January 1, 2026 • 31 mins
Celebrate the New Year with a Best Of on Gary & Shannon, featuring four hours of standout moments from the show. From sharp takes on the biggest stories to memorable laughs and conversations, enjoy a curated mix of favorites to keep you company during the break.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
App first of January twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We are away, but some fools in the back thought
that this was the best of So here you go
a great horned owl. Before we get into the story,
did the owl live?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Okay, good, because I didn't want like a three I
didn't want a triple crown of sad stories. A Southern
California driver made a startling discovery yesterday morning when they
found an owl stuck in the grill of their Toyota.
This was a great horned owl in Santa Barbara.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Now, there are some grills on vehicles, trucks, cars, whatever,
where I could see a bird getting stuck. This does
not look like the openings in the grill are large
enough for it to get stuck.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well, the sheer force of the bird. Bird probably cut
through the plastic grating.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
That is on the front of this toyota. You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Oh, broke off parts of it. Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
At least four firefighters from sam Bernadine, Sam Barbara County
called the fire department help with the birds rescue and
Scott's safe. Chuck great name is a PIO of the
County Fire Department in Santa Barbara, and he said, this
is the first time we had an owl entangled in
a vehicle. Usually he says it's a cat.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Or sometimes we have cattle that get onto the highway
and somehow get the laughter.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I shouldn't what I'm not now.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Richie's upset, Thank God, Amy's gone.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, listen, this is why I'm laughing.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Think of the expression, Okay, we have a picture of
the owl right as this firefighter is. He's got leather
gloves on. He's trying to help extract the owl from
the grill of this car. That looks pissed. That's what
I was gonna say. You know what an owl looks.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Like, and you know what an owl's capable of. Constantly
has that intense look on his face. Right, A cat,
if it were in that same position, might not have
an angry look on its face.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
You don't think a cat would have an angry look.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well I could, but definitely not as piercing as the owl.
I have that giant like eyeballs, huge ears pinned bak you.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Don't really know cat's expressions that well, because you had
one for a week and then gave it back to
a shelter.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Four years horrible.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
This little owl face, to me, reminds me of a
cat face because it looks pissed, and cats look pissed
all the time.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Richie, what would you do if your cat got stuck
in a car?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I would literally die, I know, you would, Elmer not
fun to laugh at that, that's.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Not no, no, I'm just saying I would die too.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
But it was funny, how like, you know, right to
the point he went and I was just like, I feel.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
We're talking about a dead animal. Here is.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
He's talking about.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He's talking about cats that survive getting caught in a car.
That's what nobody likes to talk about. The ones that don't.
That wouldn't be a fun story.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
My cat got hit by a car when I adopted her.
She was like kind of little just okay to draw.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Hold on a second. You the cat was hit by
car before you got yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, but she had healed, so I got her like
maybe i'd take like half a year after the accident,
but like she survived, which was bad to us.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And yeah, no, she had like, I'll send you guys
pictures you can kind of no, you don't have to, Cato,
I will. I will report you to the boss for that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I remember a cat in my life. Oscar was the
cat's name. Who it was a white, long haired, beautiful
cat whatever those are. And this cat was an awful cat.
The family liked the cat. But whenever I would go
over to my girlfriend's for sleepover and we were like fifteen, fourteen, fifteen,
(04:19):
the cat would pee on my head. The cat didn't like.
The cat was very territorial. Okay, it happened once, but
I remembered it.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It happened once where I was at a sleepover and
he peee adjacent to my head.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
One day, the cat went nuts. The cat lost it.
The cat starts screeching, screaming. It sounded like a baby screaming.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Cats screaming and seizure like seizures, and it's just and
this cat had claws, and this cat is just season
up and freaking out and like.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Having an outer body cat experience.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And we're like, me and my girlfriend are there and
we're alone, and we're like I said, like fifteen, I
don't even think we had our driver's license, and we
were like, what do we do? We were scared of
the cat, but she's she's hysterical because it's her cat,
and she's like sad. And I'm standing there and going like,
oh man, I'm gonna die for.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
This cat, like to save this cat. But here we are.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So we find a box in the garage, I think,
and find a way to get close enough to the cat.
I think we may have used like oven mits or something,
because this cat's wotting everything. It's pissed off, it's shaking,
it's screaming. It's a freaking horror movie with this beautiful
white hair, long haired cat.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But this cat was a terror cat.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It was Chucky the cat.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
But Oscar so we take the.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Cat and throw it in a box and throw it
in the backseat of the car. And again I don't
even think we had our driver's license and drove to
the vet clinic and unfortunately that something, whatever was going
on with the demon cat was that bad that they
had to put the cat down.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
What kind of story are you telling us?
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We were talking about cat waiting for this turn around.
I kept waiting for you, and then I calmed it.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I soothed it, I pet its head, I gave it
a little soul. No, it never was soothed.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
It was.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It was an awful story. I think it's why I've
never had a cat since. It was awful. It was
an awful way for the cat to behave to live,
to go through that.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It was the whole thing. Huh.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think it was one of those things where they're like,
we could save the cat for ten thousand dollars kind
of a thing, and there was just that that made
no sense.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
In nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
It's I'm sorry, oh, because your cat story is so hallmarked.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And ended in a beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Yeah, no, we don't know that. Yes, no, your cat.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You took it back to the shelter, and we don't
know if it lived or died. It probably, I'm sure
it was fine. It got dead now, it was definitely
dead now. Well, but I'm sure it lived. Like I'm
sure it got adopted by a family that lives.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Out on a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And you know, that cat would wake up to the
sun naturally and spend time playing with pigs and four
mice and it would chase the mice.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh, except that one it became friends.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
With Yeah, an unlikely friendship, unlikely friendship, that mouse only
had three legs.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But strong. That friendship was strong as oak.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And at one point the mouse was riding the cat.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Oh yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And they just walked off into the sunset. Yeah together.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Five second trick to keep someone from yelling at the kids?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Why are you not yelling?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Instead of yelling at the kids, slap them? Is that
the trick?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
That's not weird, it's any other guess?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So I got kicking, kicking.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
Damn it, you are funny, and that's all I got.
All I got is slaping them. Where else do you
go from there? There's tools in my no kid, having
had kid. The only tool I have is to slapse.
What is everybody else out there doing?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It's serious?
Speaker 7 (08:07):
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
I think that this is a valid point, but I like,
you have to have those things in life where you're like,
you read it and you're like that makes total sense,
but I still don't like it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You know what I mean? And you consider yourself to
be a rational.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Person because some of it and I think something this
may fall into this category.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Some of it is like.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
The obvious, duh, of course I should do this thing,
but I don't want to. Yeah, in the event, and
this is one of these times talking about like a
kid makes a mess, I don't want to wait the
five seconds.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I don't want to count in my head.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I want to give them a true accounting of how
that made me feel.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
But sometimes you regret that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
One of my girlfriends, she's got a three year old daughter,
and she said the other day she wouldn't stop crying.
And I'm driving the car and she's act she won't
stop crying. She's crying about nothing, and I told her
I'm going to throw you out the window right to
be there. And that's how she felt in that moment.
But by the time she spoke to me about it,
she's like, I probably shouldn't have said, like, I probably
(09:18):
should have waited the five seconds.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
But I think the mess thing that is is a
particularly important piece because when you talk about a man,
let's a kid drops a glass of grape juice something
like that, it's an accident. It's clearly an accident. The
kid didn't throw the glass of grape juice on the floor.
They dropped it, and that's an accident. And I've always
(09:43):
had this very I've seen parents blow up a.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Kid's for that.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Will you do You're so stupid, you're such a klutz,
or whatever. As opposed to s happens, you clean it up.
But as happens like that, I'm not mad, you know,
I saw it. Gosh, that's embarrassing. You look like an
idiot in front of your friends. But we're going to
clean it up, and that's and then we move past it.
(10:08):
Not the if you're losing your mind when the kid
does something accidentally, that's more about you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, it's one thing. They're acting up.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
They're in the backseat, misbehaving or or disrespecting or whatever.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
But what you're describing it sounds like So just to
be clear, because I feel like we all know but
maybe the listeners don't, is that this woman says that
you take five seconds to calm down, and you treat
your children like a guest. So if a guest were
to spill said grape juice on your carpet, you don't go,
what the.
Speaker 8 (10:38):
Hell are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I've told you fourteen times two heads.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Everybody universally says, hey, it's okay, everything's gonna be fine,
but internally you're raging. You hold it in, and maybe
that's maybe I just I feel like family is the
place where you can kind of be your true self,
even if with all.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Your flaws as well, Like.
Speaker 7 (10:57):
I don't I'm not saying you shouldn't try to be
a better person, but I'm just saying like that should
be the place where you put the facade down.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's kind of like the way they say that you
should talk to yourself, though, you know, when you're in
your own head sometimes you're really mean to yourself.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Why the F did you do that? You freaking idiot? Right?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Whereas if you just into the same thing that I
just got down on myself for doing, I would never
talk to you that way.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I'd be like, that's okay, don't worry about it, you'll
get it next time.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It would be no thing. But we talk to ourselves
so awfully. We would never talk to anybody else like that.
We won't talk to our friends that way. True, sometimes
we're that way with our family, And don't think we
should be as unfiltered as we are, because.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
We can be really mean, mean for lack of a
better trait.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's true you blow in my mind.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
Shat I think you helped me figure it out, is
that I think it's checks and balances, right, because what
I think we've learned in society is that when you
get rid of shame and guilt, it's not necessarily a
good thing for the world at large, right, the masses.
So maybe I'm supposed to feel guilt and shame, but
then I have friends who make you feel better, and
then they balance it out right, so where I'm not
(12:03):
so self deprecating that I actually start to believe that
I'm an idiot and stupid when I make a mistake,
you know what I mean. And that's that's the way
the brain is supposed to work, and why we crave
interaction and being around people. And maybe because I just
every time I see this kind of stuff, and I'm
the guy who loves the author. I'm doctor Tina Payne Bryson,
who she she talks about lowering yourself and looking up
(12:23):
at the kids so that their brain. Yeah, I know, Darry.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Loves to stand this woman.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I see that you're upset is what you're supposed to
and I get all that.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
It makes sense to me. But I also at the
same time, I don't like it. I wish I could
be that person. And I have these fantasies that maybe
there are families out there that never the father, never
raises their voice or never knuckled or thumped their kid
in the head like I got, and that like there's
so much more magical. But I don't think my life
is bad at all, Like I don't think my childhood
was bad. I don't look back at any of that,
(12:50):
and I don't know, maybe that's it. Maybe if you
have that perspective, then you just kind of adapt and
move forward. Because I'm sure there are lots of people
who are doctors who would consider my father to be
abusive in some way, shape or form. But I always
felt likeweigh that, huh.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What are they going to do now? Exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Abuse is such a silly word.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It can means speak, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Talk about my life.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I've ever been abused, I've been abused, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It's overused in something, It's overused. Thank you, great stuff,
thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
Oh you're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from
kf I am six forty.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Enjoy this best of Gary and Shannon and Sync Inc.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yes, yes, I see what Elmer was doing there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Because the video had them as marionettes.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I love what I feel like is a lost art.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And when we heard about Haines Marionettes through a news
and bruise, I was anxious to have them in studio
for our small business shout out. And that is exactly
who we have here today. Franklin Haines has been in
this job, this business, this game.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
For forty years.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Local guy from Newport Beach and he is the guy
behind Haines Marionettes. You can find him hayn Ees Marionettes
at Hainesmaronettes dot com.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Franklin, thanks for coming in. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
We're huge fans of you guys, totally. Yeah, we love
your show. And yeah, forty years. I feel like I'm
an old man. It's crazy, but yeah, forty years. And
I think what has made us stand for so long
is just the quality of our shows and the passion
(14:41):
you know that all of my puppeteers put in behind
these shows. They are handcrafted marionettes. And you're right, it
is a lost art. And I heard before another way
of putting it. It's an obscure artist's really hard to find.
You can find it, so it's not completely lost. But
the exciting part is is, uh, you know, making kids
(15:02):
happy and doing the marionettes.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And we have like a.
Speaker 9 (15:05):
Catalog of twelve different shows, so it really kind of
keeps us going and we keep them current. Our show
right now is called Santa's New Sleigh and it's based
kind of off the idea of Tesla.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know, Santa's going high.
Speaker 9 (15:17):
Tech, getting funny a slig he gets rid of his reindeer,
he can go faster, all the kids get more presents
this year. Well, lo and behold it breaks down. He
has to push it in the middle of the show.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Let me guess who comes to the rescue. Yeah, yeah,
is it Rudolph. It's his baby. It's his baby, baby Rudy.
Oh okay. I was like, Santa has a baby.
Speaker 9 (15:37):
Well, a lot of people don't know this, but Rudolph
Haw's a wife, Rida.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Yeah, they have a new baby, baby Rudy.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
What and he is now pulling Santa's new sleigh.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Rudolph's baby is baby Rudy. Oh my gosh, this is exciting. Yeah,
baby Rudy. It's a cutie.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Petudi.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, this is not it's not a joke to say
that this is an art form. Especially in the twentieth century,
this became massive. Were there people that you saw as
a kid that Marionette's puppeteers that you saw as a
kid that made you want to get into this?
Speaker 9 (16:08):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 9 (16:10):
When I grew up here in southern California and some
puppeteers came to our school did an assembly, and I
was mitten, and I wish.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
I could find out who these guys were.
Speaker 9 (16:21):
They were second or third generation puppeteers from Italy and
did the school assembly, and I just.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Got bit by the puppet bug and.
Speaker 9 (16:27):
My mom saw that in me as a little kid
and took me to Bob Baker Marionette. I'm gonna give
a shout out to a big fan. One of the
more memorable things in my career was actually doing a
party for him personally as a puppeteer.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
So it's like, were you so nervous? Yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
But what I was saying after, Oh, he enjoyed it.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
You know, I think all entertainers, especially puppeteers, were kids
at heart, and so you know, it just comes right
out with him, all of us, just you see that young,
the child in all of us.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do you come up with the ideas for the
shows and how often do they change?
Speaker 9 (17:03):
Well, right now we have a catalog of twelve shows,
like I mentioned, and you can find out more about
it at puppet shows dot com, my website puppet Shows.
I've been around for a while and you know, just
keeping up with current events and just things like with
this whole you know, electric cars and Tesla thought oh,
it'd be really cool to have a show.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And you know, lean out more of that way.
Speaker 9 (17:27):
So you know, just like any performing artists, sometimes they
just pop into your head.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's really no rhyme or reason. James is here as well.
Your dad was involved for a long time.
Speaker 8 (17:36):
Right, Yeah, he's been doing puppet shows ever since I
was born. I'm not going to go into the euro
was born, none of that. We don't need to talk
about that. But I grew up with the puppets that
Frank made, and I remember being a kid in the
garage watching my dad practice these shows. So I've grown
up with these puppets over the years. Some of them
(17:58):
are even older than I am, which, mind you, we're
not going to mention and when I was like twenty
twenty one, Frank he asked me, He's like, hey, would
he like to you know, you know, if I were
to teach you how to perform with marionettes, would you
be interested? And I said, okay, I've been doing children's
day entertainment a long time. Ever since I was fifteen.
(18:20):
I first started getting into the you know, like Elmo costumes,
do magic clown shows. And when and I grew up
with Frank, you know, as as a kid, he would
come over to our house for barbecues and everything. So
when he introduced me to the craft and he pulled
some strings from me, I was like, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's a hard thing to just pick up and learn, though,
like wearing the almost.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Suit like it's a it's a it's.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
A job itself to learn how to do that well,
you know, and put on suits like that, But to
be a puppetet that's like specialized, I would assume, and
a hard thing to just pick up. How long did
it take you to get the skill sharp enough to
where you could do show?
Speaker 8 (19:01):
I want to say a little bit over a year.
The biggest issue was things just getting tangled, because when
it comes to puppets, especially somewhere Mary nuts are very
intricate and you can have you know, just one string
you know, go wrong or.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Type it a nott and it can be really frustrating.
Speaker 8 (19:20):
So in the beginning, my very first few years, you know,
sometimes I would you be ready to start a show
and I've got my puppet.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I was like, oh, it's it's tangled.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah, how am I.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Gonna the puppet heads fall off?
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Once in a while, you know, something like that.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You've got to ad lib through that, like, oh, my
head fell offs, I don't know, maybe part of the.
Speaker 8 (19:37):
Show right, Yeah, absolutely, And you know the show must
go on. And it's just one of those things that
you know, you just get better with it with time.
The biggest thing that's also just taught me to is
just patience. That a lot of times when a puppet
would get tangled, or I'd be rushing to a gig,
a lot of times when you rush and you're not present,
you're more.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Likely to mess up, So true and everything.
Speaker 8 (19:59):
Yeah versus you know, now, every once in the blue moon,
I'll have a little tangle or something I go slightly wrong.
I just take a breath and usually it's fixed within
a matter of less than twenty you know, ten seconds.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, and I'm good to go again.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So pumpet Shows dot com again is where you can
find all the information. Franklin, I had a question because
the upcoming Toy Story movie, I think it's Toy Story
five comes out next summer.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I believe, Yeah, really excited and they're big, they're.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Big enemy evil. The antagonist in it is a tablet.
I mean the technology that you have to I guess
fight fight with to get.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
The attention of these kids.
Speaker 9 (20:41):
Yes, you know, there's actually opposite contrary thought. I think
there's a more of a renaissance with you know, AI
and the YouTube videos. I've got boys and they're always
watching YouTube videos and of course they're online gaming and stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Parents, teachers, people out there.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
They want live entertainment. There's a real hunger for that.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Can you guys stick around for another segment because I
want to talk about that.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I think that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I think we're I think the pendulum has swung and
absolutely swinging back and I'm here for it.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Okay, we'll do that with.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Franklin and James here from Haines Marionettes. You can check
them out at puppet shows dot com and we'll talk
about that kind of a change in thought process when
it comes to entertaining your kids.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, by the way, booking now for the holiday events.
Their calendar is going to fill up, so go to
puppet shows dot com.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
I got three puppeteers that are looking forward.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Gary and Shannon will continue.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Do you want a.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Small business shout out on this Thursday? And we have
welcomed in Franklin and James from Haines Marionettes and you
can check them out at puppet shows dot com. They've
got holiday bookings available. And we were talking before the
break Franklin, who's been in this business game for forty
plus years, about how business kind of you know it
(22:05):
ebbs and flows, and it has taken a dip probably
like Gary was mentioning with the onset of kids tablets
and screens everywhere, but that you're noticing kind of a
resurgence of parents and teachers and people responsible for kids
programs that they want to move back towards live entertainment,
interactive entertainment, for kids that does not involve screens.
Speaker 9 (22:28):
Right, I think the part that is important is with
the tablets and the AI and just all this stuff
taking kids attention, they are getting further and further away
working with their own hands.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
You know, when I was a kid, I would love
to make puppets.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
You know, I wasn't taken away by video games and stuff,
and so something that's live and tangible that kids can
do is just critically important. And I think, you know,
the red flags are out when we see everybody, even adults,
on their cell phones and stuff, that we're just so isolated.
So as much as we can create an experience that's
(23:11):
live and where they can be a community together as
an audience and experience a shared experience, I think it's
swinging back like the people are realizing how critically important
that is, especially in this day and age of being
so isolated.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And you don't need a lot of technology to make
your first puppet. As I was saying that, I remember
in the fourth grade we would make puppets out of
lunch bags. Obviously thinking of the puppets that are made
with just hand, with just socks, so that those are
(23:48):
some of the simplest things that you can do you
don't need. I mean, marionettes are fantastic, but you start
getting three or four strings and there's more strings than
there are fingers, and you're having a hard time figuring
it out. Might be hard for a kid to understand that,
but you can start very simple.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely, that's how I did as well.
Speaker 9 (24:05):
You know, I remember my first puppet I ever made
was a g I Joe, which piece me a little bit.
And I remember taking my dad's fish in line and
taking Gi Joe and taking a knife and you know,
cutting them apart and putting them back together so he
could be floppy.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You know, so I could articulate him.
Speaker 9 (24:22):
And I would do you know, my first show in
my closet with in a cardboard box and you know,
doing for my aunts and uncles. My mom would tell
the oh, come on over, you guys got to see
a show, and I'd bring out this puppet.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (24:34):
But you know, you can start anywhere, and that that
to me is a red flag. Kids don't have that
opportunity to get out there and really create if they're
being taken away.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Or a supportive mom like you had.
Speaker 9 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Absolutely, my mom about like absolutely not put down the.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Podcast, No sooner, but just different than dage.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
But you know what, there's something to be said about
a desire for things to be real and to know
they're real. How often in recent days and weeks and
months have we looked at our phone and said, is
that real? There's that AI every day, every day and
it sucks and I hate that. And we're going to
be doing that forever. When you watch the magic of
(25:17):
puppetry and you know that that magic is real, that
is something that I think is at a premium these days.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And actually, speaking of opportunity, we actually
have an opportunity for you guys. This is actually from
Saint Nick himself. Let me just get out of the
sleigh hold on. Oh Gary and Shannon puppets that we
get to make?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
What?
Speaker 8 (25:48):
So I have one for you?
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Oh my goodness, you might recognize the.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
People on, so they have their own Gary and Shannon
puppets to make. What it is?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
There's still lunch you're mentioning that, Oh wow, So then
I put my little face on there.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That is so cool.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So we can make our puppet and then we can
This is exciting.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It's a good thing that it's a good thing. We
did this towards the end of the show because she's
going to be distracted.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Put this face on the bag. Oh yeah, I do right,
Oh I color okay.
Speaker 9 (26:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
We do our shows.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
We have you know, different options where they can do
the show, and then afterwards we have an educational workshop
where we talk about the art, the science, and the
history of puppetry. And then we also have this puppet
making activity afterwards.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
So are you making your puppet yet?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I haven't started yet.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Now, still listening to the You want to hold that
up so you can see that that.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
One's me, just so you know that one's Shannon right there. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (26:49):
So basically we encourage kids to you know, use their
hands and get out of the screens and you know,
even something as simple as this, you know, for those
at home, we see we have these little paper handouts
where we have paper bag puppets with.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Gary and Shannon on there. It's very exclusive to KFI.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
You know, we have a limited We still have some
copies left, only like fifty left, so only if only
fifty limited edition.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
This is also a strange week because puppets actually made
the made national news this week because of the Jim Henson.
The studios that were here, they took that giant, twelve
foot tall Kermit the Frog and they're sending him to
Georgia at the at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
(27:38):
That's that's got to be a big deal for you
guys to see puppets in the news.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
I have always been a Jim Henson fan, and I
had a great opportunity to actually meet him before he
passed away. They have a national puppet orange what is
it called Puppeteers of America. He was the guest keynote
speaker the day, and so he was around the grounds
and so I was able to go up to him
(28:03):
and tell him what a big fan I was of him,
and then he ended up passing.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
It's funny that that Shannon used the word magic just
in terms of what it is that goes on.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Wow, that was really fast.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
That has some great artwork there.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Fantastic the marionettes in the way that you are able
to manipulate them. There is a magic to that in
that I think a lot of people don't understand the
dexterity that it requires, and there are things that you
can make those marionettes do that would probably blow people's minds.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
How in the world. It's like a card trick almost.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, it's I mean, I know how a lot of
card tricks are done, but I would never be able
to actually physically manipulate a deck of cards to spit
out four aces or something like that.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It does take practice.
Speaker 9 (28:48):
We actually have marionettes that blow bubbles, believe it or not. Wow,
marionettes that are on a trap piece that actually do
flips and cool.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (28:57):
So one of the magical parts about our shows is
that they are interactive in that and they do things
to the music right in front of the kids, and
those kinds of tricks like juggling.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I mean, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
I also want to chime into a lot of people
and they think of puppets. They think, okay, just kids shows,
which obviously we're catered towards children, but adults have a
lot of fun with it too, actually, sometimes even more
than the kids.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
All kids who are we kidding?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
On the testimonials page on the website, one of the
one of I think the greatest lines is the even
the parents wanted to stay around and watch.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
That's a great, Gary, my puppet is lonely and too.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
We need a fellow Gary puppet.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
It needs a co host.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, he's just blank so far at this point. I'll
work on it during the break.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Also a fun fact, we actually do have one adult
puppet show. Oh no, no, no, what. It's kind of
hidden on our site. It's not as popular because obviously
we're catered towards kids, but it is pretty fun. It
has like a lot of like kind of political humor
in it too, and curt comments and stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Puppets at night. Yeah, that's let's call it Puppets after dark.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Great again.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Puppet shows dot Com is where you're gonna find Franklin
Hayes marionettes pulling heartstrings since nineteen eighty five. All of
the ways that the different shows that you have how
to book all the public shows are listed there as
well under the come see us tab that you can
find there puppet shows dot Com on all.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
The costumes, by the way, are stellar. They are professionally
designed constructed by a former Disney designer, so it is
top notch puppetry. Go check them out. Puppet Shows dot Com.
Happy holidays, guys, Hey, thank you, thank you. For having
me me okay.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Thanks for spending your holidays with Gary and Shannon Show.
You're listening to some of the best of over the
last couple of weeks and months. And thanks to everybody
for putting this together for us so that we could
take a couple of days off.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Yeah do it.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, we can't do it, so we need other people
to do it. You've been listening to The Gary and
Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on KFI
AM six forty nine am to one pm every Monday
through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
App first of January twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We are away, but some fools in the back thought
that this was the best of So here you go
a great horned owl. Before we get into the story,
did the owl live?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Okay, good, because I didn't want like a three I
didn't want a triple crown of sad stories. A Southern
California driver made a startling discovery yesterday morning when they
found an owl stuck in the grill of their Toyota.
This was a great horned owl in Santa Barbara.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Now, there are some grills on vehicles, trucks, cars, whatever,
where I could see a bird getting stuck. This does
not look like the openings in the grill are large
enough for it to get stuck.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well, the sheer force of the bird. Bird probably cut
through the plastic grating.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
That is on the front of this toyota. You know
what I mean?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Oh, broke off parts of it. Yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
At least four firefighters from sam Bernadine, Sam Barbara County
called the fire department help with the birds rescue and
Scott's safe. Chuck great name is a PIO of the
County Fire Department in Santa Barbara, and he said, this
is the first time we had an owl entangled in
a vehicle. Usually he says it's a cat.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Or sometimes we have cattle that get onto the highway
and somehow get the laughter.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I shouldn't what I'm not now.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Richie's upset, Thank God, Amy's gone.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, listen, this is why I'm laughing.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Think of the expression, Okay, we have a picture of
the owl right as this firefighter is. He's got leather
gloves on. He's trying to help extract the owl from
the grill of this car. That looks pissed. That's what
I was gonna say. You know what an owl looks.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Like, and you know what an owl's capable of. Constantly
has that intense look on his face. Right, A cat,
if it were in that same position, might not have
an angry look on its face.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
You don't think a cat would have an angry look.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well I could, but definitely not as piercing as the owl.
I have that giant like eyeballs, huge ears pinned bak you.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Don't really know cat's expressions that well, because you had
one for a week and then gave it back to
a shelter.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Four years horrible.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
This little owl face, to me, reminds me of a
cat face because it looks pissed, and cats look pissed
all the time.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Richie, what would you do if your cat got stuck
in a car?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I would literally die, I know, you would, Elmer not
fun to laugh at that, that's.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Not no, no, I'm just saying I would die too.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
But it was funny, how like, you know, right to
the point he went and I was just like, I feel.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
We're talking about a dead animal. Here is.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
He's talking about.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He's talking about cats that survive getting caught in a car.
That's what nobody likes to talk about. The ones that don't.
That wouldn't be a fun story.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
My cat got hit by a car when I adopted her.
She was like kind of little just okay to draw.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Hold on a second. You the cat was hit by
car before you got yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, but she had healed, so I got her like
maybe i'd take like half a year after the accident,
but like she survived, which was bad to us.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And yeah, no, she had like, I'll send you guys
pictures you can kind of no, you don't have to, Cato,
I will. I will report you to the boss for that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I remember a cat in my life. Oscar was the
cat's name. Who it was a white, long haired, beautiful
cat whatever those are. And this cat was an awful cat.
The family liked the cat. But whenever I would go
over to my girlfriend's for sleepover and we were like fifteen, fourteen, fifteen,
(04:19):
the cat would pee on my head. The cat didn't like.
The cat was very territorial. Okay, it happened once, but
I remembered it.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It happened once where I was at a sleepover and
he peee adjacent to my head.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
One day, the cat went nuts. The cat lost it.
The cat starts screeching, screaming. It sounded like a baby screaming.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Cats screaming and seizure like seizures, and it's just and
this cat had claws, and this cat is just season
up and freaking out and like.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Having an outer body cat experience.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And we're like, me and my girlfriend are there and
we're alone, and we're like I said, like fifteen, I
don't even think we had our driver's license, and we
were like, what do we do? We were scared of
the cat, but she's she's hysterical because it's her cat,
and she's like sad. And I'm standing there and going like,
oh man, I'm gonna die for.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
This cat, like to save this cat. But here we are.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So we find a box in the garage, I think,
and find a way to get close enough to the cat.
I think we may have used like oven mits or something,
because this cat's wotting everything. It's pissed off, it's shaking,
it's screaming. It's a freaking horror movie with this beautiful
white hair, long haired cat.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But this cat was a terror cat.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It was Chucky the cat.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
But Oscar so we take the.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Cat and throw it in a box and throw it
in the backseat of the car. And again I don't
even think we had our driver's license and drove to
the vet clinic and unfortunately that something, whatever was going
on with the demon cat was that bad that they
had to put the cat down.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
What kind of story are you telling us?
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We were talking about cat waiting for this turn around.
I kept waiting for you, and then I calmed it.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I soothed it, I pet its head, I gave it
a little soul. No, it never was soothed.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
It was.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
It was an awful story. I think it's why I've
never had a cat since. It was awful. It was
an awful way for the cat to behave to live,
to go through that.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It was the whole thing. Huh.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think it was one of those things where they're like,
we could save the cat for ten thousand dollars kind
of a thing, and there was just that that made
no sense.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
In nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
It's I'm sorry, oh, because your cat story is so hallmarked.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And ended in a beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Yeah, no, we don't know that. Yes, no, your cat.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You took it back to the shelter, and we don't
know if it lived or died. It probably, I'm sure
it was fine. It got dead now, it was definitely
dead now. Well, but I'm sure it lived. Like I'm
sure it got adopted by a family that lives.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Out on a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And you know, that cat would wake up to the
sun naturally and spend time playing with pigs and four
mice and it would chase the mice.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh, except that one it became friends.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
With Yeah, an unlikely friendship, unlikely friendship, that mouse only
had three legs.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But strong. That friendship was strong as oak.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And at one point the mouse was riding the cat.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Oh yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And they just walked off into the sunset. Yeah together.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Five second trick to keep someone from yelling at the kids?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Why are you not yelling?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Instead of yelling at the kids, slap them? Is that
the trick?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
That's not weird, it's any other guess?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So I got kicking, kicking.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
Damn it, you are funny, and that's all I got.
All I got is slaping them. Where else do you
go from there? There's tools in my no kid, having
had kid. The only tool I have is to slapse.
What is everybody else out there doing?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It's serious?
Speaker 7 (08:07):
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
I think that this is a valid point, but I like,
you have to have those things in life where you're like,
you read it and you're like that makes total sense,
but I still don't like it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You know what I mean? And you consider yourself to
be a rational.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Person because some of it and I think something this
may fall into this category.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Some of it is like.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
The obvious, duh, of course I should do this thing,
but I don't want to. Yeah, in the event, and
this is one of these times talking about like a
kid makes a mess, I don't want to wait the
five seconds.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I don't want to count in my head.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I want to give them a true accounting of how
that made me feel.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
But sometimes you regret that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
One of my girlfriends, she's got a three year old daughter,
and she said the other day she wouldn't stop crying.
And I'm driving the car and she's act she won't
stop crying. She's crying about nothing, and I told her
I'm going to throw you out the window right to
be there. And that's how she felt in that moment.
But by the time she spoke to me about it,
she's like, I probably shouldn't have said, like, I probably
(09:18):
should have waited the five seconds.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
But I think the mess thing that is is a
particularly important piece because when you talk about a man,
let's a kid drops a glass of grape juice something
like that, it's an accident. It's clearly an accident. The
kid didn't throw the glass of grape juice on the floor.
They dropped it, and that's an accident. And I've always
(09:43):
had this very I've seen parents blow up a.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Kid's for that.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Will you do You're so stupid, you're such a klutz,
or whatever. As opposed to s happens, you clean it up.
But as happens like that, I'm not mad, you know,
I saw it. Gosh, that's embarrassing. You look like an
idiot in front of your friends. But we're going to
clean it up, and that's and then we move past it.
(10:08):
Not the if you're losing your mind when the kid
does something accidentally, that's more about you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, it's one thing. They're acting up.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
They're in the backseat, misbehaving or or disrespecting or whatever.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
But what you're describing it sounds like So just to
be clear, because I feel like we all know but
maybe the listeners don't, is that this woman says that
you take five seconds to calm down, and you treat
your children like a guest. So if a guest were
to spill said grape juice on your carpet, you don't go,
what the.
Speaker 8 (10:38):
Hell are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I've told you fourteen times two heads.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Everybody universally says, hey, it's okay, everything's gonna be fine,
but internally you're raging. You hold it in, and maybe
that's maybe I just I feel like family is the
place where you can kind of be your true self,
even if with all.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Your flaws as well, Like.
Speaker 7 (10:57):
I don't I'm not saying you shouldn't try to be
a better person, but I'm just saying like that should
be the place where you put the facade down.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's kind of like the way they say that you
should talk to yourself, though, you know, when you're in
your own head sometimes you're really mean to yourself.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Why the F did you do that? You freaking idiot? Right?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Whereas if you just into the same thing that I
just got down on myself for doing, I would never
talk to you that way.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I'd be like, that's okay, don't worry about it, you'll
get it next time.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It would be no thing. But we talk to ourselves
so awfully. We would never talk to anybody else like that.
We won't talk to our friends that way. True, sometimes
we're that way with our family, And don't think we
should be as unfiltered as we are, because.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
We can be really mean, mean for lack of a
better trait.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's true you blow in my mind.
Speaker 7 (11:41):
Shat I think you helped me figure it out, is
that I think it's checks and balances, right, because what
I think we've learned in society is that when you
get rid of shame and guilt, it's not necessarily a
good thing for the world at large, right, the masses.
So maybe I'm supposed to feel guilt and shame, but
then I have friends who make you feel better, and
then they balance it out right, so where I'm not
(12:03):
so self deprecating that I actually start to believe that
I'm an idiot and stupid when I make a mistake,
you know what I mean. And that's that's the way
the brain is supposed to work, and why we crave
interaction and being around people. And maybe because I just
every time I see this kind of stuff, and I'm
the guy who loves the author. I'm doctor Tina Payne Bryson,
who she she talks about lowering yourself and looking up
(12:23):
at the kids so that their brain. Yeah, I know, Darry.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Loves to stand this woman.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I see that you're upset is what you're supposed to
and I get all that.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
It makes sense to me. But I also at the
same time, I don't like it. I wish I could
be that person. And I have these fantasies that maybe
there are families out there that never the father, never
raises their voice or never knuckled or thumped their kid
in the head like I got, and that like there's
so much more magical. But I don't think my life
is bad at all, Like I don't think my childhood
was bad. I don't look back at any of that,
(12:50):
and I don't know, maybe that's it. Maybe if you
have that perspective, then you just kind of adapt and
move forward. Because I'm sure there are lots of people
who are doctors who would consider my father to be
abusive in some way, shape or form. But I always
felt likeweigh that, huh.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What are they going to do now? Exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Abuse is such a silly word.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It can means speak, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Talk about my life.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I've ever been abused, I've been abused, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It's overused in something, It's overused. Thank you, great stuff,
thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
Oh you're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from
kf I am six forty.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Enjoy this best of Gary and Shannon and Sync Inc.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yes, yes, I see what Elmer was doing there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Because the video had them as marionettes.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I love what I feel like is a lost art.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And when we heard about Haines Marionettes through a news
and bruise, I was anxious to have them in studio
for our small business shout out. And that is exactly
who we have here today. Franklin Haines has been in
this job, this business, this game.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
For forty years.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Local guy from Newport Beach and he is the guy
behind Haines Marionettes. You can find him hayn Ees Marionettes
at Hainesmaronettes dot com.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Franklin, thanks for coming in. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
We're huge fans of you guys, totally. Yeah, we love
your show. And yeah, forty years. I feel like I'm
an old man. It's crazy, but yeah, forty years. And
I think what has made us stand for so long
is just the quality of our shows and the passion
(14:41):
you know that all of my puppeteers put in behind
these shows. They are handcrafted marionettes. And you're right, it
is a lost art. And I heard before another way
of putting it. It's an obscure artist's really hard to find.
You can find it, so it's not completely lost. But
the exciting part is is, uh, you know, making kids
(15:02):
happy and doing the marionettes.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And we have like a.
Speaker 9 (15:05):
Catalog of twelve different shows, so it really kind of
keeps us going and we keep them current. Our show
right now is called Santa's New Sleigh and it's based
kind of off the idea of Tesla.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know, Santa's going high.
Speaker 9 (15:17):
Tech, getting funny a slig he gets rid of his reindeer,
he can go faster, all the kids get more presents
this year. Well, lo and behold it breaks down. He
has to push it in the middle of the show.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Let me guess who comes to the rescue. Yeah, yeah,
is it Rudolph. It's his baby. It's his baby, baby Rudy.
Oh okay. I was like, Santa has a baby.
Speaker 9 (15:37):
Well, a lot of people don't know this, but Rudolph
Haw's a wife, Rida.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Yeah, they have a new baby, baby Rudy.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
What and he is now pulling Santa's new sleigh.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Rudolph's baby is baby Rudy. Oh my gosh, this is exciting. Yeah,
baby Rudy. It's a cutie.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Petudi.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, this is not it's not a joke to say
that this is an art form. Especially in the twentieth century,
this became massive. Were there people that you saw as
a kid that Marionette's puppeteers that you saw as a
kid that made you want to get into this?
Speaker 9 (16:08):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 9 (16:10):
When I grew up here in southern California and some
puppeteers came to our school did an assembly, and I
was mitten, and I wish.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
I could find out who these guys were.
Speaker 9 (16:21):
They were second or third generation puppeteers from Italy and
did the school assembly, and I just.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Got bit by the puppet bug and.
Speaker 9 (16:27):
My mom saw that in me as a little kid
and took me to Bob Baker Marionette. I'm gonna give
a shout out to a big fan. One of the
more memorable things in my career was actually doing a
party for him personally as a puppeteer.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
So it's like, were you so nervous? Yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
But what I was saying after, Oh, he enjoyed it.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
You know, I think all entertainers, especially puppeteers, were kids
at heart, and so you know, it just comes right
out with him, all of us, just you see that young,
the child in all of us.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do you come up with the ideas for the
shows and how often do they change?
Speaker 9 (17:03):
Well, right now we have a catalog of twelve shows,
like I mentioned, and you can find out more about
it at puppet shows dot com, my website puppet Shows.
I've been around for a while and you know, just
keeping up with current events and just things like with
this whole you know, electric cars and Tesla thought oh,
it'd be really cool to have a show.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And you know, lean out more of that way.
Speaker 9 (17:27):
So you know, just like any performing artists, sometimes they
just pop into your head.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's really no rhyme or reason. James is here as well.
Your dad was involved for a long time.
Speaker 8 (17:36):
Right, Yeah, he's been doing puppet shows ever since I
was born. I'm not going to go into the euro
was born, none of that. We don't need to talk
about that. But I grew up with the puppets that
Frank made, and I remember being a kid in the
garage watching my dad practice these shows. So I've grown
up with these puppets over the years. Some of them
(17:58):
are even older than I am, which, mind you, we're
not going to mention and when I was like twenty
twenty one, Frank he asked me, He's like, hey, would
he like to you know, you know, if I were
to teach you how to perform with marionettes, would you
be interested? And I said, okay, I've been doing children's
day entertainment a long time. Ever since I was fifteen.
(18:20):
I first started getting into the you know, like Elmo costumes,
do magic clown shows. And when and I grew up
with Frank, you know, as as a kid, he would
come over to our house for barbecues and everything. So
when he introduced me to the craft and he pulled
some strings from me, I was like, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's a hard thing to just pick up and learn, though,
like wearing the almost.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Suit like it's a it's a it's.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
A job itself to learn how to do that well,
you know, and put on suits like that, But to
be a puppetet that's like specialized, I would assume, and
a hard thing to just pick up. How long did
it take you to get the skill sharp enough to
where you could do show?
Speaker 8 (19:01):
I want to say a little bit over a year.
The biggest issue was things just getting tangled, because when
it comes to puppets, especially somewhere Mary nuts are very
intricate and you can have you know, just one string
you know, go wrong or.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Type it a nott and it can be really frustrating.
Speaker 8 (19:20):
So in the beginning, my very first few years, you know,
sometimes I would you be ready to start a show
and I've got my puppet.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I was like, oh, it's it's tangled.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah, how am I.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Gonna the puppet heads fall off?
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Once in a while, you know, something like that.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You've got to ad lib through that, like, oh, my
head fell offs, I don't know, maybe part of the.
Speaker 8 (19:37):
Show right, Yeah, absolutely, And you know the show must
go on. And it's just one of those things that
you know, you just get better with it with time.
The biggest thing that's also just taught me to is
just patience. That a lot of times when a puppet
would get tangled, or I'd be rushing to a gig,
a lot of times when you rush and you're not present,
you're more.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Likely to mess up, So true and everything.
Speaker 8 (19:59):
Yeah versus you know, now, every once in the blue moon,
I'll have a little tangle or something I go slightly wrong.
I just take a breath and usually it's fixed within
a matter of less than twenty you know, ten seconds.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, and I'm good to go again.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So pumpet Shows dot com again is where you can
find all the information. Franklin, I had a question because
the upcoming Toy Story movie, I think it's Toy Story
five comes out next summer.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I believe, Yeah, really excited and they're big, they're.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Big enemy evil. The antagonist in it is a tablet.
I mean the technology that you have to I guess
fight fight with to get.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
The attention of these kids.
Speaker 9 (20:41):
Yes, you know, there's actually opposite contrary thought. I think
there's a more of a renaissance with you know, AI
and the YouTube videos. I've got boys and they're always
watching YouTube videos and of course they're online gaming and stuff.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Parents, teachers, people out there.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
They want live entertainment. There's a real hunger for that.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Can you guys stick around for another segment because I
want to talk about that.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I think that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I think we're I think the pendulum has swung and
absolutely swinging back and I'm here for it.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Okay, we'll do that with.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Franklin and James here from Haines Marionettes. You can check
them out at puppet shows dot com and we'll talk
about that kind of a change in thought process when
it comes to entertaining your kids.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, by the way, booking now for the holiday events.
Their calendar is going to fill up, so go to
puppet shows dot com.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
I got three puppeteers that are looking forward.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Gary and Shannon will continue.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Do you want a.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Small business shout out on this Thursday? And we have
welcomed in Franklin and James from Haines Marionettes and you
can check them out at puppet shows dot com. They've
got holiday bookings available. And we were talking before the
break Franklin, who's been in this business game for forty
plus years, about how business kind of you know it
(22:05):
ebbs and flows, and it has taken a dip probably
like Gary was mentioning with the onset of kids tablets
and screens everywhere, but that you're noticing kind of a
resurgence of parents and teachers and people responsible for kids
programs that they want to move back towards live entertainment,
interactive entertainment, for kids that does not involve screens.
Speaker 9 (22:28):
Right, I think the part that is important is with
the tablets and the AI and just all this stuff
taking kids attention, they are getting further and further away
working with their own hands.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
You know, when I was a kid, I would love
to make puppets.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
You know, I wasn't taken away by video games and stuff,
and so something that's live and tangible that kids can
do is just critically important. And I think, you know,
the red flags are out when we see everybody, even adults,
on their cell phones and stuff, that we're just so isolated.
So as much as we can create an experience that's
(23:11):
live and where they can be a community together as
an audience and experience a shared experience, I think it's
swinging back like the people are realizing how critically important
that is, especially in this day and age of being
so isolated.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And you don't need a lot of technology to make
your first puppet. As I was saying that, I remember
in the fourth grade we would make puppets out of
lunch bags. Obviously thinking of the puppets that are made
with just hand, with just socks, so that those are
(23:48):
some of the simplest things that you can do you
don't need. I mean, marionettes are fantastic, but you start
getting three or four strings and there's more strings than
there are fingers, and you're having a hard time figuring
it out. Might be hard for a kid to understand that,
but you can start very simple.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Yeah, absolutely, that's how I did as well.
Speaker 9 (24:05):
You know, I remember my first puppet I ever made
was a g I Joe, which piece me a little bit.
And I remember taking my dad's fish in line and
taking Gi Joe and taking a knife and you know,
cutting them apart and putting them back together so he
could be floppy.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You know, so I could articulate him.
Speaker 9 (24:22):
And I would do you know, my first show in
my closet with in a cardboard box and you know,
doing for my aunts and uncles. My mom would tell
the oh, come on over, you guys got to see
a show, and I'd bring out this puppet.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (24:34):
But you know, you can start anywhere, and that that
to me is a red flag. Kids don't have that
opportunity to get out there and really create if they're
being taken away.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Or a supportive mom like you had.
Speaker 9 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Absolutely, my mom about like absolutely not put down the.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Podcast, No sooner, but just different than dage.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
But you know what, there's something to be said about
a desire for things to be real and to know
they're real. How often in recent days and weeks and
months have we looked at our phone and said, is
that real? There's that AI every day, every day and
it sucks and I hate that. And we're going to
be doing that forever. When you watch the magic of
(25:17):
puppetry and you know that that magic is real, that
is something that I think is at a premium these days.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
Yeah, no, absolutely, And actually, speaking of opportunity, we actually
have an opportunity for you guys. This is actually from
Saint Nick himself. Let me just get out of the
sleigh hold on. Oh Gary and Shannon puppets that we
get to make?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
What?
Speaker 8 (25:48):
So I have one for you?
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Oh my goodness, you might recognize the.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
People on, so they have their own Gary and Shannon
puppets to make. What it is?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
There's still lunch you're mentioning that, Oh wow, So then
I put my little face on there.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That is so cool.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So we can make our puppet and then we can
This is exciting.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It's a good thing that it's a good thing. We
did this towards the end of the show because she's
going to be distracted.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Put this face on the bag. Oh yeah, I do right,
Oh I color okay.
Speaker 9 (26:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
We do our shows.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
We have you know, different options where they can do
the show, and then afterwards we have an educational workshop
where we talk about the art, the science, and the
history of puppetry. And then we also have this puppet
making activity afterwards.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
So are you making your puppet yet?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I haven't started yet.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Now, still listening to the You want to hold that
up so you can see that that.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
One's me, just so you know that one's Shannon right there. Yeah.
Speaker 8 (26:49):
So basically we encourage kids to you know, use their
hands and get out of the screens and you know,
even something as simple as this, you know, for those
at home, we see we have these little paper handouts
where we have paper bag puppets with.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Gary and Shannon on there. It's very exclusive to KFI.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
You know, we have a limited We still have some
copies left, only like fifty left, so only if only
fifty limited edition.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
This is also a strange week because puppets actually made
the made national news this week because of the Jim Henson.
The studios that were here, they took that giant, twelve
foot tall Kermit the Frog and they're sending him to
Georgia at the at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
(27:38):
That's that's got to be a big deal for you
guys to see puppets in the news.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
I have always been a Jim Henson fan, and I
had a great opportunity to actually meet him before he
passed away. They have a national puppet orange what is
it called Puppeteers of America. He was the guest keynote
speaker the day, and so he was around the grounds
and so I was able to go up to him
(28:03):
and tell him what a big fan I was of him,
and then he ended up passing.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
It's funny that that Shannon used the word magic just
in terms of what it is that goes on.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Wow, that was really fast.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
That has some great artwork there.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Fantastic the marionettes in the way that you are able
to manipulate them. There is a magic to that in
that I think a lot of people don't understand the
dexterity that it requires, and there are things that you
can make those marionettes do that would probably blow people's minds.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
How in the world. It's like a card trick almost.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, it's I mean, I know how a lot of
card tricks are done, but I would never be able
to actually physically manipulate a deck of cards to spit
out four aces or something like that.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It does take practice.
Speaker 9 (28:48):
We actually have marionettes that blow bubbles, believe it or not. Wow,
marionettes that are on a trap piece that actually do
flips and cool.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (28:57):
So one of the magical parts about our shows is
that they are interactive in that and they do things
to the music right in front of the kids, and
those kinds of tricks like juggling.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I mean, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
I also want to chime into a lot of people
and they think of puppets. They think, okay, just kids shows,
which obviously we're catered towards children, but adults have a
lot of fun with it too, actually, sometimes even more
than the kids.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
All kids who are we kidding?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
On the testimonials page on the website, one of the
one of I think the greatest lines is the even
the parents wanted to stay around and watch.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
That's a great, Gary, my puppet is lonely and too.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
We need a fellow Gary puppet.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
It needs a co host.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, he's just blank so far at this point. I'll
work on it during the break.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Also a fun fact, we actually do have one adult
puppet show. Oh no, no, no, what. It's kind of
hidden on our site. It's not as popular because obviously
we're catered towards kids, but it is pretty fun. It
has like a lot of like kind of political humor
in it too, and curt comments and stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
Puppets at night. Yeah, that's let's call it Puppets after dark.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Great again.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Puppet shows dot Com is where you're gonna find Franklin
Hayes marionettes pulling heartstrings since nineteen eighty five. All of
the ways that the different shows that you have how
to book all the public shows are listed there as
well under the come see us tab that you can
find there puppet shows dot Com on all.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
The costumes, by the way, are stellar. They are professionally
designed constructed by a former Disney designer, so it is
top notch puppetry. Go check them out. Puppet Shows dot Com.
Happy holidays, guys, Hey, thank you, thank you. For having
me me okay.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Thanks for spending your holidays with Gary and Shannon Show.
You're listening to some of the best of over the
last couple of weeks and months. And thanks to everybody
for putting this together for us so that we could
take a couple of days off.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Yeah do it.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, we can't do it, so we need other people
to do it. You've been listening to The Gary and
Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on KFI
AM six forty nine am to one pm every Monday
through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Gary and Shannon News
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.