WEBVTT - Bex Taylor-Klaus is Gaming the System 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.080 Hey, and welcome to What Future. I'm your host, Joshua Topolski, 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:23.759 and I gotta say, you know, I had a long 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.520 intro where I was going to talk about my feelings 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:32.000 on the Barbie trailer and how I feel about what 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.320 Gretti Gerway has done with the Barbie character and the 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:42.279 Internet's reaction to Barbie and Ken and all of the memes. 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.480 There were so many memes. But I ended up having 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.239 an amazing conversation with the actor Bex Taylor Klaus, who 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.200 you may have seen in things like Thirteen Reasons Why 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.920 or the Scream TV series, and we had this sprawling, 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:59.000 super fascinating conversation that ended in a very interesting discussion 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:00.920 of gaming and men any forms. And so I don't 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:02.880 want to waste any time, you know, talking about the 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.840 Barbie trailer or any other trailers. Frankly, I just want 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.000 to get into this conversation, so let's not waste one 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:29.120 more minute. And so your last name is pronounced. I 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:32.240 don't want to say it right, Claus Taylor Klaus, wrong 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:34.600 us clouds. You don't want to say it right. You 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:36.880 want to say get up right off the perfect I 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.959 want to say it Laus Klauses. But that's more. That 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.959 sounds like I like a German villain and a not you. 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.160 But I'm if I say it like that, I have 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.840 to put myself in the mindspace of a person with 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:50.960 a German accent. Oh yeah, it's great. Is it a 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:55.200 German name? It is. Purportedly we changed it from something 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.880 super Jewish to try to sound a little bit more 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.720 assimilated and under the radar when we came over here. 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.040 I wish my family had done that. Look, we're just 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.000 gonna keep it to Pulsky. That should be fine. No 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.200 one will have any problems with that spelling or pronunciation. Meanwhile, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.080 your family was like, just cut it down, we need 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.760 like a single syllable something that is kind of a 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.560 little bit. Klaus could be anything. And then the other 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.800 side had Grossman, so they were very short, so it 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.360 didn't make any sense. Yeah, that's a tough one. I 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.000 don't know. It's funny. My wife is a huge genealogy 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.320 I mean, I think she's actually a professional technically speaking, 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.480 but she does it as a hobby. So she knows 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.680 everything about my family and everything about people who who 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.080 have come to this country, and all of has all 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.280 these crazy records of people coming from Eastern Europe and 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.080 all over the world, and oh my god, it's crazy. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.639 And there is this persistent rumor that, oh, my family 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.040 got to Ellis Island and they couldn't spell their name, 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.280 or they misheard it, or they didn't understand. But a 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.880 lot moten have a favorite joke about that. Right now, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.400 do you wait? Are you to tell me? Oh? Absolutely 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.440 if you want to hear it when you're done. But 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.160 the only timey thing is that, apparently, in most cases, 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.079 the real story is that people were like, oh, I 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.040 got to America. I can now change my name from 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.320 something that will not be easy to assimilate to something 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.440 that will be easier for people to like say, or 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.400 you know here, or just and just be like, okay, 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.639 you're an American or whatever. So there's a lot of 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.720 people changing their own names. But anyhow, let me hear it. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:30.560 Let me hear your joke. A rabbi said this, and 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.359 I've been obsessed with it ever since. Two guys coming 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.360 over on Ellis Island. They're in the line and one 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.040 of them goes, so have you chosen your name yet? 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.520 And the other guys go, what come again? Now, the 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.840 guy explains, it's like you want to change your name 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.320 so it sounds less conspicuous. Let's jewish all these things. 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:52.320 So what's your name, Jacob Gottlieb. Okay, let's come up 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:59.360 with something, maybe Jake Shaw. Sure. The guy in front 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.040 of him goes it was his name that gets up 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:05.280 to his time and he goes hoop shinea Ferguson, which 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:09.040 in Yiddish means I've already forgotten. And the guy goes, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:16.320 all right, welcome to America, Sean Ferguson. That's good, that's good. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.719 That's a real Jewish joke. That's a real like classic. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:22.680 Not only a rabbi could tell that, Joe, only a 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:24.960 rabbi in you could tell that. And of course the 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.880 rabbi manages to make this entire speech about how have 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.120 we already forgotten? How we were treated, how we treat others? Beautiful, 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.839 beautiful sermon starts with the most the most Jewish jew 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.120 joke I've ever heard. Oh that's the opening, that's the 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.839 opening to that. That's so interesting. I actually wanted to 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.960 ask you about this. You're Jewish, you were raised Jewish? 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.760 I was raised Jewish. Are you are you a practicing Jew? 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:55.080 I am? I'm the kind of jew that gets anxious 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.520 when I'm not doing the satyr and my family is 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.560 not doing the Sator. But if my family's doing the sata, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.200 it's fine for me not to be doing the sata 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.000 because I just get to say amen from the other 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.640 side of the country. Right. We had to bail on 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.160 our stata because my wife is very sick and basically 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.799 nobody eats meat, but for Passover we'll get brisket because 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.479 you know it's Passover, it's a requirement. I usually am like, Okay, 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.200 I'll eat sonka if I have to, I'll eat some brisket, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.120 I guess. And we got five pounds of brisket we 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.680 ordered from this place around here. That's so it's so good, amazing, 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.720 And then we had to cancel the satyr. So I've 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.480 just been working my way through five pounds of brisket personally, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.120 like literally nobody else in the family eats it. So 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:38.720 so I think out what I've been doing with our 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.000 three pounds of brisket. Yeah, it's like it's like we're 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:42.919 like a weekend. I'm like, I'm not sure this is 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.680 even like I can still eat this, but it's safe, 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.159 don't care. Yeah, no, I mean it tastes okay, So 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.720 I'm just gonna roll with it until something seems funny. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.920 But you're from Atlanta, you were raised in Atlanta? Is 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.240 that correct? Born and raised in Atlanta. So I don't 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.680 meet a lot of Southern Jews, like I don't meet 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.760 a lot of people who are both like from the 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.120 southern region. We can safely consider Atlanta southern, right, I mean, 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.080 it's definitely it's of all the southern, of many of 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:15.200 the southern places. It feels like it's pretty fucking progressive, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:20.320 comparatively little blue gem on the buckle of the Bible belt. Right. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.040 But I mean, what was that like growing up in 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.800 the South as a Jew Because, like my experience is 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.640 I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is a huge Jewish population, 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.360 so I was like around Jewish people all the time, 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:37.479 even though I rejected God ultimately. But um, that's my 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.000 favorite thing about Judaism is you get to be an 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.039 agnostic or an atheist jew and it's you're still like, 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.600 there's no escape me. It's like, yeah, that's social Jewish 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:48.280 part of it just gets like seeped in and then 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.240 you're yeah, and it's almost like a religious requirement to 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.240 question the very existence of God at a base level, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.359 so like, yeah, it's chill. Yeah, no, you're definitely like 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.200 a real Like I remember talking to my mom about God, 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:02.839 you know, because I started when I was a kid. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.040 I started to go like, this doesn't making a lot 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:06.760 of sense to me. People are talking a lot about God, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.159 but I kind of don't believe it. And I was like, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.720 what's what it is? God? What is Who's God? And 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.040 my Mom's like, God is everything, God is the trees, 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:16.840 God is there. I'm like, okay, so you don't really 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.480 buy it either, like you're kind of like God exactly. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.800 She wasn't like, oh, well, the God is in heaven 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.800 and does you know gave the commandments and anyhow, it's nebulous. 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.120 It's weird. It's a bush that is on fire and 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.480 continues to be on fire. It's weird. It's it's so weird. 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.880 But so what was that like in the South, Because, um, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.040 you know, especially if you're like if you're you know, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.520 practice practicing jew and you've had a Jewish family, I'm 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.760 just so curious And maybe it's a stupid question. Maybe 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.160 it's like there are a million Jews in the South, 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:46.760 and I'm just I haven't met any of them. There 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.680 are no stupid question. Well, I don't know. I bet 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.520 I could come up with it. I have a feeling 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.640 I could come up with a few stupid questions. But like, 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.480 was that was that weird? Were you ostracized as as 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.720 a as a Jew in um what would be considered 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.520 a very Christian area, Yes, and no. I grew up 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.880 with a thriving, bustling Jewish community. The resurgence of the 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.320 KKK and the American South happened in I think the 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.720 sixties with the lynching of a Jewish man named Leo Frank. So, 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:21.640 to be fair, it's scary there. My cousin's synagogue, a 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.880 very established synagogue, has at least one bomb threat a week, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:31.960 and they just continue because that's the norm. And at 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.520 the same time I did. I grew up with a 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:39.959 thriving and bustling Jewish community sprawling across Atlanta. See, as 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.360 long as you're inside the perimeter, it's called IP inside 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.240 the perimeter, and OTP is outside the perimeter. Atlanta is 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.680 surrounded by highway and that's called the perimeter. Right once 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.840 you're outside the perimeter, it's Scaryville, USA is outside the perimeter, 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:01.240 like very rural, is it very country? Some parts? It's 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:06.520 also like there's areas outside the perimeter that are just fancy, 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.160 rich white town, and then there's also a town that's 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:15.720 just all country, all acreage, all run down gas stations. 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.160 It's right, once you get outside the perimeter, it's it's 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.760 the eclectic nature of Georgia again, Like you went from 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.360 scary to eclectic, which I think is a real look, 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.640 very very savvay charming depending on what you look like. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.760 You're like suddenly it could be charming and beautiful depending 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.480 on how much privilege you have, right, I mean, you know, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.559 it's it's always interesting because I'm for me like, well, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.240 I'm a white guy, right, that's I'm a white guy. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.240 I feel like people And this is true because like 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.079 in New York, you know, there's there will be Jewish 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:49.160 guys that come up to me and are like, do 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:50.800 you want to dove in with us? Do you want 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:52.280 to you know, it's like during the holidays, they'll just 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.040 walk up to you and be like, well you're Jewish, right, 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:58.160 And I'm like, first off, that's and I'm like that's 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:03.400 anti Semitic, and yes I am Jewish. Actually both correct 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:08.000 and defensive. I both resemble and resent that totally. But 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.839 but yeah, I mean I think so I have a 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.240 my bar for you know, when things get scary, it's 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.280 probably different. Right. But so you were inside and you 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.360 were in a community of other Jewish people. Did you 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.840 ever firsthand experience anti Semitism? There was there ever any like? 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.000 Could you feel it? Could you see it? Absolutely? The 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.959 KKK was alive and well outside the perimeter. I would 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:36.319 travel for rural softball games and you know, pass not 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:41.560 just Confederate flags, but like blatant Nazism out there. It's 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.720 it's yeah, I guess this. I sound so naive, but 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:46.400 I you know, grew up in a place where I mean, 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.680 I can tell you in my life I've never don't 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.280 think I've ever been in the same room or on 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.000 the same street with somebody who was like a clan member, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.200 like as far as I know, I mean, you know, 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.120 like I don't know, have you you saw people like 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.480 in the road. I didn't grow up on the same 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.240 street as like a clan member, but I did grow 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:08.720 up on the same neighborhood as a guy who had 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:16.000 a Confederate flag lanyard and black family that didn't hang 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.120 out with us once they found out we were Jewish 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:23.119 and not Christian. Oh really, it's a very strange reality 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.480 in Atlanta to get bought insane tolerance and insane just 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:32.440 like cognitive dissonance. Yeah, that's wild. I mean it is interesting. 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.480 I will say this, like I was talking to somebody, 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.800 a non Jew recently. I was explaining how Jews people 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:40.520 love Seltzer, and I don't know if this is I 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:45.760 believe that this is true in my life experience. Everybody 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.840 in my family was like not just like I enjoy 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:54.559 sparkling water, but like obsessed with Seltzer and and he 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.160 was surprised to hear that this was the thing amongst Jews. 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.720 Are you Are you a Seltzer fan? Was your family 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.280 into Seltzer out of curiosity? Oh yeah yeah big time, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:08.040 like soda streams and as well as like favorite brands 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.840 for like when we're too lazy, and then like a 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.239 system for the soda streams to have cool water ready 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.439 to put it. I get the cold water you have. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:18.920 But see, it's interesting. That's like one of those things 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:20.840 that like you can meet a kind of a Jew anywhere, 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.560 and that it's just one of those things that's just like, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.640 oh yeah, the Seltzer thing or whatever. You know, It's 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.880 it's weird because there's so few Jews. It's not like 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:30.920 there's none of us, but they're actually on the planet. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:32.760 Are not very many Jews if you just look at 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.680 the numbers, the raw numbers, and people got wiped out 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.920 and the population just never recovered. Yeah, and it's a 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.120 really really small number. But like I do feel like, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:42.880 I mean, you see this, like you know, the ship 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:44.640 with like Kanye or whatever, and it's like, okay, well, 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.920 there's this persistent idea that Jews are like really super 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.800 duper important and that has just like never stopped being 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.040 a thing amongst like a you know, certain people for 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.480 certain people who already are inclined not to like us. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.360 But but it's funny because it does feel like there's 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.880 these things that are the very cultural and knowable even 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:06.960 if you're not religious, like like I am like a 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.720 very you know, very atheistic Jew. Like I feel like 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.160 you and I have things that some basis for our 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.680 relationship here that we don't even need to have to establish. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.480 But I was fascinating when I heard that because I 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.200 don't know, I don't think I know a single Jew 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.360 from the South. I think that's you. Maybe the first 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.760 Jew from the South that I'm I'm getting to know, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.480 which seems weird, but I don't know, it does, doesn't it? 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:32.880 In classic Jewish fashion? My uncle is the guy who 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.400 ran the Kansas City JCC when it got shut up. 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:41.080 Oh wow, during the Obama administration. That's crazy. So like classics, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:45.319 small world? Yeah, whose especially you know in that sort 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:52.000 of zone of what feels to be claimed, Yeah by 0:13:52.440 --> 0:14:06.040 a different religion. How long have you been acting? When 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.280 did you start? You were young, fresh out the womb. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.640 I decided that I wanted to be Dorothy from the 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.880 Wizard of Oz and decided that everyone in my family 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.560 was just in this with me. They were just so 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:19.640 long for the ride. They were just along for the ride. 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.360 And you couldn't call me anything but Dorothy. Really. Yeah, 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.040 how young were you? I was too? Oh wow, I 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.360 was too. And that lasted for like a year and 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.120 a half or something ridiculous like that. I truly I 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.120 saw the Wizard of Oz, I decided I was Dorothy, 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.640 and everybody else had to deal with that. I mean, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.960 I completely understand that I have a daughter named Zelda. 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:41.880 I love that name. Thank you. She's been obsessed with 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.160 Annie since I mean my wife and I showed it 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.160 to her when she was two probably or three or something, 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.160 and just basically he's been obsessed with it. And now 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.760 as like a theater kid is like, yeah, does all 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.240 these musicals and is into things that I never thought 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.240 I would I would learn about, Like are you familiar 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.960 with the franchise the Zombies, Franchi? I am now official, 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:08.320 I have nieces and nephews. I love it so like, 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.000 not only do I know all the songs from Annie 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.240 and like the Matilda musical and oh my god, I 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.400 love the Matilda musical. Oh my god, so it's so good, 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:17.880 so insane and uh and just all this like like 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.960 Wicked and whatever. But then also now because they basically 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.120 was like, oh yeah, kids love musicals, so we should 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:28.040 just make those zombies incredible. I've learned so much about 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.840 the zombie universe thanks to her. But there's something some people, 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.640 I am the parent of one, something just clicks in 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.240 a way that is like overwhelming. Did you feel that way, 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.120 like like obviously when you were a little kid, it's 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.280 like hard to gauge, but like you kept doing it right, Yeah, 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:47.920 my parents figured that in the long run, just starting 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.080 to put me in acting classes and camps might be 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.200 cheaper than therapy. It wasn't, because I still needed therapy. 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:55.760 I was gonna say, I don't know if that's those 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.520 are no equivalent. It didn't work. They just spent more money, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.640 and now I'm trying to make money off of it, right, Okay, Well, 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.520 and you've done it. You're making money off you're in. Yeah, 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.800 you're in a ton of stuff. But maybe there was 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.560 never a question. But was there a moment for you 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.880 where you're like, Okay, I can make this like a life. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:20.000 Well I'd I'd done you know, camps and stuff and 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:23.640 absolutely loved it. But I was a jock and I 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.680 thought I was going to be doing softball. And then 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.520 there was this sort of casting call thing, an ad 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.920 for It was like, here, come for a free audition 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.160 for Adrian Armante and Phil Lewis from Disney Channel to 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.680 teach you if you have any interest in learning how 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.840 to be like them, and my brain, not knowing that 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.240 auditions are always supposed to be free, went oh, free, 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:54.120 let's do that. Like what a deal, right? What a steel? 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.280 I got me? I'm sold? And so we went and 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.440 I'm like, there's no cost to the us, and they 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.160 were like, well, if if we like you and your audition, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.040 then you got to pay us to train you. I'm like, oh, 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.560 that makes more sense. But at that point we just 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.520 we did our little auditions and Phil Lewis pulled my 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.920 parents to the side and said, don't let this kid 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.879 skip school, but also don't let this kid stop doing this. 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.040 And that was sort of the first time that for 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.680 any of us we were like, we're are you for real? 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:31.080 No shit? Okay? Yeah, And even then I was still 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.879 kind of not taking it completely seriously, even during this 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:39.000 training process, until Giovanni Samuel's of Disney Channel of Fame. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.800 We were goofing off in her class and she kind 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:44.800 of snapped us to reality and read us the Riot Act. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.040 It was like, people are paying money for you to 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.720 do this, and you have a chance to make a 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:54.680 return on that as long as you don't keep dicking around. Right. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.480 I heard it, I listened, and she kind of brought 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.320 me back to brought me to reality, a reality I 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.720 had never sort of considered. And then from there it 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:10.560 was sort of that moment of like, I mean, still 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.760 a maybe, but worth the trying sort of thing. Yeah, 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:17.679 Like I mean, listen, I know there are a lot 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.480 of people who do lots of fearless things, but I 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.920 am like kind of in awe of the capability of 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:28.960 someone with your talent to be able to inhabit a role, 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:30.960 even if it's very serious, or if it can be 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.679 very kind of fun and silly or whatever. Just like 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.840 that ability too. I feel like I'm I don't think 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.280 I'm a very self conscious person exactly, but I feel 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.320 like there's a certain level of I don't know, my 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.560 brain would prevent me from letting go completely. And I think, 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.119 I don't know what is that. Is there a moment 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.280 where you are able to just inhabit this other space 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.360 where you're not thinking about who you are and what 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.840 people are thinking and how that could be perceived, and 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:58.920 you're just in that thing or is it like, how 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.000 do you get there? I think I spent my whole 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:09.399 life sort of trying to figure out how to respond 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:13.760 to every situation the way that other people did. Yeah, 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:21.359 sort of you know, neurodivergent masking thing or a divergent seeing, copying, adapting, 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:28.640 and imitating. And I think that I just seemed to 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:33.240 have figured out a way to use it for good 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:38.840 because I'm always slightly aware of how I'm coming across, 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.840 because when I was a kid, I couldn't always come across. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.399 I couldn't always express what I was feeling and trying 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:51.280 to express unless I took somebody else's words or facial 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:55.880 expressions to convey it, and then people would understand it better. Oh, 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.760 that's really interesting, And so I think that I found 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:05.520 the magic of infusing what I was feeling with what 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:11.920 other people could comprehend could read. Right. Well, that's so interesting. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.840 You have ADHD, Is that correct? Yeah? I also have that. 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.840 So I'm always a big fan. And you said you're 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:20.800 a divergent, but it's anything else fall for you into 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:28.280 that bucket. Well, see, here's the thing. Apparently my parents 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.000 recently told me that back in the day, back when 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.360 I was getting diagnosed with everything I was getting diagnosed 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.760 with when I was a kid assigned female at birth 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:41.720 didn't get diagnosed autism spectrum quite as much. And purportedly 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.320 my mother was told when giving me the diagnosis, you 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:50.840 have to choose between autism spectrum or ADHD. Your child 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.680 falls squarely into both categories. Oh, it cannot be both, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.119 that's crazy. This comes with this set of challenges. This 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:04.200 diagnosis come extra challenges, right you Wow, choose one and 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:08.520 we didn't know anything at the time. I was like, yeah, seven, 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.480 there's something like this. This is way before everything. So 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.240 here I am on the other side. My mom is 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.600 doing more and more work in autism spectrum spaces and realizing, 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.200 oh my goodness, becks where do you lie? Where exactly 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:25.800 on the spectrum do you lie? And I'm like, I 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:29.080 I don't know. I've spent so long learning how to 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.280 do what I do and how I present to the world. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.000 Now I don't know if anyone could diagnose me. Is 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.480 anything other than a chaos Gramlin is fine in time? 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.680 A chaos Gramlin. I don't know if that's an actual diagnosis, 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:44.240 is it not? In the DSM five, I'm waiting for 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.280 the six. Am I hearing a lot about the chaos 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.160 Grablin diagnosis out there or any treatments for it, but 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.080 it sounds fun. No treatments terminal? Well, I know of 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.679 both chaos and gramlins. Is like, that's a recipe for 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.720 a good time, or at least a mixture of good 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:00.800 times and bad times, but probably not a lot in 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:05.560 between definitely an eclectic time. It's so interesting to hear about, 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:08.080 like how much that diagnosis matters. Now. When I was 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:09.520 a kid and I got diagnosed, they put me on 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.760 a ton of drugs, and I was immediately like fight, 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:14.720 we're talking about zombies. But I was like, oh zombie. 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:16.959 Like I was like a oh yeah. Like I suddenly 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:19.399 became so good at like being in school, you know, 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.120 but like my personality was like zeroed out. I never 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.040 got there. No, you were never good in school. No. 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:28.479 I was on so many different drug cocktails. We finally 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:30.919 we finally found one that worked for me for a 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:32.880 long time, but I had I was on so many 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:35.560 of the little drug cocktails, but they all made me 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:40.080 so emotionally unstable, yeah, that it wasn't worth me getting 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:42.359 my homework done on time, right, So we had to 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.719 find different ones. No, eventually we stopped. I mean eventually 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:47.480