Latest / Nick and Kristen in the Podcast / The Life of an Impersonator

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The Life of an Impersonator · Nick and Kristen in the Podcast

0:12
Hello, welcome to Nick and Kristen in the podcast.
0:14
I'm Nick that's Kristen. This is the podcast Happy new
0:17
week. It's Monday.
0:18
We had a kind of not I would I was going to say exciting.
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We had a lot of we had a lot of stuff that we.
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Did this weekend. None of them were exciting. 1st
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I on Friday I was AI was DJ ING and filling in at the Ponderosa
0:32
here at local country bar as the DJ and there was a like Doo wop
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50s ensemble. I don't know how to say it like
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there was there was a bunch of impersonators that got.
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Together. It was called One night in
0:46
Memphis and they put on a heck of a show.
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Like I was the person to be there that night because
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anything that had to like, go along with it, I knew what they
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were singing because my my jam is that era.
0:56
Yeah, so there was a Kris Kristofferson impersonator.
1:01
No Kris Kristofferson. Well, who knew?
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Who was it? Elvis.
1:04
Yeah, Elvis and then. Johnny Cash, Yeah.
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Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry Lee Lewis, I always get
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the two of them confused. They're very similar.
1:13
No, they play the piano right? I don't think so.
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Kris Kristofferson is a dude from like Blade, isn't it?
1:20
Kris Kristofferson is a musician.
1:22
Yeah, I think he's the guy from Blade.
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Who? Right.
1:24
That's Wesley Snipe. What are you talking?
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About country? Have you never oh, you've never
1:27
seen Blade blade? Okay, he's the.
1:30
I wouldn't know it if you told. Other than Wesley Snipe, I don't
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know. He's the Blades, like not dad,
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but like the one that like raised him to be a hunter.
1:39
Kris Kristoffer is an old white guy.
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Deep voice, that guy. Okay, sure, I'm.
1:43
Sure, he was alive. He raised Blaze.
1:46
Blade. Yeah, because Blade was a baby.
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I don't think you have either way.
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They they did all this and I'm watching them perform and
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they're going all out like he's he's channeling Jerry Lee Lewis,
1:59
the other guys channeling Elvis and Johnny Cash.
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And I got to thinking like, what is that life like as an
2:06
impersonator? Because growing up in Vegas,
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impersonators are everywhere. There's Britney Spears, there's
2:11
all the people that are famous are impersonated on the Strip.
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And I just don't, I don't understand.
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I don't understand. It's so simple, Nick.
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It's so simple. So at one point, somebody said,
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hey, you sound a lot like Elvis. And something went off in their
2:30
head because they're probably already a fan of Elvis.
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They're probably already doing kind of like their Elvis voice
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when they sing. And somebody's like, hey, you
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sound like Elvis. And that's all they needed.
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It was the seed that planted a huge garden.
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And they were like, bingo, I am Elvis.
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I'm going to be this person. Because there's no person that's
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like on the fence about being an impersonator.
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It's like you're all in. Aren't actors impersonators
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though? Like, I imagine that this was a
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if this was a broad show or a show, you tune into your
3:02
character and you become that for the job, right.
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But there's other people that do walk around as impersonators and
3:08
like that's their job and is there good money in that?
3:10
No there. Couldn't possibly be what?
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It is like you see the Taylor Swift like party people or the
3:16
Elsa party people and. It's just like it's different
3:18
though. Those are kids birthday parties.
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Yeah, but I'm sure they make money like.
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Not great money. Especially in Vegas, you
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probably have an elf as a personator on every corner, you
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know I don't. Know, I don't know, I I'm
3:29
throwing this out there, but like ventriloquist and like
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impersonator are like the lowest forms of entertainment.
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I feel like, and I know my my dad is listening to this and I
3:43
remember he loves those shows in Vegas where it's like you go.
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They put on a good Celine. Dion person that does like my
3:50
heart will go on and it's just like OK, cute you can.
3:54
Almost sound like. Celine, you you put on the cone
3:57
bra and you are Madonna. Okay, like, but you're not
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though, and like you you equated it to like, well, aren't all
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actors? No, they're not because there's
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a range of emotional depth that you need to have to say lines,
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interact with characters and stuff.
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Like the people that are like, like Joaquin Phoenix, he played
4:18
Johnny Cash and walked the line. OK.
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There's a difference between him and the guy that gets up and
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sings Boy Named Sue for five minute increments of time and
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then goes back to being Brad behind the scenes.
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Like like. Joaquin.
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Phoenix, like, I mean, becomes Johnny Cash and he taps into him
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and he he shows emotional range and Oh my gosh, my.
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Brother, all that stuff. And just for showmanship, if you
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have, if you're good at singing, you like to perform.
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You don't want to write original music.
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Instead of doing covers, you lean into it and you go, I'm
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going to cover every song by Jerry Lee Lewis.
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I just think you're cutting yourself off at the knees, you
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know what I mean? Like if you're a good singer,
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then do then do a cover band. But like to just be like, I'm
5:04
only going to do Neil Diamond songs.
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I am Neil and. What they love and they sound
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like. Yeah.
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And it's like you said, someone said you sound like Neil.
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And Neil, like, yeah, somebody says you sound like Neil
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Diamond. And they're like, Oh my gosh,
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I'm that that's who I am now. That's my entire personality.
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I am but I said but. If I was like, hey Neil, what's
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your favorite color? They wouldn't answer me.
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They feel like they, they'd be like, uh, I only know the songs.
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We had one coming. To America, you know what I
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mean? There was one that came into my
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karaoke bar when I was karaoke DJing.
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And he, he was, he was a bit much.
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He was Neil, Yeah. And he would hand me his Neil
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Diss. They're always the most.
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Insufferable. He would come in live as Neil
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Diamond. I was like, I don't even know
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who Neil Diamond is. You know what?
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You know who would hate this? Neil Diamond.
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OK, because he's still alive. That's true.
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And probably performing somewhere because I saw him when
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he was 108 years old and it was one of the best shows I've ever
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seen. I actually think he has some
5:54
disease and can't perform anymore.
5:55
Oh really? Yes, I know it's.
5:57
A shame, but he was. He's great, Yeah.
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And like, yeah, like he yeah, it's just impersonators is like
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you're only good in small doses. Yeah, and you're only good
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because you sound similar to someone else.
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That had talent. I don't want to say that it's
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like these guys are, these guys are talented and they worked
6:14
hard and they did a good job. You know, I don't, I don't want
6:16
to dismiss that. No, I'm not dismissing that.
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And because they played the instruments right.
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Yeah, yeah, they're. Totally.
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Different things. Totally different than I think
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the like Vegas style lips. Britney Spears.
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Kind of people, it's like, OK, you just you don't have a lot of
6:31
makeup and you learn the words to hit me, baby.
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One more time you contoured your face to look like Brittany, but
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you probably got a big paycheck for it, so I don't know if you
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did. I don't know.
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You have more than I got this week so.
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You know what I did get AI get. I also got a big paycheck.
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This is my Segway. I got $45.00 the other day.
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Well done because I've decided to sell all my books.
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Yeah, I don't know how I feel about this.
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What do you mean? Like I they're books that you've
6:54
read that you loved, and they go on a bookshelf and they look
6:58
really nice and they're little sets of things that I associate
7:02
with you the. And so it's like, I feel like
7:05
you're selling them to save us, but like $45.00 is not going to
7:08
do anything. Yeah.
7:09
So why not keep them? Like, what's the urge to all of
7:11
a sudden sell? Them Yeah, like, I was thinking
7:13
about that too, because like, I have all these like, like
7:15
fantasy sets, right? And I was thinking about it
7:19
because it was always like, oh, I enjoyed this series.
7:22
I'm going to save it for my kids one day so I could read it to
7:25
them. And then it's like, I was, I was
7:28
like going through my clutter and I realized like a lot of
7:31
these, like I don't want to read to her 'cause they're like dark
7:34
or dirty or whatever it is. And.
7:39
Then I thought the same thing like, Oh well, maybe when she
7:41
turns 16 or something, I'm like, am I holding on to books for a
7:45
decade just in the just in the off chance that she's going to
7:48
like the same thing and who's to say like she's even going to be
7:52
interested? We tried to read Harry Potter
7:53
tour. The girl was not interested.
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I know, but like, you'd think you'd be into the magic of it
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all. Like Harry was like 7 or 8 or
8:02
something in the first book, or I mean, I think he was like 10,
8:04
but still, like, it's just like, I, I saved the Harry Potter
8:06
books. Yeah, but, but it's just like
8:08
the other ones where I'm like, well, I really liked this
8:11
vampire story. Like I, I'm trying to get rid of
8:13
Twilight. Yeah, 'cause I'm like, dude, is
8:15
it a good book? No, it just, it hit at a moment
8:19
of time. Like I don't want to present it
8:20
to Lily and be like, this is the best piece of fiction 'cause
8:23
it's terrible writing. It's awful.
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And she'll learn about it as time goes on.
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Will she even that's? True.
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I don't know, like shut up, grandma.
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Like I've got my own books, like she's got her own style.
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That's. True.
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They're gonna be stuff that comes out when she's of age.
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Yeah. So.
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Yeah, she'll have her own, you know what is it called?
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Hunger. Games, yeah.
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You know what I mean? Like by the time she's old
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enough, she's gonna be like, you mean that old thing from 2012?
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You know, it's going to be like me reading Casablanca or
8:51
something. It's going to be like, oh God,
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who cares? Well.
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The books are classics. They last long here.
8:55
Here you go, sweetie. Anyway, I have a taste of my
8:58
old. Yeah, it just feels like, what
9:00
are we doing here? You know what, I can spend the
9:02
$20 in the future to rebuy the set if if I need to they're.
9:06
Going to be classic. You can buy them in a thrift
9:08
store at that point. I'll be audio books by then in.
9:10
Digital. They already are, yeah.
9:11
But I was selling. So there's a really popular book
9:15
series, series, like, I don't even know what they're called,
9:18
but it's like these fantasy fairy books and it's very dirty.
9:24
Like that's what they're known for, is like.
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Like like. Fairies getting it on.
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Oh my goodness, yeah. Like, too much so that I was
9:32
like, is there a plot like, at all?
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And I remember reading like the first 50 Shades.
9:36
Of grey with fairies, yeah. I didn't like 50 Shades of Grey
9:39
because I was like, there's nothing happening in this book
9:41
other than that, yeah, like what's going on?
9:44
And like, where's the plot than this?
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And so I read the first two and I was just like, does this ever
9:49
get any better? And it had my curiosity and I'm
9:53
not like a total prude. So I was kind of like, okay,
9:55
well, does it. Get in like details of the
9:57
fairies like. So much detail that it's like.
10:02
Oh my. Goodness, like this is, but it's
10:04
ridiculous, OK? Like they're.
10:06
Floating and they're floating about.
10:08
No, it was 7 1/2 minutes of the best light of her life.
10:11
Like it's like. Three days worth.
10:13
You know, and you're just like, OK, all right, moving on.
10:17
Like I can't relate to this. No.
10:18
But anyways, so like I'm, I'm reading all of these books and I
10:23
realize like I don't want to read any more of these and
10:25
they're really popular. You don't want to reread them
10:27
either. No, God no.
10:28
So I put them up on Facebook Marketplace and this lady hits
10:32
me and she's like, how much for the fairy Smud books?
10:34
And I was like 20 bucks for all of them or whatever.
10:37
And she was like, OK, sold. And then we made a plan to meet.
10:41
We were going to meet at the Shell across from the Costco and
10:43
I was going to pull out my book, my books, and she was going to
10:46
get 20 to $20. Hey yo, you got Tim Fairy
10:48
fantasies, girl? Yeah.
10:49
I got you, girl. Open up my trench coat.
10:51
Here you go. And so she hits me up the next
10:54
morning and she's like, hey, I was looking into these books.
10:56
And immediately I was like, oh, she doesn't know.
10:58
She just found out. She doesn't know how dirty these
11:01
books are. And she's like, I just realized
11:03
that the next book comes out in 2027 and then the like final
11:07
chapter of the book comes out in 2029.
11:09
She's like, I'm currently 70 years old.
11:12
She's like, I don't know if I'm going to last until the end of
11:15
the book series. And she's like, and I don't know
11:17
if I want to commit to a series that I'm never going to read the
11:20
end book to. And I was like, that's.
11:23
Interesting. I respect that immensely, but
11:27
also I was like, you're going to be okay, but I don't know her
11:29
situation. She's like, I don't know, like.
11:31
I'm in the Hospice now. I was like.
11:33
I don't. Know what the last series I want
11:35
to read is about these fairies banging?
11:36
So like, I want to be respectful.
11:38
I don't want to be like, oh, you're good.
11:39
You know, it's only 20 bucks. So I was like, hey, total
11:42
legitimate answer and fine, but I just thought like that was the
11:45
wildest answer. That is a wild answer.
11:48
And there's nothing you could say.
11:50
Maybe that's what it is. Maybe she's like 45 and just
11:52
didn't want to admit it. Then what?
11:53
A great excuse. Yeah, it's true.
11:55
Like I'm eighty, I'm not going to make it.
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And she's. Like, I'm not, I'm not waiting a
11:59
decade to get the final chapter on this.
12:02
I want to be satisfied and know that I know the end of the story
12:05
before I die. But what if it's so good that
12:07
like, it keeps you alive those last three years where you're
12:10
like, I can't die yet, I've got to see how Tucker and Fiona.
12:15
No, there's no character named Tucker.
12:17
It's all like Lord Byron and the the Seven Seas.
12:21
No, Fiona. Yeah.
12:23
No, it's, yeah. I mean, there's no pops.
12:27
No, it doesn't matter. This isn't going to be something
12:30
that she's going to be like, I've got to live to see the end.
12:32
No. Harry Potter where she's like,
12:34
is Voldemort going to do this or what?
12:36
Even Harry Potter near the end, I was like, wrap it up.
12:40
Only with the movies, but I don't know with the books.
12:42
Too, No, I like the books, but obviously the books get into a
12:45
lot more of the subtleties and stuff like that, so you're more
12:48
invested, I feel. Like, more people to read the
12:50
books are devastated by the books.
12:51
So it's like like those are a little more interesting.
12:53
I know like why am I still hanging on to Harry Potter like.
12:56
That's a good. Series like.
12:58
I might read that one day. Hold on to that one.
13:00
So I still haven't read it and she's definitely going to read
13:03
it like. That's I don't know.
13:04
I feel like it's going to be a. Thing I just feel like it's like
13:06
the sad millennial thing that it's like, don't you want to
13:09
find out what house you're in, Lily?
13:11
It's like your mom's a Slytherin and your dad's a Hufflepuff.
13:14
I think they're coming back around like because, well,
13:16
there's the series that they're coming out with now.
13:18
So it's. Like no, but it just feels like
13:19
a desperate cash crab. I don't know, it could be, but I
13:22
I think there's more kids still going to Universal and like
13:25
trying out the unit like they're going to.
13:26
It's an experience for adults, yeah.
13:28
Like there's no 6 year old that's excited to go to the
13:31
whizzing world. It's their 42 year old parent
13:34
that's like, don't you want to buy this wand?
13:36
And they're kind of like, OK, I. Chooses you and you're like
13:38
what? And I get to go on rides and I
13:40
get to wear a Cape. And it's like, that's not a
13:41
Cape, that's a robe. And it's like, whatever, dude.
13:44
Like I'm getting you to spend your money.
13:46
I don't care what the Ollivander wands going to choose me.
13:49
I just know that you're buying me an $80 wand and I get to
13:52
flick it around the park and it activates stuff.
13:55
Yeah. Well, I mean, I still want to do
13:56
it. I still, I still want to do,
13:58
still want to go to Harry Potter land.
13:59
I haven't. I do too.
14:01
Take a quick break, real quick and tell you about the Clark
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There's 40 teams I think in it. They're going to be coming in.
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Tickets are going to be cheap. They're live streaming.
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You can go take your whole family to an affordable night
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out that's starting in March. I know that's far away.
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But so far away. We just went through March.
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I know in. October like isn't March in.
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October, you get season passes, they're going to, they haven't
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even chosen the team yet. So they're working on a team.
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No, it's going to be wonderful. I do have a question though,
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because the NBA is known as the National Basketball Association,
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right? And you keep saying basketball
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league. So are we are we talking about
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the BL? The TBL.
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The TBL. Yeah, so the basketball League,
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that's what it's called. The tho gets a.
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The tho's in there. Yeah it's you don't say tho
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twice. It's TBL.
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I'm part of well, I don't know TBL about that.
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It's the basketball league. Yeah.
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I thought that was odd as well, but what are you going to do?
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They already got MBA. Just like damn it.
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Doubt it. That's what I was going to
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college. Association's taken I just.
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Think that's. Basketball's got to be in there
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somewhere, right? We can do basketball.
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The TBL. OK, well TBL TBL not the the TBL
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not the. See.
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That's confusing. I know, I'm sorry I didn't make
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it. Up.
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No, I know and I know that the trash pandas didn't make it up.
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I'm just saying like just feels a little odd.
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Either way, go support them and the the the the basketball.
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League. And the.
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And TBL. And TBL.
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Don't say the the in front of it.
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We got to. Represent.
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We got to represent trash pandas.
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They're adorable, they're mighty, they're feisty.
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They have people. Here, do they have the merch
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yet? I don't see the merch.
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I we don't have the merch. When we get the merch, we'll
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have you. We'll tell you about the merch.
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We should do. I don't know if YouTube will let
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us do this, but we should do a giveaway.
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That's a good question, I think. We can.
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I'm just throwing it out there live on the podcast.
16:17
I don't know if we can even legally do that.
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Why? Not we have to find someone you.
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Can win it, but you're going to have to pay for shipping because
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we're still unemployed. Yeah, we're definitely not
16:26
sending it to Mike, who lives in Abu Dhabi, who comes to.
16:29
The podcast, no thank you, but yeah, not.
16:31
Tucking it over there on a boat. We'll work that.
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We'll work that out somewhere. We'll talk to our lawyers.
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And soon as the straights open you got your trash.
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Finally, the only thing I've been waiting for Yeah, lower gas
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prices and. Trash Panda jerseys.
16:47
All right. Well, thank you for watching.
16:48
All right, we'll talk to you later.