The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 101: The Way I Talked About The Way I Heard It

Episode Date: May 10, 2018

WARNING: This is not your ordinary The Way I heard It. This episode contains SPOILERS.  Storyteller Mike Rowe is joined by producer Chuck Klausmeyer to answer questions posed by fans of The Way I Heard It.  Mike covers everything from how the podcast started to where it's headed in the future.  

Hey, it's Mike Rowe, and this is not the way I heard it, the only podcast for The Curious Mind with a short attention span. No, no, this is the way I talked about the way I heard it, the only podcast for the curious mind with a slightly longer attention span. This particular episode will deviate somewhat radically from the expected format, so please adjust your expectations accordingly. This is an episode for true fans of the podcast. We are celebrating officially our one, 100th episode, which dropped just a few days ago. And to celebrate, we've opened some breathtakingly inexpensive hooch. And when I say we, I refer to the producer of the podcast, Chuck Klausmeyer, who is with me now. Chuck, say hello. Hello. We'll get back to Chuck momentarily. First of all, I just want to tell you that the questions he's going to be reading from, aggregating, and

calling. We're all collected from my Facebook page. Thank you for posing so many of those questions. I look forward to answering them with Chuck's help as best I can momentarily, but not until I thank ZipRecruiter. Sponsoring the way I heard it now for the entire month, Chuck. How cool is that? It's super cool. They've been a dear friend of this podcast from The Jump, and I'm not going to belabor the point

because there's not much new I can say about them that you haven't already heard me say they're terrific. They've helped us hire a number of people here at Microworks. Incidentally, this bonus episode of the way I heard it coming to you from world headquarters, Microworks. The scene is as follows. It's about 8.30 in the evening.

And we're just sitting here, Chuck and I, looking at each other, wondering if anybody is actually going to listen to this. Let's hope. Certainly if you are over at ZipRecruiter, you're hoping. Because here, right in the middle of this shameless plug for them, once again, I've given in to the irresistible urge to free associate. But if I could just for a moment,

it's amazing people, as for this. If I could just for a moment, say in all seriousness, that 80% of people who try ZipRecruiter wind up finding a quality candidate in less than 24 hours, I count myself among those fortunate folks. Thank you ZipRecruiter.com.com. Slash R-R-R-R-R-R-E. Try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com That's ZipRecruiter.com slash row. If you're trying to fill a position in your company, large or small, profitable or non-profit, ziprecruiter.com slash R-O-O-W-E. Chuck, it's free. Can you believe it? I really can. I really can. It's fantastic. You can't see the look of wonder on his face,

but if you could, you would say, my God, that is the epitome of gratitude and wonder combined. I just woke up. This is not the way I heard it. This is the way I talked about the way I heard it. And the next voice you hear will be the crisp, well-modulated baritone of the one and only Chuck Klausmeier. Well, hello, everybody. This is Chuck. Chuck Klausmeier, the producer of the way I heard it with Mike Rowe. And this is really weird. Not weird at all, Chuck. I think it's strange, man. It's super odd. How many questions you have there? You know, I didn't bother to count, but it's somewhere between three and a buttload. Well, it's interesting that you didn't bother to count, given the fact that we're doing this because all we really do is count every week.

We really do. Week after week after week. And here we are at 100 episodes. And, um, We're marking the occasion with roughly 20 minutes of unscripted blather that I know fans of this podcast are going to resent. So basically, I would like to ask you some questions. We collected between three and a buttload. People are very curious, and I've broken them down into different categories. The one question, and let me just say to everybody, if I don't mention your name and you hear a question and you go, hey, I asked that question and you didn't say my name, it's because you were one of several people who asked that question, which is. is the first question. This is about the concept.

People wanted to know about how the way I heard it started. How did this podcast come about? Well, as you well know, and Chuck, by the way, old friend of mine, high school buddy, going back to the Stone Ages. And once upon a time, I know you and I sat in my car listening to Paul Harvey. And I know that-

In a driveway. Yep. Sitting at it like the thing about Paul Harvey was, Once you start listening, so many times, at least for me anyway, I wound up getting to where I was going, but I was unable to leave the car until I heard him say, and now you know, the rest of the story. Right. So I just thought, you know, when he died and then Charles Carralt died, and then George Plimpton died, and then Studs Terkel, right? So guys that were telling stories, biography and history, there just seemed to be a vacancy. And by no means. what I ever put myself in their company or suggest I can fill their shoes, but to follow in their footsteps struck me as a fairly interesting goal.

So I started writing short mysteries as a straight-up homage to Harvey, and they kind of went in their own direction, but we've tried to keep them short. We've tried to keep them pithy. I've tried to make them as interesting as I can. And we've tried to build a library that people can find and discover and digest as it suits them. So we did all that at the outset because it sounded like fun.

And mostly, I do it to amuse myself, and it's very flattering to be sitting here with you today drinking cheap wine and answering such softball questions. Speaking of a softball question, this comes from Teresa and Isaacs. You mentioned Paul Harvey. People often compare you to him, and she wants to know how that makes you feel. It makes me feel ridiculous. I mean, it's a fine question, Teresa. Don't get me wrong.

But it's, I mean, it's embarrassing, and it's humbling, and it's also flattering. You know, he was a broadcaster at a time when a broadcaster could routinely reach tens of millions of people, you know, if you were any good. And he was great. So it's very flattering. I'll tell you what was flattering was hearing from his son. Yeah. Paul Harvey Jr. wrote the way I heard it. and after 40 or 50 of these things,

I remember he called the office here. And what's the address? Yeah, and like left the message. I'm like, oh, crap, I'm about to get sued by Paul Harvey's son. I couldn't believe it. And we really sweated it out for a couple of days. And then I finally called him back. What he was trying to do was send a check, a donation to the foundation.

He wrote a very generous check to the foundation, yes. He did. And he also thanked you. for keeping his father's style alive. Yeah, and look, and I thanked him, because writing these things is hard, and I didn't really appreciate it until I beat my head against the wall for a while.

But Paul Harvey Jr. had it figured out. He was great at it, and he was a great team with his dad, and we had a great conversation, and yes, Teresa, it was deeply flattering. Excellent question. Let's move on to the inspiration. This is a question that so many, People have been asking ever since the podcast's been up,

where do you get the ideas for the show? I steal them. I mean, look, it's kind of, you know, people always ask me that about dirty jobs, you know, and it's a, there are no new ideas, right? There are no new stories. I think if you Google stories, like, I think they're seven, you know,

and they've got them all broken down into themes. And so I don't think there are no, I think there are ideas that feel new if you wait long enough, and this, I think, feels new to some people. But as to where I actually find ideas for specific episodes, that's evolved a lot, too. It started. I had some stories in my head that I thought would be interesting, and I wanted to get them out. And then I ran out of those. It was kind of like with dirty jobs, you know, you start with a list, and then you're out.

And then I go on Facebook and I say, hey, hey, you got anybody who got the idea? I'm out. You laughed, dude, but it is so true. I mean, Facebook and social media and chat rooms have been programming my misspent career from the jump. And so this is really no different. People on Facebook are constantly suggesting ideas, and I like them. But the real inspiration and the actual process are kind of linked together. And as you know, the first question is, what's the reveal?

And if there are 100 people in the room, how many of those people are going to understand or recognize Bruno Mars. Right. And if the answer is 100, then we move on to the next question and figure out the structure and the format and the setting and the narrative

and the style and all that other writer stuff. But you have to start with something everybody has in common, and that is also harder than you think. So there's a lot of construction and deconstruction, but basically it starts, it can start with an article that I read. It can start with a conversation I had.

And typically, you know, we forest gum our way into and out of these. So long way of saying, inspiration comes where you find it. Indeed, it does. Did you really just say indeed? Indeed, I did. You just broke a cardinal rule of micro-broadcasting. Micro-broadcasting does not permit the word indeed. You can write it and you can read it and you can actually say it if you're reading something.

But in polite conversation, when someone says, says, indeed, the only logical thing to do is punch him in the throat. Well, let's hold off on that until we're done, because I'm going to need to speak a little bit more to ask you more questions. Indeed. Oh. So on the process, I know you mentioned the word reveal. A lot of people maybe are not familiar with that or the other things that we say.

Maybe give us a couple of examples of the jargon that you and I use all the time. Well, you know, it's just shorthand, you know, if you collaborate, and this is very much a collaborative process, you know, we've got two or three people who submit ideas, you know, they used to come fully baked in written form until I completely rewrote them. And I do that, as you know, not out of... No disrespect. No disrespect. It's just that my own level of hubris prohibits me from not doing it myself. I'm not sure I make them better. I just need to be able to own them. Sorry, what was the question? I'm pretty so sorry. Well, you mentioned the word reveal. Reveal, right. You know, it's the surprise at the end.

If you watch Returning the favor, that whole show is based upon the reveal. And so the way I heard it, like any mystery, is based on the revelation of who done it. Right. You know, who you've been talking about. And so telling the story from the inside out simply means we have to tell people something unfamiliar about a topic or a personality with which they are familiar. And so when we do it right, when you hear the reveal at the end, that everything you heard previously should almost audibly click into place in your mind.

And it all makes sense. It should. And that's why I think a lot of people write to say they've listened to every podcast twice. because when you go back to the beginning and listen to it again, knowing how it's going to end, you'll find all kinds of little Easter eggs. You know,

and so, you know, it's sort of like the sixth sense test. That's what we call it. Yes. You know, that's just more sure of our jargon, yeah. Yeah, you know, and, but it's really important because I take a lot of liberties with the stories, but I don't lie and I don't misstate facts,

and there's a lot of deliberate misdirection but you get permission to do that if everything you say that's confusing actually has an alternative or double meaning that stands up. So the sixth sense was great and poor Chamalon, I mean, he just set the bar so high. He really did. Where do you go from there?

I mean, you come out of the gate with that? Seven cents. Wow. I mean, really. When Bruce Willis, spoiler alert, when Bruce Willis realizes he's dead and has been dead. the whole movie, I literally stood up and started pacing as I watched the end of it because my mind was racing to wait, wait a second, have they been lying to me the whole time?

You're trying to replay the scenes from the beginning of the movie in your head to go, wait a minute, this can't be, this can't be, no, I saw him talking to the woman. And then you watch it a second time and you go, holy cow, he did not. He may have fooled me, but he didn't lie to me. That's it, right? So good misdirection is different than lying. And, you know, creating a scene out of whole cloth might be objectionable to the army of correctors that live out there on the Internet.

And there, they are a mighty army. You know who you are, correctors. But look, this is the way I heard it, right? So I want to be honest and forthright about history and certainly about biography. But I also want from a creative writing standpoint to be able to set a scene and tell a story and to invent dialogue that I have no way of knowing actually existed. But if it's in service of the story and if it's supported by the facts that are basically in evidence, well, that's the amount of permission and leeway I give myself to try and make these things interesting. If it's just a recitation of facts, if it's just a bunch of interesting things, well, there are about a thousand websites. you know, that give you interesting stories.

The challenge here is to make you give a damn about a character and get involved for a ride. Take a ride for maybe five minutes. It's hard. It's a lot easier to write 20-minute stories than six-minute stories, as you know. Yes. All right.

Sean M. Banks asks, can you maybe give us a play-by-play of the timeline and responsibilities needed to pull an episode together? You probably can't, can you? Well, I can tell you the truth, Sean? You know, it's a... Some projects are tiles, and other projects are the grout between them. And right now, you know, Dirty Jobs is still on the air 10 times a week.

Somebody's got to do it as being recut for TBN into half hours. That's a full-time job. Returning the favor is in full-blown production. and editing. And MicroWorks is in its 10th year. Our Work Ethics Scholarship Program is alive and well. That was a totally shameless plug. I just gave my little company.

But the way I heard it, as long as I'm bragging, is still the number one short form podcast. And consistently, and where are we, 15 or 20. So I mean... 14 in the top 20 list, yeah. So it's a thing. And it's got to be good. And I don't know how to make it stop.

now. You have created a monster, my friend. Well, it's not a monster, but it's a barking dog in the backyard. It must be fed. It must be fed. And no matter how much you feed it, the thing barks again. Yeah. And happily, I love it.

So the process, vis-a-vis the grout tile analogy, is to always be writing these whenever I can. So I don't just go into a coffee shop anymore and sit down and check my email. I go in and I sit down and I write a few paragraphs. I get on a plane. I'd say 80% of these, and I'm not exaggerating, have been written on planes. That's why I always love it

when you get on a plane. I know when you're flying somewhere that when you get to the other end, you're going to call me up and read me a story. I love that. Which brings me to another question that many people asked,

which is, how long does it take you to write a five-minute podcast? Four minutes. Perfect. You know, Malcolm Gladwell. did a terrific episode on his podcast, Revisionist History. I'm familiar. I think it was last season.

And he talked about the creative process. Right. And he did it through the lens of songwriting. He started with a song that Elvis Costello had written. Oh, right. And it was a terrible song. You know, and it turned into a great song. I'm drawing a blank on the title.

I forget the name of it, too, but I'm familiar with the episode. And he went on to say that, you know, some people who create just can't stop screwing with it, no matter what it is. So Picasso was not one of these people. When Picasso painted, it was brilliant, and it was done, and it was over, and then it was in a frame, and then in a gallery or wherever he did it. Cézanne, on the other hand, was never finished. He never finished anything. He eventually sold them, but in his mind, he was... It's just never, ever, ever, ever done.

Not that I would ever consciously compare myself to an artist of either that caliber, but I'm never done. So it takes me as long as I have. And then you call and say, this thing needs to be posted now. And then I send it to you in whatever shape it's in. And that's how it goes out. Karen Wynne Grebe asks, what adjectives could listeners use to describe your writing style that would be the most

flattering to you. And don't break your arm, patting yourself on the back. Yeah, look, I'm sorry. Karen was it? Yes. I'm only going to say one thing that really and truly is flattering, especially in this format. But for me, it's memorable. Yeah.

I love it when people ask me about an episode. that I've already forgotten about almost, right? Because these things come fast and furious. And, you know, I don't dwell on them because I'm focused on the next one, but somebody on a plane the other day, this is funny, I was sitting down and did that creepy thing where you look over, you know,

to see what's on the guys, you know, what's that guy reading? Yes. You know? And he was, it was weird because he was reading something, I thought he was reading something on his phone. but I looked over and I saw my face. So it was the icon for the podcast on his phone. Oh wow.

And I'm like, and then I realized he had an earbud in and I thought this is going to be so funny because I'm going to freak him out so bad right now. But of course what had happened was he sat down and recognized me. And instead of saying hello, he just went into iTunes or wherever and started listening to one of my podcast. So he actually freaked me out. Anyway, we wound up having a great conversation about, oh, brother. One of the earlier ones we wrote.

Yeah. And that was flattering because it was memorable. All right, good. Julie Daniels asked, I was curious why you've dropped the exit credits. I felt it kind of finished things off, and who doesn't enjoy more Mike? Well, all right, Julie, I'll put it back. Julie noted. Yeah, it's just a thing to do, right?

Yeah. The podcast is over. I used to say, you know, I guess I used to thank you and I used to thank the person who gave me the idea. Yeah, and researched. You know what? I should do that more. There's really, there's just no excuse for a lack of gratitude, Chuck. You know what?

Well, that's true. You can't really be happy unless you're grateful. You can't really be unhappy if you're grateful. That is even better. I like it. Well, you know why? Why? Because it makes sense.

All right. I mean, I thought it was fine as it was, but. No, it was vague. Try not to rewrite me in the middle of this. It was a false equivalency. It's possible to be happy. Is it? Is it?

But not grateful. Uh-huh. But it's impossible to be ungrateful and happy. What? No. It's impossible to be grateful and unhappy. It's impossible to be grateful and unhappy. Right, because if you're grateful, yeah, you have, you just, there's not room.

There's too much cognitive dissonance. All right. I think we, I think we beat that to the, to the ground. Snark Fest says, where's the strangest place you have ever recorded an episode of the way I heard it? I don't know that that's really applicative. That's not even a word. No, and besides, I don't think the question was directed to you, was it? No, no.

And yet here you are answering it. Well, I was just trying to figure it out what your answer would be. But why don't I just let you to handle the answers? That's what I'm thinking. That's probably what Snarkfest. So, Mike, where is the strangest place you've ever recorded an episode of the way I heard? I'm sorry, that's not applicable. Okay. You know what?

I recorded one three weeks ago in, it's not a strange place, but it was odd because it was one in the morning and I was in a hotel room and I set up a microphone on the bed and recorded the thing. I got to tell you, I thought that sounded great. It did sound pretty good. It sounded better than the normal. Yeah, you know what's, it's so funny because we've tortured ourselves with this because, you know, I mean, I narrate shows.

I get paid to narrate things for a living and I try to do a good job and I try and use great microphones and I try and be in broadcast quality studios but in podcast land or as we call it podcast landia nobody gives a damn I mean you know it's amazingly bad quality

all over the landscape and I'm proud that these podcasts all at least the stories sound I think as good as they can sound you just have to lower your standards Snark Fest if you're going to get this kind of thing up every single week. But some people don't care. I mean, it's really like Bill Burr.

I like Bill Burr. I like Bill Burr. He's Bill Burr. And he talks, I think he's in a bathroom. I think he's in a bathroom at the Hilton. Sitting on the can. Yeah, Bill Burr. A lot of cussing. I'm just checking out on you.

He's a funny son of a gun that guy. But man, what a crappy microphone. What about the strangest place you have ever written an episode of the way I heard it? I swear to God, I wrote one on the can. Get out of here. Didn't finish it. You know, you can't spend that kind of time. I was going to say, man, you should see a doctor.

You know what? This is way too much information. But I was finishing one a couple days ago, and I can't really talk about it because it'd mess up the reveal. But you know the one I'm talking about. I do. And the really interesting thing about the problem. process here is it takes more time to think about what you want to do than it actually takes to write it to do it yeah like once you know what you're doing that's the fun part and then you

I plow through it pretty quick and you get three quarters of the way through and you really want to stay with it and the next thing you know there's something else you really need to do and the next thing you know after that is you're doing both things right you're seated with a laptop on your lap Okay. You know, typing with one hand. I think we get it, Mike. I think we've got a clear visual. We ought to just move on to the next question.

Harry, Carrie? Really? I don't know. He's good for a laugh sometimes. Hey, what time is it, and how do we know when we're getting boring? Yeah, I don't know. Listen, out there in Podcast Landia, if we're getting boring, just say something right now. No, I think they're digging it.

All right, cool. We'll keep going. Robin Ria, has there been a story? or something you wanted to highlight, but didn't because it hit too close to home. No. All right. So moving right along. No, actually, those are actually the good ones.

You don't know Mike. It hit pretty close to home. You know, I mean, it's a true story about a guy who was saved by fate on 9-11. and I really wanted to tell that story because on 9-10, I was right there at the tower. I was in New York. I flew back that day. Wow.

As you remember that day so vividly, yeah. I was in Seattle on the 10th and flew back. Didn't I call you? You called me in the morning. You woke me up, yes. And you were like, are you watching TV? I'm like, dude, no, I'm not watching TV. I'm sleeping.

It was like five in the morning or something on the West Coast, you know. And you're like, turn on the TV. I'm like, what's going on. He said, just turn on your TV. I'm like, Mike, we just tell me what's going on. You said, what channel? You said, what channel? And you said, any channel. And I said, just tell me what's going on. And you said, we're at war. And you hung up. And I was like, what? That is. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, it hit very close to home personally, but more importantly, it hit very close to home for many millions of people. It was so relatable that story.

Yeah. And spoiler alert, the last. last line of that story is just beautiful. Thanks. Do you remember what it is? No. Be grateful for the extra innings. All right. That was a good one.

Chills. Okay. Let's move on to the technical questions. Boy, this is fascinating. I wonder if people are like gathering all their friends in right now. You know, it's tough to say, really. It's impossible to know. Because we really can't see them.

And so I have no way to gauge this. It's simply one of the limits of the medium. It really is. I mean, someone needs to work on this. It's just we need immediate feedback and we're not able to get it. This is a question that I can answer. Who plays the Diddy at the beginning? That's from Michelle Bandy.

Oh, do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah, that's your pal, right? Gary Giambo. Thanks, Gary. There he is. This is from Charlotte Nelson. Here's a good one. Is Chuck the producer of your podcast because he's your buddy?

Or is it that he's just a great producer? Let me just take this. It's the second one for sure. Come on, dude. No, Chuck just happened to be there when it went down. Chuck is, Chuck's like, you know, Zellig. He's always in the room, you know. Known him for a long time.

Long time. He's become indispensable here at MicroWorks. And we've been on, we've shared many stages, many microphones, many commercial gigs over the years. Yeah. Yeah. Some right now. Look, I'm not going to say you're a terrible,

producer. You'll think it. I'm not going to say that. I'm just going to ask you to read another question. Well done. This, by the way, is where we're going to get into the spoilers. So I hope you're caught up. So just know that these questions are some spoilers.

We've already had some of that, but that was bound to happen. This one was asked by everybody, what is your favorite episode? Do you have a favorite? Is it possible? The snappy answer is the one I'm working on or the last one because it's just so much in my mind. But really looking back, I do love that Twilight Zone. Yeah. I love Oh, brother. Oh, brother, yeah. That was the, you know, the one where John Wilkes Booth and his brother really did sit down for

Thanksgiving dinner, you know, after a very contentious election. And after this last election, I just thought, you know, it would be interesting to tell that story from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. Because how many people at Thanksgiving dinner, you know, after 2016? Just, I mean, oh, so many terrible conversations. So many dinners ruined and family splintered. And to learn that John Wilkes Booth's brother was a staunch Republican. And Booth, of course, not so much. You know, it just makes you think, gosh, you know,

there are no news stories, like we said before. Stick around. It'll all come back around. And that one got a lot of people listened to it here on the podcast platform, but I think it was viewed about 10 million times on the Facebooks. Yeah, yeah. Cindy Mormon asked which episode garnered the largest response from listeners, either good or bad.

You would know better than me. I can say, I mean, I believe that that one was, that resulted in more people. angry, you know, just a lot more comments. But the two podcasts that have the most downloads, the one with the most is something to stand for, episode 60. That's got 1.6 million downloads. Yeah, well, look, it's because it's, it's topical. And that's the other element to these things that I think people might find interesting. You know, we're not just looking around for big common reveals or biographical topics that are interesting. We're looking at

headlines too. And so, you know, when Colin Kaepernick took a knee, that became national news. And the more people talked about that and the more people followed suit, the more divided things became and the more contentious things became. To me, it's just about, do you understand the history of the flag? And do you understand why the Star-Spangled Banner was written when it was, good, bad, and ugly? And being from Baltimore, as you and I. I just thought it was an interesting way to tell a different side of the Star-Spangled Banner that most people aren't familiar with and then lay it over top of the current headlines and see what happened.

Yeah, I think the Battle of Baltimore is fascinating. And there are aspects in that story that I was not aware of. I mean, I knew about beans and I knew about Key, but I did not know about William Williams. And that is just phenomenal to me. You know, here's this guy, a runaway slave who takes an assumed name and fights for a country that doesn't even recognize him as a citizen, just. That's right. Yeah. And perishes.

Yeah. I mean, why doesn't everyone know that? I know. You know? Well, that's like the Madam C.J. Walker thing. Sure. I think that's even in the description. Everyone should know this story.

You know, the first self-made female millionaire was the daughter of slaves. and that's, it's just a fantastic story. Yeah, and the, you know, the first black man to win a purple heart. Not a purple heart. No. Well, first of all, you don't win it. You earn it. Oh, man, do I.

You're awarded it. To be corrected on my own podcast by the likes of you. I know. The first black man to receive a congressional medal of honor. Is it a congressional medal of honor? is a, I think it's a, that's a presidential Medal of Honor. Yeah, the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor. Just let's just go with the Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor. And actually not to receive it. Others received it before. I'm just being accurate here. He was the first one to earn it in, in other words, his action occurred before any other black man's action occurred. And he was awarded it later because the episode is called Better Late Than Never. Right. He gets it in the May. He gets it in the mail like 18 years later.

William H. Carney. That is right. I'm just making the H up. I think it's H. You really are. You are one of the correctors. I thought Barski was the most pedantic producer I would ever, ever, ever work with. But you're right there with him, do you?

Right there. I will take that as a compliment. You know what? I think we ought to wrap this up reasonably shortly. We've been at this for 35 minutes, man. Are you actually recording anything? Because it wouldn't shock me if you weren't. No, I mean, I've been there.

I've been there before. No, it looks like everything's working. So let's go, let's move to the future. These are questions that were asked by multiple people. Since we just celebrated the 100th episode, will there be 100 more? I have no idea. I can tell you this. There's going to be 114.

Yes, that's right, because that's what we have. Because that's what I got in the can right now. Yeah. Look, I think so. I mean, personally, I love writing them. At some point, I think I might want to try to write some other formats, you know, to experiment with some other things. Look, honestly, this is fun.

Sitting here, drinking a glass of wine. You know, if people actually listen to this, which, of course, is a huge unknown point. But, you know, I would do this once a month, and I wouldn't limit it to conversations just about the podcast. There are a lot of ways, I think, to engage fans on Facebook and fans of the podcast, to answer questions, to tell stories. You know, it's the Wild West, this whole area. Yeah.

Yippie Kaya. All right, well, please let us know what you think of this in the comments, wherever they might be on Facebook or else would they be. I'll post a picture of us doing this very thing on the Facebooks. Yes. And then people will let us know if they hate you. Well, listen, let's not get personal, but wouldn't it be better to post the podcast and so that they'll hear it and then they'll see. You know something?

Every now and then. Blind squirrel finds a nut. Busted clock, right twice a day. That was a very producery thing to do. So, of course, I'll post this on Facebook. And then in the comment section, I'll post the picture. Oh, I wish I'd thought of that. There you go.

There you go. That's a good one. You really pulled that one off. Speaking of something slightly different, you know, bonus episode 64, it's good to be the king. Right. Fantastic. We get a lot of reaction to that. Will there be another bonus episode like that?

Not like that. No. I mean, look, that episode, if you haven't heard it, is very different. There is no reveal in it. It's just a straight up love letter. Really, it was a eulogy. that I wrote more as an exercise than anything else when our mentor died.

He was a high school music teacher. I'm sure a lot of you know the story. You might not know that he was also Chuck's teacher. Many, many, I mean, there were 2,000 people at his funeral, students, many standing outside in the rain. And I was among them, and all these years later, it just seemed like, you know what? I want to honor him because, you know,

You know, he died on Labor Day. Yes, he did. Wasn't it the same day that you launched Microworks? Yeah. Same year? 2008, right? Yep. Yeah.

Same year, same time. And, you know, he was the king of the barbershoppers. That guy did more good for me, either on accident or on purpose. Didn't matter. He was just one of those people who had an incredible impact on the trajectory of my life. And so you were there in San Francisco when I put together this thing with, a lot of his music and just cobbled it together. And look, I was really flattered.

That thing's over 20 minutes long. And it did well. It's just beautiful. I mean, you can't listen to that and not be moved. I mean, unless you are one of these robots that are about to take all our jobs. That's the only excuse you could have for not weeping openly, listen to that. But I think the point of this question is that because that was a story, you know, you're right, it doesn't have a reveal.

It doesn't fit the mold. of the way I heard it, but it was a story that was personal to you. Will there be another story, another bonus episode, that you'll write like that? Maybe. Yeah. But look, bottom line is it's got to be entertaining. And this is the trap, right? I mean... Well, I mean, look, these stories take a long time to write, and writing, it's good to be

the king, took you a very long time to write. It did. But the question really is about something like that that's personal. I can think of a story that I know you've written that nobody else knows about. Oh, well, look, I've got a, I've got a, there was a while there when I thought I was doing a fair imitation of David Sedaris, an imitation, right? I mean, I can't, I can't touch the guy. He's absolutely, I think he's one of the most brilliant, economical, hysterical writers walking around. We probably don't see eye to eye on a great many things in the world, but man, what a great writer.

Yeah. And anyway, I spent a year or two writing short stories about, my family and I do have a few of them around and I could see reading I could see doing the one you're talking about. Chuck is talking about a story called an extraordinary ear which basically recounts the most unpleasant visit to the bathroom in my life and it's it's just too preposterous to sum up. No, I don't even want you to do it. Let's just leave it as a tease. And I think it's time for us to shove off. Listen, thank you so much, Mike, for answering these questions.

We really appreciate it. And thank you, everybody out there in Podcastlandia, for the questions that you've asked. And maybe we'll do this again sometime. It depends. We'll see if they listen. Hey, and thanks ZipRecruiter for sponsoring our podcast the whole month. Right.

I do appreciate that. Oh, now you're looking at me like, oh, no, I'm going to have to edit that out. I will. I will. If at some point ZipRecruiter stops sponsoring the podcast. Well, let's hope ZipRecruiter stays on this forever. Hey, regardless, personally, very grateful. Thanks for all your suggestions, helping us get to 100.

And thank you for listening. And if I see my mother, I will give her your collective regards because I can't get through a day in my life without somebody asking me about my mother now. The woman is completely upstage me. publishing a book of hers? Yes, it's by the time this airs. Is this a spoiler? I don't know.

It's not a spoiler, but it's happening right now. I'm going to try by Mother's Day to get the cover mocked up and officially announce my mom's first book. More details to follow, but it's terrific. And it's so annoying that she's funnier than me. So annoying. All right. With that, let's sign off.

Do we have a sign off? Should we get one? There's nothing? No. Just bring in Gary to play the guitar. thing? Why don't we just do the guitar? Do do do do do do do do do. You are so fired. Thanks everybody. Adios.

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