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[0:06] Robert Peterpaul: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to the Art of Kindness, where we have compassionate conversations with artists from all areas of the entertainment industry who are using their voice to spread joy and make this big spinning planet in the universe a better place to be. I'm Robert Peterpaul, and I'm so glad you're here.

[0:50] News Anchor: Robert Peterpaul. He's an actor, writer, and host of the star-studded Art of Kindness Podcast, where celebrity guests share inspiring stories to help build a kinder world. And today he's here to share some of his favorite real-life stories of compassion in action. Rob, thank you so much for coming back to Good Morning Connecticut at nine. It's great to see you.

[1:06] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

[1:13] News Anchor: Thank you for coming on. So I want to start with, you know, you have a really empowering story. And for those that don't know you, obviously, the Art of Kindness podcast has really taken off. But can you share a little bit about how this all started?

[1:28] Robert Peterpaul: Sure. Yeah, it all started with, I think, the ultimate act of kindness, which was our community rallying around my family when my brother Thomas had cancer growing up. So he was diagnosed at the age of nine and ultimately, unfortunately, passed away at the age of 11. But through that journey, we experienced kindness on a massive level. And after he passed away, I don't think my family would have been able to sort of go on, not to be too dramatic, but to sort of move on with our lives if it hadn't been for the kindness that we experienced.

[1:58] News Anchor: Yeah, you've really turned your pain into purpose, and I love the positive attitude that you carry with you every single day. I see we have your Art of Kindness podcast merch here. So we don't have a lot of time, and there's so much to talk about here.

[2:15] Robert Peterpaul: Let's do it.

[2:16] News Anchor: What is your favorite act of kindness, random act of kindness? I know you probably have so many, but my favorite.

[2:22] Robert Peterpaul: Okay. Well, I think random acts of kindness day, I love it. Happy day, everybody. Yes, yes. I try to make the random acts more intentional. All right. So I think it might be random in that you give it to a person that you didn't think of, or you show up in a place with kindness that you didn't expect. But I think there's always intention behind it.

[2:39] News Anchor: Interesting.

[2:40] Robert Peterpaul: And in order to sort of discover the act of kindness, maybe you want to try out this week. I have a really cool, simple, easy thing everybody can do right now. If you want to force you, okay.

[2:50] News Anchor: Absolutely.

[2:51] Robert Peterpaul: Everybody take out your phone, take out your computer, unless you're in school, it might be a good idea. Does an iPad work?

[2:54] News Anchor: An iPad works.

[2:55] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, we can pretend to do it now or do it. It's fine. So my friends at kindness.org, which is an amazing nonprofit that studies kindness from a scientific standpoint, have developed a first-of-its-kind questionnaire.

[3:08] News Anchor: Oh, really?

[3:09] Robert Peterpaul: Actually tell you how kind you are as a person, as rooted in science. Some people might not want to see it because, I mean, if they're not so kind.

[3:16] News Anchor: Yeah, that's true.

[3:17] Robert Peterpaul: You're gonna find out. There's a bit more to unpack with it. So there's no perfect score. We thought, you know, in life we measure everything from the sexiest people alive on magazines to your Instagram followers to your iTunes. It's all so superficial. Yeah, we don't measure, I think, the most important thing of all, which is kindness. And so you can take this three-minute, really easy BuzzFeed style questionnaire. You will get a percentage. Now, if you get 100%, you might say, wow, I'm so kind. But what did you get?

[3:46] News Anchor: What did you get?

[3:46] Robert Peterpaul: I think I got like 115. It goes up to 120.

[3:49] News Anchor: Ooh, he's the kindness guru.

[3:51] Robert Peterpaul: No, no, but that means I'm 115% kinder to others than to myself.

[3:56] News Anchor: Okay, I have an important question for you.

[3:58] Robert Peterpaul: Let's do it.

[3:59] News Anchor: So let's you sometimes you come across some grumpy people, people that aren't so kind.

[4:04] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[4:05] News Anchor: How do you get through to them?

[4:07] Robert Peterpaul: You know, I love that saying. I think it's a little violent, but kill them with kindness.

[4:10] News Anchor: Kill them with kindness.

[4:11] Robert Peterpaul: Don't kill them. But be kind. So great advice. I've had some great stories on my podcast. One was from the one and only Carol Burnett, who told us an incredible story about checking out at a beauty shop, I think it was. And the woman behind the counter was really gruff and mean and sort of giving people attitude. And instead of giving it back, she complimented the woman's sweater, I think it was, and it changed the woman's whole demeanor and how she went on and interacted with everybody else. So I think show up with kindness, and maybe you won't see the ripple effect, but it's gonna affect people and it's gonna affect you. Because I know when I'm a little grouchy back to people, I don't feel good. It's just a grouchy cycle, and we don't want that.

[4:47] News Anchor: We absolutely do not want that. And you mentioned a good point. You interview a lot of celebrities, high-profile folks. Who's the kindest person that you've ever interviewed? I'm putting you on the spot right now.

[4:59] Robert Peterpaul: I so I like to think of myself as learning alongside people. So people are always asking me, how do you decide if someone's kind enough to come on the podcast? And I don't think about it that way. I sort of think they take the test. Well, now they can take the KQ, kindness.org slash KQ. I think everybody has the capacity for kindness, it's what connects us, and we're all linked, right, in this world, and I think kindness is sometimes the missing link. So I've enjoyed talking to everybody. Everybody has a different perspective from Carol Burnett to we had a Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank.

[5:28] News Anchor: Stop.

[5:28] Robert Peterpaul: Maybe not known for being the kindest person, but his whole perspective and philosophy on kindness is that kindness is honesty. So when he's honest with people on Shark Tank, he thinks of it as an act of kindness, which is interesting.

[5:41] News Anchor: That is very interesting.

[5:42] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah. If you think about it, it's good when we're honest with people, but you also gotta tell the truth in a delicate way, right?

[5:50] News Anchor: I like that.

[5:50] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, in a delicate way. That's a good way to think. Okay, we are running out of time, and I quickly want to touch on this new musical that you wrote that's gonna be happening here in Connecticut, and it's inspired by Snow White. Can you tell us a little bit more?

[6:02] Robert Peterpaul: Very cool. So it's at the Downtown Cabaret Theater, which has been in Connecticut for 50 years. It's a really special place. If you haven't been with your family or even just yourself, it is cabaret style, so you can bring wine, food, snacks, and you get to enjoy a really amazing show. They do programming for all ages. Their children's theater has been around forever. And they're known for putting these really fun twists on fairy tales. So they asked me, which I'm so honored, to write a version of Snow White, which I think is kind of the kindest fairy tale. She's a little bit of a couple of things.

[6:31] News Anchor: Absolutely.

[6:38] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, it's set in a mall.

[6:40] News Anchor: Okay.

[6:46] Robert Peterpaul: Okay. It's super fun. So bring the whole family and enjoy music that you'll know and love and have a good time. Looking forward to seeing that. Before we let you go, we have a very quick game for you. It is called Finish the Sentence. It's just a rapid-fire game. We only have time for one of these questions, but I just need you to finish the sentence without thinking. Okay, you ready?

[7:05] News Anchor: Yeah.

[7:05] Robert Peterpaul: Kindness is contagious because.

[7:08] News Anchor: Science says.

[7:09] Robert Peterpaul: So it's not just on your home good pillows. There's actually science and research behind kindness literally being contagious. From not only if I do a kind act to you, it's gonna make you go and then do kind acts, but also our friends watching in the studio, by witnessing kindness, they'll actually be kinder people as well.

[7:25] News Anchor: Oh my god.

[7:26] Robert Peterpaul: My goodness. You are amazing. One more for you before we go.

[7:29] News Anchor: Okay.

[7:29] Robert Peterpaul: My kindness challenge for viewers is.

[7:32] News Anchor: Wow!

[7:32] Robert Peterpaul: Okay. My kindness challenge. I have so many kindness. My kindness challenge for viewers is compliment someone today. Challenge yourself to compliment someone, make it a game, go to the supermarket, say, I'm gonna go into the supermarket and challenge myself to compliment five people. And then do it.

[7:45] News Anchor: Robert Peterpaul, you got that all in great. Thank you for coming on the show. We'll be right back.