Ethan Phillips & Armin Shimerman

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[00:00:26] next order at fansets.com. Fansets! Our pins have character! Hi, this is Armin Shimerman. I play Quarq on Star Trek Deep Space Nine and you are listening to the biggest little show this side of the Gamma

[00:00:44] Quadrant. It's the Trek Geeks Podcast with Dan Davidson and Bill Smith. You figure out who's who.

[00:01:41] From the Standards and Practices Bureau at Podfleet Command, it's the biggest little show this side of the Alpha Quadrant and the flagship of the

[00:01:47] Trek Geeks Podcast Network. Greetings to you, Trekkies, Trekkers and Trek enthusiasts all over the galaxy. This is the Trek Geeks Podcast. Thank you so much for

[00:01:58] downloading and listening. This is episode number 314 and I am your co-host Bill Smith. Excited to be here. We've eclipsed last year's number of podcasts and left it in the

[00:02:09] dust and we're getting ready to psych ourselves up for Vegas in just over six weeks. Hard to believe. When I say we, I do mean my illustrious co-host and myself. Ten years ago, I asked him a question that would ruin my life. He is the... he's Dan Davidson. I just, I don't even

[00:02:39] have the strength to do it. There you go. Well, Dan, what do you want? I want to continue doing podcasts even though I had no idea what they were when you asked me that question ten years ago. How you doing, buddy? Good, buddy. It's hard to believe that ten years have gone by and that we've been actually putting out shows for almost ten years. It is pretty incredible. When I look back, I'm like, that was a long time ago. And here we are, 314. It's pretty incredible. I'm excited. I'm happy. I'm looking for the next... I'm looking forward to the

[00:03:09] next 314. You will, too. Trust me, you'll get used to me at some point and then we'll just continue on and have a grand old time with the next... so when we... the next time, when we get through another 314, Bill, we'll be at 628. How about that? Wow, I'm amazed that you can do simple arithmetic. That's... you know, when we start...

[00:03:31] You know, when we started this ten years ago, I had no gray in my hair and you actually had more hair. And by that, I mean you had this one really ugly one that stuck out of the middle of your forehead. Those days have gone. They're gone. They passed us by. They're gone. I also had all brown in my goatee and that is pretty much all white now. So, thanks. I used to say, oh, this one was...

[00:04:03] you know, Max and that one's Becca, Becca, Max, Becca, the kids. No, that's all Bill Smith right there. No, that's not remotely true because I... you have kids. Yeah. Now, I don't have kids so I shouldn't have any gray whatsoever. Ah, so here comes the blame. But you see it all here. You see it coming through my head. Yeah. It's... I largely blame you. Dan, the other thing I blame you for... Here we go. Is how great a time we had at Trek Long Island. That's a good... that's a good thing to be blamed for. Yeah.

[00:04:33] I agree. Yeah, that was good. Yeah, we had a fantastic time, didn't we? Yeah, we did. I flew up from North Carolina. Yeah. Met you in Long Island and you drove down from New Hampshire. And at the time, I was not aware that we were hosting a panel with two big name Trek stars. Yes. I must have forgot to send you that memo. But yeah, during the planning stages, they let us know that we were in addition to the two

[00:05:03] panels that we did in one of the smaller rooms, we were actually going to be on the main stage hosting a panel with two unbelievably awesome Star Trek legends, Mr. Armin Shimmerman and Mr. Ethan Phillips. And when I had mentioned that to you, you were like, well, what? What are we doing? And I'm like, oh, yeah, it's right here, dude. We're got it. We got it Sunday afternoon. It's gonna be us. And you're like, okay. So we did the panel and I gotta say we had an absolutely fantastic time. The room was packed.

[00:05:33] It was standing room only, if I remember correctly, in the back. Yeah, it was. And we had a fantastic time with these two gents. And then we were had an even bigger surprise when we got back home is that we actually have the audio of the actual conversation that we had with these two wonderful people. Yes, absolutely. Thanks so much to Trek Long Island and in particular, Matt Kaplowitz from Trek Untold for getting us the audio of the panel. We'll talk a little bit more about that in just a little bit.

[00:06:02] But Dan, first, you and I should probably do a little business with America and the rest of the world because we are listened to all over the world. We're global. And stuff. Galaxy. We're a global empire.

[00:06:19] Dan, as always, we want to take this moment to thank our friends at Fansets for being the presenting sponsor of Trek Geeks.

[00:06:58] And just a heads up that a not so nice version of Moopsie may be on the way at a later date. Just saying. Also, the latest in the universe of Trek pins is now available all the way from the Delta Quadrant. It's Lieutenant Tom Paris, complete with his Delta Flyer.

[00:07:26] And if you weren't able to attend Trek Long Island, you can still get your hands on the convention exclusive Discovery pin, which features the lovely and talented Captain Michael Burnham. Lots of new releases this week, Dan. So everyone get on over to fansets.com, grab all those great new pins and then a checkout. Be sure to enter the special discount code Trek Geeks for 10% off your entire order. That's Trek Geeks in all capital letters with no spaces.

[00:07:52] And of course, don't forget when you spend more than $30, you automatically get free shipping in the United States. Fansets, our pins have character and we thank our friends at Fansets for being the presenting sponsor of Trek Geeks.

[00:08:06] So, buddy, as mentioned this week, we have the audio of our panel with Ethan Phillips from Star Trek Voyager and Armin Shimmerman from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. And like I said, I found out on the ground that we were doing this panel and it talk about a pleasant surprise.

[00:08:34] For me. Yes.

[00:09:07] We have met Armin at conventions before, but just at his table to sign an autograph, to get an autograph on a photo or something like that. But two wonderful human beings and we've had Armin on the show before to talk about Pan Can and everything. But talking to him in person, just this is a whole nother level, I think.

[00:09:25] No, I agree with you. And especially in front of an audience. Yeah. Because these people want to hear stories. They want to hear recollections. They want to learn more about these actors. And I think it's really great when you compare a couple of different actors from different shows.

[00:09:41] Yeah.

[00:09:43] And you eventually learn that these guys have worked together and all that stuff. So, we want to set the stage for this audio really quickly. So, first, before you and I did the panel, we stopped by the tables for both Ethan and Armin and said, hey, hey, hey, we're Bill and Dan.

[00:10:02] And we get to Ethan's table and we mentioned, we're going to kick it off. We're going to try to ask you something that you probably haven't been asked before. And he's like, yeah, well, why don't you ask me why I hate Dan?

[00:10:16] And I'll be like, all right, I will ask you. First up, Ethan, why do you hate Dan? And I say that because the beginning of the audio from the panel chops off that question. Yes.

[00:10:28] And then Dan asks this, or I ask this of Ethan as we sit down on stage. And he begins with his answer of why he hates Dan. And he just, he leans into it. He really does. He's a pro.

[00:10:44] Absolutely. The other note is that you will hear in the audio some clicking and some mic movement. It sounds like there was a potentially loose cable on one of the cords or the mic was fidgeting a lot. I'm not sure whose it was, but we were having such a good time laughing and talking up there that really could have been any of the four of us.

[00:11:04] Right. You will notice that noise. So we asked you to bear with the audio. Otherwise, it's pretty good and really just a fun, fun conversation.

[00:11:14] Yeah, it really was. And again, a surprise that we were able to have it to bring it to our listeners here on the show. So an added bonus, so to speak. Definitely. And so from Trek Long Island, here is our panel with Ethan Phillips and Armin Shimmerman.

[00:11:32] Most pernicious, odious. Yes, odious. Vermin. I worked with odious. Dan is, I don't even have the words. Vile. Having said that, is he the most vile person in the world? No. No. There are people that are worse than him. Not many. Not many.

[00:11:58] I met one of them in a phone booth recently. Of the two people that are worse than Dan. No, I don't have never met Dan. I think he's a wonderful guy. Is he a wonderful guy? Yeah, he pretty much is. I try to be, but. He's pretty funny.

[00:12:10] He's largely tolerable. He's got very hairy feet. He does. I do. I do. I'm not going to show anybody, but I was a little hurt for a second because I told Ethan out back before we came on that I have the perfect, without a doubt, best Neelix impersonation.

[00:12:28] Of all time. You want me to hold that? Okay, I'm going to give it a little rundown and then I'm going to do it. This is Neelix. When he loses his lungs. Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Davidson.

[00:12:47] He'll be performing nightly on the Lido deck. Yes, try the veal. Nine o'clock show completely different from the three o'clock show. Thank you so much, Dan. That was fantastic. I've worked a long time on that one. Armin, I'd like to ask you a question that no one has...

[00:13:00] I can't do that. Okay, that's cool. I'd like to ask you a question no one has ever asked you before the Star Trek convention. I bet you. Okay. I'm sure you guys get asked a lot of questions that repeat over time and over the years. Two hours.

[00:13:15] Two hours. But Armin, which sock do you put on first? That's a great question. You mean on my feet? Preferably. Preferably. Are you Klingon? Sometimes they Klingon. Yes, sometimes they Klingon. I would say... Yes. He dresses me off. My right foot. I can believe that.

[00:13:42] I've dressed Armin many times in the past. And we're not talking about in theater. No, no, no. This is at home when Kitty's not there. Right, of course. What's wrong with us? I literally have L and R on my socks so that I remember.

[00:13:56] See? I'm not even joking. He does. If anybody listens to Trek Geeks, I'm the stupid one, so I need L and R on my shoe. This guy fell out of the stupid tree. He hit every branch. It's amazing.

[00:14:11] Speaking of which, do you have a joke for us today? Oh my God. No, sit down. This guy goes to a proctologist. And takes his clothing off. And assumes the position. And the doctor says, No, Richard, I want you to try to relax and not get an erection.

[00:14:31] And he says, Doctor, my name is Andrew. He says, I know, I'm Richard. Wow. I'm going to ask a stupid, smart question. How many thousands of jokes do you think you have cataloged in that mind of yours?

[00:14:53] I would say at any given time about four or five hundred. I would say more. Maybe more. It depends. Everything reminds me of a joke. Really? If you ask him about bread, he's got twelve jokes for bread. I have a joke about bread. Let's hear it.

[00:15:09] Again, it's a little blue. This guy says to his friend, he says, man, I'm really having a hard time in bed. I just can't seem to, you know, get it up. And the guy says, have you tried rye bread? He says, rye bread? He says, oh yeah.

[00:15:25] Next day he runs into another friend. He says, man, I'm really having a hard time in bed. I'm not performing really well. And the guy says, have you tried rye bread? He says, no. The guy goes to the baker. Beautiful woman behind the counter.

[00:15:39] He says, give me twelve loaves of rye. She says, twelve loaves? Won't it get hard? He says, everybody knows about rye bread but me. I was wondering how you were going to tie this whole bread thing back. It's terrific.

[00:15:55] Ethan and I went to the gym years ago together. We were separate, but we had our appointments at the same time at the same gym. And I used to watch him come in at twelve o'clock and start working out with the trainer.

[00:16:10] But he'd start by telling a joke. And wouldn't you know, by the time the hour passed, he hadn't lifted no weights. Had done nothing but keep the entire gym in hysterics. A heated exercise. He just, yeah. Why can't I remember your trainer's name? My trainer's name. Brian.

[00:16:32] Brian Shires. Brian Rye Bread. Wonderful man. Brian was wonderful. Right after you. Thank you for coming in. On a more serious note, one of the things that Bill and I are very proud of is that we, along with our dear friend John Billingsley,

[00:16:49] were able to start the idea of the TrekTalks Telethon that we have every year. And the first thing I want to do, thank you, thank you. We've been able to raise about what? Five hundred thousand dollars in three years? Yeah, close to half a million dollars.

[00:17:01] Fantastic for Hollywood Food Coalition. But one of the things I want to do right now is thank both of these fine gentlemen for being part of that, TrekTalks 3, this past January. We had an absolutely fantastic time. Of course Kitty is always such an important part also.

[00:17:14] I just wanted to do that quick thing on TrekTalks 3 because I wanted to kind of segue into something that's very near and dear to your heart, and everybody's hearts, and that's of course PanCan. Wanted to talk a little bit with you about that.

[00:17:26] The, I'm sure you've had several conversations of how it got started, and if you could tell everybody a little bit of that story. Sure, what PanCan, what Dan is talking about is an organization that abbreviated is PanCan, and it's the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

[00:17:42] And what Kitty and I have been, and Jonathan Frakes and John Billingsley, and Juan Carlos Cotto, Manny Cotto's brother, have been heading up for the last couple of years is raising money for pancreatic cancer.

[00:17:57] For those of you who do know, and for those of you who don't know, my wife is a 20 year survivor of pancreatic cancer. And years ago she had a dear friend, oh my god I'm getting old, I'm forgetting names.

[00:18:16] Who was the lady who was the lead in Facts of Life, the older lady? Charlotte Ray. Charlotte Ray had pancreatic cancer. She was recommended to Kitty to talk to Kitty about her experiences, and they became very close, enormously close.

[00:18:32] And PanCan asked Charlotte Ray to be a spokesman, and Kitty would go with Charlotte to events where she would put Charlotte on a soapbox so she could look over the podium. And they would talk.

[00:18:47] And when Charlotte passed away, not from pancreatic cancer, she too was a survivor and was able to be cured of that. But when Charlotte passed away, the organization came to Kitty and said, will you be a spokesperson for pancreatic cancer? And Kitty said yes.

[00:19:03] And so for years we have been collecting money to find a cure, to find markers for pancreatic cancer. What I mean by markers is that one of the problems with pancreatic cancer is that when you have the symptoms it's usually too late.

[00:19:21] And when you start to turn yellow or when your white blood clot, excuse me, white blood count goes up, it's usually too late.

[00:19:32] So we're looking for a marker that a doctor can identify and say, oh, this looks like you might be in the future a victim of pancreatic cancer. So that's what we're doing. When Kitty was diagnosed 20 years ago, the survivability rate was 3%. It has gone up to 13%.

[00:19:50] Still not good, but three times, four times as good. Jonathan Frakes lost his brother Daniel to pancreatic cancer. John Billingsley lost his mom to pancreatic cancer. And Juan Carlos, of course, lost his brother to pancreatic cancer. So thank you for asking me about pancreatic cancer.

[00:20:10] Once a year we have a march. We just had it recently. It's called Purple Stride where in this past year 60 cities had marches around the country to raise money and awareness for pancreatic cancer. We would like to eradicate not only pancreatic cancer but all cancers from humanity.

[00:20:29] We need to find cures for these things and we would love to do it in our lifetime. I don't know if that will happen, but we need to cure this.

[00:20:37] And if anyone, God forbid, if anyone should hear of a relative, a family member, a friend, a co-worker who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, please tell them to look up PanCan because that organization will direct you towards expert doctors,

[00:20:56] give you support not only for the patient but for the family around them. It's a great, great organization. I hope none of you are touched by pancreatic cancer, but should you be, remember in the back of your head PanCan, pancreatic cancer. Thank you. Absolutely.

[00:21:17] Unfortunately it's probably something that many people have been touched by. Someone they know, my father-in-law passed away from pancreatic cancer a little over five years ago. The Purple Stride, there's actually a Star Trek themed group that you have, correct? People can join.

[00:21:36] Frakes and Kitty and I started Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer and we've had that in effect for about seven or eight years. And we have raised, but thanks to the fans of Star Trek and other people, we have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for pancreatic cancer research.

[00:21:57] So, yeah, thank you, thank you. But it's not us, it's you. It's the people who contribute and help because somewhere along the way we want to save lives. We want to save lives. It would be lovely if we had a trans, what do you call those?

[00:22:15] I should know this. Those devices that Bashir has where he just scans you. Trichorder. It would be lovely if we had one of those and you could be cured of any disease. Unfortunately that doesn't exist yet. Hey, it's me. I should probably turn my microphone on.

[00:22:33] Have the two of you ever worked together? Yeah, we have. We did a production of Hamlet together. Really? And it was a very good production. He played Gertrude and I played Ophelia. That's not true. I played Polonius and he played Claudius.

[00:22:50] Yeah, we had a good time doing Hamlet. We also did Boston Legal together. We did three episodes of Boston Legal together. Oh, that's right. I forgot all about that. I remember the last day that we worked together on that. Ethan said to me, I'll never work again.

[00:23:08] And he went on to do tons of work. I'm the one who never worked again. I remember that there's so many memories from Hamlet. And we had a lot of fun and it was a very good production. But I remember as Polonius I would stand behind this curtain

[00:23:24] eavesdropping on Hamlet talking to Gertrude. And I realized, and what Hamlet was saying to Gertrude, Gertrude was sleeping with Claudius, the man who murdered Hamlet's father. And Hamlet was, you can't sleep with him. This is the man who killed my father.

[00:23:43] And she was so in love with him. And he said, you know, it'll be difficult the first night not sleeping with him. And the next night it won't be as difficult. And basically what he was saying, he was doing cognitive behavior therapy in the 1600s.

[00:24:00] And it made me realize Shakespeare knew everything. He just knew everything. Wow. And that's been the greatest pleasure of my life is doing his plays. Me too, me too. It's funny when you... This man is a scholar, teaches it. Yes, yes. He's the best buddy I've ever met.

[00:24:22] He's like a Patsy Roddenberg or something where he has acres of text, he knows it all. And you even know little things like Timon of Athens and stuff, you know? Yeah, I do know Timon of Athens. Yeah, nobody talks about that.

[00:24:35] Were you joking at first that you played Gertrude? Yeah, I played Gertrude. Was that the idea of Prophet and Lace? Is that where that came about? Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. Wow, you brought up Prophet and Lace.

[00:24:49] I really did not like... Not because I got to play a woman, no, no. That was fine, I loved that. Although I was rather large-chested. Everybody on the set just went like that. The hard part was the high heels. On grading, I was on grading.

[00:25:08] But no, the problem with my dislike for that episode is that my character didn't learn anything from being on it. That's what I didn't like. That's what I didn't like. Armin came up to me when I first got Star Trek.

[00:25:21] We had a little gathering at Major Roddenberry's house. And I knew of Armin because of our New York theater days and stuff, but I'd never met him. And a lot of friends said say hi to Armin. And he came over to me, sweet as...

[00:25:35] You know, shook my hand, he said, Hi, I'm Armin. I said, I know who you are. And he was very great, and he said to me, and he just reminded me of this, and I never forgot, he said, just remember now on Voyager, you're not Starfleet.

[00:25:48] Meaning, you're not going to be used as much as the other characters. And don't worry about that, it's because you're not Starfleet. And I remember, and I was very grateful to know that. And I always wanted to thank him for that. And the comic characters are better anyway.

[00:26:01] Yeah. Hear, hear. And interestingly enough, you gave him that advice, Neelix got to wear a comm badge and Qwark didn't. That's very true. Right? Neelix got to wear a comm badge, and Qwark never did. Right. But that's because they were on a ship. That's true.

[00:26:22] We didn't have to communicate that way. You just went to the bar? Everybody came to my bar, I didn't have to reach out to them. That's right. And they never paid. Well, you know, the economics of the future are somewhat different.

[00:26:35] Yeah, I used to struggle with Michael Dorn. I would say, you've got to pay for this drink. I had these pads, you know, and I would say, just push any button. Why? Why do I have to do that? I said, because you have to pay for the drink.

[00:26:46] We don't have money in Star Trek. And I said, Michael, don't you guys play poker? What do you play with when you... Matchsticks? So he would punch the pad and I would be happy. That's pretty good. I wish we had a bar in here.

[00:27:05] Michael Dorn is the best Ed McMahon I've ever heard in my life. Because whenever I see him, I do Johnny Carson, so I fall into doing Johnny Carson, and I go, you know, this is actually kind of fun. I did not know this.

[00:27:16] And as soon as I say that, Michael Dorn goes, aah! It's absolutely brilliant. Absolutely brilliant Ed McMahon. He is a truly funny man, Michael. He is very funny and very thin. Yes, very. Yeah, as he said to me a couple of years ago,

[00:27:33] he said, friends of mine, he said, are saying to him that, I think I can take you now, Michael. Actually, that point about Michael brings up a comment that I think I read recently in an interview that you did,

[00:27:46] that there was discussion that he wanted you to return in Picard season three, not as Quark, but as the Ferengi that gets beheaded in the bar. What a friend! Yeah, I actually told that story here yesterday. On the day of the show,

[00:28:06] I was in the bar with my friends, and I told that story here yesterday. Yeah, he asked me, it wouldn't be great if I killed Quark off. And I went, no, no, no. No, you both have the distinction of both having worked with René Auberginois.

[00:28:25] Yesterday, of course, was René's birthday. Do you... Absolutely. Obviously, you worked with him on very different shows. Obviously, Ethan Yu on Benson, and of course, Armin on DS9. Do you each have a favorite remembrance from your time on that particular series with René?

[00:28:45] Well, you know, I have so many memories of René. But for whatever reason, the one that pops into my head right now is Clayton always wore his glasses on a chain. And he never put them on. But he would wear them. Every episode of Benson,

[00:29:05] you will see Clayton with these glasses hanging off a chain, and you'll never see him. And one night, I remember we were getting ready to tape, and we went out there, and we were halfway through the first take, and he said, my chain!

[00:29:18] And he had to go off, and he'd forgotten his chain. I remember that. We used to sit backstage. We had built a gum tree. There was me and Katie and René. You know, we'd enter from this, and there was a fake wall,

[00:29:34] and then we'd walk out into the kitchen. And I used to chew, I still chew gum constantly. And I used to put my gum up there. So Katie started putting her gum up there, and then René, by the end of the fifth season,

[00:29:44] we had this massive tree of gum. It's a little disgusting. But he was, he was, he was a unique person. Nobody like him. Wonderful, brilliant stage actor. Nobody could do Moliere better than him. He was a genius at it. Genius, genius, genius at Moliere.

[00:30:06] I'm looking down at my shoes, and the only reason I have these shoes is because René introduced me to clogs. Okay! He turned me on to sushi. My first year at Benson, he said, we're going to go get sushi. I said, you're going to get sushi.

[00:30:24] I'm not getting it. He said, trust me, just trust me. I said, okay. So he took me to the place, and René and Judith were incredible, Judith is his wife, were incredible gourmets. And like you, they introduced me to phenomenal foods that I've never had before.

[00:30:42] But I do have one memory, but it's not of the show. René and I and Judith and Kitty used to take vacations together. And we took a vacation to Ireland once where we were hiking lovely hills of Ireland.

[00:30:56] And René, of course, being much taller than any of us, was way ahead of us. And he said, I'm just going to go over this rise and see what's on the other side. And we said, okay, okay, we'll catch up to you. And we're climbing up this hill,

[00:31:11] and then we see him running up the hill that he's just gone down going, go back, go back, go back, go back! And the next thing we saw was this bull running after us. Oh, shit! Oh, my God! Oh, Lord! Huh! Wow! Wow.

[00:31:35] Needless to say, the bull did not catch him or us for that matter. But that's one of my favorite... Like you said, Ethan, I spent a lot of time with René, not only on camera but off camera. Unique, special, talented deer. I love the man. Absolutely.

[00:31:57] So if any of you have questions for these two, these two wonderful members of our Star Trek family, please feel free to come up here to the center mic. And I guess we have a mic handler right here, and you can take a moment to pose your questions.

[00:32:16] Before we take that first question, I do want to say one thing about René, even though we have these two wonderful people on stage. René was my... Odo was my favorite character on Deep Space Nine. Excuse me, today he was my second favorite character on Deep Space Nine.

[00:32:31] You were such a suck up. Yes, and one of the things that I am so thankful to people like Armin and Ethan and all of the people that have been in Star Trek is their willingness to come out and talk to the fans

[00:32:42] and sign autographs and take pictures. One of the things that I will always regret is when René had his table in Vegas, I always wanted to go up to him and thank him for that character and his portrayal,

[00:32:54] but I never did because I didn't want to bother him. I never got to talk to the man who was probably one of my greatest Star Trek heroes in Odo. Don't do what I did. They are here to talk to you and share their stories. Always remember that.

[00:33:11] It's something that I will always forget, and I did the exact same thing with Armin. Yeah, you did. I did. I told this story... Who was at the panel yesterday? Oh good, so I can tell this again because it is another René story.

[00:33:30] His character's name was Clayton in Benson and mine was Pete, and when he was doing Deep Space Nine and I was doing Star Trek Voyager, one day we crossed paths. He was coming out of stage 17 and I was coming out of stage 8. It was a sunny afternoon

[00:33:48] and he was walking towards me and I was walking towards him. Nobody saw this, but as I got closer I said, I'm really, really angry at you. And he went, Peter, Peter, Peter. We passed each other in full Star Trek makeup and did this bit from Benson.

[00:34:03] That's amazing. Alright, first question. Armin, you were in the pilot of a TV show that is probably the most insane fever dream of a show called Cop Rock. Oh, Cop Rock. And you were in a scene where, you were in a courtroom

[00:34:25] where everybody got up in a gospel song. He's guilty, judge, he's guilty. And I was just wondering, were you prepared for what you were walking into? Did you think, oh my god, what is this? It was different. It was a musical. By NYPD Blue Creator, by the way.

[00:34:43] I must say, when the jury popped up in church robes and started singing, he's guilty, judge, he's guilty. That I wasn't expecting and was gobsmacked. What the f is happening? And who was, I'm forgetting another name, I just forgot. The guy, David Wall.

[00:35:11] David Wall and I were playing opposite attorneys and I thought that was hilarious. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum playing opposite attorneys. And while, so the answer to your question is, no, I wasn't expecting it and I thought it was really incredibly innovative. And I think what happened was

[00:35:32] the show finally went off the air because they couldn't keep up the schedule. They couldn't write three songs every week for a new, and have people learn it. But it was great. And it was the first time, oh, another name I forgot. Peter Onorati.

[00:35:48] Peter Onorati, a wonderful actor who was on that pilot episode of Cop Rock. So he was terrific. Thank you. How you doing? Good, good, good, how are you? This is for Ethan. So first I want to thank you because you actually answered a childhood question

[00:36:09] that I had which was, did you and Renee ever run into each other on the set as you were both filming? And you confirmed it. But what I want to ask you is as somebody who grew up watching Benson,

[00:36:21] what was it like to work with those various stage actors such as Inga and Renee and Robert? It was extraordinary. That was all I had ever done was stage. I'd never really done any. I think at that point I had done one film called Ragtime. And Bob, Guillaume,

[00:36:38] if you look on my MDB site it'll say he was my mentor. He took the time with me to explain what sitcom acting was which he explained to me as freeze-dried farce so that you're as big as you are when you're doing a Flea Interior

[00:36:53] but it's contained in this small. And he was very kind and generous with his mentorship. So I credit him in my MDB. Renee of course was also, Inga, all of them incredible theater actors. And it was just an honor.

[00:37:12] I went from being just this little off Broadway guy to all of a sudden on this huge thing. I was making a little money for the first time in my life. And this is how I realized I was making money. I was shopping at Mayfair.

[00:37:27] There was a Mayfair supermarket on Le Brain, Sunset. And I used to love, I still do, creamed herring. But I could never afford creamed herring. And like once a month I might buy a little jar of creamed herring. So I'm walking to Mayfair

[00:37:43] and it's like the second week I'm doing Benson and I'm like, I'll take one fucking minute and I bought two huge jars of creamed herring. I'll never forget that. I was so happy. As a treat? I just eat cream, I eat herring constantly.

[00:38:03] Herring and sardines are like my main food. Oh wow. Hi, my name's Jonathan. Thank you so much for being here. My question is, what is it like to have an action figure of yourself? That's a great question. And good night. You snatched that right out of me.

[00:38:31] Gotta be quick. Gotta be fast. Wow. Two kinds of people on this stage, quick and just left out in the cold. Wow. Okay. Armin? I was at a convention, it's the same answer. I was at a convention and the last question I got was,

[00:38:53] what's it like to be... No, I understand you're an action figure and what's it like to play with yourself? And he was no more than seven when he asked that. Innocence. Innocence. And I of course, I was doubled over in hysterics and I just said,

[00:39:11] no answer, no answer. It's great to have the action figure. It's also great to have Neelix and Quark pins from Faze. Just hanging around. Just hanging around. Hi, I wanted to ask both of you gentlemen, what would you like to see your characters do

[00:39:28] that they haven't done yet? Get paid. Marry Seven of Nine. Aw. Captain Seven of Nine. Yeah, she just got promoted to captain. Oh, spoiler, sorry. It's been out for a year. And you know what? Captain of the Enterprise. Really? Yes. How come I don't know this stuff?

[00:40:04] Because you don't have any lungs. Oh. You've been eating creamed herring. Didn't get the memo. I actually don't have a question. I just want to say, thank you for your craft. Thank you for your work. Thank you for your craft. Thank you for your generosity of spirit

[00:40:24] towards our community. And thank you for your fellowship. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I have two questions, both for Armin. One's silliness, the other's technical questions. So I ask them both and you can answer as you wish. So first it's a Shakespeare question.

[00:40:47] And then of course I have heard or seen that originally the plays were done with all male cast, you know, historic reasons or whatever. But now of course in some productions they'll choose to have a female actor playing a male, a male actor playing a female, whatever.

[00:41:06] So the technical question is why? And then the silly question is do you like root beer? Yes. Do I like root beer? Yes, I like root beer. So that's an easy answer. As far as changing the sexes of characters in Shakespeare or perhaps in any play,

[00:41:27] as long as it works. And I don't care what your sex is as long as you're talented. As long as you can do the role and bring something to the role. I have no problem with Johnny playing Gertrude. If he can bring something to the role

[00:41:45] that I haven't seen before, I have no problem with Katie playing Hannah. I have no problem with Katie playing Hamlet. I got no problem with that. If she can bring something to the role. And you're right, in Shakespeare's time all the parts were played for men.

[00:42:00] So for the predominance of the roles are male roles because he was writing for men, male actors. So a lot of women are left out of Shakespearean productions because there aren't female roles, not enough. Although what he wrote for the women was extraordinary.

[00:42:16] But that aside, I'm sorry I'm a teacher. That aside, I don't care what sex you are, what race you are. If you can bring something to those parts that I have not seen before then I'm in love with that casting. I remember in the, you probably remember this,

[00:42:40] in the 1970s when Diane Venora played Hamlet, she was the first female Hamlet I guess in America and she was extraordinary. She ended up doing a thing I worked with her on and she was just a wonderful woman but very brave to do that

[00:42:58] because she knew she was going to take some flack and she did take flack. And that was here in New York that was at the Public Theater. A question for the both of you. You were both responsible for the creation or the first portrayal of your alien species.

[00:43:15] What was your thought going into that and especially with the rich lore that Star Trek already had, what were you trying to come across with your original performance? You go first because I have a lengthy answer. It just was another something I had to inhabit.

[00:43:34] I didn't know anything. I did try a few things early on where I thought well he's an alien so maybe I would try to do some things that were like, they once handed me some potatoes and I started eating it with my tongue

[00:43:47] and not using my hands in the direction of why are you doing that? This is how the interaction is. He said no they don't, he's just a guy. So I learned early on he was really just a guy with a lot of rubber on his head

[00:44:01] but they wanted the humanity. That's how we're going to relate to him and so I dropped all that crap and I just wanted to make sure that he, it's all we ever want to do. What have we done? We want to look like it's really happening

[00:44:17] and that it's not fake and that we thought acting were screwed. It's like a wonderful line that, why are names so hard? Who is that amazing person? Bill Smith. Me, thank you. No, Michael the director who did what was that play?

[00:44:41] Do you know that joke where the guy Michael. We're old men see and we can barely remember our lines and we can't remember our names. There's a joke where the two old guys are talking and one guy says I went to a restaurant last night

[00:44:57] I never had food that good it was so extraordinary and the guy says what was the name of the restaurant? It was called, it was what's that flower with the thorns and the red rose? He says rose. Rose, what was the name of that place we went at?

[00:45:16] Michael he directed the play by Edward Albee who's ever heard of Virginia Woolf? Oh. Oh fuck me. God. Rose? Anyway, he's a very famous and he said to somebody I love that can we do it again but this time would you do it as you?

[00:45:41] And that's one of the greatest acting things I've ever heard in my life and so the thing is if you're feeling yourself coming through when you're acting a part that's acting and if you don't it's great acting and that's what you're always aiming for

[00:45:57] is this revelation of who you are under these circumstances that are imaginary and you can bullshit and bullshit and bullshit but the camera knows and it's real hard on stage you can get away with it you can practice a believable moment and then repeat it every night

[00:46:15] for nine months and not be in it but in camera you have to be in it and you wrote that all down because that is the key to acting. Mike Nichols! Mike Nichols! Give that to me! Mike Nichols! Mike Nichols, exactly. For me I did the same thing

[00:46:40] I started out well I don't want to talk about that first episode on TNG but as Quark I thought oh he's an alien I have to be an alien and about the sixth episode of Deep Space Nine I was in my trailer the trailers are really small

[00:46:59] and the bathrooms are even smaller and I was standing in front of the toilet peeing and there was a mirror right in front of me and I'm looking at myself in the mirror with all my makeup and the ears and the orange and everything and I went

[00:47:15] you don't have to play alien the makeup says alien just be yourself you don't have to play alien and so that was a great epiphany You learned that lesson I was doing Galileo I was playing the little monk this is back in 1730 and he was a little monk

[00:47:35] and I wanted to make him holy and I was thinking oh I'll make this guy really holy and then a week before the first night I went in the costume had a monk's robe and I went I can do cartwheels and you're going to think he's holy

[00:47:52] now I can tell you about TNG oh I can't wait for this what a piece of shit I did oh yeah wait do you mean as the suitcase? no but not the suitcase I was a suitcase before I was a Ferengi it was a paycheck

[00:48:21] it was a paycheck no I got to be on Star Trek it was really exciting I got beamed in they told me the Ferengi are going to be the new Klingons and I screwed that up really badly I totally doubt that oh I did

[00:48:42] I mean they were supposed to be a menace can you see the Ferengi as a menace? that's because I did it wrong and so Quark as I've said millions of times Quark was my attempt to resurrect the race after I had screwed it up so badly

[00:48:56] and I think it was a resounding success thank you yeah it was a success and the makeup was tougher than yours thank you first of all thank you for your roles on DS9 and Voyager my mom and I watch an episode of DS9 and Voyager almost every night

[00:49:18] it's streamed on a TV station here but I just wanted to ask a question we're both getting residuals I got one the other day for 7 cents it's wonderful yours is newer I got one for 3 cents we're earning as much as some poets which is great go ahead

[00:49:39] your costumes are both fabulous but if you could have any other costume let's say on a holodeck episode what would you prefer if you were allowed to do any holodeck episode and be in any outfit like Bashir was able to be James Bond what would you guys

[00:49:55] like to be in costume but still as aliens I don't know I love my costumes Bob Blackman was very good to both of us because my costume was so warm I probably would have liked to have had something a little bit lighter Quark's costume was always made

[00:50:20] of sofa material so it would have been nice to have maybe one of those things that the dabo girls wore that would have been good Blackman used he used upholstery he used sofa cushions I would have liked to have been a swimwear model for a little while

[00:50:43] thank you though it's not a silly question it's just a very silly answer I apologize hi guys so my question to you is actually to both of you you sort of started a new show and you had the ability to sort of cherry pick people from different shows

[00:51:05] to sort of make the cast is there anybody in particular you would love to sort of bring on and interact with Terry Farrell I would bring in all my friends who are all very talented actors nobody knows this but there was a big

[00:51:27] there was a period of time when Renee and I were trying to pitch a program a new TV show and it was going to be a program about a science fiction program a la Star Trek but all the actors it was really about the backstage life

[00:51:45] of what was happening on this TV show but the people the show itself was going to be a Star Trek rip off and we were going to make fun of all what happens on camera now you have to understand my set was very serious

[00:52:03] yours was not as serious as Noah's so we were going to try to amalgamate the different auras on the various Star Trek shows but certainly I would I would try to bring as many of my good friends who are very talented who I've worked with

[00:52:23] or some of my students that I've taught over the course of the years some of the good actors that I've had the great great great opportunity to work with. Armand I have a quick question for you I want to go back to the wardrobe question

[00:52:44] for just a second before we get to the next question because I know we're wrapping up on time pretty soon in Far Beyond the Stars you got to wear normal clothes you were a human did you find yourself wearing a lot of your element

[00:53:02] was it something you didn't expect? I was comfortable I didn't have to wear make up I was very comfortable and I got to play a different character which they allowed us to do every now and then on Star Trek to play somebody totally different

[00:53:18] but I do remember Pat who was our prop guy he came over to me I was playing a character named Herb and he came up to me with a pen or something for Herb's character and he looked at me and I was not in make up

[00:53:34] and he had seen me thousands of times out of make up but he went it's really difficult for me to work with you this way but I Far Beyond the Stars is absolutely the cast's favorite episode it's the one that we are most proud of

[00:53:54] so it was great no it was just listen it was just it was a lot of fun to work with you at the same time so playing a third or fourth character it was just water off my back so even though it was a profit vision

[00:54:12] you still were only one character on Deep Space Nine and your wife was two I just want to make sure yes, she lured that over me but I did get to play various other versions of things Hi, how are you doing? I would like them to evolve

[00:54:33] in some sort of way for example, you've already Amherst, you've been in Lower Decks and we see how your character evolved and hopefully, Ethan, we see you in Prodigy in some sort of fashion as well later in the future is there anything you would like

[00:54:49] your characters to do evolve or do something different? Live I would like to get a moon finally that'd be great we've got just a few minutes left so we'll go through these last two questions I've already gotten his moon Hi, Orman that's another story yes ma'am

[00:55:24] hello again, Orman and hello, Ethan these are just silly questions I listened to the Delta Flyers podcast and I listened to your interview during the strike it was amazing we have a lot in common especially being long-suffering Mets fans which they are winning right now

[00:55:43] oh my god, why do we bother? oh my god, I don't know what are we doing? I don't know so baseball is in my DNA so the question for you, Orman, now is take me out to the holodeck what recollections do you have of the stupid person

[00:56:01] who decided to shoot it right next to LAX so we were constantly waiting for planes to go over so we had to stop constantly but this is what I remember the most those of us who play ball well I'm one of them but not as well as Max

[00:56:19] if Max had not been an actor he would have been a professional baseball player he had to be to do the dick yeah, he did he did everything that they could play Nanas, Sid, Cullum they didn't know anything about baseball so I remember Max who's a righty

[00:56:39] had to play it as a lefty otherwise his talent would just have showed up so he had to do that so it was always watching trying to get the really horrible people who didn't know how to play ball at all to look good on camera

[00:56:53] and how the rest of us had to look bad on camera playing ball but it was great I remember a few times I got out of the sound stage and got to work outside despite the planes and the fumes always a great day okay brother

[00:57:11] and we've got about two and a half minutes left okay, to finish up mine's kind of a silly question so take it in the spirit of which it's given if there was a crossover do you think Quark would have eaten Neelix's cooking? Wow

[00:57:28] That's a lot of Leola root I was complimented twice in 179 episodes and I know exactly when they were and that's two more times than I was it was an episode I remember this because it was the first time I was maybe the other time the captain said

[00:57:52] it was very good coffee so I said I'll have a cup and he said I'll have a cup of coffee or something like that or Harry Kim wanted a second thing of Leola root and I kind of went wow, that's so great but it was in fair trade

[00:58:12] and I was about to go down and meet another Talaxian who was a drug dealer or something I don't remember exactly what the set up but I was putting myself in a situation of life or death and I had to do the right thing

[00:58:26] and I went to see Robbie but they never included it and I go to see Robbie and I go I know you've been in this situation I have to go down and I have to do this thing and he said just do what your gut tells you

[00:58:40] be honest or whatever he said and as I left he said by the way those are really good Andorian sweet roots this morning and Neal is about to go down and die but he stops and goes whoa I think they might have cut it

[00:58:54] but my original take was wow they like my food and it was an incredible extraordinary thank you and wasn't Armand incredible as cork yes absolutely folks please but the answer to answer for me anyway is why would I eat his cooking when I had replicators good point

[00:59:19] well let's just say that for the sake of argument you're with him there's no replicators would I have to pay him for dinner if you were starving in the middle of a melting water this is getting deep this is real deep wouldn't you eat his indoor

[00:59:38] yes I would that would be a great series the odd couple cork and Neelix we could have opened a restaurant you could have been the chef and I could have been the bartender yeah folks please give it up for Armand and Ethan thank you so much guys

[01:00:02] yes thank you so much Armand Shimmerman and Ethan Phillips folks big round of applause thanks guys and thanks again to Trek Long Island and to Matt Kaplowitz from the Trek Untold podcast for getting us this audio so excited that we could be able to share it with everybody

[01:00:33] that wasn't in the room because it definitely was I can't tell you why it was hilarious it was hilarious and gotta thank everybody who joined us filled that room it was a special hour and of course thanks to Armand and Ethan Ethan just he's quick he has stuff

[01:00:57] he is funny he's like in his Johnny Carson I was gonna say he's like Johnny Carson but of course he also did a Johnny Carson impersonation of Johnny Carson and eventually I think you slipped into Ed McMahon which I wish we could have done

[01:01:15] the whole interview that way that would have been amazing yes now for those of you listening who don't know who Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon are just please don't tell us you youngsters don't tell us because we're gonna feel even older than we are

[01:01:35] and of course I mean we're gonna see them on stage and here's hoping we can do it again sometime okay so for anybody wondering why there was a pause of great length right there well no it'll be cut out oh no we can play it

[01:02:01] you're gonna laugh your ass off it'll be on Patreon okay right before we started recording Sue's downstairs prepping stuff for dinner and she asked me if I would cut the jalapenos so I did and I cut it with my hands and I just rubbed my eyes

[01:02:18] and now I am dying oh my goodness dude yep ouch it'll go away I'm good it'll be fine don't rub your eyes again yeah we're not gonna touch anything yeah anyway huge thanks to everybody involved we're looking forward to seeing you guys on the show

[01:02:46] so mark your calendars marked alright Dan we also have to thank the band Five Year Mission they of course every bit of music you hear on Trek Geeks it's been an honor to be associated with them the last decade and we can only hope

[01:03:08] that it's the kind of thing that we get to be listening to music from them and not just physical media I'm here to tell you and you're just gonna become a huge fan of the band so that's fiveyearmission.net get those albums right now just do it

[01:03:27] you've got to do it get them get them and then next year we go to FARC Long Island it'll be even better oh my gosh wow that was the shortest yeah FARC Long Island well there's many times I've wanted to say FARC Long Island but not that weekend

[01:03:51] let me tell you Dan of course as I randomly clicked because I lost my place don't forget Dan that you and you and you and you can all support Trek Geeks by subscribing to us on Patreon where you can get exclusive perks and our Patreon pin

[01:04:15] for this past year is ready to go I've got it right here in my hot little hand so as soon as we get back from Vegas those are gonna be going out I'm working with our buddies to get the next year's pin and we've got a couple sketches

[01:04:33] and oh my god it's killer it's just gonna be so awesome I can't wait to share it out there once it gets created so I've got Corey Clay, Brad DeMag, William Edward M Jr Andy Fark, Kimberly Francis, Jonathan Hamilton Ryan Jeffs, Sean Lynn, Rick Mason

[01:04:51] Jamie McGregor, Ross McKinney Aaron Mollenkopf, Sarah Ledoux Helen Reed, Sarah Rutlinger see I'm doing this with one eye because of my jalapeno eye so that's okay Tim Robertson, Desi Rogers Greg Rozier, Eric Sakian Adam Sanders, Tim Serdar Heather Sohn, Blake Strike Lisa Tomlinson, Ryan McGregor

[01:05:13] Ron Roble, Kalea Zawacki I got the right pronunciation when we were in Long Island and the gracious and wonderful Connie Hutchins oh my god she's so great you've got to get down here get her a drink, buy her a drink at the bar

[01:05:31] I have a question for you real quickly when you put your hands up to your face were they jalapeno business? just do your section of course we want to thank our producing patrionicals for their support they are Mike Bovia, Steve Bovia Kyle Castillo, Peter Craig

[01:05:49] Andy Davenport, Craig Ewing Jackie and Chris Hackney Brian Hackwith, Kimberly Hartman David Hood, Lionel Marchand Matt McGonigle, Jim McMahon Darren Metcalf, Charlie Mulvey Sean O'Halloran, Casey Pettit Jamie Rogers, Casey Shafsky Terry Shull, Jim Stofel Chris Tribuzio, Christina Werther and the lovely and talented Dan, the senior producer of

[01:06:13] Trek Geeks for now and all time is the non-jalapenoed Jude Tattman oh Jude Tattman he's fantastic he's just great over there in England he's a good man and he's jumping around and dancing with his mother and having a good time hi Jude you too can become a producer

[01:06:33] of Trek Geeks so easy to do head on over to patreon.com slash trekgeeks for all the details Dan that was obviously a great panel oh my god we sure did lots of fun and great stuff we had panels, we had friends we had Arnold

[01:06:49] so next time we sit down we're going to give our full recap of Trek Long Island and it's all right here next time on Trek Geeks the flagship you know, just a flagship thing just a flagship yeah and of course as a flagship

[01:07:07] that means we have other ships so for more great Star Trek discussion shows by just passionate fans who are having great discussions about this franchise we love you can find all our podcasts and get a link to your favorite podcast player by visiting trekgeeks.com slash listen

[01:07:23] Trek Geeks no one talks Trek like we do that's because they can't and of course for all the news on all the Star Trek show please visit our great friends at treknews.net for now this has been episode number oh this is our pie episode I love pie

[01:07:43] go out there and get yourself some pie live long and prosper coconut cream pie good morning Dan wow it is morning isn't it it is morning we don't do this in the morning we don't long time we've done it's cloudy and dreary here in New England today

[01:08:57] do you remember the first time we recorded in the morning no I don't I do I don't I do do you know why I don't know why I'm afraid to know why I'm afraid to know why I'm afraid to know why I don't know why

[01:09:17] I'm afraid to know why well I'll tell you oh god here we go the first time we ever recorded in the morning was when I did the the Trek NPR thing on the the STLV for noobs episode oh that was the first time we did in the morning

[01:09:36] yeah and you did coconut for the very first time wow that's crazy now I understand why that may be of concern to you because that was a long fricking time ago that was a long time ago that was like I don't know what nine years ago

[01:09:51] over about yeah about yesterday you and I observed the anniversary ten years ago at TrekBoss the last creation Star Trek convention in Boston yeah where I asked you a question hey would you ever want to start a podcast and you said no what's podcast

[01:10:13] that is the fateful phrase that launched an empire yep absolutely it is and that's alright I'm good with it I like that ten years ago good lord how about that which means we're coming up on ten years since the first episode of Trek Geeks in January

[01:10:31] that's right because it did take a while to finally get it going yeah yeah yeah because you just because I was like I don't know what you're talking about podcast or something you figure it out I'm just showing up nothing's changed in ten years then pretty much

[01:10:43] I know tell me about it yeah so yeah it's been a it's been a very busy week for me I'm exhausted but one of the reasons I'm exhausted is because I was up extremely late this past Monday night because of course our Boston Celtics won banner 18

[01:11:00] so yes as with every championship I stay up for hours after the game watching all of the interviews and breakdown and celebrations and everything so I was on cloud nine but I'm tired hey do me a favor move your mic away from you a little bit yes

[01:11:15] there you go you don't have to lean into it you're just fine where you are I got a loud voice and I'm proud of it yes you do Dan I'm telling you you've got the loud voice you got to talk about Trek Long Island

[01:11:27] and all the things we did it's gonna be great when we do the recap oh my god it's gonna be fantastic see now you're leaning in when you do Schwartzendecker yeah blowing the levels all over the place that's what I that's what he does

[01:11:39] Dan you've got to get out of there get the hell out of here get away from the mic back away back away I saw a great meme yesterday on Instagram of the Predator sitting alone on a log and the caption was

[01:11:55] nobody asked me if I wanted to get in the chopper that's awesome I like that that's pretty funny yeah that's good get in the chopper you little bitch Dylan favorite part of that movie oh I know always will be and then there's the handshake

[01:12:19] oh yeah I can't believe that they kept my arm in that shot that was amazing it looked great no comment none not at all no comment so many comments that are just gonna make this not fit for for really anybody to listen to let alone families

[01:12:33] yes yes yes of course we've kind of wandered away from the family thing that's true I'm fine with it you know what we still have a dozen or so listeners so that hasn't caused a problem oh that many thank you 12 that many

[01:12:50] could be a Baker's dozen by now 13 why is there a difference between a dozen and a Baker's dozen because the Baker's dozen is 13 why because thanks that's a great answer I appreciate that wow I gave you the answer and you didn't like it because so

[01:13:11] no I gave you 13 and you're like why don't ask why just be thankful okay why is a Baker's dozen 13 okay there's a few theories oh my god you actually figured out how to use Google

[01:13:25] I did the most widely accepted theory is it has to do with avoiding a beating so basically you because you always avoid a beating when I'm with you in medieval England there were laws that related the

[01:13:34] that related the price of bread to the price of the wheat used to make it bakers were found to be cheating their customers by overpricing undersized loaves subject to were subject to strict punishment including fines or flogging

[01:13:48] it's a shame we can't do that now with all the corporate greed based inflation that's going on exactly so there's actually a real reason for that okay see that was your lesson for today here on Trek Eaks in the almost 30 years I've known you

[01:14:02] hmm I think that's the first time you've pulled up Google to look something up before you've asked me about it actually no I have I just haven't looked like I have oh you're this time I was like this like I was like type type type type yeah

[01:14:17] and I'm amazed you were actually able to type it mostly correctly right off the bat it was probably wrong but it knew it was me and just fixed it I get it yeah what is the what is the Borkers dozer or something like that

[01:14:34] was probably what I typed and it figured it out so I'm the key master you're the gatekeeper I want you to know that this week obviously there's there's been this heat dome over the eastern United States yeah northeast yeah you actually had it warmer in New Hampshire

[01:14:52] yes then I had it in North Carolina yep people like oh my god you moved to North Carolina it's so hot I'm like not as hot as it is in New Hampshire I know I was riding the spider on Thursday Wednesday Wednesday

[01:15:04] because I brought it up to the place that I bought it from to have an oil change and and inspected and while I was on the highway going up there the gauge on the bikes at 101 Wow yep and it was humid too which which doesn't help

[01:15:20] if it was just you know 100 and not humid it would be much easier to take it's like Vegas I mean it's always hot in Vegas but it's not like awful

[01:15:28] like you're walking into like melted cheese is what it's like when you walk into the humidity here in New England sometimes walking into melted cheese all I can think of is that meme of Homer Simpson kind of like backing it out of the bush

[01:15:42] and that's just like melted cheese of humidity in New England except he's walking into Velveeta yeah that sounds really cool yummy yeah I mean just the concept of being covered in cheese well we're becoming a completely different podcast I apologize

[01:15:58] yeah on that note maybe we should just stop podcasting? well some people might breathe a sigh of relief if that were the case but that's not happening that's true after 10 years we ain't going anywhere nope not any place at all

[01:16:15] well today is the one year anniversary of my layoff from the world's greatest company a major HR human capital management services provider that may have its logo on an NBA jersey they may of a team that did not win the championship that's correct

[01:16:41] it's funny because this week one of the things that I'm responsible for doing is shutting down access for people when they have left the company at the beginning of the week we had a few and my partner who's always freaking out that something weird is going to happen

[01:16:56] oh did you see all the ones that came in? oh is there going to be another layoff this week? I said what do you care? you have no control over it relax but there wasn't anything this week they had one on June 22nd the year before

[01:17:10] in which my manager was let go and then a year to the day I was let go I was expecting I'm looking for next week sometime so we'll see we shall see I don't care good times I'm just going with the flow going with the flow

[01:17:28] that sounds like a t-shirt if I've ever heard it I like that idea and it could be like a wall of cheese going with the flow see? we need to start a cheese podcast wow okay and we could call it it's pretty gouda no?

[01:17:51] alright we'll go with it alright let's work on this I'm trying to think of something and I can't because I'm slow don't I know it you're oh no no I thought it was going to be terrible I was going to say but you're such a

[01:18:05] that doesn't even work I was going to try to work in fondue okay don't just don't okay I was just about to start I know you are that's funny well then stop dawdling I have to mute my phone I forgot to mute my phone

[01:18:28] you should have done that nine and a half minutes ago I forgot but then something came in and I'm like oops alright here we go Trek Geeks is proud to have FanSets as our presenting sponsor you know FanSets is the place for amazing pin collectibles

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[01:19:10] this was his moment where I was taunting Dan trying to get him to break didn't he didn't and I broke because I'm just I'm not I'm illiquid I'll just say I'm glad we're not video recording yet next time on Trek Geeks okay