An Army of Normal Folks - Russell Butler: The Dancing UPS Man (Pt 2)

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

The story of the UPS driver who almost committed suicide, found healing, and accidentally started a viral ministry of delivering good vibes through dance. Today Russell is better known as “The Dancing UPS Man”, with 1.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.2 million on Instagram.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Russell Butler right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. A backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks. Two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar.

But this isn't his story. It's a human story. One that I've become entangled with. I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces, forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom.

And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people

who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. Nobody hears anything, nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle,

not for Richard. He's your son, and in your eyes, he's innocent. But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenni Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the

first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal. She won gold twice. The mountaineer known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world. And the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is not a typical conversation I would expect to have with a UPS driver. I just deliver packages, dude. Deliver packages and dance.

So it's a good segue. COVID, you have this interesting relationship and really deep understanding of anxiety and depression. And at COVID, people are locked in. They're losing their interpersonal relationships. They're able to do it on phone and texts, but human need to interact. And you're recognizing through delivering packages to these people who are locked in,

you're seeing some of the same blank stares you saw on Heath's face. And you realize... We need smiles. We need smiles. We need smiles. And so off the cuff, you go back to the days with your mom

and you record yourself doing a little dance. Vanilla ice. Ice ice baby. Yeah, ice ice baby. Yeah, it was like, I mean, like you said, in the height of COVID, I was like, dude, can we just change the conversation? And again, like I don't discredit how serious that time was,

but I was like, can we smile? Can we laugh? Can we just change the conversation a little bit? So drop my phone down, put on eyesight, baby. Literally, just on a whim. On a whim. Just put your phone down and say, let me see how this recording thing works.

That's it. And? Within 24 hours it had 3.5 million views and just and again like you know comments are comments, but You made my day. You made me smile again. You have no idea where I've been in life and You made my day. You made me smile again.

You have no idea where I've been in life and you brought joy back. Like those are the comments, heart all day. And I try to respond as much as I can, but. It had to have been like, I mean look, everybody listening to us, if you haven't had a public life, which is 99.9% of us, just imagine doing a two minute recording on your phone

and posting it, and then three and a half million people the next day start, you had to have been like, what? And so again, like that, that, that was kind of the launch to my mission in life is, I know people are suffering with what I suffered with, and now let's make them smile. Let's give hope, deliver hope. And that, when I came out for St. Jude's,

that was the whole mission with that was delivering hope. And that's- Dancing for the goods. That's what I try to do. So, you know, I haven't done this probably in a few months, but I feel like now's a perfect time to say this. This is an army of normal folks, bro. Yes, sir.

And really what that is, is I'm sick to death of the division in government and the media. Government has proven woefully inadequate in serving the most disadvantaged among us. Correct. I don't care if you're a CNN or Fox person, let's be honest, all of them are incented by an enormous amount of power and wealth to craft narratives to divide us. Well, like we were talking about,

just adding fuel to the fire. They add fuel to the fire. And the hotter and brighter that fire rages, the more powerful they get to the people that encamp themselves under one or the other banner. It's divisive by definition. Absolutely. My belief is I don't care how you vote,

who you love, what your skin color is. I don't care about any of that. who you love, what your skin color is. I don't care about any of that. If somebody is doing something to elevate someone in their community that isn't as fortunate as them, regardless of who you are, how you vote, who you come from, what you believe, how you work for anything else, I can celebrate that work that you are doing, right?

And same to you. So the answer to me then is an army of normal folks who put aside societal preconceived notions, who set aside divisions based on how we vote, what media we listen to, how we worship, what our race is, and just say we're all human beings. Absolutely. Couldn't we put together an army of normal folks

to take back the narrative that just because we don't look like each other, necessarily agree with each other on a very group of topics, we're not enemies. Correct. So that's what we're trying to create in an army of normal folks, and the beauty of it is, you don't have to be part of some massive 501C3 or NGO or some big organization.

You do not have to be invited to be involved in something to make a difference in life. You can be a UPS dude that dances. That's right, dude. That's right, dude. That's right. And that's the thing, man. Like, I always say, I feel like just being kind is a lost art. Like, holding a door for somebody, smiling at somebody, having a conversation with the lady at stripes, like making somebody's day for no damn reason. Just loving on people

Yeah, normal people making the biggest difference I've often said the magic happens when Someone's passion and discipline and when I mean discipline, I mean talents not Discipline as in doing following the rules. But passion and discipline meet opportunity. You have a passion for people, you have a passion for mental health, and you have a particular discipline, dancing,

that needed opportunity every day. And I'll tell you what, man, And I'll tell you what, man, it blesses me more than you know to see those comments. Just by you dancing, just by you doing what you love and you've overcome this, this and this, you give me hope. And that's what it's all about. So, that's beautiful. You have a coffee? I have a coffee. So, the company, it's kind of a crazy story,

the company actually got bought out at the time we were doing the deal. So it's gonna be Russell's Groovy Coffee. What? What? What? Russell's Groovy Coffee. Yeah.

Why not? Why not? Yeah. So yeah, man. Is it an iced iced coffee? Iced iced coffee. I get more crap. I drink iced coffee I get more crap for that than you will ever imagine

You know a little bit about my story and this is not about me it's about you But there's a parallel there's a parallel here and your story bill. I remarkable, Thank you. Don't, all right. So thank you, sir. What I really think people, most people when they hear me, think this is some real southern all-shucks false humility, but it is not.

I genuinely got 100 times more out of my time at Manassas and the other things that I do than I ever put into it. The blessing and reward for me filled my life up in a place that really needed to be filled. The relationships I built with a group of kids and people in an area of town that I otherwise would have never ever even met, and truthfully probably would have crossed the other side of the street to avoid. Correct.

Um, has, has lent me to a level of personal growth and understanding and depth that there's just no way I'd have ever gotten. Understanding. That's the word. It's true. Understanding. So, We don't, we don't. I've heard you say, what dancing does for you,

rather than for the people that you're trying to make smile. That's also one of the keys to the army of normal folks. So talk about that. You know, and that's, that, yeah. I mean, it's, A, about finding your passion, like you said, and once you find I, I feel everybody, all normal people who we all have this innate thing inside of us. That once you find that,

it's your duty to share that with the world because it brings the light out of you and you give that to others. And by giving that to others, they're like, well, I gotta find the light in me. It's just that, pay it forward. We'll be right back. It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

A backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks. Two abortion clinics. And a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story. It's a human story. One that I've become entangled with.

I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces. Forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong. Life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. Nobody hears anything. nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire.

It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son and in your eyes he's innocent, but in my eyes he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Hello, from Wondermedia Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the US and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal. She won gold twice.

The mountaineer known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world. And the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So Tommy Norman, Officer Tommy Norman in Little Rock, Arkansas is one of my very first guests when we started. And this guy is a cop in North Little Rock. His goal, short story, is to get invited into somebody's front yard, then next week

to get invited on the porch, and the next week get invited in the home. Because once they get invited to the home, he's got a relationship with them. And he serves a very underprivileged, he polices a very underprivileged area in North Little Rock. And one day he said, driving around a car and intimidating people is nowhere to police them.

He parked his car and he started walking his feet. Now, 10 years later, he is considered the Michael Jordan of community policing. I love it, I love it. And there have been murderers who have called up and said, I want to turn myself in, but I'll only do it to Tommy Norman. Wow.

His daughter died of an overdose, and he suffers daily anxiety and depression. And he has said that the people that he polices on his beat have saved him. That's right. Rather than the exact opposite. Right. Likewise, I had issues with my father

and pain for it for many, many, many years. The kids of Manassas solved that for me. It's amazing. What does dancing do for you? These lovely smiles out there, man, like for real. I can't thank each and every one of you enough for being in my life, for giving me purpose to continue to do what I do. I truly thank you all.

Hi Debbie. But seriously, it means more to me to see somebody smile than you can ever imagine. To again, bring hope to the hopeless. And they give that back to me, that energy just back and forth, back and forth. So that's it, man. Like whatever I can do to give love, to give hope. I mean, honestly, I want nothing in return other than to see you guys smile and enjoy life.

So this cat's got 1.2, from that first put the phone on the ground and dance, you've got 1.2 million followers on Instagram and like 1.8 million followers on TikTok. 1.6, but who's counting? And you're not some tech guy, you're a UPS guy. So I mean, I guess like when you have extra time, you just say, all right, and you go throw a guy up.

I've seen it, I've seen it, last night, so well first of all, there's Lisa right there, right? Lisa. Yeah, my wife Lisa. And anybody who knows Lisa and me knows that there is a dichotomy there that's interesting, which is I'm a three and a half, four at best, she's a dime, right?

You married up. I married up. You married up. Right, big time. And so I was showing her videos of you yesterday, dancing and stuff, and she used the word, oh, he's so cute, and I thought, you ain't watching this no more. Off, turn it off.

Because you're about to meet him face to face. I don't need it, off, off, none of that. Cut it, cut it. No cut, absolutely. But I mean, the truth is, you are kind of cute, dude. Well. I mean. You're gonna make me blush, bro.

And then when you dance, you're like, vibed too. Vibin', vibin'. Right, so I mean, the thing is. Dancing is my element, bro. Just put it that way. I got it. That's my element. You did it, and you've got the whole cool look,

and the holes in your jeans, and the beard, and the whole thing going. I mean, you know, so anyway, but the whole point to all this is, you know, with all these followers and I don't want people hearing me today on this podcast, the tens of thousands of people gonna hear this.

Yes, you are the dancing UPS man, which is the most hilarious moniker there ever was. But that is not what you're about. No. You're about trying to bring a light to the dangers of hiding problems with mental health. Correct. Through the platform of simply making people smile.

That's right. So speak to that. Speak, most importantly, speak to, yeah, dance. But there's a bigger thing out there that I've struggled with in my life that has affected me that I want people to start paying attention to. You've got a platform, use it.

Yep. And here's the thing, Bill, it's like, yes, if you're dealing with it, like I say, and it's beyond you, and you know, and that's the thing is like, I try to tell people, I have a lot of people, I don't wanna say look to me as a savior, but if you're dealing with it to a point

that it's out of your hands, seek help. But also Bill, my biggest thing is like, be a kind human being. And what I mean by that is you don't know what the person in front of you is going through on a daily basis. So by all means, go out of your way to be kind to somebody.

When you were struggling with the not addiction depression, could you put a smile on your face in public to hide it? When it got really dark, no. I guess what I'm saying is, cause what you just said is important, is that you do not know what's going on in that person's life across from you that you bump into in Walmart or whatever.

And I guess what I'm hearing is, you may see somebody that's fake in a smile, but inside they're at war. They're fighting that war that your book talks about. Exactly. And the difference in a smile and a little bit of kindness for that person that day literally could be the difference in a lot for them.

I mean, it could change their life, truly. You know, and that's the thing, Bill, is like, my mom is one of the main reasons I came out of mine because she had dealt with it her whole life and she recognized what I was going through. And you know, again, like that love, that affection, and it doesn't have to be from a family member. You know what I mean?

Just showing love and kindness and just being presence, the power of presence in somebody's life like that who's battling says it all. I think it's important. Everybody who wants to follow you, how do they find you? Russell Butler too on TikTok and Russell Butler too.

Correct. Okay. And Russell dancing UPS man on Instagram. So please, I'm going to say this on a live show, please be aware of scammers. I don't. I've read there's people that are like imitating you now out there. Hundreds.

That is crazy. So it's just a racket. I mean, it is what it is, but I just want people to be aware because I've seen the effects of it. You know, and that's, the world is, again, the world's a dark place and there's a dark side to everything.

So yeah, there's hundreds of people catfishing and getting people to give them money. So please be aware, I just want to put that out there. But the OG. The OG. Is Russell Butler 2 on TikTok and. Russell the dance, Russell dancing UPS man on Instagram.

On Instagram. And you go there and every, a couple, a couple of times, three or four times a week, you can look at a two minute thing of you making somebody smile by getting jiggy on their front porch. That's it, dude. That's it.

All right, last thing I want to ask you before we go to the other last thing is this. I've watched your videos. You're like, man, MC Hammer ain't got dog on you, dog. I mean, y'all, the guy's good and it's fun. How in the hell did you learn to do that? Because I know you danced around the kitchen with your mom, but she was Marvin's Gay at Elvis,

and your dad was country, and I know Johnny Cash wasn't doing some of that running man stuff that you do. How'd you learn it? So, dude, I'll never forget, we had a house with a basement. One point, I was eighth, ninth grade, somewhere in there. And I remember, well, Michael Jackson, of course,

but Genuine Pony. When that song specifically, and that video came out, I was like, I need to learn to do that. So I literally shut the basement door, locked myself in there, mom would come knock on the door, what are you doing? Like, let me do my thing. So yeah, I mean, I literally-

So what, in front of a mirror in the basement? In front of a mirror in the basement until I got, you know, it didn't have to be perfect, but I was like, I got this in me. I just gotta do it. So I- I thought it was like hours. No.

Really? You just picked it up. Rhythm, I gotta say rhythm was just something, kinda like throwing a baseball for me. Really? It just clicked, just clicked. And then, so you had to be dope at prom. Prom was the highlight of life.

What was that like? Oh dude, dumb, dumb, dumb. I think everybody's promise gone. Yeah. We'll be right back. It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. A backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next

attacks. Two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story. It's a human story. One that I've become entangled with. I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces, forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death.

Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything.

Did they run away? Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son and in your eyes he's innocent, but in my eyes he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. All that they know.

Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All that you've got. Hello. From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver

who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One, the sprinter who set a world record and courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal. She won gold twice. The mountaineer known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world, and

the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole to become the first-ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's so funny, Bill. So all my buddies just got back from a trip with my friends and they're still like, you're just you. That's what you do. You dance, love life, give life. That's what you do. so just keep doing it.

I have, I can't dance. I'm the worst thing in the world. Lisa has, oh, no, it's terrible. Everybody's got a dancing bone in their body. No, this one doesn't. And I will tell you something, when you go about 250, when I start going right, and then I come back left, some of me is still right.

So there's a little danger in there. Because I mean, I might accidentally, with some of my back fat, slap somebody. I mean, I just, so it's just, it's not only am I not good, it's a hazard. Yeah. All right? Lisa.

I gotta see this, by the way. You ain't gotta see nothing. But Lisa made me go to ballroom. All right? Yeah. Lisa. I gotta see this by the way. You ain't gotta see nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Lisa made me go to ballroom. We had two kids get married in five weeks. Okay. So Lisa made me go to ballroom dancing lessons for a month and a half.

Lisa, how was that? It was a lot of fun. Oh good. Yeah. So I can't do what you do, but this bad boy can rumble. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. I can rumba my ass off.

I love it, I love it. And you know what's funny is like people ask me all the time like I don't have the technical skills. Like I just do. Yeah, well you're fortunate. You're very fortunate. So we're gonna end this with what you do best, which is putting smiles on people's faces.

But before we do that, I'm going to do this. Three questions I'll take. If anybody wants to know anything about the Dancing UPS Man, now's your chance. Anybody out there wanna ask them anything I hadn't covered, ask it up. Nobody? Oh God, I did a good interview.

If I called them all. Nobody's got any thoughts or questions for him. Hey, Bill's got one. What's that, yeah? Bonus is from UPS for driving the brand, so I'm gonna do that. Okay, so here's the question. Bill Seeley, who, by the way,

Bill, your family, your son, thank you so much for offering up Grind City Brewing. Thank you for letting us be here. Yes, thank you. Um, and thanks for the beer. I'm not sure if it was free or if Alex paid for it, but I know I didn't. We got you, Kevin.

Okay, thank you. Bill Seeley, everybody, is the president, president of paid for it, but I know I didn't. We got you, Kevin. Okay, thank you. Bill Seeley, everybody, is the president, president of Varsity Brands, am I right? Spirit. Varsity, president of Varsity Spirit, which is cheerleading outfits and all that stuff that goes on in Orlando nowadays that people take for granted,

where cheer teams get to compete for national championships and all, that's Bill Seely. That's where that came from and Bill is an enormous civic leader in our town, but he's a business guy. So it's not at all surprising that he would ask, what is UPS using for the brand? Is that the question? Are you getting any benefits for what you do to bring light on Brown brand? I will say thank you to Carol Tomei, the CEO of UPS. She wrote me a letter saying thank you for being a great brand ambassador.

So he got a letter. I got a letter and I got a coin saying thank you. So that was a really politically correct answer from a man who makes his living from UPS saying they have not yet had the temerity or the wisdom to break on to what this man does to help the brand, which UPS, if you're listening, wake up. So that's it. Anybody else, anything else for our buddy Russell?

Anything at all? Hey Bill, you know, he's in the home of FedEx. Maybe we can take that opportunity to get that bonus. Hey! Okay. Any bonus. So here's a question from Dan Patterson, another Memphian who, as businesses,

a lot of places and on other continents right now, and who is another proud Memphian who says, hey, you may be on the precipice of crossing over, You may be on the precipice of crossing over, of crossing over the boundaries into enemy territory here in Memphis FedEx, but Dan thinks there could be a possibility that FedEx would love to calculate on top of your brand. That's what Dan's saying, and he's wearing a shirt

that says TCB, so he's taking care of business. That's right, that's right. That's exactly right. Anybody else, anything else for Russell? Before Russell puts smiles on our faces, because everybody's gonna stand up. Hey Bill, I say why St. Jude? Why did Russell get involved in St. Jude

and why does he not go? Yeah, that's good. So, St. Jude, Why did Russell get involved in St. Jude? Where's he not going? Yeah, it's good. So St. Jude, as all Memphians know, is so important to our city, but the world. They're curing cancer at a rate that nobody ever thought could be done for children. Absolutely. And they take in kids and families from all over the world, and those families and kids don't pay a single cent for that care I tell you bill like Alex. That was a great question and you and you and Alex actually met at st. Jude. Yeah, correct. Yes That was probably one of the more profound

experiences of my life to see these kiddos My youngest age three years old getting wheeled into chemo. Bald. I tell you. Hurtin'. I tell you, I, looking at those mom and dads, looking at those courageous kids, I went back and I hugged my kiddos a little bit tighter.

I tell you. But that, I mean, seriously, to be able to raise, I believe after Mother's Day and Father's Day campaign, we raised just over $11,000. That's awesome. And again, like St. Jude sent me the breakdown of what all that covered, and I was beyond blessed to be able to do that for them.

Well, you got friends at Memphis now be able to do that for them. Well, you got friends at Memphis now, so you gotta come back more. You gotta come back more and dance for those kids. I'd love to, man. Love to. All right. Anything else?

You're gonna get me in trouble. Who's got Ice Ice Baby on the thing? Can we start that up? Oh, oh, hold it. One more reason. The reason I chose Ice Ice Baby is because it puts a smile on me and Lisa's face. Our oldest daughter, Maggie, shout out to you baby, was three when Ice Ice Baby was a thing.

That music would come on in our house and she would go into an otherworldly trance. Am I lying, Lisa? She would literally start shaking. It was not dancing. But she would, and then she would just get on the ground and flap around like a fish out of water to Ice Ice Baby. But y'all, she just, it just consumed her.

And you know what it did? It made my wife and me smile. Smile. 1,000%. and you know what it did? It made my wife and me smile. Smile. 1000%. And you know what? At the end of the day, you never know who you're gonna cross and what's going on

between their ears. Yep. And to your world, if we can just make them smile, you could change their life. 100%, dude. And from a guy who was homeless in a car, who lost his best buddy while he was struggling with depression, anxiety, and suicide thoughts himself,

who lost his parents and went into a three year destructive period of time with abuse and came out of it stronger in his faith, destructive period of time with abuse and came out of it stronger in his faith, a father who loves his children, who has owned all of it and is now on a mission to say, mental health is not taboo, we gotta talk about it, and in the meantime, I'm gonna use this talent that God gave me to simply put a smile on the face

of people who may not have anything to smile about. Yes, sir. That is what the Army of Normal Folks is, bro. Hey, it's been an honor, it's been a pleasure, Bill, and thank you for doing what you do, brother. Thank you. It truly is an honor and pleasure for me. So y'all ready to end this on the right note? Yeah. Can we get this thing going? Thank you for doing what you do, brother. Thank you. It truly is an honor and pleasure for me.

So y'all ready to end this on the right note? Can we get this thing going? Somebody turn it on. Russell's gonna do his thing. And I think everybody needs to stand up for it. So we're gonna stand up. Are we still recording, Cassius? All right, we're still recording.

For those who are listening, here we go. Yeah! I don't even know how you do that. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney.

I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney.

I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm Bill Courtney. Russell Butler just put a smile on everybody's face. I'm Bill Courtney.

This was an Army of Normal folks. Thanks for being here everybody. Thank y'all so much. Thank y'all. Awesome. Awesome, bro. And thank you for joining us this week. If Russell Butler or another guest have inspired you in general, or better yet, inspired you to take action, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me

anytime at bill at normal folks dot us and I guarantee you this I will respond. If you've enjoyed this episode, y'all share it with friends on social, subscribe to the podcast, take the time to subscribe to the podcast rate and review it. Become a premium member at NormalFolks.us. Do all of these things that can help us grow an army of normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. Back in 1996, Atlanta was booming with excitement around hosting the Centennial Olympic Games. And then, a deranged zealot willing to kill for a cause

lit a fuse that would change my life and so many others forever. Rippling out for generations. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all-new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real-life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck, and vanished.

A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why? Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenni Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. Who doesn't love a sports story? The rivalries, the feats of strength

and stamina. But these tales go beyond the podium. There's the teen table tennis champ, the ice skater who earned a medal and a medical degree, and the sprinter fighting for Aboriginal rights. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.