Latest / Rich Fulcher's TalkBox / Shenoah Allen: The Pyjama Men, New Mexico, Breaking Weird, LSDelightful, Conceal and Carry On I Ep.36

Transcript

Shenoah Allen: The Pyjama Men, New Mexico, Breaking Weird, LSDelightful, Conceal and Carry On I Ep.36 · Rich Fulcher's TalkBox

• 0:00
  It's too bright. It's like I'm in the sun.
• 0:04
  Oh, hi, It's me. Rich Fulcher.
• 0:07
  Welcome to Talk Box. Rich Fulchers Talk Box and happy
• 0:12
  new Year. One of our first guests this
• 0:15
  year is an old friend of mine. He sits right there and his
• 0:20
  name's Chenoa Allen. You may not have heard of him,
• 0:23
  but you know him. He's from the Pyjama Man and
• 0:27
  he's doing a show at Soho Theatre that is just going to
• 0:30
  blow your talks off. Yeah, that socks with AT.
• 0:37
  Take that and check it out. It's great and you're going to
• 0:41
  love it. I'll.
• 0:43
  I'll talk to you afterwards, OK? Fake pipe.
• 1:04
  Peanut butter and Jelly Testing. Testing 1-2 Three.
• 1:11
  I am a little boy. Oh, hi, Shinoa.
• 1:15
  What are you doing? Hey, man.
• 1:17
  Good to see you. How long has it been I?
• 1:20
  Don't actually know, it feels like about 10 years.
• 1:22
  Sorry about. That a whole decade because I
• 1:27
  moved to LA, Yes. And I remember meeting you.
• 1:31
  We were in a bar. Yes, the line and Unicorn.
• 1:34
  Yes, yeah, that was a great place.
• 1:38
  That was whatever happened to it.
• 1:41
  We stopped going. I don't.
• 1:42
  Oh, yeah, yeah. Isn't it funny how things
• 1:45
  change? Yeah.
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  And so I went off and then I was in LA for about, you know, 10
• 1:52
  years, and then I came back during COVID.
• 1:56
  You've been back. That long?
• 1:57
  Yeah, Yeah. But I guess you don't contact
• 2:00
  anyone while it's COVID and then.
• 2:02
  No, I I believe in full no contact during COVID.
• 2:08
  And afterwards. Yeah, yeah, no, hey, it's a two
• 2:13
  way St, you know that's. True, that's true.
• 2:15
  Come on man. So you have been just a quick
• 2:22
  wrap up. You've been the last 10 years,
• 2:24
  you've been doing loads of shows, but you're known earlier
• 2:30
  for being in this group called the Pyjama Men.
• 2:33
  Yes, and. Yes, a group of two.
• 2:36
  For listeners who don't know what Who is the pyjama men?
• 2:40
  The pyjama men are myself. We're going to put a little
• 2:44
  graphic. This Shinoa Allen and comedy
• 2:48
  partner Mark Chavez, and we spent about 20 years bouncing
• 2:54
  around the world. You went everywhere.
• 2:56
  And morons together. In fact, my kid, my oldest kid,
• 3:01
  his first show he ever attended was your Pyjama Men show.
• 3:06
  Really. Yeah.
• 3:07
  Well. That's nice, I hope.
• 3:09
  And we had to take him out of the show because he was
• 3:14
  screaming not, no, not too loud, but we were very sensitive to
• 3:19
  you guys. Did we scare him?
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  Yeah, we did very parts. You did this voice, it goes
• 3:25
  really low. Yeah, yeah.
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  There's a lot of yeah, kind of, you know, that one wasn't.
• 3:35
  Yes. And you're pretty.
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  You can do. It.
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  Sorry, sorry. So we took him out.
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  No, it was it was sort of like when we go, we better.
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  We were overly sensitive. Like some people don't care if
• 3:49
  their kids are screaming, but we did.
• 3:52
  That's nice. Yeah, because, you know, we
• 3:54
  understand what you're going through on stage.
• 3:57
  Yeah. You don't want any distractions.
• 4:00
  Well, some people, you know, they have memories of theatre
• 4:03
  and they go, that's what made me want to get into showbiz, you
• 4:05
  know, And I don't know how's your son doing is.
• 4:08
  He growing baby. Yeah, see, like this is I've
• 4:11
  never I've never sat in the foot and.
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  He does have the bug, doesn't. It.
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  Good. But I'm not pushing him.
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  I'm not pushing him. Yeah, he's got auditions
• 4:21
  tomorrow and Thursday. No, I know.
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  So when did you guys sort of go? Is it over or is it like you
• 4:31
  take your brain? I always leave that door open.
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  I think I there's something enticing to me about coming back
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  older and saying. That we still got it.
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  Yeah, kind. Of come together and because you
• 4:45
  make. It quite a following.
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  It was a totally improvised show.
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  Some we did that and we did kind of narrative sketch that was
• 4:54
  built out of improv. I'm just going to say it was all
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  made-up. All made-up.
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  It was often the same night. Tonight completely improvised.
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  Pure coincidence. And so you guys just sort of
• 5:10
  like went your separate way, you're both from New Mexico.
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  Yes, yeah. We started working together when
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  we were in high school doing improv together as 17 year olds
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  and then we started touring the Canadian Fringe circuit in 2000.
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  2000 did you? Because you go all the way
• 5:28
  across the country. Right.
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  So they happen like every two weeks and you go city to city
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  and you can just do it. Amazing.
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  It's really fun. I did.
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  I just did Winnipeg. Which is a good one actually.
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  It is, yeah. Don't underestimate Winnipeg.
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  They will get you. Yeah, I had a friend Dave there
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  that said Winnipeg sounded like a game show for Pirates, and
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  that was my favourite Winnipeg joke.
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  So yeah, I'm repeating it now. Great hockey team.
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  Bert Cummings from The Guess Who.
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  How about it? Yeah, that is, but yes.
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  He owns a lot of. Crash test dummies.
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  Crash test dummies. I'm from Winnipeg.
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  Lots of things, yeah. So stop it.
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  No. Bones Yeah, Canada's Royal
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  Ballet, I think, isn't Winnipeg. Yeah, you know, So what is it
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  about? There's a lot of people from New
• 6:24
  Mexico doing improv and stuff. Is it big for that?
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  I think it's, I think it's found its footing there over the years
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  and years. When we started, there wasn't
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  anything there so. Did you just start it yourself?
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  Yeah, we were very DIY and we had a book of Viola Spolan
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  improv exercise. I had that book.
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  It starts. It's for kids.
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  Yeah, and you know, all this sort of space objects, they call
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  them, you know, and you mime stuff and pass it around.
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  And we had a little troop that we made and.
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  Did you have a funny name? The true.
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  Yeah, we were called Da da Nice and we did long form improv and
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  that's kind of how we know each other weirdly, because second,
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  that sort of second city DNA was in that.
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  Book or that book got into very much.
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  DNA And then we were in the desert making our own version of
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  what an improv show was. And then second found us and
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  they were like, what's this weird?
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  Like distant bastard child of us over here.
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  And then they took to us, but we were doing something that was a
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  lot more surreal than their their.
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  Kind that's the beauty of improv there's like all these different
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  schools that sprouted out from long form that were like sort of
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  like acting schools, you know like you've got the meisner,
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  you've got the comedy, you know the ones with your bag over your
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  head. What was that the?
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  Bag head improv. No, I.
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  Don't know. It was like a a chain and there
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  was based mostly on people just coming in and get one liners and
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  stuff. Right.
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  Right. And then there was the long
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  form. There was the annoyance theatre
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  and improv Olympic. Yeah.
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  You guys just so many different, you know, thoughts and concepts
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  that went into it. Yeah.
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  So how would you describe your particular long form?
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  Just surreal. Yeah.
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  I mean, that's not much of A word, is it?
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  I guess because it doesn't really.
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  I don't know. It's it seems like I need more
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  words to describe what we did. It was.
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  It was quick. On acid.
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  Quick character changes on acid, which I, yeah, I do think it was
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  a little bit acid driven really. And we would try to weave
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  together as many storylines as we could.
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  And we really got a lot of mileage out of quick character
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  changes. And it was our relationship
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  because we knew each other so well.
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  Just also kind of why we stopped working together because after a
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  while it was like a closed loop after 20 years.
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  You knew everything about. Becoming the same person.
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  So we needed to sort of go out and get some new information
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  from other places. But there was a real joy to that
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  in performing because we could finish each other's sentences
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  and figure out and do a lot of the same voices.
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  So we we were able to both play like we could have a character
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  in our show and both come in and out of that character while the
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  other person was playing other characters in the scenes around
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  it. And you know, Mark would pick up
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  the voice where I left off, or I'd pick up that voice.
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  It was amazing. It's amazing to watch you two
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  guys. I think you're.
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  Really. Because it's like so smooth and
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  flowy. You're like, what's happening to
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  me? I'm becoming a part of them.
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  Well. That's very nice.
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  And well, no, I I didn't have to say it.
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  So you're doing a show not to skip too far ahead.
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  Yeah. So you did this improv thing and
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  then you when did you start doing one person sort of things?
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  I've done a few over the years, just kind of heppard in between
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  my main career, but this is the first time I've done like a a
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  stand up show and it's it's it's theatre stand up.
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  I guess it's not a, it's not like a straightforward stand up
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  show, but this is. So this show that you're doing
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  upcoming at the Soho Theatre February 18th to the 21st with a
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  matinee? Yes, this show is like a stand
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  up show with. Theatre, Yeah, yeah, it's, it's
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  about my life and it's about and it's sort of, it has something
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  to do with how I became someone that does a lot of characters.
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  That's one of the themes in it is this kind of chameleon
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  approach to life, because I often don't feel comfortable in
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  most situations talking in my own voice.
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  That's what they say about people that do characters,
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  right? Yeah.
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  They're not comfortable as a singular person.
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  Yeah. Which is also why I have a
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  theory about this, like is stand up.
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  A lot of people start to copy people when they first start out
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  and then they gradually they develop their own style.
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  Yeah, well, it's like a it's a vehicle, I guess.
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  You know, you get to, if you have a rhythm, then you're able
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  to get up and do what you can sort of pretend or something.
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  And that can be annoying in stand up or slam poetry or
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  whatever it is. You start to hear the same
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  rhythms coming out and you go fucking.
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  I know what this is already like you.
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  You get impatient with yourself sometimes, is that right?
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  Certainly, certainly, yeah. I'm not just making fun of
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  everyone else, but I think for me it's, it's I, I gravitate the
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  characters out of, out of fear of like being found out or
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  something. Yeah, people are going to see
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  who I am and, and where I'm from and go and go.
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  And we know you like, we're guilty.
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  Guilty. Also, you can blame it on the
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  character if you know, yeah, something happens, that
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  character. Did it?
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  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I didn't say that.
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  Horrible. Thing the bearded mongrel said
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  it. Yes.
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  Is that OK to say which character said that?
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  The 18 foot Buzzard said it. Yeah, yeah.
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  That's I think we're just safe. There, Yeah.
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  So. So when you started out doing
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  stuff when you were little, yeah.
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  Did you do mostly characters? Or yeah, yeah, I was a loud kid
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  that did a lot of voices and. Class clown.
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  Class clown and to a degree and class got punched a lot by my
• 13:06
  brother. Really older.
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  Clown. Yeah, yeah, he, because I'd be
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  coming around going peanut butter and Jelly and he got to a
• 13:18
  point where. Who would want to punch somebody
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  for that? Yeah, anyone.
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  Probably if they hear it enough times, but yeah.
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  So you would say peanut butter and Jelly?
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  I mean, I was always I growing up.
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  I remember my mom, Peanut. Butter and Jelly, Yeah.
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  Is that it? That's yeah, that's your.
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  Kind of good. But I remember my mom being
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  like, you know, can you, can you speak in your own voice, please?
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  Like for just for dinner? Would you adopt an accent
• 13:55
  throughout the day? Or something.
• 13:57
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then later, you know, in
• 14:00
  dating and everything, where's the real Chanel?
• 14:02
  Who's the real Chanel? Yeah, I get it, I get it.
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  So this was a common thing. Right here, it's me.
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  What do you want, you know? Well what about so you'd go out
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  to a bar at night and just be an Italian guy the whole time?
• 14:21
  Yeah, but it's not like I was. I and I still am like this.
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  Yeah, but it's not like I go, I'm going to do an impression of
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  an Italian guy, you know, I just find voices that I feel more
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  comfortable in. And it's this approaches in the
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  show a little bit of like if say you have a roommate where they
• 14:41
  they're always leaving the lids off of their jars or whatever,
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  you know, and you go pick it up and come, you know, and you want
• 14:47
  to go, Frank, stop leaving the lids off the jars.
• 14:49
  If you do that, you're it's a big confrontation.
• 14:51
  But if you go, why you leaving the lid off of the jar, you go,
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  I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
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  And it's not, you know. And then it diffuses the
• 14:59
  situation. Or you go up to him and say
• 15:03
  peanut butter and. Jelly deserves to have its lid
• 15:07
  put back on. Yeah, come on.
• 15:11
  I see. So it got you out of a lot of
• 15:14
  scrapes and situations. Yeah, yeah, I chose.
• 15:18
  I chose silly over over bruising.
• 15:21
  Yeah, I think for the most part. I would do voices, but I
• 15:25
  wouldn't do it every class. I would gauge it by the teacher
• 15:30
  if they were, you know, weak and no, if they were receptive to
• 15:36
  that sort of thing. But you know how you can sense
• 15:40
  that if somebody's going to give you Flack back.
• 15:42
  I was kind of like, OK, yeah. But you seem to be more all the
• 15:48
  time. You were pretty much permeated
• 15:51
  with. Yeah, or I was really close
• 15:54
  down. So it was like finding a finding
• 15:56
  where. And I think, you know, theatre
• 15:59
  in improv gave me a place to go be crazy.
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  It was like, well, if you want to see crazy, I'll show you
• 16:04
  crazy. And and it's better to do that
• 16:07
  in on a stage. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:10
  And that that gave me an, an outlet for, for that, for
• 16:13
  feeling like, oh, people are going to think I'm I'm a loose
• 16:17
  cannon. Weirdo.
• 16:18
  Yeah. How early did you do improv?
• 16:21
  What? What age did you start doing?
• 16:25
  Well, embryo. Embryo.
• 16:27
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was asking for suggestions.
• 16:31
  You weren't like a teenager, were you?
• 16:32
  Separate into more cells, yeah. Mitosis.
• 16:39
  How old were you? Like in college or?
• 16:42
  No, no, we had a we had a high school improv team, which is
• 16:46
  like, I guess I was 17. That's.
• 16:49
  Great. I wish I did that when I was
• 16:52
  that age. But here's something that we
• 16:55
  have in common that I've been reading about.
• 16:57
  Your dad or your granddad was in the Air Force.
• 17:02
  My dad was in the Air Force. Did you know that I.
• 17:05
  Did not know that. OK, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding,
• 17:08
  Ding. Yeah, yeah, look at that.
• 17:10
  Neither of us are in the. Airport, but we moved around,
• 17:14
  right? Did you guys move around or?
• 17:16
  No, that's more of my dad's life, but my he had a big
• 17:19
  influence on me. But I want to hear more about
• 17:22
  yours. No, no, we, I was just going to
• 17:25
  say we averaged about every two years we would move, right.
• 17:32
  So I was used to moving. I'm a rambling kind of guy.
• 17:36
  Yeah, Rolling Stone. What?
• 17:39
  Yeah, a rambling guy. Yeah.
• 17:42
  And so, I mean, when people say what?
• 17:46
  Don't you wish you lived in one place?
• 17:48
  I don't know of any other life. Yeah.
• 17:51
  So that's why I don't get in touch a lot of times with
• 17:54
  people. No, no, I don't.
• 17:56
  Because it's sort of like boop. I'm gone.
• 17:58
  Yeah. And then I come back.
• 18:00
  Hi. Yeah, yeah.
• 18:02
  No, I, I, I've believed a pretty solitary life myself.
• 18:06
  I mean, I have my, my closest, my nearest and dearest, but I
• 18:09
  don't, you know. Reach out.
• 18:12
  They don't. Reach out a time.
• 18:13
  Yeah, Yeah. So you grew up and you stayed in
• 18:18
  New Mexico most of your adult growing up, Yes.
• 18:22
  Yeah, until I was 20, I guess. And was it Albuquerque or was
• 18:31
  it? Yeah, yes, yes.
• 18:33
  Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad put it on the map,
• 18:37
  kind of did. You ever see Gene Hackman?
• 18:41
  The man himself. Did he lives around there?
• 18:44
  I never saw him, but it doesn't surprise me that he might have
• 18:50
  lived there. He's got the right face for it,
• 18:52
  kind of. He's got a desert face.
• 18:55
  There's certainly good New Mexico people, right?
• 18:57
  Yeah, definitely a lot of good ones.
• 19:00
  The wild ones that has everything because it has 2
• 19:06
  national laboratories, has Los Alamos.
• 19:10
  Yeah, totally weird. Yeah, Stranger Things.
• 19:12
  Yeah, Stranger, you know, and, and nuclear weapon development
• 19:15
  and all of that stuff and a big Air Force Base and then a big
• 19:19
  university that has a huge medical programme.
• 19:23
  And then there's like a a huge influx of people that have come
• 19:26
  to the desert to like find themselves.
• 19:28
  So there's all these hippies and then because.
• 19:32
  Isn't there something about the latitude and I?
• 19:35
  Guess so. Yeah.
• 19:35
  And it's also just beautiful there.
• 19:38
  And then it's minority Anglo white.
• 19:43
  So there's a strong Mexican population culture and Native
• 19:48
  American population culture, and all of these different things
• 19:53
  sort of come together. Coalesce A.
• 19:55
  Cocktail of. Wonderment.
• 19:58
  Wonderment. It's called the Land of
• 19:59
  Enchantment, New Mexico. And is there anything about
• 20:03
  Albuquerque in particular that makes it kind of interesting?
• 20:08
  Well. I feel like, you know, if, if
• 20:14
  all of Burning Man attendees came to Albuquerque, no one
• 20:19
  would really notice. Oh, nice.
• 20:21
  Yeah, because now Burning Man is all a big deal right now.
• 20:26
  All the people that are trying to be cool have gotten involved.
• 20:30
  It's not the same. Right.
• 20:32
  Yeah. It's like a bowling league now,
• 20:35
  yeah. Bowling leagues are cool.
• 20:37
  Yeah, I used to be in a bowling league.
• 20:39
  And another thing is I used to also, we were stationed in
• 20:44
  Arizona, right, which is next door, but it's not New Mexico.
• 20:49
  Yeah, it's a different but. I thought I would say that.
• 20:51
  Yeah, in Mexico embraces its culture a lot more and put it
• 20:55
  that way, you know, we don't have, we don't have people with
• 20:58
  guns on the border like Arizona does.
• 21:01
  Right. New Mexico is pretty laid back
• 21:04
  compared to Arizona. Yeah.
• 21:06
  So you you started to leave New Mexico when you were about 20?
• 21:15
  Yeah, so I went to the Del Arte International School of Physical
• 21:18
  Theatre and studied clown. Masks.
• 21:21
  Dance, melodrama. Yes, and MIME.
• 21:30
  Now where is this? Northern California Blue Lake,
• 21:34
  CA. I.
• 21:37
  Spent a year there and then came home, reconnected with Mark and
• 21:41
  we hit the road to the Canadian fringe.
• 21:44
  And that's when it all started. Yeah.
• 21:46
  So your show, though, this show that's coming up, Yeah.
• 21:50
  It's about your childhood. Yeah, yeah.
• 21:55
  Growing up in New Mexico, and as you said, my grandfather was in
• 21:59
  the Air Force, but he was also in, he was the base commander
• 22:03
  and a test pilot. But most interestingly, he was a
• 22:07
  NASA rocket engineer. And he was.
• 22:10
  Did he know Chuck Yeager? Yeah, he did, yeah.
• 22:13
  Yeah. And he flew with John Glenn and
• 22:17
  and a fighter. Holy crap.
• 22:21
  And was head of rocket testing for the Apollo moon landing
• 22:24
  programme. So he's a big old NASA guy, so
• 22:26
  my. Family has this like fireworks
• 22:28
  in the 4th of July. Right.
• 22:31
  Yeah, yeah, certainly for my dad there was because he went to
• 22:34
  some missile tests and stuff, but.
• 22:37
  Did you ever go down in one of those missile silos?
• 22:40
  I have been down. In I did too in.
• 22:43
  New Mexico, crazy, an abandoned one that they've taken the
• 22:45
  nuclear weapon out of it and it's seven stories deep and wet
• 22:50
  and dripping. And the door on it was a foot
• 22:53
  and a half thick steel, yes, And you could push it and it would
• 22:56
  be moving this fast. And then when it finally closed
• 22:59
  the inertia, it would make it the most deafening.
• 23:02
  And I got my finger caught in it and it no, that would have been
• 23:06
  a story. But I what really dawned on me,
• 23:09
  because I was a kid, is that in order to launch the missile, if,
• 23:15
  oh, if one of the people went crazy down there, the other one
• 23:19
  had a gun to shoot the other one.
• 23:22
  Right. Yeah.
• 23:23
  Yeah, I mean they had to do it simultaneously in order to to do
• 23:29
  it. So the one there's.
• 23:32
  A flaw in. This.
• 23:33
  There's a flaw in this because the guy with the gun could go do
• 23:36
  your side. Wait, maybe I've got it wrong.
• 23:40
  Did they both have guns? They yeah, no one had a gun.
• 23:44
  Or maybe there's a third guy with a gun.
• 23:46
  Did I see this on TVI? Don't know.
• 23:49
  Right in if you know about this, one of them has a gun.
• 23:54
  Yeah, it's not me. But if any resort, they had to
• 23:59
  do it at the same time. Yeah, yeah.
• 24:02
  So. You're so when you take the bomb
• 24:04
  out there, it's like every floor so they can go up and down and
• 24:09
  monitor it and do whatever they need to do is just a steel grate
• 24:12
  that stops at the missile. So when after it's gone, it just
• 24:17
  drops into hell, right. Basically it was really spooky
• 24:22
  going in there, dark and you know, no hand rails.
• 24:27
  Well, you just go down there in the dark.
• 24:29
  Yeah, yeah, we just snuck in. That's great.
• 24:34
  I had a friend that got sent to military school in high school
• 24:36
  and found out about it and so we just went.
• 24:39
  In. Yeah, nothing like dropping acid
• 24:41
  in a nuclear silo, you know what I mean?
• 24:43
  I always threaten my kids with military school.
• 24:47
  I know it's such a classic thing.
• 24:48
  And then Ducky got sent to fucking military school and we
• 24:52
  were like, what? This isn't real?
• 24:53
  Is this happening so? Your grandfather was really
• 24:56
  hardcore military. Yes, and really hard ass.
• 24:59
  And he laid down the law. Yeah, OK.
• 25:02
  Yeah, which I think has shaped part of my personality in, in
• 25:09
  feeling like I need to hide, you know, like, I don't know.
• 25:12
  My dad was here comes. The card, you know?
• 25:14
  Yeah. He was a bit like, he didn't
• 25:17
  even have to be, you know, angry or anything.
• 25:20
  You just knew when he got home, you know shit would go down if
• 25:25
  you didn't. Did you feel like you were in
• 25:27
  trouble when you heard your own name?
• 25:29
  Yeah, because I Richard. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 25:33
  Shanawa. And then he'd have this whistle.
• 25:35
  He he could do that whistle. Oh, I thought you meant like it
• 25:38
  with his answers. Richard Yeah, no, it'd.
• 25:42
  Be too loud though. He yeah, you can.
• 25:45
  I can do it. Yeah.
• 25:46
  So he would do that all the time to get me to come in.
• 25:49
  And every time there was something going on, like usually
• 25:53
  it was just dinner, but. Terrifying.
• 25:55
  Yeah. So anyway, go ahead.
• 25:59
  What whistle? Yeah.
• 26:00
  No, no, no. So he was a hard ass?
• 26:03
  Yeah. And what about your dad?
• 26:05
  Was he a hard ass? No, no, intimidating, though.
• 26:09
  I think he he inherited some of my he inherited some of my dad's
• 26:15
  or his dad's kind of authoritative way.
• 26:22
  But they're my dad's gay and artsy and kind of the polar
• 26:28
  opposite. The the thing, the only thing
• 26:30
  they had in common was my grandfather was funny and my
• 26:33
  dad's funny and my grandfather hated my dad because of his
• 26:38
  sexuality. When did he come out?
• 26:41
  Same time He. Was his favourite kid so it was
• 26:43
  a real and I'm like, what do I do about this?
• 26:46
  The fun one's gay. When did your dad come out?
• 26:51
  Always was in my life anyway. I think he, in his words, he
• 26:56
  knew when he was about 7, he was like, I think it's the boys so.
• 27:01
  So your granddad was always slightly mad at your dad.
• 27:05
  Yeah, yeah, always like this is disgusting.
• 27:10
  Why are you doing this to me kind of vibe, but but loved him
• 27:15
  kind of against his will. Yes, yeah.
• 27:17
  This is like immediately. This is a movie or ATV show.
• 27:22
  Yeah, yeah, well, it's a colourful family, which is how I
• 27:25
  ended up writing the show Cause 2.
• 27:27
  So my, my my grandfather and grandmother's brood or my, my
• 27:32
  his two older brothers both ended up working in the
• 27:34
  Pentagon. 1 is a nuclear physicist and the other is a
• 27:38
  military analyst. Are they there right now?
• 27:40
  No, we're done. One of them's dead and one of
• 27:42
  them's retired, but reporting directly to the president with
• 27:45
  war scenarios. And I've been in the Pentagon
• 27:47
  and in the war room and gotten to see like the big iPad version
• 27:51
  of a wall and all of this stuff. I've been in the Pentagon.
• 27:54
  My dad was stationed there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:57
  We do have a lot in common. This is so wild.
• 28:00
  Did you go to the Starbucks? Yes.
• 28:02
  I actually 1 summer I worked there.
• 28:05
  Did you really? That was a word processor, but
• 28:07
  you could get in there back then.
• 28:10
  Easy. You couldn't get in there back
• 28:12
  that easy when I, I mean, we had to have, my uncle had to take
• 28:15
  him. I took Mark with me and it took
• 28:17
  us around. And they say you could get from
• 28:19
  one point in the Pentagon to the other in like 6 minutes no
• 28:24
  matter where you are. Right.
• 28:25
  Yeah. I don't know if that was true
• 28:28
  because you go to the centre. Cut across the.
• 28:30
  Middle and then yeah, yeah. And in the centre is a little
• 28:34
  like snack bar and place where you can hang out.
• 28:37
  Yeah, and you could draw a pentagram in there, Yes.
• 28:41
  No one's ever thought of that. So you OK?
• 28:48
  So. Oh.
• 28:49
  Yeah, so so he had those two kids and then my dad and then
• 28:53
  another. Three boys.
• 28:54
  Yeah, yeah, four boys, because another one then came who had,
• 29:01
  who was born with brain damage. He had his umbilical cord around
• 29:05
  his neck and he was born with cerebral palsy and was obsessive
• 29:10
  compulsive and autistic and really cool, really fun guy.
• 29:14
  He he features a lot in my show and just a big giant of a man.
• 29:20
  And then my dad's sister who is a, you know, has a sort of more
• 29:25
  tragic story of, of falling to the way of pretty severe drug
• 29:32
  and alcohol issues. So it was a colourful bunch.
• 29:38
  Yeah, you covered the gamut. Yeah, yeah.
• 29:41
  And then and then some of them came to live with us and we sort
• 29:43
  of had a a communal situation. So my grandmother and my uncle
• 29:49
  that had the the brain damage came and lived with us.
• 29:53
  So the two of them were living with us along with my brother,
• 29:56
  his wife, their three daughters, my other brother, his
• 30:00
  girlfriend, my dad, his boyfriend, my mom, and any
• 30:04
  number of roving like hippie kind of sort of strays that my.
• 30:10
  Doug Stanhope No, no, no. He.
• 30:14
  Yeah. Not yet, no.
• 30:17
  I've met him. I don't like you to remember.
• 30:19
  But he he wasn't there. So how many people total were in
• 30:26
  this house? I don't.
• 30:27
  Remember at its peak what it was.
• 30:28
  Over 10? Yeah.
• 30:30
  Holy crap. And it's off grid and there's a
• 30:33
  there's a solar. So you're way outside of it's.
• 30:36
  Actually, not very far, OK, it's just right out of reach of
• 30:40
  utilities. So this is strange.
• 30:43
  And then you would go to school like average Joe?
• 30:47
  Yeah, with this strange family. Yeah.
• 30:51
  Which you thought was, you know, everybody had a family like
• 30:55
  this. Right.
• 30:57
  Yeah, that was the surprise. It wasn't that my dad came out
• 31:00
  to us one day. It was, we went into city school
• 31:05
  and we're like. Oh, your dad isn't gay?
• 31:07
  What? Everybody's dad is gay.
• 31:09
  Your dad doesn't have two partners and lives in the
• 31:11
  mountains with his mom and his mentally stable brother.
• 31:15
  Your dad had his partner and your mom.
• 31:18
  Yeah, yeah, they still all live together.
• 31:21
  Wow this is amazing. What is your Christmas like?
• 31:27
  Pretty thrown together, right? You know, like they would they
• 31:35
  would put a few. You're having Christmas now?
• 31:36
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:37
  And then like Chuck a couple decorations onto one of the
• 31:40
  house plants and wrap our presents in the nearest towel or
• 31:44
  blanket and go. So you you're saying?
• 31:46
  But they did, they did give us things, but you know, they
• 31:48
  didn't really get into when we were little.
• 31:51
  They kind of went for it. So it wasn't very organised in
• 31:54
  your house. There was never any sense of
• 31:56
  routine. Right, we all knew routine.
• 32:01
  Yeah, my dad's a spontaneous. Spontaneous and so spontaneity
• 32:07
  was the thing to get used to, I guess.
• 32:09
  So he would change his mind. If you go on a walk with him,
• 32:11
  you think you're headed somewhere and he'll go.
• 32:13
  I don't think I'm just going to go in here for a minute.
• 32:14
  You go there instead. And then time isn't is a very
• 32:19
  loose concept. Which I can understand.
• 32:22
  I mean, I kind of like that now, but it's frustrating when you're
• 32:26
  probably a kid, you don't quite know what's what.
• 32:30
  Yeah. It's like you kind of want to.
• 32:32
  Know, yeah, you think OK, this is what we're doing.
• 32:34
  Oh, it's not what we're doing. We're doing that, but I, yes, I
• 32:38
  think I've come. Around We're having dinner.
• 32:40
  Lunch, no breakfast. Have a snack.
• 32:44
  OK, Go upstairs, eat a Peach. I don't have a Peach.
• 32:49
  Watch Boy Meets World. Doing it.
• 32:54
  Sorry, I love you. It's.
• 32:57
  OK, this episode's almost over. So how did you get along in
• 33:03
  school? Were you like did people?
• 33:06
  I. Gravitate towards you.
• 33:08
  Not at first. I had a lot of trouble my first
• 33:11
  couple of years of, of what we call public school.
• 33:15
  I guess that's the opposite here.
• 33:17
  Yeah. Yeah, Yeah.
• 33:18
  Public school is a private school, but this was a state
• 33:21
  school. Yeah.
• 33:22
  And. But I grew up in a private
• 33:26
  school that my dad actually ran. Really.
• 33:29
  Yeah. It was a Waller school, which is
• 33:31
  like a kind of. It's a style of school, isn't?
• 33:35
  It Yeah, where you see everything's taught through
• 33:37
  painting and drawing. Wood blocks.
• 33:39
  Wood blocks storytelling. Big crayons.
• 33:41
  No, no pointy crayons. I've heard of this.
• 33:44
  It's not Montessori, it's Waller.
• 33:47
  Yeah, it's. The.
• 33:49
  Other one that's not Montessori. The kids do yoga.
• 33:54
  They probably. Kenny, that's not that funny
• 33:57
  that kids do yoga. What?
• 33:59
  What do you imagine? You know, just trying to find
• 34:02
  this peace. You can't take him anywhere.
• 34:08
  Yeah, not if they're doing yoga like that.
• 34:11
  So OK, so you went to high school where your dad was
• 34:15
  running it? No, I went to up through the 5th
• 34:18
  grade, OK, I went to his school and then the school disbanded
• 34:24
  and. Well, it just went apart.
• 34:29
  It's this is. Built with wood blocks.
• 34:33
  And it was built with wood blocks.
• 34:35
  And then one of the teachers had a psychotic episode as.
• 34:40
  One does. As one does.
• 34:42
  And he was actually my favourite teacher and he had a, he had a
• 34:50
  sort of a schizophrenic delusional state happened to him
• 34:54
  where he suddenly found that my dad was the devil and bought
• 35:03
  flowers for everyone, bought flowers for all the kids and all
• 35:06
  the teachers and just started sort of poisoning everyone's ear
• 35:11
  that he was bad. And he was a very charismatic
• 35:14
  teacher. And they and essentially because
• 35:16
  my dad was gay, that he remains gay.
• 35:19
  That's why he thought that. Yeah, well, that's why he.
• 35:22
  Yeah, He had this like, biblical sort of thing take over his
• 35:28
  brain, right. And then they voted my dad out,
• 35:34
  and then the school collapsed. And then I went into the state
• 35:37
  school having come from this like.
• 35:39
  Storytelling. Made.
• 35:41
  Polls. And colourful Halloween parties
• 35:44
  and painting and drawing to like where's your homework, what you
• 35:48
  know? I've brought this flower.
• 35:50
  Yeah, that's not calculus. Yeah, look at it closer Sir
• 35:56
  then. Let me ask this why is it that
• 35:59
  most people like even I think I guess they have to be based,
• 36:05
  they have to grow up in a religious background, but a lot
• 36:08
  of schizophrenic people go religious.
• 36:11
  Yeah, yeah, I. Don't know why.
• 36:13
  They're suddenly like, ah, I'm God.
• 36:16
  Yeah, yeah. And then go on a rampage.
• 36:19
  He ended up in a mental institution, but the school had
• 36:22
  already gotten rid of my. Dad And how did your dad react
• 36:25
  to all the. He says now that he's relieved
• 36:29
  that he was like happy that he was like that, that I'd had
• 36:32
  enough anyway. But I think that that's a little
• 36:34
  bit, I think it must have been kind of brutal.
• 36:37
  It was brutal for me. I went on vacation of one of one
• 36:40
  of the students. It was my little best friend at
• 36:42
  the time moved to Santa Cruz, CA and I went with her for two
• 36:45
  weeks, you know, and her bodybuilder dad who it was like
• 36:49
  painted himself red to compete in like with a red tan.
• 36:53
  He was short and really muscular and we all.
• 36:56
  Trump No. No, it wasn't thankfully, but
• 37:00
  we, yeah, slightly darker tanning product I think he used.
• 37:06
  But we we went to Santa Cruz and then I came back and the school
• 37:09
  had folded and my dad was. So this affected you?
• 37:12
  Satan's spawn or I was Satan's spawn on me that way?
• 37:15
  This had to be a big effect on you.
• 37:17
  That was where it all went crazy.
• 37:19
  Oh geez. Because then I went into a
• 37:21
  regular school. Nobody was anything like
• 37:25
  everything. The curriculum was entirely
• 37:27
  different. I no one accepted gay people.
• 37:31
  Everything had to be a secret. Everything was regimented in a
• 37:36
  way that like standardised tests and stuff.
• 37:38
  It was an all American high. School.
• 37:40
  Yeah, yeah, with 25. 100 cheerleaders and yeah.
• 37:43
  Yeah. School buses, yeah, I know that.
• 37:46
  I know that. Yeah.
• 37:47
  Wrestling, yeah. But did you eventually sort of
• 37:51
  fit into that? Yeah, I found the theatre.
• 37:54
  You have to find your people though, right?
• 37:57
  Yeah, this is what happened to me.
• 37:59
  Like, because I said we moved around every two years, which
• 38:03
  never bothered me except high school.
• 38:06
  I started to get in with a crowd.
• 38:09
  Yeah. And I was finally getting used
• 38:11
  to it, you know? And they were kind of funny and
• 38:14
  we were all funny together. And then I had to move.
• 38:17
  And that was the one time where I was really upset.
• 38:22
  Yeah. We'll take a break here.
• 38:25
  Yeah, yeah, I guess I took a mental break there.
• 38:28
  Sorry about that. That's all right.
• 38:29
  I was taking it in, but yes, it is very uprooting.
• 38:34
  I suppose it bounced around all the time.
• 38:36
  Now I don't Now I live here after uprooting myself
• 38:40
  constantly. You know, Mark and I Stewart for
• 38:42
  20 years and now I now I'm I can move around, but.
• 38:46
  And you feel comfortable being in?
• 38:48
  I guess I move around around still.
• 38:50
  Yeah, you have a base. I have a base which feels.
• 38:53
  I like staying in one place now. I think I got it out of my
• 38:57
  system. But there are times where I go,
• 39:01
  like, because we went from California to here I go, why
• 39:05
  can't we keep some kind of thing?
• 39:07
  And like, I wish I could have something, a shed or something.
• 39:12
  Yeah, you know, just to have a connection to it.
• 39:16
  I'd like a little shed in California too.
• 39:18
  Who wouldn't? Right?
• 39:19
  Like Ted Kaczynski. Why?
• 39:21
  No, no, that's terrible. Yeah, I said why not, not
• 39:26
  knowing who Ted Kaczynski is? The Unabomber.
• 39:29
  Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, well, I'm glad I asked.
• 39:32
  So. So you're in high school?
• 39:35
  That's funny that you know him by his name rather than the
• 39:38
  Unabomber. Of course.
• 39:39
  I mean, I guess a lot of people must, but didn't.
• 39:41
  You watch. I know the Unabomber, but I
• 39:43
  don't go Ted, you know? Didn't you watch the Unabomber?
• 39:47
  I did Back when? Yeah, back.
• 39:48
  When that's all people talked about was his brother Kaczynski
• 39:53
  brother? Well, it sounds like it's too
• 39:55
  professional sounding of a name. I don't know.
• 39:57
  It sounds like, oh, Ted Kaczynski's here.
• 39:58
  Yeah. He's going to redo our our
• 40:00
  computer system. He's going to do our
• 40:01
  communications. Our new math teacher, Ted
• 40:03
  Kaczynski. Nice to meet you.
• 40:05
  Hi. Yeah.
• 40:07
  We're going to what, put hoods on?
• 40:10
  So, you know, there's something about you're like 13, you
• 40:17
  started to get into what goth culture or.
• 40:21
  Yeah, well, yeah, I did. Found, found, found some.
• 40:26
  Cure. The Cure, Yeah, yeah, yes, Susie
• 40:29
  in the band sheet. Nice.
• 40:31
  You know, and a lot of industrial stuff like Front 242
• 40:34
  and Skinny Puppy and then a harder goth stuff.
• 40:37
  Like I'm just. Christian death.
• 40:39
  Yeah, yeah. Little Christian death thrown in
• 40:41
  Thrill, Kill, Cult, these kind of bands ministry.
• 40:46
  And what, what got you involved in all of that?
• 40:50
  Your friends. Yeah, yeah, I found some friends
• 40:53
  and found LSD and. No, this is pretty.
• 40:58
  You know, for a teenager to get involved in that was pretty.
• 41:03
  Was that the norm in New Mexico? Or no, I don't think so.
• 41:07
  Which? Beer, right?
• 41:08
  Yeah. Yeah, I'd had that was the same
• 41:12
  year I had a forget beer. Who wants to shrimp?
• 41:15
  I had a bud light and then some kid with a Mohawk put four hits
• 41:19
  of acid in my mouth. Because for me, it was like
• 41:22
  beer, beer, beer, beer, weed. Oh my God, that's like a big
• 41:26
  step for you. It's like beer, no acid.
• 41:30
  Yeah, I know. And I I had acid before weed
• 41:36
  which is not usually the way. Acid before weed.
• 41:40
  You'll. Always.
• 41:41
  Need weed before acid? You're not too bad then.
• 41:48
  Then remember that, kids. So but my parents had done a lot
• 41:56
  of acid in their younger ears, but they.
• 41:58
  Had it around the house. They didn't.
• 42:00
  Well, not yet. Oh, I thought it was toothpaste.
• 42:04
  Holy crap you have? No, my dad's the devil.
• 42:11
  He was right. Yeah.
• 42:13
  So they had, they had done a lot in the in the 60s or what have
• 42:18
  you in early. 70s What would Tim What is Timothy Leary?
• 42:21
  Yeah, yeah, that kind of jam. They, I don't think they were
• 42:24
  with Timothy Leary, the man himself.
• 42:26
  Did they know Ken Kesey? I don't think, I always think
• 42:30
  that it's a small group that did, yeah, but everyone.
• 42:33
  My dad does. He does have a little bit of a
• 42:35
  Forrest Gump kind of life, but I know he, I think he picked up
• 42:40
  Baba Ramdas hitch hiking once, but I don't, I don't know.
• 42:45
  But we, we started doing acid and they hadn't seen it in a
• 42:49
  long time. And we were had a very open
• 42:52
  dialogue with my parents and. They were.
• 42:56
  Yeah, so they were like, wait, you can get acid, where are you
• 43:00
  getting it? And so then they.
• 43:02
  Cuz it used to be only the CIA. Yeah, well, we have been hooked
• 43:06
  them up with the guy we were getting it from.
• 43:08
  And you buy these things in quantity so you're not having to
• 43:12
  commit crimes all the time. Yeah.
• 43:13
  So from that age, you know, in my 20s, we always had a shade of
• 43:16
  acid in the freezer. Cuz your dad had it as well.
• 43:19
  In a in a vitamin jar. No, only three tabs, boys.
• 43:23
  Yeah. You've got dance class tomorrow.
• 43:27
  Yes, I'll wait till then. So it could be that you had some
• 43:32
  friends over, you do some acid and then your dad and his
• 43:37
  friends would be doing it in another room.
• 43:41
  Not quite like that. I have done acid with my
• 43:44
  parents. I think that would be very
• 43:49
  strange. Yeah, and also, you know, child
• 43:53
  services. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that
• 43:56
  never. Got out.
• 43:57
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's all lies, you know, but.
• 44:01
  So you would go okay, so you would have.
• 44:04
  But I did have a, but because we had access to it all the time, I
• 44:07
  when we lived up in the mountains, I had a lot of little
• 44:09
  acid parties. Yes, and you'd put it in punch
• 44:12
  and stuff. Not quite that reckless, you
• 44:15
  know. And I was pretty reverent of it.
• 44:18
  I didn't look at it as a party drug.
• 44:20
  A religious thing? It was more, and maybe that was
• 44:23
  a little bit my family's religion.
• 44:24
  My dad looks at it like that and I probably inherited that from
• 44:27
  him or from the experience that it is to do LSD.
• 44:30
  So when you had a party, were you very selective about who
• 44:34
  would go to these parties? Like fairly, you can't handle.
• 44:38
  That no, it was more like, oh, you can't handle it.
• 44:42
  You know you'd find out and then and then talk them off the
• 44:46
  ledge. Get down off the flag ball.
• 44:49
  Never. It's bleeding now.
• 44:51
  Do you think this is some? I was thinking about this.
• 44:56
  Is it possible to have a bad trip if your underlying mental
• 45:02
  state is good? Do you think it's?
• 45:05
  I probably anything's possible, you can anything can trigger
• 45:10
  somebody, but but I think if your underlying mental state is
• 45:13
  good, you're more likely to have a nice time 'cause it's.
• 45:17
  A new trip. It seems like it exacerbates
• 45:20
  what you're already feeling mentally.
• 45:22
  Yeah, right. Yeah, I think it certainly can.
• 45:27
  So it's dangerous. But then at the same time, if
• 45:29
  you tell someone that and then they take it, they're going
• 45:32
  where the Hell's my mental state?
• 45:33
  And then they might start to freak out because they're
• 45:35
  worried that their mental state isn't stable.
• 45:37
  So I don't, I don't know. Now, say if we were going out
• 45:40
  for beer and we went to one of our places and one of us brought
• 45:44
  out some acid, what would you do?
• 45:46
  You go. That's I don't do that anymore.
• 45:49
  I haven't done that in a long, long time, right, right.
• 45:53
  That's what I would open with. OK.
• 45:57
  And then I guess we'd talk about it and then I might do it.
• 46:00
  OK, if it was you, let's talk. I still, I mean I still eat
• 46:07
  mushrooms and that's but that's a more low key and you can much
• 46:11
  more easily. Not in Australia.
• 46:13
  Monitor what you're. Doing right, but yeah, because
• 46:17
  you can't control. It, yeah, that's more
• 46:18
  incremental, yeah. Your show also talks about you
• 46:22
  possibly going to a dark side. Is that true or?
• 46:28
  Yeah. Is that just to sell tickets?
• 46:31
  I don't think I ever really went to a dark side, but it was, I
• 46:34
  was, it was around me. And so, you know, there's a
• 46:41
  couple of. Cuz Albuquerque's got that
• 46:44
  element. Situations though, yeah, there's
• 46:47
  a lot of guns there. There's gas stations you can buy
• 46:50
  a gun at. So what do you do?
• 46:52
  Buy a gun and then go hold the place up?
• 46:54
  I don't know. Yes, like the Terminator.
• 46:59
  Remember when he bought the guns and shot the gun?
• 47:02
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, like that. So there's too many of those
• 47:05
  around. It's just like, you know, it's
• 47:07
  still weird to go to a shop and then somebody comes in with a.
• 47:12
  Holster and a gun. Yeah, he's not a cop.
• 47:16
  Yeah, and in Albuquerque it you can.
• 47:19
  There's also conceal and Carrie is legal so you can have it on
• 47:24
  your hip but also. I don't trust everybody.
• 47:27
  No. People have them in their
• 47:29
  jackets and then a lot of people have them in their purses, you
• 47:33
  know? And these people have not been
• 47:35
  vetted, No, Have they? No, they haven't.
• 47:38
  This guy's talking to himself. Yeah, he's talking to his gun
• 47:42
  now. He's.
• 47:44
  Doing this, Yeah, it's freaking. So you know, sometimes people
• 47:53
  use them right, So. And did you ever know anybody
• 47:57
  that got involved? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 48:02
  OK. That said, yeah, well, maybe I
• 48:05
  don't know. Yeah, I do talk about these.
• 48:06
  Things in the show. In the show, yeah.
• 48:08
  Watch the show. If this is in any way
• 48:12
  interesting to you, which it is to me, you got to watch this
• 48:18
  show. Yeah, I mean, it's a sweet show
• 48:21
  all time, but it's. Yeah, it does.
• 48:23
  I do get into some stories about gun violence and.
• 48:27
  Is it a storytelling show? It is with.
• 48:32
  Audio, you said? Yeah, with some recordings in my
• 48:34
  family cut into it and. With their permission.
• 48:39
  Ha ha, funnies to keep the ball in the air, you know.
• 48:42
  Don't want to just leave you all high.
• 48:44
  It is funny, guys, but you're a lot of the funny comes with you
• 48:50
  set the groundwork. It's it's a dramatic kind of
• 48:54
  upbringing. Yeah, yeah, it's real.
• 48:57
  Yes. Some people, they grow up and
• 49:01
  it's la Dee da, la Dee da, right?
• 49:04
  I, I guess, I mean, I think anybody's life is got to be
• 49:10
  pretty crazy to be a human is a, is a.
• 49:14
  But I will tell you this, I knew I do know some Americans and
• 49:18
  they go up to Edinburgh and stuff and what they think is a
• 49:23
  wild show about their upbringing is just about them drinking when
• 49:28
  they were growing up. Yeah.
• 49:30
  Whereas it's not that big a deal here.
• 49:34
  It's a people drink younger here and they don't understand, like
• 49:38
  the what? What's so wrong with all the you
• 49:42
  know, because it's more puritanical in America?
• 49:45
  Yeah, the first time I went to Edinburgh, we'd just gotten
• 49:48
  there. I'd never been there.
• 49:49
  And you know, you get there and you look out over the, you see
• 49:53
  that amazing skyline from Waverly train station and the
• 49:57
  castle and everything. I've been there, but I've never
• 49:59
  seen the castle the. Next time you go, it's very
• 50:03
  arresting visually. But we got out and we found our
• 50:06
  little place to stay, Mark and I, and it was a foggy night and
• 50:10
  we went out to get a beer. One bed.
• 50:12
  And yes, holding hand and it these guys came out like came
• 50:19
  spilling out of this bar wasted. And I've this was a fun kind of
• 50:24
  drunk. I've never seen people quite
• 50:26
  like this and they were just going and there was an ambulance
• 50:30
  parked in the street on one of these narrow little cobbled
• 50:32
  streets with a ramp going up to the ambulance and a guy in the
• 50:36
  Gurney in the ambulance with a couple of paramedics around him.
• 50:41
  One of them ran up the, ran up the ramp and went.
• 50:47
  Paralysed and then they ran off and went down.
• 50:50
  And I was like, they know how to.
• 50:52
  Park. That's good.
• 50:53
  Yeah. Were you guys drunk at the time?
• 50:56
  We'd had a couple of beers, but we were just, we were just
• 50:59
  going, OK, we're here, we're in. Scotland just sorting things
• 51:01
  out. Yeah, yeah, I was one of my
• 51:03
  first times in Edinburgh. There was, it was like a hen
• 51:08
  night and there were like 3 women out and one of them I
• 51:12
  remember just is puking and the other woman saying yelling down
• 51:17
  at her. Barbara, stand Barbara, stand
• 51:24
  Barbara. That just came out in my head.
• 51:27
  Yes, as a mantra. Yeah, I was going to say, I
• 51:29
  think I'll do that on my meditation.
• 51:35
  So, yeah, so I mean, everybody's upbringing is unique, but not as
• 51:40
  unique as what you've had. That's what I'm trying to say.
• 51:45
  Not everybody should do a show about their life like you.
• 51:50
  Thank you. February 18th through the 21st.
• 51:54
  With how many matinees? 1.
• 51:57
  Just one. Yeah.
• 51:58
  Come on. Do another matinee.
• 52:01
  Right, Lou? Get another matinee.
• 52:05
  No. OK.
• 52:07
  See about it. Depending on the band, we might
• 52:08
  have some more matinees. I know, you know, right?
• 52:12
  People are going to flock to this thing.
• 52:15
  I think so. You know who doesn't want to
• 52:17
  hear about me doing acid in Albuquerque in the 80s?
• 52:20
  Well. 90s How old am I? No, but what what it is, is
• 52:27
  through everybody's experience, you find a universal, you know,
• 52:32
  concept. You're growing up, you're
• 52:35
  learning the world and everybody's got their own little
• 52:40
  experience. Yours just happens to be a
• 52:43
  little bit. Felt like there was enough going
• 52:46
  on that I could talk about. For an hour you haven't seen the
• 52:50
  show, but that's OK. I won't hold it against you.
• 52:53
  We have a segment called Fill in the blank.
• 52:56
  OK, OK, I, I will give you a question.
• 52:59
  Yes, with a blank in it, but you fill it in.
• 53:03
  Don't have to be funny or anything.
• 53:05
  OK, All right, first question. I am most at home doing blank no
• 53:11
  matter what time of day or where I am.
• 53:18
  Eating corn. Eating corn, Yeah, that's really
• 53:22
  good. Thank you.
• 53:24
  Do you just have corn handy? Yeah, yeah, just quick draw.
• 53:29
  You just say. Corn.
• 53:30
  Holsters. Funny, yeah.
• 53:32
  OK, am I undermining it by being silly?
• 53:34
  No, I mean, that's good, but I. Like the idea of corn holsters
• 53:37
  just to. Do you have a go to snack though
• 53:41
  that you like? Well, it is corn based actually.
• 53:44
  What corn chips? I like corn chips.
• 53:47
  I'm a fan of corn grits. Also the corn meal that you
• 53:53
  make, the tortilla wraps. You mean like tamales?
• 53:59
  Yes. Yeah, same thing.
• 54:01
  Polenta deliciosa. Here's one thing.
• 54:05
  Is there a good Mexican place in London?
• 54:09
  Cuz I would. Love to know, I haven't found it
• 54:12
  yet. Oh.
• 54:12
  OK OK, cuz it seems like that's the one thing that might be
• 54:17
  lacking with the cuisine. I think so.
• 54:19
  Yeah, yeah. OK.
• 54:20
  Two, I am the best at blank in my family.
• 54:25
  I am the best sculptor in my family.
• 54:28
  Really. Cuz it seems like you have a lot
• 54:32
  of artists. Yeah, I brought one.
• 54:34
  Do you want to see it? You brought one of your family.
• 54:37
  No, I brought one of my sculptures.
• 54:38
  Oh, I feel like this is a set now.
• 54:40
  I told you I'm abusing this. Question.
• 54:42
  I set you up. I threw it up there and you
• 54:46
  went. Yeah, so lately in my in my when
• 54:51
  I'm not writing and stuff, I'm getting into bronze.
• 54:58
  Wait and I. So what do you?
• 55:01
  Oh my God this is so heavy. Yeah, I know.
• 55:06
  Look at this now. This is a crow, no?
• 55:10
  What kind of bird is this? Well, it's a crow.
• 55:13
  It's a Raven, technically. Oh, I know.
• 55:16
  He bites. Look.
• 55:17
  At this and why the hand with the little crow?
• 55:21
  Well, I don't know. I it popped into my head and I
• 55:26
  So you make it out of clay and then cast it and whatever.
• 55:30
  And you casted it, do you pour the bronze over it?
• 55:33
  Yes. Well, I have a lot of help out
• 55:35
  of Foundry, Oh my God, but. I don't even know what a foundry
• 55:39
  is. Place where they cast metal.
• 55:43
  Do you? Did you have a glob of clay here
• 55:45
  and go? What should I do here?
• 55:47
  Yeah, no, I thought I somehow I conceived this and then did it.
• 55:52
  This is amazing. Now if you want to purchase this
• 55:57
  it will be for sale. It's my.
• 55:59
  Only merch and it's 50. It's 50 grand.
• 56:03
  Somebody will buy an item and it'll be for sale at every.
• 56:07
  Somebody that's into this will buy that now.
• 56:10
  Will you do more of these? I yes, I've I've been doing.
• 56:14
  I haven't. I have some others.
• 56:16
  You know the one you have to do now is a big bird with a little
• 56:20
  hand. Oh yeah, that's a good idea,
• 56:22
  yeah. Or a little guy coming out of
• 56:26
  his. What do you call a?
• 56:31
  What do I call this? Yeah, Raven Hand.
• 56:34
  Nice. Nice three blank is getting too
• 56:38
  much for me as I get older. My phone, yeah, sorry, everyone
• 56:44
  probably says that it's. Getting heavier.
• 56:46
  Right. It's getting too much.
• 56:48
  It's too much. With too many things happening.
• 56:50
  Yeah, the news is obviously just the most terrible horror show.
• 56:54
  It's a gateway to hell. The phone as soon as you open
• 56:57
  it. You can even try to avoid
• 56:59
  everything and open it and go. It brings out stuff.
• 57:03
  Yeah, for my best Halloween costume was blank when I was
• 57:09
  blank. My best Halloween costume was a
• 57:12
  giant when I was probably 30. A giant.
• 57:20
  Yeah, and all it was was I had some little clouds on my
• 57:24
  shoulders and some little birds, you know, kind of on, on wires
• 57:30
  coming out. And then on my shoes I built, I
• 57:34
  went to a. Foundry.
• 57:36
  Yeah, I went to a a railroad, you know, like a miniature
• 57:40
  railroad hobby store and got a little tiny Meadow and a little
• 57:45
  fence and some tiny sheep. And so I glued this Meadow to
• 57:50
  the bottom of my foot, and then I had a little fence going
• 57:52
  across my. Foot.
• 57:53
  That's great. How?
• 57:56
  Original is that, and you were here in London when you did
• 58:00
  that, I think. It was in Albuquerque.
• 58:01
  OK. That was my best one.
• 58:04
  That's. Great.
• 58:06
  I never did anything like that. Maybe Batman anyway.
• 58:13
  Well. We don't know.
• 58:13
  You weren't giant Batman. Yeah, that's.
• 58:16
  True, I currently own blank trousers.
• 58:20
  I currently own not very many. OK, trousers under five.
• 58:26
  Yeah, really. Yeah, I just got a couple 3
• 58:29
  pairs of jeans, you know. The ones I wear I have a
• 58:32
  rotation that's very small. Yeah.
• 58:36
  But I have some trousers I never wear.
• 58:39
  This is. Yeah, I went through and I, I,
• 58:43
  yeah, I got rid of some of those.
• 58:44
  If I were you, I mean, not that I, I have any right to, you
• 58:49
  know, suggest anything in your show.
• 58:52
  Talk about the trousers. Yeah, yeah.
• 58:55
  If there's if I have any like space to fill kind of the slow
• 58:59
  parts, I can talk about the three jeans I rotate.
• 59:03
  Shinoa, this is the last part where you can plug anything you
• 59:07
  want. I know you want to plug the
• 59:09
  show, but anything you want to say about the show?
• 59:12
  OK. Well, I'll plug my movie.
• 59:17
  Oh, your movie. I didn't talk about this.
• 59:20
  That's. OK OK cuz we're here to talk.
• 59:22
  About it's out now it's. Out.
• 59:23
  Yeah, you find it on Amazon and Apple.
• 59:26
  It's called Sunlight. Sunlight.
• 59:28
  And it's something that Nina Conti and I spent the last seven
• 59:32
  years creating, and I think it's a wonderful.
• 59:35
  Thing seven years and how long is that?
• 59:40
  Do you know 96 minutes? That's a short film, guys.
• 59:45
  That is not like a Harry Potter movie, which is way too long.
• 59:50
  Don't they make those way too long?
• 59:53
  Yeah, I don't watch those. No offence everyone, that's not
• 59:57
  my cup of tea. Have you taken this around to
• 59:59
  festivals? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:02
  We've been all over the shop. And how would you describe it?
• 1:00:06
  It's a comedy. It's a yeah, it's a it's a
• 1:00:08
  comedy. It's a dramatic comedy about two
• 1:00:13
  outsiders. 1 is a woman in a monkey suit who refuses to come
• 1:00:17
  out of it, and one of them is a suicidal radio host and they
• 1:00:20
  not. That old chestnut.
• 1:00:22
  They find love through the mask and it has music from Radiohead
• 1:00:28
  and the Pixies and Christopher Guest produced it and it's a
• 1:00:30
  whole big old lifelong. Thing that Oh my God, it's so,
• 1:00:37
  wasn't it? Were you glad when you finished
• 1:00:40
  it and you go yes. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:43
  And I've tried other things in that vein, yeah.
• 1:00:45
  But this one I actually like. Nice.
• 1:00:48
  I watch it and I don't go. Why?
• 1:00:51
  It's a must, you've got to see this.
• 1:00:53
  But if you're in town, buy tickets.
• 1:00:56
  Soho Theatre. February 18th or 18th of
• 1:01:01
  February to the 21st. Yes.
• 1:01:04
  What day is the matinee? Saturday.
• 1:01:06
  Some people like a matinee. Yeah, I like a matinee.
• 1:01:08
  Saturday, have a little Mexican food go right.
• 1:01:13
  Yeah. And then come tell me where you
• 1:01:15
  have. It Oaxaca.
• 1:01:17
  No, Hoka. No, no, OK.
• 1:01:20
  No, and they don't even spell it.
• 1:01:21
  Right, all right, we'll edit that out because they are a big
• 1:01:24
  sponsor of ours. Anyway, thank you for coming.
• 1:01:29
  So, you know, let's, you know, meet a little bit sooner, yes,
• 1:01:34
  and have a little acid. Sounds good, can't.
• 1:01:36
  Wait, yeah. Wow, wasn't that amazing.
• 1:01:43
  How many? Oh, I lost my pipe.
• 1:01:45
  How many people live a life that wild?
• 1:01:51
  Not me. So listen, remember how I told
• 1:01:56
  you you can ask any questions and I'll answer them?
• 1:01:59
  Well, this guy. Hi Guy McFly asks me what's your
• 1:02:04
  favourite breakfast or as I like to say, brekkie.
• 1:02:09
  Now, I like pancakes and I like waffles, but I think my
• 1:02:14
  favourite right now is the French toast.
• 1:02:18
  You dip the toast in egg and eat it.
• 1:02:23
  It's fun. All right, it might change.
• 1:02:26
  But listen, Guy McFly, good question.
• 1:02:29
  Keep it up. Ask some more.
• 1:02:32
  OK, Wait. I found the pipe.
• 1:02:36
  There you go. Talk to you later.
• 1:02:53
  Rich vultures talk box.