Behind the Scenes of the 2025 Macy’s Day Parade - Logistics, Life Lessons & Doing What You’re Afraid To Do

Bill kicks off this episode by admitting he’s feeling overwhelmed—and sharing a relatable moment from the shower that many of us have absolutely been guilty of.

Then he welcomes a very special guest: Alex, a former intern from his morning radio days who has since become a television producer and a member of the Macy’s Day Parade team. Thanks to her, Bill and his son were granted rare, up-close access to all 18 balloons in the 2025 Macy’s Day Parade just one day before step-off.

Bill dives deep with Alex about what it really takes to pull off one of the most iconic live events in the world. From months of planning and tight coordination to street closures, utility teams, safety crews, balloon handlers, and NBC’s broadcast partnership—Alex breaks down the intricate logistics that make the parade run with precision year after year. You’ll even hear surprising bits of parade history as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2026.

The conversation then shifts from giant balloons to giant life choices. Bill and Alex open up about pursuing opportunities even when you don’t know how you’re going to pull them off—taking inspiration from director James Cameron, whose CBS Sunday Morning interview Bill recently watched. They explore what it means to build something meaningful from where you are, whether it’s Alex’s next big career move or Bill’s journey through graduate school and growing a podcast company.

Bill gets personal, reflecting on the emotional weight he’s been carrying—from the passing of his father to the end of a long-term relationship and a newer one that fizzled out. He talks about the patterns he’s noticing in himself, the tendency to avoid feelings, and how “fun” can sometimes leave an unexpected emptiness.

Together, Bill and Alex dig into what real success requires. As Alex says, getting “beat up” by a job or a project can actually become your greatest teacher—and often leads you exactly where you want to go.

It’s an honest, insightful, and inspiring conversation between two people who are doing what they’ve always wanted to do, and doing it no matter what.

Enjoy.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/billified-the-bill-moran-podcast--5738193/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When your old career gives you lemons throwing some ice,
mix in some vodka. Call it a podcast from the
mac of All Trade Studio in Fairport and driven by
Victor Chrysler Dots. Gee Rahm, It's Billified, the Bill Moran Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, hello and welcome. Thank you for getting your pot on.
Thanks for telling a friend. That's how we spread the
word about the pirate ship. I hope everybody had a
great Thanksgiving weekend. I don't know if anybody else is
feeling I'm like feeling overwhelmed on stuff. You know, we're

(00:50):
in this new studio and I need to kind of
get some things settled in. Like, these guys are so
fantastic at the mac of All Trades building. If you
need anything done, you got to go to Macaball Trades.
They're just fantastic. Fund them online and macaball Trades dot net.
But they came in and repainted the wall, so everything's

(01:10):
gathered around our table. You really can't see it. And
then I'm debating what stays what goes, and I mean school,
and I got it's like right now all the projects
are due, all the projects that everybody's talked about and
felt so far off, and there's I mean, I don't
know how I'm gonna get all this done. I don't

(01:31):
even Sometimes you ever wonder where you go? What did
I do? And I feel like I somehow bit off
more than I can chew, which is typical for me.
And then of course I self sabotage myself in other areas.
They usually involve I don't know, alcohol a little bit,
a little bit, but I'm getting better at that. And
I got to tell you, like, there's so many things

(01:52):
that I want to do, especially now that we're in
this new space and school stuff, and I feel like
I'm starting to figure it out now if I can,
I mean all of it. You know what it means.
It means I can't really go have fun anymore. But
I mean, this is just to give you an example
of how overwhelmed. Like. I'm in the shower today and

(02:12):
I'm talking to myself, not like a schizophrenic person who
actually sees someone there and is having a conversation. I'm
just like thinking out loud. And I washed my hair
twice because I couldn't remember, and on the second time,
oh god, I already did this. And then I leave
the house and I get in the car and go.
I left my phone inside and then I can't find it,
and I got my kid called. I mean, you know

(02:32):
what I'm saying, It's like all these little things. And
I thought Adderall would correct that stuff. But maybe I
need a higher dose. I don't really know. But speaking
of fun over the long holiday weekend, of course, there
is the legendary Macy's Day Parade, and today's guest once
got college credit for waking up at three am to

(02:57):
listen to me talking to a microphone. And some how
after that trauma, she still wanted to work in entertainment
and she still actually talks to me. Hello, Alex, Hi,
So I'm great. Alex was involved this year in the
production would that be fair to say of the of

(03:20):
the Macy's Day Parade, the legendary Macy's Day Parade, And
she let me know that she was doing this and said, hey,
if you want, I can get you in up close
to the balloons. So my son and I and along
with my brother and his family went down on Wednesday

(03:40):
and they went to the rock Cats. Everything got delayed,
delayed in the morning, we didn't get out of there
in time. It was all this stuff it might have
been my fault. I think I was doing a project
for school and I ran a little over. So when
we get there, they went to the rock Cats, and
James and I went uptown to the west side to
see the balloons, and Alex just got us through. I mean,

(04:03):
the police would go eight and then she's like, now
they're with me. And it was so cool to walk
in and we're like in the residential area. I think
there were residential streets right, yeah, that people were waiting
hours to get into the balloons and we just right
in there. And how I know that was like it
felt I was like first class treatment. And it was
amazing to me to see how big those balloons are

(04:27):
in person. They're huge. And if I were really good
at this podcasting thing, I would have video rolling right
now as we're talking about it. But I didn't do
that only because I i it required an extra step
I didn't have time for today. I was doing invoice
all kinds of shit anyway.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Added to the social teas.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Later, Yeah, I will, but it was so cool. And
I have to tell you, if you know, I got
a fifteen year old son, and you know, having had
a fifteen year old son yourself that they're not impressed
by a whole lot, And in the end, I think
he really had a lot of fun. He was disappointed
because he really wanted to go to Chinatown to some store,

(05:09):
and I'm like, buddy, it's an over an hour, maybe
an hour and a half to get from the Upper West.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Hide, especially that day, like that weekend, there's a lot
of trains shut down. You know, I don't think people realize,
like the parade is a huge to do, obviously, but
it literally shuts down the entire city. Trains get rerouted
and streets are closed and you can't walk through where
you normally would be able to just all in pursuit

(05:35):
of this big event, which is, you know, spectacular and awesome,
but it's also you know, a bit of a pain
to kind of navigate. And a lot of people will
use Google Maps and stuff to get around the city
if you're not from here, which is very helpful on
a normal day, but when there's a big event in town,
the marathon or the parade or something like that, it's
just kind of much harder to navigate. Google Maps hasn't

(05:55):
caught up with the closures yet, so you know.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Talk to me about that, because I mean, when when
did you join the Macy's Day Parade team.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
I joined the team in September, end of September. I've
only been doing it for like two months proper.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
How long are they planning this parade?

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Oh, they start like planning starts for them, especially this
year because next year is the one hundredth anniversary, so
they'll start planning for next year right now, right now,
because it takes so it's so much bigger, I think
than people even realize, because not only is it a

(06:38):
televised TV show produced by NBC, it's also a giant
public event with one of like the largest volunteer programs
in the country. So it's a live event plus a
televised event together. So I just think people don't realize
the scale. So you imagine it's like an entire team
at NBC who handles their portion of it, and then

(07:00):
there's an entire team at Macy's who handles theirs, and
obviously like teams within those teams. It's a giant to
do more than I even thought it was.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, because I'm thinking, like, you have to close down streets,
the balloons are filled up Wednesday, when do they get
in place, are they put in place like Wednesday morning.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
The cool thing that I don't think a lot of
people know is that Wednesday night, around three o'clock in
the morning, they do what's called the convoy and they
bring all of the balloons and floats because they live
in New Jersey in these studios and warehouses, and they
bring them all over the night before around three o'clock
in the morning, and it is it's probably like it's

(07:41):
like a parade within the parade, because there's the city
electricians come out ahead of the trucks and they swing
all the light poles out of the way all who
as yes, oh.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
My god, I wouldn't. I don't know why I never.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Thought of that, neither did I. Like, as the floats
and balloons coming down, they're swinging the light poles out
of the way all the way down uh to I
think about sixty sixty sixth Street or something like that,
which means nothing to. But then about I think seven

(08:16):
eight o'clock in the morning, they start flowing the helium
because they want all the inflation teams out there in
the little jumpsuits. Because it is it's community event. A
lot of people come to see it.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
They don't want to get at that hour in the morning.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yes, six seven more because it takes you know, there's
six seven six seven. There were eighteen balloons this year,
so it takes, you know, a certain amount of time.
And they they really put on this event, which is
what the one you came to. It's called Inflation Day
and it's a community event and they want people to

(08:51):
get an experience, so they kind of stagger the way
they inflate the balloons so that the press can get
their shots and the public can see each phase of
You wouldn't believe that people that come through and like
are upset that their balloon is already inflated when they
were just dying, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Oh, they wanted to see it happen.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
They wanted to see it happen and get there and
it's already done. Yeah, but it's it just is it was.
I've worked on some cool projects in my career. This
was probably number one. I mean, just in terms of everything.
And it's funny because I my day to day leading
up to Wednesday when I saw you was very much

(09:30):
like spreadsheets and logistics, and that's the world I was
in budgets, you know what I mean, nothing like ooh,
this is fun and creative. And then you get there
and it's like wow, just wow.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, I mean just the coordination of closing off the
streets and rerouting people and setting it up so people
can walk by and see these things, and you're still
dealing with people who live on these streets that are
absolutely you know, trying to grocery shop and navi gate
getting back to their home. And you know what I mean,
it's like there's so many layers. The light poles, light poles,

(10:06):
excuse me, I would have never thought of. And it's
that's just one aspect, right, but that's.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
One tiny aspect. And then you have all of the partnerships.
Who who is going to have a float in this
year's parade? Who is going to be the celebrity that's
going to be on that float? What are the costumes
going to look like?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Who is that your job to find out to get
the celebrity to be get on there?

Speaker 3 (10:30):
That is not my department. I was very much operation.
So what I was saying, Macy's job to find the
celebrities that that you know, want to do it, and
you know, kind of figure out what makes sense for
the year for the A lot of people were really
like confused about the celebrities this year, Busta Rhymes and

(10:53):
Lil John and Debbie Gibson and Jewel. And you have
to think the people that are at home watching this
parade and cooking their things Thanksgiving dinner are very much
my age and your age, and those are the people
that performed the buster Arms was not when we were younger.
Jewel was, you know, pieces of Me and all that like. So,
of course it makes sense because back in the day

(11:13):
they used to cater it to your mom, who you know,
was the one making Thanksgiving dinner. And so they had
celebrities that made sense for them. And so I think
they do a really good job and they get a
lot of good partnerships, like they got Pop Martin this year.
So they had the la boo boos, and you know
that's obviously craze that I I understand, But don't a

(11:35):
la boo boo.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
You've never heard of one, do you remember?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
In French they're these little like toys. They're stuffed animal
toys and they have like a little gremlin face. I'll
send you a picture of them, but they are so popular.
They are everywhere. Anybody with kids, Ask your son about
La Boo Boo. He knows about it. And they're huge
this year and they have sold out everywhere. It's I

(12:05):
kind of it's kind of like a beanie baby, like
what we used to do with remember those collectible beanie babies,
or like the troll dolls. They had the crazy hair.
That's kind of what it is. And you have to
have one in every color, and they have special ones
that you can only collect in certain places and you
can trade them and they're worth money. It's crazy, but

(12:27):
it's a craze that happened, and they were able to
pull off a partnership this year and do a whole
float and everything else. So it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Does it cost money for people to be in the parade,
like the a company.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Anybody that has a marketing Yeah, it's great. I mean
it's sponsored many of them, so like the Wind float
and the Hallmark float, all those are obviously sponsored by
you know whoever's name is on it. The teenage meeting
Ninja Turtles was Nickelodeon, and they established these partnerships year
every year. The creative team spend a lot of time
trying to figure out, like what makes sense, what's going

(13:03):
to make for a fun show, what kind of Broadway
elements should we have? All those things. The Rockets had
to do something extra special because this is their one
hundredth years. Just all these tiny little elements, and then
the opening act, this Cynthia Arrivo, really what people don't
know is came together very last minute, like within a

(13:25):
couple of weeks. It was decided that she was going
to be the one. She's the one her wicket, and
it was decided very last minute they were going to
do this whole open and they pulled it off fully.
I mean it's just like the way this machine works
is extraordinary, and this is a team that's prepared for everything.

(13:46):
I mean everything. We got two different sets of rain
gear to wear, like one was reflective if we were
going to be out at night and the other one
was just regular because if it rains, they want you
to be protected. I have worked on a thousand shows.
I don't know what happens if it rains. We get
a text message it's gonna rain. They are just they

(14:06):
are prepared. Hats and gloves and everything you can possibly
think of. They have it there to make this thing happen.
And the two companies, Macy's and NBC work so seamlessly
together to like pull this off and make this happen.
And yes, there's a lot of frustration, there's a lot
of hang ups. There's a lot of things that like,

(14:27):
oh no, that went wrong. It poured all night of rehearsal,
and we were like, no, it can't rain tomorrow for
the parade, because the parade will happen. But then we
have to go dry out every balloon and every costume,
and you know what I mean, it's it's stuff you
don't even think about.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Like all night long, you'd have to drive them back.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
So last year it rained and they had to go
in Friday and to the warehouse and have every balloon
spread out and fans everywhere, and every costume drive because
you can't put those things away wet because the.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
So just like you have to think in any circumstance,
if it's too windy and they can't fly a balloon
because of what happened with Barney, they have to think
about all.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
What happened with Barney.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
In nineteen ninety four nineteen eighty six, the Barney Balloon
got caught in a wind gust and went crazy and
like was going to injure some people. And I guess
a few years before that they had had a balloon
take down a light pole and kill someone whoa so
the cops had to like they had to bring the

(15:34):
balloon down. They had these their balloons around these lines.
They had to wind the balloon down, but in order
to get it down fast enough so when killed so
when it hurt somebody, they were like stabbing it to
get the air out of it. So watching little kids
start watching literally watching me and yp back into Barney.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
This is so oh god, that's so funny. Well, I
do remember reading a little bit about the parade with
my family this year because because my brother did go,
he stayed in the city. I didn't want to deal
with the crowds. I guess I was a bit of
a whim to do that. Do that, But uh, what's that?

(16:12):
I told, Yeah, I know, but I also knew, Like
I think my mom was disappointed because my my brother
told her not to go to the city because her
ankle's bothered her and she's so I think she was
a little put off by that. So I said to her,
I will come home. I will come back to your
house with Jamison, and she and I actually went out

(16:37):
that night for Oh Wow Yeah, and Rynebeck was popping.
At one point. There's this really cool bestro that I
liked there, and it got so overrun that I felt
like I was in a sorority house.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
It was all these young girls and they're like, ah,
and as I'm watching this and don't forget I'm an
old guy. Now I'm I'm watching this, and I go,
it's honey, you're trying too hard. It was like these
girls like like it was kind of chilli. It was like, hey,
maybe thirty five, forty maybe, I don't know. They're in
open back stuff and they're holding their purse just right,

(17:15):
and they're excited to some people and they're pretending they
don't see other ones. And I don't know who they're
pretending not to see, but I know you're pretending not
to see somebody, and it was I go, god, it
it's likeugh, I'm so glad I'm not that age anymore.
And they're young college kids and they'll go through the stuff.
At one point, though, there was a girl and I

(17:37):
turned and her ass was like right, in my face.
And I had never seen these angel jeans. It was
almost like a tramp stamp on the waist of the jeans.
Had not seen them.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
You were close.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, I couldn't help it. I didn't go anywhere. I
was just sitting there as I'm I'm trying to eat
my barbecue duck taco. That's the kind of restaurant this
is as an appetite, were in a glass of wine,
and I finally said to my mother, we have to go,
and so we went over to a wine bar where
it wasn't much better. But my mom's like, oh, I
love it here and they and they had a DJ

(18:11):
and it's still't dn't dump dump dump, And I'm like,
this isn't this isn't me and she's like, oh, I
think it's great. I'm like, you think it's fucking like
God Jesus. But anyway, I didn't We sat at the
wind bar. But so I didn't stay in New York.
And that was part of the reason why I know

(18:32):
when we were reading about the parade. I think in
the early years they used to let the balloons go afterward,
and then we used to have.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
A bunch of them that they would release.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
At the end, yeah, at the end, and then I
think it was like the nineteen thirties, which I can't
I don't know what aviation was like then, but it
cost a plane crash. I think. I'm pretty sure if
you look it up when they stopped really seeing the
balloons because a plane crashed.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
That's amazing. So the fun fact about that balloon release
is back in the day, if you found one of
those balloons that had flown away in the bouquet and
brought it back to Macy's, you would get one hundred
dollars credit.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
Hey, no, right, So think about like in the twenties
and thirties.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
That's that's an entire outfit. I mean that, that's an
entire wardrobe. Excuse me.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
What they don't tell you in the introduction is why
they stopped doing it. That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
I'm pretty sure that we saw that online that it
caused a plane crash in the nineteen thirties. And all
I was thinking was, like, I don't know what aviation
was like in the nineteen thirties in terms.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Of oh, yeah, that's true, Like was it.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Jets are we still dealing with? You know? Was it
Snoopy to fly, Yes, Snoopy in the red baron. What
are we doing here? What are we called? We're in
a byplane. I have no idea because I'm going to
kind of a cold time of year, so I'm assuming
it was a jet and I thought it was nineteen
thirty six, but I don't know.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah, the course a lot of lore about. There's a
lot of I mean, obviously one hundred years, there's a
lot a lot of lore. But I did the best
one I found so far that went viral, and the
team was The other day, I was on Instagram and
I saw a video of a guy who was like,
the twenty twenty Macy's Thanksgiving Parade happened, but not the

(20:27):
way you thought it did. And then he launched into
this whole explanation that actually the COVID pandemic and the
shutdown of the city was pre planned because we have
aliens that we found on Venus hidden beneath the Herald
Square toilet, and that we used the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
balloons as trojan horses to finally move these aliens out

(20:52):
of the city. Because in twenty twenty, obviously the parade
was scaled down they did a small live event on
Thanksgiving Day, but like all the major elements were kind
of pre taped over a couple of days, so it
wasn't the parade like normal. But this, this conspiracy was
that we used the balloons to transport aliens that we

(21:14):
had found in the fifties out of the city.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Then it's freaking crazy, crazy, absolutely crazy.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Like I'm watching the video and you definitely got sucked
in because the narration was like it didn't happen the
way you thought it did. And I was like, Okay,
what's the conspiracy and he said, I mean.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
The Trojan horse theory. Hold a little water. I'm just saying,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
Those are big balloons, and on the size of these aliens,
how many fit in there.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
It's really really funny.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
I could just imagine, like Tina at the studio, like
shoving aliens.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I always wonder why got to get this done? Guys,
I don't know. Our alien's supposed to be more evolved
than we are as humans, like some of their technology
and things are more evolved than us.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
I think that's the theory because we can't imagine that
that like, by the time they reach us, we can't
imagine that, Like, the technology that it would have taken
to get here has to be more advanced than anything
we have because we haven't found them yet. No, but
every like they've always been here. Like think about the ocean.
We've explored like twelve percent of it. There's got to

(22:32):
be something in there. It's like three quarters of the planet. Yeah,
you know what I mean, you're told me there's not
something in there.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
There's something in there.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
But the weird part to me is every alien I've
ever seen has no muscle tone, right, it doesn't. Well,
I mean there's no muscle tone there like these.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Can you get ripped in the vacuum of space?

Speaker 2 (22:53):
I don't know. No, you can't. Your muscle's atrophy. You
need gravity.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
There, you have it.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Gravity, We've got that. Oh we got gravity. And you
got to lift heavy things and make you know, use
that body of yours. You're going to start looking like
an alien. You don't want to do that.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Definitely, not, definitely not.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Uh tell me about like I thought you said earlier
that the celebrities are selected by Macy's but not the
company that's paying for the float. Is that true?

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, it is. It's kind of a well, it's kind
of a partnership for both, Like the Macy's creative team
will take like there's a whole plan because obviously every
float is a story, every balloon is you know what
I mean. It's not just like, oh, I want you know,
Snoopy in this year. It has to be a whole
story for the brand. What why is Snoopy in the
bread this year? Well, because it's you know, seventy five

(23:45):
years of Charlie Brown Christmas and whatever is relevant for Snoopy? Right,
And then it's okay, well what makes sense for who
should represent Snoopy? Who makes the most sense or who's
you know, along the line up, Like where's Snoop is
in the parade? What would be fun for you know
people to see what kind of a performance? And then
it's you know, it's a lot of back and forth.

(24:07):
It's like we think it should be you know, Heart,
and then it's like, oh, no, Hearts doesn't make sense
because they're an old band, and it's like, well then
maybe it should be some K pop thing. It's like,
well they're maybe too new. So it's a lot of
back and forth and they find somebody in the middle
that fits and lo and behold Thanksgiving Days Stebbie Gibson
or whatever.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Well, yeah, yeah, the K Pop Demon Hunters were. They
were in.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
There, they were and that is the first time ever
that those three women have performed together. Wow, because they're
recorded separately and put together, So they had to get
together to make sure they could sing together. Because it's
not hard to sing a separate track and then have
a producer come in and put it all together and
harmonize it with you know, all kinds of tools. It's

(24:50):
a much different thing to be together and to be singing.
And even if they're singing pre recorded, you would still
want to have a sense of what it would be
like to perform with these people. You wouldn't want to
do it, you know, you would want the time to
you know, otherwise people would know, and that kind of
ruins the fantasy a little bit.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, I believe it or not. Know nothing about the
K Pop Demon Hunters other than they they know anything
that they exist. And I hear the show is from adults.
They go, Yeah, as far as the kids show, it's
they love it.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
It's the biggest thing Netflix has done yet, which doesn't
surprise me. I've worked with a couple of K pop
groups in different capacities, And one time we did an
interview with this K pop group it'sy, and they had
to be brought into the studio for their interview, like
in their van because they can't get out on the
street and walk into a building because they just get
mobbed by fans. So they had to drive them in

(25:50):
and then bring the van up and then let them
out inside like it's a giant warehouse, and then we
did the interview like the back corner. But yeah, they
it's they are a sensation and all the young kids
know about them and they just like them and you know,
for them to that's another one, like the PopMart one,
the Demon Hunters. The fact that they got a whole
balloon and a performance in the parade this year's you know, wow,

(26:14):
it's impressive.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
It is impressive. Now, what was your role at the
parade itself?

Speaker 3 (26:22):
I was as I was working as a part of
the operations team, so I was helping to do like
kind of all the logistical things, like all roads lead
through operations. We were the ones making sure that the
light pole guys knew what time to be out there
to swing the light poles and to make sure that
you know, everything was was in working order ahead of time.

(26:43):
So we're doing like a lot of walkthroughs with them
to check electricity and things like that, working with all
the city agencies from the NYPD to the FD and
Y to the you know, to the Mayor's office to
make sure that you know, the street closures and subway
closures and the amount of secure and things we're going
to need line up with what our expectations will be

(27:03):
for the parade. So there's a ton of meetings of
those agencies to talk about everything, and in addition to
the NYPD, we also hire several independent security teams. It's
one of the most secure events. Like the day before Tuesday,
I was out at the warehouse finishing up some last
minute packing that was for stuff that was going to

(27:24):
be shipped out to the Upper West Side on Wednesday,
and the security guard pulls up this is sweetheart. He
was like, are you guys going to be done soon?
And I said yeah, I think so. He's like, well,
the Poored Authority is on their way, so you guys
got to get out of here. So the day before
Tuesday they close down the warehouse and completely secure it,
and the poor authority goes in and completely sweeps every balloon,

(27:45):
every bin, every float for everything you can think of,
explosives and what and they make sure and then when
they come through the convoy, they're flanked by police like
through the Lincoln Tunnel and everything to make sure that
there's no traffic compeding them and they get to where
they got go on time. So our team gets all
those little measures in place with all these departments.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Then we also things.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Like toilets and signage and you know, fencing and things
like that. And then our department also handles the volunteers
the balloon program. Anybody that you see underneath the balloon
holding it is a volunteer, and we're the ones that
kind of run that program. Make sure the volunteers know
how to fly the balloons for safety. Make sure you

(28:29):
know how.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Do you become a volunteer for that.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
So a lot of the volunteers have been there for
a really long time and they will sponsor someone or
if you work at Macy's, you can volunteer to hold
a balloon. So usually like get in from someone you know.
It's not as difficult as you think. And there also
is an application process. It's easier to get in if
you have someone who can sponsor you. But I will

(28:56):
say from working with these people, you know, they are
the most passionate human beings on the Some of them
have been doing parades longer than I've been alive. Wow,
and I'm not young. And they love it and they
know all the history. And we went and did this
thing at the Today Show and they were the only
ones on our team work in the crowd and giving

(29:17):
the kids the balloon to hold, and they love this
show and they love being a part of it. Was
fun to It's fun because sometimes in the entertainment industry
you can get jaded. You can be around every celebrity,
you can get backstage access to whatever you want, and
then suddenly you're too cool for school. It's very refreshing

(29:38):
to see somebody excited about something the way they were
the very first time. It makes you It made me
more excited, you know. Wow. This actually is so in
life changing for people, you know what I mean. They
love this and I get it because I just did
it and I loved it too.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
That's uh. But the day of the parade, what were
you doing? Timing?

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah? So my job the day of the parade was pacing.
So there's a time when the float or balloon or
performing group leaves the starting line, and then there's a
time that they have to be at thirty fourth Street,
Harold Square to do their performance for the cameras. So
I was in real time putting in every time somebody

(30:26):
left the starting line so that the people at NBC
could go, Okay, it's eight ten, they're supposed to be
at nine fourteen, they're two minutes early, they're three minutes late,
so that along the route they can be held up
or sped up as needed so that they still arrive
in Harold Square at the time they're supposed to do
for their on camera performance, and everything runs smooth as silk.

(30:46):
But I had the best seat in the house. I
saw every single thing go by.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
It was amazing. I was like, thank you for giving
me this job today. I could have had any job.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
I could have been directing crowds.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
I didn't see the full parade. I don't think was
Jimmy in it. Found he was not, and I.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Think it's because he had just done his show and
that they might not have had time to get a
performance together. For him with the roots and everything, because
you know, he just come off as he just did
a reality show.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Like a oh that's right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
I did see a little bit of that, yeah, because
I have a friend who usually would go down and
he wasn't going this year, but he didn't say whether
Jimmy would be in it or not, so I didn't know,
and I figured NBC it's a great opportunity to.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Get yeah, yeah, no. This year they had like they
had a couple of people from SNL Bowen Yang and
Matt Rodgers if you know them, the La Culture Recent, Yes,
and they were in the front row, you know, as
special guests.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
I did see a friend of mine who wrote some
pop culture stuff on there, and he said he was
getting geared up for the people who were gonna be
upset by bow and Yang coming out and the person's
changing the word the lyrics from her to him and
then kissing Bowen Yang's hand, and he said, I was

(32:11):
waiting for social media to explode and no one said anything,
and I was like, good because it just doesn't it
doesn't mean like.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
All the thing, like everybody just shut up already.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
It's uh, but you had record numbers this year. Record numbers, right, we.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Had record numbers thirty four million. As of a couple
of days ago, Variety reported we had thirty four million viewers. Yeah,
it's pretty and last year there were three point five
million in person, so I'm sure we broke that record
this year. I don't know what the actual numbers were.
I'll probably find out tomorrow, but it's it feels like
such an incredible accomplishment, Like I'm hoping we win the

(32:49):
Emmy now because that would be amazing. Okay, So it
just it does it feels.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Like what category of Emmy.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
It's like, uh, televised special. I think it is okay,
But last year they gave it to the Disney Parade,
which I found very interesting because because you figured, like
thirty four million people are watching the amazing preade this year?
Who was watching the Disney Praade. It doesn't matter, it
doesn't matter. I'm not on the Emmy committee, it doesn't matter.
But I would like to win.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah. I got to think, like even high school bands
that come in, it's such a big deal. When do
they start applying for that?

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Now they they know three years in advance. Wow, going
to be in the perade because you have to imagine
they have to fundraise, they have to get ye. Sure,
there are three hundred kids. They have fund raise the
hotel rooms.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I'll pissed you if you're like a sophomore, and then
you know the next two year, you're out. You're out.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
You didn't get It's so funny. The kids were rehearsing
and one of the marching bands comes in and it's
miserable and it's it's pouring down rain. But they have
to do their full rehearsal because this is really the
only chance they get to do it before showtime. And
you just want to make sure you like no where
to go when you get your thirty fourth Street. It's
a good idea to do it, even if it's boring
that ray. But there are kids in the marching band

(34:06):
who don't play an instrument or twirl of a ton.
They just hold a sign. So I'm standing there and
the the CEO of Macy's standing in front of me.
I said, imagine how bad you have to suck to
be the sign holder.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
You didn't say this, You said it to the CEO
of Macy's and she was laughing. That is hysterical.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, this poor kid is just standing on either side
of this thing that he's not even marching.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
You're not holding an instrument like I would be.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
I gotta say you're made the marching band.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
I can't squirrel.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
What your time as an intern on that show of
assholes was well spent. That's a great line. So what's
next for you? I mean, you've on reality TV. We
talked to you about sixteen and Pregnant Reunion or tim
teen Mom or whatever it was. I know you were
doing some other shows. You did Deb's House, which is

(35:10):
a great show and I encourage anybody to see that
on Peacock or Netflix.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Great.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
And Who's deb is? Whose mom?

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Waka Floka?

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah I didn't know that, and my kid knew it
immediately when I were walking through. Yeah, give you the
whole I go, why can't you just remember the stuff
for school? I got to learn about Waka Flaka. But
you know all that. I mean, you give me the

(35:42):
history of Waka Floka. You can give me the backstory
on somebody's this and that. I go, it's not like
you don't know stuff. You know the stuff that you
want to know, But this isn't stuff. That's going to
benefit you? How is this benefiting you today? Is all
my things? But I can't say that, and I can't.
I just have to just because they sound like, you know,

(36:02):
the typical that, typical that, and I don't want to
do that too so but.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
You know, I'm coming from somebody who's the same, probably
the same way as Jameson in school, like smart but
doesn't really like doesn't apply yourself, as my parents would say.
I was just not interested.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
And then when I found something I was interested.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
In, I put, well, you know, I mean, I'm guilty
of that education.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
It's hard to get them through it, just to get
out of this until they can actually pursue a passion.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
But I get it. I do get it. Like from
the other side, I'm like, because that it's.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Boring, dude, What is uh?

Speaker 4 (36:41):
Because I'm never going to.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Talk about a nice sauce at least triangle outside of
this room.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
What is the what is next for you?

Speaker 4 (36:51):
I don't know?

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Like thankfully, uh, this relationship with Macy's has already opened
some doors for me. There's a couple of event companies
that have reached out to me since, so I'll be
talking to them about stuff.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
Weirdly, in the middle of this.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
All going on, I got reached out to again by
mister Beast. Oh, which would be the second time they
have called, And so I might be going out and
doing this. The first time I didn't go down and
do a site visit. The second time, I might just
to see, like who Cares which is obviously YouTube's biggest YouTube.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Channel in the world.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Would you have to move?

Speaker 4 (37:30):
I would have to move.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
He's based in Greenville. It's it's the nice thing about them.
What I will say, and this isn't proprietary information so
I can tell you is when they want to do
a hire, they do a ninety day trial period. So
they bring you down and they put you up in
corporate housing, similar to how you would be if.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
You were on the road for a show and they
give you three months.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
That way, you don't get rid of your apartment and
sell all your things and relocate and you get there,
it's not the vibe for you, and it's not the
vibe for them, and you've uprooted your whole life.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
And then then what do you do?

Speaker 3 (38:05):
So they give you ninety days and then within that
ninety days, I think you produce two videos which gives
them the opportunity to see how you're gonna do within
their system because they operate very differently from any other
production out there.

Speaker 4 (38:19):
They just do.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
They have a very Things are shot as if they're
live because they're one shot because Jimmy doesn't want things
to look fake, which I understand. So it's set up
like a live show. And then there's producing on the
back end, which is like a whole you know what
I mean, it's not what.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
They do and live live. It's live. You see what
you see, and that's it.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
This is shot live and then edited to make sure
that it's as many minutes as it needs to be
for YouTube, and unnecessary things are cut out and graphics
can be added and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
So really tries to keep it authentic.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
So I'll produce two videos, see how that goes, and then.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Make a decision. If I say yes, they'll give me
relocation money.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
So in addition to like putting you up, then they
then they help you move because he owns the whole
town of Greenville, so they can help you find a house.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
That's the only part of it.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
That just feels a little weird, you know, I mean,
you're just like, once you're in, you're just into this compound.
And I I I'm a bit of a free bird.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
I like, I like my freedom.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Yeah, but also I've had my freedom for twenty years.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
I need health.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Insurance, gotcha? Gotcha? What's the Would you still be able
to do things on your own?

Speaker 4 (39:33):
If I were working for him? It would be much
harder to take on independent projects.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
But I mean, if you this is a nice thing,
because I.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Would be I would be full time doing that, right.
I just wouldn't have time. You'd be producing. Like I said,
they do things very like they're they're producing styles very different.
It's kind of intense a little bit because they have
to stay you have to stay relevant or die. They're
the biggest channel for a reason. And they have to
keep going because you know what I.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Mean, for all the reasons.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
They have to keep sponsorships and whatever. So they just
do it different. I just don't think I would have time.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
You don't think you'd have to like write your own stuff, right,
and which would be.

Speaker 4 (40:11):
A bummer, you know.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
I mean, I think I would have time, you know,
and you would have time, But I think it would
just be much harder. And I have a couple of
projects that I really want to get off the ground,
like for realsies.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
That have some you know, the one that you wrote
that I read.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
I loved it, did you. I sent you the second one, the.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Second one I haven't read yet, and I apologize for that.
I've just been a little bit upside down.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
It's a little bit. I'm a little bit farther along
with it, and I've changed some things. So I'll send
it to you, like just fun. It's been fun to
get in and write this stuff. I want to get
these things submitted. You know, I got plans. I want
to get them made.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah, I hear you. I'm noticing, like you know, it
would almost be I don't want to run out of time, right,
I don't want to run out of time.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
Have any like damn, I should have done that before
I can. If I'm working for a mister beast, it
might be a situation where like damn, I could have
made my movie but I didn't because you know what
I mean. Or or it could be like thank god
I worked for mister bat so I could have the
scene money so I could make my movie.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
You will never I mean that. That's what I'm saying,
and nothing has to happen tomorrow. Everything kind of goes
with it. I think, you know, for a lot of things,
I'm a bit of a risk taker, yeah to you know,
to a certain extent. You know, my world got turned

(41:52):
upside down. And I just decided we'll try this. We'll
just try it. And I took a bunch of money
and I have to I threw a bunch of money
at it. And I know that there were family members going,
what the fuck is he doing? And uh, I mean
even my father said to me a year later, he goes,
I didn't think it was going to work. And I'm
not saying that it's blown the doors off, but I
did something that many people can't do. Right.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
I feel the same way. I had a lot of
people like basically laugh in my face, what do you
think you're trying to do?

Speaker 4 (42:23):
And I was like, just watch watch me do it.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
And I often I saw I saw in an interview
today this morning, we're taking this on the on the
Sunday h and I do enjoy the CBS Sunday Morning Show.
And I saw an interview with James Cameron and when
you look at the ship, that guy did. So he

(42:48):
was a truck driver and he will yeah, and he
wanted to. I guess he had gone to college and
it just wasn't for him and he didn't, so we
wound up being a truck driver. But he was so
interested in this stuff that he would go to the
USC library and into the archive and read everything about

(43:09):
production and animation and lighting and all this stuff. And
he said he would you know, xerox. It is the
word he use, which is so funny, right, because that's
where that's fine I am. And he said, I had
these binders and it was like a master class. He's
like a graduate level course on how to do it.
So then he eventually got jobs. But because he was
so technically knowledgeable and self taught, like went in and

(43:32):
did it self taught right, that he was able to
then move up in these companies and then eventually wrote
Terminator and did this thing and co produced that it is.
And yet when you look at the shit that this
guy does, you go, I mean Terminator was like puppetry
and strings and you know, Alien was something like that. Yeah,

(43:55):
and then he right, and now he's doing and he's
got a museum, a private music of all the props
for movies he's done. And then you know, like his
whole thing was, I need I want to explore because
I'm interested in the Titanic. I want to go down
in submarines and look at it. In order to get
that funded, I need to come up with a story.

(44:16):
So he's like, all right, I'll write this story. He goes,
I'll make it Romeo and Juliet and and that's what
he did, and it became the biggest box office.

Speaker 4 (44:25):
Growthery of just wanting to see the all.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
In pursuit of that, that was the whole purpose. Yeah,
and then took eight right, and then took eight years
off and did all this expiration, and then came back
and started Avatar. And Avatar looks insane to how to
even produce that, Like the way the people sigourny, we
think it's in Uh, it's just it's nutty. But one

(44:51):
of the things he said was, I love doing things
I don't know how to do. I love doing things
don't know how to do, because I hope when I'm
eighty seven and have an oxygen tube up my nose,
I'm still doing things I don't know how to do. Yeah,
And I thought Wow, that's a different way of because

(45:13):
most people fear doing something they don't know how to do.
James Cameron and I went, shit, man, I didn't know
how to do a podcast. I still don't know how
to do a podcast. I know how to talk, I
know how to be someone entertaining. I know how to
appeal the guys. I know the radio side of it.
That's not the podcast side of it.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
Right, it's not you're doing it anyway.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
I'm just doing it and learning. And then somehow, like
you know, this graduate school program. It came to me
on a Saturday with classes beginning on a Tuesday, and
I go, sure, because I don't have enough shit, and
yet all of it, somehow I believe is gonna come together, podcast,
all of it, and yeah, it's amazing, and I think,

(45:57):
like there's no wrong answer. But I used to always go, oh,
you gotta work twenty four to seven. You just got
to change your mindset. I'm realizing, yeah, I have to. Like,
there's a Buffalo Bills game and I would love to
go watch it with my friends today, but I'm I'm
I can't. I have my son and I you know,
I've got to make dinner and prepare for the week,

(46:18):
and I've got other projects for school that I need
to finish up. And and in order to make all
this stuff work to the level that I wanted to,
I gotta work like all the time, Like I really
have no time for anybody in my life.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
But I think you get rewarded for that.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Oh, I do too.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
What I've learned about life is like I usually get
what I want, but.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
I have to just get beat up until I get
it because I fall into old patterns.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
There you go, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
So, so what I figured out really because obviously, like
when things are going wrong, I want answers, and so
I do a lot of reading about manifesting it all stuff,
And really what it is you can't think your way
into a million dollars.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Really, you can't just sit here and go, I want
a million dollars, I want a million dollars. A million
dollar shows up. What sitting here thinking I want a
million dollars one a million dollars does is it actually
changes your mindset, which changes your behavior. So instead of
going out this weekend and spending three grand at the clurb,
I'm saving it. And then in six months I go.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
Oh, shit, I have a million dollars.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Wait a second, who was dropping three dollar? You're dropping
three grand at the clurb right, God, that's amazing over there.
I don't know. I think if I drop like two
hundred in a night, I go, God, damn, what would
what do you think? You're made of money?

Speaker 4 (47:51):
But you know what I'm saying, I do all in
the way you think about it.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
If you if you change your thoughts, you will change
your behavior so you will have time you it will
get rewarded because you had the discipline to not go
watch the Bills game today and you got all your
shit done, and oh my god, you found yourself having
all this Well, something more fun happened and you did
something more fun than watching the Bills game.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
You know what I'm saying, Like, I just think life.

Speaker 6 (48:14):
Like provides that for you, because unless you always have
a miserable mindset, then yes, things are hard, things suck,
You don't have any luck, Your life is terrible.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Sure, that's the way you.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Always think of what I always think. You're You're right,
you get what you think about life is a mirror
to your stuff. And at any point, at any point,
you can change that. Absolutely, I will say that. You know,
for me, I think my whole thing all my life

(48:47):
was to avoid pain, absolutely emotion more emotional pain, but pain,
emotional pain I didn't mind.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Like, think about what you went through, right, probably developed
that block.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Yeah. And when I say pain, and I don't even
really mean physical pain because I've been punched as part
of a sport and you know, feel I don't want
to feel that heavy stuff. And I think, like now
I go, I've done so much dumb things, woken up
in places with people I didn't know. You know, I

(49:22):
shouldn't even I know my mother watches this once in
a while, but she did. Wait, she didn't call me
the promiscuous one once, so I got it. Yeah, she knows.
But the thing is like none of that ever, It
doesn't it's not fulfilling. What it doesn't It doesn't, it doesn't.
It leaves you almost more empty inside almost.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
All the time.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Yeah, And that's what I'm saying, Like, if so you
know that, so then you change your mindset and you
don't do that and you get rewarded with something.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
But at my age, you know, yeah, I mean, what
do you think?

Speaker 4 (49:59):
I don't know, because like you're not that much.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Older than me, So like, no, you certainly do. I mean,
look I don't. I certainly there's a lot of fun
you can have. But I also think, like this stuff
right now is the most important. And uh, I don't
want to sound too too dramatic, so I'll try to

(50:23):
I won't use the first word that popped in my head.
But directing my son to be the best that he
can be is is a more important thing to me
right now. And I think that also the success right
seeing him. They watch, right, they watch kids, kids, kids
notice everything, and so you want to be able to say, hey,

(50:45):
look what I did without saying look what I did?

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Right, And if you don't think like he doesn't find
a sense of pride.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Like they do, kids do.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
I cannot tell you how many times ago because Lewis,
my son, Lewis works right across the street, this little
Israeli restaurant from us, and I will go in there
every once in a while and have a drink and
just you know, shoot the ship, especially if I haven't
seen him in a couple of days or whatever, because
our schedules are so different, and I cannot.

Speaker 4 (51:10):
Tell you probably five out.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Of six times I go in there, someone at the
bar comes over to me and says, oh, my god,
your son talks about you all the time.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Oh, he's such a good kid. And they go on
and on and on.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
So I'm sure, like you said, Jameson, your other boys
they're seeing this. They're also seeing that you're like putting
in all this effort. You're you're putting in all this work.
That's not nothing. That's so great.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
And I think he is gonna see it.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
And even if he's he's too cool for all of
us right now, Jameson.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
And you know what, Oh where'd you go? What's he
come back? Take her off the screen for a second.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
But he isn't gonna be.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
You know, it's gonna be, and you're gonna you're gonna
run into one of his buddies.

Speaker 4 (52:01):
And he's like, oh my god, Jesus.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
D Well, I think for him, you know. Uh, it
was funny because we went he had a buddy over
yesterday and we had, uh, we went to pick up
pizza and when I walked into the pizza shop, there
are all these people talking to me and he says
to his buddy. Everywhere we go people know him, and

(52:26):
I go, well, it's not really true anymore. I haven't
been on the radio in a number of years. He goes, Dad,
we were just at this restaurant and you went over
to the bathroom and this guy's like, hey, you're Bill Moran.
You're a legend. And I laughed, and his friend said,
how does that make you feel? And I said, you know,
it's really nice that you were able to do something

(52:50):
that meant something to somebody. I think beyond me, right,
beyond the dick jokes, beyond the silliness that there was
a connection there that you were friend on the radio
or a friend on the podcast or whatever that.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Is that show specifically, And I think you're building that
so much, like I listen to your podcast, like you
have such a community in such a short time already
with characters that people know and connect to, which is
what the breakroom did. So I remember a lot like
how when once I got on the payroll, But I
remember feeling like, how did I get How do I

(53:27):
get to get paid? To come in and laugh so
hard every single morning? Every morning? It was worth the
three o'clocks, It was worth the stress. It was like
it was worth every second because we would laugh so hard.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
I would go home with like a stomach ache every day.
Just how the way you start your.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
Day, the community that rallied around you when something would change,
when we had to start playing music and people went
frigging berserk because how dare they cut out their precious
talk with this bullshit music weekend? Hear all afternoon, Like,
it's just what you've done is you have you do

(54:10):
have a legacy. And I think what you're doing is
like all all worlds lead to this. I think this
is always You're going to have to evolve out of
radio because radio is gonna Radio is going to evolve
into something else it already was when you were there.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
You know so well, everything that's being sent to you
is like all roads lead to somewhere you're supposed to be.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah, I certainly wasn't looking to have you blow smoke
up my rear end, but looking at it, but no,
I agree with you. I look back on my career
and because I turn off my feelings when I left CMF,
and I did it abruptly, and I remember being on

(54:52):
a boat headed into Disney, and I'm getting calls from
local reporters going, hey, what's going going on? And it
was reporters that I had brought on the show quite
a bit, and I said, I really can't comment on anything,
and it was kind of cool, but I kind of
turned off everything about that show. I just shut it

(55:14):
down and I went on and tried something else that
wasn't as successful, and then something that was extremely successful.
And I think that when I stopped and I looked back,
and it was more when Dan agreed to come on
the podcast, because he and I hadn't talked for a while,
and then he and I had had a kind of

(55:37):
a disagreement over something that was more my fault than anything,
to believe it or not. And I look back and
I go, God, damn, that show was unbelievable. It really
really was a fantastic show. And I loved bringing in
all the characters and stuff, and I think Tommy was

(55:57):
very reticent to that stuff. But he was so funny.
He was so naturally funny that I have said to
Tommy Lay for years that he is probably the funniest
person I have ever heard on the radio. And to
have had that time to just work with him, both
as part of a different show that we show, and
then when it was more, it was whittled down to

(56:19):
just he and I basically and Danny or whoever else
was in there. Uh, it was amazing and I will
always uh treasure that, but I don't too.

Speaker 4 (56:32):
Yeah, he is probably the funniest.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Absolutely one of the most naturally me too, me too
his his If you're.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
Not paying attention, you're gonna miss everything, he would say,
you would be talking on someone.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
He would say something underneath underneath was.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
He's so fast. I haven't. I haven't heard their show
in a long time.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
I would say, I'm sure the same. I have not either,
And it has nothing to do with anything, not a
bitterness thing on me. I just I just haven't. And
I would think that it is probably just as good,
if not better than it was when we were there.
And uh, A lot of that is due to him,

(57:17):
but also the people around him. They all work very
hard and well together. I'm sure you do the Uh.
It's it's interesting and at the same time, and I
don't know about how you feel about these kind of things.
For me, it was all I wanted to do was radio,
so I did it from a young age on. That
was kind of my thing, and yet I have no

(57:41):
longing for it. Anymore. And I think because I think,
because I do this, but I love not having anybody
to really answer to it. I don't have to do ship. Yeah,
I don't have to do shit I don't want to do.
I mean, maybe a little bit something you don't or
have to go somewhere and have to.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
Worry about, like branding and things. Yeah, I feel fortunate
enough in my career. I have done so many different
kinds of projects that there are definitely projects that I am.

Speaker 4 (58:12):
Not interested in anymore.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
And I get to say I don't want to do
this docuseries about this family because, you know, for whatever reason,
because it doesn't feel right to me. And I can
say no and not feel bad about turning something down
because if I turn around and look at the things
I have done, it's like, who cares, nobody's watching.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
The ship some of the preak Well, that parade thing
was unbelievable. Thank you so much for getting Jamison and
I some access to that. I've been doing some things
with him where i'll post once in a while. I
don't think he's always comfortable with it, but I call
it our mandate, and uh yeah, I like it. It's

(58:54):
a mandate. So we and it's a mandated it's a
mandated mandate. And I think it's mandated more because it's needed, right,
And I think that a lot of times, for me,
I don't know about you, it was easier to bury
myself in work than to actually deal with the shit
in front of me. And so now absolutely part of

(59:15):
this part of the whole thing with the mental health
counseling stuff is oh boy, buddy, you better figure your
shit out fast.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Is it, like I'm curious, is it cracking things open
for you don't have to tell me, but like for
you personally that you weren't expecting where you're just like,
oh wow, I guess I never thought about something that way,
or maybe this is the way.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
I do things because of this reason.

Speaker 3 (59:39):
Like are you learning stuff about yourself in the process
or is it very much like you're learning what bipolarism is,
you know, is it kind of helping you with some
self awareness or is it very clinical?

Speaker 2 (59:51):
No, there's a lot of self awareness, tremendous amount of
self awareness stuff. There's a book that I had to
read that I would say is perfect for anybody who
would just be therapy if you had an actual diagnosis
of something you made me need something a little more intense.
But this was really about feelings and it was simple examples.

(01:00:13):
Like you know, let's say you and somebody are in
a relationship and the person you go to they're coming
back from business trips, so you're excited to see them,
so you make their favorite dinner and you've got it
ready and the candles, and you go pick them up
at the airport and you're all excited. You get in
the car and you say, hey, I made this dinner

(01:00:37):
and I'm so excited you're home, and oh when will
it be ready as soon as we get back. Fantastic
because then I can go meet my friends at the
bar at ten. And you stuff it down and you
don't say anything, and it builds up, and it builds
up and it builds resentment. And I think that's a
very relatable thing to a lot of people. But I
think that that getting in touch with your emotions, realizing

(01:00:59):
and here are the things like on a spiritual side,
I say this, but there's a reality to it as well,
that your feelings are your guidance. Right, something feels off,
something doesn't feel right, something's uncomfortable, something's this, But your
feelings are your guidance, So when you actually can actually

(01:01:19):
sit with the emotions and understand that and allow things
to be over and realize that you know, a lot
of life has lived up here, but yes, it has
uncovered a lot. I have avoided emotions. I compartamentalize things,
which I think is also very beneficial. Like I could
have a conversation about, uh, somebody getting killed in the
DWY accident and then say, well, it was nice to

(01:01:42):
see you guys, and I'm really glad you're here at
this comedy show, and then go out on stage and
do ten minutes of funny because I can compartmentalize. I
don't know that that's very healthy. I have no idea,
but I would also say that being you know, really
seeing like I'm like, oh my God, like fuck fucked up.
I gotta, I got it, I gotta. I gotta deal

(01:02:03):
with this stuff. And I've got to, you know, admit
to myself and stop avoiding because I would rather go
have fun than have to deal with the serious stuff
in life. So I would rather go drink and uh,
you know, meet some girl and that would become my
priority and I'd go running out there, and I think
that it's taken me to this point in the course

(01:02:28):
even to go, Okay, I can't do that anymore. I
don't I don't really have the time for it. And
right now is differently it does. And I would say,
like in a very realistic way, Uh, I think that it.
I don't know. I enjoy this. I enjoy the counseling

(01:02:49):
side of things. So I have no idea where it
all goes.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
But You've always been into that, like, well, I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
So it's always the why, the why?

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Right, you know, it's always this story is funny, but
why did this person dress in a rabbit suit and drive,
you know, seven hundred miles an hour?

Speaker 4 (01:03:06):
Like what is you know?

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
What's the underlying thing? I mean, yeah, I've always thought
that about alcoholism and everything. Well, we can say it's
in your you have a disease, but what what caused it? What? What?
What are you avoiding? What are you hiding from? Why
is this? Yeah? Because drinking treat, I'll say it all
the time, is drinkings fun. Man. Drugs are fun. They're fun.

(01:03:28):
They're a lot of fun, but they can also ruin you, right,
and you got to be able to.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
Do cocaine anymore. So forget that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
I know so sad it is. Well, I know people
who I may or may not know people who still
do cocaine, and I don't know. I wouldn't. I'm not
as comfortable with any It just.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
Is too scary. There are just too many.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
Like I had a friend of mine pass away on
my birthday, some dirty because they're they're putting fannel in it,
and it just is like this year, no, this was
twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Okay, well not that long ago, six years anytime you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Hear do you remember that story of those Kansas City
chiefs guys that were hanging out at that guy's house
in the backyard, woke up.

Speaker 4 (01:04:20):
In the morning, three of them were dead.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
Yes, I'm knowing the cocaine, Like that's what because they
put it in there because it's highly addictive and they're
only supposed to put a little bit, but they put
too much and you die.

Speaker 4 (01:04:30):
So the fact that you even have to like like
figure out if you're gonna die, like I can't. I
can't even go there. No, I can't figure out if
I'm gonna die first, Like no, sorry, I'm just good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
I mean, cocaine is an adult adderall, as a friend
of mine says, but I would rather I just take
the adderall you need. Yeah, believe me, I love adderall.
I'm to the point now where I almost needed to
get through the day.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
I have to stay away from like all that because
weed is as strong as it gets for me. I
have to stay away from all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
I just can't.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
I've never been that kind of it. Just I'm too
anxious of a person. You do not want to give
an anxious person to offer.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Well. I can see myself get a little anxious from
time to time, but it's now to the point where
it's like, I'm so if I don't have it, I
think I would sleep all day because I'm drained. And
you know, I mean, look, you're right right. I had
somebody say that to me. But you've lived through this.
In the last six months. For me, I lost my dad.

(01:05:33):
I had a personal relationship that I put to an end.
There was another relationship that kind of went nowhere. There was,
you know, all the moving parts of of this. Your
a single dad. I mean I don't mean that, like
his mom just doesn't live in this town. So there's
all those things you're trying to navigate, and then you

(01:05:55):
took it on grad school and an intense program because
it's got to be done by twenty twenty seven, and
I go, God, damn, I am. I'm burned out. And
somehow the adderall has helped me and I get shit done,
and I find myself doing things like I'm turning the
TV off. I gotta go do this right now, I

(01:06:15):
gotta do this. And I don't know if that's the
adderall giving you clarity. I have no idea, because I
would melt into my couch and just watch anything and
everything for no reason and then wake up and go,
why did I waste those hours?

Speaker 3 (01:06:30):
So I mean, obviously like doctors don't like I don't know,
I don't know. You're not going to get something that
is I don't know, gonna hurt you.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
But just be careful. Yeah, you know, Yes, you will
get stuff done, and there are people who need it. Chemically.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Your body just doesn't make the chemicals you need to
do the things that you don't make enough saratone or dopamine,
and that stuff helps you to achieve those lives.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
These bodies. I'm making enough anything to stop more of all.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
I get leary, you know, I've seen a lot of
addiction in this industry, a lot because like you know,
people want to, they want to if they're enjoying what
they're doing, they want to go through a wall to
do it, and they you know, to do anything, and so,
you know, just everything.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
In moderation, Everything in moderation. Good note to end on, Alex.
I can't wait to hear about the mister b stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
Yeah, I will keep you posted and let you know.
I'll let you know, you know, whatever's next, So I'll
let you know. Hopefully I'm in a position where next
year for the hundredth I could go back and do
the grade again because I'm it was such an amazing
experience and I would love to do I would love
to be part of the hundredth year.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
But if not, like I take, I left nothing on
the table, you know what I mean. I feel like
I got I got everything out of that. It was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
I said to my people leader like a thousand times, like,
thank you so much for thinking of me and bringing
me into this. It was it was it was amazing
to me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Well that is uh, I can't thank you enough for
getting Jamison my into that. That was so much fun.
That was very cool, Very cool for Alex who still
talks to me. Hang on, one second after we're done here,
I got a question. I'm Bill Moran. We'll see you tomorrow.

(01:08:22):
I hold you. I didn't know what to do, so
how do I do titles on my I got this

(01:08:42):
project I gotta do