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00:00:01
Mary Gallagher
16 Plays16 hours ago
Join Alasdair as he sits down with actor, comedian and coach Mary Gallagher to talk about confidence on stage, getting through our own mental blocks and the power of spending time in nature!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, where learning gets a breath of fresh air. I'm your host Alistair, and each week I talk with people from all walks of life to explore how education, the outdoors, and real-world experiences shape who we are.
00:00:19
Speaker
From classrooms to campfires, trails to town halls, we dig into the lessons that move us, challenge us, stick with us, and can make the world a better place.
00:00:35
Speaker
So today I am so excited to be joined by my dear friend, Mary Gallagher, a standup comedian, actress, and coach whose career spans more than three decades of making people laugh, think, and connect with each other. From appearing on major shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Friends, and Grey's Anatomy to performing standup across the country, Mary has built an incredible career rooted in both talent and courage. Mary, how are you today?
00:01:05
Speaker
I'm great, Alistair. I'm so excited to be here and I love hearing you talk about me. I'm usually not comfortable when someone kind of says things that I've done, but with you, it's different. I'm like, aww, thanks for acknowledging
The Connection and Friendship
00:01:21
Speaker
me. oh you're very welcome. Well, I should tell our listeners that we did connect via the Friends podcast that I run. We reached out to you because you had a guest appearance in that and And then we became friends. It's all falling into place. in Indeed. And I couldn't be happier about it.
00:01:42
Speaker
um Me too. Yeah. So we that was ah close to a year ago now. I think maybe it was last summer. Are you serious? Yeah. i just remember I was in Kansas visiting my daughter and then reserved a room in the library to do our recording because I was up there. wow. you know Worried about the Wi-Fi. Would it work? All of that.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. And it did. Yeah. It all worked out. Yeah, it was a really good podcast too.
International Comedy Coaching
00:02:08
Speaker
I'm still thinking, I can't believe it's been a year because I want to cut up that footage and put it on my Instagram. And that's just a reminder that I have so much great stuff to pull from. That was wonderful. Yeah, we had a great time. um And I'm just just so thankful that you joined us, not only there, but now you're here on the Outdoorsy Educator podcast. So thank you so much.
00:02:31
Speaker
I'm excited. well what as i As I said to you earlier, my two favorite things, outdoors and learning, and I am the least qualified person to be here. Well, we will let the listeners be the judge of that, think. Okay. I think they're going to be inspired. Tell us a little bit about who you are, your career, where you're from, all of that good stuff.
00:02:53
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm from elm Grove, Wisconsin. So I always kind of joke that I'm half tree because I come from a very woodsy part of Wisconsin. And um I went to school in Wisconsin and then I trained in improv at Second City in Chicago. And yeah, started just exploring comedy um very early on and didn't think I could do it.
00:03:23
Speaker
And then I just kept at it. And now i'm a I'm a headlining standup comic and I coach people in Los Angeles live you know live in person. And then also, this is kind of exciting. I just started working with an 11th grader, a female in Singapore with standup comedy. So I have now gone international. You are Mary Gallagher international.
00:03:51
Speaker
I really am. i really am. So yeah, that was super exciting to just be like, oh my gosh, to connect. I had connected with some kids in Madrid over COVID on Zoom, um but this...
Comedy Training and Second City
00:04:08
Speaker
is much more one-on-one. This young woman is incredible at debate and she's the vice president of her student government and she is really good at bringing humor into speeches and on stage. And so I'm just working with her more on kind of expanding and um with her comedy. i think there's an interest there for her to have a stand-up set to apply to American universities. So this is kind of a whole new thing for me.
00:04:42
Speaker
and How exciting to be at this stage of the journey with her, because what will it be, five or six, seven years when she apply and you might just get to see you know the the fruition of all your hard work?
00:04:56
Speaker
I know, it's really neat. So I'm really enjoying exploring, um working with people in comedy, not so much for comedic purposes. I mean, I guess that's probably what brings them to me, but to explore our inner being. It's just absolutely incredible. Yeah, something we've talked about before is the power of bringing that comedy and this and the confidence to do stand-up to other professions like teaching and education. And i just yeah it's such a transferable skill because it makes you relatable and it's something that I would you know hope to develop in my career.
00:05:32
Speaker
Absolutely. And you're already doing it, right? Just by being present and grounded in your body, the the jokes start to arise naturally, which I didn't know about years ago, but I sure do trust now. I love that you brought up Second City.
00:05:48
Speaker
It's somebody who doesn't know much about this world at all. I, you know, I hear of Second City, like Amy Poehler and other, you know, superstars have gone through Second City. What really is that? In my head, it was just, I say, just, just a comedy club. I feel like it's so much more. Could you tell us what that actually is?
Career Milestones and Moves
00:06:05
Speaker
Absolutely. Let's see if I have my history correct. So Paul Sills started this improvisational improv games really for the ah for the ability to help people learn. I think that was the original intent. it's It's been a while since I've read. There's a great book called Something Wonderful Right Away that has kind of the has the history of Second City. But I'm pretty sure his mom was Viola Spolin, who created these improv games in in the um environment of learning. And he then created Second City with another person whose name I have forgotten. And it came out of, I think the original was in Chicago and just started with long form improv, turned into the games and then started the history of other second cities opening up, right? Toronto. And did did you ever have a second city in Texas?
00:07:08
Speaker
i don't I don't think so. okay But then again, I just know Chicago. Chicago is the home of Second City. Absolutely, yeah. And Toronto's a big deal. And then they had one out here in Los Angeles for a while. um i think it's still out here maybe in a different form now. But um I think also Detroit um for a while. I'm not quite sure where the they are besides the mothership in Chicago. But um yeah, what a what an institution now and I think has expanded in many ways that I wouldn't even know about with television and internationally. And I think it's kind of full on
00:07:51
Speaker
production company now. I'm not quite sure. i went i was in Chicago a couple of years ago ah doing my stand-up across the street at a famous club called Zany's and I thought I'd just go over to Second City to say hello. No, you you can't even get into the place unless you know somebody and I do not know anyone right anymore. like that anymore. It's grown and expanded.
00:08:17
Speaker
It really has. Yeah, me too. it's that but Everyone knows it, I think, of Second City. Like I said, it's Steve Carell, all these people seem to have yeah that their journeys, all these people, their journey seems to go through there. So it's a fascinating place.
00:08:34
Speaker
It really is, isn't it? And now we have so many other improv institutions that have come out of even, I think Amy Poehler created UCB, right? So many coming out of maybe that original one.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I was going to ask you as we were starting off about a turning point in your career where you had to take a leap of faith. It could be going to Second City, I don't know. But really, there must have been a point where you thought in your life, am I going to do this for for real? Like, am I really going to actually do take this leap of faith into comedy and acting? So I'd love to hear about one time where that was a decision you had to make.
Perseverance in a Long Career
00:09:13
Speaker
Alistair, every moment of every day. 100%. Still having those moments. Every moment. Are you kidding me? Every moment.
00:09:27
Speaker
Yeah. In fact, it seems to get more intense the more i think i know what I'm doing. No. no Yeah.
00:09:38
Speaker
Every moment. Right? and Yeah. That's just part of the life, I suppose. i mean, you I'm sure that feeling's not unique to you. Well, I think it's curiosity. I think it's really being open to not know anything and to see what happens. Because anytime I thought I knew something, give me a break. I didn't know a thing. Yes.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, but definitely some, ah what would you call it, actionable steps there with moving to Chicago after college. um Yeah, and then moving to Los Angeles. So those are putting things into action, right?
00:10:19
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, I've definitely, I would say those two moves going from Wisconsin to Chicago, and then three years later, moving out to Los Angeles, where I've been now for about 33 years. So yeah Yeah, those are two big ones for sure.
00:10:36
Speaker
Well, I think we need to pause for a moment. I think a lot of people move out to Los Angeles with dreams and end up, for whatever reason, moving back to wherever they came from. And you've done it. You've made it.
00:10:47
Speaker
And that's that's really admirable. So congratulations to make it 33 years. That's that's amazing. It really is, isn't it? And, you know, I heard, I'm sure you've heard this as well, that kind of like, don't even talk to me about anything till you've tried for at least 10 years. Right. So I kind of heard that early on. I really resonated with that. And um after 10 years, I think, I think actually on the birthday A week before my birthday of having been in Los Angeles for 10 years, I got my first pilot, you know, TV show where I was going to be a regular. And that was 10 years. So anyone who came out here after a year and said, yeah, it's not happening for me, I'm going to go back to Ohio. i was like, oh, I didn't even learn the freeways until I was out here for a couple of years. Right. Right. And what pilot was that? I know you've done a couple. what yeah What was that one?
Unique TV Experiences
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah. So that was, are you familiar with Game Show Network?
00:11:49
Speaker
I know i know of it. yeah Okay, yeah. So at the time, um there was a show where myself and another comedian named Sean Donnellan, we got hired by Game Show Network to do kind of a mystery science theater 3000 version of sitting and watching clips of old game shows from their vault. And And then talking about it, cutting to a sketch, doing um a joke about it. It was all highly scripted and really incredibly produced with um a producer named Frank Nicotero, who I just saw for the first time in 20 years on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen last month. yeah um That was really neat. But he was the producer of the show. But it was really fun. And it was kind of pre-internet and pre, you know, ah what do you call them, chat rooms. And I feel like if that show came out today, it would be so much fun because it would actually be seen. We we had a little bit of a cult following, but it was called Faux Paws, F-A-U-X, Faux.
00:13:03
Speaker
and then P-A-U-S-E, faux pause, because we would pause the game show and then do a joke. It was really fun. You know I'm going to have to look this up on YouTube, see if anyone's uploaded any. Oh, yeah yes. You'll have to let me know if you find it because I have all the episodes, and I've always secretly wanted to go against you know the copyright and put it on YouTube. Right. We'll let you do that. We'll see if someone else has taken the risk, too. Okay, or I'll send it to you, Alistair. There we go. would love to. It sounds like a hoot. I mean. It was so much fun. Yeah, it was really great. So, yeah, I loved it. But anyway, i got that after 10 years of In Los Angeles. Right.
00:13:47
Speaker
And then I know you've done pilots, or at least shows. You were on Friends, um one of my favorite episodes, because don't know if you ever met, um oh, his name's escaped me, who played Eddie, Adam Goldberg. Yeah.
00:14:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah, Adam. Well, funny you say his name escapes you for a second because I do this thing where I get people's names wrong. I'm really trying to correct it. But I thought i thought his name was Alan Goldberg. So I'd be on the set and I'd be like, hey, Alan, what time is the retro? And he'd go, four o'clock. And he'd walk away. And I was like, oh, what's up with Alan?
00:14:29
Speaker
alan Right? Poor old Alan. Yeah. It happens to all of us, doesn't it? sorry I'm trying to fix that, Adam Durster. I'm trying to make a joke on your name. Okay. oh by my entire life. My entire life, my name is is it's a roller coaster.
00:14:49
Speaker
it's ah Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's the D that throws people off. It it usually has a T. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it does throw me off, too, when I look at it. But I'm getting more comfortable with just making mistakes in front of people. There we go. There we go. shouldn't we should We should all do that. um Right. Absolutely. And then, could do you throw it in a couple of other shows you've been in? Oh, sure. but how i make Gladly. is it Yes, How I Met Your Mother, good memory. Believe me, no one else in l LA is asking me these questions. So let's talk about it. NCIS, Grey's Anatomy, um The West Wing, I've been on that. I've been on um a fantastic show that got canceled called Friends with Better Lives. And I played, I was married to Horatio Sanz on that, which was really fun.
00:15:41
Speaker
And what else? um There was a show with Halle Berry for a while called Extent. And um what else have I been on? And, i you know, my my the show that i enjoyed myself the most was Rob Reiner cast me in an NBC pilot and I was one of the stars of that show. i was married to Josh Radner from How I Met Your Mother and rob it was Rob returning to television and he played my father-in-law and it was just a beautiful experience too meet Rob Reiner, to work with him, and to have this series, which did not end up getting picked up. But it was just really, truly a huge blessing in my life. I love that you got to have that experience, even though the show didn't come to fruition. Yeah. You still got the opportunity to have that.
00:16:38
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah. love that. Yeah. Me too. And I'll just say this one thing, because I don't think I've ever talked about this. um I had lunch with Rob Reiner a couple of years ago, and after the lunch...
00:16:53
Speaker
He said, Mary, come come here, come see my my car. And so I went into his, I'm pretty sure it was a Tesla. I got into his car and he was so excited to show me that the screen had a fart machine. so There I am in his car.
00:17:13
Speaker
Did I tell you this already? oh no, but when you're finished, I've got real a story I can relate. Yes. Anyway, i was like, I can't believe I'm with Rob Reiner in his car and he's making the seat fart. I'm like, is anything ever going to be as thrilling and as fun and special as this? No.
00:17:34
Speaker
um That was pretty much the height of my Hollywood experience. Do you ever say sort of in your mind go, I'm just this little girl from Elm Grove, Wisconsin. What's my life?
00:17:47
Speaker
Like Alistair, every moment of every day. Yeah. Yeah. Right now. Right now. talking to you. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah, and I love that. I think it's sometimes I've got that. I'm just ah a boy from Glasgow. and And when good things happen in my life, it gives me a good appreciation for all the wonderful things that people have met in my life.
00:18:11
Speaker
It's so beautiful. You feel, isn't it? Yeah. Oh my gosh. So you have a Tesla fart story or what's the deal with this? My mother-in-law who, um, she, she likes her new cars, you know, every, every couple of years, a new car shows up in her driveway and that's her thing. That's the, she treats herself and she's on her second Tesla now and man alive, did we have some fun playing with the, I didn't realize there was speakers outside the car too.
00:18:41
Speaker
Are you serious? Yeah, so you can play the sounds out. You could be sitting at a stoplight and play the fart machine outside the car. Oh my gosh.
00:18:52
Speaker
And I don't have a Tesla. I don't know much about them. I don't know if that's on all models. but And then there was a there was a Christmas mode where it plays um the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the one we all know. And all the lights play in synchronicity. And the doors open and shut the hood and the trunk open and close along with the music. It is madness. I mean, it's just chaos.
00:19:17
Speaker
but That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I had no idea. Wow. Just ah a big toy for adults. um the The fact that it is outside the car. Now I'm going to roll down my window next time I'm next to a Tesla to see if somebody throws me that. I think I would hope they would. hope they would it's its It'll be a compliment. Exactly, exactly. I love it.
00:19:42
Speaker
Well, I was thinking before we got talking, we all have to step into new roles and uncomfortable roles in our careers, whatever it is we
Embracing New Roles with Curiosity
00:19:50
Speaker
do. You probably have to do it more than most. So I was thinking what goes through your mind before stepping into a new role or trying new material on stage?
00:20:00
Speaker
I was thinking you either, or you probably have a ah routine, a procedure, something in your mind that prepares you to try new things. Interesting. I definitely used to, and I'm sure there was many different ah things that I came up with. But I think now, and this is what's so lovely about the path that I've been on, is now I see it as such a great opportunity to see how... how uncomfortable it might be, to see how fear shows up, to see how unexpected i'm the whole thing might become. And i would say that is what I've leaned into the most is the ability
00:20:52
Speaker
or the desire or the curiosity to step into that space of I'm not going to prepare anything. I'm not saying I don't still do that. I definitely, you know, try to really make sure i go over the material that I might be doing that night. But then to, you know, that kind of...
00:21:12
Speaker
the way people say you learn it and then you throw it away, right? Like you learn what you're doing and then toss it. um To really do a big toss there and not even be, let me just look at this one more time before I go out there. Alistair, once I had my set written on my hand, I had my glasses on and I wrote my set in Sharpie on my hand. Then I took my glasses off and I went out on stage and I remember Looking at my hand, I was like, I can't read this. I was like, excuse me, sir. Can you tell me what's next? I was like, even if you think you're going to set yourself up for some, no, that doesn't even mean it's going to help you.
00:21:52
Speaker
Yeah, i was as we we talked about this a couple of months ago, I did a TED Talk and I was fascinated with the different ways people prepared. Because there were some people memorizing their script line for line, one for one. And i that I couldn't do that.
00:22:07
Speaker
I would get myself in such a panic because, you know, i just that that is not cute I'm not capable of memorizing that much one for one. So I just had to come up with the script and then, yeah, keep throwing bits away.
00:22:21
Speaker
And then I ended up with three bullet points in my mind. And that was it for a 10 minute talk. Just those three bullet points and just whatever happens, happens. How lovely, how lovely that you can't memorize word for word and maybe um be more, for some people, maybe robotic, you know? Yeah, I know I would have been, you know, okay I would never want to put my misconceptions or preconceptions on somebody else. sure Maybe it works for them. But I knew if I tried to do that, I would be focused on what's the next one if not yeah wasnt and not connecting with the audience.
00:22:59
Speaker
and yeah And they would be able to see that a mile off and it would just fall flat. um Yeah. When i I get the copy, um it's coming straight to you because I love your feedback. Thank you. I can't wait. I can't wait. We've talked about this and congratulations. Thank you.
00:23:15
Speaker
It was an and an emotional hurdle to get through it. What if, what if? But I feel it went wrong. That's awesome. so no we you practice Did you practice on on ah on a red carpet? Did you stand on the red dot?
00:23:29
Speaker
I did the day before. um ah You did? Okay. Yeah, we got to go to the stage and here's the dot. And um behind us, it said Ted Ock because the T had broken. So they were making a new T. So I was like, I'm going to give a Ted Ock. I love it. And then it was, this will sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but really not. it was just all part of the journey. Please do. I found out there was, i think, 15 of us talking throughout the whole day, and i had been randomly drawn to go first.
00:24:05
Speaker
And, you know, I couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing. But then the lady who was kind of in charge pulled me aside at the dress rehearsal at the end of it and said, you know, that's not a coincidence, right? That you're going first. was like, what do you mean? And she's like, we've been doing this for years.
00:24:21
Speaker
We watched your tape. You were you were one of the the two or three who we felt were the strongest and we wanted to start with the strongest, end with the strongest and do... That's incredible. got that So I was like, oh. I don't know if that's more pressure, but actually it felt like it gave me some confidence. It gave me a bit of, okay, they you know I might not see it in myself, but they can see something.
00:24:44
Speaker
That's incredible. Wow. How wonderful for you. I love going first when I get to go first because then I can relax and enjoy the other people. Yes, that's exactly what I did. I was able just to sit back and just go, I'm done.
00:24:58
Speaker
I'm done. I can just relax. Now, we could talk about this for a long time, but I'd love to connect with you about the outdoors. um Okay. Yeah. your your You know, where that's where that falls in your life, like myself, you live in a pretty urban area. I'm assuming you're kind of right there in the Los Angeles metro area.
Nature as Solace and Self-Discovery
00:25:18
Speaker
So yeah talk to me. Talk to me about the role that nature, being outside, connecting with nature played in your life.
00:25:25
Speaker
I love it. Let me see if I can say this rather succinctly because I actually thought about this and i was like, oh, that's really clear now. So growing up in Wisconsin, I really found a lot of solace in trees. I spent most of my childhood when I was younger in trees, climbing them, being in them.
00:25:45
Speaker
um and i felt very safe in trees. And I think then as my life continued, I forgot about all of that.
00:25:55
Speaker
And I lost that awareness in that part of me. I probably also was maybe embarrassed. that you know i remember someone saying that they thought that was kind of weird. i was like, oh yeah. and then i just remember um my ex-husband, love him to death. I just remember once he said,
00:26:18
Speaker
you know Mary, i don't want to sit outside and look at trees with you. And it was a big moment in kind of what was happening with me at the time in my marriage, which was, oh, we're we're different. And it was kind of that awareness of that I was really out of alignment because I did want to look at trees and to stop being embarrassed about it or thinking, you know, that that there was something wrong with that, that people are just different. And it was really kind of the unfolding of that and, you know, many things that I was experiencing of coming back
00:27:00
Speaker
to my inner being that just loves trees. I love being around them. I could look at them all day and really embracing that return to nature.
00:27:14
Speaker
Oh, that gets me in the feels that like I can relate, I understand. And it's like, i've you know, I've found so much solace in the outdoors. be right it's even We talked about this right before recording, just sitting outside and looking up at the trees and watching some birds come and go. And we've we've got a million squirrels that run around. And there's something just, it's it's it's beyond peaceful and relaxing.
00:27:39
Speaker
It does something to our souls. I truly believe that. um And I'm so glad that you found that. Thank you so much. And then I'll just ah kind of end with this recap. My daughter, who's now 20, I remember when Gardens of the Galaxy came out. I think it was the first one. Is it the first or second? I'm not quite sure. But she went and saw it with some friends.
00:28:03
Speaker
And she said, Mom, I have a present for you. i was like, oh, wow. And she got me this group. Yes. She said when I saw this, mom, I just thought of you. And I was like, oh my gosh, oh my daughter is seeing me as I am and seeing trees and thinking her her of her mom. And it just was overwhelm of joy that I...
00:28:32
Speaker
was even acknowledged by, you know, someone so young and doesn't know really that I sat in trees as a child. I don't even know if I've told her that, but it was just a really lovely moment to be like, oh, I i really do feel connected to trees and that's wonderful for me.
00:28:50
Speaker
I love that. I'm not sure if we've talked about this. I don't think we did. i interviewed somebody for this podcast a few weeks ago, a lady named Savannah, who had hiked the Appalachian Trail and for her master's dissertation interviewed people on the trail about why they were
Mindfulness in Outdoor Activities
00:29:06
Speaker
hiking. What what was the catalyst for getting on the trail?
00:29:09
Speaker
And of course, it's a huge range of you know tragedy to retirement, to just left the military, to graduated from college, to got divorced, a huge range of things. But we ended up talking a lot about sometimes when we go hiking, it's headphones on and it's head down and we're going to get our 10 miles in. And we we talked quite a bit about being deliberate halfway through our hikes, stopping and just sitting on the ground for five minutes. Headphones off,
00:29:38
Speaker
literally just plunking your behind down in the grass and just watching the trees and then you can get back up and put your podcast back on and off you go but making sure you just spend that few minutes with nothing wow and may it kind hit me you know about the importance of doing that Absolutely. i really resonate with that. I really resonate with that. i I have been definitely that person who goes out for a run and I like to have my, you know certain audio book on tape. And then I was like, oh, but what about the audio book going on live around me with the birds and the cars and all of it? So yeah, it's a nice balance to know. what I notice more and more these days I'm leaving as much of the accessories behind.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah there's nothing wrong with it. i' I'm listening to a podcast series now about the author Roald Dahl and his life. And it's fascinating. And it's like, I can't wait to listen to the next episode. Yeah. But I have to disconnect. I have to go, you know what? I just need to listen to the parts and listen to this, you know, what's going on around me you know, went so cool when I'm out. I love that. um Something I did want to ask you about, and we've talked about this briefly before, is comedy being, you know, it it has a home in ah many in many different professions.
Building Confidence Through Humor
00:31:04
Speaker
But I was thinking about people who aren't performers and who want to be more confident in every in their everyday life. What lesson do you think comedy could teach them that they could apply to their real life?
00:31:17
Speaker
Absolutely. For me, it is knowing that we are all inherently funny. yeah I find it so interesting when someone says, oh, I'd love to do what you do, but I'm not funny. I'm like, oh, yeah, you are. You're we're all funny.
00:31:34
Speaker
Right. And so for me, it's really kind of having learned to feel grounded and safe in my body to see that humor naturally arises when we feel safe. Right. Like how many times have you and I laughed already today and we didn't plan any of this. So, um yeah. So I think that just just so incredible to have found in my life as opposed to when I was trying to be funny or trying to perform. And the more I let go, the more my natural humor rises.
00:32:11
Speaker
That's a really interesting perspective. We are all inherently funny, but suppose it's just developing the tools and the confidence to get that out rather than I'm going to learn and learn how to be funny today.
00:32:23
Speaker
that's That's not what it's about. It's... Absolutely. And humor happens when the truth is given a little air. So feeling safe enough to be truthful and honest, no matter, you know, what might be rising. I'm not saying I'm going to, you know, encouraging people to just go on stage and trauma dump. It's not like that. But to to see how the more you let who you are out and how you feel with all of the conflict and drama and pain that that brings, the more you can then see the light side of it, it it which is a joke. Because a joke is just an expectation that we we kind of set up. And then we surprise ourselves or the audience by...
00:33:14
Speaker
showing what you didn't think was coming. It's just a left turn. That's all set up and joke set up and punches is a topic and then a left turn. i love it. That kind of destigmatizes and makes it a little less scary to just to go. so yeah Yeah, exactly. And that's why we laugh because we're blowing blowing up the balloon and then we put a pin in it. And that's why we laugh. It's taking ourselves by surprise, which is so much fun. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I think many people, including myself, overthink it. And I'm sure you've run into that many times in your career.
00:33:52
Speaker
Dude, been overthinking it for decades. This is all a rather new, ah you know, exploration for me. Just in the last couple of years, have I really kind of explored this freedom.
00:34:04
Speaker
Well, we're we're I'm really proud of you because sure some people don't get to that point. So to be there is very exciting for you. That's just wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. I'm enjoying it.
00:34:16
Speaker
Well, as we kind of come around to the home stretch, I did warn you, i would have three questions for you as we okay wrap up this
Evolving Definition of Success
00:34:22
Speaker
podcast. um The first one is how do you define success in your own life now? And how has that changed since you started your career?
00:34:32
Speaker
Wow, that's a good one Okay, so when I started, i thought success was me getting some external appreciation from others to feel worthy.
00:34:46
Speaker
Whether it was a TV show, like, oh, Mary's on TV. Wow, that's great. And people, you know, my family would kind of notice me. So I thought that's what it was. And now, now success is really knowing that I have all of that inside of me.
00:35:05
Speaker
all of it ah and don't need any validation that i actually generate that myself and i mean you and i could talk about this for hours but that's been a whole lifetime of you know letting go yeah i love it that's a powerful lesson uh thank you yeah my second question is is there a book there could be many but what is there a book that stands out to you that has been meaningful in your life
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah, you know, this just came to mind. and I just saw this author, Gavin DeBecker, for the first time ever in the Gary Shandling documentary by Judd Apatow. I didn't know that he was a good friend of Gary Shandling's. Anyway, Gavin DeBecker wrote a book called The Gift of Fear. And I remember I got that book in my twenty s And my girlfriend and i my best friend, we both read it. And it was really wonderful to explore how this intuitive feeling comes up when you are not feeling safe and to to trust that and to, you know, I think women in particular are not often
00:36:24
Speaker
guided in trusting their own intuition from a very young age. And I had gone away from that for so long. But what I have been doing is growing my intuition, trusting it almost like a child now with my intuition. So that book was really, um I didn't know it at the time, but that was starting me on my own journey of what is my intuition?
00:36:52
Speaker
That's fascinating. I've written that book down. I'm going to look that up because, um yeah, intuition is something that so many of us second guess all the time. Really? You do too?
00:37:04
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, i can be yeah i can I can be a chronic overthinker at times and worrier. And my mother calls it catastrophizing. You know, if there's an opportunity, and my I can default to, well, this could go wrong and that could go wrong.
00:37:20
Speaker
And I need to retrain myself sometimes think, well, what this could happen. What wonderful things could happen if you follow your instinct and and this lead. um Just trying to retrain my thinking.
00:37:33
Speaker
I love that. Alistair, I'll just tell you real quickly because it's such a powerful thought right now. The woman who cast me in the Rob Reiner pilot, um she's my good friend now. She and I talk about this a lot. She only goes by her intuition now. So when she has a decision to make, whether it's in business or personal, she no longer is even accessing the thinking mind. You know, she uses her thinking mind for a lot of critical thoughts that, you know, what it's been like really great for. But as far as um any decision, it is her just feeling it as opposed to thinking about it. And once I knew one person who was in that flow, oh my gosh, did that open up a new a pathway for me to start exploring what does that mean?
00:38:30
Speaker
and and my mind immediately goes to, if you do that, you know good things and bad things can still happen, but you I don't know, it just feels like a very healthy approach.
00:38:41
Speaker
Right. And it takes the pressure off you thinking you didn't create the universe. Get out of the way. Life will take care of itself. Right. It's been going on for how many billions of years? And you think you're going to have some way of doing something that's better than those trees? Right.
00:39:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely not. Yeah. Stand back and just let nature show you the way. Yeah, I love that. Absolutely. Well, my final question for you is, and I have been looking forward to asking you this one for a little
Future Aspirations and Contact Info
00:39:14
Speaker
bit. I was wondering if you could coach one person in the world. This could be somebody you know, somebody famous, somebody from history, somebody alive, somebody for anybody in the world. If you could coach them for one weekend to perform a live comedy stand up set.
00:39:31
Speaker
Who would you love to to spend a weekend with, kind of get into their mind and equip them to have just a knockout set in front of a live audience?
00:39:43
Speaker
wow Well, the people that are all coming to mind don't need my help in any way, but I will just say i am fascinated with spiritual thought leaders like Eckhart Tolle, Michael Singer, Ram Dass, these people who have awakened my curiosity so much because I notice how funny they are.
00:40:13
Speaker
Like, if you listen to Eckhart Tolle, he is hilarious. And the fact that he's talking about the present moment and being in the present, and i don't think he's doing what you and I talked about earlier about memorizing a script.
00:40:33
Speaker
He's really just becoming present and then seeing you know what comes out. It is so funny. I will be just cracking up listening to people in the present moment speaking about letting go or presence that I'm most interested now in the humor that comes from that. So I'm going to say Eckhart Tolle just because I'm so fascinated on his ability to be funny when he is not, most of the time, not trying to be funny. And it's hilarious. And I got to see him speak live last year in Los Angeles. And i was like, this is my favorite stand-up comic of all time. He's not trying to be. Right.
00:41:20
Speaker
I love that. I love that you got seem to work. Great answer. That's just wrong fascinating. Yeah, it's really neat. Would like to reach out to you learn more about you and what you do? Where can they find you?
00:41:34
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, I'm excited to say that my new web website just launched. It's myfriendmary.com. And um there's still more to be done on it that is coming. But ah the person that I worked with is just so incredible at web website designs. So yeah, it's myfriendmary.com. And then i play around a lot on Instagram where I'm also myfriendmary.com.
00:42:01
Speaker
Wonderful, wonderful. Well, Mary Gallagher, my dear friend, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. Alistair, thank you so much.
00:42:11
Speaker
Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.