It is pretty simple...cancel culture is real. We believe the solution is simply offering kindness and grace. Our friend, and loyal listener, Michael Dempsey joins us in studio for this interesting subject.
It is pretty simple...cancel culture is real. We believe the solution is simply offering kindness and grace. Our friend, and loyal listener, Michael Dempsey joins us in studio for this interesting subject.
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota Nice. That it desperately needs. Steve Brown. Yeah. How's it going? I'm alright. You're supposed to be in Las Vegas right now. I was supposed to be gone on a business trip and it got cancelled. And, uh, I'm here. I'm so excited to be here. This is so great. It's a free It's a free night. It's a free night for me. Yeah. Does your wife know that you're not in Vegas? Yeah. Okay. So she's like Not expecting you or something. There's a, you should know this about me. You know my wife now. I do. Her name is Jennifer. Yeah. And she, when I go on business trips, she said, she's like, It's a two night minimum. You gotta stay out for two nights. Absolutely. She's an introvert. She needs her time. Yeah. And uh, And so I'm like, Oh, if it's a one night business trip, she's like, Hmm, can you make it two? That's my wife. That's, you know, um, it's funny you should say that because I have the same policy with my wife. It's like, if you're going to be gone for one, make it three, four, you know, something along those lines. What is it about, you know, I just think that people like to have their time where they can just decompress. And I think too, yeah, I think you get, you're married for this long. It's like, it's kind of nice to have, I used to travel a lot more for my former job and Well, when you're Well, that's okay. That's the other thing. All of our courtship. Was me gone from Thursday to Sunday. So we, we dated and hung out on Monday through. So that was, you know, because she had a different boyfriend on the weekend. No, no, but she, she had her own life and we, it was really great. And all of a sudden we moved in together and we're looking at just like, what do we do now? Yeah. What we were together way too much. So then, you know, you figure it out, but, um, we did, we did. So that's good. 30 years. That's very nice. No. So, so you've been married 30 years. I've been married for. 24 years this fall, but we've been together for 30. Wow. That's very exciting. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. So, um, Should we talk about the fact that you're out a couple hundred bucks for a show at the you're gonna go to the sphere? Probably don't want to talk about well, it wasn't the you to show was the Darren Aronofsky film I just was really excited to see the sphere. Whatever. It wasn't it was a business trip That was like a little extra thing see it on YouTube I don't think it's quite the same probably I'll get out there. I'll get out there. Um, so anyway, yeah, we got a, this is a pretty exciting show. It's a very exciting show. We're a lot of chance has happened to make this happen. Everything. The stars are aligned for the Kindness Chronicles this evening. I, called Steve and I said, I don't know what I'm going to do this week because you're gone. KG's always on the road. And, and he said, guess what? I'm in town, and you know, the, the sky opened up, the sun came out, everything is fantastic, but you also were able to recover one of our earlier guests in the program. I scored a guest today. You scored a big guest in studio. Not only did I score this guest, but I brought him to the studio. Brought him to the studio. He's sitting right here with us. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Michael Dempsey. Oh my goodness. He's got my headphones on. Yeah, he's got fantastic posture. You know, we've got these reclining red chairs and He's sitting up like he's gonna jump on us. Yeah. Listen, you guys, um, I know it's radio. People can't see, but, um, I, uh, I'm height deprived, right. So if I sit back, my feet actually come off right off the ground. Yeah. Because that's not a good one. These chairs are so comfortable. Yeah. That I, I ha guys, I have to sit up and That's a good visual actually. Yeah. And I appreciate you guys not, what do you think of this calling that out? What do you think of the studio? The fireside, let me tell you something. This is, tell those top knot. This is amazing. It's creepy. I don't, I don't wanna, I don't wanna describe it. Uh, but it is, uh, it's opulent in here. There's no doubt about it. Yeah. The mood's just right. The smoking jackets fit good. Does yours fit okay? Yeah, it is. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's a shorty. It's a shorty, though. And I usually don't wear short robes like this. So, I mean I love how your feet are swinging. Yeah, that's good. You know, like a Lily Tomlin style. Yeah, Lily Tomlin style. That's right. That's right. So I'm going to tell you something. So I'm just, I'm elated to be here. And for all those people that, um, are, you know, keeping score with, um, new year's resolutions, uh, the call back to the podcast, he said, what do we want to do this year? At the very end, he said, we want to bring Dempsey back. You said that. Yeah. So you, you're, you're holding true to your new year's resolution. Good job. Cross. So not only, so yes. And the reason Michael sadly is, first of all, I think you're an incredibly entertaining and interesting person full of good, kind hearted, you know, actions, but yeah, energy, but you're the only person I tell John this all the time, you're the only person that I. Talk to um, that actually gives me feedback on the show. I thought I see people go. Hey listen your show But I never hear anything you John you hear a lot more about your show and feedback Well, I must do my job of promoting it and telling people about it You know, I don't know what your problem. Yeah Well, yeah, you know when we first was on the program, you delivered me hundreds Yes, our third episode. Yeah And the downloads were outrageous. Just fell after that, know what happened. Now that they're hearing, oh yeah, more of him. It's like, yeah. I think you need to do more interviews with me. Well, I mean, that's not a bad idea. I mean, you did replay in the best of two or three, you know, Thursdays ago. We played the original. Yeah, you played the original, so I mean, yeah, you did the best of. Yeah, it was the introduction of Steve Brown. Oh, me? Yeah. Oh, I didn't listen to that one. What? I did. I did. This guy did. There we go. Right here. Okay, good. Well, anyway. So what are we calling this segment? Are we going to have a regular segment or something? Well, like I had mentioned when we first talked to Mr. Dempsey on the phone, I said, We, this is, this guy's great. He actually breaks down the show, talks about it, what he thinks. It's called Check it in with Dempsey. So this is our live segment, our, our, our studio version of checking in with Dempsey. So here's the question. Yeah. Um, Dempsey's actually got some, credibility chops in terms of, entertainment. For those that didn't listen to the original, Yeah. Dempsey podcast. Do you want to talk a little bit or Mr. Dempsey, would you like to tell us about your days at Second City, which is like a real thing? Oh my, uh, I mean, you know, you're overplaying it a little bit. I mean, I was Go with it. The twists and turns of your career are interesting. I was, I was on the business side. I, you know, the The abbreviated version is, um, uh, I've always, you know, uh, when people would sort of zig, I would like to zag, right? I would, I would just like to try new things. And, you know, going back to my college days, I, I'd actually never performed. Um, on stage in, in any sort of acting or, uh, production cap, uh, capacity. Sorry. Sorry about that. Sorry. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I mean, I didn't, I'm done. I'm good. Yeah. I mean, did you got that out? Did you, I mean, did you have the flu? I mean, I did. I'm good. Yeah. I mean, goodness sakes, he was cleaning his cal. I'm so sorry. I'm kidding. I'm so sorry. Uh, and so, you know, along those lines. Um, there was some advertising for a main stage production and, you know, we went to school in st cloud and at the time, you know, you're talking about enrollment of about 18, 000. It wasn't a small small school. Yeah. And I didn't know what an open call was. And just as an example, Um, I went to an open call, uh, you know, the whole green room thing, the sort of reading a script, go up on stage, write and, and, and read a few lines. And, um, just for that experience, I just wanted to, what, what, what was this all about? And, and I ended up, uh, getting cast in this, in the show, you know, the small part. And, um. And I thought, well, this is amazing. Right? So the whole thing about, you know, putting out a production, you know, blocking and lighting and timing and running lines and all of that. And I just love those experiences. And so I did that through college. And then 10 years later, uh, Steve and I ran into each other. It had probably been 15 years. And he said, let's, let's do some improv. Let's do some improv. I don't know where I got. Yeah, he said let's do some improv. Let's do that I think you could do you cry? No, I don't know. He was drunk. No, I was at the end of a show No, I always wanted to do it and I was I was in a point in my career in my in my my journey my yeah Oh, yeah your journey. I was like what? What am I doing? What am I supposed to be doing? Should I be, should I be parlaying this into acting or like, I'm a performer, um, and what, where else do I go with that? And, and that, you know, that's, that was that same point in my life. And I know you so well, you're a seeker. You seek interesting, challenging, you have bravery to try something you don't know about. Sort of creative. So that's why I was like, hey. You're the guy that's going to go with me. Let's do it. Yeah. And we did it. We loved it. The improv was great. We, we Oh, you did the improv? Yeah, we did. Yeah. We took classes. At Brave New Workshop. You guys mentioned, um, Sweeney on the last call. You mentioned Sweeney on the last call. On the last podcast, you guys mentioned Sweeney. We did. In his book. He's right upstairs, A Return to Civility. That's the name of it. We gotta get him on. Well, let's see what you can do about that. Right. I know someone that works, I know Margie Simmons that works with him all the time. Oh, you do? Yeah, yeah. Another St. Cloud State person. So there you go. I mean, a call back to another podcast. Sweeney. Uh, along with the journey. So, so we did that. We did some improv and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And I thought that it's hard. Um, it's very hard, but I, but I thought that the method of improvisation, the idea of being sort of open to possibilities ties to kindness really well, right? Just so being completely open, don't come in with a preconceived notion or an agenda because when you do that, you sort of dig your heels in and it. Your tendency is not to be kind. And that's one of the things I loved about improv. And I thought that there was also a sort of a corporate application to it. Like, how can we be more open to ideas? Uh, different frames of thinking. You're missing out on something good. Yeah, right? I mean, not being innovative, right? And so I love the corporate application of improvisation. And ten years later I ran into some people at Second City. I saw some things that Second City was doing and I reached out to them and I developed a relationship with the, uh, with the president of Second City at the time. We got on well and, uh, uh, he asked me, asked me, he asked me to, to, to come on and, and help him. You know, as they were building their business, right? And so that's the second. So that's a long journey to the second city. But I listen, I wasn't a player, but he was, no, my God, I was on the corporate side. I just, I just could appreciate the, uh, the methodology around improvisation and. You know, Second City is about using it to create humor, right? It's, it would create laughs, but the idea And is that all improv at Second City? Yes. Oh, so it's not, none of it's scripted? No, it's long form improv, meaning that it's just not, you know, a two second sketch. It's, we got an idea and we're gonna play it out. You've never seen live improv, John? I don't think I have. Oh, it's amazing. So that's what the that's what, um, I kind of feel like that's what this show is. Yeah, that's what it is right now. Yeah, huh? You do know because because you do this every week. But, um, that's why I love SNL. And a lot of people don't like it because that's not funny. Those are all improv players. Yeah, that that They work together to figure out sketches and then they write them, but, so it's not all, it's not, it's scripted, but it comes out of that play and that experience where they, they figure out those characters and write stuff for it. It's, it's improv created, meaning, so you throw a hundred ideas out on Monday and you workshop them and you like, okay, rusty nail. All of a sudden this sketch comes out of a rusty nail and characters are developed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to do a little improv right now. Let's go. Oh boy. I would like to do improv and I would like to discuss because we don't do any, you know, prep work for this show. What are you talking about? I have become, yeah, there you go, in my The one piece of paper. There's one, there's one piece of paper in the studio, people. I'm just going to tell you, one piece of paper. No, but I, um, have over the last couple of weeks been noticing, and it's been a thing for a couple of years, this whole concept of cancel culture. Yeah. And the story that pushed me over the edge was there was this 90 year old woman who was a volunteer for a long, long time for like the ALS Society or some, some health care initiative and she made a comment about gender pronouns and she didn't understand what was meant by the gender pronouns because apparently she misgendered somebody and she's 90 years old and she was confused and she's a volunteer. And they fired her. What? 90 years old? It is a story that made, that made a lot of different news channels. Of course, you can imagine which ones that it made. But the reality of the matter is, is it's like, you would think that somebody in that organization would 90 year old woman some grace. And instead of firing her, just spent some time and helped her kind of work through what, this whole gender, Frankly insanity, and I don't have any problems with people You know how they identify or any of that stuff, but it's become so Like centerpiece to our culture, and it's such Everyone's waiting to be offended everyone is waiting to be offended. Okay cancel culture I want to talk about. This is your improv? This is my improv. Wow, this is a hot stove topic. I didn't know I was coming through this. Yeah, you, yeah. No, I want to stay, I want to, I want to stay hired, John, just so you know, just so we're clear. I'd like to stay employed. I don't know about you, so let's, let's be careful. Let me. Well, and, and, and, how I'd like to, the twist I'd like to put on this is if we just exercised a little bit of kindness and understanding and grace on both sides of the issue, I think the world would be a much better place. Like the people that are, like you described, kind of desperate to be offended. Yeah, they're ready. If those people would understand that, generally speaking, people don't say things to be mean. Right. And they don't say things to hurt people. Correct. And I just feel like, like people have been cancelled. For reasons that just seem really petty let me can I define it? Yeah You you can define cancel culture cancer culture refers to the widespread practice of withdrawing support for individuals or entities often public figures celebrities companies or institutions After they have said or done something considered offensive controversial or Objectionable. This withdrawal of support can take various forms, including boycotting, public shaming, social media outrage, and demanding accountability or consequences, such as the loss of endorsements, job termination, removal of public platforms, and some examples would be social media backlash against a celebrity. Um, boycotting a company for something that they're selling or whatever. Bud Light. And then calls for resignation or removal of a position for someone of a leadership role or something like that. So those are three big ones. I think that, um, just to tie it back, John, because I, I agree with you and, and actually You know, you, you said, Hey, let's have, you know, let's do some improv here. Um, this is a perfect example of the application of improvisation in the most positive of ways, which is I don't want to come with a preconceived notion that what you said was intended to be offensive, right? I'm going to, I don't want to come into the conversation or a scenario where, uh, there's a, there's a, uh, a preconceived notion. That, um, that you're trying to be offensive or you're trying to, you know, make a certain point and you know, that's what that's what sort of the improv methodology is all about. Like, what are the possibilities? Because, um, just as you were saying, it's not about, you know, one side of the aisle or the other side. It's a recognition that there's 100 sides of the aisle. Yeah. And at least just being open to the possibility that your intent wasn't to offend. Yeah. To that point. If you assume positive intent, right? Your life is going to be a lot less stressful, correct? And I think that we've flipped it and people are assuming negative intent So I like this improv theme we got going because yes, and thank you Yes, and is is the sentence you say when someone says them to do an improv. This is how you get it going You say, my dog fell down. Yes. And you never respond, why? It's always, yes, you're adding to everything someone's saying. So you're open to whatever they're saying. You're not negating them. If you negate them, you lose. Um, or if you're Michael from the office, you Tell someone you have a gun and which is, uh, in improv, you know, Michael Skarn. Yeah, but yeah, you never pull a, you don't pull a gun and shoot in improv because you just, you're killing the scene. You see, it should always be building to something else anyway. So yes. And is, is a positive. It's, it's like taking it saying, okay, right. Yes. I hear what you're saying and you're adding to it. As opposed to going, hold on, but no, but, but to, to, to that point, right? To, to, to that point. So let's play this out just for a second, cause I agree with you with the cancel culture, right? Then you just, there's such fear then of saying anything. There's such fear of engaging, there's such fear. Uh, again, I'm, so this is, uh, you've invited me here as, uh, uh, to, to give as an expert to give you, to give you notes and, uh, on all of the callbacks. So let me call back to, uh, civility school, right? Which was last week. Yeah. Um, yeah, listen, he's been around. So, so when, when, uh, when somebody, uh, opens the door for somebody else, the, the intent there is not. Uh, you can't open the door for yourself for yourself. The intent is I'm trying to do something nice for you, right? So sometimes when you come in with a preconceived notion, everything sort of, you know, crumbles and that's across the board, right? So this 96 year old woman was not digging her heels in saying, I don't know about pronouns. So forget it. I'm not doing it. It just didn't dawn on her. And, um, we as individuals also have to be open to the possibility that You know, to go back to the pronouns thing, just because I'm not used to that and I don't understand it, I can't say that that's garbage, right? I at least have to be open to understanding what it's all about. I have to be open to that. Well, and that, that to me, goes back to improv. Yes. So, as, uh, you almost, we're living in a world where you have to be prepared to improv. Yes. So, if somebody approaches you and there's, we're going to go back to the pronoun example. Yes. If you don't understand it. Yes. Your best bet is to pretend, like improv, the fact that you're a person that understands it. Yeah. And your willingness, and, I mean, to me that's the best way to avoid cancel culture is to improv your, your way out of those awkward situations. Yeah. Best intentions. Uh, open with your best intentions. Um, I have an example that's similar to the, the 90 year old woman. It's that grocery store. Yeah. And I, I was, this happened a bunch of years ago, right? I was by myself. I saw an elderly woman open a beautiful day in the parking lot of the, of, of Cub, right? Yeah. In Cottage Grove. A woman and her daughter were walking behind this woman who was pulling out an older, older lady in a handicapped spot. Right. You know, wheel, like, you know, wheels, car's way too big for her. She just starts backing up going zero miles an hour. And her this woman was walking with her daughter and she grabs her daughter pulls her back and yells at this poor old lady, right? And like scolding her you have to look out where you're going. Okay, right we have to as a culture Understand that that old lady is getting herself around, watch out, back up for her, make space for her. Right, right, right. Don't like, don't, and also don't scold, I don't like people scolding anyone. Oh. On the road. Yeah. Don't try to teach someone anything else. You know, that's, anyway. Hey, which, which, which by the way, on that, do you like horns? I hate horns. Do you like horns? Are you a horn guy, John? No. You know, it's really funny actually, the car that I was driving today, the horn doesn't work. Yeah, because I always, I go to New York a lot and the horn, like. What is the horn saying? The horn saying you should be turning left. I know I should be turning. What's with the horns? I mean, everyone's into the horns. There's no horn, uh, zone. No horns here? Good. Yeah, I'm not a big horn guy. Horns in India are how you get around. Everybody's honking. You ride a horn? What do you mean? Everybody's honking all the time. It's not, it's not offensive. Like here, like what the, who's honking at me? Yeah. Like, yeah. It's not like that. It's just, it's hard a warning. Yeah. It's, it's just, it's how traffic works. Listen, I, it's not offensive. It's, no, it is offensive to my ears, so I'm not, this is, I'm a normal horn guy. I, I'm glad you I to India or you will be canceled. Yeah. I, I'm not, I'm not, no horn. I'll horn. So sometimes all you gonna, are you gonna, are you just a tap a beep, tapper, just a beep, tapper? Or do you hold onto to the thing? No, no, no, no aggression. No aggression. Do you Beep, beep. Are you a beep, beep Or you're a wha I'm a kind hunker. Oh, you know what? Yeah. If you go to India, yeah. You need to improv that you're a horn guy. Okay, good. So, right? Yeah. Yeah. Give those horny people grace. Oh, whoa. This is a G programing. Goodness sakes. Okay, so, so cancel culture. Um, so here's a, a recent example where. I think that somebody realized, so, Saturday Night Live, you guys all know the Shane Gillis story. Yes. Shane Gillis was going to be a regular. Right. Like he was hired to be a regular on Saturday Night Live. Right. And some video surfaced of him, uh, I don't know if he was making like Asian jokes or something like that. Right, right, right. But, of course Because this was at the apex of cancel culture, he, he's a comedian, and nobody wanted to recognize the fact that what he was doing was meant to get laughs, it wasn't meant to offend people. So Shane Gillis gets summarily dismissed from Saturday Night Live, and somebody Really before he even started. Before he started. Correct. Yeah. Somebody had the, uh, the, the forethought. Let's give this guy another chance. So he was the, the guest host last couple of weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, he killed it. He made fun of himself like he, at the very beginning he said, you know, I really shouldn't be here. I made some jokes. Don't look it up. Go ahead. Look it up. It was very, very funny. He made the most of it. Yeah. But again, I think that Lauren Michaels or whoever, Is the decision maker on that program realize that, maybe, well, for starters, Shane Gillis is one of the most popular comedians in the world right now. So it was probably good for business to have him on, of course, it feels like. Even SNL, which has kind of, they did their best to rip on Donald Trump as much as possible. Sure, sure. They're even going after Biden right now. Yeah. They're going everybody, which to me that's the job is a sign, but it's a sign that there is some balance. Yeah. And that there's some perspective that not everybody is offended by a comedian's jokes. Yeah, they're meant to be funny. Jerry Seinfeld, I think is the greatest at this. He was doing a An interview with the New York Times, uh, columnist or something. And he brings up the fact that, you know, you really didn't have many black people on your show. And Jerry's response was perfect. He goes, Oh, so that's where we're gonna go with this., are you trying retro? Yeah. Yeah. Retro. Cancel. Yeah. Yeah. Retro. Cancel. Listen, the cancel culture, I think one of the positive things just to sort of flip it on a dime is at, at least in its best form ignites a conversation. Right? In its best form, you're in a situation where like, you know, 20 years ago, I wouldn't have found that offensive, right? I didn't even think about that. Maybe I should have, right? So at least in its best form, the cancel culture can at least inform you have a different perspective. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll change your behavior, right? But at least it informs like, Oh man, I never even considered that. And so from that perspective, It's not bad. It's the problem is how far out do you go with it? Yeah, did you go to the next step which is so and by the way, you're fired. You're like, whoa, wait a second But in its initial Sort of intent and it's in best scenario the cancel culture goes. Oh, wait a second That's a little bit out of bounds because maybe you don't realize That's super offensive or that's super marginalizing, which you never want to be, so take the opportunity to educate. And now, I think it's really interesting, given our, our age, and we've actually watched it, the circle, the cancel culture, we've watched it group in, because I listen to like, comedians talk about how it's kind of a mess with comedy, because some comedians are having a hard time. But, there's people, obviously, Nate Borgazzi, Jerry Seinfeld, people can figure out how to be, funny is funny, You don't have to make sense. You don't have to make fun of somebody, you know, turn on yourself, maybe whatever, but he makes fun of himself, but good people figure out how to do that. You don't have to, you don't have to punch down. No, no, you can figure out how to make it happen. But what I'm just saying is. It's interesting from all of us, what we used to say as kids or what our friends, and then, you know, now like, oh man, like, never would anyone say anything like that, or, you know, we would, you know, kill our kids for saying that. When I'm at home, I'll tell you, uh, I have a 25 year old daughter at home. And we joke, she's got a stamp like, you know, the stamps that you use that you put on paper that says paid, you know, or canceled, uh, she's got a cancel stamp and she just looks at me and waits. And when I say something, she like reaches for her holster, you know, reaches because she's, she's about to, she's about to, she's about to cancel me. We can say some stuff to make our kids blush a little bit because they're so, they're more hyper aware that I get canceled every other day. It's quite funny. You can kind of go into that. That, uh, Archie Bunker character with your kids a little bit sometimes and make them go, Dad, like, it's not, they know I'm not a racist or anything like that. you play some Archie Bunker segments and see the reaction that she gets from people. Oh my God, yeah, they fall down. Think of the shows that are on TV or the movies, you know, Blazing Saddles. Oh my goodness. There was no ill intent in Blazing Saddles. But they couldn't make it probably now. There's no way you could make it. And the reality is, is Blazing Saddles. Purposely was written the way that it was yeah to like be the opposite to like point out how? Ridiculous correct some of the racism. It's a farce. Yeah, right. It's sort of it made the point by by Demonstrating just how over the top and ridiculous correct some of this behavior was you know key and peel yes Love it. You'll do a fabulous job of taking uncomfortable Racial situations and throwing it out there and making fun of it, which, to me, it's like the antithesis of cancel culture. It makes those uncomfortable things less uncomfortable. It becomes from who's stating the joke. Right. And those guys are improv geniuses, actually. Oh, well, from. Key and Peele. Second City, believe it or not. Second City had a, um, had a theater in Detroit, shortly at one point they had a theater in New York, in Detroit, in Las Vegas, in Chicago, and Key and Peele were, I think, in Detroit. But, um, it's interesting you bring, you know, Key and Peele up, you know, just to kind of bring it full circle back to the improv thing. And that is, uh, Improv Genius. If you ever go to The second city to go see a main stage show. They're tackling all of these sort of hot topics, right? Oh my goodness. Uh, but, uh, the, the humor that they're using through the improv is just, it's, it's more of a. It's more of an aha versus a, Oh, I'm offended. It's more of a, Oh my goodness, that's funny. Should it be funny boy? I'm really thinking now, you know, it's the best comedy. Yes, yes. It's provocative, it's not mean. Yeah, no, I agree. So what do you think, John? So you brought up. cancel culture, you know, I'm, I just mentioned my daughter, right? So I'm always reminded like, Oh dad, that's out of bounds. And then I go six paces past it, you know, because that's what you do. What, what do you, what do you think? We do and, and, you know, in our daily lives to not get jaded and go, no, forget you, you're not gonna, you know, you're not going to cancel me, I mean, what do you think we do right to combat it? I think that it boils down to is if you assume positive intent. Yeah. Um, on both sides, do you guys know who Dan Crenshaw is? Dan Crenshaw is the, uh, congressman from Oklahoma that wears the eyepatch. Yeah. Um, he's a pirate. We used to be a pirate. He No. Now see, now that's offensive. He was, uh Listen, next thing you're gonna say is he had scurvy. That's what you're gonna say next, yeah. He was, uh, protecting your country. I've seen him, I know. And took some shrapnel in the eye as a special forces operator. Anyway, Pete Davidson. On SNL. Oh yeah. Had made some jokes about this guy. Yeah. And, really kinda took it over the top. And, Dan Crenshaw had the opportunity to really lean into this. And take Pete down. Instead what he did, Do you recall what he did? No. He, you guys should Google this, because it was absolutely class and grace. they invited him on SNL, because it was a big deal. And he said, I try really hard as a person to not offend people. This is what Dan Crenshaw said. Yeah. And I worked just as hard to not be offended by people. And it was like, oh wow. And he mentioned the fact, he said, you know, Pete Davidson's dad was killed in the 9 11 attacks. He was a firefighter that was killed in the 9 11 attacks. And he said, Pete has a relationship with that time frame that is in many ways similar to mine. When that happened, that was what caused me to join the service and to go and he said, as a result, I want to give Pete grace because I know that Pete didn't intend correct on offending me. So I'm not going to be offended by him. And then, you know, he talked about, he, then he made fun of Pete and he said, you know, he made some comments about how Pete looked and it was absolutely brilliant. But what it demonstrated was, the answer to all this cancel culture is just as Dan Crenshaw said, I'm going to work really hard not to offend people, but I'm going to work equally hard to not be offended. So, the high road is always the right way to go, obviously. Well, to, to, to, to the theme of the show, though, um, you know, the ethos of the show is a kindness, right? And so It's supposed to be. That's how it's turned out. Well, you guys, um We try. Yeah, I don't want to call back the, um, the offensive language that you used when you found out that KG buys popcorn at a theater and brings it home. You guys remember that? Yeah, I don't recall that. Yeah, yeah, I do. I'm shocked by it. He was in a parking lot. He said, what are you going to do now, KG? And he said, I'm going to go into the AMC and I'm going to get some popcorn. He's going to go home. And then I'm going to go home and watch a movie. And you all were shocked and I was laughing as I was listening. Because I do the same thing, right? You know, so I know you guys aren't, uh, always very nice, uh, to, to KG when he talks about, you know, his dogs and his popcorn and all of that, but, um, but no, the ethos of the show is, is kindness and, and back to this cancel culture thing, which is real, um, the way you combat it, if it is to be combatted is, is kindness. Is to over index on the kindness, right? Because, um, the, the way that you throw kerosene on it though. Is you dig in your heels and you go, I know better. You know, start a bigger fire. Yeah. I'm a 55-year-old guy. Let me tell you how I was in 1982 or in 75. Yeah. You know, you're not gonna tell me you're right. That's not now. It's instead, instead, you know, you, you recognize, you know that, you know, maybe there's something for you to learn. And you know, you, you operate with kindness and you use humility and Yeah. Yeah. Civility, right? Humility. Civility. You say things like. Thank you. Right. And you stand up when your date gets up to use the restroom. Take your hat off. Yeah. This guy. It's good to have listener. Oh, well, okay. So can we put a cap on this topic and move to one more segment for the show? What's your last segment? Are we going to do one of those? quizzes again like you used to do? No. God, let me tell you something about those quizzes. I mean, the quiz was fine, you know, for the first hour, but it's, you know, it's when it was getting into the second hour. It got really long, right? And your questions were like 10 minutes. Yes. It was like, let me ask. Okay. They weren't open. They shouldn't be open ended response. Yeah, you know, it was more of a, like a, uh, a quiz. No. Uh, okay. Okay. Like a, they're going to be a test just to kind of, is this a long story? Hey, I'm not gonna tell a story. I'm going to, I'm going to ask more questions to Mr. Dempsey, our in studio guests, Michael Dempsey's here talking with us. Why I, why I regard you as a. Like a a guy I check in with is because you have interesting things to say about the show So you're proving to us that you're listening You might be the only guy that listens as much or this closely, but there's a couple what what are you? I'm not gonna ask you to ask how we're doing, but I'm gonna ask you this What would you like to see? What do you what do you think? Yeah, where do you think what do we need? Where's this show going? Well, you're mine. Yeah Well, first of all something that you guys have really picked up on in you know, since I was on the show I think the first time I was on the show was in September that that I think You know people can stick their teeth into which I loved and maybe this was intentional. I'm not sure but Mata Midi stuff. No, not Mata Midi stuff. Hill Murray stuff? Not Hill Murray stuff. Are you serious right now? More St. Thomas stuff? Are you serious? I mean, I need an ointment for the rash I get whenever I hear some reference. Okay, finish. Plus we made him drive to Mata Midi today. Are you kidding me? I mean, the only thing worse is a Hill Murray reference. Anyway, um. We'll be editing that. I love how you guys lean in. I love how you guys lean into the holidays. I love it. Really? I love it. Oh my God. It's great. I mean, you know, you'll, if it's around Halloween, you guys talked about trick or treating and candy when, and then Christmas. I love the Christmas tradition. Segment you guys had a couple of guys that came in that one got a lot of that. It was great guys They were from Hill Murray. Yeah Boom. All right. We got one. I'd check the one humor you leaned into the Christmas I was looking for the big tree out here that your reference with all the lights just so you know, yeah, but I loved listening to everyone Uh, nostalgically talk about as a kid, what they, the cookies they made and the food that was made and going to wherever they went. I thought that was great because it elicited a lot of memories, I think from your listeners. So leaning into the holidays, you did the two part series around Galentine's day. Which I, which I thought was great. So you might not recognize it, but you guys lean into those holidays, which I think is great. The next holiday is St. Patrick's Day. That's right. We should probably do a St. Patty's Day. Are you Irish, John? I can't remember. Hell yes, I'm Irish. Who isn't? You gotta be here. Yeah, yeah, both of my my you know, you know what let's talk st. Patrick's Day. That's great show I mean, it's that's a no brainer. Yeah, that's a good one If you can remember, you know tell stories about how you only remembered half of the night. Yeah, that would be great That's part of st. Patrick's Day. Like joining improv with you. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. So I like that. I mean that. So as a note, I like that because everyone can sort of associate with that leaning into the holidays. Interesting. It's your show. You do what you want. I mean, it's pretty stacked. With guys between the age of 50 and 65. No, no, we're stacked with guys between 53 and 56. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's pretty stacked talking about their glory days in 1983. Uh, or their jobs. So, I, you know, maybe consider, outside of the Galentine's Day, maybe consider, you know, I mean, embracing You know, some other opportunities. Yeah, whatever. I mean, whatever you want to do. Other ethnicities? Yeah. I mean. Well, I'd just like to say on that note, off we go.