WEBVTT - William Villanova 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.200 The Craig Ferguson Fancy Rascal Stand Up Tour continues this fall. 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.520 For tickets, go to the Craig Ferguson show dot com 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:13.320 slash tour See You on the Road. My name is 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:18.079 Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is joy. I 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.840 talk to interest in people about what brings them happiness. 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:30.520 Meet Bill Villanova. Bill's an undertaker. He's graduated in mortuary sciences, 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.440 and he is one of the most interesting conversations I 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:35.560 think I've ever had. 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:45.000 Enjoyed this one. I want to talk to you about 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:45.480 your job. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.680 But the thing is, before we talk about your job, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.519 because looking at your story it's I mean, you're a 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.120 decorated Coastguard, right, a decorated member of the Coastguard. Now, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.840 the Coastguard is an area of the service I don't 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.800 know much about. I don't think many people do. Can 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.039 you talk me through what the coast Guard does? 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.160 The Coast Guard, for the most part, they're you know, 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:12.280 on duty twenty four to seven. You know, underneath the 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.280 Department of Homeland Security. I had the honor of working 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.760 alongside some very very talented men and women. I was 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.000 with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and just what do you 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.640 do that you get on a boat and yeah, yeah, 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.240 so well, no bad guys. But we did safety patrols 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.080 alongside the actual Coast Guard. We also had you know, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.880 we worked alongside them on some ships as far as 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.480 they're you know, working in galleys and doing a port 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.959 security during fleet week, and in New. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:43.960 York you need a lot of security for that. Oh 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.280 my god, that's still a thing. I've forgotten about that. 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.480 Oh yeah, yeah, well it's verry big both and then 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.240 all the port areas here, you know, along the West 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.440 Coast and the East Coast. But you know, as a career, 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.480 I've always been dedicated to funeral service. But for me, 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.400 it was always about volunteering and giving back to the community. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.400 And when I say interested, yeah, thank you. And so 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.800 when I was younger, I started volunteering with the fire 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.240 department in my local community, right, and I saw the 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.680 opportunity to participate with the with the US Coast Guard 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.880 in the auxiliary program, so I started to do that 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.680 as well. And I did that for just about ten 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.640 years until my life became more demanding. And then you really, 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:25.520 you really can't serve too many masters. 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:26.080 Right, I get it. 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.000 So let me let me talk to you a little 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.320 bit about the funeral business, which you ran and which 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.600 you're still in, right, sir, Right, So, because it's an 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.360 unusual thing, my presumption is a family thing or is 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.720 it something you were drawn into? 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.080 Because you are someone who's clearly. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.040 Drawn in a service, and in a way, funerals are 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.720 kind of that. It's definitely a service and your intuitions correct. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.840 So was your family in the business when you were 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.040 a kid? Is that how you were? You were pulled 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:55.440 into it? 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.200 When I was younger, I would cut the grass at 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:02.320 my godfather's funeral home, and I would paint the stones 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.639 on the driveway and then help with visitation and funerals. 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.200 And my dad died when I was sixteen, so the 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:11.360 male figure in my life was my godfather. So I 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.760 spent a lot of time at the funeral home, right, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.120 And it was a normal transition for me to go 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:22.720 into funeral service, and having that opportunity was I don't 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:24.280 want to say it was simple, because it was a 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.640 lot of work, a lot of dedication. Ultimately had to 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.040 go to college and get a degree in mortuary science. 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:29.679 Is that really? 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.440 I wasn't aware that it was so tight well, I guess, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.720 of course it must be. I mean it's white and varied, 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.520 and we'll get into that in a bit. But I 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.880 guess you know, the tragedy of your father dying and 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.400 your sex thing, which is awful and I'm sorry about that. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.200 That's a very tender age doing something which I'm guessing 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:46.960 is getting the interest of a lot of the other 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.040 kids at that time as well. Did it make you 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.400 feel kind of weirdly apart from it or did it 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.800 give you a kind of did you feel like this 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.440 is something special and it's my family does this and 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:57.600 we feel a little. 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.120 I did feel special, yeah, you know. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.760 And and even you know, funeral service, you know, wakes 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.040 and visitations, you know, would go to nine ten o'clock 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:05.440 at night. 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:07.560 My friends were ready to go to the bar. Oh 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.560 you see, my people we go for days, you know exactly. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.880 So you had this opportunity to work in a profession 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.440 that was really it's a celebration of life like it 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.520 is today as well, right, and so it was it 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.920 was a normal thing to be around that it delayed 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.800 me getting to some of parties and doing things with 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.440 my family, even holidays. Yeah, you know, death doesn't take 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.159 a holiday, right, and so you're always available to a family. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.279 And that's something I learned at a young age. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.960 So it's kind of a vocational position then, right, it's 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.000 not a job for everybody because you're dealing with I said, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:43.320 you're dealing with death. 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:44.520 That's what you're dealing with. 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.000 And in our society, you know, old society, it's been 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.800 in our Western society, there's still a big taboo and 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.040 a kind of a lot of fear around it, right. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.599 You know, there is, and it is taboo. There is 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:57.200 some fear. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.880 You know, people feel that if you speak about death 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.680 going to happen, if you discuss funeral services, you know, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.400 automatically you're accelerating your own mortality. 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.719 It's like you're inside Maha, Bill, And that's and that's 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:10.320 good too. 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:16.520 So, but that opportunity for us to have those discussions 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.479 about funeral service it is taboo. But we should be 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.120 having those discussions now, sure. And you know, when we 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:25.240 think about all the things that we prepare for. So 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.480 I prepare to come here today to be with you 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:29.080 and thank you again for having me, Craig. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:29.960 I appreciate it. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.240 I appreciate you being here, and we prepare to you know, 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.840 where we live, who we marry, where we go on vacation. 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.760 All these things we prepare for. We should prepare for 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.920 our funeral service. It's really a gift for our families. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.360 I have everything written down and like a like a will, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.880 like a will, I have a lot of information there, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.560 but it is going to be elaborate. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.080 It is going to be elaborate for you, man. I'll 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:56.080 share part of it with you. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.920 So my thought is that as I leave church, if 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.200 we can, when I enter the vestibule in the rear 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.800 of the church, the doors will open, the vestibule be 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.120 filled with smoke, love. The casket with the pall bearers 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.200 will go into that smoke, and the doors would close. 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:13.599 Oh this is great. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.039 They would hustle me down the stairs to the hearse, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.040 and the hearse would pull away, and then everybody would 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.480 leave the church wondering where I went. You've gone, and 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.800 only my family and friends will know where I am. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:26.800 That's beautiful, all right. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:28.839 Let me tell now you're one of my friends, Craig, 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:30.640 I'm gonna let you know exactly where I'm going to be. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.239 Where are you going to be? I don't know? Okay, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.400 well you know, all right? Well, here's mine. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.960 I need you to tell me technically possible as and 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.000 b later on maybe give me an astem at price wise. 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.400 So I think in Scotland absolutely, Okay. 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.640 I'm on the beach in a Viking longboat, right, I'm 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.960 tied up there, you know, on the pyre that will 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.480 be lit. That's the boat's pushed out on a flu tide. Right, 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.039 I'll be pushed out and as the wind takes the 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.440 sail and carries my boat to see my two sons 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.640 will fire flaming arrows into the boat and the boat 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.000 will burn as I head out to Valhalla. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:12.960 So is that normal? Is well? Is it normal today? 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:13.200 No? 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:14.840 But was it normal at one time? 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:15.160 Yeah? 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:15.679 Certainly. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.880 But you know, just to ground that conversation, we're a 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:23.920 society that's based on rights and rituals, and so for 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.240 you to even say that now, whether you're joking or not, 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.800 I'm kind of half joking, all right, but that is 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.680 something that if that's if that's what you aspire to 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.760 have happened, then you start to plan that now, right right, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.320 And so if we do need to speak to you know, 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.080 the councilmen in Scotland, right because you need. 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:43.520 I mean They're not going to let you just put 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.720 a dead body on the in the water. You gotta 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.360 get a paramit, you gotta so if it can happen, 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:49.960 we can make that happen. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:50.520 Pretty much. 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.480 That's how we approach every day at Frankie Campbell. Do 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.320 you get a lot of unusual funerals? Are they a 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.440 lot of them? Kind of cookie cutter? No, where Frankie 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.640 Campbell is is anything but cookie cutter. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:02.720 All right. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:04.800 What I mean is, do a lot of people want 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.160 I like the casket here, I want the thing here, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:08.120 want the chart here? 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.760 These are the you know, it'll be rolk of ages. 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.840 It'll be amazing grace and we'll all go to the 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.160 church yard and then it's ham savages and O'Malley's right. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:18.520 Okay. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.440 So the first thing that we do is we always 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.360 approach every funeral and we sit with the immediate members 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.160 of the family. We make sure we put our pen 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.280 and pencils down and just listen to them, get an 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.760 understanding of what is important to them. 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.320 How can we celebrate this person's life. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:38.240 Now, whether you are fifty or eighty five, whatever your age, 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.360 you have a legacy and it's up to the family 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.920 to share that information with us so we can create 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:50.200 a service celebrate that person's life that's both personal and memorable. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.880 So nothing's cookie cutter. We approach everything fresh. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:59.400 So whether it's music or decor a specific casket or. 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.960 Or the Viking boat, wherever it is, whatever it is. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.920 And maybe some and we have some families that have 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.080 multiple space, multiple places for services. Maybe there is a 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.680 service in New York, and then maybe it's another service 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.880 that's in Glasgow where the disposition, final disposition will be. 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:17.760 So that's when the body is put away. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.920 How do you protect yourself because death has such a 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.600 you know, it's it's painful. You know it's painful because 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:26.280 you're saying goodbye to people. Then you don't want to 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.199 say goodbye now most of the time, and even when 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:34.319 it's time, it still contains grief for the living obviously, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.320 and there are there will be certain days I'm sure 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.480 that you've dealt with for you like this is you 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.720 know someone who's too young, someone it was a tragic accident, 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.880 you know, whatever it is, a youngster, I mean, something 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:48.120 that is really hard. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:49.960 Is there a clutch. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.440 Mechanism that you can put in for yourself to protect 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.000 yourself from that that pain or do you feel all 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:57.680 of that pain? 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:05.080 Craig every director that I know that's a good funeral director. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.920 As much as we want to shelter ourselves from these 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.360 very emotional events and the loss of a child and 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:17.600 untimely death of someone or maybe you know it was 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.400 a couple that just celebrated their seventy fifth wedding at Verse, 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.800 there are these special moments and it's up to us 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.160 to be in the moment and to be with them, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:34.080 and nothing prepares you for that, but you hope that. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.240 I guess do you get better at it as you've 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.880 been doing it longer? I think I think you do 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:43.120 get better at it because we then are able to 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.360 maybe talk a little bit more. When you're early on, 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.080 you really don't know what to say to the family, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.760 you know, Is this the awkward moment where I should 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.720 be giving someone a hug and embracing them and letting 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.720 them know that it's okay to grieve or even to laugh. Yeah, 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:00.040 but we need to be there for people, and that 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:01.360 is that's what's important. 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.880 I remember that from my parents' services. They died within 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.760 three years of each other, and I do remember at 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.079 the funeral service, looking to the funeral director for guidance 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.600 and how to be because I didn't know how to 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.520 be and I figured it wasn't cognitive, but I guess 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.760 the reaction was I'm looking like, I don't know how 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.040 to be here? How should I be here? And you know, 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:23.959 to his credit, he was very good to like, sit here, 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:25.840 there is your dad there, this is how we're going 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.640 to do it. We're going to you know, and then 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:28.960 we're all going to walk over here and we're all 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.680 going to do this. And somehow that structure was comforting, 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:38.360 I think, because there is the great unknown that you're 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.480 dealing with and literally in the room. So let me 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.920 ask you about this, because we're all human, because we'll 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:47.960 all die as you you know, you as a young 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.760 man at your godfather's funeral home, right, you see dead 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.560 bodies for the first time, I'm sure, and that's something 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.720 that many of us still don't see throughout our entire lives. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.960 But you see that, and it will have an effect 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:08.520 on how you view the world because everybody's experience does. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.360 Do you have opinions on life after death? Do you 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.240 have opinions on what goes on afterwards? Have they changed 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.880 from when you were sixteen and first doing it to 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:21.960 where you are now, how does it look for you? 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:22.200 Now? 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.320 I've had the pleasure of being around a lot a 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:31.079 lot of clergy, and our conversations. I've been asked a 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.800 lot of questions, and our conversations have been challenging sometimes, right, 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.280 because clergy, you know, whether you're a priest, a pastor 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.160 a rabbi, you know, they're the pillar in that religious 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.680 community where they have their belief right, and sometimes these 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.679 conversations challenge that belief as well. I do believe there 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:53.640 is something greater, that there is something that is more 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:58.160 powerful than just us here today, right, And whether it's 0:12:58.200 --> 0:12:59.000 a feeling. 0:12:58.760 --> 0:12:59.640 Maybe it's a hope. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.600 Maybe we want to feel that that gives us this 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:03.800 hope for an afterlife. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.000 But I can share a quick story with you. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:08.920 Years ago, a friend of mine came to visit me 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.600 and we were sitting in the lobby of a funeral 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.040 home and at one point we both looked to the 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.840 same direction, her to the left and myself to the right. 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.520 And at the end of the conversation she turned to me, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.080 she says, earlier, when you look to the right, what 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:26.800 did you see? And I said, I kind of thought 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:31.640 I saw somebody walking past the door, and she says, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.320 how would you feel if I told you I saw 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.400 the same thing. So we looked at each other. I said, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.000 what are you talking about? And she said that people 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.720 transition from one state of life to another and they 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.599 have to show themselves before they can fully transition to 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.320 where they need to be. So I was surprised to 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.560 hear that from her, but that now, so I was 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.559 in my twenties when we had that conversation. It kind 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.080 of drives things home a little bit. So I kind 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.000 of hope that there's something great for us, you know, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.439 or we just complex organisms that you know. I have 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.679 a you know, an acuity to do certain things and 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.199 to build and to be a performer and do all 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.520 of these things, and then we die and it's all gone. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.640 I don't know, it seems like a law getting dressed 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.640 out for nothing. If we're that complex and interest and 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.320 then it all just goes away, it feels like it 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.560 feels like a shame. But I think that my personal 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.000 belief is the and it waivers from day to day. 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.800 But my personal belief is that I think that we've 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.880 got time wrong. I think that's what it is. I 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.640 think that we think time starts and moves forward in 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.640 one direction all the time, and that's that's what happens. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.840 And I'm not entirely sure now I think that's what 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:43.440 it is. 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.160 I think time is different. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:50.080 How how well, in the sense that everything exists all 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.760 the time at the same time, but we travel through 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.840 it in are conscious but it still exists. And what 0:14:57.880 --> 0:14:59.920 I mean by that there's a and I'm going to 0:14:59.960 --> 0:15:01.640 be I'm going to really bad at this, but the 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:06.120 idea of traveling in astrophysics, I think it is as 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.440 a guy called Professor Brian Cox, who did a wonderful 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.640 documentary about it on British television, and he talks very 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.120 eloquently about this, and he's a professor of physics at 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.800 Oxford University, and I'm a vulgar lounge entertainer, so he's 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:24.160 a better source for the information. But basically talking about 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:29.640 the idea of that everything exists all the time, and 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.640 that for you and your friends sitting in that funeral 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.000 parlor forty years ago, thirty years ago, whenever it was 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:42.440 twenty years ago, that's still there. But now your thinking 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.320 is here and your being in the moment is here. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.520 But that's still there and was always there and will 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:53.800 always be there, and the universe exists. Like that, maybe 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.880 I need less coffee and no hashish ever in my life, 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.040 but it's too late for any of these things to 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:01.720 have happened. 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.040 What about are you a religious? Man? Does it? 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:10.680 I'd say that I'm religious, spiritual, spiritual, But you do you. 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:13.640 Touch yourself to any particular and like, are you a Catholic? 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.800 Are you? I'm Catholic? Right, But that's probably. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.560 More background as much as Anathon, right, it's background. 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:20.240 You know. 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.320 I do believe that we all have some type of 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.280 religion that that we connect to. For me, you know, 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.160 it's Catholicism. In my twenties, I went back to the 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.040 church to sing in the choir because I felt that 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:34.920 that was important to me at that time. And I 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.720 hope that everybody has whatever it is for you know, 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:40.880 each person, for you and for everyone that there is 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.800 something that they have, and that's that religion for me 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:50.280 is Catholicism. 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.200 I Craig Ferguson will be on the road once again 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.880 this fall, bringing the Fantasy Rascal to or two your region. 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:59.920 For tickets and full list of tour dates, go to 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.480 my website. The Craig ferguson show dot Com slash Tour, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:05.960 Come and see me live or don't. 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.359 I'm not your father. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:19.440 What about the mechanics of mortuary preparation? Which is I mean, 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.800 until today, I did not know that it was something 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:24.679 that you had to go to. 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:26.760 I mean, I obviously I imagine there. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.679 Was training involved, but I didn't realize that it was 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.800 something you needed to a degree. And so obviously it's 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.440 an involved and a complex subject. 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.720 So Craig, you'd probably be surprised, obviously you were today 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.520 to hear that you go to college to get a 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:48.520 degree in mortuary science. Afterwards, you take your National board 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.199 exam for any like any profession you need to take 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.320 a board exam, right, and then we complete a year 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.120 long residency, just as I got a doctorate that well, yeah, 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:02.040 you know, possibly yes, And then you take your state 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.200 law exam in the state that you wish to practice 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.240 like an attorney, right, and and then you you start 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:08.879 your career in funeral service. 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.960 It's very interesting to me because the question I want 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.399 to ask you is that how complex is it is 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.200 about the preparation of the remains? 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.719 Is what does it consist of? 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.160 I mean, the education could consists of anything that that 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.359 is in and around funeral service. So and it's the 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.919 basics though, right, Just like in any profession, you know, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.720 you can learn certain things how to do it. You know, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.560 you can go to trade school and learn how to 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.120 cut wood, but you know you do need to get 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.920 more advanced in your in your training and your apprenticeship 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.320 to learn how to build a wall or build a house. 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.199 So this gives us the basics on what are the basics. 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.640 So the basics could be how to conduct a funeral. 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.320 You know the components of a funeral. 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.679 So it's an emotional training as well as a physical 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:00.320 training course. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.639 You know the standard which a procession of cortege which 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:08.680 you know who goes first, hierarchy and families, right, and 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.119 you know where the pole bearers need to be. In 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.760 some churches the casket will be parallel to the altar. 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.160 In other churches it's perpendicular. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:17.960 You know. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.720 When we're talking about services for families of the Jewish faith, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.639 you know those funerals happen as soon as possible. 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:26.800 Then if you have you know. 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.639 Ye, my people and the people right man, right, my 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.240 mother was around for about two weeks, could be right, 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.639 so and and then that that is, you know, several 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:37.400 days of visitation. 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.960 And I know that in some some communities, I think 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.320 in in England and Scotland, even though there are funeral homes, 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.080 they still have visitations in homes. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:47.040 They sometimes do. 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:49.800 Yeah, I think mostly now, I mean, I think you 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:51.600 can do it, like you say, but I think mostly 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.639 now it is in is in funeral homes because it 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.639 is I think, to do with the volition of of 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.880 the mourner, so that you're not putting position where you're 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:04.400 suddenly in the room with the deceased, and or particularly 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.560