Podcrushed - Joe Manganiello

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

Joe Manganiello (True Blood, Deal or No Deal Island) is a renowned heartthrob— but did you know he’s also a certified, almost-skipped-two-grades, dungeons&dragons master, nerd? Joe regales us with stories of his almost unbelievable tween years juggling his academic gifts with his athletic prowess and a burgeoning passion for the arts. He opens up about why honoring a family legacy of survival is so important to him, and why becoming a dad could be his most exciting role yet.    Follow Podcrushed on socials: TikTok Instagram XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lemonada. I was there early, left late, worked hard, led the kids, good example. And I was the leading score, leading rebounder, and the coaches put on notes. They gave you kind of like an exit interview with your notes of what you could work on. I was like, what are they going to say? I did everything, you know, come on. And it was like, lacked upper body strength. I was so pitha.

Welcome to Pod Crushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn. I'm Nava. And I'm Sophie. And I think we could have been your middle school besties. Comparing Penns. Yeah, I like comparing pens. That was just a thing I like to do.

Okay. Welcome to Pod Crush. You know the deal. I am here with my co-hosts, Navi Kaplan, and Sophie. Our guest today really gave me a, just a little hit of like a, like a, yeah, I really need to get back into the gym because I'm, you really need to get back in the gym. I'm starting my show. No, I mean, this is the thing is like, you know, I have, I have, I have, closed on.

It's all, it's all fine. You can't tell what's actually going on. But I am now nearing 40. I am nearing 40. I'm 37. Is that right? Yeah, I'm going to be 38 this year. Whoa.

I've been thinking to myself. Yeah. Whoa. I was just thinking about how when, when we started, I think you were 34. And that's great. I'm like, oh, got so much time has been passing. I know. When I started you, the show, I was 30.

Wow. Is that right? Yeah, I was 30. So, anyway, point being, I have been trying on, you know, the clothes for my show where I'm playing Joe Goldberg, fitting into all the old stuff. And I'm like, wow, it's, the pants are very tight to really, you know, you know, COVID world, I mean, I just wear sweatpants most of the time or something that's

stretchy, you know, like I wear, stretchy stuff. And my goodness, it was hard to get into those to those pants again. And I've just been thinking like I am, I have to think a little bit differently. Like I have to be more proactive and have to really dedicate myself to eating differently, which I, which I so don't like doing. But got to do it. And so your clothes fit tighter, not because you're more buff, but because you've gained weight. Just to clarify. I just want to make sure it's clear. No, I'm not trying to shame you, but I was actually thinking the other day on a Zoom,

although I can't remember in Scotland, I didn't register it in person, but I was thinking to assume that you looked more buff. No, it was. I thought maybe you were already hitting the gym. This is my version of gaining weight. So in Penn gains weight, he looks more buff. No, this is what I'm saying. When I have clothes on, it's like, oh, it just looks good.

And then, but then it's like, I try on my old pants and it's like, well, first of all, I don't think I often realize how skinny I am when I'm skinny. Yeah. And then what it takes is trying on the old clothes. And I'm like, holy crap. The clothes really do it. Like, this is the same thing has been happening to me postpartum. Like right after I had a baby, I was like, oh, I could easily fit into this thing or this thing.

Why would you think that? You were just, you just had a child. I just, like, I think I was so disconnected from my body. Like, I was just like, oh, yeah, I wasn't even like looking at it. But I was like, yeah, I feel good. So I can, I can definitely fit into that. the sad truth when you try to pull those things on.

It's not sad. It's not sad. I'm going to help us reprogram all of ourselves. It's not sad at all. You just had a baby. You're 30 years old. There's a lot of natural normal things happening. For myself included, I don't want to shame me or anybody who's got a little, you know, what do you call it? I was kind of called a fat tire, but it's a flat tire. You know, like a skinny man's flat tire, that kind of thing. What do they call it? Spare tire? What is it? I don't know. It's a thing right around the midsection.

Well, speaking of fitness. Well, speaking of fitness, it's not all he's known for, but it is an aspect of his career. We have Joe Mangonello today, an actor and host now. You know him back in the day from shows like True Blood franchises like Magic Mike. We got Sam Ramey's Spider-Man. That's OG, the original. And also now, he's hosting NBC's Deal or No Deal Island. Joe has really an incredible life.

We get right into it in the beginning. He did the entire interview with the sweetest little adopted dog on his lap. If you haven't already fallen in love with him, you're about to. I don't think we've ever had a guest where every chapter or season of their life felt like it should be turned into a movie. Yeah. Like I just kept thinking, why isn't this a movie yet? It's amazing. Because he hasn't made it yet.

He's in pre-production. Yeah. Does anyone else ever get that nagging feeling that their dog might be bored? And do you also feel like super guilty about it? Well, one way that I combat that feeling is I'm making meal time everything it can be for my little boy, Louis. Nom Nom does this with food that actually engages your pup senses with a mix of tantalizing smells, textures, and ingredients. Nom Nom offers six recipes. Bursting with premium proteins, vibrant veggies and tempting textures designed to add excitement

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dog's current diet. My dogs are like my children, literally, which is why I'm committed to giving them only the best. Hold on. Let me start again because I've only been talking about Louie. Louis is my beat. Louis, you might have heard him growl just now. Louis is my little baby and I'm committed to only giving him the best. I love that nom nom nom nom's recipes contain wholesome nutrient rich food, meat that looks like meat and veggies that look like veggies because, shocker, they are. Louis has been going absolutely nuts for the lamb pilaf. I have to confess that he's never had anything like it and he cannot get enough. So he's a lambie laugh guy. Keep mealtime exciting with Nomnum, available at your local pet smart store or at Chewy. Learn more at trynom.com slash podcrushed.

Hey, it's Lena Waithe. Legacy Talk is my love letter to black storytellers, artists who've changed the game and paved the way for so many of us. This season, I'm sitting down with icons like Felicia Rashad, Loretta Vine, Ava DuVernay, and more. We're talking about their journeys, their creative process, and the legacies they're building every single day. Come be a part of the conversation.

Season two drops July 29th. Listen to Legacy Talk wherever you get your podcast, or watch us on YouTube. we start in middle school or adolescence that's why it's called pod crushed we take these like sort of formative times of life and then kind of go from there so it's interesting that you have never had a pet a lot of people grow up with animals it's just you know kind of like it's a it's a fairly typical american thing um tell us anything else about 12 year old joe you know like where where were you how are you seeing the world. Gosh, well, I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My parents are from Boston, but I was born in Pittsburgh. No one in my family was in the entertainment industry, so I'll say that. So if we're just giving a snapshot, poke bottle glasses, ears that stuck out, like kind of fluffy haircut to cover big ears, I was good at sports. And like, even from like the, first year I ever played a sport.

I was always the captain of whatever team. Wow. I was always head and shoulders taller than all the kids. Like I stopped growing vertically at like 16. Wow. Wow. So, you know, that was, you know, I'm 6'5. Oh, wow.

Oh, geez. So that was when the kids started catching up was like, was around that age. But like at 1213, I'm a head, shoulders taller, and all the other kids. I was a good football player. But I would say that like, very skinny. upper body you know like so and I was super super super like at that point 12 years old I don't think I had a B I ever got a B in a class up to that point and I never did my homework I would ace all the tests not do my homework um my they wanted the school wanted me to skip two

grades wow when I was an elementary school my father wouldn't allow it because of sports You didn't want me to fall behind or not have that be part of my upper knee. Two grades is remarkable because I feel like you hear about one grade, two grades. Yeah. Two. Yeah. So I was bored. I go to school.

I go to home room with the kids my age. And then I dip out and go to classes with all the older kids. So I had like a lot of my friends were just older kids. And I just gravitated towards them. I was also like an avid reader. I would read just compulsively to the. the point where I was shoplifting books, shoplifting comic books so that I could just read and read and read. I was a voracious reader. I had to be like told to go outside, you know,

like at a certain age because I just wanted to be inside reading. I painted. I drew. I had action figures. I would just lock these crazy complex storylines with the figurines and the drawings and I would read comic books to get ideas and things like that. So I was very much in a mythology, you know, dragons like, you know, mythological preachers I you know I was obsessed with the locknest monster like so I was like a really like nerdy intellectual I was really good at cards like crazy I could count into a deck of cards from the time when I was like a little kid I was like I would beat the adults I knew what they had in their hand yeah I knew it not to play I my mom took me to an old man when I was five years old and I

started chess lessons and when I was six he entered me into a chess tournament and and I play third. And I remember I was bored in the final game. I just wanted to go home. I was like hungry. I don't want to play this anymore. And I just stopped concentrating. Wow. So, you know, like I was, I was a really interesting kid who had all of these kind of internal interest, but I was also born into a body that was head and shoulders bigger than all the other kids. Yeah. And good at sports. So it was like, I was always sort of, you feel like you're being torn between, you have like different sets of friends for different things. Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. I'm trying to think of like the, the, the Venni of people who are incredibly naturally gifted at sports and incredibly naturally good at

math and academics and like voracious readers into mythology and in the middle, is it just you? Is there anyone else with you in the middle of that sort of? Like I said, I had friends that were in different groups. You know, I'd have like, even when I was like nine years old, like, like I learned how to like dungeon master or game master table top role playing games where I was. just write my own stories and run my friends through them. Yeah. Which is a way for me to tell stories and create story and kind of direct to my friends.

And so, um, those kids were not on the sports team. Yeah. I'm sure. But then as you kind of get older, and this is probably older than 12, 13, but like, you know, I ate lunch with the jocks because I was the quarterback of the football team at age 1213 at seventh grade. So, you know, I ate with the job. I went to, you know, birthday parties with the jocks.

And then as we got older, Friday night was like, I'm going to buy beer. You're bringing it over. You know, we're hanging out with the cheerleaders. But then on Saturday, I would go and run games for my gaming friends or those friends then turned into like film club friends where I started writing my own movies and directing my own movies. And we'd wake up on Saturday and I'd go film with my kind of my artistic friends who were like getting into DJing and filmmaking and you know so I had that but there was all very separate

every every all the groups were separate sometimes there were a few crossovers you know I had a couple I had like one friend towards the end of high school who was kind of a bad kid and he kept getting sent off the boarding school but when he would come back we would like sneak off downtown on the subway and go to like the cool record store and get like you know whatever electronic mid 90s records or mixed tapes we could find or like chemical brothers or daft punk before anybody knew who they were and he was like you know this band sublime and i gotta get this album 40 ounces to freedom and like we were like cool like we knew what cool what we were figuring out what cool was and we would steal comic books and then pass them back and forth to each other we would sit on the floor oh do you know okay cool

here's predator versus alien oh cool cool cool cool give me that you know extinction agenda x-men cool cool cool cool you know so i did have a friend i had a partner in crime but But then he didn't graduate high school and he got in trouble and that was it. So it's like you kind of got set off over here. It sounds like your youth, you experienced it is very rich. Is that true? My youth experience? Yeah, well, it just sounds like it's varied.

It's rich like you in like, I mean, we all grow up, we, you know, we, we, we all have plenty of sorrows and difficulties and awkwardness growing up, which we do want to get into, definitely, you know, if you're willing. Great. But, but, but, but, but, but, but I think it's interesting. to hear you reflect because it sounds rich, it sounds like you also experienced it richly, like you were appreciating it at the time, or do you really only feel that in retrospect? Do you know what I mean? No, I definitely think, you know, at the time, I mean, and I'll say this, you know, my dad grew up in a neighborhood that was, you know, I would say rough around the edges,

you know, rich in a certain way. But, you know, his goal was. was to, you know, once he started having children was to move me into a neighborhood where the same trouble that was available to him or his friends and the kids he grew up with who were all, like, in big, big, big time trouble, like was not available. And, you know, he got offered a job in Pittsburgh, and so he and my mom moved there. And then he moved me into, he moved this into this, like, top five in the nation school district. And I went to this unbelievable high school, you know, the kind of the pathway was to this

unbelievable high school that had every amenity on the planet. It was the kind of suburban upbringing where, you know, my mom could leave the keys in her car at night. Wow. You could leave the front door open. Nothing ever happened. There was no crime. And it was stranger things.

Kids on bikes. Leave in the morning. You go out all day long. When the sun starts going down, you know it's time to go home to have dinner or you need to call your mom because you're going to have dinner at your friend's house and you ride your bike home in the dark and be, you know, be safe. But it was like we were just out all day, you know, doing things, figuring things out, playing, you know, playing pickup over here or shoplifting homocles over there, whatever it was,

you know. So there was so much time and like safety for kids to kind of figure out what your interest were, which is like I really benefited from because I wasn't the kind of actor who was pushed into ballet class at age five. Like a lot of the drama kids that I went to drama school with, they were in it to win it from the, they went to performing arts high schools. I wasn't.

I was a really well-rounded kind of suburban kid and went to this like really amazing high school with all these amenities who then like also had a TV studio there. So kind of like I say late in life, you know, like 16 years old, I started making my own movies. And I was like kind of the last actor to jump in the boat that was, you know, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.

Like, like, I probably picked up acting the latest out of anyone to get into that school. And I think I really benefited from it because I had a lot of time to develop in other ways. That's incredible. But to answer your question, I really know. I knew it at the time, man. I mean, gosh, like, I mean, more so now, but like, no, I really, I was, as much as I could, I was trying to create my own curriculum. Joe, I'm so intrigued by this little tidbit you told us about your mom that she took you to this old man, even the way you told it.

She took you to an old man who taught you how to play chess. And I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about your parents and what was your home life like? Mom was cognizant of the artist that I was. You know, being an artist is sometimes, sometimes you have people looking over your shoulder. or raising you who I think, I mean, I've heard of it. I've heard of people who have, you know, parents who are artists. And they grow up in an artistic household. And, you know, all of that is very much, you know, encouraged and or at least seen as a potential vocation or, you know, an honorable profession.

And but I think for most of the world, I think that I think the scene is like a real negative. you know like like like you know you're too sensitive you need to tough enough you know all of those things that like you would hear growing up as you know a male during that that era you know and and really it's um you see it as the negative I think or at least that gets baked into you as a negative yeah and I think then life or you're growing up becomes a way of learning how to protect that artist inside of you while also, you know, like, like the way that I have this dog sleeping on my leg, she feels safe enough that she can go and just nap out and close her eyes, this little tiny thing that would have like every natural predator in the entire world is going to, like I had to become this in order to protect the artist that was inside of me, that kid, that's, to not take it personally to be. And, you know, part of that, I think, was physical.

I think there was a part of me that wanted to, like, create this armor to, in order to protect the, I don't want to say inner child, because that's a little, that's kind of like a little too far for me to go, you know. But, but I mean. But it's probably true. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. You know, to kind of to protect so that, so that I could be comfortable enough to create. Of course, yeah. You know, and so I think a lot of my creating was done, like.

kind of off the radar or like I'm supposed to be up there doing my homework but I'm writing stories that I'm drawing yeah yeah yeah so it sounds like maybe your mother your mother saw that which I think by the way is often quite common it was like sort of my case you know you're take me to art classes and things like that our classes I wanted to play learn out play piano I did I stopped playing piano when football happened because I don't have time after school anymore and you know so there is but yeah she was always taking me to our class or or sign me up for chess or you know whatever all those things you know that we're going to, taking me to children's theater, I think, you know, like puppet theater

with like the Hobbit, where there was like a dragon on stage. And I love that. Oh, puppets are actually really amazing. The mastery that it takes to make a real puppet is so cool. So then your dad, it sounds like sports and maybe academics were his focus or just sports for you. Yeah. I think my dad, my dad really, I was, like I said, head and shoulders bigger than the other kids, which is like, which is such a thing, yeah. Yeah, and it comes from my mom's dad. My mom's pro-agee in German and they're giant. Is she taller than your dad?

No, she's 5-9. Dad is 5-11, but I'm a big spot. My brother's 6'7. Whoa, whoa. We're both athletes. And my mother is like, it was a physical specimen. Like she would train in the gym every day, but she lifted weights. Like when Donna was buff, like my mom for a period of time, like was like bad.

You know, like she, and in the ballroom dancing, you know, even still to this day, she's, like, super athletic. So, you know, very disciplined in that way. So, so, so, and ate, like, nothing more organic food from, like, the 70s. Wow. She was, like, really rare. I don't know where she was getting it. But, you know, my brother and I didn't know what candy was until, like, we were a little bit older.

Wow. You know. Wow. So, like, it was just, you know, it was. And, but my dad was very much, like, saw that I had physical gifts. in that way and was like, well, you know, naturally, like that's a clear path. Yeah. You know, you're going to be the captain of everything.

Then you're going to go off to college and then you're going to be, you know, I don't know, Don Draper in Mad Men. You know what I mean? Like, you're just, that's the path. Yeah. And you were like, no, dad, I'm going to play Don Draper in Mad Men. You don't understand. No, I'm going to be a werewolf on that weird show.

You know, that's what it was. So, Joe, how did you, what helped you sort of at. you're like the last actor to get on the Carnegie Mellon boat. Why did you get on it? Like what happened that sort of encourage you to switch paths? I just knew. I don't know what. I knew inside that I was an artist.

I knew I was going to be an artist. I was positioning myself to go into federal law enforcement and play college basketball. Okay. Wow. But I just knew. I have to do something artistic or else. That part of me is the most important. part. And I could never be fulfilled at any job unless I was doing that. And at that time,

like I said, I was making my own movies. And my friends who I was casting in my movies and directing in my movies, they would all say to me, like, you should act. Like, you should do this. Like, you should, you should try for a play or something. And I'm like, ah, you know, no, you know. And the, but my senior year, I signed up for freshman acting. And so I was this big three-sport jock captain letterman jacket wearing you know big senior who showed up with these little freshman acting kids in the ninth grade acting class you have to take ninth grade acting first and uh you know and the teacher pulled me aside after the class and said um you know what are you doing here like what are you just trying to blow off your senior year and get an easy A like what's

you're doing? And I said, no, I think I can do this. Wow. Like what do you mean do this? And I was like, no, I think I could, I think I could do this for a living. Like, at least, I think I could, I could be on a soap opera. Like, I think, you know, Melrose's place, but there's something. You know, I just was like, I think I can do that. And she was like, okay, okay. And then the next week, she asked me to try it for the musical. Wow.

And I was like, I don't know. And I was like, to sing and dance. She's like, just sing happy birthday. Just come. Please, please. Just, just come. Just try out. Please.

And I was, all right, all right. So I went and I had a performance. scenes from Oklahoma. So that was the play. So she gave me scenes for the, I guess the villain, quote unquote, you know, Judd. And, you know, I took it seriously.

And saying, happy birthday, they had to see how I moved, but I was an athlete. So, you know, I moved pretty well. And I just forgot about all about it. And then months later, I was walking down the hall and somebody, you know, kids, multiple kids were like, hey, Joe.

Great job. Hey, Joe. congratulations and they weren't like anyone in my social circle yeah like who are these people like you who are these people they go to this high school too like I've never seen that person in my life like congratulations like what and I'm like oh shit oh no the play oh my god oh my god so I went down to the theater department and looked on the cap you know on the bull board and I was like oh my god I got cast and one of the I'm one of the leads in the play oh no I'm the I'm the four-year starter on the volleyball team.

I started as a freshman. I made the Junior Olympic team when I was 16. There were colleges looking at me. I'm the captain. This is my spring sport. Oh, man. Was it like a ton? Am I going down this road? Or am I dropping out? And I'm going to

go down that road. This is a big choice. And I said, the hell with it. Let's go. And we'll be right back. all right so um let's just let's just let's just real talk as they say for a second that's a little bit of an aged thing to say now that that that dates me doesn't it um but no real talk uh how important

is your health to you know on like a one to 10 and i don't mean the in the sense of vanity i mean in the sense of like you want your day to go well right you want to be less stressed you don't want it as sick when you have responsibilities um i know myself i'm a householder i have uh i have two children and two more on the way, a spouse, a pet, you know, a job that sometimes has its demands. So I really want to feel like when I'm not getting the sleep and I'm not getting nutrition, when my eating's down, I want to know that I'm being held down some other way physically. You know, my family holds me down emotionally, spiritually, but I need something to hold me down physically, right?

And so, honestly, I turn to symbiotica, these vitamins and these beautiful little packets that they taste delicious. And I'm telling you, even before I started doing ads for these guys, it was a product that I really, really liked and enjoyed and could see the differences with. The three that I use, I use the, what is it called, the liposomal vitamin C, and it tastes delicious, like really, really good. Comes down in the packet, you put it right in your mouth.

Some people don't do that. I do it. I think it tastes great. I use the liposomal glutathione as well in the morning. really good for gut health and although I don't need it you know anti-aging and then I also use the magnesium L3 and 8

which is really good for I think mood and stress I sometimes use it in the morning sometimes use it at night all three of these things taste incredible honestly you don't even need to mix it with water and yeah I just couldn't recommend them highly enough if you want to try them out go to symbiotica.com slash podcrush for 20% off plus free shipping

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Don't miss out. Go to rosettastone.com slash podcrush and start learning today. The stakes sound really high. Yeah. You know, I mean, it does feel like you were making a clear choice. Remind me, how old were you? You said 16, 17? At that point, well, at that point, I would have been, I would have been 18.

17, right. You were senior year. Okay. So senior year, second semester, senior year, I'm going to do my first. This is really late. Joe, are you familiar with the premise of the high school musical series? You are Troy Bolton. This is his story.

It's amazing. I'm also just trying to picture you as the scene partner of a little freshman girl. Like were they just like fainting like how I can't even imagine. If you're like a freshman girl and like senior Joe like super tall athletes, your scene partner, they must have been dying. Yeah, it was a trip, you know. And yeah, we did the music. and um it was funny after the you know and it's the high school musical okay but we did it

in an oxford with 1,200 people yeah that's a lot that afterwards I would have to come out and there would be all these like little girls at the front of the stage and they want me to like sign their program yeah it's like how we go out the trip yeah it's the trip and how did your dad react well um I'll say first off I dropped out of AP physics because I was like I'm never going to use this yeah that's true I was like, I, you know, I understand it all, but I don't, like, okay, let's get off the math path. And I then only applied to one school, which was Carnegie Mellon, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. I didn't apply anywhere else.

I only applied to that one school, which is crazy because at the time, in those days, there were like a thousand kids from around the world that were trying out for Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon, North Carolina School for the Arts. You know, they just kind of, I think like NYU Tish, like specifically, that's cool. And again, there's all these kids who've been acting forever who've been doing theater productions their whole life. And I've done one play and I'm like, I'm going to go there. Did you feel confident enough that you were like, I'm going to get in? Or was it like the only place that you wanted to go or, or did you.

No, I mean, it's so hard to get in there. I mean, at the time, that was the number one drama school in the country. Like, if you go back to all the ratings, like, it was beating Juilliard consistently. because of the kids coming out that were working professionally. So it was like it just had like this crazy alumni and the faculty was unbelievable. And it was like, you're not getting in. Like there's no way. I don't, I was insane.

Looking back, it's just like, I don't know what the hell is wrong with it. So I try out for Carnegie Mellon, I have to do a classical monologue and a contemporary monologue. You have to audition to get in. It doesn't really have to do with your grades or SATs, you know, and you have to audition. You got to get in. And I didn't get in. You know, I did not get accepted in a Carnegie Mellon, but I knew, like, I hadn't done it long enough. Like, like, I had, there's gas in the tank here.

And I don't know what I can do yet. And I'm not ready to give this up yet. So I late applied to the University of Pittsburgh, which was like $460 a semester or something. Yeah. Yeah. At the state school. And it was across the street. from Carnegie Miller.

Wow. So here's with a plan hatches. I'm going to spend the next year just diligently hardcore auditioning for everything that I can't, like I'm just going to give this my absolute 100% all, like myopically focused. Like I'm not taking any liberal arts classes. I'm just taking all theater classes.

That's it. Like we're just all in. I'm going to audition for everything in the paper. I'm going to audition for everything at the school. I'm like everything, everything, like just go. And that was my plan. I'm going to work on two more monologues. I'm going to get a better headshot.

I'm going to build a resume, and I'm going to come in there a year later and see what I can do. And that's exactly what I did. It was like there was no straying from the path. I worked on monologues with the kids down the hall for me at the dorm at Pid. I go, okay, you guys ready? Okay, hold on.

And I go out in the hallway and kind of bust in, do my monologue and go, what do you guys think? You know, I was like testing these pieces on a little live odd. They would fit in the bunk. Like all of them. There would be like 10 people in bumps and I would perform. I come back out. I took like hair and makeup classes.

I took voice and speech. I would drive three buses to go do one line in someone's student film. Like I didn't care. Like whatever. And I started getting cast in graduate productions. The graduate students had come to pit to try to be cast. And I started getting cast to them. Directors were casting me.

And they got pissed off. So it was like they were complacent. that like who's the kid he's not supposed to you know and then the year went by and one snowy day I crossed the street from pit to Carnegie Mellon and I lined up in the auditorium with all the other kids who were around the world who were there to try out and I tried out again and I had a friend of mine Zach Quinto who I known in high school he was at Carnegie Mellon and he was one of the runners because you have to audition for one of the professors and then they write notes you do your two monologues, they write notes, put in the envelope,

handed to the kid who's running, and that kid then hands it to the next person that you're going to audition for, the head of the department. They handed them the envelope, and then I had to audition again for the head of the department, and then the head of department started talking to me. I was like, oh, wow, this is like, when they talk to you, it means that they care.

They've got to get through all these other people. You can talk me for a while. and I left and Zach Quinto was like wow you're in there for a while and he's like yeah I go does that does that what does that mean and he goes hold on he pulls out the notes and he's like they want you to audition for the third person they want you to go see the third teacher the only time that happens is when they want somebody at the school they want to make sure that they want to say take a look at this kid I want and he looked and so I was like okay so I need to stay he's like yeah you're going to do it one more time I went okay so I went in and did it for the third professor he talked to me again he just sat on top of the piano and it's like so let's talk you know I was like okay I came out Zach got the envelope he goes hold on opens it up and goes he goes I'll see you in August oh my gosh wow wow that's a good that is incredible I also feel like it says so much about your resolve because especially before social media I feel like there's so much in our culture telling kids like you can't really be an actor like it's too hard the

the pool is so small which is true yeah which is true but I feel like it already takes so much resolve to even get to that point where you're auditioning for one of the best schools in the country and then on top of that to get rejected and then just be like to double down and like no it's happening it says so much about you it's really cool well you know I think maybe that's the sports mentality is like you fail, you get your ass kicked, you get back up and like you're not done yet. Like you're not done. Did you do everything you possibly could? And you know, here's the thing, you know, regardless of what my dad ever thought about my choice of vocation coming out of the gate. Yeah. What I did learn from him was discipline. So, you know, I kind of got that understanding

from my mom and that kind of like, you know, unconditional, like I'm going to support whatever it is that you want to do, and from my dad, I got discipline. And if you're going to do something, then you have to do the best. You have to be the best at it, or at least the best that you can be. And if you can, you know, with all the, you have all the talent in the world is going to lose out to somebody who's so hungry and wants it. And on that day, that's what happened. Now, I didn't know if I had any talent or not. I mean, people were certainly saying that I did, but that's not for me to judge. You know, all I had to do was just work as hard as I could. and give myself, like, a full opportunity.

And I think a lot of people, unfortunately, that's the trick is people don't give themselves a full opportunity, you know, they do it half-assed. And then when they get the no, it just confirms everything they thought about themselves. And you have to be, like, I was willing to fall flat on my face. I didn't apply anywhere else. Like, there was no plan B. Like, God knows what I would have done. I wouldn't.

The guidance counselor player at Pitt was, like, called me in his office, it was like, I noticed you're taking all theater classes, the pressure, and you're going to be done. Like, you're going to be taking math science and history for the rest of your time here. And I said,

I'm not going to be here past this year. He was like, what? He's like, who are you? And I was like, I'm Joe, my email out.

I was so crazy. And I, and I just, I never had a plan B. And I think that was probably the best thing that I had going for me. But also, again,

like I had learned, it's okay if you fail. Yeah. Like, it's okay. You know, but did you, try your best and I couldn't, I couldn't, couldn't, I had restless night that whole year

until I tried it again. I think that's a really good practical thing that people can take away is just the, just asking yourself the question, did I do everything I could possibly do? Everything. So one thing we actually do here a lot is we talk about, we always like ask every guest, is there an awkward story you have from those middle school or high school years and then also like first love, first heartbreak kind of stuff, the awkwardness. Most people come in here with like a really rich vein of.

of like super awkward stories, except for we've only had one guest, really. Ed Spilliers will go down in history as the one who didn't have any awkward stories. I don't believe that. Yeah, no, we did discover there was something. But, I mean, so was there a point where you were racked with insecurity and you had to, I don't know, like just overcome it? Yeah.

So, you know, in fifth grade, you know, I was the captain of the basketball team. I was like the leading score, leading rebound. And I thought going into sixth grade, well, it's just going to continue. And in sixth grade, I was, I had a horrible start to the year. I was terrible. I was missing every shot I took, easy little buddies under the hoop and basketball. Like I just was. And so the coach, you know, in conjunction with my father, they started.

my ass on the bench and they bench me so this big head and shoulders taller than all the other kids was sitting there on the bench and some other kid who was younger than me grade below got to start over me when I was Mr. Big MVP of the year before yeah and you know they started holding me after school after after after practice for like an hour to shoot you know a hundred shots right hand 100 shots left hand 100 that run it like drilling me and I hated it and you know looking back now I didn't know it then but it was like my ego just got smashed and you get frustrated you want to punch something you feel like you're going to cry and put your fist through the window on the draw at home I was mad at my dad I was mad at the coach and you know what

happened was whatever was wrong with me worked itself out. And I started playing better. And then obviously, you know, they put me back into the starting lineup because what are we could, you know, we can do. And, um, and then the end of that year, we won a tournament. Like, we played against the big, all the big townships, the township I live in, we played against all the public school kids and we're this little Catholic school. You know, there's like nine kids on the team and you know like and and we beat the crap out of all the public school teams it was I mean it sounds stupid because it's like sixth grade but it was like it was a huge deal for us to beat them and it had to do with me realizing that if I was going to be good at something I couldn't

just coast I couldn't just coast on how tall I was I couldn't just coast on some sort of perceived gift that I was given and not developed that it had to be the gift plus the word and so that that was and then they gave me you know most improved player you know it's like you know I want MVP god damn it you know but it was one of those things where you know you realize you have you got to put in the work and so you had your midlife crisis in sixth grade basically you had this like really condensed arc yeah but but you can see that like the seeds were planted and that lesson was learned so that when I got to high school when I got to ninth grade again I was that by ninth grade, I knew how to work.

I knew, you know, and I had a great work ethic, and I worked harder than all the other kids. And that's why I was always the captain, you know, just, you know, I was there early, left late, worked hard, led the kids, good example. And I was the leading score, leading rebounder. And the coaches put on notes, they gave you kind of like an exit interview with your notes of what you could work on. I was like, what are they going to say? Yeah.

I did everything, you know, come on. And it was like, lacks upper body strength. I was so pissed off. And then the football team started making, you know, we were training as football players. And I, we had to do a pull-up test and a dip test. You know, you had to get up. Everybody lined the hallway and everybody one by one had to get up and do as many dips as they could, as many pull-ups as they could. I'm the captain of the team.

Got this. Great. Couldn't do one of each. So they were right. And I was furious and embarrassed and, you know, again, like failure. And so that began a lifelong quest. I then found there was a high school history. I had a history teacher at the high school who the rumor was he used to train bodybuilders in the 1970s.

And so I approached him and said, hey, you know, kind of like. Daniel LaRuso asking Mr. Miyagi, you know, in the karate kit to train him. And I was like, I heard you train bodybuilders. Like, I want you to train me. And he was like, who told you that? You know, and I was like, who told you that? You know, and I was like, he said, true? Because I hurt, you know, and he's like, he just kept blowing me off.

Yeah. And then finally he agreed to let me say, come over on Monday night at 7.30 or whatever. So I went over there, I'll dress the workout. And he just sat me down in a chair. And for an hour and a half lectured me on how the body works. He had all these anatomy books out. This is what happens when you trade. This is how you damage the muscles.

Scar tissue rebuilds it. That's how you get stronger. You need to change your diet. You need to eat protein in order to build muscle. You need to do this. It was just like this seminar. And I'm just looking at the clock. When are we going to lift, man?

And at the end of this hour and a half long seminar, he was like, all right, we're done. And I was like, what happens now? And he's like, I'm not going to teach somebody all of this stuff that I know unless I know that they're fully in. I'm not going to waste my time. They'll waste my time. It's like, I'm not going to waste your time. He's like, will you do every single thing that I tell you to do?

No question is that. And I said, all right. Yes. Yes. Okay. Show up here on Wednesday at 7.30 and we'll start. Wow. It really is like the Karate Kid.

Yeah. Yeah. And he trained me for years. And then he trained me through college. Wow. He trained me when I was getting ready to come to L.A. after Carnegie Mellon. Like, he was this really.

really strong, positive, you know, male figure for me. That's awesome. You know, and I worked the hard for that guy. I just wanted that like, great job. Great job. You did great. Back in the day, I think parents and coaches and parents and teachers used to really, really work together in terms of you're allowed to yell at my kid.

You're allowed to reprimand my kid when he's doing something wrong. You're allowed to help contribute to my kid growing. rather than, I think, you know, from what I understand is there's a lot of like kind of the reverse of that, which is parents saying the teachers, you're not allowed to talk about my kid that way. You're not allowed that, you know, the teachers and coaches used to help to raise the kids as well. It was like smaller community based, I think. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, yeah, everybody was kind of in it. And they were like, you know, what does the kid need? And the kid could be amazing, you know, and we need to unlock his potential, you know. We definitely want to talk about your career, but I think our listeners would be very upset if we didn't ask you the classic question about your first love and your first heartbreak if you're willing to share.

Oh, boy. First love, boy. I mean, there was like a first girlfriend in sixth grade, which was like first kiss. Yeah, first kiss. You know, but that was it. You know, I was deemed by my parents too young

to go to the movies with her on a date. So that wasn't going to happen. Yeah. And so when that happened, She broke up with me. You know? Because it's like, well, you can't go out with us. It's like, well, no.

Yeah. I'm not allowed. And it's like, oh, okay. I guess, you know. But that was first kiss. Did that make you feel any type of way towards your parents? Like, were you upset with them? Yeah.

Of course. No, of course. Yeah. Of course I was like, you know. Yeah. When you really invested it? Because sometimes at that age, you know, you feel your feelings are bigger than you and you kind of feel like this is the first and last

and only time you ever going to feel it. Did you have that kind of epic sort of investment in it? Or were you like, well, this is just happening? No, you know, I think with me, I mean, the Coke bottle glass is the ears that stuck out, the skinny physique, you know, I just knew someday this is all going to get fixed and there's going to be a better life for you

and it's not right now. And even in high school, it's like it's, you're going to get out of this place. You're going to get to reinvent yourself and start over. Yeah. And, you know, those girls who looked at you like you were this like Coke bottle glass is wearing nerd. They're going to see you with something different, you know. And so I was always like I just, and I also was like the oldest soul you were ever going to meet packed into a 12 year old's body. So it was like, like, I'm like an 80 year.

I was like an 80 year old man when I was born. So it was like, I just need to get out of here and go. hang out with some adults. Yeah. So I didn't really take it that way, you know? I mean, it was more like embarrassment over the fact that like some of the other kids were allowed to go to the movies with the girl. And it was like, I was to, you know, I wasn't ready yet.

So I think it was more alone, maybe like embarrassment. Yeah. But, you know, it just was like, eh, we're going to, we're going to be fine. You're going to be okay. I wasn't like, you're going to be okay, kid. But I was like, listen, we're going to, we're going to table this for now. We're going to get back to the later. Yeah.

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be a really smart actor the way that people, people that I looked up to at that time where Edward Norton went to Yale, you know, you have Gary Oldman, you know, it's that era. So you have like a lot of the actors that came out of the actor's studio in the 70s and the 80s, the DeNeros, the Pacino's, the great at the science. And I just thought, well, I want,

to be like them, so I'm going to go get an education in classical theater and do this right. But also with the intent of like starring in Fight Club with David Fincher. You know what I mean? Like I just wanted to be like the guy who could do all of the op-corn movie stuff, but intelligently. And so Carnegie Mellon, for the kids that make it through all four years of the program, you get to do you get to perform in these showcases and the showcases are then it's like the

NFL combine like every manager agent casting director they all come at the time they would all come to see all the kids from Juilliard Carnegie Tisch yeah yeah a lot they will come to see them because they were going to then start signing them sending them out and and out of those I got my choice of agent my choice of manager I had I got offered of like a six-figure TV holding deal by Warner Brothers TV. They wanted to start developing shows around me. Wow.

And at the time, this was 2000, it's different than it is now. There was a stigma. Like, there was a line. Like, you had to choose TV or felt. You did one or the other. That was it. And nobody did American commercials.

That was, you know, it was just very, very separate. Nobody was hosting game shows. Like, that's for sure. You know, but it's all different now. Yeah. But at the time, you had to choose. And I said no to that TV holding deal.

I said, and I said, no, I'm going to do film. And that week, I was brought into audition for the role of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, which I was never going to get, because I'm completely wrong for it. But the casting director really loved me and wanted me to, she said, you know, you're really great as Peter Parker, but you're never going to get this role. And I said, right. And she said, but there's this other role that's right for you. And I said, oh, flash.

And she said, right, flash. And I go, great. And I had wearing glasses for my Peter Parker audition. I took them off. And I had a button down. I unbuttoned the button down. Had a tank top on. And they were like, holy shit.

Where did this man come from? He's like fishing around. He goes, hold on. Let me go get the sides. Let me go get the script sides for you to read. And I go, I'm already off book. What? And I go, I was hoping you were going to say this.

And I'm ready. Wow. And she's like, okay. Yeah. And so, you know, we did the scene a couple of times. And she was like, she just sat there and looked at me and said, okay, I want you to meet Sam Raby. How long are you in town?

And I said, uh, how long are you? I've moved here. I'm changing my life. I'm here. Yeah. I was like, because I was there for the showcases. So I'm like driving a rental car around sleeping on someone's couch. And I'm like, how long do you need me here?

And she's like, um, what's a good number to call you, you know? And she wound up going out. But she got me $500 to screen test all of the Spider-Man candidates who were screen testing for the role of Peter Parker. I got to do a scene with them as Flash in front of Sam Raby on a soundstage with hair, makeup, costume, film, purple crew for the entire day. And Sam got to see me work. And how did you feel that day? Were you just, like, thrilled? Were you nervous?

What was sort of? I was like, we got to go to work. Let's go. Focus. Like, this is like, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, like, we're in the scene, like, you know, I mean, I've got to, you know, what's my resume? A bunch of, like, college theater projects. I'm on this, like, what's going to be the biggest movie of all time?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, everything was. Yeah. You know, and I'm testing with, like, James Franco, who I had just seen, who just won the Golden Globe for James D. Wow. Right. You know, like, like, we're, or was the, or no, maybe he was shooting it. He hadn't won it yet.

shooting it's who he looked like James Dayton, that's right. And like Scott Speedman, I knew who he was, you know, so I'm like, and I'm just like, let's go. Let's get in there, let's, yeah, you know, and Sam took a liking to me, and eventually I got cast. Eventually. There was a lot of bumps in that road,

but I won't get cast. Wow, and that was your first movie. It was like the MCU sort of like has changed the industry. Before the MCU. Yeah, no, definitely before. I mean, did you have a sense then of what because I mean I recall seeing that Spider-Man in theaters

I'm a little bit younger than you I was like you know I was definitely at the age where it just was like oh you could feel this shift that something was happening in the you know the modern movie going mythology it was like there's something big happening that this is being done this way did you did you feel that then and did you could you feel it on set that you know what I mean because it wasn't

The MCU hadn't been established, but it was still Marvel and it was like, this is huge. Well, listen, you know, they had John Dykstra on set who did all the effects for Star Wars. Like, you knew this wasn't going to be like some Roger Corman movie. You know what I mean? Like, this was the real deal. And they were putting, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars into this thing. And Sam Rame is the unbelievable, you know. But also, like you said, like there was a shift because up to that point, you have to understand that there

It wasn't a superhero boom. Superhero movies only were done when unbelievable creative artists came in and had some sort of angle. Right. So you have, to that point, you have... It was basically Batman, right? I'm trying to think of the other ones. You have Tim Burton's Batman's, which then kind of turned into the Joel Schumacher, but like, let's just stick with Tim Burton's Batman's. You have the crow.

Right. Right. Dark, black leather. Then you have blade. Dark. So they were much more niche. Spawn, dark, black leather. You have X-Men 1, dark, black leather.

Like, there was nothing colorful. So the fact that they were going to go with the green goblin in this green suit and they were going to have the red and blue, bright Spider-Man costume, and that it was going to take place in high school and really be about, like, puberty. Yeah. And all of those changes, being a nerd and falling, you know, so it was a complete departure. Wow. That's so cool.

So then, you know, you had made a decision, no television, you're going to do movies, but then you end up on true blood, sort of what is the transition? And was there a telenovela translated into English, also in the mix, American heiress? Yeah, well, yeah. But, you know, the thing about, by the time true blood came along, you're talking about the golden era of cable. So HBO, I mean, was that HBO? I'm sorry, is it? Yeah, it was HBO. You know, so, you know, the thing I will say is that in 2000, when I got out of drama school,

and I said no to TV, there was one season of the Sopranos that had come out. So there was this rumbling about this show that was long-form narrative that was like as good as any movie. And you were starting to hear rumblings to that, but it hadn't caught on. But then by the time Troubley comes along,

you've had Deadwood, Rome, the wire, sex to the city. Yeah. I mean, like carnival, like unbelievable. HBO was truly in a different league. Yeah. It really was. Carnival, by the way, is an underrated unsung. That is one of my favorite television, actually just cinematic experiences ever.

And you also had Band of Brothers. So, like, this is an era where HBO was starting to do what streamers are now doing, but, like, two decades before. You know, they were just basically making season-long films, and they were doing it in a very special way. And they were, they were making it better. They were, like, those shows were better than what was going on in film at the time. Yeah. Yeah. So, and also they were so smart in that they understood to hire a creative, a great showrunner,

and then get out of the way and don't note that person to death and just let their creative vision wind up on screen. And so, yeah, you get six feet under. Yeah. With no notes, you get Rome. You know, you get the wire. And then, of course, you get, you get true blood. And there were no notes coming.

from the network on True Blood. Wow. You know, it was what you see was what you got. And what you got was just really wild, crazy, intelligent project. And one that I think resonated and started all sorts of like social conversations that that kind of push the culture forward. Like, you know, marriage equality was not on the table prior to True Blood's conversation about it.

So they used vampires as this kind of Trojan horse into this conversation about equality. racism in the South. Wow. Because, oh, it's vampires. So we can, we can talk about it as much as we want. And it really allowed, I think, the culture to go further at that time. So it was a really important show. And we all were treated like rock stars, obviously, because, you know, the nature of the show,

I mean, people were watching us do insane things to each other, you know, on that show. Yeah, I can imagine then if there were notes from each other, they're like, well, they're already naked, so no, we're good. You got it. We're good. Yeah. But what's funny about True Blood was, you know, know, we were all really, really overqualified.

Well, I should say the material was deceptively tricky because it was kind of like written in like Tennessee Williams. It was very operatic at times. But, you know, but it's all theater kids. It's like people with Tonys and Oscars and, you know, Mike McMillan and I were the Carnegie Mellon kids. Then there were the, there was Retina and Nelson with the Juilliard kids. Then Chris Bauer was the Yale.

Then you get West End of London. Then you get this international cash. You got Scarsgaard from Sweden. You had Moyer from England. You know, so you had like an Anna, obviously, from Canada by way of New Zealand, New Zealand by way of Canada. You know, so it was just like, like I said, it was like really, really intelligent, trained actors, you know, trained the way that I was. It was like my whole plan worked in that moment. Joe, tell us about sort of your directing.

you're hosting a game show. You're in a movie with Vince Vaughn. Sort of what's happening now? What are you excited about? Yeah. I mean, I'm excited about all those things. You know, I,

I mean, I love shooting dealer no deal island. Yeah, tell us about that. You're doing that in the jungle. I heard that you're like killing all the scorpions and spiders that are coming after people. Is this true?

Yeah, I was like pest control on the island. Really? I was like, you know, and then there's, There's a lot of giant jumbo creature coming out that I have to go take out. But also, like, you know, anybody who watched this last episode this week, you know,

there was a big huge screaming match that was kind of edited down from its, like, 20-minute length. Wow. But like a giant, you know, 150-foot, 300-year-old jungle tree crashes to the ground in the middle of the screaming match. So it's kind of like, that's like some jungle shit right there, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like there's some sort of, you know, Mother Earth, we are all one that was like, hey, everybody shut up, shut off and stop screaming.

And so I was kind of nervous to kill some of these animals because they're not, they're not little tiny ants and things like that. It's like a spider that big, you know, or like, you know, that big moving across the floor. Oh, my gosh. You've got big scorpions crawling out of your shoes and big, you know, huge jungle bee flies. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot. I've got to take them all out.

I got bit by a fire in the abdomen while we were shooting actually like episode three, you know, I got bit and it felt like somebody shot me with something. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. And then they were all over me. And so, yeah, I was test control, but I also had to, like, have talked with the jungle gods while I was doing all of this extermination. I was like, because I had to, like, beg for forgiveness because, like, I can't let this giant

spider crawl towards bubbles my little dog while she is in her place. Yeah. I'm a dad. I'm a dog dad. I'm a child. I'm a child. I'm a show out with that. I can't let this happen. I have to like, like, I'm sorry, but your spider is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I cannot let it get near my little dog. I God forbid. So I'm going to take this life and I hope that

you forgive me for that. I was having all these conversations while I was killing everything that I can find. What did you love the most about being in the jungle? Um, what I love most of a being, I mean, working with the people that I got to work with. And I know that sounds like cheesy, but like I got to work with the geniuses of the reality competition style docu-series world. Um, you know, the creator of Fear Factor, Matt Coon, it's our showrunner, Sarah Happel Jackson, who ran, uh, who was headed the story team for Big Brother for years.

The whole crew was Survivor's crew that was up from Australia. You know, like, wow. Everybody knew what they were doing. And it was just so great to be amongst people who were so obsessed with this weird thing that I was also obsessed with the show. And we just got to bubble up for, you know, three and a half weeks and just just nothing but story. Eat, breathe, sleep. Who hates who? Who's doing what? Where are we putting the cameras? What's up next? How do I tee this up? Great, great, great. Okay, great. You're older. They're all over here. Great. You know, it was just, I love that level of immersion. And, you know, like I said, with smart people who are that obsessed. Yeah.

What's your favorite game show other than dealer no deal? I mean, I've watched almost every episode of Survivor. Wow. Yeah. That's a tall order because there's so many. Yeah. No. Well, like when I'm on set somewhere, you know, and I'm spending four and a half months

shooting an AMC series in Ireland or, you know, I'm over here for two months in New Jersey shooting this thing. any free time that I have, I keep, you know, it's me, the dog in a hotel room. Yeah. And then I'll just, you know, come back from a hard day of work, go to the gym, come back, kick my feet up and brush my teeth and watching Survivor. Yeah. I'll just frank through episodes until I fall asleep. Or, you know, I'm hanging out in my trailer.

I'm waiting around. Yeah, that's great. On my phone, I can just put on that episode of Survivor. Yeah, I love that. Joe, someone should do Celebrity Survivor and you'll win it. I have a plan you know I I've thought it I've thought it through yeah so you're not going to pitch us yet yeah yeah it's clearly going to happen what it is I mean just tell us the release date and we'll wait for it basically when you're my size and you know athletic you like

you just there's only one way you can win you have to help them get food by force all the So we can get all the snorkeling gear. Like you have to be your youthful in your tribe. They're not going to cut you. They want you around so they can beat the other team and get amenities. Yeah. But once the merge happens, they're going to want to get rid of you. So you have to win immunity.

You just have to win out the whole way. And I would get, I was talking to Tiger Woods's. So Survivor wanted me on the show years ago. I'll just say that. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. That's like. They weren't that show.

Yeah. And I talked to Tiger Woods's eye doctor. And I was going to get correct. buy surgery so that I didn't have to wear context. They give you a solution on a show, but I don't care. And then I met a yogi who was going to get me off of solid foods. So I didn't need to eat solid food anymore. So I was out there starving wouldn't affect. Okay. Yeah, for survivor. I was missing the survivor. I was like, why would you stop eating solid food? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Anyway. Yeah. Incredible. Joe, you do a lot of advocacy work with

sort of veteran, animal welfare, and just curious, kind of what motivates you there? What are you passionate about? Well, I'm on the board of trustees at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. So that's like my main charity. And I just love kids. I feel bad for kids that have to go through really difficult struggles that don't get to be kids. They have to grow up too soon. And a lot of times, you know, the kids are being taken care of, but, you know, it's parents

also that really have a hard time, you know, and a lot of times can't be with kids while they're in the hospital. They have to be out working and making money to support. And that's really difficult. And I think that there's an amount of guilt that the parents feel about that. And the kids are alone, you know. And so Pittsburgh Children's Hospital is like really amazing. They monitor hospitals all around the world and lowering infant mortality.

rates and, you know, managing post-op care because a lot of times, like, a surgery can be successful, but then in some third world country, like, they'll lose kids post-off and can't target the signals or, like, predictive measures. And so physical children's hospital is created like, like, you know, parts, like computerized courts that actually help monitor and go back to a mainframe with American doctors that can kind of watch, you know, and monitor for the signs that something's going sideways. And so, you know, I just really, you know, wanted to stay connected to my roots. And I love Pittsburgh. And like I said, I love kids. And so I do a lot of fundraising and advocacy, especially to raise money for parents to try to alleviate the financial

pressure so that they can actually spend some with the kids and be there with them. And haven't been in a lot of things that are kid friendly. But when I am, I try to bring them back to the hot, do fun things with the kids sometimes I don't know who I am and I'm like your mom knows who I am Mom's over there

at the career like yes she does dad wants to punch me in the face but you can't reach I'm out of there too quick yeah but no I um you know it's so so yeah so a lot of what I do

has to do with them and bring it attention back to them. But, but yeah, like, you know, I adopted my little dog here who's still sleeping on my lap. Yeah, man. It's like she's unconscious. Yeah. She's heard all these stories before. She's like wrap it up.

Yeah. Yeah, let's go take a nap. Come on. Joe, do you, just on that note of, like, being so passionate about children, do you have children in your life who you get to be? like a positive figure for them, like maybe not parental, but just like a mentor. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah, I have a nephew who, um, you know, like I was a really, I was, I was, I was a strong male figure for him, um, in the early years of his life.

and, you know, so, you know, I definitely was, took that seriously and was there for him and wanted to be there for him in every way that I could. My brother had, my brother, I have two nieces, my brother has two girls, and, you know, they're super cute. And, you know, so I'm like the fun uncle, you know, with them and, you know, goofing around and trying to make them laugh all the time. You know, so, so yeah, I mean, and, you know, but obviously, like, you know, it's something that's definitely on the docket, you know, at some point.

So, you know, you mean to have kids? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, there was, it was never, that was never not on the table, you know, at every state life that was always, you know, that was always something that was always talked about, always, you know, that was always on the forefront, you know, any serious relationship that I've gone into, it was always like, you know, I mean, it wasn't like first date talk, you know, you put like second or third. It was one of the first conversations to have, which is like, are you, you know,

are you someone that wants that? If you don't, then that's okay, you know, I just want to know what this is because, you know, I've always wanted to be a father. I've always, I have like big dad energy. Yeah. I think I have a lot to give in that department. And then also, you know, I come from, in my family tree, there's a lot of survivors. And, you know, we're talking Armenian genocide survivors.

We're talking, you know, African slaves who went through unspeakable difficulties. You know, I mean, the eradication of the Armenian people is absolutely insane. And, like, for another conversation. But, like, you know, they never gave up. You know, none of them. And, and, you know, to be sitting where I'm at right now on the shoulders of what my ancestors went through just to survive and not give up in the face of losing every single person that they loved, just to survive so that their children, so that they could have a child

that survived, then survive long enough to have, you know, my mom and then me. And, you know, there's, there's, I just think that there's, in the meta, there's, there's a real importance to that for me. Yeah. To kind of carry on their legacy. And so, you know, let alone from the fact that like, yeah, like I, I'm really, I'm looking forward to that chapter in life. Yeah. That's exciting. We didn't get into it. We didn't have time. But your family history is insane. It's like, someone needs to make a film about it. You need to make a film about it. It needs to happen. I've had conversations for sure. It's coming out in 2029. I think I think if I can, if I'm reading Joe well enough right now.

Probably before then. Something, some, I've been trying to figure out the right way to tell that story. Yeah. Or tell all of those stories and how to, or at least like kind of the first incarnation of all of that. Yeah. And, and so, yeah, before 2029, for sure. Yeah.

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's a precious. Precious story. You had to find the right way to tell it, I guess. Joe, do you want to just summarize for listeners what sort of what you're alluding to? Because you did an episode of Finding Your Roots and, yeah.

The show Finding Your Roots discovered that there was, you know, a paternity issue very nearby to me and my family tree. My grandfather was technically, was not my biological grandfather. It was another man. And through some work and reaching out and making my ancestry. dot com profile public making my 23 and me profile public and then I started fishate to people who are remotely related by marriage or blood or distant on a family tree over the past two years I've been getting bites and I've been getting information I've been getting legal documents and then lo and behold um like family members and who have photos who have evidence and so

And then because of the genetics, their proximity to me, we've been able to really stay with 100% certainty who my grandfather was. That then blows open this entire lineage. And then on the other side, you know, I know that I'm Croatian, German, and Armenian on the other side. We never know who the German was. A lot of the Armenian information was lost to a genocide. And so the show Finding Your Roots that got about. ping on the German side. And we wound up finding out who my great-grandfather was on the German side,

who was stationed in, you know, Armenia, what became Turkey post-World War I. He was stationed in this camp that my grandmother, who was a survivor of the genocide, who lost all of her children, her husband, her village, everyone, and was shot, left for dead, wound up in this camp, and then impregnated by this German officer. Wow. We think out who he was, his name, his children, his lineage. I have ancestors that fought Napoleon. We can go all the way back to the 1300s in the kingdom of Vertembert. Like it just all of a sudden, I went from having this much family tree to that.

And so it's still in progress. And like I said, there are African slaves, you know, one of which was brought over from Africa that joined the Continental Army and fought the British in the revolution. It was like a war hero and granted a monument. you know, like it's just insanity that I had no idea that existed, that now I, you know, I've got facts of books that's high and I'm reading and try to devour all of this information and understand what I am where, you know, I never knew what I was.

I just knew I didn't look like anybody in my family. And when you put me in a lineup with the cast of the Sopranos, I didn't really look at the Italian as they did. Yeah. And so I'm all these other things. And, you know, the host of the show, Henry Louis Gates Jr. turned to me at the end and just said, Joe, you are America. Yeah, it is really incredible. You're so mixed.

That is incredible. We have a final question. We ask every guest. Joe, if you could go back to your 12-year-old self, what would you do? What would you say? Oh, man. Stick to the planet. What would I say at 12?

I would say, do not feel bad about it. following the muse and do whatever you have to do to clear your space out to continue creating in that way do you not feel bad about that like you know you're you're you're a storyteller at heart just continue developing like just go that that's what I would have said because I think I just I was so torn at that age and felt so guilty about skipping my work to do it and you know doing something I shouldn't have been doing that was going to go nowhere yeah I'm coming to find out it was, that was actually, all that side questing was actually the main quest. Oh, that's really cool.

Yeah. That's so great. I love that. Joe, you've been such a delight. What a storyteller. Yeah, man. Thank you so much for coming on. Yeah.

We're so grateful. You are in delight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You can keep up with Joe Mangonello on Instagram at Joe Mangonello. We are so excited that you can now listen to Podcrush ad free on Amazon. Amazon Music. In fact, you can listen to any episode of Podcrush, ad free right now on Amazon Music with an Amazon Prime membership.

When he went into like, Werewolf mode, I was like, whoa. I know. Yeah. It was crazy. Yeah. We have to use that. I feel like his body changed. like he got bigger and he got

more wolfie he did he got wolfie Penn you had a perfect chance to say I wolf you Joe didn't occur to me but that would have been great that is perfect that would have been

well we can put that on social media we wolf we wolf Joe yeah Joe yeah that's the joke yeah that's the joke Sophie

that's the joke Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha