October 31, 2025 • 23 mins
Once again, not our best effort. However, the end of the show offers a special glimpse into the dynamic that exists among the KC Crew when the tape isn't rolling.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needsearlier this week.
We had Steve, your friend, andnow all of our friend Yeah.
Todd Va on to, uh, to talkabout, uh, filmmaking, the, the
role that he played his careerand you know, just the kindness
(00:38):
that he's witnessed throughouthis, uh, not filmmaking, but uh,
video producing video.
I was gonna, I was going to makefun of the filmmaking'cause he
doesn't work with filmmakers.
Oh, I was being ironic.
Ah, I didn't know that.
Come on man.
It was hilarious the secondtime.
Anyway, it, it was, it workedout great.
I was gonna say, we're not afilmmaker.
We don't work with filmmakers.
(01:01):
Anyway, we started talking aboutvideos that we've witnessed.
You know, we're all consumers ofYouTube.
Are there videos that you'vewitnessed that, make you feel
good that, that really got yourattention, that you've watched
more than once?
Well, anyone, yeah, anyone.
But, um, I.
My, my preface, uh, my preamblewould be, it's probably the, one
(01:25):
of the best things about socialmedia is that we have access to
these videos, these amazingvideos, because pre social
media, you know, you'd only,you'd have to see them on your
own Right.
Or at, you know, during an a, b,c, after school special.
Right.
Or someone tell you a story orsomething.
Yeah, yeah.
But, but now you have access toall of these and I agree.
(01:46):
It's a, it is so cool to see.
So.
Um, that, that I'm MichaelDempsey, by the way.
Steve Brown, do you have any?
Yeah, this is a great topic,John, and it does tie into it is
a great topic.
Steve, Todd.
Steve's here.
Michael's here.
Jeff's here.
I'm here.
And we got Todd here.
Todd's our guest hanging outstill.
So Michael and Steve have beensharing a microphone and I've
always wondered when you're in aband Yeah.
(02:07):
And sometimes you see guyssharing a microphone.
The, the Bruce scene now singingalong.
Yeah, like singing.
Do you ever go Jesus, get abreath mint?
I mean, sometimes.
So.
Right.
I mean, is that going on overthere?
No, no, it's just fine.
Fresh.
Okay.
Fresh.
Okay.
That's good.
Um, when it comes to video, soMichael's, right, like this is
the culmination now of theinternet and the social media
(02:27):
allows us to have this huge bankof things to watch.
Absolutely.
And there are, I, I asked chat,the top 10 types of meaningful
videos that people like to lookat, at that kind of c Cause
oxytocin, oxytocin, Sunday,everybody.
Um, they are the ones, surprise,homecomings.
Those are always called, thereyou go.
Military, whatever.
(02:47):
Surprise, homecomings.
Animal rescue and reunions.
Oh god.
Animal reunions.
What's better than a dog aftersomeone's been gone?
Yes.
Oh my God.
It's the greatest.
Like when the soldier comesback.
Yes.
And the dog just attacks themand the dog's been gone for
like, or the persons been gonefor two years.
The dog hasn't seen them and it,they're kind of scared at first
and then it looks at'em.
Oh my god.
Recognize, smells.
'em, it's the greatest.
(03:07):
Um, acts of kindness forstrangers that I get caught up
in that I, there's a guy inCanada that does that and it's
just the greatest.
There's a guy out here in, Ithink White Bear who does that.
Really?
It's John Schitz.
No, it's not.
No, it's not.
John Schitz.
Um, El Elderly joy andconnection, like, uh, elderly.
Oh man.
I've seen so many beautiful onesof older folks talking their,
(03:28):
about their past, uh, mates andstuff.
Kids showing unexpected kindnessor wisdom..
People overcoming challenges ordisabilities?
Oh God.
When people hear for the firsttime.
Love it.
Oh my God.
Or how about the ones where theygive dad the glasses that allow
him to see color for the firsttime?
Saw that one, one.
Did I send it to you?
I think you might've sent it tome.
Amazing.
Uh, he saw color for the firsttime.
(03:48):
Color for the first time.
Yeah.
A grown man, like a 60-year-oldman.
Weeping and amazing, crying likea baby.
Communities coming together.
Uh, teacher or mentorappreciation moments.
Unexpected talent reveals makespeople just like, got it.
It's fun.
You're checking all the rightboxes.
Kindness in the face ofadversity.
So thanks, champ.
(04:09):
Those are the kindt that is ofwonder.
Hit all of'em.
Right?
You know, there might besomething to this artificial
intelligence stuff.
So a few episodes back, wetalked about movies and there's
this, I really like watchingvideo essays and there's a
couple of creators out there.
One is the meaning of, ofmeaning on the screen.
And he'll go deep on likemeanings you may have missed or
(04:33):
certain, symbolism in moviesthat are just like, wow, I, I'm
gonna, I'll never watch that thesame again.
Or I've gotta go back and watchthat.
And that's been fun.
Uh, I've learned a lot aboutstorytelling through those, uh,
video essayists.
Yeah.
My favorite video essayist whenit comes to this kind of stuff
is Steve Hartman, the guy that'son CBS my favorite too.
(04:54):
He is so.
Great at, at again, storytellingand just finding those stories
that are just so heartwarming.
And one that we use in ourcivility project is the story of
a wrestler who is the number onewrestler in the, in the state
of, I think Virginia.
And he happens to be wrestlingthe number two wrestler in the
(05:16):
state of Virginia.
And the number two wrestler isbeating the number one wrestler
and then suddenly.
Number two, wrestler.
Who's winning dislocates hiselbow.
So what does the number onewrestler do?
Decides, you know what, he wasbeating me then he deserves to
win this thing.
And he just essentiallysubmitted.
(05:37):
And, uh, Steve, the way thatSteve told that story, much more
compelling than the way I justtold it.
But that's why those people areprofessional storytellers, and
we just do this for pretend fun.
It's, he's got this ability to,there's a reveal.
Yes.
About two thirds of the way in.
That'll just like really be aparadigm shift and then it
really draws you in and hisvoice, I mean, he's just, he's
(05:59):
got it all.
Great.
I just, I, I, one thing, uh,Todd, uh, jump to you in a
second.
One thing I, uh, really like,and when it really hits home is.
When it's, when it's purelyauthentic, like the wrestling
one, someone was videotapingthat, you know, it wasn't like,
okay, well let's see this, andyou know, someone's gonna walk
(06:19):
in and when, when it, when ithappens.
Sort of in real life, in realtime and you capture it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, another sports one that washere local.
Was, uh, and you'll get thebaseball one, right?
Totino Grace.
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
The pitcher.
Yes.
Yep.
Hugging his buddy that he juststruck out a great one, hugging
his lifelong best friend that hejust struck out to win the
(06:42):
championship.
And his team is erupting Ru outof the dugout, rushing.
They're jumping on people and hetakes, and he runs to the guy
that he just struck out.
Yeah.
He just struck out and, andthat's just.
The, the sort of purity of that.
Like you don't need anynarrative like that.
That's it.
That's video.
That's like, I want more ofthat.
And I think the authenticity ofthat.
(07:03):
Yeah.
What actually kind of irritatesme.
Is when they do'em.
And it's like, that was so setup.
Yeah.
It almost kind of pisses me off.
Me too.
Overproduced over engineered.
Well, that's a great pointthough.
But they try and play it off Asauthentic.
Authentic, yeah.
No, I, so I tell a lot of mycustomers, this is professional
talking though.
I tell a lot of my customers,you don't always have to have.
(07:23):
A video production team to getthat video.
The, the one that, first of all,I will watch every one of those
where the, the military personshows up and, you know,
surprises their kid.
Every one of'em I will, I willweep too.
Those get me every time.
Had it last night, oxytocin day,but then.
There's one, I don't know ifyou'll remember this, but it was
(07:43):
somebody just shooting on a cellphone and this girl's walking
down the hallway and I think itwas her last chemo or something
like that.
And so all everybody's clappingand giving her, and she goes and
she rings the bell.
Oh.
And I am telling you that if youhad put a, a video producer and
a, a professional videographerin there, that moment would've
been like, eh, okay.
(08:05):
Right.
You know?
Oh, good shot.
Contrived, but with theauthenticity of just using their
phone and getting that, I, I'veprobably have seen that.
Which has gotta be a challengefor you professionally.
No, not at all.
Not for you, but for normalpeople that are in your
business.
Right.
It, it is like regular people.
It is not Agile video people.
(08:25):
Todd, we were talking on thelast episode with you about you
just creating great conditionsto mm-hmm.
Ensure you get great.
Authentic authenticity on film,it's new word.
Yes.
Authenticity, narratives andthings.
But I, I've studied like JohnHughes and how he, uh, would
work with his actors and he wasthe writer and director of, uh,
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or TheBreakfast Club, or, you know,
(08:48):
all the eighties movies that wegrew up on.
Pretty Pink.
Yep.
Yeah.
And, uh, just creating thoseconditions and creating a fun
environment for people.
So I, I don't know, I, I'velearned a lot about.
Yeah.
That through those guys.
Any comment?
Yeah, you have to keep it lighton set if, if you're, you're
already, you know, most of the,most of the people I work with
anyways aren't even, they're notactors.
(09:09):
They're everyday people givingtheir story.
Sometimes they're not evenwilling, you know, they're
willingly, it's their boss orsomebody or parent or somebody
who's told them they're going todo it.
So you have to just make itlighthearted.
You have to make it easy forthem and, uh.
Th Once you forget about thecamera being there, the lights
being there, and you're justhaving that conversation, oh,
(09:31):
then it's, then it's pure gold.
I wanna explain what's going onright now.
So I wanted to talk about videoson YouTube.
And Jeff was ticked that I shutdown the first interview before
he got all of his questions in.
So he got his question in.
We're happy for you.
I was.
Great answer.
Let's get back to YouTubevideos.
(09:52):
I think I can bring it back.
I think I can bring it back.
Thank you.
My God.
Do you have more questions,Jeff?
No one just to comment.
Oh God.
Here we go.
One, one time I was, uh, thisone time overseeing a, a video
producer was doing a video.
For an old company I worked withand he said, PF, just a tip.
People don't like it when you'refilming them while they're
eating.
(10:12):
And I thought that was funny.
Anyway, well, so bring it back.
There's a video that I watchednot long ago about siblings
reuniting, and it was differentages, um, brothers and sisters,
like finding each other at theairport.
All these things.
What got me thinking, Todd?
Is, it's a shockingly beautifulvideo.
(10:33):
It's so sweet.
You've seen all these siblingsreuniting.
Um, it's not necessarilymilitary, but how, how did
someone gather all that?
It wasn't set up'cause you couldtell it was real because
someone, I don't know how to,had a way to go.
I need to find when, uh,siblings are reuniting and then
put that together.
That is.
(10:53):
How did they do that?
How do you make that happen?
What kinda line did you have onthat?
Or is it just years ofgathering?
But it was, you couldn't havefaked that video.
Yeah, I'm, I, they probably hadsomebody behind the scenes
coordinating everything andmaking sure that these people
are here.
And I was COVID shut it down,but I was going to be doing a
(11:13):
video where, um, uh, if you allheard of the best Christmas
ever.
Oh yeah.
I mean one of the greatestnonprofits out there.
Yep.
And um, there was at the time,one of the biggest.
Like the Vikings were reallyinvolved, like the linemen, all
of their fines went to, yeah.
To Best Christmas ever.
And I was trying to set up avideo where, um, the, the one of
(11:37):
the people who worked for theVikings was on the board and she
didn't know it, but we had afamily that she had sponsored,
hadn't seen since this big, youknow, best Christmas ever.
Oh.
And they were going to come frombehind the.
You know, out of a room andsurprise her and thank her for
mm-hmm.
You know, if, if you don't knowthe best customs ever, look it
up.
(11:57):
It's, it's a wonderful thing.
But that COVID, we couldn't dothe shoot and then she actually
left the Viking, so like, Icouldn't get it done.
But that's, there was probably alot of that where you, okay,
these people, you have to workhere.
And I'm, I'm, you know, you'rethe, you're a, you, you work for
this team, but you have to, canyou please make sure these
people don't come over here?
And a lot of coordinating goingon that's producing yes.
(12:19):
I, and you know, in the spiritof holidays and, and kind of
given, we're getting, we'recoming up on Halloween, I, I'll
find myself going to scaretactics, videos and scaring
people.
Those, I just saw a possum thattried to steal candy and the
person, person jumped at it inthe possum.
Just, I don't know, I have kindof a weird.
Like, you got a lot of weird,man.
(12:40):
There's a lot of weird going onover there.
It's fun though to watch peoplereally authentically scared like
that.
And then I like to, you knowwhat?
I don't get oxytocin from that.
I don't know about that.
It makes you laugh.
Well, maybe you've got adifferent oxytocin trigger than
the rest of us.
Let me, let me tell you, sospeaking of Halloween, just saw
it last night when I wasexercising oxytocin Sunday.
(13:00):
Um, this, this kid comes up toa, a house.
That's got the ring camera andthere's only two pieces of candy
left in the bowl.
And he goes, oh man, there'sonly two pieces left.
And he grabs one of'em and hekind of chuckles.
All of a sudden he comes backand he starts unloading candy
outta his bag into the thing.
(13:22):
And, you know, you mean to give,to give it just to make sure
that the next kid, that the nextkid's a co Yeah.
And there's no way that that wasset up because unless that kid
was the greatest actor.
Wow.
Ever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the, so I was able to make aHalloween video Yeah.
Analogy video.
That was excellent.
You, you, you, you, uh, youcovered up for my negativity and
(13:45):
made it positive.
It wasn't negative.
It wasn't negative, it wasdifferent.
I didn't think it was negativeeither.
I, you, you brought up, uh, theairport.
And I, I, well, I, I think weall go to the airport quite a
bit.
I, I, I do as well.
I is that, I think the airportis just the two sides of the,
the most heightened emotionalexperiences It's like, oh my
(14:07):
goodness, it's the goodbye.
And then you go down intobaggage claim and it's the
reunion.
And I mean, every time you go.
You see this heart wrenchinggoodbye, whether it's at, at the
drop off in front or at theticketing gate.
Right.
And then down at the baggageclaim.
It's the craziest, it's thecraziest charge of emotion for
(14:30):
sure.
Yeah.
That's cool.
We should have, we should haveat some point a flight attendant
on with us.
Because, because my wife has,you know, status flying with
Delta, I occasionally get to situp with her and all the special
people, and you can just tellthat there are some people that
know how to conduct themselvesin first class.
(14:51):
And then there is just theopposite.
And it's amazing how.
There is such a, diversity inbehavior in that part of, you
know, can you gimme an exampleback experience?
Where, can you gimme an example?
I got one.
Oh, I, go ahead.
I got one.
Uh, my, my, my mom and dad whenmy dad was around.
They took a trip and they gotupgraded to first class.
(15:13):
They had never been on firstclass in their lives.
My dad was kinda losing it alittle bit.
They handed up the littletowels.
He thought it was an enchilada.
He took a fight outta the towel.
Oh no.
So his eyesight wasn't great.
He doesn't understand like itwas a towel to warm.
He had to.
He grabbed a text, he's likechewing on it.
My mom's like, oh my, my momlooks at my sister and goes, oh
my God.
Yeah, that's great.
(15:33):
He thought it was a, to a totortilla.
You're gonna, he's gonna getsent back to 32 f, no, 32 EA
middle seat.
There was a guy, sitting acrossthe aisle from me and this jerk
had, Rolex on each wrist.
Oh, yikes.
And that's like, that's a don'tbe that guy moment.
(15:55):
Totally.
Don't be that guy.
And he was so entitled and thewoman that was sitting on the
inside of him.
Was my kind of people becauseshe decided that she was gonna
overwhelm the, uh, the flightattendant with kindness and just
the delta between his behavior.
Oh, that's and her behaviors.
(16:17):
That's great.
Eventually, I think that he kindof figured out what she was
doing and at first was kind ofticked off about it, but really
sort of dialed it back.
But it's like to have the.
The chutzpah.
Isn't that funny?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have, if you've traveled withyour dad on an airplane, you've.
My dad, he didn't understand alot of the etiquette on an
(16:39):
airplane, and so he and my momwere, they were probably 32 ENF
probably way back there.
And Jen and I were up forwardwhere you should be.
And I just, I, you know, likewhen people listen to music out
loud, they're not usingheadphones or something, and it
just, that drives me nuts.
And so I just kept hearingthese, oh no, this my, this is
back in the day of the D Oh no.
(17:01):
When you had the portable DVDs.
Yeah.
My dad chose to watch BlazingSaddles.
Oh, no.
Out loud.
Oh, great.
And I just kept hearing and, andit didn't occur to me at first.
I was, who is that yet?
And I, I, that meander fall?
No, it's my dad watching BlazingSaddles out loud.
Did you go, did you go and helphim out?
(17:21):
I, I, yeah, I brought him myheadphones.
Oh, that was kind of you.
But the, as the.
Flight attendant was tellinghim, sir, yeah, you need to turn
that.
Well, then he, you know what hedid?
He, he, he called Jeff to see,how do I turn this down?
What do I do with thistechnology?
Oh, one time, time I waswatching the movie, uh, she's
outta my league on the flight.
(17:42):
I had never seen it before, butI was, I was, I'm sure I was
annoying the lady just laughingout loud because I had
headphones on, but it was,that's not annoying.
It was so funny.
That's loud.
That's okay.
I actually.
I love it when, uh, people arewatching so of they, and they're
absolutely oxytocin.
You wanna talk when they'relaugh and they're just laughing
uncontrollably.
Yes.
I, and they're next to it.
(18:03):
Makes you laugh.
It makes laugh, it makes melaugh.
I love it.
I love it.
I've, I found myself on flight.
Watching ridiculous movies,laughing and I'm, um, I'm
crying, I'm laughing so hard,and people are looking at me
like, oh my God.
Is it that funny?
The power of the power of story.
The power of film.
Isn't that cool?
It is unbelievable.
Uh, two more things about, uh,uh, uh, I know we were talking
about videos, but about, um.
(18:25):
Uh, uh, humor and, and laughing.
I, uh, uh, oxy to Sundaysyesterday.
Do you know what Oxy to Sundayis?
Todd, I'll explain.
Please explain it.
No, go, go ahead.
So go ahead John.
Tell'em what Oxy Oxy to Sundayis, Oxy to Sunday, we've decided
that,, on Sundays, which youneed to do is instead of
consuming.
media that is going to get youfired up in a bad way for work.
(18:49):
Watch the things like themilitary reunions on Sunday.
So going into, yeah, that's,that is your list for oxytocin
for a, a successful oxytocin.
So you had two stories.
Yeah.
So I find myself on Sundaymorning, uh, you know, entering
in Oxy to Sunday.
I'm sitting on my couch and I'mwatching these videos.
(19:10):
I'll come across these videos tojust make me laugh out loud.
And I, and I think to myself asI'm getting up to get my second
cup of coffee, is there anythingbetter than laughing?
No.
Is there anything better thanlaughter?
I mean that, like I'm, I'm in aroom by myself.
That's great.
And I'm seeing something and I'mlaughing and I'm thinking.
That is the best emotion.
Yeah, that was my first story.
(19:30):
Have you ever been to donut Hut?
No.
Where are things better thanLaughing?
I've heard, I've heard of DonutHut tomorrow morning.
Is that your visit?
That's Tuesday morning.
Yes, it's Tuesday morning.
Is your visit the, the last thesecond story I was just gonna
tell just is it a long story?
No, it is not.
Not compared to yours.
Um, when it comes to playing,we'll be cutting that out.
Yeah, right.
The two Rolex guy that I, uh,sit.
(19:52):
Next to often when I have theopportunity set up front.
He's also the guy that at nine30 in the morning is double
scotching it.
Oh absolutely.
For sure.
On a flight from Minneapolis toChicago.
And you know guys, the beltextender.
Oh, mm-hmm.
My God.
You're like, are you serious?
Nine 30, we're going from hereto Chicago.
The traffic to get downtown'sgonna take longer and you're
(20:14):
double scotching it on a Monday.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
I was just gonna say to, to kindof bring this all back home,
back together.
Yeah.
We started talking about, uh,video, great video, uh, clips to
watch that, especiallyconnecting to Oxy till Sunday.
But I want to challenge our, ouraudience to send us or tell us
(20:35):
about some of the best kindness,uh, inspiring, uh, oxytocin
inducing videos that you canfind.
So.
How can Jeff, how can we havethem find us and send them to us
via Facebook?
We, well, uh, they can text themto us on our kindness line.
Let me pull that.
And what's the kindness line?
Kindness line.
If I can just pull that right uphere.
(20:56):
I've got it on Steve's contact.
'cause we talked earlier, Idon't have it written down
either.
I forgot already.
Here we go.
It is, it is, uh, 61.
Be kind 22.
6 1, 2, 3, 5, 4 63 22 61.
Be kind 22.
You can text it, you canvoicemail it.
Go ahead Steve.
Yeah, we want to hear from you.
So please, we want some feedbackon, first of all, any great
(21:19):
videos you have, anything in theworld, any topic ideas, guest
ideas, or uh, you know, sound,sound bites at the beginning
that I play in there.
There we go.
For something to tee, God knowsreason people are listening to
this program.
I'm not sure that this might beit.
This might be the one that putsit.
Uh yep.
(21:39):
Put a fork in us.
What's, what's the severancepackage?
Is there a severance package?
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's, it's a real,it's robust.
It's robust.
So, Todd, I just want to thankyou for coming in.
Yeah.
Todd, this was so, it, so funto, I know Jeff, Jeff, you and
Jeff can connect and Oh, happyto be here.
He can start texting you 16times a day.
That'll be fun.
And with that, off we go.
(22:02):
I just have one quick sound bitebecause of, I, I was.
Thinking of my mom and dad onthe flight home.
Speaking of flights, and so thisis from one of my, uh, favorite
movies growing up as a kid.
Here you go.
Let me pull it up here.
That's professional, isn't it?
Hang on.
Here we go.
(22:22):
Let me see if I can find ithere.
This is terrible.
You know what?
It's gone.
I don't have it.
Jesus Christ.
Could you hit just, Hey, let'stry this.
Let's try this again.
No, no.
Okay.
I lost it.
I had push that red button rightthere.
Oh no, I do.
(22:42):
I do have it.
Oh good.
I do have it.
I do.
So here's what we're gonna do.
Just play it.
Don't tell us that you're gonnaplay it.
Help me out here.
Well, I was trying to tee it allup.
I know, I know, but you don'tneed to.
Okay.
Alright.
Okay.
Just, sorry.
Sorry.
You know what, Todd, it's beengreat having you in and with
that, off we go.
(23:04):
Sometimes you have to look hardat a person and remember that
he's doing the best he can.
He's just trying to find hisway.
That's just, thank you.
Wow.
That's lovely.
This has been the KindnessChronicles coming to you live
for Maa Minnesota.
(23:28):
Goodnight.
I.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needsearlier this week.
We had Steve, your friend, andnow all of our friend Yeah.
Todd Va on to, uh, to talkabout, uh, filmmaking, the, the
role that he played his careerand you know, just the kindness
(00:38):
that he's witnessed throughouthis, uh, not filmmaking, but uh,
video producing video.
I was gonna, I was going to makefun of the filmmaking'cause he
doesn't work with filmmakers.
Oh, I was being ironic.
Ah, I didn't know that.
Come on man.
It was hilarious the secondtime.
Anyway, it, it was, it workedout great.
I was gonna say, we're not afilmmaker.
We don't work with filmmakers.
(01:01):
Anyway, we started talking aboutvideos that we've witnessed.
You know, we're all consumers ofYouTube.
Are there videos that you'vewitnessed that, make you feel
good that, that really got yourattention, that you've watched
more than once?
Well, anyone, yeah, anyone.
But, um, I.
My, my preface, uh, my preamblewould be, it's probably the, one
(01:25):
of the best things about socialmedia is that we have access to
these videos, these amazingvideos, because pre social
media, you know, you'd only,you'd have to see them on your
own Right.
Or at, you know, during an a, b,c, after school special.
Right.
Or someone tell you a story orsomething.
Yeah, yeah.
But, but now you have access toall of these and I agree.
(01:46):
It's a, it is so cool to see.
So.
Um, that, that I'm MichaelDempsey, by the way.
Steve Brown, do you have any?
Yeah, this is a great topic,John, and it does tie into it is
a great topic.
Steve, Todd.
Steve's here.
Michael's here.
Jeff's here.
I'm here.
And we got Todd here.
Todd's our guest hanging outstill.
So Michael and Steve have beensharing a microphone and I've
always wondered when you're in aband Yeah.
(02:07):
And sometimes you see guyssharing a microphone.
The, the Bruce scene now singingalong.
Yeah, like singing.
Do you ever go Jesus, get abreath mint?
I mean, sometimes.
So.
Right.
I mean, is that going on overthere?
No, no, it's just fine.
Fresh.
Okay.
Fresh.
Okay.
That's good.
Um, when it comes to video, soMichael's, right, like this is
the culmination now of theinternet and the social media
(02:27):
allows us to have this huge bankof things to watch.
Absolutely.
And there are, I, I asked chat,the top 10 types of meaningful
videos that people like to lookat, at that kind of c Cause
oxytocin, oxytocin, Sunday,everybody.
Um, they are the ones, surprise,homecomings.
Those are always called, thereyou go.
Military, whatever.
(02:47):
Surprise, homecomings.
Animal rescue and reunions.
Oh god.
Animal reunions.
What's better than a dog aftersomeone's been gone?
Yes.
Oh my God.
It's the greatest.
Like when the soldier comesback.
Yes.
And the dog just attacks themand the dog's been gone for
like, or the persons been gonefor two years.
The dog hasn't seen them and it,they're kind of scared at first
and then it looks at'em.
Oh my god.
Recognize, smells.
'em, it's the greatest.
(03:07):
Um, acts of kindness forstrangers that I get caught up
in that I, there's a guy inCanada that does that and it's
just the greatest.
There's a guy out here in, Ithink White Bear who does that.
Really?
It's John Schitz.
No, it's not.
No, it's not.
John Schitz.
Um, El Elderly joy andconnection, like, uh, elderly.
Oh man.
I've seen so many beautiful onesof older folks talking their,
(03:28):
about their past, uh, mates andstuff.
Kids showing unexpected kindnessor wisdom..
People overcoming challenges ordisabilities?
Oh God.
When people hear for the firsttime.
Love it.
Oh my God.
Or how about the ones where theygive dad the glasses that allow
him to see color for the firsttime?
Saw that one, one.
Did I send it to you?
I think you might've sent it tome.
Amazing.
Uh, he saw color for the firsttime.
(03:48):
Color for the first time.
Yeah.
A grown man, like a 60-year-oldman.
Weeping and amazing, crying likea baby.
Communities coming together.
Uh, teacher or mentorappreciation moments.
Unexpected talent reveals makespeople just like, got it.
It's fun.
You're checking all the rightboxes.
Kindness in the face ofadversity.
So thanks, champ.
(04:09):
Those are the kindt that is ofwonder.
Hit all of'em.
Right?
You know, there might besomething to this artificial
intelligence stuff.
So a few episodes back, wetalked about movies and there's
this, I really like watchingvideo essays and there's a
couple of creators out there.
One is the meaning of, ofmeaning on the screen.
And he'll go deep on likemeanings you may have missed or
(04:33):
certain, symbolism in moviesthat are just like, wow, I, I'm
gonna, I'll never watch that thesame again.
Or I've gotta go back and watchthat.
And that's been fun.
Uh, I've learned a lot aboutstorytelling through those, uh,
video essayists.
Yeah.
My favorite video essayist whenit comes to this kind of stuff
is Steve Hartman, the guy that'son CBS my favorite too.
(04:54):
He is so.
Great at, at again, storytellingand just finding those stories
that are just so heartwarming.
And one that we use in ourcivility project is the story of
a wrestler who is the number onewrestler in the, in the state
of, I think Virginia.
And he happens to be wrestlingthe number two wrestler in the
(05:16):
state of Virginia.
And the number two wrestler isbeating the number one wrestler
and then suddenly.
Number two, wrestler.
Who's winning dislocates hiselbow.
So what does the number onewrestler do?
Decides, you know what, he wasbeating me then he deserves to
win this thing.
And he just essentiallysubmitted.
(05:37):
And, uh, Steve, the way thatSteve told that story, much more
compelling than the way I justtold it.
But that's why those people areprofessional storytellers, and
we just do this for pretend fun.
It's, he's got this ability to,there's a reveal.
Yes.
About two thirds of the way in.
That'll just like really be aparadigm shift and then it
really draws you in and hisvoice, I mean, he's just, he's
(05:59):
got it all.
Great.
I just, I, I, one thing, uh,Todd, uh, jump to you in a
second.
One thing I, uh, really like,and when it really hits home is.
When it's, when it's purelyauthentic, like the wrestling
one, someone was videotapingthat, you know, it wasn't like,
okay, well let's see this, andyou know, someone's gonna walk
(06:19):
in and when, when it, when ithappens.
Sort of in real life, in realtime and you capture it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, another sports one that washere local.
Was, uh, and you'll get thebaseball one, right?
Totino Grace.
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
The pitcher.
Yes.
Yep.
Hugging his buddy that he juststruck out a great one, hugging
his lifelong best friend that hejust struck out to win the
(06:42):
championship.
And his team is erupting Ru outof the dugout, rushing.
They're jumping on people and hetakes, and he runs to the guy
that he just struck out.
Yeah.
He just struck out and, andthat's just.
The, the sort of purity of that.
Like you don't need anynarrative like that.
That's it.
That's video.
That's like, I want more ofthat.
And I think the authenticity ofthat.
(07:03):
Yeah.
What actually kind of irritatesme.
Is when they do'em.
And it's like, that was so setup.
Yeah.
It almost kind of pisses me off.
Me too.
Overproduced over engineered.
Well, that's a great pointthough.
But they try and play it off Asauthentic.
Authentic, yeah.
No, I, so I tell a lot of mycustomers, this is professional
talking though.
I tell a lot of my customers,you don't always have to have.
(07:23):
A video production team to getthat video.
The, the one that, first of all,I will watch every one of those
where the, the military personshows up and, you know,
surprises their kid.
Every one of'em I will, I willweep too.
Those get me every time.
Had it last night, oxytocin day,but then.
There's one, I don't know ifyou'll remember this, but it was
(07:43):
somebody just shooting on a cellphone and this girl's walking
down the hallway and I think itwas her last chemo or something
like that.
And so all everybody's clappingand giving her, and she goes and
she rings the bell.
Oh.
And I am telling you that if youhad put a, a video producer and
a, a professional videographerin there, that moment would've
been like, eh, okay.
(08:05):
Right.
You know?
Oh, good shot.
Contrived, but with theauthenticity of just using their
phone and getting that, I, I'veprobably have seen that.
Which has gotta be a challengefor you professionally.
No, not at all.
Not for you, but for normalpeople that are in your
business.
Right.
It, it is like regular people.
It is not Agile video people.
(08:25):
Todd, we were talking on thelast episode with you about you
just creating great conditionsto mm-hmm.
Ensure you get great.
Authentic authenticity on film,it's new word.
Yes.
Authenticity, narratives andthings.
But I, I've studied like JohnHughes and how he, uh, would
work with his actors and he wasthe writer and director of, uh,
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or TheBreakfast Club, or, you know,
(08:48):
all the eighties movies that wegrew up on.
Pretty Pink.
Yep.
Yeah.
And, uh, just creating thoseconditions and creating a fun
environment for people.
So I, I don't know, I, I'velearned a lot about.
Yeah.
That through those guys.
Any comment?
Yeah, you have to keep it lighton set if, if you're, you're
already, you know, most of the,most of the people I work with
anyways aren't even, they're notactors.
(09:09):
They're everyday people givingtheir story.
Sometimes they're not evenwilling, you know, they're
willingly, it's their boss orsomebody or parent or somebody
who's told them they're going todo it.
So you have to just make itlighthearted.
You have to make it easy forthem and, uh.
Th Once you forget about thecamera being there, the lights
being there, and you're justhaving that conversation, oh,
(09:31):
then it's, then it's pure gold.
I wanna explain what's going onright now.
So I wanted to talk about videoson YouTube.
And Jeff was ticked that I shutdown the first interview before
he got all of his questions in.
So he got his question in.
We're happy for you.
I was.
Great answer.
Let's get back to YouTubevideos.
(09:52):
I think I can bring it back.
I think I can bring it back.
Thank you.
My God.
Do you have more questions,Jeff?
No one just to comment.
Oh God.
Here we go.
One, one time I was, uh, thisone time overseeing a, a video
producer was doing a video.
For an old company I worked withand he said, PF, just a tip.
People don't like it when you'refilming them while they're
eating.
(10:12):
And I thought that was funny.
Anyway, well, so bring it back.
There's a video that I watchednot long ago about siblings
reuniting, and it was differentages, um, brothers and sisters,
like finding each other at theairport.
All these things.
What got me thinking, Todd?
Is, it's a shockingly beautifulvideo.
(10:33):
It's so sweet.
You've seen all these siblingsreuniting.
Um, it's not necessarilymilitary, but how, how did
someone gather all that?
It wasn't set up'cause you couldtell it was real because
someone, I don't know how to,had a way to go.
I need to find when, uh,siblings are reuniting and then
put that together.
That is.
(10:53):
How did they do that?
How do you make that happen?
What kinda line did you have onthat?
Or is it just years ofgathering?
But it was, you couldn't havefaked that video.
Yeah, I'm, I, they probably hadsomebody behind the scenes
coordinating everything andmaking sure that these people
are here.
And I was COVID shut it down,but I was going to be doing a
(11:13):
video where, um, uh, if you allheard of the best Christmas
ever.
Oh yeah.
I mean one of the greatestnonprofits out there.
Yep.
And um, there was at the time,one of the biggest.
Like the Vikings were reallyinvolved, like the linemen, all
of their fines went to, yeah.
To Best Christmas ever.
And I was trying to set up avideo where, um, the, the one of
(11:37):
the people who worked for theVikings was on the board and she
didn't know it, but we had afamily that she had sponsored,
hadn't seen since this big, youknow, best Christmas ever.
Oh.
And they were going to come frombehind the.
You know, out of a room andsurprise her and thank her for
mm-hmm.
You know, if, if you don't knowthe best customs ever, look it
up.
(11:57):
It's, it's a wonderful thing.
But that COVID, we couldn't dothe shoot and then she actually
left the Viking, so like, Icouldn't get it done.
But that's, there was probably alot of that where you, okay,
these people, you have to workhere.
And I'm, I'm, you know, you'rethe, you're a, you, you work for
this team, but you have to, canyou please make sure these
people don't come over here?
And a lot of coordinating goingon that's producing yes.
(12:19):
I, and you know, in the spiritof holidays and, and kind of
given, we're getting, we'recoming up on Halloween, I, I'll
find myself going to scaretactics, videos and scaring
people.
Those, I just saw a possum thattried to steal candy and the
person, person jumped at it inthe possum.
Just, I don't know, I have kindof a weird.
Like, you got a lot of weird,man.
(12:40):
There's a lot of weird going onover there.
It's fun though to watch peoplereally authentically scared like
that.
And then I like to, you knowwhat?
I don't get oxytocin from that.
I don't know about that.
It makes you laugh.
Well, maybe you've got adifferent oxytocin trigger than
the rest of us.
Let me, let me tell you, sospeaking of Halloween, just saw
it last night when I wasexercising oxytocin Sunday.
(13:00):
Um, this, this kid comes up toa, a house.
That's got the ring camera andthere's only two pieces of candy
left in the bowl.
And he goes, oh man, there'sonly two pieces left.
And he grabs one of'em and hekind of chuckles.
All of a sudden he comes backand he starts unloading candy
outta his bag into the thing.
(13:22):
And, you know, you mean to give,to give it just to make sure
that the next kid, that the nextkid's a co Yeah.
And there's no way that that wasset up because unless that kid
was the greatest actor.
Wow.
Ever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the, so I was able to make aHalloween video Yeah.
Analogy video.
That was excellent.
You, you, you, you, uh, youcovered up for my negativity and
(13:45):
made it positive.
It wasn't negative.
It wasn't negative, it wasdifferent.
I didn't think it was negativeeither.
I, you, you brought up, uh, theairport.
And I, I, well, I, I think weall go to the airport quite a
bit.
I, I, I do as well.
I is that, I think the airportis just the two sides of the,
the most heightened emotionalexperiences It's like, oh my
(14:07):
goodness, it's the goodbye.
And then you go down intobaggage claim and it's the
reunion.
And I mean, every time you go.
You see this heart wrenchinggoodbye, whether it's at, at the
drop off in front or at theticketing gate.
Right.
And then down at the baggageclaim.
It's the craziest, it's thecraziest charge of emotion for
(14:30):
sure.
Yeah.
That's cool.
We should have, we should haveat some point a flight attendant
on with us.
Because, because my wife has,you know, status flying with
Delta, I occasionally get to situp with her and all the special
people, and you can just tellthat there are some people that
know how to conduct themselvesin first class.
(14:51):
And then there is just theopposite.
And it's amazing how.
There is such a, diversity inbehavior in that part of, you
know, can you gimme an exampleback experience?
Where, can you gimme an example?
I got one.
Oh, I, go ahead.
I got one.
Uh, my, my, my mom and dad whenmy dad was around.
They took a trip and they gotupgraded to first class.
(15:13):
They had never been on firstclass in their lives.
My dad was kinda losing it alittle bit.
They handed up the littletowels.
He thought it was an enchilada.
He took a fight outta the towel.
Oh no.
So his eyesight wasn't great.
He doesn't understand like itwas a towel to warm.
He had to.
He grabbed a text, he's likechewing on it.
My mom's like, oh my, my momlooks at my sister and goes, oh
my God.
Yeah, that's great.
(15:33):
He thought it was a, to a totortilla.
You're gonna, he's gonna getsent back to 32 f, no, 32 EA
middle seat.
There was a guy, sitting acrossthe aisle from me and this jerk
had, Rolex on each wrist.
Oh, yikes.
And that's like, that's a don'tbe that guy moment.
(15:55):
Totally.
Don't be that guy.
And he was so entitled and thewoman that was sitting on the
inside of him.
Was my kind of people becauseshe decided that she was gonna
overwhelm the, uh, the flightattendant with kindness and just
the delta between his behavior.
Oh, that's and her behaviors.
(16:17):
That's great.
Eventually, I think that he kindof figured out what she was
doing and at first was kind ofticked off about it, but really
sort of dialed it back.
But it's like to have the.
The chutzpah.
Isn't that funny?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have, if you've traveled withyour dad on an airplane, you've.
My dad, he didn't understand alot of the etiquette on an
(16:39):
airplane, and so he and my momwere, they were probably 32 ENF
probably way back there.
And Jen and I were up forwardwhere you should be.
And I just, I, you know, likewhen people listen to music out
loud, they're not usingheadphones or something, and it
just, that drives me nuts.
And so I just kept hearingthese, oh no, this my, this is
back in the day of the D Oh no.
(17:01):
When you had the portable DVDs.
Yeah.
My dad chose to watch BlazingSaddles.
Oh, no.
Out loud.
Oh, great.
And I just kept hearing and, andit didn't occur to me at first.
I was, who is that yet?
And I, I, that meander fall?
No, it's my dad watching BlazingSaddles out loud.
Did you go, did you go and helphim out?
(17:21):
I, I, yeah, I brought him myheadphones.
Oh, that was kind of you.
But the, as the.
Flight attendant was tellinghim, sir, yeah, you need to turn
that.
Well, then he, you know what hedid?
He, he, he called Jeff to see,how do I turn this down?
What do I do with thistechnology?
Oh, one time, time I waswatching the movie, uh, she's
outta my league on the flight.
(17:42):
I had never seen it before, butI was, I was, I'm sure I was
annoying the lady just laughingout loud because I had
headphones on, but it was,that's not annoying.
It was so funny.
That's loud.
That's okay.
I actually.
I love it when, uh, people arewatching so of they, and they're
absolutely oxytocin.
You wanna talk when they'relaugh and they're just laughing
uncontrollably.
Yes.
I, and they're next to it.
(18:03):
Makes you laugh.
It makes laugh, it makes melaugh.
I love it.
I love it.
I've, I found myself on flight.
Watching ridiculous movies,laughing and I'm, um, I'm
crying, I'm laughing so hard,and people are looking at me
like, oh my God.
Is it that funny?
The power of the power of story.
The power of film.
Isn't that cool?
It is unbelievable.
Uh, two more things about, uh,uh, uh, I know we were talking
about videos, but about, um.
(18:25):
Uh, uh, humor and, and laughing.
I, uh, uh, oxy to Sundaysyesterday.
Do you know what Oxy to Sundayis?
Todd, I'll explain.
Please explain it.
No, go, go ahead.
So go ahead John.
Tell'em what Oxy Oxy to Sundayis, Oxy to Sunday, we've decided
that,, on Sundays, which youneed to do is instead of
consuming.
media that is going to get youfired up in a bad way for work.
(18:49):
Watch the things like themilitary reunions on Sunday.
So going into, yeah, that's,that is your list for oxytocin
for a, a successful oxytocin.
So you had two stories.
Yeah.
So I find myself on Sundaymorning, uh, you know, entering
in Oxy to Sunday.
I'm sitting on my couch and I'mwatching these videos.
(19:10):
I'll come across these videos tojust make me laugh out loud.
And I, and I think to myself asI'm getting up to get my second
cup of coffee, is there anythingbetter than laughing?
No.
Is there anything better thanlaughter?
I mean that, like I'm, I'm in aroom by myself.
That's great.
And I'm seeing something and I'mlaughing and I'm thinking.
That is the best emotion.
Yeah, that was my first story.
(19:30):
Have you ever been to donut Hut?
No.
Where are things better thanLaughing?
I've heard, I've heard of DonutHut tomorrow morning.
Is that your visit?
That's Tuesday morning.
Yes, it's Tuesday morning.
Is your visit the, the last thesecond story I was just gonna
tell just is it a long story?
No, it is not.
Not compared to yours.
Um, when it comes to playing,we'll be cutting that out.
Yeah, right.
The two Rolex guy that I, uh,sit.
(19:52):
Next to often when I have theopportunity set up front.
He's also the guy that at nine30 in the morning is double
scotching it.
Oh absolutely.
For sure.
On a flight from Minneapolis toChicago.
And you know guys, the beltextender.
Oh, mm-hmm.
My God.
You're like, are you serious?
Nine 30, we're going from hereto Chicago.
The traffic to get downtown'sgonna take longer and you're
(20:14):
double scotching it on a Monday.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
I was just gonna say to, to kindof bring this all back home,
back together.
Yeah.
We started talking about, uh,video, great video, uh, clips to
watch that, especiallyconnecting to Oxy till Sunday.
But I want to challenge our, ouraudience to send us or tell us
(20:35):
about some of the best kindness,uh, inspiring, uh, oxytocin
inducing videos that you canfind.
So.
How can Jeff, how can we havethem find us and send them to us
via Facebook?
We, well, uh, they can text themto us on our kindness line.
Let me pull that.
And what's the kindness line?
Kindness line.
If I can just pull that right uphere.
(20:56):
I've got it on Steve's contact.
'cause we talked earlier, Idon't have it written down
either.
I forgot already.
Here we go.
It is, it is, uh, 61.
Be kind 22.
6 1, 2, 3, 5, 4 63 22 61.
Be kind 22.
You can text it, you canvoicemail it.
Go ahead Steve.
Yeah, we want to hear from you.
So please, we want some feedbackon, first of all, any great
(21:19):
videos you have, anything in theworld, any topic ideas, guest
ideas, or uh, you know, sound,sound bites at the beginning
that I play in there.
There we go.
For something to tee, God knowsreason people are listening to
this program.
I'm not sure that this might beit.
This might be the one that putsit.
Uh yep.
(21:39):
Put a fork in us.
What's, what's the severancepackage?
Is there a severance package?
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's, it's a real,it's robust.
It's robust.
So, Todd, I just want to thankyou for coming in.
Yeah.
Todd, this was so, it, so funto, I know Jeff, Jeff, you and
Jeff can connect and Oh, happyto be here.
He can start texting you 16times a day.
That'll be fun.
And with that, off we go.
(22:02):
I just have one quick sound bitebecause of, I, I was.
Thinking of my mom and dad onthe flight home.
Speaking of flights, and so thisis from one of my, uh, favorite
movies growing up as a kid.
Here you go.
Let me pull it up here.
That's professional, isn't it?
Hang on.
Here we go.
(22:22):
Let me see if I can find ithere.
This is terrible.
You know what?
It's gone.
I don't have it.
Jesus Christ.
Could you hit just, Hey, let'stry this.
Let's try this again.
No, no.
Okay.
I lost it.
I had push that red button rightthere.
Oh no, I do.
(22:42):
I do have it.
Oh good.
I do have it.
I do.
So here's what we're gonna do.
Just play it.
Don't tell us that you're gonnaplay it.
Help me out here.
Well, I was trying to tee it allup.
I know, I know, but you don'tneed to.
Okay.
Alright.
Okay.
Just, sorry.
Sorry.
You know what, Todd, it's beengreat having you in and with
that, off we go.
(23:04):
Sometimes you have to look hardat a person and remember that
he's doing the best he can.
He's just trying to find hisway.
That's just, thank you.
Wow.
That's lovely.
This has been the KindnessChronicles coming to you live
for Maa Minnesota.
(23:28):
Goodnight.
I.
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