In this episode, Chuck Ganchorre returns to the show playing a skeptical Autonomous Driving Vehicle Tester stuck in Ypsilanti, Michigan. This time, thanks to voice memos, we ‘got the band back together’ and some old Frog Island Sketch Comedy friends (and Chuck’s wife) provide the voices of our any pedestrians! Enjoy!

Check out Chuck on TikTok @buttxanax

Check out Frog Island Comedy on YouTube - @frogislandflicks

________________

Website: Aral Gribble

Instagram: Gribbles 'n' Bits

YouTube: Trollin' the Mitten

Crawl out from under your bridges, ‘cause it's time for Trollin’ the Mitten, your favorite local comedy podcast, where we bring you the best and brightest from the Great Lakes State. I'm your host, Aral Gribble, a Michigan Reconnect student here at Lansing Community College in the Digital, Media, Audio and Cinema Program, where, just like in nature, stars are forged through exposure to pressure and a lot of hot air.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the she yo. Welcome back to the show. This is part two of my Gage Vance interview.

For those of you who didn't listen to the first part, go ahead and listen to it if you want. Whatever. It's my buddy Chuck Ganchorre, one of my best friends, actually one of the first guests on the show.

Not from or not living well, not from or living in Michigan. We of course created a lot of theater together and a lot of chaos.

And Chuck is an example of what happens to talented people when they go to Los Angeles. He's one of the funniest people I know.

We moved out to Los Angeles together to be a part of a sketch comedy troupe, Frog Island Comedy, for those of you who know, you know, Frog island, actually named after the park in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Frog Island Park.

Notorious if you know, you know, because a bunch of us from the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Detroit area who were actors primarily, but also improvisers, moved out to LA and created a sketch comedy troupe. And it didn't all happen sort of altogether and it all sort of fell apart as things do.

But you know, I firmly believe it's because the Midwest is a place where things can grow and Los Angeles is a desert. End of story. So Chuck, of course hasn't performed on camera or on stage in a long time for pay that I know of that he's willing to share with me.

For Chuck, though he is incredibly successful. Chuck has always been an actor slash waiter. And he currently works at Funke, or Funke depending on how you want to say no.

It's F u n K e Fuunke, named after famous beard award winning chef Evan Funke. He's been described as Los Angeles best pasta maker.

And for a kid who used to help me bankrupt the Olive Garden's all you can eat pasta bowl celebration. I think it's a perfect place for Chuck to be making more money than any of us currently.

So this episode is my first part two and it actually is a genuine part two. As you might imagine, when you hang out with one of your old best friends, you haven't talked to in a long time.

We wasted so much time in our first recording that we had to have him come back and join us via WebEx in the studio from LA for a part 2 a couple weeks later. Because we can't. We're not good at time management. We never have been, as you can see with my 4 minute long intro.

So Chuck's back on the show playing the same character, Mr. Gage Vance, an autonomous driving vehicle tester who due to an unfortunate accident on the job, has been demoted to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he is testing cars in our market.

And thanks to some cleverly recorded voice memos from some friends of ours from that sketch comedy troupe Frog island back in the day, and his beloved wife and partner, you get to hear some fun voices from Los Angeles as well. Playing those pedestrians in in Ypsilanti.

Normally it would have probably just been Chuck and I screaming off the mic, but this is way more fun, I think for me and for our listeners. That's the only thing that was any kind of pre planning otherwise. No rehearsal, no script, no planning, no problem. Enjoy the show, Everybody.

Welcome back to part two. For those of you who are tuning in today, we are driving around beautiful Ypsilanti. We just made it into downtown Ypsi.

My friend Gage Vance is here from Los Angeles. He is testing out these autonomous vehicles, Hands hovering over the steering wheel like a diviner.

You were just talking about how here in Detroit and in Ypsilanti and in Michigan, we are using, not the Jaguar series, autonomous vehicles were using a Ford model. Is that true?

Yes. Yeah. I mean, we're not in a Ford model. We're currently in a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid.

However, you know, Michigan automotive market, obviously the heritage falls with Ford.

Sure.

And they're testing a Ford Mustang Mach.

E. Oh, the Mustang got that stang on it.

Come on. Have you seen the Mustangs lately? They're like station wagons now. They suck.

Listeners, I almost got dizzy from how much Gage just rolled his eyes. My gosh.

So look at my brain, Errol.

What's wrong with a Ford Mustang?

I mean, there's nothing wrong with a Ford Mustang. It's a very powerful vehicle. But like, obviously an electric drivetrain in a Ford Mustang defeats everything that the Mustang is. Am I right?

The people that love Detroit automotive and reject autonomous and electric vehicles. I mean, that's the whole thing.

So to mix the two, which was kind of weird when, when Ford came out with electric vehicles and then layering on top of that the autonomous aspect to it is Just like completely against everything that automotive industry in Detroit stands for. Am I right?

I mean, yeah, I. First of all, the second we got into town, we started getting some real dirty looks from people.

There's a lot of people out here.

Get out of the road, you climb off. Yeah, people are pretty angry. I think you're right. Yeah. You tapped into something. Welcome to Ypsilanti Unhoused, please.

So, yeah, we love, we love our muscle cars. You know, I feel like there's a.

Maybe it's just a stereotype about Michigan being that way that like people prefer those muscle cars and they don't like the. I mean, we're all, you know, we're green here in Michigan, but.

Sure. But the thing about Detroit, it's not, it's not just the car. It. It's everything.

It's like the machine shops, the parts suppliers, the tool makers, you know what I mean? So like when a car relies on just like over the air updates to work instead of like the, like, that's all it is.

Yeah, I don't know much about EVs because, you know, I'm from Michigan and we like diesel, apparently, and we all drive giant tanks on our tiny dirt roads. It doesn't have the big power that the Mustang has, obviously, because it doesn't have a combustible engine. But like, what, what does the engine do?

Like, how does it work?

The engine relies mostly on torque. So like, the car can still be as fast or.

That's what I've heard, or faster than, you know, regular vehicles, but without a lot of the mechanical engine stuff, the combustion engine. A full room of master mechanics and their lifelong skill sets are just kind of becoming obsolete. So that's a lot of.

That's a lot of pushback we get by my Michiganders.

Oh, sure. Yeah. The automotive industry is completely changing. I mean, so is everything thanks to AI, you know what I'm saying? Sure.

That's the other thing.

It's like, and we kind of touched on this a little bit before, but bullying the robot, that's the like main thing that Michiganers, Detroiters really like to do. When they see a test vehicle driving the exact speed limit, stopping perfectly. Do you know what I mean? Yielding way too early.

That that's when Detroiters will cut the car off or sharply or rev their engines really loud to try to like set off the emergency brakes on even, you know what I mean? So that, that's.

Yeah, that's right. That's what we call an old lady driver. All right, move over, you do that.

To old ladies and robots?

I mean, I would much rather do it to a robot. I hate cutting off an old lady, but I'll tell you what, I've done it once or twice. I was talking about this the other day.

This is something we were mentioning before. Michiganders are aggressive drivers. Yes. People are always complaining.

They're like, we have way, way too many accidents for, like, the amount of people in this state. So can you adjust the settings on, like, an automated car to, like, make it more aggressive? Can you, like, amp up?

No. Absolutely.

Why not?

Because the machines are like, let's talk.

To your boss, make this happen.

My boss does not want to talk to me, all right? After I ran over Mark Hamill's foot, he does not want to see me ever again. Yeah.

So have you got a place here in Michigan? You're.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm in the area. I'm. I'm like, on Wassena, kind of in between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. A small, humble, one bedroom University Apartments. Spee. What's this?

Whoa, whoa. Hey. That dude just cut you off. What was that? Get out of the road, you Quaker guy from before. What the heck? Wow. You know, you're right. You're right.

Maybe this is a chance for both me and all of my listeners to take a chance and look at ourselves. Right. So the Ford model is. You don't have a problem with it. Just doesn't have the same hardcore engine.

Yeah.

It's still pretty.

It's still okay looking all right. I wouldn't say it's pretty.

You suck. Throwing some shade.

Well, the thing is that, like, you look at the Mustang and a Mach E, no less, but you add all the lidar cameras and the, like, sensors and. And the, like, all the, like, little spinny all over it.

Yes. Stuff.

The spinning stuff on top of it. And it just. It takes a car that's so beloved by many and makes it look like a toaster on wheels. Do you know what I mean?

With, like, all sorts of sensors and nobody wants to see that, especially Ford Mustang and Detroiters.

Yeah, you're right. Nobody's riding Woodward Dream Cruise in a trip toaster.

So these people, vehicles are defined by, like, exhaust notes and the rumble of a V8. Not like this.

The silent hum.

Yeah.

Hum of a battery and the. The swears of your pedestrian AC3PO main. Oh, wow.

Jeez.

I mean, 3PO. I got it. Because you look like a robot.

They're leaning into the robot thing.

Yeah, yeah.

But let me ask you this, like, how is the experience? It's been a pretty smooth ride, am I right?

Incredible. I mean, we had the really scary moment where somebody cut us off and, like, I might have whiplash from that.

Otherwise, like, I've completely forgotten that we were driving around.

Yeah.

Like, I just. It's like hanging out with a dude doing weird things with his hands.

Contractually, I have to do that, but. Yeah.

How often do you find that you have to, like, cut in with this.

With this testing phase, we're at, like, autonomous level 3 and 4. I don't have to do much, honestly.

So what's autonomous level one? Two?

Oh, yeah, that's. Those are. Those are the crash test dummies. Those ones. Those ones have the lowest level of intelligence and reaction time. So.

So those are the cars from the up. Just kidding. I love my. You first, kid.

Your audience.

Yeah. This is what we do. Welcome to the. Welcome to the show.

The highest level is level five, and that's what we're ultimately trying to reach. That's like, remember Johnny Cabin, Total Recall?

Yeah.

That's what we're trying to get.

That's level five.

Yeah.

I can't wait. Have a nice day. Yeah, I can't wait for the dystopian Mars future. That's what I'm really looking forward to, just living in a dome.

Everything's gonna become a ghost in the machine, Errol. We just have to kind of. Kind of go with it or fall behind. Am I right?

I guess. I mean, you know, that's what everybody keeps telling me, but.

But I feel like if I did that, then, like, this podcast, like, I'm going to be replaced by an AI host, and, like, they will probably be better than me.

No, that's impossible.

Oh, thanks, guy.

If you can trust AI to make your playlist, you can trust it to drive you home when you're drunk.

I will say automated vehicles in the up would be a really solid idea. Just like, parked outside bar, and a lot of them older boomers, they feel like they don't need to call the cops or, like, you know, get a ride.

They're like, I'm fine, I'm fine, and it's not safe. Yeah, Automated vehicles are the way of the future, baby.

That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm here to do.

So we are a purple state, you know, how would you sell this gorgeous ride to one of our, you know, MAGA greatest?

That's the, like, kind of challenge, right? Is that again, you know, taking the human Equation out of a vehicle they think makes it fundamentally unsafe.

When the statistics show that driving autonomous vehicles prevent, at the minimum, 40,000 deaths a year. Wow. It uses way less resources. I don't know if that's true. That's not true.

Learn how to drive, you robot. Well, I mean, an electric vehicle uses a lot less gas. Are you saying, like it does.

It definitely uses less natural resources. But. But there is obviously an effect on the energy grid.

And sure, with the AI part of it.

We need those lakes. That's why we're trying to use Michigan.

That's right. You're trying to ruin all of our water. Thanks so much. Get out of here.

Not that your water guys don't have any water. Your water is ruined anyway.

What? Who ruined our water? Oh, Flint. The government ruined our water through nuclear neglect. Oh, you know what?

Why don't I take you to one of my favorite spots. This is kind of outside of town.

Okay.

So we've just. We're just driving past the Big Dick, the water tower here in. In Ypsilanti.

I always wondered what that was.

Michigan Universities. Yeah. Not a chode. It's a water tower. Learn how to drive, you robot. Oh, wow. Wow.

That was. That was a college student?

I think so. A young lady was not a fan of the vehicle. Where'd you get your learner's permit? Cyberdyne system.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, this is the kind.

Of stuff that we get. Yeah, I can. I can see that's. This is gonna be a hard sell in Michigan. Oh, there's a myth about that water tower.

Actually, you know, Eastern Michigan University, they say the first virgin to graduate from EMU in that water to tower will crumble. Oh, yeah, it's still standing.

That's why it's still standing.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's a pretty fun town. Check it out. For listeners who know. We're on Huron River Drive going towards Ann Arbor and it sort of opens up.

We're in like four or five lanes right now. Yeah, we're coming up to a stop here that's pretty. Pretty complex. So I'm a little nervous, but.

Yeah, there's not a lot of visibility.

We're going do our best. Let's see. Somebody's cutting us off. Somebody's cutting us off. Oh, watch out. Watch out. Oh.

Ah, there's. Oh.

Oh, my. Oh, hold on.

What?

Oh, there's another guy behind your back. Are you okay? I'm okay. You okay? That was really. You're quick. I'm glad we got you on the wheel, buddy.

Yeah, well, we didn't save the car.

Yeah, we are safe thank goodness. We're in a Ford found on road dead but safe. And so we're okay but we're gonna go check on it. Looks like we're the massive pile up we've created.

This is.

This is going to cost a lot of money.

Hey, you guys okay? Oh, they're not happy. So thanks again for being on the show. Any last words before we get attacked before for our listeners?

Yeah. Do you have insurance?

I will see you next time. Thanks for listening.

That's all for today, Yooper Scoopers. Remember, you can listen to this and every one of our episodes on lccconnect.org, plus all your major streaming platforms. Thank you so much for tuning in. We hope you had as much fun as we did and until next time, if you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.