BRIAN BAUMGARTNER Played With Alligators

Summary

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Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers

Episode: "BRIAN BAUMGARTNER Played With Alligators"

Date: September 30, 2025
Hosts: Seth Meyers & Josh Meyers
Guest: Brian Baumgartner

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

In this engaging episode, Seth and Josh Meyers welcome actor Brian Baumgartner (best known as Kevin from "The Office") to share his favorite stories about family vacations, growing up in Georgia, and his unexpected brushes with wildlife. Baumgartner opens up about childhood adventures, sibling pranks, brushes with alligators, competitive crabbing, and why snorkeling is the heart of his family travel memories. He also reflects on his recent travels, golf obsession, and what it means to have a truly solid family.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Recent Travels: Ireland, Weddings & The 40 Foot (00:08 – 13:01)

• Irish Honeymoon Adjacent: Brian discusses a recent wedding trip to Ireland with his wife Mackenzie, technically over a year since they married.

  • Explores the “honeymoon vs. vacation” debate if it happens after 12 months (00:41).
  • Highlights their spontaneity—landing, grabbing a hotel, and immediately heading to the famed “40 Foot” swimming spot, inspired by the show Bad Sisters (01:46).
  • The magic of Irish stoicism: “No one has that yelp of like, oh, my…they’re just very quiet…” (02:42)

• Road Tripping Across Ireland:

  • Hiking in Wicklow, exploring Kenmare, the Ring of Kerry, Dingle, and up to Galway (04:43–05:11).
  • Rental car adventures: Narrow roads, driving on the left, and the “car inhale” trick to feel skinnier when squeezing by others (05:11).

• Pubs & Traditional Music:

  • The quest for authentic Irish “sing song” nights (06:02–07:13).
  • A magical night in a tiny Dingle pub: “One woman just sang acapella for a minute while the musicians tried to catch up to her… it was so, so lovely.” (06:49)

• Galway Disaster:

  • The pitfalls of last-minute travel bookings in busy cities—nowhere to stay or eat (09:45–13:01).
  • “Plan ahead for Galway. Everybody should have gone to Sligo.” (12:56)

2. Guest Introduction & New Ventures (13:01 – 19:04)

• Podcasting with Legends:

  • Brian’s new golf podcast “We Need a Fourth” with Cooper Manning and Kenny Mayne.
  • Meeting Cooper Manning for the first time as podcast co-hosts: “Zero minutes. Like, I’m telling you…” (14:31)
  • On the Mannings’ reputation as hilarious and legendary: “He is the one of one Manning.” (16:07)

• Golf Tournament Memories:

  • Tahoe’s American Century Championship: celebrity karaoke, Charles Barkley lap dance.
  • “You snapped a photo of Charles giving me a lap dance...an email from your BlackBerry. That’s how I knew I didn’t have it.” (21:13)

3. Childhood & Family Dynamics (26:23 – 34:28)

• Atlanta Roots:

  • Growing up in Sandy Springs, right outside Buckhead, Atlanta—shared with younger sister (26:23–27:56).
  • Sibling pranks: green paint and leprechaun-themed mischief (28:18).
  • On his close relationship with his sister and her intelligence: “She is super smart, way smarter than I am now.” (28:54)
  • Only grandchildren for both sets of grandparents, creating holiday “pressure” and competition (29:31).

• Parents & Education:

  • Dad: doctor and medical educator at Emory University, prioritized family life over private practice (30:50).
  • Transparent about finances and college choices: “You’re going to go to Emory University… because it was free” (32:09).
  • Pursuing theater instead, earning a scholarship to SMU (33:09).

4. Vacation Stories: Islands, Alligators, & Crabbing (34:28 – 45:21)

• Spring Breaks in the Caribbean:

  • Regular snorkeling trips to various islands, focus on the water more than luxury (34:36–35:22).
  • “We had our own snorkel masks…wanting to replicate that experience now with my kids.” (35:28)

• Fear & Exploration:

  • Brian’s childhood fear of sharks, “still scanning the horizon 100% of the time,” yet his kids are fearless (37:05).

• Crabbing & Alligator Encounters:

  • Vivid description of “chicken on a string” crabbing in Georgia and Florida marshes (40:18).
  • Tense family legend: accidentally attracting an alligator, who then appears to strategically cut off their escape (41:45):

    “There is a massive alligator on the end of this chicken. And it starts rolling and doing all the alligator things. And of course… we kept throwing it back in…” (41:45)

  • Parental absence, running zig-zag to escape:

    “We all knew…run zigzag. So we just ran, all six of us, zigzag down the road to escape the alligator…” (43:09)

5. Extended Family Shenanigans (55:00 – 59:57)

• The Wild Single Uncle:

  • Uncle “X” in Florida: shrimping at midnight, chasing armadillos, learning about off-the-grid living (55:00).
  • DIY shrimping explained—lights on boat, netting shrimp by hand, filling up five-gallon buckets (56:18).

    “There was not a lot of any sort of meat fish that was bought ever, ever. It was all…so in that regards, I totally support that.” (57:18)

• Crabbing with Reluctant Kids:

  • Attempts to recreate crabbing with his kids, who want nothing to do with chicken on a string (59:19).

6. Wildlife, Safety, and JAWS Anxiety (35:07, 47:00, 50:31)

• Real Sharks in Georgia:
  • First time ever seeing a shark in the surf; realization that sharks (and alligators) are now closer than ever (50:31).
  • Ongoing anxiety from Jaws as a kid; “There’s a whole generation of people that that movie did it…” (47:19)
  • Seth jokes about tourism on Martha’s Vineyard exploiting Jaws legacy (48:16).

7. Golf Passion & Scottish Pilgrimage (64:00 – 71:02)

• Golfer Cred:

  • Seth: “Multiple athletes told me that night, like, Brian’s a great golfer.” (64:14)
  • Brian shares what it’s like to compete against real athletes at celebrity tournaments.

• St. Andrews, Scotland:

  • Fulfilling a lifelong golf dream: playing the Old Course with his podcast co-hosts for “We Need a Fourth.”

    “It is one of one… it is magical. And to do it with those guys... so much fun.” (67:06–68:47)

8. Speed Round (71:11 – 73:09)

• Brian’s Quick Takes:
  • Ideal vacation? “Relaxing.” (71:20)
  • Favorite means of transport? “Plane.” (71:26)
  • Dream family to travel with? “The Simpsons.” (71:37)
  • Would take his daughter if stranded on a desert island (71:47).
  • Pitch for Atlanta? “A great place to grow up. That’s true.” (71:58)
  • Grand Canyon? “No, not…no…I mean, are you with you? I’ll go with you.” (72:18–72:24)

9. Humorous Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam Chat (73:01–74:47)

• Seth’s candid take on the Grand Canyon:

  "It is everything you think and nothing more." (72:39)

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• On Irish Swimming Culture:

  “No one has that sort of yelp of like, oh, my…they’re just very quiet.”
  — Brian, (02:42)

• On Performing for a Room of Performers:

  “It’s really fun when people are like, you know what? I’m not gonna be intimidated by the fact that some of the people at this wedding do this for a living…”
  — Seth, (08:29)

• On Growing up in Atlanta:

  “I was actually, like, a really good kid. I think any of my mischievousness I took out on her, but more in, like, mild prank ways…”
  — Brian, (27:58)

• On Wild Family Vacations:

  “There is a massive alligator on the end of this chicken...this was an intentional maneuver by the alligator.”
  — Brian, (41:44)

• On Jaws & Generational Anxiety:

  “There’s a whole generation of people that that movie did it, it did that for me…”
  — Brian, (47:19)

• On the Grand Canyon:

  “It is everything you think and nothing more.”
  — Seth, (72:39)

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TIME-STAMPED HIGHLIGHTS

• Irish swimming adventure: 01:46–04:02
• Tiny music pub in Dingle: 06:07–06:49
• Galway “no room at the inn” fiasco: 09:45–12:56
• Charles Barkley lap dance story: 20:06–21:16
• Sibling prank: leprechauns: 28:18–28:54
• Legendary alligator encounter: 41:44–43:09
• Midnight shrimping with uncle: 56:10–57:56
• 50th Anniversary of JAWS/real shark sighting: 50:31–51:15
• St. Andrews golf pilgrimage: 66:56–68:47
• Lightning round Q&A: 71:11–72:26
• Grand Canyon honesty: 72:39–73:35

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EPISODE TONE

Fun, nostalgic, self-deprecating, warmly teasing—filled with sibling banter and comical takes on travel mishaps and childhood memory.

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RECOMMENDED FOR…

Fans of "The Office," golf/celebrity podcast crossovers, those who grew up in the South, or anyone nostalgic for childhood vacations both wholesome and hair-raising—plus anyone looking for a reminder that travel stories are often best when a little something goes spectacularly wrong.

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Transcript

[Seth]

Hey, budgie.

[Brian]

Ay suv.

[Seth]

You have been family tripping.

[Brian]

I have been family tripping.

[Seth]

Really impressive. Yeah.

[Brian]

And it's gonna kind of just continue here. But yeah, I went to Ireland for a wedding. Our good friend Brendan Hunt and his now wife, Shannon Nelson. I don't know if she took his name. Yeah, I don't know. That doesn't matter anymore.

[Seth]

Important. We love her either way.

[Brian]

So we went. We still haven't had time to take our honeymoon. We've had a bunch trips. We had that Amsterdam trip earlier in the year. We had this pop up almost a.

[Seth]

It's almost been a full year.

[Brian]

It's almost been a full year and it's going to wait a little bit longer then.

[Seth]

I'm sorry. I don't think it's a honeymoon. I think you guys are just going on vacation. I think if it's after 12 months. So we.

[Brian]

Yeah, we're not letting another wedding dictate what we're doing for our honeymoon. But we did take the opportunity to go away for like eight days before we met up with everyone at the wedding and just sort of bopped around Ireland and it was fantastic.

[Seth]

It was just great. I would imagine a beautiful time of the year to be in Ireland.

[Brian]

Yeah, it was really nice. I mean, lots of rain off and on, lots of windy days. But we landed and. Do you watch Bad Sisters? Yeah, yeah, we're big fans of Bad Sisters and very often they go to the 40 foot, which is sort of a place people go jump in, I think the Irish Sea, but it's like on the south of Dublin. And we looked it up and we landed at like 2:30 and we got a nice hotel for the first night because, you know, we're just going to be taking this long flight and it's.

[Seth]

Your honeymoon whether you guys want it.

[Brian]

And it's call it that or not. And we rented a car and we drove right to the 40 foot from the plane and had a little backpack with our bathing suits in it and one travel towel. And it was just so great to sort of drive up and park and walk down there and there are these like old Irish dudes. And I sort of just you know, scanned it over and then walked back to the car. And a guy was like, oh, you decided against it, did you? And I was like, no, no, no, we're going to do it. I just wanted to sort of get a lay of the land. And we went in that water and it was great. It woke you right up. Mackenzie was sort of intimidated by the cold, but Also knew that she would regret it and was so happy that she got in also. I mean, it is kind of the warmest time of the year, but when these Irish people get in the water, they don't. No one screams.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

No one has that sort of that yelp of like, oh, my. You know, they're just very quiet and.

[Seth]

Well, I think so. They're just, you know, they're just kind of resigned to what the world gives them. This is. This is what the water is. Complaining is not going to change it.

[Brian]

I did ask a guy who was in the water as we're sort of, you know, just sort of treading water. I was like, why does no one yell? And he was like, oh, if you come in the middle of winter, people will be taking the Lord's name in vain, but he won't be here. And also, to. To our friend Melanie from Sligo. From one of our listener episodes, I think we've really gotten. I've gotten my Irish accent perfectly. Everyone over there. Oh, good.

[Seth]

That's great.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Why do they call it the forty foot? Is it. I don't know. Okay.

[Brian]

I didn't look it up.

[Seth]

Great.

[Brian]

I know it used to be just for men, and now obviously women go there as well, and there are plenty of women there as well.

[Seth]

I had Sharon Horgan on my show, and I did say that even though it's surrounded by water, I never think of Irish people going to the beach or getting in the ocean. Yeah. And so that show has opened my eyes to the fact that they do a great amount of swimming. With that said, I just from watching the show, thought that water looked cold.

[Brian]

Yeah, that water's cold. And also on that show, they wear. And a couple people when we were there had these great long jackets that are sort of like towels on the inside and have hoods, and they're called, like, changing coats or something. And you're jealous when you see those, because getting in the water is cold, but then getting out of the water is almost the coldest because it's windy, you're not dry yet. You have to, like, put your shoes and socks back on. But then, I mean, the rest of the trip, it was great. We went hiking in Wicklow, which was fantastic. We went to. To Cashel. We went to Kenmare, drove the Ring of Kerry, the Ring of Skellig, a couple nights in Dingle Up. Up to Galway.

[Seth]

Athal Dingle used to be only. All men only as well. That' got his name. Yeah.

[Brian]

But we. We rented a car and some of these roads are so small, so skinny, and, you know, you're on the opposite side of the road.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

So that's a little bit jarring. And then sometimes when you are passing another car, I always inhale as if I'm trying to make the car skinnier.

[Seth]

Yeah. You want to narrow up the cart. Sure, sure.

[Brian]

Yeah. But seems like you're, like, in the center aisle of an airplane, and someone's coming back from the bathroom, and you're going to the bathroom, and it's like, this won't work, and you just make it work and. But yeah, it was a fabulous trip. The Irish people are so nice.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Like, they're all so nice. They're all so charming. We. You know, what I really wanted to find was a pub. I told mackenzie. I was like, I want an old woman with a violin and an old guy with, like, a drum, and I just want some, like, traditional.

[Seth]

And you couldn't find one. There's all pubs.

[Brian]

We found this tiny room in this pub in Dingle, and these two guys, Matt and Jeremy, who just play traditional stuff, and it was a violin and a guitar, and Jeremy a little more shy, not really engaging with the crowd. But between songs, they would take huge chunks of time where they would just chat to each other. And then Matt was very engaging to the room as well. And we liked them so much that we saw them the next night at a different pub. And then they told us there was a sing song up the road at Kennedy's. So we went to Kennedy's and stopped into this little room, also equally tiny, with these five Irish women sitting along a bench, just singing along, you know, calling out songs that they wanted to hear. One woman just sang acapella for a minute while the musicians tried to catch up to her and sort of find the chords and, you know, no hesitation in her whatsoever. And it was so, so lovely. Like, I couldn't recommend it enough. And I feel like we.

[Seth]

You know.

[Brian]

We had another week in the trip, and MacKenzie was like, I really want to come back here. And it's like, we have another week.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah.

[Seth]

That's good, though, that. I mean, that's how you know you're a great trip. And again, we had a wonderful trip with mom and dad a few years back, and that was around the same time of year, beautiful September trip to Dublin. And I'm. But I'm jealous of your trip with MacKenzie, because when Alexi and I, the first time we went to Ireland, it was late December, and my memory of it was that it was a gray puddle. And I think a green sort of September, late August is really when you want to. Getting over there.

[Brian]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was. I mean, it couldn't be more green. It was stereotypical how green it was. And then the wedding, I got to say, like, it was just. It was amazing. I know that I've gotten a lot of credit for my best man speech at your wedding. Joe Kelly, I will say our friend really, really crushed it. And then Shannon's brother Scott gave a speech, and, you know, there's a lot of performers in that room, and he's not a performer. And gosh, did he just.

[Seth]

That's the dream. That's the dream. I mean, we had some of those at my wedding, some of those at your wedding. Like, it's really fun when people are like, you know what? I'm not gonna be intimidated by the fact that some of the people at this wedding do this for a living. Like, I'm gonna speak from the heart. I'm gonna be super funny. And I do think those are often the ones that steal the show and have a much longer tale in people's memories.

[Brian]

Yeah. So it was just wonderful and got to see a lot of old friends, and we're so glad we made the trip. And, yeah, pretty, pretty tired coming back.

[Seth]

But, yeah, here you are doing a podcast because you. This is your first love. And I will say I googled it. Nobody. There's no real answer to why they call it the 40 foot. Like, there's a. There's a couple different theories, none of which I feel like are interesting enough to share, but I think that is, to me, a wonderfully Irish thing that they have a name for something and they can't agree on what it's from.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

And it does. Like, there's a sort of an iron fence or some sort of. I don't know if it's iron. I'm not an expert in those things, but it. You know, Dave, there's something that says the 40 foot on this gate that's right there.

[Seth]

And I don't know what.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Seth]

So sound off in the comments. Let us know if it's iron. Yeah. If you're from sliding.

[Brian]

We did. I will say, you know, people say Galway is great.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

And we had some reservations booked along the way, and we were just like, well, I mean, Galway is the only city we're going to, so we'll just like, roll in there and we'll book it on the way in. We gone for this hike in the Burren national park, which was great. Then we went out to the cliffs of Moore, and we were going to be rolling into town around 7:30, and Mackenzie was on her phone trying to book us a hotel and was like, kind of quiet. It was about an hour and a half drive. And she's quiet and she's like, I'm just not seeing anything. And we get into town, I was like, just find a restaurant and we'll go to a restaurant and we'll sort it out there over dinner. So she finds a good restaurant and we park. We pay to park. We go into the restaurant and they're like, do you have a booking? And we say, no. And they're like, sorry, yeah, we can't. We're full up. And we're like, any suggestions? And they point us across the road, we go there. They're like, do you have a booking? No, we're full up and we can't find a place to eat. We see a hotel, we just pop in. We're like, do you have any rooms? And they say, no. Like, yeah, it's pretty full tonight. We're like, just this hotel. And they're like, no Galway. And they call five hotels, not. No availability. Like, you can't you look at any of the sites that you would book a hotel on? You know, booking.com, hotels.com, whatever, Expedia, blah, blah, blah. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And we were on this, like, very touristy street trying to find food. We went to a tapas place and they were like, oh, there's. It's only cheese because it's Wednesday.

[Seth]

Sure, sure, sure, yeah.

[Brian]

Which didn't make sense. Which also, as a vegan, not very good for me. So we walked out and there was this hotel above a pub on this street. And I just popped in to see, you know, that we were, like, looking for anything. And they were like, we just had a cancellation and it was kind of an expensive room. And we were like, are we going to take it? And I had to ask. The guy was like, are you a nice hotel? And he was like, well, I can show you the room. And we took it, it was fine. But we got out of town first thing in the morning. We sort of. We had a real swing and miss in Galway and just had to get out of there.

[Seth]

And I just want to let our listeners know, I'm as shocked as you are that someone who hosts a travel podcast books their hotel 90 minutes out of the town they're staying in.

[Brian]

Well, we did it in Kenmare to great Success.

[Seth]

That's good. No, I. Look, it's going to work some of the times.

[Brian]

Yeah. It worked in all the small towns. To think that a city would not have a hotel room is pretty surprising.

[Seth]

Well, I love that you're like. Because I'm easy. And then meanwhile, you're like, is this a nice hotel?

[Brian]

Well, I wasn't gonna pay more than I.

[Seth]

Serious traveler. I might not know that because I had to eat cheese. Despite being a vegan. The only thing I could get was manchango at the Spanish tapas place. Yeah.

[Brian]

Well, I will say we went to this toppest place. We were the only people in there.

[Seth]

Yeah. Well, for Wednesday, cheese night. Yeah. I don't know.

[Brian]

Yeah. So plan ahead for Galway. Everybody should have gone to Sligo.

[Seth]

Should have gone up to Sligo. Brian Bobgardner is our guest today. He's a fantastic fella who I've been lucky enough to meet over the years, and he's getting in the podcast game as well.

[Brian]

Yeah. He's got a new.

[Seth]

He's got a golf podcast with Kenny Maine. Cooper Manning.

[Brian]

Yeah. We need a fourth.

[Seth]

We need a fourth. And. But today, he will be our third. Please do. Welcome back. It's nice to have you back in the States, Pashi.

[Brian]

Thanks, Sufi.

[Seth]

It's good to be here and enjoy this conversation. Enjoy the episode. Enjoy.

[Brian]

Jeff Tweedy family chips with the Mice Brothers.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Family chips with the Mouth.

[Seth]

Is brothers.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Here we go. Yes. Yes.

[Seth]

Somebody.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Oh, boy. Here we.

[Brian]

Somebody's got a podcast now, so they.

[Seth]

Got a pretty little mic. How are you, Brian?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Well, I want to. I want to make sure I center it so it. I think. I think it's a sponsorship deal.

[Seth]

Oh, gotcha. Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, it's not. I'm good. I'm good.

[Seth]

It's lovely to see you. Congratulations on your new podcast with a couple of real gents, Kenny man and. And Cooper Manning.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yes, gents is one way to describe them for sure.

[Seth]

How long have you guys been pals?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Zero minutes. Like, I'm telling you, everyone keeps saying, like, how did this. What is. Like, what's going on? How. How did this? And I honestly, it was the. The. I mean, clearly the guys over at Smart List know what they're doing.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And they approached me, and weirdly, I had just. And I mean, just. I take my kids to school in the morning, and I typically listen to Dan Patrick, and I'm telling you, not like less than a week before they approached me. I dropped them at school. I go to a coffee shop, like, when I'm Home. This is what I try to do. And I stayed in my car because Cooper Manning was on with Dan. And I was like, oh, my God, this guy is so funny. And I sat in my car and listened to him, and the story is that he was telling. And obviously Kenny Maine is. I mean, he's a legend. I mean, like, I don't know where he's been. Although now that I've spent time with him, some rock somewhere crawled under and just couldn't find his way out. But I'm having so much fun with these guys.

[Seth]

I remember I've met Cooper Manning, I believe, twice, which were the two times his brothers hosted snl. And like, each time in, like, a very brief window, I had a moment of like, oh, so, like, you're the funny one and I'm not.

[Brian]

And by the way, and the other Mannings are very funny.

[Seth]

Exactly. Like, that's the thing I want to say, like, I never was, like, to the other ones, like, well, these guys don't have a fastball. Like, they're so funny. And then he is just unbelievable.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So when I started saying, like, yeah, I think I'm going to be doing this thing with Cooper Manning, and there were guys, Charlie Hoffman, PGA Tour player, who, who I golf with on occasion, when he's home, immediately goes, oh, Cooper is the absolute best. Like, he is the one of one Manning. And I kept hearing this from, like, all these people, and I'm like, how does this guy have this legendary status? I think he runs New Orleans. Actually used to be the politicians, but now it's the Mannings. And he still sits there on top of his throne, just such a good guy.

[Seth]

Jog my memory. He was in college football or high school football. He had a back injury.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I think it's. I think it was end of high school. That's a great question and one that I should be able to answer.

[Seth]

Yeah, but he was a really, really talented wide receiver.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Wide receiver. That's exactly right. Yeah. And a very bad injury which stopped him. But, you know, obviously the genes run through his family with Arch now. And in fact, I. I'm sure we'll talk about this in a minute, but I grew up in Georgia and I was a huge University of Georgia fan.

[Seth]

And.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And about four or five years ago, kind of got reintroduced into the program there at Georgia. And so I've. I've gone to some SEC championship games and the Florida Georgia game again, which I hadn't done since I was a kid. And. And I'm now a. A big fan. And I'm like, you know, when. When I met him, I'm like, you know, we're gonna kick your ass this year, Texas. And now, like a week ago, I said to him, like, you're making this really difficult because, like, this is your son. Like, this is your actual life and legacy. And I love you now. And I. It's. Yeah. So it's really. It's really. It's. It's. It's gonna be complicated. I think we're both gonna go to the game in. In mid November down there in Athens.

[Seth]

Amazing. He. My memory. I mean, again, meeting the Manning family is such a thrill because they are everything you want them to be.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yes.

[Seth]

And Josh and I went to Northwestern, and I guess it was the year you were still in school. But Tennessee beat Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl. Peyton Manning led. Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Okay.

[Seth]

And I remember mentioning to Archie Manning, the legendary Archie Manning, that I went to Northwest, and he goes, oh, you know, I'll never forget that game. You know, we were whooping you guys pretty good, and. And we all started chanting, sec. Sec. And then there weren't many Northwestern people there, but they started chanting sat. And, you know, I thought, well, that's. That's awful funny. And I was just like, oh, my God, you. You are such a gentleman.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I know. Yeah. They're all so nice. And also profound shit talkers. Just absolute profound. Yes.

[Seth]

The other. Since we're talking about golf, I maybe. I mean, I hope I've seen you more recently than this, but I saw you out at. You know what I'm gonna say.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I know exactly what you're gonna say.

[Seth]

What is it? The Lake Tahoe Pro Am Golf Tournament?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, please, please, Seth. It's the American Century Championship, thank you very much. Which is very important because everyone refers to it, of course, as Tahoe. Are you going to Tahoe? Are you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you play in Tahoe? Yes. Go ahead. We saw each other there.

[Seth]

We saw each other there. I had done standup there. I'm not a golfer, so I did.

[Brian]

Not golf, but couldn't imagine what you were.

[Seth]

I performed and did, like, fine, but not great.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And.

[Seth]

But I remember the most happy I've ever seen Charles Barkley is when he saw you.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. You know, so I knew. I don't know if you guys. I didn't. I didn't just happen upon this. I knew I was going to be talking to you guys today, and I went into a deep dive. I don't ever delete anything. I don't delete text messages. I don't delete email like they sit.

[Seth]

There and I'm so glad because there's a photo I was looking for today that I couldn't find.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I found it today. I found it. So we were sit at. At the American Century Championships in Lake Tao. There's. They do celebrity karaoke. There is a. There's Arty the party. That's his name. I think it's official. Plays the piano and plays some background music and. And celebrities get up and sing. And this has been for now a really long time. Charles Barkley is the. Is the ringleader of this, of this deal. And you and I were sitting together clearly slightly behind me, like next to me, behind me, but next to each other. And Charles came up and started giving me a lap dance.

[Brian]

That's 100% correct.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And you snapped a photo of Charles giving me a lap dance. And he does have a very large smile on his face now. You don't see a whole lot of body action there in the photo.

[Seth]

It's mostly his head, I feel like fills up most of the frame.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

That is correct. And I turned to you when it was all. When he was finished, so to speak. And I said, I need that. I need that photo. And I this morning found an email from your BlackBerry.

[Seth]

That's how I knew I didn't have it. That's how I knew I didn't have it.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Maybe you couldn't. I don't know if you could text pictures then from 2010. Yes, a picture of that. And then you also. I guess I had. I guess I had gone on stage and sung myself and you had come on stage and. And there is actually a much better shot of me singing to the people on stage back in 2010.

[Seth]

Yeah, really funny. And yeah, he was the happy. Usually people giving lap dances don't. It was like he was doing it for him.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Let me assure you, he absolutely was.

[Seth]

It was like he had paid you for the honor of giving you the opportunity.

[Brian]

Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

[Seth]

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[Brian]

Hey, Sufi.

[Seth]

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[Brian]

Oh, boy.

[Seth]

Whose least favorite question was what's for dinner?

[Brian]

Mom.

[Seth]

Mom did not care for what's for dinner. Our poor father would work all day and then on his drive home, he would call up his beautiful wife. He would try to connect with her over the question, what's for dinner? And she would tell him and Then hang up the phone like somebody had just called up and like breathed heavily and asked her what she was wearing.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Seth]

So cruel.

[Brian]

It was perpetual.

[Seth]

You know, if Tovala had been around, I just feel like those would have been easier years for them. Yeah, well, she would have said, hey, Jerry, it's red wine braised prime rib and veggies. Does that suit your desires?

[Brian]

Yeah, and I think it would have.

[Seth]

I think it would have.

[Brian]

That's right up Yuri boy's alley. Look, if you love great food but hate cooking or cleaning, listen up because this just made weeknight meals about 10 times easier.

[Seth]

Yeri. Tonight we're having a barbecue pulled pork sandwich. The next thing you would have heard is his tires screeching, squealing.

[Brian]

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[Seth]

And Pasci heads up. Tavala's Smart Oven isn't just for their meals. You can also use the oven to scan store bought groceries like Eggo Waffles, Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and Amy's Frozen meals, to name a few. Eddie knows how to cook them too.

[Brian]

Knows a lot. This oven knows a lot.

[Seth]

It's a smart oven. It's. Here's the problem. You ever walk into your kitchen alone and you think, well, at least I'm the smartest person in here right now. Yeah.

[Brian]

Not anymore.

[Seth]

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[Brian]

I don't know, having to do laundry.

[Seth]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. And one might say to me, did you?

[Brian]

I think that's a fair question based on how you looked and smelled.

[Seth]

Well, look what I'm telling You is if laundry sauce had been around back in our day, it wouldn't have been a problem. This is a back to school secret weapon. It's not just detergent. It's a whole set of ultra concentrated pods, scent boosters, dryer sheets, fabric conditioner, all designed to work together, smell amazing and show up at your door before you realize you're out.

[Brian]

College students, no more lugging giant jugs up five flights of stairs. Parents, no more emergency store runs. In the middle of everything else you're juggling, the signature package makes it easy to stay stocked, stay fresh, and never settle for smelling. Meh.

[Seth]

And the best part, with the laundry sauce subscription, you'll never run out. You can get the signature package delivered on your schedule with flexible options and exclusive perks. No last minute store runs, no heavy bottles to carry, and you always save for a limited time only. Our listeners get 20% off your entire order when you use code trips@laundry sauce.com that's 20% off@laundry sauce.com with promo code trips. After checkout, they'll ask where you heard about them. Don't forget to drop our name, lock in your subscription to stay stocked and step into the season, smelling and feeling like you've got it all together. So you mentioned you, you grew up in Atlanta proper or suburbs.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, I mean suburbs adjacent. Yeah, Atlanta, little area, I think it's now incorporated, called Sandy Springs, right on the edge of Buckhead, which most people have heard of. And, and Sandy Springs there but not too, I mean not far out now it goes like Atlanta goes like 45 miles.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Like I'll run into someone and they'll be like, oh, I'm from Atlanta. I'm like, oh, I grew up there. And they'll say some words that make no sense to me that now I guess it's grown a lot. But yeah, I grew up, I grew up there with my sister and parents obviously and. Yeah.

[Seth]

Where does your sister land?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

My sister is still there. My sister, my sister essentially never left. She and her husband both lived in and still live in the state of Georgia. Now he my sister at like I don't know, age 34 or something around there, maybe even 40. They moved to Germany for three, for three years. I was like that is a, that is a huge change. But then, and then they, they went back. So I'm back and obviously there's some work stuff that happens in Atlanta obviously is, is grown up now in terms of, of industry work. So I'm back occasionally get to spend time with her back There it's.

[Seth]

And was she older? Younger?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

She was. My sister was younger, three years younger. So we were like, we. We overlapped, but barely. Right. Like, in high school and so forth.

[Brian]

Were you close growing up?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

We were close. I mean, like, legitimately, I can say this. And I. It's. I don't. I don't. I don't think it is bragging because I think it's not as cool. Like, I was actually, like, a really good kid. I think any of my mischievousness I took out on her, but more in, like, mild prank ways where she'll still talk today like, you tortured me, and I'm like, really there. And it would be much more just like, convincing her that leprechauns did exist and that they would come and take her, take her from her room and then, like, find green paint and all of this stuff, and her being just terrified as a child of St. Patrick's Day.

[Seth]

That's really good. I mean, anyone who puts time to actually get some crafts into their prank.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, I think exactly. No. Yeah. But no, really, we were good. We got along really well. She is super smart, way smarter than I am now. Is. Is a lawyer, and she's has her family growing up, and generally the same area that we grew up and going to, not the same high school, but just adjacent high schools. And I mean, I feel like she's. She is giving her kids the. The childhood that we got, and it was fantastic.

[Brian]

That's great. Did you have grandparents nearby?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No. But here's the thing. Now, some people might think this is good. My dad was an only child, and my mom had one brother who never married. So there were only two grandchildren, me and my sister, in the whole deal. So both sets of grandparents, we were all they had. So there was, like. It's not as awesome as you might think. Like, there was a lot of sort of competition, I think, and, like, I get that jealousy and like, well, where are you spending Christmas this year? Or, you know, Thanksgiving or whatever? Like, there. I feel like there was a lot of pressure on us to be sort of all things for all people. And I feel like as I've grown up in other families, like, maybe Grammy and Grampy really like sports, so they like this, you know, this grandkid, and they all sort of, like, can kind of pair off and be the favorites. Whether they admit it or not, it was just us. So that was that. There was some family tension around that. Around holidays stuff.

[Seth]

Did your. Where you are, your parents, educators? Do I have that right?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

My. Yes. My My mom became a homemaker pretty early on. My dad was a doctor, but he worked for, I don't know, I always say, like, 40 years or something. He was at Emory University, so he was really a teaching. He was the head of the residency program there for a long, long time and ultimately loved teaching more than he loved doctoring, though he still did practice at the university. So. Yeah, and, you know, he said to us as we were older, like, he made that choice to not go into private practice because he wanted to be home. He didn't want to be on call all, you know, everybody other weekend or whatever. So it was, you know, a sporadic holiday that he had to be on call and, like, very few memories of him, like having to leave during some family dinner or something like that. So, no, we were. He worked long hours, but he was definitely accessible. And, and, you know, we traveled together.

[Seth]

Where did you. 1. I would just say it does seem like you. You had a great deal with your parents. Like, is it safe to say that you were raised by really solid people?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

A hundred percent. No. A hundred percent. I would say that. And, and even so much so that, you know, we, you know, when I. We lived in the same house from when I was five and we moved into this area because the high school was. This was the good high school, so we're going to move there, which gave him like a, you know, in LA or New York, it's not as big a deal, but in Atlanta, it was like, you know, 45 minutes or whatever for him to go to work over in Emory. But he did it because of this high school. And gradually this high school deteriorated in the, in the 10 years or the decade or whatever. So we ended up going to, to private school. And his deal was always, I'm going to pay for this, but you're going to go to Emory University, which, by the way, is essentially like saying you're gonna go to Duke, like, regularly. You know, you're. You're gonna go to Harvard or whatever, because.

[Brian]

And you're gonna like it and you're.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Gonna, you're gonna like it because it was, it was free. And so he was like that. He was very sort of transparent about that. Like, I'm gonna do this, and, you know, you have access to activities and other things that you want to do. And, and, and sure enough, I decided that I wanted to go into theater, and Emory did not. It's a fantastic school. My sister did go there, but they didn't really have the program that I was looking for. Like, I ended up going to. I went to smu, which has like a conservatory, deep theater training place. And he was very much like, okay, well you. You remember our deal, so you better go get a scholarship. I was like, okay, so. So I did. And I mean, that was part of our deal. I think he ended up paying. He showed me pretty recently. I think he ended up paying nineteen hundred dollars a semester.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

For me to go to S. And he was like, okay, that's good. You did. You did.

[Seth]

Yeah. That's enough. Right?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

You did, you did.

[Seth]

Well.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So, yeah. So I, you know, I ended up moving away, but we were very close. Had a very good childhood.

[Seth]

When you traveled where, what kind of trips would you guys take?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So that's. I was thinking about that.

[Seth]

I.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

It sounds fancy. And we were so not fancy. But being in Atlanta, we were very close to the Caribbean. So.

[Seth]

Yes.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Our spring break, which, by the way, there wasn't all this like mid winter ski weeks or whatever they call these things now that we had one week. Right. Which was spring break. And I would say almost every year we. We went to an island, right?

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Not enough. But it was so close. You know, like, it's not like even in New York or in the middle of the country, like flying or getting there. You know, there was direct flights from Atlanta and. And so that we did that. And so we snorkeled.

[Seth]

Oh, wow. Nice. Where these trips as a kid, do you remember? Looking Forward to it 100%. Yeah. Okay.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

We had our own snorkel masks. And still now, like introducing my kids to it. I love. I haven't. I hadn't done it in so many years, but now my kids are getting older and I'm like wanting to share that with them and. Yeah. And getting the masks and like, we haven't bought the masks yet, which is so stupid. But like wanting to sort of replicate that experience that we had there with my parents. Yeah. The good feeling that it gives, I think, is why I hate.

[Seth]

I will say with like either goggles or snorkeling masks. My absolute nightmare is when one of the kids is like, it's not tight enough. Like, I just. The. Then it's like, take it off and then they're like, it's too tight back and forth. So I.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Do you do it? Do you? Do you.

[Seth]

We do a lot of swimming. We don't. Yeah. We haven't gone anywhere where we've snorkel with the kids. They're. I think they're a tick younger than yours, but I think they would really like Snorkeling.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. We just went somewhere and they held an octopus and like, at some point. Nailed it. Yeah. But like in their hands, like these divers going down.

[Seth]

What's. What's a good age to hold your first octopus?

[Brian]

Like any age.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Like around double digits.

[Seth]

Okay, gotcha. And they. So does this mean they're fearless?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yes.

[Seth]

Okay.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

It doesn't scare them.

[Seth]

It.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

It. I still. And I do, you know, 50th anniversary of Jaws or whatever. Like, there is no doubt that is in my psyche. Like there. I mean, there is no doubt for me. This irrational, like, I love it, I do it. It doesn't keep me out of the water. Oh. But I'm scanning the horizon and looking behind me 100% of the time and they are full on oblivious.

[Brian]

So you wouldn't intentionally swim with sharks? You wouldn't go on like a shark?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, no. Have you done that?

[Brian]

No, but I think, I mean, I. Part of me says I would want to go. I would do like get in a cage, but I don't know.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

God, no. Oh, no.

[Seth]

We're like, the thing about human beings is we're all. We're supposed to be on the other side of the cage. If you're, if you're, if you're a human being who puts yourself in a cage on purpose.

[Brian]

Would you, would you always go to the same spot in the Caribbean or would you pick a different island?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, different. It was different. And then. And so it was all. It was about the water for us. So we would do that. And then the other thing that we did, we would go to the beach. Right. Well, this is going to lead it. So we would go to the beach like the, Again, like, it's a four hour drive to basically anywhere like Georgia, like around Savannah, South Carolina, northern Florida. It's all sort of very close to where we were. So this was like in the car, driving, doing the thing at the beach. And my mom's family. I mentioned before that my mom's brother never married. He preferred. Well, he preferred to, to go into situations and put himself outside of the cage. There is no doubt he would have had a reality show. Like, if he were that age now, someone would have found him and been like, we're. We're putting you on the Learning Channel or Animal Planet or something. Like, because he, that was his lot. Like, he just did the nature things. My dad, not one bit. Like, not at all. My mom grew up with it a little bit. So when we went to the beaches, it was about crabbing, like fishing and crabbing and kind of playing with alligators a little bit. Like this is a whole, this is, this is against my brand and my whole sort of identity now. But yes, we would, we would go crabbing and we would. This is my sister and I and our other family friends. Usually one family, but sometimes others. And like throwing a crab trap into a marshy area or the ocean or like whatever, that was not exciting for us as, as children, we wanted to do it like the old fashioned way. So what that entails, if you're not familiar, is taking like a chicken neck or back, okay. And tying it to a string and throwing said rotted flesh into this marshy area, letting it sit there for a minute and then very slowly pulling it up. And if you were lucky, you would start feel like, almost like. I don't know if you're fisher people, but you would start feeling like something tugging on the line and you would be like, oh, we've got. And sometimes it was just fish hitting it or whatever, but often it would be a crab. And so it would come up to a dock area and you would, it would be on the chicken. You would scoop it up. Right. So it was like very, it was very competitive. Right. As opposed to just throwing in a trap.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Letting it sit for six hours and coming back and seeing if.

[Seth]

Just finding the dumbest crabs in the marsh.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. That are just sitting in, in there. So this happened often. There is one time that has become family lore for me and my sister. We were doing this on this very long dock out into this marsh area and throwing in the chicken and doing crabs. And this one time the. It's pulling pretty hard and, but not, not as hard as you might think. With the end of the story. I think I've. I've very, I. I've spoiled the alligator.

[Seth]

Thinking alligator at this point.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So I start pull. We start pulling this thing up and again we're like in the 10 area, 10, 11 years old, and there is a massive alligator on the end of this chicken. And it's starts rolling and doing all the alligator things. And we're just children watching this alligator do this. And we, of course, we're dumb children and of course you should never do this. Never ever, ever do this. But we would kept throwing it back in and the alligator was kind of like wanting the ticket and we were getting it from him and suddenly the alligator just, with that, that dead eye above the water just starts staring at us and then just starts swimming and we're like, oh, shoot. And kind of throwing the chicken like, sort of in the general area of it. Swimming away, Swimming to the side.

[Seth]

Okay, gotcha.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And suddenly, as we realize it's going toward the bank, we realize that this alligator is going to get up on the bank and thereby be blocking our way off of this long dock. And this was, there is no doubt in my mind to this day, this was an intentional maneuver by the alligator.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Seth]

So we don't. On the alligator, the little piece of chicken was the amused bouche.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

That is correct. So we all, as children, and again, like you would say today, like, where were your parents?

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Why? Like, this was us when we were like, how are they letting you out in a marshy area with an extended long dock where there are clearly alligators around. So we run off, the alligator gets up on the bank. And we all, we knew because our parents had taught us this is run zigzag. So we, we just ran, all of us, all six of us ran zigzag down the road to escape the alligator that was, that was coming to get us. So that was, that was our childhood. It sounds. So when you say you're going to an island in the Caribbean, it sounds fancy, but we were much more, yeah, we were much, we were a little more Georgia than that. Yeah.

[Seth]

When people from Georgia book, they're like, put them in Alligator Alley. They'll be happiest there.

[Brian]

Would you, would you be staying, like, at resorts in these island places or.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, and when we would go, like, to the Caribbean. Yeah. I mean, a hotel.

[Seth]

Yeah, sure.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I, I, I don't. But we would go to. My parents were fond of, they viewed it at least like, on the, on the spring break excursions as like, giving us experiences. Right. So, like, there's, like, in the Virgin islands, there's like St. Thomas, but then there's also, like, St. John's and Place, you know, those other little islands that you can't fly to. So you would go and maybe take a boat over there or something and to experience different, you know, the geography of different places and, and not be overly fancy, but still have the experience. But it was really, for us, honestly, it was about, it was about snorkeling. Like, it was about, like, going and getting in the water. And I'm sure, like, my mom or dad at the time had guidebooks or whatever, like, what are the best islands to snorkel on? And we would all do that as a family.

[Seth]

And on a snorkeling day, like, how long a day was a snorkel? Like, would you go out for hours at A time we would go out.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. Like we would spend the day. Like we would spend the day for sure. Especially I, especially me and my dad. Like my sister might get over it or my mom or whatever. But yeah, we would, we would go out and you know, had the books and identify the fish and.

[Brian]

Did you have underwater cameras?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, I don't remember that. I really, I don't remember that at all. I don't know.

[Seth]

He had to get me to email him a picture from my BlackBerry. Yeah, I know he doesn't have an underwater camera. All his memories are from people with blackberries who had to email it to. Did you ever cross the threshold into scuba?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No.

[Seth]

Why not?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

You know, I have set. When I moved to Southern California I had decided and spoiler alert, eventually got a pool. I decided that I was going to become certified, like I was gonna do. Because I know you can like become certified in a pool and, and do all that. I never, I never made the phone call. I never did it. I think as a kid it was probably about that fear thing that I was talking about. Like, I think it was like the idea of being down and I, and I think even when I was thinking about becoming certified it wasn't like let me go 100ft down or whatever. It was more like, well, this would enable me to really check out the reefs. I'm pretty good at, you know, just doing free diving but obviously I can't stay down that long. So I think it was, I think it was about that. It was, I don't think I know for sure. It was much more about that than for me at the edge there of the drop offs. I, I do, I do. I have, I still have that.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I think there's a whole generation of people that that movie did it, it did that for me as much as I loved it, the idea of going down where I not sure that I could escape.

[Seth]

Yeah, I don't, I also don't like it. But my, for me it's not the other what's down there. It's like the apparatus itself and, and I, you know, look, obviously their certification is important, instruction's important. But I was always like, this is too much stuff. I don't want part of it. Yeah, I'm like, that's part of it for me too. And you're just really with your thoughts. Yeah, you know what?

[Brian]

I've done it. I like it.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

You like it?

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brian]

I haven't done it for years, but I took a trip ages ago to Thailand and it's the Only sort of good thing that I did in Thailand. It was a bad trip. I went alone, and I got ripped off and I got sick and blah, blah, blah.

[Seth]

Okay.

[Brian]

But I got certified, and it's really cool. And I agree, it's a lot of gear, and to tip off a boat backwards is disorienting. But as soon as you're under and you're breathing, it's remarkably peaceful, I find.

[Seth]

He got so ripped off that when he tipped over the side of the boat, he hit sand. They're like, this isn't a boat. It's a truck. And they drove off. Wait. I was on Martha's Vineyard this summer, and it was the 50th anniversary of JAWS. And it's so comical to me how there was so much Jaws tourism, like, for a place to say, like, this is where the bad, fake thing happened. And it's gotten like, this summer wasn't bad, but a couple summers ago was a little sharky. And everybody was saying, it's like global warming. Just get used to the sharks. It's gonna be a big part of your future. But it was so funny that they were like, this is where the shark movie happened. Enjoy the beach.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I saw all that stuff from afar. I wasn't there. And I thought exactly the same thing. Yeah, I will. So I have again that I have. I have done almost everything to not give my kids the experience that I grew up with, like, living on the other side of the world in a totally different way. But I. My folks are still with us, and they are. They have retired to the coast down there about four hours from Atlanta. And so, really to visit them, but also, I think, to give my. My kids that. We go back and point of that story right now is for the first time in my lifetime and going there essentially once a year for one to two weeks, I saw a shark in the. In the surf. Like an absolute. Just like a. An unmistakable. Like, my brain was telling me it could not be. Like, that must be because there's dolphins. You see dolphins all the time.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

But that unmistakable dorsal fin and the. And the. And the. And the back tail fin sticking out and then disappearing and then coming out and sort of riding this wave. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is like, I've never seen it. And then, of course, getting on my phone and seeing that they're around much more now and coming in closer.

[Seth]

And you. Have. You had a text from a shark saying, yeah, that was me.

[Brian]

How far away were you from it? Or were people.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Sorry, sorry. I have to get this joke. No, the shark. BlackBerry imaging me. A picture of me standing there as I have one of him.

[Seth]

Sharks are one of the last species still using BlackBerry.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

They don't have iPhones yet. Yeah, it was like in the. It was in the, like in where the waves were crashing. Not far at all.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And then you read online, like most shark attacks happen in 3ft of water and you're like. And actually I think that's from the movie Jaws too.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Where they say that and it's like, oh, yeah, that was like. It would have been like waist high or, you know, maybe slightly above for me, but not out there.

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It was funny you mentioned dolphins like a couple summers ago. Everyone was like, oh, there's whales out in the Atlantic Ocean. And so my father in law, like, was dead set on like seeing a whale. And so we were out and like, while we were out, we like, we were alongside a pod of dolphins and.

[Brian]

It was like a super pod or.

[Seth]

You couldn't believe it. And it was like a hundred dolphins and it was those majestic things. And my kids were like, are the whales. Jesus. Shut. Will you shut up.

[Brian]

Enjoy this mammals.

[Seth]

I don't see a whale.

[Brian]

Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

[Seth]

Support for family trips comes from Airbnb. You know, we're looking on the Airbnb website right now trying to pick a home that will fit both my parents, my brother and my boys. They're going on a trip together to Pittsburgh. And it's so fun when you just look at all these different homes that people are willing to share with you. And I love it, the welcoming homes you book on Airbnb. But it got me to thinking my home could do the same for someone else. And, you know, I think especially someone who wants to come to an apartment that has more Star Wars Legos than they have in the Star Wars LEGO factory. But think about it. If you host your home on Airbnb when you're traveling, it's a great way to offset some of the costs of your own trip. The extra income you make can be put towards an upcoming trip, a splurge you've been eyeing, home improvement projects, etc. And if you've got a lot of trips ahead of you, hosting is a pretty cool and unique way to make some money back. Josh is on a trip right now. That's why he's not here. Probably should have given me a heads up that that was something we were going to do. This week, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com/host support comes from Fabric by Gerber Life. Hey, buddy.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Hey Sufi.

[Seth]

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[Brian]

Look, if you've got kids, and especially if you're young and healthy, the time to lock in low rates is right now.

[Seth]

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[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Here we go.

[Brian]

Would your, your single uncle, was he. Would he go on these trips and would he be sort of a pied piper into nature stuff that maybe your dad wouldn't lead you into?

[Seth]

And would he be disappointed that the way Josh described him is your single uncle? He's like, hey, man, I'm other stuff.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

You know, I wasn't sure how much I was going to go into this, but he, there was a period of time and my dad now will say things like, I can't believe that we allowed that to happen. We would go to his place that was in Florida, and there all bets were off. Like what we might experience, like chasing armadillos. I mean, look, we were Georgia. I said from the beginning we were from Georgia. And again, I, I appreciate that time that we did. Like, we went shrimping like, like, as, as young children, like, getting woken up at like 11pm and like, this is when the shrimp are running. Let's go.

[Seth]

It's like, how do you shrimp? What is the apparatus you used?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So again, we were. This was.

[Seth]

If this was chicken on a string again, I'm going to be very disappointed.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

It kind of. Honestly, like, not, not exactly, but, you know, this was not, this was not fancy shrimping boats. Right. With again dragging nets that would catch shrimp and other things. This was, you would put lights on the side of the boat just to be able to see and maybe, I don't know, I don't, it's been a long time. I don't know if the light attracts them, but basically you would go into these inlets when the, I assume when it was becoming high tide, like when the water was coming in. I don't know, maybe it was when it was going out. Whichever way is better. You would sort of go there and anchor and the they would come by and you would just, you would have a net and just net them. Yeah. And I mean like, but five gallon buckets, like filling them with shrimp.

[Brian]

Wow.

[Seth]

And then eating it, was it?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. Oh, 100. Yeah. I mean he, my whole family really. There was not a lot of any sort of meat fish that was bought ever, ever. It was, it was all so in that regards, I'm, I'm, I totally support that and I, I, I, I think it's a, it was really incredible. And the experiences that we had there, both fishing and, and shrimping, I, I, we, we did not hunt. He did a lot. But those experiences, like, it was, it was incredible. It was incredible.

[Seth]

To get woken up at 11pm is so rad.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. And just like, hey, we're going out on the boat. And the coming back when the sun comes, like if, if running good.

[Seth]

Oh man, that's amazing. It'd be like a real night, A.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Whole night out there. Yeah.

[Seth]

Wow. When you say chase an armadillo, do you ever catch an armadillo?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I didn't, but I probably, I probably mildly chased it and then was like.

[Seth]

Oh, I can't shoot it. You kind of shoot it away.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth]

Get out of here.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Go ahead, Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to say his name right now, but basically it was called, it was called, it was called Uncle X's camp. Yeah. And we would go there. Yep.

[Seth]

So he's definitely wanted.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

To my knowledge, never been in trouble with the law.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

But just like off the grid for.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. Not like, not like, I don't mean like certifiably like hiding from people. I just mean like, like this is, this is how we, this is how we lived. Yeah.

[Brian]

Were you like in the Everglades or were you more.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, you know, that's, that's a great question. I don't think exactly. This would be more, a little more central. Everglades is more south. Right.

[Brian]

I think so.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I might never been totally wrong, but this was, like, central Florida and then the coast, obviously. Yeah. I mean, look, I. There are times when, like, we went back to visit my folks, and I'm like, guys, we're gonna go crabbing. They're like, what are you talking about, dad? And I'm like, no, we're gonna. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna get chicken, and we're gonna put it on a string, and then we're gonna catch. And they're just like, no, no, we're absolutely not. Not doing that. And I, like, sort of try but remember.

[Seth]

But no, it's thinking. It's the neck or the back.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah, it's the neck. What is this? And then just like. But also not quite remembering.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Fully how to do it or, like, where the good spots are or anything. And so just becoming.

[Seth]

My kids have clammed a little, but, you know, clamming is basically just like raking sand.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Right.

[Seth]

I feel like the thrill of the chase with. With crabbing, because nobody actually. You never rake up an alligator, for example, you know, you guys were really in it.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, we were. I mean, they're. They are everywhere there, though, you know?

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Down. Not. Not up. Not up. Not up where you guys are.

[Seth]

No, no. I almost never see one. Yeah.

[Brian]

No. But Florida, like, golf courses. You'll see them. I remember going to visit my friend Bobby Stewart, and he had this little pond near his house, and we definitely, like, were biking around that. And you'd see them there.

[Seth]

It's.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Like, everywhere.

[Seth]

See, that's. I will. I was gonna say that's. Alligator's scarier to me than a shark. It maybe is. Cause, like, when you see a. Like. Cause alligators are faster than you think when they come out of the water fast.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yes.

[Seth]

You know, at least with a shark, if you can get to the beach, you're good. I don't care for either. I will. I will distress. I don't care for either. Armadillo. When you said that, I'm like, that's a guy. I'd be pretty happy to see one of them.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Mildly chase it and then call it a day.

[Seth]

Just kind of run around. Maybe he's chasing me. You don't even know what's going. That's how we're just sort of circling around the lawn.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Well, I think with. With alligator. If it's. Alligators don't really live in water one wants to swim in. So the idea of just suddenly encountering One in the water. It's not. Not so likely. As opposed to a shark. I think for me, that's why the shark thing is just like, they are there, they are out there, they are around you. So, yeah.

[Brian]

Back to the. The grandparents and the jealousy about where you might be going for Christmas. Would you do Christmas at grandparent houses?

[Seth]

No.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So that was that. That is something. Some might call it selfish. That is something that I have. Have. I have enacted with my family now as well. Typically, my parents said very clearly, we will be at our house and you are all invited. Now, if we didn't have room or whatever, like, some people may have. We have. May have to, you know, but we could find another place to stay or hotel or whatever. But, like, we are here, so not do the. Like, you know, we're gonna go to this house this time, and I. We do the same thing now, which I'm like, guys, everyone is invited. Any. Everyone is in. I. My house is open to you, but I will be home and my kids will be home. Because I think for us, that was. That was something we liked. Like, we. We. The. I just being home, the whole, like, for the holidays, preparing. We were sort of a part of it, as opposed to, like, when you have to travel around for whatever holiday you're. You become just sort of a guest.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And, you know, I. We weren't close enough where it was like, come around the corner to our house or whatever. So it was a. It was a trip for sure.

[Seth]

Where is your wife from? Where in the country is California? Okay, gotcha.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So it's a little different. It's a little different now. It's not the same, but still, it's like, you know anybody? My sister, my folks. You want to come? This is where we'll be. Please, please come.

[Seth]

Yeah. That's great. It's so lovely to talk to you. And you were. But you were also. Cause I remember being at that golf event with you. You're a great golfer. Is that safe to say?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Look.

[Seth]

If multiple athletes told me that night, like, like, Brian's a great golfer. So this is.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I can hold them.

[Seth]

Liars.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, hey, I can. I can hold my own, and I love it. The thing about the American Century Championship specifically, and other of those tournaments, which they have a purse, like, it is like a. A professional golf. I joke with Charlie Hoffman, who's like a real professional golfer now. Like, if we're playing, there's a few people with us, and, you know, I'll make some joke like, huh, Just two professional golfers teeing off here on a Friday because it is, there's a purse, but because there's a purse, this is, as I understand it, there's no handicap involved, so there's no strokes given. So, like, you've got Steph Curry, Marty Fish, like you have guys who are going to shoot five, six under par.

[Seth]

That's how good Steph is.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. Steph won that event two years. Well, last year he, he did not come back. So. Sorry. Two years ago, three tournaments ago. Right. So it's in July he won. Then the next year he had some, some stupid thing he had to do, like win the gold medal at the Olympics so he couldn't make it. And then he was back this year and was in the top, top five for sure. But Marty Fish, Marty Fish is the, is the, is known to be the, the best, but like, he has a course record of a 62 par 72, 62 on that course during the tournament. Seth, this is not what I, this is not me. Yes. This is not me. So I can never win. I just try to do well and.

[Seth]

Look, I, how, how do you measure up against the non athletes, athlete, participants?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I'm, I'm, I, I measure up pretty well.

[Seth]

Okay.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

And, and there are more and more of us. Colin Jost has been there the last couple of years. Ray Romano is a, is a, and, and it's this event. There's some other events too, but Ray Romano, Rob Riggle.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Nate Bargazi.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Has shown up. Tim Simons from Veep. I know I'm missing people that I usually get paired with, but. Yeah, no, I, I measure up. Okay.

[Seth]

All right.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Other than, other than these sort of celebrity or charity golf events, what's been your, the best golf trip you've ever taken in your life?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

So it just happened. Like, it just happened. I've got this new podcast coming out or that's out now. We need a fourth with Kenny Maine and Cooper Manning we were talking about before, and we got together to talk to some people. One and two to get us together. We shot some promo stuff and we played together and we went to St. Andrews in Scotland, the old course at St. Andrews, and played a few courses there. And it is spectacular. I mean, people have told me before, like, oh, St. Andrews. But you know, like traveling halfway around the world, you know, it's, again, it's not like New York now I'm in California, you know, it's like 19 hours or whatever of travel to get over there. And so I, I'm, I, I'm I'm not as adventurous about the golf travel stuff. Like, I typically will do stuff with family or, you know, I've got work stuff. But I'm telling you, if you're a golfer and if you want an experience, going there is number. It is one of one. Because St. Andrews. And you always hear it, right the. You've heard, right? The Old Course at St. Andrews. St. Andrews. Maybe I'm an idiot. I am an idiot. But it's a city, right? But it is the only place I've ever been. It is a city that surrounds the golf course. Every single thing in this town faces, looks at, interacts with this. This golf course and the culture of it. But we just had Michelle, we.

[Seth]

Hall.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Of Fame golfer, on the podcast, and she was talking about it as well. Like, there's something different there here in the United States, there is sort of an exclusivity, which I think turns people off about golf. Like, oh, you've got to join this place. Or there's all these rules. And I feel like an idiot. And people are there. It's like. It's like Central park, but it's the golf course. So, like, on in the evening, people are out there playing with their dogs. People are lining and watching. Duffer. And this had nothing to do with the fact that there were celebrities who were there. And I'm not talking about there were a bunch of other celebrities who were playing in this thing, but it wasn't about that. There were just people hanging out, watching, just watching people come up 18. And there's a very famous hole, if you know golf at all, it's 17. It's called the Road hole. And the day that we played the pin where the. Where the, you know, the pin where the hole is on the 17th green was 3 1/2ft from the edge of what seemed like a cliff, which went down onto a. Onto a road. And this is a road that people walk on and can drive on. And it's just right there. It's a magical, magical experience. I'll send you guys a photo of it. Stays dark there in the summer until 10:30 at night. And there's a shot, like, I think at exactly 10:30 at night, the sun is just going down. And I'm standing on the bridge there on 18, like one of the most famous places in golf, because I just walked from the road out to holding a Guinness just on this. And this we happened to have. I don't travel with a professional photographer, but one happened to be walking with me and took this Shot of me there, and it's not like I snuck on and did something weird. We're just like. We're walking on the road, and you're like, there's the bridge. It's. It is magical. And to do it with those guys, Kenny and. And Cooper, and there were a lot of other people there as well, but it was so much fun. So much fun.

[Seth]

That is really, really awesome. Congrats on the new podcast. It is always wonderful to see you, but before we let you go, Josh is going to ask you our speed round questions.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Okay. Speed round. Here we go.

[Brian]

All right.

[Seth]

Here we go.

[Brian]

You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Relaxing.

[Seth]

Nicely done.

[Brian]

What is your favorite means of transportation?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Plane.

[Brian]

Very good. If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

The Simpsons.

[Brian]

If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

My daughter.

[Seth]

Wow.

[Brian]

You are from Atlanta. If you are the head of Atlanta's board of tourism, how would you pitch the city?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Oh, God, no. Sorry. There were so many jokes that came in that I should not ever say a great place to grow up. That's true.

[Brian]

Okay, great. And then Seth has our final questions.

[Seth]

Have you been to the Grand Canyon?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No, not. No.

[Seth]

Do you want to go?

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

No.

[Seth]

Great.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I mean, are you with you? I'll go with you.

[Seth]

I don't want to go.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Okay.

[Brian]

We went. We went last year, and Seth still.

[Seth]

I'm good.

[Brian]

Is unimpressed.

[Seth]

Okay. I love it. Great to see you. Great to see you, Brian.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

You as well. Yeah. Is that true? You were unimpressed?

[Seth]

It's fine. You know what? It is Everything you think and nothing more.

[Brian]

We didn't go below the rim. We had our fantasy football draft on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

[Seth]

Incredible experience being with my friends, but again, you know, I would enjoy being with them on the rim of a dumpster, so I don't want to give all the points to the canyon for this.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Makes sense.

[Seth]

Yeah. But I'm glad. Thank you for just your straight honesty. I feel like a lot of Americans feel like they've got to pretend like that's their bucket list.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Yeah. It's like going to Vegas and we. I have a joke with my old, old high school friend. We've been to Vegas a couple times for different, you know, bachelor parties or, you know, someone's birthday or whatever. And there's one guy who's always like, guys, should we go to the Hoover Dam? Absolutely not. Like, there is no chance.

[Brian]

I was just in Vegas with my wife and a couple friends, and we were going to see a show at the Sphere, and we had kind of a day where we didn't know what to do before going to the Sphere, and my wife said to, like, we were in a Uber the night before, and she was like, maybe we should go to the Hoover Dam tomorrow night. And the driver was like. I was like, have you been? What do you think? And he was like, it's a dam for me.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

It's like the Grand Canyon, our house. I have had to drive by there. But to me, it's like, really? At one year, he arranged a helicopter because it had become this. This joke, like, should we go to the Hoover Dam? And I still said no.

[Brian]

Well, we had our. We had our draft at the. At the Grand Canyon because we asked this question on the podcast, and then. And the guy who got to pick where the draft was picked Flagstaff, so we could drive up there and force Seth to get there.

[Seth]

Just burn me. Just burn me with a trip to the Grand Canyon. I had to go to. Great to see you, Brian. I hope to see you in person soon. This is a pleasure.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I hope show is. Well.

[Seth]

Send me if it's appropriate. I'd love to see the Barkley picture again, too.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

I'll send it to you.

[Seth]

Okay, great. Be well, my friend.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Brian]

Thanks so much.

[Guest (likely Brian Bobgardner)]

All right.

[Brian]

When Brian was younger, Florida in summer, kids would run off without moms or dads, and better than fishing, put chicken on a string, a neck or a back, and go bobbing for crabs, chasing armadillos for a little while, boating at night when the shrimpies would run. And it was old, Uncle Leg never knew what was next, but I bet it was real dang fun. Well, he and his friends walked down a real long dock to gather some crabs that they could bring home. And they all got nervous, Went up to the surface. It wasn't a crab that was hanging on. Hang on, hang on, hang on. Running away, moving in a serpentine, trying to avoid a gator assault. Brian was a kid, says, don't do what he did. If you do, it's not Brian's fault. Emphatically, please don't you follow his lead.

[Seth]

If you do.

[Brian]

It'S your own damn fault.