A Comic Conversation Ep 34 - Chase Masterson - Meadowlark Comic Con 23

[00:00:00] Good morning, good afternoon and good evening! This is Comic Con Radio! Comic Con! Coverage of pop culture events from around the globe. Amazing interviews with celebrities. Daily recaps and reviews of popular television. Movie reviews. Everything fandom from around

[00:00:17] the globe. Comic Con Radio. Get ready to enter our universe! Let's go! How many of my fellow nerds out there are fans of Robin Hood, Man in Tights? Or maybe the Flash? Or are we kidding? Where are all the Star Trek fans at? Well this episode's

[00:00:45] guest has been in all of them, which means it's time for... A Comic Conversation! This episode we talk with Chase Masterson, the actress who brought us the giggling lady in court in Robin Hood, Man in Tights, Vienna from the Doctor Who universe and of course

[00:01:00] Lita from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. So laugh your way around King John, play a game of dabo and relax in the mirror universe. It's time for another... A Comic Conversation! Our next guest is currently starring opposite Eric Robertson, Doctor Who, the master. Yeah!

[00:01:19] Has starred in the title role in Doctor Who, Big Finish, spin off Vienna for four seasons, appeared in The CW's The Flash and loved worldwide for her five-year breakout role as Lita in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which she continues opposite Kate Mulgrew and

[00:01:38] Will Wheaton, Will Wheaton, Wheaton, Will Wheaton in Star Trek Online. Doesn't stop there! She was also in Mel Brooks, Robin Hood, Man in Tights, starred with Mark Hamill and Robotech in Shadow Chronicles, starred opposite Bruce Campbell in Sci-Fi's Terminal

[00:01:56] Invasion, hosted Sunday night at the movies with Ryan Seacrest, played opposite Jerry O'Connor in Sliders. Holy crap! Also was in General Hospital and the Emmy-winning episode of ER and one of the founders of Pop Culture Hero Coalition. Ladies and gentlemen, let's get

[00:02:15] a huge round of applause for Chase Masterson! Hi everybody! How are you? Good. So awesome! Thank you so much for being here and for spending your day with us. This is really cool.

[00:02:43] Sorry, Chase, I had to grab her a little late. There was a line for her autographs. People talking to her. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. So much appreciated for these patients. Thank you. And you'll be here the rest of the day, yeah? Yes. Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:55] Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so nice. I see a bunch of familiar faces who come out of the table and... Star Trek faces out there? That's great. Very nice. Thank you. Yes, Star Trek faces. Kai Wynn is here. My God! I mean, what more could we want? It's amazing.

[00:03:11] We're just missing actual Klingons right now. Yeah, they can stay away. They'll be sure. I mean, they're busy. They've got a... Trying to take over other galaxies. Klingon Hard Rock Festival downtown. Klingon needs work. They're probably all in Sacramento right now at Aftershock. At Aftershock? Yeah.

[00:03:28] What is that? It's like one of the biggest metal concerts of the year. Yeah, that's where they are for sure. Totally at Aftershock right now. That's it. That's awesome. So we are the distance nerdy... My friend Shane out there. Hi, Shane. Hi, Shane. We're the Distance Nerdy Podcast.

[00:03:40] On our show, one of our bits is called Growing Up Geeky. So we want to know what you geeked out on as a kid. Oh my goodness, how great! So wait, this is your podcast and it's a segment called Growing Up Geeky? Yeah. It's called Growing Up Geeky.

[00:03:55] This is so cool. Because we all have that thing, right? Yeah, right. And it's so close to our hearts. It's like we're all really eight years old. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be like sci-fi. It could be whatever you wanted to geek out on. Thank you.

[00:04:09] Like our whole thing is nerding is not just geeking out on nerd stuff. It's anything you have a passion for, you nerd out on. Absolutely. Yes. So we try to get rid of that whole toxic stigma of, oh no, sports is not nerd

[00:04:23] No, if you know statistics and sports you're a nerd. You're totally nerdy. Of course, it's a badge of honor to be nerdy, right? Absolutely. I am proud of my nerddom. My nerddom growing up was musical theater. Nice. Right. Do we have any shout outs for that here? Exactly.

[00:04:42] I just loved it and I still do. It's how I grew up. It's what I grew up doing. I started acting when I was five. I played child in Oklahoma. Child. Child.

[00:04:55] Yes, my mom was a theater director and I grew up in the art of the business and a lot of that was musical theater and just the joy of it. Just the unfettered joy of singing and dancing and doing that with people you love and forming

[00:05:11] this family of people who feel the same way about it. And a live audience is also so wonderful. It's really more fun than film and television in so many ways and you can't make as good a living in that unless you're on Broadway. There's this interaction thing.

[00:05:34] It's the initial feedback that you're touching people in the audience and they're reacting to what you're doing on stage. It's that live interaction. Yes. It's really quite wonderful. It is the real time feedback. Especially as the song says, applause, applause.

[00:05:52] That's a really great part of it but there's also the silence that's so beautiful and powerful. And when you're in a theater with the silence of everyone sitting in the dark all looking the same way absorbing some wonderful message and whether that message is just human contact,

[00:06:12] being beautiful, the poignancy of two people talking about something that's important, caring about each other. There's incredible power in that and incredible quiet in that so it doesn't even need the applause it's just somehow you're together and that's beautiful. Yeah.

[00:06:29] Almost like the commanding of the stage but in a different way. You're not like big spotlight it's like how do you draw everything down and bring everybody into one specific place? You know that spotlight so that's amazing. Where we connect over our humanity.

[00:06:43] Where did you grow up in the theater business? Were you an LA kid? Were you? Thanks so my mom was a theater director and she worked back east in Connecticut but then

[00:06:56] my dad was in the army so I grew up doing army theater which was quite wonderful because there was budget and stuff and we entertained the troops and it was fun. So we did a lot of musicals and made a lot of people happy and encouraged during their

[00:07:13] work. I'd never heard of army theater so did you go around to base the base? We did a little of that mostly it was just at the base when people would come back from deployment or wherever and go to see a show and it was fun.

[00:07:27] It really meant a lot. It meant a lot of really talented people. You guys are so many talented people out there. I grew up with people who are as talented or more than anyone I've ever met who's working

[00:07:38] in the industry and you'll unfortunately never know their names and maybe they're not even working anymore. I've lost track of a lot of them but it just you know when you realize that you realize

[00:07:49] how lucky you are to be working as an actor because there's so many people out there who are really damn good who aren't working on this level and I'm just incredibly honored and grateful. Yeah.

[00:08:02] I mean speaking of being lucky and getting roles I mean you were in one of the bigger movies of the time Robin Hood, Men in Tights. Thank you. Mel Brooks is so huge. Thank you. People are clapping for it. Thank you so much.

[00:08:16] You know what I just want to say something for the record? The people Louis and Bev and Tim and Mary and Larry Alderetti. I mean these are my idols. I just wanted to say that. I love you guys.

[00:08:28] Robin Hood, Men in Tights working with Mel Brooks was like such an incredible lesson in comedy. He is like a scientist and he knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it and how

[00:08:39] it crisp it could be and so I have a great story about how I got this job which- I am all for this. Okay good. All right so- The more stories you can tell the better. Okay here we are.

[00:08:51] I'm technically not allowed to talk too much about film and TV but this was so far back that I think it's okay. All right Robin Hood, Men in Tights we have this cattle call of an audition and this never

[00:09:03] happens anymore but back then for some reason Mel Brooks was literally meeting new actors just come in and meet Mel Brooks so I got this audition through my agent and I went in and Mel and I hit it off. We somehow just had this great connection.

[00:09:18] You know a Jewish and Italian people just said you know like psycho related or something so and I'm half Italian and it was just great and so he then I got the word after that that I was cast as Lady Godiva.

[00:09:33] So then a couple days later I got the word that they written the role out but we're going to try to find something for you. So that's like the kiss of death right? Like we're going to try to- we'll call you.

[00:09:45] So I thought I have got to be in this movie, I have got to what do I do? How can I do this? Make Mel Brooks laugh right? So smart. Make sense? Yeah.

[00:09:56] So because it was Robin Hood I got this scroll and my sister helped me and we got like these dowels from Home Depot and like tassels from the fabric store and we wrote on this parchment paper.

[00:10:06] There once was a lady named Chase- no there once was an actress named Chase who had a quite pliable face. Lead supporting orbit she was a sure hit. Mr. Brooks you must find me a place. And he did. Sure he did. It's awesome.

[00:10:23] She went out of her way I'm doing this. Well somehow I was cast then as the role of the prince's main squeeze right? So here we are and we shoot all- most of the day it was two scenes it was really fun

[00:10:38] and so then we're at the premiere right? So Mel is about 20 or 30 feet away from me at least 30 feet and he comes screaming over to me and he goes Chase, Chase, Bubala!

[00:10:48] I got good news and I got bad news and I go okay well what's the good news Mel? What's the bad news Mel? He said you got cut out.

[00:10:57] And I said oh no he said but I left you in just a little bit so you could get paid. And he did because he knows that you only get residuals if you are in the movie final cut.

[00:11:11] And I get residuals just a little bit to this day. That's awesome. Like 17 cents now. But how wonderful is that right? It's been a common theme today just talking about 40 cent residuals and things like that. Yeah. Kind of the way residuals work.

[00:11:27] Well sorry to jump in but we are in the middle of a strike guys. And it is so important because humanity is important and AI is a big thing. And you know it's been so insidious in society.

[00:11:42] I was talking about this with actors at the Paramount strike the other day and John Billingsly said to me you know well I don't go to the automatic checkout. I go to a checker. And I thought gosh you're right because that's taking a person's job.

[00:11:56] And so much anymore there are so many things that are taking people's jobs and how are people supposed to live. And it's the same way with this industry. They've got writers writing, I'm sorry they've got AI writing. Not good but it is happening. Not good but it's happening.

[00:12:15] And I don't believe anything can ever replicate the human heart or mind. But I don't mean to just talk too long here which I know I am but we must stand our ground not just for this industry but for people everywhere in every industry. Humans matter obviously.

[00:12:31] And what's great is it's not just the writers it's not just the actors. It's affecting everybody in the industry. And what was the latest one? The visual effects for Disney and Marvel unionized just like last month I think. So it shows that yes we do need humanity.

[00:12:48] It does take people to create this. These works of art so just no we're totally good with it. Without saying anything more than just this line there's a movement in this country happening that is pro-labor that has needed to happen for a long time. Yes it's so important.

[00:13:04] It's just it's so important because somebody is going to make the money. And why should that all land in big businesses pockets when we can take care of human beings everyday people. Just one thing more real quick on this. So as Trek fans you'll appreciate this.

[00:13:19] We got contacted by the waiters and waitresses union and they're forming a union. It's called One Fair Wage or they're forming a movement. And because we did the bar association episode where the Ferengi went on strike against Quark saying we demand fair wages.

[00:13:37] They came to us through Wally Sean somehow they knew Wally and we're going to help them with the fair wages for restaurant workers. That's cool awesome. Thank you. That is that is interesting. Thank you.

[00:13:51] Well that's the best part of being on shows like this I'll just say that is that it's not just a show. It matters so much to people's lives. It's it's a it's something to strive for especially if you know the way that the society works

[00:14:06] in Star Trek it's something to strive for. It is. That's you know again without saying too much here but the beautiful things that a certain person who created this show the tenets that he laid down for inclusion and fairness

[00:14:22] and you know all of the ways that the world should work are present in these stories and that matters so much. Utopia as it should be. Yes utopia as it should be well said.

[00:14:37] So can you tell us and it doesn't have to be current we can go back to all your stories. What is it like filming or being on set working with others whether it's actors you know directors producers the crew. What's that Hollywood experience like.

[00:14:53] So it's so interesting you know you can see it in two ways you can see it as like we're Starstruck because we're just so enamored of this business I'm never Starstruck with people because people are just people actors are just actors even Mel Brooks well that he is

[00:15:11] the exception to all rules. He's yeah yeah exactly the one Mel Brooks and Dick Van Dyke am I right. Yeah that's right. Right. Yes yes say it again. The same thing with like meeting Spielberg. I just oh even more I think read a Moreno. Oh yeah.

[00:15:28] Am I right. Okay. She's in my hero pool as a Hispanic so. She's in your what. She's in my hero pool as a Hispanic so. Amen right and how wonderful that there are some I wish we could talk fully about

[00:15:39] the industry right now but there's more inclusion in the industry than there used to be on screen and that's so important right. Absolutely. Yeah totally. So but I do get Starstruck by the idea of being in this business.

[00:15:54] I'm still that eight year old child that five year old that's going wow I get to do this like work that I would pay to do I get paid to do. Don't tell them.

[00:16:06] So I have a couple really cool stories right so when I was when I was doing the certain show in the 90s I was often one of the first people on the lot of any given day

[00:16:17] because it would take three and a half hours to do my hair makeup and wardrobe and so usually it was just my makeup artist and hair person and me and security on the

[00:16:28] whole lot and there was just this silent beautiful quiet still feeling of the history of this place that was so beautiful and it's moments like that isn't it in all of our lives where

[00:16:41] you just stop and you just breathe the air where you are maybe it's with a certain person maybe it's with your kids maybe it's just something that you get to do something that's transcendent and those are the moments that really make up life right and I got to

[00:16:57] have those moments at 430 in the morning when I got to work and that's was so wonderful but then you think what is work like well it's kind of like anybody else's job the alarm rings at 3am I press news it rings again I press news right.

[00:17:14] I mean it's work and you know the emotional work of being an actor is something that's really intense I mean it's not who's the best actor quote unquote it's who's the bravest to be naked emotionally you know to let people see their hearts and minds the hardest

[00:17:35] things we've ever been through as people to let those things show being vulnerable being vulnerable and being vulnerable is not an easy thing for anyone until you get the hang of it and then you realize how essential it is in life as well as in our work.

[00:17:51] It's awesome. So I don't know how much we can and cannot talk about a certain... Well we can't talk any current projects so like anything that's current right now safer maybe one thing because technically that's a game but it is part of the franchise

[00:18:06] I don't know where Sagan stands on that. You can talk about anything you want. We just don't this is gonna be on the internet so we don't want to get you in trouble.

[00:18:16] Yeah I can't I won't answer anything that would get me in trouble and you're allowed to talk about whatever you can talk about voice acting so in general yeah yeah yeah let's dive into voice

[00:18:27] and by the way I want to get into I know we ran a little late but I want to make sure we just talk about pop culture hero coalition thank you we'll get to that

[00:18:37] but I just want to get through some of this stuff yeah first cool I also want to like just let everybody know if you have any questions we will be doing a Q&A

[00:18:45] portion so just get those ready and we'll have you guys come up on the mic and ask them thank you I'm just looking out this is lovely to have you guys here thank you so voice acting do you prefer voice acting you prefer on-camera

[00:18:57] acting either acting is there a certain one that's like this is my thing like you just get excited when you when you book a role and you're man this is this style of acting and you enjoy that thank you um in the you know

[00:19:12] voice acting is fun because you don't even have to wash your hair I mean come on right I like get to work in my pajamas this is great any medium is wonderful I think I started doing TV and film because I found it well

[00:19:29] because it is it is how to make a living basically but also because I found it challenging because as a theater actor I wanted to see if I could do this other type of thing and the intimacy of work for a camera you know work that

[00:19:44] this is this close is it's not it's not easy it's you know again there's a quiet an a nakedness to being there emotionally that isn't necessarily always there in the theater especially you know it should be but a lot of times

[00:20:04] when you're in a theater that you know where there's a thousand people or 500 seats or whatever it's it's not like the cameras right five five inches from you so that requires different skills or skills on different levels I guess yeah

[00:20:17] both so how do you choose you know both are really wonderful and valid mm-hmm yeah okay I didn't think about that before like how you know you come from a theater background but like acting in front of a camera is so

[00:20:30] different because it's not the entire audience it's the one audience that is the camera mm-hmm depending on where how that's blocked that's how you need to perform that's interesting like if there were a thousand seats here if we're

[00:20:41] liking a big amphitheater you would probably naturally adopt a different energy than just talking with me this close right yeah you'd be as we all especially me some a showman does your showman is your good one

[00:20:55] thank you barely sitting to see right now yeah yeah yeah yeah me too good good um so I'm trying to like dance around things right now talk about Lita can we talk about I'm 20 or 30 you know I technically can't that's just part of

[00:21:14] the SAG agreement and that's why I'm like trying to because I want to talk about STO but we can't really okay that's also a film character and that like gotcha don't know if we can talk about Star Trek online just so everybody's

[00:21:25] here is aware and you're all here because Chase is here but we all loved Lita and she's amazing so you're amazing thank you can we just get a round of applause for the character thank you that's so nice I love you too very much very much

[00:21:43] I love how warm and sweet you are like we'll ask you the question you're like thank you for asking that I'm like I'm honored to be here that's awesome um let's talk about pop culture hero coalition yes because this is amazing so

[00:22:00] it's a nonprofit that you help found yes but give us a little bit of the background that got the uh nonprofit to be started yes it's a wonderful story it's it's a bit of a story so yeah a couple minutes okay all right full

[00:22:14] disclosure so in 1999 I had a stalking incident that was really awful um it was through a star trek fan who I knew and he he decided he wasn't getting as much out of his fan club membership as he wanted in my fan club so um he listed my

[00:22:33] information on a huge international dating service without my knowledge or consent listed pictures of me in a list of my acting credits and disgusting lies oh wow because he was one of the people that I worked with closely in my

[00:22:45] fan club um we raised a lot of money for caring for babies with aids which was a house where these kids lived and we became their largest private contributor because we would do these auctions and raffles and dinners and

[00:23:00] all these things so I knew a few of the people that helped and at one point we all had lunch together and I said send you know we took photos and I said send me the photos from the lunch and I gave them my

[00:23:12] address and this is a person I knew so I would never have guessed this but he turned on me and listed me on matchmaker.com and also listed an email address where you could email me and he would get it and he would respond to

[00:23:27] each person who emailed me thinking they were emailing me he would correspond with them and it was a very bad horribly dangerous situation to each person we found out to each person who would email me he would respond

[00:23:41] with my home address saying you think you are the right one proof it he was German and he couldn't spell and so um sorry um it was really bad and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

[00:23:53] people saw this and posted and many contacted me and it was an extremely dangerous situation for my son and me and I fell into a very deep deep depression and anger like rage and I drank a lot and I was really not doing

[00:24:10] well and I in some ways I'm surprised I'm still here because I didn't have the tools to handle my rage my depression my anxiety my fear and I felt really lonely in handling all this it was early on it was in 1999 so the internet

[00:24:25] was still young I was one of the very first people doxxed so my rage was off the charts and in drinking to try to get away from my rage I wasn't doing well and a friend of mine said if you want to feel better go help

[00:24:40] people who have it worse than you well at that time by that time I was six months sober I'm 16 now and thank you thank you and thanks you guys are great I um so I went down to this place called homeboy industries and it's the

[00:24:58] largest program for gang intervention in the world and you might have heard of it and I I helped to start to teach a class there with a friend of mine who had a self-help book and what am I going to tell these guys

[00:25:11] I'm this little you know little at that time I was skinny skinny white girl from west LA and they're these big guys covered with tattoos who were raised by wolves basically born into gangs really in desperate circumstances

[00:25:25] in poverty in you know their parents were in prison or overdosing in the living room and here I was and I just said I don't know why the world works the way it does I don't know why some of us

[00:25:36] have these things and plan for college and lives and other people other kids plan their funerals I don't know why some people won the birth lottery I don't know why some people didn't but I know what it's

[00:25:46] like to be afraid to go home I know what it's like to want to take a substance and never wake up I know what it's like to be so rageful that I want to hurt myself and other people and maybe if we work

[00:25:58] together we can make life better and we did and I worked with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids there and to each one I would give my phone number and I'd say if you need anything call me

[00:26:08] and I'd call them right then I said that's my number call me and not once did my number ever get abused wow that's awesome it's amazing people you know at homeboy we would say we're not only

[00:26:19] their last chance we're also their first chance and I started thinking about the disparity in the world how there is such highs and lows and such need and it all is based on where we were born

[00:26:32] and what we do with that sure but a lot of times people people only have the tools they have just like I only had the tools I had I didn't have any emotional tools that I knew how to

[00:26:42] get through this at the time and I started to build these tools and so meanwhile I'm going to Star Trek conventions on the weekends and you know we're celebrating these huge billion-dollar properties with fictional bullets flying and it's all these big space battles and

[00:26:56] and then I'd go back and work with these kids who are in their neighborhoods with real bullets flying and I thought we've got to find a way to make these stories of heroism that we celebrate these people

[00:27:08] Starfleet doing the right thing and you know the heroism of Luke Skywalker and the Avengers and all that we've got to find a way to make these stories inspire people who can help to help people

[00:27:20] who are struggling with their own stories we've got to find a way to make heroism happen in real life so am I going on too much or can I tell you the next part because here's where it gets really good okay

[00:27:31] so then I heard about this little girl named Katie who was bullied for carrying her Star Wars lunchbox to school now Katie loves Star Wars but she had all these boys following her around saying you can't like Star Wars you're a girl well well wait a minute

[00:27:48] right so Katie went home and she cried to her mom Carrie I can't like Star Wars anymore I'm just gonna I'm just gonna bring my pink lunchbox and her mom said Katie you get to be you you get to be whoever you want to be you get to

[00:28:02] love whatever you want to love but Katie was depressed and so Carrie put the word out on her blog saying if anybody out there has been bullied specifically gender bullied could you please say some words to support my daughter and thousands of people responded

[00:28:17] saying Katie you be you I was one of the people who said Katie I'm a woman I love Star Wars I love Star Trek you get to be you well Katie kept her Star Wars lunchbox and she became a role model for other kids oh that's awesome

[00:28:31] for other little girls to love Star Wars or whatever they want to love and Carrie decided Carrie her mother who's great asked decided to write a book so she asked me for to do an interview and I did

[00:28:44] and then she asked me if I had any friends who could do an interview and so I put them in touch with my friend Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca so now little Katie who was bullied in first grade for

[00:28:54] loving Star Wars is friends with the real Chewbacca don't fuck with us right remember he will pull your arms off yeah pretty much yep yeah so um anyway I and unfortunately we we lost Peter since then but um but it was an incredible experience and

[00:29:12] Carrie the mother who was a wonderful writer her Harper Collins bought her book and it won many awards and she asked me to help her get it into Comic Con and that's when it all came together

[00:29:22] and I said wait yes but let's do more let's use these stories to create a program where people stand up for other people where we end bullying and racism and misogyny and other forms of hate where we end LGBTQ bullying and cyberbullying where we

[00:29:38] you know let's be Wonder Woman right yes let's be Captain America right and so that's what we do and the organization is called Pop Culture Hero Coalition and can I tell you one more part please

[00:29:50] so um in 2000 that was in 2013 in 2015 I was doing a talk at a Comic Con for about like maybe half these many people it was a small talk and afterward and it was like one of those

[00:30:03] things where you're like okay well I'm talking for 10 people does anybody really care okay well these 10 people care so okay but afterward this woman came up and she said you should work with Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and I'm like right have them call me

[00:30:15] uh-huh she said no really you have this way into minds and hearts that they don't have stories matter and you're using these stories to reach kids so within two months we were partnered with Yale just on an event but still and see everybody loves

[00:30:30] Star Wars for God's sakes I'm not supposed to say that sorry I'm sorry Sugg all right but but but it's true these stories matter and I'm talking about it in terms of a non-profit right so they said you should write a curriculum Yale told us that we're

[00:30:44] like okay so we wrote a curriculum it took four years and our launch date was March 15th 2020 nice to you think about that time James yeah the exact day to the day that the world shut down

[00:30:57] the day yeah so we're totally new on the scene we have nothing we took out loans we've been working for free for seven years at that point we have like less than nothing and I'm sitting in my little apartment going we have nothing

[00:31:09] we can't do anything now and I thought no wait you don't have nothing like that little girl in a pressure cooker of a household who just wants to get get out and be with people who know how to care for her or like that little kid

[00:31:20] who just wants to come out but he can't for fear of being thrown out or that little kid in the corner of the internet who just wants a real friend and now can't get one for the foreseeable future so we pivoted our program

[00:31:32] that day we started getting our psychologists to create an at-home program and we gave it away for free and we had it translated to Spanish German Italian because of the global pandemic two more things okay so the ymca called that they said we've heard about

[00:31:47] this program can we put it out for free to five states and we were like yes please like against all my business judgment just take it for free people need it and then ymca of the usa called and they said we love

[00:31:59] your program will you be our national program so we are that's awesome thank you thank you so if you and this is the last thing i don't mean to go on too much and i know i did but

[00:32:12] if you walk into any ymca in the country if they have a children's mental health program it's mostly likely ours we're in 1800 locations we've trained 6 000 staff and the estimate is that we're working with over a quarter of a million kids that's awesome

[00:32:27] it's amazing thank you it really is that's awesome my kids go to the ymca like every day really which one it's like in it's in uh west sacramento but it's like the after school program so i'm gonna go check out there

[00:32:39] we might be there i can check i can't sit over at my computer you know but i think there's an important lesson this and i keep saying i don't mean to go on but the one thing i want to say is it all

[00:32:49] started with me pathetic it all started with me with this anger that couldn't even be described like rage and pain and depression and loneliness and there are tools out of that there are ways to recover and it's in our weaknesses it's in those times

[00:33:09] that we are in pain that we can realize our our strength you took yourself in a destructive state and made something positive out of it and it's not only just positive on yourself but for the community at

[00:33:21] whole and that is extremely commendable that is that is yeah thank you i'm grateful i know how much i needed it and i know how much other people need it i'm so glad you were here to talk about it

[00:33:31] with us does anybody have any questions um come on up i don't know if the mic's on hi what's your name i'm lori straily hi lori hi um since you can't talk about a specific show that i'm really interested in i can't or a specific character

[00:33:48] could you tell us in general how you found that character and where that little cute squeal came from is that something i mean that just the first time you did that on camera i was just like oh that's the funniest thing i've ever seen very good

[00:34:05] i think that's acting process right it is about acting process and do you have a fetish for big ears i'm just out of the blue just hypothetically um well i'll just say thank you i will say i've always been a huge fan of mary

[00:34:23] tyler moore and so i'm not going to repeat one of my lines but she would say oh rob and so i i just sort of have been a she's been a role model for me that's what i'd say awesome

[00:34:37] thank you go ahead you got a question coming up hi my name is randy i'm a lifelong resident of oregon and when i saw you starred in the role of sunnyville and it was filmed in oregon oh right and it was so awesome because here's this sweet avigirl

[00:34:52] playing a really badass martial artist almost tight role it was so good to see the diversity in those thank you are there any other films that you filmed in oregon i've never worked in oregon other than

[00:35:03] than that project can i tell you guys about that project it's so cool i don't not about the project per se but about the zeitgeist of this project the the the the background of it because i i

[00:35:14] shouldn't talk about any tv or film do you guys know about sammyville so sammyville is a real town in southern oregon i don't know exactly where it is but i've been there because we shot there sammyville is run by this band named

[00:35:26] sammy and it's way in the backwoods and i've seen this with my own eyes it's a town where convicts live and or like i'm sorry not really convicts but people who are running from the law

[00:35:39] and they all live there and so when my friend chris who became my friend wanted to write a movie about that he went out into sammyville and shots rang out the first time he was there oh wow but he ended up writing a movie about this place and

[00:35:55] it's a very interesting film i'll just say i it's not a studio feature so i think i'm safe by saying it was totally independent no we made it for like a dollar fifty it was cheap i think you can talk about independence it was cheap cheap like they

[00:36:09] spent more on on on water for this con than maybe they did for that yeah um but but uh but isn't that interesting yeah check it out look it up i think it's very off the grid but it's called

[00:36:22] sammyville and it exists do you have copies on your website i think it's at chaseclub.com i think that's where you can get it yeah and it's totally not a studio feature yeah thank you randy thank you good to see you welcome back to origan right origan man

[00:36:42] in a good way yeah did you have a question come on up come on down hey hello fellow human i don't usually attend comic con so i um but i was curious as i arrived late you were talking about stage in theater

[00:36:55] and i thought i'd share i'm a i'm a theater geek many years ago um i found a favorite playwright called pierandello and then the light went on that my uh actor uncle had a cat named pierandello

[00:37:06] i thought it was kind of cool and and seeing someone you said about stage what are some uh playwrights that you really like or plays or radio plays or that you would recommend or think are interesting thank you what a great

[00:37:16] question so pierandello sounds like it's a comedia dell rj kind of pierandello was a um Italian playwright he did these very surreal plays right you are if you think you are and seven characters in search of a

[00:37:27] playwright it's kind of like something you mess with your head like matrix would today so right on the play that starts with them rehearsing a play and yeah seven characters came in say will you finish

[00:37:35] us it's very weird playwright but i would i'm also like tom stopper but i don't know playwrights uh plays or playwrights that you would find interesting i thought i would ask thank you gosh that's such a great question

[00:37:46] um i'm really grateful to have i got my degree in acting and i was able to learn a pretty wide range of of show of i'm sorry what a show is of plays of styles there and so um i was grateful to be able to learn like jack

[00:38:03] abey in tragedy and restoration comedy okay and those things i really do like classic theater a lot okay my first show my first paid job as an actor was helena in midsummer night's dream okay which surprises people because frankly having played uh i'll just say this

[00:38:23] having played a character in a push-up bra they often think that's all you got mm-hmm do you know what i mean and it's like wait a second why why would you think that that just makes you look bad

[00:38:33] do you know what i mean so um but yeah i i really love classic theater and and uh i i don't even know what to say feeling well there's no wrong answer i just thought you'd ask it's all good

[00:38:46] yeah i mean learner and lo the fantastics by schmitt uh and um my brain i love the fantastics that's one of my favorite shows of all time i got to do luisa in that and i love cabaret i got to play sally bull bulls in that and

[00:39:03] guys and dolls and i still love musical theater i have to say thank you you're very welcome thanks for coming thank you appreciate it awesome thank you all right let's get to some rapid questions um i know we're

[00:39:15] kind of at time here and i know there's going to be a lot more maybe more theater nerds want to come talk at your table and nerd out over theater so i love that

[00:39:23] let's make that happen you guys are so cool i just want to say what a great time i've had here and you guys are wonderful hosts i'm gonna have to follow you and thank you yeah absolutely we're gonna have to see if we can get

[00:39:34] you on the show yeah and actually talk yeah yeah thank you it's two hour shows you can just any stories you want to give us i got more babe oh yeah we got more we got a lot more

[00:39:43] thank you we love the more stories you have the better that's the way thank you go ahead so let's uh let's get into these rapid questions i'm gonna ask you some very difficult questions uh-oh it'll be the hardest question you've

[00:39:54] ever asked in your life what is your favorite kind of taco oh my god so okay there's this place there's this place i hope it's not from sammyville or whatever no no you can't go there okay yeah all right so tacos in 1986 has these mushroom tacos

[00:40:10] like a lot of places have mushroom tacos now i'm a vegetarian um since 1986 so um yeah mushroom mushroom taco how do you say that in spanish the that's this guy is spanish this wasn't supposed to take this long was

[00:40:22] it i'm sorry no uh i'm gonna be honest i forgot how to say mushrooms okay look at what's your favorite kind of taco uh al pastor what is it al pastor i'm a meat eaters i mean oh okay uh the and i've said this multiple times on our

[00:40:36] show but the litmus test for hispanics at any restaurant we go to if the al pastor is good okay everything else will be good okay and uh that's kind of like the way that we judge restaurants anywhere we go

[00:40:46] there to judge uh barbecued pork basically is what it is so yeah got it okay all right how about cheese are you a cheese like cheese or no cheese oh man cheese is like the reason for living right there you go there yes 100

[00:41:00] percent agree yes if anybody has a mushroom taco recommendation here in oregon let us know thank you are interested okay um what is some advice you would give somebody trying to get into the industry whether it's you know

[00:41:15] hollywood acting theater acting voice over games whatever maybe you know so this is gonna sound harsh but i mean it in a good way and it's actually what a lot of us will say i've heard a lot of actors say this before

[00:41:28] um don't unless you absolutely have to if there's any other thing that you can imagine yourself doing for life then do it and only if you cannot imagine yourself in any other business should you set out to be in this business

[00:41:46] and that stands for acting writing directing almost anything really because it's so competitive and it's just so hard in many ways and then if you decide that you must do this inside then do it with all your heart and

[00:42:01] don't stop and don't let anyone tell you you can't and don't don't get you know you're gonna get tired but keep going persevere take care of yourself that goes for any industry self-care is so important you guys

[00:42:15] we we need it and it's not something that most of us were raised knowing how important it is just to take your time for you whatever that means if it's being in your man cave and watching your favorite show and just

[00:42:27] having whatever snack you want and just spending your own time great if it's going to the beach if it's getting a massage if it's whatever you can afford to do you know just do something just for you and do it often

[00:42:39] and i think that's so important in this business because it will take out of you you know even when you get jobs the complications of difficulty and jealousy and it's a lot yeah that makes sense can you call my wife and tell her that

[00:42:52] it's okay to be in the man cave yes in fact he should it's self-care ma'am we'll check that out i think i might need the same thing in regards to video games yeah right right but sometimes that is you just gotta let your mind go

[00:43:05] you know all right so what can we talk about what's next for you whether it's acting not acting passion projects uh the coalition maybe don't you know thank you well so i have to say that this coalition is a

[00:43:20] project that takes almost all day every day yes full time job yes i got here to grants pass in order to spend some time in the area because i've heard it's beautiful and and it really is and i worked trying to get away from

[00:43:32] work all day i was like this is my last thing nope this is my last thing from 8 a.m to 6 30 p.m yesterday that was my day off and it's because i'm very hands-on with this work i'm a volunteer ceo i don't

[00:43:44] know if i mentioned that but with no assistant and it's because we're at this real growing pains place so we're about to hire people but we haven't yet because of the way we're scaling so if anybody knows

[00:43:58] a company that might want to be a sponsor that'd be great um but yeah it doesn't leave me much time to do anything else when i have time next i want to do another cd of music from the 60s

[00:44:12] um that's what i love to sing music of the golden era has always been my thing and um i just want to do like this like peace love you know sweetness rock and roll daisies barefoot cd and so that's next i like that thank you i sing

[00:44:29] i so that's what i want to do not the same genre but it sounds like you're living the plur life uh which is like a thing in like the electronic music uh community and plur stands for peace love unity respect

[00:44:40] right on yes and they have that in oregon don't they that's part of why i wanted to be up here because it's like is such a sweetness about this state that's awesome okay learn more over at hopculturehero.org you know so go check that out

[00:44:55] check out chase at her table thank you where else can we find you do you have an instagram or social meds i'll tell you one other thing if i may so we have this campaign which has helped support the work that we do

[00:45:06] it's the be kind campaign and it's at be kind merch dot or g and we've gotten everybody to pose with our be kind shirts like bill shatner george decay jonathan freaks nishelle nickles did it before she passed

[00:45:22] um dear dear lovely woman um doug jones i mean ever you name it um marina lavar everybody has done these be kind campaign shirts rain wilson jeff goldblum a lot of cool people and it's really been a way

[00:45:38] that everyone could pitch in and say i believe in this message here's my 25 bucks that's all they are and it goes to support our work and it's a great thing to wear in the world so be kind merch dot org is a

[00:45:49] great thing to support if you would and you can find me at chase masterson on facebook and twitter and it's chase masterson on uh instagram and when there are new projects wink wink um i'd love to hear your

[00:46:02] thoughts yeah absolutely thank you and make sure you go check out her table you're signing yes uh yes for the rest of the day i'd love to say hello we haven't already thank you maybe there's a bruce cambell story oh yes there are totally bruce

[00:46:15] cambell stories he's your homeboy check it out oh yeah yeah i definitely need to have you on the show because i need to hear right on our co-host on our uh on our interview show is obsessed with bruce cambell as they should be who isn't

[00:46:30] obsessed with ash come on yeah he's a great guy well ladies gentlemen it's got a round of applause for chase masterson love you guys thank you so much for being here you make me very happy i'm so grateful love you look at standing ovation from the start

[00:46:47] well we hope you enjoyed this week's comic conversation this was the production of the distance nerding podcast and time for tacos media for more content follow us on facebook instagram twitter twitch youtube and tiktok all at distance nerding if you enjoy our

[00:47:04] content please leave us a review on apple podcast spotify or wherever you get your podcast thanks and keep nerding together good morning good afternoon and good evening signing out from another amazing episode of comic con radio tuned in for your daily shows of comic con radio go to

[00:47:21] comiccon dash radio dot com reach us on social media instagram comic con radio comic con radio taking the world one listener at a time