066 – Rob Pero returns!
July 21, 2022
In this Happy Hour podcast, we’re chatting with good-friend and co-conspirator Rob Pero about traveling for work, life at home, and fitness.
Timestamps
- (5:51) Who is Rob Pero?
- (7:13) What is a regular day look like for Rob?
- (10:00) How does Ryan handle all the work travel?
- (25:42) Introvert or extrovert?
- (30:00) Has Ryan been impacted by working with Perodigm?
- (36:12) Fitness.
- (43:00) One word to describe Max.
- (45:25) One word to describe Ryan.
- (47:13) Two truths and a lie?
Transcript
Ryan Freng 3:58
Hello and welcome back to a another backflip happy hour. I am Ryan Freng Creative Director here at backflip today I’m flying solo because I got this new shirt in. This is my new William Murray golf shirt for a golf outing next Friday super stoked about it. John is in the wilderness right now he will not be joining us. But it is a happy hour so we got to talk about our drinks. This is funny this is gonna be the first happy hour that I’m I don’t have a drink at I’m abstaining for a few weeks as I finish up a cut here with my diet and kind of exercise routine so I’ve got this Zoa Energy Drink it’s pretty good. I’ve got some water you know, I you know me I’ve always got random things. I’ve got this xebia Ginger root beer. I’m just substituting with junk that’s going to ruin my body probably. But it tastes good. And that’s what’s important. In life, right? But that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to see the man the myth, the legend. So let’s go ahead and bring him in. We got Rob hair over here. What’s up, Rob?
Robert Pero 5:13
What’s up everybody? I am coming to you from white potato Lake. If you know where that is. Odds are you don’t.
Ryan Freng 5:22
It looks like you’re at a lake. I mean, your face is kind of pixelated. But right behind you. We got the water. It looks amazing. And I didn’t. Did you text me my invite? I didn’t. I don’t think I saw that yet.
Robert Pero 5:35
No, you are not invited.
Ryan Freng 5:38
Oh, okay. Yeah, I’m not invited yet. Yeah. Yet? Yeah.
Robert Pero 5:44
It’s a pending? I’m not sure it is.
Ryan Freng 5:48
Yeah, we don’t know how long it’ll be pending. Yeah. All right. What do you drink? Oh,
Robert Pero 5:55
shoot you. Just to say I appreciate being on the show, man. It’s been a while and happy to be back in non COVID world, which is pretty cool.
Ryan Freng 6:05
Yeah, that’s true. We’ve kind of talked various times on the show through various times in the world. And yeah, we get to shoot a lot more together right now. And we actually get to hang out and have like a regular happy hour together. But today for our digital happy hour. What do you got? What are you drinking?
Robert Pero 6:25
Today I am drinking the three sheep’s fresh coast, juicy pail out of Sheboygan or Wisconsin. So very cool brewery. I went to high school employment. So it’s cool to represent local. And I’ve actually been to the brewery and they actually have a really cool tastings. They have music. Usually some food truck set up. So I highly read three sheets out of Sheboygan. That’s awesome.
Ryan Freng 6:55
I didn’t realize that they were in Sheboygan, somebody. Oh, Monica. Last night, she had some three sheeps at volleyball that I hadn’t seen before. But that sounds awesome. Yeah. So for those who don’t know who you are, I don’t know why they don’t know who you are, if they watch any of our streams, a lot of what we produce is in conjunction with you. A lot of the content we share is work that we’re doing together. So people must be living under a rock. But for those who don’t know you, who are you in, what do you do?
Robert Pero 7:30
My name is Rob pero. I am the owner director of a paradigm we are a monde media production and PR company and have been in business about 10 years. So we do a mix of classic studio design, video production we do constantly new brand new man public relations, you know, kind of the entire repertoire of what agency does. But we’d like to think that we’re a bit more, you know, boutique II, we’re kind of a small, strong team that can need it. And due to that, scalability is how we were able to flip and build our partner in collaboration. So that’s been very cool for us.
Ryan Freng 8:17
Man, that sounds like you’ve said that a few times. You’re pretty good at it.
Robert Pero 8:21
It’s actually never, ever, you know, we’re in that elevator pitch for a while and not to use it.
Ryan Freng 8:30
No, that’s good. It’s like you’re in marketing or something. Yeah, we are, we are going to get to a little game we’d like to play later. Two Truths and a Lie. I know, we got to get you out of here at five. So I’m going to become a hard and fast at you. But, you know, we get to travel a lot. And we’re doing a lot of unique work. You know, good work, and people see that online. But what’s what’s it like? I don’t know, behind the scenes, what’s what’s like your, your normal day, like, because I feel like, I feel like you’re you’re a guy who’s just going and you know, doing great stuff and always trying to achieve and work hard and help those around them. And like we’ve talked about before, like, when we’re doing that and work then we also have to consider that like how do we do that with our families, especially when we’re traveling like the last two weeks we’ve been traveling
Robert Pero 9:31
you Yeah, no, behind the curtain, it’s, it’s not ready. I’m sort of a mess. You know, I, I feel you know, it’s just been kind of my entire life, you know, to hustle and to earn a living. And to, you know, is that, you know, drive you shoot for and I’ve been lucky enough to, you know, kind of consent that if that is done that I am today to work on this sort of work, the creative work that we’re working on some together, there’s some, you know, kind of on our own. But yeah, when when you take that, and kind of, you know, put it away for a minute, and I take my word off, and I go home, I’m just the data for, you know, I have a beautiful wife, I live in a small town, I coach girls varsity golf, volunteer for my kids, sports, I typically am the one that makes dinner every when I’m home wife is really good at two dishes that she both made for me while we were waiting, and then it seemed to stop. After that, you know, say, you know, one thing I say is, you know, I’m this one person, this kind of beast at work, and this alpha, that, you know, just wants to exit queued and get stuff done. And I am nobody, I’m just dad. And I’m Rob. And I really like that I really like not having to be somebody and just who I am and just being my family. So it definitely is a balance that as you know, Ryan from all our travels is tough. Because you want to have all that motivation and all that execution at work, but you also want to be able to deliver for your family. And that’s sometimes where I feel lacking and times like this, when I’m at the cottage, you know, I’m really feeling like this is a, this is an opportunity to get full again and fill my tank. So how about you, man? What’s all this with me? Like? It’s, it’s kind of wear on you, right?
Ryan Freng 11:40
Yeah, well, it’s, it’s, I love that you talk about, you know, always having that pressure to be like an alpha, and get stuff done and hustle. Because that’s always kind of been my, my personality. At the company, you know, being an owner at backflip and creative director, it’s, you know, whether people want you to come up with a solution or not, you have to come up with a solution. And you know, that’s go go go and make a decision. And sometimes you’re wrong, but you gotta go with a decision. And you got to figure out how to deal with being wrong, or turn that wrong and do something right are awesome. And I to at home, you know, kind of want to be I like want to be the beta, I’m like, don’t ask me questions, don’t look for my feedback, I will do what you tell me, you know. And my wife is great. And that’s something we’ve we’ve actually kind of realized recently, while working on our house is like I can I can be very helpful at home after a long week after travel, you know, weekend where I just kind of want to lay around and refresh, I can be helpful. If she just asks me or tells me what to do. You know, like, hey, I need you to replace this, fix this and help carry this. I’m like, Great, let’s get this done. I’ll do this for you, you know, I turned into like a helper, as opposed to, I forget all these psychological kind of profile stuff. But as opposed to an achiever or somebody who encourages others or whatever, like, I just become that the help and I and I love it, you know, but to your original question. It’s hard. It’s, it’s really hard and like even being gone, two days and coming back, like, I think it can be difficult for a parent of any amount of kids, you know, one, we have six, but even a parent of one kid to deal with everything on their own. And really only deal with their spouse, on the phone, or text for a few days can be difficult. And even though we take you know, whatever measures it is to make sure that it goes smoothly and come home. And, you know, you’re just like up in your head or, you know, she’s frustrated because things happen during the day. And so like, it’s it takes extraordinary patience, which I don’t have regularly. And that’s kind of the thing that I’m working on. But I think it takes extraordinary patience on both partners sides to really, you know, come together and sacrifice and make it work.
Robert Pero 14:26
Yeah, it’s kind of a, the patient’s in but for me, it’s about perspective. And I need to know when when I’m gone for three days, it doesn’t families, life stops, you know, very going to continue on and do things and go to practice and have, you know, friend get togethers and my wife’s going to go to somewhere for dinner with my kids and you know, another set of friends so they’re going to continue to have experiences and I have to understand that as part of it and I’m Not only, like impossible for them to do that and continue to live their life without me perspective and not sometimes get jealous that of those, and not really jealousy so much, but almost like, I almost feel a little guilty. And on the opposite perspective that my wife would have where I’m traveling and I’m working thing, where Yeah, hotel ons, but that stuff wears you very thin, and some of the heavy work that we do, too. And just interviewing both just and, you know, the kind of work that we do can just be very intense and, and rigorous and in depleting in some ways. So, you know, I think perspective from both sides is important. And patience is obviously a virtue that all as the the business owner, you know, deployers man, what to do, you know, it’s where we definitely can use that to our advantage and, and gain more perspective because of that patience. So I’m with you on that man.
Ryan Freng 16:04
Yeah, it’s nice, it’s nice to have good people around you too. Like, I’ve very much enjoyed getting to know you, and working with you, and becoming friends. Because I feel like when you can get on that level, you can make each other better. And you know, the same thing with my partners. Scott is one guy who always takes the time to be like, hey, you know, maybe approach it from this angle. Because I kind of bullheaded both through stuff, to get things done and get things done my way. But when you’re working with other people, you got to have that patience in that charity to I don’t know, be be better together, right. And so, I really cherish kind of all these relationships and our relationship because I feel like, I just learned so much. And I’m encouraged to pause, you know, like, Okay, I’m gonna go, and I’m just gonna fix this, and I’m gonna tell this person this and that this, and then you have a conversation, you’re like, Okay, well, I’m gonna take it slow. I’m going to ask more questions. I’m going to seek understanding. And then we’ll go from there, you know?
Robert Pero 17:18
Well, I think you and I, as we’ve developed and evolved, our relationship has had have had to have some of those conversations, too, you know, to add perspective to what we’re both thinking and maybe saying or not saying, but maybe think so.
Ryan Freng 17:35
Yeah, I mean, that’s a good point. What’s that?
Robert Pero 17:42
I said, it’s good that we can talk.
Ryan Freng 17:46
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like too, we’ve you know, working together for like, two years, I guess now. Right? Yeah, it’s, we’ve kind of gotten to a point where it’s like, okay, we’re beyond the pretext. And kind of, I don’t know, dancing around stuff and you’re like, Hey, what’s up? You know, what’s going on with this? Or where’s this or this? You know, like, it makes it a lot easier to to just chat and like, Hey, we’re both in this together. Let’s figure it out. Because we are dealing with very complicated clients, projects, pieces creative. The matter the source material itself, you know, so there’s just so many ways that it could be more difficult but because we’ve been able to connect I feel like we’re able to do you know really good film fast winning work?
Robert Pero 18:40
Yeah, man. Like real deal stuff dude. Like impact. I feel stuff that like I said, broken your ego anymore. Like we’re just lucky to have kind of fallen into this partnership. It would seem very serendipitous, you know, at the time, and it just seems to have worked out really well. And if it wasn’t working out, well, we both know that so cheers today, my friend and this is white potato drink. So as you can see, here’s a 32 ounce plastic cup from like a 711 or a quick trip like 9909 1994 B Collins was the Penn State all American it’s like a Sports Illustrated legends but anyway, long story short this is why memory my wife way drinks old fashions out of at our cottage in northern Wisconsin, so much respect Wisconsin on handling your alcohol, I think. Little Words amazing, but it’s kind of
Ryan Freng 19:47
fun. No, that’s that’s how we roll well, and we talked about this too, like we we deal with such heavy stuff like it’s so nice to step aside and just connect and be personable And, you know, certainly have have our happy hours. Because I think it’s kind of a theme here, it just makes us, it just makes us connect better.
Robert Pero 20:13
Yeah, I mean, whether it’s an alcoholic drink, or if it’s water, and you’re just downloading after intense, you know, piece of work or piece of filming or whatever, it’s that after time, I think for us creatives allows the be like, let our guards down and not have to talk to say what’s on our mind, and just be goofy with each other. And I think that ultimately makes us a great team.
Ryan Freng 20:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, I think it kind of gets to that, that idea that the pretext is gone, or whatever. And Hannah’s asking me a question, right? Yes, that’s fine. And I watched something. Yeah. Screen time. Yeah. Monica is actually working right now. She’s me. And that’s, that’s a fun thing to just the different temperaments. And I don’t know, figuring out how you work together. And I feel like we talked about this before, how similar you and I are kind of being military brats growing up in different locations, and kind of developing personalities where you got to be able to gel in random situations with so many different types of people. So you feel like a chameleon? You know, I think that was the word that you use. And I was like, yes. You know, sometimes I feel like a chameleon. And with Monica. I’m like, I don’t want to be a chameleon. With you. I just want to be me, whatever that is. I don’t know what that is. Let’s figure it out together. But yeah, I don’t know. There’s there’s no question there.
Robert Pero 21:59
Do you think that you are yourself when you’re at home? Do you think that you have a while that you have to kind of tone it down before you are that beta of yourself?
Ryan Freng 22:11
Yeah, it’s interesting in cheers to you, Sharon. Thanks again for sharing stuff, sharing stuff and being a fan. She’s Yeah, she’s a family member, right. Yeah.
Robert Pero 22:28
If t then they’ve been living under a rock for the last. I wouldn’t say how many however many years. But Chi Chi is our biggest fan. huge supporter of our work and police officer herself living in the metro Milwaukee Area. Hello, and just main person that is very supportive of all of family members. endeavors. So of Chief? Chief HalBer.
Ryan Freng 22:59
Absolutely. We’ll give another shout out right there, boom, you’re on screen. And if you participate, Chi Chi in our teachers and ally, we’ll send you some sweet backflip Happy Hour coasters. So we’ve almost got them made. So we’ll get those out. Yeah, you’re asking do I feel myself at home? Yeah, it’s, it’s difficult. And you know, Monique, and I talk about this like, and it always changes with the seasons. I struggle coming home, and feeling like a human being because just at work, it’s that completely different mentality of like, okay, here’s 30 things that have to get done. And I gotta coordinate with these people on my team, I gotta coordinate with these people on the clients team, this communication that I gotta get this work done myself, I gotta manage this, I gotta, you know, and that scuze me. All this suds in these, these fake sugar drinks, and these stevia drinks are getting to me. All of that, just go, go go. It just gets my mind going like, like a locomotive. Right? So it’s going, it’s going, it’s going and then I come home. And, you know, you want to put that away. But it’s really hard to put, you know, to stop that locomotive. And I’m working on this metaphor on the fly. But, you know, get it going in a different direction. It’s got so much momentum, and it’s going fast. And like I have just very little patience when somebody starts screaming and somebody starts yelling, and then this and that. And, you know, I have trouble with that. And I’m trying to work on a way to like, decompress, and we’re constantly talking about what What that looks like. And I think part of it is like, I just need to come home and help take charge, which is the last thing I want to do. But it’s what my wife needs at the time because she’s been going for, you know, 12 hours with the kids or whatever it is. And she also needs a break. I haven’t been going with the kids. I’ve been going with something else. So like, when I got back yesterday, didn’t get back yesterday from our trip. Yeah. She was trying to make dinner and I just stepped in. I was like, Guys, I was like, Guys, come with me, you know, come hang out. We’re gonna go do this thing over here. And I, you know, I still had to unpack some things. I still had to do some follow ups. I still had work to do. But I think it was helpful. At least it seemed helpful just to be able to come in, take charge and do that. And yeah, certainly, I mean, I was myself to some degree, but I was still kind of being that leader, you know, that. Particular? I don’t know, maybe alpha, the father figure that I shouldn’t? Sure. What’s that?
Robert Pero 26:17
Are you saying I should? Yeah, I should step and be a leader when I go home? Is that what you’re saying?
Ryan Freng 26:23
Well, I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out. So if you have any advice, I’ll take that as well. Like, I’m so happy to be the beta. Yes, man. But I think right away when I come home, Monica just needs me to take all the difficult stuff off her plate and manage Yeah.
Robert Pero 26:43
And that’s the thing about where I’m family, you know, we can turn work off and go home. But our family is always there. So I’m with you, man. And I think, you know, maybe we can go, you know, some group therapy on how we can be better dads in that transition. And when we go and make that transition older. No, I want to come home and I just be want, I want to be one of the kids and I just want to be fed and I want screentime
Ryan Freng 27:10
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s, that’s a difficult thing, too. Because like, you’ll have to answer this for yourself. But I’m an introvert. But when I’m out, I can be extroverted, like I very much enjoy that function in that way, kind of like that chameleon we talked about, but like, how do I recharge, that’s kind of one philosophy of if you know, you’re an introvert or extrovert, I recharge by being alone, by reading a book by myself, by learning things on the internet, by organizing things, you know, by myself, that’s how I recharge. So when I don’t get that, you know, mentally, it’s difficult for me to come out of the funk or be ready to, you know, be ready to be me at home. What are you? Are you introverted? Or extroverted? Or how do you recharge,
Robert Pero 28:06
I think I’m an odd combination of both as well. And I do so much work. That’s with people that is engaging and, you know, takes a lot of it does take a lot of energy to engage with people. But as you said, you know, us coming from the background of the military brat, being able to people was a survival tactic for me. And it was kind of the only way that I was going to be entertained, you know, back in the 80s, and 90s, when we didn’t have computers and phones and all that you just had to go make friends.
You know, it’s, I think, for me, you know, when I do a lot of travel on my own, you know, so I spend a lot of time and I, luckily enough can self entertain, which I know I’m, I’m introverted in a lot of ways. And I know, to some fucking very, very extroverted, where I want, like, I want everybody to be my friend. And, you know, the older I get, the more I realize I don’t have capacity for that, even though the intention is there and the integrity of that intelligence is true, I want people to like me, but thing that I work on, you know, and it’s, it’s not easy to overcome, and it really is built into the DNA of who I am. So I have to figure that because it takes a lot of energy. But I still don’t know. I don’t know what the right. right way for me to make my intro versus extro and all that is, but I do think being love self care is ultimately important. And like you said, you need to do things, you know whether going out or whether it’s you know, taking time to get home or whether it’s going down playing video games, you know, we all need to time for ourselves. ofs for that self care that might fulness to kind of recharge a little bit so we can what we want to be number one family and number two, well, but okay, man, it’s a delicate balance. And the older I get, the more I realize how much happy that stuff takes. exhausted after an interview, I’m sure you’re the same way too, but it’s worth talking to people, or people. Yeah, it’s hard work.
Ryan Freng 30:28
Yeah, no, I was thinking about that. Because, you know, just like looking at the schedule. It’s like, okay, well, this event is, you know, from 11 to two. So we’ll get set up a couple hours early, and then it takes a couple hours to tear down. But the main bulk of it is, you know, what, three ish hours. But I think what people don’t realize is that it’s intense mental focus for three hours. So an emotional to some degree. So you just have that focus, and there’s, there’s all the prep, there’s all the teardown, at the end of the night, we got to go and unload all the footage and back that up. And, you know, it looks like a three hour shoot day, but it’s like, really, that’s a 10 hour or 12 hour or like with the travel. It’s like, that was 16 hours. That was a 16 hour day, even though it didn’t look like much. And yeah, I mean, there’s a lot harder jobs than what we do, but just kind of acknowledging, acknowledging what that looks like, I think is important, too.
Robert Pero 31:32
Yeah, no, I agree. Um, what’s your I mean, what, what of what is backflip? Or specifically you? Have you feel? Do you feel like you’ve gained anything or achieved some new sort of grandiose perspective on things by working with me or with paradigm? Like, if we impacted you in some way for the good? Oh,
Ryan Freng 31:53
I heavy, heavy questions. Wow. I mean, the short answer will certainly, you know, personally and professionally, there’s been a lot creatively in that as well. I think, you know, there’s, there’s just so much, I’m trying to think of how to answer this, and let you get out of here at five. You know, personally, it’s been great. It personally, it’s been great, because I built, you know, John, and I, and then Scott joined us, like, building an agency from the ground up and never worked at other agencies. So made a lot of stuff up. And then in working with other agencies is how we kind of confirm, like, hey, how do other people do it? And is what we do? Common? Is it uncommon, you know, is it better is it worse, and then we can kind of adjust. So you know, professionally, that’s been really great to work with you guys to see that, and how you do things, but then creatively as well, just to be able to tell really important, unique stories, kind of in this realm that we normally wouldn’t necessarily have access to kind of the indigenous stuff, the sex trafficking stuff. And I think it’s important work and important stories that we’ve been able to be a part of. So that’s, that’s really, really good. And then just, you know, personally, as friends, we text each other daily with the workout stuff, kind of at a little bit of an accountability. And I think I posted a picture today of us at the hotel, right, before we were about to punch each other in the stomach. Yeah, you know, and that’s, that’s kind of our, our relationship. And I really appreciate that, because, you know, I see you as a brother personally, and kind of, in that we share all this together and are hopefully learning how to do better and learning and growing in many different ways. So I mean, that’s kind of the tip of the iceberg in those three categories. But what about for you? I mean, what’s what’s been positive for you?
Robert Pero 34:22
Yeah, I mean, Jesse. You know, your, your team is made up of good people. I raised you know, from the get go, and that first meeting that we had, you know, and I think I’m a pretty good reader. You know, you can see when people have agenda, or they have ego or you know, you can then tell if you are someone that I work with, they’re not simple enough. So, from that, and I realized that as we’re immensely good and professional, and also I had a really cool sense of humor, we’re working on some really cool stuff, you know, and personally, you know, I was connected up with John Scott as well. But, you know, it was just one of those things that I was excited for the opportunity to challenge myself in working with, you know, a level of, of creatives, you know, such as backflip, and being able to bring what we had to the table was a little bit, I would say, intimidate the time, you know, we had worked with production companies that had done, but we were, you know, you guys ain’t cheap, either. So, you know, it was, it was a little intimidating to come in and see the studio and have that you guys are doing and, and listen, you guys talk all smart. But that being said, being the credibility for what you guys land, and the ability that you guys have to live, I think is is an attribute that gets lost in today’s society, and you guys are real listeners. And you, you know, take it in, and you’re articulate with, you know, when I think that, and the ability to look outside of what even, you know, vacuum or environment may have lacked perspective, I think is really, really important for the kind of work that we do, as were a native on media production company, and you’re a native own, really a bunch of Catholic I jokingly call you think it’s a beaut. Because all of us from different backgrounds have come together and found this way to work together, and build friendships and build professional relationships and put out really important meeting content, and raise voice of, you know, in, in areas that people really don’t want to talk about way that sensitive and articulate and digestible. And that, in and of itself, work is amazingly fun. And downloading about the work that we’re friends is the icing on the cake for me. So it the same for us, you know, we just really need to have a relationship, you know, beyond just work but creatively, collaboratively. You know, the future just looks better. And better, the more we, you know, kind of let our guard down and keep going together. So I’m just super jacked about. I feel like you’ve made us a ton better and any better as a person me definitely. Definitely getting in better shape is a lack as a you because you’re so crazy about it. But I’ve my minute craziness, I found a good medium for me to 195 and be in way better shape. And maybe you’re mad as the older that I get, but I’m never going to be you Ryan. I’m never gonna be as cut as you are as jacked. But I feel like I did when the six pack cones test suite the other night,
Ryan Freng 38:21
at least. Yeah. I mean, I think you were just you were just hitting way harder than I was. You know, and it’s it’s whoever cries uncle first and I probably cried uncle first.
Robert Pero 38:34
Yeah, I’m pretty I’m pretty. I’m pretty sure I talk to you in the bed that night. I did notice in that look, I’m certainly than you. Like, I look like a like a heavyweight and you look like a flyweight. So I know you’re off. But
Ryan Freng 38:51
you know, the in the funny thing is, it’s it’s, it’s so weird. Like, you know, you’re at 195 You’re a couple inches taller than me. I today had a 180 to weigh in. You know, when that picture was taken, I might have been up a little higher, because it’s like the end of the day, you know, water weight. So like, you might have only had 10 pounds on me. I don’t I don’t understand how weight works at all. Like, it makes no sense. But I definitely probably had to go to bed because you hurt me. I do like I do like that point you made to have like, when we talk you know about the indigenous stuff, too. It’s it’s a joke, but it’s kind of fun to you’re like yeah, got this indigenous dude, Rob, who’s telling these Catholic boys what to do, you know, on this project. And Carolyn’s Carolyn just saying collaboration among people who have shared commonalities while still bringing their unique perspectives, backgrounds and voices is magic. And I think I think that’s kind of what makes what we’re doing unique. And this doesn’t have to be an us fest. But I think it’s important because, you know, this is stuff that I’m not aware of and have never seen and I’m not familiar with, you know, I’m not familiar with the struggles of native country. Yeah, native country and like, the issues of human trafficking or sex trafficking there that we’re uncovering and helping tell stories of, and what that looks like, in conjunction with big corporations, you know, and sussing all that out. And just being able to get in there and tell stories has been amazing. And yeah, makes us makes us better, because that
Robert Pero 40:47
is not normal to us. Well, I think what’s guys aren’t just gonna, like, Hey, we’re just gonna set up cameras, and just film whatever you tell us to grab, let you guys really understand and learn. And just be more aware, you know, and I think all as people who are searching to better you know, we want to, as we get older, we will be wiser and more knowledgeable and more experienced and more aware of things. And I feel back that we can come from such different backgrounds, and find common ground to collaboratively work to understand things that we don’t, is something that in a microcosm is something that we will learn on a larger scale, with people that maybe don’t understand, and each other, listen to be more empathetic. But that’s what you guys have done so amazing together, as you’ve invested in, you know, you’ve invested in us, you you’ve invested in the work that we do, and they’ve country, you know, the work that we do, you know, with really tough issues, because it would be very easy to just check out and just, you know, do production, not invest in that. And I think, you know, I think the more people that we can get to actually listen and invest in what they’re doing. With Purpose, you know, I think the more better content is See and that’s what we’re seeing from the we’re doing. That’s really resonating. That stuff is it’s just like a big as fast as I see more people dropping off as they keep listening to us talk about we are
Ryan Freng 42:26
that’s the whole purpose of a happy yeah. What you’re what you’re talking about there, too. I’m so excited. Max, our new guy. Did you meet Max yet?
Robert Pero 42:41
Yeah. Now, Maximilian, I have not. Oh,
Ryan Freng 42:46
okay. Next time you’re in, yeah, he’s awesome. We employed him previously. And then he, we sold him. That’s probably bad in the context of human trafficking. His contract was bought out by the company that we were he was working for. So then he worked with them directly, just for several years. And then Andrew left us, Andrew, who was doing a lot of the edits with me for the public awareness campaign work. He left, Jeff jumped in, and then we hired max. So now Max is getting to work on some of these with Jeff and me. And it’s so much fun because he just went through the Antra Anton Shroyer interview. And he’s like, Oh, my gosh, this this part’s so good. This stuff’s so good. I’ve got a couple different edits that we could go, but we went in this direction. And I’m like, dude, all the things he’s talking about, just wait until you listen to these interviews from Jim Jones. James Jones, the second or the third was the son of Jim Jones, Jr. Like, the things Anton is talking about are the things that Jim Jim’s son lived. James Jones is James Jones. Yeah, it’s very difficult because it’s like, Jim, who I know is Jim Jim Jones. He’s James Jones, the Jr. But then I think his son is James Jones. But is he the second? Or do they have different middle names? Is very unclear. I don’t know how to label them. I don’t know how to, like label the files on the server.
Robert Pero 44:27
I’ll let you figure that out. No, but I hear you I can’t wait. X you know what, tell me tell me your one word that would describe Max.
Ryan Freng 44:40
Ooh that’s good. Energy Yeah, that two words.
Robert Pero 44:54
Energy. Yeah.
Ryan Freng 44:58
Energy. Um, yeah, it’s like that. I, ya know, it’s he’s super energetic. And he brings that positivity and that energy to everything. And so like, as I was leaving, I was like, Hey, I’m gonna have some more comments. And I was thinking kind of this this way. So I’ll send some comments, and then you guys can take a look. And he’s like, oh, okay, that sounds great. And actually do have these other things over here. And so I could render them off and upload them, and you could look at them and, you know, but if not, that’s okay, too. We could just do the first thing. And yeah, that’s fine, too. You know, just like, kind of talking through all the iterations of the options, just with an energy and an exuberance, you know, and
Robert Pero 45:44
no matter what are gonna be all right.
Ryan Freng 45:48
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I want to be too in maybe Max’s watching, I want to be like, hey, it’s cool. If you have a different opinion, you could just say that, and you don’t have to, I don’t know, be like, Oh, it’s okay to we don’t have to do that. Like, that’s very polite and kind and just that positive energy, you know, which is very helpful. So that’s, that’s kind of what I would say energetic. He’s also super funny. He’s super comedic. But, like, he brings energetic timing. So like, the stuff he’s cutting with Anton is, is really, really great. And super impactful. And it’s weird, because it’s like, oh, comedic and energetic. On this heavy subject. It’s like, well, you know, that’s, that’s kind of a framework of perspective. And then within that, you can get serious. So I think we’re always going to get very energetic work out of him, which is, you know, fantastic. So yeah, that’s my word.
Robert Pero 46:53
I love that energetic. Very cool. I think you could have done better but no word for now.
Ryan Freng 47:00
What’s your one word for me?
Robert Pero 47:05
It used to be doughy. But now that you’ve been working out, I can’t say that. What I say to you? What’s a good word for Ryan? Freng.
Ryan Freng 47:19
There’s no wrong answers unless you have a wrong answer. Man, or there’s no suit. Let
Robert Pero 47:29
me let me come back.
Ryan Freng 47:31
Just stupid people. He also Max also loves the show dead eyes, which apparently is an awesome podcast that I haven’t listened to yet.
Robert Pero 47:43
I was wondering what that I was. I thought we were maybe frozen and we just dead eyes. That’s why Caroline. Is it Carolyn or Caroline? Carolyn? South Carolina.
Ryan Freng 47:53
Carolyn? Brian. Carolyn.
Robert Pero 47:56
Gotcha. Carolyn, that. I believe you. Yeah. I mean, what would I say about you? You were just you lose? Some?
Ryan Freng 48:12
I think I looked at and I was
Robert Pero 48:15
I know. God, golly. I want to find like a physical word for it. I’ll come back to it. But let me let me percolate on that.
Ryan Freng 48:30
It’s it’ll be time for the percolator. All right. So I gotta get you out of here and about 13 minutes. So 12 Yeah, yeah, I think we all let’s see, we all know what time it is.
Isn’t that just the cutest thing ever to choose? And I lie I had Magdalene, the four year old come down here really quick for an episode a couple of weeks ago, and I was like, record it. Just say it, just say it. She’s awesome. That’s like, makes my heart melt. So I did give you the heads up at the beginning that we’re going to play this so I hope you’re ready. I can go first though, and then we’ll save we’ll save you for last. So anybody who’s listening at home to you get to Carolyn’s says oohs sounds like Ryan’s word or Rob’s word for her. I don’t from Zoey to oohs. You just keep getting better.
Robert Pero 49:41
I think that’s yeah, yep.
Ryan Freng 49:46
All right. So two truths and a lie. So I’m going to try to stump you. People at home may know this as well because some of these are true. Some of them are lies don’t know much. All right, so I was born in Rhode Island. Then we moved to Virginia and then Florida and then Kenosha. You know, military brat. Let’s see. Now I gotta think let’s think of some lies or some truths.
Robert Pero 50:26
That was the lie.
Ryan Freng 50:29
Well, or it’s or it’s the truth. So born in Rhode Island, then we moved to Virginia, then Florida, and then Kenosha. I gotta I gotta keep keep the lie all straight in my head. Let’s see. Oh, I was a bouncer in college at Madison Avenue. Matt Matt. AV bar. There’s like, there’s like three bars. There’s like Johnny owes mad Ave. and I forget the name of the third one. Johnny O’s is upstairs and the other two are downstairs. So I was a bouncer. That’s number two. And number three, is I was asked by a bouncer to turn my camera away. When I was in Nashville, because Reese Witherspoon was standing like 10 feet away from us. And they didn’t want us recording her with my camera while we were sitting at lunch. So those are my three. So number one. Born in Rhode Island, other places I lived. Number two bouncer at Mad AV number three. I was told by a bouncer to not film Reese Witherspoon while just sitting with a camera at lunch. So you guys should guess at home. We’ll give them a second to guess at home. There’s like a 22nd delay for them. So I don’t we’ll give them a minute. You can ruminate on it. I
Robert Pero 52:11
know you’re I know that you do live a bunch of spots and I
baby to me I’m like goes surprised you were a bouncer because you seem so tiny.
So maybe you were bouncing like the knee or something making sure people were putting appropriate coins and they’re just giving you mad shit right now. I think it’s got to be the last one. The last ones alive. The Reese Witherspoon thing.
Ryan Freng 52:50
That’s your vote. All right. So we got two votes. We got our three votes you got the last one is Reese Witherspoon. Carolyn thinks it’s the wrong celebrity. And Chi Chi says not a bouncer. I was a bouncer. Yeah, I was a bouncer at Mad AV for like, a couple months. And then two truths and a lie. No posture. Thanks, Carolyn. Yeah. I mean, so it’s hilarious because I’m not bouncer sized. But I had to bounce like a 350 pound former Marine who was chucking bottles in a bathroom. I think I’ve told this story before, but I just had to go in and be like, chill, like chameleon like, dude, what’s going on you okay? And he’s like, Oh, yeah. And the service. And I was like, oh, man, thank you so much for your service. Like, I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through and blah, blah, blah. And he calmed down. And then I think his friends came in, and I was like, Hey, you guys gotta get him out of here. He’s breaking bottles. And you don’t want the bouncers to get him out of here. I like separated myself from them. I was like, you don’t want the bouncers to throw him out the side door. Like, oh, so so so you know, just kind of using that chameleon? skill to get him to calm down and then get the friends out. So yep, that’s that was my balance your story. And the Reese Witherspoon story is true. We were filming down there for our documentary, The Power mines documentary about the rosary. We happen to choose this burger joint, sat down to the camera, and a big burly dude walks over. He was like, Excuse me, sir. I know. I know you’re not filming. But just please keep your camera turned away from that room. And we were like right next to the room. It was a private room. And we’re like, okay, something’s going on in there. And, you know, one second later, Reese Witherspoon walks out and he’s standing by the bar. And then John’s like trying to get a picture. So he’s like, across the A table to the woman that’s there, Margie. He’s like, Hey, let me get a picture of you, Margie. And he like, holds it up. And then the bouncer like, is a smart guy. He sees what’s happening. He just kind of slides over in the way. So there’s like this partial photo that John has ever. So yeah, that was true. That is words are. Ron, thank you.
Robert Pero 55:24
That was what?
Ryan Freng 55:27
Oh, and the lie. Sorry.
Robert Pero 55:29
What’s What’s the lie that
Ryan Freng 55:31
I was born in Virginia, not Rhode Island. So I’ve talked about that enough. I feel like why? Oh, go ahead. I was born in Virginia, not Rhode Island. So I said I was born in Rhode Island, Virginia. I’ve shared that information with everyone. So I feel like that’s a good lie. Yeah, that’s it. All right. You’re up, Rob. And Sharon, we’re gonna be sending you some gifts for participating. So please do send us your address. If not, maybe it’ll just give them to rob and he can give it to you the next family event. But you can just send us a message on Messenger. So all right, Robert, what do you got for us?
Robert Pero 56:21
Okay. So I want my, my mother in law’s in the other room. Once dunk a basketball I UW Milwaukee Panther floor that’s my number one. And at the time, I was six one about 160 pounds and I could jump and do stuff back then. My second one is I got stuck in a construction site. And back when I lived in Texas, and I thought it was gonna die. I was walking to the gas station have them candy, because that’s what parents used to kids do back in the day with like, no, like where they were. And I walked in took a shortcut construction site and it was very wet the day before and my my feet started sinking as I was walking through. And my feet got so I couldn’t move manuals were stuck. So it was either my sandals are gonna die or I’m gonna die. So I left my sandals in and I plucked my feet out of this mode and I ran across this construction site. I got out never found my sandals. My last one is as a child. You know, if you write as to Hasbro specifically for characters like to develop and I was a huge he-man And that they may take your idea and actually create a character from it. So I drew this half horse, half man character who was a centaur and I sent that off to Hasbro. And two years later, they actually created the Centaur character that was based upon I got a letter saying that, you know, based upon my ideas how they created that Centaur character for Eman in like 1988 or something like that. So those are my three. I dunked a basketball on the UW un Panther basketball court and I’ve I got my feet stuck and lost my sandals in a construction site in Texas. And I drew a centaur and sent it off to Hasbro in the 80s to the he-man reps. And two years later, they created the character.
Ryan Freng 58:48
Ooh, yeah. All right, these are good. So we’ve got some guesses. Or let’s get some guesses at home. Online, you can comment? Guess the middle one is a lie. Maybe happened to a friend Carolyn says so she’s guessing number two, you got your foot stuck in a construction site that you’re going to die or going to the gas station in Texas. Yeah, remember when we could like go to the store? And our parents would be like, Alright, see you in an hour. Good luck. Don’t get hit by a car. Now my, my kid wants to go to the park, which is home for four blocks. Yeah, four blocks away. And I’m like, take the phone, take the little relay device. So I can track you know. All right, what else do we got? Chi Chi. If you’re on, get your guests in? Let’s see. I know the third. I believe the third one is true or you’re embellishing on it and then it’s false. I think it’s true because I’ve heard that story before. At least what I think was that story so you could be lying. It could be not a centaur or something or They may or may not turn it into a character. But it sounds like the story that I heard. So I think number three is true. I like to think number one is true that you dunk the basketball. It’s like the smallest story you told though. And then number two was kind of big. Yeah, I was gonna guess number two. So, it’d be hard to say, I’m trying to think of when you were in Texas. So I’m gonna guess number two is a lie as well, because I want number one to be true. And I feel like I know number three is true.
Robert Pero 1:00:47
Well, number one is true. I did dunk a basketball. I dunk the basketball twice in my life. It’s in the first one I was at the UW Panthers. As a freshman in college. My buddies did not believe me. When I came to Madison a few days late was I could jump high enough, but I couldn’t pull the basketball. So I did come to Madison A week later, and I told my buddies about, they said, right now we’re going out to the court, and you’re gonna dunk a basketball and I did it. And I’ve never done it since. Right? So that’s true. Number two is absolutely true. I lived in Texas in the 80s When my dad got a job down at Caterpillar and moved down there. And actually, my grandfather moved down there because he needed work too, because there was a recession back in the early 80s. And my grandfather moved down to Texas with us and live there with us for a couple years and got work. And that really did happen. I think I might have peed my pants in the construction site had to pee really bad. So there was a tiny little spot at Sandals at some days someone will dig up. And the third one is almost true, very embellished, they did not send me a letter and say them and I made it into a care center. So it’s a bit of a nuanced statement there. But they did.
Ryan Freng 1:02:18
Because I remembered I remembered your story. Yeah.
Robert Pero 1:02:22
Yes, yes. So I’ve been setting the stage to trick you at drusen alive for probably two years, and I’ve done it.
Ryan Freng 1:02:32
That’s a genius strategy where you just kind of pepper vague random stories. And then when we play this game, you just embellish and then you win. So great work. You win. Carolyn, you can just have all the swag. Because you answer all the time. And Sharon’s, please do send us your info. We’ll make sure that we get you some of that sweet, sweet, Happy Hour swag. But that’s what we got for today. Thanks so much for coming on here. I know you were you’re traveling. You’re on vacation. It’s 501. I want to get you out of here so you can
Robert Pero 1:03:09
know a letter clearly.
Ryan Freng 1:03:12
Yeah, no, no letter was really
Robert Pero 1:03:14
concerned about I royalties from the Centaur character from
Ryan Freng 1:03:18
Oh, yeah. That’s awesome. So yeah, thanks for jumping on. Sharon.
Robert Pero 1:03:31
Thank you, man. I appreciate you having appreciate everything that you’ve brought to our team. And to me personally yours and just cool to have conversations like and happy to see who’s on the next happy hour, man. Hope you guys had a great fight weekend.
Ryan Freng 1:03:50
Yeah, man, likewise. And next time we’ll we’ll get even deeper. We’ll get to those those fun stories of when we were younger, so people can see the real Ryan and the real Rob, and know a little bit more about how we got here. And that’ll be awesome. Yeah, so I don’t actually know who’s coming up next. Summer has been crazy. We’ve been filming so much. Next Friday. We’re on a golf thing. I think we are back the following Friday. But we were filming in two weeks. So like, my brain is kind of focusing on all these projects and not on happy hour. So we’ll share whoever we’re talking with. You can watch all the backlog though. Down below, you can subscribe to our podcast, we’re updating our let’s backlit podcast with these episodes. They’re gonna be coming out every Saturday. So you can listen to it there. There’s not a lot of visual comedy going on or visually you know, so you don’t necessarily need to watch it unless you want to watch it live on Facebook, which is fun, so you can listen to your podcasts and subscribe. That’s what we got. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thanks, Carolyn. Thanks chichi, thanks everyone else and especially Thank you that’s what we got everyone have a safe and awesome fourth and we’ll see you next time
