The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 394: Josh Duhamel: He Beat Ashton Kutcher Before They Were Famous | The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #394

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

SPONSORS: QUO -Make this the season where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to Quo.com/HONEYDEW Ultra -Don’t sleep on @‌ultrapouches. New customers get 15% Off with code HONEYDEW at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad Josh Duhamel joins me this week to Highlight the Lowlights of growing up in a huge family, finding fame, and the unexpected moments that shaped his life. Josh shares the incredible story of winning his first male modeling competition over a then-unknown Ashton Kutcher, the path that launched his career, and the hilarious loyalty his mom had to The Young and the Restless, even while Josh was starring on All My Children. We talk about the 21-year age gap between Josh and his youngest sibling, what it’s like having a wife who’s the same age as his youngest sister, and why family has always been at the center of everything he does. We also dive into health, longevity, and Josh’s wellness brand Gatlan, discussing TRT, HRT, peptides, recovery, and his approach to staying healthy as he gets older. You can catch Josh on season two of the Netflix series, Ransom Canyon, airing July 23rd, and check out his company Gatlan. SUBSCRIBE for new episodes of The HoneyDew every week. 🎟️See me live. All tickets at www.ryansickler.com/tour 🎤Check out my new standup special “Live & Alive” streaming on my YouTube now! http://youtu.be/PMGWVyM2NJo?si=SrhXjgzR1pe6CyYE 👉 Subscribe for more standup and new episodes of The HoneyDew, The Wayback, and more! http://youtube.com/@rsickler ✅ Subscribe to my Patreon “The HoneyDew with Y’all”! Get The HoneyDew audio and video a day early, ad-free, for just $5/month! Want more? Upgrade to the $8/month premium tier and get everything above plus The Wayback a day early, ad-free, censor-free, and exclusive bonus content you won’t find anywhere else! http://patreon.com/RyanSickler 📧What’s your story?? Submit at [e-mail] 👕Get Your Merch👕 http://www.bonfire.com/store/ryansickler/ 🎧 Listen to my Podcasts 🎧 The HoneyDew - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-honeydew-with-ryan-sickler/id527446250 The Wayback - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wayback-with-ryan-sickler/id1721601479 Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/ryansickler 📣 Follow Me📣 ▪ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ryansickler/ ▪ TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@ryan.sickler ▪ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RyanSicklerOfficial 🕸️ryansickler.com/ 🍈thehoneydewpodcast.com/ 🦀Subscribe to The CrabFeast Podcast🦀 http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crabfeast-with-ryan-sickler-and-jay-larson/id1452403187 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler. Welcome back to the honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the NightPants Studios. I'm Ryan Sickler. Ryan Sickler.com and on all your social media. Very excited to have this guy here today, guys. You know what we do here. We highlight the low lights.

I always say these are the stories behind the storyteller. First time here on the dude, ladies and gentlemen, Justin Mel. Welcome to the honey dude, Josh DeMell. Happy to be here, Ryan. Thank you for throwing that energy. You know, this is going to be, I just learned a little bit about crapping before we started. Yeah, I could talk to about it all fucking day. Well, you're a fucking man's man.

I wonder if I could do that out in the lake because there's, there's crawfish out there. Is it brackish? Huh? Is it saltwater and fresh water? It's just fresh water. I don't know. Well, the crawfish, you would just throw a net down. Yeah.

But I want to do what you do, man. Milk crates and. Yeah. Bottles. We'll talk about it. It's so fun. It's all homemade. All homemade.

You put love into it before you get out there. That sounds like a trade that gets passed down through the generations. I miss it. I miss it. Who taught you how to do that? My dad. Really? Yeah, my dad. And he had a waterman friend named Mr. Bud. Actually, no, Mr. Hollis. And he taught us the ways of crabbing. And we would just go out. You can't start before sunup, but you can get out there before sunup. And they will check you. So you're out there with, you're seeing shooting stars. The sun's coming up. You're smelling that saltwater. It's so pretty. It's so quiet. The wildlife. the birds and shit going by and then you drop your line you just wait and chill and then boom it's on wow and it was always and how often would you do this i mean my dad worked all the fucking time we get out there if he wasn't that was not something he did for a living oh no no no he worked it actually worked right here pan am he was a crew chief of pan am in dc so we would go i'd say

we'd go at least three four times a summer huh um to do it like that but then you got the the easy way too where you just take the net or whatever off a pier or just to tie a chicken neck to a line and just slow pull, you know. You ever tie a bull lip to a line? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bull lips are the bait, I'm telling you. When he first told us that too, I thought it was a term for something. And he's like, no, go to the butcher. I never thought about it.

I'm like, yeah, every part of the animal they're cutting up. Right, but they literally take the lips off the bull for what reason? I don't know if any, I don't know. Well, they eat tongue. Maybe that's why they do it for bait. Maybe. I really genuinely don't know why. Tongue I get.

I also don't even know how the fuck Mr. Hollis was like, go get bull lips. Like, who the hell's telling you that, nabes? Does he have like a butcher? He's like, you know what we got? Because crabs are just fucking, they're just scavengers. Yeah. You know, we're the biggest ones. They're down there.

But, you know, maybe that dude was like, I just throw this shit away. Who knows? I can talk to you about it all day. Before we say anything else, right there, please promote everything and anything you would like. Well, let's see. I got a movie that just came out on VOD. It was in theaters called Neglected that is now out on Amazon and Fandango and Apple TV. But I've got a series on Netflix coming out called Ransom Canyon, July 23rd of this summer.

What's that about? It's about, this is our second season. It's about a couple ranching families. going head to head. It's a modern Western. It's a really fun show. We have a blast shooting it up in New Mexico, based in Texas,

but we shoot it in New Mexico. So I'm really excited about that one. And then, you know, one of the things I'm most proud of is this company Gatlin. Yeah, tell me about that. We're, you know, we started as a TR testosterone replacement therapy company,

which I wasn't sure I wanted to be the face of in the beginning, but, you know, the more I learned about it. It's good fucking face. You got a good face. Well, thank you, sir. I'm in full hair and makeup, no. I'm not, actually, but, you know, it's the idea is with health, wellness, longevity. We're trying to stay as long as we can for as long as we can.

You know, it's, it's TRT. It's all the peptides. It's, uh, HRT for women. It's the clothes stacks. It's the Wolverine stacks. It's all the, all the craze right now. But, you know, what I've found is that we're really helping a lot of people. I've had guys come up to you and go,

dude, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but oh my God. So, you know, it's a, it's a telemedicine company. So we have a full line of doctors who, you know, answer whatever questions. We'll get your blood, you'll have you test your blood. They will let you know where you're at and what they recommend based on what you're trying to do with your health journey and order your peptides, your hormone therapy, whatever it is, and we send it right to your house. You guys got that BPC 157?

We do. Hell yeah. We do. We do. Are you? What else? I have to look up. I take true niogen, you know about that?

I want to take that. I take BPC 157. It's like an NAD. It is an NAD, yep. Do you ever do the actual NAD injection? I have not. I want to talk to you about it. You look good though, dude.

That's pretty nice. Listen, for a fucking professional clown. I don't know. Who's been through what I've been fucking through? I look all right for 53. I also have seen 53 out there. I ain't that bad. You're looking good, too.

We'll talk about it because I do want to know about it. Do you, are you on any of that stuff now? Yeah. So I do testosterone. I do NAD and MOTC. Those two together are really good. I'll sue to the BPC 157. And then I do like a gonadotropin thing just to sort of counter so I don't lose, so my nuts don't shrink. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I can produce sperm. That's the other, that's the other reason. Well, you're currently produced. You got a, what you say? Two and a half week. Two and a half weeks? Three and a half week old baby girl. Not even a month. month. Yeah, man. And a two and a half year old. And a two and a half year old. And a 13.

Almost 13. Almost 13. So Axel's about to be 13. Shepard is two and a half. And little baby Roka is almost a month. She'll be a month on the 15th. Damn. Pretty sweet. That is pretty sweet. I love it. So let's go back to the beginning for you. Where are you from? And I want to ask you, you look so good. You take care of yourself. Do you have family health issues? Is that something that, like, you were like, hey, I don't want to be like this or, you know, were your parents taking care of themselves? Yeah, my mother. I know, you're born, you must be born, what, 73? 72.

72. Okay, late. Yeah. So, yeah, my mother was always a health nut. She was the one who was ordering an egg, what omelet back in the 80s. When my sister and I were like, mom, what you're doing? Ask them to take the yolks out of your eggs. She really would.

She would. And he has always healthy food. You know, she was very much. She still is. It still is. It looks incredible. She's still alive. She's 77 years old.

It's going to live to be 130. I swear to God. My dad is not as well off right now. We're trying to get him right. How old T? Also 77. Okay. Are they still together?

No. They were divorced in the early 80s. But incredible people, both of them. I just, you know, good example of somebody who takes really good care of themselves versus somebody who sort of lived a good, really, really, really fun life. Love them to death. and I'm hoping that we can get him back on track. But, you know, he'll be fine.

So where are you from originally? I'm from mine at North Dakota. What's it? My not. My not. My not. North Dakota, which is sort of. I've never heard of that one.

North Central, North Dakota. Okay. About 60 miles south of the border. And what are your mom and dad doing that you're living in North Dakota? Are they from there? Are they there for work originally? Like, what happened? So my mom was a teacher for like 33 years, I think it was.

And then has had a bunch of little businesses. since. She owned a spa at one point and open a restaurant at one point. She's always done certain things, but now she's basically retired and just enjoying her grandkids. My dad had a really interesting career where he was, you know, on the back of receipts when you go to the grocery store, and on the back of that receipt is 10% off at raise dry cleaners. Yeah, all those coupons you see there. Well, my dad started a company from, he sort of drove from little town to little town across Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota selling ad space on the back of these little things. So he would, he had a company then he would print him out.

He had a company in Korea that would print him up. No. Send him back. He would then, you know, and that's how he made. And he built a nice little business out of it. So your dad's pretty responsible for that fucking, like when we get that long receipt and there's a bunch of like car wash, whatever and on there's he i don't know if he's responsible for it but the man in his mind saw hey there's advertising space we could use here yeah he was a he was a hell of a salesman he was a

he owned a car dealership used car dealership before that i mean that's fucking so that's what he's that's all he's done is you know he's a he's a good he's a good we learn dealer something i'm not so good at someone's like that'll be 17 000 for an 87 pinto With 300,000 miles. It's rusted out. All right. I guess it's whatever you say. So.

And do you have siblings? I have three younger sisters. Ashley is two and a half years younger than me. McKenzie is 16 years younger than me. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then my youngest sister is 21 years younger than me. So my mom got remarried in 88 to Big George who passed away.

So, real quick, sorry. You and I'm assuming the sister who's two and a half years younger than you. That's mom and dad. Our mom and dad. Yeah, we're full brother and sister. And then mom got remarried and aviated, her tubes untied and reconnected. What? Your mom's doing all egg white omelets, reconnecting tubes in the 80s?

My mom is built of something else, man. I swear to God. I don't even know they were doing it successfully back then. I feel like that's early on for that. This would have been 1988. It wasn't without a few miscarriage. before, you know, it was, it wasn't easy. But it worked.

So she married George, yeah. Yeah, she married George. And, and, you know, had McKenzie when I was a sophomore in high school. I was like, okay. Awesome. And now we're, we're very close now. But at the time, I was like, what the hell? You're, you're 40 years old.

What are you still having sex for? What are you still having? I look at it now. And I'm like, oh, Jesus. I'm 53. Three still having them. With a baby that's not even a month old. And then she had Cassidy at 45 years old.

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After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support the show and tell them our show sent you. Now, let's get back to the due. Wait, so how old was McKenzie? McKenzie, which she had her? Your mom was 40? So then five, there's a five.

Man, that is later. It's not like we're going to get this out of the way. Well, I think there was, I think I can't say for sure, but I remember there were a couple of miscarriages. They really tried. I think that that, so George had a construction company and he was hoping one of the girls would take over the company. It was like a hundred-year-old, you know.

Oh, man. Deep, you know, big pipe construction company. And then Cassidy came along, and this is funny because I was playing football at minus state university. Go beavers. Warming up on the sideline. And I remember looking up at the stands and I see my mom and has this bump. And I'm like, what the,

My mom pregnant. I'm a sophomore in high school. I was 21 years old, whatever that was. Sophomore junior in college. Yeah, you're in college. And she's having another baby. And I was like, oh, my God, you got to be kidding me. So now we love it.

You know, the crazy thing. So there's a picture of me holding Cassidy as a 21-year-old young man and this little bitty infant. That looks like your baby. And I looked at the photo and I looked at my wife. And I said, you know, you and Cassidy. are exactly the same. That's great.

Is that a highlight or a low light, Ryan? I'm not sure. I might walk the line of both, actually. I don't like, for you and a low light for her. I'm officially too old for you. That's fucking respect to right there. They're literally like months apart in age. Oh, man.

I never looked at it like that until I saw that photo. I was like, wait a second. Yeah. That's fucking great. Oh, shit. And what do, um, so dad doesn't, again, why are you guys there that are your parents from there? So my grand, my mother's side, uh, Bachmeyers, you know, immigrated from, uh, Germany, Russia, Germany way back in the, during the Bolshevik stuff. Uh, what is it, late 1700s or the 1800s somewhere in there?

I have to go back and look. But my grandfather was born on this farm and died basically on this farm. He had 95 years old. So she grew up like no electricity. Oh, okay. No, like running water for the first seven or eight years of her life. They eventually got all that stuff there. But it was like she would tell stories about having, you know, kids would have to go out and, you know, there's one bath.

There's six kids. And the oldest one had to, I think, which I forget which one had to go first, which one had to go last, but you can imagine being that last kid. Oh, yeah, we're not changing the water. Oh, God. Six butt soup. That's the, but, but, but, but, but, you know, and they would have to heat it like the old fashioned.

It was like a whole, it was, you know, that's not that long ago. You think about it. We were so used to all these, you know, amenities that we have now, but it wasn't that long ago that people were still, you know, just getting by on, you know, they were still roughing it in a lot of ways, still homesteading, actually.

So, but they, You know, they had a farmstead forever. So they came from there. My dad's side, it's a little bit murky. There was, they came from French Canada. As far as back as we can remember. My dad's mom came from England. We have a whole, it goes back to the 1500s.

But my, the Demel side is crazy because at one point in the mid-1800s, I think it was, the name changed from Brassur, B-R-A-S-S-E-U-R. to Demel. No idea why. It just did. I don't know. I think I'm from like a family of misfits or something. They're probably running from the law.

I'm not sure what that was. They changed the name. They changed the name. Yeah. Fully. From Brussure to Demel. And nobody really knows why. And there's not very much information.

It doesn't go back very far, but my dad's mom's side goes literally back to like Queen Elizabeth. That's crazy. Really? Yeah. That's pretty badass. Yeah. So what's it like growing up there for you? Are you guys, you know, are you middle class?

Are you lower middle class? Yeah, I mean, you know, it was. Is dad crushing it with that fucking idea and you guys are? I mean, we didn't have a lot. You know, they ended up both doing fairly well in the end. But growing up, man, we had very little, very little. You know, because they were young when they had us. They were like 23 years old.

Yeah. 23. I think 33, maybe 24. before my dad had me. So they were still figuring it out, you know. So we didn't, I mean, trailer park. And that was when I was born and lived there. And then shortly after that, we lived into a little house outside of town and mine on it.

I mean, I would have never known the difference, though. I thought I had the greatest childhood ever. But I go back to the house now, I'm like, shit, that is a little tiny box of a house. Isn't it always smaller than you remember? Yeah. And, you know, it's, it's, I'm grateful for it because I had to, really bust my ass to get everything I ever got. And now I'm like, how do I impart this same stuff on my own kids?

You know, because you work so hard to, you know, provide so that your kids don't have to go through what you went through. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. Yeah. You know, for them. I mean, that's the goal, right? I want you to be smarter. I want you to be better. And then keep doing that.

Yeah. Maybe build on that, I guess. Please. You know. So how does a, how does a guy? like yourself, whose dad does what he does, mom's a teacher, you're in the Dakotas, how do you fucking even get into acting? Oh, God.

Are you in, is there a theater program in the school? Like, what, where do you fucking get that love? So I, I didn't do any theater or anything back in college. I didn't do nothing, nothing like that in high school, none of it. I did, I was all sports. Mm-hmm. I just love sports, and I still love sports. Yeah.

And I remember I was playing, when I was playing football at mine, it's my buddy Jeff Carew from Wisconsin, big Packer fan, and I still like him despite that. He said, you know what, you should go to L.A.? Because he'd been playing, but he was also like a pitcher. He got drafted at high school by the Rangers to pitch. Ended up like at Minor State playing football with us. It was through a whole thing.

He was playing minor league baseball, played football for school, whatever. And he's like, you know what, you should go to, you should go to, you should go to, Los Angeles and be a model. I was like, what? You kidding me? I couldn't fucking. That was like the first time he said that. That was like, that was it. That was what he said to do. And I was like, you know, as a kid now that's the seed that's planned. It is pretty wild. Maybe now I look back and I'm like, no fucking way would I want to do that? But it was like in a way for me to go, maybe that is a way to go, you know, see the world. And so I went on spring break with him. that's that next spring to a little town called Roner Park, California, north of San Francisco,

about 45 minutes. And just had a blast with him and his old buddies from Sonoma State. And we went back to Minot State after that. And I was like, I'm going back to California. When I'm done here, I am out. And that was kind of the reason why I ultimately left. To model? Not to model.

to go explore to see the world. It was my first time really out of, I mean, I was a junior or a sophomore junior in, but no, I've been a sophomore in college. You hadn't really been anywhere. Really my first time out of the state, you know, I didn't, I never got to go anywhere. And that was kind of like, holy shit, this is California. And it was Roner Park. You know, it's not like, you know, Malibu.

It's just a little town, a little, sweet little town up north. But that was kind of. of the beginning and then I moved back out there. He ended up staying back and playing baseball for the local semi-pro team. And I went off of my own and stayed with those same guys. We went out there for spring break with. And so where do you go when you get here? How does it all start for you?

So I meet a girl. I'll give you a real short version. Then we'll get into a couple low lights. How does that sound? Yeah, sounds wonderful. Oh, God, there's plenty along the way. I'm not going to lie. So I get to Rona Park, sleep on the couch of these guys who are actually, you know, in retrospect,

were very sweet to let me in. I'm still good friends with these guys. Ben Week and Ryan Merrill and those guys were fantastic. And ended up meeting a girl shortly after that, moved with her to Sacramento, California. Then we moved to San Francisco. She worked for a dental office. And I was just kind of working, you know, warehouses. I was working construction.

You know, all those years, my stepdad had this big construction company. I had no interest. But then when I got out there and had to make some money, suddenly I had to go learn how to operate big equipment. So I learned how to operate back hose and excavators and all the front end loaders, all that stuff. So I would do that. I had a warehouse job in Sacramento where I worked overnights there. I had a, I worked at a concrete pumping company for a while. And I was terrible at it.

Oh, God, I was terrible at that. I locked it. What is concrete pump before? So you've seen those, you've seen those little concrete pumps and they have those big long hoses that come from them. That's a concrete pump.

Okay. And what are you just laying a foundation or something with it? Yeah, we were doing a big, what do you call it, complex of houses. They're building 50 of the same houses, basically. And I would have to go,

and when I wasn't doing that, they'd send me off through another one. But it's tough because if you get that shit locked up, you are screwed because it locks up all the way through that pipe. And you got a big old mess. When the weather changes, so does the way I dress. I'm swapping out heavy winter clothes for pieces that are lighter, breathable,

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Did you? Oh, man. They fired you right. Because, you know, it's just, it's a giant mess. It's got to be thousands of dollars. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That concrete locks up and you're screwed.

You know, you got to get it out. You got to get it cleaned up before everything. And I, and I didn't. But I did learn how to ride that big equipment, which I still used to this day. And then, okay, so I ended up in, from there, I went to San Francisco. And then from San Francisco, my girlfriend and I knew that I wasn't, that wasn't it. And I had some buddies living in L.A. And I said, guys, can I come crashing your couch?

That day, I packed up my Ford Taurus. And I, and I. Hell yeah. Left for L.A. And then it was, you know, a good year of just trying to make my way through, trying to figure it out. And I knew at this point that I wanted, I wanted to give it a shot. Okay. This was one I had.

Modeling act. What is the? Well, so I had won this. So when I was in Sacramento, I got approached by this guy named Hank Ritter who asked me if I wanted to, if I'd ever done it. And I was like, no, but what do I do? So he signed me up. I took some photos. And then he introduced me to his boss who ran this company that sent people this thing

called the International Model and Talent Association in New York City. So they met me and sponsored me to go to this competition in New York. And I said, hell yeah, I want to go do that. I've never been to New York. Had no money, but I went. So they sent me to this thing. And it's just kids from all over the country. country, wanting to be actors or models or whatever it is.

And here I am at this thing, like total fish out of water. And for the week that I was there, as the week went on, it started becoming the buzz around this thing was that, you know, you're in contention to win this thing. I was like, what? No way, no way. You and that guy over there and that guy over there, that guy's name is Chris Coocher. He's from Iowa, Rapid City, Iowa. I was like, okay, okay, here we go.

And then so I did my little walk down the runway. Did another walk down the runway. Wait, I got to ask you for a second. For a dude that's never done this shit, what do you even know about this? You're just doing it? Are you faking it to you make it literally? They put me in the most ridiculous costumes, the lowest plunging, like tight. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, uh, what's the Ben Stiller movie?

Oh, Zoolander. Zoolander. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was. dude. It was like, even while I was doing it, as green as I was, I was like, this is not going to end well. This is going to come back to haunt me at some point. And so it's a competition of what? You're going to win what? Well, they do. Well, you went. So there's all these agencies around the world to come to this thing and try to find new talent, apparently. This is your first one too. First time. First time going to this thing. Well, come to the end of it,

I'd done my little walk in my speedo down the runway and my little fashion walk down. It was like a, it was like a, a, it's like a, Seems so stupid. And I end up, so here we are. We got eight finalists, and they said the first one, no. For the second one, no. Third runner up. Second runner up, the guy from Oregon. First runner up.

And it's me and Chris Coutcher. They say his name and I win this thing. Yeah, fuck yeah. And I, isn't it awesome sometimes her name? It might as well have been me winning Miss America, put a tiara on my head and a big old sash and carry me off into the I was so excited because it was like a huge deal. I thought this was my ticket

dude. I thought this was like it. So I, and then Chris Coocher, shortly after that, changes his name to Ashton. No. Get the fuck out of here. Ashton wins. Ashton goes on to like massive success. Yeah. After supposedly the story's one audition.

That 70s show, Calvin Klein, all these different things. He just crushed it. I was so, I was so bitter. because I didn't do anything for the next four years. I was like beating the streets. I was like, but I won male model of the year thinking it was some big deal. But it was just a stupid competition that didn't really do anything for me. But for him, it worked out really well.

No shit. So out of that same competition. Yeah, right from there, he just skyrocketed. Have you ever crossed paths? Oh, yeah. We laugh about that. You do. He remembers it as well.

Oh, God. Yeah, we both remember. It's funny because we know we both know how stupid it looked. how stupid we looked um so that was that was the uh that was that was that was that was that was that was that was that was my oh so then shortly after that i get a i i my roommates after i'm i moved from sacramento or san francisco having won this thing thinking okay i'm going to go try to go give it a shot and i go and so i moved down sleep on the couch with my buddy bob and chat hornbaker and Jim Vitlatchel and these guys, there's like six of us in a two-bedroom apartment.

And Jim Vitlatchel was working at Dunbuckwell and Associates at the time. And he knew that I was broke. I'd had parking tickets piled up in San Francisco, from San Francisco. I was depressed. I was like, I didn't know what that was going to do next because I already foregone. I was going to go to dental school. That was why I went to school at my state was to get my biology degree. That was gone.

What am I going to do? He asked me if I want to be, if I, he calls me up one day and says, hey, the guy, he was working in the mail room at Don Buckwall, distributing photos. You should come down and help me, the guy that I'm working with is sick. They'll pay you cash. So I go down there. And then one of the agents asked me if I was an actor. And I said, yeah, which I wasn't. And they said, do you want if we send you out on some auditions?

And I said, sure, sure. And this is, and this is, this is good. lesson for anybody out there thinks this is easy because you need to be prepared when if you're going to go out there into the world and do this stuff and I was not admittedly I was not ready at all tell me about that because they would send me on these auditions and I would completely fuck them out I would just be like I'd never read a script I'd never really I just wasn't ready you know I had no experience doing it but I knew that I could if I could just get over the nerves and the fear and the terror of walking into a room and trying to act or audition for even like a Cheetos commercial,

anything. I was like, it was just not comfortable at first. But I knew that if I could get comfortable enough with it, I could do it and get over that fear. So I had all these auditions. They weren't going well. But all because you said yes to going and doing grunt work in the mailroom. Of course, of course. And so there was.

Finally, one day, Jim comes back, says, so I had that audition go on Saturday. And I said, I think pretty well, he said, apparently not. If this next one doesn't go, well, you're, you're, you're, there are probably not going to send you out anymore. And so. Is that right? Oh. How many have you been on? How many had I been on?

Yeah. They'd probably been on about 10, maybe. And they're just like, hey, if you don't get any more. They knew, they knew that I was like, they would, they, they just weren't getting good feedback. Because I wasn't ready. You know, I really wasn't ready. I didn't know. I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have, you know, agreed to go do it.

But I guess it was a good experience. I don't know. And so I had to go in and, I had to go in and try to, and then I got a call back on one. And then it was slowly started to, you know, build up a little confidence so that I could go do it again. And then, you know, after a while, you start to get a little bit more comfortable with it. But, yeah, it was that, it was, he was like, dude, they're not sending you on me. And it was like, it was, I wanted to crawl under the table and be like, shit, this is, this is one of those things that I don't, I don't know, I don't know what I was going to do at that point. I mean, you left to go do this. So it's not like you had a job anywhere else already or anything. Oh.

No, I mean, I was. Did they let you go? No, because I ended up booking a movie called, uh, how'd you pull that out? Well, I had a, it was, it was like, it was a student film. That we shot in Bulgaria. directed by David Rosenbaum, who I think now works over at Disney. I still run into him from time to time, but it was an adaptation of the picture of Dorian Gray, which was, yeah, it was one of those, I was mostly in a, like a little loincloth, the entire movie.

I wouldn't recommend going out and saying it. Anybody out there, please don't go find the one. I'm definitely watching your western. But I don't know about that. You'll see, you'll see why it was a struggle in the beginning. But you booked it. They said, hey, we're going to keep sending you out. I had this, I remember I had a moment in that audition where I just find,

because for the longest time, I just couldn't get over the fear of walking into a room knowing that these people are laughing at me underneath. You know, they just, they, and then I got to a point where I was like, Fuck it, they want me to do well. Maybe they want me to do well so they can check that box. How would if I think about it like that? Like they're actually rooting for me rather than laughing at me when I leave the room. And then I had to do, there was a moment when I had to lose it.

And I remember just something happened when I just, like something primal out and just lost it in the scene. And I could see it in their eyes like, oh shit, this is the guy. And I knew that I got the job. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair.

With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.cair, every style, every home. So that was like the first. You saw it through the tears. You could see it in there. I could just see that they were like, ooh, they leaned in and I was like,

because everyone else showed very little interest because they knew that I wasn't the guy. This is the first time that I could tell that they like me and I got it. And that was, you know, that's, I think that's what you need in this business especially is any little nugget of hope or positivity or support, support, belief, anything like that is enough to get you to the next one. And that was kind of what, you know, and then I, from that I built on, you know, I've started

feeling a little bit more confident. And I'd been taking classes now at this point. I immediately started like. Yeah. Several. And I still, I still do. I still go take these workshops here in town just because it's, I think, it's good to be terrified. It's good to have that fear of something. And these workshops, they, you know, to get up in front of a bunch of people, as you know, is a pretty terrifying thing. At least it is for me. No, I mean, if I'm being honest, every time before I go out on stage, if there was a toilet right there, I could 100% ship myself. Really? Every time. As soon as I get out there, it's fine.

It's the nerves of I'm next. Yeah. That anticipation, you know, for me, I don't know how any other one. I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm like, you know, let's make sure we have a good show. You're, you know, I'm responsible for these people's weekend. They go back to work on Monday. Like, they either suck. We just all this great comedian or like this fucking guy's up.

Yeah. You know, and you don't know how it's going to go. you hope for, you know, that you're just going to go out there and do your job. They're going to laugh at the part you hope they laugh at, you know, that shit. But every time it's fucking nerve wrack. All of it's nerve wracking for me. Even before I get on stage, like selling tickets is nerve wracking. It doesn't go.

That fear doesn't go away or that. Oh, 100% it goes away. Here's the thing. But I mean. You mean over the years? Over the years. Not for me. Every time the anticipation of going out there is a little bit.

I think that's probably a healthy thing, though. I agree. I read recently that McJep. Jagger said he still gets nervous. And he said, if you're not, you're just, you're not alive. You know, like my, when I very first started doing stand-up, I would get nervous about it the night before if I had a show the next day. Yeah. Then it slowly became morning of, afternoon of, on the drive to it.

Yeah. Whatever. Now, I don't have any of that up until you're about to fucking walk off and I'm next. It hits me in that little fucking pocket there. But it reminds me I'm alive I'm doing it since 90 26, 7 years now Yeah

Yeah But it still gets me It still makes me feel Yes, it's good And then once I'm up there It disappears Good or bad Even if I'm eating shit

Yeah I don't have the nerves anymore Because I'm also at a point now where You don't care as much probably It's not I still care about what I'm doing And saying and how it goes But I don't give a fuck

If that reaction isn't great because also that's good for you sometimes too. That's how you learn. The only way to learn stand up, we sound like Dix when we say this is to do it. You know, there's no secret sauce. If Robin Williams taught comedy,

we'd never have a Dave Chappelle. You know what I mean? Every style is different. The only way you can figure out who you are is by going up there for years and doing shit. And then you're like, this is who I am. You're trying to be the most you,

you can be up there. You know, like it's no difference. And I just walked off the street, grabbed the mic, start talking to. Yeah. And that takes it took me a long time. Richard Pryor said 15 years, I think it was. Yeah. I would say that's probably about right.

That's fascinating to me, just to have the nerves to get up there and do that. And I think it's really, what's really fascinating, and I think that this is, this is true for a lot of different professions, not just the entertainment business. Because I'm kind of the same way. I don't care anymore. I do care tremendously about the work. I know what you mean. But I don't care what people think about that. That's when I wanted to ask you about one.

Because you said you're, I was wondering if you're going to say it. You said your mind switched to what if these people are rooting for me and all that, which is great. What point do you hit where you're like, I don't fucking care? I'm going to go in here and I'm going to do my job. But I'm going to get it or I'm not. I don't give a fuck what if they're laughing or whatever. When does that hit you?

I don't. I just think it's one of those things that comes with experience and age, really. You know, you see these old men. out there, they just don't give a shit. I think that's, that sort of starts to happen to us as, as men, as we get older. But honestly, I have more fun when I'm, when I don't care as much. And again, I don't mean to miss make, confuse that with not caring. Just don't care what people. Yeah, when you don't add that gives you that gives you that gives you freedom to do whatever you want. Let you, let you just, whatever comes at you, you can react to. Whereas you don't have this thing in your

head, you have to do this one. When, when she says that, I'm going to do this. I, I, I had, let me tell you about one of these bad auditions that I had. Yeah, one of your day. So there's this joke that I loved. And it was a movie about firefighters for Disney. I forget the name of the movie. And it was the guy sitting around the locker room telling jokes. And I decided I was going to do my own version of this joke.

And it was, and it was, uh, Sky has a day off from work. and decides he's going to go on a little hike in the woods, packs up his Toyota Tacoma, his backpack gets out there, throws on the backpack, starts walking through in about a half an hour into the hike, he sees a little leprechaun go run across the way. This is the joke I said in this Disney movie.

He's like, wait a second, that was a leprechaun. He's like, wait a second, if I catch a leprechaun, I get a free pot of gold, he'll be rich, drops a backpack and starts chasing this little leprechaun over logs and her bushes finally tackles the stings. He says, all right, leprechaun, I know what happens now. I caught you.

I want my free pot of gold. He's like, all right, you'll get your free pot of gold. You'll get your free pot of gold. But first, I get to fuck you in the arts. He's like, what? You don't get to, you don't get to, no, I'm not going to know. I'm not, well, there's nobody here. Nobody's ever going to know.

I'll be rich. All right, fine, fine. He takes off his pants and leprecon gets up behind. starts going to town. And he's like, how old are you, boy? What's your name? What's your name? My name is John.

It's John. How old are you, John? I'm 26. He's like, you're a little old to be believing in a nepracons, aren't you, John? Which is a great joke, right? But not to the executives at Disney. It's even better for a comedian to know that that's what you told it to. It makes it even fucking.

I got. I immediately got a call from my agent saying, did you tell a joke? They were so bothered. They reported that. Dude, it was. I thought that I killed it. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. And then I loved it. But the problem is not, even, but I knew I was in trouble the minute after I said, none of them met nobody laughed. Oh, they didn't even crack a smile. They were like so appalled that I would tell that joke.

What was the joke you were supposed to tell? Do you remember? It was something similar, actually. It was, it was something similar, but I just sort of adjusted it for what, you know. Your taste. For my taste. Yeah, bro. That is so fucking good.

That's so good. All right. Tell me about your first big one. It was an ABC show, right? So, you know, shortly after the picture, Dorian Gray, I got, I got all my children. Oh, you did all my, you were a son back first. I was on all my children for three years. Yeah, that was right after the other one, you know, I was able to sort of take that and apply it to this. And that's what I think one thing I've been good at is just using, recognizing windows of opportunity and trying to make the most of it.

You know, because it was, it's, as you know, dude, it's a, it's a doggy dog world out there in this town. So I, you know, that was also what's next. Yeah. You know, hey, this is great. Mm-hmm. But you, you know, it's a very short window of being able to enjoy and appreciate it while your mind is not turning and like, what the fuck's next. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you've got a family to feed and you've got bills to pay. And, you know. Yeah. Okay. So all my children.

Yeah, I got all my children. I was on that for three years. Um, and talk about boot camp. that was like boot camp for a guy like me who was still pretty green, very green. But, you know, you learn how to memorize lines and find your light and hit your mark and handled media on a much smaller scale. You know, it's just a bit was like three years of just getting my feet wet. And I knew that I had to, I had to just dive in head first.

I really had to do that. otherwise I was going to be back to square one figuring out what I was going to do next. So I knew that, you know, can I ask you, do you get a three-year contract or is it a year by year? No, I had a three-year deal. And can I ask you what back then? What does a soap pay? Because it's under SAG and all that. I think it was like after maybe then.

I think it was something like eight or 900 bucks an episode. That's it. The motherfucker and all about you. But then I got to, but the character ended up taking off. Like he turned into, it would be a really popular character. which was another big boost to my confidence. Like, oh, shit, maybe I can do this. Because I was like, again, I'm just going to go for it.

You know, and if I fall, so be it. But I'm not going to like try to live in the middle. I'm going to go for it and try to make this guy's interesting and play against what they expect as much. Because my mom watched Young and the Restless my whole life. So I knew what they were probably expected. Is she shitting when she sees her son come on the fucking TV in her show? The problem is she still watched Young and the Restless.

She didn't even tape it. She would catch mine when she could. Oh, no. She's not upset to V.C.R. Dude, dude, she was so, she was such an avid fan of Young and the Restless and she barely watched me on my children. She just couldn't get into it. I mean, she watched it first a little bit and then she didn't like the story as much as Young and the Western. So she was.

Like, she's loyal to her stories, man. I figured she'd stop. We'd go over here to watch all my children. Yeah. You would think she would just like pause on. on the young. Here comes my son on this fucking soap. But she had to know what Victor Newman is doing that way.

Yeah, I mean, I get it. So it was, uh, it turned out to be really good because I had, you know, I ended up winning and I got nominated for daytime Emmy, I mean, three years in a row that I was there, which was truly the first time I'd ever had that much belief in me, like the team, the people really believed in me because I, you know, I could go, I could talk about my football days and basketball days. there was a lot of heartbreak during all that stuff that I didn't feel like I got, you know,

I felt like I got the rod under the stick, but maybe I didn't because that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me was not, you know, having the success that I thought I was going to get in sports. Turns out I wasn't such a great athlete. I was okay, but, you know. But this was the first time that I really felt like people believed in me. Okay.

And that, again, was a huge confidence build. because I didn't ever feel that. And so after the three years, does it just end or do you go? Well, they wanted me to resign. And I did end up making $1,300 an episode, which for me was a ton of money. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was working four or five days a week. Oh, and each day is an episode?

Yeah. Okay. You shoot one episode a day. Oh, okay. You're not just getting paid. Gotcha. Yeah. So it's like, for me, hey, it was good money.

It was really good money. New York's still in your 20s? Late 20s, yeah. It would have been about 28 or 9. Yeah. And then so I decided I wasn't going to sign again. I was going to try to go back to Los Angeles and see what else I could do. That's good for you.

That's rolling the dice. You've got a guarantee gig and they want you. And you're saying I'm going to go try something else. Yeah. And that's what I did. And I ended up coming back to L.A., beat the streets for about a year. ended up getting Las Vegas. And then a movie called Win a Date with Ted Hamilton around the same time.

And that was a good, good period. But, you know, it's, if you don't have your feet, you know, firmly attached to the ground in this town, it can sweep you up and spit you out so quick. And there was some times that I almost, you know, I saw a lot of sunset. that's in New York, or sunrises, sorry. And it wasn't because I was getting up real early. You know, that town was, you know, first time with any kind of money in the club scene and all that stuff.

It was, it was, it was, and I knew that it was just time to, like, reset. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, that was kind of the beginning. And then, you know, it's just kind of always been a slow burn. You know, thankfully, it's never been like a skyrocket to fame. for me it's just kind of been slogging along one job after the next and you know so it's been good been very good but you know and i always thought that oh i want to be this guy but you know the truth is it is what it is and i feel like i'm very lucky after like you 26 or seven years now in this business

you must have come out here late 90s yeah yeah came out here in 97 yeah so we started around the same time yeah here we are baby still still in the game how do you um How do you keep your fucking mind straight during the downtimes, the in between the jobs and things? How do you not get depressed? How do you not worry too much? You know, what do you do to stay positive? Well, you know, I'm a, I'm one of those guys that needs to be busy. You have to be where I always need to be working, do it something.

Otherwise, you're right. I get, I, if I don't feel like I'm providing and somewhere, going out and killing what we eat. and not being of use in some fucking way. Yeah, exactly. Having some kind of purpose. And I found over the last, you know, about the last 15 years, I bought this little property out in Minnesota out in the woods, which over time has become my passion. It's like my hobby. That's like what I do when I have, whenever I have any time off, family and I go out there.

And, you know, now it's much more comfortable than it was in the beginning. We were pretty much, you know, no electricity or water for the first few years, no bathrooms, just outhouses. But beautiful. Like your mom back in the day. In the woods on this beautiful lake. And I knew that one day we were going to get this place right. And over COVID, we did a lot of work on it. And, you know, I'm able to sort of relive my youth in some ways because I grew up before we moved into mine.

We lived out in the country outside of minor. And I would just explore the woods all day long. And this was like my way. It's almost like I was reliving that in some way. And now my kids get to see, I get to watch my kids, you know, see them sort of discover this stuff for the first time through their eyes. And so it's, that to me has been a real, uh, level setter in a lot of ways. It gets me right back to the basics, gets me reconnected, both, you know, spiritually

with nature and all that stuff. For me, it's important to see like the, the loons out there floating around or the eagle fly by or you'll see otters swimming out in the wall. Yeah, that kind of shit. I just love it. Oh, man. And I could just. And there's something that happens to my blood pressure when I'm out there.

It's just like, it's good for the soul. So I think that's really what's kind of kept me out of the fray. That's great. Tell me about some of the sports stuff. You said, do you get a lot of heartbreak? Were you a good athlete? You thought you were made to go pro? I mean, I think anybody who wants to play pro.

And yes, I did have. But you played in college, though. I did. And I had a, and I was pretty good. Were you just football, your baseball? You look like you play baseball. No. No, no, I had to get a job.

And I'd quit when I was 14. My, I had to get a job. I tell my mom now, I was like, Mom, I might still be in the league if you let me play baseball that year. She's like, you're 50. That year. Still, I could be coaching third, though, Ma. I already have my time put in.

But, you know, without getting too into it, it was, I was very much the kid who worked. I worked, man. I was like, pyometrics out there. I was watching the Steve Alford VHS tape. Oh, he tracked his jump shots and all the things he did for the USA basketball. I work all these drills. Plyometrics. Did you wear the fucking shoes?

With the things underneath? I think I did have. We just talked about him on the other podcast. Those platform shoes. There's a buddy of mine. His name's Mark Orlando. This dude went to high school with us. And he's a year older.

And one year he came in with those shoes. And we clown this mother. Like, what are these white-ass? With the big things on the front, right? Yeah. Uh-huh. The heel could drop. Yeah.

And we stopped laughing when this motherfucker started dunkin. Really? When he started running 40s like in the four fucking fours. It worked. It worked so good. Then he became a college receiver at Towson. Then he went on to the CFL. So Baltimore, when we lost the Colts, we got a Canadian football team.

And we called them the Stallions. Only American team never win the Grey Cup. Wait, what? History of it. Yeah. They don't still have that team. No, we were, it was a handful of years, maybe three, four years. Wait a second.

Baltimore had a team in the CFL? Yes, sir. How did I not know that? Yes, we did. And they were called the Stallions? The Baltimore Stallions, yeah. So the Colts had left and went to Indianapolis. We have no team from 84 to 96 when the Ravens come in.

And we would have NFL exhibition games and they'd sell out minutes because we were trying to prove to the NFL that we were worthy of a team. And they were like, at the time, whatever, whoever it was, I think it might have been Pete Roselle, was buddies with the Redskins owner. So he was like, don't give him another team. Let me have that market. So we see, that's why I see Jacksonville gets one, Carolina, all these teams. We end up getting a fucking Canadian football team. We try to name them the Colts and the Indianapolis Colts stopped it. So we went with the Stallions.

Okay. Stallions go to, I think they lost one Gray Cup and then won the year. after it. Well, they did win one. Yeah, we're the only American team to ever win the Canadian Grey Cup. I mean, aren't they the only American team ever even in this? Probably. Probably. I've never heard of that. Pretty sure of that. Yeah, we were the only team. And then just like we were like the Expos, you know what I mean? Or the Blue Jays in baseball. And they fucking left and went, I don't know if they're the alouettes or whatever the fuck they are these days up there. There's somebody. That's what that's became the alouettes after that? I'm not sure if it's

No, I think the other what's had been there for ever. Yeah, I'm saying that because I don't know all these teams, but they did go become. Argonauts maybe. Maybe something up there. But this would have been in the night in, would have been when I was in college. It would have been 94 or five. So we literally went to college the same time. That's what I was 91.

What years did you graduate? College. High school. 91. Me too. Yeah. But yeah, those fucking things worked. Yeah.

So you were into all that stuff. Oh, yeah. I would just work. And I, and I got really good. my junior year, I thought I got really good. And it was, you know, it was, I'm not going to get too into it because these guys are all my friends now. But it was a heartbreaking time because you have all these expectations. And it was just one of the more, you know, my parents getting divorced when I was in fourth grade.

I'll never forget that. That was still one of the hardest ones. And then high school basketball, football. And then football at mine estate were like, you know, really sort of difficult time. because it should have gone different than it did. In what way? The stuff you can't talk about. You know, I don't, first of all,

I don't want to be the guy that complains I said and should have done this, but I think the point of the story is, is that as bad as it was for me at the time, as big as it was, it's really nothing. Kids go through this all over everywhere. This is part of life. For me, it was like, you know what?

I'm going to use it. I'm going to go show them what I can do. It might not be in the football field, but I'm going to show them that I have more value than they thought I did. And it was like, I don't know how healthy that is. I don't know how, you know, if I would recommend that is a, you know, a form of therapy, but it was my, it was the fire under me that because of that, that made me go on one, really had a chip on my shoulder for a year.

I feel like I still do. Just to prove that I was, you know, better than what they thought I was. Mm-hmm. You mentioned your parents divorced. that did you see it coming? Was it something that caught you by surprise or you comfortable talking about it? No, no, it's fine.

I was like early 80s. I'm good at the now. And, you know, it was, but at the time, it was devastating because you're old enough to know your fourth grade. You know what's going on. And it was like one of those, it was one of those things. I guess in retrospect, I probably did see it coming because I remember them fighting a little bit.

But it was after that that was tough because dad went through a really tough time. We were broke as a joke. Are you living with mom? Living with mom, but bouncing from house to house. We didn't stay in one house for more than a month or so. We just sort of friends would let us. So that went on for a while.

Then we ended up getting a little house down in northeast mine on it. And then moved into the house next door to that. Grandpa helped mom buy this little house. It was the same house, basically, just slightly renovated. But again, that was the kind of stuff that I, you know, I look back at it. Now I didn't feel like I had less than. But I look at it now. I was like, man, we were struggling.

My mom really had to bust her ass. She had three jobs at one point. Damn. Yeah. And are you seeing dad or is he like rolling around like out there on the road trying to get his business? He was trying to get his, he was trying to get back on his feet. So it's not like every other weekend. You're going to dad.

No, I mean, that was. I mean, that was a whole other thing between the two. It wasn't a very amicable relationship. It was pretty contentious forever. Even now it's a bit uncomfortable in there. Really? I think they're both old enough now where they don't care as much, but even up until- Do they ever cross paths when they see the grandkids and stuff together and how are they with each other?

They're fine. They say, hey, Bonnie. Hey, Larry. They'll say hello. And they'll speak and that's about it. Yeah, in that wild. It's like, dude, get over. What are you doing?

But, you know, it's their deal. So I learned a lot from that. Like, you know, when Ferg and I got divorced, we're like, that is not going to happen. We need to make sure that we stay civil. We don't need to make it uncomfortable for him. We need to make sure that this thing, whatever it is, no matter how much we may disagree, we have to make sure that we stay civil. And she's been great about that.

Well, good for you for that because unlike you and your ex, your parents weren't in the fucking spotlight where you kids are out with that. You know what I mean? there's a whole other level of let's be good about this because also this poor kids dragged into our bullshit. You guys aren't, you know? Well, that's the thing. It's like, why do we have to fuck up all of our Christmases and stuff?

Because you guys can't get it together. It's like you make it so. To this day, I don't like Christmas that much. Really because of that. Thankfully, my wife now is incredibly, she's all about Christmas and decorating and makes it like really fun. But I hated Christmas for the longest. time because it was just it brought up it was like almost like PTSD in a way like we have to race you

know we're driving through the snowstorm to get to harvey north dakota so the mom is it mad if we're late you know and dad was you know it was like a because they were they were so like he needs to be they need to be here at this time or that's you know it was like that it's stressful as a kid and i'm i swear i'd never do that and then your mom remarries and has kids does dad ever remarry have more kids no he's been with Susie though for like 35 years. And they just don't. They never got married, but they're, they're, they're, they're, they'll be together forever. Yeah. This is great, man. Thank you for doing this. Yeah, my pleasure. Before we end, I'm going to let you promote whatever you want to again, of course, but, um, what advice would you give to this is what, what, you just said at the end there? What advice would

you give to 16 year old Josh to Mel? What advice would I give to 16 old Josh Demel? I would say that, Don't be so hard on yourself. Trust yourself. You are good enough because I didn't believe that for the longest time. I think that that's really what I've learned. And don't put so much pressure on the little things, you know? That's great. I want to ask you this for a sec.

You said, you're good enough. How does a man who has insecurities like that get through mail? modeling. I mean, I'm genuinely serious. Like, I look at myself in 53. I beat myself up in the mirror and shit sometimes and all. But if you're insecure, how fuck you rolling out in a speedo and stuff? Like, does that part of like, just make yourself uncomfortable, get out there and do it? Yeah. I think that I've always had this sort of fuck it. Let's just do it. Attitude. It might be a cover for that deep insecurity. I don't know. I mean, I never. But you've allowed it to push you forward instead of to hold you back and scared not doing it. Yeah. And I don't think I was really, I don't think I, I never really

modeling. It was, you look at my IMDB or something. They'll say that or Wikipedia. I did it for like a year and I was not successful. I never felt comfortable doing it. I didn't know what to do with my hands. I didn't know what face to make. I just felt uncomfortable in front of it. I knew that I could in front of a, like I was acting something out, if I had something to do, but I couldn't ever get comfortable just sitting there taking photos. Yeah. So, I don't know. Thank you, dude. Thank you for doing this for real.

This is great. Please promote everything you'd like one more time, your company. All right. Well, we've got Netflix's Ransom Canyon coming out July 23rd. We have neglected out right now on VOD, which is a really fun, scary thriller. And then we've got this company right here, Gatlin, which is my baby. health, wellness, longevity, it'll help you stay young, stay strong, stay in the game for guys like us.

You know, I think we're highly motivated to stay as young and strong as we can for as long as we can. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate you, brother. You got it. As always, Ryan Sickler, on all your social media. We'll talk to y'all next week.