WEBVTT - Miles Gray on Mallrats 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.840 Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview Edition. 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.600 And I'm here with the winsome and handsome if I 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.360 may say so, Miles Gray, you honor me. Thank you 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:43.720 so much. I am, although as I see your wonderful 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.240 beer through the zoom screen, I'm reminded of my own 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:51.360 just paltry uh you know, also ran type facial hair 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:54.959 that I have going on there. It's you know, it's 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.160 been a struggle, you know, for me being you know, 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.400 on the other side of I'm almost forty in a 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.720 few years, but like thinking of how long, I thought, yeah, 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:08.399 like I'll probably have a like some cheekcare and I'm like, 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:13.760 I got patches though. It's good though. Initial statue, thank you. Yeah, 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.399 that's the one thing I can Yeah, that's just the mustache. Now. 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.119 So you guys listening, they know, Miles, if you listen 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.000 to the Daily Zeite guys, which was um kind of 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:27.200 our landmark comedy show here at the Network when we 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.839 first got things going really in earnest, and you guys 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.280 are still killing it. I mean, how many years has 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.560 have been now It's almost gonna be four it'll be wow, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:40.880 four years um in October doing every day and then 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.640 almost two years now of doing it twice a day. 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.560 So so what do you what is twice a day? 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.400 What's going on with that that? Well, you know, because 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.120 of before, when it seemed like the news cycle was 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.120 somewhat manageable. During the Trump administration, it was easy to 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:57.040 do a daily show, and then you know, on the 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.520 back end of the administration, there was just so much 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.880 happening every day constantly that we will find ourselves in 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:05.760 a position to be like, oh, this isn't even gonna 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.000 be in the episode that comes out tomorrow because all 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.400 this news broke since we recorded. So like we'd hit 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.920 people with like a quick middle of the day update 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:15.960 just to see what's trending. So it's not always heavy, 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:17.880 but you know, just just to make sure we're covering 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.080 our bases. Wow, let's go in the extra mile. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.040 And so like in a way, I'm like, I can't 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.840 believe the amount of episodes that we've done, and in 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:28.320 the back of my mind, I'm like, this is just 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.639 right for some AI too then completely create who I Am, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.400 provided it thousands of hours of recorded audio. I can't imagine, man, 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.960 I mean people talk to Josh and I about stuff 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.360 you should know just twice or I guess with the shorties, 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.200 not three times a week, um for all these years, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.400 but like that's twice a week feels like a vacation 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.119 compared to uh, once a day, and now it's twice 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.000 a day. Well, and when we first started back in 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.320 the you know how stuff works days, when we were 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.400 starting to show, you know, the head of the network, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.720 Connell was he was asking us if we were sure 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:03.679 we wanted to do it daily show. And I get 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:05.520 it because on the strength of all the other shows 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.000 on the network like that are researched and take so 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.840 much time to produce, We're even like, yeah, right, daily, 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.800 that's a that is a pretty aggressive tick. But I 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.079 think with Jack like writing daily even like sort of 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.160 moderating cracked and for me, like having worked on daily 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.040 shows and things like that, I was like, I think 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.000 we can do it. So we may have also just 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.080 locked ourselves into a frenetic workpace, but we like it. Well, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.200 it works and it's a funny show. And you're talking 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.680 about Jack O'Brien, who uh his co host and jack 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.480 Um was uh kind of the first comedy guy at 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.680 the network. He came over from crack to dot com, 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.360 which was a great website at least when Jack was 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.680 running it. I haven't even been on that much since then, 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.760 to be honest, but I always had a lot of 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.800 respect for Jack and what he brought to the network. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:53.640 And and you, man, like, where where did you get 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.960 your start? Did you start doing like sketch or stand up? 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.240 What was your the beginnings in comedy? I mean, yeah, 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.320 improv was my first love. I started improvising in high 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.040 school because I had a theater teacher who was like, 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:09.760 this is in l A. So yes, like a true 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.840 I'm like the Billie Eilish of podcasting, you know, like 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.760 I'm in it. You know. My mom's a film critic, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.520 my dad an artist. Yeah, so I've so Anyways, like 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.800 in high school, I started doing improv because I was 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.920 always just like to do impressions and just be funny. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.560 And then then I realized, oh, yeah, you can make 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.559 a career out of that, so I was. I tried 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.480 for a while to get into groundlings and was doing 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.080 stuff at UCB for a little bit, but before all that, 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.640 like I kind of got to that point where I 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.560 was like, I need a career. I couldn't quite rely 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.080 on comedy being a thing. And I think that's obviously 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.039 coming from like a you know, having immigrant mom, black father, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.200 just sort of like try and get jobs that will 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.280 pay you like consistently. So I was like, yeah, that's 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.159 that's cool. And then I got into So then I started. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.640 I became a political consultant and lobbyists for a number 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.520 of years. That's right, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, that 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.919 was sort of my big boy college post college career. 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.960 And then I soured on politics very quickly. I went 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.680 into it a little overly idealistic and I realized what 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.159 it was and then so I became, uh yeah, a 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.160 little bit more radicalized after that. And then from there 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.520 I actually did more than just comedy. Like I I think, 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.560 you know, in the early YouTube days, I was just 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.440 very much someone who had like a sketch comedy channel, 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.240 who was like getting viral hits on Funnier Die and 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.960 YouTube and things like that. And then I realized that's 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.479 a hard that's again not an easy job to turn 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.640 into consistent income. So I sort of turned that into 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.520 a skill. I was going to companies with basically saying 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.160 like Hi, I'm one of those people that can make 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.480 viral content, and that was such a buzzword and like 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.360 the early tens teens where it's viral viral, Yeah, yeah, 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.120 this is good. Yeah, and like I'd be like, check 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.960 out my links to these nonsensical comedy videos that have 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.920 plenty of views to back up my claims. And so 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.120 I started working in radio and making like content for 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.400 radio stations, and then I worked at YouTube for a second, 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.480 and then Playboy, and then Conde Nast and then Uh 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.120 and then Jack after a while he was I had 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.479 met him because my fiance worked at Cracked, so I 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.000 had met him a few times there and he actually 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:21.080 had me, um years ago audition to co host up 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.960 a podcast with Robert Evans and then at the time 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.599 it just didn't work out um, but Jack had always 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.120 remembered that audition. So then when he started thinking of 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:32.680 this idea, he came back to me and said, Hey, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:34.479 I know you're working at Conde, but like, would you 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.640 want to do a podcast? And I was like, that's 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.159 the call I've been waiting for. Um, So yeah, it's 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.159 And now I think doing this daily shows like a 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.800 true intersection of like all of my past work experience 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.680 and like interests. So yeah, I couldn't be luckier. That's awesome. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.240 So Robert Evans is who also from our network behind 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.839 the Bastards, Great great show which got really popular, which 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.479 was cool. Robert's awesome. I need to have Robert on 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.719 and Jack. Jack had been holding pulp fiction for Jack 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.839 for you know, three years now, and we've tried a 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.320 couple of times. When I was in l A, I 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.680 always wanted to do it in person, but now I 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.840 think we've all gotten so used to the zoom thing that, uh, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.200 I'm not afraid to do these anymore. I used to like, 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:18.840 if it's not in person, then you know an you 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.880 want to talk about, isn't it. But it's how much 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.640 that's changed. Like I was, really we were really concerned, 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.640 especially for comedy podcasts, the energy in the room is 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.000 so important, like the timing of your responses. But I 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.480 think like everyone got like a built in internet delay 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.160 in their head or something to like yeah not or 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.400 you don't do things like that, so yeah, which I 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:48.040 just did you, I know, which is perfect illustrative. Well, 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:49.920 you've got a great voice, so it doesn't surprise me 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.280 that you worked in radio. Some but I'd love to 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.440 know a little bit more about what you did in politics. 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:59.320 It's really interesting, man. Yeah. So I started off just 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:04.280 like like an organizer, and at a certain point a 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.480 friend of mine asked if I wanted to help organize 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.800 for a campaign around renewable energy, and I was like, sure, 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.120 I think that's great. It was for a ballot proposition 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.640 in California, and it was like very aggressive at the time, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.040 like asking for like over fifty of our fuel mix 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.200 to come from renewable. So it was like a long shot, 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.320 but for me, I felt like one of those things like, 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.360 but this is where we need to be. And that 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.000 campaign went well enough that um, that was my first 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:34.000 sort of insight into how things work. Because this campaign, 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.600 I thought was just about people of goodwill coming together 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:42.120 to demand the state change the energy mix. And then 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.839 this consulting firm reaches out to me and says, hey, 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.640 we'd like to hire you. You did a great job 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.760 on this other campaign that we were behind, and I 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.319 was like, oh huh and then yeah, and I was 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:54.679 like what do you mean. It's like, oh, yeah, so 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.240 we have these investors and then you realize, oh, right, 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.800 So this ballot proposition was for people who we're basically 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.479 waiting first if this were to pass into law, immediately 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.160 begin permitting the land to like beat everyone to the 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:11.319 punch for renewables to get those contracts. So I was like, oh, okay, um, 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:12.920 but I'm like, well, at least it's a good cause 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.280 because it's renewable, so like it's not like, you know, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.679 totally messed up. And then from there, um, so I 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:20.920 accepted the job because this was you know, this was 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.120 two thousand and eight. There's just absolutely and I just 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.920 got out of college. I'm walking through like a desert 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.280 landscape in terms of like viable employment, and this was 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.439 like a true shot to have like some kind of professional, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.720 white collar, middle class lifestyle in my twenties, and so 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.679 I took it in yeah, very quickly. Uh. I began 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.120 to see like the game and how consulting works, whether 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.800 that was you know, doing things in service of like 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.960 billionaires who had progressive agendas, but in the end of 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.120 the day, like you know, I'm like, oh, cool, we're 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.400 gonna make sure this this certain politician gets re elected. 0:09:57.800 --> 0:09:59.719 And then you're like, oh, that's right, because they're on 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.320 a a midie that directly relates to the industry of 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.400 one of our clients, and by making sure that they 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.120 know that this massive donor as part of their like 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.160 sort of covert re election effort that helps keep the 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.400 heat off of their industry. If someone proposes, let's say, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.200 an investigation into how pell grants work or something like that, 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.800 Holy shit? How? How? What? What is your cynicism level 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:27.880 these days with politics? Yeah? I mean, I'm I'm completely disillusioned. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.400 I mean, I know, I I worked in democratic politics 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.360 enough to see that even when you're talking about things 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:38.520 that are they pull well, there are a few people 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:42.520 who are actually there to advocate for what that means 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.000 on the other side of it, like it's renewable energies 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.200 with the caveat of well, I'm gonna make all the 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.080 money off of it when it happens, or I want 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.719 this progressive politician re elected not because they're going to 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.280 do something for working people, but because they're going to 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.880 protect my near monopoly on this industry. Um and then, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.120 and I became really cynical because after a while, you know, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.240 you know, there's the dark money aspects and using these 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.880 you know, there's a whole methodology that UM dark money 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.720 groups used to use different kinds of nonprofit groups like 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.160 five and one, C threes and C fours and certain 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.800 ones don't have to reveal who their donor who their 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.160 donors are, and that's those are. So those are the 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:27.760 groups that come out with very like nebulous names like um, 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:32.600 you know, American Families for Progress or something, and really 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.080 paid by one guy, and you're out there saying, like 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.200 preaching this very vague mission statement. So it seems like that, 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.920 but you're there on behalf of some other person. And 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.160 so once you see sort of the just sort of 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.600 the the power dynamics of it and who stands to 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.480 win and lose. You know, I was going in on 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.120 very optimistic. Obama had just been elected the first black president. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.280 I'm like, wow, this is progress, Like I'm really glad 0:11:58.320 --> 0:11:59.920 to be part of this. And then I'm like, wait, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.800 but you know, this is like when Obamacare was coming up. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.160 We're doing a lot of research to try and talk 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.840 about like the benefits of it and how this could 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.120 be really monumental for expanding healthcare. And then pretty soon, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.120 like you saw, things get chipped away and you see 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.520 people get seats at the table that should absolutely not 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:20.160 have them. And I was like oh okay, whatever, So yeah, 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.200 how do you approach and you know you don't have 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:25.920 to get too personal, but how do you approach your 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.720 your vote these days? Like when you have seen sort 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:32.880 of the underbelly in that and the way it works, 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:37.200 Like can you even I mean like excited? No? Um? 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.560 And because I think you know, especially right now being 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.480 black and Asian in this country, talk about a lack 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.360 of change that's takes into account what the experience is 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:55.520 or the experiences are of of us from any given group, 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:01.479 and the glacial pace um that change curs in because unfortunately, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.600 the people who have the seats at the table, they're 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.720 not the things that we're talking about aren't existential threats 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.800 to them. So we're moving at a we're moving at 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.160 a level of urgency for something like It's like it's 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.280 the same with climate change. We have people like octogenarians 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:18.439 who are like, I don't know, I'm not going to 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.800 see the worst of it, So why would they're They're 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:25.079 not incentivized to move quickly or um optimistically on how 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.400 to change things. Um. So I mean I'm I'm really 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.079 open on the show about how I feel and I 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.160 always try and always relate my own experiences in politics 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.000 to why I believe a certain thing or why I'm 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:40.400 less optimistic about a given candidate. You know. Yeah, I 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.720 think for certain people, progressives, leftists, they may look at 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:46.560 Biden is just like you know, it's like what do 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.400 you do? Do you hold your nose? Do you vote 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.960 for this? And given some of the other, uh, political 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.720 fallouts that have occurred over the last hundred days, UM, 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.000 you'd you'd hope for a little bit better than what 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.960 we're seeing. Um. But I mean, I think it's just 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.520 one of those things until enough a plurality of people 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.120 are either a able to see just how we lose 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:12.360 in this like two party system, um or proposing some real, 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.800 you know, revolutionary change in terms of how we conduct 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.360 our governance in this country. I think this is what 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.880 we're left with. And you hope that the words of 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.880 activists and the news and people being a little more 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.240 open minded about what the realities are of this country 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.960 can at least help create like a very organic grassroots 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.040 ground swell around this. But yeah, it's um, but it's 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.680 it's hardening to see things slowly melt away over time. Yeah. 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.640 So like if you were to talk to someone who's 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.800 interested in getting into politics. Would you say, geez, don't 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.760 do it, it's assess pool. You say, just stay local, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.400 and I would change, honestly, I would. I've I've talked 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.760 about this a lot, and I have a few friends 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.720 who are work at a state level, municipal level, and 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.960 federal level and pre aaucracy, and they're all like, we 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:06.920 need smarter people to work in bureaucracy because I think 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:08.680 a lot of people look at you know, it's like 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:13.040 the stars of politics are the elected officials, but there 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.200 it's like, but the crew, Like if it's a movie, 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.520 the crew it is the bureaucracy. And if the crew 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.360 is lazy and unimaginative, they're not going to execute on 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.880 a script you wrote, it's gonna come out all weird 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.480 because no one's like So I would actually encourage people 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.080 to get involved because I think, but knowing that, we 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.400 need people who are looking at things differently, very much 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.040 the established kind of politicians we have now, it's just 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.280 their focus is once they're in office, is just to 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.000 stay in office. So there's not a lot of risk taking, 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.160 you know what I mean, there's no risk taking at 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.240 all because their bottom linees like, well, I want to 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.840 be the most famous person in my state is making 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.160 this office. I don't care about what I'm there to 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.160 do for my constituents. And I think that seems to 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.880 be a real thing right now more than ever before. Absolutely, 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:02.680 And I think we need more people who are willing 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.640 to just go into office saying I'm here to actually 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.320 I know what it means for a single parent to 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.960 wonder how they're going to take care of their child, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:12.760 or if they're going to get tax credits for that, 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:15.640 or if they need another job or that, and know 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.880 that those are real lived experience of most people, and 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.320 saying I'm there to actually relieve that stress for someone 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.240 else rather than you know, who can I glad hand 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.040 and collect donors for just to stay in for another 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.480 couple of years. Um, yeah, sure. And you know, I know, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.640 like both sides are. I mean, I'm a liberal progressive too, 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.240 and and both sides have plenty of issues. But it's 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.320 really hard not to look at people like Marjorie Taylor 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.640 Green and I read a Thing of the Day where 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.160 they were talking about the fact that basically like people 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.320 like her are there there. She's brand building. She's not 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:57.360 interested at all in in constituents and doing anything for 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.920 them or anything for the country. Even know, it's just 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:05.400 building her brand as someone who can be a megaphone 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.880 for owning libs and and what kind of book deal 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:10.960 am I going to get at the end of the day. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.280 And I think it's like the same. Yeah, it's it's 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.520 like when you see people on reality shows and you're like, whoa, 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:18.920 It's like, well, they're trying to get a deal after 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.920 the ships. You know, they're trying to get their influences 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:26.920 account going when they leave the Bachelor. Like politics now, yeah, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.760 and I think it's seemed into every level where we 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:31.960 don't have people who are there acting in good faith 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.800 because they're interested in outcomes for their constituents. It's like, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.280 like we say in politics, it's what they called me flippantly, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:43.160 it's Hollywood for ugly people. Um, and it's the same 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:48.320 level of egocentricity and narcissism involved, but it's it's just 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.280 like even worse because like, no, you guys are actually 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.960 there to like help people, but you're you're the mudsling. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.000 And you know, good for her she you know, she 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.520 her father gave her a whole business that she could 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.080 inherit and pretend she created her own business or whatever, 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.919 and that's par for the course for this place. Oh boy, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:20.199 well that was depressing. Yeah. Well, well, first of all, 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:21.880 I want to talk about your mom real quick again. 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.320 Where's where's she from with your background? My mom's Japanese. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.560 So she she she's from Japan. She was born in Nigata, 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.399 which is on the west coast of Japan, and she 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.880 moved here, you know, in the seventies. Um my dad, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.040 he said, she's a film critic. Yeah. Yeah, so she 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:42.840 started off as a translator and and like for a 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.800 while she was like that translator in Japan, like Queen 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.400 come to Japan and like, my like there's like footage 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.160 of my mom like at their press conference like translating 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:56.280 or like Rick James, like she's like she's lived Bob Marley, 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.440 like for a while. If you came to Japan, my mom, 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.200 and like there's a few other people who like had 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.040 this intersection of knowing, like the promotional companies that were 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:08.159 bringing the acts there or the TV media outlets, and 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.760 then people who were sort of like western enough to 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.920 be able to like hang and be a cool translator. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.199 And that was my mom for a while. Yeah, and 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.200 then someone said like, hey, you know, there's an opportunity 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.199 at this magazine, you know, for they need someone in 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:26.040 l A to be a correspondent um who can essentially 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.840 interview people for the movie industry and like but then 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.480 report back in Japanese about the American film industry. And 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.800 my mom was kind of already doing some translation stuff 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.160 and she was like, yeah, I'm gonna try that out. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:41.400 And she's been with a magazine it's called road Show UM, 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.119 and it's like you know, Japan's like prim it's like 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:49.200 Entertainment Weekly of Japan. It's like the one film magazine. 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.520 And then eventually like it went out of print like 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.440 many things did and went purely digital um. And so yeah, 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:57.800 and then and she's also a member of the Hollywood 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.200 Form Press Association, was getting a lot of heat at 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.879 the moment um. But also like, I have an interesting 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.360 perspective into that too, because for all of the focus 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.960 on this organization, it also allows like Hollywood to turn 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.800 a blind eye to its own transgressions in terms of 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.760 not being a very inclusive industry. And I find it 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:21.159 odd to come after a group of foreign journal these 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.159 aren't this isn't an American body of journalists. It's a 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.199 group of foreigners of immigrants who have come here to 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:31.600 talk about the industry. And now the criticism, why aren't 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.240 there any Black American people in this thing? It's like 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.000 there's not even Americans. There's like only a couple and 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.880 that's because they're like like dual nationality, people are bilingual. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.280 And why agree that the h f p A could 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.560 be more inclusive. It absolutely needs to be, and I 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.040 think it's imperative that they help, like you know, in 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.840 France or other countries that have large, you know, diasporic populations, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.600 that they could say, yeah, we want to bring more 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.560 black French journalists out here. But unfortunately, the membership of 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:02.240 the h f p A I think is a reflection 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.159 of the print industry in the respective countries where these 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:09.560 people represent the industry. Um. But yeah, anyway, all that 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.960 to say, uh, she's always we've always had movies on 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.199 in my house. Uh, And she's always had a very 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.320 critical tone about movies, which only made me a little 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.000 more like aggressive as a kid, Like this movie sucks 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.480 and I couldn't explain why, but it's just from Osmosis. 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.240 Um he's a Yeah, he's an artist. It's a black 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.280 guy from l A. My parents met at a Michael 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.840 Jackson album release party in the eighties. My dad used 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.200