Ep. 10: Augie T. ~ More Hits, More LAUGHING! (Part 2)

How do U take life's deepest pain & turn it into joy? Hawaii Comedy Legend Augie T. reveals the raw truth behind his infectious humor in this very honest talk story.

Behind his public persona is a man who has faced profound trauma. With extraordinary courage, Augie discusses childhood sexual abuse, his brother's suicide, & his journey parenting gay sons—all while maintaining his Christian faith. His take? "Comedy is a reflection of society. You say the things that you like to say but have a hard time saying."

Whether juggling his early morning radio show, council duties, or stand-up performances, Augie embodies what he believes aloha truly means: "If you're thinking about other things besides yourself... that's aloha." His story reminds us all that our deepest wounds can become our greatest gifts when shared with courage, humor, and love.

Ready for Augie's heartfelt comedy? Visit AugieTLive.com to catch upcoming shows & follow his journey of bringing healing laughter to Hawaii & beyond: IG @AugieT or @AugieTulba.hnl.

IG @DawnOBrienHI

FB Dawn O'Brien HI

www.ChooseAloha.org

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Aloha Alive.
We've got Mr Aloha Alivehimself.
Of course, I'm your hostesswith the mostest for his highest
ante, don Augie T.
You are amazing.
We were talking about the factthat I just saw your show and
you had fresh material and yousaid go ahead, tag Jason Momoa.
I like him, see him at JasonMomoa or whatever it is.

(00:34):
Right, Mr, that's it, thegypsies.
So it's so fresh, it's so good.
How do you get content?
Cause the other stuff you wastalking about you were talking
about, may I translate for ourcontinent was the makelauleas.
We used to have regularfunerals back in the day when
you and I were growing up in the70s.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
We said bye to somebody.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thank you, and we actually cried, we grieved yes,
which was important right.
Very quiet very somber.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
At some point it all changed.
Then now it's buccaloos forbroke.
You hire you as an mc toentertain.
You have filipino cameramen.
So another funeral that Iattended oh, here we go.
One of the things thatsometimes happens is I get
invited as the representative inthe area to attend, and I went
to this funeral.
I was like on wedding, feltlike that oh, wow, mc, wow, yes,

(01:22):
and they introduced the familythat came in right and then a
filipino lady, wow music.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Did they have intro music when they bring the family
in right and it's matchingattire like a wedding.
It was like that yes, exactlylike that.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
But the lady that was singing to get I think she sang
the greatest love of all.
Oh, by way of houston, yes, andafter she was done, she's like
if you need me to perform atyour party, your event, please
let me know and I was like atyour what I had no idea at your
party anyway, party filipino,party filipino, you know,

(01:55):
gathering, oh yeah you know soevents.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yes, I was.
Uh, she did a plug right thereright there at the end.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
The body was right in the back of.
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
So that was a picture moment that was postable was
yeah, yeah.
I.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Told my staff.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Because you mean your councilman staff, cuz you know
we're different hats correct andit's important for them to
understand.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
like you know, in the morning I'm radio guy, that's
my hat, in the afternoon I'm,you know.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
City councilman and then comedians.
One of the biggest districts inState of Hawaii, you know, on
the weekend MC comedian and youknow if I need to be there.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Please understand that.
If it's like you know all ofthis, I could probably talk
about it.
I don't like, but like, comedyis a reflection of society.
You say the things that youlike to say but you have a hard
time saying and for me it'salways been about a story Like
funny, like you saw, roland.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, so we're filming here.
I live in a houseless communityand we have a program for
ex-addicts.
Now, roland I didn't know hisname before today, but he looks
at me because he looks at youwalking up.
He goes brah.
That's Augie T, yeah, and he'snever spoken to me before, but
today I'm brah.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Brah, brah, that's.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Augie T.
Yeah, and I go.
Yes, in fact it is.
And there was another member ofour resident here and she goes.
Who else is your famous friends?
Hey, I need one picture.
I need one picture with Augie T, so everybody was in an uproar.
I just need him to go to thebathroom and I go.
You're going to multitask,You're going to go to the
bathroom and take a picture, notin the same place, Go ahead.
Yeah, so go ahead.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
It was awesome you could.
You know.
You know mine, Bro.
We already know.
Let's get it over with.
He had a whole format.
Yes, he did.
I think maybe that was his newphone, or lending, and he had
them on the timer that's a niceword, lending.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Right, he had them on a timer.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
So you know you're over there smiling and he got
five four, yeah, Timer.
So you know you're over theresmiling and he got five four,
yeah, oh, he did the timer.
Yeah, it was the timer, and youknow.
And then he had a hard timeexplaining to me that it was
treatment and I already knew,because I grew up in that kind
of neighborhood, I know, yeah,right, I was like how's
treatment going, bro, you know,and it was like oh, you know,
because just be real, becausethere's a heart to heart

(04:22):
connection when you're real.
I'm saying you're learning aboutGod right, which is awesome he
goes.
I think he had a hard timebecause he's thinking he's
anonymous.
Yeah, and you don't know go tomy social media, you'll see.
I do a Bible study every singleday yes, sir you know.
Yes, sir, I'm not a preacher.
I just feel like I need to beaccountable to people.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I love that, you know and you know what else I love
is he saw you when you got outthe car.
He's already checking you outwith me.
That's Augie T, right?
You know why?
He owed me one photo.
And I go really, he owes you aphoto.
How is that true?
And then he was ready and hedid this whole thing.
Then I look over here's Augie T, the probably one of the most

(05:02):
well-loved celebrities from thestate of Hawaii, and he is like
oh brah, what's your last name?
And you're putting in Roland'slast name, and you were giving
him your at signal handle fromIG.
you guys went all in all in andI had to stop you when he came
in here because really his wholething was coming to our podcast
, aloha.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Live and I'm like.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
I'm standing there going brah, we gotta go, let's
go.
And I'm your tongue and bouncer.
Now let's go.
Augie T and you came in and Isaid is this normal?
Yeah, that's your everyday,everyday.
Wow, yeah, how loved are you,friend?
And you roll with that.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
I do.
I mean, you know one of thethings that I saw as a young
comic working with other famouscomics.
I would watch how peoplerespond, and some of the comics
that I worked with was just tooarrogant so nobody knew who I

(05:57):
was.
I was in the back, I just kindof followed, but I watched.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
You started off as a I think it was sound or light
technician for Booga Booga?
Yes, how do you know that I domy research as a I think it was
sound or light technician forBooga Booga?
Yes, how do you know that I domy research?

Speaker 2 (06:07):
as a stalker chick.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, no, that's what , no.
So you were the guy in blackright Techs wear black and
you're pretty much invisible.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Here's the crazy part Like when I first saw Andy
perform in the fourth grade, Istarted buying everybody's album
.
Yeah, including Booga, booga,so Booga.
Booga was like my favorite.
Oh Bob, me too I could mimicevery bit Poi Dog right.
So here's the crazy part Once Iwon my first open mic, within

(06:36):
three months of doing comedy, Ibumped into every single comic
that I looked up to Like I knew,like all of them Andy Bumatai
Booga.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Booga right.
You got Ed Kanahele, you gotRap Rap Linger.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Frank Dilemma, everybody within that Uncle
Frank.
I went on tour with Andy, metMalcolm Bang and then when Booga
Booga did like a stint for liketwo weeks at the at that time
the Waikiki Comedy Club, I waslike I just wanted to be around
them to listen how you know howthey do things.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
You absorb a lot.
Yeah, I said, can I be a?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
light guy and Graeme's grandbeta looked at me
like what that's crazy to me.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know anyone light ?

Speaker 2 (07:16):
guy.
I go no, no, I like be a lightguy.
And he goes who are you Right?
And I told him oh, you know, Ijust started here at the comedy
club for like two, three weeksand I was that annoying guy that
knew all the jokes, Wow.
And he was like dude, yeahRight.
And he mentored me until thetime that he died, Wow.

(07:37):
So we were working on thisthing called Beer.
Can Hat, Remember those Beer?
Can Hats With the primo beer cancan hat remember those with the
primo beer cat.
So, uh, he wanted me to reallylearn how to act, because he
thought that adding acting toyour comedy might grow your
character, and it did.
Yeah, so, like for me, when Ido comedy, a lot of it is like

(07:59):
in my face yeah right expressionvery expressive playing.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Trying to play the non, the non-verbals Correct
Right.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Gestures.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
I learned that because of Wow, because of your
early mentoring and because youhumbled yourself to watch some
of the greats in Hawaii.
Yeah, I just saw a show withyou and you were the opening act
for Andy Bumatai.
Yeah, and after you were done,you slayed it, you killed it.
He comes up and he goes sointeresting that Augie says that

(08:27):
he saw me in fourth grade,because now he's in the fifth
grade and of course, we alllaugh because it is super funny.
Thank you, mr Bumatai.
But you do.
You look super young.
You've lost a lot of weightrecently.
You've gotten fit.
I saw you were doing someextreme fitness all the way out
in Ewa Beach, which is part ofyour, and you were taking your
mom Big time boot camp there.
It is, yeah, and that guy'slike military.

(08:50):
In fact, you gave him an awardat city council.
Talk about that, because when Ilook at you, I want to know
where do you get all this energyand how do you stay so fit and
young?

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think just doing what you love, like, for me it's
like everything has been acalling, from boxing to doing
stand-up comedy and then evenrunning for office.
So like, whenever I don't likesomething and everyone that
knows me know, like once I feellike I leave, like why waste my

(09:23):
time, why waste your time?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
You know it's not making me happy.
Your spirit is not there, right?

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I just leave because I always feel like you know God
going to take care of me and ifyou do things according to your
calling, wow Right.
Even if it's like why staythere?
Because of the money, why staythere because of the job?
It's not worth it, Right thatbecause of the money.
Why is that?
Because of the job, not worthit, right?
A lot of us get scared becausewe're wondering what's next,
what's around the corner, likeI've always been able to like,

(09:49):
like, trust my instinct and justleave you know it's interesting
to me you say that becauseyou're part portuguese.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
I had a portuguese mentor, pastor wayne cordero,
and he often said that if yourheart has left this calling,
then you belong somewhere else.
And he didn't say that in aharsh way, but you're saying
that's real when I feel thespirit is gone.
I'm going to follow the spirit.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
And when you're having a good time, like I'm
going to be 57 10 days from now.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Happy birthday, La-di-da-di happy birthday.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
So you know, at this age I feel like I'm having the
best time.
Yeah, I'm having the best timedoing comedy.
Understanding government, yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
You do fundraisers, community service, everything
Media.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
People always say that Well, you dye your hair, I
go.
No, I want to know?
No, I've never dyed my hair.
Wow, I did it once.
You know how stupid I went.
Look, this was like 20 yearsago.
If you go and look at some ofmy old headshots, you know how
everybody did the blonde.
Yes, yes, I look so dumb.
Filipinos are not blonde.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Right, well, not on the outside, but yes.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Sometimes I've never.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
But there are some Filipinos who wear it.
Well, I will say Some of theladies my dad has beautiful hair
.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
My mom, your mom, is pure pooch.
All my brothers, they look old,sorry.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
No, it's good.
That's what a lot of humor istruth that we want to say.
Like you said, I think that'swhat it is Like.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
I'm enjoying waking up, right Thankful, Do you Happy
?

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, because you work all day.
Almost every day we see you onearly morning radio 107.9.
Then you go straight intocouncilmen and then you go into
MC.
You still MC.
I can book you on your website,yes, and then you also do
comedy, which you're traveling alot to the mainland.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
How do you do all of that Again, waking up, loving
what you do?
All of that, Again, wake it up.
Loving what you do?
Yeah, no, just loving what youdo.
I love what I do.
Like I just did a seniorfacility out in Kaneohe and the
lady, one of the ladies there,she said, oh, my boyfriend was
your art teacher.
I saw a picture.
Look like he never changed.

(12:03):
Yeah, he does.
You know, but we Filipinos welook young until we get old.
That's Andy Bumatai joke.
I'm going to wake up one day,my pants going to be this high,
you know, and I go oh, Augie, helook old.
Now he's like oh, Augie looksyoung for his age.

(12:23):
And then I go wake up, Pantsgoing to be this high.
I'm going to be like what areyou looking at?

Speaker 1 (12:28):
What are you looking at?
Then you'll be pointing withyour chin yes, that's right,
that one.
So you know I'm enjoying lifeand you know I'm absorbing now,
you know you read the good book,god's book, the Bible, and it
says the joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
I've often said that Jesus isthe fountain of youth, and you

(12:50):
do.
You look so good, thank you.
And the thing is that comes offin your work, because another
thing that we know is that thespirit with which you do
something comes across.
That's the Aloha spirit.
You have it.
That's why I said you are, mraloha, alive.
So it's not like you know,mother theresa once said when
you're wiping a table, wipe itwith love, with gods when you're

(13:11):
changing a diaper, change itwith god, and you do.
You don't just wipe it and okay,it's done.
Next you give us a thousandmillion percent agi on early
morning radio.
You give us infinity percent oncouncil member and you're not
always popular for that.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
No, it's a very controversial that's why I said
like not everybody.
You say all these great thingsthat I'm listening and I'm going
, yeah, but it's just goinghateful email and I hate and
they rip you a new one right andyou know I won yesterday and
bothered me the whole day.
People don't realize like I'mhuman of course I mean, and uh,
read like the rest yes, and youknow, and I was telling my staff

(13:52):
this morning because every moreevery monday we have a you know
meeting and I was saying, youknow, like no matter what you do
good or bad you just kind ofmake everybody happier, but then
you know, when you get thosethat throw you off, it's like
the whole day.
I was just kind of like really,but it was more empathetic

(14:15):
because there's a side of methat still have the Kalihi in me
that wanted to respond.
Gee what is?

Speaker 1 (14:23):
a response in Kalihi.
Yeah, I was like bro, we stay.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
You know I go take it deep my dogs.
You know what I mean, but itbothered me the whole day.
And then I woke up this morningand I, before anything, when I
put my feet on the ground, Ijust say all my thank yous,
right, and I say things liketoday I choose to be happy, wow
but, you know, and then I do mybible study, then I record it,

(14:50):
put it up, and you know, the dayis on, let's go yeah, the races
, you come out of the blocks andyou are charging like that
championship singletary horse,right, we try everything.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, you do it.
Fine, sir.
Now I have a few officialquestions official kind.
You know, lately we weretalking in part one with you
which I titled when life hitsyou.
You come back laughing so todayis more hits more laughing okay
because you have gone throughsome hard things.
Augie, you know, I saw anarticle you posted recently and

(15:23):
it was about the death of yourbrother.
Yeah, remember, and he was one.
The death of your brother, yeah, remember, and he was one of
the best in the ring and at thetime you were not even yet, I
think, 16 when you won GoldenGloves.
Yeah, that was a hard knockbackthe death of your brother.
Then recently, in the last year, you had the death of your big
brother, yeah.
So how do you address that,augie?

(15:44):
Because, we usually see youlaughing.
Yeah, we usually see you makingso much laughing.
You make us laugh, but there'stimes when you're not laughing.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Oh, I saw a great quote.
I can't remember it, but it wasabout you know I put on this
almost sometimes facade becausethe only people that understand
my personal challenges like mywife, right and I can have the
most crummiest day and thenwe'll go into walmart and I

(16:11):
gotta shake them off and thenyou have to have public face
people don't know like there'sso much challenges inside like
this outside with roland, you'reon, correct.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Suddenly they expect stage augie, correct, and you're
just on the sidewalk or insomebody's.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
And when I get an opportunity to share about my
personal challenges, it'samazing how much that more it
resonates more with people thanthe whole.
It's almost guaranteed thatAugie is going to be funny.
But then when Augie turnsserious or he says something
maybe relevant man, it's so, sopowerful and I I've learned to

(16:47):
like um like express that.
It was always hard for mebecause I never grew up in a
family that showed affection.
It was hard for me to talk tomy dad.
I always tell people get twotypes of filipino men.
Okay, it's the happy Filipinoguy.
You know Be my dad's brother.

(17:08):
My uncle always hit on everygirl.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
That's what you define as a happy Filipino man?
Yeah, he was like who did that?
Got it now.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
He would look at girls and go you don't have to
look at me, you can close youreyes.
You can fantasize.
That's his life, that's hisline, dog.
If you say he would do that toyou, well, is that Don O'Brien?
Oh my God, close your eyes.
And then my dad was just anangry Filipino man.
Wow, really.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, so bipolar.
One brother to another One wasthe loving Filipino hit on
everyone, man.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
And then one was just really plantation hard.
Oh wow, only fourth gradeeducation and I was just sharing
this story with a bunch ofseniors, you know, because I
knew and understood my dad moreas he got older with dementia,
because he would talk about allthe things from the past which I
never know, like I would comehome one day and he'd go.

(18:02):
You know that he went to jail.
You know, really I had no idea.
You know, and I know that's abig thing.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
And then you realize, man, this guy is, he's been
through it.
Yeah Right, like I have noreason to be mad at him, I get
my own.
His shoes was tough.
Wow, you know his olderbrothers all passed away, the
black sheep of the family,fourth grade education.
Just an angry man.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
And you didn't get to know that until recently when
he's revealing it due todementia.
God bless him Moving in my homeRight, caretaking them, talking
story.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
But growing up you saw the angry, hard side of dad
because he was on survival modeyou saw the angry, hard side of
dad because he was on survivalmode and then, you know, when my
brother died, man that was mydad's, you know, get get their
favorites right and he neverlike come to the terms that my
brother was using drugs and hemight have killed himself, you
know.
I mean he taught that, yeah,and they couldn't.

(19:02):
My mom and dad could not.
Yeah, and they couldn't.
My mom and dad could not graspthat.
But they weren't the kind ofparents like, hey, how you feel
Augie, how you feel Ernie?

Speaker 1 (19:11):
It wasn't like that back in the day for most of us
right.
It wasn't this touchy-feelyparenting that made me very
angry.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
That made me very angry, like why shouldn't I
share, you know, because youknow, know I don't want nobody
killing themselves because ofdrugs.
Like they'll be shameful, likewhat you gotta share that for?
And I have to explain to themlike For me it's healing.
When I told that story on thenewspaper I was like I would
like to believe that my brothernever killed himself.

(19:39):
But what if he did?
Because he was going throughpersonal things, stuff that I
should have been aware of as hisolder brother.
Maybe I spent more time withhim, maybe, if I had the
conversation, never got to dothat.
And when he did it you questionlike, wow, did I do enough?

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yes, you know, yes, that's so good and many of us
walk through that Correct.
But I love what you're sayingis number one it's healing for
us to process and walk throughthe valley of the shadow of
death as it says in Psalm 23.
But second of all, to bringtruth and to show when something
evil is here, right, correct,when something is preying upon
our brothers and sisters orpeople in our community.

(20:19):
I have sometimes had a similarreaction from my family and I'm
going to walk on this reallydelicately because we had a
trauma childhood and part ofthat included certain types of
abuse that were extreme.
Yeah, and I have some of mysiblings sisters who have said
why you got to talk about thatSame thing.
Yeah, and I have some of mysiblings sisters who have said
why you got to talk about thatSame thing.
No, because dirty laundryshould stay with the fat.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
And I said no because if it happened within the four
of us, I want it not to happento another child ever.
Yeah, and therefore we showlight on it.
Right, we are not overcome byevil, but we overcome evil by
doing good.
And I'm going to shine a lighton it, not because I hate that
person, I forgive that personfor the stuff, but we need to
say to children certain thingsare not okay yeah, no, I've gone

(21:06):
through.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
I, when I go and speak to young students that are
challenged with life, or when Igo speak at the prisons and
stuff like that, I go.
What's the difference betweenme, my younger brother that
committed suicide, my olderbrother that was a convicted
felon we all lived in the samehouse.
We heard the same message.
Yep, but we all chose differentpaths.

(21:31):
Yeah, right, you know.
I mean like we can make excusesall day.
Yeah, you know, when I was beingmolested by my uncle and I, I
had to confront this with my dad.
My uncle had passed away but Iwanted, because I needed to talk
about it, because I compromisedso much in my life.

(21:52):
You know, because of that, thatweight of holding that stuff in
right, and my dad wouldremember those times, like I
just have to tell him hey, dad,you remember when I used to hold
on to the rattan and they weredrinking, and then you know

(22:14):
you'd come around, I'd take youupstairs and I would hold on to
the rattan and I wouldn't let go.
It's because I never let goupstairs.
Oh, you remember when I wouldtell you, come, stay in my room
because I would see things,because I just wanted you there
and my dad just you know break,because he remembers that but he
never know and for some.
But you know what they did.

(22:34):
They made him closer because,like he saw that I was able to
deal with it, but at the sametime was like I'm sorry that
wouldn't happen, augie.
Because, he had a hard timesaying sorry, like I don't know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well, that was the generation, our parents, right,
they had a hard time.
Now, hold on, because I did notknow that about you, augie, and
that's a huge courageous share.
Yeah, so thank you, friendbrother, for that.
No, and and, and.
The reason why I'm thanking youfor that is that I had a
similar experience and we'rekind of on that vent right now

(23:10):
Not not a vent, but on that laneand line of logic is that it
happened in our home.
And for me the next day.
I told I'm a lot like you were.
I'm actually real simple.
What you see is what you getWYSIWYG right.
So if I'm not happy, you'regoing to know I'm not happy, if
you know.
If I'm happy, I'm happy.
But I had a sibling who wentthrough the similar experience

(23:31):
and didn't tell and it got a lotworse.
And so to this day I often feelthat when there's abuse going
on for children, whether it'sphysical or psychological or
sexual abuse, that needs to comeout with a safe person.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, I'm sorry it happened to you.
I never heard you share that.
You know the thing is like Irealized in my adult life
because I hid that it affectedme in so many ways, did it?
Yeah, and when I speak to kidsand stuff, like you know, if you
look at my life and you readstats and you believe in data,

(24:10):
you know I should have beeneither in prison, right, Right,
homeless or dead Drug addictRight.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Correct the end of that.
Alcohol addiction, all kinds ofthe coping mechanisms, leads to
death.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
My dad was a crazy.
He loved to drink.
When I see blue tarps I getPTSD because I remember coming
home.
Oh gosh, this guy's going todrink again.
It's the party night.
That's why I don't do it or Inever, because I saw so much
trauma right and the decision togo on that path of like good

(24:47):
was hard for me because it wasso easy.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
My friends did it, you know, I mean it's almost
pervasive yeah, right, that's soare choosing to party, to drink
, even under age, and back inthe day I was graduating, they
had just fixed the law, orchanged the law to make it from
18 to 21, legalized drinking.
So back in the day, when it was18 years old, it would be even
easier for young people to haveaccess.

(25:09):
But when we look at the longterm, if you fast forward that
it leads to death.
Now you kind of went through itreally fast and I just wanted
to cover it.
You did end up telling your dad, yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
I don't know 30.
I was in my 30s.
I sat him down and we had agood cry Wow, If my dad could,
he probably would have go up tothe graveyard, pull him out and
punch the guy Right, Punch himout, but you right punch bottle.
But you know, it was a nicehealing moment for a bonding

(25:41):
yeah, he and I, because we neverdid it.
Well, you know, I mean like, andI needed to tell him because
it's important, because he wasthe guy that I kind of looked up
to absolutely right, eventhough I never expect or I never
.
You know, I never got the thingsthat I wanted from him, but I
just needed to make sure thatbecause I was like man, my dad's
so angry all the time, you know.

(26:02):
So what I went through maybefor a lot of people extreme, but
I can't even imagine what mydad went through.
You know what I mean.
So if he's not able to detect,Right.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
And that's the thing.
I think we live in a generationnow and I remember when, when
we told my dad and same thing hesaid I'm going to go down there
.
It was in another country andhe said I'm going to kill him.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Because I can't imagine a parent having to hear
your children say these thingsyeah, but we said, well, then
then you'll get arrested overthere and we'll never have
another dad again.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
So that would not help every.
No, I think it's superimportant that whenever you get
the opportunity to share, youshould, because you know it's
like I was saying right, peoplejust see the outside of the
phone, the.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yes, this is the perfect, this is.
We put our best foot forward,and I love that.
Though you said and I'm goingto advance your point you're
making, because I just saw yououtside with Roland and another
lady whose name I don't evenknow, right, because when I come
home, this is my sanctuary, Ikind of shut off, I go into
private Don.
There's a public Don, right, weoperate in that realm.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
And you said too, only your wife, kim, knows that
Augie, the private Augie, mybrothers, some, you know, uh,
maybe close family members thatI hang out with my, my, my
circle of friends is very small,you know, I just not that guy.
I'm like, you know, I uh, Icome in and do what I'm to do
and I leave.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
But there's goodness to that because it's the sacred,
yeah, and I've heard a verywise person say if you really
count the people that you cantrust, your do or die, maybe do
and die, your ride and diecircle, it's probably maybe less
than one hand, maybe it's oneto three people, yeah, and you
just said that Very small, lessthan one hand.

(27:56):
Maybe it's one to three people,yeah, and you just said that
very small.
So I think there's goodness inkeeping our sacredness because
even jesus, he had the 12, whichgot shrunk down to 11.
When judas had to go do whatyou must do, then he had three
best friends and then really atthe cross it was just him, yeah,
and god his father.
So it's a small circle.
Now you're good about relayingit forward and thank you for

(28:18):
sharing that, and I don't.
Is there anything else?
You know she, she has thatnonprofit brave and so

(28:43):
exceptional brave Hawaii whichgoes against bullying.
Yeah, and you guys have beendoing it for years yeah, and so
you know.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
I remember when she first asked me oh, can you come
and help me with the assemblies?
And I never like beat FrankDeLima Because whenever I saw a
comedian going to schools, Ialways thought it was like oh no
, we're going to do the Buddhahunt.
I love you.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Frank or the peanut story.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Right, I love you, frank, but I never like beat
that guy and I knew like, if Ido that, but we both love Frank
because we were in school whenhe would come and do the rallies
.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
I just never like be that guy.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
So when my daughter asked me to do it, I was like oh
, but I also knew like I had astory to tell and a truth to
explain.
Yes, you know what I mean and Iknew like that was gonna hurt my
comedy career.
I tell you why.
Because, comics, we work in thegray area.
Oh, okay, there's no black andwhite, think about, right.

(29:41):
And we say it not to be a fit,like I don't do things to be
offensive, but like I want towork in that space.
Right, and it's the safe zone,correct?
Well, not the safe zone, that'sthe.
That's where you got a truth,right.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
You're saying things that we're thinking, correct.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Not black or white, it's right there, right, and I
knew like if I went on andtalked I would lose that edge.
And that's what happened and Istarted seeing kids that were in
a situation that I was growingup and it was hard to write
comedy now, when all you see istrauma.

(30:17):
Right, you know, as a comic, wesee trauma as an opportunity to
write jokes.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Right Sadness, it becomes a bit.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Correct.
Yeah, right, it's content, butit's hard now because you go to
schools and you see kids they'realmost slippery, they're
walking through it, yeah, andyou go wait a minute.
I remember sitting in class andI think I shared with you this
in the last podcast but speakerswould come to our school and go
you are tomorrow's future andwe all believe that.

(30:47):
Yes, we are.
What do you want to be?
I want to be president of theunited states, right, and then
you become an adult and you gointo schools and you go.
Is this supposed to get better?
Right, when I was in school, wehad one homeless guy.
Why is there 300?

Speaker 1 (31:03):
now Right, exactly.
Why are we the top state in theUnited States with the most
homeless?
This isn't getting actuallybetter.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yeah, and I could easily go down the road and
write so much comedy about that,but I was in there hearing the
disrespect.
You go over there and you speakand you get a kid looking at
you.
Like I don't like listening toyou and you go.
What's wrong with that guy?
You got to go outside talk tohim.
And it affects you, right,because, like man, I can sense

(31:37):
he's angry or hurt, right, butlike, why aren't we detecting?

Speaker 1 (31:42):
that and that's thank you for that, brother.
And it leads me right into thisis that hurt people, hurt
people.
Right, and that's what I thinkyou're starting to address is
these kids are walking throughtrauma.
It's there right now, right?
I remember teaching at nanakulihigh school and intermediate I
had a ninth grade girl who wasgoing through physical sexual
abuse in her home her mom,boyfriend, and she was a

(32:05):
stunning young lady.
And I said I'm sorry, I'm goingto have to report it, it's the
state law.
And she pled, she wept, therewas no way I could share it.
But she found safety with me tosay this and I said you know,
let's just call her Kay, kay,I'm going to have to take you
out of that house.
That's inconceivable.
And she's taller than I am.
I'm pretty tall, but this girlwas tall, beautiful ninth grade

(32:26):
girl and she said please don't.
It's only three more years andI try real hard not to cry in
front of children because theytell you to be the strong one
and if they see us lose it right, I turned away for a second.
I took a few real deep, bravebreaths and I came right back

(32:47):
and I said but I'm still gonnacheck on you then, yeah, I agree
to this not so good agreementthat I'm not gonna go press
charges and take you out ofthere, move you away, move you
into my house.
But, augie, hurt people hurtpeople and we're there to bring
hope, because healed people healpeople and you were giving a

(33:08):
safe space and sanctuary forthese children to process pain.
Yeah, and as I remember thisyoung lady, kay, she was able to
go on and graduate.
Oh, that's awesome, but they'rewalking in the pain right then,
challenging the pit of pain.
Now back to what you weresaying, and I want to speak this
prophetically over you, andalways when I speak a prophetic
word over someone, augie, I wantyou to test the spirit because,

(33:30):
the Bible says don't just letanybody come roll up on you with
some kind of mojo magic, right?
This is just a truth of the Lord.
Is that we get to reverse thecurse and bring a blessing,
because it ends with us, right?
You, I felt, exposed a truthabout your family.
It was unfortunate.
It's a really bad choice forpeople to molest small children.

(33:51):
Yes, right, it's the same thingin my culture, in my family.
But, as for me, in my house, wewill serve the Lord, yeah, and
I will speak the truth with alldelicacy and respect for other
people in my family right I getit.
It hurts them still, but I, likeyou, I'm a truth teller because
we're going to shine the lightand it will kill the darkness
and it sets that person free.

(34:12):
So thank you for being braveenough to approach some of the
hard spaces.
And this goes back to where wefirst started.
And we've gone all kinds of bigways all around the block here
in kalihi, because that's howAugie T and DOB Don O'Brien do.
But you started by talkingabout how you got to process
your pain and share the truth,because when we speak the truth,

(34:33):
truth deep calls to deep.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, is that a good word overyou and go test that?
But I think you brokegenerational curses.
I hope so.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Stop I, you know, I think, uh, our fruit is our
children, right, amen, and allthe things that they're doing.
You know, uh, do I think Icould have been a better dad?
Absolutely.
But I look at them now and I go, okay, I'm good, I think I did
what I'm supposed to do, and Iwould remind them every time I

(35:04):
said my job is to make sure thatwhen you leave this house,
you're equipped that's good Withsomething.
Yeah, right, because never hadthat opportunity, wow, so that's
my job.
When you leave this house, areyou equipped, you know, because
the world, you know, will beatyou up and you better have ways,

(35:26):
yeah, better have ways of, like, preparing for that.
So when I see them now as anadult, I go, okay, wasn't the
best dad, because dad was alwaysmoving and doing things.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
And probably was really hard for them.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
You know it was hard for them.
They got bullied because of dad.
Everyone thought that, wow, weget all this money, which no
that's all false.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
You were riding the bus for a long time.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
But like you know you go on TV, people just think oh,
you're a celebrity.
So it was hard for them, youknow, because there's an
expectation Right.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
So I feel bad for them, but they, they did the
best they could and they arevery respectful adults and they
are the very best, yeah they'repillars, and they're pillars of
truth, much like yourself andand you can as a parent.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
You know you still worry about them, even though
they're in their 40s.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Well, and that's a question for me.
Thank you for reminding me.
As we talk about this, it hasto do with your kids.
How many kids do you have?
Five altogether?
Oh, brah you is busy.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Two from the first marriage, and then my wife had
her previous married kids, so wehave a blended family, yeah,
yeah, but they're all our kids,right.
It has to be Hawaiian style,Hanai nine right, those are your
kids, they all get along witheach other.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
They're all funny and you know and they speak truth.
Yes, so I was gonna say you'resuper busy, right?
We said radio councilman mccomic.
You travel to the mainland awhole lot, but you're also very
involved in your children'slives.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Try to be it's tough now, as an adult even as they're
grown kids, because they aregrown now.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
They're grown kids.
So how old is your first?
It's Augie Toba Jr Junior isOtherwise known as Bo 40, I
think already.
Woo, yeah, you started early,filipino Early.
We're like gremlins.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
You just add water as he sips water Right?
Filipino mic camera guy.
You just have to touch us, youget pregnant.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's it.
I'll stay on this side of thetable.
Thanks to Mrs Toba.
Thank you All love and respect.
So you have a 40-year-old andyou look like you're not even 40
.
You named one of the top 40under 40.
Of course, then you have.
I love Mahealani.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
She's the one.
Who's the daughter?

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Sims Toba, yes 25.
She is the lady at the captainof the head of Brave Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
And helping to overcome and conquer bullying in
the state of Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Why do you take and make so much time for your kids,
even as grown ones?
Look, if they have a project,or I think the biggest thing is
that, like I'm one phone callaway, yeah, I always tell them
like it's a call, yeah, like Iwish I had that with my dad.
Wow, you know what I mean.
Like it works both ways.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yes, it does.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
You know what I mean and you're adults, so like, good
idea, yeah.
Or you listen to the radio.
That's dad.
Maybe I should give him a call.
You know what I mean, like theyknow, so you're fully
accessible.
And.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
I'm going to add something that you don't know
about you, or maybe you do, butthis is as an outside objective
party.
I was emceeing an event at HonoUli Uli Middle School, brave,
hawaii, was represented.
Maheal Lania was going tointroduce her and then Augie T
walks into the very fullcafeteria Over a thousand.
Right, you have 900 somethingstudents, all the teachers, vas,

(38:55):
everybody, and you werecompletely second fiddle.
Yeah, you did not need anyattention, of course I already.
Was scrambling, get him a leg.
Augie's here.
Augie, did you want to saysomething?
Did you want to promotesomething?
Did you need to campaign?
Knock on the door and leave asign?
What do you need to do?
And he's like Don, I'm good.
You know, you were verygracious, but you knew how to
let Mahealani take front and allof them.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
You know my son does drag the older one, mr Bo Bo, so
the first time he does thiscompetition I go in.
Everybody's like Bo's like oh Igot.
Dad, you're taking away thesteam.
Oh, you went, yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because it's like watching
you walk in.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
You're very recognizable and everybody loves
you, so, like all his friendswas like you know, can I take
pictures?

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Wait, how, how, how do they ask you?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Can I take pictures?
You know, I'm like, of courseyou can Not, but like you know,
you know, for me it's such acool thing.
You know what?

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I enjoy is that you are able to laugh and bring up
something that's difficult it isRight, because that was on the
list is you have a son who isliving a gay lifestyle, two of
them, not just gay lifestyle,two sons, excuse me, but drag
queen gay, yeah.
And you're a man of faith, aman of the word, yeah.
So let's walk into that rightnow.

(40:21):
Let's do it, is it?
What kind of challenge is that?
I'm not going to say is it achallenge?
Cause every child is achallenge, whether they're
homosexual, bisexual, all sexual, yeah, what?
How did you walk through that?
Cause you were one of the firstthat I knew personally locally.
How was?

Speaker 2 (40:38):
the time.
Yeah, I talked about it in myact because it was very
difficult.
You know, uh, I in a householdwhere, like you, had to fight,
you know, cam 4.
Anything that looked feminine,my dad would be like what are
you mahu?
No, dad, we're good.
You know, we pick up one forkand sip what is this, right?

Speaker 1 (41:01):
So you know so very masculine man's man.
Yeah, no gray zone there.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, you're either all man or you're better be a
man, if you saw my act you knowI talk about.
Like every dad don't go to bedgoing, please let my son be a
ballerina.
You know what I mean.
Unfortunately, you know that'sthe route my son Junior went.
Yes, you know that's the routemy son junior went.
Yes, and you know we hadconversations where, like you

(41:29):
know, he knows one of the thingsthat I made them understand at
a very young age that livinglife gonna be difficult, like
was always difficult for me.
I saw I cannot imagine how it'sgoing to be with you, and then
your dad is somebody in Hawaii.
Wow, you had that talk, yeah,yeah, and I told them, like you

(41:51):
know, this lifestyle is going tobe challenging.
Yeah, and you have to learn toaccept the fact that people are
going to disrespect you Doesn'tmean you disrespect them.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Wow yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Like understand that this is going to be challenging.
And then you, you know they'revery brave kids, they're very
well not men, oh, depending theywomen.
I don't know it's me beingfunny people.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
His sons laugh.
You're allowed to laugh.
Yeah, I'm laughing, and it'snot laughing at, it's laughing
with.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
With them, right, but you know it's always been
challenging for them.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Well, but you prepared them with that talk.
And you are dad and they areyour sons and there's no shame.
Yes, right.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
And I still have a hard time with it.
They know that, you know.
We talked about this at yourshow before the show Sometimes
they're like you have to keeptalking about us, and I don't as
much now.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
It's how you processed.
You said initially is you diduse it and go into a comedy bit
that you were processing.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yes, I was working through my own challenges with
my children being gay yeah.
You know, and people laugh atthat because they understood
what's challenging for me.
You know what I mean, so mykids know that.
I just did an interview with myolder son on O'Leary.

(43:13):
I saw it, yeah, and it was cool, because you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Very well done.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Very, very challenging for him being the
son right, an entertainer.
People made fun of him, uh, butluckily, you know, because we
always had that talk about yeahgonna be challenging well, first
of all, kudos that you did theepisode yeah it's up.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
You can watch it on your.
What is the name of the podcast?
Again?

Speaker 2 (43:39):
it's called talking story with Augie.
But you know I do it because Iwant to help Olelo and get
people to understand how to workbehind a camera.
It's good, it's a free thing.
It's, you know, subsidized bythe city and the federal
government, so why not takeadvantage A little?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
plug in PSA.
I know right For Olelo andpublic TV.
But back to the point.
Yeah, you're not trying to hideyour son.
No, you in fact, and even inyour comedy bit and this is my
opinion, I'm owning it.
I'm not trying to offend anyone.
You were not offensive.
You didn't try to shame him ormake him the butt of a joke so

(44:16):
that you didn't put it out thereso that the whole community
pointed and went ew right.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Well, the thing is like you get people who think
that right, exactly Exactly, andyou know it's unfortunate, it's
unfortunate but it's extremelyunfortunate.
Yeah, for my kids because theygot to hear it right, oh, your
dad teasing you and they got tokeep explaining.
Well, not really, because Ikind of know and people are

(44:42):
curious, right, kind of know,and people are curious, right,
you know.
And that's where comedy is soimportant, because it dives into
stuff that maybe you're notcomfortable with hearing I love
you for that, augie, and that'sexactly my point.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Yeah, is that this, even for me right now, is an
uncomfortable topic, becausewhat I've seen happen is a lot
of bullying around this issue inthis topic, even saying the
word queen right.
But if we don't begin to shinethe light on some of this with
love and with grace.

(45:15):
And, believe me, I grew up inSouth Polynesia.
My first cousin is probably thequeen of all queens.
He, as far as you, I mean andthat was back in the day I'm 54
years old, he's 54 and a half.
And so how do we, when we, aspeople in polynesia or on these

(45:36):
small little islands andsomebody once said don't burn a
bridge on a small island, chaindonald bryan so how do we malama
and love people?
Yes, I believe in the Bible,yes, I am a Jesus Christ
Christian through and through.
But how do we translate?

Speaker 2 (45:52):
that I tell you the last conversation I had with two
of my sons, we were in arestaurant and going back to my
older brother that passed away.
I told them why I was bothered.
I told them like, and I criedin the restaurant.
I told them because I didn't doenough, you know, and at the

(46:16):
end of the day it's good.
It's like make sure you guysget to heaven.
I don't know, that's good, youknow.
And and again says again onlythem can repent right, only them
can say whatever they're goingto say.
But how will they?

Speaker 1 (46:31):
know unless they hear you gotta yeah, and that's that
whole right you have to said itwith tears, which shows me that
, yeah, it's a hard truth tospeak, but we say it with true
love.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
You didn know the truth, because you know they
grew up in church, wow, and youknow that's not my point to
judge, right?
No, it's not.
You got to just love, right?
And you share how, like man, Inever do enough.
And I think deep down insidethey know like maybe I never do

(47:03):
enough.
You know I was a young dad.
They know like maybe I never doenough.
You know the young dad, youknow I mean, and I just want
them to know like I'm gonna behere, I would always love you.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
But that is going through this transformation in
the Bible, correct, and I readin my Bible every day and now
you're bringing the truth as youknow it, because back in the
day you got pregnant reallyyoung yeah, right, you were
gonna go into boxing as a career, I was reading, yeah, you were
the golden gloves champion.
And then you got pregnant, yeah, and then you had to go into
working and so you become asurvival dad.
I want to pivot really quickly.

(47:34):
Thank you for that.
Thank you for hanging tough onthat tough topic yeah but we're
talking about dads and we'retalking about young men.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
And.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
I just said you got pregnant early, right?
So one I want to hear.
It's hard pushing, right.
I'm bigger than you, are Augietoo, and I might be older at
this point, but I want to hearwhat do you have to say to dads

(48:01):
and what do you have to say toyoung men, because I have that
down as you grew up in Camphorhousing.
It's literally up the street.
Kalihi is one of the hardestcrime areas.
It is the top crime area in thestate of Hawaii, and so we have
extremely poor young men andthere's a lot of temptation and
there's no direction.
There's often fatherlessness,and so there's lots of

(48:24):
temptation, bad choices, evencriminal choices nowadays, like
it gets real deep real fast, notlike back in the day.
So what would you say to ayoung man growing up today?

Speaker 2 (48:34):
first off, I don't think government can solve every
problem time.
But opportunity is one stepaway.
When you decide to make it anopportunity, you can do it for
bad or you can do it for goodright.
So, like you know, when I saygovernment can't cover it all,

(49:00):
can't cover it all you Can'tcover it all.
You know, when I go out and Italk to the homeless in my
community, I think we've enabledI don't know how long.
Yeah, come on, you know when.

(49:22):
I believe that every man wantto take care of their family,
every man want to lead, everyman wants to provide.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Every man is given a God-given thumbprint of purpose
and a plan vision.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
If given an opportunity, they can thrive.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
So it's taking that step forward, right, it's so
easy to choose that path.
And you know, when I talk tohomeless in my community and I
tell them, hey, not comfortableliving here, right, and they go,
no, I like it, I like thefreedom.
You know, I don't like beingtold what to do.

(50:09):
I go, yeah, but I get told whatto do.
I would rather sleep on bed,right, or I wake up running to
have nothing water.
Yeah, you know and you cannottell me that this is comfortable
.
I grew up in public housing,yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Yeah, you.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
My dad did whatever he could to keep it clean, but I
never like be there.
I wanted to do other things.
So you cannot tell me, but Ithink we enabled so so much that
people have lost hope and theydon't think it's ever going to
change.
Wow, so when you have thethinking of not changing or lost

(50:46):
hope, it's hard to convincesomebody to like here, so I only
can tell you what I've seen andI'm not an expert.
But I believe that when we givepeople options, no more excuses.
So like when I look at mycommunity in waipahu and stuff
that I'm doing there, I go.

(51:06):
What if I chipped away atcleaning the area?

Speaker 1 (51:10):
right.
What if I did this past?

Speaker 2 (51:12):
week.
Yeah, we did all of that rightjob and we get churches,
non-profits and businessinvolved, partnering correct,
and then maybe put it onerespite and pretty soon I can go
.
Hey, you ready for go and theygo.
What you mean, ready for go?
We have some place for you goyeah for a long time.
The residents in the area nomore, no place for go.

(51:33):
The houseless, right, yeah, andwhy?
And I outside the community,right you know?
No more.
The real help, yeah, the realtransformational help, that's
good.
So they cannot, they just thinkthat not good.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
So if we can chip away at little things, right,
right, maybe one church take onone family, that's all, it's
good, you know well, maybe whatI like about this, I don't know
if that answered your question,but like I just think there's
opportunities and you'respeaking to young men and saying
take a step, like you said, psauh, public service announcement

(52:07):
for going and working at olelo.
You could be a cameraman behindthe camera or a sound
technician, like a certain augiet at a comedy club, and start
learning your way up.
So that was a good answer.
But thank you for talking aboutthe houselessness issue,
because we I just did a podcastwhere.
I said you know?
Portuguese say you don't knowwhat you don't know.
And I'm like wow, that wasgenius, that was like a brain

(52:28):
stroke right there.
You don't know what you don'tknow.
But my Dilima Ohana always saysthat to me I don't know what I
don't know.
And I go again I know, youdon't know what you don't know.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Second, people complain about that they go.
Where is this money?

Speaker 1 (52:42):
going?
Yes, I would like to know.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Millions of dollars in our state budget?
Yes, so if you want a good job,be a homeless and houseless
advocate, because I don't thinkwe really want to solve the
problem.
There's so much money beingpoured in.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Whop your jaws.
Because that is a really bigstatement right there.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Mr Councilman.
Paul, I just think, if you cutat it, I think you're absolutely
correct?

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Yeah, I don't think it's a houseless ministry.
It's a houseless industry.
Yeah, people are making bigmoney, no options.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Like.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
No human should be sleeping in a bush or in a
bridge Under a bridge, yeahRight, in the middle of Ewa
Beach, in no man's land.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
If we wanted to solve the problem.
I 100% believe that we could.
I think we really could.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
And the Bible says those who do not work will not
eat.
Right, that was the system inthe beginning of the church,
right?
My daddy taught me and he said,don, if I give you a fish,
you'll eat for a day, but if Iteach you how to fish, you'll
eat for a lifetime.
Do not enable people with ahandout.
Yes, give them a hand up, youhelp them a little bit, but set
them all you have to do justlisten.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
They'll tell you, yeah, they'll tell you no, I
like you, like this.
No, you don't.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Freedom, right, right oh, but it's not the god, it's
not the fullness of life,correct, like all I live this
like how to always no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
It's not the abundance of God, it's not the
fullness of life.
Like all I live, this is likehow to always no, no, no, it's
not.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
No, you're outside of community, yes, outside of
God's best.
What would you say?
Okay, that was a good andinteresting long word to the
young men who have a 10-secondattention span.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Hey, just do your best, stop making excuses.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
The opportunity is right behind the door.
He's now giving his graduationspeech.
He's going to try him out rightnow.
What would you say to dads?
Because I heard you talk aboutyour dad.
I heard you talk about you as adad and there's different
seasons, but what's a word ofencouragement for dads today?
Be vulnerable, wow, yeah, hewent from the 12-minute answer
to a two-word answer right there.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Be vulnerable.
Your kids know that you're notperfect come on now.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Right, that's exactly it, like they just we know when
you're putting the shibashellac frosting.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
My dad, my dad just was vulnerable man.
You know, I only saw thattowards the ending of his life.
My dad came to all my showsright and I could see that he
was proud did he really yeah, Ilove that oh there's a then and
now, uh, the video.
He sits in the front row and myfilipino dad loved the bling
bling, even though it's fake.

(55:13):
This big gold chain withscorpion like that.
You went with fake chain,that's okay, that's okay.
Scorpion, yeah, one big scorpion, wow, yeah it sit, my mom and
dad would sit right in the front, and you know, uh, I I say this
thing for the book.
I think I say this in the inthe video, it's like one of the
coolest things is that my momand dad could see the fruit of

(55:38):
their labor like they weren't sobad parents after all.
No, you know, maybe they wasn'tperfect, but they did the best
they could yeah and I would haveloved my dad.
My dad would have loved seeingme become a council member.
He would have laughed like howdid I win that bid?
You know, that boy wasinspeciate.
He was an inspeciate honey.
No, that's Rana and Michael.

(56:00):
You sure it wasn't special ed?
No, that was Ernie.
You sure, honey.
You know, one time All mybrothers are listening like hey,
I was in special ed.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Yes, you were a short bus.
Okay, you know, one time youwere sharing at the Hawaii
Theater, hawaii Theater, wetheater, hawaii theater we're
laughing with, not at rememberyes you were sharing about how
your parents went out for thenight, left you with your and
they were supposed to be back atlike I don't know nine o'clock.
They didn't come home on timeand you, you, what?
What did you share?
The trauma?

Speaker 2 (56:34):
the trauma.
These, these guys had no ideathat they were abusing their
children.
You know, I mean like I as soonas I could talk and walk.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
You thought you were now the head of the house, right
?
Yes, I was the oldest and youtold your brothers, right?

Speaker 2 (56:47):
I was like you know, my dad would sit us down.
That's the only time he wouldget serious when he was drunk
and he was like I haven't talkedto all you guys.
Oh, joggy, nine, nine, nine.
You know if anything happenedto daddy you're the head of this
family.
I'm like nine, my brother'slike eight, six, what?

(57:08):
You're the head of this family.
If anything happened, you'rethe head of this family.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
That was a real talk.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Right, and sometimes these guys would be gone for
hours.
Remember now don't open thedoor for anybody, don't pick up
their phone, don't use the hours.
You remember now, don't openthe door for anybody, don't pick
up their phone, don't use theoven.
You understand me?
Okay, we're going to be home atthis time and you know, like
you're nine years old, you'rewatching your brothers, right,
who are running amok in thehouse.

(57:35):
Wow, yeah, you know what I mean.
We're just waiting for them tocome home, right.
9 o'clock.
Come on 9 o'clock.
And I just remember one nightthese guys went, my dad overdid
it.
You know, he was in the barafter bowling and I just
remember looking out.

(57:56):
And 9 o'clock it's not 9, wherethey stay 10, where they stay
Right, oh, 11, I'm panicking.
Now, Uh-oh, All you can hear isyou're the head of the family.
Oh, that was it.
12 o'clock.
I woke up.
My brothers, get up.
I'm the new daddy.
Tomorrow we're going to eatcereal For dinner.

(58:16):
We're going to eat cereal, andthey would come home and I was
like he has the plan, oh, andthey would come home.
He has a plan and they wouldcome home.
And I would just yell at myfather my father had no idea
Like why you do that to us,shout out, go sleep.
You know, like panicking, justall that trauma growing up.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
And then he became a council member for the whole
state of Hawaii, do you?
Feel assured and rested rightnow?
You should.
Oh my gosh, Augie T, you guysgot to go see a live show,
because that's what this is thewhole time.
It's just real stories yeah,just fun stories.
And it's family.
It's safe for the whole family.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Yes, you can bring your kids and you can laugh and
you know if it gets kind of, Iknow how to go.
Yeah, I know I've done it forso long.
People are worried.
Right, I was doing thispreschool graduation.
Who does?

Speaker 1 (59:06):
First he's doing maki laulea funerals of today.
Now you're doing preschoolgraduate.
Yay finished pre-K.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
No, I did a preschool graduation and they were doing
this house selection.
It was so funny because one kidwas was like wanting to be, you
know, an astronaut.
I said so.
I said, you know, before Iannounced most likely to go to
space, the host election.
I said do you like the stars?
I think preschool.
Yes.
You like the moon?

(59:33):
Yes, you really like space?
Right, he goes.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, mostlikely to become an astronaut
and go to space so and so right.
And then they clap yeah and Igo yeah, when I was growing up,
a lot of my friends was in spacebut we don't say that children

(59:57):
but the parents are laughingbecause they don't what you're
talking about.
There's been so many years of medoing jokes like that, right,
like oh, what are you good, whatare you?

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
going?
What are you going?
Well, you set up the goal postand you let us kick it through
like the shorty brown with thefootball, kind of like your
recent jason momoa yeah right,you take us right there.
You set up the goal post.
You don't say anythinginappropriate, but it's fall on
your face, laughing you know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
You know, when I told my kids about that, they were
like I don't get it, Dad, youknow.
Oh Right, but it's for theadults, because whenever I have
a joke, especially with thetopic of being gay, I always
call the experts.
Yeah, my kids.
Right, I go.
He goes.
I don't get it yet I go.
You got to see the bit.
Yes, I'm trying to explain, youdid it so good, you know, I

(01:00:46):
don't know Right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Yeah, the Vegas trip.
I don't know how you feel yes,yes, and that you had to tell
them I'm not gay, correct Right,and they're like yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
So you got to see whether or not I turn gay in my
new act.
Yeah, well, this is a Christianpodcast, so thanks for that
little plug right there, butit's good, because then you make
the right decision, because Godwants us to make the right
decisions.
He loves us.
He loves us but he wants us tomake the right decision.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Okay, we're bringing this in for a landing.
On that note, let's bring itback to jesus.
Perfect um.
Last word what is aloha to you,sir?
Oh gosh, I know it's no smallquestion, it's not?

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
um what is a lot to me?

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
how do you feel, aloha?

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
man, there's so much.
That's a really.
You know, when I wake up, I'mthinking, am I going to be the
best husband, dad, today?
Or do I have my community inmind?

(01:01:58):
Because I wake up like worriedabout my district in mind?
Because I wake up like worriedabout my district and for me
it's just kind of like, whatdoes aloha mean to me?
Like, if you thinking aboutother things besides yourself,
yeah, good things, yeah, that'saloha.

(01:02:19):
Wow, right, like it's so easyfor like, oh, I love me, oh, I
love me, call me so awesome, youknow, I mean.
But like that's not what godcalls us.
Come on to do right, that'sreally good.
He calls us to be the bestexample we can be so that other
people might see something thatthey don't see in themselves.

(01:02:40):
Mind, so, yeah, just try not bethe best example.
For me, it's just kind of beinggenuine Augie every day.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Wow, the true blue real deal, genuine Augie, every
day right well, augietlivecomthat's.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Aloha, I love it yeah , it's not for Augie, it's for
Aloha, except for that one guythere.
Write me the mean text out ofthere, okay all right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
Remember we walked through that, we already
processed it.
Mr Aloha, we're going to goback to Aloha, because Aloha
always wins.
Aloha always wins, love neverfails Is that a hula.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Well, I made it up as a small sign dance for children
at the rallies that me, and onthe Frank do we do the route
Aloha.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
So you make a little heart, not a little fart and
then you make a big heart, whichis why we left the farting
behind, and you say always,always win, wins, aloha always
wins.
Always choose Aloha becauseAloha always wins.
That is so good today with mraugie t, mr aloha alive.
And, by the way, thank you forbringing joy into the aloha,

(01:03:50):
because joy is the super chajaon that aloha it heals
everything even as I heard yourtestimony about the molestation
as a young boy and I had no ideafriend.
Thank you for that trust.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Always challenging to talk about that, but like it's
important because there are alot of kids one in four, I think
, one in four adults right, onein four girls and one in five
boys.
Yeah so there's a lot of peopleum, they go through that and
you know, get the help talk.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
It's amazing what you know talking does and yeah, you
know you can find it feels likethere's no one to help you
because you're a child, and itfeels like an adult is making a
very bad choice and there's noone else.
But, as Augie shared and as Ishare, when you tell someone who
is safe, you're going to gethelp, because we want to help

(01:04:42):
you and there are many resourcesto make that happen.
So Aloha always winsAugieTLivecom.
You can catch his shows, youcan listen to him in the morning
on 107.9, or you can even go toyour local council member.
He'll be there until 2029.
Then he's writing the tell-allbook.
Yeah you, aloha always winsCheese.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Woo-hoo.