S3 - Ep. 39 - Tawny Newsome

Are you leading? I? You want your way back home?

Either way, we want to be there. Doesn't matter how much baggage you claim and give us time and a terminol and gay a.

We want to send you off inside. We wanna welcome you back home. Tell us all about it. We scared her? Was it fine?

Malborn?

Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride? Do your need you ride?

Ride?

Do you need.

With Karen and Chris? Welcome to Do you need to ride?

This is Chris Fairbanks and this is Karen Tilgareff.

Hello, my friend Karen.

Hello Chris, how are you?

Did you do anything today prior to this recording? I would like just business things, business things.

Zoom calls, you know, nothing really that exciting or fun.

Yeah, I g but thank you for asking.

Of course, you know I always want to give you the chance before I, you know, steamroll it with my possible snoozefest of a story. But I think it's actually a good one.

No.

I think this one's good because I just saw it on Twitter. The Is it about the people sending you pictures from your old newspaper?

No? But that's something.

At least there's finally proof that they used to put my home address. Yes, everything a kidnapper would need and the prime kidnapping time of the early eighties.

Just so everyone, if you haven't heard, which I feel like we've talked about this one hundred times, but in his hometown newspaper as a child in Missoula, Montana many time times, multiple times, probably under the age of twelve, and several times from his memory when he would talk about it, his full name would be in the newspaper and his address and his parents' names. And somebody actually found these pictures and like a newspaper, like, what's the word for it, clipping?

No, No, the online Library.

Of Newspapers Crowfiche, I think, yeah, somehow they found it and some digitized what I could not find because I was told by the librarian that I would be searching for weeks if all I knew was it was nineteen eighty. So I was like, that's the juice thing worth the squeeze, right, But someone.

But a listener did it right? Did it instead?

And I thought at this point I thought I'd just been making up that. I'm like, maybe I was wrong, Maybe my address wasn't put in there, but it's there, and it's amazing that I'm here today.

It's amazing.

Yeah, great job.

But also this listener found four items from the newspaper. One was a picture of Chris as like a twelve year old or a ten year old reading to an old lady at an old lady's home.

I forgot about that one.

Amazing and very touching. There was a poem that Chris wrote that was really good, a lot of mentions of blood. Yes, and I thought, I was it's about the color red.

It's about the color red.

I just kept reminding the reader, blood is red. Hey, it's what we're made of.

Yeah. Then's two pieces of art, one a little more on the juvenile side, and then one where you won an art contest. And it was an incredibly realistic drawing of some.

Dog, a dog with a Santa hat.

Precious.

Yeah, yeah, it was nice to see it again.

I feel like as a kid because I'm confronted about my achievements because I'm looking at our guest today and everything she's done, and I was about to cancel. I was asked to sing with my friends in a punk band, and there's a lot of songs, and it's one show, and I have to learn all these songs, and it's going to be.

A lot of work.

And I was about to bow out or just say, hey, I'll do three or four of these songs. Someone else can sing the other one. But now I want to do it. Now I'm taking the challenge because our guest today has got her foot in so many doors, and one of them is just a singer in an indie rock band just as a side thing, and I'm very impressed.

And I just was listening. It's very good, like I would say alt country nice.

And so anyway, I'm already influence by today's guest. I'm going to go through with this possibly embarrassing punk rock concert. Great all songs that I could barely annunciate quickly enough to keep, like Dead Kennedy's Buzzcocks, songs like that that I am not that familiar with. But I'm going to do it because Tawny has inspired me.

Well, Chris, you do it every time you start the intro, and then you just stop doing the I know is do the intro.

Okay, Well, speaking of today's guest, we might as well let her in.

Because that's who we were actually talking about.

Clubs in colleges. No, I'm kidding. She is a well known actor.

She's in a lot of shows that I love. She's in a band that I mentioned called Four Lost Souls. She's got multiple podcasts, she's a former rodeo champion. Landed her now for our guest today, Tawny Knewsome, Thank you.

I do want to set the record straight. I am a former Rodeo Future Champion. That was the ribbon that they gave us when we didn't have fast enough times to place.

They called us future champions.

Oh it like that.

I was kind of like everybody participated participation trophy.

Well, hey, you can't.

You can't win if you don't play, And I consider myself a winner just for showing up.

Okay, do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you just contigue, You didn't start, You didn't go to Chicago and start doing improv, you stuck with rodeo.

Do you ever have dreams.

About man where you could have taken the rodeo circuit.

I think I would have dominated and been the most toxic bit you've ever met. Yes, can you imagine me like just whatever the fuck I am. Can you imagine that in rodeo, I would have made it my mission to be the best, and I would be horrible as a person.

Well, because there is that kind there's that piece of rodeo. I grew up a tiny bit around it because I was like in four h and stuff, and we did a lot of stuff at like the county Fair, and so we saw there was a lot of trick writers that you'd go to see with your family at night. And it was like I wanted to be a barrel racer between the ages of like eight and I didn't say fifteen. I mean that seemed to be amazing. And the thing about especially female rodeo stars or rodeo people

A part of it.

In the eighties, sure, and it just seemed so glamorous and like you would have to be evil.

Oh your right to the.

Top, because not only are you the beauty queen, but the horse is also the beauty queen, and they have to have perfectly quafft hair. I remember one event I did. I was doing like color Guard, which is like four we girls on horses and you have flags and you do a whole thing. And we had to paint our horses hooves and we all decided on the color and size of glitter that we were going to paint their hooves. And there's like a big discussion how sparkle.

It was going to be.

And I think that's ultimately what took me out of all of it, because I was like, wait, this doesn't feel like a fun, dusty sport in my backyard.

This feels like a pageant and that is creepy.

Yeah, a horse pageant. Oh yeah.

And they get no say in what color their hooves are going to be.

No, they have thoughts and feelings.

And style, they have their they want to express themselves.

Right, nobody asked the horse, ask the horse.

I can see the power going as a rodeo person because you're also controlling a big, giant, muscular animal like that.

Yeah, that power would go to my head.

Yeah.

I have one little jump rope that controls up fifteen hundred pounds beast, and I make it do whatever I want it to.

Yes, that's insane. That's gonna make you a super villain.

And those barrel racers, like they basically go around those barrels on a horse so close to the ground that it almost looks like motorcycle racing, where there the whole thing is tilted to the side Like that is a seriously difficult, dangerous, unbelievable, amazing thing to compete in.

It's it's big, and as you round that barrel, you have to try to not be distracted by the clown cowboy that pops up, which is what I always wanted to do in the rodeo.

I think we'd all right now, we'd all make great rodeo clowns. I think that's the only if I had to get back, gun to my head, had to get back into the biz, that's the only position I want.

Yeah, well, I don't know.

That's wouldn't it be the most I would rather be in the color guard, right, because then you just you're only holding onto that flag with one hand, right.

Oh, no, you're doing choreography with the flag. Yeah, you gotta do and you gotta be in sync. And there's bitchy girls next to you who are mad. It's very like travel soccer meets like the most rescue dog mom energy of all. Like a horse is basically like the rescue list of rescue dogs. So it brings out that kind of person. It's it's a toxic world and I miss it. But I've found my own new toxic world and it's called comedy. So yeah, I feel much more at home.

There comedy, and there's a little chance of who the do you know? With comedy you can't get gord.

That's very true, well emotionally or.

A competitive flag girl next to you, she might poke it with her stick, with her flag stick.

With her flag called both they called verbal flagstick. Yeah, huh.

I found the best your glamour shot from I maybe it's for color Guard, but you had the gold fringe. It's like, oh my goodness, the most perfect photo. Yeah, I did a little You're going at glamour. It is a oh it's foggy on the edges. It's a beautiful. It's very everything a glamour shot needs.

What tona can?

I just ask you, how did you get into rodeo? Like, where are you from? And what is that?

What led you?

Yeah?

I grew up in Vaccaville, California, which is you know for Pedaluma.

Yeah, I know you are moments away. Oh man.

We wanted to be as cool as Pedaluma. We wanted to be like foggy and mysterious. We were just hot, and we had an onion festival, so it.

Was not.

Just every day onions.

Just so many onions.

We did have an outlet mall No, but so Vacaval's kind of like a little like Vacco's a little country, even though it's close to the Bay Area. It's very like conservative, it's very it's very horsey. So there was just like horseshit to be doing. My mom like made a friend.

You know.

I feel like we were in that phase of like single mom and me, Like she was like looking for hobbies all the time. So it was like karate for ten minutes, clarinet for a second. Maybe we're really into aquariums right now? Okay, now horses and I just started taking lessons and you know, we were what I like to call horse poor, which means you always kind of like had this community of people who were trading animals around based on who could afford to feed them at the time.

So we weren't really like buying a lot of like horses.

We were more just like, oh, well, you know, Audrey can't take care of Jay anymore, so you're gonna get to ride Jay for a while. So then I just kind of learned and was not great hence the future champion of it all, but developed a real affection for the animals.

They're sweet, sweet animals.

It would be hard to ride Jay for a little while.

And then you gotta take the horse back and remove all the polish on its whos And because you want to have your own horse.

Yeah, you got to strip the varnish off when you give the horse.

Sure, you always gotta strip the horse. It's called not ride rode all day and hung up wet. That's it's a varnish reference. A lot of people don't know that.

I actually when I was like I think about seven or eight, because my aunt and uncle who lived next door had a very small farm, and so there was a one evening where my mom was particularly tired from work, and I almost convinced her to get to let me have a horse because my aunt had the acreage and it was the same thing where like we were in four h so there was it would have been not hard to acquire. Although I had no concept of the how truly expensive.

I mean like it's just next level. It's next level.

And my cousin Stevie, who was like five years older than me, he was like a champion sage rider. So I was like, well, I'll just start doing what Stevie's doing.

He can teach me. And like the I don't know however I did it.

I almost she was like actually considering it in front of me, which I knew meant we were way further down the decision chain. Like you know when you start learning how to really manipulate your mom and you're just like, oh, I've almost got her here.

This is amazing.

It was teach me to be so responsible yet I mean coming out with bullshit or it's just like, of course, i'll take care of it.

Every day, I'm already doing blah blah blah.

Yeah, And I right as I watched her almost say yes, I was like this is insane.

She's listening to me.

Like I came into this awareness of like I can actually make her do stuff that I want to do. Yeah, but then ultimately she the next day, you know, somehow my dad got in the conversation.

Yeah, was hell no, she.

Came to her senses or she watched you, like, say you were going to vacuum for two weeks straight and then not do it, and she was like, yes, child, cannot.

Have a horse.

There's no way because they're also you have to know, uh, it's not a casual animal to.

Have the least or casual animal.

Maybe maybe crocodile maybe, but like after that, I think it's worse for most maintenance least casual. A horse is semi formal at all times. Cocktail is semi formal at all times.

Zero cash, yeah.

Real, but yeah, like but with crocodiles, there's a whole lifestyle that yeah did here.

To Crocodiles are black tie for sure.

For sure, you got to wear those a safari type hat.

Yep. Yeah, the tension never goes down, like you're not always scared, always.

Always on a high alert.

Yeah.

Yeah, I find it amazing because I grew up in Montana, and all of Montana is fairly rural, and I always had access to horses, and I never once sat on a horse until I moved to Los Angeles and just talked into taking polo lessons. Oh interesting, and these horses are so well trained that and I'm terrible on a horse. I know, for how because of how sore I was for days, like I couldn't walk. But I swung the mallet.

Idea of the horse kicking the ball for you.

Out of the kid.

I missed the ball and the horse kicked it with his back foot and was like, oh, yeah, we're doing it now, and like you did that for me.

See that horse knows that all of these lessons are ninety minutes long, and like the the Sooner, he could just keep you moving, keep you happy, keep you from doing something weird.

Ask for him.

Yeah, he was making it easy on himself.

God, I hope that horse really did accept my apology.

I think so. I think most of them do.

You're a true cowboy. The day that you know a horse accepted your apology. I've always said that.

Yep, it's a code. It's a code amongst us.

Do you feel like your experience in the rodeo has informed your later career in comedy, Like do you think that you learned any lessons in your early rodeo, because I would say that would be like first passive show business. That's about a show business. I mean I mentioned shots.

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Taught me to take a bang and headshot.

Just a real ripper of a fuzzy edged picture.

Is a good one.

Probably helped me navigate, you know, a toxic climber type. I definitely think that, you know, that was my first taste of because I didn't play any other like sports. I didn't do any other like really activities other than like drama club and my drama people were pretty chill, so this probably was my first taste of like, oh, hierarchy and you know that sort of social thing that I in competition.

Yeah, like it's deeply competitive.

Yeah right, so that probably trained me for improvisors, Yeah, that's for sure.

Well.

And also I would think just anything having to do with courses, it's money, money, money, So it truly is like that being aware of the thing that you're most of us are raised of, like ultimately you have to be a good person, and it's like, well, then why is the rich girl who's not a good person in charge socially of what we're doing?

Like yeah, yeah, And there became a little bit of a weird thing too, where we were exchanging work a lot of times for lessons, so I was like doing I was trading, like you know, working in our trainers' stalls and stuff like that. So I was like taking care of her horse and she was teaching me. So the dynamic just gets weird because you're like not on the same footing as everyone else, and ultimately just it it became too expensive and my heart wasn't super in it.

So I think my mom was like.

This is a lot we're gonna We're gonna move to town now and not have to wake up at five am every day.

Oh yeah, of course.

So yeah, I don't know why horses going eat so early. They should try intermitt in fasting or something.

It's very annoying.

Can they don't if you don't feed them, they'll like kick their stall door down or whatever.

Like, yeah, I took care of you, go out. Yeah, I took care of our neighbors horses.

And I was in fifth grade, I think, or either fourth or fifth grade, I can't remember.

But it was a full time It was like a full time job.

I had to go in the morning and I had to go in the evening and walk two horses that had just been sitting in these stalls, feed them, walk them, and clean their stalls out.

And it sucked.

So it was so much work that eventually I was just like, what am I doing this for?

Yeah?

I think it gave me a real aversion to chores, which is not great to be like an adult woman now and not enjoying chores. But it's because I did the like my share of them. I feel like in like nineteen ninety eight, So I don't wanna do anymore?

What is the event called? And I did?

I have vague memories of doing this, but me and four grown men chased a baby was it a sheep? And I held a bucket and they tried to milk the sheep and I just was crying. I was crying because I was horrified and I felt bad. The animal was screaming. But I held a bucket and they shot milk into it, and then I remember we we did not win.

That's what is that event? Is that knowing event? I don't know.

I know so many white things, and I don't know what that is.

I'm so sorry.

I really like, I really know a lot of white things.

You can ask me about Star Trek, you can ask me about talking heads and I'll go deep.

But I don't know what this sheep milk bucketshit is. I'm so sorry.

It was It's just was an exercise in me learning to say no.

I think is what that was good?

I almost like a county some sort of county fair event.

It was not a main event. It was after the kids on sheep.

It was one of the sure and then you you tackle and there was a guy that lasted the sheep's legs and the sheep did not enjoy it. And then to add insult injury, we were starting yanking on that sweet animals utters and and I just want to apologize not only to that horse, but to that sheep.

If you're listening, they can't.

I'm very sure you don't think we have any sheep listeners.

You never know, you not that one, not the one that matters, not the one that needs to hear it.

When were you in they talking Heads tribute band?

Or how long did that last?

Jump? I gotta talk. I gotta talk about it on every podcast they do.

I got to.

I get the word out. The people got to know.

I did that from maybe like twenty ten to twenty twelve or something like that. But they were some friends of mine in Chicago who have a lot of different bands, but at the time they were doing a Talking Heads tribute and they needed an extra singer to come and be good to old Lynn Maybry and they're stop making sense recreation, and we did it and.

It was super fun.

So we like recreated the whole thing with like the lights and the costumes and it was a dream. So yeah, kind of toreed around at them for a while learned all the songs is Chicago?

How you got connected with Four Lost Souls that band?

Yeah, so that was so I was doing a play based on the music and writing of John Langford, who's a founding member of UK band The me Cons, and I did this like two person play and it was weird and strange, but John would like come to the rehearsals and so then John and I became friends from that, and then I just started working with him on his solo records, and I think it was after I'd moved to LA he started working with another close friend of mine who've made a lot of music with Bethany Thomas,

Are all of those people in that band in LA or do you have to travel to play with them?

No, they're all in Chicago. But we also like don't rehearse.

We just kind of like we get together when we're going to record, and you know, we play some gigs and we work out some demos kind of remotely. But I mean John's been doing it so long and I've never really known him to be one to rehearse much of anything. So yeah, we all just kind of we just kind of figured it out in the studio, which is a luxury for sure.

Yeah, and also the me Cons are such a legendary band. I'm sure he has an audience that shows up and supports no matter what.

Oh yeah, that's saying like i'd watch someone read the phone book, like I think I've literally seen Langford read part of a phone book like he He was the efficient at my wedding, and oh wow, I told him, you know, my husband never like, we want a short ceremony, we don't want much, and he's, you know, he's one of my best friends, and so I was like, you know, us, well just say whatever. I was like, we want like

That became my.

Favorite term for like you're just kind of winging it, like you know where you are, but not not super specific.

You keep I've been down the same street going back up. You're like, is it on Elder? Is it on Elder or ash?

That is so cool that you are in that band and it's just one of your side projects.

Yeah, I mean it's it's got to be. It doesn't pay enough to be the main project.

You I suppose, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Being in a band, I feel like every musician I know, no matter how famous they are, they're like, this is a hobby.

Yeah God these days, especially unless there's some you guys got to get on TikTok and get one of those TikTok songs.

Going, Oh my god, I feel I already feel like I'm made of dust. I feel six thousand years old. Every time I post a TikTok, I'm like, is this what you want?

Children? I don't know.

I yet barely.

I just post old things like I'm trying to get one started, but I know I look at it once a week.

I look at it, but I don't post anything. I don't I don't care to be a part of it. I'm just an audience member I like and you thoroughly enjoy it. Yeah, I don't care to do part of it. I just want to watch what all these wonderful, brilliant people are doing and saying to each other. And yeah, I think it's a really good version of social media, the version of these that I'm seeing on my mete, in my algorithm, in my feed.

But I just don't. Yeah, as like you said, I feel too.

Old, and I'm not trying to like like Chris Chris, you know, like here's my stand up comedy. You can come and see different pieces of it. You can also share it with your friends or whatever. Like, I just don't really have anything like that.

Yeah, it took me a while to realize that was part of Tikknok and it wasn't just lip syncing and dancing. And at Yeah night I realized that. I was like, oh, there's a bunch of comics. I know that I have more people coming to their shows now because of TikTok, right, which it's like, am I going to miss out on this? Just like that YouTube craze.

That I thought would go away.

Thought would blow over.

I also, when someone was telling me you you should really got on TikTok, I was like, I don't want to do a bunch of like Torso dances.

I don't want to say that it's all just Torso.

These children they don't have a hip to shake to save their life in this generation, and so they're just flailing their arms and I was like, I can't do that. But then I realized it was a good spot for BTS stuff for Star Trek because there's so much cute shit that happens that we do with Star Trek that I was like, Oh, this is a place to put this and I can just make it.

That and not worry about it.

And I also look at it about once a week, so I feel like we've reached a we've reached.

A stasis me and TikTok.

Yeah, yeah, that's perfect for are you multiple characters on that. It's an animated Star Trek show, right, forgive me, I know that much about it.

Yeah, it's Star Trek Lord Decks and it is. Yeah, we're the first Star Trek comedy. We're the first animated comedy, and we're starting season three that drops like this week, depending on when people hear it. But no, I mainly just play Mariner and then occasionally there will be like a little alien somewhere that our showrunners like, do you got like a weird voice for this little guy?

We didn't cast this, And I'm like, sure, that's great. Yeah, gotta love an animated job. Man, Oh I love it. I love it so good.

Yeah, that's another way I'm so envious of you. It's the sweetest gig ever. I don't know why I always say you show up in your sweat pants. I don't know why that seems so luxurious to me. You don't have to worry about the pants.

You don't have to worry about the pants. People aren't thinking about the pants. I have noticed, like my footwear is really important in there, though. You have to be very comfortable because you are kind of like standing and I can get a little lock need because I'm like staying there for four hours just screaming at a fast pace. But other than that, there's no other like wardrobe requirements.

It was a trip, but it was really fun.

Yeah, that is so exciting.

That's I wonder it was the director like, were you getting a specific kind of note about your performance that had that was reflective of your voiceover performance.

So the director was Jonathan Frakes, who, for any Trekkies, Noah's Riker.

So we were like geeked at.

I mean, I'm a lifelong Trekie, so I was geeked the hell out when I heard that it was freaks doing it. And so we had a couple of meetings before we started rolling, and he was just like, you know, we want to like figure out the tone because Strange New Worlds is very much like a an adventure Star Trek show. They are funny, but they're not outright a comedy. And I was like, yeah, I don't want to come in here just like a cannon of bits, a water cannon of bits and jokes and like bulldoze over their

So yeah, it was.

It was an adjustment, but I think we worked it out. I don't know, we'll see in twenty twenty five or whenever the hell it comes out.

Yeah, having a job like that with a Star Trek is probably scary getting because the fans are so watching hard and they're so dedicated. It's like a whole scene that you're I would hate to mess that up.

In my mind.

I would feel like, oh, they're going to see right through me, and I'm not going to be treky enough for the fans.

Oh I mean, I will.

I guess I'm a little lucky because I'm just as bad as they are. So I'm bat bring it, you, bunch of nerds. I am you. You're not going to point out anything I didn't already send my showrunner a feverish midnight email about being like, oh, I'm the continuentity. Doesn't make sense because in Deep Space nine this happened. Do y'all have anything like that? Or you like Star Wars heads or Marvel heads? Do you like a fandom?

I'm not, and it's weird.

I'm always surprised that I'm not into comic books because I draw that way. I'm an illustrator and i like that style of drawing, and I've never once owned a comic book. Like people always assume that I'd be into the Marvel world, but.

I'm just I'm not.

Yeah, I should be. Maybe it's never too late to get into comic.

Trying to convince you I don't. I don't need you to be into comic.

After we're done recording, just because I'm getting all this heavy pressure from you, I'm going to go to a comic book store.

It's really important to me as a real comic head. Myself.

I knew that's why you asked.

But Chris, you would say, wouldn't you say that you are that way about skateboarding and skateboarders.

Oh?

Yeah, I nerd out actually the other day.

I and it was so embarrassing because I just went to Walgreens to get toilet paper and they did that thing where they just add the handles to my twenty four pack of toilet paper. I'm just walking with it like a briefcase out in public.

Mid all the day.

Not that people don't assume we all have bowel movements, but you don't like to parade it around.

Like you don't briefcase it.

Yeah, you don't briefcase it.

Not at home.

I was wearing a suit too, all business.

In a monocle. Where'd you get that monocle?

Yes?

Yes, go I go period with my with my business people. But I heard this voice. I was like, ooh, is that Chris Fairbanks. I looked at it was a car full of kids and p rod Paul Rodriguez, the comedian's son, is a big time.

Pro skater that skates.

He has its own Nike shoe and he's very successful skateboarder. And he was in the car, and he said, is that Chris and I nerd it out in a way that I don't think I would have.

If it was whatever?

Why do I just always say John Hamm as the example, or you know, or a comedian that I look up to, or any but sure, the fifteen year old in me when I saw it was p rod I really nerd it out and got very excited, and I finally found a place to brag about it right here, So I'm glad.

I love that.

Yeah, this is the place I like when somebody I like, when you have a like the person that makes you freak out is not in your industry.

I think that's right.

Yeah, And oddly he is sort of connected because his dad has been a stand up forever and I used to work for a show where we'd interviewed skateboarders and snowboarders and.

They were both on it together, p.

Rod See or Paul Rodbriggs junior and senior together. So I guess that's how he knows me. But I was very surprised that in track.

It was.

It just made me feel really cool and yes, in the nerdiest way possible. I got very excited and I wanted to tell people, and again, thank you for giving me that chance.

Right now, I'm here to provide you with a platform. That's what I came here to do.

Toank you.

Really well done, really really good.

Thank you.

Thank you for hosting this really well. That's been my show.

You catch every Wednesday, make.

Other people feel good about themselves.

Thank you catch us every Wednesday.

Right here on. Do you need a ride?

Yeah?

Have you thought about turning this into a multi camp you want to?

Just? Yeah, okay, great, I think that's I think that will be best. That's the next move, Chris. I kind of wanted your anecdote to end with you getting so excited for seeing p Rod and him saying your name that you then shout on the sidewalk and then.

Yeah, I got it.

I worked with your briefcases.

Yeah, I mean I'm holding these. I might as well, you know.

I just looked at him and held it up and said so embarrassing, and then they all drove off laughing.

So it worked out. It worked out. I gotta laugh and they drove off, But yeah, okay, good.

It's very And he actually seemed happy to have spotted me.

Really, I don't know if I mentioned that he had pure.

Joy you follow him on social media.

I did him later and said it was great to see you out in the streets.

You did, yeah, he replied.

So now we have a little pen pal thing going anyway, you know enough about me and pee Rod.

No, that's really cool. Look, you put yourself out there right yep, And maybe we shouldry to book him on this.

Uh, the thought had crossed my mind. He's very funny. He's actually on a show called he was on that that biopic about Selena. Oh, he was like a member of her band, and he's starting to act in things. So I know him to be an interesting, funny person.

So we'll talk later about other guests.

Yeah, let's not do it in front of our current guests. I'll call her book him. Okay, you come back for when he's on. Yes, i'll produce the segment. Thank you. Yeah, a movie. You know.

It's funny because I was trying to think of if I had an answer to your question of being like a super fan of something. And this might be my negative mind and the way I process the world around me, but I always think of the things like that that were forced on me by others.

So like I had a college.

Roommate who was obsessed with the Next Generation, so I've seen all of them. And she also had her nerd friends over who all also were obsessed with it, and they would like watch it and fight and you know,

The people that I lived with.

You're describing kind of a non consensual fandom. You're describing kind of a secondhand fandom that was not your choice, And I thought.

It's very little sister, you know what I mean, Like you don't get the remote control, so you'll just watch Three's Company because that's what your sister picked or whatever. There's a lot of that kind of passive like, oh, well, this won't be worth getting hit with a brush over.

So forget it. I'll just let this be the decision.

And I would if you didn't let me occasionally bring up skateboarding on this podcast, you know, I'd be coming after you with that brush.

It would be serious to let people have their way. Yeah, I can't think of I can't think of anything nothing you're super fan about, Like are you a cook? Are you a I don't know why I gotta get at this. I gotta like find the thing that.

You're like, you know what I could annoy someone to death about is this?

You know what it is?

And it's I mean, it's not like a it's not that interesting, but it just.

I really love British television.

Oh we're talking like a like a marchella, like a broad Church, Like are you being served?

What we talk in?

All of it is true range Like I could talk about all three of those shows right now. I was actually making a joke to somebody the other day about how I can tell like on Prime where all the shows are listed by the network or the app that they're from, and there's a couple of those that they don't just have British shows.

So there's like.

Brit Box or Acorn, but they don't just have British shows. They also have Australian shows, and I know which ones are Australian on site and I was bragging. I truly didn't realize I was trying to brag. And then as I was saying and I was like, what's the point of talking about this right now?

And because Kyle, who is a guy.

I work with who I was telling it to, goes, Wow, that's cool.

And then I was like, oh my god, oh my god, this might be like.

The final step of like you know, COVID personality problem where it's like I actually said that, like it's interesting and it is not.

Oh, I know, I know that feeling so well where I have been explaining something about Star Trek or something about some obscure band thing that I learned that I'm like, surely the person across from me wants to know these details, and they want to know the details behind the details and how I came by the details. And then their response is always just like wow, okay, and that tone makes me want to just I want to fold into myself like a stray sock and just hide, because yeah, they didn't want it.

I would rather. I would rather they be like shut the fuck up, or well.

Now that you mentioned i'm gonna take I'm gonna keep an eye out. But like trying basically trying to It's almost like trying to recenter the conversational vibe of out of your weirdness and back up here to normal.

That's kind of how it feels.

Yeah, you're like, oh, I didn't realize, okay, and I'm just like, shoot, I did it again.

Yeah, Like they're trying to have like a little palette cleanser. They're trying to take a quick little shot of coffee just to kind of yeah, right, let's get back to something we all know and to care about and want to talk about. Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot. And you know, I don't know that I'm going to stop.

Yeah, don't, don't, please don't, yeah, don't ever stop right, Well, because then we won't have podcasts.

I mean exactly what podcasts are.

That is what a podcast is is the thing that you can't bother your friend with in person, you do into a microphone.

Yep, were you just a guest on YO?

As this racist?

And then did I read that correctly? Then Andrew asked to join you. That's a sign that you are a very good guest.

Right, I think she is a good guest so far.

I know what I'm what I'm driving at is, will you please take my place?

On?

Do you need to ride?

Chris?

I've run out of stories, Karen, You and I both know it.

No, you have stories, Glow, You're still writing stories every day.

I'm once rewording. Also, Okay, you know I've done the research. Twelve percent of every podcast is going you know. I may have told this story before, but and that's.

We have to accept that.

It's okay because there's new listeners every day.

Yeah, I was a guest Andrew and I became friends, and then I was kind of like popping off a lot on Twitter. And I think he was like tired because he'd been doing the show for so long by himself. And you know, it's a tricky like needle to thread because it's a comedy show. We take voicemails, but like so he would always be alone and then having a guest come on and depending on the energy of the guest, y'all know how that can go.

It's just not always like a vibe.

And so when you're talking about something tricky like racism and trying to be funny, Yeah, not always having a vibe just didn't make for the most fun experience.

For him, and it would be exhausting to ride that line. And that is what I read is he said, I'm tired. Will you help come and join me and help them be less tired? Yeah that's yeah, that's so great.

Yeah.

So now we kind of just, you know, we do it together and we don't always have guests, and we have like a little we have a very lovely friendship together where I'm just like happy to talk to my friend each week and then marginally said that it has to be about racism, but you know, at least we get to hang.

And is that podcast? I mean, I feel like it's been around a while. Yeah, has it? When did it start? Do you know? Offhand? Sorry to ask a question like that.

No, that's okay. I don't know the date. Maybe it was like twenty twelve or thirteen.

He might have started.

It might have been longer ago than that, and then I joined in like twenty eighteen.

Yeah, yeah, because I was going to ask, but I didn't want to ask if you if it hadn't been that long, but I felt like i'd remembered it, like, oh, that's kind of one of those stallwart podcasts that like it. It started and it really caught fire, and people really liked that it was getting that that kind of conversation was getting airtime because it's like, finally, it's not white people talking about well, we've decided racism is.

Over or we've decided this is okay.

And it was finally like people themselves, you know, of people of color, of an experience, actually being the ones leading the discussion. And I was just going to ask, do you feel like the discussion changed when we were all in quarantine and when the Black Lives Matter protests happened and those the big movement really kind of started to see some real like right and movement real effects.

And racism has sort of been on parade in the last couple of years.

I love that Rage against Machine song.

Yeah, anytime I can'de lyric.

No, No, you're absolutely right. Yeah.

You know, it kind of goes in waves of like people's attention kind of wanting to talk about these things. But definitely in the summer of twenty twenty, I mean, we saw a spike in listenership, so we're like, oh, cool, nice to be, you know, wartime profiteers. That feels great, But it was like, what we did notice was that,

To me because I'm white? And you know, then it ranges to more serious shit too.

But what we noticed, what I noticed is that there was much more willingness and openness to have some of these conversations amongst white folks, like the conversations that I would previously just kind of keep in a in a black and brown group chat. Suddenly, though, like white producers I worked with on set, We're wanting to talk about these things. And after the initial like gag for me

Able to do the goofs well.

And I feel like that is such a great point to make of, Like, I think people want to go to the place where they can hear about experiences or stories or call ins or whatever and just hear other people kind of theorizing or saying what they they personally think.

What are you doing? Who thought of this? This is the worst idea, But.

It had already gone, So everyone kind of did it because they thought this is what we're quote unquote supposed to do, but they were doing it based on kind of like a social media rumor.

And yeah, clogging what could have been information.

Yes, and like it was just things like that where I started watching or there was one where someone and I think these were troll moves, but who can never say. There was one where it was like white women always pick you know, like the actual people emojis. They're like they're always picking white people for their people emojis or whatever, and you just watched every white person only use yellow, the yellow first one that.

You pick, like the Simpsons one yet.

Right, And also like that is going to impact fucking like on the ground racism, you know what I mean. Like it's that thing of like everyone wants it to be that simple, like oh no, see, I use the rights, I'm.

Off the hook. I'm doing good. That is funny.

We do get a surprising amount of calls about those emoji colors. When those emoji colors rolled out, people were shock. People are confused. We get biracial people. I'm biracial. I identify as black because, as my dad told me when I was a child, don't nobody care about your white side.

You look black.

So I use like a real a Median color. But we get biracial people who call in and they'll be like my friend told me that the color I'm using is too dark?

Am I trying to pass for lighter? Blah blah blah.

And then we have white people that call in and they're like, I'm uncomfortable by all of it. I just want to put the blackest one on there, and we're.

Like, no, no, no, don't do that.

So I feel like I feel like our show is the good kind of like low Steaks area for people to hash out those things that are bothering them. Because you're right, it doesn't mean that it's going to lead to a reduction in police brutality against black and brown people, or maybe in some incremental, tiny way of just everybody getting more comfortable with these conversations. Maybe it does. But yeah, no, we're not heroes. We're a comedy show. And truly, the

What a nightmare.

No, yes, do you think.

That guy was being sincere about the talk about Yes?

Really was.

He was distressed.

He was like, I just I don't want to call them out, but like they're doing this to me and I want spicy sauce.

Just say it.

Then he didn't want. Oh, we get a lot of scared whites. We had a lot of scared whites that are worried they don't want to tell a brown person.

You know. It's a lot of that too.

Yeah, I want to hear more of them. Are some other memorable voicemails.

That, I mean every Christmas we get the like the Zvarti Pete, you know, the black face Santa the Netherlands black Face Santa one. Yeah, and those are just like, yeah, this sucks. I don't know what you want me to say. We get a lot of like my white coworker always wants to bring up the fact that she has a black husband. How do I gently tell her as a fellow white person, Like nobody wants to hear this.

So there's a lot of like that's a good one.

Navigating little weird stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know.

Sometimes I hear these voicemails and they go into like a file in my brain that's like, once you're done with this podcast, you never need to think about this again.

So it self destructs or.

Something, so you just talk after they've left the voicemail. It's never in person with these people that you have to respond.

You know, the only time we've done that is in our live shows. We've just we've been doing a couple of live shows this summer and we'll invite people to come up to the mic and be brave. And with this one in Minneapolis recently, this man, first of all, I roasted him so hard because he said, my girlfriend's mom, you know, she's like an older lady, she's gen X. And I was like, I want to punch you in the fucking face. First of all, your girlfriend's mom is gen X. I don't want to know. I don't want

Yeah, that is really digging the bottom of the.

And as a gen X person, there was I feel like back then when no one talked about anything, and literally there would be articles that would come out on the paper of like we're post racist America. There was all kinds of like crazy, you know, kind of corporate declarations of thank god, now the Barack Obama is the president, we never have to worry about racism again, like that kind of shit, where like there were people who cared and were paying attention where it's like.

Yeah, where is your where does.

Good sense and and hyper sensitivity for being one of the only people representing that kind of even it's light attention. Yeah, that's a Spike Lee joint where it's like if it says it on the movie poster.

Aren't you allowed to say it?

Like you can say it? Lady lady scared? You're so nervous. People be nervous these days, you guys. People don't want to get stuff wrong. People don't want to I mean with everything, with everything. Do you feel that, Because now y'all are veterans at this, at talking and at being yourselves on a microphone, do you has that gone away for you? You know, sometimes you get a guest on who's like very nervous about what they're saying and how they're presenting themselves.

Do y'all. I just feel like your audience understands you and you're chill with it.

Now.

I always think that I can screw things up. I'm never that comfortable. I still get nervous before I sit down to do this, and I think it comes from a healthy place, but yeah, no, I'm not comfortable. I still get very nervous to do this.

Is that though, because you want to be funny, Because that's like a different anxiety, right.

Like yes, and that a lot of it is coming from there, like I win I or when I'm trying to be funny and I just trample over Karen saying something thoughtful.

I've been no toed. We've already talked about that a bunch.

But I'm like, I will try and get a joke out at all by all means necessary, and that includes interrupting my co host and or guest.

But that's twenty five years of stand up comedy green room experience that doesn't go away. Yeah, just because we're all on a zoom, Yeah, it would be I also think it would be different if we were all in the same studio right now. Like the interrupting thing I feel like is zoom related very much? Because none of us have a sense. We have to anticipate like three seconds ahead, where if we were sitting around each other, we would know when somebody else wanted to talk.

We would feel it.

Yeahah, I can hear you when we're in the car.

I can hear you inhale as if about to speak, you know, there's a little.

So should we be doing a heavier inhale?

Yeah, just get right up on the mic if you want to say something, No, me first, loudest inhale first. Well, and also I think having my favorite murder from my experience, having my favorite murder where we had no fucking clue what we were doing, and we suddenly got big and we're talking about very sensitive things insensitively or just kind

I never forget parade. We had a parade. It was great and we felt so much better after it. Yeah, yeah, that's so funny. Yeah.

I think about that like balancing act. I feel I feel like it's a balancing act for me in terms of like being open and remembering that I need to listen to folks and having sensitivities to that, but also having a real knee jerk reaction that comes from the trauma of being a woman on the Internet and having like comments that are usually just men telling me I'm wrong about some Star Trek thing or about some you know, Rolling Stones thing that I.

Posted or whatever.

I'm dropping things, and so then there's that very last pissed Yeah I'm going real sheehol can hear it?

Just absolutely trashing my ouse.

But yeah, there's a there's a weird thing where sometimes I have to really take a pause when I get a Twitter comment that's like correcting me in some way, because I really have to examine, like where's this coming from. Is this just someone dying to be right about some minor detail that they're usually wrong about, especially if it's from one of those topics I just said. All the people correcting me on Star Trek are so often wrong that it just makes me. I'm like, what do you think?

What do you think I do?

But anyway, Oh, it'll be like they're correcting something using Google later on that you say off the top of your head during the podcast. Right, that's always my favorite. I've done a little research, and I'm here to let you know.

I was.

I don't do any research as I speak. I just don't have that capability.

I'm sorry.

I also am like the first one to be like, I'm not an expert, guys, blah blah blah. But then out of the side of my neck, I'm like, but I but I kind of am. Just listen to me, I'm right about this, or at least I work for the people who know.

And I asked them, yes, so did you pursue acting on that Star Trek and animated series?

I didn't know. It just got lucky, Oh wow, lucky.

It was not a dish it was a little voiceover all dish that's so perfect.

It was great.

Yeah, because I had a little code name, so I didn't know it was Star Trek. And I never thought Star Trek would do a comedy because it's always so you know, it's these like morality plays about being human. And at the time, the Star Trek shows in existence were Star Trek Discovery and I believe Picard maybe hadn't aired yet, but we knew it was and uh yeah,

Please let me play like an alien. Let me just like be in the corner. I'll do whatever.

And so I went in and it was a waiting room full of famous women, just like all the famous comedy women. And I was like, oh, no, goodbye, I'll never get anything here. And I started to do the sides and then I made some comment to the showrunner was in the booth, Mike McMahon, and I made some comment about the sides. I was like, oh, I love that you put in this like reference or whatever, like clearly trying to flex that I was a fan.

Right, I was going to ask if you in the audition, like I have something to show them that you knew what you were, because that's great.

No other I have no other claim to any other franchise like this. I don't know a shit about Marvel, I don't know shit about Star Wars. So I was like, this is the one place where I can actually be like, wasn't that funny how they made Deanna Troy where I jumpsuit before they give her a uniform, and and Mike the showrunner was like, wait, are you like a big Star Trek fan? Can you just like improvise a bunch of Star Trek shit at the end of the scene. Oh wow, Like I sure can, buddy, give me.

The chance in that moment where you like, I think I'm getting.

This, No, I still was concentrating on all of the famous women that I had just been watching on my television were sitting in that reading room.

Who was in there, Dish, I'll tell you off, like, I don't want to beat them.

I beat them, Chris, Yeah, yeah, that's right.

But they didn't.

They didn't give us the script ahead of time, so everyone was in that waiting room frantically trying to read the script, and I got there late because it was

God, that's really cool.

I get to be like part of this world. And I was excited. But it wasn't until the table read. I showed up to the table read and saw that my script was in the center of the table that I realized I was the lead of the show. I was so trying to qua cool, but I was like, wait, what, how what?

So I'm sorry.

Before you walked into the huge conference room where everybody is on the first day of a table read, which if you haven't and most people haven't, it's really one of the most thrilling and exciting and kind of like inside show business experiences because everybody that works on the show is sitting in chairs around the table, and then there's a table some sort of table configuration with the cast acting out like the pilot episode or the first episode.

Yeah, you thought maybe it was one of those great alien voices on the side or something like I.

Think, you know, I think I knew she was a regular, and I was like, this is great. I'm like in the crew somewhere, but I hadn't been given a script and I didn't know.

I just didn't know.

And it's funny that like literally in the center of the table was my script, and then right next to it was the script for the person playing Boimler, who is now my good friend, Jack Quaid, and we we kind of both looked at each other like, wait, are we like important to this thing? Because I think he had the same moment of like, oh, I don't know, I'm like in this thing I'm doing. You know, he'd worked some, but Jack is younger than me, and I don't know that he had had as many like voiceover

We're like the top. I think we're co leading this thing. I don't know.

It was so it was very exciting.

I love that. Yeah, that's so exciting.

And it was two months later, like that's a long time to wait, it seems like, but I don't have that much experience with that.

Maybe they hired somebody else and she's self distracted, you know, just shit the bed.

Maybe yeah, well, hey.

And that person was Jennifer Garner.

I'm naming names. I'm here to name those names in the room. She was there, she had gotten everybody gifts, everyone loved her. But then Paramount said, nope, that's not said.

What is she doing on there?

Out of here?

I remember when that because I believe I follow Mike McMahon on Twitter, and when he started being able to post about the show, I kept looking at it because I was like, wait a second, a Star Trek, an animated Star Trek series that's comedy. Like I couldn't get it through my head of like wait then this must be because I just kept thinking there's no way the Star Trek franchise would let them do this, so this

Yeah, they let him. It's amazing.

And I've only seen like a lot of the movies from the Shatner nimoy era, but I remember a lot of What's Someone where they get whaled, the Voyage Home. I think they take whales on Giant Space that had jokes, lots of jokes.

And like they're hello, computer, come on.

Inspiring radio radiohead to then oh sorry, I'm sorry, but yeah, I feel like there was always a joke or a funny moment in old Star Trek episodes. But maybe I'm also don't know what I'm talking about. And I believe I said track and not track. Once Tig was on and I was like, how long have you been on Star Treck.

She's like, it's U and nice quiet for the rest of it.

Oh that's a perfect that's perfect to get that from Tig. What an honor? Yeah? No, all that shit was funny.

Yeah, yeah, there I there's good jokes in there.

I was just thinking about it. That's another forced fanship from childhood, not just in college. But Star Trek was the show that came on after cartoons but before the news, so it was like it was a way we marked time during the day of like right after school, we would watch cartoons and then sometimes it would go into like Three's Company or whatever, the syndicated sitcom. But there was also in the mix in because it was Channel two, right, Tawny,

Oh yeah, yeah, where the fog ends, right the.

TV signal changes when the fog is gone. Well, but we.

Basically basically I had a I think I have a cannon uh knowledge of the first Star Trek because we watched it. We would not stop watching TV even if we didn't like what we were watching, because you didn't want to stop watching TV. So I've seen every single Star Trek of the original series multiple times because it was just on reruns on Channel two forever and it was on after cartoons, so you're just like, we'll wait through this and then the something else good Will come

Really I remember, okay, like I all of them.

Actually, I remember that one that so creepy. I really didn't like it for me. The Mash.

I watched episodes of MASH and that that theme song which is so depressing even without the lyrics, which are indeed depressing, But that meant my parents were coming home. My mom would start vacuuming immediately. It was time for me to be told what to do around the house. Had I had my couple hours after school before my parents got home, and matched that MASH theme song meant that was the end of it, and I didn't want it to end, so I would.

Sit through MASH. Yeah, a procedural.

I never enjoyed an episode of MASH, and I think I've probably seen all of them.

Oh that is so real, sitting through something just so that you didn't have to go to bed. I think that's why I watched like all of Married with Children when I.

Was far too young to be watching that, just.

Because I was like if I don't sit here silently, I'll have to go to bed.

Oh that's so terrific. So that's lower decks. Yes, yes, yes, Parent with Anyway and Paramount Plus, which is the streaming channel that seems to be coming.

Out ahead these days. Yeah, in the streaming wars. Who knows, I don't know these streaming wars.

Have you all taken up arms and are you prepared to defend your master in the streaming wars?

I'm choosing the Paramount Plus is my master. Just because Netflix is going into the shitter. Wow, Okay, their numbers are way down. We know what happened to HBO Max. That's true, you know, like I have been.

Weeding themselves out.

I'm an Apple TV guy just because there's only ten shows on there, and I feel like I have a nice control over. I've seen everything on It's insane to me that there's I'm like, that's it. That's all Apple TV. And if you're listening Apple TV, I'm very sorry.

I'm not. I'm just there's not a lot of shows on there.

You've seen everything, You've seen the Fraggle Rock reboot.

Of course. I started watching it and abruptly stopped.

I'm just checking. Sorry, sorry to be a well actually.

Guy, I want to see what the dozers look like, if they were still the same little that was my favorite, the miniature construction workers.

That was my favorite thing, the dozers.

They're really cute.

Yeah, they were adorable.

I am prepared to defend my master Paramount Bluss, so I will be on the front lines with you, Karen Nice.

Yeah, okay, good, because it's it's the best choice.

Is there anything else coming out? I notice you're playing Mariah Carey in something and that got me excited.

But you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.

It's not I don't know what that. That was a favor I did for Paul Shecher. He's say, can you come to the valley? Can you come to Chats on a one hundred and ten degree day and dresses Mariah Carey for time?

Okay, gotcha.

I don't know what it was.

For all I knew it was like a biopice Okay, cool, cool, wow, No, you know.

That's just a reflection of what good research on the least does for us, where she's like, here's some interesting things.

To talk about.

Yeah, I know, And then I try and find my own stuff, and I I dropped that Mariah Carey steamer there.

I'm sorry, everybody.

Good. Look, I wish if anyone's listening and you have the rights to Mariah Carey's story, I am available.

I cannot sing like her, but I will do it.

No, you're sick, you're six. You're close to seven octaves, right.

Yeah, I got at least that's three.

That's all I know about Mariah Carey is she is seven octave singer.

Three is closer to seven than one, So that you're right. It rounds up, it rounds up. It's sure. No.

I just did a few episodes on Physical, your favorite on Apple, your favorite streamers, so that's super fun. But no other than the strange New World's crossover episode that I'm super pumped about. Yeah, live action track is where it's at. Man. I was like, man, if I could just show up to work every day and work on a bridge and move fake buttons and sliders and stuff, that's a dream.

We're pretending that you froze for a second. We're pretending it didn't happen. But I have to address it. I always have to because we didn't hear what you said, but I just had to say something. Karen backed me up. She was frozen.

Yes.

And also what she was basically saying, which I think by context clues now tell me if I'm right or wrong, is that it was really fun to be on the live action Star Trek version that you were doing because you got to actually be on the set.

Yeah, and that's the dream. That was the dream.

And you both did pass my test. Thank you for I do this test with everyone. I intentionally freeze and then I make us out what I'm talking about.

Are you listening? Do you care?

You just kept your body very still. That was amazing physical comedy work. Wow, that was amazing.

I studied under mister bean.

Oh Rowan.

This was a I think I would give this a B plus. If not an A plus.

Wow, well but yeah, no A minus though plus.

So I feel like as is insulting. It's like either let's do this thing or let's.

Yeah, you know.

Yeah, I'm going to say it was an A. You were terrific, Tony, I.

Yeah, I agraad have not.

I don't have a rating system. I'm kind of like more of a monossory type podcaster. Sure, so I'm just gonna give you guys, like a learning, like a sunshine and like a beautiful original song.

That's that's how it fell to me.

I love I love stickers and yeah and me and.

So that's what this was.

So thank you you've been listening to Do You Need a Ride?

D y n they are. This has been an exactly right production.

Produced by Analise Nelson.

Mixed by John Bradley.

Our talent booker is Patrick Cottner.

Theme song by Karen Kilgarret.

Artwork by Chris Fairbanks.

Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at dinar podcast That's d y n ar Podcast.

For more information, go to exactly Rightmedia dot com.

Thank you, Oh You're welcome