Rick Harrison: The Truth About Pawn Stars & Reality TV | Planet Tyrus

Summary

Planet Tyrus: Rick Harrison – The Truth About Pawn Stars & Reality TV

Episode Date: January 8, 2026
Guest: Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars)
Host: Tyrus
Podcast: Planet Tyrus (Outkick)

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Episode Overview

This episode welcomes Rick Harrison, star of the long-running series "Pawn Stars," to discuss the reality behind reality TV, the evolution and public misconceptions about pawn shops, generational differences in work ethic, and the importance of hands-on knowledge and parenting. The conversation flows from behind-the-scenes stories of Pawn Stars’ success to deeper cultural commentary, peppered with humor and personal stories from both Rick and Tyrus.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Origins and Success of "Pawn Stars"

• 24/7 Pawn Shop in Vegas:
  • Rick recounts opening the pawn shop 24 hours a day in Las Vegas—a move considered crazy at the time but wildly successful due to constant Vegas foot traffic.
    • Quote (Rick, 00:29):
      “We had a line all night long. Because it’s Vegas… we were packed.”
• Longevity Surprises:
  • Show is entering its 17th year, with filming for season 23 soon.
  • Rick didn’t expect to become a TV institution; originally saw the show as a way to drum up business.
• Genuine Format & Resistance to Reality TV Tropes:
  • The show’s strength is its authenticity—no manufactured drama, just real transactions and stories.
    • Quote (Tyrus, 02:41):
      “You just let nature take its course. You didn’t force anything… you either called bullshit on it or you bought it.”
  • Rick repeatedly refused network requests for fake storylines or drama, insisting it remain a family business show.

Education Through Entertainment

• History over Drama:
  • The educational aspect—explaining historical significance of items—contributed to its broad, cross-generational appeal.
    • Quote (Rick, 03:26):
      “People love to learn history from their uncle, not a professor.”
  • Show is considered as much history programming as reality TV.
• Family-Oriented Content:
  • Rick prioritizes his business and family reputation, never compromising for sensationalism.
    • Quote (Rick, 04:42):
      “I’m never gonna put me in a bad light or my family in a bad light. It’s always gonna be a family show.”

The Realities and Dignity of Pawn Shops

• Dispelling Negative Stereotypes:
  • Movies historically maligned pawn shops, but they were once the number-one form of consumer credit.
    • Quote (Rick, 06:52):
      “The number one form of consumer credit up until the 1950s was pawn shops.”
  • Not only the “bottom of society” uses pawn shops—many well-off folks, especially gamblers, pawn high-value items for liquidity.
• Fairness and Trust in the Business:
  • Rick believes in fairness; his reputation is built on not taking advantage.
    • Quote (Rick, 10:34):
      “If I rip somebody off...they’ll tell everybody their entire life what a douchebag I am. But if I give them a good deal, hopefully they’ll tell some other people that I’m an honest guy.”

Generational Gaps: Work Ethic & Practical Skills

• Changing Attitudes Toward Work:

  • Rick and Tyrus reminisce about being put to work as kids; contrast with some younger generations' resistance to hard labor and entitlement.
  • Stories about interns and “ribs” (workplace jokes) illustrate differences in initiative and resilience.
    • Quote (Rick, 19:38):
      “You need to get the [expletive] out of here.” (on firing an intern who didn’t understand a simple joke)

• Rise of the Trades:

  • Strong admiration for skilled trade work; Rick’s children chose alternative paths—master plumber, helicopter pilot—with greater success and satisfaction than many college grads.
    • Quote (Rick, 23:03):
      “He just wants to be a pilot. Now he’s a commercial helicopter pilot doing great with... no college debt.”

• Loss of Basic Hands-On Skills:

  • The decline of auto shop, woodshop, and home economics in schools has led to a lack of practical know-how in many young adults.
    • Quote (Tyrus, 26:23):
      “Hand me a Phillips head screwdriver.' And he said, ‘What’s that?’”

Parenting, Accountability & Independence

• Rick’s Parenting Philosophy:
  • Consistency, structure, and boundaries create independent adults; friendship comes after the parenting is done.
    • Quote (Rick, 60:06):
      “Everyone wants to be their kids’ friends and not their parents.”
    • Quote (Rick, 60:15):
      “My job is to make sure he grows up as a good person. It’s not to make sure he gets a participation trophy.”
  • Tyrus concurs, noting the value in “old-school” tough love.
• Daughters and Bonds Through Stages:
  • Rick shares that girls cycle back to being close with their dads after teen years.

Technology, Books & Critical Thinking

• Decline in Reading Culture:
  • Both bemoan kids today not reading or using instruction manuals, turning instead to YouTube/TikTok and suffering loss of critical thinking.
    • Quote (Rick, 35:33):
      “They really should bring back the book before it gets just completely gone.”
• Books as Early Influencers:
  • Rick grew up reading due to health challenges, developing a lifelong love of knowledge, which influences his business and personal interests.
    • Quote (Rick, 30:35):
      “I read a book or two a week.”
• Technology Dependency:
  • Tyrus and Rick agree parental shortcutting with devices has led to screen addiction, social skills issues, and safety concerns for kids.
    • Quote (Rick, 52:09):
      “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

Humor, Antics & Memorable Moments

• Pawn Shop Oddities & Rejects:
  • Discussion of bizarre items brought in, like quack medicine machines and electro-shock therapy kits.
    • Quote (Rick, 17:19):
      “Some of the old quack medicine devices are absolutely ins[ane].”
• Bigfoot, UFOs & American Folklore:
  • Wild theories and television’s habit of stretching out speculation, the ongoing cultural need for mysteries (“as long as people are making money”).
    • Quote (Rick, 42:13):
      “Stories of Bigfoot will always be around as long as people are making money.”
  • Rick would never buy supposed “Bigfoot evidence,” citing lack of credible proof.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On the secret sauce behind Pawn Stars’ success:
  • Rick (03:10): “If you have a show that’s based on an eventual train wreck, there’s going to be a train wreck.”
• On parenting:
  • Rick (60:06): “That’s the problem nowadays. Everyone wants to be their kids’ friends and not their parents.”
• On pawn shop’s misunderstood reputation:
  • Rick (06:52): “The number one form of consumer credit up until the 1950s was pawn shops.”
• On generational divides and practical skills:
  • Rick (26:23): “Hand me a Phillips head screwdriver.' And he said, ‘What’s that?’”
• On reading and knowledge:
  • Rick (30:35): “I read a book or two a week.”
• On Bigfoot folklore:
  • Rick (39:37): “There’s no fossil record.”

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Important Segments with Timestamps

• [00:29-02:14] – Rick on the origins of his 24/7 pawn shop and getting on TV.
• [03:01-05:28] – The resistance to manufactured drama, why the show stays true.
• [06:54-09:48] – Pawn shops’ changing reputation and real customer base.
• [10:34-12:04] – Reputation, fairness, and running a family-oriented business.
• [19:04-21:58] – Stories about generational workplace “ribs” and young people’s attitudes.
• [23:25-26:02] – Rick on trade careers vs. college, his children’s different life paths.
• [26:23-27:01] – Decline in basic tool literacy among young adults.
• [35:33-36:56] – The value of reading, fake information on the internet, and documentaries.
• [41:25-42:07] – Rick’s policy on Bigfoot and other dubious collectibles.
• [50:48-54:54] – Independence, outdoor play, and family structure in childhood.
• [60:06-61:10] – Parenting strategies: friend vs. parent, daughters’ relationships through ages.

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Final Thoughts

This wide-ranging, often hilarious discussion peels back the curtain on Pawn Stars’ appeal and Rick Harrison’s practical philosophies. It’s about more than pawnbroking—it’s a reflection on American values, generational shifts, parenting, work ethic, and our ongoing fascination with the odd and mysterious.

Listeners come away with a new respect for pawn shops, deep parenting insights, and a few laughs about Bigfoot, all while getting the real scoop on what makes one of TV’s most enduring reality shows tick.

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Summary by Planet Tyrus Podcast Summarizer

Transcript

[A]

Oh, man, I'm. I appreciate you coming on today. A fellow podcaster that's the newest. Ever since last time we spoke. I like the name Pawn After Dark.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Isn't pawning always after Dark? Is it. Is there a. Was there. Is there a huge uptick in business at night of post during the day?

[B]

Well, okay, so back in the day, okay, everyone told me I was crazy. I was gonna open it, you know, when I got. I got my. I got. I got my pond license, which is a whole other story. And then I started, you know, I said I was gonna open it up 24 hours a day. Okay. So I made a little bank teller window up front and everything, and it was insane. I was doing over 100 pot tickets a night. We were. We were packed. We had a line all night long. Because it's Vegas, right? It was back in the day, but, you know, free Internet and all that other stuff and, like, you know, ATMs, you get like 200 bucks out of and all. Yeah. So, yeah, it worked out really well.

[A]

For me in life, you know, and you think about that. A pawn shop, in a lot of ways, is kind of an atm. You know, you're kind of short on cash. You got something nice. But I've been watching that. I can't wait how many years of this. It's an institution now.

[B]

We're going on 17 years.

[A]

Yeah. That has to blow your mind a little bit. I mean, this wasn't even in your. Your origin story. This wasn't even on the radar.

[B]

No, I mean, because, I mean, like, for lack of a better term, I was just a media.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, I put some of my super bowl rings on ebay right before the super bowl because I knew, you know, the really high reserves, so they would sell, but I knew I'd get free press out of it. And the press was always good for business. So this is over 20 years ago. I'm thinking, like, if I get one of these reality shows, because they were like a new thing back then, and I get a season or two, it'll be good for business. And for four years, everyone told me no one wants to watch a show about four fat guys in a poncho.

[A]

Well, well, well, now it's three fat guys.

[B]

Yeah. And then it was. I. Yeah, it was just. And it took me forever to figure out Hollywood and New York and how to get on tv, but I finally figured it out.

[A]

Yeah. And you know what? I think the reason why, because there was. There has been so many monster reality TV shows and I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the reason why yours is so successful was because you just let nature take its course. You didn't force anything. At least I never suspected fake stories and all these extra things. It was basically people came in with some of the wildest things, wildest stories, and you either called bullshit on it or you bought it, you know, And I think that was just a great, simple, everyone gets it kind of a story because you go to the pawn shop to sell something. Not necessarily to have love affairs and weird friends, you know, I'm saying, like, where reality shows kind of went all.

[B]

Over the place or, you know, or they were. They were seriously wanting us to do like some drama going like, nope, it's always going to be a family show.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, I have a real business here. I'm not going to look like a. Like a douchebag. And it's just, you know, I'm just always going to be a family show. I'm never going to do anything crazy. No. You know, and, you know, and I think one of the reasons why it's so successful is people love to learn history from their uncle, not a professor.

[A]

Yes. I was just going to say that. I don't. I don't feel calling Pawn Shop a reality TV show is a fair assessment anymore. I think of it like something that would be on the History Channel, you know, like, because whenever you do, especially when you have, like, something of high value, we always. You always. You guys do a tremendously good job of giving such a good background on the item at hand. You know, someone say, like, they had an Elvis Presley guitar pick. Right. And it was. There was number one of 45. You will explain all of that to the audience. And then either. And then we're sitting there deciding, don't buy it or buy it or, I don't know, you know, like, it's one of those shows that you talk to a lot, but a lot of times it makes you think about, oh, you know what? I have this with me. It's toys. Whenever someone sells an antique baseball card or something like that, I always relate. You know, I always say, oh, man, I still have my Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie card. So I think, are you pleased with that? To where it wasn't just another lock up after Love After Lockup or Housewives of whatever. It's got completely different genre.

[B]

Yeah. Because I was pretty successful before I started the show.

[A]

I didn't need this. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's my point.

[B]

Trust me, the show has Gotten helped business tremendously. But no, I mean, I always just said it's gonna be a family business. I'm never, you know, I'm never gonna put me in a bad light or my family in a bad light. It's always gonna be a family show. I'm never gonna do nothing I'm embarrassed about, you know, so that's why. And it's. That's why we're starting to film season 23 in February.

[A]

Yeah, that's. Are you tired at all? Are you. Are you burnt out?

[B]

I still love doing it. It's still fun doing it. It really is. I enjoy doing it. I'm a massive workaholic anyway, so, you know, I love doing it. I love setting up everything. I love doing all, you know, like, all the people submitting stuff for the show. And we're like, okay, like. Because, you know, when we first started filming it, like, is enough weird stuff going to come in? But the second it aired, everybody, the brothers, started coming in with crazy stuff.

[A]

Right? Well, it's not to mention you're in Las Vegas, the Mecca of where weird shit goes to be sold. I mean, there's. You're not going to get. You're not going to get these stories in Wisconsin. I'm sorry, It'd be great if you did, but you're just not.

[B]

And, yeah, there's no city in the world like Las Vegas. And it's been that way forever. I remember when I was a small town and nobody's always got that, you know, just. There's a different breed of person that shows up in Las Vegas, especially when they live here.

[A]

And it's funny because Vegas is a place of where being impulsive kind of rules the day. And they even give you, you know, fault. What happens in Vegas stays to Vegas. So no matter whatever dumb shit you decide, it's going to be okay once you leave Vegas, because no one's going to remember. And that's. That's not true. But in that craziness and risk taking and addiction, everything that's there in that, in the melting pot, that's Vegas. You have stayed very conservative, regular guy. Like, no one would know the levels of success you have because you just come off as a regular. You have a guy you could have a beer with, talk about life, and at no point realize that you've built this dynasty of not just a TV show, but in the pawn career. But you've also changed the perspective of pawn shops.

[B]

Yeah, I know. I mean, well, I mean, it was like in the 60s. I mean like a bunch of movies were coming out, put pawn shops in a bad light. Believe it or not, the number one form of consumer credit up until the 1950s was pawn shops. There was no credit cards, nothing like that. You needed a little money for the weekend. That's where you went. Charlie Chaplin's breakout movie was a movie called the Pawn Shop, where he worked in a pawn shop. That was his breakout movie. But they were a completely normal part of society. And then Hollywood just made us look bad.

[A]

Yeah. Cause it's always the pawn shop will buy anything a criminal sells him. Every movie, the hero comes in and finds his murdered wife's wedding ring on, on the, on the desk of the pawn shop guy. And he was like, I got a guy who's going to come back on that next week. It's not for sale, bro. You know, it's like always, you know, even that movie, the great movie, the Crow, you know, the, the, the pawn shop owner was the worst degenerate. It's never what they realize. It is a, it's a, it's a necessity, but it's also a place where people can get rid of some of their things and get a little money in their pocket. I don't see. It's not Dollar General. No disrespect to Dollar General because I am a shareholder, but there's there that perception of. That only the bottom of society sells their things is such bullshit.

[B]

Well, no. Well, first off, 20% of the people in this country don't have a bank account. Don't have access to one.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Okay. They can't get one. If you have bad credit, they will give you a bank account.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

And you know, first off, and then there's, you know, so people come in here and they borrow money from me and stuff like that. And I have people come in with like. Usually it's a lot of gamblers, but they need them. These are not poor people. When they come in and says, I need to borrow 100 grand for the weekend.

[A]

No.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If they were, they'd be ballsy. I mean, I would.

[B]

And then. Okay. I mean, it's like say grandma passes away and it's. She's got a painting on the wall or something like that. It says Picasso on it. What are you gonna do with it?

[A]

Exactly?

[B]

I mean, you have to bring it to a guy like me. Because if, you know, just your average guy puts a Picasso on ebay and wants some money for it, everyone's gonna laugh at him.

[A]

Exactly. They're gonna off jump. Oh yeah. And then you come in and you have your expert come in and break. That is my favorite part of the show because it's the truth. Like if you're bullshitting, if the guy is trying to con you, the expert comes in and I always watch your facial expression when the experts giving him. Letting him know exactly what he has. And I remember this one guy who just would not was. He thought he. What he had was. I think it were tickets. They were these special tickets and they were. He wanted. I think it was $20,000 from. Or something like that. And the guy looked at him and said they were basically reprints and you.

[B]

You.

[A]

And the whole time he was trying to convince you and you're like not buying it, not interested. They look nice. But. And it's always my favorite part is when they. Is when they. When that. When that guy comes in and just because you either hit the lottery, you're going to get something nice for what you perceive as valuable or you're going to get Rick given a Sorry, bro. And you're not mean about it. You have a certain smirk. It's almost. I don't want to say a delight, but you know, because also the other side of it is when something is way more valuable than they thought, you know, they come in asking you for 500 bucks for some china. It turns out it's worth 50 grand.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, like.

[B]

Because I've always felt that. I mean, like, that's always the way I ran my business is probably why I have the most successful pawn shop. Probably.

[A]

Well, you're fair. I think that's a fair word.

[B]

I always believed in that, like six degrees of separation. That if, you know, if. Yeah. If I rip somebody off and they find out about it, they're going to tell everybody their entire life what a douchebag I am.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But if I give them a good deal, hopefully they'll tell some other people that I'm an honest guy and they should come and do business and they'll come back. Yeah. And it's really worked out for me because.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You said. I mean, I get average. Well, it's. Believe it or not, December is the slow time of year in Vegas because you're kind of a douchebag if you come to Vegas during December.

[A]

Yeah. Or a single dad trying to figure it out. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A lot of divorced dads in Vegas.

[B]

This time of year. Like 1200 people a day.

[A]

Yeah. You know, there's been other attempts to create what you do, and I've seen them all and it's not about punching down or anything. And they all kind of miss the mark because they go with the absurdity of the people coming in they want the loudest, the most ghetto. In some cases, the uneducated or the ones who are just trying. Like, the whole episode is them foiling ignorant people's attempt to fraud them. Like, that's the. And that's good for maybe one part of an episode. But generally, you want the story of people going into a pawn shop with a positive outcome. Because you could be in that situation.

[B]

Where, you know, I've always wanted a family show. I wanted to, like, so, like, my kids could watch and. Yeah, I mean, like. And if you have a show that's based on an eventual train wreck, there's going to be a train wreck.

[A]

Right?

[B]

I mean, I actually. So there was another kind of popular pawn shop show that was on for five or six years, and they actually went to my agent and says, hey, we want to do commercials and everything. Like, Rick. And they just looked at him and says, like, what Fortune 500 company in their right mind would ever have you do an ad for them?

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because their stuff is. And I hate it. Is the guy. It's always people wearing hoodies in the middle of summer, talking shit, you gonna buy. And I don't know about you, but you gonna get this iPad today. And they're like, you don't even know the security code, sir. You know, like, you can't even log in. I forgot, you know, and I'll be back. And then the big bodyguard comes out, and then the guy gets macho. And, like, that lasts for. It's like I always said in entertainment, I always got this from my. One of my wrestling trainers, Tom Pritchard. Great mind. He used to say, whenever you do something, you it. You have to be careful of the two elephants getting it on in your yard complex where you do something so outlandish. You know, in wrestling, it's big moves. You do a big move every night. You do this big dramatic thing every night. In the case of the pawn shop, you. You have a fight with clients every week. Well, the first couple times you see that, everyone's gonna stop. Be like, oh, my, it's incredible. These two elephants are getting it on in front of Tyrus's house. This is crazy. You know, two weeks go by, they might be like, man, those elephants are still out there. But after a month, they're walking by the elephant. Excuse me. Trying to get to the front door. It's no longer spectacular. It no Longer it dies out. And you've done your part. Podcast, your show, and we didn't even talk about podcast yet, but your. Your television show, which is an institution now, never, ever got into that, you guys, it was just business as usual. And that was. That is not just entertaining, but educational. So.

[B]

Yeah. And. Well, I think another reason why it's lasted so long is, I mean, you got a car show or a motorcycle show or something. Like, there's only so many damn things you can do a car or a motorcycle before it gets like, really my show. I mean, it's truly different every episode because you have no idea what it is because there's millions of weird things out there.

[A]

And your base is everyone is the star of their own movie that's coming in. Everyone has a compelling story. Or maybe it's a heartbreak that got them to this point. Or maybe, like you said, grandma's painting, they didn't know what to do. There's a very human side of the pawn shop, I think, and maybe I'm going too deep, but I just. I know it's hard for me to. Consistently. There's few things that I watch consistently. It's Oak island, your show and Skywalker Ranch, and no particular order, but. But all of them have one thing in common. It's regular guys doing extraordinary things that maintain their regular guess, you know?

[B]

Yeah. And one thing I'm really proud about is, like, people tell me all the time, it's one of the only shows that, like, you know, it goes like, you know, grandparents, you know, you're like, my parents, me and my kids, we can all sit down and watch it together. It's the only show that we can all agree on.

[A]

Well, yeah, and here's the thing. You don't. Republican, Democrat, doesn't matter. We all sell shit. You know, we all buy stuff. And you, you know, I've never seen an episode be like, excuse me, how did you vote, sir? Get the hell out of my store. You know, it's like, I don't see. And watching the, the, the shows that I like, I always. Generally, the hosts and stuff, they don't change over time because they've always been who they are supposed to be. And you're a grown man, so it's like, you're not. Your outfits didn't change. You didn't show up with hair plugs and, and, and bicep implants and, and start wearing a, you know, $5,000 suit to pawn Stars every week. You know, like, you've, You've maintained the product Sells itself and you know who you are. And I think that, I think a lot of people identify with that.

[B]

Yeah. I mean. Yeah. I don't think anyone would even recognize me if I got hair plugs.

[A]

Yeah. I never thought men. And maybe you've seen this in the pawn shop. I was con. I, I was ignorant. I didn't think, I thought women when they got older were into all the hair care products, facelifts and makeup and all in hair, man. Men are just. The older I get, like I don't, I don't wear makeup or anything on tv. It's pointless. You know, tits on a bull. But the amount of men that spend money on trying to look younger or it's.

[B]

I know, it's ridiculous. Yeah.

[A]

And I just want to be like.

[B]

Hair plugs that look like doll hair.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just bad. And like. Yeah.

[A]

The tanning and I don't, I don't.

[B]

Wear makeup on the show anyway. I'm just naturally pretty.

[A]

Yeah. That's why I look. What you see is what you get.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And do you deal with like, I'm sure you deal with all kinds of hundreds of characters a day and stuff, but do you. What. When you. Have you gotten a lot of things like that now? Because I'm assuming at this point when it's not working, the guys are trying to sell them. I mean, do you get guys coming in with some of these? Because some of the youth, some of these anti aging machines and stuff that everybody bought a few years ago, they gotta be coming around. Right. What's the, like the weirdest thing you've seen lately?

[B]

Oh, no, no. I mean like some of the old quack medicine devices are absolutely ins. Like one time on the show a guy came in with a home electro. Electroshock therapy kit.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Where you can like just bolt yourself.

[A]

Yeah. Because you never know when you're going to need that.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you know, like, you know, I. A lot of the stuff that comes to the show. I mean, I'm sort of like a hoarder with weird stuff. I mean I have a radium vitalizer. It's just like this ceramic crock that you would put radium in and make radium water for you. Which was good for you.

[A]

Yes, of course.

[B]

And we keep you young and everything like that. No, no, I'm just, I'm aging gracefully, I think. And yeah.

[A]

Honestly man, you don't. And what's it been, four, four or five years? It's been a while since the last. It's been some years since the last time we talked. Well, no, we ran into. I, I, I saw you somewhere else besides the interview, but gut fell together. Yeah, we did gu. Yeah. I don't count work. We did Gut fell.

[B]

You need.

[A]

You're actually ridiculously overdue. Yeah. Yeah. And, but you've maintained. And that's something I'm proud of. Because you're one of the guys. Because I haven't changed much either. Like, I just found. I, maybe it's just you have to. There's this Success is great, but I think it's your failures that make you judge your success or yourself. Like when you're, you're going through the scrapes and the stuff that the procedure or the, the road to get where you are defines you. Do you see with a lot of the younger guys today that are trying to come up, there's like that they're apprehensive to fail. Yeah. They want it right now. Instant. I'm going to start a business. I'm going to make million dollars next week. And when it doesn't happen, they're just done with it.

[B]

Well, no, it's just, I mean, they're just so privileged and like, you know, they just. Here's a great story. This is like 10 years ago. Okay. So we had an intern on the show from UNLV here. It was in like their film school. Okay. And it was just, this is back in the day when you didn't even pay interns. And we, you know, we obviously with the interns, of course.

[A]

Yeah, I blame them.

[B]

So I told them. Yeah. So I told him that the audio cables was too short, that he needs to go upstairs to the offices and get the cable stretcher.

[A]

How many, how many hours was he gone looking for the cable stretcher?

[B]

So like a half hour he comes back up because he went upstairs and the, the people in the office upstairs, like, you know, just let him on. So he ends up coming downstairs when he figured out, started yelling at me, that's not right. That you shouldn't be doing that. Like. And I looked at him, I'm like, dude, I don't know the exact procedure for fire to someone who doesn't get paid, but you need to get the out of here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He goes, well, so you just yelled at the boss dude.

[A]

Yeah. For getting to know you.

[B]

Yeah, get the out of here. I gotta call security. And he just dropped his head and walked away. I never heard from him again.

[A]

No, nor should you.

[B]

Yeah, that's, that's the young people who just, they think this insanity of like college is real.

[A]

Yes. You know what, in wrestling we call that a rib. Like you get rib. You guys. Like when I, when I first showed the W, all the veterans at the bar, guess what? You got to pick up the check, you know, and they might move your bag and hide it or they might do little things. I didn't get messed with too much kind of help sometimes when you're six, eight and look mean. But whenever they did mess with us, you know, or simple things like when we get on a plane and sometimes you got upgraded to first class and you'd see someone like an Arne Anderson coming on the plane, you give them your seat. Even though I'm 68 and I'm giving up legroom for, for an older guy. It's a respect thing. And then one day you're part of it and they don't ask you. You're. Now it's you telling the new guy. I think things like that, especially for young men, like that's how you be. Camaraderie is built. That's how you get, you know, learn and get a little like this anti scarring campaign where they don't want their precious babies to anyone ever disagree with them. Then they send them to school where they're told that everyone who disagrees with them is Hitler. Then they get in the real world and they lasted a job that long. And the fact that they didn't know what a cable stretcher was from jump.

[B]

Probably was like four years in, in film school.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It was like his last year in film school. I'm like, you know, he should be.

[A]

The master of chords. You know, he's. But I, I think it's. But you dodged a bullet. Even though you were doing a joke. You realize this dude is so unqualified that he spent 30 minutes looking for a cord stretcher.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like even the name, I would have.

[B]

Been fine with it, you know, and probably liked it more.

[A]

The name in itself reeks of, of. You know what I'm saying? Cord stretcher. Like what section is that at Best buy, sir. Like, you know, it's just.

[B]

And I came up with that because my son like his first day on the job being a plumber. Yeah. They told him to go find a left, a left handed pipe wrench.

[A]

And he's All I could find was these right ones. But he didn't quit, did he? No, he didn't come in and tell the plumber he's an asshole. Yeah.

[B]

He ended up becoming a master plumber.

[A]

Yeah. Which by the way, how Much is his school debt, by the way? How much money does he owe universities with his own business? Nothing.

[B]

So, like my youngest son, he went to Northern Arizona and he went there for one semester and called me up, says, dad, I hate college. You know, I mean, all it is is this. You know, all I hear about is this dei, this. You know, like, this. White people are terrible. He goes, I just want to be a pilot. So I said, well, it's fine. All the kids do something different. He come back to Vegas. He went to pilot school for a few years. Now he's a commercial helicopter pilot doing great with. No. You know, I financed the. Damn. The helicopter school. But making great money and way more money than 99% of college graduates.

[A]

Because when you have a degree in gender study, no one bothered to tell them there's not a huge market because every one of us at 13 years old was into gender studies. You know, like, it's a. It's. But there is. We put so. And I'm sure a lot of the people you have selling stuff have college degrees. I'd like to sell, too, and it's not worth the paper it's printed on. But we. We're seeing the. Because we put so much emphasis on college, we created this monster and we forgot about other avenues in life, you know, whether, like, your son, one's a pilot, one's a plumber, but all those things. And pilot school is expensive because I had my. One of my stepsons, he was thinking about doing it, but I was like, look, if you show up, I got you. Because, you know, if you finish it, you can definitely pay me back, you know, and if you can't, you know, we'll find something. But the trade school market, I think we're starting to see a change. I think we're starting. It's kind of took it out of the high schools.

[B]

Yeah. I have a buddy that's a welder. I mean, he's a specialty welder. He welds taps onto live gas pipes.

[A]

Oh, wow. That's. Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But he makes, like.

[A]

And he should.

[B]

A year.

[A]

He should.

[B]

He makes like 350 grand a year doing that.

[A]

They should double it. He's got fire and gas. It should be.

[B]

Because those big natural gas pipelines.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That go to, like, a community with 50,000 people. They can't turn off the gas.

[A]

No. And he's got to fix it.

[B]

All the gas out of the way. So you see. And, like, they're going to have another community. He's got to. Weld something onto the existing pipe.

[A]

Yeah, he needs to get paid more than 350. But I'm glad he's there doing it because I'd still be staring, going, yeah.

[B]

But I mean, guys, I mean like, if you're a welder right now, I mean, if you play it smart, I mean, you get out of welding school, you're making 200, 200 grand a year because there's no one out.

[A]

There's. What was it, what was it Mike Rowe was saying that there was like on average like 2 million trade school jobs just sitting open, waiting, and they're going to start outsourcing the overseas. You know, people don't get citizenships in this country to become a plumber and an electrician, you know, and that we have this great. It's there for the taking. I think the biggest thing is they, when they took things like home EC and auto shop and wood shop and metal shop, when they took those things out of high school because they were in the way of going after college degrees, I think they hurt a huge population of Americans.

[B]

Oh, they did. I mean, like, I mean, I originally learned how to, you know. Yeah, just a little bit of welding and metal shop. I did wood shop and everything like that. And you know, but like, it's like my daughter, like, she's married now, but this like seven or eight years ago, she had this one boyfriend and I'm literally, he wants to help me at my shop and I'm like, hand me a Phillips head screwdriver. And he said, what's that?

[A]

Oh, yeah, I hated him. Yeah, I would hate him too. Because then you gotta be like. And then, no, my favorite line. Is it the star one?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Or the flat one? And I'm like, I'm good, I'm good. Now I expect that out of my, you know, in my 11 year old, my daughter, she would know. But I'm just saying when she was like a five year old, I would get that. But a young man, you should. But then again, you almost can't get mad at them because it's not even presented to them anymore. Like, if the Internet broke down tomorrow, one of the. And I recently did a thing with my kids, I was like, can any of you make a fire and build a tent? Like, if you were stuck in the forest, what could you do? And all my sons basically were saying, well, I would wait till I got a signal and call somebody. And I just looked, I just said, wow. Well, the, the bloodline ends here because you guys ain't making it out of the woods. Like, can. You know when they're like, well, do I have a lighter? Do I have this? Like, no, you have to figure. I was like, wow. And I think about my childhood. It was. And I'm sure you can relate. You knew there was things passed down and if you didn't get things, if you joined the boy Scouts, if you did, if you went on camping trips and fishing trips, you learned changing a tire. Like you, these were all part of your childhood. Now if it's not on a tap, I mean, and you hate to. You want to stop and not be like, hey, I'm just from an older generation bashing the new generation. But I think it's deeper than that because you just. There's a lack of preparedness for if anything, any curveball in life hits. I just feel like they're not prepared and I guess it's our fault.

[B]

But I mean, like. Well, I mean like, I've always had this massive desire to learn and like, you know, and also like, you know, my upbringing. You know, I started working at my, you know, when I was 12 years old. My dad said I was too old to get allowance and I need to start working construction.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Because my dad would, my dad would buy apartments, but he would only buy apartments if they had literally if they had condemned stickers on every door because he got them so much cheaper.

[A]

Yeah. And then he could rebuild from within.

[B]

Yeah. So, yeah. My friends were watching Saturday morning cartoons. I was out working in a just shithole apartments. I fell through the floor. One of them. Oh, I got killed at for it.

[A]

Of course you did. You just messed up good paneling. What were you thinking?

[B]

Yeah, no roof. My first house at 13.

[A]

Or did he tell you to go look for the floor stretching machine?

[B]

Yeah, because like the, the guys did like the trades guys there. They, they with us all the time. Yes, but. Yeah, no, it was. But nowadays you would get in trouble if you had your 12 year old son working.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And if he fell through the floor, it'd probably be frowned upon as well. But that valuable work experience was. And that work ethic because obviously you were there to do a job. And when your dad's your foreman, I'm assuming the bar is a little higher, you know, like because you were, you represent him. So there's a lot of pressure on you.

[B]

Oh, yeah, no, yeah, like, yeah, it's just. Yeah. Because my dad was actually a drill instructor for a while when he was in the Navy.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Oh, yeah. So be like 12 years old. What the. Is your malfunction?

[A]

Oh, man, that's. But you know what, though? That work ethic and that stuff has served very well. And you've passed it.

[B]

Oh, no, it worked for me. I mean, I started building. Building and selling houses when I was in my early 20s because I knew how to do it.

[A]

Now, it's funny, because you're. You. You're talking about how much the past has. Has built you to be successful, but you are a walking history nerd. I mean, I don't think that's a gross exaggeration. Like, you. You are into books. I know cars are a big thing, but, like, it's such a. It used to be a normal thing. People. Oh, yeah, I read a lot of books, or I'm really into this and that. It's. It's not that popular anymore. You never. When people. You ask people, like, hey, what do you like to do? They very rarely say, I love history, or, you know, I like a good book.

[B]

I read a book or two a week. Well, when I was a kid, when I was really young, I developed epilepsy when I was 8 years old, and I'd have really bad seizures where it pulled the muscles in my back, my legs, And I couldn't walk sometimes for a couple weeks. And we were po. So my mom would get me. My mom or my grandma would get me books at the library, and I just fell in love with reading. And then literally by the time I was 10 years old, I mean, why are you watching TV? Books are so much better.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Cause you. Yeah.

[A]

You know what? And I think it had a lot to do. Ours with Our TV set was broke, and it was the second one on top of the first one. When that one went, you're on your own. So coming home from school every day, I would swing by the library and grab a couple books. Cause I knew after dinner, it was gonna be quiet. You know, shower, brush your teeth. The TV doesn't work, so play amongst yourselves, fellas. Figure it out. So I would get books at the library, and. And then we would have competitions, like, who could finish the book and tell them. You know, so the other. No one else in the family had to read your book. So you would read the book, and then you would present it and, you know, tell my mom about it or your brother. We had, like, little book clubs, I guess, before we didn't have a name for it. And I find that not just physically reading the book, because every time you open a book and you finish it, there's a great Sense of accomplishment and a transition of knowledge. I don't necessarily think we get that from watching tv. I don't think you finish a sitcom going, I'm a better person for starting.

[B]

This show because I watch it. Like, yeah, I've tried to watch like documentaries on Amazon and stuff like that. And I get like five minutes out of them going, wrong, wrong.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, I do the same thing. I know it. My wife can't stand me. I'm not allowed to watch documentaries unless I promise to be quiet because I will be like, that's not true. Okay, all right. So I always ask the question, who made the documentary? Because, you know, we got fooled by documentaries when they first came out as we thought they were like the truth and they just told the story, you know, and then you draw your own conclusions. No, just like anything else, it depends who's making the documentary and who they're trying to protect and who they're trying to go after.

[B]

On my show for years, you know, I'd go to film or something that they try and hand me like a bio sheet of what I'm filming with.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And like, little. Every time was, okay, let's read this. Because it was done by some intern in New York that's, you know, like, yeah, I go like, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And I would just like, literally. I mean, I got to the point where I should tell them, like, tell New York to suck a dick when it comes to these, these bios just let you know.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's not like you're just wasting money on it because, you know, you can't have a 22 year old kid go on Google and come up with this stuff. You need to actually know about it.

[A]

Right. Not to mention that everyone else can go on Google and come up with the same exact thing. There's no originality to it.

[B]

Yeah. You know, and like most of the stuff, I mean, there's so much stuff that's wrong on Google because, like, remember anybody? It's, you know, it's just, it's another thing.

[A]

It's like I hear all the time people, I was on TikTok yesterday and guess what? And TikTok's the best because it's. There are people like me telling the truth. Nope. They might be people like you, but TikTok is financed. It's a Chinese company with one goal. Keep Americans stupid and eating detergent. That's their goal. That's it. And you guys are. But I'll hear that they'll. They'll push that Narrative. And it's like, that's not. You're missing the point.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. My daughter does that. Like, my youngest daughter, she'll call me up all the time. I saw this thing on TikTok. Is that true? And I'm like, no, no. I mean, like, they just.

[A]

It's. Anyone with a phone camera, in five minutes, they can say anything they want to about anything at all. And then all they need is five or six people go, yeah, yeah. A couple of retweets and then. And then the cult has started.

[B]

Yeah. So it's. Yeah. I mean, they really should bring back the book before it gets just completely gone. I mean, it's. You can just learn so much more, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like a friend tell me. There's this new documentary, I think it's on Amazon about UFOs or something like that, and I'm watching that. Are you still there?

[A]

Yeah, I'm here. Listen, you said ufo, so I'm. I'm dead. I'm dead on. Because I just. I'm waiting to see if it's the same one I watched.

[B]

Yeah, no, but, like, you know, I'm thinking, okay, this will be interesting. But they. Everyone they interview, they're just regurgitating the same thing the last guy said.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you really don't get it. It's on for an hour and you get five minutes worth of information. It just like, I. You know, I couldn't finish it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's the way they filled those documentaries. We really don't learn a lot up in Oregon. Up in Oregon, I have a little ranch, and it's right next to McGribble Campground, which is the number one spot in Oregon for sightings of Bigfoot.

[A]

Yes. Okay. I'm obsessed with Bigfoot, okay?

[B]

And my caretaker up there swears he exists.

[A]

So here's the thing. I don't care if we ever find out if there is a Bigfoot or not. I'm just impressed with the commitment. I am impressed. And Matt Moneymaker, interesting name, but he's done Animal Planet show Finding Bigfoot. And again, they kind of ran into the problem where after I think it was eight seasons, they're like, we gotta find one. Or, you know.

[B]

Well, they can't find one because if I find one, the season's over.

[A]

Right. But here's the cool part. They've just. When you think everyone's done with Bigfoot, this new documentary takes the bar to the next level. Bigfoot. The reason why we can't see them is they're interdimensional beings. They're also the ones in the UFOs. So it's all this. They come here to visit. Apparently they love nature walks. That is all the rage in the galaxy is to fly a millennia to earth, walk around the trees and shit and scare the shit out of a camper. That apparently is the pistol of resistance in all of space. Is to come scare somebody.

[B]

It's also where the aliens fly across the universe to come here to pick a guy up in a pickup truck.

[A]

Yes. Yes. This is also. You know what? There was a story about that. You guys know what I'm about to say? There was a story about that. Apparently there was a guy for 70. He's 72 years old. When he finally got arrested, he had been dressing up as an alien and molesting neighbors, making them think that they were abducted. No, I swear to God. We tried to get him on the show but having a hard time. Apparently he's. He. He's like old. Old. But apparently he was a serial raper who dressed up as an alien. And that's. Hey, truckers. I hate to be the one to tell you this, men, but it was a dude in an alien mask that was. And again, I hope he serves the rest of his life in jail. But when that comes out, that's a lot easier to believe.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then it was E.T. you know, and. But at the same time. So the. Huh. I like the hustle of it. And I try to apply science to. And this is where in history kind of bites them in the ass a little bit. Now listen, I am the. If a Bigfoot shows up tomorrow, I'm like, awesome. But I have. Whenever I have experts on. I always go the scientific route. So let's just figure out what it's not first. Right. Is what I always. And I always notice that gets a weird reaction because I'm like, we know most all apes live in warm climates. The land bridges were there. But for some reason, gorillas, chimps and orangutans did not take that walk to America because it's cold. Like they don't. So that. So why weren't they here? Okay, so. So maybe you had one species that hung over. Was it Australopithecus? Was it this group? And they always do the same thing. No. So. Okay, so it can't be that. And that's the most logical line. So it has to be a mystic being. You know. And there are some things where you have to. Like Native Americans talked about a hairy tribe. Like, the. The stories are consistent. Maybe There was something at some point in time. I'm sure there was. We killed a lot of big things off in our early history. So when you go back, like, well, look, there was mastodons that were in America gone. The woolly rhinos, gone. The bison, the sloths, the big bears. So we have had our hand early. Man has wiped out a lot of shit that got in his way. So I would accept the fact that Bigfoot was wiped out with the other big mammals because he got in the way. But whenever you.

[B]

There's no fossil record.

[A]

Ah, bam. And that's the next thing. There would be something hip, bone, tooth, something somewhere.

[B]

And when they don't, like, like four months out of the year. I have a ranch up in Oregon, completely off the grid. It's miles and miles from any neighbor, you know, in the middle of a big forest. I own a decent sized forest and I have seen mountain lions. I have seen beavers, I have seen otters. I have seen every bit of nature. Never saw Bigfoot a footprint, no clump.

[A]

Of hair in the bush.

[B]

No, I mean like I've seen like you said, like literally hundreds of times. I've seen bears on my property.

[A]

I've camped in.

[B]

Mountain lions are a rare thing. They take up a big territory.

[A]

Yeah, you don't see them often. Very elusive.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But you do see a footprint or you might hear a roar, or you might see the aftermath. A half eaten deer. Like you're gonna see some evidence whether you might not ever see that mountain lion in your area, but you will see the results of him in the area. Scab footprints, bones from where he eats. And then one day he's gonna die and you're gonna find bits and pieces of him somewhere. But that one of those, if a guy, okay, here we go. Devil's advocate guy comes in to the pawn shop and he has Bigfoot hair and, and castings of footprints so realistic. You know, they even had like a, like a fingerprint pad on the bottom of their foot. Is there any way they could convince you that is of some value that you would possibly purchase?

[B]

Not in this lifetime, no.

[A]

Because you wouldn't have. Because you wouldn't have an expert to come in.

[B]

I don't have an expert on it. Even if I had an expert on, you know, when it's just like, it's stupid, I don't want to deal with it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, go sell it to someone who cares about that because that's something I don't give two shits about. Because. Yeah. It would just.

[A]

You're not. Listen, if Bigfoot shows up tomorrow, you're gonna be like, this is great. Wow, I was wrong. Whoops. My bad. Now I'm going to go about my day because that's how many I'm giving about this. But you'll acknowledge it. Why can't the other side say, you know what? As much as we hope, it's like you got a good chance. Who's going to show up first, Santa Claus or Bigfoot?

[B]

Yeah, you got a point. The. But like big. I mean, stories of Bigfoot will always be around as long as people are making money.

[A]

Yeah. Because they start their folklore like global warming. Yeah. It's like, well, at least Bigfoot comes from. Like, there's some history. And you might want to look up parts of the frontier and the histories of Native American tribes who claim to. Like, there's at least some form of education of at least our country. If you. If you dive in to, you know, Bigfoot, global warming, it's. You're going to die in 10 years anyways, so what does it matter? You know, like, there's no. Though the polar bear. I think my favorite is, as a guy who's an outdoorsman, Al Gore's book where he said we had 10 years left polar bear was done. Like, take your pictures. Now there will be no polar bears, no penguins. Like, it's beachfront tropical property. And of course it doesn't happen. And there's never a. We got that one wrong. Polar bears are doing just fine.

[B]

There's more now than there was 20 years ago.

[A]

Yeah. So they're doing great. And maybe it's all the Greenpeace people leaving their food behind, going up there to try to save them, but you never see that either. Polar bear relocation programs and stuff like that. And it. But again, that was the green. That was just always a hustle. I don't know if Bigfoot was always a hustle. I think we're just scared of the unknown. And I think it's nice to put like a. Oh, that's a Bigfoot. Like, I don't know what that is. So it's a Bigfoot. And they never. Cause here's the deal, it's a pretty good monster to have. They are there, but they don't bother you. They don't want anything to do with you. They don't eat you. They don't touch you. They just walk by you, give you a look and disappear. I mean, as far as monsters go.

[B]

Go back to their own Dimension.

[A]

I'll take it. Yeah. No, no, for real. It was dimension. They literally step in, step out of their dimensions. That's why we can't catch them. And literally every time there's a Bigfoot sighting, if you wait long enough, there'll be a UFO sighting. So they've combined it Skinwalker ranch. They've combined it finding Bigfoot. And I was just trying to link it all together by putting it on a show that had wheels on it. If we could have. Well, you know what? I don't think we can get any sales at pawn shop, but would you consider having them on pawn shop pawn after dark? Is that a possibility?

[B]

Oh, that. That I would love to do. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Because then you could get into all the. The interest, inconsistencies and truths about the stuff like that. Do you. Because you're. When you read a book, what is your favorite style of book? Non fiction. Fiction is history. Like what are the novels like? What's the book? What gets you?

[B]

Let me see. I just read the saga of the vacuum tube.

[A]

Oh yeah. Was it a. Was it rough? A regular murder.

[B]

It was a great pace. I love stuff like that. I read the history of batteries twice.

[A]

Twice.

[B]

I'm that much of a nerd twice. Well, I am. So I haven't. So I have my own. My own micro grid up in Oregon in my ranch. We've got a. You know, I got three houses, big game room, like four big garage because I got a. Well, everything else like that. And I designed the entire grid and I have half the turbine. I have my own little mini Hoover dam.

[A]

So you need to read these books because you.

[B]

Solar wind turbines I developed and I power.

[A]

Yeah, I don't have a problem with a man reading because you.

[B]

The thing is, you read, eventually it'll pop up.

[A]

Yeah, eventually. Well, you, you're doing all these things and I'm pretty sure at some point it came up and lo and behold, I'm glad I read a book twice on how batteries were made because now I. I think. I think it's. It's a. Such a lost art, just the instruct, even getting people to read instruction manuals. I'm like, my kids will order something and I'll see them on YouTube watching a guy tell them how to put it together. Like the instructions are right there. And it's almost a point of pride. We don't do instructions. And I'm like, I'm sorry, I do. What's. What do you mean on YouTube? You watch somebody else put something together on YouTube like, just read it yourself, because then that knowledge will stay in your brain. You don't have to keep. Mimicry doesn't last long. It's like a parrot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It'S like I said, it's.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, like, you know, I mean, like, I've told my kids. Yeah. I mean, like, if you watch something on YouTube and it shows you how to put something together when you still don't under. Understand the theory behind it and why. Why it broke or why it. Yeah. Why you got to fix it this way and everything like that. So if you understand how the whole system works, you'll be a lot better off.

[A]

And if something else would arise, you're already in the game. Like, oh, it's not the batteries. It must be the. It must be the. The fuses. So let's go check. How do you know that? Well, because I read a book on it. You know, I didn't. You know, I'm Googling it, you know, like, Google this. And again, in short, there is positives for both sides. I just think it's. I think we just got. We've gotten so impulsive that we've gotten away from what patience brings and what accountability for yourself to increase your knowledge to where you can make your own decisions. I think everyone wants everything done for them. So things like reading books, instruction manuals, building your own business from the ground up, understanding the way things work.

[B]

Young guys don't work on their own cars anymore.

[A]

No, no, you never see that. You never see kids out. I've yet to have a baseball go through my car window. And I think I would be so happy if a kids were outside playing baseball and someone broke my window. I don't think I'd charge them for it. I'd be like, hey, man, maybe lean left next time. But thank you for being outside, like.

[B]

Well, I mean, like, when. I mean. I mean, I'm 60. I know I look like I'm 29, but I have 60.

[A]

I was gonna say. Yeah. Those few guys in the back were like, tyrus, you're talking like an old man to this young, svelte guy here.

[B]

So. No, but when I was a kid, you literally got booted out of the house.

[A]

I was 16 and, like, holler, all summer long.

[B]

You were not allowed the house. You'd come back in for lunch, and then you came in for dinner, and then you went back out and you had to go to the house and the street lights came on.

[A]

Yeah. And if you were thirsty, there was this thing called the hose. And if you had to go to the bathroom. Leave before, go, before you go. But there are these things called bushes. I can remember my mom like, there's a tree over there. And I'd be like, but there's a tree over there. Anything else you should have done before you left? Figure it out. You have a bike, you have a dog, you have three friends. Goodbye. See you guys.

[B]

Oh yeah. Like, you know, like literally, I mean, like, I mean it's just we coddle children so much now. We'd be like 10 years old. We'd be on our bikes going to like I was in the house and like, you know, doing all this crazy shit and then coming home like how was your day? Oh, nothing. We just hung out with Timmy.

[A]

Yeah, you know I, I was, we used to go. We'd ride our, we ride our bikes to the. I lived in, we lived in. Grew up in California and we lived in Sunland to Hunga for a little while. But selling Tahunga doesn't have much other than it's famous for. They filmed bad News bears at their little league camp. I mean grounds. It's kind of a small suburb in the middle of busy la but they have this giant river called the Wash where through the canyons it goes all the way up I think Mount Wilson or whatever. And we used to ride our bikes there every day because we were going to go fishing or try to catch. But we would be out there all day climbing mountain, climbing hills, building forts, figuring out how we're going to live our lives. And then we had it down to a science. Once the sun got to a certain level going down, we had to haul ass because if it was dark when you walked in the door, it's going to be dark for the rest of the night because you're not going to get dinner, you're going to get ass whipping and you're going to get sent to your room. Like we understood the rules but when we came home it was always the same thing. Like, how was your day? Oh, it was good. What would you do? Stuff. You know. The only time we ever came is like if something happened like little Jimmy broke his arm and you know like because we were wrestling on a mountaintop and then you have to, then you tell them everything. But my parents, my mother was just like, how was it? Good? Okay, cool. There's no nothing else I have to worry about. Nope, we're fine. Can't wait to go tomorrow. And then I got clever. We started making lunches and stuff, you know and guys would take turns but we were always outside the independence was the biggest thing from it, I think is that everyone's very dependent now. Instant gratification. Yeah.

[B]

We can learn how to survive.

[A]

Yeah. I agree. We should all be an allergy. Yeah. Like yeah, yeah, yeah. I only can do kale, nothing else. And I that I steak till it's over for me.

[B]

They know kale existed when I was a kid.

[A]

I know it didn't. I think we had two choices. You had celery and lettuce. Iceberg lettuce. I don't know where this leaf lettuce and red and green came from, but it wasn't there when I was growing up. And usually it was in a can. Like green beans and spinach were in a can. I never take spinach leaves. I was like, what? No, it's in. You open a can and you.

[B]

Oh, no. My grandma used to make me if you came in before dinner, you were breaking beans. Because I don't answer.

[A]

Oh, that was another reason why I never came in the house. If you hung around too long, you around and did chores all day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And moms can think of some horrible for you to do. One was picking weeds in the yard. I would have rather I wish to be shot in the head and be put out of my misery than spending an all day Saturday on my knees pulling my definition of weeds. And hers were very different. I'm thinking dandelion or like, you know, like one of those. The white ones you blow. And like I just get those all up and done. Oh, no, no, no, no. This crab grass. This, this. And I'm like, that's going to take forever. And like, yeah, well, maybe you should have went out and played.

[B]

That's what my grandma used to say. Idle hands with the devil's workshop. And she'd get us busy so we just didn't come in the house all summer long.

[A]

And it was great. You turned out fine.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Other than your disdain for bigfoots.

[B]

But it was an adventure.

[A]

Yeah. And do you. You think we'll ever get back to that? Is it going to take something dramatic?

[B]

I don't know, dude.

[A]

Or do you think the technology's addicted?

[B]

Addicted to that phone?

[A]

Yeah. And that's. It's the parents fault because we got addicted to it. Like the kids just don't come out of the womb reaching for a tablet. It has to be handed to them, set up, you know, and then it's like, oh, I got 10 quiet minutes and my kids in the other room and you don't. It's weird because you no longer. It's no longer the stranger on the corner with, in the minivan with wine coolers and snicker bars. It's literally the person on Roadblocks or whatever game they're playing, pretending to be them. And it's a 40 year old man trying to trick them eventually to leave their house and come meet them somewhere so they're not even like you're literally. If you were a kid and our parents back in the day, if we were playing in the front yard and there was a guy in his car watching us all day, eventually the neighborhood would confront him. Why are you parked here? Why are you watching our children? You need to keep moving. Well, we no longer have that because now he's participating in the front lawn with the kids on our watch and we're still going, these damn kids on the phone. No, it's parents taking shortcuts because they care more about what their ex girlfriend's eating on her Facebook than who's interacting with it. And it's a, it's an ugly thing and we've all been guilty of it.

[B]

Yeah. You know, like I said, I have the place up in Oregon, which is, I mean, like it's beyond rural. I mean we got to make our own power because the nearest power lines are like right five miles away.

[A]

But I bet it's beautiful.

[B]

Oh no, it's beautiful. My tallest tree is 245ft tall and I have trees 11ft in diameter and it's old growth forest. I love it. But like, you know, we. Well, back in the day we had the really shitty satellite Internet. But you know, like sometimes I walk out there, they're all their phones, just walk in the office, turn the Internet off and going like, oh, let me see if I can fix it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay. Like I can't figure it out. You know, I'm gonna have to drive into town tomorrow where the cell phone works and talk to them. Yeah, well, next day I would, you know, just go to my shot and shop at work, come back down. South side, drove into town, they said, do this now it's not working.

[A]

So you.

[B]

So my kids would end up playing like gin rummy with each other. Great card game o' clock in the morning and they just, you know, that's why I think the youngest ones are so close because yeah, they go up, we'd go out there for a month of time and like every night they were either hiking or running around the property or playing games together.

[A]

Because that's the thing about when you kill the babysitter. The tantrum lasts, depending on how severe. But like, typically it's about 25 minutes of complaining, and then they'll sit and pout for a minute, and then all of a sudden they'll, you know, you see, I'll be like, just go sit in the front yard and figure it out, you know, and the next thing you know, I'll come out in 20 minutes and. And she's chasing dragonflies or she's climbing a tree, or they. It just. And then all of a sudden another kid comes out of the woodworks, and before you know it, you got four or five kids playing in the front yard together. And you're like, eventually you'll be like, hey, you need your phone? No, I'm good. Because being. Just being active and interacting with people is so much more powerful. But we, we have to. Like I said, that's the only thing I'm always like. I don't blame the damn kids because the kids can't go to the store and buy the tablet.

[B]

Yeah. So like my, my daughter, my 30 year old, she's got a. Well, she's got a two year old and like she had a doctor's appointment. I was around. So I'll go with you. You know, you're gonna have to watch Cleo. And she can. And she's gonna. She'd get really, like, upset and stuff like that. Like, this lasted forever. So she's been there like 30, 40 minutes. And my granddaughter's getting like. So the. Grab her hand, let's go on a walkabout. Yeah, okay. I mean, it's. People don't even know how to raise kids anymore. You're like, so we just walked around for an hour until she collapsed.

[A]

Because that's the thing.

[B]

It's because she had fun doing it.

[A]

Yeah. Boys, they have add? No. They're stuck in a classroom all day. Put them outside, run laps, keep them busy. When I was a recreation therapist and I was working with delayed young men, you know, from third grade to fifth grade, these guys were super. These kids were super aggressive. Sue couldn't sit in a chair. But then you go outside and you play tag, or you go outside and you, you trick them into playing capture the flag and you burn them out for like 30 or 40 minutes. Doesn't matter what the activity, as long as they're all moving. Then you come back in the classroom, it's amazing how they pay attention. And then they start getting up lunchtime, then go out, you know, let's run Some laps, and you trick them in. It's some kind of competition or whatever the case may be. But then all of a sudden you realize is that that's was. And again, I'm not pretending to be a guru of how to raise children, but I do know energy is energy. And if you got someone sitting on a battery of loose energy and he's a child. Yeah, you got to. You got to get the energy out, which means you have to get off your ass.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's why, you know. You know, I remember being like 12 years old and we like, you know, the only piece of grass was in front of the church because, like, the school has a gravel. You know, it just. And we go in front of the church, like Saturday morning, and we would play football and beat the hell out of each other for five hours. And then we were cool after that.

[A]

Yeah. Because you know what? And I don't ever remember a weekend where I wanted to stay up late. I'd always be like, I want to stay up for wrestling. And I wouldn't make it. You know, It'd be like 20 minutes out and I'm fading on the couch. And my mom's like, he's. Just leave him. Because if I put him into bed, he's going to say, you messed up. I was going to watch that. You know, she's like, just leave his ass. So when he wakes up, realize that he couldn't, you know, but we were. But that. That ability to push and again, that's where it looks at. I would hope that as the chain kind of break, it's like a weird thing. Like my parent. My mom was tough. I try to be tough like my mom. My wife's the exact opposite. She's more of the feelings nurturing type. And I'm more of the. No, life's hard, kid. You gotta take your elbows and your scars and stuff. And I don't want. I'm not gonna help you. You gotta go through it like that. I'm close enough to pull you out of the water. But I also feel like you need to know what it's like to swim with a shark, you know, so there's like that constant, you know, that thing where you're trying to prepare your kids, but at the same time, you don't want to. You don't want to also scar them to where they don't trust you, you know, like. But it's a. It's a very fine line because it's your own shit too.

[B]

I think the other thing too is like the whole helicopter. Parents where they track their phones and everything else like that. So my youngest son, I mean, like I said, He's 22 years old. He's a commercial helicopter pilot. He's got like, you mean, just really, really got his shit together. And like, you know, I've been raised by myself since he was like 15. And it was like my, my all I told him was like, up. I'll destroy your life.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I'll take clothes away. I'll take every bone away. You know, I mean, you'll go, you know, like it. Life will suck. And he knew I'd do it.

[A]

That's the biggest thing. The fear. Is it. Let me. Is it the fear that you doing it, you would do it? The understanding that you would do it? Because the only way it doesn't work is if when he does, you don't do it. So he never tested the waters? He.

[B]

No, not really. No. I mean, because. Well, yeah.

[A]

Well, but that goes from being a consistent parent.

[B]

A bunch of older kids that told him, like, don't. With dad.

[A]

Yeah. But also your consistency in parenting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Dictated like where your other kids are. Like, no, he'll do it. You know, you're just, you're, you're just, you're the youngest one, so listen, you know, but they're all. But that's consistent parenting. That's why it worked. It wasn't like, you know, because we could all make threats, but if you don't fall through after a while, it's just, you're just white noise.

[B]

You know, I tell people all the time. That's the problem nowadays. Everyone wants to be their kids. Friends and not their parents.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I can't. Yeah. I don't. We're not, I'm not even on a first name basis.

[B]

I love my kids to death, but when they're little, they're not my friend. I am their dad. And I am like, you know.

[A]

Yeah, it's a dictatorship.

[B]

A little, little community here. Like, you know, my job is to make sure he grows up as a good person. It's not to make sure he gets a participation trophy.

[A]

No. And that he's going to call me, you know, every day to tell me like, oh, I miss my best friend. I'll be like, you need to make friends and stop calling dads. I mean, I love you, but like, I'll talk to you Saturday. You know, like, you want them to be able to have that independence. You don't want them to be. Because that's what ends up happening. Is you end up with young adults who. Who are completely dependent on their parents, and that doesn't work out for anyone, parents included. Like, I started late, so all my kids are like. My oldest is 14, my youngest is 11. So right now I'm going through, like, all the girls are too cool for me.

[B]

How old are the girls?

[A]

11, 13, and 14.

[B]

Okay. Just so you know, when they turn, like, 19, you're the greatest guy in the world.

[A]

Okay, So I have something to look forward to because I got three girls.

[B]

So, like, literally, when they call me, like, I talk to my sons, and it's like, yeah, what's up? Four minutes, we're off the phone.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I see my. My. One of my daughters on the phone, I'm like, I got 45 minutes.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Because right now, it's. My son will call me, FaceTime me, talk sports, whatever, you know, play video games with me, dad, whatever. My daughter's like, even though today we had a dinner reservation or something that I never knew about it, but my wife, I guess, had made it, and she was tired and she didn't want to go. And I was like, oh, well, you know, well, Georgie wants to go. You know, I'll take her. And she says to my daughter, hey, you want to go have dinner with your dad at a fancy restaurant? And it wasn't even a. Hmm. It was. No. And I was just on the other end of the phone like, damn, you don't want to think about it. She's like, no, people. No. Like, oh, I don't want to do that. And I was just like, yeah, I'll remember that the next time you get a horse bill, lady.

[B]

Like, you know, those teenage years are tough because, yeah, you just go from another day. You know, Like I said, I got three girls, but, like, all three of the girls, they all told me that, no, they like it when guys are afraid of their. Afraid of me?

[A]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Everyone's afraid of me. And then I hear. I'm like, well, you can't bring anybody around you. Like, that's the point.

[B]

Oh, no, no. Like, no, the girls, when they start dating, you know, they'll want their. They'll want their boy. The guys are dating to be afraid of you. You can completely change around 16, 17.

[A]

Okay, so I have that. Because right now, literally, I'll. I'll come in the room, and it's like, hey. And they're like, what? And I'll be like, so it.

[B]

It changes. Trust me. Like, okay, because right now, get those Hormones straight down around 17, 16, 17.

[A]

Yeah, because I'll be like, and they'll look at me, they that look like I'm shorter than them. Like, if my sons looked at me that way, we have a problem. But when 11 year old looks at you like, I'm just like, yeah, excuse me, I just want, I've been home five minutes.

[B]

Yeah. You know, but that's the whole thing. Parents need to literally parent and not be a best friend. My daughter, when she graduated lsu, you know, no student debt because I paid for it. She had a brand new truck and I wrote her a check for 20 grand for graduating college. This first Harrison of my first person ever in my family grad school, first graduate college. And you know, her and her boyfriend, they moved to Austin, she had a job, didn't work out. And like she goes, can I still get my allowance? I'm going like, are you high?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, most people get out of college, they got student debt, you know, they're making car payments. You know, they got no money for their parents when they graduated college. Uber eats.

[A]

Yeah, you literally, you got, you got 20, you got 20 stacks cars paid off education with no, no people calling you about, you should be paying me.

[B]

Yeah. So like, you know, she got mad at me, but like a week later she called me up, says, hey dad, I go, what are you doing? She goes like, uber eats.

[A]

See?

[B]

So you got a good job.

[A]

Yeah, good game set.

[B]

But there was no art. I mean like two minutes of argument.

[A]

You don't, you don't strike me as a guy who gets in the long debates with, it comes to arguing with his children. I'm a statement.

[B]

Oh, no, no, no.

[A]

Yeah. I say one thing and I'm done.

[B]

You can't argue with, you can't argue with an eight year old. You can't argue with a.

[A]

No, no, no, you can.

[B]

No, no, you know, you don't argue with an 8 year old. I mean, I see people arguing with.

[A]

Their kid and lose, they lose the argument with their, with an 8 year old. And I'm sitting there going, why are they asking you to sit in the emergency exit on an airplane or you just got your ass kicked by an 8 year old and it's not even close. And it's always. They talk in that baby voice to them and like, well, you, you know, and right now I'm feeling your anger and the kid's like, shut up, shut up. I want this, I want this. And then the dad's just sitting there and then I'm, I'M co dadding from across the way going, bro, you gonna, you want, you want me to jump in? Because this is your life's.

[B]

This is like, like literally my dad, all my dad did was have to give me the look.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, my mom would give me the look in public. I knew two things are coming from this look. A trip to the bathroom, which I want no parts of, or two, a long talk in the car, which I want no parts of because that conversation ends with me going to bed and it's 4 o' clock in the afternoon. But I, I, they. And now. And then what the worst part is, and, and I'm be sexist or what? It's the dad finally steps in and the mom sizes with the kid going, well, you have to understand that she's flying today and she's a little on edge. And I'm just like, no, don't take that shit. Like what? Like, I, I, I just. And then they wonder why. And then the kid gets on the plane. They always sit behind me and the kid starts. And I, I'll just do the big guy thing where I'll just look at the kid and be like, are we good? We got a problem here? And the parents.

[B]

Oh, tire as hell.

[A]

I, no, no, no, it's in between. I'm talking to this little dude right here, kicking me. You got one more kick, bro. And then it would be like, oh, I. And then they'll hear them whisper like, don't do that, don't do that. My mother, if somebody said to her, looked at me and said, hey, stop kicking my chair. When that person sat back down, they would then have to look back to see if I'm still on this planet. Because it would have been a, it would have been a moment where my wife, my mother, my wife treats me the same way, honestly. But like, they would have literally said, did you just embarrass me in public? And then the gauntlet of what's in store for you when this plane hits the ground? Like you the rest. And then I would spend the rest of my time on that plane looking at the clock. How much time do I have left on this earth?

[B]

Because you knew you were still going to get the ass.

[A]

Oh, the whole day would go by, whole day would fly in, get to the, rent a car, drive to the hotel, put my stuff in my room, get around, go hit. And then my mom's like, you me get the belt. So you want to kick people's chairs, huh? And I've forgotten I'm in a Euphoria of, we're in a hotel and I'm going to go swim. Nope. And this again, at a time when it was. Things were a little different. My mom and brother and their friends would go to the pool and my ass would have to sit in the hotel room and not move. And. And. And my mother was like. She was a parent.

[B]

Your mom was a parent?

[A]

Yeah. She would be like, put her hand on the tv if I feel any heat, I'll know if it's on. And I would. I don't even know if that's true, but I never, ever turned the TV on. I just sat and like, nope, she'll know, you know, And. But that was. And I am. I look at my life and where I'm at now, and there are moments that I think about when things. Things got hard. It was those moments that toughened me up for it. I knew taking a risk or doing something, there was going to be consequences. Understanding the consequences and then making a decision that came from. I could have turned that TV on. I could have. But I knew that the downside was not worth the upside. So I. And I get it. We. We change, we grow, we're smarter, we're wiser now, supposedly. But when it comes to your children, I think the basics apply. I think. And here's another. Another strict, mean dad. But none of your kids are like, well, we're. We're trying to figure it out. You know, he's 45, and we're hoping he moves out this year. You know, like, you know, he's a slow. You know, it's a little late. I'm like, what are you talking about? He's seven years from a retirement home. Like, it's a wrap. This was an L, take the L. But again, you know what? We just sound like a bunch of old men sitting on the porch. But I'll take. I'd rather be a couple old guys sitting on a porch on houses we own than some young guy asking mom for Uber eats. I'll take that all day, man. It's been too long. I think I'm going to see you in a couple weeks, so I'm looking forward to that. Always a pleasure. Love.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Love the show.

[B]

I think we're seeing each other next week.

[A]

Yeah. And I gotta. You gotta get me on Pawn After Dark, man.

[B]

I will get that done. Tracy, my producer, is going to be with me.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Awesome. Peter.

[A]

Phenomenal.

[B]

All right.

[A]

All right, man. Till next time.