How TikTok Changed Retirees' Lives Forever | Retirement House DSH #802

Movies aren't the same, man.

It's a shame to see where it's gone.

One person does something and you make a lot of money at it, everybody just jumps on the band.

Yeah, it's that way in everything.

Why can't we be individuals?

All right, ladies and gentlemen, viral sensation here today.

Retirement house.

How's it going, guys?

Good, good, great.

I'm very excited.

I feel like I could learn a lot from you guys.

You know, I'm 27 years old.

You guys have been through a lot.

It's gonna be exciting.

Man in my life are 27 now.

Really, our producer, and we, and then we have

new people that come in, we have new assistants.

They're all 27-year-old

men.

How does that feel being surrounded by all that young energy?

I like it.

My grandchildren are about that age, though.

So, my grandson's 27,

maybe 26.

Wow.

So, I like that energy.

so you're about to be a great grandparent no

you're not gonna own that my granddaughter just got married she's twenty she'll be thirty next month okay and but she's really busy preparing for doing her her thing

she she's a producer for red bull wow yeah it's a big deal the one that gives you wings yeah well red bull has separate uh companies that just do production.

They do a lot of document documentaries and they do

shows and movies and things.

And they have

those production companies at every one of their plants around the world.

And as a matter of fact, right now, she's on her way to Austria for a meeting of all the producers from Red Bull.

Wow.

That's big, John.

I'm sorry.

Go on.

I was going to say, I think we, as older than our young counterparts, also have a lot of energy.

Okay.

And we shoot on Thursdays at the house, us and the rest of the retirement house.

We're going to do a scene, do a scene.

Okay, I need you over here.

Bing, bing.

Yeah.

We're keeping up with them.

We went to New York City in the cold and walked right alongside them.

One.

Monterey's got to watch that.

It says how many miles we walked.

Yeah, yeah.

4.8 miles.

Dang.

In the cold, in the wind.

That's impressive, guys.

And we kept up with them.

Five miles in the cold.

Yeah, New York City gets cold, man.

Oh, yeah.

I'm from Jersey.

Where are you guys all from?

I'd love to hear where you grew up and stuff.

I'm originally from a small town called Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Birthplace of the American Navy, which is why I love history, American history.

Nice.

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

Okay.

And I've loved it there and still have my old Cleveland friends.

And I've been in California now for

over 55 years.

Dang.

So you like Callie more then?

Oh, I'm a California girl.

California girl.

I was raised in Cleveland, but California girl all the way.

Can't beat that weather, man.

What about you?

Alabama.

Ooh, what was that like?

Well,

I don't want to talk about being the third child to a family of sharecroppers.

Okay, here we go.

You're always gone.

No,

you know, I wouldn't,

when all is said and done, I wouldn't trade it.

Wow.

I went through some hardships, but

you had made me who I am.

Yeah.

And

for that,

it's a keeper.

Nice.

What a great outlook because you could have been resentful and you could have talked bad about it.

Yeah, a lot to be resentful for.

But, you know, my mother

kept a sharp eye on us.

kept us balanced and used the Bible and scripture and son you know you're not supposed to do to them as they do to you.

And she explained it in a way that, you know,

helped us.

Yeah, religion was big back when you guys were growing up, right?

Now I feel like the younger generation's kind of, not as many people go to church, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it's, it's, it's just, it's, it's almost past.

Yes.

And just even family values.

Yeah.

Back in those days, the family living meant something, and which is why I try to go back every couple years to see my other family, not my retirement house, my my real family.

Yeah.

Because I've been out here like probably almost 55 years.

Wow.

It gets like that.

Yeah, I've been out 50 years.

Oh, my God, I'm old.

Came out after graduating,

graduated in high school, graduated from Leland Powers School of Radio, TV, and Theater, two years in the Army, another year at home, and then out to California.

And I wouldn't go back.

I love Back East, but I wouldn't go back in the winter.

Unless we're going to go ship.

Unless you're interviewing Gary Vee, right?

Yeah, Gary Vee and I'll be.

I think it's Jazzy.

Oh, Dr.

Mazzy.

Wait, Jay-Z, you said?

Not Jay-Z.

What was the girl's name?

Wasn't it Jazzy?

Oh, Jay-Eazy.

Jay-Eazy.

Jay Easy.

I can't think of all your name.

Jay Easy.

Not G-Easy.

Jay Easy.

Jay Easy.

She's a 13-year-old phenomenon.

Got it.

She was great.

And Dr.

Mike.

Nice.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I gave you the wrong name.

You remember

the father that brought his daughter?

Yeah,

I thought it was Jazzy, Jazzy, her name.

You're close.

Okay, I was right.

Okay, Jazzy's her name.

She's a reporter.

She goes around the world.

She's

15 years old.

Her father

takes care of her.

Father makes sure she gets the education, doesn't get big-headed about it.

Nice.

And no, she was wonderful.

And it's wonderful working with the young people when they talk about, oh, we're going to go see so-and-so big on social media.

And I'm like,

who is that?

And then we'll say someone from our past.

Oh, the great Barbara Streiser or someone.

who's that?

I bet we could give you a name and you wouldn't know who you are.

I've heard of Barbara Streison.

Okay.

How about

when I put the last one?

Do you know who Clark Gable is?

Clark Gable, no.

Well, give him something easy.

Clark Gable.

Clark Gable was the

man of the century.

Man of the century, whoa.

That's quite a statement.

Yes.

He's a man of a lifetime for us.

God with the wind, movies,

and a TV show.

Garden with the Wind.

Yeah.

And it amazed, and I don't think any of us realized it before we went into Retirement House that our producers didn't know who our heroes were.

Yeah, we kind of assumed that everybody would know who Tom Selick is and people like that.

Haven't heard of that one?

You haven't?

No, Tom Selick?

Yeah.

No.

He's still on the air.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah, Blue Bloods.

Yeah, no, it's amazing.

We'd say something.

Oh, okay.

And last night we went to Cirque de Soleil.

Yeah.

Their celebration of the Beatles.

Okay.

I've heard of the Beatles.

You've heard of the Beatles.

Okay.

But I said to the brand and to our creative theater, that's music.

Yeah.

For real.

The Beatles songs in it.

The new music these days, I can't even listen to it, honestly.

Thank you.

I don't like it.

There's a few words.

The rap.

Yeah, the rap and the hip-hop.

Yeah.

I listened to like 1990s, 2000 stuff.

Yeah.

Stuff I grew up on.

Okay.

Now some of singers or

artists are going to country music.

Yeah, country seems like it's coming up.

Taylor Swift and stuff.

Luke Bryan.

I don't listen to Country.

I actually don't like country music.

Do you?

No, I.

You know what?

No, I have to take that back.

Because when you're born in Alabama,

you have no artists on the radio that look like you.

I mean, they would throw in a Fats Domino

or

a Chuck Berry.

You know, but most of the music was country.

Yeah, Alabama, yeah.

That's where it's born, right?

Yeah.

And so I,

yeah.

Did you like it?

Yeah, you'd start humming it when you, you know, you're in the cotton fields and whatever that work you're doing.

You didn't have no car radios.

You didn't have any cars.

But, you know, you'd be humming it in the wagon or humming it when you're picking up corn or whatever you're doing, feeding the animals.

You'd be humming, you know, country music.

Interesting.

Oh, well, out here in Vegas, you're going to know Elvis Presley.

I have heard of him.

Oh, yeah, that's amazing.

I've heard of him.

I'm sorry.

I couldn't name a song, but I've heard of it.

No, no, he's, yeah.

Viva Las Vegas.

Viva Las Vegas.

But it's like, yeah, that's when I think the best music was in the 50s, in the 60s.

And in the 70s, disco came in okay, 80s, 90s, but they're still, they showed their great songs because they're still being sung sometimes.

Yeah.

And the Beatles are are still being sung.

I still bump some Beatles stuff.

Yep.

Yeah, those are classics.

What about movies?

What era do you think were the best for movies?

From our day?

Yeah.

I love Film Noir, which is like black and white.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

Detective stories in black and white.

Well, I watch a lot of it, but I don't know that that's my favorite.

From the 50s.

I've seen one of those, 12 Angry Men or whatever.

Okay, yeah, that was one.

But that,

in black and white, yes.

It was a black story, Film Noir.

Film Noir is more the suspenseful detectives and stuff.

Today you've got superheroes.

I don't like that.

This was like, this was like fake.

Thank you.

This was like no fake, no graphics, no computer stuff, just real life people and what they go through, the detectives, the bad guys.

Yeah, when it's too unrelatable, I just, I don't like it.

You know what I mean?

Well, speaking of.

Do you know Mike Superman?

Not really.

My cousin invented him.

Oh, then I do.

Yeah, sign me up from Rose.

Well, speaking of relatable,

I think one of the most touching movies for me, and a lot of people laugh at me.

They say it's so simple and so trite, was

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Yeah.

I haven't seen that one.

That was, yeah.

Sidney Poitier.

I don't know her.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, there were a lot of moments in there with Spencer Tracy and Catherine Hepburn.

And Catherine Hepburn

and Sidney Poitier and Bea Richards.

Wait, you do know what it's about.

No, I never heard of this.

She brings home a man to

introduce to her family who is black and she is white.

Okay.

And this guy, the family owns the newspaper in San Francisco, right?

So they're giving you the, letting you know that these are big-time people.

Right.

And they raised their daughter.

That's, see, this is the thing that

really is relatable to me.

I was telling you about how my mother raised me.

Well, the way they raised their daughter.

And when she brought it home to him and said,

you know, as much as, I'm paraphrasing, but you taught me not to hate anyone.

And now you're telling me, boy, when those moments conflicted, oh, there was so much tension in the air.

And Bea Richards as much as called Spencer Tracy an old worn-out, nothing who couldn't feel his emotions anymore.

Because,

man, you'll get me.

I better stop.

I'll get to crying over that one.

Gotta check that out, man.

Yeah, I was still watching.

Watch it.

You may not be able to relate to it.

Like, Gone With the Wind for me,

I was asleep, I think.

About 13 minutes in.

I was sound asleep.

Gone with the wind?

I was.

I was sound asleep.

Oh, wow.

But luckily, I had my thing.

I could rewind.

I didn't go to the movie.

Oh, you didn't go to the movie?

No, I didn't go to the movie.

It was my day.

We went to the movie.

Oh, God.

Yeah, I was just talking with my fiancé about this.

I used to love going to the movies, but now I feel like it's not the same.

Oh, it does.

Yeah.

It's not.

You know, I mean, I hate to bring up a sore subject, but you go in there, you're half scared.

Somebody's going to start shooting.

Yeah.

You know, I don't want to go in there.

Yeah, it's just stupid.

You're not going to see a story.

You're just going to see a bunch of special effects.

Yeah.

And people say you're not going to be able to do it.

You're going to have a seizure with all the lighting.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

So much editing.

Yeah, movies aren't the same, man.

It's a shame to see where it's gone.

I think people are just into the superhero stuff right now, right?

Yeah, it's sort of like one person does something and you make a lot of money at it.

Everybody just jumps on the band.

Yeah.

I mean, that's that way in sports.

It's that way in everything.

And it's, why can't we be individuals?

Yeah, there's no personality anymore in the movies.

You can predict almost any movie these days.

Yeah, the plot lines are from years back that, you know, it had been done, been done better back then,

or they are remaking, remaking, remaking the same movie,

and it's still not as good as the original.

Yeah,

anytime they remake it, yeah, it's never as good.

They've done a lot of that too, huh?

Yeah, a lot of television shows coming

turning to movies, a lot of movies turning to television.

Television shows,

yeah,

when the TV was invented, was that a big moment for you guys?

Hmm,

yeah, um, it was

older than they are, so I went for

first time you admitted that

the first eight, we got a TV when I was eight, and we were the first ones on the block to have a television.

Wow.

So it was very exciting, but they only had two shows.

What were they?

Howdy Judy.

Oh, God.

And

what's his name, Sullivan?

Ed Sullivan.

Sullivan, yeah.

Those were the only two?

Well,

the others, I don't know what they were, but you know, you'd get a test pattern on the TV for most of the day.

And it's just when something like Howdy Duty came out.

Well, yeah, you couldn't play it all day long.

No.

No.

Wow.

Now it's all day.

I think 100 channels.

That's right.

Cable.

I think that's the part of the problem today with all the violence that the news takes it and makes a big deal and spreads the word and then somebody copies the same crime someplace else.

True.

And it's not like the news is at five o'clock in the afternoon and eight o'clock in the morning.

It's all day long on multiple channels and you can't escape it.

Yeah, the news puts you in a really negative mindset, right?

I used to watch it going.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Only news is bad news that they put on.

Yeah, and so much with so many channels now, it's more about quantity than quality.

Right.

Very few really good shows.

The ones that were great, I said we're back in our time too.

I saw, we had three channels, which is ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Oh, we probably did too.

Oh, yeah, you probably had the screen.

Yeah, we had Sullivan.

How did you do the screen round?

My screen was round.

Yeah, we had one in a big cabinet box, the first one.

Then we went nuts.

A color TV.

Oh, mom and dad, great.

And it was still a square, but it was a small one.

Wow.

That was spoiled.

I had a flat screen colored.

Oh, wow.

That was my first one.

Your first one?

A flat screen?

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

We went without a color TV for years.

Yes.

We didn't have any money.

Wow.

So they were way more expensive, the colored ones?

Well, at first, there were no colored ones.

But by the time the colored ones came out, we were just getting married.

And my husband and I had no money.

So we didn't get a color TV.

Wow.

Wow.

I mean, first,

back to your original question.

The first one I saw was through the Western well, Western Auto store.

This was what, the best buy of yesteryear?

Yeah.

And I'm standing outside in Alabama because the black kids couldn't go in the store unless you were going to give the man some money and get something and go out.

Wow.

Couldn't go in.

That's crazy.

And look around and stuff like that.

No way.

So I was watching it through the window of the store

and the Cisco Kid.

Oh, they.

Yeah.

And Poncho.

I'm looking at him like he's.

You're going to remember it.

It was a cowboy movie.

Okay.

It was his weekly kind of thing.

Oh, in a show.

Okay.

Yeah.

Wow.

Oh, boy.

So that was my first introduction to television.

And I would sneak back there on Saturday and try to watch, and the guy would see you.

He'd run you off, you know, go.

You'd just wave.

Damn.

And you scattered.

Like today, I think that was even better than today.

You can almost shoot in the middle of a bunch of guys and they won't move today.

Back then, the guy just waved his arm and we were gone.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Yeah, they had more respect for the law, too.

Yeah.

He's been comes out to go, okay, go, get away.

Yeah, there's not much respect these days.

No.

For the law.

Oh, man.

It must be scary being a police officer these days.

Oh, I wouldn't know.

Some of these people want to club them.

Yeah.

But you can't touch them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Lots changed with you guys growing up.

Before you could get in fights in school, and now you can't.

Oh, now, yeah.

Fights,

who did it.

But it was like,

yeah, more respect for the police.

And

they weren't going, even the police weren't going around shooting people.

And it was a safer neighborhood.

And the important thing to me was how you were brought up.

Right.

and again i say go back to the way we were brought up

family-wise yeah you know you respect people

but nowadays i think the parents just don't care

i don't think that's true well maybe don't care but aren't as

what do you don't think is true strong as us

i don't think the parents just don't care i think the parents are just as um involved and devoted it depends what kind of family you come from okay that's what i mean if how you were brought up

if you the way we were brought up, and

our kids, but so you said, Yeah, they're too involved in other things, like trying to make a living, yeah,

make a living single moms with kids and well, they should never, right.

I know it sounds dumb to say they should never have gotten married, right, or they should never have had a kid

without getting married, and that I think is a big problem to grow up in a one-parent home, right?

It makes a huge difference.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, it happened to me.

My parents got divorced when I was 10.

And I was an only child, but my grandparents, you know, had tens of siblings.

You know, it was common back then.

And I saw the household environment they grew up in.

So

you had a part of that, but

there are so many kids, I think, today that don't.

No.

No, the divorce rate is over 50% now, I believe.

Yeah.

A lot of single parents.

You know,

yeah, if I could, I don't know.

If anybody's listening that needs this,

I was a runaway at 12.

And

the things that happened to me

as a child,

it goes all the way back to that, son, you're not supposed to do to people as they do to you.

Because I got through a lot of stuff.

I processed it.

And I went through my,

some of the little drug phases, alcohol phases, and I kept looking for the brighter side of all of it.

And I'll never forget, I was down in

Oxnard, California, just got back from Vietnam, and

the sun was rising.

And it was there

that I was able to forgive my mother.

for

committing adultery.

Wow.

Because her husband was not my father, and that's why I was a runaway, because when I started to look like my biological father, he started to beat me.

You know, not, he never beat me badly, but he slapped me around unnecessarily.

I put it that way.

And so, but I wound up loving him.

And understanding,

you know, at an early age, I was still a teenager when I understood that, wow, what's a man supposed to do?

He leaves home to go fight for the country.

Country don't love him.

Country

to the country, he's just another black or whatever you want to call him.

And he's in this.

And then he comes back.

He leaves with one kid.

He comes back with three.

And I could identify with that as a teen.

Wow.

I was going, wow, I can understand why he hurts.

That is so traumatic, man.

I'm sorry you went through that.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

But

I don't want the empathy for me.

I want people to see that no matter what you're going through,

if you keep working at it, you can get to the other side of it.

And you don't have to turn out bad.

You can turn out good.

I love that.

He has a wonderful outlook on life.

He's

very up.

And he's very accomplished.

And I give him a lot of credit.

Absolutely.

She loves to do that.

I could see that, man.

No, but but no, but that's the truth.

So do you, though.

I love your outlook, too, and you.

You guys are all really positive.

Again, I think the way we're brought up, I had my dad pushed, well, mom to honesty and integrity, and which I learned.

He didn't slap around so much, but I went to buy some.

I wanted to get mom and dad a little gift.

They liked Jordan almonds, go to the store.

She gave me some money for bread.

Didn't have enough of the almonds.

So what we call the five-finger discount, where you take it in

a jacket.

And I go up to to the counter and I say, oh, football cards.

Okay, then.

As soon as I walk out the door, and that's how the times were in the 50s, he said, oh, did you pay for those almonds?

No, sir.

Go back in, pay for them.

Now you go home and you tell your parents what you did.

And stupid, go home and tell them what I did.

And my father said, yeah, you're grounded for a week.

I said, but I told you.

He goes, yeah, if you didn't tell me, it'd have been a month.

And you just don't do that.

And I was like, that's why I have the honesty and integrity that I have today.

one of the good things they left me yeah I was like yeah so I'm glad I was at the time I might not have liked I kept my football cards yeah at the time I might not have liked being that happening but I mean other kids even my neighbor

we played cowboys and Indians and you made your own little arrows and bow and arrows and they the bicycle was the horse and we shot spokes my best friend and my sister into their spokes headfirst.

My sister comes in with a big lump.

My father said, you do that, break.

Again, you're in for a week.

Kid next door, he's right back out.

Wow.

So I was jealous, but again, I'm glad I brought it the way we were.

Discipline, right?

Discipline.

Yes.

Not spank.

He didn't have to spank me.

All he had to do was say, I'm disappointed.

Yeah.

That was like a gut.

That was worse than a spank.

Yeah, that was like.

How did that kid turn out?

He became an eye doctor, but I've never seen him.

He did okay, but it's like, no, I turned out okay.

But yeah, no, that was tough.

Ever since then, is that like, don't disappoint him.

Yeah.

Am I doing the right thing?

Keep in mind, am I being honest and stuff?

They don't do that anymore.

Now they take away your phone for an hour.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh.

Yeah, take away your computer.

That's the other thing.

Does that include any kids?

Nah, I mean, I don't have kids yet, but just it's a different generation.

Now all these kids are on their phone.

They live on their phone.

Did you then?

Did I live on my phone?

Yeah.

No, I didn't have a phone until high school.

What was the punishment when you would come to?

When I got grounded, I just go to my room and they'll lock me in there.

Did it work?

I don't know.

Did you have your phone in your room?

No, no.

Okay.

I don't know if it worked, honestly, because solitary confinement, I mean, you could go crazy, man.

Yeah, no, that's you know it can make it worse if depending on your mindset.

So I don't know if it works on everyone.

You see people in prison that go to solitary.

Maybe they're coming.

I think you're an introvert.

I could be.

So my dad was bipolar.

So I think I'm an introvert because if I said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing, I would get yelled at.

So as a kid, I was very shy because I didn't want to say the wrong thing.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I was shy as a kid only because I also studied a lot.

You had to stay in front of me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I would

the mouth went before the brain.

I didn't.

I was shy and I honestly barely spoke growing up in school.

Really?

Yeah.

Yes.

Because he would hit you if you never physical.

So that's what I thank him for because he was physically abused.

So he grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania.

His dad beat the shit out of him every day.

But he never laid a hand on me, but he was just so damaged from it that it caused bipolar pulses.

It can damage you.

That's what I was trying to convey before.

It can damage you.

You got to be strong.

You got to be strong.

I'll never forget when I used to have to go to the store for my family because the three, it was four of us at the time, and the other three were girls.

And when they'd go to the store, this guy...

would try to pick them up in his car.

You know, and so my mother started sending me to the store

and

I used to go to the store and they would you know I'd I had to ask for the female things and all of that you know they would razz me in the store about what I was going to do with it and all that

and so and then they'd they'd go the the the the part that really hurt I'd cry every time until this one day they would call me over come here boy and they'd

Oh, rub my head because they were playing distances on the Coke bottles underneath.

And so they'd rub my head and one of them said home, what the hell are we doing this for?

And he said,

well, don't you know it's good luck to rub a nigga's hair?

And so, geez.

So,

and I'm crying by this time, you know, and they're all rubbing my head.

And then,

couldn't but one win, and it was like about 10 of them.

The other nine would kick me almost out.

Get out of here, nigga.

You're having bad luck, nigga.

And I'd go, and on my way home, this one day, this one last day,

I stopped by the side of the road and I sat down.

I was crying.

And all of a sudden, it just lit up like it was daylight.

And I just felt like, oh, you're the better for having gone through that, dude.

I just felt good.

It was, that was just one of the strengthening moments in my life

that made everything work for me.

Powerful.

You just, you know, just couldn't, I just couldn't be, you know, I'm not going that route.

And I'm not going to hate you.

And I'm not going to hate you.

I'm not going to hate you.

I'm going to love you.

Wow.

Love's a strong word.

It is.

Yeah.

Yeah, these days they just...

bully you online.

They don't even do it to your face anymore.

They do it on social media.

You know?

What is it?

Kids got to get out.

Seriously, too much time.

I mean, it's not good supposedly to look at a computer anyways for the brain.

And they spend, you know, get a life.

I don't mean like we did, go out and maybe play outside, but do exercises, do something.

Yeah.

And it's like, okay, they're going to be brainy acts.

They're going to know how to do all the computer stuff, but

what are you going to do for a living?

Yeah.

Live a life.

Live a life, don't you?

A lot of these kids are accomplished.

Oh, yeah, because they do know.

Look at you.

You're 20.

Yeah.

There's a good side to it.

But you're saying all the goods.

They're good products.

I am saying they're good They're good.

Because people say kids today aren't going to do this.

They're not going to do that.

Most of them do do that and do accomplish things.

I think that's one thing that followed each generation, isn't it?

Because they had me in jail at 22.

Said I'd go to jail.

Wow.

So what does that mean?

I'm trying to say the same thing you're saying.

I'm trying to say the same thing you're saying.

But sometimes I complicated the way I say it.

But yeah, that's what I was trying to say.

You said they say kids ain't going to do this.

I did.

No, I did.

Yeah, they are.

They're accomplished.

There's a fine line.

If they want to be successful, they want to make money, too.

They want it fast, though.

So the average attention span is three seconds now.

Yeah, that's why TikTok is so...

Yeah, that's why TikTok's killing it and you guys are blowing up.

First three seconds are great.

But you know,

you're right.

Yeah, a lot of...

You don't hear about them, though.

You hear about the kids who are out shooting yeah the people you're working with and collabing with are my age are doing well but all the people watching it you know what i mean i'm super impressed that people bitty baby can do that and get on social media know about the rigging that that's that's phenomenal yeah and you guys probably thought you would have never gone on social media right right no i i didn't even know what it was

when they said tick tock i said what's that

yeah really i it's like yeah you're gonna do a tick tock show i just cared the fact that oh the the character I'm playing is going to be an ex-porn star.

Oh, that's a comedy.

Okay, I love comedy.

Make people laugh.

That's what I love about our comments.

I was having a bad day.

You made me laugh.

Thank you.

Laughter is medicine, right?

Oh, that is the best medicine.

And I still don't, I'm not on TikTok.

It's like I'm not on TikTok physically.

I'm in a show that's on TikTok.

And I'm still blown away by numbers.

5.6 million followers there.

And your features.

3 million point five on Instagram, MMR, Facebook.

And it's

Getting recognized.

Yeah.

Last night at Sukta Sole, they recognized these two.

Wow.

Well, they really

mentioned her to me, and she said, right?

After she said, she said,

your retirement house, right?

And then she looked at me secondly.

Wow.

And she was really interested in Jerry.

We had the rest of us that come in.

We're on it, too.

It's so funny because you guys were all actors, right?

And now you're getting retired for this.

No, she's just a natural.

Okay.

I learned at the audition, you know, she's not an actor.

But when you see her, it's just her being her, and she's great.

Nice.

Oh, thank you.

No, it's like, darn, she's not an actress, and she's doing better than some actresses, but we won't go in.

Hold on.

Yeah, it's amazing, the numbers and keep getting bigger.

We got recognized twice in New York.

Wow.

At the Empire State Building.

Oh, right.

And

somewhere else.

Because we had worked.

We were in our hotel.

In the hotel.

Kai.

Kai Sanat.

I saw that.

Yeah.

People saw that.

Oh, you were on Kai's show.

Okay.

Yeah, he knows us.

He's the most viral live streamer in the world right now.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

They say he just did, what did he just do?

Nike.

He just signed a contract with Nike.

Yeah, he's signing an eight or nine-figure deal right now.

Yeah, with Nike.

Nike, yeah.

Yeah, that's what you remember.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I just was trying to remember the deal he made.

Every once in a while, we'll go out and get recognized.

It feels nice.

Yeah, it's crazy.

Yeah, kids my age in their 20s are making millions.

I feel like with your generation, that wasn't possible, right?

No.

No.

I sure wish they would make it possible before I go, though.

No,

it's fun to do.

The people are wonderful.

The people coming in.

It's like a family.

So it's not work.

Nice.

It's just fun.

And I've

kind of like I was a virgin, never been to New York.

Wow.

Wanted to go.

And one of my bucket lists was Broadway.

My friend goes, hey, you got to see a show in Broadway.

And we get to see a show.

Sweeney Todd.

That was like, wow.

And now, a Vegas strip.

Yeah, everyone should experience Vegas in New York City, man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they're talking about, you know, other cities.

We're going back to New York City.

Love it.

Good Morning America wants us.

Oh, let's go.

It was like April 5th.

Wow.

We do local shows.

We just did last night's Inside Edition we were on.

Nice.

It was like, wow,

we are really doing well.

Love it, man.

Where were you guys at mentally before Retirement House?

Were you in a good place?

Good place.

Not my acting career.

Had a day job, was happy.

Always had a regular family of loved ones, putting myself out there to work.

But this came along again.

Fun shoot.

Okay, we're only supposed to be two weeks.

Within one week, a million followers and restless history.

And rest is history.

But no, I was in a good place, but this is a better place.

Nice.

So you're still working.

I still, I'm keeping, my friend goes, you don't need the day job.

You get all this money in this.

And I keep it for like, well, if my car needs some some repairs, some extra money to have, and give me something to do.

But yeah, if we start shooting two or three days a week, then goodbye.

It'll be just this, and hopefully book things because they're very good with us if we have to book something.

And I'm, like I say, with the integrity, if I commit to them, I can commit to this week.

Oh, I got an audition for you.

I can't take the audition because I'm going with my family.

Love that.

What about you guys?

My husband had had passed away and I was very involved in community events after that and building new things in our little city that I lived in.

And

I was happy.

But I'm usually happy.

Wow.

So, and then I

heard about this and I was led.

led to it.

Wow.

That's the universe telling you you're on the right path, right?

I believe in that.

Well, for me,

I've never thought about it this way, but maybe I was saying,

you know, I got to do this before I make my transition.

I went on a bucket list of countries.

I started in Saudi Arabia.

I went to Nice, France, and then back to Frankfurt.

And then I went to Seoul.

And then I went to the Philippines.

And then I went to Japan.

Then I went to Vietnam.

then I went to Singapore, and almost got locked down over there during the pandemic.

It just started up.

Couldn't get a flight out.

Oh, man.

Because in Singapore, see, I was going to, my last stop on that bucket list was going to be Peking.

How do you say it?

Peking.

Peking.

Peking.

Yeah, the capital of China, right?

I think so, yeah.

Yeah, that's where I was going.

And so I was going to get my ticket back to America there.

And so I was just going on these little in-country flights flights to these different countries.

And man,

the people from Singapore, in whispered tones, they were talking about the pandemic.

And all of a sudden,

what was it, 10 or 11 days later before I could get a flight.

And on the 12th day, I think they shut Singapore down.

Oh, I wouldn't have been able to get out.

And my hotel was right behind the prison.

Oh, shit.

but anyway that was but i was in a good frame of mind because i was you know getting things done yeah traveling the world that's important right traveling is really enlightening you

yeah that's right and i guess to conclude that is to say i guess i was now that i got this i have something to live for yes

that's important they've done studies on retirement And when you retire from work, your brain health, they're doing mapping.

And they say you age super fast because you no longer have that purpose.

Yeah.

Who's Brian Johnson?

Yeah.

What's his name?

He put the helmet on us.

Oh, yeah.

Our brain.

It's funny.

Are you familiar with it?

Yeah, I love him.

I'm the youngest in the group, but I had the oldest brain.

Really?

At 56,

Galen coming in.

She

was the oldest.

She was first.

She's got the youngest brain.

I wonder what caused yours to be older.

I think it's my fault from stress.

Stress.

Stressing myself.

It's not so much taking it on people.

I take it on myself over stupid things.

Oh, you dropped it and broke it.

You

had anger.

I cut myself, anger at myself.

Then I

sit back.

Why?

What's wrong?

And it's so good.

Stress is a killer, man.

That's aged.

I thought it aged me was the stress, especially upon myself.

I had some stressful moments when I was 21.

I had a gray hair at 21.

Whoa, I wasn't at 20.

Yeah.

So then I was like, I was dealing with my first lawsuit at the time.

So then I was like, wow, I have to take a step back.

This is not normal.

I literally had multiple gray hairs at 21 years old.

Someone was suing you.

Someone was suing me.

I thought the world was ending.

And they stopped when you stepped back.

Stopped when I stepped back, settled the lawsuit, started doing more stuff in nature, just getting outside.

Because I was so focused on making money and my whole narratives on that has changed actually.

But at the time, it was all about money.

So when I thought I was losing it all, I thought the world was ending.

Yeah, but life's more than just money.

Yeah,

definitely.

Too much pressure on yourself.

You were into crypto, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Had some tough losses there.

Cryptocurrency.

So volatile.

You know?

My daughter's a senior vice president in wealth management at a huge firm.

Wow.

And that's something she never let anyone in the family get anyway.

I don't blame her.

Goes up 80% in a day and down 90% the next day.

It's nuts.

It's crazy.

Whole nother world.

Guys, any closing messages for the audience?

It's been a really fun episode.

Live your life one day at a time and enjoy it.

Do what you want to do.

Love it.

I would say to you and to them,

don't act your age.

Don't act your age.

Don't act your age.

I'm just going to leave it like that.

I don't know if I

don't know if.

You can see how much fun we have.

They can do a lot.

Some broad advice.

Or they can sit back and wait a little while and then don't act their age.

It's just a number.

Exactly.

Absolutely.

Well, I guess to paraphrase scripture,

hold on to your dreams.

To paraphrase

or to quote, I think Jesse Jackson, well, is it he paraphrased

the scripture also.

To hold on to that dream,

I had mine and I was cheated out of it because they laughed at me.

My peer group, they laughed at me, made fun of me, and

I cried and

I just didn't hold on to my dream and pursue it with passion.

But it came back around

after Vietnam.

And,

you know, I'm pursuing it at a later age.

Hold on to it, pursue it, don't let nobody deter you.

Just stay on track and keep that dream and focus and go for it.

Love that.

Yeah, no matter what your age.

Yeah, I love love.

And always keep laughing.

Yeah, laughter is important.

Keep the smile on your face and less stress when you won't have all the good things.

Guys, it's been fun.

Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for having us.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

Thanks for watching, guys.

As always, see you tomorrow.