Garrett Vogel - Producing Hits

You might know Garrett Vogel as the on-air producer for the Elvis Durant Show, but there's more to his story than meets the ear. Tune in as we embark on a metaphorical, and quite literal, hike with him. We'll uncover the tales behind his red-carpet encounters, the backstory to his Staten Island roots, and the way he navigates his everyday life with Type 1 Diabetes. Expect laughs, candid insights, and a fair share of bugs along the way.

Our journey takes us on a deep-dive into the workings of the radio industry, from the hilarious prank calls to the complex negotiations that occur behind the scenes. Garrett's invaluable lessons about being assertive, speaking up, and asking for forgiveness, not permission, are golden nuggets of advice helpful to everyone, regardless of their profession. As we navigate the terrain, not only do we discuss the real concerns of the industry, such as the potential of AI replacing creative work, but also touch upon personal moments of his life, like his two frightening encounters with hypoglycemia.

Finally, we bring it home by discussing not just the thrills of the industry, but also the stakes. The reality of raising kids in the spotlight, the hustler mentality that's needed to succeed, and even the unexpected encounters with wildlife – yes, we're talking about a copperhead snake here! As we wind down, Garrett offers words of wisdom on why it's necessary to take risks and pursue passion, especially for those aspiring to make a mark in broadcasting. So, join us, and let's hit the trail with Garrett Vogel for a podcast episode that's as engaging as it is informative.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alright, let's rock and roll, let's do it.
Alright, Garrett Vogel, are youokay with being recorded on a
podcast?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes, which is odd because I'm normally saying that
to the other side of it, soit'll be on the other end is
weird, but yes, there goes thatliability.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is I Took a Hike .
I'm your host, darren Mass,founder of Business Therapy
Group and Parktime WildernessPhilosopher.
Here we step out of theboardrooms and home offices and
into the great outdoors wherethe hustle of entrepreneurship
meets the rustle of nature.
In this episode we meander withGarrett Vogel, on-air producer
for the Elvis Durant Show, andthe voice behind Phone Taps.

(00:37):
Along the trail we delve intothe experiences with celebrities
on red carpets thriving in thepremier limelight, growing up in
the studio with Regis Philbinand living with Type 1 Diabetes.
This hike was a clear glimpseinto a radio personality with a
familiar voice, causing me to doa few mental double takes when
I took a hike with Garrett Vogel.

(00:58):
So, garrett, what is it thatyou do?
Because you are a very famousvoice in my head.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, I am a part of a very big nationally syndicated
radio show, the Elvis DurantMorning Show, which is broadcast
out of New York City andlocally in New York, new Jersey,
on Z100, on the radio.
Slash the iHeart app.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So if you are listening and you haven't heard
that, then you are definitelyunder a rock somewhere in the
Tri-State area.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, or 79 other cities across the country.
There you go, All right awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So what do you do for the show?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I am a producer slash on air host of the show, so
it's pretty much just.
It's a big family slash team ofpeople bringing a lot of ideas
and thoughts and creativitytogether and just trying to make
it fun, entertaining andletting your 20 minute commute

(02:07):
to work go by as quickly orslowly as possible so you don't
have to worry about the bigthings in life Like mortgages or
your boss or things like that.
So the easy distraction of yourday, hopefully.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
One thing I can say is I certainly tune into certain
radio programs so I can forgetabout those little annoyances in
life.
Exactly, and if you aresuccessful at your job, then I
would say people are veryappreciative.
So thank you for that, noproblem.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
So what does it mean to be a producer?
It's more of just being thatperson or best friend to help
someone out in a pinch, bringingstuff to the table, whether it
be doing a red carpet interviewor prank phone calls or just
bringing ideas to the show,because, again, no one person

(03:01):
can come up with just everything.
There's a whole slew, a family,a team of people that bring all
these things together.
So it's just pretty much justtrying to fill in the blanks
where need be, like trying tojump on the crazy carousel of a
show and trying to contributeany way possible.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, so we're going to come back to prank phone
calls, because if you don't know, garrett, I know a secret and
we'll get there.
So we'll come back to that in amoment.
But let's talk about the redcarpet.
Now that you just threw thatout there, what celebrities I'm
throwing up air quotescelebrities have you interviewed
on the red carpet?
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(03:45):
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Speaker 2 (04:14):
Literally everyone from Matt Damon to Brad Pitt,
leonardo DiCaprio, any musicallike.
It's so weird because, like youthink about it, you don't
realize how many people youactually have talked to, even
though for a microsecond of atime.
But it's one of those listswhere when you hang out with

(04:34):
your friends and you're like,hey, what celebrities would you
love to meet, there's a goodchance I've met them all.
It's like my list, my bucketlist has changed over the last
20 years.
Some people have a list ofthree or four people.
That list has changed severaltimes for me.
So who's currently on yourbucket list?

(04:55):
To be honest, I I think theonly type of people I haven't
met were presidents.
Outside of presidents, I prettymuch have come in contact or
talking with, or seen or withanybody pretty much who is?

Speaker 1 (05:13):
your favorite If you had to say you had a fanboy
moment, which one I've alwayshad this thing for Justin
Timberlake.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I don't know if it's his swag or just his demeanor,
but he was the guy I literallywould be like you know what?
That's the type of guy I wouldsit down and have a drink with
at the bar and he would probablyhave the same.
It's just he'll look in the eyeand have a conversation with
you and make sure you're theonly person in the room, even

(05:47):
though there might be 100 or1000 other people in the room or
concert or wherever.
You're just like wow, it's likehe might not actually fully
care, but he makes it feel likeyou feel like he cares.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
He gives you the one on one attention.
I will tell you, I fully agreewith you.
I am a huge fan of JustinTimberlake, not only because he
has immense talent, heabsolutely does.
When I saw him on SaturdayNight Live and he created some
of the most iconic skits.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
For someone who wasn't on the cast, and that's
the cool thing.
I think that's the other thing,too that I appreciate is he's
not just one thing.
I live by that to a degree too.
It's not just one thing.
You got to be different things,because if you're just one
thing in life, then you're kindof just.
Unless you're Jordan or TomBrady, you can't just bank on

(06:47):
one thing.
You got to be a HarlemGlobetrotter and spinning
several different plates to makethings work and make sure
you're happy and having fundoing it.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Hey listener, thanks for hiking along with us.
Discover more episodes athightokahikecom.
Or to recommend an adventurousguest, apply to be a sponsor,
discover books along the trail,or to simply drop us a line.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Only on in life.
I knew I just didn't want to bedoing the typical nine to five,
wanted to be out and about andnot be behind a desk.
That was my main thing.
I just didn't want to be behinda desk.
We're in a suit and tie.
Not that there's anything wrongwith it, but for me personally,
I just knew that that wasn't mypath in life.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
You'll be happy to know.
Not many people go to work in asuit and tie anymore yeah, but
just the phrase and same thing.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
they don't work nine to five, but just the typical
quote unquote phrase of it all.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
So I assume I'm making an assumption you love
your job.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, I actually just celebrated being there 20 years
about two weeks ago in.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
July.
That is amazing.
Have you ever given aninterview while hiking?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
No, this is the first Like.
I said there's a first foreverything, and that's why it
was so intriguing.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
I win the first.
That's awesome.
Okay, good.
So let's talk about yourpersonal life just a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
What was that like?

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I grew up in Staten Island.
My parents did the Brooklynthing, where they were born and
raised in Brooklyn.
They went to Staten Island andtypical story is now they were
supposed to move to Jersey,where they stopped in Staten
Island and me and my wife pickedup and we went to Jersey.
So it's either we're moving toFlorida after that or my kids

(08:35):
are down the road.
Yep, that's the path in lifeliving in the New Jersey area.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
We keep moving down south, Right exactly Go to the
warps.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
But yeah, I grew up in Staten Island, have two
sisters, brittany and Ashley.
It's weird, as I'm going to be39 and they're in their mid-30s
and my sister Brittany just hadher first kid and celebrated her
first year of marriage and myother sister, ashley, is just
coming into her own in life.
It's weird, the same peoplegrown up playing pretty princess

(09:08):
with are now adults.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, Well, it goes by really fast.
By the way, that sound happensto be the train from the
Turtleback Zoo.
There we are.
We are on the opposite side ofSouth Mountain Reservation.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
I've been on that many of times I have as well.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
It is a painful ride on your 15th experience.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
It's actually either the best way to start the day at
Turtleback Zoo or end the day,or just take that time out.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
If you like your knees.
This is professional advice.
If you like your knees, turnsideways For the taller folk out
there, yes, exactly, All right.
So you grew up you have twosisters.
What?

Speaker 2 (09:49):
type of a child were you?
I was more of a, I guess quietintrovert until about eighth
grade.
I just broke out of my shell ofsorts of where I just wasn't
quiet anymore.
That's where I started findingmy passion of doing something
different.

(10:09):
I wanted to play for the NewYork Knicks, and some can argue
that I can now too, depending onthe team I wanted to play
sports.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
You wanted to play for the New York Knicks.
Are you good at basketball?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
I was okay, I was good.
When you're in eighth grade,you don't realize the immense
talent that is out there.
As a kid best dream to have,you're going to play in Madison
Square Garden underneath thelights, in front of thousands.
What did your dad say when youtold him he was cool?
That was a cool thing, my dad.

(10:45):
I grew up in a very uniquesituation.
My dad was one of the mainmanagers at Toys R Us.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
He literally yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, all your friends thoughtyou were the coolest.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, oddly enough, as we got into high school and
college, he then was the oneemploying us for winter breaks
and summer jobs.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Oh wow, that is absolutely a holy grail job
right there.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Of course, as a kid too, your dad working for Toys R
Us.
It was a lot of hey.
Can your dad help me getNintendo 64 or PlayStation or
this doll or whatever?

Speaker 1 (11:26):
The.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Furby Correct, it was the Furby.
We've been through it all.
Fortunately enough, I've neverbeen subject to not have my
family and my sisters have neverbeen subject to oh man, we
didn't get.
Blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
We always got it.
Wow, all right.
You were a lucky, fortunate kidthere.
Your dad empowered your dreams.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, he pretty much was the same thing, Same thing
with my mom too.
I get my passion forcommunications from my mom as
well.
My dad's the quiet one my momwas.
She wanted to be a news anchorgrowing up and she actually went
to journalism school at NYU.
And in the mid-80s a little kid, after my parents got married,

(12:10):
a little kid named Garrett camealong and if you ever watch Mad
Men you know how it was back inthe 80s, where women really
weren't given that opportunityto succeed.
Having a pregnant lady on thenews wasn't exactly newsworthy.
Yeah, it really wasn't.
It didn't connect, as my momsaid.

(12:30):
As she was told, she took a jobin trafficking continuity at
WABC in New York and worked forABC and she was with that job
for close to 40 years.
Did she ever tell you that shewas sad about her career or that
no not at all.
She wanted to do it, but shealso knew that she couldn't get

(12:54):
rid of me.
She was having me.
So it was that and just likeevery parent's story, when you
have the first kid and you havekids right, I have three
daughters, I have two kids, butwhen your parents for the first
time and it's just like you'rejust going to do whatever it
takes to survive as the otherkids go we're not life or death

(13:18):
right now, so it gets easier asyou have more kids, obviously,
but the sense of like being thatcollege kid hungry and eating
ramen.
That's how you act when you'rehaving a kid for the first time,
where you're just very cautiousof things.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
You don't want to harm the baby.
Hold the baby We'll hold thebaby.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
but in your life you're like how are we going to
pay for this, this, this?

Speaker 1 (13:45):
So it was more about just having a job and going for
it If their baby comes out andall of a sudden it's like
whatever.
Let them play over there.
Exactly, it's in the matches.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Right.
So that was my mom.
She was more like you've got todo this for the family, take
the job still working in thecommunications business and
being surrounded, and for hersticking around and working with
it.
That's where my bug for it allcame through.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
So you fed off of her stories and her inspiration?

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Well, yeah, that and the fact that her office
literally was right next toRegis Philbins.
So I grew up with Regis playing, with Regis playing on a set of
Regis and Kathy Lee when no onewas around, at the age of five
through 11.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's really cool.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
So I joke.
I joke, if I do it now I'dprobably be arrested, but as a
kid it was cool.
So as people would watch thefive o'clock news, I would be in
the newsroom watching the fiveo'clock news live.
So just being around theelements of it kind of got that
bug in me to do what I'm doingnow to a degree.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
When you were that age, did you realize how
extraordinary and unique?
Oh, not at all.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I don't think any kid really does at that age.
Do you think it's cool?
Yeah, I guess it no, but do youunderstand the magnitude of it?
Not at all, but now youobviously do, Of course.
And same thing my kids.
They understand it.
Dad's on the radio and whenthey're in the car it's hey,
that's dad's voice.
But they don't understand howmany people that are listening

(15:19):
at any given time.
They will eventually, but as afive-year-old and an
eight-year-old, it's a coolthing.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Which is how many people are listening at any
given time.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Any given time, anywhere from a million to five
million, and then close to 20million a week, and you really
don't realize it at all, becauseyou're in a room of five to
eight people at any given time.
You don't realize how manypeople are truly listening.
And then putting into fact theonline aspect of the world yeah,

(15:56):
streaming, yeah, streaming.
It makes it even more.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, really fun and interesting.
Fact, that's slightly more thanthe listeners of the show.
There we go, just a smidge,just a smidge.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
A tinge.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
So we've got our first obstacle here that we have
to navigate Huge tree fallingin the road.
You would think they wouldclean this up.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Who's this thing?
You're in nature.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Nature will clean this up.
I think we've got a path,though Some ants will carry
these logs away Over time.
Yes, not too bad.
Let me ask you when did youdevelop the radio voice, or was
this just always your thing?

Speaker 2 (16:34):
This was just my voice.
I mean growing up in New York,especially in Staten Island, if
you're familiar with the area.
I am very familiar with StatenIsland.
It's very Italian.
It is extremely Italian.
My parents are both Irish andGerman, so I have zero Italian

(16:54):
in my blood, so I you know.
That must have worked outreally well in grade school.
Well, everybody, because therewe go, you're from Staten Island
, you don't sound like it andit's just because that's how my
voice is.
You know I don't have the heyhow you doing, you know, but I
think that's you know, I thinkthat's you know, I think that's
you know kind of worked in mybenefit in the sense of just
being able to communicate ingeneral.
So yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
So I will say it's kind of uncanny, walking next to
you, that voice, I hear it onthe radio and it's a little bit
odd that my right ear is pickingup the fact that I feel like
I'm listening to you on theradio.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
The left ear, though it's on its own, but the left
ear is listening to this andit's.
You know, the cool thing aboutradio.
You know, for the time being itwas kind of you kind of flew on
the radar, kind of like veryBatman-esque, you know.
No one really knew who you were.
And then the inception ofsocial media kind of changed the
game a little bit, but not aton.
But you know you're able tojust do normal things.

(17:47):
But it's still cool when peoplehey love listening to the show.
And how wild is that.
They love it.
And you bathed in bug spraybefore.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
So you obviously cannot see this, but I bathed
myself in bug spray and there'shundreds of gnats around my
recording gear.
I have learned over these hikesthat Just accept it Something
in there?

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, something in there.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
It's the frequency, yeah as you were saying.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
No, you know social media being around, you know
people are now being able toaccess your life a little bit
more, which is, you know, it'sdefinitely an interesting slash,
cool, you know, life experiment.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
But so at what point did you say you wanted to go
into radio as your medium?
Where did it?

Speaker 2 (18:35):
happen, naturally.
Naturally, I went to abullathon between two radio
stations one being where Elviswas on and still is on, z100,
where I currently work versusanother radio station, senior
year of high school.
I literally went there and Isaid, hey, I'd love to work for
your show one day.
And his response Elvis was allright, cool, get some college

(18:58):
credit.
I was a senior in high schoolso it really wasn't, you know,
an option just yet, but I wasgoing into freshman year of
college.
So day one of college, after Idropped my boxes off I didn't
even unpack my room I wentstraight to the communications
offices, introduced myself andasked for internship credit,
where they just said, okay,crazy kid, get out of here.

(19:19):
Crazy ambitious kid.
Internship credits are forjuniors and seniors, you know,
because the whole idea of, well,it can transition into a job,
and I said, screw it, I needthem now.
So that spring semester offreshman year, going into summer
, that's when I got my firstinternship credit with the radio

(19:40):
station and then thattransitioned into, you know, a
part-time job, working at theradio station, answering phones
on Friday nights, saturdays, youknow, taking the train up from
Central Jersey up to Jersey Cityat the time and doing whatever
it took.
And then by junior year I ranout of internship credit and

(20:02):
they said, well, what can you dowhen I go, I'm going to write a
thesis.
What college was this?
A Ryder University, where isthat?
In Lawrenceville, new Jersey,right between Princeton and
Trenton.
So a little bit of best of bothworlds.
And the school said, okay,write a thesis, that's great,

(20:22):
good job, kid.
20 pages of a diary pretty muchof what I did at the radio
station, that's what it was.
And then I found a loophole inthe system.
So I got myself back therejunior year for the morning show
and then senior year rolledaround and I said, well, I could
write two thesis.
And they were like, yeah, so Ijust rounded different avenue of
the morning show to write athesis about and senior year

(20:45):
wrote it, and then by springsemester of senior year, job
opened up with the morning showand I pretty much started
working from that moment on.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
So I love the hustle, I love the drive, and the
underlying theme here is that ifyou ask worst cases, you get a
no.
So your college told you, no,you can't get internship credits
.
And you kept pushing withpersistence and you got them.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Well, yeah, yeah, that's the and I've learned that
later on in life where it'seasier to ask and someone saying
no than not ask at all, andthen always question like, well,
I should have asked, and Iwonder, if I did ask, if what
would have happened, versus notasking and just sitting there
and just twiddling your thumbsand pulling your hair out.
Well, better to ask forforgiveness than permission,

(21:29):
correct.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
But what you will hear is this is absolutely an
underlying theme of assertionfor any executive or empowered
person is that they're notafraid to ask to fail for the no
and then be persistent.
Those with sales as well.
Right, that first no is just.
Oh, of course you have to pivot.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
But I think I've also started to apply that in life
too, where a lot of people takeadvantage of just others and if
you don't speak up, things arejust going to go by the wayside
and people are going to live onwith their way, knowing that
they got away with whatever,unless you speak up.
And then that's where peoplethen get nervous, because you're

(22:12):
speaking up, knowing you'recalling them on their BS.
Oh, there's a lot of BS outthere.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Trust me, I know I mean.
Does it concern you that bothof those thesis papers or thesis
could have been written by AIor with AI at about 10 minutes?

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Now, yeah, but 20 years ago not so much.
Ai wasn't even a thing 20 yearsago to write those papers.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
It wasn't a thought, but it is quite concerning that
these days you can shortcutmostly anything.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Oh, of course, I mean to simple.
I had friends who were goingthrough a breakup and our group
of friends didn't know what tosay, so they put what was going
on into AI and they got athoughtful response back to send
to a friend, which somethingthat you nor I could have

(23:00):
probably even thought of.
Well, we could have thought ofit.
It might have taken a while,but AI did it in seconds and
sure enough, it was that being agood friend and just sending
the text, I mean it's quiteconcerning in a way, but if AI
is pivoted and used properly,this is the evolution of man at

(23:21):
this point.
Oh, of course.
That's why the writers andactors are striking right now.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Speaking of which, we were supposed to go on this
hike a few weeks ago and you hadto strike as part of the union.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Oh yes, so our union, that we're in the broadcasters
broadcast doesn't fall under thestriking, but you still show
solidarity and you show up andyou support and that's what we
did.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
So is the main concern that writers are going
to be displaced by AI.
It's twofold.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
It's the AI aspect and the fact that people aren't
getting compensated properly forstreaming services.
So 10 years ago, about 10 yearsago, there was another strike
from the actors and theirargument was streaming was going
to change the game, which ithas.
But unfortunately, they'replaying off of 10 years ago

(24:16):
rules where CEOs andcorporations are benefiting from
the streaming services, likeMandy Moore getting eight cents
for an episode of this Is Us,where Hulu paid a buttload of
money to have the rights to airthis Is Us.
So it's like that's whatthey're arguing now.

(24:40):
You said play along 10 yearsago and look what happened now.
Look where we are.
So why are we going to playalong with you now, or raising
this AI issue in good faith,because you obviously screwed us
?

Speaker 1 (24:53):
So we're not trusting what the suits are saying.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Correct, and it's just anything in life where the
big CEOs are like, well, youjust don't understand the
numbers, where they're makingbillions of dollars when a guy
who's writing for a show ismaking a couple thousand and

(25:17):
because of the union, you got tomake a certain amount of money
just to be covered by healthbenefits.
So that's why actors like theRock and others are pouring
their own hard earned money andmillions of dollars into a fund
just to help those people thatneed help with the simplest of
things of life insurance, justlike many people are out there.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
So I fully understand the argument and the concern.
I think we might be givingthose CEOs too much credit,
especially with the streamingside.
As you just mentioned is,sometimes the CEOs don't have a
crystal ball and don't knowwhere things are going.
But that's the way that itevolves.
We all love to label the CEO asthe big bad ugly individual,

(25:58):
but if you look at the role ofthe CEO, the CEO's sole
responsibility in a publiclytraded organization is to
protect and increase shareholdervalue.
Oh, correct, right, so it's notreally so.
Maniacal, no-transcript bigevil genius twiddling his thumbs
together.
So that's my piece on that.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
But also but with that too the support there.
The CEO's job isn't easy inanything in life and I get that
but also being a good teamplayer and realizing the people
that are putting the hard workinto the product that year.
Then in turn, making millionsof dollars off of Netflix, made

(26:39):
like close to a billion dollarswhen episodes are getting paid.
Episodes of what StrangerThings are a million and a half
per episode.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
At this point it's amazing, so I fully align with
that.
So where do we stand right nowwith the strike Cause?
I believe it's still ongoingcorrect.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yep, it's still negotiations as we speak, right
now what month?
Are we at?
It's over a hundred days, Iknow that.
So month 3.5.
Yeah, just about.
Personally, I think it's gonnago into the new year.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
And this is the reason why new shows are not
being produced.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Oh yeah, no one's gonna really feel the effects
until about January, becausethere will be no new shows.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well it's similar to with COVID right, COVID.
We had our shows and all of asudden, there's no new movies,
there's no new Netflix specials.
There's all these reporteddocumentaries and other language
shows coming in on Netflix.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Well, you're gonna get a lot of all the stuff that
they said no to a year or twoago.
Well no, they shot it but theynever went through it, they
never pushed forward.
Now they're gonna push forwardthose projects where, at the end
of the day, all it's gonna dois just heard the product, where
everyone's like it's anotherreality show with 10 people
sitting in a house.

(27:55):
So where do you think this isgoing to end up?
I think eventually there willbe probably some type of meat in
the middle, personally, butwhen, don't know.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, so the W is to be determined.
Oh yeah, most likely, it'sgoing to end up with both sides
losing, as they use thingsusually do Yep, all right, there
will be some liberties grantedon the union side and some Ws on
the production side, simplybecause people need to go back
to work.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Oh yeah, not even that.
Everyone's thinking about CEOsand actors and writers, but it's
the grips, it's the stage hands, it's the hair and makeup
people.
The people that need thatpaycheck.
It's literally the people thatare working paycheck to paycheck
the food truck people that showup on set, the lighting, the
grips.
It goes far beyond just doing.

(28:48):
We talked to a productionassistant who worked on several
shows and now is literally justdoing grub hub just to make
money.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
So they don't get paid at all?
No, they.
Yeah.
I thought the union covers someperiod of time of salary.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Well, not the case, not for everybody.
Well, for union members.
But those people that areproduction assistants and
whatnot, they're not the union,they're just working for a
company, at that point.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
So they've pivoted their careers and chances are
sometimes they might not comeback to those careers, Right?

Speaker 2 (29:21):
after just coming out of two years, of two to three
years of just not having acareer, they just got back up
and started to just they'regoing backwards and they're
almost living.
Deja vu again.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
What a nightmare, absolute nightmare.
So let's do a pivot.
Yeah, we talked about prankphone calls before, and if
you're scratching your headwondering, why is this voice so
familiar?
Something called phony phonecalls, yeah, phone taps, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
So why don't you talk about that for a little bit?
I mean, it goes back to thecrank anchor days, the jerky boy
days.
We all listen to them, we allhave done them to our friends
and it's interesting seeing howmany people are out there that I
mean, as you know, as we dothis, everyone has a story.
You know, from the simplest ofthings to the largest of things,

(30:10):
and you know we just tookadvantage of the opportunity at
the time.
You know they started almost 20years ago, maybe 21 years ago,
which is longer than most shows.
Yeah, you know, but it's people.
Just everybody has that onething you know, we all know that
one friend that will flip outon on when a waiter doesn't

(30:33):
bring enough ice cubes into thecup and wants a refund.
I have a friend that freakedout about that Right, Like like
the simplest of things,everybody has a story.
It's probably one ice cube why?

Speaker 1 (30:44):
not two.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Everybody has a story , so we're just kind of taking
advantage of that with you know,their, their friends and family
and loved ones.
So what was your favorite one?
There was one.
Remember Farmville, back in theday, of course, yeah.
That game that got everyoneaddicted.
Yeah, the start of smartphonegames Candy Crush that would
have gone away.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
So I shut a mom's farm down.
I remember this one For youknow, illegal, illegal activity.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Legal farming yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
No one really.
You know, she, she doesn't know, you just don't know and you
just roll with it and not.
I really haven't taken anyimprov, but that's the best way
to do it.
At that point you got, you gotan outline of of things to say,
but you can only roll so farbefore you know, kind of just
the joke ends.
So it's just being able to beon your toes and shutting down

(31:35):
someone's farm.
That really doesn't understandthe technology side.
Like a parent you know it makesfor, it makes for good content.
So who set that up it?

Speaker 1 (31:43):
was her daughter, right?
Yes, okay, I do remember thatone.
That's hilarious.
And what was the reaction yougot?

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Oh it's, it's more of the, what I don't understand,
like a lot of confusion, andthen you know again.
Just, you find the, you findthe core things that strike
people hard of.
You know, when you takepeople's money, access to their
account, shutting down theiraccounts, you know things like
that.
So charging someone a buttloadof money for things that they

(32:10):
didn't do and it's and somethingthey're addicted to, you know
gets the reaction that it did.
Yep.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Is that your favorite thing to do on the show or your
favorite topic, or do you havesomething else to come up with?

Speaker 2 (32:22):
It was but you know, just like anything in life,
things change.
So it's got monotonous.
Yeah, kind of kind of has, youknow, run its course.
Personally, people do love themand I get it and, like we said
earlier, that's why we do theshow, just to get people away
from their life, their everydayworries, for, you know, 15, 20,

(32:45):
30, an hour long.
So that's why that's thepositive side of doing them.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, so we never got ourselfies, so let's get that
going.
Not very hard trail, by the way, not at all, I mean, it's just
professional walking.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
So it is.
When we did what's your name?
When we got here, it was 70degrees.
It was like, oh, we're going tobe, but I have a jacket on
right now, so it's like I'mstarting to feel that part of it
.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, I'm not the fashion police, but there are
times where I realize I'm in aT-shirt for a reason.
But this is not hard trail,this is a mild one, right, and
there may be a round two wherewe go up a very hard trail.
No snakes, though, so youlistened to the episode.
Yes, sir, excellent.
Yes, that was a real snake, andI'm fairly certain I saved her

(33:34):
life, did you well?

Speaker 2 (33:37):
obviously you spotted it first, but did you see it
like far out or as you guys werejust walking and talking as we?

Speaker 1 (33:42):
drew closer.
So having lived in Manhattanfor so long, you in Staten
Island, you know you always lookdown when walking, otherwise
you're a tourist, right?
So why do we look down?
We don't want the street bombsto get into our shoes Yep, those
are dog bombs.
So I do that.
And on the trail I don't wantto trip on rocks.
So I did happen to see this onecopperhead snake sitting out

(34:03):
there.
I didn't know what it was atfirst.
Now I know it's a copperheadand now I'm much the wiser.
They sit very still, they don'tmove, they sit out in the open,
they blend in, they camouflage.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
So you grown up in Staten Island outside, the only
time I saw snakes was at the zoo.
That's exactly right.
And being out in you know thesuburbs quote unquote.
You know I see more deer thanI've ever seen before in my life
.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
So I grew up on the other island, the Long Island,
and the same thing.
You don't really see snakes orwildlife.
Deer were foreign to me.
They were in a movie that'sabout it.
And then you come to New Jerseyand the deer are a plague.
Everywhere Plague they'll eateverything, but yeah, so I
spotted that, as she wasliterally about to step on the

(34:45):
middle of it, which means itwould have struck Absolutely Not
a snake expert, but I will saveyour life, for you too, I
appreciate it.
Good to know.
Yes, so we do know.
Sucking the venom out does notwork and it's a bad idea.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Get your slide in the room.
Well, that'll be on you.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
I can't reach my legs , so I tell you right.
So now we're getting to a morechallenging part of this trek.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Now we can have some fun?
Is this where the interviewgoes more intense now as we get
more intense as we go up this?

Speaker 1 (35:15):
tends to happen as you get more out of breath.
Yeah, we find out a little bitmore about Garrett.
All right, we'll do some coolstuff, though.
Cool, I promised you some droneactivity.
This is one of the coolestthings, so we'll just be walking
and chatting.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
How long did it take for you to master this?

Speaker 1 (35:37):
I took a hike with one of my very close friends my
best friend and we spent fourhours hiking and talking.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
So I learned it on that track, but it's quite easy,
all right.
So continuing on your story,how long have you been at the
show?

Speaker 2 (35:54):
20 years.
20 years, you love it.
Yeah, I mean waking up at 3.45every day.
I wouldn't.
If I didn't love it, I wouldhave been out very early.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
That is quite early to wake up, but that's your norm
.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
For the most part too , and then, just because the
hustler that I am, there'sovernight opportunities, like
I've talked to you about, whereI'll be on the air at 2 am, so
I'll leave my house at 12.45some mornings.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Yeah, that is rough.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
So what do you do in the overnight On the air just
playing songs and taking callsand pretty much it.
Do you love that?
It's fun?
I would think that's fun, right?
Yeah, You're manning the radiostation, you know, and I'm all
about trying to provideinformation that people go.
Oh wow, I learned that from theradio.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Do you find yourself letting your true, real
personality out, or do you haveto mask that a little or amp it
up?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
You know more positive than the negative side
of things.
So only because, again, youdon't want to be negative, nancy
, on the radio, that's adifferent station, right, and
people are waking up, groggy,not having coffee, and last
thing they want to hear is wah,wah.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
You know so tell me about a time where you screwed
up or embarrassed yourself onthe air.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Screwed up, I mean early on too, just like, as
we're talking about technology,we used to be able to stream.
We would stream things beforeFacebook lives and Instagram
lives on this technology whereit's a cell phone like thing,
and when we were on andtechnology isn't as great

(37:36):
because the internet wasn't asgreat 10 plus years ago, yeah, I
thought we were off, but weweren't off.
What'd you say, well?
What'd you do Well?

Speaker 1 (37:48):
I said, fuck, oh, don't worry, we're not believing
it out now.
There's no FCC anymore.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
No, there is.
If you put this on the radio,yes, but we were actually.
We pulled up the stream, so theDF accidentally went through,
even though I thought we wereoff as I hit the mic.
We weren't.
But how big was that fine?
No, fines only occur whenpeople go.

(38:13):
There are several instances,you know, Like if there's if
it's a genuine accident.
Yeah, exactly, the accidents dooccur, but it's one of those
things.
If it does, you just move onand Did you get it talking to
Just more of you know, becautious and aware of what's

(38:35):
going on, versus just assumingGot it.
So you'll only say that on myshow.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Right, I'm kidding, I gave you the full, the full
shebang.
I absolutely do not mind.
I liked things to be completelyreal.
I don't do a lot of researchand the guest ahead of time,
because I want to learn, likethe audience wants to learn.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Well, that's a great thing, like I mean, if you ever
read or have read or learnedabout Larry King, he would have
one question and then he wouldjust listen and then form an
hour long interview off of onequestion.
That's the beauty of it.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
You want to discover, like other people are also
discovered, right?
So what is there about you thatmakes you so successful?

Speaker 2 (39:19):
I think it's.
I think it's just the passionand the hustle and knowing that
if you just sit and just assumeand let things hopefully come to
you, you know, like thePowerball or Mega Millions, that
ain't happened.
Well, correct.
Same thing in life, you know,if you just sit there and wait,
can it happen?
Yes, are your odds severelystacked against you?

(39:42):
Of course.
So you got to almost take yourlife into your own hands and
figure out your own path and,and you know, be nice to people
and be friendly and cordial andbe your true self and not fake,
and people will see that, youknow, and opportunities will
come from that.
Do you consider yourself famous?

(40:02):
No, not at all.
Do people ever recognize you?
Well, that's the thing.
Yeah, people are like oh,you're so famous.
And you know, like, I'm sure,if you do a Google, you know my
net worth is probably millionsupon millions of dollars.
Yeah, because those areaccurate.
Yeah, correct.
Well, that's the problem withthe internet, where just because
it's on the internet doesn'tmean necessarily that it's true.
You know, unfortunately, peopledon't believe that.

(40:23):
Well, correct.
But then again, as you saw, Ishowed up in a 2013 Ford Escape
with two car seats in the back.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
You, know, so I know that you have an opportunity to
make sure that you are doing theright thing to protect your
family and children.
Oh, of course, yeah, but thenyou hide your bags of money in
the back.
Exactly, it's just a front.
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
So would you believe that you are successful?
Successful, yes, but I thinkdid I reach the top of the
mountain?
I'm, you know, I'm near a topof the mountain, but I think the
top of the mountain would bewhen something is mine, my own,
versus just being a part ofsomething big.
You know, Am I a part ofsomething huge at the top of the
mountain?
Of course, but eventually, youknow, I want to be able to stand

(41:09):
atop a loan of the mountain.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
You know, saying something I did, well, I would
agree with that, I think thatyou have definitely crested one
of the top pinnacles of radioshows, of terrestrial radio
shows, for sure, right, I don'tknow.
Is there any better, biggerthan Elvis Duran?
Not that I know of.
Yeah, I wouldn't think soeither.
So I think you've crested that,but that doesn't mean that

(41:33):
that's the end of your tail,well correct.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
And again, I'm going to be 39 years old in October
and you know I unless you'rereading the internet I don't
have the money to retire, so Itook that spider web for you.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
But I appreciate it.
You are welcome.
You are the Kevin.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Costner to my Whitney Houston.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
For both of them.
So what's next?
Where do you see yourself whenyou grow up?
Because you know, you knowbeing the age.
I'm at now.
39 sounds young to me, which iscrazy, Right, but you have so
much career left.
You have so much life left.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Which is funny, like you know.
Going back to you know my dad.
You know the slogan for Toys RUs growing up was I don't want
to grow up because.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
I'm a Toys R Us kid.
That's ingrained in all of us.
In fact, I believe that is mymentality.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
And that's kind of like my mantra in the sense
where, you know, yes, I'm a kid,always will be a kid at heart.
And just again, doing fun, funthings, like you know, helping
my friends out at the gym weboth go to, you know, just
finding fun, creative things todo and making connections with

(42:44):
the people that I meet along theway and connecting them and
creating opportunities formyself and others.
So do you see yourself stayingin the industry?
Oh, yeah, no, you know, outsideof the radio, you know I do I
do red carpet work for E newsand that's through a friend that
I met 10 years ago, who justlanded a job recently and said,

(43:05):
hey, I'd love for you to coverred carpets for us in New York.
And I said, sure, that friendbeing Ryan Seacrest, of course.
Yeah, no, no, my friend, johnPascarella.
He, he worked with Mori Povichand we made a connection over
the years and we stayed friendsand again just being nice and
having conversations with peopleand not, you know, just using

(43:26):
them for their name or stature,for status.
You know he said, hey, we'vedone this.
You know you've done a fewthings, I've helped you out
along the way.
You know why don't you come,you know, do it again, but on TV
for me.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
So well, there's there's a need to build genuine
connections with people.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Oh correct.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
So I agree with what you said earlier.
I don't really get starstruck.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Maybe if slash was like in front of me everybody
has their one you know like, andrightfully so.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Slash is my one.
I've met him once and I gotnothing to say Right, Fanboy
there, I must have been 25.
I'm just like thank you, sir.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Which is funny too, because I had a situation I was
doing something for E news up inConnecticut and I had the cast
of Full House All of them, no,dave Coulier and let everyone
know, I just did cut it out andDJ.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Tanner.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Yeah, I forget her real name off the top the sweat
starting to get to me.
But my son and daughter juststarted watching Full House and
Full or House on Netflix.
So we FaceTimed and the kidsthat, the kids who they've been
watching on TV religiouslybecause you know, if you know
how kids work with TV, theywatch the same thing over and

(44:48):
over and over again.
They were, they were starstruck.
They went from being able to,you know, recite lines from the
show to talking to them onFaceTime through my phone and
they, they hadn't not a word tosay so so you're now,
essentially, you've replacedyour father.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
You're kids.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Think that you are the most amazing father Correct,
which is kind of weird becauseyou know, with Toys R Us being
closed and my dad not workingthere anymore, you know, for
several years prior to themclosing they don't to me I was
like that would be the coolestthing.
Grandpa works at a freaking toystore.
You know.
They do now, with you know,toys R Us slowly coming back and

(45:25):
being in several malls andMacy's, yeah they are making a
slight resurgence, and thereason why is because, well,
everything is reciclic.
Oh, right what's?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
old is new, the circle of life, yeah, and we're
all nostalgic and of course, Iwant to take my kids to Toys R
Us.
That doesn't exist, right Right.
Kmart doesn't really exist, Ithink.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Kmart's.
You know it's target now, butbut even so just toy is lacking.
Right, a whole, a whole storeof toys is a different story
than just a few aisles here andthere With a giant talking
giraffe Right.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
You know who doesn't love a giant talking giraffe?

Speaker 2 (45:58):
So, yeah, I am a little, you know, envious of the
fact that my kids can'texperience grandpa working, but
they're experiencing you,Correct, yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
So I think that's really awesome.
I might be a little bit enviousmyself of that, so I might
actually ask you, aroundChristmas and Hanukkah time, if
you could just make anappearance at my house.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Not a problem, it's Garret.
It's free of charge.
Who is it?
No, don't worry about it, it'sGarret.
He brought you a toy.
Go on Google.
He makes a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Oh man.
So how are you raising yourchildren?
What do you?
What are you telling them?
Do you want them to be in thespotlight, like you, or do you
want them to stay away?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
No, I just want my kids.
You know my wife and I, youknow, both agree that it's hard
to say like we want you to dothis.
We just want you to be happy.
You know what I mean.
Like learn as you go, like myson.
My son loves art.
So we're going, you know,whatever we got to do, whatever
art type things that he loves.
But then you know he's at thearcade for the first time and

(46:55):
he's playing pop a shot.
So let's get him intobasketball and let him
experience that and see what helikes, you know.
And my daughter's coming intoher own, where she loves makeup.
How old is she?
She's five.
Oh yeah that's tough, so you,but you know you have to say yes
, but you're, you ride it out.
You ride out the phases and youknow, eventually a phase turns

(47:16):
into a passion and a passionturns into a career.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
So interesting so what advice would you have for
anybody who wants a broadcastingcareer for their profession,
whether it's in radio or on TVor even streaming?
These days, in fact, I mean,yes, most people want to be
streamers?

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Right, they essentially.
Do you need school?
Probably not.
I do tell kids that do go toschool, learn while you're there
, but make those connections,you know, make those friends,
make those those fistful offriends that will be with you
and can be a phone call away.
You know, 10 years down theroad, 20 years down the road,

(47:54):
and we'll pick up and we'll getback to you a week later.
You know that's more college ofbreaking that mold of shyness
and that exterior that you mighthave.
Do you learn a thing or two?
Yes, is it expensive?
Hell, yes, but Expensive.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
How Monetarily or Money-wise?

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah, well, both.
It's expensive, where you walkaway with a degree that you paid
you know six figures for,essentially unless you know
you're smart and have ascholarship.
But essentially it's more aboutsetting yourself up for life of
becoming day one of the personthat you're about to become as

(48:36):
an adult.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Would you recommend this as a career for kids
growing up today?

Speaker 2 (48:41):
If you're passionate.
Yeah, I mean, my wife's aphysician assistant and we
always joke that she can land ajob any given day, because a
physician assistant is always onthat top five list of jobs that
you always want.
You know, is radio there?
No, well, you can start a pod.
Oh, you can.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
As the kids call it.
I just learned this on the lastepisode.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
The kids call this pod.
You can, of course, but again,that's even more work.
You know, again everybodythinks because Joe Rogan is so
successful.
You know, day two yes, you can,but it's not going to happen
overnight.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Well, joe Rogan had a slight shortcut the fact that
he put in his 100,000 hoursdoing everything else first
Correct.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
And that's the thing that people don't realize.
They just think that, oh, joeRogan has a podcast.
I can too, yes, you can, butthere's also work after you hit
off, as you know.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
I can attest to just how challenging it is to have a
podcast, how miserable it can beat times and how depressing
because it's a roller coaster.
You're putting in hundreds ofhours in episode and sometimes
it yields no return, correct,but it's like any other business
, it's like any other professionIf you're not willing to put in
the work, then don't go intothat industry.

(49:59):
Right, exactly, but you knowit's.
You know my story.
I started a podcast at a pureinsanity, right Going on a hike,
realizing that this would becool, and I have not looked back
since and I love it.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
And it's something different too.
You know, we're not driving ina car singing a song.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
Well, actually that's what made those specials, so
comedians in cars with coffee.
What made it special is oneit's Jerry Seinfeld and two.
That was unique, or karaokecars unique.
Any activity based program ispretty unique, correct.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Comes to the outside of the element.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
Yeah, so just I'm just a dude trying to make
things.
You knew that line was comingright.
Just the guy.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Just a dude.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
This guy is another dude.
Sorry, is that your medicalalert?
Yep, you okay.
Yep, all good, all right.
What is that for?
Ah, glucose, I'm a type onediabetic.
You are a type one diabetic.
See, I told you.
The truth comes out whileyou're hiking, so we're going to
talk about that now.
Yeah, of course I happen toknow a little bit about the
subject, because I do have closefamily and personal friends.

(51:04):
Their son has type one diabeteswith diagnosis 15 months.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Very young, I was 13.
So you were 13 years old, yep,so up until you were 13,.
What did you experience?

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Candy food normalcy.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Totally normal.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
But yeah, once I was 13, I thought, well, my parents
thought it was the.
I thought, well, you know, justthe average flu.
But prior to that, conspiracytheorists and me, I had the
chickenpox.
Okay, and doing research overthe years, there's a link
between the chickenpox and typeone diabetes.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Where what?

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Yeah, just roll that tape back.
The same, the same.
I don't know exactly what it isand you know people can be like
the the same type of autoimmunedisease because chicken, that's
what chickenpox is Okay.
So is diabetes when somethingfrom the chickenpox was still in
me a year later, the I didn'thave it on the outside, but it

(52:08):
was still lying in me on theinside, okay, and something of
getting sick triggered thatwhich then triggered the rest of
the autoimmune disease insideof me.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
So you already had.
So that that is myunderstanding, because in type
one you were born with type one,right, you take something to
bring it out.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Correct, and that's where it was.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Yeah, the chickenpox brought it out.
That is amazing.
So nowadays kids don't getchickenpox.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
We give them an immunity.
You know a vaccine for it.
When you were diagnosed, was itmore prevalent, based on a
chickenpox disease, and that'swhen it was.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
No one really kind of .
It was more just the questionDoes?
I was the first type one.
In my family Everyone had typetwo.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
That was the first.
Everyone in your family hastype two.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Not everybody, but that's from diet and exercise
right, yes and no, but it was.
But again, diabetes isautoimmune.
Like my dad, tall, skinny, samething with my mom.
So it you know it goes down.
You start going downgenerations and, as I think you
know, our parents just likepictures.

(53:13):
They really didn't give a goodrecord in life.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
No.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
You know.
So you're kind of left withquestioning of things of like
well, what about?
What about your mom's mom?
Yeah, oh, we don't know.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
They think they kept records back in the 40s, like
that, you know like they barelyhave a picture Right, so kind of
left with questions.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
But you're also kind of like left with what's at hand
, meaning the diabetes and kindof what triggered it.
So probably probably thechickenpox, and chickenpox
triggered it.
You felt like you had a flu ayear later.
And what do you do when youhave the flu?
As a kid, you drink Gatorade.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
As I'm drinking, right now I'm drinking it.
At the time I noticed it's thelemon Gatorade which, in my
opinion, is the wrong Gatorade.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Well, I sorry, I grabbed.
I grabbed what was there.
Red is the best.
I have the slew of them.
I'm more of a purple guy, butpurple.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
So I we're going on a little tangent here down this
trail, but I personally thinkthat purple is the best flavor
gum on the planet.
Purple is also the best nerds.
All right, but purple is notthe best Gatorade.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Well, you know, to each their own and that's why
there's many of flavors, justlike the rainbow.
You have your own, your ownfavorites, Okay.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
We will.
We will agree to disagree thatred is the best Gatorade flavor,
right?
Yes, all right, so back to this, yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
So thought I had the flu.
And you know, just as a parent,you know, being playing sports,
it's like, okay, you'redehydrated, which I was.
Walk it off kid.
Yeah, well, not even that.
It was all right, drink someGatorade, feel better, have some
.
But as a as I'm drinking theGatorade, what it's, what it did
was shoot my blood sugar, youknow, way up.

(54:56):
So my blood sugar was close toa thousand.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
A thousand, yeah, oh Jesus.
Okay, that's really high.
For those that are not aware,and I'll let you answer this,
what is?
Normal, what is?

Speaker 2 (55:09):
a normal non-diabetic , it should be between 80 and
150 of a blood sugar, a bloodglucose level, yeah, so we've
got an eight to 10 X rise, right, okay, and that's what happened
at that moment, After I peed ona stick at the pediatrician,
straight to the ER where.
I just got pumped with fluidsbecause I also was dehydrated

(55:32):
and that's when they diagnosedyou, yep.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
What did your parents do?
What was their immediatereaction?

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Well, theirs was more just like what the hell?
Because no one really knew whata type one diabetic was, you
know?
Yeah, what year was this?
96.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
Yeah, so we have research, but we didn't have an
enormous amount of research likewe have to do.
We were on the ground floor ofresearch in the sense we knew of
type two.
Right, we all remember WilferBrimley and Diabetus.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Right, exactly.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
But we did not have that much information on type
one, so your parents, I imagine,were shocked.
They freaked out a little bit.
They had to show you that, butthey had to.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Right, like you know, they didn't know and pretty
much they were learning as I waslearning.
So what was your feeling whenyou were told that you have
diabetes?
Being in sixth grade, you justthought, okay, it's like the flu
, I'll be good next week.
You know, just like thepandemic, we all thought it
would be over in a week.
Yeah, that didn't happen, right, okay.

(56:34):
We all know how that played out.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Same thing for me.
How did you end up managing it,because this is a daily
struggle.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Oh yeah, back in the day had to had to give myself.
You know, I wasn't givingmyself vials of insulin at all.
Your mom, yeah, my mom my dad.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
And then now today, you obviously have a machine
that goes for you.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
I have.
It's almost like my ownpancreas on the outside of my
body, which pretty much just Alittle patch which has your
insulin.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
Yeah, pretty much, yeah, so technology has come
very far.
Oh big time.
When you were young, how oftendid you have to inject?

Speaker 2 (57:23):
About three to four times a day.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
Three to four times.
Is it before or after meals?

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Or both.
Yeah, so three to four times aday, the quick acting and the
long acting.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
So this is obviously.
I want to use the word handicapbecause in a way it does.
It takes you out of the game ifneed be, but it's not really.
It's manageable, right.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Well, that's the thing, it is not.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
You live a normal, long lasting life.
Only you have to do somethingelse that a lot of other people
don't, right?
Do people ever know?

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Oh yeah, no, they grew up knowing Any AACs do that
.
It's almost like you know.
It's almost like M&M and 8 MileIf you don't call it out,
people are going to call it out,and then it's like you know why
, let them have take advantageof a joke, of a situation.
You just call it out beforethey're able to call it out.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
So that's a little bit of the comedian in you, and
I fully agree with that.
I've lived my life like that aswell.
If you have something thatyou're embarrassed by, just call
it out.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Well, yeah, not even embarrassed, I would say, but
like more of you know, as kidsyou know they'll pick on
anything Correct.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
Anything that makes you a little bit different,
Correct Whether you have a bignose or funny hair or, in this
case, you have diabetes.
They'll call it out becauseit's a way that they get over
fear and difference.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Oh, correct.
And if anything too, from whatI've learned is if you're the
way to ruin a joke or someoneyou know trying to make a joke
on your expense, if you call itout and you lean into it kind of
take them out by the kneecapsand they have nothing to really
Very statin' island of you.
Oh yeah, this is very, verystrong, and I'm not an Italian
too, so Well, you assume I'm notTony Soprano, or?

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Well, I'm not Italian either, and I spent my life
growing up in the Italiansection.
I totally understand that.
But yeah, no, the way to ruin ajoke is to ruin it for them.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Right, exactly, and that's why I use the M&M analogy
.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
So today, you manage it, you live with it.
Yep, it's part of your life,little beep.
Actually we'll go this waysorry, Little beep every once in
a while.
What does the beep?

Speaker 2 (59:26):
mean Just low blood sugar.
It's kind of like a warning oflike, hey, just take action,
which you know I did Gatoradeand some glucose tablets.
Have you ever had a scare?

Speaker 1 (59:34):
where you didn't have Gatorade nearby.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Not twice early on.
You know, when I was, I think,in eighth grade.
That's where I just kind ofwent into a diabetic seizure
pretty much oh you went into afull seizure.
That's scary.
I woke up to my two uncles whoreally didn't get along at the
time.
When I came out of it myself, Iwatched them like they were

(59:59):
literally going hand-to-handcombat just because they didn't
like each other.
Oh, that's helpful.
Yeah.
So my wife again.
Luckily she's a physicianassistant.
She was in the shower.
I was just waiting for her tocome out of the shower and just
you know, laying on our bed andjust kind of went.

(01:00:20):
What does that mean?
No same thing, just the warning.
So you have another warning.
Well, yeah, between my cellphone and then I have a PDM.
I kind of I have double like.
People are like oh, you havetwo cell phones.
No, I don't have two cellphones.
One's my insulin and then one'smy insulin slash glucose
reading.
So it's easier than carryingaround vials of things in a

(01:00:45):
blood stick.
But yeah, so I had one, as mywife was in a shower and all I
remember was waking up to theparamedics as they were giving
me a glucose amine which ispretty much just sugar gel.
Wow, who was the president?
And I think I said Bush at thetime, even though it was Obama.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Close.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Yeah, I was in the ballpark.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
Yeah, but yeah that was Same century, yeah that was
the only other scare.
So you don't know how or whatyou just passed out.
And there all of a sudden, yep,what did your wife say?

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
happened.
She was in the shower.
She just woke up to me likeconvulsing on the bed and there
was no warning for you to know.
No, I was outside at testing myblood sugar, which I did.
It was okay, as it normally isin the morning, right before
breakfast.
Yeah, it just took a nosediveper se.

(01:01:44):
Oh, my God, wow.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
All right.
So that landed you in thehospital.
Yeah, and that was the lastscare, Yep.
So how do you prevent that fromever happening again?
Well, those alerts those beepscarrying?

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Did you have these devices at?

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
the time no not at all.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
They weren't invented just yet.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
That is some scary stuff.
So let's talk about your kids.
Do they have type one, or isthis a wait and see, and
hopefully we pray.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
It's a wait and see, but they should be okay because,
according to doctors, it's oneof those it skips a generation,
so they're going to have toworry about their kids.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Correct possibly Genetics.
Wow, all right.
Well, thanks for educating uson that.
As I told you, as we divedeeper into a trail, the person
comes out.
Did you think you'd be talkingabout that?

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Yes and no.
It's one of those things whereI'm not the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
I'm a diabetic.
Hey, here's my sleeve.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Here's everything.
Look at me, but it's who youare.
Well, correct, and that's thething too.
Like, growing up, there werekids that because you get into
groups of, oh, they're diabeticstoo.
They want you to relate, beable to be like hey, you're not
the only one.
You can't fault that.
That's actually a good strategy.
No, of course, but you learnkind of like there's kids that

(01:03:07):
are in a group setting and it'slike hey, and you know, I'm
Garrett.
I'm like hey, I'm Josh, I'm adiabetic.
I'm like okay, or hey, I'm Kara, I'm a diabetic.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
We can obviously change the names protect the
innocent, Understood so, but Imean normal functioning is just
you have to deal with somethingthat many don't.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
And then, yeah, it goes with that.
And then, to jump it on, thediabetes of Trinity is Ciliac,
which I have, so I'm gluten free.
That was diagnosed one.
I probably back in the againalmost 30 years ago.
Ciliac was in a real thing.
Gluten free wasn't a thing.

(01:03:48):
Did I probably have it?
Probably yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Well, if you have an issue with your pancreas,
converting complex carbohydratesto sugar is probably an issue.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
So about a little over about 12 years ago, I got
diagnosed, went in for endoscopyand they're like yeah, you do
have Ciliac, so is that hard todeal with?
Well, it is, as you get older,because you're so used to eating
a certain way in life.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
No more pizza.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Well, gluten free pizza, yeah, you have to have
that lovely cauliflower pizza,well crust or gluten free dough
as they make them, but after awhile, after the first year
you're like okay it is what itis, you got to accept it and you
just got to find the best ofthe best.
Yeah, so what is your favoritething to eat?
Oh, pizza I'm a pizza guy andchicken parm.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
I will agree.
So you are clearly from StatenIsland.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
Oh yeah, I grew up on chicken, parm and steak you
know steak and potatoes.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
You still converse with the people you grew up with
.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
We have a group of friends.
There's a group of about 10 ofus that are all still connected,
but they're all on StatenIsland.
No, no, all spread out betweenyou know, some in Jersey, some
in you know the city, dc, texas,so Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
Yeah, you know I wanted to move to Texas for a
while and then my wife and Iwent to Texas and I realized
Austin's awesome, but outsideyou're in Texas and unless you
grew up in Texas, that's a hardthing to overcome.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
Well, but again it's.
Austin's a cool city in thesense of like it's a great city
Once you dig your toes in and,like you know, plant your flag.
Yes, but just like, how dopeople live?
You don't do it, you don'tunderstand it until you're fully
there you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
Keeping it weird, right, but no, it's for me.
I'm too New York.
No, I get it.
I never wanted to fly.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
I had trouble when we moved to Jersey, I had trouble
giving up my New York driver'slicense for a Jersey license.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
So did I.
Yeah, so did I.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
I don't know why it was like.
It was like almost like thetall, tall sign of like okay, no
more.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Well when did you move here?

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
I moved here about nine years ago to Westfield, but
I, my wife and I lived inHoboken for about three to four
years.
Yeah which is like New YorkCity life, right.
Well, I call it the thing thateverybody eventually moves to
from the city, because everybodygrows up watching sex in the
city, going I want thatlifestyle.
And then they they moved downto Wall Street and realized,

(01:06:24):
holy shit, this is not what Iwant to.
There's no cobblestone streetsreally.
Then they moved to Hoboken,that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
It's the baby step to get out.
But I agree, so nine years ago,I think they still had that
really horrible ID that anyonecould fake, right?
So that's why is you takingthis beautiful New York ID and
turning it into this laminatedthing?
But yeah, it ain't had it thatbad.
I actually like it.
I think I prefer it now, butthat's also because home is

(01:06:52):
where the heart is.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
And we have children, and these children have great
opportunities to play and laughNot that they wouldn't in a city
, but they don't.
You can find.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Yeah, we realized we had to go to, we had to move to
add a Hoboken, because our sonwas in a one bedroom apartment
and his walker just walking intoeverything and we're like he
needs room.
Think think.
So we brought him to thesuburbs and first day we put him
in the backyard with grass.
You freaked out because hedidn't know what grass was.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
Obviously because he's, you know one and a half
recorded that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
I don't think we did.
Maybe my wife is very good atthat.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
So, garrett, we are coming to the conclusion of our
trail.
Would you like to add anything?

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
else.
No, this you know moreinteresting, as you said, you
really don't.
You're like how am I going tobe able to walk and talk?
And it's a lot of fun, you know, therapeutic in a way.
What's the co-pay?

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Well there, is a co-pay.
At the door when you return themic you have to pay that.
No, when I was growing up, Iwas told that I have a mouse
that doesn't stop, so I will getyou to talk.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
No, that's what I mean.
Between comedians andentertainers.
You hear the same story of justlike yeah, I was told, you know
, sit down and class clowndidn't talk, you know, so it
happens.
So, yeah, this is a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
So, garavogal, thank you for taking this trek
alongside.
I'm happy to learn your story.
I think you provided some greatinsight and valuable
information on diabetes, whichis great.
So thanks for the episode.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
No problem.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
Thank you for having me.
Next time on Itoka Hike, wetake a spirited journey with
Daisy Joplin, a classical androck violinist and founder of
the Daisy Joplin MusicMentorship Foundation.
Till next time, I'm Darren Mass.
Thanks for listening.