Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Supernatural’s Robert Benedict & Richard Speight

Episode Date: March 30, 2021

Robert Benedict and Richard Speight (Supernatural, Kings of Con) join us today to discuss the many different challenges that come with parenting and relationships, specifically during the craziness of this past year. We talk about how Richard and Robert met, the formation of their podcast The Kings of Con, and fun times at conventions. Richard and Robert also go into deep detail of Robert’s stroke and how that insane turn of events cemented their friendship forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. TD Bank knows that running a small business is a journey, from startup to growing and managing your business. That's why they have a dedicated small business advice hub on their website to provide tips and insights on business banking to entrepreneurs. No matter the stage of business you're in, visit td.com slash small business advice to find out more or to match with a TD small business banking account manager. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.

Hi, how are you? On your way to work, maybe? On your way home from work? This is a hello, right to you, straight to you. I hope you enjoy today's show. I hope you're smiling right now. I hope you had a good day or you're going to have a good day. And, you know, try to be present right now. Trying to be present. Ryan, you're okay? Good.

I'm checking everything. Checking everything. The lights. Okay, yeah. Everything seems to look okay. I got a haircut. Nice. Yeah, got a haircut.

And I got vaccinated. Congratulations. Thank you. I got the Johnson and Johnson, the one shot. That was it. The girl behind me got, um, I was perfectly fine. Nothing. Nothing happened to me.

Not a, not fatigue, not nauseous, nothing. It's been, uh, quite some time now. So knock on wood, nothing's happening. Just a one and done. I didn't really want to do the other one. I guess they're all, they're all pretty good, but, uh, still got to be safe and stuff, but, uh, feels, it kind of feels good to be vaccinated. Do you feel relieved?

Uh, yeah. I do feel relieved. Even though it doesn't fix. everything, but it fixes something. Yeah. My arm's not even sore. Really? No. It might even, it's less than a mosquito bite. Nice. Just nothing. I got lucky, I think. Gracious Lord. Thanks for everybody who tuned in to the stage at show and watched my band play.

Rob and I had a great, great day. My band Sunspin, we played on stage it. We played two shows this last Saturday and gave a lot of prizes in the Zooms. We zoomed a lot of people. And thank you, everyone, for being there. and supporting the band. You're always so amazing. A big shout out to all the patrons who do that. If you want to follow the band, you can go to sunspin.com. We got lunchboxes and merch and all sorts of fun stuff.

And you can book the band if you'd like. You could book a Zoom with the band. Sunspin.com. Handles are at Sunspin Band everywhere. And also the inside of you online store, got a bunch of stuff. I think we've still got some Lex Luthor shirts and autographs. pictures and other shirts and just did lots of great stuff on there it's the inside of you online store uh we should probably give a discount code we did uh we did ryan 15 last time

didn't we was inside of yeah inside of ryan inside of ryan inside of ryan 15 was right so maybe the you know uh inside ryan do we dare go 20 that's that's kind of a lot that's a lot's a big percent you know what eff it 20 percent off everything in the store but this is only going to be for till tomorrow wednesday so get it while you can 20% off everything in the inside of you online store inside of ryan 20 inside of ryan or inside brian oh sorry inside ryan there we go 20 there we go 20% off hey thank you guys for tuning in i know a lot of guests come and people listen they want to listen to those guests and they then tune out but uh you know we're a podcast that could use your help you know we

You could use your listening skills. And if you dug this, if you like it, then we hope you'll stick around and, you know, sign on. Subscribe. Where can they subscribe, Ryan? At Inside of You Pod on Twitter, at Inside of You podcast on Instagram and Facebook, YouTube. com slash Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. And it's all right here. Yep.

See? It's all right here if you're watching. But please subscribe. Please subscribe and get your friends to subscribe. It truly helps and try to listen to every episode. We try to give you something interesting, interesting guests. Great guest today. Rob Benedict, Richard Spate, these guys, an incredible, incredible stories that they tell.

They're dad's stories of being a dad. But you might know these guys from Supernatural. They're both musicians. We've played together. They're fantastic guys. I really enjoyed talking with them. It's a good one. It was one of my favorites for sure.

Really? Now, that says a lot. Ryan doesn't usually come out and say. that. I usually have to ask him. Did you like it? I really did. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you have really great conversations with people and you learn a lot. And some of their stories were just fascinating and one in particular about Richard saving Rob's life. So without further ado, let's get inside Rob Benedict and Richard Spate. It's my point of you. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.

Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. Rob Benedict. How's it going, buddy? I love that you have a gold microphone. Why is that? Because you're just gold? I don't know. I just thought it looked cool.

Oh, you are cool. Is that a head in the back? That's my head. It's my head from our Kings of Khan show that Rich and I did. Right. That's right. I want to get into that. And Richard Spate now, who's Richard Spate Jr., God forbid, I just call him Richard Spate.

But he'll be on in just a minute he's having a conversation with a teacher. Did he get in trouble? What's the deal there? Yeah, I don't know. It sounds, you know, it sounds serious, but I don't know. It's something, you know, he's got three boys. He's got three boys. So, you know, at any one time, one of them is getting into trouble.

Oh, wait a minute. So it is, is it a serious talk with the teacher about his, children? I don't know. I don't know how serious it is. But yeah. We're just having a conversation with a teacher. We're going to find out is what we're going to do. It's not necessarily, you know, a bad thing. But it can't be great. It can't be great if I'm being honest. You know, it's Yeah, who has an hour conversation Zoom with a teacher if it's great? Like, hey, I just want to catch you up. Just tell your kids are great. Fantastic. Let's go from every course. Math, aces across the board.

Just really powering through speech class, very confident, no farting, doing a lot of good for this high school. Yeah. And does the teacher not have other classes? That's my other thought, you know, is he or she just sort of skipping the other classes to have this long talk about speaking. What teacher has an hour to spare with one parent? I don't have an hour.

And why isn't his wife on the meeting with him? Is it just him? It might be just him. His wife works and she works, she has a crazy job and works long hours. Either that or maybe old Dick Spate Jr. Is the disciplinarian here? It could be. I mean, he is.

He is the disciplinarian. Those kids do not mess around when he's home. Were you a good kid in school? Yeah, I was a good kid. I was a good kid. I, um, yeah. I figured out early. my brother was an athlete, star athlete.

And when I went to high school, I realized, okay, I didn't have anything to offer in that realm. So school became my, what I did well. You know, I was a good student. You excelled. I excelled. Yeah, that was a good kid. And shit was going on at home. So.

What shit? Wait, you can't just say throw that away. You can't say shit was going on at home. I might have talked about it last time I was on your show. But, you know, my dad left was kind of like, spending time between my house and his mistress's house. Mistresses, plural? No, one, just one mistress.

Right. And I was maybe 12. And then eventually that sort of became sort of the mistress got most of the time. And he just kind of didn't come back. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so it was rough. By the time I got to high school, it was rough. My mom was in a bad, dark place, and my siblings were gone.

I'm the youngest of four. and it was just me and my mom and so I just I don't know some kids rebel at high school like for me it I was like fuck it I'm gonna do you know I'm just gonna work as hard as I can and be just the best student and being the president of everything and you know what I mean involved in everything and just just overdo it so that that's that was high school for me how do you have that much what's the word when you now I guess hindsight uh no uh well how do you just how do you know as you have to be pretty emotionally smart or aware that to make a conscious decision like that to go, oh, I, this is fucked up. I'm going to do something really good with my life. Whereas I was

hanging by a thread my entire school. Like, oh, yeah, just like, you know, I am not going to make it. I always say, I've talked about this, but I always say I have had a, I don't know if death wish is the right term, but I just never thought I'd live past grade school, high school, college. I never, I always thought, yeah. And I just, I just, I didn't have that emotional support at home. And it sounds like, you know, maybe you did. Neither was your mother. I, I'll get to that. But how did you, yeah, how did you make that decision that you're going to do well and you're going to excel and get out? How do you do that? I don't know. My mom talks about it. She said literally we had a conversation after my first day of high school. And I was like, this is what I'm going to do.

It was, it was my brother's six four. And he's like, he was. He was like, he was. was like the basketball star. I was the opposite of that. I came in and I knew what I, you know, I knew I was a smart kid and I could do, I really wanted to have that achievement like he had. And I guess I just made that conscious decision to go, you know, this is going to be what I do. And I think, too, when you're that age, you know, I have teenagers now. And when you're that age, like, and I, you know, I've been through a divorce now and my, my children are teenagers. And And I see them do it in a way that you almost, you, you hang on to what you can control, almost obsessively.

I can control that. And for me, I could control, I could control that. I just, I was smart enough that I was like, I can control this. I can get good grades and be a, you know, a good kid. Where it got me in trouble is that like I got obsessed about people liking me. It was weird. Yeah, I got through that. I got obsessed about like really wanting to be liked and doing whatever I could just to be liked,

which kind of had this weird thing to do with like, you know, my dad being gone and my world kind of being exploded. So I was just, I was just like, are you mad at me? Don't be mad at me. Are you mad at me? Do you feel, do you feel like there's part of that in you still, that little kid who just wants to be liked? 100%. We don't lose that. I've always just, I just when I walk into a room, it's not like people always say, oh, you're so confident. I think it's because I'm not confident. I want people to like me and accept me. And I'm like, how do I make them like me? because I don't feel like how I can't be likable. You know, I'm me.

I still have that image of myself as this young punk who I just didn't feel that was, you know, necessarily loved or liked or by a lot of people. And so that's a hard thing to lose. But you're like your father and your mother, they, did they show affection to you? My mom did. Yeah, my dad wasn't there. But my mom did.

I didn't have that. I never had that male energy. around because he wasn't around, but, but my mom, my mom was affectionate. Well, how does that make you, like, does that put so much pressure on you to be the best father ever? And are you hard on yourself about being a father? A little bit, you know, a little bit. And certainly going through the separation and then divorce was tough for me because I, I, you know, I just, I've worked extra hard to not be my dad. So, yeah, I mean, I, I do. I, I, I, I overachieve it being a father, too. And I have to, you know, be careful not to, you know, they get to a point where they're like,

we got it we're good you can stand down you know listen guys i always feel like if i was a father i would be like look i love you i want you to tell me everything that you need to if you want to you could share anything with me i've been through it all i've embarrassed myself i have been a big fuck up in my life um and i want you to know that if you do something stupid you can come to me i'm not going to hit you. You don't hit kids anymore. Okay. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, you know, I want you to know that you can come to me. I might get mad at you. I might be disappointed, but like we can work things out. And I want you to know that I'm here because a lot of kids, I don't think that they feel like their parents are there. Right. No, and that's, that's me.

I mean, that's my relationship with my, my kids, my son has become, you know, he's, he's such a good kid. He's just a really good kid. He tells me everything. We're just buddies and he'll tell me anything. and that's he's 17 does he tell you about uh sex does he say you know does he say dad uh you know i got a handy what does he do yeah i mean he'll you know uh yeah he you know uh he's not having sex but he but he has a girlfriend and and you know i get the so much so sometimes i'm like you don't need to i don't need to know that you can you know you can have that one for yourself like what will he say like what would he say i'm embarrassed because i don't want him to like hear this Good. See, my mom never did that. My mom would write articles in our small town paper and embarrass me on a daily basis. And she would flirt with other men in front of me. And she would always embarrass. And I think a big thing is don't embarrass your kids. Like let them be them. Don't try to interfere. But look, like I said, I have two dogs. And I do the best I can. But I'm like, I fucking can barely, you know, handle two dogs. How could I ever be a father of a of a human being? That's.

Yeah. And when you go through this like divorce and all this stuff, did you think you were going to be married forever? Did you think, you know, I'm never going to lead this woman? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, without question. We were married for 24 years. So it wasn't your call. It was all of a sudden one day she wakes up and says, oh, yeah, I'm done. It was complicated. It was complicated. It was kind of many years in the making. We have very separate lives and our paths were going in opposite directions. And, um, It was kind of, you know, lots of years of therapy and finally just, you know, I think we both just kind of threw the towel and, you know, we'd realize we were both not happy. Is it hard to like when your heart's broken to not share that with your kids and try to be strong? Is there a balancing act you have to do? Yeah, and that was a thing. You know, at first it was like, it's, you know, we're fine. We're working it out.

It's, you know, we're going to try living apart for a little bit, but we're working, you know. And then finally they were like, just talk to us. what's going on, you know? They were the ones that sort of, like, called it. And so, you know, that's when Molly and I had to both be very honest with them about what's going on. And it sent our relationship into a whole different realm, too, in a good way. Really? So now you can have conversations and it's amicable and it's okay.

Everything's okay now. Yeah, yeah. We, you know, we, her and I get along really well and we all four hang out and we have family nights together, you know, so we still have that. I think that's really important. Are you still attracted to her? Do you ever think maybe we can get back together or something you've kind of like, you know, you've let that go? No, I kind of let that go.

But she's, you know, she's like family to me. I mean, I've known her for, you know, like half my life. And I mean, we started dating almost 30 years ago. And we were married for 24 years. Like, you know, you don't just let that go. That doesn't go away. So I love her and she'll always be like family to me. that's you're a tough guy i i that'd be really tough i mean uh you know who's here to break up this

conversation speaking of tough guys this is richard spade junior is just joining the conversation we were getting deep boy we were getting deep fast dude yeah so wait richard before you get going first of all you've got no facial hair we'll get into that i've never seen you without facial hair b uh you know i thought you were doing a zoom call with some uh teacher for some magazine or something I didn't realize you were having a disciplinarian meeting with a teacher about your children. Yes, this is a full school day. Any day of the week in lockdown is a full school day at Dick Jr. School for the Blonde. I have three students.

And I am fully charged with proctoring their education, which so far is going just great. Okay, something, there's sarcasm. He's laying on us pretty thick there, Rob. I'm just not. I mean, listen, man, I love teachers. I admire teachers. I do not necessarily have the patience and the skill. I love spending time with my boys. That's great. But I'd be lying if I didn't say they're not going to lose a few steps this last year and a half because I'm not, I'm not great. I'm, I'm there. I'm present. I try to drive the, keep the ball moving forward and all that good stuff. But, you know. what are some of the issues like that a parent has to deal with for instance like is it for me it was he won't shut the fuck up okay there's s's satisfactory there's s minuses then there's eyes i believe there were i don't remember what eyes were and then there were u's unsatisfactory i was always a you dying to know what the eyes were i think the eyes were indifferent i'm at a loss maybe it stood for i quit I quit. I got paddled as a kid. I remember there's this kid Bruce Holder in our school who they had paddling corporal punishment.

I haven't heard that word in a while. And I remember he was going to get paddled because he did something and he fainted in the hallway. I don't know, whatever happened, but he fainted and they took him to the nurse's office. And then the teacher called his mom and said, hi, Mrs. Holder, your son said the F bomb and did something else. and we were going to paddle him and he fainted. And she says, well, when his ass wakes up, paddle him. That was it. So different mentality.

I grew up in southern Indiana. You gave a kid a smack if he did something wrong every once in a while. It's also different decades, baby. Right. So what is it, Dick Spate, Jr.? Well, what is it? Now it's different because, you know, we're talking about lockdown school. So the issue with what kids are navigating,

is very different than classroom learning because, you know, and I know this from dealing with my own children, I also know this from talking to friends of mine who are teachers. And that is, kids just get up and walk away. It's not, you know, you wouldn't get up and leave class, but you get up and walk away from a screen. It's hard to keep their attention and keep them engaged

and keep them present, literally physically present. They can shut their camera off. They can be doing a little text chain that no one's aware of down here to the right. They could have a second computer or a second window open on their computer and be watching David Dobrick YouTube videos and not watching in that class. Porn's hard to do on a school computer. Those Google computers are logged, are going to build to have that not work.

It's more that they're talking to their friends at the same time. Right, right, right, right. Or are playing a game. But at my house, the teenagers are, it's more like during school hours, like I'm like the, I'm the cook. I make the lunches, I get them up, but they're like, then they're like, get out of my room. Like, I can't knock. If they're in the class, like, Dad, I'm in class.

Like, I have to, you know, kind of stay away. But Rich, Rich's youngest is, what, nine, eight or nine? Nine, yeah. How do you get, Jesus? Rich has to be more hands-on with him. How do you, for me, you know, it's like, you know, I talked to, do you have a propensity? Big word for me to just hang out with people who have kids like the both of you. Because for me, I have, I can relate to somebody like my friend Rob.

It's like, oh, my dog's shit all over the house today. He's like, oh, fuck, dude. But like, do you feel like you need to relate to somebody who has children too? So is that why you guys get along? I know you've been friends a long time. But are most of your friends married kids? Are those people you sort of relate more to? Is that why when people get girlfriends and wives and kids, they stop hanging out with

the single loser? Well, I'll tell you something. I think largely our social group, certainly the social. group we share through Rob's band and through supernatural and all this stuff, almost everybody's married of kids or has gotten married in the time we've known each other. But I actually think it's not that I think when you have kids, you're immediately like, so long single lameos off to the married club we go. I think your entire life schedule shifts. It's like if you're a hog farmer, you're not hanging out with the night DJ because you're up at four feeding animals. Like the

idea that your life has changed so dramatically when you have kids. It throws you onto a schedule that is different. So I have single buddies, and they'll go like, hey, you want to go grab a beer? I'm like, yeah, I'd love to. You're like, let's meet at blah, blah, blah, blah, nine. Nine! No, I ain't meet nowhere at nine made. How about a diet soda at the counter at four?

I'm just like, if my tail lights aren't aimed home by nine, if I go to sleep and there's not a nine in front of the hour, my day the next day is effed, you know? because it's just, I remember when my sister, I have two older sisters, and I remember when my oldest sister Barbie got married and had her first kid. And Barbie was always super fun and social. And I went to visit her in Alexandria, Virginia, where she was living with her husband and her new baby, or, you know, toddler. And she's like, all right, well, let's have dinner. And I'm like, it's six. It's like, yeah, that's when we eat dinner. I'm like, who on God's green earth eats dinner? six. Let's eat dinner at nine. My mind was still in that and she was saying nine. Well, go enjoy your dinner because we're feeding the kid at six and our will be, God willing,

asleep by nine. And I thought that was loony. And then, of course, decades later, I had my own kids and I was like, oh, oh, yeah. Okay. Inside of you is brought to you by Quince. I love Quince, Ryan. I've told you this before. I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it religiously. You can get all sorts of amazing, amazing clothing for such reasonable prices. Look, cooler temps are rolling in. And as always, Quince is where I'm turning for fall staples that actually last.

From cashmere to denim to boots, the quality holds up and the price still blows me away. Quince has the kind of fall staples you'll wear nonstop, like Super Soft, 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters starting at just $60. Yeah, I'm going to get you one of those, I think. Oh, nice. I like to see you in a cashmere. Maybe a different color, so we don't look like twins. Their denim is durable, and it fits right, and their real leather jackets bring that

clean, classic edge without the elevated price tag. And what makes Quince different, they partner directly with ethical factories and skip the middlemen, so you get top-tier fabrics and craftsmanship at half the price of similar brands. These guys are for real. so much great stuff there that you just have to go to Quince. Q-U-I-N-C-E. I'm telling you, you're going to love this place. Keep it classic and cool this fall with long-lasting staples from Quince.

Go to quince.com slash inside of you for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash inside of you. Free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash inside of you. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money, period. It's Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app

that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. This is just a wonderful app. There's a lot of apps out there that really, you know, you have to do this and pay for and that. But with Rocket Money, it's they're saving you money you're getting this app to save money

I don't know how many times that I've had these unwanted subscriptions that I thought I canceled or I forgot to you know the free trial ran at Ryan I know you did it that's why you got rocket money I did yeah and I also talked to a financial advisor recently and I said I had rocket money and they said that's good this will help you keep track of your budget see see it's only we're only here to help folks we're only trying to give you things that will help you. So Rocket Money really does that. Rocket money shows you all your expenses in one place, including subscriptions you forgot about. If you see a subscription you no longer

want, Rocket Money will help cancel it. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you. The app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals. They'll even talk to the customer service so you don't have to. Yeah, because I don't want to. Press one now. If you want to, oh, get it. Alerts if your bills increase in price, if there's unusual activity in your accounts, if you're close to going over budget, and even when you're doing a good job, Rocket Money's 5 million members have saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions. With members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features, cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name inside of you with My Michael Rosenbaum in the survey so they know I sent you. Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show.

Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket Money. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses as so many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. Crazy, right? How cool is that?

monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings and you know what's great it works it really works ryan rocket money will even try to negotiate lowering your bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and it goes to work to get you better deals they'll even talk to customer service thank god so you don't have to um i don't know how many times we talk about this but like you know you got it and they helped you in so many ways and with these subscriptions that you think are like oh it's a one month subscription for free and then you pay well we forget we want to watch a show on some streamer and then we forget and now we owe $200 by the end of the year yeah they're there to make sure those

things don't happen and they will save you money you know rocket rocket money's five million members have saved a total of $500 million and canceled subscriptions with members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Get alerts if your bills increase in price, if there's unusual activity in your accounts, if you're close to going over budget, and even when you're doing a good job. How doesn't everybody have Rocket Money?

It's insane. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app enter my show name inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum in the survey so they know that I sent you. Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today.

and tell them you heard about them from my show. I look at you guys, and I think, of course, these two should have children. They're grounded, they're lovely human beings. And that's why I gauge, like, whether I would be a good father. I just think that it's a mistake. I think the child will be a mistake. I think, well, not a mistake, but I think I will kill myself trying to be something.

because I will never be as look I always have this issue with trying to be great at everything and I'm working on that because you can't be especially as a father you're going to make mistakes you're going to you know and you know I definitely don't want them to follow in my footsteps I want them to be secure

and loved and and feel like so I mean are you I talked to Robbie about this but like are you do you feel like you do you make a lot of big mistakes are you hard on yourself or are you just kind of easy going and let things kind of flow. I'm not easygoing.

I'm the hard opposite of easygoing. And I make a shitload of mistakes. But I don't think you can parent and not make mistakes because it's not an exact science. It simply isn't. You don't know the personality of the child you're going to have. You don't know what's going to work or not work with that child. And then if you have another child,

say you get in a groove with all number one, here goes number two with a whole different set of criteria. Not the same parents, not the same journey to the child. And I'll say to something, to piggyback on something you said about like you think you'd screw it up, because you are right now a man who is not teamed up with somebody that you want to enter this adventure with. Like I think a lot of having children for me, and I would love to hear Rob's two cents on this, although I think I know what he's going to say, was I've outpunted my coverage when it came to marrying somebody. with attributes and qualities that I admire.

So the idea of teaming up with her to have kids, I'm like, we can do that. It's sort of like, all right, neither one of us know what we're doing, but you liked your family. I liked my family, and I like you, and you like me, let's give this a go. And there's something very much like rah-rah about it that's part of the fun adventure and challenge of having kids

is the team element of it. I mean, I can't imagine being a single dad and never have been, knock on wood, and a single mom, even harder, I can't imagine that journey. But for me, being happily married to somebody I admire and when I see attributes of her in my children, I think, good, thank God, they pulled that from my wife. That's great. Rob, yeah. Rob, you want to take that one? Yeah, you know, for me, it's a little bit different now because, like I said, I've been through this kind of life change and I find myself for the first time.

parenting solo half the time the kids are with me and I'm by myself with them. Certainly, yeah, I mean, and like to what I was saying earlier, like, that's why my ex-wife and I still have such a great relationship because the children were created out of love and our joint desire to do this together, you know, and that just doesn't go away. So certainly, yeah, that was the reason I had kids. It was the same thing. I was scared, scared shitless, especially because, but what? what happened with my dad and I didn't, you know, when I found out my first born was going to

be a son. I was like, holy Christ, I don't know how to, I don't know what it is to be a father. You know what I mean? I don't have anything, any reference for being a father. And, you know, and another buddy of mine was like, well, that's probably why you're having a son so you can figure that out. Right. And, you know, but, but now I find myself sort of in this sort of new world in terms of, fortunately, I've got two really good kids. They're teenagers. they, you know, they're really like, you know, buddies that I need to feed, friends that I need to feed. Well, yeah, let me ask you this. What was, and if it's not too personal, you know, how I get personal, that's my middle name.

But, like, who was there for you to console you when this all went down when you did get divorce and you had to go through the shit? Who did you turn to and were you a mess? Yeah, I had a really rough couple of years. And I was, you know, yeah, I was a bit out. of control. And, you know, I had friends like Rich. I have this other group of dudes that I know that actually are not married. And they were there for me because it's hard because a lot of my friends that are married, they have their own shit going on. But Rich was in the trenches

with me and certainly helped me a lot. And then I've got these other group of friends that are dudes that that are in their 40s but not like you Mike and never married and uh they were there too and just friends man just friends but it was hard it was really hard you guys are it seems like you're inseparable you've done so much work together you've known each other how long oh 13 years or so probably at this point we've known of each other for probably 20 years but but we're friends you know 13 14 years ago did you meet on supernatural well that's a see there's a story there because I had seen Rob Benedict's work on television and in film and thought he was a really talented guy.

And he's one of those dudes that I would see at auditions, right? Because we're kind of the same category of guy. Both hunks. Yeah, both hunks. And it would be us. It'd be Dean Kane, you know, the youth. The huge. And so, like, we're like, I'd cross Bobo's path a lot.

And I'm one of those dudes, like, and Rob knows this about me. Like, if I, if I liked you in something, I, there's no ego. I will walk up and be like, God, just watch an episode of TV here on. You just knock the sack of it. I do that, too, all the time. Yeah, and some actor, like, I like that guy, but I don't want to show my hand. Yeah. I don't want to say that I liked it because then, you know, next time we're in the audition room, he'll think, like, he's got me.

And I think he's got me. And so, like, he'll think I'm soft. So I saw Bobo a couple times where it was like, oh, man, I'm a big fan. And the joke is, and it's obviously been blown up over time for a comedic effect, but in truth, Rob would forget that we had met. So I would go up to him like, Rob Benedict, Rich Spate, Saw you and Blah, blah, blah. Man, that was just great.

Oh, thanks, thanks, man, thanks. Yeah, no, seriously, like really good. Yeah, yeah, thanks, thanks, buddy, thanks. And, you know, on our merry way we go. Then I go to a pilot taping, a buddy mine wrote, and there's Rob is one of the regulars. And I'd come down afterwards, I'm like, Rob Benedict, oh my God, Rich Spade, look at you. Like, yeah, yeah, thanks, man.

Then, after two, it became, like, I ran into him at Halloween. Well, we were doing Supernatural. We were overlapping. We were not working in the same episodes, but I would see Rob, like, he was on the call sheet for the next episode. So we'd overlap. And we'd overlap in the apartment. I remember like, oh, Rob Benetnik's moving in here after I leave.

So I'd leave like a funny outgoing message. like this is rob but it makes apartment you've reached me out with the shower it could be ours uh i'll call you back back before we had everybody we actually landlines in the apartments somebody shut their dog up no one this luna's luna barks luna barks at friendlies cuddles up to the enemy i am i almost yelled at my dog shut up but they're not doing anything it's fine um but so i run into robin trick-treating he's out with his kids two kids like they're cut out of magazines I'm chasing my kids around

hurting them with a rake and Robbie he's there and I'm like Rob hey Rich Spade and he goes and he goes hey

hey man with that look of I don't know who you are you know that clear like glazed over I'm like Rich Spate

supernatural you know we met a couple times supernatural and he's like ah yeah no hey hey hey Uh, good to see you, buddy.

I'm going to, you know, go with these better looking kids, but I'll be, you know, thanks for sound good. And they all led us, that led up to this time. I was at the groves. No, yeah, the grove. Jesus, Robert. Matt, could you forget his face? We did, none of this is true.

No, this is actually true. This is true. And, Rob, you can't dispute this. I go up, I'm out with my special lady friend, my wife, the machete. And we go up to the bar. at the arc light to have a cocktail before the screening. And if you know that area, it's a small, you know, slender bar area and a couple of cocktail tables.

And we sat down at one end. And at the far end, I see a young Rob Benedict and his wife, Molly, out for a date night themselves. And I'm like, oh, there's that guy, Rob Benedict, and his wife on a date night. Neat. And I go to the bar and I order a drink. And he goes, hey, are you that guy from Supernatural? I'm like, yeah, yeah, that guy.

And he looks over. he goes, isn't that guy also from Supernatural? Yeah, yeah, that's Rob Benedict, who's also in Supernatural. And the guy's like, oh, why aren't you guys talking to each other as he started from up here? I'm like, he never remembers me, man. I just, I'm done. Please, please say he came up to you. Please.

I didn't see him. He didn't? I didn't see him. I didn't see him. I just, I confided in the bartender. I didn't see him. I remember, see, my side of that whole story is that I remember. remember Rich Spate.

Rich Spate was really, he booked like 80,000 commercials back in the day. And so when I used to do a lot of commercial auditions, he was always in the waiting room. And I remember, like, if he was there, you're fucked. Like, he had the job. But so I just kind of knew who he was. And he was also just really nice. And he was a nice guy.

So you couldn't hate on him. So I just kind of knew his face. I remember meeting him at that pilot taping. And I remember him at Halloween. I had actually two young children. And beautiful as they may be, they're, as you well know, Rich, a lot of work. So it was a little more like, oh, hey, man, yeah, hey, man. I got to run with the kids.

Hey, nice seeing you. Right, right, right. But she wasn't enough for old Richie. Wasn't enough. Wasn't enough. I remember you looked at my kids. You go, those are your kids? Oh.

That's not true. Sorry, bro. For you. Poor you, Richard Spate. Hey. That's amazing. So, I mean, the first time you guys hung out, was it on Supernatural, though? I mean, actually hung out.

And you were like. Conventions. It was conventions. So you do these conventions with Jensen and Jared, the supernatural things, and, you know, our friends Jason Mann's there, and you start, you're playing music together. And also, no, Richard, you're both signing because you're actors on the show. Yeah, at this point, there was no musical component to the conventions. This is early, early on, there's no band, there's no, I mean, Rob had a band, but there was no band

playing the conventions. It was kind of the old model of walk on, do your 30-minute panel to a smattering of, pause, walk off, go sit at your table, you know, kind of move through the system like that. There was not a lot of interaction between the characters. Right, right, right. My band actually did a one-off concert at one of the conventions in Burbank. It was a one-off thing. And Richard came to the show, which was cool because normally the actors take off back in the day they would.

And came to the show and stood in line at our autograph session so he could say hey to the band, which I thought was very humble thing for this guy. Rich Spade, Jr. You remember from the restaurant and the, yeah, and the other five times. I mean, I remember Mike Borja's eye lit up,

you know, Billy Moran's like, oh, sure. Mike Barra's eye, his one eye. It's one eye. So how did you, his butthole lit up?

Well, now you're inseparable. And it's like, how did this relationship really, I mean, in a nutshell, you don't have to talk about it too much, but like,

so you guys became, how did you really, because you do so much together that I'm like, you must really like each other. You have a podcast. Kings of Con you did a show Kings of Khan, right? And you did a show

Kings of Khan and you did another show that was formally before Kings of Khan talking with Richard or some shit, right? Right. So we yeah, we did a we actually raised money and did a show on Comic-Con had a fledgling network website that had was doing-

Lionsgate was the big 800-pound gorilla behind that bad boy. Yeah, Lionsgate did original content and we produced a show for that network 10 episodes called Kings of Khan. Was that with Alan Tudic and Nathan Philean? That was at the same time. That was the exact same time. Funny story about that is we wrote the show.

We called it Con Men. And it was about, you know, it was the same. The idea was it was Rich and I doing the conventions and we're not famous anywhere else but at the conventions. And, you know, like, you know, we're only famous like, you know, 12 weekends a year. That was the tagline in the poster, Meet Rob and Rich. These two men are super famous 13 weekends a year.

Right. And, you know, and the craziest people at the conventions are the actors themselves. And so we did this video and did an online campaign to raise some money. And before we're sort of about to release it to the world, the, like, press came out with this press release that Nathan Filian had this new show. and it was called con man. Well, that was there, just to put a final point on it, we were launching our crowdfunding campaign. They launched their crowdfunding campaign.

That's what it came out. They launched their crowdfunding campaign and broke records. Like, they just smashed goals, and it was a great, really well-executed campaign. And we were literally about to hit send on ours, had to scramble back and retitle everything because they were con man and we were con men. I mean, it was just one of those things

where they had the same idea, same name, and we're doing it better than us. My friend Dax once said and, you know, name drop, but like he does have some good advice every once in a while. But he said, Rosie, if you're a janitor and you have this idea about being a janitor on toilets, don't you think other janitors have thought about this idea with toilets and whatever it is? It's like we're actors, we have ideas.

Whatever we're doing, we have an idea, we go to conventions. Oh, wouldn't it be cool? There's probably a lot of actors that have come up with these ideas. having your own twist timing having people back you all these other things are out of our control and it sucks but um but you did 10 episodes and you loved it and it was a well you know we had this we had we we had a come to jesus talk we're like because my instinct is always like well fuck it we got beat we're we're done and you know rich was like listen man there's it's the same you know we're the chicago hope to their er where's no reason that the world can't have

two shows like this. We are ourselves. There's no way we're going to be them. We have our own unique take on it. Let's rename it and fucking forge ahead. And that's what we did. And we're proud of what we created. These 10 episodes are on a pretty small budget or we think really funny and really hold up. And available on Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime. I mean, look, there was Leviathan. There was the abyss at the same time. There was, there's always, there's 9-1-1 with SWAT. And there's Right. You know, you're right. There's, you know, if you have enough of a fan base or, you know, but I'm glad you went

through with it and you shot the 10 episodes and yeah, guys, you should check that out. But you guys. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's funny. It's, you know, it stars a lot of our friends from Supernatural, sort of an homage to the, to what our actual experiences are, but, you know. But I'll say this. And I don't up for comic effect. The show is made.

But for any of you, anybody listening who thinks, you know, well, I don't know conventions, I won't enjoy the show. My pitch ball is always, you don't have to have been a writer on SNL to have enjoyed 30 Rock. You don't have to know conventions to enjoy because it's a situational comedy. The characters and the situations are what drive it. The wallpaper is unique and that it's a convention world. But, you know, you come for the convention, you stay for the ha-ha. And the ha-ha is the characters and how they interact. Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips.

Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots. at the tables or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866-531-260. 19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggettcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly.

Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision, they slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control. Learn more at SLR.com. And ask your family eye care professional for SELOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. Wasn't it Dick Spate Jr. that's sitting right here with me? Isn't he the guy that brought you to the hospital, Rob, when you had the stroke many moons ago?

Yeah, when you're asking about the, when you're asking about our friendship, you know, we, we, in like 2011 or something, we did a convention in Rome. And that's, I think, when we were like, it went beyond like, oh, that guy that I kind of know, it was like, oh, I, like, it was, you know, you meet certain people in your life that you're like, oh, wow, this guy really gets it like I get it. We're getting it in the same way. And our humor was, you know, my brother likened it to like playing basketball with someone that's just really easy to do. You throw a no look pass and they're right there, you know, is that kind of thing. Yeah. And we kept getting paired together after that at conventions because we jive together so well. But then, yeah, and then our relationship definitely took another step forward when he got me to that.

He was a guy that got me to the hospital. I mean, I was having a stroke and obviously that was the last thing that anyone thought. thought was actually happening. And Rich had the wherewithal to come get me in my hotel. You were in your hotel room. Didn't he call you up? You want to take that, Rich? It was, so it was in Toronto, and we were all going to go have a stake after wrapping it up on Sunday. And so the group, Jared Jensen, Misha, Cliff, myself, and we were going to go, and Rob, it was on that list of people were going to walk across street. It was like down the block and go have a stake, which we'd done the year before, kind of a thing we did in Toronto. And Rob was still signing autographs. We

left. So like, all right, we'll just meet you there, Robbie. And you kind of was like, all right, waves is on. We're waiting, we're waiting. And I text him, you know, hey, we're waiting. And he's like, not feeling it. And that is like, did not sound like Rob. Like, not feeling it. Like, we'd been busting our hump for 72 hours. You're not going to come. What? So I called him. and I said, hey, we're all waiting. We're not going to order until you get here because we don't want to, you know, get out of her. I order your martini.

And he was like, I don't know, I'm like, what do you mean? You don't know. I'm like, dude, you're stressed. I know you. You're round like a banjo string. You're probably all, you know, I, you know, riddled with anxiety. Get out of the eye of the storm. Come on.

Go over here. And he's like, no, I don't know. and I can do it. And we hung up and I was like, none of that made sense to me. And I can't explain why. I just went back to the guys and I said, this doesn't make sense, man.

I'm going back. I'm going to the hotel. This does not, something doesn't make sense. It just didn't sound right. It just like, and I always make the joke. I've never known Rob to turn down a free martini. But that's the simple way of saying it. But it was like, there's just something not right,

the way he was phrasing it, the energy that I know we had in the middle of the day and we were planning on this and just to do a 180 like that i'm like it's like when a 911 person knows oh there's somebody with a gun to this person's head on the other line of the other end of the phone i should send the cops like it was just a weird moment was he mumbling at all was he was it was it a mumble kind of like slurred speech thing it was just an indecisive he wasn't slurring he he and i know this sounds again like a bit but rob's sort of natural speech pattern and remember it was going to progress and get worse as the night went on but at this moment his natural speech pattern pattern lent itself to not revealing what was going on his sort of

you know comedic like ah you know i mean really you know that became the speech pattern but he wasn't coming out of it it was like he would just just keep doing that as opposed to rich i'm not feeling good man I got to lay down I'm shot that's a sentence I could go oh okay but it was more like ah I don't know you know it's just I just feel I don't know man and you're like okay you know it just didn't seem right it just didn't seem right so you went to the hotel you did you go up to the room I went to the hotel I went to the room and there was one of the handlers there who had walked him back to his room and she looked concerned I'm like what we have handlers walking in us to and from our rooms and she was like i don't know man he just seemed out of it at the

end of the autograph session i'm like okay i'll go talk to him and she goes but he didn't want anybody in there and they're like well i'm i'm going in there and i went in there and he's talking to him and he's like i don't know man i just blah blah blah you know kind of him and hon i'm like okay and i said dude are you okay he's like i just you know and i thought he's having an anxiety attack you know, I thought something had gotten him worked up. And I'm like, I, this is, okay, this is odd. There's a, there's a guy who's a sound guy who has a, you know, he's a practicing physician anymore, but he had been.

And I said, you know, I told the gal is like, maybe go grab him and bring him up here. Meanwhile, I'm talking to him and he's like, I just want to watch the, you know, game. I'm like, okay, cool, football game. and I call Misha's phone, and I'm like, something ain't right. This is not right. I'm going to have to hang here. You know, and he's like,

Misha's like, put him on the phone. So I put him on the phone with Misha. Misha talked to him for a second. And he got on the phone. He's like, yeah, something's not right. Because the way Rob was him and and hon. And I was like, Rob, who's the quarterback of the team? You're playing.

Who you, you know, who's that guy? You know, and I'm like, dude doesn't know. No, like, he's not saying anything. And I'm on the phone, he's like, could it be a stroke? And I'm like, I don't know. But it ain't right. And the doc came up, sat with him, had him, talked to him for a little bit, had him do a few tests.

And he said, it's not a stroke. He's having an anxiety attack. Let's let him sleep it off. And I said, okay. And he left the room. And I'm like, that dude's wrong. I'm not leaving. All I wanted to do was sleep.

I just remember the time. I just wanted to sleep. And I was like, dude, I got to take you to the doctor. And you're like, no, no, I don't go to the doctor. I'm like, I know I'm the asshole. If I'm wrong, dinner's on me. But I got to take you the doctor. If he would have slept and you would have said fun.

Because a lot of people, it's a long day. You're out with your friends. You're thinking of things. You want to go out for drink, watch football. You go, ah, he's tired. Most of the time it's just fatigue. It's anxiety. I get that.

If you let Rob go to sleep, we might not have Rob. Is that fair to say? Yes. Yeah. At the very least, I'm at the very least. I may not, you know, may never have been able to speak. I mean, it was, it was, I was losing words and I couldn't, what he, I think what he really saw was that I was having a hard time putting anything together, putting words together.

Right. It wasn't comic stick anymore. Like I was like, didn't I put, didn't I, did I, when I was watching the game, didn't I, like, call the football a banana or something like that? You said something. I remember, and I can't, I wish I could remember exactly what it was. It was also something in that framework. Now, this, at this, at this, at the, this point I've already said we're going to the doctor I already leaned out and I said girls get a car not an ambulance get a car we're driving to the hospital we're not going to make a scene we're just going to get out of here and so they were wrestling up a car and you're sitting there and you used a word incorrectly dramatically so like oh he just scored a

bookshelts and you're like yeah man okay like you know he did something with a word replacement that you're like right and then we go to the hospital and this is the thing that was so I'm still thinking, and Rob, you leap in any time, man, I know it's your story, but I just like, I'm still thinking I'm wrong. It's anxiety. I'm being overly cautious here, but you know what? I'm going to err on caution. But in my mind, I'm like, you know how this plays out. You get over there and you find out your buddy's got indigestion, not a heart problem. Like, you know, whatever. And we get over there and there's a pretty full waiting room like there would be in any emergency room. And we go up to sign in. and I go, hey, my buddy here is having a hard time, like, putting thoughts together and, I don't know, maybe nothing, but we're a little concerned. And she goes, okay, what's his name? And I go, or what's your name? And I go, it's Rob Benedict. She's like, no, no, no, I need him to talk to me.

What's your name? And you go, and immediately she's pushing a button under the table. Like, immediately, I see her pushing something. Wow. And five seconds later, while he's going, Rob Benedict, four doctors walk out. turns out by accident we're at toronto's premier stroke center hospital it happened to be the closest hospital we went to and she hit the button and the stroke team was in the waiting room standing next to rob waiting room full of people and like they're like nope you're sir you're on a gurney

boom and we're going and we're like whoa okay I just got emotional too I don't know right when you said the button thing I don't know I got a little emotional that's oh that's just overwhelming oh man Did you remember the button part, Rob? Or did only I see that part? I think just you saw that. But yeah, no, I just remember getting a cat scan pretty much right away and just thinking, what the fuck is going on? I kept thinking this has got to be.

You're a young man. Yeah, it doesn't mean. Yeah, I was 43. It doesn't make any sense. And I don't have high cholesterol, you know, nothing like that, no history. No, fit guy, you know, healthy weight. Like there's no telltale signs. by the way, cautionary tale to anybody listening, there are no telltale signs.

A stroke could hit a young fella. You know what I mean? Yeah, the signs are, you know, the signs they talk about. Like if speech is slurred or face is drooping, if you can't lift one arm, go to the hospital right away because time is of the essence. You have to get it right away because you're having a blood loss to your brain. And so then these doctors are around me back in this room, this is how I remember it, And this really strict kind of doctors, like you're, so you're having a stroke, we need to give you this medication, this blood clot buster.

Right. That's, but there's an, what, 11, 17% chance. I mean, I think it was a 14% chance. It kills you. It kills you. And I remember the dude coming out. I'll never forget this. This was like a moment, man.

I'm standing there. I'm as close to next to can as he's got, you know, at this moment. and Rob's in the bed and I'm standing there and the doctor who by the way it's not a stand-up comedian I get it

but real cold like he's a stroke guy you know his bedside manner is I'm going to give you the facts and you need to tell me an answer right now quickly and they're wrapping

an IV around his his arm and they're getting the needle in and the whole thing and he's like here's what's going on you're having a stroke you have this percent

of brain damage right now the medicine you need I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head but it's a very common stroke emergency medication. The medicine you need, I need to give to you right now. It does, there's a 30% chance, it does nothing. There's a, you know, 50% chance it will, you know, 55% chance, it will improve, reduce the damage.

And there's a 14% to 50% chance it will kill you. It'll cause, it'll cause more bleeding in your brain. and you'll bleed out. And they need to know that now. Yeah. And Rob goes, Molly. And I said, I think he wants to call his wife Molly. And he looked at Rob and he goes, Molly can't help you right now.

And I was like, whoa. And I remember Rob and I looked at each other. We both started laughing because it was like crisis laughter. I was like, motherfucker. Like, this ain't a bit, man. This guy just said there's a 15% chance. And I'm like, are you wrapping his arm to give him the drug right now? now? I am. As soon as he nods his head, yes. If he were unconscious, I would have already

given him the drug. He's conscious. So by law, I have to get his approval. The second he nods, yes, we're pushing in the drugs. And we'll find out in 48 hours if it does nothing, if it helps, or if it kills him. And I was like, I remember looking at Rob, and I'm like, yeah, Rich is like crying. At this point, Rich starts crying. And that's our, and I realize, like, I'm, this is fucked. This is really fucked. And so, yeah, we're laughing and crying. And I finally just kind of nod my head and they give you the shot. And they give it to me. And it helped, obviously.

And I was lucky. It did help. Yeah. I mean, it brought you. The Rob, oh, the other thing the guy said, which he's like, if I don't give you the medicine, you will keep getting worse. Or you'll stay like you are. And that's no way to live.

Because at this point, Rob couldn't speak. At this point, Rob, like, if Rob was frozen and that, if that was the new normal for Rob, he's learning everything over again. And it was intense. Like, that guy was saying, like, that guy was not pulling punches. Thank God, because the clock's ticking. You know, he didn't have time for the bullshit. There's no handholding.

It's like, I need an answer. I need an answer 10 minutes ago. So, Rob, yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, that's it. I mean, like, it was just, it was just such an intense experience. Intense is intense, yeah.

But more, you know, obviously more for Rob than for me, but nonetheless. But Rob, so, you know, we know obviously the right. rest is history and you you improved and you took a lot of work and you had to really work on speech therapy and things like that right yeah yeah yeah and it kind of got worse before it got better it was 48 hours in the ICU it was kind of terrifying i mean i'm shaking right now just sort talking about just because it just it it doesn't go it doesn't go away it was it was a life altering moment traumatic but yeah i know it it got worse before it got better and kind of had to slowly learn to speak again or just the words to slowly sort of

Their advice was just to keep talking. So they kept trying to get me to talk. What do you do? What do you do now to sort of prevent? Is there anything you could do to prevent other than eating well or doing the best you can? Is it one thing? Does the doctor just say, Rob, you're okay now. You're fully healthy.

You're recovered. Chances are this isn't going to happen again. You just need to go live your life and not worry about it. That's exactly what he said. Yeah, when I got back, that was in Toronto, right? I was there for, you know, a couple of weeks, and then I finally flew home, saw the doctors here. And then, you know, it took a couple months. I was in speech therapy. And then also my carotid artery still wasn't working over here because that's where I had this tear in my carotid artery. So that's where your pulse is and you've got two carotid arteries. So this one in the left, I had no pulse over here because it had shut down.

and that's a scary way to live too because that means if this one goes down you're done right so in Toronto they said that would never heal but the doctor here said it's 50% chance it could heal and a couple months later it actually did heal my blood started flowing on this side again so besides I you know I get a sonogram every couple of years just to make sure there's no plaque in there my carotid's working I used to take blood thinners and then I stopped doing that and just start taking aspirin low dose of aspirin every day And then I stopped doing that. So, yeah, the doctor said, live your life.

He was like, you know, don't be stupid. Don't go on roller coasters. Don't do anything that's going to jostle your neck around because that's really what it was. It was like I had my some, for some reason my garage artery tore. So he's like, don't know, no high contact physical sports. You know, I don't go upside down. I used to do like upside down against the wall, you know, like my workouts and stuff. I don't do that anymore.

How often do you think about it in a year? Every day. Every day you still think about it. Yes, absolutely, 100%. And it just never go. I mean, you know, the older you get, it's hard to remember certain things. I feel like for me, that's worse than it used to be. It's part of getting older, but also just like every time I don't remember something.

I'm having a conversation. Rich knows, I mean, all the time. Like, what's the thing? or who's the guy or what you know every time i'm like oh fuck is it happening because it's it was that what was so terrifying about is it was i was rich is right it was like i was stuck i was stuck in that mode of looking for a word and no word ever came and so every time i forget a word or something i think about that you know what if the next word just doesn't come to me well look i appreciate the story it's it's just captain i was looking up my uh my buddy my partner over here my

engineer Ryan and he's just like he had never heard of and he's just like all just like wow and it is an amazing story and it just it really will help people though to you know just if they're going through it or if they've experienced or whatever or they haven't experienced it's something it's a wake up call and it's something you can't control and it's just uh it's life and it's like you survived it and uh you owe everything to richard spate so no no no no but look so this whole story this friendship, if anything, kind of cemented this friendship forever. It's, you know, that, that moment, you know, without having to ask you about other things, about experiences. But it brings us to, you know, this awesome podcast, which I was just on the Kings of Khan,

which is so much fun and you have so much of following. How did this happen? Why did you want to do another podcast with all the other actors and all the things that are going on? This is just something you thought, this is easy. Let's just do it for us. Or did you think, let's do but maybe, you know, we have enough fans, maybe people will listen. I mean, who's idea, who's the mastermind behind it? Rob, I can't. Rob's baby. I kind of had to convince Rich to do it at the beginning of lockdown.

I was like, look, we're locked down. What if the idea is that every week you're my guest? And it was called, and my guest is Richard Spade. Which made me laugh immediately. I'm like, I'm in. That's funny. It's also like the Fleetwood Mac thing on SNL, right? He never gets to, you know, what up with that?

one up with that. She said, he said, my guess is from Fleetwood Mac, it is Lindsay Buckingham and they never get to Lindsay Buckingham. And people are like, most people are like, who's Lindsay Buckingham, unless you're us who know Lindsay Buckingham for Blue Mac. Yeah. Anyway, I love that too, but so then it became Kings of Khan. And then became Kings of Con and, you know, and now we have guests. At first, there were no guests except Rich. And now we have guests like you on. And it became Kings of Con because we were doing it like everybody we know, yourself included Michael um rob and i can't sit still man we're dudes who've got to be doing something no and we want to be doing something fun and

creative and if it's not standing on a stage of the live mic making jokes at each other's expense it's right in the script and if it's not writing the script it's like oh let's just shoot something fun of their phones if we're not doing that it's like let's at least have a beer making sure the laugh can't do that because a lockdown so it became well let's just do this and if our audience is just us fine well you know rob will write some music we'll have a few laughs, that'll be the bit. And it became so organic to both of us. We both started enjoying it so much and building an audience that were like, we actually had a couple of dudes who actually do it for living. Friends of ours go like, build it up a little bit. Like, give

yourself some bandwidth to expand so it's not just and Richard Spate. Because right now you're playing for an audience, people who have to know who Richard Spade is to get the joke versus if you open it up to yeah it can be just you guys but also you actually have a reach of people and you have experiences and you can tap into that for comedic effect and and use the baseline of conventions to have people coming out use your known brand to get guests involved you know what else is wonderful about that is that you it's also a platform for you to have direct communication with your with your fans and your friends and your family where you're talking about things that they maybe relate to you're telling them hey if you want to see us play here it's like it's

something like hey we're going and and be part of this family for an hour and you know and they could follow you whatever you're doing it's instead of just posting all the time you're talking to them and you're saying they feel like they know you and they do know you and uh so that that's something nice about that it's cool and i and i you know i guess come on talk about whatever they want but rob and I early on, we're like, look, we want to talk to people, but we don't want to be talk show hosts. That's not what we want to do. The goal is talk to people. And our sort of comedic business plan was if people listen to our podcast and learn anything about our guests, we haven't done our job. Like, it should be, our goal is just have a good time. If something

spills out, great. If it's just a lap and people feel like, oh, I just listened in on three buddies having a beer. Great. That's also the goal. Like it's whatever it is. It was so enjoyable and you guys have such a good rapport and the back and forth. It did. It was just like, that's how I like to do this podcast. More like a conversation and if things kind of come out, they come out. And like you add little things. And who's, I'm sorry, I can't think of her name. She's on the show with you. Tina. Tina. Tina. She was great. And she has her role and you guys have your roles. And then Rob does this thing where he's like, all right, what's your pick a genre of music. And I said 90s. And he's like, all right, pick someone you want to talk.

about. I go, my grandma Blanche. And it was genius. And you did this little song about my grandmother in the style of Eddie Vedder. And you have just a fun. It's just, you know what it is? If nothing else, I just want to hang out with you guys. And I said that before this, today's podcast, I thought, I really just like these guys. I would love nothing more than I can't wait to just sit down with you or play guitar with you and have a beer or, you know, make sure it's before 9 p.m. Richard and you're just two lovable fucking good guys in an industry that seems like there's a lot of darkness and yet you're the light at the end of the tunnel and I appreciate that and your candor and your openness and you're you know you tell them these stories and it's just it's just

I enjoy the shit of it and you know a lot of people will think you know who's Michael Rosemont who's Richard Spate who's Rob Benedict well when they listen to you they like you yeah you're likable and I think that's a big part of of it. Thanks, man. And same goes to you, buddy. We feel the same. We are blessed with, and I do think the industry can draw from society some not great people, but there are great people in there if you take the time to look and listen and find them. And, you know, we're all journeymen. We've all been at this a long time. We all have our battle scars and our trophies and our almost wins and are also rands. And I think when you chalk up that kind of

history and have it in your saddlebag and keep moseying across the desert you meet some minstering wanderers along the way yeah and you are one of them and it is and rob is one of them and i think it's i think we're lucky to to still be still be on our horse i love it and and by the way thank you for allowing me to talk about my uh my album on your on your podcast that was nice absolutely thank you thank this is called uh benedick and spate's shit talking shit talking with benedict and spate this is rapid fire these are my patrons who get to ask questions rapid fire you could both say it's Cindy H favorite city spate sorry favorite city yeah national Tennessee Benedict

Chicago Illinois great Lisa H I love the short live show Kings a con brilliant concept how true were the character personalities to the real Rob and rich rich half true half made up Rob yeah comedic versions of our actual selves Lee Ann P who are some of your favorite heroes Benedict like real heroes or fake heroes well your personal heroes It could be anybody. Oh, okay.

Personal heroes. My brother. That's nice. Yeah, he became my sort of father after my dad left, which was a lot for him to handle. But, yeah, I really dig my bro. That's awesome. Rich.

Skip Muck, the man I played in Band of Brothers, who was a real World War II veteran who lost his life during Battle of the Bulge. Getting to know about him through his family was a life-changing experience. And my high school football coach, Tommy Owen. I learned more about acting from Tommy Owen than I ever did from any other acting teacher.

Thomas Owen. Razzie, what are the funniest things that have happened to you both of you on set of supernatural, Rich, rapid fire. I had my mouth sewn shut as a character, so they had to glue my mouth shut. And for the rest of the day, people made open fun of me

because I couldn't respond. Rob. On the set of Supernatural, I got to hit Jared Padalecki with a plunger, and I kept getting it wrong. So I got multiple takes. So that was super fun, getting to hit a guy, a 6-5 dude with a plunger like 10 times. Angie, this one's for Rob. If you haven't already, please share your naked acupuncture story. I mean, it's a long story, but basically the short version.

is that I never been to an acupuncturist before and I went this year. He had me get naked. You could see the front door opening. And I, on the podcast with Rich, him and Tina, I was like, is this normal? This happened to me. Is this normal? They're like, no, that's not normal. That's just weird.

We had Rachel Harris on as our guest. And Rachel, like, literally was like flummoxed. It was not normal. It's not normal. That's weird. I've never had that. Yeah. This is from Aisha.

Can you guys give a little... Aisha. Aisha. What have you learned about each other working on your podcast together, Rob? Um... That Rich has a really good radio voice. Uh, and... Yeah, but that he's not technically sound.

Rob's funny, I was going to say, here's what I learned. Rob's way more technically savvy than I am and can write... write and record music very quickly. He's a quick turnaround and his musical creativity. Rich, give me a little DJ voice close to the camera where you say, you're listening to the Inside of You podcast. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum with superstars Rob Benedict and Richard Spade.

You're listening to Michael Rosenbaum's star-studded podcast inside of you. With special guest, Rob Benedict and Richard Spate, Jr. Go inside these two and see why. So freaking dark. so freaking dark I love that I always wanted to be a DJ I was a DJ in college for I might have an okay DJ timber

but I have the diction of a man who's had his jaw broken a few times and so like I might have somewhere in the register of a DJ voice but sort of my half lisp and shitty diction prevent me I've never done a radio commercial nothing because as soon as I get in like oh nice start Richard Spate

okay do the product cry delicious I'd be like I think you have a great voice though I always thought DJ voice would be cool I always wonder how they are at home though I was like 99.5 WKDQ listening to the hits of yesterday and today

another 30 minute music marathon right now I wonder how they are at home though right sweetheart how was your day it was great honey how are you how was your day I just got to be the weirdest thing I love my son's love slash hate it because I do my morning DJ voice a lot

back when I'd be driving them to school I'd be like, hey, the roads are back to people in Hong Kong. We're getting our way to 9 o'clock in the morning. Time to wake up, shake out the fog, because you've got to get to school, don't be a fool. Get out there and learn. I'm going to hit the internet is right now. Rob the needle on.

This hot track. Hey, listen, I love the hell out of both you. I wish you continued success. I can't wait to see and hold you. And thank you for allowing to be inside of both you today. Thanks. I appreciate the invitation. And I want to leave this great story.

with one tidbit. So circle back. If you think you are with somebody who's having a medical concern and that medical concern is out of your realm of understanding, err on the side of caution and seek medical treatment.

Take them to a doctor. If you're wrong, you buy lunch. But it's always better to be safe rather than sorry. Because Rob and I are living testaments to the fact that you don't always know what's going on and trust your instincts. If it feels weird, probably is weird,

take them to the doctor. beautiful yeah i love that there's a there's a there's a something you remember uh with strokes called fast uh face arms uh speech uh speech and tongue or time uh different ways you can tell if someone's having a stroke if their face is drooping if their arm won't raise if their speech is slurry uh or if their tongue uh like my tongue it would go to the one side just it would if i stuck my tongue out it wouldn't go straight down or go to one side and time because you got to get them to the hospital fast. I love it.

Thank you for all the insight. I love you both. And I'll talk to you soon. Yeah. All right. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, buddy. Thanks for having us.

Man, you're right. That was a good one, Ryan. Yeah. It was. It was, I mean, if Richard didn't, you know, a lot of times I'll say to a friend, you know, we're at a hotel or something. He's like, you know, I'm too tired or I'm too tired. No one checks up on me.

I say, hey, I'm going to go to my room, whatever. You know, let me know. When they text and I say, yeah, I'm not up to it, they leave me alone. But there was something that Spate felt that there was something off about Rob. And I'm so grateful for Richard Spate for, you know, just being there and giving extra attention and just trusting his gut. And because I love Rob Benedict so much. He's such a wonderful human being that I love that he's. part of my life and what did you get from this i mean that's just an incredible story and like how

lucky well uh how lucky to have a a friend like that yeah like that's just it's just a triumph of friendship and it made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside yeah that richard was willing to go the extra mile and just like the whole yeah the whole thing it's and i i mean because i related to it a little bit uh i mean i wasn't oh yeah but i had a seizure on on a beach once. That's right. Let's hear that. So it was a bachelor party for my friend.

We went to San Diego. We had an Airbnb. And so the night before was our drink night. And so we went out on the town, had a lot of San Diego beers, got up. And I did not drink enough water. And these are all my surfer friends, too. So they wanted to go into the ocean in the morning.

And so I just sort of took a boogie board and a wetsuit and just sort of. And it was a crazy riptide day. So we were just getting tossed around. Just exhausted. And so we were just, it was just the day of like trying to like work out, like sweat out the beers of last night. And then just like sweating in the wetsuit. And we just had a bunch of coffee during the day just to try to wake up. And then we were about to go to dinner, just go have like a nice easy dinner.

We were also sort of feeling sleepy. So we decided to go on the beach and play spike ball. You know what spike ball is? Yeah. It's like the game where you like, you smack a ball. into the circular net, and we were having a great time doing that earlier in the week. Right. And we thought, let's, you know, let's just do a little fun thing, and then we'll shower

and then we'll go to dinner. And me just being super competitive and diving for balls, and I was just too dehydrated. And a perfect storm of all the fatigue, the alcohol of coffee. So it was just, it was just like spinning. And like, you know, it was weird because like, I was like, when the ball, when the game stopped, I was like, just sort of warped. And then when I you know when the game was playing I was like able to move around and hit balls and things But then there's a certain point the lights just went out just went out just went out just stopped and you had a seizure

And apparently I had a seizure and it was just a crazy dehydration and so what I'm grateful for and what I think about The Robin Richards story is my friend Chase who is now a fireman for LA County And at the time was an EMT he's just one of those guys who is just he's great in crisis moments he just hit the button like let's go he's got to go apparently i fell into his arms he was like that on it he was just and then he just sort of he knew exactly what to do he kept me from like biting my tongue um and this what do you do that how do you do that i mean with the seizure yeah i think it's like about like what you do like with the heads tilted or something oh and then i got yeah i got transferred to lohoia hospital and that was the end of the bachelor party chase

thank you chase thank you richard spitz eight thank you chase for saving ryan and thank you stephen for being cool with me ruining your bachelor party oh sorry bud yeah what a dick move dude but that guy has a seizure during us seriously like you could help that yep well we could have I mean yeah but you know you always think you're indestructible when you're young right yeah well this was four years ago four years ago yeah yeah that wasn't you were well you're young still yeah Jesus man that's it gets scares me because you never know what's gonna happen And you just never know how your body is going to react and your body.

We have a threshold, everybody, and you don't know what that is. And some people are indestructible or seem so. And anyway, thanks for listening to today's podcast. I want to thank everybody. And please, please subscribe if you're still listening. It truly helps. And the handles on Twitter and Instagram at Inside of You podcast on the Instagram at Inside of You pod on the Twitter and Facebook.

And go to YouTube, subscribe. and wherever you listen for it, write a review if you can. The inside of you online store, 20% off just for about 24 hours. That's it. The code word, password is inside Ryan 20. That's correct.

So get some good merch. We got Smallville lunchboxes available. We got, I believe, some beanies, some Lex Luthor shirts, a bunch of cool inside of you shirts, lots of stuff. And also the band, sunspin.com for all your delicious needs.

You can get this sweet CD signed by Rob and I and a bunch of other stuff we've got at sunspin.com. Also a big shout out to all my wonderful charities that I love, foodonfoot.org, really helping homeless people across Los Angeles, and they could always use your support if you want to donate or become a $98 club member, foodonfoot.org. Also, the Ronald McDonald House of Los Angeles. I love those guys. They do real good stuff. and Echoes of Hope for foster youth.

So echoesof hope.org as well. Those are the charities that I contribute to and love. I'm going to read off the wonderful patrons who make this podcast very possible. They're a big part of that. Also a big shout out to Westwood. One, thank you for believing in the show. Thank you, Ryan, for working diligently

and coming out with great stuff and really great editing and love having you here. And Bryce, Bryce, who works nonstop on the podcast, trying to get people like you to listen and you're listening uh here are the patrons top tier patrons who uh if you if you want to join patreon it's a wonderful family i say it all the time just go to patreon.com slash inside and uh join the family today uh it's wonderful you get great perks um certain tiers get to ask the guest questions um they get a merch box with a note from me um

lives where I play music and people have a request line open. It's fun. It's all good. It's all good. All right. Here they are. Here are the top tier patrons. I feel like David Litterman. It's like the top 10. The top 10. You know, I miss. I miss that. Nancy D. Mary B. Leah asked Trisha. Sarah V. Little Lisa. Lisa. U. Kiko. Jill E. Brian H. Lauren G. Nico P. Robin S. Jerry W. Robert I, Jason W. Apothean. Apothean. It's a new one. He was last. Last time, yeah, yeah, apathian. Epithian. Epithine. Epithian. Apathian. Ooh, rock me apathian, apathian. Sorry. Kristen.

Okay. Amelia. Oh. Allison. L. Jess. J. Wow. I couldn't do this. Lucas M. Raj C. Joshua D. Emily, S. C.J.T. Samantha, M. Jennifer, and Jackie P. Stacey L. Carly H. Carly S. Gen S. Jamal F. Janelle B. Tavitha, 272. Don't get confused with. of the 273 Ashley Ryan Kimberly E Mike E Marissa N. Eldon Supremo. That's Dan. Jack Slater. Ramira. Beth B. Santiago M. Serhaf. Chad W. Lian P. Ray A. Maya P. Misha. Misha. Maddie. S. Kendrick F. Ashley F. Shannon D. Matt W. Belinda. And Kevin V. James R. Chris H. Usborn.

H. Amy C. Dave H. Samantha. S. Spider-Man. Chase Sheila G ray a yes the list of the T Misha H Tom A Tom N Tom N Tom and Tom and Tom and Tom and Henry S KDF Lilliana A Michelle K Hannah B a few more and then we're we're good but here are the last of the wonderful patrons this is Michael S Talia M Luke H John S Andrew T Claire baby I Claire baby Liz J Laura L Chad L Rachel Nathan E Brandel Taylor K. Neil A. Marion. Meg K. Janelle P. Dan and Jennifer J. Wayne M. Dian R. Ojeda. Ojetta. Lorraine G. Olga C. Corey M. Carrey H. Veronica K. And Big Stevie W. Oh, big Stevie. Those are the wonderful patrons.

Stevie Wonder? It's Stevie Wonder. It is Stevie Wonder. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Thank you. you so much from myself, Michael and, and myself, Ryan. Myself, his self, Ryan, here in the Hollywood Hills. The Hollywood Hills of California. Hey, everybody.

95 degrees, partly cloudy. How could it be 95 degrees and partly cloudy? It seems like it has to be full sun. I don't get it. Oh, man, it's almost baseball season. Oh, I know. It's almost baseball season. Much love to everybody out there.

give a wave old Ryan and we'll see you on the flip side thank you for allowing me to be inside each and every one of you okay we'll see you football season is here oh man believe has the podcast to enhance your football experience from the pros one of the most interesting quarterback rooms to college michigan is set at eight and a half wins to fantasy If you feel that way, why didn't you trade them? Become a better fan and listen to the football podcasts from Believe. Just search Believe. That's B-L-E-A-V podcast.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform.