Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Mr. Weatherall | Mardi Gras, Virality, and Louisiana Culture

Transcript

Mr. Weatherall | Mardi Gras, Virality, and Louisiana Culture · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:00
  So I was in Church Point, LA, and I was shooting a video of
• 0:04
  the parade before the parade started.
• 0:06
  And I was at a gas station called Voltros.
• 0:08
  And I walked to the gas station and the DJ told me, hey, some of
• 0:13
  the girls were doing the Mr. Weatherall dance.
• 0:15
  And I said, oh, OK, well, can you play the song again?
• 0:18
  I'm here. This is that's the song that
• 0:19
  they dedicated to me. I can get them on video and post
• 0:22
  it on social media. So the DJ played it again.
• 0:25
  He played the song and that's how I got the video of those
• 0:28
  girls dancing at the gas station.
• 0:30
  How did you get that many girls to do all of that?
• 0:32
  That's unbelievable that that many people can do one dance #1.
• 0:37
  So at that gas station, they usually have like a DJ set up
• 0:40
  every year. So a lot of people migrate
• 0:42
  there. And that's, that's also where
• 0:43
  the parade starts in that area. So, yeah, so it's, it's a basic,
• 0:48
  a big gas station party, you can say.
• 0:57
  This one's special. Whether you're from Louisiana or
• 1:00
  you just wish you were, chances are you've seen this man's work.
• 1:05
  He's the guy behind the camera capturing second lines, zydeco
• 1:10
  dances, and some of the most iconic Mardi Gras parade footage
• 1:14
  to ever hit the Internet. That is a fact.
• 1:18
  Mr. Weatherall has become one of the most recognizable
• 1:22
  storytelling in Louisiana. He's got a viral presence, he
• 1:27
  has a hit song named after him and a gift for filming Culture
• 1:31
  in Motion. He's also been rolling with KLFY
• 1:35
  News 10 for years now, working alongside Gerald Grunig, which
• 1:41
  God bless him for that. He's the guy behind the camera.
• 1:45
  So he's showcased everything from boudin to bounce and
• 1:48
  everything in between. And today, we're going to get
• 1:52
  into his journey, the gear, the song.
• 1:56
  And of course, we're going to close it out with some rapid
• 1:59
  fire. Louisiana takes crawfish with or
• 2:02
  without dust King cake flavors. Jambalaya versus pastelaya.
• 2:07
  What's bumping in Mr. Weatherall's playlist these
• 2:10
  days? You already know this is going
• 2:12
  to be good, so let's get into it.
• 2:15
  Mr. Weatherall is in the building.
• 2:17
  Y'all, John? What's up, my man?
• 2:19
  Oh. Nothing much, everything is
• 2:21
  great. Enjoyed my Sunday so far.
• 2:24
  I'm excited that we finally had a chance to link up, so I'm
• 2:27
  definitely looking forward to. This man, I am too.
• 2:30
  I am too. It's, it's one I've been looking
• 2:33
  forward to for, for a while, since we first started saying, I
• 2:37
  think I even put a video out there like, Hey, Mr. Weatherall
• 2:40
  is going to come on. And I was like, we're going to
• 2:43
  let Mardi Gras settle and all of that.
• 2:46
  And we'll, we'll do this in early summer, late late spring,
• 2:50
  do something like that so you could catch, catch your breath,
• 2:54
  man. Well.
• 2:56
  Thank you. Yes, for sure.
• 2:58
  For sure, man. We'll look like I kind of like I
• 3:02
  said, you have been one of the faces of Louisiana on social
• 3:08
  media. Did you, did you ever see, did
• 3:11
  you ever see that happening, first of all?
• 3:15
  No, I have not at all. It just took a life of his own,
• 3:19
  honestly. Like I was just, you know, for
• 3:21
  years I would always just post my work on Facebook and
• 3:24
  Instagram, you know, just not thinking much of it.
• 3:27
  I just want to share, just share my work, you know, But yes, but
• 3:31
  once I got on TikTok and I shared that one video that went
• 3:34
  viral, it's been nonstop since. So it's a blessing for sure.
• 3:40
  It's just it's been a lot for sure.
• 3:43
  Yes, I can only, I can only imagine.
• 3:46
  We're going to dive into all of that stuff.
• 3:48
  But before we do, let's rewind it back for a second.
• 3:52
  I think this is probably a good place to start.
• 3:55
  You and I actually have a mutual friend, Mr. Terry Wayne Foster
• 4:00
  and Terry. Terry and I go way back.
• 4:03
  We went to high school together and and still to this day, he's
• 4:07
  like my tech guru guy. Like if I need to tech question
• 4:10
  answered, I'm calling Terry. I gotta get into some stories.
• 4:14
  There you go. I mean, dude, he, he is, he's
• 4:18
  incredible. I mean, I'm talking back when I
• 4:20
  was in high school, John, like he when we were using basic dos
• 4:26
  and basic, he knew how to do all of that stuff.
• 4:30
  And, and we were really fortunate at Florine High School
• 4:33
  where, where both of us are from.
• 4:35
  We had access to high speed Internet in the mid 90s and
• 4:39
  early 90s and that was unheard of, especially in a rural area.
• 4:44
  But Ross Williams was our teacher.
• 4:46
  And then later on he he did technology and stuff at
• 4:51
  Northwestern as well. And, and his son still does Ron
• 4:54
  Williams and all of them. So there was just this little
• 4:57
  click of you could call us nerds, whatever you want to say,
• 5:02
  you know, everybody had them. But we had this cool room where
• 5:06
  we had four or five at the time, very high speed Internet, high
• 5:11
  speed Internet computers back when Netscape was still like the
• 5:16
  main browser and stuff. Probably before you were even
• 5:18
  born. Mr. Weather.
• 5:20
  But I remember, I only remember Netscape because it came with my
• 5:23
  Windows 98, because that was my first.
• 5:25
  There you go. That's how.
• 5:26
  There you go. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 5:30
  Man. 98 was such a huge deal. 95 was Windows, 95 is what set it
• 5:35
  out, and then 98 three years later was supposed.
• 5:37
  To be. Oh yeah.
• 5:38
  The thing? That was, yeah, When I got that,
• 5:40
  that was I got a compact presario.
• 5:42
  That was my first. OK.
• 5:44
  And I was look since. Oh yeah.
• 5:46
  So yeah, I'm familiar with that, you know, and I love computers
• 5:50
  even since I was a kid, you know?
• 5:52
  So yeah, I guess that was always something I enjoyed, you know,
• 5:54
  growing up, but I didn't know it would lead to what I'm doing
• 5:57
  now. Right, Right.
• 5:59
  Man, that's what Terry, of course, Terry and Ron and all
• 6:03
  those guys, they were on a whole other level than me.
• 6:05
  I was just kind of like the hobbyist guy.
• 6:08
  And then if I couldn't figure it out, I had a crutch.
• 6:11
  I had them. If it didn't take me long for me
• 6:14
  to be like, I can't do this, I can't figure it out, let me call
• 6:17
  Terry so, you know, get it fixed.
• 6:20
  So yeah, that's what you had to do.
• 6:22
  So tell, tell everybody how did you and Terry meet?
• 6:26
  And I think that people out there listening like, who the
• 6:28
  Hell's this? Terry Guy explained explained
• 6:31
  how y'all's paths crossed. So, yeah, so my last, towards
• 6:36
  the end of my junior year of high school, they had a summer
• 6:39
  program that they were offering students to go to the to work at
• 6:44
  the school board in Lafayette. And I, I enrolled in that.
• 6:50
  That was the end of my junior year in 2008.
• 6:54
  And Terry was already working at the school board.
• 6:56
  So that's how I got in. That's How I Met him.
• 6:59
  So after that summer was over with, they let certain students
• 7:03
  go, but they asked if I wanted to stay and work there part
• 7:06
  time. So from there I just stayed at
• 7:09
  the school board for the past six years from O 8 to 2014, you
• 7:12
  know, working with Terry and a few other employees that were
• 7:15
  there at the time. But that's how we connected.
• 7:18
  So he's still a good friend of mine all these years later.
• 7:20
  You know, like I, like you said, I still go to Terry's sometimes
• 7:23
  whenever I need help. I had an issue with my computer
• 7:26
  recently and I went to his office and have him help me with
• 7:30
  that. So there's still a lot of stuff
• 7:31
  that I'm, I'm still learning with computers.
• 7:34
  But he's like the guru with all that.
• 7:36
  So I let him you know, he's. Like I've ever seen.
• 7:40
  Oh yeah, Oh yeah. But that's how we connected
• 7:43
  though whenever I was a student. Work at the school board in
• 7:45
  Lafayette. OK, there you go.
• 7:48
  Yeah. He, he, I think he, he recently
• 7:51
  retired finally from the school board.
• 7:53
  Yes. And yeah.
• 7:55
  So I know that he's been traveling and doing some other
• 7:58
  stuff too. I.
• 8:00
  I'm like he's always, he's always on the road.
• 8:02
  Like I like when I get older, I'm hoping that I can be more on
• 8:05
  the road, like just being able to enjoy and not working, not
• 8:08
  shooting anything, just enjoying it so.
• 8:10
  Enjoying life? Yes, exactly.
• 8:14
  Exactly. So what happened once you left
• 8:17
  the school board then then what? What did I'm sure that opened up
• 8:21
  some doors for you and, and all that.
• 8:23
  So then, then what? Did you go to work for the TV
• 8:26
  station at that point or? Right.
• 8:28
  So I graduated. What?
• 8:31
  Yeah. My last day at the school board
• 8:33
  was a Friday, and my grad, my graduation from U of Lafayette
• 8:37
  was that Saturday. Then I started care of why News
• 8:40
  10 that Monday. So.
• 8:42
  And I've been working there since 2014.
• 8:45
  I graduated and on mass communications at ulf yet?
• 8:49
  Okay, so yeah. That's awesome.
• 8:52
  That's awesome. Yeah, I took, I took several
• 8:55
  courses in college very close to like I could probably go back
• 9:01
  in, in a couple of semesters, have a mass communications
• 9:04
  degree. Those were my favorite classes
• 9:07
  that I took in college period, learning some of the stuff, just
• 9:11
  all of that. But then we actually they
• 9:14
  probably have it at UL2 where they have like a little studio,
• 9:18
  I'm sure. I know they do these days, but
• 9:21
  but early 2000s that was kind of cutting edge.
• 9:24
  They had like an actual TV studio and you had to read the
• 9:28
  teleprompter and the all of the, you know, all of that stuff just
• 9:32
  like you, like you, you see every day, but.
• 9:35
  Yeah, so I know, like in my my communication classes, we had
• 9:39
  the they had an old studio studio set, I believe it was
• 9:42
  from the new station that I currently work at now.
• 9:45
  They donated the set to the students and I remember we had
• 9:47
  to come up with our own shows, produce it and have someone run
• 9:51
  the teleprompter and everything. So that was pretty cool, you
• 9:55
  know, at the time. Yeah, those are fun.
• 9:57
  I remember people would be so nervous on those days and I
• 10:00
  would just be hamming up. I was like, Oh no, this is what
• 10:03
  I'm here for. This is so much better than
• 10:07
  having to learn stuff about math and all that, like, let's watch.
• 10:11
  This is not going anywhere, you know?
• 10:13
  Yeah, that reminds me too. Like my, that reminds me like
• 10:17
  when I first started at ULI wait for computer science.
• 10:20
  That was my original major, but I changed my major this first
• 10:24
  day of UL, my first day of college.
• 10:26
  I changed my my major that same day to mass communications
• 10:29
  because I was like, I do not want to take all this math.
• 10:32
  So math is like my worst subject.
• 10:34
  Yes, but no. Well, I think I think you've
• 10:37
  made the right decision. It looks like it's working out
• 10:40
  pretty well for you. Yeah, thankfully, yes.
• 10:42
  It's been an amazing journey for sure, you know?
• 10:47
  So I guess you working there at the station in those early days,
• 10:51
  when did you and when did you and Gerald start to kind of
• 10:54
  click and work together? How long has he been there?
• 10:58
  Have y'all been kind of tied at the hip the whole time?
• 11:02
  Yeah, pretty much. We both actually started I think
• 11:05
  with a month apart from each other because we all graduated
• 11:08
  around the same time. So I started in May of 2014 and
• 11:11
  I believe he started in June of 2014.
• 11:14
  And at my first live shot actually was with Gerald and
• 11:19
  another reporter, George Foust. It was for a sports live shot at
• 11:24
  a baseball field in Lafayette and I was freaking out.
• 11:27
  Could they just threw me out there?
• 11:29
  I didn't know what to do to go live.
• 11:32
  I was one of those backpacks and I had to go live for the first
• 11:35
  time with Gerald. So that was interesting right
• 11:37
  there. And then a year later, in 2015,
• 11:41
  just whenever Gerald came up with the idea for Katie and the
• 11:43
  Eats and he asked me if I wanted to be involved with it, he
• 11:47
  stopped me in the hallway. I still remember he asked if I
• 11:50
  wanted to be the camera guy for a Kitty and the Eats.
• 11:53
  That's for them. Yeah.
• 11:54
  So we started in August, I believe it was of 2015, and we
• 11:58
  just went from there. And it's a it's an incredible
• 12:03
  page and all the stuff that all the videos and everything.
• 12:06
  It's one of my favorite things to see is anytime y'all have
• 12:09
  something that drops, it's just, it's the, it's the way that
• 12:13
  y'all presented. I don't know if you're editing
• 12:15
  it or who it is. I know that you have good
• 12:17
  equipment. We're going to get into all of
• 12:19
  that stuff because I am going to nerd out, but I'll save it for
• 12:22
  the back end of the show. But.
• 12:25
  I do want to nerd out a little bit, but it's just so impressive
• 12:29
  how y'all can just it pops and of course, he's a probably I
• 12:34
  would say is a pretty easy subject to film.
• 12:37
  As long as you can keep him in frame.
• 12:40
  I would think that his he's he's loud.
• 12:43
  He's you know, he's got he's in a good way.
• 12:46
  This is in a in a good way, totally.
• 12:47
  I'm loud. I can't help but it's just he's
• 12:52
  a people person. He is, yeah.
• 12:54
  And that's the thing too. A lot of people always, like, if
• 12:56
  you see how we normally shoot, everyone always asks me like,
• 12:59
  why do I hold the light in my hand whenever I'm filming jail?
• 13:03
  I'm like, if I put a light on the tripod and film jail, we're
• 13:06
  going to be having to move this tripod over and over.
• 13:09
  I'm like, this is the easiest way to do it.
• 13:11
  I can just, you know, let him do his thing and we can be in and
• 13:15
  out cuz that's the way that we do it.
• 13:16
  Now we got to a point where we, we figure out like our method
• 13:20
  and with our workflow. So everything is like in and out
• 13:23
  so we can be able to move on and go to the next location and
• 13:26
  stuff like that. So well.
• 13:29
  That's probably good for the businesses too, you know, cuz
• 13:33
  when you're coming in not to slow down there, you know,
• 13:37
  you're not disrupting as much. You just come in, do your thing
• 13:40
  and out. And I mean, you've been doing it
• 13:42
  for almost 10 years at this point.
• 13:44
  So you, you know what you're going to say and do and, and
• 13:48
  what's going to work on social media, what to say, what not to
• 13:52
  say and just roll on you efficient.
• 13:55
  You become very efficient with it.
• 13:57
  That shows. Lord, I saw one the other day he
• 13:59
  had. And you found it, the shrimp.
• 14:03
  It was like a shrimp po boy, shrimping fish po boy.
• 14:06
  This is like in the last week or so, and I've never seen that.
• 14:11
  It was just like, there was bread there, but it was mainly
• 14:15
  shrimp and fish. She looked incredible.
• 14:19
  Yeah. But I like, man, I get a kick
• 14:21
  out of watching all of that stuff, is all.
• 14:23
  I mean, I love the cooking stuff.
• 14:25
  So that's right up my alley and y'all capture some of the best
• 14:30
  in the in the state no doubt. Oh yeah, no.
• 14:33
  Doubt about it. Man, yeah, we, yeah, we met some
• 14:35
  amazing people, a lot of restaurants, some restaurants
• 14:39
  that's not even open anymore. But we just grew so many, you
• 14:43
  know, connections along the way over the years because it's
• 14:45
  been, it's actually going to be 10 years since the kid in the E
• 14:48
  1st air this year. So that's crazy to think about,
• 14:52
  you know, but it's definitely been a journey.
• 14:56
  Yeah. Well, it's just a, it's a great,
• 14:57
  it's a great, just a great little segment, I guess you
• 15:00
  would say is I guess it see, I only see clips and stuff, social
• 15:05
  media clips that are out there. But it's a segment on TV though,
• 15:11
  right? Right.
• 15:12
  Yeah, so. In a weekly segment.
• 15:14
  Yeah. So it airs every Thursday.
• 15:17
  So Katie and the East is every Thursday on KLFY.
• 15:20
  And then what we post on our social media pages, we started
• 15:23
  that in 2021. So that's what we do on outside
• 15:27
  of work hours. So there's times whenever we can
• 15:30
  be shooting, doing our stuff at KLFY, and then later in the day
• 15:34
  we'll go out to a restaurant and do something for social media as
• 15:37
  well. So try to shoot something a
• 15:38
  little differently than what we do on TV.
• 15:41
  Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.
• 15:43
  So I I know you've probably seen just about every kind of food,
• 15:49
  food and festival in this state. I'm going to put you on the
• 15:52
  spot. We're not even the rapid fire a
• 15:55
  lot of questions yet. Do you have a favorite?
• 15:58
  Do you have a favorite? Oh, that's a tough one.
• 16:01
  I'm. Not trying to get you in
• 16:02
  trouble, Mr. Weatherall right, Well, I just want to say I do
• 16:05
  love. I appreciate and love everyone,
• 16:07
  First off. But I'll be honest, I've been
• 16:11
  going to Twins. It's a bakery and sweets place
• 16:14
  in Lafayette. I've been going to them a lot.
• 16:17
  I love going to a place called Uncle T's in Scott LA and BBQ
• 16:23
  Eyes. I love Blanches BBQ.
• 16:25
  It's in Lafayette as well. So those are the three that I've
• 16:27
  been frequenting the most. There's some plugs.
• 16:30
  There you go. I love it.
• 16:31
  But again, no, they're all great.
• 16:36
  Well, that's the problem in Louisiana there is, I mean, it's
• 16:40
  it would probably be easier to find bad food or heart.
• 16:44
  It would be easier to yeah, it would definitely be easier to
• 16:47
  find bad food than it would to be go to all these places and
• 16:51
  say it was bad because it's all good.
• 16:53
  You're not going to find there. It's rare to find bad food here.
• 16:57
  Let's just be honest. Everything, everything's up
• 17:01
  there. Yeah.
• 17:02
  And there's so many places that we still haven't even visited,
• 17:05
  even in the Lafayette area, you know, there's so many different
• 17:08
  restaurants to try that we haven't had a chance to go to.
• 17:11
  So it's yeah, it's just so much. It's all good.
• 17:15
  Ever, ever evolving and evolving.
• 17:18
  And that makes, I mean, it's perfect for content creators.
• 17:23
  It is. It is you.
• 17:24
  Know it's endless it's endless stuff just what do you want to
• 17:28
  talk about today that's really really what you got to do and
• 17:32
  it. Sprains it like the past 10
• 17:34
  years, like just doing our TV segment, you know, there's still
• 17:37
  places that we haven't even tapped that's not in the
• 17:40
  Lafayette area. So it's like it's just so much
• 17:43
  and I'm just we enjoy it for sure.
• 17:45
  They are definitely feed us well, very well, very well for
• 17:48
  sure. Well that that leads me to
• 17:50
  something. How do y'all, both y'all are
• 17:52
  both in good shape, lean, you know, how do y'all, how do y'all
• 17:56
  stay this way? Yeah, eating all of this food, I
• 17:59
  mean. Well, I know Gerald.
• 18:02
  He he works out a lot at Ray Laurel's gym in Lafayette.
• 18:06
  And I started going there back in August of last year because I
• 18:10
  had some issues with my blood pressure.
• 18:13
  So I had a little healthcare back in August of last year.
• 18:16
  So I started going out to the gym.
• 18:18
  So that's been helping me out a bit.
• 18:20
  But that's good. Yeah.
• 18:22
  But that's that's pretty much it.
• 18:25
  Gerald goes to Ray Laurel's every day.
• 18:27
  If it's not, there you go. Yeah, and I mean, I'm sure on
• 18:31
  those days when you're going to film something, obviously I've
• 18:34
  done some stuff like that too. You're not going to eat the
• 18:36
  whole thing right there. You'll take it together.
• 18:38
  You can eat on it later, but. Yeah.
• 18:42
  Like normally we'll take like, well, he'll take like a little
• 18:44
  bit of like missing pieces of the foods and then he'll just,
• 18:48
  you know, we'll either give it away or we'll bring it to our
• 18:50
  news station if they want to eat it.
• 18:52
  But for the most part, we don't like indulge in it like we used
• 18:56
  to. I know, like, yeah.
• 18:58
  So that's that's kind of been helping as well.
• 19:01
  Yeah, I've had the Cajun critic, Caleb Bryan.
• 19:05
  He does promotions and some festivals and stuff.
• 19:08
  He was on. He was a guest last Thursday.
• 19:11
  Well, the first time I had him on, he was still mainly doing
• 19:15
  get going around and critiquing places.
• 19:18
  And I'm like that, that was my first question because I'm a big
• 19:21
  boy over here and I love to eat and I'd love to go out and start
• 19:24
  doing that. But I'm telling you right now,
• 19:27
  there's no doubt that a bowl of gumbo and pastelaya and
• 19:31
  jambalaya, all this stuff, it's just going to stick.
• 19:34
  It doesn't want to go anywhere no matter.
• 19:36
  And I go to the gym every day, but I would just start to gain
• 19:39
  weight. So that's why I always, it's
• 19:41
  like my question, if you're out there doing it, you're skinny,
• 19:44
  how are you doing this? You know, So yeah, he, he
• 19:49
  finally, I think he, he's kind of slacked off on that a little
• 19:52
  bit because he's doing a, doing more like a, a, a paleo or kind
• 19:58
  of keto like lifestyle and he's dead serious on it.
• 20:01
  And he's lost 50 lbs. And yeah, he doesn't, he doesn't
• 20:05
  budget. Like he even did the burger cook
• 20:07
  off. He only ate patties.
• 20:08
  He didn't like dude, that's hardcore.
• 20:10
  Because I would have waited. Weeks to just to eat.
• 20:15
  I'm going to have a smash burger if I'm having a burger event,
• 20:19
  period, right? You know?
• 20:22
  Yeah, but, you know, I mean, The thing is too like they feed us
• 20:25
  really well, which we're grateful for is just sometimes
• 20:28
  it can be a little overwhelming. We're like, look, can that
• 20:30
  there's just a little too much food for us, but.
• 20:33
  Exactly Well, they know that they're going to get that.
• 20:36
  The main thing is that you're going to get that shot of that
• 20:39
  beautiful, completed, delicious dish and you know, if it goes to
• 20:44
  waste, they don't care. They want that shot too, just
• 20:46
  like you don't want to eat it just like you want it.
• 20:49
  So I mean, it work. It works both ways.
• 20:51
  But Lord, y'all, there's some food.
• 20:54
  Y'all go check them out. If you're listening to this, go
• 20:57
  look, look up at Katie, Anna Eats.
• 21:00
  You will see some of the best stuff that you will ever see in
• 21:03
  your entire life because it's just a fact.
• 21:06
  The best food in the world is here in Louisiana, the whole
• 21:10
  world. It's here.
• 21:11
  And we're like, we're so lucky to be around it.
• 21:14
  We really, really are. Yeah, I think, I think sometimes
• 21:18
  a lot of people take it for granted too, you know?
• 21:20
  I think we all do. Yeah.
• 21:22
  It's easy to because it's just, it's just another day and like,
• 21:27
  Oh well, you're just having this, which is a five star meal
• 21:31
  at anybody else's house restaurant establishment in the
• 21:35
  country. And we do kind of just take it
• 21:38
  for granted. We get mad because this place is
• 21:42
  gumbo. Their roo's a little, not quite
• 21:44
  as dark as this other place, but they're both just fine.
• 21:48
  Just fine. But it's like, hell no, I don't
• 21:51
  like going there. I like my, I like my Roo darker.
• 21:54
  They don't do it dark enough. It's just not like, come on,
• 21:57
  man. Yeah, isn't it?
• 22:01
  Yes, it is. It totally is.
• 22:04
  Well, going back to you and Gerald working together, I know
• 22:07
  that that's kind of where y'all started to get some viral
• 22:11
  attention a little bit. And and tell us a little bit
• 22:16
  about some of those first videos that happened where they started
• 22:20
  to go viral, where you started to to see a little virality for
• 22:24
  lack of a better word. Yeah, yeah.
• 22:28
  So I know that really started to happen once we got on TikTok
• 22:33
  because we both, you know, we were on a shoot, actually this
• 22:36
  was back in October 2021. And I was already shooting on
• 22:40
  TikTok for a haunted attraction I was working for in Lafayette.
• 22:44
  And I was telling Gerald like, hey, you should get on TikTok
• 22:48
  and just, you know, post videos of you trying food on there.
• 22:51
  So we stopped at a boudin place and after that, I can already
• 22:57
  tell from Joe's like, yeah, he got, he got the bug already.
• 23:00
  So he was like hooked after that, which is great, you know,
• 23:03
  because it's like, it's been a real blessing.
• 23:05
  For him, you know. Oh, yeah, It's fun.
• 23:07
  Exactly. It's fun, you know, And I think
• 23:10
  a lot of times we talk about we wish that we got on social media
• 23:13
  before the pandemic, but we we're glad that we got on what
• 23:16
  we did, which is great. Yeah.
• 23:19
  I think the first video we were at a place in Broussard, LA.
• 23:24
  It was a a crackling video, I believe.
• 23:27
  And that was his first video that went viral.
• 23:29
  That was back in December of 2021.
• 23:31
  And then from there it's just been, you know, non-stop.
• 23:34
  And the good thing is that we had this audience from people
• 23:37
  that watched our TV segment on KLFY, so a lot of them were
• 23:41
  watching on TikTok, and then it just opened our audience to more
• 23:45
  people, you know? Right.
• 23:46
  Yeah, yeah. Is that, is that his
• 23:48
  personality? What you see on camera is what
• 23:51
  you get. I've never met him, but I kind
• 23:53
  of got a feeling it is. It is.
• 23:55
  Yeah, it is definitely is. That's Gerald 24/7.
• 24:00
  A lot of people always ask me like, how do I deal with that?
• 24:03
  It's like it's just, you know, I enjoy working with you, you
• 24:07
  know, it's normal to me, you know, I don't feel like it's I'm
• 24:10
  annoying or anything. It's just, that's just how, yes,
• 24:12
  you know, I'm very introverted, laid back, quiet, and he's the
• 24:16
  complete opposite. But it works.
• 24:18
  You know, for. That's what makes it work
• 24:20
  probably, you know, having that dynamic.
• 24:23
  You're not fighting for airtime, you know what I mean?
• 24:26
  Like you're just you're both both in your own lanes.
• 24:29
  That's that's awesome. That's awesome.
• 24:31
  Yeah. That's my impression of him, is
• 24:33
  that he's loud and in your face in a good way, and it's just fun
• 24:38
  to work with. I mean, I have some.
• 24:40
  I do believe I probably have a couple of similar traits to
• 24:43
  Gerald, so I get it. Oh yeah.
• 24:46
  But no, I like I said, I enjoyed doing it.
• 24:49
  And that's before even social media, you know, like we've been
• 24:51
  knowing each other since 2014. So I've definitely, we have a
• 24:56
  lot of memories and things that we've, you know, shared with
• 24:59
  each other over the years, but it's just, it just meshes and
• 25:03
  works with us, you know, because not too many people last that
• 25:05
  long in this kind of situation with social media competition
• 25:08
  and stuff like that. So I'm just grateful that we're
• 25:11
  still, you know, friends and still working well together and,
• 25:15
  you know, never know what the future holds.
• 25:17
  That's right. That's right.
• 25:19
  Well said. Well said.
• 25:21
  Well, then that kind of leads us into more now where we're at the
• 25:27
  more the modern day where it kind of started.
• 25:30
  We're got we've gotten to there to to where I started seeing you
• 25:35
  all the time was was the Mr. Weatherall Channel and the
• 25:39
  videos and the dance and all of that the song and all of that
• 25:44
  stuff nowhere to begin on. How did that happen?
• 25:49
  So if y'all aren't aware of anybody out there, there's a
• 25:53
  there is a song you can go on apple, Spotify, YouTube,
• 25:56
  wherever the Mr. Weatherall song.
• 25:58
  It is an awesome ass song period.
• 26:01
  Like it it is it's Louisiana. It's awesome and then it turned
• 26:06
  into TikTok dances and all kinds of stuff.
• 26:10
  I mean, it's got its own dance and it to say it went viral,
• 26:13
  that's an understatement. Like it was on my feed for
• 26:17
  months and still it still pops up.
• 26:20
  There's still stuff that pops up.
• 26:21
  Really from? Yes, there are every now and
• 26:24
  then, I guess because I've just seen it and I love it every time
• 26:27
  I see the videos because I'm always like, how'd they do that
• 26:30
  with the camera and stuff? Like how'd you make that?
• 26:32
  And they like, how'd you do that?
• 26:34
  That So I I watch it over and over again.
• 26:36
  But yeah, when did that? When did you transition with
• 26:40
  Acadiana Eats? It's rocking and rolling until
• 26:42
  this Mardi Gras madness that takes over every year.
• 26:47
  I guess that's a better way to frame it.
• 26:49
  Yeah, definitely. So, so going back to when we
• 26:54
  first got on TikTok, once Gerald started posting videos on social
• 26:58
  media for what he does with the food videos, he pushed me to
• 27:02
  start posting my Mardi Gras content because I was like, what
• 27:05
  can I put on social media? Because I was running a TikTok
• 27:08
  page for a haunted attraction back in Lafayette.
• 27:10
  And I was like, what can I do to build up my TikTok page?
• 27:13
  I'm, you know, I'm helping build up the haunted attractions page
• 27:16
  and I helped that page grow to like 600,000 followers in two
• 27:20
  weeks. And I'm like, I want to get that
• 27:21
  from my page, you know? So I was like, well, I have all
• 27:25
  this Mardi Gras content. And he just told me to just
• 27:28
  start posting that. So I had videos from before the
• 27:30
  pandemic that I started sharing on TikTok.
• 27:33
  Didn't think nothing of it. And then I had a video of a guy
• 27:35
  from Church Point, LA. He's not from there.
• 27:39
  But yeah, but I had a bit. Thinking with my guy, that guy,
• 27:44
  Not not. Him.
• 27:45
  No, not him. Yeah, it was before him.
• 27:47
  My first viral video on TikTok on my page was it was an officer
• 27:52
  and he was dancing to a song and that went viral.
• 27:55
  It was just like 6 seconds and I was like OK, OK, we got
• 27:59
  something gone. Now the Mardi Gras season for
• 28:02
  2022 started and then on Fat Tuesday, I shot the video of the
• 28:06
  guy wrapping to Kevin Gates song and then I posted it like I
• 28:11
  think the next day I just posted just not thinking much of it.
• 28:14
  I just made a post saying, hey guys, I'm gonna be sharing a lot
• 28:17
  of content soon. Stay on the lookout.
• 28:19
  And then after I posted that video, like within in one to two
• 28:23
  hours, my notifications just started to go crazy.
• 28:26
  And I was like what is going on? You know, I didn't know, you
• 28:30
  know, I son told me just to go check and see what post it was.
• 28:33
  And then I noticed it was his post and it was kept growing and
• 28:36
  growing and growing. It was just like crazy, just
• 28:40
  like wildfire basically. But.
• 28:42
  That's where I started. How many combined views did that
• 28:46
  video get over everything roughly?
• 28:51
  That's a good one. That's a good one.
• 28:55
  I know. The last I check it was over 100
• 28:58
  + 1,000,000 views. Wow, that's that's only ones
• 29:02
  that I I call it. That yeah, that, yeah, that's
• 29:06
  probably now it guy, guy, I guarantee you it's probably more
• 29:09
  than 100 million, yeah, but that's incredible.
• 29:12
  Think about that 100 million people for just turning on a a
• 29:16
  phone. I don't know what camera.
• 29:17
  You were using when you did that.
• 29:19
  Yeah, you're actually, I think you're right because on my page
• 29:22
  I think it went up to 72 million on my TikTok page.
• 29:27
  Yeah. So yeah, it's probably, I'm, I
• 29:28
  think I'm well off, but I know there's a lot of views for sure.
• 29:32
  Yeah, a lot, a lot of views. So we get to that.
• 29:36
  That's really kind of where everything then I, I just about
• 29:40
  every damn video you posted after that pretty much going
• 29:44
  viral. It's all dangerous and stuff.
• 29:47
  Yeah, which is a, you know, blessing for sure, because I
• 29:50
  mean, most people, they have that one viral video and then
• 29:54
  everything else just falls flat. But thankfully, you know, I'm,
• 29:57
  I'm a great, I feel like I'm a great shooter, you know, and
• 29:59
  normally I try to stay humble, which I, which is great, but I,
• 30:02
  I have to, you know, pat myself in the back too.
• 30:04
  I do know how to have. Fun and shoot.
• 30:06
  You know, and I always you know, but I have fun what I do too as
• 30:10
  well. So that helps as well.
• 30:12
  But it was like back-to-back since as like so many videos
• 30:15
  that went viral. I love getting the reactions
• 30:18
  from people in public. They say, hey, thank you for
• 30:20
  making me go viral. My job, everybody at my job
• 30:24
  recognized me. They all have, like, little
• 30:26
  jokes here and there, but I have people stopping me in the street
• 30:29
  saying, hey, I saw you in that video of Mr. Weatherall posted.
• 30:32
  So I think that's what makes it, you know, enjoyable.
• 30:34
  It's like seeing the excitement and everything.
• 30:37
  Yeah, totally. That's got it.
• 30:39
  I mean, that has to be to to get that.
• 30:42
  I mean, it's feedback, yes, it's almost a little pat on the back.
• 30:45
  But I mean, I know what you put into this.
• 30:48
  I know what it takes to get edit videos and to put stuff out.
• 30:51
  And it's so it's it's crazy. We were talking before we
• 30:55
  started to record. It's crazy how some videos you
• 30:59
  just literally turn your phone on your camera, press record and
• 31:02
  it records for a minute or whatever and then it go, that's
• 31:05
  that. Had that happen yesterday.
• 31:07
  I've had a video that's blown up and had 100 + 1000 views and
• 31:11
  probably going to get more than that.
• 31:13
  It was just very simple. Just turned it on and I almost
• 31:16
  didn't even post it. Like I almost didn't even post
• 31:19
  video. Yeah, but that goes to show.
• 31:23
  Just post it, right? Wouldn't you say that to anybody
• 31:25
  out there that wants to be a content creator?
• 31:28
  Yeah. So I definitely would say that,
• 31:31
  but I know I'll be honest, Joe has been like pushing me to
• 31:34
  start posting a little more because I haven't posted in a
• 31:36
  month. But if you're just starting out,
• 31:39
  definitely because that's what I had to do for the past couple of
• 31:42
  months, like December up until March of 2022, I was posting
• 31:46
  like constantly all of my old videos.
• 31:48
  I just repurposed a lot of content, you know, So they
• 31:51
  boasted like all the like every week, like maybe once a weekday
• 31:55
  or something like that helps. But I know like as I grew my
• 31:59
  page, I just like cut back a little bit because I want to
• 32:02
  make sure I put quality stuff, you know?
• 32:05
  So I think that's just the videographer side of me because
• 32:07
  at the end of the day, I still love shooting video.
• 32:09
  A lot of people don't feel like I'm a videographer.
• 32:12
  They just say, yeah, the content creator.
• 32:13
  But I still know how to shoot professionally as well.
• 32:17
  It's just, it's so much easier on that phone.
• 32:19
  I just love using the phone. I know it is.
• 32:23
  It really is. It's just, I mean, I've wanted
• 32:26
  to go and buy some other cameras and some other equipment and
• 32:29
  stuff to do what I'm doing. I'm like, it's point and shoot
• 32:33
  with my phone and that camera's pretty Dang good.
• 32:35
  You know what I mean? It is, it is.
• 32:37
  It's tough to beat So that you do primarily use your phone for
• 32:41
  a lot of the content that you get.
• 32:43
  Yeah, most of it even with Gerald.
• 32:46
  Yeah, so I switched over in 2021, October 21 when we first
• 32:50
  started TikTok. I switched over and I haven't
• 32:53
  looked back since. So I have like I have a black
• 32:55
  magic cinema camera, my Sony 873 that's just sitting at home.
• 33:01
  I just, it's just collecting dust.
• 33:04
  I don't want to give them away, you know, just in case.
• 33:06
  You never know, but I just. This case, yeah.
• 33:08
  Yeah, but I strictly shoot on my iPhone.
• 33:12
  OK, yeah, I'm pretty much have gotten to that point too.
• 33:15
  Like there's no reason to. I have a GoPro and stuff like
• 33:18
  that, but then I have to take it out and then load it into the
• 33:22
  computer and do all of that stuff where it just goes to my
• 33:26
  iCloud and then I can just, I use Premiere Pro to edit a lot
• 33:29
  of stuff. Yeah, that's what I use, Cap.
• 33:31
  Cut if it's in my phone, I can just use cap cut too.
• 33:34
  If it's something short and I don't want to like really dial
• 33:37
  it in, you know, it's, it's just so much easier with everything
• 33:41
  staying in one place, so. It is.
• 33:45
  It is yeah. I've been using Premiere Pro for
• 33:47
  years. Me and Gerald both because
• 33:49
  Gerald, that's what I forgot to mention.
• 33:50
  Also Gerald edits all his videos as well, so I just.
• 33:54
  Shoot, does he? Yeah.
• 33:55
  So he edits. Yeah.
• 33:58
  Yeah, he's a slick editor. And he's, Oh yeah, cuz he like
• 34:01
  whenever, cuz that's what he did when he first started at KLF
• 34:03
  while I was sports. So he's still with like that
• 34:06
  editing stuff. So he, he knows how to edit and
• 34:09
  shoot. Yeah.
• 34:10
  You, yeah. And shoot, if you're doing
• 34:12
  sports, yeah, you've got to, you've got to go out in the
• 34:14
  field, take, shoot it with talking to a coach or whatever,
• 34:18
  then clip it, get your best bites or sound bits or whatever
• 34:22
  out of it, then put on the news. You get good.
• 34:25
  You you do that every day for a while, you're going to get
• 34:28
  pretty Dang good at it, so. That makes.
• 34:31
  That makes sense. Totally makes sense.
• 34:35
  So then that leads us into the Mr. Weatherall song.
• 34:39
  Like how? How did that all come about?
• 34:43
  You've gained all this traction. You're blowing up on social
• 34:46
  media. I'm assuming people are seeing
• 34:49
  you putting out people dancing and stuff like that.
• 34:53
  How the hell did the song come about?
• 34:55
  Yeah, so the song came about the following year, so in 2023.
• 35:00
  So I got sent a sample of it back in December of 2022 from a
• 35:06
  group called Young Cup City and the producer, DJ Sal and his
• 35:10
  brother Boogie, they sent me the track.
• 35:13
  They just sent me an instrumental of the song.
• 35:14
  They say, can you let us know what you think about this?
• 35:17
  It's something that we're working on.
• 35:19
  And I I listened to it. It was pretty cool.
• 35:21
  And then a couple of weeks, a couple of weeks later, they sent
• 35:25
  me the actual track with the artist recording.
• 35:28
  So it was Young Cup City and Big Zoe, and they sent me the actual
• 35:32
  track of it. And I was like, they we wanted
• 35:35
  to dedicate the song to me because of all of the work that
• 35:37
  I do in the kid in the area, you know, over the years.
• 35:40
  So yeah, so that's how that guy started.
• 35:42
  They just wanted to dedicate the song to me.
• 35:45
  So I listened to it. Yeah.
• 35:49
  Which they definitely didn't have to for sure, but I'm
• 35:51
  definitely, you know, it's like my theme song, you know?
• 35:53
  So that's the the good thing about it.
• 35:54
  Like, yeah, so they they sent that to me.
• 35:58
  We just made a couple of edits because there was some parts of
• 36:01
  it that we had to change only because I was thinking about
• 36:03
  like the lyrics, but. It's probably I could see where
• 36:07
  I could see where you could definitely could say some other
• 36:10
  things in there. For sure, probably.
• 36:13
  What it was originally. Yeah, I still have the original
• 36:16
  track that has those that that part of the lyrics.
• 36:19
  But one maybe one day like we would do like a behind the
• 36:22
  scenes or something. We'll probably use it or
• 36:24
  whatever. But yeah.
• 36:25
  Yeah, but that's how that started.
• 36:28
  And then like that Mardi Gras season, I mean, it did well.
• 36:33
  We had a video of a little kid, his name is Ryland.
• 36:36
  He was dancing to the song at the Lafayette parade.
• 36:39
  It did well on social media, but the song didn't pick up.
• 36:42
  It took a whole year later for the song to actually gain
• 36:46
  traction. So I was in Church Point, LA,
• 36:48
  and I was shooting a video of the parade before the parade
• 36:52
  started. And I was at a gas station
• 36:53
  called Voltros and I walked to the gas station and the DJ told
• 36:58
  me, hey, some of the girls were doing the Mr. Weather all dance.
• 37:02
  And I said, okay, well, can you play the song again?
• 37:04
  I'm here. This is that's the song that
• 37:06
  they dedicated to me. I can get them on video and post
• 37:09
  it on social media. So the DJ played it again.
• 37:12
  He played the song and that's how I got the video of those
• 37:15
  girls dancing at the gas station.
• 37:16
  How did you get that many girls to do all of that?
• 37:19
  That's unbelievable that that many people can do one dance #1.
• 37:23
  So at that gas station, they usually have like a DJ set up
• 37:26
  every year. So a lot of people migrate
• 37:29
  there. And that that's also where the
• 37:30
  parade starts in that area. So yeah, so it's it's a basic, a
• 37:35
  big gas station party, you can say.
• 37:37
  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 37:39
  And a lot of them were already there.
• 37:40
  And then he got on the mic and told him that I was there.
• 37:43
  So a lot of them came back and did the dance.
• 37:46
  And then I like a couple of days later, I believe it was.
• 37:50
  I posted it the day before my birthday on February 24th.
• 37:54
  And whenever I posted it on TikTok, the first video didn't
• 37:58
  do as well. It got a little traction but it
• 38:02
  was when I posted the full video like the beginning to end.
• 38:05
  And that's the one that like completely blew over.
• 38:08
  And they went by on Twitter first before they changed to X
• 38:12
  and after that it was just a trend on TikTok for like 2
• 38:15
  months. Yep.
• 38:16
  Yeah, yeah, It was. Everybody was doing it all kind.
• 38:20
  I mean, just anybody and everybody all across America,
• 38:25
  not just here. It was everywhere.
• 38:28
  It's incredible. I mean, it's crazy.
• 38:30
  It does every when you hear the song because I still I they play
• 38:33
  that song and I hear it just around occasionally time to time
• 38:39
  I'm out. So I mean they'll play it.
• 38:41
  Have you ever just been out somewhere or any and then just
• 38:45
  heard that song without them knowing you were there or
• 38:49
  anything? Yeah, actually this past
• 38:51
  weekend, well, this past weekend, yesterday I was with a
• 38:54
  friend, my friend Zach. He's actually another guy that
• 38:57
  went viral in my videos. He has the chicken suit and he's
• 38:59
  always. Jigging, OK, yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 39:02
  yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he invited me to go to
• 39:05
  his niece's baseball game, well, softball game.
• 39:08
  And they were playing the song. Another team was playing.
• 39:11
  And I was like, oh, OK. I didn't want to surprise them,
• 39:13
  you know, But a lot of them, I still hear it being played, you
• 39:17
  know, on the radio sometimes. They're still playing it.
• 39:19
  I remember I was coming from Walmart and they had some people
• 39:23
  playing it in the, so I was trying to pull up close to them
• 39:26
  to tell them hello or something. But I still hear to play it all
• 39:29
  the time, which is great, you know, And I feel like it's one
• 39:32
  of those things. Yeah, it would.
• 39:34
  That that would never get old. That to me, yeah.
• 39:37
  Never get old. That's what I was getting at
• 39:39
  because, you know, it's my name. So I feel like that's going to
• 39:42
  be something that always pops off every year, especially
• 39:44
  during Mardi Gras. Every year, yeah.
• 39:46
  I mean, I think it's just going to be it's going to become one
• 39:50
  of those Mardi Gras theme songs that you always hear.
• 39:53
  Like it's going to go down with with your classic Mardi Gras
• 39:58
  songs. I think Mr. Weatherall is now
• 40:00
  one one of those songs. We'll see.
• 40:03
  Time will tell. But yeah, we'll.
• 40:05
  See, it's, it is so Louisiana sounding.
• 40:09
  It sounds like stuff that used to come out of New Orleans in
• 40:12
  the early 2000s, you know, all of that.
• 40:14
  It's just has the Louisiana vibe.
• 40:18
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 40:19
  And then and then the dance. How did the dance, though,
• 40:22
  actually come? I know there was a I've seen a
• 40:26
  video that you have the lady. What?
• 40:28
  What's her name? Chantelle, yeah.
• 40:31
  So Chantelle she yeah. So me and Chantelle went to
• 40:35
  Narsad High School together. We graduated in 12,000 and nine.
• 40:38
  Yeah. So that's how I I went to her to
• 40:41
  actually she would like to make a dance for me.
• 40:44
  And she got it in the I think she got in the studio, she came
• 40:48
  up with the dance and then heard her niece did the dance and sent
• 40:51
  me a video. And I was like, yeah, this is
• 40:52
  cool. And then from there I posted the
• 40:55
  video to let everybody know this is the official Mr. Weather All
• 40:57
  dance. Learn it, tag me.
• 41:00
  New videos and just go from there.
• 41:02
  But Chantelle is a great dancer and she's an author too.
• 41:06
  So she's very, you know, that she I felt like she was like the
• 41:09
  perfect person to do this. You know, this is just right up
• 41:11
  her alley and it's definitely open a lot of doors for her.
• 41:15
  She did something for artist named Rob 49 out of New Orleans.
• 41:20
  So it's been a blessing for her as well, you know.
• 41:24
  That's awesome. That's the way that's those are
• 41:26
  the stories you love to hear that how it how it works out and
• 41:30
  it there's a lot of good people involved in your story.
• 41:33
  It's not like this is just some kind of fly by night set up to
• 41:38
  go viral. And then, you know, y'all are
• 41:40
  all bad people. Like what you see is what you
• 41:42
  get, which I think is what resonates with people too.
• 41:46
  People people can recognize that when it's authentic, you know,
• 41:50
  and that's what y'all are providing.
• 41:52
  Everything that y'all provide is authentic.
• 41:54
  Louisiana baby. Like just period, point blank.
• 41:58
  Period. It is and that's and that's the
• 41:59
  thing too, like with me and Gerald do like we try not to be
• 42:04
  unauthentically ourselves. Like he's that's just Gerald.
• 42:07
  Like when you see his videos, that's him.
• 42:09
  Anytime you'll see him outside of those videos, you know,
• 42:11
  that's just who he is, you know, and people can see that in the
• 42:14
  video. They can recognize that that's
• 42:16
  why people relate to him and they love him as well as like
• 42:19
  with my videos, like I don't if I, if I don't ever go viral
• 42:22
  again, I'm still going to be a videographer at the end of the
• 42:25
  day. I'm still going to do what I do
• 42:27
  and I still I'm going to enjoy, you know, because before I even
• 42:29
  got on TikTok, I was at that point I was doing it for like 10
• 42:32
  years, you know, and I was just doing it for fun.
• 42:35
  So. Right, you know, yeah, yeah.
• 42:37
  So I'm. You're in the game, you're not
• 42:40
  leaving it. Yeah.
• 42:41
  Oh, yeah. It's just social media changed
• 42:43
  everything, which is great, you know, but I was doing this for
• 42:46
  so long, you know, it was just something I always did with the
• 42:48
  crew that I ride with CUDA Krunk.
• 42:51
  Shout out to Lance Ruffins. That's who I ride with for Mardi
• 42:54
  Gras. And he's definitely played a
• 42:56
  part in the success that I've had as well with my videos
• 43:00
  because I'm always on his float when I'm recording those parades
• 43:03
  as well. So it's.
• 43:05
  You've got a good vantage point. Oh yeah, yes, I love it.
• 43:10
  Yeah, I was going to ask, how does that happen?
• 43:12
  So yet that because you have all this footage, it's obviously
• 43:15
  from a from a standpoint of, you know, the focal points being on
• 43:19
  a float. I was that answered that.
• 43:21
  I was, I was wondering how you did that or if you just had a a
• 43:25
  lot of fleet of people that you knew that you could just hop
• 43:28
  from float to float, which at this point probably is the
• 43:32
  truth. Yeah, probably can do that.
• 43:35
  Yeah, yeah, In the beginning days, probably not too much, but
• 43:38
  with Lance, I've been riding with him since 2013.
• 43:42
  So that started a friend recommended him to me and then
• 43:47
  we I started riding with him. I said, let me just take some
• 43:49
  pictures and video for your float and in exchange without,
• 43:53
  without having me to pay a fee to get on the float.
• 43:56
  And he said, OK, that's fine. And then we just stay connected
• 43:58
  all those years later, you know, still to this day.
• 44:01
  So most of the time I'm usually in the front of the float at the
• 44:05
  bottom or I'm in the back of the truck that's pulling the float
• 44:08
  that. Makes sense to get getting that
• 44:11
  good. Yeah, I love getting like the
• 44:14
  eye level content, you know, I don't want to get too high on
• 44:17
  the float, I want to get eye level.
• 44:19
  Well, I think that's why one of the things that makes your
• 44:22
  videos pop so much as you are kind of your, your eye level and
• 44:25
  it's you're not looking down, you're looking.
• 44:28
  I like that totally makes sense. I see exactly what you're doing
• 44:31
  now. I get it.
• 44:32
  That makes total sense. Well, let's, I want to, I want
• 44:37
  to ask one last question, then we'll jump into the the final
• 44:40
  little segment. What advice would you give to
• 44:44
  someone that was going to try to start getting into the content
• 44:47
  game right now in 2025? Right now, I was just telling
• 44:54
  like what we did, we that helped us, you know, just post
• 44:57
  consistently on, on social media.
• 44:59
  You know, it's, it's a lot of work, but it's definitely going
• 45:03
  to be worth it. You know, repurpose any video.
• 45:06
  You know, I know a lot of people shoot content all the time on
• 45:08
  their phone and they don't do anything with it.
• 45:10
  So that's what I did. I just shared a lot of content
• 45:13
  that I never put out on social media before.
• 45:16
  And that's what helped, you know, build up my TikTok page.
• 45:18
  So definitely staying consistent, repurposing content
• 45:22
  and engaging with other platforms, collaborations, you
• 45:27
  know, that helps too as well. So just, that's the main thing
• 45:31
  still just staying consistent with posting and just don't feel
• 45:34
  like you need to give up Cuz I need to tell myself that
• 45:36
  sometimes too. You know, there's times whenever
• 45:38
  I post something and it doesn't do well and then I delete it and
• 45:42
  I get discouraged. And I'm like Daryl tells me, you
• 45:44
  know, John, you have to keep posting, don't delete it.
• 45:46
  Just keep posting. Don't worry about.
• 45:48
  It. Yeah.
• 45:49
  So that's that's really what it is.
• 45:51
  I know they they have a lot of videos that pop up on TikTok
• 45:53
  still to this day on my feed that tells me, you know, keep
• 45:57
  posting the content, just post this post.
• 45:59
  But it does help. Yeah, Yeah, it does.
• 46:02
  And I'm sure. I mean, you said it's been a
• 46:04
  month since you posted something.
• 46:07
  And I guarantee you every day you still have thousands and
• 46:10
  thousands of views on the videos that you've already put out on
• 46:14
  your page. Yeah, not even doing anything.
• 46:17
  Right, Yeah, the last video I posted I believe was May 18 or
• 46:21
  May 12th. It's one of those days, but
• 46:24
  there's sometimes when I'm just like, I just don't want to post
• 46:26
  anything, you know? Right.
• 46:27
  Yeah, I get it. And I guess that's just the
• 46:30
  creative side in me because I just don't want to, at the end
• 46:33
  of the day, I still feel like I'm a videographer creative, so
• 46:37
  I don't want to just put out anything, you know, I just want
• 46:39
  to put out my best work. But I know some people just want
• 46:42
  to post content, which is great too.
• 46:44
  But that's just the creative side of me, you know?
• 46:46
  Totally. I get that.
• 46:47
  That's kind of what we've done over here on the show as I've
• 46:50
  slowed down doing as many shows, more quality over quantity, and
• 46:57
  I've been having to rewire the habits that I've gotten and of
• 47:01
  like just in my own mentally, I'm like, I have to post
• 47:05
  something every day. I've got to put a video out
• 47:07
  every day or something to try to gain traction.
• 47:10
  And then I have moments like I'm having now you know, where I'm
• 47:12
  like, you know what 1 video will do what 25 crappy videos?
• 47:20
  I don't. I don't think anything I ever
• 47:22
  put out is crappy. It's just not.
• 47:24
  It's just not something that's going to go viral.
• 47:27
  Just most videos will not go viral.
• 47:30
  Like pretty much every video you post is not going to go viral.
• 47:34
  So if you just don't know when it will, like I had one that had
• 47:40
  over 1,000,000 views, I think is the most I've ever had.
• 47:43
  And it was just a freaking time lapse of the snowstorm.
• 47:46
  I put a GoPro out. Oh yeah.
• 47:49
  And I'm, yeah, I've never even done a time lapse.
• 47:51
  I just was testing it. It turned out fantastic because
• 47:55
  I got the whole snow, all of it from when it started to the
• 47:59
  thickest of it to it all. I decided to keep it going for
• 48:02
  three days so I could get it all melting, too.
• 48:06
  But that video, you know, yeah, go check.
• 48:09
  You may like it. It's still up there.
• 48:14
  But that was just press record, you know, I mean, I just press
• 48:19
  record and post it. Don't be afraid to post it.
• 48:22
  I mean, what's the worst thing that somebody can do?
• 48:25
  Anybody who says anything bad or negative towards you, that's
• 48:29
  just a projection of what they feel inside.
• 48:32
  Don't let it bother you. I've.
• 48:34
  I got to wear that. I don't even, that doesn't even
• 48:36
  bother me. You know, I get taught all the
• 48:39
  time, people with my accent and all.
• 48:42
  Well, you're not really from Louisiana.
• 48:44
  Like no, I am. I'm just from north Louisiana.
• 48:46
  I live in Baton Rouge. You should have heard the way I
• 48:49
  talked 20 years ago, you know, So are you talking about I talk
• 48:54
  fast compared to what I used to do so.
• 48:57
  Yeah, yeah, that's the, I'm glad you.
• 49:00
  Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up too, because that's another
• 49:03
  thing anyone that's trying to get on social media as well in
• 49:05
  2025, like just don't let those comments get to you because
• 49:09
  there's a lot of times I would let, I used to let it get to me
• 49:12
  really bad and I would just go through each comment section.
• 49:15
  But I just post and just forget about it, you know?
• 49:19
  I feel like that's the best way to do it, you know, but
• 49:22
  definitely don't let those comments or negative feedback
• 49:24
  get to you because I've had that many times, even before TikTok,
• 49:28
  you know, because I, my first viral video was like 2013.
• 49:32
  So I've been, you know, thankfully I've been having
• 49:34
  those moments where I can go viral for years, But it's just,
• 49:37
  I just try to, you know, push that out, you know, that all
• 49:41
  that negativity is just not good.
• 49:43
  Yeah, no doubt. No doubt.
• 49:46
  I lost your video. Oh.
• 49:49
  OK. There you go, now you're back.
• 49:52
  Should I say that apart again or we're good?
• 49:54
  I think we're good. I think we're good, OK.
• 49:57
  Yeah, I don't know. Say it again.
• 49:59
  OK, yeah, I'll say it. Say it again if you could say it
• 50:02
  again. I can't.
• 50:04
  I got you. So yeah, like you mentioned
• 50:06
  earlier about what people should, you know, think about if
• 50:09
  they want to get on social media in 2025.
• 50:12
  Just don't let negative comments and feedback and messages that
• 50:15
  you receive dictate like the type of content that you want to
• 50:18
  put out just to dictate what kind of person you are.
• 50:21
  Because they're going to get that as as as much as you're
• 50:24
  going to elevate on social media.
• 50:26
  They're going to get so much negative feedback from people
• 50:28
  that's just, you know, basically miserable, you know?
• 50:31
  So just don't let stuff like that get to you because I know
• 50:34
  it used to get to me a lot, but I just have to black it out.
• 50:37
  So I just post my content. If I do respond, it'll be to
• 50:42
  positive content, I mean positive feedback or whatever,
• 50:45
  but I just try not to let that dictate the type of person I am
• 50:49
  or what kind of content I want to put out.
• 50:51
  Yeah, like Coach O says, block out the noise, block it out,
• 50:55
  block out the noise for sure. Well, Speaking of Coach O, let's
• 51:01
  transition over. This is one of my favorite parts
• 51:04
  of the show that we've started to do with all of these
• 51:07
  interviews. It's Louisiana rapid fire.
• 51:11
  So I'm just going to give you a question.
• 51:14
  You just give me your answer. I'm going to shut up and not
• 51:18
  talk through this, but nothing crazy, nothing.
• 51:22
  No putting you on the spot, but just maybe a little Louisiana
• 51:27
  putting you on the spot. We'll see.
• 51:28
  All right, best king cake flavor go.
• 51:33
  I'm a I'm a plain guy. Plain all the way, yeah.
• 51:38
  Plain, totally just cream or any any icing.
• 51:41
  Just the basic just a a basic king cake basically.
• 51:45
  Basically not cream. Filled or any of that.
• 51:47
  No, not at all. No.
• 51:50
  And you have had a King Cake festival, right?
• 51:54
  Yes, you have the festival like in February or whenever March
• 51:58
  somewhere in there. Yes, I wanted to.
• 51:59
  Come, but I wasn't able to tell us.
• 52:02
  About that real quick. Yeah.
• 52:04
  So coming next time. Yes, please do, please do.
• 52:07
  But no, that was the first annual King Cake Party.
• 52:10
  It was February 28th, a couple of days after my birthday.
• 52:13
  So it was like my birthday celebration also.
• 52:15
  OK, so the good big shout out to my sponsor the Apothecary Shop
• 52:21
  and Blair of a Dream and Social Entertainment.
• 52:24
  They held the the King Cake Party for me and it was a great
• 52:28
  turn out. I will be honest, I was kind of
• 52:29
  nervous because I wasn't sure who's going to show up, you
• 52:32
  know, because I mean, again, I'm not in front of the camera.
• 52:34
  A lot of people don't know me personally on that personal
• 52:36
  level because I know that plays a part of social media too, if
• 52:39
  you have like that connection with people.
• 52:42
  But thankfully a lot of people did show up, which is great, you
• 52:45
  know, So it was it was a great success.
• 52:48
  And I believe they're going to want to do it bigger for next
• 52:51
  year. So we'll have more details when
• 52:53
  that comes comes about. I can't wait and I can't wait.
• 52:57
  We'll help. We will definitely help you
• 52:59
  promote that over here on our stuff too.
• 53:02
  So because we have a lot of a lot of my audience is not from
• 53:06
  Louisiana, which is what makes this show fun and interesting.
• 53:09
  So it's it's, it's getting outsiders points of view and
• 53:14
  some hey, some of these folks that are fans of our show, they
• 53:17
  may come down here and come to it.
• 53:20
  I mean they, you know, that would be fun.
• 53:24
  Yeah, and that's the biggest thing too.
• 53:25
  Like what I do, I always wanted to make sure that I put my
• 53:29
  hometown, Lafayette and the surrounding areas in the
• 53:32
  spotlight because it's always, you know, New Orleans in the
• 53:35
  spotlight, which is great. You know, Orleans is amazing.
• 53:38
  But it's just, I always felt Lafayette got overshadowed
• 53:42
  because I was, I used to watch the Travel Channel growing up
• 53:44
  and I would always see New Orleans on there.
• 53:47
  And I'm like, where is Lafayette, Where is Lafayette?
• 53:49
  So that's why I do it so much for this area.
• 53:52
  So yeah, anybody that's watching definitely come out to
• 53:56
  Lafayette. We have a lot of festivals in
• 53:57
  this area, of course, Mardi Gras and experience in itself, so
• 54:01
  it's cool. I mean this, this isn't on my
• 54:05
  little list of questions and I think I know the answer to this.
• 54:09
  OK, Best Food City in the state of Louisiana.
• 54:13
  Oh, Lafayette. It ain't even close.
• 54:16
  I agree 100%. Yes I really do man.
• 54:19
  I mean, it's two different things.
• 54:21
  Fine dining, if you're in New Orleans, for sure.
• 54:24
  If you're going to that level, New Orleans gets the nod.
• 54:28
  But just food, period. Anything that you eat, Yeah,
• 54:32
  Lafayette, hands down. Lafayette area for sure.
• 54:35
  The 337 basically pretty much the whole 3. 37 Yeah, I agree.
• 54:39
  Yeah, I totally. That's the there's a lot of
• 54:42
  people that feel that don't feel the same way, but that's.
• 54:45
  Well, they're wrong. I'm John.
• 54:47
  They're just wrong. Oh yeah.
• 54:49
  For sure. All right, Dust or no dust on
• 54:54
  your crawfish. I'm dust.
• 54:57
  You're a duster. OK, I love it.
• 54:59
  I find that there are more dusters in the Lafayette area
• 55:02
  than there are in other places around the state.
• 55:06
  I don't know why. That's just the way.
• 55:08
  Yeah. And like, growing up as a kid,
• 55:10
  that's how I've always eaten the crawfish.
• 55:12
  You know, I would always see my family dust the crawfish and
• 55:15
  they would season the water, too.
• 55:16
  So it's just, it just gives that extra flavor.
• 55:19
  When it's a little extra kick, yeah, for sure.
• 55:22
  I'm not a hater. I'm look, I'm not a hater.
• 55:25
  Either way, I prefer them not dusted.
• 55:27
  But if we got them dusted and they're good, and I've had
• 55:30
  plenty that were dusted and they were fantastic.
• 55:33
  So yeah, I don't think there's a wrong answer, but the Internet
• 55:38
  disagrees. Oh yeah, that's a whole another
• 55:40
  story. Yes it is.
• 55:42
  Yes, it is, as is this one jambalaya or pastelaya?
• 55:48
  Oh, jambalaya. Same.
• 55:51
  I'm the same man. Give me the give me rice.
• 55:54
  We're state that produces rice, not pasta.
• 55:58
  Give me rice. And every time I say Pastelaya,
• 56:01
  I think of my friend DJ Red. Yes, yes, yes.
• 56:07
  He is not a fan of the pastelaya at all.
• 56:11
  No no. And our friend the Cajun ninja,
• 56:14
  Huge fan of the pastelaya. Really.
• 56:18
  OK. It's always fun.
• 56:19
  It's fun watching those 2GO at it on social media all the time.
• 56:23
  Pastelaya and jambalaya. It's a never ending debate.
• 56:27
  This will never be settled, but we'll talk about it forever like
• 56:31
  it's just something fun. It is another controversial
• 56:36
  Louisiana take Gumbo with or without potato salad.
• 56:44
  I'll have to go with potato salad, and that's only because
• 56:47
  Gerald put me on to that. Beforehand it was without potato
• 56:52
  salad, but now it's definitely with.
• 56:54
  Do you still, do you still use rice?
• 56:56
  Do you still put rice in there and then just add a blop of OK,
• 57:00
  me too. But I have also made gumbo to
• 57:03
  where, you know, we had to cook more rice or whatever, but we
• 57:07
  still have potato salad and I'm like, we don't need any more
• 57:10
  rice. I'll just eat gumbo and with
• 57:12
  potato salad it'd be just fine. Enough right there, yeah.
• 57:15
  It is. It is another good one for
• 57:20
  Louisiana and especially in Acadiana in the 337.
• 57:25
  What is the best gas station snack?
• 57:30
  Oh, that's the thing. Like when I go to gas station,
• 57:35
  I'm usually just getting crackling.
• 57:37
  That's that's my snack when I go to the gas station that has
• 57:40
  crackling. But I don't really go to the gas
• 57:42
  stations often, that's the thing.
• 57:45
  Well, it's probably best that you don't because it's just,
• 57:47
  it's just, you're just asking for it.
• 57:50
  Yeah, they. Well, what do you what do you
• 57:52
  prefer? Chicken cracklins or regular
• 57:54
  regular pork cracklins? Oh, regular pork cracklins for
• 57:57
  sure. Are you?
• 57:58
  Do you like chicken cracklins at all?
• 58:00
  Because sometimes don't. I love.
• 58:02
  Them. Oh yeah, I definitely do.
• 58:05
  Not everyone, you know, does it the right way.
• 58:07
  No offense to anyone, but it's just I do.
• 58:10
  I do love chicken cracklins as well.
• 58:13
  They've turned, there's so many of these places that are making
• 58:16
  them now that it's almost like you're just getting a chicken
• 58:18
  tender. Like it, it used to just be the
• 58:21
  skin and it was crispy and it had the same stuff that was that
• 58:26
  was on the on the pork cracklins.
• 58:28
  But now it's almost like you're getting a little piece of
• 58:31
  chicken with it along with it, or like the end of a.
• 58:35
  It's weird. Yeah, I feel like the first time
• 58:39
  I had it was at a place called Kirk Shanita Butcher in
• 58:42
  Lafayette. That was the my first experience
• 58:44
  with chicken crackling and I don't know if he was the first
• 58:48
  one in the area that started that, but that's my favorite.
• 58:52
  Kirk Shanita Butchers chicken crackling for sure.
• 58:54
  Yeah, there you go. I need to try those.
• 58:57
  Yeah, I need to try that. Couple more questions for you.
• 59:02
  One soundtrack for the day. What kind of music are you
• 59:06
  bumping? Oh, 90s R&B.
• 59:09
  Nice, yes, but. I'm also surprisingly, I do
• 59:13
  listen to 90's pop too, so that's another.
• 59:16
  Yeah, that's another genre I love too.
• 59:19
  I love that, I love that. What's the most random place
• 59:24
  that you have been recognized? Random place I've been
• 59:30
  recognized. Oh, I was going to the Beyoncé
• 59:38
  concert 2 years ago, the Renaissance concert in New
• 59:41
  Orleans, and a security guard recognized me.
• 59:44
  I was like, wow, OK, I mean, I know it's still in Louisiana,
• 59:48
  but it's just, it was just random.
• 59:50
  He just caught me off guard. Oh, that would catch me off
• 59:53
  guard too. That's why, yeah.
• 59:54
  So that was pretty, that was pretty cool, you know?
• 59:57
  Hell yeah, I love that. Last one for you.
• 1:00:01
  If TikTok gets deleted tomorrow, what's your next move?
• 1:00:07
  YouTube, that's going to be the next yeah, YouTube.
• 1:00:10
  And that's what I started off with.
• 1:00:12
  Like back in my high school years, it was YouTube.
• 1:00:15
  That was the first social media platform I really started on.
• 1:00:19
  But I just never stuck with it. But definitely YouTube.
• 1:00:23
  I feel like that's the the way to go if anything were to happen
• 1:00:26
  to TikTok, you know? Yeah, it's just a lot slower to
• 1:00:29
  grow over there, isn't it? Oh yeah, I'm learning that now.
• 1:00:34
  It's like. Pulling teeth.
• 1:00:36
  It is like, I mean, I think I have I have like 2000
• 1:00:39
  subscribers, but I haven't been posting on there as often
• 1:00:43
  either. But I mean, I hope that I can
• 1:00:45
  eventually, you know, build it up, but it's a different
• 1:00:47
  audience for sure and algorithm. So I just got to put.
• 1:00:50
  A little more. Work into the my content, but
• 1:00:53
  eventually I'm sure they'll get there.
• 1:00:55
  Oh, you'll get there. I have no doubt.
• 1:00:57
  I have no doubt. Well, man, I appreciate you
• 1:01:01
  making the time for us today and it means a lot.
• 1:01:04
  Really do appreciate you coming on You definitely you're you're
• 1:01:09
  definitely doing something special by putting putting a
• 1:01:12
  spotlight on Louisiana on the culture, on the people and the
• 1:01:17
  the energy. It's just cool to see that the
• 1:01:20
  see that the whole world's finally starting to kind of
• 1:01:22
  catch on to that too. But before we get out of here,
• 1:01:26
  tell folks where they can find you and anything big coming up
• 1:01:31
  that we should be on the lookout for.
• 1:01:35
  Yeah, so I'm on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok under Mr.
• 1:01:40
  Weatherall and YouTube as well under Mr. Weatherall.
• 1:01:44
  And also make sure y'all follow my friend Gerald is at Gerald
• 1:01:48
  Groenig on all social media platforms as well.
• 1:01:52
  And I think that's, yeah, I think that's everything that I
• 1:01:55
  have as far as like to where to follow me at.
• 1:01:57
  And then as far as big news, that's just keep on the lookout
• 1:02:03
  for the like for the fall. There's some things that I'm
• 1:02:07
  going to be working on, especially for Mardi Gras 2022.
• 1:02:10
  I'm sorry, stumbling on my words.
• 1:02:12
  So Mardi Gras 2026, I might have some things that I'm like, I've
• 1:02:16
  been wanting to put into action, like as far as like some ideas
• 1:02:19
  that I have in mind just to change the way I shoot content.
• 1:02:22
  So I'm definitely looking forward to pushing that out for
• 1:02:25
  next year. Well, it sounds like we're going
• 1:02:27
  to have to have you come back on and tell us a little bit more
• 1:02:31
  later on this year about what's going to be happening.
• 1:02:34
  That would be fun. That'll be cool.
• 1:02:37
  Perfect. We will do that.
• 1:02:38
  We'll do that. We'll well that's going to do it
• 1:02:41
  for this one everybody again, a huge thanks to Mr. Weatherall.
• 1:02:44
  Y'all go follow him stream that song go dance to that song.
• 1:02:49
  Hey, make a video dance to it send it to us.
• 1:02:52
  Let's let's see what happened let's see what you got let's see
• 1:02:54
  what you got hit a replay on that King Cake Festival footage
• 1:02:58
  because that's good. You're going to want to see
• 1:02:59
  that. Until then, we'll we'll see
• 1:03:02
  y'all next time.