An Army of Normal Folks - The Origin of the Army

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

An Army member asked for producer Alex to share the origin story of An Army of Normal Folks. And so he did. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome into the shop. I heard there was a fire in the shop or do you not want to talk about that? We could. I'm kind of tired, I would say. We had a little fire here at my business last night and I didn't get home until four in the morning, so Alex has given me all of about 12 hours to deal with it before you start giving me crap about it. Anyway, it's too soon. Yeah, it's maybe a little too soon. Is everything actually okay?

Everything is okay. Yeah, we're fine. Thank goodness we had some people paying attention and it didn't damage too much. Anyway, welcome to Shop Talk number 37. Welcome into the shop and you guys are gonna hear from Alex more than normal in this particular sharp talk I know so y'all brace from Lorena Lorena what do you think Lorena Lorena Lorena Abara I may be butchering it though yeah probably both are you know it's really

beautiful name though it is is. Is it really beautiful? I'm sure it's a beautiful person. So here's here's what she says Very short and sweet Would love to hear about the idea of the podcast if I recall correctly Alex is the mastermind behind it. Let's hear from him masterminds a little strong, but sure So yeah, well, yeah. Well we'll discuss that. Shop Talk number 37.

How in the world did an army of normal folks even start in the first place? Right after these brief messages from our children journey sponsors. Music Music Music Music Music Experiencing the news each day can feel like a journey. With Up First from NPR though, it doesn't have to be.

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Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted, but turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron.

But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you.

Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, everybody, welcome back. Doors in shop talk number 37. Folks want to know how an army of normal folks started. So I'll start and then I'll let Alex take it from there when I Queue you come in but not before okay, okay? All right here we go now. You gotta be nervous Like what kind of weird thing are you about to do right now?

I'm not gonna do anything weird so about I don't know two years ago now Alex worked for another show as both a producer and an interviewer which he's quite adept at. We got to test it out this morning. You interrupted me. You said you were going to sit there until I queued you and you talked. Sorry. Okay.

So he reached out to me and wanted to do an interview with me and I have done since undefeated over the last you know ten years probably 500 interviews so no big deal sure happy to give you an interview so he showed up to my office with all his fancy equipment and we set up for about an hour and a half and had a long chat and then he produced a a show for the show he was working for at the time and that was that. During that interview I said some things that stuck with him and so six months about, I'm guessing. Do you know what they say about broken clocks?

What? Even though they're right twice a day. Oh, we'll see. There it is. Keep going. What you're in the right twice a day. Oh, we'll see. There it is. So I'm probably correct a little bit here, but it's some point four or five, six months later, Alex calls me up and says, Hey, you said this and I'm interested in that. And I,

I'm thinking about starting a new podcast. I'd like you to host it. What do you think based around your idea? Uh, based around your comments and interview. And so, um, really naively I said, sure, you know, I'll, I'll interview somebody once a week for a couple of hours. Well, it has turned into far more than that. And, um, I have Alex to thank and blame for, um, the amount of time it's taken on my life. Does Lisa still love me or no?

Lisa loves me, but she's not real fond of you right now. Really? Well, you know, she pretends to like me in person. She really does like you. But who I have to blame is the amount of time we're spending on this thing. Who I have to thank, however, is you because of the incredible people I've gotten to meet over the last 18 months and frankly the rewards of doing the show. And I think we are doing some good. So I think since the show is Alex's idea and since it was born from an interview I did with him and some off the

hand comments I made in that interview, I think it's best now to turn it over to Alex to let you guys have his perspective on truly why an army of normal folks even exist and continue to grow. Alex? Thanks Bill. Sure. I actually hate talking. It's easier to make fun of you than to talk.

Well, here we go. Yeah, I know. So I've been very... Uh oh. Gosh. Somebody just came in the door. Yeah. Oh jeez. See how much fun that is? We interrupted constantly. I never did it with a bell. I think I'm going to start moving your microphone around like you do to me. Just trying to improve your audio. Now keep your concentration while everything else is going on.

This is a great episode. All right. I've been blessed to interview hundreds of people and people like the founders of Home Depot and Ritz-Carlton and Best Buy and two men in a truck. Um, and I'm not bragging. It's, it's more. Bill has stood out. He's got to be easily in the top 10 out of these hundreds of people.

Um, and I was, you know, at first of all, man, this weird paying tribute to you in front of you, but it's weird sitting here listening to it. I don't know. Maybe the shop talks a bad idea after all. But let's keep going. But you got a hell of a story. Obviously, undefeated what people know, but what you've been through, the fact that your mom married five guys, the fourth one shot at you at a gun,

what you've overcome in a lot of the most beautiful stories out there, people overcoming, you people overcoming stuff like that and not becoming victims to it. And so number one, I was really drawn to your story, but also to the fact that you've been asked by both political parties to run for office. And as we often joke about being asked by Heritage Foundation and Huffington Post to speak on the same day

with the same speech, and you got the same applause lines. And man, that's really weird looking at you saying this. And committing on Ellen DeGeneres and the 700 Club and Guidepost magazine and Jimmy Kimmel. And I mean, that is such a unique range that almost nobody could pull that off. I mean, the people who I think can is Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Dolly Parton, but I mean, all that is the rock. I mean, truly rarefied air. I mean, that's just a handful of human beings in our country who've actually been able to do that and to reach everybody.

And then, of course, the line you guys have heard over and over again in cities like Memphis and turning the rear view mirror. And our country's problems won't be solved by all these fancy people in their nice suits talking big words on CNN and Fox, but by an army of normal folks just deciding I can help. And I honestly believe, and I tell people this all the time, I felt the Holy Spirit more in that moment than any of these hundreds of interviews that I've done. And hence why I brought all that up of the people I've interviewed earlier.

I mean, it really stands out that this idea of an army of normal folks that you said that you just happened to say randomly during the interview, I think can truly change the country. And the stats that I've been using recently to talk about it too is right now, 56% of the country says we can't solve our problems. There is just this massive disillusionment that we can't do it. I mean, and you take it in Memphis where we are right now, people just talk about the crime and it's so bad, and we're just going to hang out in East Memphis, we're not going to go downtown, it's too dangerous, we're just going to watch Netflix at night and go on vacation and take care of our families.

I mean, the same kind of thing is going on across the country too. People just having this massive withdrawal from the public square. It actually shows up in the data too that people used to volunteer 52 hours a year on average and now it's down to 25. People used to donate 2.4% of their income to charity and now it's 1.7%. If you're a Christian, obviously that's very far away from tithing. And we're 31st in the world in voting. So for all these things, it's like we have a half empty public square. And some of it's understandable. People think we really can't solve these problems. They're that disillusioned about it. But what I think

is so powerful about our concepts that if there were an army of normal folks, and each of us just do what we can, together we can change the country. It's not on Bill Courtney to save the country, on Alex Cortez or any of the individual elicitors. If there truly were this army and each of us just do a little bit more than we are right now, we can change this thing and no matter what happens in Washington DC. And so yeah, I mean that's really what I believe in all my heart. And we've been chasing after for about two years now. And I hope it's my life calling to work on the rest of my life. And it's been a blessing to get to know so many army members and work with Bill

every day and every week. And I mean, I really look up to you and as a mentor or friend and almost like another father figure. And it's just been a great blessing going after this together That's it Bill. How about that? Okay, well that was weird having to sit here and listen to that And I'm not old enough to be your father. So kiss my butt. I already got a dad So I'm good, but I look up to you in that way very very gracious So there you have it guys.

An Army of Normal Folks was born from Alex off the cuff comment that I made. I get a little bit of the headlines and everything else, cause I'm the guy that interviews it, but you guys have no idea the hours behind the scene that Alex spends finding guests, getting guests to Memphis, arranging their travel, picking them up, taking them to eat, getting them into hotels, then doing all the narration work, doing all the prep work for me so that I know who in the world I'm talking to, doing all the color and the sound, getting the show uploaded.

It's hours and hours and hours of thankless work and he has a full-time job. And he has a full-time job because this thing has not developed into a platform yet that will sustain him as his full-time job. So you're right. The idea of the podcast, Alex is the mastermind behind it. And now you have heard from him. But what you need to hear from me is getting this show produced on Tuesdays and Fridays every single week of the year is incredible amounts of work. And it's unpaid, thankless, hard work that Alex puts in to continue to grow the show and bring this content to you.

And we're close. We hope that the show continues to grow, continues to grow in advertising and listeners so that it is something that Alex could do full-time and sustain him and his family. But until then, we continue to work lots and lots of hours and very, very hard to bring, uh, the idea of this show that Alex was the mastermind of to come to you, um, weekly continue to hopefully entertain you and inspire you. So shop talk, wait one sec just to pay tribute to, yeah, I did most of what you said, but, yeah, I did most of what you said, but

Robbie Davis has been doing a lot of the scripting and the production and Joey's been doing quality control and uploading it. So a couple of those things, there have been other key team members who made this happen too. Yeah, it's been a lot. It's been a lot. A lot of people put in a lot of hard work to to bring this thing to you. So when we ask you to share it with friends and on social to tell people about it, to rate it and to review it, all we're really doing is

asking you guys to do just a little bit of extra work to help us grow it so that all this effort and work over the last two and a half years pays off so that we can continue to grow this platform and do exactly what Alex hopes that can happen, which is literally grow millions of people in the army of normal folks to try to exact some some measure of positive change on our society today. So that's Shop Talk number 37. And guys, if you have any shop talk ideas, please email anytime at Bill at normal folks dot us, I'll respond. And if it's something I think I might have a little bit of value to add to, we'll certainly take it up. If not, I'll at least respond to you and tell you, I'm not equipped to talk about it, but you will hear back from me. Thanks to our producer, Ironlight Labs. Have a great week. That's Shop Talk number 37. We're leaving.

Finally. I'm off it. Bye. Bye. Bye. warmed, ready and refreshed. Begin your day with Up First. Subscribe to Up First from NPR on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you ask two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Mini Driver and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast and now Minnie Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. Listen to Minnie Questions on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers. How serious is youth vaping? Irreversible lung damage serious, one in 10 kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure like yourself. Not the seriously know-it-all sports dad or the seriously smart podcaster.

It requires a serious conversation that is best had by you no seriously the best person to talk to your child about vaping is you to start the conversation visit talk about vaping org brought to you by the American Lung Association and the ad council hey everyone it's Katie Couric well the election is in the home stretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki,

Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.