Lyrics as Lessons: How Songs Shape Students with Devin Siebold

Lauran: This podcast contains content that may be distressing to some listeners. Be sure to check the description below for content warnings. 

Jordan: Before we dive in a heads up, my friend, some topics discussed may make nerves bend. We talk of struggles, both sharp and deep and touch on themes that might trouble your sleep.

If triggers for trauma leave you in pain, feel free to pause, reflect or refrain. Your well being matters. Care comes first. Skip a tough part if it feels like the worst. Now if you're ready, let's press play, but tread with care along the way. 

Devin: So we pull up, and there's all these cars, and we were like, this is gonna be so cool.

And we walked inside, like, knocked on the door, the door opens, we walk inside, and there's like, four of us. I mean, just, with alcohol, and ready to party, and we, we Turned the corner and we were at a three year old's birthday party. We went to the wrong home.

Lauran: Hey everybody, welcome back to We Are Fine, a podcast all the time, everywhere, in your ear holes, as Jordan will attest to later on. Um, we, 

Jordan: foreshadowing something 

Lauran: later on, maybe, um, but in this podcast, we dive into all kinds of relationships, funny topics about being teachers and all kinds of like life things that happened to us that we have to just laugh about.

Jordan: And if you aren't laughing through the tears, are you living? I think that's an important question to answer. So, 

Lauran: I don't know, but any who, um, so we had a crazy week this week. 

Jordan: Yes, it was. A lot. 

Lauran: Uh, uh, yeah. A lot. A lot. A lot. 

Jordan: So, um, why don't you dive in? Because I think it, it is your Well, before we 

Lauran: get to that part, we got to meet our podcast family I guess we 

Jordan: did.

Lauran: In person this week, except for one person because he has an adorable baby at home, so he couldn't be there because his adorable baby needed him. But You know, how 

Jordan: Dare that baby be more important than us. No, but 

Lauran: we got to meet our, our human content family in person. And we also got to go to the Glock and Flecken's show.

That was phenomenal. They are so awesome. We got to meet them in person and go see their show. And we were like sitting in the front row and Jordan got handed a signed Dr. Glock and Flecken Diet Coke. Oh, that was. NSYNC, um, but it was A fantastic show had me laughing had me crying. If they're still touring by the time this airs, please make sure you go and check it out.

I don't know. I don't know 

Jordan: how much is known with the show and everything. Um, so I don't want to spoil anything, but there are some moments in that live show that will bring you to tears. It was phenomenal. It was amazingly funny. It was amazingly just like heart wrenching and heart wrenching. And I had a blast.

Yeah, it was so fun. 

Lauran: But then we went to Cheesecake Factory afterwards, and our waitress, shout out to you, Bree, our waitress was top tier. Like she was, she should have her own stand up comedy. Like, set, cause she, she was just, oh my gosh, she was hilarious, like, she made the whole, made the whole dinner. 

Jordan: So, no, she was, uh, she was great, so yeah, Brie at the Pittsburgh Cheesecake Factory, uh, it was the west, yes, it was the west, it was the west side?

Lauran: I don't know. I can't 

Jordan: remember the specific name of it. One of 

Lauran: them. 

Jordan: Not the one at Ross Park, the other Cheesecake Factory, so, I forget the name of that one. 

Lauran: Um, but, Before we left, uh, we, we went and grabbed the mail and our podcast producers, um, Rob, Shanti, and Aaron, they sent us

So if you're watching this on YouTube, you'll kind of be able to see it and we'll, we'll put a picture of it on the screen, but if you're not, I'm going to describe this magic to you. You mean this 

Jordan: masterpiece? It is. Yes, it 

Lauran: is a masterpiece. Um, so it is. It's a running inside joke that we are obsessed with cranberries for whatever reason.

Uh, Aaron was the reason, but in our podcast family, we all love cranberries now. So, um, in our, on our set, we have a jug of cranberry juice at all times. So they sent us a can. It's an, uh, it's a picture, um, a digital artwork of a can of cranberry sauce with flowers. It's blooming out of the top of it. It is gorgeous.

It is going to be framed and it is going in my library down here. So thank you to our, our family at the, um, human content podcast family, because, uh, we definitely feel loved. 

Jordan: I remember when I opened that up and I shrieked in our neighborhood and Frank, our neighbor was outside and he looked over, he's like, 

Lauran: Hi, Jordan.

It's like, you good? You good? But anywho, the other exciting part of our week, which is still unbelievable, um, so last night Jordan and I had the opportunity to pitch our small business at our local business incubators, Shark Tank event. So if you're not familiar with Shark Tank, first of all, Get out from the rock that you've been living under.

I was going 

Jordan: to say, how many people? I think that is a very small list of people. 

Lauran: But if you're not, I'm going to explain it. So Shark Tank is a TV show where, um, businesses will go, they'll pitch their company or their idea to some sharks or investors, um, and then, you know, hopefully make a deal to gain some investors for their business.

So our, our local business incubator does a fundraiser every year where it's basically the same concept. They pick five local, um, like business owners or like major businesses in the area to be the sharks, and then they pick five small businesses or startups to pitch to them for some prize money. So Jordan and I, um, this is kind of new.

We haven't really put it out there a whole lot yet cause we're still working on, on everything. 

Jordan: So to get to the short of it, uh, we created the physical prototype because it is, it will be a digital product, but we wanted to just test theories and just like experiment, have fun with it. And, um, once we completed that, we had, like you were saying, this opportunity to do like the shark tank event, um, for us mainly in our purposes for raising funds is to move beyond the physical and do a lot of software engineering and all that stuff, because neither of us know how to code.

No, but 

Lauran: the gist of it is, um, so our company is called Little Tusk, uh, and it's named that because We are the Woolies and what do you think of when you hear the word Woolie? She! No! No, kidding. A Woolie Mammoth! So, we named it Little Tusk. Um, and we're designing a software company to teach financial literacy to children.

So, um, we had this opportunity. We Spent the last month really prepping for this creating a pitch deck and a lot of 

Jordan: sleepless nights. 

Lauran: Yes, working very late and, you know, prepping our presentation. We gave it and it was a room of almost 800 people. It was a 

Jordan: huge event and for our area too. It was the. Like the biggest of the big in our area was in that room.

Like if you were anyone in business, like you were at that event for the, for our area, it, which was very intimidating. It 

Lauran: was, uh, it was, I've never felt so out of my element in all my life. Like I. I'm not a business woman, like I'm a teacher, so it just, it felt weird being there, 

Jordan: but I feel like you fit in more because like, oh, you're the social media influencer and I'm just, I'm a nerd from Ohio, that's just in that room, I'm a teacher, let's just, 

Lauran: social media aside, teacher, yeah, but you're still a 

Jordan: social media influencer, I'm just a teacher.

Your nerdy husband who plays D& D. 

Lauran: I'm your nerdy wife who plays D& D, so it's fine. The most unexpected result came from this event. 

Jordan: We had some amazing competition we were up against, but we came home with the gold! We 

Lauran: won the whole event! So, like, we were not expecting it. They had three different rewards.

Um, or no, they had three different awards. Um, the first was the shark's choice. So they deliberated and then they had to pick one of the five companies, um, to win 30, 000, which we got a giant check. Four. Hold on. I got to grab it 

Jordan: here. Let me take this and big. 

Lauran: Yeah. What 

Jordan: I'm holding is a trophy, a metal trophy with a shark jumping out of the water 

Lauran: for a second.

Look at that. It's a giant check. We, we got a giant check for 30, 000. 

Jordan: Would you like your trophy back? Nope, you can hold it. Oh man. It's heavy. 

Lauran: Then we got the audience award for 10, 000 and then one of the local businesses Boke and Sons, um gave another 10, 000 prize And they gave it to us and I just can't like, I can't wrap my head around last night because before last night, our business, like we literally were bootstrapping everything we were paying for everything out of pocket because we just believe in this mission so much of like helping children learn how to manage their money.

When they're young so that they can carry those skills into adulthood and have successful financial futures no matter where they came from no matter what their background is um we just want to help kids to succeed in any way that we can so. Us, it's always been like a passion project, but last night just felt like so validating that we were on the right path and that people really want this product.

They want us to create this application for kids, um, to help them. 

Jordan: I think what was like the insane part for me was you'll see these big companies and like either like big local companies or big national companies and you see them like you're seeing the effects of all the hard work they've done and you're like, man, how did they get there and everything?

And they look like, I don't know, from like a business perspective, like they look like giants and everything. And like, it's insane, like to be in the room with them, but they all have. A starting point something that happened and for me, it's just insane that this little idea that you and me had one day on a drive home and then we just that evening, just like put ourselves like we were like, all right, we're not going to go to bed, but we're going to go like hang out in our bedroom.

We're just going to focus on. Creating this platform, creating this idea, putting pen to paper. Literally. Well, putting pen to iPad. 

Lauran: Yeah, 

Jordan: literally. I have a note on my iPad 

Lauran: and it was just like a stream of consciousness of all these different ideas we had for this platform and just like, you know, dream concepts that we wanted to showcase in this platform.

So we're, we're so excited to finally get to be at the point where. You know, we had and the crazier part after, like we did our presentation and before we had even won, um, we had other investors around our area that were reaching out to us and like coming into our table and asking to set up meetings and stuff.

And I have never experienced anything like that in my life. I've never had. Like somebody look at, you know, an idea that I came up with for like, uh, I don't know, a product or anything like that and be like, that sounds great. Let's talk about it. And it just, I don't know, it just made me feel so good about.

The journey that we're on and about the work we're doing and I, I just really hope that we make them proud and we can build this and make it amazing for kids. 

Jordan: I think that was the scary part for me for all of now the pressure's on. Yeah, it was this. I was like, it was this oh crap moment where I was just like, oh my gosh, like and it the aftermath of people Like you said there were there were people coming up who were like wanted to work with us and everything And then there was a lot of people from the community that were like, we love what you're doing we can't wait to see what you do and I was just like Oh, shoot.

I have to deliver. 

Lauran: Yeah. And by the way, so, you know, cause who knows who's listening to our show. So like if you're, if there's anyone out there that is interested in potentially working with like a startup company, um, and you have a background in education or marketing or technology or software engineering or animation, we're looking for all kinds of people to add onto our because right now we, we have a team of five people, six people.

Yeah. Six people just like running the show and trying to do all of the work, um, that we need a way bigger team to do. So we're, we're looking for people to, to join us. And I was going to say to for other to join, 

Jordan: because I know like with this podcast focusing on teachers, like there's a lot of like teacher entrepreneurs out there.

Um, what I can, we can attest as from our own personal spirit experience. I can attest to this just from my background from, um, University and everything check with your local business incubators, or, um, if you're in a smaller area, um, that's more rural. A lot of the times it's more, they're regional, so you'll still be able to work with them and everything.

They are such a wealth of 

Lauran: knowledge, like invaluable resource. It's we would not be anywhere. If not for the Youngstown business incubator, seriously, 

Jordan: specifically Chandler. If you listen to this, thank you so much. 

Lauran: And you know, all of our, our entire team and anyone who's advised us up into this point because we've only been, our business has only been around for one year and.

It has just been a wild ride. So I'm, I'm excited to see where it takes us. I'm excited to see this project come to life and, um, yeah, I just, I can't say thank you enough and how, how grateful we are for anyone who has believed in our dream and anyone who has put some support behind us. Um, so again, thank you so much to everyone at the Youngstown Business Incubator, um, to all of the sharks who put in their time to, you know, be there and, you know, selected us.

Um, and thank you to Boken Sons for also, you know, selecting us to, Um, help fundraise little tusks. So we're, we're gonna make you guys proud. We're gonna put in the work and I can't wait to share it with all of you guys, the listeners, um, soon, hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jordan: So no, that was a wild ride. 

Lauran: It was, but enough about us today.

We have our special guest, Devin Siebold, the teacher. Comedy guru, we cannot wait to share with you all of the fun projects that he's working on and all the hilarious stories that he brought for you guys today. So let's get into it.

All right. We are so excited to have you on the show today. Devin, have you been? 

Devin: I have been well, I've been busy. Um, it's been a very busy year. I just see you on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook pretty much every day. Every, every day I log in and I'm like, see. They're creating content. Why can't I? 

Lauran: I'm sorry.

You have to look at my face every day. I apologize. It's 

Devin: fine. It's usually good. Or, or I tell you what's funny is I'll pull up tick tock and I'll literally like pull up and it'll just be scrolling through and all of a sudden you're live will come up and I'll find myself. I'll find myself sitting there and I'm like, Dumbledore dies.

Like what? Like, we're just, I'm reading along with you and I'm like, oh my gosh, like storytime with Lauren's awesome. I like this. It 

Lauran: is honestly one of my favorite parts of social media. Like, so this is what we're reading now. Um, we just started, this is our third, fourth book. 

Jordan: Yeah. You did two Harry Potter books.

Lauran: No, no, no. We did the first Harry Potter and then we did The Summer I Turned Pretty. Which was not my favorite, but everyone loved that one. And then we did the hunger games, the hunger games was it. And now we're reading Percy Jackson. So it's, it's so much fun because like people actually come and sit and listen to me read.

And obviously you could tell by, you know, if you're watching the video, our backdrop that reading is my passion, Jordan and his dad built me this library in my basement. So like. It's so fun, like, sitting there on Saturday mornings and reading a book with people. I'll say, 

Jordan: my favorite part is when your brother finds some sort of way, either through Airhorn or Vuvuzela, to make some sort of distraction.

Lauran: Every time. So, like, my brother, Devin, he lives right next door to us. Like we built houses right next to each other and he torments me. His wife will, she follows me on tiktok also and she'll like see that I'm live on Saturday mornings and she'll like Ryan go now and he'll like go get an air horn or you know the vuvuzela and he'll blow the air horn into my basement window because that's where I'm reading the book.

So in the middle of like the most emotional part of the book, it's just like

Devin: You're like, you know, today was a tough day. I had to block a relative on Facebook and everybody's like, Oh, is it the election? You're like, no, he wouldn't let me read. I was reading children. Can I make a recommendation? I don't know if you've done this, but city of Ember. Is one of the most underrated books and the movie.

I loved the movie. I was really upset. They didn't make a second or a third, but that series city of ember is great. Children love it. I read, I read it to my kids and they were enthralled. They're like, this is awesome. And I just, I don't know how it got lost in the hole. I think it was cause hunger games came out and it was so like at that time that it just drowned everything else out.

But city of ember, I thought was great. You know, I think kids would love it. 

Lauran: I haven't read that, but I have had tons of students that have read it and like just rave about it. So I definitely want to put that on the list. And that's, I think, you know, the best part about book club on Tik TOK is that I do like young adult or like children's lit.

So it's like family friendly and everyone can join. And It helps, like, my inner child, because when I was young, I did not read for fun. I did, like, you know, some books, but I wasn't like I am now. And I kind of feel like I get to go back in time and, like, reread all the books I missed out on as a kid. So, I'm definitely gonna have to add that to my list, for sure.

Do you have any, like, favorites that you read when you were a kid? What were your favorite books to read? Or if you were a reader, I don't know. 

Devin: Yeah, I was, I was a reader for sure. I was all, I was team goosebumps all the way. Um, Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. I 

Jordan: love 

Devin: goosebumps and one of my first like novels that I remember being so proud that I wrote, read it beginning to end.

It was my first like big boy book was something called goblins, goblins in the castle. And I don't remember what much about it, but it was amazing. I like, and I became enthralled with it. And then I started reading other books and I, you know, you always have that like gateway, like that first book that like, Triggers it.

And oddly enough, I wasn't into Harry Potter as I was coming up, but everybody else was. And I, I don't know. I just, I liked, um, uh, I liked a little bit more like engaging thrillers. Like I was big into the Jurassic Park series, you know, the Michael Crichton and stuff like that. So reading things like that, but I loved Harry Potter watching it.

It's just reading it. I was like, there's so many things I can't pronounce in this. 

Lauran: That's how I felt about the series of unfortunate events like Lemony Snicket purposely uses so many very Ingenious and colorful vocabulary words and I love that he does that though because he makes a point to give context clues or just straight up give the definition.

He'll be like superfluous a word which here means blah blah blah and you know, I like as a kid. I didn't really understand or appreciate the value in that. But now I'm like, I brag about that to my students and I'm like, here, read this book. You need to gain more vocabulary. But yeah, definitely the Goosebumps book.

Those were awesome. 

Devin: I had a lot of a really odd. So I'm big into poetry. And like, if you've ever, I wrote a kid's book, I wrote a kid's book and the kids book. I know it's, it's, it's all poems. And I wrote a second kid's book too, which I'll talk about later. But it's, um, 

Theme: yes. 

Devin: It's really just poetry. I've always been a big fan of poetry and, um, and I had teachers that just champion poetry for some reason and would just, and they, they would go deep into things.

Like, I remember I had a ninth grade teacher that did, um, a whole lesson on Tracy Chapman's fast car. Before there was any like, you know, and it was like, let's dissect the lyrics and let's talk about this lyrically as a song. And I've always thought that teachers, if you don't use song lyrics in your English lessons, like you're so missing out because there's so much deep, especially like 90s grunge, like I taught a, um.

I taught intensive reading when I first started and I was like, I'm having a trouble connecting to them. And so, yeah, , I literally played the music video for Metallica one. Uh, but before we did that, I had them read the lyrics and try to guess what it was about. And it, it's, it's, it's an amazing story. The actual song is, but yeah, but there were so many contexts 'cause they don't tell you exactly what it's about.

And they had so much fun dissecting it. And that's one of the few things, like literally like. 20 years on that the students will stop me and be like, you know, I became like a massive Metallica fan because of your class and like now I think of lyrics differently, like I actually like read them and don't just recite them because there's like deepness there and I'm like, yeah, 

Lauran: yeah, I remember one of my English teachers in.

Well, my only English teacher in 10th grade, we had to do a poetry portfolio, and it was this long project that was, um, like a, it was a whole binder we had to create where we had to, in the first half of the binder, analyze different poems and like have different aspects of poetry. Um, you know, highlighted and showcased that we understood what they were.

But then in the second half of the binder, we actually had to write our own poetry. And the, that was like one of my favorite projects of all time when I was in school. And I'm, I'm big into poetry and like, I've, I've realized over time that like, when I'm going through a hard time in my life or when something, you know, really difficult is happening, I.

Go straight into writing poetry like always it's just like I have a I have a black journal I every time I fill it up I get another black journal and it's just like it's it's just my outlet to get rid of all the feelings and to like put them down on paper and release them into the atmosphere but like Poetry seriously does have a soft spot in my heart.

So I love that you wrote a children's book of poetry. What's it about? If people haven't read it yet, because I love it. It's awesome. But tell our listeners it's 

Devin: called the teacher in the wild. And it's about seeing your teacher in public. And it's it's the crazy like ideas that come through your head when you're like, cool.

Why would they ever leave the classroom? Like, this doesn't make sense. That couldn't possibly be them. You know, there's gotta be somebody else has to be an imposter. And so, you know, I, I wrote it and, uh, it got a great, you know, reviews. A lot of teachers use it as like kind of a gateway to introduce them as real people.

You know, there are a lot of teachers love it, especially like end of year. They're like, so just so you know, during the summer. I'm going to go do real things. You may see me, you may see me at the movies. You may see me at the beach. You may see me somewhere because I'm a real person and they, they use it as kind of a segue.

And then my, my second book that I'm working on right now, it's being illustrated in the moment is called, um, teacher's last nerve and, uh, it's. It's all about a child, uh, who has heard rumblings of a teacher's last nerve, but nobody's ever seen it. They just know they're close. They know, they know it's there.

They were made aware of it. So they go on this hunt to try to find out if they can uncover a teacher's last nerve. And, uh, it's, it's really my gosh. Yeah, it's going to be is hopefully good, but I just, I really enjoy it. I love this one that I wrote and I'm like, this is, this is going to be another, yeah.

Really good one that I, I just enjoy reading it to the kids, you know? 

Lauran: Yeah. I'm sure it is. You're, you're just so creative. And I like, you think of concepts to write children's books about that. I feel like it's like everyone can relate to, but no one thought of it yet. And that's just so awesome. And I'm, I'm so happy for you that all of those are going so well, and I hope you continue to write more and more so I can add them to my collection.

I love that. You 

Devin: should do one. 

Lauran: I listen. I've we've been really busy over the past past few months. A lot of stuff going on, but it's definitely been in the in the back of my mind to, you know, I've always wanted to write Children's literature. So, you know, maybe someday that'll that'll cross over into actual action of mine, but it takes a lot.

I mean, yeah. Yeah, to write and publish your own books is it's a lot. 

Devin: Yeah, people are, you know, they read it and it takes you, you know, 10 minutes to read and, and they're like, right. And for some reason people think, oh, that took 10 minutes to write as well. And they're, they don't see the, the 50 other, like I'm scrapping this, let's not do this style.

There's no way that page will work. This illustration, this transition won't happen, you know, and the constant reworking. I mean, this, the, the, the, the current, Like iteration of it right now has probably existed for about 6 months and I touch it up literally like every week, like, I'll be on tour and I'll be like, okay, I have an hour.

Let me reread it. I forgot like, I forgot how to read it. Let me reread it right now and I will read it and I'll be like. That doesn't work. We're crossing this out. We gotta try this. So we gotta, you know, and so it's just line by line building it, but it's it's hard, but it is really is. 

Jordan: Yeah, I think, um, yeah, I was gonna say you touched on something there with, um, like any creative outlet like that, like your children's book.

I mean, I've seen you stand up the phenomenal job with like your stand up and everything. And anytime like you do something creative like that, I think it's always a little frustrating with, like you said, it's some people think like, Oh, it took 10 minutes to read 10 minutes The digest, so it took that short to make and that like, that's a tribute, like that's attributed to like your talents and everything, because like you do it so well, it seems like it's so easy to pull off and like you hide the fact of how much effort and time that goes into that creative process.

So it's, it's crazy. And it's just, um. When you're working on creative fields and like that, I don't think people really take the time to appreciate how much people are pouring in to those outlets and to those projects. And a lot of them are for like passion projects where they are spending countless hours on working on anything from music to books to stand up routines and everything.

So 

Lauran: absolutely. So talking about your stand up, because that's what everyone knows you for. You're the funny man. Um, so I have a question for you. If you could pick three people to do stand up with, living, alive, or dead, who would you choose and why? 

Devin: Okay, um, I'm a big fan of Gaffigan. I love Gaffigan. I love his, uh, his mentality.

I'd like to sit with him for sure. And then, Rodney Dangerfield was my original, like he was the O. G. No Respect was the very first album I ever. Oh my gosh. And I just listened to that nonstop and I thought that was great. And then, uh, last one would be, probably be Dave Attell, which is kind of a wild one, but, um, he's a, he's a comics comic.

He's like great. And he was, I remember, and the reason I say Dave Attell is because I loved listening to Rodney, but I memorized Dave Attell's album. And which I can't say the name of it on this podcast, but it's a great, uh, I've memorized the album and that was my first taste of stand up because I took the memorization of it went to school and I was like, guys, let me tell you a joke and I, I like would recite like his stand up and they would laugh and I was like, man, how cool would it be to have.

My own, like my own, something that other people would recite and then it came around full circle years later when I was doing a radio show with, um, Grady Judd, who's, uh, uh, the famous, uh, sheriff from Polk County. You seen him on TV. He's all over the news. He he's in the national news, by the way, and I was on the radio with him and, and I go, yeah, I'm a teacher.

I'm a teacher comedian. He goes, really. He goes, man, old man, he goes, I love comedy. He goes, you know, I saw a teacher comedian a while back. He had one of my favorite ever jokes about this student named Pepsi. And I go, that's my joke. And he goes, he goes, it was you. And it was like, and I'm sitting there thinking, man, this guy took my joke from, you know, that performance and he remembered it years later and here he is telling it to me.

And I'm like. That was the goal. The goal, the whole goal was to have humor that was, you know, spread throughout and to, to, to spread the laughter and be 

Lauran: memorable like that. 

Devin: Yeah. I mean, 

Lauran: well, you're doing an awesome job of it, man. I mean, seriously, like that, I think what a gift to, to want to be able to just make people laugh, like for, to make people happy and make people laugh for living, like what a, what a job, right?

Like, okay. Some of my favorites and obviously like, I am, I am not. I'm not a stand up comedian, um, my favorite though are the ones that like tell stories and I think a few of my favorites are, um, Mike Berbiglia, he's one of my, my top favorites, and I actually have a funny story about that, so, a few years back, I think we were headed home from a concert or something.

Yeah, 

Jordan: we were coming home from Columbus, I believe. 

Lauran: Okay, and we're, it's like 11 o'clock at night, and we're driving on the highway, and all of a sudden, I get A DM on TikTok, and I open it up. And I just, I'm like, Oh my God. I'm like, it's Mike Berpiglia just DM'd me and I'm like freaking out because this is like, you know, before I, I was big on Tik TOK at all.

Like I was just like making content for funsies and. Mike Berbiglia messages me, so I'm like, okay, what do I say back to him? Like, hi! So I'm trying to start this conversation with Mike Berbiglia, and he's actually answering me back, and he's just like, I don't even know. The only thing I can attribute to this is that it was late, and he may or may not have been intoxicated and accidentally DM'd me, but I had like a short brief conversation where Mike Berbiglia and I were friends for like, 15 minutes and it is the highlight of my life.

So I thought I was so cool for having a comedian, a comedian that messaged me back and was like conversing with me. I'm like, what is happening? 

Devin: So I have the exact opposite story with Mike, uh, Oh, no, I was listening to Mike's podcast where he has called working it out and I think it's called working it out and he's literally like writing jokes as he's going and I listened and I was like, Okay.

Dude, that's a great bit. And in my mind, I was like, it would be a great bit if he like took it this way. And I messaged him on Instagram. I was like, Hey, I love that bit. You did. Have you thought about taking it this way? And he, he just responded with like a thumbs up. And I was like, well, I'm quitting comedy forever.

I was like, I was like, I'm done. 

Theme: I was like, nevermind. 

Devin: That was. That was a ridiculous idea. Why would I suggest that? Sorry. 

Jordan: Oh, a few years down the road when he actually uses your bit and then you begin to like, I inspired him to be like, 

Lauran: Hey, I, I said to do that. And then, um, uh, John Mulaney, I love John Mulaney and he's, he's somebody that I recite jokes.

From constantly like I will we live in memes. Yeah, and you know, we just will take random lines of His sets and just say them around the house. But, um, what about you? Who are your favorites? 

Jordan: I know one's old school that I'll go with, uh, growing up. I don't know why he had such a lasting impact. I think it was just because of like the deadpan delivery, the just like the segues were there, but not really.

There was Mitch Hedberg, his like one liners and just. I don't they were just gold especially when I was a kid like just some of like the his puns and everything we're just like it was just next here and I love him I wish you would have been around a lot longer than he was I think he would have definitely like cemented himself like he's already kind of a hall of fame comedian but like even more so he had so much influence on so many even someone like the comedians like we're all talking about have big and he's had a big influence on and then um, I'm also a big Tom Segura fan, so I do love Tom Segura.

I opened for Tom before 

Devin: Tom was Tom. Oh, man. I've got old pictures of me and him, and he was, he was, he was great. Very nice guy when I was working with him. 

Lauran: Anyway, okay. I, I kind of got ahead of myself, but how, I'm so, I'm just so curious. How did you get From being a teacher in a classroom to stand up comedy.

Like, what was that route? Like, what did the road look like? 

Devin: I owe it all to the student. I mean, that's just dead serious. It's I, um, I went to a school. I taught at a school, um, where we, um, we, we had so many problems early on and it was like bomb threats or people calling out and it was, it was a lot of issues within the school.

And there was like a whole week one time where they moved like six classes into the, um, the auditorium. And they were like, Siebel, just keep an eye on them. And I quickly learned just keeping an eye on them was not going to work because I was keeping an eye on them committing like several felonies, you know, and I'm like, all right.

We gotta, we gotta keep you entertained. I gotta, I gotta do something. And so 

Lauran: now's my chance. 

Devin: I'd never considered comedy. I, I was a writer. I wrote comedy a lot. I actually, it's, it's, I run, uh, ironically, a lot of, um, articles that you probably read growing up through college on college humor, 

Theme: uh, 

Devin: college humor, e bombs world, those were like.

Big millennial sites. I wrote those. Yeah, I wrote. Are you serious? I was a ghostwriter for a lot of. 

Lauran: Did we not just watch it? I was about to say, we just 

Jordan: watched a college humor video this morning. We watched the, uh, Oreo CEO bit. Yeah, it wasn't. I didn't do that one, but I, I was going to say I 

Devin: wrote a college.

Lauran: We grew up on college humor. Yes, we 

Devin: did. Oh my gosh. So I wrote a ton of stuff and, and, and I were, I was sitting in, in there with them We were just, just hanging out and I'm like, it's getting chaotic. And I was like, guys, guys, um, how many of you want to hear a story of me in college? I got a funny story and I told them this story, , and it's, it's a true story, but I'll just keep it brief.

Yeah. But me and my buddies are first like college party. We were like, we're going to a college party. This is awesome. And we were like, we have to bring booze. We have to bring alcohol. We have to come like as. Proper guests. And we, we, uh, managed to get somebody to buy stuff for us. And we, we were like, okay, we're going to the college party.

This is awesome. You've got the address. Yeah. And so we pull up and there's all these cars and we were like, this is going to be so cool. And we walked inside, like knocked on the door, the door opens, we walk inside and there's like four of us. I mean, just with alcohol and rate a party and we we've turned the corner and we were at a three year old's birthday party.

We went to the wrong home. 

Theme: Oh, no, we went to the 

Devin: so we're just standing there and we're like, uh, happy birthday and they're like, what side of the family are you on? You're like distant. Distant and, uh, and we stayed for a little bit and then we were like, okay, well, that was a disaster, but I told that to the students and they laughed so hard and that, but I had their attention the whole time.

Theme: Yeah. 

Devin: And then like two days later, it happened again. And they were like, everybody, the auditorium, Siebel, keep an eye on them. And they were like, story, story. And I just started telling stories from college. And one student on the way out goes, Hey man, he goes, you're really funny. Have you ever thought about standup?

And I was like, no, not really. And he's like, I don't know, give it a shot. And I was like, all right. So I signed up for the local standup class and the rest is history. I made a career out of it. Wow. Yeah. 

Lauran: That's amazing. I think 

Jordan: the most important question is, did you get some birthday cake? 

Devin: Yes, we did. We did get birthday cake.

Jordan: Yes. 

Lauran: I love that you showed up at the wrong house, but stuck around and like stayed for the three year old's birthday. Yep. 

Devin: It was, it was awesome. It was, well, you know, that three year old. They're, they're going to remember that one. I bet the next year they were like, where are my uncles at? Like they were, 

Lauran: yeah.

Where are my three stranger uncles? I'm really hoping 

Jordan: they took some family photos and you guys are in there too. They were taking photos and stuff. Oh my gosh. Yes. And 

Lauran: they're probably like. What happened to those guys? That's hilarious. Well, on that note, we will be right back. We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to I got one more question for you before we move on to our super fun game.

Okay, so one last question before we start on our Our game, because obviously our, our podcast is focused mainly on diving into those important relationships, you know, whether that was a teacher that you had that made an impact on your life or maybe a student, um, but like, what is one of your favorite memories, um, from your time in the classroom or a time when you feel like you truly made an impact on somebody's life?

Devin: Um, so I've got kind of a different angle on this, so I, I, I enjoyed the teaching and the impact I made on the kids for sure, but it all goes back to the impact that another teacher made on me that I was able to make that. Further that impact, I had a professor, um, when I was in college that he saw, I was like senior year and I was like, motivation level.

It was just dropping like, I was straight days, but that last that last little and I was like, I said, dude, I don't even know if I, if I want to be a teacher, I said, I really. I don't know if it's going to be fulfilling. Should I maybe look into medical school or something like that? And he goes, you know what?

He said, um, here's 50 bucks. He said, go spend it on somebody else. And it was during Thanksgiving. He said, spend it on somebody else and then come back and talk to me. And I was like, What? Like that doesn't make any sense to me. You know, he goes, I saw it on Oprah. It'll work. I was like, okay, I 

Lauran: believe in hope.

Devin: And so the wild thing is I took the 50 bucks and I got my buddy who had a car at college. I didn't have a car and we went and we bought some Thanksgiving groceries and we took it to an underserved neighborhood and we gave out some of the groceries to local families for Thanksgiving. We were like, here's some, some groceries to help you out with Thanksgiving.

The look on their faces, the appreciation for just bringing up just a little bit of groceries to their house, just flabbergasted. Like, oh, my gosh, kindness exists in the world. You know, people that hadn't seen that kindness in a probably a long while. And and I just felt this energy and I went back and I was like, I get it.

Like, it. There's more in this world than just me, you know, and there's a way to give back. There's a way to pass on love and knowledge and pass on passion. And I do want to teach now. I get it because I really enjoyed that feeling of gifting something to somebody. And if I can gift. You know, knowledge or a career or some success to somebody and help somebody else out and and I really enjoyed like those moments in the classroom where you see the kids go on to do amazing things.

You know, you teach the student and they message you later. Hey, I just got hired at the State Department. I just want to let you know you're my favorite teacher. You inspired me in the politics area. Oh, hey, I just, uh, you know, I'm a stockbroker now and I remember your lesson in economics and it inspired me and you see those things and it's amazing.

And then I started. Really passionately into charity. I started working with St. Jude about 15 years ago. And so I'm an ambassador for St. Jude. I went to their creator summit last year again, and then I'm representing them in a 5k and Disney 5k. And then I started working with the coalition for the coalition for the homeless Orlando produced documentary for them.

Did, um, 5 years running. I've. I've raised money for the treasure coast food bank over like over 20, 000 almost every year. And then I started my, my own charity last year called teacher's pet. And we help out teachers with the cost of adoption, vaccination, and any veterinary bills. And we just sponsored 10, um, adoptions in South Bend, Indiana.

Jordan: Oh my gosh. If you're a 

Devin: teacher, you can go to your local, um, uh, pet adoption. Clinic in South Bend, Indiana, and I'll give you the details later. I forget the name of it off the top of my head and your adoptions free. We take care of that. Wow. That's amazing. And we're helping other teachers too. There was a teacher that couldn't afford the cost of, uh, the, um.

Uh, allergy shots for their dog. So we bought a year's worth of allergy shots. So she doesn't have to worry about that, you know, cause I had a dog and I can tell you guys have dogs and I, I had an, I have a dog now, but my, my old dog, uh, was Landon and Landon was the sweetest dog in the world. But at the time I was teaching in Florida, one of the lowest paid districts in the lowest paying state.

And something would happen to him. And the first thought in my mind was not, okay, let's heal him. It was, how can I afford this? Like, how does this, you know, and I just, isn't that 

Lauran: such like a heartbreaking thought to like, you have to decide between. You know, saving your family loved pet and, you know, putting food on the table like that's such a horrible choice to have to make.

Devin: Yeah, exactly. And and that's what we will hope to get rid of that that burden and help out teachers and, uh. And it's doing amazing things. But I, again, all that stuff, the fundraising, the St. Jude, the helping the kids, the, the, the teacher's pet. I just go right back to that magical 50 bucks that, uh, that Dr.

Williams at Flagler college, he gave that 50 to me and he had no idea what he was doing. He just, he was, he, I say that he didn't know like the future. It would be, he knew what he was doing. Yeah. He was trying to get me to know 

Lauran: what an impact it was going to make on your life. Entirely, 

Devin: I was operating up to that point with internal motivation, and he was like, there's something outside of you that you're not aware of.

And so the second I became more aware of the communities that I would serve, the I worked in title one schools the whole time, 13 years, and everybody's like, why don't you go to the better schools, the better paying schools? I enjoyed where I worked because I felt like I had a higher purpose and could make more of an impact and stick with those kids.

And, uh, and again. All goes back to Mr. Williams, you know, so Dr. Williams. So, uh, yeah, so looking back, that's his impact that was passed on to me. That was hopefully passed on to, you know, the next generation. And that's what you try to do. 

Lauran: That's that is like the best story, best answer. I feel like we could ever expect it from that question.

So kudos to you, Dr. Williams. All right. I think that's a great place to head into our game. So. We are going to play a game that is called Classroom Chaos. Um, so I'm going to give everybody a scenario, like their own little tricky, like, ridiculous classroom scenario. And you have to come up with some kind of creative solution on the spot.

Just whatever comes to mind. How would you deal with this scenario? So Oh boy. Okay, so Jordan, here is your scenario. Okay. The fire alarm goes off. 

Theme: Yes. 

Lauran: But instead of the usual drill, the school has decided to mix things up with a surprise zombie apocalypse simulation. Half of the students have zombie makeup on and are chasing the others.

How do you maintain control and keep your survivors calm? 

Jordan: Oh my gosh. First, first off. Good 

Lauran: luck. 

Jordan: We're just, we're pulling fire alarms when zombies have arised. Isn't that going to drive them to the problem? Like, that's just adding to the problem. So number one, we're killing the fire alarm. I think that's a good place to start.

Theme: Okay. 

Jordan: Um, so I'm assuming this is a drill, correct? Yes, it's a drill. Okay, this is a drill. It's a simulation, yes. Yes, yes, yes. 

Devin: All right. See, this is a testament to teachers, by the way, because you would have already died in the zombie apocalypse. We have to think a lot quicker than that, a lot quicker than that.

Lauran: Right, you can't, you can't be like, hold on kids, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta sort this out. Hold 

Jordan: on. See, yeah, that's, that's the problem with like, in my, my career is creative direction. So I have to think about like 50 different ways something can go. So I'm sitting here, it's like, well, if I do this. And then this happens.

But if I don't do that, then that happens. So I'm dead. So, um, my soul reincarnates. Now I'm one of the kids. So I'm gonna have, yes, I'm gonna lead the group of kids. Um. 

Lauran: Is 

Jordan: the 

Lauran: fire alarm still cut off? 

Jordan: Yeah, we cut off that fire alarm. Okay, so 

Lauran: that was your quick choice. That's my quick choice. You cut the fire alarm and now you reincarnated as a student.

Jordan: Because I'm dead. Okay. So I'm dead. You died. 

Lauran: Now you're a student. 

Jordan: Okay, so then I'm gonna be like, oh, I messed up. So let's all go to a classroom and lock ourselves in. 

Lauran: Oh. Okay. 

Jordan: But see, now I'm concerned because what if one of them's bitten and it's always in a horror movie. Somebody gets bitten. 

Lauran: And they hide it.

And they hide 

Jordan: it. 

Lauran: So what's going to happen then? 

Jordan: Oh, we're all dead. 

Lauran: So I don't feel comfortable being like, 

Jordan: yeah, I was gonna say, I don't feel comfortable being like, oh, did you get bit? No. Did you get bit? No. Did you get bit? No. Did you get bit? No. Everyone said they didn't get bit. Little Timmy got bit. Now he's a zombie.

Now we're all dead. Cause we're locked in the room with little Timmy. Well, 

Devin: it's just world war ABC. I 

Lauran: love that. Okay. Okay. Devin. All right. Your scenario is. You accidentally get yourself stuck in the window while trying to close it, and now you're halfway in and halfway out of the classroom. The students are laughing and no one is offering help.

What's your game plan to get out? Physically and with your dignity intact. 

Devin: I don't. Okay. So what I do is I say, listen, students, what I need you to do is I need you to pick up my phone, open up TikTok and hit record because this 

Lauran: is going 

Devin: viral instantly. And either way I fall, I'm thinking a million views.

I'm thinking at least, and, and I think that you just lean into it. You got to laugh with them, you know, to be honest with you, there is no dignity half the time in teaching. It's just like, there's 

Lauran: not, 

Devin: yeah, the dignity is gone 

Lauran: from day one. 

Devin: Exactly. Yeah. I, I, I split my pants one time and I went home and changed them.

I was like, I have just enough time to go home, changed them. And then I came back to school the next day. I forgot, I split my pants and I put on those pants again. And I literally went to school in the split pants. I'm like halfway through second period, by the way, first period. Let me just 

Lauran: do it. I've got the 

Devin: kids are like, um, your pants are like really split.

And I'm like, wow, thanks for. Letting me know first period, uh, it was, it was at some point you just got to laugh it off, you know, laugh it off. Oh my God. That is a 

Lauran: nightmare situation. I can't imagine if I ever split my pants at school and then had to like, and okay, other question, how. Close to your school.

Did you live that? You could just leave and go change your pants and come back before school started. 

Devin: Um, about 10 minutes away. But you know what? I was I was luckily there early that day for some reason. I don't know. Um, contract hours. Yeah. If I had been on contract hours, it would have been a miserable.

Bad idea. 

Lauran: Yeah, no, I, I, if I ever had to leave my school building, I never worked at a school that I lived close enough that I could just go somewhere and come back. It's like I need an hour to get there and back. That's amazing. Oh my gosh. Okay. Alright, my scenario is a student insists their parent is an alien and has arranged for a parent teacher conference to prove it.

When the parent arrives dressed like they just came off a spaceship, the entire class is convinced. How do you navigate this bizarre conversation? Okay, first things first, why am I holding a parent teacher conference midday in front of my entire class? That's my first question But okay, like they're am I trying to figure out if they're aliens or not?

Like they're they want me to prove it 

Devin: What you do is you sit there and you go I'm thinking of all the bad things your children have done You can see inside my brain then we can just make this happen. It's a lot easier 

Lauran: Oh my gosh, so I guess this okay for I guess this conversation. I first I'd be like, um You know, I think this is a great opportunity to bring in our school counselor because they would know the best resources to give you.

Devin: And they speak Klingon. And 

Lauran: they just, they just might. 

Devin: Yeah. 

Lauran: Uh, and then I guess I would just kind of go with it because I, I'm not going to tell them they're not an alien. You be you. You know, if you feel like you're an alien, you be an alien. I 

Jordan: see a theme here of just going with the flow. That 

Lauran: is literally 100 percent of teaching.

Just go with the flow. I mean, you can have a game plan. It's probably not gonna work or go exactly how you plan at all. So 

Devin: exactly. Absolutely 

Lauran: not. Well, anyway, that was fun. I like that. Yeah, I liked I like jordan's zombie apocalypse and he's just dying like he just gave up 

Devin: so actually i'm working on a new comedy bit at jordan you just proved that i need to really work on this comedy bit because i think oh no no no no no that i think it's going to be something see lauren did you go to school to become a teacher 

Lauran: i did.

Devin: See, so did I, and I think there's like something where, where people like me and Lauren say, uh, we say, Hey, you know, they keep doing this temporary certificate thing for these other teachers and letting people, and we went to school for it. And like, I think generally teachers have this idea that, uh, it shouldn't be that, you know, we're kind of gatekeeping our, our profession, but I don't know.

I kind of want somebody with no experience to go into a zombie apocalypse because of the entertainment factor alone, you know, like, I think, you know, it's like, you have no experience. Okay, go ahead and try it, go for it, you know, and then we can, it's just, it's much better to watch from the outside and just go.

Did you hear what happened over in the zombie apocalypse room the other day? 

Lauran: I. I, is there a show like that? Like, I know there's like wife swap. Is there a job swap? 

Jordan: I think that would be, that would be the funniest thing to see you and me switch jobs. Oh yeah. I feel like you could absolutely with, especially with your skill sets from teaching and stuff, you could absolutely do my job.

There is no way how? Oh, absolutely not. I could not, there, there's no way in hell I'm doing your job . 

Lauran: I I could 

Jordan: not make it feel like an hour, I feel like in your 

Lauran: job. Okay. So like, Jordan's a creative director, so he has to know how to use like, all the Adobe products and everything. Like, like the actual professional ones.

Like I could use like Adobe Express and that's about it. And like. He has to make things from scratch. So I would be up there with like, what's the, was it paint? Just like Microsoft, right? Was that Microsoft? 

Jordan: Microsoft Paint. Yeah, I 

Lauran: would be on Microsoft Paint just like, okay, you need a flyer. I'm gonna write it in paint for you.

Is this, does this work? Like, I could not and would not. It would come out horrible. Everything would look terrible. Um, but you, I, I know we've had this discussion multiple times, Jordan, but I know like you told, because I keep saying, I'm like, Oh, well, you know, someday when we have a kid, would you teach them guitar?

Because Jordan plays guitar and he's like, Nope. I'm like, Why not? You're so good at it. You could easily teach them how to play. He's like, I can't teach. I don't have the patience for that. I could not teach. I'm not a teacher. And he just like is adamant on that. So I I can just imagine you walking into my classroom and losing your patience in five minutes.

I 

Jordan: think it, it take about, according to you and your one video, it would take five minutes after being, being asked Mr. Woolley 20 times. And then they're not really being a question at the end of Mr. Woolley. 

Lauran: Yeah, no, it's, yeah, I, I did that, um, that trend on TikTok where you get a clicker and you count how many times like they call, you call, they call your name or I think we did how many times they called our names.

Um, got out of their seat without asking or, like, interrupted class for, like, something completely unrelated. And by the end of the day, I think we were up to, like, 150 or 200 times. 

Jordan: You're up to 200 times. Yeah, 

Lauran: it was a lot. Um, but you know, I was pretty proud of myself because I didn't realize just how patient I actually am.

Devin: Very it takes patience of a saint to be a teacher for sure. Jordan, I've got an idea. How about I give you 50 to spend on somebody else? Let's see if you can find a higher purpose and uh, 

Lauran: I will say, he does have that higher purpose because he, like, so Jordan, he has a funny background with his, like, college career because he went to school for three years for nursing because originally he went pre med, he wanted to be a doctor, and then switched to nursing, did that for three years, and then after his, like, one round of clinical rotations, he was, like, Peace out.

I'm done. No, thanks. But now he works for a nonprofit health care organization and kind of mix the two together. So like, you know, I know you've talked about that before. You're like, I always want to be in medicine in some fashion because I like Being able to help people and I like being able to get people the information they need to get health care so you kind of still ended up there when 

Jordan: I first left high school and everything plan was to become a doctor I did not I'm not one I love working I did not want to be working like.

Doctor hours of 80 to 100 hours a week, especially because what I wanted to go into was anesthesia. So I was just like, no, I'm good, man. I like my free time. I like coming home and being able to just like shut off for the hour I have. So they don't even get that hour I get to shut off for. So, um, but yeah, then I went into nursing because it was a Slightly less hours.

Um, let me just tell you, it takes about one clinical rotation in a nursing home to realize, oh my gosh, this is too sad for me. That was really rough. Um, just, I, I was lucky enough, fortunate enough to be in a very good nursing home. It was just very sad. From the aspect of we had some amazing patients that were in their people who had just hearts of gold were the nicest people and then nobody there to see them either because their families were all out of state or, and it was just, it was really heartbreaking.

Um, 

Lauran: Yeah, especially everyday either. 

Jordan: Yeah. And then, like I said, too, is I was also in a Alzheimer's unit. So it was, that was another thing that was really sad to you. You almost had to introduce yourself and build a connection every day with somebody. And it was just really. For me, it was really hard. And I was just like, I, I don't know if I can go into nursing.

It just left. I don't want to say a bad taste in my mouth. It just left a taste in my mouth of like, I don't know with everything that comes with medicine, if I would be able to do this because you go into just like 

Lauran: emotionally taxing. It's a very, 

Jordan: it's the only other career I know of that. Besides teaching, nursing is one that I shout them out a lot because that's another field where you do a lot of the dirty work in medicine.

Um, you do a lot of. Doctors are very busy. So a lot of the times like they have to come in, they break the news and they have. 50 other patients they have to go to. So their time is very precious and they have to keep moving. And nurses, a lot of the times will end up having to take on that role of almost like caregiver too at the same time.

And it's a very 

Lauran: They wear many hats. They 

Jordan: do. And um 

Lauran: So seriously, shout out to every medical worker out there. Yes, absolutely. You guys are doing the Lord's work. Oh yeah, especially 

Jordan: post COVID. They are, I get to, I, like, I work with doctors and everything. They are burnt out beyond belief. I 

Lauran: can't even imagine, but, uh, couldn't, couldn't be me.

I could never do what you do. So I, you know, thank you for everything you do for everyone to take care of all of us when we're sick and not feeling good. That's awesome. On 

Devin: a side note, I don't know if you, you all know this, but, um, Uh, I take my children to trick or treat in the local nursing home. And a lot of people don't realize that a lot of nursing homes open their doors for trick or treaters.

And it's an amazing, like I'm telling you, the residents there, that's they're like Christmas, that's their light up day of the year. All the young kids come through and they light up and it's, it's just a really cool interaction. And, uh, the, the local nursing home by my home does a great event. And so I don't know if you're if you have a nursing home nearby, you know, ask if they do that If not, maybe see if they're interested in starting up something like that because it it benefits everybody, you know and uh, but they they get to Go around the kids get to trick or treat and all the the residents get to see The young kids come through and all their get ups and outfits and it's a big deal Yeah, 

Lauran: yeah, and I like I know this is airing like, you know into the winter season but you know that but that's still like my okay like just last night my Brother took my nephew Frankie's he's um, well at this point, he's only eight like almost eight months old and he went as Franklin the turtle from like Nick jr and He took him because my grandpa is in a nursing home right now And he took him to the nursing home and they just did that and they like they buy all the candy for the residents And they have them all lined up in the hallways, and it is like just seeing the joy on their faces.

I wasn't there, but the photos were like, oh my, they were melting my heart. They loved it. So absolutely, if you guys have the chance, I mean, who says we can't do it for other holidays? Like Valentine's Day. Yeah. Do like a little Valentine's Day walkthrough. 

Devin: And pass 

Lauran: out some candy 

Devin: and every single time there's always one resident there who passes out candy with a reckless abandoned.

They're like, there's just one. He's like, I just take this. It just throws it into the bag. He's like, I need more candy down here. And he's just throwing it all in. And it's just, it's the best. 

Lauran: We love it. My, my grandpa, so my grandpa is a talker and every, every child that came up to him to get candy, he would sit there and try to have a 10 minute conversation with them and they'd have to be like, okay, grandpa, you got to let him go because he's got to go to the next person and he's like, I'm just talking like, but it's, yeah, it's seriously such a cool event.

So, I mean, anytime that we can get kids or pets into nursing homes to, you know, engage with. Patients there is gonna make their day. Oh, yeah. Thank you so much Devin. I know you're you're you know, you're on the road right now So you're in a hotel room, but thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to talk with us It's been so fun Before you go any other projects or anything else you want to share with anyone?

Devin: No, I do speaking in schools. So if you want some laughter, it's all laugh filled. It's exactly what Everybody would want in schools. So I took, I took everything that I've ever seen a speaker do in school. And I said, I don't want to do that. And so it's a teachers need laughter. com and, uh, it's got all the schools I speak at and a little bit of what I do.

And, um, and then obviously the second book will be out soon, hopefully, uh, by the time this, uh, this airs. And, um, and so, yeah, check that out. Awesome. Thanks again for having me. It's been, it's been amazing. 

Lauran: Yeah, absolutely. And, um, everyone who wants to follow Devin, you can find him, uh, by his words, pretty much everywhere, uh, on Devin Seybold, except TikTok is Devin Comedy.

So, thanks again for coming on our show, and we will be right back. Alright, I, I can't say enough amazing things about Devin, seriously. He's super nice. He's just like, he does so much for people, like, that isn't Well, no, I'm glad he shared all of the different like charity works that he does because that's fantastic 

Jordan: No, I really that that teacher's pet one is 

Lauran: it's amazing stuck 

Jordan: out to me so much just because I I think a lot of People um, I know I've done that in my own work too when I'm just talking about like oh like, you know one of the things a lot of people forget about when we're donating and that is pets, um and everybody like You know, they're a part of our family and our dogs are 

Lauran: our children.

Our dogs are something 

Jordan: so, so heartwarming to see, um, helping people like, so they don't have to put their pets up for adoptions and they can keep them in their loving homes and everything. Cause that's one of the things I know a lot of people worry about when they have to put up their like pets for adoptions.

It's like, well, I know they're in a loving home now and I love this. Animal like a member of my family and then having to be like, I have to give them up. I don't know if this home is going to be a safe home for them just to help avoid that at like all costs and helping not having 

Lauran: to make that choice between taking care of your animal or taking care of your family.

Like, I love that. That's awesome because we're huge, huge animal lovers in this 

Jordan: household. I was about to say we're huge dog people. We are 

Lauran: dog people. I know Jordan always like, Yells at me because we can't get a cat because I'm allergic. Um, And I I know like I'm allergic to dogs and I'm allergic to cats But 

Jordan: yeah, but I was gonna say I I can say I 

Lauran: can handle being in a room with dogs It's yeah, the the cats do try 

Jordan: to murder you through them through a biological mechanism Yes, 

Lauran: my friend had three cats and we would go over her house and I would purposely not wear Any makeup on my face because I knew I was going to be clawing my eyes out within 15 minutes of being there.

It's funny, 

Jordan: when you get in there, you're all like, Hi, alright, we're ready to go. And then you're like, Alright, we're leaving now. Because your face is so puffy. It was swollen. And it's swollen. And I have a stuffy nose. I was about to say, you're just snotting everywhere. You're just, you're starting to wheeze.

Because like, I can hear, it's just like, alright, it's time to leave. I 

Lauran: know. And someone was like, well, get a hairless cat. And I was like, I'm not Dr. Evil. See, 

Jordan: my problem is, is the cat breed I want is a Maine Coon and it's those big fluffy cats. 

Lauran: Yeah, the fluffiest, biggest cat you could find. They're so pretty though.

They are pretty. Like, I'm not, I, it's not that I don't like cats. I think cats are cute. I think they're, is fun the right word? I don't think so. I think they're funny. I think fun's the right word. 

Jordan: You know what? I think cat people are going to come at you now. I'm 

Lauran: sorry, cat people. I do like cats. I like cats.

Okay. I like cats. I just, I can survive around dogs. So we are a dog household. 

Jordan: You don't have to take Benadryl not to just not go to the hospital. 

Lauran: Correct. Correct. Uh, any who it is time for our special bond of the week. Um, so thank you, first of all, to Leslie who sent us a special bond. Um, they said, Story is that in kindergarten, I had this amazing teacher that would always greet me every morning by the door or say a compliment to me or about me.

She was a teacher that always smiled through my years of kindergarten, and even now, she still teaches classes with a positive energy every day. 

Theme: Aw, 

Lauran: I know Ki listen, kindergarten teachers. You're the real ones because you have to be on it every single day in order to keep that class in check and in order to like Well, to do anything, because kindergarten is a rough time, I'm not telling, I'm not, like, I'm not playing around, they have, they might have like, 24 kids, imagine a room with 24 5 year olds.

Jordan: I, as I said earlier, I would not survive. Five minutes. There's no I One kid, we're good. I can do this. Two kids, oh boy. Three kids, I'm giving up and I'm melting away. Anything past that, I am like, Oh my gosh, I need to call a professional. 

Lauran: But, like Seriously, kindergarten teachers, you have to have a special kind of heart and a special kind of energy to be a kindergarten teacher.

That's what I think it's the 

Jordan: energy level too. It really is. I think like, like, I could, if there was any like career in teaching for me, not that I would be good at it, because like I said, not my career path. I just, I am not built for it. Um, college professor, I could do. Well, most of them from my time when I was in college, most of us were.

Not paying attention on our laptops. So I feel like I could teach college professor because mostly you're just teaching the wall at that point. You could teach to a room of people who aren't listening to you. Hey, you know what? When I was in college, everybody was recording on voice memo. We were just there for the attendance point and then we would learn later.

And you know what? I would be happy with that. At least you're learning. Wait, 

Lauran: you did what? 

Jordan: Yeah, I would record the classes. 

Lauran: What? Okay, hold on. Couple questions about this one. 

Jordan: Because I could, like, the two to two and a half times. 

Lauran: Okay. 

Jordan: Yeah. On the classes later. And I would take Okay, but yeah, 

Lauran: uh, but you're already there.

Like sitting Yeah. You're already sitting through that time frame. Why not just listen? Because 

Jordan: I would listen to it when I was at work at the gas station. 

Lauran: Uh, it's still, uh, now you're just making it double the amount of time. I'm still not seeing the benefit here. Well, because I 

Jordan: had to be there. For attendance, 

Lauran: so listen, open your ear holes.

I was too 

Jordan: tired from previous college activities. 

Lauran: Oh my gosh. Okay. Don't take advice from my husband about college. Okay. Don't do that. Just, if you're going to go to class, it is fun. I'm saying, I'm not saying that I'm saying if you're going to go to class, put your ears on and listen, so you don't have to relearn it later.

Yeah, but like, 

Jordan: I 

Lauran: would just 

Jordan: be zoned out and then I would record it. And then when I would go to work later that night, because I worked at, 

Lauran: because you just loved your professors so much. Yeah, 

Jordan: I wanted, yeah, that's exactly it. I love my professor so much that I would want to listen to them again. Nice save.

At two and a half times. Yes, 

Lauran: nice save, nice save. Thank you so much, Leslie, for submitting your story. If you have a story that you would like us to read on the podcast, you can submit it at hello at we are fine pod. com. 

Jordan: So we want to know what you thought of the show. We want to know what you think of us as guests.

I know she's great guests for guests. 

Lauran: I'm a guest in this, you 

Jordan: know, we're guests in their ears. Tell us what you think of us as hosts. Um, you can do that by reaching out to us on. our social platforms. I'm sorry. 

Lauran: No, I love it. Keep going. 

Jordan: Keep going. 

Lauran: We are guests in your ears. Yeah, we're 

Jordan: guests in your ears.

for opening your ear holes to us. Yeah. You know what? It's, it's the most important holes. Stop. So come chat with us and have. Some fun with our, uh, human content podcast family. You can find us on Instagram and Tik TOK at human content pods or contact us directly by email at hello at we are fine pod. com.

Lauran: Also you can watch the full episode. In video form on my YouTube channel at Mrs. Woolley in fifth. 

Jordan: So we'd like to thank some people and thank you for listening. So we are, 

Lauran: thank you to us. Thank you to us. No, to you, Jordan. 

Jordan: You interrupted. I was gonna say, we are your. 

Lauran: Stop. Enough with the earhole. 

Jordan: So we are your, your lovely earhole guests.

Uh, this is Lauren Woolley. I'm Jordan Woolley. 

Lauran: Special thanks to our guest today, Devin Siebold. Make sure that you follow him at Devin Siebold or on TikTok at Devin Comedy. 

Jordan: The executive producers of We Are Fine Podcast are Lauren Woolley, Jordan Woolley, Aaron Courtney, Rob Goldman, and Shanti Brooks. 

Lauran: Our Our editor is Andrew Sims.

Jordan: Our engineer is Jason Portizzo. 

Lauran: Our music is by Omer Benzvi. 

Jordan: To learn about our program disclaimer and ethics policy and submission verification and licensing terms, go to our website or reach us at hello at wearefinepod. com with any questions or concerns. 

Lauran: This podcast discusses sensitive and challenging topics, including mental health and personal struggles.

If you're in crisis or need someone to talk to, please reach out to the suicide hotline at. 9 8 8 the suicide and crisis lifeline. You are not alone. 

Jordan: We are fine as a human content production

Hey you I love that shirt you're wearing and you know what would go great with that shirt What a nice big virtual hug and you can get that by hitting some of these buttons down here subscribe like comment We'll give you a big old virtual hug. 

Lauran: Thank you so much for listening and we will see you guys next wednesday.

Bye

​