Michael Stein talks Long Shot Leaders and more!

Michael Stein – Interview part 1

Casey:  [00:00:00] All right, everybody. Welcome again, to another episode of spoiler country today on the show, we have the host of the long-shot leaders Michael Stein, Michael Stein. How are you doing, man?

Michael Stein: I’m doing really well, man. Thanks for having me on your show. I like your background there. You’ve got the drum set. You got the American flag. You’re looking sharp. It’s out of focus. You’re in focus. You look clean. Yeah, it

Casey: it’s it’s where I can go and hide from the rest of the family.

Michael Stein: Is that

Casey: it is, it is.

It was Kind of a prerequisite for, for us buying the house that we did.

Michael Stein: Where are you

Casey: located? Birmingham, Alabama. Well, about 30 minutes outside of Birmingham. So, yeah, the other guys. So Jeff, the guy that you’ve been corresponding with on On email is out of Rhode Island. And the other two guys are out of Washington state.

And we have a a writer who, who does interviews for us. They Melissa Serratia. And she is out of Northern California.

Michael Stein: Well, you guys like meet up, said you guys all hang out at one time in the same area or what happened with that?

[00:01:00] Casey: No, no, no. So, John and Kenrick the guys that started the podcast, I met them, the Instagram, I run a group called the comic jam and it’s just like a bunch of different people that make comics and.

Once a week, we pair people up to do little one-page comics. I was talking to John over Instagram about some of his art and I liked it and he told me about his podcast. And then eventually I started helping out with just social media stuff and I got them nuts. I can’t think of his name right now.

He’s the, he’s the German director of really, really awful scifi films. And I can’t think of his name right now. But he was really intense dude and got him on the show. And so after that, I’ve just kinda been helping out

Michael Stein: so well, I’m fearful of intense German dudes. Not that I have anything against Germans, but intense German dudes at them, then I get the, you know,

Casey: he’s the guy that he challenged.

The [00:02:00] guy from Austin that yells a lot and he has a red tomato face and he’s he has a radio internet show. I can’t think of his name.

Michael Stein: And he’s from Austin? Yes.

Casey: Big like a conspiracy theory guy. Oh,

Michael Stein: Yeah. Info wars

Casey: guy. No, the, yeah, the info wars guy.

Michael Stein: John Jones, Jim Jones,

Casey: something like that.

Yeah. He tells us, him to a fight not long ago, which I was like, yes, please. Somebody please. That never happened. Yeah,

we can, we can hope we can always hope so. Yeah man, you guys, I’ve been looking at it and I listened to a few of your interviews today. You guys have got some great people on your show. How did this start?

Michael Stein: Well, I always been attracted to underdogs. You know, I’m a long shot, you know, I tell you about my background.

I my grandma escaped a Russian concentration cancer. My dad was in New York street kid and he became a multimillionaire and then he lost all his money and became homeless [00:03:00] again. But will the one thing, you know, he was lived a lavish lifestyle and, and my mom, you know, they got a divorce, but the one thing she held onto was the home in Encino, where I grew up.

So I had to sleep in the same room, my grandmother hearing these stories about how she escaped the Russian concentration camps. And I wasn’t supposed to be alive. I was a premature kid. My mom, you know, my large families is, I was an oops baby. And I was unhealthy and I you know, was a poor student.

I had ADHD. I was diagnosed with that and dyslexia and all the crazy hobbies and, and I was just really struggling. I was putting on special school for special needs kids and. And then like when I was nine or 10 years old, I saw the movie Rocky and it really turned me around, you know, I saw somebody like myself.

I only success I had at this point was making people laugh at me and making people laugh. So I saw the movie Rocky and I was like, it changed everything. I said, this guy is like me, he’s, you know, he’s funny, but he, you know, doesn’t have a lot of friends. So he only got, you know, Polly, you know, and, and he’s not, people don’t think he’s [00:04:00] smart.

So I said, the only difference Rocky and myself is, is that he’s in good shape. So then I started training and working out and making my life about physical fitness ever since I was like 10 years old. And that was the second bit of success I had was, you know, it was first, it was laughter and then it was fitness.

And then I was a fitness, physical fitness trainer when I was 16. And then, you know, getting at basically I had an up and down kind of lifestyle, so I had some successes and then I was going to take on the world and start my own business when I turned 18. And I graduated high school and my tutor said, well, what do you want to do?

And I said, I want to start my own business or be an entrepreneur. And I want to be an actor. And she said should probably think about working with your hands because not everybody’s meant to do what they want to do. So then I started my own business two days later and I failed miserably. And, but then I started studying and I started doing standup and I started studying business.

And then I started, I became a nightclub promoter. I became the number one nightclub promoter in Los Angeles. My age bracket. I was 20 years old. And it was very [00:05:00] successful. So I’ve had a lot of ups and downs from that. So I’ve always been attracted to underdogs. And from there I dropped my, my promotion business and I went on to be a a filmmaker.

My first film was playing dirt as an actor playing dirt Dickler in that particular story, which was the short film version to boogie nights, which I was, I appear in it as well. That got made in 1997. And then I became a filmmaker. I draw and I was. You know, did really well doing that, but I did a short film.

They won a lot of awards, but it didn’t give me a movie deal. That’s what you make a short film for. Yeah. So I got close to getting a movie deal, met with every studio in Hollywood, pretty much, you know, and I won the two biggest short film festivals in the world, but it just interned over to movie deal.

So I said, I’m going to make a movie. That no one, you know, they, they, they were getting close to making a movie about underground gambling casinos in LA, because I was a nightclub promoter. And I that’s what I, I did that, but that didn’t happen. So I’m going to give you that nobody wants to make, and because if [00:06:00] I’m going to spend my own money, I’m going to make this movie.

But the only problem was I was broke and I was penniless and I didn’t have, I wasn’t dead. Actually. I didn’t have any money to make this movie. So I said, I’m going to become an entrepreneur again. And I that’s, when the internet was still young, I started a company. Selling tarps, which has nothing to do with the business.

And that then within six months I made enough money to make this movie. And I made a movie with Faye, Dunaway, Andy, Dick, and Coolio, and a bunch of other actors. You’ve probably seen a lot of other movies and that I got done it once some awards, but once again, it didn’t make money. And I said, you know what?

I just, you know, figured. I I’ve had a lot of the ups and downs in my life. And I’ve, I w I said, if I ever do a podcast, it’s going to be somebody that has ups and downs in their life. And that’s why I started this podcast. And we started in March. And I guess people like the subject matter because people like underdog stories because we’ve been getting a lot of people to be on the show.

Casey: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Man, it, [00:07:00] you’re talking about the ups and downs and ups and downs. You you’re not that old of a guy yet. You you’ve already like, lived a very interesting life so far,

Michael Stein: just a reader’s digest version. You know, speaking of Alabama, I was, I went through Alabama, we, and when I went off to be a filmmaker myself right after when I did the dirt tricolor story, I said, well, I’m going to do it.

My friend Paul had Paul Thomas Anderson. I said, I’m going to. I’m going to make a movie like he did. He did a short film and then made a feature film. And I said, well, I’m going to, I’m not on that club promoting more. Cause I’m going to be a filmmaker. So I’m going to do a documentary there’s one, the rave scene and house music was really I’m going to do a documentary on the rave scene in house music, even though I didn’t care for that music.

And I play, I did a documentary on LA club scene, you know, that was a big event. And I said, I’m going to show that one. And then I’m going to go around the country for four months filming all the big names. And I’m going to show my old documentary. So we did like 12 big events across the country. I filmed everybody making this big [00:08:00] documentary about the history and the house music and how it got started and raves.

And I went through Alabama. We did we did a party in Georgia. We went all through the south and we did a, this is in the early to mid nineties. It was 94. And we I went through the south and a big party town in Birmingham, Alabama that got them. Speaking of music, you got the music instruments right back.

There is a big music town, isn’t it?

Casey: Oh yeah. Yeah. We, we have a pretty interesting scene here and it’s. Suddenly like right now, kind of on the decline with, with COVID and everything. Hopefully it mountains his back, but we’ve got some cool places and hopefully we can keep those places going. Right.

You’re you’re not too far away from some really, really great places in, in Texas

Michael Stein: and Austin live music, capital of the

Casey: world. It’s an amazing town, so, yeah. Yeah. So what. You know, obviously, you know, you’ve, you’ve lived so many different [00:09:00] experiences and, and gone up and down. What made you decide to do a podcast after doing filmmaking and all these other things?

Michael Stein: Well, you know, right after I made that movie love Hollywood style, I mean, I started making that movie in 2003. It was supposed to be just a small. You know, house film, you know, I was going to just do it dirty. Everybody’s like back then, I was like, Robert Rodriguez, man. You know, this is in 2003 after he did Elmyriachi and I was like, I’m going to give blood.

And I’m only going to make a movie for $6,000. It’s gonna be great. That’s going to be the theme. And it’s going to be like done on the cheap and it’s going to get all these big actors. Cause you know, my short film did so well and I can, I can get some names, you know, and then, you know, feature film because it’s a feature film I’m doing now as opposed to a short film.

You got to pay the crew, you know, I, you know, you got to pay them a lot more. Cause you get into date 10, 15, 20, 25. You guys want to get paid. So two actors. So, you know, I was like, okay, you know, I really want this to happen. Now I want this actor or I want that [00:10:00] actor. I want this film set and you start getting, you know, it’s a disease.

The filmmakers have this disease of like, I can’t have this film only do this big. Now it’s gotta be this big. And now we got that. And I was like, I want Faye Dunaway. I want a two time academy award when he has a up now making money. Right. And w when I, when a filmmaker habitual drug, I was never into drugs.

I was, but I was like, it’s like a drug. You’re like, oh, I want the academy award winning actor. How much, how much can you, you know, first of all, they just don’t do anything for money. You got to like court them. I said to send over my short film, I had to like talk to their lawyer and like, what can we do to get her in there?

I’ll only do it for half a day. I’ll set up everything like 10 grand and a paper bag I’m like done. I don’t care. Money’s not an object. Right. And I’m like, if spending all the money to making where this company I did, you know? And I just got, so it took so much out of me. You know that, and I’m just getting to a point about the podcast.

It took so much out of me when the film was done and I, I was still [00:11:00] doing standup comedy, you know, in LA and, but I had two kids and I’ve in this whole time period of, of this life, again, you know, me trying to be an actor and a filmmaker my whole life at that point, I said, you know what? I got two kids. And I said, my business keeps on growing.

And th this business, I was like a happy Gilmore. I wanted like, you know, remembering happy to go more. He wanted me, he wanted the hockey guy on, on the golf, on the golf trophy. Yeah. Yeah. I like my business is doing well, but I’m like, I don’t, that’s cool. I love money, but I want to be a filmmaker, but I was like, you know what?

I got two little girls. I said, I’m leaving LA I still, I’m going to, I’m going to raise them. I’m gonna have to expand my business. And now like, you’re just last year, my daughter is 15. She was 14 years old and she’s like, you know, dad, I’m like, Hey, what are you gonna do now? What are we gonna do this? And he says, I I’m good.

I think I’m gonna go do something with my friends right now, and that starts to happen. And so both of my girls, I got one’s 15 and the other one’s 12. And I’m like, they’re getting [00:12:00] their own life. I said, I think I’m ready to start to get back into not just being a father, just doing my business. I’m going to start to do ventures in the podcast was the first thing I wanted to do, especially when COVID came out.

I was like, am I can’t do stand-up oh yeah. Nobody’s making films right now. So I was like, I’m going to do a podcast, which is something that, you know, less bandwidth compared to everything else I’ve done. So I was like, let’s do that. And then. What else would I do? That’s my theme on, would it be underdog stories?

Because I don’t, I consider myself an underdog still.

Casey: I hear ya. I hear ya. Yeah, it’s so weird. I have a ten-year-old and a a six year old. And when they start to girls also when they start kind of being their own person. Yeah, it’s it’s terrifying. And also it’s kind of like, all right, I can, I can get used to this.

It doesn’t feel comfortable.

Michael Stein: Yeah. You’re at 10 and six. Right? And they still [00:13:00] love you. You’re the hero inevitably. And I, everybody told me this, but no one can tell you what a strawberry tastes like. You have to taste it. And then when you’re 14, 15 years and they still love you. But there’s moments where you’re like, this is really trying my patients because.

You know, they’re, they’re like they’re getting on with their life. They’re trying it out. And you’re like, they don’t need me as much because I need their freedom. Yeah, yeah.

Casey: Yeah. It’s terrifying, man. Welcome to the magic.

Michael Stein: So it’s in the mail, man. It’s going to happen to you too. Two girls. Oh man.

Casey: Yeah, I love it.

But yeah, it’s also, it’s terrifying. So you’ve gotten. How have you been getting all of these people onto your show? Is it just connections you’ve made of the, of the, you know, the years in Hollywood or is it just French you made along the way? Are you, you inviting these people

Michael Stein: and just cold call? You know, I tell you what, you know, it’s funny that the the rolling stones song, all that comes to mind, [00:14:00] you can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need.

I mean, I never really, I didn’t get X, Y, and Z, but. But I there’s a lot of people I met throughout the years of being when you’re a nightclub promoter, and I still keep in touch. A lot of people when you’re not called a promoter, you’re like running for president without an education. You’re just shaking hands and meeting as many people as we can.

So you never believe you’re going to meet a lot of interesting people. So there’s that. And then the film business, you know, and then you just, you know, I just love people also. I think the trifecta of those things I love like today I’m meeting a new friend, Casey Allen. I, I love, I’m interested in finding about, more about you and I just interested about people and psychology and personal development, which I’ve been heavily involved in, you know, since I was like in my early twenties.

So I just, I just don’t get tired. So I, you know, I guess that that part has come fairly easy to me.

Casey: Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. And it seems like you’ve kind [00:15:00] of gone across a wide spectrum. Of different people, different different disciplines for your show, which is is pretty intriguing. I I was just kind of going through all the, you had CEO’s you had actors, you had producers, you had writers.

Is, is there any one particular person that you want to like really kind of dig into.

Michael Stein: Well, there’s several. One is I’d like to get Richard Dreyfus because he is somebody that is you know, he was an actor, he was a great actor. He was also a comedic and a serious sector. And I think that, you know, he he’s from LA and his family’s very similar to mine.

And I just think that would be a good interview in the practicality of, we would. Have a lot to talk about.

Michael Stein Part Skype.output: I

Casey: love it. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Stein: So, but there’s just so many, you know, there’s, [00:16:00] I’m not political at all, but there’s people that, on that in our country, I got, I I’m just such a non political person, but I, I see somebody on both ends.

So there’s some political people that I find fascinating just because they’re really good at not, not. The politics of something they’re just good at like either debating or so I, you know, I was like, looking like Ben Shapiro was like somebody who’s like, I really just debating. He’s just such a fast thinker as somebody that, you know, so that was just like somebody I thought that’d be interesting.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, I mean, that’d be kind of cool to like, you know, you know, talk to a bigger politician, you know, Not that I can, it’s so weird because politics, it’s just politics fascinates me because it’s such a thankless job, you know, it’s like, I would never want that job.

Oh, for sure. For sure. So though, I guess those people, I mean, sports people. Yeah. There’s a lot of people though. I mean, I, I just, I like normal people. Like I would like to find that ultimate long shot [00:17:00] that not as necessarily famous either. That would be interesting. I’m looking surfing for somebody that’s the ultimate underdog that has found success.

To me, that’s more interesting to me, really.

Casey: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve actually kind of tossed around the idea of trying to get people to talk about their failures, which. Is a hard thing to invite somebody to do. And one thing that surprised me just on the opening, you were talking about your dad, how he, you know, the ups and downs of both you and, and your father, how you grew up.

A lot of people are not that open and that fascinates me. I grew up dirt poor and Like we don’t have a lot now, but it’s a far cry from how I grew up, where we were kind of worried about, you know, what we were going to eat [00:18:00] at the end of the week. So, when I see people who have kind of had an experience about worrying about that kind of stuff, it intrigues me, especially in, it also makes me happy when I say they’re doing well.

So, like. Good on you, especially because, I mean, you’ve, you’ve lived such an amazing life already.

Michael Stein: Well, thanks. You know, I, I think that it helps, I don’t really have anything to hide anymore as an, as a, as an artist or as wanting to be still, you know, pride myself as like very serious today as a standup comedian.

Right. And to me all, my favorite comedians were totally serious, you know? You gotta be like an open vessel or as an actor, you want to be an open vessel or to me is just as in personal growth, you really want to be brutally honest so you can grow. Right. So I figured if I was going to do a podcast and I’ve definitely going to do one on underground underdog stories, I was going to like, Dude, you gotta, you gotta bring it.

You gotta like [00:19:00] brutally and I didn’t bring everything, you know? Cause there are some private things, but I brought most of everything that I am totally insecure about all my shortcomings. You know, it’s funny if you got a real quick story, my dad speaker my dad. So I’ve been around so many different kinds of people in my life.

My dad. He was like I said, a New York street kid, homeless street kid. And his story was an up and down story. You ever hear of the company called Harbor freight?

Casey: Oh, yes. I know exactly who that is.

Michael Stein: Okay. Okay. So my dad’s business partner with this guy named Alan Smith in the late sixties and they weren’t making any money.

There was in the tool business, and then he left the tool business. To go to selling calculators. And that’s how my dad made a lot of money. So in 1973, these calculators were like, they became smaller. They used to be huge. They used to be massive. Right? And then in the Senate, he was known as the calculator kid, he came up with a mail order campaign.

It was huge. And he made like a couple million dollars in 14 months, [00:20:00] 1973 has a huge amount of money. The guy that he left, this guy, Alan Smith, he started a company about a year after my dad made all that money. Called Harbor freight. His name was Smitty. That’s what he recalled this many. Alan Smith started Harbor freight and my dad old business partner.

And then my dad had this crazy lifestyle. I mean, we’re talking Casey sheer. Carnality like, you wouldn’t believe like, just crazy. I mean, my friend, Paul Thomas Anderson, the Jack Horner character believes in the United States kind of loosely based on my dad’s character teachers and the parties they used to ask.

Yeah. I mean, craziness. So when I was a kid, And my mom and dad got divorced. You know, first of all, I, I was a poor kid in a rich neighborhood. We were like, the Encino Jubilees were like the, instead of the Beverly Hills hillbillies, we were like poor, but I was around rich people. And then my dad, he would take, he would pick me up.

And I’d be around. He brought a prostitute to my bar mitzvah. I mean, he brought, you know, [00:21:00] yeah. I mean, he would, I would, he would pick me up, I’d go to his house. And, you know, there was this house called the greenhouse green Cadillac, greenhouse green carpet and green artwork on the walls, you know? And so that was everything green he’s like, cause it’s the color of money and the color love and all these strange people would kind of be like aftermath or I had always had, you know, so I was around strange people my whole life, you know, and I think that.

And he, there was no continuity and I don’t think there’s any continuity on my show. As far as people are concerned. The only continuity I think is, is that we tell underdog stories and I don’t care if it’s somebody, I just had somebody from Africa. I don’t care who it is as long as they fit that criteria of, you know, struggle and finding success from struggle.

And that’s it.

Casey: Yeah. And you were talking about, there’s no continuity on your show. Like. I’m the real light here from Larry Hankin, the character actor to I’m a jewelry designer. So Erica [00:22:00] Annenberg yeah, just, just such a wide swath of people. And that is that’s fascinating to me. As an interviewer, has your experiences and, and your kind of background in comedy kind of helped you to.

I guess bridge the gap when it comes to people that are a little less likely to open up.

Michael Stein: Yeah. You know what I think I’m, I’m no different than everybody else I’m interviewing on my show, because everybody I talk to, they’ve had all these failures and failures and failures and failures, and then they find a bit of success and they multiply that success and then they move on and then, but they look back and all those failures that they had, that’s how they were able to achieve that.

So my Mo the reason why I think I’m. Oh, pretty good at podcasting. And in the interview process is because I, you know, I was terrible as a kid, all I wanted to do was have friends and be able to communicate. I had a stutter, my mom looked like Marilyn Monroe, and she would had a quicker response time than Don Rickles.

[00:23:00] And I wanted to be like her. She was my first comedian that I wanted to be like, you know, and I couldn’t trip over my words. It couldn’t hold up to her. So eventually I was able to. You know, hold up to the family, you know, like, cause we were fast talkers and it was, you gotta, you gotta fight for what you can kind of grab onto that.

You know, everybody’s like, you know, it was cutthroat, so, in a good way, but and then, you know, I, you know, wanted to be an actress, you steady acting, right? And then I wanted to be a standup comedian. So then you’re just doing standup comedy and that helps. And then I wanted to be a filmmaker. And the first thing I do is doing a documentary where I’m interviewing tons of people.

You know, like that documentary tour I, I went on for four months. All I did was interview people for four months. And then when you’re an actor also, you’re, you’re studying human nature. You’re opening yourself up and then also personal growth. So you’re dealing with honest, you know, personal growth is all about positivity.

It’s about looking all your, all your inadequacies and then trying to improve yourself. So. All those [00:24:00] things and all those failures and all the things, trying to attain those things, even though I didn’t, some of those things is an uncomfortable fruition. I think that they helped me. And then when I found other things, now it helps like business.

All those things that I did now totally helped. Like I’ve written eight screenplays. I’ve made two, but I haven’t been able to get one made for me from Hollywood, but writing those taught me about syntax and grammar and fluctuation and all that stuff, you know? So. It’s it’s helped me with the podcast by, you know, articulating thought, you know, and intros and outros, and then asking the right questions and then personal growth and then acting, you know, is listening to yourself and others.

So. Yeah, although I’m doing a lot of talking today, but you’re interviewing me, but I

Casey: what’s, that it’s hard. It’s hard being the interviewee, so yeah. Yeah, you’re doing great.

Michael Stein: Thank you. You know, so it’s basically just I’m trying to [00:25:00] purge myself. I also try to, you know, just dump total honesty, no censorship, total, you know, purge on what’s, you know, you know, as long as you’re. Decent person, I guess I am decent, you know, you try to purge yourself total honesty.

So I think that’s why it’s, it’s gone. Well. A lot of people told me that, you know, this is, you know, you’re made to do this Mike well, I’m, I’ve made all these moves that are enabled me to do that, you know, but that, you know, as far as that’s concerned,

 

[00:00:00] Casey: W we were talking about the all the different people that you’ve had on your show people that you, you know, obviously thought were, were interesting enough to talk to. And you were talking about how, oh, Your your standup comedy, how that kind of connects with getting people to open up.

One thing that I see a big connection with in like any type of discipline, whether it’s like standup, whether it’s art, any type of art space thing, you’re constantly like bashing your head into a wall until you and saying one day, I’m going to break through this fucking wall. But you’re still like, you’re still giving, giving yourself a ton of damage.

That’s the same thing. You, you started off as a bodybuilder, you started off in weight training every day you go in and you pick up this way and you say, one day, I’m going to be stronger. When now you’re [00:01:00] stronger. One day I’m going to have abs one day, I’m going to, and. It’s the same thing. A lot of people don’t get that it’s believing in the impossible until it becomes reality.

And a lot of it is. Being a stubborn bastard and I’m sure true, but it pay, it pays dividends. So,

Michael Stein: concur, totally. I mean, it’s just time plus effort. Reach you eventual some sort of success. It might not, you know, like, cause I can work out as much as I can, but I’m not going to play in the NBA. I mean really, you know, I mean, you may, there’s just, I mean, I guess Spud Webb and you can say all those things, but at a certain age or certain things, you know, there’s just certain high improbability, but.

When, you know, it comes time to realize that, especially when it comes to physical fitness. And I started off from a point where [00:02:00] I was extremely unfit that when you take that time and you, you could see results like a snowball, anybody lives in a snowy area, you could push a snowball. And then after a, while it accumulates you’re S you know, so it’s the same thing with any kind of business art form.

Standup comedy is interesting because. It’s really hard. I can imagine. Yeah. And it’s really intense, you know, to go up there with nothing but a microphone and you say I’m going to entertain these people and I’m also going to get them to laugh. And what happens is, is that you know, you’re good at let’s say at school or you’re good at a party, you know?

And you’re like, all I need to do is bring that up on the stage. It’s kind of like do like, well, I’ll wait, I’m, you know, I played golf here, you know, you play, you know, and sometimes you might even do stand up really well the first time. Right. And you’re like, that’s it HBO special next month. Right. Right.

So then you’re like, no, no. Then they do your second time. You’re like, what happened now? I suck. [00:03:00] And it’s the Hills and valleys, but then also you start to it’s the, the, the crowd you’re human being. So you need, you don’t know how you don’t know how it, the feeling of rapport. Right. So when you’re, you’re doing something new, you’re nervous.

And when you get up on stage and you’ve been doing it a lot and you get to it, your timing gets a certain way. Everything slows down and it’s like a pit looks like a batter can see the pitch much slower when he’s been, you know, hitting the ball like a thousand times, his whole life. Right. So that’s like with anything, you know, everything slows down and you can see the pitches coming to you at a much slower pace, even though it might be a 98 mile per hour fastball.

Casey: So w when you get into a spot, you’re doing an interview and I don’t know, your phone dies. Everything. Things are just going off the rails.

Michael Stein: Like what you [00:04:00] just did is great. What do you do? You just did what you just did. It was perfect. You did exactly what you’re, what a good podcast you’re supposed to do because when you’re a comedian or an entertainer, the most important thing, we just had Greg Dean, my comedy mentor.

Who’s the premier study of human humor and, and joke writing. And the planet has been doing it since the early eighties. And he studies joke structure. And basically the most important thing when you’re a comedian, when you’re a performer, anybody, and I’ve studied acting for many, many years and all this is an art form is the rapport with the audience.

And if somebody drops a glass at the comedy club and you don’t say anything, that’s embarrassing. You have to say something and if you’re, and if your, if your podcast dies in the middle, do not, not say something, say something and see if they say something funny or cop to it, [00:05:00] analyze it wherever you’re great at whatever you’re good at.

You might not be a comedian, but you, you say something about it, you cop to it, you just don’t ignore it. If it’s something that’s blatant.

Casey: Yeah. Yeah. One thing I’ve noticed about comedians, it seems like. You can’t be a complete jackass and be funny, like there is being able to process the world in a way to see it, observe it, and then make it funny.

What got you into comedy in the first place? What was the spark that made you want to get into

Michael Stein: that? Every comedian, most comedians, most, not all, not every, but most comedians are like myself. They all had painful or some type of painful childhood. They took the pain and they got somebody to laugh once or twice or three times.

And then it became a pattern to where you’re like, I can get people to laugh and that’s the first bit of [00:06:00] success or pleasure I can get from somebody or something. So now you exercise that. And I, that was my first bit of success was getting people to laugh. Cause I, I was very socially awkward. I, you know, you know, I was hyper when I was supposed to be calm.

I was calm when I was supposed to be hyper or have energy, you know, it was, I didn’t talk when I was supposed to talk, you know, this is really strange. Net lot has changed, you know, but at least I try to harness it and. What happens is, is that you learn how to, to deal with that. Most comedians have a humble inner side because they come from a humble beginning, even though Robin Williams grew up in a rich family or a well-to-do family, you know, his dad worked at GM and all that.

But the thing is, is that he was an only child. He was lonely. And he had, he had his own paints and he got involved in those pains. And there’s a humble side to that. So there, that’s why most, most, all comedy set in the negative, every single joke that you’ve ever laughed at, [00:07:00] there’s a S there’s a shattered assumption set in a negative denominator.

So basically, you know, the old Henny Youngman take my wife, please. When he says, take my wife, for example, he’s like, no, take my wife, take her. Cause I hate her so much, you know, a shattered assumption with a negative denominator and most comedians will say, well, there you can’t write jokes. You just gotta be funny.

And that’s bullshit. You know, the, the fact is, is that most comedians have unconscious competence on how they do comedy. So they are, they’re usually. Even, even Seinfeld who came from a well adjusted family, there’s, you know, he he’s, all his comedy is sent in the negative with observations, you know, and, and, and, and most comedians just learn how to, you know, I mean, the Seinfeld Seinfeld thing is these miserable.

Right. Even little things, they don’t bother him. And, and that’s beautiful. That’d be, was he could still be wealthy and still have, you know, pains, you know, it’d be your, your, your brain is constantly, [00:08:00] you know, at, at, not at peace, you can be the most wealthiest person, but you might not be at peace. And that’s, what’s his

Casey: weakness.

Is there anybody now that’s kind of blowing your hair back in terms of comedy.

Michael Stein: Yeah. Well, you know, there’s some Yeah, that’s a tough question. There’s a lot like there’s

Casey: a, the scene has changed so much, even just since like 2000.

Michael Stein: What’s his name? Leo Vaughn, not Leo Vaughn. Cleo Vaughn his last name.

Casey: I know you’re talking about my brain is shot.

Michael Stein: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s tough because there’s so many, like, I mean, you know, it’s a shame that Louis C K you know, kind of boned himself on public spotlight because he’s a comedian’s comedian, you know, he’s just such a great joke writer, you know, he’s just different, but

Casey: it’s so solid.

It’s just like stop being. Creep. He was telling us the whole time he was a fucking CRE.

[00:09:00] Michael Stein: Yeah, that’s the rapport. The audience is the most important thing for a comedian. So, you know, it’s tough because you got to walk that tight rope. To in order to tell the jokes, because jokes are supposed to be a shattered assumption and, and find new content, you have to surprise your audience.

And at the same time, you can’t break rapport with the audience. And then, then you might, your audience is now with the internet, your audience, you’re performing to a hundred people at a club, but then they film something and then it goes out to the world audience. Yeah. So now when you’re performing or on this podcast, you, you, you have to realize that, you know, I’m trying to be as real as I can, but you know, also in the back of our mind as a performer, you’re thinking, wait a second, I need to make sure that I’m cognizant not just of me talking to Casey, not just talking, who’s gonna be on this podcast, but you never know the whole planet.

How would they think of this? Do they think that’s funny and you don’t have to dictate your whole comedy [00:10:00] that way. But if you do say something, say it at your own peril because the world has ramifications.

Casey: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. The there’s been such a huge debate lately about like cancel culture and all that, which I think is just like, don’t, don’t do things that.

Are distasteful or whatever, and kind of keep up with social mores and you’ll be fine. But. Yeah. Yeah. It’s,

Michael Stein: it’s constantly changing, right? It

Casey: is. It is. I wish I showed my daughters in CNO man, which I told them was a documentary. And they were completely and totally on board. And then finally, my wife is like, no, no, it’s not a documentary, but the good guy, the good guy in the movie said the, the gay F-word.

Wow. Which. Completely and totally light. It’s like nails on a [00:11:00] chalkboard. Now, even though we grew up like playing football and going, like, we played a game called smear the queer for God’s sake. And now, like, I wouldn’t dream of calling anybody, something like that. Just because like, no, don’t be a Dick.

Michael Stein: Y you know, most comedians become comedians.

At least the reason why I became comedians for connection. Right. So I wanted to, you know, and I, I pushed the line, you know, I was a comedian and the eighties and the nineties and 2000 and I won and I pushed the line and You know, if, if, but my whole intention is to, to treat people that they, they, the way they want to be treated, but also make people laugh.

So that’s tough. So if you know, but the thing is, I know a lot of these comedians, unless they say something really egregious, you could just say, look, I was thinking about this other day. I was like, if somebody did blackface [00:12:00] in, in the early eighties, you know, what all you really need to do is like, you know, what, if you really care about how people think and feel.

You say, look, you know what, I’m really sorry about that. I, back then, I really had no idea that I would do anything to hurt anybody. My true intention is to have love in my heart and I don’t want to hurt anybody. And I got, I’m so sorry for that. And you know, I thought it was funny at the time, but it was a sign of the times and I wouldn’t not do that now.

And I see how that is bad and, and everybody out there, if I hurt you, I’m

Casey: sorry. Speaking of, we talked to Bruce Vilanch not long ago. And he was the guy that. Told Ted dance and to do the, the black face thing, I think it was Friar’s club or something. And, oh my like

that Ted dance and has been able to bounce back from that is indicative of the character that he has. I’m assuming, because I don’t think anybody can say anything bad about Ted [00:13:00] Danson other than like. Probably shouldn’t have done.

Michael Stein: Right. Right. You know, you know, it depends on how, you know, look I’m like, I like Milky Epson and I’m a Jewish guy, so you know what he, he said he was, you know, and, and somebody is like, do you want to watch bad Santa?

I’m like, yeah, I want to watch bad Santa. Yeah. Cause that was him who, he was like a B movie that he did, like last year, I was like, yeah, I want to see, I don’t like Mel Gibson. He said he was sorry. And like, you know, I, you know, I’m out here in Texas, you know, so funny. Cause my non-Jewish friends were like, you sure you want to see that?

You know, you’re not mad at him. He said he was sorry. He didn’t say it again. You know, he didn’t, he didn’t, he didn’t, he didn’t show up, you know, I’m like, know let’s give a chance. You know what I mean? Like you have anybody, a couple of cocktails. They might say the same shit. You know, I, yeah. I don’t know, I forgive pretty easily.

I don’t forget, you know, you know, but I mean, it depends on the, the, you know what, he, you know, everybody’s different too. [00:14:00] I respect anybody. It might not, you know, forgive them, but that’s just me.

Casey: So you are constantly working. You, you, you do a lot. What do you do? Cause you’re also a dad. How do you separate your, your work life?

From, you know, your, your productive life from your creative life. Is there, is there a way that you, you, you go about it to achieve that balance or is it just like constantly running.

Michael Stein: I laugh because I bet you, my wife, if she was sitting here, she’d be like, ah, now you, you balance, you balance the best you can.

You prioritize case by case, right? So you’re like, like this weekend last week I’ve been going to soccer matches for my 12 year old. She’s got a soccer match. Now I’m doing something. My wife said, you know, if you were going to do, because I prioritize like, on Fridays, Thursday nights, And Fridays, I record inbound outbound podcast.

I’ll do interviews and I’ll, I’ll [00:15:00] do the interviewing and maybe a one slot on a Saturday and Sunday. But the rest of the time is Saturdays and Sundays is domesticated time. You know, I’ll either be with a family or I will work on, I got a 10 acre ranch out here. I like to work on the ranch, work on the property a little bit.

I’ll do mowing, I’ll listen to my other podcasts. Like I’m having John Lee Dumas on my podcast. So he just wrote a new book. So I’ll, I’ll listen to that. I’m like, that’s about a three hour, you know, you know, four hour mow ride. All right. All right. So, you know, I’ll get in there and I’ll listen to his new book and, you know, and then you just try to do I’m big on net time.

You know, like, so if I can do two things at once or three things at once, I was like, oh yeah, I was able to like work out and watch CNN or watch the news or whatever that was cool, you know, or multitask, you know? But yeah, family’s important. Family comes first. That’s why I left to go out here in Texas to [00:16:00] be with my family really.

And I don’t want to, I don’t want to go on the road and be a comedian. I didn’t want to to I mean, I wanted to be a filmmaker, an actor, but not as much as I wanted to be with my family first. So, you know, family comes first, your first, first you take care of your health estimated number one, and you take care of your mind, you know, and then, you know, so you’re good for your family.

And then family, you know, for me, that’s just my priorities. I don’t know. Other people might be different.

Casey: What do you do to mellow out?

Michael Stein: Well, I’m moving, I’m a movie guy, you know, so I watch movies, you know, I I’m constantly moving on the go, right? So I’m like, I got my business, which is you know, constantly growing.

It’s been growing, you know, not go one for, since I started that, I started that business to get into the to make that movie. He love Hollywood style at businesses has gone ever since. And it’s kind of continues to grow. And I’m more than I work out and, you know, try to work out six, seven days a week, you know?

And then I, you know, so what do I do to mellow out by the time I’m done with all that? [00:17:00] I’m still like one of those, like guys that like film nerds that like, like to get together with the guys and like talk about film trivia. So like, I, like you could tell name, like who played for the Dodgers on second base in 1978, you know, I’m that guy, when it comes to film.

So I’ll usually, you know, do that. I’ll just really like to make sure I stay on top of movie watching, you know, and, oh, cooking too. I love to cook. I got, you know, it’s Texas now. So I got really into smoking barbecue. Oh, nice.

Casey: Nice.

Michael Stein: There isn’t a building in the backyard, you know, with a custom smoker and a grill and a whole setup attended area.

It’s going to be awesome.

Casey: This weekend. I’m going to be tearing down our old deck and I’m building a new one. And I have plans for I have plans for a new grill set up and I’m excited. I’m ready for, I love,

Michael Stein: I love my foods, man. So what what do you like to cook? What do you like to do

Casey: lately?

Lately? I’ve just [00:18:00] been doing kebabs and stuff like that. Like, I’m not a great. Like grill master or anything like that. We’ll do fish tacos occasionally and, and do stuff like that. But. Lately it’s, it’s more kebabs. Like my license is not about

Michael Stein: that. And that’s healthy cause he gets some vegetables

Casey: in there.

Oh yeah. Yeah. So we, we made too many, a few months back and we invited my in-laws. They live about a mile away and my mother-in-law I hope. My, my, my father-in-law came in this man can kill a steak with light. He’ll make it into shoe leather immediately. And he was like, I’ll take over from here. I’m like, no, you can talk to me.

You can go to the fucking house. This is my grill. And we get in and, you know, he was kind of butt hurt from that. We get in and my mother-in-law is just. Going over the top, like this is the best steak I’ve ever had. Oh my God. And it [00:19:00] burned it. No, no. The old man stayed away from the grill cause I

Michael Stein: compliment your steak.

Yeah.

Casey: And you could just see his like soul just kind of withering. And every time we we talk about or we go to their house for a grill out my mother-in-law’s like, I wish you were doing it. You did really good. Last time we were over at your house. And my father-in-law just kind of grading in the corner.

Like

Michael Stein: Jake has gotta be, you know, everybody’s funny out and how they like their steak. You know, my, like my wife likes it hers. Well, you know, like she doesn’t like, she likes to cooked all the way through. I like a two and a half inch ribeye bone in. With salt, pepper and garlic. And I like to get buttered up the iron skillet and I want to get that.

I put it on a propane, you know, Turkey, fryer cooker. So it’s, it’s like, it’s like you could drop a water beat on there and it’ll like, just like, Disintegrate and I’ll get that. And I took what is called [00:20:00] Pittsburgh style to where you black in it, on the outside. And that’s still nice and red. Yeah. So thick on inside.

And that brings out the units of flavor and the fat and all that. That’s a good steak right there. Oh yeah.

Casey: Yeah. Like salt, pepper, and garlic. Like if you have to add too much more, like if you have, if I have to put steak sauce on my, on my steak, somebody messed up somewhere. And just yeah.

Michael Stein: All about the fire, you know, it’s all how you, how you work that.

Casey: Yeah. So you’ve, I’m guessing you’ve had a little bit of extra time to, to get into that, especially with this pandemic

Michael Stein: has that I’m out in Texas. I mean, you, you, you got, you got people out here, you know what I do? I, cause we do parties out here in the ranch and you know, this is Texas, so everybody’s like, okay, What are you cooking?

You know, and it’s, it’s, it’s barbecue is a thing out here. It’s just not a fallacy.

Casey: Yeah. And if you invite somebody to a barbecue and. [00:21:00] Have hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill or something. They’re going to look at you. Like you have lodged to them and you’re a terrible person. Yeah. Barbecue is barbecue, man.

How

Michael Stein: COVID effected us? Well, Ty, you know, knock on wood because I own a tarp company and I built my warehouse and my facility out side of the city. We we weren’t affected at all, if anything. We got busier, so we donated a lot of, we have a lot of tarps, you know, there’s a lot more homeless and, you know, in the LA New York Austin loaves and fishes out here, we donate a lot of tarps to the homeless.

So, yeah, I’ve been busier than ever this year. And I I’ve gone. I’ve gone out so much from Nightclubbing, you know, for S I was a nightclub promoter for seven years. So you go out seven nights and seven days a week. So I don’t miss going out if I have to stay at home all the time, you know, and I got to tell you, you know, like talking [00:22:00] to talking one-on-one with somebody like you today, that’s, that’s the most important thing, you know, man, that’d be poetic, but there’s a.

People forget, you know, like, you know, we’re lucky to have this kind of technology, like instead of like, it is crazy in 1819 when there the Spanish flu or whatever. So, you know, people forget like at least most people, the way I look at it is, you know, there’s an old saying with John Ford when he was doing a movie with John Wayne and the DP they’re out in the middle of the desert and salt mines in California and said, Hey, what the heck.

There is nothing to film out here. That’s worthy for the camera. And then John Ford looked at his DP and says, we’re going to film the most worthy thing you could ever put on celluloid. And that’s the human face. Most interesting thing. You don’t want to go to restaurants and all that most interesting thing people really should or people, you know, so, You know, I, I, it’s amazing.

There’s actually been more one-on-one I think with people, you know, FaceTiming, you know, and really [00:23:00] spending more time with each other, like we’re doing right now, rather than just going with your, you know, the people that you always hang out with, going to a restaurant where you never talked to anybody, or, you know, just to me, it’s, it’s a different level of connection.

Oh,

Casey: yeah. Yeah. And you’re, you’re really kind of able to, to get into areas of, of people’s lives that you haven’t really been probed yet. So, that that’s, that’s really cool. How did you, this is kind of an aside, I guess, how did you go from nightclub promoter to tarps? That’s that’s such an interesting, I’m guessing you saw a need and said I can fill that.

Was there anything

Michael Stein: outside of that? So there’s a guy and I always followed this and B I never knew who he was back then. A guy named Mike Rowe. I don’t know if you’re known as desert. Okay. So he has a great saying. It says, look, you could. You know, follow your passion or [00:24:00] follow opportunity. And that’s a big, heavy duty choice.

So when I, my passion was being a comedian and actor filmmaker, and I’ve inherently always thought, well, at the back of your mind, you want to, in order to do that, sometimes you burn the boats and I’ve always burned the boats on something. But, you know, as sometimes, you know, it’s important to like have a little raft.

And I was like, you know, I’m going to. I I have to do something. And I knew that when I started, I want to do something on the internet. And I was like, can I do something on the internet that it was like, maybe, you know, like acting or filmmaking. And most of the people were making money on the internet. In the late nineties, I started in 2000 we’re selling a widget and I said, you know, I want to sell something on the internet.

And I think the most important thing to me was to sell something that was useful. That everybody needed and was simple. And. [00:25:00] I chose that product. My dad wanted me to sell tools like abrasive wheels and drill bits and all that size that that’s just not moving my blood. I, you know, times can be used for so many different applications that you use our outdoors for hunting, for fishing, for survival, and those things

Casey: out here recently.

And there were several houses that I would pass. On my way to work that, you know, had to use an emergency tarp to cover up because the tornado took the damn roof off.

Michael Stein: Right. And that appealed to me because I was like, there was a sense of like, there’s an importance to it. You know, I didn’t feel that like a brace of wheels or drill bits were important.

I mean, not, not like a sense of like, I pictured myself doing what I do today and that is. When I was a nightclub promoter at Thanksgiving time, I used to let people come in half price for the canned food for homeless. And now for Thanksgiving now, I said, I could take tarps and I can give them to the homeless.

You know, during Thanksgiving time, there’s a sense of value for me. There’s a sense of growth that I can maybe [00:26:00] get from that product, you know? And, and, and so now I, I bet I’ve done that almost every year. We didn’t do it last year because of COVID, but we’ve done. We’ve donated tarps whenever there’s a hurricane, we donate tarps.

And I like that sense of you know, of importance that, that product, you know, did, and also it’s useful. So people like, yeah, I could use that, you know, for hunting or fishing or survival, and that’s what appealed to me to that product.

Casey: That’s awesome. As it’s one of those things you don’t think of until you need it.

And then it’s the most important thing you can get that day because, oh my God, the roof’s leaking or, you know, It, it can cover so many bases.

Michael Stein: I used to be like, you know how, in the beginning I was like, I guess it could be this big of a, of a significant thing. But then I realized in 2000, I think it was 2006.

There was a company that they’re really cool company. And they’re like the most rev, there are $2 billion a year company. They’re the coolest thing [00:27:00] that the lifestyle brand that you have, that’s totally awesome. And they said, we’re going to come out with a really just heavy duty cooler and we’re going to call the company, Yeti coolers.

And now that they symbolize something that is like, just so super cool lifestyle. When you think Yeti, you think adventure. So that’s pretty much where we’re going with my company where we’re branding a product. That where, you know, we want to define the industry and, and, and think adventure, you know, so we’re designing something now that’s very elaborate.

And every, every pain point that that everybody’s ever had in that product. So that’s, that’s the goal of that company is to make it like this, you know, Big adventurous kind of, you know, lifestyle branded product

Casey: out of all the different like ebbs and flows. And like you’ve had some people only have like two or three careers of their lifetime.

You’ve gone through so many different [00:28:00] transitions in your, has there, has there ever been anything that you don’t feel you’re done with yet? And you want to try, like, try to get back to.

Michael Stein: Yeah, filmmaking, of course it’s always the addiction in the back of your mind, you know, to, to, to make that. Cause I, I was successful on artistically, I won awards, but I wasn’t so successful financially and financially is where, you know, you know, it’s a validation and that’s also sustainability.

So. That’s where I’m segwaying. Now we’re doing a documentary on that crazy film. I did love Hollywood style. Oh yeah. Doing a documentary about that. It’s called burning the boats and it’s about people that choose their passion over opportunity at all costs. So we have other filmmakers that have done that, that have kind of burned their boats.

Another people, pat, you know, art artists and everything. But that’s something I’d want to get back into it. I’ll probably end up. Being that old standup comedian. Cause right now, like, you know, [00:29:00] I don’t see myself in this, in my business forever, but I might probably be that old guy that like, what’s that old guy doing at the comedy club, you know, like, you know, mark that up to stand up or something.

Casey: Yeah. You don’t youth does not con comedy isn’t isn’t restricted to, to young people.

Michael Stein: But it’s just kind of like being an athlete. I mean, like, unless you, like, it’s like, you know, maybe that I could break that rule. I don’t know. Maybe that can happen, but most of like great comedians are like, were started when they were young.

The exception of like, Yes. A cold like Rodney Dangerfield kinda kinda on the older side, but who knows? I don’t, I don’t, that’s another thing. I don’t have any rules for myself because I used to have tons of rules and they just limit you, you know, you just create your own rules and then you just do what you want and you find the opportunity and hopefully your opportunity collides with passion.

And you’re just go and you just don’t worry about anybody else. Anybody else says, because it’s a fricking waste of time.

Casey: What do you do when the passion is starting to, I’m [00:30:00] starting to dip like. Well, when, when you’re, when you’re having a rough day, but this thing has to be done. Like you, you go in for an interview or something, or you go in to do an edit on your documentary and it’s like pulling teeth.

What do you do to get through it?

Michael Stein: You cop to it, you admit, you admit, it’s like, okay, you know, this is first of all, everything’s for personal growth standpoint, there’s the triad of emotions, right? So you, you realize that you can control everything or majority, you know, by your physiology, your focus and your vocabulary.

That’s a big denominator on how you’re going to act toward something. So if you say, look, this is a recipe for my success too, you know? I’m a different submodality right now. If I was going to get in comedy mode, I would be in, okay. If I was going to do stand up tonight, [00:31:00] I’d be like, well, I’m going to focus on all the great, you know, when I’ve done great.

I’m going to focus on, I’ll be doing great. And all the great times of the past is substantiate that. My vocabulary is going to be totally in my internal dialogues and to be like, totally maxing myself up for, you know, for success, with, you know, saying validating myself constantly, you know, internally, and then my physiology.

I’m not going to have my head down, you know, I’m not going to be like, you know, I’m going to be, you know, in an empowering position. That’s half the battle right there. So whenever you’re having a tough day, you can control it by what’s called in personal development. It’s called the triad of emotions and that’s your physiology, what you focus on and your words that you internally tell yourself.

And they teach us to race car drivers. It’s the meth. The symbolic thing of is that if you’re skidding out into, you know, you’re heading towards a wall, they tell you, you don’t have time to have your arms, or do you have to, your, your eyes have to move faster than anything. Move your eyes in the direction that you want to [00:32:00] go in away from the wall.

Your hands will follow. So your focus is really. So you just need to focus, you know? And that’s what I try to do. I I’m very methodical about

Casey: it. It’s it’s crazy like a three line for for a lot of the stuff you’ve talked about today has just been, you know, a lot of it has been being honest, but not just with other people, but with yourself and

Michael Stein: takes more work, not to be really.

Yeah.

Casey: Yeah, yeah. It’s yeah. Consistently lying to yourself is, is hard. But yet here, here, a lot of people like to stay. Yeah, it fascinates me just how adamant you are at keeping up that honesty and making it work. And utilizing that honesty. I grew

Michael Stein: up with that cause my mom was like, you know, you know, she would always be like, I was the oops baby.

Right. So then she would say, you know, my son, he wasn’t planned, you know? [00:33:00] And he was, you know, I drank, I smoke, I ran up and down the stairs, but he survived, but he’s my dessert. I’m like, mom, can you listen? Can you just, she just wants to know if you want ranch or blue cheese. Can you please tell her the whole story?

Right. Just give her the order please. So you know that I grew up with everybody sharing everything, you know? So I’m used to like speaking, I was at a restaurant before my mom died. You were at a restaurant. I just told her, I said, look, I got an upset stomach, you know? And, but then we go to a restaurant where at Chili’s and I see it, this was before I was married and I was like, I see this attractive waitress and you know, she’s talking to me, what do you want?

I was like, well, you know, we are at Chili’s. I said, maybe I’ll get a bowl of chili. I don’t know how good is the chili Chili’s. And my mom’s like, you can’t have that. You’ve got diarrhea.

I’ll just get, I have a salad. Thank you. That was it. And also like, I’m used to it, like my mom, you know, no sensory and that’s kinda like how I grew up. So that was, you know, and then after a while, you know, you just [00:34:00] exercise it. So I, hopefully I’m being honest with you that I’m constantly trying to fish for honesty.

That’s the most important thing to me, right? When, you know, to be honest with yourself and others, That

Casey: that’s. That’s awesome. Yeah, we we’re, we’re an Irish family. We don’t talk at all. We just drink and drink and people who has time to talk when you could, you could just bury it with alcohol. Man, it’s been such a pleasure talking to you, man.

I thank you for putting up with me one and two. I just want people to know, like, this is, is the, the level of like the game, the guy that you get right now is like, is the guy that you have on the show. However, he’s a lot more competent at this than I am. So, oh, oh, the guy that I’m talking to now that the guy that, who you are talking on the show, if you, if you listen to longshot leaders podcast You’ll get this guy plus another guy.

And they’re [00:35:00] both a lot more confident than I am. Yeah.

Michael Stein: Well, you know what, you know what, because you’re, you’re so honest as well. You know, you, I, I disagree with you. I think that, you know, I think you are very honest, you know, and you’re natural and. Only thing is I would say don’t, don’t apologize that you would own it.

You’re you’re doing great. You know, when you, when you’re, you’re you’re in this interview, we have two interviews that we have two different backgrounds, right? Because we first, first the zoom didn’t work. Then we went back to the, we went to the Skype and then that didn’t work. So I went back to zoom and you know what?

You handle like a champ. You’re so gracious about it. And you were honest about it. You’re doing all right. You’re doing awesome. I appreciate it. Michael,

Casey: Michael Stein Longshot leaders podcast. You guys check out the show and I’m really, so I’ve seen love Hollywood style. I enjoyed it very much. And now you’re talking about this, this documentary and I’m going to have to keep my ear to the ground for that because it looks like, [00:36:00] it sounds like it would be fascinating.

When do you expect to have this thing? Do you have an ETA for it?

Michael Stein: Well, we just started editing it because we just found the footage. Cause the guy there’s a guy that was on the set. My dear friend, David ARRA, he filmed pretty much every single day, except for Faye Dunaway. We ha we couldn’t film her.

Cause she said, I don’t want to be filmed to behind the scenes. We have pictures of her, but everybody else was filmed. Every actor, Stephen Tobolowsky, who you’ve seen in millions of movies and, and, and all the you know, Coolio and, and Andy deck and just tons of hope. And it was, and it was crazy because it was working out of my rented $800 a month shack in Sherman Oaks.

As I was doing my business that was paying for it. And it was just, it was just pandemonium. It was, this is crazy. So we just started finding all this footage that he discovered that he had. And so that’s probably not going to be done until. Cause once again, you know, I’ve got to go to kid’s soccer match, right.

Family family comes first. We’ll probably finish that before you’re done. [00:37:00] It’ll be done before the end of the year. And then we’ll be entering that into documentary film festivals for 2022.

Casey: That’s so awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I I’m excited to hear it. I’m excited to see it. And hopefully I see you guys at like, sidewalker, there’s a really amazing film festival in Birmingham called sidewalk film festival.

And I hope you guys consider that because it sounds like a really fun show. We’ll

Michael Stein: have to do that and we’ll have to like, you know, just do that, you know, enter in that, you know, because of you and then we’ll have to go out there and what’s the good food out there to get in at your, in your town. Oh my

Casey: gosh.

In Birmingham. Good Lord. I’m trying to, I’m trying to think. I haven’t been to a restaurant in over a year and a half, so I don’t even know us open anymore.

Michael Stein: We are what Birmingham known for. What’s like, when you go to Birmingham, you got to try this because it’s really good. I always

Casey: direct people to SaaS barbecue.

It is a, it’s a little juke joint and they have a sweet tea, chicken [00:38:00] sandwich this out of this world, but they’re it’s, it’s like soaked in sweet tea. And then they fry it up, but they also have this thing called pork and greens, which Pulled pork barbecue on a bed of collard greens, which is then on top of a bed of cheese grits.

And it’s, it’s one of those meals that they say, like sticks to your sides. Light it’s so fricking good dude.

Michael Stein: And I pour Tabasco on migraines. That sounds so good with the pulled pork too. The Tabasco on the pulled pork would be great. And

Casey: then you have the cheese grits underneath it’s it’s phenomenal.

Like I I’ve seriously, I’ve dreamed about this food. I’ve had dreams about it. It’s that good? So,

Michael Stein: So that’s where we’re going to go. We’re going to end it. We’re going to, we’re going to finish this documentary. We’re going to come out to Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not, I don’t we’ll shoot you. And then we’re going to go to the SOLs barbecue.

Saul’s yeah.

Casey: Sauce, like, like the, the, [00:39:00] you know, you cut

Michael Stein: and stuff. Saws. Okay. Saws. Barbecue. All right. And that’s in Birmingham?

Casey: Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh, you won’t be disappointed. Pork and greens is life. You will

Michael Stein: like it. Oh, that sounds so good. All right. Done deal. I love it. That’s a promise. That’s a promise right there, dude.

And buddy at that film festival

Casey: I D I do not

Michael Stein: sadly I’m already networking for the film. It’s.

Casey: It’s really started to, to grow in the past few years. And it’s made like a bunch of like lists for like top film festivals in America and stuff like that. And just because it’s one of those weird. Out of the way film festivals you wouldn’t necessarily think of, but every year they have a lot of great success and so much so that they actually open their own theater for independent films in like the heart of downtown Birmingham, just based off of that one time, [00:40:00] a year film festival.

So, it has staying power, which is kind of cool,

Michael Stein: but I want to go to Birmingham. I want to go in that film festival and I want to go to SaaS barbecue. To get collard greens on top of pulled pork and some Tabasco sandwich.

Casey: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. If nothing else. Go go there for the, for the pulled pork barbecue on, on greens.

Cause yeah, it’s good. Michael Stein. Thank you again, man. I I’ve really enjoyed listening to your show. I listened to about four of them. Today, while I was at work. Because that’s I’m in a microscope all day. And so if I’m listening to something that kind of keeps things going, I really enjoyed what you do.

And I hope you guys get a chance to check it out. And also love Hollywood style. You guys track that down is so good. Michael Stein, again,

Michael Stein: it was a pleasure buddy. Thank you so much. Pleasure. Teddy’s brother. You too.