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David Fuhrer · On with Mario Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I on with Mario Lopez. What's up? You're on Mario
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Lopez and joining me in studio right now. Guinness World
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: record Holder, inventor and president of the Laugh Factory, my
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: friend David Fear. What's going on on? Man?
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  Speaker 2: Hello? Or oh la backwards?
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  Speaker 1: Oh? We're going to get into that. As a matter
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  Speaker 1: of fact, it's funny. I was telling my producer the
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  Speaker 1: other day, how you're the world record holder for fastest
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  Speaker 1: backwards talker. And we went to a Dodger's game recently
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: with my son, and my son has not stopped talking
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  Speaker 1: about it because he was fascinated and he's got all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of sentences. He wants to run by you, thinking
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  Speaker 1: he's going to stump you. He's only eleven. He's so cute,
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  Speaker 1: and it really is a fascinating gift. It's got to
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  Speaker 1: be a gift, right because it's not something you can study.
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  Speaker 1: How did you discover this talent of yours?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I guess it's a gift. I like to call
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  Speaker 2: it a useless ability. You know, it's just something. When
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  Speaker 2: I was a kid, I would call all my friends
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  Speaker 2: by their names backwards, and I would reach street signs
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  Speaker 2: and aventually I developed it into a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: an act, and it landed me on a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: television shows. But when I was a kid, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it was kind of this annoying ability. My parents would
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  Speaker 2: tell me to shut up. And then suddenly I went
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  Speaker 2: to summer camp. I got on the stage at the
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  Speaker 2: Talent Show, and from that day forward, I was famous
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  Speaker 2: for talking backwards.
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  Speaker 1: And is it a picture you see in your mind?
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  Speaker 1: How does it? How do you how do you process
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  Speaker 1: the center?
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  Speaker 2: I'll give you an example. So I kind of picture
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  Speaker 2: it as if it was written on an imaginary blackboard.
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  Speaker 2: But it's instant. It's a combination of hearing it and
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  Speaker 2: visualizing it. So pick any word or sentence you can.
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  Speaker 1: Think crazier, because I don't want you to think. Give
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  Speaker 1: a sentence to mister fear right now.
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  Speaker 2: Marlpez has an incredible film career. Oil rems at pol
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Si Albit, Dirkney malef Rerak, all right, that would.
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  Speaker 1: Be I couldn't even say that again that fast normally,
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  Speaker 1: and he did just ye quickie, just corrected that out.
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  Speaker 2: It's crazy for you that I actually did it. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not reversing sounds, but I'm reversing the spelling. So I
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  Speaker 2: said Mario was oil m O I R A. M.
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  Speaker 2: Lopez was sapal Has was sawn incredible?
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  Speaker 1: Was ELB.
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  Speaker 2: Dirkney film career was malf Rerack career is being rereck?
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  Speaker 1: Is that sati? That's wild? It is wild? That is
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  Speaker 1: like should be some sort of co Do you know anybody.
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  Speaker 2: Else that has this ability? You know, I've never met
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  Speaker 2: anyone that could do it. Now, of course with the Internet,
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  Speaker 2: I see people that talk backwards, but I've never met
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  Speaker 2: anyone that could do it as quickly as me.
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  Speaker 1: Never have I seen anything. They need to get you
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  Speaker 1: and if there's someone else in the CIA casapp and
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  Speaker 1: use that. How did the process come about to reach
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  Speaker 1: out to the Guinness Book of World Record? How did
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  Speaker 1: that tell me that? Well?
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  Speaker 2: The funny thing is I had met years ago out
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  Speaker 2: of charity event John Mashida. John Mashida was known for
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  Speaker 2: the old Federal Express commercial and he was the micromachines
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  Speaker 2: manh yeah, and he had a Guinness World Record as
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  Speaker 2: the world's fastest forward talker. And so we met at
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  Speaker 2: this event and he introduced me to the folks at Guinness.
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  Speaker 2: And then what I had to do is I did
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  Speaker 2: the entire album of Queen's Night at the Opera, and
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  Speaker 2: I did it on Entertainment Tonight and there were witnesses.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you have to follow a bunch of check off,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of boxes, follow some protocols so that they
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  Speaker 2: can issue you the record.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's incredible. Okay, we're gonna maybe have you do something.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna do a little quiz later. But before I want,
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask just one more sentence, just because
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  Speaker 1: I'm I love it. Sure, al Mario Lopez is the
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  Speaker 1: best radio show in the country.
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  Speaker 2: I could start with no to Mario Lopez. So that
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  Speaker 2: was on on a too oiram zipolicy at seb oyadar
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  Speaker 2: woe's nee at your nuwak country.
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  Speaker 1: You're joys is country. It sounds sort of like uh
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  Speaker 1: islamdic or something.
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  Speaker 2: Right, it sounds like a foreign language. Does sound like
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  Speaker 2: very lonely foreign language. Sounds like no one else can
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  Speaker 2: speak it.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it does sound like the go aheads back and
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  Speaker 1: said that the speed in which you do it is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
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  Speaker 2: So going back to it, you said you sort of
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  Speaker 2: see a picture and you hear it a the same time.
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  Speaker 2: So do you have a photographic memory. I don't have
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  Speaker 2: a photographic memory because I don't retain the information, but
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  Speaker 2: I can just visualize it very very quickly. And people
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  Speaker 2: ask me all crazy words. I mean, the one I
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  Speaker 2: get the most is super califragilistic spielidocious. So of course
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  Speaker 2: is say said alas sela Jarphilac crepis.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, dude, that is cra wow as wow wow as
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  Speaker 1: wow wow?
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  Speaker 2: What is wow? Upside down? Mom? That's right, heyside down
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  Speaker 2: on me. So Dad's favorite thing.
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  Speaker 1: That's it exactly, That's exactly right, that is awesome. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just such a fun, cool talent right there. And you
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  Speaker 1: have such a fascinating life, David. You're also the president
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  Speaker 1: of the legendary Laugh Factory Comedy Club, of course, and
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  Speaker 1: we recently launched a Way Out Loud there which we
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  Speaker 1: had just a great time and so much fun. But
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  Speaker 1: so many people have played that venue throughout the years,
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  Speaker 1: essentially every huge comedian that pretty much on stage in TV,
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  Speaker 1: in film, don't you say?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, the club is forty five years old, and
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  Speaker 2: the first person to ever grace the stage was Richard
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  Speaker 2: Pryor Wow, and it was Jamie Massada was the founder.
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  Speaker 2: He's still at the helm of the club, and we've
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  Speaker 2: had everybody from Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Jerry
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  Speaker 2: Seinfeld and every top comedian today. We have, you know,
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  Speaker 2: probably the highest level of comedy at our club.
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  Speaker 1: One of my favorite things to do is to see
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  Speaker 1: live comedy too. I love live music, I love live comedy.
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  Speaker 1: Has the presence of the Internet and the streaming platforms
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  Speaker 1: sort of change the game for the better or for
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  Speaker 1: the worst for comedy clubs because now comics can sort
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  Speaker 1: of put their own content out there, as opposed back
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  Speaker 1: in the day if you wanted to see comedy and
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  Speaker 1: I had to go or doesn't help it, And now
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  Speaker 1: it sort of fires them up to see see them live.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it helps it a lot
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  Speaker 2: because the profile of each individual comic is raised so
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  Speaker 2: high that people get excited to see them in. There's
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  Speaker 2: really nowhere else you can see at a really a
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  Speaker 2: budget to see some of the top performers in the
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  Speaker 2: United States on any given night. You know, it's very inexpensive,
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  Speaker 2: and live comedy is such a treat and everybody needs
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  Speaker 2: to laugh these days. It's a you know, we need
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  Speaker 2: to get out, we need to laugh, and it's just
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  Speaker 2: a great diversion.
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  Speaker 1: I agree, it's incredibly healthy to laugh.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is the best medicine, it really really is.
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  Speaker 1: You feel great afterwards. I have a question because comics
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  Speaker 1: sometimes are always accusing other comics of either taking material
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  Speaker 1: and stealing and what have you. But for example, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know why this is the first thing that came
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  Speaker 1: to my mind. But let's say where it's ninety four,
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  Speaker 1: the oj chase just happened. Aren't you and I are comics.
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  Speaker 1: Aren't we essentially going to have sort of the same approach,
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  Speaker 1: like the juice is loosing the White Bronco jokes when
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  Speaker 1: he's right, We're only so many things we can think
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  Speaker 1: of that relate to that event. But that doesn't necessarily
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  Speaker 1: mean that I'm stealing from you. Isn't that the case?
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  Speaker 1: With whatever current is going on right now? How is
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  Speaker 1: that monitored? And how do you see a playoff? Cause
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure you see a lot of the same comics
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  Speaker 1: kind of touch on the similar things, right whatever the
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  Speaker 1: hot topic may be, Diddy, what have you or you
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  Speaker 1: know what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's sort of self monitored. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I think most of the folks that are in the game.
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  Speaker 2: They don't want to be copying someone else. But we
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  Speaker 2: have things in the zeitgeist life. We haven't watched the
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  Speaker 2: same news. Sure. And by the way, I come from
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  Speaker 2: a background in invention, and the same thing happened in
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  Speaker 2: the world of invention.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I want to get to that, trust me.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think we all see the
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  Speaker 2: same news stories, but each comic who's successful usually has
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  Speaker 2: their own unique take our way of phrasing things. And
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  Speaker 2: it's just all funny.
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  Speaker 1: Got it. No, you're right, it doesn't. That's what's important.
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  Speaker 2: There were times in the past where certain comics, big
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  Speaker 2: comics were known for being sponges of other people's jokes.
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  Speaker 1: Huh.
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  Speaker 2: And we've had even altercations in the past in our club. Wow,
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  Speaker 2: but this goes back in the day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So Jamie Masada, who's the founder of the Laugh Factory,
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  Speaker 2: tells me some great stories of those things happening.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I've bet I know those some great stories. And
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  Speaker 1: I know you're also producing a new movie called Toad.
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  Speaker 1: You've got Tiffany Hattish, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Kat Williams,
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  Speaker 1: great people.
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  Speaker 2: What's it about Toad is a road trips stoner comedy.
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  Speaker 2: It is the funniest thing I have ever read. It's
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  Speaker 2: about two guys, James Paxton and Oliver Wyman, two young
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  Speaker 2: men who are going to be the next big comedy
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  Speaker 2: duo stars, and they have to transport a box of
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: toads that have hallucinogenic properties from La to Las Vegas
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  Speaker 2: and all the crazy adventures along the way with some
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  Speaker 2: of the biggest stars in comedy. It is absolutely hysterical.
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  Speaker 2: We start shooting May twenty seventh. Congratulations about this.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds awesome. I love that previce. That sounds so funny. Perfect,
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  Speaker 1: perfect timing right now for everything that's going.
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  Speaker 2: On, we need to make new comedy.
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  Speaker 1: I think the world is ready, yes, absolutely for fun,
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  Speaker 1: loud comedies like this. Now, this is the wildest thing
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  Speaker 1: to me. Aside from all that, you've also created some
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  Speaker 1: legendary kids toys, like the Nerve Vortex football. You were
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  Speaker 1: so kind of bring me one today on a handed
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  Speaker 1: to my boys A little later. How did you get
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  Speaker 1: into the invention game in what was your first invention?
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  Speaker 2: It's a great question. I never thought that I'd be
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  Speaker 2: able to make a living as a toy inventor. This is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, prior to my new career in comedy, but
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  Speaker 2: it was all a result of the backwards talking I had.
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  Speaker 1: Really that came first.
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  Speaker 2: So I had this strange ability to speak backwards, and
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  Speaker 2: that ability landed me on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,
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  Speaker 2: later David Letterman, and then many other TV shows demonstrating
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  Speaker 2: this ability. And so along the way I met a
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  Speaker 2: game inventor, a guy named Mark set Ducati who was
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  Speaker 2: a magician game inventor, and my brother who was working
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  Speaker 2: in the toy industry, and they suggested to me that
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  Speaker 2: we use backwards talking as a hook for a board game,
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  Speaker 2: and we created this game called Backwards, which was themed
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  Speaker 2: around you know, hearing words backwards with a clue and
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  Speaker 2: random House at the time was in the game business.
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  Speaker 2: They licensed or bought this product from me, and they
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  Speaker 2: sent me on a promotional tour to promote the product,
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  Speaker 2: and I left my job. I had a job in
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  Speaker 2: the mailroom, and then I was an assistant one of
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  Speaker 2: the big talent agencies. I thought I was going to
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  Speaker 2: have a career in Hollywood, and I got sidetracked by
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  Speaker 2: this game and then started to create toys and games
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  Speaker 2: full time.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: I was always inventing things as a kid, but I
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  Speaker 2: never knew I could actually make a living at it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I think everyone at some point it's
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  Speaker 1: crossed their mind, what if I invented this? Or wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: it be cool to sort of do this? And you've
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  Speaker 1: done so, how many inventions would you say you have
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  Speaker 1: under your patent?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I've had come out to the market more than
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  Speaker 2: three hundred, but I've probably created a couple of thousand.
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  Speaker 2: Most things are sitting in boxes in my closet with
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  Speaker 2: dust on them because they never saw the light of day.
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  Speaker 2: But I've been very fortunate to have a lot of
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  Speaker 2: toys come out, mostly in the toy industry, some other
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  Speaker 2: kinds of products as well, household products. And then the
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  Speaker 2: most successful one is the one you mentioned, which is
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  Speaker 2: the nerve for tex football. That's the football with the
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  Speaker 2: tail on it. Yeah, you can throw it farther than
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: any ball.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And what year was that?
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  Speaker 2: That was nineteen ninety two it came out, yes, so yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so it's celebrating it's thirty third year.
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  Speaker 1: Now. That's unbelievable and it's so cool. So I'm just
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  Speaker 1: curious with the process. You have this invention, and who
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  Speaker 1: do you go to to get a patent to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that so?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, in this particular case, I showed this to
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  Speaker 2: twenty four companies and I got it rejected. Wow. And
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  Speaker 2: then eventually I was very fortunate. I met this gentleman
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  Speaker 2: named John Barber, who was the president of a small
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: toy company in northern California, and we were in Japan
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  Speaker 2: at a toy show and he was seated across from
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: me from dinner, and he asked me a question that
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  Speaker 2: I think actually changed my life because he pointed at
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: me and he said, you're an inventor. He said, you
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  Speaker 2: have one product that you know is great. I don't
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  Speaker 2: care if everybody's turned it down. You know it's great.
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  Speaker 2: That's the one I want to see. And the next
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  Speaker 2: week I showed him the product and he and his
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  Speaker 2: partners at this company called odds On loved it and
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: they licensed it from me. Licensing is when they take
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  Speaker 2: an invention and they pay you a royalty that which
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  Speaker 2: is the business model of which toy inventions work. And
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  Speaker 2: then it went on to become the best selling toy
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  Speaker 2: football in the world, and then his company was acquired
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  Speaker 2: by Hasbro, which owns the NERF brand, and then the
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  Speaker 2: football became part of NERF and now it's known as
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  Speaker 2: the NERF Vortex Football.
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  Speaker 1: What a fascinating life.
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  Speaker 2: What sparked the idea to make that? You know, at
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: the time, I had a general idea where I was
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: trying to do solve problems. What kids aspire to do
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: things in sports that they can't ordinarily do, like Dunkel
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: basketball hit a home run, And one of them was
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: to throw a football a long way, because I, as
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: a kid, to this day, I can't throw football. So
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I had a javelin in my office that I had
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: played with, a big foam javelin, and I noticed how
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: far it went, and I one day drilled a hole
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  Speaker 2: in a football. I had a couple of partners that
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I worked on this with, and we all together, we
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: you know, we created a prototype where we put this
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: javelin inside a giant football and it became aerodynamic the
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: moment you threw it. It's straightened out in the air
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: and it went farther than a regular football. So we
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: then just tweaked it until we got it to the
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: right size and weight and the rest is history, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: it's now it's part of Americana. It's yeah, it's you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're all over the world. There's copies of them all
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: over the world. And you mentioned patents. We had a
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: design pattern. There's different kinds of patents, and a design
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: patent is the one that protects you the least, which
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: is you know, it protects the size and the weight
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: and so on. But a utility pattern is another kind
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: of pattern, and that would have protected us the most.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: So so people were able to get around our design
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: by making a little bit bigger, a little bit wider.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: But what ultimately protected us was the brand having NERF
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: on our product. Every kid wanted the NERF for text
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: football and not the copy products.
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  Speaker 1: No, that's a big time O there, I know I did.
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  Speaker 1: What a fascinating story and just life. That's awesome, David.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming by and listen. Everyone be on
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the lookout for more dates coming up for Way Out
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Loud of course, and the Laugh Factory in general. If
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you're in the LA area. And what are the other locations, David, So.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: We have Chicago, we have Reno, we have Long Beach,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: we have San Diego, and we have Covina. So come
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: on out to the Laugh Factory. It's the greatest show
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: in town, live comedy, seven nights a week, two shows
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: a night, and it doesn't cost very much.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: There we go, and it's I guaranteed good time. And
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of course be on the lookout for David's upcoming movie
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Toad as well. Thank you, my friend, appreciate you coming.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Wow with Mario Lopez