then I went to comedy improv. So we're from
what I understand, I feel as though you're justice in
the dark as eye. I think we're just gonna do
kind of some long, short, medium form improv.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah talking maybe as the puppets are shoking about a subject.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I think we're gonna see. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I brought I knew that this is happening, and I
brought some puppets that I made as a thirteen year old.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It's not very sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
It could be fun.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Kyle Kyle, show us yours ours looks small and losory, but.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We are Yeah, we are small and insignificant, but we
have cool cat.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Have cool cat, chicky baby.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, ooh the microphone or the entertainer another entertainer.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Wow, they Yeah, we have these three cat orchestra prompt.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
They're a little their little piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Oh okay, sandworms in space.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
That sounds kind of cool.
Speaker 7 (32:38):
But is this an iracus specific it's sandworm or just
a beetlejuice sandworm?
Speaker 6 (32:43):
I think it could be any kind of sandworm.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
You know, the first sand worm I ever met was
a fantastic fellow.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
Gave gave me a whole new meaning to the word
sand worm.
Speaker 7 (32:54):
They get a bad rap out there, but really they're
just trying to do their best.
Speaker 6 (32:57):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
They really are.
Speaker 7 (32:59):
It's not How would you feel if you were a
thousand foot long tube?
Speaker 6 (33:04):
I would I would feel very free.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Actually, oh wow, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I would feel like I'm in my tube and I'm
exploring this sand wherever I go. I don't even know
what kind of voice I'm doing, but now needs a
cool cat. Yes, I'm a cool cat. I love the
idea of a sand worm. The idea of writing a
sandworm would be even more special. How do you do that?
Speaker 6 (33:25):
There's you could do hooks, you could do suction coups.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I have claws.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Do you have my wall?
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (33:31):
I see, yes you do? Oh you yeah? Perfect? Well
I could I could grab on and then throw you
a rope. Ah, yes, let's climb. I would I would
love that. Fantastic writing. Should we not lext prompt? Yes?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Shall I go? Oh? This is good?
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Mm?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
You look hungry?
Speaker 7 (33:54):
Excuse me? Oh sorry, sorry, I'm just enjoying my newspaper
this morning.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Oh, I wondered if you might join me. I'm ordering
a slice of pie?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
What type?
Speaker 6 (34:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Pie?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Well, I like cherry pie. But do you have a favorite.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
I'd have to say I like a cherry pie panther.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh oh yes, that sounds really good.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Come over, come over here, come over, so yeah, tell me.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Do you have the coordinates?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yes? I do?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Seventeen okay, dash okay, fourteen great, dash too great.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
He'll be dead by morning.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yes, he will never know, he'll never know what hit him.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
No, it'll be a cherry he'll be a pie fest. Yes,
we're going to bounce with a pie. Yes, well, death
by Cherry and scene.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
And see all right our prompt as Bodega Princess.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
I love Princess. My microphone was slip just a little bit,
gonna keep moving my mouth when.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
They would you like to order anything, sir?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, this is a special place for me. I
have my favorite every every time. Do you have anything sparkly?
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, well, uh can we get out of my uh
uh chop cheese making?
Speaker 6 (35:21):
No chop cheese, that's too violent.
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Massage to caress cheese cheese? Yeah, puts put some uh
sprinkle sprinkles, sparkles, Yeah, make a pretty style, Yeah, a
little confettie spark.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Let's get a t R on that.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Yeah, gr would be so good.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I'm so good.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
And is there any other any slippers?
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (35:43):
You got some some some some some slippers.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
On that toe. We're gonna make that, make it the
pretty way. Yeah, pink pink is possiblely good, pink pink slippers. No, no, no,
pink no shoot maybe no, I'm sorry midnight purple. They
don't work. Yeah, that's my second. All right, very good,
I'm ready, all right, we got it. Okay, thanks, I'm
going to enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It's gonna be fantastic.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
I'm about dake a cat. No really, yeah, I thought
you were extinct. They led people to believe that.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
But there's all the community of us where.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
You live in the in the show, so no one
can see you. Look. Oh I am I know you're
maybe royalty. Some have told me yes, actually I am
my parents. Do you have any salmon?
Speaker 7 (36:26):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Salmon? No, that I do, But it's very expensive. Yeah,
I want to resell it.
Speaker 7 (36:32):
Okay, the resell value is insane on fish fresh.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
It's very fresh. Okay, so I think you'll get a
good price. All right, let me send over my guy, please. Yeah,
I don't know about this.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
This is an old show. It's a complete show guy.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Oh wait you look.
Speaker 7 (36:51):
No, I'm new.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
Oh the ears gave it away.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
I do fish resell.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
Oh wow, did you go to school for that?
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Of course?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (37:01):
You but also sense for you because don't mess.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Yeah, you look really dangerous. I bet you're a good
fission seller. Gimme all right, hang on a second, let
me get it. Okay, it's a small piece, but it's good.
You're gonna love it.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Have a good day.
Speaker 7 (37:20):
Now.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
I used to work with you pleasure. See all right, yeah, goodbye.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yes, thank you so much for Julian for being here
with me on what are We even doing?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
What are you doing next? Then?
Speaker 4 (37:33):
I just finished a book that I wrote that's coming
out in summer twenty six hopefully.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Congratulations. That's all we have time for today.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
I mean, there's more time in the day than not
for me.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
But not for us.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Actually we've got to go, but I want to thank
you all for joining us. I don't know what accent
I'm doing, but it's an accent and fantastic Thank you
for joining us to help us solve the greatest.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Miss Thank you for having me ky oh.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
It is a great, great pleasure. I don't know we
found out what are we even doing?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
But it's a little closer.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
We certainly did.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
It's a real pleasure.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Well sah, thank you a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
What Are We Even Doing? Is a production of iHeartMedia
and the Elvis Duran podcast Network, hosted by me Kyle
McLachlin and created and produced by Full Picture Productions Yay,
featuring music by Yata and artwork by Danica Robinson.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
For more information about the podcast, please visit our Instagram
and TikTok at wawed with Kyle, Please rate, review, and
subscribe to What Are We Even Doing on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Exclamation point
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