Hi, my name is Mark I. Jacobson and I’m here with my good friend, Ariann Black.
Now, Mark, you’ve had a long career as a writer and I’ve been performing magic all over the world.
I think between the two of us, we have definitely heard it all.
I remember one day we had a conversation about stupid things that people say.
Well, yeah, we did and we realized that there was a whole lot we could talk about because, you know what?
People say a lot of stupid things.
Do a lot of stupid things too.
Let’s talk about some of them.
It’s not the end, it’s not the destination, it’s the ride.
It is the ride.
And most people are just focused on getting from point A to point B.
But if you take a moment to look out the window, you’re going to see some of the most amazing things.
Yeah, exactly.
And you’re not even going to realize that you’re taking it in.
Yeah.
I mean, look, well, I’m going to heart my pride, because, you know, I can.
So anyway, I have a podcast where I write about stories for my life.
And I use that as an example because everybody has stories from their life.
And everybody can sit down and write individual stories for their life.
The podcast is only 10 minutes long.
Right.
But in my podcast, if you really listen to the podcast, the story of my life is based on other stuff that you see in life.
But you know, that’s what you are.
You are, you know, people perceive one thing, but there’s so much more.
And I think all of us are that way.
But we don’t, we don’t look for it.
We don’t listen to it.
We don’t want to see it.
We don’t notice it.
But so much of everything that I write, even if it’s about my life, is about things that when I first saw it,
and it could have been decades ago, never thought it would become anything that I would ever use in anything.
Yeah.
But it ends up coming back and people don’t realize they’re so focused on, I have a friend of mine who,
and I told this to him related to women, but it’s read basically for anybody related to just talking to people.
When he goes out on date and he talks to a girl, he is so into what he’s going to say next.
He doesn’t listen to her.
He doesn’t listen to her at all because he just wants what he’s going to say next.
To be out there.
And he’s not alone.
No, we all do that.
And yeah.
And it’s like, I hear about all these guys because I’m like, put into the internet 24, actually 18,
seven, I sleep a few hours.
Guys are always saying, well, I can’t, you know, I can’t meet women.
Well, the fact is because when the women are talking to you, you’re not listening.
Yeah.
And they know you’re not listening.
Right.
I can’t meet men, but that’s because I don’t even go looking.
And, and, and men are jerks.
I’m here to tell you, as a card carrying member, men are jerks.
Not all of them, but, you know, I realize that that’s part of my issues is that I do find
the guys that are jerks and then wonder why the relationship doesn’t work.
And so, you know, I’m living in Canada now and I’m like, okay, I’m just, you know, I’m
just gonna, not date, just gonna not date, gonna figure out life.
And if somebody comes along great, if somebody doesn’t, there, there will be points where I
pout about it like I went to the movie by myself.
I went into Indiana Jones.
You want to see the Indiana Jones?
You know, it was an homage to all of them.
And so I wish that I had watched all of the Indiana Jones before watching this last one.
It was great.
It was great.
But the thing about it is now, let me ask you something.
Would you have enjoyed it anymore if you were on a date?
Okay.
So, would I have enjoyed the movie more?
You know, would I have enjoyed being able to talk about the movie and talk about what I
liked, what I didn’t like, what really was, you know, inspiring what the visuals or the
music and, you know, to actually be able to have an in-depth conversation about the movie.
That, I would have liked.
Yeah, except most guys would look at it and go, yeah, when it blew up, it was cool.
You know, the last guy dated when I wanted to have a discussion about a movie, nothing.
It was like a brick wall.
I’m like, you know, did you even see the same movie that I saw?
And yet, the guy that my sister’s engaged to when he goes to see a movie, he wants to talk
about it.
She loves that.
Whether, you know, just like we were talking about putting people into these cubby holes,
there are men who are different.
When I used to go out on a date, if I’m sitting across the table with somebody at dinner,
I don’t care if the entire Swedish bikini team walked in the restaurant naked, I didn’t
notice it.
And my dates all knew that and I’ll tell you why, because at one point, I had had a falling
out with one of my editors with an editor of a magazine as well as an employee.
And I had literally walked away from the job.
I thought he was wanting me to do something that was unethical and I wasn’t wanting to do
it.
Right.
He has such a great guy.
But anyway, a couple nights later, I run a date with somebody I’d been out with before
and she’s talking and I’m because it bothered me so much.
I’m still kind of half thinking about this whole conversation I have with the editor.
Yeah.
And she knew that when she was out with me, she had my full attention.
And she looked at me in the lab for, and it’s almost like in TV where you see them talking
and then you hear the thoughts going through his head and she’s still talking or right
versus.
At one point, the next thing I heard was, you’re not here, are you?
And I said, no.
And she said, why?
And I told her and she said, well, I’ll talk about it.
And I did.
But that’s because she knew that when I was out with her, I was totally focused.
Yeah.
Or except for then.
So yeah, I mean, but I’m not the type.
Well, see, you and I have similar backgrounds in the way we look at people because you’re
an entertainer.
So you used to meeting new people and when you did, you were on and you had to be on and had
to be all that.
My background was talking to people.
And for the most part, I had to keep the conversation going because I’m doing an interview.
Right.
That was my job.
So I was trained to do that.
You were trained to do what you did.
Yeah.
And so we’re kind of different.
So we don’t really sit there and think about what we’re going to say next because our focus
is, what do they say?
Yeah.
What we’re going to say is secondary.
Right.
But for most people, you’re right.
People will get other people and they’re thinking, what am I going to say next?
It’s going to sound clever or smart or make her want to like me or make him like me
or.
Right.
Well, when you work as a performer, you know, you’re dealing with people all the time on
stage and people say different things.
And so you really have to be paying attention.
And like, like my job, you have to expect the unexpected.
Right.
You have to expect that they’re going to say something that you totally were not prepared
for.
Yeah.
You know, so you have to listen because if the next, if the next words out of their mouth
is, so what do you think?
And you’re like, yeah, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, so you think I should go out and kill all the people who really made me angry at it?
No, I don’t think that at all, you know.
Right.
No, no, I mean, you know, and we all have days where we’re off and we’re not paying attention
and stuff.
As a performer, you can be having an off day, but you still have to pay attention and
listen to what people say.
And let me just say people say stupid shit all the time, including on stage.
Yeah.
You’re right, Corey.
Well, okay.
So one of the things that I used to do was every once in a while, I would forget a person’s
name.
So when I bring a person up on stage, names are important.
And you know, getting a person’s name right is important.
Let me just put that out there that, you know, being able to address somebody by their
actual name is means that you have paid attention that you’re interested in them, that they,
you know, they are more than just a person, you know, a spectator that you brought up on
stage and a system.
And the audience wants you to remember their name.
And every once in a while, I would just hold me and completely blank on the person’s name.
I did eventually have an assistant that would write the name down.
And if I forgot the person’s name, they would hold up like at the side of the stage.
That’s a good idea.
Yeah.
And, and which was great because at the end of the show, I could then say, you know, thank
you so much for coming.
Let’s have a big round of applause for all my assistants and I resay their names because
I have an assistant holding up a piece of paper.
I say your name.
Right.
But I found that with men, if I forgot somebody’s name, I could call them.
But you know what?
That’s stupid shit on my part.
Well, you know what happens when you call somebody tiger?
It’s a term of an deerman.
And the immediate thought is she likes me.
Yep.
I mean, think about it.
MJ, cross-fighter, man, tiger.
No, that’s why, you know, that’s why I used tiger.
It’s a term of an deerman that everybody can relate to.
Everybody can relate to.
It’s, you know, like wives or girlfriends don’t get upset when you call somebody tiger,
right?
They go, oh, she’s, it’s just somebody on stage being a little flirty.
And so you get away with it.
And the wife may be thinking, she forgot his name.
Probably.
Yes.
So, hey, thanks for listening to stupid things people say.
Now it’s your turn to tell us about the stupid things people say.
And do, except that you switched the parts.
I thought, oh, wait a minute, that was you.
Yes.
I’m, I’m me, you’re you.
Gotta remember that.
Again, stupid shit that people say.
So I’d like to say, thanks for listening to stupid shit people say.
Now it’s your turn to tell us about the stupid things people say to you.
Well, if you have unique and absolutely riveting stories, you get a $10 Amazon gift card
and a thank you.
And really the card is more important than thank you.
But if you have something to say, text us at 702 509 1424.
And don’t forget to keep coming back to our stories, but Mark, I gotta run.
I have stupid shit to do.
Well, then you do your stupid shit.
I’ll do my stupid shit and we’ll talk later.
See ya.