Ep. 194 Kind or Kind of? Celebrity Kindness

The KC Crew review celebrity kindness thru a silly little game. 

Transcript

KCP 194 - Kind or Kind Of?

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Oh boy. Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where here we are again, hoping to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

You sound so excited.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I'm super excited. What are you talking about? I'm just trying to sound like a radio professor.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

You know what's nice is just having it be light out when we get here now.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

It's been dark for a while. I kind of like it when it's dark, but that's part of my one of my dysfunctions. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

You got like a cloud over here right now. Totally. Come on. You're back from vacation.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

You should be chill. I got a little my my scalp got a little sunburned. Oh, that could be. That's no good. Yeah, I'm back. We're back in the studio. I was in Cabo San Lucas. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But Steve Brown. Hi. Hello. How are you today?

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Good. I'm good. I'm glad to be sitting here and enjoying the coming of spring.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Jeff, you're back from Arizona. I am not from Arizona, but I'll be heading there sometime in the world. I thought you were down visiting your parents.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Nope, just virtually planning.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Virtually, okay. Doing planning.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

And yes, I was in Mexico in Cabo. Uh we came back early because of the uh the weather. Um I was most concerned about my driveway. As you've noticed, I like to have a nice clean driveway.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Yeah, and it was it was not an easy snowfall.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

It was that was a tough snowfall. But we made it through. We didn't get the 28 inches that they were expecting, but we got enough to uh Yeah, it was it was a lot. Yeah. I think officially here was no, we got like 11.7. Okay, okay. Yeah. It seemed like a foot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

And it was wet snow. Oh the snowblower didn't work so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Snowblower. I was out there a couple times though, because I three or four inches.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

I I am that guy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Do you do it really early in the morning?

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Late at night, middle of the night. Really? Oh, yeah. Like a nice I'm obsessed. Nice clean driveway. I like a nice clean driveway. It's a very Minnesota conversation. It is. Um, did you watch the Oscars? I did actually. Have you did you see any of the movies that were on the Oscars?

SPEAKER_03 2:15

My wife and I, our goal was to watch as many as we could. What? Yeah. And you saw some? I saw some. Which ones did you see? I saw uh One Battle After Another. It was fantastic. I didn't like the beginning of it, though. Sean Penn's. There's a lot, yeah. Um, but it was very intense. And I saw The Secret Agent. The Secret Agent? It was in Cuba? Or yeah, Brazil or Cuba? I don't know. Yeah, Brazil. Brazil, yeah. Yeah. That one.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

So you wanted to see as many as you could, and you got all the way to two. Wait, what else? What else? Of the ten? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

So I had just watched the call cold open, and Conan was dressed up like that crazy late. I had to look up weapons and didn't know who Glenn was, but it looks freaky.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Weapons. I saw weapons. You did. And I also saw if I had legs, I I would kick you, which Conan's in. Okay. Rose Rose Byrne and Conan. It's those are all kind of my kind of movies. They're dark and weird and kooky.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, I what I liked about it is it did not get very political. No, not really.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

They kind of, you know, but you gotta expect that. I just love Conan. I I don't even care what I love him.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Conan's got a lot of energy.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

It didn't do that great in ratings comparatively, I guess, compared to last time. But I don't think like none of the movies were mainstream kind of movies. There weren't a lot of popcorn movies. F1, we also saw so I did see a bunch of them. I saw F1. I just didn't see Hamnet, which I really wanted to see.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Well, you want to see Hamnet.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Um, and I want to see It's hard to say Hamnet. Hamnet.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

It sounds like you got like a lint no like Hamlet with like a cold or something.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Also, what's the one the 1800s won? Uh um Mountain Skies or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 3:49

How about Sinners? That looks like that was good.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I saw the theater. Pretty disturbing, but it's on Prime. So it's good. It's good. Disturbing. Michael B. Jordan won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

It's dark, but the music, Jeff. Yeah. The music comes together. There was a very big, a very big focus on the music.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

And it was well, and didn't the music guy win the long-haired guy? Yep. He's won three Academy Awards.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, and his dad was a musician, orchestral. Very cool. It was great.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

So we're talking about celebrities, because you know how much I love talking about celebrities. People magazine. You do? Oh, yeah. Every week I get people magazines.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Did you used to watch Entertainment Tonight all the time? With Mary Hart, Entertainment Tonight?

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Oh, yeah, John Tesh back in the day. We did too. Is it still on? Entertainment Tonight? Yeah. E.T.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Kevin Frazier. Yeah, it's Kevin Frazier, is now the main guy.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

I I did not know it was on still.

"Kind" or "Kind of" Game

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah. I I am a culture vulture.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Kind of unique show. It's not really talking about what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

But it's kindness. There's kindness. It's about kindness. It's about kindness. Yeah. And I've done research. Okay. Prepared. You have a game. I have a game. I love it. Should we kick it off? Why don't you kick off the game and goggles?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

And I'll play the music here.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

All right.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Kind or kind of.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Oh right. We're trying something new here today. This game is called Kind or Kind of. We're going to uh I'm going to share some short stories about celebrities and that are and and supposed acts of kindness. Some are absolutely true and some might sound true but aren't. Right? Our job is to decide, you guys, I'm going to ask you guys if this is a generally a kind or just a kind of story. Is it a true or false, basically? And we'll get into some of them are built on something true and some are not. No gossip, no gotchas, just reminders that kind of shows up in unexpected places and often quietly, and sometimes from people we think we already know. Okay. So uh I'll ask our listeners to play along with us as we go, and I'll ask you guys you guys both what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, while you're driving, but you know, don't be too distracted. Don't be looking at your phone.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

No. Just listen to us. Okay, round one. Here we go. There goes the music. Uh this actor once paid off every layaway bill at a struggling department store during the holidays after over uh hearing a cashier talking about stressed families. Is this a true story? That's a true story.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

That's a true story. Okay. I don't know who it is. Okay. But I hope it it was like Keanu Reeves, maybe. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Jeff, what do you think? Do you think it's a true story?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Or kind of I think it's true.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

I just can't think of the celebrity. This story has circulated online and attached to multiple celebrities, but there's no verified evidence. You know what?

SPEAKER_04 6:45

I try to do this game.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Trying to do any specific actor or a classic, uh it's a classic viral kindness myth.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Okay. So let's just address the kindness myth thing. Yeah. I don't want to know that that's not a true story.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Well, John, we're talking about truth here. You're gonna hear some good ones that you might not have known about. Why ruin a good story with the truth? Said the news media. Well, um, no, that that's okay. Don't be disheartened. This is all interesting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

All right, let me play round two. And it might inspire a real life story, depending on our listeners. That's true. Right. You know, layaway.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Could have been non celebration. Do people still do layaway?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Uh, they do. We have is it lay by or layway? No, layaway. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

We had layaway at uh Rose's down in North Carolina. People would come in and pay ten dollars.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

Uh and it just wasn't there's now electronic ways to do it. I'm sure there are. You can buy something in uh my Klarna, it's called, right? Do you know Klarna? I my wife and daughter did, I didn't know about it, but you can buy something and pay a little bit at a time. Like you want to buy a sweater, you can buy it, but you pay it in portions. That's too much.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Do you get a sweater right away? Because I think the delayed gratification is the thing that builds the character. That's the problem.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

You get you get the product right away.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Anyway, yeah, I don't like delayed gratification. Right, I like yeah. I like to get the thing before I even pay for it.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Just saying. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

America.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

America.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Okay, round two. This wrestler turned actor has granted more make-a-wish requests than any other celebrity.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

John Cena.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Often without press or cameras. Hmm. True. You've done some research. Is this one that popped up maybe in your research?

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yes, I did some research. More than 650 make a wish uh wishes were granted by John Cena. Okay. Is that true? I don't know. I'll say it's true too. You are correct. Okay. I don't want you to ruin my John Cena lot.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Well, it's well documented and independently confirmed with Make a Wish that John Cena has uh has actually given a ton to make a wish.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

You know who else is a big make-a-wish guy? Dwayne the Rock Johnson. The Rock does a lot of uh make-a-wish things.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Did you hear did speaking of The Rock, did you hear that story of the Stillwater was she from Stillwater, Minnesota, and she asked him to promote. He gave her tickets and gave her a really nice voicemail or something.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Like essentially bought out the whole uh theater. Yeah. Yes. I love it. Are you fair aware of that story? The Rock asked somebody. The Rock asked this at or I'm sorry, this student at Stillwater High School asked The Rock to go to prom with her.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

And he was busy shooting a movie, but Jungle Cruise.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

It was Jungle Cruise, believe it or not. Jungle Cruise. Disney movie, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

And he sent her a bunch of stuff, and in addition to that, uh rented out the Marcus Theater. I think it was the Marcus Theater.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I think it's true.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Yeah. In Oakdale for her and all of her classmates to go and watch the movie.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

And he said, I love, I love, love, love that you asked me, and just was super enthusiastic. And so maybe I'll maybe I'll post this on the Google.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Do you want to do you wanna part of me has a little cynical angle on this? Do you want to hear it?

SPEAKER_02 10:05

That he can promote his movie?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Well, I think I think it's a very kind thing that he did. I think it's a really cool idea. But I feel like it's a little bit opportunistic because Oh boy, this is gonna be long.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

So first you first you tell me that the layaway story isn't true. Now you're looking at oh okay. I think it's great. What's round three? Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Is this a long game?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Round three. This pop star secretly paid off the student loans of dozens of fans after reading their stories on social media. Is this story true or is it kind of true or is it false? I think it's kind of true. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

And I think you're talking about Taylor Swift. Okay. Am I am I right? You're talking about Taylor. You're on to something there.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Jeff, do you think this is true?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Do you think Taylor Swift?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah, I think it's true. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Uh the answer is no. It's kind of true. Taylor Swift has paid tuition and medical bills for individuals, but the dozens of student loans claimed and claimed is exaggerated and often overstated online. Okay, let's so it's building off it is that's why that's why the game's called Kind or Kind of. So it is kind of true.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

It's kind of true. John, I bet you have a ton of Taylor Swift stories that you've got to do. Oh, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

I'm a Swifty. You are a Swifty. I don't care for her music, but I do think that she's a good person. No, I I really am. I mean, we've talked about the fact that she did the hundred thousand dollar bonuses to of the truck drivers. I from her last tour, she gave out fifty-five million dollars in bonuses. Wow. She made about a billion.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

So fifty-five million isn't uh Have you seen the video of her giving her crew uh bonuses? There's seen that video. Have you seen a Jeff?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

I didn't realize there was a video. I knew there was a news report about how she did it, and I've also heard about how she tips really well when she's in town and everybody in the restaurant gets a great tip.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

People love working with her, and she's having fun with her wealth, which I just love. In 2015, she became aware of a pregnant woman uh that was homeless, and she uh bought this woman a house so she'd have stable house. And if you look that up and tell me that it's not not true, no, I don't want to know that. No, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna archer it. That is one of the things about social media that just drives me insane. Right. There's a great story out there. Let us enjoy the story. I shouldn't look at the comments, but I do because I know that there's always gonna be somebody that says, oh, this is AI.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

Well, that is that is a challenge because yeah, sometimes they are true, and you know what? Probably the coolest ones we don't know about because it's just it's not a celebrity, it's just somebody who did something amazingly great. And and I often say this too. I watched I watched a video today that was a guy that that Canadian kid that sits outside stores and uh solicits help from people, and then people just give everything to this guy, and then he turns around and gives them like a thousand bucks, and it's beautiful, but I mean, overall it's a great thing, but he's kind of exploiting them for their kindness so he can get some clicks and stuff. So again, I I'm I'm a little Yeah, you seem to be. Did you have a bad week? No, I love it. I love that overall it's what people we should be doing.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

They're exploiting them for clicks, but if the clicks are making us happy, right, oxytocin, man. I got my oxytocin. Yeah, I don't like the word exploit.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

I like authenticity though, and authenticity. That's what I'm saying, Josh. It's just it's it's sort of produced and fabricated. Now, um, not to take away from John's Taylor Swift stories, but I was thinking about this episode and Journey. Do you remember the the song Only the Young by Journey? Yeah. Of course. Do you did you hear do you remember the story? Totally. I think I do push-ups to this. The band was really on the rocks, if you ever watched the behind the music, and they went and visited this 16-year-old kid.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Just as tensions were reaching an all-time high. The band was touched by a heart-wrenching encounter with a devoted fan.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

He was a 16-year-old kid with cystic fibrosis, and his mom had gotten in touch with Journey and they all visited him. Nobody had ever heard the song Only the Young Yet, but they put it on a uh Walkman and put it on him.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Kenny was the first person outside the band to hear what would become a top 10 hit.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

And and it brought the band closer together. If you watch that VH1 behind the music, it brought that band closer together. So it was one of those feel-good stories when I was thinking about Taylor Swift, and it's like, what happened in our era? And Journey did that.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

It's a great song, too.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

It is a great song. I'm not gonna ruin it, John. I'm not gonna ruin it. And the behind the music, that guy, I know he's he was so good. Iconic voice. Just the perfect voice for I love all of them. It's always but you know, like right before the the the commercial break. Right. And then all hell broke blues.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

There's always the same story arc. And it seems like every band goes through that process. There's an arc, yeah. And then they come back together, though, and then they're on their sort of act two.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Yeah, act three. So the act three is you know when things get bad, and then act four is when things come back to the good.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

There's an arc to it.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

All right, and then they discovered alcohol and drugs. Round four. Just do question four. It's not a round. No, these are rounds. These are rounds.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Okay, these are rounds. After discovering members of the film crew were struggling financially, this actor gave away a large portion of his salary to behind the scenes workers. Is this true or is this false? What has your research told you, John?

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Tree search has told me you're talking about Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves. That sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

You are ding ding correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Keanu Reeves. Here, let me tell you a little bit about Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves, uh, for starters, he bought Harley Davidson motorcycles for all the stunt doubles on the John Wick show. Oh, cool. Uh, I think the first John Wick.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

Which isn't that that long ago, really.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

There have been times when he has taken a lesser salary so the people that were working on the the show got a more livable wage.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Oh, now you see.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

He sounds like he might be number one. He might be George Washington on the Mount Rushmore of Covet kind celebrities.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

I I think just like Taylor Swift, he's been blessed so much, he's just enjoying what he can do with that money.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

And he doesn't look like a guy that really needs much. Like he doesn't strike me as a guy that has to have the huge mansion and all the Lamborghinis. I mean, he seems like a guy that would drive an old pickup truck and he's kind of a Henry David Thoreau of celebrities, right? Oh, Henry David Thoreau.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Didn't Thoreau drive a Harley though for a while? Walden Pond.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

No, that's that's Henry Ford. No, that's uh would you say Golden Pond or Walden Pond.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Isn't that what he wrote? Well, you guys brought out read books. I just know he wrote a high. This is fun, though. I like that too.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

You like this? My prep has really paid off. It has.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

You're such a good color commentator. Um, okay, so let's go to round five. This ready, Jeff? This comedian quietly paid rent for an entire apartment building for six months during the pandemic. Is this story kind of true? Is it true? Is it false? Do you know more about it?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

This person paid rent for another person for the entire part.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Oh, an entire entire apartment building.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I think because you said it like that, I'm gonna say it's kind of true. Am I giving it away somehow?

SPEAKER_01 17:38

It seems like it seems like maybe he helped a few people. It wasn't very detailed too, like maybe AI wrote.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

You're onto my my style of reading. I hope the people that uh listening in their car are catching on it too. You are right. This is kind of true. Versions of the story exist, but no reliable reporting confirms full building rental coverage. Uh, individual rent assistance, yes. Whole building, no. Who's the celebrity? It does. I don't have a celebrity connected to it. Well, that's so fun.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

I know. How did you come up with that story, though? That's pretty good. Don't worry about it, Jeff. It's part of my research. All right.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

It's your secret sauce. Well, let's just go to round six, shall we? How many rounds are there? There's about 10 or 1200. Okay, is this like a boxing match? This late night TV host funded surgeries for children overseas and only learned his name had been given uh and only learned his name had been given made public had been made public.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Are you having troubles over there, voiceover guy?

SPEAKER_03 18:35

At the main public after a charity accidentally so they accidentally revealed his name. Oh, and it so this was not meant to be known by anybody. He is a popular uh late night TV host.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Well, I'm gonna say it's true then. Me too. And uh I'm gonna say it is true, and can you guess who it is? There's only a handful. Jimmy Fallon. I'm gonna say Conan O'Brien. Conan O'Brien.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Conan O'Brien. He's our guy, man. There's no way Jimmy Kimmel's. I love Conan O'Brien. I do too. I already said that. And he's Irish.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

He's he's funny. He's what? He's Irish. He's all Irish, yeah. Yeah, he's um what a great pick replacement for David Letterman. I couldn't believe it when they found him. And then I just watched reruns of him, and I'm like, that he was better.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

Well, what's what's great about Conan? We're gonna take a little Conan aside here. What's great about him is that he's incredibly smart. He's a Harvard grad. He was the head of his the Lampoon in Harvard, and he's got a great great story in the John Candy documentary. Did you see that yet, Jeff? I did see it. He he he met John Candy. John Candy came to the Lampoon, and Conan's got a photo of John Candy. He took a picture of Conan at work or at his school, and they got to know each other a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

When you say lampoon, is that like national lampoon? Yeah, the Harvard National Lampoon.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Yeah, it's like Steve's on a first name basis.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

I didn't realize though that it was invented there or originated there. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Even I knew that. I didn't know about On Golden Pond by David Thoreau. No, that's Walden. It's Walden Pond Walden Pond, I think.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Henry Ford, Walden Pond. Yeah, so you got it up.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

I'm getting all confused.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

No, um, but what I was gonna say is what I love about his uh humor is that he's incredibly smart, but he also is incredibly silly. So he's absurd and smart at the same time, which is a really great uh combination. And he loves the reason why his show is so good is that he actually loves when things go bad. I know. He's so good at when it goes bad, it's just it didn't go according to plan. He loved it, like makes him just like sure. He loves it, and that's what I love about it. He's great at playing.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

He's got a very quick uh and he'll look at the camera and just like hold the deadpan face, just like Johnny Carson used to do. It's just that there's just a handful of people that can do that well.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

When they break the fourth wall, is that what we call that? That's right.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

John do it right now, Jude. If you're a viewer on YouTube, look at that.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

That's it. John just looked directly in the show. I wasn't sure where the camera was. He broke the wall and looked. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Sort of like we have an illusion here. Sort of like Jim Helpert on the office.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

Oh, yeah, a lot of mugging.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah, a lot of mugging. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Good. Okay, this is fun. Let's do another one here. Around seven. Keep up at home. Um, this rapper bought groceries for an entire building, an entire neighborhood after seeing families struggle during the pandemic. So pandemic story.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

False rapper, no chance. No. It was probably somebody like 50 cent. You're taking a dig at rappers? No. Okay.

unknown 21:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

Mm? Those are your guesses? That's mine. 50 Cent, 50 Cent, or MM. Um, this answer is kind of true. Kendrick Lamar. Do you know who Kendrick is?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

He's one of my kids' favorite rappers. He's he's great. Um, Kendrick Lamar funded organized food drives, but the idea that he personally purchased groceries for an entire neighborhood has been overstated.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Okay. So that's kind of true in some ways. I think it's better that he did that because he helped get other people involved. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Is Kendrick Lamar it does he sing too or is he just do rap?

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Yeah, he heard it.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Does he have like a nice voice?

SPEAKER_03 22:14

Um he's he's got a cool perspective.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

An incredibly talented. You haven't had a haircut in a while. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

It's looking very flow. Oh, look at that. I know.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Yeah, I have, but I had him do it differently, so it grew out weird.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

I wouldn't say it's weird. It's just different.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Thanks for looks good. Noticing.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Round eight. Round eight. Nice aside. Edit that out, Jeff. Um, round eight. After a fan was bullied for wearing the band's t-shirt, this musician, this musician brought the kid on stage and dedicated a song to him because he was wearing a t-shirt and got uh and people how could he tell the bullying bullied?

SPEAKER_01 22:56

So was he was the kid bullied at school and the the the musician heard about it and brought him in the room. My research doesn't give us background on that. Did you ever see the the Dave Grohl deal where he called out the person, hey, who are you? And he stopped the whole concert.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

So he did the bullying.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

No, well, he stopped the guy from like someone was fighting. He's like, Don't fight at my show. And he's like, hey, hey, you in the white t-shirt.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Yep, yep, swearing at him.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

And then there was there was a bunch of memes that came out of that where people were like doing I I I should find it on YouTube for you guys. I'm sorry. I just it popped into my head when you said it. That's okay. You know why?

SPEAKER_02 23:33

I'm gonna give the camera one of these again.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Mug it. Zoom in on John mugging. I'll do that. It's it's a great aside because it's about Dave Grohl. Dave Grohl did this. All right. So somebody was, I don't know what, I don't know where the mugging happened story. The bullying. Um, but multiple firsthand accounts for uh and video exists of this kid getting bullied. I don't know how could that have happened? Maybe at the at the show he's getting bullied.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Well, there was a fight, and then he stopped him and kicked the guy out. Said, get the hell out of my show. And it was so I gotta just get on stage.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Quick aside, yeah. Right now I am reading the nominations for the the 2026 Selfless Scholar. Exciting. And I talk about that for a second. I am a sucker for the for the uh lunch room kids sitting sitting on is that some it's for easy. Thank you. It's bringing out the tears. No, but I read those stories and it's like, okay, you win. So if people are listening to this podcast, they know how to get to me. Explain, explain for sure.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

Just a quick thing about what that is.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

So the selfless scholar? Yeah. Oh, for those of you that don't know, we have a scholarship program. If you've been listening for a while, we've talked about it. But the selfless scholarship program is unlike any scholarship program I'm aware of. Uh, the way this one works is instead of telling us about your greatness, your accolades, we encourage students, high school and college, to look beyond themselves and tell the story of kindness that they've witnessed another person uh in their school conduct themselves in in a way. It's amazing, James. And what's great about this is who, if if those stories are selected, the scholarship award is split between the person who took the time to nominate and the person that they nominated. So this year the scholarships are closed, but we got you know a couple hundred nominations. I'm going through, and it's just like an oxytocin overdose. Well, John, I mean But those lunchroom stories, like the kids that are sitting alone. I love them. I love them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Well, you got so many scholarships for athletics and so many scholarships for academics. What a cool concept. I still love this.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

And we we actually have a show that we did from there. It's episode 177. So make sure you check it out. It isn't one of our first ones that we uploaded on YouTube so you can see it live on stage, and these kids were great.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

And you heard it here first. We're doing another one May 20th at the uh Masonic Heritage Center in Bloomington. Yeah. Everyone is invited to come.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

We actually had some.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Nick Flood showed up. Hi, Nick. March 20th. You know, you want to come on. Come and have an appetizer.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Yeah, come on talk to Nick, and maybe he'll be out there too. Yeah. Okay, cool. That's a great aside. Round nine? Round nine. Okay. Is this agonizingly? No, it's great. Is this a long game? Long game. I gotta put these glasses on every time. No, you're so old. No, it's just dark down here. It's not my eyes. Round 10. Okay, now we're gonna go. This is round nine. Uh, did I give up nine? Hold on.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Oh, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, you're shuffling through those papers like Rush Limbaugh used to.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

This actress. And my nicotine stained fingers. This actress anonymously paid rent for families at risk of eviction until a landlord revealed her name. Oh. Didn't we just uh nope? Okay, this is another one of those landlord stories.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Is this Rihanna? I'm gonna say an actress paid for an actress.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Rihanna's been in some movies. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna go with Rihanna. Wasn't she in the what was the board game?

SPEAKER_02 27:17

She's from Barbados.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah, but wasn't the board game uh Battleship? Battleship. She was in Battleship. Really? I haven't seen that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

I'm gonna use the board game, remember?

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Sorry, I miss it.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

I'm gonna pick Julia Roberts for some reason. She pops into my head.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

You're both wrong.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Jennifer Garner is deeply involved in housing and food insecurity work, but this exact anonymous rent story isn't valid, uh, isn't verified and unlikely and likely blends multiple real you know efforts. So you know, she uses the Capital One card. She does.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

In case you guys were wondering that at her, and she has uh a little farm. Really? Well, according to the commercial she does. Okay. And she travels a lot. She travels a lot, yes. Okay. I like Jennifer Garmer. Wasn't she married to Ben Affleck? Yeah. A lot of people have been married to Ben Affleck. Was this our celebrity episode? That is our celebrity. I love this.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah, and Felicity. She was in Felicity before Alias. I just remember that.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

And Trisha Gokin was a writer. Remember our friend Trisha Gokin was a writer on Alias. Oh, she was? You don't know that.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

I guess I remember there was some association with the fashion industry.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Class of 88. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

Oh, I really liked it.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Oh god, I loved her. She's a very sweet. And her her her, I don't know if they were engaged, but Dennis Try was class of 86, and they died in a car accident. But she was a writer on Alias, so she knew Jennifer Garner.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, she was she was a very sweet person. Yes, indeed. Um okay, so we're gonna change up, we're going to Minnesota. Oh. We're gonna do Minnesota celebrity.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Well, there's only a couple.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

Come on, we got a lot. This Minnesota-born music icon donated millions to local causes and often insisted his name never be attached to the gifts.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Prince Rogers Nelson. Good guess. Who else? Well, that's the only one.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Uh-huh. We got we got other people. You got Bob Dylan, you got all kinds of people.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

David Purner. And he was an icon. Steve Brown. An icon? Do you just call it an icon? Icon, yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Then it's not Steve Brown.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

I'm beyond icon. I'm gonna just have to go with Prince too. You guys are right. It's Prince. And he it's confirmed by nonprofits, artists, and community leaders. Uh much of it was really revealed posthumously. So after he died, they revealed a lot of it. But people didn't know for many years that he was uh you know giving all this all these funds to people.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

So I mean, wouldn't it be fun to be like super wealthy and just give money away? It would be it'd be a blast. It would be so much fun.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Well you can how you can change someone's life by giving them that's why like that Mr.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Beast guy. Yeah, you know, I know he does it for clicks, and that irritates you somehow.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

I'm just calling it out.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

I'm not saying it's just it's a reality. That's all.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

It's the reality of life. Yeah. I'm not trying to be cynical, I'm just saying Beast. Yeah, Mr. Beast. How about that?

SPEAKER_02 29:59

I wonder we came up with that name.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

I don't know. I don't care. Um, you want one more? This is not the Minnesota one. It's all it's all I got. I got one more for you.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Then I've got some information for you.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

This Minnesota sports hero quietly paid for college tuition for dozens of kids from the Twin Cities. Who might that have been? There's a lot of sports heroes. You got hockey, you got baseball, you got basketball, you got football. I'm gonna guess button. It's not Bob Lurzima. I just want to tell you I'm gonna guess Bench Warmer Bob.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

So I think Justin Jefferson is very generous with his. I've heard some stories.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

He's a young guy, too. Young guy.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

I'm gonna go with Justin Jefferson.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Um I'm thinking uh the twins, 87, 20, 10. Kirby Puckett, I just can't think of uh who, but can her back maybe?

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Okay, you got you guys are on to it. But it is it is not true. But Kirby Puckett was extraordinarily generous with time and money, but the dozens of uh full full tuitions claim isn't substantiated. So it is about Kirby. He was did a lot of stuff for people, but uh according to this, he did not that that claim did not wasn't true.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

So I know uh uh I was at a wedding and I sat right next to Kirby Puckett at this wedding. He's a nice guy, it was a wedding for a couple, I don't believe that they're married anymore, but I had heard that this guy had played cards with Kirby, and Kirby liked the cheese popcorn from Candyland, but he wanted butter put on it. Just like you. I don't like butter on my cheese popcorn. I order just regular plain popcorn.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

You bring it with you in your popcorn.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

I do that, but when I go to Candyland, I ask for a uh shameful amount of butter. That's right. And I said, more butter, more tip. And I want the bag to be just greasy by the time it's up to the biggest.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

We've done that.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yes, we've done that. We roll in there, we roll in there.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

They just smell like butter at the movie.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Oh my god, and your hands are just covered in it. Yeah, oh, ruins shirts.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

You guys should wear you guys should wear actually like zip-ups, like zip-ups, like gas station attendance.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Oh, I was thinking more like a like a uh like white zip-ups. That's yeah, one of those people that does uh crime scene crime scene investigators. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like booties in the whole thing. Yeah, yeah. Butter butter guys.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Well, that that's it. That that's it for game. But uh what I want to say before we wrap up the game completely, what's interesting here is how we are looking for kindness. We're we want these all these stories to be true. Like you said, John, you're like you want to hear about celebrities that are doing this, you want to hear about people that are doing it. Yeah, and that's what's great about the game and about you know, when we see celebrities that are doing things, they're just celebrities, but they have a little more position to be able to do these kind of things. And they have the capacity to do it.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

And you know, some of them have the ability to engage corporations. And I would like to conclude this episode with a few anecdotes, a few stories.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Um, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Yeah, right after Russia attacked uh Ukraine, uh, they donated a million dollars to uh uh a relief effort in Ukraine, like the the next day. How about Ariana Grande? Do you remember she did a show in Manchester where a bunch of uh people got killed? There was uh a bomb that went off. Yeah. And she came back and did a a benefit concert and raised something like 17 million dollars uh or 17 million pounds were raised. Okay. Uh, and she sends over a thousand gifts a year to the children's hospitals in and around Manchester every year. So that's pretty cool. That's a great Ariana Grandi story. She has this connection to them. How about Lady Gaga? Lady Gaga is very uh engaged in the mental health space and um she created the Born This Way Foundation, which I think is named after her second album, and proceeds from the sale of that album have gone to uh anti-bullying uh endeavors. And with Mac Cosmetics, are you familiar with Mac Cosmetics? I'm sure you are.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

I don't wear makeup, so I don't know that.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Well, you know, I get sent to find makeup items from time to time. Have you ever shot try like Ben with your wife when she's shopping for makeup? Complicated. So many options. Yeah. So you know, I thought there was lipstick.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Oh no. And that stuff is more expensive than you think.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

There's so it's insane. You don't want to have a lot of people. And the YouTubers are making the you know great uh videos for girls on how to do it more artistically. Yeah. They're boys pushing products.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yeah, I've never watched one of those videos. No kidding. Um, but she uh Lady Gaga has raised over with Mac uh over 200 million dollars to fight HIV in underdeveloped countries. Wow. That's pretty cool. That's great. I want you to guess who this is. Uh see now you're gonna make a game on this. I'm gonna turn it into a game. Yeah. Why thank you. Uh huh. Round 13. Round eighty-five. He refers to himself as Shaka Claus.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Shaq uh Shaquille O'Neal?

SPEAKER_02 35:27

No, Shaka Khan. No, I'm kidding. It is Shaquille O'Neal. Shaka Khan. Every Christmas he does a great big uh toy drive. Also happens to be a Freemason, just throwing that out there. Really cool. Yep. How about uh this billionaire gave this celebrity$100 million to distribute as she saw fit to the charities of her choice? Huh.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

First, who's the billionaire?

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Bezos.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Bezos, yeah. Wow. Gave a hundred million dollars to which singer? Singer.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Um Adele. Katie uh the the gal that went up in his rocket.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Katie Perry Perry Falls.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Oh, that was a good guess though, Jeff.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

I'm gonna give you um she has a Shennai twin. Nope, nope, she's a country singer. Reba McIntyre. I like it. She's country, but she has a uh an amusement partner. Dolly partner. Dolly World. 100 million dollars. She's probably got that money from Jeff Bezos to give to charities of her choosing. And she has something called the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library. Uh, a million dollars a year to a variety of different hospitals. She's exceptionally wealthy. Yes. But I think it's cool that a guy like Jeff Bezos sees a person like Dolly and says he did it, and again, it might not be true. I'm going with it. I like the story.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

I think I think he's smart because he knows that Dolly has the channels to actually make it work. He's like, I don't have the time to do all that, but someone like Dolly has a channel to make it work where people can really benefit. And that's the key, right? You give a bunch of money to people, and if they mishandle it, now it's not actually going to anyone good that can use it. It's just gonna get put into a foundation that builds more people that are gonna keep that money. So who that's great. This author. Oh, another another. Oh, I've got more. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Let's go cue the tunes. This author gave a significant amount of her estate to Eastern European children uh that uh needed help at their schools, funding for their schools, Eastern European, and it's an author.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Is it the gal that rolled? Let me hang on for one second.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Steve, name an author author one author, one female authority.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I'm trying to think of the Harry Potter last year.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

That's the one J.K. Rowling. Yes, JK. J.K. Rowling.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

See, I knew she was she was philanthropic. Very philanthropic.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah, she was a billionaire and she gave away enough money that she wouldn't be a billionaire. That's what I've heard. Wow. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Like the stress, the pressure.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Who is I want to try that pressure? Who is the actor that paid the tuition of this uh fellow actor to go to acting school in Oxford? Who's the actor that Chaz Pulmentary? You no, no, but I thought you were gonna get it. So the actor was Chadwick Bozeman. Oh, yes. You know, from Black Panther. You know who paid for him to go to acting school?

SPEAKER_03 38:49

I I heard the story, I forgot who.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

You know? Denzel Washington.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Okay, I was gonna popped in my head. That's who popped into my head.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

And Denzel Washington also gives uh annual scholarships to Wiley College, which is where his great debaters movie was filmed. So, how about this one? Well, we're kind of we're still going. This person requires people or uh uh producers to hire or casting directors to hire homeless people to work on his movie sets.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

I heard this too, and I forgot who it is. Um let me just do some guessing. Okay. Of directors. No, this is an actor who requires the Tiana Reeves.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Nope. I mean, maybe he does. I thought this is a different story. He's no longer with us. Oh Robin Williams. Correct. Yep, I knew I heard something like that.

SPEAKER_03 39:39

How did I get that?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

I don't know. I looked at your face and I could see it. You could see it in your eyes. You could see it. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Um I got just two more. Okay, just two more.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

I have a I would yeah. Are you okay with that? No, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

I totally game I like it.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

This this musician is reported to be the most generous uh celebrity in history. I will tell you that the total are they still with us? Total of he is still with us.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

I'm gonna say he started a foundation back in 1990. That could be a little bit of help. He has raised more than five hundred and sixty-two million dollars for a particular cause.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

I'm gonna say Garth Brooks.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Good guess, wrong guess. Bono. Nope, but let me tell you, what if I told you that it was for the uh for AIDS, care, and research? I would have said Bono at that point, but Ryan White Foundation is what he started. Elton John. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Well, that's nice. Yeah, he's the guy that's could hold up that kind of cash, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:57

562 million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Did he really? Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

You know, let me tell you what I like about Elton John. Elton John uh was being interviewed on one of the morning shows, and the interviewer tried to get him to go after Donald Trump. And Elton John, to his credit, he said, our politics might not be the same, but I've known Donald, and he is a really good guy. He's been nothing but nice to me. And I just thought that's how you ought to answer those questions. Don't fall into the you know, and and I would hope that people would say the same thing about Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. It goes both ways, it really does. He probably was like a hard line of it. Speaking of going both ways, Elton John went both ways.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

Right, that's true. He wrote a beautiful song about Lady Diana, though. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Did you see the Spinal Tap 2 movie?

SPEAKER_01 41:57

And Marilyn. Not the second one, no. He's in it, and he's great. Is he really? Is it a good is it a worth a watch, the second one?

SPEAKER_03 42:03

I loved it, but I'm also very deep into Spinal Tap. I've I saw it in the theater in 1984. Oh, yeah, I watched it a bazillion of times, and I'm I it's become, you know, that's kind of the Bible of rock and roll kind of humor. But um, it's a very sweet movie. It's it's not as uh pretty nostalgic. It's it's not as over the top as the first one. It's more kind of sweeter. It's it's okay, it's really good. I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

I thought that was some funny stuff in it, but that the uh the tribute to Rob Reiner at the Oscars was really well done. They had actors from all their movies. I did have to watch that. And again, I will also you know Corey Feldman is. Yeah, of course. The two Coreys. So Corey was in Stand By Me. Yeah, and uh a reporter wanted him to rip into the fact that he wasn't invited to be.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Oh, some of the kids are up there.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

Will Wheaton was there and uh Jerry O'Donnell or O'Connell or whatever his name is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those two guys, and and full Feldman wasn't invited to be a part of it. Well, they they asked him, you know, do you feel you know shunned or do you feel like you should have been invited? And to his credit, Corey Feldman said, I loved Rob Reiner. He you know put me on the map. He goes, I'm just happy that they're and he totally avoided it. It's so great when you see people surprising you with their uh with their classiness. For him, that's that's pretty classic. That's a bit of an oddball. Have you ever seen him doing music?

SPEAKER_01 43:31

I haven't, but he's had a rough I know he's had a rough go of it as a youth uh moving into adulthood.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Yeah. He's very spinal tap, actually.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Very spinal tap. Yeah. Like it's almost like it's like it's like it's pretend.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

But I I thought that that was what you know, John. When I see that, when I watch the videos, and you would we once you see it, Jeff, you get it. I felt for his band. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

I'm like, Did you see the one where Albany's just like all the gals in the band? He's got all the girls. Yeah. So do this, everybody. Pull over, go to YouTube, and Corey Feldman on the Today Show. He's on the Today Show playing, and he's got these this he called him his angels or something, all of these band members.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

It's one of the most hair in the front.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

It's one of the most difficult things you'll ever watch. And you know what? With that, this has been a celebrity people magazine inspired episode.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Celebrity kindness.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Celebrity kindness.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

In connection with the Oscars and uh and with spring. You know, what a great kickoff into inspiration and trying to do some kindness. Be like, be like the oh, let me just say this. Okay. Let me mug for the camera first. If there's a celebrity out there, give us a call. Check in with us. We want to talk to you. We want to hear about stories that you know of people that have done some kind acts or in your world. John's fascinated with celebrity. We all are. Let's let's get you to call us, call in, give us a call.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

We'd love to have you as a guest on our show.

SPEAKER_03 44:57

We want to talk about celebrity kindness. And frankly.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

First hand. Frankly, the reason that Steve Brown is on this program is because I figured that you would have encountered some celebrities when I asked you to be our third guest on the Kindness Chronicles. I have. I have encountered some rock it all. Just enamored with your celebrity status. Let's get Cheap Trick on here. Yeah. What's Mickey? What's his name? Mickey Dolans? No, no. Mickey. Mickey Dolans. He'd be fun to talk to. He's still alive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

You know how Mike Netsmith, why he had so much money?

SPEAKER_03 45:32

I know. I just read it today. Actually, I've known it for a while. About his mom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah, she invented Whiteout. Really? There you go. And with that, off we go. Yeah, that's all. And look at him now.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

He's dead.

unknown 45:45

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

All right. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. See you next time. Off we go.