Episode 73 - Kelly Blackheart

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sa. [00:00:31] Speaker A: If you dig the twisted, admire the outlandish, and are enamored by the unusual, you're in the right place. True crime, the supernatural, the unexplained. Now you're speaking our language. If you agree, join us as we dive into the darker side. You know, because it's more fun over here. Welcome to Total Conundrum. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Warning. Some listeners may find the following content disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. [00:01:09] Speaker B: All right, Conundrum Crew, buckle up, because today we've got someone whose story is all about the pivot. You know, that moment where life looks one way on paper, steady job, solid paycheck, all the boxes checked. Then one day you wake up and realize, wait a sec, this can't be it. Right? Well, our guest today didn't just think it, she did something about it. Kelly Zabilski, AKA Kelly Blackheart, traded in a cushy renewable energy finance career for a wild ride into the world of comedy podcasting and unapologetic honesty. She went from crunchy numbers to cracking jokes, from spreadsheets to studio mics, and she never looked back. She previously produced and co hosted the Jim Jeffries Podcast as well as the I don't know about this podcast with Jim Jeffries. She's one of the hilarious hosts of the unsolicited podcast, and now she's joined forces with the incomparable DJ Quals to co host their podcast, Locked and Probably Loaded. We're talking big laughs, big risks, and a big heart, because Kelly's journey proves that sometimes falling apart is actually just the beginning of finding yourself. So grab your favorite drink, get comfy, and join us as we dive into the mind, the mayhem, and the magic of Kelly Blackheart. Welcome to Total Conundrum. Hey, Kelly, how are you? [00:02:37] Speaker C: That was, like, really impressive. I've never had such a fancy intro. [00:02:42] Speaker B: You deserve it. You've. You've done a lot, girl. You've been through a lot. You've done a lot, and we're so excited to have you for having me. [00:02:50] Speaker C: When I got your message on Instagram, you know, it's like, I try to stay up on my dms, but now with my, like, ADHD and sometimes anxiety, a lot of times I let them pile up for a while and don't get to them. But I saw yours, and I was like, oh, it's somebody being nice to me. Let me read that. So. [00:03:13] Speaker C: It'S always a shower. [00:03:16] Speaker C: Usually it starts off with, hey, bitch. So yours didn't, and I'm happy I responded. Thank you for inviting me on here, people. [00:03:24] Speaker B: Actually message like that. [00:03:26] Speaker C: Oh yeah, I've gotten, I mean they're not super duper common. I think at this point people that follow me like know what I stand for and all that stuff, so they're not surprised by anything I post. But when I first started working with Jim, I think that the fan base didn't really want to hear from somebody who wasn't Jim and all that stuff. And so they would send me these like really foul messages and, and then I would respond and they would go, oh my God. I actually didn't think you were gonna respond. I'm such a huge fan of. I don't know about that. And I'm like. And you thought that this was the way to like forge a relationship here is by telling me like, I don't know what's going on. It's, it's some people, any attention is good attention for some people. And so they, they kind of think that they need to neg you in order to get your attention. And apparently it worked cause I responded. But. [00:04:19] Speaker B: Some people are just TR see and hear about this so much with the trolls and stuff. It's like we even get it on, on occasion and I'm just like, I just heard it. [00:04:31] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for your feedback. We'll be filing this like. [00:04:39] Speaker B: It'S the way that people just have the audacity to think that they can treat other humans like that. It's just not even cool. [00:04:48] Speaker C: It's really gross actually. When we were working on the Jim Jeffries show, I worked in the social media department or like digital department. So we handled all the social media. And my co worker Forrest and I would respond to the troll messages with like this really like 5 paragraph message that was like, thank you so much for your interest in joining the Jim Jeffries fan club because you've opted in, you will receive like one thing a week, blah, blah, blah. And people are like unsubscribe, unsubscribe. But like we would just end up fucking with them. [00:05:22] Speaker C: That is awesome. [00:05:25] Speaker B: Just schedule an email to be sent like once a day. [00:05:30] Speaker C: Here's another fun Jim. [00:05:36] Speaker B: I love that. How was it working with him? [00:05:40] Speaker C: Awesome. Like, so I'm, I'm sure I probably told the story on Loaded pod, but my. So my brother was the one who basically got together with Jim to start this show. And at the time that's when I was like really starting to feel miserable in my old job. And so I was joking around, kind of being like, hey, a few. Like my brother had been trying to get me into comedy for so long, but because I was making really good money, I didn't want to, like, change careers and go get coffee for people, you know, like that. That it was not on the table for me. But eventually I just was so miserable in my job that I was like, I'll go get coffee. I don't care. Like, whatever I said before, I didn't mean. And so he asked Jim if he could. If they could hire me. And Jim's like, yeah, but if she sucks, I get to fire her myself. And then, like, you know, years later, I'm co hosting his podcast. So it was like, it was really cool. Like, my brother really gave me the space to make all of my own relationships. Like the first season of that show, we didn't talk to each other at work at all. Like, most people did not know we were related. Cause it was important for me to not have anybody treat me differently because my brother's the showrunner. And also, like, right, you. You want to have those, the. Your own relationships with people. And so it was like, really, really cool that Jim trusted me to be able to do these things and also liked me enough to want to bring me along for, you know, the next project. So that was very flattering. [00:07:08] Speaker B: That is very cool. He seems like he's such a down to earth person. Yeah. Everything that I've seen him on, like, I was listening to an interview that he did about the show that's on. I don't know if it's finished now. I haven't finished it yet, but. The snake. [00:07:24] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:25] Speaker B: And he, he was like, I was all, like, excited about this and these relationships were all cool. And then I'm not on the set very much, but when I come onto the set, all of a sudden all these people are fighting and I'm like, wait, what happened? I thought you all loved each other. [00:07:44] Speaker C: He's such a great game show host. Yeah, yeah, he. [00:07:49] Speaker B: He really is. And when I heard him on a podcast, I didn't realize I didn't put two and two together because I'm really bad with faces and names, with celebrities and stuff, or everyday people for that fact, but. And then once I realized and put two to two and two together, I'm like, I love that guy. [00:08:12] Speaker C: Yeah, it was very cool to have, like, I've always liked comedy, so to have somebody that I liked their comedy previously. And, you know, his comedy has shifted a lot over the years too. He doesn't drink anymore and, you know, has kids and so. So a lot of people are like, he's He's a wimp now, or like, he's lost his edge. It's like, he's not 22 anymore. He's not 30. You know, he has a family that he alive. Like, let's. Let's chill. But somebody that I liked, you know, their comedy so much, and then it just, like, feel. Felt like this weird, like, manifestation of a new life so quickly because I'm like, wait, is I used to listen to him and now I'm, like, sitting across from him on a microphone and he's laughing at a joke that I'm telling? Like, that's crazy to me. And so every time I would, like, get really down on myself, you know, once I've changed careers, I'm still at that point where I'm like, oh, I'm not where I want to be yet. Like, when is success going to come? And then I have to, like, really think about. I'm like, kelly, eight years ago, you were sitting in a meeting with a bunch of H Vac guys, training them on your finance program. Like this. This is success. You're not where you want to be yet. But, like, people would kill to be in this position. And so I just, like, always kind of try to bring myself back down to earth and like, not. Not get ahead of myself. [00:09:30] Speaker B: Right, well, in your younger days, I know you were in. You've done some acting and stuff like that as well, because I know you were in some commercials. You grew up playing collegiate volleyball in high school and then at California State University. And wasn't it kind of. Your brother was kind of in the industry. And I believe I heard something about your mom being the legs on Home Alone or. No. What, what movie? [00:09:59] Speaker C: Home Alone too. [00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah, the legs that walked past on the scene. [00:10:02] Speaker C: Yeah. So we. [00:10:04] Speaker B: So you have some of that in your family? [00:10:07] Speaker C: Yeah, my. My mom modeled a lot, like, growing up. Like, she was asked to live in the Playboy house when she was 19, and my grandma shot that down real fast. [00:10:18] Speaker C: I wouldn't. [00:10:20] Speaker C: But she did a lot of modeling. And then when we were kids, we also, like. So we did modeling jobs and stuff like that. And looking back on it, it's really cool. But I don't know that I enjoyed it as a kid. You know, it's like sleeping in rollers and waking up at 6 o' clock in the morning to drive to downtown Chicago to shoot something and you're like, you know, as a kid, it's not like, here's a paycheck, here's all your money. Go spend it. You Know, like, it's. It's work, but looking back on it, and I'm so glad that we did that, because it's very cool to say that I was in an Empire carpet commercial. Like, it's cool to have that footage. Right. And then, like, all, like. Yeah, all of those, like, old catalogs from, like, Sears and Lands End and Montgomery Ward and all of that stuff. Like, I was in all of those. So it's. It's crazy to think that pretty much anybody my age probably has seen me modeling some clothes before, but they didn't know I was such a loudmouth then. [00:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah. And those were such a staple in every home. They. They came in the mail. They were always these. Especially around Christmas time, you had to go through and circle what you wanted for Christmas. And. [00:11:28] Speaker C: Totally. [00:11:29] Speaker B: It's kind of a thing of the past. [00:11:31] Speaker C: I know. Yeah. [00:11:32] Speaker B: Your brother has an interesting story of something that he did. Do you want to share that? [00:11:40] Speaker C: Gosh. Which one is it? The. [00:11:42] Speaker B: The Doritos commercial. [00:11:43] Speaker C: Yeah. So 2015, he won the Doritos super bowl commercial competition, which was very cool and very surreal. He had been directing Tosh0 for quite a while at that point and looking to branch out into things. And so his agent suggested, like, he needs to do a commercial for his reel. And so it was. It was basically like, why don't you do this contest? We'll use this commercial as. As part of your reel. Whatever. Knock out two birds with one stone. So about two weeks before the submission, like, deadline, he came up with this idea, pulled in a bunch of favors from his friends. I got, like, all of my roommates when I was living in Long beach at the time. It was the morning after Halloween that we shot this commercial. So we were all hung over. Like, it was brutal waking up at a.m. to drive up to LA to go do this commercial, especially because it wasn't a real commercial. It was like, hey, do you want to not get paid to go do a commercial that probably is never going to be on tv? But the best part about it is my friend James, who was, like, the most hungover that day. [00:12:52] Speaker C: He was, like, named as a featured extra in the. In the commercial. So I think he's made, like, between 30 and $60,000 from that now because of the residuals of it if it playing so much. So he's like, I will never say no to anything Kelly asked me to do. It always ends well. [00:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, Kelly knows best. Yeah. [00:13:14] Speaker C: Like, I don't always have the best ideas, but we're going to have fun. And not die. But we might get close to dying. That was a lot of college. It's like, I'm like, I know. [00:13:26] Speaker B: Well, another fun story I just heard you talk about recently was the MTV True Life, how you kind of fell into being on an episode of that. [00:13:37] Speaker C: Yeah, that. So that, like, kind of is. That sums up my college experience was saying yes to everything, even though it was probably dangerous. So that situation was. It was like just some random. I think it was even a weeknight. But we just went to the grocery store, like in our pajamas to go grab some beers and drink at home. And we ran into some guys at the grocery store. They were like holding cameras and they were talking to us. They asked if we wanted to go to a party. And we're like, do we look like we're ready to go to a party right now? Like, absolutely not. But they. They asked for our num, like my number or whatever. And then like 30 minutes later they got a. Or we got a call and they were like, this party kind of sucks. Can we come film at your place? And I was like, yeah, sure. Like, Kelly, this is why I can't have kids. Because my kids would be like this. And I would be like, what is wrong with you? You just invited three random dudes with a camera over to your house, like, to film. Like, are you not. [00:14:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:36] Speaker C: So, like, the. The episode was true life. I don't trust my partner. They came over and the guy, like, the guy pretended that we had been buddies for a really long time. He ended up taking my roommate out on a date. And then the episode didn't air when we thought it was going to. There was like a six month delay or something. And when the episode came out, we found out that the guy had actually passed away. He had some like, weird stomach condition or something like that where like freak, freak sickness. And so that's how we found out too. And he was a really nice guy, but I also just met him that night, so it wasn't like long time friend, but. Yeah. Another one of those, like, weird Kelly's lore stories. [00:15:21] Speaker C: I was. [00:15:21] Speaker B: You have some great ones. [00:15:23] Speaker C: I'm like, really thankful for my friend Colleen because she's the one who was like there for most of the craziest stuff that I've done. And so she's the verification of, like, yes, this is a true story. Because as a regular, like, I wouldn't believe most of the stuff that I say that has happened to me. So I need. I need her to be the. [00:15:44] Speaker B: Well, and you have a Is she the one that lives in Minnesota? [00:15:49] Speaker C: No, she lives in Long Beach, Minnesota. [00:15:51] Speaker B: Okay. I know you have a friend that lives as well. [00:15:55] Speaker C: Yeah, so Allie's a new friend. I met her a few years ago. She was they the like on air producer of the Vial Files, which is like a really, really popular pop culture podcast. So we met through that because Jim had been a guest on that show and then became really tight and then she moved. But I think she's actually coming to stay with me next week, so. [00:16:18] Speaker B: Oh, fun. Well, we're from Minnesota as well, so that's why it resonated with me. [00:16:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So I love Minnesota. Great state. [00:16:25] Speaker B: And it is freezing here today. It is only 40 degrees. [00:16:32] Speaker C: It is. [00:16:32] Speaker B: I'm not ready 80 here. [00:16:38] Speaker C: So jealous. [00:16:41] Speaker B: So jealous. [00:16:42] Speaker C: I'm going to Chicago next week, so I'll sniffer with you. [00:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah, you'll get, you'll get a little bit of what we're getting right now. But you grew up in Chicago. You're familiar with this Mother Nature and being on pms. [00:16:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:16:57] Speaker B: I also have another very cool thing that I listened to, a podcast that you were on and not the, not locked and probably loaded, but it was, oh my goodness, I can't remember the name of it now. It was like a woman empowerment podcast. Oh, and you talked about your journey with being an egg donor when you were younger. [00:17:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that was a do so I. [00:17:23] Speaker B: Think that's such a beautiful thing. Yeah, a very crazy story with that. And one of the donor recipients. [00:17:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, that like most of most of the egg donation stuff was pretty uneventful. But there were like a couple specific, I guess specific donor situations were that were really, really wild. When I first moved out to California, you know, I'm 18 years old and I remember being asked in one of our college class or no, in one of my high school classes, like, what's your five year plan? And at 17, I'm like, okay, 22. I'll probably be married and I'll probably be starting to have a family or something because that's like so Midwestern values, you know, you get married and start a family early. And then I came to college and I was like, well, I'm definitely not ready for that, but I 100% want kids someday. And at the time it was like I didn't think my sister in law was going to be able to have kids. I had another family member who couldn't. And so I like jokingly was looking into egg donation. My mom happened to be in town visiting and I was like, I'm going to be an egg donor. And she's like, no, you're not, like. Because I was like, ooh, money. But I was joking around about it and I. I researched it for like a year, year and a half to make sure that it was something that I thought I could be, like, psychologically. Like, wrap my head around psychologically. And. Yeah. And then I decided to go for it. And the rest was like, crazy, crazy roller coaster. And I don't know, like, if you asked me if I could go back in time, would I do it or not? I genuinely don't know the answer because, like, I did it for the right reasons. And there were a lot of great things about why I did it, but it also, like, fucked up my health. I had all these crazy situations with the donor. It's like. But I also love a wild story. Like, all of the bad things that have ever happened to me, I'm like, no, that's part of my story. Like, I get to take that with me. So it's like I have these mixed feelings about it. But ultimately, I think the stories are good enough to warrant having gone through all of that. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah, you. You had the journey of, well, the health issues. Wasn't that because a donor or a person you were donating to backed out? So you were pumped through or pumped up with all the hormones and everything? [00:19:42] Speaker C: Yeah. So they. I think they ended, like, I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure they decided to get a divorce in the middle of the egg donation process. There's no clause that says, you know, if they cancel that, we're going to funnel out the hormones or do a surgery or anything like that. So they. I had already been taking the hormones for like 12 to 14 days or something like that. And so they just sit in your body and they ended up, like, really messing with my organs. I gained £100 in a year. And, like, to go from being a Division 1 athlete where, like, moving is not hard for me, walking is not hard for me, to all of a sudden my body carrying this extra weight, it's like I just a became totally depressed because I didn't recognize myself. But also, like, pain is such an easy way to fall into depression, too, because you want to get up and you want to go do things, but, like, everything hurts. Sleeping hurts. Lying down hurts. Standing up hurts. Like, you know, it's like when people talk about depression as, like, well, people just need to get over it or whatever. I'm like, you. If you don't deal with chronic pain, you can't possibly understand how daunting 60 more years feels like, because it's like, I'm almost 40 now, and if I'm in this much pain now, imagine how much more pain I'm going to be in in 40 years, you know? So it's like. It's all of those little factors that it really. It really put me in a bad spot for a while. And now I'm like. [00:21:12] Speaker C: I think me gaining all that weight was actually. Actually probably a really good thing for me because I. It really forced me to become smarter and funnier and all of those things, because all of the attention that I was used to getting for just existing before did not happen anymore. And so it's like, okay, I have to be a little bit better. And I actually think that's what kind of propelled me into changing careers. [00:21:40] Speaker B: Well, you have such a big heart to do that, to go through all of that, to give other people the chance to have children that aren't. I mean, I know you had one person that ended up being kind of psychotic with it, like, tracing you down and stuff like that. I don't know if you want to go too much into that story or not. So, basically, I discovered you when we were researching Tyler Ty Olsen for our episode, and when I was Googling like. Or Googling and searching for podcast, I happened to see the podcast that DJ had announced the. Him and Ty and their relationship and stuff. But he was kind of talking about how he almost turned down being on Supernatural and how it would have changed his whole life trajectory and the people that he's met and stuff. Well, that one episode was all it took. I listened from that episode forward and then went back and listened to the other ones for. And if you guys. Listeners, if you are not listening to it right now, you definitely have to go and listen because it is the funnest podcast because the personalities and the way you guys banter and the things you. I mean, you talk about important topics and yet you talk about a lot of fun things, too. And it's basically an adhd. [00:23:19] Speaker C: An ADHD person's dream. It's like, this is how my brain works. [00:23:23] Speaker B: It is. [00:23:24] Speaker C: It really is fully representative of our friendship. Like, the. The idea of doing this came about during the pandemic, where it's like DJ and I would hang out maybe once every few months or something when he was in town, and we would drink on his patio and just shoot the shit all night, like for seven hours straight. And we never had a lull in our conversations, it was just. It was so easy to jump from topic to topic, and I'm sure we probably told the same stories over and over and over again to each other. Originally, we were going to start the podcast right before the pandemic hit. And so we, like, bought microphones and did all that stuff, and then pandemic hits, and obviously, you know what happens from there. And so we. We ended up not starting it until four years later. And I'm really glad that that happened, too, because our friendship developed so much more in that next four years where it's like, initially it was like, we're two casual friends that can really yap to each other, but now it's like, no, that's. We're each other's person for so much of. Of life, you know, so there's a lot of trust there. And. And we can. We can argue or disagree on things. And it's like, the first time I've really ever feel. Felt safe, like, bringing up, like, if. If he says something that hurts my feelings, a. I know he didn't intentionally do that, but I feel safe enough to bring it up because I know that he's not going to turn it back on me and be like, well, remember when you did that thing? It's like, our friendship is very much accountability and, like, oh, my God, I love you. I would never want to make you feel that way. I'm so sorry I did that. So, like, we've had a couple of tiffs in our friendship, but every time we have one, it actually makes me feel stronger about our friendship because, like, you go through that stuff and you're like, oh, man, there's really nothing that could break us because we're so good at conflict resolution, like, right? And. And truly, we, like, work together like a team, where it's like, I'm not trying to win against him and he's not trying to win against me. It's like, you know, they, like, they say about marriage. It's. It's us versus the problem. Like, that's very much what our friendship is like. It's. It's neat for me to be able to, like, actually talk about my feelings sometimes if my feelings get hurt, because I've just always been somebody who bottled everything up because I just didn't want to deal with the blowback of, like, somebody then bringing up something I did that I never. I never knew they had an issue with. It's just like, yeah, we can really deal with the here and now. So that's nice. [00:25:47] Speaker B: It is really nice. And I know there was one episode that I listened to. [00:25:53] Speaker C: He. [00:25:53] Speaker B: I think the episode previous to that, he was talking about being bullied when he was younger and stuff. And then you had brought up something, and all of a sudden he, like, stopped, and he was like, oh, my God, am I a bully? Am I. Am I bullying you? And it was like you could just hear the light bulb. Like, oh, my gosh. And you're like, no, no, no. And he's like, good, because I don't ever want to be that person. [00:26:22] Speaker C: But. [00:26:23] Speaker B: But he comes across sometimes as so. And it's his personality. It's like he's just. He's a. He comes across as a little bit of a diva, and. And it's his. It's a play on his personality. And I love that about him because he's just like, what, you mean I have to drive or. Yeah, why are you so poor? I love when I don't. [00:26:49] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Yes. [00:26:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Like that. And. But when you said something and it wasn't even calling him out, but it was all of a sudden he, like, literally, you could hear his hamster wheel going, and he's like, wait, I'm not bullying you, am I? And it was just so sincere, and I loved it. And the. You. Listening to you guys talk about your everyday lives, the trivia, the vacations, the things you encounter on Vac, people in everyday life, and it's. It is true gold. You guys definitely have something that people could only dream of having in a friendship with each other. [00:27:35] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. It's funny because our friendship got really. I. I basically lost a friendship of 16 years kind of because of my friendship with DJ, but they. They were just. Were really jealous of our friendship. And at that time, it was still when we were hanging out, like, once every three months. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how much more of my time I can give you. I spend so much time with you, and then I. And then I go out with DJ one night for his birthday, and this is a problem. Like, I. This can't happen. And. And I was just done, like, 16 years of friendship. I'm like, you cannot do this to me, because I know what this is. You're trying to control. You're trying to make it so that I can't be friends with anybody else. It's just. I'm too old for that. And so ever since that happened, we've become even closer. Like, we live six minutes away from each other. So it's also one of those situations where it's much easier for us to hang out than it is for me to hang out with somebody who lives 40 minutes away, where you have to make a full plan and do all. You know, it's like there's all of these things that go into it. So everything happened the way it needs to. It's been a relief to switch out those two friendships because one of them was very high maintenance, and I couldn't maintain. [00:28:50] Speaker B: Well, even being in California and being in the limelight and the celebrity atmosphere. It's so you have to be so careful, and you have to have a little bit more of a guarded personality and a guarded front because you have people that are trying to just get in for the not good reasons. And then the other thing is, is when you're out in public, it's not like Jeremy and I going out for dinner, going to the local, you know, pub or the local bar. You guys have a totally different scenario of, you know, you being recognized, DJ being recognized. And so that's gotta be hard. So it must be nice when you travel to some places. Well, for the. A little bit where you can maybe have a little of, you know, amonymity. Oh, boy. I can't say that word. Anonymity. Boy, dj, you know what I mean? [00:29:55] Speaker C: Everywhere. I mean, like, I'm recognized almost nowhere. It has to be, like, a very niche crowd in order for me to be recognized. But DJ gets recognized everywhere. And I think probably what something that he appreciates about our friendship is that I don't act bothered by people coming up to talk to him. Like, to me, I think it's such a treat to watch him interact with his fans. He's, like, so genuine and kind with them, and every time it happens, it just makes me feel proud to be his friend and all that stuff. But I know that he's had people in his life where they're like, God, again, like, you're taking pictures of people again. Like, we're out, you know, and it's like. It just is what it is, you know, like, he can't become unfamous overnight. You know, he's. He's one of the most recognizable actors. Like, nobody has a face like he does, you know, and. And even people who don't know his name know his face. It's just going to happen. So you can fight it all you want to, or you can embrace it and go, all right, I'm going to go stand over here. I'll take a video of this. Cute moment or whatever it is. It's like, it takes 30 seconds. I don't care. [00:30:57] Speaker B: Like, right. I can't believe you're not recognized more. I mean, you are so. [00:31:04] Speaker B: You've been out there, you've done a lot of things, and you are so beautiful. [00:31:10] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:31:11] Speaker B: And I just. Your personality and this, you know, everything that you have been, what you've done and have been and are doing, before you know it, you're going to be the one recognized, too. [00:31:25] Speaker C: And that, like, DJs made so many jokes about that. Like, I'm going to make you famous. Because he knows that I don't want to be famous. Like, there. There is this, like, weird line where, of course, like, I'm putting myself out there as a public figure by doing podcasts or whatever, but this was never my plan. Like, when. When Jim brought me to. I don't know about that. I still thought I was only producing that. And I got there the first day, and he's like, there's your mic. And I'm like, what? I don't. I. I don't want to be on camera. Like, especially because I think a lot of, like, with the weight gain from the egg donation, I wasn't ready to be, like, perceived by the world yet. I had all of these insecurities, and I didn't. I wasn't prepared for people to, like, shout them back at me. And now it's like, whatever it's been. It's been seven years. I have thick enough skin that, you know, if somebody wants to call me ugly or fat on the Internet, like, okay, get more creative. I'm a lot worse things than ugly and fat. But. But, yeah, I. So it's. It was never my intention to become a public figure, and so I have, like, a little bit of hesitation on that. But at the same time, like, I also kind of feel like all of the crazy stuff that I've been through mixed with my personality. It's like, I need to be talking to the world about some of this stuff. Like, there's so much stuff that I would have done differently in my 20s if I had heard somebody else talking about the stuff that they had gone through. So I really do feel like I can reach a lot of people, and so I need to get rid of my fears of being seen or perceived by a lot of people. [00:32:58] Speaker B: Right. [00:32:59] Speaker C: Yeah. The Internet is so scary. [00:33:01] Speaker B: People are cruel. [00:33:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:04] Speaker B: Really is. It really is. And the way that people can be so creepy and they can be so cold, and it's like, just love Each other. Come on. I mean, why does everybody have to be mean? I feel really bad for like a lot of the reality stars. [00:33:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:26] Speaker B: These people that are coming into it that, you know, they go into it. Yes. For the fame, the variety, you know, all of that stuff. Some of them do it and then some of them just do it because they want to try to find love or whatever. But trolls out there are crazy. But right before recording today, Jeremy and I were sitting in the kitchen and I had, what was it? Love is Blind on and there was this girl on there, this guy was like professing his love to her and she's like, well, I have to be honest with you, I do have a boyfriend and he pushed for me to come on to this show. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Yes. On the current one. Spoiler alert. [00:34:20] Speaker C: Sorry, I haven't seen him. I was out yet. [00:34:24] Speaker C: That's. [00:34:25] Speaker B: But I won't say, I don't, I won't say who or what. But yeah, she was flat out told him that she has a boyfriend but she's not in love with him anymore and that he. [00:34:37] Speaker B: Pushed for her to go on to this show. And I'm like, run. I'm in the bathroom getting ready for our recording. I'm like screaming from the bathroom, run. [00:34:47] Speaker C: What are you thinking? [00:34:49] Speaker B: So then she starts talking all sexy and I remember hot and bothered that he like, do you okay. And then he like totally flipped. I'm like, oh my gosh, are you that dumb? [00:35:03] Speaker C: The second hand embarrassment from that. [00:35:05] Speaker B: But you got people like that. Yes. But you have these people that are going on there to truly find love and then you have the ones that just want the fame. Yeah, I'm pretty, I'm cute, and I think I'll get a career out of this. It's insane. [00:35:20] Speaker C: It's inevitable, you know, like especially when, when people can see how lucrative a social media career can be for something that they perceive to be really, really simple. I, I don't have enough of a social media following to have any complaints about how social media is hard. But I am lazy and I don't post very often and every single day I'm like, I really should be posting more, but I can't. But I do. I like it. It's is a full time job as much as it's not manual labor by any means. But like you, you really are spending a lot of time doing editing or whatever. But I think the hardest part about it is, is inviting the feedback from the masses. Right. It's like, it's the, the mindset to Me is so weird that people are like, well, you posted online, so you should be okay with everybody's opinions. Like, especially on videos where, you know, somebody doesn't have a lot of followers, they just have one video that happened to blow up. It's like I've had, I've had that a number of times where now I like fear going viral because it's always like really, really normal for the first hundred thousand views. And then you get to a point where it's like something clicks and people are like, time to be the nastiest person on the planet and like argue about something that wasn't even said in the video. Or like, pick out this one thing that you didn't even know you had on your face and so you could be insecure about it for the rest of your life. It's like, it's so demonic how it switches from like your audience seeing it to everybody seeing it. It's so wild. So I would say that that's, that's a hard part of social media that I don't think that the average person could handle. And so when they talk, and not that I'm defending influencers, I think a lot of them are really annoying. But, but I do think that it's a harder, harder mental health wise than a lot of jobs are. [00:37:17] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. And like you were saying with the work associated with podcasting, I don't think that people on the other side realize how much hard work and dedication and everything that goes into it. Like we do true crime and paranormal. And then we started dabbling in celebrity interviews and stuff as well. But the research to go into these stories and then writing the stories and then recording and editing and then always making sure you have content going out and scheduling the content. And it's another full time job. [00:37:59] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. [00:38:00] Speaker B: And you're doing two podcasts right now. I can't even imagine. [00:38:05] Speaker C: Luckily, the unsolicited is like, it's one of the. We've been doing it for six years now and we're not very consistent with it anymore because we all just have so many other different things going on. But it is, it is a show that I would like to do forever. Even if it meant doing, you know, four episodes a year. If we, if, like, if we could only do that or once a month or whatever it is, it's a really good excuse to get together and chat with some friends and like, it's just silly and, and all three of us have kind of pretty different perspectives on life. And so that's where I get all of my arguing out. I argue with Tommy all the time. [00:38:47] Speaker C: And I'm, I'm not a big arguer in my regular life, so it scratches that itch for me to be like, no, you're wrong. What are you talking about? Like, I, I like doing that with him. It's fun to argue with him. [00:38:58] Speaker B: So that's one I haven't listened to yet. But it's definitely now that I've caught up on Locked and Loaded, I definitely need to get my fill somewhere else. I will not check that. [00:39:10] Speaker C: Offended if it is not your cup of tea. [00:39:14] Speaker C: When we, when we first started, we were, we were recording it while we were at work at the Jim Jeffries show. So, like, if we didn't have anything to do, we would just start drinking and recording a podcast and we would record for like two and a half, three hours. And so the first episodes are long, long, long. But I think there's a lot of funny stuff in there. But it's also a lot of just like idiotic poop jokes and stuff like that. [00:39:39] Speaker B: You know, that's is sometimes it's refreshing almost because I have to research. I do more of the true crime research and stuff Jeremy goes through and, you know, he appeases me and listens. I hate the true crime part of it because it's so. It's just dark. Yeah, but the stories need to be told, right? You know, the paranormal is definitely more fun because you can poke fun, you can make more jokes and. But I like getting away from that. And I would rather listen to. [00:40:17] Speaker C: Poop. [00:40:18] Speaker B: Humor and that kind of stuff because it's just, it's mindless and it's fun. It makes you laugh. I don't know how many times just recently, just being in the car and being able to, you know, you're in the car by yourself and you look crazy because you bust out laughing, but that is something that refreshes you because the world can suck sometimes and having that outlet is wonderful. [00:40:46] Speaker C: Yeah, my, like, unsolicited. We do get a lot of messages of people. Like, I was listening to this at work or like in my car in the drive thru and as I pulled up to the window, like, you guys said the most ridiculous thing ever and it was really embarrassing or I burst out laughing at work and people were wondering what the hell I was doing. So it, it is pretty ridiculous. It's just, it's very. It's not highbrow by any means. So I don't want to fool anybody here by thinking they're going to get any insightful on that podcast. [00:41:18] Speaker B: Well, there was the. I was going through your guys's Instagram the other day and I shared one of your reels. I literally laughed my ass off because it was like all serious. It was like, this is, you know, the truth is going to come out. And it was like clips of you and DJ going back and forth and then all of a sudden it was Rhino, your dog. And I don't even remember what the question was at the end or whatever, but I died because I was like, wait, what did I miss? What is this? That it was something about Rhino at the end. And I was like, that is gold. [00:41:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I asked Rhino is such. [00:41:59] Speaker B: A part of your podcast. [00:42:00] Speaker C: I've been, I've been wanting to do clips like that for like our actual podcast where it's like we have like one compilation clip that's just a snippet here, a snippet here, whatever. But that's a tall order. So I asked Isaac, I'm like, why don't we just do one where it seems like we're gonna do a hard hitting interview with somebody and then we'll just ask Rhino if he's a good boy or a bad boy. And yeah, I like the way it turned out. I thought it was really fun. [00:42:26] Speaker B: It was really fun and it had me. What's that? [00:42:31] Speaker C: He is a good boy. But I'm glad that you were in suspense. Yes. We had to put our acting caps on there. [00:42:37] Speaker B: You did a great job. You did an amazing job. So you had mentioned to me that you have a project that's going to be coming out that is outside of podcasting. So you also are an aspiring writer and so you have something coming out next year. [00:43:00] Speaker C: Well, we're, we're hoping to go into production on it next summer. So we're like, yesterday, yesterday, all day I was like going through the contract and trying to figure out. My attorney is otherwise. [00:43:15] Speaker C: Busy right now medically. And so I was like, I think I can look through this contract and see if there's any. Like, we're kind of still in the phases where I'm like, I want to add back end and merch on this, like just kind of setting everything up. But my friend Jake from high school. [00:43:32] Speaker C: He'S been making like short, short films for quite a while now. And he made this short film that was on like Blumhouse tv and it, it did really, really well. It had like, I think a couple million views and stuff like that. And it was basically about Kind of scorned woman who was on dating apps and dealing with like really toxic assholes. And so Jake reached out to me because initially on the Internet, most of what I posted were my online dating conversations because they were horrendous and I, I liked like messing with people, kind of going back and forth with them. And so when Jake was talking about turning this short film into a feature, he was like, I gotta ask Kelly, like, I need a consultant on this stuff. So we ended up writing the feature and then. [00:44:22] Speaker C: He has a film called Kombucha right now that is out on the like independent horror film circuit that is like really, really doing very well. And so the production of ours has kind of been pushed back a little bit, but it's. It sounds like summer is what we're, what we're looking at. But yeah, basically it's this group of toxic bros. They, they create a dating app and on the weekend like that they sold it. God, how do I even. I haven't. I should have thought of a, like looked up or thought of a log line before I did this. On the weekend that they're like announcing that it was sold, they mysteriously get picked off one by one in some. With somebody in a, in a mask by a masked killer. But it's very like fun. It's, it's funny and horror. So I'm, I'm excited about it. I think, I think it'll be fun and, and it's just gonna be like a low budget, whatever thing. But that's why horror is so fun, is because a low budget horror film can be freaking awesome. Like that's the one genre that you can really give away without spending tons and tons of money. [00:45:31] Speaker B: And sometimes the low budget ones are the best ones. What was that one? The Blair Witch. That was one that's. I don't know if it was low budget or not, but it gave the appearance of it just being from their recordings and stuff like that. And that movie scared the living out of me. [00:45:53] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, I think I never saw that until very recently. I think my brother went to like the premiere of it or something like that. I remember, I remember it being a big deal in my house at some point, but I never saw it until like five years ago or something like that. Good movie though. Very fun. [00:46:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I saw it on the big screen. That made it even worse. [00:46:16] Speaker B: A girlfriend of mine was sitting next to me and she literally like had her feet up on the chair and she kept grabbing me. I'm like, stop grabbing me. You're scaring the out of me. [00:46:31] Speaker C: That's. [00:46:32] Speaker B: We were on our way home and she like, is that what he does? [00:46:38] Speaker C: Yeah, he's. [00:46:39] Speaker B: He, like, that's hilarious. [00:46:40] Speaker C: We see a lot of horror movies in the theater. That's usually our favorite genre to go see together. But he's. He's more easily scared than I am. Like, I. There's not a whole lot that, like, penetrates my fear thing. Maybe just because I've been a woman alive for 39 years. Like, there's not much that scares me. But he jump scares, like, really, really get him. And so the only time that they get me is because he, like, flies his arm over and grabs my leg and I'm like, Jesus. Like. [00:47:15] Speaker C: Didn'T know we were doing a 4D movie. [00:47:23] Speaker B: For some reason. I can totally see that too. [00:47:26] Speaker C: Every time. Every time. [00:47:29] Speaker B: I love that. And I wonder how. I wonder how Ty is with those kind of things. We never asked him about horror movies or anything. We did ask him about ghost experiences, but I wonder if he'd be the jump scare type too, or if he's more of, like, your personality watching the movies. [00:47:49] Speaker C: I. I can't imagine that Ty is easily jump scared, but, you know, I could be wrong. Like, we said, he is. He's a giant teddy bear, mushy, gushy on the inside. So never judge a book by its cover. [00:48:03] Speaker B: Right? Right. And he's been in so many horror movies. [00:48:07] Speaker C: Right. [00:48:08] Speaker B: As well. So I think that probably kind of takes away from it totally. So, yeah, I. [00:48:15] Speaker C: We. [00:48:15] Speaker B: I did not ask him that question. [00:48:17] Speaker C: It was. [00:48:18] Speaker B: So do you have any other fun projects in the work? Oh, go ahead. [00:48:23] Speaker C: No, I was gonna say it was so funny meeting him because. [00:48:27] Speaker C: Like, he's been in so many things and. And I started re watching this show Unreal, which is, like, basically a scripted show about the behind the scenes of, like, the Bachelor Bachelorette franchise. And I'm watching it and I'm like, that's Ty's the asshole Remus. Like, and so I'm texting D.J. i'm like, Ty was in Unreal. Like, I feel like this happens all the time where I'll meet somebody through DJ and then was another actor that we ran into at one of the dive bars that we go to. And I was watching the same show, and I was like, wait, he's in this too? What the hell? Like, how am I now meeting all these people on this show that I used to watch 10 years ago and not realizing they were in it at all? It's so crazy, right? [00:49:10] Speaker B: It Is. And, like, even with Ty, I know that I have seen so many other things that he's been in, but then I didn't realize that's who he was. When he really came to the forefront and stuck in my memory was from Supernatural because I loved his character of Benny so much and so much so I didn't even realize that he was in one of the earlier seasons playing a different vampire. [00:49:43] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I heard that. [00:49:44] Speaker B: Where Jeremy is. Yeah, Jeremy is so good at picking up on that stuff. And Ty was also in Smallville, which Jeremy's probably watched 510 times from start to finish each time. He loves that. Okay, maybe 501. [00:50:05] Speaker C: Is Smallville the one he's like. [00:50:07] Speaker B: Yeah, he was in Smallville. [00:50:09] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. [00:50:10] Speaker B: Yep. [00:50:11] Speaker C: So, yeah, I know Rosie. Do you? Yeah, he. [00:50:14] Speaker B: So, Tommy, what's he like in real life? [00:50:16] Speaker C: He's very fun. [00:50:17] Speaker B: Like. [00:50:18] Speaker C: So Tommy, he's one of my co hosts on Unsolicited. Michael is one of his best friends. And so Michael. Michael Rosenbaum was the reason that I woke up with, like, Freddy Krueger, like, scrapes all the way down my leg the morning after Tommy's wedding. And I don't remember it. And it's because he brought us to get all. To get Everclear slushies. And I don't even remember having. [00:50:47] Speaker C: I woke up the next morning, like, what happened? Like, I don't even. I can't even fathom what I could have. It was on my calf, too. And I was like, how. What position did I have to be in scraping up against, like, what is going on? So, yeah, that was Michael Rosenbaum's fault. Very fun time. [00:51:07] Speaker B: He seems like he would be a lot of fun. He just. But he's so poised, too. He just has that very poised, very professional, but yet snarky little, you know, kind of like. Jeremy listens to his podcast with Tom Welling Tocqueville. [00:51:29] Speaker C: Okay. [00:51:29] Speaker B: And I always love that he comes across. He kind of is like, well, I wasn't in this episode, so it wasn't very good. [00:51:41] Speaker B: I don't want to watch it. I wasn't in it. [00:51:45] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. He's. He's a snarky personality. [00:51:50] Speaker B: I have a hard time seeing him with hair now after watching him on Smallville for so long. [00:51:58] Speaker A: I do listen to his inside of you, too. [00:52:01] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. Last year. Oh, was he? Yeah. [00:52:04] Speaker A: Okay. [00:52:05] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah, Yeah. [00:52:06] Speaker B: I didn't realize that you knew him as well. I'm sure you know a ton of people being in la and just by. [00:52:14] Speaker C: Association, yes, I Know more comedians than actors, but I've met a lot of people. Like, there are. There are a lot of people I've met in passing, but I wouldn't say that I know them or that they would recognize me. Like, Brad Pitt told me I had cool hair when I had purple hair on the Jim Jeffries Show. And, like, I hung out with Sean Penn one night and Bob Saget and, like, so I've met a lot of really, really, really famous people. But it feels like a lot of the famous people I've met are not. Are people that I can't even brag about having met because they have too much controversy attached to their names. So I'm like, yeah, I hung out with Sean Penn. Sorry about that. [00:52:55] Speaker B: Like. [00:52:57] Speaker B: I didn't know then. [00:52:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I didn't. [00:53:00] Speaker B: We've gone to Crypticon the past couple years. I didn't realize it was a horror movie thing. I thought with the name of it, with the name being Crypticon, I thought it was going to be a cryptid, you know, in regards to, like, Bigfoot and stuff like that. And I was so confused on why all these celebrities were going to be there. And we get there and realize I'm like, oh, it's a horror movie thing. And we've met quite a few different celebrities and stuff there. And the majority of them we end up encountering in the elevator because we stay the weekend and they're staying. Most of them stay at the hotel and stuff. Jameson Newlander, he was one of the Frog Brothers on Lost Boys. We had him on. And through Jameson, we met G. Tom Mack. He's a singer, songwriter. But we've just encountered so many different people. We're going to be interviewing Tom Fridley. He's John Travolta's nephew. We met him this year and he's in California and had Internet issues, too, so we had to reschedule. Yeah, reschedule our recording with him. Jameson had Internet issues. He's in California. I'm like, what is wrong with your Internet? [00:54:13] Speaker C: It might be California. Yeah, it's. I don't know what's going on. [00:54:19] Speaker B: But it's so fun meeting. Most of the people are like, so down to earth and just, you know, it's like in. Just meeting them in everyday life. [00:54:31] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:54:32] Speaker B: And. But then you have some people that, like, freak out when they meet people, and I think that kind of makes them take a step back. You just have to talk to them like they're a normal person, because they are. They really are a normal person. And With Ty, we met him or got in contact with him because I requested a cameo and I made a mistake that I didn't realize how stupid it was to ask until I heard him talking about it and DJ talking about it. I asked him to play Benny, to do the cameo as Benny. And after I talked with him for a little while, I actually apologized. I was like, I am that person. I am so sorry. And I never put it in the perspective of treating them like monkeys. Like, perform, perform for me. Yeah, I just thought it would be a cool thing for a shout out for our podcast and. But that ended up turning into him wanting to be on our podcast, which we were so stoked and so amazed. And he is just such a great person. But you learn so much about how these people are treated in certain ways and stigmatized in ways. Like with dj, you know, he's, oh, you're, you know, the geek from this movie or you're this from this. And it's like, well, no, that's. That's. I'm dj. I'm not that character. I am a person. And that was a big eye opener for me because I never thought about it in that aspect. [00:56:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you can tell when somebody has, like, good intentions or not, you know, to where. Like, I wouldn't expect anybody to know that. That isn't something that these people want to do on cameo is to do their characters. Like, I think it's a very normal thing for people to ask, but, like, to have the awareness to then go, hey, I'm really sor about that. Like, that will ingratiate you with Ty and DJ all day long. Like, they. They do not care if people make mistakes, but if. Or like, or like, even step on their toes a little bit, whatever. Like, they are very much so, like, oh, this person apologized for this thing that they didn't really need to. And now I love them. So, like, you're good. [00:57:00] Speaker B: Well, Ty was even telling us a story about how he had met a couple people. I don't remember. It was on vacation or if it was at a con or something, but he said that he truly thought that they were gonna be friends for life because they had such a great connection. And he even invited them to come to his house in Vancouver. And the people reached out and were like, well, yeah, there's a concert going on in Vancouver, so I think this would be a good time for us to come. And then he's like, yeah, definitely. He's like, yeah, but I don't know if we can really Afford it. And he's like, don't. I already told you, you didn't have to get a hotel. You can stay here. And the guy's like, no, I don't think we can afford the flights. Basically, he was hinting to have Ty pay for his entire vacation. I was like, are you kidding me? The audacity of even thinking that. That's okay. [00:58:05] Speaker B: I don't care if you're a billionaire. Yeah. [00:58:09] Speaker C: And, like. And I also think people think that actors make a lot much, a lot more money than they do. It's like, yes, Tom Cruise makes a ton of. A ton of money, but most actors who are, like, working actors that play, like, character roles and all that stuff, they're after management and agents fees and all that stuff. They're not, like, rolling in the dough. Like, they're. They're very much waiting for their next job to come along. And. And I think. I think that's another weird thing about society and these parasocial relationships with celebrities is that they assume because. Because I recognize you, you must be rich because you're famous, and rich and famous go together. And so then they have a lot less, like, empathy or compassion for them as people because they're like, well, I don't care. You're rich. You don't have problems. And it's like, okay, well, what is rich exactly? Like, let's. Let's define that, first of all. But, like, even with dj, like, he. He makes good money, but he. He still worries about, am I going to have jobs to, you know, qualify for sag health care, like, you know, all of these things that he's not. They're. They're getting married. They're, you know, they've. They've got kids to deal with all of this stuff. It's like, there's. There's a lot more expenses than just one person and management and lawyers and agents and all of those things. Like. Like, people don't think about that, but DJ tends to, like, cover the bill most times when we go to trivia or whatever. And I used to offer to pay every single time, and he would get annoyed with me. And I'm like, yeah, but I don't want you to ever think that I'm friends with you for, like, for a bar tab or whatever. So, like, he. He paid for me to go to Mexico with with them. That was my birthday present. But, like, I always try to, like, take care of things that, I mean, technically, me buying DJ a movie ticket, which every time we go to the movies, I Buy his ticket. That's me spending more of my net worth than him sending me on vacation. So I'm like, actually, we're even. Net worth. [01:00:15] Speaker B: Well, and not only that, you drive to the studio every time you guys record. [01:00:20] Speaker C: I'm his Uber driver. [01:00:21] Speaker B: What's that? [01:00:22] Speaker C: I'm his Uber driver. [01:00:24] Speaker B: Oh, it broke up there for a second. That's hilarious. I know. He'd mentioned something about getting his car, his new car, and then he talked about his, his other car that he had for like 12 or 15 years and he only had like 60,000 miles on it. I'm like, holy cow, that's crazy. [01:00:46] Speaker C: He does not drive ever. Yeah, I'm like a, I'm a built in activity partner for him. Like when he has to go do something that he doesn't want to do alone, he knows that, like I'll get, I'll tag along with him or I'll drive him there or whatever. So it's like, yeah, like that counts. Time is money. [01:01:05] Speaker B: Well, like I said, you guys have a beautiful, beautiful friendship. I wish more, there was more people that have that and more people out there that were that compassionate with each other and just not. There's so many people that are out for a number one these days and having that compassion is just, it's a lost thing. I truly think it is. [01:01:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it helps. Like we met seven years ago, so it's like, you know, you're fully formed adults when you meet. I don't. I had never seen anything that DJ had ever been in. Like, I think I saw Road Trip when it came out. But like, I wasn't a fan of dj, so it didn't behoove me to befriend him for his status or anything like that. We, we became friends because we were at Jim Jeffrey's house, sitting around his picnic table in the backyard, talking until 7am Like Jim went to bed and we stayed there and talked and like, like, oh, we're gonna be friends, so that helps. It's like he doesn't think that I, that I'm friends with him for any type of status and, and obviously I don't have any status I could give him. So it's like, it's, it's. We have this mutually beneficial kind of situation that works out for both of us. And at the end of the day we just want each other to be happy as long as it doesn't inconvenience us. [01:02:24] Speaker C: That's one of our favorite lines. Like, I want you to be happy as long as it does not inconvenience me in any way whatsoever. [01:02:36] Speaker B: That is great. Well, and with both of you have had bouts with mental health, dealing with mental health and stuff like that, and the way that you guys address it together, it is really, truly a beautiful thing. What is? The personality. Blame it on Steve. [01:02:57] Speaker C: Fuck Steve. [01:02:57] Speaker B: When things. Was that the guy's name? Yes. [01:03:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:01] Speaker B: Fuck Steve. When you're having certain thoughts and stuff, but with your career change and going into comedy and writing and podcasting and stuff like that, how that kind of helped your mental health journey, but it also seems like with the two of you, that it helps with that as well for both of you. [01:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, like, one of the biggest struggles that I was dealing with when it came to, like, support for my mental health was ev. [01:03:36] Speaker B: A. [01:03:36] Speaker C: Unless somebody has been through what you've been through, it's really, really hard for them to understand. But also, everybody wanted to fix it. And I'm like, I. I don't want you to fix. I just need you to hear this thing. And, like, so I think I remember telling dj, we actually. My ex, dj actually knew him too. But one of my favorite things about him was that when I would talk about, like, being really depressed or if I was having suicidal ideations again, he would not try to do what everybody else does, which is like, what do you mean? Like, if you were gone, everybody would be so sad. Everybody loves you. He would just go, I know. I get it, kid. Life sucks. Sucks. And, like, that's all I needed to hear, just to be like, okay, I'm not crazy. Like, I. Somebody else gets that shit is really hard right now. And so DJ and I are very similar on that wavelength, where it's like, we. We just validate each other. Where he's like, every. Pretty much every weekend when he's at a convention, he'll be like, I need you to acknowledge how tired I am because I work very hard. And I was like, you. You do work very hard, and you deserve a drink. And I just do this little, like, toddler validation. But, like, that works, you know where. Because, like. Like, he. He can't. He doesn't ever want to complain to anybody about. About how tired he is because he appreciates everything he's got going on so much, but he also is so tired, and he just. He knows that I will validate that and be like, I know that's fucking crazy that you had to do that all weekend. Like, at least you can come home and chill. And, you know, it's like, you just need somebody who gets what you're going through. And, yeah, we can be that for each other. [01:05:06] Speaker B: Right? [01:05:06] Speaker C: Cool. Yeah. [01:05:08] Speaker B: I love that. There was this one episode that I listened to that he was all up in your grill because you ruined his joke or something. [01:05:17] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [01:05:18] Speaker B: And it was something about a text message, and he kept texting you, and he kept texting you, and you're like. [01:05:24] Speaker C: I don't get it. [01:05:25] Speaker B: He's like, you ruined my joke. [01:05:29] Speaker C: And I don't even remember. [01:05:31] Speaker B: It was like he was insinuate or saying a name that you were supposed to. You're like, I didn't get it. I'm sorry. [01:05:39] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I remember. I don't remember who it was, but I remember. Yeah, last night he was texting me. He. He texted me some joke, and he kept elaborating on the joke, but in the meantime, I didn't know he was still going with it. And so in the meantime, I was like, oh, by the way, these three dudes tried to break into my neighbor's townhouse the other day. And, like, it was a big to do or whatever. Never responds to my text message. Just keeps going with his joke. Still has not even acknowledged that my place has almost been broken into because he's probably. He's probably still stewing that I had the. The audacity to text him about the break in when he was still working on the joke. You know, his jokes are very important to him. [01:06:15] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. [01:06:19] Speaker B: That is amazing. [01:06:23] Speaker B: The. The relationship is just. It is truly beautiful, and you guys are so good to balance each other and stuff like that. [01:06:31] Speaker C: It always surprised people that, like, start podcasts with somebody that they don't. I mean, granted, unsolicited, we didn't know each other before we started that, but. But, like, for. For, like, bigger name people, they start these podcasts where they're like, oh, you. Why don't you do this with another influencer? And I'm like, I just can't imagine, like, it's hard enough to drag ourselves to the studio and all that stuff. Like, that is the biggest hurdle to doing the podcast. But, like, I can't imagine sitting there for a couple of hours and not chatting with somebody I really enjoy chatting to or, like, have really good chemistry with or whatever it would be. It would be really hard to suffer through doing that all the time with somebody that you didn't have an established relationship with. So I don't know how they do that. [01:07:13] Speaker B: It is difficult. And like, with Jeremy and I, we started off doing more of one Person telling the story and the other person kind of bantering or, you know, commenting or whatever. But we had such a hard time with. We live together, we work together. We are together 24 7. So it got to be really hard to have that natural flow and banter when you're doing an episode a week that we went to more of a scripted style because it worked better for us. But then we add in interviews, so we can still have that fun and banter and. But it's with people that we don't live with. 24 7. [01:08:00] Speaker B: But Jeremy and I are an oddity because a lot of times with married couples, you have the space of having your 9 to 5 that you go to and you come together at the end of the day. But we're together 247 usually, so. But it just worked better for us. But I like that we can do the other outlet with interviews and stuff and still have that fun and. [01:08:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:08:27] Speaker B: And getting to know people is. We've met some amazing people in the podcast world and we continue to meet more. And. Oh, I had mentioned to you about the Omen House. I never responded in our chat on Instagram. So the Omen House is in California. It's in la, and it's next door. The Charles Manson family murdered Sharon Tate and. Was it Joe Sebring? [01:08:56] Speaker C: I can't. [01:08:57] Speaker B: The names are failing me now. But anyway, we interviewed the guy that owns the Omen House, and he invited us to come out there and do an investigation. So I was gonna say, when we go out, out there, if you would be interested, you should come with us. [01:09:16] Speaker B: Yes. And David is. He's a wonderful, wonderful guy. Various eccentric. And again, words are hard. I screw them up all the time. [01:09:29] Speaker B: But I know you guys aren't too far from there. So when we get out there, we're hoping sometime this winter. [01:09:35] Speaker C: Okay. [01:09:36] Speaker B: That I'll let you know and then we'll have to go in there and check it out. [01:09:40] Speaker C: Definitely. That would be fun. Yeah, I think it's Beverly Hills. So it's like, it's. Is it Beverly Hills 15 minutes from where we are? Pretty much. [01:09:47] Speaker B: Okay, very cool. 15 minutes normal or 15 minutes on a busy day. [01:09:55] Speaker B: Norm traffic is crazy. [01:09:57] Speaker C: You don't have to take any freeways to get there. So generally it's pretty. Pretty predictable how long it'll take. So easy. It's an easy drive. [01:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. It's in the hill. Very cool. But, yeah, we'll let you guys know for sure because when we were recording with him, he had a couple Things set up on the side. And he thinks his house is more. [01:10:21] Speaker B: Kind of like a portal. It's not necessarily the people next door that are still there, but he has seen them or had experiences or whatever. But he thinks it's kind of more of an open portal because the land is. [01:10:37] Speaker C: Is. [01:10:38] Speaker B: Is charged. It's. You know, there was Indian burial grounds there. Plus it's rock, which is a conduit for the paranormal and stuff like that. But anyway, we're sitting there recording with him, and he had a couple devices set up on the side, and one of them was like one of those hotel bell type things where you just tap, you know, tap for service. And all of a sudden this bell just went off. And I'm like, what was that? And he's like, oh, I set that stuff up because the spirits will communicate when I'm recording or doing lives and stuff like that. And then, yeah, I still think he. [01:11:11] Speaker A: Had a button in his hand. [01:11:15] Speaker B: It would still be interesting to check out the house. [01:11:18] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I fully support a lot of. Well, I can't wait to be one. I think I'm gonna have so much fun. Yeah. So I'm. I'm all in on paranormal stuff. [01:11:30] Speaker B: Well, and then I heard you say that you always have the question of would you haunt your friends or your enemies if you were a ghost? [01:11:41] Speaker C: Good way to get to know somebody. [01:11:42] Speaker B: And I agree. Your answer? Yeah, definitely. [01:11:49] Speaker C: But. [01:11:50] Speaker B: Well, Kelly, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I know you have family in town, and we are so grateful that you took the time to come on and do an interview with us. And I look forward to. [01:12:07] Speaker A: Ask her at least about her. Her name, how she got her pseudo name. [01:12:11] Speaker B: Oh, the. The Kelly Blackheart. [01:12:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:12:14] Speaker B: Yes. [01:12:17] Speaker C: I. [01:12:20] Speaker B: No surprise here. [01:12:21] Speaker C: There is a story to this. So I. Back when MySpace was around, I just had Kelly Blackheart, like, just as a fun, fun thing. But then I lost $12,000 by having my real name on Facebook. And I also, my ex boyfriend from college's girlfriend at the time, now wife, submitted my nudes that were on his computer from years prior to a revenge porn website. And it linked to my Facebook. And so I was like, okay, well, I'm not having my real name on social media anymore. Like, so it was just like, I lost. I lost money because it was. I was doing an egg donation in India, and as I was flying over there, the guy who was in charge of the medical tourism agency, I guess, was like sp on my profile to see what I was doing. And I Had mentioned that we each had one drink on the plane, which was totally within the rules. Like, I hadn't started medication yet. I'm six two. Like, what is one drink gonna do to me anyway? And so that was kind of his way of like, saying, well, we're not gonna pay her then, because she's not. She's not following the rules. And my agency was like, no, she. She hasn't started. She won't start the meds for four more days. Like, this is totally fine. Anyway, it turns out he was basically a giant swindler anyway. Like, he. He stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars, and fled the country. Like, this was. This was a guy that. I think I want to say he was like, on Oprah back in the day. [01:13:49] Speaker C: Rudy Rupak or something like that was his name. And so he would, like, set up all these egg donations, and then all of the money that was in the funds to go to the donors and the healthcare and all that stuff, he just took all the. Drained all the money from the accounts and fled. So initially I thought it was about my Facebook name, but ultimately I was never going to get that money anyway. But, yeah, as soon as all of that happened, I was like, nope. Pseudonym. [01:14:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:14:13] Speaker A: I don't know what I thought you were gonna say, but it wasn't that. [01:14:19] Speaker C: Story of my life. [01:14:27] Speaker B: Story behind everything. [01:14:29] Speaker C: My real last name. Right. Though. [01:14:31] Speaker B: Did I. I was worried about that. [01:14:33] Speaker C: If you were a telemarketer. I practiced my parents. [01:14:41] Speaker C: That's always how we knew that it was somebody that shouldn't be falling because. [01:14:46] Speaker B: They said it wrong. [01:14:47] Speaker C: Yeah. I'd be like, is Mr. Zabrowski there? And I'm like, there's no R in that. We gonna hang up now? [01:14:57] Speaker B: Well, I grew up with a very simple last name, but people still mispronounced it. My last name was Cook. [01:15:06] Speaker C: How. [01:15:06] Speaker B: How. [01:15:07] Speaker C: How? [01:15:08] Speaker B: C O. [01:15:08] Speaker C: Okay, but how can you even cook there? Cat. [01:15:15] Speaker B: Like, no, it's not Koch. It's not that one. [01:15:20] Speaker B: Y. But I had a lot. Or how do you spell it? [01:15:23] Speaker C: It. [01:15:24] Speaker B: C O. Okay, that's. [01:15:27] Speaker C: But that is my trick for when I've forgotten somebody's name where I ask them to spell it. I'm like, so what was your name? Or how do you spell your name again? They're like, j. I am. And I'm like, okay, cool. I was just. I was just checking. It's a. It sucks when it's somebody who has a really, really easy name. And you're like, the way it's always Spelled. But yeah, interesting one for people to not be able to pronounce. Yeah. [01:15:53] Speaker B: I mean, my first name, I understand people misspelling it and stuff all the time because I have the odd spelling. Mine's Tracy with an I. I understand that. But the last name, I was like, but I was so happy when I got married. I'm like, I was so tired of that last name. And like now my last name's Alexander Mile Long. Mile Long. But it, I like it. And I don't get asked how to spell it as much as I did with Cook. [01:16:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it's pretty. Yeah, exactly. [01:16:22] Speaker B: But you're winning. It's last names are funny. [01:16:28] Speaker B: I moved up in the world. Leveled up. [01:16:32] Speaker C: Yeah. The only reason I would get married at this point is to get a better last name. [01:16:36] Speaker B: Well, I don't know. I would, I would change it legally to Black Art. That is an awesome. [01:16:44] Speaker B: It is like really cool. I love that. So do you have any other projects on the pipeline coming down other than the horror movie. [01:16:56] Speaker C: To the point of talking about yet? I'm always like writing a few things. I've got a couple of pilots that I'm working on that I need to get better at working on more consistently. It's just like everything is in the notes in my phone. Basically. I have almost entirely storylines written out and I just like, my brain's like, put it in final draft. And I'm like, I can't. It's gonna be too hard. Like I'm. I'm very much a perfectionist. [01:17:24] Speaker C: So if I'm like, if the first draft isn't perfect the first time I do it, I'm like, this sucks. And so that's why I do everything in my phone because it's not technically a first draft yet. And so I really need to get over that because that's. I think I'm, I'm. I'm thinking about challenging myself to do a month long writing challenge where I have a bucket of main characters, locations or motivations or whatever and I just pull three things and I have to write a really bad script a week. And to tell myself that it has to be really bad takes the pressure away because I not expecting to be good, but editing is so much easier when something's on the paper. And maybe this will spark some other ideas. What I'm planning on doing probably after the holidays because I think at this point the year is shot, we're in October, and I'm like, we gotta wrap it up. We'll visit this again next year. [01:18:24] Speaker B: That's that's a 2026 problem. [01:18:27] Speaker C: We got Halloween, then we got Thanksgiving. I'm going. I'm going on the Supernatural cruise with dj. So. Yeah. [01:18:34] Speaker B: Oh, that's right. [01:18:37] Speaker B: That's going to be a lot of fun, even though cruises are kind of sketchy. [01:18:40] Speaker C: But I just hope it's not like the poop cruise. That one. Right. [01:18:46] Speaker B: That's the first thing that came to my mind. [01:18:49] Speaker C: Terrifying. [01:18:50] Speaker B: Well, speaking of Halloween, the one question I would love to ask you is, I know you had an experience with a haunted Alexa where your Alexa was going crazy on you. Have you had any other paranormal experiences? [01:19:10] Speaker C: Nothing super crazy, but, like, I. Back in, I guess it probably would have been, like, just out of college, I went and did a photo shoot at Cal State Channel Islands, which used to. There used to be, like, a mental asylum there or something like that. And it's. So we went into that building, and as I was, like, walking in the hallways, it was very creepy, just walking in in general. But I had a BlackBerry at the time. I took a picture, and there was, like, a line straight through the picture where the top of the image was on the bot. It was, like, flipped like that, and I was like, that's weird. And so I took another one, and it kept doing that. I could not take a picture of the hallway. And then as we walked down the hallway, the pipes would start clanking really, really loudly. But it, like, the. The clanking was following us, so it didn't happen when we were in the front part of the hallway. And then what was the last thing that happened? I think when we were in, like, there was, like, a big gymnasium. I don't know if it was a gymnasium or just like, a conference room or something like that. The lights started flickering on and off when we were taking photos in there. So it's like that stuff where I'm like. That would seem really random. Like, the clanking. I can. I can conceptualize the lights. I can conceptualize. But, like, the picture and me not physically being able to take a photo of this hallway without it warping in my phone. That doesn't make any sense to me. [01:20:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that's crazy. We are going on investigation November 7th, 8th and 9th with a team that we met at Crypticon last year and have kind of become friends with. They're doing an investigation of Melbourne Manor in Iowa. And so we're gonna go there Friday night with them, and then we're doing an event with them on Saturday. So this will be my true first, like, authentic investigation. I'm A scaredy cat. [01:21:06] Speaker B: So I'm excited because I really. Jeremy has never had any kind of paranormal. He. He's never had anything that's made him a believer. [01:21:15] Speaker C: Okay. [01:21:16] Speaker B: And I grew up in a haunted house, so I'm excited for him to have an experience. But if I have an ex too much of an experience, I'll probably end up out in the car. [01:21:28] Speaker B: I want. I want to experience. I want. [01:21:31] Speaker A: She'll probably make me walk home. [01:21:33] Speaker C: Yeah, do that. No, just let them know that you're there. [01:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We went to a graveyard nearby our house a couple years ago, and we brought some, like, equipment. EVP recorders and video cameras and whatnot. And as we were on our way there, it was just Jeremy and I. It took him a little bit to convince me to go to a graveyard at night. And as we were on our way there, he was talking about the Black Eyed Kids. And I'm like, what are you doing? You're trying to get me to go here, but you're bringing up the Black Eyed Kids? And then he starts. He's like, well, it could be worse. It could be hook man. [01:22:16] Speaker C: And I'm like, come on. [01:22:17] Speaker B: I've never threatened divorce ever in our relationship, but I threatened divorce that night. [01:22:26] Speaker C: We'll be fine. [01:22:26] Speaker A: You just kind of come along. [01:22:30] Speaker C: I'm trying to. I'm trying to start. That's right. Are you? Oh, yeah. I've already got the crows handled at my local park. They follow us around all the time. So now I just need the ghost, and I will be truly unstoppable. [01:22:45] Speaker B: That's awesome. Well, like I said, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I know you have family in town and stuff, and I appreciate so much you coming on, and we'll stay in touch about when we get out to California. And I just. I'm just so excited that you did this for us, and I appreciate it so much. [01:23:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me. Thanks. Yeah, we appreciate it for listening to the podcast and loving it. Like, and. And also, like, for letting me know that you love it. I think so many people are afraid to, like, send a message that they really like something. Like, I get so many messages. We're like, I'm so sorry to bother you, but I really liked this thing you did. Or, like, this. I think you're really funny, and I'm like, you are never bothering me with compliments. Please bother me more with those. So, like, I really. I really respect when people reach out because, like, that's I'm very much like that too. Like I will re like I don't care if anybody reads the message, but I want that to be there in case they do, where it's like, hey, what you're doing matters. Being being a creative is hard and there's like so much self doubt. And so I always appreciate that people are willing to reach out and say nice things about stuff because we're like, we're being vulnerable and we're putting ourselves out there and that's the only feedback we get, you know. So I appreciate that. So thank you for inviting me. [01:24:04] Speaker B: You are very welcome and I hope to continue to converse and get to know you even more. You're just such a lovely person. [01:24:14] Speaker C: I thank you. [01:24:15] Speaker B: You are just. You are very unique and special. Thanks Kelly. We'll talk to you soon. Okay, thank you. [01:24:21] Speaker A: Bye Kelly. [01:24:22] Speaker C: Have a great day. Yeah, you too. [01:24:25] Speaker A: Thanks for hanging out with us here at Total Conundrum. Please make sure to check out our website and [email protected] for news, upcoming events, merch, bloopers, and additional hysteria. You never know what will pop up, so be sure to follow along. If you want to show your support for Total Conundrum and gain access to all of our bonus content, please visit our Patreon page. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The links are available in our Show Notes. If you have any questions, comments, recommendations or stories to share, please email us at. Contact total conundrum.com episodes are available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you like the show, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. We appreciate the love. Keep on creeping on.