The following episode was recorded before the WGA sag Aftra strikes of twenty twenty three.
Okay, everybody, this is a fun episode. My friend Phoebe Robinson is here. We met doing a show called I Love Dick. It's funny. When we were promoting this show, I was going around the country and there were some interviewers that I would do in the Heartland, and they refused to even say the title of the show, which her mom was awesome. They'd make me say it. That was the funniest thing. I was also a guest on her incredible show Two Dove Queens. We had so much fun.
We've laughed together so many times, and we'll be laughing today. So lean in and get ready to laugh. I'm glad you're here. Okay, So I'm here on the podcast with Phoebe Robinson. We have a lot of history we do. I think people would be surprised that much history we have.
We met when we did that Amazon show I Loved Dick, and I was so intimidated.
I truly was about saying the title of the show, or just in general.
Be around you. You're a legends.
I was like, I don't want to say anything. Dumb around Kevin Bacon like you wouldn't care. But yeah, and then we've just kept in touch. Yeah, you try to teach me how to be outdoorsy, and yeah.
We ended up in a tree in tamscal Park. I mean, how does that happen?
Yeah?
That was from my Comedy Central show Doing the Most, And I just had people on to teach me how to do stuff to get me outside my comfort zone. And I don't think I've become much more outdoorsy.
It was such a cool idea though. It was really fun and you know what, I had such a blast. But just to kind of set this up, Yeah, so as Phoebe said, you know, it was things to get her outside of her comfort zone, and in this case, it was wire work pretty much on ropes or i'd say rope work, being suspended in the harnesses, walking across stuff between trees like maybe twenty feet off the ground or something. I mean, yeah, I mean obviously there was safety,
but it was something that was kind of gnarly. I mean it was kind of scary.
Right, It's scary, but you moved like an avenger, like.
You were just just climbed up this tree.
Very old avenger and I was so scared. You were genuinely scary.
I was so scared, Like low, Ki was like, why couldn't have been like let's do cooking, like something on the ground.
Ye, spicy food. Yeah.
And then you remember at the end where we had to like jump off that little ledge in a tree and that I was like, oh it took me like five minutes, and like it took me what like almost an hour?
Yeah, didn't you have like your plans?
Yeah? I was like, okay, listen, I gotta sometime today, I'll tell you what I'm gonna go to dinner, And can somebody just let me know if she ever made it down out of the tree. But it was, it was fun. I had a good time and I did two dope queens.
Yes, that was. That was in l A too, right. That was so fun. Yeah, that was.
It was in La.
Right.
I had this idea that we were talking about Brooklyn earlier. I had this idea that it was in Brooklyn.
I wish, I wish it was. I mean, I love Brooklyn so much. But we did it I think downtown LA.
And it was that was super fun. I mean, and you were you know, you were a pioneer of this whole really podcasting thing that's taken off absolutely.
Okay, am I like as good as Rosa Parks, Like I'm on her level.
Yeah, yeah, you and Rosa Parks. Yeah, did she have a podcast?
You know what? She didn't try hard?
No, but you really were. I mean this like that kind of format and then also having it with a live audience. It's interesting now, how uh they that that that's also in its own sense become a next level of podcasting, right that that you go and you do this live thing.
Yeah, it's just one of those things where it's like anytime you add an audience to it, it just be I don't want to see it becomes dangerous. But it's sort of like you kind of don't know what's going to happen, Like you could say something off the cuff that like the audience really likes and it has you go down this path. And so it was so fun doing the shows, Jessica and I doing them live every other week in Brooklyn and La like it was.
I had the best time.
It was the coolest. And boy, I gotta tell you, I mean I've done a lot of live stuff. I started out in the in the theater and playing a band. So I've been in front of audience is you know, quite a lot, and you know sometimes you get that really dialed up energy. And that's what it was watching the two of you work that crowd. I mean it was it was flying, Okay, it was good.
How to do this podcast every week so you could give me some words of affirmation.
I can't believe how busy you are with all the stuff that you do, I mean a lot. How do you how do you do? Do you have like or do you use like the iCal and put everything in and and have alerts and do all that kind of stuff.
I have a color coded calendar, I have a day planner.
And filots if they stop making file effects when you were born and things.
Well, I find that like when I write it down, like I remember it more than just like doing it on my computer.
You do, so I try to keep it.
I have a g cow that I have a day planner that has everything in there, and then you know, I just I think it's probably the same with you. It's like if you love what you do, even when it's hard work, it's kind of like you don't mind as much and you're like, yeah, I'll just roll my sleeves and dive into that. Whether it's like acting or writing books or podcasting, it's like it's all fun to.
Me ultimately, you know, So you do love it. I do love it.
There are some days where I'm like, especially when I do stand up touring, where it's like, I've never been a person that's ever loved touring.
Do you love to tour?
You know? I liked it when I first started in the nineties with our band. There was a kind of romance to it. But the bloom is off the roads in terms of, like, you know, the actual travel and crappy hotels and like, I mean, I'm sure this is probably similar and it's a little bit of a rock and roll cliche. But I always love the show. It's like the rest of the stuff, And even if it's not a good show, I still love the show because then you go, I had this experience with this crowd,
this group of people. It's never going to be the same, and if it was not as good as it could have been, then I'm going to learn and try to make it better next time, you know, whatever it happens to be. But the rest of it has gotten tiresome.
Yeah, and I feel like I've gotten older.
I'm I need to have my routine so I stay centered. So it's like I need to wake up at a certain time and make sure I like work out and eat like the specific breakfast that I want to eat. And touring is so much of like you're slepping around forever. And I finally got to a place where I'm not staying in like really disgusting hotels, which is nice, but that really scarred me where it's just like I don't want to like like.
I didn't move around. Is you get a bus.
N Kevin, I'm not as famous as you.
Well, no, I don't have as either. No.
I do flights and some times to train.
And I remember when I did Edinburgh and twenty nineteen and I stayed at this hotel and I was checking in and I always just like check the sheets or whatever, and I pulled back and there was just massive blood stains all over the sheets and they were very unconcerned. They were like, well, it's not on the mattress.
And I was like, it's.
Been believing all of ye oh my god.
Wow, So it's not not my favorite WHOA yeah.
To what hotel, So Phoebe you have so you you you you stand up acting, podcasting. I'm interested. You're also an author, yeah, and so when you have a book out. I've never written a book, but I'm I'm assuming there's a lot of promotion that goes around that, right. What is it about writing books that? I mean, how many books have you written? I've written three, three books, so obviously you keep coming back to it. Yeah, and they're great, They're fantastic, by the way, I mean, But I but
what what? What?
What?
Why that? Because that seems to me like it would take a lot of time and a lot of energy both to do but also to promote.
Yeah, writing of everything I do is the hardest, and writing books is the hardest, which is probably why I love it because I kind of love challenges where I'm like, I don't know this is gonna be good by the end, but let's see. But I used to write all the time as a kid. I write these short stories and I was always a voracious reader. And so for me, if I could only do one thing for the rest of my life, it would be an author.
I love would you No.
I would do it from Brooklyn forever. But yeah.
I just find that book lovers are just like some of my favorite kind of people because you're just dorky in a way that they like don't even care. They're like, we just love books, and like we don't care, like how nerdy.
This makes us.
And so when you just share that love with other people when you're traveling, like, it's always really fun. So the promotional part of it is really great. And so I kind of missed it this last time around because of the pandemic. When't get to do like a proper book tour. So I was a little bit bummed about that. But the first the first two books, it was just like the best.
What is a book tour? Like, what do you do? You go sign it, go to the mall.
You do do book signings at different bookstores. I tried to do a lot of indie bookstores, and then you know, you have like I don't know, two hundred people come out, maybe three hundred people, and then you do like a Q and A take pictures, and then I always just end up buying more books. My apartment is thirty seven percent books. Wow, it's a lot of books.
Okay, I got it, I gotta I'm going to pitch
you real quick. A game that we just started to play, okay, which is really fun where you go up to a bookshelf and let's say you got like four or five people there, yeah, right, and you pick a book and you read what the description of the book is, okay, and then everybody writes the first sentence of the book what they've imagined the first sentence of the book book, and in the mix is also the actual real sentence of the book that the person that book picked the book.
We'll also write that down, put it in a big you know, hat, and mix it up, and then you just read them out loud, and everybody votes on what they think the actual first sentence of the book is. Now, it seems like a kind of a silly, dumb thing.
It's so fun, so fun, because people write the most amazing stuff, but you you would just be it's I don't know, it's it's really really interesting and sometimes you even so if somebody picks yours, you feel like, you know, and then if you get the right the right one right, you know, anyway.
That's cool. This is a game you created.
Did not create a note. We were at someone's house and after dinner. They said, you want to play this game and there's no winners. You know, I guess you could probably score it if you wanted to, But it's not really like that. That's just yeah.
Yeah, I like those kind of games because I'm competitive. I hate to lose, so sometimes it's not fun.
Yeah, well this would be well you if you really wanted to turn it into a competition. I guess you could maybe if you got points for getting the right one or something that. Do you love your name?
Yes, I really do. I think it's a very pretty name.
You don't meet a lot of black Phoebe's, so I feel I've yet to meet a black Phoebe.
Actually.
Do you know why I love your name?
Why?
Well, first off, it's just the coolest name. But and also I have it by way of comparison because I hate my name. I hate everything about it.
Why what's wrong with Kevin?
Kevin is an awful name? Kevin is first off, Kevin is now being used as a male Karen. I don't know if you're aware of that. Okay, so right there. It's not great. In England. Sometimes they use it as an insult, you know, like he said, Kevin. You know meaning like he's just an a hole. I don't mind keV.
But then you add to it bacon, which is it's a breakfast food, you know, involves slaughtering and curing pigs, which I love pigs, and you it's a there's a lifetime of of you know, insults around your breakfast food name. But the thing about this is what I think about when I think about Phoebe Robinson. I've got Phoebe Snow.
Yes, that is Jackie Robinson. My dad named me after Phoebe.
Okay, really, see, I don't I don't know if you told me that.
I never told you that.
Okay, Okay, that's what goes into my head. Phoebe Snow, Jackie Robinson. It's just it's a great it's a great name. Congratulations, Thank you.
There's going to be a great white Kevin out there, that's besides you.
There are no great white Kevins. That's gonna be. Maybe that should be. Maybe that should be my book, The Great White Captain.
I will buy that, I will publish that. I would do all the things. That's hilarious.
I want to know how did you come up with the name, your company and a book tiny reparations.
So that actually started as a little bit of a joke that Jessica and I had when we had towed up Queens, because I would always be like, Okay, listen, you and I like we haven't done anything to like truly advance black people. So like we're not going to get like financial reparations, but we can get like tiny reparations, like small things like a free like phone and a gift bag or something that's like a tiny reparation.
Okay.
And I just thought, with my production.
Company and my my publishing imprint, like I want to use both of those as like platforms for like other you know, under like represented voices to have their own platform. And so for me, it's like that's my way of giving back, Like that's my tiny reparation. Painting Forward.
It's a great It's a great name because it is both provocative, you know, potentially controversial, and also you know, knowing you, it kind of has a sense of humor around it, you know what I mean?
You get it, Kevin. If you don't write this damn book, I swear to God, should you should write a book?
Would you ever do it?
No? I would do Why not? Because I'm not a writer. You know, I can't write a three minute song. But I can't. I can't write a book.
We'll talk offline. But a lot of these people are writing their own books.
But yeah, no, okay, I don't know.
I think you should do.
I think you're very interesting. I think you're not overexposed, so people want to hear what.
You have to say. You don't think I'm over exposed, No, I don't.
I think you're in that sweet spot of being beloved. That's what I think.
M Yeah, well maybe after they read the book, that's going to wane a little once they see that I can't write it all. But thank you for that, thank you for that vote of confidence. I will I will start thinking about it. I mean, I guess my my resistance to it is a little bit like, see, your books are are different because they are specifically about like individual kind of concepts. You're not stopping at age sixty five and saying, let me tell you all about my
glorious life. You know what I mean. It's like it's like for me, first off, I don't think it's that interesting. Really, I mean, it hasn't been you know, there just hasn't been stuff that's that interesting in my life. And I also kind of feel like it's a little I don't know, it's just not my thing.
But also money, you know, like you would get a lot really Yeah, hang.
On, hit the cough butt in.
That sweet case.
Yeah, tell me about your involvement with Red.
I'm curious, Okay, I love talking about Red. I could talk about it all the time. So growing up, two things people who know about me. As a teenager, I was obsessed with you too, probably started at age thirteen.
I know that, Yes, you know that.
And I would always after school, I would come home and watch Oprah like many people do. And you know, I always sort of follow like Bono's sort of like philanthropic work. And then he was on Oprah talking about Red, which he co founded with Bobby Bobby Shriver. And you know, first of all, Bono is like just a brilliant, brilliant person, biggest heart. I was hoping he's gonna be my husband, but he's just like married to like the best person ever.
So I started watching this great show called.
Badis his daughter's daughter.
I didn't know it was his daughter, and somebody somebody told me, oh, yeah, that show is banging I love that show anyway, go ahead, and she's awesome in it. Yeah, if she's listening.
What this family too talented? That's what I gotta say that we gotta bring We got to bring them.
Down a notch.
That's what this podcast is really about. No, No, it's okay,
but yeah. So, you know, I remember Donald talking about Red and just sort of like raising all this awareness about fighting AIDS in Africa, and you know, of course we all remember like the Red Gap T shirts or even like now have like the red like iPhone case, and it just really I think I've kind of always come from a do gooder family, like my brother does works at a nonprofit in Ohio called Reading Partners, and so I really just resonated with the passion that he
expressed about Red and sort of like making sure that we keep fighting the injustices that are happening, making sure that people can get the medicine they need to stay alive. And I think one of the things that really stuck out to me about Red is that they partner with other brands to raise his money, and people can buy certain Red theme products so they can feel like they're participating. But most I feel what I love about RED is that it's not just like okay, like you give this money,
you like save a life. It's about making sure that people have really full, nuanced lives so they can go on like have families, be teachers.
We have like a lot of them become global health workers.
So if you have someone who's in this fight on the ground, like they have all this knowledge that they can then help continue this fight. And so for me, it just always felt like this is an emergency. And I think sometimes people can feel like, Okay, yeah, we've talked about or we've heard about it, let's move on, and it's like no, no, no, no.
We have to keep the foot on the gas.
And I really love that RED is making sure that we do not forget how much of an emergency it is to fight HIV and AIDS.
That's amazing. Well, I want to bring on Jennifer Lo Tito, who is the president and coo. Oh what a coo Chief Operating Officer. Yeah, I've read. One of the things we'd like to do on this podcast is we do have, you know, famous people who care about things, but we also want to highlight the work that the not famous people are doing behind the scenes. And on the ground because it is important work. So tell me about yourself and how you got involved with this.
Well, first of all, I want to thank you so much for having me here. This is a dream come true. You guys have known each other, obviously, we've never met. I can now say I have one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon. I'm sure that's the most annoying thing anybody says to you.
Yes, annoying.
I mean the podcast is called six Degrees. I mean, I can't complain too much.
Okay, Well, I'll also be the name of his book that.
Phoebe will be ghostwriting.
Yes, there you go.
Oh that'd be great.
No, I'm a huge podcast fan, so I'm really excited to be here today. Uh yeah, I mean I got into this. I started my career in advertising, and I spent my time from voting everything from an American Express card to General Motors Trucks IBM, and I sort of felt like, what am I doing small children at the time, and I thought to myself, this is just making money for the man. And I thought, how do I take my skills and use them for something good? And the irony is that what Red does is so marketing and
creative focused. As Phoebe talked about, this is about getting the man to make the contribution. So when you walk into an Apple phone and you buy a red iPhone instead of a black one, it's going to cost exactly the same, it's going to work exactly the same. But when you choose the red one, that makes Apple give the money. I think that's kind of genius. And when you think about it, and when.
Bond, how long has that been going on? By the way, so.
RED was started about sixteen years ago and I've been doing this for about fourteen so it's been a long time and it's a very unique model. I think there's a lot of things out there, whether it's Newman's own or there's a lot that's happening when you think about corporate social responsibility, which I hate that name, but what RED wants to do is go in and talk to
the marketing and creative geniuses at these companies. We know they're there and we want them to be fighting on behalf of the world's port and that's what we're doing. So when I left the advertising business and came here, I knew I was going to be able to take my skills and apply them to having the impact that Phoebe just talked about. So for me not only as being here today a dream come true. I like to think that my job is too.
How do you think that celebrities such as Phoebe kind of fit into this mix? Because I think sometimes it's a touchy kind of, you know world. I think a lot of times, you know, we take hits for being sort of peripherally involved in things and also for using this you know, kind of cause based side of your life as a way to you know, pump up your image in some kind of way. So how how does that this is really for both of you? How how do you feel about the way that celebrity can interface with causes.
It's tricky and it's gotten harder. I would say all celebrities are under a massive microscope, which is a good thing and a bad thing. I think Red never wants anybody to join because of the celebrity factor. But then at the same time, right, you want everybody to have integrity, You want everybody to do this because they believe in
the mission. I think that's a little Pollyanna. I think you've got to get you need people like Phoebe and others, and we've been blessed at Red to have this, and you know it comes from our co founders that have helped enable this.
You need the heat.
You need the heat that people like Oprah, as Phoebe talked about, that they can bring to this issue. Unfortunately, we live in a celebrity obsessed culture, so we need that to get people to give a hoot. As Phoebe said, also, it is people are tired of AIDS, they're tired of talking about it. They want it to just be done. Unfortunately, it's still a crisis. There's still twelve thousand people dying
every week of a disease that's preventable and treatable. So you know, there's nobody that should be dying in this day and age in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three. We know how to stop it, and we know how to suppress it enough that you can leave lead along healthy life. We need people who can help us tell
that story, and that's exactly what we're doing today. But that's also you know, whether you're George Clooney or your you know, Julia Roberts or other people, we have been blessed or Oprah Winfrey, other people we have been blessed to help get our message out there. After sixteen years, you've got to keep doing it. And I think for us, what's also really really important is that, unfortunately with AIDS, as we saw with COVID, there are marginalized communities that
are being affected more so than others. So whether you're LGBT, whether you're young women and girls, those are people who we need to connect with and we need to support, and we need to get people to care about and that just gets harder and harder. So you need people who are invested, and you need brands that are invested. I don't want a brand to come to me and say I want this is when you know the phone
call is just going to end. I have this great idea, I want to give this much money and will Bono come and sing at my party. No, that's that's not strategic. That is one off. That's very opportunistic. We need people who are invested in this for the long haul.
It's interesting because that is a very very different ask than actually believing in the cause. And yeah, it's it's it's it's it's a it's not just quit pro quo. You know there is a different There is a different approach for sure.
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What is the focus right now globally and what does the actual work on the ground look like.
So the reason why Red focuses in Sub Saharan Africa sub Saharan Africa is because over two thirds of the cases of HIV that's where they live. So that is where the need is the greatest. It obviously exists here, It exists here in New York City, it exists in Washington, DC and other places. But really, when you look at the problem now where the majority of the cases are.
So we need to get into those countries on the ground in Africa and get people tested if they're positive, get them on treatment, and making sure that if they're a HIV positive mother, they're on treatment, their baby will be born negative. But also if you're on treatment, there is almost a triple whammy because you end up being healthy and can live a healthy life your partner, your viral load is suppressed to the degree that you're not passing it on to your partner, and then if you
have children, they will be born healthy. So we really need to get out there. We've got to get people tested. We've got to work on programs that are addressing stigma issues that are stopping people from getting tested. We also have to recognize the impact of COVID. Over the past two years, you can see in clinical.
COVID increase the amount of cases of AIDS or decreased.
What I would say is it's impacted the progress of HIV AIDS because people were not getting tested, if they were fearful of going into a clinic because they might get COVID while they were there. Sure they need if you are jav positive, you have to stay on treatment every single day. They maybe weren't going in to get their meds, and so for us there has been an impact. And also your healthcare system is taxed. We saw this in New York City.
What about the manufacturing of drugs.
The manufacturing is continuing. We just got to make sure that we're getting people to get on the drugs and stay on the drugs. You know, Phoebe and I were recently in Tanzania, and you see these stories of health systems that just are not able to keep track of people and you've got to adhere to your treatment and that's really critical. So what we're seeing on the ground is really great progress that may be stymied by COVID,
but we know how to do this. We just need to keep that foot on the gas and make sure we're doing that.
Peve, tell me about the trip to Tanzania.
Yeah, so I've been lucky enough to go twice.
I went due to trips to Africa with Red and twenty nineteen I did Zambia and then we did Tanzania, like very recently, And for me, what was always great about it was, yes, you could see, you know, the impact is having health wise, but then it's like you meet people who get on the drugs and then they start their own businesses and so then you can see that it's not just about staying alive, but it's about having a long, rich life, and so for me that
was always very powerful, especially seeing women overcome so much strifed to now be financially independent, to be up to date on all things in terms of their own health and passing that information along. And so for me, it's always a very enriching experience to go, oh, yeah, that's right, Just this one pill radiates out and like it can
help rebuild a community. And I think that's sometimes when Jim was talking about people getting feeling the fatigue of talking about AIDS, it's like we have to stay invigorated because it's like we don't want these community needs to die out. It's not just one person, it's tons of people. And so with both trips, I felt like going to the hospitals, going to these women led businesses, going to these after school programming programs that are teaching young kids
about sex and sex health. I mean, it's just it's like once in a lifetime experience, and I think once you go, there's no way you're not going to be passionate about it.
Well, I think you mentioned something and I and you mentioned it as well, which is the educational piece of it is also like super important. I mean I've heard, you know that people have just a complete misunderstanding of both about the ways you can get AIDS and whether what the what the ramifications are of it. Not to mention the stigma of shame. I mean, I would think that there has to be a lot of kind of training around that.
But I think when we were in Tanzania, we went to this very rural Massi village and we met a father there whose daughter was HIV positive, was in a terrible marriage. He was supporting the daughter, which is unheard of, so the daughter ended up leaving her husband, unheard of in the Massi village that we were in, and then helping everybody in the village understand, hey, there's a clinic down the street, down the road, you need to get tested.
There is treatment available. You know, in a lot of these very rural places, there's herbal medicines or remedies that they think about and it's like no, no, no, no, you got to get in there. And so what's incredible is to go on the ground and see that there is these types of small impacts. When you think about a tribal leader, a village leader and him talking about I want my daughter to be safe. I want her to be in school, I want her children to be in school,
and I want to tell everybody about it. That is pretty unheard of, and that's the type of stuff that you're not going to see anywhere. And I think you know a lot of us we've lived this. We've seen it, you know, in the eighties and nineties, and we saw the entertainment industry, in the theater industry decimated by this virus. We're not seeing that. We see people who are HIV positive in their living their lives. But everybody should have that opportunity. And that's really what we're focused on.
Yeah, that's amazing. Can you tell us what the call to action is? I mean, anything specific that people can do to reach out and help.
Absolutely. I think we live in a digital age, so it's always about going to red dot org. We are always about buying red products. If you walk into an Apple store, there are red jeeps. Also, there are red fiats if you're in Europe. I don't know if it will be heard in Europe, but red jeeps, red ram trucks. We've got, like I said, Apple watches, Apple products.
Does this mean that they've agreed to give a percentage of the money sold on that phone or that truck.
Exactly exactly.
Yeah, I mean I wish there was a Yeah, I mean that. Well, I mean this is how we're doing it. Yeah, folks, ask ask for your whatever it is in red. Yes, red looks great. Red dot org. And you know what if if you wanted your phone in a different color, just put it in a case.
Put it in a red case, exactly like Phoebe's got right here.
I have a purple phone inside a red case.
Well, it should be a red phone inside a red case. But we'll work on that.
When we leave, Phoebe, I've just been kicked out.
Yeah, exactly, but no, I mean going onto red dot org. What's really important for us is people to follow us, hear about the latest news, so that when we launch new products, they can hear about it and see them and buy them. And at the end of the day, that's what this is all about. In September, this makes me nervous to even say it. In September, when the world came together for the Global Fund replenishment, the Global Fund being the beneficiary of all our money, we stepped
up with world leaders. I think we were the fourteenth largest pledge amongst other countries, and we pledged one hundred and fifty million dollars to be generated over the next years. We've already generated seven hundred million, So God helped me. We have a lot of work to do, but I am thrilled to be working with Phoebe and others who are helping us do it.
That's so great. Well, you know, it's interesting. I mean when I think about this, this idea for this podcast. You know, Phoebe, you were you two fan and then so you were pretty much checking out everything that Bonna was doing, including being on Oprah where you heard about about red and therefore got involved. So it's it's a pretty good example of the way that celebrity, you know, actually can have a positive influence. And I mean, if it worked for you, you know, I mean, it's I
think can work for other people too. I think it's I think it's really it's really cool and it's really impressive about it. We just want before we close out to let you guys go, But I want to ask you both if you can think of what was the what was the moment or was there a moment when you decided that doing something outside of just taking care of number one. You know, was something that you wanted to get involved with? Was it your parents? Was it Bono on Oprah? I mean yeah.
I mean I've been doing comedy since two thousand and eight, and you know, when I started working with Red, I want to say in twenty seventeen, and I think around that time, like two both the Queens was starting to pop off, and I was doing some writing stuff, and you know, I would get these messages like, oh, I listened to the podcast and it helped me and my sick mom get through like the holidays or what have you.
And like you get those messages, you kind of go, oh, I have a platform here that it's not just like, yes, people listen to laugh and be entertained and forget their problems, but it's like people could also potentially listen to what I have to say and that could make a positive impact. And me already being involved, being obsessed with Red and bonoing you too, I was just like, is there any
way that I can help? I will do whatever, And so I really just came knocking on the door and I said, what do you need of me?
Like how can I get involved?
And it's been in great relationships since, and so I feel like, for me, I just am in a place where I'm like, I have such a blessed life, such a lucky life, and I just want to make sure that I'm giving some of that back.
I don't want to hoard it all, you know.
And Jen, you mentioned that you were kind of, you know, working in corporate America. But before that, was there something in your childhood or that that sent you down this path? You know.
It's interesting because I grew up in Boston and it was actually I was raised the opposite. I was raised by I don't want to say a concern a family, but my family was very much of the pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You don't need the government, you don't need to take any handouts. You're just going to get it done yourself. And so I actually grew up with the opposite, and I thought that's the way everybody was.
And then I met my late husband, and he had a mom who had MS and he was living based on government support because you know, his father worked in a printing factory and they did not have much money and his mother needed twenty four seven care. And I realized in that moment. This isn't about handouts. This is about they have this incredible family and all of them came together around his mother, but what they were in a tough situation and thank god the government was able
to help them. And what's interesting is then my parents met my husband and his family, and I would say, now, my parents are totally diff They completely understand. They loved Mike and they loved his family, and you know, they were just in a horrible circumstance. That's nobody's fault. And so I think that was the moment where I thought to myself, what am I doing? And also having kids, I think when you are going to leave all day and be at a job, you want it to be
something that you love. But it's also want to be something that your kids can look up to you for. And for me, Red provided me with that opportunity. They know that when I go on a trip to Africa and I when they were really young and I was doing that, that was hard, but I felt okay about it because I saw the impact and I want to hope, even though they're cranky teenagers, I do want to hope that it made an impact.
It did it?
Did I hope.
So yeah, it did.
Yeah. I want to say one more thing about RED that I really love, if I may course, But I think one of the things that really resonated with me and maybe want to get involved, is that it's not a charity.
It's not like you says about handouts.
Is about justice and sort of right sizing everything and giving people the opportunity to be educated so then they can then stand on their own two feet. And I think that, to me is what makes RED so special, is that it's not about having people being dependent on Red.
It's about being like, here's this information, here's this knowledge, here's this money, and now you go forth and build the communities that you want to build and to empower people like that I think is really important is how we're going to beat.
This and just going to take my job and it's all good.
Well, speaking of jobs, when you go to work tomorrow, what are.
You going to do when I go, Well, World Dad's Day is on is on Thursday, So I'm going to probably do some media and I will talk to our partners and make sure they're doing everything that they are that they can to get out there and spread the word about RED, just as we're doing, and also bringing new brands in. We've got to really engage people and bring in new audiences and all of that is a way to get people to care.
Soies. Besides, if anyone who actually has a brand is listening to this, that's another thing you can do besides buying a Red iPhone or Reggie. If you're a brand, you can you can get in touch.
You can write to the brand and say why aren't you a Red partner?
There you go, there you go, And what's up for you? Thieves? What's next?
Oh gosh, my brage is chrismas Christmas?
Yeah, relaxing.
I have an idea for a romantic comedy nice, So I'm going to write that and then I'm going to start back doing toriri and stand up. I haven't toured since twenty nineteen because you know, obviously COVID shut everything down. Now I'm ready to get back on the road and tell smart dick jokes.
Okay, I like it. Twenty twenty three, twenty twenty three, Smart Dick Jokes, Phoebe Robinson, it's the Smart Dick Jokes Tour Ladies.
Yes, there you go, that's the title in a thousand.
Yeah, Thank you guys so much. This has been really fun. Thank you appreciate your being Hey guys. If you want to learn more about RED and its current initiatives, or if you are a brand that's interested in collaborating with them, head to red dot org. You can find a link in our show notes, and if you like what you're here, make sure you subscribe to the show and tune in to the rest of our episodes. You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you can get your podcasts. We'll see you next time.