Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you very much to call a good evening everyone.
Speaker 1: The red light goes on and we are on the
Speaker 1: air and it is Yeah, it's a little later here.
Speaker 1: It's eight oh eight. My name is Dan Ray. I'm
Speaker 1: the host of the aforementioned at Nightside with Dan Ray.
Speaker 1: Rob is back in the control room, all set to
Speaker 1: do a great job tonight for everyone here on Nightside.
Speaker 1: No phone calls until nine o'clock. We have four really
Speaker 1: interesting guests with interesting topics and backgrounds, and so let's
Speaker 1: just dive right into it. By the way, later on tonight,
Speaker 1: we will beginning at nine o'clock talk about the hearings
Speaker 1: in Washington today where Mayor Wu Mayor Michelle Woo with
Speaker 1: Boston and three other big city mayors were on the
Speaker 1: hot seat, the verbal hot seat, and we'll talk about that.
Speaker 1: We get to all of that, but not until after
Speaker 1: nine o'clock. Joining us is comedian TJ. Miller. TJ. Miller,
Speaker 1: Welcome to Nightside. How are you, sir?
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love being on Nightside.
Speaker 4: I never get to do.
Speaker 1: Well. You're working too hard. That's what's going on. You're
Speaker 1: probably at clubs and stuff like that. You got a
Speaker 1: tour coming into East Providence, Rhode Island, the crowd Sorcerer Tour.
Speaker 1: I think I know what those three words mean, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's a theme hidden in those three words.
Speaker 1: Tell me how you named it the crowd Sorcerer Tour.
Speaker 4: Well, I thought it's funny. You know, a lot of
Speaker 4: people are doing crowd work right now, and I don't
Speaker 4: really do traditional crowd work. I talk more about the
Speaker 4: audience and kind of get my material from them, and
Speaker 4: so I just thought that was a fun play on words.
Speaker 4: And also, just like you know, it's partly implying like
Speaker 4: you're going to be a part of the show. So
Speaker 4: every single time I do stand up, whatever the audience is,
Speaker 4: they're going to be a part, an integral part of
Speaker 4: the show. So every show is different. They're completely part
Speaker 4: of it. And it's been really, really fun this entire time.
Speaker 4: It's great.
Speaker 1: Now, I've watched you and I've noticed that as a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, you walk out there and it's very improvished,
Speaker 1: which is a lot of fun. And you also have
Speaker 1: to be on your toes and all of that and
Speaker 1: have some fun with the audience. What percentage of the
Speaker 1: people at one of your shows is happy to be
Speaker 1: kind of outed a little bit as an audience member
Speaker 1: or whatever you you've you've spot something on them or
Speaker 1: you ask them a question. And what percentage of people
Speaker 1: like are kind of covering up and hiding their face
Speaker 1: when you're trying to get their catch catch their eye.
Speaker 4: I can pretty quickly tell if somebody doesn't really want
Speaker 4: to talk to me or be talked about buying. But
Speaker 4: I actually say probably ninety five percent of people are
Speaker 4: sort of exciting the first thing, go oh, what's going
Speaker 4: to happen with it? But then once they realize all
Speaker 4: the attention is on them, they kind of like it.
Speaker 4: I think people like becoming a part of the show.
Speaker 4: So it's great. And also I'm not like, I'm not like,
Speaker 4: look at it like stupid out there. Yeah. So I think.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is you're having fun with them, and
Speaker 1: you're you're you're laughing with them, You're not laughing at them.
Speaker 1: I think would be a way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I and I think, you know, I always
Speaker 4: try and like lift up the ladies and he's the
Speaker 4: guys a little bit, and it's just really fun time right,
Speaker 4: It's kind of all in good fun. I really do
Speaker 4: believe that. I think my audience sort of understands that
Speaker 4: also and then come to expect it. So some people
Speaker 4: do sit in the front road just to hope that
Speaker 4: I'm going to talk about and they'll say that to
Speaker 4: me afterwards the meet and greet. I wanted to be
Speaker 4: I want you to make fun of my hair, you know, Yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Know there's a there's another comedian who I've seen do
Speaker 1: a lot of that. Do you are you? And Matt
Speaker 1: Rife is his last name? Matt Rife close you know
Speaker 1: what I mean?
Speaker 4: I assume yeah, of course, ye, it is Matt right.
Speaker 4: And he's excellent. I mean he's really, really, really good.
Speaker 1: And I just I was what I was wondering at
Speaker 1: this because I see some similarities in you guys, and uh,
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering if it's a competitive thing or if
Speaker 1: it's kind of Hey, he's doing his thing, I'm doing
Speaker 1: my thing, kind of a new creative comedians. You guys
Speaker 1: are not jay letoo Johnny Carson, but you're you're very
Speaker 1: you guys are kind of similar.
Speaker 4: I think that's a really really good point. Actually, the
Speaker 4: Leno and Letterman analogy. Wow, I know talking about that.
Speaker 4: But he's kind of a fan. He had me on
Speaker 4: one of his shows that I think maybe is going
Speaker 4: on nats Wix, and he's sort of he's just really
Speaker 4: really quick. And I think what happens is there's about
Speaker 4: ten comedians or so, maybe fifteen, but definitely ten comedians
Speaker 4: who can improvise an entire hour. Yeah, and I think
Speaker 4: maybe part of the reason he's a fan is I'm
Speaker 4: one of the comedians. But I think he's super quick.
Speaker 4: There's another comic, Big Jay Oakerson, who he can he can,
Speaker 4: he can do crowd. He's like David tel David l
Speaker 4: can do the same thing. But he and I sort
Speaker 4: of were in this group of comedians and we both agree.
Speaker 4: And you know, he is very very fast and very
Speaker 4: very funny. But yeah, I mean I think speaking it's
Speaker 4: just speaking to Yeah. I think there's no competition. I'm
Speaker 4: just kind of like I'm doing my thing. He's doing his,
Speaker 4: just two very different styles, and you know, I respect him,
Speaker 4: he obviously respects me.
Speaker 1: So let me let me run. Let me run you
Speaker 1: back in the in the throwback machine here with the
Speaker 1: time back machine. At what point in your life do
Speaker 1: you think you sort of thought to yourself, I could
Speaker 1: I could make a live in standing in front of
Speaker 1: a crowd and having some fun with him. When did
Speaker 1: you first think that you could be a comedian, which
Speaker 1: you obviously are and a very good at.
Speaker 4: I think I think about the time that I realized
Speaker 4: that it was really funny. I just I like making
Speaker 4: people laugh, and so I just rubbed him in class,
Speaker 4: and it was into that whole thing and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: class clown and all those sorts of things. But I
Speaker 4: think it was much more about realizing, oh, I'm making
Speaker 4: all these kids laugh some comics ghos because I wanted attention.
Speaker 4: I love the attention. I think it was more, Wow,
Speaker 4: I can really make people laugh and have a good
Speaker 4: time and be happy, and to that call of my eye.
Speaker 4: Probably I don't know, in junior high school or something,
Speaker 4: and then when I.
Speaker 1: Was about to real junior high school teachers must have
Speaker 1: loved you.
Speaker 4: Yeah hardly, Yeah, they were they My parents were trying
Speaker 4: to feed me riddle in and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this. Have you ever had
Speaker 1: a junior high school teacher show up for one of
Speaker 1: your shows and say, hey, remember me, I'm missus Smith,
Speaker 1: I was just a f with great homeroom teacher or
Speaker 1: something that ever had an experience like that.
Speaker 4: You know what, I haven't. I'm closer to my high
Speaker 4: school teachers. But you're right, no teacher has ever said, hey,
Speaker 4: you might laugh.
Speaker 3: Maybe they're all kind of.
Speaker 4: Ashamed, not a shame of they're embarrassed if they were
Speaker 4: so mean to me. And now I make a living
Speaker 4: off that very thing.
Speaker 1: A couple of other quick questions, I don't get to
Speaker 1: talk to you know, professional comedians, and people need to
Speaker 1: understand it is a hard job being an entertainer.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Therefore I was radio five nights a week. I don't
Speaker 1: have to have people laugh. I try to make people think. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and we engage in some more a little bit
Speaker 1: more serious stuff. So I'm really enjoying having our conversation
Speaker 1: with what you here explain to my audience quickly what
Speaker 1: life is like on the road. I mean, if you're
Speaker 1: on a tour, you're you're in this city. If you're
Speaker 1: going to be in Providence, Rhode Island this Friday night
Speaker 1: and Saturday, will give that a plug at the Comedy
Speaker 1: Connection in East Providence. So it's going to be I
Speaker 1: love it. I love it. Okay, So how how how
Speaker 1: many months a year, how many weeks a year are
Speaker 1: you out there working your craft in front of a
Speaker 1: live audience on tour?
Speaker 4: Well, you know, you say, what's it like on the road?
Speaker 4: I think the I say this. I think that it
Speaker 4: depends on your outlook. So I think some people and
Speaker 4: they're like, oh god, it's so hard being on the road.
Speaker 4: And I don't, you know, necessarily know what to you know,
Speaker 4: It's just it can be really hard, They'll say. I
Speaker 4: think if you like traveling and you think it's interesting,
Speaker 4: and you do it right, like it's a practice enough
Speaker 4: to get good at it, like a Buddhist practice or something.
Speaker 4: And I think, once you do that, I find it
Speaker 4: really fun. I get to meet all kinds of people,
Speaker 4: you know. I know more, I really like America. I
Speaker 4: think America is very interesting, and so I like going
Speaker 4: all over the country. And then I have really great
Speaker 4: audiences and it has not that hurt. The only two
Speaker 4: of things that are hard is it's hard to eat healthy,
Speaker 4: especially when all the comedy companies serve like fried food,
Speaker 4: not all of them, but a lot of us. And
Speaker 4: you get all that for free, and it's delicious, of course,
Speaker 4: and it's tough being away from my wife. I really
Speaker 4: like my wife. She's a very cool individual. It says
Speaker 4: between those two things that say, that's the hardest stuff,
Speaker 4: and yeah, the rest of it is just gravy. But
Speaker 4: it's it's a grind for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I'll tell you people don't understand that.
Speaker 1: They see and they figure it's a great easy life.
Speaker 1: It's not an easy life. You got you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta be up every night when when I start my
Speaker 1: show and eight oh six or eight oh eight, whatever
Speaker 1: the time it is. You got to be pumped up.
Speaker 1: Every show has to be your best show ever because
Speaker 1: if when you lose that, you're gonna lose the audience.
Speaker 1: I don't think you're going to lose that. TJ. Miller Okay,
Speaker 1: his crowd Sourcer Retort, Comedy Connection, East Providence, Rhode Island.
Speaker 1: By the way, you're on a Boston radio station where
Speaker 1: we're heard in thirty eight states. DJ OVERHL No.
Speaker 4: This is a great opportunity to range you.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no problem. Wanted to have you on
Speaker 1: and uh, we'll have you back at some point if
Speaker 1: you if you swing through Boston, I we do everything
Speaker 1: remotely now after COVID, so I'm everything's on the phone,
Speaker 1: so anytime you want to be back, you give me
Speaker 1: a call. I I enjoyed the content, thank you.
Speaker 4: I mean, I played the Wilber Theater when I'm in Boston,
Speaker 4: which is, yeah, correct venue. But I have some people
Speaker 4: go to my show in Rhode Island and they were
Speaker 4: from ASU. Yeah we went and saw you in Boston.
Speaker 4: It isn't that an incredible theater? And they go, yeah,
Speaker 4: but we didn't have the best steeves. We kind of
Speaker 4: brought late. And you know, we we loved the show
Speaker 4: in Rhode Island a lot more because it's more like
Speaker 4: what you do. It's a smaller venue. You know. We
Speaker 4: love the you know, the crowd interaction that you have,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it's like that.
Speaker 1: It's you know what TJ is like watching a game
Speaker 1: at Fenway Park. I don't care if you're if you're
Speaker 1: not a baseball fee and you love the intimacy of
Speaker 1: Fenway Park as opposed to some of these other stadiums
Speaker 1: where you need to set of batailers to to see uh,
Speaker 1: to see home plate. TJ enjoyed the whole Thank you much.
Speaker 1: My friend enjoy East Providence, Rhode Island. Okay, we'll have
Speaker 1: we'll we'll we'll talk again. I think you and I
Speaker 1: got a connection here. I was on the road a
Speaker 1: long time as a TV reporter. Now I'm not on
Speaker 1: the road, but I'm kind of envious of your ability
Speaker 1: to get out there and meet people. That's what. I'm
Speaker 1: very much like you in the sense that I enjoy people,
Speaker 1: and that's real important to my success and as certain
Speaker 1: it's important to yours as well.
Speaker 4: So I gotta agree. Yeah, the irony just really quickly,
Speaker 4: Guarany is I'm very you know, envious of you because
Speaker 4: you sort of it's not at all a nine to five,
Speaker 4: of course, not even close, but it's a it's more
Speaker 4: there's more stability, and you get to kind of be
Speaker 4: in the same place for longer. I don't envy that
Speaker 4: your audience is silent, you know, I think that would
Speaker 4: be very difficult. But I really always say, because I'm
Speaker 4: a voiceover guy too, you know, I did bigger how
Speaker 4: to train and drag and all that stuff. I really
Speaker 4: respect radio because you guys are essentially improvising. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: have guideposts, but you're improvising for hours you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, but TJ. Once at nine o'clock we blow
Speaker 1: open the phone lines and we have people calling from
Speaker 1: all over the country.
Speaker 4: And that would be so fun.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I have people. You name a state, you
Speaker 1: name the city, and I give the name of someone
Speaker 1: I've maybe never met him or her. But let me
Speaker 1: tell you there are people you know. You know, some
Speaker 1: of my my most loyal fans are people in Florida, Laurie,
Speaker 1: and Idaho. There's a whole bunch of people all around
Speaker 1: the country that you know, and so there's some similarities
Speaker 1: as well as some dissimilarities. Tej and I enjoyed it
Speaker 1: a lot. Best of luck in from peas Father's Rhode
Speaker 1: Island at the Comedy Connection this Friday and Saturday night.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, my friend. We'll talk again.
Speaker 4: Great, thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, we come up. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: this month, amongst others, is National Ladder Safety Month. We'll
Speaker 1: be back. I think everyone will understand that one really easily.
Speaker 1: We'll be back right after this one night. Side Now
Speaker 1: back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Night
Speaker 1: Sin Studios i WBZ News Radio. All right, Well, March,
Speaker 1: of course is the beginning of spring. Spring training baseball
Speaker 1: is underway for real flowers in some parts of the
Speaker 1: country start to spring. But it's also just as importantly
Speaker 1: National Ladder Safety Month. With me is Mike van Vree.
Speaker 1: He's the director of product safety and engineering with a
Speaker 1: major US ladder manufacturer. Let's get that one out of
Speaker 1: the way. What is your major US ladder manufacturer. Let's
Speaker 1: let's make sure you get credit here.
Speaker 3: Mike, Well, Dan, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3: I am I'm with lous Ladder in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I've been to Louisville, Kentucky. It's a beautiful city. Red
Speaker 1: Sox used to have a long, long time ago, a
Speaker 1: Triple A minor league baseball team in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 3: And those Triple as seem to change affiliation.
Speaker 4: I've noticed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they do. They change a lot. No, I'm taking
Speaker 1: you back to like the fifties and sixties when they
Speaker 1: were in Louisville and then they were in Minneapolis and Toronto,
Speaker 1: and they move around a lot, trust me, But ladders don't,
Speaker 1: except when I try to climb up one. What's the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. Obviously, we know you should never walk under
Speaker 1: a ladder particularly on Friday the thirteenth. But what's the
Speaker 1: biggest safety tip you can give people? Because look, people
Speaker 1: are going to use ladders, you know that as well
Speaker 1: as I do. And it can be dangerous once you're
Speaker 1: off the ground.
Speaker 3: But that's it. The energy potential energy, as we say,
Speaker 3: when you're at elevation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So what's the big thing is that that people
Speaker 1: don't sit the ladder on firm ground and they get
Speaker 1: on the ladder and the third step up, boom, there
Speaker 1: they're flying through the air. What what can you tell people
Speaker 1: that will other than let the professionals do it? Like
Speaker 1: most guys, wives will say get off the ladder. You
Speaker 1: know that's my wife yells at me. But hey, you
Speaker 1: got to change a light bulb on an exterior light,
Speaker 1: I'm going to use a ladder. What what dance could
Speaker 1: we take get from you there?
Speaker 3: There's there's quite a few things that I could I
Speaker 3: could certainly talk for a long time on the subject.
Speaker 3: I've I've worked in this industry for a while so
Speaker 3: have have seen, uh seen quite a few things over
Speaker 3: those years. But you know, you bring up the footing
Speaker 3: of the ladder, having it, having it set properly on firm,
Speaker 3: solid ground, level ground, and that's that's I'm absolutely a consideration.
Speaker 3: I think one of the one of the things that I,
Speaker 3: I guess I try to highlight whenever we think about
Speaker 3: ladders and ladder safety is well. People sometimes make fun
Speaker 3: of the labeling on ladders. It is uh. It is
Speaker 3: covering those base and reminding people of things that you
Speaker 3: probably know but can certainly help you to avoid getting
Speaker 3: yourself into trouble. And so I definitely recommend paying some
Speaker 3: attention to those to those warnings and instructions. A ladder
Speaker 3: is a tool like many others, and and people kind
Speaker 3: of have an expectation that it's just a ladder and
Speaker 3: I should know how to use it, and generally you
Speaker 3: do that. There's some I guess just to hit some
Speaker 3: steps maybe to take when you're when you're getting the
Speaker 3: ladder out. I can I can certainly run through a
Speaker 3: few things to consider all ears well, you know, I
Speaker 3: guess these are again all things that are on the ladder.
Speaker 3: And I'm not going to, by any means try and
Speaker 3: regurgitate all of that. But there's really four key points.
Speaker 3: You want to choose the right ladder. You want to
Speaker 3: inspect it once you have chosen it, you want to
Speaker 3: make sure that it's in good working order, that it
Speaker 3: hasn't been inadvertently damaged by somebody else, for example, And
Speaker 3: then you need to set it off properly. And the
Speaker 3: final thing is to use it safely. And so just
Speaker 3: kind of running through each of those just a little bit,
Speaker 3: just very briefly. On the selection, you want to make
Speaker 3: sure that you are choosing the ladder that is going
Speaker 3: to work best for the job. Is that a step ladder,
Speaker 3: is that an extension ladder, a leanable ladder? And then
Speaker 3: what material is it made out? If you're working around electricity,
Speaker 3: you want to be sure you're using a non conductive
Speaker 3: fiberglass ladder. Aluminum is a great material if you don't
Speaker 3: have electrical hazards to worry about. And then you want
Speaker 3: to make sure that the height of the ladder is
Speaker 3: going to give you safe access, and that the load
Speaker 3: capacity is appropriate for the weight of your weight and
Speaker 3: any tools, equipment and such that you might be using.
Speaker 1: So one thing about a step letter, even if it's
Speaker 1: like a six foot step ladder, never be dumb enough
Speaker 1: to go to the top of the ladder instand a
Speaker 1: top the ladder because.
Speaker 3: Well, it's good. Good to hear you've gotten that message. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we certainly have had for many decades now labels on
Speaker 3: the top step and the top camp not to stand
Speaker 3: on those And people ask me why is that, And
Speaker 3: the reason is because you can lose your balance. That
Speaker 3: portion of the ladder structure is there to give you support.
Speaker 3: So whether that's holding onto the ladder with your hands
Speaker 3: or whether that's leaning into the ladder, bracing into the
Speaker 3: ladder with your legs, your body, that sort of thing
Speaker 3: while you're working that that is there so that you're
Speaker 3: not just balancing on your feet alone, and so you
Speaker 3: don't want to get too high.
Speaker 1: That is so so important. Hey, Mike vanvrie, I enjoyed
Speaker 1: the conversation National Ladder Safety Month, and it's called Louisville Ladder. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I certainly am familiar with Louisville Slugger, but
Speaker 1: now I know someone with Louisville Ladder and I like that.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Dan, You have a wonderful evening,
Speaker 3: you too.
Speaker 1: Mike, have a great weekend coming up. All right, we
Speaker 1: got the news coming up when we get back on
Speaker 1: top of doctor Tracy Woodriff. She's a professor of reproductive
Speaker 1: Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco, and
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about somethings really that's important. Black
Speaker 1: plastic cooking, spatchuelas and all of that. They have high
Speaker 1: levels of flame retardants, but they can be somewhat dangerous.
Speaker 1: We'll get into all of that with Professor Woodriff right
Speaker 1: after the break here at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside. By the way,
Speaker 1: get the new and improved iHeart app. I've got it,
Speaker 1: and you can also get it on presets, So you
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Speaker 1: anywhere in the world. You can listen to us three
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five days a year, twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1: Coming back on night It's Night Side with.
Speaker 2: Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Nicole. We're about to introduce you to doctor
Speaker 1: Tracy Woodroff. Doctor Tracy Woodruff, Welcome to Nightside. How are you?
Speaker 5: I'm good?
Speaker 4: How are you were great?
Speaker 1: You own University of California at San Francisco, Professor of
Speaker 1: Reproductive Sciences, Beautiful City, San Francisco, and there's recently as
Speaker 1: sometime in January, it's the rain finally stopped out there.
Speaker 1: You guys were getting delused with it last week and.
Speaker 5: We were, but it's beautiful right now, so we want
Speaker 5: to come visit us.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, my daughter's out there, so that's why get
Speaker 1: get out that way. So I'm going to talk about
Speaker 1: the problem with black plastic utensils. When we say black
Speaker 1: plastic utensils, we're talking about the things that people use
Speaker 1: with at the stove when they're cooking materials I assume,
Speaker 1: and they're they're plastic. And what's the problem.
Speaker 5: Well, right, we're talking about spatulists, slotted spoons, even the
Speaker 5: sushi trays. So this black plastic, a lot of it
Speaker 5: is basically recycled from old electronic plastic and that has
Speaker 5: these toxic chemicals and it's called flame retardant chemicals. And
Speaker 5: so this is one of the challenges is that they
Speaker 5: have you have your electronics, you know, you're black cord
Speaker 5: on your floor in your TV, and they say, oh,
Speaker 5: recycling is so great, but again, get recycled into these
Speaker 5: these new these new products like flotted spoons and spatulasts
Speaker 5: that have toxic chemicals in them, and then when you're
Speaker 5: using them, say you're using them to flip your food,
Speaker 5: whatever food you have in your pan, it can lead
Speaker 5: some of those toxic chemicals. So that's why with all.
Speaker 1: Of the regulations we have here with the EPA and
Speaker 1: oh yeah, the food, the Food and Drug Administration, how
Speaker 1: did this one get by everybody. I'm going to go
Speaker 1: downstairs and throw out some of my plastic spatulas. But
Speaker 1: what our conversation is through this is serious because it
Speaker 1: says that as I understand that some of these they
Speaker 1: have flame retardants, which is great, but the flame retardants
Speaker 1: have been found, as I understand it, to reduce children's IQ.
Speaker 1: That might have what happened to me, But when I
Speaker 1: was young, I don't think they had plastic materials. But
Speaker 1: boost cancer rates, contribute to thyroid disease. There's some pretty
Speaker 1: serious implications here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know it is serious. And the sad reality is,
Speaker 5: I know everyone thinks they go to the store and
Speaker 5: the chemicals that are using these products have been tested
Speaker 5: by the government, but that sadly is not true. It
Speaker 5: turns out that the laws are actually not doing the
Speaker 5: job they're supposed to be doing. To make sure that
Speaker 5: all these chemicals, like these flame retardant chemicals that can
Speaker 5: cause things like cancer or lower IQ have been tested,
Speaker 5: identified by the government and then made sure not to
Speaker 5: be in our products that we buy. But that's not
Speaker 5: the way the laws set up in this country. It's
Speaker 5: really like we're kind of the guinea pigs here. So
Speaker 5: why the study is so important because it shows, Wow,
Speaker 5: we really need to upgrade what we're doing in terms
Speaker 5: of making sure that when we use these materials, they're not,
Speaker 5: like you said, making us less smart. I guess there
Speaker 5: is another way to think about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's my question, A couple questions, and I
Speaker 1: just we don't script this stuff, as you probably realized
Speaker 1: by now, it's all questions off the top of my head.
Speaker 1: Is there any country in the world of which you
Speaker 1: are aware that actually is ahead of us on the
Speaker 1: curve here? I mean, I'm assuming it's kind of a
Speaker 1: chicken and egg question. If they don't test this stuff
Speaker 1: first and say, oh, yay, you want to use some
Speaker 1: black plastic, be our guest. Absolutely, we love that stuff.
Speaker 1: You're gonna love it. Or are the countries around the
Speaker 1: world that are more hip to this stuff and they're
Speaker 1: going to say they may be using that stuff in America,
Speaker 1: but we want no part of it.
Speaker 5: Well, let me just say some of the chemicals that
Speaker 5: were found in here were banned, not all of them,
Speaker 5: but some of them have been banned because way now
Speaker 5: they're toxic. But the problem is there's a couple of things.
Speaker 5: One is, not all the toxic chemicals have been banned
Speaker 5: or evaluated. And then the second thing is it doesn't
Speaker 5: just because their band doesn't mean all the use is
Speaker 5: Like again, recycling plastic is like I've been told, oh,
Speaker 5: that's a solution or a plastic problem. But the problem
Speaker 5: is it can get recycled into new products, but then
Speaker 5: we then basically put on you know, contact with our food,
Speaker 5: and then we end up eating it ourselves.
Speaker 1: If you're going to recycle black plastic in a snow shovel,
Speaker 1: not likely going to be gnar and on the snowshovel
Speaker 1: anytime soon.
Speaker 5: I mean, well, I hope not.
Speaker 1: But you would think that somehow, some way, the all
Speaker 1: all of these these agencies and government agencies are going
Speaker 1: to protect us, which you know, I hope they do.
Speaker 1: When I go to the store, I hope the food
Speaker 1: and drug administration has some idea about what they're doing
Speaker 1: from flying on an airplane. I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that the FAA people, particularly the controllers, were awaken the
Speaker 1: control tower. It's crazy to think that in this day
Speaker 1: and age that this stuff is still a problem and
Speaker 1: it's up for scientists like you to point out the issue.
Speaker 1: Do you get pushed back from the either you know,
Speaker 1: from the plastics injury industry, or is there a pushback from,
Speaker 1: you know, the companies that are selling these I think
Speaker 1: the companies that are selling these are the big stores
Speaker 1: that all of us know about, you know, Walmart and Target,
Speaker 1: all places that most of us go, and we assume
Speaker 1: that when you buy stuff there it's it's safe. How
Speaker 1: does this what's the dynamic that that allows this to happen?
Speaker 1: Is what my question is. They should have gotten to
Speaker 1: that question quicker.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but there's a lot to unpack. There isn't there.
Speaker 5: So I think the first thing is a lot of
Speaker 5: the plates, like you go to your retail store, but
Speaker 5: they don't want to sell toxic chemicals right then, don't
Speaker 5: want to sell toxic chemicals in their products. But they're
Speaker 5: a victim also of the way that the chemical manufactures
Speaker 5: they make, the chemicals they control a lot of a
Speaker 5: lot of the ways that you know, they've influenced the
Speaker 5: laws in the United States in terms of how fast
Speaker 5: they're working to evaluate the toxae these chemicals. They can
Speaker 5: hide some of their chemicals behind what they call confidential
Speaker 5: business reasons, so that the government has a really hard
Speaker 5: time getting companies to give them the actual data they
Speaker 5: need in order to identify toxic chemicals before they're used
Speaker 5: in products and then get onto our shelves. So the
Speaker 5: system is not set up. And I know it's kind
Speaker 5: of amazing when you hear this, because you think, well,
Speaker 5: isn't everything regulated in the United States. No, these these chemicals,
Speaker 5: and sadly there's four thousand of them chemical companies can
Speaker 5: use in you know, all these different products, and we
Speaker 5: know they're using them, and we know we're exposed to them,
Speaker 5: and we also know they've not been fully tested for
Speaker 5: safety or regulated.
Speaker 4: So I'm not.
Speaker 5: Sure that's going to change right away. Since the cut's
Speaker 5: being proposed to the federal agency it's supposed to do
Speaker 5: this EPA, and the people they're putting in charge at
Speaker 5: EPA come from the chemical industry, So I think we're
Speaker 5: in for a rough ride on related to toxic chemicals.
Speaker 4: Anyway.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's funny when in the middle of
Speaker 1: the summer some little traveling circus or amusement park comes
Speaker 1: to town and sets up shop and they got a
Speaker 1: ferris wheel. Most of the time you're gonna say, I
Speaker 1: think I'll pass in the ferrist wheel because I have
Speaker 1: no idea when I was last expected we get that. Okay,
Speaker 1: But I can remember in the sixties and seventies when
Speaker 1: when some of these big companies, you know, they would
Speaker 1: they would do these advertising campaigns we are developing progress
Speaker 1: through science, those phrases that you wow, we got progress
Speaker 1: and it's through science. What's they cot be a problem? There?
Speaker 1: Sounds to me like a lot of problems. I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed our conversation, doctor Tracy Woodriff, and hopefully everybody tonight
Speaker 1: is going to go and find their black plastic utensils, spatulas,
Speaker 1: et cetera that are being used to cook. And we
Speaker 1: get some downstairs I know have melted because they I
Speaker 1: get again, Yeah, that isn't even worse. They look worse.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. I do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Uh to take the time, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: are going to probably act upon the information you provided tonight.
Speaker 1: So for that, you've done a good deed. I appreciate
Speaker 1: it so far. Thank you, doctor Teresa. When we get back,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about trade wars. What's going to
Speaker 1: cost Americans. I think there's a yng a yang to this.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, my guest is Lance Thrailkill.
Speaker 1: He's a manufacturing expert and CEO of Print three D Technologies.
Speaker 1: We'll talk with him. I think there is a yang
Speaker 1: and a yang to this. I don't know where he's
Speaker 1: going to come down on it, but we'll talk to
Speaker 1: him right after the break here on Nightside. Now back
Speaker 1: to Dan ray Line from the Window World night Side
Speaker 1: Steos on w b Z News Radio. Well, we've heard
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about trade wars in the last
Speaker 1: few weeks in the left, particularly the last few days,
Speaker 1: also tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada with US as
Speaker 1: Lance Trailkill, he's a manufacturing expert and CEO of Print
Speaker 1: three D. It is a print three D technology, so printed,
Speaker 1: I guess you you pronounced it Printed technologies and all metals,
Speaker 1: fabricated fabrication, Fabricating. What is print Printed Technologies? Are you
Speaker 1: you guys doing all the three D printing and.
Speaker 2: All that, Yes, sir, yeah, so we're printed. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: had it right. Printed. It's a little play on the print.
Speaker 2: Three D Printed Technologies is a three D home building business.
Speaker 2: We've developed a automated three D home printing system and
Speaker 2: that has been designed. It's it's owned by All Metals
Speaker 2: Fabricating as fifty percent equity holder in that business. And
Speaker 2: we're trying to tackle affordable care, our affordable housecare, our
Speaker 2: house housing rather sorry, and disrupt the archaic construction industry
Speaker 2: that's been building things the same way for one hundred years.
Speaker 2: But okay, tariffs, it's really more applicable to All Metals Fabricating. Sorry,
Speaker 2: so yeah, because we import. We don't directly import, but
Speaker 2: we buy, along with every other manufacturer in the United States,
Speaker 2: is fully dependent on imported raw material from uh, you know,
Speaker 2: all over the world, so directly directly impacting us immediately
Speaker 2: and has been for since since Trump originally tweeted about
Speaker 2: the TIFFs going into effect on Super Bowl Sunday.
Speaker 1: Okay, so, so your company, All Metals Fabricating, give give
Speaker 1: us an example of what you're importing and from where
Speaker 1: that goes into the h into the three D sort of.
Speaker 1: It sounds to me like you're doing sort of producing
Speaker 1: housing that's that's affordable for people. Correct.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Well let me back up a little bit.
Speaker 2: So Printed is just a subsidiary one one customer of
Speaker 2: hundreds of customers of All Metals Fabricating. So All Metals
Speaker 2: Fabricating is a contract manufacturer. We do sheet metal machining,
Speaker 2: powder coating, and electric mechanical assembly. And what that means
Speaker 2: is we can take a sheet of metal or you know,
Speaker 2: a block of metal and make it into just about
Speaker 2: anything and we'll build the print. And so we to
Speaker 2: answer your question directly, we you know, we, along with
Speaker 2: all other manufacturers, we buy from distributors, domestic distributors that
Speaker 2: get material and from international mills all over the world.
Speaker 2: And so you know, the mills in the United States.
Speaker 2: There's only four aluminum mills in the United States and
Speaker 2: not enough steel mills either to even support a fraction
Speaker 2: of United States manufacturing. And so the United States is
Speaker 2: completely dependent on international mills to that they sell that
Speaker 2: they then sell to US distributors.
Speaker 1: Okay, so is it possible that the tariffs might encourage
Speaker 1: more companies to invest and build mills here in America.
Speaker 1: I mean, we know that we've lost a lot of
Speaker 1: the car manufacturers. I think there's some that have actually
Speaker 1: left the States and gone to Mexico. And of course,
Speaker 1: of course we import a lot of cars from from
Speaker 1: South Korea, from from Japan. We bring a lot of
Speaker 1: cars into this country. It wasn't that way fifty years ago,
Speaker 1: because there's all American made cars. I guess one of
Speaker 1: the benefits of the tariffs, according to the Trump administration
Speaker 1: is it will it will I guess, encourage put it
Speaker 1: in courage things to be manufactured here. Is that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's the narrative. Is the narrative is correct.
Speaker 2: So to take it back to the original minute, you know,
Speaker 2: his previous administration when he was in office, I think
Speaker 2: you know, they had a big, huge plan to you know,
Speaker 2: make three or four new mills in the United States,
Speaker 2: which once again cannot even support a fraction. Mills have
Speaker 2: been you know, we've been for decades and decades and
Speaker 2: decades been getting material from overseas. So while yes, the
Speaker 2: the idea, just even the narrative of this American made
Speaker 2: and restoring that pride has brought a lot of business
Speaker 2: and restoring efforts in terms of the manufacturing, but in
Speaker 2: terms of the mills, this would take a long, strategic,
Speaker 2: decades long plan, uh, with you know, congruent administrations that
Speaker 2: being on the same page about that, and hundreds of
Speaker 2: hundreds of if not a billion dollars or more by
Speaker 2: billions of dollars to actually be able to support United
Speaker 2: States American manufacturing. And so what ends up happening is
Speaker 2: the international mills mark the material up. They say, we're
Speaker 2: not paying this. You guys are paying this. We're passing
Speaker 2: it along and by the way, we're not going to
Speaker 2: reduce our margins, so they pass on. Now, you know,
Speaker 2: if it's twenty five percent tear, if they're passing on
Speaker 2: twenty eight thirty percent because they're not going to let
Speaker 2: their margin go down, then it goes to the US distributors.
Speaker 2: They're not going to let their margin go down. So
Speaker 2: by time it gets to the manufacturers, it's you know,
Speaker 2: forty percent thirty five forty percent at least, and it
Speaker 2: really so then which we pass on to our customers.
Speaker 2: Uh So we don't make anything for consumers, but we
Speaker 2: make the B to B. So our customer being other businesses,
Speaker 2: is you know, having to eat that cost and pushing
Speaker 2: back on us and cutting our margins.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I understand that. But again, if from the
Speaker 1: perspective of the national economy, this may impact your industry adversely,
Speaker 1: but it would help, uh, certainly the the automotive unions
Speaker 1: around the country. If a lot of these car companies
Speaker 1: that that have fled the fled the United States and
Speaker 1: gone to Mexico, if all of a sudden that say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's get back to let's get back to America. I
Speaker 1: mean there's I say this sort of a yang.
Speaker 2: And a yang here totally absolutely with everything and and
Speaker 2: and what you you keep talking more about the car
Speaker 2: manufacturers and so the mills is a different thing where
Speaker 2: that's the raw materials that's coming in.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I just think that that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying, Linz didn't mean interrupt it. People can
Speaker 1: understand that now in terms of the stuff that's being
Speaker 1: brought into the country, that's a longer problem. You've you've
Speaker 1: articulated that, really, well, how did we lose all of
Speaker 1: these mills in the first place. I assume that one
Speaker 1: hundred years ago, we were manufacturing this stuff here. I mean,
Speaker 1: because the ability to ship stuff, you know, from halfway
Speaker 1: around the world is a lot probably cheaper today and
Speaker 1: more easily easy to accomplish than that was one hundred
Speaker 1: years ago. What what prompted all this stuff to go
Speaker 1: out overseas anyway?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, the old mill jobs were dirty,
Speaker 2: you know, hard jobs. Now they've moved more towards automated meals,
Speaker 2: so you know, it is a lot more attractive, but
Speaker 2: it's still you know, not a very attractive job. So
Speaker 2: I just think that's in part that you know, and
Speaker 2: also just it's as it became a global economy, became
Speaker 2: more competitive to get the material from other countries. So
Speaker 2: it's kind of a double play there. Let me let
Speaker 2: me just back up and say, you know, I am
Speaker 2: a conservative. You know, you got to take the good
Speaker 2: with the bad. So in the last you know, in
Speaker 2: his previous administration, we had our four best years ever,
Speaker 2: you know, prior to last year. And so you know,
Speaker 2: while these negatively impact US, I do think there's a
Speaker 2: need for tariffs, especially on China. Absolutely pro tarif. I'm China,
Speaker 2: we don't get any of our where we get very
Speaker 2: little of our material from China, none of it directly.
Speaker 2: And in other industries you know, I'm just speaking from
Speaker 2: a manufacturing standpoint, which in other industries like semiconductors for example,
Speaker 2: that that's been a huge push that we've now start,
Speaker 2: you know, manufacturing semiconductors here and so that's a great thing.
Speaker 1: Do you know where semiconductors used to be manufactured. They
Speaker 1: used to be manufacturing in Puerto Rico and there was
Speaker 1: there was a law passed in our Congress in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six Republicans and Democratic Democrats together push that stuff
Speaker 1: off shore. Here's my question, what about what about doing
Speaker 1: some carveouts for your industry. Can't you get to the
Speaker 1: Trump administration say hey, look, you're hurting us more than
Speaker 1: you're helping other people. Give us a carve out here,
Speaker 1: and you know, you do whatever you want, but give
Speaker 1: us a little bit of a break or maybe eliminate
Speaker 1: the tariffs in your particular industry.
Speaker 2: Well, that's certainly what we're hopeful for, at least that
Speaker 2: a minimum, you know, would like to see. You know,
Speaker 2: the Canada one originally came out and then he rolled
Speaker 2: it back. So a lot of you know about forty
Speaker 2: percent of US aluminum comes from Canada, and so would
Speaker 2: definitely like to see that loosen. I think a lot
Speaker 2: of the the tariff around that is due to you know,
Speaker 2: letting fetanaohl come in the country. A lot of the
Speaker 2: steel comes from Eastern Europe, and so in past he
Speaker 2: ended up eventually exempting a lot of these you know, countries,
Speaker 2: which I think will happen, and that's our whole part
Speaker 2: of the problem is honestly that the mill, the United
Speaker 2: States mills have a large lobby presence in Washington, and
Speaker 2: what they do is they use this as an opportunity
Speaker 2: to jack up their price and so which really is
Speaker 2: extremely frustrating. This second that the second that these Trump
Speaker 2: tweeted about that even the US mil started increasing their prices,
Speaker 2: So that that's the frustrating part.
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, Lin's I'm probably more empathetic to your situation
Speaker 1: than you might realize. And maybe we'll talk again a
Speaker 1: few weeks from now. As this this story seems to develop,
Speaker 1: lyn'ce thrillkill with the other printed technologies and also all
Speaker 1: metals fabricating. Thanks thanks, Linnce, I appreciate your time and
Speaker 1: your patience with my questions.
Speaker 2: Thank you much, thank you so much to appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Ulcome, You're welcome. We come back on to talk about
Speaker 1: Michelle Who's trip to Washington today. It will be it
Speaker 1: is going to be a fun ride the next few hours.
Speaker 1: Stay with us.