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[0:06] Elliott Mattox: We'll take a glass together.

[0:09] Caleb Dicke: This is Equity One, Broadway's Happy Hour.

[0:13] Elliott Mattox: Pour yourself a drink and join us as we chat about life, theater, and everything in between.

[0:19] Elliott Mattox: I'm Elliott Mattox, and I'm Caleb Dicke.

[0:21] Caleb Dicke: Join us for your Equity One.

[0:31] Elliott Mattox: Hi, Caleb.

[0:33] Caleb Dicke: Hi, Elliott.

[0:34] Elliott Mattox: It's great to see you.

[0:35] Caleb Dicke: Cheers.

[0:36] Elliott Mattox: Cheers.

[0:36] Caleb Dicke: Clink.

[0:37] Elliott Mattox: I'm clinking ice, which will make sense soon.

[0:40] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god.

[0:41] Elliott Mattox: Caleb, how are you?

[0:43] Caleb Dicke: I am great. I am using my space.

[0:46] Caleb Dicke: You know, like when you're on the stage, you're supposed to use it. So I'm using this lovely hammock in the backyard.

[0:51] Elliott Mattox: Oh, gorge.

[0:52] Caleb Dicke: I have panic envy.

[0:54] Elliott Mattox: Oh my god.

[0:55] Caleb Dicke: I know there was a little rocking on the talking. We're good.

[0:57] Elliott Mattox: Oh my god.

[0:58] Caleb Dicke: Well, that's the wild. That's the great outdoors.

[1:00] Elliott Mattox: Exactly.

[1:01] Elliott Mattox: Welcome to Happy Hour.

[1:06] Elliott Mattox: We are Elliott and Caleb, the hosts of Equity One: Broadway's Happy Hour.

[1:10] Caleb Dicke: Here on Broadway Podcast Network Happy Hour, we sit down with some of your favorite podcast hosts for a little drink, chat, and fun.

[1:18] Elliott Mattox: And we are very excited to be back after a long hiatus.

[1:24] Caleb Dicke: You take these off then. You know, well, and this one was our first to take because of social injustices. So you know, strides are being made, and we're very excited to be back.

[1:37] Elliott Mattox: I'm excited to see your face.

[1:39] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[1:40] Elliott Mattox: Um, I want to introduce our special guest this week. Um, the host of the brand new podcast, Do You Hear the People Sing, the Theater Person's Guide to Saving Democracy?

[1:52] Elliott Mattox: What a title. Uh, our good friend Eric Ulloa is here.

[1:57] Eric Ulloa: Hi, everyone.

[1:58] Caleb Dicke: Hi, Eric.

[1:59] Elliott Mattox: Hi, Eric.

[2:00] Eric Ulloa: Hearing that title back, oh my god, that is quite a title.

[2:03] Eric Ulloa: Well, there's a colon in there. You know, it's very, very the search for El Woods, Legally Blonde, the musical, you know what I mean? It's very that.

[2:11] Eric Ulloa: So you know, the note or who is Sylvia. We're going for, you know, all the greats have long titles here.

[2:20] Elliott Mattox: Uh, thanks for joining us. We're excited to talk the podcast later. Um, but we wanna do we're doing something really special this week for our first time ever.

[2:30] Elliott Mattox: Uh, as you know, we like to drink here on Equity One, and uh we have a very exciting new partnership with our friends at Q Cocktails.

[2:44] Elliott Mattox: And to learn more about that, we're gonna bring in the founder, Hanseltan.

[2:50] Hanseltan: Hi!

[2:53] Hanseltan: Sorry, I was just getting a little sauced over here.

[2:55] Hanseltan: Oh, take my hat off. Oh my god, it's so stunning.

[3:01] Hanseltan: Hi everyone, thanks for having me here.

[3:04] Elliott Mattox: Of course, thank you for coming on. Now, why don't you tell our listeners what the hell Q Cock is?

[3:12] Hanseltan: Well, for those who don't know what Q Cock is, I mean, we've all known how hospitality and the performing arts industry has always gone hand in hand. And uh, when we were all furloughed or out of shows, um I decided to bring a bunch of my buddies who are awesome bartenders and awesome mixologists and sort of like create stupid, ridiculous, incredibly delicious cocktails for all our friends to share.

[3:34] Hanseltan: So it's kind of like a friends and family co-op. And what we do is that every week we premiere a completely brand new cocktail that no one's ever seen and no one will ever see again.

[3:46] Hanseltan: And we take orders, we buy the ingredients, we batch it up and create it, and then we send it out to everybody. You can get us a little less one bottle, you can it's like 10 bottles, depends on how you want to go about it. And every week we create a completely brand new cocktail.

[4:01] Hanseltan: And this is totally like for our friends and family. It's like a little cooperative with a little network of our own. Um, and I think we sent some of them your way this week, didn't we?

[4:13] Elliott Mattox: Oh my gosh.

[4:17] Elliott Mattox: It's right here, it's behind my hand. Um, there's a reason Caleb doesn't have one, and you do have to be in New York. Is that correct?

[4:26] Hanseltan: That is correct.

[4:26] Hanseltan: Yeah. Um, but we hope to get you some shortly. Uh, so this is uh one I'm really excited about. It's our twist on the uh the hurricane from New Orleans. Uh it's got hibiscus plantation star rum, crack and spice rum, Aperol.

[4:40] Caleb Dicke: I love Aperol.

[4:41] Hanseltan: Yeah, some lime juice, some grapefruit juice, and a little sprig of rosemary on the inside, and all you gotta do, and it comes in these 16-ounce bottles, which is like four cocktails in there.

[4:49] Elliott Mattox: It's a lot of cocktail.

[4:50] Hanseltan: Yeah, but you know some people. One it's all up to you. You have to decide.

[5:02] Hanseltan: Just pour it over ice and you're ready to go.

[5:04] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god. Okay, so we're gonna shake this. I'm ready.

[5:06] Hanseltan: And what I love about this is that, you know, we're in a time where we're all remote and separate. Like this, we're getting to enjoy the same experience together right here.

[5:18] Hanseltan: So I'm pouring this drink. Look at that color. Look at this.

[5:21] Caleb Dicke: Oh, it smells really good.

[5:24] Hanseltan: I'm just gonna, uh, I'm just gonna there's still so much more in this bottle, and I love you for that.

[5:29] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god, look at this.

[5:32] Hanseltan: That is a lot. We're not playing around. Look at this.

[5:35] Elliott Mattox: Here's the thing about there being no shows, the Equity One rule doesn't really apply nowadays.

[5:40] Caleb Dicke: I know. Well, on Equity One, we always say that as long as your glass is never empty, it's still just one.

[5:47] Hanseltan: That is a rule to live by.

[5:49] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, I'd be happy to fill you up to get very fancy. I'm gonna take the rosemary sprig and just garnish my drink.

[5:56] Hanseltan: Oh look the fuck at this.

[5:59] Caleb Dicke: That is delicious.

[6:01] Hanseltan: Okay, hold on. Cheers.

[6:03] Caleb Dicke: Cheers.

[6:11] Elliott Mattox: Really good.

[6:11] Caleb Dicke: Okay. That is really, really good.

[6:14] Hanseltan: Really, really good.

[6:16] Hanseltan: There's like a good balance between like a little bitterness, a little sweetness.

[6:21] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god, this is delicious.

[6:24] Hanseltan: A lot of fun stuff. And we what we also do is that every other week we partner with fellow actor mixologists, bartenders, to create and present their special recipes for us.

[6:35] Hanseltan: So I'm really, really excited this week. Um, we are featuring Megan Marshall, who has been an ex-actress, who has been an ex-stunt woman, and now is an award-winning bartender mixed all this and she's coming out incredible mascot.

[6:49] Hanseltan: So if you liked what you see, come on and check us out on our Instagram page. That's Q Cocktails on our Instagram, or we can shoot us an email at thirsty at qcocks.com if you want to learn a little bit more. Happy to tell you.

[7:01] Caleb Dicke: Can I also say that I love that when this came that like at my I had like a new email? It was like Q Cock is on its way, and like then I got a text, and then a second later, all of a sudden my doorman called up and said, You have a cocktail delivery?

[7:14] Hanseltan: That is impressive.

[7:17] Elliott Mattox: Look, it's amazing. Look at Hansel's cute face and imagine that showing up with a little cocktail-covered.

[7:19] Hanseltan: Well, we also what we call we all have we have a group of uh what we refer to lovingly as cock couriers who are themselves actors and musicians and other artists who want to do this as a way of spreading fun and enjoyment throughout the city so um we welcome them and we're happy that they're do they get to spread their light and their energy in very, very different ways it's cocktail theater we love it.

[7:19] Elliott Mattox: And what is exciting about this to us is that for anyone who watches the show, listens to the show, you can check Q Cock every week, order the cocktail, and then you can drink it with us just like you're having a happy hour right here with us so we can all feel like we're having a communal experience. It's really, really exciting.

[8:12] Caleb Dicke: And we cannot wait to drink these. Thank you so much, Hansel, for coming on, and we will be hearing from you again soon.

[8:23] Hanseltan: Cheers, see you later guys.

[8:23] Elliott Mattox: Bye.

[8:23] Caleb Dicke: Oh my gosh, isn't that amazing? Try it.

[8:23] Elliott Mattox: I really want that.

[8:23] Caleb Dicke: Way down.

[8:23] Elliott Mattox: And that's why you need a big glass.

[8:23] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, it's true.

[8:23] Elliott Mattox: Yeah, oh my gosh. Okay, we have not done this, Eric. We've been on a bit of a hiatus here as most of um, as a lot of you know, people who make content kind of took a break to amplify other people's voices and you know, uh kind of refocus things a little bit on social media, etc.

[8:56] Elliott Mattox: Um, so we have not sat down and done this for well over a month, and um one momentous thing happened in mine and Caleb's life. And I know that you recently also experienced that joy, and that is Chromatica.

[9:16] Caleb Dicke: Lady Gaga's new album.

[9:21] Elliott Mattox: Yes, came out right after we kind of took a pause, or right before, like it was right on it. We never got to talk about it.

[9:29] Caleb Dicke: And I've listened to it probably three million times um since then.

[9:35] Elliott Mattox: Now, Eric, you just heard it yesterday, right?

[9:38] Eric Ulloa: Yesterday and then a little bit and I finished it today. I had a um, I was this is why I listened to it. Uh I I am notoriously behind in music. Notoriously. Uh my heyday is like, you know, 1999.

[9:52] Eric Ulloa: So um, so I saw all the people posting about Chromatica, and I thought it was like a new horror film or something, or a new like movie. So I had to Google Chromatica, and then Lady Gaga came up and I go, Oh, that's the name of her new album. That's what that damn rain thing I hear everyone talking about.

[10:14] Caleb Dicke: Yep.

[10:14] Eric Ulloa: Uh, but let me tell you, that is as the kids call a bop. Um that album, this album is really, really strong. Like there's not, you know, you always had that one skip track. There is not a skip track in this album.

[10:27] Caleb Dicke: Not one skip track.

[10:29] Eric Ulloa: It is a whole experience. And I can tell you that after listening to it so many times, I've never skipped any of the songs. Even the like interludes are crucial, especially the interludes.

[10:40] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[10:40] Eric Ulloa: I think the interludes are the best part. She like transitioned the whole album. My favorite is Chromatica 2 into 911. It's life-changing. It's iconic.

[10:50] Caleb Dicke: My friend called, my friend said Chromatica 2 into 911 is gay rights.

[10:56] Eric Ulloa: And as most things that are gay rights tend to do, they inspire all the memes.

[11:02] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[11:02] Eric Ulloa: I'm obsessed with them. It's like Caleb and I are sending them to each other all the time. My favorite is um, is Lisa Renna um throwing down a wine glass at uh at Kim Richards.

[11:15] Caleb Dicke: So that's a housewives like crossover reference, but it's just like I that's why I it stays like that when I like love the internet. When I see like a meme that I'm just like, oh I love you for it.

[11:28] Eric Ulloa: There are things that happen in the media. I go, is there somebody ready? Like they have all the ideas, and they're just sitting there and they're like, give me give me a topic, give me a topic. I'm ready.

[11:39] Caleb Dicke: They're just ready, they're ready, they're like just meme makers.

[11:45] Elliott Mattox: Well, in the beginning of the pandemic, there wasn't any like new uh social news. I mean, there was just the same thing, so people were running out of new memes, so all these old memes had come back into the cycle.

[11:57] Caleb Dicke: Did you notice that?

[11:58] Eric Ulloa: Oh, you're right, yes.

[11:59] Caleb Dicke: Like in the very beginning, it was hard to get like nobody knew what to do, so they were like bringing back old content, and like memes.

[12:06] Eric Ulloa: I love it. I love I love memes, but okay. What's your favorite? What's your favorite song on Chromatica right now?

[12:10] Elliott Mattox: Or Eric, first hot take.

[12:16] Eric Ulloa: Wait, I gotta look at it. I I don't know the words yet. I mean, I don'll know the titles yet. Wait, I'll tell you.

[12:22] Eric Ulloa: Um, I'll say 911 is my top favorite. And if you ever played Sega, Street Fighter, I feel like I am the roller skating guy or the girl fighting on Street Fighter Sega when I listen to 911. It's my favorite.

[12:34] Caleb Dicke: I'm gonna go with 911 too, actually. I'm gonna go because truly that transition into 911 is it oh my god. I hate that gyms are still closed right now because that transition, I'm like, I would kill it right now at that gym.

[12:49] Eric Ulloa: Uh-huh.

[12:50] Caleb Dicke: I'm not an outdoor runner, I need to learn to be. If not, I would take it to the streets.

[12:54] Eric Ulloa: But uh, but man, that album is like that transition. I'm like, oh, I would tear into a treadmill on that transition. So good. I uh it's really hard to pick a favorite. Because I I think my favorite favorite is "Fun Tonight." Um I love that. I love like how it's like weirdly kind of ballad-y. It reminds me of Robin a little bit where it's like a like an electric kind of ballad. It's so so good. Um, and I think that I also really love, you know, I'm I love "The Sign from Above," the Elton John duet. That one's really really good too. Um, Eric, have you been watching uh like TV? Are you a TV person?

[13:36] Eric Ulloa: I have been a little bit. I was more in the beginning. I I've I've uh I'm in the middle of this sounds so like this is not a complaint. This is literally just the observation of life. Uh, because my life is performing slash writing, like the good thing survival wise, and the reason why me and my dog can eat is because the writing side has continued. People still need projects in this over. There are still projects on the horizon. There are still things that I'm commissioned to finish. Um, and when I'm in like deep writing mode, uh like I'm in the middle of a film right now, and the pilot, all these two things I'm working on with different people, so my brain, I I uh I can't jump into a series very well.

The last thing I saw was "Dead to Me" season two. Which stupidly, because I just don't know, I don't I'm not good at self-control. I'm really not, as you're gonna see with this uh cube cocktail. Um but I'm really not good at it, and so I will watch the entire thing in one sitting, like I'll eat an entire thing of Oreos in one sitting, like I don't. We'd live, we'd live once. Um so I watched all of it in one sitting, and then I was like, Well, that was six hours. Damn it. Now it's over. It's over. Uh yeah, we there and "Dead to Me" is so they're so mean, and they do it well, but it's like the half-hour episodes combined with how well written it is. It's like, are you kidding me? Those cliffhangers, look I mean, literally, some of the best cliffhangers ever in TV history, where it literally the end of it happens, and you go, What?

And you could I could be on my way to meet my mother or my family, just I will cancel. I will because I can't just watch one episode. No, are you kidding me? No. That's when that's when I wish that it was like real TV, that they were like, While I would hate that I had to wait a week, I would be like, and then it would just be back on Wednesday.

[14:46] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, yeah. Oh, I know. "Dead to Me" is so I'm watching a lot of Bravo, like a lot of Bravo. Um, we um because "Housewives" are back. If there was a there was a um a hiatus for a couple weeks, because as um we're seeing now, the new the new half of the season just started up, but uh they hadn't finished filming the show, so they're doing like their talking heads, like they are like this, like spliced in here and there. Can I tell you that you're gonna be Elliot? You're gonna freak out at this. Are you a "Housewives" fan?

[16:06] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, and my boyfriend is like huge, huge fan. So I um the other days they were doing, they were filming one of them like this, and I can't say who because I don't want to get trouble, but a good friend of mine may or may not work the teleprompter for these, and so I walked into their home and he was doing the teleprompting for this for the series, and it's happening right there, and they're doing it, and they're doing their different takes. And I just walked in and the door was closed, and of course, you know, he was keeping the privacy of it all. But I was like, behind that door, there's two CV screens and a teleprompter, and he is feeding the cues to these women from his apartment. It was so crazy. And I was like, Oh, and I'm not a "Housewife" follower as much, but anybody that followed it, I was like, Oh, they would lose their mind right now to know that like the tea is happening in the room next door. The drama and brewing. It is so good, it is so good.

[16:58] Eric Ulloa: Um, hey Britt, do you want to pop in so we can kiki a little bit about Brit about Leah? Okay, stay out of it when the "Housewives" come up. Leah is amazing. We are unworthy. So Leah is like the Leah is basically the new Bethany. I think she's being groomed to kind of be the new Bethany Frankel. She's like very dry, um, kind of crazy. She's great mob mob queen, mob mob uh mob the mafia. Somebody named Mafia. It's like a clothing brand. But she is just so good at the sober now, though. And Bravo. They love sobriety for those who choose Bravo, not just yes. Um however, she's so funny on the show. Like it, I mean, she drinks and she's instantly like destroying property. Yeah, she's like screaming, like flipping over chairs, like rolling on the ground. It's like naked throwing TE torches into pools. Like, come on, that's excellent TV. Guys, that's too much. Don't you have to realize that's too much? No.

[18:15] Eric Ulloa: You can't feel her. She's a child, and you gotta stop that. Stop feeding a child. Because because she she someone confronted her about it on the show, and she literally responded with what I thought our thing was that we just like get shit faced and like be disruptive. There you go. You know what then? Hey, okay, yeah, yeah. I'm like, she's a self-aware, you know. It's like these are also adults who have adults around them and make adult decisions. So, you know, when they people later on say, Oh, well, you're you're putting I go, No, they sign a contract that that paycheck clears every week, like ours. Well, no, her right now does, but ours did, like ours did. And she goes to all the she's been at every single like uh you know protests in I think she lives in the East Village, so she's always posted on Instagram that she's at like you know, the protests that we would be at, and all these things. So I'm like, okay, it's nice, and especially in the "Housewife" franchise when we're not quite sure politically where they fall. It's nice when we know where they fall.

[19:12] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, yeah. So ally, ally, yeah, exactly. I love you even more. Yeah, it's like it's like we don't know where Ramona stands, but but we know the mama, the the parties in the Hamptons as fundraisers tell us otherwise, okay? Years years ago, true story, years ago, um, when I used to cater and bartend, I worked um polo up in the up in Southampton, the polo matches, and um, and there's these huge giant things and all these people come out. And Ramona came to my bar to ask for a Chardonnay and made like the scene. The scene because the cameras were on. And so I was on the episode, but my face was blurred because uh there they had the whole form, and I was like, I don't wanna. That's even better though, that you know that you were there, but nobody else knows.

[20:01] Eric Ulloa: Nobody else knows, so if you're looking for that blurry face, season three. And we get to see our very own Ben Rimmelauer from that so funny. It's always so fun to see him, and he is not just like popping in like he's sitting there. He has like scenes. He is a friend of the show. Like it is he is a character on the show. Right. Yeah, yeah. Deep salute. Um back to uh, you know, more more important matters, but thank you for letting me uh Kiki. Of course. We're always happy to have you in here. Um Kayla, what are you watching?

[20:39] Caleb Dicke: Um, well, we just finished "The Politician" and we watched it in like we binged it in like two days.

[20:46] Eric Ulloa: Is it good?

[20:48] Caleb Dicke: Do you know it's so good, and then you they just kind of like ruin it at the end.

[20:52] Eric Ulloa: That's how I feel.

[20:53] Caleb Dicke: I haven't seen it either. I I am a uh big Ben Platt fan, but I'm just not moved to watch that show.

[21:01] Eric Ulloa: The preview feels so campy.

[21:04] Caleb Dicke: Yes, it is kind of Ryan Murphy show.

[21:06] Eric Ulloa: Yes, you know, Ryan Murphy.

[21:07] Caleb Dicke: Oh, he always takes it to one side, polarized side.

[21:10] Eric Ulloa: Right. Right.

[21:11] Caleb Dicke: He's sometimes so good and profound and genius. Hashtag feud. And then you get hashtag "Scream Queens." Yes. And sometimes you get like the "American Horror Stories" that go on, and I go, I go, oh, it's day D D. Rahir is like, and this one's in it, and Patty Lapone and Rainbows and Glitter and the Unicorn. And then you go, but there was there's no plot. And it goes on, you know, it it's and sometimes he's just so good sometimes. So I like when he has I like when he has um uh you know a real story a lot of times. That's why I think when he shines the best.

[21:46] Eric Ulloa: Yes, agree. I mean, Caleb, is "The Politician" as campy as "Scream Queens"?

[21:51] Caleb Dicke: No, obviously not. It's in a more um universe that we actually live in. It takes place in New York City the second season.

[21:58] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[21:58] Caleb Dicke: So it's kind of interesting, but it's also like it already feels all these TV shows feel dated already. You know, like do you guys get that feeling when you watch and you're like, wow, look at that crowded restaurant. That's never gonna happen again. I talk back to the screen. I now look at the screen and I go, is that fun? Is it fun being at a bar with your friends? Yeah, or like you'll see someone like in a restaurant like cough, and it's it's like you dodge from your couch. Yeah, I'm like, oh my god for my couch. And then I immediately go in my head to like, especially with these reality shows. I'm like, okay, this was filmed in what November? They had it. I was like, like it can feel like I'm like, she has coronavirus. She does. I'm like, because that was February, and she had it.

[22:42] Eric Ulloa: I need you to start one of those like call out shame pages, like those new Fire Island call out shame pages. Um we can get into that later. But um we but but but we uh you need to make one of those pages for like just people on movies in November and December, and just be like, so she has it. She has it. Yeah, don't tell me she doesn't have it. She has it.

[23:05] Eric Ulloa: Oh my god. Oh, remember you guys, God, hasn't quarantine been forever. Don't you do you remember when Glenn Close did that like monologue about New York on her Instagram? And now we're here. That that was that had to have been three years ago that that happened, but it was two months. Actually, I had this thought. Um I'm I was like, when did I like because we're in Georgia right now, my boyfriend's and I was like, when was the last time I was here? I was having memories of the first time I got here thinking that it was longer ago, but it's just because there's no time frame. So I've been confusing all the memories.

[23:40] Caleb Dicke: Where in Georgia are you?

[23:42] Eric Ulloa: Um Rome, Georgia.

[23:44] Caleb Dicke: I know Rome, Georgia.

[23:45] Eric Ulloa: You do.

[23:46] Caleb Dicke: I drove through it once.

[23:47] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, it's actually a pretty cool town.

[23:49] Caleb Dicke: It is. Yeah.

[23:50] Eric Ulloa: Um it may have been the outskirts though, because there was well other parts and forgive me, I'm I'm honestly just talking, remembering a road trip from years ago. Are there parts of Rome that are like bid-a-ding bing bing bing bing bing bing?

[24:02] Caleb Dicke: Like that.

[24:02] Eric Ulloa: Okay, good. Okay, yes. Yes. I went through a part that years ago, I meant this is pre-phone maps and everything. Uh a man, um, I was lost trying to get to Atlanta, driving from Florida, and a man stopped, and I was coming through there, and a man drew me a map with a stick in a pile of mud to show me where to go, and I had to like put the mud map in my head to Atlanta. And I will never forget the man walking in the guest, you're like, hi, I'm lost, and everyone just turns their head at me, and I was like, Oh shit.

[24:33] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, you're like, you're like, hello, I yes, I am lost. And I'm sexual.

[24:42] Eric Ulloa: Uh I love the mud map. That's so great. Mud map. I feel like you could sell a mud map for a lot of money if it got hardened and it was like a little like palette, and you could like pass it off as like um old history or something.

[24:56] Caleb Dicke: Totally antique market or something. Circa 2003, this mud map helped a young homosexual make it through red territory of Georgia.

[25:04] Eric Ulloa: Love it, yes. If you if you could draw someone a map from memory of any kind of place, like if someone asks you like and you needed they needed a mud map, what places in your brain like that where you could like draw a map in mud and make someone not get lost?

[25:21] Caleb Dicke: Aside from where I live?

[25:22] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[25:24] Caleb Dicke: Provincetown.

[25:26] Eric Ulloa: Oh, my heart.

[25:29] Caleb Dicke: I know. I was supposed to go in June.

[25:32] Eric Ulloa: I know. I'm gonna try to get out. I'm trying to be responsible, but I want to get out there in like late August and just I don't know. I have a hard time at these, and I don't want to get into the I I mentioned the Fire Island thing and now I'm heading to it. Yeah, but let's do it.

[25:45] Eric Ulloa: Let's go there.

[25:46] Caleb Dicke: Let's do it.

[25:46] Eric Ulloa: Let's freaking do it.

[25:48] Eric Ulloa: Um, I have a really hard time with like these places that I love so dearly, and seeing them during this time.

[25:57] Eric Ulloa: Um, I don't, you're, are you in New York, Elliott?

[25:59] Elliott Mattox: Yeah.

[26:00] Eric Ulloa: So you have, you been here since the beginning of all this nightmare?

[26:02] Elliott Mattox: I left for like, uh, two months.

[26:04] Eric Ulloa: Okay, and came back.

[26:05] Elliott Mattox: Totally.

[26:06] Eric Ulloa: So you're, but you're here now, but like, so I have not since it all started, I had this whole mentality of I'm gonna stay here, I'm gonna be with my city, I'm gonna, you know, and I live like, uh, two blocks from like NYU here on, uh, in the 30s, you know, on the east side, and so like it was a lot like hearing the city just dead quiet and just sirens only, and at night, like sleeping in my bed and just you would just see the red flashing lights like on the roof on my ceiling, like just consistently.

[26:31] Eric Ulloa: Um, and just watching the city truly like go into a coma is what I call it because it just, the energy of it was just gone.

[26:40] Eric Ulloa: Um, and so like places I love like P Town and the Pines and Cherry Grove and all that, I'm like a little, um, aside from the responsibility, I'm a little like scared to go out there and see them in a broken state.

[26:53] Eric Ulloa: I want it, I want to like, I want to like take off my shirt and go in the pavilion and like have a night and have fun with my friends.

[26:59] Eric Ulloa: Like I don't want to have to have like a mask and, and like have the Pons pantry throw my groceries outside the door, and you know, it's, it's, it's such a, it's weird.

[27:08] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, I mean that's, that's why I ended up canceling the vacation I had planned, um, to Provincetown way before everything happened.

[27:18] Caleb Dicke: I was just gonna go once Beetlejuice closed and like spend a week and live my life there.

[27:24] Caleb Dicke: But I was like, you know, I don't think I, it was at that point, it was like much safer.

[27:29] Caleb Dicke: It was like early June.

[27:30] Caleb Dicke: So we could have like eaten outside, probably worn masks, places might have started opening up because Massachusetts has been a little faster.

[27:39] Caleb Dicke: Um, but I was like, if I'm gonna go to Provincetown, like I haven't been in years and I haven't really had like my kind of like week there.

[27:46] Caleb Dicke: I'm like, I don't want it to be like half open and like, you know, not like be able to be next to cute boys or anything, you know what I mean?

[27:55] Caleb Dicke: It's just like that's, that's the thing is I don't, I didn't want it to be different, so it's a, it's a tricky thing.

[28:01] Eric Ulloa: It's the, uh, and it's, it's truly like when people ask me about Provincetown, especially, like they go, what's your favorite place on earth?

[28:07] Eric Ulloa: And it's really, oh, it's always the answer is easy, it's Provincetown.

[28:10] Eric Ulloa: There's never, I like this.

[28:11] Eric Ulloa: It's, you, it's, it's a utopian place.

[28:13] Eric Ulloa: It is a, and until you go.

[28:15] Eric Ulloa: In fact, my parents know this because they went once with me when I, when I was up in Boston, they came out to Provincetown and they, they, they talk about it all the time.

[28:22] Eric Ulloa: They're like, they were like families and drag queens and this, and I go, yes, it is utopia, it is utopia, and it's, um, I don't know.

[28:30] Eric Ulloa: Whenever I go there, I like it, I feel literally as I drive over the dunes, I feel the weight of the world go off my shoulders.

[28:36] Eric Ulloa: I feel like that I never turn on the news.

[28:39] Eric Ulloa: So if something bad happens, I'm not gonna know.

[28:42] Eric Ulloa: Um, because I just don't, I don't care when I'm there.

[28:44] Eric Ulloa: I'm just in the happiest place possible.

[28:46] Eric Ulloa: So it's, you know, it's still TBD, but I, I'm, I'm, I'm worried about seeing my favorite place, you know, with a bit of an injury.

[28:56] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, that's so tricky.

[28:59] Caleb Dicke: But honestly, as someone that's been here the whole time, like I just think, you know, and I understand when people want to get away and they want to go to Fire Island and they want to like a little escape.

[29:09] Caleb Dicke: But what in the world were they thinking?

[29:13] Eric Ulloa: Just don't wear a mask.

[29:16] Eric Ulloa: You know what it is, honestly, and I got into this, and now I've had almost two cocktails, so here we go.

[29:22] Eric Ulloa: Um, we're here to talk about, you know, we're here to talk about speaking out.

[29:26] Eric Ulloa: Well, they had like, there's a, I think that there's, uh, you know, someone recently reached out to me, a friend, and said to me, like, uh, was upset with I was posting quite a bit about what had happened on social media because early on in April, May, and no one likes, and I told you so, but I told you so.

[29:44] Eric Ulloa: Um, I said, this is gonna happen out there.

[29:46] Eric Ulloa: I know it's gonna happen out there because I know in any community, any, it's not just the gay community, it is all communities.

[29:53] Eric Ulloa: We are locked away, it gets hot as hell in the city, and then people start posting the whole like Fire Island having so much fun on the beach, and that's the end of it.

[30:03] Eric Ulloa: That's where it all starts right there.

[30:04] Eric Ulloa: We get the FOMO, FOMO brings out the day trippers, day trippers have a cocktail, COVID's too.

[30:10] Eric Ulloa: We're there, we're there, you know.

[30:12] Eric Ulloa: It's that simple, too.

[30:14] Eric Ulloa: And so we have like, you know, and to me, you can go to Fire Island and, and have, you both have been, right?

[30:21] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[30:21] Eric Ulloa: So you know, like, and I'm sure you both seem very like, I know Ellie, I know you Caleb, I'm just meeting you, and I'm loving you already.

[30:27] Eric Ulloa: But, um, Ellie and I have, we, we have history, we do, but you seem like thoughtful people.

[30:34] Eric Ulloa: When you walk onto that island, if you don't feel the gravity of the pines when you walk onto it and the history that you are walking on, it, it, you, it's almost like you, uh, I, I don't know, I don't know.

[30:47] Eric Ulloa: I don't want to insult anybody, but I don't know how you walk onto the pines and not feel the history.

[30:53] Eric Ulloa: Like this was the resting place of many people.

[30:57] Eric Ulloa: This was the place where people salvation for people, salvation, uh, uh, terror in some ways, you know.

[31:04] Eric Ulloa: In the 50s, um, uh, uh, uh, you know, um, a resting place in the 80s, a place where, where loved ones came to breathe and say goodbye.

[31:12] Eric Ulloa: You know, many people stared at the, stared out at the same sunset that you're staring out at, and the next day left this earth, yeah.

[31:19] Eric Ulloa: And standing on the same sand you stand on, and so to me, it's hallowed ground, and you can have your fun out there, and you can have your fun out there, and God knows I have had my fun out there, my frenchies are there, should be a plaque to my fronties.

[31:33] Eric Ulloa: But I was not in a pandemic, I was not in a thing that could kill people by being irresponsible.

[31:40] Eric Ulloa: So, you know, you, there comes great privilege when you're on the pines.

[31:43] Eric Ulloa: Not just the fact that the pines is extremely expensive to stay out there for a long time.

[31:48] Eric Ulloa: It is a privilege to be there monetarily.

[31:50] Eric Ulloa: It is a privilege to be there during a pandemic and, and all these things to be able to go out there and have a good time and enjoy yourself.

[31:57] Eric Ulloa: But with that comes responsibility.

[31:59] Eric Ulloa: And if you go out there and you're not like an asshole, I'm, I'm gonna call you out.

[31:59] Eric Ulloa: I'm gonna call you out and same thing.

[32:04] Eric Ulloa: If I see you in a photo, I'm gonna tag you.

[32:06] Eric Ulloa: I'm gonna tag you.

[32:07] Eric Ulloa: If you're in a photo of a group on a beach partying, I'm gonna tag you.

[32:11] Eric Ulloa: I think there's a difference between leaving the city and going like staying somewhere else for a long time.

[32:16] Eric Ulloa: Like I'm doing, I'm not going out and like vacationing and like meeting a whole bunch of people.

[32:21] Eric Ulloa: Like Fire Island, if you live there, that's your home, but like you're not going there for your home.

[32:26] Eric Ulloa: You're going there to have a good time.

[32:27] Caleb Dicke: And well, and then that's, that's another point too is that there are people that actually live there.

[32:33] Eric Ulloa: Yes.

[32:34] Caleb Dicke: That now you're come, your dumbass is coming in droves, not wearing a mask, spreading COVID in this space.

[32:41] Eric Ulloa: It's an island, like girl, it's not that big.

[32:45] Eric Ulloa: So like it's like I, and, and you're absolutely right, Eric.

[32:50] Eric Ulloa: Is like there is like a, you know, there's like a, there's like a spiritual kind of like almost ghosty, like it's, it's very like haunted in that kind of way.

[33:00] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, and, and I think that again, this is like part of, I think if this is part of gay culture, it's like we've been oppressed, be it by ourselves, our family, society, all those things, then we do get to celebrate.

[33:14] Eric Ulloa: It's part of gay culture.

[33:15] Eric Ulloa: We love to party, we're joyful people, we love our community, all of that.

[33:20] Eric Ulloa: But then there's a time and a place, and what I think that gay people generally are good about is knowing the time and the place, being responsible in that sense, but like this is just really tone-deaf.

[33:35] Caleb Dicke: It, it, it is literally.

[33:37] Eric Ulloa: I was so, when I saw that tweet from Cleve Jones, I was like, oh my god, the man who made the AIDS quilt who had the AIDS quilt is coming back to shame us.

[33:47] Eric Ulloa: I was like, how embarrassing.

[33:49] Eric Ulloa: How embarrassing.

[33:51] Eric Ulloa: And, and you know, and it's not, and look, I don't want to compare AIDS and COVID because they are two different things.

[33:51] Caleb Dicke: Different things.

[33:58] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[33:58] Eric Ulloa: Two different things.

[33:59] Eric Ulloa: And also, as my friend, the, the producer of my show and dear friend Jamie Dumont, um, uh, he, he brought it up to me and he made a really good great point about this.

[34:08] Eric Ulloa: He said, you know, once we in the gay community learned what AIDS was, we, we, we all, everyone's put on condoms, everybody took care of each other, everyone started going by the rules.

[34:21] Eric Ulloa: It was the fact that for years people didn't know what it was, they were fed misinformation.

[34:25] Eric Ulloa: The president, kind of like now, didn't care, you know.

[34:29] Eric Ulloa: But, but again, it, it was only a small portion of society, and most Americans were ignoring their death or saying their death was caused by blah blah blah blah blah crap religious thing here.

[34:40] Eric Ulloa: You know, so it's, uh, it's just, you know, there's just a responsibility, and we have to like look minorities.

[34:48] Eric Ulloa: I'm, I'm Latino, I'm gay.

[34:49] Eric Ulloa: I, I, I, I get this.

[34:52] Eric Ulloa: When you're a minority, if you're gay, you're Latino, you're black, whatever, society is waiting for you to screw up.

[34:58] Eric Ulloa: I'm sorry, it's true.

[34:59] Eric Ulloa: And the moment you screw up, it's not some gays, it's not a gay, it's the gays.

[35:05] Caleb Dicke: Yep.

[35:06] Eric Ulloa: Every news station carried that story about what happened in Fire Island.

[35:10] Eric Ulloa: Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News had footage of the pines.

[35:15] Eric Ulloa: How mortifying.

[35:16] Eric Ulloa: Because it was the gays, not some, not, uh.

[35:21] Eric Ulloa: All.

[35:23] Eric Ulloa: And especially when you know, you know, when you have like Tommy Lauren tweeting about like, well, I hope when pride is canceled that you guys don't have a fit.

[35:34] Caleb Dicke: And we were like, Pride's literally been canceled.

[35:37] Eric Ulloa: You didn't hear anything because we get it, we're fine.

[35:40] Eric Ulloa: But then you, it's, it's one bad group, it's a bad, it's a bad apple.

[35:47] Caleb Dicke: And they just promise one bad apple.

[35:48] Eric Ulloa: I mean, it's true, it's a whole idea.

[35:49] Eric Ulloa: You have a bunch of apples, one bad apple.

[35:51] Eric Ulloa: Guess what?

[35:51] Eric Ulloa: That stuff spreads and it rots the whole group.

[35:53] Eric Ulloa: And, and I get it.

[35:55] Eric Ulloa: Look, I get it.

[35:55] Eric Ulloa: That's why part of also why I don't go out there.

[35:57] Eric Ulloa: You go out there and you have that one drink, that two drink inhibitions call.

[36:01] Eric Ulloa: Uh, I am only human too.

[36:02] Caleb Dicke: I know, yeah.

[36:04] Eric Ulloa: And you know, I don't, I don't, well, it's hard to say I don't blame them because I do blame them, but like shit happens, you know, and, and they, and they make bad moves, you know, and, and, uh, I just think you're in a community, like you said, there are homeowners there.

[36:18] Eric Ulloa: Most of the homeowners are people of a certain age, and people that are more, uh, uh, that are, that we have to worry more about them dying from this, and I am not about to kill the generation that survived AIDS and gave us I can't have a kiki on the beach.

[36:36] Eric Ulloa: I'm just gonna say like peace this year, be okay, and just not be a part of that.

[36:42] Eric Ulloa: And to those who go out there, great, go out there, be safe.

[36:45] Eric Ulloa: So many of my friends are, um, 99% are amazingly safe, but it's that one percent of idiots.

[36:51] Eric Ulloa: It takes one person on an island that skinny to start a massive infestation of COVID.

[36:58] Caleb Dicke: Exactly, and that's the most frustrating part is that like you can go out to the pines and have a wonderful, lovely time and not, and not be irresponsible.

[37:09] Eric Ulloa: You can be in a house with a couple people and go to the beach, be by yourself.

[37:13] Eric Ulloa: Like what, why do we need to congregate and then, and then to like selfie like exactly the picture?

[37:22] Eric Ulloa: Like, oh my god, it's a picture.

[37:23] Eric Ulloa: It's, it's the, the pictures.

[37:25] Eric Ulloa: I go, you have some bonus like to literally post a photo of you at a beat at a, at a house party with people everywhere in the pool.

[37:34] Eric Ulloa: Are you insane?

[37:35] Eric Ulloa: Don't post it.

[37:36] Eric Ulloa: I'm like, do you like your job?

[37:37] Eric Ulloa: Are you that exactly like with that with the things going on in the world?

[37:41] Eric Ulloa: Like, why would you even take the chance?

[37:44] Eric Ulloa: I feel like so many people are, you know, we're being more aware and kind of like, I think there's a big chunk of people that's coming into a new like awareness and sensitivity in social media, in creating and all that kind of thing.

[37:58] Eric Ulloa: And so it was so shocking that like all this happened in this kind of like era of like conscience consciousness that I was like, the fuck is going on here?

[38:07] Eric Ulloa: My favorite were the ones that there was a few people that I saw actively being like, oh, I get it. We can only go Black Lives Matter. Now we go out and we protest and we blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Like, you know, talking about something they don't know. Meanwhile, you know, studies now and tests have proven that there was no spike in coronavirus because, and I say this from someone that went to like 14 of them, everyone had masks. If you didn't have a mask, you were given a mask there. Everyone had masks. They were walking around hand sanitizer, people running in between the crowds in thousands, all that stuff.

[38:41] Eric Ulloa: And I was like, and first of all, for you to compare to say that, and then I see you on Fire Island protesting nothing, only supporting yourself.

[38:50] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[38:51] Eric Ulloa: And out there with a mask off in a group, go fuck yourself.

[38:54] Caleb Dicke: Can I say that on there?

[38:56] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[38:56] Caleb Dicke: Please.

[38:58] Eric Ulloa: Um when I went to a protest in Ohio, um, I actually felt safer at the protest because everyone was keeping their distance. Everyone had masks. I felt more safer at that than at the grocery store because no one like people don't wear masks in in the Midwest as much.

[39:13] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[39:13] Eric Ulloa: So I was just like, I feel safer with these people who are thinking on a larger scale of safety.

[39:18] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, because if you're at a protest supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, then guess what? You're listening to the CDC, and you're gonna wear a mask because you are like aware of what's happening in the world. You're you're listening to what's being told to you, you know.

[39:35] Eric Ulloa: Uh I I saw speaking of memes, I saw a new meme recently that said um it was like just simple as like there are two pandemics currently going on, and it had the coronavirus, you know, people death, and then it had a woman with her mask off screaming, and basically saying the pandemic of stupidity and the pandemic of coronavirus. And it's true, we have a pandemic of stupidity, you know, and and luckily it's the minority of the country, uh, because I think that people forget, you know, listen, the news, they gotta they gotta they gotta make news and they gotta keep sponsors happy and people watching.

[40:06] Caleb Dicke: Money money.

[40:07] Eric Ulloa: So, you know, 80 something percent of Americans wear masks and have proof of masks, but why we focus on the ones that don't and make it 24 hour coverage, I will never understand. I think all you do is perpetuate people's idiocy by doing that, but you know, there is 20% still, and 20% is is enough to get people sick. It's enough to make my home state of Florida a complete shit show right now.

[40:30] Caleb Dicke: Wof.

[40:31] Eric Ulloa: Yeah. I know my state's always woke.

[40:34] Caleb Dicke: Why is it always a wok?

[40:36] Eric Ulloa: True. No, it has the potential to do three things. We once had the potential. My God. And you know, and let's be honest. I want to say it as a Floridian.

[40:47] Eric Ulloa: Orlando North. I'm gonna get hate mail for this. But Orlando North is very woof. That's where you hear the stories about like, you know, like Florida man. Yeah, and like Amber alerts. Like, I think we actually like created the Amber Alert. I think we were like, which is really like, you know, orange is an amber alerts, our our our products. Um but Orlando South, like we are we are diverse, we are trying to do things right. And we do go blue a lot, but man, that Orlando North, woo! It's something different.

[41:17] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, it's uh I mean I love speaking of you um talking about being from Florida and different things that Florida has had influence on in uh in politics and the world as we know it. I want to get into your podcast where you actually kind of talk about being from Florida and kind of learning the power of your vote and how that was part of your um part of your coming of age as like someone who is uh politics aware and an activist. So um, do you want to talk about that and what inspired you to start the podcast?

[41:48] Eric Ulloa: Well, I mean, yeah, my well when it started what inspired me to start the podcast was I was um I uh I I have a I have an issue with a uh what I call um slactivism, and it's it it's uh and it's actually now in like urban dictionary, it's a real thing. I I did not, it's not me, I just heard from somebody else. Um, but it's a real amazing term selectivism where you just do these performative posting things. The good example, the black square. The black squareism. If you just posted a black square and you're like, did it black lives matter? Yeah, you are not an activist, you are a selectivist. Um, activism is when you take, you can do performative actions like a black square, painting black lives matter on the road outside of Trump Tower.

All that stuff is great, awesome stuff, great, awesome visuals. You have to back with action. So social media posts, like for the most part, look, I don't, I'm not perfect about it, I'm human, but for the most part, when I post something about on social media that bothers me, I will always usually follow it up with a phone call. If it's something I can call about, if it is an elected official, I will call it off of uh usually like you know, leave your name, you know, a voicemail, beep, hi, you're a dick. Um just want to let you know that you're, you know, there will be a phone call about what I feel to the elected representative that has taken away rights or whatever they've done wrong.

[43:08] Eric Ulloa: But there's also a uh a sense of um in our industry, we are so full of impassioned people that are so passionate about what we do, and we uh but with that, I I I watch a lot of people that stand uh idle when it comes to politics, and they or they do just performative things, they just post a meme or a thing, or they repost the same article, everyone's reposted, so I have to see like so-and-so and 20 of their friends ship this article. Oh my god, great. Right, you know, like what is that doing? You're just creating you know, you're creating uh noise, it's not, it's not good noise. So uh with my complaints on that, I can complain about that all I want, or I can do something about that and say, Well, listen, maybe it's the matter of the fact that our community doesn't feel empowered and doesn't, or more so doesn't know where to go exactly because there's so much stuff out there, and so my thought is can I create something that will give 15 20 minutes to a topic every week voter registration, fundraising, um, uh, and we'll get to it more later, but episode two of protesting, um, you know, things like that, and then tag onto it a very, you know, big names in our industry, big names that you know and you love and you look up to that also are activists, so you see you can have it both, and without sacrificing your career and all that stuff, people get so scared of that, and I go, No, no, no, no, no. The people that really matter are the ones that are gonna listen to you and stand up with you when you're talking about injustices, you know.

It's just it's not the people that don't matter, like, you know, fuck them. It's not, you know, that's not important. There's this you have one life on this earth, you know. One one voice to get across.

[44:55] Eric Ulloa: So I remember I woke up that morning and the idea hit me like in a dream, and I called Jamie Dumont, who is the uh the creator and the and the host of the Fabulous Invalid. And Jamie's one of my like best friends. I have known Jamie and his husband Rick for ever uh I think well over maybe almost 12 years now. And that Jamie's just one of my favorite humans ever. So I said, like, hey, I have an idea. What do you think of this? And I had that I had the giant title already there. I had the Groder Who is Sylvia, the podcast. Um love that podcast.

[45:30] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[45:31] Eric Ulloa: But I I called him and I said, What do you think of this? And he right away jumped right onto it, right into it and said, Let's do it. Let's do it. I I will we'll figure it out VPN, I will produce you know, as far as Fabulous Embolite LLC, and we'll we'll figure it all out. And so, you know, we talked about it all all early summer, getting it all together, getting it ready, and then dropped right at the at the moment where um just because of schedule wise, every week is too much. And I knew it was gonna be about 10 or so I took 10. I mean, it's I dropped my first episode last week, and here I am like making one this week, and I go, Wait, are we done yet? It's fast, and I have a two-week oh my god, you guys do every week.

[46:17] Caleb Dicke: Uh well, anyone who listens to us knows that we don't have a schedule.

[46:21] Eric Ulloa: So we we drop them when we got them.

[46:25] Caleb Dicke: Um then release them.

[46:27] Eric Ulloa: Like put up my hurricane. Uh yeah, we uh we don't we're not we're not those girls.

[46:34] Caleb Dicke: We're not like planning girls.

[46:36] Eric Ulloa: We're more like it's hard, it's hard, and so hard with this because we have an election coming up and it is on a schedule. Um we have it planned out so that it it literally leads up every other week up until the election.

[46:50] Caleb Dicke: Um that's great.

[46:51] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, so something big happens. I mean you'll still do it, but like you know, like life events happen, you're like, crap, how am I gonna do this this week? But you'll like I will pack that microphone and I'll put it in a I'll put it in a duffel and we'll run. You'll be like protesting and just like, hey, we're coming live from uh yeah, exactly. Seriously. The world is ending, but the podcast is going on.

[47:09] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, um we have so Jamie jumped right on board and then you know, and we started, you know, and and we and we started to uh figure out what it was gonna be. And and and right away, you know, we knew the first one was gonna be just introduction about why activism, and with that I um I made I made a confession that I've never my parents know this my family knows this but I've never said aloud and it's horrifying but it's the truth in the 2000 election when George W. Bush was running against Al Gore I turned 18 and I was registered in Florida but I also was in my freshman year first semester of college and I was more interested in getting cast in a show slash keg parties and I didn't vote. I didn't vote the election in Florida in the state of hanging Chads yeah if you all don't know what happened in the 2000 election in Florida read about it.

Well let's just say some people um didn't vote and by a very small margin George W. Bush became our president because the Supreme Court decided over all of us uh at a very small margin. Uh so you know that as I say on the podcast you live you learn um and then on the next one with Carrie you know I I got I got more involved and I listened to I remember I watched the all the you know the debates and you know the the famous Howard Dean scream isn't that Howard Dean scream seems so like charming now. The fact that his whole campaign ended on a scream I mean I I think back to that all the time when you know George Shovey Bush is a war criminal and kind of a dunce but I look back at him now and I'm like remember how we thought we had the stupidest president ever evil child I'll take stupid over evil.

Any day um and and and so, yeah, so we we you know we we put this together. So the first episode is you know, about my story about like being a really you know shitty person when it comes to politics, being completely uninvolved, thinking that the world revolved only around me and my experiences, and then coming to and realizing that it is different.

[49:23] Eric Ulloa: And I and my talk about my first episode that you know Barack Obama was was the the and I think for a lot of people was the the spark in a certain way that started the flame, um, because I saw a politician that spoke and felt and acted like I did, and I went, oh, this is somebody that uh reminds me of the ideals that I believe in and reminds me of why I care so much. And he used a word that I I'm an optimist by by life. I I am an optimist, I am very much like the sun will come out tomorrow, look for the silver lining. Like that is all me. Um, no matter what's happening. And in his campaign, just said hope. And I remember going, oh, hope. Huh. Four letters that are so simple, hope, but are so profound.

In a time where we were in these unnecessary wars, everyone that a recession happened and everyone was losing their jobs. Um, what I tell theater people, and I say in the first episode, we are always the first ones to go. People always forget that. They say, Oh, I just can't be political. I just I can't. It's just, you know, oh, what's the point? Well, your job's the point. Your job's the point. Because when these things happen, your job's the first thing to go. When people, when the when a recession happens right now, right this very minute with coronavirus and the shitty way that this administration is handling it. Guess what? People are canceling. They're theater subscriptions. They're canceling them everywhere.

That's the first thing that goes because that's that's something they can't afford. Vacation homes, vacations, theaters and Christmas. All these things are what goes first. And we forget that in 2007 so many theaters went out of business. So many theaters said goodbye after that. You know so it's directly first of all also when these people are in power and these people I mean Republicans, they uh they seem to forget the arts and they seem to always like be really cute about like we're gonna slash the arts budget and they'd always threaten it and then they get to the freaking like hour and they end up someone ends up saving it. And I'm so tired of being on the chopping block.

[51:32] Eric Ulloa: I'm so tired of what we do being on the chopping block. So like, you know, you have to get involved. You have to care. It's your livelihood; activism is not just, it's your livelihood. You have to be involved. Yeah, so all these reasons why I'm going on a tangent and litany here is because why you have to be involved, you have to be. So I wanted to create something where people could feel safe, come to and hear tips and then be sent off by someone they know, they love, they trust saying it's okay, you know, and then sometimes going deeper into things, you know. Yeah, I mean, I think it's so important right now especially because I think a lot of people are being awakened into kind of like a new passion for activism or they're realizing that it's something that's not just for the select few; it's for everyone to do.

And I think that a lot of people, you know, when you're learning about something new and you're being, you know, seeing things flying at you on social media, you're like, great, but I'm clueless and I need guidance. I think we look to those people who know already, whether it be, you know, artists that we admire, or simply just go here, call this number, say this. It's that simple. And I think it's really important, especially for theater people, because like you said, there's been this kind of myth that you, you know, you don't want to be too political, you don't want to like let people know where you stand because it might affect your job. And at this point, it's kind of like, uh, I mean, look around a dressing room, everyone's fucking bleeding heart liberal.

It doesn't matter. Like, uh, the money might not be, but it's true. Let's hope that that all gets toppled in its own way. Yeah, it's I think it's so interesting that like activism sounds so bad, but it's really just being active in your government. Why can't we be active 365? It wouldn't seem so bad if we did it every day. And so I think we're overloaded on it now because it's just so much more than we're used to. But hopefully, we'll stay at this height of being active and it won't look um so overwhelming in the future. Does that make sense?

[53:39] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, and let me and let me like tag on to that, Caleb, real quick before Eric gets in. When we say we being overwhelmed, Caleb and I are talking about like ourselves, people of like privilege, you know, that have not had to uh not had to have um been activists simply out of our privilege and uh lack of awareness, a lack of knowing the severity of situations. So that's when we say we, we're talking about people like us.

[54:09] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, yeah. But also, but also like the, I mean, but here's the thing too is that we have like, you know, people forget, like yes, you, you are, you know, both white gay men, right? So here's the thing too. Just two weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided this profound victory, which I was like, fuck that. I'm not celebrating this. This profound victory that we can't be fired at our jobs for being gay. Let's celebrate. Come on. Really? Like in 2020, we're celebrating the fact that we cannot be fired for being gay. For being, for the fact that we go home to a person of the same sex that we love, we can't be fired for that. Like, really? So, like, you know, it applies to all of us. And yes, there is inherent privilege.

There's inherent privilege of me. I am Latino, but I know how I look. I know what I know when I walk into a store, no one follows me. I know when I get pulled over by a cop, that cop does not give me shit. I know my privilege on those things. But we all have our own versions of what we have to face in this world. And the fact that even as, you know, gay men of all walks of life, the fact that two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we had to celebrate the fact that we have the right to work and not get fired for being gay or trans, like that is bullshit. Um, is the world we live in. Um, you said it so beautifully, Caleb. It's really true. Like, activist is that's the root. I mean, the root word is active.

Just stay active in the world around you. Just don't like, don't don't like. I remember I won't say their name because that's a really shitty thing to do, but I, uh, I went on a, I was on a few dates with this guy who, um, it was very much like I can hear the bells, like very like I was like, this is the wrong and then they revealed to me that, um, not only the way their family leaned, which is fine, I can deal with that. We all have dark families, but then the fact that they said like I don't, um, I don't uh yeah, politics, uh it doesn't really affect me, and like they're all the same. And literally, like I heard like the funeral march it went from I can hear the bells to like standing. You know, in our industry was just so lackadaisical about the world around them, and I was like, what is that kind of privilege like?

Like, what is that? You know, like I have a lot of friends that are, you know, I'm a single gay man, and I have a lot of friends that are married and have um have had the fortune of getting married because of the very rights some of them, and I don't listen, not everyone's a fighter, not everyone's a fighter, not everyone's a marcher in the streets, but a lot of them have the right because of the fact that people like me like that hit the streets in New York, and we marched and we made a lot of freaking noise. And I sat there with my friend Rory and Gavin and Jenny and all of them, and I sat there and wrote letters and we and we and we and we all and there was and it became a larger thing here, and we made movements um on marriage equality, you know, but you know, they, they, it we all have a part to play in this, and when you step outside of it and think it doesn't affect you, it just kind of shows honestly who you are.

[57:37] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that people should, I loved listening to your podcast, and I'm a big fan of um Javier Munoz and the things he does for the community. Really inspiring and talented and um such a sweetheart. Like I like giggle listening to him, you know, just like I'm a little crush you know oh also are you kidding? Totally. But he was like, I, I we were neighbors during On Your Feet and um and uh in Hamilton so I got to know him pretty well. Shut up, you're wearing it! Look, I knew, I saw of dye what's that fist mama? Um so no he, he yeah he's just amazing and and he was I the moment I knew I was gonna do the show he was he was the obvious first guest. Um we have so Tuesday morning our new uh we're gonna start dropping on Tuesdays because that's the date of elections.

Um perfect, exactly. So Tuesday morning I have a real, we have a really really cool uh episode that I'm really excited about. Uh we are, I won't, I won't say the guests because I want to keep that a secret because they're really, they're it's an amazing panel but um we talk about protesting uh your rights and everything and take you through I take you through a kind of like a how-to guide on that and then we tear into the Dear White American Theater letter and we have a panel of people who signed that letter and talking about how we as an industry can fight systemic racism in our in our in our industry and so I'm real it's a conversation like from the get-go when we were doing this I was like we are having this talk absolutely and if you if you you should absolutely listen to all these episodes but definitely listen to the one that's gonna come out on Tuesday and before you listen to it check out um uh I don't know their Instagram handle but I think it's we see you w at or something like that.

It's the it's the um we Dear White American Theater and they've released their um list of demands and it is a really interesting uh and I think necessary read for everyone to know what our industry needs to do in order to regain the trust of black people and people of color.

[59:38] Caleb Dicke: Yes. Um, we kind of went out of order, but we always ask our guests just at the beginning of each thing. We're gonna ask you at the end of the interview. Uh, but what first got um young Eric interested in the arts?

[59:48] Eric Ulloa: Oh, I'm gonna walk with you because I'm grabbing my charger because my phone is so I think it's told me I had six percent. It's only charged for you guys. Oh my god. Uh podcast. I've already moved, you're moving. It's fine. Yeah, we love we love a scene change.

[1:00:01] Caleb Dicke: I know I saw I saw your Blair Witch walk earlier, Caleb.

[1:00:06] Eric Ulloa: Oh yeah, it's we're we're cutting the there's a tree, a dead tree in the back that's getting cut, and I didn't know when it was happening.

[1:00:12] Caleb Dicke: The Blair Bitch Project.

[1:00:14] Eric Ulloa: The Blair Bitch Project.

[1:00:15] Caleb Dicke: Oh, there we go.

[1:00:17] Eric Ulloa: I've seen that one.

[1:00:19] Caleb Dicke: I think we all have.

[1:00:20] Eric Ulloa: I think we all have.

[1:00:22] Caleb Dicke: It was filmed in Fire Island.

[1:00:23] Eric Ulloa: Exactly.

[1:00:24] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, yeah.

[1:00:26] Eric Ulloa: Okay, two seconds. No, it's great. This cocktail, you guys. I this is this is empty. I I'm gonna go ahead and drink all of this. She's poured out. This is a segue, but um, well, it's not a segue, it's just a completely different topic. I made macarons today and they're s'mores flavored. It's very um, it's very cute. It's like the stuffed.

[1:00:49] Caleb Dicke: You made those?

[1:00:49] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[1:00:49] Caleb Dicke: Ellie, I'm coming by your place.

[1:00:51] Eric Ulloa: Please. So I so I made these, and thanks to Spencer Lawson who helped me get the feet, and uh they're delicious, so I'm gonna have this a little bit longer. Are they really hard to make? Because I made I made um I made uh Pavlov years ago, and I found it to be the hardest thing ever because I burned 17 batches of it before I got it right. Are they hard?

[1:01:09] Eric Ulloa: They are really, really hard. It's you can't overmix them. That's the problem I've had before. I've only made them once before. And so for my second batch, I'm very happy with how these came out. Um, but you can't over whip them or else they'll like collapse.

[1:01:24] Caleb Dicke: Okay.

[1:01:25] Eric Ulloa: But these are very sturdy and they have the feet, like the little like um at the bottom and the ones I did before didn't have those so it's slow victories um yeah I'm very happy with them um amazing this looks so good and I want to eat all of them right now um wait what was the question you asked me before I had to do a scene change?

[1:01:25] Caleb Dicke: What first got you interested in the arts as a young person?

[1:01:25] Eric Ulloa: Okay so um little Eric wanted to be an animator slash president according to his fifth grade um I looked at my little thing like when I grew up a little book when I was a kid that had like my school picture every year and then I would write something and a fifth grade I wanted to be an animator slash president. I'd love to see it. Exactly you know um so I wanted to be an I I grew up drawing uh I was I was I was a uh like I drew I painted also that was that was my my wheelhouse and I wanted to work for the Walt Disney company and be an animator and then I when I was around 13 14 I took a course in animation and classes in it and I soon realized that I would rather do anything on earth than be an animator because back in the day like you know if you were you don't start off like you're not creating Ursula.

What you're doing is getting Ursula and you're drawing this one and then you're flipping the page and she moves but a quarter inch and I was like no no no no and that thing you start off you're there for years like that. And I know myself like that's not that's not gonna work out. So I let go of dreams of Ursula and and animation. And um, and then I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I was uh and and I and I say the true story because the true story is important. I was I was skipping class from my yeah I know. I was skipping class, and I uh was fifteen or sixteen, and I didn't want to get caught, so I snuck in the back of the theater because I was like, no one's gonna find me back here. And I like sat in the back chair, and they were going through their dress rehearsal of Little Abner.

Yes, Little Abner Simulation T corncone. Um so we so I I saw their final dress, the second act of it, and I was so uh kind of blown away by people on stage playing characters and doing that. And this is the thing too, though, people want to understand, like about cultural representation. Cuban Eric from Miami and Fort Lauderdale at that time did not know theater because theater was not something that was pushed out towards Latinos in a certain way or towards our community in a certain way. We didn't there the stories were not being told back, you know, in the 90s of that. So there was not I did not have a place to find any of that. So I didn't I had never heard of theater, I didn't know what the hell a musical was.

[1:04:24] Eric Ulloa: All I know is that I was watching people sing about an old Confederate general in a cartoon town in this song, and I go, what is this? And so I came back that night on my own accord and bought a ticket, and I watched the whole show, and I knew one of the kids in the show was this guy Chris from my chemistry class. Um, and so the next day in chemistry, I talked to him about the show. I said, I saw you in, you know, in Little Abner, and he got me like, we started talking about theater and listening to things. And we used to write alternate lyrics to Titanic and Musical in chemistry class. That is we were both heterosexual then and we had girlfriends. Yes, Chris. And then the next year, I uh that's that summer.

I uh I auditioned for a community theater production of Gypsy at this really famous community theater in Fort Lauderdale. And just my parents had no idea what the hell was going on, and they just dropped me off there, and then I got it. And like little Eric was a farm boy, you know, and I was you know, just doing Radway, Rodway, you know. Um and they came and they saw it, and I'll give my parents credit. They uh they from the beginning, my mom told me that early on, she used to get really nervous when she watched me thinking I would just really screw up on stage. That one first couple of shows happened and she realized that I knew what I was doing and she could feel safe, she was able to sit back and just enjoy her son playing a character, and now it's a very different thing, um, obviously.

But uh yeah, I just it was it don't skip class, don't skip school kids. But if you're gonna skip class, please have in the theater. Someone would gasp if I said I were in class. I mean, that is how much I skipped class in school, especially honestly, I skipped the most class in middle school.

[1:06:04] Caleb Dicke: Oh, really?

[1:06:19] Eric Ulloa: How because how can I middle school? Like, I'll tell you because the gifted and talented program had we had our own room, Mrs. Caswell, our drama who was the head of all of it, drama, music, everything. She would she had her own office, and I would always have a project in there. So I would just get a note from Mrs. Caswell that I was gonna be in her room for the day and I would spend the entire day in there sometimes like crafting and like working on stuff and just talking and I don't know. She was very formative in my life. But even even in even in high school I would like leave biology class to go to um to go to like work on the set for our, you know, drama class presentation or whatever.

100% my senior year I still I'm 38 years old 38 and a half years old and I still have deep nightmares where I will jump out of bed and I'm like I'm feeling algebra too. Yes because I had Algebra 2 I we were doing guys and dolls it was my senior year and I would skip class to go help build the set and the and the like you know paint runyan land um and so I uh you know the teacher would be like uh you know don't you have class I was like no it's study period and just like make up some bullshit you know and just show up and paint the set and so uh a week before uh the end of the semester you know it's end of the semester then the spring musical happens and then you're you're gone uh I got a uh she pulled me a side after class and went um hey just so you know um you have a 46% of this class and I was like she goes you're you're not only failing you're failing failing I was like and I was like oh my god so I um bought her and her girlfriend um I progressive family.

I know community when I see it. Family. I wasn't out yet, but I knew she was. I got them a pair of tickets to go see me as Nathan Detroit and Guys and Dolls. And last week at school, she uh gave a little like cards out with um like a pencil, like you can do it. Dreams are for you. Like just a Chinese trading company.

[1:08:53] Caleb Dicke: Those like I think it was Oriental Trading Company.

[1:08:56] Eric Ulloa: Oriental trading. Yes, exactly. Yeah, we're gonna call it trading company. Yes, yeah. O Trading. Oh trading. I want to bite. Oh my boyfriend is eating the macaron right now, and I haven't had a bite of it. Well, I can't. He deserves it. Oh my goodness. Oh trading. I would flip through that. So she opens wait, so the card opens up and I open the card and the card from her said, um, I really we really enjoyed the show Saturday night. We know we know where your talents really lie. I would never hold you back. You'll graduate with a D. Uh we'll take the D. I'll I'll take the D. I'll take the D and well. Yeah. I was waiting for that. I love that. But also don't fail. Don't fail class. Won't do that.

But like trying to go enough. I remember I remember it was senior year. I was so over it and just like ready to go like being college for musical theater and just like just like focus on Broadway. But like I I remember being like I would wake up and my mother would be like I would be like not even lying anymore. Not not I have a fever, I I am sick. I would be like, I have an algebra two test today and I can't take it. I said I'm not prepared. Algebra 2 is first. And she'd be like fine, go in late. But you had to take it at some point. Like that's the thing. Like I took it. Caleb, are you a good student?

[1:10:45] Caleb Dicke: I was.

[1:10:45] Eric Ulloa: Like you got to talk about algebra two, your senior year. I think I did that like my sophomore year. I was in like trick and pre-calcul. Don't you brag? Don't you brag. I was in like advanced calculus, my senior year.

[1:10:58] Eric Ulloa: Exactly. I was doing like use it so much in my daily life. Like well, you listen on Pythagorean theorem. I was on the guys. Don't know what it is. Isn't that isn't that like Y equals X plus A B A B squared or something? Yeah, like exactly. When is when has it ever like come? But I've never been like, yo, you know, I have to balance my checkbook. I'll use the Pythagorean theorem. Please. I wish I knew about like investing.

[1:11:31] Eric Ulloa: Well, same. Um Elliot, can we talk about the fact of when you went to college and went to go live your college dreams and your Broadway dreams, and that's when we met?

[1:11:38] Caleb Dicke: That is when we met.

[1:11:39] Eric Ulloa: We met at the Lyric Theater of Oklahoma. Oh my god. We did we did um bye bye birdie, and I got to like punch Eric in the face.

[1:11:43] Caleb Dicke: We did.

[1:11:49] Eric Ulloa: We're talking to Conrad Hugo Peabody right here. Hugo. Who in the reviews I was I was hailed as miscast.

[1:11:58] Caleb Dicke: Well, that's that's just cool shit.

[1:12:01] Eric Ulloa: Um, you know, those cruel Oklahoma City newspapers. Yeah, the the epicenter of theat theatrical criticism, Oklahoma City. I always wasn't it like the Tulsa Sun, though it was like not even like Oklahoma or the Edmonds. It was multiple. It was a couple that said it. That all you that all used miscast as the adjective. So that alliteration. Listen, there was look, it's a gift. Also, I'll take it because if you thought it was miscast, then bitch, I got the job for a reason, honey. Honey, have you called them back and showed him your resume now? Mama.

[1:12:39] Caleb Dicke: Oh, hey, have you seen my multiple Broadway credits?

[1:12:44] Eric Ulloa: But it's not that long. No, but what what I do remember from that night, we're going a little long, but I'm having so much fun. If as long as we're okay, we'll go as long as we can. Um the um uh we I remember the night where I think Meredith, who was playing Kim called me Conrad. Yes, in like the scene where I'm supposed to punch you, and I remember being like, I'm Hugo! Like I was so she was like Conrad Birdie, I'll never speak to you again, and I was like, I was like, what? Like it was so funny, but I remember that was so fun, and what a great set.

[1:13:28] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god, well, because of that, Adam Coke.

[1:13:32] Eric Ulloa: Adam Coke. Uh, right when he was. So I was told when we were doing passing through last summer. Uh another e-school you wrote, yes, thank you. Um at Goodspeed last summer. When uh Igor Golden was directing it, we talked about designers. And you know, he Igor is always like just incredibly collaborative about everything, that's why I always go to him. And because he just know he he so I I brought people to the table and said, take a meeting, you know, whatever. And he and Adam Coke took a meeting and they hit it off right away. And Adam Coke made this freaking like amazing, gorgeous set. But Adam, yeah, Adam made this amazing set. Like, remember that Penn Station? Oh, it was what dreams look like.

The telephone hour. The telephone hour was it was well, like I think I have a photo. It was like 10 dog houses. I wonder if I have a photo of this and I can actually get it on this thing. Hold on. It was so good. Um, while you look for the photo, we're gonna move to our first segment. We're gonna do like rapid fire segments, Caleb, if that's cool.

[1:14:32] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, so we're gonna move to our first segment, which is Caleb's segment, blonde girl moment.

[1:14:42] Eric Ulloa: Oh age.

[1:14:46] Caleb Dicke: Maybe I better go. So blonde girls from Ohio is an opinion piece on mine. Usually I like to do the other opinions, so it gets everyone in a little tizzy. So controversial. Controversial. Um so we're going to a lot of um summer's a little bit different. We have um cookouts, but they're social distancing, or we're kind of having a different kind of cookout this year. Um, but we're gonna talk about side dishes. Um the best side dish is a cold jello, because all of the other foods are hot. Um, you have your hot dog, you have like all those hot sides, and they're not refreshing during a grill. So controversially, I'm gonna say the best side dish is a jello.

[1:15:39] Eric Ulloa: Jell-I was gonna say baked beans, but you get baked baked beans 365.

[1:15:44] Caleb Dicke: How do you sixty-five? Have you ever been to a barbecue?

[1:15:48] Eric Ulloa: I've been to a lot of barbecues. Caleb, there are there are so many cold sides at barbecue. Potato salad.

[1:15:55] Caleb Dicke: Potato salad salad is also can be hot sometimes, and you can really fail.

[1:15:59] Eric Ulloa: What in hell? No, potato salad, macaroni salad. One of my favorite, one of my favorite side dishes, indoors or outdoors. I love macaroni salad. Ambrosia salad? But those those are 365. Like, you don't get jello 365. Name when was the last time you had jello.

[1:16:19] Caleb Dicke: For a reason, Caleb, not necessarily when I think I had coronavirus.

[1:16:24] Eric Ulloa: Sure. Because it was always the cake. But like imagine red, white, and blue jello with some whipped cream and maybe some blueberries on it. First of all, not jello with whipped cream, not this.

[1:16:35] Caleb Dicke: Oh see, actually, I would be down that.

[1:16:40] Eric Ulloa: So in a nutshell, you can't argue with me. Baked beans are the second side. The first side is jello. That's my topic for today.

[1:16:49] Caleb Dicke: Well, we'll discuss this more on Instagram. I will post and you can troll me as much as you want.

[1:16:55] Eric Ulloa: Please troll Caleb, because that is ridiculous to say that jello is the number one side dish at a barbecue.

[1:17:01] Caleb Dicke: Well, deal with me or a fact.

[1:17:04] Eric Ulloa: What about coleslaw?

[1:17:06] Caleb Dicke: It's Caleb's opinion.

[1:17:07] Eric Ulloa: It is my opinion.

[1:17:09] Caleb Dicke: It's my segment.

[1:17:10] Eric Ulloa: Well, I'll I'll tell you what. No, I and I I I know I trust in your segment. Uh coleslaw is a weird thing, though. Let's be honest.

[1:17:17] Caleb Dicke: It's gotta be right. Because coleslaw, when coleslaw is like just very sweet and mayonnaise-y, I want to throw myself out of my building like face first. It can't be too mayonnaise-y. I need a vinegar-based coleslaw, and I need there to be apples or celery, some kind of like light crunch.

[1:17:38] Eric Ulloa: Yes, something with a crunch in it.

[1:17:39] Caleb Dicke: Okay. Well, you can always put pecans and some jello so you get some crunch in the jello too.

[1:17:44] Eric Ulloa: Ew. Pecans in jello?

[1:17:47] Caleb Dicke: Hey, well, no, I was on your side. I was on your side.

[1:17:50] Eric Ulloa: You've had it and you've liked it. Pecans and jello.

[1:17:54] Caleb Dicke: Caleb, you are not even having this delicious entire cucox right now. You're drinking.

[1:18:00] Eric Ulloa: Literally. You are not this drunk, Caleb.

[1:18:04] Caleb Dicke: You know what? I'm gonna ask Q Cox to make a jello cocktail just for me, and everyone's gonna love it.

[1:18:10] Eric Ulloa: A pecan cocktail?

[1:18:12] Caleb Dicke: A jello cocktail, yeah, yeah.

[1:18:14] Eric Ulloa: Exactly. No one will order it. Anyway, onward.

[1:18:17] Caleb Dicke: Onward to uh merch madness. If you don't know, I collect musical theater merchandise, and uh I do a segment where I pin two pieces of merchandise together and choose a winner in a versus format. However, in Corona Times, girl, we all need a mask. So this is uh another edition of Mask Madness. These are made by my uncles in Fort Lauderdale, actually. Uh they have a company there. This is mask one. I love it.

[1:19:05] Eric Ulloa: So this is a new style. This is very like tie-dye psychedelic. What I really like is the lining is like an opposite lining. It's like a teal lining. It's really cute. Um, and what I like about this is a new shape.

[1:19:19] Caleb Dicke: Oh, what a cute little cow.

[1:19:23] Eric Ulloa: This is a this is a um, it's more of a traditional mask shape. The other masks that I've shown on the show have been more like Eric's shape, with just like the nose up and we put yours on again?

[1:19:34] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. I want to see it.

[1:19:36] Eric Ulloa: Well, that's really nice.

[1:19:37] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[1:19:38] Eric Ulloa: So it's really cute. It goes all shape.

[1:19:41] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. The only thing is it goes up really high. Like I can almost feel it in my eyeballs.

[1:19:47] Eric Ulloa: Um, but I have a like a short face, so I usually just do it like this. Or what's nice for the extra length is when I'm wearing my glasses, is I just like clamp this down with my glasses and um and go from there.

[1:20:01] Caleb Dicke: Also, for anyone I see walking around talking on their phone with their mask down. I just did a podcast with my mask on, and it was totally fine. So you should just keep your mask on. Your aunt Shelly can hear you.

[1:20:11] Eric Ulloa: Okay. It's not that and if she can't, it's her problem. She needs a hearing aid.

[1:20:21] Caleb Dicke: No, Caleb, that is not the right way. This is like no, that's wrong. This makes me insane. People do this. You did a whole post. Check out your everyone, everyone check out Eric's Instagram. He just did a whole great like thirsty, Elliot.

[1:20:34] Eric Ulloa: Let's be honest.

[1:20:35] Caleb Dicke: What? It was just thirsty, let's be honest.

[1:20:38] Eric Ulloa: Please. There it was still great. I was trying to help the world.

[1:20:42] Caleb Dicke: I'm not, no one's mad. Ask anyone. No one's mad.

[1:20:45] Eric Ulloa: Okay, that's the first contestant. Second.

[1:20:52] Caleb Dicke: Liza's masks. Gorgeous. Look at that.

[1:20:55] Eric Ulloa: Wait, from the same uncles?

[1:20:58] Caleb Dicke: Same uncles. I'll send you the website.

[1:21:01] Eric Ulloa: Yes. This is a navy sequence.

[1:21:04] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god, I need that.

[1:21:07] Eric Ulloa: Now I do have to say, okay, the masks have all been really high quality. However, I'm the nephew, right? So they're gonna send me maybe maybe the ones that have like a short loophole and then like a long. You know what I mean?

[1:21:23] Caleb Dicke: So like for me, for me, they're relative. The fit isn't perfect. But generally, the fit on these masks is just and the fashion. I mean, a navy sequin. They have sequin in all different colors. Um, let me let me actually put give Britt this right now.

[1:21:44] Eric Ulloa: I've been thinking about the fact that we need formal wear masks.

[1:21:49] Caleb Dicke: Yes. Yes.

[1:21:50] Eric Ulloa: I have formal wear mask.

[1:21:52] Caleb Dicke: I don't know what is. This is a little bit of a downer. But I went to a funeral recently, and I was like, I need a funeral mask, and luckily I had one. I have a mask drawer now in my accessories, but this is my funeral mask.

[1:22:05] Caleb Dicke: This is a former winner of Merch Madness, but see you hold it. Do you hold it only for your mask it up with uh that's the the website, mask it up with OTT?

[1:22:19] Eric Ulloa: Yes. Wait, so do you wear your funeral mask only to funerals? Or were you will you bring it up?

[1:22:25] Caleb Dicke: No. No, but it's like an evening mask.

[1:22:26] Eric Ulloa: Yeah.

[1:22:28] Caleb Dicke: And what I and what I realized is I was wearing a I was wearing like a suit coat. Bish, you fold this under, you fold this. That's a backup square.

[1:22:38] Eric Ulloa: Okay. Shut the fold on. I'll just put it in. Wait, can I do I call this, I call this mask Caroline, because obviously I'm gay and gypsy.

[1:22:49] Caleb Dicke: Caroline?

[1:22:51] Eric Ulloa: Lovely. Oh my god. It's the cow. Hold on, one second. I don't have a bucket. Hey Brett, will you take me out?

[1:23:00] Caleb Dicke: I love the cow. I'm from I live on a dairy farm in Ohio, so I love the cow mask. So I really alone, thank God.

[1:23:07] Eric Ulloa: What?

[1:23:10] Caleb Dicke: Oh no, I know. He was just taking up the whole time.

[1:23:12] Eric Ulloa: Yes. Who made your mask?

[1:23:18] Caleb Dicke: Um I got it from so my mom. So my mom's friends in um in Texas near Fort Worth. Uh she my parents lived out there for a while. And they had a um, this is coming off in like 30 seconds. I'm already overheating. Um I'm being such a Karen right now. I'm like, I'm overheating!

[1:23:34] Eric Ulloa: Um I can't breathe! I can't breathe, I can't have a medical condition.

[1:23:39] Caleb Dicke: Um, but I uh no they they had a they have a company where they make them and the patterns were like I think this is early or like this is early corona, and the patterns are very much like not my style, and they had um they had one that I love that was like a paisley like like a bandana print, but then like I didn't realize that in between the paisley was little boots and it said deep in the heart of Texas, and I was like, no, no.

[1:24:08] Eric Ulloa: So I I I uh I got this, and I have one that's a giraffe print, which I call gay bane, because it looks like Bane from Batman, you know, the movie. But it's like, but it's like the is it's his gay twin.

[1:24:23] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[1:24:24] Eric Ulloa: Well, check out mask it up with OTV. They will.

[1:24:27] Caleb Dicke: Oh my god, I have to go buy that. I'm buying that. I'm literally buying that one.

[1:24:30] Eric Ulloa: All right, Caleb. Close this up with the game.

[1:24:34] Caleb Dicke: Yes. So these are just quick games. Quick answer. Your first New York survival job.

[1:24:42] Eric Ulloa: Me? Yes.

[1:24:43] Caleb Dicke: Yes. Oh my god. Uh god. Uh uh restaurant, ser a server.

[1:24:50] Eric Ulloa: Where at?

[1:24:51] Caleb Dicke: Where at? Oh god, where did I fuck with work? Uh Raspberry 360.

[1:24:58] Eric Ulloa: Great.

[1:24:59] Caleb Dicke: Um try. Oh my god. Um.

[1:25:06] Eric Ulloa: Ooh.

[1:25:13] Caleb Dicke: Um, one more time. Favorite.

[1:25:23] Eric Ulloa: Oh yeah. Um anything for you.

[1:25:26] Caleb Dicke: No, no, he um try, wait, turn down your sound just a little bit. I think we have to.

[1:25:35] Eric Ulloa: Getting a little echo.

[1:25:36] Caleb Dicke: Of me?

[1:25:37] Eric Ulloa: Yes.

[1:25:38] Caleb Dicke: Oh, you know what? Hold on. Let me also.

[1:25:44] Eric Ulloa: Is that better?

[1:25:45] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. Yes.

[1:25:46] Eric Ulloa: Um, so Florida gets we talked about this. Florida gets a bad rap sometimes. But what is one must see thing in Florida?

[1:25:58] Caleb Dicke: How do you I can't hear you guys anymore? Must see in Florida.

[1:26:04] Eric Ulloa: Must do. Uh-oh.

[1:26:06] Caleb Dicke: One more time.

[1:26:06] Eric Ulloa: Okay, now I'm back. Now I'm back. Must see in Florida.

[1:26:10] Eric Ulloa: Um must see in Florida. God. Um I grew up in Miami, so like the the the Cuban culture down in like Hyalea, uh South Beach, all that stuff. Go eat food, go dance, go go go on the beach.

[1:26:24] Caleb Dicke: Yes, yes, yes.

[1:26:25] Eric Ulloa: Um what's your what was a fad from like your childhood that you loved? Like Tamagotchi was for me.

[1:26:30] Caleb Dicke: I was obsessed with Toronto.

[1:26:35] Eric Ulloa: What? Do you know this?

[1:26:38] Caleb Dicke: No.

[1:26:38] Eric Ulloa: Hypercolor shirts.

[1:26:40] Caleb Dicke: Wait, they were shirts that literally your temperature of your hand would change the color of your shirt.

[1:26:45] Eric Ulloa: Um, I don't know why I love them. They always broke though. The moment you washed them, they were over.

[1:26:49] Caleb Dicke: Oh, sure.

[1:26:50] Eric Ulloa: Um, lastly, this is the last question. It's I can't believe this is my job moment you've ever had.

[1:26:58] Caleb Dicke: Um seeing uh seeing my first play, seeing 26 Pebbles uh premiere. I can't believe I I just I I had been through a Broadway debut and I and I thought they couldn't get better than that. But seeing seeing my something I created come to life on stage and people applauding and and and people bowing to this words, I I just still I get very moved by that.

[1:27:25] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. Love that. And it's the perfect tie-in to what you're doing now on the Broadway Podcast Network is making something, creating something, using your art to amplify your voice. So we are so thankful that you came on the podcast with us, Eric.

[1:27:42] Eric Ulloa: I'm so thankful to be here. This was way too much fun.

[1:27:46] Caleb Dicke: Um right now. For us coming back, we came back with a bang and a long episode, but it was so much fun and worth it. Um, Eric, where can people find you on social media and where can people find your podcast?

[1:28:00] Eric Ulloa: Oh, so you can find me on social media at um on Instagram at at the T H E U L L O A at the Uyoa T-H-E U L L O A. And then on Twitter because they closed my last account because I made a joke about cats that apparently was a death threat. That's for podcast number two.

[1:28:19] Caleb Dicke: Um, yeah, I joked with a friend, I'll murder you about CAS, and they said that I was doing a death threat to somebody, and they closed down my account.

[1:28:26] Eric Ulloa: Um we need to introduce you to Mike Abrams.

[1:28:29] Caleb Dicke: Yes. Yeah, so the Cats movie. Um, so I on Twitter it's uh at the Uyoa T H E U L L O A two. Um, and then the podcast is Do You Hear the People Sing. Uh, you could find it literally by that on um on iTunes and on Spotify. On Spotify, here you have to type in Do You Hear the People Sing podcast, and you'll find the podcast there. Episode one's out, episode two drops Tuesday morning. And you'll also find it on the BPN app.

[1:28:59] Eric Ulloa: Yeah, you will. Thank you.

[1:29:01] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, everyone, check out if you this has happened since we've done episodes, but there is a Broadway Podcast Network app where you can get exclusive early releases for episodes. Um episodes will start playing automatically after you're finished with them. There's explore options, so it's really a great thing. Download that app.

[1:29:19] Eric Ulloa: Um, and while you're downloading that app, you can go on iTunes, your podcast app, and you can give Equity One a five-star rating and a review. And while you're there, just search Do You Hear the People Sing Colon the Theater Person's Guide to Saving Democracy. And you give Eric a five-star review as well.

[1:29:40] Caleb Dicke: Okay. Um you can find our podcast at equity one podcast on Instagram and Facebook and at equity one underscore on Twitter. Send us an email at equity one podcast at gmail.com.

[1:29:55] Eric Ulloa: Sorry about that.

[1:29:56] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. Elliot, where can we find you on social media?

[1:29:58] Eric Ulloa: We're out of practice.

[1:30:00] Caleb Dicke: Okay. All right. Uh you can find me at Elliot Maddox.

[1:30:00] Eric Ulloa: You can find me on everything.

[1:30:04] Caleb Dicke: At Caleb Dicky on everything.

[1:30:06] Eric Ulloa: And until next time.

[1:30:08] Both: Cheers!