A Simple Ask with Patton Oswalt and Alice's Kids

Funny people often overcome tragedy to bring humaneness to our everyday lives. Today's guest has done that and more! Emmy nominated comedian Patton Oswalt joins Kevin to talk about growing up as a military kid, falling in love with acting, and how they both ended up in entertainment. They are then joined by Ron Fitzsimmons, Executive Director of Alice's Kids - a non-profit focused on preserving the dignity of parents and giving kids the things they most desire though direct gifts.

To learn more and get involved with the Alice's Kids, head to AlicesKids.org. To support more initiatives like this program, text 'BACON' to 707070 or head to SixDegrees.Org to learn more. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, six degrees listeners, Kevin becon here, I got a
treat for you this episode. This is the one and
only hilarious Patton oswaldt joins me for a conversation that
is funny, funny, funny, funny, but also extremely insightful. As

(00:20):
you probably know, this guy knows how to make you laugh.
What here is a little teaser. Patton may have ended
up on a different career path if not for his
very blunt dad. I think we got to thank them though,
because you know, the world needs this dude doing his
comedy thing and it's stick around. Also because we shine

(00:43):
a spotlight on a grassroots organization doing amazing work supporting
students throughout the entire year, not just in the back
to school sessions. Yeah, I haven't really been looking forward
to this one. I'm a big fan, so lean in.
I'm glad you're here. Patton Oswald, thank you so much

(01:09):
for being here with me.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Ken, thank you fix having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Man. Hey, you know it's one of those weird like
I don't know I've are well. Of course, you know,
I play this dumb game where I try to figure
out connections between people. But I don't think that our
paths have crossed as far as I know, I don't
think we've been in the same thing, which is kind
of shocking.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, it is weird. We've never crossed directly. I'm sure
there is no more than a two or three person
gap between you and I. Apparently my wife was telling me.
My wife, Meredith Salinger, said that she this is back
in eighty six, so if you don't remember this, don't
even worry about it. She had just done a movie
called A Night in the Life at Jimmy Reared, and

(01:52):
she met you somewhere, either at a dinner or something,
and you were joking and like, oh, you just did
that movie with River Phoenix. I'm probably gonna play his
big brothers day.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's probably I mean, I'm sure she's not lying. I mean,
I'm sure she's not making it up, and that would
be something that I would have thought of. In fact,
you know, it's you know, that was such a you know,
sad thing I was. I loved her. I thought he
was great and yeah, and definitely you know, when he
was younger, he definitely, you know, we look like we

(02:21):
could have been brothers for sure. Absolutely, yes, But the
fact that you have been I mean, I think you've
been in like two hundred movies or something like that.
It's great, it's it just blows my mind, and it
makes it even even weirder that we haven't been in
the same thing together. Well, but you know, life is long,
so we'll we'll get to do that.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Life is long, and show business is weirdly small, so
eventually everybody coides with each other.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Absolutely, absolutely, thank you, thank you so much for being
here with me. You know, I want to I want
to first off say, I don't know why I have
this obsession with this. The people that listening to this podcast.
I've heard me mention this many times. But how do
you feel about your name? And can we talk a
little bit about it? About the genesis of that name.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, Daddy was a marine and he my mom wanted
to call me either Andy or Chris, and he thought
those names were kind of bland and forgettable, so he
proposed Patton as a first name. I haven't met a
lot of first name patents out there, but weirdly, you know,
he had been he had done three tours in Vietnam.

(03:31):
So even though he named me after a World War
Two general, he was always very vocal about I don't
want you ever.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Going to war or joining the military.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I know because I've seen the worst of it, and
I do not want that for you. So what I
went into being a comedian, he could not have been happier.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Wow, Okay, yeah, that is a very I think that's
a very unusual, unusual story. I would think. I mean
because because you know, listen, I often have said, I
think I've played four Marines in my life. I get
I get them, I get the marine gigs, and the
one thing, oh yeah, absolutely sure that I could never
do is become a marine. I mean, I wouldn't last

(04:09):
five minutes through any of those you know of boot
camp or those procedures. But I do know that a
lot of the Marines that I've I've been with have
had sort of the opposite reaction, you know, they kind
of they they want to pass that on to their sons.
So I'm I'm I'm wow, I'm not surprised, but I
think it's but I think it's interesting, and I think
it says a lot about your dad that he's like, no,

(04:31):
I've seen it and it's not for you.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
I I don't think he was down on the Marines.
He was down on the idea of us being sent
to war. You know, he had been doing. He came
from a I come from a long line of war
veterans and warriors. So but my dad saw I think
he saw some really bad stuff during those three years
and he got shot in the leg. He's still alive,

(04:54):
but you know, he just saw a lot of really
dark stuff and he was like, yeah, war is not
what I I thought it was going to be.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
And did he talk to you about that stuff?

Speaker 3 (05:03):
He talks about it, but he does it in that
oblique way where it actually the stuff he doesn't talk
about weirdly speaks louder than the stuff he can talk
about directly. That the stuff that he that he clearly
is deflecting from and can't face head on, you can
infer what it is he's talking about.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And it's pretty dark.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
So and I've learned to like, what is the point
in me dredging it up? I think he's so much
more happy to be with his sons now alive, rather
than let's go revisit this as he called it one time,
he just said war is brutal and completely pointless. And again,

(05:45):
that's a guy that was did three years of it,
So you know, I kind of that was my way
of going, Yeah, let's not push too we don't need
to push too deep here.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Sure sure, yeah, sure. So you said you have brothers
and sisters, got.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
A younger other.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Also very funny, comedy writer, great on threads and online,
great writer. And also just like he was actually flirting
with joining the Air Force. My dad was like, listen,
I love you. You are not.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Going to do well in the Army. Go do something else.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
And he wasn't saying it like oh you little whip.
He was just like, I know how your mind works,
and this ain't for you.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Uh huh uh huh Yeah. What were what were you were?
An army brought it? Did you move around a bunch
of a bunch?

Speaker 2 (06:33):
And yeah, a little.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
We moved on it when we were really really young.
But then when we got to just before high school.
And I remember this very clearly because my dad grew
up his dad was an Air Force pilot and they
moved constantly. He went to four different high schools. He
just was and moved all over the world, Morocco and
Germany and Spain and then all over the United States.

(06:55):
And he said, as adventurous as that was. I never
had like a home base. I never was had like
a place I could build rep or build my roots,
and I want that for you guys. You know, because
my dad also really loved sports, and a lot of
times he would suddenly move to a new town and
the coach was like, you're doing really good work, but
this kid's been here since freshman year, and he's like,

(07:16):
he's you know, it's his time, and I don't know
what to tell you, you know, So he's like, I
don't want that.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
So he took a desk.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
He was like a test pilot for a while, and
then he took a desk job in the Marines in
DC testing just so that he could. He was like,
I don't want that experience for you guys.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
So when you say sports, you and your brother were
playing sports, or your dad was coaching, or.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
My dad my dad played sports in high school. He
saw very very early that, oh, I have not given
birth to jocks, given birth to movie nerds and D
and D players and possible filmmakers. These guys are not
going to be I mean, I tried every sport. I
tried football, I tried soccer, I tried baseball. I was

(07:59):
just absolutely awful in all of them.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well we share that, we share that.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Really did you try them all and they'd just nothing?

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Really well, well I didn't, you know. It's like when
I say I tried them, we didn't. I didn't really
go to a high school that had We didn't have
a foot There was no football. I mean it was
a kind of an inner city Philadelphia high school, so
that we didn't have any room to play football. We
played football on the street, but it was just touch football.
Or we would play like, you know, half ball, stickball,

(08:26):
you know, oh yeah, stuff like that, street hockey. But
I was never really good, never good at any sports.
I actually feel, you know, kind of lucky that for
the most part, I haven't been asked to do anything
that is specifically ball athletic. I mean I've been asked
to do things and involved you know, movement and dance

(08:49):
and fighting, yes, you know, all those kinds of things.
But the one, the one time that I did a
sports based movie was this pretty forgettable movie called The
Air up there where I patted it. Yeah, I played
a trust me when I say it doesn't really hold up.
I play a guy who goes I'm a recruiter. I

(09:12):
go to Africa and the great NBA great Bob McAdoo,
who was was our technical advisor on on that on
that movie, and you know, was tasked with, you know,
trying to uh, you know, get everybody to kind of
choreograph the games and you know, cast the players that
could play and stuff like that. And he he once

(09:34):
did an interview and said that one of the hardest
things he ever had to do in his career was
make Kevin Bacon look like a basketball player.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
So and make make you look like someone who knew
how to tell people how to play basketball.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Like that was the easy part. But there was a
scene where I come in and actually, you know, save
the day, you know with my outside shooting, you know.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
So, but that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, it was. It was, But you know, listen, I
think it's really again. I think that I like your
dad without having met him, for those two reasons, one
saying you know, I don't want you to go to war,
and to saying, hey, I see something else in both
of you. That edit eight you know, football and go

(10:19):
and do your thing. I mean I think that's I
think that's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, And I've actually carried that on because I'm not
going to be the jock version of a nerd dad
to my daughter. Like I remember, I showed her Star
Wars and she was like meh, And I wasn't, like
you are going to sit down and you're a good wall,
you know, I said, Oh, I didn't land with her.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's fine.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Like, I'm not gonna force her into something that she's not.
That's a I think that's a crucial thing that parents
need to learn and from my dad, and I'm doing
it now.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
I agree. I totally agree. I don't. I don't try
to force them into something that they don't that they
don't want to do, you know, other than you know,
trying to lead by example, to be a good person
and you know, try to whatever, have some empathy, but
try other than that. I mean, I totally agree. Well,

(11:09):
so you mentioned that you had a great love and
you mentioned Star Wars with your brother. You and your
brother were kind of movie nerds. You like to watch.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
I was way more of a movie nerd than my brother.
He got into movies a little older. He did like
watching sports, he wasn't big on playing them, even though
he's very kind of fit and he takes good care
of himself, but he wasn't into like the team sports up.
I was just from a very early age, just hooked
on the whole.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't know if you it sounds like you grew
up in Philly in the seventies, sixties and seventies. Yeah,
so you probably had your version of the Saturday morning
horror movie.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Host that there.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
I said, there was a monster movie and then an
Abbot Costello movie, totally, and I just devoured all of them.
And then me too, eight years old, Star Wars came
out and that was it. It just kicked the side
of my head in and I was completely, Oh, that's
what I want to be doing. I want I want
to get on the other side of that and be
in that world somehow.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right, right, But how does that how does that walk
its way to comedy? I was or was that not?
Even the impetus at the jump?

Speaker 2 (12:20):
At the jump?

Speaker 3 (12:21):
It was, well, I wish I had a deeper, more
artistic story to tell you, but it really did get
to the point where it was that summer between freshman
and sophomore year of high school, Well that's the no, no,
I'm sorry. The summer between freshman and sophomore year of college.
That was the summer of nineteen eighty eight. I was okay,
I just completed my first year of college, and that's

(12:41):
the first time in your life when you really start
to feel like, I better start figuring out what I'm
going to do because in three years this is over
and I'm out in the real world. And I did
a bunch of different jobs that summer. I did everything.
I was working at a law firm, and I was
DJing weddings on weekends and it was just and I
started doing open mics in DC and that's what stuck.

(13:04):
It just and I was getting no positive reinforcement. Nobody
was like what I was doing. But I loved the
hang and I loved the life, and that's what I
wanted to be doing. And it just clicked, and I'm like, oh,
that's what I should be doing. I just I knew it.
I knew it without being able to really articulate it.
I knew that's what I should be doing.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Well, it's so interesting that you say that you love
the life, and I'll have to tell you why, because
I I it. When I think about comics, first off,
I think that dollar for dollar, going to a comedy
show might be my favorite kind of form of entertainment.

(13:43):
I absolutely loved movies. I love it. I love to
go to the theater, Yeah, But when I look at
what I get from a from a comedy show, a special,
you know, a single comic special. Oh yes, I'm talking
about it. You know when people get up do you
know ten minutes or seven minutes or whatever it is,

(14:03):
you know you're going to see people do really well
and do really badly. So there's this kind of like
electric sort of edge that happens that and and when
it's when it's really great, as a collective group, you
all feel this tremendous sense of just you get so

(14:25):
thrilled to be laughing that hard, and you get so
thrilled for somebody when they're when they're doing well, and
you feel so bad when they're not. And whenever you
go to a comedy show, you're going to see that
you know, and you're gonna be jokes that are gonna
land and aren' gonna land, And there's a kind of
danger to it that I really love. But the thing
that blows my mind is that you went one day

(14:47):
having never done this and you just walk up to
a microphone. Yeah, I mean did you had you had
you written it down, or had you stood in the
mirror like what like like like like doing it, or
I've done it for your friends, or.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
I wrote stuff down on a piece of paper at
the law firm I was working at and I lost
that piece of paper. I had that for the longest
tumm and I don't have it anymore, which is just
as good, because the material was terrible. I wrote what
I thought where it sounded like jokes based on what
I've been watching on TV, on the cable shows and
stuff like that, and so I just kind of went up, yes, exactly.

(15:25):
But it was also that classic like I'm so not
speaking in my own voice.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yet I'm not comfortable enough on stage to just go, hey,
here's what's going on. I was trying to do the
rhythms of stuff I'd seen on TV. I mean, what's
you know?

Speaker 3 (15:37):
And so it was almost like stand up karaoke in
a weird way. And what you realize is, and I'm
sure you experienced this as an actor too. Starting out,
one of the first jobs you have to do is
to get over the fact that going on stage is
a big deal. You have to get to the point
where you don't think about that anymore, and that's when

(15:58):
you can really start to cook. I'm sure the first
time that you had an acting gig, you're like, Okay,
where do I put my feet? Where? What do I
I'm gonna walk in here? Like that has got to
become second nature and then you can really be present
in what it makes you're doing, you know. Yeah, So,
I mean so I had to I had to get
over that first.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
That took some time.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
And so is it the type of thing where like
you go and you do one open mic and like
a couple of things work, and then you try it
again and a couple more work or or or or
am I romanticizing it?

Speaker 3 (16:32):
You're romanticizing because I went up and nothing worked, okay,
But what I loved was the two hours before I
was able to go on stage, sitting watching the other comedians,
watching people riffing off of each other, and just that
whole energy of it. And then you just keep going
up over and over and it gets a little bit

(16:54):
better each time, and again you get over the oh
I got to think about going on stage, and then
you're more and you can be more real. I mean,
if you go to comedy shows, I'm sure you've seen
those nights where someone does a joke and it doesn't
land and then they make a joke about it not
landing because they're so present in the moment and that
gets a laugh. So when you can get to that

(17:16):
point where you're like, here's this you're so present on stage,
But that just comes from repetition. And yeah, there's a
lot of there were a lot of open mics where
oh boy.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
It was. But you know what, here's what's great.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
When you completely fail, I mean completely turf out.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
There's nothing better than waking up the next day and going, oh,
the world didn't end. It didn't matter. I could just
keep doing this over and over and you get over
that fear. And that's the best.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
I have a buddy who's a comic and you talk
about the you liked the world and seeing the energy,
and I really like I would go sometimes with him
and you know, just kind of hang not not go
to not necessarily go to the show, but kind of
what the process was of the hang it and it

(18:10):
it is really amazing. Well, for one thing, there is
probably not always and I might be romanticizing this as well,
but that there's kind of a sense of community. Oh yeah,
people that are you know at one point, you know,
everyone is obviously competitive with each other, but also I

(18:31):
get the sense that that people are also happy when
somebody else, you know, kind of does well because it
means that you have a chance of getting far ahead.
And if somebody nobody's getting paid, that's the other thing
that's like amazing, No, it's getting paid.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
I did a show two nights ago here in the valley,
right like five minutes from my house on Ventura, and
for some reason, I guess they didn't promote it very well.
A lot of just kind of old people sitting in
this room that were not really tuned in. And it
was other friends of mine on the show, and we
were all the backstage was that weird camaraderie of like

(19:06):
we are at an AARP conventions and I don't know
what is happening out there, And that actually made it
kind of fun that each of us was gonna go
out and just support the and then you would come
off stage to nothing.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
This audience was so awful, But then.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
That kind of became the event is watching the comedians
kind of talk to each other even when they're on stage,
like hey, Alonso, you were right, this is oh my god,
what is happening?

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Like that stuff? Then that kind of made it an
event and I love stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah. Yeah, well now you have done the multiple multiple specials. Yeah,
and they're they're amazing. And when you do those, how
does that work? Is that? Is that a Is that
a routine that you have toured around for a while
before you actually do a special on it? Is that?
Is that the way?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, you tour with it, you get the hour together
and then you you know, nowadays, actually because there's so
many streaming platforms, you go to Netflix or Amazon or
Hulu or HBO Max or whoever wants to Hey, I've
got this hour. A lot of times, you know, if
you're new, you shoot it yourself. You invest a little
bit of money and shoot it yourself and then see

(20:15):
who wants to buy it from you and and broadcast it.
Other times, if you're lucky, if you are enough of
a name, a platform will go, we'd like to do
a special with you, and they'll promote it and stuff
like that. But it is right now, there is that
kind of nineteen sixties American International Pictures drive in thing
of like we shot it, who wants to pick it up.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
And buy it?

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Kiddn't know that?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Oh yeah yeah, because so who finance is it?

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Who actually puts the money up? You get an independent
investor or the comedian themselves.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Or get an independent investor the comedian themselves, They go
to their friends, they do a kickstarter campaign and a
lot of it. Like, you can really make something kind
of captivating and and charming if you do do it
super low budget, and it's like, oh, this isn't a
rather and there's nothing wrong with these beautiful specials that
are shot in like Madison Square Garden or you know,

(21:11):
but there's something about like a.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Small the corner of a club.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
And it's tightly packed, and you like some of those
actually can feel way more immediate.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
It.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
It's the difference between like a late Zeppelin album versus
an early Ramones album. You know, they both have their value,
but that Ramones album really hits when you hear It's
like these dudes carried their own equipment and I don't
think they had more than a day in the studio,
and this feels really raw and really amazing.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, and I think, I mean,
how do you feel do you feel that that the
possibilities of you know, we're just coming out of the strike,
so it's like, you know, kind of like, you know,
I almost hesitate to say, hey, streaming is awesome, but
there's a lot of there's a lot of in a

(22:00):
lot of ways it is. But I think that for
comedy it's been really good. I mean, it just seems like, yes,
so many people are getting so much more exposure to uh,
to so many more interesting comics. And I think that
I talk to a lot of people that have just
watched you know, one one special after another, and I've
discovered people that I just were not on my radar

(22:21):
at all.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
It's it.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
There's there's good and bad to it.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
The good thing is, yes, newer voices can get themselves
seen way easier. They you know, there's there's more production
and post production ability in this thing than Orson Wells
had when he did Citizen K. Like that's the level we're.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
At right now.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
But the problem, the only drawback is one of the
advantages I had coming up in the I started in
eighty eight was I had my time in the wilderness.
I had my time getting to work on my craft
with no one watching me, and I could figure out
who I was before I made my debut. Now people
are literally filming and posting their first open mind on TikTok,

(23:01):
and sometimes early on you can find a voice that
works for you early on, but then you evolve beyond it.
But if you establish that that's your voice and that's
what's getting you to go viral and get a million clicks,
it's hard sometimes to break out of some of.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Your first choices.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
And I do wish that there were certain young especially
young feens coming up there I think are really brilliant.
But it's like, oh, if you had just stayed in
the wilderness for one more year, you would have really
solidified who it is you are, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (23:33):
Right?

Speaker 3 (23:33):
But like I wish that for them. I don't wish
them to be obscure forever. I just want the time
for them to develop on their own terms and at
their own pace.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Right. Well, it's the ten thousand hours thing, right and then.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
You absolutely why were the Beatles so great because they
did eight hours sets in strip clubs in Germany where
the audience wanted to murder them, so they learned to
get really good, really quick.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever have you ever been to
the Reaper Bomb? No, yeah I have. Yeah. I went
there actually with my son. We we took a father
son trip a few years ago. Uh you know he
my my uh his cousin. His cousin's dad said to me,

(24:21):
you know, I took a trip with with Whitney. We
just did like, you know, a father son thing. And
I was like, man, I want to do that. So
I asked my son, thinking that he would never say yes,
and he was like, yeah, sure, I'll go. I was like,
where do you want to go? And that was one
of the places he wanted to go, was Homburg. Not
not specifically to the Reaper Bomb, but just he just
wanted to get for some reason. I think maybe having

(24:44):
knowing something about the Beatles in those in those days
and stuff like that. He's a musician, and uh it was.
It was interesting. I mean it's still you know, you
can it still has enough of the the feel that
you can picture you can kind of fantasize about these
young dudes being here and playing these you know, crappy

(25:09):
little clubs and doing eight shows a day. As you've
pointed out.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
So you're a musician too when you go into a
space like that, because as a musician you play all
different spaces, Graham theaters.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Smaller clubs.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
When you go into the Reaper Bond, was there also
that leftover vibe of like, oh, I here's how I
would have adjusted what it is that I do to
slay in this room, because sometimes you have to make adjustments,
oh hundred rooms. So did you get that feeling like, oh,
this is where the Beatles sound came out of because
they adjusted to this.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, I mean that that And yeah, I mean if
they had grown up, you know, playing in you know,
concert halls, it would be right, be different. I mean,
be a different man, for sure. I mean, and I
think that also. You know, there's a lot of stuff
I don't want to get too deep in the in
the into the but there was a lot of stuff.

(26:01):
For instance, the the how they learned to be able
to hear each other and to be able to harmonize
and be that tight in loud clubs with terrible, terrible sound,
and oh my god, you know they monitors. I mean,
it's it's it's it's kind of it's kind of remarkable.

(26:22):
But so I want to ask you one more comedy
question and then I want to talk about some other stuff.
But I you know, there's a lot of kind of
back and forth when it comes to talking about comedy
and pain and painful experiences which you know, I know
you have, and and and the use there's a lot

(26:46):
of talk about the use of UH comedy to help
other people deal with pain, right, But my question is like,
how what does it do for you? And is it
when when you can take something that is UH. And
by the way, I come to this also thinking about

(27:09):
the comics that I know, they often seem like they're
coming a lot of them through difficult times or you know,
painful experiences, And I wonder if there's a if turning
something that is UH, you know, tragic or hard in
one's life and turning it around and making people laugh

(27:31):
is also has its own level of therapy for you.
That's That's what I'm curious about it.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yes, it absolutely. I mean even before I was doing comedy,
I was using comedy. Maybe I wasn't necessarily writing it,
but I was very awkward in middle school, early years
of high school were kind of awkward. I would turn
to Monty Python to embrace the absurdity of the world,
or Richard Pryor and George Carlin to vet my rage,
and there was all kinds of ways that that was

(27:59):
a release, much same way as music and movies. I
just realized that I could, I guess I could emit
it in a way that could make other people laugh.
And when you make other people laugh, not only do
they are like, oh, I'm not the only one going
through this, but it's this nice little reassurance that, oh,
I'm not the only one going through this.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Like we are all.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
We all encounter the kind of weirdness, and I mean,
life is about loss and that could be really scary,
but you can't turn away from that. You have to
somehow embrace it. And one of the ways I guess
to soften the blow of things being stripped away is
to make a joke about it. And because I have

(28:42):
a friend named Todd Glass who says, if you can
mock it, you can manage it. And I've always believed
in that, like that is what comedy is. I'm mocking it,
you know, That's what like if you read something wicked
This way comes by Ray Bradberry that the devil, the thing.
The devil cannot stand in that book because people making
jokes about him. It's like, no, no, I'm scary and

(29:03):
I'm the one thing you can't make jokes. And then
when the guy starts making jokes at it, starts to
lessen his power. And I think that's such a great
metaphor for the things in your life that are trying
to get you down. If you start making jokes about him,
they're like, well he doesn't like then you have you have.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Power over it.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Ah yeah yeah, so by so bye bye bye. But
by making other people laugh at things that are are,
you know, traditionally thought of as sad or or that
would normally be thought of his sess, you're you're able
to just to kind of confront things for yourself. By

(29:41):
I love that. If you can mock it, that I
I you can make it, you can manage it. If
you can mack it, you can manage it. Let me
write that.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Down exactly, seriously, write that down, so.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
That but here you are. I mean, it's not just
you're acting. You're doing a tremendous amount of voice acting.
Grammy nominations, Emmy nominations. I think you've written a book
or two couple.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Written two memoirs.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Two memoirs. I mean that you are a busy guy.
Now now have you have you? Do you have a podcast?

Speaker 3 (30:19):
I actually I had a podcast briefly during the pandemic.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
My wife and I did one. But we got to
the point where it's I mean, doing a podcast, you know,
it's a lot of work. People think that, oh, you
just go and you blap. No, there's work.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Involved in doing the podcast, really, and it was just
getting to the point where it's like we're fighting a lot,
Like we're actually fighting on this podcast that was meant
to do.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
So said, We did tip to two episodes. We're good.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
I mean, I will eventually do a podcast again when
there's something I really want to connect about, you know,
like this what you're doing here, this feels very organic
and very like, oh here's what.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
But I have to wait. You have to wait to
let that happen organically.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
You know. So that you mentioned you mentioned your wife
doing a podcast with her. I just had my wife
as a guest on this podcast. Really was Yeah, which
was interesting because I don't I don't I don't tend
to interview her.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, it feels like an interrogation.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, it's like an interrogation. Uh. And and you know
what was funny about it is that it was I thought, well,
this is gonna be kind of goofy and fun. We'll
just you know. It was actually one of the more
serious kind of ones that that we I mean, yeah, yeah,
which was kind of interesting. Plus we were also in
the same house in different rooms.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's how we did it. We Oh my god, we'd
be in different rooms.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
Yeah, god, yeah, that's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Right.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
But you guys is you guys Instagram videos during the
strike where you were cut pair of goofballs when you
were doing Saturday in the Park with Kazoo and you
have to don't step in. That was like there was
so much going on in that little clip.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
It was great. Yet you know, we you know, I
realized about that doing that kind of stuff during the pandemic.
And the whole Instagram social media thing is that, you know,
long before social media, I'd love to make little movies.
I would send them to because you know, I'm on
the road or she's on the road out of town.
You know, I would always buy a video camera and

(32:22):
send little things home to the kids. Or or to her,
you know that, so that like that's sort of just
a natural extension that the social media thing of what
we already do to try to kind of. But it's
also you know, I got it. I'm a little bit
of a work a hawk. I gotta stay busy, create something. Yeah,
And that's what that that that's what we were able

(32:44):
to do during the pandemic, and it was fun to
make it. But the reason I bring up having a
podcast is that I you know, first, yes, you're right,
it is more work than they tell you. And being
on the other side of it, you know, having done
you know, you know, for forty five years I've been

(33:06):
doing interviews or something like that. To be on the
other side of it is a completely different thing and
one that you know, I haven't put in my ten
thousand hours, but I'm you know, I'm trying. Yeah, you know.
One of the things that I always think is there's
certain questions that I get time and time again, and
I'm like, I'm not going to ask those questions. And

(33:27):
then here we are and I'm just about to ask
you the same fucking question that I was hoping, you know,
never to never to get asked of all these things
that you do, between writing and comedy and acting and
voice acting, what is the one that you can't do without.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
I mean, it's the one that brought me to the
dance at stand up comedy, and I'm not there are
certain people that do stand up comedy to get out
of stand up comedy and move to movies and TV shows.
I do movies and TV shows to keep my visibility
up there so I can do more stand up. I
will always do stand up movies and TV. Writing that
comes and goes, and I'm always grateful when it comes,

(34:12):
but I will in the end, I'll still be doing
stand up. It'll always be so I can keep doing
stand up.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
That's okay, that's my focus.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
That's a great that's a that's a perfect answer. Yeah.
And do you feel that Is it something that you
feel you are constantly trying to get better at or
is it just that you really love doing it and
you want to keep doing it? Is it? Do you
walk away from a you know, say, a special. I mean,

(34:43):
I don't know how many how many specials have you done?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
I mean full like eight at this point.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's a that's a true I
don't think there's a lot of people that have done
eight specials, have they? I mean, that's a tremendous amount.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Of it's a lot.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
I mean a lot.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
The thing with the here's any comedian will tell you this,
And I'm sure you've experienced this as a musician. When
I record a special, like a week to two weeks after,
I suddenly think of, oh, if I had cut this
one part out of the bit, it would have been
better if I had done this one thing. So I'm
sure you've laid down an album and then a week
later you're like if we oh dead like and it

(35:20):
drives you crazy.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
I don't do it all the time. And you know,
part of the part of the reason that you realize
that is because you start playing the songs out yes,
and then all of a sudden you go, you know,
this actually should be like two or three bpm faster,
and then the song grooves like in a way that
it never did, or you think one hundred percent yeah,
I mean yeah, I mean it's also I mean, listen,

(35:43):
I bet that think it applies to acting too. I
like to say that, you know, I figure out scenes
when I'm in the van on the way home.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
You know, I go, that's got to drive you crazy.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
It does.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
We're like that, why didn't I own my it totally does?

Speaker 1 (35:58):
It totally does. But that's that's part of the process,
you know. You can't Oh yeah, yeah, but you apply.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
I mean again, I want to keep doing stand up, yes,
because I love doing it, And yes, I want to
get better that there's people coming up that no one
knows about yet that are amazing, that keep inspiring me.
I want to keep getting better at what it is
I do. And what can I talk about that that
shouldn't be funny that I can make funny? How can
I what can I get away with? I mean, I

(36:25):
just I'm a big believer in that. Be wary of
someone who goes, I've been doing this for thirty years,
when in actuality, they've done it for one year and
they repeated that year twenty nine times. Like I want
to actually do thirty different, constantly growing, evolving years. And
I'm sure we know people that are like, you've done

(36:47):
this one year and you kind of repeated that.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, You're absolutely right.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
We've met that kind of person, you know, But especially again,
I'm a big movie buff you take weird lefts and writes.
With your acting career, you are always like, oh, this
might not work.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
I'm gonna do this. Let's see what this does.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
You know what I mean? I for better or for worse?
That is something that I do. That's it true?

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Hey, same with me.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
There's been times I'm like, I'm gonna try. Oh good
lord God, why did I sig you for that?

Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
But that's what the people makes it exciting.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Is there anything else that isn't entertainment related that you
do in your spare time? And are what's your other?
Or is this all where it gets your relaxation?

Speaker 3 (37:31):
It feels relaxing doing it. It's not that I don't
have a life. I still hang out with my daughter,
my wife, I read a lot, I hang out with
my friends. But it's still it's all revolves around creating stuff.
To me, it just feels fun. I'm not like, oh God,
I gotta go do this. It's like, let me relax by.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Going on stage and doing ten minutes. That is relaxing
to me.

Speaker 5 (38:00):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word
bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift
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Once again, text B A C N to seven zero

(38:24):
seven zero seven zero or visit SixDegrees dot org to
learn more.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
You know you also have a I think a lot
of people have noticed and completely respect your you know,
your activism and use your platform try a light on
all kinds of really important things that it just demonstrates
a lot of compassion and understanding and caring about about

(38:55):
the world. But where do you think that comes from?

Speaker 2 (38:59):
I mean, I'm still very very aware and very much
remember everyone that helped me out coming up, all the
little moments of grace and when someone else like stepped
up to help me out when they didn't need to.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
You know, I always say, and this is a paraphrase
of what Roger Ebert always said, I never cry in
movies when things are sad. What makes me cry is
when someone decides to step up and help someone else out.
That is like to me because it happens so rarely
in our real lives. A lot at least it seems
to be these days. So when someone's like, no, I'm

(39:33):
gonna step up and help people out, that always really.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Lands with me. So why not pass that on?

Speaker 3 (39:39):
If anything, do it for the selfish reason of it
makes it a better world for me to live in.
If you're totally self centered, then do it for that reason.
But I mean, it just feels like you didn't do
this by yourself. Give a little bit back, Yes, nothing
wrong with making money and being successful. Give a little
bit of it back. Just put it back out circulation.

(40:01):
Why do you want to sit on your pile and
just stare at it? It doesn't make sense, all right?

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Right, well listen, I think that's a perfect segue to
bring on Ron Fitzsimmons from Alice's Kids, which is this
nonprofit that you have, you know, decided to highlight here today. Yes, yes, Ron,
thank you so much for coming to the show. I
know that you've met Stacey from six degrees dot org.

(40:26):
You are based out of Alexandria, correct or somewhere in that.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
Area, Mount Vernon, Techno, Vernon.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, right, right, and and and I've read some stuff
about what Alice's Kids is, But maybe you could just
give us a give us a you know, a thumbnail
on on what it is and how you started it
and where the name comes from.

Speaker 4 (40:50):
Sure well, first of all, Alice was my mother who
has passed. The idea came basically from my childhood. We
had a very rough childhood living up in West Islip,
New York, and my father abandoned us in nineteen sixty three,
I believe, and we were forced to go on the
welfare state system up in New York, bringing in two

(41:13):
hundred dollars a month. My mother wanted to stay in
the same neighborhood. It was in middle class town. She
wouldn't move to what was then called the projects, I think,
and so right away we started to stick out like
a short thumb. We became the welfare kids in West isslife.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
We would go to.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
School wearing the same shirt every day, not being able
to participate in field trips things like that. Every once
in a while my mother would I'm assuming illegally go
out and pick up a few extra dollars washing clothes,

(41:52):
ironing clothes, and she'd come home very excited to announce
that we were going shopping. Forget these these days when
she would say, let's go to EJ. Corvette's and get
that baseball blood, or to my sister, let's go get
I'll ever forget this. Let's go get that new record
by those kids in England. So it's funny you were

(42:16):
talking about the Beatles that lifted us, and it made
us proud. And the next day I couldn't wait to
go to school with my new Converse sneakers with a
new Dy Crockett chirp. Jump ahead many years and I
was between careers or pondering careers, And one day I

(42:37):
was substitute teaching at Mount Ernan High School and a
kid was crying in the corner and I asked one
of her friends what was happening. She said, well, Latrice
can't go to the prom. And I said oh, and
she said yeah, she can't afford it. My mother doesn't
work and she doesn't have the fifty dollars. I went

(42:58):
down and pay for the ticket. But then I had
a thought, uh, And I started walking around to teachers
in the school and I started asking them do you
pay for things like this all the time? And they said,
of course, we pay for books, we pay for art supplies,
we pay for field trips, yearbooks, whatever it is. So

(43:18):
this start, the thoughts started to evolve about creating charity
that does that for children. I went to all the
other charities in the area and I asked them if
they do things like that, like do you put out
fifty dollars for a back to school uniform? And they
all said no. One person said they don't have petty

(43:39):
cash drawers. So we created Alice's Kids with the thought
that we would be the petty cash drawer for these
kids who just needed a little bit of a lift.
It started off very slow. This was about twelve years ago,
and the big issue was how do you find the kids?

(44:02):
Where are these kids who indeed this kind of help.
So we started to establish a network of teachers in
the Moulverne area who would refer to us kids that
needed some help, and we would give them gift cards.
Everything exploded three years later when a columnist named Teresa

(44:26):
Vargas of the Washington Post heard about us, and she
wrote a column and overnight we exploded nationally.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
The media helping out, the media doing something good, positive exactly.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
It's crazy what happened that weekend. I think we raised
about three hundred thousand dollars our budget at that point
was about twenty five thousand dollars. Wowow money Cake kept.
And so immediately we became a national charity because we
started getting money from across the country and and we

(45:00):
started getting increase from people in Iowa and Nebraska, teachers
and social workers saying, hey, can I send you a request?
M So we started fulfilling them.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
So that's basically how it started. And shortly thereafter after
we started, I got an email that said a guy
named Patton Oswell had.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Donated that was gonna be my next amount of money.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Okay, no, it's fine, no, no go, let's hear. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
So I was hauling and every time we get a donation,
I get an email, and I saw a donation from
Patton Oswell, and I knew the name. I'm going Pat Malls.
Of course, my age, our first thing is Lee Harvey.
You think of Lee Harvey for some reason, which I'm
sure you get that bad. Yeah, but I'm thinking, thinking, think,

(45:55):
And of course I didn't google it, but I recall
asking my son, one of my sons. You know Patton Oswald.
I know that name. He's the voice of Remy in
Ratiituey he's this, and he's this. So I flipped out.
I emailed him and thanked him profusely, and much to

(46:15):
my shock, within like an hour, he responded, and I'm
going Holy hell, and he said, no problem, man, like
what you do and then he said the magic word.
He said, let me know if there's anything else I
can do. And so we went from there, and because

(46:36):
of Patton, Steve Carrell learned about us, and so Steve
is now a big supporter. Eric Roberts, you know, Alan Toodick.
I mean, we've got a lot of good support out
there because Pat kind of started that train.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Though, Patton, what was it about this one or maybe
it's one of many, many, many causes that you decide
to support, But was it something specific that you read
or what was that moment?

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Like, yeah, the thing that really really landed with me.
And it's something that because I was never really able
to articulate this, but it's very disturbing how in this
country and you don't really see this in other countries
as much. There's there's a weird level of poverty shaming
that goes on almost we treat poverty like it's some

(47:27):
kind of infectious disease. That it will you'll somehow catch
poverty by you know, so you you you point it out,
you make fun of it to like almost drive it
away from you. And I think that that causes it
causes a lot of problems later on in life. I mean,
I think that it causes a lot of people that
you see a lot of people now that there's a

(47:49):
lot of millionaires that I think did experience some poverty
early on and now are vengeful about it and are about, like,
I want to get rid of social services because I
had to use them, and I bet I could have
made it without him, but I never got the chance.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
So I've got to feel.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Like they're all trying to erase whatever shame was heaped
on them by other people. And if we could get
so this whole idea of doing it anonymously so that
these kids, so that these kids can have a childhood,
so they can just have a childhood and some dignity.
I don't think he realized the astronomical dividends that pays

(48:29):
off later in terms of just the mental and psychological
health of the population.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
So that the fact that Ron and his organization were really.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Able to pinpoint that, and also that Ron faced a
lot of the stuff that he was just describing that
he grew up with, and he remembered it. Rather than
trying to tamp it down or attack it. He was like, no,
we're going to this happens, and we're going to actually
fix this problem. And it just the amount of empathy

(49:00):
and that really struck me.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah, and it's interesting too because as you point out,
you know, you could go, you could go in the
other direction, but clearly ron you you having having taken
taken that experience of yours. Now I'm actually struck with
a lot of people that I do connect with, uh
on the on the on this podcast, who were who
were involved with those causes and and they do have

(49:24):
a personal connection like like yours to this thing literally
being that kid you know, on welfare with a with
a single mom who just you know, really could use
a baseball glove or whatever it is. You know, it's
it's it's amazing that you've taken that and and turned
it into this this thing. Alice's kids, what would you

(49:46):
say elaborate that kind of yes, please, please please explain.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
When we were kids, we did get a lot of
well intentioned charities coming to our doorstep giving those boxes
of clothes and food and stuff. But honestly, but while
we appreciate it, it was embarrassing, especially when they take your
picture and put in the newslettersh Like Patton said, there's
a lot of shaming. So what we do is we

(50:12):
get a request from the teacher, let's say in Des Moines,
asking for us to for a dick Sporting Goods card
gift card for you know, for shoes, for soccer shoes.
We get the request and within twenty four hours we
send a gift card to the teacher. The teacher points
out the gift card, gives it to the parent. Avery

(50:34):
can then turn around to the child to say, hey, Johnny,
let's go to Dick's Sporting Goods this weekend and get
those soccer cleats or get those sneakers. The kid doesn't know,
like Patten said, that they're getting charity. Yeah, they look
at mom and say, oh my gosh, Mom, thanks so much.
The teacher has a chance to shine. The kid goes shopping.

(50:56):
You know how many of these kids would never see
a Dick's Sporting Goods if it wasn't for that gift card.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
So it doesn't interest and the parents get to have
some dignity, right, Like everyone.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Wins in this. It's so it just again the payoff
is exponential.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
What are the types of things that the kids are
most in need of that you're seeing are most in
need of these days? Curious about that.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Well, it's it's clothes. Kids always need clothes. You know,
there was growing out of clothes. Or we see a
lot of school uniforms. A lot of schools are requiring
school uniforms and kids are staying home because they can't
afford school uniforms. We just got a request the other
day for a kid who got accepted into a competition

(51:45):
for future educators, but they required a certain dress mode
and her power was unemployed and she couldn't afford the
dress code uniform. So he paid I think it was
fifty dollars we paid for that uniform. It could be
a band outfit. Yeah, yesterday it was a girl who's

(52:07):
growing too quickly and she she's very embarrassed by her
large chest. When she goes to physical education. She has
a horrible bra and she's you know, she's very embarrassed
when she asked to do jumping jacks. This is an
actual request that we got we paid for two bras
was seventy five dollars. It was nothing to us, but

(52:31):
it's a it's a it's a game changer. And you know,
people talk about kids want new sneakers and stuff like that.
What people don't understand is that these kids who were
already stigmatized, they don't they don't want to stand out.
They want to blend in. So when they go to school,

(52:52):
they're not going around showing off their new shirt necessarily.
They just want to blend in. They don't want to
be stigmatized by the bully in that school.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
Yeah, and also you were pointing out these there are
some exceptionally talented kids who get opportunities academically athletically, but
then that opportunity gets stimy because they can't afford the equipment.
They have the ability, and then that ability gets thwarted
and nipped in the bud because then they can't afford it.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
So especially when.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Like this person made the national marching band but cannot well,
it definitely paid for that stuff because that's a talent
that's just going to feed their self esteem and help
them see the world. You know, like that those really
really land.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Yeah, that's amazing that is amazing. Well, Ron, what would
you what would be the what would be the best
way for I mean, I'm sure that there's a we
can talk about where people can go to donate. Is
there also opportunities for volunteerism or are you also on
the UH website looking for people, because I bet you

(54:02):
you're gonna get flooded with people calling and saying I
know a kid that needs this, and how can people
help out? Give us the This is the call to action?

Speaker 4 (54:10):
Okay, many ways. Our website is Alice's Kids dot Org.
You go to the website and clear as day, there's
a donate button. Every dollar that we raise, you know,
will go into that one pot. The more money we raised,
the more kids we can help.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
It's that simple.

Speaker 4 (54:28):
And we've done very well in the past years because
of Patten and others. You know, a budget a few
years ago was about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Now it's one point two million dollars. In fact, I'd
have to say that big chunk of that was at
one two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for us on
Celebrity Jeopardy.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
Early Awesome, Wow, Wow, Kira just went on Celebrity Jeopardy, Patent.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Well what women she did?

Speaker 1 (54:54):
She did yet it was like just her worst nightmare.
She hasn't trying to think anyway. Yeah, she was it hard.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
It's it is so I don't want to take away
from run. It's nerve wracking. And what's the worst part
is the easiest questions are the ones that you think
twice on because you're like, wait, it cannot be that obvious,
and then you freeze up and then someone else gets it.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
That's what, by the way, crazy.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
By the way, I think it's great the highlights Celebrity
Jeopardy because now we're seeing the where it actually goes
and we're talking to the receiver two of this. So
when you watch Celebrity Jeopardy ladies and gentlemen and you
see Pat and Oswalt sweating it out, you literally know
that this is that this is time and possible embarrassment.

(55:43):
Well spent, but two hundred and fifty grand that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Yeah, we were all sweating it out. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (55:48):
Yeah, and Adam got a commendation from the Virginia House
of Delegates. Were doing that because he went to William
and Merritta, which I think I sent it to you. Pat, Oh,
I have it.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Don't think I don't have it.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
And by the way, you if they go to and
I'm just I don't mean to speak for you, Kevin,
but if you go to al is it Alice's Kids
dot org. Yes, if you go to Alice's Kids dot
org and donate because you listen to this podcast, technically
you are one degree.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Away from Kevin Bacon. Kevin, there, you are now connected
to Kevin Bacon.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Yes, I'm not I am not above selling degrees of separation.
It's for a good cause. If it's for a good cause.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Yeah, And Kevin, I want to reiterate that what you
do and what Panda it really does have an effect,
you know that Teresa Vargas column. Like you said, media
really has an impact, particularly when that's why Panda. Hate
to say it, but Twitter is so powerful for us.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
And Pat, so I was retweeting our stuff or re
exing our stuff. But what you all are doing for
other charities, yeah, but particularly it is very very commendable.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
I appreciate it. Well, what you're doing is very much
in line with what we're trying to highlight here, both
on this podcast but also at sixty degrees dot org
and that you know, we we like the fresh ideas,
the cool ideas, you know what I mean, the new
things that you just kind of come up with something
you see a need and you figure out a way
to help in their grassroots organizations. And there's a lot

(57:24):
of really really giant charities that are doing great work
and have great exposure and have very very lavish, you know,
kind of events and stuff like that. But we also
want to give a voice in a microphone to people
like you Ron who have this you know, this idea
and it's it's growing and it's helping kids. And I

(57:45):
just want to say thank you and thank you guys
so much for being here today.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Yes, thank you seriously. Nice seeing it again, Paton, great,
seeing you again.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
Kevin.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
I've again don't want to be a movie nerd. Been
a fan since Animal House, you all, and one of
my favorite of many movies you're in. You're scene in
Tremors with Fred Ward when you realize, oh my god,
we can't make fun of that guy's lifestyle anymore, the
crazy right wing gunnut who actually kills one of the worms,
and your look on your face, you look genuinely concerned that, oh,

(58:19):
we can't make fun of him anymore, and that was like.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
A big part of our lives. One of the best
line readings.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
I love that. Thank you, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
Yep, sorry, I had to run that in there.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Sorry, just doing what I can with what I've got.
There you mentioning that, all right, fellas, Thank you so
much for being here. Hey, thanks for listening to another
episode of Six Degrees with Kevin Big. To learn more
about Alice's Kids and all the special work that they
are up to, all you gotta do is head to

(58:48):
their website Alice's Kids dot org. You can find all
those links in our show notes listen. If you've been
following along all season. I just got to say special
thank you for supporting these stories and all the great
work that these organizations are doing, just to try to

(59:10):
make this world of ours a little brighter. As always,
if you like what you hear, you can subscribe to
the show. You can tune into the rest of our episodes.
Trust me, there're some good ones. You can find Six
Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts, and see you next time