Trillbilly Worker's Party - Episode 36: From Trump Country With Love (w/ special guest Nick Offerman)

Episode Date: February 7, 2018

We're back. It's a new semester. Nick Offerman was in town shooting a documentary so he stopped by to ask us some questions while we pitched him on some great and brilliant tv ideas. Don't steal them please.

Can you hear everything? Guys, check, check, one, two, put the needle on the record. Perfect. I was born in a lighthouse, my mother was the sea. I had a dream the other night that our special guest today was John Stamos. And me and John had a whole bunch of inside jokes that you and Tanya didn't think was funny. I got some Stamos stories. Take this one off the air.

I see you're wide. Can I chill back like this, you guys? Oh, that's perfect. T and T? Yeah. And T. We're all three Ts. There is a third T, but some know her as Dynamite. We're all three Ts. There is a third T, but some know her as Dino-Mite.

We're all perpendicular. Is that okay? Hello? Wow. We're all here. We've been on a bit of a hiatus for a while. This is our first time all in the studio together for like three months. Shit.

Yeah, so we're coming fresh off the bench. So this will be clumsy. A good buffer for us to knock the rest out. I don't get headphones. We don't have any more. That's usually the way it goes. Welcome back to Pleasure. You're welcome to my headphones if you like.

They're not on. It just dropped. I think they look cool. This is definitely, yeah, the most, is Is that a steadicam? Is that like the Stanley Kubrick? Are y'all gonna film us walking through an ice maze later? Do you have one? It could be arranged.

Where's Eric? Y'all ditch Eric? Uh, they're cleaning up on the other Oh, he's on cleanup crew. That makes sense. Yeah. Eric's been on the hunt for a new water bottle. He won't fucking shut up about it. That sounds like Eric. Yeah, you've met Eric.

Come on up. He had one from Columbia, and he lost it. The country? I don't know. I didn't. You don't ask him questions. You have been fully acquainted with Eric. He's taken very good care of us.

That's good. Yeah, I think. That's good. That's a massive camera. Is that just a camera? What is that? I know. I have so much stage fright right now.

Is that still called a Zeppelin? A blimp. A blimp. Is that Zeppelin better? Yeah. This thing is crazy. Yeah. Make your own brand and call it a dirigible.

Yeah, there you go. You guys all seem much younger than me, but we used to have this weed thing that was even from a previous generation called a Zeppelin, and it was a big rubber squeeze bottle that had one of those look like a tempura paint top with a point. Yeah. And you unscrew it, and there's a brass little trumpet, and you light a joint and put it in there firmly.

Uh-huh. Screw it together, and then when you squeeze it, it forces the air. Oh, nice. So this stream of smoke comes out. Right. And you can, like, throw it around. Right. You can still do that with, like, the vape things.

I'm sure they've even got that for actual smoke. Yeah, I guess joint tricks aren't really that necessary anymore. What with the gravity ball and all. Yes, that's the admin of the gravity ball. Eat this cookie. We just dab now? Yeah, I mean it's kinda like drinking games.

Like if you've got to play a game to get your rocks off, it's... You're right. Just get straight to the point. That's a great point.

It reminds me of adding, the fashion of adding shit to bacon. Right. What the fuck is wrong with bacon? As it is.

Flavored bacon? It's a example of too many elements You can have too much fusion and that's one of them This might be too much fusion If it ain't broke I'm of the opinion that

synthesis ruined pod You had this perfectly shamanic drug and then we're gonna be getting cancer from the fucking yellow, orange, purple kush. Right. Thanks for blowing my buzz, man. Sorry. Yeah, me too.

Tom's a cop. Well, once Philip Morris gets a hold of us, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yes, is that what synthesis refers to? I guess that's what I was getting at, you know. Yeah. Yes, is that what synthesis refers to? I guess that's what I was getting at.

I wrote them a letter in, like, 88 and was like, check this out, Marlboro Green. Get out in front of it, man. It's coming. Damn. Damn. It's going to come out. You know how it came out all these years later That like Exxon Knew about climate change

All these years Well some whistleblower Some investigative reporter is gonna dig up that letter Like Nick Offerman Tried to tell you in 88 Get out in front of it Before he became a snowflake Before he became a snowflake. Before he became a snowflake.

It's all those progressive women you hang out with, Amy and Megan. Hell yeah. And then some. Speaking of TV, I got a few TV ideas for some shows. I've already pitched one of them to Tom. Legally, I can't hear your... Okay, all right.

Well, good thing it's satire. I can hear them satirically. Put your satirical ears on. Very strictly. I will ironically listen. That's what most of our listeners do. Thousands of ironic listeners. We deeply advise you to listen ironically.

Let's hear it. Do you know the show Friends? You ever heard of it? Yeah, that was Schwimmer's earlier show, right? It was his earlier work before he became like John Cassavetes. It was Robert Kardashian. Yeah, right. I got an idea about a couple of coal miners that have to move to Brooklyn to learn how to code.

Called Friends of Coal. It's just called Friends of Coal. I had the, remember the, I had the. I had the jingle. It was. Nobody told you life was going to be this way. Obama come and shut. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

You'd have to move to Brooklyn because of the EPA. Obama shut down all the power plants. And then some hippies came along and they rode a bunch of grants. We'll be friends of course. You're very good at comedy. Thank you. Thank you. Don't blow him up any bigger.

That shit is funny. I think he was being ironic. No, I was not. I've also got one. Hang on. Hang on. Hulu just texted me back. They're picking you up for six episodes.

Are they picking us up? Fuck yeah, we did it. But you have to cast Mario Lopez. Welcome to showbiz, motherfucker. Tom's out, Lopez-y. I got good news and bad news. All right, we can work with that. I can work with Mario Lopez.

He's classically trained. Yeah, yeah. He's probably a Disney kid, right? Probably. That sounds right if anybody's a mousketeer it's fucking lopez yeah right all the cameras they say he has no genitals at all interesting interesting if you do you think a la National Lampoon that you would ever work this podcast into an actual sketch show? I'd love to do that.

Zip and discuss. If we had the money and the resources. Man, I would click on that video. Would you? Hell yeah. We've thought about it. Eric's been pushing us. He wants to produce it.

Anyway, we'll shop around a little bit know what? We're not ready for our... Alright, I don't wanna push. My second TV idea is... Settle in! If y'all are just rolling, it's called The Handyman's Tale. It's like The Handmaid's Tale. But it's you in it, you're in it. You don't have to say It's like The Handmaiden's Tale. But it's you in it, you're in it. You don't have to say it's like The Handmaiden's Tale.

Yeah, you're right. That's comedy, I forgot. That's how comedy works. You don't wanna be explicit. If we have to ask, we'll never know. Yeah, right. Yeah, I guess the premise would be like, it's like a future dystopic society

and like for reproduction they take a bunch of handymen and make it to where they can have children. And that's where they reproduce. Okay, this isn't working out. Keep that one on the percolator. I'll keep gestating on that one. Do you have a good song for it?

I don't have a jingle for that one yet. Keep cooking that casserole. You're off to a good start. These are my questions, these are the correspondent questions. Yeah, you can't see those. Yeah, don't cheat. We don't wanna have our answers prepared.

So were y'all good? Did y'all figure out how to hook up the audio? What is meant by a Cleveland steamer? Lucian. Lucian. Rude. Hey, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Who's missing the Super Bowl?

All of us. You all want to watch the Super Bowl? I was watching it before I came here. Is that something you like to do? You know, I find football pretty homoerotic, and it's like the biggest one. And that's good, right? Yeah, it's great.

Yeah, okay. And it's like techier every year. It looks really cool. Justin Timberlake's doing the halftime show, so I was hoping they would bring in Janet for shits and giggles, and that would probably be nice. Timberlake, did he used to be in Fatone's band? Maybe.

Yes. Probably. He did, actually. I was trying to get drunk to prepare for this, really. That's just all I was doing. Do you want to watch Super Bowl? I mean, I don't really have a rooting interest. You don't have any money on it?

I'm intrigued by the fact that Tom Brady makes out with his son. And for that reason... That happens? Yeah, he like, made out with his son. What?

Did you not see this? That's a little hyperbolic. Did you not see this? Did nobody see this? No. There's a video of him kissing his son in a really weird way.

For too long. Celebrities, am I right? What do you know? Sounds like somebody might scrub one out on your podcast tom brady kissing his son in a really weird way touchdown um no i didn't really i there's a party going on that I want to go to. Oh, that's fine. Just watching the Super Bowl. Right on. The content of the Super Bowl itself does it.

It's a loud party. Yeah, exactly. So you didn't want to watch the Super Bowl? No, I don't. I don't follow the football. If the Bears were in the Super Bowl, I'd watch it so that I could try and win my brother's love back. Good fight there, Frank.

No, I think football's going out. I think it's on its way out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I played football. I enjoyed it very much. It was my best sport of three.

But there's those videos of people getting concussions right that's like oh well if you're going to start showing that this changes my thoughts then we can't yeah we're not really going to play it i have a new opinion on it okay well what's going to replace football great question that question wasn't on the paper euchre Great question. That question wasn't on the paper. Euchre. My vote.

Or Rook is the version we play here. I've heard of Rook. Oh, yeah. But I don't know what the, just some slight rule derivations. Different deck. Yeah. On Euchre, is it very similar? Is Euchre a card game? Yeah, Euchre, you take tricks like Rook.

But you use a standard deck instead of Rook. Yeah, I went to college with a lot of Ohioans. They played the Euchre. Really? We'll call them Buckeyes. Yeah. Which, if you're unaware, is a tree nut. Which doesn't make for a very imposing sports mascot.

They're right. They are poisonous, though, aren't they? Yeah, they're poisonous. They are, yeah. They're right. They are poisonous, though, aren't they? Yeah, they're poisonous. They are, yeah. They're insidious more so than... Yeah, you're right. Like, they have a poisonous interior. So you just have to get the opponents to consume you?

Yes, to bite into you. It's a Pyrrhic victory. You lose a lot in the process. Unless it's like one of those Bucke lose a lot in the process unless it's like one of those Buckeyes have you seen the ones that are like chocolate and peanut butter

I have those are fucking delicious yes I have enjoyed them in my mouth that would be a good mascot at least be a crowd favorite do you imagine if you were shooting

Buckeyes into the audience like t-shirts like chocolate ones there's two high schools in rural West Virginia. That's Polka High School and they're the Dots. And their arch rival is the Nitro. That's the city name.

The Nitro Invaders. Really? And the Polka Dots? And the Polka Dots playing the Nitro Invaders. It's like, how do you get over that? This is a great goddamn country. There's a high school in New York called Pottsdam, New York, but their high school mascot is the Stoners.

So they're the Pottsdam Stoners. That's a real thing. It's pretty cool, I thought. Is it supposed to be a reference to like Masons? Yeah. It's like the town was built by Masons. That's St real thing. It's pretty cool, I thought. Is it supposed to be a reference to like Masons? Yeah. It's like the town was built by Masons. That's stoners. That might be a bit of a stretch.

Right. Right. If I wrote a school in a script, and a kid, the kid that we care about plays for the polka dots, you'd be like, get the fuck out of my house. Polka dots.

Right, right. Okay, buddy. All right. Does something smell like it's burning? I smell that, too. Maybe we're all having strokes. Maybe we're about to have a stroke. We're going to have a problem.

Like Pat Robertson had a stroke today. Speaking of strokes. Oh, boy. I'm going to keep my mouth shut. That's what's burning. You can't say something nice about somebody. I might say it loudly on a podcast. That's mine.

Man, if he ends up running into Jesus when he goes, he's in for a big surprise. I agree. I used to watch. It's only the third time in history Jesus kicks someone in the nuts Come here Pat It would be worth dying with Pat

Just to see that happen You'd be at the pearly gates with him It's gonna be fucking good Get close, get close Why is Jesus stretching his quads? Smiling You ready for your ultimate reward? Why is Jesus stretching his quads? Smiling. Ready for your ultimate reward.

Yeah he's pretty bad. But the world's probably a better place without him. I tried to, on Twitter, I tried to work in a Billy Squire joke. About Pat Robertson? Pat Robertson on the stroke, Billy Squire. Right, right. I couldn't finesse it exactly. I see where you're going.

There's potential there. Yeah, I see where you're going. Insensitive maybe, but... Topical and funny. We're a joke factory. We make jokes in TV shows. They like to think so. Feels like these cameras are fired up.

I am. Yeah. Yeah, we're in a mess here. We got 30 minutes audio of just shooting the shit. We call I am. Yeah. Yeah, we're in a mess here. We got 30 minutes audio of just shooting the shit. We call it garbage. Oh. Do you,

are you ready to fire it up? Let's do it. Are we ready? Well, we've already started, actually. That's the way podcasts start these days. We're a fan of the hard, cold open. We're a fan of the hard, cold open. That's all right.

That's kind of our trademark. Yeah, that's, we're known for the hard, cold open. We're a fan of the hard, cold open. Sorry, that's kind of our trademark. Yeah, we're known for our hard, cold opens. I call it a chilly opening. Well, let me fire up. Here we are on the Trillbillies worker podcast. Worker's party. Worker's party. One crucial word.

Hell yeah. It's the party. Don't forget the party. Don't forget the party. Don't forget the party. Yeah, please. Tell me, why did you guys start this podcast? Why are we here in this cool room? I wanna do the classic, anybody wanna film this?

You're kind of the clave of our group, won't you? Am I? Kick us off. Oh, damn. We riff off you. Well, let's see. We started the podcast about this time last year year It was just like right after the inauguration

There were several things going on In the sort of mass media That were just pissing us off in general Like the sort of attention given to J.D. Vance And Hillbilly Elegy But just I think more than that was just It's a great book

Did you guys Did you check it out? We thumbed through it Yeah we thumbed through it Read the cliff notes. I read it actually front to back, which is, if I'm the Quavo, it's because I do the homework. True.

On this podcast. Yeah. You earn your seat. I earn my seat, I earn my captain's chair. I just briefly wanna say, I thought, once I learned that about your personal vendetta justifiable vendetta against J.D. Vance

I ordered that book when everyone was like oh that's the book you gotta read and before I could get to reading it I read two things that was like oh actually it's bullshit don't read it I was like oh good I've already bought it so I burned it

I do that a lot perfect um so there's that and then i think the sort of like larger thing was um just this presumption that um you could label an entire region Trump country. There's a lot of Trump supporters here, obviously, but there's a lot of people that aren't. But I think even more than that, we wanted to get into just how you think about a place and why it is the way it is from a different perspective that was missing from mass media.

Our perspective is hard left i mean we're far left we're leftists we're socialists and and i think that's been our um that's that's what we think is unique and is not getting offered in a lot of these but with dick jokes but with dick yeah it's not like that it's kind of redundant but thank you for chiming in Right, it's the whole thing of comedy You don't actually The dick jokes are implied Socialist has been said

Right, we cleared the air with that Just got out in front of that I really appreciate that Because, and I've learned From talking to people this weekend That it's even kind of a misnomer to call it Trump country, as though all the people here, first of all, it's painting them with a wide brush, but as though everyone has felt this way for a long time, you know, that it's been building up to this. this and it seems much more the case that's been a pretty blue voting region that finally uh was fed up and only vote a lot of them did vote for trump but it's because they were misinformed uh largely because of the fact that he's often full of shit right what i think that misinformed

but i think even more than that i think people people have a pretty, I think people are pretty fed up with the way things are. And if you can draw any lessons from the Trump vote here, it's that it was, I would say, an anti-establishment vote, or at least that's what we were saying around the time of the election. You know, I think since the election, I don't know how much I buy into that because I think it's just the same people who have been voting for the Republican Party for a long time. It's Bush voters. It's Reagan voters. Well, I mean, that's something I love about our modern society is that you guys can get together and, you know, you don't have to ask anybody's permission you basically have a grassroots radio show and you get to voice you know these opinions from deep in the heart of Appalachia uh which is a great thing you know if this country had had that a long time ago I think we would have a few more things figured out yeah that's the that's one of the best things, I mean, I don't know, we've all been doing the radio

for a really long time, all three of us, and it's honestly a pretty powerful medium. We can't get fired and that's pretty great. Like, you know what I mean? Like, we don't have bosses when it comes to like, the media thing. I intend to use very foul language with no repercussions.

Exactly. But then there's also the whole thing, all three of us are also involved in this show here that takes phone calls from people whose family members are incarcerated in the prisons around here. And it cuts out the middleman which is the prison itself which charges people to actually make phone calls in and out of a prison or at least out of a prison

um and so it's like it provides like a link of communication to people like you know i hate to use this sort of like corny metaphor but you're literally broadcasting to people through walls there's walls that our society has created created sometimes arbitrarily sometimes not but regardless like we're still able to reach them and podcasting is sort of much the same it's sort of the same you obviously need an internet connection sure listen to it but but still yeah it's a it's it allows the it allows the working party which is a very smooth segue into my next question, to bypass the channels, you know, the corporate channels. Right.

Which is very healthy. And that next question is, what is your name about the Trillbillies, and what does that have to do with a workers' party? Well, Tom? Well, Tom? Yeah, well, like we were talking about earlier, the trill part is just a southern rap term that we kind of co-opt. And then, you know, just to play on hillbillies. And then the workers party just to give it a nice red touch.

It was literally cooked up in about five minutes in a group text message. Yeah, we may shorten it to trillbillies. Seems a little ostentatious yeah but it's uh I think it denotes that like you know like we are about something like we do have a message for better for worse and you know sometimes that gets lost in the irreverence and all that other stuff but well and before we get to any more dick jokes, what is the message?

Can you sum it up? Yeah, I think we really just wanted to let everybody know that socialism is not this rigid campaign. I think you said that in the paper, the Herald-Leader, when we were talking. Right. And I thought that resonated for me in a way that it can be fun and we can, you know. Well, and it doesn't have to, I mean, I've learned a lot about it, you know, in this time of political unrest as well. And I've learned that, for me, it focuses mostly on simply universal health care.

Right. For me, it focuses mostly on simply universal health care and the incredible morass of problems that we're facing and the hardships that all of our citizens are going through regarding that. We don't have to become a European country from last century to just give everybody health care, which is a socialist practice. But, you know, people are so afraid of, they still remember the propaganda from earlier world wars where they're like, socialism, why don't we become red commies, you know? Hang on.

What if we just cover your broken arm? Would that be okay? It okay not a revolutionary gesture yeah yeah i think we also are just trying to contextualize a little bit this trump country shit as in this area has been like i mean our history is in labor movement and so a lot of us came to our politic through this understanding of labor organizing. And I think that's a pretty central piece of current socialism is that labor is where our power is. That's true. I love it. I mean, I wish that I was your age and I lived here because I'd get kicked off this station that we can't get kicked off of.

I would figure out a way. I'm gonna burn this god damn thing down. I have been officially written up. Yeah that's true, I was too. On the radio station. I vaped weed in here one time and got in a lot of trouble for that. From?

The manager. The non-profit. Oh from the people here. The cops showed up when somebody played an Andrew Das Clever tape one time. Yeah that did happen. From? The manager. Oh, from the people here. The cops showed up when somebody played an Andrew Dice Clay. Yeah, that did happen. It was like a standoff. In the early 90s.

There was a literal standoff, like a cop standoff. Wow. Because someone was playing Andrew Dice Clay. Is the door locked downstairs? Who knows? It's Super Bowl. Everybody's busy. It's fine.

Since we are also on camera, I just want to say that I did not eat any psilocybin mushrooms. And I'm grateful to the police for all they do to protect us and serve us. Keep the narcs at bay. Yeah, right, right. I just played B played bikini kill that's why they wrote me up that makes sense we won't rat you out can i ask you what uh so when you you had this idea you came up with a cool name that means something and and where did you kick it off what was your first episode about you might guess jd himself uhD. himself. J.D. Vance. Yeah.

And we've kind of been pigeonholed there. We've been trying to escape that ever since that first episode. Every time J.D.'s in the news somebody's adding us

on Twitter. It's like our free bird. We're the J.D. people. It's our free bird. But we've got some other good songs like Tuesday's Gone. We've got some other

episodes that are about on that level. You know what's really hard? Your second book. Yeah. And let's just see what happens to old JD. He may take care of the situation for you.

Yeah, that's true. You're very right. Hopefully. He might try to get into speculative fiction or science fiction or something. Good luck, buddy. Yeah, could you imagine a speculative fiction book written by work that up for next episode complete with theme song please you that's got to be your thing i got you a little ditty yeah we kept saying he was posturing to run for office and he finally did come off of that horse and say he wasn't going to run for office so at least there's that he uh did i read isn't

he from ohio yeah yeah and he doesn't he's the kind of buckeye with no peanut butter so i i've had such a rich education while we're here working on our show, talk to all kinds of people and heard a lot of firsthand accounts of what a mess that a lot of the region has been left in with the coal industry sort of, you know, pretty much shutting down to a trickle. So who do you think is going to have the solution to the problems here? And who doesn't? How are we going to get this neighborhood back on track? That's a great question, Nick. I think it's very much an open question. I mean, for our project, we think Appalachia needs big government, right?

I mean for our project we think Appalachian needs a big government right we think that the sort of FDR style social democracy served us well during that era and that something that we you know talk about is the efficacy of that you know for today yeah a new new deal which is which is such a those are such bad words that you just said, you know, they make people gasp. We did say there were curse words on this show. That's true. But, I mean, I agree with you that, you know, people are in trouble. And the local fixes don't seem to be coming in to save the day.

Well, you know, I think it goes farther even than the sort of big government as an answer because, I mean, or at least for me, I think we also believe in some things like reimagining what, doing away with the police state and reimagining like a new criminal justice system and stuff like that. I mean, you talk about the opioid crisis. Well, I mean, this pretty much like sort of ground zero. And, you know, it's being treated in the same way we've sort of traditionally treated addiction and drugs. You know, the police state is responding to it, putting people in prison for it.

And so, you know, earlier I mentioned the show we do where we broadcast calls to prisons around here. I mean, there's a lot of prisons around here. Let me make sure I have this straight. You're basically, to bypass the shitty rule that prisons make prisoners pay to have a human relationship over the phone, you bypass that by allowing the relatives to call in and then the prisoners listen to the podcast. Well, that's a different thing from the show. They could listen to the podcast if they wanted to. It's a different show that we do on the station.

We do it in this room, actually. But, yeah. They can buy radios in commissary. And so we've even heard tale of people who don't have radios, other guys will put the radio up to the vent system and so the messages will like get through the vents somehow right that's some badass ramen hood action right there right um and you know i think something that's pretty wild about that show is that almost all the people who call in are women are like

supporting us feel like it it it creates a whole new narrative about who's serving like what who in our communities are serving when people are locked up i mean probably the worst is when kids call in and read their abcs or talk about their last birthday party or their t-ball game i mean it's pretty fucked up yeah well that i mean that begs the question i've been so grateful to get to come here and meet people firsthand and hear about the history and what the problems are right now because i'm getting really different information than sort of the picture that the media is painting so can you talk about you know what is what is the national what is the story getting wrong on on the on behalf of the national media quite a bit yeah

i'd have to think about that for a second well even the raw numbers we've talked about often on the show is that most people here aren't voting at all like the voter turnout in the south is extremely low there's tons of disenfranchisement in kentucky people who've ever had a felony before can't vote ever again like that's i mean it's astronomical number compounded by we have the seventh biggest uh prison population in the world as a standalone country yeah um so there's just the the numbers that we've created this Trump situation, whatever. It's just I mean, it's just it's statistically impossible. Did I hear that? I could be wrong. I think I heard that only 23 percent of the people voted in the presidential election.

Sounds right. Yeah. I don't know the exact number, but that's probably about right. Well, then, even if even if it was 100% for Trump, you can hardly call that Trump country. Yeah. It's like saying he won the popular election, which is a sad joke. Yeah. Yeah, there were more votes for Trump in Staten Island than, like, all of Kentucky, probably. That's a great statistic. Well, I think really what bugs us so much about that, by calling it Trump country, you're

overlooking what people actually respond to and what they actually want. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, racism and these other things are a problem for sure. But they're a problem everywhere because this is America. We don't have a monopoly on that.

Yeah, we don't have, exactly. And so I guess really by us sort of railing against that, we're railing more against this sort of like liberal notion. I mean, you know mean I've really seen this written about the most among liberals, that like, oh they get what they voted for. The Frank Rich, the Frank Rich out there, when he was like, no sympathy for the hillbillies.

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. We just powered the goddamn Industrial Revolution, made your career possible, but carry on, Frank. Right, right. Yeah, and you powered the Industrial Revolution and all of the years since. Yeah, it didn't stop there. They kept the lights on between that revolution and the two world wars. I think they were still burning electricity.

Right, right. Well, so maybe let me rephrase, like, what do you think that the national story is leaving out? You know, they, because I agree, you know, this is my first time being in a place where, that is inhabited by so-called hillbillies, which also includes trillbillies, metrobillies. Right. And I've met a few Chillbillies. I don't know if that has been coined. We moonlight as Chillbillies. Yeah.

I feel like a pretty Chillbilly vibe in this room right now. That's good. But, I mean, you know, and by attaching any group of people to Trump, so many stereotypes immediately spring to mind. You know, association with that particular person colors a people's mentality, lack of education or education, you know, gullibility, prejudice, just sense of prejudice of like, oh, those people don't appreciate truth. You know, they're prejudiced in one way or another. And, you know, what's wrong? How are the people here different than that?

What's being left out of that stereotype? Here's what I think. I wouldn't necessarily say that the mass media, you know, whatever you want to put into that, New York Times, MSNBC, and all this other stuff, I don't know know, like, violations in the mine industry in terms of, like, environmental stuff like that. But it's, I guess it's more like, you know, and this is not my strong place. I don't really have a, I don't really feel one way or the other about it. But, like, a classic example would be, like, like Nick Kristof who works for the New York Times, who I remember a few years ago, he like dropped in to Jackson, Kentucky,

Jackson County, or it was Berthet County, but it was Jackson. And he did this story on SSI benefits, Social Security benefits. And basically the whole frame of the story was about how people are abusing the system and how the system is rigged and all this other stuff. And it's just like, yeah, that happens in any system, that happens in any bureaucratic agency,

but what are you trying to prove? You know what I mean? What is the message you're trying to send? Is it that people here are a bunch of freeloaders? And if so, imagine how that gets taken up. Meanwhile, the Pentagon loses $128 billion in their couch cushions. Yeah, exactly. Scant mention of that.

And why didn't you go to Memphis? Why didn't you go to Albuquerque to tell that story? Right. Yeah, it's geared towards they're trying to get a specific – and I've noticed this a lot, mostly with liberals, and they do it because what they're trying to do by doing that is they're trying to say they're trying to pander to a conservative audience and to a conservative ideology they're saying look we realize as liberals that this kind of stuff goes on and

we're willing to help you with it meanwhile the conservatives are literally just chopping that shit like they're getting rid of it wholesale and And it's something that we've been talking about all year in 2017 was how liberals in the Democratic Party walk into this trap time and time again. You cannot pander to these people. They want blood. They're out for your blood.

I don't know. I think of Bill Clinton's presidency. Bill Clinton made a career off being too conciliatory to Republicans. They still shut the government down. Yeah. Exactly. These people can't be reasonable.

They can't. Neil Gorsuch is sitting there smoking a fucking cigar, listening to this, sagely nodding his head. Got that right, Tom. Yeah. Let's back it off of that kind of question. Let's say I just walked in here and you guys said, hey, you're Nick Offerman. I loved you on the George Lopez program. You want to come talk to us?

And I would say, yeah, you guys really seem like my people. really seem like my people. I noticed, I heard some stuff on the street about the coal industry, you know, sort of set up these communities and had a huge controlling interest. And now that's kind of going away and people are having a hard time. I heard about some sort of brown water issue over in Martin. Can you guys give me sort a nutshell the climate, the situation around here? You know, what are the problems? It feels like the nutshell is that we are like the poster child for capitalism as an experiment. Just not shaking out. And we have no control over.

Then shake out. Yeah. There is no autonomy here i mean in the sense that like martin county is a good example um where um you know you didn't you had a coal industry that didn't invest in any kind of infrastructure the infrastructure that they did invest in they owned and when they left it just sort of like fell into disrepair but there's also the sense that we literally don't have any control. What was it, April last year?

Our county judge tried to pass, just to raise money for the county, tried to pass a tax on every gas well in the county. This county holds 10% of the state's oil and gas reserves. I mean, that's big revenue. So they held this meeting down at our fiscal court. That's where they meet the county government to get community input on this tax. Well, the oil and gas industry, the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association, they brought in like 80 oil and gas workers and essentially intimidated the fiscal court, our county government, into not passing this tax. I mean, that's what I'm talking about. Like, we just don't have any,

like, all the community members there pretty much were uniform in wanting it. And all these people who weren't from here, who work in central Kentucky, I've never even seen them, they came in here and, I was talking about. Terrance really almost punched me. Terrance was at a main Street cussing people out. Yeah, I was trying to fight people.

Yeah, we had to call them back. I mean, our elected officials sat there and just took this berating from all these paid workers from other parts of the state. They ended up at the end of it, they had to just call an executive session and slink down the fucking back steps of the courthouse to escape the room. Yeah. They couldn't even face the just to pass this like it's a really small tax right it's a classic example of how you know and it's not just eastern kentucky i mean this is all over i mean i'm from new mexico it's the same thing it's like the fossil fuel industries they own pretty much everything if you i mean like

they'll give you a degree of freedom and you know but if you even a little bit buck up against that to try to cut into their profits, they're going to. Yeah, as long as you don't mess with their bottom line. Right. Man, it's, well, you know, I think I've been educated in a big way, and I've heard a lot of voices of hope, and I'm thrilled to death to run into you three. lot of voices of hope and i and i'm thrilled to death to run into you three uh because i one thing i love about the podcast format is that there's a realism to it you know it's not polished we're sitting here having a sloppy conversation like we would be if we were at a bar right um and also And also this scotch is delicious. Extra sloppy in here. And, you know, that gives me, like, I'm sure there are young people, you know, within earshot that are listening to this. And just they're much more prone to listen to you and trust you because you're not wearing a suit.

You're not sitting, standing behind a pulpit. You're just some, some guys and gal hanging out, you know, giving your honest opinion. Speaking of honest opinions, I can't, I can't visit a Kentucky podcast without bringing up Wendell Berry. Are you guys, who here is pals with Wendell Berry? Tonya spent the night in the governor's mansion. Yeah, I've never even met him, but Tonya's late buds. Oh, you were at the sit-in? Yeah.

The sleep-in? The sleep-in, I was there. I enjoyed that on the news. Those books are dedicated to Tonya. Yeah, it's true. That's not really true. That's not true. I've seen it.

I've literally seen it. You may not be the only Tanya in his life. Exactly. I know someone texted me and said, holy shit, Wendell just dedicated a book to you. And I said, no, it's his wife. We spell it the same. It's T-A, but it was the whole list of people

that were in the governor's office. It at least opens up the options. I'm not saying it's not you. I do say that he only remembers my name because it's his wife's name. You know what? With a luminary like Wendell Berry, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. He can call me Tanya.

Yeah. We have written back and forth. Do you write him? I have written him, yeah. We have corresponded. He's cute. You did the documentary, right? I have written them, yeah. We have corresponded. He's cute. You did the documentary, right? I helped produce it.

And I mean this sincerely. The peak of my career will forever be in that documentary we made about Wendell Berry called Look and See by a great filmmaker named Laura Dunn. There

are some shots of my hands and tools making a walnut stool while Wendell talks about an artist as someone who sees two things that ought to be put together and he puts them together like a novel or a film or a stool. And while he says that, I'm making a stool.

And every time I see it, I cry my eyes out. Because for me, he's the most important writer living. I think the answers to so many of our social ills around the world, but certainly in America, are to be found in the common sense in his writing. It's all based on old-fashioned values respecting the land that we use respect you know loving one another equally it's it's it's not complicated yeah i i mean if i uh i gave a speech at the sundance film festival a couple weeks ago as part of, you know, I was number 14 of 15. There were some incredibly powerful, mostly women and also common was there. But Maria Bello put together this spoken word thing with three young ladies.

It was called the Respect Rally. It was the one-year anniversary of the Women's March. And I was incredibly flattered to be asked to get up and say something. And whenever that happens, I open with some Wendell Berry and then I flap my gums about it just so that I'm not completely plagiarizing. And then I close with some Wendell Berry. And they keep asking me back. so I guess it's working but I said if I just had a career of reading his work to people

I would so happily accept that job because nobody's done it better than he yeah in fact if it's okay with you guys I'll spend the rest of this podcast reading this book alone the unseen wilderness yeah we're

it would be pretty cool it'd be like when what's his name we used to read the Great Gatsby in front of crowds who was it I need to cough yeah any coffin just like that just like that well when I heard you're gonna be here I thought you know what we should just try call Wendell we I thought, you know what? We should just try to call Wendell. We should just call Wendell while he's here. But I found out Wendell had a little fall recently. Yeah. I don't think he's answering the phone right now.

Yeah. And don't ever compare that hack Salinger to Wendell Berry. so a lot of a lot of the future is going to involve experimentation and you know sort of throwing a lot of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks but i mean you know what do you guys you you live here what do you think who's going to, is there an ideal messenger for this place? You know, who do you think is going to drive the vanguard towards future success? Well, I mean, it looks like you're ready to take that man along. Yeah, it's me. Does their name begin with the letter T?

Yep. That's the answer to all the questions. Well, I think what you said about, you know, Wendell said it best, that artists have a big role to play in how we're communicating and understanding the world. Artists take two things that need to go together and put them together. They do a lot to best understand kind of break down retail and communicate the world and a lot of hope like you've talked about so i think artists

have a big role i do too i mean it have you guys seen that higher ground show oh yeah yeah i went saw that thing the other night we heard you played did they put on a show for you? Oh, you read my resume. They did. I mean, it was sort of a dress rehearsal. And to be honest, they sprang it on us. We didn't know it was going to happen. And, you know, as those things go, it started. And it's a very honest theater group.

It's the community, so it's not trained professionals. So you have a wide spectrum of talent. And they got up and started it without any fanfare. And there was a sense of, oh, I guess we're going to sit here and watch a show. And I knew a little bit about it. But as it started, I was like i was like oh boy here we go some community theater how many are there up there and within within a minute i was completely enwrapped and then and then i was so hooked and just fascinated and, like, it made me cry a few times.

The music was astonishing. And the way they dovetailed the music and the spoken word stuff together. And I couldn't get a straight answer. When it was over, I said, who edited this, you know? And they said that they sort of threw the order together just last minute like right when we got there but whoever somebody is influencing them and maybe it's robert geip but it's the brevity the it's really good writing because they each piece is just long enough to give you the full emotion of the moment and then they jump to the next one and if they were even the slightest bit indulgent you

know or narcissistic about it it would be too long and it would be a drag but they it's so well done and i'm so excited that it's um i hear that they've gotten some grants to do stuff with it and yeah i mean that fits into what you're saying is that um that art is successful and effective and you know i'm going to try you know write something about it and like tell the world i saw this great show you should check out if you get a chance you know and that's that's how the the that's i think that's one of the ways in the the the perception of this place is gonna be healed is simply by the kind of thing you guys are doing where they're like I heard this podcast out of Trump country didn't sound super Trumpy you can use that blurb on your poster. Oh, okay. Not super Trumpy. Not super Trumpy.

Now we got Nick on, we can take J.D. Vance's blurb out. They're probably on their 10th production, if not more, over there. Yeah, it's really cool. And so do you know who... I know I played Roger in a scene, but do you guys know Roger? No, I just saw Gap's Instagram post or something. Because they are all based on, you know, there was one sad story about a father who lost his son, and the true father was sitting across the room.

And so, yeah, it really is woven in with the real lives of these people. Well, all of those productions are put together by story circles. I mean, I'm sure they told you this. They hold story circles. Robert Gopp used to work here at Apple Shop. That's still how a lot of art is made around here is through story circles. Back last year, we were trying to put a lot of pressure on our local government to start a clean needle exchange, to like figure out some

medical services for people just a very simple clean needle exchange and um we they put together we had like a couple little potlucks story circles and then they put together a play called needle work which the poster for it was like someone um crochet or cross-stitching so it wasn't as spooky to come out to a play called needlework that's like a cross stitch we call that a bait-and-switch That's exactly what we did. Winthrop, look at this poster. Let's go see this nice crochet. Is it a musical?

It was indeed a musical. Do you all have any questions for me while I'm here amongst you? Well, I was hoping I'd get to just introduce you as Megan's husband. That was my plan. Let's do your intro now, and you can cut it up front. No, it's okay. There's nothing I'd rather be called than Mr. Mullally. Yeah.

I mean, if you have a better moniker, I'd like to hear it. No, that's it. When I became Mr. Mullally, I said, by God, I've made it far above my wildest dreams. Leveled up. It's a gig I'd like to hang on to. Yeah. Well, I saw you recently, just the first round on the new Will & Grace. And I was surprised y'all didn't have a scene together.

We did at the very end. Apparently I missed it. Well, you were in there a couple. I was at my mom's kitchen at live. Did you fall asleep? Well, you were on a couple episodes, right? Well, I was on one in like 2003. Oh, I see.

I played a plumber, which is appropriate. And then this time around, they cast me as an attractive person which is why it's a successful comedy and we do have I mean it's the final joke of the show is an exchange that we have

oh I missed it somehow it's quite funny wasn't the people that did Will and Grace the ones that worked with Johnny over in Vico? Yeah, we damn near got our own sitcom. Yeah, reality TV. Yeah. It was going to be a reality TV.

Yeah, I think it was reality. Yeah, a reality show. This isn't Friends of Cole. No. The producers of Will & Grace. This is how the folklore goes. You're the first person I've shopped for friends of Coles That's all yours if you want it

Yeah you have it I'm still listening But just up the road In Perry County The smallest municipality in the country With a fairness ordinance Is there and the mayor of that town Is an openly gay hairdresser.

And his shop and the city hall are kind of right on the same little strip. And so he's constantly just running back and forth in his apron. It's, you know, it's very cute. That's a good show. Yeah. And they, he tried to work with them to figure it out. And he got them to pay for a full park before they before he kicked them out of town that's what you got to do with these tv people yeah i got some projects for you guys before you

leave this is uh this is a different category we're not on an nbc budget here but i mean if you have like a loose hinge or something i'll fix that right oh there's enough of those in this building. For sure. I'm terrific with a light bulb. That's not a euphemism. Is it like a weed trick like earlier? No, no.

I'm talking straight up. Just with a straight up. Illumination. Nice. Nice. So, nice. So yeah. I forgot the original question. Do we have questions?

Oh. I guess I do, but it's like, why are you here? Are we, like sort of big picture, is like humanity, are we fucked or no? Is there hope? Sure clearly you have some bit of idealism. Hang on mushrooms are kicking in I Gosh I love that question, you know, I was raised Catholic Nice no, sir. I'm waiting for my A camera

To get into position Wow I was raised Catholic I'm glad you asked that Terrence I was raised Catholic And that didn't work for me I was the head of the altar boys And I read the readings from the gospel And I dig

I dig religion in general. I think that we need our myths. We need our stories. Wherever you go, people have them, whether they go to church or not. Otherwise, we'll go crazy and kill our children. And that's to be avoided in most cases. In most cases, as I was going to say, there's an asterisk. Yeah. And so, I mean, I'm really glad that my nature led me to be an artist because I'm always maintaining the attitude of a student to sort of answer that question but with all of the incredible vitriol that's being tossed

around our country in our world today I'm grateful it always leaves me shaking my head you know I get into loud arguments with my my best friend about you know whatever injustice has been done today and we never come up with any solutions because we're human beings and these things are complicated it's never a black and white answer and we always he's an artist and we always say well let's you know let's just keep trying to make things with a message of love and uh and affection which is a wendell Berry says, it all turns on affection. We'll never know.

When people argue religion with me, I say, just don't forget that every religion was written by us. They're stories that we wrote because we need them. We'll never know why did we weird mammals get opposable thumbs and consciousness i can't imagine anyone's ever going to answer that question but here we are i was going to say we we build ourselves as being able to answer that question that's our whole brand so it is but you know that's everything we make no matter how cool and astonishing it is, now, you know, in another week, we're like, oh, time to update your operating system. That's right. Next year, now that invention's garbage.

Yeah. You know, I invested heavily in Betamax technology. I would have made it way earlier. Well, you could, I'm watching this show on Netflix about the Unabomber. He had a few things to say about technology. No? You guys aren't on the same page as me? No.

The Unabomber? Okay. No, other than that, you called him a snack earlier on our text message. I did say he was. I was like, are you on up first? I did say he could get it. I'm trying to bit out on the group text. I did say he was. I was like, are you on up first? I did say he could get it. We're all trying to try to bit out on the group text. I did say he could get it.

Oh. He moved you in a visceral way. Yeah, he did. I mean, and that's beautiful about us. We have philosophy, but we're also animals. Right. That, you know. Yeah.

It will forever be a conundrum. We'll always be human beings, which means we'll always be screwing up. Right. And then we always get to, we don't go to a basketball game because anybody's ever going to play the perfect game. We go to see how well they can try. Right. And that's something I think is, that's beautiful because I always make mistakes. And when I do, I say, I hope that mistake was beautiful because then maybe I can get

another job. But it's important, you know, we're all fallible. We're all, you know, trying to find our ass with both hands. And I think that that notion would do us a lot of good in the statehouse and in the White House. Like, hang on. Can't we all just can't we all be honest here for a second? We all know, like it's on paper that the NRA bought your seat. You know, big pharma bought your seat and so on. Why are the people making our medicine in the goddamn White House paying people to give them the legislation they want so they can make as much money as possible making our medicine?

Right. I mean, it's medicine, you guys. Yeah. Like, go ahead. Make shiny running shoes like go nuts charge all you want for those but our our grandma's pills you know right that's that's that's the kind of common sense i'd like to see more of um which is a product of the my mushrooms are just kicking in. But I love you guys and I think

I love the way that the veins in my hand are the same as a sycamore leaf. And that's the same as a river delta if you look at it on Google Earth. I was thinking the same. Think about it.

Oh yeah. I was looking at it. I'm thinking, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm going to go home and watch me some Unabomber. Yeah. Yeah. I've got one convert. I'm with you, man.

Oh, jeez. Now, if I rolled into town and hit you guys up and said, what should I go eat? What would you tell me to go eat? It would depend on the day and the time. Yeah.

But are we talking right now or tomorrow? I don't know. Because you've got to go to Joe Pack's Chicken and ice them. Joe Pack's Chicken. I have to. Tomorrow, yeah. Yeah. Is that a fried chicken joint?

Fried chicken. It's fucking great. All right. Highly recommend it. And what else? What are the sides? You can get coleslaw, you can get potato salad, I think. They actually gave you a loaf of bread,

like Betsy Ross, like the whole loaf. Oh yeah. As far as you can get in the grocery store. Was Betsy Ross known for giving out baked goods? I guess that's right. Her lesser known. Her lesser known. Her lesser known. Her side project. She didn't just sit around.

I mean, she only had to sew that flag one time. Yeah, I bet. When you think of it, it's not like she was a flag sewer. She's got to stay at a job somewhere. There's Kentucky beef burgers at this place called Thirsty Heifer. You get a beer and a burger there. Thirsty Heifer, You can get a beer and a burger there. Thirsty Heifer. Copy that.

Pretty good. I believe they also have alcoholic beverages. Yeah. They do. Burger and a beer there. That's all I need to know. That's three meals. Yeah.

Chicken, burger, chicken. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm very grateful to you for having me And for what you're doing More importantly Thanks for being patient with me And keep up the good work

I'm a fan of the workers party Oh great And we're not Trumpy Was that what it was? Not super Trumpy There we go I'm a fan of the workers party They're not super Trumpy. Not super Trumpy. There we go. I'm a fan of the Workers Party. They're not super Trumpy.

That's a blurb from Nick Goff. That's going to go on Twitter right now. Putting it on the Patreon. I'll back it up. Man, you're worse. We'll tweet at you later. We shot it on a TV show. Yeah, you're right.

They're our cameras here. We're locked in. Well, you said this was your first time here. Would you ever come back and visit? I hope to, yeah. I'd They're our cameras here. We're locked in. Yeah. Well, you said this was your first time here. Would you ever come back and visit? I hope to, yeah. I'd love it. Bring Megan. I've been all over a lot of Kentucky,

but I'd never been to this part of eastern Kentucky. And I've been saying this all day. It's so beautiful here. You could cut out any hundred acres and then take it to where I come from in central Illinois, and it would be our dopest state park. You guys want to go over to Kentucky Park? Look at these.

I mean, it's just astonishing. It's all super dreamy to me. Yeah. We'll come back. And, yes, I will try to bring Megan. She sometimes loves to be with me and then sometimes I am very gassy and she says why don't you go do one of your projects don't you have something today I'll try and time it out i think right yeah well joe pax will definitely not help

you there well it's going to give you some gas but uh it'll be worth it we'll strategize around it for sure in fact we'll send here put megan on the podcast while i go get chicken yeah that'd be great perfect and they'll just walk back work it it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's smart. Apologies in advance to the neighborhood for whenever that goes down. Yeah. Yeah, definitely come be on the podcast when you come back through. Bring Megan. You're actually not our first L.A.-based comedian to be on the show in the flesh.

Yeah. How about that? I'm not surprised. Who beat me out? Brandyy posey do you know her have you heard of her no but that's that's uh that i'm very ignorant to most cool things so it probably means she's the greatest yeah she did stand up here in the theater and she was on the show with us you heard it here first you have a theater here yeah how many how many seats 150 actually we just did a remodel

and a six-year-old counted and said there's 149 seats in here so it's really nice yeah we'd love to do a show with you here well i'm negotiating with travis over at the uh what's that place called the benham inn oh yeah yeah. Used to be a high school. I love the schoolhouse, and it's haunted. Did they tell you all the stories about it? It's haunted, for sure. I only heard that it was haunted, but I will, since we're buzz marketing here,

had an amazing meal. They have a restaurant called The Lunch Bucket. They do a real nice job, and they were actually in the middle of a remodel, and I thought it looked, I've never seen an old, cool high school that you can now sleep in. And it's not for everybody, just for the fun and awesome. Yeah.

Well, did your, what I love is that the room numbers coordinate with a graduation year from that school. And then they have the graduating class picture on the door. Was yours like that? They don't have them all. They would not let me go upstairs. You weren't allowed upstairs? No, I think they looked

me up on YouTube. Oh, the upstairs wasn't as nice? No, they wouldn't let me go up there for real. It's haunted. Well, that's what's haunted is up there.

They were probably afraid something bad would happen. You come back, we'll go with it. We should go and do an episode from there. We should exercise that shit. The lockers are still up there. That's what's fucking haunted. Yeah, we'll go with it. We should go and do an episode from there. We should exercise that shit. The lockers are still up there.

That's what's fucking common. Yeah, Ghost Hunters with Nick Offerman and the Trill Buildings. Ghost Hunting, yeah. They also have a room where I might come play some songs.

So we could do a... The gymnasium. I'll hit them one night and then swing through here. We'd love that. The Moth is going to be here in May. Damn, that's... The whole podcast is coming? Yeah, that is going to be here in May. Damn, that's a real...

The whole podcast is coming? Yeah, that's going to be this... I probably am not allowed to say it or I don't know what their deal is, but it's going to be... Busted. Yeah, busted. It's the smallest venue

they've ever done. That's really cool. I love that podcast. Yeah. I even have their books. Oh, nice. Well, perfect opportunity to come back. Alright, everyone listen to this podcast,

tell your dad. Check out The Moth, coming soon. And if you haven't scoped Brandy Posen's comedy on the computer world, check it out. Brandy Posey. Posey. I'm talking about Brandy Posey's friend, Brandy Posey. Brandy Posey I'm talking about Brandy Posey's Friend Brandy Posey They're both excellent

And funny Coming soon to the Offerman workshop Well thanks for joining us Nick Thanks so much My pleasure I have no slogan otherwise Go Trillbillies That's good enough

Keep it tight Alright well that's a wrap