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Speaker 1: Hey everyone, I'm Stephanie Wilder Taylor and welcome back to Drunkish.

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Whether you've just quit drinking, you're sober curious, or you

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like listening to stories about alcoholics, I hope there's something

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here for you. And before we get to the show,

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I would love for you guys to give me a

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rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. It really

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helps people find my show. And also I would be

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so appreciative if you'd go to the YouTube page at

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Drunkish Podcast and give that a follow. Today, I have

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my friend, my neighbor, a man who is literally running

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for Congress right now in California District thirty two, Josh Solder.

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Speaker 2: He is a.

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Speaker 1: Comedian, a writer, an all around funny guy, but he's

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very serious when it comes to his vision for making

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California better. And I can't believe how just honest he was.

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This was such a great talk and I know it's

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going to be an even better listen. So let's go,

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and we are here with Josh. Josh, my neighbor, my friend,

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the first person to really give me a good hug

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after I lost my dog, and he's also running for Congress,

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and Hi, josh.

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Speaker 3: Hi, Hi, Stephanie. Yeah, I remember where we were. We

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were at Trader Joe's, having like a real emotional moment

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because I was really moved and we were both of

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us just crying at Trader Joe's, hugging each other in

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the middle of like right next to the bananas and

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the zucchini.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly where we were.

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Speaker 3: Yes, well, because when I had happy to be.

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Speaker 1: You have a dog, Well, we've been on we've had

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parallel dog journeys because you had your last dog before

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you're this dog, before Gus. You had Louis for many

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many years and he as he declined you, I'll just

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totally off the topic of sobriety, but like that was

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hard when you were like today's louis last day, and

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do you want to say bye? And and then so

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I knew who to come to when my dog, who

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passed in November was dwindling and I asked you what

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you anyway?

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Speaker 2: So we were bonded.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, absolutely I could because Louis my first dog.

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He lived to be fourteen, and it does connect his sobriety,

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but he sort of lived out the end of his

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life in this neighborhood, and one of the dogs that

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he really liked was your dog Pepa, and they both

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shared this nice, sort of calmer, older dog, you know,

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just personality they were both they and Louis. It was

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so tough. He was my soul dog, you know. He

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was fourteen when he passed, and when he did, I

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remember telling him at the time. I just said that

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I was not strong enough to let him go on

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my own and that he had to tell me. And

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then that night, all night long, he was just pawing

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at my feet all night, and I knew that it

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was time. So we ordered from Petitois a big mech

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like a fifty dollars hamburger, which was his favorite. He

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would often when we would order food, he would always

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find a way to get the big Mech. And we

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bought this company and they used this I don't know,

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they couldn't have known, but this amazing purple blanket and

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Louis was named for Louis the fourteenth Louis Cataurus, the

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sun King, and he was laying out in the sun.

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He had just eaten his big mech on this royal

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purple blanket, and it was just this amazing he's full

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and he looked like son King, you know, in his

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last moment. And yeah, I remember when you told me.

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I just it's so tough to lose a dog because

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they're so they're a part of our lives. When I

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first got sober, Louis was he was the only thing

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that I had in my life. I got sober in

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the beginning of twenty nineteen. On January first, because I

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like to do things ruined holidays from my family, right,

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So I got like I had a dui which was

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a long time ago, which was about over ten years ago.

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On Thanksgiving weekend. So I called my mom as you do,

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from jail on the Sunday of Thanksgiving, and it was

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my niece's first Thanksgiving and so my my mother was

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just celebrating, you know, Thanksgiving with her first granddaughter. And

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then there I was, you have a collect call from

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Culver City jail.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: And then again on January first, twenty nineteen. This time

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it wasn't a collect call. It was my cell phone

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seven am from la a hospital room, broken angle, broken

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leg to my mom and she said, yeah, okay, well

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I guess your dad is going to fly out there

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and help you and I got back to my house

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and I see Louis at the door, and I'm on crutches,

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and I thought, how am I going to walk this dog?

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But the thing about Louis was that he was kind

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of a crazy dog. He hated German shepherds and other

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like very specific like Formese mountain dogs. He just hated

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them for some reason. And I was so worried when

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I was on crutches because I had to go without

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a leash with him, and I just told him, you

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got to stay close to me because I can't do

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this any other way. And he did. He listened, and

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sometimes the German shepherd would out from around the corner

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and he wouldn't go crazy at them. And it was

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also an interesting thing because when I first got sober,

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I had a sponsor in the very very beginning, and

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he said, met Louie and he said, WHOA, that is

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one big dog. It must be difficult to pick up

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his poop. And I just said, well, I don't really

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do that, and so for the first like seven years,

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I never picked up it. And he was a big

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in English mastive pit bull mixed huge poops, and I

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would just live. People would step in him and they

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get mad at me, and I was just like, heck,

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you do you know what I mean, like who care?

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And people would get so mad. And I remember being

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on crutches and my first sponsor he told me, you

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got to pick up this poop. And I was like,

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but I'm on crutches, and he's like, okay, well you're

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gonna do it. And I did. And that was the

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beginning of me like picking responsibility for myself and for

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my dog and my neighborhood. And I decided that and

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I got really good at picking up poop on crutches

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and people would it and they were like, whoa, this

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guy is going above and beyond, you know. But I

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was actually just picking up for the first time ever

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in my life.

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Speaker 1: I remember hearing at a meeting somebody say, we're sober,

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we return our carts at the grocery store.

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Speaker 2: And I couldn't ever.

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Speaker 1: Not return my cart after that because I was like, oh,

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you have to do that, Like, oh is that.

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Speaker 2: With that whole cart?

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Speaker 1: Return areas for like I thought we could kind of

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just leave them.

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Speaker 2: No, I wasn't like a monster. I didn't leave them

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like in the middle of a parking.

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Speaker 1: Space, but like if you move it over like it's

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not in anyone's way. And as soon as I heard that,

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I was like, oh shit, I got to turn all

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my carts back in.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, there were so many I was so

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selfish in so many different ways when I got sobody,

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and I was when I was on crutches. My sponsored,

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you know, one of my neighbors. We I was living

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in an apartment in Hollywood off of Melrose and Highland,

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and maybe three weeks in she said to me, you know,

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I hate to do this, he say this to you,

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but in the middle of the night, when you get

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up to go to the bathroom and you're hopping to

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the bathroom on one leg, well that shakes my wall

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and it wakes me up. And she said, would you

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mind using your crutches? And I called my sponsor because

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that's what I did back then. I just I didn't

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have anybody else really to talk to, and I called

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it and he was and I was so angry this,

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you know, like all of this sud stuff had and

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he said, well, how about you just try to do that.

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Why don't you just like think about what she's going through.

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She's waking up in the middle of the night, So

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why don't you just do it? And they did. And

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there were all these things that I just tried to

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do because I had truly I was listening to this person,

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not because because I just like was too tired. Everything

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that I tried to do was and it led me

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to this place where I was in an apartment in

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Hollywood with no food for myself, nothing but drugs and

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alcohol and dog food. And I tried to call as

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many people I knew at the time to help me

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because I just needed somebody with broken eggle Brooklyn. I

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needed somebody to help me to get food and medicine

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that day, to go to the store for me. And

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I called so New Year's morning, nobody picked up the phone.

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The only person who did was this guy that I

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did all drugs and alcohol drank with. And I said, hey,

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if you come to my house, get me ten big

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and egg and cheese sandwiches, pick up my medicine from CBS.

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I'll give you all the drugs and alcohol at my apartment.

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And he's like, I'll be there in five minutes, right,

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And he was there, and then he was true to

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his word. He did it. He picked up everything and

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then he took out a bag like he trust me.

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He like, you know, rag it out and he's like okay,

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and he went on a drug hunt, you know. And

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during the time that he went to go to get

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the medicine and the bagels, I thought, this guy's gonna

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he's gonna try to look for it. So I tried

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to hide things, and he was on a ladder. He's like, wow,

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you did a good job trying to hide all this stuff.

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And I remember looking at him as he left, as

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he left my place, and he had everything, and I

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was so angry at him. But it was the first

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miracle that took place in my life. And it's so

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interesting the way that things happen in sobriety. You know,

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I had a broken I go broken leg, and so

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three months later to the day when I had three

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months sober, I was at the doctor getting the cast

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off and I was going to something else, and he

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called me when I'm in the waiting room at the doctor,

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just to see, like how's it going, checking in on me.

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And then I told him, oh my gosh, I'm three

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years sober. You help me. And I think that that

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freaked him out because I hadn't I didn't hear from

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him really again. But it's funny how things happen by coincidence,

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Like on the day he was there that first day,

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and then the next pivotal day was like three months sober,

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and I'm getting my cast off and this guy calls right.

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And that's the thing that I've noticed in sobriety, right,

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is that there are coincidences that happen, and that I'm

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finally alert enough and spiritual enough to receive them.

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Speaker 1: So when you broke your leg and your ankle, you said,

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was that a car accident or was that? Like?

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Speaker 2: How did that?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Gosh, I wish I wish that it had been something

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cool like a motorcycle actionator, because when I was like

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at the hospital, everybody asked me motorcycle, accent, motor And

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now I was riding an electric scooter on Santa Monica

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Boulevard and I was driving it was I had been

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doing comedy at the Comedy Store, so I moved out here,

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and I was doing improv comedy at UCB, and I

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was doing stand up and I was at the comedy

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store and there was this and I was working at

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Universal Studios, Hollywood as on the two jobs at the

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I worked at the Kung Fu Panda Adventure Ride, which

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is like I don't know if it still is there.

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But and then also I had just been from I

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gotten the gig as a wand Master at the Wizarding

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World of Harry Potter, where I was, which again jobs

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that I hated at the time because they were terrible jobs.

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And I had to check. I had to clop in

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in my wand Master uniform at Universal on January first

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at seven thirty am, right, which meant that I had

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to be there at Universal at like six point thirty

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change into my uniform. And I was excited about this

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because it was like a double pay day, right, like

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you get because it's a you get twice the pay,

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double the pay. But I was doing this show the

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night earlier at the Comedy Store and it was around

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a seven thirty eight o'clock show. So I thought to myself, Okay,

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this is my plan. I'm going to do the show.

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Then I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna come home. I'm gonna

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like walk Louie be with him when the fire works

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go off because he hates fireworks. And I'm going to

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go to bed early and I'm gonna wake up and

240
00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,399
I'm going to be there early and clock in. But

241
00:12:59,639 --> 00:13:02,799
what have and was? I did this show? I was great.

242
00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:06,639
Somebody was like you were great, and then I said, yeah,

243
00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,759
I was great, and then they said, you know, it's

244
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,600
New Year's where you should have a glass of champagne.

245
00:13:12,639 --> 00:13:16,360
So I had a glass of champagne, and next thing

246
00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:21,039
I knew, I'm like had basically three bottles of champagne

247
00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:25,039
to myself. I'm in a room like by the bar,

248
00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,639
all by myself. Everybody is in the main room or

249
00:13:30,919 --> 00:13:36,279
and they're all counting down and I'm just rolling up

250
00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:41,799
joints by myself, listening to the countdown, waiting for somebody

251
00:13:41,799 --> 00:13:44,279
to come in to say, like how great they thought

252
00:13:44,399 --> 00:13:49,559
my set was. I ended up leaving at two thirty

253
00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:51,759
in the morning, and I tried to get an uber

254
00:13:51,759 --> 00:13:54,080
and it was, you know, like a crazy amount of money,

255
00:13:54,759 --> 00:13:56,879
and I thought, I said it out loud, I'm say

256
00:13:56,919 --> 00:13:58,440
I'm going to save some money and I'm going to

257
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,039
write an electric scooter. So I wrote it drunk and

258
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:05,919
high crashed the scooter, broken ankle, broken leg. I had

259
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,919
already had like a duy that I was doing nothing about.

260
00:14:10,039 --> 00:14:12,279
So This would have been a second one, because you

261
00:14:12,279 --> 00:14:15,399
can get a dui riding an electric scooter. You can

262
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,720
get one riding a horse, and the horse doesn't even

263
00:14:17,759 --> 00:14:19,600
have to be drunk, right like yeah, yeah yeah. And

264
00:14:20,679 --> 00:14:23,799
so I hopped across the street and I called a

265
00:14:23,799 --> 00:14:25,960
bunch of ubers to get me. Nobody would get me,

266
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,720
and then I eventually rode in an ambulance to the

267
00:14:28,759 --> 00:14:31,000
emergency room on New Year's Eve.

268
00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:32,960
Speaker 2: So you called yourself.

269
00:14:33,759 --> 00:14:35,919
Speaker 3: I called nine one one for myself. And this was

270
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,759
after I was almost mugged by someone on the street.

271
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,600
I was on Santa Monica Boulevard, and I remember this.

272
00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:46,080
I was outside of a car wash and a gas

273
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:51,360
station and there's this like Mexican Indian food restaurant and

274
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,600
I'm on the street and I just asked this person,

275
00:14:53,639 --> 00:14:55,440
would you help me, like to get up so I

276
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,200
can get and then this guy, he was with a woman,

277
00:14:58,399 --> 00:15:01,919
and they tried to rob me. And I looked at

278
00:15:01,919 --> 00:15:04,360
this woman and I said, please, it's New Year's and

279
00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,200
she said, he's right, it is New Year's and then

280
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:07,759
she just sort of like pushed them along and then

281
00:15:07,799 --> 00:15:09,919
they didn't end up robbing me, But that's what it was.

282
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,120
That's all that saved me. It was terrible. And then

283
00:15:13,159 --> 00:15:15,240
I went to the emergency room that night. And the

284
00:15:15,279 --> 00:15:18,879
emergency room on New Year's Eves last morning is a

285
00:15:19,039 --> 00:15:22,320
nightmare because it's full of people who are dressed very well,

286
00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,840
but they have like blood pouring out of their head

287
00:15:25,039 --> 00:15:27,399
or like, you know, people were fighting each other in

288
00:15:27,519 --> 00:15:30,679
the emergency room, and every doctor who there is just like,

289
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,039
you know, drew the short straw or they were like

290
00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,399
they had Thanksgiving right and or Christmas and sod. They're

291
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,240
just they want everybody there to die, and they hate

292
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,720
everyone who's there, and it's packed with people. It's the

293
00:15:43,759 --> 00:15:47,759
worst place be But everybody did look great. Every you know,

294
00:15:48,039 --> 00:15:52,320
everybody put me. And I was so drunk and high

295
00:15:52,399 --> 00:15:54,559
at the time that I knew that my ankle was broken,

296
00:15:54,679 --> 00:15:57,279
but I didn't know that my leg was also broken.

297
00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,080
I found that out like about a week later, and

298
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:02,240
I said, my leg is really itchy, and then the

299
00:16:02,279 --> 00:16:04,519
doctor actually took an X ray and he said, yeah,

300
00:16:04,639 --> 00:16:07,759
your leg is also broken.

301
00:16:08,159 --> 00:16:11,320
Speaker 1: And so when you called your mom, did she know

302
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,240
that this was a drunk incident or did you just say, like,

303
00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,200
I had an unfortunate scooter accident and try to hide

304
00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:19,519
the fact that you were.

305
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,919
Speaker 3: You know, I did. I but she knew, you know,

306
00:16:23,559 --> 00:16:27,039
I tried to hide everything. That was the type of

307
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,440
person that I was was just someone who was always

308
00:16:30,519 --> 00:16:33,080
in fear. I still am like in fear a lot,

309
00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:38,759
but someone who told lies to everybody. The first thing

310
00:16:38,759 --> 00:16:42,840
that I ever did, I mean the patholot was I

311
00:16:42,879 --> 00:16:45,519
just told lies about everything to everybody just because I

312
00:16:45,559 --> 00:16:47,200
wanted to fit in. I never felt like I fit

313
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,480
in and if I just told the right lies, then

314
00:16:49,519 --> 00:16:52,679
people would like me. I was never truly myself, and

315
00:16:52,759 --> 00:16:54,879
so yeah, I told my mom and dad that I

316
00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,200
just fell off of a scooter, or maybe I just

317
00:16:57,279 --> 00:16:59,200
said that I slipped on a curb or something. I

318
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,159
broke my angle, and that story didn't check out. It

319
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,480
didn't resonate with them, and my mom when she came

320
00:17:05,519 --> 00:17:07,079
to stay with me. My dad took me at my

321
00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,759
first AA meeting ever, which was on I think that

322
00:17:10,799 --> 00:17:13,799
it was like the sixth I know the day. I

323
00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:17,480
think it was the sixth of January twenty nineteen, and

324
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:19,960
you know, he didn't have to do that. He brought me.

325
00:17:20,039 --> 00:17:20,559
It was on.

326
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:23,119
Speaker 2: It was your parents weren't together.

327
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,759
Speaker 3: I'm assuming they're together. They're no, they're together.

328
00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:28,480
Speaker 1: He said, your mom said, your dad was going to

329
00:17:28,519 --> 00:17:31,079
fly out to help you. Oh, so they don't live here.

330
00:17:31,759 --> 00:17:34,000
Speaker 3: They don't live here. Both of them live in Washington,

331
00:17:34,079 --> 00:17:37,839
d c. Which is where I grew up. And they

332
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,240
split it. So my dad took the first shift and

333
00:17:40,279 --> 00:17:42,599
then he left, and then when he left, my mom

334
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,200
I had surgery. He left. The next day my mom

335
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,960
came and then my mom started to taking me to

336
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,759
AA meetings. So my dad took me to my first meeting,

337
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,359
then my dad, then my mom took me to meetings.

338
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,279
And there was this place called Bliss Cafe, which was

339
00:17:59,519 --> 00:18:03,559
in Hollyoo, and she took me there. And one of

340
00:18:03,559 --> 00:18:05,000
the things was something that she said to me that

341
00:18:05,079 --> 00:18:07,799
stuck with me that I'll always remember, was that she said,

342
00:18:07,839 --> 00:18:12,160
you know, you have a serious problem, she said. The

343
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,160
reason why, she said, you know, I would love to

344
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,160
take go on vacations with your dad, but we don't

345
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,240
do that anymore because we're worried that we're going to

346
00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:23,720
get a call in the middle of the night that

347
00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:30,920
you're dead, you know. And I called her all the time,

348
00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:36,880
from from hospitals, from jails, and it was a thing

349
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,079
that I sorry. It was a thing that I did

350
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,400
where it's one of the reasons why I became a

351
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,599
big part of h and I. I love to do

352
00:18:47,839 --> 00:18:50,279
h and I to go to hospitals and institutions to

353
00:18:50,319 --> 00:18:54,680
talk to people about about AA. But people still remember.

354
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,400
There are people who I'll bump into still where they'll

355
00:18:57,559 --> 00:19:00,400
they remember me from the Bliss Cafe. The remember my

356
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,359
mom because my mom is from Queen's baside Queen's and

357
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,680
so she has the laugh like grand dresser from the

358
00:19:05,759 --> 00:19:08,400
Nanny and so people will they'll see they'll say, look

359
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,440
at you, you don't have a cast time anymore. Good,

360
00:19:10,519 --> 00:19:13,599
that's good. How is your mom right? Because they remember

361
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,960
my mom took me there? And then there was this

362
00:19:16,039 --> 00:19:20,720
moment when everybody left that was on crutches and I

363
00:19:20,799 --> 00:19:25,000
was probably like enday sober or fourteen day sober. And

364
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,039
it was a Wednesday in January, and I went to

365
00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,599
this meeting, the Hollywood Young People Meeting on Los Palmas,

366
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:36,920
like in between Franklin and Hollywood Boulevard, and it was

367
00:19:37,079 --> 00:19:40,079
raining and it was at night, and I just I

368
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,480
was on crutches by myself, and Uber dropped me off

369
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,079
and I looked up at like the rain coming down.

370
00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,359
I just like looked up and I didn't know what

371
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,240
I was doing at the moment, but I was raying,

372
00:19:52,519 --> 00:19:55,680
you know, like give me a reason to stay at

373
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:59,279
this meeting. And I could hear the call of Hollywood

374
00:19:59,319 --> 00:20:05,319
Boulevard and a car parked and this like really beautiful

375
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,279
young woman walked out of the car, and I was like, okay,

376
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,039
I'll stay at this meeting. You got me to this one,

377
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,960
and that he ended up really saving my life. I

378
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,039
sat in the back and she brought in the speaker,

379
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:25,000
who was really funny, and he said, I when he

380
00:20:25,039 --> 00:20:27,279
first got sober, he sat in the back, and then

381
00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:30,240
somebody told him to move forward. Then he moved forward,

382
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,200
and then eventually two weeks after that, I was sitting

383
00:20:34,279 --> 00:20:37,119
in the front and I asked her for a commitment.

384
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,000
She said, well, you're here with a court card, so

385
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,799
why don't you sign court cards? And that's what I did,

386
00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:46,119
And I took commitments at meetings, which is a thing again,

387
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,319
having a commitment, taking responsibility for myself and my sobriety.

388
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,480
That was something that I didn't do. I didn't take anything.

389
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,160
I had no responsibility for anything at the time, and

390
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,319
that was the beginning of it for me, you.

391
00:21:02,279 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 1: Know, I had when I got sober, I had three kids.

392
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,279
My oldest daughter was four, my twins were eighteen months old.

393
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,920
But I swear to you I still had that same

394
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,279
mentality of just like take a commitment. I was like, you,

395
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,319
I don't think you understand, like how busy I am.

396
00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:23,880
Speaker 2: You know. My sponsor was like, well, that doesn't really matter.

397
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,759
It's not my problem, like this is what we do.

398
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:27,799
And I was like ugh.

399
00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:31,839
Speaker 1: And I had to take the coffee cleanup commitment, and

400
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,039
I was like so aggravated about it every single week

401
00:21:35,079 --> 00:21:38,160
because I'm like, I gotta do this fucking coffee cleanup

402
00:21:38,559 --> 00:21:40,839
and I barely want to be here in the first place.

403
00:21:41,319 --> 00:21:43,319
And if I and then every week I'd be like,

404
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,279
I'm not going to go to the meeting, and then

405
00:21:45,319 --> 00:21:46,880
I'd go like, oh my god, but I have to

406
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,319
do the coffee cleanup. People are going to be My

407
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,440
Worse than doing the coffee cleanup was the fear of

408
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,359
disappointing people and having them go, oh, Stephanie's just doesn't

409
00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,759
show up for things. So I was like, yes, okay,

410
00:21:58,759 --> 00:22:00,599
I'll go, but then I'm going to find somebody to

411
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:02,880
cover I'm gonna let Every week, I'd be like, I'm

412
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,759
gonna let them know that I'm just way too busy

413
00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:07,119
to be doing this coffee clean up. Plus it's really

414
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,359
boring and I don't know how it's helping me because

415
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,640
I'm not meeting people. I'm in the back of the

416
00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,400
kitchen cleaning a coffee urn. But I swear to you

417
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,400
that kept me sober because I had to keep coming

418
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:19,039
to the meeting.

419
00:22:19,079 --> 00:22:19,640
Speaker 2: It tricked me.

420
00:22:20,839 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, it tricks you. And then there's other things too

421
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,240
that end up tricking you. Like my friend who I

422
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,640
sat next to you, I did the court card commit mood.

423
00:22:28,759 --> 00:22:30,240
You have to stay after to do it, and he

424
00:22:30,799 --> 00:22:34,240
cleaned up coffee. Jason a good friend of mine still,

425
00:22:34,319 --> 00:22:39,079
and I remember nobody ever had a court card. But

426
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,160
then eventually people started needing court cards to sign and

427
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:43,960
I loved signing and I was like, I'm here on

428
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,720
a court card too, and they were like okay. But

429
00:22:48,799 --> 00:22:52,279
it made me happy just to feel connected to people,

430
00:22:53,279 --> 00:22:56,400
because I think that I was so disconnected from everything

431
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:59,359
at the time and everybody, and I remember that it

432
00:22:59,759 --> 00:23:04,319
brought me joy just to be there and to feel

433
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,400
to hear other people be really, really funny to hear

434
00:23:08,799 --> 00:23:13,680
people laugh. And this woman me As she brought in

435
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:18,160
just huge crowds of people for these meetings, so there

436
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,039
would be hundreds of people in attendance, and she brought

437
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,200
these amazing speakers because she got sober. Her story was

438
00:23:24,279 --> 00:23:26,759
super gnarly, you know, and I thought that, you know

439
00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:30,240
that my story was just didn't compare. But it was

440
00:23:30,279 --> 00:23:33,039
funny to hear other people when I would tell my story,

441
00:23:33,039 --> 00:23:37,759
They're like, oh, no, your story is really crazy. Yeah,

442
00:23:37,759 --> 00:23:41,680
because it and it really is, like what gets you there?

443
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,279
But that's what it was. It was commitments. And then

444
00:23:44,319 --> 00:23:47,079
I eventually became the secretary of that meeting, the Hollywood

445
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,400
Young People Meeting, and it was at the beginning the

446
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,839
next year, so it was twenty twenty. And all of

447
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,279
the people who came to this meeting to be because

448
00:23:57,319 --> 00:23:59,640
Mea brought them, none of them came back, so it

449
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,079
was like a brand new meeting. There were five people there,

450
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,960
you know, and and I. But then three months later,

451
00:24:07,519 --> 00:24:12,519
COVID happened and this meeting ended up being discovered by

452
00:24:12,559 --> 00:24:15,680
people all over the world. So it turned out that

453
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,440
eventually there would be thousands of people from all over

454
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,200
the world at this meeting and there was a whole

455
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:27,319
group of people who ended up getting sober for the

456
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:32,920
very first time on Zoom. They needed like the pandemic

457
00:24:33,519 --> 00:24:36,599
to get sober, right, they needed. Then they created their

458
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:42,319
own you know what's app groups and this group that

459
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,680
I created, like with this guy Dopam Christian Dopamine Beings.

460
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,200
I just checked it out right before we did this,

461
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,640
and it started as just like me, this guy Christian

462
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,559
and this other guy from Tennessee. And now it has

463
00:24:55,599 --> 00:24:58,720
like thousands of people in it. I don't really participate

464
00:24:58,799 --> 00:25:00,920
in it as much as I as I used to,

465
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,279
but it's still like every day people are posting. And

466
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:10,279
I remember there was this this woman Kai and she

467
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,599
said like I remember, She's like, how do I get

468
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,400
five days sober? And I was like, oh, I know

469
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,039
how to do that? And I and we talked on

470
00:25:19,079 --> 00:25:23,359
the phone. And now she's like I I went to

471
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,599
go speak at a meeting that where now she's the

472
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,960
secretary Hollywood Young People, which is now back in person

473
00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:33,880
at the at the lodge. What is that like the

474
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,319
log cabin in the log cabin, Yeah, like this historic

475
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,119
old place and she was the secretary and she brought

476
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:42,000
me and She's like, I'm three years sober, and I

477
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,440
was like, do you remember when you asked me, like,

478
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,319
how do I get five days over? And she's like,

479
00:25:45,319 --> 00:25:48,920
I think about it all the time, and yeah, it

480
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,839
was just that was the a real turning point as well.

481
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,799
And then like helping all these people and then like

482
00:25:57,839 --> 00:26:02,200
your your commitment runs out and then you stop. You

483
00:26:02,279 --> 00:26:04,200
had all of this, you were helping all these people,

484
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,680
and then you're back just a regular person. You're not

485
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:12,359
the secretary of this meeting somebody else's and being the

486
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,000
whole doing all of this stuff in sobriety. It really is.

487
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,119
It's it's really transformational, you know, like being of service

488
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,839
to people, which I think I had never been of

489
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,640
service really to anybody, you know, certainly not not by

490
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,720
not picking up my dog's huge poops. Right.

491
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 2: Let me let me ask you this though.

492
00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:37,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you were a comedian, you were trying to

493
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,839
do in comedy, you get sober, did you go back

494
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,160
to doing stand up like and what was that like

495
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,000
and did you have that feeling of oh my gosh.

496
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,640
A big part of because I love talking to comedians

497
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,279
about this kind of thing. I just had Rich Seidner

498
00:26:54,759 --> 00:26:57,880
on the show it hasn't aired yet at the time

499
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,839
that we're talking, But I'm always so curious because I

500
00:27:01,839 --> 00:27:03,240
did not think that I was going to be able

501
00:27:03,279 --> 00:27:07,279
to be funny. Yes, even as a writer, I was like,

502
00:27:07,319 --> 00:27:09,119
how am I going to? Like a big part of

503
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,200
my identity as a drinker was like this makes me

504
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:14,559
edgy and I'm.

505
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 2: Cool and I'm creative, and.

506
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 1: I had such low self esteem. I think even though

507
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,720
when I got sober, I was forty two, I had

508
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,559
had multiple book deals, but there was some sense of

509
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,319
imposter syndrome for me that was like, I don't know

510
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,599
if a lot of this is just tied though to

511
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,000
like after I have some wine, I feel like some

512
00:27:35,079 --> 00:27:38,359
really edgy, cool author, And what's that going to be?

513
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,240
Like just me and the computer or me and an audience, Like,

514
00:27:42,279 --> 00:27:43,319
am I even going to be able.

515
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:43,640
Speaker 2: To do that?

516
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,519
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think that it's really scary like that I

517
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,119
just assumed that I would never be funny again, or

518
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,559
that I wouldn't be that I would lose my connection

519
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,440
to everything. But I think that I had this show

520
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,200
that was booked right when I got this guy asked

521
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,000
me to do it, and I did it, and then

522
00:28:02,039 --> 00:28:04,599
my sponsor, I you know, I took the commitment. My

523
00:28:04,599 --> 00:28:07,920
sponsor said, you're just going to do the show, and

524
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,359
I did it, and I didn't. I didn't feel funny,

525
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,799
but I was on crutches and I just started again

526
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:16,000
like sort of discovering the thing that I thought was

527
00:28:16,039 --> 00:28:18,559
funny about myself. It was I used to have like

528
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:23,000
all these big premises or all these weird, far out things.

529
00:28:23,039 --> 00:28:26,920
It was more of like a Zach Gallifanakis type vibe

530
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,160
to it, you know, like him like at the Purple Onion,

531
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,119
you know, where he's drinking and like really far out

532
00:28:32,599 --> 00:28:35,799
things like that. But then it was just more real,

533
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,519
you know, and I found the part of me that

534
00:28:39,759 --> 00:28:44,119
I think is authentic. And the first show that I

535
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,160
did somebody for the first time. They this person who

536
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,680
was sort of like running the shows at this place

537
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,839
that it used to be. They said, wow, like that

538
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:54,720
was the first time that I've ever seen you be funny.

539
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,559
In fact, I you know, like I thought that you

540
00:28:57,599 --> 00:28:59,839
were kind of annoying, and I didn't really like it,

541
00:28:59,839 --> 00:29:02,119
like because I would always try to find like what's

542
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,119
the perfect cocktail of drugs? Right, Like, if I'm going

543
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:07,519
to do a show later that day, I need to

544
00:29:07,559 --> 00:29:10,720
like start the day and the whole day is focused

545
00:29:10,799 --> 00:29:14,599
around like that moment in time, and how will my

546
00:29:14,759 --> 00:29:16,880
what cocktail will I have to be on? And I

547
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,640
knew the exact amount, like exactly what it had to be,

548
00:29:20,839 --> 00:29:22,480
and it would and I would always try to hit

549
00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:25,319
it at that moment, but this time it was really

550
00:29:25,359 --> 00:29:29,000
scary and I had no and I just started talking

551
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:32,200
about what happened to me that day, you know, and

552
00:29:32,319 --> 00:29:34,599
what my life is right like that I work at

553
00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:36,920
the I said, my you know, I work at the

554
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,359
Kung Fu Panda Adventure Ride a Universal Studios, Hollywood, and

555
00:29:40,359 --> 00:29:43,160
that is a thing that people laugh at because it's

556
00:29:43,319 --> 00:29:46,759
a funny job. And and I was like, you know,

557
00:29:46,799 --> 00:29:48,599
the thing about it is that like I just really

558
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,440
like it right which is another thing too because because

559
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,599
people would imagine that you're going to hate that job.

560
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,440
And I did this bit at the time, which was

561
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,279
that like I stopped drinking, butanomen addicted to smiling and waving,

562
00:30:00,559 --> 00:30:01,960
which is a thing that like, you know, and at

563
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:03,920
first you just start like smiling away with people, and

564
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,279
then you said and then eventually like connect with the kid,

565
00:30:06,279 --> 00:30:08,160
and then they smiled back at you, and then you're

566
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:09,599
like doing it and then you're at the end, you're

567
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,599
like scarface, you know, you're like say hello to my

568
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,079
little friends. Right. So that was like my big, my

569
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,839
bit right in the beginning, and it was just true

570
00:30:16,839 --> 00:30:19,559
and authentic, and I would and I would truly get

571
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,079
high on smiling and waving at people. And it was

572
00:30:22,119 --> 00:30:24,279
a job that I hated. But my sponsor was like,

573
00:30:24,359 --> 00:30:27,359
this job sucks and it's the reason that you're going

574
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,839
to stay sober, right, you know, it's the worst job

575
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:30,720
in the world.

576
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:32,799
Speaker 2: You you didn't show up.

577
00:30:32,839 --> 00:30:36,279
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, they didn't. I ended up getting like

578
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,960
three months leave and then I came or you know,

579
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:40,599
a couple of months leave, and I came back and

580
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,279
again like I didn't want to do it, and I

581
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,640
kept like calling out, but my sponsor said, like, you

582
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:47,559
got to do this, you have to do this, and

583
00:30:47,599 --> 00:30:51,799
I just decided to listen to him. And he said

584
00:30:51,799 --> 00:30:53,880
too that like, you know that if you decide, if

585
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,640
you trust this, that that miracles will start to happen

586
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,119
in your life and that things will happen. And he

587
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,440
asked me to write down, you know, five things that

588
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,559
that I wanted, like five sort of like dream things,

589
00:31:06,759 --> 00:31:08,400
and he's like you'll be able to get some of

590
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,680
these things that they'll happen. And you know, it's been

591
00:31:11,759 --> 00:31:14,279
amazing to see like the things that do happen. I remember,

592
00:31:14,279 --> 00:31:15,960
like I want I wrote down like I want to

593
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,839
get back together with my with my ex girlfriend, right,

594
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,599
and he's like, well, you know, we'll see about that.

595
00:31:20,839 --> 00:31:22,759
But the thing that I wanted was that I wanted

596
00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:27,640
a family, right, Like I wanted a partner and a

597
00:31:27,759 --> 00:31:31,319
wife and a family. And I met my wife, my

598
00:31:31,359 --> 00:31:34,680
current wife, when I got one year sober to the

599
00:31:34,759 --> 00:31:39,519
day at the Bliss Cafe, which is the place where

600
00:31:39,519 --> 00:31:42,799
I went like all the time. And she's twelve years

601
00:31:42,839 --> 00:31:47,720
sober now I'm seven years sober. And she she her

602
00:31:47,759 --> 00:31:50,480
sponsor was speaking there and I just happened to go there.

603
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:52,720
I took a cake and my sponsor at the time,

604
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,160
she had a ticket, Amanda. She had a ticket for

605
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,039
a convention for an a convention where Russell brand I

606
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,759
was speaking at A bunch of my friends were like helping,

607
00:32:03,079 --> 00:32:05,440
you know, to run the convention. So she said, do

608
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:06,640
you want to you want to come with me? I

609
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,200
thought that she was asking me out on a date,

610
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:09,839
but she just had an extra ticket to a convention

611
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,119
that nobody wanted to go to basically, so we both

612
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,880
went together and I kept saying, like, do you want

613
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:16,319
to go to a meeting together? And she's like, are

614
00:32:16,359 --> 00:32:18,960
you asking me out on a date? And so I

615
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,519
said I she said, because I only wanted I want

616
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:25,480
a date with intention and oh, and so we yeah,

617
00:32:25,559 --> 00:32:27,559
which was both. And I remember like I was working

618
00:32:27,559 --> 00:32:30,880
at Second City on Hollywood Boulevard at the time, and

619
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:32,880
I was like, oh gosh, like, uh I was with

620
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:34,960
all these other women. I was like, oh, I don't know,

621
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,240
like this is really like she seems like really assertive

622
00:32:37,279 --> 00:32:38,799
and these other these women I was were going through

623
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,160
like I like her, you know, And then I said, yeah,

624
00:32:41,319 --> 00:32:42,599
I want to ask you. And we went on the

625
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,720
date and it was bad because that was like my

626
00:32:44,759 --> 00:32:47,839
first ever sober dates. And she's like, I guess you

627
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,640
seem fine, you seem like whatever, but I don't know,

628
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,599
this isn't going to work out right, like and it's like, okay, fine,

629
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,240
but my first orb And again, a thing that I

630
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:58,920
would have done, like when I was not sober, was

631
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,599
I would have like tried to control the situation, right,

632
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,680
like what do I have to know? She doesn't understand,

633
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,319
I'm going to send her a bunch of texts and

634
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,160
like we'll go on another date and I'll be able

635
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:08,960
to get another one. But my sponsor was like, no,

636
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:14,480
just let it go. You blew it. It's over. And

637
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:19,039
I kept going to meetings and I didn't text her,

638
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:22,279
I didn't call her, and you know, like I was

639
00:33:22,359 --> 00:33:24,599
right around a year sober, and people started asking me

640
00:33:24,759 --> 00:33:27,680
to speak at different meetings, and I was asked to

641
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,279
speak at this meeting on Santa Monica Boulevard, and I

642
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,359
just like went there once, and then they asked me

643
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,920
to speak the next week. And then Tom like tom

644
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,400
Ex got COVID, and all these meetings were shutting down everywhere,

645
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,119
and I asked my sponsor should I go to speak

646
00:33:44,119 --> 00:33:46,000
at this meeting, and he said, yeah, you should go

647
00:33:46,079 --> 00:33:49,559
because I don't know what the world is going to

648
00:33:49,599 --> 00:33:52,960
be like tomorrow, so go and talk to people. And

649
00:33:53,279 --> 00:33:55,519
the meeting where I first went there there were probably

650
00:33:55,559 --> 00:33:58,519
like fifty sixty people, but went after time X got COVID,

651
00:33:58,519 --> 00:34:01,960
there were probably like six seven people there and this

652
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:03,720
guy picked me up. He drove me and I'm sitting

653
00:34:03,759 --> 00:34:06,839
down to speak and then in walks this girl that

654
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,320
I went to college with. I was like, what the heck,

655
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,760
Palia right, and she's like, Josh, it was really weird.

656
00:34:13,079 --> 00:34:17,239
And then in walked Amanda and it wasn't a meeting

657
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,719
that she had ever been to before. She went with

658
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,639
her friend, my college friend BALI why hadn't seen since college.

659
00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:28,239
And she walked in and she was sitting in the

660
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:33,840
back and I spoke and the meeting ended and this

661
00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:38,360
guy we went to Whole Foods afterwards, and you know,

662
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,679
it was like everybody was running in sacking, like ransacking supermarkets.

663
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:46,039
So this Whole Foods was just like yaslate everything. It

664
00:34:46,119 --> 00:34:50,119
was like the movie Intagent, right. And then he drops

665
00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:51,960
me off back at home at my apartment. He's like,

666
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,840
you know, after we saw this this scene at Whole Foods.

667
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,280
He's like, I don't know that the world is going

668
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,519
to be the same. And he's like, and I don't

669
00:34:59,519 --> 00:35:00,880
know that. I'm we're going to see you again. And

670
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,800
I have not seen that guy again right ever. But

671
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,239
I've picked up the phone. I had all these miscalls

672
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,119
from Amanda, and I called her and I started talking

673
00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:10,559
to her on the phone. We talked for like two

674
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,239
three hours that night, and I was finally like normal,

675
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:16,320
the person who I was, the normal person that I

676
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,800
couldn't be on the date I needed, like the world

677
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,400
to be ending in order to be normal talking to

678
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,679
a girl. And we've been together ever since.

679
00:35:28,679 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 2: And you have two kids.

680
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 3: We have two little kids, and a new dog and

681
00:35:33,039 --> 00:35:36,199
a new English massive named Gucia. We have two little boys,

682
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:38,679
an almost for a three and a half year old

683
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,719
and an almost one year old. And yeah, we're your neighbor.

684
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,280
Speaker 2: And life has changed so much.

685
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,079
Speaker 1: I feel like when I first met you and we

686
00:35:47,119 --> 00:35:49,199
talked about we had all these things in common. We

687
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:56,719
had our dogs and sobriety and comedy and uh so crazy.

688
00:35:57,159 --> 00:35:59,559
But I think for some reason I thought you were, like,

689
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:01,800
I don't know how you could have been twenty years

690
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:02,800
sober because you're young.

691
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,559
Speaker 2: But and now you're running for Congress.

692
00:36:07,199 --> 00:36:08,559
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is so crazy.

693
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,119
Speaker 1: Your life is one hundred percent different.

694
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is. You know it was. It's it's

695
00:36:15,039 --> 00:36:19,320
like so different when when we moved here, it's so

696
00:36:19,559 --> 00:36:22,679
it's so funny. I remember Xander, your sonone like we

697
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,599
had a block party and he won the high eating

698
00:36:25,679 --> 00:36:29,280
contest and then that was sort of like the beginning

699
00:36:29,559 --> 00:36:33,320
of my political career in an odd way, right, Like

700
00:36:33,639 --> 00:36:37,920
it was like, was you know, hosting a pie eating

701
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:40,800
contest that Xander won. It was grotesque because they were

702
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,480
from Costco, like these enormous pies, that.

703
00:36:43,639 --> 00:36:45,599
Speaker 2: They were too big. That was unfair, they.

704
00:36:45,519 --> 00:36:47,199
Speaker 3: Were too big, and we yeah, we didn't. We have

705
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,119
not done that since because there was too gross. People

706
00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:51,840
were like, you know what, this is actually too much.

707
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:53,599
I don't want to watch this. And now the pies

708
00:36:53,639 --> 00:36:55,719
are smaller. We still have the pie eating contest, but

709
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:57,719
now the pies are smaller. But I think that it

710
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:58,440
was the beginning.

711
00:36:58,599 --> 00:37:01,519
Speaker 1: He won the watermelon eating test. Let's not just skate

712
00:37:01,599 --> 00:37:02,960
over that.

713
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,320
Speaker 3: That's true. Yeah, he wins eating contests at in the

714
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,000
summer and in the fall, right, no matter what the

715
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,599
season is. Yeah, of course he's winning the contest everywhere.

716
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,480
But I think that it was the beginning, right, Like

717
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,360
we bought this house here in Encino, and Encino has

718
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,639
this thing called neighborhood counsel. Well they have them everywhere

719
00:37:22,679 --> 00:37:25,239
all you know, neighborhood councils. There's ninety nine of them.

720
00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:29,679
And I ran for the neighborhood council and I got

721
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,119
elected with more votes than anybody in the history of

722
00:37:32,119 --> 00:37:35,760
the Encino Neighborhood Coucil, which was one hundred and four votes, right.

723
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,480
But then two years later I ran for reelection and

724
00:37:39,679 --> 00:37:45,159
over three thousand people engaged, like voted in that election. Wow,

725
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,000
And so that was that was the big And it

726
00:37:48,039 --> 00:37:51,079
was more people voted in the Encino Neighborhood Council election

727
00:37:51,199 --> 00:37:54,800
than in any other neighborhood council election across any of

728
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,960
the other ninety nine neighborhood councils in all of Los Angeles.

729
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:03,480
And it's because I think that what people want, oh jeez,

730
00:38:03,559 --> 00:38:07,719
what people want is like, oh sorry, is connection and community, right,

731
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:14,480
Like It's been my idea about like about what is

732
00:38:14,519 --> 00:38:18,679
ailing us now, like whether it's the threat of like

733
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:26,840
an authoritarian president that we have who like authoritarianism thrives

734
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:33,320
in isolation, separation, and fear, and what brings people together, right, joy,

735
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,920
Connection and community I think is the single biggest antidote

736
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,159
to authoritarianism. And I also think that it is the

737
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,920
thing that we were missing so much during the pandemic.

738
00:38:45,559 --> 00:38:49,480
And what I wanted to do was to create moments

739
00:38:49,519 --> 00:38:52,440
of joy, right like just like in sobriety, right like

740
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:57,239
to create community connection and joy. And so I started

741
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:01,239
with just our block, right like, I wanted our block

742
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:05,920
to bring joy to it, and so I did like

743
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,519
a costume contest, but I also wanted it to be political.

744
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,360
So I wanted our city council member to be in

745
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,159
attendance to judge the costume contest. And the reason why

746
00:39:14,199 --> 00:39:16,440
I wanted her to be there nthe Arama is our

747
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,639
city council member, is because I wanted when these city

748
00:39:19,639 --> 00:39:22,840
council members are making decisions about what's happening in the city,

749
00:39:23,079 --> 00:39:26,079
I wanted her to know to have been standing on

750
00:39:26,119 --> 00:39:29,760
our block, to have met our neighbors, and if we

751
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:33,039
had some sort of issue, we would be able to help.

752
00:39:33,119 --> 00:39:37,039
And that's what has happened, you know, because she judges

753
00:39:37,079 --> 00:39:41,719
our costume contest, we are we I have her number,

754
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,880
We are able to communicate with one another, and we,

755
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,480
you know, things get done, which is I think like

756
00:39:47,519 --> 00:39:50,159
a sad state of affairs for what happens for the

757
00:39:50,159 --> 00:39:52,760
city of Los Angeles that you truly have to When

758
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,159
all of our street lights were out, for example, right like,

759
00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:59,360
there were no streetlights anywhere, and it took me having

760
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,079
to speak with our mayor in order to get them

761
00:40:02,119 --> 00:40:06,199
turned back on. For eight months, nobody did anything. And

762
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:11,000
the reason is because there's hundreds of thousands of street

763
00:40:11,039 --> 00:40:15,760
lights that are out and the city is incapable of

764
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,880
dealing with it. And so you have to know the

765
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,440
mayor and speak to her and ask her in person

766
00:40:21,559 --> 00:40:26,480
in order to get your street lights fixed expedited. And

767
00:40:26,519 --> 00:40:30,119
that's a huge problem. So I ran for the Neighborhood Council.

768
00:40:30,199 --> 00:40:32,239
I want. I became the President of the neighborod Council

769
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,679
a year later. I've served as both president and vice president.

770
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:40,639
And my two moments were during the fires. When I

771
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,000
was the president of the Neighborhood Council, when there the

772
00:40:43,039 --> 00:40:48,599
Palisade fires and we all received these evacuation orders. But

773
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,320
first there were these false alarms. I don't know if

774
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,239
you remember those, but I was standing at the Nelson's. Yeah,

775
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:56,360
they were crazy. I was in a Gelson faking.

776
00:40:57,559 --> 00:41:01,039
Speaker 1: Chili Is almost burnt down. It was right on the border.

777
00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:04,159
My kids were freaking out. That's that's like an icon,

778
00:41:04,559 --> 00:41:06,840
you know that Chili's at Chili's and Sino.

779
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:08,920
Speaker 2: It's one of the few that are left. And it

780
00:41:09,039 --> 00:41:11,239
was right next to the line.

781
00:41:11,519 --> 00:41:15,559
Speaker 1: It just about got evacuated. Yes, we're only a few

782
00:41:15,599 --> 00:41:16,320
blocks from there.

783
00:41:17,199 --> 00:41:18,360
Speaker 3: I know we're only I mean.

784
00:41:18,519 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 1: We evacuated. You did too, right, we left, We went

785
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,239
to Santa Clarita to brothers.

786
00:41:23,519 --> 00:41:26,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that was probably a good choice. We didn't evacuate.

787
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:32,079
It was Amanda was six months pregnant. We didn't know,

788
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:36,719
like we had Gus, we had Nathan, and we didn't know.

789
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:42,800
You know, we didn't evacuate. But but the mayor and

790
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:44,719
our city council member, they both reached out to me

791
00:41:45,199 --> 00:41:48,719
because nobody was evacuating right like, they sent these evacuation

792
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,599
orders up, but nobody was evacuating because of the false alarms,

793
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,920
And so they asked, what can I do to help?

794
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:59,000
So I sent an email out to all of our

795
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:04,760
in Sceno Council subscriber email subscribers, and I put I

796
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:06,800
said evacuate now, and I put my phone number, and

797
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:10,480
people started to calling. I received probably hundreds of phone

798
00:42:10,519 --> 00:42:15,719
calls right like wow, uh and and I was a

799
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:18,480
ton of people evacuate. We opened up. We almost had

800
00:42:18,519 --> 00:42:21,360
a woman who's ninety six years old and on like

801
00:42:21,519 --> 00:42:24,719
oxygen within medical aids staying at our house that night.

802
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:26,400
But luckily I was able to get in touch with

803
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,480
her granddaughter who lives in Valencia, and so she was

804
00:42:28,519 --> 00:42:31,760
able to help her. But what I realized in that moment, right,

805
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,760
is that, like, I think it's the thing that we've

806
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,639
all that I've always done, which is that we're sort

807
00:42:37,679 --> 00:42:40,480
of on our own a lot of the time, right,

808
00:42:40,639 --> 00:42:44,159
Like are the people who we elect to office, Like

809
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:47,480
our congressman, he lives in Washington, d C. Right, that's

810
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,400
where his house is. He doesn't live in the district anymore.

811
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,000
He lives in Washington, d C. So, I mean our

812
00:42:53,079 --> 00:42:55,800
mayor was in Ghana at the time, right, Like our

813
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,440
city council member was here, and I think was effective

814
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:03,039
during the fires. Police was police forces. They were overrun,

815
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,960
the fire department was overrun. They were not able to

816
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:09,320
like really do anything to like they were focused on

817
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,559
put on holding the line. And so the people who

818
00:43:12,599 --> 00:43:15,719
were here, right, Like, people were scared and they didn't

819
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:17,519
know what to do, and they were all evacuate, like,

820
00:43:17,599 --> 00:43:20,079
and it was a really scary time. And in that moment,

821
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,239
you know, I just happened to be the person who

822
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,119
was talking to all these people, the president of the

823
00:43:25,199 --> 00:43:29,559
Nsino Neighborhood Council, right, and what I realized is that

824
00:43:29,599 --> 00:43:32,280
I really liked doing it. I liked being of service

825
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:36,400
to people. And the next day was the moment that

826
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:41,119
really got me, was, you know, people evacuated and the

827
00:43:41,159 --> 00:43:43,920
threat had sort of passed, but the National Guard was

828
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,159
on Ventura Boulevard preventing people from getting back into their

829
00:43:47,199 --> 00:43:51,559
houses or preventing burglars from burglarising those areas. And there

830
00:43:51,639 --> 00:43:54,880
was there was this woman who I was driving Nathan

831
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:56,719
to Whole Foods, and there was this woman. She called

832
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:58,840
and she said, you know, it's a really silly reason,

833
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:00,719
but I needn't ask. I need to get back into

834
00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,440
my house because my husband died six months ago and

835
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,679
there's a sweater that he has that smells exactly like him,

836
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:09,320
and I want to get it before it smells of

837
00:44:09,519 --> 00:44:12,039
smoke and of the chemicals that they're dropping on houses.

838
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,079
And so I reached out to the mayor and to

839
00:44:14,119 --> 00:44:16,440
our city council member, and she was able to get

840
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,159
an escort to her house. She picked up the sweatshirt,

841
00:44:20,559 --> 00:44:23,840
the sweater, and she got back into her car and

842
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:27,079
she called me, and I was in the car with Nathan,

843
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,480
and she was crying and she said, I have it,

844
00:44:30,199 --> 00:44:33,320
and it still smells just like him. And she was like,

845
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,960
thank you. And then I looked back at Nathan and

846
00:44:37,079 --> 00:44:39,760
he could hear the woman was crying, and then, like

847
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:41,280
a two year old speak, he has like, why is

848
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,360
that lady crying? And I said, your daddy helps people,

849
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,800
and then he said, Dada helps Nathan with trains, right.

850
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,360
I was like, yeah, that's right, he does. He's like

851
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,480
in planes. But it was the first time that I

852
00:44:52,519 --> 00:44:56,199
had ever said that, you know, And that's what I

853
00:44:56,639 --> 00:45:02,480
feel like. I feel that that we need somebody who

854
00:45:02,519 --> 00:45:06,719
truly wants to help people and who truly who lives

855
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,800
here and who knows what's happening, yeah, and is pragmatic

856
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:11,440
about it.

857
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,880
Speaker 1: So you're running for Congress and when does when does

858
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:15,719
it happen?

859
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:16,360
Speaker 2: When will you know?

860
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:17,440
Speaker 1: Yes?

861
00:45:17,599 --> 00:45:19,880
Speaker 3: Or the election. There's a primary election which is on

862
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:25,199
June second, and the top two candidates advance. There's probably

863
00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:28,360
like eight people who are there. But I feel good

864
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,519
about this. For you, I feel good too. I feel

865
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:32,119
really really good.

866
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:34,159
Speaker 2: Your signs are everywhere.

867
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:35,920
Speaker 3: Exactly, My signs are everywhere.

868
00:45:36,079 --> 00:45:38,679
Speaker 1: Bring you back to this really quick story though, that

869
00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:42,639
before we go that it's just funny because you were

870
00:45:42,679 --> 00:45:45,840
saying you were saying how this ties in like with

871
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,320
sobriety that you weren't sure because I said.

872
00:45:49,159 --> 00:45:50,719
Speaker 2: Do you want to do this podcast?

873
00:45:51,159 --> 00:45:54,400
Speaker 1: Do you think it would hurt your like political aspirations,

874
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:56,800
and you said no, I think it will help, like

875
00:45:57,039 --> 00:45:59,480
you love to be honest. And then you told me

876
00:45:59,519 --> 00:46:01,960
that you went to this function and you've been in

877
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:03,760
your head about like do I have to.

878
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,199
Speaker 2: Tell people I'm sober? Is that do I not?

879
00:46:06,639 --> 00:46:09,559
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, yeah no. Last night I was at like

880
00:46:09,599 --> 00:46:12,639
a fundraiser at a fancy like a fancy person's house,

881
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:15,280
a fundraiser for me, and I always show up and

882
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,079
I'm like, okay, you don't have the first person, first

883
00:46:18,119 --> 00:46:19,679
thing you have to you don't have to talk about

884
00:46:19,679 --> 00:46:21,400
sobriety the first thing that you say. And I'm like,

885
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,519
I'll just talk about other things. And I'm standing there

886
00:46:24,559 --> 00:46:26,440
with the with the host and he's just talking to me,

887
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,760
and somebody comes up and he says, he says to me, oh,

888
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,480
he's very excited because he knows that I'm sober. And

889
00:46:30,519 --> 00:46:33,320
he says, we have some non alcoholic wine. And I

890
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,119
was like, okay, great, cool. And then and then and

891
00:46:36,159 --> 00:46:38,760
then somebody else comes up, just a moment later and

892
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:40,400
he says, oh, yeah, by the way, we have some

893
00:46:40,519 --> 00:46:42,360
non alcoholic wine. And the first thing that comes out

894
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:44,440
to mouthes say, oh, are you sober? I'm sober And

895
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:47,639
he said, no, I'm not sober, but sometimes I don't.

896
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:50,679
I drink non alcoholic beer and non alcoholic wine. And

897
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:52,760
I was like, oh, shoot, okay, well That'll be the

898
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:54,679
one time that I tell some that I'm sober. And

899
00:46:54,679 --> 00:46:56,960
then later on when I'm talking to everybody this group

900
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:00,000
of people, I'm like, by the way, everybody, I'm sober.

901
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:02,000
And it's just like it is the thing, and it's

902
00:47:02,039 --> 00:47:05,239
the thing that comes up because you know, and it's silly, right,

903
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,920
but you know, the reason why it comes up a

904
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:14,360
lot is because in Los Angeles and across the world,

905
00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:17,760
across the United States, we have a serious mental health

906
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:23,119
problem problem with drug addiction and alcohol abuse and homelessness,

907
00:47:23,679 --> 00:47:29,599
and they're all connected, and they're connected because there are

908
00:47:29,639 --> 00:47:35,400
so many people who are sleeping outside, more seventy thousand people. Right.

909
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:39,039
The people who are sleeping outside, if they're not addicted

910
00:47:39,079 --> 00:47:42,239
to drugs, they have a mental health issue, right, And

911
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,639
that's the reason why they're outside is nobody would want

912
00:47:44,639 --> 00:47:50,039
to voluntarily live outside, right. And the problem is that

913
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:54,079
in Los Angeles we elect democrats right to run our

914
00:47:54,119 --> 00:48:00,360
places because they align with our views, and Democrats have

915
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,920
our elected officials have failed us because there are more

916
00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:10,400
people living outside than ever before. Our mental health crisis

917
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:13,079
is larger than it's ever been, worse than it's ever been,

918
00:48:13,679 --> 00:48:17,320
and it's because nobody is coming at it from a

919
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:22,880
truly pragmatic, thoughtful way. They're not thinking about it in

920
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:25,119
a way that where there's a real solution.

921
00:48:25,239 --> 00:48:29,400
Speaker 1: And so, but Republicans are not going to do that. No,

922
00:48:29,599 --> 00:48:32,920
and that that Republicans are going to say, here's the thing,

923
00:48:33,679 --> 00:48:37,400
you're not going to sleep on the street anymore, get out,

924
00:48:37,519 --> 00:48:38,559
or we're putting spikes.

925
00:48:38,559 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 2: So I don't know how that's going to fix it either.

926
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:46,000
Speaker 3: Well, no, exactly. And then Republicans, even worse, Republicans are

927
00:48:46,039 --> 00:48:49,760
going to point to California, all these people living outside

928
00:48:50,079 --> 00:48:54,360
as an example of what happens when Democrats run large

929
00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:58,320
states and cities. So we have to get this right, right,

930
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:02,760
and when our democrats, like when they come up with

931
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,559
these ideas, or it's just either through incompetence or mismanagement

932
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:12,199
or just you know, good intentions, but bad execution. What

933
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:19,000
ends up happening is that good people who are truly empathetic,

934
00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:23,119
they reach a breaking point and they say, you know what,

935
00:49:24,519 --> 00:49:27,880
just do whatever it takes to remove these people, because

936
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:31,400
I can't take this anymore. And that's terrible. Also, it's

937
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:35,880
there is a solution to this, right, and the solution

938
00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:43,159
it's straightforward, right, like we need to I've sponsored people

939
00:49:43,159 --> 00:49:45,440
who were on skid row. Right Like when I won

940
00:49:45,519 --> 00:49:48,199
this election, there was this homeless person who lived by

941
00:49:48,199 --> 00:49:49,840
the park and he lived there for five years, and

942
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:52,280
before he lived in the park, right by the park,

943
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:54,440
he lived under a bridge with his mother for five

944
00:49:54,519 --> 00:49:57,119
years and then his mother found was able to go

945
00:49:57,159 --> 00:49:59,400
inside for one year. I was trying to help this

946
00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:02,559
person like find a place to be inside, and it's

947
00:50:02,599 --> 00:50:05,320
a really sad story because he ended up just like

948
00:50:05,679 --> 00:50:09,159
being showed away by after he came to me asking

949
00:50:09,199 --> 00:50:10,719
for help, and then when they help did arrive, he

950
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:14,320
refused to take it. And so what we have to

951
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,639
do is in those moments when people are ready to go,

952
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:18,559
we have to have a place for them to be.

953
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:23,159
And that was the problem, right, there are places if

954
00:50:23,159 --> 00:50:25,920
we have a huge homeless encampment right by where we live,

955
00:50:26,079 --> 00:50:28,559
or there used to be one, but the mayor and

956
00:50:28,599 --> 00:50:30,119
all these people, they move them from one place and

957
00:50:30,159 --> 00:50:32,239
where they go, they just go to another place. We

958
00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:35,519
have to have a place, a facility where people are

959
00:50:35,519 --> 00:50:39,800
going to go. We have to move them inside, and

960
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:44,119
there has to be there have to be doctors, nurses,

961
00:50:44,519 --> 00:50:45,320
social workers.

962
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:45,519
Speaker 1: There.

963
00:50:45,519 --> 00:50:48,960
Speaker 3: There has to be aa that people are obligated to

964
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,840
go to every single day. Maybe they can have Sunday

965
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,880
off or something. And the promise that can be made

966
00:50:55,039 --> 00:50:58,920
is that is that if all these people go inside,

967
00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:01,960
there will be no you won't see any homeless people,

968
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:05,280
there will be no crime, there will be no fires,

969
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:09,840
there'll be no trash. Right, I have a plan that

970
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:16,519
would reduce homelessness by thirty percent immediately. And it's because

971
00:51:17,199 --> 00:51:20,679
of being sober. Right, It's because I've seen what works

972
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:24,519
and I know what doesn't work. And I want Democrats,

973
00:51:24,559 --> 00:51:28,039
because I'm a Democrat, to be able to do big things.

974
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:32,280
And the biggest problem that we face here in California,

975
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:35,239
and it's soon going to be across this nation, is

976
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:39,679
one of mental health crisis and homelessness, and it's become

977
00:51:40,079 --> 00:51:44,840
such a horrible situation where now. Police officers. The only

978
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:46,559
thing that they do is is a lot of what

979
00:51:46,599 --> 00:51:51,400
they do is they they move homeless. They enforce homeless encampments,

980
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:54,519
so they move homeless people from one corner to another.

981
00:51:55,559 --> 00:51:58,599
Nobody wants to work as a police officer. Firefighters what

982
00:51:58,599 --> 00:52:00,800
do they do? They put up fires that are created

983
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:06,199
by people who are living outside. So firefighters they go

984
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:10,039
to five six fires sometimes in a day, just homeless

985
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:13,480
people created fires. Police officers are dealing with homelesses, and

986
00:52:13,559 --> 00:52:16,519
so then when there are burglaries in our neighborhood, police

987
00:52:16,559 --> 00:52:20,079
officers they're not They're becoming less and less equipped to

988
00:52:20,119 --> 00:52:24,440
be able to solve burglaries because the primary what they

989
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:26,800
do primarily is deal with homelessness.

990
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:30,360
Speaker 1: Well, listen, do you have a website where you have

991
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:35,760
a lot of your ideas and solutions that people can

992
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,039
go check out, Yeah, and see how they can get involved.

993
00:52:39,639 --> 00:52:44,840
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's Josh Solder for Congress All Letters dot Com,

994
00:52:45,199 --> 00:52:46,000
Josh Soder.

995
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:48,679
Speaker 2: For Congress in the in the description of the show.

996
00:52:49,599 --> 00:52:53,639
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Yeah, and Josh Outter Forcongress dot Com.

997
00:52:53,679 --> 00:52:57,280
I'm also on Instagram. Josh Otter for Congress dot Com.

998
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,840
Josh out at Josh outa for Congress and you can

999
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:06,639
finally also like it at Gelson's in Encino, which is

1000
00:53:06,679 --> 00:53:08,679
another thing too, Like I think that you have to

1001
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:11,280
be You could find me driving my kids to school

1002
00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:11,880
in the morning.

1003
00:53:12,119 --> 00:53:13,719
Speaker 1: Oh, you're just a regular guy.

1004
00:53:14,119 --> 00:53:17,119
Speaker 2: You walk your dog like eight times a day total.

1005
00:53:17,159 --> 00:53:19,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And it's because, like what I like about

1006
00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:22,639
it is that you know, you talk to people and

1007
00:53:22,679 --> 00:53:25,800
you find out what are the real issues in the neighborhood,

1008
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:28,519
and not just in the neighborhood but everywhere. And I

1009
00:53:28,559 --> 00:53:31,639
think that in order to be an effective congressman, you

1010
00:53:31,679 --> 00:53:33,800
have to be accountable to the people that you represent.

1011
00:53:34,159 --> 00:53:36,360
In order to be held accountable, you have to live

1012
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:37,039
in the district.

1013
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:42,320
Speaker 1: And you you learned how to be accountable from Sobriety. Yeah,

1014
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:43,679
it's all full circle, baby.

1015
00:53:44,199 --> 00:53:46,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, it all starts with me picking up poop when

1016
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:48,599
I was on Pretchase. Yeah.

1017
00:53:48,639 --> 00:53:49,159
Speaker 2: I love it.

1018
00:53:49,199 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 1: What a great message, Josh. Thank you for giving us

1019
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,440
your story. This was a great episode. I loved it.

1020
00:53:55,599 --> 00:53:58,599
Speaker 3: Oh it was my pleasure. Thank you so much, Stephanie.

1021
00:53:58,639 --> 00:53:59,840
I'm so happy to be able to do it.

1022
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:02,519
Speaker 2: I will let everybody know you already told everyone where

1023
00:54:02,559 --> 00:54:02,920
to find you.

1024
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:04,920
Speaker 1: But if you don't know, you can look at the

1025
00:54:05,159 --> 00:54:07,480
at the description on the YouTube channel, and you can

1026
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:12,119
look at the description on on the way on the

1027
00:54:13,159 --> 00:54:15,440
wherever you get your podcast, the description is there.

1028
00:54:15,559 --> 00:54:16,960
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm losing my mind.

1029
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,119
Speaker 1: All right, Thank you everybody, and I will see you

1030
00:54:19,159 --> 00:54:19,599
next week.

1031
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:35,079
Speaker 3: Josh by God,