How you doing out there? It's me Tigger and Duc Wayne Duck. It's me Bunker's keep Bobcat. All right, y'all? Is it great? Your favorite firefly you desire? Hold the old knock Gud. My name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In. All right, everybody, welcome back. This is another episode of Tuned In with Jim Cummings. Today we have Austin Saint John joining us. Thank you very much for joining us. My pleasure, my pleasure. Good to be here. Man. Yeah, we're here
in New York City. Yeah, are you? Where are you from? I'm an alien baby. Actually I was born in Roswell, New Mexico. Yeah, but yeah, see you can't see his third eye. He's always got that sea famous hat on. Yeah, and a few other funky things you know, in places we don't talk about, that's right. But yeah, dad was a marine, and I grew up around the world, and I lived in the Middle East for four years. Now I'm living in Dallas. I'm basically the hobo Ranger. I'm everywhere here you go. I don't
think youngsters today know what hobos are. No, you're right, it's sort of like being homeless but cooler. Yeah, I think that's a good wit. Yeah. Yeah, they had the sticks with the bag and yeah they would yeah they yeah, that was cool. Yeah, And do you know
what that was called? No. I can't believe I actually know this because we actually when I was a kid in Youngstown, Ohio, Lap of luxury, we lived about a half mile from the railroad track, and guys would walk up and ask like, wow, we got right into this, didn't we. And they would ask for do you have any hard attack or any bacon left over from blah blah blah, how about some tobacco? And my dad would go no, no, and yes, but no, you know,
and and they'd be back on their way. And they actually had a bindle stiff, a stick with a big rag with your stuff in it, just like in the cartoons. That is so cool. I know I kind of thought it was. And maybe not. My parents worked too is about it at the time, right, because it's a little too much easy access, But damn, it just made for a good story. I don't think I've told that story in about sixty years. Bendyl stiff. That sounds like
something that would have come out of like Rumpelstilskins. Yeah yeah, well probably that's cool. Yeah, things I didn't know. Yeah, introduced by Master Cummings. Yeah, lousy luggage, but cool story. Yeah all right, I left my luggage. Oh there it is that stick. Yeah. Oh man, well welcome, So glad to have you. Yeah, I'm glad to be here. I didn't know you had something so cool going on. Man, I'm glad to be a part of it. Oh good. Yeah.
Yeah. Well Chris is pouring everything into it and he's crushing it, so right who ray who ray? I like it all the time, every time out of the park. Yeah, yeah, I really liked the studio this is. We found this today and it was like, man, I'd really like the setup in here. This is a cool little rig man. Yeah, I go yeah, yeah, you even got the soundproof room. That's better. Oh yeah. We're right across the streets too, from the forty forty Club. You know the forty forty Club, I do not.
It was like a famous club where like jay Z and fifty Cents and like a bunch of guys, like a bunch of rappers back in the day with like you know, partying there and it just closed down apparently last last year. Wow. Yeah, but it was like an iconic part of New York little R and B history right there. Yeah, absolutely cool. Yeah, okay at me getting educated? I love Yeah. Do you remember the Chappelle episode with Rick James, Rick James, the famous line that was will not
repeat in front of my son, but I love that. Yeah yeah yeah, Rick Dames. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah, right across the street there, Okay, all right, that's awesome. Super Is that where the word was born? I don't know, but I'm just
glad the word was born because it's a favorite of mine. Yeah. Yeah, man, You's signed a lot of that at the table, do you you know, every swot and I get, somebody comes up to the table and they asked me to write something, uh, virtuously creative, and every so often I'm like, okay, just for you know, for entertainment.
Usually it'll be you know, some of my fellow fire department guys, or guys that you know, we're all brothers of a different mother, and so anybody from the fire department I'll do extra things for, or guys from the military, because yeah, I lived with him for four years in the Middle East, so all rite extra special things. Usually they're getting for an NCO or an officer who was a dear friend. Yes, that they just need it written with extra color, so that's right. Yeah, so it's good
times. That's good stuff. Yeah yeah. Oh man, your fire department? Are you a paramedic? So I was a paramedic for twelve years in the Northern Virginia area, okay, with the fire department, and then I spent four years as a medic attached to Marine Corps, army and naval ops in the Middle East. That's all the department. That's awesome. So what is the transition like from show business to that industry? What is that transition like? Well, I mean the first transition from show business was I was
homeless for six months. I know. So you were really in business? Oh yeah, I was. I was on the biggest show in the world, making less money than people who at the time worked the McDonald's drive through window. That is insane. Yeah. Yeah. We've heard some stories from you know, Walter Jones. They're not quite as colorful as I am. Yeah. I tend to be a little more here's the deal. Yeah yeah, yeah, well you you've got that. I mean, they all look,
they all look to you kind of like you're still the leader. I feel like the Godfather. Yeah. Yeah, one day I'm gonna ask you for a favor. You know. It's like it's well, you'll get a yes, there we go, there we go. I can remember so my last the last time I came back three years ago, I was on Beast Morphers and I came back and I felt like the Godfather. I was like, these kids are now the stars of the show now are still young enough
to be my children. And I'm looking at them and they're all still talking and griping about the same things we griped about thirty years a while. It's like nothing has changed. That's progress. Yeah, except for the company, you know, and where it shot. But so many things really had still improved. It's just the pay is still not great. But Hasbro has you know, they've They've done some cool stuff. So I'm kind of curious now, Like in the most recent episode, we kill Power Rangers killed somebody.
It's like watching Winnie the Pood. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, hopefully it was a It wasn't like a nun or anything. It was a good one of the good guys die. But they did it because in real life she was killed in around two thousand and two thousand and one in a car accident, so they wanted to bring her character back pay respects, and they did it in a great way. She went out like a hero in uniform. And so now they've they have officially ended well maybe not even
ended, but they have paid respect to her story. And then they turned around and one of the good guys, Steve Cardini's my counterpart after I left the show, jumps up with a sword and drives it through the heart of Rita Ripulsa, the lead Batty battye. Yeah. And I was like, on my show, if I looked at you too angry, They're like, this is a kid show, Austin, you need to tone it down,
yes, sir, oh boy. Wow. Yeah. So now they've killed somebody and now they've got me. They've shut down production for the first time in thirty years. Thirty years. It's been the longest running live action show as far as I know, in history, and they've shut it down and they're bringing it home and they've hired on director Jonathan I twistle. If I have that correct, If the fans are out there. Correct me if I'm
wrong. I know you will. Well, he has been tasked with revamping the show and has said he will do so for Netflix, but I have no idea what he has planned. What I do know is that hasbro owns Transformers, G I. Joe and Power Rangers. Now wow, and then the last Transformers film, a little boy came out wearing a Power Rangers shirt. So it lets the mind wonder. Now we've killed people, so we've entered kind of the adult arena. Yeah, that bodes well. That would
be kind cool. I would love to see something like that smash up. Yeah, so who knows. Who knows I'm going to start all sorts of drama. I have no idea if any of that is one hundred percent true. I just know these are reliable rumors from people I would trust. Oh there you go. Yeah, that's not a bad phrase. Thanks, I gotta remember that. That was pretty good. What did I say? Yeah, you know that's what I like. Yeah? Oh good stuff. Man.
Why do you think that they're making that transition to now having death involved in the show. I think the original fans are now. So my fandom ranges from age five to their early forties if we include both extremes of the spectrum, and most of the key fans are twenty to thirty five, so they've grown up and they're watching X Men, They're watching you know, Marvel. Yeah, They're used to seeing some action. They want to see the action, the fights, the big explosions. We gave them the fights and
the explosions and the action, but with very little weight or realism. I mean, the martial arts were real when we did it, but most of yeah, yeah, but I think they're seeing that there's another bus they could be on, so watching what Hasbro could do or who they could team up with, and if they could make it, you know, maybe Power Ranger. You know, could you imagine the Megazord from Power Rangers standing next to Optimus Prime arguing over who was going to go first in battles? You know.
Yeah. So I just I think it's time for a bigger, darker side of it. And that's why I created my comic and I'm going to create my own animated series. Is I'm not going to wait on anybody else to do it. So I created Redemption and fans are loving it. It's it's and a lot of attention and the kickstarters are doing great, right, and it's fabulous. I just I think the fans they love what they love. They fall in love with it as children, and then they grow up
and they're like, I wonder what if they did it this way? What if they did it that way? You know? So what if what if Pooh had been more like e or you know, well, still you your voice, but if you'd been I mean you you did it all. But what if Pooh had been slow and e or had been well, Pooh is slow, but I see Okay, however, I know what you're saying,
right right, Oh you mean actually slow? Yeah, okay, never mind, not like what okay, that kind of not mentally slow, okay, okay, yeah, if that had been Pooh and you know, take it had been like Rabbit or Kangaroo or you know, like yeah, yeah yeah. I just I think people they love to see these smash ups now, oh yeah, oh guy, And I got to post the video that you and I did. I did a video with Dora the Explorer, who you
probably now. Okay, so my kids watched some Dora back in the day, and I did a video with her and it hit six hundred and fifty six thousand views inside of you know, a couple of days, it did grow people and it was just Dora and I morphing. So now, so wow, as soon as wedding, I'm just kidding. Yeah, we don't say that. You're allowed to say that only in three countries and I don't know how many languages, but yes, wow. So it's just I love
it and I think so many things are getting intermingled. It just allows for imagination from the fan, from the creators, from the personas behind all aspects of it to do cool stuff. And it's not all owned by the big boys anymore, which makes it so amazing for us. Yeah, because now it can be hours. Yeah, and now you get to be a bigger boy. That's right. In my own word, I'm special, that's right. You are definitely. Well. We had an interesting little what was that
a TikTok or whatever we did today? Yeah, we we traded worlds and that was fun. Yeah, it was. It was dark Wing Duck. I can remember. Yeah, I remember watching that as as a teenager, watching that rerun because my dad was like, you can't watch the idiot box. You have one hour. Sometimes I got two on Saturday and then it was outside until the street lights came on. Yeah, me too. That
was my call to get your butt home. Yeah, and then you get the whistle was a marine and five blocks away, I knew it was time to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it was. It was a different time. Yeah, but my mom had the most God rest her soul. I couldn't love him more, but she would, Oh God, I'm going home. I did not want to know. And I don't know who that was, and I had to get home. I didn't want to hear that again. Yeah, you sure, that's not you know it's but
you know it's funny. I have to go, uh anyway, you know I have no idea who that is? Yeah, yeah, I just what are the odds? Yeah? God, painful, painful childhood memories. Yeah, and now we pass it along to our kids. That's right. Look there's one now. Yeah, Austin Son is here, but he's off camera.
He's taking notes. I'm gonna get blackmails later, that's right. And speaking of that, speaking of calling your kids, you have a unique whistle for each of your kids, correct, Well, yes, yes, I do, Yes, I do, and I'm not going to do it for everybody here yeah, but my daughter Olivia had a three note whistle. Uh, my daughter Rolly Jackson had a four note whistle, Rollie Jackson and uh and then boom boom, Gracie had one and boo boom was loul Lulu got
the four daughters. I know, I'm just lucky anyway. And so yeah, that that was, but yeah, that was. That was that way. You know, if you're out in the park and there's a million kids and they're they're all on the swings and you're losing them, you know, and uh, it's time to go home, and you really don't feel like sitting there waiting until they mosey back over. Give them the whistle, get them home, yeh. And it works and they come because they do not
want to hear twice because they're embarrassed. Right. So see, yeah, there's a little parenting tip for everyone out there, free of charge. Yeah yeah, all right, kids are going please don't do that. Don't tell them, Yeah, don't tell them me. I just break out the morphing voice and yeah that's right, that's right. When I want to be heard, I can be heard. Yeah, yeah, I have no doubt about that. Yeah they all know. Yeah, you struck the bell on that
one. They could almost part the waters and not quite Moses. But I'm yeah, that's right, but you're not done yet. That's right, oh man. And much time to defile myself, that's right. Well, we've known each other for about at least a good ten years through conventions and such. Yeah, and it's always been a good time. It's always been a good talk. It's always been you know, you've got we have very similar views on very similar things. Yes, and that's always good. It makes
it a little more comfortable in the world. It do, yes, it do. You know? We're both strapped to the nines. By the way, I don't know if I'm glad to say that. I'm kidding that strapped is a funny word. Yeah. Yeah, in today's world mean a lot of things. Yeah, I just have a bell, that's all that's we're saying. I didn't realize that to wear pants, I'm sorry, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Well it's from the waist up, I hope. Yeah, all right, okay, oh man, So what is is
you've been writing? We've been producing. Yeah, and I was privy to the one show that I thought was pretty cool looking and it was was it set and I want to say the Western, the Old West, or yes, I don't know where things are. It was it was a pre rev War concept that we started it. We shot the proof of concept and we were going to do it as a movie, and then we we just we really we fell in love with although we need to redo the trailer, but
we fell in love with the concept. And what we really want to do is we're in the process of turning it into a series because pre rev War, that period of history is just immense and there are so many incredible characters, and so we started with, you know, some of the stereotypical well
there's nothing stereotypical about many of the characters, right, you know. Then, but we started with some of the big boys, you know, from Davy Crockett and a few others, to some strong female characters, because there's a lot of the history of that war era, you know, where everybody talks about the guys and the warriors and the Indians and the British and where were the French and what you know, all these things, but very little
is known about what some of the Christian women who came west with the men did in that era. And then their men would go off to fight wars and they are literally left in the middle of hell and a handbasket, surrounded by you know, not so friendly people on all sides. That's true to survive. Yeah, I've seen that touched upon once or twice. I think
that's rich. It's it's pretty intense. So we have some pretty incredible female characters we're going to bring to life, and we're going to show some of their struggle, and we're going to show a centralized version of the struggle from various tribes and what their story is not the white man's take on engines, and you know, it's going to be from inside the tribe. What were they doing, what were they thinking? And they weren't just worn with us,
they were worn with the other tribes. And there's there's also some brutality. The brutality of the time committed by white folks and the Brits and the French and the Indians was unbelievable. And so we wanna can you give us an example. Yeah, I'll leave some of the tribe names out because I don't want to start that war right now. But it was not uncommon for some of the Indian tribes at the time prior to the to the white man
getting there, where they would get in take over your tribe. It was usually you know, like all wars, a landover resources or or of any kind, and if they found your children, it became a game and they would tie their feet together and their hand feet together, their hands behind their backs and they would swing them around by the feet and smash their heads into trees. And it was I mean, that's just one example, the beatings
with sticks. It was a savage time for for all players. And you know, it just it's one of those stories that nobody's going to walk away from this series going that was a maz You're going to walk away from the series going, I don't know what to think, because we want to put in the truth and the reality and it's not going to be for the sensitive. If you've got sensitivities, don't show up to watch this one, because we're I mean everybody, no, everybody was offending everybody back in that day,
and usually with a gun or a knife. So it's one of my favorites. I'd love to go back to the director and a producer for that was Nick Kellys, And I've got some other projects I shot with him. We did another film, faith based rom com called A Walk with Grace that's
on Amazon Prime. And I play an angry high school wrestling coach who came home from the war with PTSD and I'm the conscious, one of the conscious enforcers of a small town when the big guy comes home and you know, he sold out to big town industry and he's got to find his way back to his roots. So it's a neat, little love story small towns. Shot in Lima, Ohio. It's it's a great one. So we love that. Yeah, I remember talking about that. I think I'm my mom
used to live there. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty neat. Actually North Lima, so it was a block away. Yeah, yeah, you know it was. And I'm from Youngstown, so yeah. One of the guys I trained martial arts with is up there, Seafood Shane Leary's he's a great guy. Oh wow, that's amazing. We give us the name of it again for the people. Yeah. So it's called A Walk with Grace. You can find it on Amazon Prime and it's a ton of fun. So you'll you'll see a side of me that's a long way from the red Ranger.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, I do have at least one other skill. So and then I shot another film with John Schneider called Trace Chase. John Schneider, you guys know from Dukes of Hazzard. He's a great guy. He's a gentleman. He's one of the few remaining gentlemen. He's not afraid to be a man, and he's he's just I love him. And yeah, he's just lost his wife. He's going through a hard time. But he's an incredible man, I know, so I love and respect him. But we did a film called Trace lea Chase, and it is
also five miles from being the Red Ranger. This was this is a rated R comedy with some drama elements, and his son, a couple other great actors or three of the leads. And he asked me if I would come in and play a super stupid Southern cop and I was like, I was like absolutely yeah. And so he started talking to me about some of his favorite characters. Of course, I thought about Roscoe Pico Train because I grew
up on Duke's Hazard. And then he brought up smoking in the Bandit and I was like, wow, that's like that's the cop like, that's the guy right there. Yeah, and so you know, I did some some fun stuff with that, and basically, I'm too stupid to catch a teenage boy who had marital relations or had relations with my wife. Oh. I
find out about it, extra marital, extra marital. Yes. And as I'm trying to track down this kid, I find out that everyone else, oh, was acquainted with my wife and damn yeah, her name was any Bitty and oh my god, I mean I never met her. That's crazy sounds for it's just fun. So oh, good for you, man, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, I got a a question for you, Jim. We were just talking about, you know how Power Rangers is kind of going in like a darker, you know, kind of direction with death
and everything like that. What's the darkest project you say you've worked on? Oh? Boy, well, it wasn't Splatterhouse anyway. Then it was a video game, and I'm so sorry to it ended up being very popular. They just wanted the nastiest, horrible villain, and basically it was me and Josh Keaton. I don't even know how to explain it. But he was
just a kid who didn't have anything special about it. But he broke into this house and there was a there was an old wooden mask, like a voodoo mask or something on the floor, and when he put it on, he transformed into this big, gigantic beyond Schwarzenegger, a muscleman who just hated life and couldn't wait to kill everything in sight. And I said, okay. And it was called Splatterhouse. And it's as far away from Winnie the Pooh as it gets. And I mean, it's Splatterhouse. Needed the painted
picture. It'll be in blood if I do, because so say no. But yeah, it was. It was really interesting that and the Mangler. It was a toe Hooper movie and Stephen King wrote it worst movie you ever saw, really that you've never seen. Did everybody see it? Show of hands? No one's raising their hand, No one's raised No, But I'm gonna now, yeah, I know. Well, the good news is it was so terrible and it was it was along these lines. It was a It came out right after Christine, you know, the Car. Yeah,
and that was the hell of a movie. That was a good movie. And so they said, how about the same thing, only it'll be a gigantic ironing board that big enough to press a circus tent and people get sucked into it and get ironed to death, and then it gets ingested into the machine. No blood, no one knows, no one knows who did it. And it was the Manglin. So I was the voice of the Mangler. And so I came up. And the first thing I did. I've told is before I don't on board anybody. But I said, wait,
what do you mean I got the job? Da, I just want to hire me? And I said for how much? And I go, I don't want to Well tell him double and they go. She calls back, no problem. I go, sh Now, I gotta do it. You know when they act, yes, you go, oh damn, you know. And it was the guy who was in the Silence of the Lambs. I'm sorry, I don't remember him. His name, Uh no, no, he was unfortunately the fellow who was who had the buffalo bill. Oh he was yeah, uh huh yeah, oh that little sweetie. Uh he
was in it. Yeah, you know, and uh and so you know, we're we're doing this movie and and all of the at the end of the movie, I just I finally saw it, and I'm thinking all I could think of halfway through the movie was unplug it. Unplugged the damn thing. It won't pull anybody in and iron them to death, first of all, unplug it, you know. And then and I said, oh god, you know when I was over and see me, I was like the
only person in the theater. I think it was the premiere, and I'm watching the credits and at the ends voice of the Mangler, Tim Cummings, Yes, thank god for that. They misspelled Jim. How do you misspelled Jim? That's rough, Yeah, but Tim and I got that. Tim, he's good man. He's going to the bank with this one. Get out everybody. So yeah, that's my that's my story. Oh yeah, pretty sad. May that never happened to you. Oh god, I think
you're safe. Yeah yeah. So we met at these cons years ago, and it never ceases to amaze me that you guys have been I think, off the air for a little while. But it's in different areas, isn't it. And it's big on cable or this and that, and everybody loves this guy and rightly so, I mean, it's so cool. It cracks me up. Is when different of the Power Rangers are at the shows, they still think you're the boss. That's kind of cool, you know that
could be in charge of something. Yeah, you gotta be. It's well, I think you picked a good one. Yeah. Nobody thinks money to poose the boss up squad, you know, they go a yeah, it's good, try not to I'm talking to Austin. Leave me alone, okay, fine, you know, good stuff, man, it is wild. I think, well, it's all over Netflix and YouTube now because we all live we will all forever live in infamy now on those channels. It's pretty
neat. I think COVID did a lot for all of our universes because people were stuck at home and they just binge watched everything and then ran out and we're like, well here was my childhood. Let me hit this too. So I think it's it's really done a lot to bring back a resurgent for all of us and all the others on the circuit. Yeah, so it's pretty neat. Yeah, you must get that a lot too, because I
get that a lot. You know, tons man, oh man. When I was a kid, I had to run home and look with Tailspin or dark Wing, you know, and it's it's a blessing it's blessing. It's pretty neat to see, Like people will ask me all the time. There, you know, what's the greatest thing about the show, And I think a lot of what I enjoy now is hearing these kids who've grown up. They come back to us, and Power Rangers is in forty countries and ninety
languages, so culturally, I hear stories from all over the world. And yeah, we're still bringing families together. And I know how many families sat down and watched Pooh and Dark Wing Duck and all that you've done. So it's pretty neat for me. When the fans come up grown man, you know, oh yeah, big old tough guy, tough and then they don't know to look over there and you know you have tears. Yeah, and then they just immediately revert to age five. It's one of the greatest things
in the world. And they just they love it, and I love it. They love it. Yeah, Yeah, that's a good way to put it. It's pretty neat. I'm in that. I'm right there with you. You know who fun kit Man stuff you did twenty five thirty years ago. People are going thank you, thank you, and I'm going no, thank you. Yeah, yeah, I'm so grateful for everything, you know. I think once you start taking it for granted, you're doomed. Yeah. We've all seen those actors. Oh yeah, and nobody wants to see
them for long. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, they're not going to mention any names. But okay, never mind that. Well yeah, yeah, there's there's a list. Yeah, there is a list. Oh man, you know they'll figure out pretty soon that they don't exist without their fans. Yeah. So yeah, that's a good way to put it, too. Well, I hope you're writing these down. These are these are all good? Yeah, good expression. What was one of your favorite memories working on
the show? For me, it will always be the Unaired Pilot, the original unaired pilot? No way, yeah, unaired? Yeah. Well they aired it later, but for a long okay it was. We shot it and I was I signed a contract without an agent, without apparent present at age seventeen. They have me post dated to my eighteenth birthday, which you know, no surprise there, and we started filming. I walk on to
set. I'm eighteen and I was not an actor, shocker. I was a martial artist and I was a teenager with attitude, which is what they were casting for. So when I walked on to set, the only thing I knew was martial arts. You know, here's a camp Walter. You had him on the show. That guy was a godsend and he's still one of my dearest friends of thirty years. He had to show me. When I say the basics of how to function in front of a camera, I
mean the basics. People who were filming on their phone today are infinitely more than I did then. In other words, no, the camera's over here, Yeah, you know, you should probably turn so the camera could see your face. That'd be good because I would just turn to talk to whoever I was talking to and leave the camera over there, and Walter would grab me, throw an arm around it and open me up the camera. I learned those words, and he'd opened me up, and I was like,
oh, yeah, that makes sense what I meant to say. So in other words, so they can see me yet it yeah, right right, because otherwise they you know, would I hired a cardboard piece or something. Yeah? Yeah. So it was I was learning how to act, I was learning how to be a man. I was learning everything. It was just learning curve like that, and it was it was amazing to go through it. A lot of memories for me there, that's great. Yeah,
what about you? What was your first Yeah? Well me, the first thing I ever did was this brand new something that was called cable TV. It was eighty four and a half eighty five and I just made my first demo tape. I shopped it around. Wait, actually, can you tell us about your demo tape because that's an interesting story. I haven't told it on the podcast yet. Oh yeah, well, gosh. I made it
in the back of the video depot in Anaheim Hills where I worked. I was the manager and my buddy Chris Potter was a sound engineer, and I go, you know, I've been thinking of making a demo tape for I want to do voiceover. I've been wanting to do this my entire life. So you record people saying things, and couldn't I be someone that you did that with? And because I was sophisticated and so we did it. The gist of it was that there were two guys sitting around watching television. One
was from Ireland, one was from New Delhi. I was them. Then I was all the TV commercials that I was all the I was ilia this. No, oh god, no, I don't want you to spill your guts. I want you to tell me everything you know, you know. And I just wrote it and it was corny, and I sent it around to Don Bluth and he said, well, I'm not doing anything right now. You know, a guy did Secret of Him and he worked with Disney Big Guy, and he said, I'm doing a laser tag or laser he
was doing video games literally, you know. And he said, but I'll hold on to your tape. And I said that sounds to me. That sounded like, yeah, well I'll never call you again. Yeah, And
even at that young age, I knew that. And about a week later, Frank Brandt called me from Left Coast Productions and he and his partner Caroline, Hey, we're gearing up to do this new cable TV thing show that had come out, and it was called Dumbo's Circus, and it was the people in costume, little people, big people, and they needed voices and they figured, well, the character Timothy from the movie Dumbo was going to be in it. But you can't even have like a four foot mouse,
that's just a big mouse. So they made him a lion. And so I was Lyon on the Lion dumbos Pow, and that was my first gig that I ever did, and they said they wanted it to be Timothy esque, you know, like the Mouse. And I got that job and all of a sudden, we're doing two shows a week and that took eight hours, and I was working like fifty hours a week at the video depot and I ended up making about two or three hundred bucks a week more in those
eight hours than I did in the fifth D five ozho that I worked at the video depot. And I said, you know what, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this shit right here, you know, my friends. But so there you go. And then by the time, and it was great because it took like a year and a half to get through all
those shows, and at that point I had landed an agent. So I just went from working full time in the normal world is to our world full time and it's almost forty years and now I get to hang out with you. Yeah, so see that's progress. We go, moving onward and upward. Yeah. So yeah, man, Sanford is Son moving on up Yes, Yeah that was me. So yeah, I worked out so far, so good. That is cool. Yeah, yeah, so there's hope out there right for everybody. I'm serious. The world's full of people that'll tell
you know, don't be one of them. Yeah yeah, I'm curious. You're in your time as a paramedic. What was like one of the surely you've seen some crazy stuff in those years. What was like one of the like most shocking things that you've seen? Well, I can see your mind. Yeah, we were. We were in a busy, busy call area. I mean, what how are we rating this show? It's open wherever you're comfortable with. Yeah, okay, I think something that wants some people
away in agony, air tears, Yeah okay. So I we get a call and it's for a person who's stuck in a fence. It always goes out over uh dispatch, and we never know because people will report things that are nothing like what it really is. Dispatch calls us, you know, oh, guys having a heart attack, and we get there and the guy has gas, but he wanted an ambulance now, so he tells dispatch his art attack. So dispatch sometimes gets some information. So we get a call
and it comes out over the radio. Medic fifteen to one adult male mid twenties stuck in a fence. Okay, all right, all right. So we get there and it's a construction site and we pull up into the construction site and there's I mean, this is heavy construction, and we're like, all right, what's this about. I'm looking for a white picket fence or this is what I'm thinking when we go. Because it was a new area. It was brand new industrial, so I knew there was a housing area
right there. I just didn't know about this new construction. So we pull up and there's nobody around, Like, this is the most empty construction side I've ever seen. So now we're driving around. We've killed the sirens because you know, in police work, the big reddy lights are a clue. So as we pull around the third side, we're on the side seaside south wall. We get around the south wall and all of a sudden, this guy comes blowing out the back and he's pointing around the one wall. Of
course, we hadn't gone around. So we get around the other side and we pull up and there's a group of guys piled around this fence that is going in that's concrete and rebar, but there's no actual fence yet, and so there's a concrete base and there's just rebar poles sticking up, and then above it is scaffolding where they were putting windows into this side of the boy.
And so we get around and all of a sudden, the sea's part and there's this guy and he's kind of leaned over, but he's he looks like he's just kind of leaning on one like an old cowboy with a bow leg, and you know, he's just kind of head down and he's not really looking up at us, and I'm counting the spacing between rebar and he's right where there should be another rebar pole. And for those of you who
aren't familiar rebars, you know about ya thick around. It's reinforced steel and they use it to strengthen concrete and other construction materials not known for being friendly to the human body. And apparently this guy was a story and a half up and he was handing over a window, slipped off and came down on the rebar caught him inside the thigh and went straight through his leg and out
his bum. And that was that was an interesting one. So we had to break out the saw and we're now cutting the rebar at the base because we don't remove him pale objects in nine to one one unless it's including the airway or things like that. Oh and because that's surgery. You know what if we pull it out and there's a major vessel which right there for mooral artery. So we cut the rebar and we can't put him. We're supposed to put him on a backboard to protect his spine, but we can't straighten
him out. So we make him as comfortable as we can and get some fluids and ibs going in him and some pain meds and get his vitals, drive him into the trauma center. They flew him up to George Washington Trauma Center, the big one, and the guy made it. I guess his surgery went well. But that was that was a wild one. Wow. Yeah, I cannot imagine. That's that is crazy. Yeah, seen other guys as simple as they walk under they take off their hard hat walk under
a ladder. And the guy on the ladder had left the ladder, but he had a four pounds weight up there that they were using for projects and it would take in however long to roll and right as the guy walks under the ladder, it pops off and dunk. Wow, cranial fractures. So, I mean it you can see it all. You get nine to one one, you'll see it all. Eventually. Some will make you laugh. And you know, you deliver babies. Yeah, I mean that's amazing,
you know, to bring another life into the world. Have you ever done that? Yeah? Wow? Yeah, I mean not a whole lot, but in my in my twelve years, maybe maybe five six six. Wow, So that was pretty amazing. And some of them are high pressure because the situation isn't good. But and is that like on call, that's like you go out and like somebody's about to have a baby and you deliver it that way. Oh yeah. Or it could be traumatic, you know,
someone who's pregnant has an auto accident and trauma induced delivery. Or it could be that's something I've never even thought about. Yeah, it could be uh, miscarriage, it could be. It could be a lot of things. Yeah. Sure. Wow, you're rarely bored, I mean when yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you get called for dental pain. Oh wow, Okay, I'm like you need to you need to call your dentist and I'm gonna not have the police write you a ticket for wasting resources, but don't call me
back. Yeah. Yeah, but I do have a set of players. We can fix that, right, I mean, if you want, I'm here right yeah. Yeah. Oh man, oh man. You can see it all. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think seeing all that stuff desensitizes you after time? Sure to a point. Yeah, you'd almost have to. I hope it would, yeah, right, because you can't feel every single pain that comes, you know. Yeah, I almost.
I almost quit my first month. One of my very first calls, I get a call to a possible drowning and it was it was two kids in a pool face down when I arrived and mom was on the couch naked from the waist up with an IVY in her arm. She'd been shooting up and the neighbor couldn't swim, saw the kids go in and called nine one one. So we had, man, everybody showed up on that call, everybody. We had a lot of us, and so we lost one, we were able to save one. And I was almost done the month I
started. Yeah, So, but I had I had a great assistant chief, and he sat me down and we talked and if it hadn't been for him, I'd have been done then. Yeah. Yeah, so wow, crazy stuff. You can see it all. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. Do you think any of that emotionality helps you with acting? Does it like give you fuel in a way to kind of dig into that when you need to be emotional on screen or something like that. Yeah, you know
what I'm getting at. I have a deep well for me. There are a lot of things that I can instant recall that can put me in a psychological place to very quickly slip into some pretty intense roles, which I think surprises a lot of people because there used to me being the stone. You know, I was the rock of the team. I was very monotone until you know, the war cry happened, so Jason was he was the rock
of the team. But there's a lot of If you watch Walk with Grace, there's a scene in there that a lot of fans have come up to me afterward and they're like, we had no idea. Yeah I didn't really either until until I did it. But it's just as long as you're pushing the limits, you can find all sorts of things. We all have experiences in life that are deep for us and for sure, well you bet touching on those you can do some some crazy stuff if you have the creativity for
yeah, boy, amen to that. Yeah, that just made me think of a question for you, Jim. Have you ever shocked yourself? Have you ever surprised yourself when you're working? Has there ever been in a moment where you're like, oh, that's something I've never done before, you know. Yeah, Well it was Princess and the Frog, and it was Ray my buddy the Firefly down there in or Love that movie. That was one
of my favorites. Oh good, yeah, mine too, nothing to do with me being in it, but I uh, it took me and we only did it once, thank god. But I had to die and I had to really fight to hold on and then just I just couldn't make it. Yeah. And then look and I almost made myself cry, which is insane, and I and and then and I thought it took me forever to
do, but apparently it was the right amount of time. And I look up and everybody in the booth is going, you know, and oh, wow, they really like me. Uh, you know, it's amazing. Yeah, and uh, and there's a little firefly so yeah, that little Firefly man, I love that little guy. Yeah. I probably had a tear in my eye. I bet my my boy did. When Ready the Firefly died, I was just like, oh, yeah, that's so cool.
My two older girls, they they weren't able to make it to the premiere for whatever reason it was, and and and they said, well, we're gonna go tomorrow. I'm gonna go tomorrow, you know, Okay, good. So they went tomorrow and they both come in. You didn't tell us you're gonna die? And I said, well, I didn't want to spoil, you know, surprise. I said, you have a randy and
brought a couple of really cool songs. So what you died? It's like, all right, fine, anyway, I said, So I'm not going to be in the sequel if there ever is one, right, right, unless they'd be like, wonder what Ray would say? Well, you know, then you come back and that little cloud and that's right right, I'm hoping for that. Ray got a win. Yeah, yeah, Ray's Return. It was a fun movie. I love that movie. Well, thanks, Ray was a big personality in that film. Yeah, it was great.
I heard you did Scar in The Lion King too, right, Oh well, yeah, I did about four or five lines that you know, you call it sweetening. That's when somebody says something to do what they said, and then so I had to do a couple of the four or five of those. But all the talking in the song called be Prepared is Jeremy
Irons and like ninety five percent of the singing is me. And the trick with stuff like that is first of all, singing key and uh sounded just like the guy you know that you're the actor that you're supposed to be singing for. That's all there is to it, that's all there is, no no, no, well yeah, well see it's just like that. Yeah, but it's that simple and that heart I would say, yeah, you know, I mean everybody's got an actor too, they can impersonate. Yeah,
and that's pretty much the stretch. Yeah, yeah, yeah man. And Jeremy Irons is great and he had a truly identifiable voice. Yeah. So to just pop in there and make that happen and sing and beyond key yeah yeah, none of that works for me. Let me tell you I can't do that. Well, good, I'll do it. I know who to call. Yeah, that's so if any of the Power Rangers ever have to sing? Got it? Yeah, right there, except for Karen.
I think it'd be kind of tough to she can sing. She can sing well, never mind then yeah she was in a girl band back in the day. I didn't know that. Yeah, she can actually sang. Damn. Yeah. People pay me not to sing, Okay, that's good money too. Yeah. Yeah, there's there's places for all of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you go to the anti karaoke bars. You're a min I would think it would be Yeah, I could do that maybe. Yeah. Man the Marshall mime. Yes, that's right. Don't stand too
close. So i'mk not your block man. Speaking of martial arts, when did you get into martial arts? How old were you? I was five? Yeah, wow, yeah, I've been at it most of my life. So my first martial arts well, I mean I trained with my father in the beginning. He was heavy into ken pole. It's been in my family for a long time. So Parker style ken pole trained through Parker trained uh Ray Schneider, Ray Schneider t train. Ray Schneider was trained by Dave
German. Dave German did the Black Panther videos. He was really accomplished martial artist. And then my father and I trained with Ray Schneider and it was and it was ken pole. Uh. Title title is the Japanese Art of Strangulate. And they mixed in the art of strangulation. Yes, so there's an art to it, yes, damn to being efficient at it. Yeah. Yeah. So not with paint brushes, not that kind, No, not that kind, no the other kind. Yeah, There's not much I
could do with a paint brush except wave it at people. So yeah. And then from there my dad was off at war a loot and I went into judo. I've been through in my life now about twenty three systems I just got. I had another word twenty four while other thousands now thousands. And I just got my fifth black belt. So I have three first degrees,
fifth black belt, yeah, and two second degrees. So my second second degree is in pylom Pao under Sea Taigung Glenn Wilson, and I'm in the process of picking up and learning his system, which is essentially a Chinese kung fu take on Parker style kimpo that was recreated by Master Pie. And he's out of Florida. So and I've been inducted into the White Dragon Society, which is hm hmm, that's that's pretty cool. I never that I'm
unfamiliar. So it's an exclusive society for accomplished martial artists who have held major influence in the world over other martial artists and population. So it's it's that was a pretty neat thing. It can't be like a cast of thousands on that one. No, no, there's not so. Domald Dragon Wilson's in there. Cynthia roth Rock I think, is in there, and quite a few other who's who, all of which are more talented than I am. So I've got a lot of work ahead of me to to really get up
to the standard that I would like to be in their arts. But it's been it's been great to get started with them. Well, I gotta tell a story on you, man. Oh yeah, it's a good one. We we we were knowing each other for a pretty good stack of years now and maybe maybe say eight years ago something like that. I don't know where. I'm tempted to say Houston, but we were. We were at a convention and it was connected to a shopping mall by an overhead walk, and
we're just shooting the breeze and man, I'm hungry. Yeah, let's get something. So we were over there and we're in the Hamburger Hamlet. I don't I don't know where, you know, he knows what I'm talking about. All of a sudden, we're sitting there and we're chowing down. We're just sitting doing our thing, and all of a sudden and everybody else is running like hell in the other direction. I'll be right back. I got
to go kick someone's eyes. And he goes walking out, calm as he could be, and it reminded me for all the world like that one Clint Eastwood movie where he was chewing on a burger and when the bad guys were robbing the bank and he walks out, he's still chewing, and he, you know, is like he goes, oh, you know, and he's maybe you were packing. I don't know anyway, you didn't see that, No, no, no, but he walks up like it's like it's mother's
milk. If it might have been. It was like somebody rang the recess bell and he wanted to go play tag. And so, uh so there you go, walking out of not false alarm, false alarm. I kicked their ass from across the room. And it was and it was I don't even remember what it was, but it was just a bunch of people mistaking some damn noise or not and they're running like hell, like god zera. Really it was. It was good stuff and I went, shit, I'm
hanging out with him. There was a there was a couple of excellent additions to that story there. Yeah, thank you. I appreciated them. Alt. Yeah. I did not say it was gonna kick anybody, but yeah, but yeah, there was. So the story was I guess we found out the next day when the police came in. There was a guy with
you know, the great big heavy duty metal uh dollies. And what kicked it off was there was these two guys downstairs who got into a fist fight, and everybody was watching the fist fight, and then they screamed and yelled and they broke up and ran in different directions. Well about this time, I guess one of them bumped a guy coming up the stairs with the big metal dolly. He drops the dolly and you hear that pow pow is it
down the stairs? Well then everybody thinks these two guys are shooting at each other, and it was it sounded, you know, like maybe like a nine caliber. It was. It was in there, and man, you he's not lying. I mean people were running like gazelle. It was. They were jumping over stuff, knocking over tables. I mean, they ran like the world was ending. And something didn't seem right about it to me. I've heard a few guns go banging my life, I think, and
uh so I wanted to go check it out. And I also thought somebody might be injured. Maybe I could help with that too. And as I got out there that you think I was brave. Here's the part he didn't know. As I come out there and people are still running like you know, Bandy from the Lion and walking holding the like had to have been a one year old. And she's got a three year old with hers, this little latina, and she's walking like as calm as I am walking away from
it, all in the same direction. But she's just walking. She's like what why ya, why ya? You know, telling her kids to let's go, but calm. And I looked at her after watching all the big guys run like their butts were on fire, and I come up to her and I was like, you gonna make kip us old what happened? And she's like no, say no lamente, you know. And I was like, oh, okay, all right, less or heart. I hope that
wasn't commonplace. She was good to go. So she walks on and I come walking out and I'm looking over and there's nobody, you know, I don't see Rambo. There's no you know, bad guys. And I was like, well, I want to go finish my lunch. So yeah, yeah, I went back in and I sat down and I think we finished eating before we did. So it was you would have thought, you know, yeah, you would have people were killing each other. Yeah, yeah, so it was nothing crazy. Yeah, thank god, we'll take it
something. Yeah I remember that. Yeah, that's good. That's a good story. Yeah, I forgot it was. It was a good time. Yeah, I love a possible horror show. Conceivable mass murder. That's a good time. I'll tell you what, O Doug, good times there was. There was another actor with us, who shall remain nameless, who was the first to dump his chair, knock over his plate and he ran out through the back of the kitchen of the restaurant, and because I remember,
Oh god, do you remember who that was? I'm tempted to say, was this someone who ranged in power? Or no? No, no, this was someone who fought wars in the stars. Oh yeah, yeah, great person. But I mean I literally turned to hear the bang bang bang people came in like Gazelle ran over everything. And then I turned around and it was hopping the cabin. Yea, YadA, Stange left, you know, he was out of there. Yeah, it was. It was pretty
entertaining, man. So I'm gonna have to give him some grief when I see him again, be like, bro, he just left me to die. He's gonna be like, Yep, it wasn't Han Solo, right, No, No, it was us it forward that's right, that's right. No, I've made that up. I think that's well good stuff man. Yeah. So is there anything you need people out there to know? For sure? I mean, even if it's just cons and this and that and sure. Yeah. I've just re released my my major website. So if
you're looking for my con site or my con schedule, it's there. You just go to www. Austinst dot b i Z and you can find my con sites, my e commerce, my clothing line, my jewelry line. You can find my comics there. Clothing line. I didn't know about that one, Yeah about that. So i have some ranger oriented clothes. And then I'm building a warrior line where I will go back in history, you know, from pre Greek days as far back as I can. I'm gonna
have famous quotes from warriors of all ILKs, including the Terrible Ones. Wow, Hitler was you know, a demon on steroids, but he had some pretty good one liners, you know, So everybody from the great Ones to the Infamous and Terrible Ones. And I'm gonna have quotes and their languages put up in Japanese, English, Russian, and Greek whatever it was, and then in English. And I'm gonna have some kanji kana done and some various other artwork. But the point is to look to our past, to leaders
both good and terrible, and take from them what you can. I mean, Bruce Did is gonna be in there. Chuck Norris, who's one of my guys that I looked up to, so I'm he's incredible. He's an incredible guy, one of the last real gentlemen out there. So those I just started releasing there's a few on there and you'll see it. It's in Kanji, which for those of you who don't know what that is, it can be Chinese, it can be you know, any Eastern Asian writing.
And I'm sure I'm gonna get on this too. I don't write in the stuff. I just pay people to do it better than I can. So there's gonna be cool translations. And that's the Warrior line I'm going to continue to build out, and then so many, so many things that I'm working on, but you can find almost all of it there, from my comic books to my schedule to close and you know whatever, whatever you have to just start there and you can you can mosey on and enjoy it. I've
also created a streaming network WOW helped to create. I've one of the founding members. We started about five years ago. It's called Fanword f a n w ar d dot com and we've got Walter Jones on there. We've got the original or one of the original, Peter Pans, Jeremy Sumter, and we're gonna be bringing on some other major players between now and the end of the year. So if you're into doing comic cons, but you can't get
to one fan word is what's going to save you. You'll find actors from all around the world who want to share their voice, much like you on a podcast, but we do it a bit different. So maybe there's something we can coordinate. Yeah, you know, that might be cool. We've got several thousand paying subscribers right now and we're growing. We're growing quickly. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty neat. Yeah that's really cool. Yeah, it was really cool. I got other stuff I just can't
think of right now. Yeah. Yeah, before I forget, I wanted to ask you when you were talking about your martial arts background and everything, So forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I'm fascinated by it. So, like I remember seeing this movie Kiss of the Dragon with Jetle Do you ever see that movie? Probably I don't remember, And like the Kiss of the Dragon was like he just puts a pin in like one of this guy's vertebrates and it stuns him and then like eventually it leads to like
a slow death. So that's one touch too, like one from the Armpit where we get you with an yeah I do I have. And then there's like the kill Bill, you know, the classic where she hits some what is it like the five fingers or death or whatever? The any is there any sort of like reality? Is there anything like that in martial arts where it's like just like a combination and you hit the certain nerves and then it like leaves somebody paralyzed or facing certain death. So I would love to tell
you that I've seen it or done it. Actually probably not want to tell you what I've done it, you know. But while I've heard all the same cool legends and I've seen the films, I don't know of anybody that would say they can you know, and you die of whatever magical mischief. I'm not going to tell you that. Because one of the other things that I work on is called chigong or qigong, and the British called it chigong because they actually couldn't pronounce the qi when they were in China. So it's
the same thing, just different pronunciation. And it's a movement of energy. Did Chinese argue that while you have flesh and blood and bone, she she is the invisible life force that travels throughout your body through meridians. And I do work with chi and energy, and I will validate that is one hundred true. And there is the healing side of chi and then there's the martial side, so it can be used to strengthen blows. Am I a marshall,
you know, master in the world of chie Now I'm moderate. I'm better at the healing side, but I have used it to help break boards and cinderblocks and things like that with hands and feet. But I don't know anyone who could kill you, you know, with the on the forehead. I have seen soft touch knockouts. So a soft touch knockout is you get a guy who and you look at their stance, because it's about how the
body receives energy. And all I want to do is, rather than hit you in a position where your feet are set to absorb that energy, is I want to strike you in a fashion where the energy travels between your legs, because now that energy can't go to the ground, it has to pass through you. And there are areas like especially along the jaw, which are loaded with nerves where if you find the right guy who's standing soft in the knees and you can pass that energy through you, and you can get some
soft ko's with stuff like that. That's interesting. But that's the closest I've ever seen to you know, Chet Lee's Dragon Killer super duper stuff. You know. Well, I always was curious about Bruce Lee's one inch knockout. That's very real. Yeah, I mean that because you see him doing it and you're going, did that guy fall? Just did? He? Was? He just going along with the program, you know? But I mean, but it would be like and then the guys on the ground. So
that's an iteration of what I was just talking about. A soft ko Bruce. I mean, I never met the man. I never much less trained under him. Yeah. Yeah. His martial art was Jit Kundo and he was a brilliant martial artist. Hands down. The one inch punch he taught and it was the way that I've learned it. I learned before I knew any work with energy, and I never learned it for a ko. I never learned it for the face. But it was designed for very close quarters
combat. To my understanding, I've used it, and the way that I teach it is close quarters to the body, and you set it up so if this was the abdomen, and this is where you would set your fingers and this is the chest wall. Your strike comes from there, and it's a great explanation or example of physics. So it's about building energy from the toes all the way up through the body and then just letting that boom strike. And Bruce was wild at that stuff. How he did it exactly?
I would love to know. I know how I teach it, and it's pretty In fact, Zach our agent he didn't believe in it, and he asked me to show him, and he'll tell you that I sent him about seven feet across the room the wall, and then when he woke up he said, okay, never mind, I got it. I didn't knock him out, but but he'll tell you the story. You should ask, Okay, I will, I will. Good times. So, yeah, I wish I knew all the cool stuff, you know, like I wish some
of it was and maybe it is. There may be a guy out there I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well I don't know. I think that thing you can do is good enough. It sounds pretty cool. I'm in there's always somebody at the party that's had a beer is like, would you show me, and I'm like, no, no, this is for the sound. Come on, hit me with a hammer. No not. You know, when I was younger, I may have obliged that one too many times. Yeah, well I don't. I don't do it
any you know, a fecal matter occurs. Yeah, yeah, you know, AKA shite happens, that's right, man. Well yeah, well, jeez, I don't. I just realized I was going to tell everybody to come see us tomorrow, but they're not going to see this tonight. So but come see us tomorrow anyway. Yeah, or the day after wherever the hell was Saturday, Sunday eleven eighty. We're bound to be someone somewhere or someone knowing stuff about things and people. Oh man, this has been great.
Yeah, thanks for having me. You guys got a great sake. Enough, thank you. Yeah, I'm impressed. This is pretty cool. Well, Chris has got it going on. He's the maestro. Yeah. I do my best, you know. Yes, Yeah, I'm still learning a lot, still learning a lot, and I hope that never changes. I never plan to change that nice. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good. That's a good non curse. There's the opposite of wish and I died.
Thanks. Yeah, thanks, I appreciate that. We'll call me back anytime and anything I can do to help you guys ever, let me Yeah, thank you so much. That was awesome, Saint John, that was awesome. Master Cummings, thank you, brother, Thank you so much. All right, thank you everybody for joining us. That was another episode of Tuned In with Jim Cummings joined by Austin Saint John. Thank you so much
for watching, and be sure to like and subscribe. Remember you can find bonus content on Patreon and of course we're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all that good stuff until the next episode. Thank you very much. Jim, Austin, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.