Wally Feresten, iconic cue card writer for shows like SNL and Late Night with Seth Meyers, Explores his craft's artistry and his journey during the pandemic. He shares how he adapted to the challenges, starting his successful business, Cue Cards by Wally, and the joy of bringing personalized cue cards into people's lives globally. Wally also reflects on his relationships with hosts and performers, stressing the importance of rapport and discussing the unforeseen inventiveness brought about by navigating COVID-19 restrictions. The conversation rounds out with insights into the supportive and creative environment of his work and the significant but often overlooked role of cue cards in live television production.
https://notrealart.com/snl-cue-cards-wally-feresten
00:00 Wally is a lovable, funny, cue card writer.
07:33 Discussion of various dimensions of sign painting.
12:44 Discussing tradition, design, and obsession in conversation.
21:25 Building trust and relationships for successful collaboration.
24:03 Building trust with SNL hosts every week.
29:50 Grateful for long-lasting job on TV show.
36:33 SNL returns with COVID restrictions, logistical challenges.
39:24 Wife entrepreneur rejects personalized cue card idea.
46:41 Christopher Walken hosts SNL, asks for card.
51:39 Sharpies, Power pilot pens, and old markers.
57:18 Meeting artists and celebrities can be challenging.
01:00:42 Talent, hard work, and kindness matter most.
01:05:13 Endorsement for custom cue cards by Wally.
Introduction to Wally Feresten
- Introduction of Wally Feresten as a guest on the Not Real Art Podcast.
- Explanation of Wally's role as a cue card writer for notable TV shows like SNL and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
- Mention of Wally's personal life, including his family and recreational activities.
Cue Cards and Artistry
- Discussion on the artistic aspect of writing cue cards.
- Comparisons made between Wally's work and famous sign painters.
- Reflection on the history and evolution of cue cards in the entertainment industry.
Business Ventures and Adaptations During COVID-19
- Exploration of Wally's business "Cue Cards by Wally" providing personalized cue cards.
- How the pandemic influenced Wally to start the business.
- Transition to remote work and adaptation of the business model during COVID-19.
Operational Details and Employee Management
- Insight into Wally’s operational and billing practices for shows.
- Discussion of employee status transitioning from independent contractors to full-time staff with benefits.
- Wally’s approach to maintaining a good work environment, highlighting the importance of being nice.
Impact of Cue Cards in the Industry
- Highlights of famous cue card writers and their contributions.
- The preference of cue cards over prompters by traditional hosts.
- Story about Wally's mishap during a live show and handling different personalities.
Creative Side Projects and Personal Stories
- Wally’s involvement in creating cards for various personal events and celebrations.
- Mention of his sons’ careers and personal projects.
- Story about Wally’s interaction and relationship with fans and other industry figures.
Reflections and Philosophy
- Wally’s reflections on the stability and changes in the entertainment industry due to strikes and other disruptions.
- His philosophy on work ethic and the advice of being nice as pivotal to success.
- Scott and Wally’s shared experiences and appreciations for behind-the-scenes work.
Conclusion and Further Engagements
- Summary of the episode’s discussion points.
- Promotional mention of Wally's forthcoming book.
- Encouragement for listeners to visit Wally’s business website and explore his offerings.
- Closing remarks thanking Wally for his contributions and a nod to the viewers to stay creative.
Longevity in Television Careers: "You're not supposed to work on the same TV show for for 34 years and plus and still going. You know? Like, how lucky is that too?"— Wally 00:30:00
Pursuing Creative Careers: "You need to make a decision. You need to leave cue cards and really focus on writing if you wanna really do that or commit fully to cue cards."— Wally 00:09:54
Meet Wally, a seasoned television professional whose career spans various high-profile productions. Wally's primary responsibilities are with two iconic shows, "Saturday Night Live" and "Late Night with Seth Meyers," both of which are conveniently located on the same floor, allowing him to seamlessly manage his duties. In his role, he adeptly coordinates and supervises the integration of these shows' elements, ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Apart from his core commitments, Wally also oversees a small, efficient team dedicated to "The Tonight Show." He describes this team as being on "automatic pilot," attesting to their competence and his trust in their abilities to handle responsibilities with minimal intervention. This allows Wally the freedom to engage with diverse projects beyond his day-to-day tasks.
Adding variety to his career are the special assignments that take him around the country. Over the summer, Wally found himself in Miami for a shoot, and he also traveled to Toronto to work on a commercial featuring none other than Ryan Reynolds. These projects serve as exciting deviations from his routine, infusing his regular schedule with fresh experiences and challenges in the dynamic world of television production. Through it all, Wally remains enthusiastic and passionate, continually embracing the "spice" these opportunities bring to his professional life.
Warning. The NOT Real Art Podcast is intended for creative
Speaker:audiences only. The Not Real Art Podcast celebrates
Speaker:creativity and creative culture worldwide. It contains material
Speaker:that is fresh, fun and inspiring and is not suitable for boring old
Speaker:art snobs. NOT, let's get started and enjoy the show.
Speaker:Greetings and salutations, my creative brothers and sisters. Welcome to
Speaker:Nottingville Art, the podcast where we talk to the world's most creative people.
Speaker:I am your host, faithful, trusty, loyal, tireless, relentless,
Speaker:stubborn host, Sourdough, coming at you from Crewest Studio
Speaker:in Los Angeles. Man, do we have a fun show for
Speaker:you today? We have,
Speaker:like, a one of a kind character, complete
Speaker:iconoclast. You know, I I like to say we talk
Speaker:to the world's most creative people, but then there are creative people behind the creative
Speaker:people. Right? And and Wally Feresten is one of those
Speaker:people. Wally Feresten, is a legend
Speaker:in entertainment, especially late night in comedy. He
Speaker:has been doing cue cards for
Speaker:the Saturday night live show since 1990. He has
Speaker:been doing cue cards, for,
Speaker:any number of late night shows, not the least of
Speaker:which is the Seth Meyers, for example. And you're gonna hear
Speaker:all about it in one second, when we get into this interview
Speaker:with Wally, which I so love and I'm gonna talk about in a second. But
Speaker:before I do, of course, I wanna thank you for tuning in. We do this
Speaker:for you. It's all about you. And so I'm so grateful for
Speaker:your loyalty and your support. Thank you so much. I
Speaker:want, of course, as always, to encourage you to go to our website, not REAL
Speaker:ART dot com, and check out all the good healthy stuff we've got for you
Speaker:there. It's all free range organic. No pesticides
Speaker:or antibiotics or steroids were used in the making of our content.
Speaker:But on our website, you will discover amazing ART and art, that
Speaker:will inspire you and, and just really,
Speaker:lift your spirits. Of course, check out our monthly online art
Speaker:exhibition, 1st Fridays, which drops every month on the 1st
Speaker:Friday of the month. So check that out. We have some incredible
Speaker:shows of, featuring some incredible art and Crewest. So check it out.
Speaker:Also, check out our exclusive video series remote
Speaker:with the one and only, Badir Badir McCleary, who takes us on
Speaker:a tour of public art in America and tells us what it all
Speaker:means, or at least what it means to him, and it is a wonderful,
Speaker:series. So check that out remote on our website, ART.
Speaker:Okay, people. Without further ado, we have the one and only
Speaker:Wally Faerson here with us today. And I REAL you what,
Speaker:Wally has been, the head cue ART guy
Speaker:on Saturday Night Live for the last 3 years, and he's
Speaker:been, playing an offbeat bastard version of
Speaker:himself, you know, on TV and film.
Speaker:You know, he's been behind the camera, but now he's kind of in front of
Speaker:the camera. He's becoming a bit of a character, a bit of a celebrity
Speaker:himself. He holds the cards for Seth Meyers,
Speaker:and Seth Meyers has had him on the show. And he's you know, over the
Speaker:last several years or many years, he's become, just a
Speaker:beloved feature and character on these shows. They turn the camera on
Speaker:Wally because he's such a, you know, lovable,
Speaker:smart, funny, human who does this incredible
Speaker:thing. He writes the cue cards,
Speaker:that, comics and creatives and artists like Seth
Speaker:Meyers read from. And, you
Speaker:know, Michael Che from Saturday Night Live, Colin
Speaker:Jost, on and on. He's
Speaker:he's, holding the cards for these guys. And you've
Speaker:probably seen him, on late night or on Saturday night live
Speaker:because they turned the camera on him. And I had discovered him,
Speaker:in part because, they did a article or there was a
Speaker:story on TV about his about his company,
Speaker:that and and and I just thought, my god. What a cool I mean, how
Speaker:do you get that job? How do you get the job to write the cue
Speaker:cards, for a a show? I mean, what you
Speaker:know? Because, I mean, there was you know, there's a, you gotta be a good
Speaker:your penmanship's gotta be good. What kind of materials do you use? What kind
Speaker:of markers? And and and people have gotta be able to read it. And and
Speaker:what is there, a an apprenticeship? How do you learn
Speaker:this skill? How do you learn this talent? You know, and I was so interested
Speaker:to learn, about Wally, and I wanted to have him
Speaker:on the show. And then I discovered that he has,
Speaker:a a company, whereby you can, you know,
Speaker:order, you know, a cue ART,
Speaker:from him, for a birthday or for a wedding or, you know,
Speaker:a special gift of some kind. And, you know, he has this
Speaker:company called, cue cards by Wally. You gotta check
Speaker:out cue cards by walley.com. And, you know, for a very
Speaker:very affordable price, he will not just write a cue card
Speaker:for you, but he will create a video, and you can send it as a
Speaker:special gift, what have you. And so and I did that. It was a
Speaker:wonderful, service, and, so I definitely
Speaker:encourage you to check it out. So without further ado, let's get into this and
Speaker:hear from the 1 and only Wally Farris.
Speaker:Wally, welcome to the NOT REAL ART podcast. Scott, thank you so much
Speaker:for having me. Appreciate it. I am honored. I'm so you
Speaker:know, I was trying to remember how I first
Speaker:got the idea well, how I just how I came to
Speaker:know you or or how I discovered, you know, the the the the the
Speaker:the infamous WALL E. And and it must have been, you know, watching a late
Speaker:night show or something when, you know, they turn the cameras on you or something.
Speaker:And then somehow, some way, I realized that you were doing,
Speaker:you know, the custom cards and everything. And and I said, man, I wanna get
Speaker:Wally on the podcast because we love talking to what we like to
Speaker:say the world's most creative people. But you have such an interesting
Speaker:job and an interesting life. And and I know our audience is just gonna love
Speaker:hearing from you, and hearing about how Wally became Wally.
Speaker:But, I mean, just to to just to level set a little bit, I mean,
Speaker:you know, you you you work for SNL. Right. You work for
Speaker:Seth Meyers. Correct. What other shows, are you working on right
Speaker:now? Well, I have, you know, I have 2 companies. The one you talked about,
Speaker:the personal cue cards I started in 2020. We can talk about that later. Yep.
Speaker:New York New York City cue cards, which is, the company I'm
Speaker:a vendor to these TV shows. So right now, we do
Speaker:Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Speaker:Those are the REAL main shows that I have. They're all in the same building.
Speaker:They're all within 2 floors of each other. Seth and SNL are on the same
Speaker:floor right next to each other, which is great because those are the shows I
Speaker:work on. But I have 3 guys that work on the tonight show, and, I
Speaker:just kinda supervise them. They're pretty much an automatic pilot, so I don't really have
Speaker:to worry about them. And then there's shows that come little one offs that come.
Speaker:I was in Miami shooting something over the summer, and then I was in Toronto
Speaker:shooting a commercial, with Ryan Reynolds and things like that. Those little
Speaker:shows pop up every now and again just to, you know, add some spice to
Speaker:the to to the business. That's it. But the main shows are those 3.
Speaker:You know, there's so many different dimensions and facets to to to what you
Speaker:do, that that, you know, I'd love to try to touch on as many
Speaker:as we can because, you know, I'm a I'm a Chicago guy, you know,
Speaker:born and raised in the suburbs. And,
Speaker:you know, I recently had a guy on the podcast named, Che, Che
Speaker:Ches Perry. And Ches is, kind of a
Speaker:famous sign painter in Chicago. You know? He he studied,
Speaker:sign painting and sign making as an apprentice, you know, 30, 40 years
Speaker:ago. And, you know, he's kind of become a bit of a legend,
Speaker:you know, there, you know, doing what he does. And, you know, there's such
Speaker:an artistry. You know? I think a lot of a lot of artists might or
Speaker:a lot of people may not appreciate the artistry. And what I loved about, you
Speaker:know, chess's story is that he was, you know, I mean, he he he's a
Speaker:master at his craft, and so are you. You are a master of
Speaker:your craft. And, you know, and I I I I guess I could've
Speaker:guessed, you know, how, you know, a sign painter becomes a
Speaker:sign painter. But I I I could never guess how a cue
Speaker:card writer becomes a cue card
Speaker:writer. I mean, how the hell, Wally? You got a
Speaker:PhD in in cue ART? No. I mean, you know, there's there's, you know, guys
Speaker:that work for me that it's just a normal story. They're taking the job as
Speaker:their first job getting into business, and they wanna do something else.
Speaker:I I I didn't even know what cue cards were. I went to school. I
Speaker:wanted to be a writer. Ever since the 5th grade, I wanted to write. I
Speaker:wanted to write for TV and film. I was brought up in a funny family.
Speaker:My brother's a famous writer. He wrote for Seinfeld and for Letterman and stuff. So
Speaker:K. We grew up in this family that wanted to do this, and
Speaker:I took the job as a KUKA guy to get my foot in the door.
Speaker:It's my first job after college. 3 years, I went to Syracuse and went to
Speaker:Newhouse and, you know, just wanted to write. So I took the job to
Speaker:just make some connections and write. And I started writing jokes for Norm McDonald for
Speaker:weekend updates and started doing stuff like that. So I'm like, this is great. I'll
Speaker:do this for a little while, then I'll start doing some more writing. And I
Speaker:did, and I started getting you know, I wrote a Space Coast Scott to coast
Speaker:episode. I started writing some stuff for celebrity death
Speaker:match and, all these other little shows, but it was never enough to pay the
Speaker:rent. You know? It was never enough to quit the cue cards and
Speaker:do that full time. And I started getting better and better at cue
Speaker:cards. And my brother who was writing, I think, probably for Seinfeld at the time
Speaker:was like, you need to make a decision. You need to leave cue cards and
Speaker:really focus on writing if you wanna really do that or commit fully
Speaker:to cue cards. And I did leave
Speaker:for for through 4 months. I took some time off, and I went to LA,
Speaker:and I took meetings. And it it's you know, the we know what
Speaker:Hollywood's like in LA. It's like they take meetings and they're like, yeah. Yeah. Those
Speaker:are great ideas. Come back and then nothing ever happens. Right. So I just got
Speaker:married and went back to doing cue ART. And and, you know, I I was
Speaker:basically running running the show 3 years in in 93. I started in
Speaker:90. I was running the show, and then I just got really, really good at
Speaker:it. There's something about it. Not so much the writing, which is the art you
Speaker:talk about. We'll talk about that later. But the the holding and all the other
Speaker:things that go with it and the temperament dealing with celebrities and pressure, For
Speaker:some reason, that didn't bother me. It was just I looked at it as it
Speaker:was pressure, and it was, you know, stressful, but it was fun. It was a
Speaker:fun thing to do. And, I just got so good at it that I
Speaker:became the person. You know? And, I started my company in
Speaker:2004 when the company we were working for, were was
Speaker:where they were bouncing our paychecks, and we couldn't order stuff because they weren't paying
Speaker:the the suppliers. And, I just basically started out out of
Speaker:necessity. I didn't wanna own a company. I knew nothing about it. Thank NOT I
Speaker:have a wife that, like like was an entrepreneur and like to start ART,
Speaker:so she helped me a lot. And it was just something that, for some reason,
Speaker:I don't know why I was really good at it. But my penmanship was
Speaker:terrible, It's still not great. I mean, the the
Speaker:the the irony of my career, if you look at if I when I tell
Speaker:you this, every single report card I got growing up from
Speaker:1st grade to when I graduated high school was great
Speaker:grades, great kid, worst handwriting we've ever seen. And
Speaker:now I make my living with my handwriting.
Speaker:Fuck you, missus Smith. That's right. Every teacher I had.
Speaker:Well, it by the way, I love the fact that you just told that story
Speaker:because I was gonna I had a question here. I was just gonna, you know,
Speaker:goofball question. I was gonna say, Wally, does this mean that, you know, in in
Speaker:your professional life, your penmanship is perfect, but in your personal life, your penmanship
Speaker:is shit. And I guess it's Nope. If I got a letter from you, I
Speaker:couldn't read it. But if I get a cue card from you, no problem. Yeah.
Speaker:No. You know you know, it's different. You know? That's the thing. You know? I
Speaker:I do print when I print when I write with my when I write with
Speaker:a pen, I print capital letters like cue cards. Right? So it does look deater.
Speaker:But the the pens we use I can show you the the pens we use
Speaker:here, these thick pens. Mhmm. You know, you're you're printing. You're not writing. You
Speaker:don't use your fingers. You use your hand. You move your hand back and forth
Speaker:and up and down and around. So it's different. It's something that can be taught.
Speaker:It just needs to practice it. And, you know, I get good at it. I
Speaker:get good enough, obviously, that I kept my job, and I was, you know, the
Speaker:top person there. So, and then, you know, my my my printing
Speaker:is what I taught everybody else. So everybody's printing may look neater, but
Speaker:it's basically a copy of what my is. You know? So,
Speaker:but but there but but but the cue but the tradition. Right? I mean, you
Speaker:know, like like like and I wanna go back to that. I mean, there's so
Speaker:many things, you know, because I want, you know, I wanna have a
Speaker:conversation about, you know, about all these layers because, obviously, on one hand, this
Speaker:connects to, you know, topography design and and and, you know, all that,
Speaker:you know, sign ART stuff that we talked about. And and and, you know, there's
Speaker:gotta be a type a OCD component, obsessive compulsive
Speaker:component to that. You know? Yeah. You know? And I have a buddy of mine's
Speaker:son is a phenomenal topography designer and I REAL, but
Speaker:he's just like a mad scientist. Right? You know, he's that. Yeah. Yeah. But then,
Speaker:you know, so there's so there's the you know, because art Scott, design school
Speaker:track. But then, of course, I'm guessing there is the more of a a
Speaker:trades trades like journey, of
Speaker:apprenticeship and things. But but but, you know, cue cards as I understand. I
Speaker:don't know the history. I wanna ask you. I mean, obviously, teleprompters didn't exist.
Speaker:Cue cards existed far before teleprompters. So go back. You
Speaker:know, help me understand the history of where cue cards started in the
Speaker:tradition and the legacy that you're continuing. Yeah. So, yeah, before
Speaker:prompters were a thing, before they were invented, you know, TV shows, most a lot
Speaker:of TV shows were live. So they used they used cue cards, Bob. Hope
Speaker:relied on them. A lot of the shows use cue cards. So they had in
Speaker:house cue card ART. You know, that n b all the networks, NBC had
Speaker:1, CBS, they all had them because they were shooting these shows live or, you
Speaker:know, live to tape, and they didn't have enough they didn't have the time. So
Speaker:it was all in house. Then the prompter came along. I'm not sure when.
Speaker:And when a prompter came along and simplified that, that they could talk right to
Speaker:camera, then they prompt the cue cards went
Speaker:out of house to, like, you know, vendors like myself. Mhmm.
Speaker:And prompters took over. And then, you know, cue cards slowly
Speaker:probably started fading because, you know, prompter was better. But some
Speaker:shows still use cue cards. The variety shows use them, and the talk shows use
Speaker:them, because it was just something, you know, that they were used to, I think.
Speaker:Yeah. And, and plus, if you want if you're gonna do sketches like Johnny Carson
Speaker:would do sketches, you know, he would have his monologue on ART, but he could
Speaker:do that on a prompter if it had it. But he does, like, you know,
Speaker:they did sketches. So they want cards on either side. You know? So it was
Speaker:Mhmm. It was just something he was used to, so he used cue cards. And
Speaker:I think that's the majority of it. The people that I do cards for now,
Speaker:Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, you know, Conan, I did cards
Speaker:for him. It's all people that came from Saturday Night Live
Speaker:that learned how to do things with cue cards, not a prompter.
Speaker:So that's why they kept it. They were they were happy with cue cards. They
Speaker:were familiar with it. They liked the rhythm of it, and, they got used to
Speaker:it. Yeah. But that's the history that I basically, you know,
Speaker:know right now. So yeah. And I'm I guess right now, I'm the biggest coupon
Speaker:company in the I I could say the world, but that's pretty that's pretty audacious
Speaker:to say that. I say the country. You know? Well but it'd be but, you
Speaker:know, perhaps, yes. Maybe you are likely the biggest company in the
Speaker:world, but but but I I'm guessing you're probably one of the most famous
Speaker:cue card writers to ever exist because, you have such a great
Speaker:personality and you're funny and one way or another, they turn the camera on you
Speaker:and people you know, you've delighted people. That's amazing. So
Speaker:so were there other famous cue card writers and, like, were
Speaker:there any, you know, sort of legends of the craft? Sure. Well, Tony
Speaker:Mendez do you know Tony Tony Mendez, trained me on SNL
Speaker:and then went Power. He was he was David Letterman's cue card guy. Inky, they
Speaker:called him. Tony you know? He was he was on camera all the time. He
Speaker:had his own he had his own show after the show. It's like a 5
Speaker:minute, Internet show that he had. He had a billboard in Times Square. So he
Speaker:was pretty big. He was almost like kinda like, oh, I kinda wanna aspire that
Speaker:maybe. But, again, that wasn't his choice. It was Dave putting him on
Speaker:camera and him, you know, having fun with it. You know?
Speaker:There's some other older guys. Barney McNulty is one of the most famous. I think
Speaker:he did Bob Hope's cards and stuff, but I don't think he was on camera.
Speaker:I don't think they you know, he was just he was just, like, the biggest
Speaker:guy back in the sixties in the you know, in in that time. So,
Speaker:REAL, I think Tony and and myself, and I can't really think of anybody else.
Speaker:Kevin k, who who was whose uncle owned the company when I
Speaker:started, he was Letterman's first cue card guy, on the
Speaker:show. I forget what his what they what Dave called
Speaker:him. Maybe because it's just Kevin the cue card guy. That's I knew him from
Speaker:watching the show. Right. But, yeah, he was on as well a little bit too.
Speaker:But Yeah. They yeah. It's such it's so fascinating. Such a
Speaker:fascinating world. Yeah. And and, you know, I'm
Speaker:remind I'm reminded of that music documentary, you know, 10 feet from
Speaker:stardom. I don't know if you saw it right by the back. It's like it's
Speaker:like, you know, the cue ART, Wally, the, you know, is is NOT
Speaker:10 feet for stardom, but you are literally, becoming a star unto
Speaker:your own as, unto your own, and and that's just
Speaker:amazing. You know?
Speaker:Right. So so there's a tradition, a legacy. There were there were legends
Speaker:that, you know, you know, made the craft, you know, I guess, what it
Speaker:is. Yeah. And and and you're and
Speaker:you and you pass down these skills to some of your other employees. I mean,
Speaker:how many employees do you have right now that are that are working? I think
Speaker:it's right around 14 or 15. 14 or 15. Yeah. They
Speaker:work they work on the REAL shows. Right. So so
Speaker:so right. So okay. So, I
Speaker:REAL, yeah, I guess, I I mean, there must be you must have a an
Speaker:army kind of, right, to to to the volume and the the the changes
Speaker:in the constant, amendments. Right? Yeah. You you need you
Speaker:need it. Like, you know, for for Seth, we have 5 people that work
Speaker:on Seth on closer look days because that's so long. We we get it really
Speaker:late in the day. So we we had to add a couple people to help
Speaker:us print that. It's usually about 25, 30 pages sometimes. So
Speaker:we need to print that in, like, a half an hour. And then Fallon has
Speaker:3 people full time. And then, on
Speaker:Thursday, I've got 3 people working. On Friday, I've got 8 people working. And
Speaker:then on Saturday, I've got, 9 plus
Speaker:myself, 10 people working on, on Saturday. So and a lot of those people, like,
Speaker:that work on Seth will work on SNL, and a lot of people that work
Speaker:on Fallon, they work on SNL as well. So everybody's I'm kinda, like, moving moving
Speaker:people around where I need them. So and and, you know, tell me to fuck
Speaker:off if I'm asking business questions that are confidential. But, like so
Speaker:are these employees, are they, like, full time staff employees, or are they, like, independent
Speaker:contractors? Is it like a Well, I mean, I like I said, I up up
Speaker:until last year, I was a vendor Mhmm. And they were you know,
Speaker:some of them were full time and some of them were part time. Yeah. They
Speaker:were all w fours. Right. But they unionized
Speaker:last year, and I really can't talk about that, but we just came to an
Speaker:agreement after a year of negotiations pretty much. Well, not a lot went
Speaker:under the strike, but now they're so now all my employees are in, local one
Speaker:I Etsy. And, we just have a trip we just I just signed the
Speaker:papers today, actually. So, they'll all be union.
Speaker:They'll be getting more money. They'll be getting health benefits, which I never had because
Speaker:I was a small company and REAL that I couldn't afford that with them.
Speaker:Right. I had a 4 zero one k. I had profit sharing. I did, but,
Speaker:you know, they wanted more. And, you know, the my company was based on,
Speaker:you know, come in, do cards, but, you know, make some money, and then find
Speaker:what you wanna do and and leave. You know? Right. Right. Right. People, you know,
Speaker:I guess, to my to to as a I guess, it's like, you know, a
Speaker:good thing. People like the job, and they they wanted to stay, and they have
Speaker:fun doing it, and they like working there. And so, it became more of a,
Speaker:like, oh, I need to make more money to survive. So I understand it. Like
Speaker:I said, you know, we came to agreement. It was all it was very good
Speaker:negotiations. Very nice. And, so now and, again, some of
Speaker:there's only I think there's only 6 full time and then the rest are part
Speaker:time, just because there's not that many hours, especially s and l's, know, only
Speaker:21 weeks out of the year, and they don't shoot the other years, the other
Speaker:days. But, yeah, it's a mix of both. Yeah. Well and and thanks for all
Speaker:that. I appreciate all that that, information. I mean, you know, because I was gonna
Speaker:I wondered, you know, to what extent your your guys or your shop
Speaker:was union versus nonunion or whatever. I mean Yeah. We just
Speaker:my wife and I couldn't sell our house last year because the writers and the
Speaker:actors were striking their all of our buyers. You know?
Speaker:So so so I you know, we were we were over the strikes. Let's not
Speaker:strike anymore if we can avoid it. So I'm glad you closed your deal.
Speaker:That that's great. And then and, again, tell me to fuck off. I'm just curious.
Speaker:Like, so how then do you bill the shows? Like, are you billing
Speaker:them per card? Are you billing them per I wish. Per
Speaker:person, like, hours? Is it, like, a project rate, a show rate, an episode
Speaker:rate? Like It's a it's a show it's a show rate. Like, you know, for
Speaker:SNOW, I I bill them a certain amount, and then I pay my employees, you
Speaker:know, from that, and I pay all the I I buy the supplies and, you
Speaker:know, whatever expenses I also have. For Seth and Fallon,
Speaker:I bill them, you know, weekly for how many shows we do in in in
Speaker:the same kind of thing. But, you know Right. Yeah. That's basically it that I
Speaker:pay the I pay the guys. So, I mean, these guys work with you because
Speaker:they they they trust you. You're a pro. They like you.
Speaker:Maybe they probably didn't have to don't have to like you to work with you.
Speaker:But but the fact that they like you, they they you've you've you've you've you've
Speaker:known each other for years maybe in many cases. You've worked together. But, I
Speaker:mean, how do you have to adjust? So whether you're working for
Speaker:Seth or whether you work for SNL or well, not let's not use SNL because
Speaker:SNL is, like, slightly different. But, like, I just you know, if you're doing talk
Speaker:shows, like, if you're doing late night talk shows, just for example, you
Speaker:know, do do do the do the host have different
Speaker:idiosyncratic, kinds of needs and wants from you, and
Speaker:how do you adjust and manage that? Yeah. Well, I mean so
Speaker:I you know, when Seth was on SNL for, I think, 11 years, something like
Speaker:that. Mhmm. I held you know, I held most
Speaker:of his cue cards. He taught people ask him, you know, why ART use cue
Speaker:cards and stuff like that. He and he tells and he's probably right. He's like,
Speaker:I probably held up 90% of his cards since he's been on
Speaker:TV in 20 years between SNL and and Laine. When he
Speaker:started when he took over late NOT, I was only working 3 days
Speaker:a week in SNL. I was having a nice cushy job. I was off for
Speaker:the summers. You know, I spent it with my boys. We're younger, so it was
Speaker:good. I get to see them a lot. And then, he started the boys were
Speaker:older, and I could and I I went to them and I said, you guys
Speaker:gonna use cue cards? They said yes. I was like, well, I'd like to do
Speaker:cards for Seth. I'll be the lead on the show. You know, what do you
Speaker:guys think of that? And they they jumped at it. They were so happy.
Speaker:Because, Seth, I just wanted them not to worry about cue cards. I didn't
Speaker:wanna throw a new person in there that didn't know his rhythm and that didn't
Speaker:know Right. And he knows me. I wanted them to be able to focus on
Speaker:the writing and all that other stuff that goes into producing a new show. And,
Speaker:yeah, I know Seth's rhythms, and he knows my rhythms. If I, you know, if
Speaker:he reads too, I we just we have a connection. It's like a dancing partner.
Speaker:You guys are REAL dancing. Exactly. Like, if he screws up
Speaker:something, I can pull the card back or if he he takes a pause at
Speaker:the end of a because when you're pulling a card, I'm pulling the card on,
Speaker:like, the 3rd or 4th, the last word of the card because they've already got
Speaker:it in their head. Mhmm. But if he takes a pause on that word, and
Speaker:he might he might forget those maybe the last sentence. I gotta grab
Speaker:it back from the guy I just gave it to in time to Yeah. Get
Speaker:it to him sometimes like that. So, yes, we we have each other. We I
Speaker:know his it is like a dance. Like, I know his rhythms. He knows my
Speaker:rhythms. He knows you know, he he trusts me, and it's all it's all our
Speaker:it's a it's it's a REAL, and it's Crewest, really. The trust is the
Speaker:thing. Right. It's like, are you gonna catch me when I fall? And and and
Speaker:you do. And and that trust is built up over years. And and,
Speaker:right, wow. What a what a what a special relationship you have.
Speaker:Yeah. And, well, with Seth especially, but, you know, I get to do that every
Speaker:week too. You know, I I'm in charge of the host of SNL every week.
Speaker:So I meet them on a on a Thursday, and then I work with them
Speaker:for 3 days. And I build up this relationship with them because they're fully trusting
Speaker:me, and it's all about, again, I'm trying to gain their trust Thursday Friday so
Speaker:that they can relax on Saturday. And I I've had made some really, really great
Speaker:people and have some really, really I consider them, you know, new friends because of
Speaker:that trust that I build with them, especially if they come back and host 2
Speaker:or 3 times. You know, they know the they know the process. They can relax.
Speaker:We just get to know each other. It's just it's a wonderful job to have.
Speaker:It really is. Well, so so I I wasn't gonna mention this till
Speaker:later, but it dawned on me as we I was I was thinking about our
Speaker:talk today that, indeed, if you are,
Speaker:holding the the the cards for the host, and if
Speaker:indeed you held the cards for Quinta Brunson when she
Speaker:hosted, I was in the room that night. So we we
Speaker:literally were in the same room together. Oh, that's awesome. Of
Speaker:course. Yeah. That was amazing. Like, I was so blown away
Speaker:at seeing that dance. Talk about dancing. You know? This this
Speaker:this you know, clearly, everyone in the room, many of those folks. I mean, like,
Speaker:the the the cast, you know, is like or the young bucks in the room
Speaker:because it feels like everybody behind, you know, you know, behind the camera, so to
Speaker:speak, are, like, multiyear veterans who be could do this in their
Speaker:sleep. I mean, just the dance that you guys do in that small space,
Speaker:it's incredible to watch. Yeah. Yeah. You'll never you'll
Speaker:never watch the show the same on TV because you know what's going
Speaker:on, like, during that commercial break. You know what's oh, the madness and the moving
Speaker:around and and the stuff. Yeah. It's it it is truly amazing, especially I'm glad
Speaker:you get to see it because REAL is gives you a whole perspective on what
Speaker:the show is. And were you watching us do cue cards as well as
Speaker:watching the actors do the sketches? Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I
Speaker:mean, little did I know that we would be doing this. You know? Like, but,
Speaker:you know, but I was just so amazed at all the the moving parts. Right?
Speaker:And Yeah. And, of course, on TV, the studio looks so much bigger than
Speaker:it actually is. Right? And then, you know, and then to see this dance,
Speaker:but then also to appreciate the fact that wait a minute. You guys go
Speaker:from 0 to hero in 6 days. Like, you know, like Oh, yeah. That
Speaker:shows that show wraps on that that Saturday night. And then
Speaker:on Monday, you start again with a blank sheet of paper, and you build sets,
Speaker:and you do all this stuff in the 6 days. Like Yeah. They don't they
Speaker:don't start building the sets till till Wednesday night. They don't start building the Scott.
Speaker:Wednesday night. You know? The all the creative stuff is that, like, Monday,
Speaker:they talk to the they meet the host. Tuesday, they do the writing. Wednesday is
Speaker:the read through. Then Wednesday night, they pick the sketches, and then they start building
Speaker:the sets. We don't rehearse till Thursday afternoon, like 4 o'clock in the
Speaker:afternoon. Crazy.
Speaker:What a grind. What a grind. There's there's times on Saturday
Speaker:night at, like, 12:45, and we have 50 minutes to go,
Speaker:maybe one more sketch Studio, where I just I look at the mirror, and I
Speaker:was just like, I don't know how we get here every week. Like, every week,
Speaker:like, I'm I'm amazed. And I've worked there for 34 years. I'm still amazed
Speaker:that sometimes we put the show on that we put on. It's it's crazy. It's
Speaker:it's wild. And and it was so fascinating also to watch
Speaker:Lauren kind of walking around as he does, you know, with his
Speaker:hands behind his back and his suit. I mean, he's just the Yoda,
Speaker:you know, kind of figure. It was it was just amazing to watch.
Speaker:Yeah. I was so charmed and delighted and and grateful that I got the opportunity
Speaker:to be in the room. That's great. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. So who was
Speaker:your was who was your first big,
Speaker:show or or celebrity that you worked with? Was it SNL? Is that where you
Speaker:got your your first That's that's where I started.
Speaker:Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I wasn't running the show for the 1st REAL
Speaker:years. I know Tony was running it, and he was just putting me in stuff.
Speaker:But, you know, I the thing that I was like I said, I was not
Speaker:a good my handwriting was not good. And I think he wanted to get me
Speaker:fired, so he put me in really hard sketches to
Speaker:start. Like, I would never like, I don't sometimes let somebody hold for
Speaker:a year. I like, you know, and especially SNL. You know, I'm not gonna take
Speaker:a chance that they're gonna screw up on live TV. You know? He he was
Speaker:giving me these hard sketches the 1st week, and and
Speaker:I really think he wanted to get me fired. But for some reason, like I
Speaker:said before, I was really good at the holding. The the the it's a lot
Speaker:of hand eye coordination. I and I played baseball and tennis and golf, you know,
Speaker:growing up. Right. So I think maybe that helped me. I don't know. For some
Speaker:reason, I took to it. It didn't scare me. I was good at it. And
Speaker:he saw, like, oh oh, this guy can be a really big asset to this
Speaker:to this department. And, you know, he worked with me on my writing, and we
Speaker:got NOT we got that up to speed. And then I'd be you know, I
Speaker:was I was like the top holder be be you know, behind him. And then,
Speaker:you know, 3 years in, he decided to leave, and, the show
Speaker:picked me to run it even though there were, like, REAL guys that were
Speaker:had 5 years more experience than me. But because of my,
Speaker:calm under pressure, that's why they, you know, they picked me to run it because
Speaker:that's what they're looking for. They need something. They can't have somebody that freaks out.
Speaker:You know? Turns out you're a ninja. And and in in
Speaker:another life, you were either a ninja or special witnesses or
Speaker:whatever, and collected,
Speaker:under pressure. Right? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I
Speaker:and, you know, and that's the thing too. Just that, you know, I mean,
Speaker:to to just bring come back to the SNL example. I mean, you
Speaker:know, that was one of the things that, you know, again, I so
Speaker:appreciated about being there is that, you know, it is,
Speaker:you know, it's, there are so many moving ART, and and it is
Speaker:there's high pressure and obviously. And but
Speaker:to see pros do their job. Right? You know? Yeah. Just, you know,
Speaker:get it done and do it with a smile. Have fun doing it. Love the
Speaker:pressure. You know, it's it's you're you're part of a
Speaker:all star world class group of super athletes on
Speaker:a certain level. You're you're absolutely right. It really is the best of
Speaker:people were doing their job. And, you know, you're not you know, I start
Speaker:I started this job when I was 25 years old. I'm 58 right now. You're
Speaker:not supposed to work on the same TV show for for 34 years
Speaker:and plus and still going. You know? Like, how lucky is that too? Like, you
Speaker:know, I was like, you know, I had friends that were were starting a job.
Speaker:They'd have it for 2 years, and the show would go off the air, and
Speaker:they have to find another job. And it's like, how lucky I am to be
Speaker:in that position where my show just stays on and on and on. It's crazy.
Speaker:Right. NOT. SNL's gotta be one of the longest running shows on television right
Speaker:now. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Wow. Talk about job security.
Speaker:You got job security in, and, in a time when there seems to
Speaker:be no job security. I know. It's crazy. It really is
Speaker:crazy. Wow. Wow. Well, you know, I was gonna,
Speaker:I was gonna ask a stupid question about so who did
Speaker:you get your, good handwriting from? Your mom or
Speaker:your I don't yet. Since you've already established
Speaker:that you had shit handwriting. I can I can tell you who I blame it
Speaker:on? My my grandfather was a doctor, so I blame it on his, you know,
Speaker:doctor's famous. We have really bad handwriting, so I blame it on him. There you
Speaker:go. There you go. I know. I I I I could have been a doctor
Speaker:based on my handwriting, but I couldn't have been a doctor based on my grades.
Speaker:Yeah. It's just not gonna happen. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker:man. So, I mean, what does,
Speaker:what does a, cue card writer like
Speaker:yourself, Wally I mean, what keeps you up at night, man?
Speaker:I mean, like like, it it seems like you have so much fun. I mean,
Speaker:I know there's stress. You're you're but you're calm, cool, and collected. I mean,
Speaker:you know, it sounds like you you're a family man. You got kit your kids
Speaker:are grown. I mean, you well, I it kinda sounds like you have
Speaker:an ideal life. Maybe nothing keeps you up at night. I don't know. Yeah. No.
Speaker:I mean I mean, this whole the whole the negotiations with the union for
Speaker:last year, that was that was stressful, but, you know, and just it's
Speaker:it was, you know, it's just it was just more work, you know, and and
Speaker:it's I have to just now I have to really be on my game because
Speaker:we're doing a whole thing where I have to keep make sure the guys take
Speaker:meal breaks at a certain time. So I gotta stay on I gotta kinda get
Speaker:more involved in that aspect of the company, which is the stuff that I hate.
Speaker:Yeah. Right. I just wanna I wanna write the cards and hold them up and
Speaker:get the laughs and have fun. You know what I mean? Right. That's why I
Speaker:do it. Yes. Yes. So that maybe this little bit of the stress on that.
Speaker:But, yeah, you know, like I said, like I said, my my one son graduated
Speaker:from, SCAD down in Atlanta with team Houston major.
Speaker:So he's he's right now working on an, SNL 1975
Speaker:movie as a production assistant. He got the job. So he hits his
Speaker:first job out of college. He's really happy down there. He's living with his buddies.
Speaker:My sec my youngest son is graduating from UT Austin in May, and,
Speaker:he wants to move out to LA things. So I think he would be, like,
Speaker:good maybe TV production, but I think he would be good, like, a movie
Speaker:studio executive, something like that. Uh-huh. Right. He's got a good
Speaker:business sense and wants to run business. And he's really not sure what he wants
Speaker:to do yet. But, so yeah. And then, you know, we just get a dog,
Speaker:which we never had before because I was allergic. But for some reason, I grew
Speaker:out of it. So my wife and I get a dog. We don't have a
Speaker:lot of stress. We have a beach house down in the Jersey Shore that we
Speaker:go to in the summer Nice. That we bought during the pandemic because we didn't
Speaker:think we'd be traveling a lot. And it's that has been, like, the greatest thing
Speaker:we ever did. It has a pool, the backyard. We have the bay across the
Speaker:street. That is just instant relaxation. Right. You walk through the door, and it says
Speaker:you relax. So NOT a lot of stress.
Speaker:Yeah. Well, that view I mean, god bless you, brother. I mean, you know, like,
Speaker:let let's keep it that way. Right? And, I know. But but,
Speaker:obviously, 2020 for all of us was stressful. My god. What a
Speaker:unprecedented crazy year. You know, as I understand
Speaker:it, cue cards by WALL E was sort of born during
Speaker:the the pandemic. Yeah. I wanna talk about that in in one
Speaker:quick second. But, you know, as
Speaker:COVID shut down the shows and what have you been, how
Speaker:did, how did that really impact impact you in direct ways?
Speaker:Did you just have to go home and like everybody else? I mean, were you
Speaker:trying because I know they were trying to do some production maybe from remotely.
Speaker:I don't know. Like, what happened to the cue card game during So yeah. So
Speaker:the show shut down. They didn't know how I mean, I think you remember, like,
Speaker:it when it when everything shut down, at first, they thought maybe a couple weeks.
Speaker:You know? They weren't really sure. Yeah. So, the shows were
Speaker:actually paying us, off this off the
Speaker:beginning. They were the NBC was allowing them to still pay the employees because they
Speaker:thought it was maybe gonna be a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks. Then as it
Speaker:get to be a month and they saw this isn't gonna end.
Speaker:Then NBC said, okay. We're not paying we're not paying you guys. We're not paying
Speaker:the employees anymore. Right. So, Seth actually started paying
Speaker:people out of his own pocket. Wow. You're kidding me.
Speaker:Nope. Nope. So I was still I was still getting,
Speaker:I was getting paid, and then I was paying the employees or they were paying
Speaker:the employees directly. I forget how it works, but he was paying them out of
Speaker:his own pockets. He did that as well during the writers' strike.
Speaker:Did the same thing. What an incredible what an incredible gesture
Speaker:of of Yep. Humanity and empathy. I did I did
Speaker:also you know, like I said, my wife was good at business. I got a
Speaker:PPP loan, and I pay was able to run 4 4
Speaker:big payrolls for my and for the employees, during that time as well
Speaker:Yep. Which which which helped out. And then the show started going
Speaker:back remotely. Seth went remotely, Fallon did remotely, but they weren't using cue
Speaker:cards. Once in a while, I did cards,
Speaker:and they wanted to try it. It actually worked. I did cards over Zoom for
Speaker:Seth. Seth Amazing. Seth and Amy were Amy was in
Speaker:LA. Seth was in New York, and they were having trouble syncing up the prompter
Speaker:that they use. So they said, let's try cards. So the director worked with me.
Speaker:I put the cards in front of the camera, and I just had to scroll
Speaker:and kinda we figured it out. And they were both able to read them at
Speaker:the same time, and it worked out perfectly. So we did that a couple times.
Speaker:It was the first time I ever did cards in front of a Zoom camera
Speaker:for somebody. Amazing. Amazing.
Speaker:Amazing. But, yeah, it was it was only, like, 2 times. So so once he
Speaker:started going remote, then we weren't you know, then, you know,
Speaker:I wasn't no one was still we still weren't working. You know? It was still,
Speaker:like, kinda some of the the writers were working and people were working, but we
Speaker:weren't. So it was it was frustrating. It was very frustrating. But then but then
Speaker:the shows kinda came back with no audiences. Right? Like, it was just bare bare
Speaker:bones. Yeah. Is that, like, maybe
Speaker:September ish? Maybe up the end of September. Alright. Yeah. I
Speaker:remember yes. And, Seth yeah. That's where I kinda started getting a lot of
Speaker:airtime when there was no one in the studio. No. You know, it's just me
Speaker:and Seth. You know, they had limited cameraman. They had no band.
Speaker:I don't think they had the band. Maybe they did. I don't
Speaker:it was just a limited thing. It was a weird time. It would really it
Speaker:was weird to do it that way. SNL,
Speaker:you know, that's a different, you know, that's a different animal.
Speaker:You know? I mean, you know how you saw how many people were working on
Speaker:that show. You know? Yep. With all the COVID restrictions, I remember Kenny Amon, the
Speaker:producer, called all the studio all the department heads in in August
Speaker:to a meeting in in 8 h. And he said, okay. We're coming back
Speaker:in October. He was like, we could only have this amount
Speaker:of people in the, in the studio, and that's including audience.
Speaker:And he was like, there's no way we can do a show with with that
Speaker:with with the number of people that we can have work in the show. There's
Speaker:no possible way. Right. But we're all of us here, we're gonna figure out
Speaker:how we're gonna do it. And it was just like he was like, well, there's
Speaker:no way we could do it, but let's talk. Let's figure it out. Let's brainstorm.
Speaker:It was really cool. It's really, really neat. And it was just like, oh, man.
Speaker:So we just started people just started coming up with ideas, and and eventually, you
Speaker:know, they worked it out. And, we put on shows, which
Speaker:was, you know, I'm wearing a I'm wearing a face mask, and I'm wearing a
Speaker:face shield. Right. That's where the sponge I don't know if you know my sponge
Speaker:story. I lick my finger when I pull it. I lick my finger when I
Speaker:pull cards For sure. Before COVID because they stick sometimes. You know? We have to
Speaker:get a grip on them. Yeah. When COVID hit and I'm wearing a face mask
Speaker:and a shield, I can't lick my and plus it's COVID too. I can't lick
Speaker:my finger. Right. So I had the props guy get a sponge and glue it
Speaker:to my face shield and wet it so I could
Speaker:so I could wet my finger. And a whole new
Speaker:product was was, was Whole new product. Marketed. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:We REAL like, I need that for the supermarket. We know when you put the
Speaker:open the bags, you couldn't open the bags. We know how you look like your
Speaker:finger. You can't do that. But Seth, of course, talked about it. It was a
Speaker:whole thing on Seth Show and Amazing. Sponge became really famous.
Speaker:Nice. I had it on necessity, but, you know, they made fun of it and
Speaker:got comedy out of REAL, which is really fun.
Speaker:Now now people with glasses everywhere have a little sponge attached to their glasses in
Speaker:case. Right? Oh my god. That's amazing. That's amazing. So
Speaker:okay. So so you're figuring it out, and and people are
Speaker:collaborating and and problem solving and firefighting and innovating blah
Speaker:blah blah blah blah to get the shows made great. Meanwhile,
Speaker:though, of course, you know, you're at home. You know, you're thinking about all
Speaker:kinds of things. Obviously, you know, making money's gotta be one of
Speaker:them. Yeah. And somehow, some way, you decide
Speaker:to launch cue cards by Wally Yeah. And,
Speaker:custom cue cards for real people like me, which by the way
Speaker:Now let's see it. Oh, yes.
Speaker:There it is. There it is. There it is. Made it safely.
Speaker:Love it. Love it. And it was a lot of words. See, it is. But
Speaker:this is the intro to the podcast on our record, and you'll get a kick
Speaker:out of it, I hope. But, anyway
Speaker:anyway, so so take us back
Speaker:to the origin story, the inspirational moment where you REAL this was a thing.
Speaker:This is a it's a really good story. Like, I told you, my wife's an
Speaker:entrepreneur, and she likes she likes to start businesses that she she's in
Speaker:marketing and corporate America, but this is like a little side thing. She ART, you
Speaker:know, New York City cue cards, and she started helped her dad's company and her
Speaker:brother's company. So a year before COVID, so
Speaker:2019, I came up with this idea of cue cards by Huawei where it was
Speaker:gonna be personalized cue cards for people. And she was sitting at the dinner
Speaker:table, and I said, hey. What do you think of this business idea? You know,
Speaker:personalized coupons for people where I, you know, write what message they want on them,
Speaker:and I mail them to them. And she she she not even a second, she
Speaker:thought. She was like, nope. Nope. And I was like,
Speaker:really? She's like, nah. I'm like, alright. So I so
Speaker:I let it go. And then COVID hit. And for 2 months, I was sitting
Speaker:on a couch while she was working from home, doing nothing, gaining weight, not working
Speaker:out, kind of depressed because I wasn't able to work. Of course. And she said
Speaker:she said she said she said, I think I wanna start another company. I was
Speaker:like, how about cue cards by Wally? And she was like, yes.
Speaker:Now is the time to do it because people don't have gifts to give their
Speaker:friends. They can't go to weddings. They can't go to birthdays. They can't go to
Speaker:anniversaries. She's like, yes. Let's do it. So we we talked. We
Speaker:kind of planned, and I was like, I just wanna do it really easy. I
Speaker:don't wanna do a big business plan. I don't wanna have to do this. She
Speaker:was like, okay. We'll do a minimal viable
Speaker:product. Have you ever heard of that? MVP. MVP, minimal viable product. I had never
Speaker:heard of it. I had never heard of it. She was like, we'll we'll start
Speaker:an Instagram account and a Venmo account, and that's what I did. And then I
Speaker:did a couple SNL podcasts, and I launched, and I started
Speaker:getting orders. And, New
Speaker:York, local New York news, did a story on me. They saw they
Speaker:saw they saw it somewhere, and they did it, like, a little story on me.
Speaker:And that and that helped with that. But it was I was getting, like, maybe
Speaker:5 or 10 orders a day, something like that, which is good. It was keeping
Speaker:me busy. So NBC, the local NBC does a story on a Monday
Speaker:night. Tuesday night, my wife wakes me at, like, 9 in the morning. She was
Speaker:like, you better get up. And I'm like, why? She said, you have 350 emails.
Speaker:And I'm like, what? I go,
Speaker:what happened? So I find out I did I used to do cue cards for
Speaker:Carson Daly when he was on last call for Carson Daly when the first REAL
Speaker:or 4 years. He saw the story at NBC and decided
Speaker:he wanted to do 3 32nd ads for my company,
Speaker:basically. 8, 8:30, and 9 or 7. Like, every on the Power,
Speaker:every half hour, REAL times, he talked about my company, what I was offering,
Speaker:and it just freaking blew up. It was blew up. It was I was
Speaker:like, oh, no. Because I was doing all myself. I was answering emails. I was
Speaker:writing. I was like, oh, no. What am I gonna do? And then I
Speaker:started then interview interview. I was gonna be on Access Hollywood. I was gonna be
Speaker:this. I was everybody was, like, wanted to talk to me. And, I started
Speaker:doing some interviews, and then Lauren Lauren was like, okay. You
Speaker:know, we're letting you do this. Let's not have too much WALL E camera time.
Speaker:You know? Like, let's not go crazy. So I I didn't do any which which
Speaker:was good. If I had done more interviews, I would've got I would've get inundated.
Speaker:I wouldn't been able to, you know, fulfill the orders, which would've been a bad
Speaker:with bad business. Yes. Yes. That really just kept me going for, like, the next
Speaker:couple months, then we started working again. But it just the
Speaker:the feedback, from the
Speaker:customers was what really got me through COVID because, you
Speaker:know, I I was talking to my wife about this. It's like, I don't know
Speaker:about other companies, but, like, since we launched, we're over 3 years now.
Speaker:I haven't had one person say, you know what? This isn't what I really thought
Speaker:it was gonna be. Can I have my money back? NOT one person. So a
Speaker:100%, you know, likability. Like, they love the product. You
Speaker:know? And, yeah, people are like, oh, I couldn't go to my cousin's wedding, and
Speaker:this really this they flipped out over this. And, you know, they this is the
Speaker:best gift I've ever given, and I'm gonna give a I'm gonna order again. I'm
Speaker:gonna order again. It was just so nice. It It was just so so nice.
Speaker:And then the videos I do, you know, I did a video for you as
Speaker:well. Yes. You know, those are really fun. That way I can I can have
Speaker:fun with the with the customer? I can I can riff and I can joke
Speaker:around Yeah? And they really love people really love those. So too.
Speaker:So it's just been a joy to me to see the joy that I brought
Speaker:other people, and it really helped during COVID. It helped them, and it really helped
Speaker:me as well. It's such a beautiful story, man. I mean,
Speaker:you know, it it really is. And it it it's it's because it's
Speaker:such a well, at its core, it's a it's a human story. There's so many
Speaker:layers to this. Yeah. And, you know, and that's
Speaker:what resonates. And, yes, I love my video, by the way. And when I post
Speaker:this episode podcast episode on the website,
Speaker:in the show notes that I'm gonna have, the video that you made me
Speaker:Right. With the photo and you know? I, you know, I I I hope, you
Speaker:know, I hope, people, hear this and and and
Speaker:throw orders your way. So on average, I mean, like like,
Speaker:because you're right. I mean, the best parties are the ones you can't get into.
Speaker:Right? So the idea that you have a limit in terms of what what you
Speaker:can do and how you could do it. Like, how many are you doing now,
Speaker:like, on a on an average month? NOT. It it it it it varies. You
Speaker:know? It it I what I notice is when SNL is off, like, we're off
Speaker:for these next 2 weekends, I don't get a ton of orders. Mhmm. But as
Speaker:soon as the show comes back on, I I'll get, like, maybe, you know, 4
Speaker:or 5, you know Sure. 6 a week, which is fine. It just
Speaker:keeps me busy. Right. It's just people watching the show
Speaker:and, like, oh, yeah. I wanna get that card. Or, oh, oh, there's Wally. Oh,
Speaker:great. I wanted to get that card ART my friend. You know, that kind of
Speaker:thing. And, I mean, I get a lot of repeat business. I get a lot
Speaker:of it's just it's just, like, you know, I think I've sent cards
Speaker:to 15 different countries and maybe every state now in the
Speaker:in the in United States I've sent cards to. It's just really
Speaker:cool. You just see where the SNL fans are, the late night fans are. Yeah.
Speaker:It's really, really neat. It's really, really fun. Well, in in in that,
Speaker:I have to ask. I mean, is there an it's like a secondary aftermarket
Speaker:for the the the used cards that you write for Seth or
Speaker:SNL? Like, do they what are they what happens to the cards after they're done?
Speaker:No. That's a good question. Like, years ago, I had that you know, I think
Speaker:and I wasn't the first person, and people keep on pitching it to me. Oh,
Speaker:you should sell them and give the money to charity kinda thing. You know? Because
Speaker:people would want these, and they do want them.
Speaker:But, you know, I didn't you know, I think I you think I know a
Speaker:little bit about the businesses that I already have. Charity business is a whole different
Speaker:thing and all these different rate rules and regulations you have to follow. And, you
Speaker:know, someone said to me, there's a lot that goes with that before you wanna
Speaker:pitch be able to take that on. So, I was
Speaker:advised not to not do it. But, you know, once I write NBC's words on
Speaker:that, it's not my property anymore. It's Oh, right. There's that. Yeah. It's NBC's
Speaker:property. Once they once they're when they're blank, they're buying. When I write MB a
Speaker:script, you know, joke on there, it's NBC's. So some of the
Speaker:writers come and get ART. We give cards out to, like, staff people that are
Speaker:leaving or, you know, when the host hosts, I'll ask them if they want souvenirs,
Speaker:and most of the time they do. So I'll give them their whole monologue in
Speaker:on the cue cards. Nice. And then, like, 3 or 4 cards from every sketch
Speaker:they were in, they love and they love that. But for the most part, they
Speaker:get put in a big pile back in the studio, and the scenic ART use
Speaker:them to catch paint when they're painting the sets the next week. So
Speaker:one week, they're comedy gold, and the next week, they just catch paint on the
Speaker:floor. That's amazing. And and by the way, like, it's
Speaker:it's at that point that I would love to get one and frame it and
Speaker:call it art because of the journey, you know, from The paint with
Speaker:the paint with the paint specs on it? Yes. Yes. Yes. I have a great
Speaker:story I have a great Studio, and it's gonna put you you're gonna be really
Speaker:excited that you said that. Well, let's hear it. Alright. So
Speaker:Christopher Walken is hosting, and it's, like, maybe his 5th time hosting. Okay? That
Speaker:would and probably 4 with me or 3 with me. And we're walking
Speaker:out to a set, and he sees he looks down, and he sees cards on
Speaker:the floor with paint speckles on him from the and he's like, what's that what's
Speaker:that card from? I'm not gonna do a walk in right now because my voice
Speaker:is a little bit crooked. And I said, well, that's from a sketch we
Speaker:had last week. And he's look you can he's, like, looking NOT it and he's
Speaker:eyeing up and down. He's like, can I have that? And I was like,
Speaker:yeah. You can have it. So he didn't pick it up. He went I thought
Speaker:he was, like, fucking with me. Right. REAL. Really? Because it's Christopher Walken. He has
Speaker:that kinda wrist position. Yeah. So so we we
Speaker:rehearsed a sketch. He's still talking to somebody. I leave, run
Speaker:back to my area, and I tell my guys, guys, look down this
Speaker:hallway because he's gonna be walking down there. If Christopher Walken NOT holding a
Speaker:cue card, I've got a great story for you. And he walks by and he's
Speaker:holding the cue card with the thing on it. And they're like,
Speaker:what? So I told him that story. So I see
Speaker:him at the ART, and we're talking and he's thanking
Speaker:me. And he I was like, so I go, did you get that cue card?
Speaker:He was like, I did. He was like, I just hope you know. I hope
Speaker:you get to keep some too. I go, he's like, what you're doing is art.
Speaker:And I saw that card with the last week's jokes and the speckles of
Speaker:paint. He's like, and that is art. He's like, I'm gonna frame that and put
Speaker:that in my apartment because I hope you get to do that too. Because it's
Speaker:it's art that you do, and I hope you can appreciate that. And I was
Speaker:blown away by it. That's exactly what you just said. Or you think
Speaker:like Christopher Walken, which I don't know a big or a bad thing.
Speaker:It's a real thing. That's all. How about that? How about that first story? Is
Speaker:that pretty cool? That's amazing. That is so great.
Speaker:And, yeah, it it's it's because it's yeah. I mean, there's just, again, so
Speaker:many layers to it. I mean, the the the humanity and the hands and the
Speaker:craft and the creativity and the ingenuity and the and
Speaker:just the evolution and the, you know, I you know, but the the the
Speaker:creative destruction dies and, you know, re reborn again. And I don't know, man. That's
Speaker:that's so cool.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great story. I've got probably, a
Speaker:thousand of story stories like that that I can't we can't we can't tell you.
Speaker:They're gonna be in the book. You have to buy the book, Scott, to read
Speaker:the other ones. Oh my god. When is the book coming out? Let's plug it
Speaker:in. When I get when SNL goes off the air. Right. Right. Right.
Speaker:Right. But I'm I'm writing these down ART retelling them enough so that I'll remember
Speaker:them. Got yes. Right. Okay. Good. Good. Good. Good. Well, Yeah.
Speaker:Because there's a good there's a good I'll tell you the ending of that story.
Speaker:There's a good ending to that story too. That's on top of that. So he's
Speaker:talking to me and talking to me, and his wife taps him on the shoulder.
Speaker:And she said, Steve wants to say goodbye. And he looks,
Speaker:sees that it's Steve Martin. I look and see that Studio ART, and he
Speaker:goes, tell him to hold on a second. And he continues talking to me, and
Speaker:I'm like, oh, now I'm scared because, oh, no. Steve Martin is waiting to talk
Speaker:to him, and he's talking to me. I'm like, oh, go talk to Steve. He's
Speaker:like, no. No. Wait a second. I wanna say one more thing.
Speaker:And I was like, okay. I gotta go. It was so great seeing you again.
Speaker:I was like, oh my god. He put Steve ART on hold to finish talking
Speaker:to me, which was like Oh, that's pretty that. Oh, I love that.
Speaker:That is cool, man. Cool. Wow. You
Speaker:must you must, have to pinch yourself sometimes. I I
Speaker:really do. I mean, it's just I'm very, very fortunate to to for what I
Speaker:do and and, the people I get to work with. It's really nice. Well
Speaker:and it's just you know? And, again, one of the reasons why I wanted to
Speaker:to have you on the show and talk is just because it's there are so
Speaker:many jobs, vital jobs,
Speaker:that exist in the world, let alone in the arts or in entertainment,
Speaker:whatever, that most people
Speaker:don't know about. Yeah. Right? And an unsung hero,
Speaker:so to speak. Right? The you know? And and and that's what one of the
Speaker:things that I love doing and why I REAL the podcast is to create a
Speaker:space where we can honor, you know, those creative professionals who are
Speaker:who are who are making it all work. You know? Yep.
Speaker:Yep. Yep. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of hard
Speaker:work, but it's it's worthwhile. And you see a product at the end of the
Speaker:day, you see the you hear the laughter, and it's just so
Speaker:it's just it's just it's just so great to see the these young cast members,
Speaker:you know, grow up in front of the camera right in front of you, and
Speaker:you're helping them out. You're helping, you know, a a celebrity out every
Speaker:week. Help them make hopefully, make them look good and have fun. It's
Speaker:just a great job. It's really, really fun. So I have a weird question for
Speaker:you. So, obviously, tools of the trade, you know, paper and
Speaker:marker. Okay. Fine. But, clearly, like any artist or
Speaker:professional, you must have tools that, you know, your preferred
Speaker:toolbox and preferred set of tools. Are there specific
Speaker:kinds of paper specific that that that that that work better
Speaker:than others? What kind of markers do you like to use? It feels like
Speaker:this would be a great marketing opportunity for a Sharpie marker
Speaker:to spot for you and and pay you We use we we do use
Speaker:Sharpies to to label the cards and stuff like that. But the main the main
Speaker:thing we use Power pilot pens. And, actually, when the when
Speaker:Carson did that story on me on the Today Show,
Speaker:they saw me using a pilot pen and then tweeted out
Speaker:to me, we see you all using our product, and we like it. We said
Speaker:he they sent me some gifts. They sent me free pens and sent me some
Speaker:some stuff. And I, you know, I I was like, hey. I'll do an endorsement
Speaker:deal if you guys want, but they never get back to me on that. But
Speaker:we used to use these old metal markers, ART 99 markers,
Speaker:that were leaky. Your hands were all you you always get ink
Speaker:on your hands. They were hard to use. And, one of my
Speaker:workers that went to California and came back they came back with these pilots. So
Speaker:there's 2 sizes. There's a there's a thin one, which I like. Mhmm. And there's
Speaker:a stick one, which everybody else uses. I've started using this a
Speaker:little bit. And they don't REAL, and they don't smell as much as the other,
Speaker:you know, markers. And they're you can still refill them. But when the tip you
Speaker:know, when this tip runs out, see how it's getting worn down a little bit
Speaker:there? Yeah. Right. Right. When it gets worn down, you know, you throw it out
Speaker:and you open up, but you get another one. So, you get another you get
Speaker:another, head. Yeah. No. You just get a new marker. You just throw them whole
Speaker:marker away and you you get it because they're disposable. They're disposable. As long as
Speaker:you can, and then you throw the other one. Got you. And that's why they
Speaker:don't leak because they're not rechargeable or REAL refillable. NOT. You can refill them. You
Speaker:can refill them, but it's just it's just not there. It's not it's a bigger
Speaker:it's a it's just easier. It's easier less less you get less ink on it.
Speaker:You still get ink on it once in a while when you're filling them, but,
Speaker:it just made things so much easier and and streamline things. And then
Speaker:the cards, we used to use, white cards on the
Speaker:front. They're they're, and then, like, a gray on the back,
Speaker:like a real cardboard color kind of thing. Mhmm. But we could
Speaker:never control the quality. Like, you know, I would my supplier could
Speaker:never get it from the same batch of now they were recycled,
Speaker:but sometimes they would be they would be too thick and they would bend they
Speaker:would as you're holding them, they're bending backwards. Sometimes they'd be too thin, and they'd
Speaker:be wobbling a little bit. That it just it was it was annoying. Just never
Speaker:knew what you were gonna get. And then, like, I don't know. Like, maybe 5
Speaker:or 6 years ago, I was like, how can we get, like, the same card
Speaker:every week so that I'm happy that I know? Because that's a really big part
Speaker:of it, holding these cards. Yeah. And he was like, well, you could do the
Speaker:double white, the white on the back that you can't write on the other side,
Speaker:but, I I could get that same stock every single time. So I was like,
Speaker:great. Send me some samples. He sent them to me. He's like, they're more expensive.
Speaker:And I was like, I don't care. I want that I want that, you know,
Speaker:the sameness every week. Yeah. And, they they ended up being great. I've been using
Speaker:those for 6 years, and it's just it's revolutionized. I don't have to every time
Speaker:I get a stat stock of 10,000, I don't have to look at them and
Speaker:say, I can't use these. They're too thin, and they're wobbly. Right. I know they're
Speaker:gonna be the same cut every single time I get them, and, I can just
Speaker:start using them. I don't have to check them. So that has been a really
Speaker:big, change in things. And, but, yeah, that's it. We use
Speaker:tape, we use pens, and we use the cards, and that's pretty much it. So
Speaker:are the cards is is the writing surface, is it coated, or is it
Speaker:uncoated? It's coated. Yeah. It's just yeah. It's coated that we write on. Yeah. Because
Speaker:if it wasn't, you know, the the ink would seep into the card and,
Speaker:and eventually would REAL, really fade. And you only write on the one side. You
Speaker:don't write on both sides. Correct. Right. Correct. There's only the one side is
Speaker:coded. Correct. There's some there there are
Speaker:double coded cards that's, you know, they're they're twice as expensive or maybe, you know,
Speaker:like, half of expensive. Yeah. But you could write on both sides. But with
Speaker:SNL, you don't wanna be holding a card, you know, with writing on the other
Speaker:side. You know, it just would get way too confusing. And, you know, like, you
Speaker:know, sometimes they use a side and they would put a big x on it.
Speaker:Like, no. Okay. We already did that side. We use the other side. My employees
Speaker:are not gonna do that. They're gonna end up throwing it out. It it's just
Speaker:gonna be a waste. So the one side is good enough. Yeah. It would seem
Speaker:yeah. It would seem way too risky to try to be juggling, you
Speaker:know, multiple sided cards and Yep. I know. Oh my
Speaker:god. Where'd the punch line go? Exactly. Exactly. Like, oh,
Speaker:shit. What is the worst thing that's ever happened to you when it comes
Speaker:to, you know, to to you know, being, your co cue
Speaker:ART, people? You know, ART, I've never dropped a card in 34
Speaker:years of a during a during a show, so I'm very proud of that moment.
Speaker:I have you know, you pull slow and then, you know, it ruins the joke
Speaker:or you pull too fast and it ruins the joke or a card sticks. You
Speaker:know, we tape we tape over lines when we're doing changes. So if you don't
Speaker:if you tape over the over the edge of the card, it could stick to
Speaker:the next card. So that happened that happened with,
Speaker:I was holding, a a joke for Norm Macdonald when he was doing weekend update,
Speaker:and the card stuck. And I went to go pull it, and I couldn't pull
Speaker:it. I completely ruined the joke. Completely ruined it. So you read the read the
Speaker:setup, never read the punchline. It was just it was just
Speaker:awful. And this is Norm McDonald. Yeah. I don't know if you know a lot
Speaker:about Norm. No. He does not. Yeah. He would he doesn't care.
Speaker:Right. REAL, I I mouth yeah. I'm sorry. Like that, I
Speaker:mouth to him like that. This is the live show. And he goes, it's okay,
Speaker:Wally. Don't worry about it. On live TV.
Speaker:And I'm just like, oh, you just made things 10 times for us. NOT. But
Speaker:thanks. He didn't care. He didn't care. You know? And if I and if I
Speaker:screw up on Seth, Seth makes a joke of it as well. You know? Like,
Speaker:he instead of why get mad, turn it into comedy. Turn it like, Wally, what
Speaker:happened there? What what's going on? You know? Totally. So, it turns into a fun
Speaker:thing. So yeah. Well and that says a lot about him. Right? And and, you
Speaker:know, and and For sure. The the the Canadian
Speaker:part of him maybe as well. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Because, you
Speaker:know, the egos are REAL, and I'm guessing that depending
Speaker:on who it might be, you you might have it might have ended differently.
Speaker:Right. Yes. You're you're you're not wrong. You're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Speaker:Yeah. You're not wrong. Nope. Oh, man.
Speaker:That must be quite interesting too, right, to sort of meet be
Speaker:so up and up close and and personal with with not just artists,
Speaker:these performers, these comics, and we we all love them, but we also know
Speaker:that, you know, many of them are, you know, damaged human
Speaker:beings at some level, and I mean that in the best way. Yeah.
Speaker:But but then, you know, a list celebrities coming through and, you know,
Speaker:the egos that come through and, you know, knowing how to tap dance around
Speaker:that. And and it must just be like a breath of fresh air when you
Speaker:have, like, the Christopher Walken story or whatever when you meet somebody who's just, like,
Speaker:really cool and human and down to earth and just fun to Oh, right. NOT.
Speaker:Yeah. It's it's it is. Yeah. That I mean, I think that's why
Speaker:I've lasted so long on this job, because of my
Speaker:personality and because, yeah, I I I'm
Speaker:not nothing if someone's gonna get get, you know, be mean to me or not
Speaker:mean to me, but just, like, you know, being in there. NOT nice. Right. You
Speaker:know, when I'm there helping them out, that's fine. My job is to help them
Speaker:out whether they're nice to me or not. You know? Right. You know, 99% of
Speaker:them are nice, so it's not a it's not a problem. But you get somebody
Speaker:like Quinta Brunson, the show you saw. Yeah. I walk in to say hi to
Speaker:her on Wednesday to see what her how her eyesight was. That's the first thing
Speaker:I talked about how the how her eyesight is. And, I was like, hey. I'm
Speaker:and she's like, I know who you are. You're Wally. And she was like she
Speaker:was like she's like, ask me how I know who you are. I was like,
Speaker:how do you know who I am? She's like, my my 95 year old
Speaker:grandmother sent me an article that was written about you last week. Said I had
Speaker:to read this. This is the person you're gonna be working with in in in,
Speaker:on SNL. So, I mean, she was just a joy.
Speaker:I was like, REAL, we're gonna have to get her a cue card. She was
Speaker:like, really? I was like, yeah. Of course, we're gonna get her a cue card.
Speaker:She's a fan of mine. You know? So we got her a cue card. I
Speaker:wrote I autographed it for her, And she just every time she comes back, she
Speaker:was like, my grandmother loves you. She says to say hello. She comes
Speaker:it's it's just so nice. You know? Like, like, you get to you meet these
Speaker:people and you see how they are. And she, yeah, she just came back and,
Speaker:was I think she was here for the IO IO, at a bio
Speaker:show. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I think I was on her show, right,
Speaker:once. Right. Right. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I'm I'm getting changed after the show. I'm
Speaker:tired. I don't I was trying to decide whether to go to the party or
Speaker:not, I think. And I hear she I REAL, wowie. Wowie. I was like, who's
Speaker:yelling for me? And it was Quinta Brunson yelling for me. Like, I wanna say
Speaker:hello. I ART a picture with you to show my grandmother. I was like, I
Speaker:mean, how nice is that? That's amazing. How nice is that?
Speaker:Wow. Yeah. So I get a 1,000 stories like that that are just
Speaker:so nice. You know? Really, really nice.
Speaker:Boy. Oh, boy. No wonder you smile all the time. You NOT a guy, mate.
Speaker:You're a lucky lucky human. And and by the way but it
Speaker:takes 2. Right? Like, clearly, you purse your personality,
Speaker:your temperament, your mentality, your mentality, your your your your outlook on life,
Speaker:you you know, is is is half of is at least half of it. Right?
Speaker:If not more, because, I mean, it takes 22 to tango. And if you were
Speaker:a jerk, you know, it wouldn't matter. You probably wouldn't even survive if you were
Speaker:a jerk. Because you are who you are, not only you're
Speaker:surviving, you're like the guy. Yeah. Yeah. It's
Speaker:great. Yeah. I mean I mean, Seth talks about it a lot.
Speaker:You know, when kids kids ask, you know, what do we have? I just graduated
Speaker:from college. I wanna get an engineering business. What what what advice do you have
Speaker:for me? And he was like, be nice. He was like, be nice
Speaker:because you have to be so, so, so talented if you're an asshole to
Speaker:be hired in this in this business. Mhmm. And there are assholes in the
Speaker:business. We all, you know, we all know that. But you have to be so
Speaker:talented. If you're nice and you work hard, you're gonna get a job and you're
Speaker:gonna do fine. That's those are the people that they wanna hire. It's like, we
Speaker:had the we they they had the the he's like, they the best thing they
Speaker:had when they started the show was they get to pick who they wanted to
Speaker:work with Yeah. And and set the environment. And they set the greatest it's the
Speaker:greatest, most fun show to work with. We just celebrated 10 years.
Speaker:And every day I go NOT work there, I don't I don't I'm looking forward
Speaker:to it. I I know everyone's gonna be nice to me. Everyone's gonna be nice
Speaker:to each other. It's just a pleasure to be there. You know? And that's the
Speaker:cool thing about it. You know? And that's the way it should be. Be nice,
Speaker:and you'll do well. These guys are proving it. It's so true. It's so true.
Speaker:I mean, I've I've hired a lot of artists, over the years for
Speaker:various jobs or projects and things. And and, you
Speaker:know, and I've I've had ART, very talented ART, ask me, well, why didn't I
Speaker:get the gig? You know? Because I you know? And I was like, well, honestly,
Speaker:you didn't get the gig because your attitude isn't Yep. NOT.
Speaker:Or or you you know, you you know, I high I hired somebody who was
Speaker:equally talented, but they were nice. Yeah. No NOT ego, you
Speaker:know, or whatever. Right? And, and it's true. It's true. What
Speaker:what how much of our life is work? And, you know, why why would we
Speaker:wanna work with assholes? No. You wanna work with people that, of course, make you
Speaker:feel good. Of course. You don't wanna run into somebody like, you NOT, you like
Speaker:like, you wanna run into somebody in the hallway. You wanna be able to say
Speaker:hello to them. You wanna be like, oh, no. This guy. You know? You're responsible
Speaker:for hiring them. You know? Well and especially when you're in an industry and let's
Speaker:face it. I mean, there's a lot of glitz and glamour around TV and film,
Speaker:but at the end of the day, it's pretty small business. Yeah. I mean, you
Speaker:know, we're we're, you know, word travels. Your reputation is is is gonna,
Speaker:you know, people are gonna know whether or not you're a asshole or a good
Speaker:person or whatever. All it gets Scott. People know. People talk.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Wally, man, I could I talk to you for another
Speaker:hour. I mean, it's 11 o'clock on the East Coast, 8 o'clock here. This has
Speaker:been a gift. I'm so grateful for you, man. And I've got so
Speaker:many things on my mind. I'm gonna circle back with you and and Yeah. Let's
Speaker:do it again. We'll do it we'll do it on the road again. I love
Speaker:it. I love it. And, I'll let you know when the episode's
Speaker:gonna drop so you can have a listen and, you know, but
Speaker:it's it's such an honor having you here, man. Thanks for classing up the joint.
Speaker:Keep doing what you're doing. If I ever get a chance to, be
Speaker:in, in the studio again at SNL, I will, I
Speaker:will heckle you from the, bleach receipt. NOT. Let me know. Did you did you
Speaker:get to go to the cash party when you came to the 1st party? I
Speaker:did. Yeah. It was it was, it was pretty cool. It was funny because we
Speaker:were, we were there, and, and,
Speaker:if, you know, I I saw I was like I was like, why ART why
Speaker:is like, there's a couple, like, kind of, like, really serious
Speaker:dudes, like, in suits, like, standing around. And then
Speaker:I realized, oh,
Speaker:of, oh, the Obama daughter was there that night. Oh, right.
Speaker:Right. Yeah. What's her name? Not Malia. Was it Malia? It was
Speaker:Malia Obama. It was the older one, I think. Older one. Yeah. And I'm
Speaker:Sasha Whoever the older one is. Whoever the older one is. The
Speaker:youngest one. But yeah. Anyway, I was like Yeah. You don't know.
Speaker:You don't know. I was like, oh. Know who's gonna show up at this party.
Speaker:And and, you know, she was like, of course, she was at Lauren's table. But
Speaker:you know? Of course. So alright. So you you're tied into somebody at
Speaker:the show or NBC. So you're if you went to the show and the party,
Speaker:then you're tied in, Scott. You're My my, to be to be just
Speaker:really specific, my my, wife works with Quintin.
Speaker:And Oh, okay. So when she was, when she was gonna be
Speaker:host of the show, we got invited to to to to come and, you know,
Speaker:jumped at the opportunity. Yeah. She was the best. I loved her so much. And
Speaker:it's usually like, I don't watch Abbott Elementary. I heard it's great. I think I'm
Speaker:gonna start watching it. I REAL it's the host that I don't know a lot
Speaker:about sometimes Yes. That I have the best experiences with because I'm just
Speaker:meeting them fresh. I don't know their I don't know their their track record. And
Speaker:I go in there, and they it's always the ones that I love the most.
Speaker:You know? I don't I'm not expecting anything, and they're always the like, so great.
Speaker:And so La Quinta was just so nice. I love her so much. She's such
Speaker:a sweetheart. Her and her husband, Paul, they're just great REAL people. I have Paul's
Speaker:number. He's we keep in touch. He when he every award she wins, I send
Speaker:him a little text. I'll quit. I say congratulations. Nice. They're great.
Speaker:They're really good. That's great. Well, I'll tell you what, Wally. You're great too, man.
Speaker:And I tell you what, thank you so much for this. You know,
Speaker:we'll we'll be in touch and, thank you for coming through. Thank you for all
Speaker:you do, and just keep keep on trucking, brother. My pleasure. If
Speaker:anybody wants a cue card, cue cards by wally.com. Exactly. So let's
Speaker:let's pause there for a second because I will absolutely promote it
Speaker:even before, but you're a 100% right. Guys,
Speaker:check this out. So so Wally does custom cue cards
Speaker:for for special gifts, occasions, you know, friends, family,
Speaker:whatever it is. I just love it. I actually bought one because
Speaker:I wanted to have him write up the intro to this
Speaker:podcast, an Outworld Power, and how I kind of open every
Speaker:episode with my greetings and salutations, my creative brothers and sisters.
Speaker:And I jumped at the chance to to get one of these custom cards by
Speaker:Wally, and I love it. He made me a video to go with the card
Speaker:as he's signing it. He's he's he's teasing me. He's talking to me in the
Speaker:video. It's just great. I get this card delivered to me. It was
Speaker:it was completely safe. Not I mean, it it arrived intact. I
Speaker:couldn't believe it. And Me too. And, in the
Speaker:Studio, and it's just such a fantastic gift for for for
Speaker:anyone special in your life or special occasion. Wally, the website
Speaker:is cue cards by wally.com. Right? Correct. Correct.
Speaker:Yes. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. And, any
Speaker:anything you wanna add to that? What did I miss? No. That's it. You know,
Speaker:lately, I've been doing a lot of, wedding proposals. People ART like they're having a
Speaker:wedding, but the guy's gonna, you know, write what he's gonna say to his to
Speaker:his to his, you know, to his girlfriend to propose to her. Love that. And
Speaker:then I'm doing I'm doing weddings where they hold the card and pose with all
Speaker:the wedding party. It's fantastic. It's such a cool thing. So
Speaker:any fans of SNL or late night or even, you know, late night tonight show
Speaker:with Jimmy Fallon. You know, anything like that? You wanna, you know, propose to your
Speaker:girlfriend, or you wanna put it in your wedding, or you wanna just give it
Speaker:as a gift. It's great. Oh, man. I'm happy to do it for you. Fun.
Speaker:How fun is that? That's great, man. Really fun.
Speaker:Well, Wally, you're the best, dude. Thanks so much for this.
Speaker:Go, it's Miller time for you or whiskey time for you. I don't even know
Speaker:what you do at 11 o'clock. Go grab a drink. Sleep well, my friend.
Speaker:Appreciate it, Wally. Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to the NOT art podcast. Please make sure to like this
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Speaker:Not REAL Art is produced by Crewest West Studios in Los Angeles. Our
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Speaker:Parlor Social. Not REAL Art is created by We Edit Podcast and
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Speaker:Art. We'll be back soon with another inspiring episode
Speaker:celebrating creative culture and the artists who make it.