WEBVTT
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Hey, folks, you're listening to Andrew Schuer, arts and culture
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reporter for USA Today, and I'm here with my friend
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Enrique Kuto, and today we're going to be talking about
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his show Weekly Spooky. Welcome, Enrique, Thank you.
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I guess it's technically my show, but I like being
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welcomed anyway.
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You know what I'm do.
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You know the treat yourself my friend. So throughout October,
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if I'm not mistaken, you released an episode a day
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of this show.
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Right, yes, sir, And it ended up it ended up
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being I'm always I'm the consummate overachiever. So there were
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actually thirty two releases in thirty one days because I
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ended up having one extra, like I bake too many cookies.
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So there was one day that we dropped two shows
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in that single day.
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I hear you, well, I'm a FAMILYSS show in addition
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to being a friend of yours. But as is the
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case throughout the time that you've been doing this, and
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even when you would send me screenplays or new movies
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that you've made, You're like, can you check this out?
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And I'm like, what do I always say?
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Not at night?
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Yeah? No, I mean I'm I can't tell you how
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many times. I mean, I just finished recording are we
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just as of us recording this? We just released episode
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three hundred and sixty five of the main Weekly Spooky show,
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and I still I record them in a dark room,
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just me, a microphone and a computer screen.
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And.
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The goal is really to creep myself out. It's not
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even a side effect. I'm I try to sit alone
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in the room and like, because you know, you hear
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yourself in the headphones everything. I'm trying to like work
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myself up the way I would work a single person
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sitting in front of me in a dark room up
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if I was trying to scare them.
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Okay, That's that's.
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What I try to go for, although you know it,
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some days it translates different. I mean, you know, we
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have so many different kinds of stories that it's hard
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to really do that exact thing every time. Some of
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them are very conversational, some of them are very third
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person stuff like that.
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Well, so yeah, I'm familiar with all the different ones
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because I, of course am a subscriber to the show.
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But I wanted to before we go into this interview,
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as far as it relates directly to Weekly Spooky I
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want to ask you, how close are you to the
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twentieth anniversary of your podcasting career?
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Oh my gosh, that is that would probably be next year, okay,
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because that was my memory that the first time I
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had even I had heard of podcasting, that I just
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thought it was something you needed an iPod for.
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But you were the first person I knew that was
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actually doing it. Can you just kind of talk about
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like what it was like in the beginning, Sure, this
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is kind of how it's changed for you now and
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what's made you stay with it.
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It's funny because I had a podcast and was listening
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to podcasts so early in the cycle. I think the
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first podcast I downloaded it was probably two thousand and five,
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and I believe podcasts started No. Four and back then
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you couldn't click subscribe. You had to go to a
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web page, copy an XML file or which is an
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RSS feed file. You had to copy it and paste
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it into like a drop down in iTunes, and RSS
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feeds were invented for news gathering. RSS feeds would be
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what would feed like a aggregate blog or something like that,
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So you'd go to some news website and it would
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keep updating every time a story was published. And that
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was what made this really special for podcasting was it
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was like, okay, it's a on demand internet radio show,
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but it updates itself into your listening you know environment,
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so you know, you'd hit subscribe and then you'd know
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that like when you woke up in the morning, the
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new one would be waiting for you. And back then
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when iPods were becoming all the rage, if you had
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it synced directly to your iPod, then that meant that
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every day, when you took your iPod, unplugged it from
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your computer and headed out for your day, all of
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your podcasts would already be loaded and ready for you
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to listen to. It took a lot of effort to
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get to that point. You had to have an iPod,
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which were pretty expensive early on, and also just the
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technology was so new it weirded people out. You had
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to have iTunes and be a power user of iTunes
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in order to I remember the day it was in
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two thousand and six when they introduced a button that
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if you clicked it or a link, and if you
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clicked it, it would open up your iTunes and subscribe
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them like all in one go. And how insane that
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was because before we were having to share like wiki
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how articles like subscribe to my podcast. So I had
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started a podcast in like yeah, early two thousand and
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six called The Freak Forum, and it was just a
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you know, just a running my mouth podcast, and I
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mean I had a lot of fun with it. I
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did over one hundred episodes of it, and I try
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I had dabbled in live streaming. I dabbled in all
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those things, which is funny because like that stuff caught
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on like three or four years later, like really caught on.
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So it's funny when you said, because like to me,
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I was hardcore into podcasting for about three years and
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then I took a pretty long sabbatical of just kind
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of like you know, being near and around podcasting. I
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had had a lot of friends start podcasts kind of
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with my guidance or help or whatever, including yourself obviously,
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so there was always like an air of podcasting around.
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And I had also become obsessed with and I've always been.
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But I know you have two with with you know,
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literal storytelling, because my main job is you know, visual
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storytelling movies, et cetera, television shows. But I've always loved
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the spoken word storytelling thing. It's just I've always thought
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that that was the coolest thing. I remember being in
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my early twenties and a lot of my friends in
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that age range being like, you really want to just
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like shut off all the lights in this hotel room
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and tell scary stories? And I was like, yes, why not?
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What could be cooler? You know? It turned out a
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lot of things according to them, but but you know,
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that was something I'd always loved. And then in I
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think it was twenty ten or eleven, when I was
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like dipping my toe into a lot of musical stuff,
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I did a CD called Don't Listen in the Dark,
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and it had four very short scary stories. I think
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they reached like eight minutes long that I had written,
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and the first one had a cover of Monster Mash
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on it. It was just like a fun, silly thing
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for Halloween time, and I did that. I did another
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one the next year, and it was really fun. I
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remember enjoying the hell out of the experience of recording
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these little audio books. And I'd always been told like
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I had a voice for audio books, so gosh. Then
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like a few more years ago, well that was like
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a year or two go by, and I got contacted
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by this guy named Greg I believe it's Craig koshek
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is how you say his name, and he is the
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founder of actually one of the biggest horror podcasts there is,
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which is called Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. And at
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the time he was starting out as a YouTube channel
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and he had heard one of my narrations and literally
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just said like, hey, if I send you an ed
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garlid post story, will you just will you read it
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and let me put it on my channel. I said, okay,
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So he took it and like put music to it
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and all this stuff, and it was really it sounded awesome.
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We did a couple more like that. I know Craig
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is a very busy guy, but I'm still I'm a
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little salty. He never really answers my emails. Like when
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I launched Weekly Spooky, I was like, we should do
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some kind of cross promotions since I was like one
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of like the first six narrators you used, and he
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was just kind of like yeah, and then didn't really
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get back to me, because I mean he's like literally
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one of the like maybe in the top ten in
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this in this genre. Is his podcast? Well right now, well, yeah,
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he's he's been up there for a good while. But
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I mean, there, I just did the podcast. Ecosystem is
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something I'm still kind of learning about. I've started to
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make more friends in that space. Darren Marlar from Weird Darkness,
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which is a really awesome daily podcast. He's like the
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nicest human being in the world, and he would with
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with zero you know, consternation, be like, I would be
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happy to promote your show. You know, he was the
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nicest dude, still is. But anyway, so a few more
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years go by, and then I had been and I'm
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sure you remember me talking about it forever. I'd been like,
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I just want to do a podcast, but it has
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to be sustainable, Yeah, because doing like the Freak Forum,
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it was it was tough, especially like, you know, I
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was working a job. I was very young, so it
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was very like I didn't really have that much to
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say just yet. I had some stuff to say, but
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like I wasn't there yet, and the big problem was
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I couldn't find someone to bounce off of consistently. And
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then it hit me like a sack of bricks. I
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was like, what if it was a scary story podcast?
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Because I loved the idea of reading scary stories so much,
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and I, through the help of several friends, authors and such,
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I could find enough stories to publish one a week.
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So that was like the Eureka but also dumb moment
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of like, oh, I should do that. And the craziest
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thing about Weekly Spooky's launch was that I think I
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came up with that idea in July or August and
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it launched on Halloween Day like from there. So we
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pulled it together really really fast, and a lot of
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that was myself and my producer, Dan Wilder on the show. Dan,
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especially in the first like two years, he was scouring
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the internet for authors that would want to be involved.
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He was also writing stories for the show, so he
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was very instrumental in getting the show to really happen.
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And there were a few weeks every now and then
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where I was sweating because I was like, uh, we
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need a story and it's Monday, and like, we publish
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on Wednesday.
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So what year was that, man?
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That was twenty nineteen. Okay, Yeah, it feels weird because
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starting in the second half of the year, I keep
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feeling like it started twenty twenty, but in reality, it started,
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you know, four months out or whatever, So three months out.
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So but yeah, so that was like the big Eureka
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moment of like, I love podcasting. I've been an avid
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podcast listener for forever, it feels like, and I wanted
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to come up with something I could consistently, you know,
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be proud of and feel like delivers a ton of
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value to the listener as long as they're a total
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you know, spooky nerd just like me.
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Yeah, well, now you've got you said, three hundred and
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sixty five episodes, and that's of the main show, the
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main show. So what's like the most popular episode?
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Man, that's that's hard. That's really hard to uh to
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gather and I'll tell you why because the the performance
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metrics reset after two years.
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Ah okay, So is there one that you just maybe
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got a lot of feedback on most more so than
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others or.
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Yeah, there were a couple of favorites, uh, personal favorites.
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That's tough because you know that's like making your favorite child,
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which like obviously you have one, but you're not supposed
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to say no, no, but no. Ones that have stuck
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out a ton were stories like Charles Campbell's first I
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think it was his first story on our podcast feed
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Charles Campbell, great author based out of South Carolina. He
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did a story called Pumpkin Spice and Nothing Nice and
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that I want to say that was either twenty twenty
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one or two. I think it was twenty twenty one's
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Halloween season. We started with Pumpkin Spice and Nothing Nice.
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And I got so much feedback about that, so many
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people saying that was their first episode they ever heard,
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and then they got really into the show because it
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published like on the twenty ninth of September, right when
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the Halloween you know, flood of listenership was coming to
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Weekly Spooky and I was still at that point learning
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how to kind of harness that that massive audience shift.
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That's what I hear about all the time. Oh No,
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that's just that's the one I've heard about a lot.
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I get a lot about Rob Field's stories because they're
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they're kind of a disparate universe where they're all, you know,
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kind of in the same world. A lot of people
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talk a lot about the Angel of Death character Reagan
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Devereaux from from the earlier Strickfield stories. That's another one
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that I hear a lot of people saying, like we
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want more rage. We want more rage, and we're gonna
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give you a little more rage. We we wrapped her
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storyline up for the most part, but every now and
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then she pops back up for a minute.
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So you mentioned a couple of people's names. I wanted
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to make sure that I that I touched on this
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because you don't like write every single episode. You've got
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a few different authors, and because you know someone will
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look at this podcast and hear your voice and might
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wrongly assume like he's responsible for all of this content.
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Which would be incredible if I could, if I could
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write that consistently and that diversely. I try. I try
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to spotlight the authors as much as I can. We
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you know, we traditionally start every story with you know,
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the title and buy and their name to try to
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like make sure that comes across. And and my favorite
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thing about this show is that we have so many
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interesting authors that have so many different styles. They're so
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different from each other, and you can really tune in
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one week and maybe not love the episode, and the
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next week be totally engrossed with it because you you know,
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one week you could have a horror comedy. The next
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week you'd have body horror. The next week after that,
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you could have a taught thriller. The week after that,
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you could have something that's appropriate for kids. It bounces
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a ton because Spooky is a very broad spectrum. Yeah,
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but as far as you know the authors go. I mean,
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our first story ever was Mischief Night by Shane Migley Avaka,
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and Shane is a writer in upstate New York who
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I love his work so much, and he's written every
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story we've aired on Halloween Day since that first year.
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Are these curated by you or is there a way
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to submit?
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So we do take submissions. It's one of those things
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I should really plug it a little bit more because
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we've had a few incredible submissions, including one of my
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favorites was a writer who wrote in and said, I
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don't listen to your podcast, but my wife does, and
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if you could read my story and if you like it,
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read it on your show, it would really like blow
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her mind. And we ended up doing that and I
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give a little shout out to his wife at the
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beginning of it. It was a good story. But yeah,
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we accept submissions at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com.
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The way it generally works is you send a story
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in I read it, producer Dan reads it, and if
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we both like it, then it goes on the air.
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And once you've had a couple of stories past scrutiny
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with Dan and I, you kind of end up in
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the inner circle to where really just send a story
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and it'll air like eventually. And we have a you know,
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a big crowdy of Rob Fields, Shanemglivaka, Joe Solmo, Charles Campbell,
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David O'Hanlon, who wrote the Babysitter Massacre novelizations you know ed,
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Dan Wilder of course, and a bunch more authors that
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I'm I will always forget somebody, but we have a
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lot of Bruce Haney who's started writing like a ton
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of really interesting stuff. And Bruce Haney started out as
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a listener who was a nonfiction writer, and he submitted
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some fiction that he had never really gotten a chance to,
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you know, submit anywhere before. So we definitely love getting submissions.
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We love taking a look and potentially featuring it on
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the show. Also, something I didn't realize until doing this
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podcast is authors have like no venue for short stories.
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There's like nowhere other than just like dumping it on a.
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Blog, Huh.
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That's what I've always been told because so many of
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these authors, when they'd start submitting lots and lots of stuff,
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I would just be like, wow, that's a lot of stuff.
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They're like, well, you know, this ended up in some
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compilation nobody bought, or this ended up, you know, on
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my website, and I don't think anybody's ever seen it.
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Because it's easier to market a book than it is
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to get people to read a short story. So a
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lot of authors were like thankful for a place to
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get their short stories heard and have an audience kind
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of developed from it, which is something I was not
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prepared for. I did not expect that to be a
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byproduct of doing the show.
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Wow, that's wild.
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When I was an avid fiction reader, I always enjoyed
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and preferred magazines full of short stories and short story
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compilation books and anthologies to like straight up novels. And
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that really kind of leads into my next question, which is,
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you know your podcast isn't just these spooky stories. You've
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also got a few other type of episodes that are
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in here, and I was wondering if you can kind
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of talk about when you started to do those and
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why I'm a I'm a big fan of the terrifying
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and true.
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Is that what it's called the Yeah? Yeah, Because I'm
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not a.
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True crime person, but I do want to hear you
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talk about these famous stories, and so I listened to
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those as well. But also, you know you've also got
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the well talk about some of the other shows. Sure.
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Sure, So what happened was? I think it was? I
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want to say it was in twenty twenty two, we
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had our biggest Halloween season ever and it was insane.
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I mean the amount of listenership. I think it went
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up by like fifteen or twenty times what it normally was,
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and then it didn't drop all the way back down.
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We had a lot of people hang out and I
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had just at that point partnered with iHeartMedia because that's
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how the show is supported. The show is entirely ad supported.
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We have a Patreon for bonus episodes and stuff, but
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overall it's advertising that drives the show. Whenever anybody says, like,
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you know, there's too many ads, it's like, I don't
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know what to tell you. It's either that or there's
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no show. Like I can either give you a free
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audiobook or I cannot because you know, we've done shows
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where like it's a three hour free audiobook, so either
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there's gonna be commercials or it's just not going to exist.
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But when that happened, it started to make the show
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a bit more viable, but also it became a machine
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where the people downloading were hungry for more content. So
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the first show I dip my toe in was was
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Terrifying and True, which is true crime and folklore and
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urban legends, which I'm not the biggest true crime person
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in the world, although I do find them fascinating, but
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I am a just obsessive folklore and urban legends person,
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and that's been one of the most fun elements of
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that show has been doing these pieces that dive super,
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super meticulously deep into things like Resurrection Mary in Chicago
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or the Maurice Celeste Ship where everybody vanished. I mean,
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we've done a little over I think we've done one
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hundred and fifteen episodes of Terrifying and True. Now, yeah,
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I've I've.
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You know, I'm more of a consider because I'm a
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writer of nonfiction, so I've been more of a nonfiction
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reader in my adult life. But I have to say
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even some of those episodes have and The Weekly Spooky.
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When it started, I was like, Henrique, I loved this show,
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but man, I am agatting creeped out, Like I'm really
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susceptible to the like campfire story kind of thing. Even
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though it was a Friday thirteenth two that starts outing
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about Jason. That is the scariest scene to me in
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any of those movies. It's just I am creeped out
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by that and the Terrifying and True. I'm like, it's like,
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I'm curious. I'm curious, but I can't listen to these
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at night because you still read them in that same
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the Weekly Spooky.
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Police and anything.
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Yes, it's good, but folks.
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Who are listening this is being recorded at like noon.
388
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Yes for that, but uh, I wanted to ask click
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who does the research and the writing for for those episodes,
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because you also have a new feature that you did
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00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.799
that you're doing uh this week in Horror right.
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00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.440
Yeah, Uh, we have freelancers that do Terrifying and True
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because that's a lot less I guess the best way
394
00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:42.799
to put it would be it's a lot more technical
395
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and a lot less fun than fiction. So nobody's pounding
396
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down the door to you know, research and write. But
397
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what's what's talking.
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About my my entire career with.
399
00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:56.759
Well you get yeah, and you don't do it for free, right,
400
00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:02.279
absolutely not. But with Terrifying and True. The thing that's
401
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:07.480
really benefited the show is as the technology has grown,
402
00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:10.559
you can now do a lot of the research very
403
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:15.599
efficiently and quickly using chat ept and Google, Gemini and
404
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:18.960
things like that. So it's gotten to a point where
405
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:22.599
it costs way less money to create a much longer program.
406
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.240
That's why a lot of the episodes now are in
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00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:30.559
the forty minute range. Is the cost per word to
408
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:35.400
get these research pieces done has dropped a ton, so
409
00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:38.640
so a lot of that is done through yeah, research freelancers,
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00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:44.640
and just the technological advancements have helped a ton. So
411
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that's for the most part how we're able to pop
412
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out so many terrifying and truths. And with with this
413
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Week in Horror History, which I just just launched this week,
414
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that one is just hell of fun and it really
415
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.440
is as simple as like the research for that can
416
00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:06.279
be done in a matter of minutes. Now I can
417
00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:12.079
I can do a a annotated chatchy BT scrape of
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the Internet of like you know, what things in horror
419
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happened November third through ninth, and it'll give me a
420
00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:19.880
bunch and I can kind of punch through it and
421
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dig around and and try to, you know, find the
422
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.920
gold in there. So and it used to be that
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that would have been super hard, you know, it would
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have been very very hard to pull together. And now
425
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it's it's bizarrely simple, and I'm hoping people like that show.
426
00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:38.759
That's what I'm experimenting with. It's it's very different from
427
00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:42.319
it's it's you know, it's not as different from it's
428
00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:44.640
like I'm trying thing the words. It's like a merge
429
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between what I'm doing with Cutting Deep into Horror, the
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movie review show, and Monthly Spooky, which is like the
431
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month end talk show. But it kind of combines those
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with like terrifying and true because I have a script
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and I have information I'm getting across. But I tried
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to be a little bit more in the moment and
435
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have fun with it because I'm talking about old horror
436
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.480
movies and TV shows and I generally have an opinion
437
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about all of those and a lot of nerding out
438
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to do as well. Well.
439
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:16.559
That was something that I just wanted to personally ask
440
00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:19.960
about first, I want to say that more than anything
441
00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:25.000
that you've created for Weekly Spooky, it is that show,
442
00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:27.319
the one that debuted this week.
443
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:28.839
Say the name of it again.
444
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.240
This week in horror history industry.
445
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.359
Okay, that one has has like that is like seems
446
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:39.799
like tailored for me because I am, like, I love trivia,
447
00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:44.240
and things like trivia will spark me to like I
448
00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:46.960
texted you after I had listened to it, I went
449
00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.960
and rewatched The Prowler, and when I was listening to
450
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your description of it, I was in the car, which
451
00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.599
is mostly where I listened to it. I I you
452
00:24:57.640 --> 00:24:59.599
even like I was thinking about it, going like, okay,
453
00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:02.759
I know that Tom Savini was a combat fittigrapher and
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it formed his ability to represent really like anatomically correct
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00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:10.599
gore on screen, and that was kind of the hallmark
456
00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.559
of one of the things.
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That made him very unique.
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And then like maybe a beat or two later there
459
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:20.359
you mention it, you know, and I was like, that's it.
460
00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:23.480
I'm watching the Prowler, you know, so if you want
461
00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:26.079
to know how it goes over for just somebody like me,
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00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:28.759
that's the perfect combination right there.
463
00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:31.759
I'm hopeful that it'll be I mean, it's a really
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fun show to do and to get into the nuts
465
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and bolts. It's so helpful that it can be recorded
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ahead because you know, the Week in Horror History doesn't
467
00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:48.200
change like the calendars set, so I can very easily
468
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:51.799
sit down and record a month's worth of them in
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one go if necessary, so that I can have a life.
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Because with the introduction of this Week in Horror History,
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Weekly Spooky is now publishing an average of five days
472
00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:07.200
a week. Yeah, so that's almost going to be Daily
473
00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:11.759
Spooky by by podcasting standards, it is daily once you
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00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:15.000
break four, once you're beyond four episodes a week considered daily.
475
00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:21.400
And that's been a really a cool experience. I mean,
476
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I love publishing all the time. I love the fact
477
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.519
that the audience can come and go as they please.
478
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They know that if they come on Wednesday, they get
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00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:30.720
a scary story. They know if they come on Friday
480
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they're going to get a surprise. It could be cutting
481
00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:35.720
deep into a horror episode about a movie. It could
482
00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:38.119
be a compilation of some of the best you know,
483
00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.440
scary stories. That's been something that's been super fun to do.
484
00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.079
By the way, is doing like the you know seven
485
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:49.359
Stories of Ghostly Murder or you know, five Tales of
486
00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:53.400
Dastardly Drinks. Because we have, you know, over three hundred
487
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:57.640
episodes to choose from, we can put these little compilations together.
488
00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:00.079
And I had wondered when we first started doing the
489
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:02.640
compilations if people will be like, oh, these are just
490
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:05.720
reruns and all the comments are positive. They're either people
491
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:07.599
who'd never heard the show. Where people are like, man,
492
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:09.519
it's been so long since I heard that one. It
493
00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:11.599
was cool to hear it again, and I'm like, good,
494
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:16.559
I'm glad you're enjoying it. And then Sundays are unknown
495
00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.680
broadcast and I don't know what the hell's going on
496
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.359
with that. I'm gonna stay in character on that one.
497
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:24.519
Speaking of character, I have to ask when did you
498
00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.759
find this voice? Because I know you personally, and I
499
00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:32.680
think people that have followed you, you know, as a podcaster,
500
00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:36.400
you know, you were like, you're pretty much you. But
501
00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.920
for for the Spook, the purposes of Weekly Spooky and
502
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:43.400
these other shows too, for this Week in Horror History,
503
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:45.680
it's a lot more You're a lot more loose with it,
504
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.240
and there's a little bit more of your personality in there.
505
00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:51.359
But yeah, I wanted.
506
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:55.960
I wanted to know when you found the voice, because
507
00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:59.160
it's a little Shatner, but not like it's like spooky Shatner.
508
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:00.119
How do you like?
509
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:01.680
How long did it take you to come up with
510
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:02.440
that cadence?
511
00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:09.920
Very long actually, probably three years to kind of find
512
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:15.920
a tone that was consistent. The problem is, I'm a51300:28:16.319 --> 00:28:20.880
by nature a very fast talker and a very fast reader.51400:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.119
If I sit down and actually do it, r like51500:28:24.359 --> 00:28:26.880
the challenge with reading. Imagine that to find out I51600:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.480
of adhd You know, twenty years later, I could never51700:28:29.519 --> 00:28:31.240
sit down and read to save my life. That was51800:28:31.240 --> 00:28:34.000
actually one of the funniest things about doing weekly Spooky51900:28:34.039 --> 00:28:35.319
is it was like, oh, I'll have to sit down52000:28:35.359 --> 00:28:38.599
and read every week. Whoo. That's a dream that I52100:28:38.640 --> 00:28:42.440
have failed to accomplish for a long time. But but52200:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.960
like what happened was the more I worked on it,52300:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.640
the more I would notice, like when I would flob52400:28:48.640 --> 00:28:53.039
a line it was because I was rushing. And the52500:28:53.079 --> 00:28:54.480
more I would work on it and work on it,52600:28:54.519 --> 00:28:57.559
the more I would realize, like, I need a consistent52700:28:57.920 --> 00:29:03.240
cadence that allows me the time to prepare to pronounce52800:29:03.400 --> 00:29:06.319
the word ahead of me. That kind of thing and52900:29:06.359 --> 00:29:08.960
then and then from there also like the more I53000:29:08.960 --> 00:29:13.200
would listen back to them, like on Weekly Spooky. It53100:29:13.240 --> 00:29:14.960
really depends on the story, you know, if it's a53200:29:15.079 --> 00:29:19.079
if it's a first person narrative, unless the main character53300:29:19.160 --> 00:29:22.279
is particularly devious, i'm gonna be talking somewhat like this,53400:29:22.599 --> 00:29:25.519
maybe a little bit uh, you know, more dulcet, a53500:29:25.519 --> 00:29:28.319
little bit calmer to make it soothing, because I know53600:29:28.359 --> 00:29:30.519
that a lot of people listen to talk to relax.53700:29:31.480 --> 00:29:34.799
Yeah, occasionally, you know, well one of the fiction ones, definitely,53800:29:34.839 --> 00:29:38.319
you'll occasionally throw in some some like emphasis with the53900:29:38.319 --> 00:29:39.440
person's voice if it's.54000:29:39.319 --> 00:29:42.000
Oh yes, and characters are always fun too, you know,54100:29:42.440 --> 00:29:46.240
things like that. But then if it's a third person story,54200:29:46.680 --> 00:29:49.599
I'm going to lean more into the up close to54300:29:49.680 --> 00:29:54.000
the microphone. And then he opened the door and what54400:29:54.119 --> 00:29:57.599
he saw he wished never you know, like that kind54500:29:57.599 --> 00:29:57.839
of thing.54600:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.000
Yeah, I can imagine with a flashlight on your Oh yeah,54700:30:00.000 --> 00:30:01.559
that's the goal.54800:30:01.599 --> 00:30:04.759
And with terrifying and true that's most of the cadence54900:30:04.799 --> 00:30:08.279
for that, because that's what I mean, I'm reading information55000:30:08.960 --> 00:30:12.039
that is creepy. So it's a lot of that nice55100:30:12.559 --> 00:30:16.480
slow delivery to make sure you catch everything, and that55200:30:16.599 --> 00:30:21.039
I don't stumble over my words. So but it took55300:30:21.079 --> 00:30:23.759
me a really long time and I still struggle with it.55400:30:23.839 --> 00:30:27.160
The worst is when I have a crazy deadline, which55500:30:27.200 --> 00:30:30.000
I had an entire month of crazy deadlines, and this55600:30:30.079 --> 00:30:33.480
month is going to be Okay, it's November, but December55700:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.240
is going to be crazy. I don't have account yet,55800:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.200
but it's probably gonna be twenty five shows in December.55900:30:39.759 --> 00:30:42.839
We have a ton of Christmas themed everything we have Christmas.56000:30:43.119 --> 00:30:46.240
We have a few Christmas theme terrifying and truths I'm56100:30:46.240 --> 00:30:51.440
really excited about, including the horrible truth behind a Victorian Christmas,56200:30:51.519 --> 00:30:55.000
about how like everything you celebrated Christmas with during the56300:30:55.079 --> 00:30:58.359
Victorian era would kill you, Like everything was made of56400:30:58.440 --> 00:31:02.720
lead or like DC current flowing through it and was56500:31:02.759 --> 00:31:06.440
on top of dry, brittle trees. It's a really, really56600:31:06.680 --> 00:31:11.119
fascinating deep dive. Oh I kill oh next week. I'm56700:31:11.119 --> 00:31:14.279
actually finishing it up right now. Next week we published56800:31:14.319 --> 00:31:18.359
The Dark the Dark Realities of the Pilgrims and the Indians.56900:31:18.880 --> 00:31:21.200
And it's not the one you're thinking of. You know,57000:31:21.240 --> 00:31:24.480
everybody thinks about everybody. Whenever people want to get they57100:31:24.480 --> 00:31:26.839
want to get all high and mighty about Thanksgiving and57200:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.480
the Pilgrims and the Indians. They start talking about the57300:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.079
massive Wars, but that was like sixty years later. That57400:31:32.240 --> 00:31:35.400
was not during the actual Pilgrims in Indian Indians time,57500:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.240
but the time period that the Pilgrims were at Plymouth57600:31:39.480 --> 00:31:43.200
and they were making peace treaties with the Indians. It57700:31:43.279 --> 00:31:48.319
was really really a terrifying time to be alive. The57800:31:48.319 --> 00:31:53.079
Wampanoagg people who had made a peace treaty with the Pilgrims,57900:31:53.359 --> 00:31:55.799
they had just been through an epidemic and lost nearly58000:31:55.920 --> 00:32:00.480
all of their tribe. They were desperate and scared, and58100:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.599
the Pilgrims had lost half of their people from the58200:32:02.640 --> 00:32:05.440
first winter when they landed on Plymouth. So it's it's58300:32:05.440 --> 00:32:09.039
a really cool, like different lens to look at history.58400:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.279
And that's been also keeping me very excited as reading58500:32:13.319 --> 00:32:17.720
these papers, you know, reading these research papers about all58600:32:17.720 --> 00:32:20.640
these things I don't know, like I love to learn,58700:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.000
So I love that that kind of thing.58800:32:22.319 --> 00:32:24.920
Yeah, I you know, you and I've been friends for58900:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.200
well last year we hit twenty years and have always59000:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.799
known you as like a skeptic and a bit of59100:32:30.839 --> 00:32:32.079
an almost contrarian.59200:32:32.440 --> 00:32:33.720
And then I listened to.59300:32:33.720 --> 00:32:36.640
These shows that you're doing, and I kind of like, man,59400:32:36.680 --> 00:32:40.160
I wish Enrique will break and just make an aside59500:32:40.160 --> 00:32:41.599
about some of this stuff.59600:32:41.319 --> 00:32:43.079
Like how how has this?59700:32:43.519 --> 00:32:46.720
Like how are you I guess juggling those two things59800:32:46.720 --> 00:32:48.559
because you've got you know, you've got the work that59900:32:48.599 --> 00:32:50.480
needs to be done, but you've also got your personal60000:32:51.119 --> 00:32:54.720
feelings about or opinions, uh going on at the same time.60100:32:55.319 --> 00:32:58.839
Well, it's a fine line when a when a program60200:32:58.920 --> 00:33:03.279
is presented at is a interpretation of folklore, for instance,60300:33:03.640 --> 00:33:07.839
then there's no real need to put a counterpoint because60400:33:08.480 --> 00:33:11.279
we already know these are these are tall tales stories60500:33:11.279 --> 00:33:11.839
that some people.60600:33:12.599 --> 00:33:15.440
I know that, but yeah, your own inner thing, your60700:33:15.599 --> 00:33:19.759
your natural like, uh, I guess do you just you60800:33:19.799 --> 00:33:22.759
just tend to it's been a great pleasure as being60900:33:22.759 --> 00:33:25.359
your friend over the years. Just hear your your takes61000:33:25.359 --> 00:33:26.000
and opinions.61100:33:26.319 --> 00:33:30.200
Oh sure. Well, and and like where it gets into61200:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.920
tricky territory is like we did the the biggest episode61300:33:32.920 --> 00:33:34.839
of Terrifying and True ever, which was the Ed and61400:33:34.960 --> 00:33:38.920
Lorraine Warren deep Dive take Down whatever you want to61500:33:38.960 --> 00:33:41.319
call it, because that was like almost three hours of61600:33:41.720 --> 00:33:45.359
information and we did literally the first half with almost61700:33:45.519 --> 00:33:49.279
no skeptical commentary, and then the second half is only61800:33:49.519 --> 00:33:53.519
skeptical commentary, Arry tearing down a lot of their their61900:33:53.599 --> 00:33:55.920
lies and things like that. I tried to be as62000:33:55.960 --> 00:33:58.440
fair as I could because to a lot of people62100:33:58.440 --> 00:34:01.119
they did a lot of good and I don't want62200:34:01.119 --> 00:34:03.599
to disrespect that, and to a lot of people they're62300:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.279
very heroic. But you know, there's clearly a lot of62400:34:06.400 --> 00:34:10.960
questions about like Ed and Lorraine Warren, so I debated62500:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.760
that a lot. It's funny when it comes to like62600:34:13.800 --> 00:34:17.119
ghost stories and things like that on terrifying and true62700:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.920
I don't feel the need to be very skeptical anymore62800:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.360
because I feel like it's kind of obvious that you're62900:34:23.360 --> 00:34:26.519
hearing a ghost story, so it very well could not63000:34:26.639 --> 00:34:30.440
be at all true. It's actually when I'm reading true63100:34:30.480 --> 00:34:33.920
crime that sometimes I have to sit as I'm reading63200:34:33.960 --> 00:34:37.559
and go, do I make a comment about how stupid63300:34:37.639 --> 00:34:39.679
I think the death penalty is, or do I make63400:34:39.719 --> 00:34:43.039
a comment about how this how the law they passed63500:34:43.320 --> 00:34:46.000
to help with whatever is actually not going to help63600:34:46.000 --> 00:34:48.440
at all. Because that stuff I still get. I still63700:34:48.440 --> 00:34:53.960
get very frustrated about very easily. Like I, like I said,63800:34:54.039 --> 00:34:55.599
try not to go too crazy. But there was one63900:34:55.760 --> 00:34:58.960
one story a few years back about a trigger treater64000:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.320
that got shot. They were on the they were on64100:35:02.360 --> 00:35:04.719
a porch, they thought they were and they were a64200:35:04.760 --> 00:35:06.679
foreign exchange student and they thought they were at a64300:35:06.719 --> 00:35:08.760
different house than they were, and they were pounding on64400:35:08.800 --> 00:35:14.360
the door and they got shot. And I tried not64500:35:14.480 --> 00:35:17.280
to like get too frustrated, but like, it's a terrible64600:35:17.320 --> 00:35:20.719
thing that happened. But then the research we did was64700:35:20.800 --> 00:35:24.480
like all about all the politicians who had looked into,64800:35:24.679 --> 00:35:27.159
you know, all of these background check laws and everything64900:35:27.159 --> 00:35:29.960
on guns, and I couldn't help but mention like, as65000:35:30.000 --> 00:35:33.639
an aside, none of those laws would have prevented this death,65100:35:33.840 --> 00:35:36.760
because this death has nothing to do with any of65200:35:36.800 --> 00:35:40.719
those elements of gun ownership. The person legally owned the gun,65300:35:41.000 --> 00:35:45.239
was legally in their house, and they demanded the person65400:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.760
go away. But unfortunately, like I said, a foreign exchange65500:35:47.760 --> 00:35:49.559
student didn't have a good command of English, so it65600:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.880
was really just a total, you know, tragedy of errors.65700:35:54.519 --> 00:35:57.800
But but yeah, so those drive me crazy more than anything.65800:35:58.199 --> 00:36:00.760
Sometimes off to sit down and annotate the script and65900:36:00.800 --> 00:36:03.760
be like, do I want to put my personal flare66000:36:03.800 --> 00:36:05.679
in there because I would never say anything. I don't66100:36:06.079 --> 00:36:09.800
stand by sure, but you know, throwing out that stuff,66200:36:10.159 --> 00:36:13.239
you know, can be tricky. Now. On the other hand,66300:36:13.960 --> 00:36:20.440
Monthly Spooky I skewer ghost claims that UFO claims like66400:36:20.480 --> 00:36:24.599
there's no tomorrow. Yeah, Michelle and I both will will66500:36:24.639 --> 00:36:27.679
really tear down if it's clear somebody as a charlatan,66600:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.719
we we go frigging hard on them on Monthly Spooky.66700:36:33.559 --> 00:36:36.119
Well, I have to say I and I do have66800:36:36.119 --> 00:36:38.639
a couple of really important things that I want to66900:36:38.679 --> 00:36:43.000
ask about the show itself, but I also don't want67000:36:43.000 --> 00:36:45.880
to forget to just mention. I told you that the67100:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.679
melon Heads episode is probably my favorite that has I67200:36:50.719 --> 00:36:52.639
had a favorite before that, but this is my new67300:36:52.679 --> 00:36:56.159
favorite because I'm telling you, I went through every emotion67400:36:57.079 --> 00:37:00.920
while listening to that. I am, I'm I'm also a skeptic,67500:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.360
and I'm also you know, I'm dealing facts and research67600:37:04.679 --> 00:37:07.960
just you know, as a career, and so you know,67700:37:08.119 --> 00:37:11.880
my first instinct is to laugh at I was thinking67800:37:11.880 --> 00:37:15.519
about Lemonhead's the candy Oh yeah, yeah, and and and67900:37:15.559 --> 00:37:17.599
not Melonhead, you know what I mean. I was like, oh,68000:37:17.639 --> 00:37:19.639
this is like Lemonhead the candy. So I'm laughing at it,68100:37:19.719 --> 00:37:22.480
not taking it seriously. But then the more it gets68200:37:22.519 --> 00:37:25.280
into the story, I'm like, oh, this is awful. And68300:37:25.320 --> 00:37:26.840
then as it gets more and I was like, oh, no,68400:37:27.079 --> 00:37:32.960
I know like two people who have hydrosophalic children, and68500:37:33.000 --> 00:37:35.599
I was like, oh god, I'm a jerk, but this68600:37:35.719 --> 00:37:37.280
is also you know what I mean? So I went68700:37:37.320 --> 00:37:40.079
through I went through all these things. While listening to it,68800:37:40.199 --> 00:37:43.719
I was like, what just happened. That's the joy of68900:37:43.760 --> 00:37:47.280
folklore and urban legends too. I mean like, no, I'm69000:37:47.320 --> 00:37:50.119
I'm that makes that makes me happy too, because I69100:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.599
had such a bad experience getting that story written.69200:37:54.360 --> 00:37:59.039
An Ohio story right, Uh yeah, Ohio, Michigan. And there69300:37:59.039 --> 00:38:01.599
are also lemon so you got me doing it right,69400:38:02.280 --> 00:38:05.960
melon heads stories I think through Pennsylvania and Connecticut as well.69500:38:06.199 --> 00:38:08.199
Yeah, you mentioned a couple of different cities on there.69600:38:08.199 --> 00:38:10.960
But I think what made me want to check that69700:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.599
one out was just because I didn't know about This69800:38:14.679 --> 00:38:16.199
wasn't a story I'd ever heard before.69900:38:16.480 --> 00:38:20.039
Yeah, and that's been really the fun The funnest part70000:38:20.159 --> 00:38:24.639
of doing Terrifying and True is finding stories and folklore70100:38:24.679 --> 00:38:27.239
because now it's I have a notepad in my phone70200:38:27.800 --> 00:38:30.800
and I will be like watching TV or something and70300:38:30.840 --> 00:38:35.599
I'll hear, you know, a story about like around the70400:38:35.639 --> 00:38:39.920
same time John Wilkes Booth's corpse was being was supposedly70500:38:39.960 --> 00:38:41.920
being toured for money and blah blah blah, and I'll70600:38:41.960 --> 00:38:44.920
jot down, like John Wilkes Booth Corpse tour, like, you know,70700:38:45.320 --> 00:38:47.880
maybe that should be a terrifying and true episode, Like.70800:38:47.960 --> 00:38:49.599
Yeah, which what bands were opening?70900:38:55.559 --> 00:38:55.920
Okay?71000:38:56.199 --> 00:38:58.880
I I do want to ask though, and I think71100:38:58.880 --> 00:39:00.639
a lot of people are curious about this. Can you71200:39:00.679 --> 00:39:04.679
make a living as a podcaster? And if so, what71300:39:04.719 --> 00:39:06.480
are some of the things that one would definitely have71400:39:06.519 --> 00:39:07.599
to do in order to do that?71500:39:08.519 --> 00:39:10.880
Whoof I mean that is that is the you know,71600:39:11.000 --> 00:39:14.039
the the eighty dollars question. I was gonna say a71700:39:14.039 --> 00:39:15.920
million dollar questions. I was like, yeah, not a fat71800:39:16.000 --> 00:39:16.679
chances on that one.71900:39:16.880 --> 00:39:18.239
Yeah.72000:39:18.320 --> 00:39:22.360
I mean, for me, Weekly Spooky has as of this72100:39:22.480 --> 00:39:26.480
year has started to pull its weight substantially to the72200:39:26.480 --> 00:39:29.440
point where it's about half of my income has become72300:39:29.719 --> 00:39:34.360
has become the podcast, and I'm I'm very happy about that.72400:39:34.440 --> 00:39:37.559
I'm shocked, but I'm very happy that that's happened. But72500:39:38.960 --> 00:39:42.880
as far as you know, podcasting, it's like anything else.72600:39:42.920 --> 00:39:47.679
You need to dedicate a certain amount of time knowing72700:39:48.599 --> 00:39:52.760
nothing may come back and be okay with that, and72800:39:52.800 --> 00:39:59.320
then you need to constantly be obsessing over what is72900:39:59.320 --> 00:40:03.320
the audience I'm I'm serving, what is the niche I'm filling?73000:40:04.760 --> 00:40:07.280
Who is this for? That's a real big challenge, both73100:40:07.280 --> 00:40:10.119
in podcasts and in movies. I can't tell you how73200:40:10.159 --> 00:40:13.719
many times someone's asked me like, how do I, you know,73300:40:13.800 --> 00:40:16.679
distribute my movie? And I'm like, well, who's it? Four? Right?73400:40:16.760 --> 00:40:18.320
And they don't have an answer, and it's like, well,73500:40:18.360 --> 00:40:20.559
then you got to come up with an answer. And73600:40:20.559 --> 00:40:22.000
then when they do have the answer, I'm like, the73700:40:22.039 --> 00:40:23.599
problem is you should have came up with an answer73800:40:23.719 --> 00:40:24.840
before you made the movie.73900:40:25.119 --> 00:40:25.320
Yeah.74000:40:25.840 --> 00:40:30.039
So it's very similar with podcasts, you know, and there74100:40:30.079 --> 00:40:33.480
are a lot of different methods to monetizing podcasts. Like74200:40:34.119 --> 00:40:36.320
I'm one of the few podcasters I know that is74300:40:36.440 --> 00:40:40.079
mostly supported by ads. Most of the folks I know74400:40:40.920 --> 00:40:44.599
who do well in podcasting, it's all Patreon and memberships.74500:40:45.000 --> 00:40:48.400
That's where they make their living. But for me, Patreon,74600:40:48.760 --> 00:40:51.199
we have a few supporters that I really appreciate and74700:40:51.239 --> 00:40:54.599
I'm happy to provide them bonus stories and things like74800:40:54.639 --> 00:40:58.000
that to enjoy, but that's a very small portion of74900:40:58.559 --> 00:41:01.920
the audience and the support that the show gets. We75000:41:02.360 --> 00:41:06.079
mostly are AD supported. So when you're ad supported, you75100:41:06.199 --> 00:41:11.599
have a larger but slightly less intense audience, as opposed75200:41:11.599 --> 00:41:14.039
to having a small but very intense audience. Who would75300:41:14.039 --> 00:41:17.079
all you know support you on Patreon or become a75400:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.000
member and pay you every month or what have you.75500:41:19.519 --> 00:41:23.599
So there there are a lot of ways. It's never75600:41:23.639 --> 00:41:27.000
been easier and it's never been harder at the same time,75700:41:27.079 --> 00:41:31.000
and that's so classic in any kind of show business space.75800:41:31.119 --> 00:41:33.719
But it's never been easier to get a good microphone,75900:41:33.960 --> 00:41:38.079
to get yourself sounding good, to publish, it's never been easier,76000:41:38.119 --> 00:41:40.599
which means it's never been harder to get noticed because76100:41:40.599 --> 00:41:46.440
there's so many shows going and going. So yeah, Like, honestly,76200:41:46.920 --> 00:41:50.760
a lot of my my planning when I started Weekly76300:41:50.800 --> 00:41:55.239
Spooky failed, Like I was like, we're going to we're76400:41:55.239 --> 00:41:58.039
going to do cross promotion with you know these podcasts76500:41:58.079 --> 00:41:59.599
because I know them, I've been fans of them for76600:41:59.599 --> 00:42:02.559
a long time. None of that happened at all. I76700:42:02.599 --> 00:42:06.239
didn't I didn't get a single like cross promo podcast76800:42:06.280 --> 00:42:08.679
thing at all for like the first two or three76900:42:08.760 --> 00:42:12.239
years of Weekly Spooky at least, Wow, So it ended77000:42:12.320 --> 00:42:18.119
up being like all about consistency and finding the audience.77100:42:19.280 --> 00:42:21.400
And it took a really long time when I when77200:42:21.400 --> 00:42:23.960
I sat down and said I'm gonna do Weekly Spooky,77300:42:24.000 --> 00:42:28.000
I said I would do one hundred episodes before I77400:42:28.039 --> 00:42:33.320
would even consider quitting, right, and no joke. We had77500:42:33.400 --> 00:42:39.519
like sixty downloads an episode until like episode ninety three, like,77600:42:39.599 --> 00:42:41.400
and then all of a sudden we started having a77700:42:41.400 --> 00:42:44.639
lot more listeners, so and that just put the spring77800:42:44.639 --> 00:42:48.360
of my step to keep going. So really, the big77900:42:48.400 --> 00:42:51.559
thing with a podcast especially is be consistent. If you78000:42:51.599 --> 00:42:53.239
say you're gonna do it every week, do it every week.78100:42:53.280 --> 00:42:58.119
I have not missed a week ever, only Weekly Spooky. Yeah.78200:42:58.159 --> 00:43:00.840
Sometimes to a destriman, I can. I can, definitely. I78300:43:00.880 --> 00:43:02.239
don't think you mind me saying that.78400:43:02.559 --> 00:43:07.920
No, No, it's it's been. It's been incredibly exhausting at78500:43:07.960 --> 00:43:11.840
certain times. And I'm I'm just now six years in78600:43:12.039 --> 00:43:15.760
starting to really learn how to schedule my time right78700:43:15.840 --> 00:43:18.000
and how to get the shows ready in a more78800:43:18.000 --> 00:43:23.840
efficient way. Like this October, I was so organized that78900:43:23.840 --> 00:43:26.480
that things went well even I mean, like, for as79000:43:26.519 --> 00:43:29.239
crazy as that month was, there was only one day79100:43:29.960 --> 00:43:32.559
in the entire month that I was recording the next79200:43:32.639 --> 00:43:35.400
day's show. Everything else had been I had had like79300:43:35.440 --> 00:43:38.679
a buffer. Things were planned way out in advance. And79400:43:39.840 --> 00:43:41.440
that's what I'm trying to, you know, get ready with79500:43:41.519 --> 00:43:47.679
for for December. So it Yeah, it's it's a lot,79600:43:47.719 --> 00:43:50.679
but yeah, I never missed a Wednesday. I did have79700:43:50.800 --> 00:43:54.039
one time the show came out like seven hours late79800:43:55.159 --> 00:43:59.599
and I had I had COVID, like literally the show79900:43:59.679 --> 00:44:02.199
is me with a raspbee boy, Like I did it anyway.80000:44:02.639 --> 00:44:05.039
I remember that, and in hindsight, I should have just80100:44:05.079 --> 00:44:08.599
taken the day off, But you know, it is what80200:44:08.639 --> 00:44:13.599
it is. So yeah, be consistent, feed the audience that80300:44:13.679 --> 00:44:17.360
you want to and and then most importantly, pick something80400:44:17.840 --> 00:44:21.400
that you believe you can do every week that you80500:44:21.440 --> 00:44:24.800
won't hate doing it eventually or get really sick of it.80600:44:25.559 --> 00:44:29.320
That's the big one. Like I love scary stories, and80700:44:30.280 --> 00:44:32.440
no matter what my mood is, if I can pull80800:44:32.480 --> 00:44:35.719
myself into the story i'm reading, i am all in.80900:44:36.119 --> 00:44:40.280
I am fully excited. That's how I feel about the81000:44:40.360 --> 00:44:44.159
terrifying and truths I love to learn. Sometimes I can81100:44:44.239 --> 00:44:46.719
be squeamished, So sometimes the true crime ones will depress81200:44:46.800 --> 00:44:48.559
the hell out of me when they're over.81300:44:49.360 --> 00:44:53.599
Yeah, the Donner Party one, which was that was recently. Yeah,81400:44:53.599 --> 00:44:56.079
I can remember going like, Oh, everybody's for a dinner party.81500:44:56.119 --> 00:44:56.960
I know, do I know?81600:44:57.800 --> 00:44:59.599
That's why I wanted to do it. I was, yeah,81700:44:59.599 --> 00:45:00.960
I had that. I was like, oh yeah, I know81800:45:01.000 --> 00:45:02.679
about wait do I Right?81900:45:04.400 --> 00:45:07.320
At a point I was just like, oh, man, don't82000:45:07.519 --> 00:45:09.320
like it.82100:45:09.320 --> 00:45:12.079
It's it's a it's a harrowing and tragic story, but82200:45:12.079 --> 00:45:16.159
but there's also like some incredible heroicism that got those82300:45:16.239 --> 00:45:19.039
people out that had survived out of the situation. So82400:45:19.119 --> 00:45:21.119
it's and that's the other thing too, is I love82500:45:21.800 --> 00:45:25.159
I love diving deep because you get you under things82600:45:25.199 --> 00:45:29.159
that you never would have learned from a conversation or82700:45:29.280 --> 00:45:32.960
a you know, twelve minute YouTube documentary or or whatever.82800:45:34.079 --> 00:45:36.199
That's the other thing is that as time has gone on,82900:45:36.199 --> 00:45:38.760
the audience has made it clear that they like long programming.83000:45:39.199 --> 00:45:41.920
So we can do an hour about the Donner Party,83100:45:41.960 --> 00:45:44.920
we can do an hour scary story. We can do83200:45:45.039 --> 00:45:47.480
a two hour cutting deep into horror. We can do83300:45:47.519 --> 00:45:50.119
a two and a half hour Monthly Spooky. They seem83400:45:50.199 --> 00:45:51.840
to really get a kick out of it.83500:45:52.320 --> 00:45:54.119
Yeah, and on a long drive that means you don't83600:45:54.159 --> 00:45:55.800
have to find something else to listen to and just83700:45:55.960 --> 00:45:56.639
you know, hit.83800:45:56.559 --> 00:45:57.880
It and go exactly.83900:45:59.000 --> 00:46:01.599
So, this is the last question I'll have and then84000:46:01.639 --> 00:46:04.800
I'll then I'll open it up to whatever whatever I missed,84100:46:04.840 --> 00:46:07.360
and you can help me with that part. I wanted84200:46:07.400 --> 00:46:10.880
to know if, well, you know, if a producer were84300:46:10.920 --> 00:46:13.239
to call, and this could be a producer of movies,84400:46:13.320 --> 00:46:15.719
of television or anything, if someone were to just call84500:46:15.760 --> 00:46:18.480
it an open purse, what was What's something you would84600:46:18.519 --> 00:46:20.760
love to be able to do with Weekly Spooky?84700:46:20.800 --> 00:46:21.679
What would your answer be?84800:46:22.400 --> 00:46:29.480
Man, that's tough, yeah, because like I don't know. I mean,84900:46:29.920 --> 00:46:34.480
I would love to I would love to have more85000:46:34.519 --> 00:46:38.039
intensive production. You know, as it stands right now, when85100:46:38.079 --> 00:46:41.199
I do the shows, any music cues or sound effects85200:46:41.239 --> 00:46:44.199
you hear, I mean, I'm doing that myself, you know,85300:46:44.360 --> 00:46:46.920
I'm sitting down and doing that. And some weeks there85400:46:47.000 --> 00:46:49.239
is not as much time as others to do that stuff.85500:46:50.119 --> 00:46:52.840
But also some stories I find creepier when it's just85600:46:52.880 --> 00:46:55.360
a voice in you. And then some of them I'm like, oh,85700:46:55.360 --> 00:46:58.159
but if I lay in, you know, crickets chirping right here,85800:46:58.199 --> 00:47:00.159
it might it might really put it over the edge.85900:47:00.440 --> 00:47:00.800
It does.86000:47:02.480 --> 00:47:05.559
Sometimes that's the best because then you'll be like, are there, like,86100:47:05.639 --> 00:47:07.920
I'm wearing noise canceling headphones? Why am I hearing the86200:47:08.039 --> 00:47:08.679
night around them? Oh?86300:47:08.760 --> 00:47:09.480
God, I hate it?86400:47:09.679 --> 00:47:12.119
I mean I love it, but I uh, I gotta86500:47:12.159 --> 00:47:13.679
tell you that it's effective.86600:47:14.400 --> 00:47:17.280
But so if we had, if we had, like, you know,86700:47:17.400 --> 00:47:20.039
some kind of you know, big budget version of the86800:47:20.039 --> 00:47:22.800
weekly spooky podcast, I guess it would really it'd mostly86900:47:22.800 --> 00:47:25.480
be in production, and it would be nice to, uh87000:47:25.920 --> 00:47:29.159
to have a a set schedule with you know, authors87100:47:29.199 --> 00:47:33.159
writing specific things and a little bit less slap dash,87200:47:33.239 --> 00:47:36.639
although that could kill the uh, the fun of the show.87300:47:36.679 --> 00:47:38.800
So maybe not that one, but I would definitely love87400:47:38.840 --> 00:47:41.559
for it to have you know, more production, music cues,87500:47:41.639 --> 00:47:45.119
sound effects, things like that that I think that would87600:47:45.159 --> 00:47:47.960
be really really cool. Although I do get emails from87700:47:47.960 --> 00:47:52.639
people who say that they appreciate the modestness of the87800:47:52.679 --> 00:47:54.840
sound effects because they have trouble concentrating.87900:47:55.320 --> 00:47:59.599
Oh yeah, no, it's it's just right, man, Enrique. I88000:47:59.719 --> 00:48:02.400
was I was thinking of you, going like, oh, if88100:48:02.400 --> 00:48:05.880
shutter will partner with me on this Week in Horror88200:48:06.360 --> 00:48:08.440
History and let me do like a you know, a88300:48:08.519 --> 00:48:11.360
series on their shows are their channel or something like that.88400:48:11.800 --> 00:48:13.519
Oh, I mean, well, I mean if you mean like88500:48:13.599 --> 00:48:15.599
beyond the realm of podcasting, I mean.88600:48:15.599 --> 00:48:17.760
I'm just saying money is no object in this this88700:48:17.920 --> 00:48:20.000
uh this hypothetical scenario.88800:48:20.800 --> 00:48:22.639
Well, you know me, the only thing I turned down88900:48:22.760 --> 00:48:28.679
is my collar on my home. But uh, I mean,89000:48:28.719 --> 00:48:32.400
I would love I would love to have more partnership89100:48:32.639 --> 00:48:34.920
with with brands. I would love to have something like89200:48:35.039 --> 00:48:40.719
a like a show about horror movies or about horror genre,89300:48:41.639 --> 00:48:44.400
horror media or whatever on like a shutter or a89400:48:44.440 --> 00:48:47.320
screen box or or something like that would be really89500:48:47.360 --> 00:48:50.320
really fun. I I can't name the I can't say89600:48:50.320 --> 00:48:52.679
the name of the network, but there was a small,89700:48:52.760 --> 00:48:56.239
well not small, a large independent TV network that we89800:48:56.239 --> 00:48:59.559
were talking very briefly about trying to bring some form89900:48:59.599 --> 00:49:04.280
of weekly spooky content to one of their channels. And90000:49:04.360 --> 00:49:06.280
I was really excited about it. I was I was90100:49:06.320 --> 00:49:10.199
willing to do it for free. As long as I90200:49:10.199 --> 00:49:13.480
could promote the brand on the show, I would be happy.90300:49:14.079 --> 00:49:16.440
So you know, that's the kind of thing that would90400:49:16.440 --> 00:49:20.920
definitely be a lot of fun. Would be just to90500:49:20.920 --> 00:49:23.920
to get people excited about horror media in a way90600:49:23.960 --> 00:49:28.559
that's not snarky or negative. That's something really important and90700:49:28.599 --> 00:49:30.719
I don't want to even crap on the people who do,90800:49:31.280 --> 00:49:33.320
you know, be a little snarky or be a little negative.90900:49:33.559 --> 00:49:39.079
It's hard to make content all the time that's interesting91000:49:39.280 --> 00:49:43.039
and that engages people. Engagement is everything, and unfortunately that makes,91100:49:43.519 --> 00:49:47.159
you know, that makes for a very strained society. Sometimes91200:49:47.159 --> 00:49:50.320
it feels, yeah that it's like, well, you're not winning91300:49:50.360 --> 00:49:52.119
unless somebody's yelling at you. Great.91400:49:53.039 --> 00:49:55.639
Yeah, that's the mark for things that are gonna you know,91500:49:55.719 --> 00:49:56.760
stand the test of time.91600:49:56.840 --> 00:49:59.239
Yeah, well it tells advertisers they're paying attention, you know.91700:49:59.360 --> 00:50:03.000
So sure. It's so when I sit and talk about91800:50:03.000 --> 00:50:07.360
a horror movie I love, or a or you know,91900:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.400
horror history and a movie like They Live, Pops Up92000:50:10.480 --> 00:50:13.360
or Go Jira, movies that I have a massive soft92100:50:13.400 --> 00:50:15.920
spot for, I just want to say, like, I love this.92200:50:16.280 --> 00:50:18.199
I'm happy to own that I'm a dork and a92300:50:18.239 --> 00:50:21.360
nerd and and that I you know, sit and watch92400:50:21.440 --> 00:50:24.320
my four k if they Live and go Wow, you92500:50:24.360 --> 00:50:27.480
can really see the details in the faces that's just92600:50:27.559 --> 00:50:30.480
who I am. And if you're at all like me,92700:50:31.039 --> 00:50:33.199
then you're in the right place. Yeah.92800:50:33.239 --> 00:50:37.440
No, absolutely, has it affected your ability to watch like92900:50:37.519 --> 00:50:40.440
horror just now being so familiar with so many scary93000:50:40.440 --> 00:50:43.840
stories and tropes and cliches as it? Or are you93100:50:43.880 --> 00:50:46.239
still pretty much feel like that? That's a whole separate93200:50:46.400 --> 00:50:47.079
part of your brain.93300:50:48.079 --> 00:50:50.480
You know. I'm thinking about it because I hadn't really93400:50:50.519 --> 00:50:53.159
thought about that. I don't think it's affected me much.93500:50:53.239 --> 00:50:56.440
I'm a I just love to be scared. I love93600:50:56.519 --> 00:51:00.519
to be entertained. I love for a film too. Just93700:51:00.599 --> 00:51:05.000
take me somewhere else and show me something interesting. And93800:51:05.599 --> 00:51:08.039
you know, my expectations are that I don't need the93900:51:08.159 --> 00:51:11.719
wheel reinvented every single day. I don't need, you know,94000:51:12.000 --> 00:51:14.280
That's that always fascinate People are like it was fine.94100:51:14.320 --> 00:51:17.679
I'm like, dude, fine is awesome. Like, yes, your car94200:51:17.760 --> 00:51:20.519
did a fine job of getting you to work today,94300:51:20.960 --> 00:51:23.199
you know, and you're very happy with that. Imagine how94400:51:23.280 --> 00:51:25.039
mad you are when it doesn't get you to work.94500:51:25.400 --> 00:51:25.639
Yeah.94600:51:26.440 --> 00:51:30.679
So I just yeah, I will say that I think94700:51:30.719 --> 00:51:36.039
a lot about about the storytelling aspect, as far as94800:51:36.079 --> 00:51:39.400
like beat structure and endings. I think a lot about94900:51:39.480 --> 00:51:43.239
endings after doing three hundred sum endings on weekend spooky95000:51:43.880 --> 00:51:48.360
endings definitely definitely pull me in. But uh, one of95100:51:48.360 --> 00:51:50.760
my favorite movies do you ever see Scare Me? Yeah?95200:51:51.639 --> 00:51:54.119
Scare Me so good. It's literally a movie of two95300:51:54.159 --> 00:51:56.280
people trying to scare each other, telling them the stories95400:51:56.480 --> 00:51:59.199
each other stories in a cabin. It's so good.95500:51:59.639 --> 00:52:01.599
Yeah, yeah, no, you trust me.95600:52:01.760 --> 00:52:05.320
I'm on letterbox and I all the time think of95700:52:05.400 --> 00:52:08.199
making like just the best two handers or even like95800:52:08.320 --> 00:52:11.400
single person horror, you know, cause I've there's so many95900:52:11.440 --> 00:52:14.280
that I'll cash and I'll go like you know how96000:52:14.320 --> 00:52:14.679
it goes.96100:52:14.719 --> 00:52:17.079
Man, You just go like, okay, what about this?96200:52:17.159 --> 00:52:19.920
And then suddenly you're like, holy crap, Like I'm almost96300:52:19.960 --> 00:52:21.360
angry that I didn't think of it.96400:52:21.599 --> 00:52:25.880
Yeah, no, same big, same huge, same All right.96500:52:25.920 --> 00:52:29.639
Well that is that's all I had for you. You96600:52:29.679 --> 00:52:32.159
and I could make this two hours if we wanted to,96700:52:32.280 --> 00:52:34.360
but I wanted to open it up to you in96800:52:34.480 --> 00:52:37.679
case there's anything that I didn't touch on that you96900:52:37.719 --> 00:52:42.480
want to make sure that people listening to this understand no,97000:52:42.760 --> 00:52:46.760
or just just make clear anything else that you'd want97100:52:46.800 --> 00:52:47.239
to do with it.97200:52:47.559 --> 00:52:50.840
Well, I'll share something related to what you mentioned earlier97300:52:50.880 --> 00:52:54.079
when you were talking about getting across more of my personality,97400:52:55.480 --> 00:52:59.960
because after doing eighty or so episodes of Weekly Spooky,97500:53:00.079 --> 00:53:03.039
I did fall into like a really dark headspace for97600:53:03.079 --> 00:53:05.280
a minute of believing it was just not going to97700:53:05.320 --> 00:53:08.800
click or be successful, and no joke, one of the97800:53:08.840 --> 00:53:11.679
thoughts I had for how to fix the show was97900:53:11.760 --> 00:53:17.119
to remove myself as like the host in quotes, you know,98000:53:17.480 --> 00:53:20.239
to to just have the stories be the entire thing,98100:53:20.280 --> 00:53:23.480
not do the intro, not talk to the audience at all,98200:53:24.679 --> 00:53:27.400
just a story and then it's over. And I really98300:53:27.440 --> 00:53:29.159
got it in my head for a minute that like98400:53:29.480 --> 00:53:32.920
if I wasn't an active part talking to the audience,98500:53:33.559 --> 00:53:35.760
that the show would do better, that I was the problem.98600:53:35.960 --> 00:53:38.199
Oh my god, I know, you know how it is98700:53:38.239 --> 00:53:40.440
to be a creative person, Like sometimes you just you98800:53:40.559 --> 00:53:41.159
just think.98900:53:41.239 --> 00:53:43.679
But anyone listening to this is going to be like99000:53:44.360 --> 00:53:46.119
you for not doing well.99100:53:46.400 --> 00:53:50.760
And that's the thing, is the what at the at99200:53:50.760 --> 00:53:53.519
the heart of it. Weekly Spooky is my love letter99300:53:53.800 --> 00:53:56.400
to Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Dark99400:53:56.440 --> 00:54:01.239
Side and Twilight Zone. I love I love the idea, like, ah,99500:54:01.440 --> 00:54:04.840
sit down, we have another one for you. Ah, you know,99600:54:04.960 --> 00:54:07.960
come here, relax, here's another one for you. I love99700:54:08.079 --> 00:54:11.159
that concept. So I got I got goosebumps, like thinking99800:54:11.199 --> 00:54:14.119
about all those times that you've returned to your TV99900:54:14.239 --> 00:54:16.679
and it was like you'd never left. Here's another, you know,100000:54:16.760 --> 00:54:19.639
story for you to to, you know, think about. Alfred100100:54:19.679 --> 00:54:21.400
Hitchcock Presents was the other big one for me.100200:54:21.599 --> 00:54:26.599
Monsters I loved, and the Friday the thirteenth the series.100300:54:26.800 --> 00:54:29.159
I mean, there's are all getting miss Ray Bradbury Theater.100400:54:29.400 --> 00:54:32.360
Sure, but you you did the heavy hitters right off100500:54:32.400 --> 00:54:32.679
the top.100600:54:33.199 --> 00:54:35.519
Oh yeah. And and I mean our theme song is100700:54:35.639 --> 00:54:38.719
very inspired by Tales from the Crypt. And I loved100800:54:38.719 --> 00:54:41.679
the idea of you know, we open it with you know, hey,100900:54:42.199 --> 00:54:45.239
this story is gonna be interesting, you know, like whatever,101000:54:45.360 --> 00:54:48.800
you know. I love doing the intros. But after the101100:54:49.000 --> 00:54:52.480
after we started to really catch on, I I actually101200:54:52.519 --> 00:54:56.000
had the opposite thought. I was like, I wish there101300:54:56.079 --> 00:54:59.440
was more of me in the opening and closing. But101400:54:59.480 --> 00:55:01.360
I don't want the opening and closing to be so101500:55:01.599 --> 00:55:05.239
long that you're like, when is the story starting? Yeah? So,101600:55:05.760 --> 00:55:07.639
and there's only so much information can get across in101700:55:07.679 --> 00:55:10.199
like two and a half minutes So that was the101800:55:10.199 --> 00:55:13.239
birth of Monthly Spooky. This idea that at the end101900:55:13.320 --> 00:55:15.679
of the month, if you're so inclined, you could tune102000:55:15.679 --> 00:55:18.079
in and it's a talk show with me and my102100:55:18.119 --> 00:55:21.639
buddy Michelle, but we talk about the spooky things that102200:55:21.639 --> 00:55:24.199
we love. We talk about, you know, weird news stories,102300:55:24.239 --> 00:55:27.760
and there's usually some topic will deep dive into together102400:55:27.960 --> 00:55:33.079
and react to it together. And I wanted to mention102500:55:33.159 --> 00:55:38.239
that because I really proved myself wrong. That ended up102600:55:38.280 --> 00:55:41.840
becoming very popular and I got a lot more, for102700:55:41.920 --> 00:55:43.760
lack of a better term, intimate with my audience. A102800:55:43.800 --> 00:55:47.440
lot more. My audience speaks to me directly now and102900:55:48.760 --> 00:55:51.920
they kind of know what I'm about. So I'm really103000:55:51.960 --> 00:55:55.079
glad I put myself out there like that. And it's103100:55:55.079 --> 00:55:56.920
funny though, because like a year earlier, I was like,103200:55:56.960 --> 00:56:00.360
maybe I'm the only problem with this show, and then103300:56:01.039 --> 00:56:03.400
the year later, I'm like, I'm going all in on me.103400:56:04.079 --> 00:56:05.079
Well, yeah, you were.103500:56:04.960 --> 00:56:06.679
A brand before Weekly Spooky.103600:56:06.719 --> 00:56:06.880
I know.103700:56:07.000 --> 00:56:09.719
You know that, and people absolutely love you. And Michelle103800:56:09.800 --> 00:56:12.159
is my favorite person that you play off of out103900:56:12.199 --> 00:56:15.599
of this, you know, coming in on two decades of104000:56:16.639 --> 00:56:20.599
your podcasting, you know, I love Michelle Michelle. What the104100:56:20.599 --> 00:56:25.159
two of you have as personalities just goes together so104200:56:25.159 --> 00:56:25.719
so well.104300:56:27.119 --> 00:56:29.119
But I'm yeah, I'm a I made a fan and104400:56:29.199 --> 00:56:31.039
a supporter. And thanks for not asking me.104500:56:31.800 --> 00:56:33.400
Whether you should take yourself out of the show.104600:56:35.000 --> 00:56:37.960
Yeah, I know what you would have said, which would104700:56:38.000 --> 00:56:38.440
be reason.104800:56:38.800 --> 00:56:41.360
So I'm just kind of just like that. I'm always104900:56:41.400 --> 00:56:41.880
good for that.105000:56:42.800 --> 00:56:44.599
But no, no, And thank you man for sitting down105100:56:44.639 --> 00:56:49.360
with me, because honestly, I wanted to give the audience105200:56:49.400 --> 00:56:52.639
a little that wanted a little bit of an opportunity105300:56:52.679 --> 00:56:55.599
to see like behind the curtain of what what we do,105400:56:55.719 --> 00:56:59.679
how the sausage is made a little bit, And you're105500:56:59.719 --> 00:57:01.760
the best person I could think of to ask like105600:57:01.920 --> 00:57:03.880
questions people would actually want to know the answers to,105700:57:03.920 --> 00:57:09.880
because if I sit down, I'll be like, uh.105800:57:08.000 --> 00:57:09.920
No, I mean trust me, That's that's part of what105900:57:09.960 --> 00:57:13.079
I do is I'm just driven by curiosity as you are,106000:57:13.679 --> 00:57:18.400
and so thank you for choosing me. I'm a badly106100:57:18.440 --> 00:57:21.159
a fan, but I'm also just a longtime supporter of106200:57:21.159 --> 00:57:23.159
what it is that you do. And I've found all106300:57:23.159 --> 00:57:26.280
the different phases interesting, but I'm I'm happy to see106400:57:26.280 --> 00:57:30.199
you doing something where it is not only thriving, but106500:57:30.320 --> 00:57:33.119
also like is something you're happy to continue to return106600:57:33.159 --> 00:57:37.199
to and something that's a core that you've struck with106700:57:37.280 --> 00:57:38.239
a large audience.106800:57:38.880 --> 00:57:43.760
I can't tell you how wild and wonderful it has106900:57:43.800 --> 00:57:47.559
been and how good it's felt. About halfway through October,107000:57:47.599 --> 00:57:50.639
when I was just I was just like tired every107100:57:50.719 --> 00:57:53.599
day because I mean to feed the beast. I was107200:57:54.239 --> 00:57:57.440
up at eight and done working at eight every day107300:57:57.519 --> 00:58:00.679
eight eight eight eight eight eight eight eight. It was107400:58:00.719 --> 00:58:03.920
just the only way to get everything done. But when107500:58:04.280 --> 00:58:06.679
when I would be like out doing something and a friend,107600:58:06.719 --> 00:58:08.639
I'd run into somebody I knew and they'd ask things,107700:58:08.760 --> 00:58:11.519
I would start telling them about why I was exhausted,107800:58:11.880 --> 00:58:14.239
and you know, I wasn't trying to be negative, but107900:58:14.239 --> 00:58:16.760
I wasn't being very positive. And I realized about the108000:58:16.760 --> 00:58:18.599
third time I was going through that with somebody, I108100:58:18.639 --> 00:58:20.760
was like, you know what, I'm just the king of108200:58:20.880 --> 00:58:22.199
good problems to have.108300:58:23.679 --> 00:58:27.320
From the most part. Sure, you're not complaining, it's just life.108400:58:28.199 --> 00:58:31.480
Yeah, it's like I've got to record somebody podcasts because108500:58:31.480 --> 00:58:33.639
people will listen to them. Oh, I've got it, like108600:58:34.000 --> 00:58:36.719
I So, you know, at the end of the day,108700:58:35.920 --> 00:58:39.199
I just I wake up every day and go, hell yeah,108800:58:39.280 --> 00:58:41.360
let's get some spooky going. Yeah. Man.108900:58:41.400 --> 00:58:43.320
It's like if you work in a bakery, they're like, man,109000:58:43.360 --> 00:58:44.519
you always smell like cake.109100:58:45.519 --> 00:58:46.480
Uh jealous.109200:58:47.320 --> 00:58:49.239
Yeah, you're welcome.109300:58:49.280 --> 00:58:50.320
I don't know what to say to that.
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