KC Quickie: Checking in w/ "Intern" Mario

People have been asking...so, we visit with our first and only, intern, Mario Esteb. He checks in from Syracuse University. 

Transcript

0:11

Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, We hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it most desperately needs. And We have a really exciting guest that we're gonna talk to here. Very spur of the moment, too, is exciting, very spur of the moment. I have been, watching this young man's, progress me too, towards his professional aspirations. Welcome back to the Kindness Chronicles intern. Mario Estab. Woo. Thank you for having me. It's been a while since I've, I've, uh, talked to you guys. It's great to hear you. Yes, nice to talk to you guys again. But we've been, Steve and I have been watching your progress out at Syracuse University, which as many of us know is probably number one or number two in terms of, uh, like a broadcasting, sports broadcasting. Yeah. Uh, yeah, it's a pretty good school. It's that in Northwestern, aren't those kind of the two schools that you want to get into if you're gonna do this? Yeah. Penn State's good too. I Penn State, eh, Penn State, whatever. Eh, you got the good one though. Yeah. You got the orange. The orange, but hot of the orange. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us what is happening in your, uh, career. I know that you're like a, a host of a talk show and Yeah. You're doing panels and, good god, man. Tell us, yeah, give us a, give us, get us up to speed. I had a pretty busy, like last couple weeks for sure. So I am like the PR director for the biggest org on campus called First Year Players, which when I was on the podcast mm-hmm. With you guys like two, three years ago, that I was a part of that as well. Yeah. And we just had our, uh, like show, um, this past weekend we did Legally Blonde. And that went really well. Like we almost sold out every night, which has never happened. Wow. And that was like a super fun experience and we've like been working on that since June. So it was just kind of cool to see everything come together. Yeah. And Mario, did you perform? I didn't perform, no. I was, um, like the co-PI behind the scenes, his PR guy. Okay. Behind the scenes making it happen. Yes. Yeah, so like we are in charge of the programs, the, the posters, all the Instagram tiktoks fun. Yeah. We need to hold like a cabaret. So that was all myself and my co and then like our entire team. And then, yeah, I'm, I'm host for just like late night show, it's called Tonight. Um, and that's been really fun. We had a show on Sunday, so I. The three legally blonde performances, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and I had to do the Tonight Show on Sunday. Are you saying ki What'd, what's the. Like Rac Q tonight. I'm like, ke tonight John's thinking about dinner. That's more of a breakfast meal. Yeah. And I That's cute. Keith got tonight. Get it. I knew that it was, we got it. you got people sitting behind a desk. I mean, it's like a real talk show. I know. And it's a once a week you do that show, uh, every other Sunday. Okay. Every other Sunday. Okay. How was their basketball season? I don't recall. Not good. Oh, We we're now a football school is what I like to say. Okay. Syracuse is a football school. Is Jim Heim still at Syracuse? No, he retired after my freshman year. Okay. And you're just finishing up your junior year? Yeah. Yeah. it's actually crazy that I'm gonna be a senior next year. One of the reasons that I wanted to talk to you today is I noticed that on LinkedIn that you, were part of a panel discussion. Mm-hmm. And one of the people that were on there was one of my favorite from the Sweet Life of Zach and Cody, Brenda Song. Was at Syracuse and you interviewed her. How did that come, come together? Yeah, so there's this org on campus, it's called University Union, and they basically just book a bunch of like either artists or actors and they either do like shows or conversations. And I was reached out to about a month ago. if I was interested in moderating their guests for a API month, because here he, we do AAPI month. What, what is that? It's, uh, Asian American Pacific Islander Month. Mm-hmm. I knew that. I was just making sure everybody else knew. Yeah, yeah. So they reached out to me if I was like, interested in moderating it, but they didn't tell me who it was and I was like, oh yeah. and then once I got back from Spring break, they said that they booked Brenda Song, which is like, I mean, I watched her so much growing up on Totally Channel Sweet Life of Zach and Cody. Sweet Life on Deck. She's in some other movies as well. And isn't she married to Macaulay Culkin? Yeah, McCauley Calkin. They're engaged, I think. Yeah. Okay. Was he there? No, I wish, damn. I was hoping that you'd be like a surprise if, if he came, but he wasn't. I was with another one of my good friends, um, and it happened Monday night and we, it was just like an hour long conversation. She was super nice. super personable. I was legit, so nervous. Probably the most nervous I've ever been in my entire life. I mean, other than all went well, other than being on with the Kindness Chronicles. Yeah. Other than my first, uh, appearance on the Kindness. Yeah. Okay. Just checking song. Classic. Classic. Yeah. But, um, no, it was such a fun experience getting to talk to her and just learn about like her upbringing as. An Asian American actress and like ask questions about sweet life and we asked questions about Culkin and Yeah, it was, and she was cool with that. It was a really great experience. Oh yeah. She calls them Mac and everything. Okay. Because, sometimes people don't like to talk about their personal life, but what I know about Brenda Song is that she was she gonna go to Harvard, but she got this opportunity. To be on the sweet life. Mm-hmm. What was the objective? What did you want to get out of her, uh, during the interview? Yeah, like obviously we wanted to. The fun questions that everyone wanted to hear about like Disney Channel and like she's in a new Netflix series called Running Point. I dunno if you've heard of that, but um, I'm more of a book guy. I don't watch a lot of tv. Right. But yeah, no, it's a really good show. I've watched it like preparation really good as a professional would. Yeah. Yeah. So we obviously like asked those questions, but questions said in. She's, um, like of, of Thai and Hmong, um, heritage. Really? So asked about. Yeah, so we asked about just like her parents, and there was a cool story that she said, her grandmother, like really helped her, getting to acting classes. She like took all the money out of her savings account so she could pursue acting when she was like six years old. Wow. Whoa. Over here. Yeah, so we asked her questions about that and just like how you made it in this industry and, um, like her auditions and stuff like that. So it was a really good conversation. We got like a good 25 questions in and only like an hour. Very fun. So Mario, what is, what's next for you? You obviously got senior year what's the next step in the, uh. The career? Well, I'm actually, I'm going to LA this summer. Oh wow. Um, there's like a program through, Syracuse, so I'm gonna take three classes and then I've been applying to a bunch of internships. I've gotten interviews, still haven't gotten one yet, but. That'll be, um, also on my plate. So I'll be there for like middle of May to middle of August. So have you become more interested in production or do you wanna be, the talent as they say? production really more so like behind the scenes, but I obviously, like, I still. Like being in front of the camera and I feel comfortable. So like, that's always a plus, I think. Well, well, and you've got the looks for it. Of course. Well, but also, even if you're gonna, if you're gonna pursue production or pursue, you know, uh, management or pr, any of that, having the experience of being on camera or on, you know, on the mic, that's really important for you to understand the full realm of it. You could be a better person in production if you know what it's like to be on stage or on, you know. So really quick, Mario, for the, the, the people that are newer to the program. Mario has quite a history on stage. Yeah. Can you just take us back and Right. Re remind our listeners of, I seriously, you've got quite a pedigree. I mean, you Thank you. I remember you were doing full disclosure, uh, Mario's parents are very good friends of mine. Mm-hmm. Mario's dad was on the podcast one of the one time too. He was, he was crammed into that little room. Yeah, he was hanging out with us. We were stuck in there. Is it still the same room? No, no, no. We got a beautiful, should see it, man. You gotta have, you know, I, if when you're not in LA this summer, you should swing by and check out the playhouse. We home for like two weeks before come and visit us. Yeah, we won't. we probably won't be seeing you at the golf course as much as, uh, as we usually do, but, oh, I'm gonna, I'm definitely gonna golf. Okay. Very good. Well, you're gonna come, when you come home, you're gonna come and check out the new studio. We've got. It's very set. It's, it's cool. It's very cool. But tell us a little bit about your, uh, your history and the things that you did on stage prior to going to Syracuse. so when I was like 10 years old, I auditioned for a Christmas story, at the Ordway in St. Paul. And like, I've never done theater really in my life, only just at like school, but I was a dancer. So in my audition, I like did a flip and cried and I was like, all, well, this is it's song. What like sheet music was and I somehow got it and um, like fell in love with it after doing that show. And so I just continued to audition and I guess from like 10 to 13, 14, I did like 15 shows. Wow. And span four years. And then continued it in high school, and I mean now I still am a little bit a part of it in college as well. So obviously theater and acting has been like a huge part of my, my life. And you went to Hill Murray High School. I understand that you, uh, were in a number of, we always have to check the Hill Murray. Yeah. The Hill Murray box on the, uh, the program. But you were in a whole bunch of, uh, productions at Hill Murray as well, right? Yeah. I was lucky that our school, we did like three or four shows a year, which I know a lot. School was only due maybe one in the spring. Yeah. So three, I really got to do it all year round, which was really special. And we had a really good program too. One of the, uh, the things that many people won't know about Mario is his sister Emma mm-hmm. Is a television professional down in Rochester, Minnesota. Yeah. And, uh, we've been trying to get her on the show, but she works so much big shot. And, you know, we have a very tight schedule. Like if you can't be on on a Tuesday or Wednesday at five 30, we're not interested. But, uh, uh, yeah, you gotta reach out to me like two weeks before you Yeah. We're gonna talk to his agent and everything. Yeah. We gotta, yeah truth be told, I texted, Mario about, three minutes before we, uh, before we dialed this up, so no prep. Which is perfectly consistent with the way that we usually run the show. Sure. We're not interested in preparation. That's not, yeah. Plus it brings any new listeners in on the what's, you know, the Mario situation and, and that, you know, that he was a, a part of this team and, uh, we hope to see him again and have him back here sitting down and get us up to speed with his summer. So what would be the perfect post-graduation gig for Mario eb, I love to like move to la I think, I think this summer I'm gonna get a good idea of what works for me and what doesn't. I've been applying to a lot of, they're called development interns, You read a lot of scripts and you write coverage for them, which are just like, you kind of write like the beats so that the higher ups don't have to read. Entire scripts can just kind of read the bullet points. so I've been applying to a lot of those and I think if I could get a job doing that, that would be a good start, uh, postgrad. But honestly, I'd be happy anywhere. Just kind of want a job. You're just in that phase. You're trying all kinds of stuff. Yeah, which is exactly what you should be doing. That's great. Yeah, just don't be the LA guy that goes out and then becomes like a barista and then, you know, I mean, there's, there's too many. What's wrong? Starbucks with that In, in Los Angeles. Hey, side note, side note. Um, Mario, are you watching the studio, apple Plus Show with uh uh, Seth Rogan? No, I don't, I don't have Apple Plus. Okay. Really good though. Well get your parents to, it's, it's really good. You'll love it. It's about the, the, the, it's, it's about a LA studio. It's really good. You, you will. Oh, I need a new show to watch. So you'll see it at some point. It's really good. Have you seen, we'll talk about it, the TV show on, uh, is it on Netflix? Adolescence, yes. Adolescence. It's not, uh, no. I honestly, I should. He's busy keeping up with all these, he's not watching tv. Time to watch. He's doing busy when I was in college and, and is like busy like him. I didn't watch TV ever. I didn't either. I just went from one thing to the next. I was always reading books and then I stopped reading books all together. Yeah, I hate reading books. But that's okay. I know I like bought a book and I haven't even opened it. So I have a, I always like to tell a quick story, and this is a, you'll, you'll get a kick out of this. You know, my daughter Riley, of course Riley was a gymnast with his sister Emma, and, uh, we were at Target. I. When RI was probably eight or nine years old, and we were in the, uh, of course in the section looking at DVDs, which happens to be adjacent to where the books are. Oh. And she yells across to me, have I told you this story? Yeah, you have. I have. I told it on the podcast. I, I don't know. She goes, dad, can I get this book? And I looked at her and I said. Ri we're a TV family and this woman saw me and she gave me this look, and I looked at her and I said, we really are. And she just shook her head and walked away. And disgust. And the que the question is, did I let Ri get the book? Yeah, you're right. I did. Good. Damn right. I did good parenting. I'm just, I don't know if she ever read it. Yeah, but she got the book. It's holding up the corner of your tv. It's very good. Alright, Mario, thank you for being flexible and coming on with us at the last moment. It's so great. Yeah. Great to hear from you, man. So glad you're doing well and, uh, we hope to see you again. Yeah. Yeah. Glad to hear from you guys. Um, I'll have to check out the new studio that I come, come check it out. It's, it's, it's really quite a, it's a spectacle down here. All right. Nice talking to you buddy. Yeah, nice talking to you. All right, and off we go.