This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - George M. Dean 3-Peat (Fringe Show)

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

George M. Dean has joined the Three Timers Club with his appearance in this episode.  This is also George's first appearance in person with Mike - both of the previous episodes have been remotely recorded.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 20, 4 fringe is here, every voice we want to hear. Stage is set, the lights are bright, bring your art into the night. Casey's heart, it beats so loud, every artist in the crowd. crowd voices rise and colors blend create a world that won't end welcome to fringe the place is calling lights are flashing hearts are falling join the wave come feel the motion dive into this Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, all right. Welcome to this podcast is Uncalled for. My name is Mike Chernevsky. I'll be your host and producer this evening. I'm with that co-host in. So speedy recovery to Heather

And let's go and bring out tonight's guests An actor I've worked with before And he's kind enough to come back to Kansas City And help us out this time So please welcome George M. Dean to the podcast for a third time Thank you very time Nice. All right.

So, as mentioned, this is your third time on the podcast. But the first time you're saying with me on the podcast in person. Right. That's the first time I've actually got to physically be with you, which has been the story for a lot of people through the pandemic. And post, therefore, I think the last time, was right, right, near. the end of the pandemic, wasn't it? Yeah, so the first time, how long ago was that we were using blog talk radio for...

Oh, wow. And, yeah, that was just before the pandemic, and then we did the second one, like a year or two into it. Yeah. And also contributing to that as I was here, but you were either in the... I believe I was in New Mexico at the time. New Mexico or, I think, Colorado at one point. Yep. Yeah. I've been bouncing around. That's the thing about acting. You never know what state you're going to be in, depending on which month it is. New Mexico has a special place in my heart because my manager's there. She used to be, I used to have an agency there, but now my agency's in Atlanta. So it's kind of easy to be able to come here a lot more often because, you know, Atlanta and New Mexico, Kansas is kind of right in the middle. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's kind of what I call home because it's Lawrence is where I got my start.

You know, Kansas City is where I first signed with an agency back, oh, six years ago. I was with Moxie Talent. Okay. I think it was. And then I got my agency in Colorado and then my one in New Mexico and now with one in Atlanta. So just, you know, switching gears from commercials to movies has been quite an adventure. Yeah. I'll bet. I'll bet. So as you probably know, you're not the first tales from the intro. him next actor to be on my podcast and you certainly won't be the last but you are the first to

crack the three timers take that Adam McKeith he's on bound twice isn't he still in California at this point who knows where he is yeah he bounces around like I do yeah he's either here or he's in LA or uh but

he's been interested in the guest to have on as well so great guy interesting stories and good anecdotes I've always liked. I liked working with him. He's a good actor, too.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's got solid skills. We need to get Alan Calvert on the podcast at some point. Yeah, and rest of peace to Steve, you know, one of the person who can't ever be on the podcast again, you know, he passed away. Yeah. That's sad, but he was a heck of a comedian and a heck of an actor. It's a big hole in my heart since he left.

I spoke at his funeral. You did. I did. I didn't make it back in time, unfortunately. It was a beautiful little service. They kept it open for anyone who wanted to. speak and I took the opportunity to speak and several of our IFC friends including the guy you joined the three-timers club with his French festival, Mr. Brian Boy. He attended as well and it was

beautiful. It was pretty hot that day. This was a little more than a year ago that we're talking about now with Steve. Yeah, they rented that community center and independence and it was hot yeah it's humid here it's the heat's different I miss the dry heat of New Mexico I'll be honest can't see it just attacks you

it really does it's it's rude right it's a rude type of heat I don't think the weather should want to like purposely want to kill you but the weather here seems to have a general homicidal nature oh it does it does especially with the

types of storms we've been having the last couple of years So last summer, I recall mid-July, it went torrential downpour. I was actually driving to the chess club office that particular day, stupidly. And felt, yeah, the wind, particularly around Sprint Center area, C-Mobile Center, wherever they want to call it now. Yeah, it just felt the wind gushing and wanted to push me off the road. Oh, man.

and yeah that was fun and then just a few weeks ago we had more storms i was taking my brother to a doctor's appointment which i've been doing a lot this past year actually to be perfectly honest with you and i can go into a little bit more detail but i know i want to respect to his privacy sure about everything but we were at an appointment and it was raining pretty hard it ran so hard that Indian Creek was overflowing and we had to cross Indian Creek to get home, right?

So, yeah, and then we get home and the basement's flooded. Yeah, including my bedroom. A lot more rain than I remember when I left Kansas City like six years ago. Yeah. I could see the significant difference when I first drove back into Lawrence

because when I left it looked like a normal Kansas town and when I come back it looks, trees are over the roads and it looks like I'm driving through. a tropical rainforest, it's so green. And, you know, maybe it's because I spent six years in the desert, but that might be the reason I was over-excited. I was like, oh, look, grass. I just wanted to lay in it.

But then I remembered y'all have chiggers, and that didn't work out. So, you know, get so excited. Oh, there's going to be grass again when you come back from a place like that. But, you know, it was worth it. I wouldn't have my agent or my manager or my team, you know, my publicist, everybody who works hard to make me George M.D. I like to say it that way because, you know, when you become an actor and you take on your actor name, it kind of feels like you live in two lives, you know, yourself, and then, you know, then you've got to go be, you know, the actor. And a lot of it's just stuff like this, a lot of it's auditions and just, and it keeps you busy.

But, you know, the advantage of the pandemic, one of the very few advantages is at home auditions now. So they just send it to you through a system. Your manager and agent looks it overseas that they're interested in having you do it. and then they just email it to you and then you record everything in your home and you just send back the video file and they make it look pretty and make you look good. It's all cutting dry now. You don't even have to go into offices and be all intimidated by realizing that everybody else in the room is more attractive than you. I'm probably not going to get this because that guy looked like a young Chris Hansen and I think this isn't going to work out for me. Well, you know, it takes that part out.

But it also kind of, I don't know, takes something else out, like the energy and the nervousness of the audition room kind of, sometimes feed you, and that's kind of gone now. So, I don't know. It's kind of a double-edged sort of as most things are. I see. Yeah, yeah, because I haven't done much film myself lately. Then again, I do have a day job that keeps me pretty busy on two-day jobs. But, yeah, I've been keeping pretty busy, plus doing the podcast.

It seems like almost a full-time job, if you stop the thing about it. But the important thing is. I enjoy doing what I'm doing. There's a lot less stress. I'm saying there's no stress, but there's a lot less of it trying around a podcast and trying to get a film put together. Oh, I bet. I mean, it's a different beast, but directing an entire, I mean, I know as an actor,

we can be a lot. As a director, and you're dealing with that. And then all the technicalities of everything surrounding, I like to call it the piece that is the actor, you know, they're more. They're like a prop. On every set I've been on, I felt like a prop. Like, stand here, put this on, do this, they dress you up. And, you know, become even part of the set.

It's so big. I know when we were, I can talk about it now, when we're shooting Love Lives Bleeding. And, you know, we do, you know, like Kristen Stewart, she was over playing Hackysack. That's what she does in her downtime and keeps herself busy. Is Kristen's shirt of Twilight? Yeah, that girl from Twilight. She's a really, really awesome person. They're a fan of Hacysack.

So that's what they did is they played Hacusack in their free time. Katie O'Brien, they lifted weights. Me personally, I hung out in the crafts because I like the snack. Sure. These and crackers and stuff, so I'd hand out in craft services. But, you know, but each one of us, when we brought in, we're just a prop. It was like, come here, stand here, do this, and we'll shoot, you know, maybe two, three seconds, 30 seconds max. And then you're set aside again.

so I think a lot of people outside the industry and I did certainly before I'd been on this movie was for 824 for example so 824 is a pretty big studio they got a lot of press for doing that everything everywhere all at once so it really put them on the map and you think

I thought when I was when I first got in acting because I come from a theater background I'd have to spend a lot of time memorizing lines and these big but you really don't because you have so much downtime on set to go over your lines over and over again I think I was on set for like four or five days. I had my trailer.

I think I spent about 70% of my time just in my trailer watching movies on my laptop. Wow. You know, doing some push-ups or whatever just to keep busy. And also because of Katie O'Brien, because, man, they are a beast, okay? So they were using real weights. Shoot a shot after shot after shot after shot. They had like 100 pounds on there. and they were like cutting and they'll shoot it again and they do it again 10 reps like 100

this is like 45 minutes going and they're just pumping and I'm like man I need to go to the gym more you just like I am weak do I am weak and you were strong and you could whip me and now I need to go to the gym more yeah but you know it's it's a lot different once I got on set than I thought it would be when it came to the big sets because I've done a lot of you know smaller stuff but being on A24 set was a completely different beast than anything I'd done before. And, you know, it's all, Hulu, Netflix, all those are kind of like that. Right. Well, you don't, it's really not about memorandum lines. It's just about being available.

Yeah. Just being a prop and they bring in, they pretty you up. I give me a giant mustache for that one, which is hilarious. Nice. So, I came in with the full beard and said, went to the makeup trailer. I'm giving you a fresh canvas. So they shaved everything off, but the giant mustache fluffed it. And it was an, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

in the 80s. So they give me that full 80s and drives a Trans-Am mustache. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. So yeah, here there, we're out, shout out to Michelle Yo. Yeah. Amazing. Just, I've been a fan of hers for decades. Yeah. And she's

in Star Trek now. She played Captain Zerzo in Discovery, and we got that Section 31 film coming out. Yeah, and she was in, I saw her in something else, too. I can't remember what it was. But she's in a lot of stuff. pop it up yeah um and different stuff and i love it so and uh and uh respect for uh her uh doing

doing those uh old uh martial arts films you she's she's she's a gangster man she's she is a gangster her moves she's she floats even you know as she gets older she just doesn't seem to be slowing down yeah so it's pretty good i like chattner in that way keeping it within the star trick right the dude's in his 90s now and just man it's we really are living a lot longer nowadays than 40 years ago yeah it's insane out how long piece back that 20 years ago 65 you're retiring from acting you're you're hanging up the mantle now morgan freeman's doing some of his best work yeah but i don't know he's looked at age to me since lean on me he's so i've never seen much of a difference um but yeah now i'm just back in the lords for a little bit

um um with my agent being in Atlanta most of the stuff i'm being presented for is either in Atlanta, New Mexico, or L.A., because it's the three places I bounce around to, because my headshot guy's out in L.A., so I have to go there once a year no matter what to get my headshots. And then my manager has me come to New Mexico to meet with her and stuff. And then any of my projects are going to be in one of those three places. But really, I did learn something very interesting that there's really only five places you can live right now and have a real acting career. Because I have a local address in New Mexico, and that's why I'm able to work there, and, you know, I still have my address there and live there, too.

And then I live in Lawrence as well, and I bounce back and forth. But I also have local addresses in Atlanta, have a local address in L.A. that I stay out when I'm out there. Really, you have to get in, you have to get local somewhere. So you've got to live in Atlanta, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Chicago, New York, or L.A. If you don't move to one of those five places until you get a big enough name and an agent, and a manager, you're never going to get an agent or manager, and you're never going to break into the industry as an actor. And I had to learn that the hard way, so that's why I moved for six years. But now that I have my agent and manager stuff, I'm able to bounce around

and be able to bring my kids back to Lawrence, because I'm, you know, Jason Sadecas, Paul Rudd, me, we're all working, Kansas City people. This is where we started our boots on the ground, who they've been at. And so, you know. And of course, those names you just mentioned, Red and Sadecas, they're my fellow, Shine Mission West Vikings. Yes. Go Vikings, right? Yeah, yeah. I recently did an episode of the podcast with some experts. They're doing a book on Ted Lassau.

Okay. A book on the show, Ted Lassau? Yeah. Oh, wow, that's interesting. Yeah. So I told him, hey, I was at West with Sedacas for a year, his senior year, my freshman year. And one of the teachers I had was Donnie Campbell.

Okay. The basketball coach, who during the day was teaching geometry, I just happened to have him for geometry, and I had him as a football coach that had a couple points that too. So I knew Diane Campbell all four years of high school. You knew him as a math teacher. I know him as a math teacher and as a coach, but I didn't play basketball, despite being six-foot-one.

But Siddakis, last time you were here, I read the yearbook entry. Yeah. And I read that same entry to these experts. And yeah, that's an interesting. So they're going to use some of that for the... Yeah, they can. All right.

That's awesome. Marnie and Nick, if you're listening. Yeah, absolutely. I did send the audio to them so they could use it, you know. Right. Maybe take the photo from the yearbook. Man, that's a thing, yearbooks. Man, I wish they would have...

State is prevalent because there's just something about the physical yearbook and having your friend sign it and going back. None of my kids cared about the yearbook, wanted one. It's just not a big thing anymore. I think it was a bigger thing in high school than at any other points. So I still have all four of my high school yearbooks. Wow. I probably do, but they're probably in mouthballs somewhere in a box wrapped up. At college, I didn't really care about, I didn't even know they were doing college work.

yearbooks, but I guess it varies from college to college, because I'm pretty sure they didn't do it at Johnson Kennedy, and I don't think they'd do it at UMKC either. Yeah, so, oh, hey, on the subject of KC, I wonder if Kansas City, Missouri is going to hold on to the Chiefs. Because, so you heard about the vote, right? There's a lot of going on here. So you heard about the votes. Okay. Kansas stepped in near the end of their legislative session and said, okay, we'll, we'll, will give you

tax breaks if you come to KK so that is an option that they can certainly take that I'll keep them in the area right in theory that would apply to the Royals too but let's be honest

the Royals need to be downtown all right they've needed to be downtown since pretty much when they started they certainly needed to be downtown by the time the moment of baseball starts shifting back towards downtowns

and everything so no excuses let's get that team downtown you have never watched a lot of baseball but i know exactly what you're talking about and you're not the only one that feels that way yeah and i've seen a couple of downtown ballparks houston uh in may park so that's uh bush stadium st louis so that's um i didn't i haven't seen the pirates ballpark but i saw it's predecessor there three rivers pretty much right on the opposite side of the river from

their downtown Minneapolis I saw Tarjay Fields being built so so yeah and it's all walkable

and everything you cannot say the same thing about Kaufman like even remotely I want to hangouts after the game okay I got across a sea of parking lots and then six lanes of traffic to get It's a fucking Taco Bell. There's something to be said for that whole walking with your kids to the baseball game from your house.

Just, you know, it's kind of something very American about it. And if you have to live downtown, you wouldn't even have to drive. You just walk. Right. And that's what pisses me off. Everyone says, oh, you can't put it downtown where will people park? Or specific to the sites that was footed down. Oh, you can't put it in the middle of the car.

crossword well you're putting it you would be putting it where the star printing press was there's really not much going on there right and uh they're talking about oh we'll be displacing small businesses and uh it's not going to look for the good for the arts community um i've never said for the name of those businesses and uh and there's plenty of space in the crossroads the crossroads is a big fucking district if big cities can make it happen yeah and city can make could happen. Yeah, no excuses. And on the parking thing, you know, the streetcar extension will

be open next year. And that site is like two blocks away from the Kaufman Center stop of the streetcars. Yeah, the Chiefs in the, they don't have to be in the same stadium. They do not have to be. They only have to be next door to each other, exactly. It's crazy that watching, being

out of town and watching the Chiefs dynasty come to live, after being in Lawrence for 15 years before I switched back to my acting career and you know Chiefs being the Chiefs I was like you know I'm a Chief fan but you know we deal with our disappointment every year capped off by the tight end dating the biggest the biggest pop superstar in the world right now yeah it's it's just it's like a perfect chaos circle of of amazingness that just put the chief but now if you live here you really can't afford to go see them I was looking at tickets And it's like $450 for the, like, the crappy seats for the opening game.

I'm not surprised. The last NFL game I went to was Chiefs at Rams in St. Louis, 2010. I think those were $80 for just for tickets. Man. And that's a very walkable stadium, the dome. Yeah, my hotel is just on the other side of the convention center. from the dome it easily walked there

I jumped on the MetroLink after that game took it took that to the Galleria saw a film came back yep so so we're getting

there we're getting there slowly but early we're getting there Kansas City and I would love to see in some form of rail metro wide at some point in my life and uh and uh and yeah standing the street car is just a good first step

starting the street car was a good first step the Kansas City's coming a long ways I mean look at the Casey French Festival where it was year 20 where's this year 20 year 20 year 20 year anniversary of the Kansas City French festival I'm just so glad that I could be here and you know come back and see how things have of change a staff

was the commissioner for a long time and I hear she stepped down this year uh from the uh film office yeah i heard that i heard that too wow that's uh i just thought she would uh retire from there she was there for so long and she just she was she really was a big push to promote i mean she got a few things brought here that wouldn't normally have come to kansas city what i don't understand is why more with all this free land out here because a lot of the reasons like they shoot a lot in new mexico is all that free land right and the tax breaks i just wondering what's stopping them from taking advantage and just offering those tax breaks like what's

what's the holdup can't see let's let's give them what they want the holdups are Topeka and Jefferson City always be honest always well this is not exactly an artsy town is it Topeka yeah North Jefferson City Jefferson City is as close to small town America as it gets and it happens to be a state capital yeah yeah that's crazy I actually I actually had to drive out to Topeka a couple months ago my I had an uncle who lived in the Houston area pass away

and got a piece of his estate a fourth of the part that we've gone to my mom. Gotcha, right? So in order to do that, we had an ever-valid birth certificates and we

somehow lost mine. So I had to drive out to Topeka day trip. Don't really recommend usually Topeka I would say go out there to spend a night. and they come back the next day. But in this situation, I had to day trip it.

And they were, and shoutouts to that's Department of Kansas State Governments because they were on it, and they did a good job. That's good. I mean, at least, you know, I'm just not a fan of Topeka. I don't like leaving Lawrence or Kansas City. Those are my two spots here. I'm from Dallas originally, so maybe just I'm used to a big city. so anything that's got under like 80,000 people in it

I'm not a big fan but Topeka also it just has a lot of neighborhoods where you just don't want to get caught in and a lot of pilots I mean there was a long time where Wyandotte was having a lot of problems of crime and then Topeka was having problems with crime

and then their little gang wars started to end up on the streets of Lawrence out by the Turnpike and this whole city of Lawrence got together and like would like buckle down and I said no you're not going to fight here your war that you're having or whatever for whatever reason they were having it

but there was a couple of stabbings and lawrence doesn't have anything like that ever happened so we're like whoa you know but it's it's been a little bit it's been a little bit of a culture shot coming back it's just a lot it's small town america it's the midwest now i love that customer service exists here yeah because if you leave the midwest it varies from place to place it's and customer service is a lot different like if i'm in laa you know i'm getting some pretty decent customer service during the day but night sometimes. Don't get me wrong. Hollywood, L.A., that's the big ticket. I get it. I'm just not a big fan. I'm a South Dallas, Lawrence, Kansas, Midwest kind of guy, and I like friendly

handshakes, and I like a good meal, and I like, you know, slow pace. You never sit down in L.A. It is just full bullet train from the moment you land until you leave. There's always things you have to be at and do when you're out there, and everything takes forever to get to, because everything so i believe it oh i believe it it's like oh yeah i'm 15 minutes from the airport great oh yeah 50 minute drive like oh he's uh an hour we're 15 miles away yeah that's about right now an hour i'm like man so and you know cost is ridiculous comparatively the the rent i was paying out in the west coast compared to the rent i pay and lawrence it's like half yeah it's like half and i got like twice as much room here it's insane uh you know you know you

shout out to Kansas City, shout out to Lawrence. I love it out here. It's a beautiful place. Yeah, I wish I could be out here more, but, you know, being an actor, you get down to my choice. Yeah, bouncing around to the cities that are doing the shootings, as I were. And we probably could at Vancouver and Toronto to, if you want to take it into Canada, yeah. Yeah, if you want to move north, though, oh, man, I've considered, unfortunately, my significant other, hates the cold severely. and I've asked her, because I've considered wanting to move to Vancouver because, you know, Supernatural was shot out there.

All the WV shows are shot there. A lot of the stuff I like to watch has been shot out there. Julie Nolki, she's this YouTube influencer I love to watch. She's out there. Ryan George, she's a YouTube influencer, which I love, he's out there. And I would just, and I have a few actor friends that are out there. I would love to spend some time in, you know, Vancouver or stuff. They pick on Ottawa.

I'd love to go to Ottawa just to find out what they're talking about because they don't make jokes like, you don't want to go to Ottawa. And I'm like, okay, now I want to go to Ottawa to find out. What is this Canadian beef against Ottawa and Vancouver? It's similar to Washington. Yeah, you know, Ottawa is the nation's capital of Canada. So Ottawa is their D.C.

Yeah. So maybe if it has happened, much crime as our D.C. has. And that might be why. But, yeah, I had fun. It was great to be able to shoot. some movies and stuff out there. Tons of audits, my eight agent manager, I mean, I spend most of the time on auditioning,

just to, you know, stay on topic here about the acting world and stuff. I just feel like that's all I do is I spend most of the time auditioning and then, you know, marketing. Yeah. Stuff like this. I wish it was a little more like theater,

the film TV world, because a theater, 70% of your time you spend acting and 30% of your time you spend on everything else. And then TV and film, it's 70% of your time is on everything else. And then, you know, 30% on the time you actually get to act. But I don't want to be in theater because I don't want to dance around and do six weeks of shows and all that stuff. I did that.

You want to get in, boom. Yeah, I did my, I did Shakespeare in the park. Let the technical guys do most of the other. And yeah, I'll tell you, man, I never want to do Shakespeare again. It was, I did Tame in the Shrew and I did The Tempest and moralizing an entire play of Shakespeare and then trying to find the inflictions in the Shakespeare that make it. sound like normal modern speech it was the hardest thing i probably ever did in my acting career to this day and i just never want to go back to that but the acting part the fact you get spent most of your time actually performing creating characters that's just that's the bread and butter

of why most actors love what we do but you really got to love it man i you really got to love it and you were talking about finding things to do when in your downtime uh like what was hacky sack or lifting weights or in the case of when handsome mounts doing a podcast right shout out to the well podcast who let's be honest

this podcast was kind of inspired by that podcast they talked about all sorts of different creativity and all different avenues of finding creative ways to to interact with the world

the postcard that is part of our poster here they did a Indiegogo to send Brandon out to a just pre-pandemic to St. Croix for a week-long survival camp. Okay. And I just sent them five bucks.

They put my name in the credits. So that was pretty good. And they sent me that postcard. So you had it to be able to add it to your collage of the five strong years this podcast of the yelling. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

And that's not even my favorite. episode of theirs. My favorite episode of theirs is entitled the Martini Samurai. Gotcha. I'll have to check it out. Yeah. So in that episode, yeah, they're talking with a crew, a cast member from Helen Wheels. And

they are talking over martinis. Huh. That's fun. Yeah. Four martinis in, this is Anton Mounce. We're still recording. I'm going to shut this off before I say I'm going to kill every member

of I don't know. Durand, Duran. Oh, I can check it out. That sounds fun. And moments later,

don't get me wrong. I love her her being Britney Spears. I think she's a lovely person. But the end of the day, and I hope someone says

it about me, who gives a shit? And might you, this is four martinis. Oh, sure. Yeah, they're definitely reaching into the bag

at this point. Yeah. Yeah. I like, I'm a big YouTube, like, I don't listen to many podcasts as I wish I did. I really like YouTube versions of this type of thing. Like that, Hot Wings, I love that show. Hot ones, yeah, because they make that some sauce right here in Seth. Yeah, the bomb is right down the road, and that's why I bring it up.

It's because that sauce gets, it's the, it's a centerpiece of that show. And it's made right here in Kansas City. That's a local spice that's only been made to cause that reaction. I've tried it and it is disgusting. There's nothing good about that sauce. It's just hot in every way and it just lingers in its heat

for a hot minute to not... So I can imagine if Guadamalan and Sandy Peppers were actually a thing, it would probably be... Literally drinking out of one. You know, like it's crazy. I was just watching, they did the Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds one today.

I need to see that. Oh, it was hilarious. their reactions to the sauces were fantastic. And that's really what it is. It's Chris's push on the questions while they're getting poisoned. And them trying to focus, like, what did he just say with me? Like, how am I supposed to even? I'm just sweating my, yes.

Stop talking and asking me questions. I can't breathe or think right now. I think that's my favorite part is anytime it throws a curveball in there, I'd love that. I would, I think one of my goals, I mean, of course, my agent and manager, they have their own 10 year plan for my career right and that's great but i'm own five year plan and and i hope don't don't coin the phrase i hope in the next five years i'm on hot ones because i just want i want to make it on hot ones before they stopped doing that show because i'm pretty sure at some point chris is going to hurt himself to the point that he can't

do the show anymore like how many times can you taste the bomb on a chicken wing before you develop an ulcer or something right you know he eats all those wings every i think whether in season four some ridiculous number some ridiculously high number i think they've been doing it for a while yeah they just tons and tons and i remember i watched the first season and it was really you know it was actors that were just coming up or it just been in one thing and they you know they're trying to do their press junket and get their marketing materials together so they're willing to do about anything that gets thrown in them and and then as that season went on you saw like bigger stars yeah and the next season comes and all of a sudden aalist or shows up and oh and here yeah and

it's funny when you look at the acting world from the outside, you know, most people just really, they look A-listers and that's, oh, those are the actors. And if you're not an A-lister, like, nobody stops you in the street or asked for an autograph, right? They're like, oh, they even hear you're an actor. Oh, that's great.

What have you been in? And, you know, I'll hear Google me, blah, blah. And they will spend more time trying to prove you're not actually an actor. Right. Then they will, like, just accept the fact that it is a job that has, I mean, think how many television shows there are on, and how many channels there are

and how many movies and how many YouTube. I'm not even going to go into the influencers. Let's leave all the YouTube influences out of it because that's a whole other ball game and fan. But just the amount of shows and channels, there's more actors

than any person on this planet could recognize that are doing the job. And, you know, most of us. They do the job and they'll get the recognition. I agree. Yeah, but I kind of, I don't know. I think it's a sweet spot. I think right below,

A-lister, but maybe I know that guy. I think there's a sweet spot. I'd like to land in. Like Michael Ironside because of mine. Right, right. I'd like to still be able to go to Dillans and get me a snack at like 7 o'clock at night and not be bogged, you know? But, you know, like

Leonardo Capro, he can't. No, he can't. He can't leave his house without getting harassed. Or again, to use the local example right now, Travis Kelsey or Taylor Swift. Right, they can't go anywhere. And now they got these YouTube people pretend to be them.

And I actually happen to know a guy who lives in Kelsey's neighborhood. Well, we can't, we don't want to give away where he lives again because he had to move already once because of Taylor's Fitts. Well, we already know kind of sort of where those houses are, you know, once up north, ones in Leewood, and that's the extent. Yeah, if you live here, you kind of have an idea where else is that, but if you're not from here, and that's funny. The Taylor said was one of our favorite things about Kansas City is that they under

stood their need to be able to exist in the city without being hounded. And she goes, that's probably one of her things about the Midwest is they'll wave at you and smile. And then the second she's like, let's fucking go! Yes. The paparazzi show up at his house. Yeah.

And black security fans are in the street. Neighbors are being IDed. That's how bad it is. You know, and people get mad because of all the money these people make, but think of how much stuff they pay in security, how much to pay for the gates of their houses, and just to have any form of privacy.

seat and live a normal life. And that's why I really, I know it sounds weird, but I don't think I'd ever want to be an A-lister. I think if my agent comes to me and says, hey, because you have to deal with that. I got a Marvel lead role for you. I mean, I probably wouldn't turn it down because my agent would kill me. And my manager would kill me because they get paid when

I get paid. But I think I would be dreading that more than excited. Right. Because there's a level at which you can still be a normal person. And there's a certain point you can't have it anymore. I've been on sets in different ways, and I think my favorite set, ideal job would be a sitcom.

Yeah. That's not super, like, Big Bang Theory popular, but, like, something that's on TV that people enjoy, because, like, when I was in L.A. with Kelly, and he was on the night squad, he would go home in the evening. He'd go to bed. He'd get up in the morning, we'd go do the hot yoga at, like, 6 in the morning. We'd go down to Warner Bros. lot, and he'd go and check in in his room. And then he'd be there for, like, six, seven hours on set in his room that they had set up. there because it was a long-running show right and they'd come and get them when they need them and

they'd go back and then he went home it was a nine to five or monday through friday and he had his weekends off and i'm like that i want i want that i want to just do a sitcom there you go and just have like a base character that i bring every day and you know do that for a few years and then get on a different sitcom do that for a few years i think that's an ideal active situation when i after i've seen as much as i have and seen what it's done to people once they get so big yeah and they don't seem to be enjoying themselves anymore they Exactly. Exactly. You still have to find a way to enjoy what you do. But, yeah, back on the Kelsey attention, I have also been listening to their pop, the Kelsey Brothers podcast, the New Heights, yeah.

So I heard, going back to Twilight for a second, I heard Jason's, basically a torturous review of the Twilight series in one scene. Yeah, you're either on one side or the other side on the two side. Twilight series. It's just not my genre. Yeah. You know, I think it feels like the Twilights were made like for teenage. They're like teenage sophomore. The thing about twilights that people don't, well, I know this

because I came from the LDS. The Vampires and that's series are the model Mormon family. Oh, okay. Because Stephanie Meyer, the writer, was

is LES. Okay. yeah that's all i never knew that so in the books and i have not read the books okay so you may not be any instance because i've always i maybe i just have to google it i was wondering if the books wrote him as a sparkly vampire if that was something for the movies because i always found that to be the weirdest thing is that he shined in the moonlight like a sparkly diamond i was like that's that's very different for a vampire i don't think i've ever heard that lore before yeah um but yeah i just always wondered why they chose that Maybe it was in the book.

I don't know. I'll have to Google it. Probably. Yeah, Google it. Seems to be the answer to everything. Google it. You know, it's so weird. We have every bit of human information at the tips of our fingerprints at all time.

But it's so crowded with misinformation that now it's trying to get to it. That's the problem, not necessarily that it's not there. And confirming it to know that it's actually real. And another point about the New Heights podcast, I actually kind of, That's where I contributed to one episode. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, back in November, picking up my buddy Conrado, a friend of the podcast, Conrado, to take him to the Chess Club.

And I was there a little early, so I stopped by this place. It's called Grill 32, right there on K-32 in Edwardsville. Stopped by, and noticed they had a new Heights sandwich on their menu. Okay. Does that have anything to do with the Kelsey's podcast? Yeah, we kind of named it after them, hoping to... that they'd mention it or something on air. Get them a little buzz.

So I took a photo on my phone, posted it to Reddit, and I have a week later I'm hearing Travis Kelsey reading my words verbatim. Oh, nice. And going over that sandwich, which created a lot of local buzz. So a lot of the TV stations that locally started paying attention, they went out there. And, yeah. Oh, I bet the business boom.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because it'll put you on the map real fast, having some of like that. Within the month, I'm in that area again, and I stop by, I'm the guy that made the Reddit post, and they gave me the sandwich for free. Oh, hey. Is it good? It is good, so it's basically triple-decker. The top part is basically a Philadelphia Shee steak. Okay. And the bottom part is basically at BLT with hammered turkey, and they put barbecue sauce on it. And you can imagine.

That's a lot. it's this big, geez. It's about the size of the microphone. So what do you? You cut it like a pizza so you could eat it? They cut it in half, and you can still eat. You can still eat it in big form, but you're going to make a bit of a mess,

so they at least give you a fork to eat up all the stuff that chiming falls out. That's unnecessary. But what was really funny about them reviewing the sandwich was the revelation that Travis Kelsey doesn't like mayonnaise. And was mail on the sandwich? Yeah, there's a little mail on the sandwich with it, it's barely noticeable. But it led to Travis making some unholy whipping noises. Oh, yay.

I just hear somebody just whipping it. You could Google this, Mayo ASMR. Mail an ASMR featured Travis Kelsey. Oh, I'm going to. That's going to be something I do when I get home. Yeah. absolutely I've listened to a few episodes

and I'm a fan they crack me up they're funny they play off each other well you can tell their brothers because of how well they're used to speak and each other

and it just kind of seems casual and comfortable and that's really what makes a podcast is when it doesn't seem forced I think it's easier to listen to and makes it a little more that's part of what makes doing this podcast fun

is that for the most part it hasn't been forced You get a lot of guests that you're comfortable around and stuff like that. Well, you enjoyed five years of success now, right? Oh, yeah. Year five. Year five. Wow.

So at five, if I'm making on the show five times, I'm actually, does there a jacket like that's an hour or something? I'm so trying to figure out what to do with the three-timers. Oh, I don't think anybody. No, no, no, I didn't beat anybody to three-timers. We'll wait, we'll wait. Do the jacket at five. That way I can beat everyone at five. Be the person with the jacket.

We'll see. Be the Steve Martin of the five-tires. Five-timers. Yeah. We'll see how things go. I don't know if there's going to be a five-timers club, but I am well aware of that Saturday Night Live tradition. I'm a big S-Nell fan.

Actually, I was training with, well, I'm a C-FA master student. And Emma, Emma Stone went to CMFA, so we had the same acting coach for a moment. And when I finished that, they were putting me with this great. group out of Chicago that apparently trains all the S&L guys, so I was, I was ad lib training from it. And, you know, it's, it's amazing how comedians, they're just, the game of getting into the acting world from a comedian's standpoint just mesmerizes and amazes me in every fashion because it seems like you can't just do it. You can't just be anybody. You got to be naturally inclined to do it. You got to have that Riz as the kids call nowadays.

natural funny riz that just comes natural when you're a room you just make people laugh um i i feel like a lot of us are funny like that but we're funny when we're comfortable and alone with the people we trust right and then all of a sudden like everyone who knows me really closely they're like you're like you're the funny just got to know but get me outside of that and then you know all of a sudden i i just i don't feel as comfortable letting loose like that when you find people like jim carrie or jack black there's some people that can let full loose in public like they do like most of us do in private and that's where the be beauty comes from. Will Ferrell's of this world. Will Ferrell's a legend.

We, there was a, uh, one of my guess was a Jepp Laacheck, the former drummer of anything but Joey. Okay. Um, no one I've known since we were eight. Wow. It's a long time. Yeah. Uh, he told a story about Senecas, um, during that, uh, during his senior year, again, our freshman year, uh, they did a spring show. So, so kind of skits and stuff and Sadecas was in seeing. I did not know my thing about this until I talked to Jeff.

So Jeff was saying that Stakes told a joke. I was on the golf course today. Got stung by a B and the doctor asked where'd you get stung. He said between hole number one to hole number

two. And the doctor said, well, maybe you need to widen your stance. Oh, oh, that's that's classics. It came about this. is Jason Sadekis as a high school senior.

I would zero percent not believe that story because that's that sounds right on part with this type of comedy. You know, he really he really shined on SNL. And then we got Heidi. Heidi came out of Kansas Heidi Gardner. I actually know her. I actually know one of her brothers through the film community

and Jesse. Yeah. Yeah, I met her. I met her once way before she became big back which out she was probably 18 when I met her. I met her. I was in, actually I was in Gardner, Kansas, I was out there. And it was a get-together at a friend's house, like, you know, wine, cheese, chastry, and stuff. And she was there with like a family member or something. And it was a big group. It was like 50, 60 people there. I think it might have been involved with the company I was dealing with in Kansas City at the time because I used to, you know, I used to be

a recruiter. I still do that inside. Yeah. But now I only recruit for paraprofessionals, which help with kids who have special needs. So in my free time, I hire paraprofessionals because there's a line in a lot of schools in public schools there's a line for kids with special needs to get into school because they have to have a paraprofessional per certain amount of kids who have special needs and so I met this guy that started a company in Minnesota to work for the public school systems to hire paraprofessionals he used to be an amazon HR manager and he's like I'm going to take my recruiting skills that would make a different so I do that and aside we hire paraprofessionals for the for public school district so if you're a public school district out there

and you need paraprofessionals go to Radar Talent Solutions.com and they'll help you get that line down for those poor kids, but most of us, we all, pretty much, all of us took pay cuts to do it because, you know, schools don't have a lot of money. They can't really pay that much. Especially the public schools, unfortunately.

Right, right. So, but it's still, it's still got to get done. And that's my, and that's part of my day job because, you know, teaching chess, most of our, most of our clubs are after-school programs. Mm-hmm. And a lot of them are public schools. So shout out to Blue Springs District,

the Platt County District. Shunning Mission, I think, can handle it. I think Shine Mission does a good job to do that sort of thing. I speak as a product of the Shine Mission District. Park Hill, maybe. Yeah, I feel pretty blessed. It feels something.

There's something different about finishing your day working and knowing that what you did made a difference as opposed to just grinding as part of a wheel. you know um because i've been there before i've been an IT recruiter plenty of money in it but you're just a cog you're only doing one piece of it because somebody else is doing the other piece and the big levi i used to work for levi ray and strouts so the big levi ray and strouce machine i'm just like this little cog now i could never go back to doing that it's part of what pushed me back into acting in the first place was that it wasn't working for me and uh you know but i think

90 percent of actors they some statistic like the 85 to 90 percent of actors have a side job Because they have to. Well, I mean, look at the girls, the whole cast of the Orange is New Black, you know, with the strike and everything that happened, the fights over the streaming wars and everything. I mean, did you see the YouTube videos of them holding up their residual checks? And it was like $5. I've seen some of those photos, yeah.

Nothing. Like, you know, you got five years before that, these people were getting $50,000 residual checks once a month for being on something like, you know, friends or something. And then they were on a huge show. The show Orange and New Black, and they were main character for seven seasons, and they were making five bucks. That's seven years of their lives they gave to this show, and they built this character, and memorized it worked their butts off. And, you know, I'm just glad those strikes are over, and I'm glad we won.

I'm glad we got the rights, the streaming thing, because the streaming thing is, it's a whole crazy new beast. But we, you know, we got to always be prepared for changes in the industry like that, because, you know, they acted like that when we went from going just cable television to, you know, VHSs. They freaked out when VHS has came out, and then, you know, blue rays and it just, technology changes. Yeah. And you got to adjust with the society and just with the times, man. I don't know. It's been a weird few years in the acting world. I'll tell you that.

My agent constantly tells me I pick the worst time in history to try to become an actor between the strikes and the pandemic. Right. So it's been a weird ride, but literally I'm ready for anything at this point after that. So, you know, they, what is that old saying, eat your frog? whatever you hate do it worse do it first and get out of the way so I've gone through a pandemic

and I've gone through that as an actor's side of the strikes and so I mean anything else they throw at me I'm pretty much ready for at this point and ours isn't like shout to gay Mulgrew yeah

Captain Janeway yes yeah all right we've got got a couple minutes left uh okay um what are you

so nepotism what do you think about that Well, if they're qualified for the job, that's the important thing. They've got to be qualified for their job. No problem. But something like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, who have no discernible talents. Or have done any classes or have met with it. They don't have any coaches on their resume.

I don't want to throw anybody in the bus. But, you know, like, okay, the boys, the show that's on Amazon, Jack Quaid. plays Huey on there. He has been studied as a craft for a long time. He worked hard at it. He started in small roles and he built it up. And he's killing it. And there's a reason why he's doing so good in the show.

And he looks so good. He's grits along with all his castmates and stuff like that. Now I'm not going to throw anybody in the bus, but I know an exact different situation where somebody was the frontrunner on a show. And it was season two. And they wanted their daughter to have a part who had never been to it. I've been coached by several different coaches. I've got four years of college, a theater scholarship.

I did commercials and got paid nothing for independent films for two to three years. And then I finally started getting paid for commercials. Did that for two years. I've gone through four agencies to get to the point where I'm actually getting auditions for Stranger Things. I'm getting auditions for NCIS. I'm getting auditions for all the major networks. And now I'm in like year five. And, you know, I built this.

And this person had none, nothing. no resume whatsoever, was just on the couch one day with their parent and said, I want to be on your show. Not only did she get a role, not a background role or some, you know, extra just let it be on set. So you've got a major speaking role, and most people don't realize this in a movie, probably eight to ten people speak in the whole movie. You know, most of the background at rockers. And in a TV show, it can be more or less, but somewhere around the same area.

Because you've got the main characters, and then they might run into a few people throughout the episode. But you're not going to get a lot of people that are going to speak. this is a major speaking role and a major character for the rest of the season with no reason for her to be there like she earned nothing not only is it bad for

the girl was already hired for that job by the way they had already hired and this girl had gone through the audition she had done the work she paid out of her own pocket for training to deal with horses for this role and she had done all that and then she got the role so she went ahead

and paid for the classes with the horses she was very excited and a week before she came on set they said get her into training for horses we want her to take the role she's my daughter I want her in this role get rid of the other girl like that and that right there is not only unfair for everybody

who works hard to try to make it in but that poor girl no one liked her yeah no one wanted to talk to her no one respected her and she was just snubed by everybody who was in the cast and when you lose that chemistry I think the story loses something I think the show itself loses something

thing and I like the season one of the show and season two you could feel the tension from the from the customer side right so it's it's it's just it's really sad and it's it's it ruins everything and that's the kind of nepotism I think is really irritating the acting world is the nepotism that destroys the hard work the rest of us are putting in yeah if they haven't put any hard work because every industry is going to have a hand up yeah you know if you got an engineer uncle and you just finished call for engineering and you call them up and he tries to get you into a job that happens all time but you went to college first he's not going to call timmy at 18 with no degree and say i'm going to give you an engineering job yeah it's not how it works so that's my take on it

yeah yeah that's pretty missive another track actor jack wade yeah yeah yeah oh dude boy and learn he gives me that pacey from dawson's creek's kind of vibes uh he's the innocent like happy unexpected that show isn't innocent though oh my goodness that so oh have you watched the boys I have not. I've seen Lord Dex. He's good in Lower Dex. That show will just change how you've... There's scenes I can't ever get out of my head and it's unfair to my brain. It's pretty bad.

Yeah, I don't... If you have a queasy stomach at all, do not watch the boys. They push the boundaries after you push the boundaries. They jump in the boundaries and they beat the crap out of the boundaries, past those boundaries. It's pretty twisted. But, you know, I appreciate you having me on again. Yeah. It's been a while since I've got to see you in person.

Exactly. It's great to have you in person and great to add you to the three-timers club. Yeah. Yeah. I hope everyone looks up. George M. Dean, put me on your follow list. I'm on all profiles and you can look at some of the stuff I've done. And, you know, I appreciate everyone taking the time to get to know me today.

All right. Well, that's going to do it for today. So I want to thank George for coming on. Heather, get well soon. And we have one more show on Saturday night, 6 o'clock right here. We'll have our final guest for this fringe program. And I want to thank you all for your supports. And I look forward to doing this again on Saturday.

So thank you and good night. This podcast is Unpol for is hosted, produced and edited by Mike Chernefsky. Opening music for our Casey Fringe program is welcome to Fringe, courtesy of sueno.com. Outroom music for our Casey Fringe program is Fantasia, Fantasia by Kevin McLeod at Incompetoc.com, licensed under Creative Commons. by attribution 4.0 license. If you are in the United States or Canada, you can call us at 816-832-5160. Leave your message or question for us, and if we like it, we will play it on the podcast. Please support the podcast and purchase our exclusive on-called for merchandise,

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