Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 50 | Is Orange is The New Black? | Guests: Ian Frisch & Ethan Garr

Episode Date: March 14, 2019

Jeffy brings you the news of the day and Robokiller app joins the podcast to discuss the app. Jeffy does a retrospective for a mobster. Ian Frisch has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times,Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, the Washington Post Magazine, Playboy, Longreads, and Vice. He was shortlisted for the 2016 Associated Press Sports Editors Explanatory Award, and has made numerous appearances on Bloomberg Television. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You learn something new every day. So we had the big storms yesterday, and there's still plenty of big storms crossing the country. I think it's going to start, you know, maybe evening out a little bit by this weekend. But I didn't realize that the big storms that we were having yesterday and throughout today was called the bomb cyclone. Bomb cyclone. Cyclone. Now, we've heard the nor'easters, which are the, you know, the storms going up into the northeast, which are like, you know, winter hurricanes. but now we don't have winter hurricanes in the west moving east.

We have bomb cyclones. Like I said, you learn something new every day. Welcome to it. Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher. All right, what is going on? Now today, we have another recall, 78,164 pounds of turkey. Butterball turkey to be. exact, contaminated with salmonella.

I don't know what's happening in America anymore, but I'm getting scared to eat things. I'm still going to eat them. Don't get me wrong. I'm just nervous about eating them. Like I feel like, well, you know, maybe I shouldn't have three plates. Ah, go ahead. Speaking of eating and, you know, gorging yourself and, you know, just pounding down a barbecue,

which, you know, who doesn't love to go to a big, you know, a good pig roast every now and then, have fun and hang out. So for years, we've wondered what Stonehenge was for. Aliens built it, some kind of sign, some kind of thing. We didn't know what was going on. Well, now we've just found leftovers there from a 4,500-year-old pig roast at Stonehen. That's what Stonehenge was. It was a big roast party place. I'm loving it.

We need to start that. We need to start that again. I want pig roast at Stonehenge. We should have a chewing the fat, fan gathering, pig roast at Stonehenge. I like it. So they claim that they've found 8,500 bones from here. And the pig's bones outnumbered the cattle 10 to 1.4. one. Now they figure the presence of large amounts of pig bones and other similar ceremonial

sites in the region reinforced the idea that prehistoric pork roast was a, you know, a phenomenon in southern England. They just don't know whether they were having these big parties to make everybody unify or they were trying to forge alliances between neighboring groups. But I love the fact, you know, it was just, it was a party and it was to do both. It was to unify and to forge alliances. That was the whole deal. That's why we had Stonehenge. I mean, hello, why don't they just call me?

I could have told them that. If you live in New York, watch out. I'm not talking about rats in the subway. I'm not talking about people, homeless people, begging you on the streets. I'm talking about we have a new mob

war going on. Francesco Kelly, the boss of the Gambino family. I'm sorry, suspected boss of the Gambino family. Last night, shot and killed outside his home in Staten Island. Now, he's been the boss for a while now. The former leader, Gotti, remember, he was the leader of the Gambino family. And he had, once his face killed back in the 80s to take over the Gambino family.

Shot him outside the restaurant. Have a nice day. So we've got a new mob war going on. I mean, they, apparently, there's, and they've got nothing. They have got nothing on who did this. They know that a truck, a blue truck drove through the neighborhood. They know that he got some kind of text or call before he went outside. They found 10 rounds outside the house.

They got nothing. They didn't have no gun. They don't know who did. They got no eyewitnesses. You know what they've got? Butkus. Butkus is what they got. Is it but?

Bupkus? Not Bukkis. Butkus is the dog. Rocky. Rocky 1. Anyway, they've got Bupkus or Butkus. All right, we got a mob war.

So just keep your head down. Keep your head down. Be careful out there. You don't know what could happen any day. Now, I know that's kind of not our crime done wrong segment. You know, it's a mobster. But we do have a lady that decided to create some insurance fraud. So her and her,

her family got together and they purchased you know they purchased some insurance contracts and they call them

insurance contracts in Slovenia and they were trying to get some extra money so this 21 year old woman wanted to claim 400,000 euros in insurance payments

and how does she go about doing that? She cut her own hand off Ouch I mean Ouch Now she'd been cutting tree benches

And so she severed her left hand Just above her wrist And Ouch Now when they took her to the hospital They left her hand They left her hand out with the trees They didn't even bring it with them

They were like No we don't need that thing You're never going to get that thing back on have a nice day. And so they take it to the hospital. The doctors hurry back to the house and find the hand, bring it back, and they sew it back on. They're like, no, we're not losing this thing.

You're going to get it. So now she's, you know, a little bit disabled. He's got the disability of the sawed off hand sewn back on. Good luck getting the use of that thing back in today's world. No question. But they were so strange. they were like, you know, he's got all this new insurance contracts and all of a sudden and then they forgot her hand and what's going on here?

The family's, and yeah, no, this is fraud. We're not paying you anything. So they did the whole one through the whole thing for nothing. Crime done wrong. Have a nice day. You cut your own hand off. Ow! For 400,000.

You got to be worth more than that. Got to be. Got to be worth more than that. Hey. Hi. How are you? I'm fine. Thank you. I'm listening to you from the corner because you have to be working on extra stuff this week. And you were talking about the Gambino family?

Yes. What happened to him? The mob war. He died? Yes. He died. Yes, he's dead. Shot and killed outside of his home.

A new mob boss, he was the purported boss of the Gambino family. Why? No, you're just wondering. Why do you ask me like that? I love gangsters. I love them. Does he have a book coming out too? Why?

I'm just asking, does he have a book? I doubt it, but there's another crime boss that has a book coming out pretty soon, right? The guy that... Florida? Oh, shoot. No. No, that's another one.

The Florida one, daughter of a king. Princess, yeah. Daughter of a king. We got to talk to her. She lives in Tampa Bay. He's got to talk to her. Her father was Meyer Lansky. He was a money guy for the mob.

But I just saw a headline the other day about a mobster that believes that all these gangsters were part of him. And he knew all about Maryland Monroe. He's an old guy now. But he was all part inside the gangsters. He's got to book out too. We've got to talk to him too. He looked really fascinating because no matter what he tells you, he believes it's the truth.

Because when you listen to it and you think, I don't think that's true. And it probably isn't. But the way he's going to tell it, it's true. And it's going to be fun to listen to him. No, this guy has no book coming out. I mean, he's had a family and he's running it. He's running today's world crime syndicate. You're up against the Russians.

You're up against the U.S. government. You're up against the cartels. That's a tough business to be in these days. Real tough. And that's why the bigger cities, New York, Detroit, maybe Flint and Saginaw and Michigan. And then you've got Chicago. And you got Tampa, still the old school mob

from Cuba and gangsters that are tied to the New York mob. But, boy, tough, tough, that's tough working today. That's tough working. And you see how tough it is too, because he's at home with the wife and kids, and he gets a little text and goes out on the front porch, dead. Have a nice day. Good luck, God bless. And that's the business you're in, though.

So, no retrospective? Did I'm frankly, on Cali? Yeah. No, I'm sorry, I apologize. I didn't write one. for Frankie Boy. But he's definitely worth a retro. I mean, he's, he's a, you know, he's been a bad guy.

He's seriously deep ties to the Sicilian mafia. Shadows at his home. Is this a retrospective? It could be. I'll give you off the top of my head retro for Frankie Boy. Can you? All right. Frank Kelly.

Dead. At the age. age of 54. How old was he? Hold on. Was it a 54? You're in character. You're supposed to know this. You're in character. You should have been 54. Well, I kind of like the retro voice of the box. That's kind of, I like to. Yeah, I found it for you. Frank Kelly once described the rising star of the American mafia, an influential figure who surrounded himself with Italian-born associates, gained the trust of Jackie the nose D'Amico, the acting boss who promoted him to Capo before the age of 40. His ascension within the Gambino crime family, one of the most significant criminal organizations in the U.S.

Frankie Boy Kelly. Dead. At the age of 53. This has been retrospective. In real life, there were five more shots in front of Frank's house. According to witnesses, it sounded like the same gun as it did here. At the age of 53 years, Frankie Boy Kelly, reputed crime boss of the Gambino family, dead. This has been retrospective on CTF.

So yesterday, those of you that heard the... the podcast, Chewing the Fat, here on the Blaze Podcast Network, know that we spent the podcast trying to figure out, oh, what the heck. Not again, Tiffie. Just let it go. I mean, this birthday thing, the boys,

after we posted the podcast, we found out that the guy, the dad, got a new phone number, right? Because he was overwhelmed with calls. But the story was still running. I mean, the story was still viral all over the country. But we called the number, And it went to what we found out was an app that, you know, from a company called Robo Killer.

Not Killer Robot. No, not Killer Robot, which I may have called it that. A lot. I like. It means a new branch of Robo Killer. They also kill robots in the future. It's a robot killer. Yeah.

Yeah, robot killer. It's a, yeah, it's right. Yeah, it's just a, just an extension of Robo killer. RoboKiller.com. So, but I was fascinated why it went to this, because if the got to do number, the old number is either dead, right? Or it just goes, why would they bring up, send us to this app? Do you want to try again? On top of which, I wondered what, this app, kind of cool, but what calls it?

Because we called from cell phones and it didn't go to the app, right? But it went to the app when we called from the station lines. So, Ethan Gar, the vice president of product development for Robo Killer, not Robot Killer, heard about it and wanted to give us an update on exactly what Robo Killer is and does and how we ran across it yesterday. Ethan, how are you, sir? I'm good. Thanks for having me on your show. Absolutely.

So, Ethan, what do you guys do? Let's just get it out there. Let us know what you guys do and what Robo Killer and RoboKiller.com. does and how it helps people. Sure. Robillers an app for your smartphone, your iPhone or your iPhone that stops these annoying robo calls and telemarketing calls from reaching your phone. But what's cool about it and what you guys found out is that after when we block these calls, we actually answer those calls in the background with something we call answer boss. And answer bots

are these robots of our own that talk back to the scammers and waste their time. So they help you get even get a little revenge on these people who are constantly invading you with 5.4 billion robocalls every month. Wow. That's a lot of robocalls. Yeah. On average, that means most Americans are getting 21 per month, but you probably know people who get a few every day or even more.

And most people, I guess, aren't like me and just don't answer? Well, I think that's the problem. I think a lot of people have gotten to the point where a ringing phone isn't something they look forward to. In fact, it causes stress and anxiety instead of being what it should be, which is, you know, something welcome. When I was a kid, if the phone rang, you're excited. It was someone who wanted to talk to. So we're trying to give people that back by creating an app that really fights back against the surge of robocalls.

I mean, it really is an epidemic at this point. And, you know, if you're getting that many calls, you know, they're interrupting your dinner. They're interrupting your meetings, your family time. So if you don't put something between you and these calls, it's, you know, you know, it's taking away from your life. And in the worst cases, it's, you know, reaching into your pocket, stealing your money, you're stealing your identity. And, you know, the FTC estimates that last year, $9.5 billion in scam revenue originated

from these kinds of calls. So, you know, we really want to make a dent and make a difference. And, you know, we're really proud of the products and how it's helping, you know, really thousands and thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, solve this problem every day. So, okay, you sold me. All right, easy, Ethan. Back off me, all right, I got it. You sold me.

So I can, I can, the app obviously isn't free, but I can get it at the app store and, you know, downloaded the RoboKiller app. I love the idea of it. It's great. Now, when, when we picked it up, we heard from a couple people that created some of your robo answers. From our answer bot. Yep. Your answer bots, yeah.

and said, well, I know exactly what that is. And they were able to confirm that it was you guys, that it was your app. Two questions for that. I mean, well, actually, I just have actually one question. Why is not my voice part of that? Why am I not answering for a robociller? Hey, I would love, if you want to record Nestabot,

I would love for you to record Nestabot for us, and we'd be happy to put it up there and let it go into rotation and let people share it out there. I mean, the great thing about Anserbach is, You can use a library, including the ones from Ashton and Art that you saw yesterday. But you can also create your own. So we tried to make fighting back against Robocalls something fun and entertaining. That's really funny.

But yeah, absolutely. That's really funny. So how many, now when we called back, I think, five or six, seven times yesterday, and we got seven different ones, right? And so I was, the first one is the one that caught us off guard. The first one, I was really, it really made me angry. angry and I was ready then I stopped it and I didn't realize what it was and then when I called the number I was like we got to call back I want to find out who this is because I didn't realize that

it was a that it was part of your part of your app and when we called back it got someone else then we realized what was going on and so you had me you had me for a little while you definitely had me for a little while but it was how many how many of them do every time you call me is it is it is it a rotation that you set or is it a rotation that the company sets? So it can be either or. So we have about 100 answer bots you can choose from or you can create your own. And you can either pick one or multiple ones that you want to use or you can actually just use a random rotation, which is probably what you heard.

And I have a feeling in this case that somebody might have done something interesting to make sure that people, everybody was getting our answer bots. We don't just block every unknown call that comes to you. We're actually really careful. Our algorithm uses really advanced technologies like audio fingerprinting and machine learning and user feedback to decide if a call is a robot or a human and to decide which calls get through and which don't. So it seems to me like someone might have hacked something a little bit so that every call you're getting is going to one of these answer bots. You actually mentioned that I think some from cell phones didn't go to this.

Correct. skeptical that so someone might have I don't know if someone recorded our answer box some of our answer bots and we're playing them directly I'd have to do a little more research you caught me while I'm traveling I'm actually just about kept a train back from D.C., but

I'm going to try to figure out exactly what's going on on this one. It is interesting and an interesting story. It is very interesting and it threw me for a little bit because it all started. I just wanted to call and wish the guy happy birthday. That's all I want. I just wanted to call. I figured I'd go to

voicemail, you know, I'd give the guy a stupid happy birthday message and be done with it. And then we fell into this and it really was, you know, really frustrated us for quite some time. And now that we know that your, you know, your system can be hacked, Ethan. Oh my God. What is going?

I'm not saying, I'm not saying a system was hacked. No, I know that. I know that. I'm just messing with you. Someone hacked around. Yeah. We're pretty careful about that.

Yes, absolutely. I understand. I believe that. Anyway, Ethan, when you, when you dig into it a little bit, stay in touch, okay? We definitely want to know. We definitely want to be here if you find out anything, that'd be great.

Happy to do so. And just you mentioned that the app is not free. That is true. But if you go to the app stores, either one in the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, there's a seven-day free trial so people can try the app and get a sense of whether it's going to work for them or not. I already said you sold me. Stop. I already said you sold me.

Stop trying to sell me, man. What are you doing? All right. I apologize. Ethan, thank you very much, man. I appreciate it. Robociller.com. All right, a couple stories that have been, you know, itching at my tongue, or what I've, you know, really wanted to talk about anyway.

The Ethiopia plane crash. We did get a chance to talk about this yesterday. And yesterday, they finally canceled or grounded the max 737, 8, and 9 in the U.S. But for quite some time yesterday, and, you know, the day before, they didn't cancel them here in the U.S. and the rest of the countries were cancel them and they weren't going to do it. Boeing was fighting it and saying they weren't going to do it. And I thought, man, that's a bad move.

If the world is already questioning you, you need to ground them and test them because if something happens, you are done. I mean, if something were to happen yesterday before these were grounded, Jeff Fisher and Chris Cruz will be starting up on an airline company

because the government will be looking for a new company to build planes for them because they won't be working with Boeing anymore. And as a veteran, we all know that I get, you know, no taxes or fees that have to pay for, so this would be a good business to start. I think just stop. If and when this show ever comes on camera,

you'll see the look of disgust on my face when he does this. I mean, good for you. Good for you. I'm glad we help out our disabled veterans. You're going to be profited of this company. This kills me. However, it's good that they've ground them. Now, you know, they need to get on it, right?

I mean, we need to figure out if there's a problem, and if there isn't. Now, if something happens after this, at least you've covered your bases, right? You've said we don't, we can't find what's wrong with them. And then, you know, at least you can stay in business. So I think it was a good move. I think President Trump did the right thing. And I love how Boeing came along for, well, yeah, that's, fine. We're all for it now. Are you?

Are you? Yeah, you're all for it now that Don said he's going to pull the plug? Yeah, we're right with there with you, Mr. President. I bet you are. I bet you are. You need those new government contracts to keep you alive. I understand the deal. But the crash black box, the one box has been found.

And I thought these black boxes were indestructible. They are. What's going on? No, they're not. They're not, though. They can't. Sometimes they can't find them. The lion air one. Just because you can find it doesn't mean it's not destroyed.

Okay. Stop talking for just a second. The flight, the other 37-max that went down, the Lions Air one, they found one of them. So there might be one, you're right, that's still in good. But the one that they found is damaged. And I think I heard news now. I haven't found, I haven't verified this yet. We found the one that went to France, not the U.S., by the way.

that usually they send the black box to this company in Germany but Germany can't doesn't have the upgrade to figure to get the technology of the latest black boxes so they got to send it to France instead of the U.S. because we you know heaven forbid they test they trust the Boeing and the United States so we'll send it to France they wouldn't do anything

see this goes to the theory that I have that we talked off air it's like you got third world countries using planes like this they don't have the technology or the maintenance plan to keep them up to date. Wow. Wow. You are such a hateful. So, but I heard a report this morning, and I don't know if they were talking about the Lions Air One,

because now I can't, all I can find is the Lions Air One, about the Black Box being less than perfect, missing some footage, some audio. What did we got the black box for? Remember the jokes of the black, you know, you wanted to live in a house that was made of black box material because nothing could happen to it? Yeah, wrong. I mean, what are we doing? I mean, let's get Liberty Safe to make them or something.

Want these things to be indestructible. That's what we need. Liberty Safe black boxes. A million dollar idea for you, Liberty Safe. You know, you don't have a good enough business model as it is, but you need my help. You just need to start making black boxes. Liberty safe black boxes. You know the actual black boss is not black?

Yeah, no, they're usually yellow or red, something like that. Orange? Yeah. Whatever. I mean, they're different colors. I understand that. They're just, they're, I forget what, why they started calling them black boxes. But, uh, I did they, I forget the story.

I knew the story at one time. Um, but it doesn't matter because we, the world knows them as black boxes. You can paint it whatever color you want. They're black boxes. But I'd like to, maybe we go back to old technology on the black boxes where they survived. You know, the new technology, yeah, no, we're upgrading them, but they won't survive the crashes. That's what the point is. We want them to survive the crashes.

So according to this, the outside shell is made out of hardened steel or titanium. The second layer is an insulation box. And the third layer is a thermal block to protect against five. fire and heat. Okay. How much more do you want? I want whatever it takes and it's not going to be destroyed. How does something like that get destroyed?

They got to be buying it on the black market or something. They'll get by a black box faulty material is what is being made with. Oh, and by the way. There needs to be another investigation. And by the way, the term black box is almost never used within the flight safety industry. Yeah, it is. Everybody calls it that. They call it.

They call it a fly recorder. Everybody calls it a black box. The world calls it a black box. That's a dumb story, fake news story. The recorders are not permitted to be black in color. Everybody calls it a black box. I don't care what permitted color they are. They have to be bright orange and they're intended to be spotted and recovery.

That makes sense. Why would you make something they're supposed to find black? That's stupid. That's fake news about the whole black box. No, the world calls it black box. That's what they call it. According to this, a flight safety industry. A black boxopedia?

Aerospace web. Yeah, they don't know what they're talking about. If they got a dot org at the end, they knew they do know. Wow. Oh my gosh, no, they don't. Okay. Wow. Are you, I apologize for reading fake news on this program like this, but spreading

news like this. Yeah, they got some kind of beeper in them. It doesn't matter what color they are. That's just, that's fake news. They've got like a garage door open or beeper in them or something. Not even close. Actually, it looks like a bomb, actually. Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy.

It does. It does. It's like a box. And it's like a little timer at the end. You mean the black box is like a box? Yes. Surprise. I'm just asking you. I was just clarifying.

I'm giving you all this information about. And it's all fake news. It's all black box fake news. I'm sorry. Flight recorder. Either way. Now, serious business now. Either way. How are they getting, you know, I realize that everything is a destructible job and we don't know everything that happens and the heat of the crash and everything. I got it. But if they're made with this material that Chris told you they're made with and they're still getting destroyed or something has happening to mar their recording capability, then we need to fix that. True, but what is harder than titanium? I don't know.

My first wife. What's the Captain America shield made out of? My first wife. You have any more questions? No, I'm done. Is it a problem that I can't get upset about this whole college scam thing? I mean, I'm okay with you arresting the people who were bribing and taking bribes, kind of. but the parents who were paying you,

stop it. Come on. They just wanted the best for their kids. If these actors, actresses, business people would have gone to the university and donated a building, the same thing would have happened and you wouldn't have been in trouble with you. Oh, he donated a building.

That's fine. That's why the daughter's in. So leave me alone with this whole thing, please. And I wanted to apologize, As long as we're walking over to the break room, I want to apologize. Last week we had an execution here in Texas, and I failed to talk about it. It hurt me.

It hurt me to think that last Thursday we had a week. It's been a week since we had an execution. And I failed to talk about it. Because, look, this guy, Billy Cobble, the oldest inmate executed in the state of Texas, since we reinstated capital punishment back in 1982. And there was a giant fight. after the execution.

Okay, so he's 70 years old. He died shortly before 6.30 p.m. last Thursday. And he was put to death, deservedly so, for killing his in-laws, Robert and Zelda, Avichia, and their son, who was a former Waco police sergeant in 1989. All right, he also, in this crime,

tied up four children, kidnapped his estranged wife, and threatened to rape and kill her. And then they arrested him after this big chase. So his final words, which I guess sparked this giant outrage, when his final words, he replied, that'll be $5. Take care.

And I don't know why that's so bad. But the family just got pissed. And the son's fighting and screaming. People are fighting at this execution. And the son ends up getting arrested at the execution. I mean, they started hollered, they're yelling at each other, swearing at each other, they moved it outside. Then finally the two men had to be handcuffed and were arrested.

Amazing. So his nickname, I guess, was $5 bill in prison. So when he's, you know, they're giving him the juice just before the juice kicks in, that'll be $5. Take care. And then the big fight started. Unbelievable. It's just really weird.

Really, really weird. I mean, he deserves the death penalty. And you know, in California, they're stopping the death penalty. So amazing. In California, you can kill a baby. Almost after, up until they, you know, the first few minutes after they come out of the mom. But you don't want to kill anybody that committed a crime in prison. We don't want that to happen.

Weird. Really weird. All right, let's go to the break room. I'm thirsty. I need a Coca-Cola Zero Sugar desperately. Oh my gosh. So good. So as long as we're hanging out of the break room,

I want to tell you about the new History Channel show that is set to premiere, they just said they just announced that they're going to make this show called Unidentified. And as for what viewers can expect from the program, the press release about Unidentified indicated that it will expose a series of startling encounters

and embark on fascinating new investigations that will urge the public to ask questions. Isn't that every show on the History Channel? I mean, every show about UFOs and space and deep space and dark space and close space and below the planet and dirt space is all a series of startling encounters to embark on a fascinating new investigations

that will urge the public to ask questions. the History Channel. Really weird. And it is Lent. And so every Lent, every year during Lent, you get stories about people, what they're going to give up, weird things they're going to give up.

And this Ohio man says he's giving up food and only drinking beer during Lent. So good luck. God bless. Hope everything works out for you. In 2025, you're going to be able to apply for, for jobs that are going to be for a lifetime. A lifetime.

Now, you're going to have a fair starting salary with annual wage increases that match those of, and here's the catch, you've got to live in Sweden. So move to Sweden, and then you can apply for the job, okay? You're going to get the same wage increases as all the Swedish government workers, vacation time, pension time, The job is yours for as long as you want to do it and the job is doing anything you want. That's a good gig, my friends.

That's a job everyone wants. Long as you want to do it, anything you want to do. Each morning, the chosen employee will punch a clock in the new train station that they're building. It's currently under construction. And you're going to turn out a bank of fluorescent lights. other than that, that's the, you don't have to do anything. Just make sure the lights are on. You're going to have any duties or responsibilities.

Just going to make sure everything's okay. Whatever you want to do is a job in the place you can do. And it's part of the new Swedish brainchild of eternal employment. That'll be fascinating to see if that actually works out. What could possibly go wrong? What's the job? Whatever you want it to be. Yeah, but.

what do I have to do whatever you want to do when do I have to be here you know when you get here what is that it? Yeah that's it just get paid for that anything you want to do as much as you want to do that's a good gig

I guess it's kind of sucks that you have to show up to the train station but I like trains can work there turn on the lights and you're good and for those of you that think that you need you know you need to have Tinder or any of the dating apps or online dating sites to get dates.

Don't you don't? This guy, 40-year-old Jason Gasparic, saw a stray dog running around in traffic earlier this month in Charlotte, North Carolina. And he started trying to track down its owner. Took it to a vet to see if he had a microchip. It did, but the chip wasn't registered to anyone. Oh, it must have been a black box chip. didn't work right. So then he posted some photos on Facebook and other few sites.

It didn't work either. So the next day he stood on the street corner for three hours. This is a guy that must work in Sweden that doesn't have a job. Because the next day, then he stands in the street corner for three hours holding a sign. Do you know this lost dog? The next day he stood out. It's amazing. All these people, all these girls.

Oh my gosh. She's so cute. and look at him. He loves animals so much. That is so nice. I'm going to ask him out. We're going to go out. He's got all these.

He's got rows of females asking him out. He probably has rows of male too. I don't know that's an issue. I don't know if Jason likes females or males or both. But he's got it's date time for him. And all you have to do is stand on a street corner with a picture of a dog. Do you know where this dog belongs? And the next thing you know, you're looking for dates.

We love to talk about things that have died of this program. It's what we do. It's part of the Chewing the Fat Creed. And today is no different. We have a Creed. We do have a Creed. What's our Creed, Jeffie? The creed is we love to talk about things that are dead.

Love it. Okay. That's just one of them. Part of the creed. Part of the full. We have a scroll of creed. We have a scroll of creeds. It's the chewing the fat,

Scroll of Crete's. One day I would like to break this down for the audience. Put it on your little producer sheet. I will. You know what? I will. Today is no different. Today is no different at all.

Why? Because we have Ian Frisch on the show. And Ian is going to tell us why magic is dead. Why is it dead, Ian? I mean, I'm not sure, you know, magic itself is dead, but maybe... Wait. That's the title of your new book. Magic is dead.

I guess it's supposed to mean that maybe the magic that you thought you knew is dead and being replaced with something. At least something died. Right. At least something's dead. That's all I care about. Yeah, at least something. So, Ian, thanks for joining us on chewing the fat.

I appreciate it. I appreciate you having me. It's fascinating to hear from, we've been talking, I have the past month or so, I've talked to so many people whose back was up against the wall, and they really needed to, you know, find something to do. And just like you, according to your story, your back was up against the wall. You had no money. You're staying in somebody else's office building.

And you're looking for something to do. And it magically comes to you. Oh, magically comes to you. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of the start of the journey, you know. And I didn't plan this story. You know, it kind of just fell in my lap. And like you said, I was really kind of falling on hard times with my writing career.

and I was looking for new, big ideas. And, you know, I stumbled upon this. And, you know, I figured at first maybe it would be a magazine piece or something, but they kind of consumed my life. And, you know, three and a half years later, here we are with this book. So are you still involved in the dark side? Yeah. I mean, I've caught the bug.

And, you know, all these characters from my book or some of my best friends. friends, you know. Right. You know, obviously they're, they're lifelong magicians and, you know, they're still doing their things. So I've kind of become a member of the community. Right. So, I mean, you're part of the secret society of magicians.

Tell us what you can about the secret society without, you know, getting yourself killed. So basically, when this whole journey started, I had stumbled upon Chris Ramsey on Instagram and YouTube. And he didn't really seem like any magician I, you know, come across before. You know, he had tattoos and his beard and an backward tat and this whole vibe. And Chris and I became friends, you know, over the phone and on email and through text and things like that. And, you know, we were corresponding remotely because he's from Canada for about six months before we met in person for the first time at a magic convention. And he had been kind of like hinting at something along the way that he was a member of what's called the 50.

too, which is kind of a secret society of young magicians that was founded by Daniel Madison and Laura London, two magicians from the UK. And I was like really intrigued by that. I didn't really know what it meant. And then, you know, I come to find out that it is a collection of some of the best young magicians who are kind of pushing the craft forward in their own way. Got to love that. In the modern time.

And I got to meet Daniel and Laura and I became friends with them as well. And, you know, they kind of spilled that, you know, each person is given a playing card as their identity in the group. But for your induction to be official, you have to get the symbol for that card tattooed on the inside of your middle finger. And there's only 52 spots because there's only 52 cards. And when I had first met them, they had put in 46 people, I believe. Wow. And, you know, as time went on and I became closer to these people and I had expressed my, you know, my thoughts about maybe doing. a book on this world and kind of how I've become a part of it. You know, Daniel Madison called me

one day and said, you know, you can't write a book about the 52 unless you're a member of the 52. So I became the two of clubs and I got the tattoo and everything like that. And, you know, that's what really cemented the adventure. It's like, all right, well, I'm definitely a part of this world now. And, you know, I guess my job, you know, my role in this club is to tell its story. So is the 52 now, originally you say it was started so there could be only 52 members. But is it like Gmail? So if you have more than 52, is there going to be like two of clubs two? Two of the clubs?

No. Two of the clubs, 1632. No, no. So I have to get that tattooed on my finger. It's, you know, there's the group has been completed, you know, at the climax of the book, you know, the last couple members are put in, but that's it. You know, we would say the deck is complete, and, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, like no one else will we put in and, uh, you know, there's, there, there's no v2 of a certain card. All, although there, there are people out there, there are, like, diehard fans of, of, of the 52 and, and, and of some of the magicians in,

in the club who have gotten their own tattoos, you know, thinking that they're part of it now. And, you know, I've actually met people who, you know, show me their tattoo, but I know they're not a real member. So you can't see the influence of this thing. And I know you can't tell us, you know, how they know, but is there like special, is it like the dollar bill? I could put it under the black light and I know it's the special tattoo. Well, I mean, everyone in the magic community is quite close. So, you know, although, you know, it's a broad. subculture, a lot of people who are kind of in the inner circles all know each other.

And, you know, obviously, whenever someone is put into the club over the past few years, it's, it's been shared among members. So, you know, it's pretty easy, you know, to know when, when someone gets a tattoo, but they're not an official member. Right. So where, what was your most fascinating thing that you learned while you were writing the book? Other than becoming, you know, obviously, I mean, it's fascinating becoming part of the 52 and which gets you, you know, into the realm of the world. But the most fascinating thing that you're taken away from your studying for the book. You know, when I first started this adventure and I was kind of becoming friends with these people,

I got a really strong sense that magic was kind of a saving grace for them in their own personal lives. And each character had their own backstory and their own kind of internal struggles and how magic was something that helped them. through like a self-discovery process or allowed them to kind of create and cement an identity. Yeah, that's their alter ego, right? That's their magic ego. Yeah, you know, and I think magic is a very powerful tool,

you know, to build connections with your peers and things like that. So that was something that I really took away as kind of like the kind of core thrust of what this story is really about, you know, and it's really about that and also the community of these people and how they help each other,

and how tight-knit they are and how they're really dedicated to this to this passion that they all share, you know. And the story in that way is kind of, you know, like a coming-of-age story about all these people and about myself as well. And, you know, that's really the ethos of this story versus just me, you know, now learning magic tricks and things like that. So when you started getting involved with learning the magic tricks, were you surprised at some of the tricks that, seemed so difficult but are not and vice versa yeah and that was like the most mind-blowing thing was understanding that most of the methodologies that that make magic work are quite simple but the magician you know magicians have become so adept and so skillful at manipulating an audience's perception of them that they

can use very, very straightforward means to, to fool you and make it seem like it's a very memorable and magical and onspiring moment just through a very simple sleight of hand or, you know, using other psychological means. You know, it's not, it's nothing like where, you know, you need these huge props or this big thing or this whole plan behind the scenes. But, you know, it's just, it's very small things that can make a really big impact. And I think that's why magic is so powerful. And that's why I think the art form. has spread so rapidly to up-and-comers and young people because they can get in there and start learning things immediately

and start performing them and seeing results. So I'm still interested in the, if I want to become the member of the 52, do I need to actually murder someone to become part of the 52? I'm fascinated. I want to know how I become the two of clubs too. How do I get in? What's going on?

I mean, it's funny because, you know, when it was first starting off and in the first couple few years when new members were being added, a lot of magicians were asking how they can be a member, but there's really no set standard for admission. It wasn't like you could just send an application. And, you know, Daniel and Laura would seek people out, you know, and you would just get, you know, a phone call or a text message one day and they would ask you to be in. We believe you would be worthy of the 52 and we want you in. Yeah. Exactly, exactly. And that's been, you know, how it's, you know, how it's how it's gone down since day one.

And that's the process that's carried it until today when, you know, the deck is complete. So it's, as I knew your interview was coming up today, I ran across a story amazingly. It popped up in one of my timelines about the magic castle in L.A. Have you, have you been to the magic castle? I have. And is it worthy of trying to get into that joint? Oh, yeah. I love the castle. It's super fun.

And it's been, you know, a mainstay of the magic community for decades. You know, the legends of yesteryear would go there and share ideas with one another and advance the craft. And, you know, membership is given to magicians who, you know, who perform and become members of the Magic Castle. They can bring friends in, and tons of amazing performers get to perform there, and you can go watch shows, and meet other magicians, and hang out, and it's great. So what do you make of the big push on Let's Wreck Every Magic Trick in the World, and we're going to tell you how they're all done.

What do you make of all of that? I'm not really a huge fan of that. Really? And I mentioned that show in the book, The Mathians. magician, you know, breaking the magician's code. And there was no real principle behind the show other than just to reveal tricks for the sake of revealing them. And I don't reveal many tricks at all in my book for that reason. And there are some things I speak about, but it has a context of being able to show the reader how a magician thinks and their methodologies and how you can use

slight of hand or some small moves to be able to execute tricks. But in the context of like a grand performance, I don't really give it away. So if you were to watch something and then you'd be able to know how it's done, I mean, I tell the reader how, you know, maybe a couple moves are done, slight of hand moves. But, you know, obviously if you saw a magician perform and they executed that move right under your nose, you still wouldn't know that they were doing it because of how good that they're performing it.

Yeah, I mean, I really wasn't going into this project just being like, well, I'm going to reveal secrets because I think that kind of cheapens the experience. It sure does. Yeah, and I still want people to, if they ever get to see a magician perform or if they go online and see magic, that they're going to be able to enjoy it still. And not be like, well, I read that in that book and I know how it's done. Yeah, you can't fool me. Yeah, exactly. Ian Frisch, author of Magic is Dead, a member of the 52, which really ticks me off. now this is the first day of my life that I now want to be a member of the 52.

I'm not a magician, but I just want to be a member of the 52 and it's ticking me off, Ian. Ian, thank you so much for coming on to and the fat. I appreciate it. I appreciate it so much, and I'll send you a temporary tattoo so you can be a member on the weekends. I love you for that. Thank you. See you, man. All right.

Take care. I said yes, Jeffie. How many Jesses do you need? I'd like yes, not Jess. Both. and yes. No, yes. Yes.

Y-E-S. That's how you say the word yes. Say it after me, yes. Yes. It sounds like it. Yes. So I'm going to tell you a little secret. All right, those of you that want chewing the fat merchandise,

like the chewing the fat mug, the chewing the fat hat, the chewing the fat t-shirt. That's it? Go to the shop. That the blaze.com. I don't know what we all have over there. We've got chewing the fat fat, whatever we're selling. but if you want to have it, and part of it, I love the mug,

the chewing the fat with Jeff Fisher mug. I love that. I drink coffee out of it, drink tea out of it. I love it. I keep pens. I keep cherries in it. So you drink coffee and tea

and you keep pens inside. In that order? Yes. You wash it? Sometimes. But if you do, if you just cold, I don't like it. I don't like tea and coffee hot.

So the coal, as long as it's not too hot, it doesn't melt the sharpies or the pencils. Oh, so you drink the coffee and the tea inside. Yeah. While the pencil are inside the coffee. one that touches the sharpies and stuff, so what? You also have

Steak notes in there. What happened to those? They get wet sometimes. I got five forget to pull them out. The charger? Charger's not in there. I never keep the charger in there. What's that cable? Well, I'm sitting here and there's nothing in it right now. This is the wrap that ties that keeps the charger wires together.

I don't know why you're yelling at me. Because you're pissing me off. You're questioning my drinking habits and my chewing the fat mug. Am I seeing you? Yes. Yes, you are. But I'm trying to help our listeners out. I'm sorry, go back, sorry.

So go to the shop.com. You can get other stuff too if you want. I don't know why you would. But go to the shop. dot the blaze.com and get chewing the fat merchandise. Now, I don't know any other way to save you 20% than for you to put the offer code Pat in. So I'm telling you now, you can get chewing the fat merchandise.

merchandise for 20% off, just use the offer code, Pat. That's shady. Would you check out, Pat? How many? And it works. 20%. That's good. That's good.

I know. That's taxes and some. At the end. 20% offer code. Pat. And you get 20% off. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Thanks for listening to chewing the fat. And remember, subscribe. Subscribe, subscribe. Subscribe. We need subscriptions. We're going to have to have a, you know, going to have to have like a marathon. We're going to have to have some kind of

some kind of weekend party show that we're on for 24 hours and it's just a subscription. Is this a subscription show where we just take calls? And we got Mary from Maryland and she's going to subscribe and she's going to donate

her neighbor. A subscription. We're going to get Judy next door a subscription. Do that. You know what I mean? Have fun with that. It actually might work. It would be fun. By the way, the promo code works. I know that's what I said. Did you think I was lying?

What? You're sure for 25 bucks. Yeah? That's good. I'm going to try not to yell now because I told you this, in confidence here on Chewing the Fat. And for whatever reason, Chris is having this little inner building fight with Cindy. and now he's pissed off at everybody. You heard him even call me Cindy.

That's what it's all about. I'm just letting you in on the inside joke. He thinks it's an inside joke. But it's not a joke because he's really angry with this person. And so now he's taking it out on you and me and everyone around him because he's mad at Cindy. I was just trying to help you out get a discount at shop. Attheblaze.com.

And then I wanted to tell you to subscribe to chewing the fat. I've got more stories. I've got all kinds of stories to do. Apparently, we're done, whether we're Cindy or not. Apparently, we've got to wrap it up. But, you know, no matter what we are, I could tell you about the chickens that killed the fox. I could tell you about goats being stolen.

I could tell you about the new crew at the International Space Station that's going up. Got new humans going up there. I can't. But you know what? Now I can't. Why? Because of Chris Cindy Cruz.