Bonus: The Mellifluous, Mesmerizingly Masculine Voices of Podcastica

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[00:00:43] Mesmerizingly Masculine

[00:00:44] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:17] I'm Jason. I'm Eric. And I'm Jonathan. I'm Greg. And I'm Alex. And this is a very special episode of our normally Patreon-exclusive listener Chit Chat series. It's the mellifluous, mesmerizingly masculine voices of Podcastica. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. That was pretty magnificent. That was delightful.

[00:01:49] Hello. Hello. We should have done an octave check. It's all right though. Bravo. So, um, this is just gonna be kind of a fun chat with a fairly random smorgasbord of topics, but first I did want to just start off with some stuff about you guys as related to podcasting. So I was hoping you could each say a little bit about your history with Podcastica, like what drew you to it in the first place and what podcasts you've hosted. All right. All right.

[00:02:16] Well, I guess I'll go ahead and start since, uh, I'm probably the oldest one or at least the ones, uh, oldest in terms of, uh, how long I've been along the ride with podcasts, pre podcastica. Really? Uh, I, of course, for those of you who don't know, I'm Eric used to be known as Mr. Blog, uh, previous to meeting Jason and, uh, all these kinds of things. I was writing a blog. I got bored one day at work and I, I didn't have anybody to talk to about inception. That's how far back that went.

[00:02:46] And, and something else I wanted to babble about. Nobody wanted to talk to me about it. So I, damn it, I'm just going to talk to the internet then. And I asked my mom or my mom. Oh my God. My wife. That's a little edible. That's that's the two could not be more different. But, uh, ask my wife. Is this going live? Give me a, give me a, give me a name. She came, she's the one that came up with Mr. Blog and BLA H. Cause I just talked all the time that it worked. So blah, blah, blah.

[00:03:16] And, uh, I was started doing reviews of podcasts. And one of the ones that I started listening to was the walking dead cast. I happen to like hearing Jason and Karen. And I'm like, oh man, this guy lives near me. They're about my same age. Oh, Hey, Jason got an elliptical and I just got an elliptical too. And so I wrote a review of the podcast and then I, I sent a letter to Jason. There was a lot of similarities there. There were definitely some similarities.

[00:03:43] And, and at the same time I wanted to do, I was, I already did a little podcast. The Mr. Blog cast has sucked five episodes disappeared into the ether. But I'm like, oh, I want to do a game of Thrones one. So I was like, Hey, Karen, you want to do a game of Thrones one? And, uh, that's how I ended up meeting Jason and Karen. And that was really early on. And, uh, yeah. And then you, you went on to do a, well, then we did a few times. And yeah, I came on your show a few times with the walking dead.

[00:04:12] We talked about game of Thrones. We talked about the last of us. We talked about world war Z, uh, some other fun topics that were always a good time. And then eventually you hooked up myself and grace and other listener to start covering the comic book as it was coming out monthly, uh, on a little segment that we were calling under the comic cover. Do we do? We didn't love that. It was under the car. It was, it was right. Oh, it was so good. I love that. You're welcome. And, uh, yeah.

[00:04:41] So after a while of doing that, then grace and I were like, Hey, we want to talk about more things than just the walking dead man. We'd like to talk about saga and copperhead and other books that were coming out at the time. Uh, so we branched off, did that for a little over four years and yeah, then I kind of just disappeared for a while. Then came back with some last of us and disappeared for another while and came back with last of us for season two. And here we are.

[00:05:06] And that podcast under the comic covers, it's all still out there. All still available. Yeah. Find it on podcast to go.com. If anybody wants to go back. I still subscribe to us. If it really pops back up, then it's still in my queue. There you go. That's so cool. I, I, there were a couple of times that I really wanted to do something and I did reach out to grace. Um, but, but she wasn't into it. So I'm like, all right, that's, we're just going to let it lie then. But say lovey. I was glad you came back for the last blast.

[00:05:36] Thanks. Me too. It's been fun to hear. It's been a lot of fun to listen to as a fan. That's a good one. Right on. Thank you, Jonathan. How about you? Well, um, I've said many times that, uh, I joined the podcast crew from a, a voicemail I sent in about the heartfelt finale to season two of the Mandalorian when Luke Skywalker came, uh, came in and surprised. And I was not spoiled for that. And I sat there with tears streaming down my eyes when that happened.

[00:06:06] And then I got online and saw every, like all the reaction videos. And so I put in my own, own one and, and then Jason just very kindly asked me on a couple of episodes. And, uh, and then I think the first one I, I, I came on was, uh, Kenobi. I think it was. Mm-hmm. And, and then, and then, then volunteered to do Andor, which was fantastic. And then, you know, like, what was it? 10 years later, season two came around and we did that.

[00:06:35] And, and then we did, um, a circus with James and, and Kristen, which is great fun as well. And, um, yeah, so I, I've accidentally become a bit of a star Wars guy, but was with podcast and listening from way earlier, you know, early walking dead, probably from the very beginning, I think. And I think it came over from the talking dead guys as well. I think you guessed it on one of those. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:03] And, um, yeah, and I've been listening a lot and just, it's been really great to see the whole network grow and grow and grow and grow. And, and to be part of it, I've, I've really enjoyed it. Although the editing, I've actually, I've managed to cut it, cut that down. Yeah. Yeah. If I'm about three or four hours rather than 10. Well, I hearing this and hasn't listened to, uh, and, or you, you should check it out

[00:07:32] just to hear, uh, Jonathan's great editing, putting all the star Wars sound effects in there and just thoroughly enthusiastic about it. Yeah. Really enjoyed that. That's been brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I now have like this whole, um, you know, folder with so many, um, very specific, uh, uh, star Wars sound effects that I can just add to things and things. Yeah. I just, I got really good.

[00:07:58] And I want to talk about that later that I got very carried away with it in the, in the middle of the Ahsoka series where it was just, I'm just putting it in. If you ever do another series, you can just use the star Wars sound effects anyway. It's fine. That's so true. Yeah. My favorite one was, uh, uh, was when people, when, cause James and Kristen used to argue a bit about things. And, and so I put jewel of the fates underneath. That's right. That's so funny. That's awesome.

[00:08:28] Greg, what about you? Um, so the first podcast I ever listened to was breaking bad. Uh, and I was just like, Oh, somebody told me about podcasts. Oh, Hey, cool. So I find the breaking bad podcast with Vince Gilligan, like the official one. And I was like, Oh, so this is literally every podcast. And, uh, it's phenomenal. It's like, every podcast must be like this. So then I finished breaking bad. And then I started walking, watching walking dead. And, uh, I found you guys.

[00:08:57] So I was like, these people don't work on the show. What's going on? I don't know what's going on. So, and then I like listened to a bunch of others and like, Oh, Oh, that one just happened to be, you know, the official one. Um, but so I listened to, started listening to Jason and Karen probably 2013, 2014. Um, and then did a whole bunch of stuff with the Navy. And then around, around, I think it was COVID actually, no, it was right before my son was

[00:09:27] born in 2019. I joined the picture because I was like, all right, I'm back from going to see. And, uh, I can actually, you know, get something for my five or $10 a month or whatever. And, uh, so then, you know, the pandemic hits and I've gotten to know people. I remember I was like on my, the iPad texting people in the hospital when Ryan was being born. And, uh, and the nurses are like, is he do what's he doing? Like, Oh, he's just doing stuff.

[00:09:56] And, uh, and so once the pandemic hit, so we're all stuck in our houses and I'm like listening to podcast after podcast, after I'm like, Oh, I wonder what, I wonder if I could do this. And so I talked to Jason and so me and Kat did a Patriot exclusive and this was bad. It was bad. Zero editing. Like I was doing it with no microphone. I was doing like for the crappy microphone on literally this computer.

[00:10:26] And, uh, and so in like, we weren't doing individual tracks. It was really, really bad. Um, but, uh, but so we did dispatches from elsewhere and then Jason was kind enough to release it on, uh, Patreon. And I was like, I got the bug. And then I was, it was kind of like, Oh, what's coming up with this? Oh, uh, yeah. I mean, I don't know if you guys have anybody available or whatever, but you know, it's maybe cool.

[00:10:51] And, uh, I think the first one that I did was, uh, I can't remember if it was extraordinary or she Hulk or, or what it was, but it was one of them. Um, but at this point we've done like me and Penny have done, she hooked together. We've done extraordinary, uh, wheel of time, you know, RIP, um, started with Ben and Wendy and, uh, and then finished with Veronica the last couple of seasons.

[00:11:20] And I like, this is something that I, I genuinely am like, uh, I never would have had the capability to do this with young children. And, and if I couldn't do it literally from my house. And I mean, and that's, and that would never have happened without the super crazy supportive group of people in the, the podcast community community. Like it's, it's been awesome. And I'm still jonesing for more.

[00:11:49] What, one thing, uh, we're going to be doing, uh, something with welcome to dairy coming up. So that's going to be the, that's going to be a cool thing. Uh, one thing about you, that's, I would say different than the other guys here is there was a very particular era of all of this when, well, it was the pandemic.

[00:12:14] And a lot of us would get together several times a week, I think there for a while and just play games and shoot the shit. And that really got me through that period. Uh, cause I would have been lonely as fuck if not for you guys. So you, you were right in the middle of all that too. That was pretty fun.

[00:12:37] Uh, I would say for me that entire, like, I want to say COVID was a good thing because it obviously wasn't because hundreds of thousands of millions of people died. But, um, uh, but like it, for me, like socially, I, I didn't have any friends here. I'd like, you know, was living an hour from my work and it was, it was a rough time for me.

[00:12:57] And, uh, you know, the Zed heads in particular, but podcast, all of you guys helped me get through that along with finding passion for stuff. And that was, it was, I mean, I will be incredibly grateful for a long time about it, but, uh, the friendships, but the real prizes were the friendships that we made all along the way. The improvements we made along the way, excuse me. Hey, Greg, what mic are you using right now? By the way, it sounds a little like roomy or yeah.

[00:13:29] Oh, sorry. It's a, it's a, it's a Yeti. Um, I also am in my thing. You're connected to the right one for sure. What's up? Like if you get closer and say something better or a bit closer. Oh no, I think you might be the computer. Are you sure the zoom is, uh, picking up the right one? Hmm. Uh, that is an excellent question. Um, but, uh, I think that any better sounds better, right? That's a lot better. Yeah. Sorry about that. No, it's okay.

[00:13:59] Just wanted to get that full resonance. Yeah. I thought I had a deep voice. Right. Right. Am I on the ride to sleep? Yeah. Oh my God. There's this dude that works at a grocery store near me. He's gotta be, I don't know, six, eight, six, nine. The dude's just huge. And he's got this voice that matches it. And it just makes me feel like this tiny little insect. I'm like, Oh my God. Don't hurt me.

[00:14:25] Alex, you're the, the one that's gotten, uh, involved the most recently, as far as I know, but you've been listening for a bit here, right? What, how did you get involved with all this? So I never watched a millisecond of the walking dead until the pandemic hit. And then two months in, I was like, all right, let's go, uh, bomb through it. I mean, just burned right through it. Absolutely adored it. When, and, um, I had also gotten into the fake doctors, real friends podcast, uh, Don phase on Zach Braff.

[00:14:54] And I was like, all right, is there a podcast for the walking dead? And I literally typed into Google best walking dead podcast and, and you guys showed up. So I started listening and I caught up real quick. I did not have the testicular fortitude to leave, uh, uh, feedback for the longest time. I was just a creeper, man. I was just enjoying the show. Um, and honestly, at that point I had a lot of episodes to catch up to, but I really enjoyed the different cavalcade of hosts.

[00:15:21] Again, Eric, I knew you as Mr. Blog, uh, back in 2020 when you weren't Mr. Blog, but whatever, I didn't know. Yeah. You know? Um, and then that got me into, to Ben Beck. So I started listening to the revisited podcast on Ted Lasso and lost with him and Kristen. That got me into Ben's Wilhelm podcast, which got me into my very first podcast where we did top five baseball movies. Um, and I just, I got the fix. I fell in love with podcasting. I adored it.

[00:15:46] So, uh, one of my buddies and I talk for a good two hours every night while watching the Phillies games anyways, and decide, Hey man, let's, let's do a Phillies podcast. So, um, we're on our second year now and thoroughly enjoying it. What is it called? Uh, it's the, the quit chasing podcast. So we see ourselves more of a show. We are the absurdist take on sports radio. We do not, we do not follow the lines of the Bozo radio show.

[00:16:13] Um, we kind of, we enjoy it in a, in a way that would make FX proud. Um, so that's, it's been a lot of fun. You know, we do crazy games and skits. It's, it's a good time. Um, and then, so yeah, I've been on a couple of the revisited podcasts. In fact, Greg, I was on the finale of Ted Lasso with, with, uh, you and Steve Brown and Ben and Kristen. That was awesome. Yeah. It was a ton of fun. That was a good time. And then right now I am on the dead city coverage with Ben.

[00:16:42] And that is, uh, that is a very interesting show that it is a, it is a show that is on AMC and we are watching it and covering it. And it is an interesting show. You need some sound effects. I can send some, just a, just a very, very meandering growl from a zombie would be great. Uh, but yeah, that's pretty much my story. That's, that's a to Z. Nice. Yes. Oh, and Cobra Kai. That's where I kind of got to know you the most. You called into that one.

[00:17:11] I had a lot of fun. And then the final season of Cobra Kai after I had like gotten a little bit of chutzpah and like, you know, I was feeling myself in this podcast thing. And I started pitching alternate, uh, spinoff opportunities at the end of each show. And I really enjoyed challenging myself to elevate it every time. It was a good time. You had a couple of good ones in there. I'll tell you what the eighties montage, like hit of the week. I really enjoyed that one. I really enjoyed that one.

[00:17:33] So I have a bunch of questions, but I was, uh, you know, instead of it being where I just ask something and each one of you answers, I thought maybe I just asked something and you guys can chat. Or I also asked you guys if you wanted to bring any topics. Is anyone excited to bring up a topic? I don't have anything. I'm letting you kick this off. I want to see your, I got it. I got plenty. I just wanted to. Okay. I'll get, I'll get comfortable as.

[00:18:01] So I just wondered, um, all right, I'll just throw this out here. What, why not? What is the best and the worst star Wars movie and why go ahead? Oh man. Um, who wants to take this? I mean, I'll, I'll, I'll do it fine. Uh, be honest. No, no problem. I mean, I, I best right now. I'm a little bit torn, but I'm still going to stick with the empire strikes back.

[00:18:31] Although part of me wants to say rogue one at this point. Um, worst attack of the clones. Um, or maybe rise of Skywalker. We could debate that. Okay. Yeah. I'm coming in on this one, Jason, because I know we agree on this one. There were star Wars movie that broke the fandom and, and, and soiled my force awakens. I want to hear it. Force awakens. Okay.

[00:18:58] It was the last, it wasn't the last Jedi, Ryan, Ryan Johnson. The last Jedi was the one for you. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah. And my favorite was, was is star Wars is that complete hero. Well, now he said best, which is where I'll say the empire strikes back. Yeah. Favorite. I'm with you. Star Wars. Okay. Yeah. Like I love that the whole heroes journey was a complete movie. And you're, you're right. Best.

[00:19:25] I would go with, um, uh, with empire, but, but, uh, you know, I saw it when I was 10 years old at the movies, didn't know anything about a perfect time. That's why I'm a lifelong fan fan and it hit everything. And it kind of set up my moral, uh, my moral guidance. 100%. Yeah, no, I mean, I was five, I was five when star Wars came out and it was like, from that moment on, I cared about almost nothing else.

[00:19:54] And it was just like, Oh, this is my world. And then I was 11 and 83 and it was like, okay, that chapter of my life is now done. It was my world. And you're right. It gave me kind of the basis for my moral code, uh, what I believe to be kind of right and wrong and, and all these sorts of things. And, you know, I set it aside for things like girls and music and, and, and other nefarious things in my life until then all of a sudden 99, it's like, what do you mean? It's coming back.

[00:20:22] Oh, what a glorious and then disappointing thing. Yeah. So, so that's where I'm going to come in. That's where I'm going to do it because I, I born in 1987 was a child of that second generation. So my, I know I saw the original, uh, three piece VHS set when I was a kid, but my first real connection was when it was re-released in theaters. And I know everybody hates the job of seeing, but my 10 year old ass thought that was super cool. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[00:20:52] Having said that it's clearly empire is, is the best. It is one of the best standalones. It has such a good story. Um, what it sets up and what it ties up from going from, from Hoth all the way to where it ends. It's perfect. My least favorite because it has so many teeth and no toothbrush is solo solo has such an opportunity to do something. And it chose to do absolutely nothing.

[00:21:20] You had Donald Glover, you had Paul Bettany, you had Amelia Clark. How did this fail? And it just, it didn't land. And that's a travesty. So for me, solo is the worst of all the movies. Hmm. Wasn't Woody Harrelson in that too? Sure. What sure was. Yeah. Sure was. Sure was. I, I found it entertaining. It's fine. It's fine. You know what? That's fair, but did it live up to the rest? It made the mistake of coming right after the last Jedi.

[00:21:49] And it was like, and it wasn't like a year after it was like, I don't know, five or six months after. And I think that just suffered for that. I boycotted it. I'm like, I'm after the, after the moment that I saw Luke Skywalker toss his lightsaber over his shoulder. I, it was done for two years. I I'm like, I'm sitting there in the theater and I'm just hating the whole movie. And it's a ruining star Wars for me as I, as I'm, I'm watching it. And I can't believe.

[00:22:18] And then when you look back at it all, like there was no overarching story. They, they, they just didn't seem to care. And then they could have made so much money, but yeah. See, and I'm the, I'm the fool that I, if somebody puts a plate of star Wars in front of me, I'm eating and I'm sitting here and I'm, I'm pretending or I'm not pretending. I'm believing I am loving this at that particular moment. And it isn't until like a few days later after I've been puking and, and, and shitting myself because it really did make me pretty sick.

[00:22:48] I reflect on it and go like, Oh wow. My wife likes to, to make fun of me for being a phantom menace apologist back in 99 line where I was like, look, this is, it's for children. It always has been for children. You know, I was a child when I was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, without just being like, Oh no, no, you're right. Charge our success. But you know, what do you get? The only star Wars movie that I did, I wasn't like that with was rise of Skywalker.

[00:23:15] Because at that point I was just so fed up with the whole thing. You were fucking force awakens. You weren't happy with either. Yeah. But it took me a couple of days. Okay. I mean, we have that on record, you know, that's kind of the lights came up in, in, in the last Jedi and I'm just like yelled out. That was terrible. And the guy next to me was loving it. And I couldn't like, are we watching the same film? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:45] Can I ask you guys a question out of 11 movies? How many of them did you like? Three, six. I think three. Well, you've got, well, you've got, that's not a great bad idea. Oh no, no. I'm sorry. The, the, the spinoffs too. You're right. So you're solo and rogue one. I like solo. Okay. Rogue one. I loved. And I, right.

[00:24:13] Uh, last yet as my favorite of the sequel trilogy. So six, I mean, six out of 11 is not bad, but it's damn. It's only a little bit over 500 for one of the most storied franchises in, in cinematic history. I just, I think it's phenomenal that they can have that many misses and still get all of us to check out every piece of IP. They damn well give us. I also came to appreciate the prequels more later on, especially after the clone war series and the sequel trilogy made me like the prequels more.

[00:24:42] Well, all the, all the lightsaber battles in, in the prequels were amazing, you know, from, from, you know, Darth Maul and, and then the general Grievous one. And then of course the last one with Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ewan McGregor was such a perfect Obi-Wan. Oh God. Yes. Yeah. There's good stuff in every Star Wars movie, except for the rise of Skywalker. Yeah. Let me ask, let me ask you guys a question.

[00:25:09] When you show your children Star Wars, what order do you go in? I didn't give a shit about it. Any of them. I did it in release order. Release. Release order. So four, five, six, one, two, three, seven, nine. I just think whether you, I wasn't supposed to be talking here, but I can't help it. But you're here, man. Oh, come on. When you, when, you know, you release things out of chronological order, you still build on what came before as a filmmaker.

[00:25:36] And, and so those moments hit based on what you already knew, even if you saw it out of chronological order. Yeah. We went four, five, six, one, two, three. They, they, they were great for four, five, six after one, it was real tough to get through the next two, but Ray brought the girls back around, which was nice. Well, and I will say now with and or being completed, um, haven't, haven't watched season two yet. So, okay.

[00:26:01] Well, I will not spoil anything except I will say season one and season two leading into rogue one makes rogue one substantially better. And so help me God, it makes star Wars substantially better because I watched all of that in a row afterwards. And all of a sudden certain things that I never thought we would ever either get an answer to or ever needed and ever even thought we wanted an answer to are suddenly kind of answered. And it was just so good.

[00:26:30] There are elements of season two that are so incredibly well done. And I got to say, Jonathan, I did just recently go back and after finishing and or I went to go listen, uh, to your guys, yours and James coverage of it. So you, you have been in my ear, uh, lately. Uh, I haven't been able to finish all, all, especially the earlier ones because I'd already finished it. Also, as you guys are speculating on certain things, I'm like, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:26:59] So I've all been there. Uh, yeah. So forward for him to go over to the next episode. See what this. Yeah. I really, I was, I was, yeah. The first two arcs. I'm just like, come on. But then I knew it would all come. Yeah. You know, they were, they were keeping the powder dry. And then the last six episodes were, were just, it actually renewed my faith in stars. You know, I thought they can do this. It's not impossible.

[00:27:28] You can make great stars. That's what star Wars do. They, they disappoint you. And then they give you that little something to string you along. Yes. And there it is. They can't. Yes. They can't. Will they, will they, will they do this? Or is the Mandalorian just going to tie back to Luke Skywalker again? Anyways. Well, they did, but, but you look at and or, and you can actually say, well, they did. They, they, they, they, they, they did it. You know, they did. Yeah. Can they do it? Now the question is, can they do it again?

[00:27:54] I'm pretty hopeful for the Mandalorian movie because I love the series and even season three, which I will admit, or I will grant people who say it wasn't as good. Absolutely not. But it had some great moments. Yes. It was still better than most star Wars series by far in my opinion. Yeah. So I'm very much looking for, and I think Jon Favreau just doing a movie. He's going to be great. Yes. Yes. I do wish to say one negative thing here.

[00:28:21] If Robert Rodriguez ever touches star Wars again, that's where I riot because his episodes of the book of Boba Fett, they were real bad. That like just offended me to my core. I mean, just the, and, and I, I really like a God. Who's the girl that's in a yellow jackets. Sophie Thatcher. Sophie Thatcher. That's it. Oh, she's in this cool. And they give her the dumb Vespa mod gang. Oh, my. Slow speeds. Slow speeds.

[00:28:51] Chase through that slow motion chase. Oh, I still got it. All right. I've lost faith in Jon Favreau. It's going to suck. Yeah. I think Jon Favreau from what I understand was a bit sidelined in that third series. Oh, really? And, and, and I think. Cause what's his name came in. Yeah. And so I'm hoping that, that like, they just get the team back together from, from season one and two for this film. And John's in charge. Yeah, he will. I'm sure he will.

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[00:29:49] Let's move off of star Wars. Hold on. Hold on. I have not heard Greg. That's true. Greg, you've been rather quiet. Um, so I am, I'm kind of between y'all's generations, right? So, uh, some of you, you, most of you guys are, are solidly in gen X and Alex is like solidly in the millennial. And I am, I'm a zennial, right? I was born in 1979. So I was born after star Wars came out.

[00:30:18] It was already in the zeitgeist before I gained real consciousness. Um, so, but I watched it all. Yeah, I was, I watched it all before, you know, when, when Alex went to go see, you know, uh, a phantom menace in 2000 or whatever year it was. Um, I mean, I was, I just graduated from high school. So I was like reaching my majority and thought that I actually knew stuff.

[00:30:46] Um, but those movies transported me back to the wonder of star Wars because it wasn't cemented in my head as this is what is awesome about star Wars. And, and so for me, I don't like using the phrase or the word best. I understand that was the question, but for me, because it was a culmination, my favorite

[00:31:13] star Wars movie is revenge of the Seth because the action, the action absolutely led up to like all of the history and all the, and yes, the pod racing was silly and Jar Jar was a moron. And was he in fact, a Sith Lord who was just trying to ambush the, the, the, I mean, yeah, so like, but yes, I saw Jar Jar Binks at 20. I'm like, look at this goofy bastard. Like that's so ridiculous, blah, blah, blah. But I didn't go.

[00:31:43] What a horrible character. What a stain on my innocence of star Wars. Like that, that wasn't me. So, so for me, they're like the third trilogy. Or the, I get, what is it? The, the sequels. I didn't really give a shit like force awakens, last Jedi and rise of Skywalker. Like I watched them. And then at rise of Skywalker, I was like, really Palpatine's back. Like what is happening?

[00:32:12] And I just like, I just was like, okay, whatever. I don't, I don't care. So to me, Eric has his, his Lego Jar Jar, uh, Sith Lords. This is a literal Darth Jar Jar, uh, minifig comes with a dark Falcon. But so, but so for me, Rogue one was like the first, uh, like dramatic entry because the prequels were kind of so silly.

[00:32:40] Um, solo was kind of, I mean, I don't remember what, what the order was that they came out. I think like Rogue one was like 2017 and solo was like 2020, 2019, something like that. Anyway, um, solo was, it was like a fun jaunt and it had a bunch of actors that I love and I wasn't crazy disappointed, but I was, I was kind of like, I didn't really care for whoever the dude was who played Han. I can't remember what his name is now, but, uh, but like Alden Emmerich, Aldrich, Aldrich something.

[00:33:10] Yeah. Alden, elder scrolls. Exactly. That's the point. Oblivion. How can Han Solo be forgettable? The rest of the cast was right. The rest of the cast was amazing. And the rest of the story and the side characters and Lando and, and all of the side, all the side stuff was so rich that yeah, at the end of it, I was kind of like, okay, you know, it was, it was a movie. I wish I liked it more, but you know, whatever. Um, but yeah, like I would say probably rogue one was because it was the best.

[00:33:39] Culmination and like, oh, this is like filling potholes and, and, and, and all that. But for me, I would say that the best movie theater experience that I had was star Wars was revenge of the Sith and seeing the, the, the chamber explode out as Darth Vader comes to life. And I mean, I have chills just thinking about how I felt at that particular moment. I imagine it's how people felt at the end in the theater, at the end of the empire strikes back.

[00:34:09] But unfortunately that was not, we felt like shit at the end of empire. It's over. I came out a little confused. I mean, like, what galaxy are they looking at? What are they looking at? That's my hot steak on star Wars. So the, uh, the number. I loved rogue one. Yeah. And, and, and revenge of the Sith I'd loved, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:37] Of the prequels that is by far the, the, the shining star. Yeah. I mean, I thought that I thought that attack of the clones was okay. It was like, okay, cool. Get me to the last movie and get me a little bit more payback and whatnot. But like to me that you and McGregor and grievous chase, and then the filling in of the cartoon network video or movie of the, of like why grievous has the lung problem. And like, there was so many things that were just like, Oh my God, that's awesome.

[00:35:06] I know a lot of people talk about the talk about issues with the, the, uh, not the animated series, but the, uh, like the, the two part movie. Um, but I didn't, I loved it. It filled in holes. And I was like, since I was, it was never, there was never like a Bible for me. It was always just like, Oh, this is cool. Nice. That's all right. So, yeah, uh, I, I am not the, I'm not the, I'm not the, I'm not the, I'm not the, I'm not the I am a huge star Wars fan. I am not a star Wars fanatic.

[00:35:36] Um, well you, you came of age when being a star Wars fan was really not the coolest thing in the world. Yeah. Really not. I probably wasn't talking about star Wars, but it also wasn't recent enough when I was in high school for it to be popular. Like I was probably another five or six years. Exactly. Yeah. When, when return of the Jedi, uh, was released.

[00:35:58] So yeah, it, it just made more sense for me to be like, Hey, my parents watch it and I watch it at home and you know, people will talk about it. But, uh, in general, it's, it was a thing. One thing that it's done over the years is just created this fertile ground for a lot of strong and varied opinions for sure. That's a fact. Which is interesting, but I want to not just have this be a star Wars podcast. So let's move on to some walking dead. Uh, cause walking dead is kind of what brought everybody together.

[00:36:28] And I want to ask what is the best thing about the walking dead? Like what made it special when it was special for you, if it's not anymore. And then if you feel like talking about where it went wrong, you can talk a little bit about that too, but I want to focus first on, you know, what would you love about it? All right, I'm going to go. So the thing that I loved about the walking dead was I was stuck in my house for the unforeseeable future. And there were like 10 seasons of hour long episodes to watch. No, the thing I loved was that.

[00:36:58] Yes, it was a zombie based show, but it was absolutely a people based show. I know that's the, the generic call line, yada, yada. Oh, it's about people, but it really was. And it was really good performances, man. Like Andy Lincoln. Um, um, I'm blanking on Shane, but Shane, thank you. I love that you knew I was blanking on Bernthal even without me saying, Shane, thank you. But it was really good storytelling. I even didn't mind the, the farm because I was able to like blast right through it.

[00:37:26] I wasn't, I wasn't some sucker waiting every week for the next installment. I was able to just go right through all the way to the whisperers. Um, and I think that really helped my experience of not giving up and knowing to just keep on plowing through. So for me, for the walking dead, it was like, I really just want to know what happens next. Like what happens with Daryl and Carol? What happens with Maggie? What happens with all these people I've, I've learned to love and care about.

[00:37:51] So for me, it's, it's the storytelling easily top that I'll go with it. It was, it was, uh, the apocalypse and to be able to live in the apocalypse and to have it taken seriously and to see all their methods.

[00:38:09] And my, my, my, one of my favorite episodes is the, the opening of season three or four, when they finally got their mojo and they clear that house and they're all organized. They're no longer afraid and they've worked things out. They've got their methods and they've got their styles. And, and I binged the first two seasons as well. So the farm didn't bother me at all.

[00:38:34] And, uh, but then it was week to week, but it was also finding, you know, these shows are so much better when you find a podcast. And so I was in, I was in and watching everything and all the characters got great. And I loved the Negan episodes as well. And, uh, it was only when, uh, when Glenn got his, you know, his brains knocked out and, and Mal, uh, what was it? I love you with one eye hanging out.

[00:39:01] And I thought that was fantastic, but it basically lost every female, uh, viewer. Well, many of them, because I didn't realize that like all the boys in the walking dead were all heartthrobs as well.

[00:39:16] And, and that, uh, let me tell you, if you go to a Walker Stalker con, you know, back in around that, maybe six months in there, uh, you would see a line of women standing in ready to just not ask a question to JD Morgan, but propose marriage to him. I mean, Dan Josh McDermott. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:37] But, oh no, it was, it's so disturbing to see, yeah, to see the way women, especially middle-aged women behaving towards these actors was really seriously uncomfortable. I mean, I've seen the way men act around Jerry, seven, nine. So I feel like this is like, this is like, there's a sense of absolute permission and entitlement of like, oh no, I'm going to grab your crotch right now.

[00:40:05] And I was like, whoa, magic mic of it. It's bad. It was really, it's kind of rough, man. I mean, that kind of leads like, so with my walking dead experience, um, my wife and I have always been huge horror fans. We always loved the zombie genre in general. Uh, so all of a sudden I was already starting to read comics after watchmen and this kind of thing. And then I find out, Hey, this, uh, show is coming to AMC, the walking dead. I'm like, oh, I've heard of it. Let me go check out the comics. And I bought the first, uh, big old hardcover volume.

[00:40:34] And my wife's like, oh, that looks cool. And even she doesn't read comics, but she got into reading this. And I think this is right either after the pilot came out or just before. I don't even remember it. So we were all in right, right at the get go. And I fell in love with the comics, uh, plowed through everything up until to get current within, I don't know, a few days or whatever it was. Oh, wow. And it was hilarious even to have my wife being like, well, how many more books are there? And I'm like, I don't know, six or seven, you know, again, the full large annuals.

[00:41:03] And she's like, well, we'll just go get them all. Okay. So I went and got them all, you know, and we just got ourselves all cut up. So we've ever, we, absolutely. We really, we really did. Uh, we did enjoy the show for, I mean, I, I, I did not even mind the, the, the farm. I mean, at that point I had a buddy that was getting killed on there. I enjoyed it. Uh, people love the farm. I mean, yeah, I, me having that not be one of my favorite seasons.

[00:41:33] I'm kind of the odd man out there. Yeah. Yeah. But I think so. I mean, it was not the best momentum from since season one. No, I mean, uh, listeners would write in and say that was their favorite season after the whole show was over sometimes. So I think the opinions vary, but, uh, I don't, you probably heard me talk shit about it so much that you think that that's what the general consensus is. I don't think that's a good point. That's not God. That is a very solid point. Uh, but I, I honestly, I don't know.

[00:42:02] Maybe it's also one of those. It's like the season two of the wire after you've watched it three or four times and you see it within all the other pieces. You're like, ah, no, no, on the rewatch. I mean, this rewatch has been so cool and going back through season two, I still felt it had some of the same problems, but I liked a lot more and especially appreciated Bernthal because he's gone on to do all these great things. Love this Punisher. Sure. Just, I appreciated his, uh, performance a lot more also back then. I think I kind of had a chip on my shoulder about Daryl or something.

[00:42:31] I wasn't appreciating Daryl, but then after we'd watched the Daryl show and just, you know, seeing everything that he did in later seasons, I went back and had a much bigger appreciation for his character. So it was, it was a pleasure to go back. Like, and so this is where Jason and I were, where I think you and I are kind of in a similar thing where all of a sudden my involvement in the walking dead, but in terms of like our dealings with the walking dead really changed with Walker stalker con.

[00:42:58] And even you and I going Jason, you and I going down to San Diego comic con and having that very first, uh, live podcast with the Walker stalkers, uh, where we met big tiny and, and some of the actors for the first time. They drank big tiny drank up all the profits. Dude. He was, he was in sinners. Did you know that? No, I didn't know that. Yeah. Really? Big tiny's, uh, he's the, uh, at the very end of the movie, he's the doorman that brings a couple folks to see the old dude.

[00:43:27] So I'm not going to spoil anything. Yeah. So big tiny, he's a little less big or a little less big tiny. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's a little smaller. Um, yeah, he drank all the profits for the place and made Pialani very uncomfortable, really fun night. It was great. He was a little, but, uh, so yeah, suddenly we became way more involved in terms of, you know, Walker stalker cons and getting to meet all these, the actors and moderating panels with, uh, Scott Wilson or, you know, talking about the magic shotgun with the man.

[00:43:57] Uh, or Jason, you being a zombie in the damn season and all this one killed by that shotgun. Exactly. And so it, it, it just full circle. It became such a, uh, an all encompassing part of our life for a period of time, you know? Um, yeah. So that, that was, that was just something else we had. We, we did some fun stuff. I don't know.

[00:44:22] It was fun on the podcast to be able to be like, um, oh yeah, I, I saw him the other day when we were talking about the show, you know? Like, oh yeah, I'll ask him when the next time I get a chance or whatever like that, that was, I knew. And I, I would remind myself at the time, you know, this is not normal and it's not going to last. So enjoy it while it lasts. I mean, the, the number of times we would, we would moderate a panel with Rooker for Christ's sakes. It was just the, just so much fun.

[00:44:51] And you were just sitting there on stage. At one point I'm sitting on, on the dugout at Petco park in San Diego, uh, moderating with, with Rooker and he's pacing back and forth like the lion that he is on stage. And just, you know, and he, he takes over, he does everything. You don't have to do a damn thing. Modern. It's just, you're sitting there going, wow, this, this isn't really cool, man. This is something else. Yeah. Greg, what about you?

[00:45:18] So, uh, I'm just going to just chime in on season two real quick. Um, I can explain from a person who was not a huge horror person. Um, why season two for me wasn't like, it was like I quit half when Sophia came out of the barn. I quit because you just had episode after episode after episode of literally nothing good happening to these people.

[00:45:47] It was just like, Oh, it's just going to be a heartbreak. Literally punching you in the episode. Yeah. And then the ultimate heartbreak. What really killed me was like, they went out and got like six other people killed trying to find this little girl. And like, and I was just like, no, I can't, I can't fucking watch this. This is, this is such bullshit. And then, uh, so I like stopped watching. Uh, this is before I obviously found the podcast. He hasn't seen it since.

[00:46:18] Spoiler. So, so then, uh, for, I, I found out that it was a comic book and, uh, I asked for the first two compendiums for, for Christmas and my parents got them for me. And I read through them. I swear to God, I read all 96 issues in three days. And I know the, and so then I kind of, then I kind of like, I had an understanding that, Hey, it's not all going to be horrible.

[00:46:47] It's not all going to be bad. They're going to be positives, things that happen and negative things that happen. Um, but so, so then I ended up, uh, I ended up rewatching finishing season two. You said 96 issues. Yeah. The first two compendiums. That was like four away from Glenn getting his head. Yes. I only had the first two compendiums. And, but at that point I was like, okay, cool. Like I know what's going to happen.

[00:47:15] I don't have to be worried about because that was one of the things that, uh, zombies have done for a fun for four slash to me is specifically the 2004 dawn of the dead. Uh, I think where I like kind of fall off the cliff is when there is no hope, right? So if you get the end of the movie and Oh wait, no, everybody dies anyway. Is that a good movie? Maybe. Is that a good story? Maybe. How'd you feel about the end of it?

[00:47:44] I just, but I just kind of go, well, this sucks. Why would I, why would I just sit here and watch about misery? Um, but so anyway, so I would say that I actually really enjoyed that Negan episode, like specifically the introduction and the opening to season six, I think. I don't remember which one it was seven. Seven. Okay. Okay.

[00:48:09] So I thought that that was all done so well with the flashbacks and the, uh, like that entire episode, the introduction of Negan at the end of season six. And then that first episode, I thought that that was off the page, not all the backflashes stuff, but like the introduction was in the lineup was off the page. And perfect.

[00:48:32] I thought that was the absolute best episode, which, you know, like you guys said, that's funny that like, that's where half, if not more of the viewership got lost because it was such horror for people. But to me, that was amazing. That was amazing television. I couldn't wait for that to happen. Um, I would say that the, the, yeah, I can appreciate where season seven and eight were a friend of mine quit.

[00:49:02] And he explained to me why he said, it's just like, just Negan's everywhere. Right. He's, he's got superhuman powers that he's got connections everywhere. Everywhere they go is just Negan, Negan, Negan, Negan, Negan. Well, and I can appreciate that. Now I, knowing what was coming, having read through all of Al at war, listening to, uh, Gracie Lou and Mr. Blog. Like I, I was like, oh, but no, but just wait for the payoff. Just wait for the, because I knew something positive was coming.

[00:49:29] I could look past those, but on rewatch, uh, I absolutely can see where that would drag week to week, season to season. I also want to say that the whispers and the introduction, the whispers was just as amazing on TV as it was in the comics. It wasn't the same thing. It wasn't the same. It was so good because I had not yet read the comics when I got to the whispers.

[00:49:56] So at some point I caught up and it was during the COVID shutdown. And I got caught up when they had those four standalone episodes right before they got to the Commonwealth and all that jazz. So at that point, my, my partner, Kara, she had already had the first three compendiums. I then bought the fourth or she got it for me for Christmas or something. I read through all, all of them before the end of the series. And like, yes, I could not agree with you more. That is perfect.

[00:50:21] The, the whispers on screen and the way that that plays out chef's kiss chef's kiss. I never made it that far. Yeah. Yeah. The, I will say like, and I remember, I remember Jason going, oh, I need to talk to Karen because I think she might come back for this because this was really, really good. It was really, really well done. I mean, I was really confused by the comic because the whisper that it's not clear what's happening. And you're like, what the fuck is happening? Um, but then like, I thought that the, the, the, they did it.

[00:50:50] The translation was phenomenal. Uh, I would say that my worst ish, um, is basically everything that wasn't the ones who live after the show ended. I don't care about Daryl. I don't care about dead city. I watched dead city. It was okay. Like it was all right. I just don't care. Fear the walking dead.

[00:51:20] I don't care. Like I thought the first three seasons were really good. And then that's not even true. I thought that the first, I watched the first three seasons and I think I went to see and I like, and then I came back and it was apparently horrible. And I was like, oh, and I can't figure out where to watch it. So I guess I just won't for years. And then apparently it just got worse and worse and worse. And then I started watching like halfway through season five. Yeah. And, uh, yeah.

[00:51:43] So I would say that the, like for me, the, from beginning to end, I really, really enjoyed the main show with the background of having read the comic and knowing the arc and seeing the comparisons. Um, and then I loved the ones who live and then everything else is okay. Sure. That was the story they wanted to tell. And I, what about not watching it? What about killing Carl off? That was the end for me.

[00:52:13] That, that, uh, the thing that bugs me and forever now that it's 2025 and we know a whole lot more than we did at the time. Yeah. Knowing that it was kind of a budgetary contractual thing that pisses me off more than anything else. It was not story driven. It was business driven. And that is an absolute crime. Now there's, now that we know what we know that is horseshit. How Carl went out. Yeah. That, that's where I turned my back on the show. I mean, the trash people was already pushing me. You'll love Jadis.

[00:52:46] I found her. World beyond is pretty good. Right, Greg? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Correction. World beyond. It was not crap. Yeah. And Jadis was actually really good in that. But the ones who live to the problem I had with that was that I found her like ridiculously attractive and that upset me. Yeah. No, I get that. I felt the same way about Tiny. In person, she's really cool too. I can see that. But that's what I found in, as it, as it went on, there was a lot of lawyers.

[00:53:14] So if they just had better contract lawyers, it would have been a better series because people kept getting famous and leaving. And it was weird because the story was driven by contracts and by business, as he was saying, and not by story. AMC had problems with Frank Darabon and he left. And problems with Lauren Cohan. She left for a while, but then they worked it out. Problems. We knew it at the time, actually.

[00:53:43] I'm pretty sure we talked about it with Chandler Riggs' parents. And I think they just thought, oh, he's, I don't know. I don't know. He's, people won't miss him. Or that was the biggest mistake that The Walking Dead made. 100%. Yes. Carl has to live. He is the heart of him. That's the whole point. Right. Yes. That's the whole point of The Walking Dead. That's the whole story. Yeah. Carl has to, he is the one who lives. That's the point, damn it. Yes. Yeah. But Judith was a pretty good, I mean. Judith's awesome.

[00:54:11] If he's going to have to leave, then Judith is the best they could do. Kaylee Fleming drinks up. Like, well done. Well, well freaking done. Well done. Yeah. With no background and no, like, just watching the story, I think that Carl dying is fine. Like, with no background and no, like, oh, it's contracted. It's super shitty. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:54:36] But if you're only watching the show and you know nothing about anything except for a story that they are telling, I think that Carl dying is fine. Just my opinion. And obviously people can have different opinions and that's okay. Yeah. I don't, it's hard to tell if I would have that opinion if I hadn't read the comics, but just because it starts off with Rick trying to find his family and then Lori dies. So it's just Rick and Carl.

[00:55:01] And then you just, I just felt like, okay, for this to mean anything, Rick has to protect his son throughout it. And then the way he died was just kind of lame. Yeah. Yeah. And to be fair, I mean, like I was even saying that was just one piece of it. I mean, we had the trash people. There were, there were already things happening prior to that. You're right. It was a really irritating stretch already. It really just became, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. We're just like, oh, okay.

[00:55:30] I know you're probably tired of me saying this, but man, it really got better after that. In fact, my favorite seasons are after that. Like from, from the, the whispers on you're, you're, you're good to go. You really are. Yeah. Not everyone feels that way, but. But I also, when Lauren Cohen left to do other things, because the money wasn't enough and all of that. Yeah. How they worked out her role and her comeback was just, you had to just kind of really suspend

[00:55:59] all your disbelief that this actually happened. And then I found that they just started hiring people around the office to play extras or other characters because they, by this time in the, the zombie apocalypse, you need to be hard and, and, and, you know, muscular and rail thin basically. But then there was just all these kind of nice plump, you know, soft skinned people that would come in and, and, and be holding guns.

[00:56:29] And they didn't kind of know how to hold a gun. And it's a wonderful actor, but Dan Fogler would not really like 10 years into the apocalypse. I, I'm just saying like Hurley, they talked about Hurley, you know, not losing weight on loss for a reason, like, because he didn't have any food, like what's going on? Because he found the Dharma mayonnaise. He intercepted the palate drops. Okay. That was the reason. All right. I will. Don't get, don't get me lost.

[00:56:58] Oh, I wonder how Jorge Garcia felt that they had to do it. Had to write in that he found a big tub of mayonnaise. I don't know. Is that what I thought? That's real tough. Watching Hurley frolic through the jungle. Love Jorge, by the way. Love Jorge Garcia. Love Jorge Garcia. But it always felt a little bit performative and like, ah, I feel real bad for him. Like, ah, the frolicking was always the best. All right. All right.

[00:57:23] Anybody want to say anything else about Walking Dead before we move on to something else? All right. Here's just a quick one. How do you, how do you, oh, no, no. Do you think your podcast voice is different from your regular one, your voice or how you present yourself? Anything like that? Sometimes. Well, yes. Actually, yeah. It really is. One thousand percent. I can take on any number of characters.

[00:57:53] It annoys the bejesus out of my partner at times. But when I am, quote unquote, on, it can be really annoying to the people that actually know me. But in the podcasting world, it actually, it sells. So that is why this medium works so well for me, because I know how to put it on. And this is a great way for me to get that outlet out. So, yeah, 100 percent my podcasting persona and my real life persona, different guys. Interesting.

[00:58:18] No, I can hear if I listen back to like an older episode of say under the comic covers or something like that, I can hear, especially if I'm hosting an episode with other people, then I'm talking faster. There's definitely a little bit difference in the cadence than I would normally do. But then every so often, whether we're talking about The Last of Us or whatever show, if I start, I guess, monologuing and I'm like looking elsewhere and I'm not looking at the camera, that is just kind of me just riffing.

[00:58:47] And that's pretty much what you're going to get on any normal day if I'm riffing. I mean, I think Jason could attest to that one. That's pretty much me. I mean, what I love about podcasts is I always thought it was so dumb in newscasts where they would talk like this or radio, you know, hey, everybody. And I'm like, why? What were people like? Let's just be people.

[00:59:12] And I think I guess for the news, you know, they're reading it so they can't pretend that they're actually saying it. That would actually be fake. But what I loved about podcasts is it just felt so more grounded and real, so much more grounded and real than other forms of talking, you know, broadcasting or whatever. And that drew me to it. That said, when I sit down to do a podcast, I feel like more, I got to bring a little more

[00:59:41] energy, a little more focus definitely than I would normally in life. So yeah, I think it's a little different. But some of the best moments in podcasting is when I forget I'm on a podcast, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's a great feeling or a terrible feeling, depending on what you're talking about. Yeah. It could be real bad. It could go either way. It could go either way. Jason's got in trouble a few times. There haven't been many edits. Some of that stuff never reached the air. Trust me.

[01:00:08] I haven't had many edits on my baseball pod, but there have been some for sure. Yes. I listened to the, because I went straight into Rogue One after the end of Andor. So I thought I listened to, yeah, like literally like it was the next episode. So the next day I listened to our Rogue One podcast, which was my first one hosting and James's first one ever.

[01:00:36] And you know, you get into it because, oh, this should be a podcast when you're talking for your mate for two hours about the Phillies, you know? And so like, and now I kind of like, like to do an over the top delivery in the intro. So, but that one, that first one was like, hello and welcome to the Star Wars TV cast. Welcome. Now I think I, yeah.

[01:01:03] So my podcast voice comes from the back, you know, the back of the throat and, and now through but, but yeah, as you get on, you're just talking and yeah, no, I don't put on the voice unless I'm, I'm reading script. Yeah. Or you're just like, you get into these where you want to like you specifically, Jonathan, where you're feeling really enthusiastic about something and like the whole Luke Skywalker thing, you know? Yeah. And you're just like, let's celebrate this right now.

[01:01:33] And I can, it's, it's a powerful thing you've got going there. I don't know how to put words to it, but I can tell it's not something you'd say if you were just like hanging out with your friends. Well, and Jonathan, you just alluded to something interesting there because Jason, I'm curious as someone who's listened to a lot of like my scripted feedback when I leave it versus now when I'm just kind of talking off the cuff. Yeah. Can you notice a difference in delivery from when I'm reading off a script versus when I'm just kind of riffing? Yeah.

[01:02:02] I think there it's, uh, I don't know when you're, when you leave your messages, I can tell you've written it down, but it's still energetic and stuff like that. You know? I get that. And so it's different. It is different. Yeah. I was just fishing for compliments. So thank you. Jonathan, you mentioned like going over the top for certain, like the intro. And I think that's probably something we are all guilty of, right? The intro, none of us naturally say, Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast.

[01:02:31] I'm Mr. Blog. You know, that just, that's, there's nothing natural about that necessarily. There was one time early on when I was like, all right, everybody just close your eyes and take a little journey with me. You're walking down the street and all of a sudden you see a zombie around the corner or something like that. Right. He's your monkey mind. And I remember Grace, she's like wrote to me. That was great. And I'm like, man, I should do more stuff like that. I've also wanted to do, and I never done it, just like kind of fuck with people by like

[01:03:01] fading out the audio and then having a little voice come in. That's the voice in your head or something like that, you know? That'd be amazing. I don't know. People might unsubscribe, but that's kind of where that impulse to do the whole don't get bit thing at the end and say the listener's name. I just thought it would be fun to blow someone's mind. Like, Oh my God, they just said my name. Well, it's, it's at the time when you were starting doing that, we didn't understand the whole parasocial thing. Right.

[01:03:29] So that is a way to break that parasocial fourth wall and be like, Hey, you're not just a listener. You're a listener that we're calling you out by name now. And I think that's, you know, people look, we're all, you know, giant egos walking around and we're like, Oh my God, they said my name. The first time you read my letter on, on, you know, that I had sent you and you read it on, I was with a friend in the car. I'm like, listen to this. Yes. Yes.

[01:03:56] But it does take, um, uh, and listeners, you know, break through your hesitancy to write in and break through your hesitancy to call because once you do, you, you feel really part of, uh, part of it. But I was a stalker as well for a long time, a lurker listening. And then something got me really passionate and you're writing something. And I heard Jason read it now and it's so satisfying to be part of the production and, you know, and, and to hear everyone.

[01:04:25] And for, and my favorite bit is, which I try to do is to react to it. When you hear your favorite host to react to something you said, not to let you become part of the conversation. What if it tickles my heart more than that? What if it's a host disagreeing? Do you feel heartbroken? I feel a little bit kind of embarrassed and kind of, oh no. Depends on the topic. But then I start getting, hang on a second. Go on mate, sorry.

[01:04:54] I will, I will, I will tell you flat out when I called in to say, fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck, not Glenn, no fuck. And, and then, and I just listened to Jason and Karen for literally an hour and a half go. I mean, there's no way he's dead. Like you can't possibly be dead. And I was like, oh man, what a fucking moron.

[01:05:23] And I am for the dumpster. You're talking about the dumpster. The dumpster. Dumpster. Yeah. I was like, oh, I was the one person who fell for that. And then I was effectively called out. Not, not intentionally. It was just how funny you remember that. How many years ago that was, and you remember that's a fact. But you've probably made tens of hundreds of good points that they've pointed out to, and that those don't stick.

[01:05:51] But the one, the one that sticks in your craw is the negative. The human. It's a cold sweat. I love it. It really is. It just shows the engagement, right? It shows what. It's the best part. Not just what, it's not just what a community that like, oh, what a community you built. And yes, that's true. But I will say that the listener feedback and that engagement really is what draws people in. Feeling part of the conversation.

[01:06:16] And when people talk about being afraid, like, oh, no, I'm just too, I'm too paranoid or I have too much anxiety over it. And I go, okay, that's unfortunate. Because I know from experience, yes, I am a person who likes to hear my own voice or whatever. However, hearing my voice or my words on a podcast and having someone react to them is

[01:06:43] such a, almost a mind-altering experience. And you go, holy shit, like someone's listening to me. It's like a power trip. And you're like, oh, my God, I'm the biggest fucking movie star out there. This is ridiculous. I'm goddamn Tom Cruise. Because they said my name and then read my, oh, I mean, I guess they didn't. I didn't quite read it precisely in the way that I wanted them to say it. But like, that's why I have to call in so that I say it in the way that I want it.

[01:07:10] Like, it's absolutely fucking insanity because you build up so much in your mind. Like, I'm like, I think I tweeted you, right? Not tweeted. Like, a private message on Twitter, like, back in like 2016, 2015, when I sent you the thing of beer and you guys had it on, like, tried a couple on the air. Oh, that's you? I forgot. I didn't make that connection. I remember hearing that. Thank you. And like, and that was like amazing.

[01:07:40] And you're like, do you have anything that you want me to plug? And I'm like, no, just support your local brewers because they're awesome. Cool. And then that was what you said. You're like, okay, cool. That's funny. That was a huge deal. There's nothing better than getting a laugh out of a host. That was great, man. We, we enjoyed that. We, you know, we drank one of those beers for the next few podcasts. It was awesome.

[01:08:06] Um, I, you know, I, I, we got inspired to do this because of the Lost podcast with Jay and Jack. They were one of the very first podcasts of any kind, but they, Lost definitely kicked off the whole TV podcast thing because there were so many mysteries to talk about and, you know, just to ruminate on and they were fun and father, son team and everything. Anyway, I listened to probably every episode that they ever did and never called or wrote in once.

[01:08:35] And, um, so it's kind of funny that I, uh, ended up when I, it was my turn to do a podcast really encouraged that. I always say that, you know, like whenever I've done any live things or whatever and people show up who've never written or called in, I tell that story. Well, I was you when I used to listen to my podcast. And you, you had them on once. I did. Yeah. I was just listening. Yeah. They seemed so disinterested. I felt like the, I seem to remember that they were like, why am I here?

[01:09:00] It really, it was harder to get them on than it was to get fucking Steven Yeun on the podcast. But we finally did. And no, they were nice. They were, they were fine. I enjoyed it. You're fine. That's fine. And like when we first started listening, you had to still make the effort of connecting your, your iPod to, to, to iTunes and download the episode. Don't you think? Oh yeah. Automatically, you know, it was such a process, but it was so exciting to, to have, cause I

[01:09:29] used to listen to a lot of talkback radio overnight, overnight radio since I was a kid cause my grandmother used to listen to it. So I was listening to all that weird after midnight stuff and I was very young and then to finally be able to, you know, to take exactly what you listened to. It was a talkback radio about TV. It was, it was such a, it's been such a big part of my life, but you know, I listened to hours a day of podcasts. Yeah. I'm, I do too. I listen.

[01:09:54] In fact, I realized at one point, you know, I've pretty much missed like the last 10 years of music because I've just been listening to podcasts. And so I'm like, let me go back and see. And I'm like, oh man, all these, I found all these songs from the year 2010 to 12 that I love now. Yeah. Check out cage, the elephant and the Arctic monkey. Yeah. Those are two of them. Cage, the elephant, Arctic monkeys. Those are my two. Let's go back a ways. I mean, I'm, I'm finding the unfortunate thing now, uh, as I'm getting up in the years,

[01:10:23] I look at festival posters now. Oh God. And I know, I know maybe the headliner and probably the legacy app. I'm like, who are these people? Why would you go to a festival at this day and age, man? Come on. We've had that moment. Like we're done with that shit. Like, let's just, I still love, I do. Let's go see ever clear when they're coming to the local dive bar. I'm seeing OMD this weekend. Oh, exactly. So I got disappointed that I missed Nick cave, Nick cave recently.

[01:10:52] There were some other ones I was looking forward to, but yeah, I'm, I'm more eighties than, the nineties, I guess. But yeah. All right. Makes sense. Let's sort of head into the home stretch here. Cause I let the Zed heads know we were going to be doing this and they wrote some stuff and I didn't actually go over it that carefully, but I think there's some questions and just some comments. So, and when says a great idea, beautiful voices, they can talk about anything at all. Well, we just did. Megan. Well, walking dead in Star Wars. Yeah, that's true.

[01:11:22] Megan said, I'm not even kidding. You should have a spot where they have to read dramatically from the phone book or some Julia child recipe or instruction manual just for fun. Do you bone a chicken this way? I have a Linda McCartney recipe book. I could have gone with that. Oh, nice lentil. A nice kick-ass lentil soup. Amelie says they can read the phone book. I don't care. I'll even pay for it. Pay money for it. So Amelie's in the group. If you want to contact her separately. Hi, Amelie.

[01:11:51] Hello. Laura says. Aaron Adamson. Would any of you. Five, five, five. Yeah. One, nine hundred. Would any of you. Laura Willie Swink says, would any of you want to narrate an audio book? And if so, which genre? Yes. Harry Potter. Yes. I actually started Harry Potter. I did the first chapter and edited it. And it was a giant pain in the ass to do it. Because I read it to my daughters. Dursley over and over again.

[01:12:22] I read it to my daughters every night. I try to do the voices. I would do that in a heartbeat. Why'd you? Yeah. I like kids books. You recorded it, Craig? They're easier. Yeah. You recorded it yourself? Why? Just to play it? I recorded it. And then, well, I was going to start. I was going to try to do like a chapter a week. And then I edited it. And then I just got lost in all the other shit that was going on. But why were you doing that? Just for fun? Or just to see if you could be a voice actor? Just to try to.

[01:12:51] Just to. Yeah. Just to try to. I mean, I would love to be a voice actor. I don't quite have the. I'm not a classically trained actor. I don't really have acting classes. Did I take like an improv class? Sure. Or. But I. I feel like I can read or memorize a script and make it sound. Like I'm thinking of it on the moment, especially if I've got input or notes or whatever. But I. Love doing that.

[01:13:21] And I would love to do a voice acting gig. Big. But I just need to. Like, I need to actually. Move through with it. And that's the hardest part. Is. Is getting the motivation and finding that. Not. Not finding the time. I have the time. I just need to. Focus the energy. Harness my chi. And then. You know. And deliver. So there are. Things that I can do. So. Balance. No, I was going to say. There are voice acting schools out there. And it was something that I kind of got.

[01:13:51] I got nudged into. I spent about two and a half years or almost three years. I think taking a number of courses at this voice acting school here in the Bay Area. And. Dude, there's so much to it. It's. It's just. I mean, it's incredible how much of what you're. I mean, you're. You are acting in every way, shape or form. And it's.

[01:14:12] And humorously enough, something like a book or narrating books are extra difficult, especially if you're going to go with different character voices and you have to remember those character voices and keep things consistent. And even like narration of a documentary is ridiculously hard and you have to go way slower than you will ever be comfortable doing. And it's. That was my feedback on my Harry Potter is that I needed to slow down. That's interesting.

[01:14:43] Yeah. I did. I did a. A small podcast when I was starting out. And one of the things I did was to to read the night before Christmas as a as a Christmas special one, which was good. And I did like a shout out to all my friends kids. And so it's just something. I love that. Good play. Yeah. And I put, you know, had Christmas music in the background. It was a nice little episode. So that's the closest I came to anything like that. That's great. That's good. I like that. I might steal that.

[01:15:13] Yeah. Laura also says, how much whiskey do you drink to get your lovely deep timbers? Did you start imbibing shortly after puberty? And what's your brand of choice? Winky face. Well, honestly, Johnny, Johnny Black for me. I'm a simple bitch. Johnny Black or JD. I got some green label right here. That's what I'm drinking today. Lovely. Lovely. Someday I'm going to earn blue.

[01:15:38] So I would say that for taste, I really do enjoy the Lagavulin 16. Okay. Like that's probably my like favorite one to go to for, but I love exploring just like I did with beer. I love exploring new ones. And one of the ones that I found, I got, I don't know, probably two dozen bottles of whiskey for my retirement. And this Highland Park 12 year Viking honor was excellent.

[01:16:07] And that's what I just finished my second bottle. Not tonight, but I finished the bottle tonight. As we're drinking. As we're podcasting. Okay. Kelsey McNamara says. Oh, you want to go ahead? I was just going to say, I stick with wine. I can't do any of the brown liquors. Brown liquors tend to a taste of misery to me. Is that the red or the white? Oh, I'm a red Pinot Noir. Okay.

[01:16:35] I'm a, I'm a Grigio man myself. I went to Scotland last year to visit Lucy, Karen and David and I went out there and we went to the Talisker distillery. Cause that's my favorite Talisker 10. But after that, I just did a deep dive and went way overboard. And now I have like two shelves full of scotch and a big dent in my bank account. But my wife, Jenny's in Taiwan right now with our kids.

[01:17:03] And I asked her to pick up some Taiwanese whiskey that I've been wanting to try. It costs like half the price over there. So it's going to be fun to get when I get home. Jonathan, do you have any whiskey? No whiskey for me. I think my deep voice comes from a, what are they called in the shine? The weed? Oh, the longweed. The longweed. The hobbits longweed. Yeah. Interesting. Kelsey McNamara says.

[01:17:28] The first time I heard Eric, I had to do a double take because he sounds so much like Randy Mueller, an NFL executive that goes on some football podcasts. I listened to. They're not the same, but I thought for a second, it was a very niche crossover. And then she said, if, if you guys had to have a voice transplant tomorrow and you couldn't have your own amazing velvety voices, whose voice would you want to have? Oh man. Holy shh. Nikes. Wait.

[01:17:55] If I could put Amy Poehler's voice in my body, that would be amazing. I think Jason Statham would be a lot of fun. Specifically Leslie Knope. If I could put Leslie Knope's voice in my body, that high energy, high, almost squeaky. Like I, and obviously it's kind of like, because it's ironic or sarcastic or whatever, unexpected. But no, that's, a girl's voice is always fun, which is why I like singing Britney. I think triple X guy. Vin Diesel.

[01:18:25] Vin Diesel. Who does Groot. Yeah, I think, I think, uh, I would enjoy, uh, Jason Statham for sure. What about his voice? Just kidding. Or James Earl Jones. Maybe that. I like it. Frank Oz for me. No, I'm just kidding. Well, you know what? I'm going to go, maybe I'm a bitch, but Pedro Pascal all day. All day. Yes.

[01:18:50] I tell you what, if I could, if I could get his accent, that's where I would like. He could be a Pennsylvanian. All right. He's fine. He can do me. Sure. Sure. Sure. He could definitely. But anyways, I wonder if anybody would ever say Shane Leno. Yeah. I don't think I'm going to do that. I don't think that's really in the cards for me. Exactly. I don't think I would like that. For me, of course, it's the original Lady Wong. Oh, yeah. It's a la Gizz. You already have it.

[01:19:20] Okay. Wendy just wrote, Luke, I am your father, which I guess means that we have to say that on the count of three. Ready? One, two, three. No, I am your father. Eric's shaking his head. That's not the line. The tempo is. I can't do it. That's not the line. No, I am your father. Sorry. I got thrown off there. A few more. Jody Langridge says, do any of you have a subject you're passionate about that you secretly

[01:19:46] wish you podcasted on, something you would love to talk about for ages that's not entertainment related? Oh, not entertainment related. Shit. Parenting, actually. Absolutely. I love being a parent. I have two daughters and I am trying to be a very, very 2025 father to those children. I am not going to be the archaic kind of father from the old years and I'm trying to raise them in the world that they're growing up in.

[01:20:13] And it's not easy, but it's the kind of challenge I don't mind doing. And if I were to do a podcast, it would be about that. Cool. Maybe we could do an episode about that sometime at least because I got a couple of kids myself. That'd be fun. I'll tell you what. The dumb dad's podcast is basically the best. It is. We should do a dad podcast. That'd be fun. Not a whole. That'd be fun. Just like a dumb dad voice. My dumb dad moment of the week. Yeah. So this was happening and yeah.

[01:20:43] All right. That's what happened. All right. Well, yeah, that was a really dumb moment. Yep. That's right. It was. They own it and they move on and they go, all right, well, we'll just try to try tomorrow. I'm just glad that I did not start the Tesla podcast that I almost started. Oh, by the way, I like, I like the sticker on yours, Jason. Yeah. I don't want to get too political, but you get the gist. Oh, you don't.

[01:21:10] It would have been a steeper drop off than the Glenn episode. Down to zero. Nice. What about you guys, Eric and Jonathan? Eric. Wait, what's, what's, I'm sorry, I got distracted. Subject you're passionate about that you secretly. Oh, oh, oh, oh God. I don't know. Maybe cooking. I could definitely, I could definitely enjoy a cooking podcast. I would love to listen to that, to be honest. That's probably, I think at this point, that's kind of my main hobby.

[01:21:39] Uh, cooking or baking or both cooking. No, baking, baking is too much like work from as far as like, you have to follow to a team. You cannot, you, right. You need art. I would listen. I would listen to your voice doing a cooking podcast. No, I mean, just yesterday I was, I was just kind of bored. I've been off work for, for a few weeks, kind of recovering up from stuff. And, and, uh, I was like, I want to make something. I get cravings to make things. So I'm like, I want to smoke some ribs and some turkey legs.

[01:22:07] So I smoked some ribs and turkey legs and I spent all day doing it. By the way, if anybody, uh, any of you guys want to do like just a fun single one-off episode of that, I would put it out on the Patreon. That'd be, there's an open offer for you guys. What about you, Jonathan? Um, if I, if I knew more, I would love to do a ancient Rome history or, or a Viking invasion of England, uh, podcast.

[01:22:33] But, um, I, I'm, I'm more of a consumer of it than an expert, but, uh, I love, I love those and I've listened to several of, uh, the history of Rome. There's one really good ones called the history of Rome that I recommend. That's cool. I know things like that are like, where I'm like, I really wish I knew more about whatever it might be, you know, it's right. That's the main reason why I don't do anything but TV podcasts. That's fair. Everyone can have an opinion.

[01:23:00] Uh, Randy Stevenson says, ask them what role they played in the assassination of JFK. What secrets are they hiding? This has nothing to do with their dulcet tones. I just think if we ask enough people, we'll finally get to the bottom of this. So what role did you play? I was getting a cotton candy. I had no idea what was going on. I had a good buzz from the day before I had been to the beach with this girl. I don't remember her name, but like, I was just, I was having the best time. And then I heard some shots and people were in Dallas though. Got to admit that part.

[01:23:30] I think I'm guessing it's, it's hazy. It's hazy. It doesn't make any sense. Back and to the left. I mean, back and to the left. Like it doesn't make any sense. Kelly Burgess says, I'd like to, Eric says no comment noted. Uh, Kelly Burgess says, I'd like to hear what Eric thinks or feels when people meet him in person and get starstruck when they hear his voice and realize he's Mr. Blog. I may be talking about myself in San Francisco. Me too.

[01:23:59] Me too, buddy. I felt that tonight when we signed on. No, that it's, it's really the sweetest thing. I love it. It's, I can't even, it embarrasses me on, on a number of levels, but I'm also super grateful. And I just, it's sweet. And I think it's just the coolest thing. Uh, the worst though, was people calling me Mr. Blog to my face. That I felt was the stupidest thing. And I'm like, God, no, please call me Eric. Do not call me Mr. Blog. Mr. Blog is my father.

[01:24:25] No, it just felt really weird. You know, I'm just like, Oh no, no, no, no. Come on. Um, so it was awesome. Eric, can I tell you how I've always remembered your name? And, and this is to all my Simpsons fans out there. Mr. Blog. That's my name. That name again is Mr. Blog. I've always thought of it that way. Yes. Yes. I love it. That can make you feel any better. It was the Mr. Plow theme song that went through my head whenever I heard Mr. Blog.

[01:24:54] Maybe you can, maybe you can learn to love that nickname again. Oh no. I gotta tell you, I, Mr. Blog brought me a stupid amount of joy. I mean, it really did. I enjoyed writing the blogs when I was doing it. I enjoyed being on the podcast. Uh, and I enjoyed, you know, even just being able to say stupid things like, no, no, me, Eric, I'm a nice guy. Mr. Blog. He's the dick. You know, that kind of thing. I think that's when I finally decided, I guess it makes sense to just start calling him Eric because you don't have a blog anymore.

[01:25:24] Once that happened. Yeah. I thought it was cool. I thought it was nice and archaic and like a little bit retro. Like, ah, it's Mr. Vinyl. No, actually, I mean, I did. I enjoyed writing that blog. It was a lot of fun. We should change it to Mr. Podcast. P-A-H-D. Yeah. Something like that. I always found that you're nom de plume and so you're almost hiding something. You didn't want to reveal your true identity so you could get away with it. You killed FK. You know what's so funny about that? And I even have like the little, the little avatar.

[01:25:54] I bought the little piece of a clip art with a little dude with a broken nose and the black guy. Um, it, yeah, the whole idea of Cornelius J blog, it just made me laugh. Yeah. That's great. You got a lot of good character, man. You own it. But what's funny though, is like you can type in Mr. Blog. You'll find so many pictures of me. But at the time when Jason and Karen were, when I was starting with their podcast, when I first walked up and met Jason for the first time at his place to do the podcast, I had no idea what they look like.

[01:26:23] The only pictures I had seen were those weird little, uh, pencil drawings somebody did that. I figured Jason would be about 350 pounds and Karen pieces of her face removed. And I didn't know what to expect, you know, and, and it was great, you know, only the Karen part was right. That's so weird. Oh, I love Karen. Uh, the one time, uh, the only time anybody's, I think recognized me outside of some kind of a milieu.

[01:26:53] Yeah. I was, I was in a comic book store talking to the clerk about the walking dead and the guy in line behind me is like, you have a podcast. Cause you know, sometimes out of context, you don't recognize something. If you're talking about the fucking walking dead, then you're going to know. But, uh, anyway, I think that's, uh, that was a lovely conversation. Thank you guys. It was really fun. It was fun. Enjoyed having you on.

[01:27:20] And, um, maybe we should all do a goodbye like we did a hello. Ready? One, two, three. Goodbye. Goodbye. Yeah. Loosen it. We're out. I'm Charissa and my advice to all entrepreneurs start with Shopify successfully.

[01:27:50] I already use Shopify since the first day. And the platform makes me no problem. I have many problems, but the platform is never one of them. I have the feeling that Shopify will continue to optimize everything. Everything is super easy, integrated and linked. And the time and the money I spend with this, can I invest in other ways. Especially in Wachstum. Now, you can test it on Shopify. Shopify.de Shopify.de