And you're back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. Emily Dashinsky,
culture editor here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the show
at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at fdr LST,
make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts, and of course to
the premium ad free version of our website, The Federalist dot Com as well.
Today, I'm very excited to be joined by Corey and Ganilmoort. He
is a producer over at wma L. He produces the wonderful Vince Coolonaise and
Vince Colona's show over there, but he's also a weekend host of his own
news show on wma L here in the DC area. Corey, Welcome to
Federalist Radio Hour. Emily. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you
for having me. Yes, of course, first let's start just tell us
where you people can listen to your show, how they can listen to your
show, When they can listen to your show. Sure. So, my
new show, the Corey and Ganimort Show, very original name I came up
with. It airs on Saturdays live on wm AL one O five point nine
about every other week We're still deciding exactly how often this is going to be
on Saturdays, but you can hear me this upcoming Saturday tomorrow, three to
six, the Great WMAO. And people can listen online too, right,
yep, they can stream online WML dot com. There's a listen live feature
right there, and I hope that you do. We have we have lots
to talk about tomorrow. We have a guest coming on. He's a doctor
who thinks it's wrong with the transgender industry pharmaceutical complex is doing. Right now,
I challenge him a little bit about how the transgender community not only are
they trying trying to mutilate our kids, trying to indoctrinate our children, they're
also trying to delete gay people from existing, because you know, if you
think about it, let's say there's a young boy named Billy, and he
is showing signs that maybe someday he might turn out to be gay. Maybe
he skips in the hallways on his way to school, maybe he listens to
Kesha on the weekends. I don't know, Like there's signs that Billy might
turn out to be gay. Well, that's okay in my mind, Like
an adult gay man I hope you live the greatest gay life you possibly can.
However, the trans community will say, no, Billy needs to be
a strong, adult, blue haired, probably septim piercing woman in order to
live his true full self. So my view is that the transgender community is
trying to delete gay people from its existence entirely. It's a homophobic cause in
my mind, Oh actually just outright labeling it a homophobic cause. I'm going
there, I'm going there, and so many people like this this LGBT.
Let's take the letter is an individual a plus plus. I don't even know
what the hell that means, and I don't think the community quote unquote even
knows what most of them mean. But lesbian, gay, by transgender the
first three letters. That has to do with sexual preference. Who you are
attracted to? A guy being attracted to a guy, or a girl being
attracted to a girl. So what great the trans community is a guy who
thinks he's a girl or a girl who thinks he's a guy. So you
really need to separate the two issues. That's one of my big cases.
You know, I happen to be gay. I don't know if you knew
that or not, but great, good go for me. The trans community
is trying to group the groups together so that they have more legitimacy, because
I think most of America is okay for gay marriage, like that's fine.
However, most people, rightfully so, are not okay with adult men calling
themselves women and then changing among teenagers in a locker room. So it's kind
of like a shield that the community puts together. Let's group ourselves in with
the gay community. Therefore, if you attack us, you're attacking LGBT people.
You know, the Nashville shooter a couple of months ago, horrible tragic
story. Everyone's quick to jump to blame the LGBT community. And my view
is like, hold on a second. My sexuality has nothing to do with
this woman or man, I forget what he even was, who is suffering
from a mental disorder and goes up to shoot a school. It has nothing
to do with someone's sexual preference. So stop grouping the groups together. That's
how I feel it's actually dangerous. It's one point on that is you when
you said it's a shield. That's really interesting because it clearly after the conversation
about whether homosexuality is a mental illness, like after culturally, we sort of
reckoned with that. You put people who are clearly suffering from like obvious like
gender dysphoria, which is a diagnosed men mental illness, you tack it on.
And then you know, if you criticize the treatment of people who are
suffering from a mental illness, you're criticizing every Like it's the perfect crime,
exactly crime tacking it onto that it really is And something I think about too.
You know, the Left and I and and everybody was against conversion therapy
when when you know, you take a gay person and you you know,
you pray the best you can that this person doesn't turn out gay, you
can turn out to be straight, Like like, I don't think that's a
really appropriate course of action. I myself think I was born this way.
I didn't choose it. Trust me, it'd be a lot harder if I
did choose. I wouldn't wish it upon any when it's not necessarily an easier
life, even though we do have a whole month dedicated to us and sections
of a Target department store. The Left thinks it's absolutely okay to convert someone
from a man to a woman or a woman to a man, and they
support that, like, yes, we wanted this conversion therapy so and so
of this identity of who you actually are. So in some cases they hate
it, in other cases they allow it. And in these cases of conversion
of your sexual identity, they actually want it to happen. They push it.
And if you're a parent who is opposed to it, they actually want
to take your kids away and they say, no, you need to push
them down this road. And if you don't, then you're just a bad
parent. So it's kind of a it doesn't make sense to me how some
conversion is okay, but the other conversion or not. It's totally incoherent.
You're from the DC area originally, right, Corey actually from New Jersey.
But I've been down here for fifteen years or so now, so I consider
myself a swamp creature. Yea, at this point it counts. I'm curious
about a local like I've actually always been curious about this with WML, which
I've like, I love WML. I've had just so many good experiences with
WML hosting a show in all of the conservative offerings that you guys have at
WML, from Larry to Vince to you in the DC area, but yet
having so many fans and so many people who listen day after day after day,
it's so strange. It's like this this it's not strange because you guys
are good, obviously, I don't mean to imply anything else, but it's
just it's like people find it's cathartic. I don't know. I was curious
for especially on the production end too, When you're sort of thinking about these
things and paying attention to what people might be interested on a day to day
basis, that's kind interesting to me. I think. I agree. What's
great about producing for the Vince Colony Show is obviously, like he's so great
at what he does. He's one of the smartest people I know. But
we have so many listeners that include lawmakers. Anytime I want to try to
book a congressman or a senator, and you probably have this experience at the
federalists as well. It's that they are local and they're listening to us on
their ride back from home, the ride to work, so we have access
to lawmakers all the time. If someone a radio show host in I don't
know, Oklahoma or Nashville or Minnesota was trying to book these congressmen, they
probably would be a whole lot less successful. So I think Vince has so
much more influence than any other radio show host that really exists. I mean,
obviously, if you get people who are syndicated on over one hundred networks,
we have a few of those. Chris Plant obviously as Dan Bongino,
both air on WML as well. That's what makes my job so cool because
I can reach out to all these important people and they know Vince already,
like I listen to them all the time, So come on join the show,
and that's where we can really break news. Vince asks the right questions,
he really pulls information out of that. The other thing is our listeners
are all well, a lot of federal employees, a lot of people who
used to work in the intelligence industry. So we'll have callers all the time
who want to chime in on the two tier justice system and they'll say they'll
give me a fake name. They're like, well, I work in the
intelligence industry. I can't really let people know who I am, so they
give me a fake name. We put them through and they have some real
detailed information that they go through and it's really neat. We only have that
access here in Washington, d C. And so I love that With all
of Vince's guests, Emily, as you know, as your listener know,
is a frequent guest, Vince's absolute favorite. Whenever there's a topic where I
don't know who to book, per se. I mean, Emily, you
obviously are an expert in the intelligence Facebook censorship industry, but whenever there's an
all encompassing topic, Emily, I gotta text Simley and she is the first
one responds in five seconds. It makes my job as a producer so great,
and you're just so awesome. Put two things on that. First,
I am an expert in absolutely everything. Yes, I didn't mean to insult
you by saying that, but whatever, I know that it's not just social
media, Corey. What I am an expert in. It basically knows no
bounds, and that's thanks to Wikipedia and also fashion and pop culture. And
I see you have musical instruments behind you. I'm sure you're a great musician
all of that. So yes, you are the expert. But also that's
the point about what you guys are doing in the DC area. But also,
I mean, I don't know, I just I think It's all interesting,
and it's also interesting to me that you did not. Oh this is
what I was going to say, I was. I lost my train of
thought, Corey, because you had overwhelmed me with flattery. I went on
a rants called but no, I thought that you were from d C.
Because you are. I mean, listen, if I was not from a
city, would I be so excited to dress up like that city's mascots?
Probably not. Listen. I'm from Milwaukee area. So would I, you
know, wear a costume? Yeah? Or Bernie Brewers out Bango? Yeah?
Would I be Bango? Or would I be Bernie on a hundred degree
day, laughing and smiling? If I weren't from Milwaukee, well, first
of all, I wouldn't do it. But second of all, I sure
as hell wouldn't do it if I was not from Milwaukee. And yet here
you are. Corey has this entire and I just I wanted to do a
podcast to dig into all of this, like what it's like to be a
mascot, but a series of mascots? Really is what You've played it?
Do you call it played or do you performed as performed as so? Corey,
how did you get into the DC mascot game. Sure, well,
I was a mascot at the University of Delaware. I randomly became friends with
a team of mascots. There are five people on the mascot team, and
I randomly became friends with them through social gatherings. Mark Kevin Bart, we
just like started hanging out and they were all sound like Kavanaugh. Just then
I did actually Mark Kevin Bart, I like beer. So I just became
friends with them. And then it was actually a very secretive thing as a
mascot, you're not really supposed to talk about it. It took me about
six months to realize, you know, these were actually the mascot performers.
UD University Delaware's mascot name was u D. It was a blue hen and
I finally figured it out. They were always a way at sporting events and
like, what are you doing? As I see this mascot van that's parked
out of their house a lot of times, figured it out, became very
interested, as I want to do this too. It just seems fun and
I want to hang out with my buddies. I had no intention of being
a mascot. When I went to college. I tried out for the team.
I got cut. I was like, okay, great, that's awesome.
The tryouts are pretty intense. They make you act certain situations out if
they all nonverbally, Like Corey showed me, on a scale of one to
ten, act out sophisticated out of three, and I didn't know what the
hell to do. I was like scratching my chin, walking around pretending I
was drinking a glass of wine. That kind of stuff. But it's all
nonverbal. It's very awkward. You have a panelist of judges judging your dance
moves and how you act out certain situations. Anyway, I got cut mostly
because I was a senior at the time and they wanted someone younger. Well,
it turns out later that year, my friend Kevin graduated earlier, the
semester early, and he became the Washington Capital's mascot, so they needed somebody
to fill in the place. I got asked on, but mostly as a
helper. Eventually they put me in costume, but we I kind of snuck
it because the coach didn't want me in costume because I wasn't trained enough and
that whole that kind of stuff. So anyway, I finished out the ethnical
ability that. You know, I thought it was just where a costume and
act like an idiot, but you know, that is most of the job.
But there are certain ways you're supposed to do it. There's you know,
certain boundaries. Certain there's a style of walk you're supposed to at least
that University of Delaware adopt, so that way, all the five performers look
the same. So you're never really supposed to know who's in costume. So
I finished out that year. The Washington Nationals needed a performer, and little
did I know before becoming a mascot Delaware, Delaware is actually known for their
mascoting. There are actually a bunch of professional mascots that were formerly udi from
University of Delaware. That includes the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens,
Washington Capitals. He just moved on recently Washington well Nationals. The current
Nationals mass guy is also University of Delaware performer, and a whole bunch of
minor league people who are full time. So there's a reputation reputation that employers
are looking for Delaware mascots. So I applied for this MAT's job. I
was referred through a few friends who were already performers. I got the job,
and so here he was fresh out of high school. I'm sorry,
college, twenty two years old, and I'm a professional mascot. I had
only done it for about three or four months at Delaware. There are guys
still my age who are working out in the minor leagues trying to make their
professional debut. Believe it or not, I would have given up so long
ago. That's how lucky I am. Prodigy, That's how lucky I am.
But thank you for that. So I became a Screech, the mascot
for the Washington Nationals. I did it for thirteen years. I have some
of the best experiences of my life doing this. How did I root for
the Nationals? I grew up a Mets fan. Well, it's real easy
too, because if you win a World Series, you get a World Series
ring, and that was always my goal. We started off my first year,
I think we were the worst team in baseball. We lost one hundred
and two games. But by my eleventh year, we won a World Series.
I have a beautiful World Series ring in my room right now. I
wear it when I want attention, which is most of the time. But
it's cool, and we talked about this previously. I've met Barack Obama doing
this. I've met Joe Biden doing this. I've met nine Supreme Court justices
doing this. I've skydove out of airplanes doing this. I've been to Taiwan,
I've been to Japan. There's so many cool experience is that I've done
doing this. You went skydiving as Screeched the Eagle. Oh yeah, just
YouTube Screeched the Eagle skydiving. It was really dangerous. Oh it was.
I was granted it was tandem and I had someone doing all the work,
but it was actually terrifying. And I had skid of once prior to doing
this. But you wear the costume and I knew it would be a problem
with the wind that's going to push my head up. So I had to
really tie like a duct tape, tie this helmet to my face. There's
a chin strap and everything involved, but I really tied it tight around my
face. So the second we jump out of a plane, the whole mask
is lifting up and it's basically choking because what's gravity. I forgot one hundred
and sixty miles per hour or something like that. The whole mask is lifting
up on my face and it's actually choking me as it's going down. So
it was about fifty seconds of pure terror. I couldn't wait for it to
be over, but we got through it and it was. It turned out
to make a great video. We aired it on the big screen. I
think it was Steven Strasburg's debut game. So it was a sold out crowd
and it was awesome. What is this all about? Crowd at NAT's Park
in thirty about thirty five thirty six thousand people. Well, if you're a
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slash Federalist to register Hillsdale dot edu slash Federalist. Okay, so you are
a few months out of college, or you're right out of college and you
had been doing mascoting for a few months. You step out into baseball games
with tens of thousands of screaming fans and you have a few months basically of
mascoting experience, and you're in the big leagues. You're dressed to screech the
eagle. That has to be super overwhelming, Yes it is. But joining
the joining you, Emily Jashinski The Federalist Radio Hour is even more intimate because
I'm trying to hold my own with the greatness and smartness behind the mask.
There's there's nothing to worry about, and what's funny about being a mascot is
that if you screw up, it's funny, like like it doesn't really matter.
You can't really say anything dumb. You can't if you trip and fall.
Oh my god, look that mascot just tripped and fell. It's it's
funny. So there is a lot less pressure in that regard. It's just
I consider my job being a professional idiot. You need to know the boundaries,
what you're supposed to do, what you're not supposed to do. But
it's kind of hard to screw up when you don't have to talk. You
can be fairly entertaining. And you actually practiced a little I practiced a little
bit before I started getting in costume, like in front of a mirror,
what moves well? What looks great in the costume? So I developed like
a walk that I thought looked good. It's a hell of an image practice.
Oh yeah, just I say it. And you got to see what
works well for the costume because the costume is a bit different. Some have
big bellies, some have hair that move, So you got to work it
out and see what looks best. But was it a bit nerve wracking?
Sure, just only because I wasn't sure where I was allowed to be and
who I can approach. But eventually you figure that all out and you have
and doing it as long as I did. You start having relationships with a
lot of players on the NAT side. We used to travel to hospital visits
together. We used to do you know, parades together, community service visits
together. So you can develop a relationship with all of the players, and
then even the opposing team you see them enough times, especially the teams in
the analy East, you start developing relationships with them. And you know they
always say don't talk in costume, and these some of these mascots take it
way too seriously. I talked to the players all the time. I talked
to military service members who were throwing out first pitch, any kind of celebrities.
I didn't care. I broke I broke the rules quite a it.
So it was important to get that bad boy of the mid Atlantic mascot game
falked in costume. Actually, the last NAT's game, I went to the
current performer. I referred him to get the job, and I saw him
at a game on the concourse and I said, Hey, what's up,
screech And he walks up to me, and he starts like whistling, and
that's what I did in costume as to talk. I was like, screech,
you better not be big league me right now, you can talk to
me. It's me and Corey Hi, and he goes. I was like,
don't you dare big league me right now? And so he eventually said,
Hey, Corey, how's it going. I took a picture and I
said I said his name, which I won't repeat on here. I said,
don't you ever do that again. Don't you dare big league me?
And then I sent him a mean text later that night. So that's so
funny. This is another question I have is how, and I have so
many questions, but do people treat you kind of weird? I'm just thinking
of how if you're at disney World or something, and you know you're interacting
with a mascot, listen, you know you're an eagle. So in a
way, it's sort of a psychological leap to say, like, oh,
this is a human being behind this mask that I must treat like a human
being. Like did people come up and just like slug you or anything like
that? It's really weird. Only Phillies fans would do that they were literally
and maybe once or twice a Boston Red Sox fan. But it's it's actually
incredible when you think about it. For me, an adult six foot three,
fairly big guy, all I gotta do is slip on a fur jacket,
a masking gloves, and all of a sudden people go crazy. It's
actually unbelievable, like, oh, just grow you. They'll start yelling at
me, and I'm just like, I mean, really, I act like
an adult. I don't debatable whether I'm acting as an adult wearing a fur
costume and gloves and a mask, but it's actually unbelievable. How stressing up
in one costume, walking outside of the concourse, how everyone can just gravitate
towards looking at you. It always invokes some sort of emotional reaction, whether
they love you or hate you. I've been I've been hit before, very
rarely, but again they've only been Phillies fans. I've been kicked, I've
had my neck pulled. But for the most part, the only thing that
really bothered me was when I was verbally assaulted. The many times you know,
F you screech f and this, this that, and I was like,
I'm hugging a six year old, like, can you relax? Like
I just I just hated that the most, Like that really bothered me.
But for the most part, my experiences have been great, and it's always
it was always an adrenaline rush when you know you're on the field. We
performed a bunch of skits. It was always up to me. You know,
I hate Corey. You have sixty seconds, do whatever you want in
the field will fill me the whole time, and it was kind of up
to me to come up with dance skits or magic skits. And it was
always an adrenaline rush because when there's always be a payoff at the end and
you hear the whole crowd go, oh, that's awesome. So had a
good run. I mean, it's say, a lot of work. You
did it for thirteen years. It's much more work than I actually anticipated going
into this conversation. Well, it's sure it was a lot of work,
but what was exhausting was the physical part of it. I can honestly say
for thirteen years, I didn't have a single day of stress. And that's
a few people can say that. I had to show up somewhere, whether
it be a game, or you know, a public event. We did
birthday parties, weddings, parades, hospital visits, all that kind of stuff.
I just had to show up and wear this costume and perform the best
of my ability, and I always did. I snapped into character immediately and
we performed. So it was physically exhausting. Yes, Mentally it wasn't that.
I can't say I ever had much stress in that job. Tell us
about the World Series, that had to have been wild and kind of surreal.
It was awesome. So it was my eleventh year doing this. It
was a dream that I always had. And if you're a Nats fan,
you know we had three I think three maybe four disastrous playoff exits before then.
They always ended in such heartbreak. The first one was in twenty twelve
when Drew Storen blew a three run lead in the ninth inning and we were
one pitch away from winning seven different times. So it was heartbreak after heartbreak
after heartbreak. So to finally break through in twenty nineteen, it was surreal.
The wild Card game, we were losing. In the eighth inning,
Wan Soto hit an incredible hit and it just like all of the emotions,
like, oh my God, we finally broke through. Is this happening?
And look, I got goosebumps talking about it right now because it's like we're
going to advance, so we get to the World Series. It's funny.
When we were on the road, I organized all of these viewing parties,
so I had really I had well unofficial viewing parties of just among friends.
So I always had this section of the bars reserved. We'd have forty to
fifty people show up and it would be an absolute crazy, crazy time.
And those are some actually my best memories, at least in the first half
of those games, that's what I remember mostly, So those were always fun.
But the World Series, just the fanfare one of the greatest memories I
have doing this job. It was Game four. There was a veteran who
threw out a first pitch, and there were two first pitches that day.
The players weren't ready to catch a first pitch because they were still in the
dugout getting ready for the game, so the first first pitch happened earlier in
the pregame ceremonies, and so my boss was like, Corey, we need
you. You're gonna have to catch the first pitch. And I've done this
before, but very terribly. I usually miss it, like the vision is
terrible and if it's not a strike, like, I'm having a hard time
catching this thing. So I was had to move too. It is it's
heavy. I'm wearing basically clown shoes, and it's it's it's not good.
The fingers are large, they farely fit into a glove anyway. Game three
or four of the World Series, this veteran gets this huge, large introduction
and the game is obviously sold out, and every everone arrives early for this,
so it's like a minute introduction. As he's walking to the first the
pitcher's mound and at this point, everybody, the entire crowd is standing.
They're all in applause, cheering for this guy. And I am sweating bullets
behind home plate. I'm like, I need to catch this. I need
to catch this. I need to catch this. He throws the pitch,
it's a strike. I do catch it. It was the biggest relief of
my life, and the crowd goes nuts, ran out to the mound,
gave the guy a hug, and that was just like a really really cool,
surreal moment, Like here I am the World Series behind home plate.
My catch, well, mostly his first pitch, but the standing ovation happened
when I caught it, and this was like that was like a really really
cool moment in my life at that point. We went on to lose that
game. We went on to lose the next game, Game five. We
were down in whatever ending. It was fourth or fifth inning. That was
the game that President Trump came to and there was a whole strange debate over
whether he would throw out the first pitch. Obviously, our owners group were
liberal, and they were worried about our fan base and like, well we
should we should we not have President Trump throughout the first pitch. They ended
up not inviting him. They decided to have chef Jose Andres throw the first
pitch instead, and so he does a lot of great work. He's also
a flaming liberal. It the ownership group thought that was a great compromise.
I was was not so thrilled. But anyway, what happened that day President
Trump arrived I think it was in the second or third inning, and he
went near he went to this box. It was called the Washington Suite number
one or whatever it was, but it was right above the Diamond Club,
very close to the field, and I decided to make my way over to
him, and I knew I couldn't get too close because Secret Service would stop
me. And actually real quick, when President Obama threw out the first pitch
in two thousand and nine, I was on the field and Secret Service scolded
me. He's like, you do not cross this line. You cannot get
clear and closer to the president. I was like, okay, I don't
plan too that's fine. And what's funny is that I was actually behind home
plate when he told me that, So I was like, I guess I'll
stand here. MLB's told me specifically not to get in the shot when Barack
Obama threw out the first pitch, so I was like, okay, I'm
my hind home plate. I guess I have no other choice. So he
throws out this first pitch, you remember, you lobbed it. It was
the worst pitch ever. And I'm stuck in all the camera shots and like,
I guess I got to call this a ball. So I called it
a ball, and I got so much to watch the YouTube video screech President
Obama first pitch. I called it a ball, and I got in so
much trouble after that game. Oh my gosh, the Secret Service didn't let
me move. So anyway, that was another fun presidential experience. But I
make my way over to President Trump's box and I was ten feet away and
I was just waving to him, and finally it was Matt Gates and Steve
Scalise. They elbowed him and he looked at me and I pointed to him.
He pointed me back, and this, in hindsight, this was so
stupid. But I blew him a kiss, and I was like, who
did I do that? Like I wanted to let him know that I like,
I love you, man, like thank you, and I blew him
a kiss. I'm like, that was weird. I probably shouldn't have done
that. But he he pounded his chest and pointed in the back to me.
I was like, okay, well that was that was fun. You're
grown man, Corey. Yeah, I know, I know. I was.
In hindsight, I was like, that was a weird decision. But
that was one of the highlights of the World Series. We ended up losing
all three games at home. It was the first time this has ever happened
in World Series history. The series went seven games, every home team lost,
so we end up winning the World Series on the road in Houston.
That was just awesome. I got my World Series ring about six months later,
and boy, it was just the party has never stopped since. It's
just it was an incredible, amazing experience. It was very lucky to have
who is speaking of President Trump, who is? And President Obama. Of
all of the VIPs, you've met a lot of them, do you have
a most interesting experience or a best and worst experience? Highlights and low lights?
Well, so I'll tell you that. Actually I'll tell you both stories.
When I met Barack Obama once, he was at some National Press Club
event. I forget what it was, but Teddy Roosevelt, our racing president
costume, was asked to perform in some kind of comedy sketch beforehand, and
Barack Obama was in the audience and I didn't know he was even going to
be there. But Teddy gets on stage. I wasn't him at the time,
but he does his little dance whatever it was, and then on suits.
And so we're there at this event and Barack Obama is sitting thirty feet
in front of us. It's like there was it was intermission at the times,
I screw it, let's go say hi. So I actually walked right
up to him. There was one person in front of me, and I
shook his hand. I said, hello, prisoner Obama. My name's Corey
and Gannimore. It's nice to meet you. He's like, oh, let's
go to meet you too. So what do you do? And I was
like, well, I don't know if you remember this, but last year
you threw out a first pitch at NAT's Park. There was a mascot behind
home plate who called it a ball. That was me. He's like,
oh, so you're the mascot and I said yes. He's like, do
you think got hot in there? That's what the first thing he's asked me.
I was like, well no, duh, yet it does what I
said. I was like, well, actually, yes, it's it's not
not hot. That's what I told him because that made the most sense to
me at the time. A kiss, yeah, so yeah, I was
never going to blow him at so anyway, I took my picture. I
thought that was like a fun, weird interaction, but it was cool that
I got to meet him. Fast forward, I guess it was two years
ago. Now, my last year working for the NETS, I always produced
the Congressional baseball game, and that spark. I was never in costume.
What I was I was in the Republican dugout for I guess ten years in
a row. I was on headset, basically calling up to the score box,
who's up to bat, who's on deck, because the people upstairs they
don't they can't tell who's who, and the names aren't on the back of
their jerseys. So it was always my yeah, So it was actually really
fun. I was always field produced it, so I had set up the
lineups of the Republicans and the Democrats and it was a lot of fun.
So two years ago, Joe Biden showed up halfway through the game, and
you know when that happens, he walks in the field, everyone goes crazy.
The right booze and the left cheers, and he makes his way to
the Democrat dug out. And I didn't think he would actually make his way
to the Republican dugout where I was, but eventually he did, and he
was talking inside through all the members of Congress, and I was standing next
to him, like literally right next to him for a good ten minutes or
so, and I kept tossing and turning. It's like, should I take
my picture? Should I take my picture? Should I not? So this
is completely unprofessional, but screw it. This is once in a lifetime opportunity.
So I hand my phone to my friend. I said, President,
do you mind if I get a picture with you? And he looked confused,
he turned around. I don't even think he said yes, but he
just stood next to me to take a picture. And what's funny is that
the entire press pool was in front of us as well, snapping pictures.
There's probably like ten people. And in my mind, I'm like, Okay,
I'll take the picture, but I want history to know that I think
he's an awful human being, awful present. So in my mind is like,
I'll take the picture, but I'm not going to smile. So I'm
standing next to him. Have you seen this picture, Emily? I got
to send it to you. I don't know, I probably have. I'm
going to send it to you after this. I take a picture next film
and I'm just mean mugging. I'm not but there's not a bit of smile
in my face, and he's smiling next to me. And the whole camera
crew is like, and I just thought it was so hilarious. I made
it my Christmas card last year. It was the two of us and it
said we wish you a mery Easter and happy you know, you know the
thing, and that was that was one of my favorite pictures that I've ever
ever taken. And I'm going to show it to you right now. Can
you can you see that? Oh? Yeah, that's really good. Okay,
that's really good. Wow, well done, Corey. So one other
cool experience I'd love to tell you about is I met nine Supreme Court justices
and one in one setting. It was it was the most incredible, maybe
even more incredible than, meaning, you know, the last three presidents,
which I've had the fortune of doing. I showed up to this event.
I knew it was at the Supreme Court. I used to organize some of
it, but this one was just sent to me. He's like, Hey,
you got to show up to the Supreme Court wear business casual and call
I forget her name, Eileen at this number when you arrive. So it
was me and two other coworkers. I was set to dress as George Washington,
our racing president, performer, and we show up to the Supreme Court
and our contact brings us inside and she says, so, do you know
what you're here for. I was like, no, nothing of this has
been explained to us. It's like, oh, well, you're here for
Neil Gorsich's welcome party for Brett Kavanaugh. I was like hell. I was
like really, so they're going to be here. She's like yes, all
nine Supreme Court justices and their spouses. I was like, you got to
be killing me. Because Kavanaugh is a big he's a local, so he's
a big Nats fan exactly, So he's a big Nats fan, and Neil
Gorsis thought this would be a fun surprise for him. So we show up
and I'm like, this is this is going to be unbelievable. The plan
was they were eating dinner and then they were going to work, walk to
a different room for dessert, and we were going to surprise them on their
way. So that's exactly what happened. I addresses George Washington, my colleague
is Thomas Jefferson, and you hear them walking through the hallway, and you
hear their footsteps, and the first thing you hear is Clarence Thomas loud belly
laugh. Just hear them like laughing, and I'm like, oh god,
they're on their way. They turned the corner and all of them are just
like super surprised. They're very excited. And I wasn't sure if they thought
it'd be silly or fun, but they definitely thought it was fun. And
they were all very very excited and taking pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures.
It was so great, and Justice Gorsich came up to me because he
knew that I was organizing it while I was in costume. He said,
thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much. I said,
well, oh, it's my great honor. And I broke all of
the rules of mascoting again because that's has been a theme, that's what I
usually do. I said, well, Justice Gorsicch, do you mind if
I ensued, I would like to meet you out of costume and introduce myself.
And he's like, yeah, of course, no problem, I said.
He said, we're going to dessert now, but like, feel free
to let yourself in the room. What That's what he said to us.
So it's like, so I unsued, I tell our contact that and She's
like, well, let me check on that. Let me check on that.
Just wait here for a moment. So she went and got and checked
on it, came back and she said, well, the justices would love
to meet you. They're going to finish up dessert and then come say hi.
I was like, awesome. So she led us to this different room
where they were going to come meet us. We waited for about thirty minutes
and then out of nowhere. I still have this image in my mind the
double doors open and I see all of the justices walking towards me. Just
what was the wildest thing I've ever seen? And like I just go down
the line. I'm like, hello Justice, course we Justice Thomas Well,
Justice Capinall Justice Alito, I Loo Justice so to my or a lo Justice
cake and I'm just going down the line. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sick at
the time, but Justice Kennedy was there, so there was nine and it
was just like the coolest thing ever. We talked about baseball and most of
them thought it was the most interesting thing ever. And here I am like
holding court no pun intended. I was just like, wow, this is
this is wild. The whole thing was a surreal experience. It is honestly
very interesting. I'm not surprised that they were as intrigued because it is a
very interesting There's just so many you never hear the behind the scenes stories from
the mascots, and the mascots are absolutely everywhere. Yeah, it's a niche
job. That's why I'm kind of I'll talk about it as much as I
can to whomever would love to talk about it, because it's rare that you
meet. I mean, in baseball, there's only twenty eight professional mascots.
There are two teams that don't have mascots, the Angels and the Yankees.
But other than that, you know, it's rare to meet one. And
there's just so many questions like how did you get into this? What's it
like? So I enjoy talking about it. What makes a good mascot?
And the second part of that question is when you go to games, now,
not Nats games or anything like that, but just you know, you're
traveling, you're at a baseball game or basketball game or whatever it is,
are you ever like, man, this mascot really needs to change their technique.
They want to all the time tell us about that. Well, most
of the time, I barely notice that there's a game going on. I'm
like, it's like me, lazard it on the mascot. It's like me
and every five year old that's in the stadium. I'm just watching the mascot
and I'm getting angry he doesn't do certain things and was like, oh,
that was a good move. Sometimes I'm like, oh, that was good.
I'm glad you thought of that. But most of the time I'm just
like annoyed. What makes a good mascot? I used to judge tryouts all
the time for the racing Presidents. I did it actually freelance for the Rutgers
one time. George Washington University in University Delaware used to judge mascot tryouts and
run them. And one of the things, like in the interviews, I
would ask what makes a good mascot? And there are three things that you
should always be cognizant of wild in costume. One, never stop moving.
When you do stop moving, you just look like a person wearing a costume.
You don't yeah, it's like, okay, well that person's miserable.
And even if it's just like a little little something, you just got to
always be moving otherwise you look like your miserable person wearing a costume, and
it's likely what you are at that time to exaggerate every single movement. You
know, as a human, you would just normally wave like normal, But
when you have a costume on, your head is a lot bigger, your
arms are a lot bigger, your pants are a lot bigger. So to
do that same motion, it's kind of just drowned out. So when you
wave, you make a big, long wave. When you walk, you
swing your arms as big as you can and you just cover as much ground
as possible. Thirdly, the last thing I always tell people is to learn
what your character personality is, or create a character for it, or i'm
sorry, a personality for that character, and stick with it all the time.
So I an eagle that loves baseball who acts like an eighteen year old
skateboarding kid, always getting himself in mischievous trouble. And if you you adapt
certain uh traits and characteristics that in every single situation, you want to replicate
that all the time. So if you're if you're you know, if you
hate the Philadelphia Ahilies, you should hate the Philadelpha affilies every single time.
You can't forget like, oh, it depends who's wearing the costume or not.
You know, I have a backup. You adapt the tendencies that I
gave Screech into your repertoire. If Screech's favorite food is gummy worms, so
if someone offers you gummy worms or popcorn, always choose the gummy worms,
and so like, there's certain characteristics you need to always adapt in every single
situation. And those are just two lame examples. People try to give you
things all the time. Yeah, it was fun. Mostly kids, they
and their little silly artwork and stuff like that. But I saved all those
like it was great. You got fan mail all the time. Kids gave
you their drawings, yep, all the time. I have them somewhere.
The tops always made mascot baseball cards, so I got a bunch of those
baseball cards lining around. I used to get them mail to me all the
time with a return on the load to sign and send it back, which
is kind of funny. The autograph Screech whatever. When I was a racing
president or when I helped out the racing presidents. You know, their signatures
are big dumb block letters Tom number three or Abe number sixteen. I'd always
feel so guilty, Like you'd have a kid who hands you their authentic three
hundred and fifty dollars Nationals jersey signed by Steven Strasburg and they're here, Thomas
Jefferson, can you can you sign this? And I would always say no,
break their heart and say no. But I've seen other people that just
sign like big block letters, totally destroying any value that this jersey. You
were trying to help them invest in their future, and some people just don't
have that same level of concer. Yeah, I'd always feel so awkward and
weird about that when they'd hand me some some of those kind of stuff.
Wow, that's crazy. I just this is there's so much to mascoting and
I'm wondering also, like about weird fan interactions. So so kid handing your
drawing is cute? Yeah, forget uncomfortable. Yes, quite often. Screech
had a stalker, a couple of stalkers actually back in the day. Oh,
I hate to use the term because it's so whenever, but he thinks
of mascot the first thing like, oh, are you a furry? You
know, the word furry comes up. Well, I've had a few furry
stalker people who would show up to events that I've had and they, you
know, we'd advertise that Screech is going to be here at so and so
time, and I've literally remember this one kid like would not leave me alone.
And he actually did this for the Washington Capitol's mascot too. He ended
up getting some kind of restraining order against this kid. He'd show up with
his own homemade costume, he'd put it on and he'd start quote unquote performing
next to me, and I'm like, okay, you need to leave.
I'd have always had a helper handler at each event, and this guy was
a weirdo and he'd show up a bunch of times. We'd have strange interactions
all the time some people. One thing that always frustrated me is when adults
were scared of mascots, Like if I get it, if you're a young
kid in this big giant eagle or a big giant human as a racing president
is walking towards you. I was always really creeped out by adults that were
scared of a mascot. And I'd make my way through a certain section and
I remember one really stands out to me. This woman. She's like crying,
literally crying no, no, no, and I'm like ten or twenty
feet away, and her relatives or friends who remember she was there with was
putting a jacket over her head so she wouldn't see me. And of course
I just take this as an invitation to get closer, and I'm like,
wait, what's going on over here? And I'm like, is she crazy?
And the closer I got, the more frantic she became, And so
I was always creeped out by those. There was always a lot of instances
of adults being scared. I guess they had some childhood traumatic experience of a
mascot scaring them. I don't really understand it, to be honest. You
also played other mascots, right, Yeah, so let's see here. When
I was at the University of Della, I was UD. I also part
time did Rocky blue Winkle the Wilmington Blue Rocks. I just did that for
sidecash while I was in college. After that, I interned for a team
in New Jersey, the Sussex Skyhawks. I wore that costume a few times
and that was kind of weird and miserable for me. I didn't the minor
league stuff. It's too I don't mean to sound like you know, I
got this MLB job, but I would never do the minor league stuff for
a long term if it took me that long to get to the major leagues,
because there are actually some glamour involved in in the MLB side and the
minor league side. You're changing in janitor closets and putting on a smelly costume
that you don't have access to a washing machine or stuff like that. So
I did some minor league stuff. I was in New Jersey Devils backup for
about a summer. When I was down here, I was the Washington Capital's
back up, so him and I were good friends from college. So whenever
Screech needed a back up, he suited it up, and whenever the Capitals
needed one, I suited up. I worked two games as a Capitol's mascot.
One of them was very memorable because during the pregame Slapshot is the mascot's
name comes out on an ATV and he does a big, long three sixty
across the ice. The lights are on and the announced like, hey here
come slap Shot, and the music's going. It's a lot of fun.
So I practiced this a few times. When it was time to do it
live, I crushed it on the way out, like here comes slapshot.
I did a three sixty across the ice and I'm getting the crowd going,
and then you're supposed to do it on the way back. So I start
doing this three sixty on the way back and I'm like, oh boy,
I started this three sixty way too late. I was supposed to do it
a little bit before I got to center ice. I started like two thirds
of the way through. I was like, I started this too late.
I'm going to crash. I'm going to miss his ice. I can't stop.
I was like, I'm going to crash him and crash him and crash,
and I did. I crashed the ATV right into the boards and I'm
just I'm just thinking, I'm like, oh, this is funny, Like
like I'm just the backup, so what are they gonna do? Fire me?
This is just like actually hilarious. I took inventory of my life right
now. I have a spotlight on my on my face and I'm into the
boards. Now. I hear all these people cheering, laughing, oohing,
and I had to put the damn thing in reverse to get out of there,
and I'm just laughing at myself and then I take it off off the
ice. The ice maintenance guy, I don't even know what they call him.
He was not happy. I took a little bit of a lashing backstage,
but I thought it was hilarious. That was the last time I ever
did slap shot. Oh my gosh, we're also I think you also did
my alma MATERI were George Washington. I did that a little bit. Yeah,
actually I actually forgot about that. I well, well, then mascot
doesn't exist anymore, Emily, We're not the utionaries. Do they even have
a mascot now or did they make a hippo one or I don't know.
I mean, like, you're George Washington University, and we used to be
the colonials, so you would have George out there, but you can't even
do that at George Washington University now, none of that. Yeah, so
you were you were a racist slave owner, but in cartoon form, he
had a smile on his face, so he did it very happily, so
it wasn't mean spirited. Wow. Wow, And here's my last question,
Coury, what did you do in the off season. It sounds like you
actually still had to do stuff. Yeah. I did have to do stuff.
Events, events, events, events, and costume maintenance. Believe it
or not. It took a lot of time though. We spent probably six
or seven thousand dollars a year in costume maintenance at the end of the year,
so I had to oversee a lot of that. The racing presidents of
their skin taken off put back on. It's a big long process. Those
things were disgusting, and the clips and the harnesses. I wore screech every
game, So what was great about that is that I got to clean it
myself, and when it got thirty I watched it in the washing machine on
every two three games. It never smelt. But the President's costumes they were
made out of steel backpacks, so you couldn't really throw them in the washing
life saw them. And you're wearing other people's sweat because there was a staff
of I don't know, twenty people or so that rotated the costumes. So
at least for my costume, I was screeched every game. Nobody else wore
it. It was my own sweat and I cleaned it. But the President's
not so much. But anyway, I digressed lots of events. We've done
some crazy events, like I said previously, weddings, birthday parties, school
assemblies, anything that you could ever imagine you could book a mascot for,
they booked us. So I had two great off seasons where I was actually
able to travel to Taiwan and Japan on another trip which was just an incredible
experience. Be brought me out there in an MLB All Star tour. So
the trip to Taiwan was really neat. It was a charter flight of me
and all the baseball players WHOA, it was really neat. I was sitting
behind Robinson Cano and in front of Michael Morris and it was like, I
forget, like a fourteen hour flight from LA to Taiwan, but I was
not ready for that to even end. It was so awesome. They were
serving I kid you, not lobster as an appetizer, steak as a dinner,
all the domperione you could ever imagine, and it was just the party
on this flight with all the baseball players. So that was really cool.
And we get there and it's actually really funny. Everyone there, all the
Taiwanese people thought that I was a player because I'm a I'm six foot three,
I'm a tall white guy who really sticks out like a sore thumb in
the hotel where all the players are staying. So every time I walked down
to the lobby, there'd be a line of people wanting my own gap and
you know, for me, it's a huge adrenaline rush. None of them
spoke English, none of them knew who I was, so even if they
read it, they didn't care. So I would say, who needs an
autograph? So there'd be a big line, a line of people, and
I'm signing autographs. A lot of them handed me pictures of a Nats player
named Ross Dettwiler, who was actually I became very close friends with after this
trip, who was on that trip, and I told him I was like,
Ross, I signed a bunch of autograph cards of yours. You don't
care, do you? He's like, no, I have fun because we
kind of looked a little bit similar. I don't know, so that's true.
That not a joke. Jim is not a joke. Not a joke.
Another trip, I went to Japan in the off season. The food
was just incredible. That was a whole lot of fun. So it was.
It was, it was wild, it was it was a good long
trip. We had a lot of fun. One other fun quick story I
wanted to tell you while we're running out of time here. Back in two
thy twenty one. The yeah, I guess it was only two years ago.
The Atlanta Braves were supposed to host the All Star Game. Obviously,
I know you covered this extensively, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was pushed by
the left and everybody pressured into taking this All Star Game out of Atlanta because
of their quote unquote racist voting laws which required people to show ID to vote.
So they took it to Colorado. And I was already committed to going
to the Atlanta All Star Game because MLB brings all the mascots out to every
All Star Game. We work a bunch of events leading up to the event,
and then they give us tickets to watch the games as fans. So
I was all scheduled to go to Atlanta, and then MLB tells my boss,
let's reschedule, We're going to Colorado instead, And all of the other
mascots were like, okay, sure, no problem. There were twenty seven
other of them there was one mascot who said, Nope, I'm not going
to go. I refused to go to Colorado and bow to the left outrage
cancel culture mob. I will go to Atlanta if they have it, but
I'm not going to go to Colorado. So I was actually pretty proud I
turned that invitation down. I turned down a decent amount of money. I
said no, I'd rather stay at home than support your BS campaign to destroy
voting laws. So amazing. Yeah, I was pretty proud of that.
And you see a bunch of MLB pictures from that week. There were twenty
seven mascots there and they take a picture on the field every year, and
well there was one mascot missing. It was funny because I controlled the Screech
Twitter account and there were a bunch of fans that were out there like where
are you, Screech. We're looking for you, We're looking for you,
We're looking for you. I couldn't respond. I couldn't say this publicly because
they I wasn't allowed to speak to any media, but I wanted to let
that people let people know, like, no, I purposely boycotted this,
And now I'm like, I'm proud that I did because screw those people and
MLB in general. Did you have any big ESPN moments? Well, I
was in two ESPN commercials as George from George Washington. I was making coffee
among a bunch of other mascots. I forget the whole premise, but they
gave me the leading role. Everyone else was other collegiate mascots, but I
was the professional in the room performing as a collegiate mascot. I also was
a Teddy Roosevelt as Teddy Roosevelt in an ESPN commercial. As far as other
moments, yeah, just just random highlights, always crashing an ATV. Did
that make it? Mayhem? A lot of times? They just throw in
super throwing clips. Actually, the racing presidence they made the made ESPN a
whole bunch of times. And I'm at the finish line waving the checkered flag
every single every single race. So I did see myself quite a few times
on ESPN. That's always fun. Colin Obama's pitch a ball? Did that
make it? They probably selectively edited me out. They somehow brought in their
experts as they you know, Barack Obama is everything according to ESPN, so
it probably did make it. But I can't recall specifically, I could keep
going with this, Corey, this has been an absolute pleasure. We have
to do it again. Tell people one more time where they can listen to
your show with wm AL. Sure, well, thank you Emily for having
me. This is an absolute blest for me as well. So I produced
the Vince colin a show. First of all, you should definitely listen to
that three to six Monday through Friday on wm AL one O five point nine.
We upload that podcast every night too, if you if you don't catch
anything anywhere, you can find a podcast. And then as far as my
show, the next one is going to be tomorrow three to six again one
O five point nine w m a L. Listen to it live. You
can stream it live WML dot com. We're going to cover all sorts of
things and I just hope we can have as much as fun on that show
as we did today with you. Emily. This has been an absolute blast.
You certainly will, Corey and Ganimore. Thank you for joining Federalist Radio
Hour. Thank you all right, you've been listening to another edition of the
Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dashinsky, culture editor here at the federalist.
We will be back soon with form. Until then be the lovers of freedom
and anxious for the friend. I earn the fame voice a reason, and
then it faded away.