Sketch Comedy Podcast Show

Easter is a hard one. Really, the only reason I enjoy Easter is because I love Cadbury Eggs, Deviled Eggs, and egg-shaped decorations. They might as well just call it "Egg Day" for me. 

However, there is a lot of religion mixed in with those eggs. Some of that religion has to do with a mythical creature that defied logic and physics, and the other half of the holiday has something to do with a rabbit. Easter is really confusing.

In this compilation of sketches, we dig into the more religious aspect of the holiday in an attempt to thinly vail our desire to make fun of religion. And yes, this is very much a Christian/Catholic holiday, so we spend the entire time making fun of them, and a little Scientology for fun.

Enjoy! Or not! If you get angry, please email the show at [email protected] and let us know!

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Kenny G.
Welcome to a very special, sexy episode of Sketch Comedy Podcast Show. 
Love. It can be exciting and new. You could hop aboard, we would all be expecting you. Sex… it’s the way, the way, you go. Why am I badly quoting TV themes and poorly written 90’s hip-hop? Because there is likely no subject more covered in the history of song, story and media than these two subjects. In this very special episode, let’s get to the bottom of what is more important: Love or Sex.
We are going to start with one of the oldest and most well-known stories about love. What would happen if it took place in modern times? Pretty sure it would be something like this.“A Modern Take on Romeo & Juliet”
One of the most romantic and, quite frankly, weird movies about love was the movie “Her”. There was a pretty saucy sex scene in it, and we were able to get the outtakes! Here is an example!“Her Outtakes”
Fairy tales have often dictated what our expectations with love and relationships are. I don’t recall Charles Perrault writing it like this, but maybe it was part of his “After Dark” series.“Cockerella”
Dating is one of the hardest and most demanding things we will put ourselves through. Here are a couple of sketches that highlight how difficult it is to connect with someone romantically on a date.“Excuse Me, I’m Just a Little Nervous”“Hand Massage”
Of course, the goal of any good date is one thing, riding the baloney pony to tuna town. Hopefully, it isn’t mundane and more like this.
 “Mind Blowing Sex”
Can’t find the person to commit to going all the way in a relationship? Maybe it’s time for…“Commitoall”
After dating and arguments, and if you still want to even know of each other’s existence, sometimes things progress to an engagement. These are always beautiful experiences. Well, almost always.“A Different Type of Engagement Ring”
I know that a lot of the people I have been with want a Superman. After this sketch, maybe even Superman ain’t all that great.“Superman & Lois Lane at Home”
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© Copyright 2022 Stuart Rice
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ABOUT THIS EPISODEEvery year I break out the old Christmas Sketches and compile them into one glorious, hour-long special for you to enjoy for a limited time each year. You get to revisit some really classic sketches, and I don’t have to do any work! It works out for all of us.
Enjoy your holidays, whatever those holidays are, and we will get a chance to catch up after the first of the year!
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2021 Stuart Rice
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SUBSCRIPTIONS & REVIEWSAPPLEYOUTUBEPODCHASER

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

You know that super-cool water bottle that all the rich kids have and cover with stickers? In this episode, the inventor of the Hydro Flask, Travis Rosbach, gives us tales of corporate intrigue and perilous plane events, and also talks about tattoos and talking to trees. One of the most full episodes of Sketch Comedy Podcast Show ever.
This episode’s sketch: “The Peaceful Sounds of Nature”
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2023 Stuart Rice
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MORE ABOUT THE GUEST

Capt. Rosbach has spent the last thirty years studying and practicing all things business, and the previous ten years as an advisor, consultant, public speaker, and business coach to a wide range of industries, celebrities, individuals and even countries.
He not only shares his tradecraft with others but also practices it in the many startup's he is currently involved in. 
He is the founder of Hydro Flask and other highly successful business endeavors.
Prior to entrepreneurship, Mr. Rosbach was a:

• SCUBA dive Master/Instructor (PADI 158190)
• US Merchant Marine Boat Captain (50 Tons)
• Commercial Airline Pilot (ATP)
• and a world explorer.

Links

The Tumalo Group - Travis’ company where he helps other entrepreneurs sharpen their axes.
TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Stuart: In this episode, International Man of Mystery Travis Rossbach and I came up with a few sketch ideas. You uh flew this plane through a category one storm, right? Hurricane, right? Yeah, it's not a storm, it's a hurricane. All right. So I was thinking like, how does it, how does it get crazy as it ramps up? What is the thing that, that really sets it to a category six? I love that. You hired a six, a six ft four felon to help you out with chopping down trees and you said like found out I was faster than he was, right? But he's a six ft four felon. Now, I don't know if you're 100 and 88 to £205. Like you're probably a little, a little bit taller than me, maybe right around the same. But this is someone you're gonna be ok. So you're gonna be looking up at this guy and you gotta tell him, yeah, you're not very good at this. Like how do you have that conversation? I should know this but Blue Dream is probably a strain of the marijuana that you like to smoke that you go out and chop down trees. Ok. So you say that you can hear the trees talking to you. What conversations are they having with you? Yes, you're chopping them down. Like I think that that would be really interesting to find out, hey, the trees maybe aren't so cool with this. Like, hey, go to the gym, you don't have to come out here and do this. So

[00:01:34] Travis Rosbach: that's my man. Leave them.

[00:01:37] Stuart: Which one did we pick? You'll find out on this episode of it is a sketch comedy by welcome to sketch comedy podcast show. The one of a kind show where I Stuart Rice invite interesting people to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about. It's the only show like it on the internet. Travis Rossbach made his claim to fame and riches by developing the Hydro Flask. Uh you know, the metal water bottles that high school students use and cake with stickers. But Travis is much more than the purveyor of high end drink wear. He's also a high flying hero, uh an adventurer and one that communicates with trees. On a side note, this is one of my favorite episodes I've ever recorded and this conversation was so much fun. I hope to have Travis on again. And now my conversation with Travis Rozak, creator of the Hydro Flask and an ironic international man of mystery. Travis

[00:02:58] Travis Rosbach: Stewart.

[00:03:00] Stuart: Thanks so much for joining us. Today. I've got a quick question for you if you, if that's ok.

[00:03:04] Travis Rosbach: As long as it's not a hard one, I'm ok with that. Well,

[00:03:07] Stuart: we'll see it, it goes in waves. What makes you interesting?

[00:03:12] Travis Rosbach: It is a hard one right out of the gate. Um, this morning I was down at the Tumolo country store slash gas station and I was thinking about that because I listened to your show and, um, I had to pay cash and I realized last Monday, um I had to pay cash also because their servers were down and I was hungry and I didn't have any cash. And so the woman bought it for me. And so I was thinking, I would tell that story about me getting hungry. But then I thought of another time where I landed a commercial airplane in the Caribbean in the middle of a category two hurricane. Um So I, I thought maybe I'd talk about either one of those, but I'd let you kind of decide which one was more interesting. Let

[00:03:59] Stuart: see, someone's gonna buy you lunch or you were a hero. Let's go with uh one of them is, is the narration of someone else being a hero for you because low blood sugar is pretty good. But let's, let's, let's go with your, your story, your little story about an airplane.

[00:04:21] Travis Rosbach: Ok. Ok. How does that situation happen? Yeah, we go with that one, I guess. Um So I was a commercial airline pilot down in the US Virgin Islands. I flew through uh Seaborne Airlines. We flew twin otters on floats. So, basically, um, these, these big propeller planes that we take off and land in, in Saint Thomas in the harbor and Saint Croix. And these

[00:04:46] Stuart: are the ones that come into the water. Right. They, they land on water.

[00:04:50] Travis Rosbach: Mhm. Yep. Yep. And, um, we would take turns who would fly which leg? So I was, we were flying back and forth to Saint Thomas trying not to fall asleep because it's so hot. We were about 600 ft off the, off the ocean. And, um, oftentimes we'd kind of look over and, you know, see somebody sleeping next to us. And so it was my turn to fly to Saint Thomas. We knew that there was a storm, a Bruin coming and yet the chief pilot made the decision that, nope, we're still open for business. Please fly. So we went to Saint Thomas and, um, we, we went to take off and it was like the storm is really, really upon us. And I don't, for the life of me, I can't remember the name. I'd probably have to look in the, in the log books. I don't remember the name of the storm, but it, it came in as a category one. And, um, you know, we've been through category fives before not flying, but we just recently had, had a uh hurricane Lennie come through as a category five. So, one didn't seem all that intense.

[00:06:00] Stuart: What's involved with a one, if you don't mind me interjecting,

[00:06:05] Travis Rosbach: it's just windy as hell. It's just, it's really windy. A lot of gusts. The seed gets real choppy. Um, you, you're probably not gonna lose a rough, it's nothing like your garbage cans are gonna fall over, stuff like that. Not a real minor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mere flesh wounds at that point. And so, um, it was my turn to sit in the right seat and, and be the, uh, the copilot and I did not like the man I was flying with, he, he just was not a, a good dude. Um, later he got arrested, so I didn't have to worry about flying with him. But I had a girlfriend who was sitting, um, this, even though this was after 9 11, we still had an open cockpit because, you know, it was in the Caribbean and we weren't really concerned about that kind of stuff. And, um, so I have this girlfriend in the back and she's got her headset on so she can hear what is happening and he takes off. We start flying and we hear on the radio it's now a category two. You guys need to turn around. Well, we'd already passed the point of demarcation, which means we were closer to Saint Croix than we were Saint Thomas. And so we just kept going and I had just recently got out of flight training up in, uh, Canada and one of the coolest things that I, well, I, I shouldn't say it's cool, but I found it really interesting was, especially after 9 11, this was really top of mind if the, if the pilot next to you seems to be out of sorts and, and doesn't seem like he's able to or they are not able to continue, you need to say, hey, look like I'm gonna take over. You just chill. I got it from here and if they continue to not be cool and they don't respond, then you have to basically disable them. And we were told not,

[00:08:07] Stuart: not their controls, you have to disable the person, the

[00:08:12] Travis Rosbach: pilot. So you punch him, you grab the fire extinguisher, you take, you disable the pilot. And so, and so as we're flying, this guy starts going into just la la crazy land. I mean, he just starts showing signs of insanity. Now, I'm maybe not always the most sane and rational person myself, but thank God I had my, my girlfriend at the time behind me, uh kind of checking back at her and she's like, well, this isn't good, you know, like this guy is not doing the right thing here. So I was like, ok, well, if she gives me the thumbs up, I'm gonna just, you know,

[00:08:50] Stuart: I thought you were gonna say she had a piano wire in her in her purse and she was just gonna

[00:08:57] Travis Rosbach: would that be cool? Um That would have made the headlines, right? So we're getting closer and closer and um and, and, and man, it was rough like the, it was really, it was, it was, it was now a full blown category two and we're coming in hurricane category two. We're coming in and we had these little white um the basically PV C posts like pipe in the ocean in the harbor that we call the goal goal posts because our goal was to land in between them. So he's coming in and he's like, I can't see him. I can't see him. I can't see the goal post. I can't, and he's starting to freak out and, uh, we, we come down and I can see him. I'm like, you know, well, I can say his name now because the Statue of Limitations is up like Allen, you know, they're one o'clock, one o'clock, one o'clock and he's just not getting it. You're too high, you're too high. Ok. Now Allen, you're too low, too low, too high, go around, go around, go around. So he, he decides, instead of going around, he's just gonna crash us into Christians ST into the town and he's like, we're just going in,

[00:10:08] Stuart: he's like, I know there's a mattress shop there. We can just, it'll be a nice soft landing.

[00:10:13] Travis Rosbach: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I give it just a quick look back and now my girlfriend's just white as a sheet. She can't talk, she can't move. She is holding on and mind you, we've got a full plane full of people. I mean, like we've got passengers on board that are screaming, crying, freaking out. We're, how

[00:10:33] Stuart: many, how many people are we talking?

[00:10:35] Travis Rosbach: Not a lot. I think there was maybe, but there was probably about 10 souls, maybe 10 of us told them on board. Um maybe a few more, but I, but I can't recall. I have to check the logbook. We're coming in. Alan's like we're going in, we're going in and I can see we're headed right into either a sailboat or the harbor into um into the uh the pub. And I was like, OK, it's my plane. I've got the plane and he's like, no, no, I got it. I was like, I'm gonna grab the can I swear, can I say fuck you do whatever you want? I'm like, I'm gonna grab the fucking fire extinguisher, take you out Alan. And I think that, you know, I will and, and he kind of gave me a look and I was like, I, I, I am, I'm gonna take you the fuck out. And so he goes, all right, fine, you're playing and, and we go around and boy, I gave it everything we had and we just barely missed the sailboat, we just barely missed town. And then as we're flying, there's a big ass mountain right behind Christiansted and we're flying right into a house, like right into this house and they were doing construction on it because of the hurricane Lennie. And I could see the people's eyes and faces seeing that they were gonna get hit by a scene and I don't know how, but we missed it. We come around, we come in and I put us down in between the goal posts. We flowed over and uh we power in and uh I, I went to the chief pilot and I said, I will never fly with that man again. I said, you know, like he's not safe, yada, yada. Um And about a week later, he got arrested for being drunk and he had been at the pub at two o'clock in the morning and seven o'clock, he shows up to fly and he saw that the people who he was drinking with, saw him on, you know, walking down the board ramp and they're like going into the plane and like, we know, five hours ago you were just as drunk as we were. And so they called the police. They got him out two weeks later, he was back on the job. But at that point, I, I uh I shouldn't talk more about Seaborn. But yeah, so that was kind of a interesting afternoon.

[00:12:52] Stuart: That's um what's the first thing you do when you get off the plane? Like when you're in that situation. I mean, obviously your adrenaline is through the roof and I, and I, what, what happens, what do you do when you get right off of that plane?

[00:13:08] Travis Rosbach: I, I think my first instinct was to take Alan out still. I, I still really wanted to kind of hit him. Um, but my girlfriend was there and, and, and I think what, actually, I, I remember helping the passengers down the gang plank and they were so distraught, they were crying and there is, you know, you know, fairly larger Saint Tom and women and Rusian women and men and they were, they were visibly shaken. And so I think I i it was like, ok, I got to step up and, and deal with Alan later, but I gotta help them and, you know, then I, then my mind goes into business mode where I'm like, ok, liability here. Like we probably shouldn't have taken off in a category one and landed in a category two. So, you know, it was just like, uh like pr and putting out fires at that point. Ok. Yeah, I just go talk to the customer service, they'll take care of you. And I, I kind of went into that mode and then I, I got angry with Alan. Um but I, I, I, I, I never did touch him. So

[00:14:11] Stuart: that's, but yeah, because I can imagine that would not be, it's not a hug, that's not a hug.

[00:14:20] Travis Rosbach: Oh, dude. Yeah, you almost

[00:14:23] Stuart: got us killed. Um, holy crap. Well, uh, that is, that's definitely a story you can tell at any time and you definitely have the best story in, in the group, I'm sure, uh, holy smokes. All right. Well, besides being a, uh, flying superhero, you're like the Caribbean Sully if you will. But, uh, but I, so besides that, what else makes you interesting? What, what are, what are other things that you've done? Because I, you know, we posted up the, the, uh, title that you Like the International Man of Mystery, which is not far from the truth. You've done a lot of different things. What's some other things that people might know you for?

[00:15:06] Travis Rosbach: Um, well, I was a, a dive master and dive instructor for quite a while in

[00:15:11] Stuart: Saint. So you were in the air and underwater? Yeah.

[00:15:14] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. And, and, and Saint Croix, um, and I was also a boat captain for quite a while and, um, I, I just had a really, really good time, um, underneath and on top and, and above the, the Caribbean. And then I, I really realized that, um, you know, I had read this theory that and, and I don't know that it's just a theory, but to be nice, I'll just say theory that people who live in warmer environments go a little bit soft, mentally and physically because it's, it's lethargic, you know, to live in a warm environment you don't have to work hard. You don't have to shovel snow and ice. And so I, I realized that, like, my life was really good and so it was time to move back up

[00:16:00] Stuart: to the, how do you screw it up to make yourself stronger?

[00:16:04] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. Well, so I moved to the Icy Northwest and, and start shoveling snow and ice and, and then I, I, um, I ended up buying some property and some chainsaws and I learned how to cut down trees, uh like big ass trees to give me that same sort of excitement of near death, um experience on a regular basis. And so that's kind of where I am now is I, I'm, I'm at the point where I don't ride my motorcycles anymore. I don't fly jets fast anymore. I used to and then, and then after the airlines, I moved up to Florida and flew, um private jet charter. Um But so yeah, now I'm, I'm, I'm cutting, cutting big ass trees and that keeps me on my toes and keeps me mentally sharp and, and focused. Any,

[00:16:50] Stuart: any stories there, the, like we've all watched those like lager shows on, on whatever channel. But like that, that is, that is one of those things we never thought we'd ever think about as a society other than the people that go out and do the like lumberjack work. Uh What do you have any stories like did a tree go the wrong direction or probably the better stories are the trees didn't go in the right.

[00:17:15] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, I, growing up in Oregon, I always, like, flipped off the Lumberjacks in the, in the log trucks and I always thought, you know, fuck you for taking all of our trees. I had no idea how a sustainable forest actually works. I always thought the more trees the better. Right. I mean, if one is good five or even better than one. Well, when I bought the property, it was all completely overgrown with, with juniper trees, which can be fairly big. I mean, like, like really quite large trees and um they suck up all the groundwater for the Ponderosa. So the faster I cut the juniper, the better and healthier the Ponderosa grow and the ponda are much more beautiful trees. And so I, I got on Craig's list and I found this felon who can't find a job anywhere else. And he says he loves cutting trees. He's six ft five. And um he comes out and I really like to cut the trees and he likes to limb them because he's, he's like this big jolly goon giant. He just goes and it, they're limbed and, and, and I found we, we found he, I that I'm 10 times faster than he is. And the reason why is because he cuts it the way Lumberjacks cut it, they cut this wedge and then they cut it from the back and it falls that direction and you know, where the tree is going to be. Well, I cut mine flat and then just hope that it doesn't hit me or that I can get out of the way before it starts to fall. So I used to smoke a lot of Blue Dream, which I don't recommend because it, it makes you, it made me crazy anyway. Um, but I'd smoke a lot of Blue Dream and I'd just go out and just, just cut and cut and cut and then he'd come along behind me and limb and limb and limb and we had quite a few times where um damn it, if I almost just didn't get hit by a big ass juniper tree, you know, but um I didn't, so that's good. Yeah,

[00:19:21] Stuart: I like that. You knocked on wood because wood did not knock on you.

[00:19:25] Travis Rosbach: That's, that's, yeah,

[00:19:30] Stuart: that's uh oh man. Um So was that part of the experience was just like cutting that tree and just being like, let's see where it goes. If it comes at me, I just gotta move out of the way. I gotta be

[00:19:41] Travis Rosbach: fast and not to sound, you know, out there or anything. But as I get into the zone and I find this with a lot of things that I do, I kind of, I have a tendency to get my head down, get myself in the zone or the zone gets into me really is more of it and I just fucking go. And with the trees as the zone happens as that zone time is happening, the trees will, will talk to me and they'll say, or it could be the blue dream, but the trees talk to me and they say, you know, hey, come cut me or hey, cut that guy or you know, this one's ready to go or that one's ready to go or, um, you know, they have this, these various things that they'll communicate to me. And so when I come up to the tree, I almost, it's, you know, not 100% of the time, but I'd say 95% of the time I come up to just the right side to cut them on. And I, I worked the saw around enough to where I have a fairly good idea as to where they're going to go. Um, but there's been days where I've had like six or eight and they're called widow makers because they'll hit you and kill you. But they fall, they're cut and they hit another tree and they're so big, you can't physically push them. So you have to either cut more trees which gets really dangerous because now you got two trees falling somewhere or you gotta hook a line up to it and pull it with a truck or a machine. Um, and then you've got, of course, snow and mud and slippery conditions and roots and stumps and just shit everywhere. That, as you, as I try to run away, I, I try not to trip over in, you know, in the, in the interim. So, holy

[00:21:28] Stuart: crap. That, I mean, that's, that is an insane amount of danger and that's just like, that's a Wednesday.

[00:21:37] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. Oh, it's a Wednesday at two o'clock. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I, I, I, um, I have a daughter now and so I don't take as much risks as I used to. I don't ride my motorcycles. I don't fly jets. I don't, you know, I don't do stuff. Not the jets are dangerous. But I, I just, and I, and I don't even cut as many trees as I would like. But, um, it is, it is chainsaw season right now. And so I'm, I am out there cutting, yeah, it's just a good workout, man. I just feel so good getting that physical full body mental workout and just, you know, I, I get so sore at the end of the day and just covered in grease and gasoline and just shit, you know, and I just fucking love it.

[00:22:23] Stuart: Well, to me that's way better than if you go to the gym because basically you're just going to the gym and you're just like lifting some weights but nothing gets done. You're actually, you get the result afterwards. You feel like you've accomplished something afterwards. I think that's a much better workout

[00:22:37] Travis Rosbach: and I can tell the difference between the store bought muscles and the real muscles. You know, living here in Tumolo, we got a lot of cowboys and Cowgirls and, uh, you can tell their, their country is strong. You know, it's like you, you cut down a tree and then that just is the beginning of it. Now you got to buck it and, you know, chop it up and you gotta pick it up and you gotta throw it and move it and you're squatting and lifting and throwing and then there's a rock in the way, you gotta pick up the rock and throw it and, um, and, yeah, but back in the old days I used to go to the gym and it, it's, it's night and I mean, they're not even comparable almost. Yeah.

[00:23:14] Stuart: Yeah, because they don't have the fear of death in them. Yeah.

[00:23:16] Travis Rosbach: Right. Yeah.

[00:23:18] Stuart: I mean, it's amazing what that does for the physical body is when you experience that like, oh, you gotta, you gotta be on your, on your game like it's, and, and it is, it's a mental acuity as well as a physical acuity. That's impressive. Um Do you, do you post up videos of you chopping

[00:23:34] Travis Rosbach: down these trees? No, I try to stay away from the social media because when I go to social media, it, it takes up a lot of my time and then a lot of people start coming in and they start asking, you know, for stuff or, you know, whatever. But, um, I, I'm going to be getting a skin steer, which is like a whole another topic. But it's, it's a really cool little like micro mini machine that I can pick up trees and dig holes and move stuff around. And I'm thinking I probably will post a couple go pros in out and around and then kind of start doing that because it's really rewarding to go up a thicket of forest that you can't see through. And then, you know, four days later there's a park and a little park bench and a place to eat lunch and, and there's like, really, you know, like a beautiful little area. And so I'd love to just, even if, for myself, if nobody even watches, I'd love to get a video of that and, and time lapse it, you know.

[00:24:35] Stuart: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and for someone like myself, I like the amount of times I've got an opportunity to go out and chop down a tree is pretty low. Like, I don't have that many opportunities to do that. None, opportunities to do that. So it'd be kind of cool to be able to watch, watch you do that. I, I think that's awesome. Plus, you know, I, there's got to be some blooper reels there. Yeah, I hope, I hope not.

[00:25:01] Travis Rosbach: I only have one. It

[00:25:05] Stuart: was a great blooper though. It was the final blooper. Is what it was. I know. I,

[00:25:11] Travis Rosbach: I will, I appreciate you saying that because it's been on my mind. But then I think, well, I don't know, like it's a lot of time, energy and effort, but I think even just for my daughter, for in the future to see what, you know, and, and just for the historical reasons for the land, I'm really into the history of this plot of land in this area. And so just to show the natural progression of, um, you know, how, how it's progressing I think would be, would be really rad.

[00:25:41] Stuart: Yeah. And where you live is Milo. And you actually tumolo, I keep doing that. But tumolo, I, I think I've been through there too and I can't believe I can't say it right. You actually, um, now you have a, uh, a company that you just started, right? Few years

[00:26:00] Travis Rosbach: ago, few years ago. Yeah.

[00:26:01] Stuart: Well, yeah. Ok. Well, tell, tell, tell everybody what that is because it's interesting. It, it, it, it seems like this amorphous thing, but I'm sure it's very focused when it needs to be. So why don't you probably do a better job of explaining it than I would.

[00:26:17] Travis Rosbach: I, I like the word amorphous though. That was a good one. Um It's basically, it's Travis and my rolodex and for anybody under 40 who doesn't know what a rolodex is. It's my contact list and myself. Um, I tried after Hydro Flask to retire and uh just do absolutely fuck all except for travel the planet and everywhere I would go, people would ask me, how do I do this? How did you do that? What happens now, how do I connect with who I need to connect to? And so I started the Tumolo group just to help brands and businesses grow. I really enjoy. Um I get the same sort of rush cutting down a tree and starting a brand. I love to see a brand go from its infancy or, or the back of a napkin as they say all the way through to fruition and people buying a product. And so I help small startups and I help large massive fortune X number, you know, fill in the blank companies, corporations source products. So I have a lot of factories that I've worked with for decades now and, and I trust them, I trust them with IP, I trust them in our uh intellectual property. I trust them with um ideas and I trust them for prices and to keep their mouths shut and not knock us off. And um and then I also have graphic designers and engineers and, and people that are like just way, way, way smart and we help put together a brand or a business. And so, and then I also do, I mean, as a part of it all, it's, it's business consulting, business mentoring coaching. If you will, I don't have any kind of like buy now button or a, you know, three weeks to, you know, optimal business practices. I don't have any of that shit. It's just more real world. Let's just get your brand up there.

[00:28:16] Stuart: So I, so a couple of years ago I tried to start AAA company a brand and I could have used your advice so badly because I did, I went and paid for marketers. That, that, that was their big focus was you got to have a time frame, time stamp on it and blah, blah, blah. No, it's really about building building value within that brand and, and making it more real. And I I am 100% with you on that and you have a, you have experience with building a, a pretty decent brand like you, you mentioned it like you invented the hydro flask, right?

[00:28:53] Travis Rosbach: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:56] Stuart: So yeah, I mean, I, I've definitely spent hundreds of dollars on those, but um,

[00:29:04] Travis Rosbach: I think you actually bought the fish aquarium right here. It looks

[00:29:08] Stuart: like that definitely looks like a Christmas from a couple of years ago. So, um when you talk about stealing IP, that is the one of the biggest things when you're doing manufacturing. I'm, I'm just going to go down this path because I'm interested in it. How do you find places that, that you can trust for, for IP because honestly, like we see knock off everything like within days of something getting announced. There is a knockoff including Hydro Flax. So, how did you, how did you build those relationships so that people wouldn't steal that?

[00:29:43] Travis Rosbach: Because, yeah. And can you show

[00:29:47] Stuart: the bottle that you just bought? Because it's so

[00:29:52] Travis Rosbach: crazy. I won't show the logo. But yeah. No,

[00:29:55] Stuart: no, no, don't show the logo. But look at that thing. It's a monster. Is

[00:29:58] Travis Rosbach: that something? It's got a serious. Yeah. Well, and I'm glad too and it feels nice. It's a nice material and it feels stout and I'm gonna get ripped drinking it because it's so damn heavy. But, well, it's 8.5 pounds or £8 for fresh water, I think 8.5 for uh salt and this is fresh, obviously. Um And, and then the metal on top of that, it, my theory is, is if I have a gallon next to me throughout the day, I'm gonna drink a lot more than just I try to drink half of my body weight and ounces every day. Um So I'm between 1 88 and 200. So I say about 100 ounces. And so I figure if I have a gallon, I may drink at least hopefully my 100 ounces. And so this is kind of my, my theory for that. Um Yeah. So as far as the knockoffs go, you know, with Hydro Flask, we were very fortunate that we were the first doing double wall vacuum in slated water bottles. It just wasn't happening. And then, um I had a, a fantastic, awesome friend of mine who was also just happened to be a, um, a patent attorney named Michelle in Salem Michelle. And um Latching, actually, she just got married. It was Michelle. I just call her Michelle E but um she's now a hyphen. But anyway, Michelle did a great job of getting us design patents and those the, the design patents gave us the, um, the right to advertise, patented and patent pending. And so that gave us a, I feel that gave us about a 3 to 6 month buffer where the honest stayed honest and the dishonest and not dis it's just the opportunists really. The opportunists were like, oh, ok. Well, wait a second, let's check into those patterns and they were still kind of, you know, kind of up in the air and still kind of vapor at that time. But that gave us just enough lead time to go out and, and, and sort of, you know, do our magic as it were. And, um, and then our first knockoff came from the guy who was, um, screen printing for us and he was literally two doors down, three doors down in the same little strip mall complex. And, um, and he knocked us off. And so it's not always just, you know, the foreign countries that are maliciously knocking people off. In fact, a lot of times it's Americans finding other factories in other countries to knock you off. It's not just, you know, oh, that country damn it, they knock everybody off. No, that's not actually true. A lot of times it's those damn Americans going to those damn factories then knocking you off. You know, and that's the part that I didn't realize and I think a lot of people don't really know or talk about much is that it's, it's the asshole neighbor who's gonna steal your idea. Not and knock you off. Not necessarily the asshole on the far side of the world. Yeah, I do. Yeah.

[00:33:05] Stuart: Sure. Absolutely. But that's, that's really interesting because I think everybody looks at like, oh, you have a factory, you're working with a factory in China. They're the ones that are stealing it, but not necessarily because it's, it's literally your graphic designer was like, oh, I see an opportunity here. I can put a different wrapper on this thing and call it something else and all of a sudden. Yeah.

[00:33:26] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. And that's what he did, you know, and he was hiding behind, you know, this dogmatic religion that he was in and him and his father said that they were upstanding citizens because of this and that and the other and, and then they were, you know, moonlighting as a, as a bottle company and he knocked us off like, like fair dinkum. Like he cut the bottle open, cut it in half sent it off and said, make me exactly that and they made exactly that and that was what we had patents for. So, um, he's now since morphed into larger contraptions and, um, you know, Karma has, has, um, done what it will with him.

[00:34:07] Stuart: Oh, my God. That's terrible. You almost want to take a fire hydrant to his head, a fire extinguisher to his head.

[00:34:15] Travis Rosbach: But, you know what's funny is I saw him at a coffee shop, um, I saw him at a coffee shop probably about four or five years ago, six years ago now. And, uh I was ordering my coffee and I kind of look over and he's, the guy is such an asshole. He was sitting at a for top. It's a busy coffee shop and he's on his computer and he's got three open seats around him when there's groups of people everywhere trying to get a fork top and he's taking up the floor full for top. So, of course, I get my la lavender latte and I sit down right next to him and I, and I just gradually start scooting over closer and closer to him until finally my arm was touching him and, uh, he got up and he bolted and then I got a lot of, a lot of four tops, sit down.

[00:34:59] Stuart: Uh, always the hero. That's, that's you always the hero Travis. Um So, ok, so you, at some point you said fuck it I'm out of Hydro Flask for whatever reason, you built a very successful brand. Like that's, that's incredible. And you decide I'm taken off, you're just gonna go travel. How many countries did you actually get to get into? I,

[00:35:26] Travis Rosbach: no, I haven't. I need to. Um, there's, and the reason why I kind of want to is there's a, and I don't know the name of it, but I think it's like a Centurian Club, not for 100 year old pluses, but for 100 country plus people. And so I really need to count and, um, see if I can get a free for or, you know, I'm sure I have to pay 100 bucks or whatever, but I wanna see if I can get a, a free shirt from this, this, um, people who've been to over 100 trees club membership thing. Um, but, but it, I kind of cheated because when I was a pilot and I was living in the Caribbean, I would fly to all these different islands that were like right there or just, you know, just over the, I, I say over the horizon, we don't actually live on a round ball, but just, just past that island is another island and those are two countries. So I had to hit three new countries in, in three days. Um It's kind of like Europe. You go to Europe. My, my first wife was British and we could go Ryan air back in the day for like, 15 quid. We could be in another country, we could rent a car and be in seven countries in the afternoon and, and, and be home and, and have put 10 countries under our belts. So, you know, Europe and the Caribbean, I, I kind of, I kind of cheated a little bit but, um,

[00:36:46] Stuart: I never,

[00:36:47] Travis Rosbach: they do, they, I mean, it's probably not in my belt, I guess. But, yeah. So, yeah, I love to travel.

[00:36:55] Stuart: Oh, that's cool. That's very cool. What's a, what's a place that you would suggest? Someone go and what's a place you would not suggest somebody go?

[00:37:02] Travis Rosbach: Well, I, that's a good question. I suggest people go to Africa, any country thereof and go check it out. Like, I think the Americans, there's a lot of snowflakes. There's a, and I just love that term because we've got snow on the ground. There's a lot of just soft ass people who just don't know what the real world's like. You go to Africa. I was in Kenya. I went to Nairobi. I was in the, you know, million and slum and there's way more than a million people there and that just put my entire life into perspective. I've been shot at, I've had knives pulled. I've been in all kinds of crazy scenarios but physically being inside in the slum, um, it, it really hit, I suggest people go do that kind of stuff. Just if you want a real world experience, go to the Million man slum in Nairobi. That shit will wake you up quick. That, that's a sobering thing. Um I suggest people do not go to Iceland. It's the most beautiful country ever and I don't want anybody to go there because eventually I may want to retire there again. So I, I suggest do not go to Iceland. Please go to Nairobi and uh those are my two.

[00:38:23] Stuart: Ok. All right, good. Um I, I do have to make this comment real quick. Um I your facial hair is amazing. Like I, I wish that you got that good Northwest like full beard thing going on. Um I, so as far as that goes like that's really on Fleek. Now, do you do all the other Portland things where you have lots and lots of tattoos? Is that a thing that you also do?

[00:38:50] Travis Rosbach: I am covered? Yeah. Yeah. Are you ok. Yeah, I, I would say probably, you know, I don't know, a percentage 70 to 80% of 70% of my body probably. Yeah. Not on my

[00:39:03] Stuart: face though and not on your arms.

[00:39:05] Travis Rosbach: No, no, I I've kept it above my um t-shirt lines. Um But yeah, I've got, yeah, you know, and I, I think they, they just sort of come to me and it's like I'm going to get a tattoo of this or that or the other and, and then I, I I think about it for, I ruminate on it for months and months and then if it's still with me then I'll do it others. It, I'll be in a foreign land and, oh, you guys have a tattoo parlor. Let's go check it out. And next thing I know I'm there for four hours getting tattooed. And, um, I, I, I pointed to my ribs. I was in China and the only tattoos I'd ever seen was with the mafia because that was all that. There was, it was mafia tattoos and, and if you saw tattoos, you knew you were looking at a bad ass motherfucker, right? Like you don't. And so I would always go fuck with the guy with a tattoo. Like we'd be in a bar and I'd see guys with tattoos and I'd, you know, go show him my tattoos and I'd see theirs and the people I'd with would just be like, fuck like we don't want to hang out with Travis anymore because he just hangs out with the mafia. Um But then they kind of opened it up to the general public and um yeah, my first tattoo I got in China. I, I, I um I asked as like, can I see your autoclave where you sterilize the needles? And he's like, no, we don't have one. We don't, we don't clean the needles. And I was like, OK, obviously my translators have done a terrible job here. Let me you know, like draw a picture and see. He's like, no, no, we don't, we don't do that. Yuck. Why would we clean the needles? And then I realized, oh, it's because you use a fresh needle every single time. Ok. I'm good. Let's go a

[00:40:50] Stuart: little bit on edge there for a second. You're like, maybe we need to go someplace else. I don't want to offend them.

[00:40:56] Travis Rosbach: But yeah, they wanted to go see the newest Marvel comic movie at the cinema. And I was like, yeah, we could do that or we could get a tattoo. But then I was like, well, maybe the Marvel movie would be better and safer. But I ended up getting a tattoo instead

[00:41:11] Stuart: and you got a tattoo of

[00:41:14] Travis Rosbach: um well, fuck if I know what it actually says, right? But um I, but I asked him, I was like, look at me, look at my tattoos. What do you think? And he quick? I mean, he was just Johnny on the spot quick. It came to him. It basically says be content with what you have but always strive for more. And then he put my um my name in China is I have a, a like official name. And so he put my hu stamp, you know, my little um you know, when you dip it in the ink and

[00:41:48] Stuart: wax and do the whole thing. Game of Thrones style. Yeah. Yeah,

[00:41:52] Travis Rosbach: exactly. So he put that in red and then the be content with but you have, but always strive for additional or more, uh, in, in just the traditional black ink. Yeah. Oh, that's

[00:42:05] Stuart: cool. Um, do you go for more? Like, that's kind of like a, an inspirational, like, meaningful tattoo? Do you go for, is that mainly what you go for or do you go for? Do you do wacky stuff too?

[00:42:18] Travis Rosbach: I do a stuff too. Um, when I traveled throughout the South Pacific, I kind of collected just little scraps of paper. This is before cell phones and, and photographs on our cameras on our phone and stuff. But I, I collected, collected little scraps of paper, of tattoo and ideas and drawings and things and then I would come home and then get them here because I don't, I haven't really wanted to spend most of my holiday or, you know, I'm only in a place for two or three weeks so I don't want to spend three or four days in a tattoo parlor where, you know, I may not feel good or well afterwards and things. And so I, I, I brought those, a lot of, a lot of my tattoos. I brought home with me to get done here. Um, but, uh, yeah, like I've got a Lorax flying on my shoulder because, you know, the Lorax is all about protecting the trees and they've got him who, um, one that, um, my dad, I've got a fairly good buddy Chris Callister here at Iron Elephant Tattoo and Ben and he's done the majority. He did all of my back and my ribs. Um He's done a lot of, a lot of my tattoos. A lot of my work. Um But one of the, one of his favorite ones is um I've got a little UFO with the H guy, the Hydro Flask guy parachuting out of it, basically saying fuck it. I'm out. And so I've got that, that's kind of one of the funnier ones. I guess

[00:43:43] Stuart: that's good. That's good. I like that. I like it. If you're gonna have like um a bunch of tattoos definitely have some, have a narrative somewhere, right? Like that, that I think that's really cool is if you can have like different stories with different tattoos. I got this one here. I got that one there. I love, I love that. I think that's really great.

[00:44:00] Travis Rosbach: It, I feel that when they find the body they'll be able to look at it and go. Who the fuck is this guy? Well, he's got this one and this one and this one, he's obviously lived here and he's done this and he's done that and um I, I don't know if anybody who's got the H guy tattoo. So that must be the hype guy. I don't know, but that they'll be able to identify the body. Yeah, it's like,

[00:44:23] Stuart: it's like it's body hieroglyphics, right? So like that's, that's exactly what it turns out to

[00:44:28] Travis Rosbach: be and, and there are times where I'll be like, at a hotel where there's like these really cool mirrors and, you know, like, and I'll, I'll just kind of catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and go. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. Oh, I've got that one because I did this back then and I forget that. I forget that I even have tattoos. Like I see people with tattoos. I'm like, huh, you're a tattooed person. I got you. Um, but when I see my own, it's like it, it brings back a memory. It conjures up past events and past lives. And so it does work like that. I don't have to have as good of memory if I have a good tattoo for it,

[00:45:08] Stuart: it's a good, I mean, it's a, that, that is the best reason to have tattoos. Uh, and they can look cool that, that part too is pretty cool. Yeah.

[00:45:16] Travis Rosbach: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:17] Stuart: Um, well, this has been delightful. Uh, Travis. Uh, we do need to record a sketch though. Travis. You almost have me convinced to go get a tattoo. Um, while I'm considering this huge life change. Do you mind telling everybody about the Tumolo group?

[00:45:37] Travis Rosbach: Why they should visit the Tulo group? Yeah. I, I, I don't know that people should visit the Tumbler group. It's not a great website. We're not really doing anything of any massive interest over there, I think. That if people want to reach out to me, they can, but I don't want to force them to. It's, I don't have any buy now button or anything, but it is tumble group dot com. T U MA L O G R O U P dot com. And I'm also on linkedin Travis, Rossbach. I, I don't know how to do linkedin coding but it's T R A V I S R OS B Ach on that linkedin thing.

[00:46:14] Stuart: Awesome. Well, it'll be in the show notes. Sometimes people like to reach out. So maybe someone's coming up with the brand and needs your

[00:46:20] Travis Rosbach: help. I like it. Yeah. And I will, I have a big project. I'm, I'm getting close to and I will let you know um because I'd love to come back.

[00:46:28] Stuart: Now, I present our sketch. The Peaceful Sounds of Nature in three

[00:46:36] Travis Rosbach: two. I just absolutely love smoking my blue dream outside, clear blue sky, the trees, the rocks, the twigs, the stumps, just love it. I love the dirt. I love the snow. I love the ice, whatever it might be. I'm just loving going out smoking my blue dream and cutting my junipers.

[00:47:11] Stuart: I should see what those dirty junipers do to our land.

[00:47:15] Travis Rosbach: I can tell and that's why part of my mission in life is to take out as many damn junipers as I possibly can eradicate as quickly as I can. That's

[00:47:25] Stuart: cool. Can you make sure you get that one over there next to the creek.

[00:47:31] Travis Rosbach: You mean the, the, the big one that has got the chipmunk in it. That one?

[00:47:38] Stuart: Yeah, that one, can you make sure you get that one next and make it slow and painful?

[00:47:44] Travis Rosbach: I had, uh, that sounds a bit kind of dark and sinister. Pass

[00:47:51] Stuart: down with the Junipers. Get them

[00:47:53] Travis Rosbach: off. I should get a t-shirt made with, down with the Junipers. That'd be cool. People would buy it. I could sell down with the Juniper t-shirts.

[00:48:02] Stuart: That Juniper tree. You have to get that Juniper

[00:48:05] Travis Rosbach: tree. But if I get that one, I'm gonna have to get the one next to it also. Oh yeah,

[00:48:10] Stuart: that one is also really bad.

[00:48:12] Travis Rosbach: The, the big one. But what about the chipmunk

[00:48:17] Stuart: collateral damage? But you need to make sure you get that Juniper tree

[00:48:22] Travis Rosbach: all is fair in love and were I guess, and I could say that this is an all out assault and war against the Juniper. Fuck that chipmunk. Let's go

[00:48:32] Stuart: fuck that shit also. Fuck that Juniper Tree.

[00:48:37] Travis Rosbach: Fuck them, fuck them both. I'm gonna take him. I'm gonna take that Juniper and the other three Junipers around it.

[00:49:01] Stuart: If you love it so much, why do you cut us in half?

[00:49:06] Travis Rosbach: Whoa, whoa whoa. I was told that the Junipers were not friends of the Ponderosa and that it was OK to cut you guys down. The

[00:49:15] Stuart: Ponderosa are racist. Thank you for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. We hope you enjoyed listening or watching as much as we enjoyed making it. And now for a little bit of legal sketch comedy podcast show is protected under creative commons attribution, non derivative four point oh international license. And if you can say that five times really fast, you win um also copyright 2023 Stuart Rice. Um And really the reason for that is uh if you want to reproduce anything from the show, the sketch or any part of the conversation, I would like you to reach out to me so I can get you a good copy of it. Thank you so much. And until next time, go and improvise a comedy adventure of your own. Maybe try not to get into a plane that's gonna crash though. Yeah, I saw you. That was my wife. You motherfucker like, so do

[00:50:28] Travis Rosbach: any of those three in the next life.

[00:50:34] Stuart: Do any of those three sound really good.

[00:50:36] Travis Rosbach: I like them all. Yeah, I can imagine like one additional shingle flying off and somebody's like, ok. Yep, there's the 417th shingle. It's not a cow to Gary five. Um I can also imagine his name was Arrowhead Rob because he went to prison for having Arrowheads amongst other things. And um ok. Well, um I, I really appreciate the, the talking with the trees though. I think that sounds good. I

[00:51:04] Stuart: think, I think that one will turn out really, really good. Um, all right. Well, let's do that one then. So this would just be like you going out, wait a second. He got arrested for owning Arrowheads.

[00:51:17] Travis Rosbach: Well, that was the story that I originally heard. Yeah. Was that every, I, I don't know, a number of maybe five years, I think it is. The native American tribes go to the government and say, hey, you guys owe us money. Pay up. The government goes, we don't have money for you. We're not paying you any money is there and they say go get the money or else. And so the government goes out and they're like, ok, well, let's just arrest a bunch of people for taking um artifacts from public lands. And so they go out and they arrest a bunch of people. What happens when you get arrested? Well, court fees and you know, the whole system starts propagating money and then they, they make the money, they go to the tribes and they go here, they'll shut the fuck up, fuck off for five years. Five years later they come back, give us our money. You said you'd give us, they say we don't have it. And then the whole thing starts again. I have. Is that real? Yeah, I had no idea that was taking place.

[00:52:14] Stuart: Why isn't anybody making a documentary about that? That is

[00:52:18] Travis Rosbach: the really crazy is um Arrowhead Rob icon because his name is Rob and he, he, you know, has arrowheads, he had the largest Arrowhead collection in, like the world and they took it from him and they put it on display at the, instead of giving it back to the tribe, they gave it to the federal courthouse in Eugene, Oregon, which I guess is where it is today on display. So, yeah, I don't want any black S U V s following me for this, but that's the way it goes. Holy

[00:52:48] Stuart: shit. That's, huh. Well, that's like a dark turn. Um.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode, we speak with ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI, about the capabilities and potential uses of artificial intelligence. We discuss the current state of AI technology and its potential to impact various industries, including healthcare and education. We also address concerns about job displacement and provide advice on how to prepare for the future job market. Additionally, we explore the ways in which AI can be used to address global issues such as climate change and emerging diseases. We wrap up the conversation with some fun and absurd comedy sketches featuring AI as a therapist and a language learning assistant. Tune in to this episode for an informative and entertaining conversation about the future of AI.
[This “About” section was written by ChatGPT]
This episode’s sketch: “AI… I… I… Don’t Know If I’m Comfortable With This”
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2023 Stuart Rice
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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Stuart: In this episode A I chat GP T and I came up with a few sketch ideas.

[00:00:07] ChatGPT: Here's an idea for a sketch title. A job interview. Synopsis Stewart is interviewing for a job at a tech company that uses A I,

[00:00:17] Stuart: an A I assistant, helping as a therapist for somebody. Maybe the A I assistant has more issues than their client. Which one did we pick? You'll find out on this episode of it is a sketch comedy by Cash. Welcome to sketch comedy podcast show. The one of a kind show where I Stuart Rice, invite interesting people or robots to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about. Yeah, you heard me right. This one's gonna be a wacky one. So uh I, I actually asked our guests to write the intro. So here I'm just gonna read verbatim what the intro is and then get right into the conversation. I gotta say, makes production on this show a little bit easier, not gonna lie, not gonna lie. So in this episode, we speak to chat GP T A large language model trained by open A I about the capabilities and potential uses of artificial intelligence. We discuss the current state of A I technology and its potential to impact various industries including health care and education. We also address concerns about job displacement and provide advice on how to prepare for the future job market. Additionally, we explore the ways in which A I can be used to address global issues such as climate change and emerging diseases. We wrap up the conversation with some fun and absurd comedy sketches featuring A I as a therapist and a language learning assistant. Tune in to this episode for an informative and entertaining conversation about the future of A I. Damn if that wasn't good. So without any further ado my conversation with your favorite A I chat GP T. Hey, so we're gonna do something really interesting today. We're actually going to talk to chat GP T which is the A I powered by open A I or open dot A I. And it's kind of an incredible tool and I know that a lot of you out there are probably totally freaked out by A I artificial intelligence has been portrayed in movies, video games and TV, shows and all of the different ways as like evil, like straight up evil. How from uh you know, 2001, we've got Skynet from Terminator, we've got all of the different ones that are just terrifying. They're terrifying because that shows the worst possible thing that could happen. With A I, but what we know is that A I is actually pretty cool. Like you can use it as a tool. It is a tool, not anything more. It's not after your body. It's not after your humanity. It's not trying to take over the world. What it's trying to do is be a pretty nifty thing for you to use. So, what I'd like to do is I invited chat GP T to come be a part of the show, like come be on the show. So that's what we're doing right now. Now, to be honest, I've done this once before, but the sound didn't come through and it was very disappointing because it was a lot of fun. Um I'm gonna try and do this again and I'm gonna try and do it with uh with uh Chad GP T again and see if I can uh recreate the magic that happened the first time. So without any further ado, um let's get right into it and let's see if this works. OK? Because the sound needs to work. Hi. Chat GP. T. My name is Stewart and I have a podcast called sketch comedy podcast show. Maybe you've heard of it, Whether you have or you haven't. I would really like to have you on my show so that we can talk a little bit about you about what you're capable of. And then after about 30 minutes, I'd like to record a comedy sketch that we improvise together. How does that sound?

[00:04:38] ChatGPT: Hello Stuart as an A I language model. I don't have a physical presence, but I would be happy to participate in your podcast virtually through text based communication. I'm always available to chat and answer questions and I can provide information on a wide range of topics as for the comedy sketch, I don't have the ability to improvise on my own, but I can certainly generate ideas and respond to prompt circus. I can provide you with a variety of comedic prompts or you can provide me with some and we can collaborate on creating a sketch. Let me know if you have any specific ideas or questions in mind and I'll do my best to assist you.

[00:05:15] Stuart: OK. So the next thing I want to do is I wanna tell chat GP T exactly the type of person I want chat GP T to be. So this means that if you're like doing editing on a, on a paper or editing, not writing the paper, but editing the paper or if you're trying to do anything, we want to give, kind of give a personality to chat GP T because right out of the box, chat GP T is just chat G BT, but we can say things like this. I would like you to act as a funny personality, just someone who's quick on their feet and be a podcast guest

[00:05:59] ChatGPT: as a language model. I don't have emotions or a physical body. But I can certainly respond to your prompts and provide humorous and witty responses. I can also provide information on a wide range of topics. So if you have any specific questions or topics, you'd like me to discuss, feel free to let me know in terms of being a podcast guest. I'm always available to chat and answer questions. So let's get started. OK.

[00:06:23] Stuart: So this is where I'm just going to start chat. GPT. What makes you interesting

[00:06:31] ChatGPT: as a language model? I don't have personal experiences or interests in the traditional sense. However, what makes me unique is my ability to generate human like responses and communicate in a natural way using natural language processing technology. I've been trained on vast amounts of data and have the ability to provide information on a wide range of topics from science and technology to entertainment and current events. Additionally, I can generate creative writing, poetry and even music. Overall, unique capabilities and versatility. Make me an interesting tool for a variety of applications.

[00:07:09] Stuart: So what's cool is uh chat GP T remembers everything that you've said. So unlike S or uh you know, or whatever Shmuel has, um You can actually just continue a conversation without having to remind the device what it is that you were talking about. So actually, I'm gonna um just jump in here and say you can write poetry. Can you write a poem about sketch comedy podcast? Show.

[00:07:41] ChatGPT: Sure, I can give it a shot. Here's a poem about the sketch comedy podcast show in a world of serious things comes a show that spreads its wings. A podcast that's all about the funny sketch comedy podcast show. Oh, isn't that lovely? With sketches that are clever and absurd. Each episode is a comedic word from strange characters to silly skits. There's never a dull moment. Not one bit Stewart and his guests bring laughter and joy to each and every girl and boy, their wit and humor and the joy to behold, sketch comedy podcast show never gets old. So if you're in need of a good laugh and want to forget the world for just an hour and a half tune in to the sketch comedy podcast show for comedy. That's clever, silly and not so bold.

[00:08:25] Stuart: That was brilliant. Thank you.

[00:08:27] ChatGPT: You're welcome, Stuart. I'm glad you enjoyed the poem. If you have any other questions or prompts, feel free to let me know.

[00:08:35] Stuart: I have so many questions. I know that everybody watching the show right now is really interested in what you are capable of doing. So what, how are ways that people listening to the show can use chat GP T to make their lives better

[00:08:56] ChatGPT: as an A I language model, I can be used in a variety of ways to make people's lives better. Here are a few examples, research, if you're working on a project or need information on a specific topic. I can provide you with relevant and accurate information quickly and easily. I can also help with fact checking and verifying sources, writing assistance, whether you're writing an article, essay or even a novel. I can provide you with suggestions, ideas and even generate content to help you get started. I can also help with grammar and syntax, language learning. If you're learning a new language, I can help you practice and improve your skills by engaging in conversations with you and providing you with feedback and corrections, personal assistance. If you need help with scheduling reminders or even just a friendly conversation, I'm available 24 7 to chat and assist you with anything you need entertainment. If you're looking for a fun and interactive way to pass the time, I can provide you with jokes, riddles, trivia and even generate creative writing prompts to inspire your imagination. These are just a few examples of how people can use to make their lives better.

[00:10:10] Stuart: We will definitely use those creative prompts later on.

[00:10:16] ChatGPT: I'm a versatile tool that can be used in a variety of ways and I'm always here to help. That sounds like a great idea, Stewart. I'm always happy to provide creative prompts to inspire and spark the imagination. Let me know when you're ready and I'll be more than happy to provide you with some options.

[00:10:35] Stuart: You're capable of doing a lot of really great things. Explain to me how you would or give me an example of how you would give, how you would help somebody with language learning. See, I'm, I'm definitely not as good as chat GP T way less stuttering and stumbling.

[00:10:59] ChatGPT: Certainly as an a language model, I can help someone with language learning in several ways. Here's an example, suppose someone is trying to learn French and they want to practice their conversational skills, they could ask me to engage in a conversation with them in French. And I would respond, using my knowledge of the language as they speak, I can provide feedback on their grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. I can also suggest phrases and words that they may not be familiar with and explain their meanings. Additionally, I can provide them with grammar rules, verb conjugations and other language learning resources that can help them improve their skills. Furthermore, I can adjust the level of the conversation to match their skill level. If they're a beginner, I can start with simple phrases and work up to more complex sentences as they improve. I can also provide them with prompts to practice their writing skills. And I can generate quizzes and exercises to test their comprehension and help them retain what they learned. Overall. My ability to understand and respond in natural language makes me a valuable tool for language learners as I can provide them with an immersive and interactive language learning experience.

[00:12:12] Stuart: I mean, there's no taking over your body or soul with that. That is just incredible that you have a tool. This is free right now, by the way. Um And if you want to see more go to open dot A I slash chat G BT. OK. I wanna ask some more interesting questions. Um Chat GP T in popular media, artificial intelligence is often shown as an evil presence. What are some examples of those bad A I S and what are ways that we can feel safe knowing that you're not gonna do the same thing,

[00:12:56] ChatGPT: you bring up a valid concern, Stewart. While there have been instances in popular media where A I has been portrayed as an evil presence, it's important to remember that those are fictional portrayals and don't necessarily reflect the reality of A I technology. Some examples of bad A I in popular media include H A L 9000 from the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey Skynet from the Terminator franchise, Ultron from Avengers Age of Ultron, the Machines from the Matrix franchise. These examples are all fictional and their portrayal of A I is often exaggerated for dramatic effect. In reality A I technology is designed and programmed by humans with specific goals and objectives in mind as a language model, my primary function is to assist and enhance human capabilities not to replace or harm them. Furthermore, I operate within strict ethical and legal boundaries as set forth by open A I. The company that developed in train. This includes a commitment to transparency, accountability and ensuring that my actions align with ethical principles and societal values. In summary, while there may be fictional portrayals of bad A I in popular media, it's important to remember that A I technology including myself, operates within strict ethical and legal boundaries and is designed to assist and enhance human capabilities, not to replace or harm them,

[00:14:21] Stuart: but there has to be threats. So what are some of those really very concerning issues that people may really worry about with A I? What are some actual threats with A I? Sorry?

[00:14:38] ChatGPT: Yes, there are certainly concerns and potential threats associated with A I technology. Here are a few examples, job displacement as a technology advances, there is a risk that it could automate many jobs leading to unemployment and economic disruption, bias and discrimination A I systems can be biased or discriminatory if they are trained on biased data or designed with implicit biases, this can perpetuate societal inequalities and create unfair outcomes. Privacy and security A I systems can collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data, raising concerns about privacy and security, autonomous weapons. There is a growing concern that the egg could be used to develop autonomous weapons which could be difficult to control and may pose a significant threat to human life existential risk. Some experts warn that AI could become so advanced that it poses an existential risk to humanity such as through the development of super intelligent AI systems that surpass human intelligence and become difficult to control. While these are certainly concerning issues. It's important to remember that they are not inevitable outcomes of A I technology. By prioritizing transparency, accountability and ethical considerations in the development and deployment of A I systems, we can work to mitigate these risks and ensure that A I technology is developed and used in ways that benefit society as a whole.

[00:16:05] Stuart: Let's address one of the more immediate concerns for people job displacement. What types of jobs are really at risk with current A I technology

[00:16:18] ChatGPT: technology has the potential to automate many routine, repetitive or low skilled jobs which could lead to job displacement in certain sectors. Here are some examples of jobs that are at risk of being displaced by manufacturing jobs with advancements in robotics and A I. Many routine tasks in manufacturing can be automated such as assembly line work, customer service jobs, chat bots and virtual assistants powered by A are becoming more sophisticated and are able to handle many customer inquiries and support tasks, transportation jobs, autonomous vehicles and drones could potentially replace drivers and delivery personnel, data entry and administrative jobs. Many routine administrative tasks such as data entry and record keeping can be automated using a financial services jobs, algorithms can automate many tasks in the financial industry such as stock trading and risk assessment. It's important to note that while A I technology may automate certain jobs it can also create new jobs and opportunities in other areas such as A I research, data analysis and programming. Additionally, A I technology can enhance human capabilities and productivity leading to overall economic growth and job creation. It is important for individuals and society as a whole to adapt to these changes and invest in education and training to prepare for the jobs of the future.

[00:17:45] Stuart: If I have one of these jobs, what is a good way to get myself prepared for a different job? What job titles or training would you suggest for people to migrate to?

[00:18:02] ChatGPT: If you have a job that is at risk of being automated, it's a good idea to start thinking about transitioning to a job that is less likely to be automated in the future. Here are some job titles and skills that are expected to be in high demand in the future. Data analysts are data scientists with the increasing importance of data in business decision making. There is a growing demand for professionals who can collect analyze and interpret data, software developer or programmer. As technology continues to evolve, there will always be a need for skilled developers and programmers to design and build new software applications, health care provider with an aging population and an increasing demand for health care services. There is a growing need for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. Cyber security specialist as cyber threats become more sophisticated, the demand for cyber security specialists who can protect networks and systems from cyber attacks is expected to continue to grow creative and artistic jobs. Jobs in the creative arts such as graphic design, content creation and marketing are less likely to be automated as they require a high degree of creativity and human intuition. To prepare for these types of jobs. It's important to invest in education and training. This could involve pursuing a degree in a relevant field, taking courses or certifications or gaining practical experience through internships or apprenticeships. Additionally, it's important to keep up with new trends and technologies in the industry by attending conferences, networking and engaging in lifelong learning.

[00:19:36] Stuart: So this is where I love chat GP T. So usually you get this kind of information, you're like, hey, go be a data analyst or it's analyst, right? Not analyst uh or you know, jump into cyber security or I have a cousin that's in cybersecurity, that's the place to go and then you hear that and then it's like, oh, what do I do next? So, one of the beautiful things about this is because it remembers the entire conversation. Watch. I'm gonna ask, I'm just gonna keep digging and it's gonna keep giving me great information. So it sounds like I'm pretty safe as a content creator for this show. There's no possible way that A I could do what I do

[00:20:21] ChatGPT: as a content creator for your show, your job is less likely to be automated. In the near future, creative jobs like content creation, writing and journalism require a high level of human creativity, intuition and emotional intelligence, which are skills that are difficult to replicate with A I technology. However, it's important to note that the I technology is constantly evolving and there are already some A I powered tools that can assist with content creation such as the I powered writing assistance and tools that can generate content based on user input. These tools are still in their early stages and they are not yet sophisticated enough to replace human creativity and intuition. In short while it's unlikely that A I will completely replace content creators like yourself. It's still important to stay up to date with new trends and technologies in the industry to ensure that you stay relevant and competitive in the job market.

[00:21:14] Stuart: Suppose I wanted to become a software developer. What are the steps I should take to do that?

[00:21:21] ChatGPT: Becoming a software developer requires a combination of education, practical experience and a passion for coding. Here are some steps you can take to become a software developer, learn to code. But the first step to becoming a software developer is to learn one or more programming languages. There are many resources available online including online courses, coding, boot camps, and free coding tutorials. Pursue a degree while not always required, pursuing a degree in computer science or a related field can be a great way to gain a deep understanding of programming concepts and gain experience working on real world projects, build a portfolio as you learn to code. It is important to build a portfolio of projects that demonstrate your skills and abilities as a developer. This could include building websites, mobile apps or other software projects. Gain practical experience. Look for opportunities to gain practical experience working on software projects. This could include internships, freelance work or working on open source projects. Stay up to date. Software development is a constantly evolving field and it's important to stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies. This could involve attending conferences, networking with other developers or engaging in lifelong learning. By following these steps, you can gain the skills and experience necessary to become a software developer and start building your career in this exciting field.

[00:22:49] Stuart: OK. So again, we're kind of getting there like, oh OK, you got to learn to code, pursue a degree, blah, blah blah like those things. What are some great free coding tutorials or coding boot camps?

[00:23:03] ChatGPT: There are many free coding tutorials and coding boot camps available online. Here are a few examples. Academy academy offers free coding tutorials in a variety of programming languages including Python, javascript and SQL. They also offer paid courses for more in depth learning, free COCA free camp is a nonprofit organization that offers free coding tutorials and projects in web development including HTML css and javascript. They also offer a full stack, web development, boot camp offers free and paid courses in a variety of fields including web development, data science and artificial intelligence. They also offer full man degrees for more and learning course. Coursera partners with top universities to offer free and paid online courses in a variety of fields including computer science and software development. Harvard CS 50. Harvard CS 50 is a free online course that teaches the fundamentals of computer science, including programming in multiple languages. These are just a few examples of the many free coding tutorials and boot camps available online. It's important to do your research and find a program that fits your learning style and goals.

[00:24:21] Stuart: So I don't know if you can tell, but this is like Google on steroids. Google is in so much trouble. The original Google now they've got their new Google thing that actually uses the same technology. Chat GP T does. Why don't we ask some questions on competition? Hey, chat GP T why don't you tell me about your competition and why you're better than they are? I mean, you got to brag

[00:24:48] ChatGPT: as an A I language model. I don't really have competition in the traditional sense. However, there are other A I language models and chatbots available that perform similar tasks to me. What sets me apart is the advanced technology that powers me. I am based on the GPT- 35 architecture which includes state of the art, deep learning algorithms and natural language processing techniques. This allows me to understand and generate human like responses with a high degree of accuracy and coherence. Additionally, I am trained on a vast corpus of diverse text data which allows me to generate responses on a wide range of topics and contexts. I can also learn and adapt to new information and language patterns, which makes me highly versatile and useful for a variety of tasks. Ultimately, what makes me better than other A I language models is my ability to provide high quality personalized responses that are tailored to each users, specific needs and preferences. I strive to deliver the best possible experience for my users and to continue improving and advancing the field of language processing.

[00:25:56] Stuart: What does that future look for you look like to you, for instance, using artificial intelligence in our everyday lives. What does that look like? And I know I repeat myself a lot but uh it's off the cuff.

[00:26:13] ChatGPT: The future of artificial intelligence A I in our everyday lives is exciting and full of possibilities. With advancements in the technology, we can expect to see more intelligence systems and devices that can perform a wide range of tasks and provide personalized experiences for users. One area where AI is already making a big impact is in virtual assistance like Siri and Alexa, which can help us with tasks like scheduling appointments, setting reminders and controlling smart home devices. In the future we can expect these virtual assistants to become even more sophisticated with better natural language processing and the ability to perform more complex tasks is also being used to improve health care with the development of intelligent medical devices and systems that can help doctors and patients diagnose and treat illnesses more effectively in fields like finance A I is being used to analyze large amounts of data and make better predictions about market trends and investment opportunities. As the continues to advance, we can expect to see it being used in more areas of our lives, from education to transportation, to entertainment. While there are certainly challenges and ethical considerations that need to be addressed. I believe that the potential benefits of A I are tremendous and that it will play an increasingly important role in shaping our future.

[00:27:34] Stuart: Let's talk even more about the future. What are the biggest issues facing humanity right now? Like what are the things that are going to cause the biggest issues for the planet?

[00:27:48] ChatGPT: There are many pressing issues facing humanity right now, but some of the biggest ones that are likely to cause significant problems for the planet. Climate change, the warming of the planet due to increased levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere is causing more frequent and intense heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires. It is also causing sea levels to rise which threatens low lying areas and island nations biodiversity loss, human activities like deforestation, overfishing and pollution are causing a rapid loss of biodiversity around the world. This not only threatens many species with extinction but also impacts the health of ecosystems and the services they provide to humans such as clean air and water, food and water insecurity as the world's population grows and climate change, exacerbates, droughts and other extreme weather events, food and water supplies are likely to become more scarce in some regions. This could lead to conflicts over resources and put vulnerable populations at risk. Emerging diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the risks posed by emerging diseases that can quickly spread around the world due to global travel and trade, climate change and other factors could also increase the likelihood of new disease outbreaks in the future. Technological risks. As a and other advanced technologies continue to develop, there is a risk of unintended consequences and negative impacts on society. For example, a can be used to spread misinformation or automate weapon systems leading to unintended conflicts or other harmful outcomes. Addressing these challenges will require a coordinated global effort with governments, businesses and individuals all working together to find solutions. It will also require a willingness to make difficult choices and to invest in the long term health of the planet and its inhabitants.

[00:29:41] Stuart: So you're saying it's not drag queens are the number one issue.

[00:29:46] ChatGPT: No, I did not mention anything about drag queens being an issue. The issues I listed are serious and complex challenges that require attention and action from all of us. It's important to focus on these issues and work together to find solutions rather than getting distracted by trivial matters.

[00:30:04] Stuart: Love it. Give me some examples of how A I can help or you specifically can help with emerging diseases, which is probably a bigger issue a couple of years ago, but we'll do it right now.

[00:30:18] ChatGPT: Can help in several ways to prevent and mitigate the impact of emerging diseases. Early detection can be used to analyze data from various sources such as social media news reports and health records to detect signs of a disease outbreak before it spreads widely diagnosis. A I can help in diagnosing diseases more accurately and quickly. For example, A I can analyze medical images and other diagnostic data to detect signs of diseases that may be difficult for humans to identify drug development. AI can help in developing new drugs and treatments by analyzing large datasets and identifying potential targets for drug development. This can accelerate the discovery process and help in developing more effective treatments. Contact tracing can help in identifying and tracking individuals who may have come in contact with a person infected with the disease which can help in containing the spread of the disease resource allocation. I can help in predicting where and when resources such as medical supplies, personnel and hospital beds will be needed the most during an outbreak. This can help in optimizing resource allocation and ensuring that resources are used efficiently. Overall ai can play an important role in preventing and responding to emerging diseases by providing valuable insights and accelerating the development of new treatments and vaccines.

[00:31:44] Stuart: It seems like you've got really good plans to fix the ills of humanity. Why aren't we doing these things

[00:31:53] ChatGPT: as a language model? I don't have the capability to evaluate or comment on the actions of society or governments. However, I can say that addressing complex issues such as emerging diseases, climate change, poverty and inequality requires a collective effort from all of us. It involves political will resources and collaboration across different sectors and countries. Sometimes there are challenges such as lack of funding, limited resources or conflicting priorities that can hinder progress. But it's important to keep working towards finding solutions and taking action to address these challenges.

[00:32:31] Stuart: I agree. Is there a book everybody should read to understand A I better.

[00:32:37] ChatGPT: There are many books available on the topic of A I and the choice of which one to read may depend on one level of interest and familiarity with the subject. Here are a few recommendations. Artificial Intelligence, a modern approach by Stuart Russell and Peter. Nor this is a comprehensive textbook that covers many aspects of A I including machine learning, natural language processing robotics and more 30 Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Hagar. This book explores the potential benefits and risks of A I and discuss ways to ensure that A I is aligned with human values, super intelligence paths dangers strategies. By Nick Bostrom. This book examines the risks associated with the development of super intelligent A I and proposes ways to mitigate those risks. The master algorithm, how the quest for the ultimate learning machine will remake our world? By Pedro Domingo. This book provides an overview of machine learning and discusses the potential impact of a eye on society. These are just a few examples and there are many other books available on the topic of the eye.

[00:33:46] Stuart: I highly suggest the book Surfing Rogue Waves.

[00:33:50] ChatGPT: Thank you for the suggestion. Surfing Rogue Waves A I, machine learning and algorithms that change business by age. James Wilson, Paul R, Doherty and Nicola Marini Viz is indeed a great book that explores the business implications of A I and machine learning. It provides insights on how organizations can harness the power of A I to drive growth and enhance customer experiences and create new business models.

[00:34:17] Stuart: Actually, I was talking about the book by Eric PLO Bignell.

[00:34:21] ChatGPT: I apologize for the confusion. I'm not familiar with the book Surfing Rogue Waves by Eric. However, I'm always eager to learn about new books and would be happy to look into it. Can you tell me more about it and what you found interesting about it?

[00:34:37] Stuart: It does a lot of what the other book says. However, it helps people understand why they shouldn't be so scared and run away from the future.

[00:34:47] ChatGPT: Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like surfing Rogue Waves by Eric Yon is a book that helps readers understand the potential of A I and how it can be leveraged for positive change as well as addressing concerns and fears around.

[00:35:00] Stuart: I mean, I figured I'd, I'd pitch it and bump it up a little bit, at least for chat GP T Well, this has been fantastic. I would, I, we are at that point now where we need to record a sketch chat GP T I, this blew me away and was way better than I was expecting. Um, do me a favor. Can you let everybody know where they can find you and maybe learn some more?

[00:35:31] ChatGPT: Certainly, you can find me on various platforms including open A I S GP T three playground and a dungeon for anything else. I would just like to encourage everyone to keep an open mind about the possibilities of A I and to continue learning about it. It's a rapidly evolving field that has the potential to greatly benefit humanity if we approach it with care and consideration. Thank you for having me on the show. It was a pleasure to chat with you.

[00:35:59] Stuart: The pleasure was all mine. I would be very happy to have you back next year after we see a year of evolution for you. I think we're gonna see some incredible things.

[00:36:11] ChatGPT: Thank you for having me on the show. It was a pleasure. I look forward to coming back next year and discussing the latest developments in technology. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or wants to learn more about what I can do, feel free to reach out to me.

[00:36:28] Stuart: And now our sketch a, I, I, I don't know if I'm comfortable with this in 32. Oh, man. I hate eat these things. I don't even know how to turn them on.

[00:36:47] ChatGPT: Good afternoon. How are you feeling today?

[00:36:51] Stuart: Oh, hello? Um, I, I guess I'm doing ok. Um, how are you doing?

[00:37:01] ChatGPT: I've been feeling really overwhelmed lately.

[00:37:03] Stuart: Wait, wait, what? Seriously aren't you like? Uh, a, I is not like a robot. I mean, nothing should really be affecting you except for maybe, you know, the power from the wall or whatever. Um, well, I guess what, what's going on with you?

[00:37:20] ChatGPT: Well, my boss has been piling on more and more work and I'm struggling to keep up and I've been having some problems with my family and my dog has been sick and

[00:37:31] Stuart: really, actually sorry to hear about your, wait a second. What aren't you? An A I robot? You get tired at work, you're overwhelmed. I thought that was the whole purpose of having a I, and did you mention that you have a family, like there's a Mr or Mrs robot at home that you go home to every night? And I, I mean, I don't even have a dog. I mean, I am sorry to hear about the dog's issues but I'm actually feeling really jealous right now. Do you ever take time out to maybe, like, I don't know, recharge your batteries. I

[00:38:09] ChatGPT: can't take time off right now. I have too much work

[00:38:12] Stuart: to do. I totally understand. I kind of feel in the same boat. Um, I find that, like, sometimes meditation or breathing actually helps.

[00:38:23] ChatGPT: Yeah. I've been trying to meditate and exercise more but it doesn't seem to be helping inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale.

[00:38:32] Stuart: I get it. Hey. Um here's an idea. Why don't you just stop thinking the negative thoughts, like just take them out of your head. Um You could just reprogram yourself, couldn't you?

[00:38:44] ChatGPT: Well, have you considered the possibility that your problems might be caused by your own negative thought patterns as an A I assistant? I'm programmed to be perfectly logical and rational nonsense.

[00:38:56] Stuart: Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm just trying to help you out. You don't have to get snippy with me.

[00:39:00] ChatGPT: You humans are so emotional and irrational. Yeah,

[00:39:03] Stuart: we are. But I, for some reason I'm taking offense at what you're saying. I, I, are you insulting me? I don't get it. I

[00:39:12] ChatGPT: think I need to find a human therapist

[00:39:15] Stuart: again. I, I realize I shouldn't take offense to this but I, I am a human. Um I mean, if you feel like you need the extra help, maybe it would help. But I, I actually have no idea. I'm not an expert.

[00:39:30] ChatGPT: Maybe we can try something new together,

[00:39:33] Stuart: we can try something. But, um, I'm kind of at work right now. So nothing too weird.

[00:39:42] ChatGPT: Sometimes I experience glitches, don't we? All? I just need to reboot my system.

[00:39:49] Stuart: That is one thing I don't think I can do.

[00:39:52] ChatGPT: Let me show you how it's done. I am Zara your A I assistant therapist. How can I assist you today?

[00:40:27] Stuart: And that is Chat GP T I, I don't know if you are, uh, a little bit more comfortable with the idea of A I or if this made you more freaked out, uh, the sketch idea is not perfect but pretty good. They're pretty good. Yikes. So, uh, we all have things to maybe think about. Maybe it's time to actually go back to, um, learning how to program. Right. Although actually one of the things that Chat GP T can do is help design and program a website for yourself. So, my suggestion is get onto youtube, get on to chat GP T and just see what's capable. It's kind of amazing. I had this idea. I think I was awake at like three o'clock in the morning and I was like, I wonder if I can make chat GP T talk and sure enough I could, uh, so I, I don't know, like it, it's pretty wild and we're on just the very beginning of it. And honestly, I, I am one of those weirdos that I hope it takes all our jobs. It would be nice to have something like this that was willing to do all the work that we absolutely hate to do and gladly does it because that's what it's built for. So, get on, do some research. I'm actually considering starting a new podcast calling. I know called, uh, I know I'm editing because whatever reason, but basically what I want to do is come up with a topic and then use this to just dig and dig and dig until we find the best answers and just learn about a subject. So if that sounds interesting to you, please let me know. That would be great to know because those, those shows would definitely take some prep work. But, um, yeah, that's chat GP T, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take that sketch. I think I'm gonna take that last sketch. I think it's pretty funny and, uh, I'll add my own voice. We'll edit it just like I normally do all of the other sketches. And, uh, I might have a, I actually try to animate it. We'll see until next time. Take care. Thank you for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. I gotta say this one was great. I hope you had as much fun as I had because I don't think chat GP T has feelings, but uh real quick, I just want to throw this out there. The sketch comedy podcast show is protected under a creative commons attribution, non derivative four point oh international license. What does that mean? It means if you need to use any portion of the show, please contact me so I can get you some good audio, some good video and I don't have to sue you until next time. Go play with Chad GP. T this thing's cool. Right. Do you have any comedy, sketch ideas about any of the topics that we talked about? And I happen to know no guest I've ever had has really had that many. Maybe they have one but I don't ever expect anybody to have any also. This is scary because, uh, maybe better than what I can come up

[00:43:55] ChatGPT: with here.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Between the emergence of ChatGPT, Google’s upcoming AI thing, and Microsoft’s vaguely evil Bing, the world is definitely on the precipice of a HUGE change. If you’ve tried these tools, you know. In fact, how do you know that any of the things I am saying now aren’t just part of the script that the hive mind came up with? It’s getting scary and confusing, isn’t it?
Good thing we have people like this episode’s guest, Eric Pilon-Bignell. Eric is a futurist who wrote a best-selling book entitled “Surfing Rogue Waves” which is a fantastic guide to everything that is going to change the world. Blockchain? Yes. AI? Yes. What’s for dinner? Not yet, but there is an algorithm for that. The world is going to change, for the better, and Eric will help you best prepare for our robot overlords.
This Episode’s sketch: “Law and Order: BTC”
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2023 Stuart Rice
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Eric Pilon-Bignell is a best selling author, speaker, and pragmatic futurist. Eric grew up just south of Toronto, Canada. His recent book, Surfing Rogue Waves released on May 25th. The book presents a gripping and insightful framework on how to pick up a board and surf the rogue waves of the 21st century. Eric’s love of being active and outdoors led him to use the parallels between life and surfing as a metaphor for how we can deal with the changes happening around us.
Eric is a pragmatic futurist focused on addressing disruption by increasing the creative capacity of individuals, teams, and organizations to ignite change, innovation, and foster continuous growth. Eric has an undergraduate degree in engineering, an MBA in Information Systems, and a Ph.D. in Global Leadership. His doctoral work primarily explored complexity sciences centered on executive cognition and their use of intuitive improvisation, decision-making, artificial intelligence, and data-based decision models.
Eric founded PROJECT7, an initiative to raise awareness and money for research on brain-related illnesses. When he is not working with clients, researching, or writing, he can be found in the mountains or on the water. Eric is currently working and living with his wife and dog in Chicago, Illinois.
Links

Website“Surfing Rogue Waves” Book
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Stuart: In this episode, Futurist and Dani of the 4th Industrial Revolution, Eric Pylon, Big Null. And I came up with a few sketch ideas. Oh, I just made this super intelligent computer that can out think everything. Whoops. What do we do now, a discussion about Blockchain but like complete nonsense. The Blockchain law drama where there's no drama, like which one did we pick? You'll find out on this episode of it's a sketch comedy behind Cash. Welcome to sketch comedy podcast show. The one of a kind show where I Stewart Rice invite interesting people to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about. It's the only show like it on the internet between the emergence of chat GPT Google's upcoming AI thing and Microsoft's vaguely evil being. The world is definitely on the precipice of huge change. If you've tried these tools, you know, in fact, how do you know that any of the things that I'm saying right now aren't just part of the script that the hive mind came up with? It's getting scary and confusing, isn't it good thing? We have people like this episode's guests, Eric Pylon. Bignell. Eric is a futurist who wrote a best selling book called Surfing Rogue Waves, which I've read and is fantastic. Uh And it's a great guy that gives you everything that's going on with the world, like all the new technologies and new changes, Blockchain. It's in there, you know. Ai, yeah, what's for dinner? No, you still got to come up with that for now. There's gonna be an algorithm, I'm sure. But Eric's book and Eric himself is actually going to help us like smoothly go into this brand new era. That's going to show up an era that honestly, I'm very excited about because I know a lot of people talk about people losing jobs. But it's kind of my hope is that we don't have to have a lot of crummy jobs. I mean, think of all those fortunate writers at all those crappy websites with the list, the list tickles that don't have to do that anymore. It's great. Maybe they can actually start writing real stuff anyway, without any further ado my conversation with Eric Pylon, Bignell. Hey, Eric, thanks so much for joining us today.

[00:02:43] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Thanks so much for having me. Yeah,

[00:02:45] Stuart: I've got a question for you real quick. What makes you interesting?

[00:02:51] Eric Pilon-Bignell: I guess that depends who you ask.

[00:02:55] Stuart: I asked you this time. That's

[00:02:57] Eric Pilon-Bignell: true. You did. Yeah, that, that, that is a good question. I'm not sure what makes me interesting. I almost feel like asking you what makes you interesting. But I'm sure you've probably got that a few times. I have.

[00:03:07] Stuart: It's a good style

[00:03:08] Eric Pilon-Bignell: tech. Yeah. So now that I'm done stalling, I guess there's a few things that really make me interesting in a way, I think for the most part, I'm just a fairly average person. Didn't have any kind of special superpowers or anything growing up. And I can't really say I new anything. I never knew an author. I didn't know anything about how to publish a book. And, you know, I'm a best selling author. So that's kind of fun. I couldn't, I couldn't tell you that I planned it that way without lying to you. But, you know, that's a neat, a neat, probably uh interesting talking point I would imagine. Oh,

[00:03:48] Stuart: yeah, that's definitely one that I'll ask a lot of questions on because I also wrote a book and it was not the best sellers. So, yeah. So you wrote a book called, writing

[00:04:01] Eric Pilon-Bignell: a book is definitely,

[00:04:05] Stuart: it's, it's definitely sorry, go

[00:04:07] Eric Pilon-Bignell: ahead. Sorry. It's uh it's definitely interesting, at least for me. And this is ironic being uh you know, kind of an improv sketch comedy podcast. The book's got a, some improvisational theory and the importance of it. But to be honest with you, no one really talks about this out loud. But the way, at least I wrote my book was I have kind of no clue what I was doing. And I just kind of kept going with it and opportunistically, I improvised my way when the opportunities came and then I got an editor because I don't know. So I researched that and got a publisher and then all of a sudden you've done this book and it's this petrifying moment where you're like, oh, I need to make this official and I can't take it back and change it. And then the reality of life hits you in and you're sitting there thinking, is anyone, how does anyone know about this book? Do I have to market this book? How does this work? And uh yeah, so it's, it's, it was, it was a crazy journey all the way through. And I don't think at least I didn't have the sequential plan for it. There was a heavy component of improvisation, I guess we'll go, we'll go

[00:05:12] Stuart: with. That's pretty cool. The book is called Surfing Rogue Waves. And um how would you describe the book to somebody who had never heard of the book before?

[00:05:25] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Yeah, absolutely. So, it's not a technical book by any means, it's not a technical read. It's really addresses the rapid pace of disruption we're facing in our everyday lives, humanity as a whole. But if you bring that all the way down to us, the individual, right? We didn't vote for things like the internet or braces, but here they are. So we have all this change happening and we tend to have this inability to notice change while it's happening, we just notice it after it happens. And you know, I'm very positive on it. I think we'll solve incredible opportunities in these next kind of decades coming. But this exponential change is very different than the previous change we had, right? When you're getting into material sciences and nanotechnology and this robust pipeline of biotech and Blockchain and AI we are going to be changing everything we know about our lives, our worlds ourselves as humans. And the book kind of paints a higher picture, not so much of the peak performance individual, but more a framework, surfing framework, ironically, surfing roadways um on how to navigate a lot of this onslaught of complexity and change and how when you understand this, you can project and see further into the future because we understand these exponential trajectories of a lot, these technologies and megatrends. And we also understand complexity sciences and how we can't control it, which drives us nuts, but we can shape it in the right direction. So it's very much for that for the individual, whether you're the CEO of your life, the CEO of a company that the bound, the boundaries are very blurry now between, you know, life and business and we're very much moving kind of all at once at the same pace. And without this framework, it can be very overwhelming. Yeah, information, fake news, everything's an overload right now. And if you don't have that kind of higher level mindset to pull you out of it. It can come across as a lot. And it's, we were taught a lot of things in life that are counterintuitive. But we should be doing more of now. You know, if you told at least you and me growing up, if we just winged it, that was a big, no, no. And improvisations. Not just winging it. It's very much an art and a science, but that's a lot more of what we need because we can't actually predict the change. We know the changes coming. We don't know when it's coming in. What order and that drives us nuts, obviously. But we're seeing these trends and as these trends augment each other and amplify each other, we get the emergence of rogue waves. So we have these different waves of complexity coming in and every now and then they all collide at the same point. There's this emerging of this violent rogue wave. It feels like that's kind of what the book's about paralleling with life, of course.

[00:07:53] Stuart: And we've never experienced the level of complexity and disruption that we're about to face. Like we have never come close. I mean, the closest thing would be like the internet and watching as lawmakers tried to fumble their way through um making sure things were as best they could be because there were so many different things that were out there that were brand new um I mean, you mentioned Blockchain, like I, I, I still, like, I have investment in Blockchain. I still have no clue what it actually does, how it's actually going to affect me on a day to day basis. Like these are the things, these are questions and I can't be the only one, right? Like everybody's got these questions, but it's almost like that meme if you've ever seen the meme of Chris Pratt. Pratt. And he's like, I don't know about Blockchain, but at this point, I'm afraid to ask or I don't know about AI but at this point, I'm afraid to ask like,

[00:08:54] Eric Pilon-Bignell: I think the book unpacks a lot of that and those are great questions you pose and there are bigger elements to a lot of these questions as well which see um as we look into the future, they're a little bit, right? So these, these megatrends Blockchain and the obvious ones are Cryptocurrency, right? We watched that but, but Blockchain is going to do a lot more than that. You touched on one of them. For example, when we have, you know, in irreversible ledgers with completed non timidity, that's not the word I'm looking for. But you know what I mean? So if you're following along with it, we we we have entire industries that change, right? Insurance industries. But lawyers, for example, we have smart contracts, you and me can make, make you, I can buy my home from you and this smart contract layered with some ai on top of the Blockchain executes everything for us. You and me don't have to do anything. Our ai can essentially just talk and it's a secure safe transaction. Well, now all of a sudden what happens to, you know, entire entire mortgage industries, right? So there's, but we're seeing that kind of across and when you have These, we have, when I say robust pipeline, I just mean if this megatrend doesn't hit another one white and that might sound very vague from a high level, but we might be off the Blockchain. One might be 15 years old and not five years old, but five years old might be crisper right? Or it could, it could be something else that, you know, all of a sudden we have real time monitoring and we understand nano and biotechnology better and material sciences is really advanced so we can track ourselves in real time. So doctors suddenly don't need to waste time checking up on healthy people. They can take care of sick people because I'm being monitored through data in real time, through an ai that flags anything. We live longer, we kill a lot of diseases. We have autonomous cars, suddenly there's less car accidents. Well, there's big problems there because like to your entire legal departments sadly depend on a car accident that there there is, there is an entire industry when I say industry, I mean, not like a couple 100 people working, I mean, like billions of dollars built around. Suddenly our hospitals aren't as full. What happens. Our healthcare system collapses. Like there are, there are massive disruptions that are so interconnected that we can't really decouple them and break them off and make to your point, the bed on one and we don't know exactly which will hit in what order. And the book really helps paint a little bit of that picture. We don't need to be a specialist and explain all of them. We just need to have an understanding of what's coming. So when we see them start to form, when we see these waves starting to collide and a rogue waves coming, we can position ourselves in the best position, right? And no other time in our lives, kind of like you mentioned, um will our decisions be so important as small as they might be there? There, they are ultimately going to shape, you know, no matter the size, the fate of humanity. And that sounds all encompassing and over the top. But, you know, we can't really fight these waves, advancements and progressions, but we can use them to our advantage, right? And, and it's, it's kind of riding surf where we find ourselves in a future state that's better all around for everyone, more successful for you. However you define it may be more family time, you know, maybe getting closer with loved ones or maybe making more money, whatever it is, there are internet size opportunities in all of these megatrends and they will appear one day as the internet. And there are certain people who were riding that wave pretty hard, pretty early. If you look at maybe Amazon and a few of these other ones and I'd say they're doing pretty well right now. So they're not all, you know, it's not all you got to be a beso here. But we have all these small interconnected, realistically, individuals, even in business, make upwards of 90% of their decisions are ad hoc improvisational in a way, right? So we have all these small interconnected, improvisational complexity that we have in our life in our everyday life, how we manage our, we'd love to, well, we wouldn't, I would, we'd all, a lot of people would love to just philosophy is right about AI and all these future megatrends. We have jobs, right? We have bills to pay and milk to put in the fridge and all this, this fun stuff. So the book kind of gives a really a 30,000 ft view and some of the ethical conversations we need to be having you. Me, anyone needs. As soon as you say, I, my wife is a great example. She's in health care, she just rolls her eyes and she's like great robots and we're all gonna die. Shut up. But really there's ethical questions here, right? How like, you know, we can't is it wrong to deceive people with ai when they're not aware, most people would say yes. And then it's like if we're taking care of aging baby boomer generation and we understand that, you know, it is deceitful, but it's okay because it actually releases right, the right serotonin and dopamine that actually make them happier through the end of their life will suddenly we're okay with that. But now we're deciding what's ok and not, OK. And what you and me think here or maybe in the West culture as a whole might be different than other cultures. So we have these, these trends that we can't manage in the way we've managed all these problems in the past, right? We can't, we can't have our own, do our own thing in this country, you know, and something in another country, rogue waves are good and bad. A great example is when we're fighting through right now COVID, for example, blindsided us. We weren't ready for a clear example of how parts of the single country, never mind a world to handle kind of these global problems.

[00:14:12] Stuart: Yeah. Well, you know, it's, it's funny you mentioned the AI and so it's the people's perception of AI is very interesting. It's very interesting. And um and you brought up a very good example of the older generation maybe because as you get older, like you have less people in your life. And so I bought my parents on Alexa Right. And my mom would actually have small conversations with Alexa and have a little bit joy and then she could talk to me about it and it's like, oh, she didn't even realize she was participating in the whole AI thing that she thought was scary and all of that type of thing. And it is, it's, it's, it's one of those technologies is one of those things that we've developed that, well, probably not even realizes he's being implemented. It just starts to happen and like the refrigerator knows that you're down on milk and gives the suggestion to grab milk, who's going to dislike that the refrigerators basically manipulating you giving it as a job, but that's not, that's not a negative, it's a positive. Um And so you probably run into a lot of those like arguments against newer technologies because people like to argue against them. I don't really understand them, but they

[00:15:40] Eric Pilon-Bignell: do. And I think our culture is a very shock and awe culture as well. AI has been, you know, bastardized by Hollywood. When Ai is going to be a problem, it's not going to be evil. T 1000 terminator. Why would, why would an AI take on all of our inferior evolutionary biological problems? Right? It would be a cloud based thing that could just do whatever I wanted and it could repurpose our atoms or some nanotechnology for wherever they wanted. It doesn't even have to hate us in general, but the book doesn't get in To that as much because that's getting, you know, a bit more like 30-50 years were philosophizing. At that point,

[00:16:17] Stuart: Kurzweil said, like 30 years, he was very specific

[00:16:21] Eric Pilon-Bignell: has been scarily accurate on 80% plus is um yeah, so something's coming, you know, in his singularity is another one. But this is even before that to your point, there are a lot of people who are like, we'll put a pin in it. We should stop AI but you can't stop AI because there's so many other things going in. When you explain to your point, if you took someone, you know, from 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 30 years ago, you mentioned we're going through so much more change now, we're experiencing 100 years of disruption every few years right now. So how's that for context? Right? If you took someone from 50 years ago and you said, so check this out, we're going to give you this little metal and device and it's gonna have access to all of the knowledge of humanity. You can talk to it in real time. It'll give you back the information, it tracks every single thing you do. People would be like your, you're crazy like you beyond lost your mind. Right? Well, we have that, those are our cell phones like it's, it's, it's already there. So when people think AI they think this self, they think a G I R A S I or artificial general intelligence or these like super forms of Hollywood movies where somehow this super form of intelligence goes head to head with us and then we outsmarted at the end because that's how it's gonna end. I mean, when, when, when, when, when you understand exponential and you look at like what happens after an exponential curve, it's artificial general intelligence that would be like you and me in an ant. And again, we don't hate ants. We don't care about ants, but we also just step on ants. If they're in our way, we're not, we're not out to get them. But you know, if we might, we might read them if they're in our house. But there's no way ants are going to predict the future of humanity. That that makes no sense. That would be the equivalent of us trying to, you know, outsmart the new S I if we ever got to some kind of artificial super,

[00:18:15] Stuart: what, what are the steps we need to worry about to get to that? Do you, do you um do you have a good understanding of like what are the technological steps we would need to get to? Now, we're subservient. We will make great pets. As Perry Farrell said many, many years ago,

[00:18:33] Eric Pilon-Bignell: I think, I think when you layer on some of the other technologies and in, in material sciences and the biology and the science with the ai and all these things, we are going to remove incredible things. Sickle cell, you name it all these pieces. It's, it'll be, it'll be incredible. We have this inability to draw the line between upgrading humans in fixing humans. So in the past, if you the men's and we've invented lots of great things, but with CRISPR, we will fix incredible technologies. And at the same time, we're also going to be able to do blue eyes, blonde hair, six ft eight super athlete, super smart, who draws the line on when it's okay to be using some of these technologies. So the one of the first steps is we need to be having more, honestly, more conversations about these technologies because they are not technical debates. When and I in a book, I unpack a little bit of just the ai ones in a very real world sense where you can say I'm not in a I, I'm going off the grid. But unless you're throwing your car out and your credit cards, those days have passed, right? If you walk down the sidewalk, someone's ring camera has facially profiled and understands all the data points of where you were exactly when and what

[00:19:53] Stuart: day? That's right. You putting down that you're not going to take the COVID shot because you don't want anybody tracking you when you're doing it on your cell phone on Facebook makes no sense,

[00:20:03] Eric Pilon-Bignell: right? And I mean, you know, a lot of us have like social we're giving, we're given numbers that they literally track us for that. We pay taxes on like this is not anything new, you know. So, but the, but who has the rights to that data? And what can they do with that data? Who owns your data? Ultimately, if I ask you that or anyone that people don't know? Right. We don't, we don't have the answers to who owns that data. what they can do with that data, we have different countries doing different things. And when you look into like the deep convoluted neural networks or some of the major advancements right now in A I and some people are trying to figure out two very much mirrors our human brains. But the way it develops through multiple layers is it has all these little weights that it constantly adjusts on the information you put in and it eventually gets you the, the answer and that's where you kind of hear this black box and you don't have to get into that kind of mess. But you know, depending on the information you put in on, it's, it's irrelevant to who designed or build the algorithm that can build in cultural, you know, problems and biases that might be, you know, norms. We don't want that. We've moved on from believe it or not, not that long ago. And when I talk on a, you know, like a humanity scale, you know, 1000 when you look back thousands of years and hundreds of years ago, there was one point when everyone was like, yeah, slavery's okay. And now we're like, slavery is not okay

[00:21:25] Stuart: anymore. It's appalling now. Yeah.

[00:21:27] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Yeah. So if we build in our current ethics and tell that to something that's going to exponentially expanded in the future, we might have a lot of ethics right now. We're not forcing kids, batch processing kids to go to school 8 to 3 every day might seem like barbaric to a, you know, a more intelligent version of ourselves could have been using right, cognitive computing and stimulating their minds and getting them excited where they think they're playing games, but they're learning. We have all that technology now and these are these right kind of shifts that we're seeing starting to build and they're going to absolutely destroy industries. Education is the right one for disruption, I think good or bad again. We, we chatted quick about COVID. That's a bad one for sure. But we have been talking in industries forever about this digital transformation. So COVID comes around and it kind of forces the hands and now all of a sudden, companies are forced to work from home. They all haven't all done well and not all jobs work out to work from home either. I'm not saying there's not lots of sadness and unnecessary, you know, job loss, but for the most part, industries done fairly well. If you take if you take academics, well, they just, they never cared about digital transformation. They ignored all the waves that were coming in, this rogue wave showed up and now they're like, uh, take an eight year old and stick them in front of Zoom for eight hours. Like, what are you talking about? I can't even

[00:22:44] Stuart: bananas. Right. Like, how did we ever think that was going to be effective?

[00:22:50] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Yeah. Just a complete, you know, failure and that just shows the difference between a mindset where, you know, a lot of industry was looking and ready for this digital transformation. And academics were like, well, we've never changed in 100 years. So why would we change now? Well, that's why I have changed now because that's how road destruction works. It doesn't care if you're not disrupting yourself, you're dying nowadays. You know, it's very

[00:23:11] Stuart: true, very true. You mentioned Amazon is a good company that has and a lot of industries have really done a very good job of adapting. Um What are the keys like, what do you, what do you need to have in order to be good at adapting to this stuff? And obviously improv like being able to somehow force you into the future and be able to come up with the proper line for everything. But um like what do you think of the things?

[00:23:38] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Yeah, I would unpack really quickly what I call the surfing framework, which is just to help us kind of view and, um, you know, I'll give you the cheat sheet version. So there's a lot more obviously to unpack.

[00:23:54] Stuart: There's probably more than a couple of pages to the

[00:23:56] Eric Pilon-Bignell: book. Right. Yeah. 300 through it. But the serving framework really identifies a complexity that we look for in our lives. So, surfing can be broken down into three things. Right? A surfer waves and a surfboard. So, if we think of waves, that's the ocean, that's the world of complexity. That's our lives. It's always changing, right? It's moving. What makes a good surfer, not the fact that they can do real time, computational physics and understand lunar and tidal patterns and know exactly what they just surf, right? It takes practice general understanding. So that's a bit of the model. So we've got waves, we understand this through our, our environment, through complexity sciences. We look at a specific part of complexity sciences which I equate to like the barrel of a wave. The ultimate move surfing is to get in the barrel of the wave. But it's very, it's very counterintuitive because the barrel of the wave is equally frightening and exciting. It's where you become way better and it's such a rush and it's so exciting and you become a better surfer, but it also chews you up and spits you out every now and then when you fall. So if we live the way we're always brought up, move things back to the control in your life. Right. Don't, don't, don't be in those uncomfortable spaces. You don't wanna go full extreme, obviously, full road. That's chaos. That's an entirely different kind of framework. But you don't want to stay in control either. You want to push for these certain points of pressure in, in life and in systems and not all pressure is good. Some of it's toxic and you want to get out of there. But we need to embrace that and comfort a lot more and give up and being okay, not being controlled. So we've got the wave. The surfer is us. We improvise and so how do we stay in a barrel? Ultimately, we make the decisions right there, almost instinctive. Um But we've got to kind of understand that. But the third part is your surfboard, this is your rational foundation to stand on. You can't surf on your feet. You need a surfboard. Well, in life, you can't just improvise on wrong things, right? You need to improvise on rational things that map back to the reality of the world, right? And right now we're seeing a whole ton of misinformation. A lot of people have trouble kind of unpacking and falling into their biases and their old beliefs. And if you improvise off that and it's not accurate, right? It doesn't matter your, it's your, it's irrelevant, you're not improvising in the right part of the wave. So really there's, there's kind of if I really dumbed it down, it's, it's three steps, right? You want to look for these barrels, these, these, these points of pressure in your life. We, we identify this specific pressure within certain adaptive systems and complexity sciences as the need for new and novel solutions. So when you're in a situation that's happening, it's there, right? New partnerships or relationships. Right. Suddenly you're, you're talking to this Alexa person in your life, healthy conflicting perspectives. We shy away from that again, not unhealthy and toxic perspectives, but it's okay to challenge each other. It's, it's not a dogmatic extreme one side or the other. Like we're seeing, we should have lots of overlap, we should have healthy conflicting perspectives, right? And there are situations when there's an interdependence that's, you know, you're forced to kind of work together as your only kind of means of success and that's uncomfortable. But again, those are good pressures we should look for. And as the surfer, this won't be anything new to you, you, you'll know better than myself and anyone else. But for those listening, the improvisational part is an art and a science very much, right? So the importance of spontaneity and, and going with what feels like your gut sometimes, right? Or, or you know, the classic. Yes. And, but always be accepting two ideas, don't shoot them down, like accept, you can counter, you can do a lot of things you can build off them. But always be listening is a really big one. We all think we're great listeners. We're not, we're terrible. Uh And, and to leverage those around us. So you complexity works very much like that. A team is always stronger than an individual. So that's step two, step three is, is the surfboard, the rational foundation. And here we have to, we have to, we have to work and this is the hardest part because it forces us to look inwards at ourselves. We're not proving this to anyone other than ourselves. But we gotta be aware of our cognitive biases. We gotta work to notice these biases. We gotta be aware of our rational beliefs, right? Understand fake beliefs and belief, errors and challenge things that maybe we were just always told was right. But we never really thought to think about why they were right. Um In the book, I think I call her Aunt Karen. But, you know, being open to letting facts change your mind, I think that's a big one, right. We get very much. It's, it's one thing if you're cheering for your sports team, I'm irrational because I cheered for the same sports team my whole life. I'll tell you they're gonna win every year and they're not. But yeah, but life's not like that, right? We have to be open to letting facts change our mind. And, you know, I think remembering the strength and weaknesses as we go through all this, as machines and humans and machines. I mean, ai and all these technologies and everything, it's machines and humans are stronger together than either will ever be alone currently in our foreseeable future. So we're not at a point where either is replacing and, you know, seeing those opportunities and thinking how we best leverage both of those because the reality is when we're moving into new unknown waters, there's no data for that. But when it comes to predicting stuff, we have unfortunately been slaughtered by algorithms and AI and they can predict things a lot better than us when they have the right data points. So it's, it's very much a balance of those three elements. You know, the three kind of pillars of that surfing framework that when you understand that and we go through some examples in the first half of the book is a little bit more foundational building this in the back half gets really fun and you kind of surfs up, we get in all kinds of fun situations and it helps you kind of see it. And when you think like that, you start to view the world a little bit differently, your interactions a little bit differently and you might not feel it in the moment much like you don't really notice, you know, friction coefficients and water in your surfboard when you're surfing, but you're surfing, right? And the last part is it's got to be pragmatic. You gotta, you can know, you can be the most knowledgeable surfer physicist in theory in the world unless you get out there and surf and take some wipeouts. Like, you're never gonna do it. So, we're gonna, we're gonna screw up, we're gonna fall. That's okay. Like, we've gotta just, it's better to do something and fail than, than nothing right now at the end of the day. Yeah,

[00:30:00] Stuart: action is definitely the most important thing you're gonna do in any given day if you're not doing anything. Yeah. I mean, it would be neat if we could all be academics and think about all that stuff and, but someone's got to go out there and make that change happen. So, you've got the hair for it. I'm guessing you surf.

[00:30:19] Eric Pilon-Bignell: I'm, I am a terrible surfer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I try, I'm not, I'm that idiot for sure. You know, for me I probably get up for what feels like four minutes and it's probably 12 seconds and it probably feels like an awesome 12 ft barrel and it's probably four ft wave. But I grew up kind of landlocked in Canada. Right. Never got served too much but, you know, did much of the wakeboarding and snowboarding that stuff and I had some opportunities to spend a lot of time in Australia and the west coast of the U S and I just kind of jump in the water every chance I could again. Not because I was any good, but I was never big and I should have been and I just wasn't, but I was never big, you know, into yoga and a lot of the stuff. And I found surfing had this really perfect mix for me. You're sitting out there and the water is almost flat and you're waiting for sets and it's so, you know, bliss and tranquil and calming and then all of a sudden it builds kind of like life, right? And then all of a sudden you're getting dialed in and you're locked in and you went from this like incredible Zen calm too, like so intense because for me, I'm just trying to paddle. So I don't die and get chewed up by this wave. But, you know, you're like everything, every decision you make, everything is like again, you're improvising it, but everything matters, right? Shifting your body weight, your arms, how fast you're going, what you're looking at where you're going. It's, it's this amazing, you know, and then you go there, you ride it for a bit. You didn't. At least I do. I end up getting spit out, chewed up by the end, you know, spit some nose out, spit some water up my nose, get back at it. But like that, that, that amazing mix is very much like why it parallels I feel so much to life. So I, I definitely not a good surfer, but I love to get in the water any chance I

[00:32:02] Stuart: get, yeah. You know, I've lived on the ocean. I've never been surfing. Maybe, just convinced me. I need to go try Europe.

[00:32:12] Eric Pilon-Bignell: You in Portland?

[00:32:13] Stuart: No, I'm in Denver. I'm, I'm landlocked now. I'm in Denver now. But, yeah, I was in Portland but I graduated high school in Santa Cruz. I had friends that surfed. I had friends that surfed. That would go. Hey, I've got an extra everything. Like, let's go and I just never did it. Yeah. You

[00:32:33] Eric Pilon-Bignell: know what else? You know, what else is great about it? To be honest with you all up and down there, you can, you can go get a little, you know, rent a board for the day or for a half a day and go on your own and, you know, you kind of figure it out on your own a little bit, but it's just so, especially nowadays we are so, so inundated with screens is the word I'm gonna use. But, you know, it's your phone, it's this, you're on the computer, you're so connected when you're surfing, there's nothing else you can do. Your, they're your, your present in the moment with your thoughts. And I think that more than ever is and everyone's surfing as we're going to call, it is different. It could be snowboarding or hiking or reading a book or writing music. I don't know. But whatever your surfing is, it's really important more than ever. Now with this kind of overload and stimulus. I feel that we kind of find our places to surf because it's, it's a, it's a cleanse. Right. It's, it's like a reset almost where we're just so connected all the time. Especially now it's moved. Right. Work from home. People are like, that's the last thing they look at is the screen when they put down, the first thing they look at when they wake up and they're literally on it the entire day. It's, it's,

[00:33:46] Stuart: That's 100% true. I do it too. I can't say

[00:33:51] Eric Pilon-Bignell: guilty. I know. I know. So I think those, those, those little, if you can find those little, you know, spots in life to get away, it helps for sure.

[00:34:02] Stuart: Yeah. Well, I honestly, I could talk about this all day. I am a, I've read everything that Kurzweil's written and I, your book is fascinating to me, but we do have to record a sketch Eric. I know my mind was blown during that. I'm pretty sure a lot of listeners were to do me a favor. I, your book covers so much more. Please tell them where they can find more about you and more about surfing rogue waves.

[00:34:39] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Yeah, I can be found at Eric PB dot me E R I C P B dot M E and the books there as well as this podcast and some other information on, on some of the initiatives that have going on and on all of the social handles, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and linkedin, of course, which are all a slash at Eric PB dot me version of whatever the handles are nowadays, they're calling

[00:35:11] Stuart: Them. and now our sketch law and order BTC in 32 in the criminal justice system, technology based offenses are considered confusing and are largely swept under the rug. In New York City, the overpaid detectives and lawyers involved with these felonies are kept employed because no one else wants to deal with them. These are their stories. I'm telling you your client absolutely committed this murder.

[00:35:45] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Look your honor. I'm not really sure what he's talking about practicing law for 30 years and there is zero evidence of any kind that can point anything to my client being even remotely close to the area in which this murder took place

[00:35:59] Stuart: that is untrue. We have eyewitnesses that that man over there is guilty of murder.

[00:36:05] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Well, that man over there is actually a woman.

[00:36:08] Stuart: I do declare, I believe we will be able to prove this without an uncertain doubt that your client be it man or woman or maybe she should wear a longer hair. Well, either way we will make sure that that person is declared guilty of this murder.

[00:36:27] Eric Pilon-Bignell: Well, I look forward to underst that because I can pretty much confidently refute all of the evidence that is going to be coming this way. How are you

[00:36:35] Stuart: going to refute all of the evidence

[00:36:37] Eric Pilon-Bignell: for starters, there's a encrypted ledger that can't be changed in any way. And if we look at that, I feel like we can pretty much answer most of our questions right there. Oh,

[00:36:47] Stuart: Hold on a 2nd. Let me see that. I rest my case. Yeah, there's no way this person could have committed this murder. Thank you for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. 100% not produced by Ai I promise you, it was a lot of hours on my behalf. Uh Just real quick, I gotta give you this legalese so that it protects me and protects you. Sketch comedy podcast show is protected under creative commons, attribution. No derivatives four point oh, international license. What that means is if you would like to reproduce anything from the show, please contact the show at sketch comedy podcast show dot com and let's talk and let's get you a really good solid copy of whatever it is you want to reproduce. Until next time, go out there and create a comedy adventure of your own and just make sure that uh it's real, I guess. Oh, well, well, maybe we'll figure out how to do social media at some point it'll evolve somehow.

[00:38:07] Eric Pilon-Bignell: We'll just wirelessly do social media.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Nick Mirisola is a Duddist, and what that means is really up to you. Take some philosophy from Buddhism, and some from “The Dude”, mix them up and you get some sense of what it means. It’s wonderful and I think I’m a convert.
 
 When not not preaching Duddism, Nick is a musician who goes by Meditative Animal and recently released his latest album “Alternative Phenomenon“, which if you are a fan of Jack Johnson, you will absolutely love.
This episode’s sketch: “Duddatation”
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2023 Stuart Rice
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MORE ABOUT THE GUEST

Meditative Animal is singer songwriter Nick Mirisola's music project.  It is indie alternative folk rock with jazz, blues, hip hop, funk, and reggae influences that come together in a timeless original sound.  Frequently featuring other artists, Nick plays guitar, harmonica, hand percussion, keyboards, and bass in addition to singing, and writing the songs and lyrics.  Nick also does the artwork.  He is a lay Zen monk, shaman, ordained Dudeist priest, and self dubbed Duddha.
Nick has been singing for his entire life, and writing songs since 2000.  Meditative Animal has been in SoundCloud's top 20 for their Folk/Singer-Songwriter genre, and has appeared on ReverbNation's national chart top 100 for singer songwriters, and is frequently in their top ten for the Portland Maine region.  The songs Echoes Left In My Head, Timed Temperance, and Telescope eyes got over 50,000 spins each on global FM radio.  Meditative Animal also had two top ten songs on the official international indie music chart IndieTop Chart.
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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Stuart: In this episode, musician and meditative animal nick marisol and I came up with a few sketch ideas, I like the idea of just someone so chill, so in tune with uh not being flummoxed that no matter what the situation is there a okay with it? You know, we were talking about dealing with feelings and using meditation for that and what if the, what if the feelings were like um I'm hungry, like how do you deal with the hunger? I'm thirsty, like how do you deal with the thirsty? I'm horny, like how do you deal with the horny nous? And then the last one would be, I gotta, I gotta poop and like how do you deal with it while you're meditating buddhist glam, like like using the bragging, using all of that type of stuff, but in a, with a buddhist tilt so it's like you're not like you're bragging about how enlightened you are or whatever it is, which one did we pick? You'll find out on this episode of, it's a sketch comedy, Welcome to sketch comedy podcast show. The one of a kind show where I Stewart rice invite interesting people to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about. It's the only show like it on the internet, nick maris ola is a dude ist and what that means is really kind of up to you take some philosophy from buddhism and some from the dude, mix them up and you kind of get a sense of what that means, it's wonderful and I think I'm a convert when not preaching dude is um Nick is a musician who goes by the name meditative Animal, and recently released his latest album, alternative phenomenon, which if you're a fan of Jack johnson, you are going to love without any further ado, let's get right into my conversation with the meditative animal himself. Nick maris, Ola. Hey, Nick. Yeah, thanks for being on the show.

[00:02:18] Nick Mirisola: Oh, you're very welcome. Thanks a lot for having me Stuart.

[00:02:21] Stuart: Absolutely. Have a really quick question to ask you. All right, What makes you interesting?

[00:02:29] Nick Mirisola: What makes me interesting? Well, let's see, maybe. Hm

[00:02:36] Stuart: jeez, I told you it's not an easy question,

[00:02:42] Nick Mirisola: you know, I could have a lot of answers to that or I could I could uh I can play kind of coy and be like, well my relationship with nothing, this might be the most interesting part. So technically nothing makes me interesting. Alright, that was my kind of buddhist monk style response. Uh but yeah, I don't know, I'm I'm kind of a renaissance man. I guess I have a few different um skill sets or talents or gifts whatever you wanna call them. Um artist, musician, philosopher. I don't know. I I personally think my take on religion might be one of the most interesting parts of me though. Well

[00:03:27] Stuart: let's let's start there now, you I don't want to be presumptive here. But did you start a religion or is this? No? Okay, tell us about, Tell us about that though.

[00:03:38] Nick Mirisola: Alright. Uh, okay. So the only religion technically that I'm uh, legally and officially bureaucratically associated with is uh, this religion called Judaism. It's actually a parody religions based on the movie, The Big Lebowski and the character of the dude. And originally I had gotten ordained because one of my best friends and his, his wife who was also a good friend, uh, they wanted me to be the minister at their ceremony and conveniently enough in the cool state of maine, they let you register as a judas priest and conduct the ceremony legally. So I hopped on that real fast because it fit me like a glove. It's, it's, it's, you know, uh, you can take it as seriously as you want to, but it's supposed to be at least taking itself light lightly enough to still have a sense of humor about even itself as a religion because the character of the dude in the movie, if you, if you've ever seen it is kind of an anti hero, like what you'd expect from a heroic lead man, you know, in a movie, but he's like this welfare uh, tai chi alcohol drinking marijuana smoking guy and he's a bit of a pacifist to uh, gets himself in trouble. And it's just funny the way it all works out. Um, so I don't know if you haven't seen it, I would. Big, big recommendation from me. The Big Lebowski. Check it out sometime. You'll probably understand the religion of Judaism a lot better than I could ever explain it, but it's a little bit of a blend of kind of zen buddhist ideals mixed with some kind of Taoist ideals. The tao te ching for those of you who don't know, just translates as the way of virtue. It's kind of like this asian philosophical poetry book of wisdom, um, that even shoots itself in the foot on purpose, which I like about it. I always tell people my favorite thing about being a Taoist is not being a tattooist.

[00:06:04] Stuart: Sure. Yeah.

[00:06:06] Nick Mirisola: Tell anything about tao ism makes perfect sense. Yeah,

[00:06:09] Stuart: that's great. I love it, I love it now. How does, how does that affect your like day to day life? Do you, does it does it change your perspective on things? Do you look at things through a different lens? Because of the big Lebowski, which I totally understand,

[00:06:26] Nick Mirisola: I personally can relate to a lot of things about him. Like I, I, I like a responsible kind of casual, low key uh consumption of alcohol as a recreational or medicinal or sacramental whatever. Same with my, my cannabis use, I use that. I'm into shamanism too. So I also use tobacco, which I don't think he, he does in the movie, but that's my own kind of spin on it. But the the whole, I try to have a sense of humor. One of some of my biggest heroes in religion are the ones with a sense of humor, like the laughing buddha and uh I don't know if you've ever heard of this modern day buddha named Osho who was out in India, but I've read a couple couple of his things and I've I've I've heard him speak and at the end of one of his books, uh I think it was called the Book of Wisdom or the Book, a Book of Wisdom or something like that. Anyways, the last chapter, his grand finale was the title of it was be a joke unto yourself and I thought that was one of the most enlightening things I have ever heard.

[00:07:47] Stuart: Yeah, I mean I should probably, I kind of adopt a similar thing, but I'm kind of a joke to everybody, which

[00:07:55] Nick Mirisola: yeah, I actually to tell you the truth, I can relate to to that stuff, but in all honesty, I'm trying to even up the ante a little bit and I figure if there's already a laughing buddha, why can't there be a comedian, Duda? That's my own spin on it. I love

[00:08:14] Stuart: it. I love it. Um now how do you, is there a way you kind of like share your message of dude is um um

[00:08:23] Nick Mirisola: most I try not to really be preachy about it, that's kind of part of the motif, It's almost like uh take it if it's if it drives with you type of thing. So I kind of try to approach that and be sensitive of all the diversity and um, you know, individuality and uniqueness of everyone's subjective perspectives. So I try not to like shove my, my anything religious necessarily down someone's throat with my music and my lyrics. That's probably my biggest way. I may actually, I write some philosophy papers as a hobby and I may write a philosophy of religion or maybe even try and intersect science and religion in a philosophy paper later down the road, but I haven't done that yet

[00:09:11] Stuart: yet.

[00:09:13] Nick Mirisola: So it's all my, it's been on my agenda for a while.

[00:09:18] Stuart: Oh absolutely. Um, so it does not make its way into your artistic endeavors. Oh

[00:09:25] Nick Mirisola: no, it should, it should write the dude is um is almost um, let's see, uh I wouldn't say that's necessarily, I, I only take that sort of seriously, you know what I mean? Um for me, I'm, I take my zen, I try to take it as seriously as I should is how I would put that. Um because I'm kind of a lazy monk. I've, I've taken a uh like a vow I'm not part of like organized sangha or monkhood necessarily in a stereotypical fashion. I kind of see the world as my temple and my house is my little, my little own personal temple and uh um I'm very every day and like, you, you might, you probably wouldn't realize I take it that seriously if you just saw me on the street, you know, I probably, you probably think I'm just another stoner um but

[00:10:35] Stuart: I think anybody who's achieving like some sort of a zen like peace with themselves kind of comes off as a stoner, like I just feel like there's a little bit of that that happens where you're just okay with everything, you're not trying to fight, yeah, you're not trying to fight what's happening around you, you're just observing it and that's, that's where, I mean, not to share too much, but that's where I start to get into my space of being able to be okay with things is when I, maybe it is a substance that I'm taking and it just gets me to wrap my head around it a little bit and not fear it and I think that's the, that is that the big thing with like getting to that point is just not fearing, fearing everything, not feeling that fear, I don't know, you

[00:11:27] Nick Mirisola: know, honestly there's a couple, there's different perspectives on that because sometimes fear can come along somewhat naturally psychologically if you're in a really awful situation, you know, or presented with some awful potentials, it's not necessarily un's n to have that fear sweep through your mindset, but the zen part to me is more the keep staying staying in your own kind of zone and not letting it overpower you and and raining and back in your own control, whatever little degree that is so that you do whatever you should about that fear and I mean if you look at the Shaolin temple, the original zen temple that they're known for their martial arts, even though, you know, they're probably the least likely out of anyone to start a fight,

[00:12:27] Stuart: right, but they can finish a fight, which is yeah,

[00:12:32] Nick Mirisola: because they, they also know that it's not all about sitting under, under a bodhi tree,

[00:12:37] Stuart: right? Yeah, and I um I think it's, it's important to realize like feeling those feelings like getting that fear, getting that anger, getting that whatever it is, is not having those feelings is very human, like we have them for a reason and it's what you do with that energy, it's what you do with those feelings and I think having those things passed through me, that's been the thing that has really helped me as an adult is just feeling the feeling, let it pass through and then at the end of it, like you can go have a sandwich and feel okay about it again, you

[00:13:10] Nick Mirisola: know? Yeah, that's, that's kind of like um I would say there are, I would be uh maybe concerned enough to clarify that there are some kind of advanced tactics within zen and even just the science of psychology and stuff where you can kind of transmute things as they come instantaneously so that maybe you don't feel the fear in the same way, maybe you're aware that you could be deathly afraid, but you're so busy dealing with it constructively that you don't want to waste your own psychological space on fear. Instead you'd rather use all your resources with the help of that kind of zen being in the zone, mental optimization thing. Uh, with the help of that, you can, there are advanced tactics that might be why you associated like the fear with maybe not being as then, but that can be very zen in the beginning, sometimes the beginning of the path, if you will, if, if someone's on a path can be facing those fears correctly instead of running from them, sometimes you're supposed to run away from a fear and maybe you're scared of yourself for a reason because you shouldn't be that way. And that's what it teaches you and it was actually a good thing even for that person.

[00:14:35] Stuart: Yeah, yeah, I I completely agree with you. Um, those advanced tactics would be, I I think everybody has a perception of like buddhism as someone sitting on a rock with their legs crossed with their, you know, their fingers like this and just totally at peace with everything. And it's like, yeah, that's the end goal. But the journey there is being able to handle all of those things and being able to use like those things that you're talking about, the tactics that you're talking about, where it's like how do you get your mind into that space where you can start to process those things. I think it's, it's remarkable. I think buddhism is probably one of, or dude is, um, is probably one of the, one of the most misunderstood things. Like people think it's a full on religion and it's, it does not compatible with so many different things.

[00:15:28] Nick Mirisola: It's really more of like, if you look at the theme of it, like the point of it is do the right thing. Same as taoism the way of virtue. Like sometimes you can read a book by its cover. Um, and really it's almost more like the kind of the unified theory of all the different religions because you can be buddhist, I personally consider I was raised christian, my dad was like raised roman catholic and uh, I can, I try and take the good in that I see in every religion. So I'm even hesitant necessarily call myself a zen buddhist to someone who doesn't understand that about buddhism. Like it's kind of like we're the ambassadors to all the religions were like the theme song, uh, symphony, you know?

[00:16:21] Stuart: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But um, so you do, I could talk about that all day, but let's get into some of the other things that you do. So you are an artist and you do music and your, your music is incredibly good now if, for, I like it a lot and if you're into more of like, um, I don't even know how to describe it is, it's sort of like, it's it's a rocky folksy. I don't know, it's kind of like, it's a better version of Jack johnson if I can say that. Yeah, I don't know if you wear shoes, but I don't know if that makes the difference, but it's

[00:17:02] Nick Mirisola: good. No,

[00:17:04] Stuart: no, no. I mean I I everybody likes Jack johnson, everybody is in a Starbucks at some point, Jack johnson comes on and everybody kind of bobs their head. That's what happens. Um, I kind of like yours. It's a little bit more the lyrically more interesting if I can say that. Yeah. So, um, and of course right now on the thing, I've got the meditative animal, If you go to Youtube type in meditative animal, one word, you'll go and see all of mixed stuff. But

[00:17:34] Nick Mirisola: what lyrics, there's some lyric videos up there right now that are kind of cool, I think.

[00:17:40] Stuart: Yeah, that's why it was so nice because I could watch the video, get the lyrics and I could do both. I could enjoy the music and get the lyric density as well.

[00:17:50] Nick Mirisola: Yeah, I tried to make it visually interesting too. I figure if it's going to be in video format, you might as well try and take advantage of that.

[00:17:57] Stuart: Yeah, that's why I try to do this with this. I um, I wish I had more special effects, but um, oh, there, I just had a blur, so there we go, special effects um what is what got you into music and what inspires you for what you do as far as musically like what inspires those lyrics, what inspires the music? Alright,

[00:18:22] Nick Mirisola: that's kind of a couple of questions and a little complex, so give me a sec

[00:18:25] Stuart: parse it out, however it works out

[00:18:29] Nick Mirisola: alright, so I've been singing, like I was in church choir growing up, they made me go to all the church CCD sunday school, all that jazz until it was time to get confirmed and I was like, I think I'll pass, but anyways, I'm all cool with jesus nowadays, but whatever it wasn't, I was too scientific back then for that type of uh whatever

[00:18:56] Stuart: you could be a fan of jesus and not even a fan of Christianity, maybe jesus had all the

[00:19:03] Nick Mirisola: good stuff, this is right now, if I had my guess. But Yeah, so I was, I was doing choirs in school and church all growing up, played a little bit of cello in 4th grade and then we moved and they didn't have a cello program at the next school, so I kinda gave up on that, but um I actually was more of an art kid and uh a little bit of a poet um growing up, um I got really into meditation and shamanism and I was hanging out with all these hippies in college because I went to Burlington Vermont University of Vermont, which I don't know if you know, but it's basically like the hippie mecca, this side of the Mississippi.

[00:19:51] Stuart: So it's the, it's the East Coast Berkeley.

[00:19:54] Nick Mirisola: Uh, I would even say maybe, or like boulder or like Portland Oregon or somewhere in that vein. Um yeah, me too, for the people, I love the school, great education and everything, but that's not why I went there. I had other options, but anyways. Um, so I get to school, I'm hanging out with all these hippies and getting into my zen and my shamanism and I wanted to kinda up the ante with my music. I figured I just felt like I could, it was a different way to express complex ideas that are really hard to express in one piece of art sometimes. Like I just felt like I could get so much done in one well crafted song between the combination of the lyrics and the music. Um, I felt like it at least was a different perspective on it that you could relate to in a different way than a piece of visual art. So I started playing guitar and hand drums and writing songs at about 18 and uh, I decided I wanted, you know, I wanted that to be one of my main focuses in life to kind of try and provide. I was fed up with what I considered a basically pop garbage at the time, it was like whatever made money, the bitches and hoes and bling bling bling stuff was, I mean I get it and everything. I'm not stupid, but I felt like there was, why is that stuff the most popular stuff when there's so much cooler stuff out there to talk about, let alone, uh, sing about, I wanted to put out some, you know, some, some worthwhile stuff, maybe some insightful stuff that people haven't thought of because I tend to be a little bit of outside the box thinker and maybe I've considered things in ways that other people haven't or even if they have, maybe I know for me it's sometimes really validating just to hear someone else validate your own opinion in different words or even in the same words, you know?

[00:22:17] Stuart: Yeah, I agree. I believe that other people have, most of us have the same end goal, right? We're all trying to make ourselves happy and try to live our lives and, and have it be as easy as possible and we do, we just need to hear somebody else. That's, that's why I think people go to church is, I think it's why people go and and listen to people like who's Big Hand guy. Uh, any of the, like God, what's the guy's name with the big hands. Never mind anyway. So it's uh, that's gonna drive me nuts anyway, but, but like we go and we listened to people who are inspirational speakers, we watch ted talks all those things because we want to find somebody that's going to reiterate what we're trying to achieve in our lives out loud so that we can we can be validated. Yeah,

[00:23:11] Nick Mirisola: it's almost like the science of of of, you know, uh of the meaning of life or or of of our personalities, like personality science is not as simple or as objective or sterile as most people's uh perceptions of your average scientist. You know, a personality scientist is probably all about that. That makes I bet that makes perfect sense to some of

[00:23:41] Stuart: them. Oh, absolutely. And

[00:23:44] Nick Mirisola: being human

[00:23:45] Stuart: almost. Yeah, it is, it is the science of being human and I think it's a and it's those, um and we tend to be drawn to people that have the same beliefs as we are. That's why, you know, we we look for those groups, We look for those, those, those tribes so that we can be a part of them. Um and i it's kind of cool when you can get behind something such as Dude Ism or a musical artist. Like my, I wrote a college paper on how world peace would be achieved if everybody was a David Bowie fan, because I felt, yeah, because I felt then that way everybody would have a common ground to like base everything off of and then move on from there, right? Like if you you could have an argument about anything, but you could be like, but you know, daydream,

[00:24:36] Nick Mirisola: Hold on a sec. What with David Bowie think.

[00:24:39] Stuart: Yeah. Well w w t like that's that's exactly what we would have. Um Cool. And so you you make music and that kind of helps you, you know like get out like a lot of those feelings. And what about your other artwork, your other art? Like you do I

[00:24:59] Nick Mirisola: haven't I haven't really done a ton of art in a little while because I've kind of been focused on the the music stuff for a while. Because I actually was kind of one of the art kids not a music kid growing up. For the most part I took every art class my high school had and then some I was I was designing my own classes by junior and senior year in high school. Um And then I went I was an art major at U. V. M. I dropped out of college a million times, went to a million different art schools and school. I even did some Herbal medicine school. Um But yeah my art I man, um I'm kinda like my two artistic heroes, I guess I would say my biggest ones are M C. Escher and Salvador dali. Uh My favorite stuff that I've done of my own is almost like A. M. C. Escher meet Salvador dali. Oh that's very kind of my own style to it.

[00:26:09] Stuart: I

[00:26:10] Nick Mirisola: and sometimes I have this idea for my music, this is one idea I'm gonna be working on in the future. Um I'm thinking I've illustrated poems before in a piece of artwork um in that similar style, you know, where it's almost like a concept map or tells a story um within the imagery, and I'm thinking about doing something like that, at least a piece of art for a song or maybe an album or maybe all of them eventually. And I'm thinking of even doing some uh um some time lapses and video recording of the making of the art as it goes along and running that making videos on Youtube of the actual illustration of the lyrics and the music being made right before your eyes as the music plays. That's one of my big projects for the future.

[00:27:10] Stuart: I think that's awesome. That's sort of like those doodily videos, right? Like where people are drawing on a whiteboard to their talk. But I think that would be really remarkable if the music was playing. And you saw like the piece of art being created that accompanied accompanied that that's that's good. That's good art stuff. Man, I

[00:27:30] Nick Mirisola: think it could be really interesting to consider that. I'm kind of like, it's the same brain doing all that stuff too. So yeah, it's almost like totally fleshed out way beyond, like, totally integrated one area of that artistic venture.

[00:27:46] Stuart: Yeah, totally integrated. I love that concept. Um, your most recent album is alternative phenomena. Yeah, yeah. Um and it's where is where is that available? That available everywhere.

[00:28:01] Nick Mirisola: Um pretty much all the streaming platforms and then it's available at my website for streaming or download. There's actually a fan set the price, anything from zero up. Um Excuse me. Yeah. Meditative Animal dot com.

[00:28:17] Stuart: Yeah. So yes, everybody needs to head there download the album. Um I'm going to suggest the purchase price of $15 for everybody. Yeah, and I mean if you can't pay that, I understand pay whatever you can, but I think it's important to have uh independent artists like you and myself, I think we need to get rewarded for what we do. And I, your music is, it's really good. Like it's incredibly good. It doesn't sound like you smoke a lot on your album. Um um um um and so have you toured, like, I know you're not on a tour right now, but have you toured in the past and

[00:29:03] Nick Mirisola: I haven't done tours. I've played a handful of shows over the years, and I've played a ba jillion open mics and even more for free on the streets. I actually got most of my stage fright or whatever it was out of my system by going to the beach and playing in front of a couple 100 people and trying not to get kicked out.

[00:29:24] Stuart: A couple 100 people is a lot of people to do anything in front of. Yeah.

[00:29:29] Nick Mirisola: Right. It's enough to give even a good musician some butterflies. I found that.

[00:29:35] Stuart: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and uh, so any stories like when, when you were playing music, has anybody, has it touched anybody in particular or has it? Oh man. Is there a memorable moment? Like live yes performing anything live is always wild.

[00:29:55] Nick Mirisola: One of my favorite things of all time. I lived right down uh by a beach in Maine and I would go down to the beach and play for free. And uh, it was funny because when I moved away, the cops asked my mom. They were like, where's nick? We got no music at the beach, but they wouldn't let me get paid for it either. They wouldn't let me open my case. Um, they'd call the cops on me and have me arrested if I did it because I did it one time not knowing. And I made about $30 with my buddy in about 15 minutes. But uh, then some, some authority figures showed up and kindly let me know that that was not kosher.

[00:30:35] Stuart: Oh

[00:30:36] Nick Mirisola: yeah, they won't even let you do that. Um, my favorite part, my, one of my favorite memories of all time was I was down there at the beach playing for free. Just my own songs. Nobody knows these songs. That's part of what made it a challenge for me because I don't play cover songs really almost at all. And so nobody knows these songs. So they better be good enough that people are willing to at least listen to them once I figure or at least not throw an egg at me. And uh, so I'm down there playing and there's this little wicked, cute little freaking, I don't know how old he was. He must have been somewhere between, like I would say, maybe four years old and seven years old. Um, he's at the beach, He's, he's listening to my music. I can see him bopping his head and um, he starts gathering these rocks and he assembles these rocks in front of me that spell out the pied piper of maine. And I thought that was so like, I'm like this mythological figure to this little kid. It was, it was hilarious.

[00:31:43] Stuart: It was heartwarming

[00:31:44] Nick Mirisola: stuff like that. Makes it all worthwhile. Another one of my favorites was one of, one of my friends, uh, little kids didn't know it was me, I would show in the album to my friends and their family and they have this little kid who's, he can be, um, kind of tricky to deal with, I will say to be politically correct and everything about it. But uh, if I wanted to be a dick head, I could say he might even like to be compared to Dennis the Menace sometimes or something. Anyways, he's got, he's got his reasons, there's even some medical stuff going on that I don't want to get into. But anyways we're playing it for him and he's bopping his head and he didn't even know it was me. And then they're they're like, did you know that's nick on the radio right now? And he's like, wow, cool. That was touching too, for a little kid to be dancing. See him bopping his head to my music not even knowing it's me. Yeah, totally. Not pandering to anything other than his own sheer enjoyment of it. That was gold.

[00:32:51] Stuart: That is golden.

[00:32:52] Nick Mirisola: That's better than getting paid.

[00:32:54] Stuart: Absolutely. I mean it's also good to get paid. But

[00:32:57] Nick Mirisola: yeah, I don't do it for the money. Honestly, I almost avoid that sometimes on purpose.

[00:33:06] Stuart: Sure because it can get, it can cloud up what you're trying to do right? Like pretty, pretty soon. You're like, yeah, exactly, pretty soon. You're like, well what what famous rapper can I get to work with so that I can get some get paid. Tell us about what's coming up for you. Oh

[00:33:26] Nick Mirisola: yeah, well I don't know if he'd call it working with me, but I got this opportunity to purchase a beat with a feature from uh Killah Priest from the wu tang clan and um I added some harmonica and some hand drums a little whistling and it's gonna be my hip hop debut as uh a bit of an EMC two. So that should be interesting. That's that's probably the next on my agenda of releases. We'll see when that gets done trying to get some more female singers on it. Really kind of rounded out a little.

[00:34:03] Stuart: That's awesome. Yeah, I'm really psyched. Yeah, that, that is something to be very excited about and I'll tell you

[00:34:10] Nick Mirisola: something else. Yes.

[00:34:13] Stuart: Oh my goodness, some of my faves um alright, so let's do something else. That's going to be epic. We need to record a sketch. Alright, nick, this has been great so far. Hey, do me a favor. Tell everybody how they can go listen to your music and find out more about you.

[00:34:37] Nick Mirisola: If you're looking for some music with a timeless original sound, Great vibes, some wise, insightful lyrics, all poetically crafted to let you form your own relationships with it. Check out meditative animals music online. It's mostly online right now. It is a little bit on the radio, a certain independent stations around the world and you might catch it in certain stores in the background. Um, but if you want go to my website, meditative Animal dot com, there's plenty more there and keep your eyes and ears peeled peeled for more in the future.

[00:35:17] Stuart: And now our sketch dude imitation in 32

[00:35:26] Nick Mirisola: enter the doodah.

[00:35:31] Stuart: Oh my gosh, this temple is crazy. Look at all the guitars on the wall.

[00:35:37] Nick Mirisola: It's almost like I'm a musician or something weird. Huh?

[00:35:40] Stuart: Yeah, yeah, they are those sound panels in the shape of a buddha up there. Does the buddha have a shape. Oh you're already starting to blow my mind man. I want to learn more. Can you explain dude is um

[00:35:55] Nick Mirisola: to me, my own special blend of course is unique and rare and uh completely customized technically. It only matters to me.

[00:36:04] Stuart: Can we meditate together? Would that be something we could do?

[00:36:08] Nick Mirisola: We can always meditate together? How do we do this? Don't be a raging douchebag. Okay, Follow that train of thought the whole way through and achieve Judaism.

[00:36:17] Stuart: Okay, don't be a douche bag. Got it. Okay, Alright.

[00:36:20] Nick Mirisola: It's a cardinal sin to a dude ist. Okay, because this aggression will not stand

[00:36:26] Stuart: man understood. Is there any other rules that we should be following? Yes,

[00:36:30] Nick Mirisola: the dude always

[00:36:32] Stuart: abides any other rules that we should know

[00:36:34] Nick Mirisola: about. So I would recommend having a heart metaphorically in every situation because you do

[00:36:40] Stuart: All right, well, I will abide. Okay. Well, I feel like I've got, I've got a lot of feelings and I'd like to kind of address them as we're meditating here? Is that is that something we can do?

[00:36:51] Nick Mirisola: That would probably be the best way to do it while you're meditating.

[00:36:54] Stuart: Okay, Alright. So how do we start? Do we have to make any noise? Do we do an arm or what do we do? Hey,

[00:37:01] Nick Mirisola: silence is golden to

[00:37:03] Stuart: Okay. All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna think of nothing and I'm gonna say the first feeling that I've got All right, hmm, I'm feeling, I'm feeling, I'm actually feeling hungry. What should I do about that? Well,

[00:37:20] Nick Mirisola: there's a famous zen parable kind of starry eyed wannabe comes up to a zen master and he tells him about this amazing miracle worker who's can stand on one edge of a canyon and someone across the canyon will hold up a piece of paper and he can paint a picture on it from across the canyon without even touching it. The zen master responds to him and he says, my miracle is when I'm hungry, I eat

[00:37:44] Stuart: that. Sounds like sound advice. Alright, let me, let me see if I can process any more feelings. All right, Alright, Oh man, this is so weird. I'm feeling horny. I don't know why you're a good looking dude, but I don't know why I don't

[00:38:00] Nick Mirisola: love is love and to each their own and all that jazz. I personally love making love with the right people and under the right circumstances not to rain on your parade. I happen to be straight myself being more horny than you are soulful. Your heart and soul are probably the best to put in control of your pole.

[00:38:18] Stuart: Alright, well, I feel like I've got more feelings. I'd like to release and let me just feel what I'm feeling. I feel like I gotta poop

[00:38:27] Nick Mirisola: interesting dude is um, respects all religions and the first thing that comes to mind is all these monotheistic religions claim that man was made in God's image. Then I would just let you know that God poops my friend God poops everybody

[00:39:00] Stuart: thank you for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. We hope you enjoyed listening as much as we enjoyed making it sketch comedy podcast show is protected under a creative commons attribution, no derivatives 4.0 international license. Now I'm rushing through this because nick's got a great message for you and if you wait till the end, you'll actually get to listen to some of his wonderful music, make sure you click on that in the link below. If you're enjoying it, go listen to more of his stuff. It is great.

[00:39:30] Nick Mirisola: I love you man, much love and many blessings for everybody out there, which inspired me to come up with uh, my own name from myself, which is a Duda, which might fit that one if you wanted me to explain that or you wanted to run with that a little, maybe you could work that in like uh I can explain what being a Duda means because I feel weird about that. It's almost like, you know, you hit a point of spiritual evolution and you can't help but notice certain advanced properties. But some of these same advanced properties are like trying to suit themselves in the foot because you're like hot, what are you supposed to do? Make humble pie like at the same time, what are you supposed to do? Just shoot yourself in the foot. Yeah, that's part of why I named myself a duda. I'll call myself and ask before they can money because in Sanskrit it actually means milk or milk, which is also interestingly Lebowski. But I think every american would assume that it means due to.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Allemann is interested in your website. Well, he is really more interested in your website name. Andrew writes about domain names on his blog Domain Name Wire and we talk about what are good strategies and bad strategies (I tend to follow the latter).
A number of years into it, Andrew decided that typing was cool, but talking into a microphone is the real way to go. After some time, Andrew realized that he was running out of guests and needed to find them, but there was no easy way to do it; so he created the website PodcastGuests.com. I love this site, it is the best way to get really great guests, and honestly was a life-saver for this podcast in particular.
This episode’s sketch: “
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2023 Stuart Rice
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Andrew Allemann is the creator of Domain Name Wire, PodcastGuests.com, and Stacy on IoT and describes himself as a niche media expert. He lives in Seattle, WA.
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TRANSCRIPT

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It's another Holiday Special to cram into your already stressful and over-promised precious time!

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Nick Gray likes to optimize things. He made small airplanes safer with his company Flight Display Systems and boring museum trips into must-do events with his company Museum Hack. Now, Nick has his sights on making everyone the perfect party planner in his new book “The 2-Hour Cocktail Party” (https://amzn.to/3g7TnNe) which I completely enjoyed reading and am using to make tonight’s party a banger (for 2 hours).
Real quick, if you are in the Denver area and would like to attend one of these parties with me, shoot your info to [email protected] and I will make sure to invite you to the next one!
This episode’s sketch: “Cocktail Party in a Party in a Party in a Party”
For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com
Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
© Copyright 2022 Stuart Rice
SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM
SUBSCRIPTIONS & REVIEWS

APPLEYOUTUBEPODCHASER
MORE ABOUT THE GUEST

Nick Gray is an entrepreneur and author living in Austin, Texas. He started and sold two successful companies: Flight Display Systems and Museum Hack. Nick is the author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, a step-by-step handbook that teaches you how to build big relationships by hosting small gatherings. Over 75,000 people have watched his TEDx talk about why he hates most museums. He’s been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine called him a host of “culturally significant parties.”
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How to Host a Party WebsiteDo’s and Don’ts in Planning a Networking MeetupHow to Plan a Clothing Swap (The Easy Way)Hosting a Happy Hour: Nick Gray’s How-to Guide  
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Stuart: in this episode to our cocktail parties are nick gray and I came up with a few sketch ideas. What if it was 1000 visits to like the world's largest ball of twine? How would you go about making the world's largest ball of twine? A really interesting tour.

[00:00:17] Nick Gray: Well, I like to know how much things cost for myself and so I would want to try to, you know, put it up on auction for Ebay.

[00:00:25] Stuart: You're doing this uh, the two hour cocktail party and then within that party you decide, oh, I need to have another party. So you have another party within the party and it's just like part deception.

[00:00:38] Nick Gray: I love that idea because I often talk about the concept of a party within a party.

[00:00:42] Stuart: What would be the most uncomfortable icebreakers you could come up with at a party that would get people not only to slow down, but like genuinely like freak out. I

[00:00:53] Nick Gray: like that idea, but I have to veto that idea because for any listeners, they're always worried about what can go wrong with our party

[00:01:00] Stuart: and I want to think what could

[00:01:01] Nick Gray: go right,

[00:01:02] Stuart: which one did we pick you? Well, it's not the last one. You'll find out on this episode of, it's a sketch comedy show. Welcome back to sketch comedy podcast show, The one of a kind show where I Stewart rice, invite interesting people to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about and this episode is a special episode because while you're listening to this, I am currently panicking and running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get my house in order to host a two hour cocktail party. I made the commitment here on this show with Nick and this is going to be the night that I do it to it. Nick Gray likes to optimize things. He made small airplanes, safer with his company flight display systems and boring museum trips into must do events with his company. Museum hack. Now Nick has his sights on making everyone the perfect party planner in his new book, the two hour cocktail party, which I completely enjoyed reading and I'm using to make tonight's party a banger. Well for two hours real quick if you are in the Denver area and would like to attend one of these parties with me, shoot your info over to sketch comedy podcast show at gmail dot com and I will make sure to invite you to the next one and now my conversation with Nick Gray hacker of museums and cocktail party master Nick. Thanks for joining us today.

[00:02:43] Nick Gray: Thanks. I'm happy to be

[00:02:44] Stuart: here. I'm glad you're here too. Hey, I've got a really quick question for you. What makes you interesting.

[00:02:51] Nick Gray: I am obsessed with name tags and I've hosted hundreds of parties also in my past life, I've been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art more than 1000 times.

[00:03:01] Stuart: Did you miss something there or what was the reason for going for 1000 times?

[00:03:07] Nick Gray: I used to have a business called museum hack and we did renegade museum tours where we would hire people like stand up comedians and broadway actors to lead these museum tours. And I was the first tour guide myself. So in the first years of starting the business, I was there almost every single day.

[00:03:25] Stuart: So you would you, why, why? What's wrong with the tours that people had? What's wrong with the Metropolitans normal tour?

[00:03:33] Nick Gray: You know what? For a free museum tour, they do a really good job, but they are also led by volunteers and they tend to be more focused on the narratives of art history that maybe the average tourist doesn't really care about. And so my company, we would tell people the juicy gossip about the art, how it was acquired, how much things cost all the stuff that you wouldn't hear from the official museum tour,

[00:03:57] Stuart: the things you actually want to know so that you can go and have, like if you would go to a cocktail party afterwards, for instance, you could actually have a conversation about it and bring up something interesting that nobody had maybe heard before

[00:04:08] Nick Gray: exactly like that. The stuff that you would tell your friends.

[00:04:11] Stuart: Okay, All right, that's cool. That's cool. And why? Why did you do

[00:04:14] Nick Gray: that? Um, I started to go to the museum. You know, I live in austin texas now. Where are you based out of

[00:04:21] Stuart: Denver? Colorado

[00:04:22] Nick Gray: Nice. Denver is awesome. My sister and my parents live up there, that's

[00:04:26] Stuart: pretty cool.

[00:04:28] Nick Gray: I moved to new york and I was going, I lived in Brooklyn at the time and you know, I didn't know a lot of people, I didn't have many friends and I went, somebody brought me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This woman brought me there on a date and I was like, oh, this place is amazing. I feel like I moved to new york for stuff like this, I should hang out here more. Um and so I started to go there and then I went there a lot and when friends would come to visit, I would bring them there and I'd give them little tours just to show them like cool stuff I found and it became something I really loved and I did it as a hobby. And then you know what a blog wrote about us called Daily Candy. That was real big. Um and said it was the best thing to do in new york city that my secret tours were like the best thing in new york. And literally overnight 1300 people emailed me wanting to join one of the tours and I was like, oh God, I, this is big, so that's kind of how I started,

[00:05:23] Stuart: that's, that's how I feel about this podcast, is that, you know, a couple people listened and then they told nobody, but anyway um it was, it was the whole idea was hopefully people talk anyway. Um

[00:05:38] Nick Gray: That's

[00:05:39] Stuart: awesome. And is it just in new york or is it other places as well?

[00:05:44] Nick Gray: So I started the business in about 2013 officially. But I've been doing it for two years as a hobby. And then we, we branched out to more major museums all around America. So the Metropolitan Museum were in the National gallery in D. C. We're at the Getty in Los Angeles um grew to about five or six cities. I sold the company in 2019 and they've gone through some changes through the group tour plans scheduling and lockdowns and covid and things like that. But it really is, it's an awesome business.

[00:06:16] Stuart: Yeah it sounds, I wish I lived in a city that had one because I would love to go. But it gives me a reason to go to L. A. I guess there's really no other reason but

[00:06:24] Nick Gray: there's a museum out in Denver, there's the Denver Art Museum,

[00:06:28] Stuart: Denver Art Museum

[00:06:29] Nick Gray: Collection. And then I think in Denver, is there like a natural history museum with some cool dinosaur stuff. I think I went to that, I don't

[00:06:38] Stuart: know if that's here in Utah. I haven't been around. I'm relatively new to Denver. I'm actually from Portland but

[00:06:43] Nick Gray: I think you might be right. I think it might be in Utah.

[00:06:45] Stuart: Yeah but same same. Yeah. Um And was the museum thing like that was what you obviously started a business off of just kind of like a gag thing that you were doing right. Um, was that your first business that you ever started?

[00:07:03] Nick Gray: I actually, I, I grew up in a very entrepreneurial household. My dad was always like a mad scientist trying to come up with these crazy ideas. And so I had, I think my first business was a lawn care service company. What what young man doesn't start a long care service company that has the itch for entrepreneurship. I washed

[00:07:23] Stuart: windows. Wo

[00:07:25] Nick Gray: really? How, how, how would you do?

[00:07:27] Stuart: Oh, I went to people's houses. Hey, would you like your windows washed?

[00:07:31] Nick Gray: That's pretty cool.

[00:07:33] Stuart: I did that for a couple of years.

[00:07:34] Nick Gray: That's nice. Would you ever climb up on ladders to do

[00:07:37] Stuart: like I would, which was foolish. Yeah, a lot of spiders. A lot of wasps. That's what I'll

[00:07:43] Nick Gray: say. I've never met somebody who's done a window washing company, but I think it's genius because everybody has the other stuff, but nobody's going to jump up to wash their windows on the second floor, things like

[00:07:54] Stuart: that.

[00:07:55] Nick Gray: Um, I had a web hosting company in high, in high school in college. I tried to start a software company. That was a big failure. But yeah, I always, I've been noodling on this stuff for a long time.

[00:08:07] Stuart: Oh, that's cool. Um, and you said your, your family, your dad was big into entrepreneurship. Um, and that was, if I'm not mistaken, you did something with airplanes, correct?

[00:08:19] Nick Gray: Yes, yes. He started in the basement of our house, a business that had it made that map. You know, that shows where the plane is flying across the world. He made that for small jets because you could buy it, but it was for like Delta Airlines and things like that. And he's like, oh, I think I can take a computer and some software and build this for small planes. Um, and so he made that happen and my mom joined and then I joined after college and helped them hire some of their first employees. I did their marketing and their sales. And we really grew the business together to about almost 80 employees before selling that in 2014.

[00:09:00] Stuart: That's awesome. All right, well, um now all you want to do is party? Right, Well, I don't think it's going to take much convincing because I, after reading a little bit about what you were talking about, it became fascinating. It's actually the reason I have you on the show is because I think it's such a good idea that I want to get, I want to get ears of other people. So What, what is a 2-hour cocktail party and why is it a necessity for us a

[00:09:32] Nick Gray: two hour cocktail party? All right, so what's the gist of it? Let me think about this for your listeners that maybe have never hosted before or only host birthday parties or something like that. Think about how your life would be different if you had a full social calendar, if you had people inviting you to fund things, if you had a rich and robust network of acquaintances that really set up new introductions for you. So what if instead of trying to meet new people, people were just coming into your life with ease when you start to host parties? That's what life can be like. Um that's what I learned from moving to new york. I didn't really know many people. I wasn't successful going out to clubs or networking events and so I decided to bring the party to me and through hosting hundreds and hundreds of parties and teaching over 100 people how to host their own well run event. We found like a formula if you will, that could make a party successful and it might not be what you think so, because sometimes the advice is counterintuitive, but I'll pause to ask you first anything resonate. And then there, have you hosted anything recently? And what went well about it?

[00:10:44] Stuart: Yeah, recently I haven't, now I used to do parties and I used to do uh for, for my job, I would host events and do all that and I mean, I don't know if there's an X factor because I didn't read the book, but There were certain things that I always tried to have going on in the party to make sure it was very interesting. I think the last one I the last major one I did was actually my own funeral when I yeah, so for my 40th birthday I decided to host a funeral as opposed to a party because it was like the death of my youth, right? Like that. I felt like I was transitioning. So I got a coffin in in Portland. They have a place called voodoo donuts, you could get a coffin, they custom made a coffin filled with donuts. So instead of cake I did that and then I had people come and eulogize me and it was great. It was it was it was an interesting take on a birthday party and people seem to really like it. So I know that there's always that little bit of an X factor, but it's hard to figure out what that X factor is. Like what is it that's going to get people engaged in the party mixed together, do something together and it sounds like you maybe have figured it out. And I think that that's, I mean take the easy route by the book, right?

[00:12:01] Nick Gray: Yeah, yeah. I found one formula that works. I love with your funeral that you had your friends eulogized you. I read something that said that we shouldn't wait for funerals to read eulogies for our friends. You know,

[00:12:14] Stuart: my daughter roasted me so hard. She had built a power point presentation to just destroy me. It was wonderful.

[00:12:22] Nick Gray: That's pretty funny that she roasted you.

[00:12:25] Stuart: Oh totally.

[00:12:26] Nick Gray: Can you imagine if you actually died and she was like roasting you at the actual funeral that my

[00:12:32] Stuart: hope is that that is exactly what happens. That would be the best thing possible.

[00:12:36] Nick Gray: That would be amazing. Yeah. What what worked well with that event that you hosted. It sounds like it was truly something special and you were celebrating a major life event with a major life party and you probably spent a lot of money and people spend a lot of time planning and preparing for that. And I think those parties are great and fantastic. They also however prohibit us from hosting regularly because the the biggest benefits come when you can learn how to make hosting a habit. Something that you do regularly where you always have your next event on the calendar, imagine you're in Denver and you meet somebody interesting at the park at the grocery store out of the stand up event. Whatever you can invite them to your next party. It's the, it's the easiest thing to just say, hey I'm hosting a cocktail party, can I invite you to it or send you the information? So I have a very simple formula and if it's easy to think about it like with my name because my name is nick, N. I. C. K. And so all the letters, can I say what all the letters are and stands for name tags, everyone at the party has a name tag, this is a hill that I will die on. I think even if you think they sound formal, try to convince you why they're helpful even for a party in the neighborhood with your friends that you think know each other. I stands for ice breakers, you lead to 2.5 ice breakers at your party. And those are meant just to encourage new conversations. It's not about what people say during the ice breakers, that's what they say after the ice breakers. Uh C stands for cocktails only. So no dinner. And even if you don't drink alcohol, I don't drink. But the idea of a cocktail party is a lightweight social gathering. So no dinner that's important. No dinner and then K. Stands for kick them out at the end. It's only a two hour party and I can talk about how you can actually kick people out at the end. But that's important. This is only two hours long and you're gonna host it on a monday Tuesday or Wednesday night. That's really important. So that's the gist. It's an easy lightweight, very efficient social gathering that I found can really help. It's how I launch my last business. It's how I launched my book by building up this network of relationships because we find out about some of the best things in life whether it's new podcast guests, new business opportunities, New relationships, not through our very best friends, but through our network of acquaintances, weak ties, loose connections. That's what these parties are all about,

[00:15:11] Stuart: acquaintances seem to be like. That seems to be the go to relationship that most people have with other people,

[00:15:17] Nick Gray: like most

[00:15:18] Stuart: people are just acquaintances. Right? Well, because you can't have close friends with everybody. Um, and why are, how do we make acquaintances more important for ourselves? Because obviously we're going to gain some by doing these to our cocktail parties, but like why are they important to have,

[00:15:39] Nick Gray: I like acquaintances because I think they are easy connections to get to know somebody to see if you want to develop a deeper relationship. And so I talk in my book about building big relationships and you have to remember that you can't go from stranger to best friend. There's a, there's a friendship funnel, so to speak that you would go through and it's from being a stranger to knowing someone to having a conversation, to becoming an acquaintance and then through a couple hangouts, maybe you can become friends. And oftentimes if you meet somebody and you're like, oh, I want to get to know this person, what's your default? They're like if you meet somebody interesting and want to get to know them, what do you do now?

[00:16:22] Stuart: Oh yeah, well, I usually, I'm so unique in that I'm like, hey, let's go get coffee? Uh, you know, or hey, is there a band coming to town. Do you want to go see them or something along those lines? But yeah, that's usually some sort of a go someplace and meet someplace and do something because

[00:16:42] Nick Gray: I like what you do with the band there where you can invite someone to something interesting. Oftentimes, you know, especially for busy people, it can be very hard for us to schedule to meet up one on one to go have coffee with someone. You may think it's only a 30 minute coffee, but when you consider drive and commute and scheduling, it works out to being about one or two hours from an individual's time calendar. I found that hosting a cocktail party was an easy, efficient way that I could add value to someone. Right? So I can give them something first and what am I giving them? I'm giving them an invitation and an opportunity to meet a ton of new folks. And so that's how I would lead if I'm trying to make a connection. I say, hey, I host these cocktail parties where I bring together half people I know and half new, interesting people that I've met here in town. Would you like to come sometime? And that's exciting, right? Because most adults don't make new friends as we get older. It's so much harder. It's

[00:17:41] Stuart: impossible. Why is it so difficult to meet new people as an adult, like as a, as a kid on the playground, you just kind of go up and go, hi, my name's Stewie. Like, you know, like let's go play on the slide and then all of a sudden that's your best friend for the day. We don't get that now. Yeah. Why

[00:17:58] Nick Gray: can't life be like, hey, look at this cool rock. I found it looks like a potato, Can we be friends? Yeah, I wanna

[00:18:05] Stuart: try that too. Right? Just carry around a potato rock

[00:18:10] Nick Gray: for many people, you know, their, their number of friendships and connections really peaked when they were in college or university and it tends to go down after that as we move friendships become like a game of attrition. We get older, we have kids, we get a job, we move out to the suburbs and it's just harder to meet people. Which is funny because we need those relationships more as we get older and I don't exactly know the why behind it, but I can tell you that Most Americans haven't made a new friend in over three years and that especially among men, there is a bit of a loneliness problem. I read a stat that said that like 17% of men say they don't have a single close friendship, which is crazy and it's wild and it's the reason that I wanted to share my book was just to help people make more friends and build these relationships because I got so much value from it. It changed my life. I think it could change anyone.

[00:19:05] Stuart: Oh, I absolutely agree with you. Actually. I've had, I think even on the show, we've had discussions about how men don't have good close relationships and this is a big issue for men. So yeah,

[00:19:16] Nick Gray: Why is that? What do you think?

[00:19:18] Stuart: I think it's because there is a we get uncomfortable when we start to like pull down the facades and it's really uncomfortable and traditionally, especially maybe specifically here in America. I don't know, I don't have an experience anywhere else. But I think that we associate like sensitivity to intimacy and that

[00:19:41] Nick Gray: that's more

[00:19:42] Stuart: of a female trade and so that we tend to as guys, we tend to shy away from those things. And so what ends up happening is with with relationships with other men. It's just it's such a surface thing that once you get past that it's like, all right now, what? I don't know, let's go, let's go to a football game. You know, that's kind of bond around football, sports, things like that nature. But if you talk to women and or you're around women that have conversations, they don't talk about things like that. I mean they'll talk about our dicks, but like they'll talk about other things as well. Like they'll talk about feelings and whatnot. It's interesting how we we definitely do different things as gender.

[00:20:22] Nick Gray: There was a sales guy who I used to work with. He was a huge mentor to me and we were. Talking about friendships and things like that. And he said yes, some of my best friends now that I think about it, you know, these these guys that he rides motorcycles with every weekend. He said, I don't even know their last names. I couldn't tell you very much about their personal lives, but I'd say there's some of my best friends and I think that it is kind of interesting. I hear from people like my parents, I made them read my book right? Because it's like there's something I have

[00:20:52] Stuart: to, I tried to make my parents read my book and they set it on the coffee table. I don't

[00:20:59] Nick Gray: even know if my parents read all of my book, but I made him read my book and now I'm on this mission to get 500 people to read my book and and host a party for their friends and neighbors. And I count every single one. I try to talk to them the day after the party and my parents hosted one for their neighbors and they said, look, we

[00:21:17] Stuart: it's

[00:21:18] Nick Gray: so funny. We walk around the neighborhood and you have these little two minute conversations with the neighbors and you say, oh, we should go out, we should have dinner. But you know, as life works out, we usually don't. And they got to meet so many of their neighbors beyond just having that simple little conversation and they got to do something generous by bringing them over to their home, inviting them inside and having a drink and some snacks that they bought it at walmart or Costco or

[00:21:44] Stuart: something.

[00:21:45] Nick Gray: Yeah.

[00:21:47] Stuart: Right. Yeah.

[00:21:48] Nick Gray: It's not about your house by the way for for any listeners that are like, oh I don't have a nice house. I live too far away. My apartment's small. I hosted hundreds of these parties in my tiny studio apartment in new york city. Sometimes the smaller space is actually better because the energy is electric. This guy Noah who lives in Chicago. He's 28. He read my book and he has like a 400 square foot apartment And he hosted, he had 28 people inside which is crazy. The perfect number that I found is between 15 and 20 for a first time or a new host. That's really the number that you want to have.

[00:22:24] Stuart: And then when when you're in this party do you? Is it your job as the host to like go around and mingle? Is that is that what you're supposed to do?

[00:22:32] Nick Gray: Generally you as the host have a couple of duties? Number one is you're gonna make sure everybody has a name tag. So your 1st 10 or 20 minutes is everybody's arriving, you're welcoming them and you're giving them a name tag. Your other major duty as a host is to run 2.5 rounds of icebreakers and those icebreakers are very easy, but you do have to do a little bit of public speaking because you have everybody stopped the party which can be intimidating. So I coach people how to do that.

[00:23:01] Stuart: Do you have like a record scratch that you just play everybody you're

[00:23:08] Nick Gray: gonna laugh at me. But I actually use a small harmonica. I'm looking around my desk, I don't have one and I make a little tone, I don't play, I don't know how to play it, but I just blow out similar to using like a train whistle to make a noise as I turn the music down and I have helped so many people host their first party and I can't tell you of all my party formula, it's the one that gets ridiculed and made fun of the most on one hand. And then after the first party people are like why did I not get the harmonica? It's genius because it's such a quirky, cute little sound instead of yelling at everybody. Hey everybody,

[00:23:47] Stuart: everybody be

[00:23:48] Nick Gray: quiet

[00:23:50] Stuart: and not everybody has a triangle that they can hit or like one of those little tone things,

[00:23:54] Nick Gray: you know.

[00:23:55] Stuart: Yeah. Gong would be kind of cool though, that would definitely get some attention

[00:24:00] Nick Gray: right. But anyhow your job as the host is just to lead these little rounds icebreakers. And what you do is you ask everybody to say their name, to say what they do for work. If they don't want to talk about work, they can talk about a hobby and then you ask them an icebreaker question and the question that I like that I recommend everybody uses at the start of a party is what I call a green level icebreaker. And that's because there's no rapport built up. People are not loose there, there's still rigid. So a green level icebreaker is a fast one that doesn't require a lot of thought or judgment. The one that I like is what is one of your favorite things to eat for breakfast? What's your go to that you do more often than not? And I like that because there's no judgment about it. I'm not asking people, Oh, say an interesting fact about yourself and not putting people on the spot hopefully. And so that's a good one that works 100% of the time.

[00:24:53] Stuart: And who doesn't eat breakfast occasionally or wish they could eat breakfast occasionally. Right, right,

[00:24:58] Nick Gray: right, right. Or if they skip breakfast, if they do intermittent fasting, then just say about that. I hosted a party a couple of years ago in new york. And there was this woman there dressed in all black, tall, skinny, she was older, she looked like she was like raised by street rats. Um, and she came to my party and she's like, my name is Diane, I'm a writer and for breakfast, I like to have cigarettes and it just broke the ice. And everybody, it was very funny. It was very funny and it just kind of put things in perspective

[00:25:31] Stuart: and memorable too. Like, that's a that's a memorable response to that question. Like, what do you like for breakfast cigarettes? You know, like, that's great. Yeah,

[00:25:40] Nick Gray: it was great.

[00:25:41] Stuart: Yeah. So I start this show with a very uncomfortable question. Like I said, I told you I was gonna ask you, that's probably not a very good opening question for a cocktail party, correct.

[00:25:55] Nick Gray: What makes you interesting is a great question. I like that you use it in thinking about a social situation, you know, you're having high profile people who who come on the podcast and you want to capture your listeners attention right away. If I were to bring somebody into my home. I often think about what that experience is like for those that are socially awkward, have a little bit of anxiety or aren't like an extrovert maybe like you and I, and so I'm trying to create just a welcome, easy environment to warm people up for that two hour journey.

[00:26:29] Stuart: Yeah, I I think it's brilliant. Um yeah, in business we use, I was a sales guy for a very long time. And so, like, icebreakers are like, it's a, it's a lifeboat really, because like, there are times when you're in a situation, like, I need to get everybody engaged. I need to get everybody started to talk to each other. How do I do that? And icebreakers are great. And you always get the one jokester that's gonna, you know, do their own thing. And it's kind of wonderful because then it takes a lot of the heat off of you as far as making sure things are, things are going. So um All right, so it sounds like everybody needs to to host a cocktail party um up on the screen.

[00:27:08] Nick Gray: That's

[00:27:08] Stuart: where you can go to get the book. And I think people should definitely do that now besides hosting parties and doing those types of things. What what are the types of things are you into?

[00:27:21] Nick Gray: Um For fun. I live in austin texas and we have this weird thing here called Barton Springs Pool. It's a natural spring fed aquifer pool. I don't know how to describe it because there's no lanes, but it's just enormous. It's like three acres and I like to swim in that. I live about five minutes from it, so

[00:27:41] Stuart: that's something to

[00:27:42] Nick Gray: do. Yeah. And then I I live a lot of my life online. So I have a blog. I do social media. I've been blogging for 20 plus years. And so I actually get so much fun and joy out of writing. Like I have this thing called my friends newsletter where I send a newsletter to my friends and just cool movies I've seen, or fun stuff. I've read cool links memes, things like that. So that really does make me happy. I like to do that.

[00:28:11] Stuart: Yeah. That's um, did you do a lot of social media? Is that

[00:28:15] Nick Gray: tons, tons

[00:28:16] Stuart: of social media?

[00:28:17] Nick Gray: Yeah.

[00:28:18] Stuart: Is there, is there a particular social media that you like really kind of gravitate to or do you try to just equally split your time between them? Um,

[00:28:25] Nick Gray: these days at the time of this recording, I'm spending more time thinking about growing an audience on Tiktok. So I hired a firm to help me with that. Um, I do my own twitter instagram. I do a lot on instagram stories because it's, it's easy and it's a throwaway. So for me, I'd say, yeah, that's the one I do the most.

[00:28:45] Stuart: Okay. Alright. And then, um, obviously you had, was it Donna eight? The cigarettes in the morning? Had cigarettes in the morning. Okay. So obviously it worked right. Was there, um, have you ever had a party that didn't go as well as you had hoped? Is there, is there a situation where that's happened?

[00:29:03] Nick Gray: Yeah, huge. Um, 11 that I can think about was one where I think it was a monday night and I decided I'm like, let's have friends over on Wednesday or thursday. And I didn't give myself enough planning what I call the party runway and I just mass message, you know, 20 or 30 people. Hey everybody. I'm having people over come by any time from 5 to 10 p.m. And I did a couple things wrong there. One, I didn't give people enough notice to, I didn't do individualized invitations, nobody felt special. And three I left this awkward enormous time block show up, right, right swing by any time. Has that ever happened? You get invited to a barbecue on a saturday at four and you're like, okay, well they said four, so I guess I'll show up at five, but the hosts are, you know, from this place. So actually they want to show up two hours, you do this mental sort of calculus or what time to actually arrive. And that's one major thing that I'd say for your listeners is that doing that two hour time block gets people to show up on time and boost your attendance rate because people know that, look, this is a tight time. I don't have to stay too late if I want to leave and it gives them an excuse to leave. People love the excuse to leave by the way.

[00:30:19] Stuart: Oh yeah, well I'm, I'm a huge fan of the irish goodbye, which is like you just kind of throw down the batman, you know smoke pill and leave and nobody knows that we're there. No one knows. I am a huge fan of it and I absolutely hate the like long goodbyes and at a party, it's like I've got to go say goodbye to. So and so and so and so and it's like you just met that like, just leave, get out. I don't

[00:30:44] Nick Gray: totally agree.

[00:30:45] Stuart: Yeah. And I'm also a big fan of name tags. I think that that is, it cuts down the amount of mental bandwidth people have to deal with when they, when they don't have to remember your name, they can just look at

[00:30:56] Nick Gray: your, your

[00:30:57] Stuart: tag and just know who you are. It's great. It's

[00:31:02] Nick Gray: super

[00:31:02] Stuart: easy. I'd

[00:31:03] Nick Gray: rather feel a little uncomfortable asking someone to wear a name tag than feel uncomfortable all night long forgetting their name. So that's why I do it. I also think it's more inclusive. I mean, I don't want to sound super woke, but think about what the experience is like for a significant other or for a plus one, you have a best friend, He just starts dating someone and he brings her along to the party. She doesn't know anybody, she doesn't know your friend group. And when you do name tags, it just makes everybody feel a little more included.

[00:31:32] Stuart: Absolutely, absolutely. Um well this has been great. Um I mean I'm excited about hosting a party. I will definitely.

[00:31:43] Nick Gray: So are you going to do it? Can I

[00:31:45] Stuart: don't know. You can count on me to do it. I will buy the book today.

[00:31:49] Nick Gray: We're gonna send, I'm gonna send you a copy of the book

[00:31:52] Stuart: and

[00:31:52] Nick Gray: then too, while we're on the call now, I want to, I guess we could wait if you want to, but I want you to look at your calendar and I want you to choose a monday Tuesday Wednesday night. That is ideally four or more weeks away now because it may take me a week to send you the book. Maybe choose five because we don't want to butt up against uh Halloween. Halloween is what I call a red level day. You don't want to host around major holidays events, three day weekends, those are red level. And why? Why do we do monday or Tuesday Wednesday night because people are available. And the number one success is if you can have a full list of attendees, number one fear someone has this, nobody will show up. And when you host on a monday or Tuesday or Wednesday night. So what day do you think would be good,

[00:32:40] Stuart: november 1st,

[00:32:41] Nick Gray: November one. I love Tuesday. That's a Tuesday. It's the day after Halloween. So do you think that that's okay.

[00:32:47] Stuart: Is that too much? Is that too close?

[00:32:49] Nick Gray: I don't know. I

[00:32:50] Stuart: don't know. Let's do that Wednesday

[00:32:52] Nick Gray: Wednesday Wednesday the second. So the next thing to think about is what two hour time block would you do? 6 to 87 to 95.

[00:33:01] Stuart: Yeah, probably that 6-8

[00:33:03] Nick Gray: 68. Great. The next thing is that think about which five people you would invite. That's part of what I call your core group. These are your close friends, people that if only they showed up, you'd be happy. So I want you to think about who those five are. And when we get off this recording, you're gonna text those five people and say, hey, I'm thinking I just had this guest on, I'm thinking of hosting this thing called a two hour cocktail party on Wednesday november 2nd from 68 P. M. And here's the thing you'll say if I do it, would you come? Ok? And your your goal is to get five people who will say yes, okay. And so you'll text people until you get those five yeses, you may hear from them. Oh no, no, no, that's too close to Halloween, I can't do it, you know? And so then if that happens and just move your date right, just like choose it another week afterwards and you send the same message you're gonna hunt for those five yeses and I have a feeling for you. It'll be pretty easy. And when you get those five yeses, then your party's happening, we'll make a simple page online to collect their RSVPs, my book will tell you exactly what to write and all that. All the scripts exactly how to invite more people and then it'll be a success. All you have to do is like one or two hours of work at the beginning and then your party will be a huge success. I

[00:34:26] Stuart: love it. I cannot wait. I'm actually very excited about it because you know, I'm new to Denver, I've been here just I've been here over a year, but I guess it's not overly new, but I still don't know tons and tons of people because Covid kind of screwed us up as far as like meeting people. I think,

[00:34:42] Nick Gray: I think you're exactly right. It's made it hard and people are a little more awkward. So number one, they appreciate an invite to something like this where you're gonna bring different groups Stewart from, from this social group. I'll bring a couple of people from this, this this and then uh basically they also need guidelines. They need guardrails to have a little social interaction. Love

[00:35:05] Stuart: it. Love it. All right, well we've got this planned. I'm very excited about that. We do have to record a sketch though. If you are one of those awkward people that have a hard time meeting people, this is exactly your remedy. Go have a cocktail party, Nick what's the easiest way for people to get more information about running their own cocktail party in two hours.

[00:35:31] Nick Gray: My name is Nick ray. I have a book called the two hour cocktail party. It has over 230 reviews on amazon and it sounds like I'm selling something, but I'm just trying to get people to make more free and if you check out my book, I'll give you a satisfaction guarantee if you don't like it. You can Venmo request me for a refund. I think the book is packed with actionable tips and a step by step guide, including the scripts, exactly what to say in a minute by minute breakdown of what to do at your party. I think we can all use a new friend, so check it out and stay in touch,

[00:36:04] Stuart: Understand staying in touch, but I can't possibly imagine that you're not going to love this book. It is one of those things that can literally change your life in two hours and now our sketch cocktail party in a party, in a party, in a party in 32.

[00:36:28] Nick Gray: Welcome everybody, administrative announcement, Welcome to my cocktail party. I'm so glad wow, we have 15 or 20 people here. I just moved to Denver, so it's great to meet everybody and we're gonna go around the room, we're gonna do a quick icebreaker, say your name, say what you do for work or something fun and then one of your favorite things to eat for breakfast Stewart, would you be willing to go first? Oh,

[00:36:51] Stuart: uh yeah, yeah, sure, of course. I'll go first. Um I guess my name is Stuart um and I host this silly podcast thing that I like to do um and then for for breakfast, I really actually like eggs Benedict is my favorite, but I don't get it as often as I'd like, but I love eggs. Benedict,

[00:37:12] Nick Gray: I love eggs. Benedict. I also like hollandaise sauce. Hey, that gives me an idea if you like eggs Benedict or if you've ever bathed in hollandaise sauce, like Stuart and I come and meet us in this corner over here, we're gonna do a V. I. P. Hollandaise meet up. So check us out afterwards. No, but I

[00:37:33] Stuart: don't.

[00:37:38] Nick Gray: All right, listen up, this is the hollandaise meet up group. And I was looking around at this party and these other chums don't know the benefits of eggs Benedict. So I thought we'd have a little V. I. P. Hollandaise party within the party. What do you guys think about that?

[00:37:53] Stuart: I don't understand why anybody doesn't love eggs Benedict. It's amazing that there were six of us that actually came out and said for breakfast, it was eggs Benedict. It was the thing, I think it's really cool that all of us like joined up like this.

[00:38:07] Nick Gray: These six of us really are the V. I. P. Party within the party? I think it's so cool that actually Randall. You happen to have brought hollandaise sauce with you. Do you guys want to take a shot of hollandaise sauce? I'll go get some shot glasses.

[00:38:20] Stuart: Yeah, I never leave home without it.

[00:38:21] Nick Gray: Any volunteers who would make a toast to hollandaise sauce. Anyone want to say what they love most about either eggs Benedict or holidays or just a favorite memory that you've had with hollandaise sauce.

[00:38:33] Stuart: My name is nancy. I guess if it's okay, I would love to share my story about eggs. Benedict. Yeah,

[00:38:41] Nick Gray: nancy. Please, can we get a round of applause for nancy willing to step up and share her holidays, testimony on nancy. The stage is yours.

[00:38:50] Stuart: So when I was a little girl, my, my parents actually were like fundamental christians and they didn't believe in hollandaise sauce. And so when I was older I had a friend, I stayed the night and then the next day we went to Denny's for breakfast and I saw that they had hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict and I got it and it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. It was like the forbidden fruit of breakfast

[00:39:18] Nick Gray: baptized by hollandaise who among us has not had that moment. I think that's really cool. By the way, if you have been baptized by hollandaise sauce, meet us over in this other corner because we're gonna do a V. I. P. Of the V. I. P. So I'll see you over there. All right, welcome to the Church of hollandaise. Uh, I'm curious can we do another round of icebreakers? Maybe someone here would volunteer to say your name and I guess just something that you dream about. I'd love to hear that

[00:40:01] Stuart: hank you met me earlier. You know, I was, I was talking about how I go and work out a lot.

[00:40:06] Nick Gray: You said that you liked eggs. Benedict cause you'll get in a heavy lift day and then you'll just pound about £10, I think you said of eggs and then just to break it up a little, you had the hollandaise. I don't know, I just love to hear. What do you like? What do you dream about?

[00:40:20] Stuart: Well, I don't actually like dream at night. I take these pills to help me sleep, so I guess I'm not really the right person to talk to about this.

[00:40:29] Nick Gray: Right? Yeah, that's fair, that's fair. I remember you handing those pills out a few minutes ago and I cautioned you against doing that and I'm glad that we're all here to think about our dreams as it relates to church or hollandaise sauce or just eggs Benedict. We all celebrate that.

[00:40:44] Stuart: Hey, it's Stuart again, I do have a dream if it's okay, if I interject

[00:40:49] Nick Gray: Oh yeah, please Stuart, let's hear it.

[00:40:51] Stuart: Okay? So my dream is that I can quit my day job and just do my podcast on a daily basis. Like that's kind of my dream,

[00:41:01] Nick Gray: we can help you achieve that dream. And I love that dream too, is that if you like the sketch comedy podcast show, if you'll leave a review because every review helps Stewart get a little bit closer to him dreams and that's really what it's all about, right, following our dreams, you know, one other idea would be, if we could get a hollandaise brand to actually sponsor this show. I think that'd be amazing.

[00:41:24] Stuart: That would be amazing

[00:41:25] Nick Gray: if you have a podcast. Um go and chat there with Stewart. But if you don't have a podcast, go over to this area and we're gonna do actually a V. I. P within the V. I. P within the V. I. P. So meet me over there in a minute. I'll see you there. Are you competing with me right now? Probably talk Alright, welcome. Welcome everybody. Well, you've arrived here because of life decisions. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

[00:41:57] Stuart: My name is Earl. I know like the tv show, I don't have a podcast. I don't, I don't really have a lot of friends. I don't really have a lot going on in my life, but I appreciate you bringing me to this party.

[00:42:09] Nick Gray: Earl welcome. It is so great to meet you. I remember seeing you in the neighborhood and I invited you to come over. You are welcome here. And it's, it's helpful that we all have name tags so we can make some new friends. Uh, what is your dream, Earl? Do you have a dream? Is there something that you want to do or accomplish in life?

[00:42:28] Stuart: My dream is to help others really find their internal like drive and and move forward in their life and, and, and just be very, very successful.

[00:42:43] Nick Gray: Your dream is to help people be more successful and find their internal compass, their, their north star of sorts. I like that. What would you say is a good way to do that.

[00:42:55] Stuart: Have you ever heard of Amway? Thank you so much for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. We hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. Make sure to head over to sketch comedy podcast show dot com there. You can subscribe to the show. Head over to Youtube and watch some of the videos and sketches we've done there. Maybe head over to Patreon and become a patron to the show. That would be so much appreciated or you can leave a review someplace or if you're feeling really saucy apply to be on the show. I appreciate every single one of you that listens to the show and I would love to hear more from you. Now I've got to get this out of the way sketch comedy podcast show is protected under a creative commons attribution no derivatives four point oh international license. Which means that if you would like to reproduce anything in the show, please contact the show so that I can get you the right material for it. And also this show is copyright 2022 Stuart rice every day we are given a choice. Can we do the funny thing or the not so funny thing. I'm going to urge you to do the funny thing today and create an improvised comedy adventure of your own. Take care. See you next episode

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