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Speaker 1: Also media, Hey everybody, did you know it's the super

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Speaker 1: Bowl this weekend?

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Speaker 2: Well, in honor of the Super Bowl, the game.

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Speaker 1: I will be watching and enjoy so much, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to re release this episode about the Super Bowl halftime

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Speaker 1: show in the form of a profile of the amazing Brian.

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Speaker 2: Gaw aka Left Shark.

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Speaker 1: There has been a lot about Brian that has been

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Speaker 1: coming out in the last couple of days because it

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Speaker 1: is the ten year anniversary of a left Shark moment

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Speaker 1: during the Katy Perry Super Bowl Halftime Show.

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Speaker 2: Please enjoy this special re release.

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Speaker 1: And a very merry Elvis Presto to us all. Welcome

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Speaker 1: the sixteenth minute. I need to talk to you about

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Speaker 1: a man named Elvis Presto.

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Speaker 3: NL a Magic Com Entertainment present of Super Bowl Halftime Extravaganza.

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Speaker 3: Sorry you had the brave suppressed.

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Speaker 4: It's a digitation, Elvis.

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Speaker 1: Presto, It's a free bamn.

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Speaker 2: Maybe you're confused.

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Speaker 1: What you just heard was a sixties style girl group

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Speaker 1: think the Supremes impersonators, I guess talking over a very

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Speaker 1: eighties looking bright colors and shapes digital screen, and then

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Speaker 1: that fades to that same girl group addressing the camera

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Speaker 1: in the middle of a gigantic, hacked football stadium. It's

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, We're at the fucking Super Bowl, and

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Speaker 1: the headlining act for the halftime show is a man

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Speaker 1: called Elvis Presto. Let's have a theoretical conversation. Wait a second,

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Speaker 1: you say, I've never heard of Elvis Presto. I roll

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Speaker 1: my eyes and reply, I'm sorry. Try waking up for

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Speaker 1: the first time in your life. Elvis Presto is, of

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Speaker 1: course an Elvis impersonator who is also a magician, and

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Speaker 1: so he's gonna arrive in the middle of the football

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Speaker 1: field by way of.

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Speaker 2: Some kind of magic.

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Speaker 1: I didn't say great magic in that clip. Elvis Presto

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Speaker 1: just kicked his way out of an old jukebox. He's

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Speaker 1: not necessarily giving Elvis, but it's the beginning of the show.

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Speaker 1: Let's give him a chance. You think, was Elvis Presto

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Speaker 1: a popular act in the eighties that I just never

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Speaker 1: heard about? Oh no, I reply, this was a character

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Speaker 1: made up for the Super Bowl. Okay, you think, well,

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Speaker 1: at least he's late by a professional Elvis impersonator.

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Speaker 2: Right, No, he's not.

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Speaker 1: Hello baby, this this fan is not an Elvis impersonator.

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Speaker 1: I checked. Okay, you say, then surely he's a magician.

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Speaker 4: The Robert You're going, no fun this card trick's doing

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Speaker 4: the first you have to pick the card, come on

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Speaker 4: and comeson train.

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Speaker 1: For a card. He isn't a magician. The guy that

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Speaker 1: plays Elvis Presto is not a magician. There is technically

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Speaker 1: a feat of magic performed within this show, but it's

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Speaker 1: all production. It's never Elvis Presto. There are so many

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Speaker 1: things that happened in this twelve minute show, and none

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Speaker 1: of them makes sense.

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Speaker 2: It's awesome.

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Speaker 1: There's hundreds of dancers and poodle skirts. There's guys on trampolines.

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Speaker 1: There's flaming batons, one of which almost sets Elvis Presto

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Speaker 1: on fire. There's one hundred motorcycles, and the central act

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Speaker 1: is a character who was just made up a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks ago, performing quote unquote the world's largest card trick.

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Speaker 1: And you won't believe this, but the world's Largest card

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Speaker 1: trick didn't really translate.

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Speaker 2: To TV at all. But the idea was.

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Speaker 1: That there were four gigantic playing cards laid out on

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Speaker 1: the field. Elvis Presto read the name of each card,

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Speaker 1: and the crowd picked a card via applause, and then

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Speaker 1: Presto the card everyone chose, the King of Hearts, which

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Speaker 1: was the only character and the only heart, so pretty

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Speaker 1: easy to stack the deck there, But Elvis Presto knew

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Speaker 1: all along it was going to be the King of Hearts.

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Speaker 1: This is how it plays out.

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Speaker 4: Which card it's gone the feet depends on just how

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Speaker 4: allowed you clap my friend card one, two, three, four,

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Speaker 4: Now clap for the card that you don't.

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Speaker 1: The cards you chose, only mister Presto knows.

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Speaker 4: Prepare for my most mystifying feet, the cards you chose.

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Speaker 3: There's only your seat.

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Speaker 1: And at this point all of the dancers turn a

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Speaker 1: card over to reveal a gigantic King of Hearts, and

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Speaker 1: the audience is asked to flip their seat cushions over

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Speaker 1: where there's also a picture of the King of a Hearts.

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Speaker 2: Wow, I love this.

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Speaker 1: This trick belongs at a kid named Evan's birthday party.

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Speaker 1: But we're at the Super Bowl, so no, the man

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Speaker 1: on the field isn't Elvis, and he isn't Presto. But

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Speaker 1: you asked me, well, this guy is an actor, right,

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Speaker 1: He's at least been cast for the part of Elvis Presto.

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Speaker 1: He didn't just, for example, have to fill in for

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Speaker 1: someone else and learn all of the choreography in three days,

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Speaker 1: explaining why he doesn't sing live vocals, doesn't perform any magic,

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Speaker 1: and doesn't look anything like Elvis. Well, here's an interview

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Speaker 1: with a guy who played Elvis Presto from an NFL

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Speaker 1: short talk back in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 5: After Solid Gold, I moved into choreography. I got a

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Speaker 5: gig to choreograph the super Bowl. Reagan Patna was our lead,

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Speaker 5: and he was perfect. He was like a blonde Elvis.

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Speaker 5: He got a Lee Jeans commercial three days before the

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Speaker 5: super Bowl and decided to quit the super Bowl and

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Speaker 5: go do the Lee Jean's commercial. So it was like, okay,

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Speaker 5: now what So.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he wasn't Elvis, he wasn't Presto, he wasn't an actor,

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Speaker 1: and he wasn't a singer. And at this point in

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Speaker 1: our theoretical conversation, your head is dangling off your fucking neck,

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Speaker 1: and you're like Jamie at very least the bare minimum.

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Speaker 1: Surely the musical selection that Elvis Presto plays are Elvis songs,

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Speaker 1: doesn't He doesn't.

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Speaker 6: He's crazy.

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Speaker 1: No, No, he doesn't play a single Elvis song outside

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Speaker 1: of saying hunka honk of burning Love in a transition

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Speaker 1: one time. Not a single the song was licensed for

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Speaker 1: this performance. Nor has this man done an Elvis impression before,

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Speaker 1: Nor can he do magic or sing. This man had

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Speaker 1: never appeared on television and never would again. He now

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Speaker 1: owns a yoga studio in Portland, Oregon. It's my favorite

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Speaker 1: thing I've ever learned. I've been healed by this information. Also,

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Speaker 1: this super Bowl show was allegedly filmed and broadcasted in

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Speaker 1: three D. Why did they call it Bebop bambozolsh Boy?

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Speaker 1: And because great artistry is never recognized in its day,

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Speaker 1: and I guess not for thirty five full years.

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Speaker 2: After its day.

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Speaker 1: People don't talk much about the Elvis Presto super Bowl

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Speaker 1: halftime show today, something I hope to be a small

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Speaker 1: part of rectifying here. But in spite of that, this

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Speaker 1: is still a historically consequential super Bowl halftime show because

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Speaker 1: when I thought of halftime shows prior to the sacred

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Speaker 1: knowledge of Elvis Presto, I.

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Speaker 2: Thought of basically a Vegas show.

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Speaker 1: For the entire world, where a generational artist plays their hits,

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Speaker 1: does a million costume changes, invites their past collaborators to

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Speaker 1: play one of their songs. There's pirate technics, there's acrobats.

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Speaker 1: In Usher's case, last year, I remember there being roller skates.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge victory lap for a musician's career that

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Speaker 1: isn't just for their fans. It's a world stage event.

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Speaker 2: But upon further.

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Speaker 1: Investigation, the Super Bowl has been going on for fifty

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Speaker 1: eight years and this big concert aspect has only been

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Speaker 1: true of the halftime show for about the last thirty years.

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Speaker 1: Before that, you got mostly colorful, marching band slash baton twirling,

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Speaker 1: kind of standard fare. Here's the former NFL Director of

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Speaker 1: Special Events, Jim Steeg, talking about what the approach to

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Speaker 1: the halftime show was free Elvis Presto. You really found

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Speaker 1: very few name stars involved. It was more about filling

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Speaker 1: the field with color and music, dancing stoke flakes. The

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Speaker 1: super Bowl has been going on since nineteen sixty seven

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Speaker 1: and was originally called the AFL NFL World Championship Game,

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Speaker 1: and they would generally do what football halftime shows had

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Speaker 1: been doing since the late eighteen hundreds in the US

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Speaker 1: and still at American high schools today. There were marching bands,

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Speaker 1: there were dancers, there were cheerleaders, there were demented levels

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Speaker 1: of needless patriotism, and in the case of the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: usually a celebrity guest or two who would sing an

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Speaker 1: American standard. In the early days of the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: this meant guests like Carol Channing, Ella Fitzgerald, and Andy

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Speaker 1: Williams who performed a song or two in the halftime

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Speaker 1: show in the seventies. In the eighties, shows were majority

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Speaker 1: by nonprofit and military performance organizations, with themes like Salute

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Speaker 1: to Motown, Hollywood's one hundredth Anniversary, and honestly a bunch

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Speaker 1: of Boughton paid for Disney ads that stretched well into

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Speaker 1: the nineties that kind of wound up just being a

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Speaker 1: Disneyland parade on a football field. Quick side note, these

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Speaker 1: weird Disney shows would go into the nineties as well.

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Speaker 1: My favorite was a really bizarre nineteen ninety five halftime

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Speaker 1: show that was meant to advertise the Indiana Jones show

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Speaker 1: at Disney World, but they also put Patti Labella in

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Speaker 1: it as a character.

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Speaker 7: Wow, Indiana Jones, you're back at Jolty back, So now

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Speaker 7: tell me shore Nick.

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Speaker 8: I've given it.

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Speaker 4: Joe Old, winner of Super Bowl twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: Well that's the right attitude, baby, interesting full halftime show

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Speaker 1: if you want to watch it.

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Speaker 2: I was entertained.

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Speaker 1: But in the late eighties the Super Bowl team was

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Speaker 1: interested in creating more spectacle around the halftime show. The

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Speaker 1: year before, Elvis Presto a contracted Radio City Music Hall

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Speaker 1: to put a show together that featured Chubby Checker and

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Speaker 1: the Roquettes and started to pull back from the standard

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Speaker 1: marching band. Fair but it's still not quite there. Chubby

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Speaker 1: Checker is still very much the featured act. It's not

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Speaker 1: his halftime show. And then along came Elvis Presto, and

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Speaker 1: sure people fucking hated it, but there's no other act

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Speaker 1: in the show but him, And that was a first.

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Speaker 1: Here's a particularly scathing review.

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Speaker 4: The reigning principle was excess too many dancers, too many

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Speaker 4: pastel colors, and the whole thing went on too long.

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Speaker 4: Mister Presto's last trick was his best. He and the

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Speaker 4: cast of thousands disappeared.

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Speaker 1: You know what else, people hate it when it came out,

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Speaker 1: Citizen Kane, probably.

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Speaker 2: So Alvis Presco, Hey, baby.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Elvis Presto happens in nineteen eighty nine, and then

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Speaker 1: everyone quietly agrees that will never happen again. Nineteen ninety

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Speaker 1: doesn't improve very much. There are iconic performers like Irma Thomas,

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Speaker 1: but the theme is Charlie Brown's Birthday, complete with these

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Speaker 1: terrifying Peanuts mascot costumes. Nineteen ninety one has New Kids

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Speaker 1: on the Block headlining, but even they have to follow

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Speaker 1: Roger Rabbit and Goofy breakdancing and an entire chorus of

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Speaker 1: It's a Small World. In ninety two, Gloria Estefan kind

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Speaker 1: of had to split the bill with US Olympic figure

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Speaker 1: skaters and an entire hockey team. But in nineteen ninety

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Speaker 1: three the formula is locked in. This is the year

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Speaker 1: that Michael Jackson headlines, and we start to see the

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Speaker 1: halftime show as what we think of it today. You

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Speaker 1: weren't just getting a ticket to the biggest football game

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Speaker 1: on the planet. You were also getting a ticket to

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Speaker 1: one of the hottest concerts possible. After Michael Jackson, it's

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Speaker 1: after the races for pop and rock megastars headlining the

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Speaker 1: halftime show, with the exception of the Indiana Jones thing.

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Speaker 1: Let's hear it again, Wow, Indiana Jones, You're back.

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Speaker 4: Get help with that, So now tell me sure, what's nick?

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Speaker 1: Sure, Patty. The nineties brought big shows from headliners like

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Speaker 1: Diana Ross, a huge Motown salute, Gloria a stepan with

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Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder instead of a hockey team. That's an improvement.

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Speaker 1: And in the two thousands the show really hit its

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Speaker 1: stride because that's when I started forming memories and so

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Speaker 1: that's when history began. Just kidding, history began here. Who ah, sorry, Okay,

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Speaker 1: the two thousands post nine to eleven. We had a

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Speaker 1: U two headlined halftime show in two thousand and two

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Speaker 1: with Bono's little American flag jacket. He's Irish and I

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Speaker 1: thought anti war, but sure. We had a very chaotic

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four that led to the infamous Janet

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Speaker 1: Jackson quote unquote wardrobe malfunction, sending Justin Timberlake to the

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Speaker 1: gutters of history. We had the best halftime show of

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Speaker 1: all time from Prince in two thousand and seven, and

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Speaker 1: when I remember really enjoying from Bruce Springsteen in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine.

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Speaker 3: I want you to step back from the clack of

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Speaker 3: all in den how.

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Speaker 4: About your chicken things down. I'm turning your.

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Speaker 1: Television, but by the early twenty tens was starting to

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Speaker 1: run out of establishment rock acts to headline, starting the

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Speaker 1: decade with The Who and then leaning heavily into pop acts.

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Speaker 1: The Black Eyed Peas a really fun Madonna show, Beyonce

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Speaker 1: in a close second to Prince for the all time

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Speaker 1: best halftime show. Then came Bruno Mars and on February first,

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, hopstar Katie Perry Headlin at what ended up

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Speaker 1: being one of the most memorable halftime shows ever in Glendale, Arizona.

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Speaker 2: And whether you were a fan or not, this was

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Speaker 2: Peek Katy Perry.

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Speaker 1: If you haven't watched it in almost ten years, let

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Speaker 1: me remind you of.

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Speaker 2: What the show was like.

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Speaker 1: It starts big and silly, what Perry was known for

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Speaker 1: at the time, and she enters on this gigantic gilded

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Speaker 1: lion puppet with glowing red eyes.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty awesome.

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Speaker 1: She's saddled onto the lion in a dress covered in

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Speaker 1: guy Fietti flames, and she's singing her hit Roar and

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Speaker 1: singing live shout out to that. She gets to the stage,

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Speaker 1: dismounts the gigantic lion puppet, and then launches into the

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Speaker 1: next song dark Horse and the second she hits the stage,

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Speaker 1: there's dancers, and the way Katy Perry had dancers at

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Speaker 1: this time was very specific. It's really campy, really over

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Speaker 1: the top. The led stage becomes this huge chessboard, and

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Speaker 1: her dancers, complete with their faces painted in silver, are

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Speaker 1: sexy chess pieces like flipping and dancing their asses off.

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Speaker 2: Awesome. She moves her.

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Speaker 1: Way across the stage and launches into the next hit.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, this is the only Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: show ever that featured all number one hits. Her first

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Speaker 1: guest artist, Lenny Kravitz, comes out, who's looking full Lenny Kravitz,

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Speaker 1: leather jacket, jeans, the whole bit, and he does a

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Speaker 1: cover of her early hit problematic bisexual anthem I kissed

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Speaker 1: a girl back before out queer pop stars were.

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Speaker 2: Legal, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: The two sing a chillingly heterosexual duet, and then the

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Speaker 1: set changes into a California beach and we head into

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Speaker 1: the next song, all timer pop anthem teenage Dream. We're

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Speaker 1: approaching the halfway mark of the show now and Katie

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Speaker 1: Perry does her first abrupt costume change, and the dancers

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Speaker 1: have changed too, no longer dresses chess pieces. Many of

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Speaker 1: them are now dressed as anthropomorphic Disneyland style grinning palm trees, surfboards,

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Speaker 1: beach balls, and.

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Speaker 2: Sharks.

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Speaker 1: Katie comes out in a primary colored beach ball inspired dress,

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Speaker 1: and the character dancers kind of bob around her. Something

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Speaker 1: that always stuck out to me is that the beach

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Speaker 1: balls had these little teeth. I hate when things have teeth,

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Speaker 1: and they don't have teeth. The cars from cars, regardless.

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Speaker 1: The costumes are elaborate, and the anthropomorphic characters have these

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Speaker 1: mouths that move in time with the music while the

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Speaker 1: dancers are inside them. And as we head into the

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Speaker 1: chorus of Teenage Dream, Katie is flanked by two bright

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Speaker 1: blue costumed sharks. The costume's mouth along to the words

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Speaker 1: of the chorus, and the dancers do their thing. But

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Speaker 1: as the chorus is ending, viewers across the world begin

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Speaker 1: to notice that the shark on the left side of

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Speaker 1: the screen seems to have maybe lost the thread a little.

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Speaker 2: He's dancing a little out of sink. He slaps himself

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Speaker 2: in the face, and then he kind of just like

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Speaker 2: wings it. This happens very quickly.

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Speaker 1: The whole thing takes less than five seconds, and then

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Speaker 1: the sharks are both locked into the choreography for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the show, but the moment has already Ben's

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Speaker 1: screen grab. This was a Super Bowl that was not

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Speaker 1: just watched on TV, but experienced in real time on

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Speaker 1: social media, and so within seconds, an online phenomenon still

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Speaker 1: remembered to this day.

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Speaker 2: Was born Left Shark.

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Speaker 1: Ryan gaw Your sixteenth Minute starts now.

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Speaker 4: The sixteen sixty sixteen.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to sixteenth Minute, the podcast where we interview

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Speaker 1: the Internet characters of the day from time gone by

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Speaker 1: to see how their big moment affected them and what

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Speaker 1: it says about.

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Speaker 2: The Internet and US.

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Speaker 1: And today I'm speaking with the infamous Left Shark from

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Speaker 1: the Katy Perry Super Bowl halftime show back in twenty fifteen.

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Speaker 1: This is a true sixteenth Minute exclusive. It's only the

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Speaker 1: second interview that Left Shark has done ever in almost ten.

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Speaker 2: Years, and spoiler alert. I like him so much.

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Speaker 1: He's awesome, But to fully appreciate his story, I think

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Speaker 1: we need to take a closer look at what and

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Speaker 1: why this moment happened, because, like millions of other people,

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Speaker 1: I very much remember seeing this in real time. I

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Speaker 1: was babysitting my boss's kids because I wasn't being paid

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Speaker 1: enough by my boss, and so their solution was take

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Speaker 1: care of my kids while I go to my friend's

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl party. Anyway, the kids and I were watching

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Speaker 1: this and I probably tweeted about Left Shark.

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Speaker 2: In the moment.

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Speaker 1: So buckle in, part your hair to the side and

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Speaker 1: come with me if you dare to. February twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 1: Harper Lee is announced to be releasing a second book

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Speaker 1: called Go Set a Watchman, prompting allegations that she was

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Speaker 1: forced into publishing.

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Speaker 2: Via elder abuse.

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Speaker 1: Brian Williams goes on hiatus after being caught lying about

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Speaker 1: being in a helicopter that was shot down in the

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Speaker 1: Iraq War.

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Speaker 2: Remember that?

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Speaker 1: And pop star Katy Perry headlined the Super Bowl halftime

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Speaker 1: show with surprise guests Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, yeah, Missy fucking Elliot, Left Shark became

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Speaker 1: the main thing that this halftime show was remembered for.

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Speaker 1: But let's not forget Missy Elliott was the surprise guest

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Speaker 1: on this show, and right after the Sharks clear the stage,

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Speaker 1: she comes out of nowhere and performs get your freak

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Speaker 1: on and Work It, before the show concludes with Katy

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Speaker 1: Perry singing firework while flying through the audience on a

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Speaker 1: gigantic shooting star prop that kind of looked like the

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Speaker 1: More You Know logo. It was a really good show,

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Speaker 1: making the fact that left Shark was the main takeaway

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Speaker 1: for a lot of.

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Speaker 2: People all the more remarkable.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into how the show came together, a

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Speaker 1: quick disclaimer. Because I'm talking about the super Bowl and

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Speaker 1: therefore the NFL this week, I want to be clear

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Speaker 1: about a few things. I do feel the need to

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Speaker 1: say that the NFL is a demonstrably dogshit organization from

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Speaker 1: just about any angle you look at it from. This

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Speaker 1: was true in twenty fifteen and would only become more

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Speaker 1: true in the years to come. The year after this

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Speaker 1: halftime show, Colin Kaepernick famously took a knee during the

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Speaker 1: US national anthem at a game to protest racial inequality

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Speaker 1: and police brutality, which brought his professional career tweet screeching

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Speaker 1: halt soon after, leading to lawsuits between Kaepernick and the league.

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Speaker 1: That's not to mention how the NFL has historically ignored

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Speaker 1: the rampant CTE traumatic brain injuries brought on by players

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Speaker 1: repeated concussions that have destroyed players' lives and led to

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Speaker 1: the death of many. The NFL has never confronted this,

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Speaker 1: and even went as far to intimidate scientists who were

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Speaker 1: studying CTE in twenty seventeen. There's the matter of massive

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Speaker 1: NFL stadiums uprooting entire communities, most often poor communities, and

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Speaker 1: these rotten to the core issues with the NFL is

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Speaker 1: what's caused some musicians to turn down playing the super

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Speaker 1: Bowl in the past, most notably Rihanna, Pink and Cardi

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Speaker 1: B in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick back in twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: although Rihanna did later do the Super Bowl in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three, so I guess she got over it.

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Speaker 2: Don't yell at me.

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Speaker 1: I'm a Rihanna fan, but like, come on anyways, I

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Speaker 1: did want to acknowledge that reality before digging into this

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl halftime show story, because admittedly there is my ooh, shiny, awesome,

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Speaker 1: pretty show with fireworks brain. That means I generally still

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Speaker 1: tune into the halftime show almost every year, and in general,

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Speaker 1: Americans are just weirdly into the super Bowl. The amount

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Speaker 1: of bizarre, campy media that exists around the Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: is hard to quantify it.

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Speaker 2: If you don't believe me.

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Speaker 1: Here's a clip of the Chicago Bears singing nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: five's novelty single, the Super Bowl shuffle.

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Speaker 4: Shot.

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Speaker 1: The song is very famous. I can't account for it.

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Speaker 1: The song has ten verses and was nominated for a Grammy.

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Speaker 2: But don't worry.

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Speaker 1: The New England Patriots also made a novelty song about

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Speaker 1: wanting to win the Super Bowl that year. Huge l

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Speaker 1: for New England. It's just embarrassing. Sorry, just one more.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty six, the Los Angeles Rams recorded a

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Speaker 1: novelty rap song that is basically porn even what of

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Speaker 1: my movies?

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Speaker 4: Like James, they call me to don all special teams.

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Speaker 1: I know how to run from the toes to the

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Speaker 1: head when I pulled the t knock you did.

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Speaker 2: I'm a mountain man from West Va. They called me

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Speaker 2: hers and I came to play. I learned long ago

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Speaker 2: with the ramatist rights. You can ram it all kN

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Speaker 2: and ram it all night. The super Bowl is deeply American.

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Speaker 1: It's big, it's annoying, it's bad for the world, and

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Speaker 1: people have a lot of fun watching it. Anyways, the

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Speaker 1: year that Katy Perry performed the teams playing were the

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Speaker 1: New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, And that will

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Speaker 1: be the last time I will be talking about the

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Speaker 1: teams because, for my money, the Left Shark moment defined

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Speaker 1: this entire broadcast. Think about moments that have stuck with

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Speaker 1: you from halftime shows of YR the Rihanna pregnancy reveal

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Speaker 1: from twenty twenty three, Lady Gaga jumping off a building

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Speaker 1: at the beginning of her show in twenty seventeen, m

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Speaker 1: i a flipping off the camera before the broadcast had

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Speaker 1: time to cut it during Madonna's show in twenty twelve,

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Speaker 1: and most infamously ever, the Janet Jackson Justin Timberlake wardrobe

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Speaker 1: malfunction from two thousand and four that slowed Janet Jackson's

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Speaker 1: career to a crawl in spite of the fact that

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Speaker 1: she had done nothing except have a nipple, and Justin

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Speaker 1: Timberlake went on to headline a Super Bowl show, only

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Speaker 1: seeing his complicity in this incident catch up with him

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years.

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Speaker 4: What tour the World Tour.

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Speaker 1: Now you'll notice that all these stories have to do

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Speaker 1: with these celebrities at the center of the show. Leaving

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Speaker 1: Left Shark in a class of his own. Because sure,

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Speaker 1: left Shark was a part of the Katie Perry Show,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't planned. The moment was not defined by her.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't a tabloid moment, it wasn't a scandal, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't a carefully engineered reveal. Left Shark's going rogue was

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Speaker 1: something weird and organic that brought social media together. But

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Speaker 1: this was a single moment inside of a gigantic show

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Speaker 1: that had been worked on for months. So to give

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Speaker 1: you an idea of how unbelievably complicated it was to

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Speaker 1: bring this and all contemporary Super Bowl halftime shows together,

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Speaker 1: here's an approximate timeline of how long the Katy Perry

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Speaker 1: Show took to come together, because of course there's a

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Speaker 1: documentary about it, and of course I watched it twice.

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Speaker 1: So the actual Super Bowl show happens on February first,

437
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, but the first rumblings of a Katie halftime

438
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: show start in August twenty fourteen, when the shortlist is

439
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 1: revealed to be Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Coldplay, and The

440
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal reported that there were pay to play rumors,

441
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 1: which means their record labels would pay the NFL a

442
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 1: premium in order to get them booked. The NFL denied this,

443
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: and they famously love to tell the truth, so I say,

444
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:49,879
Speaker 1: let's believe them. But whatever happened or didn't happen, Katy

445
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 1: Perry was in and Coldplay and Rihanna would play the

446
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:55,439
Speaker 1: super Bowl in the next ten years, so whatever proper

447
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 1: planning started in fall twenty fourteen, and Katy Perry said

448
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: from the beginning that she wants a guest artist to

449
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: surprise the audience and the same big, colorful aesthetic of

450
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,640
Speaker 1: her touring show. Billboard announced she would be the lead

451
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 1: act in October twenty fourteen, and the NFL confirmed in

452
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: November and through the end of that year, while she

453
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: and her dancers were on the Prismatic World Tour in

454
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: the US, Katie's team was communicating and planning their vision

455
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,440
Speaker 1: to the go to group of Super Bowl halftime organizers.

456
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,400
Speaker 1: Logistics while She's gone include designing and constructing a stage

457
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: unique to this specific stadium in more than eight hundred

458
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: original costumes. Katie and the dancers finished the tour on

459
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,240
Speaker 1: December twentieth, and after the holiday break, it was all

460
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,400
Speaker 1: hands on deck to learn an entirely different show than

461
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: they were doing on tour. So about a month to

462
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: rehearse a show for one hundred twenty million people. This

463
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 1: is from the documentary.

464
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 7: We got to physically rehearse for one month straight. First,

465
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,640
Speaker 7: we were in a dance studio, because you don't get

466
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 7: to always rehearse in a stadium.

467
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,160
Speaker 9: They're boiling down six months of work every day, all

468
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,680
Speaker 9: hours of the day, seven days a week, boils down

469
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 9: to twelve and a half minutes, and it was twelve

470
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 9: and a half minutes. Everything's got to go.

471
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,919
Speaker 1: Right, and in this rehearsal footage you can see the

472
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,119
Speaker 1: man who would soon be left shark. They start rehearsing

473
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 1: in the stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January eleventh, and

474
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: the infrastructure is massive. There is eighteen thousand square feet

475
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,959
Speaker 1: of led stage. There's flame cannons, there's a ten million

476
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,960
Speaker 1: dollar budget. Five hundred stage hands are there to rehearse

477
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: assembling and disassembling the stage in the space of a

478
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: single commercial break. And the whole crew is run by

479
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:41,120
Speaker 1: a Vietnam vette. They literally run this shit like the military.

480
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,679
Speaker 9: So we have two surfboards, a palm trees, four bechwolves,

481
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 9: two sharks.

482
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're so.

483
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 1: By mid January, Katy Perry is rehearsing on the gigantic

484
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: prismatic lion puppet. Missy Elliott and her dancers come in

485
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,600
Speaker 1: to start rehearsing. There's this amazing moment when Ryan gaw

486
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: is in his shark costume and he and Katie goof

487
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: around in their mouths all moved.

488
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 8: What do you think it's that?

489
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 7: Do you feel like you have a handle on that costume?

490
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 7: Like you're not gonna go timber at any point?

491
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 2: Honestly, No, this is pretty easy iconic.

492
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: And you see her talking with her dancers wearing the

493
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: huge costumes and making sure they're comfortable. They perfect rapid

494
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: costume changes. There's a flying rehearsal camera rehearsal they filmed promos.

495
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Katy Perry, popstar.

496
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 7: Welcome to my halftime show testing facilities.

497
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: We're test and finally, after six months of planning, it's

498
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Eve. Katy Perry appears to have micro managed

499
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: this event down to the micro detail, and the night

500
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: before she has this premonition that the Sharks will be

501
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: the star of the show.

502
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 7: You don't understand that like the Sharks are gonna get

503
00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 7: so much love on life.

504
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: You just heard the voice of Scott Merrick aka Wright Shark.

505
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: He's actually still a working dancer and was one of

506
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 1: the dancing Kens at the Oscars last year. And then

507
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 1: it's the day of the Super Bowl. Katy Perry was

508
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: a pastor's daughter, I guess, so in this room full

509
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: of her dancers dressed as chess pieces and Lenny Kravitz

510
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 1: and Missy Elliott, she gives a pep talk with prayer

511
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: where I pray God that you will look after us.

512
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 7: Thank you so much for this incredible opportunity.

513
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 4: And we know it's because.

514
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,719
Speaker 7: Of you, because you have chosen us as Sam and

515
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 7: we believe that we are exactly where we are supposed

516
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 7: to be today at this moment, and we will be

517
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 7: present and conscious and we will smile and we will

518
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 7: live in this twelve and a half note.

519
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,280
Speaker 1: And then the huge show happens and one of the

520
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: Sharks did this thing at some point, but after they

521
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 1: get off stage, it seems like the cruise takeaway is Wow.

522
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: That went really well, instantly, well reviewed and declared one

523
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: of the best halftime shows ever. It causes this huge

524
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 1: spike in Katy Perry, music, sales, everything you would hope

525
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 1: from a performance of that scale, And if you'll permit

526
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: me to make a quick aside, it's just interesting that

527
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 1: Katy Perry needed months to put this show together because

528
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 1: my favorite Super Bowl act learned his entire part.

529
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 2: In three days.

530
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: Who But by the time the stage had been disassembled

531
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: for New England to win the game, there had been

532
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 1: three million tweets about the halftime show in the thirteen

533
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: minutes it was airing, and the Lion, the Shooting Star,

534
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: and the costumes made a lot of conversation, but there

535
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 1: was a clear favorite moment. But everyone's favorite moment had

536
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: nothing to do with this six months of planning.

537
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 4: Guess who, Katie, did you forget your routine again? Left shark,

538
00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 4: Left Shark? No, Katie, light to me, left shark, left shark.

539
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: Yes, I guess it's up to me to decide.

540
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 2: Am I going to be a right shark or a

541
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 2: left shark today?

542
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 4: Hashtag deep Every time I get sad about the Seahawks,

543
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 4: I will turn to left shark.

544
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: If you were wondering, that was me and the shark costume.

545
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: That last tweet was Snoop Dogg. And while it takes

546
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 1: people a little time to catch on. Brian gaw reveals

547
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: himself as Left Shark the night of the Super Bowl

548
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,720
Speaker 1: by posting a screenshot of Katy Perry with the Sharks

549
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter with this caption.

550
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 4: Yep, the rumors are true, yours truly.

551
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 1: And the next day he shares a picture of himself

552
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: dressed as a rook in the chest sequence. Throughout the

553
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: rest of the night, the left Shark meme Edits came

554
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: in fast and heavy. There was Left Shark being beamed

555
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: into the sky like the bat signal. There was left

556
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,880
Speaker 1: Shark on the poster of Jaws. There was Left Shark

557
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 1: looming behind llll coolj in.

558
00:31:58,880 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 2: Deep Blue Sea.

559
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: And sure, there were a few people who were being

560
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: mean to Left Shark, saying that he messed up the choreography,

561
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: but by and large, it was a stunningly positive moment,

562
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: the kind you don't get very often on the Internet.

563
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: Left Shark became the rare main character with all but

564
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: no negative backlash. It was a mystery of identity, and

565
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: because it was the Super Bowl, mainstream media was all

566
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,120
Speaker 1: over Left Shark. The next morning, Katie Perry, from the

567
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 1: bottom of my heart, thank you for Left Shark. How

568
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: did you like the dancing sharks and the one who

569
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: went rogue and started doing the macarena.

570
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 3: That looked like it was from Saturday Night Live.

571
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 4: I hear this.

572
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 8: The shark screen left was a killer, noted one sports blog.

573
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 8: Left Shark failed out of choreography school. On Twitter, they

574
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 8: were compared to the hologram shark from Back to the Future.

575
00:32:54,840 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 1: Left Shark became the human interest finterest, No, the human

576
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: interest story of the day, But most of the reporting

577
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 1: about him in the first wave is either about the

578
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: perceived miss choreography or about how much the Internet loved him.

579
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 1: He was everywhere, and the suggestion that the dancer messed

580
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: up the choreography was so outsized in the first day

581
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 1: that a series of things happens. First halftime show choreographer

582
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: r J. Durrell came out on Monday to say that

583
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 1: left Shark did nothing wrong. In the Hollywood Reporter, this

584
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 1: was the headline.

585
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 4: Katy Perry's choreographer, Left Shark nailed it.

586
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:33,959
Speaker 2: Here's the story.

587
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 4: The sharks were given two main objectives. Perry's choreographer r J.

588
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 4: Derell tells thhr one perform Katie's trademark moves to the

589
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 4: Teenage Dream chorus, which they both did perfectly, and two

590
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 4: to have loads of fun and bring to life these

591
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 4: characters in a cartoon manner, giving them a tweedled tweedled

592
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 4: dum type persona clearly that was portrayed with the over

593
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 4: zealous shark on the right hitting precise dance moves, while

594
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 4: the left Shark, Drell says, was playing up a more goofy,

595
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 4: fun spirited sports fan mascot type that was just happy

596
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 4: to be at the Super Bowl.

597
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,840
Speaker 1: And interestingly, at the end of this article, Durell leans

598
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 1: into the already developing narrative around Left Shark.

599
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 4: Don't forget we all have a little hashtag left Shark

600
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,879
Speaker 4: in US hashtag.

601
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 1: Indeed, Katy Perry herself tweets out her support of the

602
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 1: meme the night after the Super Bowl with an illustrated

603
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 1: graphic of an embarrassed left Shark with text reading you

604
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: the real MVP. And while the reveal of Brian Gaul

605
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 1: was very satisfying, as well as the reassurance that Left

606
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: Shark's notoriety wasn't going to affect his livelihood, that doesn't

607
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,240
Speaker 1: really stay the focus.

608
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 2: Of the story here.

609
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:45,600
Speaker 1: It becomes this pretty wholesome be yourself message that catches on,

610
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: do your thing with passion and the world will appreciate you.

611
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:51,839
Speaker 1: And so for the next few days there are some

612
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 1: pretty funny standard fifteen minutes of fame things that happen.

613
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,839
Speaker 1: A guy gets a left shark tattoo. People dressed as

614
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: the left and right sharks appeared in a SportsCenter ad

615
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: and on the Late Late Show with John Mayer. Didn't

616
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 1: look into it further, but drama. It would appear that

617
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,719
Speaker 1: Katy Perry's team wanted to make sure that the left

618
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 1: Shark phenomenon wasn't making money for random people. By February sixth,

619
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: her team had issued a cease and assist to Orlando

620
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 1: artist Fernando Sosa for selling three D printed left shark toys.

621
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: By February tenth, Sosa's lawyer had fired back, saying.

622
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 4: We also wonder what Katy Perry could possibly stand to

623
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:33,919
Speaker 4: gain from declaring war on an internet meme.

624
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: Well, what she stood to gain was revealed in March

625
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, when the Katy Perry stores started selling officially

626
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 1: licensed shark onesies advertised with this tweet attention, Internet no

627
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 1: longer do you have to diy left Shark costume. You

628
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 1: can now be a proper hashtag left Shark with this

629
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 1: official glorious hashtag left Shark Onesie. This was launched alongside

630
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 1: and officially life since Left Shark t shirt. And I

631
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 1: will say that merch is a pretty common refrain with

632
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: main characters, with people like Hawktua Girl and previously thirty

633
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: to fifty Faral Hogs Guy. People will sometimes create their

634
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: own merch in order to combat opportunistic people capitalizing on

635
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,200
Speaker 1: their image or catchphrase or idea. I do think that

636
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 1: it made sense that Katy Perry did this, but it

637
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 1: looks a little different when a millionaire pop star is

638
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 1: doing it. Because Brian didn't seem to profit from the

639
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: meme himself and didn't really seem interested in it, turning

640
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: down most interview requests. After Brian's identity was revealed, it

641
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like he has much else to do with

642
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 1: the story in the short term, but Katy Perry and

643
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,240
Speaker 1: her team stay at it. By April twenty fifteen, Katie

644
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,400
Speaker 1: posted a photo with a Coachella trash can styled to

645
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,319
Speaker 1: look like Left Shark. That same month, it's revealed that

646
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 1: her team had been rejected for various attempts to trademark

647
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: the character with the US Trademark Office. The requests included

648
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: trademarking the costume design, as well as raises left Shark,

649
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,880
Speaker 1: Right Shark, drunk Shark, and basking Shark, trips off the

650
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 1: tongue March Wars aside, Left Shark had a weird amount

651
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:13,439
Speaker 1: of staying power throughout twenty fifteen. Most notably, he came

652
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:17,200
Speaker 1: up in a commencement speech at Boston University given by

653
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 1: Meredith Fierira.

654
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 2: Here it is.

655
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 1: Stay away from ax, better yet be the left Shark.

656
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,319
Speaker 1: Remember last Super Bowl when the Patriots won. Yeah, Well,

657
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,320
Speaker 1: and at this point in the speech, someone in a

658
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,280
Speaker 1: left Shark costume comes out and it becomes a lesson

659
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: about doing your own thing. The NFL has also repeatedly

660
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: made reference to this moment to this day. Left Shark

661
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:54,879
Speaker 1: is mentioned in the official YouTube upload of the Katy

662
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 1: Perry halftime show crediting the three musical artists and Left

663
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 1: Shark not even the director of the broadcast. This Shark's power,

664
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:10,040
Speaker 1: his raw power. And it's just interesting because confident imperfection

665
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,960
Speaker 1: was not always tolerated on that stage.

666
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 3: Was it who.

667
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 1: Oh hm, and so Left Shark had become the rare

668
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,360
Speaker 1: feel good character, and as always, eventually the internet moved on.

669
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:28,319
Speaker 1: Katy Perry and her dancers flew out to Spain to

670
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 1: resume the Prismatic World tour on February sixteenth, twenty fifteen.

671
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,719
Speaker 1: Brian Gaw went with them. He was publicly known to

672
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:39,240
Speaker 1: be Left Shark. He'd been defended and celebrated by his peers,

673
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 1: and he returned to dancing. Something I found interesting researching

674
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,400
Speaker 1: this story is that it's consistently the Katy Perry team

675
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 1: that continues to make this big deal out of Left Shark.

676
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:50,800
Speaker 2: Never Brian Gaw.

677
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,800
Speaker 1: It's the team that owns the costume, the team that tries.

678
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 2: To do the trademark.

679
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,799
Speaker 1: I mean, Brian certainly enjoys the moment itself, but he

680
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,800
Speaker 1: never tries to seek eternal association with this. He wanted

681
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:04,799
Speaker 1: to get back to work, and that's what he did.

682
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:05,880
Speaker 2: Years later.

683
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 1: Katie Perry and company would towed out the Left Shark

684
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:11,800
Speaker 1: a few times in twenty eighteen, including at a Super

685
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,279
Speaker 1: Bowl pre show. This is her talking to someone in

686
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,239
Speaker 1: the Left Shark suit, not Brian.

687
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,759
Speaker 7: But you would be made fun of it all over

688
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:21,240
Speaker 7: the world.

689
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 2: Do you think you're a good dancer?

690
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 1: Left Shark also made an appearance on her tour promoting

691
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:36,280
Speaker 1: the album Witness throughout twenty eighteen. Then, weirdly, Left Shark

692
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:39,879
Speaker 1: went viral again on TikTok in twenty twenty two, when

693
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,360
Speaker 1: California Girls had a brief resurgence and TikTokers were buying

694
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:45,920
Speaker 1: the costume and having all of their friends wear them

695
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: and dance in them.

696
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:47,279
Speaker 2: I don't know.

697
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 1: The only interview Brian Gaw would ever give on the

698
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: subject would be in twenty eighteen to NPR, but by

699
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 1: that time he'd very much moved on from this moment,

700
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,359
Speaker 1: although he still embraced the meme in general. He also

701
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: defended his choreography choice, echoing what had been said years earlier.

702
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:09,240
Speaker 1: It was a freestyle. It was fair play, Brian innocent.

703
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: He also said he had retired from dancing at the

704
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,360
Speaker 1: end of twenty fifteen, shortly after the Prismatic tour ended,

705
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,840
Speaker 1: and was now working at an upscale West Hollywood hair salon.

706
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 1: But that was all we knew until now. Because listener,

707
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,240
Speaker 1: here's the thing about an upscale West Hollywood hair salon.

708
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: I can make my boyfriend drive me there on a

709
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, and so when we come back, I speak

710
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: to Left Shark Brian Gaw himself in the lobby of

711
00:40:40,280 --> 00:41:00,720
Speaker 1: a very fancy hair salon. Yeah, welcome back to sixteenth minute.

712
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,359
Speaker 1: It was so nice of everyone at Left Shark's hair

713
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,880
Speaker 1: salon to not comment on my new haircut because my

714
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 1: new haircut is a triangle shape and that's not the

715
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 1: stylis fault. I asked for the triangle shape and she

716
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:15,280
Speaker 1: talked me out of bangs.

717
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 2: So it actually is a good haircut.

718
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,400
Speaker 1: And today I have an exclusive, in depth interview with

719
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 1: a certain left Shark. Brian Gaw currently works at the

720
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,399
Speaker 1: Serrano Salon in West Hollywood, inside of a store called

721
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: Just One Eye. The store is huge and gorgeous and

722
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: scary in a way that stores in West Hollywood can be.

723
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 1: The ceilings are high, there's a sexy anime statue, but

724
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,160
Speaker 1: it's class C. I have no idea what they were

725
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 1: selling there, And in the very back is this small,

726
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 1: gorgeous salon. Brian is both a successful hairstylist for private

727
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,960
Speaker 1: clients and for high fashion. His instagram includes a lot

728
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 1: of this work. I'm talking doing hair for red carpets, billboard,

729
00:41:55,719 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 1: ad campaigns Vogue Hong Kong. He has built this ritible

730
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 1: career for himself and his friends. Did this day with

731
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: Katie Perry, and I am very intimidated by these kinds

732
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:09,000
Speaker 1: of spaces, but.

733
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:11,880
Speaker 2: Everyone at the salon was so so kind.

734
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 1: It's owned by longtime celebrity stylist George Serrano, who Brian

735
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 1: has worked with for years. So when I arrived, we

736
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:22,719
Speaker 1: were in this beautiful cavernoust space, and Brian said that

737
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,800
Speaker 1: the only place to do the interview would be right there.

738
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 1: So this interview has been edited for time and clarity,

739
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: and it sort of sounds like we're sitting in the

740
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,000
Speaker 1: lobby of a very fancy hair salon, because we are.

741
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:37,359
Speaker 1: Here's my interview with Left Shark Brian gaw.

742
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 3: My name is Brian. I'm a hairstylist and I am

743
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,680
Speaker 3: also a professional dancer. The dancing part has kind of

744
00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 3: taken a back seat. So yeah, I'm just happy to

745
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:51,000
Speaker 3: be here to chat with you.

746
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,600
Speaker 2: Could you tell me where we are?

747
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we're in the Sycamore district called a multi

748
00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:01,200
Speaker 3: brand kind of art installation called Just there's lots of

749
00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:05,280
Speaker 3: high end retail art and where a boutique salon located

750
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 3: in the back called Serrano Salon. We are a small

751
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,320
Speaker 3: team of stylists and yeah, we're like a little family

752
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:10,799
Speaker 3: back here.

753
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: I was intimidated by the doors. I was like, I

754
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:16,840
Speaker 1: don't am I allowed to go an Tell me about

755
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 1: where you grew up, how you grew up, what were

756
00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:20,479
Speaker 1: you like as a kid.

757
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 3: So I grew up in Houston, Texas a product of

758
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,399
Speaker 3: doing how I got into dances. I grew up doing

759
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 3: martial arts. I was always very physically active during my

760
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 3: high school years. So yeah, I did my first audition

761
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 3: that year. I had to wait till I turned eighteen

762
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 3: because they didn't have a men's team on the NBA

763
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:46,920
Speaker 3: that year, So I ended up auditioning again, got the job,

764
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,800
Speaker 3: danced for the NBA, and then at that time, like okay, fine,

765
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 3: here's the age thing. At that time, like Britney Spears

766
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:57,720
Speaker 3: was really big and like her dancers were all over MTV.

767
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,399
Speaker 3: This was a different time pop culture, like you would

768
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:05,439
Speaker 3: see your media on TRL, which is an MTV show,

769
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:06,800
Speaker 3: or you would hear it on the radio.

770
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, still the like Carson Daily era of curation.

771
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was like wow, like in my eyes,

772
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,400
Speaker 3: my young eyes and like these dancers could be amazing,

773
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:18,960
Speaker 3: they could be quote unquote famous. I want to be

774
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 3: a dancer. So I would go back and forth between

775
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,719
Speaker 3: LA and New York to take class and it just

776
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 3: really opened my eyes. Like at that time, also one

777
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:31,759
Speaker 3: of my former teammates, Gilbert, he had already moved to LA.

778
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,240
Speaker 3: So I danced right after him, and he had already

779
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 3: moved to LA. He was on the he was on

780
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 3: the Houston Comments dance team also, and everybody's like, he's

781
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 3: dancing for Christina Aguilera. You know, like you could totally

782
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 3: move to LA and do this. And I was like,

783
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,320
Speaker 3: oh gosh, like I really want to try that. And yeah,

784
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 3: that's sort of how I moved from Houston to LA.

785
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: Such a big move so young too. I mean I

786
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 1: moved here when I was twenty two, and I still

787
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,000
Speaker 1: was like, ugh could have waited long.

788
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, like what was that experience?

789
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:04,839
Speaker 3: Like it was crazy because like, you know, I went

790
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 3: to college for a little bit for a few years

791
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,799
Speaker 3: back in Houston. I still lived with my parents, and

792
00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:13,440
Speaker 3: my time in LA like or moving here. Yeah, I

793
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,680
Speaker 3: had friends that you know, I'd made here also, but

794
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 3: it was like that was my college experience, if you will,

795
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,560
Speaker 3: you know, I moved out to an apartment by myself.

796
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 3: I was auditioning all the time. Luckily I got an

797
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 3: agent kind of right away when I first moved here.

798
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 3: And then yeah, it just was really it was a

799
00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:35,920
Speaker 3: very interesting time because it's like all I cared about

800
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,399
Speaker 3: was dance. The only thing that important to me was dance,

801
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:40,760
Speaker 3: and that was like my one dream as a person.

802
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,280
Speaker 3: I kind of like was always super into my hair anyways,

803
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 3: and you can ask my family growing up. I would

804
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 3: always like playing people's hair and just kind of like

805
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,919
Speaker 3: I was just some always into that, and I kind

806
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 3: of thought, oh, well, eventually I'll end up going down

807
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,400
Speaker 3: this path. But you know, for right now, it's just

808
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:00,960
Speaker 3: like just into dance. I wanted to be a professional

809
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 3: dancer and that's what I did.

810
00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:04,840
Speaker 1: So when you get here and you're doing early auditions,

811
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,400
Speaker 1: what were those early audition experiences like, were they like

812
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:08,400
Speaker 1: big cattle calls?

813
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 3: What were Yeah, it's amazing. You get an agent and

814
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,799
Speaker 3: you don't realize, like you think you're new here. You

815
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 3: get an agent and you know you're the whatever, the quintessential,

816
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,600
Speaker 3: you're the best from your town or you've made it

817
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 3: because you've got to la well, honey, you don't realize

818
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 3: like all these other people have been doing this, Like right,

819
00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:29,879
Speaker 3: so you're going to the big cattle call auditions, five

820
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:33,240
Speaker 3: hundred people auditions, thinking oh, they called you for an audition,

821
00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 3: but you know this is like, Yeah, you stood outside,

822
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:40,520
Speaker 3: you waited your turn, you learned the combo, waited your turn,

823
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 3: and then you had that couple minutes to go and

824
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:46,200
Speaker 3: you were either cut or you kept making cuts or

825
00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 3: they kept making cuts down the line. It was like

826
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:51,839
Speaker 3: an all day process. I think the experience of it

827
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:56,239
Speaker 3: you just enjoyed. You didn't think it sucked because you

828
00:46:56,320 --> 00:46:58,319
Speaker 3: just cared about dance. You wanted to book these jobs

829
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:00,799
Speaker 3: and this is an opportunity to you know, dance for

830
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 3: Janet or dance for Britney and you're like, these are

831
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:06,400
Speaker 3: the biggest stars at the time, and yeah, you wanted

832
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 3: to be a part of that, you know, and you

833
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 3: were very close in terms of tangibility.

834
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:13,880
Speaker 1: I mean, it certainly happened for you. It seems like

835
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:18,000
Speaker 1: several times over I'm curious about those early gigs. I

836
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 1: looked at your IODB and I was like, Wow, you're

837
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 1: on every Disney Channel show I love just so much.

838
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what I think? What you don't you think?

839
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:28,840
Speaker 3: You have this career steered in one way, and life

840
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,520
Speaker 3: just takes you either down that path or either down

841
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:34,200
Speaker 3: a more unique path. I think what was also interesting

842
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:36,000
Speaker 3: for me is like it did end up happening. I

843
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:39,280
Speaker 3: did work with all the you know, hot female pop stars,

844
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,279
Speaker 3: but early on in the career, in my career, it

845
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:43,359
Speaker 3: was very I looked young, you know what I mean.

846
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:46,680
Speaker 3: I looked like a kid. So I was booking like

847
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:51,080
Speaker 3: commercials and TV and movie spots on kid type TV shows,

848
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,360
Speaker 3: which is great because it allowed me my first like

849
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:55,400
Speaker 3: footing in the door. It's like how you work with

850
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:57,880
Speaker 3: these big choreographers, It's how you like you booked that

851
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 3: for shob You get to know the working answers. You

852
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 3: get to know the working choreographers and directors, and that's

853
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 3: kind of how you segue into bigger jobs. You know

854
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 3: those other choreographers and directors they work on other big projects.

855
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:10,640
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.

856
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:11,480
Speaker 2: You do these gigs.

857
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:13,399
Speaker 1: You take these gigs, you get the experience, and then

858
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 1: it you build on it. It's like a stepping stone.

859
00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:16,880
Speaker 3: It is a stepping stone.

860
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 7: You know.

861
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,520
Speaker 3: Hey, some people move out here their first audition now

862
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,719
Speaker 3: is you know their dream job. For me, it wasn't.

863
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:24,520
Speaker 3: There was a there was a learning curve. I had

864
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:27,279
Speaker 3: to like bust my ass in class because you're good

865
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 3: in your hometown, but you're only so good compared to

866
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:33,719
Speaker 3: where people have the experience here in LA, Like in

867
00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,000
Speaker 3: LA and New York, you're dealing with the best dancers

868
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:38,280
Speaker 3: in the world. And that's just the truth. And honestly,

869
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 3: I was behind. I had to catch up. The truth

870
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:41,520
Speaker 3: is I wasn't as good and.

871
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,520
Speaker 2: When you started, I mean like kind of later too, right, Yeah.

872
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:48,120
Speaker 3: The truth is I was very lucky and I worked hard.

873
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:50,560
Speaker 3: I was good enough, but I was never the best

874
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 3: dancer in the room. Like I just had the drive

875
00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:55,719
Speaker 3: to aspire to be the best dancer in the room.

876
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 3: And I really feel like the heart of that is

877
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,520
Speaker 3: what got me to where I ended up getting to

878
00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 3: with dance.

879
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 1: Which is like the st here. I mean, it's like,

880
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,680
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Supportive family, supportive friends.

881
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:12,000
Speaker 3: Supportive family. Yes, I had a group of friends here

882
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:16,319
Speaker 3: that were from Texas and ended up meeting people here

883
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 3: also as you do in dance class. It's really interesting

884
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:23,600
Speaker 3: because yes, supportive family, but also a family that I'm

885
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 3: the first one to do something non traditional I see, okay,

886
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:33,640
Speaker 3: which is polarizing because you know how it is. You know,

887
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 3: there's an expectation and you're not on that path and

888
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:39,520
Speaker 3: you kind of have to prove it to yourself and

889
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 3: to everyone else. And then you start booking jobs, and

890
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:43,960
Speaker 3: then you get on TV, and then you do this

891
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:46,560
Speaker 3: and that, and it's like that's I think. Another thing

892
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,640
Speaker 3: I like would love to just impart is, like so

893
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:52,440
Speaker 3: many of these moments for all performers, it's the pinnacle

894
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:56,319
Speaker 3: of their years of work, and I like attribute it

895
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 3: to like the Olympics or anything else, Like what you're

896
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:04,359
Speaker 3: seeing is a final product of hours, years, like a

897
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:08,480
Speaker 3: lifetime of work. And it's really easy for spectators or

898
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,360
Speaker 3: you know, onlookers to just be a critic and the

899
00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,560
Speaker 3: way in which media is so consumed these days or

900
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,280
Speaker 3: just very easy to be critical of something or another

901
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 3: without understanding where the art or performance comes from. And

902
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:25,000
Speaker 3: it is it's a little disheartening, but you got to

903
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,279
Speaker 3: also understand that, like you put your time in and

904
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:28,520
Speaker 3: hopefully it's well received.

905
00:50:28,719 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 1: I mean, I have to imagine as a professional dancer,

906
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:32,960
Speaker 1: it's a testament to your craft.

907
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:35,600
Speaker 2: If you're not making it look hard. Yeah, but then

908
00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 2: people treat you like, well, how hard can it be?

909
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:40,520
Speaker 1: Because look how easy it looks like, Oh no, I

910
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:43,040
Speaker 1: spent ten years making it look that easy.

911
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 3: I'm glad for where we're at these days, and like

912
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:48,759
Speaker 3: this day and age, we've grown so much, right, But

913
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:52,240
Speaker 3: also back in the day, it was rough, like people

914
00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 3: in power could talk to you a certain way, you know,

915
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:56,759
Speaker 3: like you had to look a certain way. You had

916
00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,840
Speaker 3: to I mean, just very bluntly. There is a body

917
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:05,919
Speaker 3: standard for both men and women, unspoken but not unspoken, right, Right,

918
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,719
Speaker 3: the dance world is tough, you know, and it's you're

919
00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:10,880
Speaker 3: supposed to look a certain way. The shapes are supposed

920
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:12,439
Speaker 3: to look a certain way, you know what I mean.

921
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 3: And that's how it was back then.

922
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:17,040
Speaker 1: You know, when do you start touring regularly, when do

923
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:18,960
Speaker 1: you start working with these sort of bigger pop stars,

924
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 1: Because I know I saw Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and

925
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:22,200
Speaker 1: then Katie Perry.

926
00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, like I would say, probably around two thousand

927
00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,160
Speaker 3: and eight, I was working with a few big choreographers.

928
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:30,840
Speaker 3: I was working with Tony Braxton at the time, Lady Gaga,

929
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:34,040
Speaker 3: Miley Cyrus, and I was kind of transitioning off that.

930
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,200
Speaker 3: Like I had done a little run with Miley when

931
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,319
Speaker 3: she was doing her kind of hand in Montana but

932
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:41,920
Speaker 3: kind of trying to like break from so and I

933
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:44,520
Speaker 3: think she was. That was also the tail end of

934
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 3: her time at Disney. I was also working with Lady Gaga.

935
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,600
Speaker 3: At the time, Lady Gaga was just getting famous. We're

936
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,040
Speaker 3: doing live shows videos for her. I had done a

937
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,120
Speaker 3: couple gigs with Katie. I think the first one I

938
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:58,479
Speaker 3: had done was like the Teen Choice Awards or something

939
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 3: like that, and then the tour was going to come around,

940
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:02,880
Speaker 3: and it's like, Okay, like you got a foot in

941
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 3: because she's familiar with you, but also like, you know,

942
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,319
Speaker 3: you got an audition. I think at that time, like

943
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:10,239
Speaker 3: I was, I guess, if you want to say, like

944
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 3: at the height of like my dance ability, like all

945
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:15,200
Speaker 3: the just sort of all the pieces were there, right,

946
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:17,680
Speaker 3: I knew the right people. I had worked my butt

947
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:20,560
Speaker 3: off talent wise to get to a certain level where

948
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,320
Speaker 3: I could perform at that level, and then yeah, I

949
00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:24,919
Speaker 3: had an audition just like everybody else.

950
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,399
Speaker 2: So, yeah, what tour was your first tour with her?

951
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,520
Speaker 3: It was the California Dreams Tour.

952
00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:34,400
Speaker 1: You're getting at it before, and I want to hear

953
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 1: more about just giving people an idea of what an

954
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 1: incredible grind it is being on these tours.

955
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,759
Speaker 2: What do your days look like? It seems exhausting.

956
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:46,959
Speaker 3: When you're touring. This is kind of like, I don't

957
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:48,799
Speaker 3: know for me or I don't want to speak out

958
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:50,200
Speaker 3: a turn, but for me, like that was like a

959
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:53,200
Speaker 3: pinnacle of booking a dance job. You're on a big

960
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,400
Speaker 3: dance job with a huge pop star, you know, arguably

961
00:52:56,480 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 3: that the hottest pop star of the time at those years.

962
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:03,640
Speaker 3: Your job is to rehearse. You rehearse for a couple

963
00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:07,560
Speaker 3: months before tour, skeleton work. It's a lot of figuring

964
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:09,920
Speaker 3: it out, and then it's you know, it turns into

965
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,520
Speaker 3: the refining process. Even when you're on the road, you're rehearsing,

966
00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:16,480
Speaker 3: you're doing tech. You know, every day before the show,

967
00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:18,720
Speaker 3: you might have time to like sight see or something

968
00:53:18,760 --> 00:53:20,560
Speaker 3: like that. And then you're doing a show and then

969
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:22,480
Speaker 3: it's like you're either in that same city or you're

970
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:24,640
Speaker 3: off to the next city on a bus on a

971
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:27,080
Speaker 3: plane either that night or the next day.

972
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:29,920
Speaker 2: For weeks months, years, Yeah, for weeks months years.

973
00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 1: Yeah.

974
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:32,719
Speaker 3: As I said, like the tour. That initial tour got

975
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:36,960
Speaker 3: extended and then went into like sort of a break,

976
00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:39,920
Speaker 3: which is great. You know, it kept us as dancers working.

977
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,440
Speaker 3: It sounds like a little when you're like, oh, I'm

978
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,000
Speaker 3: working once a month or twice a month, but you

979
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:48,680
Speaker 3: don't understand, like there's weeks and weeks of rehearsal that

980
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:50,839
Speaker 3: goes into one show. It's not just like you show

981
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:53,920
Speaker 3: up and do this show. So working once or twice

982
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:57,040
Speaker 3: a month doing a different or new show tailored to

983
00:53:57,160 --> 00:54:00,960
Speaker 3: like different or specific audiences is still like you're working.

984
00:54:01,280 --> 00:54:04,640
Speaker 3: Here's a little tidbit. There was an exciting moment when

985
00:54:04,719 --> 00:54:07,239
Speaker 3: like there were rumblings right that like, hey, you guys

986
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:09,200
Speaker 3: are going to get tapped to do the super Bowl.

987
00:54:09,360 --> 00:54:11,640
Speaker 3: The super Bowl is the biggest show in America. Okay.

988
00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:15,080
Speaker 3: And then as a dancer, you know, only certain dancers

989
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:17,200
Speaker 3: get to do Super Bowl because A it has to

990
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 3: be a pop artist or an artist that's going to

991
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:23,040
Speaker 3: utilize dancers right right, And B you have to be

992
00:54:23,719 --> 00:54:28,400
Speaker 3: sort of like in with that set choreographers or whatever

993
00:54:28,600 --> 00:54:31,359
Speaker 3: or that artist. You know that, so it doesn't get

994
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,520
Speaker 3: to happen. I know, amazing dancers that should have done

995
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl again, it's like an anomaly. It's a timeline.

996
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:40,200
Speaker 3: But then there are other dances that have done multiple

997
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:42,680
Speaker 3: Super Bowls, which is also amazing. So back to what

998
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:44,880
Speaker 3: I was saying is there are rumblings like, hey, you

999
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 3: guys are going to do a Super Bowl and there

1000
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,239
Speaker 3: I remember a specific show we were doing and they

1001
00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:53,120
Speaker 3: were saying management was saying, okay, no joking around, this

1002
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 3: is very very important show, wink wink, whatever. And I

1003
00:54:57,160 --> 00:55:00,120
Speaker 3: remember feeling like they flew out the choreographers, like we

1004
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,399
Speaker 3: had to rehearse our asses off before this. Like yeah,

1005
00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:06,359
Speaker 3: I feel like that show was like an audition. Yeah,

1006
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 3: it's a lot. So we go from like having a

1007
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:10,800
Speaker 3: break from tour to going to rehearse for the Super Bowl.

1008
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:29,239
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more. Brian Gaw Welcome back

1009
00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:32,440
Speaker 1: to sixteen minute. Brian Gaw is one of the nicest

1010
00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:35,640
Speaker 1: people I've ever interviewed. After we talked, I walked to

1011
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:38,440
Speaker 1: a restaurant that I liked to go to when I

1012
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:41,720
Speaker 1: lived in West Hollywood and had no money. It's called

1013
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:45,040
Speaker 1: Crazy Rock and Sushi, Don't judge me. And while I

1014
00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:47,799
Speaker 1: was there, Brian texted me to say if I had

1015
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:50,000
Speaker 1: time to come back to the salon. He and the

1016
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,799
Speaker 1: manager had a bunch of free haircare products to give me.

1017
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 1: It was so nice. My hair is still a triangle.

1018
00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:57,240
Speaker 1: Here's the rest of our interview.

1019
00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:01,880
Speaker 3: So I think we started rehearsing like in November or

1020
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:05,960
Speaker 3: December of twenty fourteen, and mind you, you're rehearsing the

1021
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:10,200
Speaker 3: same thing for that long, Yeah, and just making tweaks

1022
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:11,279
Speaker 3: and adjustments to that.

1023
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 1: I read elsewhere that you obviously infamously left shark but

1024
00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:18,440
Speaker 1: also a horse for dark horse.

1025
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:20,800
Speaker 3: Is that I was a horse? Yes, the left shark

1026
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 3: gets a lot of attention. Great, But I was dancing

1027
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,960
Speaker 3: in the first half of the show. I was a

1028
00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 3: chess piece. This was a full on production, utilizing all

1029
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:34,799
Speaker 3: the dance, Like I had a costume change that my

1030
00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:40,239
Speaker 3: lovely dresser, Avalon helped me get into off the side

1031
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:42,920
Speaker 3: of stage. And then yeah, and then we did the

1032
00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:44,840
Speaker 3: California Girls in teenage Stream Medley.

1033
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:47,000
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the day.

1034
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:50,439
Speaker 3: I mean, it's interesting because, like I think, I don't

1035
00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:54,560
Speaker 3: want to say you become numb to it. I use

1036
00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:57,840
Speaker 3: this analogy not in an ungrateful way, but in a

1037
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:02,239
Speaker 3: way where you were so trained by that time, like

1038
00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:05,759
Speaker 3: you almost turn into a robot. We've like rehearsed in

1039
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:09,120
Speaker 3: the arena so many times. You've rehearsed on that stage.

1040
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:13,839
Speaker 3: We rehearsed at the actual Arizona Arena. I mean, you

1041
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 3: have done this routine so many times. You're so excited

1042
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 3: for the day, right, because it's exciting, But if this

1043
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:23,480
Speaker 3: makes sense, it's also well, okay, here it is. You

1044
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 3: know what I mean, because you're like, finally.

1045
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 1: Yes, were you rooting for anyone in that particular Super Bowl?

1046
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:32,960
Speaker 3: Sorry, audience, no, same, But it was really cool. I

1047
00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:35,640
Speaker 3: guess Tom Brady was in that one, right, I think so.

1048
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:37,760
Speaker 2: I think so. I'm from Massachusetts, I should know.

1049
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:38,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1050
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,919
Speaker 3: No, so that was supposed to be a really big thing.

1051
00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:45,400
Speaker 3: I don't follow football. Don't kill me, audience.

1052
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:45,479
Speaker 2: I don't.

1053
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:48,640
Speaker 1: I cannot think of an audience that probably knows less

1054
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:50,040
Speaker 1: about football than my audience.

1055
00:57:50,160 --> 00:57:52,000
Speaker 3: It was cool to like be in the locker rooms

1056
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:54,920
Speaker 3: and like see the players run past. Like the energy

1057
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,520
Speaker 3: of the stadium, the energy of what's going on. It's

1058
00:57:57,600 --> 00:58:00,680
Speaker 3: really super exciting. The game is too super exciting.

1059
00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:05,080
Speaker 1: So the performance happens, The left Shark moment happens kind

1060
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:06,840
Speaker 1: of unbeknownst to you.

1061
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:10,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, take me through what that like? You get off stage.

1062
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:12,800
Speaker 3: So what was really cool is if you watch the

1063
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:16,080
Speaker 3: entire performance, you see that Katie ends the show on

1064
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:20,080
Speaker 3: her own, right right. So by the time I get

1065
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:23,760
Speaker 3: off stage, they're holding us on this like everything had

1066
00:58:23,760 --> 00:58:27,200
Speaker 3: gone according to plan. You know, we're cheering for Missy

1067
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 3: Elliott's dancers. We're like just enjoying. We're on the sideline

1068
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:33,400
Speaker 3: and enjoining the moment like this is such a cool thing.

1069
00:58:33,520 --> 00:58:36,800
Speaker 3: We see Katie fly in the air and then then

1070
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:39,880
Speaker 3: you know, look, but the NFL does not play any games.

1071
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:42,439
Speaker 3: When you're done, you're done, get out. So like you're

1072
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:47,760
Speaker 3: like escort, like get off the field. We're literally like running.

1073
00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:50,280
Speaker 2: Are you still in full shark at this point, full.

1074
00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:54,080
Speaker 3: Full shark outfit? Just okay? Then run get off stage,

1075
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:57,600
Speaker 3: go change and then yeah there's no like you get

1076
00:58:57,600 --> 00:59:01,200
Speaker 3: to hang around, no go you're we were back at

1077
00:59:01,200 --> 00:59:06,200
Speaker 3: our hotel before the game ended. Yeah, no, you leave

1078
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:08,920
Speaker 3: you That's what I mean. You're like, I'm furious when

1079
00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:12,000
Speaker 3: I tell you that the NFL there is no no game, Like,

1080
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:15,400
Speaker 3: the NFL plays no games with or with any of

1081
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:16,240
Speaker 3: these people.

1082
00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:19,080
Speaker 2: During the performance. It I mean, you're just like it's

1083
00:59:19,240 --> 00:59:19,600
Speaker 2: just enough.

1084
00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:23,120
Speaker 3: Just it's gone according to plan, right, I guess you know, like, yes,

1085
00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:25,560
Speaker 3: Twitter was around like in popular, but this is like

1086
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:28,360
Speaker 3: this happened like a slow burn where like people were

1087
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:31,040
Speaker 3: texting me like hey, did I just see you? Which

1088
00:59:31,080 --> 00:59:33,600
Speaker 3: shark were you? And it didn't really like come out

1089
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 3: like meme until I feel like either later that evening

1090
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:40,640
Speaker 3: or the next day, and then literally the next day,

1091
00:59:40,640 --> 00:59:44,000
Speaker 3: I was getting fielded phone calls from reporters from people

1092
00:59:44,080 --> 00:59:45,320
Speaker 3: from this that how.

1093
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:46,080
Speaker 2: Did they find you?

1094
00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:47,720
Speaker 3: I don't know, like primate agent.

1095
00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:51,520
Speaker 1: I remember this like wave of internet like left Shark

1096
00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 1: memes and all that stuff.

1097
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:53,760
Speaker 2: People found you pretty quickly.

1098
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:56,240
Speaker 3: They found me pretty quickly. Number one I was I

1099
00:59:56,360 --> 00:59:59,880
Speaker 3: did post that, yes that was me. But then it

1100
01:00:00,160 --> 01:00:02,720
Speaker 3: sort of carried on because like I was also under NDA.

1101
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,600
Speaker 3: I was working with Katie and the next day, you know,

1102
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 3: we flew out to go back to La change our

1103
01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:10,200
Speaker 3: bags out, and then go back on tour. So I

1104
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:12,480
Speaker 3: it wasn't like we were in the middle of being

1105
01:00:12,480 --> 01:00:13,320
Speaker 3: on tour.

1106
01:00:13,600 --> 01:00:15,400
Speaker 1: Like the dancers thinking like, oh this is weird, this

1107
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:18,000
Speaker 1: is funny, Like what was your family's reaction, like people

1108
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:18,439
Speaker 1: in your life.

1109
01:00:18,480 --> 01:00:21,120
Speaker 3: No, everybody was super supportive. My friends and family were

1110
01:00:21,160 --> 01:00:23,720
Speaker 3: like wow, you know, like this is great, proud and

1111
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 3: excited that it was me. It was awesome. I got

1112
01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:29,240
Speaker 3: a great response. Katie pulled us sharks in the like

1113
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:32,840
Speaker 3: dressing room. She made us like shark onesies outfits. You know,

1114
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:35,720
Speaker 3: she was happy about it. You know. So it was great,

1115
01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:37,680
Speaker 3: and like I said, we were back on tour. It's

1116
01:00:37,720 --> 01:00:40,800
Speaker 3: crazy to think that it's such a pop culture moment

1117
01:00:41,200 --> 01:00:43,880
Speaker 3: because it was made a meme was made out of it,

1118
01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:46,360
Speaker 3: which is I think is how it sort of like

1119
01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:48,560
Speaker 3: came about. It was just a really fun moment to

1120
01:00:48,560 --> 01:00:50,920
Speaker 3: be part of it. Did my life change? There wasn't

1121
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:53,680
Speaker 3: like a chaine of pivotal moment and you know, or

1122
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:55,560
Speaker 3: any of these things. Like I said, I kind of

1123
01:00:55,600 --> 01:00:58,280
Speaker 3: like went back on the road with Katie. I had

1124
01:00:58,320 --> 01:01:00,600
Speaker 3: done a couple like game shows. I did a game

1125
01:01:00,640 --> 01:01:04,640
Speaker 3: show that they said okay too, because you know, she

1126
01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:07,440
Speaker 3: owns the costume and licensing and all that. I'm just

1127
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:09,840
Speaker 3: grateful to be part of that, you know, yeah, part

1128
01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:12,560
Speaker 3: of that movement. I'm grateful to have that experience. And

1129
01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:14,960
Speaker 3: I think it is that like metaphor for life, Like

1130
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:17,280
Speaker 3: you have these dreams and aspirations and they like just

1131
01:01:17,360 --> 01:01:20,000
Speaker 3: pan out. Like at the time, my biggest dream was

1132
01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:22,400
Speaker 3: like to dance for Brittany and like who knew Katie

1133
01:01:22,520 --> 01:01:24,400
Speaker 3: was going to become a huge pop star and turn

1134
01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 3: into this and I was going to get to do

1135
01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:29,480
Speaker 3: all these similar opportunities, but like in a different way.

1136
01:01:29,640 --> 01:01:31,520
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times like we see or

1137
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:34,240
Speaker 3: look at our path in such a linear way, whereas

1138
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:36,840
Speaker 3: like if we're just open to how it's going or

1139
01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,160
Speaker 3: the universe is taking you, like, you'll get these big opportunities. Also,

1140
01:01:40,200 --> 01:01:42,400
Speaker 3: I've had time, obviously to reflect on this, and I

1141
01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:45,120
Speaker 3: didn't realize it. I didn't realize like how big it

1142
01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:47,280
Speaker 3: was until after the fact.

1143
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,080
Speaker 1: The beginning of twenty fifteenth, the year where you decide

1144
01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:52,320
Speaker 1: you want to take a step back from dancing take

1145
01:01:52,360 --> 01:01:53,200
Speaker 1: me through the rest of the life.

1146
01:01:53,280 --> 01:01:55,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, So you know what, Like I think people have

1147
01:01:55,800 --> 01:01:59,360
Speaker 3: these moments in life and you really like reflect and

1148
01:01:59,400 --> 01:02:02,440
Speaker 3: you go on them. Not to sound overly rhetorical, but

1149
01:02:02,520 --> 01:02:05,680
Speaker 3: like where's my life heading or anything. Sure, I sort

1150
01:02:05,680 --> 01:02:09,000
Speaker 3: of actually got handed that to me in the best,

1151
01:02:09,120 --> 01:02:12,160
Speaker 3: most grateful way from the universe. What actually happened is

1152
01:02:12,320 --> 01:02:14,520
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I'm going to go back on tour.

1153
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:18,280
Speaker 3: This is around, like I want to say, like summertime,

1154
01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:21,120
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I'm going to downsize my life. I'm

1155
01:02:21,120 --> 01:02:23,720
Speaker 3: going to get a Vespa, sell my car, do all

1156
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:27,000
Speaker 3: these things. Well, I had gotten into a Vespa accident

1157
01:02:27,280 --> 01:02:30,840
Speaker 3: where I had a kidney contusion, and I'm like sort

1158
01:02:30,840 --> 01:02:33,240
Speaker 3: of like you grew up as a dancer, And I'm

1159
01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:35,920
Speaker 3: saying this because like you're like, oh your leg hurts,

1160
01:02:35,960 --> 01:02:38,360
Speaker 3: It's fine. That's just sort of like the generation I

1161
01:02:38,360 --> 01:02:41,960
Speaker 3: grew up in, Like something's hurting, you just make it

1162
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:45,720
Speaker 3: look good or keep it moving right. Well, unbeknownst to

1163
01:02:45,800 --> 01:02:48,560
Speaker 3: me it was I was like, really is this serious.

1164
01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:51,520
Speaker 3: Unbeknownst to me, it was very serious. I ended up

1165
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:54,400
Speaker 3: being in the hospital for six days. I say all

1166
01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:59,000
Speaker 3: this because I thought to myself like, wow, dance was

1167
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:03,280
Speaker 3: not taken from me, which totally could devastate somebody, right,

1168
01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:06,200
Speaker 3: but it's sort of my outlook on it was like, wow,

1169
01:03:06,280 --> 01:03:09,480
Speaker 3: this is a gift from God, from the universe saying

1170
01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:13,160
Speaker 3: like you have dance, it is still there. It is

1171
01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:16,280
Speaker 3: time to move on. Because I thought in those six days,

1172
01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:18,280
Speaker 3: like why am I here? You know, you have all

1173
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:20,160
Speaker 3: the thoughts like, am I gonna be able to dance again?

1174
01:03:20,200 --> 01:03:22,520
Speaker 3: Blah blah blah blah blah, like all the things. Right,

1175
01:03:22,720 --> 01:03:25,080
Speaker 3: I called a Katie's manager. I'm like, look, I'm in

1176
01:03:25,120 --> 01:03:27,520
Speaker 3: the hospital. I'm supposed to leave. I tell the doctors.

1177
01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:29,960
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm supposed to leave for Australia in two days.

1178
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:32,280
Speaker 3: Like there's no like I have to go. Obviously I

1179
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:34,160
Speaker 3: didn't get to go when I was scheduled to go,

1180
01:03:34,320 --> 01:03:39,560
Speaker 3: and Katie's managers and everybody, Katie's so graciously like I like,

1181
01:03:39,640 --> 01:03:41,720
Speaker 3: take your time. And then you know, I ended up

1182
01:03:41,760 --> 01:03:45,080
Speaker 3: missing two stops in Australia. I missed h and I

1183
01:03:45,160 --> 01:03:47,560
Speaker 3: met them in Sydney, you know, my first time a

1184
01:03:47,560 --> 01:03:50,640
Speaker 3: fly alone. I'm still on painkillers, but I'm like, I'm

1185
01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:53,320
Speaker 3: finishing this tour and they let me back. I got

1186
01:03:53,400 --> 01:03:55,840
Speaker 3: to finish the tour and then but I also knew

1187
01:03:55,840 --> 01:03:57,680
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, like you know, you really got

1188
01:03:57,720 --> 01:03:59,920
Speaker 3: to get this like second career, this hair thing going.

1189
01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:03,120
Speaker 3: Because like I'm not a naysayer, but I was definitely

1190
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:05,160
Speaker 3: also like it's never going to get bigger than this,

1191
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:07,360
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like with the biggest pop

1192
01:04:07,360 --> 01:04:10,600
Speaker 3: star getting at the height of her career doing the

1193
01:04:10,640 --> 01:04:13,560
Speaker 3: height of the jobs, like all the jobs, right, the VMA's,

1194
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:15,840
Speaker 3: the Grammy's like you, the super Bowl, the super Bowl,

1195
01:04:15,920 --> 01:04:18,000
Speaker 3: you do all the jobs, and you're like, how many

1196
01:04:18,040 --> 01:04:19,840
Speaker 3: of these jobs do I want to keep doing? Which

1197
01:04:20,320 --> 01:04:22,640
Speaker 3: not to naysay, you can keep doing them and they're

1198
01:04:22,760 --> 01:04:25,240
Speaker 3: amazing and all the experience, they're just so amazing. But

1199
01:04:25,280 --> 01:04:28,080
Speaker 3: I also wanted to like move my life in a

1200
01:04:28,120 --> 01:04:31,120
Speaker 3: way where I felt like, you know, Okay, I was

1201
01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 3: able to accomplish one thing and then time to move on,

1202
01:04:34,280 --> 01:04:36,200
Speaker 3: and you know, dance is still with you. You know,

1203
01:04:36,320 --> 01:04:37,440
Speaker 3: dance is still with me today.

1204
01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:40,520
Speaker 1: You know, like I feel like such a common refrain

1205
01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:43,320
Speaker 1: you hear from athletes too, of just like what do

1206
01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:45,800
Speaker 1: I do when my body's not cooperating with me?

1207
01:04:46,200 --> 01:04:48,920
Speaker 3: Dancers get a bad rap like we are we are athletes.

1208
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:52,320
Speaker 3: People think it's like, oh, they're just have kids having

1209
01:04:52,360 --> 01:04:55,200
Speaker 3: a good time. We work at this, and we work

1210
01:04:55,240 --> 01:04:57,600
Speaker 3: our bodies for this, We train for this.

1211
01:04:57,560 --> 01:04:58,320
Speaker 2: We work hard.

1212
01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:01,120
Speaker 3: I want the publish your or whoever to know that, like,

1213
01:05:01,200 --> 01:05:05,439
Speaker 3: dancers work so hard and it is a lot of work.

1214
01:05:05,640 --> 01:05:07,320
Speaker 1: I feel like everyone has their version of this. But

1215
01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:10,640
Speaker 1: being physically forced to stop and reevaluate as such a

1216
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:12,160
Speaker 1: like intense powerful thing.

1217
01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:14,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was so strong and it was something like

1218
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,720
Speaker 3: my dreams were met. I had a gracious team. Katie

1219
01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:20,160
Speaker 3: was so gracious. I had my family, I have a partner,

1220
01:05:20,320 --> 01:05:23,520
Speaker 3: you know, like, I had all these support systems that

1221
01:05:23,560 --> 01:05:26,440
Speaker 3: were great in terms of being able to be like Okay,

1222
01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:30,880
Speaker 3: what's next and still being supported and going through that.

1223
01:05:31,200 --> 01:05:33,720
Speaker 3: So yeah, after that, I took a year off to

1224
01:05:33,720 --> 01:05:37,640
Speaker 3: get my license, and then I stumbled upon some amazing

1225
01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:41,240
Speaker 3: celebrity hairstylists, one of them being George Serrano who owns

1226
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:44,680
Speaker 3: this salon, assisted him for a few years and assisted

1227
01:05:44,720 --> 01:05:48,120
Speaker 3: a ton of other amazing stylists to just make sure

1228
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:51,840
Speaker 3: I had a foundation similar to dance. It really was

1229
01:05:51,880 --> 01:05:55,240
Speaker 3: like taking a piece of humble pie to really know

1230
01:05:55,560 --> 01:05:57,400
Speaker 3: that I could do this, but like know that these

1231
01:05:57,440 --> 01:06:00,040
Speaker 3: people have been doing this for eons before me. I

1232
01:06:00,520 --> 01:06:04,680
Speaker 3: need to realize that and learn my lessons, which I

1233
01:06:04,760 --> 01:06:08,240
Speaker 3: did and again land on my feet and be successful

1234
01:06:08,240 --> 01:06:11,200
Speaker 3: in this whole other way, which is amazing.

1235
01:06:11,440 --> 01:06:14,040
Speaker 2: So you've been doing hair full time since like twenty sixteen.

1236
01:06:13,680 --> 01:06:16,480
Speaker 3: Seven, Yeah, twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, As you said, like

1237
01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:18,280
Speaker 3: be in the city and be able to build this,

1238
01:06:18,400 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 3: but also like so many of my like relationships have

1239
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:23,160
Speaker 3: just crossed over. You know, I've seen other of my

1240
01:06:23,240 --> 01:06:26,280
Speaker 3: dance friends like on set and it's interesting. You know,

1241
01:06:26,360 --> 01:06:28,919
Speaker 3: it's slash fun to have them see me do hair

1242
01:06:29,040 --> 01:06:31,960
Speaker 3: and then you know they're choreographing now or something like that.

1243
01:06:32,040 --> 01:06:34,520
Speaker 3: So it's really it's really great. It's it's it's like

1244
01:06:34,600 --> 01:06:36,960
Speaker 3: I say, like, I'm in the same industry. I just

1245
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:39,200
Speaker 3: like jumped departments.

1246
01:06:38,880 --> 01:06:39,760
Speaker 2: And you're in a different chair.

1247
01:06:39,840 --> 01:06:42,880
Speaker 3: Yea, yeah, yeah, that's so cool. Totally. I'm still that

1248
01:06:43,040 --> 01:06:46,560
Speaker 3: artist at heart, which I'm just grateful in a way

1249
01:06:46,600 --> 01:06:49,400
Speaker 3: to have like evolved as an artist and just been

1250
01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:52,439
Speaker 3: able to continue my path, but just in a different way.

1251
01:06:52,600 --> 01:06:55,080
Speaker 1: How do you look back on that moment now where

1252
01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:57,440
Speaker 1: it's like life has changed and you've evolved as an

1253
01:06:57,520 --> 01:06:58,480
Speaker 1: artist and a person.

1254
01:06:58,680 --> 01:07:00,720
Speaker 3: When you say it like that, it seems like an eternity.

1255
01:07:01,000 --> 01:07:03,480
Speaker 3: But in the same hand, it also seems like yesterday.

1256
01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:06,360
Speaker 3: You know, it's time is a weird thing that it's

1257
01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:09,760
Speaker 3: been ten years. It's taken that time for me to

1258
01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:13,160
Speaker 3: enjoy it, be grateful for that and also understand the

1259
01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:17,280
Speaker 3: opportunity that that's presented to me from that one time,

1260
01:07:17,320 --> 01:07:20,320
Speaker 3: and I'm so grateful that people enjoy that moment and

1261
01:07:20,440 --> 01:07:23,400
Speaker 3: enjoy Katie and enjoy they're enjoying the super Bowl for

1262
01:07:23,480 --> 01:07:25,440
Speaker 3: what it is in the halftime show, for what it is,

1263
01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:28,440
Speaker 3: a fun time. I love that it wasn't like overly

1264
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:31,240
Speaker 3: criticized or it's this, or that it was a moment

1265
01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:34,080
Speaker 3: in time that was fun. And that's what we're here

1266
01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:36,360
Speaker 3: to do, to share our art. We're here to like

1267
01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:38,000
Speaker 3: just do that share.

1268
01:07:39,520 --> 01:07:41,920
Speaker 1: Thank you so so much to Brian Goff for his

1269
01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:45,160
Speaker 1: time and his openness. You can follow his work over

1270
01:07:45,240 --> 01:07:48,080
Speaker 1: at the links in the description. This interview just put

1271
01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:50,840
Speaker 1: me in a terrific mood. I think it is so

1272
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:54,400
Speaker 1: incredible that Brian listened to his gut and tried something

1273
01:07:54,480 --> 01:07:58,040
Speaker 1: new and has built a really impressive career for himself.

1274
01:07:58,240 --> 01:07:58,840
Speaker 2: Twice.

1275
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:01,360
Speaker 1: It made me feel like making changes in my own

1276
01:08:01,440 --> 01:08:04,680
Speaker 1: life was possible, and it was because Brian gaw always

1277
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:08,280
Speaker 1: did his own thing. He trusted his instincts, he trusted

1278
01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:12,000
Speaker 1: his passion and didn't do what was expected or prescribed

1279
01:08:12,040 --> 01:08:15,600
Speaker 1: to him. And wait, is this the perfect conclusion I've

1280
01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:20,240
Speaker 1: stumbled upon? Brian has built a fascinating and successful life

1281
01:08:20,720 --> 01:08:25,160
Speaker 1: by embracing his inner left shark. Well, I'm not going

1282
01:08:25,200 --> 01:08:28,400
Speaker 1: to stick the landing harder than that, Brian gaw aka

1283
01:08:28,560 --> 01:08:31,200
Speaker 1: left shark. You will always be famous to me. But

1284
01:08:31,360 --> 01:08:33,800
Speaker 1: your sixteenth minute ends now.

1285
01:08:37,200 --> 01:08:40,599
Speaker 2: And here's your moment of fun. More bad reviews of.

1286
01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:44,840
Speaker 4: Elvis Presto, whether you watched it in three D or not,

1287
01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:48,840
Speaker 4: the show was overwrought and boring, said one caller to

1288
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:51,880
Speaker 4: the Daily Press. I just so by not have in

1289
01:08:51,880 --> 01:08:54,759
Speaker 4: my glasses, I missed something you didn't.

1290
01:08:55,760 --> 01:08:58,200
Speaker 1: All the three D dip was bring out how horrible

1291
01:08:58,320 --> 01:08:59,559
Speaker 1: this Elvis Presto?

1292
01:08:59,720 --> 01:09:03,360
Speaker 4: Care was the get Elvis Presto. I'll take the three

1293
01:09:03,400 --> 01:09:06,560
Speaker 4: stages in three D any day over the fifties flailings

1294
01:09:06,560 --> 01:09:09,519
Speaker 4: of lukewarm songs and dance. What was the big deal

1295
01:09:09,920 --> 01:09:13,799
Speaker 4: about the halftime? What is with these ponytails of guys?

1296
01:09:14,080 --> 01:09:17,000
Speaker 4: Isn't Barbara Bush? That's your refreshing change from Nancy Reagan

1297
01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:18,760
Speaker 4: for first lady. I think she's going to be a

1298
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,800
Speaker 4: good one. I'm actually looking forward to the next four years.

1299
01:09:22,240 --> 01:09:23,920
Speaker 2: Bye.

1300
01:09:25,760 --> 01:09:29,400
Speaker 1: Sixteenth Minute is a production of fool Zone Media and iHeartRadio.

1301
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:33,240
Speaker 1: It is written, posted, and produced by me Jamie lostis.

1302
01:09:33,439 --> 01:09:36,479
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Sophie Lichterman and Robert Evans.

1303
01:09:36,760 --> 01:09:40,879
Speaker 2: The amazing Ian Jonquin is our supervising producer and our editor.

1304
01:09:41,400 --> 01:09:45,480
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Sad thirteen and Pet Shadouts

1305
01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:48,439
Speaker 1: to our dog producer Anderson, my Kat's Flee and Casper

1306
01:09:48,520 --> 01:09:50,800
Speaker 1: and my pet Rockberg, who will outlive us all.

1307
01:09:51,280 --> 01:09:56,040
Speaker 2: Bye Bye,