Podcast appearances and mentions of Bill Irwin

What does it take to keep your voice—and your purpose—strong through every season of life? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with my friend Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most recognized voice actors, best known as Flint from GI Joe. Bill's voice has carried him through radio, animation, and narration, but what stands out most is how he's used that same voice to serve others through storytelling, teaching, and grief counseling. Together, we explore the heart behind his work—from bringing animated heroes to life to standing on The Moth stage and helping people find healing through poetry. Bill shares lessons from his own journey, including losing both parents early, finding family in unexpected places, and discovering how creative expression can rebuild what life breaks down. We also reflect on 9/11, preparedness, and the quiet confidence that comes from trusting your training—whether you're a first responder, a performer, or just navigating the unknown. This conversation isn't just about performance; it's about presence. It's about using your story, your craft, and your compassion to keep moving forward—unstoppable, one voice at a time. Highlights: 00:31 – Hear the Flint voice and what it takes to bring animated characters to life. 06:57 – Learn why an uneven college path still led to a lifelong acting career. 11:50 – Understand how GI Joe became a team and a toy phenomenon that shaped culture. 15:58 – See how comics and cartoons boosted classroom literacy when used well. 17:06 – Pick up simple ways parents can spark reading through shared stories. 19:29 – Discover how early, honest conversations about death can model resilience. 24:09 – Learn to critique ads and media like a pro to sharpen your own performance. 36:19 – Follow the pivot from radio to voiceover and why specialization pays. 47:48 – Hear practical editing approaches and accessible tools that keep shows tight. 49:38 – Learn how The Moth builds storytelling chops through timed, judged practice. 55:21 – See how poetry—and poetry therapy—support grief work with students. 59:39 – Take notes on memoir writing, emotional management, and one-person shows. About the Guest: Bill Ratner is one of America's best known voice actors and author of poetry collections Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake (Slow Lightning Lit 2024,) Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press 2021,) To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press 2021,) and the non-fiction book Parenting For The Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect On Children and What To Do About It (Familius Books 2014.) He is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, 2-time winner of Best of The Hollywood Fringe Extension Award for Solo Performance, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee 2023 (Lascaux Review,) and New Millennium "America One Year From Now" Writing Award Finalist. His writing appears in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) Missouri Review (audio,) Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Feminine Collective, and other journals. He is the voice of "Flint" in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, "Donnell Udina" in the computer game Mass Effect, the voice of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel, NewsNation, and network TV affiliates across the country. He is a committee chair for his union, SAG-AFTRA, teaches Voiceovers for SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Media Awareness for Los Angeles Unified School District, and is a trained grief counsellor. Member: Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, National Storytelling Network • https://billratner.com • @billratner Ways to connect with Bill: https://soundcloud.com/bill-ratner https://www.instagram.com/billratner/ https://twitter.com/billratner https://www.threads.net/@billratner https://billratner.tumblr.com https://www.youtube.com/@billratner/videos https://www.facebook.com/billratner.voiceover.author https://bsky.app/profile/bilorat.bsky.social About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well on a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, I am your host. Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a voice actor, person, Bill Ratner, who you want to know who Bill Radnor is, go back and watch the old GI Joe cartoons and listen to the voice of Flint.   Bill Ratner ** 01:42 All right. Lady Jay, you better get your battle gear on, because Cobra is on their way. And I can't bring up the Lacher threat weapon system. We got to get out of here. Yo, Joe,   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 there you go. I rest my case Well, Bill, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Bill Ratner ** 02:00 We can't rest now. Michael, we've just begun. No, we've just begun.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 We got to keep going here. Well, I'm really glad that you're here. Bill is another person who we inveigled to get on unstoppable mindset with the help of Walden Hughes. And so that means we can talk about Walden all we want today. Bill just saying, oh goodness. And I got a lot to say. Let me tell you perfect, perfect. Bring it on. So we are really grateful to Walden, although I hope he's not listening. We don't want to give him a big head. But no, seriously, we're really grateful. Ah, good point.   Bill Ratner ** 02:38 But his posture, oddly enough, is perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Well, there you go. What do you do? He practiced. Well, anyway, we're glad you're here. Tell us about the early bill, growing up and all that stuff. It's always fun to start a good beginning.   Bill Ratner ** 02:54 Well, I was a very lucky little boy. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947 to two lovely people, professionals, both with master's degree out at University of Chicago. My mother was a social worker. My father had an MBA in business. He was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So I had the joy of living in a better home and living in a garden.   Michael Hingson ** 03:21 My mother. How long were you in Des Moines?   Bill Ratner ** 03:24 Five and a half years left before my sixth birthday. My dad got a fancy job at an ad agency in Minneapolis, and had a big brother named Pete and big handsome, curly haired boy with green eyes. And moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was was brought up there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:45 Wow. So you went to school there and and chased the girls and all that stuff.   Bill Ratner ** 03:54 I went to school there at Blake School for Boys in Hopkins, Minnesota. Couldn't chase the girls day school, but the girls we are allowed to dance with certainly not chase. Michael was at woodhue dancing school, the Northrop girls from Northrop girls school and the Blake boys were put together in eighth grade and taught the Cha Cha Cha, the waltz, the Charleston, and we danced together, and the girls wore white gloves, and we sniffed their perfume, and we all learned how to be lovers when we were 45   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 There you are. Well, as long as you learned at some point, that's a good start.   Bill Ratner ** 04:44 It's a weird generation. Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 04:46 I've been to Des Moines before. I was born in Chicago, but moved out to California when I was five, but I did some work with the National Federation of the Blind in the mid 19. 1970s 1976 into 1978 so spent time at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, which became a top agency for the Blind in well, the late 50s into the to the 60s and so on. So   Bill Ratner ** 05:15 both my parents are from Chicago. My father from the south side of Chicago, 44th and Kenzie, which was a Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian neighborhood. And my mother from Glencoe, which was a middle class suburb above Northwestern University in Evanston.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 I Where were you born? 57th and union, north, south side, no, South   Bill Ratner ** 05:42 57th union is that? Is that west of Kenzie?   Michael Hingson ** 05:46 You know, I don't remember the geography well enough to know, but I know that it was, I think, Mount Sinai Hospital where I was born. But it was, it's, it's, it's a pretty tough neighborhood today. So I understand,   Bill Ratner ** 06:00 yeah, yeah, my it was tough, then it's tough now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:03 yeah, I think it's tougher, supposedly, than it was. But we lived there for five years, and then we we moved to California, and I remember some things about Chicago. I remember walking down to the local candy store most days, and had no problem doing that. My parents were told they should shut me away at a home somewhere, because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything. And my parents said, You guys are you're totally wrong. And they brought me up with that attitude. So, you   Bill Ratner ** 06:32 know who said that the school says school so that   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 doctors doctors when they discovered I was blind with the   Bill Ratner ** 06:38 kid, goodness gracious, horrified.   Michael Hingson ** 06:44 Well, my parents said absolutely not, and they brought me up, and they actually worked with other parents of premature kids who became blind, and when kindergarten started in for us in in the age of four, they actually had a special kindergarten class for blind kids at the Perry School, which is where I went. And so I did that for a year, learn braille and some other things. Then we moved to California, but yeah, and I go back to Chicago every so often. And when I do nowadays, they I one of my favorite places to migrate in Chicago is Garrett Popcorn.   Bill Ratner ** 07:21 Ah, yes, with caramel corn, regular corn, the   Michael Hingson ** 07:25 Chicago blend, which is a mixture, yeah, the Chicago blend is cheese corn, well, as it is with caramel corn, and they put much other mozzarella on it as well. It's really good.   Bill Ratner ** 07:39 Yeah, so we're on the air. Michael, what do you call your what do you call your program? Here I am your new friend, and I can't even announce your program because I don't know   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 the name, unstoppable mindset. This   Bill Ratner ** 07:51 is unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 07:56 We're back. Well, we're back already. We're fast. So you, you, you moved off elsewhere, out of Des Moines and all that. And where did you go to college?   Bill Ratner ** 08:09 Well, this is like, why did you this is, this is a bit like talking about the Vietnam War. Looking back on my college career is like looking back on the Vietnam War series, a series of delusions and defeats. By the time I the time i for college, by the time I was applying for college, I was an orphan, orphan, having been born to fabulous parents who died too young of natural causes. So my grades in high school were my mediocre. I couldn't get into the Ivy Leagues. I got into the big 10 schools. My stepmother said, you're going to Michigan State in East Lansing because your cousin Eddie became a successful realtor. And Michigan State was known as mu u it was the most successful, largest agriculture college and university in the country. Kids from South Asia, China, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America all over the world came to Michigan State to study agricultural sciences, children of rich farmers all over the world and middle class farmers all over the world, and a huge police science department. Part of the campus was fenced off, and the young cadets, 1819, 20 years old, would practice on the rest of the student body, uniformed with hats and all right, excuse me, young man, we're just going to get some pizza at eight o'clock on Friday night. Stand against your car. Hands in your car. I said, Are you guys practicing again? Shut up and spread your legs. So that was that was Michigan State, and even though both my parents had master's degrees, I just found all the diversions available in the 1960s to be too interesting, and was not invited. Return after my sophomore year, and in order to flunk out of a big 10 University, and they're fine universities, all of them, you have to be either really determined or not so smart, not really capable of doing that level of study in undergraduate school. And I'd like to think that I was determined. I used to show up for my exams with a little blue book, and the only thing I would write is due to lack of knowledge, I am unable to complete this exam, sign Bill ranter and get up early and hand it in and go off. And so what was, what was left for a young man like that was the theater I'd seen the great Zero Mostel when I was 14 years old and on stage live, he looked just like my father, and he was funny, and if I Were a rich man, and that's the grade zero must tell. Yeah, and it took about five, no, it took about six, seven years to percolate inside my bread and my brain. In high school, I didn't want to do theater. The cheerleaders and guys who I had didn't happen to be friends with or doing theater. I took my girlfriends to see plays, but when I was 21 I started acting, and I've been an actor ever since. I'm a committee chair on the screen actors guild in Hollywood and Screen Actors Guild AFTRA, and work as a voice actor and collect my pensions and God bless the union.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Well, hey, as long as it works and you're making progress, you know you're still with it, right?   Bill Ratner ** 11:53 That's the that's the point. There's no accounting for taste in my business. Michael, you work for a few different broadcast entities at my age. And it's, you know, it's younger people. It's 18 to 3418 years to 34 years old is the ideal demographic for advertisers, Ford, Motor Company, Dove soap, Betty, Crocker, cake mixes and cereals, every conceivable product that sold online or sold on television and radio. This is my this is my meat, and I don't work for religion. However, if a religious organization calls, I call and say, I I'm not, not qualified or not have my divinity degree in order to sell your church to the public?   Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I can understand that. But you, you obviously do a lot, and as we talked about, you were Flint and GI Joe, which is kind of cool.   Bill Ratner ** 13:01 Flynn GI Joe was very cool. Hasbro Corporation, which was based in Providence, Rhode Island, had a huge success with GI Joe, the figure. The figure was about 11 and a half inches tall, like a Barbie, and was at first, was introduced to the public after the Korean War. There is a comic book that was that was also published about GI Joe. He was an individual figure. He was a figure, a sort of mythic cartoon figure during World War Two, GI Joe, generic American soldier, fighting man and but the Vietnam war dragged on for a long time, and the American buying public or buying kids toys got tired of GI Joe, got tired of a military figure in their household and stopped buying. And when Nixon ended the Vietnam War, or allotted to finish in 1974 Hasbro was in the tank. It's got its stock was cheap, and executives are getting nervous. And then came the Great George Lucas in Star Wars, who shrank all these action figures down from 11 and a half inches to three and a half inches, and went to China and had Chinese game and toy makers make Star Wars toys, and began to earn billions and billions dollars. And so Hasbro said, let's turn GI Joe into into a team. And the team began with flint and Lady J and Scarlett and Duke and Destro and cover commander, and grew to 85 different characters, because Hasbro and the toy maker partners could create 85 different sets of toys and action figures. So I was actor in this show and had a good time, and also a purveyor of a billion dollar industry of American toys. And the good news about these toys is I was at a conference where we signed autographs the voice actors, and we have supper with fans and so on. And I was sitting next to a 30 year old kid and his parents. And this kid was so knowledgeable about pop culture and every conceivable children's show and animated show that had ever been on the screen or on television. I turned to his mother and sort of being a wise acre, said, So ma'am, how do you feel about your 30 year old still playing with GI Joe action figures? And she said, Well, he and I both teach English in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania school system, and last year, the literacy level of my ninth graders was 50% 50% of those kids could not read in ninth grade. So I asked the principal if I could borrow my son's GI Joe, action figures, comic books and VHS tapes, recordings of the shows from TV. And he said, Sure, whatever you want to try. And so she did, and she played the video tapes, and these kids were thrilled. They'd never seen a GI Joe cartoon in class before. Passed out the comic books, let him read comics. And then she said, Okay, you guys. And passed out notebooks and pens and pencils, and said, I want you guys to make up some some shows, some GI Joe shows. And so they said, Yeah, we're ready. All right, Cobra, you better get into the barber shop, because the barber bill is no longer there and the fire engines are in the way. And wait a minute, there's a dog in the street. And so they're making this up, using their imagination, doing their schoolwork, by coming up with scenarios, imaginary fam fan fiction for GI Joe and she raised the literacy level in her classroom by 50% that year, by the end of that year, so, so that was the only story that I've ever heard about the sort of the efficacy of GI Joe, other than, you know, kids play with them. Do they? Are they shooting each other all the time? I certainly hope not. I hope not. Are they using the action figures? Do they strip their guns off and put them in a little, you know, stub over by the side and and have them do physical battle with each other, or have them hump the woods, or have them climb the stairs, or have them search the trees. Who knows what kids do? Same with same with girls and and Barbies. Barbie has been a source of fun and creativity for lots of girls, and the source of of worry and bother to a lot of parents as   Michael Hingson ** 17:54 well. Well, at the same time, though, when kids start to react and relate to some of these things. It's, it's pretty cool. I mean, look what's happened with the whole Harry Potter movement and craze. Harry Potter has probably done more in the last 20 or 25 years to promote reading for kids than most anything else, and   Bill Ratner ** 18:17 that's because it's such a good series of books. I read them to my daughters, yeah. And the quality of writing. She was a brilliant writer, not only just the stories and the storytelling, which is fun to watch in the movies, and you know, it's great for a parent to read. If there are any parents listening, I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if they're 15. Offer to read to them. The 15 year old might, of course, say mom, but anybody younger than that might say either, all right, fine, which is, which means you better do it or read, read a book. To me, sure, it's fun for the parent, fun for the kid, and it makes the child a completely different kind of thinker and worker and earner.   Michael Hingson ** 19:05 Well, also the people who they got to read the books for the recordings Stephen Fry and in the US here, Jim Dale did such an incredible job as well. I've, I've read the whole Harry Potter series more than once, because I just enjoy them, and I enjoy listening to the the voices. They do such a good job. Yeah. And of course, for me, one of the interesting stories that I know about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter was since it was published by Scholastic he was actually scheduled to do a reading from one of the Harry from the new Harry Potter book that was coming out in 2001 on September 11, he was going to be at Scholastic reading. And of course, that didn't happen because of of everything that did occur. So I don't know whether I'm. I'm assuming at some point a little bit later, he did, but still he was scheduled to be there and read. But it they are there. They've done so much to help promote reading, and a lot of those kinds of cartoons and so on. Have done some of that, which is, which is pretty good. So it's good to, you know, to see that continue to happen. Well, so you've written several books on poetry and so on, and I know that you you've mentioned more than once grief and loss. How come those words keep coming up?   Bill Ratner ** 20:40 Well, I had an unusual childhood. Again. I mentioned earlier how, what a lucky kid I was. My parents were happy, educated, good people, not abusers. You know, I don't have a I don't have horror stories to tell about my mother or my father, until my mother grew sick with breast cancer and and it took about a year and a half or two years to die when I was seven years old. The good news is, because she was a sensitive, educated social worker, as she was actually dying, she arranged a death counseling session with me and my older brother and the Unitarian minister who was also a death counselor, and whom she was seeing to talk about, you know, what it was like to be dying of breast cancer with two young kids. And at this session, which was sort of surprised me, I was second grade, came home from school. In the living room was my mother and my brother looking a little nervous, and Dr Carl storm from the Unitarian Church, and she said, you know, Dr storm from church, but he's also my therapist. And we talk about my illness and how I feel, and we talk about how much I love you boys, and talk about how I worry about Daddy. And this is what one does when one is in crisis. That was a moment that was not traumatic for me. It's a moment I recalled hundreds of times, and one that has been a guiding light through my life. My mother's death was very difficult for my older brother, who was 13 who grew up in World War Two without without my father, it was just him and my mother when he was off in the Pacific fighting in World War Two. And then I was born after the war. And the loss of a mother in a family is like the bottom dropping out of a family. But luckily, my dad met a woman he worked with a highly placed advertising executive, which was unusual for a female in the 1950s and she became our stepmother a year later, and we had some very lovely, warm family years with her extended family and our extended family and all of us together until my brother got sick, came down with kidney disease a couple of years before kidney dialysis was invented, and a couple of years before kidney transplants were done, died at 19. Had been the captain of the swimming team at our high school, but did a year in college out in California and died on Halloween of 1960 my father was 51 years old. His eldest son had died. He had lost his wife six years earlier. He was working too hard in the advertising industry, successful man and dropped out of a heart attack 14th birthday. Gosh, I found him unconscious on the floor of our master bathroom in our house. So my life changed. I My life has taught me many, many things. It's taught me how the defense system works in trauma. It's taught me the resilience of a child. It's taught me the kindness of strangers. It's taught me the sadness of loss.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Well, you, you seem to come through all of it pretty well. Well, thank you. A question behind that, just an observation, but, but you do seem to, you know, obviously, cope with all of it and do pretty well. So you, you've always liked to be involved in acting and so on. How did you actually end up deciding to be a voice actor?   Bill Ratner ** 24:39 Well, my dad, after he was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines for Meredith publishing, got offered a fancy job as executive vice president of the flower and mix division for Campbell within advertising and later at General Mills Corporation. From Betty Crocker brand, and would bring me to work all the time, and would sit with me, and we'd watch the wonderful old westerns that were on prime time television, rawhide and Gunsmoke and the Virginian and sure   Michael Hingson ** 25:15 and all those. Yeah, during   Bill Ratner ** 25:17 the commercials, my father would make fun of the commercials. Oh, look at that guy. And number one, son, that's lousy acting. Number two, listen to that copy. It's the dumbest ad copy I've ever seen. The jingles and and then he would say, No, that's a good commercial, right there. And he wasn't always negative. He would he was just a good critic of advertising. So at a very young age, starting, you know, when we watch television, I think the first television ever, he bought us when I was five years old, I was around one of the most educated, active, funny, animated television critics I could hope to have in my life as a 56789, 1011, 12 year old. And so when I was 12, I became one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of radio stations with my friends John Waterhouse and John Barstow and Steve gray and Bill Connors in South Minneapolis. I named my five watt night kit am transmitter after my sixth grade teacher, Bob close this is wclo stereo radio. And when I was in sixth grade, I built myself a switch box, and I had a turntable and I had an intercom, and I wired my house for sound, as did all the other boys in the in the B, O, R, S, and that's brotherhood of radio stations. And we were guests on each other's shows, and we were obsessed, and we would go to the shopping malls whenever a local DJ was making an appearance and torture him and ask him dumb questions and listen obsessively to American am radio. And at the time for am radio, not FM like today, or internet on your little radio tuner, all the big old grandma and grandpa radios, the wooden ones, were AM, for amplitude modulated. You could get stations at night, once the sun went down and the later it got, the ionosphere would lift and the am radio signals would bounce higher and farther. And in Minneapolis, at age six and seven, I was able to to listen to stations out of Mexico and Texas and Chicago, and was absolutely fascinated with with what was being put out. And I would, I would switch my brother when I was about eight years old, gave me a transistor radio, which I hid under my bed covers. And at night, would turn on and listen for, who knows, hours at a time, and just tuning the dial and tuning the dial from country to rock and roll to hit parade to news to commercials to to agric agriculture reports to cow crossings in Kansas and grain harvesting and cheese making in Wisconsin, and on and on and on that made up the great medium of radio that was handing its power and its business over to television, just as I was growing As a child. Fast, fascinating transition   Michael Hingson ** 28:18 and well, but as it was transitioning, how did that affect you?   Bill Ratner ** 28:26 It made television the romantic, exciting, dynamic medium. It made radio seem a little limited and antiquated, and although I listened for environment and wasn't able to drag a television set under my covers. Yeah, and television became memorable with with everything from actual world war two battle footage being shown because there wasn't enough programming to 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies with James Cagney, Edward G   Michael Hingson ** 29:01 Robinson and yeah   Bill Ratner ** 29:02 to all the sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver and television cartoons and on and on and on. And the most memorable elements to me were the personalities, and some of whom were invisible. Five years old, I was watching a Kids program after school, after kindergarten. We'll be back with more funny puppets, marionettes after this message and the first words that came on from an invisible voice of this D baritone voice, this commercial message will be 60 seconds long, Chrysler Dodge for 1954 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I watched hypnotized, hypnotized as a 1953 dodge drove across the screen with a happy family of four waving out the window. And at the end of the commercial, I ran into the kitchen said, Mom, mom, I know what a minute. Is, and it was said, it had suddenly come into my brain in one of those very rare and memorable moments in a person's life where your brain actually speaks to you in its own private language and says, Here is something very new and very true, that 60 seconds is in fact a minute. When someone says, See you in five minutes, they mean five times that, five times as long as that. Chrysler commercial, five times 60. That's 300 seconds. And she said, Did you learn it that that on T in kindergarten? And I said, No, I learned it from kangaroo Bob on TV, his announcer, oh, kangaroo Bob, no, but this guy was invisible. And so at five years of age, I was aware of the existence of the practice of the sound, of the magic of the seemingly unlimited access to facts, figures, products, brand names that these voices had and would say on the air in This sort of majestic, patriarchal way,   Michael Hingson ** 31:21 and just think 20 years later, then you had James Earl Jones,   Bill Ratner ** 31:26 the great dame. James Earl Jones, father was a star on stage at that time the 1950s James Earl Jones came of age in the 60s and became Broadway and off Broadway star.   Michael Hingson ** 31:38 I got to see him in Othello. He was playing Othello. What a powerful performance. It was   Bill Ratner ** 31:43 wonderful performer. Yeah, yeah. I got to see him as Big Daddy in Canada, Hot Tin Roof, ah, live and in person, he got front row seats for me and my family.   Michael Hingson ** 31:53 Yeah, we weren't in the front row, but we saw it. We saw it on on Broadway,   Bill Ratner ** 31:58 the closest I ever got to James Earl Jones. He and I had the same voice over agent, woman named Rita vinari of southern Barth and benare company. And I came into the agency to audition for Doritos, and I hear this magnificent voice coming from behind a closed voiceover booth, saying, with a with a Spanish accent, Doritos. I thought that's James Earl Jones. Why is he saying burritos? And he came out, and he bowed to me, nodded and smiled, and I said, hello and and the agent probably in the booth and shut the door. And she said, I said, that was James Earl Jones. What a voice. What she said, Oh, he's such a nice man. And she said, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. I was too afraid to stop him from saying, Doritos. And it turns out he didn't get the gig. So it is some other voice actor got it because he didn't say, had he said Doritos with the agent froze it froze up. That was as close as I ever got to did you get the gig? Oh goodness no,   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 no, you didn't, huh? Oh, well, well, yeah. I mean, it was a very, it was, it was wonderful. It was James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer played Iago. Oh, goodness, oh, I know. What a what a combination. Well, so you, you did a lot of voiceover stuff. What did you do regarding radio moving forward? Or did you just go completely out of that and you were in TV? Or did you have any opportunity   Bill Ratner ** 33:33 for me to go back at age 15, my brother and father, who were big supporters of my radio. My dad would read my W, C, l, o, newsletter and need an initial, an excellent journalism son and my brother would bring his teenage friends up. He'd play the elderly brothers, man, you got an Elvis record, and I did. And you know, they were, they were big supporters for me as a 13 year old, but when I turned 14, and had lost my brother and my father, I lost my enthusiasm and put all of my radio equipment in a box intended to play with it later. Never, ever, ever did again. And when I was about 30 years old and I'd done years of acting in the theater, having a great time doing fun plays and small theaters in Minneapolis and South Dakota and and Oakland, California and San Francisco. I needed money, so I looked in the want ads and saw a job for telephone sales, and I thought, Well, I used to love the telephone. I used to make phony phone calls to people all the time. Used to call funeral homes. Hi Carson, funeral I help you. Yes, I'm calling to tell you that you have a you have a dark green slate tile. Roof, isn't that correct? Yes. Well, there's, there's a corpse on your roof. Lady for goodness sake, bring it down and we laugh and we record it and and so I thought, Well, gee, I used to have a lot of fun with the phone. And so I called the number of telephone sales and got hired to sell magazine subscriptions and dinner tickets to Union dinners and all kinds of things. And then I saw a new job at a radio station, suburban radio station out in Walnut Creek, California, a lovely Metro BART train ride. And so I got on the BART train, rode out there and walked in for the interview, and was told I was going to be selling small advertising packages on radio for the station on the phone. And so I called barber shops and beauty shops and gas stations in the area, and one guy picked up the phone and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you on the radio right now? And I said, No, I'm just I'm in the sales room. Well, maybe you should be. And he slams the phone on me. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wasn't interested in buying advertising. I thought, gee. And I told somebody at the station, and they said, Well, you want to be in the radio? And he went, Yeah, I was on the radio when I was 13. And it just so happened that an older fellow was retiring from the 10am to 2pm slot. K I S King, kiss 99 and KD FM, Pittsburgh, California. And it was a beautiful music station. It was a music station. Remember, old enough will remember music that used to play in elevators that was like violin music, the Percy faith orchestra playing a Rolling Stone song here in the elevator. Yes, well, that's exactly what we played. And it would have been harder to get a job at the local rock stations because, you know, they were popular places. And so I applied for the job, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 could have lost your voice a lot sooner, and it would have been a lot harder if you had had to do Wolfman Jack. But that's another story.   Bill Ratner ** 37:13 Yeah, I used to listen to Wolf Man Jack. I worked in a studio in Hollywood. He became a studio. Yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 37:22 Anyway, so you you got to work at the muzack station, got   Bill Ratner ** 37:27 to work at the muzack station, and I was moving to Los Angeles to go to a bigger market, to attempt to penetrate a bigger broadcast market. And one of the sales guys, a very nice guy named Ralph pizzella said, Well, when you get to La you should study with a friend of mine down to pie Troy, he teaches voiceovers. I said, What are voice overs? He said, You know that CVS Pharmacy commercial just carted up and did 75 tags, available in San Fernando, available in San Clemente, available in Los Angeles, available in Pasadena. And I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you didn't get paid any extra. You got paid your $165 a week. The guy who did that commercial for the ad agency got paid probably 300 bucks, plus extra for the tags, that's voiceovers. And I thought, why? There's an idea, what a concept. So he gave me the name and number of old friend acquaintance of his who he'd known in radio, named Don DiPietro, alias Johnny rabbit, who worked for the Dick Clark organization, had a big rock and roll station there. He'd come to LA was doing voiceovers and teaching voiceover classes in a little second story storefront out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So I signed up for his class, and he was an experienced guy, and he liked me, and we all had fun, and I realized I was beginning to study like an actor at 1818, who goes to New York or goes to Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta or St Louis to act in the big theaters, and starts acting classes and realizes, oh my goodness, these people are truly professionals. I don't know how to do what they do. And so for six years, I took voice over classes, probably 4050, nights a year, and from disc jockeys, from ex show hosts, from actors, from animated cartoon voices, and put enough time in to get a degree in neurology in medical school. And worked my way up in radio in Los Angeles and had a morning show, a lovely show with a wonderful news man named Phil Reed, and we talked about things and reviewed movies and and played a lot of music. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm earning three times the money in voiceovers as I am on the radio, and I have to get up at 430 in the morning to be on the radio. Uh, and a wonderful guy who was Johnny Carson's staff announcer named Jack angel said, You're not still on radio, are you? And I said, Well, yeah, I'm working in the morning. And Ka big, get out of there. Man, quit. Quit. And I thought, well, how can I quit? I've always wanted to be a radio announcer. And then there was another wonderful guy on the old am station, kmpc, sweet Dick Whittington. Whittington, right? And he said at a seminar that I went to at a union voice over training class, when you wake up at four in the morning and you swing your legs over the bed and your shoes hit the floor, and you put your head in your hands, and you say to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. That's when you quit radio. Well, that hadn't happened to me. I was just getting up early to write some comedy segments and on and on and on, and then I was driving around town all day doing auditions and rented an ex girlfriend's second bedroom so that I could nap by myself during the day, when I had an hour in and I would as I would fall asleep, I'd picture myself every single day I'm in a dark voiceover studio, a microphone Is before me, a music stand is before the microphone, and on it is a piece of paper with advertising copy on it. On the other side of the large piece of glass of the recording booth are three individuals, my employers, I begin to read, and somehow the text leaps off the page, streams into my eyes, letter for letter, word for word, into a part of my back brain that I don't understand and can't describe. It is processed in my semi conscious mind with the help of voice over training and hope and faith, and comes out my mouth, goes into the microphone, is recorded in the digital recorder, and those three men, like little monkeys, lean forward and say, Wow, how do you do that? That was my daily creative visualization. Michael, that was my daily fantasy. And I had learned that from from Dale Carnegie, and I had learned that from Olympic athletes on NBC TV in the 60s and 70s, when the announcer would say, this young man you're seeing practicing his high jump is actually standing there. He's standing stationary, and the bouncing of the head is he's actually rehearsing in his mind running and running and leaping over the seven feet two inch bar and falling into the sawdust. And now he's doing it again, and you could just barely see the man nodding his head on camera at the exact rhythm that he would be running the 25 yards toward the high bar and leaping, and he raised his head up during the imaginary lead that he was visualizing, and then he actually jumped the seven foot two inches. That's how I learned about creative visualization from NBC sports on TV.   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 Channel Four in Los Angeles. There you go. Well, so you you broke into voice over, and that's what you did.   Bill Ratner ** 43:38 That's what I did, darn it, I ain't stopping now, there's a wonderful old actor named Bill Irwin. There two Bill Irwin's one is a younger actor in his 50s or 60s, a brilliant actor from Broadway to film and TV. There's an older William Irwin. They also named Bill Irwin, who's probably in his 90s now. And I went to a premiere of a film, and he was always showing up in these films as The senile stock broker who answers the phone upside down, or the senile board member who always asks inappropriate questions. And I went up to him and I said, you know, I see you in everything, man. I'm 85 years old. Some friends and associates of mine tell me I should slow down. I only got cast in movies and TV when I was 65 I ain't slowing down. If I tried to slow down at 85 I'd have to stop That's my philosophy. My hero is the great Don Pardo, the late great   Michael Hingson ** 44:42 for Saturday Night Live and Jeopardy   Bill Ratner ** 44:45 lives starring Bill Murray, Gilder Radner, and   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 he died for Jeopardy before that,   Bill Ratner ** 44:52 yeah, died at 92 with I picture him, whether it probably not, with a microphone and. His hand in his in his soundproof booth, in his in his garage, and I believe he lived in Arizona, although the show was aired and taped in New York, New York, right where he worked for for decades as a successful announcer. So that's the story.   Michael Hingson ** 45:16 Michael. Well, you know, I miss, very frankly, some of the the the days of radio back in the 60s and 70s and so on. We had, in LA what you mentioned, Dick Whittington, Dick whittinghill on kmpc, Gary Owens, you know, so many people who were such wonderful announcers and doing some wonderful things, and radio just isn't the same anymore. It's gone. It's   Bill Ratner ** 45:47 gone to Tiktok and YouTube. And the truth is, I'm not gonna whine about Tiktok or YouTube, because some of the most creative moments on camera are being done on Tiktok and YouTube by young quote influencers who hire themselves out to advertisers, everything from lipstick. You know,   Speaker 1 ** 46:09 when I went to a party last night was just wild and but this makeup look, watch me apply this lip remover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, I have no lip.   Bill Ratner ** 46:20 You know, these are the people with the voices. These are the new voices. And then, of course, the faces. And so I would really advise before, before people who, in fact, use the internet. If you use the internet, you can't complain if you use the internet, if you go to Facebook or Instagram, or you get collect your email or Google, this or that, which most of us do, it's handy. You can't complain about tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You can't complain about tick tock or YouTube, because it's what the younger generation is using, and it's what the younger generation advertisers and advertising executives and creators and musicians and actors are using to parade before us, as Gary Owens did, as Marlon Brando did, as Sarah Bernhardt did in the 19 so as all as you do, Michael, you're a parader. You're the head of the parade. You've been in on your own float for years. I read your your bio. I don't even know why you want to waste a minute talking to me for goodness sakes.   Michael Hingson ** 47:26 You know, the one thing about podcasts that I like over radio, and I did radio at kuci for seven years when I was in school, what I really like about podcasts is they're not and this is also would be true for Tiktok and YouTube. Primarily Tiktok, I would would say it isn't as structured. So if we don't finish in 60 minutes, and we finish in 61 minutes, no one's gonna shoot us.   Bill Ratner ** 47:53 Well, I beg to differ with you. Now. I'm gonna start a fight with you. Michael, yeah, we need conflict in this script. Is that it The Tick Tock is very structured. Six. No,   Michael Hingson ** 48:03 no, I understand that. I'm talking about podcasts,   Bill Ratner ** 48:07 though, but there's a problem. We gotta Tone It Up. We gotta pick it up. We gotta there's a lot of and I listen to what are otherwise really bright, wonderful personalities on screen, celebrities who have podcasts and the car sucks, and then I had meatballs for dinner, haha. And you know what my wife said? Why? You know? And there's just too much of that. And,   Michael Hingson ** 48:32 oh, I understand, yeah. I mean, it's like, like anything, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons I love podcasting. So it's my way of continuing what I used to do in radio and having a lot of fun doing it   Bill Ratner ** 48:43 all right, let me ask you. Let me ask you a technical and editorial question. Let me ask you an artistic question. An artist, can you edit this podcast? Yeah. Are you? Do you plan to Nope.   Michael Hingson ** 48:56 I think conversations are conversations, but there is a but, I mean,   Bill Ratner ** 49:01 there have been starts and stops and I answer a question, and there's a long pause, and then, yeah, we can do you edit that stuff   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 out. We do, we do, edit some of that out. And I have somebody that that that does a lot of it, because I'm doing more podcasts, and also I travel and speak, but I can edit. There's a program called Reaper, which is really a very sophisticated   Bill Ratner ** 49:26 close up spaces. You   Michael Hingson ** 49:28 can close up spaces with it, yes, but the neat thing about Reaper is that somebody has written scripts to make it incredibly accessible for blind people using screen readers.   Bill Ratner ** 49:40 What does it do? What does it do? Give me the elevator pitch.   Michael Hingson ** 49:46 You've seen some of the the programs that people use, like computer vision and other things to do editing of videos and so on. Yeah.   Bill Ratner ** 49:55 Yeah. Even Apple. Apple edit. What is it called? Apple? Garage Band. No, that's audio. What's that   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 audio? Oh,   Bill Ratner ** 50:06 quick time is quick   Michael Hingson ** 50:07 time. But whether it's video or audio, the point is that Reaper allows me to do all of that. I can edit audio. I can insert, I can remove pauses. I can do anything with Reaper that anyone else can do editing audio, because it's been made completely accessible.   Bill Ratner ** 50:27 That's great. That's good. That's nice. Oh, it is. It's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 So so if I want, I can edit this and just have my questions and then silence when you're talking.   Bill Ratner ** 50:38 That might be best. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Ratner,   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 yep, exactly, exactly. Now you have won the moth stories. Slam, what? Tell me about my story. Slam, you've won it nine times.   Bill Ratner ** 51:00 The Moth was started by a writer, a novelist who had lived in the South and moved to New York City, successful novelist named George Dawes green. And the inception of the moth, which many people listening are familiar with from the Moth Radio Hour. It was, I believe, either late 90s or early 2000s when he'd been in New York for a while and was was publishing as a fiction writer, and threw a party, and decided, instead of going to one of these dumb, boring parties or the same drinks being served and same cigarettes being smoked out in the veranda and the same orders. I'm going to ask people to bring a five minute story, a personal story, nature, a true story. You don't have to have one to get into the party, but I encourage you to. And so you know, the 3040, 50 people showed up, many of whom had stories, and they had a few drinks, and they had hors d'oeuvres. And then he said, Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. It's time for and then I picked names out of a hat, and person after person after person stood up in a very unusual setting, which was almost never done at parties. You How often do you see that happen? Suddenly, the room falls silent, and someone with permission being having been asked by the host to tell a personal story, some funny, some tragic, some complex, some embarrassing, some racy, some wild, some action filled. And afterward, the feedback he got from his friends was, this is the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. And someone said, you need to do this. And he said, Well, you people left a lot of cigarette butts and beer cans around my apartment. And they said, well, let's do it at a coffee shop. Let's do it at a church basement. So slowly but surely, the moth storytelling, story slams, which were designed after the old poetry slams in the 50s and 60s, where they were judged contests like, like a dance contest. Everybody's familiar with dance contests? Well, there were, then came poetry contests with people singing and, you know, and singing and really energetically, really reading. There then came storytelling contests with people standing on a stage before a silent audience, telling a hopefully interesting, riveting story, beginning middle, end in five minutes. And so a coffee house was found. A monthly calendar was set up. Then came the internet. Then it was so popular standing room only that they had to open yet another and another, and today, some 20 years later, 20 some years later, from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City to Los Angeles. There are moth story slams available on online for you to schedule yourself to go live and in person at the moth.org as in the moth with wings. Friend of mine, I was in New York. He said, You can't believe it. This writer guy, a writer friend of mine who I had read, kind of an avant garde, strange, funny writer was was hosting something called the moth in New York, and we were texting each other. He said, Well, I want to go. The theme was show business. I was going to talk to my Uncle Bobby, who was the bell boy. And I Love Lucy. I'll tell a story. And I texted him that day. He said, Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had the day wrong. It's next week. Next week, I'm going to be back home. And so he said, Well, I think there's a moth in Los Angeles. So about 15 years ago, I searched it down and what? Went to a small Korean barbecue that had a tiny little stage that originally was for Korean musicians, and it was now being used for everything from stand up comedy to evenings of rock and roll to now moth storytelling once a month. And I think the theme was first time. And so I got up and told a silly story and didn't win first prize. They have judges that volunteer judges a table of three judges scoring, you like, at a swim meet or a track beat or, you know, and our gymnastics meet. So this is all sort of familiar territory for everybody, except it's storytelling and not high jumping or pull ups. And I kept going back. I was addicted to it. I would write a story and I'd memorize it, and I'd show up and try to make it four minutes and 50 seconds and try to make it sound like I was really telling a story and not reading from a script. And wish I wasn't, because I would throw the script away, and I knew the stories well enough. And then they created a radio show. And then I began to win slams and compete in the grand slams. And then I started submitting these 750 word, you know, two and a half page stories. Literary magazines got a few published and found a whole new way to spend my time and not make much   Michael Hingson ** 56:25 money. Then you went into poetry.   Bill Ratner ** 56:29 Then I got so bored with my prose writing that I took a poetry course from a wonderful guy in LA called Jack grapes, who had been an actor and a football player and come to Hollywood and did some TV, episodics and and some some episodic TV, and taught poetry. It was a poet in the schools, and I took his class of adults and got a poem published. And thought, wait a minute, these aren't even 750 words. They're like 75 words. I mean, you could write a 10,000 word poem if you want, but some people have, yeah, and it was complex, and there was so much to read and so much to learn and so much that was interesting and odd. And a daughter of a friend of mine is a poet, said, Mommy, are you going to read me one of those little word movies before I go to sleep?   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 A little word movie, word movie out of the   Bill Ratner ** 57:27 mouths of babes. Yeah, and so, so and I perform. You know, last night, I was in Orange County at a organization called ugly mug Cafe, and a bunch of us poets read from an anthology that was published, and we sold our books, and heard other young poets who were absolutely marvelous and and it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it's one of the things I do.   Michael Hingson ** 57:54 Well, you sent me pictures of book covers, so they're going to be in the show notes. And I hope people will will go out and get them   Bill Ratner ** 58:01 cool. One of the one of the things that I did with poetry, in addition to wanting to get published and wanting to read before people, is wanting to see if there is a way. Because poetry was, was very satisfying, emotionally to me, intellectually very challenging and satisfying at times. And emotionally challenging and very satisfying at times, writing about things personal, writing about nature, writing about friends, writing about stories that I received some training from the National Association for poetry therapy. Poetry therapy is being used like art therapy, right? And have conducted some sessions and and participated in many and ended up working with eighth graders of kids who had lost someone to death in the past year of their lives. This is before covid in the public schools in Los Angeles. And so there's a lot of that kind of work that is being done by constable people, by writers, by poets, by playwrights,   Michael Hingson ** 59:09 and you became a grief counselor,   Bill Ratner ** 59:13 yes, and don't do that full time, because I do voiceovers full time, right? Write poetry and a grand. Am an active grandparent, but I do the occasional poetry session around around grief poetry.   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 So you're a grandparent, so you've had kids and all that. Yes, sir, well, that's is your wife still with us? Yes?   Bill Ratner ** 59:40 Oh, great, yeah, she's an artist and an art educator. Well, that   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so the two of you can criticize each other's works, then, just   Bill Ratner ** 59:52 saying, we're actually pretty kind to each other. I Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of outside criticism. Them. So, yeah, you don't need to do it internally. We don't rely on it. What do you think of this although, although, more than occasionally, each of us will say, What do you think of this poem, honey? Or what do you think of this painting, honey? And my the favorite, favorite thing that my wife says that always thrills me and makes me very happy to be with her is, I'll come down and she's beginning a new work of a new piece of art for an exhibition somewhere. I'll say, what? Tell me about what's, what's going on with that, and she'll go, you know, I have no idea, but it'll tell me what to do.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 Yeah, it's, it's like a lot of authors talk about the fact that their characters write the stories right, which, which makes a lot of sense. So with all that you've done, are you writing a memoir? By any chance, I   Bill Ratner ** 1:00:46 am writing a memoir, and writing has been interesting. I've been doing it for many years. I got it was my graduate thesis from University of California Riverside Palm Desert.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:57 My wife was a UC Riverside graduate. Oh, hi. Well, they   Bill Ratner ** 1:01:01 have a low residency program where you go for 10 days in January, 10 days in June. The rest of it's online, which a lot of universities are doing, low residency programs for people who work and I got an MFA in creative writing nonfiction, had a book called parenting for the digital age, the truth about media's effect on children. And was halfway through it, the publisher liked it, but they said you got to double the length. So I went back to school to try to figure out how to double the length. And was was able to do it, and decided to move on to personal memoir and personal storytelling, such as goes on at the moth but a little more personal than that. Some of the material that I was reading in the memoir section of a bookstore was very, very personal and was very helpful to read about people who've gone through particular issues in their childhood. Mine not being physical abuse or sexual abuse, mine being death and loss, which is different. And so that became a focus of my graduate thesis, and many people were urging me to write a memoir. Someone said, you need to do a one man show. So I entered the Hollywood fringe and did a one man show and got good reviews and had a good time and did another one man show the next year and and so on. So But writing memoir as anybody knows, and they're probably listeners who are either taking memoir courses online or who may be actively writing memoirs or short memoir pieces, as everybody knows it, can put you through moods from absolutely ecstatic, oh my gosh, I got this done. I got this story told, and someone liked it, to oh my gosh, I'm so depressed I don't understand why. Oh, wait a minute, I was writing about such and such today. Yeah. So that's the challenge for the memoir is for the personal storyteller, it's also, you know, and it's more of a challenge than it is for the reader, unless it's bad writing and the reader can't stand that. For me as a reader, I'm fascinated by people's difficult stories, if they're well   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 told well, I know that when in 2002 I was advised to write a book about the World Trade Center experiences and all, and it took eight years to kind of pull it all together. And then I met a woman who actually I collaborated with, Susie Florey, and we wrote thunder dog. And her agent became my agent, who loved the proposal that we sent and actually got a contract within a week. So thunder dog came out in 2011 was a New York Times bestseller, and very blessed by that, and we're working toward the day that it will become a movie still, but it'll happen. And then I wrote a children's version of it, well, not a children's version of the book, but a children's book about me growing up in Roselle, growing up the guide dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, and that's been on Amazon. We self published it. Then last year, we published a new book called Live like a guide dog, which is all about controlling fear and teaching people lessons that I learned prior to September 11. That helped me focus and remain calm.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:23 What happened to you on September 11,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:27 I was in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 78th floor of Tower One.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:32 And what happened? I mean, what happened to you?   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:36 Um, nothing that day. I mean, well, I got out. How did you get out? Down the stairs? That was the only way to go. So, so the real story is not doing it, but why it worked. And the real issue is that I spent a lot of time when I first went into the World Trade Center, learning all I could about what to do in an emergency, talking to police, port authorities. Security people, emergency preparedness people, and also just walking around the world trade center and learning the whole place, because I ran an office for a company, and I wasn't going to rely on someone else to, like, lead me around if we're going to go to lunch somewhere and take people out before we negotiated contracts. So I needed to know all of that, and I learned all I could, also realizing that if there ever was an emergency, I might be the only one in the office, or we might be in an area where people couldn't read the signs to know what to do anyway. And so I had to take the responsibility of learning all that, which I did. And then when the planes hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building, we get we had some guests in the office. Got them out, and then another colleague, who was in from our corporate office, and I and my guide dog, Roselle, went to the stairs, and we started down. And   Bill Ratner ** 1:05:54 so, so what floor did the plane strike?   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:58 It struck and the NOR and the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99 so I just say 96 okay, and you were 20 floors down, 78 floors 78 so we were 18 floors below, and   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:09 at the moment of impact, what did you think?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:13 Had no idea we heard a muffled kind of explosion, because the plane hit on the other side of the building, 18 floors above us. There was no way to know what was going on. Did you feel? Did you feel? Oh, the building literally tipped, probably about 20 feet. It kept tipping. And then we actually said goodbye to each other, and then the building came back upright. And then we went,   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:34 really you so you thought you were going to die?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:38 David, my colleague who was with me, as I said, he was from our California office, and he was there to help with some seminars we were going to be doing. We actually were saying goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78 floor plunge to the street, when the building stopped tipping and it came back. Designed to do that by the architect. It was designed to do that, which is the point, the point.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:02 Goodness, gracious. And then did you know how to get to the stairway?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:04 Oh, absolutely. And did you do it with your friend? Yeah, the first thing we did, the first thing we did is I got him to get we had some guests, and I said, get him to the stairs. Don't let him take the elevators, because I knew he had seen fire above us, but that's all we knew. And but I said, don't take the elevators. Don't let them take elevators. Get them to the stairs and then come back and we'll leave. So he did all that, and then he came back, and we went to the stairs and started down.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:33 Wow. Could you smell anything?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:36 We smelled burning jet fuel fumes on the way down. And that's how we figured out an airplane must have hit the building, but we had no idea what happened. We didn't know what happened until the until both towers had collapsed, and I actually talked to my wife, and she's the one who told us how to aircraft have been crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth, at that time, was still missing over Pennsylvania. Wow. So you'll have to go pick up a copy of thunder dog. Goodness. Good. Thunder dog. The name of the book is Thunder dog, and the book I wrote last year is called Live like a guide dog. It's le

As Summer comes to a close, we're celebrating some of the most widely acclaimed voices who shaped this past year, from film to theater, to cooking and the written word. First, one of the year's defining writers, Pullitzer Prize-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha speaks to Christiane about his award-winning poems and the dire conditions his family members continue to face in Gaza since he managed to escape. Then breakout star and Oscar winner Mikey Madison talks about playing a Brooklyn sex worker in "Anora" and how she prepared for the role which won her Best Actress at the Oscars. Also, three-time James Beard nominee for Best Chef, Iranian-born Nasim Alikhani discusses her contemporary spin on Iranian cuisine, her journey to the U.S. and what it was like cooking for the Biden White House. Plus, actors Jessica Hecht and Bill Irwin, stars of "Eureka Day," talk to Christiane about the Broadway play that satirizes vaccine skepticism and took home the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A conversation with one of the longest-serving and most consequential artistic directors and producers of the modern era of Philadelphia theater history, Sara Garonzik. As we continue our Season Four, we learn about her early years - first as and actor, then as a director, then as a producer at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. And we learn her stories about how she took PTC from a 25-year-long home at the Plays and Players Theatre to the new Suzanne Roberts Theatre on Broad Street. Plus, we learn about how she committed the theater to presenting consequential  modern American playwrights such as Terrence McNally, David Ives and August Wilson, and worked with so many amazing directors, composers and performing artists of the American theater - everyone from Richard Thomas to Billy Porter to Bill Irwin to Kathleen Turner. A blog post on our website, with photos of Sara Garonzik and the opening of the Suzanne Robert Theatre in 2007 on Broad Street is here: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/images-for-episode-100-the-suzanne-roberts-theatre-grand-opening-2007/On Sunday, June 29th, the author and podcaster Peter Schmitz will be appearing at the Brookline Books stall at the 2025 American Library Association annual conference and exhibition at the Philadelphia Convention Center. If you're a librarian - or a fan of libraries - and are coming to the ALA in Philly this year, please be sure to stop by and say hello!Support the show"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!To order our book via Bookshop.org - GO HERE Our website: www.aithpodcast.comOur email address: AITHpodcast@gmail.comBluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/ Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved. ℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz. ℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

The Wrestling Stoop returns as Bob Roop talks The Fabulous Moolah and the many allegations & stories of her pimping, sex trafficking, and requesting sexual favors from students. We also talk smart fans trying to dictate the matches, and how to veterans handled it versus the younger talent. Plus, we talk Georgia talent defecting to the WWF in 1984, Scott & Bill Irwin, Ron Slinker, Tom Horner, Pat Rose, George Tragos, & more!Please Subscribe to our Patreon to help pay the bills, https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopiaIncludes the $5 “All Access” Tier & $9 "VIP Superfan" Tier featuring our VIDEO CASTS, Patreon Watch-Along Series, our insanely detailed show notes (for the Grenade, Monday Warfare, Regional Rasslin, Puro Academy, & Retro Re-View), Early Show Releases! PLUS, monthly DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for your viewing and reading pleasure!WRESTLECOPIA MERCHANDISE - https://www.teepublic.com/user/wrestlecopiaVisit the WrestleCopia Podcast Network https://wrestlecopia.comFollow WrestleCopia on “X” (Formerly Twitter) @RasslinGrenadeFollow & LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE – https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenadeSubscribe to the WrestleCopia Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/RasslinGrenade ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Doug Skinner has contributed to The Fortean Times, Fate, Weirdo, Nickelodeon, Cabinet, Typo, and other fine publications. His many books include short stories, a novel (Nominata), and translations of many Bohemians, occultists, and visionaries, including Alphonse Allais, Charles Cros, Alfred Jarry, Luigi Russolo, and Giovanni Battists Nazari.Visit Doug's website here: https://www.dougskinner.net/He has written music for theater and dance, most conspicuously for Bill Irwin's show The Regard of Flight, which toured for decades. His albums That Regrettable Weekend, It All Went Pfft, and An Afternoon in the Arboretum are available on Bandcamp.TV and movie appearances include Great Performances, Martin Mull's Talent Takes a Holiday, Ed, Crocodile Dundee II, and several of George Kuchar's videos. He has played piano on the BBC, played ukulele on the Joe Franklin Show and at an Aerosmith release party, MC'd at the Rainbow and Stars, read the audiobook of Kiarna Boyd's scary novel Blessed and Cursed Alike, and lectured on various questionable topics at the American Visionary Art Museum, the Morbid Anatomy Museum, the Bakken Museum of Electricity in Healing, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and other places.For many years, he has maintained a tribute site to his close friend: The late, great, Fortean writer, John Keel, at https://www.johnkeel.com/And Doug's book on anomalous music, Music From Elsewhere, was published last year by Strange Attractor Books in the UK, and is distributed in the US by the MIT Press.it is available from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Elsewhere-Haunting-Afterlife-Worlds/dp/1913689212The accompanying music for the book is available here, on Bandcamp: https://strangeattractorpress.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-elsewhereDoug visits with Talking Weird to chat about his book MUSIC FROM ELSEWHERE: A compendium of other musics, channelled from the spirit world, the fairy kingdom, outer space, secret societies and occult lodges.Along with talking about music from these other worlds, Doug also shares some of the music itself! This is a unique and fascinating episode, with one of the most erudite and witty personalities of the Fortean field. Do not miss it!

Have you ever noticed your dog seeking higher ground—jumping on the couch, standing on your lap, or even claiming the top of the stairs? In this episode, we explore how elevation impacts a dog's perception of status and hierarchy. We discuss what it means when a dog positions itself higher than others, how dogs interpret height in their social structure, and what you can do to ensure elevation doesn't lead to unwanted behaviors. Dog Fact of the Week: In 1990, a blind man named Bill Irwin accomplished an incredible feat—hiking the entire 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail with the help of his seeing-eye dog, Orient, a loyal German Shepherd. It took them eight months to complete the journey, proving the incredible bond and trust between humans and their dogs. Tune in to learn how small changes in your dog's environment can shape their behavior and mindset! Courtesy 93.9 WLVB Join the Early Bird VIP Wait List for my Canines & Culture Program

Sunday message. Join Pastor Fred Lodge as he continues the Philippians series, sharing the inspiring story of Bill Irwin's journey on the Appalachian Trail and uncovering the secret to pressing on with joy through life's challenges. Discover how to focus on the future, let go of the past, and embrace a love-driven relationship with Christ that helps you persevere.

Welcome to Multiverse News, Your source for Information about all your favorite fictional universes Marvel finally gave us our first official look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps with the release of the teaser trailer during a special launch event Tuesday morning, for which The First Family's cast itself was on hand to present  AND WHAT A TRAILER IT WAS…Marvel led the drop with a space race-esque countdown in theme with the film's 1960s aesthetic. We met all of the four main characters and even saw a glimpse of the biggest bad of all…Galactus.  Last week we reported on Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch's statements about officially not being a part of Avengers: Doomsday. The very next day the actor recanted his claims in an interview with Business Insider, saying, "I got that wrong, I am in the next one,” adding, "Don't ever believe anything I say." Elsewhere, Chris Evans had a record of his own to set straight, denying the many reports that he has been cast to return in Doomsday while speaking with Esquire, claiming, “That's not true, though. This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years — ever since Endgame. I've just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no — happily retired!” Finally, in an interview on Andy Cohen Live, the legendary Patti LuPone may have shed some light on the future of Disney Plus series WandaVision and Agatha All Along, saying showrunner Jac Schaeffer told her she doesn't do second seasons.  Sunday's Super Bowl LIX, where the Kansas City Chiefs will defend their title against the Philadelphia Eagles, is bound to bring a bevy of trailers for movies and series in tow, but let's talk about what exactly is confirmed, expected, predicted, and everything in between: only three motion picture studios have been willing to invest the substantial sum of $7.5 to $8 million for a single 30-second commercial spot: Disney, Paramount, and Universal. Disney plans to showcase trailers for several anticipated films, including the live-action remake of Snow White, the animated feature Lilo & Stitch, the original animated film Elio, and upcoming Marvel entries such as Thunderbolts*. Paramount is expected to promote its diverse lineup, which includes the Jack Quaid-led action film Novocaine, a musical Smurfs movie featuring Rihanna, and the latest installment in the Mission Impossible franchise, Final Reckoning. Universal may reveal trailers for How To Train Your Dragon, the horror sequel M3GAN 2.0, and Jurassic World Rebirth. Notably absent is Warner Bros and DC Studios. Actor-director Benny Safdie will join Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Odyssey, following his role as Edward Teller in Oppenheimer. Recent cast additions include Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, and Samantha Morton. Netflix is developing a new Little House on the Prairie series, 40 years after NBC's original adaptation, this time with Rebecca Sonnenshine of The Vampire Diaries and The Boys as showrunner. Jake Gyllenhaal will star in M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming supernatural romantic thriller, which Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks are collaboratively developing as both a film screenplay and a novel. Sony Pictures has set a release date of August 29th for Darren Aronofsky‘s Austin Butler-led feature Caught Stealing. The film that previously held that date, the sixth film in the Insidious franchise, has moved back a year to Aug. 21, 2026. Robert Eggers has closed a deal to write and direct a new Labyrinth film for TriStar Pictures. Plot details are under wraps, but sources tell Deadine that the film is a sequel to, rather than a remake of, Jim Henson's 1986 classic.

On this episode we welcome all the way over zoom from France, Etienne McGinley. Etienne talks with us about his path to performing and how watching Bill Irwin and David Shiner changed his view on how he wanted to perform. We talk about his evolution as a performer and how the grind of cruise ships … Continue reading "The Moisture Festival Podcast – Etienne"

Interviews live from the opening night ofEureka Day, which took place on December 16th, 2024. The order of interviews is: Thomas Middleditch Anna Shapiro Amber Gray Jonathan Spector Chelsea Kurtz Bill Irwin Jessica Hecht  Eureka Day brings comedy and contemplation to the stage, tackling personal beliefs, community conflict, and the art of truly listening. These interviews explore the play's themes of empathy, collective responsibility, and the nuances of human connection amidst a mumps outbreak at a progressive private school. You'll hear insights about the challenges of portraying deeply layered characters who all believe they are "right," the parallels between the play's themes and real-world conflicts, and the humor that helps audiences face uncomfortable truths. Whether you're a fan of theater, thoughtful storytelling, or the quest to find common ground in divisive times, this episode delivers heartfelt takeaways and plenty of laughs. Connect with The Theatre Podcast: Support us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheTheatrePodcast Twitter & Instagram: @theatre_podcast Facebook.com/OfficialTheatrePodcast TheTheatrePodcast.com Alan's personal Instagram: @alanseales Email me at feedback@thetheatrepodcast.com. I want to know what you think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another opening night on Broadway! Join The Art of Kindness live from the EUREKA DAY red carpet in December 2024, as Robert Peterpaul chats with all the stars about listening, decision making and, of course, kindness. In this episode, you'll hear from Eureka Day cast members Tony Award nominee Amber Gray (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Hadestown), two-time Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Summer, 1976 at MTC, A View from the Bridge), Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Largely New York), Emmy Award nominee Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley”), Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz (“Scandal,” “The Flash”) and playwright Jonathan Spector. You'll also hear from VIP guests Michael Cyril Creighton ("Only Murders in the Building") and comedian Sam Morrison. Follow us: @artofkindnesspod / @robpeterpaul youtube.com/@artofkindnesspodcast Support the show! (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theaok) Got kindness tips or stories? Want to just say hi? Please email us: artofkindnesspodcast@gmail.com Music: "Awake" by Ricky Alvarez & "Sunshine" by Lemon Music Studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the final installment of the 1986 UWF PROJECT! Special Guest Roman Gomez returns to the show as we say goodbye to the Cowboy's Universal Wrestling Federation and take a look into the final 2 weeks of December '86, featuring UWF Champion The One Man Gang vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in a wild brawl, Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt gloat, The Freebirds feud with the Fantastics, Sting & Rick Steiner vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Taylor, The Fantastics vs. Jack Victory & Mike George,  Brickhouse Brown Returns, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams dominates, Michael Hayes talks conspiracies & Bill Watts responds, plus action with Iceman King Parsons, The Missing Link, Dark Journey, Angel of Death, Sunshine, Chavo Guerrero, Gary Young, Duggan & Terry Taylor capture the UWF Tag Titles from Leroy Brown & Bill Irwin, the final TOP 10 of 1986, holiday greetings from many UWF stars... and Jeff Raitz! All of that, and more! Join us as we close out the UWF 86 project with a bang! Please Subscribe to our Patreon to help pay the bills, https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopiaIncludes the $5 “All Access” Tier & $9 "VIP Superfan" Tier featuring our VIDEO CASTS, Patreon Watch-Along Series, our insanely detailed show notes (for the Grenade, Monday Warfare, Regional Rasslin, Puro Academy, & Retro Re-View), Early Show Releases, REMASTERED editions of the early Grenade episodes including NEW content! PLUS, monthly DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for your viewing and reading pleasure!Visit the WrestleCopia Podcast Network https://wrestlecopia.comFollow WrestleCopia on “X” (Formerly Twitter) @RasslinGrenadeFollow & LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE – https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenadeSubscribe to the WrestleCopia Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/RasslinGrenade ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Join us as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Christopher Nolan's cinematic masterpiece, “Interstellar”! In this episode, we delve deep into the film's groundbreaking concepts, emotional depth, and the visionary minds behind it, including Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan. We'll discuss the unforgettable performances by Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and the stellar supporting cast featuring Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, Michael Caine, and John Lithgow. We'll also explore Hans Zimmer's hauntingly beautiful score that perfectly complements the film's themes of love, sacrifice, and the vastness of space. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a newcomer to the “Interstellar” universe, listen in for an insightful discussion filled with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, expert analysis, and reflections on the film's lasting impact on science fiction and cinema. Don't miss this journey through time and space—let's embark on this stellar adventure together! Where To Watch Interstellar

This week on Regional Rasslin', Guest Roman Gomez returns as we head back to the UWF 1986 Project. It's our final "UWF NEWS" segment, and there's plenty of it. Talking both the Terry Gordy & John Tatum car accidents, Buddy Landel's departure, Thanksgiving Superdome Detailed Results, the Cowboy invading the Alabama/Continental territory & more. Then from there, we review the final week of November 86 TV! The PWI Tournament begins with a DREAM MATCH, which sees Steve "Dr. Death" Williams battle a young STING! Eddie Gilbert goes "BLIND"! Opposites attract as Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Taylor form a team to come after Skandor Akbar's Tag Team Champions Leroy Brown & Wild Bill Irwin. Chavo Guerrero battles "Hollywood" John Tatum. Buddy Roberts asks Art Crews to step aside for a TV TItle shot vs. Savannah Jack, find out Art's surprising response! Jim Duggan faces the challenge of Akbar's "Bounty Hunter". The Angel of Death is looking ROUGH. Plus, UWF Champion One Man Gang, Tag Champs Leroy Brown & Bill Irwin, Rick Steiner, Gary Young, Chavo Guerrero, the Missing Link, disheveled Freebirds, tag action with The Fantastics vs. Jack Victory & Tatum, & more! Listen as we begin to call the booking into question, and we're not alone as the Mid-South fans slowly begin to disappear from the Tapings. It's the beginning of the end for the UWF, and we're here for it...Please Subscribe to our Patreon to help pay the bills, https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopiaIncludes the $5 “All Access” Tier & $9 "Superfan DELUXE" Tier featuring our VIDEO CASTS, Patreon Watch-Along Series, our insanely detailed show notes (for the Grenade, Monday Warfare, Regional Rasslin, Puro Academy, & Retro Re-View), Early Show Releases, REMASTERED editions of the early Grenade episodes including NEW content! PLUS, monthly DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for your viewing and reading pleasure!Visit the WrestleCopia Podcast Network https://wrestlecopia.comFollow WrestleCopia on “X” (Formerly Twitter) @RasslinGrenadeFollow & LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE – https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenadeSubscribe to the WrestleCopia Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/RasslinGrenade ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Filmmaker Marco Calvani talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about “High Tide” his feature film debut that stars Marco Pigossi (Lourenço) as a Brazilian undocumented immigrant adrift Provincetown in the late summer. The film is about a young man coping after a break up & left adrift in Ptown with his travel visa running out. Lourenço then meets Maurice a Black American & a romance evolves. Though Maurice's comes with a circle of friends he's is also quite aware he's the minority in a predominantly white queer tourist mecca. Pigossi gives a haunting performance steeped in melancholy & raw pain but delivers moments of openness, optimism & joy with an affective portrait of the depths LGBTQ men experience seeking meaningful connections. As the summer season fades & with his unexpected romance with Maurice together the two reconcile the pasts they've left behind & pursue their uncertain futures. The film distributed by Strand Releasing premiered at South by Southwest & was released in NYC earlier this month followed by an expansion to Los Angeles & will begin a run at Waters Edge Cinema in Provincetown & Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA on Friday November 1st. The stellar cast also includes James Bland as Maurice, Marisa Tomei as Miriam, Bill Irwin as Scott, Sean Mahon as Bob, Mya Taylor as Crystal, Bryan Batt as Todd, Todd Flaherty as Leslie, Karl Gregory as BJ & João Santos as Dimo with a haunting score by Sebastian Plano.  Marco Calvani is an Italian playwright, director, filmmaker, translator & actor. Trained as an actor since he was a teenager Calvani made his debut as a playwright in 2002 with Quasi commissioned by the European Social Forum. Prior to his first feature film High Tide which had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2024 he wrote & directed the short film The View from Up Here starring Melissa Leo & Leïla Bekhti based on his eponymous play originally commissioned by The Actors Studio & directed by Estelle Parsons. As of 2020 Marco  is in a relationship with Brazilian actor Marco Pigossi. LISTEN: 600+ LGBTQ Chats @OUTTAKE VOICES

REGIONAL RASSLIN' PODCAST EPISODE #074 (UWF 1986 – Nov. 15th – 28th, 1986)Regional Rasslin returns to November of 1986 in the UWF! Guest Roman Gomez returns to talk the infamous episode of UWF TV that saw THREE TITLE CHANGES takes place in a single hour! Plus, we talk a Steel Cage Match, Country Whipping Tag, 6-Man Elimination match where the loser's valet is spray painted yellow (or are they?)! NEW UWF Champion One Man Gang battles Ted Dibiase, Terry Gordy suffers an "injury", Buddy Roberts vs. Savannah Jack for the TV Title, John Tatum & Jack Victory vs Leroy Brown & Bill Irwin for the Tag belts, Jack Victory aligns with Buddy Landel... but then Buddy, gets fired. Join us as we look at 2 more weeks of UWF TV (including the Power Pro shows), and then cover the underwhelming cards on the Thanksgiving Superdome event and the following day in Houston. If we could pinpoint a timeframe that the UWF began to lose its edge... we're in the midst of it right now, and we break it all down for you this week!Please Subscribe to our Patreon to help pay the bills, https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopiaIncludes the $5 “All Access” Tier & $9 "Superfan DELUXE" Tier featuring our VIDEO CASTS, Patreon Watch-Along Series, our insanely detailed show notes (for the Grenade, Monday Warfare, Regional Rasslin, Puro Academy, & Retro Re-View), Early Show Releases, REMASTERED editions of the early Grenade episodes including NEW content! PLUS, monthly DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for your viewing and reading pleasure!Visit the WrestleCopia Podcast Network https://wrestlecopia.comFollow WrestleCopia on “X” (Formerly Twitter) @RasslinGrenadeFollow & LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE – https://www.facebook.com/RasslinGrenadeSubscribe to the WrestleCopia Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/RasslinGrenade ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Welcome back to another edition of the UK's number one and only Memphis wrestling related podcast, Memphis Continental Wrestling Cast. On this week's show we cover November 17th 1984 where we will see promos from:-   Bill Irwin& Scott Irwin vs. David Johnson & Tracy Smothers Jimmy Valiantvs. The Invader Mike Sharpe(w/Jimmy Hart & Jimmy Hart Jr.) vs. Jim Jamison Jerry Lawlervs. Pat Hutchinson Eddie Gilbert(w/Jimmy Hart & Jimmy Hart Jr.) vs. Ronnie Garvin Brad Batten& Mark Batten vs. The Dirty White Boys (Len Denton & Tony Anthony) (w/Jimmy Hart & Jimmy Hart Jr.)   Visit linktr.ee/memphiscast for all handy bits todo with the podcast   Enjoy what we do then join the fan club  https://www.buzzsprout.com/2402466/support   Follow the network @ptbnwrestling as well as the sister network North South Connection @NoSoPodNetwork as well as brand new network Backbone Wrestling Network @backbone24   You can watch the show https://youtu.be/HI9fkmeW-HA   Check out Youtube.com/@northsouthconnectionpodnet and Youtube.com/@ptbwrestling   Be sure to check out friends of the show, Our Vantage Point, Acid Washed Memories, Booking The Territory, Greetings From Allentown, The Outdated Wrestling Hour with Bob Smith and the Wrestlecopia network.

This week we get a peek behind the curtain with some more "Slick Micks Pix" We get a look at Bill Irwin and Sean Waltman in NE Mpls., unmasked Dr X, smiling Mad Dog, what is "SWAK" and that's just a small part of it!   We have a new one stop shop for AWA Unleashed merch, it's https://www.teepublic.com/user/unleashed-plus. You can get t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases, and tons more.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1245, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Dancing With The Stars Winners 1: In Season 11 she had the time of her life and the right moves to take the prize. Jennifer Grey. 2: In 2011 this Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver scored the win with his fancy moves. Hines Ward. 3: A frontrunner from the beginning, this pussycat strutted her stuff to win Season 10. Nicole Scherzinger. 4: "She's got the look", she's got the co-host gig and she's also got the trophy from Season 7. Brooke Burke. 5: It's no myth--this champion speed skater took the gold in Season 4. Apolo Ohno. Round 2. Category: The Energy Biz 1: In 1972 Standard Oil of New Jersey got a double X rating and became this corporation. Exxon. 2: The name of this "always prepared" battery company was once 2 words. Eveready. 3: In 2020 the U.S. added more energy capacity from this type of power than any other, with plans for more offshore. wind. 4: This Texas company agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle claims from the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010. Halliburton. 5: This company that bought Texaco in 2001 had a bit of a rough year in 2020, if you consider losing $5.5 billion rough. Chevron. Round 3. Category: The Actor Who Said It 1: 1976: "You talkin' to me?". Robert De Niro. 2: 1999: "I see dead people". Haley Joel Osment. 3: As Norman Bates: "A boy's best friend is his mother". Anthony Perkins. 4: 2012: "That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry". Mark Ruffalo. 5: In a Tarantino film: "You know somethin', Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece". Brad Pitt. Round 4. Category: Broadway Revivalism 1: It's always "the Age of Aquarius" in this musical that lets the sun shine in again in 2009. Hair. 2: The original ran for 2 years, but the revival of this Illinois-set musical had a 12th anniversary party in 2008. Chicago. 3: This classic Rodgers and Hammerstein show set in WWII Polynesia came back to Broadway in 2008. South Pacific. 4: In April 2009 Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane began "Waiting for" him (P.S. They're still waiting). Godot. 5: Hey, genius, it's the genus of your pony--also a play revived on Broadway in 2008. Equus. Round 5. Category: From G To G. With G" To "G in quotation marks 1: During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Mao's wife and 3 others were known as this "of Four". Gang. 2: Despite its name, this marmot can climb trees and swim just like the squirrels to which it's related. a groundhog. 3: This term for the Soviet forced labor camps takes its name from an acronym for the agency that ran them. the Gulag. 4: This Swedish shipbuilding port is known for its canals. Gothenburg. 5: The turbulent ending of a regime or institution, it's German for "twilight of the gods". Goetterdaemmerung. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

In this episode we hear talk with festival favorite Lindsay Benner. We discuss how she was able to see Bill Irwin at a young age and the impact it had on her. She tells us about her first street shows in San Francisco and how she really had to take a different approach than she expected. We … Continue reading "The Moisture Festival Podcast -Lindsay Benner"

Texas Death matches, Bob Armstrong, Ron Bass, Mongolian Stomper, Ron Fuller, Robert Fuller, Jerry Stubbs, Randy Rose, Dr. Bill Irwin, Tony Charles

Bob Armstrong, Ron Bass, Big C, Randy Rose, Dr Bill Irwin, Jerry Stubbs, Robert Fuller, Tony Charles, Norvell Austin, Don Fargo, Dick Steinborn, Hosted by Ron Fuller and David Sommers

Bob Armstrong, Ron Bass, the Big C, Tony Charles, Norvell Austin, Don Fargo, Dick Steinborn, Randy Rose, Dr. Bill Irwin

Bob Armstrong, Mongolian Stomper, Dick Steinborn, Don Fargo, Tony Charles, Ron Bass, Dr. Bill Irwin

Mongolian Stomper, Dick Steinborn, the Big C, Fabulous Don Fargo, Ron Bass, Dr. Bill Irwin, Tony Charles, Charlie Cook, Norvell Austin

Georgia Jawjacker, Mongolian Stomper, Don Carson, Ron Bass, Tony Charles, Dick Steinborn, Dr. Bill Irwin, Robert Fuller

Mongolian Stomper, Georgia Jawjacker, the Big C, Ron Fuller, Robert Fuller, Dr. Bill Irwin, Tony Charles, Norvell Austin

Mongolian Stomper, Joe Leduc, Jimmy Golden, Georgia Jawjacker, the Big C, Ron Fuller, Dr. Bill Irwin, Robert Fuller

8 man tag Georgia Jawjacker (Bob Armstrong), Joe Leduc, Ron Fuller, Robert Fuller, Mongolian Stomper, Jimmy Golden, Big C, Dr. Bill Irwin

Farmer Burns, Joe Leduc, Mongolian Stomper, Don Carson, Big C, Tony Charles, Randy Rose, Dr. Bill Irwin, Don Fargo

Monte & The Pharaoh Present Unleashing The Wild Side with WCCW Wild Bill Irwin

Mark Maddux joins Jim for a loving look back at a classic film of the fantastique from 1980 and Director Robert Altman - "Popeye," starring Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Paul L. Smith, Paul Dooley, Donald Moffat, Ray Walston, Richard Libertini, Bill Irwin, Wesley Ivan Hunt, Peter Bray, Linda Hunt and Jack Mercer. Altman's homage to the loveable cartoon character from the 1920's takes us into the magical world of Sweet Water. Find out more on this special Holiday episode of MONSTER ATTACK!, The Podcast Dedicated To Old Monster Movies.   

Mark Maddux joins Jim for a loving look back at a classic film of the fantastique from 1980 and Director Robert Altman – “Popeye,” starring Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Paul L. Smith, Paul Dooley, Donald Moffat, Ray Walston, Richard Libertini, Bill Irwin, Wesley Ivan Hunt, Peter Bray, Linda Hunt and Jack Mercer. Altman’s homage to … Popeye | Episode 390 Read More » The post Popeye | Episode 390 appeared first on The ESO Network.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1024, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: And In Other News... 1: The Chicago Tribune reported this host country donated 230,000 Mars bars to our troops for Thanksgiving. Saudi Arabia. 2: Englishman Kim Philby was 1 of 5 top spies this country honored on stamps in 1990. the Soviet Union. 3: In November 1990 Bill Irwin became the first blind man to hike this entire 2,167-mile long trail. the Appalachian Trail. 4: Reuters reports China's Communist newspaper wants people to stop calling women "miss" and use this "friendly" title. comrade. 5: This author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" died in November 1990. Roald Dahl. Round 2. Category: Fast Food Choices 1: Filet-O-Fish or a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. McDonald's. 2: Original Recipe or Extra Tasty Crispy. KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). 3: A Butterfinger Blizzard or a Peanut Buster Parfait. Dairy Queen. 4: Biggie Fries or a Frosty. Wendy's. 5: Beef 'N Cheddar or a Jamocha Shake. Arby's. Round 3. Category: Colorful Albums 1: The bestselling Beatles album in the U.S. is "The Beatles", better known by this colorful name. the White Album. 2: "99 Problems" is on this 2003 album that Jay-Z said would be his last (it wasn't). The Black Album. 3: This Elton John double album is full of great songs, including the original "Candle In The Wind". Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. 4: The 2018 Grammy for Album of the Year went to Kacey Musgraves for this "Hour". Golden Hour. 5: Kelly Clarkson's holiday album "Wrapped in Red" includes this colorful Elvis song about a sad noel. "Blue Christmas". Round 4. Category: True Grime 1: As a noun, it's earth for growing plants; as a verb, it means to stain. soil. 2: It can precede "of the earth", but a "Men in Black" tagline was "protecting the Earth from the" this "of the universe". scum. 3: It means boggy or swampy ground; as a verb it's what happened to the wagon that got stuck there. a mire (mired). 4: Stinking this is a type of disease caused by parasitic fungi on plants; an indecent magazine is said to contain it, too. smut. 5: A scandal may do this to your reputation; it's also a word for a discoloration caused by oxidation on some metals. tarnish. Round 5. Category: I'D Rather Have 1: Instead of any current politician, I'd have lunch with this 16th president and hear about frontier life. Lincoln. 2: Instead of a fancy restaurant meal, I'd rather have a backyard cookout serving up grilled these, like brats and chorizos. sausages. 3: For a good guard dog, I'd pick from the AKC's list of them that includes the Doberman one of these, but not the miniature one. A Pinscher. 4: I'd rather see this epic 1962 movie biography set in the desert in a theater at 70mm projection than on a cell phone. Lawrence of Arabia. 5: Instead of a beer, I'd rather have this French wine that Food and Wine Mag calls "the world's most popular white". chardonnay. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

We are coming at you with another 'TWO Part' @EchoChamberFP https://www.instagram.com/echochamberfp/ today!!! So, in 'Part ONE' we have a Skybound Entertainment & Universal Pictures Dracula tale. Will Packer Productions & Walt Disney Studios bring Christmas to Disney+, while 20th Century Studios & Scott Free Productions bring crime & mystery. We have an important biopic from Higher Ground & Netflix and end things with animated joy from Happy Madison Productions, Animal Logic. In 'Part One' we have: Renfield Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/xQxs3U1kVHE Overlook Film Festival: 30th March 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 14th April 2023 Digital Release Date: 17th November 2023 Director: Chris McKay Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Camille Chen, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones, Adrian Martinez, Bess Rous, Jenna Kanell, James Moses Black, Caroline Williams, William Ragsdale, Miles Doleac, Helen Chandler, Edward Van Sloan Running Time: 93 min Cert: 18 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/TxcFcgopAYs?si=G4WzKWe_J-eMO_M1 Website: Here. https://www.uphe.com/movies/renfield ---------------- Dashing Through the Snow Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/ZIfTcoW_PDc Digital Release Date: 17th November 2023 Director: Tim Story Cast: Lil Rel Howery, Chris Bridges, Teyonah Parris, Madison Skye Validum, Oscar Nuñez, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Ravi V. Patel, Gina Brillon, Sebastian Sozzi, Gaby Rosario, Noah Ayden Hernandez, Kevin Connolly, Zulay Henao, Marcus Lewis, Michael H. Cole, Kayte Giralt Running Time: 90 min Cert: 15 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/DbOmSUSmISM?si=zd2k8VlX5_Bn9Ard Watch via Disney+: Here. https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/movies/dashing-through-the-snow/6oiqPXqHXrjp ---------------- A Haunting in Venice Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/L--BrbI40GA Odeon Luxe Leicester Square: 11th September 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 15th September 2023 Digital Release Date: 22nd November 2023 Director: Kenneth Branagh Cast: Kyle Allen, Kenneth Branagh, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, Michelle Yeoh, Rowan Robinson, Amir El-Masry, Vanessa Ifediora Running Time: 103 min Cert: 15 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/LAywaWCFXgw?si=EvLiT9L7cgzLDrnL Watch via Disney+: Here. https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/movies/a-haunting-in-venice/2z5PAvyswo5f Website: Here. https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/a-haunting-in-venice ---------------- Rustin Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/6LlBVB1llnw 50th Telluride Film Festival: 31st August 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 3rd November 2023 Digital Release Date: 17th November 2023 Director: George C. Wolfe Cast: Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Glynn Turman, Chris Rock, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Audra McDonald, Jeffrey Wright, Lilli Kay, Jordan-Amanda Hall, Jakeem Powell, Ayana Workman, Grantham Coleman, Jamilah Rosemond, Jules Latimer, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper, Frank Harts, Kevin Mambo, Carra Patterson, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Adrienne Warren, Bill Irwin, Jamar Williams Running Time: 106 min Cert: 15 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/EuZ-UONInl4?si=eEbOXksAXR6LtYZk Website: Here. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/rustin-colman-domingo-photos-news ---------------- Leo Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/7ATXCZxHbIo Digital Release Date: 21st November 2023 Director: Robert Smigel, Robert Marianetti, David Wachtenheim Cast: Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Rob Schneider, Allison Strong, Jo Koy, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Robert Smigel, Nick Swardson, Stephanie Hsu, Nicholas Turturro Running Time: 106 min Cert: PG Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/G_AEL-Xo5l8?si=acxHu4G2d554mf7Q Website: Here. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leo-adam-sandler-release-date-photos ---------------- *(Music) 'Da Joint' (Instrumental) by EPMD - 2020 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eftv/message

Aren't movie weddings SUCH fun?? :) Well it certainly depends on who's attending of course along with the current emotional states of the families involved.  This highly acclaimed melodrama from fifteen years ago focuses on the Buchman's, a family which MIGHT not be in the best place at this time despite their oldest daughter Rachel....getting married. (Hence the title)  Rachel is played by Rosemarie DeWitt and the potential monkey wrench in her wedding weekend is the return of her sister Kym who is still in recovery after battling drug addiction for most of her life.  Kym is played by Anne Hathaway delivering a shattering performance which earned her an Oscar nomination.  What follows is a crazy weekend filled with memorable reunions, loads of music, and some intense arguments.  This was directed by the late, great Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Something Wild) towards the end of his storied career.  It also stars Bill Irwin, Debra Winger, Anna Deavere Smith, and Tunde Adebimpe along with several others.Host & Editor: Geoff GershonProducer: Marlene Gershon https://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/

Welcome back to purgatory!!! This week the boys talk about Rachel Getting Married from 2008 and directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Jenny Lumet. The film star's Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie Dewitt, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Roslyn Ruff, Debra Winger, Mather Zickel, Beau Sia, Anisa George and Tunde Adebimpe. Thanks for checking us out and you can find the rest of our back catalog at pobean.com Outro track "Kym's Homecoming" by Zafer Tawil https://youtu.be/xpS-wbtUD7I?si=gX4-S8J4Eby-7YxV  

Lions, tigers, and gravitational time dilation— oh my! Listen in to catch the gang's take on Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi blockbuster starring Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, and Michael Caine.

An award-winning global director of cirque, cinema and stage. As a comic act designer he specializes in clowns, characters and story components. Stefan is the author of The Power of HA!Connecting Through the Heart of Humor. He studied theatre in college only to realize that his true passion lay in the cross-over to the circus arts, so he set his sights on Cirque du Soleil. As a result of his intuitive gift for mining actors' true potential, various sit-coms hired him to coach actors, including The Roseanne Show. After self-producing a number of critically acclaimed plays in Hollywood and New York City (Call of the Wild, Midsummer Nite's Text, Your Town Follies, Moon Over Madness, Atomic Holiday Lift-Off) he traveled to Europe to juggle on the streets and study with the premiere master-teacher, Philippe Gaulier. This move resulted in a collaboration with Bill Irwin and David Shiner on the Tony- winning show Fool Moon. Haves was then poached by Cirque du Soleil, collaborating on clown and character performances within six touring and resident productions (Kooza, Iris, Amaluna, Banana Shpeel, Zaya, and Drawn to Life). Prior to that, he wrote and directed the world-class Teatro Zinzanni—a dinner/ cabaret featuring such luminaries as Joan Baez. Today, Stefan Haves is a trusted international thought-leader who was tapped to present a TedX Talk in New Delhi, India, and was invited to conduct personal appearances for blue-chip companies like PepsiCo, Infosys, Mindtree, and Barclays Bank. He gleefully shares his innovative message on the role of humor, creativity, and effective expression gleaned from the stage and applied to the corporate workplace. In 2021 Haves was granted the opportunity to co-direct Katy Perry's Playland-branded New Year's dinner/cirque event at Hilton's Resort World in Las Vegas. Earlier in his career, Haves cut his teeth as an actor and a visual-comedian who appeared on stages and television shows worldwide—even garnering $10,000 on America's Funniest People by performing his signature piece "Back-Man". Stefan's 2016 original conception of the spectacle Festigal, in which Haves was tasked to showcase famous pop celebrities from television's Romania's Got Talent, used a Cirque du Soleil aesthetic in a stadium setting. His cinematic offerings include the award-winning short film Punch Drunk, featuring Academy Award nominee Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H) and full-length feature Stalled starring Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth).

*episode discusses suicide    ASA MERRITT : A former international reporter for NPR, VICE Sports, The Guardian, and ESPN's “30 for 30” podcast, Asa brings a compassionate documentary eye to ambitious fictional projects. His one-woman play about mass movements, True Believer, had a sold-out run in New York City. To research that piece, Asa traveled to Cairo to meet with underground performers who helped ignite the Arab Spring. With longtime collaborator Matt Kagen, Asa started First Rodeo (@firstrodeoaudio), an audio fiction studio dedicated to pushing the boundaries of genre, combining techniques of journalism and theater. His new Audible original podcast Six Sermons stars Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and is dedicated to the actor and musician Caz Liske, who died by suicide in Moscow in 2017. Asa lives with his family in Mexico City.   In the Audible Original Six Sermons, Pastor Alexis (Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once) has huge shoes to fill: those of beloved Pastor William Hoyt (Tony winner Bill Irwin), whose suicide rocked their small-town Ohio congregation. With impassioned sermons and awkward community work (hello, donuts and bowling), Alexis tries to shore up the congregation's faith... even as her own is crumbling. The question haunts her: why'd you do it, Will? I have a feeling you'll be thinking about it, too, long after the audio fades. Stephanie's performance is flat-out mesmerizing, and the story deals with so many pressing issues: mental health challenges, women rising to leadership roles in church, and generational divides. To learn the rhythms of church-running, Asa embedded himself in a Lutheran community for a month, and he enlisted psychologists and pastors to help him write with care about self-harm, the Good Samaritan, and more. (One of many things he learned is that people of different faiths have lots in common with literature students: through rigorous close readings of texts, they find meaning.) Between this knowledge-gathering and Asa's own mental health challenges, Six Sermons is steeped in both painstaking research and lived experience. The resulting story resonates whether you're a believer or not.    https://www.audible.com/pd/Six-Sermons-Audiobook/B0CCK3MGTC

This week, we will gladly pay you Tuesday for a podcast today! We watched a musical about Popeye from a world class director, because creativity died long ago.  How will Popeye hold up? Host: Nic Panel: Matt, Daniel Directed by Robert Altman Starring: Starring: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith, Richard Libertini, Donald Moffat, MacIntyre Dixon, Roberta Maxwell, Bill Irwin

This week we continue our mini-series covering some of Christopher Nolan's films with his 2014 space epic - Interstellar! Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Michael Caine among others, Nolan takes us on an adventure across space and time. Set in a dystopian future where all the food appears to be corn-based and the last remnants of humanity are struggling to survive, we follow a group of astronauts led by Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who travel across the universe in order to find a new home for humans. With Christopher Nolan at the helm, Hans Zimmer on the tunes, and a theoretical physicist named Kip Thorne as an executive producer and scientific consultant, you already know this is going to be a spectacle... But Is Interstellar Good?If you'd like to suggest a film or film franchise, or if you'd just like to say hello, you can reach us at biigpodcast@gmail.com, @biigpodcast on Twitter, or @butisitgoodpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dennis is joined via Zoom from Provincetown, Massachusetts by Todd Flaherty, the writer-director-producer-editor and star of the new film Chrissy Judy. The film is about two struggling drag performers in New York City whose ride-or-die friendship is tested when one of them moves to Philadelphia to be with his boyfriend.  Todd talks about why he wanted to explore the theme of gay friendships, having virtually no experience in drag before making the movie, what it's like to direct yourself in sex scenes and how his making the film grew out of the frustration he was feeling as an actor in New York. He also talks about how he made such a visually-striking, self-assured film with only himself and two other crew members; his brother Brendan as cinematographer and his sister-in-law on sound. Other topics include: his favorite film festival memories, why he chose to make his character Judy a occasionally irritating hot mess rather than a likable every gay, the entrepreneurial hustle of being a filmmaker, living in Provincetown year round, going to a taping of Saturday Night Live, appearing with Marisa Tomei and Bill Irwin in the upcoming film Best Place and P-town fox that was so desperate to be in show business that he crashed the set. Instagram: @toddflaherty

In this episode of Two Zero Q – 20 Questions With Interesting People we learn the 'origin story' of Stephanie Sellars.Stephanie is an award winning writer, producer, director and actress. Her film, 'LUST LIFE LOVE' stars Stephanie, Jake Choi, Makeda Declet,Jeanna Han, Bill Irwin, Alexis Rhee, and Rolando Chusan.Lust Life Love, the feature directorial debutof co-directors Stephanie Sellars and Benjamin Feuer, is based on Sellars's ownpersonal experiences with polyamorous relationships. Sellars, who plays the lead roleof “Veronica,” also wrote and produced Lust Life Love. A Manhattan-based filmmaker,Sellars has been a chronicler of and participant in New York's LGBTQ+ community sinceher inaugural “Lust Life” column for the New York Press. Curious, candid anduninhibited, she bares far more than skin in her semi-autobiographical portrayal in LustLife Love.Official Website: http://www.lustlifelove.com/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco and John Bradshaw Layfield welcome former multi-time world and tag champion the incomparable "Wild Bill" Bill Irwin! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Myopia Movies, we learn that there was no need to make The Mean One, there had been a horror version of the Grinch since the year 2000. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Jim Carrey went through torture training for this role, but what could the audience do? How will How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) hold up? Host: Nic Panel: Charlie, Matt, and Daniel Director: Ron Howard Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Kelley (the dog), Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon, Clint Howard

Original Airdate: 12/24/2020Charming as an eel or just the thing to grow your heart a few sizes every holiday season? We're tackling Ron Howard's garish – or utterly charming? – take on Dr. Seuss in our latest podcast episode.If you'd like to give your thoughts on this movie or have another movie you feel like Rotten Tomatoes got wrong, email us at RTisWrong@RottenTomatoes.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we get a taste of the wrestling territory days. We are joined by wrestling legend Wild Bill Irwin aka The Goon. We talk about how he got into the wrestling business, His time in the territories and WWE. His relationship with some of the other guys he worked with and more. Its a great show that takes a lit of twists turns and hits all the buttons.

Joining the guys this week is Shyamalan expert Lindsay Escoffery as they discuss one of his bigger blunders - the bedtime fable Lady in the Water. They talk about the miles and miles of voiceover at the beginning, Paul Giamatti's one particular scene that makes Brendan question if he's a good actor or not, Shyamalan casting himself as an important writer who will CHANGE THE WORLD, the nasty "critic" character and much more. Check our social media on Sunday for the Sunday Screencrap and take a guess at our next movie! What We've Been Watching: Bodies Bodies Bodies Train to Busan "Arcane" Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at wwttpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: www.patreon.com/wwttpodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/wwttpodcast Twitter: www.twitter.com/wwttpodcast Instagram: www.instagram.com/wwttpodcast Theme Song recorded by Taylor Sheasgreen: www.facebook.com/themotorleague Logo designed by Mariah Lirette: www.instagram.com/its.mariah.xo Montrose Monkington III: www.twitter.com/montrosethe3rd Lady in the Water stars Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban, M. Night Shyamalan, Bill Irwin, Sarita Choudhury, Cindy Cheung, Mary Beth Hurt, Jared Harris and Freddy Rodriguez; directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we continue the M. Night-a-thon with the first M. Night movie to lose money, Lady in the Water! This movie has it all! A mostly naked Bryce Dallas Howard (who is mostly mute), a starring role for M. Night, and Paul Giamatti with a stutter because his family was slaughtered...look out for a scrunt! How will Lady in the Water hold up? Host: Nic Co-Hosts: Matthew and Daniel   Written, Produced, and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban, Sarita Choudhury, Cindy Cheung, M. Night Shyamalan, Freddy Rodríguez, Bill Irwin