Podcast appearances and mentions of Carrie Grant

To celebrate the end of our first year at The Hidden 20%, we're bringing back a familiar face from day one: Carrie Grant!This time, Carrie is joined by her husband, David Grant — the legendary vocal coaches from Pop Idol and Fame Academy. But beyond their iconic careers, the Grants are parents to four neurodivergent children, making them the perfect guests to explore what a neurodivergent Christmas looks like.In this chat with Ben, Carrie and David share why Christmas should come with zero expectations, the importance of unmasking as neurodivergent parent, why they allow their children to “walk away” on Christmas Day, the reality of gift-giving to neurodivergent children and the changes they hope to see in 2025._____________________________________On "The Hidden 20%," host Ben Branson chats with neurodivergent [ADHD, Autism, Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette's etc.] creatives, entrepreneurs, and experts to see how great minds.. think differently. Host: Ben BransonProducer: Bella NealeVideo Editor: Panos AgamemnosSocial Media Manager: Charlie YoungMusic: Jackson GreenbergBrought to you by charity The Hidden 20% #1203348_____________________________________Follow & subscribe… Website: www.hidden20.orgInstagram / TikTok / Youtube / X: @Hidden20podcastBen Branson @seedlip_benCarrie Grant @carriegrantsaysDavid Grant @davidgrantssays_If you'd like to support The Hidden 20%, you can buy a "green dot" badge at https://www.hidden20.org/thegreendot/p/badge. All proceeds go to the charity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have a brand-new episode of ‘Autism: In conversation with auticon' to share with you. Hosted by Carrie Grant, our latest episode is all about autistic talent – what that means, what that looks like, how we celebrate it, and how we nurture it.   Carrie is joined by a fantastic panel, including: Ben Branson, founder of Seedlip, Pollen Projects and The Hidden 20%, Dancer & TV Personality Tom Malone Jnr, and Steve Hill, Chief Commercial Officer for UK & Ireland at auticon.

Carrie and David Grant are the BAFTA award-winning power couple, broadcasters and vocal coaches to the stars. If, like me, you remember the early noughties reality song contest Fame Academy, they were the expert vocal coaches that helped the likes of Lemar find their voice. Their TV and music career has spanned over 35 years winning them a MOBO award and has seen them write a revealing memoir 'A Very Modern Family' which charts their parenting experiences in a neuro diverse family. What then will these musical aficionados choose as their shared Inheritance Tracks. Inherited, Carrie: Moon River by Andy Williams Inherited, David: Concrete Jungle by Bob Marley and The Wailers Passed on: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta FlackProducer: Ben Mitchell

This is a podcast that will change how you look at the problems you're going through. Carrie's voice is full of wisdom, and she knows what she's talking about, because she's been there too. Carrie Grant, MBE, is a TV presenter, vocal coach, activist, and World Vision ambassador who has worked with the charity for over 10 years. She was awarded an MBE in 2020 “for services to music, to media and to charity”.She partners with World Vision on the podcast series Raising Changemakers, where she hears from children who are making big changes in their global communities by campaigning to stop harmful practices like child labour, child marriage and FGM.Carrie explains what teenagers can do if they're appalled by the state of the world. She also tells us about her own difficult experiences with Crohn's disease, a life-changing condition she had to learn to live with at a very young age. She also talks about what it's like to raise neurodivergent children. Her book, A Very Modern Family, tells her family's story of neurodiversity. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Malloy Podcasts.

Our guests today are David and Carrie Grant, who have so much to share on today's theme of communication. It's one of the first things to break down when relationships are challenged, and as a couple who have lived, loved, parented and worked together for more than two decades, they have a lot of wisdom to share about how have they coped during their many ups and downs. David and Carrie have worked in entertainment for as long as they've been together, coaching pop luminaries such as Take That and the Spice Girls, as well as presenting and coaching on shows such as Fame Academy and The One Show. They are also the authors of ‘A Very Modern Family – Stories and Guidance to Nurture Your Relationships' which explores their dynamics as a mixed-race couple and parents to four children – one of whom is adopted. Their challenges include mental health issues, neurodivergence, non-binary identities and various sexualities.   It's a lot. And as you'll hear in today's show, it is love, humour, compassion and communication that keeps them on track. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MasteringMidlifePodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/masteringmidlifepodcast/ Andrea Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreamclean1/ Nick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickfeeneycoach/ Carrie and David Grant: https://carrieanddavidgrant.com/

Receiving an Autism diagnosis at the age of 58 came as no surprise to Carrie, the proud mother to 4 neurodivergent children. Ben sits down with BAFTA Award winning broadcaster, vocal coach and author, Carrie Grant. They discuss the significance of shifting perspectives, overcoming internalised phobias, and challenging societal norms.Content Warning: References to sexual abuse and violence.WATCH the full episode at www.youtube.com/@hidden20podcast___________ On "The Hidden 20%," host Ben Branson chats with neurodivergent [ADHD, Autism, Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette's etc.] creatives, entrepreneurs, and experts to see how great minds.. think differently. Host: Ben BransonProducer: Bella NealeVideo Editor: James ScrivenSocial Media Manager: Charlie YoungMusic: Jackson GreenbergBrought to you by charity Prism ND #1203348___________ Follow & subscribe… Website: www.hidden20.orgInstagram / TikTok / Youtube: @Hidden20podcastBen Branson @seedlip_benCarrie Grant @carriegrantsaysYou can buy Carrie's book A Very Modern Family hereIf you'd like to support the charity you can buy a green dot badge at https://hidden20.org/links. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Hidden 20%, a brand new podcast with Autistic & ADHD entrepreneur, Ben Branson, launches Wednesday 17th of January across various podcast platforms with special guests Kit Harington, Carrie Grant and Adelle Tracey.You'll be able to watch full episodes on www.youtube.com/@hidden20podcast. Subscribe now!Follow & subscribe…Website: www.hidden20.orgInstagram / TikTok / Youtube: @Hidden20podcastBen Branson @seedlip_benBrought to you by charity Prism ND.#1203348 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode the auticon team had the opportunity to 'turn the tables' and interview the host of our podcast series, Carrie Grant MBE. Carrie - mother to four neurodivergent children and long-time advocate for autistic and neurodivergent people, tells auticon exclusively how she has been diagnosed as autistic (in January 2023). The award-winning broadcaster, vocal coach, leadership coach tells us about how her diagnosis has lead her to reflect upon her childhood, career, the meaning of the word 'autistic' and what she hopes her diagnosis will mean to others. Carrie spoke about her decision to use the auticon podcast to share her announcement. She said, “I cannot think of a better group to do this kind of interview with than you guys, because what you are doing is not just life-changing for autistic people (and) therefore life-changing for their families, but actually you are system-changing. And when you get to system changing, that's when you're talking about legacy.” auticon is an autistic-majority social enterprise. It tackles inequalities in employment for neurodivergent adults by employing autistic IT consultants and placing them into specialist roles within high profile companies. auticon also provides extensive neuroinclusion services, including advisory, coaching and training for its clients and any businesses wishing to become more inclusive workplace environments.

David & Carrie Grant are well-known vocal coaches and advocates for their children who have autism spectrum disorder. They discuss the difficulties and triumphs of their 3 children who have autism, and give insightful tips for parenting children with the disorder.  For the best insight into parenting children with autism from 2 inspirational parents, listen now! Karan also busts the most common myths and misconceptions surrounding autism and he answers YOUR questions in ‘Crowd Science'.   If you have your very own question and want to get in touch, simply head to TheReferralPod.com. A Sony Music Entertainment production.       Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us at @sonypodcasts      To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zoe & Georgia are delighted to be joined by Carrie Grant for a discussion all around redefining what's "normal".We're so grateful to Carrie for joining us for this conversation about neurodivergence, gender, and so much more.Carrie's Favourite Products:A Very Modern Family by Carrie & David GrantFind My Phone appAn afternoon at WaterstonesMusical instruments as part of playCurl Boss Styling CreamListen by clicking ‘Play', subscribe or follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Acast, and please do rate and review to help others find the podcast.Find a new episode every Tuesday & Friday and in the meantime check out Made By Mammas on Instagram: @madebymammas.Made By Mammas®, this has been an Insanity Studios production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we are joined by vocal coach and presenter, Carrie Grant. Opening up about her extraordinary family life, challenging societal norms and breaking down barriers, it's an insightful and thought provoking listen that navigates the shifting landscape of societal norms, mental health, neurodivergence, and gender identity.A Very Modern Family: Stories and Guidance to Nurture Your Relationships by Carrie Grant and David Grant is available to buy now from all good bookstores. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this special episode of Industrial Theory, host Kerry Siggins is joined by StoneAge sales extraordinaire, Carrie Grant. Carrie joins the podcast to share about StoneAge's AutoBox 1L— a newly designed, dual belt driven tractor with increased pulling power for single lance operations. Carrie explains that when paired with the Compass radial arm and Sentinel technology, this new AutoBox 1L helps operators rapidly deliver reliable, thorough results when cleaning confined spaces, evaporators, condenser boxes, channel heads, and vertical/horizontal heat exchangers. Kerry and Carrie discuss how easy it is to operate the system thanks to its intuitive, game-inspired controller and autonomous features like AutoFeed and AutoMove. Carrie explains how one controller can pair with any Sentinel-enabled system, giving operators data analytics and productivity gains during more of their cleaning applications (not to mention a way to stretch their Sentinel investment). She also talks about why she loves being part of the StoneAge team and delivering on the StoneAge Assurance Promise: we do what it takes to help our customers complete their jobs safely, on time, on budget and as easily as possible. Guest:  Carrie Grant is the North American Sr. Sales Manager at StoneAge. Carrie has served StoneAge customers for the past 23 years, first through StoneAge's shipping and receiving department, then purchasing, sales, global dealer relations, and now in her current role overseeing the North American sales team.

We look back on another exciting year and celebrate our favourite moments from this Eurovision season. To kick start the episode we're joined by an old friend as the host of the Official Eurovision Song Contest podcast Steve Holden joins us to reflect on 2023, before the boys choose their favourite moments from the last year. They include a catch up with We Are Domi, big interviews with Loreen and the creative team behind the contest in Liverpool, and emotive lessons in history as we look back at our Rewind series.03.23" - Steve Holden reflects on the 2023 season28.00" - A listener email from Finland35.53" - Carrie Grant remembers her favourite Eurovision year42.19" - Ulrikke from Norway has a suprising breakfast46.20" - Fazla recounts representing Bosnia on their debut in 199352.17" - Loreen explains her return to Eurovision58.22" - We Are Domi join us in Prague1.03.27" - Lee Smithurst & Dan Shipton look ahead to LiverpoolFollow us on Twitter, Instagram & TikTok or email hello@eurotrippodcast.com, and find us online at eurotrippodcast.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I interview Carrie & David Grant about their essential new book “A Very Modern Family” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of the Foto Podcast is from a podcast I recorded with Rodney in 2012. I've re-edited this conversation to improve the sound quality from its original recording and reworked the audio presentation. I feel very fortunate that Rodney took the time to chat with me over ten years ago. When he unexpectedly passed in 2016, I realized how lucky I was to be able to spend a brief amount of time with him.Rodney was incredibly kind to me through our email exchanges, this recording, and a short 2-hour personal visit to his house in New York in the Spring of 2013. I probably spent 4 hours conversing with him in some form or another, but he left an unforgettable impression on me. I respect his work and artistic vision, but I will never forget him for his grace, openness, and thoughtfulness. We live in a boisterous and fast-moving world, but this conversation with Rodney always reminds me to slow down and turn down the noise in my life. He lived at his own pace, and what you see in his images reflects Rodney's personality. I hope this audio recording will give you a glimpse into his motivations, creative process, and the deep critical thinking he put into everything. Learn more about Rodney Smith at rodneysmith.comThe Rodney Smith Estate has released a new book entitled Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith.“The first retrospective on the work of Rodney Smith weaves together a bio-critical essay by Getty Museum curator Paul Martineau and an assessment of Smith's technique by the Center for Creative Photography's chief curator, Rebecca A. Senf. Introduction by Graydon Carter. It maps Smith's creative trajectory—including his introduction to photography, early personal projects, teaching, commissioned pieces, and career in fashion—and provides insight into his personal life and character, contextualizing his work and creative tendencies within his complex emotional and psychological makeup. Rodney Smith is the definitive record of the life's work and worldview of a truly original artist.”I recently received a copy of A Leap of Faith, and it's an incredible book that is printed beautifully. This is not a paid sponsorship of any kind. I'm genuinely grateful for Rodney Smith taking the time to chat with me 11 years ago, and I think you'll appreciate his work and his approach to life and art. Rodney Smith Podcast Transcription:I'm 65 years old, so I've been a photographer for 45 years. I guess there's a fair amount of experience with that. And, um, and I've gone through quite a bit, um, as far as the changes in photography. but going all the way back, probably the very first, I don't know, maybe a slightly unconscious inclination that I wanted to be a photographer started when I was 16 years old and my father gave me a camera.I took a teen tour. That's what kind of popular when I was a young boy. with oth with other students my age, and we went around the United States and then we went into Mexico my father gave me a camera for that trip. on the, the, the Mexican part of the trip, we took a train from New Villa Laredo, Texas to Mexico City.I remember this actually quite well. And [00:05:00] the train, there was a landslide across the tracks on the train. And the train stopped and it was sort of took about four days for them to clear the rocks from the tracks. And during those four days, we would get out off the train or there were many young children from Mayville Villages who would come by the train trying to sell everybody something.And And it was their faces that really, um, appealed to me.And I remember when I got back after the tours all over, my father looked at these pictures and, uh, there were no pictures of my contemporaries on the trip who were my, you know, people from all over the country were my age. But there were all these pictures of Mexican children. And, um, I remember my father being kind of discouraged and saying, why aren't there any pictures of you're contemporaries, that was probably the very first, and I guess somewhat unconsciously, I said inclination. The main kind of epiphany when I actually knew I said this, I want to be a photographer, was much later [00:06:00] when I was in college, probably my senior junior, I can't remember exactly whether it was my junior or senior year in college.And I was home for the holidays, just around this time, actually, probably a little later in, in December. But, I remember I went to the Museum of Modern Art, um, which had a permanent collection of photography. Um, I'm a New Yorker and so I was home in Manhattan. and I'd been there many times before and I don't know exactly what initiated me to go to this collection of pictures I had seen before, but I did.And I think the important part of this was that Edward Steon was still the curator of photography at that point, and I think his sensibilities were much closer to Toine, than maybe more contemporary curators. the permanent collection was composed of pictures of Gene Smith, Arthur Lang, Margaret Burke, white Stieglitz, and Steon.And I remember walking through this, gallery and thinking, having an epiphany. And I remember basically having it in front of Eugene Smith picture, and thinking, oh my [00:07:00] God, I can do this. , and this is what I want to do. And I think it's a, that's a fairly simplistic response to a very complicated question.But from that moment on, I knew that this is what I was going to do with my life. Now, I don't think it meant to me that I was gonna copy the work of these people. I think what I realized at that moment was I, I could take my feelings and put them on a piece of paper.And I think that's what the revelation was to me. That I had all these anxieties and these fears and all these feelings, tremendously powerful feelings inside me without an outlet to express them. And I realized that photography was the perfect medium for me to do this. And from that moment on, and it was a number of years.Afterwards that I actually became a photographer. But from that moment on, I knew I wanted to be a photographer.[00:08:00] in college I was an English major and then I became a religious studies major and I, um, was sort of both. I graduated with both and then I went on to graduate school to study theology actually, and, but also with the intention of taking half my credits in the photography program.I wanted my degree to be in [00:09:00] theology, not photography. but I did, while I was in graduate school, singularly learn my craft, I spent a great deal of time and the program at that time was really quite wonderful. Learning, the craft of photography. We learned the Z Zone system photography.One you had to use a large format camera. And it was a really great discipline. So I learned the craft, but I also learned what I, I, I developed a vision, or I nurtured a vision of what I wanted to say is about studying theology. unfortunately, and I probably, somewhat uncomfortable for a lot of people.I think, and I, I don't wanna say this unequivocally, that I think this is the case in most time, but it's very hard to nurture a vision studying the craft of photography. I think that the, one of the last places one would really learn to be a photographer is in an art school, just studying photography.Now I know that's probably not a popular thing, but that's sort of how, what I believe, I think one has to have a vision and how [00:10:00] one nurtures and develops that vision, I think is by, doing something quite contradictory to the physical craft of making a picture.I didn't study theology with any intention for looking for any answers to questions. I, I studied theology to, to sort of initiate the questions. Um, from 40 years later, I still don't have any answers. And, and I'm not sure I actually believe I could have them, but, but what I really did love was learning how to ask the right questions.And that's, that's what studying theology did, did for me. Now, what, what do I mean by that? Asking the right questions. Well, I think theology or some of the issues that really were important to me were questions about human [00:11:00] existence. Who are we? What do we stand for? How do we fit into this world around us?What is the nature of evil? What is the nature of good? What is the nature of man? And so it's all these questions about how the human being fits into the world and the surroundings around him. And those are still some of the prevalent themes I think, that are really important in my work. So, While I was studying the craft of photography, I was sort of, I was hope anyway.And I, I think it, I think correctly I was nurturing this vision about, or learning for how to perform to my feelings intellectually so that I could sort of integrate the two when I actually began to make pictures. And I think it worked out during the time of me doing this. I mean, I had tremendous disapproval and, um, I don't know, people were kind of a guess, why are you doing this?Why are you wasting your time studying theology? You know, I was in my [00:12:00] family, I was expected to do something more business-like, or do something. They're quite different. and nobody, except for my wife or the done, no one who gave me any support, they all thought I was totally crazy. But I actually. And I probably couldn't articulate it exactly why I thought it was really important to do it.I just intuitively knew in my heart that this is what I wanted to do and um, I'm actually very happy I did it. I don't have any regretsI'm definitely of the school of thought that you sort of, your present is definitely formed from your past. Um, and so I I I, I would definitely think that probably a, a great deal of it is not, I don't know all of it, but a great deal of it derived from my upbringing. Um, my, my mother and father who are now both dead close to 40 years.Um, my mother 30 and my father 40 would be kind of shocking that they're still still such a prevalent and powerful force in my life. But they [00:13:00] are. And um, you know, I was, my parents were very, my father was very affluent. He was a CEO in, uh, some fashion companies and I grew up sort of in a 19th century.lifestyle and existence. Um, when I look what it, what seemed quite normal and natural to me as a young boy. Now when I look back on it seems, you know, really from the 19th century. there was this kind of real love of refined things.Things were always beautifully done. Everything was perfectly in its place. There was an order to everything. There were many people who taken care of, you know, servants who made things perfect and beautiful. And even though part of me was rebellious against that, I always loved it. I mean, quite honestly, I did, I, not that I loved some of the accoutrements of it, but the, if you looked at it physically, I loved it.And it definitely had an effect on me. And I think my pictures represent the [00:14:00] more positive aspects. Of my life. I don't think they, my upbringing, I mean they, um, I'm not saying that at all. They are. That's the way it was. Cause there was a lot of negative things to it. Many negative things. Perhaps even more negative things than positive things.But, the pictures are represent that world at its very finest. It's sort of like an affirmation of what can be, what a gentleman really, what the word gentleman, if you define it and you just dissect it, you know, to a gentle man or a nobleman. It, it's sort of those things, if they really existed in the world, if there really were gentlemen and if they really were nobleman, it's not that it's impossible, but it's slightly out of reach.that's sort of what I think my pictures are about. Sort of how does one sort of aspire to greatness? What you have this potential inside you and how do you realize this? I think that's sort of what the pictures are. one last thing about that, now [00:15:00] I'm, as I said, 65. So one in the sixties, the very early sixties when Kennedy was president.I was in high school. I was I think a junior in high school. And, um, that era was, you know, there was like the last feig of sort of, uh, what I would refer to as elegance and grace and beauty in, in a lot of things. Not just fashion, which my father was very much a part of, but many things was still, there was a world was holding onto it.And then the hippie movement, the anti-war movement in the sixties, it all sort of tore all that apart. But the early sixties, maybe up to 65 or something like that, 64, 65 were the last remnants. Of an error, like was when Carrie Grant and, um, and Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron and all were still really popular.It was, it was a slightly different era and then everything changed in the, by the, by the 1970s and the world became a different place.[00:16:00] I hear that comment, something like that quite often. Um, that, that you could tell a story from the pictures that you were sort of caught in the middle of the story and you're curious about what happened prior and afterwards. I have to tell you consciously anyway, when I'm taking the pictures, I'm not aware of that at all.but I am kind of a literary soul. I've al in every book I've ever done, there's always been writing. I've done four books and that every book has writing and photographs in it in one form or another. I always been around writers. I, when I was very young in college, before I decided I wanted to be a photographer, I thought I was gonna be a novel.But I, I, I had the sentiment but not the skill, and I quickly realized that. So, but I guess [00:17:00] writing has always, um, been a part of me. So when you say that about the pictures, that's actually quite a compliment to me because I'm not aware of it. But if they do tell a story, uh, or there's like a fragment of the story, that would be kind of a wonderful thing and I would really like that.Although when I'm taking it, I'm not aware of that.the pictures are taken completely spontaneously. I know this is one of the ironies to me of, of a lot of, sort of sets off a whole discrepancy about photography in general and modern photography, but all the pictures was referred to as the lifestyle pictures of the last 10 years or 15 years are much more controlled and created.even though they look like they're spontaneous and of the moment, they're much more created pictures than mine, which look very serene, controlled. My pictures five seconds before I took the picture, I didn't know I was gonna take that picture. And not in a hundred percent of the instances, but at least 60, [00:18:00] 70 or 80% of the time, the picture is completely spontaneous and I may have set something up and so, but I don't know what the, what the end product's gonna look like.And then all of a sudden something, somebody does something or something happens, or the light changes, or it can be many things. And all of a sudden I say, take the picture and I take the picture. And I didn't know I was gonna take that exact picture five seconds before I took it. so I think that's kind of always been kind of interesting to me that although my pictures look quite serene and controlled and um, like they were art, art directed, um, or created under sort of very sort of, um, Rigid requirements.Totally the opposite.I'm definitely always first looking for the location, which would be the landscape or the environment. Once, once I've found the environment, I can always make the pictures. you know, I was, when I was very young, I was a landscape photographer, um, as well as shooting portraits. And [00:19:00] then I think one of the great things that happened to me was, , I began to integrate the two together.I began to put people into the landscape, which is a very different thing than placing somebody in front of something. I think most people take pictures in an environment and they stick a figure or a person or a thing in front of something and they refer to that. You know, as, I don't know that term.I can't stand environmental portraits or whatever that is. I the term I really do not like. But that, that's not the way I would operate. The person has to be sort of placed in an environment as part of it. And actually it goes back to the previous question about the spontaneity of the, of the pictures.The reason why I can shoot these pictures so quickly is because I can very quickly get to this place where I think everything is right. I mean, almost instantaneously I will know this is the place I need to make this picture. Now, there may be a few other places too, but I'll start at this place that feels absolutely right to me.but for me, the pictures are, are totally [00:20:00] controlled or by the environment. That's why the location work for me is by far the hardest part of making pictures is finding a location I like. and then once I've found, , which is a really rigorous and very exhausting process. but once I found this, this location, I don't want to know what the picture's gonna look like.I, you know, when I'm scouting it, it may be gray or rainy, or it may be it's sunny and then the day of the shoot it's raining. Or I may look at it in the morning and I may be there in the afternoon and the light's totally different. So I never know what the picture is I'm gonna make there, nor do I want to.I've never shot Polaroids in my life. I don't want to do any of that things. I just want to trust my instincts. And once I've found a place that seems appropriate or great, I'll say I can make pictures here and that's all I want to know. And then I'll go away until the, until the time I physically shoot the.there are sometimes requirements about what I, I need to find, but the, probably it's the same thing no matter what I'm looking for. And that [00:21:00] is a place that has a sense of history to it, which is hard for me in America. , I, it's gotta have a certain Betina to it and character to it.Um, sometimes it's the question of the light in the place, but it's, it's, it's a whole thing, a landscape. It's just gotta feel ex eccentric or original or special. To me. It's definitely my vision. but I think like if I'm looking for an interior place, There's kind of a characteristic that's involved that's in all the pictures, and that is, it's got a certain history to it and depth has been sort of aged nicely.I rarely would shoot in a brand new location that, that hasn't aged or settled into its environment. I sort of like how things fit into a place and if, unless the location does that on some level, there isn't a history there, I probably wouldn't be interested in it. you know, I was once doing a shoot in Phoenix, Arizona, you know, and I remember scouting the city of Phoenix and I [00:22:00] couldn't find anything that I really felt worked.I mean, it was to do it more hotel and a few other things I thought were great. But what I found really great was the landscape around Phoenix. I mean the part that was untouched. and that's where I ended up shooting the picture. Sometimes, often if I'm in Paris or in London, I can find hundreds of locations that appeal to me.because they have this history to them. The man or somebody has interacted with this location for, for quite a while, and it, and that you can feel the patina of the interaction of the two. and that's what, that's what really I like.And also, you know, American cities, um, they build these skyscrapers and they tint the glass to keep the light out. in Europe, luckily still, the older buildings are all oriented and, and the windows are such to let the light in. that's a, that's a huge distinction. You know, they act in European buildings, least, you know, the ones that are, I'm attracted to.The light is like a portico. [00:23:00] It's like this entryway. um, and really wonderful things happen with the light. Well, in most new American cities, it's, again, it's to keep all the light out and to keep the temperature and the humidity and the light all controlled from the inside.I teach a workshop, infrequently, but every once in a while and all these photographers come to the workshop and they do not have a voice at all. well, some of them do, but it's pretty minor. Um, and, you know, there's this discussion about whether it's a question of talent, or do you have a question that everyone has their own voice, they just can't express it.And I'm definitely of the school that everyone does have a voice. They just don't know how to express it or expose it. This pops a better word. because this enormous fear is preventing them [00:24:00] from doing it, I mean, you have to tap into the part of yourself that goes really deep.And most people don't know how to do that. Sometimes by a gift of God, somebody has that intuitively or naturally, but that's a very rare gift and I've actually never seen it. most often, people foil themselves, you know, they, they have all these fears and anxieties and frustrations, whether it be dealing with other people or their own fears, their anxieties, and they never get to the level that's required to.Really have a singular voice. I mean, that's the difference between the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who take pictures and the few who, who actually are photographers. And it's not so much that I, from my point of view, that one has an innately more talent than the others. Now, a lot of people would argue with that, but I don't think they do.I just think they're able to tap into the deepest, part of their emotional being. And let that part out. And then you never have to worry about being a second rate somebody else. You can much more be a frustrate yourself because no one has your life experiences.No one has your feelings, no one has your thoughts. All those things are unique and special to you. So if you can reach this level they can begin to express the things that reside deep within them, and then all of a sudden their pictures take on a special characteristic that is unique to them and they begin to develop a voice.I think people are, are sort of copying everybody and mimicking everybody and running around buying the right equipment and doing everything that's completely unnecessary to develop a voice. They think that's what they need to do, but it's the last thing that they need to do. If anything, they need to step back and let something begin to emerge from deep within them.That's what will create this special voice. And it's a very hard thing to do. And I think Chuck Close's comment is right. I think photography is particularly through the digital age, much more than even prior when there was a real craft to printing. that there is the most sort of facile of mediums that one can learn even through by taking with a, telephone.You can take a pretty competent picture, but what I mean, but, but what distinguishes one picture from another is the kind of the emotional content of that picture.I've been doing this for 45 years and I still use the same camera that I did when I started 40 years ago. I'm very, very rigorous with my craft. I mean, I'm extremely rigorous. Um, you know, I expose the film very properly and, and so when the day, and I went through a many years of really learning how to expose my film and make prints that represented [00:27:00] my emotional psyche.I mean, I really like dark sh shadow detail and differentiation between that. And my prince used to represent that. And if I was much more interested in highlights, I would've done things quite differently anyway. Anyway, I really loved and grew to really know film. And then when the digital world came along, um, I, there's, there's a great aphorism, but changes, not necessarily an improvement.And I've been watching the digital world very closely and we know I'm kind of a consultant to Epson and we produce digital prints as well as prints that are done in the dark room. You know, we scan the film and then, Make really beautiful, large mural prints, so I, I definitely in it and everybody works for me, is very digitally competent.For myself personally, I haven't seen any reason to change. Personally, I don't really like the digital cameras. Um, I don't like seeing the picture immediately. As I said, I never shot Polaroids. I like the experience. I like to focus on the [00:28:00] experience of making the picture not on what the pic. Every single time everyone stops and looks at the picture, you've interrupted the whole process of making the picture.That would be a terrible thing for me. I like to just to go through the whole process, focus on the thing I am doing, and I like the mystery of not knowing exactly what's on the film. Um, I, I, I don't really like the digital process that much. Now, it may get to a point where I can't get film, which is sort of beginning to happen already, or I can't do the thing and I may have to make that change.But at this point, I would hope actually I have so many people, young people coming to me who say that they really love film much better than digital and they, they shoot on film. So there seems to be a kind of a minor resurgence in film. And it's not that I'm just, you know, such a recluse that I don't engage in the world.I mean, I live in New York, so I'm pretty much so on some level, you know, engaged with what's going on. And if I ever felt that the digital thing was so [00:29:00] much better than what I'm doing, I would change. But so far, most people seem to really love the pictures I make on film. And when we blow them up really big, there's a certain quality to them that people really love.Like I've had many shows at very, you know, at Brooks or um, all the technical schools and all the students who are really technically minded, love the Prince. They keep saying, how did you do this print? No. So, um, for me it's just that there's really no reason to change and of anything, I was kind of in shock that just because something became new, that everyone immediately embraced it.I, I think they must have felt they had to, that, you know, art directors required it or, uh, the world required or, or whatever. And quite honestly, I've never, no art directors ever required me ever that I shoot digitally and they actually kind of like that I shoot on film. They all say, oh my God, this is great. I, I like the fact that, you know, I'm gonna get contact sheets. I really like this. [00:30:00] You know, so, um, I'm sure that there are constraints put on people that they want this, they want that, but I think it's more important for you to tell them what you like best.my previous father-in-law was a really wonderful playwright and, um, very well known American playwright. And over his desk, he used to have this little sign that said, no one asked you to, no one ever asked you to be a playwright. and I think that that's really true. I mean, you, I could wallpaper my walls with rejections.I mean, I've, over my life I've had 50 to one rejection, um, maybe a hundred to one rejection. Um, and since it's such a personal medium, um, for me, this is not a job. This is my exposing my life and my soul and my [00:31:00] pictures. There's no way one can take it personally. It is personal. and I've had many high points.I've had really good years and really, really terrible years, both from financial points of view, from creative points of view, from everything. , but I just, must have something in the way down deep inside me, this knowledge that this is what I chose to do. No one put a gun to my head and said, this is what you must do.And so I chose this, you know, freely and when I'm really down, I just say, you know, you've gotta stick with it. And there have been hundreds of times I thought, I don't want to do this anymore. Um, um, either I have nothing more to say or I don't want to do it, or financially it's been so difficult in my early years it was so difficult and it's still, there was terrible years.I mean, like after nine 11, it was really, I mean, there's been many, many years when things were really terrible from a financial point of view and a creative point of view, or the job, everything. And so [00:32:00] there's like, at times 45% of me that doesn't ever want to take a picture again, that I'm done. And, but there's, luckily there's 55% of me that wants to keep on doing it.that just sort of gets me through it. You know, Hemingway used to always talk about that he would always stop writing the day before and someplace that he wanted to continue because if he didn't have that place the next day to go to, he is not sure he'd ever pick up a pen again. But he looked, had this place where he looked forward to going forward.And, um, I'm not sure I have that. I mean, I definitely can get kind of burnt out and I think the environment or the location or the model sometimes, but, um, many times it's the sense of place around me is what motivates me to take, make pictures. And so that sometimes has to be in a new place and so I can get kind of stuck like everybody else and then I just, um, have to force myself to keep on on going., after 45 years, [00:33:00] I've kind of, um, got this regimen that I. It's not perfect by any means. There's definitely problems with it, but I kind of like, you know, I'm, I don't shoot, you know, I probably only shoot, you know, 30, 40, 50 days a year. which is plenty, which provides me with a lot of, and then, you know, I work on exhibitions or I do all kinds of other things as well.I'm always working around photography, I mean, all the time, but I don't have to be physically shooting to do that. when I was very young, I used to collect, like convince people to buy photography and when nobody wanted to, and this is in the seventies, and I once went to Andre Cortez's apartment and I was talking to him when I was buying a print for somebody.He told me that he would go six months or a year without ever taking a picture. I could understand that perfectly. I could go six months or a year without taking a picture yet. I'd still always be a photographer. for other people I know they have to shoot every day or all the time, or they feel that they're gonna lose it or they're not a [00:34:00] photographer, but that's not the way I work.I think most fashion photography today is pretty mediocre. I think it's all about celebrity and status and they all have the right lunch and the right, they know they date the right models and they all meet the, you know, the right art directors and it's just like in a group that just supports itself, but it's all very mediocre.I don't think that there's this great vision that drives the photographs. Okay. Now having said that, that's just one thing. And I think there have been, I think fashion photography's had its periods where it was the mo really distinguished in the world of photography. I think, you know, in the forties and fifties and perhaps in the sixties, I think Irving Penn.and Norman Parkinson and a few other people were incredible photographers, had a great vision and were quite extraordinary. I think today there's all this celebrity about around these photographers, but I think it's what you do about nothing. And I think the models are the same way. but I do think what is lacking in photo, in fashion photography is not something that, that's, it's actually that hard to find.Again, I find, I, I guess [00:35:00] I have to digress for a second and tell you a story. I probably wrote this once in a blog many years ago. This wasn't quite a fashion shoot. I did, but it was close to it in the sense of the, what, what I thought was wonderful about fashion. I did, I used to God, oh, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, coach Leather had a campaign called Descendants of Famous People, and they photographed all the grandchildren or the daughters or the aunts or whatever of well-known people.And I did about four or five of them. I, I remember the Nathan Daniel Boone's nephew, and I did, the one I'm talk, gonna talk about was Babe Ruth's niece. I photographed her at Yankee Stadium in, um, New York, which is kind of the appropriate place to do it.And I didn't have a chance. Usually I, sometimes I, sometimes I have a chance to meet the person I'm gonna photograph. Um, prior to, but in this case, she lived, I think in Maryland or Virginia, I'm not sure. And they had a flyer up for the shoot. [00:36:00] And I meet her the morning of the shoot in a, you know, in a location van, um, outside the stadium.And I meet her and, you know, I could tell that she feels really terrible about herself. She's looking down, she's kind of forlorned. She, I can just feel like she wants to just disappear. in, into the background, I understood that she was raised in a small trailer, um, in, in Virginia, wherever. And she had really no relation to Babe Ruth other than the fact that she was his niece.But she came from very humble means and was really kind of almost embarrassed about this whole. Thing of taking a picture and just pushed the whole thing would go away. I could feel all this in her presence. So I introduced myself. I tell her, I'm the photographer who's gonna take your picture and if we're gonna take you into this location van, and there's gonna be a woman who's gonna do your hair and another woman's gonna do your makeup and we're gonna style you and dress you and all that.And, and I said, while, while they're doing all that, I'm gonna go away for an hour and go look and find the right location to make the picture of you. [00:37:00] So I go away for an hour and I come back, and I go into the location van and there's this totally different person than the person I had first met before she went into the van.She was standing upright. She looked really beautiful. She became. I saw what a little bit of hair, makeup and new clothes and being pampered, what it could really do to, not just the physical look of this person, but the whole internal emotional sense of who she was. She was transformed and I thought, oh my God, this is an incredible experience.This is a wonderful look. Look, look what fashion can do. Instead of making people feel intimidated or that they're unattractive or something like that, it can make them feel empowered and beautiful and wonderful. This is like a Cinderella story, so I take her for a few hours, I make her portrait. She's looking really beautiful and you know, she, she just looked content and happy and I [00:38:00] think really enjoyed the experience.Goes back to the location. Van takes off all the clothes, you know, goes back to her original clothes and walks out of the van exactly who the person was when she first entered the van with her head down and she goes back to the person she was. Now, I think the important thing of this story for me, it's not really a fashion story, but it is what fashion can do.It is about style and grace and elegance and feeling beautiful and wonderful and special. And it's not about being intimidated because you don't have the money to buy these clothes or you have to have this closed, or you have to have the hottest, newest, ugliest thing imaginable in order to be valuable and worthwhile, that you can have a sense of style and grace intrinsic to yourself.That it comes from inside you, not from the outside. the outside stuff. The accoutrements can help you realize who you really are. So that's again, another place where a personal style is very [00:39:00] helpful I do, I do, I love shooting fashion. It's actually really fits me. and I like the big production of it.I like I'm the kind of photographer that can work with 20 people around me and it. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I sort of like it. I like the collaboration of everybody, the stylists I've worked with for years. And she'll say, you know, look at this, or This person looks like great here. Or my assistant will say, oh, you should look over there.It looks really great. I love when people do that. I feel it's like this collaborative effort. I like the whole experience of it. I do think that women, this is, you know, I think the world is kind of, so particularly now our soul full of ironies.I think, you know, that most women would not agree with me about this at all, but I think it's been a real give and take before women in the last 25 years, and I'm not sure that they've been given more than, than they. Wanted, yes, they've achieved incredible power to be sort of equal to men. They, you know, they're now working on getting the same rewards as men.Financially [00:40:00] they've achieved great. And I think all that's wonderful. But I always thought, even though my father was a very powerful person, you, you know, as I mentioned, he was the CEO of many companies, and he was, people were really intimidating him. I always thought my mother was the real power in the family.He would never, she in her own private way, controlled everything and got exactly what she wanted. It was a, it wasn't as overt as it is today. It wa it was more subtle, but there was this kind of wonderful thing, quality about her. And she had this incredible life and my father worked very hard to support her.Um, and so she could do what she wanted to do. So, I am not sure what we've gained is better than what we lost. Uh, maybe it is. Probably it is. And anyway, it's not going backwards. That's the way it is. But there is something really wonderful about, um, a kind of more graceful or a delicate, maybe understated power, like that quote you gave of me, [00:41:00] rather than the more overt one.Like when I shot Elizabeth Hurley, who is all about give it, give it to me baby. I mean, she was, um, you know, um, and versus a woman who has a real sense of herself and walks more delicately and quietly,I think, you know, one of the things was, I sort of animated or discussed slightly before was when I was very young, I didn't have a penny. Um, and I was really struggling. One of the ways I was able, I taught a great deal, but one of the other ways I was able to at least make a living pay my mortgage was I convinced people that photography was a really good investment and I would make a small commission.I would buy photographs for people. And one of the things I learned was how little, the curators of photography and the art gallery directors and all these people who were sort of the professionals and experts in [00:42:00] photography knew about photography.They basically knew nothing. They knew how to sell it, , they knew how to talk about it, but they really had not a clue about really what it meant to be a photographer or what the struggles that somebody like Stieglitz or Strand or anybody who's really first grade would go through to really distinguish themselves photographically.Um, it's not so much the financial hardships or meeting the right people or getting the right equipment or all the things on the surface. Those things everybody has in whatever work they do. And there's really no difference. It's just a different set of rules.And what the struggle really comes down to is the emotional struggle. And that is knowing that, you know, the all Socratic oath of no thy self. And learning how to come to grips and deal with the emo your emotional [00:43:00] core, and being able to express and expose that onto a two-dimensional flat piece of paper, is a very, very difficult thing.And then asking people who have not had your experiences, who do not care about you, who do not even know, like people in Russia who don't even know anything about you or the place you live or your experiences, and say, look at this picture and think it's worthwhile. The only way you can really do that on a consistent basis.Yes, you can do something kind of titillating or interesting or on a few pictures, but over a whole body of work. The only way you can really do that is if you are touching something universal. If you are speaking from your heart in a language that everyone can understand because the human psyche and spirit goes way deeper than the culture.And so if you are able to transcend or translate your own personal feelings and put them onto a piece of paper that is a very rigorous [00:44:00] and difficult thing to do and, and requires enormous struggle and turmoil on your part, that's why living kind of the artistic life is not something to be denigrated.It is a very, very difficult and very rare process that very few people, not that they're not capable of doing it, but are willing to take the risks. That that involves 99% of people are not capable or able or knowledgeable enough to do it. It's not that they can't, it's just that they won.um, I have a got a good fortune to be an intern for. Ansel Adams for a week in Carmel when I was in my twenties. And I noticed, you know, he used to meet people and I, I noticed, first of all, I went there. My photographs when I was very young, looked absolutely nothing like his, but I learned all my [00:45:00] technique from him within his own system.So I was really very anxious to have a chance to meet him and work with him. And it was great. Um, and I learned every time when I would go in the dark room with him or when I was sitting around talking to him, I would, he, I would ask him every technical question I could think of that I wanted resolved.And he was very generous and would answer me. But, and what I learned after this week of sort of probing and listening and having him listening sometimes talk to other people and stuff, was that he would tell you exactly what was necessary in order to do something. And basically, just generally what he'd be saying was like, if you want to be a classic scholar, you gotta learn German, you have to learn Latin, you have to read, you have to study, you have to pay your dues, you have to do all these things.and that's how you really get to a place through experience, through testing, through knowledge, through all these different things that will get you to this place where you can be really competent and capable. And I found that nobody, although they all listened to him, [00:46:00] And they nodded their head in agreement.In the end, nobody wanted to pay any attention to 'em. They went off and go, they really, what they really wanted from Ansel Adams was tell me this pill, give me this pill I can take so I can make my pictures look like yours or tell me the quick answer so I can learn how to do something as well as you do it.I want this in five minutes or less, you know? But I really don't wanna spend all the time that's required and all the effort and work you've put into it to do this. And unfortunately, that's not the way the world is. You know, you, you, you sort of get what you pay for, kind of metaphorically speaking about your craft, your technique, your vision, everything.It's not something that you can just, you know, meet the right person, do all this, take a pill, wear the right clothes, be in the right place, whatever it is, have the right camera, have the right, you know, equipment, whatever that is also beside the point. The point is [00:47:00] nurturing and learning and developing a vision that is special and unique to you.Learning what equipment that best represents that vision. Developing it, nurturing it, working on it, reflecting on it, struggling with it. That's what's required to do it, and it's not easy. Takes years. I've never, and I've had the good opportunity to meet many, many well-known people that I really care about, whether mostly writers or playwrights or painters or people of, of great esteem, and not one of them, at least in my, my personal experience, I've never met anybody who was instantaneously successful in my experience.Every one, oh, I totally respect, has worked years to get to that place.I mean, it's, it's, it's, but it's fun to do this. That's, you see, the thing is nobody wants to do it, but when they get immersed in it, it's part of the adventure. the best part of being a photographer is going out, engaging the world, meeting people. And taking, and making the picture, [00:48:00] the actual product, the end result, the artifact is never as good as the experience of making the picture.To me, it's always a disappointment. Now, for other people, like if I mess my wife, she would say that the, the artifact is much better than the experience. And I think many people have said that I can make the world look perhaps slightly better than it was right in front of me. So for many people, the observer, the, the photograph is even better than the experience.But for me, person who's taking the picture or making the picture, the experience of making the picture is the reason why I'm a photographer. I love the interaction with the world, meeting people, engaging people, being a part of the world, having it being sunny, rainy, cloudy, overcast.and somehow having something wonderful immersed from it. That's what I love about being a photographer. that's why being in the studio, all of that has no appeal to me. It's, it's engaging the world we live in. Having an [00:49:00] excuse to participate in it, in a kind of really positive and wonderful way.Saying yes to life over and over again, despite how many hardships you may have. That's the part that I really love. Get full access to Foto at fotoapp.substack.com/subscribe

Vocal coach and celebrity, Carrie Grant MBE is well known for having a diverse family. Along with her husband, singer, David Grant, she has four neurodivergent, mixed race children, several of whom also identify as transgender. Two are also up and coming actors, including in the series, Hollyoaks. In an interesting and entertaining episode of SNJ in Conversation, Carrie discusses these intersections with Tania Tirraoro and Renata Blower, and the difficulties they have encountered along the way. Find the post that accompanies https://wp.me/p3S8eh-8gf If this subject is one you want to comment on, remember these are real young people with real feelings so please be respectful.

In our second episode, hosts Alan Jenkins and Ruth Liptrot look at the highs and lows of the Eurovision song contest, including some of the best - and worst - performances over the years. Joining them are Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston, two of the original members of Bucks Fizz, who won Eurovision in 1981 with Making Your Mind Up, and Carrie Grant, who represented the UK at the song contest in 1983 as part of the pop group Sweet Dreams. Produced by Silvia Maresca.   Credits: 'Making Your Mind Up', Bucks Fizz, RCA (1981)

Impressionist and Comedian Frank Caliendo is this week's guest on the podcast. Join Michael and Frank as they discuss Frank's career and his advice for emerging comedians.Show NotesFrank Caliendo's Website - https://www.frankcaliendo.com/Frank Caliendo on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FrankCaliendoFrank Caliendo on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/frankcaliendo/Frank Caliendo on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/frankcaliendoMichael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAutomated TanscriptsFrank Caliendo (00:00:00):So I thought put Seinfeld on drugs and the d the, the bit was why do my fingers look like little people? Who are these people in the door and they're talking to each other? They're probably talking about me when I say it. Talking. I, oh, Jerry, oh, I somebody. Hey Jerry, you look like you've been seeing little people on your fingers. It's, you just let that camera and then the end, it was Newman and Newman's like, hello Jerry. And she, we've lost a sort of Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead commitment of stamps. You would see . So he'd lick the stamps. You know, that was the,Michael Jamin (00:00:33):You're listening to screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.(00:00:41):Hey everyone, it's Michael Jamin. Welcome back to Screenwriters. Need to hear this. And I got another great guest today. I'm really racking up the guests. Everyone. before we begin, make sure everyone to get on my my watch list is my free newsletter, by the way. Goes out every friday at michaeljamin.com/watchlist for tips for screenwriters, actors, and directors and all that. And now let's bring him on. Let's bring on my next, my next guest who I met actually many years ago when I was running a show. He's, the show was called Glen Martin. And we, we, this is how it works. And, and Frank, don't worry, I'll give you a minute to talk. I know you're talking about the bit here.Frank Caliendo (00:01:15):No,Michael Jamin (00:01:16):I love it. This is how, this is how it works in animation. It's actually a fun job for, for actors. So basically the casting director, we don't even audition. Can't we say this is what we need and the cast director just bring somebody in and, and and if they're terrible, you know, we just get somebody else to replace them. And so in this role we needed this is we needed someone who could do an impression. And I don't remember what the character was. There's probably some politician. It might have been Obama, it might have been George Bush, someone like that. And so she had our casting director was Linda Lamont, Montana. And she goes, I have just the guy. And she brings him in. And it was, it was Frank, Frank Callo, thank you so much for being on the, my podcast, Frank.Frank Caliendo (00:01:55):And now I'm back. How about that? Huh?Michael Jamin (00:01:57):Now you're back. And he killed it. Now Frank, is this your, Frank has got Frank, you know, the, and, and, and the Game of Thrones. There was like the the man of, what was it? The god of many faces. Is that what it was? You're, you're the man. You're the god of many voices.Frank Caliendo (00:02:11):I'll take it. Yeah, I'llMichael Jamin (00:02:12):Take, take it.Frank Caliendo (00:02:12):It it's like six and then I just kind of do variations on it.Michael Jamin (00:02:16):I don't think so. Dude, you are amazing. You are amazing at how you do that. I want to get into like how you actually do that.Frank Caliendo (00:02:23):Well, there, there, okay. So let's, let's get into, first of all, I didn't believe you that I did the show that you said I did, cuz I kind of remember Glen Martin. D d s I remember getting the sides for it. I remember getting an email about it, but I don't remember doing it cuz we talked at some point that you were doing a live a live stream. And you're like I think that's where it was. And I was like, you said, oh, Frank, you did a thing with me. Or maybe we just instant message back and forth. I'm like, you're crazy. I don't remember doing that. I just looked it up on I mdb and I did do it. You did do it. It was George Bush and I guess John Madden. Go figure. You probably Madden happy for Georges Bush. So you wrote in the John Madden thing, I'm guessing. Michael Jamin (00:03:09):It's so funny. It's so funny that you chose to forget that you were on Glen Martin. How, howFrank Caliendo (00:03:13):She, I don't remember a lot of stuff and I don't even do any drugs, but it's like, I don't, I don't remember. I remember it was like a declamation kind of thing, right?Michael Jamin (00:03:19):Yeah. Yes. Right. And it was, that was Kevin Neen. He, he the, he the guy. So, yeah. And you, you crushed it and you did. No, it wasn't John. John.Frank Caliendo (00:03:29):I crushed it so much. I've never worked with you again. That's butMichael Jamin (00:03:32):I haven't done not have animation since. No,Frank Caliendo (00:03:34):That's true, jerk.Michael Jamin (00:03:35):I did Barry for 10 minutes though. But youFrank Caliendo (00:03:38):Know, it's funny. Here's a funny thing though. This is a funny thing, is that I haven't done a lot of animation. So you think of me as animation because of the voices. And that's the thing that's always weird. And that's why one of the reasons I didn't do a ton of voice acting. One, I wasn't as good at it as some other people. But two, it was like, because once you do that, it's amazing how people think of you in like, I'm in a couple of different tunnels for pi. It, it's, you know, the pi, the holes of the pigeon. I am a, people think of me as a sports guy and an impressionist. So it's like, oh, we, that's all he can do. So they never, so I, it's so funny because recently people have been like, ah, you wouldn't do this little partner move.(00:04:19):I'm like, yeah, I would, I do, do I have to do an impression? No. Oh good. Are you gonna rewrite the part? So I do impressions? No. Perfect. Interesting. That's what I wanna do. Now I do this, the impression stuff to keep the lights on. I mean, that's what I do on TikTok and Instagram and stuff like that. It's, there's some fun with it too. But that's the amazing thing is people start to get, I think I saw you do something recently where you said, you know, beat the dead horse. Right? You're like, it can Oh yeah. Do the thing. Do the thing you're known for . Yes. Keep doing it. Keep doing. I did it for 20 years andMichael Jamin (00:04:52):Well, I'm telling, and I'm talking about beginning people, but Yeah. But for you I can understand.Frank Caliendo (00:04:55):Absolutely. It's, it's, it's, and then you, you then you get to that point where you're like, I gotta do some other, some other stuff. And it's so funny because then people don't want you for anything else. Right. And then you go back and do some of the stuff again. But there's like two careers. And I've heard David Spade talking to those other people. Probably talked about it too. But I used to say this until I heard David Spade say it too. And then I'm like, oh, people think I was just taking it from David Spade. But it was, you spend the first career, you have two careers, the first career pigeonholing yourself, getting known, doing something, Uhhuh . And then the second career is being able to do something else, right? Like getting outside of that. So I had the first one. So I'm fighting in that little bit of that second one.Michael Jamin (00:05:33):Well, you know, so I, I wrote for Spade twice on just Shoot Me. And then later on Rules of engagement. So I'm just curious, what does he think is, what is his second career? What was he talking about?Frank Caliendo (00:05:41):Well, I I I just saw it in a, you know, I, I worked with him recently and didn't bring it up because I was scared of him. No. Why would you be scared of David SP's scared of David? Like, I tower over David sp five, six. No I'm trying to think. It was just something I saw him talk about on a talk show. And I, you know, it was one of those things I'm like, ah man, somebody much more famous than me is talking about this. So I don't know whatMichael Jamin (00:06:07):Thing you'd like to do. Well, I mean, you're amazing at pressure. I can see why you might wanna do something up, but what is it acting? I mean, you know,Frank Caliendo (00:06:13):It's just acting in small parts, you know, just small things because one, people think you want to only do big things and carry a show. Right. I don't really even have any interest in that. I don't even, I, I don't even wanna carry a show Uhhuh. Cause that's, I I I don't feel like my acting is at that level where I, anytime I've ever wanted to do something in Hollywood, I've always wanted to surround myself with good people. And they get confused when you try to do that. Yeah. They're like, why would you want somebody else to Well, cause I want it to be as funny as possible. I grew up, I grew up playing sports. When you have a good team, you do your part on the team. When I had Frank tv it was my show that came after Mad tv. It was shortened by the writer strike and it had some struggles and stuff like that. But it was one of those things where and it wasn't that good. And when it was finally put together, I was amazed. Cuz we had great writers and they would do it. They would pieces John Bowman that were Bowman and Matt Wickline.Michael Jamin (00:07:09):Yeah.Frank Caliendo (00:07:09):Great writers. Brenda Hay king and Lance Crowder. All these guys, like people Rachel Ramas, there were really great people Yeah. Involved in the show. But then by the time it was cut and put on tv, all the air was taken out. It was boo boo, boo boo boom. And you know, when that happens, there's no setups. It's all punchlines and you look like you're trying too hard. Yeah. That's, you know, you and I just didn't have, I'm, I'm not enough of a fighter. You need somebody who's gonna fight for you and do somebody who's gonna have the vision and fight for the vision and has been in that spot before to fight. And I just, I mean, I was doing like 15, 20 pages a day cuz I was playing all the parts until I got them to get other people on the show. So it was one of those things where I was just like, I was exhausted. I didn't even get to see edits. I didn't, I didn't like watch myself. Cause I was also too fat at the time. Yeah. I was like, I'm so fat in these things. I, it looks like South Park episodes. Michael Jamin (00:08:08):But how did that come part about, did you have a development deal at a studio orFrank Caliendo (00:08:11):Something being fat?Michael Jamin (00:08:13):No. You a lotFrank Caliendo (00:08:15):Exercise. It was, I had a d I went in, I, I went in and after I was at Med TV for a while there for five years I had the Fox stuff, the n NFL on Fox things, which was actually bigger for me than anything else. Right. being on the Sunday stuff and Super Bowls. So I went inMichael Jamin (00:08:35):And that's cause you do a killer. Madden give, give us, give us the taste of the Madden so people knowFrank Caliendo (00:08:39):What you're trying. I'm mad here for the quick pop popcorn pop. And I turned him into a character too. Like, like I was ta talking. This is, I know I go off on tangents. Just stop me. Go back. But one of the things with the Madden, you know, the, the realistic John Madden voice was this kind of voice where you, you say the things and you do the things. But I found this thing in him that was the excited little kid. Right? The . Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when he would get that, that going, it was like, I was on Letterman and he had me come on as, get me come on as John Madden didn't say it was a some, I was the lead guest over Ben Stiller, I think it was. Wow. Fake John Madden Wow. Was the lead guest. And I came in and I wasn't really the lead guest, but it was, you know, I tell people, but it was a, it was so I pulled a chicken wing out of my pocket.(00:09:29):I had them get me a chicken wig with sauce on it and everything. I gave you hungry. He was like that right now. , how funny, can you believe this? But it was one of those things where it just, stuff would happen and the, you create the character with it. And it becomes, the funny thing is to me, that that stuff doesn't work the same on social media like TikTok or Instagram, but it might work on some YouTube stuff. Cause there's more longer form. It's, it's more of a longer form, you know, the, the platform is Right. I just didn't like that I said more and longer right. Together. I'm, I'm weird with grammar. I'm very, some things I just, like, if you noticed, I texted you, I didn't like that I put different tenses tenses in my texts and you like, you just stopped talking to at that point.(00:10:14): But when you, I dunno what they really like and on TikTok and these you know, shortform ones platforms is exact replication. They want the, what I would call more of an impersonation, right? Like they want the the, they want you to sound exactly like the person. There's no element of caricature it really, or going what I would call Dana Carvey on it, cartooning it Right. And making it bigger. They're like, ah, that's not like it. Well that's the point. That's the comedic element, right? Right. That makes a good exaggeration after. Yeah, exaggeration after the initial what's the, what the word I'm looking for, the when you, when you recognition, when you get the recognition, laugh on the sound, and then you have to do something with it and make it bigger, right? You have to have more fun with it.Michael Jamin (00:11:09):But you did a post, I thought it was fascinating. I think it was on TikTok, excuse me. I think it might have been like how you do Robert Downey Jr. Or something. And you, you walk through the stages of how you approach the voice in, in pieces and then how you getFrank Caliendo (00:11:26):There. So let's, let's start with this. And this is something that you'll identify with completely as a writer and a creator. You have to find the cadence and the voice of the person not speaking in terms of tone, but the cadence, right? Yeah. How many Christopher Walkins have you heard, right? You've heard low, you've heard, hi, you've heard in the middle, in, in, in the old days, it was William. You knew who it was just by the pauses, right? So you could tell from those voices how you would write for that character. You put the point of view into those, into the song, right? What those of the, you know, into you put the lyrics into the melody. So with Robert, Danny Jr, I found that this is with other characters too. That counting can help you do it. It's better for the audience. It's not a full way to teach somebody how to do it, but it's entertaining while you do it. So Robert Downey Jr. Is after you find the pitch, or you don't even have to have the pitch first, but I'll go to the pitch cuz it's what I do. But it's one, two, pause, burp 5, 6, 7. So you find that it's 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7. And then you can just figure it out, you know? So that's, that's how you find those with Liam Neon. It's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. You know? So it's the beginning. That'sMichael Jamin (00:12:52):Interesting.Frank Caliendo (00:12:53):Yeah. You can do that with Jeff. Goldblum is one, two 1, 1 1. Juan, what comes after one? Think out loud. That's him one. What's, what's coming into my head? What do I hear? The voices coming at me. One, two. Yes. Here comes one, two, a little jazz. 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.Michael Jamin (00:13:17):But you talk about this, you're talking about how you approach it. It's not like you think anyone, you, it's not like you're trying to teach anybody. It's not like anyone, you think anyone can do this, do you? Because I don't think IFrank Caliendo (00:13:26):Do. I think people can find, people can find, I do think people can find it. I think people can find people can't get the, they might not be able to get the pitch, the, the, the note, but they can find the cadence. Everybody, people do itMichael Jamin (00:13:40):Forever. But you, you know, your, your throat, your mouth has a certain in your nose, like you talk. I think you're stuck kind of with the, like, I can't change my, you're stuck with the voice. I don't know how you were able to literally changeFrank Caliendo (00:13:51):The, well, you don't need to do all that stuff. You don't, you don't have to do all the, that. This is another part. The face is another part of an impression. That'sMichael Jamin (00:13:58):The sound of the com. The sound comes from inside your skull.Frank Caliendo (00:14:01):Ok. So yeah. So there, there, there are different pieces to this as well. You can close off your throat. You, you think of it, you know the Bobby character, the Howie Mandel, little bitMichael Jamin (00:14:12):Bobby.Frank Caliendo (00:14:14):So that's closing off your throat. And a lot of people can do that. But the difference is finding different levels of being able to work. It's just, it's a, it's like a muscle, right? Right. So I'll do, I've done this, you might have seen this before, but this is John C. Riley is in here. So John C. Riley has just a little bit of bubble in his throat. Now if you work backwards, a tiny hole, ker frog, that's a little bit more up in here, re tiny Hall Kermit, you're reporting from the planet COOs. Then bring it down a little bit, Nelson your throat a little bit more. You add some air and it becomes Mark. I, I see this as an absolute win, guys. ThisMichael Jamin (00:14:51):That's exactly it. ThisFrank Caliendo (00:14:52):Is, this is crazy. And then, so for Ruff, he is got that thing where I think he had like a, a tumor or something, some, some medical thing when he was younger. And part of his f it was the same with like Stallone, Stallone had Bell's palsy, right? So he is got that, you know, that thing that, right? So if you find, I call it the pizza slice, you've probably seen the thing I did this. It's a triangle. It's a line across the eyebrows, a.in the, in the chin. And it's the triangle that goes down. There are two things. Now, this is stuff I'm actually gonna dos and Instagram on as well, but it's I just am too lazy. And it's, the mouth tells you how the person talks.Michael Jamin (00:15:33):UhhuhFrank Caliendo (00:15:34):. So if you watch my mouth, that's why everybody does a Donald Trump, right? When they do a Donald Trump, you have to do the lips. The lips are very, very, that's very. But now this part of my face from those down is doing Donald Trump. Now when the eyes start going, it sh now that's the point of view that starts. Same with the bush. Bush is, you know, I could do this thing with this half smile. It's like somebody told me a dirty joke before I came up here, but that's just, that's from nose down. But now I get a little discombobulate and you know, I'm staring into the, the abbu, you know, that's what it was also a great movie. So it's, and then the point of view comes from the way you think. Right? But you, when you write a character, when you write a character, you become that character when you write, I don't know if I'm stirring batter or what. Yeah. But if you're doing a cooking show and you're stirring the batter, but your character, you haveMichael Jamin (00:16:32):To, yeah, we would, for example, on King Hill, we would imitate Bobby Hill or Hank or whatever. But imitating is not sounding, you know, it's not sounding like,Frank Caliendo (00:16:40):Yeah. It's just, that's just taking it another level. You, you, you just take it. You get, because you had the cadence of the character. You might not have had the note, but you had the notes written. You didn't have them on the stop, but you knew if it was an eighth note, a quarter note, whatever, a, a rest. And I only know a little bit about music and that's all of it that I just told you.Michael Jamin (00:17:00):But did you, as a kid, did you, like, did you, were you good at this as a kid? Did you wanna aspire? Did you aspire to this?Frank Caliendo (00:17:06):I think I was pretty good at it. I, I have a natural knack and my kids have the knack too. So you have to have a, a knack at the beginning to figure this stuff out from the beginning Right. To, you know, it's predator of the infrared going. I see everything. My son had Bell's Palsy when he was very little. And I, I could see that when he would smile. This is a, the blessing and a curse thing. And when he would smile, he wouldn't smile all at the same time. And then I started to look closely and part of his face moved a lot slower and didn't always move. And I said to, to my wife, I go, something happened. I don't know what it is, but I think he had Bell's Palsy. Well, we had him tested to make sure there was no brain stuff going on or whatever.(00:17:47):But the doctors, what the diagnosis eventually was Bell. He had Bell's Palsy when he was a baby. Right. And it, you know, pa what happens is Bell's Palsy is, I think the fifth I, I don't remember what it was, the fifth or seventh cranial nerve. Something gets damaged either by a virus or trauma, blood trauma. And it keeps you from everything moving at the same time. But that's, but I could see it. Most people don't see it. I could see it because that's the way my brain breaks things down. Yeah. I mean, you as a writer, as a performer, whatever, however you consider, whatever you consider yourself, you do similar things. You see the world from that point of view. And that's how you write. You go, you observe, you take in, and then you replicate or create from that. Exaggeration or finding the, I I've set off Siri like nine times on my watch during this. I've never, that's never happened before.Michael Jamin (00:18:50):I Yeah, I, I say mean things to her. I and I and my wife says it's not good because Apple's picking up on this , like I say awful things to Siri. So, you know, like, Siri, you asshole. What time is it? She don't say that.Frank Caliendo (00:19:08):I'm sure it could be much worse.Michael Jamin (00:19:10):Yeah, it is much worse. I'm cleaning it upFrank Caliendo (00:19:11):For the podcast. Yeah. You were just trying not to get canceled.Michael Jamin (00:19:14):Yeah. Yeah. .Frank Caliendo (00:19:15):Yeah. So there, so there are lots of, yeah, I, I, I see. I look at these thi these things in, in lots of different ways. For me, you know, one of the things that, one of the things when I first got on social media in the last couple years, a few years ago mm-hmm. . Cause I wasn't doing any, cuz I was on Twitter 10 years ago. AndMichael Jamin (00:19:35):Why did I started finding, started my goal on social media. Why did you start?Frank Caliendo (00:19:38):Well, you have to. I mean, if you, if you, the first time it, it was because it was new and people were telling me I didn't like it. I just, I don't like it. I, I, I, I can't, I can't adapt it because people are angry for the most part. And there's a lot ofMichael Jamin (00:19:54):Yes. Tell me about it.Frank Caliendo (00:19:56):Is it, yeah. Right, right. And there's a lot of what confirmation bias. So there's confirmation bias mm-hmm. and the exact opposite. Right? So people either wanna hear exactly what they're thinking and they don't wanna have a conversation about something different. Mm-Hmm. . Or they just wanna fight you for no reason. They wanna troll you. They just wanna, they wanna make you mad. And especially somebody like you or somebody like me that's been in the entertainment business, we targets. Because if we say something back that's mean. Oh, the guy from Glen Martin dvsMichael Jamin (00:20:27):. Well, they don't, they don't. No one's ever heard of that. I know. But, but you're right. I don't, I don't respond anymore because there's just no winning it. There'sFrank Caliendo (00:20:35):No winning. It can't win. Cause because you are, it would be like, this is an exaggeration, but it'd be like a leader being a leader of a country. And this is, but this is what Trump does or did though, right? Uhhuh, . . And you would come back at people and you'd go think, ah, you gotta stay above that. At a certain point it's fu it, it quote unquote. It could be funny in and this isn't a political rant, this is just what I see as an observation. Mm-Hmm. it can be funny in of somebody running for president, but as soon as they're president you kind of feel like you're Yeah. I think, I think it's time to be a little different. You can, that's my opinion. ButMichael Jamin (00:21:08):No, you're absolutely right. I told, but, but, and that's what's so interesting about it, is because social media, at least when I started doing it, like at first, it's a little empowering. You have an audience and you can, you have an, you have a platform. But then once you start getting trolled and, and I, as a comedy writer, I feel like I can tear you apart. I can tear you apart. Whoever's trolling, I don't, I'm better at this than you. But the minute I do it, I, I can't do it because then I'm, I'm then I'm the asshole. And then it, what was once empowering now becomes emasculating at the same time. It's very odd to be able to have a platform, but not causeFrank Caliendo (00:21:40):And and you can, and people can say things to you that you could never say back because they will say things that would get you as a business person canceled. Yep. It doesn't have to be racial. Or it just, they can say things that are just mean that if you say it and somebody pulls it up, they're like, look what Michael Jamin did. Yeah. This is unbelievable. Yeah. I We can't hire this guy. Yeah. He's, he's a terrible person. And they'll defend the person who's ripping you to shreds and saying way worse things. Yes. So you're stuck in, you're, you're stuck in a spot. So it, so I, I started, this is why I got away from social media 10 years ago, whatever. So I was on Twitter, I was building it really quickly with sports stuff. Mostly not video, just just kind of like sassy phrases and, you know, mean things. I, and I realized I was starting to be this person on Twitter in real life in real wayMichael Jamin (00:22:37):InFrank Caliendo (00:22:37):What I'd see somebody just, I'd see somebody and wanna say something terrible to them. Mm-Hmm. . And the only reason I would say that in Twitter, cuz my comedy's silly, not really mean uhhuh, , it's it more cherubic cuz of the cheeks. But , it was one of those things where you said mean things on Twitter, you got likes and retweets cuz people love Right. You know, knocking down people in power. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say something about a quarterback that just threw an interception. Something I could never do. I would never have, you know, that that's the level of skill to, to make it to their level. And I'm ripping them to shreds. I'm going, I, I, and I've changed this way too. I mean, I, I used to think, you know, I used to watch the Oscars and kind of rip the Oscars to shreds because it is so self-aggrandizing. It, so mm-hmm. , everybody's self-congratulatory and stuff. Like, and I would say things, I'm like, I shouldn't be saying this, that, not just because it's, you know, it's kind of gross. But it's, it's also just, I don't know, these people work very hard to get where they, you know, they're just going, some of 'em don't, you know, they're happy to be getting an award, but they have to be show up. It's part of the business. Right.(00:23:46):I get it. I, I what a jerk I am for. You know, that's why even people, people wanna do a podcast and like, let's do a podcast where we just rip movies. I'm like, I don't wanna, that's somebody's acting, somebody's put a lot of time, like my TV show. There were a lot of great people putting that stuff together. But by the time it all got put together, a network has to say other people standards and practices, all these different levels, it's not really what you want it to be. And it's not any one person's fault. It's just not what you want it to be. And that person is, but, you know, that's why it's so amazing when somebody does do something really great, you're going, wow, you watch a, a Tarantino film or something like that. He's a guy who just fights for all his own stuff.(00:24:32):He's gonna do it his way. Right. But you watch a, you watch a film with somebody who does Jordan Peele now right. Who actually got to work with a man TV years ago. People get to a point where they have their point of view and they can make closer to the movie that they want to make. And then you go, okay, when this turns out, this is, this is fantastic. This is how you do it. Because when you don't have that much, say you don't have that much power and you don't have that much fight in you, it's, it's really hard to get close to what you want. And there were so many things in my show mm-hmm. that were close to what I wanted. But that little bit of change just goes. And there were three little changes. You go, oh, the timing's not what I would've done there. They used a cut I never would've used. Right. And now they put it in a different part of the show. Wow. Oh man. So then I know that happens everybody,Michael Jamin (00:25:27):But I have to ask, so then why do you do, why are you on social media? Because you, you have quite a big presence on it. So what's,Frank Caliendo (00:25:33):You go in, you go into an somebody's office, an executive's office. The first thing they do is look how many this, what are you doing here? What do you do? They reallyMichael Jamin (00:25:43):Say, say that toFrank Caliendo (00:25:44):You. Oh yeah, I've had plenty. The people look at me. It'sMichael Jamin (00:25:47):Because what they don't, I feel like they don't understand is the change in the algorithm, which is maybe only a few months old, but they don't un do they understand when you talk to them that having a million followers on Instagram or TikTok, you can't reach them all on any given day. You reach maybe a 10th of them, you know.Frank Caliendo (00:26:03):Well, you don't even reach that. I mean, people don't, so again, people the way it's been explained to me is that TikTok doesn't even really go out to yourMichael Jamin (00:26:15):Followers anymore. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.Frank Caliendo (00:26:17):It go, it goes out to a random sample audience, which has mm-hmm. some of your followers in it. And then once it hits that first audience, if enough people watch it long enough or watch it to the end, it gets, then it goes to the next sampleMichael Jamin (00:26:30):Audience. Yes. Right.Frank Caliendo (00:26:31):So if you go to a bad, I I,Michael Jamin (00:26:34):But that's also Instagram. Now that's kind of this, they're they're taking the same model. TheFrank Caliendo (00:26:38):The real stuff. Yeah. Well, because, and the reason that works for them is because they, they can build stars faster that way they can build. So it used to be on Instagram, it would take you years if you weren't famous mm-hmm. to get to a point where you had 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 followers. Well now people can just vertically swipe through reels and all of a sudden the, those people who do that are tend to follow a lot more people. Right. So your videos can go viral with no followers. Right. And then suddenly you'll have followers. It didn't used to work like that it used to.Michael Jamin (00:27:15):Exactly. So that's why I'm asking lots of followers. Do they know, do you think the executives know that? Cause they look at your numbers and like go, oh, Frank's got a big following. But do they know that you canFrank Caliendo (00:27:23):I don't. I think they're a little, I think yes and no. But again, it works to, in their favor that if you have videos that have a lot of numbers mm-hmm. do, because then you're hitting an audience. They know you're hitting a pretty big audience that spreads it to other people. Mm-Hmm. . Now I'm 49, I'm about to be 49. Okay? Mm-hmm. , I, my age group that I played to most, or played to the most was probably 35 to 50 in there. You know, somewhere in there somewhere that I felt like I was similar age and had similar likes and life experiences.Michael Jamin (00:28:00):Right.Frank Caliendo (00:28:00):And those people, that group of people doesn't tend to hit the light button or the retweet button as much. I know I don't. Right. Right. Kids send it, they direct message stuff to their friends. They send things to their f they then they tag other people. They tag lots of people. Yeah. And that's why network executives, producers advertisers like young audiences, not just to sell the products to, but they're the ones that spread the word. Right. And they know that. They know it. It kind of works. You know, I always, I never really thought about that or I never really believed them with that. You know, I've changed brands on a lot of stuff. I've changed toothpaste, I've changed all kinds of things. Right. I don't think I'm normal. I, I, I, I guess I'm not, but young people will try different things and they will do lots of different things at a much higher rate. AndMichael Jamin (00:28:54):So interesting. Do you feel then, as a performer that, okay, so you kind of have to do this. You're a little bit, you know, could you do it what, every day? Right? How many times do you post a day?Frank Caliendo (00:29:05):I don't, I don't even post that much. I, I'll post like a, a week. Once a week or once. Oh, half the time. It's half the time. It's old stuff that I've already Interesting. Like the thing, I have something with 8 million views right now from like a couple weeks ago. Wow. That I've posted two times before. Yeah. And it's gotten a million views and 2 million views and maybe 30,000 views. Oh. Which hits exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. If it doesn't hit the, I have, I have two pieces of advice. A couple pieces of advice for your content, please. I, I would not end my pieces telling people to go see, go. Don't, I wouldn't waste the time in the, in the, in the post telling people for more, if you like stuff like this. Go see, go did Michael Jam writer what, you know, your website, stuff like that. Right. I would just put it in writing near the end. Yeah. On the screen. Because then it's there a little bit subliminally. And they don't have to wait for the, because if they've heard you, if they like your posts and they watch you all the time, they know that's the end of your post. They'll cut out early.Michael Jamin (00:30:10):Interesting. So you're saying put But if I put it up on there, cause I, I do this to get people on my newsletter Right. To, you know, cuz that you get their, but you're saying if I, if I just say it'sFrank Caliendo (00:30:20):Up to say at the end, you spend two to three seconds going. Right. If you like what I said right. Go to Michael Jamin, Robert Writer what is it? Michael jaminMichael Jamin (00:30:28):Michaeljamin.Com/Watchlist is my newsletterFrank Caliendo (00:30:30):Slash watch. Okay. So if you, if you like what you've heard, go to Michael Jamin slash wa slash slash watchlist stuff like this and other things that I gotta Now now they've got, now you've, now you've given them a little piece, which is what's everybody telling you to do? They all tell you well get the call for action. Yeah. But if they've seen your post and they like your posts, they don't need that anymore. Right.Michael Jamin (00:30:53):What if they're brand new? What if they'reFrank Caliendo (00:30:54):Brand new? If they're brand new, you put it, you just put it up on the screen. You put it up on IMichael Jamin (00:30:58):The screen. What do I put on the screen?Frank Caliendo (00:30:59):On the screen? You just write it on the screen. Yeah. Say like more stuff like this.Michael Jamin (00:31:03):Oh, okay. For the whole thing. For more. Okay.Frank Caliendo (00:31:05):Or, or in the last, the last third of what you say. Okay. Just have it up there. And in the, because you do that, you can try, you can, you can experiment and do it both. Do it, do say it sometimes put it up on the screen. Do both mm-hmm. sometimes just put, put it at the end and, and test it. Yeah. Because I could be, I can be wrong. I can be wrong here. But I'm telling you, I watched to the end of yours because I know because I want yours to do well, Uhhuh, , I'll do it, but I'm tempted as soon as you go into that mm-hmm. , I tempted to flip up andMichael Jamin (00:31:39):All right. What,Frank Caliendo (00:31:40):What I found with my stuff, if I introduce things, sometimes people don't even wanna see me introduce it. I just put the title of what I'm doing on the screen.Michael Jamin (00:31:49):Uhhuh ,Frank Caliendo (00:31:50):I don't tell you, you know, I don't tell you what I'm doing. I put the title on the screen to tell you what I'm doing and I get right into it. Right. Unless it's a reply to somebody's if somebody's, then I read their reply a little bit. Right. So they have the visual and you're reading the reply and you're saying something at the same time. So they're kind going back and forth. And then you do, you cut and do what they're saying. What is, what is your other, very quickly,Michael Jamin (00:32:16):What is your other tip for me? Is there anything else? I'll listen in. I don't know if my reader Yeah. What cutsFrank Caliendo (00:32:26):I would cut, I would cut a lot. You don't cut much. Oh, oh,Michael Jamin (00:32:30):Oh.Frank Caliendo (00:32:31):Visually you do, you do things in one.Michael Jamin (00:32:33):Yeah. No. You know why? Because I just don't wanna produce anything. I don't wanna spend time. Right.Frank Caliendo (00:32:36):I get it. I get it. I get, I get it. And, and, but like a friend, somebody I know used to work at YouTube and they're like, just cut, just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. And you don't even have to really produce it. All you have to do is just splice, splice, splice slightly. Make things bigger and smaller. You don't even really cut any air out. But I, if, if you look at, if you look, you just put it in iMovie or they actually have it in there. Now. If you don't even, you don't evenMichael Jamin (00:33:01):Too much word.Frank Caliendo (00:33:02):I get it. If you watch most of my stuff that's new. There is no real effort into writing it. , Uhhuh. It's just saying words over and over.Michael Jamin (00:33:13):. Right. It's,Frank Caliendo (00:33:15):I won't put the time. Now what I'm starting to do is go back, like you said, let's talk about the Seinfeld thing. When I put the Seinfeld thingMichael Jamin (00:33:21):Out, and that was from Frankie. OhFrank Caliendo (00:33:23):Right. That was from, and it was critically panned. Like it's terrible. Like critics told me it was awful.Michael Jamin (00:33:28):. Ok. I liked it.Frank Caliendo (00:33:30):Yeah. And it's even cut even shorter. It's, it's even, I think the full things like pretty good. There was one of the things I was the most proud of, Uhhuh or the proudest of. And but it's one of those things where , it's so funny cuz it really does look like a South Park version cuz I'm so fat. At the time we made it that it's that, that it just looks like, I call it sign fat. Right. But it was weird cuz if I had guest stars on the show, it would, it would even make it tougher for disbelief, you know, suspending belief or di is it suspending belief or suspending disbelief.Michael Jamin (00:34:03):Suspending disbelief.Frank Caliendo (00:34:05):So, okay, so, so you,Michael Jamin (00:34:07):Yeah. So you're not disbelieving it,Frank Caliendo (00:34:09):Right? So you suspend your disbelief when you see somebody, all the characters look kind of the same. It fits, but all of a sudden you have somebody that looks more like the person because they're skinnier or something like that. A sudden it looks up like, but that Seinfeld thing, it was actually from my, my act was my, the way I did it in my act was I tried to, I always trying to think for the impressions. And so my, my thinking of the Seinfeld bit and my act was Seinfeld is about nothing. It's about reality. It's about everything that happens a reality. Well, what takes you outta reality? So it was drugs. Mm-Hmm. . So I thought put Seinfeld on drugs. And the, the, the bit was why do my fingers look like little people? Who are these people? They doing, they're talking to each other.(00:34:54):They're probably talking about me when I say Jerry, oh, somebody. Hey Jerry, you look like you've been seeing little people on your fingers. That's great. You just let that cat. And then at the end it was Newman and Newman's like, hello Jerry, hello Newman. And she would've lost a sort of Jerry Garcia grateful dead commitment of stamps. She would see them baby . So he'd licked the stamps. You know, that was the bit. So there was reality and it turned back into AED episode. But the whole bit was instead of reality, how do I get into a fantasy world? And that was the easiest way to to, to(00:35:28):Do it. Right.Michael Jamin (00:35:31):Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.(00:35:54):It's fucking, your voices are amazing. I mean, that sounds amazing. But tell me, I have another question up for you. I'm just, I'm curious, I know you're, I actually wanna mention this, so I know you're, you, you got two shows coming up in, in Phoenix, right? Yeah. Where you do, where you go and it stand up, you're doing voices as well, or like, right? OrFrank Caliendo (00:36:11):Yeah. I, I just, what I do is, I'm, I, so what I, what I like to do is, I always hated the vaudevillian impressionist Uhhuh . What if,Michael Jamin (00:36:21):Oh yeah.Frank Caliendo (00:36:23):You know, what if Carrie Grant was your waiter, well, why, why would he be, first of all, that's bad writing, right? ,Michael Jamin (00:36:32):Why would he be your waiter? WhyFrank Caliendo (00:36:33):Would he be a waiter? Remember, years ago, I think it was on the white was it the white album? The that Dennis Miller did? Uhhuh . He's like . He was like and these impressionist, I think Jack Nicholson as a fry cook at McDonald's. I mean, how about you as a fry cook at McDonald's? Chachi, get some writing. You know? So it was it was, I was always like, I wanna write for these characters. So what do would I do? I would make observations. So the way, and that would give me my point of view. So Pacino, he's an actor, right? So I was like, what do act what do they teach you in acting? Be curious. Be amazed by everything. So the simplest thing, Pacino can be amazed. Like somebody's turning on a light. He's like, wait a second, you mean to tell me you flip a switch over there? A light comes on over here. Wow. . So he's amazed by everything. That's the point, right? And that's what my Pacino character always was. And he, and chewing gum. So that'sMichael Jamin (00:37:34):Dead onFrank Caliendo (00:37:34):Man. It's make those, make those observations and then apply them in situations later. So it's observational comedy, but I was just observing how people were. Robert Downey Jr. Is a human. Twitter feed, 280 characters are less and everything's about himself. So he'd give, be giving out an Academy Award, which is supposed to be about the nominees, but the, but he'd be up there like, these people deserve your applause almost as much as I do. Hashtag awesome. So it's, that's the point of view, right? Set it up. That's funny. Bring it back. So once you have that, now you can, now the audience is in on what your point of view is. Now you can put them in situations, which is really what you do with characters in writing. You know, any kind of sitcom or any kind of a, any, you know, any kind of drama, anything.(00:38:25):It just takes longer to get them to who the character is an impression most of the time, and this is why impressions are cut away from acting so much where people think there's no acting in impressions because it's just, you know, somebody, there was Robert De and they work on, are you talking to me? Well, where's the, where's the writing for that? It's the vallian part, right? Come up with something that tells you who the character is. Right. And now write for it. And now it's an interesting character. And that's what you know any type of original character, it just takes longer to get there. And that's why a pilot, right? A television pilot, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, you do this more than me. Let's see. There's a lot more exposition and telling, kind of telling people, okay, hey, I'm just your local waitress. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And they tell you a little bit because they have to do it to get it done. To get it sold. Yeah. And then once it's, once you kind of have it, now you can develop the characters and you have, you have arcs that can build the character to something longer. Yeah. And that's why a lot of pilots get rewritten and redone because the pilot's almost a presentation just to sell it. And it's almost two on the nose. It's a to be what you want.Michael Jamin (00:39:40):But tell me what it's like when you do, like, when you go do a show or two shows, like literally, what is that? Like? You get on a plane, you arrive a couple days before your show, likeFrank Caliendo (00:39:51):The day, usually a day off, the day of just get there. YouMichael Jamin (00:39:55):Do a sound check or no, you just go up on stage likeFrank Caliendo (00:39:58):A theater. I'm probably have the guy opening for me do a sound check. I don't, I don't even, I just go out there and show up and head so I have more energy. I mean, it's just, I like to get out there and just start going. I have a plan. Uhhuh, I have a lot of stuff that I've, I will do that I've done, you know, that I've worked on and done before. But now I try to, I actually like to do clubs a lot more than theaters. Why is that? Because I get to play more and I don't feel, I feel like somebody goes to the theater, you know, they, you feel like they, even though they're not, you feel like it should be a little bit more put together and professional. I feel like at a club, it can,Michael Jamin (00:40:34):A club, you can get heckled. They're not necessarily coming to see you. If you go to a theater, they're coming. They're paying seeFrank Caliendo (00:40:40):Me, 90, 99%. They come to see me at a club. Now if I'm doing a club, yeah. Cuz I'll do like off nights. I'll do like a Tuesday or a Wednesday. The, the general audience isn't going for that. And tickets will sell in advance. I mean, it, it's, that's, that's what I, that's what I likeMichael Jamin (00:40:57):To do. Is, is it theater though? More, more seats usually.Frank Caliendo (00:41:00):Yeah. It's harder to sell. 'em, You, you've gotta figure you're gonna sell. Probably you can probably, cuz people are, they're trained to go to a club and you'll get some people that fill other seats and it'll, it'll snowball. People will talk about it more. Uhhuh . And they have a built in advertising in everybody who goes to that venue. Three or four, you know, five shows a week.Michael Jamin (00:41:20):Interesting.Frank Caliendo (00:41:20):Sees that you're gonna to be there. And they're a comedy audience already. A theater doesn't necessarily have a builtin comedy audience. It might be that's 9%.Michael Jamin (00:41:31):But they're not coming in a comedy club. They might be drunk, they might be hostile, they may heckle. They're not, they're, it'sFrank Caliendo (00:41:38):Not, not, it's not as bad anymore. It's, it, yeah. Most of the clubs are that that's, that's kind of a nineties early two thousands as maybe eighties type of thing. It, that doesn't happen as much anymore because they have so much riding on everything. The clubs used to be, they would you just go there and do a nightclub set and they, they, they'd turn 'em in and out, two drinks, four drinks, and get 'em in and out. Now they're selling them dinner. Uhhuh, they, they, they realize they were given away the five, they were, they're restaurants now that have entertainment. Right. Because they would, they would bring everybody in and nobody, they would give everybody else all the food and beverage around the showtime. And they would, they were realized, well we can do this too. And some of 'em do it. Really,Michael Jamin (00:42:21):Really. But they're not eating during the show. You don't want the meeting show.Frank Caliendo (00:42:24):Yeah, they're,Michael Jamin (00:42:24):Yeah. Yeah. They're, and you're hearing like the silverware and stuff?Frank Caliendo (00:42:27):Yeah, it's, it's, it's usually more of a finger food. But they're, yeah. They're, they're so are some that have full-on, you know, but that, that a lot of that happens during the opener or mc too. By the time I'm up, they're, they're, they're a drinking and they're warmed up and they're, they've gotten their food already.Michael Jamin (00:42:45):And then do you travel with their, with your, with your opener Or is it a local guyFrank Caliendo (00:42:50):Or one? I bring people with me because I know what they're doing. , Uhhuh, . I, I, I'm, I'm a control freak in terms of what's on before me. Right. Because I'm very clean. Even when I try to be dirty, it doesn't work because people wanna see me for being clean. Right. but I've had, I, you know, an opener thinks they're clean and you, you know, I only say that word once, like, wow, that's too many times for some of my audience. Right. Or they, they, they, they, they're not expecting it. Cause they've been there to see me before and I'm the one who's gonna get the emails in the club is. And so I just bring people that I know are gonna play and then I don't have to watch the set over and over and over.Michael Jamin (00:43:31):And then you, and then after you'll you how many shows?Frank Caliendo (00:43:35):Two is the most I'll doing at night, but I'd rather just do one. Right.Michael Jamin (00:43:39):It's exhausting. It's exhausting to hold that kind of attention for pe to people.Frank Caliendo (00:43:43):Yeah, it is. And I just have the point where I, I do it and I have, when I have fun doing it mm-hmm. , that's when I go up and do it. And if I go up and I'm creating some, I'm having fun. If I'm doing an old set just for money and not creating, I'm not having fun. And that happened to me for five to 10 years where I was just doing the same thing all the time. I was making a ton of money Uhhuh. But I think some of my audience got like, well you're doing the same exact set. And it was just going, kind of going through the motions. And I, that wasn't a great time for myself for, you know, me personally. Not like I had anything wrong with family or anything. Like I just wasn't having fun doing the comedy.Michael Jamin (00:44:24):AndFrank Caliendo (00:44:24):Then weMichael Jamin (00:44:25):Will you leave the next day or what, what or I don't wanna cut off. IFrank Caliendo (00:44:28):I used to leave the next morning, first flight to try and get home. Cause I have two little kids right at the time. Two little kids now. They don't like me that much anymore, so. Right. I don't mind going away for a little Do you have kids?Michael Jamin (00:44:39):I do, but they're grown. Yeah. They'reFrank Caliendo (00:44:41):In college. Yeah. So, so you know that, I mean, when they're little, I was missing a lot cuz I was working a lot when they were little. I'd be on the road for a couple weeks at a time. I didn't see my son's first steps. I mean, I just, I didn't like that kinda stuff. SoMichael Jamin (00:44:56):But you knew going into it, when you went to comedy, you knew that that's, that's what the life is gonna be like, right? Or No? Were you surprised? Yeah.Frank Caliendo (00:45:03):But you kind of assume you're gonna go you, you know, you Yes, yes. You do know. But you're also thinking maybe I'll land a TV show, Uhhuh , maybe I'll do, you know, you, you, I don't, and I didn't plan, I didn't plan in the terms of that. But listen, I don't have to work. I honestly don't have to work anymore. I really don't. I I'm, I'm at a point where I don't, so I do things that I really want to. Right. And I, you know, the NFL on Fox stuff, because I was associated with a NFL Hall of Famers and stuff. Like, I do big corporate shows for, you know, oh, do you? For the biggest, for the biggest companies in the world, Uhhuh. And that's, that's what I do. People, you know, I, you, you see one date on the you know, on my public dates, because I live in Phoenix, I don't have to go anywhere.(00:45:52):So I'm just gonna do it. I can do, I can go do it and I can, I can be home. People are asking me to do shows all the time. I'm like and also do a run of one night at different clubs so I can, I don't like looking at the same back of the room for, you know, five or six days. You know, three, four days, five shows. I just, I don't enjoy. So I don't do it. Right. I I I try to do the things now that I like to do. Michael Jamin (00:46:19):I didn't know your feet,Frank Caliendo (00:46:20):So I've saved a lot of money.Michael Jamin (00:46:22):How are you getting acting gigs in if you're all, if you're outFrank Caliendo (00:46:24):There? Well, have you seen me in anything? I don'tMichael Jamin (00:46:27):. That's why.Frank Caliendo (00:46:29):Well, yeah. I don't, I, I don't I go, I go out to la I'll, I'll do some stuff on tape and things like that. Uhhuh , and people ask for me. But I, I, I, you know, yeah, there's, people call me now and I'll get people are like, Hey, will you do this? I'm like, yeah, if I don't have to do it, yeah. Yeah. I just go do it. And I was like, yeah. Like, I just did something recently that was a, a Zoom thing. Like it was actually Zoom in a movie, like a small, you know, like a, a Netflix kinda thing. Like, they're like, you can, you can, you don't even have to come here, you can just do a Zoom thing. And we made, it made the part became bigger. Right. Cause we, you know, I I I call it being serious to the point of being funny where you're just so serious. It's Will, will Ferrell does it really, really well. Right, right. Where you're so serious that it becomes funny. I that's what I, that's the comedy I like. I don't like hail I paid. Right, right.Michael Jamin (00:47:22):Here'sFrank Caliendo (00:47:23):My testicles. That's not the kind of comedy I really like, but it's, a lot of times it's what you have to do to get like the, the funniest thing to me. I like that really uncomfortable stuff in serious. So, better Call Saul, you, are you a fan of that show? Yeah,Michael Jamin (00:47:40):Yeah,Frank Caliendo (00:47:40):Yeah. I like that. Mike Erman Trout.Michael Jamin (00:47:42):Yeah,Frank Caliendo (00:47:43):He's great. Will just odenkirk they will crack me up because it's not, they're not doing anything big and funny per se. They're just in a really awkward situation. But it's, the stakes are so high and it's really important. La Los Salam, monka, you know, it's like, yeah.(00:48:04):All these things are so, like, and stuff Brian Cranston would do on breaking Bad. And you'd watch them and you'd go, ah, like, I'd like to go. God, you're good. I go, that's the stuff that when somebody's just the character and I go, I, I was watching billions. I watched Billions and I started watching Paul Giamati and that's why I started doing that impression, just because I'm like, he's so good. And he's so, I believe these are ways, like, he's just so, like, the intensity and you, you know, you kind of know where he is going before he does, and then he can zig or zag and that's what makes him great. Cause you think you got him pinned down and you're like, oh.Michael Jamin (00:48:51):But, so what's interesting I'm hearing is that, so you have a platform, a stage where you can write, perform pretty much whatever you want to do, but at this point you kind of want someone else just to write for you. And I, I'll, I'll be, I'll just act, you know,Frank Caliendo (00:49:04):That's more of a, and I'll add my pieces if, if that's what you want. Like, I'll add a little flair or that, that's really more what I do wanna do. Yeah. I mean it's, it's, I dunno, I don't want the, this is gonna sound terrible, but it, I, maybe it is, maybe, but after having a couple shows that I developed or, you know, development deals that just fell apart and weren't what I wanted them to be. Mm-Hmm. , I just wanna be in somebody else's who's a real good fighter and go, let's work together. I like being part of a team. Right. And I don't wanna be on a team where somebody wants to do something completely different than me. Right. I don't wanna do that. But if somebody's in the same, in the, in the same wavelength and they're going, and you, you know when that is, can you just start having fun?(00:49:52):You go, that's what I was gonna say. And then you, you do it and they're like, I, I know. Don't even say it. I'm gonna do exactly what you're about to say. Mm-Hmm. , this is it. Don't worry if I don't, we'll shoot it again, but I know what you're gonna say right here. Cuz I saw the light bulb go on with you as soon as it on with me. Here we go. Right. So, yeah. I, that's, I wanna, I wanna be a part of somebody else's thing. That's really, and, and when people think of me, they think I wanna be a one man band. I didn't even wanna be a one man band on my own show. I, I, I, I just, right. I don't know. I, I like being something, I like being part of something bigger. And it doesn't, agents don't always understand that either, because agents a lot of the time, like, you could, you should do your own thing. I'm like, but if I do my own thing, then it's just about me. I'm sick of it being about me. How about it is about,Michael Jamin (00:50:41):I'll tell you this cuz this gets back to Spade, but I'm just, shoot me. He didn't wanna be on screen. If he wasn't, he wanted to hit a home run, walk off, stay stage. I mean, that was it. He didn't need to hang around. He didn't need to count lines, he didn't need to have storylines. He's like, no, just lemme hit a couple home runs and I'll, you know, I'll do what I need to do and then leave.Frank Caliendo (00:50:59):And, you know, and, and you and you're, you're better like that. You're, you're better because you don't look like you're hanging around you. People can't wait to see you come in. Yeah. People know that your part's going to be fun. Now everybody can't be that. You have to have people that are going to drive the show. Right. Right. Arthur on king of Queens. Mm-Hmm. , you know, he is gonna come in from the base and be like, I had no idea this was gonna be this way. By the way, he had one of the greatest Jerry Stiller came up me, I did the Seinfeld bit Montreal at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Uhhuh . Jerry Stiller comes up to me afterward and it's the greatest. Like, this is awesome. He goes, you know, I really enjoyed your show, especially the portion. And I was like, oh, that is, oh, thank you Mr. Stiller. He's like, now could you tell me where the bathroom is? ?Michael Jamin (00:51:49):HeFrank Caliendo (00:51:49):Just wanted to know,Michael Jamin (00:51:50):SaidFrank Caliendo (00:51:51):You just wanted to know when the bathroom was . And that was, I told j I told Ben Stiller that I told him that at, it was, I think it was after his father pass away. I did a show called Birthday Boys. And it was actually, it was, it was really a funny thing. But it was, he was playing a Robin Williams type teacher, dead poet society kind of teacher. Ben Stiller was, who was directed by Bob. Bob. Bob Odenkirk is directing it as a guest director. But it was so awesome. Yeah. see, there's go sir. So I, I, I told, I told that Ben Stiller just the moment he heard it, he's like, , like, like he was almost embarrassed. That's my dad. Like, that's just my dad being my dad. Like, I've been there, man. But I, I remember in that, that was one of my favorite things too. Well the, the thing they wrote is why I wanna tell you this too, was the bit they wrote was he's this, like I said, this dead poet society kind of teacher. But he's going, you know, he's, he's teaching outside the box and he's supposed to be teaching the Diary of Anne Frank, but he's teaching the Diary of Frank Kelly instead .Michael Jamin (00:53:02):Right. It's funny.Frank Caliendo (00:53:03):And, and it's, you know, it's a joke of making fun of me, but I was like, God, just to be in this joke. And Bob Oden is directing and Ben still is doing it. The birthday boys wrote it. It's like, oh. And I made Stiller laugh. Cause when Odenkirk kind of went off the script, he's like, just, he's having Mr. Stiller. No, he's having Ben just tell me. He's like okay. Adam Sandler at a, at a funeral. And I was like, oh grandma, where did you have leave? Where were you? I leaving And then Ben starts cracking up. He's like, I can't go. I can't go out. He stopped. He stopped. And I go, I just, Ben laugh on the set. Oh. I go, this is the greatest day of my life. And Stiller is like, let's get going. You know? He's like, no, he was, he was great. But it was so funny too cause it was a moment for me, like, oh, this is one of the people I look up to is one of the great reactors. Yeah. Like Ben Stiller as funny as he could be presenting somethi

Today Jan sits down with Carrie Grant who is here so she can tell her story of abuse in a safe setting. While Carrie has been through the fires of hell, she has come out the other side proposing hope and growth. [TRIGGER WARNING] The topic of suicide is discussed on this episode. This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp Online Therapy. Get in touch with the right therapist today! Use our link to get 10% off your first month: www.betterhelp.com/janBe sure to keep up to date on all the happenings around The Jan Broberg Show:The Jan Broberg Foundation website & Newsletter:https://www.thejanbrobergfoundation.org/Join us on Patreon: thejanbrobergshow.com/patreonBook: The Jan Broberg Story: https://janbrobergfoundation.org/jans-book/Trailer for A Friend of the Family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsOjzWsO5lsFollow us on all your favorite platforms:Podcast Site: https://www.thejanbrobergshow.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Jan-Broberg-Show-108777198557456Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejanbrobergshow/Twitter: https://twitter.com/janbrobergshow

It's all happening in Episode 8: a cosmic princess on a bendy stilt, men wearing grandpa knickers, and incredibly well-rehearsed barstool choreography. What more could you want? Kate Miller-Heidke starts things off in style with a perfect mix of pop, opera and madness, before Armenia's Sirusho delivers a dance-floor filler. We are also enchanted by the folky vibes of groundbreaking Åsa Kleveland performing in Eurovision's first ever trouser-suit and fondly discuss the legendary Carrie Grant, judge on the brilliant Fame Academy, who represented the UK back in 1986 as part of pop trio Sweet Dreams. The iconic Go_A's Shum is a worthy entrant in the bridesmaid slot and we particularly celebrate the song's ding moment, while we consider Cyndi to be a better choice than Scooch to go to Eurovision in 2007 even if she does strike us as a serial plagiarist! Thanks to JonWatt867 for this recommendation. Finally, the Randomiser is chaotically on brand taking us back to 2005 for an obscure Croatian entry about wolves dying alone. All life is here, including lots of mullets and acrobats. You have been warned! A message from Andy & Ryan: Please review us on Apple Podcasts and like and share our content wherever you can - it will help others find us and makes us happy. Thank you! Socials: Twitter: @EuroQueensPod Instagram: EurovisionQueens Email: EurovisionQueens@gmail.com Spotify playlist; shorturl.at/egvEP Season 1: Episode 8 Zero Gravity by Kate Miller-Heidke (Australia 2019) Qele Qele by Sirusho (Armenia 2008) Intet er Nytt Under Solen by Åsa Kleveland (Norway 1966) Never Giving Up by Sweet Dreams (UK 1983) Shum by Go_A (Ukraine 2021) I'll Leave My Heart by Cyndi (UK 2007)

Carrie Grant represented the UK at Eurovision in 1983 and since then has done almost everything else possible when it comes to the contest. Whether it's heading up the jury, giving out the points or sitting on the judging panel in national finals on the BBC, Carrie has been there and done it and has some amazing stories to tell.Follow us on Twitter & Instagram or email hello@eurotrippodcast.com, and find us online at eurotrippodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BBC Bitesize, in partnership with Netmums, present a live panel to discuss how parents feel about child & parental mental health in 2022. Hosted by 5 Live's Rachel Burden with experts, Dr Ranj and Laverne Antrobus and special guests Carrie Grant and David Grant (broadcasters & vocal coaches), Kelle Bryan (singer & actress) and Annie O'Leary (Netmums Editorial Director). #MentalHealthAwareness

Intro: when you don't feel your best, do the thing anyway, Fake Famous, H&M is 40 shades of putty, Stitch Fix,  Let Me Run This By You: Selfie vacations, Paul Stuart, rent a fake jet, Tevas, we are old enough to accidentally wear cool clothes. Interview: We talk to Mickey O'Sullivan about body image, sibling relationships, getting bullied, Illinois State University, The Wake, Henry Moore is Melting at The Athenaeum, addiction, Sophia Bush, Chicago PD, Casey Affleck.FULL TRANSCRIPT (unedited):2 (10s):And I'm Gina .3 (11s):We went to theater school together. We survived it, but we didn't quite understand it.2 (15s):20 years later, we're digging deep talking to our guests about their experiences and trying to make sense of it all.3 (21s):We survived theater school and you will too. Are we famous yet?2 (35s):Isolation is a funny thing because it's both the thing that you feel drawn towards when you don't feel well. But it's also the thing that, you know, that makes it worse. And I saw another thing that said, the more comfortable you get with you and who you are, the less likely you're going to want to isolate because it does, you know, it it's effort to be who you are when you're, you know, not kind of sinked up. Yeah. That's all just to say that when my kids have their aches and pains and two of my kids are real vocal about every single sensation they ever have in their body at any given time. Like, I can't think of a time where these two leave the house where I haven't heard my foot hurts.2 (1m 20s):My shoulder hurts. I have a headache. My stomach hurts. It hurts when I do this. And I, I believe it all. And yet I'm like, yeah, but if you stay home, I'm not going to let you be on a screen. So you're just going to literally be staring at the wall, feeling that I wouldn't, you rather go to school. Right.1 (1m 38s):Interesting. But Gina, it has taken me to 46 to actually realize that. So they're like, literally like a year ago, I probably would've been like, you know what, I'm just gonna stay home. And like, I have a headache, but like now I realize like, oh no, I think it's also like, time is slipping by like, I'm getting older, we're marching towards death. Like I got to get outside2 (2m 3s):Dude. And1 (2m 4s):You know, so like, I, I think it takes some what it takes, but yeah, man, I know that this pandemic has created the sense that the outside world is dangerous because literally it was, so it is like a war in that we, I felt like we were in a war when, when this all started, it was two years ago this month. Right. So right. I came to visit and then all to you and then all hell broke loose. And it, yeah, it created this thing of like the danger is outside the home. And so now it's like so easy to, but I actually realize that I feel worse at home because not only then do I have a headache, I have to deal with my fucking dog.1 (2m 52s):Who's a pain in the ass and get triggered by my husband who I think should be doing his job differently. And I hear him because we're in a teeny house. So that's torture. That's worse.2 (3m 3s):That's terrible. That's no good. My corollary for that is just, I do spend all of my, I mean, I do my, everything I do is, is at my house. I take care of my house. I take care of my kids and then I write and, and work, work on, you know, artistic stuff when you're home and your office, maybe miles experiences this too. Like you don't, you're never not at work in a way. So you're, I gotta do some, I gotta do something to have more of a separation. Maybe I should just like, bro, did you, did you see what about Bob? When he, he worked from home, but he clocked in. I should know that.1 (3m 42s):Well, the other thing that I was thinking, so I, okay. I thought about this cause I was asked. Okay. So I, a friend of mine said, I have this free thing for stitch fix. Right. One of these bottles. Okay. Right. I've done those before I did DIA and co and whatever it lost, its luster, it's a waste of money. Eventually. It feels like, and it's ridiculous. Okay. But good, good news about stitch fix is that, or one of these services is that one. I love the jeans they sent me, but two, you have to leave the house to return the things you don't want or you pay for the things. Right. Okay. So that's a side benefit. And so that got me out of the house and three I'm wondering, I was like, oh, maybe I should send my code to Gina.1 (4m 26s):But then I'm like, Gina, doesn't like to shut up. Right. And Gina doesn't like, so they do the shopping, but you also don't strike me as someone who would want to dress up for our meetings.2 (4m 36s):Exactly. And I did stitch fix and did it for a while. And then I was like, well, what am I dress for? This is a big conundrum. I have just life in general. And we should tell our listeners that, you know, we're, we're contemplating recording, doing a video recorder recording of these podcasts, which will be great, but then it'll make me feel like I need to, but maybe, but maybe it's okay to feel that way. Maybe it would be actually really good for my mental health to be like, I have to get dressed for my day.1 (5m 8s):I think it helps me. I mean, look, I'm literally wearing a tank top and a bra, but like2 (5m 14s):No, that's huge. Yeah,1 (5m 15s):Yeah, yeah. Right. No, and pants without an elastic ways. So like, I think it helps me in that. And some days it's just a pain in the ass, but it also helps me to think that, yeah, at least I'm trying in some area of my life, which we're all trying in all areas, but I'm just saying it's a visual representation of the fact that like, oh, I'm trying, the other thing about coworking that I like is I get to see other people's outfits. And sometimes they're really cute. Sometimes they're fucking horrible. Like it there's a lot of like 20 year olds that are here at co-working because are 20, 25. I'm a little old. So I like age everyone down, but like a 25 year olds that cause you can rent big offices here too.1 (5m 59s):Like for companies like marketing companies. So I see the fashions of the 20 five-year-olds and I'm like, whoa, you are opening my eyes to a whole hell scape of fashion that I did not know existed.2 (6m 14s):It's all so bad. It's all so bad. By the way, before I forget the, the getting dressed is, is this the reason to do it as the same reason to make your bed every morning? Like you don't have to sure. But doing it creates a nice demarcation that you're not always just, you know, in this miasma of like doing the same, same thing. But yeah. Getting back to the fashions of it's all terrible. And I just watched this documentary called fake famous. You might really like it it's is actually so fascinating. It's a, some guy who, I'm not sure if he's a journalist or whatever, but he speaks all of the time on news programs about social media.2 (7m 2s):Like that's just his area of expertise. So he says the social experiment where he, they have a casting call where the casting call says, I'm asking for people who want to be famous. So they get 4,000 submissions1 (7m 18s):And it's is it called the theater school?2 (7m 20s):Yeah, no, it's not going to theater school. And of course, you know, they paid these people to do it inverse of what we did and they pick these three people who wants to be famous. And he was, he set out to use his knowledge of social media to make them famous, artificially famous. And it was so interesting. It's a, it's something, it's a culture that I knew about. Like, but I'm not, I don't participate in influencer culture. Right. And I don't know if you saw this thing, I posted that 40 million people in the world have a million or more followers, like really puts things in perspective.2 (8m 5s):You know? And, and, and it was also talking about how the algorithm shapes itself. So like I'm also reading this book about Alex Jones and conspiracy theories. And you know, he will say on his show, he'll say a lie. And then he'll say Google it, because he's got millions of listeners and millions of listeners Googling something. Right. Makes it, shapes it into something. Right.1 (8m 35s):It makes it true. Makes it true. You can literally an impact the truth. It's gross. But it's also, it's like literally how for me, yeah. It's like how Hitler got to power, right? There was no Google, but it is the same. Like if you believe it, it will be so on some level. And if 40 million people believe it, it will really be so on some level. Yes.2 (8m 58s):And if they tell us that earth tones and no patterns and no structure to garments looks good, eventually will believe it. And they probably are doing it because there's a glut of earth, tone fabric, and people are trying to write, but I haven't seen something that I would consider a cute outfit on a person under, or maybe even anybody, but in years, like going to the mall, I don't say, Ooh, this is great street1 (9m 29s):Snapper.2 (9m 30s):It's all just looks gross.1 (9m 33s):I went to, so I walked down my street to get to coworking and there's an H and M there. And I, and also when my niece was here, we went to H and M because they love that shit. And I, I was like, literally, this is all 40 shades of putty. Like honey, 40 shades of putty. I said, and she goes, what's potty. And I go, it's this color? 40 shades of putty is my new memoir. And it's all about this color scheme they've got going on. Right? Like it is literally Putney. The putty that came in, the eggs that we used to play with silly putty or whatever, the fuck,2 (10m 9s):Petty wood glue,1 (10m 12s):Like coffee2 (10m 13s):Grounds call,1 (10m 19s):Let me run this by you.2 (10m 27s):So one of the places, I guess that Instagram is a very popular Instagram spot, by the way, people do whole vacations that are just centered around where to have their picture made. And like, not even thinking about the vacation itself, like people come to LA. Yes. Ma'am people come to LA, let's say they had this one story on their two girls from there might have been from Russia. Now that I'm thinking of it came, you know, spent $2,000 or whatever on their ticket to come to LA. And it was literally just touring these selfie spots. One of them is the Paul Stewart building. There's a big pink, it's a Paul Stewart it's fashion design.2 (11m 9s):And it was just like, his store is the, it's a huge, huge, huge pink wall. Oh. And this is where people at any time of day, you could drive by it. And you're going to see people taking selfies there because it's an Instagram spot. Oh. So people come to LA by the droves with a list of selfie spots.1 (11m 33s):This is like fucking Pokemon people situation.2 (11m 37s):Okay. Like by dying because you're being pokey while you're driving. Yeah, exactly.1 (11m 42s):Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah.2 (11m 43s):So I guess you don't see too much of this.1 (11m 45s):No, not, especially not in Pasadena. I can't2 (11m 48s):Imagine1 (11m 50s):Fucking suburb dude. And, and, and I would also, oh, but I did see, okay. So miles surfs. Right? And we, while he's a new surfer, I shouldn't, it's not like Kelly Slater or whatever the fuck. Anyway, the point is we went to a surf lesson once and I fucking kid, you not, there was a guy who I believe was speaking Russian on the phone at the Santa Monica parking lot at 7:00 AM beach parking lot with his Mercedes that was rented clearly with a camera on a fucking tripod, taking selfies at 7:00 AM with a rented Mercedes in a crazy outfit there when he was doing and, and, and me and miles and I, and, and, and the surf teacher, who's fucking hilarious.1 (12m 41s):Who's this stoner comedian named Jared, who is hilarious, was like, yeah, yeah, dude, this is, this is, this is it, man. This is how they do it. They like stop traffic. And, and I didn't know what he was talking about, but now that you're saying it, this is what this guy was doing. And I, he was on the bash Dudley doing it. So like, there was no embarrassment. I was like, what the fuck? And music was playing. It was videos too. Like Instagram videos, reels or something. He's fucking, he was playing rap music, which was the best thing about the whole thing was the music. But he, it was raw. And he was crouching down, like by the car, in an outfit at 7:00 AM.1 (13m 21s):And Doris was, I was with the dog of the dog was like, even the dog was like, what the fuck is this guy doing? Like what?2 (13m 28s):I never bring my personal. I was like, just taking a selfie. I have to do it usually with one of my kids. And even then it feels it's something about it feels wrong. And did you know that you can rent the space that looks like the interior of a private jet for $50 an hour so that you could take pictures and make it look like you are traveling,1 (13m 58s):Which is like my nightmare, because I'm afraid to fly. I'd go to, I'd be in hell, but okay.2 (14m 2s):Oh, you can rent a mansion for $600 in a day and have, you know, these Instagrammers, they get together like four or five looks and they rent out a mansion and they pose themselves in these ridiculous things. And then they, because they post, they have to post four times a day in order to stay relevant and to get brands that want to get a sponsor them or whatever. So they are just constantly going around looking for content. And then the pandemic happened. And I think that really gave rise to like renting these spaces because they couldn't actually go on these vacations and so forth.2 (14m 43s):Isn't that wild. It's just1 (14m 45s):Craziest shit I've ever, I'm going to watch this documentary. I M it is again, I know why you find it interesting too, is because it really reminds me of Adam McKay's work. Like what is happening? It's so meta. It's like, what? Wait a minute, wait, what is happening?2 (15m 7s):Well, ironically, I think one of the things that's happening is whereas, you know, initially the feeling about the internet, it was just made everything opened up, right. And that's still true to, to a large degree, but on another way, everybody's life is just about their phone. You know, your life takes place on this tiny little screen and, and to be in a group of people under, I mean, maybe not even that maybe just to be in a group of people is to see like 80% of them at any given moment staring at their phone, wherever they are out in the world. Right. They, one of the scenes in the movie is they, some company hires a bunch of influencers.2 (15m 51s):It's a junket, essentially. Like they take them to these selfie spots, including a abandoned water park. That's like a, that's like a great place to take salaries. They get this crew of girls and they just take them to these various spots to model this ugly, putty, colored clothing, and then get paid for brand, you know, for hashtagging the brand. And there, I was just like so depressed. I felt sick after watching that Pressing right. There was one guy who did not, he decided that actually of the three people, they picked, two of them quit during the experiment, because one of them was getting comments from his real cause the guy was buying them followers.2 (16m 38s):That's what he was doing. He bought them followers, which are all of these bots. And did you know that like people like Kim Kardashians who have whatever millions and millions it's estimated this 60% of their followers are bots. Yeppers. Yep. Yep. Yep. So I guess1 (17m 1s):I can't, I can't even process what's going on here today. Like, I, I, you, you can't people can't see what they will. Once we start recording these bad boys, the video, I like looked down at my fucking TIVA sandal. Okay. My Tivas okay. By the way, by the way I was wearing, I bought Tivas because my feet are fucked up. Right. And I had to wear, I got, I have two shoes now I can really wear, which are Hocus. And then Tivas alright, terrible. Sarah will situations. But anyway, I'm wearing black Tivas sandals that I wore literally wore in eighth grade. And then I have a fucking LL bean like throw back at, or is it an Adirondack2 (17m 45s):And1 (17m 47s):Adirondacks a chair. Right. But okay. And it has like kind of nineties, throwback colors, not on purpose. I just liked it. And I bought it has a hood. I fucking wearing that. Some jeans and my Tivas and I look like I'm going to summer camp. Right. And I'm in the coworking and these young, these young ladies go, oh my God, we'd love your throwback nineties outfit. Literally. They said that. And I was like, Oh my God, I, oh my God, I didn't ha I didn't know what was going on. And I was like, oh my God, the one there. Right. I literally looked like I was going to camp echo, which was the camp I went to the Y camp.1 (18m 30s):And I also was like, it's also kind of hideous. And yet these youngsters are thinking I'm doing it. Ironically.2 (18m 38s):Let's, let's give up.1 (18m 44s):Let's just give up. Let's kill ourselves.2 (18m 47s):Let's wave the white flag. I tried Lord. Oh Lord.1 (18m 53s):I mean, I, I couldn't understand what's going on. And I looked down and I was like, oh my God, they're so right. And I just smiled. And I was like, are they2 (19m 1s):Literally Chivas from eighth grade? Like, you literally still have your same. No,1 (19m 4s):I bought Because my feet hurt. I need sandals that are literally, it's so sad. It's so sad. And I was sitting at coworking and they walked by and they said that I looked down and I was like, I, I did, I did feel Gina. Like I just, I gave up2 (19m 23s):Trying to give up. Now we're all set.0 (19m 28s):Well2 (19m 39s):Today on the podcast, we are talking to Mickey O'Sullivan. Mickey O'Sullivan is a Chicago actor. You know him, you know him from the shy and from Chicago PD and athletes. So many television shows. I couldn't possibly mention them all here as well as theater and commercials. And he is a related and relatable, insightful, funny, warm, talented person. So please enjoy our conversation with Mickey O'Sullivan1 (20m 15s):I'm talking about right now, filling her age. I don't know. It's great. It's great. It's in a good way. You will see that my internet was in and out. It's just,2 (20m 24s):Yeah. Are you close to your router or1 (20m 27s):Even know where the router is? So there we5 (20m 29s):Go. What's the router.2 (20m 33s):Good point. Make you good. Bye. Nice flex there with your Peloton in the background.5 (20m 39s):Oh yeah. Check that out. Just like slid it over. I've got it on one of those lazy Susan's right now. This is my current look. And it just,1 (20m 48s):Do you have another lip?5 (20m 52s):Who's a lazy Susan on the table and you know how you got to kind of prop up your, your laptop. So,1 (20m 57s):Oh, I thought you had the Peloton on a fucking lazy Susan. I was like Next level.2 (21m 4s):I was adding a whole new dimension to that workout, which is already very difficult.1 (21m 8s):I was just feeling Gina and about the things, which is interesting that you popped on. So I can tell, I can say it in front of you and make you really embarrassed. So in a good way. So I was just saying, and we'll, we'll, we'll start with the official Gina opening, even though you left theater school still the same opening applies. So say it,2 (21m 27s):Congratulations. Mikio Sullivan, you survived theater school. Hey, Mickey, serve a cookie.1 (21m 35s):You deserve a cookie and all sorts of things and free therapy. And Yeah, so we all need that. But I was just saying that one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about, and we'll just dive right in and see Gina and I talked before our guests. So we're like warmed up about like psychological issues. Other people are like, what are you talking about? Like, why are you starting here? But here's how I have to start, because this is what I've realized lately. You're the only male identifying person that I've ever talked to. That talks about body image.2 (22m 8s):Oh,1 (22m 10s):I had never had a conversation where casually come up in conversation, your history of your relationship with your body as, as you from a kid to an adult, no one ever taught male, identifying person has ever talked about that with me and eight, I, it opened my eyes to like, oh shit, oh shit, men have body image issues. I did. It didn't even occur to me. So that's where I want to start. Good morning to you.5 (22m 40s):No, I'm also kind of jealous, right? So I listened to your podcast and you do you get like a real ramp up. And so this morning I was like, you know what? I need this a little bit. So I, you know, I drove the wife to work. I have a wife, I would say the word wife, which is really exciting. Thank you. And I'm also a chauffeur, which I love being. I like to be of service. I'm driving her there and I'm trying to have conversation to like warm up, you know? And she is so focused on work.2 (23m 12s):She's like, yeah. Anyway.1 (23m 17s):Yeah. She's like, that's all good. I didn't listen to the last 10 minutes. You said? Yeah. I mean, so I I'm glad that you, that was nice of you to do a ramp up, but no need, but, but, but also, can you talk a little bit about, and then we'll leave that that'll probably lead into acting stuff too, obviously in schooling, but like, what was your experience? Because you've talked about that. Like, I guess my first question would be like, what are the thoughts when I bring that up about a dude talking about body image,5 (23m 49s):To me, it makes total sense. And I'm also kind of shocked that more people don't talk about this. I mean, growing up, right. Like, yeah, kids are cruel for sure. But like, it's kind of very insidious the way that guys can be cruel to other guys. And also this idea that like, in order to be attractive to whoever I'm, whoever I'm like crushing on, like starting from a real young age is I better look like these people. And when we were growing up, those people were athletes. Right. It was never like Neil deGrasse Tyson. Right? Like it was never like these like really super intense or if it was, it was like bill gates or something.5 (24m 31s):And I don't know, like there was, there's this disconnect between masculinity and like being okay with your, your body and your body image and the way that you give off your image to other person, people so much. So to this day, I still struggle with it on a daily basis for a little while there, I was like, you know what? I think I understand the key to Hollywood success and that's the six pack and the really fucked up part was that the more, the closer I got to that goal, the better my career got. And I don't think that the two are linked. I don't think so. But I think that like, being, having to think that as somebody who's, who understands the industry pretty well and who has kind of had highs and lows in their career, if I'm thinking that then what is, you know, the version of 15 year old Makey, who's like, oh, I wonder what being an actor is like thinking.5 (25m 27s):And so that starts super young, but I was also stop me if you have questions, but I'm going to go on like a tangent here. Sure. So very young right. Actor on a baby soap opera before image is even a thing, right? Like before you have any concept of that, you give off your image to other people. I don't remember any of it, obviously. Right. And then parents separated. I come to Chicago, dad stays in New York, me and my brother growing up. My brother is always super thin, super smart. And I am always not super thin and not super smart. And so there's this kind of competitiveness that's going on right there.5 (26m 11s):But in order to fit in my brother developed a real good sense of humor at new school, very young. And I didn't, I was, I, I struggled to acclimate to like a new environment. And I guess, I don't know necessarily that I, I think that I wanted to tell myself that I had an eating problem growing up, but I don't know that that's true. I don't think I understood food or my body or energy really well because later on I started getting into athletics probably out of this complex.5 (26m 50s):Right. But I started using food for fuel and that kind of started my journey towards like understanding my body and understanding of what goes in there. But as a kid, it was like, if it's in the cupboard, I'm going to eat it. And I am a very energetic person. And so I attached myself to like food, energy, just keep going. But then when you're getting made fun of on a daily basis, energy emotions take like a lot of energy to process. And so I would come home and I would be in tears from, you know, being, they call me Shabaka my brother's name is Danica.5 (27m 30s):And they like, you know, the, the terrible people that our children. So I was always known as like, what is the one thing that is different between you and your brother? Well, you're fat and you're not. And, and yeah, like going into the career, it's awful.1 (27m 51s):But wait, I have a question. Was your family, I always wonder this because my family was not supportive. So, so I was bullied at school and I was also bullied at home. Were you bullied by your brother and your mom or no,5 (28m 8s):For sure. My brother, like, we were awful to one another, the fact that we have a relationship now and like a really good one is, is mind blowing. But yeah, we were awful each other. My mom, not so much, my mom always struggled with her body image and her weight and her reflection of herself. And I think still does to this day, like I remember like some of the conversations before our wedding was like, for both her and I like, you know, gotta start to trim up for the way, you know? So, so yeah. I don't know if I was bullied at home as much. I was, it was definitely a safe space for me coming home in that regard.5 (28m 50s):But my brother around his friends, it would increase a bit. And then of course that's like a role model to all of my friends or whatever. And then I just started hanging out with people who like, probably weren't the best for me because they weren't making fun of me. They weren't the best for me because of,1 (29m 10s):I mean, I think that it's like, we go, I'll speak for myself. I went, you go where the teasing stops. Right. Whoever's not, the love is great. And the love5 (29m 22s):Has an absence of love.1 (29m 24s):Right. I see. I always say like, I didn't necessarily want to be not if once I realized I was just going to keep being bullied, I then just wanted to be left alone. So whoever would leave me alone, if not mention it became my friend, even those people were fricking had troubles of their own. I mean, like were troubled, at least they weren't picking on me. Right. So it's like you start settling for more and more, less and less love. And like, you just want to disappear. I mean, that's what happened.5 (29m 56s):Do you think that that led to you being an artist in the sense that you started focusing more on self through isolation? Do you know what I mean?1 (30m 5s):Great question. I started. Yeah. I think that what happened was it led to my brain and heart madly trying to figure out why this was happening to me. Why was reading, being treated this way by school and at home and what I could do that was safe. And the only thing to do that was safe was make believe and create in a world where, yeah, where it wasn't about the way I looked because you know, but then you mix2 (30m 37s):Except until it totally was1 (30m 41s):When you then go to a theater school. So there you go.5 (30m 44s):Yeah. Yeah. Super weird to how that kind of comes into the mix. Right.2 (30m 50s):So I, I'm being quiet as you're talking Mickey because you're describing a dynamic that is happening in my house right now with my two sons and, and you're, so you're the, you're the grown up version. I'm really happy to hear you have a good relationship with your brother, because this is like one of my biggest fears. I had such a terrible relationship with my sister and my sons are on their way to, you know, how it seems to me is they're on their way to having that type of relationship. And maybe it's the thing about, you know, because kids are like, prof, I forget sometimes how much they have to take on at any given day.2 (31m 30s):Maybe even 90% of it at school is social. And only 10% of it is academic, but that's, that is so much that just, just like information processing and it has to happen in your body. So if you're having a hard time with it and then you're having, you know, body image issues on top of it, it's, it's all, it just seems like impossible to survive high school, you know? Like how does anybody survive high school, let alone theater school,5 (31m 60s):But oh,2 (32m 2s):No. The 15 and 13.5 (32m 4s):So part of the pandemic was they were being judged on this while they're going through like fuck and hormones and brutal. I could not imagine2 (32m 16s):Completely, completely brutal. And that's a whole other thing about education and the pandemic and how like we'll never get it back. Like, you know, it's just, there's just last years basically. But anyway. So when did you start getting into acting? When did you decide that that was something you wanted to pursue?5 (32m 34s):All right. So like alone, personally, like walking home from school, right. That, that mind was already there. Like my entire life. I was like, I'll be an actor. Not that I wanted to, but like, oh, that seems like, like I was the liar growing up. I was the storyteller I told the fucking biggest bibs in the world. And so I think like in my mind, but then it was like, oh, I'm very distractable. And I, this is how I knew I wanted to be an actor. Was that like one day that, wow, I could be a doctor. I could be a firefighter. Oh my gosh, garbage man. Why not? Right. And then the idea, like, I'd maybe like work on that for like a day.5 (33m 17s):And then the next day I'd be like, oh, I'm so interested in this. And I think later on, I was like, oh, you can go. It's a really cool way to learn about all sorts of these little things. It was just kind of like spin the wheel of roulette, acting, you know, go out for tons of commercials. You get to play a handyman for a day. And for me, like, I personally loved the pretend of like, oh, I wonder what a handyman stays like.1 (33m 41s):Yeah. That's what I remember about you is like a super curious kid, like super curious and maybe like that's part of the artist's brain too, is like, you were always curious, curious, curious, curious a hundred times curious. So what, okay, so you were like, that was your thought as you're walking home and then how did that translate into like being in a play or auditioning for shit? Or like how does that work or going to school? Yeah,5 (34m 7s):Definitely thought, right. Like funny person was my option in terms of getting out of like the social anxiety. And so my mom got me involved in a play, I think in like sixth grade, but it was outside of my social circle. It was like, we were on like the Southwest suburbs and this was way in the south suburbs. And so I didn't know anybody there only relationship to me was this thing. I played a skunk in a Winnie, the Pooh play. And then I proceeded to like rip my pants and fart in my own peace scene. So That helped the whole shitty body image to thing. Cause right.5 (34m 47s):Cause who splits their pants.2 (34m 50s):Right. Miley Cyrus actually. I mean, anybody can start therapy6 (34m 56s):It's me and my2 (34m 58s):Okay. But when it was time to pick college and you were looking around, did you look at a variety of theater programs or conservatories?5 (35m 8s):No. I don't think that I admitted to myself at that point that those was like a valid career option. So my senior year of high school, I had this like real stint in hockey where like I thought that that could be a career path for me. And then that was ended through like a variety of like injuries and you know, like personal stuff. And so then it was like I had a theater professor pulled me aside and was like, Hey, not professor, but high school teacher, special ed teacher who then ran the drama program was like, Hey, maybe you should consider doing this with your free time. Instead of just like smoking pot and smoking hookah and like driving around with your newfound free time.5 (35m 51s):And I was like, oh, maybe that's a good idea. So I did like beauty and the beast high school as like, you know, this like a side character kind of like not in the limelight. And then later on did a Shakespeare comedians, LR where we just totally ripped off of the American conservatory theater's production from, we like copied it, move by move and called it acting. And then we won state for that, which is kind of backwards, you know, like we won state for copying and production. So I definitely thought it was good, but I didn't think that I was any good at like creating my own versions of characters or anything. So I knew I had to apply to a school.5 (36m 32s):I had no idea what I was going to apply to. That seemed to be what I was good at. So I did a double major and special education and, and theater because I didn't think that a, my parents would approve of me being fully theater student. And then B I felt like maybe it was either a selfish career path or yeah, not like, I think I wanted something more noble maybe. And I had experience working summer camps for special Olympics and stuff like that growing up. So I was like, oh, that's a, that's an interesting thing. So then when I got to Illinois state university, they were one of the schools that accepted me.5 (37m 15s):I had no concept of what a theater school should be, none whatsoever. And a lot of the other people were like, oh, I did four years of drama and four years of forensics. And in the summers, I go away to theater camp and I was like, I played hockey. And so I didn't fit in again. Right. Which was fine because I learned how to be by myself. And so I started making all of my social circles outside of the theater department for the most part. And I think in a way that kind of helped me, like I practice my monologues in front of my buddy, Greg, who I think Greg does like computer science and you would just go, I think that was good. You know, it really became self self reflection.5 (37m 59s):And the weird part is like, I would go in and I, I really did become the, the, one of the golden children of my department. I was an asshole. Yeah. So a hundred percent I was cast in a li almost immediately. And2 (38m 18s):It does not surprise me because this is what always happens. Like the, the men who go into drama don't tend towards the masculine. Right. So then when they get somebody who's like, I played hockey that, I mean, you know, that happened in my high school. That1 (38m 35s):Happened our theater school too.5 (38m 37s):I think it's backwards too though. Cause you the more in touch with my feminine, oh, I hate that word. But like, you know, like this idea that like there's a masculine, the more I got in touch with myself and with art, I felt the better I did. Right. I still think that to this day, like the more I'm receptive to my own emotions and the emotions of those around me, the better I'm able to handle my career.1 (39m 4s):Yeah. It just sounds like the, the, the bind that we're all in, which is people want you to be a certain way. But when you actually invest in being another way, it's going to make you a better person than artists, but nobody really wants that, but they say they want it. So men are in a bind. I guess what I'm saying is like, you're the first male guest that we've had on that I've known. And I know the struggles that you've been through and it, it opened my eyes to theater school for men straight men specifically are men that identify as straight, whatever. It's a, it's a bind for you too. It's a bind for you. So I guess, what did you love about theater school and what were you like? I'm outta here.1 (39m 46s):That's my question.5 (39m 48s):Yeah. And those are all awesome points. Like it continues. The body image thing continues all throughout college. And I do grow closer to myself through that. But I think the thing that I loved about it is that I had that opportunity for the first time in my life. Like hockey was definitely an obsession for me. I tend to gravitate towards obsessing. And so to get into theater school, I didn't take any gen EDS. I like, I, I forgot my degree. I failed out of school. And finally, because I just, I wasn't interested in anything except for learning all of the theater that I think at some point I looked at somebody I MDB and I was like, oh, they were, you know, working for 15 years before they had their big, big, big break right there before they were discovered.5 (40m 36s):And so I was like, oh, I have a lot of catching up to do. Right. I didn't do this until my, until I was 18. Now it's time to catch up. So I just started like taking only theater classes. And then the idea that you can sit or lay on the ground in a dark room, surrounded by your peers and think about what shape your body is making and what noises are coming out to me. That was super interesting to me. I got lost in that world. And I still think to this day, like my brother is a finance guy and he he'll never know what it's like to just weep behind a mask because you saw something a certain way one day. And so for me, that was a celebrated thing.5 (41m 18s):It was like, congratulations, you, you cried behind the mask. I don't know. It's still is kind of a bizarre thing to like to reflect on. But my, my presentation skills got better at, than my social emotional skills got better. I was spending every night in a rehearsal space getting to know how to best work with people and how to make mistakes, like going back. I love college. I don't like the results of college. I don't like the way that it was kind of organized. People were cut after certain years. It was very dramatic. But theater school for me was, I mean, what a dream, right? Like I got to wake up, put on a leotard and go stretch for two hours and then go into a voice class.5 (42m 1s):Talk about my feelings towards words, study history.1 (42m 8s):I wish I could, I want to go. What if I apply where they, that's a horrible idea. I do this all the time, by the way. But like, it sounds so great when you guys, when you say it, I'm like, wait, I was wasted. I wasted my time there. I wasted my time.5 (42m 26s):I don't know though. Right. Like I think I've spent the rest of my career being like, okay, so what can I take from that? Because that's not the real world. The real world is not that you get to wake up and do that. But like, certainly I've recently gotten back into like stretching and mourning, like yoga in the mornings and stuff. And I'm like, oh, that was something that really works for you back then. Where did that go? And so, right. Like creating my own schedule. I think also I got, I was supposed to get a, B S and not a BFA. So I think I definitely missed some of the, I had more rigidity in my schedule that I think some of my peers and that made me resist the regular general education stuff and spend more time.5 (43m 16s):Like I committed to every directing project that somebody was doing. Right. Like they're in a class. And I was like, I'll do it. When they were like, bring one monologue to class. I was like, well, I'll take up the whole class and bring 10. I was super selfish about theater classes as well. Like if nobody else wanted to go, it was like, well, what are we doing here? I'll go.1 (43m 37s):Wow.5 (43m 38s):So I S I experienced a ton. Right. I was looking through, I, I was like reflecting the other day and I don't understand how I did all of that in four years or four and a half years or whatever, because I probably did at least 10 projects a year. And then I stayed during the summers and did community theater, like a playwrights festival there as well. And so I was just constantly going, but a weird body image thing. Right. So freshmen, what are the freshmen 15? I put on like the freshmen 45 drinking a lot. Right. Partying, a lot, eating food from the food Corp,1 (44m 18s):Chicken fingers, chicken fingers, fingers.5 (44m 22s):So much cheese.1 (44m 25s):Yeah.5 (44m 25s):And then I played my first like bigger role was Toby belching 12th night. So, so, oh, you have extra, you are bigger than other people. Now you're going to play the funny role, right. The drunkard, the, this or that. And I don't know what came too, but I think somebody made a body image comment in my final assessment that year. And regardless of whether that was a positive or negative thing, I committed that summer to not being what they thought I was. Right. I was like, I'm not just this1 (45m 6s):Comment. Do you remember the comment?5 (45m 7s):I don't remember. I just know that there was a catalyst, right. Something happened in that last little meeting where either what was said, or what was not said was not what I wanted to write. And so I was like, I have, I have a fucking chip on my shoulder. I love to prove people wrong. It's like a weird obsession thing as well, prove myself wrong. And so I, I went and I went running and I went back to this like, athlete, like, oh, this is how I preserve myself. And maybe if my feelings were hurt, right. Like I can focus all of that into this.5 (45m 47s):And I lost, like, I lost a lot of weight very quickly. And then that next, you know, I was the romantic leading man, the next fall In Philadelphia for the story. And to the point where like, this is how little I understood. They're like, you're doing the Philadelphia story. Will you come in and read for like the dad role? And I was like, okay. And I was like, oh, this is the dad role. It's a musical, obviously in my brain. And it's not, yeah. It's not, it's, it's Carrie gray Audrey. But I was like, I didn't read the play. I had no idea.5 (46m 27s):And then they cast me as like the leading romantically, not Carrie Grant's character. And I was like, oh no, this is a terrible idea. They don't know that. I can't say6 (46m 43s):I showed up to them like ready to like, 2 (46m 50s):Mickey. Would it be fair to say that, like, you've had to figure, I mean, a lot of people come to acting as a way to figure themselves out. Right? Like a lot of people like the idea of trying on roles. Cause that's what they're also doing with their own identity. And I do see like a little bit of a trend where a lot of people who do it for that reason, maybe didn't get enough reflected back to them when they were a kid or they got reflected only these negative things like you're describing about getting bullied. So, I mean, would it be fair to say that it's taken you oh, a long time to get to know who you really are?2 (47m 31s):Are you still in a process of figuring that out? Like, did you, how much, or how little did you know yourself when you were at theater school?5 (47m 41s):Yeah, totally fair to say. I didn't, I didn't really know myself. I definitely was enjoying the process of getting to know myself, but I didn't really have an understanding of like why I was the way I was. I, and I am definitely still in the process of trying to figure that out. I think I did a play right when I left school called, called awake. And it was about a young man. Who's a poet who's who thought his father was a poet and turns out there was, it was his brother. Like my, my father's brother was my actual father.5 (48m 22s):And it was just like, I don't know myself. I need to go figure out who I am. And that really resonated with me. It was like this idea that like sometimes what we feel is just the, the anxiety or the poles that we feel is just us going while I thought I would have known myself more by now. And so, yeah, definitely still trying to figure it out. My process, creative process. I mean, like that's constantly in flux, never the same. And that's like hockey stuff too. The reason I liked hockey was you could run a set play, and it's always going to be different every single time.5 (49m 4s):And the idea of theater, right? Like you, you get up every night and you do it. And like something about the way that your day went will be reflected in your performance. And, and so that's interesting to me. Yeah.1 (49m 23s):Interesting. I never got that. I never, I never knew that that acting was about me. Do you know what I mean? Like I never got that note. Like that message. I missed that whole thing that like, I could bring my whole self to a role. It doesn't mean that it's me. Like, but that I was allowed to bring my whole self to the role. And in fact, if I did, my acting would be better. Like I miss so much, I'm just so bombed, but I'm learning it. I'm learning it from, from listening to people like you on the podcast and talking with them like, oh, I'm helping to, to, when I teach now, I'm like, bring you, you're helping me.1 (50m 7s):The other thing I want to say is that when I saw you Mickey in my first time seeing you in a lead role or any role was at the greenhouse, I dunno, Athen am in Henry Morris, melting this, play it. And I'd never seen Mickey act. And someone was like, I have my own problems. Like, why am I going? I went to this5 (50m 36s):That's great advice. Yeah.1 (50m 40s):Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I give you terrible advice. I was like, go to LA, you're going to be famous. But like, yeah. Well, anyway, so I saw this play. I saw you in the play and I was like, this is one of the best actors I've ever seen in my life. I, I, I was blown away. I thought, oh, this kid knows what the fuck he's doing. And commits 125% on stage, which is, it just was miles ahead of what everyone else was doing onstage, but not in a real snarky way, in a real working man sort of a way so that you don't hate Mickey because you're like, oh, this is a good person.1 (51m 26s):They just really are committed to what the fuck they're doing. I had never seen that from an actor your age, because we're2 (51m 34s):Obsessed.1 (51m 37s):And I was like,5 (51m 38s):Oh,1 (51m 39s):This kid is the real deal. Like I,5 (51m 43s):That maybe I was avoiding My work. I was avoiding all of the other things that were sitting outside of that. Right. That like were valuable pieces of insight that I could have learned about myself. But like, I, at that point, Jen, like I was moving to LA because I did not have a home. Right. Like it was a warmer climate. Like I had no money to my name whatsoever. I struggled with addiction. I right. Like I had all of these personal life crises going on, but theater is a place where you can go for two hours, whether you're seeing it or whether you're in it and totally just purposefully forget everything else.5 (52m 26s):And so I put off a lot of like personal growth until probably like 30 years old, at least like real is true. Like this might work for you, but it is destructive. I put off that work because I was like, oh, it serves me. Right? Like it's, it gives me energy to put into my career. It is going to better knees somehow to hurt.2 (52m 49s):How do you, how, how does the casting world see you? Like who are you as an actor?5 (52m 56s):That's a good question. I wish I knew. I think I'm, I think I play intense characters that I played, blue collar characters, definitely people with an emotional depth, like an intense, emotional depth. I have, I'm starting to play the good guy. All of a sudden, which is interesting. I like playing the best friend role. And I think I kind of look at every role as the best role, you know, I am there to do something.8 (53m 32s):Yeah. Right.1 (53m 37s):Which is why they want you for the leading man role. Look, this is, it makes perfect sense to me from an outside. I'm like, they want you, so you are finally what I'm hearing too is like, you're finally what you said is like starting to do the work on yourself, right? Like as a person, as a human, as a father, as a, as a, as a husband, as all the things. Right? So it makes perfect sense that you are now playing the good guy. And also that you now are wanted by people to play the lead. Even though you want to play the best friend and you play leads to, I'm not saying you don't want to play the lead, but it, it just all makes sense.1 (54m 18s):It all makes sense that when you work on yourself, if, and if you're lucky and all the things that You5 (54m 24s):End up your1 (54m 24s):Career advancing when you do the work on5 (54m 27s):Yourself1 (54m 28s):Internally, but5 (54m 30s):Then you can decide whether or not things are working. And that's like the, the small business perspective, right? Like you open a small business on the corner, your first year, you're, you're looking at like high expenses, right? Like expense your entire store. You're going to be in the red for a while. Second year, you maybe are developing a customer client relationship. Third year, maybe you have a personal crisis and things take a step back fourth year, whatever fifth year, by the time the fifth year goes, you go, I have some solid data to work with. Right? Maybe this network isn't working for me and I need to go to a different network. And I S I subverted a lot of bad advice. I didn't listen to any of it.5 (55m 10s):I went from New York back to Bloomington, normal Illinois to try to get my degree and failing out again, because I did too much theater up to Minnesota, Chicago, California, Colorado, back to Chicago, and about three years, four years. Yeah. And so then I got back to Chicago and I was like, oh, this is what it's like, when you stay in a place for a little while, maybe people have a chance to respond to the postcards that you're sending up.2 (55m 40s):Yeah. And what's that whole thing, like now, since I've been out of it for so long triangle, when you're first starting out and trying to get people to know you, you said you still send them postcards with your, with your headshot on one side or something.5 (55m 54s):Snail mail, baby headshots. Right. I would print go to Kinko's or FedEx or whatever. I've had tons of headshots, tons of resumes, tons of cover letters. And I'd send them to everybody which maybe is what I'm learning. Now. Thankfully, I have representation. I've had representation for a really long time. Is that like, maybe be targeted with the people that you want to work with and focus on that rather than like, will anybody like me please will anybody, But maybe I had a better, I I've never thought about this. I submitted to two agencies or one agency that called me, and it was a really big name in Chicago.5 (56m 39s):And they called me in and they kept calling me Maki, like, Hey, Maki, come here. And then they were like, yeah, my name is Mickey. Sorry. That was the thing that they call me,1 (56m 59s):Excuse me.5 (57m 1s):And I was like, well,1 (57m 2s):That's the greatest fucking name I've ever heard of. I mean, it's not your name, but it's a great name. Yeah.5 (57m 8s):They brought me into the room and they're like, okay, give us your monologue. But look at the wall. They're so spot on the wall, look at it. So I did the whole thing and they were like, how are you expecting to have a good relationship with casting? If you just stare while you talk the entire time. And I was like, oh, I thought you said, like stare at the wall and talk. And they were like, you know what I think, like with your look and your experience, we could do a trial contract. And I was like, maybe finally at that point, did I have the guts in my life to be like, I don't need just anyone to be my friend or to work with me.2 (57m 48s):Maki need somebody who can really connect with5 (57m 51s):It knows my name, you know, that read the email. And then sure enough, I, I reached out to somebody who I knew was an agent and I had a meeting with them and I was like, Hey, is that how all of them should go? Because if it is, I'll just take the contract and I'll work in the industry and whatever. But if it's not, I'm not going to sign with somebody who's a Dick. Who's like too overwhelmed to actually build new relationships. Let me go and focus on somebody who like, wants to have a conversation about what I think of the industry and my place in that.2 (58m 23s):Oh, it makes me sick to think about how many people who are in those positions of power. It's, that's all they're interested in is the sort of the power play of it all. Like this thing that we start doing when we're kids and for some people we don't ever outgrow it, which is like, I don't need you. You need me, you know, the way that I show my, you know, whatever that ability in the world is to reject you instead of, you know, to be inclusive or, or even just, I mean, just a kind thing, because by the way, nobody has, is named Maki. So they should have had a sense of like, wait, why are we saying this? Right. I mean, right.2 (59m 3s):Shouldn't they have had some idea that5 (59m 6s):I do. Like, maybe I'm a sucker and lately I've been trying to think of like, what are all of the reasons that people could act like that? Because I don't get it right. Like, I don't get like, the I'm going to go brag to people about how I treated this person, like shit. And I, I think maybe it like it, it is just a really deep, deep, personal thing that's going on. That's totally clouding. Then being aware of how they're treating other people at all. Because I don't, I it's gotta be because I don't, I I've never heard anybody brag to me about how they treated somebody like shit in my entire life. I know that that's a thing that generally, as humans, we feel deep shame about and how maybe that deep shame manifests is just constantly being so focused on, on you and the things that you have to do and, you know, maintaining your own personal level of success and survival.5 (59m 59s):It's this fucked up survival tactic of like nobody else matters only what I'm doing matters. Maybe. I dunno. Maybe I'm just a sucker.1 (1h 0m 8s):No, I think it's, I think you're right. Like I think people get so caught up in their own process. They don't even know some people do, but I think that's like the exceptional sociopath psychopath, but like most people are just like low level nurses. We're all such low level narcissists mixed with our childhood trauma. We don't even realize what we're doing. I swear because I have confronted people, you know, that I've, I've confronted big wigs and said, do you realize that you're talking like this person is a piece of shit and they're like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, oh my God, most people don't understand.2 (1h 0m 50s):And most people are so far from understanding that the, that the farthest they'll ever get with that is just a defensive will know you're the asshole for pointing out. Right. I mean, that's, that's, that's usually the limit. It never ceases to amaze me. And yet it always amazes me. No, that's the same thing. how with, you know, my, the thing I'm always interested is getting from surface to depth with people. But I think like maybe 98% of the population is just really interested in staying or maybe it's just because of where I'm living. I don't know. But I, I find that not only do people not want to go from surface to depth, they're frightened and weirded out by you wanting to do that.2 (1h 1m 35s):You know what I mean? Because my thing is always like, we all know that the weather is how it is. Like, can we just like, let's skip that part. Let's go to the next thing. And people don't like that. They really don't like that.1 (1h 1m 47s):No people are not interested in that because what they have to, I am convinced that at the, at the core of that is, oh, one day I'm going to die and everyone I know is going to die.2 (1h 1m 59s):And1 (1h 1m 59s):If we talk about real, if we talk about real stuff, it'll inevitably lead me to, oh my God, everyone I love is going to die and I'm going to die. And I can't handle that. So I'm going to do drugs or do anything else instead, or not, or talk about the,5 (1h 2m 13s):Not the talking about the weather, but that's where I'm at right now is that I'm like, oh, the most important thing that we could do now is acknowledged the back that we're going to die2 (1h 2m 23s):Because it's so much freedom by the way, because it's not like, sorry to spoiler alert, but everybody is going to die. So like let's instead of being, spending your entire life afraid of that thing, embrace it because you're not going to die right now necessarily, you know, like you could make right now more interesting, right.5 (1h 2m 43s):Enjoy right now. Right. In a way1 (1h 2m 46s):Even noticed right now, just notice that we're actually alive. And I, and that we are here now doing things, talking, eating, all the things that we do it's happening. I think that that's what I've come to in this podcast. And in my life is like if the most I ever get to is, oh, this is actually happening. I'm here. This is going on. How I feel about it as how I feel about it, but this is what's going on. Acknowledging them. That's going to have to be enough because to go deep with people is such a treat and so rare. But like, I have to still stay true to the acknowledging part.1 (1h 3m 28s):Like, oh, you, you might be uncomfortable, but I'm going to acknowledge in my own way that, that, that we're all going to die in. And that's part of the impermanence. I'm going to acknowledge it to myself because if I don't, it just really leads to2 (1h 3m 40s):You just feel so isolated and desperate and yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, speaking of isolated and desperate and alone, you mentioned going through some issues with addiction. How, how do you, could you say anything about that and how you, how you got ahead of it?5 (1h 4m 0s):Yeah. Never out of it, right? Like I am an addict through and through, right? Like it's anything that make me feel better and then like learning what those good things are and what leads to right. This path of destruction. I think really early on, I was constantly the kid that was if he only put his mind towards things, but I think if you only focused on those thing, and so that got me on this idea of like, whatever it is, and this is where obsession came in, right. Like if I could just focus on stuff and then I would dive 110%. And so what were the things that allowed me to do that?5 (1h 4m 41s):Right? Like first it was, you know, cigarettes, right? Like I could just sit there and read a play and read another play and smoke cigarettes, I guess. Right. Like definitely alcohol is in there. It's not like my primary. I, I do not go into functioning or nonfunctioning relationships where this, where I'm like, oh, I need this to function. Or I need this not to be totally dysfunctional. But early in my life, it was definitely a medicine of some sort. Right. Like I was definitely looking at it for relief. I drank a lot and drank, it was binge. Like, that was the way that we drank in high school and college.5 (1h 5m 23s):You had three hours to drink. You better drink a lot of it. Right.9 (1h 5m 27s):So true.5 (1h 5m 30s):So that was a thing. And then Adderall became a thing for me where it was like, this is something that allowed me to sit and work for hours on end. And certainly I think that, like, if I'm going to go to a psychiatrist, they would be like, I think you definitely have some traits that are right there with add or ADHD, but I did it. And so I would just abuse on my own. Right. Like, and I, I looked at it as the investment opportunity of a lifetime. Right. It was like, you're going to constantly have this on you. You're going to constantly be taking it. You're going to constantly be working. And that led to cigarettes. Right. That led to me avoiding all of my own personal shit.5 (1h 6m 13s):And then, right. Like the way I quote unquote got out of the throws of it was total collapse2 (1h 6m 24s):All the way to the bottom5 (1h 6m 26s):All the way. Right. Many times where I thought that I was going to die. Right. That I thought I was like, I would not sleep at night and a very functioning. Right. Nobody, nobody knew at least that I know of. Right. Like, I'm sure, like now looking back like, oh, something's going on there? Like, but it was a whole production for me. Right. Like I had the hand sanitizer to stop my hands from smelling like smoke. Right. So nobody needed to know that, like that was my preparation to get myself right. For, you know, the audition. And then it was, you know, I've got gum, I've got Gatorade to keep my body, like all of the, the electrolytes in my body up because I haven't slept in two days, I've got like coffee.5 (1h 7m 17s):And so like financially fell apart. Right. And no good reason. Right. Like best point in my career probably was like, you know, commercial money coming in, episodic money coming in. And for me, this was just like, great. Double-down on my investment. Great. Like be better, be better. And in my version of better was more, more altered, I guess. So never out of it and re emotionally my relationships fell apart. Right. I stopped paying attention to what other people, how other people were reacting around me.5 (1h 7m 58s):And that kind of led into acting, I guess, a little bit that like, it wasn't maybe until like five years ago. And Jen, this is where I'm a little bit jealous of you. Is that like, I did think that what you said earlier was like, I never considered myself, like the main part of gen actor being so valuable to whatever character I'm playing. I never considered that, the shit that I was trying in rehearsal, like just like a kid in a box, like had real time attacks on the other actors that I'm working with.1 (1h 8m 31s):I never considered that either. Like, but you're right. Like, it goes both ways, right.5 (1h 8m 37s):If you're in a, if you're in a meeting with a coworker at an office and they never focused on one idea long enough for everyone to kind of like gel with the idea, you don't work with that person for very long, even if what they're doing is an abusive or hurtful or anything like that, it's just not conducive to like, right. Especially for theater, where in Chicago, right? Like you get $300 for an eight week stipend. And so you better really get everybody read it better, really be getting something out of that rehearsal time. And I was selfish, you know, like this is about me and my journey and my character and, and everybody else better fight for that.5 (1h 9m 17s):And there's, and that's what conflict is. And that's what drama is.2 (1h 9m 22s):Well, what are your feelings about that? The stories that we hear about famous actors who do that, who still do that, that's still their process. Does it make you mad?5 (1h 9m 31s):Yeah, I think it's so misguided. Right. And I'm thankful that I've had enough experiences where I'm like, oh, you're, you were kind of the Dick there that could be bad. That could develop. Right. Or somebody who pulled me aside and was like, you know, that just wasn't necessary or whatever, really, really early on, I moved to New York and I was in a play festival. And it was like about what is that? The witch who they shove into the oven, what was that called? The Hansel Hansel and Gretel. I was Honsel I guess. And we were pushing the witch into the fire and they were like, yeah, you used a broom and we didn't have a broom.5 (1h 10m 17s):And so like fresh out of college, Mickey was like here, hand on the butt. And afterwards this woman came up to me and she was like, don't do that ever again. And I was like, oh my God, what did I do? I have no idea. I'm so sorry. And at first I was really kind of like, come on, like, what are we going to do? Like you needed to get it. So it was my first time being like, oh wow. And she was older than I was. And so to me that told me that she's been hurt in this process and that through whatever trauma that she's been through, like this is not the, the road to working with other people.5 (1h 11m 2s):Right. And so there's just like little moments like that, that I think if you're so blind you're so like, I need to get to the top. I needed to get to the top. I needed to get to the top. It's really easy to just that everybody is being1 (1h 11m 16s):Right. Right. It's like, that's5 (1h 11m 19s):Like1 (1h 11m 20s):This whole reckoning, this whole reckoning that the arts and humanity and the U S and everyone is doing, which is like, that may be true. You said something really important to me, which is, it may be true that people are overly sensitive. You didn't say this part, but I, I think people can be, oh, I can be overly sensitive. That's for fucking shirt. And it's also true that that is not the way to working with others. So like, both are true. Like I have sensitive issues. And you notice that like, doing that kind of behavior is actually not conducive to doing good art and creating and not, and getting jobs, the whole thing.1 (1h 12m 2s):So like, it's interesting. It's like you took the note and actually took it. Whether you took it all in or whatever, you took the note, but a lot of these dudes aren't taking the note. They're not getting the note. They're seeing it as the people are over sensitive, which they might be, but they're also not taking the note, like take the note, you know,5 (1h 12m 21s):I take the note. Absolutely. That's something like in college that we were constantly reminded. It's like, you don't have to respond. Just take it, write it down and think about it for a, for an eye and then com

As the executive sponsors of the Nemours Women at Work (W@W) Associate Resource Group (ARG), Dr. Mary Lee, Cindy Bo, Carrie Grant, and Christina Fleck came together recently to talk about why is it important to have a space specifically for women in the workplace, mentorship of women, by both women and men, and their very first (and vastly different) concert experiences. Carol Vassar, Producer

Singer and television broadcaster Carrie Grant joins Andy Jaye this week for an open conversation about her work and her family sharing the joys, the struggles and the strains that come with all aspects of her life.Carrie Grant excelled to stardom as a singer representing Great Britain in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest and later as a coach on television shows such as Fame Academy and Pop Idol alongside her husband, David Grant.In the conversation, Carrie talks about her children and the new world of raising both neurodiverse and neurotypical children in a world where parenting has no rule book! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Broadcaster, campaigner and, presenter Dr Carrie Grant MBE joins us this week as we get into the depths of what makes her tick having faced some huge life-changing challenges. Subscribe now and never miss an episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Broadcaster, campaigner and, presenter Dr. Carrie Grant MBE joins us this week as we get into the depths of what makes her tick having faced some huge life-changing challenges. Subscribe now and never miss an episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How choirmaster, Carrie Grant, conducted a choir of 150 people singing remotely.

This is our last major movie for The Jim Carrey Project and things move real slow in this "thriller" about a detective trying to solve a cold case and root out corruption. We discuss just how bad this movie is, ponder as to how Jim got involved, compare it to "The Number 23" and, SPOILERS, discuss just how in the hell this movie without a twist even got made. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for Jim & Andy. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We spend some time in the desert watching this dystopian dud filled with big names and small dialogue. We discuss big, beefy cannibals, creepy cult leaders, and just how well Jim can act without ANY dialogue. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for Dark Crimes! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We visit our old pals Harry and Lloyd in this totally unnecessary sequel. We discuss where it went right, where it went wrong, and why anyone thought that it would be a good idea to make this movie. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for The Bad Batch! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We get caught up in a convoluted mess of a story with this hard hitting sequel. Jim doesn't have much of a role but he still knows how to show up and bring an honest and intense character to life. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for Dumb and Dumber 2! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We take a magical trip with Steve Carrell, Steve Buschemi, Olivia Wilde, and Jim Carrey in this tale of friendship and redemption. We discuss just how unlikeable the characters are and Jim's intense performance. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. oin us next time for Kick Ass 2! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Our ears perk up as we swing back to a Jim Carrey comedy with the 2008 animated film, Horton Hears a Who. This is the first full length voice acting job for Jim, having only previously voiced an exterminator in Itsy, Bitsy Spider in 1992. We discuss that this is the second Dr. Seuss film for Carrey, how difficult it is to appreciate his performance without seeing his eyes, and just how crazy life can be when mob mentality takes control. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant . Join us next time for Yes Man! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We rediscover what life is all about in this dramatic story of a lost son returning home. Or at least they THINK he has returned. We talk about the craziness of the 50's, why whispering ISN'T acting, and what it means to be from a small town. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant . Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/E1EF9FUVxHc Join us next time for Bruce Almighty! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We take a trip to Whoville to celebrate the holidays with Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We discuss the torture of the make-up chair, what is the meaning of Christmas, and Jim's ability to express emotion in heaving prosthetics. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant . Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/QB2iZiCm9ns Join us next time for The Majestic. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This week we're reuniting with the Farrelly brothers to watch Me, Myself, and Irene. We discuss what it means to be a black comedy, Jim's ability to switch between personalities, and his "return to comedy," as some were calling it at the time. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. See the video here: https://youtu.be/xoP-peUjWZg Join us next time for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We're exploring the judicial system and what it means to be an adult with Liar, Liar. We talk white lies, how adults are rarely honest, and how exhausting it must be to be Jim. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Please like, subscribe, and comment and check out us in podcast form wherever you get your podcasts! Join us next time for The Truman Show! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We social distance our way through Jim Carrey's first of only two sequels with Ace Ventua: When Nature Calls. We discuss why he prefers to avoid sequels, what makes an absurd character interesting, and why being the highest paid actor might not always be a good thing. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/Dl4qBTojXvw Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for The Cable Guy! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Riddle me this. What's stuck inside but still hanging out together? It's US! We're enjoying the 1995 summer blockbuster, Batman Forever, in quarantine and video chatting after. We discuss what the movie could have been, the relationship between costars, and how technology is better in '95 than 2020. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Check out the video version here: https://youtu.be/wWH1Ip4n394 Join us next time for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We're making our way to Aspin with the third and final movie of "The Year of Jim" by watching Dumb and Dumber. This hilarious, toilet humor movie withstands the test of time and it's difficult to discuss because we get caught up in the movie. However, we find a way to discuss Jim Carrey's personal life, his struggles with success, and how adolescent males use movie quotes to express the feelings. Also, Brian's computer sh*ts the bed at about minute 25, so....sorry about the change in audio. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Join us next time for Batman Forever. Don't forget to like, subscribe and rate us and check out our videos (https://youtu.be/h3Z2VSesbGk) if you prefer visual media. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We're reliving the 90's with this summer blockbuster. We discuss how much of an impact this movie made on Brian's life, the differences between Jim Carrey as an actor and as a character, and just how much money Jim saved the production by being so flexible. This is the second movie in the "Year of Jim". Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant . Check out the video version at https://youtu.be/lfg4STM3g_c and please like, subscribe and rate us. Join us next time for Dumb and Dumber! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Can the coronavirus outbreak create community, and lots of babies? The Badass ladies find out.Harriet and her special co-hosts this week, Carrie Grant and Sarah Mulindwa talk to Vic Goddard headmaster of Passmores Academy who is working to help children who receive free school meals during the coronavirus school ban. Hear what Vic is doing to make sure that if schools do close due to the Coronavirus families who nee this support still receive it despite their children not being in school. The ladies talk about the impact that coronavirus will have on different areas of our community and what the government’s advice thus far means for them, as well as what can we do as a community to help those of us who need it most, people who may feel lonely whilst self isolating and those who may experienced elevated levels of anxiety.And joining them in the studio is Dr Karen Gurney aka The Sex Doctor.Karen is a clinical psychologist that specialises in sex, she is helping people with their sexual problems and dissatisfaction with their sex life, she describes herself as “a personal trainer for you sex life” - pretty self explanatory.Karen shares that over half of women and just under half of men are concerned about their sex life and admits there is no normal when it comes to sex, and as a society we can have a particular idea of what sex should be, but Karen clarifies that sex comes in all different shapes, sizes and positions. Harriet, Carrie and Sarah hear about the truth of our desire, and how our desire for sex and our partners actually works and why it may fade after a year or two. But don’t fear Karen also explains how to get it back.And finally, how can sex help us fight the new virus by raising our immune system or will isolation just create lots of babiesKaren's book is out now, click here for more info.For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterCarrie GrantSarah Mulindwa If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We jump way ahead for a special episode about Sonic the Hedgehog. It's not every day that you start a project and your subject makes a long awaited return to comedic films. We talk about nostalgia, fan response, and the difficulty of working with CGI costars. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Link to the Sonic designs: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/entertainment/sonic-the-hedgehog-review/index.html Special thanks to Sound Engineer Corbin Russell. Check out his band, Treehouse Project at https://www.facebook.com/TreehouseProjectBand/ Join us next time for In Living Color, High Strung, or Doing Time on Maple Drive. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode we discuss the 1989 musical comedy, Earth Girls Are Easy, starring Geena Davis, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, and Jeff Goldblum. It's a wild ride as we try to figure out what it must have been like to be on set, reminisce about how hunky Jeff Goldblum was/is, and wish for more musical numbers in this musical comedy. Hosted by Brian Kondrach and Carrie Grant. Special thanks to our sound engineer, Corbin Russell. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Harriet and Carrie Grant, who is stepping in for Emma and Nat this week, are joined by the founder of “Vest Pod” Emilie Bellet.Emilie gives her advice for saving, sharing her techniques that are instinctive and actually work for us, and how to instil a “saving mindset”.She is talking about how working in finance taught her that we need to re-evaluate where we’re at with our attitudes to savings.The ladies are talking about the fact that women are not receiving the financial education to manage their money effectively! Harriet and Carrie admit their own mistakes with money and as two self employed ladies they are asking “are freelancers spending money to earn money”? So, Emilie explains what the savings difficulties can be when you're self employed.Emilie's new book; "You're Not Broke You're Pre-Rich" is out now!For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterNatalie CampbellEmma Sexton If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are 13,000 slaves in the UK and 48million slaves in the world right now, what are the signs of Modern slavery and how can we spot them.Harriet is joined this week by Carrie Grant who is sitting in as Natalie and Emma take time off over the summer.The ladies are joined by Lawyer and Writer Abda Khan are they are discussing her new book “Razia” in which the main character thanks she has encountered a victim of a Modern Slavery and Domestic Violence, we follow her as she tries to uncover this injustice.Abda is explaining to Harriet and Carrie what modern slavery looks like, the different forms it can take and how you can recognise the signs and why it’s so hidden even today.Abda says her first novel “Stained” helped many women to “rise above” the abuse they had experienced and report it to Police, she talks about how she has used the tool of fiction writing to expose issues that she comes across in her career as a lawyer and other topics she would like to tackle next.And we get a final fix of the Women’s World Cup from Anita Asante Pro player for Chelsea and England, she is debriefing the ladies on the response to this years world cup and the effect it will have on Women’s Football She shares how she started playing football as a kid and her journey to becoming Pro and how she has found being a woman in what is typically a “mans game” And Harriet and Carrie learn about the Adobe Stock campaign which is aiming to empower young women to join in the game by creating images of female football stars to be used in the media that young women can relate to and be inspired by.For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterNatalie CampbellEmma Sexton If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How would you feel if your partner came home with flowers or tickets to the theatre?Emma and Natalie are on holiday this week so Harriet is joined by Jenni Trent Hughes and Carrie Grant.Natalie Collins shares her heartbreaking story of being broken by domestic violence and her incredible journey of recovery.She explains how something as simple as flowers or tickets to the theatre, for some women are small signs of manipulation and abuse.On average women are abused 35 times before they actually report it, and do so 5 times before they receive the help they need, Natalie explains why services are stretched so thin and what can be done to change the conversation around domestic abuse.She now works with victims and abusers making changes and challenging views which we revive from society in the media, porn and politics about how women behave and how they should be treated, as well as talking about the real reason we have a victim culture.Harriet, Jenni and Carrie discuss with Natalie how to define domestic abuse in today's “digital culture” and how we can raise children to ask questions, challenge societal norms, respect themselves and their relationships.Her book Out of Control: Couples conflict and the capacity to change, reflects upon her own experience combined with what she has learnt through working with victims and perpetrators and is out now.If you would like help and advice around domestic violence please click here.For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterNatalie CampbellEmma Sexton If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“I spent most of my childhood trying to be invisible”Emma and Natalie are on holiday this week so Harriet is joined by Jenni Trent Hughes and Carrie Grant.Joining them in the studio the President of Tech UK Jacqueline de Rojas, she breaks down the figures behind the lack of women in the tech industry, she explains why more women need to be involved in the industry. And tells her own journey of climbing the ladder and reaching the top of tech, she says: “The only way to survive in this role is to ask questions”.Jacqueline also shares her incredibly moving and brave story of her violent childhood, rising from adversity and still striving to be where she is today.Also in the studio is Beth French marathon swimmer. Beth tells Harriet, Jenni and Carrie how she has been dealing with ME through childhood and teenage years and becoming a single mum. Whilst juggling all of this Beth decided to take on Ocean 7, a series of swims across 7 global Channels designed to challenge a swimmer pushing them to their limits.She also talks about the new documentary following her 7 seas adventure: Against the tides, oh and swimming next to a 7 foot tiger shark… yep!For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterNatalie CampbellEmma Sexton If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

She gave you the finger, you took her to dinner, and you made her laugh. Its time to respectthe painfully derailed second solo career of Geraldine Estelle Halliwell.--------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome back to Pod of the Pops.Just like an apple, cut down the middle, she only has one matching half…….. If you don’tknow the lyrics I’m referencing then THIS podcast is going to be an EYEOPENER for you. The second Geri Halliwell career is really a long road of threats to release an album. She hits more road bumps than Rita Ora.Start the podcast in true Geri style….. an interview in The Guardian where she denouncesherself as a feminist: “For me, feminism is bra-burning lesbianism. It's very unglamorous...Weneed to see a celebration of our femininity and softness”Constantly comes back to her not knowing what her greatest assets are. I used to pictureher as a great speaker, politically engaging but actually – she is a monkey at a typewriter.If you type a thousand scripts, eventually one will say SpiceWorld. Example: I'm learning every day as a mother. I'm learning that she's like a flowerthat thrives when it gets sunlight, and the sunlight is confidence, and I feel thatwhen I'm confident it gives her self-esteem. And that gives me motivation to go onand be the best.……I, I, I, i…. iSpice On 12 April 2007, it was announced that Halliwell had signed a six-book deal with MacmillanChildrens Books. The books follow the adventures of nine-year-old Ugenia, a character basedon Halliwell,  alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy, and Trevor.Each title feature a newsletter from Ugenia highlighting lessons she has learned, along withquizzes, riddles and crosswords, and available in an audio book edition read by Halliwell. Geri described it as “The rebith of girl power. Handing on the baton through a different medium.(If she has handed on the baton it would explain the next 7 years)There were rumours Geri had based one of the characters, Princess Posh Vattoria on her fellowbandmate, Mrs Victoria Beckham. Another character is called David Bockham. Not the mostcunning disguise, it is. She loves an obvious dance move; she loves an obvious character name.She appeared in early drafts but removed.  According to the official site, the book sold more than 250,000 copies in its first 5 months, makingHalliwell 2008s most successful female celebrity childrens author.In September 2009, Halliwell, in her role as a Goodwill Ambassador of UNFPA, visited Nepal tohelp launch a national campaign to stop violence against womenIn 2009, she also makes a movie cameo. In the Jason Statham action comedy, Crank: HighVoltage. It’s a sequel in which Chev Chelios must electrocute himself regularly to stay alive –whilst a group of assassins take out hits on his life.Geri appears in a flashback; as the role of Jason Stathams mother. (I am assuming they usedthe scene from SpiceWorld where they play mothers as their inspiration). Clip. Clip.Now – I know this is just a bit of fun BUT can we discuss, for a moment, the role Geri playedin early feminism. And the irony then, that in 2009 she would appear in a film the Guardianaccussed of “extreme misogyny and racism” and “although nothing should be off limits incomedy” it amounts to “flashy, arrogant, emptiness”. Now, I haven’t seen 2010 had the makings of a big year for Geri. She has put wheels in motion; Scream if youwanna go faster. We start getting a lot of “Geri is coming back to music”. This is 5 years afterher last album (2005 Passion).March: Vocal coach Carrie Grant, famous as one half of the husband-wife team that coachedcontestants on reality TV show Fame Academy is being interviewed on The Alan Titchmarshshow (all big names) and she says Geri is working on a return to music. We also cover:- Her episode of Piers Morgans: Life Stories- Fashion Spice: she releases 3 collections with Next. A beach wear collection, a red carpet ready gown collection and a very patriotic Olympics range- Judge Spice: X factor UK and Australias got talent- Her foray into sitcom, with Trollied and the pilot of her own show, Life Sucks. - Her wedding to Christian Horner. With only one Spice Girl in attendance - "Other half of me" her Australian only single with some, ummm, questionable dance moves and lyrics- Her leaked country album, Man on the Mountain- Presenter Spice, hosting the One Show and her own driving show: My Drive to Freedom - George Michael charity single, Angels in chains, raising money for Childline - BBC talent show, All Together Now. Where Geri is blostered by 99 other panelists.   

Real House Wives of Cheshire Star Leanne Brown speaks to Harriet and Emma after one of her recent Instagram posts caught the eye of the Badass ladies and they were keen to know more. Leanne talks about her breast implants and the problems that she has experienced and the lesser talked about dangers behind breast procedures.Vocal Coach Carrie Grant talks to Harriet and Emma about the up's and downs of raising 4 children with special needs the changes it has made to her life, the effects of misdiagnosis, especially in teenage girls. And Carrie shares her experiences to give invaluable advice to other parents also dealing with children on the autism spectrum.For information on all your hosts you can click on their names:Harriet MinterNatalie CampbellEmma Sexton If you want to get in touch you can find us on all the socials under this name: @badasswomenshrAnd for more about the podcast head here: https://www.badasswomenshour.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It was such a joy to welcome Carrie Grant onto the Pivotal Podcast this week. Carrie is married to David and together they are well known to TV audiences internationally as judges and vocal coaches, on the massively successful TV talent shows, “Pop Idol” (ITV) and the BBC flagship programme “Fame Academy”. They are current judges … Continue reading Carrie Grant – Having children with SEN is a real ‘Boon’ – PP218 →

In Episode 4, Chris speaks with David Grant, the husband of Carrie Grant who featured in episode 2! David is a well known singer, television presenter and vocal coach and also happens to be a father of children with different additional needs including two autistic children. In this episode, David opens up about his own personal experiences during his journey of understanding and acceptance, and describes how his experiences, while challenging, have enriched his life. Chris and David also talk about why fathers can be vulnerable to poor mental health, the stigma of mental health especially among fathers, and what fathers who are struggling with poor mental health can do to support themselves. Episode timeline: 0 - 2.51 - Intro 2:52 - 5.55 & 15:31 - 16:14, 16:55 - 19:12, 24:40 - 28:35, 44:50 - 46:27 - David's personal story 5.56 - 9:40 - Challenging what we've learned about parenting 9.41 - 13.00 - Embracing the journey 13:01 - 15:30 - Fathers' need for practical solutions 19:13 - 24:39, 46:55 - 51:55 - Fathers' vulnerability to poor mental health 29:20 - 33:44, 51:55 - 1:10:12 - Advice to fathers' struggling with mental health 33:45 - 40:40 - "Not one drop of our self worth should depend on other people's acceptance of us" 40:46 - 44:49 - Labelling, stigma and our 'normal' counts David's twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidGrantSays David's website: http://carrieanddavidgrant.co.uk/

In Episode 2, Chris and Emma interview Dr Carrie Grant! Carrie is perhaps best known for television, music and radio work but also happens to be a tremendous autism advocate and campaigner, and a parent of autistic children too. Carrie tells us her story and her views on the social and cultural issues that intersect with autism stigma and discrimination. She also talks about mental health, SEN and schools, employers and more! Episode timeline: 0 - 12.37 - Carrie's personal story of her children's diagnoses and journey 12:38 - 19:27 - Carrie's parenting approach 19:28 - 33:29 - Stigma's impact on mental health (including a bit on marital relationships from 29:35 - 31:53) 33:30 - 46:29 - Schools and SEN, their impact and responsibility, child mental health, and the changes required 46:30 - 50:54: Employment stigma and discrimination, and the changes required 50:55 - 1:09:25 - Views on how to create real positive social and cultural change 1:09:26 - 1:20:51 - Carrie's practical advice for autistic people struggling with poor mental health 1:20:52 - 1:23:13 - Outro Carrie's twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieGrant1 Carrie's website: http://www.carrieanddavidgrant.co.uk/ 

Genuine national radio producer and broadcaster Cornelius Mendez joins Jon Holmes and Marc Haynes to lift The One Show high onto a pedestal and then push it over so it smashes. This week: a magician spectacularly fails on live TV, Carrie Grant can't explain what an escape room is, a man smells some cannabis, a former rugby player in a clown suit and the Roswell Alien is back. It can only be....The The One Show Show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

IT'S THE SPECIAL NEW YORK COMIC CON EPISODE OF LOVE YOUR BODD!    Heather walked around Comic Con and found people of all sizes, genders, sexualities, and walks of life to interview for this episode. She also recorded some questions at NYCC Panels that she thought listeners may enjoy or need to hear.  You'll hear from people about their comfort in cosplay, what it means to them, and how it shapes them as a person. Check out Love Your Bodd's Instagram account (@love_your_bodd) to put faces with some of the interviews.  Sexy Cosplay Panel. 30 min mark. Answers to Heather’s question: “I was wondering if you have any comment on putting the costume on and how that makes you feel but also, specifically, about body positivity - is there more room for body positivity in this realm than anywhere else right now?”   “I don’t mean to say that I hate myself but when I look at myself in the mirror when I’m not in costume, I don’t want to look at myself. But when I’m in a costume I’m like DAMN GIRL YOU FINE!” - Microkitty   “I feel super empowered in it [cosplay] but I do think the cosplay community has room to grow in certain areas. I think that we need to work on being more accepting of cosplayers of different sizes of different races … being more aware of different gender identities in general when talking with cosplayers. But I do think it’s a really healthy community and I believe that it can grow to be more accepting.” - Juniper Jackson   “In the Cosplay community people are very positive and uplifting but unfortunately there’s some people who feel that you have to look a certain way to cosplay. Like you have to be a certain size or race to cosplay a certain character and that is BULLSHIT. ‘Cause Cosplay is for everyone no matter what. I feel like we need to work a lot more on that. Because of that, there are people who want to cosplay but they see all this and they are very hesitant. We need to really fix that so that more people can join in. Cause you know, this is a very uplifting community, it really helped me a lot. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t cosplay. So we need to work on being more accepting of everybody no matter what size they are, identity, or their race.” - Stardust Megu   “As a plus sized cosplayer, starting out I was very very insecure about the way things came out like certain photos, things like that. I actually did a photoshoot as Aquaman from injustice and pretty much didn’t share the photos until like a year later. Until, ya know, I was way more comfortable a year later and I was like ‘Why didn’t I share these? These look dope!’ Like, why are these not yet on social media? And putting them out there, I felt great!” - Patrick Diamond   Talking Comfort and Emotional Support   “There were two Spider-Men doing flips and the guy standing next to us was like, ‘Agh, man I love seeing that. I hate seeing fat dudes try and do the same thing.’ And my friend turned to me and he was like, ‘Hey Pat, you want me to like say somthin to these dudes?’ and I’m like, ‘Calm down. Thank you.’ So yeah, having an emotional support system [when dressed in cosplay] is amazing.” - Patrick Diamond   “I think another important thing to note is that when you’re in a sexy cosplay, you don’t have to post photos of it. You don’t have to walk outside in it. If you have a photoshoot, it doesn’t ever have to see the light of day. It can be for you. It doesn’t have to be for the world.” - Microkitty   “As a New York local I will reiterate changing at the con. I have leggings and a t-shirt in my bag and I will put that on before I walk out into the streets of Manhattan again. In an ideal world I would not be harassed based on wearing something that’s a little more revealing but it certainly does make things worse in the current state of things. So I will prepare for that and bring an extra outfit, arrive, change at the con, and then change again before I leave.” - Juniper   What was the first cosplay you put on and how did it make you feel?   “My first cosplay was Sonia from the Dresden Files and it felt great and one of the best comments I got sticks with me to this day. When I posted it in a fan group for the books someone said they now see ME whenever they’re reading the novels. That really felt great.” - Patrick   “My first one was Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club, which really foreshadowed my entire gender journey.” - Juniper Jackson   “My first cosplay was Haruhi Suzumiya from the Anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. And I first wore it at New York Comic Con 2010, which was my very first convention as well. I felt really great about it. And my cosplay wasn’t perfect but people were very supportive and some people like, we even did the dance together. I don’t know if you guys know but the ending song, there’s like a dance that’s called ‘Hare Hare Yukai’ - it was really popular back in the day.” - Stardust Megu   “It’s really sad this is my first one cause my third cosplay was the most empowering one for me. But my first cosplay was Elwood Blues from the Blues Brothers. The thing about it was, me and my buddy, we can both sing and dance, so we would do the whole skit. We did Shake Your Tailfeather and I would serenade people… it was a lot of fun. So while I didn’t necessarily feel like I do when I’m Bushido Brown or Slenderman - I dunno how you feel about that - it made me feel like, you know, I’m dancing, I’m singing, I’m having a good time, my cosplay’s kickass, I learned how to freestyle rap. These were all things I never thought I would do before in public. So it felt really great.” - Jarvis White    Problematic Faves Panel   “People have to think about that [creating plus characters]. I’m working on the third of the vampire novels and I had a character in the 1941 section, who was part of the supernatural organization, and she’s at a dinner party at Carrie Grant’s. And I started writing her and she was like this very standardized skinny, intellectual, science-supernatural science woman and I was like, ‘I don’t like that.’ I pictured a friend of mine who is a full-sized woman, who is very confident in her body, and I was like, ‘that’s who I want her to be!’ And it wasn’t that it did anything other than just made her not a standardized character. It made her more interesting suddenly, there was a whole range of other behavior, there was a relationship, something became much more sensual to me in my head, and I think that as writers, we need to be very deliberate about that. The default is to the standard medium-sized body, average height person and unless there’s a reason for that to be different, you don’t think about that. I think we just need to start making people different. Write down that they’re black. Write down that they are different races and colors and body shapes because that’s the only way anyone is gonna get that stuff into the movies. Put it in the books and keep pushing it out there.” - Terrance Taylor   “Why can’t she be Rae in My Mad Fat Diary AND Rey in Star Wars? She should be able to be both of those things.” - Mark Oshiro   HUGE SHOUT OUT AND THANK YOU to everyone who participated and allowed me to interview them. I couldn't do this without these amazing individuals. To anyone at NYCC who I didn't get to - shout  out to you as well. The cosplay community may have room to grow, but I think it's one of the most positive communities out there right now.    Love Your Bodd Stuffz   Website: www.heather-boddy.com/loveyourbodd   Email LYB: loveyourboddcast@gmail.com   Tweet: @LoveYourBodd   Instagram: @love_your_bodd   Facebook: Love Your Bodd   Find Heather @HeatherBoddy on Snapchat, Twitter & Instagram    Wanna become a Pop Pilates Instructor? Follow this link to find a training near you: https://www.poppilateslife.com/a/527/osBvwVQc   Outside of the US? Don’t worry you can get online international training here: https://www.poppilateslife.com/a/528/osBvwVQc   Love Popflex Activewear? Buy here and save: http://rwrd.io/bqhuiwv   Sign up for your BEACHBODY ON DEMAND 14 DAY FREE TRIAL: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/club?referringRepId=445873 (Select the bottom right option unless you wanna bite the bullet and sign up for the full monty! Heather will be your coach if you follow the link above!)   Love Your Bodd is a proud supporter of the Born This Way Foundation "Born this way foundation is committed to making a kinder, more compassionate world. Our work is made possible by generous contributions from people around the globe. Your contribution to Born this way Foundation will go toward empowering young people and addressing the issues important to their well being: kinder communities, improved mental health services, and more positive environments online and off-line." CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT.  https://bornthisway.foundation/ They have an entire resources page that connects you with resources for whatever issue you're facing: CLICK HERE IF YOU NEED HELP. https://bornthisway.foundation/get-help-now/ National Outreach Hotlines: For Eating Disorders: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline Call: (800) 931-2237 For Sexual Assault: https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline Call: 800.656.HOPE (4673) For Domestic Abuse: http://www.thehotline.org/help/help-for-friends-and-family Call: 1-800-799-7233  

It's crunch time for the leading characters of the play as Carrie Grant returns with the final song to learn.

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by vocal coach, singer and television presenter, Carrie Grant. Best known for her role as the vocal coach on the hit talent show, Fame Academy, she has also worked on Pop Idol and The One Show, where she conducted 500 viewers in the life-affirming "virtual choir". Rebecca Root explains how she helps transsexual and transgendered people, like herself, to discover their voice. The first photographer to capture on film the incomparable Kate Bush - we hear from her brother John Carder Bush on how he rescued the negatives from a skip to make a collection of photographs. JP Devlin visits a tattoo convention in Bournemouth. Jockie Reid reveals why he has taken up motorcycling at the age of eighty one. The palaeobiologist, Dr. Victoria Herridge, on her passion for Ice Age mammals and the trip of a lifetime - to take part in an autopsy of a 40,000 year old woolly mammoth. And the writer, Jung Chang, chooses her Inheritance Tracks: God Bless the Child, by Billie Holliday and The Sweetest Embrace by Barry Adamson. **Please send us your questions for wildlife presenter and recent Strictly contestant Steve Backshall for next week's programme via: saturdaylive@bbc.co.uk** Cathy, by John Carder Bush. Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang. Woolly Mammoth: The Autopsy - on Channel 4 on Sunday 23 November at 8pm.

Today's show is with Josh Alamu.  Josh is a brilliant coach who’s popularity is growing to astronomical levels across the globe with every year that passes. He started out life as a backing vocalist working with artists like Joss Stone, and was helped on that journey as a young singer by two industry giants; David and Carrie Grant.  During the earlier part of his career, Josh became familiar with legendary technique Speech Level Singing (SLS) and eventually certified as an instructor. That is how we all became aware of each other, as we too were part of SLS for a while. Over recent years, Josh has worked as a coach on Pop Idol, The Voice series 1 & 2, choir talent show Don’t Stop Believing. Currently he has a rock school in Malta which he visits regularly, a busy studio in Hampstead, London, and he has just written the first in a series of books called Mad About Vocal Style: http://www.joshuaalamu.com/mad-about-vocal-style-ebook-series-1/ We talk all about essential skills for a singer in this episode including technique, style and work ethic. It's a valuable hour so please join us! Also, jump on over to our website for more wonderful content: http://www.thenakedvocalist.com/