Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep. 22 | Squirrel Eats Jack-O-Lanterns, Favorite Candy Bars, & Adam Gidwitz
Episode Date: October 26, 2018Squirrel Eats Jack-O-Lanterns, Favorite Candy Bars, & Adam Gidwitz The Hair-Raising, Original Podcast Series Based on the Grimm Fairy Tales Premieres for FREE October 21st on the Apple Podcast App ...Halloween will never be the same again thanks to Pinna--the premiere screen-free, ad-free audio entertainment app for kids--and Adam Gidwitz, Newbery Honor winner and best-selling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm. Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest, a funny, spooky, original podcast series for kids--based on the Grimm fairy tales--premieres for FREE on October 21st on the Apple Podcast App (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grimm-grimmer-grimmest/id1436651521?mt=2) For more information, visit: www.pinna.fm/grimmest. Every episode of Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest features a Grimm fairy tale retold with a fresh and surprising twist. Featuring curious creatures and mischievous foes, each story is punctuated by hilarious commentary from a classroom of kids who question their way through these creepy tales. Starting October 21st, the ten-episode series will roll out one new show each day leading up to Halloween—during which time the series will be free to listeners via the Apple Podcast App. This podcast series is the perfect entertainment alternative to screen time for kids whether listening at home, on the go, in cars, or in classrooms nationwide, and it activates kids’ imaginations and instigates fantastic, fun conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Blaze Radio Network
On Demand
Hello, welcome to chewing the fat
with yours truly, Jeff Fisher.
Thank you so much for joining in on the fat.
As we traverse the world of stories and news,
I mean, look, I know that most of the world
is captivated with the bomber,
or at least the suspicious package sender,
the caravan coming up.
up through Mexico trying to across our border.
Megan Kelly, getting fired, and the straw that broke the camel's back on Megan is the
question of blackface and white face.
You are not allowed to question anymore.
Okay?
With the caravan, you must accept all immigrants into America.
With the bomber, this is a suspicious package sender?
he's guilty.
Even, no matter what.
The guy that they arrested today, his life is over.
Done.
If he is actually 100% guilty,
good.
I'm glad his life is over.
If he's not, that's tough.
But I could go on and on about those three stories
and get angry and get mad.
And you're going to say to yourself,
but it's Friday, Jeff.
And I'm like, I know.
I know. I know it's Friday.
And I saw that Chris Cruz, this little social media posts on real Chris Cruz,
cover wants me to talk about Michael Avanetti.
He's just fascinated with this guy.
Now look, the guy is a douche attorney.
It's what he is.
It's what he does, right?
He wants to be a superstar.
He's not.
He had the porn star Stormy Daniels in his back pocket.
How'd that work out?
Not well.
Not well at all.
And now because he put himself out in the front, in front of the media and tried to be Mr. Big Shot, everybody's coming after him.
And, you know, four point, almost $5 million judgment of unpaid debt.
The court orders him to pay.
They evict his law firm out of his rent.
He's still, and he's still trying to cover that.
Now he's got the criminal investigation.
because of the Brett Kavanaugh nominee case where he had Julie Swetnik saying things,
you know, he was representing her.
Hmm, no.
Ooh.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred to Colonel Michael Avinetti and his client,
Julie Swetnik, for criminal investigation over their allegations against Supreme Court nominee,
Brett Kavanaugh.
Good.
It's about time.
We need to start making cases.
for people who falsely accuse other people.
You don't get to, and we have been letting it happen.
No question.
And we've been, you know, screaming it from the mountaintops.
That's fine if they're guilty.
But you don't, there's still process, due process of law, innocent until proven guilty.
I know that's a foreign term.
I get it.
Not anymore.
accused
guilty
period
Havanaati in an interview
with Time Magazine
and a daily caller
denied
ever telling Time magazine
that the 2020 Democratic Party presidential
candidate should be a white man
he tells him it's complete
bull crap
only he didn't say crap
he used that S word
you know the word that you use at home,
but we can't say it on the radio,
bull crap. Oh, look, what did that bull just do?
He took a, we can't say that.
But you can't.
So you know what I'm talking about.
And he just denies it outright.
So what's going to happen?
What's true?
What's not true?
I don't know.
We've got, we've got, what's his face?
Cook from Apple
saying that
that the comments from Bloomberg business
completely false wants that retracted
that Apple is in bed with China
or they had made some app for China.
I didn't read too much of it because
it's Apple and I'm like, you know, okay.
I mean, he's already out there with another interview
talking about. He was happy about his being gay
and coming out and it was, you know,
God's special gift to him
Okay, Tim. Great. Thank you.
I just read a big article on Netflix culture.
I could go, I could do an hour at least on that story.
It is amazing. If you have an opportunity, just look for Netflix culture.
I may get into it next week, so you don't have to.
Because it is, I don't know how you read that and think I want to work there.
And I love Netflix. I love what they're doing.
But it's Hastings, man.
He, he wants, he's got this so-called open culture,
but it really, if you, once you start reading the article,
it doesn't sound open.
It sounds like we're open and we're open unless you say something we don't like
and then you're on.
Have a nice day.
Paying everybody a lot of money and, you know, have a nice day.
So when we stand you up in front of the,
our workers at our weekly meeting and we say, you suck.
We're open business.
You suck.
Here's your severance.
Get out.
I don't know that I like that.
And they talk about, you know, some people run businesses.
They want to be open and have an open, you know, show, have everything open, wide open.
And other people want to run businesses where people, they think people perform better.
under fear. Personally, I hate that. Being scared and that whole be thankful you have a job
mentality. Oh my God, do I hate that? That just drives me insane. When companies believe that
you be thankful, you have a job. No. How about you be a little thankful that I'm here?
I get it, but I just, I just hate that working on fear, working to be scared.
I personally don't perform well under that.
I really don't.
Just tell me what I'm supposed to do.
This is what my job.
This is what I'm expected to do.
Whatever business you have, I mean, you can run your own business any way you want.
It's America.
You do what you want.
And what you think is best and what works best for your company.
Obviously, read Hastings at Netflix is doing something right.
It's not like they're crumbling.
at all.
And Google, not crumbling.
And they came out and made a big deal that they fired the 48 people and they were sexual harassers.
And we're trying to, we're this wide open company.
Are you?
Are you?
Okay.
But we're still going to not, our full-time employees are going to be less than the people we subcontract out because we don't want to pay insurance or anything like that.
And they're not going to be welcome at any of the, you know, the clubs in the gym and they can't play in
game room or anything because they're not full-time employees, but they do a lot of the work
for us.
Okay.
Thanks, Google.
We love you.
And there's another company.
Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right.
Right.
You know, they're not getting around that.
You just aren't.
So happy Friday.
And I mean it.
I mean that with every ounce in me.
Happy Friday.
Tomorrow we have, I have a special podcast for you, a special interview that,
is absolutely fascinating.
And I know, you know, you tease stuff and you say, you know, yeah, okay, it's fascinating,
but it's my special Saturday podcast.
And it's based on a book, The End of Life, as we know it.
And it's about how life, our life has changed and is changing thanks to robotics,
thanks to artificial intelligence.
And I think you really need to listen to it.
And as a matter of fact, you need to subscribe, rate, review, and share.
On this one, you do need to share.
Today's show, you don't have to share.
I don't care if you share today's show.
Well, yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
When you rate them, just make it easy on yourself, 20 stars.
Okay.
When you review it, make it easy on yourself.
Best podcast ever.
And then share it.
Now, you can start by sharing to your friends and then think to your friends.
and then think to yourself,
hey, you know, some of my workmates
would probably like to listen to this.
So share it with them too.
So subscribe, rate, 20 stars,
review, best podcast ever,
share.
Friends, coworkers,
guy that serves your coffee at 7-Eleven.
Hey, you got an email?
Yes.
Juan at Yahoo.com.
Okay, share it with Juan.
I'm sure. Listen, you're telling me that Juan's not going to like this show? I think not. Of course he is. Of course, I'm here. I used to work at a convenience store for two days.
And I mean, I know the struggle it is at working at a convenience store. Boy, that job. I did not like that job. I love convenience store workers. I like talking to them. They're part of my life. I stop in. You know, you play lotto. You get coffee. You buy whatever you're going to buy.
get gas, you know them, you know them by face, you have that camaraderie with them,
but I did not like that job.
Because you get people like me coming in.
Yeah, I need this and this and this.
And the rest on pump five and walk up.
And I'm like, I don't really want to pump your money on to pump five right now.
I'm a little tired.
People get mad at you when you do that.
Amazing how you expect the guy behind the counter to put in the right amount of money on pump
five for you.
So we've got
I got some really cool stories for you.
Look, I know, look, you got, you got the bomber,
you got the caravan, you got Megan, I got it.
But is anybody telling you about job, would you like this job?
Talk about being a convenience store worker.
South Carolina has been warning people for at least two or three weeks now.
Stop flushing baby wipes down.
the toilet. And you think, oh, that can't mean anything. Want to bet? Charleston water system in
South Carolina sent scuba divers roughly 80 to 90 feet down into the raw sewage. That's a job
I do not want. I know they're wearing their scuba suits. They've got oxygen tanks on and they've
got their masks on. They're all covered up. But they're swimming down there in complete darkness.
Just nastiness they're swimming in.
Just nastiness.
And you see from the pictures, it's just this blackened mass of gunk with baby wipes.
And I know that they're even saying, we know that the baby wipes say they'll disintegrate, but they don't.
No, they don't.
They just clog the pipes.
Now, they found when they brought it all up and they brought two giant blobs of gunk from the soup from the super.
We just pumps.
Oh, just this nastiness.
They came up with baseballs and big pieces of metal,
female ponds, string, hair, makeup pads, assorted papers,
and mostly the thing that's congealing it all together, baby wipes.
so they're asking people don't be putting that down into the
into the sewage system.
I would have to ask, I don't know what kind of toilet people in Charleston have,
but mine won't put a baseball down.
So if you know the plumber and the plumbing business
that will get you a toilet that a baseball can go down in,
tell them to give me a call because I want that in my home.
But I do not want to be the divers getting up.
Yep, got to go to work today.
Another day at the old sewage plant.
We need all the divers to the dock ASAP.
We need to put your suits on.
We're going to send you down into the sewage pipes.
I know it's dark.
You won't be able to see.
And you just have to feel around with your hands and try to dislodge some of that stuff.
But it's all backed up.
Ooh, I could almost keep thinking about it.
I don't want to talk about it anymore.
All right, as we walk over to the break room and to get a drink from the water cooler,
let me tell you about Mercury Real Estate services.
If you're trying to sell your house, you know how difficult it is.
If you've already got it up for sale and it hasn't sold and it's just sitting there,
you should have went to Real Estateagents.Itrust.com before.
But there's no time like the present.
Real estate agents, I trust.com.
Look, we've got the best agents in a thousand towns all over America and, you know, let them earn their business.
They know their business.
They know how to present your home, both online and in person, to get the most money for your home.
Real estate agents, I trust.com.
You can hire anyone, as if you've already done it, you know, and you know how difficult it is to work with them once they've already put it on the market and nothing happens.
Oh, it's your fault.
No.
Real estate agents.
I trust.com.
I'll help you get the most money with the best price for you in mind.
Real estate agents I trust.com.
And then, of course, if you're going to buy a house, why not use real estate agents
I trust.com to make that happen?
So you can buy high.
No, wait.
I buy high and sell low.
That's been the mistake I've made over years.
Trust me on that.
That's not what you're supposed to do, though.
I've come to find that out.
weird but you're supposed to buy low sell high huh the weird thing because for years i thought you were
supposed to buy high and and then since you just wanted to get out of it you just sell low to get
out of it that's not what you're supposed to do real estate agents i trust dot com real estate agents i trust
dot com so you can actually sell high and buy low real estate agents i trust dot com for those of you in
neighborhoods you know that already have homes either up for sale or you're happy with the house that
you have uh you know that from time to time uh there are animals in your neighborhood that just
drive you crazy right and they're just insane and uh you just want to get rid of them like we
my daughter was growing uh cantalopes and they were really good too by the way a tremendous
cantaloupes, a sweet, so ripe.
And as squirrels found out, some kind of animal, we came out and there's a cantaloupe
rolling around the backyard, all gnawed up.
What?
Not again.
I put in a new fence, and I put up a shotgun trap.
So if it came back, goodbye.
I was waiting for it, you know, at 3 o'clock of the morning.
Boom!
Shotgun going off.
Goodbye.
Skunk.
But no, it never happened.
And no, I didn't set it up as just a joke.
Stop it.
But there's a neighborhood right now that has, putting out jackal lanterns.
It's Halloween, right?
It's Halloween.
And kids want to cut their jackal lanterns up and make their silly faces and put them out.
And you put the little candle in it and you turn it on at night and it looks great.
And then if you're in Florida, it's already rotted.
But if you're in other places around the country, it's cooled down a little bit.
So, you know, it stays good for a little while.
well there's a squirrel that has been gnawned out all these jackal anons just eating the faces off of them
eating the pumpkins off of them and they don't know what to do there's a picture of the squirrel
they don't know how to do it a don't leave your jackaliner's out uh b how about you just get rid of
the squirrel just trap him now you could the picture of the squirrel they showed in the story
it looked like the squirrel's been gnawn on some serious pumpkins okay he's been doing
doing some serious eating getting caught out he's just i mean he's tearing the neighborhood up with pumpkin
there's nothing like a 22 shell that puts that squirrel down i know you can't kill the squirrel
i got it it's just a joke relax but really what do you do it's because squirrels don't have
anything to do but try and get where you want them to get or where you don't want them to get or where you
don't want them to get.
We've seen, you see videos all the time of squirrels getting into bird feeders and everything
and they, they don't have anything else to do, but try to get where you don't want them to go.
So we've had people, you know, put lube on a pole so you see the squirrel start climbing up and
then slide down.
Well, the squirrel will do that a hundred times until the lube's gone.
Then up, up into the bird feeder, he goes.
He jumps from limb to limb.
I mean, squirrels are notorious.
That's all they do.
When they want something, they continue to do it.
So I don't know how you get rid of them.
I mean, there's plenty of jokes, and I gave you a couple,
but I mean, I don't know what you do to get rid of them, except, I don't know,
don't put the jackal anandron outside.
Good luck to that neighborhood, because soon the squirrel's going to be mad
because there's no more jackaliders, and then you're going to have a fist off squirrel,
and then you're going to be, tell me how that works out.
I mean, you'll be sitting there at night, you're going to be,
I don't see anybody.
There's no shadow at the door.
There's nobody out there.
Who is knocking on the door?
There's no shadow.
Is somebody running up and running away?
You're going to open up that door.
That squirrel's going to be sitting there on the front porch looking at you like,
somebody better put a freaking jack-o-hunter out here or I'm going to attack.
Okay?
So good luck.
Good luck to that neighborhood.
Now, yesterday, if you follow me on Twitter at Jeff E.M.R.A.
Facebook, Instagram, at Jeff Fisher,
But Twitter, Jeff E.MRA.
Leon Wolf asked a question on Twitter, our managing editor here at the Blaze, trying to pick a fight.
He wanted to pick a fight with me.
And I'm willing to fight with him, although where is he?
Oh, he's not here.
So apparently he didn't want to fight.
I'm saying, he's not here.
He was asking, saying that, asking if Reese's peanut butter cups were a candy bar.
Well, of course they are, duh.
They're just chocolate in a...
and peanut butter in a cup bar shape.
Now, I know what he was talking about.
They did this study, and I call it a study.
They took 8,371 different IP addresses and voted on 269,000 randomly generated matchups of candy.
Now, they claim it's not scientific.
It sounds just as scientific as a lot of other studies we see.
see, I'll tell you that.
Now, they had all these people test the candies, and, you know, I can tell you all the matrix
that they went through and all the metrics that they went through.
And it's just, okay, thank you.
Appreciate it.
But they came up with the list and ranked the top contenders for the best candy bars candy
for Halloween.
All right.
So, and what Leon was talking about is he.
wants to argue that number one on the list coming in at 84.2% was Reese's peanut butter cups.
And obviously he doesn't think that's a candy bar and he wants to fight over it.
Let it go.
Let it go, man.
Just have the Reese's peanut butter cup and call it whatever you want to call it.
Reese's miniatures are number two.
So Reese's big hits.
Reese's peanut butter, oh, you got peanut butter my chocolate.
Oh, you got chocolate at my peanut butter.
Old Reese's commercial from a thousand years ago.
And the Reese's miniatures.
I'm not big on Reese's miniatures.
I'd rather have the Skittles.
We'll see where they come in on the list.
But the top 10, number 10, butterfinger.
I like those as long as they're fresh and not crumbly, not extra crumbly.
If they've been battled around in shipping and stuff and sat on the shelf for a while,
they get the whole thing gets crumbly and they're tough to eat.
And then number nine, peanut butter eminette.
I'm not a big fan.
I'm not a fan.
Reese's stuff, pieces.
More.
More of the Reese's.
Number seven, Milky Way.
Love it.
Number six, Reese's pieces again.
Not the stuff, but Reese's pieces.
Number six.
Rees, man, they must, I bet you they funded this study.
Now that I look at this, this can't be.
Number five, Snickers.
Number four, Kit Kat.
Number three, Twicks.
Number two, Reese's miniatures.
At number one, Reese's peanut butter cup.
So in the top 10, Reese's stuff pieces, Reese's pieces,
Reese's miniatures, Reese's peanut butter cup.
I guarantee you they funded this study.
That's embarrassing.
And the peanut butter M&M's in there as well.
No, I will not have it.
The top, where's my Skittles?
Where's my Skittles?
Skittles Wildberry comes in at 31st.
Where's the regular Skittles?
Skittles original, 19.
then top 20
maybe
maybe I settle for that
100 grand at number 14
100 grand is better than 14th
100 grand needs to take
up one of the Risa's places
that's like number
that's eighth right
Reese's stuff pieces
needs to go away for
for a hundred grand
Skittles original's got to move up
they've got to be at least
at least the top 10
crackle
no that's kid can't stop it
You get the crackle when you don't have a kid cat.
What do we else do we have here?
Number 40, Tutsi roll snack bars, okay.
Sour patches are making a big Swedish fish.
Nobody gets sweet.
The people who give out Swedish fish on Halloween get toilet papered
when the kids go back by.
What did that house give?
Swedish fish toilet paper.
Pop rocks, no, that's got to be extra stuff.
Laffy-Taffy.
Laffy-Taffy gets toilet papered too.
Nobody gives that out.
Remember that.
Pay-day.
Ooh, I used to love payday bars.
meaty bars are pretty good.
They don't have the chocolate, but they do have the caramel.
Pretty good.
They deserve better than 47th.
Wow.
Mike and Ikes, 46th.
Mike and I, I used to be hooked on those until I got hooked on Skittles.
Is it a surprise that I made 150 pounds?
War has Smarties.
Candy corn at 67th.
I mean, okay.
Root beer barrels.
Ooh, I haven't had those in a long time.
Root beer barrels.
Sugar babies?
Oh, man.
I don't think there's any on this list that I haven't had.
I know it's a surprise.
I know that probably comes in a...
Oh, Charleston Chew.
You know what Charleston Shoes are good?
You put those in the freezer?
And then you just...
Oh, they get really hard.
The chew is so good.
Sotty rolls, dots, harbosnags, airheads.
Okay, so this list is sponsored by species.
But they have come to the conclusion,
which actually I do agree with.
The best Franken Candy.
All right, this is the best candy you can get.
That's what you need to buy and make it yourself
because I will be doing this at the Fisher household.
All right?
Chocolate of a Hershey bar.
Nugget of a baby Ruth.
Carmel of the Milky Way.
Peanut butter of the Reese's cup and a wafer from a Twix.
Oh, you put all those together.
That, my friends, is a candy bar.
Right?
Right.
I know we're on Halloween.
And, you know, we're talking about Halloween candy.
And this is the weekend for you to get it.
No question.
Because, you know, Halloween is next week.
And we've got some great Halloween stories for you.
I've got a couple of Halloween stories for you.
So, you know, you can look forward to that.
I don't want to do it this weekend.
I've got a couple things coming up.
We've got, but I want to let this weekend's the weekend to do it.
Because otherwise you're going to be searching around.
The shelves are going to be empty.
It's really, you end up, you end up doing.
If you don't get it this weekend.
You end up going to your big box store,
Sam's or Costco's, they're out of the Halloween bags.
So then you say, I'm going to go to Target.
You go to Target, the shelves, their Halloween section is almost completely empty,
but what's left is on sale.
So the people that are there are just shoveling what's left of the bags into their carts
because it's all 50% off.
But it's not the good kind, and it's the smaller bags.
Not that I've ever lived through that.
I haven't ever done that because we didn't get the Halloween candy on the weekend before Halloween.
Yeah, I know.
I know, I know.
Anyway, since we're on Halloween, I had a chance to talk to Adam Gidwitz, who is launching a new podcast for kids called Grim, Grimm, Grimmer, and Grimmist.
It's funny, spooky.
It's from the grim fairy tales.
My kids have been listening to it already.
They're putting up one a day until Halloween, one new one.
So this weekend you can go and, you know, you can go and just stream the back ones.
You can kind of just sit around and listen that with your kids.
Or you can just, you know, put the headphones on your kids and tell them to sit there and listen.
But they're really good.
And I had a chance to talk to Adam a little bit earlier this week about.
the podcast and about what's coming up and how he's doing it and how it's produced is really
kind of cool.
All right. So Adam Gidman joins us here on Chewing the Fat. And he is, you know,
a Newberry Honor Book of The Inquisitor's Tale. He's got honors for that. He's acclaimed for
the bestselling series, A Tale Dark and Grimm. And he was a teacher in Brewery. And he was a teacher
in Brooklyn for eight years, which means he did everything he possibly could do to get out of that job,
which is why he started writing and coming up with the Unicorn Rescue Society, which is his
latest book. But I'm more fascinated with his endeavor in the podcast world for kids called
Grim, Grimmer, and Grimmist. And I was listening to a little bit of an episode just before we joined
you, episode number two, right? Number one.
number one and I was fascinated how you go to the kids and have them be a part of the be a part of the
podcast what gave you that idea yeah that's right and you know thanks for having me on that's
came directly out of my experience of teaching those kids in Brooklyn you know when I was a
teacher when I started I got to admit I was not a very good teacher teaching is a hard job I don't
care what anyone says about it is one of the toughest jobs you can do and I was terrible at it
because the first thing you have to do as a teacher before you can teach the children any
thing is get the children to shut their mouths for like one second. And I just couldn't do it.
I had these kids who were hitting each other with blocks and dancing on the table. I had one
student who used to like to take cotton balls and glue them to his face and sing Christmas carol for
first graders. And so I, you know, I could not control the children. And one day, I just kind of
gave up. And I went and sat in the middle of the rug. And in every classroom, there's always like
four nice kids. Any teacher will tell you this. Four nice kids who will help the teacher out,
no matter how badly things are going.
So the four nice kids came up and said next to me and I said,
you know what, forget the rest of these kids.
I'm just going to tell you guys a story.
Nice.
And I said, once upon a time.
And as soon as I said that, the strangest thing happened,
all the kids kind of just stopped,
except for the kid who was gluing stowed to his face.
He continued gluing stuck his face.
Of course.
And as I told the story,
they very slowly, they came closer and closer,
and they sat down around me.
And I realized that the one way I had of getting kids
to shut their mouths and to listen to me,
was to tell them stories.
So I started telling stories, and next year I quit my job to try to write books.
And eventually, as a writer, I now travel around to schools, book festival, around the country,
around the world, and I tell stories to kids.
And my favorite part is the interaction between me and my listeners.
And so I wanted to try to bring that experience to a wider audience by recording this podcast,
Grim, Grimmer, Grimmist.
Well, if you have an opportunity to hear it and listen to them, you should absolutely do it.
It's up, you joined with Pena to create this and bring it to your audiences.
And you can find out more, I'm guessing, at Adamgidwitz.com.
But I really found it fascinating.
You can download the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
If you just search the word grimest, G-R-I-M-M-E-S-T, it'll come right up and download it.
New episode, going to drop every day through Halloween.
Nice.
and one of the things, do you actually go to the classroom and record these kids?
You bring them in, you ship them in, do you bus them into the studio?
Are you just lying to us?
No, we do it.
We do it in the wild.
We go to school.
I walk into a library or a classroom.
We sit down and I say, okay, kids, I'm going to tell you a grim fairy tale.
Now, most people think that the fairy tales are like the cute and sweet stories that we're used to.
Yeah, no, they are not.
But the real grim fairy tales are not like that.
No, they are not.
They can be creepy.
They're weird.
I have some grim fairy tales at the house.
In fact, I brought one of my favorite copies in that has the little grim fairy tale pop-up book that I bought for my kids a long time ago.
And that's one of the first ones that I realized, ooh, you know, that Rapunzel animated movie is a lot different than the Rapunzel in the book.
Exactly.
And so, you know, I discovered.
that was funny I discovered it through one of my old Grimm books which I had never read I
I was so this was after I had quit my job as a teacher but I needed to make some money
so I was substituting and the school called me up and they said would you be willing to be a
substitute librarian for a day I said sure they said you're going to be reading stories to
second graders said no problem they said read them any story you want I said great oh nice
so I went home and I take my book yeah of Grimm's fairy tales off the shelf and I've never
read it so I look at and I think oh fairy tales those are perfect for little kids
Hey, what could go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So I opened it up to a story called Faithfully Ohana's.
And in this story, I'm going to warn your listeners.
This gets disgusting and upsetting, and I apologize.
They're used to listening to me.
Your friend, Adam.
All right, then.
These two kids get their heads cut off.
They get put back on again.
They're fine.
But I read that, and I thought, huh, can I read this to second graders?
Will I get fired?
And then I thought, let's find out.
I have a substitute.
Give me a break.
And I started.
Exactly.
What could they do?
So I read the book to the kids, the story to these children.
And yes, some of them are terrified.
But a few of them come up to me afterwards.
And I'll never forget it.
One girl sticks her finger in my face and she goes, that was good.
And I said, what?
And she said, you should make that into a book.
And so I went home and I wrote down that story.
And I had been making jokes and comments to the kids as I went to try to keep them from, you know,
peeing in their pants. And I wrote all that stuff down and put it into the book. And I sent that
to an agent and she called me up and she said, this is pretty good. And that is actually the first
chapter of my first book at Tale Dark and Grimm is pretty much a verbatim, the story I told to those
kids in that classroom. So I discovered the fairy tales, kind of like you did, by handing them to children,
and suddenly realizing, oh, wait, these are not what I thought they were.
Yeah, exactly. One of my favorite parts in the cast that I was listening to in, and I'm sure it happens,
throughout the rest of the series is
when you talk to the children
about what do they think is going to
be the outcome and they
give answers and
then you obviously, I don't know
either, I don't have an answer for you. I don't know
what happens. And the kids are okay
with it. The kids are all great
that my idea could work. I love
that. Yes.
I mean that's just perfect. You know, fairytales have
the weirdest, most
twisted logic. You know, you never
know what to expect with the fairy tale.
In one of the stories, a princess gets given a water wheel knitting needles and a walnut and needs to go find a prince using those three items.
And the kids are like, how are she going to use them?
And I'm like, I have no clue.
And the kids have great guesses.
Some of them turn out to be right.
Right, there you go.
And my guesses would have been.
Right.
That's so good.
It's very fascinating.
How long are you, as someone who puts together a daily podcast and knows the difficulties and the, you know, the challenges.
and the trials of more work than what people think it is.
When you, how long are you recording these in the schools and then going back to do the production work?
You know, it's got to be a little bit of time.
It's a long process.
Have you got a huge team or are you doing it all yourself?
You got a huge team or are you doing it all yourself?
No, I have, it's me, and I made it with myself and the producer here at Pena.
And now we have a team who's helping to get it out to the world.
But it was the two of us and then a couple sound engineers who created it.
And the process was, I choose a story.
I write it out so that it'll be fun to tell to the kids.
We go in there, the producer, the sound engineer, and myself, we set up the mics,
we record me telling it to the kids.
Then we would go back and I would listen to the recording.
And then I re-script it because, as you know, you've listened to it.
There are actors and a soundscape.
Yeah.
To then what we do is the actors come in, they read it, the soundscape gets laid on top,
and then the children get put back in their laughter, their comments, their jokes,
along with my commentary in the classroom.
So it all gets layered together.
So, yeah, as you imagine, there's 10 episodes in the first season.
There will be another 10 episodes the next season.
Oh, wow.
It has been a lot more work than I expected.
Are most schools welcoming to you?
I mean, we hear so many bad stories about schools these days.
Are you, yeah, with the politically correct world in schools, are you having any problems getting in the door?
You know, there have been schools in my travels where they are worried about things that are scary or bloody for kids.
The thing is, once you get in there, the children and the teachers really embrace good storytelling, and they embrace great old stories.
So sometimes administrators get scared.
They get scared of pushback from parents.
but once you're in the classroom, once you're in there with the teachers and the kids,
usually we're all laughing and having a good time.
I have to say that story I told you about the kid gluing stuff to his face.
When I tell that in front of a group of children and teachers,
usually the teachers who are laughing harder than the kids because they know it's the truth.
Well, and the kid.
When we're in the schools, we have a pretty good time.
Right, and the kids also know that they all know the kid that glues the cotton balls on his face.
There's always that kid.
I have had kids pointing at a kid.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Everybody has that guy.
That's really nice to you to say, Adam.
I really appreciate it.
Yes, but that's not the point.
Adam getwoods.com.
Hey, listen, I really, it's been great.
And I know that I know you're hard at work and you're creating these any way that we can help here at Chewing the Fat and the Blaze Network.
I'm happy to do it.
I really appreciate it.
If your listeners go to Apple Podcast, download Grim, Grimmer,
grimaced. I would appreciate it so much. Thank you very much, Adam. And I know, look, I realize that
people are having a, you know, it's a podcast world now, but it really, what is going to bring podcast
to the next level is the storytelling. And you are, you know, obviously on the cutting edge of that,
and I really appreciate you join us today. Adamgidwitz.com. Thanks, Adam.
Thank you, Jeffrey. Appreciate it.
