Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Boman Martinez-Reid | Kardashian Impressions, Bird Hypnosis & Long-Distance Love!

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

#798. Boman Martinez-Reid, aka The Bomanizer, joins Kaitlyn for a hilarious chat about his rise from parodying the Kardashians on TikTok to creating his own TV show, Made for TV. He spills on his love life, long-distance tips, and prepping for the “hard launch” with his boyfriend. Plus, Boman talks about creative theft on TikTok, conquering a bird phobia (with advice Kaitlyn could use), and breaking out beyond the “TikToker” label. From family Christmas performances to his love for Wicked, Boman proves he’s a multi talented star. Tune in for career lessons, celeb impressions, and nonstop laughs! If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE! Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals! Oak Essentials: Get 15% off your first order when you use code vine15 at checkout at oakessentials.com Macy’s: Shop now at macys.com or head into your local Macy’s for the Holiday Countdown sale from December 16th to the 19th! Progressive: Quote at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Conix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to a advisor free of charge but mGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with igaming ontario off the vine hey everybody welcome to off the vine i'm your host katelyn bristow coming to you looking like i don't know dwight from the office or what's that guy's name terrifying guy who's they made a show about him domer that's sick anyways i am joined by none other than bowman martina's read today, otherwise known as the Bowmanizer. He does the Bodashians and the iconic Kardashian. What is it? What do you? Like a mimic? A skit? I don't know. He's hilarious. He's so talented.

He's also Canadian. He's doing music, TV. He's bananas on TikTok. A big following there. Big on Instagram. I absolutely loved talking to him. He's just so creative and it felt like I was just chatting with a longtime friend. So let's welcome Bowman to Up the Vine. So we were talking before all of this, this started recording, and we're talking about burnout. And I'm like, you do so much. And we found out we're both Canadian. But how do you, like, I am right now, I'm just like, I do this to myself. I don't have to come out to L.A. to the 500th episode of Dancing with the Stars.

Yes, I did. I had to. I can't say no to things. I can't say no to things. It's really hard. Well, I can say no to things. I can say no to the things that are like warranted to say no. know to. But the problem is there is a lot of things that I want to say yes to. Yeah. And I have to say

yes to those things. Well, and you get invited to so much. Well, also, being Canadian, I feel like, in my head, I'm like, I deserve to be there. Yeah. I, I, all those people in L.A. or in New York, like, they just get to drive up the street and go to this, like, whatever premiere or something. I deserve to be in that room. And that's, that's a very expensive mindset. That is an expensive mindset. Where do you live right now? So I live in Toronto. Okay, okay. My boyfriend lives here.

Okay. And so we are long distance. And that's a long distance. You want to talk about burnout. I mean, it's a lot of back and forth. Because what is that? A six hour flight? It's like five to get here, four to go back.

Okay. It's actually not that bad. Yeah, but doing that all the time? It is tough. How long have you guys been doing long distance? A year and a half, pushing two years. Yeah. Yeah, and we both work.

in social media entertainment. Yeah. So it's great. Like we, we have the schedules to make that work. Yeah. However, it's challenging.

I know long distance relationship is quite challenging. Right now I'm here for like a month. Yeah. Okay. Just to like, and I have my own place. He obviously has his own place. So we're like cosplaying what it's like to like actually be together.

Actually be in the same city. Yeah. And it's actually been really, really wonderful. Oh, that's good. I mean, a year and a half is a long time to one be together, but to do long distance like in gay years that's like eight years oh yeah yeah yeah you guys are married

that we're married yeah yeah wait what advice would you give people who are doing long distance because oh my gosh to make that last that long is that's tricky communication i mean in any relationship i think communication is so lubrication yes yeah it's so so important and being upfront and honest about your feelings as soon as you can yeah i feel is like so important because there's no time to waste like it's it's such a weird way to go about a relationship because all of the time that you spend together is so important there's a pressure on this time that you spend but also like you're so intentional with your time when you're together so it's like nice too but it's like when you have a fight or when there's like an disagreement or a couples of

variance in opinion or perspective it puts a strain on that time that you're supposed to spend together. That's true. But I, thankfully, I'm dating somebody who is such a wonderful communicator. Wow. He's so honest and sweet and just like he, I love him. I can tell. I really love him. And if you can say that a year and a half end, because I think people like, I think people like, they can bamboozle you for like a good solid year. He is no games. Like we don't play game. Never have, has this boy ever played a game. Love that. And when we were, when I was, when I was. Single. People play games. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it was a lot of games. It was a lot of like push and pull. There was just like none of that. Yeah. And I think it made going into a long distance relationship with him, I felt very confident doing so because. And also safe. Yeah.

To like express your feelings. And well, when you feel safe with someone, then the communication is easy to do because you don't have to worry about, you know, you can be honest. Yeah. Oh, that's so nice. And do you guys, are you a public dater? Or are you private?

Are you keeping it low? Are you, what's going on? We are thoughtfully looking for the right moment to hard launch. Ooh. It's been a year and a half. I think now's the time. Now's the time. Do it on Off the Vine podcast, please.

Well, I've actually, we, okay, we actually have hard launch. Okay. In the press. Oh, okay. The Toronto Star did an article on us, which was like really, really sweet. But we never posted about it. Yeah. So like, we, if you look it up, it's out there.

but, like, nobody really knows because we've never, like, posted about it or anything. So they hard-launched it for you. Yeah, pretty much. But, well, actually, like, they gave me the offer to do it. Yeah. And I sent it to him as a joke. I was like, oh, God, this is so silly.

And he was like, wait, why don't we just do it? Oh, that's cute. We are taking our time. I mean, it's scary, especially when you're in the public eye to, like, be out there. I agree. And invite a lot of people into, you know, something that's sacred. However, I think that's scary. However, I think that both of us are so not personal with our social media presence.

That's a good point. It's kind of like, even if we did hard launch and we were like, oh, we're out there. I don't think it would be that big of a deal. Because you kind of are more like a skit and like. Yeah, yeah. And he's a dancer. So like he's not really like, we're neither of, not, nobody knows us. Yeah.

I feel like when I do a podcast, people go, oh, that's who he is. Like nobody really knows that much about me. And I like it that way. I would like it that way. Except everyone knows everything about me because I overshare everything. And that's okay. Sometimes I wish I overshared. Really?

Like sometimes I wish I could like, I don't know, share my opinions. Honestly, I'm scared. You should be. Listen, I shared an opinion once. Oh gosh. And I regret it. I shared an opinion once. And this was like close to home.

So there's, I started making these videos parodying the Kardashians. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I call them the Bodashians. It's incredible. Thank you. Shortly thereafter. I started making these in 2022, somebody else started making content that was exactly like mine. Yeah.

And in fact, there was like one video that he posted that was the exact same premise as my videos. Now, he was putting my, he was tagging me in the caption, like inspired by Bowmanizer. Right. I'm like inspired and completely stolen is crazy. Like that, there's a difference there. Yeah. And I spoke about it. And of course I had a lot of my followers.

and fans that were like, we love you. Yeah. We'll go to bat for you. Yeah. But then I had some other people that were like, Bowman grow up. Like, you're on TikTok. Like, and it just was like, it was so like, I was like, oh, I don't actually care about your opinions. Yeah.

I didn't like, I didn't ask. Well, you don't care to take criticism from someone you wouldn't ask advice from. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I also just like don't like hearing the bad stuff. Right.

I just, I only want to hear the good stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? I agree with you. I'm trying to just, yeah, I just, I would like my energy overall to be just more on the high vibration level. What's it like to move? Okay. Why are you still in Toronto?

So here's the thing. I ask Americans this all the time. Why do you guys move so much? In Canada. Yeah, you just stay put. You stay put. Like, we don't like move. Yeah.

I mean, maybe for university. you'll move. I don't really know if you live in Edmonton. In Ontario, nobody's moving. Like, you just kind of stay where you are. I never wanted to do that. You never wanted to stay. Yeah. Yeah. I love Toronto, but I'm also like, oh, I have other things to accomplish. And so now I'm toying with some ideas. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? But moving is terrifying. I agree. Like, right now where I am in my house, I want to be there forever. Right. It like feels like my forever home. But I'm also like, I've moved, I've lived in, I grew up in LaDuke and that's just outside of Edmonton. I moved to Vancouver. Then I lived in Newfoundland for like a hot minute. And then

I moved to Germany. And then I moved back to Vancouver and then I moved back to Evanton. And then I moved back to Vancouver and then I moved to Nashville. Wow. So I'm, yeah, I'm ready to just stay in one place. Yeah. And I'm, I'd like to build a farm. A farm. Yeah. You love animals. I love animals so. I'd hope so. I want a horse. I want a pig. I want chickens, even though I hate birds. I want all the dogs. Oh, it's a fear that my mom instilled on me since a child.

Can I tell you something? Please, you are also afraid of birds? I was afraid of birds. You got healed? Yes. No, no. If you tell me it's exposure therapy, I'm out. No.

Okay. Hypnosis? Yes. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It was that shocking. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Damn it. This is my travel outfit. Oh, no. Bro. Does anyone have a time to go pick? Oh, my gosh. If we didn't bring up birds, I swear to God. Oh, no.

Outfit change. A quick change. Wardrobe change. I'm so sorry. It was all my fault. Talking about the damn birds. You know what it is? It's the birds fault.

It's the birds. It's the birds. Go on. With your story? I want to heal this problem for you. You do? It's clearly, it's clearly affecting you. I'm shaken up.

It is a huge problem. You really did hypnosis and... Let me explain my journey. Okay. And hopefully I can provide you with some guidance. I'm already like anxious talking about it. Okay. So I, in Toronto, in Mississauga, where I'm from, we lived near the lake.

And near the lake nests a type of bird called the red-winged blackbird. And if you walk under their nests, they swoop at you. They swoop at you. No, no, no. And I had, so I lived there, like, I think I moved in when I was 10, 11, 12, 13, never had a problem. When I was 14, it's swooped. I was walking my dog. I feel something, heck at my head.

I look up. It's a bird. I kind of like, I'm like, oh, my God. And I just, like, walk away. I'm like, oh, duh. I walk a little bit. And then I was like, that was weird. And then.

I'm scared. Maybe like a week later, I was out near the lake with my family, and there was a seagull, and the seagull, like, took off. And I flinched, and I realized, oh, my God. I'm afraid of birds. Now this is, like, in my brain. Yeah. And it was in my brain for years. Yeah.

I was so petrified. If there was a pigeon, I had to cross the street. That's me right now. If there, I can't eat on patios, because if I eat on a patio and there's a pigeon walking around the, oh, I make a scene. Oh, my God. I have to go inside. Yeah. And it became debilitating, like going to the beach.

I went, me and my boyfriend, one of our early dates, we went to the beach. And I was like, oh, this is going to be so fun. And it was me, my head, like, in his lap facing him. Yeah. So that I didn't see the seagulls, like, flying over me. Like, I was. So this, you were recently healed in. Yes.

Okay. I, it's not that I was scared. I know that they're not going to hurt me. Right. But it's more so. PTSD. Yeah. It's like I can't feel, I can't feel comfortable around them.

Yeah, they're unpredictable. So two summers ago, I was like, I have to face this. Yeah. Because in Toronto, we have the city bikes. And I'm taking the bike around. And there's this one portion of the street that is lined with pigeons. And every time I bike through it, I am so tense. And I knew that one day a bird was going to fly at me and I was going to dart into traffic.

Like, I, like, it was becoming unsafe. Yeah. And on top of that, I was about to go on vacation to Milan. Yeah, there's birds everywhere. And the birds there are soldiers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are fighters. Yeah.

Those aren't birds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was at my wits end and one of my, my sister-in-law was like, oh, I did hypnosis. She did hypnosis because she couldn't sit through long car rides. And so she did hypnosis, and it worked. And I was like, wow, interesting. I was kind of skeptical of it. Yeah, yeah.

But I watched this lady's video, understood a little bit more about it. And I was like, you know what? Let me just try. I want so badly for this to leave me. Yeah. So I did it. She like sends you a tape. You listen to it.

One time. One time. And the next day, I got on my bike, biked through that same spot. My hands weren't tense. No way. I was so relaxed. I was, at first it was like, No, there's no way.

Right. There's no way. Now I'm walking on the sidewalk through pigeons, no problem. You're kidding me. And it's not necessarily that I like birds. I want to touch them and kiss them. It's like, I'm like, oh, I'm relaxed around them. And that has changed my life.

Like, truly, and that's so dramatic. But being afraid of birds, they're, like, I hate to tell you, they're everywhere. As you know. I feel you. I love when I relate to people. like this because I've met a few other people that are terrified of birds and I always was scared that I was going to have to do exposure therapy and I won't do that but I'm literally terrified of throwing up and birds and like sometimes I won't eat sushi if it's not like the highest grader at a

fancy place blown in from like Japan because I'm like what if I throw up yeah um so I would like her information so I can get through this I truly will give it to you wow it genuinely I think that part of hypnosis is you have to believe in it. Yeah, I agree. And you have to like want it to work. Yeah. That's step one. But it does work. Yeah. My mom took a hypnosis class. My mom has like, she's a holistic practitioner. So she has a bunch of certifications. And one of them is hypnosis. I don't think she's ever hypnotized me. I hope. You're like that I know of. That I know of. But she asked the teacher in her like class to hypnotize her to read more books. Really?

Yeah, and so, and growing up, my mom, she read a lot. Like, she would read like two books a week. Oh. Now she reads eight books a week. If I go home to her house, there's books everywhere. It's covered in books. She needs to be hypnotized and reel it in a bit. Yeah.

Whoa. Yeah. She needs to do like reverse hypnosis. Like, I know. She's got a book book addiction. It's crazy. It truly, I truly believe in it. Oh, I do too. I'm, I believe in a lot of things that like a little woo-woo.

stuff and like I'm totally a believer and all that so your mom is like that and that what was your childhood like like were you always the funny one like have you always been like I've I want to do skits and be funny and do TV and do yes so my mom after Christmas dinner and before dessert okay she would put on the Anna Martinez family Christmas show and it was our version of S&L oh my gosh and it's like oh that's so funny no it was serious it was momager like she like momager came out and it was like My mom. Me and my cousins and my other aunt, we put on this show for the rest of our family. And it was like, we would rehearse.

We would start like a month before Christmas. Stop. I'm obsessed. And we would like have weekly rehearsals, a dress rehearsal. It was serious. That's like my earliest memory of like understanding. Oh, it is important to entertain others. Yes.

I just like kind of followed that spark that I felt like I had in me. Yep. And I went to arts and arts middle school. Yeah. And I went to a theater high school. Cool. And I think that is where I really learned this is like truly a part of me and I have to follow that. Yeah, it's like in your blood.

Yeah. I went to one of those high schools that's like high school musical. Like people playing the exylophone and the stairwells between class and like people like bursting out into song. And like we would we would have like flash mobs, but the flash mobs weren't dance. It was like Shakespeare. Yeah. It was like one of those schools. And I feel like I go to that school.

I know. I think every school should be. like that. Yeah. I know. But that's so funny. Theater really is in people. My mom was a professional ballerina and she also was like a musical theater, whatever you want to call it. And she taught me dance and musical theater. And our school, it actually was cool to do musical theater, but not, but it wasn't on that level. It was, it was, it was very, um, different. Yeah. Yeah. Not many schools were like this. I mean, you guys were committed to the big. We truly were. If you were the lead.

the musical you were popular. I was the lead in three. Ah! Which ones? Okay, actually, one musical, two plays. Okay. Hairspray, I was seaweed. Amazing. Obviously. Yeah. Amazing. And then we did a Tennessee William play, Summer and Smoke. Oh. I was John. Oh. And then we did Julius Caesar. I was Brutus. Cool. I know. I was cool. I was really cool. Did you lose your noodle when you got to go to the, what is the, the premiere you just went through? Wicked. Wicked.

So I've never seen Wicked. I walked into it. Oh, my God. I've seen it like five times. Did you die? I, it was so incredible. Yeah. Of course, Cynthia Revo was amazing.

I hope she gets nominated. Yeah. And if she will. If she does, she will win. Yeah. Because that was an incredible performance. However, Ariana Grande blew me away. Really?

Yes. I think that I wasn't aware of how talented she truly, like, I knew she was, like, the vocalist of our generation. Yeah. However, as an actress, sorry, as an actor. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah.

Like, so funny. Really? Really, really, really funny. And I, I wasn't expecting that. And I knew, like, obviously, I grew up with her, like, on Nickelodeon, but. Oh, yeah, right. I never, like, truly understood. I felt that way about Ariana Maddox when she did Chicago.

Oh, interesting. I didn't just pronounce her name. Arianna Maddox. Yeah. When I watched her in Chicago, she blew me away because I was like, I think she, like, did some theater in school. And, like, I think she wanted to pursue theater, like, when she was younger. And she was a true talent and a star out there.

Like, I was like, I did not expect it. Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting how a lot of people are just so talented. You have no idea. I know. I feel that I have to, like, constantly let people know that I'm talented. Yeah.

Because I'm like under this ticotker label, which I love. I'm very proud to be a ticotker. Right. But I also fall into like a ticotker. That's so broad. So many TikTokers. So many. And also everybody's doing it differently.

Yeah. Everybody is doing the social media thing very differently than other people. I don't have any help. Nobody edits my videos. Nobody thinks of the concepts for my videos. I do it all. and it's exhausting. That's why I have burnout is because I'm like doing it all.

Because I am not doing anything but showing up as me on social media. Like I'm like, hey guys, what's up? Like, I don't come up with creative concepts. I know. I'm at the point where I think I need help now. You should. I need, I have too many ideas to like. But that's such a great place to be that you need help to create yourself because you're

like now you're like you need to build a team because it'll, you're at that place. I mean, let's talk about everything you're doing. Let's hear it. Let's talk about it. That music video you did for your song was giving like 2000. Like, I was obsessed with it. Yes, thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

It was a, obviously it's like a joke and it's like a silly song, but I was very committed to making it feel like just as great as any other video. I didn't know if it was like a joke. Well, it is and it isn't. Yeah. I'm even that. Like I made the whole song, the production, wrote it all by myself, did it all. That's it. Because you also can dance. Thank you.

Does your boyfriend love that? Yes. Yes. Well, the reason I made the music video was to dance in it because I was like, I can dance. Yeah, you can't. Like, I want to go. I want to dance. Yeah.

And I literally was like, I was telling the choreographer, like, I want it to be hard. I don't want it to be like easy. Right. Obviously, like, certain parts are just like fun silly, but like it was so fun to like, give me the choreo. Yeah. It was so fun to do something different to like to be in. rehearsals for something and use my brain to like figure out the muscle memory of these things like it just was like it was so refreshing and so fun to do yeah so thank you yeah no it is I watched it twice I was like oh my god really

it's catchy too the song's catchy yeah yeah it's really really good thank you yeah and you also okay talk to me about the TV show that you're doing made for TV yeah it's been years in the making right this show um you're not doing that by yourself i hope no i have a wonderful now listen when i say i'm doing things by myself i have a wonderful team like yeah yeah my manager my agent's my publicist yes the show of course i had an amazingly talented group of people supporting the show and also even at the network is so much trust to like just create the show that we wanted to create which is like so wonderful made for tv comes to roku on december first awesome in amazing America. So finally my audience will be able to watch it. Yeah. So it came out in Canada this summer.

It's about myself as I go on the quest to prove that I am made for TV. Yeah, like TikTok to TV, right? Yes. Each episode is a different reality TV genre that I test. And we have a celebrity guest from each respective genre that like takes me on the journey. So will it be like reality TV, Um, sitcom. So it, every genre is a different reality, sorry, every episode is a different reality TV genre. Oh, oh, reality TV. Yeah.

So we do dating. We do cooking, news, sports, drag. Fun. And like a Housewives Kardashian style. Yeah. It is, it's fun. It is stupid. It is a stupid show.

But exactly. It's in the best way possible. It is so stupid and. fun. I think people will enjoy the fact that it's like, I think you'll watch it and you'll go like, was that, is this real? Like, was this supposed to happen? And yeah, we had a whole writer's room for the show, but nothing was scripted. Really? Yeah. So it is, it's very like Nathan for you. Like it is, it's fun. It's very meta. It's very fun. Oh, that's so fun. I can't wait to watch that. Yeah. So December 1st, Roku. December 1st on Roku. That's exciting.

In America and in Canada. See, you are proven it. Yeah. You aren't just a TikToker. Making it happen. You're a musician, an actor, a theater kid, a TV star. And I'm devilishly handsome, too. And a great ass.

Wait, what? No, you're right. You're right. Are you right? Have you ever met the Kardashians? No. Have they commented on your videos? No.

Stop. As if they haven't seen them. I know that they've seen them. however they've never said anything i don't really know why i and i don't listen they're good they're good sports about people making fun of them yeah yeah they've they've done things in the past like courtney did something with bany drama in the past like i i don't think that they're like not allowed you what and listen i don't make these videos for their attention yeah i'm not like out here making me so that i'll get recognized by them right because that is the number one question

I get is... Are you trying to have they reached out? Oh, damn it. I just... I truly make these videos because they are fun to make. And even just thinking of the concept, the idea behind each episode, it makes me laugh. Yeah. Yeah.

No, your impressions make me laugh. Who's your favorite person to impersonate besides the Kardashians? That is such a good question. Well, I had to redeem myself for asking the most common question that has ever. You did a great job. I think Courtney is really fun. However, I really love, oh my God, that is such a good question. I'm trying to think of who I impersonate just in my day-to-day.

I really love, so I used to do this character called John Scrape of Poop. And it was an impression of Chris Hanson. Do you know who that is? Oh, yeah. Of course, take a seat. Take a seat. I loved doing him. Yeah, I would do these, like, videos where I would, it was like a hard-hitting interview of myself.

And so you realize that. That was so fun. That's a good one. Yeah, I think that's my favorite. That's a really good one. I cannot do anyone. I can't do accents and I can't do impressions. I think I used to be good at it, but I think I've, like, done so many of the same impression.

I've done so much Courtney. Yeah. That every impression I go to do is Courtney. It's so comical that to watch like after people like you, I'll watch your videos and then I'll actually watch her talking. I'm like, she really does talk like that. It's wild. I think it's also like the impression that I do. But then also like watching the show after watching one of my videos is hard.

Yeah. Because you realize, oh, it is about like nothing. These scenes are about nothing. They're literally, they just sit there and they're like. There's no boo. Yeah, spray tan. I'm so sorry. Yeah.

Like, it's just like so, it's slow. Yeah, it is slow. It's slow. But also, like, like, kudos to them. Like, they found their niche. I mean, truly, I can't believe how successful they are. So, yeah. I mean, Kendall, true talent.

She is a model and she is good. And she works hard. But. Who's your favorite? Sometimes Kendall, because I feel like she gives the least. well, so does Courtney. Okay, my favorite. Kendall's a good one.

I think it is Candle. I feel like she's also the quietest one. Yeah. Which is why I think people like her too. It's like there's some mystery there. There's a lot of mystery there. And I feel like she is not performative. I feel like she's just like she shows up the way she wants to show up.

Yeah. Yeah. Who's your favorite? I think Kim. Really? Yeah. I think Kim is the, I think she's like the coolest one in my head. Like I think she is.

is she does the most diverse amount of things. Like, suddenly she's a lawyer. That's wild. Suddenly she's, like, working on prison reform. Yeah. Like, I think that she has diversified her brand quite well. Yeah. And she kind of seems like the nicest.

Like, I feel like if I ran into her, she'd just be nice. I've met them, like, very briefly in passing, very sweet. But I've heard specifically that Kim is an angel in real life, like, to talk to. What do you think the biggest lesson that you've learned in like your career? Like from being on TikTok, from moving to television, like everything that you've done, what do you think like makes what you do successful? What's the biggest lesson? That is such an amazing question.

Once again, congratulations on these questions. It's hard to look back on the last five years of doing this because each era, of doing it was so incredibly different from the last. Yeah. I think the most recent learning lesson that I've learned is how to advocate for myself. That's a good one. Nobody is going to be a better advocate for yourself than you. Yeah.

And in this industry, I've learned it's very easy to sit behind other people who are supposed to be the bad guys. Yeah. You're very protected by all the people around you. Yeah. And when I was working on my show, I remember realizing, oh, I'm in Canada. My team is not here. Right.

And I am making, I was a producer on the show. So I'm helping to make decisions. Yeah. And I know what decisions are going to be best for me. Yeah. I know what's going to look good for me. I know what. And just in that process, learning how to make sure that my voice was heard was so important.

Yeah. And I think that learning those lessons. has carried over to so many other things. Well, I was going to say I feel like that's a lesson that everyone can take into whatever they're doing at their job or their relationship and like friendships, like whatever it is that you like standing up for yourself. Yes. Well, I wonder why it's so scary because I need to work on that.

I always want to go with what's easiest and make other people happy, especially my team. Like I'm like, oh, whatever's easier for you? Like, I'm always like that, even when I'm like, that's not going to work. Yeah. It's also, it's interesting, like sometimes you'll get asked to do things. And sometimes there's just like a pressure to say yes. Yeah. And it's like, I know I don't want to do this. Right. I don't, I don't really need to do it. Right. In the long run, will it really do all that much for me? I don't know. Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to like be able to say, I don't really, I don't really care. I don't want to do it. Like. So you're five years in to this. Yes. Okay. Yeah. You'll get there. I'll get there. I mean, I'm nine years. in 10 actually since I went on the bachelor and I still am learning all of these things but

you should have seen me 10 years ago oh I don't know what the hell I was doing it's interesting it's even interesting to just see people that are doing what I'm doing that are in like just a different place yeah and hear about their experience everybody has such a unique experience doing this yeah that's true especially like if you really like set yourself up with a platform on something like TikTok like in I feel like TikTok is hard now to build do you agree like I find it hard because it's a very different app well because I'm like I thought I followed this person but really they're just always on my for you page so I'm like does it matter more about views or followers like I don't know what a question welcome to my world yeah that's I it is so weird it's like it's it's it's

it's almost like different follower counts on different apps are different currencies yeah Like, there's like a stock market involved. And like the followers on one app, if you have a million followers here and a million followers there, they both mean an entirely different thing. Right. It's very weird. And I didn't know you could make money off TikTok. Like I didn't know it was an app that if you talk for over a minute and you get a certain amount of view. In America.

TikTok's different in Canada than it is in the States. It's the same app. Like it's, well, it is the same app. However, we don't, we are very late to a lot of things. Interesting. And some things we don't even have. We don't have shop. Like, we don't have TikTok shop.

Really? Yes. When people, when I came to visit my boyfriend once and I was scrolling on his TikTok and I was like, why is everybody selling stuff? It's every other video. But like in Canada, we're still in 2021. We are still like back in the day. It's just, it's just. It's really cute.

That is cute. Yeah. Interesting. But it is a very different app than when I started. Like, when I started, nobody was doing ads. Yeah. In fact, I told when I signed to with my manager. at the time, I was like, I'm not doing ads.

Right. Like, that's disgusting. Yeah. So embarrassing. Then they told me about the ads. And I was like, okay, well, maybe I'll have to do an ad or two. But even then, it was like, I have to make certain that this ad does not feel like an ad. Yeah.

Yeah. Because nobody was putting ads on that app. Got it. Oh, that's tricky. Yeah. I think that's one of the hardest things for me personally. I have, over the past 10 years, I actually really would give myself credit for not. not just taking any brand, you know, like I really wanted to believe in it, use it.

Like, I don't want to, because I made a mistake 10 years ago that made me feel that way. I, like, tried to sell, like, a tummy tuck, like, machine. And my whole audience was like, what the fuck are you doing? And I was like, and a girlfriend called me and gave me shit. And it was all just a learning lesson. But it's really hard because people are really sick of being sold things these days. too. Yeah. So do you do ads anymore? Of course. Oh, good. Okay. I have a mortgage to pay. Yeah, I know. But that's the thing. It's like, it's now like when I started, people are like,

get a real job, blah, blah, blah. But now people are like, oh, this is your job. Yes. There's a better understanding now of what it looks like to use this tool to make money. Yeah. When I start, even when I started five years ago, it was still like, get a real job. Yeah. Even in 2022, when I'm posting about the guy stealing my content, it was get a real job. Yeah. And now I feel like it's a lot different where everybody is making money on social media somehow like or trying to I feel I feel I feel very lucky with the brands that I work with especially that they are so they get it and do they let you like show up as you yes they kind of let me they understand your brand my brand but they also understand that like my audience understands my brand yeah and that any branded content

that I make my audience is going to more or less understand And also, through the power of comedy, anything can feel like it's not an ad. And I think that's what I try to do when I'm creating branded content. What is your favorite, like, platform or thing to do on, like, is it television? Is it singing? Is it TikTok? Is it your skits? Like, what's your favorite?

Okay. Well, making my TV show was just such a different experience. Yeah. It was a TikTok, I'm like by myself. Yeah. my job sometimes some weeks I do nothing yeah sometimes I am burnt out yeah I have no video to make I have nothing to edit I'm bored yeah and some weeks it's fun I'm taking meetings I'm doing things I'm busy but that back and forth is so mentally it's like whiplash yeah because you're like I'm failing

I don't have anything I've got the block and when I was making uh when we were filming my show it was for six weeks I was like I have a job yeah I have I have something to like wake up and have a purpose I'm social I'm I'm talking to people I'm making decisions every day yeah I'm using my brain to like show up on set to this unscripted show and I have to create the TV show that I have to find the jokes like it felt like I was using my brain yeah which is so nice in a job where I often feel like I don't yeah my brain very much I think that's why everybody went crazy over COVID. Yeah. I think that's why the world is so angry. Yeah. Because they, they, you know, there's a loneliness epidemic literally happening where people are like feeling lonely and like

suicide rates are higher. Mental health is a crisis right now. And like no shit because we were all so isolated and lonely. Yeah. For so long. Do you deal with a lot of haters online or not really? I thankfully because I don't put myself online. Yeah. I don't get hate as much. Yeah, more of a character. That's nice. And I'm very relatable online. So I feel like people are more so just like they understand the joke. Yeah.

Tell everybody where they can find you in your videos and everything that you're doing and have coming up. Because it's a lot. Please, for the love of God, if you love yourself, stream made for TV, starring me, Bowman Martinez-Reed, on Roku. genuinely go stream it it's funny it's fun for the whole family it's fun for your friends your grandmother will love it I am very big amongst oh the grandmother community wow of America and Canada and the UK and South Africa cool please go stream our show it is so funny it's so stupid it's whatever it's what we need right now yeah I agree made for TV is on Roku December 1st, and you can follow me at Bowmanizer on pretty much everywhere.

It's, you're a, you're a fun follow, and I can't wait to stream it. I'm going to, like, I'll do like live streams while streaming. Please. And just, yeah, I do agree. I think that about being at Dancing with the Stars outside, I'm like, this show brings so much joy to the world, and it's like, you know, such a dark world. And those kinds of things, those kinds of entertainment, we really do need that. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

That was so fun. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next Tuesday.