[Music] welcome to your biscuits I’m Linc and I’m Rhett joining us today at the round table of dim lighting is comedian vlogger and full time co-host of the youtube series SourceFed Steve Zaragoza ha ha you know SourceFed you’ve heard of SourceFed most one of the most popular current event shows on the Internet over a million a have subscribers on their main channel and Steve has been hosting it for three years and he’s really helped shape what it has become oh yeah you can also find Steve co-hosting SourceFed nerd another very popular channel within the SourceFed stable as well as on the new SourceFed podcast so check that out he’s great host and we’ve always thought that Steve was a really funny guy he certainly is and you know now we call him a friend too so you know when you have a in your biscuit we were friends but you know it’s like taking the relationship to another level when when you add some like microphones and us having this this conversation phones and headphones – does it yeah we’re super funny guy but we did get to talk through the serious side of Steve a little bit so you’ll hear that we talked about growing up in a sketchy neighborhood with drive-by shootings in a halfway house next door his job as a video game tester which may not be what you think it is going to be if you’re if you’re looking to get into that profession how he caught his first break and the interesting risk he took to capitalize on it and what that first audition for SourceFed looked like we also talked about one of the more serious subjects that we’ve talked about on is the divorce that Steve is going through with his his wife separated now in the in the midst of a divorce what led up to that and how he’s handled that how that has changed him and how he’s still in the midst of dealing with that he calls it one of the most difficult things he’s ever had to do so Steve opened up was very open and talking about that so stick around for that but first guys we just want to remind you to download our new live album song biscuits Volume one I’m calling it live because I mean it was a recorded live there was no audience except for I mean the cameras that then we put it out there for you guys on the good my guest Channel in one sense though link that makes everything live right I mean yeah everything was live at some point okay every song but you can call it a live album because that implies things that it’s not but you should download it anyway on iTunes so miss gets volume one yeah all these songs recorded in about an hour using your suggestions that you gave us on the internet usually collaborating with somebody here’s an example of one of those the five nights at Freddy’s song featuring markiplier [Music] responsible if markiplier wasn’t there we wouldn’t have known any too much about nothing he was like an a collaborator and and an expert what’s it called consultant yeah consultant fifteen original songs all based on your tweets masterfully crafted and available to put into your ears holes your ears holes there’s two ears and right so get that on itunes also available on Amazon thanks for giving those things for reading and reviewing the album on iTunes yes and now on to the biscuit do you remember the first time we met Steve as you met us at the same time so was it was it the the what was that was that the thing of the paramount launch we were standing in line for like ice cream right it was a food car it was right it was an ice cream food it was like ice cream sandwiches or something after the screen something we all came up and or was it tacos it could have been talking they were both I think we had both man yeah we did have bro you know it was a dinner and dessert but we were in line and you got in line but I remember the biggest thing I remember that night besides meeting you yes we showed up and we were over dressed like retina had on ties and oh yeah I guess looked great but you also weren’t dressed similarly I did it I didn’t nice up a little bit yeah cuz I didn’t know but it was one yeah I didn’t know either and they called it a premiere yeah and everyone else just like came from work or whatever they were doing that super – casual and so here we are in ties what’s worse what’s worse really being overdressed or underdressed I guess it depends on what kind of person you are because I like to doubt well for me I’m a wacky guy so if I’m overdressed I’m loving it going sidenote only a wacky guy and refer to himself as a wacky guy I think that is the definition of being a wacky guy is being able to use the word whacking searly I had no idea what conclusion you were gonna come to until you said it cuz you’re like I’m a wacky guy so that means I like to be underdressed either way no I would have thought that wacky people like to under dress because look oh yeah he shouldn’t be here because he’s underdressed but he’s wacky is that guy from the streets no no just wacky right but I feel like couldn’t you say the exact same thing about an overdressed person I mean guys gotta be wacky something’s wrong with that guy yeah like that what wacky means something’s wrong it could be wacky could be either this man is so silly he doesn’t know any better yeah or like Ray’s right crazy like a man who dresses up in a three-piece suit to like mumble to himself on a mortgage yes which is a thing it’s totally you know why I got dressed welcome but I would have it but I think someone who’s overdressed is you know the risk is all that stiffs trying too hard well yeah he’s got something to prove those two guys who showed up together make Internet videos and aren’t as good as this series we’re trying to prove them to compensate yeah well did you guys feel super awkward after that like did you realize right away that you were overdressed yeah there’s a little bit you know there’s a little bit of built-in insecurity when anybody from our world kind of goes into even though that was like a on a lot of Netflix show but it was on a lot yeah and it was movie stars it was movie yeah you’re like oh yeah we’re my guy from YouTube and nobody knows and yeah we’re a duo and we’re both dressed and ties you know should we get tacos or should we just leave but I think that we you know we we recognize your face we knew you from SourceFed yeah and you know we go way back with Joe and you know so that’s but that’s when we met you know we started talking and we over some food I scream yeah it was great but you were also overdressed so it was I was that was the tipping point it was like what am I gonna speak to Steve is this gonna be the first meeting he’s overdressed absolutely this is the moment we’re all in the same place you’re thinking exactly the same we were yeah do you think that there’s some sort of chip on our shoulders and I’m talking about all three of us here you know when you enter like a some more of a traditional entertainment environment I mean is there something to that that’s like I don’t feel like we had anything to prove but maybe we did I mean I wanted to be underdressed versus overdressed do you do you feel like there’s something there like when you say when people ask you what you do and it’s like well you know I’m on a youtube show and I’m you know how does it feel I don’t know I feel like I feel like for me back then it was like I was I was still kind of just getting into the SourceFed thing so it was kind of like this was like 2 or 3 years ago right yeah two and a half years ago maybe yeah yeah at least two yeah yeah cuz we were with Stevie and it was like the first thing we had gone to with Steve Ian but in that year yeah I’m just saying in general though there is a sense of even even now when you’re having conversations with someone who like has a point of reference for entertainment or is in traditional entertainment there’s this like I mean we’re still looked at kind of a separate thing why what do you say when somebody asks you what you do oh man it changes because sometimes they’ll just say like just to keep it simple and to not have to like explain and explain and explain sometimes they’ll just be like I’m an actor hmm you’re just straight up say I’m an actor right and then when they go like Oh what do you do or like what have I ever seen you in anything then it’s like okay well I do YouTube stuff like I do mostly YouTube stuff okay so that’s not really acting is it well I mean if you’re still there again you tried to get out of and try to make you suck you in for the long explanation and now you seem like a liar too but sometimes it’s easier to lie than to like explain what is what it is we do yeah like I went into we went to a sushi restaurant with our families last night but Rhett wasn’t coming in yet and it was a family right there at the first table and the kid he was probably 10 years old like he you know he was like link I was like hey man and his dad looked at me like you know this man coming into the sushi run met him at the park he’s on a bench by himself mumbling three-piece suit over dress and I say to the dead yes I’m a food critic and I’m here to review the restaurant I have a I have a popular internet presence as it and I still backed into internet presence but I was I was kind of messing with him to see if his saw it what his son would do was his son laughing his son was totally confused maybe you made him think oh man maybe I got the wrong guy maybe a food critic but there’s a I mean it’s getting better I mean people understand you tubers a lot more but well the thing that I way that always happens I feel like it’s because saying I’m a youtuber can mean you know what I do this other thing and I also do youtuber could be like no I’ve done this for a long time and it’s we make a living and we run a company and but you don’t want to say those things using like a jerk when you try to justify it right it’s like it’s like wearing a tie oh you’re youtuber so is that going well and I’m like it’s going pretty well it’s but yeah yeah let me tell you many people watch my slip and you pull out your analytics did you just put you in a difficult situation but I I think that yeah so going back to the the genesis of this whole thing yeah I’m gladly admit I’ve got a chip on my shoulder yeah that’s part of it I mean that’s that’s why we keep pushing right it is you kind of have to right yeah especially in this kind of business in the hoenn the whole YouTube thing right I think so I’m trying I mean we’re not releasing an album actually we did just release but so you said you were gonna do working on now you asked us about our album yeah but well tell us about that you’re doing an album I am you promised the Internet in like November of 14 yeah I made it I made a very interesting promise that I would release now them and there’s no reason for me not to but what was that was that an impromptu promise oh no no so it’s I I don’t know I’ve been doing music stuff for a while and on the on the SourceFed show I’ve done like some songs and stuff oh you guys talked about the bear the bear song yeah we were we were rewatching the bear song which was just totally off the coast it was an improv [Music] [Music] [Music] absolutely ridiculous so just something about the Trisha being there in like yeah clapping and smiling all the right places yeah Trisha like was down for everything she’s totally down like you started going to the weirdest place possible some people would be like that’s weird and kind of shut it down that’s whack but yeah that’s too wacky but Trisha would be like yeah I’m gonna clap along and smile and go right along with it I don’t think it would have worked as well if it was somebody else but yeah no I have been doing music for a while on SourceFed and so whenever I mean people are like I get tweets often that are like when you’re gonna do an album when you’re gonna do album when you gonna release real songs when’s the bear song gonna be on iTunes stuff like that yeah and Lee and I actually used to sing a lot too together and then people would be like one are you and Lee gonna make an album and where’s this and so I’ve always talked about doing it and I’ve always wanted to do it and now I just feel like why not it’s it’s kind of I mean it’s kind of easy to make an album now oh yeah you can make one at home you don’t need like a studio to do it sometimes where you had the process because you made the promise and I did make the product months ago I did I’m actually believing five songs deep oh yeah I don’t have complete lyrics does anybody have them I don’t know yeah I don’t want an EP by the way inside so no it’s EEP I’m five songs deep and that’s the that’s the name of the album five songs deep is the bear song one of them I don’t know if I don’t know yet because I don’t know if I own the bear song what do you because it might be the worst bad thing oh you gotta figure that so I need to figure that out you know a good way to figure it out how do you do that put it on yeah but I’m still on SourceFed just call it right var song change the words a little bit and I meant to say e to because that would be the bar so I’m gonna be a re song the VAR e the bear song yeah you’re naked I like that it’s definitely so what are the five can you tell us this is what I know about the album this is what I can tell you it’s an ant it’s definitely about animals know about animals it’s not a bear see that’s the thing everyone because it’s an animals thing and the reason why let me tell you let me back up a little bit please let’s go back to the genesis of this a little bit so people have been asking for it and so I started really thinking about it about making an album and I’ve done like songs in the past and I’ve got like some weird stuff that like in fact I started a band out of high school called Christmas surprise with a friend of mine and it’s just this really strange I played this foreign guy did a seasonal band it no it wasn’t it was year round it was a year round Christmas as wacky because it was exactly imagine a Christmas surprise in July it’s a real surprise doesn’t get any more surprising than that so it was it was very like folk music E and we did a lot of like I did a dinosaur song and so I have this song called dinosaur land that I’m very proud of that just kind of it’s on my soundcloud and that’s it maybe just take my hand watch yourself the forest is dangerous [Music] baby the creatures are ravenous in this land that’s far from home [Music] it is a land we’re creatures were how many people on earth ever have said I’ve got this song dinosaur land that I’m really proud like that’s the great thing about you Steve again it’s like that moment of like you’re so funny all the time yeah and even the things when you’re just like being straight with me is hilarious so you’ve got this dinosaur land song that you’re really proud of I’m very proud of his dinosaur song that I wrote with a friend of mine named Isaiah and so that it’s just sitting there and then like you know years and years and years and years later when I started doing SourceFed a good friend of mine who’s actually a producer at SourceFed now Darren Gardner yeah he you guys know Darren Aaron’s a good guy he came to me after trip from New York and said I went to this Museum in New York and I saw this massive whale this like whale statue or something and he’s like I thought of a funny vine where like someone where like you asked someone excuse me where are the wealth and you just yell out whales to someone’s face and he’s like it’s just as my and I thought it was funny and I was like why don’t we make it into a song and so we started writing this whales song and so now we have this whales song and then I’ve also got this dinosaur song and everybody and a lot of people really like the whales song so then I was thinking and then they start saying like we’ll make an album make an album and it sounds like okay I’ve got this dinosaur song I’ve got this whale song I’ve got a bear song yeah I mean just complete the – circle of life I’m kind of there I’m already there so it’s gonna be a subtle doubt the ecosystem building out build on that world bringing that universe in there and so I’ve so yeah it’s any it’s gonna be an album about animals and right now I’ve got a song called so got whales which is like them I think that the single and then we’ve got I’ve got the Dinosaur Land song and then I’m working on a song I’ve never taught I haven’t talked about this this is exclusive for you guys sexually three people are very excited about hearing this right now I’m feeling they’re excited they’re yes so am i it’s buzzing on my phone there’s a song about the axolotl you guys know what the axe Alana list no that’s the body part no it’s not a body part I might take an outlet you don’t need visionary blender no the the axolotl is a some people say is like the real-life Pokemon character it’s like this little sea creature that looks you’ve seen it it’s got like a big smile on its face and it looks like horrible anyway they’re going extinct and they’re and I believe they don’t exist in the wild anymore so now they’re just in captivity but they’re adorable creatures and so I have a song called the axolotl lullaby which is which is sounds that kind of it is a shammy like you’re putting it to sleep to like die you don’t like to go extinct you know I think it’s one of those things where it’ll be open to interpretation but it’s definitely a lullaby like go to sleep but in my mind I think it is like an extinction song goodbye sleeps are they all kind of improv based or you go more in like a meticulous joke direction like what do you know what do we have to expect here I think it will the whale song it’s all absurd stuff it’s like very I don’t know I’d liked I’d like it to be slightly molest just kind of like impromptu improv comedy more like slightly well-thought-out but I don’t know if that works for this type of music I feel like it needs to feel still impromptu because people have the bear song a lot and then they like the whale song and so it should be pretty like a pretty live performance yeah I feel like it I feel like people would like that yeah I would like it I don’t want to do it for you yeah but for me I’ll commit to listening really we commit to listening to at least buy a copy we’ll share him at least five songs deep into you those five songs are gonna be the best because that’s where most most of the time will be play yeah first five ok well let’s find out how Steve Zaragoza became the Steve we see before us right now uh were you from I’m from Oxnard oh really yeah that’s a street it is a string it takes you all the way to Oxnard take seats you are so it’s almost like like Oz yeah Oxnard like is the street that goes down the valley yeah well one of them yeah yeah no there is this big main Oxnard Street that goes through the value but there’s also a city called ox now that’s like where the there’s some boats there there are boats where you get in the ocean and on your sailboat yeah Port Hueneme yeah is a little port in Oxnard where you can park your boats there’s also like the Seabees which are these military guys that have like a little base there a little base set up so that’s where you were born and raised born raised in Oxnard what was this situation like both parents siblings yeah I got to I got a mom and dad and an older brother named Frank he’s a good guy he and I are pretty close he has a child now you’re an uncle I’m an uncle it’s weird is he in the nard still he’s in Camarillo now that come out here supposedly the best climate on earth I don’t I don’t disagree sort of been told it’s possible that in like Santa Barbara Santa Barbara is a nice yeah that’s town that’s gonna be good weather there so what what was the vibe like there what’d your parents do what was your upbringing like Oxnard is a very dangerous town especially when I was a kid a lot of gang activity oh really injure yeah a lot of shootings and gangs doing terrible things like at one point in my neighborhood there was like a drive-by shooting at the end of my block my dad’s car got like bullet holes in the glass not the sticker kind that you get it like not the actual real like potential death bullet holes Wow so were you on the on the fringe of something dangerous or was your neighborhood very much dangerous I think my neighborhood wasn’t as dangerous as some other parts of Oxnard but it was very much like a ghetto in a way like next door right in the entire time I grew up next door there was a halfway house and was full of like rehabilitated adults so it could be like recovering drug addicts and also like potential like criminals like hard criminals that are being rehabilitated and brought back into society in the end what’s your interface with these people well they live right next door so we would they would talk to us over the fence sometimes as children which is kind of telling it’s just talking there was never any like physical interaction there was a lot of weird activity there a lot in fact more than once the police needed to enter our home to get into our back – to stop an altercation in the house next door in the halfway house did you know that this was kind of a big deal for a kid no I didn’t because you’re normal it just seems so normal to me because I grew up with it you know like and also something that like my friends still talk about to this day is that we had bars on our windows like that you know like the kind of like paranoid like we don’t want anyone in our home to bars but it wasn’t like a paranoid reason it was because it’s literally a dangerous neighborhood that people like break into homes yeah type deal so that was like my parents just didn’t put them in your bedroom which is weird they must have wanted me to be protective no they it was on all the bars would your your parents do my dad worked in like machine like he built hard drive parts so he worked in this like factory where they built like the tiny pieces that used to go into old school hard drives and my mom was a teacher she teach like preschool and kindergarten and stuff like that and did they teach you to be so comedic how did that dr. Budd you know I don’t know because neither my parents are intentionally funny they’re like the kind of like it’s one of those things were like and you know what I’m talking about were like cuz my dad is my dad grew up in Mexico until he was like 18 and then he moved to the US okay so he’s got this very much like foreign kind of like mentality so he’s got this kind of like strange outlook on life and and how to be a person and a man and kind of like all the machismo stuff which is the exact opposite of what I am because I’m the most like I’m the girliest not Mexican dude ever and what both my parents are Mexican I’m a Mexican guy so what what do you think contributed to you saying okay well I’m the I’m the complete opposite in a lot of ways like you know how did that come about I think I was just a super weird kid and I would do very weird things and I was always like my dad had his Betamax camera and in Betamax is like the stuff before VHS and my brother and I would borrow it and film all these sketches and why did why did he have him what did he use it for you you’re shining the light what was he doing on July 4th 1980 Betamax yeah now we’re getting somewhere no I think he was interested in filming like doing family kind of like home video home videos like like videos of my brother and I growing up going to the beach and like hanging and going camping with the family and stuff like okay you know it’s normal dad video type stuff sure so we would take the camera and my brother and I would make these sketches and we’d have like puppets we’d have like Sesame Street puppets and Kermit and stuff when we do like the Muppet Show type sketches and stuff like that so we were always my brother and I were both very wacky dudes there’s that word again and so and I think it started to realize that it was a little bit weirder than like my brother at times and then very much different and weirder and had a different sense of humor than my mom and dad or like my cousins or even some of my friends so I started to realize like I guess I’m kind of a wacky guy and I make people laugh so I guess this is like kind of my thing and my mom was like super supportive of it too like she would watch me like draw weird things like I draw comic book type things and I would like do sketches and put on little like talent shows in the house and my mom was like super supportive of it so I feel like it was entertain you you were very much an entertainer yeah from the very start yeah so like I mean there’s lots of people who are successful on YouTube that though they will have grabbed their parents camera and but it’s more of like oh I want to be a filmmaker right versus this is just one of many mediums it could be it could be it could be charcoal it could be a Betamax camera I’m an entertainer and it’s just got to happen that sounds like your story yeah wasn’t it I had zero interest in the filmmaking aspect of it I had more interest in being in front of the camera and like making people laugh and doing wacky things like a talent show in grade school you know you were up there doing your wacko did it did this did you stand out not only from your family but in terms of your community cuz you said your mom and dad are both Mexican so are you in a Mexican community yeah for the most part that primary primarily a Hispanic area of town yes so and also growing up – you kind of had the pressures of like oh man are you gonna be like a homie gonna be like you’re gonna join a gang are you gonna do that kind of thing like the climate was very straight how does that is that like the quintessential like a kid you know like how does that happen I don’t know I feel like it’s one of those things where like depending on what school you go to it’s kind of like what kind of clique you’re gonna blend into and then who you’re gonna associate with and who your friends are gonna be and I feel like for me it could have ended up really badly where I wouldn’t be able to associate with anybody but luckily I was able to kind of like find other jokesters and kind of like entertainers and class clown type people and associate with them and steer clear of the kind of more dangerous lifestyle like as a kid I did nothing dangerous I never like started garage fires or you know got arrested or tried to steal candy or like rode my bike and like in the middle of the street or anything like that I was this super like did you experience any sort of criticism because you because you made those choices because you didn’t want to hang out yeah I was I was definitely pushed around a lot in bullied for not being like like how come you don’t wanna play soccer man or how come you don’t wanna play football or you know why don’t you want to be all sporty and my brother would even be like let’s play basketball I’d be like I kind of want to just play Battletoads like bubble bobble or something it starts with the B does that count so how did you start to find your breakthrough it’s like you know what was it a high school play was it you know where was your where was that outlet for you that this this is really starting to take off I think it was kind of like I would always gravitate towards the the entertainment stuff so even as early as like third and fourth grade I would do like little talent showcase type things or like whenever there was a talent show get my friends together and we’d get a song and we’d like you know lip-sync to a song or something like that so I knew I guess I always knew that I wanted to entertain in some aspect as like a younger kid but definitely as I got into high school I would try to do plays and musicals and things like that like I did our town did like Bye Bye Birdie and like little bit things here and there but my big break quote-unquote was when I was Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors Oh high school and that was like a dream come true it was like is that a plant oh yeah well no Seymour is the lead the main guy the lizard Moretti yeah that’s the Rick Moranis that is the dude he’s like the lead role in that so I was like super stoked I was like this is me this is the role I was born to play my mom would like you will let me watch Little Shop of Horrors as a very young kid which maybe she shouldn’t have done but like but it helped you right it totally helped me it definitely like I loved the creatures and kind of like the comedy and like you know I loved it even before I even understood a lot of the jokes and a lot of the the stuff going on in the movie but no did you kill it I killed it in the auditions first of all and then I killed it in the rehearsals and then we got to like this halfway point where we were like halfway through rehearsals you know everyone’s all selected we got our understudies everything’s ready to go but my drama teacher came to me and said listen um your grades suck like your grades are real bad like and if you don’t pick them up and if you don’t like maintain at least this amount which was like something ridiculous like if you don’t at least get a d-plus in like your classes we can’t let you do this and so I was like oh crap ah I don’t know what to do and so it it was weird because Azadi right but I mean like I it’s it seems weird to think about it now as an adult but like and you hear people say it too like I was too cool for school or something but I just feel like I wasn’t meant to be in school like school just never worked for me it just was never a place where I felt welcome or comfortable or you know math class and English class and things like that like I just couldn’t focus I wanted to like make the class laugh or like draw pictures or do something creative so what did you do I just did that I made the class laughs and I but I mean ultimatum I mean I honestly lost it I lost the role and I was kicked out of the play yeah yeah and it was this huge like turning point in my life where I was like oh man like I really screwed this up a lot of people were counting on me a lot of people wanted me to do this and I just kind of like let it go because I wasn’t going to like put the initiative into like really like land this but you didn’t let it slow you down I didn’t let it slow me down but it really it I kind of spiraled into this like I don’t care kind of like teen angsty type place where I was just like you know screw this and screw that and like school wasn’t for me so I stopped going and I would just go to like my video production class and I would go to my drama class and that was it and then I would skip out of everything else and I wasn’t doing I wasn’t like going to the mall or like going you know behind the bushes to smoke pot or like hang out with my bad kid friends or whatever I just would like become this super anxiety ridden depressed antisocial kind of hermit person because I went into this weird failure territory of like I sucked at school I couldn’t do this thing I couldn’t do that I was bad at this and I’m a weirdo that doesn’t feel like I belong so like I just went into this weird like hermit crabs zone and I know you you’ve you’ve been really open about your your past struggles with weight yes and was that beginning to be a struggle Elliott high school yeah I mean I was always just the kind of like cuddly fat kid that was like a nerd but he was funny and like you know I was in the friend zone if you want to call it that or whatever and I would just be very much in this kind of like class clowny place but definitely not in this kind of like comfortable like I feel good about being a teenager place so I didn’t really get to like enjoy being a teenager because at all these insecurities and I had all this anxiety which I didn’t know at the time was anxiety or depression or whatever it was and then to top it all off all I wanted to do was like entertain and make people laugh and make music and sketches and do comedy and I didn’t realize at the time that like if I wanted to do that what I needed to do was work my ass off and like really get in there and study and do all that like everybody else did even the comedians that I idolized and I guess I just didn’t see that at the time so it sounds like you were kind of on that that was kind of a you were on a downward trend how far down did it go before you found a way back up I think it I think honestly it was that I met the girl that would eventually become my wife that is now not my wife that is now my ex-wife but I mean I met this girl who like changed my life in high school in high school yeah and so it was one of those things where she was like and she was like an a straight-a student like she her grade point average was like insane her parents were like wait a minute you’re gonna be dating this guy who’s like a total loser and like it was one of those situations yeah and I feel like we met her same time we met you yeah you did yeah Sara Sara yeah yeah so Sara like basically pulled me out of this funk of like I I’m a loser and I’m a failure and she kind of like taught me about how you know I can succeed if I just work and I can do whatever I want to do and I should like get out there and get a job and get my license and so she really kind of like whipped me into shape so if it wasn’t for her I don’t know where the hell I’d be it’d probably be this like weird 30 year old man living at home still and were you dating or was that friendzone I wasn’t date well Sara and I were very good friends for like a year and then we ended up dating and then my life like completely turned around and that was one like everything went on the up-and-up okay so this is like right after high school this was like just before I dropped out of high school so it was like junior year senior year of high school but you did drop out I dropped it yeah yep and then what so what I did was I did a bunch of stupid retail jobs like I worked at like Hot Topic in the mall which is like the dumb it was a terrible job what a whack t-shirt a lot of black t-shirts lost Sponge Bob and black t-shirts which was weird combination that yeah accents defy two sections this way exactly you’re in the front you’re like I’m bringing my kids in and all of a sudden I’ll keep going back here kids yeah yeah I hate my dad section and this is the isle of Spongebob and a little pony section it’s very strange the bipolar store but I worked at a bunch of retail jobs and I worked at like a videogame store and then I got married in 2006 and at the time I had this really terrible job I was doing like Quality Assurance QA testing at a video game company called THQ and THQ made like some of the worst games like really difficult video games and you’re playing them to see if they work yeah it was worse I mean these jobs exist for a reason and I’m glad they do because they make video games even better but a lot of these kids these like out of high school sometimes still in a high school college student kids are just like sitting like brainless zombies in front of a computer monitor playing these games over and over again and you have to play them incorrectly you can’t even really play them because it sounds like a cool job like oh man I get to play video games all day but what they don’t tell you is is you’re playing them wrong all day so like you’re racing your car backwards on the track you’re like jumping down this same hole nine hundred to see if like that accidentally beats the game silly beats the game or if it makes like Mario’s head pop off Mario it was bad game it was really bad it was like some kind of rocket power you guys remember the show rocket power this might have been beyond our time like it was we were older when that was good but yeah you would something would go wrong and you’d have to take note yeah and you’d have to I mean and you had to like make the most thorough ridiculous notes it would just be like you couldn’t just say guy falls and his leg stays in place in this world you had to be like at this specific point in the game these are the enemies nearby it was like the most torturous gross job ever talking about sucking the fun out of supposed to be exactly makes you hate video the sacrificial lamb a video so you can enjoy it exactly so you come home to Sarah like yeah you’re like newlyweds you’re coming you’re coming home from this terrible job hating everything and just thinking like what am I gonna do like this is gonna be my life now like no this time we at this point we’d moved to Oak Park which is kind of like in Thousand Oaks ish ty berry and this was like in 2006 and so I would come home and be like I hate my job I want to entertain and at the same time I’m with my friends making sketches and not necessarily doing stuff on YouTube yet but knowing about YouTube and having that be kind of like an inspiration for a lot of the sketcher and you’re slowly getting closer to Los Angeles slowly getting closer to Los Angeles little by little and so one day there was this contest at Sony Pictures to be there like official vlogger or blogger for comic-con they had like comic-con coming up and they were like we want someone to be our official Sony Pictures blogger and so the contest was to make a video explaining why you would want to do that in why you would be good for that make a video why you would want to type about so strange yeah be a blogger and just write things but make a video explaining why you’d be good at it so weird but my buddy Owen and I we put our heads together and we I made this little video and it’s still up on the internet and it’s just like why I should be their their spokesperson and I did this stupid joke that was like at the time Brooke Burke was like this huge news person like and she would go around and do her wild on showing me and so I said I’m not Brooke Burke but I can be and I slapped this nametag on my shirt this is Brooke Burke on it and it was just like whatever it was just stupid and the next thing I know Sony calls me and they’re like you won we want you to come to comic-con all-expenses-paid will get you a hotel and everything and we want you to write for us and I was like this is great this is the big break this was the thing I was waiting for so I got the call literally while I was at THQ on the job and it was like middle of the day you were jumping into the 17th hole and it was just a nightmare world that I was in 17th time you kill yourself and so I got the call I went outside found out I won the contest I came back into THQ God all my stuff didn’t say a word and just walk right out the door and drove home it’s like a movie yeah it was seriously like a movie I didn’t call them I didn’t tell them I didn’t put in my two-weeks or anything I was just like I knew this was it I wonder how many days they thought you were like a ghost you actually went down the hole yes the game somebody to make that no so I left and then I got home and I told Sarah I was like I won this contest this is it and she was like yeah but what about your job forget it don’t even worry about it and she was like so pissed off of me she was like you need stability and she was I mean god bless her she like tried to keep me as on the level as possible it’s a reasonable question because comic-con was I thinking honestly if it’s like thinking about it now what was I thinking how could this contest be my big break but somehow I felt in the pit of my stomach that this was it like I I knew I had like the the the charisma I knew I could do it I know I could somehow weasel my way into something like just using my attitude and my energy and my positivity and just throwing it all out there in the world and just giving it everything so I went and did this and I convinced Sarah that everything was gonna be okay and like I said I mean we had just gotten married just moved into an apartment in Oak Park I mean Sarah was like thinking about real life logical stuff and I was thinking of like dream in the clouds this is like a big chance I’m taking type stuff so we did it and you cut the safety net I totally cut the safety net which from an entertainment standpoint I mean we fast for we kind of know where you’ve landed and you know it I you know I’m very interested in connecting the dots and I want to but I will say that it there’s a I’ve heard many people who make it entertainment say at some point you just have to go for it and if they’re and I’ve heard a lot of people say you what you can’t have a plan B you know even though it makes total sense the interesting thing was you cut your safety net for two people and that’s you know that’s it has to be scary oh it’s insane but I mean imagine having a family or imagine having like so many other people counting on you to bring in a steady amount of income I know the feeling like we’re I mean how could you how could you make such a big like weird chance or how could you take a big chance like that it was easier for us because I mean we we inched into it much more slowly in the move to LA move across tree was in answer to the opportunity to have our own television show so it wasn’t like it wasn’t as big of a risk for us I will say right but then what happened after you went to comic-con you killed it so I killed it and and my wife was at the time was like talking me up and so the next thing I know I get a call and they’re like we want you to come to the Sony Pictures studio a lot and we’ll do it we’ll take you around on the back lot tour so you can check out everything and then we’ll have you come into our digital division where where they like work with you at comic-con and we’ll have you interview and maybe get a job you’re like see right old you I know and I was like this is it this is what I was thinking what happened and it just so happened it happened and so I go there and I take the tour and Sarah’s with me and then the next thing I know I’m in someone’s office they’re interviewing me and then they’re like can you start Monday and I’m like yes I can why yes I can that that like freefall going from one trapeze you cut the net I’m yeah the analogy going but going I like you like you let go of my yeah it wasn’t long before you caught the next one so it wasn’t at all like I quit my job a week ago and then there I am getting a new job at Sony Pictures at their digital division and but they threw me big they hired me on his talent for their like to throw at events and stuff to be like a blogger type person but then the next thing I know I’m working in their video production world and then five years later I’m like a sound design guy doing the sounds if you go to the original paul blart mall cop website every sound you hear was me i did almost least mostly farts all fart sounds yeah I got that first part son he made literally scared me like oh you should have hired me back this where were you when I needed a real good part [Laughter] for that website still I’m sure it is because there’s a sequel okay how did that happen I don’t know man because I didn’t drop that high school didn’t go to college had zero like I have no resume at this point it’s like I worked at a video game store and that’s that and so for some reason I just kind of weaseled my way into this but did you feel your job did you feel like I mean where I thought you might be going with that was I started doing this but then I ended up making sounds on a website and that wasn’t me that wasn’t what I wanted wasn’t it definitely wasn’t it was just this kind of like natural organic progression in this corporate world of me trying everything I could to stay relevant and not be fired because the guy sitting next to me went to USC film school and graduated like with like crazy honors in his class and the guy on my right went to brown and graduated in marketing and there’s all these like crazy people with like accolades and awards and Greg and like crazy framed graduation diploma things and and on and Here I am the like the loser guy that somehow just weaseled his way in and and I honestly feel like at this point that kept me around basically just for morale because I’d walk around making people laugh and kept the positivity up and like right was like just that guy that they’re like oh man you just make us laugh and it’s so funny and I was entertaining all these people and it was nice but it wasn’t fulfilling me in any way creatively it was so that’s what was the next turn out of desk work so I’m I’m at this point where I start joining like la casting and I and I try to get an agent and I’m trying to do you know extra work and like I was I did like I was in a Buckcherry music video I was in a Buckcherry music video we’ve met Buckcherry on the red carpet yeah well I filmed you there it is that’s the six degrees of Kevin Bacon with red limbs were you like a you like a lead in this man I was I was the funny guy in the video it was the funny guy in the video and it was the video is called too drunk to it and that’s where the call and so I look it up you can sometimes you are actually already have it up here anyway so I did that and I did stuff I did like a thousand ways to die an episode of 1000 ways to die and then I did like some little things here and there but it still wasn’t enough and then one day I sent in and a tape – James Hafner who works at with Philip DeFranco at Bank or whatever and then they were like the next thing I know the casting call for what became swords fit it was a casting call for in fact this is this is a weird bit of trivia it was a casting call for what would end up being curb cash which was the show that Kevin brew ik ended up doing which was killed almost immediately but they wanted a man on the street like a funny man on the street type guy and so I came in and did an audition and then the next thing I know I’m at an audition space and likely Newton’s there and joe bereta is there and Elliott Morgan’s there and then all these other people that like I would meet later on that ended up being also YouTube people and then they’re doing like chemistry tests and then they’re like we want you we want you to come work at SourceFed we want you to be the fourth person we want it to be Joe Elliott Lee Steve and this was like just before SourceFed started so it was like I would love to do that but I’m working at a job where I have like a 401k and I have like benefits and vacation time and like a decent salary and then this is like a YouTube thing that is just starting yeah and I didn’t know yeah anything that you didn’t have a point of reference for Philip DeFranco zero I didn’t even know who he was yeah I never heard his name before right and so I didn’t know all I knew is is that this was this would be an entertainer job that I could get hired for where I would be making funny videos every day so he turned it down well I I did initially I was like I can do part-time and so they were like okay let’s do part-time so I would like I was able to maintain that for awhile I would come in and do a little bit now those were my first appearances on SourceFed it’s interesting that without that point of reference you know you you said well I got a 401k it’s like even in your mind over those five years like Coreper the corporate mentality it kind of like with you a little wall of me up and it was and as a guy Moxie was kind of gone a little on the wackiness was like subsided like someone put a big chastity belt on my humor genitals seriously so what so what did lead to cutting the cord like a lot of negative YouTube comments I got to get more a system of me I’ve never heard no I think it got to a point where I was like I am unhappy at this corporate gross not creative desk job even though it’s super comfortable the money’s nice I’m able to live comfortably you know I’m keeping my wife happy everything’s great life’s great but I’m not happy and I wasn’t what I really wanted to do was to entertain people and so I just took a massive chance and a massive pay cut and was just like alright and I had so many nights with Sarah willed can this work can we can we do this can can it like can we survive financially financially and she was like this is about as low as we can do and so I kept going back and forth with the guys at SourceFed I was like can we do this can we do this can we do this and then eventually they were like alright let’s do it and so I quit my job at Sony and I started working at SourceFed and the most intense anxiety I had ever felt in my life attacked my soul and mind and and everything I had gone into like from the wacky fun guy to like agoraphobic I don’t I can’t leave my house type stuff and this is when you were already host yes this was like maybe a month or two into barely starting as a full-time host at SourceFed and how did that manifest itself in any way you’re interacting with you know Joe and for them they were very they were very much confused because they were like here’s this like super happy-go-lucky fun positive guy who as soon as he’s done shooting a video if he could even get through a full video without having like some sort of weird panic attack or something suddenly is not like hanging out with us after work and suddenly is not even talking to and like and I would go like I remember the first VidCon I ever went to I guess that was 2012 June of 2012 I think this was like maybe like a month into the starting SourceFed Joe was like dude I know you’re not gonna want to go to parties I know you’re not gonna want to talk to people and stuff but like you are so new in the YouTube world like you got to talk to people and you got us seem like a friendly person otherwise you’re gonna look like a dick to everybody it’s like here’s this guy that just started on SourceFed and now and he’d oh he won’t even talk to us and stuff like that but little did they know and I tried telling them I’m like dude I’m just something happened I think it was a combination of I got into this really crazy car wreck in Culver City and I think was a combination of that and cutting the cord and your analogy of like the safety nets gone from Sony to YouTube and suddenly I’m like oh my god now there’s like thousands of people that are watching me every day what was it was a car wreck and how did that so the car wreck was like I was driving home from work at Sony one day and I just someone smashed into me going like 80 miles per hour destroyed my little VW Bug which I loved so much I was fine I didn’t like need to go to the hospital or anything I had a lot of back problems and all that kind of stuff but I think it just gave me this intense like PTSD like after that I couldn’t really Drive and I already suffered and through anxiety my entire life but I didn’t know I didn’t know what it was I didn’t know when you feelings you talked about it was like a resurgence of that weird hermit crab zone that you described yes from you know back of the end of your high school exactly time and I went from a guy that would like get up on stage and pull my pants down and start singing and just to being a guy that couldn’t even leave the house because of this like crazy traumatic experience but you would leave to shoot on SourceFed I would if you couldn’t make it through sometimes I couldn’t at all sometimes I would be sometimes I would be driving to work I’d be like okay my heart’s racing and I called James and be like dude I’ve been puking all night I can’t come in to work and then I would go home and I’d lock myself in my room I would go under the covers and I’d be like I think I’m dying I don’t know what’s happening in my body my brain where’s the guy that used to be able to like do anything I didn’t let you get help I mean yeah I ended up going to therapy and therapy didn’t work at all it was like you got to get in this mind space you gotta take breathing and like take a moment to go outside on the grass and like do little yoga and like it what it just was not working like nothing was working and then I honestly can’t tell you 100% with 100% certain certainty what got me out of it but I think with a little bit of guidance from Joe because Joe Bereta is like the greatest mentor anyone could ever have the dude is just why is beyond his years he was so supportive once he once I finally like opened up to him and was like okay this is what’s going on with me I can’t keep it from everybody this is what it is I guess it’s anxiety attacks you know I just need to be open with you guys and tell you what this is and Joe was just like super supportive was like dude don’t worry I’ll help you as much as I can and I think he just ended up becoming like this comfort that came from my peers and then from Sarah and then from just like slowly getting into the success of SourceFed and then learning that this wasn’t going to be just this one-time thing that was gonna fall apart I think the stability of it really brought my right I’ll stay back up so it wasn’t one thing or there wasn’t one key it was the support of people around you and then and kind of just slowly got it was it a snap out I don’t know I mean I can’t I can’t or a slow climb out of it I guess I guess it was a slow climb because it wasn’t I can’t remember like one day being so bad and then the next day being like hey that was weird it really was like months later because then I could confide in people like meg Meg Turney who at the time who then started on the channel like a couple of months after me as well who was like I suffer from anxiety too and then I was talking to other people are like oh yeah I have panic attack a me leave the house sometimes and it was kind of like seeking kind of like solace from people that were also going through the same things that really kind of like helped me break out of it a little bit and it was I guess it was transitional did this manifest itself in your work did you think so can you go back and look at those videos I was oh yeah thank you yeah yeah Sarah could even see it – she used to watch videos and be like you like you’re sick you but you’re like gonna puke or something and I was like yeah that’s me having a straight-up panic attack like that’s a panic attack both scream on screen on video yeah you can go back to my early videos and definitely see that I think and so slowly or suddenly you can’t really figure out you kind of came out of that yeah and you’ve kind of become the the linchpin and in a lot of ways of SourceFed as everyone yet you mentioned that was there originally it’s no longer there yeah no longer there you’ve got tenure I mean yeah yeah you’re the only one who could have that title at this yeah it’s true I’m the survivor but it I mean I’m operating on the assumption that you’re not gonna be there forever and that you’re gonna be the next one to depart from SourceFed even the tweet from the SourceFed account on April Fool’s Day was that you were leaving so what’s the what’s the plan what’s the approach I think for me it’s one of those things where I mean I’ve been doing it for like three and a half years now I think that’s three and a half years right 2012 yeah sure yeah it’s almost three and a half years now so it’s like yeah and I think Phil even from the very beginning was like when we had our like kind of our interview meeting when we kind of had lunch and just before I started full-time at SourceFed Phil it said to me you know if you guys are still here in like five years if you know then that I’m not doing my job right I don’t think the companies like doing well because it’s like this is definitely kind of like a launching pad for a lot of people I feel like and for me I’m one of those guys that’s like now I’m a youtuber but I feel like it’s almost like it almost hurt it doesn’t feel good to say like I’m a youtuber because there are people who like worked their asses off from like getting zero views on their videos to like to getting very lucky and suddenly getting growing this massive fan base I kind of just jumped into a world that already had this pre-existing fan base in Phil’s world and kind of you know three years later built up a lot of stuff in SourceFed and definitely was a big major part of the success of SourceFed and source nerd but I feel kind of like ashamed to be like yes I and I should be here along the likes of joe bereta and luke barats and rhettandlink and ol decay and people like that who have put in like the work you know so I feel kind of that kind of stuff too but like I and I’ll say the but I think that having yeah I can see that you know you might feel like you you were a hired gun that then yes but you should you helped shape something that helped change the landscape of what YouTube is arguably let’s trim won a lot of awards in the process you know so it’s that goes a long way I mean we all get here in a lot of different ways yeah it’s true it’s true I think I can say much but you don’t have as many embarrassing videos when you are emulating someone else before you figured out what it is you were supposed to do I have the videos that you needed delete you were having a panic attack sit with those but no I so yeah even Phil was like if you’re still working there it’s kind of bad but so for me it’s like so you’re resigning I’m resigning I’m quitting right now no I I I don’t see it I don’t see myself just gonna walk but when you do we know how you’re gonna do it you’re gonna you’re gonna gather your stuff and you’re just gonna walk and not call anyone I mean now that it’s kind of like I’ve made I’ve made full circle from the corporate world of Sony into the corporate world of discovery it’s kind of like the formalities need to stay kind of like on the level there so I don’t think I could just run and go I can’t Irish goodbye that this or that job but at this point especially if I don’t want to burn any bridges or anything like that but I mean I I mean everyone’s kind of looking for the next thing right especially if you’re doing something long enough you’re like what’s next you’re always thinking like what’s next well I assume that you you know you have a desire to get out there and do your own thing yeah and not and not even just like my own thing like I kind of want to do you know like maybe in the in the future like TV and movies do you have a timeline I don’t I should but I don’t I’m gonna be 33 in like a couple of weeks I’m an old man and in YouTube years that’s like crazy right we’re like grandfathers where my eyes are right I but I mean like you know what I’m saying like you got yours a Franks and you’re you can say we’re close but so you’ve experienced this transition you know it sounds like some of those things have been dealt with but you know you’ve also been relatively open about what you’ve gone through yes with your ex-wife yes you’ve had a vlog in January yes it’s still up where you referenced another vlog that is no longer no longer up where you said I had a video that explained a little bit about my personal life but I took it down once I explained what your mentality so I um yeah cuz like man in this YouTube world it’s very much like nothing is personal nothing can be kept secret in your in your personal life or in your professional life and so when things start going south for Sara and I and like when it started to become like you know she’s moving out of the house and like we’re actually splitting up it occurred to me that like man I do vines and snapchats and things like this where Sarah is like in all of this stuff and Sarah was even doing like little episodes of my my shows on my personal channel with me like we would review like the leftovers or like Game of Thrones or something like that so she’s very much a part and you know she would be in my like live streams you could hear her talking about things while she was like knitting little characters and stuff mhm and so when it got to the point where like things gone had gone south in our relationship and we weren’t living together anymore I was like okay fans are gonna start to like wonder where the hell Sarah is and they already were and then they’re gonna try to find things out and then spread rumors and then the next thing I know it’s gonna be like all this misinformation and Here I am dealing with the ridiculousness of like splitting up from someone and then the potential for divorce and all this insanity in my own personal life on top of like how am I gonna explain this to the viewers and how am I gonna explain that I’m being like a total jerk or kind of like you can see it on my face and table talks that I’m like visually visibly unhappy something’s going on like what’s wrong with Steve he seems angry or weird and obviously I’ve got all this terrible stuff happening in my personal life so there has to be some sort of explanation and to me there had to be some sort of like setting the records type thing but what do you I mean with so much change from you know you met her at a really difficult time yes she helped pull you out of that yes you continue to go through difficult time you changed a lot personally was this a well we fell in love in high school and now we’re different people like what is your I think it was very much that it was one of those things where it was like so we we got married in 2006 we had known each other at this point for like 12 years and then you know something like that 12 years 11 years and then married for like eight years and so it was like we got to a point where we were changing so much as as individuals and because of my intense busyness in the YouTube world and because of like I started doing other work and I start traveling abroad I would go to like start traveling to different conventions and I would be home less and less and it started become one of those things where was like my personal life was almost non-existent with Sarah which was unfair to her so just got to a point where it was like I’m not being fair to her because she wants something out of life and she’s not being fair to me because I want something else out of life so is this very mutual kind of like this is what we need to do right and for me it’s like I’m am I gonna not take these opportunities that could lead to something bigger and better for us just because like you know we need to be more personally together and do that kind of thing and so is we were both being unfair to each other for what we wanted in life so we just decided let’s just call it off let’s just do this let’s just move on how difficult was that heart I mean I’d say the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life for sure I mean it was very very difficult I mean obviously I very much was in love with Sarah and we were very much in love with each other so was one of those things that was like we were so young when we decided to get married that it was like it was almost like in a weird way it was like destined for failure it was destined to be some sort of like we would split ways and grow apart and change so it was it was very very difficult but I mean and even more difficult to be like is this what I want a life am I make the right decision by ending a marriage by mutually ending a marriage because like this is what I want out of life but I mean it’s not it wasn’t just that obviously there were many other little issues here and there like little relationship issues mm-hmm but it ultimately came down to this is this is something I’ve always wanted to do with my life and I need to pursue it and I can’t not go that way you know right see I still talk we do we do we didn’t there was some very difficult times in the beginning and some animosity and some anger and but now we’re supercool now it’s like I’m happier than I’m ever than I have ever been in my life and so am i and we’re both saying these things to each other like this is the best decision we both could have made and I think it’s like the fact that she’s happy and like feels amazing and feels better than she ever has is like perfect for me it’s I love that I want her to be happy I want her to move on I want her to to get everything she wants so like now that she’s kind of like on this road to doing that I feel so happy for her I feel absolutely happy for her are you happy or are you just starting to be able to get happier like it where are you in that pro I’m happy I’m happy because I because it’s I’m no longer wasting someone’s time that I care a lot about and and in the process I am fulfilling the my personal needs as well so I’m like in a really good place right now in your vlog you said 2015 was a year of change you know almost six months into that year yeah so what’s changing I mean I’m definitely not I’m like the like married guy I’m definitely now this like just this kind of disconnected from that kind of weird lifestyle guy so now I’m just kind of like this free man that is just kind of like not super concerned with with this other person that I could potentially be offending or not spending enough time with or something like that not to say that like all relationships suck or marriage sucks or whatever but it’s like those responsibilities not being such a massive wait on me and the and those and the ideas of the arguments and just kind of like the endless frustration is being gone makes me a completely different person it makes me happier it makes me I feel like I concentrate more on my work I feel like I’m I’m more focused on where my career is heading it’s I don’t know I feel like it’s it’s the best thing I could have done for myself for my career and for my emotions and how do you think that change is gonna manifest itself in your career I mean you we talked about okay well a SourceFed isn’t gonna last forever is that does that change that you’re experiencing personally lead to this desire for a professional change yeah I mean I think it does and I think it I think the fact that like I’m putting out an album this year and actually doing it is a big deal because before it would be something I would just talk about and be like oh I want to do that and I’m gonna do it and then I wouldn’t because it would be like well you know I’ve got this other life I’m dealing with and you know I’ve got you know my wife and I this and and I’ve got all this other stuff going on I mean these vlogs I mean now it’s like not to say that I have more time but I just feel more focused on things that I definitely want to and need to do with my life and I feel like that’s where 2015 is it’s writing songs about whales about whales animals yeah exactly and what is the little with a cute little thing what are the axolotl axolotl which I will look up immediately you got if you can even spell it I dare you oh well I’m gonna be Wikipedia in this thing right after this yeah Wikipedia the hell out of work or prettiness that’s even a word well listen man thanks for uh being so candid with us in your story it’s cool to get to know you yeah [Music] and there you have it our ear biscuit with steve zaragoza tweet at Steve his handle is steve zaragoza GOC a hashtag ear biscuits let him know what you thought of the conversation and that’s always good so we really do appreciate that and reviewing this show on itunes and I have taken it upon myself to look up the axolotl you googled it I did he said you wouldn’t know how to spell it well I misspelled it at first and then they asked me see who’s right did you mean this I mean how would you ever know to say this a exo-l OTL axolotl yeah X a lot Oh oh I thought it was a XE elo ti axolotl not X a logical ah T okay yeah that would be an axolotl that it’s a memory yeah okay yeah is this worthy of a Steve song I mean based on your thing is ridiculous extinct interesting well it’s crazy so it’s also known as the Mexican salamander or the Mexican walking fish the picture on Wikipedia is not this picture right here when that’s in captivity is really really interesting it’s an underwater creature it’s a salamander and salamanders aren’t necessarily underwater their amphibious aren’t they it’s yeah well I mean yeah I guess amphibious I mean they need water to survive they have to be close to water but anyway it looks like a deep sea creature the yeah but it’s not as of 2010 wild axolotls were near extinction due to urbanization in Mexico City and consequent water pollution so they’re like living in the interior of the country because no Mexico City is like land bound landlocked or whatever so this isn’t this is a freshwater salamander but a four month long search in 2013 turned up no surviving individuals in the wild so people are like going out and trying to find these things so there’s still some in captivity but they can’t find any in the wild at least in terms of it since 2013 so I guess it’s just gone extinct man it’s kind of sad I guess so it is gonna be a lullaby as this thing slowly fades into non-existence maybe his song will well you know have an insurgents and bring them back I don’t think that’s how it works I don’t think a song is gonna bring this thing back link well if the song makes them want to procreate then maybe it will well it’s not a la la lullaby but more of a slow jam okay a slow jam for axolotls we need to tell Steve that and slow jam that Axl I’m never gonna bring him back and let him loose in Mexico City all right okay sounds like a plan maybe maybe we should do that we could be a part of that we should start a foundation I don’t know if we’re committed to that plan or the foundation but we are committed to delivering another ear biscuit the Association souls the Association for the establishment of a new axolotl population via slow jams that’s the name of that you can figure out what that spells and try to pronounce it on your own time yeah here at you next week [Music] [Music]