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0:46

Thank you so much for joining us again

0:48

for this week's edition of the iHeart

0:51

Podcast Speaker Series. We've

0:53

been doing these for a couple of years now. We started

0:55

them at the very top of twenty twenty,

0:57

and if anybody has that circled on a

0:59

calendar, they remember that that's when the world

1:01

sort of entered into a new, weird place and

1:03

we wanted to stay connected with each other, keep

1:06

conversations going, especially creators,

1:08

and we wanted to do that through the lens of podcasting.

1:10

We had been building and have continued to build

1:12

this huge podcast network as the medium

1:14

has exploded in the United States, and it's just

1:17

led to some of the most fun conversations

1:19

I've had period in the last couple of years,

1:21

and today is no exception. I'm just incredibly

1:24

psyched to talk about a new podcast that we

1:26

launched at the IHIRED podcast network a couple

1:29

of days ago. It's called Really No Really,

1:32

and it's with two folks named Jason

1:34

Alexander Peter Tilden. First of all,

1:37

Jason Peter, thank you guys so

1:39

so much for hanging out with me today for a little bit. Sure

1:42

was there really a choice, they said the CEO.

1:45

That's true, this is much

1:47

about the corporate world. But when I hear CEO

1:49

and there's a request, I know that

1:51

you don't go. There's always a choice. And I gotta

1:53

tell folks. Before we started recording, they were

1:56

like, hey, congratulations, our podcast networks pretty

1:58

big. There's like thirty three million unique

2:00

listeners. And they said, are they really unique?

2:02

Though? And I didn't want to what's

2:05

unique about them? If you start with a lie

2:07

and everything's built on a house of lines, then you got

2:09

nothing. They got exactly. We

2:12

also pointed out our podcast has seventeen

2:14

listeners, but they're unique. There an

2:17

back for that because we know them, they are family and

2:19

friends. We know everything that was Timmy was Billy

2:22

unique. Timmy thought he was gonna

2:24

get my left foot. He worked for a year just using his left

2:27

foot. That's unique. That's une. So

2:30

let me talk about where this show came from. First of

2:32

all, I think it was your idea,

2:35

Peter. I think you went to Jason said we

2:37

should, which you probably knew

2:39

about you. You're to blame. What's the origin story

2:41

of the show, and then we'll talk about where you guys

2:43

come from and your backgrounds and stuff like that. But first the

2:45

show itself. Jason's gonna be sulking. It's my idea.

2:48

So okay, boy,

2:50

it was. I was on radio for a lot of years in Los Angeles

2:52

and I left talk radio because it was time

2:55

and it was going to do a TV thing that went under

2:57

because of COVID and my kids. Everybody's doing

2:59

podcast to the podcast to a podcast, and

3:01

it was like, okay, sure, yeah, podcasts, just

3:03

put it out, just do it, do it. And I thought, with a million

3:05

podcasts at that time, how do you enter that world? And I

3:07

also had a big audience. I had a million listeners on

3:10

talk. I didn't want to be a kid in FIPA. John was

3:12

sitting home talking to nobody in the podcast What's

3:14

It About? So I came up with an idea for a brand

3:16

really no, really meaning stuff. First of all,

3:18

it makes you go really no, really, which spells

3:21

your first answer is like a BS answer because

3:23

you're already going to the second no really okay,

3:25

And then I realized you could do really no really, tech, really

3:27

no really, sports really and build a brand.

3:30

And I saw that you guys came from places

3:32

like how stuff works and also a

3:34

mental fluss. So I was fascinated with

3:37

that and I wanted to build that out. And then I asked Jason

3:39

if he wanted to do it. He got in, gave his input,

3:41

and we started after a while doing

3:43

them and we realized they were wrong. There was not enough weight

3:45

to it. So I went to Atlanta got to spend

3:47

time with Noel Brown. I spent three days. I'm

3:50

trying to figure out podcasts and what are the halls? What

3:52

do people need? And you've talked about this in interviews

3:54

radio. Every time I did a segment, I had

3:56

to talk what everybody else was talking about. But I had to find

3:58

the oh wow or something different to engage

4:01

them. And you call it lean in. That's all talk

4:03

radio is is lean in. It's active participation,

4:05

involvement. So I wanted to do that here, and I wanted

4:08

to make sure, after being with Noel,

4:10

that the content was important. Yeah, you get in with a funny

4:12

really not really, but then it grows to encompass

4:15

and body a ride that you didn't necessarily

4:17

know you were going to take, and hear about other stuff. So

4:19

Jason loved that. He was all in. He's my best

4:21

friend. We argue about every single thing.

4:23

I said, want to do it? He said yeah, And we took

4:25

it to Will Pierson, who again got

4:28

it because he comes from Mental a brand and you come

4:30

from brid so it felt like a great

4:32

fit right away. Then we worked for

4:34

eight months to try and figure out and break the format

4:36

and hopefully came up with something that's

4:38

a for your salespeople. It's PG We're

4:40

not going to Edgy and Jason talk about this because

4:43

this is your part of the attitude of the podcast.

4:45

Well, you know what Peter and I were talking about. Initially

4:48

started the Easy Road with my participation

4:51

was to go where a lot of other celebrity driven

4:53

shows of gone, which is in interviewing others,

4:55

celebrity is and whatnot, And I thought that's

4:58

a cluttered market. I like Peter's

5:00

idea of investigating things that

5:02

are unusual, interesting, off

5:04

the beaten path and making celebrities

5:06

out of the people who really are engaged with

5:09

those things. We also realized that

5:11

that could take us into the

5:13

lack of a better word, political waters. And I

5:15

said to Peter early on, Look, when we really

5:17

have our conversations, yes, we get into some

5:19

heavy stuff and we talk about heavy things, and

5:22

we have our point of views, and we're pretty articulate

5:24

guys, but this can't be that show.

5:26

No one's coming to us for political punditry.

5:29

We're not here to take sides. Let's do

5:31

a show that everyone can listen

5:33

to, everybody can find stuff out, everyone

5:35

can enjoy. Let's send our audience

5:38

away if we can feeling like they've

5:40

been lifted up a little bit. Then

5:42

they just had a pretty great hang

5:44

with some people and they found out a couple

5:46

of things, and they had a few laughs, and

5:49

it was a nice cleansing. Get out of your stress,

5:51

get out of your tension. Let's do that.

5:53

And if we get a topic that isn't going

5:56

to allow us to go down that road, let's step

5:58

away from that and let somebody else handle and

6:00

to hang on that for a second, and not to get too

6:03

weighty or serious too fast. But I

6:05

agree that that's kind of what the world

6:07

needs right now, maybe more than

6:09

it's needed in a while. But why do you feel that way?

6:12

Well, you know, I've had my own learning

6:14

process. Listen. I'm a political guy. I

6:16

am a public advocate,

6:19

and I'm not an activist. I think there are people who

6:21

are actually activists. I'm not that, but I publicly

6:23

advocated for things, and I

6:25

can have wonderful conversations with

6:28

people one on one, even people who seem

6:30

vehemently to disagree. I always find common

6:32

ground. So does Peter. That was Peter's forte

6:35

in talk radio. He ended his radio career

6:37

on what has to be described as a right wing

6:40

radio talk network. But Peter

6:42

was the guy who had common sense conversations.

6:44

And it's able to talk to anybody from any political

6:47

point of view and find consensus and find

6:49

common sense. So for me, I

6:51

don't feel that social media

6:53

is a place to have complex conversations.

6:56

And yes, a podcast is a

6:58

place to have complex conversations,

7:00

but that's not what people

7:02

are coming to us for. If I want

7:04

to reinvent myself, if I want

7:06

to rebrand myself as something else,

7:08

great, we can do that. But I have no need to

7:11

do that. I have gotten comfortable with

7:13

the fact that whatever audience I

7:15

have has come to me because most

7:17

of what I've done in my career has given them joy,

7:20

has given them a laugh, has elevated,

7:22

has educated, has uplifted

7:25

you know, there is no need for

7:27

me to start at age sixty three

7:29

to start going. Well, now, let's get into

7:31

the stuff. You know. I have come

7:33

to really appreciate an

7:36

ability that I didn't think I really truly

7:38

organically had, which was to make people

7:40

feel a little better about themselves. I know Peter has

7:43

it, but together we knew

7:45

that our brand, our talent,

7:47

was to take people in that direction, to have

7:50

a good time with a good conversation

7:52

about fun, funny, interesting things.

7:54

As far as this is concerned, I said Jason, we

7:56

started this. I want a charity component right

7:58

on that front page after we I want to get it together.

8:01

We've done a ton of stuff for charity and feel obligated

8:03

to, especially when you have this hopefully kind of reach

8:05

that we have, just because you're fascinated with the

8:08

why we didn't you want to go in that I left radio was

8:10

one of the guys who had on Jack Abramoff

8:12

or had somebody. I didn't care who I had on left right.

8:14

I just wanted to get the info so that you can make

8:16

a informed decision about

8:18

something. But it got to the point where even if

8:20

I was not biased, even though I leaned to

8:22

the left, so whatever didn't matter. I

8:24

just really wanted the answer. And what I found was it

8:27

was exhausting that the audience didn't want the answer.

8:29

I wanted to do battle, and they would say, how come

8:31

you against the wall? And I go when

8:33

was I against the wall? I said, there's a crisis

8:35

at the wall. If I gave you eight billion, there's there's store crisis

8:37

tomorrow. You go, yeah, But then it doesn't change your

8:40

mind to go. Maybe I was at the border. If you're at the

8:42

border, you can see the wall one hundred miles,

8:44

you can see people going over. What are you gonna do? You can't get

8:46

there, so building more wall it's simplistic

8:48

answers and digging into a team.

8:50

And then I didn't want to get to the point where I

8:53

didn't like those people because those people, because of the

8:55

way algorithms work, they're not seeing the same stuff

8:57

all the people are seeing. So we have to figure that out.

8:59

And Jason, I figured to delve into some issues

9:02

that are relevant entertaining an informative

9:04

and if we can do that, I think we found a place

9:06

rather than trying to convert or convince and kind

9:08

It also speaks to the thing that I found

9:10

by talking to people all across the country.

9:13

I'm not kidding when I say I've had amazing

9:15

conversations with people who, at the beginning

9:17

you would think we are at polar opposite ends

9:19

of every experience of life. And what we quickly

9:21

find out is we all kind of want the same results.

9:24

We just disagree on what's going to get us there. Starting

9:26

with that premise, Peter and I just set out to

9:28

talk about things. So that episode

9:30

that just aired, it begins with a silly comedy

9:33

premise. It was a Jerry Seinfeld stand up

9:35

observation about why is it the public restroom

9:37

doors on the stalls don't go all the way down

9:39

to the floor. Why do we have that? And you know, because it's annoying

9:41

you have no privacy people staring at lanty

9:44

shoes and you know, what was that all about? And

9:46

so Peter does the research and he finds

9:48

the guy who has the answer, and we get the answer.

9:50

But that's fun, and that's funny, but then it

9:53

becomes a conversation about you know, we're

9:55

pretty quick to surrender our privacy. We

9:57

don't make a stink. We bring things into our

9:59

homes that are actually giving our

10:01

privacy away, and we invite them into the house.

10:03

And then we ended up that episode by going

10:05

and say, hey, we're all going back to working back to offices

10:08

in public places. Why don't we get an anichette expert

10:10

to remind us what good bathroom meniked is.

10:13

You know, it's a silly, small what is

10:15

that all about? Premise, and then it balloons

10:17

out into something that we all go, well,

10:19

you know what, yeah, we're all I don't care where

10:21

you are on the political source spectrum, we are

10:23

all giving away even away, and we're all sacrificing

10:26

our privacy. And everybody goes, yeah,

10:28

I am doing that. So it was a great

10:31

blueprint for how all the episodes of the

10:33

show should work. Why don't the doors go all

10:35

the way down? Who did you find the

10:37

episode? Did you do your research? Now? They don't go down

10:39

to the floor because it's about the ease

10:41

of cleaning them. But God, y'all

10:43

can come in slash water underneath it and do

10:46

that. Yes, how cow wonderful

10:48

is that? But then there's an additional thing of why

10:50

when you're in the store, sitting there with the illusion

10:52

of privacy, can you see everything everybody's doing

10:54

in the bathroom? Close the door? For God's sakes.

10:57

You know, in our business there's a saying if you

10:59

can see the camera, the camera can see you. If

11:01

I'm seeing everybody walking by my soul,

11:03

I'm seeing you. We're

11:06

okay with that. We're kind of okay with that. So

11:25

let me go back to origin stories a little

11:27

bit. I'll get to how you guys met because

11:29

I want to hear that story too. But way way way

11:31

back, there's clearly, clearly

11:34

something about the two of you and everybody

11:36

we've talked to on this speaker series where at some point

11:38

they got the bug of wanting to

11:41

communicate and create through words,

11:43

through performance and I'll start

11:45

with you, Jason, where did that start?

11:47

Who gave you that bug? Was it a parent,

11:49

a sibling, a friend, where You're like, that's

11:52

what I want to do for the rest of my life.

11:54

So for me, it was a happy accident.

11:56

I had much older siblings, but I

11:58

basically grew up as a lady kid. And

12:00

I was short, I was fat, I was the easy

12:03

bully target. So I was a very

12:05

sort of loaner kid, kind of

12:07

an introvert. When I was twelve or

12:09

thirteen years old, we moved from one city

12:11

to about four towns over. I knew nobody.

12:14

The first kids that spotted me and sort

12:16

of picked me up were the theater kids. I had never

12:18

done it, and I went into a production.

12:21

You know. I loved theater as an audience member, and I

12:23

could sing, you know, and I was a fearless

12:25

singer. And I went into this show. And

12:27

what happens is that becomes

12:29

your community, that's your team. That is very

12:32

fast and very real relationships bren very

12:34

quickly. So it was really more the community

12:37

of people that I could suddenly be

12:39

a part of and felt like I had a home

12:42

that drew me into this. And then

12:44

it was only after I started performing that I

12:46

got the feedback that people were saying,

12:48

you're a good storyteller. We like what you're doing.

12:51

And because I didn't trust

12:53

me when I tell you, I have no other talents.

12:55

So to finally find the thing

12:58

that people respond to was thrilling,

13:00

and I immediately thought I should build on

13:02

that, and so I went to college

13:04

as a theater major for both acting and

13:06

directing. And you know, listen, my

13:09

career is a collection of

13:11

crazy coincidences and impossible

13:13

opportunities that somehow presented

13:15

themselves. But the joy of this act

13:18

of communicating with people was something

13:20

that only came about because

13:22

I found a community of people to do

13:25

that with. Had I been alone and

13:27

not found that team or that community,

13:30

I don't know that any of this would have happened, which is

13:32

why. And it's a nice handoff to Peter.

13:34

You know, Jerry Seinfeld always says to me, you should

13:36

do stand up. You should do stand up. And I have no

13:38

desire to be backstage and onstage

13:41

alone with myself. It is all

13:43

about who am I going to be with, who am I going to play

13:45

with? Who's my person? When Peter and I met,

13:47

and will tell you that story. But I immediately went,

13:49

this is not only a collaborator, this is

13:52

a brother in arms. Something about

13:54

our backgrounds, our sensibilities meshed so

13:56

quickly that Peter and I, this

13:58

is like the fifth, the sixth creative venture

14:01

we've done together, and I'm hoping there's

14:03

a five or six more ahead of us. It's awesome

14:05

before I throw to you, Peter, like a lot of that resonates

14:08

us thinking as you was listening to you. When I was between

14:10

eighth and ninth grade, I change school districts

14:12

and it was such a slight difference geographically,

14:15

like you says the four towns over what difference

14:17

could it make? But I may as well move to another continent.

14:20

And the tribe I found was also

14:22

a more artsy tribe in theater and

14:24

mock trial and stuff like that, and that

14:26

becomes incredibly powerful, like

14:28

the welcome Matt that those kind of wackier

14:31

artsy kids put out. I hear you when you

14:33

talk about them, Peter, what about you? I

14:35

think you have this interesting background and I

14:37

want to hear about the origin story and how you

14:40

got the creative bug. But then you had an ad

14:42

agency. But then you went over to the creative side.

14:44

That's not as easy as it may seem

14:46

for folks outside the biz as. It were

14:48

like, that's actually a pretty big shift. But tell us

14:51

how it all started to begin with. Yeah, I graduate school.

14:53

I didn't know what I wanted to be. I know you wanted to be premat too.

14:55

So I was going for my master's in dopamine

14:58

denervation syndrome and Parkinsons. My mother Parkinson's

15:00

fascinated out that was a bad student, and then

15:02

realized what am I doing. I'll be in a lab leisioning

15:05

rat sprains the rest of my life. It said no go,

15:07

and I did a bunch of stuff. Didn't know what I wanted to do

15:09

was list lists. My parents, immigrants came over

15:11

here, so there was nobody telling me we're giving

15:13

me a guided paths. I tried a lot of different stuff,

15:15

sales and this, and I ended up at a radio station

15:17

accidentally. I was selling, hated

15:20

doing it, and I was starting to talk

15:22

to the advertisers, going your ads not working. This

15:24

ad sucks. Let me write a better one. So I started writing

15:27

ads, and I figured out how to write stuff that could cut through.

15:29

And then it did squitch jumps, my own ad agency

15:31

based on creative because media buyings, media bounds

15:33

one thing, and I could bring in an expert to help me with that and

15:36

figure that out. The creative it doesn't cut through and

15:38

it doesn't push the button. I did all retail sales,

15:40

so on Monday morning, you get a call about did it work,

15:42

did it sell? And you're accountable. So I took

15:44

on retail accounts, and then I got Amtrak, and I'm

15:46

not one man shop. Then a three man shop, and I'm

15:48

getting big accounts. And I got radio stations,

15:51

so I got YSPN Philly, and I helped when

15:53

Howard was coming to Philadelphia at Howard Stern,

15:55

I put all my clients on and helped him and did

15:57

their ads and whatever. And it's quicker story

15:59

short. I'm on the air on a Sunday

16:02

public affair show. Somebody asked me to do it. Did no

16:04

public affairs. I think I talked about Tyrenossaurs,

16:06

Rex Hands or whatever, and the guy who

16:08

ran Greater Media heard me and said,

16:11

we wanted to bring you out to LA to do a morning show

16:13

radio show. So I said yes, even

16:15

being a no parent and the no guy at my default

16:18

usually know I'm out here no nobody.

16:20

My dad died, my mother's buried alive. I'm

16:22

trying to keep agency alive. And I didn't know what I

16:24

was doing. Spent a year before Howard Stern

16:26

and KLSX out here just struggling for my life.

16:28

When I got fired, which was okay, Talk

16:31

Radio hired me and for the next twenty

16:33

plus years I did that plus some country radio.

16:35

So it was accidental. Never

16:37

thought I was going to perform, never was encouraged

16:40

to perform, never had a mentor to perform, and it just

16:42

kind of happened. And I am so blessed

16:44

to have met the top people in their field,

16:46

whether they were I mean civil rights

16:49

leaders and politicians and celebrities.

16:51

And Jason came in one day and we knew it. I

16:53

walked to the car with him and said, you want to have lunch and

16:55

he went okay, and I said, I think I got your next

16:57

show, which was about a fake motivational speaker

16:59

Motivation Speak, who can't motivate his family.

17:01

We sold out to ABC and then we did another

17:03

one called Hit the Road about a guy who has a family

17:06

of musicians. They're all traveling on the road, which is

17:08

a nightmare and I keep trying to present projects

17:10

with him and create so best friends can hang

17:12

together. This is the reason I've

17:31

always said this, Like I feel like the only reason

17:33

the podcast industry is as good

17:35

as it is is because broadcast radio

17:38

guys spent decades honing

17:40

the craft of how to have a good conversation.

17:43

And did you find yourself doing that?

17:45

Like learning across the years. Oh, that's how

17:47

you do it. I should ask that question. I'm so

17:49

insecure and everybody I've ever worked with lamps

17:51

because I prep more than I know.

17:54

You're everything except your blood type in your DNA,

17:56

you know, because I want to know what I'm doing, because

17:58

I figure I'm the dumbest guy in the room and I'm out

18:00

there and I don't want to be exposed. So I

18:02

just dig and dig and dig. And then it became

18:04

it was I got to do the same subject the doc

18:07

Biden's address. What am

18:09

I going to find out about that that they haven't heard on the

18:11

other stations. I got to do that because if I can do

18:13

that, they'll keep coming back and maybe I can keep my job. Oh

18:15

my god. And then I also super served the

18:17

clients too. I say to them, if you fail

18:19

on my station and we don't do this. We're fifty

18:22

fifty. You're giving me in tell that

18:24

you say it is going to work to help sell your product.

18:26

If it doesn't, you're gonna be mad at me. Say it doesn't

18:28

work, and you're gonna go across the street and you gonna make the same

18:30

mistake because you've never gotten to the root base

18:32

of your problem, maybe the description of how

18:34

your product sells. So yeah, I got those

18:37

skills totally out. Jason does this out of fear. I

18:39

wanted to keep the advertisers, so I superserve them

18:41

when to keep the job, so I would go deep.

18:43

But the joy is then trying to find the thing the

18:46

oh wow. He's also pretty much what

18:48

was amazing about Pete and he's certainly

18:50

are at it. But he became very well

18:52

known for doing rather extraordinary

18:55

interviews with people who they're over

18:57

interviews wherever you have them, they say the

18:59

same things, ask the same questions. They don't care,

19:01

You don't care, the audience doesn't care. Peter's

19:03

drive to find the thing that they never

19:05

get to talk about as a way to sort

19:08

of open them up, bond with them, put them at

19:10

ease, and allow it to be a gateway to deeper

19:12

reflection about things that the prefs they've

19:14

talked about before. Is a savantability

19:16

that even he doesn't appreciate that he has.

19:19

But it was extraordinary. You know, in

19:21

the world a podcast, especially if

19:23

you're doing anything that as an interview based to it.

19:25

It gives me and our show

19:27

a leg up because of exactly what he's talking

19:29

about the amount of research that he does so

19:32

that he can go in any direction

19:34

and invite someone who's only talking about

19:37

their historic onstage career and go, yeah,

19:39

but you know, you once did a magic trick at

19:41

a thing and it bombed and you did it and

19:44

they go, oh my god, how did you know that? And they tell

19:46

that story that they've never told and now they're

19:48

at ease. It's an extraordinary

19:50

gift that well, it's

19:52

true. I remember I know what you mean,

19:55

Jason, because I remember when I was in high

19:57

school as a big YouTube fan, and I remember

19:59

reading in reviews and at

20:01

one point a light bulb went off from me, Oh,

20:04

Bono is saying the same thing in every

20:06

interview, isn't It's not a showing

20:09

Oh, this is a canned thing that

20:11

he has honed and crafted. But every now and

20:13

then, every now and then you

20:16

would see an interview or read an interview

20:18

where an interviewer like Peter

20:21

would break through and just sort of get

20:23

them off guard or come at them a little differently,

20:25

and suddenly they went down a different path. And

20:27

I remember being a super fan. Those are

20:30

the ones that mattered. That's hard, that's

20:32

about being honestly, I guess because

20:34

I lived in a repressed childhood. You know when

20:36

your parents lose everything, that's how you grow

20:38

up. Don't don't get closed, don't do this is going to

20:40

go away. I just got fascinated with people

20:42

traveling through cultural time and space, Like I look

20:45

at you. I'll prep all day and

20:47

have everything. Now I'll put it away and I'll just connect with you

20:49

and go You look very stressed. How many more meetings

20:51

like this day? I want to know about your day? And how

20:53

do you grow the podcasting? After jus keep adding

20:55

podcast or what do you look for? And if you have a podcast

20:58

it's not working, how do you tell them? And whats

21:00

that? And I mean, Jason, I were going to say,

21:02

after a year, one of our staff is going to be killed, so

21:04

we can do a mystery podcast, So you're too just to

21:06

boost of the ratings. But it's a fascinating

21:08

industry. But then I want to know everything about

21:10

it. And I've read a ton of interviews with you, and I

21:12

love to lean in. I especially love that you told

21:15

your kids that the job that they're going to have

21:17

in the future does not exist yet. That to

21:19

me is a sentence that already could launch

21:21

a show. How do you prepare for a future

21:23

that you have no idea where it's going to go? So

21:26

I'm just that interested. My life is so boring

21:28

that when I can connect with somebody and go, who's

21:30

the guy who came up with us? If that took the times

21:32

that the president is to ask his kids that

21:35

that's what Jason, I want to know. So,

21:37

you know, we're about to do and I'm about to do a

21:39

whole bunch of podcasts to promote really not really,

21:41

you know, in every description of what I would

21:44

you go on SINS show, they want to talk about your

21:46

early career in Seinfeldt, I go, of course they did.

21:48

Do they not know that every story I have

21:50

about Seinfeldt has been told at least

21:52

five or six times in some public form. Why

21:55

do they want to keep going to that. Well. Conversely,

21:57

Brian Cranston's a friend of mine. I could get

21:59

Ban Crasting on our show to talk about his career.

22:02

That's no big deal. Where do we think we

22:04

might use Brian Cranston. We're thinking about an

22:06

episode about people who have inordinate

22:09

crazy collections. What's the thing he's got,

22:11

Peter, What's what he's got? Baseball

22:13

cards? But my thing about that is like that a

22:15

friend who has the piece of the wall of the Ed

22:17

Sullivan studio the Beatles

22:19

were and they signed it with everybody else. So if he brought a flect over

22:21

one hundred grand and his wife went knots and

22:24

whatever, he eventually sold it for a immense amount

22:26

of money, just as the next generation doesn't

22:28

care anymore. So how do you know

22:30

that Stato page card in thirty years

22:32

is going to be worth? People go? Right? What

22:35

I call Brian and I go, Brian, we want you

22:37

to come on, But I'm not going to talk about

22:40

breaking bad. I'm not gonna I want to talk about your

22:42

card collection. He's like, Okay, Hey, we're

22:44

not going to talk about anything else? Is it? You know? We might,

22:46

but I want to talk about that that's what we're

22:48

talking about. We get so many more yeses.

22:51

Right, people are going, oh,

22:54

no one's ever asked me about that. Okay, let's

22:56

go, you know. And of course what we talked

22:58

about is when does it go from electing to

23:00

an obsession to then quarters

23:03

So that really is interesting if you had collecting,

23:05

hah, and then what's your collection? But then it's about

23:07

why why some people just you

23:09

walk through the house and they've got this collection in

23:11

that collection, and you're going, is that your identity

23:14

is the collecting is how you present?

23:17

Like what is that? And by the way, you're not

23:19

seeing them in his screen shot, but he's

23:21

got a room of snow globes. It's it's

23:23

madness. It's Jeffrey Dahmer madness.

23:25

They might have, but that's because

23:28

people won't find me he pants for my birthday.

23:30

They won't get me a shirt, a massage.

23:32

It's always a damn another snow globe.

23:34

It's like enough, send me money, send me anything,

23:37

a belt, anything, I don't want another freaking snow Yeah.

23:40

And then an earthquake, my kids down who lose downstairs,

23:43

drowning because they're all going to break the

23:45

dead and water water and glitter

23:49

if you don't wonder what happened until they

23:51

realize what happened. No, snow Globe

23:53

does first one. You guys, look back, this is a

23:55

new chapter. There's a bunch more coming,

23:57

but like podcasting is now a new chapter for

23:59

you guys in the show is already just freaking

24:02

awesome. Is it strange to look back and be

24:04

like, good God, I did twenty years

24:06

of really good radio or Jason,

24:08

like, seriously, I was involved with one

24:10

of the biggest ips ever launched

24:13

in the world. What's that look back moment?

24:15

Like? Or do you not do that? You're just like, no, it's the next

24:17

thing. That's what keeps me going, That's what wakes me up in the

24:19

morning, starting with you, Peter, how do you do that? I don't

24:21

ever look at that stuff because I don't like

24:23

people reminiscent look in book scraps

24:26

and stuff. That's sad to me. Plus I don't want to

24:28

see how much younger I looked in No Liver Sponsor. It

24:30

just I don't want to do that. But also I'm

24:32

always excited. It's like, already we got episode

24:34

two and I got It's such a full time commitment

24:37

because you wanted to be good. We're committing with two

24:39

million, two million. I remember I told you I start

24:41

from an insecure place my Oscar speeches.

24:43

I bet I can't do this again. So every

24:45

week is hell for me. Every week it's like him working

24:47

with Larry Davis. I can't do this again. I can't do this again.

24:50

So I'm excited by that. I'm excited

24:52

by this, Like we're talking to the head of the digital

24:54

division at I heart's pretty cool with my best

24:56

friend. Holy crap, what am I

24:58

looking back for? I just want to keep going. And then

25:00

I got to earn your love and affection every single

25:02

week because I know I'm going to lose it. And Jason, you

25:05

know, mine's a little different in that

25:07

I have to honor the fact that

25:10

many, many, many people who engage with

25:12

me or who approach me want to

25:14

do so because of something that I left

25:16

in my rear view mirror. And the

25:18

show was many many things to me, but it was many

25:20

many things to them, and they were it was a very

25:22

different thing to them than it was to me.

25:25

And part of my job is

25:27

to be grateful and honor what

25:30

they hold that thing to be

25:32

and if it is important to them

25:34

to share that experience with me.

25:37

I have to honor that importance and

25:39

make our interaction worthwhile

25:42

for them. So I am constantly being

25:44

pulled to go back, to look back,

25:46

to talk about what was behind me.

25:49

The truth is, everything I've done, almost

25:52

all of it, has been glorious. They've been many things

25:54

that were in some ways superior

25:56

to the Seinfeld experience, in some ways very

25:58

similar to the Seinfeld I honor

26:01

and cherish all of them. But the

26:03

way an actor lives their life is I'm

26:06

done. It's over. That was the last thing.

26:08

That was it. They'll never call again, I'll never work

26:10

again. When Peter called me to start doing

26:12

this, I was literally in retirement

26:15

mode. I was going, you know, the phone isn't

26:17

quite ringing, and the things that it's

26:19

ringing about are not that interesting to

26:21

me. I make ceramics, I've got a

26:23

studio on my garage. I'm happy doing that.

26:25

I teach acting, I'm happy doing

26:28

that. Maybe I'll just call my agents and go

26:30

thanks to the great ride. Listen. If somebody

26:32

really wants me, let me know. But I'll be in my garage

26:35

or in some studio teaching some kids. And right

26:37

as I started to do that. That's when the

26:39

phone started ringing and there was a movie offer,

26:41

and there's you know, episodic TV stuff.

26:44

My directing career started to explode. Peter

26:46

approached me with this, So to me,

26:48

it's always looking forward because I

26:51

literally have no idea. This

26:53

is Friday. I have no idea what's going

26:55

to happen on Monday. I've lived my whole life

26:57

like that, and it used to scare me, and now

27:00

I go, well, that's pretty damn exciting

27:02

because I've been blessed enough that if

27:04

nothing happens on Monday, that's okay.

27:07

But something is going to happen Monday or

27:09

Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. And

27:11

just living a life that goes I'm

27:14

here, I'm available. As Peter says, we're

27:16

no people. We did to say no, but to

27:18

just go say yes, say yes. Maybe

27:20

there's something in it that's valuable that you don't see.

27:23

Initially, I just did a small film with

27:25

a bunch of kids because the part was pretty good,

27:27

and they're like, we can't believe you here, and I go, well,

27:29

I can't believe I'm here either, but you know

27:31

what, you guys are serious about what you're

27:33

doing, and I'm having a great time, and

27:36

I'm learning from you and you're learning from me, and

27:38

you know what, that's all that matters. If the movie

27:40

becomes a movie, great, but doesn't.

27:43

We did this and this was great,

27:45

and so that's our experience of all this

27:47

right now. Awesome. I cannot thank you

27:49

guys enough for hanging out with me today. It's been

27:51

an awesome conversation and it's just

27:53

part of the course. These are some of the most

27:56

fun half hours I get to spend every week. Either

27:58

I think it's time to renegotiate, I

28:03

Magnet, Magnet, Magnet. Come out of Columbia,

28:06

the sum Georgetown's hanging with two guys

28:08

who barely got through college here he must

28:10

you go really and we're all doing the same thing. Thank

28:13

god for the drama kids. Thank you guys very

28:15

much, everybody, Thank you for hanging out with us.

28:17

This is the iHeart Podcast Speaker series. I'm

28:19

Connell, That's Jason, that's Peter. Please

28:22

please do listen to the show. But it's really funny.

28:24

It's also really really good at the same time.

28:26

It's called really No really, and we

28:29

will see all of you again next week. Take

28:31

care, everybody.

28:40

Pop Versations is a production of iHeartRadio.

28:43

You can find more from the biggest names in podcasting

28:45

on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get

28:47

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