Eric Goode (documentary filmmaker)

0:00Welcome, welcome, welcome to our chair expert expert side expert. I'm Dan Shepherd and I'm joined by Monica Padman and this guy is Among the most interesting human beings I've ever spoken to in my life Eric Good colorful character. He immediately what you'll know is he directed Tiger King and we all saw that He also directed Chip Crazy a favorite of ours a huge favorite Tonka and And his new documentary is on HBO. It's streaming now called Monsters of God. I love it so much And I thought we were just going to talk to a documentarian. No, no, no, no, no Eric's had 26 lives before being the biggest documentarian He owns all your favorite hotels in New York City. It's wild Crazy history with nightclubs biggest turtle conservation is probably around This dude is done every single thing. He's so punk rock. I loved him. Please enjoy Eric Good We get support from Quince You know what I think about a lot the stuff in my closet. I actually wear like not the trendy pieces

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2:08You're not buying something just for right now. You're buying something that's going to be in your rotation for years They've also got hotel quality betting in bath kitchen essentials even furniture So if you're doing any kind of refresh at home too same quality same prices across the board Quince just gets it find your next fall favorites at Quince download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com Slashdacks yet free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada and the UK too That's q-u-i-n-c-e.com slashdacks This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp Honestly, if I could just flip a switch overnight and be better at one thing I'd want to be better at handling stress in a healthier way Like not letting the small stuff snowball into this whole thing where I'm tense for the rest of the day over something that didn't even matter It came to mind immediately because I know I do it So when it cuts me off in traffic and somehow I'm still thinking about it at dinner Two seconds. That's all it was so yeah

3:10That's what I'm working on and that's where BetterHelp comes in you know how I feel about therapy It's just necessary in fact sometimes. I know I'm not supposed to say this I judge you if you've never tried it Better is a feeling defined by you and for BetterHelp it's a BetterHelp therapist who really gets you It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over a hundred countries It's progress and it's getting better at letting the small stuff stay small That's my better sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash dacks. That's better help.com slash dacks I've been here for about two hours So so it's okay, fashionably late

4:13I was just asking about the set decorating and Monica's grandmother. Oh, isn't she beautiful? I thought it was Monica you have Indian descent or what are you yeah? Yeah? Because your last name is what? Admin which is not that's a short inversion that my grandfather did Oh Okay, I spent a little time in India. I emailed you print I'm gonna know it's happening again. This happened yesterday. What we're having a what is a wardrobe malfunction? Yeah, it's a mechanical mouth. There's been a nips. Is it a mechanical malfunction Rob? Gmail email malfunction? Where are you from in India or are you from India? I was born in Georgia Georgia you asked for judge not Georgia Eastern Europe. I wish that would make me way more worldly But no my family's from carola. Oh carola. I was in carola In the western gats I don't know when was that a couple years ago running around In a tiger preserve Where I give him some money to help the tigers. They have so many exotic animals there

5:16So I bet well, I was there not for the tigers, but yeah, I know that part of India I know I've only been once when I was a turns out five years old I thought it was four I've been saying four my whole life my mom corrected me the other day You've only been back to the homeland once well, no, and then we went with Bill Gates a couple years ago But we didn't get to go to carol. Oh that guy Bill Gates that guy that guy We went with him for his foundation. I'm so glad you guys didn't talk too much because I have the most exciting things to reveal the monica about you And I want to start this by saying we don't generally interview directors. I can't say why we've had a handful But in general, we don't Well, I have a fake director, so keep going But I was so obsessed with chimpanzee. I can't imagine got back to you But I bet that's all I talked about for the entire time it was on on this show Of course, I love tiger king and I love them so much that I was like I actually want to meet this guy because these docs are so crazy Now I want to talk about animals and then when I started reading about you today

6:17I was like oh my god You're one of the most interesting human beings in the world I would wanted to interview you anyways You've had like 25 lives and some of these lives are going to make monica's head explode It's very exciting. You must be talking about someone else someone sitting over here maybe no No, no, no, no a new guest coming in no full humility, but let's start at the beginning and when she hears these I mean, there's a very exciting year. What like you like we're on friends or something First of all, don't believe what you read on the internet with cappity Google even peer review is I'm just saying even time to appear with you is not accurate. So let me hear this fiction that you've read about me We're now throwing up Well, let's start Give the best birthday in the world our daughter's birthday December 19th Oh 1957. Oh god. You must be talking about the wrong guys. I was born in 77 And you were originally born in Rhode Island, but then you grew up in New York City till eight my four Bit of years mostly northern California in California, but yes, I had a stint in New York and was it zero to eight?

7:23I was born in Rhode Island I left when I was so young. I don't remember and then we went to California Then we went to Westchester, New York not New York City Okay, my father was a teacher And he moved around a lot because he couldn't hold jobs very well. He was an artist as well He was an artist and not terribly successful But I learned a lot about art from him. Yeah, and then I grew up high school years and a bit earlier in marine county and Sonoma county in California And for folks who have not been it's on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's redwoods. It's so beautiful privilege part of the country I moved to New York in 1977 and spent over 40 years in New York City. Wow Okay, but mom was a naturalist in a conservationist and what capacity is it you know this you know this probably everyone has crazy families I always think it's the craziest, but it's not I had a eccentric mom who taught me to love creatures no matter how small If someone squashed a bug in school, I would tell him to eat it because don't kill him something unnecessarily My father was an artist and a professor a professor and gay which I found out much later in life

8:26So I had this kind of father that was like anti-sports. He started his own high school It was very artsy-farty and I didn't really find it out about his sexuality until very late in life My parents had a very odd relationship as a result of the Five kids she didn't know until very late in life my mom just was attracted to guys that had kind of an effeminate Like art museums and botanical gardens. Yeah, those guys are great. I think all girls are What's the Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's what I mean maybe the sx wasn't too excited That's her lack, but he was able to sigh or five of you I think he just wanted to keep my mom busy so he didn't have to engage in that kind of stuff I don't know it was the 50s and 60s. That's a very hard time to be a gay man. That's true Yeah, Stonewall happened and that was one of the big gay breakthroughs in New York Yeah, you couldn't say you were gay in those days You said your mother was eccentric. Can you elaborate a tiny bit on eccentric? That can take a lot of shades

9:28Yeah, I was sort of compare my family to the Royal Tannum bombs or something because we grew up with a lot of animals in the house Tropical fish rats snakes lizards, you know dog cat five kids dysfunctional fighting all the time I went to this thing called asked when I was really young, you know That's a precursor to landmark in the 70s you exactly when I was 16 so you know new age Can I quickly ask what you thought of that S experience right because their proprietary approach was like confrontation therapy, right? It's a self-help organization. Yeah, but the guy Warner air hurt was like a used car sill Sman, you know probably from Detroit or somewhere near there and he then had an epiphany and he said I'm gonna and doctorate this thing and use car Salesman's can be pretty convincing and so then with asked he was pretty convincing And he had his minions and my mom thought oh my brother and I are fighting were 15 and 16 You got to go to Eston, San Francisco and spend two days listening to this guy I didn't know what the fuck I was listening to yeah, all I remember was at the end they say get on the floor

10:31Everyone gets on the floor this big giant auditorium and they say we live your birth And I'm lying on the floor with my brother and then we hear everyone agonizing yells Greens who are like this primordial ooz like you know, we're like what the fuck is going on here And we left and then they say to you did you get it and we go I don't know and they said you got it and that was asked but did it cure your brother and you in that you had a Shared moment where you're like oh they're crazy. We're not against we young We didn't know what was going on you don't have that kind of intellectual or I didn't I was dyslexic I was bad in school I was like just going through the motions at est Although today I'm not even doing a doc about the est comes full circle. Did you want to see Americans? No incredible show on effects with Matthew Reese and Carrie Russell where they're playing Russian operatives Yeah America in the early 80s in she falls in love with est oh really yes, there's lots of scenes set in est I mean as they always keep wanting you to go back. It's like Scientology a little bit like it went from asked to actualization to the forum

11:36And they keep wanting you to get to the next level. I did it once I grew up in such a new age crazy world in northern California in the 70s We had Joseph Campbell come and speak at our ranch. We had Everyone you can think of in the new age moving at that time and so I kind of rejected it Sure, because I was just so indoctrinated. St. My dad was sober and he was into course in miracles and all this stuff And I was like what the fuck's going on did mom go to S one? Oh my god S. Len read you start ranch every summer so The picture the first time I think I ever had sex was the kid of one of the S. Len leaders But yes, of course. Yes, Lon you know all of that stuff Jim Jones was in San Francisco at the time But I didn't drink the kool-aid You know, but there was synonym there were all the communists it was what I grew up in right Yeah, but of course that's long did you watch that doc the synonym? I did watch some of the synonym doc I do remember vividly when they had a synonym put the rattlesnake in the mailbox to try to kill the journalist on successfully

12:36And of course anything with rattlesnakes perched my ears I lived in California with that Okay, so you end up going to two different art schools right you go to one in San Francisco and then you ultimately go to Parsons Yeah, I got kicked out though There's already a vibe here right and I find it fascinating that you are a documentarian and interview people You're reminding me of Keith Morrison like you don't want to talk to me. Yeah, but whatever. Yeah No, but All right a little bit These are all interesting things. I mean listen takes one to no one over their ducks because you have an unorthodox career path If I may say so myself for sure just looking you up very briefly. Yeah, I'm going from Detroit suburbs and the car world Into anthropology studying that and how the hell do you land where you are right now? Yeah, so we all have a weird Well, no, we don't all well some of us do yeah some of us do I'm always very interested in folks because there's A lot of underlying things within that right I too is dyslexic. I've come to learn them probably ADHD

13:38Probably me too. I get passionate about things and then I'm if I've done anything for a while I'm like okay, what's the next thing in life? I can do before I am off this planet which is coming quickly But you do go to Parsons Which one did you get kicked out of Parsons or though for both? Oh, I was really good at grand school So the first well I got kicked out of my father's high school Which was called the School of Arts and Sciences for cheating on a geometry test My father he started the schools are alternative high school that was called the School of Arts and Sciences Thank God for that because I know you've had Malcolm Gladwell on but thank God because I could achieve in that environment because I excelled in art and I sucked in Academics I got kicked out of my father's school. I got kicked out of Parsons after the first foundation year Because I was going to night clubs in New York and that's where the art scene was really sort of germinating at the time What was your infraction at the art school? I just think I wasn't good enough because there was a certain level of academic to take in foundation here And I was studying more studio 54 and night night clubs at the mug club These are places that predate you guys, but no they were big clubs in New York at the time

14:41This is where we start with the mindblows. Oh So this is incredibly exciting. So Eric founded with a couple other folks, right? Or just you? I like to say everything's just me by the way Never get credit It was all just me you were a founder of or if not the only of area this night club that Fused or conflated night club life with art And Among the collaborations that area it was like wildly popular for four years. Is that how long it was a little less, but yeah Yeah, yeah a war hall collaboration Bosque collaboration Keith Haring wow is this contemporary to studio 54 host the real part of studio 54 My two friends that owns studio 54 unfortunately went to prison and when they got out of prison Area basically open in 1983 studio 54 from like 76 or seven to 1979 or whatever they went to prison Yes, okay, and they got out of prison and they really helped promote my club

15:44Because they were like we were fresh out of prison What's next? It's the new club. Yeah, they're like gangsters. I got out there trying to figure out like what's the next ice that JFK But you know in New York nightlife success. I guess if you measure it four years three years is like dog years So that's like 15 years clubs are a femoral in New York So if you've a run that's three years you've done pretty well. Yeah, none of them last in New York City at least Okay, so I'm trying to do the math on your age. What age were you around that? I was in my 20s and we were all in our 20s back there and he was and your warhol is kind of like the older statesmen in the art world But Jami Shalbos got and I used to do our birthday parties together. Oh my god Well, by the way, we're not to the part that's gonna make your head Well, so he's hearing Jami Shalbos all of us were young kids in New York trying to find a way to wear persons or just around the family just bet everyone I met it was in the nightclub scene. There was no Cell phones no internet no social media no nothing the only way you could connect with people is Go to a place where the people were and it was sex drugs and rock and roll and art and they were kind of like laboratories

16:49These clubs for ideas and exchanging ideas and cross pollinating and so I met Jami Shalbos and Keith and all of us met in the late 70s And we just started trying to figure out how to make our mark like everyone Madonna was a bartender back then It's a place called Lucky Strike in New York a different Lucky Strikes than the one you may know But we all would come to New York because we're misfits from in all over the country You seem to have done some research on me. So you're aware of the fact that I'm an addict, right? Yeah, yeah, but I was an addict too, and I'm still an addict in a different way Oh, yeah, right So when I read this little passage about area all I can think about is how many drugs was it a wash and drugs The drug scene always kind of morphs and changes and those days it was cocaine quailids in heroin Where the three math was more of a rural drug? It wasn't a urban drug as it is today Yeah, and it wasn't like what has become but yeah, it was those three drugs and alcohol and were you participating in them? I was a late bloomer with addiction in the early days I had no money and so I was just survival mode and so I would do it opportunistically

17:54But really I was so focused on trying to be able to survive in New York City and New York City was a very different place back Then much cheaper but nevertheless was area not hugely profitable It sounds like it would have been clubs are rarely hugely profitable I'd never forget when Andy Warhol said to me on Andy Warhol TV because you know G Eric and Andy way What are you going to do with your money? And I said I'm going to get cool tortoises like you never before He was like what but Listen, we made money we poured the money back into the club because we had these elaborate themes So we would just try to outdo ourselves your production was expensive. Yeah, so in the end We walked away with not a lot of money But we walked away with confidence that we could do it gave us that thing when you're young and you get that confidence Yeah, it's a success Fuck yeah, it's like Michael Jordan win in the game shot He does that he'll always be able to win the game. We speak to you Michael Jordan. You have a talent that he has You can talk and chew gum at the same time, but he has one other thing he could he can stick his tongue out and dunk

18:56Because I saw Michael on the floor at the garden one time talking trashed everyone The next yeah is tongue wagging out his gum still in his mouth and dunking I was like how the fuck does the gum stay in coordinated human being if we know anything about him Unbelievable like he scored 50 points in that game against the next one came back from baseball But anyway, were you in any of those Pacers games back in the day? I was at that one Michael Jordan game because Naomi Campbell took me we sat on the floor I'm parsing this out for him. I remember being able to listen to every word Michael said it was amazing Okay, I'm gonna get right to it if you had to pick your favorite place to be in New York City The rose store no No, no, don't do that to a poor man. No, no, she's gonna pass this What is your favorite place to post up and be and spend time at in New York? I mean I spend a lot of time at the bowery this motherfucker started the ball you did not he started the maritime

19:57Yep, maritime. I'm just saying quiet. Oh, no, you were shaking your head in an eye doll I know he's embarrassed the maritime his incredible the wavily the bowry Dude, I was at the maritime when I shot baby mama. I think it was the summer of 2005 the restaurant downstairs I'm gonna bore you with this 2005. Okay, I want you to know how your things actually have touched people And seems like you don't do well taking that kind of compliment, but I'm gonna tell it's good I'm glad your ego isn't what it should be Well, we'll try to get it there over the course of this next two hour. Okay, so I had been with a girl for nine years We broke up. I was varying this doldrums of like man I just I don't even know my life as a we were supposed to have a baby. I go to this movie baby mama I barely worked in baby mama. I have worked one two days a week And I just developed a bunch of New York friends and I'm staying at the maritime hotel And I go down by myself and I met little buttega. What is it called? La buttega. Yeah, La buttega God, you're a good memory. Yeah, Italian restaurant Italian restaurant without door seating It's summer of 2005 I think in New York And I'm sitting out there in the weather's perfect and I eat this fucking beautiful meal and I have this

21:04Wave come over me. It's such a strong Invisceral feeling that I remember so much and I was just like You know what life is fucking good and I'm gonna be okay, man And let's have some fucking fun in New York City this summer. I had this moment I left that restaurant. I was like we're gonna have a great time in New York City this morning And we had a great time in New York Yeah, yes, it was a big part the environment the context that you created In the taste of the food in the weather and I was like yeah, man fucking at life is still gonna be good That's cool. Yeah, that's funny how I never thought owning clubs and restaurants and hotels That that would somehow give me an advantage making films and the thing that I realized now it all kind of weirdly connects Because there are people That I've met through the years that were involved or stayed in my hotels or any of my restaurants I have a rola decks and then there's people like Ted Danson who lives right across street for me You know, hi, yeah, yeah, but he also did a film in the maritime hotel where they shot this film And it's just funny that one degree of separation and the connective tissue

22:09That later helps because I can pick up the phone and call Alan coming to be a chim crazy You know people I know people one more maritime so I'm staying there Every morning I wake up. I want a coffee right and so every time I call the operator answers And then I have to give her my order who she then talks to the kitchen right so one of these mornings I've been there for three weeks right and I say to this woman who I'm not talking to every single morning I say let's say I just want you to know I think it's bullshit that you have to deal with my order And then I can't call directly to room service is she goes oh you think that's bullshit That's just the beginning and I go what do you mean she goes I'm in a fucking basement right now I go no shit you're in the basement We start chatting for a very very long time And then she goes this is fun, but I gotta go I want to have my cigarette break I go okay, I'll come down and join you I got in the front of the hotel I start talking to this woman and I learned she's a writer for vice And she tells me she has a book and I get the book. It's called Dear Diary

23:12And then her hero is Amy Polar so I bring her book to set on baby mama Give it to Amy that becomes a connection. She then ends up writing on girls She then created her own TV show on Netflix this woman Leslie Arfin who's incredible who was the operator at your hotel Who I developed this life want it turned out we were both sober yeah, and uh yeah another crazy well Yeah, I had Joey Kasevedi's working down there John Kasevedi's daughter for a while. Yeah, it's funny how that works and they are working in a basement Yes, really I'm so in the humane to my staff Down in the hotel offices are also in the best Well for real your browser they get it okay. Sorry. Let's talk about the bottle. Oh my god I just I love it so much. I was just there The couple weeks ago. I was just there. That's my hotel. That's her home base. Well, I can hook you up next time Monica Oh, we got a whole we got a whole week. Okay, great. Okay, so I have to apologize to you I suppose sure I have an apology to make an immense so the keys at the bowry are amazing the legendary

24:14Yes exactly the thops for people who don't know they're this big Tassel for your number hotel room numbers carved on to the brass. It's beautiful. Okay I like items So you stole the fog I didn't I didn't I kind of did okay, so I was in room 11 11 Very Very very at my lucky number. I'm always seeing 11 11 I get that room And I was like I have to have this tassel like I don't know how I'm gonna get it But I have to be careful because what happens at the bowry stays at the bowry Monica, so don't say anything to well I've already done this all stories known all the other Okay, okay, I'm not gonna keeping secrets, but I'm also not good at stealing so I did go up to the front desk and I said How do I have this I will buy it I would like to buy it how do I do that and they're like they're not for sale But if they are taken We charge this amount some ridiculous numbers. Yeah, and I was like thank you for telling me that news

25:19We try to trick people into taking them so we can charge So it's a real way we profit on the bowry that's where the margins are I'm shabos right now plugging my other hotel. I'm a hotel in ohi cut hotel El Roblo And we have these brass cowboy hats on the faus and everyone wants the brass cowboy hat and they do take them All the time and we do have to charge yeah, I'm gonna do that you have to you want to go That's been on my Instagram algorithm. I was looking at it this morning. It's gorgeous And my wife is dated your tortoise place. Oh Oh the Is that yours it is yeah, I have a hotel for tortoises as well ohi as well and I much better tortoise hospitality than human hospitality They get pampered really you are not the hospitality at those hotels are incredible I can't believe this this is very great But let me just tell you one last thing about hotels owning a hotel the thing that you learn is what do you do in some It commits suicide what do you do with all these weird things that happen hotel So there's this whole thing we don't talk about when you own hotels

26:23When did most people have sex it's Friday afternoon when people are cheating on their wives in between the hours of like 8 p.m. And midnight you can hear The cacophony of sexual activity when you walk down the hall And so there's all these sort of things that we I'll keep my mouth shut about what happens at hotels, but it's very interesting my grandparents on the roadside motel on the border of Indiana and Michigan growing up and I would go there for this summer It's called the colonial motor in my sweet sweet grandmother who is very tiny The amount of dead bodies you found in her tenure running the colonial mind like every time I saw my grandma I mean how many dead bodies have you found since I saw you because people do go to hotels to end their lives And it's a whole thing by the way because your house keeping won't go into those rooms until you have Someone come usually a priest and bless the room and cleanse the room And there's a whole thing about you know the shining kind of like that kind of thing like oh, it's just hotel haunted

27:24You can get that rumor of a haunted hotel the maritime maritime I was just gonna say that and it's like I'm seeing there for like a couple of weeks and people just are telling me these ghost stories about the maritime And one of them was a woman woke up and then goes to the army sex with her Oh my god I said what was your reaction shows I was terrified and I'm like I would be so fucking delighted Well that's one of the amenities that we all That's a matter of time the ghost sex interaction is Wow, what a light so yeah that chapter was pretty long What are the borders of that chapter where that was your full focus before you really start getting into conservation and stuff Yeah, like you said earlier I Like to figure something out and you know you kind of crack the code and you do it And then you don't want to just keep doing the same thing over over again So the progression was the hotels were great afforded me resources to do other things. I made some money Clubs are a femoral. I didn't really make money, but it was fun in my youth And after a while I had a few hotels

28:25And then I started thinking what's next you know life is short and I kind of always was a closeted reptile guy and turtle guy in New York and Never really spoke about that love affair that I would have Did you have a bunch in your apartment? I did a girlfriend's would always be kind of like oh my god What are you living with why most of the apartment filled with these reptiles and tortoises? Did you not think there's a little bit of a smell when you have those aquariums? Yeah, they started feeling a little bit like goats in the apartment. Yeah Yeah, this is where big and they grew but listen That was an indelible love affair since I was a kid. Did you have any high jinks like did any reptiles get loose ever? Of course, yeah, it's their nature. I mean I don't recommend this to people But in the early days, you know, we had themes at this club I owned in the early 80s and we would have natural history theme any chance I got I would try to figure out how to incorporate animals into the club. Yeah, I had a great horned owl I had bats. I had a 15-foot python that escaped under the floorboards. I only found a years later when we took the club apart the skeleton No, no, I shouldn't even admit that. No, you're honest. I like you're on the team. Yeah

29:30I'll regret it later, but snakes escaped in my life You know, I used to sleep with a lizard when I was in high school called it Tegu a big black and white South American lizard It wasn't the best creature to sleep with because it couldn't control itself. You know, it's bells. They're in contact. Oh boy Anyway, anyway, but yeah, I did the hotels. I still have them. It just opened one in Ohio last year Open one here, please in LA LA needs better hotels I've old friends with Andre that owns the chat to Marmott and that's a whole another story We love that but yeah, if you know that I could just tell me Tax and now I would maybe like to get in the hotel business. Yeah, I think we could really diversify We could have a fun little another chapter Not for you but for me inside hotel. I'm putting that out there. Oh, then just quickly because that but did you have a little Did you ever get a little questionable? Oh? Yeah in my life when he's talking about Living in New York City. I like the dopamine rush of everything career dopamine rush drug dopamine rush

30:30The euphoria of having a success and then the you know then why you always want more and more and more of course And I think my father was really an alcoholic to be fair I think it runs in the family sometimes Yeah, yeah, you know, look, Jimmy show died of a heroin overdose. Yeah, Jimmy showbosca I was with them the night he died And I've seen a lot of casualties along the way obviously It's like the opposite ends of the spectrum in the most dramatic way possible We always have you for a recall right we forget the bad stuff Right, and then we go back and then we forget oh, oh shit. No, it's definitely taken a toll on certain Periods of my life for sure So then you must love monsters of God. I mean we're getting to deal with a lot of drugs, which is fun We haven't had that in your first couple up. Well, no, that's not true. Tiger King was very meth heavy Yeah, I try not to go deep into the math, but yeah, there was a lot of math I kind of didn't include as much as I could of but it's it'll be crazy not to acknowledge It's such a powerful force within the stories we're witnessing and it's like when you wonder Why is Joe exotic got these young guys? What's the leverage that needs an explanation and the explanation is drugs

31:37Yeah, I mean, it's a little like that horrible say a little pooch gets you a lot of coach A little tiger gets you a lot of boys. Nothing better than a little tiger Sorry You know like the little baby tigers were a good gateway drug into Getting boys for job and then sprinkle a little meth in with the tigers and then you have a three-semino for something Yeah, got this cute little monkeys on top of it that you can sugarcoat everything He had a pretty good trap to get yes, you know, victims. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah sure But all of that was going on it was a cocktail of baby tigers baby animals and meth and boys But I guess what I'm saying is I think it's helpful like we'll go into 7-11 me and my family And we get back in the car and they're a little bit like what was going on with blank blank Mike And I'm like okay, so that dude was on on math for three days that dude was not enough from junk I know what's going on immediately. I know what the fuck yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I think that is a useful skills that when navigating a world like that

32:42I have offices next to on Carthor Park. Oh, yes My hotel's on the Bowery in New York. I can tell when I see someone walking across the street Barely able to stand. I usually go and I go I want to feel like that guy I know what that's Barely teeter you these on dope and then the mathematics are over there I don't know if I want to feel like that. I'm an anthropologist. I can tell what's what an urban anthropologist. Yeah, yeah, I can tell who's on what Stay tuned for more armchair expert If you dare we are supported by all state checking all state first could save you hundreds on car insurance Not checking your teeth before walking into a meeting You smiled at six people in the hallway confidently full teeth you felt great about it until you caught your reflection and realized You'd been carrying a piece of spinach like an accessory sense lunch. Yeah, checking first is a good idea So check all state first for an auto quote you could save you hundreds You're in good hands with all state potential savings very subject to terms conditions and availability all state north american insurance company and affiliates north brc

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36:55But the issues just keep unfolding the paper is streaming now only on peacock I think it's a great skill set for navigating in the dock world because you're dropping into these things You're getting the fast faster what's really going on? Dex I was filming in Vegas another project I'm doing with Netflix right now And we were filming this guy who was smoking fentanyl and meth and my cameraman is sober and he blew it right in his face And contact high, you know, I'm okay for free by camera but literally Absolutely had to take a pause at time out But we've been filming a lot of people that are in that state Would we call that a hillbilly speedball methen fentanyl? I think we call it like death Well, apparently it's a good blend for a lot of people Well, just be ball. I don't understand fentanyl that I thought if you had just a little bit you died So how are people doing it and it's insanely insanely powerful

38:00But you can get the right dosage you're getting it at the hospital. They know how No, they did it great on 60 minutes when they they had an expert on they had this little kilo And then they had a penny and on the penny had a little amount of fentanyl and said this is enough to kill a 10,000 pound elephant And then the little bag that was next to it said this is enough to kill like the village or something You know, it's insanely powerful But it obviously could be as the doctors do dose correctly But a lot of these people they're even so hard enough to have an arcane a lot of the people just have it already So if you go into a drug dad house, which I've been in recently in to Vegas where there's 20 people in there doing math and fentanyl and everything They have an arcane, but yeah, arcane doesn't always yeah, yeah, yeah Okay, so you also dabble in the 90s and again, this is so exciting research in you today You did the 90 nails video opinion opinion. I did two 90s videos But they were more like making short films in the early 90s. I see oh, he directed a video I wonder if I ever saw it in the second and starts like oh my god. This is one of the most like indelible

39:01You know, this is a very memorable video starts with these three toilets black and white and then clearly like a new york Bathroom it's not inviting you follow the swirl of the water down a pipe You're going through all the pipes in the city following it for a while. There's machinery Also, the pipe is linked to a person in a rubber BDSM outfit and it's just feeling not I mean what a visual is funny In between clubs and restaurants in New York. I thought it would be fun to make some music video Someone came up to me on the street and said you want to write something for nine inch nails I didn't even know Trent Reznor. I didn't know nine inch nails and I wrote a treatment That one and they said we love it. I did some drawings and I made that Short film they gave me 10,000 bucks to make a music video and this is what David Finch and Mark Romani Can all these guys work doing music videos before they were big movie directors and We're all sort of writing for the same artists black crows and Nirvana and etc. But anyway I thought it was really fun because the band wasn't even in the music video

40:03So I basically could do whatever I wanted and make a short weird boon well Film so I did a second one called help me on mental with a guy in a padded cell eating a steak dinner shaved head With just hundreds of flies flying around it and landing on him landing on his fork and that was it And then it goes down a little bit of a dark rabbit hole. You're almost like artsy John Waters. Oh, you know John and I are old friends. You are coming to oh high in October. Okay, John talking about you For 40 years. I love John. I interviewed John in Baltimore at this house. Not so long ago For a different project, but yeah, it was like making short films that making those music videos. Yeah, it was fun Okay, so you do the hotel thing now is like what next it's conservation first then in To docs, right? Yeah, I reached supply like I said where I was successful with the hotel world in restaurants and I had the resources to start thinking about other things And maybe things were more important to me and maybe also

41:06Things that were going on with the world at the time and this was in the early 2000s late 1990s when I became more aware of The extinction crisis serious topic and there was a great book by Liz with co bear called the six extinction Which is the first man made extinction ever Which is also called the Anthropocene the current extinction we're in right now is because of us climate change us You know the impact on the planet 8 billion people on planet earth when I was born there was two and a half billion people all the things that we've done Have created this extinction crisis we live in today and so Primates and turtles and tortoises are the two vertebrates that are the most Threatened with extinction because over half of each group is threatened with extinction I said I want to do something about that. I want to help with these turtles that I love So I started getting involved with turtle and tortoise conservation with conservation in general working with different groups around the world It's interesting because I'm watching last night with my family episode two You know of course my wife and my children are horrified There's some very horrific things about these very very rare animals dying and I'm just admitting my own shitting

42:10This I don't have a major connection to reptiles, right? So it's not hitting me I'm more fascinated by the culture of the dudes and then there's a bit of footage where they're talking about like oh Yeah, he had everything. How do you get a baby gorilla now my specialty or my focus was primates when I made your anthropology That was my interest, right? And I'm immediately like I'll tell you how mother fuckers They killed all the family members of that little baby gorilla. That's what happened that baby gorilla presents six probably dead adults and I was like fuck Fuck these Oh yeah, that's just the power of that really affects me and I've done the gorilla track the majesty of those things No, no the old school way of getting medageries in jazuz where you go to wherever and you shoot and kill the adult hippos And you bag the baby you're not going to be able to get a giant hippo onto a boat or onto a plane And so the old way was you shoot the adult alphans and you get the baby the gorilla you shoot the silver backs and you get the baby That was what Monageries did back in the day and so is really horrific what are menageries are these traveling like animal shows getting a collection of animal

43:14Okay, that's called an azure. Yeah, okay, so to get all these animals in jazuz they would do precisely what you just said They would shoot the adults and grab the babies today. That's not the case. Grille is now We're being bred in captivity and we're not going and killing adult grillist Yes, but definitely in the Diane fauncy days that was an epidemic. Yeah, okay, so you start first I guess the turtle the turtle conservancy shameless plug. Yeah, yeah, no You donate 30 million dollars of your own money to this probably more at this point. Yeah. Yeah We're right now this comes out after the show series right so I can no spoil our alerts right yes, right There's only three more weeks. Yeah, yes. No, but at the end of monsters that god there's sort of an optimistic ending after a lot of dark You know history well, and yeah, just things that will be really surprising that when you see the all five episodes of monsters to god There'll be things that you would not expect but at the end We successfully breed at the turtle conservancy the rarest tortoise in the world

44:16That's never been bred before in the western world ever in any zoo and it was auspicious that one we've Basically finished monsters a god We got our first hatchling of what's called a plowshare tortoise which is a tortoise that's functionally extinct in the wild and madagascar Only comes from a tiny part of madagascar, but we're sending our young now we have 30 young baby plowshare tortoises back to madagascar Yeah, so there's this kind of optimistic really cool ending two monsters a god that's sort of beautiful And it was just like I said really auspicious because we've worked with the species for over 20 years And I got to give a shout out to Leonardo de caprio right now because he's helped us with some funding and he's doing this thing right now with Bezos that's incredible that's helping us basically Save a lot of really really dangerous species right now or wonder if he should probably come on and talk about Leo We should probably he should probably just well. I got to just say people always say that actor shouldn't be doing anything other than acting And they shouldn't do philanthropic things. They should have any opinion. They shouldn't have an opinion. They shouldn't be political

45:18People always say Sean Penn stop you know doing anything but acting stay in your lane And I know Sean and I have to say Sean you went and met with chapeau guzman that was fucking unbelievable And I felt like that when I met with some of the characters you're gonna see in monsters a god like it's dangerous And Sean he understands You know drugs yeah, and he understands that just putting chapeau in prison isn't the answer and he went to Mexico And I got to give Sean a lot of credit for that But anyway, I'm sort of digressing or diverging But I will say just because of the community you're involved in it's great when people speak out Yeah, and do something whether it's political or conservation related or whatever it is whatever your thing is You're pretty busy out imagine doing that work and then how do we get to directing tiger king A friend of mine Fisher Stevens who won an Oscar for the film The Cove with Luis Savoyas I was talking with Fisher about doing something on the reptile world And there was a book called The Lizard King written it by a friend of mine Brian Christie And I said Fisher read this book

46:19It's a great story and we mad at the barry hotel And jamma one day for lion city said I read the book. It's really good But how do you make this documentary without getting killed and that kind of discourage me because there's a lot of scary people in this story My favorite character of the whole thing is Mario Mario Well, wait until you meet answered Wong in Malaysia who's the kingpins the Pablo Escobar of the you know Yeah, but anyway, I was discouraged. I was in like 2012 and then Fisher did a film with Leonardo Capriol called before the flood about climate change And he was trying to sell it to CNN and CNN passed and then Fisher goes Well, you know my friend Eric good has this footage of this weird guy Joe exotic and then I did a CNN pilot. They were really interested in that really going how ed you met Joe I just started filming reptile people in the beginning with these guys the safty brothers They may know yeah, Josh Safty who just was up for an Oscar with a producer on months. Yeah, so 12 years ago We started filming a south Florida. We were filming some reptile people Mario Josh and I and his brother

47:25And one day a guy drove in with a so leopard in his van and we were like wait a minute You can just buy a so leopard so that got me focused on big cats. I got off reptiles They see an n thing didn't work Jeff Zucker who is running CNN at the time didn't want another old Anthony Burden Anthony Burden was still alive So our CNN pilot didn't work which was about our relationship with animals But I got into Tiger King accidentally because I just fell into it. You followed that snow leopard yeah I was really doing a story about reptiles. Yeah, Tiger King got in the way chimpanzee got in the way finally finished Monsters of God but yeah, Joe it was a lot of fun and Oklahoma was a lot of fun for me So this is my question about Tiger King. I'm not conflicted. I don't mind loving bad people I think I grew up a lot of people that I love right so I am at both Times judgmental obviously of Joe exotics terrible treatment of animals And I don't think people should have these animals, but also I am very attracted to him

48:25He's a very compelling person and I'm attracted to him right and I do wonder what your tension is when you're making these Do you fall in love with some of these people that obviously you condemn their behavior? But do you fall a little bit in love with them? Yeah, there's a lot of loveable things about Joe exotic and you know All of us have our good parts and bad parts. It's in really bad parts as well I think I'm being gay really helped me that's a rough road in Oklahoma where he grew up and he's kind of twisted now because I gay extreme narcissism was really interesting with him But you know, I think what I'm interested in Is often we think about New York LA London, Paris whatever these are the places where everything's happening and the truth is In flyover states middle America places that you don't think anything interesting is happening In fact, there's a lot of interesting weird shit going on And if you start turning over the rocks and looking you find these really interesting characters And you mentioned John Waters or you think of Errol Morris and Vernon Florida Really great film he did In the panhandle of Florida you think of Todd Solon

49:27So another director who kind of looked at that landscape he did that film welcome to the dollhouse But I'm really interested in worlds that aren't so obvious to all of us Yeah So Joe Exotic wasn't really with people were thinking about same with monkey moms Who knew that there were all these monkey moms across the country Yeah Women that need and want to have a baby forever Yeah And it becomes a monkey And so yes, back to what you said earlier I think that it's the characters that are really important But in the end watching these stories The silver lining is of course Can we do something to prevent having a chimpanzee incarcerated in a basement In solitary confinement when they are complex social animals and you know about primates You know can we do something about that? Can we make a change with people keeping 200 tigers in a zoo And basically killing off the adults because they are expensive to keep Because you have to feed them a lot of fresh meat You watch the line so well Tiger King got a lot of criticism but at the end of it What's this act that was passed? The Big Cat? The Cat Public Safety Act Which banned people from having big cats in the private sector

50:29Wow And creating big cat puppy mules Yeah Yeah And so this movie that had its critics Did get legislation passed and changed I never thought in a million years Tiger King would be what it was Well no one on the planet 39 million people watched it in the first 10 days But who could have imagined that Covid hit right when it hit It was a good time I had a captive audience watching Captain Tigers When you have something like that There are always going to be criticism And jealousy and all these kind of things happen But in the end of the day It did change a really important piece of legislation Or that legislation was passed to stop this abuse of tigers And big cats, lions and jaguars etc And we also donated money to Tiger Conservation in India And that's why I was in Carola Not so long ago A lot of money So there was a lot of things that I think came from that And of course more importantly And it's a cliche to say this But you don't want to make films That just preach to the converted Right Is why Bacophilm that everyone already knows the issue

51:30And I'm going to show it to a small group of people And we can talk about tigers You need a cast to widen it And obviously preach to the unconverted And I think Tiger King did that to some extent That's why I think you're a very special face of conservation Because I don't find you to be preachy Or saccharine Or pretentious Or sanctimonious And that is what's off putting about a lot of these movements We need a lot more I think level And centristy people attacking these issues Because the other mouthpieces are just very polarizing Yeah for sure And I was on a call yesterday With someone from an animal rights group that wants me to speak Do a keynote at a big animal rights conference That's going to take place actually in Mexico City And I was saying to him, listen, you're not going to want me speaking Because I'm not as polarized as you got Yeah So I'm more of an animal welfare person I kind of walked the line of trying to get everyone together I work in a lot of red states Thank God But I have to talk to everybody Yeah

52:30And I walked in and just was like, I hate what you do Don't do what you're doing You're fucked up You're morally repulsive Yeah, I was going to talk to him Exactly Because listen, I'm watching monsters of God And it's like again What they're doing is terrible Clearly But I'm also seeing a story of manhood unfold too I'm seeing Tommy who starts this reptile pet shop And all of a sudden bikers are hanging out there And all of a sudden he's getting invited With the big boys to biker stuff And he's feeling like a man And a lot of these guys It was their pathway to feel like a man That the nerdy guy who reaches out to Tommy The reptile dude And he even says in your dog He's like, that's the second time I had sex on that trip I'm also quite empathetic To like this masculinity journey That kind of directionless men Are feeling in whoever embraced them Yeah, they ran towards the motorcycle gang And they ran towards the drug dealers Because they were invited And so there's a lot of stories being told And I'm very, very empathetic And sympathetic to those men And they're a weird journey of trying to be a man

53:31There's a lot of sadness I have for them Yeah, nothing is black or white When you continue with the series You'll start to see that A lot of best intentions A lot of laws that are out there About what you can keep in this country Python's or this or that A lot of them actually Don't work So there's a lot of unintended consequences From best intentions The Intangible Species Act doesn't fit all So there's species right now On the endangered species act that should not be There's species that should be added on They need to be But US Fish and Wildlife Service in this country Is understaffed, under maned They're trying the best they can But it needs to be better The zoos need to be better I've gotten a lot of criticism From Monster God from the zoo community That I showed some of the skeletons And the closets that the zoos have been responsible for You know the Bronx Zoo in the 19 I don't know 1520 How do human being in a cage in the A-Pouse Called Ata Banga They had a human A guy that was captured in West Africa

54:33You know sort of a Small indigenous pig me With these teeth that were carved like shark's teeth And they put them in a cage And the A-Pouse at the Bronx Zoo There were people that were kept in Zoological institutions on exhibit in Europe There were Native Americans Intense at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago in the 50s So we've exploited humans and animals And zoos have a long history But we as a culture have a long history That isn't very good when you look back And women couldn't vote And gay rights And you mentioned all these things So anyway, zoos have evolved And they need to get better even still But we show some of the skeletons in the closets But not just with zoos We also show law enforcement is not perfect in this story And you'll see something really revealing in the fifth episode And so the conclusion at the end of Monsters of God Is we're all complicit There isn't necessarily one clear bad guy But let's walk through it a little bit Because I think a lot of people will have not yet started monster gods So in a nutshell We meet these two guys Who are pretty infamous reptile Traders And they're mostly in the 80s, right

55:34Yeah, yeah, Tom Cutchfield at Hank Bolt Right, and Hank He's a very specific archetype And he's a very intelligent guy And by my non-expert judgment And he seems a little sociopath No, no, for sure So Hank kind of starts this thing Right, he publishes this list And you can buy these different reptiles And some of them are super rare And then some of them become endangered Which ups the value enormously And he's willing to travel the world And gather these things Most of his heavy paying clients are zoos The San Diego Zoo The Detroit Zoo So we're in a market territory Right, these zoos want these animals And who's gonna go get them The zoo doesn't have anybody to go do that And so this guy fills this niche And he starts making a lot of money And he's now hiring people And this Tommy guy's fascinated And he then gets into it And so that's kind of working out And then what happens though to Hank How does he go to prison There's a shipment that comes in From Southeast Asia Big shipment And the customs agents at the time

56:34It's sort of before you, so Shawal Life was really doing this stuff You know, we're like suspicious So that shipment And then ultimately one thing led to another It was illegal animals coming in A law had just been passed called the Endangered Species Act And another law that was called Cytes, the Convention of International Trade and Endangered Species They both happened around the same time So he was in trouble And he did some time for bringing in animals Without getting obviously permission And those laws were an effect that went into effect in 1973 So Hank started a little earlier before the 80s And then Tommy came into play in the early 80s So when Hank goes to prison Tommy just picks up basically his priceless Now he's the Hank And Hank hates him for it So now we have the Carol fucking basket And Joe exotic war Right, which I don't know how you How you keep stumbling into these crazy feuds But this is one of them And so they kind of hate each other And then Tommy becomes incredibly successful And it's funny because he just starts doing the exact same thing

57:37Hank did and now he kind of gets rich Relatively rich in his world Yeah, yeah, so that's simmering so far That's episode one's kind of simmering Then Hank gets revenge on Tommy And puts Tommy in prison for the Fiji Alana Guamis And then episode two, yeah So episode two we meet Ravenn Nostron And Mario Tell me about those two guys for a second Mario was born in Cuba His father was in the Bay of Pigs and worked for the CIA Operative they migrate to South Florida When he's very young Mario has this affinity and love of animals That just family doesn't embrace And of course you do what your family says no to And he gets into the animal business But he also starts to realize that The skills that His father learned in Cuba from the US government What do you do with those skills? And they became very valuable A lot of the famous 80s Miami cooking cowboys Had been in the Bay of Pigs And they hated John F. Kennedy At that time because he didn't go through With what he had promised

58:37And the US backed out and left these guys high and dry Anyway they turned that skill into smuggling drugs And so Mario was part of that culture His father obviously had those skills In Little Havana they don't know jewelry store Where everyone would hang out and drug dealers like jewelry As you'd see in the show And Mario got into both bringing in animals Parrots, monkeys, snakes and drugs Cocaine and marijuana mostly And ultimately at the time Janet Reno Was I think the district attorney of Florida Before she went up to DC And they basically were looking at the big drug king pins in Florida Mario and his father were part of a group That was bringing in tens of millions of dollars with the drugs They targeted him and he got away a few times And then he made a fatal mistake of killing a undercover informant By Debarium but in South Florida all you hit is choral You can't dig so they burned the body And that's what started everything And ultimately Mario did get caught Said into a hundred years in prison

59:38And Mario's life, the footage of this guy's life In the 80s before he gets arrested He has this compound that probably would only be rivaled by Pablo Escobar's down in fucking Medellin Or his Garfus Yes He's got lions and tigers at his house And he's got monkeys running around And he's got all these crazy reptiles And he even says in this doc, my addiction is animals I sold drugs to fuel my addiction for animals And you're talking to him in this doc He ultimately he's warned the whole doc Right he's talking to this DA agent So just even be careful the way you're talking And everyone he interviews about Mario, a husband, a walk And he's like, oh don't say more about that It's clear from the beginning No one wants him to talk about Mario at all He's still very dangerous The DA guy said he's the only person I still fear Don't even talk about him And Eric goes to his fucking house And sits with him You know it's funny about I don't know anything about profiling and law enforcement But I was told to call his lobbyist in DC

1:00:42These guys have lobbyists to make sure they can keep their animals So throw it outside So I called this guy He had an Italian name Frank Something Perala or something And he said to me there's 100 reasons why You shouldn't talk tomorrow And he listed some of them I can't think of any reason why this would be positive for Mario So I struck out And then I finally ambushed Mario one day And just went in there and got my foot in the door The first thing he said to me And I was with Josh Shafty actually The first time we went in with Mario and Josh He put on these spy glasses That were so obvious How Mario was showing us how that was filming Of course in the end Of course in the end the footage didn't even work But the next day we went, Josh goes Oh fuck Eric, I got to wear the glasses for continuity He's going to think it's weird if I don't have the glasses So he had to put glasses on again And they're not even working And Josh is like wearing these glasses But Mario, it was almost like Tickley Shay of that film Analyze this with the Mafia guys And what's his name? Place the shrink Billy Crystal It was almost like that in real life Mario, first time I went there

1:01:42I kid you not He guess maybe we're similar age And I'm not really a journalist I had nightclubs He confided with me with me The first day and he says to me You know I go to a therapist once a week Or twice a week But really I'm screwing this girl that works for me And I go to a motel down the street There's wife Tammy right over there But he confides to me And we have this sort of the sympathetic co-situation He would tell me the most interesting things And we got on this level that was so unbelievable Way beyond just someone coming in and filming It was almost cathartic for Mario to have someone to talk to And there was a certain sadness with Mario So I had this very mixed feeling about Mario to this day There's honor among thieves And he has this certain moral code That's really unbelievable He has principles It's really interesting Yeah, yeah Well all the guys one guy is like I'll steal the animals but I don't want to do guns I'll do the drugs but I won't I want the other kind of And we're not certain batteries on the limit So that they feel okay doing it He saw episode two though And at first he was pissed Because he was like

1:02:43I didn't ship cocaine in with a cobra And we were like Mario We're not really saying you necessarily did it but people did And then at the end of the show He goes I loved the sex scenes I love that I'm still such as You know, such a dude And you're all right But he loved that Yes of course And also Monica you're watching It's like he got sent in 200 years He's out in 12 This is a big mystery It's one of the only things he doesn't want to talk about Yeah Something very innocuous Like you know sometimes the government needs people So you get the sense they've let me out To his I don't know who knows what would happen No that's crazy How you can get out of prison if you have information Yeah Yeah I'm always fascinating like These guys have insane amounts of money right Did you ever eat killing Pablo That great No I'm terribly illiterate Pick the coin If you ever gonna read about that That's better than that That would be the one You know these guys are bearing money They forget about it Rots Their big problem is the cash They could never convert it And you always wonder when these guys go away It's like Well surely they had some somewhere And when I at least see your doc

1:03:44I'm like Yes somehow that guy still has He's still in a big compound driving a Jesus It's so interesting Because when I had died clubs in the 80s It was cash There was no credit cards Yeah And it's a cash business I remember having so much cash Had a certain point in my life Yeah They didn't have cash machines back then And counting millions of dollars in cash Is so tedious And Mara used to tell me again Confiding with me Like you know 10 million dollars in cash And to count it And to figure out where you put it And you know Back in those days You're trying to get banks to take You can't use it I buried some cash one time It was the biggest mistake of my life I came back eight years later It had turned into mud I never want to touch cash You got it in my life Even though it's so fun to have cash But when you're making that much cash It's a liability This is a problem It's like he had no problem Getting the cocaine in it out of places But he couldn't do anything with this fucking cash It's this weird Yeah Paradoxical You know South Florida in the 80s and 90s Really was like that by the way The only time in my life

1:04:45I ever was shot at Randomly shot at with guns Was in Florida in Miami In 1993 or something I was going to a nightclub at night In a rented mini van with some friends We didn't have self-ents We got lost We were trying to call fab five Freddie who was telling us We're going to a club in New York Freddie, where's the fucking club I say to one of the girls I was with goon Call at this phone booth And the next thing I knew These two guys were walking at night Towards us and sort of shooting at our van Blue out the back window Blue out the side window And I said I was like listen You guys we're going home Going back to the hotel I had long hair back then I woke up in the morning with all that little glass ice cubes From the You know in my hair and everywhere But South Florida was like the wild wild west People were shooting everybody The emergency rooms were insane Stay tuned for more armchair expert If you dare We get support from Instagram teen accounts So we talk a lot on the show about how the world is different now

1:05:45Then when we were growing up And one of the biggest differences is obviously social media And I think a lot of people wonder Okay what's actually being done to make it safer for teenagers Which is a fair question Yes so Instagram has got something called teen accounts And they come with automatic protections built in by default So anyone between 13 and 17 Is automatically placed into this experience They get age-appropriate content settings Contact limits So that by default only people They're already connected to can message them And time management tools Daily time limit reminders And also sleep mode That meets notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m Sleep mode is genius Right and here's the thing For anyone under 16 A parent has to give permission to change any of those settings to be less strict The guardrails are on And Instagram keeps building new safety features To create age-appropriate experiences for teens I am really glad Instagram's helping to give parents peace of mind with teen accounts Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online

1:06:47At instagram.com slash teen accounts This episode is supported by helix So I've had my helix mattress for a few years now And I still love it just as much as the first night That says a lot because a good night's sleep is very important to me Sleep is everything And what's great about helix is that it's not a guessing game With finding the right mattress because they have over 20 models So you can find the one that actually fits how you sleep And with that summer heat upon us Helix has cooling upgrades that can get you the best rest even on hot nights I have a helix midnight lux mattress I really like the level of firmness it has But that might not be right for you They have so many options and you just go take the quiz And it is perfectly matched for your needs Which is incredible I also highly highly recommend the cooling upgrade Especially in the summer It makes your sleep so much better

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1:08:48Everything you need to go from I've been working on this to hear it is Come find me All in one place, no code, no stitching together A bunch of different tools So if you've been sitting on something and waiting for the right moment This might be it Head to squarespace.com slash dax for a free trial And when you're ready to launch, use offer code dax to save 10% Of your first purchase of a website or domain We get support from our sponsor lily For adults with obesity or with excess weight And weight related medical problems It's time to find out about Foundaio or for glipron Foundaio is a once daily prescription GLP1 medicine Used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity To help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight Also have weight related medical problems To lose excess body weight and keep the weight off Foundaio should not be used with other GLP1 receptor agonism medicines It is not known if Foundaio is safe and effective for use in children Don't take Foundaio if you're allergic to it Or if you or someone in your family had majorlary thyroid cancer

1:09:50Or multiple endocrineoplasia syndrome type 2 Stop and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction Alump or swelling in your neck Or severe stomach pain Serious side effects may include inflamed pancreas and gallbladder problems Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes If you're nursing, pregnant, plantaby or taking birth control pills And be four scheduled procedures with anesthesia Taking Foundaio with an insulin or sulfonyluria may cause low blood sugar Side effects include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting Which can cause dehydration and may cause kidney problems Once daily Foundaio is available by prescription only in 0.8 milligram 2.5 milligram 5.5 milligram 9 milligram 14.5 milligram and 17.2 milligram tablets Learn more at foundaio.lily.com Or call 1-800-LilyRx Now is perfect to talk to your doctor about Foundaio I'm going to make a weird observation Maybe if it comes off bad, I still want to go to the barry But in all your docs, we're following people and we're like

1:10:52These people are crazy But you're a little crazy Like you are a little crazy to be Going to these people to put yourself in these positions The danger is so high And do you get like off on it? What's the draw to the danger? The honest answer is I'm not like some tough guy by any stretch And the honest answer is it's like back to shampoos meeting To how pokos men in Mexico Bad guys kill people for a reason Drug routes are a big deal And they kill over drug routes They kill if you stole their drugs or whatever I'm walking and I've done nothing to these people So I'm not really worried about someone coming and killing me Unless I wrong them Where it gets scary Isn't when you go in and first meet these folks People and just start killing you unless there's real reasons And so it's when they've watched the show Of course And then Mario sees Oh, you passed a law that means I can't have my tigers anymore I need my tigers to make a living at my zoo

1:11:52Or they feel used So that's when I've talked to law enforcement and people about Are the people that are really threatening me online Over and over the ones to be careful with No, it's the ones that never say anything I'd be stupid and I'm probably stupid Even saying this right now But yeah, it's more later down the rub When you impact their lives Sure Not when you walk in the door or interviewing Right because they don't know And they're not serial killers They don't get off on just murder people That's not the same I'm not interviewing and fucking around with serial killers Back to the crazy part is like I often say this about when I was smoking crack Which is like a lot of it's crack It's great But a lot of it's going downtown I have to interact with the seven-channel dude Who's got a handgun And we got to go into this house Like that is very dopamine rich It's half of what's going on in the addiction to it Yeah, of course That's kind of what I wonder like when you're walking up to the door To ring the doorbell And everyone's told you Do not go near this guy

1:12:53Is it a high I mean it's a high to get in and then get that comfort Where you realize you did it Yeah It's nerve-wracking Getting to that point of ringing that doorbell Once you're in and you have the fluency That takes place Whether it's drugs or whether it's my knowledge or reptiles And they realize you're one of them Takes one to no one Then you get it comfort But you're sure it's a high to get the access Because documentaries At least the ones I make It's all about access And so people think Oh I'm going to go out and make a doc Good luck getting to that person It's not so easy Okay, so I can't wait to watch the next episodes Because I would have begged for you to Let me join you meeting Mario Right like that's a no-brainer for me The person that I probably don't ever wish To meet Norby in his world would be Anson Wong Anson Wong is kind of this mythical guy Sort of the Pablo Escobar of the wildlife trade He's in Malaysia Oh, Penang He has been operating for 30, 40 years at least

1:13:53He used to come to the United States And be able to go to the Bronx Zoo And all over the country And people knew him Tom Schultz at the San Diego Zoo New and personally The Curator of Reptiles at the San Diego Zoo So Anson Wong had access to everybody Until he was wanted For smuggling into this country And then he became Bad guy number one in the wildlife trade He became this sort of mythical figure It was not allowed back in the country Or you'd get arrested Ultimately he was arrested Managed to get him which happens in the story Did one of the longest sentences For a while I've cried ever In the 90s I think he did seven or eight years in prison Which was a big deal back then But Anson Wong The government spent millions and millions of dollars To get him five year under cover operation To get Anson Wong They finally did He was released Went back to Malaysia Never to return to the US Not allowed to He got arrested again in Malaysia For smuggling reptiles Which was really incredible Because he had connections to the royal family He had high level connections Getting him and knowing who he was

1:14:54I had pretty good access in the animal world And no people And I knew people that knew him And I would try to get inroads to Anson Wong And a number of ways and failed Ultimately COVID became a problem I couldn't travel to Malaysia When I was filming this When COVID broke I literally just went there I couldn't get to him And I had these fixers in Malaysia That I was trying to use to get access to Anson Wong And they kept saying We know his cousin, his brother, this person When I finally got to Penang in Malaysia I realized They never really even wanted to reach him Because they were scared to death And so when I said to them He can you call Anson I got his phone number With a Malaysian number Because he's not responding to a US number They were like We're not calling Anson Wong for you And then I realized Okay, everyone's scared of this guy So I just kept calling And calling and calling And one day You know I was in a weird place In Malaysia And he answered the phone And then I got access to Anson Wow But yeah, it was scary And he said something In just when we were driving

1:15:55And going time about How his driver was killed And he said it in such a natural way Because his driver turned on him And he obviously made sure his driver Is in with us anymore So you know, he said, have a guy Well man, I just think You've made like Three of my top Oh my god Ten favorite documentaries of all time Champ, we were obsessed with Jim Crazy We actually just so you know Again, how your hotel affected us Tell Eric You gave us a gift Tonka is a huge part of our lives We talked about Tonka non-stop on the show And mainly it's just like We loved him And you know how you would throw poop That is K She'd be like, clean it up And eat tri But she'd make it worse We were obsessed with that part We were And then Somebody had a little Okay, there was an incident There was a An authorized evacuation incident By me That's all Well driving a car Okay, well That's important Yes, that's important It was a bad situation And Monica didn't want to actually say what she did Yeah, I was so demoralized

1:16:56But I had to share Right, I had to tell back And I also, I guess, had to tell everyone I was like, I'm an animal I'm Tonka Like, I felt like him Just like disgusting Just animals We're all just animals I'm Tonka So now if anyone Poupes in their pants, we say they talk good And the listeners, not like People write in the comments like I fucking talk good at work So now they've come a verb It's a verb For shitting your pants And I just want you to know We just want to thank you for giving us that Yeah, we do want to thank you It's the cutest way to say it I couldn't start, Jim Crazy Because that's my obsession, right? Is primates I knew I couldn't Police myself I would have gone too hard Some people do have They're like, I can't watch those Because I love animals too much Then you should watch them I think even more Well, we try to not show too much Suffering or battling with animals Because otherwise people Turn the channel You try to keep a balance But if we go too into that realm And we could

1:17:56We don't And we try to keep it fun Even though Seriously Going on Just because people don't have the Stomach to watch brutality I would say because I know so much about them This weirdly parallels Monica and I have talked about this several times Us addicts in recovery We have a very specific way That we feel in react to And other addicts die And for the non addicts It's this crazy heartbreak And then Sadly, and this isn't nice But for us It helps confirm That's right man That's what happens when you're not on the path So for us it's weirdly a little bit of like It's a reminder It's a reminder And it's a moment of gratitude And it's a moment of like All right, that's right man And thank you for that reminder Because that's where we end up We're dead institutionalized Or incarcerated And so when it happens It's like Check We have a different feeling about it I would say in the same way When I was in Afghanistan And you know, I watched the soldiers Deal with People that were getting killed around them It's like You see it a bunch of times And certain predictable patterns

1:18:57Happened And there's a way And it's just kind of like Yeah, and that's And when you like to cigarette That's happened It's weirdly comforting to go right That's how it works I don't know But similarly from the second It started I'm like Why know where this goes I know what happens when a male chimpanzee Gets fertile What a lot of people don't know When we were doing chimpanzee I was communicating With some of the world's top Privatologists about Taka Right, Stanford Who's here at USC And a good friend of mine Who's actually in Madagascar Right now working with me Russell Midamire I don't know if you know him Now that we don't have Jane Goodall With us anymore Bless her heart Russell Midamire Is described more species of lemurs Than anyone in the world In recent times And so Anyway, I was communicating with them About this chim And asking them You know Should I do something now Or is Taka okay Or can I wait And the reason I waited A lot of people don't know this Is because I thought Tanya had exus now in prison Would lead me to more chimps Which he ultimately did But it's sort of like drugs Yeah We want to just get the little guy With five ounces of cocaine

1:19:58We wanted to get the source And so I kept waiting But a lot of people thought Oh, I'm exploiting her I'm not doing anything about Taka In the cage But of course We were very sensitive to Taka's well-being We were doing chimps crazy Yeah The craziest part of that entire doc Is when those knuckleheads Fucking drag that cage up The stairs at a holiday And like a lot of times You can look back on your addiction Like the times you go like This is the most absurd I ever got It's like if they're looking at Their weird dicks It's like the time they drug A fucking chimp up Stairs in a cage at a holiday I'm like They must go How did I end up in this situation Keeping these animals And hoarding And the obsession And by the way I like the word obsession I don't think being obsessive Is a bad thing I think you wake up in the morning You have something to do People that have no interest I worry about But when it goes into addiction mode Yeah Addiction isn't only drugs alcohol You know sex addition gambling It's also shopaholics And in this case It's wanting These animals so badly That you'll do anything in ruin your life

1:20:59And what happened to Tanya After chimps crazy wrapped You know she went and got another chimp In her basement And now she's in prison for it And I really worked with her After chimps crazy Trying to counsel her Help her To sort of just have some Contrition Don't keep doing the same thing The owner of Travis Trying to get a baby monkey Well she did She did She did get another chip I mean how on earth That is so deep It's so deep I mean that's like the sadness of it It's really trying to fill Of the way Yeah for sure Yes And whether it's like she was never loved It's like I'm the chimp lady Look at me She gives you some kind of self-worth Purpose validation But another day if you come up to Oh, hi we can trade Crazy drug stories Because Drug addiction The shit you do When you just said that Oh my god The shit you do Yeah Like the stuff I've done Crawling on the floor Trying to get the crumbs Or trying to snort the floor Or whatever The stuff you do And we can go down A drug rabbit hole

1:21:59But it is crazy But the stuff you do Even these animal people They're addicted Of course You know every using dream I have Is the exact same I've had over the last 22 years Many many using dreams about cocaine And all of it involves me Getting the coke out of the carpet And there's so much Fucking link And carpet in the coke And I'm deciding do I snort all the links I have those two Why do we still have those dreams? I don't know why And they're panicking dreams Yes Yes I'm like It's there But I can't get it But I can't get it But why still do we have those dreams Yes Yes Those are indelible Yes I want to shake those dreams Every using dream is that dream I wish my using dreams Were about getting a rare tortoise Or like you know I use a basketball dreams Hoop dreams I like me to be able to do things Sure Like George Lamb But the drug dreams It's hard to shake those But maybe it's good for you It's like Because then when you wake up You're like So glad I'm not Doing that Oh my god Waking up the best part of the tree Yeah The dream that you said Waking up You're like Oh my god God Cause they're really intense Yeah They are

1:22:59I'm so glad I agreed to interview a director This was fantastic Oh Aaron I love meeting I don't know what I am I just feel You're the biggest Biggest dilatant ever No I think you're everything I can't wait for you to keep doing more of these Cause they're really important I think but also so entertaining I have a really crazy one That we're just finishing It's three episodes You'll love it Oh I can't wait I probably have the same feeling About you as I have about us It's like I don't know We're 1100 in or 1200 in I keep thinking Why are we going to run out of famous people And then someone sits down I guess there's another famous person I'm like When I watch your shit I'm like What's left Guy with a dolphin he's making love to Oh that's not so bad We're passing you with that We know about those guys Yeah the scientists Well that Yeah There's people that fall in love with the horse Living with the horse I fall in love with their dolphin That's more of an A&E Sure Fatal attraction You're really good Both of you Do really work well together It's really cool Yeah We appreciate you So I hugged so much of the oxygen

1:24:01Yeah That's why you're here It's to take a box If you haven't watched the monsters of God You must I know you've already seen Tiger King And Chip Crazy Of course it's great You're so talented And I certainly hope you'll come back This was so fun Thanks for having us Take care Thanks for having us Thank you Is it our parent expert But he makes mistakes All the time That God my heart goes here He's got a little half the facts I would like to officially Introduce you to a new friend of the studio His name is Peter Peter loves knowledge And Peter's a crow Okay And Lincoln made this It's beautiful Isn't it great Yes it's And Peter look friendly Somehow my kids when they draw pictures I don't know how it happens But they're able to They always look friendly Yeah Right? Doesn't he look like a Particularly friendly crow Yeah he's really I can't really see him now You can't see him

1:25:01Now your head Oh now my head is there Yeah But you can tell he has really pretty feathers Uh-huh Yeah And he's holding cherries Yeah she's very good at drawing It's kind of crazy how good she is at drawing She did a glass the other day Like a pencil drawing of a Glass Like a pint glass Oh And I'm like I don't How did you get all Like you know it's 3D She's really good She is less at rip It's cool Oh there's a really funny thing happening Do you know Delta's new life path Well I know she was learning sign language yesterday Yeah so on her own instigation She said I'd like to learn sign language And um Kristen through Disney of course As an employee of Disney She knew that Disney had this project Where they had used a lot of ASL Consultants so She reached out to that production Found this teacher he came over He's so sweet Yeah She's learning at the craziest speed Even he is like This is bonkers

1:26:01He gave her a card Unlike maybe their fourth session And it said um Delta welcome to the ASL community We've been expecting you Oh Isn't that so sweet What's really sweet So she's bonkers good at it I keep it she sounds like 300 signs already I have a question about her teacher Yes Um is he deaf He's deaf Okay okay Which became its own funny high jinks Because when he very first came to the door Kristen kind of opened it She was in the middle 19 things And she has her back to him She's like oh yeah come in here You can sit over here Bob and she's realized She's just giving this whole stream of things And then she just hears A noise come from the door And she's like oh fuck of course Why wouldn't I have I assumed he was deaf Oh right So then she turned around you know Made a very clear what she was saying And he can read lips Great I talked to him I know so yeah Yesterday I walked in the house During the lesson Because I wanted to say hi to the kids And um I then didn't know what to do

1:27:01Right you know you just have to look directly at him And like speak Don't lumble your words I was like is it rude for me to be trying to talk to someone who Like I don't know if he can read Brides But he can He can yeah yeah yeah Um So at any rate Yeah it's great It's just this bizarre I mean I've really not seen anyone learn something so quickly I'm like well this is fucking And by the way before this and I think the reason she wanted to Learn ASL is She loves miming I can't stand it It should be being bad And she wants to like mine what she needs And I'm like I like she rates Yeah like some version of And then in some weird way her and Kristen have worked out They have no a lot of hand signals that they just made up So she just really wants to communicate that way Yeah So um we're driving in the car the other day And um she's just talking about how much she loves it And I'm like yeah maybe you should do something Career-wise with it you know and then we're talking about the different things you could do like you know You can sign it

1:28:01Events you can sign you know DTF you can sign on the news And then Share other thing that she wants to be a therapist So then we put it together And so now her new dream in life is to be an ASL therapist For kids great And she told her teacher this and he said that would be so great There's not a lot of therapists who can sign I think that would be amazing. That's so sweet Yeah great job I was such a piece of shit like I want to glory at her age I want to be evil can evil or you know like I want it to be Some kind of world-renowned hero Yeah And she wants to do sign language therapy for children Well I hope she does Yeah She'll be great at that But anyways yeah they're both it's so fun to watch them both have these crazy skills Yeah that's so awesome Your sister taught them sign language both when they were little Yeah her and Kristen really learned sign language and they could talk to the babies I learned like this I brought this up in my defense yesterday because I said

1:29:04I'm scared I'm not going to be able to communicate with you guys like you Kristen's also learning it pretty quick And they're talking a lot and I'm like I'm afraid I'm gonna be like left out And then Kristen said well you could learn and I was like I mean I don't think I can I'm not trying to be lazy about it I'm not lazy but remember we I put a lot of effort into learning when They were kids and I knew like five things yeah you know more and water and stuff Yeah you knew some you picked it up about as good as I No by the way no I came in when everyone had already learned and I was like okay I guess this ship is happening Um But yeah, so maybe their brains are like since they've been doing it since they were really little Maybe they're more like adept Yeah And if I were listening to this and I didn't have kids and I was in my 20s and I'm like why did you teach it? Why wouldn't you try to teach you? I mean parents Right so this is the thing that I doubt if you had kids you wouldn't know about which is like they can't

1:30:05They're not going to develop their speech for a long time But they can learn signs much quicker And it alleviates so much of their frustration when they're babies when they want to tell you they want water But they don't know how to ask for it and they can or they want more of something or no more all done Yeah, all done's make you sad remember Kristen took Lincoln to Universal and they were on the tram and they she didn't realize it went through like you know like a Like a king calm exhibit Yeah, and she uses a baby and she was doing all no all done all done Yeah But yeah, I mean I I kind of Maybe this is an excuse, but I think it's in the it's in like the foreign language department for me You know as you know, I had to take it at like four to three different college three three different colleges to pass Yes, we've discussed this we both I had to struggle taken eight I took eight I took four years of in high school and eight

1:31:08foreign college semester's semester's Great semester along I had to do a lot for the theater department they were required you to do a lot of foreign language which like Okay, I guess anyway, I was very Bad at it. I was very bad at speaking. I was good at reading it Okay, and I could write it like it like make sentences. Yeah, because I got to choose the words to put in Yeah, but the communication I just could not do this will not surprise you, but I was okay by the end at saying some stuff But once people were speaking to me in Spanish. I was like, I don't know what they're saying. It sounds so fast Yeah, it is I was thinking I'm just uniquely bad at that like I was telling Ryan we were in Nashville for Labor Day, and my very favorite song of all time, which is um, this is the place slash naive melody By talking heads. I have listened to this song more than any other song in the 10,000 range. There's been

1:32:09Weeks where I was on repeat Um, I don't know one word of that song And I'm like how could this be like I can't hear what he is saying. Yeah same. I have we again We have discussed. Yeah, we know this. We have holes in that part of our brains weaknesses That's a big weakness. Yeah, knowing lyrics um And language and I do think they're in the same space in the brain. I've just decided that I think they are true and it makes sense that they would be yeah Yes symbols converting symbols into whatever Yeah, like an auditory, but you're good at auditory because You like audiobook like you you retain audiobooks. Yeah, I retain whatever I do here Yeah, also I'm great at like rap lyrics and country song lyrics if they talk slowly Right, I can get it and then it's in there pretty pretty deep. Huh. Yeah, I gotta tell you we have the greatest four days in Nashville. How many it was crazy hot too I just keep going from heat bubble to heat bubble. It's hot all summer. I did it and now I just did it was it was blazing hot

1:33:15There was like 98 and you know the humidity. Yeah, but we were on the boat mostly the whole time and What I discovered my pontoon boss women under it Early part of summer this year and I could see I had led light strips under The deck of the pontoon But I don't know where any buttons are for this thing Thank goodness can Kennedy was visiting and he likes nothing more than going through the menu of a screen And lo and behold he figured out I have disco lights on my pontoon So now we're in a habit of going swimming at night with the disco lights on and in loud music Oh, is it fun in your floating in your dive which is an upside down Life jacket, and it was just boating after boating, but the thing that I most want to talk about Do you have a favorite breakfast spot in America in America? Because like I have so many favorite lunch spots and dinner spots

1:34:17But I have only one favorite prior to this breakfast spots in New York Bubbies Everybody's yes, and the puppies many times love it. Yeah, I I don't I mean, I guess I don't know are you about to say waffle house? No, that's fine. It's a style chick. It's fun. It's damn affordable hash browns. Yes Weirdly they built one in about five seconds by my house recently But I discovered this through chat. Oh Last right before I left for the end of summer. I discovered a place in Mount julia in Monica, this is my favorite breakfast spot. I've ever had Anywhere in the world. Oh my god. They have this thing called piggy benedict. Okay. It's a biscuit Freshly made biscuit a big round sausage patty poached egg Hollandaise and gravy nice

1:35:18Then they have a chicken and waffle. Yeah, that will Put it up against rafsco any day. It's unreal They have this banana bread that is like bananas foster almost. It's impossibly good And then you get like the basket of mini biscuits. Yeah, that's yummy. I don't think it's a low caloric Doesn't practice But I guess we should tell people you're eating gluten again. I've been eating gluten again. Yeah. Yeah, I have Post that Probiotic the the one that pendulum. Yeah, we had an episode and she I'm not endorsing anything I'm not a doctor. I'm not saying it'll work for you. I don't know. I've been eating gluten. Yeah, and it's been going well That's amazing and I enjoy it Yeah, oh boy is it funny biscuits But we were only there for four mornings and we went twice and fucking just what's a call? I crave it so much paper mill Cute name. This town is so tiny and it has in it now my favorite breakfast spot

1:36:22I've ever eaten at paper mill and then the best Thai food I've ever had in my life smiley Thai Yeah, this is crazy. Yeah, it's great. It shouldn't be there. Yeah motorcycle rides at night There's a little mix up. I know he's listening It was really sad Ryan had a little mix up I'm on the dirt bike. He fell and he had a fall. Oh, sorry We're out in the go-kart in the dirt bike and he really let himself have it over it. He really Really abused himself. He was so mad that it had happened I'm not talking about that. Yeah, Toro puss hand pretty good. Oh, yeah It's dangerous. It's okay. That's why they're fun. Yeah They weren't dangerous. They wouldn't be fun. That's not true Spades isn't dangerous and it's super fun. I'm not saying Something has to be dangerous to be fun. Oh, okay, but what makes motorcycles fun is that they're dangerous You have your adrenaline up and you know the stakes are high. Yeah, yeah, that is why I don't That's why you don't do a lot of motorcycle. I wanted to say

1:37:25Shailin Woodley from Paradise season two which we talked about um She won them. What she did Yeah, and I had put in my endorsement on this podcast for her to win might be why Can you explain The Emmys to me. Yeah, I don't know what happened this year. I'm there was only Emmys last week But then they're also next week creative arts Emmys were last week and then this We but does it paradise like you know winning for best supporting actor or whatever that feels like that would be in the normal I agree maybe because the TV has expanded so much. Yeah It's too much for one show now. I think they've always had creative arts Emmys as a separate day But I do think some of the categories They're all gonna technical right? Yeah Yeah, they all felt more production wise, but yeah, now. I don't know. Anyway, she won congrats She deserves it. Yeah incredible performance incredible performance, but yeah the real Emmys. Oh, I mean the oh

1:38:30The Traditional Yeah, Emmys part to the one day night Emmys. Yeah, or on Monday, which is also weird. That's weird right? Wasn't it is it normally on Sunday? Yeah, what have they done? I um I present every year. I know the Emmys are coming up because I present every year at the prop master awards. Oh, yeah Are you doing that again? Of course. I go support my best friend Jeff Um, they're Saturday evening. Yeah, oh that fun. Mm-hmm. Wow He said um, how about for a bit you carry me out because we carry you actors all the time and I said Carry you anywhere you want me to lift him up. I'm gonna carry him out on the stage. Oh, yeah We usually do a bit Jeff. Oh you do yes. Yes. Who's Jeff? Jeff was the prop master on Parenthood is where I found low with them, but then he was the prop master on chips. Oh My movie, which was so fun He's the greatest of any crew member I've ever met. I just love Jeff Yeah, you like a lot of people and I think he's the president of the prop masters

1:39:32Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, how big is he seven feet tall? No, because you have to carry out a large man. He's a good size man He's probably six feet back or you're gonna carry like a baby. Yeah, like a baby Right or on your shoulders. That's cumbersome. Can I get him off? I want to do a bit you better you might as well go all the way Yeah, I come what if I had him on my shoulders and I came out on a polo stick wow now that would be That would really be so. Can you go all the way? So it would make we would have a prop That would make sense. Um last year he was making a speech and I had his prop bag Oh Roll reversal like that amazing Speech that Julia Louis drive is May like she wanted Emmy probably and Emmy ding ding ding ding for deep and then Tony Hale went up with her whispered in her ear the whole time. Yeah, it's so good. That's so funny Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare

1:40:38We get support from skims Monica's been in her skims era and I don't think she's coming out of it Never I'm never coming out of it the skims lightweight cotton collection has been my go to all summer and even now that we're transitioning into the new season I'm still reaching for it every single day the cotton is so lightweight. It's breathable It holds its shape wash after wash Nothing has stretched out or faded. I don't know how they're doing this, but it still fits perfectly That's pretty impressive for cotton honestly. I know it is and the cotton jersey t-shirt has basically become my uniform at this point It's so flattering. It simplifies everything. I just grab it. I'm out the door and I feel good I do love skims so much and I just shipped a ton of skims to my parents house So you always have it so I always have it because I'm trying to not pack all the stuff and I decided I was like skims is the brand So they really are I sent my parents a ton of bras and they all fit so Incredibly I sent a bunch of the lightweight cotton thong. Oh lots of colors. I just shipped a ton over there

1:41:44So I'm always gonna be happy. Yeah, you're sitting pretty over there in Atlanta shop skims cotton and all of my favorite pieces at skims.com After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you select podcasts in the survey and be sure to select armchair expert in the drop-down menu that follows Um, I do want to say I don't know if this was a wink, but Tonka was awarding connections some days ago It was interesting and it was in reference to the or we don't know no we do Tonka trucks. Yeah Oh, because was it truck toy related or some toy related toy. Yeah toy brand related sort of I want to do that one. Well now you know this happened to me just always spoils things on accident. It's like his Super power. How is it yeah, but it's not a superpower. It's a it's a um Kryptonite. It's like okay. It kills evil power. Yeah, it's

1:42:47So bad he cannot help but spoil things wow And um what is spoil well he spoiled that but then we you know because he plays connections at the gym with his trainer and then we were in line I know but whatever he does but listen, I don't know. He's a master of distraction. They do Connection sometimes anyway, and so we were in line for a restaurant and he was like have you done connections today Said no I'll pull it up and they said but don't Tell me he was like no I only did one and he was like starting I know Stop and then he was saying like no, it's just and I was like don't say any other words That's me in the f1 races when people want to start talking like don't I watch like oh yeah, yeah, no, I know Um, and it's like no, no, there's nothing more to say if I've said I haven't watched some people just love to spoil They don't even know they're doing it just as happening. It's happening anyway. He spoiled the talk. He's well talk

1:43:48And uh it was exciting to think that maybe winner had talk good that like oh, you know, maybe she was letting us know Yeah, she was communicating with us. Bodim of pants stuff. Yeah, that's right. That's right Um speaking of f1. Uh huh There's a very exciting thing happening right now and f1 I know I've already talked about but Kimi and Tinelli Oh, yeah, he just turned 20 He's won seven races this year from Mercedes. I think the record is Lewis winning maybe 11 in a season So he has lots of season left he could break at 20 years old this Lewis Hamilton record And Lewis's car was actually more dominant over the competition that iteration of the car than Kimi's is and Kimi last Race last weekend He had to start at the back of the grid because he had an engine penalty So he started in 19 And he won the race. No, this is like a max for a staff and drive Impossible and his teammate is up there in the lead in the exact same car

1:44:52And he makes his way through wow 18 other cars pass his max for a staff and in third and uh And wins the race and he's 20 years old and he couldn't be cuter He's the first nice to and it was the Italian Grand Prix And he's the first Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix in 60 some years It's a happy story. It's a really triumphant Season of F1 right now. I love I'm gonna be really conflicted when max has a comparable car Because obviously max is my deity He's my god But I love this Kimi kid. Oh, do I love him? Maybe you know for doing a flip flop Uh, it's gonna be tough man. I don't know what I'm gonna do Because I love Kimi, but max is dangerous. You know if they're in the same Okay, that's enough Just like have you seen him have you seen him talk Kimi? Yeah, you look at him. You shot us the video. Oh, yes If he and Lincoln talk you so cute. He's so cute

1:45:53He's got a great body to the summer on the summer break. He posted a lot of photos of him doing different water sports Oh, yeah, he was with um, Toto. Yeah, yeah Suzy Suzy had a great bathing suit on in those pictures. I was served them. I did not go looking. Oh really that came across Probably because it knows I posted about them. Oh, maybe algorithm is very smart. We came up with a good idea Yesterday That we should an urge It'll happen again in the episode, but I want to get it out there as quick as possible We think you should be able like you can send your playlist to people. Yeah, like you're liked songs you can do that We want to be able to send our algorithms Oh, yeah exactly. Yeah, on Instagram. We do it be fun to be able to use other people's algorithms for How long you wanted to I agree But I'd really enjoy having your algorithm for a couple days because it's just it's close, right? Is it just close close close? I tell you what I see right now. Yeah, what's that? It is cloooo

1:46:54Suzy in a bathing suit. Yeah, it has Suzy Okay, first thing that pops up is Megan Fahey then Aziz. I'm just gonna read everyone. Okay, then Aziz Okay now see Because I just said I oh I just said chaline with Lee there you go. I got a pop up. This is about Aaron Rogers Okay, listen, it is and it's a page six. I don't follow. Uh-huh. I know. I don't like when they serve me uh gossip tabloids. Yeah, it's almost irresistible to not read. Yeah, I just read it. Yeah I didn't click it, but I hate that so I don't like when they put threads in my timeline Threads is all trash. It's all like Threads is it's all sticky gossip. It's all inflammatory. Yeah, it's just like Twitter And they never delivered to when I get suckered into clicking on a threads Yeah, and then it takes me to that freaking yeah, I don't have and I read it Never as good as the first two sentences and it almost negates itself immediately. Yeah

1:47:56There's I mean they figured it out. I know Yeah, you can have AI go like make me a very sticky sentence and then you can do it. I know we're all so predictable. Yeah Yeah, we are that's why you just like kind of can't have it Because if you have it we're clicking it We're also if you enjoy it. That's great too Are you gonna hang over from it? I go like I read like three because then that apps open everything is terribly right and then I Get sucked into four or five of them. I know and then I'm just like no, I don't like how I feel when I consume this yeah Yeah, it's pretty good to have during fashion week though. Is it yeah fun stuff poppin up fun stuff Um anyway, all right, let's do some facts. Yes Okay, facts for Eric good great episode just fun guy. I mean Wow, we loved it. I have to put him at the top of the heat foremost interest in person we've ever interviewed and I'm just obsessed with them

1:48:56I think I told you I sent him a text that was like hey Next time you're getting into any kind of tricky situations Then you need a copilot. I'm there whether that's for work or just otherwise like bring me along. Yeah, yeah He's getting into all the tricky stitches. He really is getting into the tricky stitches I don't think he can bring you along to some of them because I think it's gonna do the opposite of what he is hoping to do Which is kind of just be under the radar and be one of them and be kind of you know, I'm not that famous I mean most people or even if you're not famous your large okay, you have a large boy Okay, and a lot of tattoos and stuff so like I don't I don't think people are at ease if I'm there. Yeah, interesting Okay, okay, I'm pretty good at winning people over and there's no time for that in some of these situations He's got to get in And like you know, I think I would have done great with that drug trafficker more

1:49:59Mario. Oh, yeah, but you even said you didn't want to meet Anson Wong. You said that in the end. I don't want to meet him Yeah, you have to be low status. That's exactly what I'm saying. Yeah, but How status is determined in that world Which is all toughness and intimidation really so it's like an actor is this like No, he's not threatening at all. No, it's not like I almost said someone and I'm not gonna say it so it's mean. Okay. It's not mean. He's very Good actor. He's a great actor and he is He put people at ease. Everyone came just guess who I'm I don't even know and I'm Steve Buschemi That was obvious I don't even know how he crossed your mind Okay, whether you're an actor or not You have a presence Okay, and that's that shows status like how many times I've just say your big Yeah, I have no

1:51:01What I'm saying is in the drug trafficking world They're like an actor he pretends to be tough. It's so easy to write me off like there They've been in gun battles like it's just a different And now but I just don't think okay Ding ding ding This is funny the other uh, yes, today at dinner. I don't remember how it came up But we were I think discussing Maybe we were discussing the incident in Palm Springs maybe And we were talking about how everyone reacts differently in these situations confrontation and blah blah blah and just said he's Didn't mean it in the way that it's gonna sound but he was like yeah No, the only reason you're super successful is because you would fight with dax in the Kitchen And what he meant was I'm not afraid To have a debate or or meet someone intimidating. Yeah, you and Lincoln

1:52:02Zach You should be you should be grateful You know one time you don't you probably don't think this anymore But at one time when I was babysitting you did tell you said I hope you grow up and you're like monica Well she Yeah, I feel that way and she is Yeah, so when she's She's not intimidated by at all me. Yeah, it's good. Of course it is. That's what I want. I know yeah So anyways, that's what I hope to raise some a woman is not afraid of anyone of her dad Yeah, and I'm as you of the aforementioned size and this and that exactly then she could give a fuck and I love that exactly Yeah, so that's what makes it so easy for me all the time, but uh, I know Part of the cost. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, he um, so he All to say I am not like those drug dealers. I don't find you intimidating. I know, but They do or did we tell people that we do have an answer to the fact that remember when you pretended to be dead on the railroad tracks or passed out

1:53:08And I was trying to move you off the railroad track and you're dream No here you were laying down Ground we were we're role-playing. Yeah, if I were on railroad tracks You're on railroad tracks and you were dead weight passed out would I be able to get you off the road rail road tracks And I said I would get superhuman strength But we we can't practice superhuman strength and it's dangerous to rely on the no shaniel of superhuman strength when you need it I know, but then we got the answer because I had to end up breaking into my house And it required a level of strength. I probably would not have had On a regular day. Why did you do a pull-up or something? No Joe my um uncle uncle contractor He was very impressed. Okay, great. Who was very impressed that I could do that And then I was like oh yeah, I can definitely roll decks off of the track Right despite yeah, you can't practice. Yeah Um, all right now

1:54:09Is the creator of s I Where is he from and was he a used car salesman? Um, yeah, he all the above yeah He worked as a car salesman and encyclopedia salesman before creating the self-help program asked Which like you know, I bet a ton of people got a lot of great stuff The condiments are successful. Yeah, I'm sure he sold both new and used cars in Pennsylvania and California Oh, sometimes using the alias jack frost. Oh fun. Nippon at your toes put in a nice Chrysler imperial Low mileage all highway Things never been on a arterial road. Oh My dad told me he used to sometimes stand in front of dense when he was just first starting off. Yeah. Oh And he is a large man, so he could When he when he was a used car salesman. Yeah, yeah when he first started. Yeah Oh, no, I know I'm told this before but he graduated into you know, he he was the best car salesman at Davis fort

1:55:13He won this he won two free cars. There's like a national whoever can sell the most for trucks He won that incredible salesman. Yeah, and he kind of got so good that he had A helper who turned out to be my first stepdad Carly's dad he worked at the dealership and so so wild basically Greg would set up The deals and my father would close them and he mostly closed them across the street at the bar Oh, he said like let me take you to get a drink exactly. Oh And um on a couple different occasions. This is in the 70s sure Where my book takes place the people who bought the new car got so drunk with my dad at the bar that when they pulled out of the lot They got broadsided and smashed their brand new car that happened a couple different So this is before your dad got sober obviously. Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, wow No, that was that was that was that was a kid. How big was my father? Yeah Like probably six one and always

1:56:16Two-fifth or more okay, and how how tall is your brother? I think my brother's six one as well. Okay. You're a little taller Yeah, yeah, okay, couple inches. I'm riding that down You're gonna have a suit made for Um, okay, you said in the Americans she falls in love with asked But it wasn't her it was Philip who got really in there. Sorry big mistake. That's a big mistake But it's okay Philip is the Matthew Reese character. Yeah, they both just slayed those performance. They really did What is the most profitable club ever nightclub? Okay, okay XS nightclub at on core in win lost Vegas is widely recognized as the highest grossing and most profitable nightclub ever routinely pulling in between a 103 million dollars and 105 million dollars in a single year Wow, but they have big expenses. They're paying those residencies to those DJs and stuff definitely

1:57:17Studio 54 had to be a cash cow because those guys one of them had like the top two or three floors in the San Remo tower In the very expensive piece of real estate. Yeah, that I think now bono owned Wow That's funny when I was just in when I was in New York my friend Maddie and I were taking a walk and she knows She was just pointing out all the buildings and she knows everything New York real estate is a real like interesting Mish yeah, yeah, I liked it Um, what is a hillbilly speedball? Generally refers to a slaying or colloquial term for a combination of elicit or prescription drugs typically Typically substituting a rural accessible stimulant like meth or prescription amphetamines and a downer like a prescription opioid pain killer in place of the classic heroin and cocaine Mm-hmm Okay, so yeah fentanyl meth. I'd call that definitely a hillbilly do not we could call it a hillbilly highball

1:58:18So speedball that's got more but it's more marketable Hillbilly highball. Yeah, I'm gonna get flagged for sure, but Were you how much fentanyl I know this is so this was really bad also this is so perfect person specific right I said how much fentanyl can you survive with first thing that comes up to speak with someone today 988 suicide in crisis like I like that they did that yeah cool, but I'm gonna say it's for a fact check. Oh boy Please Please call this number we've heard that before Even more reason. Yeah, oh, it's really searching. It's thinking It probably can't ethically answer this. This is interesting. Well also It's there's no way they could give you or they could give you a range you would be humongous All right Like are you already addicted to opiates? Do you have a million receptors? You know, are you me? Talking about the penny. Yeah, like I'm just like that can kill an elephant then I can't have even one

1:59:21Micron yeah, you can though really yeah when you they administer fentanyl That's what I don't get the nasal spray and intervening. I know that's what I really do not understand Well, just the issue of course with it is is they mix it perfectly It's just diluted perfectly every bit of fluid in the vial has the same amount of fentanyl Yeah, but when they're mixing these batches of fentanyl in a in a 55 gallon drum and in Mexico Some portion of it may have 10 x of some other portion, you know, that's That's the issue with black market manufacturing. Yeah, it says fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic Oh, it says disclaimers information is for general knowledge and should not be taken as medical advice um fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opioid and ingestion of even a minuscule amount can be fatal because there is an exceptionally narrow margin between a psycho active amount and a lethal amount There's no single safe threshold

2:00:22An individual outcomes depend heavily on factors such as body size personal tolerance and history of opioid use Yeah, you can give a redhead that whole penny Don't don't do that. Oh my god. It's 50 times stronger than heroin There's one now more powerful than fentanyl the one word that crank no, that's trank. Oh, trance different drug altogether That's not an opiate. Oh But those people are so hunched over fuck are they? That's it they're terrible advertisement for the drug. It does not look like they're a perfect advertisement for it Because it makes it mean they are the face of dare. Yeah, you know, yeah, all right. That's it That's all yeah, fuck. I love Derek need to what a dude I can't believe the biggest document and and the best hotel and the biggest turtle conservation is like And it was really sim I did say it in the episode, but I didn't put too fine I didn't like scream it or emphasize. I've been wanting to go to the L Roblar hotel and oh hyperl while and we drove by it

2:01:25Uh on the way to the wedding and I was like, oh, do we have time to swing in there and have a tea? Oh tea Yeah, we didn't though. Oh, okay. All right. Love you We are supported by all state checking all state first could save you hundreds on car insurance Not checking what the warning light means before pulling out of your driveway You absolutely convince yourself it was probably just a sensor thing right up until you were standing on the side of the road waiting for a tow Yeah, checking first is the right move. So check all state first for an auto quote It could save you hundreds and for fast reliable help when you need it add an all state roadside plan today You're in good hands with all state potential savings vary insurance and roadside assistance plans are subject to terms conditions and availability

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