Dez Pearson

Summary

Laugh with Me – Episode 97: Dez Pearson (July 20, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this rich and engaging episode, host Jeremy Odem (Jo) sits down with young comedian, content creator, and theater enthusiast Dez Pearson. The conversation dives into what makes Dez laugh, his improvisational approach to creating YouTube content, journey with the Des Moines Young Artist Theater (DeMYAT), inspirations from comedic legends, movie tastes (including a passion for "bad movies"), and insights into his creative process. The episode is both insightful and humorous, providing listeners a glimpse into the mind of a uniquely talented up-and-comer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Dez Pearson & His Content (03:30–04:41)

• Jeremy presents Dez as a rising content creator from Pizza Crust Studios, describing his work as a mix of parody, shorts, and pilots.
• “I mostly just make what I want to make.” – Dez (03:40)

Content Creation Approach:

• Dez focuses on improvisation. Often, he doesn't script his videos and instead tries to make things funny on the spot (04:08–04:17).
• “I mean mostly the second option. Sometimes I just don’t script videos at all and go full improv.” – Dez (04:08)

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2. Newscasting Camp & Skills Gained (04:41–07:55)

• Dez recently attended a summer newscasting camp, adding technical skills (like operating a $900 camera!) and teleprompter reading to his toolkit.

• Learned the behind-the-scenes of teleprompting, and even had to improvise when tech failed: “For the last three sentences we actually did have to look down at some paper copy.” – Dez (06:44)

• Takeaways: Improved skills in camera operation, newscasting, and improvising in technical hiccups.

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3. Involvement with DeMYAT (07:55–12:35)

• Dez’s theater journey began with a small part in "Chronicles of Narnia" (Nov 2023), moving quickly into media by making promotional videos when he didn’t make it into the next show ("Finding Nemo Jr.").
• Initiated video segments like “Weekend Update” and contributed to another, “What’s Up Down at DeMYAT,” giving credit to collaborator Isla Bauer.
• “I've seen lots of people at the plays and stuff...come up to me and be like, hey, I've seen your videos.” – Dez (10:35)

Notable Moment:

• Discusses the bureaucracy and copyright of filming plays: “No, we can't, sadly, due to, like, legal issues…unless it’s an original play.” – Dez (12:56)

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4. Spotlight: Spongebob the Musical (13:20–14:49)

• Current project: Promotional materials for "Spongebob the Musical," July 25th–August 3rd at DeMYAT.
• “Take that [Spongebob] times 100, and that’s what you get.” – Dez (13:26)

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5. Pizza Crust Studios & YouTube Evolution (15:16–19:01)

• Genesis: Started with a love of gaming (Minecraft videos), teaching himself editing as he matured into more complex, multi-camera, and green screen material.

• “At first, I just wanted to be a gaming channel...Now, I do a lot of editing and green screen.” – Dez (16:27–17:11)

• Scripting Process: Uses a free scriptwriting tool (Kit Scenarios) and works with a flexible, mostly bullet-point approach, improvising as he films (17:52–18:39).

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6. Improv, Audience, and Age-Appropriate Humor (19:01–20:27)

• Experience with DeMYAT’s “Play in a Day” improvisational project.
• Balances comedy for both kids and adults, targeting “a strong G” rating (20:24).

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7. Comedy & Horror: A Shared DNA (20:27–23:35)

• Dez experiments with horror in his shorts, describing its connection to comedy: “Horror and comedy are actually very close…both try to get a reaction out of you.” (21:31)
• Discussion of his horror-comedy series “The Chair with Dez,” focusing on screaming as a comedic device versus true comedic structure.

Notable Quote:

• “There's a way to comedy. It's the setup, the build, and the punchline. And it's not just randomly screaming.” – Dez (22:21)

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8. Long-Form Ambitions & Documentary Projects (23:49–26:22)

• Plans for longer videos, including a documentary-style interview with his great-grandma about living through World War II and historical events.
• “It doesn’t have the talking heads or anything. It’s just a one-on-one interview...It's kind of funny at moments, but it’s not really a comedy.” – Dez (25:51–26:06)

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9. Influences: Andy Samberg, The Lonely Island, Weird Al (31:07–39:35)

Andy Samberg (31:07):

• Major influence, discovered via Lonely Island’s “I’m On A Boat,” later obsessed with "Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “Hot Rod.”
• “He’s the only reason I’m still alive…I like his absurd comedy style.” – Dez (37:32)

Weird Al (38:35):

• Admires his original (not just parody) work. “He doesn’t just do parodies...my favorite song—Dare to be Stupid—isn’t even a parody.” – Dez (39:20)
• Emphasizes Weird Al’s kindness and sincerity (38:35–39:20).

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10. Favorite TV Shows & Feuds (40:01–44:00)

• Dez’s Top 5: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Rec, SNL, Futurama, The Good Place.
• Comedic back-and-forth about Ted Danson and “The Good Place,” with Jeremy revealing a long-standing (joking) feud against Ted Danson in favor of Steve Guttenberg (43:54).

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11. Bad Movies: A Love Affair (47:08–50:59)

• Favorite “so bad it’s good” movies, including:
  • Super Mario Bros. (1993) – “That thing traumatized me.” – Dez (47:32)
  • Bats – “It is 100% bats, 0% logic.” – Dez (48:39)
  • Tammy and the T. Rex – Ridiculous plot where a teen’s brain is put into an animatronic dinosaur (49:56).
• “If you have a bad movie that nobody wants to see, I can advertise it.” – Dez (50:59)

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12. Collecting: Games, Figures, and More (53:45–59:49)

• Brought a “show and tell” box, highlighting:

  • Rare Deadpool Xbox game
  • Deadpool action figure & Funko Pop
  • Master Chief (Halo) figure
  • 3D printed Alien chestburster

• Stories behind the collectibles, including explaining Jay’s, a beloved local comic/video game store.

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13. Upcoming Projects and Aspirations (60:38–65:25)

• Working on a feature-length comedy-crime film (set in Arizona, crime duo gets caught up in a criminal family).
• “They don’t solve crime—they are crime.” – Dez, describing his film’s twist on the buddy comedy genre (61:57)
• Developing a mockumentary-style web miniseries, “Roomies,” inspired by sitcoms and focused on quirky housemates navigating life together (63:40).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Horror and comedy are actually very close…they both try to get a reaction out of you.” (Dez, 21:31)
• “There's a way to comedy. It's the setup, the build, and the punchline.” (Dez, 22:21)
• “He’s the only reason I’m still alive, I’m going to say. I’m just joking.” (Dez on Andy Samberg, 37:32)
• “That thing traumatized me…Yoshi was literally just a dinosaur.” (Dez on Super Mario Bros. 1993, 47:32)
• “If you have a bad movie that nobody wants to see, I can advertise it.” (Dez, 50:59)
• “They don’t solve crime—they are crime.” (Dez on his film, 61:57)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Meet Dez & YouTube Origins: 03:30–04:41
• Newscasting Camp & DeMYAT Involvement: 04:41–12:35
• Spongebob the Musical Talk: 13:20–14:49
• YouTube Growth & Editing: 15:16–19:01
• Comedy, Improv & Horror Discussion: 19:01–23:35
• Inspiration: Andy Samberg & Weird Al: 31:07–39:35
• Top Comedy Shows, Movie Taste & Collecting: 40:01–59:49
• Current/Future Creative Projects: 60:38–65:25

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Tone, Style, and Atmosphere

Jeremy Odem’s conversational, witty style keeps the episode lively. Dez’s youthful honesty, quick humor, and deep pop culture knowledge create a show that’s insightful but always playful. Their mutual love of comedy and movies bridges generational gaps, with Dez’s creative energy shining throughout.

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Final Takeaways

• Dez Pearson is a creative force combining comedy, improv, theater, and new media, taking inspiration from icons like Andy Samberg and Weird Al.
• His independent approach to content creation, along with hands-on experience in theater promotions, sets him apart as a rising comedic talent.
• The episode offers laughs, inspiration, and a behind-the-scenes look at Gen Z humor, creative ambitions, and the joy of making people laugh—with, not at, you.

Transcript

[Jo (Host)]

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[Commercial Voice]

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[Jo (Host)]

To play without purchase ends November 23rd.

[Commercial Voice]

But bonus play ends November 2nd. Monopoly is a registered trademark of Hasbro.

[Jo (Host)]

Copyright McDonald's.

[Mira Potassan]

Hi, my name is Mira Potassan. I'm an author and I'm an activist. And GoFundMe is my go to platform for fundraising. The first GoFundMe I did was to raise money for a chat book or a collection of poetry and essays and short stories. So we started a GoFundMe and our goal was 7,000. What I've learned is so special about GoFundMe is that it's a whole collection of people offering anything from like $4 to $400. And each time you get a ping that someone donated, even if it is just $4, it's so exciting. So if you have a goal and you get there, you can keep making it bigger and bigger and bigger. We did go past our goal. It was amazing.

[Dez Pearson]

GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising.

[Commercial Voice / Announcer]

Platform, trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's.

[Dez Pearson]

Gofundme.Com gofundme.com I will be yelling when.

[Jo (Host)]

I do the intro. And I know you've got a thing against yelling and comedy, so I just want you to know this is not like a shot at you. This is not a form of me trying to be funny. This is just my intro.

[Dez Pearson]

That video, it's. It's kind of a bit. I don't.

[Jo (Host)]

I'm.

[Dez Pearson]

I was trying to start up something.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, to be fair, I feel like I've fallen into that too, where I just yell. So, I mean, it doesn't really matter.

[Jo (Host)]

So you're the guy that you had a stance on something and then you learned along the way that this might be something.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. So that video is kind of hypocritical. So.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, I love that actually.

[Dez Pearson]

Foreign.

[Jo (Host)]

Welcome back. It's a brand new episode. This is Laugh With Me, a podcast Jeremy Oda by your host Jo. And I am welcoming a very special guest in into the studio today for episode number 97, this is Dez Pearson. So you probably had. You probably don't know Des, and that's okay. We are offering an opportunity today to launch a guy who's been putting in the work, who is an upand cominging star and content creator. You can find him on his YouTube page. It's at des, underscore p, d, E Z, underscore P, Pizza Crust Studios. All kinds of content. He's got shorts, parody videos, some pilots of some various creations you've got coming up. But I mean, dead. What can you tell us about the YouTube page? If we were. Let's say we were selling it right now to somebody.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, it's full of lots of entertainment content. It's not just contained to one subject. It's like a variety of stu. Be like a sketch, a video essay. Doesn't I mostly just make what I want to make?

[Jo (Host)]

So you're making whatever comes to your brain.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

So is this stuff that, like, you are writing down and working on from idea to when it gets posted, or is this, like, this is what's in my head, this moment I need to get out of my head?

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, mostly the second option.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Sometimes I just don't script videos at all and, like, go full improv and try to make something funny on the spot.

[Jo (Host)]

So. So you understand improv?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, kind of. I mean, I'm not like a master on it or anything. You know, I think I have decent experience, but I'm still not like, you know, amazing.

[Jo (Host)]

So again, his YouTube, and we'll talk about it later too, but at des, underscore P, the pizza Crust Studios, and if you just search up his name or search that up, you will find quite a bit of content from the young fellow. But. But we're going to get into it because the.

[Commercial Voice / Announcer]

You.

[Jo (Host)]

You brought up improv, and I didn't even have that necessarily on the list of things to talk about, but it kind of makes sense because of your background, you know, you just got out of news, like newscasting camp.

[Dez Pearson]

Yes. That was held in St. Rita in Chicago.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so how. How, number one, how does that come up? How does that pique your interest?

[Dez Pearson]

Well, my grandparents actually live in Chicago, and my mom, you know, of course, lives with my grandparents, so. And my uncles Both went to St. Rita. So, you know, I have a lot of background in that school and I've been going to the camps for a few years at this point.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so this is not a new idea. Like, this is something you've been doing every summer now for A little bit.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, not necessarily the newscasting camp that actually was just introduced this year, but I've been doing like various sports camps in previous years. But this year I just went to newscasting camp in our camp.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay. And I saw one of the videos where you did a newscast. Pretty freaking good. Um, it, it does appear that you have experience with reading a teleprompter.

[Dez Pearson]

No, not really.

[Jo (Host)]

Are you sure? You seem like a natural.

[Dez Pearson]

No, I don't. I haven't read like teleprompters. I mean, the most kind of experience, you could say was when I read off scripts for like demi app videos occasionally. But even then it's still not teleprompter experience, you know.

[Jo (Host)]

Wow. So you. Are you just memorizing or do you have the papers in front of you? Like, I guess kind of explain most newscasts if you didn't know the. Your reporter, your, your at the desk newscast reporter is literally reading. Okay. Everything they are saying is written. For the most part, they are reading it as it's being scrolled down with the video content rolling behind them. So as I'm watching DEZ on this newscast, it looked exactly like that. So how did you get your, I guess your text?

[Dez Pearson]

Well, yeah, no, it was a teleprompter. It was like a kind of an amateur one. You just put like an iPad and like a mirroring thing.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

And you stared at camera.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

It did cause a lot of issues though because it would stop like at the last three sentences because the Mac and the iPad weren't really connecting very well. So for the last three sentences we actually did have to look down at some paper copy. Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

So what were some things that you learned at the newscasters camp that like you took away from it and you go, you know what, I'm going to take that back with me when I'm creating my content at home.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, I mean, kind of hard to like pick one thing. I mean, I learned a lot. You know, first off, I learned kind of more about being a newscaster because I have to do some of that stuff for dim yet I learned how to actually operate lots of advanced, you know, camera stuff. Like there was a $900 camera at that camp that they trusted in me, a 12 year old kid.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

It went well though. It didn't break or anything. So. Yeah, no, it taught me a lot.

[Jo (Host)]

Did you feel nervous about it?

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, not very. I'm not very nervous because, you know, I have experience in filmmaking and stuff, so I feel like I could handle that stuff. And you Know, I just went with what I wanted.

[Jo (Host)]

So you've brought up Demya, and that is the Des Moines Young Artist Theater. And that is something that you are very involved in. Kind of go into where that started all the way to where you're at, like, today.

[Dez Pearson]

Okay. So I think it was November 2023 when I starred in my first ever play at Demya, which was the Chronicles of Narnia. Now, I wasn't like, a major character. I was just, like an ensemble character who had to say two lines, and I messed both of them up at rehearsals.

[Jo (Host)]

And this is not the Lonely island parody video. This was the actual Chronicles of Narnia play.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, I would love for a Lazy Sunday, like, play that would be the best thing ever. But, no, it was act chronicled of.

[Jo (Host)]

Nardia, which, by the way, you can find a cover of Lazy Sunday on Des's YouTube at Pizza Cross Studio. So that's just a side note, but you can actually find that there.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, it is very bad.

[Jo (Host)]

So you. So that was your first play, and then kind of, where did it lead you from there?

[Dez Pearson]

All right, so for the next musical they did, which was finding Nemo Jr, I actually didn't get in. But they act. They actually saw that, you know, how they could use my filmmaking potential and stuff, and actually kind of, quote, unquote, hired me as, like, a promotional marketer and stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Nice.

[Dez Pearson]

It's not necessarily complicated. I just help make videos for them and stuff where I would interview the cast and, you know, I would also, you know, just provide general updates on stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

So that is. That's incredible because I've watched those videos. I watched. I watched just about every one of them. When that started, I just assumed that was part of the program, that they make these videos for promotion and that was your role, but they kind of created this opportunity for you.

[Dez Pearson]

Oh, yeah. No, they. They didn't have it before. I mean, before they. They made, like, you know, of course they made trend videos, stuff like that. They would, you know, regularly promote it. Yeah, but they didn't have, like, the what's up down at Dem yet. The Weekend Update until I came along. Although I have to be fair, I did not actually come up with the what's up down at Demi. I came up with Weekend Update, but what's up down at Dim yet was thought up by, I think. I don't think she was acting. And I think she also was like another child helper, Isla Bauer. I think that's how you pronounce it.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Hopefully I'm saying that right. I just want to give credit to the actual creator of what's Up Dynam?

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Shout Out.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Wow. So those, I mean, those videos, I'm sure, help the promotion of the plays. I mean, are you seeing traction on the. The data on that? You get to see that?

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, yeah, I think I've provided some help. You know, I've seen lots of people at, like, the plays and stuff, or like, maybe at rehearsals come up to me and be like, hey, I've seen your videos and stuff. And, you know, a lot of people actually go buy tickets. Those, I presume, 100%. I mean, I hope I'm helping them, because either that. That would make my entire job kind of pointless.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, it's just like, then what are you doing exactly for. Yes. Yeah. That's fun. So is that something that you are just every time they have a new play. Well, how often do they do plays? I guess let's start there.

[Dez Pearson]

It's pretty much just every season. They have a summer play at the start, fall play, winter play, and then, you know, of course, a spring one.

[Jo (Host)]

So four plays a year.

[Dez Pearson]

Yep.

[Jo (Host)]

And it's the Des Moines Young Artist Theater. And so then every time, every, like, new cycle, then. Go ahead.

[Dez Pearson]

Wait, I need to provide a note. I mess it up. No, it actually starts with the fall play. That's the whole season?

[Jo (Host)]

That's when the season starts.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay. All right. So, but every season, four plays, whenever you start a new cycle, a new, you know, play cycle, and they start with auditions. Is it already a done deal? You're going to be doing these video updates or are. Is it every cycle? It's like, okay, we're starting from the get. Because who knows, you might actually get, you know, get a part in the play.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, yeah, no, actually, no. I actually do all the promotional materials. Even if I do get a part, I'm able to do it all.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

But actually, sometimes I can't do, like, promotional stuff for a play. Like recently Dem yet had the Laramie Project, which is a really sad tale of, you know, LGBTQ + history where, you know, a young gay man. I'm sorry if I butcher the story or anything, is brutally killed by, like, two guys, you know, and stuff is very sad, very mature. Hopefully I haven't messed up the story. If. So, I'm sorry. But, yeah, I couldn't do anything for that. But I did help out with editing, so, you know, I'm always involved in some way.

[Jo (Host)]

So are the plays, you know, every. Every season when they do the plays? Do they film the plays? And then. Do you know what I mean? Like, is there a camera crew filming the actual performance? And then that's something that you could get involved in with, like, editing and shooting and issuing those to maybe the people that are in the play.

[Dez Pearson]

No, we can't, sadly, due to, like, legal issues.

[Jo (Host)]

Copyright.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, we can't actually film the plays most of the time. Like, I think the only reason we would ever be able to is if we, like, paid for it or if it was a completely original play, which.

[Jo (Host)]

Isn'T doable at this point. I mean, not that you couldn't do an original one, but to be able to pay for it, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Okay, well, that's. That's pretty awesome. So what. What play is currently in motion?

[Dez Pearson]

Actually, the current play is the spongebob musical, which I'm doing the promotional material for.

[Jo (Host)]

Very nice.

[Dez Pearson]

If you saw it. I'm not actually in it, though, so I just want to go up. Yeah, it's. If you've ever seen Spongebob, basically take that times 100, and that's what you get.

[Jo (Host)]

So is it more? Is it like. All right, so spongebob's like a huge brand, right? So you have the spongebob TV show. They also have spawned off many movies. So is this more like the TV show or more like one of the movies?

[Dez Pearson]

It's basically like its own original thing, kind of.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

I think it takes more inspiration from the TV show concerning how the movies sometimes have their own, like, special characters, plots, stuff like that. But, yeah, no, it's its own original story. I don't think it's based off any episode specifically. Maybe takes inspiration, but yeah, so it's not entirely connected to either.

[Jo (Host)]

Wow. Well, that's awesome. So the Des Moines Young Artist Theater, SpongeBob the Musical. Do you remember the dates of the next pre of next performance?

[Dez Pearson]

Oh, I.

[Jo (Host)]

Not a big deal if you don't. I'll look it up. Yeah, no, Johnny, Johnny, will you look that up, please?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, it's on dim yet.org so dim.

[Jo (Host)]

Yet.Org and that's the website. That's what everybody needs to be going to anyways. Dimya.org Johnny, please look that up and we will get the dates of that performance. All right, well, SpongeBob the Musical is July 25th through August 3rd. Yeah, so it's right around the corner.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, it's coming up very soon.

[Jo (Host)]

Awesome. Well, let's talk about the YouTube page, dude. Because that is. I Mean, I, I would be, I would not be doing my part in promoting who Dez Pearson is if I didn't promote this YouTube page as hard as I can. Because that is the genius in my opinion, that is the genius in what you are and what you will become. Does that make sense?

[Dez Pearson]

Yes.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so his YouTube page, Pizza Crust Studios at des underscore P. When did this start? How did you. I mean I'm sure you had to approach your parents and be like, hey, can I start a YouTube page? Like talk me through that.

[Dez Pearson]

Alright. So it started when I think it was like nine or eight. Not the actual channel, but basically I had YouTube on my TV. So I was like, hey dad, could you set up my YouTube channel on my TV? Because I thought that you could record videos from a tv.

[Jo (Host)]

That's what you thought? Yeah, was gonna happen. Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Like I thought I could just record Minecraft and get a million followers or something. But no, actually eventually in August 2023 I think basically my dad helped me set up my YouTube channel. I got my email and stuff and yeah, my first ever upload. I know it was a Minecraft video.

[Jo (Host)]

That's.

[Dez Pearson]

That's originally what I wanted to do. Be a game.

[Jo (Host)]

Wanted to be a streamer.

[Dez Pearson]

No, I want to be like a gaming channel. That's okay, that's it. But you know the videos only got like 8, 10 views. Yeah, I still don't do very well in views but you know, it was just Minecraft stuff. Yeah, yeah, it was purely unedited most of the time.

[Jo (Host)]

Just you playing Minecraft, talking while you're playing Minecraft.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

And is it, you know, when you're watching like youtubers when they're playing, there's the like the dual camera where there's you a shot on you playing and then there's the shot like the screen grab of seeing the game. Was it that or was it literally just you and you were just playing the game?

[Dez Pearson]

I couldn't figure out how to do that. I think you need like a webcam or something. I mean I later did figure out how to do that, but I don't know use it very much.

[Jo (Host)]

Right. That's not what you're into now.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, but yeah, no, it was just me sometimes talking over the gameplay. You know if my microphone ever had issues, I would not fix it in poster. It was, it was very amateur.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, it's incredible because people are going to listen to you right now on this show and then be like he's a kid. You just name dropped, fix it in post. I mean things that people that are. That work in this business do. Right. Like so that's pretty impressive. The. And I know you figured you eventually figured out the multi screen issue because you, if you watch any of your content on Pizza Crust Studios, it's very obvious you edit and you work a lot on your edits, green screen included. So where, where are you now and I guess in how you go about a production and kind of where are you heading?

[Dez Pearson]

All right. So you know how a production usually starts is sometimes I. A lot of times again improv. I don't write the script, but when I do, yeah, I write the script. Usually I use a software called Kit Scenarios which is a free script script. Script writing software. And yeah, it's like a kind of the official type of thing. Then I print that out and then I just get immediately to filming because you know, I don't even memorize it. Usually I just look at it in between shots. I can cut out and just say the lines and stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

So it's just a lot of like bullet points. Like here's the idea. I know where I wanted to end, but here's kind of an idea of dialogue I want and I'm just gonna improv it along the way.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. So yeah, I just do that. It's a bit unprofessional, but I think it's, it's just fun. You know, you don't really have strict to. You don't really have to hold on to something very long. You can like make up new stuff if you think oh, this isn't funny or oh, this won't do well.

[Jo (Host)]

But that's YouTube. It's very DIY. Like you're, you're doing it, you know.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Have you taken improv classes before?

[Dez Pearson]

No. I mean the closest is like. Well, the close actually sort of. There's like a dem yet thing called plane a day. It's a dim yet summer camp where basically the thought is you make like a 2010 minute play in a singular day where you take like a children's book or something, make dialogue off of that until like the you know, vague story and then you display that in front of like your audience of parents and stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

So you have to like come up with stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, yeah. And you know your target audience. So when you're, I mean, you know who's going to be there, right? Who the audience is. So then when you're creating this content, is it targeted to make parents laugh or are you just doing what you think is funny and hopefully they laugh.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, I mean, sometimes I like, they bring young children, you know, like siblings and stuff. So usually it mostly appeals. It's like a mix. Because there are some jokes, some jokes that appeal to adults, some to kids. Like, for the second play in a day that we did, it was more of a kids thing because it. We based it off a children's book that was full of music and stuff and they were all very like, silly kid songs. Yeah, and. Yeah, no, that was more focused towards kids. But the first one was another children's book, but there were some, like, more adult jokes. Not the, like adult. Adult.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, yeah. That's not rated R. No. PG 13.

[Dez Pearson]

It's like a. It's a strong G. Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. So I. I have noticed on, on the page some of your newer content has had kind of a horror like, presence. Like, there's even some horror shorts that you've made. Is this like a darker side of Des that we're finding? Or is this just a genre that you have found interesting? Or have you just been watching horror movies? Like, what's the deal?

[Dez Pearson]

Kind of just, I'm. I'm interested in horror when I get older and stuff. And, you know, I. I like incorporating it into some. Into some of my videos and stuff. You know, I think horror can actually be pretty funny. You know, it's just like out of nowhere, this all gets so dark and like, just what is going on? So. Yeah, yeah, no horror. I mean, horror and comedy are actually very close. You know, they are both try to get a reaction out of you. You know, both are like. Both can shock you in some ways. So, yeah, they're very close genres. So I like to incorporate both into a lot of my skits and stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

It's. I. I love that you said that because I 100 agree with you. And it goes back to. You've got a. You've got a video called the Chair with dez. And it was the pilot episode of the Chair with dez. And just to kind of give you a quick background on the Chair with dez, it's Des in a. You know, on a green screen. Right. And there he is. He's on this chair kinda. And then the chair next to him is like a skeleton that appears to be bloody. Yeah, but that doesn't matter what. What matters is the monologue you're giving in this pilot episode, which is where you're talking about screaming doesn't mean funny. And you're giving this entire monologue on how comedy is. There's a way to Comedy. And it's the, the setup, the build and punchline. And it's not just randomly screaming like, that's not funny. Right?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

And I 100 agree what you're saying. And, and it's great because we were talking earlier about how you have found that sometimes that can be funny. Sometimes that is the punchline. Right. But in your, in your process there, you talked about setup, build, punchline. That is comedy. That's also horror. 100. It's the setup to what we're being spooked of or we're supposed to be scared of. The build and the intense and the nervousness. Right?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

And then the punchline is the jump. Yeah. Like that's, that's horror as well. It's the exact same thing.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, I mean, actually, I. Horror doesn't really have to be set up. Build, punchline. It's not like, you know, a spooky thing is gonna happen. Oh, the spooky thing happened. No, actually, horror can actually, I think it. A lot of the time it relies on atmosphere kind of.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

You know, if you've ever seen like a psychological horror film.

[Jo (Host)]

Yep.

[Dez Pearson]

Derives all its fear from like the unknown. You know, what's around you, what could be coming.

[Jo (Host)]

What? Yeah. What hasn't come, like anything. Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Like, it's more just like fully set up and maybe one punch line at the end that gets you.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Set up punch. Set up punch. That's stand up comedy. Well, that's awesome. Have you considered writing longer form? I mean, I know a lot of your stuff is shorts I've seen on YouTube. Are you writing longer form stuff?

[Dez Pearson]

Yes. The problem is I like to write a lot of. I like to start writing a lot of long form videos, like maybe more longer short films or even like a feature film, like video or something. But then I realized, oh, there's another great idea and I start writing that. Then another great idea and I start writing that. Like, I. A lot of times I can't stay on one specific script. That's like my problem with making super long videos.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so with that being said, do you have specific times in your day that you are spent writing or is it just when you feel like writing, you write?

[Dez Pearson]

I just feel like writing sometimes. You know, maybe I'll work a bit on a script that I abandoned like a week ago or something. You know, it's honestly just however I feel like it because, you know, it's not super official. I'm still 12 years old. I don't have like super official supplies or anything. So. It doesn't really matter.

[Jo (Host)]

Well, let it be known that any the things that you're posting and the ability just to post and have your own channel is no different than your heroes. They are also creating content, making people laugh, making people scared, posting it just like you are. So you're right there with them, man. And it doesn't matter the quality. If it works, it works, right? Funny's funny.

[Dez Pearson]

Wait, I would like to mention I actually have put some work into a long form video that I'm actually probably gonna make.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so when, when is this happening?

[Dez Pearson]

It's a heavy emphasis on probably. I've already technically filmed it. It's gonna be an interview with my great grand grandma.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, I've already filmed it. You know, I, you know, my great grandma was, you know, wonderful. It's like maybe 10 minutes plus long, you know, cuz you. I've been planning to do it for a long time and you know, it's probably going to be like one of the longest videos I've ever made.

[Jo (Host)]

Is this like a documentary short or is it a, is a comedy? What, what do you, what are we thinking?

[Dez Pearson]

It's more of like a documentary. It's. It doesn't have like, you know, the talking heads or anything. It's just like a one on one interview.

[Jo (Host)]

So the interview. Okay, alright.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, and it's, it is kind of funny at moments, but it's not really a comedy.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

You know, I talk about like her life, you know, living through World War II, unfortunately. You know, living through like the change and innovation of the world and. Yeah, no, it's gonna be pretty cool. I just have to edit it all, which is the hardest part because that takes hours out of your day.

[Jo (Host)]

How do you feel about the United States being two and oh, all time in world wars?

[Dez Pearson]

I don't really know. I, I still haven't learned that much about history. Okay. Yeah, I've learned, I've always, I've obviously learned a little about World War, World war, World War II and you know, I've learned that in school. I've read books about it. I'm not like, you know, heavily uneducated on the world wars, but honestly I don't focus on that stuff. So.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay. Where Were you when 911 happened? Do you remember how you felt in that moment?

[Dez Pearson]

I'm 12 years old, so.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so no impact at all.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

That's sad because it shook me. I'm gonna tell you that right now. When it happened and I had the understanding of I couldn't go to school and ever. The whole. The whole world was shutting down like it was wild. Man, that's odd that you don't even really care.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, it's not that I don't care. I'm just. I'm just 12 years old, so I couldn't have lived through that stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, I empathize with the people who had to suffer. You know, the tragedy of that, that was like, you know, it shook the world. That was a horrible event. But, you know, I don't have much insight on that because I couldn't actually witness it.

[Jo (Host)]

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[Jo (Host)]

Let's talk about some of your, like, inspirations. Andy Samberg. He's somebody that you were. You wanted to say something.

[Dez Pearson]

So earlier we discussed that there's going to be a joke in this segment.

[Jo (Host)]

So, okay, so here, little backstory ahead of time. I sent Des a rundown of topics and I said, here's where we're going. Here's the roadmap. We're going to go all over the board, but here's where we're going. One of them was I wrote Andy Samberg because I know that's a huge inspiration of dez's. And just before we. We hit record, DEZ was nice enough to tell me that I misspelled Samberg.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. It is honestly the worst thing that you've ever done. You ruined my enjoyment of this experience.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Not. Not me questioning you about 9 11. It was me misspelling Andy Samberg.

[Dez Pearson]

Yes.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, there's.

[Dez Pearson]

There's an E where there was a U. So.

[Jo (Host)]

So I. What I told him was, hey, when we. That's. That's great. When we get to that point, bring up that I misspelled that. Yeah. All right, that's funny.

[Dez Pearson]

All right, let's get on to actually discussing.

[Jo (Host)]

So Andy Samberg. Obviously, I know who Andy Samberg is. For anybody in the audience who doesn't know who Andy Samberg is. Wake up because person ever. Yeah, he's. He's one of the geniuses in the Lonely Island. He most notably came from Saturday Night Live and has since spawned a great TV and movie career. So Andy Samberg, how, like, how did you become a fan? And what about him, like, draws you to him?

[Dez Pearson]

All right, so I think the first time I was ever even exposed to Andy Samberg was probably through the first Lonely island song I ever listened to, which was I'm on a Boat.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, Great song.

[Dez Pearson]

Great song.

[Jo (Host)]

Classic.

[Dez Pearson]

You know, I. I know the lyrics.

[Jo (Host)]

Why don't you have a cover of that on YouTube?

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, to be fair, I want to actually make music videos like. Oh, wait, I'm gonna go on a tangent.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

I want to make, like, green screen music videos of their songs at one point.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Because I actually know most of the lyrics to their songs.

[Jo (Host)]

All right.

[Dez Pearson]

Which is. Which is either really sad or really cool, depending on who you ask.

[Jo (Host)]

So Andy Samberg, I'm on a Boat. That. That caught. That caught your attention?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, so much so that when I think I was exposed to it when I was 10 or 9, so I was at, like, my cousin's and we went over to his, like, friend's house, and I played that on the porch, really loudly, uncensored version. My parents didn't like that very much.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, that's probably not ideal, but.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, later on, yeah, I went to. After that, you know, I listened to some more Lonely Island. Then I finally watched Brooklyn Nine Nine, which he stars in. Honestly, still the best TV show I've ever seen. I'm not even kidding. I've watched it five times all the way through. Yeah, Two times in a row.

[Jo (Host)]

Wow.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. No, I love Brooklyn Nine Nine.

[Jo (Host)]

Everybody has their comfort show, right? Their show. It's like I can just throw that on at any moment, and it's awesome. Like, I'll. I'll throw on, you know, anything O.J. simpson related. And I'm. I'm hooked. Right. And it comforts me. Like, I can just fall asleep. Yeah. I don't know. Are you familiar with O.J.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, but kind of in a bad way.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, well, he's an NFL hall of Famer, but. Yeah. Anyways, go on about Andy Samberg.

[Dez Pearson]

All right, so, yeah, no, I. I watched Brooklyn 99. I forgot to point out, I watched Hot Rod before that. Hot Rod also. Greatest movie of all time. And I'm not even lying. That's my number one movie on letterboxd.

[Jo (Host)]

Can I disappoint you? Real quick. What? I've never seen Hot Rod. He just. All right, well, that was it for Des. He has just left the podcast. I. I have seen parts. I know about it. I know enough about it. I've listened to full podcasts about it, which, you know, Andy is also part of the Lonely island and Seth Meyers podcast. That is just a monster success and such a great show. But anyway, I've never seen it from beginning to end.

[Dez Pearson]

It is honestly a really great slapstick comedy. This isn't spoilers, but here's a literal scene that happens in the movie. I can actually quote, quote it. Basically, Rod is talking to his friends after he left being a stuntman, and he's like, here's a monologue. I used to be legit. I was too legit, too legit to quit. But now I'm not legit. I'm unlegit. And for that reason, I must quit. He's holding, like, a shopping cart full of beer bottles.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And then he turns around, starts pushing it away. Then a car comes out of nowhere and hits him, and he doesn't go to the hospital. He survives this. He's later seen just in bed, chilling.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

After presumably breaking his entire body.

[Jo (Host)]

I like comedies like that. This would be a movie I probably enjoy.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. It is very absurd.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

The main plot line is that is dying. The father, stepfather, has to have a $50,000 surgery, so he has to raise money through stunt. Stunt work. But the only reason he's doing this is to beat his ass.

[Jo (Host)]

That's great.

[Dez Pearson]

Hopefully I can say ass.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. We swear all the time on.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My parents let me say it, so I think it's good.

[Jo (Host)]

They do, like, at dinner when you guys are like, oh, how's your day? And you're like, man, hot as balls out there. Like, my ass is sweating. Like, is that. Is it the kind of stuff you say?

[Dez Pearson]

I don't think I say balls that much. I think I just.

[Jo (Host)]

Not that much. But you do say it.

[Dez Pearson]

I say ass occasionally.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, well, I'm cool. Just so that his parents know. I didn't bring it up. You brought it up because they're gonna come at me.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean. Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

So Sandberg, I obviously huge fan of his content. Is he, like, an inspiration to a point where you're like, I want to write songs. I want to create, like, funny viral videos. Like the Lonely Island. Like, that's how they got started and just kind of like, grew from there. Like, is that something you want to do? Or you're just Like, a big fan.

[Dez Pearson]

He's the only reason I'm still alive, I'm going to say. I'm just. I'm just joking. I'm just. No, yeah, no. He's a huge inspiration. I take, like, lots of. I like his absurd comedy style. That's where I incorporate some of my comedy in my sketches. The Lonely Island. Love them for a while. That's why I made the Lazy Sunday cover.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Oh, yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

No, that's awesome. All right, well, Sandberg's a big inspiration. Here's another one. Weird Al Yankovic. I know you're a fan of his. Your dad's probably an even bigger fan probably than you. Yeah. But you've been a fan. You've seen him live. You like, he's not everybody's cup of tea. He's. He's a guy that's, like. He's done these parody covers his whole career, and he's a monster. But some. For some reason, people have been like, weird Al, he's not, like. He's not legit, you know? Like, I've heard this. I want you to argue against that and why Weird Al Yankovic is the hero that we deserve.

[Dez Pearson]

Well, Weird Al, first off, amazing person in real life. I mean, it was Covid time, so we couldn't really actually meet him, like, fully, but I did get the VIP thing with my parents so we could take a picture. There's, like, a flexi glass wall between us, and they would Photoshop it out. But, yeah, no, he's an amazing person. He's. He's really nice. He's really sincere. Honestly, he's a good guy, but that's not it. His music, he doesn't just do parodies. He. He actually does do, like, original songs that kind of are a bit satirical of, like, you know, modern songs and stuff. Like, my favorite song of all time, I actually was just wearing a shirt of it, like, yesterday, I think. Dare to be Stupid.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Yes. It's like a Devo parody. It's not based off a song, but they're wearing, like, the Devo outfit.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. And I love the meaning behind the Dare to be Stupid, because the weird. The weirder, the better, you know, like, that's. It's. Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

You brought up Covid times. What brand of COVID shot did you get?

[Dez Pearson]

I don't know. No, I mean, again, I'm a kid, so.

[Jo (Host)]

Gotcha.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean. Cause I was. I mean, it's been five years. I was seven when Covid started. I was still in, like, second grade.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, so not something top of mind.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. So I don't remember much. Many of the details.

[Jo (Host)]

All right, that's fair. All right, well, top, like, you brought up that Brooklyn Nine. Nine, your favorite TV show of all time. That kind of gives us an insight to who you are and your sense of comedy. Let's talk top five. What. What are some other TV shows that you would say this is primo television and everybody needs to go watch it.

[Dez Pearson]

All right. That is. I actually just discussed this with my dad before at like lunch, you know. Yeah, obviously. Brooklyn Nine. Nine. Number one. Close. Number two. Parks and Recreation.

[Jo (Host)]

Parks and Rec. Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

It also has an Andy Samberg cameo. So, yeah, obviously number two.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Number three. What did I say again? Oh, now I can't remember it. I'm trying to think here. Why can I not remember anything?

[Jo (Host)]

30 Rock, maybe?

[Dez Pearson]

No, I've never seen that.

[Jo (Host)]

I was just thinking that era.

[Dez Pearson]

No, now I remember. I think. Oh, yeah, snl, obviously. More Andy Sandberg. Snl, Yep. Futurama. Love. I love Futurama. My dad likes the Simpsons very much, too. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

That was like the Futurama of his era.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And then, you know, fifth place is the Good Place, if you've ever seen.

[Jo (Host)]

That Good Place, so. I have not seen it. Can I just tell you real quick why I've never seen the Good Life?

[Dez Pearson]

The Good Place.

[Jo (Host)]

The Good Place. I'm sorry. I just had lunch at the Good Life Sports bar and I just want to say kudos to them. The mimosa was delicious. The volcano tots were incredible. And they're just. It's always fun to go there.

[Dez Pearson]

Is this a sponsored segment?

[Jo (Host)]

No, free ads. And I really did not go there. But that's. I had to spin it somehow. I had to tell you why I had that on the brain. No, the Good Place. Let me tell you why I've never watched the Good Place. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Ted Danson stars in this TV show or no.

[Dez Pearson]

Ted Danson.

[Jo (Host)]

Ted Danson.

[Dez Pearson]

I don't. I don't remember. Really.

[Jo (Host)]

Or am I thinking of a different television show?

[Dez Pearson]

I'm just gonna search it up on IMDb. I think you might be right, because I think. I don't know. Let me look. Good.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Johnny, will you please look this up? The good. The Good Place cast, please. And yes, in fact, it is Ted Danson. Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Yes.

[Jo (Host)]

Can I just tell you that I have had probably a 30 year feud with Mr. Ted Danson, and not directly. Okay. He doesn't know who I am. Fair But I've got friends who have tried to persuade me and others that Ted Danson is the best cast member of the movie Three Men and a Baby. Now, have you ever seen Three Men and a Baby?

[Dez Pearson]

No.

[Jo (Host)]

These are three guys, unrelated guys, that have to suddenly raise an infant. They. They had no idea was going to be a part of their life, and now they're suddenly raising this little baby girl, and they fall in love with this little baby girl, and it spawns a sequel, and the baby's just fine. They have to figure out life, you know, they're just three guys that were never meant to be dads that had to become dads instantly. It also starred a guy named Steve Guttenberg, who I feel is underappreciated and underrated. He's a heck of an actor. You should look him up and watch everything he's ever been in.

[Dez Pearson]

Okay.

[Jo (Host)]

With that being said, he's far better in Ted Danson. And I think there's been some kind of, like, underground Hollywood BS going on to take down Gutenberg and have the rise of Ted Danson, because Ted Danson is a talentless hack.

[Dez Pearson]

Jesus.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Yep.

[Dez Pearson]

You have a feud over a celebrity who doesn't even know you.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, he doesn't know who I am.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, I. I didn't even know Ted Danson before this. And I mostly watch the Good Place because my dad recommended it to me. Yeah, it actually is a really good show if you can get around to dancing.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, I can't, but I'll. I'll take it up with your dad. Yeah. So Brooklyn, 9. 9, Parks and Rec, SNL, Futurama, and then that piece of crap Ted Danson. So here's. Here's. Here's what I got, and I'll tell you, we're not that far off from each other. Okay, My top five TV shows that I think everybody should watch to understand television, especially in our, like, era, Right?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Number one, a show called Breaking Bad. I mean, ever watch Breaking Bad?

[Dez Pearson]

I feel like I can't. I've heard of it, but I know it involves meth.

[Jo (Host)]

Lots of it.

[Dez Pearson]

Oh, yeah, No, I probably can't see that.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, it's about a high school science teacher that gets sick and then turns to dealing drugs to pay for his medical.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, there's, like, a lot of memes on the Internet about it.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. So great show. From beginning to end. There's not a bad episode. The bunch. Right. Number two is a show called Seinfeld. You ever heard of Seinfeld?

[Dez Pearson]

I've heard of it. Still haven't seen it. I know it stars Jerry Seinfeld, obviously.

[Jo (Host)]

Jerry Seinfeld. Yep. Great show. And kind of created a genre of comedy of. Of just, you know, basic things around you can be funny. Number three is a show called the Sopranos, and it's about the mob. And I would not expect you have ever watched the show, but I'm sure you've heard. Heard of the sobriety.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, I've. I've heard of all these shows. I've just never watched them.

[Jo (Host)]

That's another good one with not many misses. Number four, Saturday Night Live. And I'll say not just the Andy Samberg era. I'll. I'll say from beginning to end, it's had a piece of pop culture that no one else can touch. Right. Like, and not every season's been as good, and certainly not every episode's a winner. And shoot. Even good episodes have bad sketches. But the show as a piece of pop culture in our world is just incredible and hard to have been touched. I mean, what other show has been that relevant for that long? You could say the Simpsons. Right? You could say South Park, Saturday Night Life. Incredible. Number five, a little show called Survivor. Have you ever heard of this reality TV show?

[Dez Pearson]

Reality? I've heard.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. It's the ultimate social experiment where they take all these random people, have never met each other, and then plop them on an island and they all have to work together or work against each other. Outwit, outplay, outlast. It's incredible. And it truly is the best social experiment on television.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, you should check it out, maybe.

[Jo (Host)]

You don't like reality tv, do you?

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, reality TV is okay. I don't like, like the, you know, trashy, like, you know, Love Island. Yeah. Stuff like that.

[Jo (Host)]

I don't blame you. Yeah. Survivor. Certainly not trashy. Yeah, but no, it's good stuff. You guys, I know your family loves movies, and they don't just love good movies. In fact, you have a place in your heart for some of the worst movies. What's like, the worst movie you've ever seen?

[Dez Pearson]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie from 1993.

[Jo (Host)]

That's incredible.

[Dez Pearson]

I watched that thing as, like, a kid. Like 10 years old.

[Jo (Host)]

Me too, actually.

[Dez Pearson]

People always, like, scrutinize me when I say kid because I'm still. Because you're sick.

[Jo (Host)]

You said 10 years old. Yeah, it was literally two years ago.

[Dez Pearson]

Maybe I don't have been earlier.

[Jo (Host)]

Literally two years ago.

[Dez Pearson]

No, that thing traumatized me. I did not. Yoshi was literally Just a dinosaur. Pretty. The Bowser. What the. What the frick was that? Tongue.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Jesus Christ. The coop. The. Not the Koopa Goomba. Okay. That's all I have to say.

[Jo (Host)]

I 100 agree with you. I probably was 10 or even younger when I watched it and it was not good.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

And luckily they remade and did an animated version. That's awesome.

[Dez Pearson]

Oh, yeah, that's a great one. I love Jack Black.

[Jo (Host)]

It. Yeah. What a. What a great movie. I will actually, I will send you a podcast where they break down the making of that original super Mario movie. It's so interesting how the movie got made. It had many obstacles. Let's just say that. So it wasn't exactly built to succeed, but. But it's pretty good. It's actually a pretty interesting story.

[Dez Pearson]

Some other like, quote unquote bad movies, though. I want to take a quick tangent, talk about them.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Have you ever seen Bats?

[Jo (Host)]

No, I've never seen Bats.

[Dez Pearson]

You've never seen Hot Rod or Bats Crack? Bats is literally the least clickbait title ever. It is 100% bats, 0% logic. And also it has a guy who works with bats who has a phobia of bats.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

That's obviously the best movie ever made.

[Jo (Host)]

So is it a horror movie?

[Dez Pearson]

It's supposed to be a horror movie, but it's not. It's the freaking funniest thing ever. Like out of nowhere, the. Some character will look in the sky and be like, bats. And then a bat sequence happens.

[Jo (Host)]

That's great. Well, I'll. I'll have to check out bats. Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

There's also another quote unquote bad movie. Tammy and the T. Rex. It's another. It's a bit more obscure.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, I'll say. I've never seen Tammy the T. Rex, but I have seen Jurassic Park.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, Tammy and the T. Rex. It's also another really dumb movie. It's intense. But in. But in this case, it's trying to be intentionally comedic. And then it's. But then it kind of. The jokes are very weird, but that ends up going full 180 and goes back to being comedic.

[Jo (Host)]

Ha. That's.

[Dez Pearson]

It's basically kind of a horror movie.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Where basically these evil scientists. This evil scientist guy takes a kid who was just recently mauled by a lion. Also, by the way, after he gets mauled by the line he's shown in the hospital with zero injury, scars or anything, he's like perfectly fine. He just sane there. And they take him, cut out his brain and connect it to a. Animatronic dinosaur. And then chaos ensues. There's like a part where a guy gets his head bit off and then runs around like crazy.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And there's also a party scene where the dinosaur comes while a guy is taking a whiz and then slashes him. And he looks down.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, his guts are spilling out. Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And people get crushed. It is a stupid movie. Seriously. And I love it. I gave it five stars.

[Jo (Host)]

You sold it. You sold it. We have to see this movie now.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. I basically am advertising movies. If you have a bad movie that nobody wants to see.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

I can advertise it.

[Jo (Host)]

All right, let's talk about. Let's talk about your family. I know your family pretty well.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

So your dad has been on the show a couple. A few times. He is our resident movie expert. He comes around especially around the Academy Awards season.

[Commercial Voice / Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Is that something that you have started to really enjoy is kind of like watching those award season movies and kind of watching award season and tracking that.

[Dez Pearson]

The problem is if I can even watch the movie because a lot of times they're rated like, R and have like the weirdest stuff in them.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, and also sometimes I just can't because I can't find time for it or it's goddamn boring.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Like a three hour movie is nominated for best picture. I'm not watching that.

[Jo (Host)]

You're not watching that? Yeah. All right, that's fair.

[Dez Pearson]

I tried to watch through conclave and I'd made it into. Through it like an hour before. I was just like, hey, I'm gonna watch Brooklyn Nine Nine again.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. As one does.

[Dez Pearson]

But I have seen like a few of them. You know, I've seen Alien Romulus, which was nominated for vfx. Honestly, great Alien movie. Especially since the franchise has been kind of.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Lately. So.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

You know, I've seen a few others. You know, I saw the Avatar movies and stuff, but there weren't any that came out this year, so.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Okay. Well, I. I've seen the Blue Man Group before, so I don't need to watch Avatar. I think I get it.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Any. Any. I mean, maybe some of your family will listen to the pod. You want to give any shout outs?

[Dez Pearson]

Guess. Shout out to my. My dad, my mom. I have no siblings. And I'm glad because sometimes I occasionally hop over to my cousins.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

It's a older guy named sj, not older guy guy. He's still like, still a kid. Yeah. And then there's my younger cousin Lexi. And it is basically the Civil war with them.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, amongst them.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. No, sometimes we'll just go on the trampoline because they have one and like play a game or something. And then like two minutes later, they're like WWE Takedown.

[Jo (Host)]

That's awesome.

[Dez Pearson]

It devolves into basically a wrestling match.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Just without the safety precautions.

[Jo (Host)]

Well, knowing your Uncle Sean, I completely believe that this is true.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, he's the same guy who. He climbed up a street pole and then jumped down thinking he was Superman.

[Jo (Host)]

That's awesome. So you brought a box with you and at first I thought you were gonna go all Carrot Top on me and you had a whole box full of just like jokes. Right. It turns out it's kind of like show and tell. You brought some stuff. Do you want to talk about it?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, I brought up like, I, like. I'm a collecting guy, you know, I collect Funko Pops. I collect, you know, video games. My dad collects movies. Sometimes it's acts bigger, like a lot of general stuff. Stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, yeah. So what you. What'd you bring? Let's talk about it.

[Dez Pearson]

All right. I didn't bring too much, but it is mostly just from stuff that I like.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

First off, I'd like to point out the Deadpool game.

[Jo (Host)]

This got an Xbox One game of Deadpool.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. This is an interesting story because this game is extremely rare.

[Jo (Host)]

It's just. They just didn't make many copies.

[Dez Pearson]

No, pretty. Yeah, pretty much. It came out originally 2013. Two years later, actually, Activision and Marvel had a big feud and stuff, and the legal rights were kind of in the like mixed area, so they just took it off shelves.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Not many copies were produced. But then later on they came out with like a. After the movie came out, they came with like a reboot of it and you know, got it on the modern consoles like Xbox One and PS4. But then again, like, forget if it was a few months or like a year later, it got taken off shelves because obviously legal issues and stuff and. Yeah, it is very hard to find a copy. I did have one on the PS3 at some point. My dad did, actually.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

But somehow he lost it. And the game can go for like $200 on the PS4.

[Jo (Host)]

Have you played the game?

[Dez Pearson]

Yes, a little. I've. I played the game a bit. It is pretty fun, but also pretty stupid. Because it's Deadpool.

[Jo (Host)]

Because it's Deadpool. Yeah. But stupid in the best way.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, honestly, if you fight. Because I. I found this at a local days for only 60, which might seem Like a lot considering that's the price of like most modern games. But for the game itself, that is actually a decent price.

[Jo (Host)]

Very nice.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, if you see a copy, pick it up, you know, maybe try and play it. But it's mostly just kind of collectible stuff to put on your shelf and show people.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, no, it's pretty awesome. It's a great talking point. What else you got in this box?

[Dez Pearson]

I got a lot of Deadpool stuff. Deadpool action.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

It comes with more guns than this one. I just decided to bring it. Yeah, it's a. It's a little Deadpool guy. He only costs like 20 in Amazon, but he has pretty good articulation. I like to. I put it. I pose him up and show him up to people. He's honestly really neat. You know, he usually.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, he's usually packing more heat than that. But yeah, in this case he's got two samurai swords and, and a pistol in his hand.

[Dez Pearson]

The only complaint that I have is that there isn't an extra hand option for him to flip you off.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, it's a very Deadpool thing. Yes, he's good. And he just fell.

[Dez Pearson]

He's good. He's good. He didn't fall to the floor.

[Jo (Host)]

That's awesome.

[Dez Pearson]

Then the final Deadpool thing. Little Funko pop.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, and he's like a bobblehead.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, it's like a bobblehead. Funko pop. The thing is, I didn't pick this up at you know, like jays or anything. It was literally at a high V. Fast and fresh.

[Jo (Host)]

No, was it really?

[Dez Pearson]

They were selling like random Deadpool, you know, Funko pops and I decided to pick this bad boy up.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah, well, shout out to Fast and fresh.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. And then. Oh crap. He dropped his weapon. No, I got Master Chief.

[Jo (Host)]

Master Chief from Halo. Halo.

[Dez Pearson]

You're.

[Jo (Host)]

You're going to think I'm an idiot. I. So. I've never played Halo, have you? And I grew up in the era that everybody played Halo.

[Dez Pearson]

Exactly. You are dumb. No, I, I just recently got into Hail like a few months ago. Going to leave like that. And honestly, I've been obsessed with trying to find a box Master Chief figure.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Cuz I. I actually have two more. Both of them were loose and they were like $15. But you know, they're Halo figures and I couldn't find any previously. But then I just strolled into Jay's one day with my dad and I found a boxed like unopened Halo figure that was just going for 25. So I picked it up Obviously.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Because you know, that's, that's honestly a great deal for how hard it is to find like a regular. This guy's 7 inches.

[Jo (Host)]

So tell me that's. I've heard that's about average. So what. Tell me about Jay's. Like you, you've mentioned Jay's three, four times now. Talk to me about J's.

[Dez Pearson]

It's basically just like a comic, video game, you know, action figure store. Basically, it's kind of just like a nerd store. You can buy like a seed. You can buy a lot of like DVDs, CDs, you know, video games and stuff like that I mentioned before. And they're, they're mostly just like pre owned stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

So people can trade them in for like store credit or money. And me and my dad occasionally do trade in stuff.

[Jo (Host)]

Right. But not movies.

[Dez Pearson]

I mean, sometimes movies.

[Jo (Host)]

What you're telling me right now on record that your dad will unload movies?

[Dez Pearson]

Well, that's only if he has like a. If he got a new 4K copy of it.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, so he upgraded it.

[Dez Pearson]

Yes, he upgrades it. He turns in the, you know, downgraded version.

[Jo (Host)]

That's fair. Okay. That's fair.

[Dez Pearson]

So yeah, honestly, really cool figure. He also comes with an assault rifle from the game. Not just this little plasma rifle.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. It looks like a laser shooter.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah. It's used by the Covenant. And then the final thing, it's actually a 3D printed thing. Alien chest burster.

[Jo (Host)]

Do you have a 3D printer?

[Dez Pearson]

No, I didn't 3D printed myself, basically. I think it was at like an art market type thing. And I picked it up because I. I forgot to mention this. I love the alien movies.

[Jo (Host)]

You do?

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, I've seen them all.

[Jo (Host)]

This is like those little wooden snakes you'd find. Oh, yeah, no, back in the day. But it's. It's like the alien guy.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

If. Imagine if a snake and the alien guy turned into a human centipede. That's what it would look like.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, no, that is. That is like the coolest thing that I have concerning how it's custom.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Not just like a action figure.

[Jo (Host)]

This is the first 3D printed thing I've ever held in my hand.

[Dez Pearson]

Huh. I actually have like a. A few 3D printed things. Mostly like they're small little fidget things. Like I have an infinite cube, if you've ever heard of that.

[Jo (Host)]

Yep.

[Dez Pearson]

And also like. Oh, there's like this thing where it is very complicated. It's like a swirly triangle like cone thing that you can slide into another swirly triangle cone thing. It. Honestly, if I brought it here, you could actually see what it looks like. So, yeah, that's all I brought.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, that's pretty cool. All right. Some insight into the brain, DEZ Pearson. All right, now it's your. It's your chance now you to plug anything you want to plug. What, what do you have? What are you working on? What do you got coming up? I know we've Talked about your YouTube page at des Underscore Peef Pizza Crust Studios. What, what, what do you want to plug? What do you got coming up here?

[Dez Pearson]

I want to say that for a while now, I've been working on trying to make a feature film because I want to get into film school. So I want to make it before I graduate from high school so I can send it to, like, various film schools.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. And you're graduating, what, next year?

[Dez Pearson]

No, well, not. I'm gonna be graduating from middle school in eighth grade and I'm going into seventh, so I don't know. I can't. I know I'm gonna be graduating from high school in a few years.

[Jo (Host)]

In a while.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, I would have guessed next year. Well, yeah, so I'm gonna be, you know, writing. I'm writing currently a feature film idea I have. You know, I'm not gonna give too much away. The title is still in progress. Like it has a working title right now.

[Jo (Host)]

So the title is still in progress. A working title that's actually pretty creative.

[Dez Pearson]

So. And I'll give you information on some of the plot and, you know, the details. First off, it's like a comedy crime movie, basically.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, Like a buddy comedy.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, it's kind of a buddy comedy, but it's not about cops. It's about crime. Crime. It's like. Because a buddy comedy is about, you know, two people who are very quirky.

[Jo (Host)]

And they go and solve crime.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, well, they don't solve crime. They are crime.

[Jo (Host)]

Oh, they are the crime.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

Basically they're. What did I name? Oh, I remember. Basically it's Henry, who I think is like a 25 year old guy and his older step bro. No, his younger stepbrother, kai, who is 15. And Kai really wants to start an amateur kid crime duo in the state of Arizona. But then they accidentally get caught up in the goings of a major crime family called the Gargantos, led by, you know, their leader. Who. I forget. What was his name? I forget. I know.

[Jo (Host)]

It was Johnny Garganto.

[Dez Pearson]

No, I forget what his name was. But I know the, like, mob boss, like, the grandfather is like, the main garganto.

[Jo (Host)]

It's like the Salerno family.

[Dez Pearson]

Yeah, kind of.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

I don't know. So, yeah, no, they are, you know, trying to track down these guys, and they're just like two siblings just trying to make it in the crime. In the crime business. And, yeah, it'll be, like a goofy movie. Probably won't have that high of a budget, but, yeah, it'll be pretty fun.

[Jo (Host)]

That's great, because you set it up perfect with the stepbrother situation, because then, you know, in the third act, when they disagree with each other, it's easy for one of them to be like, you're not even my blood brother. And they can just, you know, fight, and then they'll come together in the end. Yeah, but, yeah, no, that's perfect. You already. You've already got it all written in.

[Dez Pearson]

And I'm also trying to make on work on, like, a actual web series, not just, like, one that I film in, like, two minutes and then edit. Yeah, it's going to be like a web series called. It's another working title, but it's kind of more defined. I think it's called Roomies. It's basically, you know, it's kind of like if Friends was a mockumentary.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay.

[Dez Pearson]

It's basically about a group. It's gonna last, like, a season. Yeah, it's a miniseries. It's about. It's in, like, last 10 episodes. And it's about a group of friends who decide. Well, actually, it's a trio friends who decide to start, you know, living in a house together because they're. They can be roommates. A few more people join over the years, but then they realize that they cannot stand each other at all. After a few years, like.

[Jo (Host)]

Like, one just wants to go to sleep and their roommates are just banging on their door, like, come on out. Let's have some beers. Like that kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And, yeah, there's. I only have, like, a few characters planned. There's Daryl. He's basically a very immature, very, you know, impulsive guy who is. Who is not really aware of his actions and stuff. Like, at the start of the show, in a cold open, he's like. Basically a news story shows him flipping off a news reporter. And then he's like, hey, that's on me on tv.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

And then it just cuts to pile of trash. He's like, where did that come from? Jump Cut.

[Jo (Host)]

That's awesome.

[Dez Pearson]

And then there's. I think I Call him Jacob. Yeah, Jacob.

[Jo (Host)]

Jacob.

[Dez Pearson]

Jacob is, like, a bit more responsible, but still, you know, a bit goofy. He likes to, you know, play, like, on the Wii with his friend, but, you know, Daryl's kind of jerked him.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

Like, in one of the scenes, he literally just shoves him onto the ground violently while they're playing, like, Wii tennis.

[Jo (Host)]

That's awful.

[Dez Pearson]

And then there's Melissa, who is, like the more awkward, shy, you know, girl who likes to read books. Like that sort of stereotype.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah.

[Dez Pearson]

But, like, more defined and stuff, obviously. So, yeah, that's pretty much all I have so far. But, you know, it. It'll be pretty neat.

[Jo (Host)]

Yeah. Well, awesome. We'll look forward to that. And you can find it all at the YouTube page at Des P Pizza Crust Studios with Dez Pearson. You can also find him online promoting the Des Moines Young Artist Theater, which they have the Spongebob musical coming up July 25th through August 3rd. So that is exciting. You got a lot going on. You're a busy cat. School's about to come back in session. All right, brother. Any. Any last thing you want to plug?

[Dez Pearson]

I don't really have anything that I can plug, you know.

[Jo (Host)]

Okay, well, thank you for coming all the way to Omaha and join in. Laugh with me. Yeah, we'll certainly have you back. You. You've got a lot going on. So we've. I'm sure we've only hit the. The very tip of what we can. What we'll be able to talk about, so.

[Dez Pearson]

Okay.

[Jo (Host)]

Awesome. Well, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[Dez Pearson]

Nice.

[Jo (Host)]

Foreign.

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