March 22, 2022 • 59 mins
In the highly anticipated inaugural episode of season two of the, Anna and Kyle have no investigation to sink their teeth into. Instead, they fall into a pit of despair and self-criticism when they discover an especially cruel and unusual one star Truth Hounds review. Will this send them over the edge? Will they do something they can’t take back?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Truth Hounds, a production of My Heart Radio.
I'm Anna and I've been unemployed for two years now,
so i really have nothing going on. And I'm Kyle
and in middle school I received the ward most Enthusiastic
to learn. So that makes me pretty special. And that
(00:21):
is what makes us the perfect investigative duo. We are
two friends who love each other very much. But what
we love even more is getting to the bottom of mysteries.
All mysteries, sure, but small mysteries specifically. Trust me, No
mystery is too small. No, no, no, Why don't you
trust me when I tell you we are ready to
(00:43):
sniff around? We are the the Truth Hounds. Yeah you
(01:15):
hear that? Can you tell we're skydiving? We are for
you the listener, But more on that later. Let's listen
to that again, but this time, can we get a
record scratch at the end? That's me right there, Anna,
(01:45):
I'm tearing us through the sky and I'm yelling for Kyle.
You're probably wondering how we got here. How two women
at the height of their podcasting careers end up falling
from a plan in Paris, California. Well, in order to
go there, we actually need to go back. Sorry, sweetie,
(02:10):
And that's where I come in. Welcome to season two
of The Truth Hounds. Oh I'm Kyle. Hello. Hi Kyle, Yeah, Hey, Sanna, Hi, Hi,
(02:39):
how are you. I'm doing good? That's great. Do um
do you want to meet up? Yeah? I guess for
all time's sake, I'll be right there. Hi. Oh my god, Hi,
it's a nice still good to see you. Look at
(03:01):
this today. Oh my god, the birds are flying. It's beauty.
This is really beautiful. I mean this is like this
honestly looks like a painting. Oh yeah, it looks like
if you walked out there and you would hit a wall.
Because I'm so sorry to interrupt, but there's a butterfly.
Did you see the butterfly? No, I almost beautiful, like
a beautiful, gorgeous orange. Oh my god, Oh my god,
(03:25):
it really is a mate. This is like I cannot
believe we're looking at this. It's just the perfect beach day.
It's perfect beach day. We've got two guys fishing rods.
I mean this is amazing. Wow. I really I missed
coming here with you. I know, we haven't been back
since the end of season one, Season one. That's right.
(03:48):
I mean, we've seen each other, we've seen each other
every day, but we haven't been back since oh my god,
close of our season. But I have to say that
I was actually doing my monthly expenses, and I think
it because we haven't been coming into the beach. It
was five hundred dollars less. Mm hmm, I wonder why. Well, no,
(04:09):
it's because we haven't been coming to the beach that
I think that I I actually saved five I guess
it could be that, yet, I don't know that it
might be something else, though I'm pretty sure it's that. Yeah,
I guess we'll never know. Um. Wait, was there a cliffhanger?
There was a cliffhanger, wasn't there at the end of
At the end of season, we got that phone call
(04:30):
from that guy, and then we ended up not taking
the investigation because we don't really do murder stuff. Murders
just kind of not our things. Investigate a lot of things,
but murders just not want to investigate, like why is
the butterfly so big? Why is the butterfly so free
and looks so beautiful in the light? Man? Are you
(04:54):
gonna ask me how? I am? Oh? Yeah, how are
you is I'm not good? Why? I mean? This is good.
I'm glad to be back. My spirits are surprised by that.
I'm so excited to see Roman, our sound guy. You know.
But other than that, I'm not good? Why are you
not good? I honestly don't want to tell you because
(05:16):
it's gonna it's just really going to make you mad.
Just tell me what is it? Okay? You know how
our podcast is on iTunes? Yeah? And you know how
on iTunes people can leave reviews. Yeah, and you know
(05:39):
how sometimes reviews can be bad. Yeah, we've got a
really bad review? What what? Wait? What was it? Was it?
You mean like a three star review? It's not a
(05:59):
three star review? Okay, like two stars. I don't want
to break your heart. Okay, just say it. We got
a one star review? What you got a one star,
one star review on our podcast? You can't. I can't,
I can't, I can't even what did it say? I'm
(06:23):
going to read it to you. Okay. I'm not sure
why I gave this pot a try, except that I
couldn't accept that these two actually had a podcast. Well
they do, and it's not good. I listened mystified that
it exists to episode one before abandoning. It wasn't informative
(06:47):
or funny. I just don't get it. I don't know
what to say. Are you okay? No, I'm not okay.
I'm so sorry. I mean, how are you feeling right now?
Like do you want to take a minute? Or how
are you? Where's your heart? Actually? I don't think I
can investigate anything right now. I just I think I
(07:09):
need to. I think I need to bounce and go
take care of myself. Well what if, yeah, what if
we just did some self care things? And because I
totally understand and I'm actually being here, I go, sometimes
it's important to be around nature and beauty and stuff
and to do health care. Like we'll just have to
do that. We'll have to prioritize that. Yeah, yeah, I
(07:30):
just I gotta go okay. Season two, Episode one, the
criticism episode. It was season two, but to be honest,
we couldn't move past the one star review. The annoyance
(07:57):
of the review honestly became a little third friend. Where
we went, it went, what we did, it did when
we turned off the lights at night, it was in
bed next to us. Take this day, for example, we
(08:19):
were supposed to meet up with the entire Truth Hounds team. Me, Kyle,
and Adam are editor but maybe you can remember him
as Bernard from season one. Anyway, we met up with
the team for a barbecue, but instead of spending time together,
turned into a full blown bitch sash between Kyle and I.
(08:49):
How can I make you love us? Yeah? What what's
it going to say? Or at least like us enough
to not leave a one star review on our our
fucking our workplace. It's like literally literally like girl feeding
our the building that we work on it and literally
like fuck this, it's like going into my office. Once
we started around, there was no stopping us. Don't just
(09:13):
leave a one star review saying blah blah blah. You
know you relations like being in a relationship. You have
to be a good communicator. Yes, you can't just say
you know what you're bothering stopped working for me. You
gotta say no. It's when you specifically do this thing,
if you could do it this way exactly, if you drop,
(09:33):
if you wash the day. Basically what was bothering us?
The most about this one star review was that it
wasn't constructive. I mean, it wasn't even specific it was
abstract at best. You know, that's the thing about today's culture.
(09:56):
It feels like it's just made up of a bunch
of guys stay ending around saying thumbs down, No way,
not for me. That's backward. Just standing there doing nothing,
loitering in front of a big poster that has a
huge X on it. Yeah, I'm with Anna, that's culture
(10:21):
for you. Meanwhile, back at the barbecue, poor Adam was
left to chop everything. Check this out. You're going to
hear him in the background chopping poor guy. Yeah. We
I want to look at every bad review, Yes, contact
(10:46):
the person and go what can I do for you?
What can we do in this show to make it
pop for you? For you? It was clear that we
had to do something about this one star review. You
would get to the investigation stuff later. This this was
(11:09):
just something we had to do right then and there.
So we left Adam Adam's chopping and the truth Hound
barbecue and we did what we do best scheme. The
problem with this one star review that we received on
iTunes was that it only listed some random user name.
(11:30):
I couldn't really do anything with that. We couldn't even
reach out to this hater and figure out how we
could change their mind about us. We tried searching for
the user name on Instagram, but it didn't work out.
There was nothing. We did find something that sounded kind
(11:51):
of similar, but it turned out to be just a
random guy. We wrote him anyway, just in case he
said sorry if this isn't the right person, did you
happen to leave us a one star review on iTunes?
He wrote back immediately and said, I have never heard
(12:14):
of you. Ah, there was no tracking down this one
star reviewer hater. But you know what, Anna, we could
always reach out to some of the other haters in
our personal lives and talk to them about the podcast.
I mean, I can think of a bunch of haters
we could talk to. Okay, So, um my mom had
(12:39):
really strong opinions about the show. I want her to
be honest, so we're gonna maybe not tell her we're
recording right now. Hello, Hi Mom, Yeah, I'm at home.
Um Anna's here. Hi, Hi Anna, how are you? I'm good?
(13:00):
How are you? Yeah? Kyle's mom, She's my girl. Um,
I know you had some kind of strong opinions about
what you heard. Your meaning you want to interview me? Well,
I just caught up? Can you just tell dad to
not screen scream in the background? Though, Honestly, when I
(13:25):
told you I had a bunch of haters. I was
talking about my mom and my dad and my aunties.
But my aunties weren't there because they're on Havahi time.
What do you what do you want to know? God? See,
she already has an attitude, Kyle. Her mom's my girl.
(13:50):
Come on, let's just hear her out. What were your
sort of um your issues within When I listened to podcasts,
I think of listening to it to keep me stimulated mentally,
and I might have felt like it was a podcast
(14:11):
to help me sleep. I'm sorry, can we play that again?
Help me sleep? Was that your dad in the background
saying the podcast helps them sleep? He said sleep? Yeah,
(14:34):
I'm sorry. He wasn't even in the same room, but
he so clearly knows what your mom is talking about.
When she says the podcast is boring that he yells
out the word sleep to finish her sentence. I told
you that they were absolute haters. All I have to
say is thank god my auntie's from Hawaii aren't there.
(14:55):
And by the way, I didn't appreciate that my dad
was attempting to dunk on us from the other side
of the room. I'm sorry, but if you're going to
be seeing stuff like that, come face me like a
man and come to my side of the room. Okay,
could you put dad on the phone and can we
hear him what he thinks? Um? Hi, Hi, Hey, So
(15:25):
what was your problem with our podcast? I think it
just needed more energy? What do you mean more energy? Though?
You know it's like when you're talking, you're very uh
clinical academic. I think when you listen to the radio,
(15:50):
you want people who are going to energize you. Damn
kyl are you Okay? I didn't know you had it
so tough. Every day I face adversity. So we wrapped
up the call. Okay, Well, um, there's a lot to work,
(16:12):
that's a lot to work with. This is really helpful. Um,
I'll call you to chit chat about other stuff later. Well,
you know, when you said you wanted to talk, I
thought it was going to be a very expensive call.
Oh my, what are you trying to? Oh my, you're
(16:32):
that is so funny, messed up? You're so yeah, that's
like you thought I was gotten to some trouble. Well,
you know what, in a way, it's the most expensive
call because it's it's really a creative endeavor. On the line,
Anna stopped trying to make it better. I just thought, yeah,
(16:52):
I know you thought my mom was your girl. Well
she's actually a hater, and so is my dad. Ad Damn,
so is your dad. Indeed, so we had talked to
a couple of haters from my life and they told
(17:13):
us that basically the podcast was boring. I'm sorry, but
what are we even supposed to do about that? Be different? People?
Drive a car real fast, record the podcast while jaywalking
in Times Square. Well, any second, the big ball will
(17:37):
drop for New Year's and you've lost your friends and
you realize that you didn't agree on a designated spot
to meet in case this very thing would happen, and
your phone is at two percent and you don't know
if you'll get to kiss the cute guy from work here.
It's have such unrealistic expectations, they are literally crazy. You
(18:02):
are spiraling. You know what, I've got a podcast hater
in mind. I know things are getting really good, but
we have to take a break for some ads. And
the ad break is over back to it. You know what,
(18:30):
I've got a podcast hater in mind. Maybe we could
talk to them and see what we could do to
improve Oh really, who check this out? You know? With Wait?
Who with my really good friend? Oh yeah, wait with uh,
(18:56):
you're really good friend? Who happened to write the smash
it Contemplating suicide? Exactly? Just to refresh your memory, here's
that smash hit contemplating suicide. Hit it, want some blazing suicide?
(19:21):
And then remember the remix hit it, Yeah, catlazing suicide
whole time, and remember the acoustic version hit it contemplate suicide.
(19:48):
My whole I want to contemplating suicide. I wanted my
whole li Yeah, but wait, what's the problem? I love
those tracks. They're smash hits. Why is what a hater? Yeah?
(20:10):
And those smash hits sounded great on our podcast, not
that he would know anything about that. Wait, what are
you saying under your breath? He's a hater because he
doesn't listen to the podcast. Oh my god? Yeah, you
see what had made Wit a hater was that he
hadn't even listened to our podcast, despite having been heavily
(20:34):
featured on it. I had never confronted him about that,
but I knew it was time. If we were going
to confront with we couldn't just use our normal approach.
We would have to implement a system, you know, like
(20:55):
a process for approaching your haters, but haters who might
also be dear friends. Step one of the system. We
didn't want him to feel accosted. Typically when we call
people to accost them, Kyle and I are together in
(21:17):
a room. Think about how difficult it would be if
two people called you from one room and put you
on blast. I mean, you would immediately feel ganged up on.
So that is where step one comes in. Kyle and
I would still put Wit on blast, but we would
(21:38):
call him from separate rooms. That is to say that
we would each get comfy in different rooms with completely
different vibes, and we would call Wit and put him
on blast. Right before we called Wit, we strategized, and
please keep in mind we were in separate rooms recording
(21:59):
during we gentle. Yeah, yeah, of course, I don't want
to be I don't want to be evil. No, no, no,
So we go. Are you somewhere comfortable? You hear that?
That is step two in our system, to remind you
Step one, if there are two people delivering the bad news.
(22:21):
They should be in separate rooms to sort of lessen
the venom of the bad news. Two step two, That is,
before you actually deliver the bad news, you should always
make sure the person who is receiving the bad news
is somewhere comfortable. Think about it, what if they're carrying
(22:43):
a lot of groceries up some long, windy stairs right
as you tell them the bad news. We strategized a
bit more about how to ease them into the bad
news and practice the types of things we would say. Well,
first of all, you that's such a great job for
a podcast. Yeah, we wanted to thank you. I wanted
(23:04):
to thank you, and we hope you know that you
have a little fan base. Just a reminder, bad news
was that we were going to put him on blast
and once again, the thing we would be putting him
on blast four was that by not listening to our podcast,
he was actually being a hater. That's really weird. Okay,
(23:26):
I'm gonna call him. It's okay, We're gonna be gentle.
Hello high Way, I am here with Kyle. Hi h.
I guess he just ran out of hellos, so not
(23:48):
enough hellos to go around. Thank you so much, for
getting on the phone. Are you in a comfortable place.
I'm on the couch next to a small dog. Yeah,
oh that's really nice. Sounds fair, jaffee. Okay, good, he
was comfy. We were almost ready to deliver the bad news.
But now it was actually time for step three. Step three,
(24:15):
bring up something positive. We wanted to make sure that
he was feeling fabulous, you know, before we tackled him
to the ground. I mean, we just want to say,
what a what a great job you've done for our show. Um,
your songs are some of what I think our listeners
(24:38):
love the most about our show. Oh really, yeah that's good.
You have a you have a nice old hand base.
Oh that's cool. Wow. He was on top of the world,
right where we wanted him. Yeah. It was a beautiful sight.
(25:04):
But now it was time to take him down with
our last step. That's right, it was time for step four.
So to recap the steps. Step one we called went
from separate rooms. Step two we made sure he was comfy.
(25:26):
Step three we made him feel fabulous, and now, without
further ado, step four. Now, step four is harder to explain,
but I'll try. It's like this, rather than call out
(25:52):
someone for being a hater. Directly, you gently lead them
up to the accusation of being a hater, but along
the way you make yourself tripp on a little curb
like an idiot. Then when it's time for the big accusation,
you go, look, I think you might be a hater.
(26:14):
But then again, I just dripped in a little curb
like an idiot, So what do I know? Thanks? Anna,
that was awesome, but maybe a little confusing. I'm worried
you may have lost some people along the way, so
I'm going to try to give a clearer example. Okay,
(26:37):
let's say I took Anna's car out for a devilish
little joy riding and crashed it into a telephone pole
and returned the car door house without telling her about
the crash. What Anna could do using the fourth step,
she could go, Now, I'm not saying you crash my car,
(27:02):
and what do I know, I'm an idiot, But I'm
kind of feeling like my car got crashed again. I'm
not saying it was you, but I am saying you
took my car out in one state and brought it
back in this condition. So by process of elimination, I'm
(27:23):
feeling like it's you, and I say that with love.
But then again, I am a little idiot, so maybe
I'm wrong. Okay, so now you know, step four, back
to the phone call. The next thing that I say,
(27:46):
it's not an attack, Okay, it's not Okay, I'm ready.
Now I get the feeling. This is not an accusation,
it's an attack. It's just a feeling. Um that this
is just a feeling. So maybe it's actually wrong, but
I get the feeling that you don't actually listen to
(28:08):
our podcast, right, Oh my god. It's so hard to
deliver bad news, even if you know the person is comfy.
It's really hard. You did a really good job. Hey,
I'm just glad we had the system. It's not an
attack because it's just a feeling. And I say it
(28:32):
was love, and you're still and you're still in that
comfortable spot, right, yeah, Okay, it's not comfortable anymore after.
That's why this is just we just it's just a feeling.
So we don't know if it's this. That's why we
call to just start, that's why we call. Well, yeah,
(28:54):
I know, I don't. I mean, I've listened to some
of it. I've probably listened to you know, I'm not.
I'm not a big podcast guy unless must see like
like Christopher Nolan's getting interviewed about the you know, the
Dark Knight or something. Okay, Okay, I've heard enough. We
(29:17):
had delivered the bad news, and now it's time to
make this phone call constructive because remember that's what we
were looking for, constructive feedback from our haters to make
our podcast better. And double remember that this wasn't even
technically an investigation. We had just become obsessed with one
(29:39):
bad review and our egos were flapping in the wind.
What could we do on our podcast that would make
you go, I have to listen. I gotta, I gotta,
I gotta tune in celebrity interviews bingo. But wait, Kyle
(29:59):
not ing, go we don't know any celebrities? Oh? I
guess not, But oh wait, I do know one? What
about John? Wait? Who's John? I? I I Kyle? Are
(30:21):
you lying again? Okay? We didn't actually know any celebrities.
But I thought on my feet maybe there was a
work around. I had an idea and I ran it
by wit Huh. Okay, if it were like a really
(30:42):
really good person anger Nope, okay, okay, never mind. We
got off the call with Witch shortly thereafter and met
up in the same room. You know, after being apart
in separate rooms. That was really hard, so we regrouped.
(31:12):
Here is what we knew so far from talking to
our haters. Our podcast was boring and there were no
celebrities in it. It seemed like if we wanted to
placate our haters, we would have to make it more
(31:33):
exciting and have so many celebrities that it would feel
like celebrity whack a mole. Just when you bought Meg
Ryan on the head, Keenan Thompson pops up, and just
when you're done bopping him, well, here come the Olds
and Twins. Honestly, Anna, this sucks ass. Kyle, I'm sorry,
(31:56):
I'm feeling very negativ o right now. Well that makes
perfect sense. I mean, look at what we're doing. We're
chasing down our haters and we're giving them power. We
are wallowing and negativity. Can I call an audible Ah? Yeah,
(32:17):
I think so. I mean it is our podcast. We
need a new plan. We're giving too much power to
the haters and obsessing over the stuff that they don't
feel works. Instead, we should be giving that power to
(32:39):
someone else, people who like us, you know what I'm saying.
Maybe we hadn't found our audience and there were more
like minded listeners out there. They should be the ones
with the power. So here's an idea. Yeah, let's talk
(33:02):
to a podcaster with a lot of listeners and ask
them how they got there. Let's think of a successful podcast. Okay,
so what's a successful podcast? Um? The mof m hmm,
(33:23):
I don't know that one. Oh oh, Terry Gross, that's
a person mhm. I remembered right then and there that
I actually did know someone, someone who had been in
the podcast game for three years, and that's pretty long.
(33:49):
He seemed like the perfect person for Kyle and I
to talk to, So I gave him a call and
(34:09):
now an AD break. The AD break is over. Andrew? Yes, Hi, Hi,
Dina is Kyle? Hi? Hi? Hi? Are you? Wow? This
(34:33):
was already off to a better start. I mean, at
least this guy said hi to me, no offense wit.
Um we are recording just so you know right now? Okay, damn,
he was good, No wonder he'd been doing it for
(34:53):
three years. Let's go back though. We were talking to Andrew,
a comedian. It and more importantly to us, certified podcaster.
He hosted a podcast called podcast but Outside it was
cool and honestly it was pretty popular. We figured he
(35:16):
was pretty busy, so we got right into it. So, Andrew,
what do you think the keys to having a successful
podcast are? I think the keys to having a successful
podcasts are having an idea that is unique. Oh oh,
(35:37):
that's literally us. Anna and I are as unique as
they come, or maybe even more unique as the ones
that come. Well, you know they are coming, and we're
going what else, Andrew? And having an idea that is
easy to understand. Yet that's tough for us, you know.
(36:02):
I mean, we do what we can and we're actually
trying to reel it in this season, but you know,
we aren't living by a log line. Oh, I can
explain what the show is about. Okay, I would love
to see you try. It's about us and we're Kyle
and Anna, okay, and um, we investigate stuff, but sometimes
(36:28):
we go to the beach. Oh and one time I
rented a convertible. Oh and we have a third friend, Rod. Oh,
you're right, damn mm hm hmm okay, wait, let me
throw this one out there. What if it is unique
(36:50):
and it's hard to understand. It's hard to understand. I mean,
what about that this guy was the expert. Well, that's
of what you need, so whatever. Honestly he was hurting
her feelings. I'm sorry, but what even was his podcast? Like?
(37:13):
What was his podcast? Was it really so easy to understand?
Go ahead, explain it to us. My podcast is called
podcast but Outside, and my co host Cole Hersh and
I sent up a table on the sidewalk at different
locations outside and the interview strangers who walked by. That
actually was really easy to understand. I guess he really
(37:35):
did know what he was talking about. We decided to
take advantage of the opportunity and asked him what concrete
things we could do to make our podcast more popular.
You see, maybe if we gathered a big enough crowd
of listeners who were shouting our praises, we would drown
out the venomous whispers of the detractors. So this is
(37:57):
a bit more of a you know, grassroots approach. But
if you see someone who seems to be listening to
a podcast, like let's say they're walking down the street
and it's pretty clear that there's no music in their
dear Suah, you can totally ask them to take out
any here, bud and say, excuse me, are you listening
to a podcast? And they'll say yes, And then you
could maybe say is it true town? And based on
(38:20):
your admittance, they'll probably say no, and then you can say,
and then you can think, or is it actually out
of all your ideas, I feel like to me, this
is the most doable. Wait, so we just do that
probably a hundred times as many times as we can,
because work for you. I really, I really do think,
(38:42):
you know. And then you know, you could even say
if you you could even say, hey, if you liked
the podcast, after you said, you can say, I would
encourage you to stop a jog or yourself. Yeah. Kind
of paves it forward, Yeah, yeah, is like pay it
pay it forward, sort of passing on true towns, passing.
(39:10):
I hope you guys, you know, find more ears. Thank you.
At that moment, Andrew had truly become our brother in pod.
Our spirits were high. This was what it was all about,
not focusing on your haters, but focusing on love and community.
(39:38):
Andrew had given us a gift. He had told us
that all we needed to do to build a larger
listenership was to go out there and find our community.
That's right. We would go outside, seek out the runners,
the thinkers, the movers, step face to face with them
(40:01):
in their path, get right in their face, COVID be damned,
and tell them we are what you seek, whether you
know it or not. Listen to the truth hounds. So
that's exactly what we did. We walked out of our houses,
(40:21):
got into our cars, put the keys into the Ignition
Room room, met up at a park that's in between
our two houses, and marched right up to a man
stretching wearing air pods and no shirt. We were going
to make him a part of our podcast community, whether
he liked it or not. And then I said, okay,
(40:44):
if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. We're together,
he does have headphones. We we'll stand from here. We're
really far. Excuse me, are you listening to a podcast? Okay, yeah,
I don't think this is work. I don't think this
is gonna work. Honestly, fuck off. I'm sorry, not you guys,
(41:12):
the listeners, but this whole experience. I am so frustrated.
All we wanted to do. Let's make a good podcast,
a great podcast even, and then some dumb funck piece
of ship left us a one star review. We can't
even investigate anything right now, and worse, we can't even
(41:36):
look into it because they didn't leave their name on
the review, so we can't even ask them nicely what
we could do to change and why they don't like us.
We are obsessed, No, not obsessed, we are possessed. I'm
not sleeping. Kyle just sits in her Prius and her
(41:58):
driveway for hours at a time. So then we tried
something different. We tried to meet some of our other haters,
people we did know, actually, people who were really close
to us, and guess what, they had nothing helpful to say.
(42:20):
So we thought, hey, we're being too negative and we
need to lighten up a bit. We tried to talk
to a successful podcaster who could be like a mentor
a big brother to us, and he basically had us
accost people. But we were desperate. I mean, we love
the podcast so much and you guys, the listeners, we
(42:43):
love you so much. We would do anything for you.
So we went out there boots on the ground. We
talked to a guy with air pods and no shirt
on who basically ignored us. It made us feel lower
than dirt. Basically the whole part just stopped and laughed
at us. I mean, the birds laughed at us. Do
(43:05):
you know what that's like? I guess Andrew's plan really
did work because we really were building a community. It
was just made up of people who like to clown
on us. That's all, Hey, Anna, not now? Oh okay,
(43:33):
you know what. This wasn't working. Listening to your haters
doesn't work. Following the playbook of a supposed success that
doesn't work. I think that we should just throw out
the playbook entirely. There is no advice that we can
seek or take because what we originally set out to
do was to make a podcast that is unlike any
(43:56):
other in the world. So this season, season two, you
know what, we need to go where no other podcast
has gone before. Hey, Kyle, while you're there, what's that
quote about women? Kyle? Since you're standing right there, what's
that quote about women? Um? Crazy women? Right history? That's right, Kyle,
(44:20):
crazy women, right history. We are going to go skydiving
for the podcast. Um what and then while we're flying
high dropping from the sky. Um, I'm sorry? What we
will yell the name of the podcast, which by the
way is truth Hounds, um, and maybe include the season
(44:46):
so they know what season it is. You're right, we
will yell Truth Hounds season two. I didn't tell my
mom because I know that she would try to talk
(45:07):
me out of it. Yeah, I know that we we
really need this for a podcast. This is really important,
and I don't think she quite understands that. She's just
gonna try to talk me out of it, so I
could not tell her. That's right. We were driving to
Paris Paris, California to go skydiving for you the listener.
(45:33):
We felt good about it. It was going to be expensive,
but you know what, it wasn't about that. It would
be really cool if we were able to bring Roman
up there so you could have a boom mic when
he when he dives. But yeah, I guess it was
(45:53):
very It was very expensive. So that would be really
expensive because this is a really about it to reward
of podcast. Yeah, we would be paying him for we'd
have to pay for him to skydive, and his day
rate lost his day rate. Yeah, there's just that's a
thousand dollar day right there. Yeah, there's just no way
(46:16):
financial setback or not. We were thinking about you the listener.
We weren't even that scared again because it was about
you the listener, So we weren't thinking about the stuff
you would normally think about before you go skydiving. Honestly,
we were just having a great time together and then
(46:40):
the topic of what we were wearing happened to come up. Okay, wait,
so I was gonna text you today because as I
was leaving the house, I go, it's never occurred to
be where what do you wear to go skydt as?
Because I thought, well, yeah it did you have like
(47:02):
a little bit of like a not to be not
to be dark and twisted? But what will you want
to die in? But yeah, yeah that's what I And
also I go, you know what today, I'm gonna use
um extra facial product that's expensive. Your skin looks nice? Yeah,
(47:22):
because yeah, I go, what if I don't come back?
That is true? You know? I actually, yeah, I changed
my T shirt a bunch because I was thinking about
what kind of statement I wanted to wear. So before
I was wearing a shirt that I'm wearing, I actually
was wearing a Saint Bernard shirt with a dog because
I was trying to make a statement to my dog,
like I love dogs. I'm with dogs. I with dogs.
(47:43):
I love dogs. If there's anything people need to know
about me after I passed, it's like dogs. Yeah, okay,
Like I love my dog, I'm leaving him there in
this world not to be nerve. Okay. Yeah, wow, I
(48:04):
don't think either of us had really thought this through.
Was there really a chance we could die and I
might never see my dog again? Um? Yeah, I think
that's a very real possibility. But this is for them,
the listeners. What do you mean by them? Them? The listeners?
(48:34):
Who is even them? They are right there, the listeners.
We had been so fueled by rage we didn't even
think about the fact we could literally die skydiving for podcast,
for you, the listener. But it was way too late.
(49:00):
We were in Paris Harris, California, and we were approaching
the skydiving place. Wait on the road, Wait, that is
high up. I don't even see the plane. Oh is
(49:21):
that the know that the parish? That is high? Oh
my god? Here we are okay, okay, we're here, We
are here. Okay, So at this point you were flipping out.
(49:44):
But as we said, it was too late. We were
already filling out the waivers, you know those things that
say our families can't sue the skydiving company if we
you know the height, okay sky duns. Yeah, I'm gonna
(50:19):
do right now. We're just gonna do two waivers and
aline we've heard a paper waiver on then we were
gonna do that this ip had over here or while
those three over there. Just make sure you spoil everything
exactly like it says in the driver's license. Multiple last names, Zoll,
your last names, christnas, Zili, your first names. Um, if
your just isn't, if your current I just isn't the
same one of your driver license, use your current pass. Okay,
(50:43):
Oh my god, Oh my god. And then they made
it worse. We had to watch a video of a
man saying that we had absolutely no rights or say
in the mad if we you know die. View it
(51:04):
very carefully and study its promises, because once you sign
it isn't It is a finding contract, and that contract
is intended to require that you give up forever any
and all claims you have under the law. Not only
is the finding upon you once you signed, but it
is also finding to find your heirs, your family and
(51:27):
your representatives. We have to take a break for some mats.
Back to it. At this point, we were really crapping
(51:54):
in our under rus. You have to excuse me. That
might be the last time I get to say crapping. Honestly,
I didn't want to go. I know we had this podcast,
and I know this was all for you guys, the listeners,
but I'm sorry, I just don't know if I want
(52:15):
to die for you. I mean no offense. I mean,
look at you and you and you. You guys are awesome,
but this is life or death, Kyle. They just called
our names out to suit up and board the plane.
(52:38):
This was honestly so expensive that we couldn't not go. Okay, Well,
we had signed the waivers, watched a scary video of
a man, we said our goodbyes. We couldn't record while
we were getting suited up to go on the plane.
But hopefully this won't be the last time you hear
from us, Okay, just in case. Um, it was an
(53:06):
honor and a privilege to get to make truth Hounds
for you guys, the listeners. Kyle, I know that you
don't like stuff like this, but I love you, and
my only regret in life is that I never got
to meet Danny de Vito, though I did get to
(53:29):
meet a sun Ones he actually liked by comedy. So
um any last words, Kyle, it was an honor and
a privilege to get to make truth Hounds for you guys,
the listeners, Anna, I love you, and I'm sorry that
(53:51):
I didn't say it that much while I was alive.
I have two regrets in this life. One and I
never got to be on the reality show The Circle.
And my other life regret is that I never got
a chance to invent a baggy bathing suit. I just
(54:13):
think it's unfair that there's no bathing suits that are baggy.
Listen out for us. Hopefully we will be the ones
who are falling from the sky yelling truth Hounds season
two two. Oh my god, Okay we're going so now
(55:32):
you know what we know. We didn't die, We made it.
We got on a plane, jumped out of it and
yelled truth Town season two. Well, Anna, did I kind
of lost my ship? Honestly, I threw open my mouth.
I was strapped to a guy from Brazil and he
(55:54):
was awesome. I actually did shout truth Hound season two
while I was in the air. But the clip you
just heard, I was actually asking the guy I was
strapped to to also yell truth down season two. He didn't,
but he did yell the second best thing, which was
and I was trapped to a guy from America and
(56:15):
he was mean, no offense. When I threw up in
the sky, I held it in my mouth until I
reached the ground, because that is how mean the guy
who I was trapped to us no fence. All right,
(56:44):
I'm so proud of it. One thing, my man, I
feel like, yeah, it looked like a locale. Next week,
how do you graduate there? So we went skydiving for
(57:17):
you guys the listeners. Typically at the end of an
episode we would meet up at the beach to talk.
But please don't be mad. We were just a little tired,
you know, from skydiving for you guys the listeners. But hey,
(57:38):
will you do us a favorite? Can you tell just
one person about our show? It would really mean the world.
And that way, if we went skydiving for let's say
five people, it would have been worth it. And Kyle,
is there anything you want to say to me? Maybe
(57:59):
something from the heart crazy women? Right history Cheers, Welcome
to season two. Hey, if you like The Truth Hounds,
please subscribe to us and leave us a five star review. Seriously,
(58:22):
it would really help us. And honestly, you've got to
start earning your keep around here. And as soon as
you're done earning your keep, follow us on Instagram at
truth Hounds and on Twitter at the truth Hounds to
participate in our investigations and see behind the scenes footage
and bonus juicy content. Truth Hounds is a production of
(58:46):
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from i Heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Truth Hounds, a production of My Heart Radio.
I'm Anna and I've been unemployed for two years now,
so i really have nothing going on. And I'm Kyle
and in middle school I received the ward most Enthusiastic
to learn. So that makes me pretty special. And that
(00:21):
is what makes us the perfect investigative duo. We are
two friends who love each other very much. But what
we love even more is getting to the bottom of mysteries.
All mysteries, sure, but small mysteries specifically. Trust me, No
mystery is too small. No, no, no, Why don't you
trust me when I tell you we are ready to
(00:43):
sniff around? We are the the Truth Hounds. Yeah you
(01:15):
hear that? Can you tell we're skydiving? We are for
you the listener, But more on that later. Let's listen
to that again, but this time, can we get a
record scratch at the end? That's me right there, Anna,
(01:45):
I'm tearing us through the sky and I'm yelling for Kyle.
You're probably wondering how we got here. How two women
at the height of their podcasting careers end up falling
from a plan in Paris, California. Well, in order to
go there, we actually need to go back. Sorry, sweetie,
(02:10):
And that's where I come in. Welcome to season two
of The Truth Hounds. Oh I'm Kyle. Hello. Hi Kyle, Yeah, Hey, Sanna, Hi, Hi,
(02:39):
how are you. I'm doing good? That's great. Do um
do you want to meet up? Yeah? I guess for
all time's sake, I'll be right there. Hi. Oh my god, Hi,
it's a nice still good to see you. Look at
(03:01):
this today. Oh my god, the birds are flying. It's beauty.
This is really beautiful. I mean this is like this
honestly looks like a painting. Oh yeah, it looks like
if you walked out there and you would hit a wall.
Because I'm so sorry to interrupt, but there's a butterfly.
Did you see the butterfly? No, I almost beautiful, like
a beautiful, gorgeous orange. Oh my god, Oh my god,
(03:25):
it really is a mate. This is like I cannot
believe we're looking at this. It's just the perfect beach day.
It's perfect beach day. We've got two guys fishing rods.
I mean this is amazing. Wow. I really I missed
coming here with you. I know, we haven't been back
since the end of season one, Season one. That's right.
(03:48):
I mean, we've seen each other, we've seen each other
every day, but we haven't been back since oh my god,
close of our season. But I have to say that
I was actually doing my monthly expenses, and I think
it because we haven't been coming into the beach. It
was five hundred dollars less. Mm hmm, I wonder why. Well, no,
(04:09):
it's because we haven't been coming to the beach that
I think that I I actually saved five I guess
it could be that, yet, I don't know that it
might be something else, though I'm pretty sure it's that. Yeah,
I guess we'll never know. Um. Wait, was there a cliffhanger?
There was a cliffhanger, wasn't there at the end of
At the end of season, we got that phone call
(04:30):
from that guy, and then we ended up not taking
the investigation because we don't really do murder stuff. Murders
just kind of not our things. Investigate a lot of things,
but murders just not want to investigate, like why is
the butterfly so big? Why is the butterfly so free
and looks so beautiful in the light? Man? Are you
(04:54):
gonna ask me how? I am? Oh? Yeah, how are
you is I'm not good? Why? I mean? This is good.
I'm glad to be back. My spirits are surprised by that.
I'm so excited to see Roman, our sound guy. You know.
But other than that, I'm not good? Why are you
not good? I honestly don't want to tell you because
(05:16):
it's gonna it's just really going to make you mad.
Just tell me what is it? Okay? You know how
our podcast is on iTunes? Yeah? And you know how
on iTunes people can leave reviews. Yeah, and you know
(05:39):
how sometimes reviews can be bad. Yeah, we've got a
really bad review? What what? Wait? What was it? Was it?
You mean like a three star review? It's not a
(05:59):
three star review? Okay, like two stars. I don't want
to break your heart. Okay, just say it. We got
a one star review? What you got a one star,
one star review on our podcast? You can't. I can't,
I can't, I can't even what did it say? I'm
(06:23):
going to read it to you. Okay. I'm not sure
why I gave this pot a try, except that I
couldn't accept that these two actually had a podcast. Well
they do, and it's not good. I listened mystified that
it exists to episode one before abandoning. It wasn't informative
(06:47):
or funny. I just don't get it. I don't know
what to say. Are you okay? No, I'm not okay.
I'm so sorry. I mean, how are you feeling right now?
Like do you want to take a minute? Or how
are you? Where's your heart? Actually? I don't think I
can investigate anything right now. I just I think I
(07:09):
need to. I think I need to bounce and go
take care of myself. Well what if, yeah, what if
we just did some self care things? And because I
totally understand and I'm actually being here, I go, sometimes
it's important to be around nature and beauty and stuff
and to do health care. Like we'll just have to
do that. We'll have to prioritize that. Yeah, yeah, I
(07:30):
just I gotta go okay. Season two, Episode one, the
criticism episode. It was season two, but to be honest,
we couldn't move past the one star review. The annoyance
(07:57):
of the review honestly became a little third friend. Where
we went, it went, what we did, it did when
we turned off the lights at night, it was in
bed next to us. Take this day, for example, we
(08:19):
were supposed to meet up with the entire Truth Hounds team. Me, Kyle,
and Adam are editor but maybe you can remember him
as Bernard from season one. Anyway, we met up with
the team for a barbecue, but instead of spending time together,
turned into a full blown bitch sash between Kyle and I.
(08:49):
How can I make you love us? Yeah? What what's
it going to say? Or at least like us enough
to not leave a one star review on our our
fucking our workplace. It's like literally literally like girl feeding
our the building that we work on it and literally
like fuck this, it's like going into my office. Once
we started around, there was no stopping us. Don't just
(09:13):
leave a one star review saying blah blah blah. You
know you relations like being in a relationship. You have
to be a good communicator. Yes, you can't just say
you know what you're bothering stopped working for me. You
gotta say no. It's when you specifically do this thing,
if you could do it this way exactly, if you drop,
(09:33):
if you wash the day. Basically what was bothering us?
The most about this one star review was that it
wasn't constructive. I mean, it wasn't even specific it was
abstract at best. You know, that's the thing about today's culture.
(09:56):
It feels like it's just made up of a bunch
of guys stay ending around saying thumbs down, No way,
not for me. That's backward. Just standing there doing nothing,
loitering in front of a big poster that has a
huge X on it. Yeah, I'm with Anna, that's culture
(10:21):
for you. Meanwhile, back at the barbecue, poor Adam was
left to chop everything. Check this out. You're going to
hear him in the background chopping poor guy. Yeah. We
I want to look at every bad review, Yes, contact
(10:46):
the person and go what can I do for you?
What can we do in this show to make it
pop for you? For you? It was clear that we
had to do something about this one star review. You
would get to the investigation stuff later. This this was
(11:09):
just something we had to do right then and there.
So we left Adam Adam's chopping and the truth Hound
barbecue and we did what we do best scheme. The
problem with this one star review that we received on
iTunes was that it only listed some random user name.
(11:30):
I couldn't really do anything with that. We couldn't even
reach out to this hater and figure out how we
could change their mind about us. We tried searching for
the user name on Instagram, but it didn't work out.
There was nothing. We did find something that sounded kind
(11:51):
of similar, but it turned out to be just a
random guy. We wrote him anyway, just in case he
said sorry if this isn't the right person, did you
happen to leave us a one star review on iTunes?
He wrote back immediately and said, I have never heard
(12:14):
of you. Ah, there was no tracking down this one
star reviewer hater. But you know what, Anna, we could
always reach out to some of the other haters in
our personal lives and talk to them about the podcast.
I mean, I can think of a bunch of haters
we could talk to. Okay, So, um my mom had
(12:39):
really strong opinions about the show. I want her to
be honest, so we're gonna maybe not tell her we're
recording right now. Hello, Hi Mom, Yeah, I'm at home.
Um Anna's here. Hi, Hi Anna, how are you? I'm good?
(13:00):
How are you? Yeah? Kyle's mom, She's my girl. Um,
I know you had some kind of strong opinions about
what you heard. Your meaning you want to interview me? Well,
I just caught up? Can you just tell dad to
not screen scream in the background? Though, Honestly, when I
(13:25):
told you I had a bunch of haters. I was
talking about my mom and my dad and my aunties.
But my aunties weren't there because they're on Havahi time.
What do you what do you want to know? God? See,
she already has an attitude, Kyle. Her mom's my girl.
(13:50):
Come on, let's just hear her out. What were your
sort of um your issues within When I listened to podcasts,
I think of listening to it to keep me stimulated mentally,
and I might have felt like it was a podcast
(14:11):
to help me sleep. I'm sorry, can we play that again?
Help me sleep? Was that your dad in the background
saying the podcast helps them sleep? He said sleep? Yeah,
(14:34):
I'm sorry. He wasn't even in the same room, but
he so clearly knows what your mom is talking about.
When she says the podcast is boring that he yells
out the word sleep to finish her sentence. I told
you that they were absolute haters. All I have to
say is thank god my auntie's from Hawaii aren't there.
(14:55):
And by the way, I didn't appreciate that my dad
was attempting to dunk on us from the other side
of the room. I'm sorry, but if you're going to
be seeing stuff like that, come face me like a
man and come to my side of the room. Okay,
could you put dad on the phone and can we
hear him what he thinks? Um? Hi, Hi, Hey, So
(15:25):
what was your problem with our podcast? I think it
just needed more energy? What do you mean more energy? Though?
You know it's like when you're talking, you're very uh
clinical academic. I think when you listen to the radio,
(15:50):
you want people who are going to energize you. Damn
kyl are you Okay? I didn't know you had it
so tough. Every day I face adversity. So we wrapped
up the call. Okay, Well, um, there's a lot to work,
(16:12):
that's a lot to work with. This is really helpful. Um,
I'll call you to chit chat about other stuff later. Well,
you know, when you said you wanted to talk, I
thought it was going to be a very expensive call.
Oh my, what are you trying to? Oh my, you're
(16:32):
that is so funny, messed up? You're so yeah, that's
like you thought I was gotten to some trouble. Well,
you know what, in a way, it's the most expensive
call because it's it's really a creative endeavor. On the line,
Anna stopped trying to make it better. I just thought, yeah,
(16:52):
I know you thought my mom was your girl. Well
she's actually a hater, and so is my dad. Ad Damn,
so is your dad. Indeed, so we had talked to
a couple of haters from my life and they told
(17:13):
us that basically the podcast was boring. I'm sorry, but
what are we even supposed to do about that? Be different? People?
Drive a car real fast, record the podcast while jaywalking
in Times Square. Well, any second, the big ball will
(17:37):
drop for New Year's and you've lost your friends and
you realize that you didn't agree on a designated spot
to meet in case this very thing would happen, and
your phone is at two percent and you don't know
if you'll get to kiss the cute guy from work here.
It's have such unrealistic expectations, they are literally crazy. You
(18:02):
are spiraling. You know what, I've got a podcast hater
in mind. I know things are getting really good, but
we have to take a break for some ads. And
the ad break is over back to it. You know what,
(18:30):
I've got a podcast hater in mind. Maybe we could
talk to them and see what we could do to
improve Oh really, who check this out? You know? With Wait?
Who with my really good friend? Oh yeah, wait with uh,
(18:56):
you're really good friend? Who happened to write the smash
it Contemplating suicide? Exactly? Just to refresh your memory, here's
that smash hit contemplating suicide. Hit it, want some blazing suicide?
(19:21):
And then remember the remix hit it, Yeah, catlazing suicide
whole time, and remember the acoustic version hit it contemplate suicide.
(19:48):
My whole I want to contemplating suicide. I wanted my
whole li Yeah, but wait, what's the problem? I love
those tracks. They're smash hits. Why is what a hater? Yeah?
(20:10):
And those smash hits sounded great on our podcast, not
that he would know anything about that. Wait, what are
you saying under your breath? He's a hater because he
doesn't listen to the podcast. Oh my god? Yeah, you
see what had made Wit a hater was that he
hadn't even listened to our podcast, despite having been heavily
(20:34):
featured on it. I had never confronted him about that,
but I knew it was time. If we were going
to confront with we couldn't just use our normal approach.
We would have to implement a system, you know, like
(20:55):
a process for approaching your haters, but haters who might
also be dear friends. Step one of the system. We
didn't want him to feel accosted. Typically when we call
people to accost them, Kyle and I are together in
(21:17):
a room. Think about how difficult it would be if
two people called you from one room and put you
on blast. I mean, you would immediately feel ganged up on.
So that is where step one comes in. Kyle and
I would still put Wit on blast, but we would
(21:38):
call him from separate rooms. That is to say that
we would each get comfy in different rooms with completely
different vibes, and we would call Wit and put him
on blast. Right before we called Wit, we strategized, and
please keep in mind we were in separate rooms recording
(21:59):
during we gentle. Yeah, yeah, of course, I don't want
to be I don't want to be evil. No, no, no,
So we go. Are you somewhere comfortable? You hear that?
That is step two in our system, to remind you
Step one, if there are two people delivering the bad news.
(22:21):
They should be in separate rooms to sort of lessen
the venom of the bad news. Two step two, That is,
before you actually deliver the bad news, you should always
make sure the person who is receiving the bad news
is somewhere comfortable. Think about it, what if they're carrying
(22:43):
a lot of groceries up some long, windy stairs right
as you tell them the bad news. We strategized a
bit more about how to ease them into the bad
news and practice the types of things we would say. Well,
first of all, you that's such a great job for
a podcast. Yeah, we wanted to thank you. I wanted
(23:04):
to thank you, and we hope you know that you
have a little fan base. Just a reminder, bad news
was that we were going to put him on blast
and once again, the thing we would be putting him
on blast four was that by not listening to our podcast,
he was actually being a hater. That's really weird. Okay,
(23:26):
I'm gonna call him. It's okay, We're gonna be gentle.
Hello high Way, I am here with Kyle. Hi h.
I guess he just ran out of hellos, so not
(23:48):
enough hellos to go around. Thank you so much, for
getting on the phone. Are you in a comfortable place.
I'm on the couch next to a small dog. Yeah,
oh that's really nice. Sounds fair, jaffee. Okay, good, he
was comfy. We were almost ready to deliver the bad news.
But now it was actually time for step three. Step three,
(24:15):
bring up something positive. We wanted to make sure that
he was feeling fabulous, you know, before we tackled him
to the ground. I mean, we just want to say,
what a what a great job you've done for our show. Um,
your songs are some of what I think our listeners
(24:38):
love the most about our show. Oh really, yeah that's good.
You have a you have a nice old hand base.
Oh that's cool. Wow. He was on top of the world,
right where we wanted him. Yeah. It was a beautiful sight.
(25:04):
But now it was time to take him down with
our last step. That's right, it was time for step four.
So to recap the steps. Step one we called went
from separate rooms. Step two we made sure he was comfy.
(25:26):
Step three we made him feel fabulous, and now, without
further ado, step four. Now, step four is harder to explain,
but I'll try. It's like this, rather than call out
(25:52):
someone for being a hater. Directly, you gently lead them
up to the accusation of being a hater, but along
the way you make yourself tripp on a little curb
like an idiot. Then when it's time for the big accusation,
you go, look, I think you might be a hater.
(26:14):
But then again, I just dripped in a little curb
like an idiot, So what do I know? Thanks? Anna,
that was awesome, but maybe a little confusing. I'm worried
you may have lost some people along the way, so
I'm going to try to give a clearer example. Okay,
(26:37):
let's say I took Anna's car out for a devilish
little joy riding and crashed it into a telephone pole
and returned the car door house without telling her about
the crash. What Anna could do using the fourth step,
she could go, Now, I'm not saying you crash my car,
(27:02):
and what do I know, I'm an idiot, But I'm
kind of feeling like my car got crashed again. I'm
not saying it was you, but I am saying you
took my car out in one state and brought it
back in this condition. So by process of elimination, I'm
(27:23):
feeling like it's you, and I say that with love.
But then again, I am a little idiot, so maybe
I'm wrong. Okay, so now you know, step four, back
to the phone call. The next thing that I say,
(27:46):
it's not an attack, Okay, it's not Okay, I'm ready.
Now I get the feeling. This is not an accusation,
it's an attack. It's just a feeling. Um that this
is just a feeling. So maybe it's actually wrong, but
I get the feeling that you don't actually listen to
(28:08):
our podcast, right, Oh my god. It's so hard to
deliver bad news, even if you know the person is comfy.
It's really hard. You did a really good job. Hey,
I'm just glad we had the system. It's not an
attack because it's just a feeling. And I say it
(28:32):
was love, and you're still and you're still in that
comfortable spot, right, yeah, Okay, it's not comfortable anymore after.
That's why this is just we just it's just a feeling.
So we don't know if it's this. That's why we
call to just start, that's why we call. Well, yeah,
(28:54):
I know, I don't. I mean, I've listened to some
of it. I've probably listened to you know, I'm not.
I'm not a big podcast guy unless must see like
like Christopher Nolan's getting interviewed about the you know, the
Dark Knight or something. Okay, Okay, I've heard enough. We
(29:17):
had delivered the bad news, and now it's time to
make this phone call constructive because remember that's what we
were looking for, constructive feedback from our haters to make
our podcast better. And double remember that this wasn't even
technically an investigation. We had just become obsessed with one
(29:39):
bad review and our egos were flapping in the wind.
What could we do on our podcast that would make
you go, I have to listen. I gotta, I gotta,
I gotta tune in celebrity interviews bingo. But wait, Kyle
(29:59):
not ing, go we don't know any celebrities? Oh? I
guess not, But oh wait, I do know one? What
about John? Wait? Who's John? I? I I Kyle? Are
(30:21):
you lying again? Okay? We didn't actually know any celebrities.
But I thought on my feet maybe there was a
work around. I had an idea and I ran it
by wit Huh. Okay, if it were like a really
(30:42):
really good person anger Nope, okay, okay, never mind. We
got off the call with Witch shortly thereafter and met
up in the same room. You know, after being apart
in separate rooms. That was really hard, so we regrouped.
(31:12):
Here is what we knew so far from talking to
our haters. Our podcast was boring and there were no
celebrities in it. It seemed like if we wanted to
placate our haters, we would have to make it more
(31:33):
exciting and have so many celebrities that it would feel
like celebrity whack a mole. Just when you bought Meg
Ryan on the head, Keenan Thompson pops up, and just
when you're done bopping him, well, here come the Olds
and Twins. Honestly, Anna, this sucks ass. Kyle, I'm sorry,
(31:56):
I'm feeling very negativ o right now. Well that makes
perfect sense. I mean, look at what we're doing. We're
chasing down our haters and we're giving them power. We
are wallowing and negativity. Can I call an audible Ah? Yeah,
(32:17):
I think so. I mean it is our podcast. We
need a new plan. We're giving too much power to
the haters and obsessing over the stuff that they don't
feel works. Instead, we should be giving that power to
(32:39):
someone else, people who like us, you know what I'm saying.
Maybe we hadn't found our audience and there were more
like minded listeners out there. They should be the ones
with the power. So here's an idea. Yeah, let's talk
(33:02):
to a podcaster with a lot of listeners and ask
them how they got there. Let's think of a successful podcast. Okay,
so what's a successful podcast? Um? The mof m hmm,
(33:23):
I don't know that one. Oh oh, Terry Gross, that's
a person mhm. I remembered right then and there that
I actually did know someone, someone who had been in
the podcast game for three years, and that's pretty long.
(33:49):
He seemed like the perfect person for Kyle and I
to talk to, So I gave him a call and
(34:09):
now an AD break. The AD break is over. Andrew? Yes, Hi, Hi,
Dina is Kyle? Hi? Hi? Hi? Are you? Wow? This
(34:33):
was already off to a better start. I mean, at
least this guy said hi to me, no offense wit.
Um we are recording just so you know right now? Okay, damn,
he was good, No wonder he'd been doing it for
(34:53):
three years. Let's go back though. We were talking to Andrew,
a comedian. It and more importantly to us, certified podcaster.
He hosted a podcast called podcast but Outside it was
cool and honestly it was pretty popular. We figured he
(35:16):
was pretty busy, so we got right into it. So, Andrew,
what do you think the keys to having a successful
podcast are? I think the keys to having a successful
podcasts are having an idea that is unique. Oh oh,
(35:37):
that's literally us. Anna and I are as unique as
they come, or maybe even more unique as the ones
that come. Well, you know they are coming, and we're
going what else, Andrew? And having an idea that is
easy to understand. Yet that's tough for us, you know.
(36:02):
I mean, we do what we can and we're actually
trying to reel it in this season, but you know,
we aren't living by a log line. Oh, I can
explain what the show is about. Okay, I would love
to see you try. It's about us and we're Kyle
and Anna, okay, and um, we investigate stuff, but sometimes
(36:28):
we go to the beach. Oh and one time I
rented a convertible. Oh and we have a third friend, Rod. Oh,
you're right, damn mm hm hmm okay, wait, let me
throw this one out there. What if it is unique
(36:50):
and it's hard to understand. It's hard to understand. I mean,
what about that this guy was the expert. Well, that's
of what you need, so whatever. Honestly he was hurting
her feelings. I'm sorry, but what even was his podcast? Like?
(37:13):
What was his podcast? Was it really so easy to understand?
Go ahead, explain it to us. My podcast is called
podcast but Outside, and my co host Cole Hersh and
I sent up a table on the sidewalk at different
locations outside and the interview strangers who walked by. That
actually was really easy to understand. I guess he really
(37:35):
did know what he was talking about. We decided to
take advantage of the opportunity and asked him what concrete
things we could do to make our podcast more popular.
You see, maybe if we gathered a big enough crowd
of listeners who were shouting our praises, we would drown
out the venomous whispers of the detractors. So this is
(37:57):
a bit more of a you know, grassroots approach. But
if you see someone who seems to be listening to
a podcast, like let's say they're walking down the street
and it's pretty clear that there's no music in their
dear Suah, you can totally ask them to take out
any here, bud and say, excuse me, are you listening
to a podcast? And they'll say yes, And then you
could maybe say is it true town? And based on
(38:20):
your admittance, they'll probably say no, and then you can say,
and then you can think, or is it actually out
of all your ideas, I feel like to me, this
is the most doable. Wait, so we just do that
probably a hundred times as many times as we can,
because work for you. I really, I really do think,
(38:42):
you know. And then you know, you could even say
if you you could even say, hey, if you liked
the podcast, after you said, you can say, I would
encourage you to stop a jog or yourself. Yeah. Kind
of paves it forward, Yeah, yeah, is like pay it
pay it forward, sort of passing on true towns, passing.
(39:10):
I hope you guys, you know, find more ears. Thank you.
At that moment, Andrew had truly become our brother in pod.
Our spirits were high. This was what it was all about,
not focusing on your haters, but focusing on love and community.
(39:38):
Andrew had given us a gift. He had told us
that all we needed to do to build a larger
listenership was to go out there and find our community.
That's right. We would go outside, seek out the runners,
the thinkers, the movers, step face to face with them
(40:01):
in their path, get right in their face, COVID be damned,
and tell them we are what you seek, whether you
know it or not. Listen to the truth hounds. So
that's exactly what we did. We walked out of our houses,
(40:21):
got into our cars, put the keys into the Ignition
Room room, met up at a park that's in between
our two houses, and marched right up to a man
stretching wearing air pods and no shirt. We were going
to make him a part of our podcast community, whether
he liked it or not. And then I said, okay,
(40:44):
if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. We're together,
he does have headphones. We we'll stand from here. We're
really far. Excuse me, are you listening to a podcast? Okay, yeah,
I don't think this is work. I don't think this
is gonna work. Honestly, fuck off. I'm sorry, not you guys,
(41:12):
the listeners, but this whole experience. I am so frustrated.
All we wanted to do. Let's make a good podcast,
a great podcast even, and then some dumb funck piece
of ship left us a one star review. We can't
even investigate anything right now, and worse, we can't even
(41:36):
look into it because they didn't leave their name on
the review, so we can't even ask them nicely what
we could do to change and why they don't like us.
We are obsessed, No, not obsessed, we are possessed. I'm
not sleeping. Kyle just sits in her Prius and her
(41:58):
driveway for hours at a time. So then we tried
something different. We tried to meet some of our other haters,
people we did know, actually, people who were really close
to us, and guess what, they had nothing helpful to say.
(42:20):
So we thought, hey, we're being too negative and we
need to lighten up a bit. We tried to talk
to a successful podcaster who could be like a mentor
a big brother to us, and he basically had us
accost people. But we were desperate. I mean, we love
the podcast so much and you guys, the listeners, we
(42:43):
love you so much. We would do anything for you.
So we went out there boots on the ground. We
talked to a guy with air pods and no shirt
on who basically ignored us. It made us feel lower
than dirt. Basically the whole part just stopped and laughed
at us. I mean, the birds laughed at us. Do
(43:05):
you know what that's like? I guess Andrew's plan really
did work because we really were building a community. It
was just made up of people who like to clown
on us. That's all, Hey, Anna, not now? Oh okay,
(43:33):
you know what. This wasn't working. Listening to your haters
doesn't work. Following the playbook of a supposed success that
doesn't work. I think that we should just throw out
the playbook entirely. There is no advice that we can
seek or take because what we originally set out to
do was to make a podcast that is unlike any
(43:56):
other in the world. So this season, season two, you
know what, we need to go where no other podcast
has gone before. Hey, Kyle, while you're there, what's that
quote about women? Kyle? Since you're standing right there, what's
that quote about women? Um? Crazy women? Right history? That's right, Kyle,
(44:20):
crazy women, right history. We are going to go skydiving
for the podcast. Um what and then while we're flying
high dropping from the sky. Um, I'm sorry? What we
will yell the name of the podcast, which by the
way is truth Hounds, um, and maybe include the season
(44:46):
so they know what season it is. You're right, we
will yell Truth Hounds season two. I didn't tell my
mom because I know that she would try to talk
(45:07):
me out of it. Yeah, I know that we we
really need this for a podcast. This is really important,
and I don't think she quite understands that. She's just
gonna try to talk me out of it, so I
could not tell her. That's right. We were driving to
Paris Paris, California to go skydiving for you the listener.
(45:33):
We felt good about it. It was going to be expensive,
but you know what, it wasn't about that. It would
be really cool if we were able to bring Roman
up there so you could have a boom mic when
he when he dives. But yeah, I guess it was
(45:53):
very It was very expensive. So that would be really
expensive because this is a really about it to reward
of podcast. Yeah, we would be paying him for we'd
have to pay for him to skydive, and his day
rate lost his day rate. Yeah, there's just that's a
thousand dollar day right there. Yeah, there's just no way
(46:16):
financial setback or not. We were thinking about you the listener.
We weren't even that scared again because it was about
you the listener, So we weren't thinking about the stuff
you would normally think about before you go skydiving. Honestly,
we were just having a great time together and then
(46:40):
the topic of what we were wearing happened to come up. Okay, wait,
so I was gonna text you today because as I
was leaving the house, I go, it's never occurred to
be where what do you wear to go skydt as?
Because I thought, well, yeah it did you have like
(47:02):
a little bit of like a not to be not
to be dark and twisted? But what will you want
to die in? But yeah, yeah that's what I And
also I go, you know what today, I'm gonna use
um extra facial product that's expensive. Your skin looks nice? Yeah,
(47:22):
because yeah, I go, what if I don't come back?
That is true? You know? I actually, yeah, I changed
my T shirt a bunch because I was thinking about
what kind of statement I wanted to wear. So before
I was wearing a shirt that I'm wearing, I actually
was wearing a Saint Bernard shirt with a dog because
I was trying to make a statement to my dog,
like I love dogs. I'm with dogs. I with dogs.
(47:43):
I love dogs. If there's anything people need to know
about me after I passed, it's like dogs. Yeah, okay,
Like I love my dog, I'm leaving him there in
this world not to be nerve. Okay. Yeah, wow, I
(48:04):
don't think either of us had really thought this through.
Was there really a chance we could die and I
might never see my dog again? Um? Yeah, I think
that's a very real possibility. But this is for them,
the listeners. What do you mean by them? Them? The listeners?
(48:34):
Who is even them? They are right there, the listeners.
We had been so fueled by rage we didn't even
think about the fact we could literally die skydiving for podcast,
for you, the listener. But it was way too late.
(49:00):
We were in Paris Harris, California, and we were approaching
the skydiving place. Wait on the road, Wait, that is
high up. I don't even see the plane. Oh is
(49:21):
that the know that the parish? That is high? Oh
my god? Here we are okay, okay, we're here, We
are here. Okay, So at this point you were flipping out.
(49:44):
But as we said, it was too late. We were
already filling out the waivers, you know those things that
say our families can't sue the skydiving company if we
you know the height, okay sky duns. Yeah, I'm gonna
(50:19):
do right now. We're just gonna do two waivers and
aline we've heard a paper waiver on then we were
gonna do that this ip had over here or while
those three over there. Just make sure you spoil everything
exactly like it says in the driver's license. Multiple last names, Zoll,
your last names, christnas, Zili, your first names. Um, if
your just isn't, if your current I just isn't the
same one of your driver license, use your current pass. Okay,
(50:43):
Oh my god, Oh my god. And then they made
it worse. We had to watch a video of a
man saying that we had absolutely no rights or say
in the mad if we you know die. View it
(51:04):
very carefully and study its promises, because once you sign
it isn't It is a finding contract, and that contract
is intended to require that you give up forever any
and all claims you have under the law. Not only
is the finding upon you once you signed, but it
is also finding to find your heirs, your family and
(51:27):
your representatives. We have to take a break for some mats.
Back to it. At this point, we were really crapping
(51:54):
in our under rus. You have to excuse me. That
might be the last time I get to say crapping. Honestly,
I didn't want to go. I know we had this podcast,
and I know this was all for you guys, the listeners,
but I'm sorry, I just don't know if I want
(52:15):
to die for you. I mean no offense. I mean,
look at you and you and you. You guys are awesome,
but this is life or death, Kyle. They just called
our names out to suit up and board the plane.
(52:38):
This was honestly so expensive that we couldn't not go. Okay, Well,
we had signed the waivers, watched a scary video of
a man, we said our goodbyes. We couldn't record while
we were getting suited up to go on the plane.
But hopefully this won't be the last time you hear
from us, Okay, just in case. Um, it was an
(53:06):
honor and a privilege to get to make truth Hounds
for you guys, the listeners. Kyle, I know that you
don't like stuff like this, but I love you, and
my only regret in life is that I never got
to meet Danny de Vito, though I did get to
(53:29):
meet a sun Ones he actually liked by comedy. So
um any last words, Kyle, it was an honor and
a privilege to get to make truth Hounds for you guys,
the listeners, Anna, I love you, and I'm sorry that
(53:51):
I didn't say it that much while I was alive.
I have two regrets in this life. One and I
never got to be on the reality show The Circle.
And my other life regret is that I never got
a chance to invent a baggy bathing suit. I just
(54:13):
think it's unfair that there's no bathing suits that are baggy.
Listen out for us. Hopefully we will be the ones
who are falling from the sky yelling truth Hounds season
two two. Oh my god, Okay we're going so now
(55:32):
you know what we know. We didn't die, We made it.
We got on a plane, jumped out of it and
yelled truth Town season two. Well, Anna, did I kind
of lost my ship? Honestly, I threw open my mouth.
I was strapped to a guy from Brazil and he
(55:54):
was awesome. I actually did shout truth Hound season two
while I was in the air. But the clip you
just heard, I was actually asking the guy I was
strapped to to also yell truth down season two. He didn't,
but he did yell the second best thing, which was
and I was trapped to a guy from America and
(56:15):
he was mean, no offense. When I threw up in
the sky, I held it in my mouth until I
reached the ground, because that is how mean the guy
who I was trapped to us no fence. All right,
(56:44):
I'm so proud of it. One thing, my man, I
feel like, yeah, it looked like a locale. Next week,
how do you graduate there? So we went skydiving for
(57:17):
you guys the listeners. Typically at the end of an
episode we would meet up at the beach to talk.
But please don't be mad. We were just a little tired,
you know, from skydiving for you guys the listeners. But hey,
(57:38):
will you do us a favorite? Can you tell just
one person about our show? It would really mean the world.
And that way, if we went skydiving for let's say
five people, it would have been worth it. And Kyle,
is there anything you want to say to me? Maybe
(57:59):
something from the heart crazy women? Right history Cheers, Welcome
to season two. Hey, if you like The Truth Hounds,
please subscribe to us and leave us a five star review. Seriously,
(58:22):
it would really help us. And honestly, you've got to
start earning your keep around here. And as soon as
you're done earning your keep, follow us on Instagram at
truth Hounds and on Twitter at the truth Hounds to
participate in our investigations and see behind the scenes footage
and bonus juicy content. Truth Hounds is a production of
(58:46):
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from i Heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
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