Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 629 | There Can Be Only One | Guest: Brian Skerry

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

One year since the death / murder of George Floyd… Guy Fieri signs new deal… Disneyland Avengers restaurants/$100 Ham&Cheese… Bezos and Arnault fighting out top spot… Amazon buying MGM Studios… Bill and Melinda moving forward… CTF guarantee she ends up biggest settlement / spilt… 15:26 ish BREAKROOM*** Kevin going back to work… Kim being sued by workers… Henry Cavill to do Highlander reboot… Subscribe to the YouTube Channel… Email to [e-mail] Subscribe www.blazetv.com/jeffy Promo code jeffy… NAT GEO KIDS INTERVIEW / Brian Skerry / Almanac 2022 (nationalgeographic.com) Headlines / Peloton – Japan Olympics / Colbert… Wuhan lab staff sick in 2019… Michigan Upper Peninsula snubbed again… The world reacts to Lukashenko… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One year ago today. One year ago today. The death of George Floyd. Or rather, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. One year ago. Wow. So much has changed in one year. And yet many would say, not enough has changed.

That's for sure, Jeff. Well, okay. All right. Fine. But I mean, according to all the activists, we've had at least 17 states that have banned or restricted police use of chokeholds. More than 20 major U.S. cities cut their police budgets in some way. Now, many have reinvested.

You know, moved that. money over into services like mental health and housing programs. And we've also had the police officer who was on George Floyd's neck, found guilty in court, in the court of law. I mean, he hasn't been sentenced yet. That's coming up, I think, next month. But, you know, it's been a year. I just keep, it just kept, yesterday I saw the, you know,

I was reading the story that, you know, tomorrow will be one. year since George Floyd and man I mean one year ago we all felt horrible watching that video of Officer Chauvin on the neck and the other officers just standing around and you know the whole nine minutes and how many ever seconds what do you mean you don't know the exact amount of seconds that Officer Chauvin was on this black man's neck well actually I do it was nine minutes and 29 seconds. He cried out, I can't breathe 27 times. That was all in the trial.

It just, boy, it just seems like it has been a lot longer than a year since the horrible incident of the death of George Floyd. But the good news is, the good news is, is that they are meeting George Floyd's family is me in Washington, D.C. today. And apparently they've, by the time of this recording, they've already met with Nancy Pelosi, and they're meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional lawmakers.

I think they're having dinner. I hope they're paying for it. They've made quite a bit of money within this last year. I know it was out of the horrific death of their brother and their son, but they've done fairly well. for themselves since the death of George Floyd. So I hope they're footing the bill for this meal at the White House. You know, they're not in no way.

So just look forward to all the great news stories of the Floyd family in Washington, D.C., meeting with our president and other lawmakers today since it has officially been today the 25th of May, 2021, one year since the horrific. death of George Floyd. Welcome. Welcome to chewing the fat. I try not to talk too much politics on this show, so I'm just going to throw this out there. For those of you that were, you know, expecting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that was promised by our president by the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death.

That's not going to happen. Yeah. I'm a president. has already backed away from that. He's a waiting a bipartisan compromise agreement. And the White House has already said, look, we're sure it's going to be delayed, but it's going to be delayed

because we want this to have teeth. We don't want to meet the deadline and have this just be a toothless bill. Oh, okay. No problem then. We'll look forward to that bill with teeth on the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act

because you know it's going to be good. You know it is. You know that's going to be a good bill. Good luck passing that bad boy. Okay, let's get chewing the fat underway here. Guy Ferreri, you know him, you love him. Food Network's superstar host, just signed a new deal.

A new deal with Food Network. Now, you know them, you love them, from diners. drive-ins and dives and his guy's grocery games. They're going to pay the 53-year-old new three-year deal $80 million. Congratulations, Guy. Congratulations. Good for Food Network, good for Guy.

I mean, he's the face of that network and has been for a while. He's, you know, deservedly so. And as long as you're out in California, maybe Guy can stop by Disneyland's Avengers campus and pick up the $100 ham and cheese sandwich. Man, nothing says family and Disney like the $100 sandwich. So Marvel fans visiting the Avengers campus, it opens on June 4th, are going to be able to purchase a ham and cheese sandwich. And I said $100 and I apologize, it's $99.99.

Okay, it's not $100. Okay? They're going to have new Marvel-themed restaurants and eateries, terrain treats, the Chalawarma Palace, the Pim Testing Lab, and the Pim Test Kitchen, where you're going to be able to get the $99 and $99.99 ham and cheese sandwich. So that's good. That is good, right? Now, I guess the quantum-sized Pimini sandwich, is only going to be, you know, $14.49. And it sounds great.

You're going to get salami and rosemary ham and provolone and sun-dried tomato spread on toasted focacia, served with marina, marina, marina, you're in the manara dipping sauce. I'm just kidding you. An arugula salad. It serves six to eight, six to eight. six to eight people for 15 bucks? No, thank you. That's a serving size thing that is not true.

I do not believe that. So if they serve six for 15 bucks, they're saying what, two bucks a piece, two bucks ahead? Yeah, no. You're not saying, oh man, I am so full after my portion of the quantum-sized Pimini sandwich that we i can't go on i'm going to have to take a little bit of a break before i go on walking around disney because i am so full no no my friends that is not that is not true i do not believe it

i'll stick with just give me the 99 99 ham and cheese that one's just for me okay i wonder how many servings though we got to find out now hold on Oh, no, wait, that is the single serving for $14.99. The whole sandwich is $99.99. So you can get a single serving for the 1449, right? So that is the Hammond sees, the Hulk-sized ham and cheese with the salami, rosemary ham, provolone, sun-dried tomato, toasted ful-sotch bread, served on marinated dipping sauce, and a gruel of salad, serves six to eight people, a single serving size of the same.

sandwich is 1449. Okay, I got you. So I still don't believe that the single serving for 1449 is going to fill you up. I mean, you might have to shoot for a couple. You shoot the 30 bucks? And you go, yeah, okay, give me two servings. That might get you through to the next stop, maybe. Wow, Disney, you are making it.

fun for families, aren't you? That's why I see where chef Andrew Gruel is putting together a fund to help struggling families go to Disney and he's going to provide the sandwiches because he was saying that his issue with the cost of going to Disneyland is the $100 sandwiches the size of a palm and the exorbitant ticket prices. So he's going to start a fund for struggling families to go to Disneyland. That's really nice of Chef Andrew Gruhl. And you can go to his, go to his Twitter account at Chef Gruel and, you know, check out and see what he's doing for that.

But the $100 sandwiches, the size of a palm, the size of the palm, maybe is the single serving, right? According to that story. And that's $14.50. I mean, it's not even $15. And you get a sandwich that's the size of your palm. Now, how full are you going to be? I mean, if you're the richest guy in the world, Maybe you go there and you're not so worried about it, right?

I see where Jeff Bezos is, I don't know if he's number two now or if he's number one or if he's number three. So Bezos and Arnau, Bernard Arnaud from France and Elon Musk have been battling back and forth, although Bernard Arnaud. And Jeff Bezos have been really, though, battling for one and two. Elon is back down, I think, to number three. I don't know how he's surviving. I know. I don't know how he's getting by. But he is, for some reason, he's getting by.

I know, weird. But Arnau, Bernardar, no. 72 years of age from Paris, French. He is the CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. I know. uh he's got louis vaton hennessee mark jacobs sephora i mean the guy is uh the guy has got some big big big luxury good companies and so he's done pretty well done pretty well here in the uh in times of struggle so is bezos though i mean amazon is still crankin man they are getting ready we talked last week about them getting ready

to purchase MGM studios and that deal seems to be more than just a rumor. According to all the reports, the deal is during completion for Amazon to get to MGM holdings for $9 billion, including debt. I mean, that would be huge for Amazon and they need it. They really do for it to create some content. And I mean, that puts Amazon and Bezos at the top of the world, right? I mean, he can start not only is Amazon Prime now producing content, it's producing content at its own studios,

the classic Hollywood studio MGM. So it's kind of a cool deal. Anyway, Bernardino. And Jeff Bezos has been battling back and forth for the number one slot on the richest guy in the world. And maybe they, you know, they shouldn't have a problem getting that $100 ham and cheese at Disneyland. And speaking to rich people.

I know Gates is on that list up there. He hasn't been a while since he's battled for that top spot. So he's struggling at that fourth, fifth, and sixth spot with his, I don't know where he's at, anywhere between $124 and $140 some billion. But I see where they are transferring money left and right. And I say they, Bill's people, are transferring people to Melinda as they are selling stocks and moving things around. And according to stories, it looks like she's going to end up with half.

I mean, they're doing a split. Bill is doing a split. So like I said, she is going to get... lot of money. So that's looking like 60, 70 billion. Right? I mean, they're already getting rid of Coca-Cola and Auto Nation and Canadian Railroad.

She's, you know, Bill is putting that under her deal and they're selling Twitter and they're selling other stocks that they've been hoarding and buying and making a lot of money on. And it still claims that they're going to

remain involved in the bill and Linda Gates Foundation, pretty sure that their offices will probably be in different buildings. Or it's going to be, when he's there, I'm not. And when she's there, I'm not. Or Bill might show up when she's there. But when he's there, no way she shows up. Anyway, they still claim they're going to be, you know, involved in their organization.

Yeah, I bet they will. But it looks like that's a split for those two. So I'm right. I was right here on chewing the fat. We'll find out the exact numbers. As the, you know, the proceedings are already underway. The judges said, yeah, that's fine. Everything is good to go.

Just start moving this stuff around. So it's going to end up, I mean, Gates is getting rid of a bunch of stock where he has to, he's got to announce it because he had such a high share in all these companies. He's got to publicly disclose that he's transferring these shares to Melinda. So, I mean, it's already over $3 billion of some of these shares just as a, you know, yeah, that's Monday. You gave her $3 billion? Yeah, that's fine.

I'm going to be, I got to walk around the streets of New York with my daughter. And, you know, everybody thinks I'm out in California. Maybe I'll be out there for a little while. But Melinda is going to get some serious cash. and she's going to be the biggest divorce settlement of all time when it's all said done. That's a chewing the fact guarantee. All right, let's go to the break room. That's annoying.

What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah. Way better.

Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bel Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. I need something cold to drink. So good. You see where Kevin Spacey is going back to work. I know. And people are not happy about it at all.

I mean, the guy's got to work. I mean, we've taken, doesn't he? No, he doesn't? Oh, okay. He's that bad of a guy? We want him gone out of our lives forever? Okay. I know that one person who had accused him of sexual misconduct,

is saying, you know, he's very unhappy that Kevin has to work again. I'm sure he's unhappy that Kevin is even walking the planet, let alone, let alone working. I mean, he was the guy that said he was asked to engage in a sexual act at the time when they were on the set of outbreak in 1995. And I avoided things for the rest of the shoot. Oh, okay. So nothing happened to you?

well it's just a bad guy now we know that uh his one case right that lawsuit has that i don't know that that's been 100% dismissed yet the judge keeps saying that uh he's going to dismiss it if the guy doesn't refuse to identify himself the one um the one accusation but it's a 40 million lawsuit. So unless the accuser discloses his identity publicly, the judge said he's going to gone out. And he said the judge ruled, this judge Louis A. Kaplan in Manhattan ruled that the public has a legitimate interest in the identity of the man because CD has made his allegations

against a public figure. So here you go. if you don't come out publicly, then the case goes away. That's pretty huge. I don't know that that's been done yet, though. I don't think it's been completely thrown out yet. But he's working on a movie, and the guy that's making the movie said, we're very happy about, I'm sure they are.

Kevin's a great actor. Come on. We've kicked him out of House of Cards. We kicked him off of that. we kicked him off of the one movie. Remember all the money he had already done the movie? And they said, no, they don't want anything to do with them. And they brought in Christopher Plummer.

How'd that work out for you, by the way? The movie All the Money in the World, where he was playing J. Paul Getty, a Ridley Scott film. How'd that work out? They spent $50 million on the movie. It made $57 million. I'm willing to bet that had Kevin Spacey been able to remain in that movie, it would have made more than 50 million and he probably would have done a better job playing uh getty i know plumber got an academy award nomination for that uh for best supporting actor

but i think that was uh that was just a toss in to say uh yeah christopher thanks for stepping in for this bad guy kevin spacey and we'll give you a nomination for the movie because 57 million after a $50 million budget didn't make any money. Okay, so, you know, I'm guessing Kevin would have brought some money to that movie. But he's still a bad guy. He doesn't deserve to be walking on the planet, let alone making movies for our entertainment anymore. And the guy who's making it now, this filmmaker, Franco Niro is directing it. And he said, yeah, you know, he definitely, you know, we're happy to have him.

And we're good to go. I'm glad he agreed to participate in my film. I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie. In between the lines, we're going to keep an eye on you. And you better keep your hands to yourself. So we'll see. We'll see. Those, you know, people are not happy.

Speaking of people not being happy, you see, where Kim Kardashian is being sued by seven of her staff members for unpaid wages. Apparently, she wasn't providing workers meal breaks and failing to cover any expenses. Really weird. That does not sound right now. She says, uh, no. Uh, that is not true. I made the deal with the vendor.

And the vendor manages the business and the agreements that they made direct. with the staff, not me. So it's the vendor's fault. I paid it. I paid the vendor. And whatever your deal is with the vendor, that's the way it goes. One worker alleged that he was fired after he asked about his rights and those of

his son, whom he said was only 16, but worked more than a maximum hours allowed for a minor under California labor law. Well, okay. So you complain and you're an independent contractor, at least for Kim, I guess. You're working for the vendor. She's paying the vendor to bring in the workers. It's got to be a strange relationship, right? Instead of Kim having to deal with paying everyone, it's a lot easier.

It's Hollywood. It's Hollywood. I am a vendor and I provide staff for. the rich and famous. That's a good gig. That's a good gig. So you don't even have to... I don't have to worry about finding the maid

and finding the gardener and finding the house cleaner. I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to worry about the pool boy. I hire Bill. And Bill the vendor hires everybody else. So if they're illegal aliens, if they're working too many hours,

if they're not getting insurance, that's because of Bill the vendor. That's not on me. I am just a Hollywood star paying so much money to Bill the vendor. So that's a good deal, man. Bill the vendor, I'm sure... I'm sure Bill the vendor is going to be a little bit of trouble,

though, when some of the staffers from Bill the vendor start coming after the rich and famous? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, honey. That is not happening. This whole failure to pay overtime wages and unlawful business practices. No, I just want somebody here to bring me my drinks. Make sure the pool is clean.

I need someone here to make sure that my bushes are trimmed. The driveway is clean. Everything is lubed and oiled. That's right. You heard me. And I just, that's it. I'm not concerned about how many hours. If you can't be here at 8, send somebody who can.

If you can't be here until 10 o'clock at night, send someone who can. That, I just deal with Bill the vendor. It'll be interesting. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of that. Speaking of someone who probably has hired Bill the vendor, Henry Cavill, Superman, apparently is in the works for the new Highlander film? Wow. They're going to reboot Highlander. I mean,

I loved the first Highlander movie. I mean, it came out in 1986 with Christopher Lambert. Sean Connery, Clancy Brown. It was great. That first movie was awesome. There could be only

one. I mean, there were sequels and television series. I mean, that show, that movie made people a lot of money. but to reboot it with Henry Cavill, I mean, he's a little busy now anyway, right? I mean, he's doing Netflix, The Witcher.

He's doing the return of Sherlock Holmes. He's doing, he's doing some, there was another movie, too. Gosh, darn it was. I can't remember what it was now. But, I mean, he's a busy man. And now, now they're going to make him into the New Highlander. I don't know.

We'll see. I don't know. I... Will I watch it? Sure. Do I... Do I think it's going to be good? I guess it could be.

But that first Highlander movie, come on. That was awesome. There could be only one. Ah, Ramirez. I like the Highlander movie a lot. A few headlines to wrap up the day on Chewing the Fat. We had SoftBank CEO voice concerns about Japan hosting the Olympics with less than 5% of its population vaccinated. Also, the U.S. State Department has issued a do not travel advisory for Japan.

I told you before here on Chewing the Fat that the Olympics is not going to happen. and I still believe that there's not going to happen. They're going to find a way to pull the plug on the Olympics in Japan. I mean, maybe a few countries show up and have a pretend Olympics. Maybe, but I doubt it. I doubt it. Late show, Stephen Corbair, man, how bad do you want to see his show? How bad have you missed being in the audience to see Stephen Colbert?

Well, now you're going to be able to get back to seeing Steve and Steve. And on June 14th, he's going to start taping in front of a live audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater again. But, of course, the audience is going to have to be fully vaccinated. You didn't think they were just going to let people in, did you? Man, I watch some of, there's a few shows that I watch on CBS or NBC or whatever network he's on. And so I see his promos for his show. that air in the couple of the shows that I watch,

he is terrible. Terrible. But, you know, I mean, I guess it would be worth to see him live and be terrible in person. No, not really?

No, I didn't think so. And Peloton trying to fight back here in the U.S., they are investing $400 million into its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Ohio. So it's supposed to be projected to start turning out

everything in 2023. So they're trying to make up for their little treadmill issue going on. Hey, I wanted to thank everyone who emailed me at Chewing the Fat at the Blaze.com about getting the vaccine and your thoughts on it. I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much, so many. of you were saying, I was surprised at how many people were, you know, had gotten the vaccine. They were, you know, saying that it was, you know, part of the deal. And many of them that responded talked about wanting to travel. And so they did it more because they wanted to travel than anything else. It wasn't about, I mean, I guess, you know, deep down it was about your safety and you didn't want to get sick, but they wanted to travel. And they knew that they weren't going to be able to travel unless they had the vaccine.

And now we know you're not going to be able to get to see Stephen Colbert unless you've got the vaccine. So I know. I know. I know. It makes you want to get the vaccine even more, doesn't it? Me too. Me too. We see now, I guess we're all supposed to be okay with Wuhan Institutional.

of virology lying to us. So we find out now that many of the researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November of 2019. That was at least a month before China reported the first cases of COVID-19. And we already knew. We've talked about this. It was here, I believe, I believe personally, my opinion that, you know, that. COVID was already here even before November of 2019 because many people were sick in this country

and they were testing negative for the flu, but they had all these symptoms and no one knew what the heck it was. So they were just kind of treating it like the flu and sending you home and letting you ride it out. And I believe that that was COVID. And I'm sure that many doctors. would agree privately that that was the case. I don't know that they would come out and say it. Even today, even today. It's been so long.

They'd be afraid to come out and say, oh, yeah, I was here. The China virus. Oh, we can't call it the China virus. Never mind. And I see where the Upper Peninsula of Michigan gets snubbed again. Thanks to the United States Census Bureau. Man, the Upper Peninsula,

the Upers are pissed. And, you know, I was born in Michigan, but I was born, you know, in the hand, in the mitten of Michigan. If you look, I'm holding up my hand now. You know, I was born right here in the Tri-Cities. I was not born in the Upper Peninsula. And so, you know, they got snapped again.

I see where the U.S. Census Bureau just released its first 2020 census results. which included the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. And they show you the results on their Twitter feed, and it shows, you know, it goes through the quick video, and it says, based on the 2020 census, six states will gain seats in the House of Representatives, and it highlights Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Montana, and Oregon.

And then the video continues. as it goes on and says, while seven states will lose seats. And it shows California, it shows Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York, and of course, Michigan. But the Upper Peninsula is not highlighted.

And the Uper's are pissed. I know, I know. The Twitter account, the Upper Peninsula, at Upper Peninsula, in all caps, the United States Census Bureau, the census, are you kidding me? I am so done. And they have a screenshot of the seven states that will lose seats and the Upper Peninsula

is not highlighted. Now, the U.S. Census Bureau, of course, did correct the error a day later, but that's, the damage is already done. you that's over all right have a nice day you don't get to make up for it you already dissed the upper peninsula so if you're a yupor you got disced again and man i don't blame you for being upset are you cannot know that i mean i know that i was you know i was born in michigan i got out of there as fast as i could and you know it's still it's stop it don't look at me like that but i you know how do you not know as part of the i don't know

the United States government that that is part of Michigan. Really? You just, like it doesn't exist? Or it's part of Wisconsin? Oh, I see. You thought it was part of another state?

Oh, okay. No problem then. And you said, you made up for it, right? You made your highlight again later, right? So it's okay. Okay. All right.

No problem. And things are not looking good in Belarus. So if you haven't heard, All the countries, the EU and the U.S. are all up in arms and they're going to put sanctions against Belarus because of their dictator who's been in power for about 27 years. Lushenko, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the leader, Alexander Lushenko. Did I say leader? I meant president of Belarus. President Alexander Lushenko.

So apparently there was a dissident journalist and blogger on a plane flying from Athens to Lithuania. And it was approaching the Belarusian airspace. And so Lushenko sends one of his fighter jets up and says it has to land. It's an emergency, says there's a bomb on board. and it lands in minks. Well, as soon as the plane landed, they arrested the blogger and the journalist. You know, the bomb threat's over,

but we're just here to arrest him. And take care. You can go now. So they are not happy. They're saying that it's an unprecedented active state terrorism. So we'll see. We'll see. I mean, he was, their country was already in a little bit of an uproar.

He cracked down after the election that was disputed by some of the people in Belarus. And he was not having any of that. He was having none of that. And he did a nice little crackdown on some of the protesters. And I'm president and get over it. So we'll see what happens to President Alexander Lushenko in Belarus. as he decides that, hey, if you fly over my airspace and you're somebody I want to arrest, it's coming down, okay?

I mean, he did it safely. He didn't shoot it out of the air. It was just a, you know, a fighter jet up there to, you know, escort it down because of the possible bomb threat on the plane. And so we're just arresting people flying over the country. You're in my airspace. You're under arrest. I'm taking you down. Why? Because I am President Alexander Lushenko. Get over it.

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made to measure growth and expansion advice. And we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk business. We're talking to Brian scary today here on Chewing the Fat, and Brian is joining us because it's Nat Geo Kids time all over again. The Kids Almanac, 2022 is out, and he's a big part of it, and I wanted to talk to him about a few other things as well, but we'll get the Nat Geo stuff

out of the way. All right, so you've got the new Nat Geo Kids book out, the Kids Almanac, and are you excited this year? How much new stuff is in it? I mean, obviously, it's exciting to have a book like this, just in the house for kids to be able to learn when they're not at school. I know. It's great. It's learning without letting them know they're learning, I guess. I love this book. You know, I'm glad to have been a small part of it. And I wish I had something like this when I was a kid. But, you know, it's a beautiful book. It's chock full of, interesting facts and figures. It's, you know, obviously my wheelhouse is the ocean, but this book is filled with stories about animals and history, exploration, science, outer space, cultures, just so many things. There's quizzes, there's games, there's puzzles, there's interactive features. And, you know, if I had a book like this when I was a kid, it would have been so fun to just, you know, on a summer vacation, my parents were driving me

somewhere to the beach or whatever, sitting in the back seat, just diving in to a book. Yeah, it would have been great. Yeah, exactly. So I think, you know, it's a fun, fun thing for kids to do and maybe get them to put down their phones or devices for a little while. I find myself, you know, I leave them, I leave them out on the coffee table so I can just kind of catch them every so I have to catch my kids just sitting there and they're actually starting to just browse through it. And I love it. You can get that if you want, Brian. No, no, no, I don't You need me to talk to them for you? Send some things straight.

Yeah. Would you take that call? Yeah. You know, I probably, when I'm doing a Zoom like this, I would have the phone out of here, but because I've been going back and forth today. It's all good. Don't worry about it. Yeah, let it go.

It's all good. All right. It's not a problem. Listen, now you're a small part of the Net Geo Kids because you're a diver, right? And, I mean, you've been a diving photographer. You know, I mean, that's what you do. right? And you've been all over the world underwater. What is some of the favorite places that you've, you know, you've been, first of all, I want to know how many times you've been underwater thinking

to yourself, I've got to get to the top. I need air. Yeah. Well, you know, so I've been diving for about 43 years now. I guess I started about 77. So I was, I guess probably a year old when I started diving. No. But I've estimated something like 12,000 hours underwater. That's just incredible. Right. But, you know, I have to say, even my wildest expectations as a young boy have been exceeded. It's just been extraordinary. Every year it gets better. I learn more. You know, in the beginning, as a photographer, I discovered early on that I wanted to use a camera as a way to explore the ocean to tell stories about the things I was seeing. Show other people what you saw. I'm down here looking at this stuff.

Yeah, it's amazing to show family who had no idea of these things. And I set my sights on National Geographic from a young age, and it was a very lofty dream. You know, I come from this little textile mill town where I used to work after football practice in high school. But I had this big dream. It came true. And over the years, I've gotten to learn so much working with scientists and so forth. But to your question about, you know, have I ever been afraid or felt an need?

to have to get out of the water. I would say, of course, yes, but it's very few. You know, we talk about like animals that are dangerous or potentially dangerous like sharks. I've made hundreds, if not thousands of dives with sharks. And there's been maybe three or four times where I thought of need to get out of the water. Yeah, you know, you just see their behavior change.

They're agitated. And it's like going to a neighbor's dog, seeing a neighbor's dog in a yard. One day, it's wagging its tail. You get a good vibe. the next day you know not to be there. And it's the same with wild animals. So I've never had anything too bad,

but I have felt that little primal voice telling me you should probably get out. So have you found, and we'll get back to the Nat Geo stuff, but have you found anything, any artifacts, anything like that? I mean, we just did the story, we just did the story, you know, a couple days ago about the pear diving in Florida finding the mammoth bone. Yeah, so cool. I mean, how many mammoth bones you got in your back pocket? I have no mammoth bones, but I would love a mammoth bone.

It's a certain part of history that I'm fascinated with. I read books about Willie Mammothus, and man, I think the notion of going to a river and finding, you know, mastodon or mammoth bones would be pretty darn cool. Okay. I grew up doing a lot of shipwreck diving in New England. I ran a charter boat with a guy out of Rhode Island. There's a German U-boat off the shore. It was the last German U-Belt sunk in World War II.

So I've made many, many dives out there. I've got a dozen dives on the Andrea Doria, you know, and I found... Now you're just showing off. Yeah. So I don't have a mammoth bone, but I have China from me, Andrea Doria in my China closet. So which is all perfectly legal, by the way, a friend of mine had the salvage rights and it was perfectly legal. I wasn't breaking the law.

I have some old court holes. So, yeah, some pretty cool stuff. Yeah, no kidding. So when you talk about diving and, you know, photographing and, you know, when did you decide that you were going to add the photography to the diving? You talked about, you know, you wanted other people to see it. But at what point did you say, you know, I need to start taking some pictures. That's a really great question. You know, so I started diving. I was about 15, 16 years old. It was maybe a year or two after that. I attended a dive show, a diving conference in Boston.

And as a teenager, I remember sitting in the audience and watching underwater photographers and filmmakers present their work. And I often describe it as an epiphany where I remember writing home that afternoon or evening with my girlfriend at the time, my wife now, and saying, I know what I want to do. I want to be able to be a bit. an underwater photographer. So by the way, you know, that same weekend, there had been a flower show in Boston that she wanted to go to. So had I listened to her, I might have been a florist today. No telling.

There's no telling. You just never know. I mean, you can still take pictures of flowers if you want. It's fine. I could. And it'd be a lot cheaper and probably safer. Yeah. No kidding.

So if we get to the Nat Geo Kids book, I know that they have a new, a new program that they're featuring a new challenge this year that you guys wanted to talk a little bit about. So what is the new 2021, 2021, 2022 challenge for Nat Geo Kids? Right. This year's Almanac challenge is something that's near and dear to my heart. It's called Our Awesome Ocean. And it's really a show and tell kind of challenge where kids can pick their favorite ocean animal and then they can either draw a picture of it or they could write a little piece about it. They could write a poem or an essay or a biography. or they could do both, and then they can submit it to National Geographic.

The instructions are in the book. You can submit it, and in next year's almanac, some of those pieces will be published, some of the most creative, visual, and written pieces. So it's a way for kids to become engaged, to be creative, and maybe to get published as well. Nice. That'd be great. So Nat Geo Kids, 2022, is out and available wherever you pick up your books, and you can, you know, obviously go to nationaldeographic.com. What's next for you?

Where are you diving next, Brian? What's going on? Well, I'm actually working on a new story for National Geographic magazine about my native water is a place called the Gulf of Maine, which really goes from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, up to Canada to Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a body of water that is unique in the world for its biodiversity. It, in no small way, fostered the colonization of America with Europeans coming over the 14th, 15th century. but it's been identified as the epicenter of climate change in the ocean.

It's warming 99% faster than the rest of the global ocean. So it's changing. So all of these iconic species like lobsters and things that we have come to associate with the Gulf of Maine, you know, 40 years down the road, who knows? So I'm going to be celebrating the biodiversity that still remains, but also looking at some of the ways it's changing. So what is the deepest dive that you've done? I know I'm trying to think if you're setting any records, Brian.

What are you doing? No, no records. So watch. You're in the Gulf of Maine. So what. How deep you're going? Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what people want to know.

No, no. I don't, I'm not into breaking those records. I've been down with scuba, maybe close to 300 feet on shipwrecks in the North Atlantic, which is very deep, you know, quite honestly, in the dark, deep, cold North Atlantic for me, wearing, you know, six tanks and seven regulators. and dry suits and, you know, breathing helium and all these special gases and so.

Wow. In submersibles, I've been down, you know, maybe, I don't know, a thousand meters or a little less. But really, that's not what you are, you know, what's your kick from anyway, really, right? No, it's more about the stories and wildlife. And I'd love to go more in the deep ocean, you know, go down a mile deep and really explore. Maybe in the time ahead. We talked about, you know, sharks getting agitated and you're actually feeling scared to get out of there.

But what's the scariest, you know, sea animal that you've run across, sea creature that you've run across? Probably saltwater crocodile. I've had one one that was only about maybe nine or ten feet long only sort of stalk me in Mexico. I was in a shallow water environment and this guy got a bead on me and he started walking towards me. And, you know, it's very different than a shark. You know, a shark, if it gets too frisky, it'll bump its nose into my camera and usually it'll swim the other direction. But this guy, you poke it with a little piece of PVC and it just opened its mouth and

kept crawling toward me. So I managed to get out okay. But, you know, always important to have a photo assistant in the water that you can out swim. So. A good rule of thumb at all times. Brian scary. Exactly. Thank you very.

much. I know you're busy and I know, heck, you've got more people waiting on hold to talk to you. So, Brian Scarry, thank you for joining us on Join the Fat today. I appreciate it. And thanks for all your hard work with National Geographic too. My pleasure, Jeff. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much.