October 22, 2020 • 12 mins
Hey, Citizen Chefs! In case you missed it, here's a replay of Tom's guest appearance on iHeartRadio's Why I'm Voting podcast. Take a listen and don't forget to vote on election day 2020!
If you want to change, preserve, or build a better America, there’s one easy way to make your voice heard: Vote. This year, iHeartRadio is teaming up with over 20 incredible celebrities (plus a handful of our most popular podcasters) to get the country excited to go vote, broadcasting the personal, emotional and heartfelt stories behind why showing up to the ballot box means so much-- not just as individuals, but for our entire nation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
At color Pop Cosmetics, we believe the beauty should be
within everyone's reach. True beauty is about giving yourself the
freedom to pop and color pap lets. You create your
own definition of beauty. Color prop is a leading cruelty
free cosmetics brand combining the latest trends with luxury quality
formulas at an affordable price. From super shack Shadow too
eyeshadow pellets in every color, to the best foundation and
(00:20):
concealer on the market. Check out the brand That's one
awards from Glamour at Lura and more. Learn more at
color Pop That's c O. L oh you are pop
dot com Beauty for everyone. That time you got home
from a week of double shifts and your dog didn't
recognize you. He hates me, hates me. Do you want
(00:41):
to dreat? You want to treat? You knew it was
time for something new. Let's drop it up. At career Builder.
You can find jobs with the work life balance and
salary you want, plus build a resume and apply to
multiple jobs in just one click. Start your search at
career builder dot com. Still living in manually taking notes,
(01:03):
there is a better way to start the new year
with auto dot Ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot
ai works for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and
Google Meet. Sign up on the web for free or
download in the app stores auto dot ai. That's O
T T E R dot Ai. The moment you realized
you were mistaking your kids for co workers? Okay, team,
(01:25):
I'm taking my fifteen Now. What was the moment you
knew it was time to get back to work? Let's
drop it up at career Builder are simple, customizable search
tool lets you search for part time, full time, and
even work from home jobs so you can find a
job that fits your lifestyle. Get started now at career
(01:46):
builder dot com. Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production
of I Heart Radio. Listen. You already know this, but
it's an election year. You might already be tired of
fearing about it. But here's the thing. Democracy doesn't work
without you. I'm Holly Frying, and I'm sitting down with
(02:10):
many of my fellow podcasters from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule,
as well as other luminaries to find out about their
relationships with the ballot box and ultimately just to find
out why they vote. I hope you're exercising your right
to vote, and if you're not, I hope that their
stories inspire you today. I am a very lucky person
(02:35):
because I am joined by Tom Collichio, who you know.
He is a chef and a TV personality. You have
seen him on shows like Top Chef, and he is
also currently hosting a podcast called Citizen Chef, which deals
with food and where it comes from the politics that
shape that entire system. So he is an absolutely perfect
guest to join us on Why I'm voting. Tom, thank
(02:57):
you so much for being here. Sure, thank you. My
first ques gen out of the gate is do you
recall when, probably as a kid, you realized that the
job of government was something that also included a responsibility
for you as a citizen. Absolutely. My father, UM was
a union organizer. UM. He was the president of his
p B A. He was a corrections officer in a
(03:18):
county jail and he was a president of his p
b A. UM. I remember him campaigning for people who
were running for Sheriff's department mayoral races in Elizabeth, New Jersey,
where I grew up, and so he was very active
in organizing around politics, and so at a very young
age I sort of was taught that that voting was important,
and so, uh, my first election was I remember my
(03:45):
father watched a lot of news, and I remember sitting
there watching the news and Reagan was on and I said,
ask guy, sounds okay, and my father just kind of snapped.
My father never snapped. He was like, don't you go
for this. This is your first election. We're Democrats. We
don't you know, We're not gonna vote for this guy.
And so that was that was, Uh, that that memory
(04:06):
is seared into my brain. Um, I think right now
in our house and I have two non voting children
that are nine and ten, soon to be eleven, and
a twenty seven year old, and they're pretty clear where
we stand. I love it. Indoctrination from the beginning. You
have to vote. So does that mean that you were
registered right away as soon as you could be at eighteen? Yes,
(04:27):
I think I voted in that election, and I've been
voting ever since. I don't think I've missed an election now.
I may miss some primaries along the way, although I
don't miss them anymore. I may miss some you know,
other local votes and stuff, but I don't anymore. In fact,
I actually changed my my registration address. I have a
I live in Brooklyn, but I also have a house
(04:49):
in Mattatuck, New York, and a small little town out
in Long Island, and so I actually changed my registrations
out here where my vote counts a little more than
in Brooklyn. I love it. You meant Shion that you
definitely keep up with local elections, and particularly because of
the nature of the show that you're working on, I
imagine some of those offices are extremely impactful from your
(05:11):
point of view in terms of like the food supply.
What do you do to research those people and make
sure that the candidates that you want to vote for
our upholding the ideals that you want to share and
keep going in the government? Well, I I asked the questions,
but even for even for those that I don't vote on,
for those that I support. I mean Antonio Delgado Um
(05:32):
was running uh in New York. I think it was
twenty one nothing, it wasn't twenty one nineteen maybe upstate
in New York, and I was at a fundraiser for
for him, and I asked those questions. And I didn't
know him at the time, And you know, the one
question I asked him was was what committees what he
likes to be on and he actually mentioned AGG And
I said, so why agg He you know, gave me
a great answer. So it's it's not just researching the
(05:53):
people that I can vote for UM, but it's also
researching people are support either with just social media support,
are with UM financial support as well. So I think, yeah,
you know, for me, Uh, it's it's it's important to
know where they stand. When there's an election coming up
where maybe people think that the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
(06:14):
Why would you say it's still important to vote in
those Oh, it's not a foregone conclusion. Nothing is. Listen,
this race is going to tighten up like most races
do I think at this stage of the game, do
Cacus was up by like fourteen fifteen points? Uh so, Uh,
it's it's never over till it's over. Although the national
polls were dead on in the last presidential election, most
(06:35):
people don't seem to realize that the national polls were
dead on. UM. Some of those state by state polls
can change pretty quickly. UM. And we saw that, you know,
in some cases, uh, forty votes made a difference. I
think a total of seventy votes made a difference. And
so yeah, vote votes are are important. And you know,
staying home and not voting is essentially the same thing
(06:56):
as voting for the other candidates. So you know, if
you're a mcrat and you just were Bernie Sanders supporter
and you decide that, well, you know he didn't he
didn't get in. So I'm just gonna protest that you're
voting for Trump. There's there's no doubt about that. And
so this election, no one can stay home and we
need to get people out. You know, right now, I
would say, not only do you need to register, you
(07:17):
need to register to vote UM via mail right now
if you can now prior to this unique moment in
time where we are all theoretically staying home as much
as possible, did you tend to vote on election day?
Were you an early voter? Did you already do mail in?
What was your usual set up? I used to vote
day of nowadays I'm voting early. You know, up until
(07:38):
this past mid term, New York didn't have early voting,
so I couldn't vote early. When I first started voting,
I voted in New Jersey, UM, where I grew up,
but I would vote the day of But now last election,
I voted early, and I think some of the local
elections I actually voted by mail, when since you vote
usually ahead of time, I'm wondering if on election day
you have any rituals as you watch the poll numbers
(07:59):
come in, as you do you do that with friends?
Do you like to be alone? Do you wear lucky socks?
What is election day like for you? I don't wear
lucky socks, but um, you know, I don't have a ritual,
although I do watch it religiously. A last presidential election,
I actually spend at the Javit Center. I was kind
of in an inner circle. I was a surrogate for
(08:19):
the campaign. I know, for both of um the elections
presidential elections. Prior to that, I actually watched them in
my restaurant and had a group of people and that
was really exciting. But no, I I don't, but I
typically glue to MSNBC watching the election returns. So you
mentioned that you have two kids that are not yet
voting age. If they start to get up towards eighteen,
(08:40):
or even if they have passed that age and they're
a little bit cavalier or maybe lack of days ago
and not all that interested in using their voice to vote.
What would you tell them to make sure they get
their butts to the polls. It's a hypothetical that I
hope I don't have to deal with because I believe
that again, we are we have these conversations about the
importance of voting. My wife especially, she believes in being
(09:02):
very direct and having these conversations at a very young age,
and so our children know where we stand. They know
the importance of voting something that we talk about. So
I'm hoping when they're a teen that they're gonna be,
you know, chomping at the bit to sign up um,
and if they don't, I will drag him down there
and they can sign up. My eldest sons same thing.
When he was eighteen, he signed up and he's very
(09:24):
active and uh follows the issues pretty closely. So so
I think if you grow up in a household that
that cares about the process and we don't take a
cynical approach that it's all bs um. I actually, you know,
happen to know a lot of politicians and and most
that I know are there for the right reasons, and
on both sides of the Aisle there. They are there
for the right reasons. They are there because they do
(09:45):
care about the process, They care about helping people. Most
are there because they're there because they want to They
want to do some good in the world. If only
we could get you to drag everybody who doesn't want
to use their right to vote to the polls or
to get their their registration done. I hope that that
makes very clear to anyone listening who is maybe on
the fence about doing their civic duty, that it is
(10:06):
that important. Sound Collegio would drag them to the polls.
It's it's great to be patriotic on on you know,
Labor Day and fourth of July and and all that
stuff and to you know, put the flag out and
to you know, do whatever you do to celebrate that
and feel good. But but really the most patriotic thing
that you can do is vote. You know, it's really special.
And when you see elections, whether they're happening in places
(10:28):
like Iran and even in Iraq where people go and
and are really you know, putting their their lives at risk,
are actually voting at times it's important when you look
at with the Sefarate jets, how to go through to
actually get the right for for women to vote, and
then you're just gonna kind of ignore that and go, eh,
well it's not that important or it really doesn't matter,
you know. I I think that that you're you're you're
(10:50):
not quite understanding what it takes to you know, what
it means to be an American, and that's what it means.
And I would go a step further. I would say,
you know, before voting, get out there and go to
a rally, go to a you know, if you get
invited to a fundraiser, you don't have to spend money,
but you can go and listen to someone. I want
to hear what Canada has to say. You know, the
process of watching someone run, watching someone raise money, watching
(11:14):
someone get out there and put themselves out there is
kind of, you know, really humbling. Not only getting out
and voting I think is really important, but really getting
informed and right now with social media is very easy.
If there's someone that that you want to follow, uh,
you can amplify their voice by retweeting. You can engage
um with them as well. If you want being active
(11:35):
in the process, not being active in politics, but being
active in the process is our duty and and uh,
that's that's why I vote. I love it. Thank you
so much, fun for taking this time with us today.
If anybody wants to follow you, where should they do that?
Make it? Follow me a Twitter, I think at Tom
CLICKI ar Ti clikio. Also on Instagram and you can
(11:56):
also subscribe to citizens. You have podcast that I Heart Radio.
I hope everyone does because it's a really good show. Tom.
Thank you again so much. Hey are you not registered
to vote yet? But you think it's something you want
to do? You may still have time. Voter registration deadlines
vary by state, so to find out the scoop for
(12:18):
where you are, check out a nonpartisan registration voting site
like headcount dot org or fair vote dot org. Why
I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen to your
favorite shows.
At color Pop Cosmetics, we believe the beauty should be
within everyone's reach. True beauty is about giving yourself the
freedom to pop and color pap lets. You create your
own definition of beauty. Color prop is a leading cruelty
free cosmetics brand combining the latest trends with luxury quality
formulas at an affordable price. From super shack Shadow too
eyeshadow pellets in every color, to the best foundation and
(00:20):
concealer on the market. Check out the brand That's one
awards from Glamour at Lura and more. Learn more at
color Pop That's c O. L oh you are pop
dot com Beauty for everyone. That time you got home
from a week of double shifts and your dog didn't
recognize you. He hates me, hates me. Do you want
(00:41):
to dreat? You want to treat? You knew it was
time for something new. Let's drop it up. At career Builder.
You can find jobs with the work life balance and
salary you want, plus build a resume and apply to
multiple jobs in just one click. Start your search at
career builder dot com. Still living in manually taking notes,
(01:03):
there is a better way to start the new year
with auto dot Ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot
ai works for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and
Google Meet. Sign up on the web for free or
download in the app stores auto dot ai. That's O
T T E R dot Ai. The moment you realized
you were mistaking your kids for co workers? Okay, team,
(01:25):
I'm taking my fifteen Now. What was the moment you
knew it was time to get back to work? Let's
drop it up at career Builder are simple, customizable search
tool lets you search for part time, full time, and
even work from home jobs so you can find a
job that fits your lifestyle. Get started now at career
(01:46):
builder dot com. Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production
of I Heart Radio. Listen. You already know this, but
it's an election year. You might already be tired of
fearing about it. But here's the thing. Democracy doesn't work
without you. I'm Holly Frying, and I'm sitting down with
(02:10):
many of my fellow podcasters from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule,
as well as other luminaries to find out about their
relationships with the ballot box and ultimately just to find
out why they vote. I hope you're exercising your right
to vote, and if you're not, I hope that their
stories inspire you today. I am a very lucky person
(02:35):
because I am joined by Tom Collichio, who you know.
He is a chef and a TV personality. You have
seen him on shows like Top Chef, and he is
also currently hosting a podcast called Citizen Chef, which deals
with food and where it comes from the politics that
shape that entire system. So he is an absolutely perfect
guest to join us on Why I'm voting. Tom, thank
(02:57):
you so much for being here. Sure, thank you. My
first ques gen out of the gate is do you
recall when, probably as a kid, you realized that the
job of government was something that also included a responsibility
for you as a citizen. Absolutely. My father, UM was
a union organizer. UM. He was the president of his
p B A. He was a corrections officer in a
(03:18):
county jail and he was a president of his p
b A. UM. I remember him campaigning for people who
were running for Sheriff's department mayoral races in Elizabeth, New Jersey,
where I grew up, and so he was very active
in organizing around politics, and so at a very young
age I sort of was taught that that voting was important,
and so, uh, my first election was I remember my
(03:45):
father watched a lot of news, and I remember sitting
there watching the news and Reagan was on and I said,
ask guy, sounds okay, and my father just kind of snapped.
My father never snapped. He was like, don't you go
for this. This is your first election. We're Democrats. We
don't you know, We're not gonna vote for this guy.
And so that was that was, Uh, that that memory
(04:06):
is seared into my brain. Um, I think right now
in our house and I have two non voting children
that are nine and ten, soon to be eleven, and
a twenty seven year old, and they're pretty clear where
we stand. I love it. Indoctrination from the beginning. You
have to vote. So does that mean that you were
registered right away as soon as you could be at eighteen? Yes,
(04:27):
I think I voted in that election, and I've been
voting ever since. I don't think I've missed an election now.
I may miss some primaries along the way, although I
don't miss them anymore. I may miss some you know,
other local votes and stuff, but I don't anymore. In fact,
I actually changed my my registration address. I have a
I live in Brooklyn, but I also have a house
(04:49):
in Mattatuck, New York, and a small little town out
in Long Island, and so I actually changed my registrations
out here where my vote counts a little more than
in Brooklyn. I love it. You meant Shion that you
definitely keep up with local elections, and particularly because of
the nature of the show that you're working on, I
imagine some of those offices are extremely impactful from your
(05:11):
point of view in terms of like the food supply.
What do you do to research those people and make
sure that the candidates that you want to vote for
our upholding the ideals that you want to share and
keep going in the government? Well, I I asked the questions,
but even for even for those that I don't vote on,
for those that I support. I mean Antonio Delgado Um
(05:32):
was running uh in New York. I think it was
twenty one nothing, it wasn't twenty one nineteen maybe upstate
in New York, and I was at a fundraiser for
for him, and I asked those questions. And I didn't
know him at the time, And you know, the one
question I asked him was was what committees what he
likes to be on and he actually mentioned AGG And
I said, so why agg He you know, gave me
a great answer. So it's it's not just researching the
(05:53):
people that I can vote for UM, but it's also
researching people are support either with just social media support,
are with UM financial support as well. So I think, yeah,
you know, for me, Uh, it's it's it's important to
know where they stand. When there's an election coming up
where maybe people think that the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
(06:14):
Why would you say it's still important to vote in
those Oh, it's not a foregone conclusion. Nothing is. Listen,
this race is going to tighten up like most races
do I think at this stage of the game, do
Cacus was up by like fourteen fifteen points? Uh so, Uh,
it's it's never over till it's over. Although the national
polls were dead on in the last presidential election, most
(06:35):
people don't seem to realize that the national polls were
dead on. UM. Some of those state by state polls
can change pretty quickly. UM. And we saw that, you know,
in some cases, uh, forty votes made a difference. I
think a total of seventy votes made a difference. And
so yeah, vote votes are are important. And you know,
staying home and not voting is essentially the same thing
(06:56):
as voting for the other candidates. So you know, if
you're a mcrat and you just were Bernie Sanders supporter
and you decide that, well, you know he didn't he
didn't get in. So I'm just gonna protest that you're
voting for Trump. There's there's no doubt about that. And
so this election, no one can stay home and we
need to get people out. You know, right now, I
would say, not only do you need to register, you
(07:17):
need to register to vote UM via mail right now
if you can now prior to this unique moment in
time where we are all theoretically staying home as much
as possible, did you tend to vote on election day?
Were you an early voter? Did you already do mail in?
What was your usual set up? I used to vote
day of nowadays I'm voting early. You know, up until
(07:38):
this past mid term, New York didn't have early voting,
so I couldn't vote early. When I first started voting,
I voted in New Jersey, UM, where I grew up,
but I would vote the day of But now last election,
I voted early, and I think some of the local
elections I actually voted by mail, when since you vote
usually ahead of time, I'm wondering if on election day
you have any rituals as you watch the poll numbers
(07:59):
come in, as you do you do that with friends?
Do you like to be alone? Do you wear lucky socks?
What is election day like for you? I don't wear
lucky socks, but um, you know, I don't have a ritual,
although I do watch it religiously. A last presidential election,
I actually spend at the Javit Center. I was kind
of in an inner circle. I was a surrogate for
(08:19):
the campaign. I know, for both of um the elections
presidential elections. Prior to that, I actually watched them in
my restaurant and had a group of people and that
was really exciting. But no, I I don't, but I
typically glue to MSNBC watching the election returns. So you
mentioned that you have two kids that are not yet
voting age. If they start to get up towards eighteen,
(08:40):
or even if they have passed that age and they're
a little bit cavalier or maybe lack of days ago
and not all that interested in using their voice to vote.
What would you tell them to make sure they get
their butts to the polls. It's a hypothetical that I
hope I don't have to deal with because I believe
that again, we are we have these conversations about the
importance of voting. My wife especially, she believes in being
(09:02):
very direct and having these conversations at a very young age,
and so our children know where we stand. They know
the importance of voting something that we talk about. So
I'm hoping when they're a teen that they're gonna be,
you know, chomping at the bit to sign up um,
and if they don't, I will drag him down there
and they can sign up. My eldest sons same thing.
When he was eighteen, he signed up and he's very
(09:24):
active and uh follows the issues pretty closely. So so
I think if you grow up in a household that
that cares about the process and we don't take a
cynical approach that it's all bs um. I actually, you know,
happen to know a lot of politicians and and most
that I know are there for the right reasons, and
on both sides of the Aisle there. They are there
for the right reasons. They are there because they do
(09:45):
care about the process, They care about helping people. Most
are there because they're there because they want to They
want to do some good in the world. If only
we could get you to drag everybody who doesn't want
to use their right to vote to the polls or
to get their their registration done. I hope that that
makes very clear to anyone listening who is maybe on
the fence about doing their civic duty, that it is
(10:06):
that important. Sound Collegio would drag them to the polls.
It's it's great to be patriotic on on you know,
Labor Day and fourth of July and and all that
stuff and to you know, put the flag out and
to you know, do whatever you do to celebrate that
and feel good. But but really the most patriotic thing
that you can do is vote. You know, it's really special.
And when you see elections, whether they're happening in places
(10:28):
like Iran and even in Iraq where people go and
and are really you know, putting their their lives at risk,
are actually voting at times it's important when you look
at with the Sefarate jets, how to go through to
actually get the right for for women to vote, and
then you're just gonna kind of ignore that and go, eh,
well it's not that important or it really doesn't matter,
you know. I I think that that you're you're you're
(10:50):
not quite understanding what it takes to you know, what
it means to be an American, and that's what it means.
And I would go a step further. I would say,
you know, before voting, get out there and go to
a rally, go to a you know, if you get
invited to a fundraiser, you don't have to spend money,
but you can go and listen to someone. I want
to hear what Canada has to say. You know, the
process of watching someone run, watching someone raise money, watching
(11:14):
someone get out there and put themselves out there is
kind of, you know, really humbling. Not only getting out
and voting I think is really important, but really getting
informed and right now with social media is very easy.
If there's someone that that you want to follow, uh,
you can amplify their voice by retweeting. You can engage
um with them as well. If you want being active
(11:35):
in the process, not being active in politics, but being
active in the process is our duty and and uh,
that's that's why I vote. I love it. Thank you
so much, fun for taking this time with us today.
If anybody wants to follow you, where should they do that?
Make it? Follow me a Twitter, I think at Tom
CLICKI ar Ti clikio. Also on Instagram and you can
(11:56):
also subscribe to citizens. You have podcast that I Heart Radio.
I hope everyone does because it's a really good show. Tom.
Thank you again so much. Hey are you not registered
to vote yet? But you think it's something you want
to do? You may still have time. Voter registration deadlines
vary by state, so to find out the scoop for
(12:18):
where you are, check out a nonpartisan registration voting site
like headcount dot org or fair vote dot org. Why
I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen to your
favorite shows.
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