Real Talk with Benny T

Please enjoy this week’s special… Uber Stories: Louder Than Life. Plenty of stories and audio from the weekend, plus some juicy new developments in the Machine Gun Kelly and Slipknot beef.

Buckle up baby, this one’s a banger. After running through a quick intro and some descriptions for the stories, I spend some time recapping a pretty cool opportunity working with ESPN for the U of L/UCF football game last week (7:04) and some pretty awesome feedback I received from a few real ones that only reinforced the belief that I’m on the right path.

Jumping into our stories and leading things off today, Lifetime Ban, begins at the 25:00 mark and is the story of the first time in 1,572 rides that I had to end one prematurely and had to boot someone from the car. I blackballed ‘em, and you can hear all of the drama unfold.

The other stories on today’s episode are Lifesaver (50:49), The Grumpy One (1:00:55), Process of Elimination (1:07:41), followed by a handful of Quickies (1:22:46), and finally, Whiskey Lullaby (1:30:20).

If you enjoy the show, please drop a quick rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, follow along @bennytomp18 and @realtalkwbennyt, send me your Uber Stories and your life advice submissions to [email protected] ✌🏼

Wanted to take this week's episode to reset and re-introduce myself to some of the new listeners we now have riding with us, welcome in my friends 🥳

On a lot of the interviews, you'll hear me ask my guests, "alright, give me your realest talk, give me some of the truest things you've found that apply to life, people, business, etc." And I thought, ya know, I should probably be prepared to answer that question myself if anyone ever sends it back my way. Right?

So today, I wanted to use this episode to share 18 of my deepest beliefs, where they come from, why I believe them to be true, and give you some of my realest talk. Enjoy, my friends ✌🏼

And so it continues, Pt. II of the Columbus saga. I hope you'll enjoy the small collection of rides fo those from, which include:

Drug Mule (36:43) – a man who’s late to the airport gets some real talk regarding whether or not he’s got any chance at making his flight, then shares the most interesting case he’s ever worked on as an attorney, which involves the Columbian Cartel.

The Counterfeiter (47:17) – A lawyer engages in some edgy banter before sharing the most memorable client he ever represented: a counterfeiter who eventually fled to Belize to continue his work and was never caught again.

Walk Your Path (1:04:30)– a rider shares the story of his career path and why walking down different paths until you find your right fit is important, which is something I want to piggyback off of and use this story to speak to some big picture takeaways.

Manifest Destiny (1:19:29) – a married couple on their way to a new beginning share some pretty cool connections between the things they’ve been manifesting and the events that have been unfolding in real time.

After those stories, I tell a few of mine own from Breakaway Festival (1:27:08), then wrap up with reflections and takeaways about where I'm currently with everything and what's got me feeling so confident.

WE’VE GOT AN ALL-TIMER OVER HERE 🥳

Welcome to Uber Stories: Columbus Pt. I. In this episode, you’ll not only hear an amazing collection of Uber Stories, but also a brand new concept that I’m HYPED to unveil that’s called the Open Mic Sessions, where I setup my mics and equipment on a table in a high traffic area and chop it up with the people of that city or college campus. It couldn’t have gone any better 🤗

Stories on today’s episode include:

Spicy Situation (18:45) – The spiciest story from the weekend and quite possibly the spiciest I’ve ever had, from a 40-something lover who less than a week ago just broke up with the guy that he had been with for 16 years and then runs into his ex’s 20-something boytoy at the bar. The boytoy? An employee for the business that the two partners own and operate together. Messy, juicy, and a must listen 🌶

Bambi Lives (41:53) – the most taxi-cab confessions-esque story ever, an man and his animal loving wife are relieved when my acute awareness and 5-star driving skills avoid what could have been a deadly disaster, and comedy and drama ensues both in the form of her drunkenly rambling about all kinds of critters, as well as some piping hot tea on Urban Meyer and noted wife beater/piece of shit Zach Smith situation 🦌

For the Boys (46:32) – my favorite ride of the weekend, Saturday night, met a couple real ones, one of the boys asked for a song request and I have a live reaction of whether he was feeling what I put on, which then leads to a story, and we grabbed a TikTok at the end, 5-stars 🤝

Oedipus Rex (53:15) – a guy and his very inebriated buddy get in and hilarity ensues when I ask why friend one froze friend two out of his WIFI access 👩‍👦

Gamblers Anonymous (1:01:24) – a rider on his way back home from the Hollywood Casino shares some tips on gambling, including how to a table, shares the most he’s ever won, as well as what it feels like to lose $50k in less than 3 hours 🎰

When a Stranger Calls (1:06:17) – a customer service representative that speaks with people on the phone shares the most uncomfortable call she’s ever received 📞

Then on the back half of today’s episode, you’ll hear from six students from the University of Ohio State sit down and kick it with me on the mics, with discussions ranging in topics from external expectations they’re feeling, to what they’re hoping to find on campus, as well as things like trauma dumping, Catholicism, beginning their hobbies and sharing it with the world, progress over perfection, and much more.

The interviews are timestamped as follows: Adam Joseph (1:24:58), Adam Kling (1:31:49), Holly (1:32:40), Justin (1:35:27), Max Starr(1:36:37), and Jay Patel, aka JP (1:42:27).

Shoutout to everybody that made this episode so great, including my homie Konnor Duwe, Godfather Media’s first intern EVER!!! I can’t wait to get back up to Columbus for Pt. II and Breakaway Festival. It’s gonna be a great time 😎

You guys, this is a historic episode 🥳

It is with extreme pleasure I introduce you to Godfather Media's first intern EVER, please join me in welcoming Mr. Konnor Duwe (@konnor.duwe) to the team 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

In this episode, Konnor and I lay out some of the goals and objectives that we're going to be working towards throughout the duration of this internship, as well as workshopping some of his ideas and getting him ready to launch a podcast of his own! Stay tuned 👀

If you enjoy this episode and can't wait to see what's next for both Konnor and I, please be sure to SMASH that subscribe button and do us a quick favor and drop a quick rating and review on Apple Podcasts, or on the Facebook page for the show, @realtalkbennyt, and of course, follow along on TikTok and IG @bennytomp18 so you never miss any of the videos I'm doing with my riders. One love ✌🏼

New week, new episode, new segment: the open mic sessions. This is something I’m going to be doing more of as I go along, but this is the first week I took my brand new logo-branded table cloth, a table, two mics, two chairs, and setup in a high traffic area as I invited people to sit down and gimme some real talk. And ya know what? It went really well 🥳

So I’ve got a few highlights from those interviews, as well as a handful of stories from my Uber riders, which include:

Blame Religion (9:35) – A Special Forces veteran that’s served dozens of deployments in the Middle East shares his perspective on the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan, whether or not it was inevitable, what America’s role should be in matters of foreign policy, and essentially what the unrest in the Middle East all boils down to 🛐

Pro Tips (23:27) – A rider who’s worked night time beats as a police officer for 14 years gives a couple pointers on how to read body language like a pro and things that he keys in on when trying to get a feel for someone’s intentions 🧐

Quickies (36:07) – These are just a couple of quick clips that made me laugh and hopefully make you do the same 😂

Anti-Vaxx (47:21) – Two part-er… The first is a clip from a rider who shares his hesitations on why he hasn’t been vaccinated, and the second is a clip from my first open mic session where a guest sits down and gives their reasoning for the shot shouldn’t be mandatory 🙅🏻‍♂️

Open Mic (1:09:25) – A couple of highlights from other guests that sat down and spoke with me this past weekend, ranging in topics from COVID-19 to being an Russian interpreter in the military and moving to America from Azerbaijan 🎙

Please subscribe so you never miss and episode, and if you enjoy the show, please leave a quick rating and review on Apple Podcasts or the Facebook page for the show, @realtalkwbennyt

It’s good to be back, baby… It’s good to be back 🥳

I got the car back so I’m back in the streets, the upgrades to the studio are done so I’m back in there, I’ve got a few announcements I run through at the top (3:52), and then it’s onto the stories. I’ve got five of them for you today – three that are legit and two that are pretty quick but we’re gonna kick things off with a heavy one:

I’ll Say It (17:55) – I might have caused a divorce. First ride back, I might have caused a divorce. At the very most, a divorce, at the very least, possibly an uncomfortable conversation. But I said what I said and it needed to be said. Apologies and regrets can kiss my ass 😘

It’s Good to Be Back (39:38) is more of a thought I had on my second ride of the night and then Fake IDs (43:05) is a pretty quick one too, but the final two stories are pretty solid for only having two nights of stories to choose from.

In Do the Right Thing (46:45), I ask a guy point blank, hey, gimme your realest talk. And he freestyles on that for a while, and in doing that, he’s reminded of a story and shares that with me to drive his point home that in life, you gotta do the right thing 💸

Fight in the Dog (53:08) – A man who’s in the process of getting back up on his feet shares some setbacks he’s faced recently and I give him a dose of that real talk to hopefully help keep him going 💯

And finally, we wrap things up with the return of the listener-submitted life advice segment, The Doctor Is In (59:53) 👨🏻‍⚕️

If you enjoy today’s episode or any of the previous episodes or interviews on the show, please take 60 seconds and drop me a quick rating and review on Apple Podcasts, follow along @bennytomp18 and @realtalkwbennyt, and get your life advice or Uber Stories sent in via DM or emailing them to [email protected]. Thanks for listening, see ya next week ✌🏼

Roz Poole is a longtime educator, teacher, storyteller, and one of my superheroes. I was so thrilled that she was down to come on the show and share her story with me, beginning with how she learned to tell stories and how she learned about life and people through storytelling: first through learning about religion and the stories told in the bible, then later building upon that as a contestant in high school state storytelling competitions (15:13) 🤓

Always mindful of this natural ability, it wasn’t until she became a teacher and devoted the first part of her career to teaching children with learning and behavioral differences that she truly realized the superpower she possessed in her ability to connect and reach students through storytelling and why that’s so important (19:37) 🦸🏻‍♀️

After teaching at Crestwood Elementary for 18 years, she took as a job as an education consultant and again had another ah-ha! moment when she said to herself, “hey, it’s not just kids who learn best through stories, it’s grownups, too!” 💡

Having to stand on her feet and give presentations, she continued to improve on her storytelling abilities by learning new ways of engaging her audiences and using teaching as a theatrical tool 🧰

Later, she accepted a position as an instructional coordinator at Goshen Elementary and we pause for a moment to remember dearly departed former principal Chris Luvisi (25:17), but that’s where we crossed paths was during her time at Goshen Elementary and where I trace some of my earliest memories of my personal love for storytelling… sitting criss-cross apple sauce listening to her rendition of Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins 🕎

After a few other career moves, she eventually moved up to Evanston, Illinois, where she was running her own educational consulting business until COVID-19 hit, which has kinda brought things to a pause, but in the time being, she’s since learned Spanish and is enjoying her time as a loving grandmother 👩‍👧‍👧

She shares a few other stories, including making a $1,000,000 sale, traveling all around the country working with schools, and what initially made her want to work with children who experience learning and behavioral differences (42:00) 📚

Some of the realest talk comes around 51:58 when Roz shares what’s it been like working as an educator over the last 40 years as more research and resources have become available as far as how the public school systems addresses children with various learning and behavioral needs, the progress that’s been made during her career, but also what school systems could be doing to continue improving on reaching children at their individual levels 📝

Saving the absolute best for last (1:10:04), Roz reads us a snippet from Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins by Eric Kimmel and Trina Schart Hyman and I’m just absolutely mesmerized. Man, I’m 29 years old, but when she started reading that book again, I instantly transformed into that little kid sitting crisscross apple sauce on an old tile floor hanging on every word 👀

So many great memories and such a huge thank you to Roz for not only coming on the show and speaking her truth, but also on everything she’s accomplished in her storied career. From all of us who ever grew up with you in our schools and in our classrooms, mad love and respect, Roz 🥰

Sometimes I just wanna capture everything in the moment and share that with people. And ya know what... if I can't share it with my friends at the end of the night, I can certainly share it with the microphone 🎙

Post-show recap of Louis the Child plus various thoughts and a fucking 101 lesson on how to hustle and be an entrepreneur 🥳

Subscribe, rate and review, follow @bennytomp18 or @realtalkwbennyt, and don't forget to send in your life advice or YOUR wild Uber stories to me! DM or email [email protected] 📥

One love ✌🏼