Episode 123 features Danno Sullivan a comedian, podcaster, musician, and long-lost Marx Brother.
He’s here to discuss the Ukulele, being a comedy show off, Vaudeville, being communicators and so much more…
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
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00:00:00:01 – 00:00:23:27
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent palmer.com. Miller and Manas might be the one sci fi duo to follow. I have read one of the worst books ever, The Laptop Millionaire, and while last episode was volume four of one Final Question, volume five is fast approaching. This is The Palmer Files episode 123 with Danno Sullivan, a comedian, podcaster, musician and long lost Marx brother, distant Marx cousin.
00:00:23:27 – 00:01:03:39
Agent Palmer
I believe he’s here to discuss the ukulele being a comedy show off vaudeville, being communicators and so much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:01:03:44 – 00:01:42:55
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to The Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this episode, one, two, three is Danno Sullivan. Daniel is Boston’s ukulele kingpin, as well as being a comedian and writer who also happens to be an expert in many fields, which he showcases on the podcast expertise. That’s expert aeacae what starts as a conversation about what we do and who we are evolves into a discussion about vaudeville and its many children in many mediums, plus classic comedy and classic rock, juggling and the accordion teaching and patience, being social and, well, all of that and a whole lot more is coming your way shortly.
00:01:42:55 – 00:02:03:55
Agent Palmer
But first, remember that if you want to discuss the episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact my guest, Danno Sullivan and myself in the show notes. Dannos work can be found online at Funny Podcast, echo or Play It Daily. Ukulele.com. Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com.
00:02:03:55 – 00:02:14:07
Agent Palmer
And of course email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
00:02:14:12 – 00:02:37:30
Agent Palmer
Danno, you are a comedian. And in comedy, I would say you’re in podcasting and you’re a musician. You know, I guess had we met at a party, and I asked you what you did, and I didn’t know of your online social things. Which would you lead with?
00:02:37:34 – 00:02:47:12
Danno Sullivan
That’s actually a great way to ask that specific question, because if we were at a party, I would probably give you a different answer than I would if I knew you were just going to ask that question on a podcast.
00:02:47:12 – 00:02:48:08
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:02:48:13 – 00:03:12:16
Danno Sullivan
Because my job is musician. I play ukulele and teach ukulele and have, courses and classes and love ukulele. I love music, but I express that through ukulele, okay. And it’s a very easy thing to talk about because as soon as you say music, everyone knows what you’re talking about. And as soon as you say ukulele, people kind of light up and say, oh, it’s so cute.
00:03:12:20 – 00:03:31:10
Danno Sullivan
And they have lots of, questions from their childhood. They know somebody or they’ve tried it. On the other hand, I’m sure you’ve experienced this. If you say, oh, I do a podcast, people kind of glaze over. It’s stare vacantly, change the subject, reach for the canopies.
00:03:31:15 – 00:03:55:38
Agent Palmer
I mean, I, I, I, I had maybe I had almost a decade of blogging under my belt before I started my podcast. So I was used to the, the like, just summarizing like, oh, I’m a writer, and now I’m a podcaster. And I got to join them together so they could glaze over all of the things.
00:03:55:42 – 00:03:59:56
Agent Palmer
Oh, really quickly, all at once. Yeah, because I’ve actually.
00:03:59:56 – 00:04:21:20
Danno Sullivan
Been toying with the idea of just using a different word than podcast. Because my background is in show business. I did comedy and, acting and improvization and screenwriting. So there was a time when I was not ashamed to say the thing that I did related to, you know, being a comedy show off.
00:04:21:25 – 00:04:22:30
Agent Palmer
That, I mean, there’s.
00:04:22:30 – 00:04:29:38
Danno Sullivan
Something about the word podcasting that really kind of smacks people upside the head in a weird way. Do you find that at all?
00:04:29:38 – 00:04:48:49
Agent Palmer
Not not as such. But then again, like, I very much, I like I’m, I’m a, a friend of mine gave me gave me this, and I always forget what it is. I think he said you are a, a features writer and a, online conversationalist.
00:04:48:54 – 00:04:49:18
Danno Sullivan
Okay.
00:04:49:18 – 00:05:12:37
Agent Palmer
It’s that that and I mean, in, in essence, that’s kind of what I do. But there’s also a part of me that’s like, I don’t like content creator because I think I feel like not for any other reason than it demeans this episode. It demeans the writing and the work I put into my writing. Right. But I don’t know.
00:05:12:43 – 00:05:32:25
Agent Palmer
Can’t. I’m Still Amazed podcast has a cachet that that it does like. It feels like every time I keep reading, like in the, the, the mainstream media about podcasting, it’s either the end or the birth of it. Yes, again and again. And it’s.
00:05:32:27 – 00:05:33:57
Danno Sullivan
It just keeps happening over and over and.
00:05:33:57 – 00:05:37:37
Agent Palmer
Over. Yeah. We’re in an endless cycle, as I guess as long as we hold on to the train.
00:05:37:42 – 00:05:46:58
Danno Sullivan
But, you know, other forms of entertainment really did die vaudeville died radio shows, died TV, slowly but surely is dying. Well.
00:05:47:03 – 00:05:51:11
Agent Palmer
Okay, so it’s interesting you bring up vaudeville first because, like.
00:05:51:16 – 00:05:53:47
Danno Sullivan
It’s where I live, man. That’s that’s where my mind is at.
00:05:53:47 – 00:06:03:18
Agent Palmer
Okay, so when you say vaudeville, especially when you say you play the ukulele, my brain goes to one place. Okay.
00:06:03:23 – 00:06:04:00
Danno Sullivan
Can I guess.
00:06:04:00 – 00:06:04:40
Agent Palmer
Yeah, sure.
00:06:04:40 – 00:06:07:52
Danno Sullivan
I’m just going to say 1920s. Are you shooting for the 1920s?
00:06:07:52 – 00:06:09:44
Agent Palmer
No, no, no. Much later. Much.
00:06:09:48 – 00:06:10:31
Danno Sullivan
Oh, okay. Go ahead.
00:06:10:31 – 00:06:15:44
Agent Palmer
Oh no no I, I immediately go to Tiny Tim immediately. Oh that’s.
00:06:15:49 – 00:06:16:31
Danno Sullivan
Okay.
00:06:16:36 – 00:06:35:49
Agent Palmer
And that’s because I, I, I’m, I’m young, I’m too young. Like, I didn’t exist, when Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and that kind of golden age of that kind of television was around. But I have since gone back. Like, when I discovered it, I went back, and I.
00:06:35:54 – 00:06:39:19
Danno Sullivan
I you made an active choice to go back and discover Tiny Tim.
00:06:39:24 – 00:06:48:47
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. In a breaking. Yeah. And so I’ve, I mean, it opens this whole world of where a lot of this stuff comes from.
00:06:48:47 – 00:06:49:12
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:06:49:12 – 00:07:03:02
Agent Palmer
And, I’ve, sadly, you know, laughing is the one that’s easier to get than the Smothers Brothers, which is a little bit harder to find.
00:07:03:07 – 00:07:28:22
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. And, you know, I’m such a comedy kind of sort, man, when you start talking about these specific names and specific acts and genres and eras, it’s just right up my alley. And I love it so much. And so I would say that the Smothers Brothers is, is less vaudeville than Laugh-In. Okay. For example. And for, you know, I don’t know how old your audience skews for this particular,
00:07:28:27 – 00:07:34:33
Agent Palmer
All I can tell you, at least from the people that reach out it, I run the gamut.
00:07:34:38 – 00:07:58:03
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. Old and young. Yeah. And the great thing is that even though I was joking, it said vaudeville had died. And it has. You cannot go see a vaudeville show. Obviously, there’s that’s simply no place but its influence and even its exact underpinnings live on in things like you mentioned, Rowan and Martin. That was still the 60s, but, probably everybody would still know The Muppet Show.
00:07:58:17 – 00:08:26:56
Agent Palmer
Yeah, the Marx Brothers, too. I mean, the Marx Brothers don’t. I mean, I feel like it’s, you know, one of the things that I think might be timeless about the Marx Brothers specifically is they honed their craft on vaudeville stages. So those movies were just all the things that worked in front of audiences, which is something that, like, you know, is kind of something.
00:08:26:56 – 00:08:33:16
Agent Palmer
I don’t think enough comedians get enough credit for of of the craft of it.
00:08:33:21 – 00:08:49:50
Danno Sullivan
Oh, gosh. Yeah. In their case, you know, years and years and years of honing material and crafting that material and creating something wonderful that they knew an audience would like, and then finally putting it on film, like you said, it was, you know, almost surefire. Yeah.
00:08:49:50 – 00:09:19:10
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it really was. And, and one of the things that kept me in going back to Laugh-In and, and watching it, was not only that, I knew a lot of the names and faces from, like, other things. Like, I remember watching Hogan’s Heroes, like with my grandparents. So like, some of those actors show up in the show and I knew I knew of Goldie Hawn and, you know, all of the big movie stars at the time that, like, have little bit parts.
00:09:19:10 – 00:09:26:37
Agent Palmer
I knew. But what kept me going back was not the names and the faces. It was the fact that that writing.
00:09:26:42 – 00:09:27:41
Danno Sullivan
That it was actually funny.
00:09:27:41 – 00:09:43:13
Agent Palmer
It was funny, but it was also timeless. I mean, the sadly, in the cyclical nature of the world, that humor is now relevant again. And those jokes still play very well and well.
00:09:43:13 – 00:10:02:22
Danno Sullivan
And you mentioned the Smothers Brothers, and, you know, Laugh-In did this too, with maybe a little more tongue in cheek and a little less of, trying to provoke the powers that be. But, yeah, that political humor, you know, it feels like it’s such a a thing of its time. And then it does. It comes around in a cycle again.
00:10:02:22 – 00:10:25:15
Danno Sullivan
You think, oh, wow, we’ve lived through this. And it’s funny that you can express it through comedy, because that feels like the sort of thing that you express through, a history class or a very scholarly study, you know, what are the cycles, what things repeat themselves politically. But you can do it with comedy. Absolutely. And you mentioned my other output, which is music.
00:10:25:15 – 00:10:26:14
Danno Sullivan
Oh my gosh.
00:10:26:18 – 00:10:41:53
Agent Palmer
I’m okay. So I haven’t talked about this on the show yet. And this is, this is one of the few like I’m, I’ve done a lot of things for the sake of the podcast and for the sake of the blog as far as like research or.
00:10:41:55 – 00:10:43:57
Danno Sullivan
Oh, I know you can say nudity or.
00:10:43:59 – 00:10:52:36
Agent Palmer
No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Got it, got it. Not that far. But then again I, I could be, but this is audio only, so they’ll never know.
00:10:52:41 – 00:10:57:31
Danno Sullivan
For the folks listening at home. Yeah, I can see and I know. Don’t worry, we’re all safe.
00:10:57:36 – 00:11:30:07
Agent Palmer
But, I have been, for my own, I guess, research slash edification. I went back and I made a list. I had, I had a lunch with my father for the sheer sake of that, we have similar music tastes, and I wanted to learn more about my own musical tastes. So I made a list of, like, 15 bands, and some of them are obvious the Beatles, the stones, Bob Dylan, some of them maybe not so obvious to other people like Frank Zappa and like the Allman Brothers.
00:11:30:07 – 00:11:57:00
Agent Palmer
And and I was like, I know and, you know, LED Zeppelin, like, I know some of these bands. I don’t know all of all of these things. And I said, I’m going to listen to them from the very beginning in chronological order. The Byrds was another one. And I just want to know how they bounce off each other because, like I’ve always heard, you know, the, Dylan was an influence of a lot of people.
00:11:57:05 – 00:11:57:52
Danno Sullivan
Right?
00:11:57:57 – 00:12:19:58
Agent Palmer
I didn’t I don’t know how like, other than the Byrds covering them or, like, somebody covering, like, you don’t know how. And so, I mean, you know, I obviously started in 1960 and, you know, I, I try and listen to an album a day, and it it’s, it’s reignited my passion for music. It’s reignited my love of the album as an art piece, as right.
00:12:20:02 – 00:12:20:43
Agent Palmer
00:12:20:47 – 00:12:23:15
Danno Sullivan
But and this is all leading right back to Tiny Tim, isn’t it?
00:12:23:26 – 00:12:58:30
Agent Palmer
Not really, but it is kind of one of those things where it’s like, I, I’m, I’m hearing these things is like, had I been alive at the time and I would have been a fan, I probably would have still been a fan of those things. And I’m in the early 70s now, and there are some albums that stand, like, apart from everything else and, and and it’s not even like timelessness of it, but you, I mean, every almost every Dylan album feels like it up to this point.
00:12:58:37 – 00:13:15:58
Agent Palmer
Like. And he’s gone electric already, you know. Sacrilege. Oh my God. But like, he, he has a message in every album. Not in just every song, but in every album. And Pet Sounds from the Beach Boys sounds like it could have came out last year.
00:13:16:00 – 00:13:17:21
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:17:26 – 00:13:26:18
Agent Palmer
I am. I knew I knew a lot of these songs. I just didn’t know a lot of the albums on hold I right, right.
00:13:26:18 – 00:13:37:02
Danno Sullivan
And the context around them actually lends a lot. You know, if you love the songs, you may love the albums and you very likely if you delve into it, you’ll start to love the the stories around them.
00:13:37:11 – 00:13:56:09
Agent Palmer
And and so that’s where I was going with this was Zappa has been the revelation for me because I’ve, I’ve, I, I going into this I knew Zappa as a almost like a Tiny Tim, like a comedic musician and.
00:13:56:18 – 00:13:58:04
Danno Sullivan
The nut and novelty nut.
00:13:58:04 – 00:14:26:32
Agent Palmer
All of a sudden, like, there are like whole sides of albums that are just like, this is amazing jazz fusion that I just it’s wait, what is what is going on here? It’s not funny at all. This is like amazing and good and serious. And it’s it kind of opened my eyes to like, well, like I liked it all along, but I didn’t know of it and I didn’t know I liked it.
00:14:26:36 – 00:14:46:21
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, you have my admiration. I’ve tried with Zappa and have not yet succeeded. But man oh man, I’m 100% had that experience of kind of finding something, realizing that, oh, the whole world knows about this, but I’m the new kid who’s just wandered into the neighborhood and discovered this on my own.
00:14:46:23 – 00:15:07:15
Agent Palmer
Well, and it I mean, granted, it’s generational, like I mean, this is the music generally of my father and not of me, but like, I, I grew up on Aerosmith and and I wanted to know like, I know all like I can all of these bands are their influences. So it’s like, all right, where does this come from?
00:15:07:15 – 00:15:28:07
Agent Palmer
And I like guns N roses. And, you know, I’ve I’ve been a voracious reader for a long time and I’ve read a lot of music biographies. So like, despite the fact that I’m listening to these albums, maybe for the first time for me, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve read the musicians that influenced me a lot to talk about this.
00:15:28:12 – 00:15:29:05
Danno Sullivan
Right. Yeah.
00:15:29:10 – 00:15:30:16
Agent Palmer
It’s where it starts.
00:15:30:28 – 00:15:53:07
Danno Sullivan
To remember a few years ago, shockingly late in history, Little Richard died. Yeah. And I remember just it kind of blew my mind to think that I’d had that experience, you know? Oh, little Richard, he’s the one that influenced the Beatles and the stones. And, you know, he was still around, still playing music, still being Little Richard until, what, five years ago.
00:15:53:11 – 00:16:11:29
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And it goes back to laughing and and kind of like the Steve Martin and and the Saturday Night Live of it all. And it’s like, all right. And and and the Smothers Brothers and like all the things that grew out of like those two shows specifically.
00:16:11:34 – 00:16:29:20
Danno Sullivan
And we’re speaking only of within the limited perspective of our own time realm. But, you know, it’s so interesting to me to think how that just keeps cycling back and cycling back. And you mentioned your dad. You know, he probably had that a similar experience with the stuff that he loved. What was 30 years ahead of him, you know.
00:16:29:22 – 00:16:54:12
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. And that’s a big difference for for our generation. We grew up on what is now classic rock. But, our parents, you know, 30 years ahead of them, it was it was not rock n roll. It was Glenn Miller and big band. Yeah. So their the change for them from childhood to adulthood was a vastly different experience than we would have had going from rock to more rock.
00:16:54:14 – 00:17:03:13
Agent Palmer
Well, and it’s also funny that like the, the classic rock station from 20 years ago is playing the same stuff from 20 years ago. Like, that’s.
00:17:03:23 – 00:17:04:29
Danno Sullivan
Classic. It never changes.
00:17:04:29 – 00:17:06:12
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s.
00:17:06:17 – 00:17:32:28
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, I have a daughter who’s, in her early 20s and a son who’s 18, and it blows my mind how much their generation listens to classic rock. And, you know, their, dare I say, cool kids. And they listen to stuff of today. They know what’s going on, but they’ve got this huge mental space for what, you know, the good stuff from the good old days.
00:17:32:29 – 00:18:03:58
Agent Palmer
And so I can sit here and I can lament the death of the album as an art form. I absolutely can, but I can also say that their access to streaming, is what allows them to go back to CCR and Dylan and the band in a way that, yeah, I only had access to the albums that my, that, that either my parents had or that they kept, which is a very different right idea.
00:18:04:00 – 00:18:17:15
Danno Sullivan
If they really wanted to get into Tiny Tim at this point, you can do it. All you have to do is dig a little bit. And there was a time when rediscovering Tiny Tim really would have been a challenge. I’m sorry I keep bringing up Tiny Tim. I just think it’s funny that you mention him.
00:18:17:15 – 00:18:22:50
Agent Palmer
Well, it I he’s the guy. I think of when I think of the you like.
00:18:22:50 – 00:18:24:40
Danno Sullivan
That’s right I.
00:18:24:45 – 00:18:25:59
Agent Palmer
I you.
00:18:25:59 – 00:18:52:48
Danno Sullivan
Know what? He’s actually a perfect example of what you’re talking about. He was kind of, a carrier of that old, really old, style music that 1920s, 1930s Rudy 2D had cha Cha-Cha. Yeah. Charleston, ragtime is too far back. But, you know, those 1920s, novelty songs. This is what I think he loved. And, he was doing it in the early 1960s.
00:18:52:48 – 00:19:15:40
Danno Sullivan
And here we are talking about him in 2024. And, he really did serve as a bridge. You know, I don’t I don’t admire him as a performer, but I do admire him as somebody who really loved the music and did the best that he could with it and did actually an extraordinary job of bringing it to the public.
00:19:15:40 – 00:19:26:04
Danno Sullivan
Who would have thought? I think he had a number one hit, and he was certainly a cultural figure. Yeah, for a good spell of time. And I do need to tell people who he is, I don’t know.
00:19:26:06 – 00:19:34:51
Agent Palmer
I don’t know either. Like, I, I feel like that’s if you’re interested, you’ll. Yeah, you’ll go the extra mile, right. Like, I, I.
00:19:34:56 – 00:19:38:45
Danno Sullivan
I follow the Dickens character. I’ll just say that.
00:19:38:50 – 00:19:45:15
Agent Palmer
No. And yeah, that, on the opposite end of the height scale, from the Dickens character as well. Yes.
00:19:45:15 – 00:19:46:15
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:19:46:20 – 00:19:46:23
Agent Palmer
That.
00:19:46:25 – 00:19:46:49
Danno Sullivan
Short.
00:19:46:50 – 00:19:54:29
Agent Palmer
So then I would ask you, what comes first, comedy or music? Like what grows?
00:19:54:30 – 00:20:15:42
Danno Sullivan
Oh, gosh, I love music. And it has accidentally become a job for me. A good job that I enjoyed, so don’t get me wrong. And I but, comedy is what I’ve always done. I made a move from, California where you can make a living in show business, to Massachusetts, where you can’t very easily.
00:20:15:42 – 00:20:17:57
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:20:18:02 – 00:20:26:39
Danno Sullivan
And kind of accidentally worked my way into this job. That makes me laugh to say that I have. Which is, helping people who want to learn ukulele.
00:20:26:43 – 00:20:50:44
Agent Palmer
I mean, it it’s it’s great, but I it does beg the question of like, you know, do you think you’re happier in music? Like which which seems maybe a little more stable right now than comedy and show business in general. But like, I don’t know, if we had this conversation a few years ago, I would have been like, well, comedy’s probably the way to go.
00:20:50:44 – 00:20:54:00
Agent Palmer
Like, it probably ebbs and flows.
00:20:54:05 – 00:21:07:55
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. I mean, my, my comedy career right now is only doing my podcast, which is very funny and very satisfying and pleasing to do. But, I don’t know about you. I don’t get rich doing a podcast. Oh no no.
00:21:07:56 – 00:21:25:43
Agent Palmer
No no no no, I, I’ve, I’ve for better or worse, I’ve purposely made decisions in order to make this podcast as enjoyable for me as it may be for the audience in an effort to keep it going.
00:21:25:48 – 00:21:26:40
Danno Sullivan
So yeah.
00:21:26:51 – 00:21:50:02
Agent Palmer
Whereas if somebody wanted me to like, I, I’m sure all the podcast gurus are like, you can’t just have a conversation podcast where you don’t talk to the same kind of person like you have, you know, and, and so I’m, I’m already like not on their, you know, bucket list. And you know, they’re like, well, you know, at a certain point you need this, this and this.
00:21:50:02 – 00:22:07:17
Agent Palmer
And I’m like, well, you know, I’m over 100 episodes, so I must be doing something right. I, I’m not, you know, I’m still doing it and I don’t I don’t think you start a show, to make money.
00:22:07:22 – 00:22:10:09
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. At the same people. Do you think you can?
00:22:10:09 – 00:22:12:19
Agent Palmer
But I don’t think you start a lasting show.
00:22:12:29 – 00:22:36:02
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, yeah. And honestly, it’s like, you know, any field. Some people there are, there are people that are the dedicated nuts that do it because they love the craft, whatever the craft may be. And there are people that are on the opposite end of that spectrum, you know, how can I grab hold of this and, and sell it to the suckers?
00:22:36:06 – 00:22:47:55
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, yeah. Well, and, you know, if you’re doing a real estate podcast or, you know, it’s the same as doing if, you know, there’s real estate shows on TV, there’s a market for that, and there’s.
00:22:48:00 – 00:23:10:18
Agent Palmer
There must be because they keep making like, that’s right. That’s the other thing like that. That’s that on TV specifically because like, you and I can do this out of our pocket or, cheaply or for free and, you know, but nobody’s going to put us on NPR or like, syndicated necessarily, unless they really like it. I mean, we’re both open to it, like if whoever’s out there.
00:23:10:18 – 00:23:13:39
Agent Palmer
Yeah, well, to anybody make your money, right? Yeah, absolutely.
00:23:13:44 – 00:23:16:54
Danno Sullivan
If we could just change the subject right now to real estate, if that’s the way to do this.
00:23:16:59 – 00:23:21:22
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No, I don’t I don’t know anything about it.
00:23:21:27 – 00:23:22:34
Danno Sullivan
Come on, let’s make something up.
00:23:22:34 – 00:23:29:40
Agent Palmer
Look. Looks through pages. Things go, the market goes up, and then it comes back down.
00:23:29:45 – 00:23:34:56
Danno Sullivan
Well, so far we’ve managed to keep things pretty obscure with Tiny Tim, the Marx Brothers, Rowan and Martin’s laugh.
00:23:34:56 – 00:23:49:18
Agent Palmer
Would you sit? Wait a minute. Wait, wait wait, wait, I maybe it’s my circle, though. Like, I don’t see. Maybe Laugh-In might be obscure and definitely Tiny Tim, but the Marx Brothers have to be. No.
00:23:49:23 – 00:23:55:12
Danno Sullivan
You’re you’re asking the wrong person. I’m such a fan of the Marx Brothers. Did you notice the spelling of my name?
00:23:55:23 – 00:24:12:05
Agent Palmer
I yeah, I mean, so so this is what I will say. I introduced, like, my, my partner, she knew about the Marx Brothers. Like, she knew of them, but like, when she finally moved in, I was like, all right, we’re we’re doing this.
00:24:12:10 – 00:24:12:47
Danno Sullivan
It’s time.
00:24:12:47 – 00:24:19:10
Agent Palmer
And so we went through about half of the, I have the silver collection box set.
00:24:19:10 – 00:24:21:37
Danno Sullivan
Right? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
00:24:21:41 – 00:24:50:50
Agent Palmer
And so and and what’s, what’s ridiculous to me is. Just I still laugh like they’re I’m I’m not. This is not a judgment thing. I know comedy is subjective as anything else, but, like, I don’t laugh. Like I can enjoy an Adam Sandler movie, especially like the classic Happy Happy Gilmore stuff.
00:24:50:55 – 00:24:51:46
Danno Sullivan
Right?
00:24:51:50 – 00:25:00:05
Agent Palmer
But I will not laugh at the jokes anymore. I will still laugh through a Marx brothers movie. I just.
00:25:00:05 – 00:25:00:25
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:25:00:39 – 00:25:07:49
Agent Palmer
Help, I don’t know, it’s foundational to my being. I can’t not laugh at those jokes.
00:25:07:54 – 00:25:53:21
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, there’s there’s such oh gosh, we’re going to get all pretentious on on silly comedy now, but they’re such deep character types that there’s they, they exist in a way that, Adam Sandler film does not. There’s a level of the world that they create seems to actually exist as bizarre and nonsensical as it is, and it’s such a delightful, weird world that I think for people that love them, it’s as much loving the jokes per se, the jokes and the comedy as it is just kind of having this fascination with the characters and the world that they seem to inhabit.
00:25:53:26 – 00:26:12:59
Danno Sullivan
That simply doesn’t make any sense. It’s I wonder if there’s an overlap with like, people who love Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland, you know, where there’s just, such a level of nonsense that you have to buy into something vastly beyond the joke?
00:26:13:04 – 00:26:28:51
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. Although it does lead me to this question for you, which is do you play any other instruments? Because, like, I, I play a lot of instruments. Okay. A lot I play, I feel like bass and guitar. That shouldn’t count as a lot because those are overlaps a lot,
00:26:28:56 – 00:26:30:00
Danno Sullivan
A lot more than zero.
00:26:30:00 – 00:26:51:02
Agent Palmer
But because of the Marx Brothers specifically, Chico, I regret not being able to play the piano. Now, would I be able to play the piano in that way, even if I could play? Probably not. But it’s the one instrument that kind of got away.
00:26:51:07 – 00:26:54:49
Danno Sullivan
That’s really funny, but not the harp. Like Harpo, I,
00:26:54:54 – 00:27:04:26
Agent Palmer
Like that, I’ll be honest. I look at that and I go, he’s a god. I don’t know how that’s that’s real. Magic is real. I don’t know how anybody plays the harp.
00:27:04:31 – 00:27:09:27
Danno Sullivan
That’s right. And then there was Trumbo. No, he was not to many of the movies, but,
00:27:09:31 – 00:27:17:27
Agent Palmer
No, I was a reed instrument. I played saxophone, so I could never get the brass ones down.
00:27:17:31 – 00:27:28:42
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, but, you know, that’s great to take your inspiration where you find it. And it’s. I find that very intriguing that, you got your some musical inspiration from a comedy troupe.
00:27:28:49 – 00:27:31:49
Agent Palmer
Yeah, but I still can’t play the piano, though, like, that’s.
00:27:31:49 – 00:27:33:39
Danno Sullivan
You know, you can’t play the Marx Brothers for that.
00:27:33:39 – 00:27:46:38
Agent Palmer
Well, I mean, I could try this. There’s. They’re not going to stop me, I guess. You know, that’s, So anyway, do you, like, what else do you have other than the the ukulele? Is there is there any.
00:27:46:38 – 00:28:04:17
Danno Sullivan
Way, you know, most people who play music mess around on different instruments. And so I’ve messed around. My first instrument was five string banjo, didn’t get very good at it, learned it from a book, and learned years later that I had learned literally to do it upside down. So, messed around with guitar a little bit.
00:28:04:17 – 00:28:22:14
Danno Sullivan
And, accordion. I used to do a juggling show. Speaking of, my comic comedy past, and we incorporated the accordion that we got at a garage sale into the juggling act, which. So I had to learn one song on the accordion. That is it.
00:28:22:14 – 00:28:42:32
Agent Palmer
Okay, so I can juggle. I don’t know. I think I picked it up at summer camp when I was like ten. I don’t, and I never forgot, but I can ask you this. What’s what was harder to learn the song on the accordion or juggling?
00:28:42:37 – 00:29:02:22
Danno Sullivan
Basic juggling, as I’m sure you learned at summer camp, is not that hard. Not that hard. And for me, actually, it was a great entree into performing comedy because I realized anybody could stand up on stage and throw around three balls, and that the goal was to make it entertaining. Yes. Hence the accordion, as you can well imagine.
00:29:02:23 – 00:29:04:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:04:38 – 00:29:27:27
Danno Sullivan
Okay. So, you know, I do a lot of things that I associate, actually back to my juggling days where I realize it’s it’s just as a finger skill or a muscle skill. Sure. That juggling takes a little bit of coordination, but anybody can do it with a little bit of practice. And honestly, you know, I don’t perform music these days.
00:29:27:27 – 00:29:49:23
Danno Sullivan
I teach music and I use that as a comparison point all the time. If you’re trying to learn to move your fingers around on strings, you’re not necessarily we’ll make it musical automatically, but you can learn the skills with just a little bit of time. And then there’s more that evolves from that, you know, how do you make it sound musical?
00:29:49:23 – 00:29:54:09
Danno Sullivan
How do you make it sound interesting and build on that? But they’re all just juggling skills.
00:29:54:23 – 00:30:17:00
Agent Palmer
Okay, so I every time I have someone on who’s a teacher of anything. I have to ask this question. It’s like for me I feel like I actually I think I ask this in my personal life when I meet teachers too. Because it’s, it’s something I don’t have. And I’m aware that I don’t have it.
00:30:17:04 – 00:30:30:04
Agent Palmer
But I just, I don’t know that I’ll ever get it. And that is your a teacher. Where where’s the patience come from? Like where did. Because. Because, you have to have some. Or at least more than me.
00:30:30:08 – 00:30:38:36
Danno Sullivan
Well, you may be asking the wrong person because honestly, my approach is I hope you like my approach, because this is the only approach I have.
00:30:38:36 – 00:30:45:24
Agent Palmer
Okay. All right. Okay. So so you’re not that you’re not that patient, then.
00:30:45:29 – 00:31:09:39
Danno Sullivan
I’m not that patient. But, you know, maybe this is all it is. You know, we were joking around about Tiny Tim being such, a lover of the music that he presented and that that is very much me. I’m not as tall. My hair is not as long. My pallor is not as pallid. But I love the music that the ukulele in particular represents, that old time music.
00:31:09:39 – 00:31:35:18
Danno Sullivan
And then it kind of came around again in the early 60s. And now people are using it as a real instrument, less as, oh, that jokey ukulele. It’s just we need the sound. Let’s use the ukulele. So I love it at many levels, and there is a great thrill to sharing that love with with somebody. And I was not joking about my lack of patience.
00:31:35:18 – 00:31:49:33
Danno Sullivan
You know, I think if I don’t mind having the patience to teach somebody the skills, but I don’t want to teach somebody that’s not interested, you know, if they love the music, I can get them to a respectable level. Okay.
00:31:49:37 – 00:32:13:36
Agent Palmer
All right. It just, I guess for my own edification. Does it help or hurt? Like, if I was, if I if I was going to audit for or for for a class, does it help or hurt that I have, like guitar and bass knowledge? Like, because sometimes that feels like, well, the dexterity is there. I also immediately go to certain shapes and things.
00:32:13:36 – 00:32:38:25
Danno Sullivan
Right? Yeah. No, it there’s a huge overlap from guitar to ukulele. One of my pet peeves is that, a lot of people perceive the ukulele as kind of a stepping stone to playing guitar, because they’re so similar in the finger skills, in the music knowledge. And it certainly can serve as that. But it frustrates me because I think of the ukulele as an end goal in itself.
00:32:38:30 – 00:33:03:42
Danno Sullivan
And in fact, maybe now we’re getting down into the weeds. It’s kind of the opposite in many ways, because the ukulele only has four strings compared to the six strings of the guitar. You can learn a lot of stuff. More easily, more quickly and more deeply in your brain on ukulele, and implement it more directly. So if you’re playing rock and roll, you know, you’re going to switch over to, to the guitar at some point.
00:33:03:42 – 00:33:12:57
Danno Sullivan
And the ukulele could be a good stepping stone. But if you’re playing almost any other kind of music, the ukulele can very well be a, a means, an end in and of itself.
00:33:13:02 – 00:33:13:58
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:33:14:03 – 00:33:16:29
Danno Sullivan
Well, now you got me on up on my ukulele high horse.
00:33:16:41 – 00:33:36:46
Agent Palmer
There is. There is a ukulele in my house. No surprise. Steph wants to, learn it, and she doesn’t practice nearly as much as she should. And I, I’ve threatened because I, I’ve only messed around a little bit, but I’ve threatened. I’m like, I will get better at this than you. And this is yours. That’s.
00:33:36:56 – 00:33:51:50
Danno Sullivan
Well, the perception is that it’s a toy. And I think, for somebody who wants to get better, get get an instrument that’s not a toy in the first place, you know, buy a nice instrument and, then start putting the work in a little bit and I.
00:33:51:55 – 00:34:16:30
Agent Palmer
I, I look at it as, like, it’s for me, the youth. And I don’t want to, pigeonhole this. And I mean no disrespect, but I have the ukulele and the mandolin kind of in a similar boat in my brain, where it’s like, I, I in the last, maybe decade, I got on a very big acoustic guitar kick.
00:34:16:30 – 00:34:48:35
Agent Palmer
I just stopped picking up my electric, on even a regular, like, even an annual basis. It was just like all acoustic. I don’t I don’t know what happened. Because it I you could say it was because I turned 40, but like, that was recently and this happened well before I turned 40. So like I, I bigger and so the mandolin and the ukulele both hold this place where it’s like, oh, those are cool intros that I need another instrument to learn.
00:34:48:40 – 00:35:14:26
Agent Palmer
Because while I can play maybe the riff on, for mandolin or ukulele on the guitar, it will never sound like either of those instruments right on the guitar. And it’s just such a unique sound to them, unto themselves. And so that’s where I go. I maybe I should really put some time into those, but I don’t have a mandolin, so it would have to be a ukulele.
00:35:14:26 – 00:35:17:34
Danno Sullivan
You know, I blame the Marx Brothers. Why don’t you have a mandolin?
00:35:17:39 – 00:35:38:25
Agent Palmer
Oh, we I mean, we can we can eat. Well, you know, for that one. No, we should, we should blame Groucho because we already blame Chico for the piano. So like, we gotta spread it out. And again, Harpo is a god. I don’t know how. It’s magic. I don’t know how anybody to look. You know, you’re telling you ukulele for I’m a I was a bass player first.
00:35:38:25 – 00:35:46:30
Agent Palmer
That’s for guitar six I that’s fine. I get six. Cool. All right. That’s too many strings for an instrument. I’m sorry.
00:35:46:30 – 00:35:53:12
Danno Sullivan
He’s pretty harp. Yeah. It’s something like, I don’t even know how many strings on a harp, but I’m going to guess dozens. Dozens of.
00:35:53:17 – 00:36:00:16
Agent Palmer
Dozens? Yes. Does it? I’m I, I concur with your, expert opinion, doesn’t it?
00:36:00:21 – 00:36:04:45
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. That’s music talk. You know, you may need to edit that out so we don’t bore people that don’t know.
00:36:04:47 – 00:36:22:32
Agent Palmer
I mean, look, it’s, we’re not talking about harmonics. And, you know, I. I feel like maybe once in my life and stage crew, I moved a harp once, so it’s possible I accidentally brushed it. And I presume that’s the equivalent of playing it. So.
00:36:22:37 – 00:36:23:13
Danno Sullivan
Listen, if you know.
00:36:23:17 – 00:36:30:07
Agent Palmer
I’ve played it once. Novice. Great. I’ll. I’ll add that to my music résumé.
00:36:30:12 – 00:36:31:10
Danno Sullivan
Brushed harp.
00:36:31:15 – 00:36:43:29
Agent Palmer
Brushed harp. Oh, I mean, look, I, I did I mean, I could play the drums a bit, so I can’t say like, I brushed them, but I did use brushes on a drum, so I have a brushed drum, too. So,
00:36:43:34 – 00:36:47:48
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, I feel like I’m doing my job here in helping you expand your resume. I mean.
00:36:47:48 – 00:36:52:52
Agent Palmer
This is just, I mean, eventually one of these I mean, none of these skills are higher.
00:36:52:57 – 00:36:55:33
Danno Sullivan
Unfortunately, but that’s. Well, that’s my expertise.
00:36:55:44 – 00:36:58:03
Agent Palmer
Well.
00:36:58:08 – 00:37:22:38
Agent Palmer
Well, so I want to I want to go back for a moment, though. The, the the ukulele and comedy. Where did you go to school for any of these things or what did you do to help? I don’t know, facilitate your love and want to go further with either. As a young child person.
00:37:22:43 – 00:37:45:54
Danno Sullivan
I started off as a baby. Yeah. Yeah. So actually, my I’m fascinated that you’re fascinated by the ukulele, which granted that I’m known as, and ukulele Kingpin, so people ask me about it a lot. Kind of gives me a tough edge to the whole dainty little ukulele thing. Yeah.
00:37:45:54 – 00:38:00:16
Agent Palmer
Kingpin and ukulele. Not often together. Yeah, yeah, but I think I think it’s something you can wear. I wish get you a crown. Definitely.
00:38:00:21 – 00:38:27:33
Danno Sullivan
But, it’s the newest phase of my my odd and varied life, and, I’ve always loved music and always played something like the accordion. But it really was just a move to the the East Coast and knocking around, with a hobby that I loved, which was ukulele and, missing a little gang of fellow uke players on in California.
00:38:27:37 – 00:38:39:21
Danno Sullivan
And I put together a little club, and the club needed somebody to lead it. And then people needed lessons, and one thing led to another. But prior to that, for my entire life, all comedy, all the time.
00:38:39:30 – 00:38:42:01
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:38:42:06 – 00:38:58:23
Danno Sullivan
And there are places you can go for comedy training. You can go to screenwriting school if you want to write comedy, you can go to clown college. And there are several people who’ve gone through that experience. And you cannot joke about it. They take it very serious.
00:38:58:23 – 00:39:30:18
Agent Palmer
That I, I, I remember a I don’t know who the guest was. This is the problem. So not only do I have a problem remembering the guests who have been on my show and when, but like one of my favorite podcasters, Marc Maron, and I pacifically remember him having a long conversation with one of his guests who who had been to and took the clown college thing.
00:39:30:23 – 00:39:51:55
Agent Palmer
Like, I think it was the first time I had ever heard somebody talk about it in such it like exactly how you’re putting like just they don’t joke about it. Yeah, it’s a serious thing. Yeah. And that was my first kind of I don’t remember who the guest was, but like I was just I and but I was enraptured by it because I was like.
00:39:51:59 – 00:39:58:45
Danno Sullivan
Oh, it’s a spellbinding world. I mean, just imagine your classmates are elephants and unicycles. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:58:49 – 00:40:02:15
Agent Palmer
It was. Yeah. So anyway, so,
00:40:02:20 – 00:40:04:24
Danno Sullivan
Can I interject and tell you a funny Marc Maron tale?
00:40:04:24 – 00:40:05:23
Agent Palmer
Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:05:34 – 00:40:30:52
Danno Sullivan
So you love Marc Maron from his podcast? I actually barely, barely knew him when I was in New York City. And, I was riding on a very early internet comedy show. And at the last minute, they hired Marc Maron to be the host of this pre, almost pre-internet comedy show. So that that was my overlap with him.
00:40:30:57 – 00:40:56:22
Danno Sullivan
And, so we were just we kind of hang around in the same places every once in a while. We weren’t really coworkers. And, at the time, I was just finishing up that job and getting ready to move off to California to be a Hollywood superstar, because that’s how you do it. Yeah. And somehow Marc Maron got wind of this and he said, hey, man, you know anybody who’s got an apartment?
00:40:56:27 – 00:41:24:49
Danno Sullivan
I said, yeah, the apartment I’m moving out of right now is available. So Marc Maron, sublet my apartment from me, and, this little show came up on the almost pre-internet, and I had to tune in and listen to it and see how they had destroyed my handiwork or not. And Marc Maron is doing this kind of, ad libbed monologue, and he does this bit about.
00:41:24:54 – 00:41:35:42
Danno Sullivan
So I rented this apartment from this guy, and he left his freakin mattress behind. And I was the guy that left the freaking mattress behind. So.
00:41:35:47 – 00:42:10:50
Agent Palmer
All right, so this is the real question I have, from that story is I’ve never been a comedy writer. I’ve. I’ve, I’ve mainly written for myself. What’s it like to to write something and then watch and be like, I don’t know, how are they going to handle what I wrote or I and I guess the, the more important question is, are you more worried that it will or won’t get the air or that it will or won’t be, I don’t know, handled the way you and why would you.
00:42:10:50 – 00:42:13:57
Danno Sullivan
Be worried that it would be handled properly? I don’t follow you on that one.
00:42:14:08 – 00:42:24:56
Agent Palmer
Well, I guess okay. That’s fair. I mean, it’s it’s a would. Are you worried of if it’s going to make the air or not or if it will, be misappropriated, I guess.
00:42:25:08 – 00:42:47:59
Danno Sullivan
I see what you mean. Yeah. That the the only word there. I guess there are twin worries. One is that it’ll be handled terribly. Okay. And then, of course, that shines back on you as the writer. The opposite is also true, that it will sail beautifully and then completely forget about the writer. Oh, the guy that performed it does is so funny.
00:42:48:04 – 00:43:05:18
Danno Sullivan
And all the credit goes to the the guy in the spotlight and it’s completely understandable. I’ve performed comedy two and of course you get the laugh. You want the laugh, you accept the laugh and you accept it on behalf of, you know, all the little people behind you in the shadows. But yeah, it’s still your laugh.
00:43:05:25 – 00:43:33:32
Agent Palmer
This is. This is now. See, now I, I have rendered myself incapable of, like, original thought now. Because now I immediately think of, a cold open of the West Wing where Toby, the speechwriter, and the president are arguing about a specific section and whether it was foolproof or it was the speech, like, you know, is it is it the content or the delivery?
00:43:33:37 – 00:43:41:11
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And that’s another one where it’s like, I’m kind of really glad that I write for myself.
00:43:41:16 – 00:43:41:43
Danno Sullivan
Because.
00:43:41:43 – 00:43:55:08
Agent Palmer
I am I can take credit for a great delivery, but on a poor delivery, I can still take credit for great writing. So like I can find a way to spin it. So I end up in a good place regardless.
00:43:55:19 – 00:44:26:49
Danno Sullivan
That’s perfect. Well, you know, we were talking about all the comedy greats, and that’s supposedly the reason Monty Python exists, because they were all great writers and they got annoyed with other people not handling their writing well. So these are, Maybe we just better perform it ourselves. Them and I’ve been pretty lucky. Honestly, most of what I’ve done has been in the world of, improv sketch comedy, and it’s been working with people that I know intimately and or, you know, myself as a performer, too.
00:44:26:54 – 00:44:27:36
Danno Sullivan
So.
00:44:27:41 – 00:44:40:14
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it’s I think it’s probably a lot easier to write when, you know, the performer in a way where it’s like you can kind of write, maybe not exactly to the performer, just not away from them.
00:44:40:14 – 00:45:00:45
Danno Sullivan
You can write to the performer. Yeah. I remember writing, as a scene. We had a guy in our comedy show called Dave. It doesn’t matter who he was, but Dave Russell, if you’re listening, this is you. And, you know, he was just the funniest bastard on earth, and everything he did was funny. And so we’d write a sketch.
00:45:00:50 – 00:45:18:19
Danno Sullivan
Lots of lines. Very specific. This must be said this way, emphasis on this word. And then Dave does a bit here. You know, you just leave a space for him and you know. All right, it’s Dave’s, he’ll handle it. And it’s great knowing that you’ve got people like that that are just genuinely funny.
00:45:18:24 – 00:45:42:41
Agent Palmer
I mean, worst case scenario, he can just say Dave does a bit here, which would probably like depending on delivery, might still get a laugh. Says, come on guys. Yeah. You know, I mean, hey, he’s you know holes here right. Like so what are you doing? When you’re not teaching or comedy, like, do you have an escape?
00:45:42:46 – 00:45:51:10
Agent Palmer
Or is it. Look, I’ll be honest. I’m in the arts all the time, and I don’t have an escape from the arts. Right?
00:45:51:11 – 00:46:15:21
Danno Sullivan
I have ordinary things that people have. I have a family that I love and books that I read and dogs that I walk. I was actually thinking the other day, I, I do this little weekly podcast that’s, much shorter than yours. You know, when I’ve finished episodes 12 or 15 minutes, typically. But that’s, multiple hours going into creating that.
00:46:15:26 – 00:46:35:59
Danno Sullivan
And I was actually thinking, as I was doing the editing and listening to the voices, you know, it’s you get those voices in your ears while you’re editing, and it’s almost like being, again in the room with the people that you know, with and it occurred to me to think that this is actually a really lovely element, that these are people that I love and enjoy working with.
00:46:35:59 – 00:47:03:36
Danno Sullivan
And here I’ve got them in my ears again, and I’m messing with their words that they said, you know, as we were recording, and to answer your question, in kind of a corny way, it is a great, happiness to to have that as an activity, to know that I’m creating something that I’m proud of, that I think is funny and good and that I’m creating it, with people that I admire.
00:47:03:41 – 00:47:10:22
Danno Sullivan
And the mere fact that it takes up a certain amount of time is actually one of the things that I like about it.
00:47:10:27 – 00:47:33:17
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I, I went on a crusade and I want to say there’s a good there’s too. So, I usually it as a peek behind the curtain, we’ll edit this and put it on a shelf, and then I will listen to it in order to write the intro and the outro.
00:47:33:24 – 00:47:34:04
Danno Sullivan
Sure. Yeah.
00:47:34:18 – 00:47:51:56
Agent Palmer
There was a I got stuck in a, in a, in a bit of a creative rut, only because I kept talking to creatives and people who have a sentiment very similar to yours, which is I love the process. And so I would get to the end and I’d be like, well, what do I want to talk about from this episode?
00:47:52:05 – 00:48:23:31
Agent Palmer
And I feel like in my back catalog there’s like five episode, like ten episodes where every other one is me saying you should all be creating something. You should all go be building something, be writing it, be recording. Everybody should have their thing. And I, I’ve kind of gotten away from it. But in the back of my head, I, I, I almost always want to end every show with like, you can do this or you can do a comedy show, or you can do like you, you can do anything.
00:48:23:31 – 00:48:34:44
Agent Palmer
But I think not. Look, there was, a guest I had on who put it into an amazing perspective, which is inputs and outputs.
00:48:34:49 – 00:48:35:38
Danno Sullivan
00:48:35:43 – 00:48:59:00
Agent Palmer
I don’t think any of us, given the world of today, will ever be able to equal our output to our input, and vice versa. We will always be consuming much more than we put out in the world. But the closer to 5050 we get, or at the very least, the further away from 100% consuming and 0% creating.
00:48:59:00 – 00:48:59:31
Danno Sullivan
Right?
00:48:59:43 – 00:49:30:10
Agent Palmer
The further away from that we get, the better off I think everyone will be. I yeah, and really for three reasons. One, I worked in retail, so I give retail people all the time in the world because I know that’s bad. I worked in fast food, so I give all food service industry people all the time in the world, and I spend a lot of time more than the hour, 15 minutes this year, hour 20, whatever this will end up being.
00:49:30:14 – 00:49:33:46
Agent Palmer
I spend exponentially more time than this creating this.
00:49:33:46 – 00:49:35:00
Danno Sullivan
And so of course, you.
00:49:35:00 – 00:49:42:59
Agent Palmer
Consume a book, listen to a podcast, listen to an album. I’m again more understanding of all of those things.
00:49:43:04 – 00:49:55:21
Danno Sullivan
And yeah, and you know, I would add on to that, I just read a biography of Sam Houston, one of the, you know, the founders of Texas.
00:49:55:21 – 00:49:56:33
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:49:56:38 – 00:50:27:15
Danno Sullivan
And my one takeaway from this very dense biography was the dude knew everybody. And in one of his letters to, I don’t know, Mr. Austin, let’s say, or Bill Texas, if there was such a guy, was just a little note. I’ve got to make my rounds and be social, was his little comment, and I it just made me think that’s a form of output, you know, using your definition of the word output.
00:50:27:19 – 00:50:39:30
Danno Sullivan
And I don’t think that you have to necessarily create a thing, play an instrument that I admire, people like Sam Houston, in that one regard. I’m not as a slave owner, obviously.
00:50:39:35 – 00:51:05:41
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I’ll say this, I have we have started hosting dinner parties in this in a, in a similar vein where it’s like, yeah, because I, I it, it, it didn’t skip a generation, but like my parents were both working professionals. So like we they would host rarely. But I always heard stories about my grandparents hosting not this wasn’t holiday dinners.
00:51:05:52 – 00:51:08:27
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. Just when you get together, host.
00:51:08:32 – 00:51:10:29
Agent Palmer
A couple couples because.
00:51:10:43 – 00:51:15:58
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. Let’s, whip up a jello salad and get out the Vienna sausages and.
00:51:16:05 – 00:51:37:01
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And so we we’ve started trying to, we’ve, we’ve started trying to do one a month with I love that. Yeah. With another couple, a bunch of a group. Just a group of friend because it started. Because, we do a Friendsgiving every year. Because family is family. But the family you choose is always much better.
00:51:37:06 – 00:51:45:05
Agent Palmer
And I don’t think anybody’s going to argue with that, but I was like, I hate that we only do this once a year. Like, I enjoy that.
00:51:45:06 – 00:51:51:00
Danno Sullivan
That was a lot of weight on it when you do it once a year. But if you’re doing it every so often, you know, it can be a little more casual, right?
00:51:51:00 – 00:52:06:11
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And so we’ve with to that end like we’ve, we’ve very much increased our output because it’s like oh man. Like we’re, we’re there now. We’re not getting out there, but we’re getting other people out there I guess. Yeah. In some way.
00:52:06:15 – 00:52:27:37
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. And I think there’s an overlap with all the things that we’re talking about, you know, that we’re you and I are communicating here, but we’re communicating for the sake of communication. Yeah. Sending this out to the world. Right. Yeah. And, trying to create a virtuous cycle that way. And, I honestly think it’s, it’s one of the most valuable things that I was going to say.
00:52:27:37 – 00:52:32:09
Danno Sullivan
We as entertainers, I, we as, what do we call ourselves?
00:52:32:09 – 00:52:33:04
Agent Palmer
I mean.
00:52:33:08 – 00:52:34:06
Danno Sullivan
Content creators.
00:52:34:06 – 00:52:38:05
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, but I see here’s the thing. I don’t mind being an entertainer. In fact.
00:52:38:05 – 00:52:39:01
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, I don’t at all.
00:52:39:01 – 00:52:56:33
Agent Palmer
Most of the time I’m the straight man, like, I, I’m even in a group of friends. I’m good for one good line that is just somehow set up perfectly for me. But otherwise I spend the rest of the evening setting you up for good jokes.
00:52:56:33 – 00:53:17:37
Danno Sullivan
If you weren’t, man, that’s a good friend right there. Seriously. But we’re doing our good deed. You’re doing your good deed and that circle of friends. And, you know, I’m just saying that as communicators, let’s use that word. We’ve that that is a great service that we do because we live in weird times. Now that all times are weird, don’t you think?
00:53:17:37 – 00:53:41:04
Danno Sullivan
And the more we can now, we’re hearkening to our past, talking about the past. Yeah. You know, as we carry these strains of education, information, entertainment, music, spreading it amongst our circles and spreading it, in this case, we’re recording it for the future. So this may be on the golden disc that goes into outer space next time.
00:53:41:08 – 00:53:55:07
Danno Sullivan
And, the Earth’s communications with the aliens. Maybe this conversation.
00:53:55:12 – 00:54:26:37
Agent Palmer
Since this conversation, I’ve been thinking about the greatly exaggerated reports of the deaths of radio, podcasting, and vaudeville as they know when I discussed. Sure, you can’t go to see a vaudeville show on the stage, but it’s essence, just like the essence of radio and podcasting, all of which can arguably be combined into storytelling, are alive and kicking here on this side of the early new millennium, more than a century after vaudeville stages and radio programs that launched the entertainment industry as we know it.
00:54:26:42 – 00:54:52:40
Agent Palmer
The cyclical nature of things, right? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Vaudeville as a stage presence may in fact be dead, but its essence is in every variety show put on at high schools and colleges. Even camps all around the world. As communicators, Danno and I enjoy the process of storytelling that is at the heart of everything from music to comedy to radio and podcasting and beyond.
00:54:52:44 – 00:55:14:37
Agent Palmer
In this episode, we’ve told some stories and had some fun, and that’s exactly what it’s all about. It’s not all hokey pokey. So tell me this. Or at least think about this. Who are your favorite storytellers? Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode one, two, three. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays.
00:55:14:44 – 00:55:33:36
Agent Palmer
If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact Danno and myself in the show notes. There you can find links to Dannos relevant social channels and his podcast and ukulele websites. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur. Email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com.
00:55:33:39 – 00:55:48:30
Agent Palmer
And remember your home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
00:55:48:35 – 00:55:56:19
Unknown
You.
00:55:56:24 – 00:56:22:54
Unknown
See me?
00:56:22:59 – 00:56:25:38
Agent Palmer
All right, Danno, do you have one final question for me?
00:56:25:42 – 00:56:32:33
Danno Sullivan
I have a simple question for you. Introvert. Extrovert. Somewhere in between. And what’s the difference?
00:56:32:38 – 00:56:38:33
Agent Palmer
Okay, so I believe I would consider myself an introvert.
00:56:38:37 – 00:56:41:04
Danno Sullivan
Okay. Why? Why do you say that?
00:56:41:08 – 00:56:54:06
Agent Palmer
I get my energy from being alone. The way I look, I took some sociology courses in college. Admittedly, decades ago at this point.
00:56:54:11 – 00:56:56:06
Danno Sullivan
And sociology has changed over the years, right?
00:56:56:08 – 00:57:14:59
Agent Palmer
Yes. It has. And I, I took a psych class or two, but I think somewhere along the way I read in a book an article I read somewhere that the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is where they recharge their batteries.
00:57:15:00 – 00:57:15:31
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:57:15:33 – 00:57:22:47
Agent Palmer
An extrovert recharges their batteries in a group and an introvert recharges their batteries by themselves.
00:57:22:52 – 00:57:31:39
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. That’s that. To me, that seems very reasonable. I’m not sure that’s the absolute definition, but I think that definitely describes two types of people.
00:57:31:44 – 00:57:58:21
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And so I would say I’m an introvert because while I have been able to in the past and I can work a room. Yeah. As an extrovert might do. I’m exhausted. Yeah. Like, I, like you would have thought I ran 13 Boston Marathons. If I was just at a party with 200 people work in the room versus this where you and I could go for 12 hours, and I’ll be.
00:57:58:22 – 00:58:00:10
Agent Palmer
I’ll be refreshed at the end.
00:58:00:14 – 00:58:07:43
Danno Sullivan
Yeah. Yeah. So if you are in a room of 200 people, what’s your inclination? Will you work the room because you feel like that’s your duty?
00:58:07:45 – 00:58:18:44
Agent Palmer
No no no no. Well, only if I’m being like, well, I haven’t worked a crowd of 200 people. Like a room like that since, my father’s retirement party.
00:58:18:49 – 00:58:19:27
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:58:19:32 – 00:58:28:21
Agent Palmer
Because I knew half the people and even though it was his night, I’m his only son. And it felt like I had to also make the rounds.
00:58:28:22 – 00:58:29:33
Danno Sullivan
So it kind of was your duty.
00:58:29:45 – 00:58:53:16
Agent Palmer
So it was kind of a, a responsibility. But if I, if I don’t have any kind of social construct, I’m going to find the three people, two people, one person that I can hang out with and have this conversation in the corner or over dinner. Just in it. Not. It doesn’t have to be in a corner, but just ensure that I’m.
00:58:53:27 – 00:59:13:51
Agent Palmer
I’m not seeking, despite the fact that this is a podcast that goes out to the world. I’m not seeking that in reality. Digitally. That’s fine. You know, like, I guess I can make that distinction digitally, too. And look, I, I played in bands on a stage.
00:59:13:56 – 00:59:14:26
Danno Sullivan
Yeah.
00:59:14:41 – 00:59:22:04
Agent Palmer
I don’t know if I still have that in me. But I think that’s a whole different thing. But I feel like it’s possible.
00:59:22:08 – 00:59:42:15
Danno Sullivan
You know, there’s, almost a stereotype of actors and maybe musicians to people who perform for a living being introverts that, I just read somewhere, I think it was Henry Fonda would throw up every night before he went on the Broadway stage because he was so nervous about being in front of people. But he was an actor.
00:59:42:17 – 00:59:53:19
Danno Sullivan
That was his chosen job. Yeah. So what do you think it is that makes some people torn between those two extremes of needing to be seen and yet not wanting to be?
00:59:53:24 – 01:00:04:15
Agent Palmer
I think it’s I would I would dissect it a bit and I say it’s not about being seen. It’s about the the job at hand.
01:00:04:20 – 01:00:05:14
Danno Sullivan
The job of acting.
01:00:05:15 – 01:00:12:19
Agent Palmer
It’s I, I would probably throw up if we were going to do this live in front of even a group of 100.
01:00:12:24 – 01:00:14:57
Danno Sullivan
Well, I’ve got a surprise for you. Crowd. Come on in.
01:00:15:09 – 01:00:32:34
Agent Palmer
But but I think that I could probably do it because after the first two minutes, I’m probably going to hook up and hopefully. And this is what I think happens. Even if you’re facing the audience, you forget the audience is there. Our job is to put on a show for them.
01:00:32:36 – 01:00:33:56
Danno Sullivan
Yeah, that’s a great point.
01:00:34:00 – 01:00:59:25
Agent Palmer
And I think that that’s where whatever this show has in just you and me wouldn’t change in an audience necessarily, except we would probably take questions and, you know, there would be an audience reaction, which is something I’ve not that’s that’s the thing I don’t have, which is I, I don’t know how to play to a, a strange crowd like that.
01:00:59:30 – 01:01:25:48
Agent Palmer
And when, when I talk about having like, six people over, I know the audience. I know the jokes, I can tell. I know the jokes I can’t tell. Which is probably the more important part of that equation. And I know who’s going to laugh at what. For, I, for an untrained person, and I’m not even going to say comedian, just person to go and try and play to a crowd.
01:01:25:53 – 01:01:39:10
Agent Palmer
I just don’t know that I have that in me. But I could probably. Yeah, I mean, I, I’m yeah. I don’t know what will happen before we walk out on that stage. I might need the bucket. Yeah, but I think once we get out there, I.
01:01:39:10 – 01:02:02:07
Danno Sullivan
Would suggest that someone like you who says you’re comfortable with a room of six because you. You know, that room. Yeah. That you would have the instincts, maybe with a little bit of time to be on a stage and to learn that room in the same way, you know, you get a sense for that crowd that night and that space.
01:02:02:16 – 01:02:30:27
Agent Palmer
That’s true. I do, I do, but so here’s the the the rub to that is if it was going to be something else, that would be fine. I guess I could make an attempt. But if it was going to be this. I think you talking to me one on one is a very, I think I could ask you the same questions I asked you in the order I asked them, and if there was 100 people watching your answers might be different.
01:02:30:32 – 01:02:32:04
Danno Sullivan
Oh yeah. Oh my gosh.
01:02:32:09 – 01:02:57:23
Agent Palmer
So that’s it. It’s it’s Schrodinger’s podcast, right? Like if if there’s an audience, is it going to be different? And I feel like even though you are well aware, like you’re under no illusions that we’re doing this for an or an eventual audience, right? A theoretical audience, but it feels like because it’s still just the two of us, even with that knowledge like it, it change.
01:02:57:23 – 01:03:02:02
Agent Palmer
I think it changes. What, when there’s an audio, I think I don’t know, but.
01:03:02:07 – 01:03:06:03
Danno Sullivan
I think you’re absolutely right. Yeah. But yeah, you’re wiser than you think, my friend.
01:03:06:03 – 01:03:09:19
Agent Palmer
But I’m going to go I’m going to go. Introvert. Final answer.
01:03:09:24 – 01:03:15:14
Danno Sullivan
Okay. Final answer. And I will, I’ll waive my usual, psychoanalyst fee tonight.
01:03:15:19 – 01:03:18:36
Agent Palmer
Okay. That’s good, because I don’t know if I can afford you.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).