The Mental Resilience of Taking Big Swings

Gerry: [00:00:00] You're rolling the dice on the GLP-1 farts. GLP-1 farts make you think you farted in somebody else's butt hole. You'll be like, "Who..." You, you'll know you farted, and then you'll smell it. You'll be like, "Yo, who farted?" Like GLP-1 farts are bad.

Andrea: How to Survive the Classroom. Hey, teacher besties. I am so excited to share with you that my book, They Never Taught Us That, is available right now. It is everything an experienced or first-year teacher needs to manage the chaos of a modern classroom, including some anecdotes to make you feel a little bit better because if there is a way that you can screw up, I've probably done it.

It also has advice on how to build trust with families, how to manage grading and lesson plans and IEPs, and everything else that they never went over in your teacher prep program. They Never Taught Us That is available everywhere right now.

Hey, teacher besties. Welcome [00:01:00] to How to Survive the Classroom. Um, ironically, we're both out here surviving the classroom. I'm wrapping up my semester. You are, I don't even know with your year-round schedule where you guys are at with things. 

Gerry: We're a couple weeks into quarter four. 

Andrea: Okay. Okay. And yet the thing that has me most exhausted, and probably you as well, is that we both, uh, had shows this last weekend, and you- Yes

had shows with some insanely talented comics. Who did you perform with this, this last weekend? 

Gerry: I did. So Thursday and Friday, we did one show Thursday, two shows Friday. I was opening for Joe Dombrowski, who's been on here before. Yep, friend of the pod. Saturday, I w- So I was in Columbus. Saturday, I went up to Cleveland and I did guest spots with Josh Johnson from The Daily Show.

Guys. 

Andrea: Guys. Gerry, on the way up. That is crazy. That's [00:02:00] crazy. Guys, Josh Johnson, like, not only is he, like, on The Daily Show, like, big time with all that, like, he sells out theaters. He's, like, the biggest. Was it amazing? 

Gerry: Yes. So all, as far as I can tell, he, so he's doing the club run right now, and he, I think he's wrapping it up in about a month or so, and all his club shows have been sold out.

He did the Raleigh Improv, which we did together. That's a 500-seat room. Yeah. He sold it out four times. Um, he sold out, uh, Charlotte Comedy Zone. That's the one I was on with him the first time, was Comedy Zone. And then he was doing six sold-out shows at Hilarities in Cleveland. 

Andrea: And how big is that? 

Gerry: And

I'm not sure. Okay. Uh, probably about 300. Guys It's a big, it's a big space 

Andrea: That, those are numbers. Those are crazy numbers. Especially when, I don't know if you saw this this last, like, couple of months, I feel like I've seen a bunch of [00:03:00] different musical artists have had to cancel their tours because they overestimated, I would say, where their fans were and how many fans they have that actually wanna come.

And concert tickets I feel like are way higher priced. Um, who was it? There was, uh, the one girl, All About That Bass. About That Bass, About That Bass. Meghan Trainor? Meghan Trainor. She canceled hers, and every... And, like, here's the thing. Like, I saw something where, uh, it was like a take online where somebody was like, "Why are these artists not being honest?"

I think it was like a, a TikToker or something that was like, "Be honest. Like, I overshot, and I don't have that many people that wanted to come see me." And I was like, okay, but no, you never wanna put that out there because no one wants to come to something that other... Like, that whole group mind is a thing, so I understand why she's like, "I just have, like, family things," because I, I think she just overshot it and she couldn't move enough tickets, which is a bummer to [00:04:00] be at that point in your career and then be like, "Uh-oh.

Uh-oh" 

Gerry: I, I'm doing that right now. I have a show tonight that I'm doing in Raleigh called Gerry and Friends at a little improv club called Comedy Works. Yeah. And it was 65 people seating. I'm like, okay. I, if I push this to people I know, 'cause I don't normally push too hard- Yeah ... for people to come to stuff 'cause I do so many shows in the same area.

Yeah. I was like, if I push this and I run ads, I can get 65 people in there. Not getting 65 people in there. No. It's enough for it to be a good show, but I'm not getting that many people. I think I'm in, like- Plus 10 ... I'm at, I, last I knew I was at, like, 23 at, and that, and not everyone's bought tickets. I'm like, okay, I might get to 30 or 35.

Andrea: Yeah. It's, you 

Gerry: know- For a small room I'll take it. I, but I'm like, man, nobody knows who I am. Why did I think I could sell like this? Well, you know, I mean- Why did I, why did I think I could 

Andrea: do this? You don't know until you, until you try it. I feel like I- there's not a single comic out there that doesn't, uh, [00:05:00] have a story like that, I feel like.

And okay, I was just listening to the Office Ladies pod recently, and Melora Hardin was on. And she's the one, for those of you guys who are friend, fans of The Office, she played Jan. Um, and, uh, uh, Gerry, I assume you've seen The Office. 

Gerry: I, I've seen it before, yeah. 

Andrea: Okay. Uh, she's, she plays like an insane character and stuff.

But or- originally, which I did not know this, but originally she was actually cast to be on Back to the Future, like way back in the day, and she lost it. After they had already cast her, they'd done promo stuff with her, all of that, and then she lost it because they had recast the main lead to Michael J.

Fox, and Michael J. Fox was shorter than her. And so they- Oh. Yeah. So they dropped- Short king. Yeah, they dropped her. Um- And it broke, like, it broke her heart. She was 17 when it happened. It broke her heart and, you know, she was talking about that. But I, I so appreciated what Melora Hardin said also after that [00:06:00] was, she's like, "In order for me to be successful in the business that I am, a business that a lot of people wanna get into, and it's very, very rare to have the kind of success and career I've had, I have to have failed so many more times than I've succeeded in order to be where I am right now."

Yeah. And I loved that, and I think that that, like, bridges not only our, like, comedy world, but also into our teaching world, where it's like we take a lot of swings with our students, and we hope that sometimes it hits and we're like, "Great, we nailed it. We knocked it out of the park." But just like with anything that is hard, we're gonna fail so many more times than we succeed, and we just kinda hope that the, the successes in the end are big enough to outweigh the failures, you know?

It just... And, and I think the same way with, with comedy. Um, and I feel like right now it, it, I think it also hit me 'cause I'm just taking a lot of swings and not all of them have landed in the way I always [00:07:00] want them. Because I mean, of course we, when anytime we do anything, like I released my book and it's selling, you know, okay, but I want it to be a New York Times bestseller.

Like- Right ... of course, who wouldn't, right? Um, and so, you know, we, we take our swings, but then, like, uh, we're gonna fail so many more times, and I think that's such a healthy mindset not only for comedians and entertainers to have, but also for, like, just people in general to recognize that, like, we're all failing so much more than we're succeeding in a lot of ways.

Gerry: Right. I can't remember who has the quote, but there's a quote like, "When you fail, you wanna fail up." Yeah. Like, you wanna fail, but you want it to be pushing you to something else. Like, you don't wanna just fail and be done or, or fail- Yeah ... and then try and stoop back down to whatever was working before.

It's like you wanna fail, but you wanna keep failing until, until you don't. 

Andrea: Yeah. My students just came back from the field and they were working with a bunch of middle schoolers in different classes, and I had warned them ahead [00:08:00] of time, I was like, "Guys, listen, like, the apathy is, is rough. Like, the apathy is real, the apathy is rough.

We're, we're struggling getting these kids engaged and caring about something." And they, they were like, "Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah." And then they came back and they were like, "Oh." Like, getting them to do anything. Like, I have, um, a few future math teachers that were working in, like, seventh to eighth grade math classes and they're like, it, it was kind of frustrating because, like, the teacher would tell them to do something and the kid wouldn't do it, and then the teacher wouldn't really do anything about that, the fact that the kid was like, "I'm not gonna do it."

The teacher was like, "All right," and just moved on. And my students were kind of frustrated by that. They're like, "Why wouldn't they push him? Why wouldn't they do more?" And I was like, "I'm gonna be really honest." Those teachers are probably very tired. Like, there's a couple things here, right? Because when I first started teaching, I feel like I would have a few in each class that were like that, and I would have a little bit of time to, to spend to, like, encourage them and get them on track.

But [00:09:00] then when the pandemic happened and all of that, it felt like 3 became 10 to 12 students per class that had that level of apathy. And I was like, you know, these teachers are looking at their class of 25 kids in this district, and they see that there's six kids, maybe 10 kids that don't wanna try. But the rest of the kids do.

Are they gonna spend the entire time begging and cajoling those 10, six to 10 kids to get them to do some work, or are they going to allow the kids who actually care be successful? And I don't know. Have you, have you seen that in your class, and what is, what is your take on that? Like, do you feel like as educators, we owe more of a responsibility to the kids that want to try or to the ones that are, like, kinda mentally checked out?

Gerry: It, it's hard 'cause, um, the kids, the kids who wanna try, I feel like will find their way to try. And [00:10:00] maybe sometimes it's getting the kids who wanna try and trying to get them to connect with the kids who don't, whether that's letting them do group work together or how, or stations, however you need to do it.

Um, I think it's tough, um, too, like, and something I've had to deal with. Like, I, I just got back from break, and I feel like I'm still dragging. Yeah. And it's like, it's, it's almost, it's hard to get kids to try when I don't wanna try half the time. Like, it's been- Yeah ... bad. Like- Yeah ... um, so I, I feel like it, it falls more to the ones who don't want to try 'cause there's, um, some of them you see, they'll come in some days, and they're like, "Hey, look what I did," and they want the recognition for doing well.

And then other days, they're like, as soon as they hit a wall, they're like, "Okay, I'm out." 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: And there's you trying to find a way to motivate the ones who are, like, on the bridge and trying to identify who's on, like, right [00:11:00] there at, man, we could get them really rolling. Yeah. Um, for the ones who just don't, don't have want, have any motivation, it's like, yeah, it's tough 'cause sometimes it's hard to tell if they, if there is something that will motivate them or not, and some of them don't.

Some of them are, um, just coming in, and I don't, and I, it's, I don't know where that comes from. 

Andrea: Yeah. Well, and I feel like also, uh, the, the research on the impacts of the pandemic and what it did socially and, like, emotionally and mentally to just the culture in general, um, I feel like there's not a whole lot of studies, and there's not a whole lot of anyone I've talked to that's like, "Ah- I figured it out.

Like, no apathy in my classroom. I mean, I've talked to some people that, number one, the devices not being in the classroom has been really helpful for schools that have officially outlawed, like, no phones in the classroom whatsoever. Um, and it actually is, like, enforced. I've heard from those teachers that it [00:12:00] is absolutely incredible.

Um, so I think that that's probably a step, because I keep on reading all of these articles now that are talking about how our phones are... Like, and we all knew that our phones were kind of making us dumber, but now there's actually studies where this guy got, like, brain scans, and then he put his phone, like, in a lockbox.

And so if he got onto the internet, he had to sit down at, like, a desk and log onto the internet to do something. But he wasn't, like, scrolling. He wasn't doing any of that kind of stuff. And the brain scans after he did that for, I think it was, like, a three weeks to a, a month, um, he had gotten, like, his concentration increased, his critical thinking increased, and all of that.

And I'm just like, "Oh." Like, it immediately made me feel really guilty for how much time I spend on my phone. And I'm like, "Maybe that's what the problem is," like, these, these dang phones. And 

Gerry: it, and it's, it's a hard spot too, 'cause it's like, I know for myself, like, I hate the internet. [00:13:00] Yeah. I hate going on TikTok.

I hate going on Instagram. I hate that I want to do these things, and I feel the best when I can disconnect and do something else. Yeah. But, um, unfortunately, like, we're both in a career that requires the internet. Yeah. Um, you do, we both do content creation online. You for much longer and much more successfully so far than I'm doing it.

I'm trying to do it, but mine's also, if I put my phone down and I get offered a stand-up gig and I miss it, it's like, man, I miss, I missed out on, uh, stage time. I missed out on money. I missed out on work- Yeah ... to try and get better at doing stand-up or get better at doing whatever I do. And it's like, if I'm not on the internet, I could lose that.

Yeah. Um, so it's, it's a hard thing. Yeah. 

Andrea: I think, I think for the kids too that are on their phones, they're also dealing with the fact that, like, they don't have, like, job opportunity stuff necessarily with their phones, but they do have, like, social capital that I feel like they're using- Yes ... their phones for.

Like, whether it's, like, [00:14:00] dating or friendships or something like that, like, being out of the loop in, in, like, high school or middle school, it feels terrible. You know? Like, it feels like you're actually losing out on a job when you find out that, like, the group chat is popping off and you don't have your phone on you.

It feels, like, absolutely criminal. Um, but yeah. Do you have any, like, crazy shenanigans that you guys got into that you can share with the pod this past weekend? 

Gerry: Um, I'll tell this story from when I, when I was with Joe. Um, we are leaving the club, and me and Joe stayed in the same hotel. And we walked back to the hotel, and Um, Joe can't find his rental car key.

He had to run an errand. I was gonna go with him to run this errand. And we we get there, he can't find his key, and he calls the club. They say, "Oh yeah, we don't have it." They g- and he keeps looking. They call him back, they say, "Oh yeah, we have it." And he, he, they bring the car, they bring the key [00:15:00] over. He's waiting for me.

I come down, we get in the car. Car's unlocked. We go to start the car, car doesn't start. And we're like, "Oh, no." And I'm looking at it saying like, "Put, push the key to the button." And I'm, I look at the key, and when I see the key, I'm like, "Joe, is that the right key?" He goes, "Yes, it's the right key." And he hits it again, and he looks and he goes, "It's not the right key."

And it was the same car. So you had somebody else's key? Same, same bra- same brand, both very similar looking keys. The, someone else left a key that was almost the exact same at the club, and the club brought it to him, and it didn't work, and it had a key tag on it. That's the only way we could tell it wasn't the right key.

Oh my gosh. It's 'cause somebody had just, it was like a brand-new car somebody had just bought, too, 'cause they, it still had the little car dealership tag on it. And, um, so we end, we end up finding his key finally, and we go run the errand. We had to take the keys back the next day, but it's like, yeah, it was like, they just br- we [00:16:00] don't know whose car this goes to.

Andrea: Oh my gosh. And it, 

Gerry: and it was funny. Uh, uh, Cleveland at Hilarity's had, like... So Hilarity's in a restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant off the top of my head. And they had the best food I've ever had at a comedy club. It was, like, a legit, like, restaurant that, um, it worked out of.

And I had this steak sandwich. It changed your life. Really? It ma- it ma- yeah, man, it, it made me think about, man, do I really need these GLP-1s? Like, do I like, is this really what I wanna do with my life, this being fat? Right. This, this is, uh, uh, I, I, I be tired, but, but, but stuff be tasting good, you know? And I, I ate this steak sandwich.

I'm like, I'm like, "Yo, this is," this had me thinking, man, I want, I wanna get famous, not even to make money and have fans. I'm just like, "I wanna eat this steak sandwich again. I gotta go on tour- Just to come back ... and go back to Hilarity's," man. This was great. And, but then- It's amazing ... [00:17:00] so we leave. I get home.

I get back to my, I'm staying, uh, at my buddy's house. Remember, you remember the mayor of Akron? I sure do. I was staying with the mayor of Akron. He's 

Andrea: not the actual mayor, everyone, just in case you were wondering. That's 

Gerry: what y'all think. But we, um, we, I leave there, I get back at 1:00. I leave at 5:40 'cause I had shows at 3:00 and 7:30 with Zoltan Kaszas in Richmond, Virginia.

Andrea: That lineup is crazy, by the way. It was. Like, if you guys, it- That was, it was a 

Gerry: crazy lineup. 

Andrea: Yeah. Like, uh, those of you guys who are, like, into comedy, those names probably sound somewhat familiar, um, at least. Because I feel like I've seen, like, Josh Johnson is one of my favorite comedians. Um, Zoltan's hilarious.

Um, Joe is hilarious. Like, all really big names that are selling out, like definitely selling out comedy club solo, but then some of them also, like, doing theaters and selling those out as well. And so for Gerry to get on there and be able to work with these- It's sick ... folks, like that's, that's big stuff.

Love to see it. It's like also 

Gerry: [00:18:00] got a phone wh- I, I, I got the urge after the shows with Joe. I was like, "I wanna go get a new phone." And I g- I go to Akron to get a phone. Okay. And they found out I was a comic, and they're just talking to me the wh- It's took three hours for them to give me this phone.

They're like trying to make me laugh, telling me jokes, telling me about their life, and I'm like, "Yo, I'm just, I'm just trying to get the phone." 

Andrea: Like Yeah. I just wanna 

Gerry: get this phone, man. We still spent half the day in Akron trying to get a phone. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I, this last weekend we were in Kansas City, in Nixa, Missouri.

And Kansas City, we were with Dugan, the absolute queen. Right. We love her. Um, I was crap, 'cause she opened for us. It was her first time ever. And we're gonna bring her back on, uh, soon, because I gotta give her some crap, because she was supposed to do an opening five-minute guest spot. You wanna guess how long she went?

Gerry: It's drastically one way or the other. Mm-hmm. Two? 

Andrea: 12. Ho, ah. Leave it to a [00:19:00] teacher to be like, "Yeah, I'll go up real quick for a little five-minute..." You know, and she got up there and she killed. She did great, especially for her first time. Um, but it was really funny, 'cause I was like, "Oh girl, you did 12 minutes."

Um, but then afterwards it was so funny, 'cause guys, we talked about it when Dugan was on here, the amount of guys that are like in my DMs about her. This guy, like one of the guys who came up through the meet and greet line, 'cause she kinda hung out like to the side for the meet and greet line for anyone who wanted to take pictures with her too, and this guy came up, was like physically shaking.

He had shown up with his mother, and his mom was like, like he kinda stood next to me to take, like shook my hand and stood next to me to take the picture. His mom said, "No, no, no. He's here for Ms. Dugan. Go stand over there," and sent him over to stand next to Dugan, and he said nothing. I think he stared at the floor the entire time.

Um, and like guys, I need everyone to know, like Molly Dugan is like the chillest person. Like she's not a terrifying person to stand in front of. She's [00:20:00] super chill and super nice. And she was like, "Oh, hi," and I think he said, "Hi," and like stared at the floor. It was so funny. Um, but on that, on that same note of the weekend with Dugan and the Kansas City show and all of that, afterwards we decided to walk back to a place that Gasper and Phil, because they were unsupervised on Friday night, which is never a good thing, because usually I am there as team mom.

I saw some 

Gerry: of this online, and I was like- What are they doing? I, I'm not gonna lie, I, I, next to y'all going to the Magic game, that was what I was the most jealous of. I was like, "I wish I could've wound up with Gasper and Phil on this" 

Andrea: Uh, yeah. So at some point Gaspar and Phil wandered through, like, a development that wasn't fully built yet.

I don't know what they were doing, but they did tell me that , that they were sitting in the, like, walking through this little, like, cul-de-sac where all the houses, the lights were on, but no one had moved in yet. And apparently they both, both... This makes me laugh so much. [00:21:00] They both were talking about how scary it would be if suddenly, like, a face appeared in the window, and they said they saw, like, a cat run across the street and stuff, and then they kept on talking about how scary it would be if a face appeared, and they got themselves so scared they ended up running out of this neighborhood.

I need y'all to understand, these are men in their 30s that spooked themselves so badly they ran away because they had gone into some abandoned cul-de-sac and got themselves all in a tizzy. Um, and then after that they went to, there's this, like, random spot that had abandoned gigantic Christmas decorations.

I'll, I'll share a picture so you guys can see. That would be sick. It was weird, and Gaspar and Phil were like, "No, we're gonna take some sick pictures." So I was like, "Okay." So we went after the show, and let me tell you, it wa- it was very strange. Uh, like I said, I'll, I'll post some pictures. Um, my husband Steven was there, also took pictures with us.

It was so fun. Um, but slowly throughout the night, every single one [00:22:00] of us forgot something. I forgot my wallet back at the dinner place. Um, Gaspar forgot his backpack. No, Gaspar forgot something. I can't remember what. Ph- Phil forgot his backpack. Um, and Dugan forgot her purse. And there was, like, all, like, four separate events of all of us just forgetting things all over Kansas City.

We need, like, uh, what are those Apple tags on all of us because it was- AirTags ... absolutely brutal. Yeah. Yeah, little Air, AirTags on us because we just about lost everything. It was crazy. The fact we're all, like, actually still functioning adults and teaching is kind of stunning to me because we were struggling.

We were really struggling. I would've 

Gerry: gotten Phil and Gaspar to go into one of those houses. 

Andrea: I bet you would have. Little, Little Beanie. Although probably just E. I have a- I don't know if they're locked ... 

Gerry: I have a, I have a theory that if the door is left unlocked you're allowed to go in. I don't, that's- They lock it if they don't want you in there.

That's how I toured colleges [00:23:00] before I went to college. I would just go to campuses and go in anywhere that was unlocked. 

Andrea: Oh. That's, seems like a crime. I wound up in, like, 

Gerry: the UNC Charlotte, like, wildlife and outdoor exploration, like, clubs building and they were like, "Yeah." They're like, "Yeah, you wanna do this?"

I was like, "Hey, I'll go here." Like, I, I just, I said the door was open and I wandered in. One time I snuck onto the, the rooftop. They had, like... It wasn't even a rooftop. It was like a parking deck way high that was halfway up the side of this hotel in Myrtle Beach. They had a pool, and I snuck up there, and then I went back and got my friends and snuck them all up there.

So we were on this, like- Pool 10 stories up looking over the ocean. It's sick 

Andrea: Yeah. You're just out there trespassing. That's fine. 

Gerry: No, if, no, if, if the doors are open, they practically let you in. 

Andrea: Hmm. Practically. It's practically- Yeah ... a welcome sign. Got it. No, yeah Got it. Yeah, I think it's fine. Um, 

Gerry: I'm still here, baby.

Still here. Still here. I ain't even locked up for this. Nah. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. Okay, guys, we do have a [00:24:00] couple of fan questions. We are gonna get to those as soon as we take this quick break. Have you ever wondered what I would say if my mother and my administrators weren't watching every single thing I do on social media?

Well, that's exactly what my stand-up show is, and I'm gonna be coming to a town near you super soon. You can get tickets at educatorandrea.com/tickets.

Welcome back, teacher besties. Um, okay, so with these, these ones are not as teacher specific bec- I think partially, um, because we've been talk- we've been diverging a bit from the teacher path. I, we always do, like, bring it back obviously. Um, but one of the questions here was, what is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done in public?

Hold on, I gotta think. Um... [00:25:00] I have something that I did. I don't know if I would say it's the most embarrassing, 'cause I've done a lot of really embarrassing things, but this week, I can tell you the most embarrassing thing this week is that I was sitting at work and I was like, "It smells like piss in this, up in this school.

What is going on? They're not cleaning this place. This is disgusting." No students were, like, directly around me. I'm just sitting there, I was like, "Why does it smell like piss? This is disgusting," and I was like, like, actually angry and, like, indignant. And then I looked at my pants and I noticed that one of my pant legs looked a little lighter than the other pant leg, which had almost a yellow tint to it, and I was like, "It...

Is it, is it me? Am I the..." It was me. My dog pissed on my pants at some point, and I didn't notice 'cause it was extremely light. And so I was walking around, like, I was fully teaching all d- it was, like, noon before I realized it. I was teaching all day walking around with piss on my pants, which is not great.[00:26:00] 

It's pretty embarrassing. 

Gerry: I crapped myself in a Target one time.

I love- My stomach just flipped on me and- 

Andrea: I love that you have to specify that it was in a Target because of the amount of times that you have defecated yourself. It is important to, like, have the distinction. 

Gerry: Oh, wait a minute. Okay, so I pooped my pants in a Target one time, and I don't know if I should tell the other story.

Oh. I, um, I pooped my pants in a Target one time- And I, like, full on, like, straight up sto- just stomach quit working, dropped out, bottom fell out, and I, like, had to shuffle around, buy clothes, and just throw my clothes away while I was there. I don't know what had messed me-- And I was younger. I was, like, six- I had just started driving.

I was 16. Oh. And I drove, like, partway to where my grandparents lived, so my brother was going to stay for the weekend. I was dropping him off, and I ran in Target while I was up there, [00:27:00] and just something didn't agree with my stomach. And I don't know what it was, but it tore me up. The other time, I pooed my pants in the classroom.

Andrea: Wait, was this the one- It was the same thing ... Wait, wait. Was this the pants that we ta- we've ta- have- that we've talked about before? Yeah. Where you-- Those, those- I'm 

Gerry: wearing them right now. 

Andrea: That you used my dryer and he cleaned them in my home? 

Gerry: They weren't 

Andrea: poopy then, I don't think, but- I'm wearing them 

Gerry: right 

Andrea: now.

Gerry: Jerry- Um, they're clean. They wasn't- You- That one wasn't as big ... you might have IBS I just gambled on a fa- I gambled on a fart and And well, no, what happened was I ate two bags of Takis at, like, 10:30 in the morning, and snack-sized bags, though. Uh-huh. But, um, I know this is what's gonna get clipped, too, so I'm like, "How much story do I want to tell?"

Andrea: I mean- I, 

Gerry: um, I, I-- and I had to, like, walk out of the classroom [00:28:00] backwards and go down the hall. I was like, "Oh, yeah, I did that." And I came back, and there was a little spot on the chair. I'm not gonna say who it was or even the position, but the person who, like, came to watch my class was sitting in the chair.

And I went, "Oh, 

Andrea: no." Oh. I think you've shared that you did poop your pants and it got on the chair. I think this is the first time you've shared with us that somebody sat on that poop chair. That, 

Gerry: that might've been the most embarrassing thing 'cause then- That is- ... it affected someone else. That's bad. 

Andrea: I went home.

That's pretty bad. It was bad. Yeah. Yeah. I bet. Oh, my gosh. I have-- I've 

Gerry: only had a couple scares recently, though. If I eat, like, fast food on the GLP-1- Mm-hmm ... 

Andrea: them GLP-1 

Gerry: poops come, come, come fast. 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah, you can't gamble with that. It's gonna, you're gon- it's gonna cause you some problems. No, man. 

Gerry: Yeah.

You're rolling the dice on them GLP-1 farts. GLP-1 farts will-- [00:29:00] GLP-1 farts make you think you farted in somebody else's butthole. You'll be like, "Who?" You, you'll know you farted, and you'll smell it, and you'll be like, "Yo, who farted?" Like, GLP-1 farts are bad. 

Andrea: My gosh. I-- Speaking of, of disgusting farts, I have an English bulldog now, as we've discussed.

I thought people were lying when they talked about how bad English bulldog farts are. It is so bad sometimes that it makes my eyes water. Like, I'm not exaggerating. I'm l- talking about physical reaction that it is so bad That it literally, like, my eyes start to water. It's so foul. And, like, this dog is eating nothing but kibble.

Like, we don't feed him from, like, the table, nothing. He's only eating, like, this normal doggy kibble, and still it... It's disgusting. He's a bro. The bros be farting. And right now he's kind of a middle school boy. Like, I will tell him to, like, stop chewing on something, and he, like, just gives me, like, a look.

I'm like, "All right. I don't need this from you." It's kind of absurd. Um, okay. Do [00:30:00] you have a hill that you want to die on today? I ac- unsurprisingly, um, I do. And- I don't think 

Gerry: I 

Andrea: do Okay. So as we discussed, I was in Kansas City and I was in Nixa, Missouri, and when I was in Nixa, Missouri, there was, like, all sorts of, like, weather warnings, tornado warnings, all of that kind of stuff.

And, um, the hill I'm gonna die on is that Midwesterners need to take tornadoes more seriously. Like, I grew up in San Diego, so I wasn't... I didn't grow up with tornadoes. The amount of people that will literally stand on their front porch and watch a tornado and not take it seriously, meanwhile knowing family members, friends who have had their homes destroyed, who have had, like, horrible things happen, and they still, there's, like, no fear.

And I think it's just a matter of, like, they get... You get so many tornado warnings that are like, "Meh." So I think they need to change the system for how they warn [00:31:00] Midwesterners to, like, instead of being like, "Oh, it's this size tornado," you could be like, "Porch tornado," or, "Basement tornado." Or just, "Barbecue out" tornado.

I think that's the only way. So 

Gerry: how serious were y'all taking earthquakes in California? 

Andrea: Not serious at all. Okay, but the difference is- Case... Court adjourned. 

Gerry: You just got dumped on, Andrea. The di- No. No. Yeah. Yeah. 

Andrea: Because- Yeah ... because all of the buildings in California are built earthquake safe, number one.

Um, and number two, I would say, like, 99% of the earthquakes you don't even feel. So that's part of it. Like, I didn't 

Gerry: feel- Same with those tornadoes. Ugh. 

Andrea: No. 

Gerry: 99% of them ain't taking you to, taking you to Oz, but you good. They're... 

Andrea: I guess. 

Gerry: You, you're fine. It is 

Andrea: probably largely the same. The one thing that did scare me growing up in California was the wildfires, because I've had to evacuate several times.[00:32:00] 

Um, even though I don't know anyone personally who has lost their home, um, to a wildfire, I know lots of, like, uh, uh, almost everyone I grew up with, uh, had to evacuate at some point. And we would have, like, fire days because there was so much, like, smoke and soot in the air. So yeah, I guess whatever natural disaster you're most used to is the one that you're just like, "Meh."

Like every- like, everyone judges really hard every time there's a hurricane and people don't get out of town. And I'm like, "Okay, but Like all those Midwesterners sitting on their porch We've been getting one or two of those a year. We're 

Gerry: not really tripping about the hurricanes 

Andrea: Exactly. Exactly. And yet we all know all those horrible things that happened this last year because of like different levees breaking and all of that.

So I think it's just we- once we've faced the same like type of natural disaster a certain number of times, we're like, "Eh." Yeah. And we should probably all... It probably should, is more than just Midwesterners, probably all of us that need to get it together and probably have a little more respect for the terrifying Earth that we live on.

Gerry: [00:33:00] I wish we could figure out science enough that we could all get a little taste of natural disasters. Like we should all, we should have to keep our hands up at all times from all of them. We should all like, like why can't I get a tornado around here, you know? 

Andrea: Why would you want one? 

Gerry: I'd wanna see it. I wanna know.

I wanna see it do what it do. 

Andrea: I think there's too many mountains where you live. 

Gerry: I feel like I'd try and catch it in a bottle or something. 

Andrea: That's not science for sure. I don't know the, the science behind tornadoes- Um ... but I know that ain't it. No, you can't do that. We should get Bill Nye on 

Gerry: here. 

Andrea: We should get Bill Nye on here.

I don't think he's a very- Yeah ... easy get though. I think I DM'd him when I first started the podcast or tried to, and was like, "Hey buddy," and he left me on read, so. Also- At least he read it. I'll call him. Yeah. 

Gerry: You call him up. Maybe he's a misogynist. 

Andrea: Maybe. And then we can just have him come in and be like, "Hey, why are you a misogynist?

Let's talk about it. Let's like really break that down." Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. And he'll be like, "Oh, it's 

Gerry: just science," and we'll be like, "He has a good point actually." It is. That's science, you know? Cancel. 

Andrea: Cancel him. Um, okay, [00:34:00] do you have a hill that you're gonna die on or are you just over there vibing right now?

I'm vibing. Great. I love that for you. I love all of the incredible shows you got to host. I'm a little, I'm more than... I, like I don't actually, I'm not jealous that you got to like be on the show, I'm jealous you got to see all the shows because I would just love to go. I think if I was on the show I wouldn't even be able to enjoy watching those comics because I'd be so nervous, but I would've loved to just see all three of those shows.

So hopefully, and hopefully we can get all three, um, on here to hang out with us and chit-chat. Hopefully. Yeah. That would be amazing. Um, okay. Do you have anything else today that you wanna share with the peoples? 

Gerry: No. I'm- All right ... I'm struggling through this EDTPA stuff. I've been battling. 

Andrea: Yeah? All right.

When's it due? I, I fear to ask. 

Gerry: I think mid-May. Okay. 

Andrea: I want everyone to know who just panicked for him, it's not currently mid-May as we record this. Um, it is about [00:35:00] two weeks away, so, uh, thoughts and prayers for Gerry as he tries to not lose his license. Um, I'm sure my mom will offer all the encouragement if you need someone to encourage you.

Does your mom 

Gerry: wanna do it? No. 

Andrea: She, I can guarantee you she will not do that. She never did my homework for me ever, even though I asked, so you know. 

Gerry: Well, we conduct, we, we've deducted that your mom's gonna adopt me. I'm gonna move to San Diego 

Andrea: Clearly. Yeah, I'm- your mom may have an opinion about that, but yeah.

Gerry: My mom would probably be like, "Take him." She's really 

Andrea: great. Great. Um- My mom would be like, "

Gerry: Let him call. Send money." But all the rest of that, nah. 

Andrea: Insane. Um, by the time this episode comes out, my book will officially be released, which is very exciting. Uh, Amazon already is out there just sending it to people willy-nilly, 

Gerry: which is wild.

You know, it's funny, it comes in like two... It, it's, like, on the way to my apartment right now. 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. It's- And it's not out yet. It's, I, right, it's not supposed to come out till May 5th, and Amazon's like, "Nah, we're gonna do it." Um, [00:36:00] and if you, guys, if you happened to buy my book, and you could leave me a review for that book, that is the thing that helps so, so much because that...

I mean, when you, especially when it's a new book like this, people immediately just, like, look at the Amazon reviews and all of that. So if you guys could, please, please, please, when you get the book, leave a review. Um, let people know what you love about it. Don't tell them what you hate about it, 'cause I'll just read it and cry.

All that good stuff. So yeah, little shout-out for that. And then also shout-out for the shows I have coming. Um, in June, I'm actually helping host a conference with Indiana State, and I have the information for that on my website, on educatorandrea.com. I thought it was in July. Did I say June? 

Gerry: You did, yeah.

Andrea: My goodness, guys. In July. That was the one that 

Gerry: got canceled, I 

Andrea: think. New. This is, yeah, this is a new one. So there was one that I and Gerry were gonna be able to work on, and then I think that one got, is getting canceled, but TBD. Um, but definitely there's one I'm helping host with Indiana [00:37:00] State, and, uh, Gaspar and Dazzo is gonna be there.

Um, and lots of other cool people, so keep an eye out for that. All right. I think that's all we got for you. I might come. You might come? I might come out there. Yeah, pull up It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a good time. Uh, Denver might be here, so 

Gerry: Yeah, I'm coming. I, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be off work. I mean, I don't know why I can't.

I don't got nothing to do. Yeah. And then you could- I'll have all this other stuff figured out by then, and I'm, and I'm good. I'll come. 

Andrea: All the more reason for people to come to this conference because, uh, can you imagine sitting next to Gerry at a conference? I can't, so it's gonna be a new experience for all of us.

Yeah. Um, if you guys have thoughts about what we talked about today, there are a lot of ways to contact us. You can contact me, andrea@human-content.com, or you can contact me at Educator Andrea. Um, or you can contact the whole Human Content Podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at humancontentpods. And you can contact Gerry at [00:38:00] 

Gerry: At comedybygp.

Andrea: That's right. Um, and if you wanna catch those full video episodes, they're up every week on YouTube at Educator Andrea. Thank you so much for listening. I am your host, Andrea Forkham. And 

Gerry: I'm Gerry Patoka. 

Andrea: And our executive producers are Andrea Forkham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims, our engineer is Jason Portizo, and our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi.

To learn more about How to Survive the Classroom's program disclaimer and ethics policy and submission, verification, and licensing terms, you can go to podcasterandrea.com. How to Survive the Classroom is a Human Content production. 

Gerry: How to Survive the Classroom. 

Andrea: Thank you so much for watching. Want more of How to Survive the Classroom?

You can watch more episodes right now. Just click on that little box over there. You see it? And if you haven't yet, please subscribe. Okay, bye.[00:39:00] 

Human Content.