SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up, buddy?

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Tommy. Or Tom. What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 0:05

What's going on, dude? How you doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Good. Thanks for thanks for uh meeting up.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Yeah, man. I'm excited, dude. I uh I I thanks for asking me.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Worcester legend, I'm like, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Yeah, we're doing it, man.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

And actually, I was like, how do I even know, Tom?

unknown 0:27

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Do we even know we're going?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Don't we go way back?

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Yeah, like uh from where?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I don't either. Parties, I think. Uh uh Lewis, Lewis, right? Isn't he your buddy?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Yeah, Louie Lou. Okay, so it goes back. I'm staying on brand because it's way over 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Oh, yeah. Way over 20 years. Yeah. Yeah, like high school.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Yeah, okay. Cool. That I mean, that's what the show's about.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

I felt like I might have known you later too because Facebook, Instagram, you just see people who post like yourself and do, you know, comedy video. So you're like, oh, I kind of know this person, but I really don't because it's been a long time. So thanks for reconnecting.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

I feel I yeah, dude, I feel the same thing. I saw your podcast stuff and I was like, I definitely know this dude, but I think it was like I think it was like high school parties, like high school college parties on like Vernon Hill, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Yeah, maybe you even came to me in Lewis's apartment at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Were you guys right on Vernon Hill?

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, for sure did. Yeah, I was at your apartment for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Because I was friends with like Tarry Hannon and like Vicky Hodgerney and like that whole crew.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Yeah, okay, cool. So yeah, that oh, did did you go to Fit and Field with us to uh Hootie and the Blowfish by any chance?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

I did. I was with that group. I was with the Hootie crew. I don't know if I was with you guys though. I was there and I and I I bumped into them, so you must have been with them, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Man, I all I remember from that night is uh uh Dragonberry. I don't even know what the brand of vodka it is.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Probably uh Barnett's or something.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Some type of fruity vodka and Gatorade, and just like at a Hootie and the Blowfish concert with like families around at like 4 p.m. Pretty hammered, but hootie rocks, so I was all in.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

That was how it that was how we lived, man.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

I I'm not scared to share this story, but like that night we were driving to the concert and uh we were doing like I did a shot before we walked in because we were in the parking lot. Yeah, and you know when you hit a shot too and it goes down the wrong pipe and you like gotta like cough? Yeah, I thought the window was down, so I did the sh rip the shot and I went tha and it just like splashed all over the window, and I was like, who rolled the window up?

SPEAKER_01 3:07

As I was like joking, yeah, that tracks.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

So fill me in on the 30-year gap here. You graduated high school. Were you doing comedy in um film at that time? Or did you develop this now?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

No, yeah, so I played I played football in lacrosse at at St. Peter's. Oh yeah, there we go. Cheers. And then uh went to Worcester State. I played football at Worcester State. Um after after college is when I I started acting. So I lived, I went down to New York for a couple years. I uh I joined the Screen Actors Guild in 2006, so while I was still in college, but uh yeah, joined the Screen Actors Guild in 2006, uh got into a couple movies, had some like cool experiences and roles in those movies, and then around COVID-ish time, I started uh making my own projects and doing my own stuff. But uh yeah, and I've been doing I've been doing comedy kind of all the way through college since I was probably like 18 or 19. I've been doing stand-up and I've I've done stand-up everywhere, man, for for for a long time. I I kind of stopped doing that over the past couple of years. But uh yeah, dude, I've been I've been all over the place doing stuff.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

So right when it got super popular online, you're like, I'm not doing it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Uh too easy. Yeah, it's too easy. No, you know what it was, man? I had kids, and uh, you know, having kids makes makes really succeeding in standup tough because you're gonna be traveling around and and never really home at night. And then when COVID hit, like you had to do all those like Zoom comedy shows, and those sucked. And like I just it just was like a multitude of things. I'll still do it if it's like a benefit or a good cause, or or if like a bunch of good people are on a show and they want me to go on, I'll do it. But uh, I've like kind of stopped pursuing it as like a full-time type thing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Yeah, so you were doing it full-time at one point?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I mean, I was doing it a lot. I was doing it every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, kind of all over the place. Uh, I wouldn't say I was doing that to just that, but uh I was doing it pretty aggressively for a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

So at what point when you graduated high school and you're in college, were you like, I'm gonna give uh comedy a shot? Like, how were you coming up with the jokes? Or was it like at parties and you said I'm gonna take it to the next level?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, I mean, I've always been like that's always been kind of my role in the group. Is like I'm always I've always been a wise guy. Like I've been a wise ass my whole life. But I think that like what my first show actually, this is funny. So I was a stage hand at the DCU center when I turned 18. I started stage handing, and uh I'd always carry a notebook and like write funny pre pre uh iPhone. You know, I had a notebook in my in my pocket and I'd always write down like funny ideas and thoughts. And uh this this other stage hand, this guy Robert Williams, was like, uh, dude, you're always talking about comedy, blah, blah, blah. I was like, Yeah, he's like, I got you a a show, Friday night at Vincent's. And I was like, what? He's like, Yeah, you're open for like this blues guitarist. He's like, You're gonna do like 15 minutes of stand-up. And I was like, dude, I don't have anything. He's like, Well, you got a whole notebook, so figure it out. And so I did that show um and was horrible. Like, I was terrible, like didn't know what I was doing. But from that, uh, I think that the guys from the flock of assholes kind of heard about me. And so then they asked me to come down to the lucky dog. So I guess I did good enough to get another show. So I did like 15 minutes at the lucky dog, and then I started opening for the flock of assholes doing stand-up. So I do that once in a while. Uh, and just kind of kept trying to like get better every time and progressed on the you know how you were doing, and from there, I I think my real like actual first comedy show was at Frank Foley's comedy safari when it was behind the DCU Center in the Fifth Amendment. You remember Fifth Amendment? And um, I did I did like a showcase there, um, and I I did pretty well. And I actually met who became a longtime friend of mine and and and sort of writing partner, uh, this guy Orlando Baxter, who's another Worcester comedian. Uh, and he was like, hey dude, like you're you're pretty funny, but like you're kind of like unpolished, and here's how you kind of like shape stuff, and he really helped me. And yeah, then it kind of just went from there, and you you know, you fall in with a group of guys and you just start doing it, and before you know it, you're you're you're getting up there a lot, you know.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Crazy. Do you how does a set work? Do you have like your basic set, and then do you try to work in something new in between the trying like if you do Thursday, Friday, Saturday?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah, I mean, for me now it's different, right? When I started, I was very like formulaic with like, here's my opening joke, I'm gonna do these three things, then I'm gonna do this thing, and then I hopefully get like a big laugh at the end. And I was only doing sets of like five, ten minutes here and there. Um, then I started this guy, his name was Mike Cronin out of Rhode Island. Uh, he had a thing called Meatball Comedy Stop, and they did some shows in Worcester 2, and he started having me uh feature uh form. So that's like 30 minutes, and and I wasn't ready for it, but again, I kind of like got thrown into it. So I started featuring and and I had to be like very I had like paper up there with me because I couldn't remember what I was doing. And he came up to me one time and he's like, dude, you gotta just like relax and like know that you got it, and like kind of help me break through with what I do. But um, when I started headlining and in doing like the 30 minutes to to an hour plus or whatever, um, I became much more fluid. Like where I'm at now, I have stuff that I know works. I just get up there and I I just fucking I just have fun, man. So like I get up there and I I do some shit, and if it's going good, I stick with it. If not, I kind of pivot to another thing and uh play with the crowd, get people laughing. And so like it's much different now than it was before. Before it was like very formulaic, like I have to tell this joke at this time, and then I'm gonna be five minutes in, and then this joke I'll be, you know, 12 minutes in, and then they'll give me the light and I'll be done. Now it's like, you know, the past say eight years, ten years, I got up there. I was just getting I was just getting up there and having fun and just doing whatever made me feel good.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

Yeah, it seems like comedy would make you feel good if you could get up there and actually do even just land one.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, oh, for sure. I it makes you uh dude, comedy's like the best and worst thing of all time, right? Because you have nights where you kill and you're like, I'm the funniest fucking person alive, like everybody loves me. And then you have nights where you get up there and nothing works, and you're like, what is going on? I gave these guys everything I had and nobody thought I was funny at all. And like, and then like a lot of times too, like you're not doing it in your backyard. Like, you're gonna drive home from like Rhode Island or or New York or Maine, and you're driving home for like two hours going, like, what am I doing? Am I horrible? Like, do I suck? And like it's one of those things where you just gotta know yourself well enough and like be comfortable enough with yourself where you go, like, yeah, it just didn't work tonight, but like I'm gonna get back up there tomorrow night and it will work, you know? Uh and you just gotta know that, or else it's it'll it'll eat you alive. It's it's brutal, dude.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Yeah, I can imagine like what would work in Worcester, probably wouldn't work in Bangor, Maine.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, and like so Orlando had a funny thing, right? He he did the uh Edinburgh Fringe Fest in Scotland, and he had a bit that like killed always, but it was about the trunk of a car. And he was doing it in England, I mean in Scotland, and nobody was laughing, and and he didn't understand why. And finally, some come up to him, they're like, We don't know what a trunk is. They're like, What's a trunk? And they all call it a boot over there. So he's like, Oh, and then he started changing the joke to like adapt to over there, and then it started working again. And so, like, yeah, like Worcester funny. Worcester's easy because like we both grew up here. We we can I can do an hour plus on Worcester just off the top of my head, just making fun of Worcester, and you'll get a ton of laughs, right? Like you go up to Lewiston, Maine or Bangor, Maine, and it's like they don't know Worcester. So now you gotta figure out like what's funny about the room you're in, what's funny about the people, how do you adapt? Like a lot of my stuff is is is real stories. Like you were talking about, you know, driving to the hootie and spitting on the window. Like a lot of my stuff is stuff that I've really done or really happened to me, but it's like, how do I make Worcester State funny in Bangor, Maine when they don't know what Worcester State is? So you gotta explain it a little bit more in the setup, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah, this is pre-AI, so you can't even like research too much beforehand.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

No, you just gotta show up and like a lot of a lot of what I did was like observational about the room I'm in. I I usually make fun of myself a little bit at first so that they they understand that like I'm not a complete dick because I I do go in a lot on like other stuff too, but yeah, you gotta go you gotta show up in the room and look around. And like I remember I did a show way up in in Maine that was in like a uh a a rod and gun club, and I was like surrounded by dead, like giant dead animals. And I was like, and I just made and you just walked up there and started making fun of that, you know what I mean? Like uh, or saying, like, you know, I don't want to say too much to you guys, you're all the fucking guns on you, so like you know, I I better not pick on you too much, and then they all kind of laugh at that, but like uh yeah, it's a lot of just like on the fly, what can you find that's funny that relates to them that gets them to relate to you? Then you can kind of go to your standard material, but because they already go, like, oh, this guy gets us, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Interesting. Yeah, how does uh filmmaking or making videos work into that? Was it like an offshoot of comedy where YouTube started getting popular and you're like, oh, we should put videos out?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I mean, uh no, I think it was it's almost opposite. Like, I always wanted to be uh like a filmmaker, uh an actor, uh more of a serious person. I'm just not like I'm just I that's just not who I am. It's what I it's who I would like to be. Um so I started in 2006. I started with the goal kind of being to be a serious kind of like dramatic actor, and I got some parts, but like I was filling in the meantime with with comedy, and when I started making my own stuff, uh I started with a TV pilot called Hollywoo, and why I'm rocking the show. I gotta get you one of these, I'll send you one. Um, but I started with a TV pilot called Hollywoo, um, which was a comedy with Orlando. We kind of I wrote the thing and then I brought him in and we kind of co-wrote the pilot uh together off the idea that I had. Um, and then I was like, let's make this, you know, and it's it was a dark comedy, and it did pretty well in the the festival circuit. And um from that it kind of just started, you know, uh moving forward. Once you kind of have a thing that has a festival run and does pretty well, it's kind of like, well, what's your next project? And you're like, shit, I better come up with something something next, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Is that is that what you you were putting your stuff in festivals or is that how it goes? Like you have to sign up for them and they could get screened and a good audience.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yeah, so um, you know, the festival thing, I I've done that now with like four films that I've directed. Uh you you submit to festivals, and um hopefully, you know, you get accepted to a few of them, and it screens and they have awards, and a lot of these awards behind me are from different festivals that I've won on different different projects. Um but yeah, and then you know, it's almost like comedy or or wrestling or whatever. You start in a circuit, you hopefully work your way up to like bigger festivals and more prestigious festivals, and hopefully start getting accepted and then winning awards and and moving your way up. And uh, yeah, that's that's what I've been doing for the past you know six or seven years now.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

That's awesome. Yeah, what else do you guys think? That's interesting. Any uh golfing or what inspires you to do is what like you box.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

I read I re Yeah, so I uh I I did Thai kickboxing for a bunch of years in Worcester. I boxed for a long time. Um that those are always those have always been two passions of mine. I I love that stuff. That's not really stuff that I write about, but it is something that I I do to stay physically fit and and competitive and uh centered, right? Um, but I read a ton, Rich. So like I try to read 50 books a year. I don't always get there, but a lot of my inspiration comes from reading, comes from watching movies. Like I'm a I'm a big cinephile. I love watching film, I love watching old movies, I love seeing new stuff. So um, you know, my inspiration comes from the world around me, the literature, art. I can get inspired by music. Uh I I listen to a ton of music when I write all the time uh to help me get through it. So I I I get inspired by that. I do golf too. Like I suck, I suck. That's not something that I would I would brag about on a podcast, but I I golf once in a while. Um, and then just being a dad, I think takes up a lot of my free time too. I have two small girls that uh I try to try and do as much as I can to teach them, you know, not only like kids stuff, but teach them the entrepreneurial mindset of like, hey, it's it's important to go after what you want and not get boxed into the day-to-day bullshit that a lot of people do because uh you're gonna end up undervalued and depressed. And I think we've all been there. I and and it's not a place that that I aspire to stay at, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

As most creatives, they probably are told throughout their whole uh career as a student not to doodle, not to drift, not to, you know, bring your mind elsewhere, stay focused on the the math, and you're just like antsy.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

A hundred percent. You're told that you're you're not a good student, you're not smart, whatever it is. Like, don't listen to that. Like that, like emphatically don't listen to that. I I was I say this a lot in podcasts, like I've been told for so many years that like you're you're you're stupid, you don't you don't understand math or science, and it's like it's not that I don't understand that, but what I was doing was I was writing like a 130-page novel about Vietnam when I was in math class. Like that's what I was doing. I was writing non-stop. I I had stories about bands, stories about wars. Like, that's what I did. And dude, this is a good story that that I I I wrote in uh uh an article for uh uh for an interview, but I've never told it. So when I was in first grade, I went to Our Lady and the Angels, right, uh in Webster Square, uh Catholic school. And uh we had an assignment in first grade to draw God, right? And uh everybody in my class drew God. They drew like a wizard or like a guy with a big beard and a staff. Uh, and I drew a red box and like colored in the red box in first grade, right? And teacher got all the assignments and held mine up in front of the room and called me up to the front of the class to like make fun of me. And she was like, What was the assignment, Tom? And I was like, Well, you said to draw God. And she's like, Yeah, you drew a red square. And I said, Yeah, that's what I think God looks like. And she was like, This isn't what God looks like. And I was like, How do you know? And I got called down to the principal's office, and my parents had to come into school because I was being like a insubordinate, wise ass. And it's like, I wasn't even trying to, but like, I still fucking hope when she dies, God's a red box. But it's like, that should be something that's appreciated about kids. It's like, I think we take all their creativity out of them at a young age where it's like, that's stupid, don't do that. You're you're thinking dumb. And then like you make them into a factory worker, right? Like, it's like everyone.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Yeah, and that's stuck with you for the rest of your life because you're like Yeah, it still bothers me.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

It still bothers me.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Yeah, because you were making an innocent claim and all of a sudden you're labeled as a defiant um asshole.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah, and it yeah, yeah. And it's like for being artistic or for thinking differently. Like, I hope my kids are always the ones drawing the red box, and I hope I get called to the principal's office and I'll still fucking tell them off. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 19:43

We could definitely get into that. I've had many, my mom has had many visits because I went to Catholic school too.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

I had a third grade teacher, sister Dulcissima, rest in peace. Uh I thought she was old when I was in third grade, but apparently she was only like 70 and she lived to be like 110 because she recently passed, and I was like, I thought what she was still alive. Isn't that crazy? But she was yeah, and uh she was a tough third grade teacher. Like I was in the hot seat all the time in um principal's office a lot. Like I was writing my name on the brick wall with a piece of like rock, like chalk, and I was gonna write Rich. And I was and I had the P of the R done, and of course the principal was right behind me. She grabbed my hand, brought me to the office, called my mom in from work, and was like, the punishment must fit the crime. And she's like, Oh my god, what did he do? He was gonna write a swear word, and she's like, What? And I was like, I was writing my name, and she was like, He was gonna write a swear word, it was a P. And I was like, Well, that's like at the start of an R. I didn't even know a swear word in sixth grade, you know? My fourth grade teacher would call me Doodle Boy, like in front of everybody. I was kind of embarrassed about it because everything had doodles in it. But yeah, I was thinking because Yeah, I was just like trying not to think about what she was probably saying, and I was like, I'm gonna doodle a doodle away.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

So a hundred percent. You're creating, you're you're making art, right? And like, dude, I don't know. I encourage it, I love it. I I love when my daughters are like, Oh, check out this thing I made. I'm like, that's the coolest. My my uh oldest daughter, when she was in uh kindergarten. their final project, they all had to do like what they want to be when they grow up. And the thing that made me the most proud is she said, I want to be an entrepreneur like my parents. I was like, yo, that's super cool. And uh she just had a project that uh that she had to do where uh they was like let's go like I I love that and she was like the teacher kept taking pictures of me and like laughing. I was like yeah that's because you're fucking cool I was like that's because you're cool yeah that reminds me of a book report I did on uh Captain Cook was he a pirate see what I mean yeah of course yeah I don't I don't remember yeah yeah it was he like a privateer yeah kids are interesting now it's it's amazing because they have a lot of information and they're so smart um so it's always interesting to see yeah what what my when my kids come up with stuff I'm just like scratching my head thinking like how did you even think of that where'd you get that but maybe it's off then probably I think my parents are scratching their head a lot like oh yeah for sure I know I know my parents are scratching their head a lot at stuff that I was coming up with I uh I saw a meme the other day that I think you'd appreciate it was like uh my kid said to me you couldn't write a book report without using ChatGPT and I said I used to write a book report without reading the book oh god and we had the freedom to like go explore and get bored so the stuff we would come up with is pretty wild is wild yeah exactly even just the freedom that we were talking about of like oh god uh no I was gonna say imagine going to a party now like you couldn't even bug out because you could be scared that you're gonna get filmed dude that's what I was just gonna say the same thing. I was gonna say like even what we were talking about like the freedom to just like show up in a random apartment and like chill with people that like we don't really know each other but we've been at 20 parties together because we just like both pull up to the same place and like start handing beers out to each other and like you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Like that's not a I don't think that yeah and parties were always like a catalyst to do something creative the next day it depends if you had to work or not but like get up early all inspired about because of the party last night and you're like oh we're gonna make some music we're gonna write some comedy let's write you know let's write a video um let's be entrepreneurs and try to figure out how to stop waiting tables or you know not that there's anything wrong with waiting tables yeah I mean you do it for a while and you're like okay there's gotta be something else to do like I I I think you are like I get in trouble everywhere I go that's not doing something creative so I gotta figure out I gotta figure out my own lane my my thing is I'm always chasing like an outlet of creativity so if it's something new I haven't tried yet for instance comedy there's a part of me that's like it's such a creative expression and it's a challenging but that's kind of the fun of learning how to do something for me anyways like sometimes I'll go all in on something learn how to do it set it all up do it for a little bit and then it's like all right what's something else I can learn and and chase um because I'm always like oh I'm gonna drop a rap album when I turn 40. I'm gonna this podcast was kind of a practice in um oh I need to put out more content what's a way that I can manage this with a family and a job and I should do a podcast I was like oh now I need to come up with a podcast oh I need to learn how to film it and edit it you know um but this is a project actually that I've kept going because it's like super fun and you know you film and you catch up with people um there's nothing like I love doing it I feel like I could do it for a long time and just keep the guests coming I think you're I think you're good at it dude I I I like it I like what you do I I I like watching it uh I think it's it's poignant I think you have some super interesting people come on um but yeah I'm the same way do you have ADHD I've had I've been diagnosed I never took my mom wouldn't let me take the medication but I'm guessing uh yeah yeah because so I get diagnosed as like and I I get diagnosed as an adult and I've also never taken the medication but it just reminds me so much of of like what you said is is so much how I am like uh my wife Carrie will like come downstairs like what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 26:47

I'm like I'm learning how to do card tricks now she's like why are you learning how to do I'm like I don't know I want to do card tricks now so like I'll go all in and learn like 50 card tricks and then I get bored with them once I know how to do them then I'm like now I'm gonna play guitar she's like what are you doing? I'm like I'm figuring out how to play guitar she's like why are you playing guitar now? Like I don't know I just want to play guitar for a little bit you know I I'm always on to like what's the next thing I think like your podcast is my like reading like I I've kept that up pretty consistently but like I switch genres all the time. It's like now I'm reading horror books now I'm reading biographies now I'm reading poetry you know what I mean but uh I'm always chasing that that sort of unique outlet too and when when people people ask me a lot of times when I'm doing stuff like this or like an interview they'll say like what's your what's your favorite thing do you like to write do you like to direct do you like to act it's like no I like to create like I don't care if it's painting or or or writing or acting like they're all different forms of creating and that's what I like to do.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

I don't care if I'm making a podcast or if I'm making a a a sculpture you know what I mean I I just like to be always challenging and learning and like figuring out the next sort of outlet of creativity maybe I'm a psycho but it's like the worse I am at something the kind of more I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

It's like a weird for sure yeah for sure and then when I get good at it so bad at it dude and then when I get good at it I usually quit and start something else. Like I'll get really good at card tricks and I'm like I don't want to do card tricks anymore.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Do you ever get like nostalgia with like in read old books that you've read a long time ago or um watch like movies and repeat because it brings you back to sp certain time so I I I do and I don't with books I like to reread like classics a lot.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

So like uh I I've read like Don Quixote like 15 times because like I love that book. I'm more so with movies. I have like sentimental connections to movies because I think it's like what I I was an only child and like we had one TV and we could only watch like what my dad had on um but when he didn't I would watch my dad was like dude my that's my grand that's my grandmother my dad was like a savage he watched like Platoon and like uh apocalypse now and like so I was like I I joke around I was only like second grader that was like worried about like scud missiles from Saddam Hussein like I was like we're gonna get scudded by the Kurds and I was like what are you talking about? I was like watching CNN all day but uh fiction like yeah I watched Top Gun when I was like three I have pictures of me like dressed like Top Gun Maverick when I was literally like two or three years old there's no way I should watch that but that's something that I've watched I can do the entire movie if you're like do top gun starting now I could just do top gun and like uh that tombstone though those type of movies man like when those are on I have to watch them like I can't not watch them um so yeah I'm more sentimental with movies I feel like I I feel like I I really at a from a young age I really like identified and connected myself to actors and movies and and roles for me it's the original teenage mutant ninja turtles I like have to watch it yearly so good so good my my daughters get mad at me uh because every sequel to everything I call Secret of the Ooze and they're like it's not Secret of the Ooze they get they get pissed out of me but you don't understand it's like sucks because it's the sequel and I do like Secret of the Ooze just because of the nostalgia factor like the third one the worst I don't even don't even yeah don't even want to yeah don't even talk to me about it. I did have those action figures though I think I had the action figures where they were like samurais or something right I did too they were probably discounted yeah like the third because nobody wanted them um yep every Christmas I'm like why did I get another uh episode three Teenage B Ninja Turtles figurine it's like a side character so I'd be like one of the main guys my kids still play with Super Shredder oh my mom saved like all my like a bag the Ninja Turtles bag in the back here my mom saved it it was full of like McDonald's toys and ninja turtles yes so my parents recently moved well what what else no just toys from my brother's uh oh yeah childhood too she's just like saving these toys like Transformers and stuff but what were you saying my my parents well no my parents just moved and and behind me I have like boxes of the same thing they were like here's all your ninja turtles here's all your wrestling figures here's all your like like dude I like I got my I got like my only friends Shawn Michaels from the Rockers like because you were single because you were uh only child those are my only yeah those those are my only friends man yeah that in my imagination you know that's what happened you're like I gotta invent these worlds dude literally like no joke I I that's why I connected so much with movies too I would just like immerse myself into I'm fucking Maverick in top gun and like I would think as like a little kid I would think that other people would think I was Maverick you know what I mean like I'd put that jacket on and we'd be like at the bank and I'd be like everyone in here thinks I'm a Navy fighter pilot like for sure like fully convinced like not even joking around I thought that that's what I would look like you know do you like historical docks?

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Like are you a history buff? Oh yeah yeah I love yeah I love history big history guy did you see the turning point the Vietnam dock on Netflix? Oh dude yeah so good so good I um I was like I want to rewatch it actually it's I watched it when it first came out and I was like this is the most beautifully done doc ever I was like obsessed with it it it it it's so good that it like because that was another kind of like micro obsession I had as I was growing up was like the Vietnam War.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

And um that documentary was like so powerful that like I reached out to a couple of guys that I know that were like Vietnam vets and I like I had to like talk to them. I was like can you like was it what was it like what was your experience like like do you mind talking to me about what happened like uh I needed some sort of like personal connection to it. You know what I mean? It was really good. Yeah yeah yeah because I bet everyone has a different like they were in a different location there was different things yeah different era like different parts of the different uh times like I I talked to a guy yeah I talked to a guy that um he's in one of my films actually he's in two of my projects and it uh his name's Tom Brogan and uh he's working on a project about his life kind of right now but he went he did two tours in Vietnam and he did one early on and he said it was like full jungle and like crazy that then he went back in like I don't know 68 or something and he said like the entire jungle was burned down there with it was like an apocalyptic post post-apocalyptic world there was like no vegetation left and uh he said the craziest part which which has stuck with him for his whole life and kind of formed how he's lived the rest of his life was uh he went back the second time and he said he was like mind blown by the orphanages in Vietnam uh that were full of little American kids and they had really no home because the mother got rid of them because they looked American and they would get killed or or or you know uh isolated from their own people and then the American dad didn't know that he had a kid so the kids were kind of just like left it there's like a whole generation of kids that were kind of left uh with no no home you know what I mean yeah I it does war doesn't make sense to me like I get it no kind of yeah but I it just I don't think I I don't think I do intellectual enough yeah like it would be good if aliens came and kind of like checked us and then just left and then maybe we'd all be like oh crap we should probably just work together yeah yeah like yeah I I think that it's like for me the craziest thing is like I don't know I don't know man I I have a real hard time like not seeing how you can't find commonalities with anybody right I you know hostile not hostile different country different beliefs like there's always sort of something like I don't know I have friends that are of every sort of race and denomination and thought process and uh I always seem to find a common interest or or thing that I'm like oh this dude's actually like a pretty good guy like he he likes this thing or you know what I mean um I wonder if like this information era where we were able to consume information in a different way yeah and we weren't like manipulated by people as easily because we could make you can look your stuff up yeah but there was books and publications yeah it's tough to it'd be weird to go back in time yeah what year when would you go back to definitely not like 1650 and not before then I would think like um 18 no 1901 oh okay so you're going to Italy between this oh you're you would go to Italy 1901 Italy yeah why so uh olive oil on the trees like a Mediterranean climate um like walking you know having to tend your garden and then like walk up hills or downhills to go the ocean I've never even been to Italy so but it sounds nice yeah but if I was like to pick a place to go present day and just like it'd probably be Vietnam like right now yeah yeah or Thailand why I've got health like healthcare scare like I would healthcare obviously is important to you know like as we get older so I might be a little afraid to go to Vietnam I don't know if like a specialty doctor would be a bit you know I'm sure there are but I know Thailand is set up more for that um it's actually like so yeah go what?

SPEAKER_03 37:56

No I was just gonna say it's actually like really I think it's like really uh advanced like Thailand uh has like some great medical facilities that's why I think it would be the pick with the three kids over Vietnam but Vietnam's so affordable and beautiful and the people are so great it's such a good country Yeah I'm the oddball who could like I like I could eat that food every day. Like I could have a soup for breakfast and like spicy food. It's just like I I I wouldn't get sick of it honestly That's the Polish in me. I want like borsche for breakfast with like rye bread and butter and oh let's be uh what's it called? Oh guinness too right I'm gonna throw a movie a couple movies out there some of my favorites and people kind of hit back at me on this one. There will be blood is like one of my top five that it's boring and it's like they don't like it. I'm like Well I'm like enjoy the pace like it's that's the beauty of it could be Yeah I we I was having this argument the other day about it and they're like I'm like trying to get people to watch it and they're like it's I tried to it was so boring I got a weird one that is in my top ten surf ninjas Yeah I think so because I had it on VHS like recorded off of like TV and it would just be on repeat all the time Yeah I mean it I'm not even gonna get into it. People are like what's surf ninjas I don't know I it's I feel like it's not as a known title. I think if you had game gear you knew what it was because he plays the game gear in it and controls controls the narrative with it. Yeah Oh d uh Nostur how do you say it? Nosturefo that was a crazy horror flick. I loved it. It's a remake There's a new Frankenstein out I haven't seen yet I think that's on Netflix too del Toro uh Guillermo del Toro is the director I think what are some of your Yeah it was just I don't like Top Gun. Isn't that funny? I don't know I it's I now I'm saying it I feel like it's boring. I try to watch it I can never watch it Even though they're PG You want to be gay? Can you watch them? Hey, I was a dancer. I'm not against yeah. Yeah, they're like th these new ones are absurd. They're absurd. Well, isn't the whole Star Wars journey absurd if you really think about it? Yeah, the premise is kind of absurd. They just took it too far, maybe, on the last one. I, you know. I'm just stubborn on it. Yeah. Um, I I had to look to see my movies. I like keep my Blu-rays that I like. Um, like I love sci-fi, so like District Nine for me is a top one. Have you seen that? Oh it looks I saw pro Project Tail Mary is the big one. I read the book first Project Z uh X Z was um It's not a zombie film, is it? No. What's a favorite comedy? Is it arrested development? Show. It could be a show or a movie. I could see that. Oh yeah, I've seen it multiple times. It's wild. Oh, prop Tropic Thunder.

unknown 49:02

Tropic Thunder, like the big guy like a pirate guy, and that you think guys.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

When I see movies like Fist Foot Way, I get inspired, uh, or like it's always sunny. I'm like, damn, I feel like it's challenging. But I was like, we should make a pilot. I always tell my wife, I was like, can I just like film us in the kitchen making uh dinner and like you're in like a a stained shirt and sweatpants, and I'm like in my underwear with my belly hanging out, and we'll just like won't get the kids in it, but we'll just get the vibe of it and see if I can cut it into something. Yeah, uh, she's not for it. I I do have like this idea for a show, it's kind of like perfect strangers, but it's me and I get I get divorced, and I have to move in with my friend who is a um cross-dresser. Like um, he does like drag shows, but he also gets divorced, and we get divorced at the same time, and we end up just moving in together above a gay bar. And it's like the challenges of dating, there's always tension, like where I'm like, does he think I'm gonna like change to go to that side? And like I've got a couple like scenes scripted out, but it's I'm like, I don't know if I could pull this off. Yeah. The cross dressing. Yeah, I that was a show I like had to watch when I was younger. I was like, oh, Perfect Strangers is on. I don't know why. Laverne and Shirley, then Perfect Strangers. Yeah, Alf was good. Yeah, I tried to re watch it recently too. It didn't hit the way it was. I don't remember. The the Wonder Years always hit it hit for me. But that's that Vietnam era. That's the music of it, it just always like hit my soul. I remember just staying up all night, Nick at night, pretending to be sleeping, but watching it on my TV, and like I remember crying on the last episode. Something about the music too, like it always like g brings you to like some Yeah. Yeah, my kids like it too. I I feel like we do the same thing. We I try to like put on something that I kinda don't wouldn't mind watching.

unknown 52:37

How old are you?

SPEAKER_03 52:39

Five, four, and ten months. If you're okay with one F bomb and a couple shits, um I let 'em watched Spaceballs.

unknown 53:07

I have to contact that.

SPEAKER_03 53:20

I was thinking Austin Powers.

unknown 53:25

I think that'd be good if I could.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

Yeah, and I'm like, are they gonna be like freaked out at like Fat Bastard and Gold Member? I was like, uh maybe I I gotta chill it out on the PG 13 movies. They're only five. My wife's like, what the hell are you doing? Letting them watch that.

SPEAKER_00 53:57

I don't really think something. I don't know about it was definitely something.

unknown 54:07

When I was in it, I didn't remember how it was.

SPEAKER_03 54:11

We had to cut off the Simpsons. We were doing the Simpsons every like once a night, and then after like a week, I was like, um, my wife's like, you can't play the Simpsons anymore. And they're like, put the Stimpsons on, the Stimps. And I'm like, um, Homer's like choking bar. He's like, why is he choking them? And they're like drinking and getting drunk, and like, yeah. Oh, and Bart's being fresh, and they're like laughing and getting it, and I'm like, um, this could be bad. Step brothers That's like unrated, too too much. I mean, we were I can see it. Yeah. Is that when he's like my plums? I only I like watch those scenes on YouTube when it's like the cutaway, you know, the when the other people are breaking because he's they're doing like improv. Oh, do you did you ever do improv classes? Yeah, I've got to take in some improv classes, and one thing I took away from it was wow, when someone's good at improv, they're just good at it. Like you c it's hard to learn, I feel like. Would I should I just pull from my life and start there? But I don't have what comes after that. So I've I've saved all my referrals from high school, like all my write-ups, because they're hilarious. So I was just gonna open up with like, yeah, I'm gonna just read some of these uh referrals I got in high school. And like that they tell a story. Some of them are like paragraphs long, so it kind of just like it's that's the opener, you know. I could just read those and I think people would think they were funny. Maybe maybe not. I don't know. So I can't just stand in my basement and be like, can I do like a basement comic set and just put it on YouTube? With can I put like a keyboard with like sound effects and like crowd noise? Yeah. I'm gonna try it.

unknown 1:00:45

I think that would be funny for it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:53

Done. Have you seen my YouTube? Yeah, my my YouTube is just an external hard drive of work. Like, there's no F-Giving when I hit publish. Like, if I made it, it gets published. So there's some really weird stuff in there. Um, because when you have zero subscribers like I did for so long, it was like an external hard drive. I was like, I'm not buying an external hard drive, I'm just gonna put it on YouTube. And then you one day you realize, oh shit, this is all like live in the in the world. Eh, what are you gonna do? Yeah. Who watched allergic to cubicles 300 times? I think that's why I do it.

unknown 1:01:53

Yeah, you can step down to watch that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

I know I'm like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

If I find something, yeah, that was like the moniker for a while with like when I first started learning how to edit film or even like take you know, do projects. It was more like earlier we were talking about a practice and being bad because I knew I didn't know how to use a camera. I was just hitting auto play and like directing people to do stuff and it to in whatever way I could, but I'm in my basement, um, and I re I just refurbished my Nintendo, my original Nintendo, so I'm still playing Nintendo, so I'm an adult. I replaced the 88 pin connector that the video games slide into. They get corroded and dirty, and then I cleaned all the um connections on all the games, so now it just like works instantly, basically. Mike Tyson's punch outs up there. Um the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but there's a difficulty factor there. I still have never I never beat it. They do on YouTube, they do. And I watch them and I'm like, I'm gonna try to beat it. Once I get to the night time, I'm it's it's over. It's so hard. No, people like do speedruns of it. Most of the games I can't really beat. Yeah, most yeah, I I actually I'm playing the new Contra on Xbox. I'm not a huge gamer. I literally bought an Xbox like a year ago. Um, and I it just kind of sat and collected dust until I realized you could buy like Contra a new Contra game, and that's kind of got me back into the gaming because it was super fun. It's just like the original, but yeah, it's awesome. It's super difficult, um, but it's like long levels. It's like the old game, but with new graphics and bosses, and it's just fun. That and Mario, uh, yeah, Zelda's probably my favorite Nintendo game ever. That's probably the one I've played the most over and over and over again. Even Zelda too, I love. Yeah, I mean, the only thing I don't like about new games is how involved you have to be. Like, I feel like it's a full-time job. Like, if you want to play Red Dead Redemption, I'm like I'm like, I don't have enough time in my lifetime to do this. Yeah. Yeah, and if we have if you have ADHD. What do you end up doing? Just running into mindless fields trying to catch bugs. And then for an hour goes by and you're like, wow, I didn't even do any objective to move progress in the game. And now I lost my horse. What the fuck do I do now? I've smoked cigarettes. I've found some whiskey. I've like killed like four people and robbed them, and now I'm like wanted in every county. I can't progress forward because I keep going to jail. Or I'm just at the point where like I tried a war game and I'm like, I just don't even know what to do. Like I'm supposed to be stealthy and I just keep getting murked. I did get into Fortnite for a little bit. I thought that was pretty fun. Yeah. It's like characters. Yeah, you just basically launch into a big map map and it gets smaller every couple minutes, and you gotta be the last one or survive. But yeah, the peep yeah, it's it's it it was a learning curve though for a while. Um but like with everything, and now I don't even play it. It was like a month, and then I learned how to play it. I feel that. So that last I I watched the film you shared, which was kind of like a horror psychological thriller. Um it's not released yet, so we don't have to talk about it, but is that the main genre that you like to act in now? Because, like, as a filmmaker, that's really what we have to rely on good writing and simple cinematography, because we're not gonna be able to go get CGI and you know, the concept has to be like around the characters, right? Nice work. What's the worst camera you've ever filled a project on? iPhone? Yeah, you know, like you're like, oh, let's just fill let's make this project. We're just gonna use this canon. This is what we have. Yeah, I'm wondering what the learning curve is if you like rented a Ari Alexa and you got your lens and then you like turn it on and you're like, uh what's going on here? And it's like you can tr try to draw inspiration the night before, maybe watch like a Hitchcock film or something. The the Masters, you know. Will the will will the actress be there while you're shooting your scene so you can go back and forth?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:56

Even though camera one is just on you, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:07

So when what was the first piece you did to get your sag card started? How does that work? It's No, I'm just listening. No, well, I I got a SAG card, but I only did Bush Gardens as a dancer, and I did Foothills Theater in Worcester. Oh, yeah, okay, so that's why I got it. Oh, okay. So I'm not crazy, all right. There we go. Yeah. I don't know what the hell we talked about, but and it's a weird, like there was a three-day weekend. Um, I'm I'm foggy. I don't know about you. I'm like, but that's I don't want to miss this opportunity to catch up either. So I was like, whenever you want, I'm down. Dude. Awesome catching up. I'm looking forward to seeing more work you got going. Always hit me up if you need an extra. If I got the bandwidth, I'd get on screen and you could kill me, you can do whatever you want with me. I have no boundaries, dude. In the film, nothing, that would be cool. Like just do like a one hour film, like meet up, shoot a bunch of scenes in one hour, and then see what we can edit. Yeah. I mean, it ain't gonna be pretty. Yeah, like raw, like real raw. We'll get like someone with like a VHS recorder on their shoulder. And then we'll just transfer it to digital and chop it up. Yeah, I actually have a VCR right here. I like recently uh digitized an old VHS for someone, so I got the setup. Dude, VHS looks so bad. And we we just leave it in coffee shops around Worcester. Ooh, with a QR code taped to it, and when they click the QR code, it goes to a paid site, and they have to pay fifty dollars for me to digitize it so they can watch it. Yeah, fifty-fifty, dude. Oh, well we'll write snuff film on it, too. Exclusive Worcester Snuff film from 2004, Seclusion Behind Holy Name. Girls, you know. Oh man. Ooh, well track the the QR code will actually track their IP address so that the date of the video will update to what year they graduated high school. Class of 2012, snuff film, girls. You might know. You know, yeah, not might know. Girls, you know, could be your sister, could be your wife. Right. Yeah, I have go to my YouTube and check out my Versace Yeezy Vans collab. It's just me dancing for two minutes and um keep sharing stuff with me. I love consuming uh stuff people I know make. Like, I'm gonna get it. I do want to make an offshoot of the podcast because what's happened is I text people audio messages now, like people I've caught up with that I'm like in contact with, and I'm like, oh, I should just do an audio only podcast of all my podcast guests and the messages we share back and forth because it's always like funny little like like hey, I got an idea, you know. And I want to get Louie Lou on a like 15-minute because he has a funny bit. He made his kids Polish Kelbasa and pierogis. He's Spanish and his wife is Irish, and they wouldn't eat them, so he was calling them something like ravioli and um hot dog. He was like, Oh, I made my kids ogies and calbasa, but we told them it was ravioli and hot dogs, and they ate it. And then he came up with some like Polish Spanish name for it, and I was like, holy shit, dude, this needs to be a 15-minute podcast by Louie Lou and Rich Marks.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:17

Yeah, I know, like it's a special world, I just don't differ at all.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:28

How do kids do that? My kids do that, like my wife will make them noodle soup, they won't even touch it. And it's noodle soup, it's not, it's like broth and noodles. And then a couple days later, I'll make them noodle soup, and they're like, Can I have another bowl? And Cassie's like, What the hell? You know, I made the same thing for you. I was like, But you didn't make it like dad. Um yeah, it's like I'm always kind of like uh reverse psychology on these kids. Like I Can get them to do what I need them to do. Sometimes. Today they were crazy. I'm talking crazy. Like, like I'm like, what are they on right now? And my wife's like, and I was like, don't even worry about it. I got them for the rest of the night. And I was like talking to them, like everything they were doing was the best. Oh, you guys are so calm. Why did you do gymnastics? I'll put the mats out. They were like gymnastics fighting, like crazy running in the walls. And like my my daughter had a rough day yesterday. She like literally has scraped feet and like a busted toe because she was running barefoot on concrete twice. Not one time, twice, and just like scraped her whole foot up. And today they're just like on a whole like hyper level. They were boxing with uh my wife's brothers, so they're like into fighting and doing gymnastics. And I'm like, yo, alright, I need to like reverse psychology them hard. And after like 20 minutes, they were starting to be like, what is wrong with dad? What is he like? What is he talking about? We're acting crazy. So leave it up to me to be on such a high note to end the podcast and then end it with just like a rant that has no virality yet whatsoever. Oh, and just me and you 24 hours straight, but we're bringing in previous guests and new people, all the like, and then when they're like and they're like, oh, we gotta go, it's like two hours, bro? Two hours, that's it. Coffee, wine. Do you are you a gummy guy? Do you smoke the ganj? I don't. I'm like, I have yeah, I know. Uh it's like I can't even eat a half a gummy. I'm like one, it like wakes me up and I get too creative and I forget that I'm like a pr uh like an adult, and then it's like three o'clock in the morning, and I'm like, oh man. But since I haven't in like 10 years plus, I was like, oh, should I do it on the podcast one day? I think so. But I'm like, sometimes I don't know what to say now because you know it's pretty new for me. I'm just like, imagine I was just blankly like blank staring at the camera for 30 minutes. Maybe I want like six guests, because that way Yeah, the panel. And I'll and I won't. And I'll tell everyone I did. Just so I can egg everybody on. And there's like a disclaimer that comes up like warning, warning, Rich Marks did not eat his edible. Like, oh yeah. Conan had me, I love Conan. He had me cracking up the other day because he did a whole episode on why he's been treating the cannabis gummies that his co-workers gifted him as like a chore and he still hasn't taken them. He's like, Yes, I haven't taken the gummies yet. He's like, why do I look at it as a chore? He's like, I gotta put it on my schedule, and they're like, dude, just take one like in the afternoon. Don't make a big deal out of it. And he's like, I don't know why I'm making a big deal out of it. Like, you know, he's so eccentric. But that's how I am too. Like, if I had gummies on my desk, I'd be like, I can't take these today. Uh when am I supposed to eat these, you know? What's the next movie you're watching? Odyssey. I didn't even know there was a Mortal Kombat. I think I'll um do that too. Alright, we'll have to get back and um do like a movie review of it. Well, let's sign off. If that's cool. I'm much appreciated. Thank you for coming on. Um I love what you're doing. Keep it up. Yep. And just keep your computer open for a couple minutes so the footage can get backed up. Cool. Alright. Have a good rest of your week, man. Alright, see ya.