The Fightin'est Review! #robertehoward #hplovecraft

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:02]That crazy guy.

[00:00:03]>> He is not crazy. He's a writer.

[00:00:07]And you're an English teacher. You should respect that.

[00:00:09]>> No. Come here. Get a look at this.

[00:00:20]What do you suppose he's doing?

[00:00:23]Guess he thinks he's Max Schnelling or something.

[00:00:49]Hey Jesus, girl, I almost waloped you.

[00:01:14]As they say, it smells like hell. But yeah, it was it was actually fairly good.

[00:01:19]>> Duran. It doesn't say Duran. What does that say? Let me see again. Says Duran.

[00:01:24]Dur Duran. Oh, Roberto Duran. Got it.

[00:01:28]Got it.

[00:01:30]>> If you ever fought his brother, it would be a Duran. Durian. That having been said, you know, where they have durian.

[00:01:36]I don't know if you guys were aware of this, but durian is a very popular fruit in the South Pacific, which is uh, you know, also an area where the sailor Steve Castigan likes to likes to go. He his job is on the sea girl and he sails around from port to port often in Asian ports of call where there's always a fight to be had always a woman to be tricked by or to be had and he's always with his dog >> the loyal Mike who looks something like this. Hey guys, I brought this because I had heard Steve Costigan was paying 50 bucks per dog and all you had to do all you had to do was show up with a dog and he was paying you 50 bucks. So that's why I brought this dog. I hope it fits the bill. Uh but we're joined today by Nick from the book Graveyard, Ishmael from the Robert E.

[00:02:29]Howard Foundation, aka John Bullard.

[00:02:31]Thanks for joining joining us today, guys. We're looking forward to this. All right, as I said, we're talking about the sea girl in the South Pacific going from port to port. Uh, Roberty Howard, uh, you may or may not know, if you don't know who Roberty Howard is, what have you been doing with your life? But you may, uh, those of you just kind of tuning into the pulp world, he created the character Conan. You know him as Conan the Barbarian. We know him as Conan the Samrian because he wasn't from Barbaria. He was from Samaria. But anyway, before he created that character or maybe at the same time sometime you know before that he was a pulp writer and he could sell every fight story that he would write. So he would send those into magazines such as one of them I believe was called fight stories uh and others and we have two experts on today.

[00:03:23]Nick and John are are are kind of experts on on this. So they're going to correct every incorrect thing I say.

[00:03:30]John's an expert.

[00:03:32]>> John's an expert.

[00:03:35]>> Oh, you boys are in trouble if you consider me to be an expert.

[00:03:39]>> Well, as the books come out, I'll just read them all and then I'll be an expert.

[00:03:43]>> How's that?

[00:03:44]>> I think that's how that works.

[00:03:45]>> The main reason we're getting together today is we are looking at the second volume of Fists of Iron. It's fists of iron round two. It's fisters of iron round two, little Mike. And uh these are all the Steve Castigan stories. There are other fight stories.

[00:04:03]If you look at Fists of Iron round one, uh you see lots of fight stories in there as well. Uh and we already talked about this one. You can go back and look at that video. But then the Steve Castigan, look at Steve Castigan right there. Look at this guy. He is gigantic.

[00:04:19]The artist. Remind me of the artist.

[00:04:21]>> Destroyer.

[00:04:22]>> Mark Wheatley.

[00:04:23]>> Yeah. Yeah. And look at that. That is that was worth waiting for. And it's a wraparound. So, it's so cool. And I knew what scene this was. The minute this book showed up in the mail, by the way.

[00:04:36]Thanks, John, for this uh this advanced cop. I'm going to call it advanced copy.

[00:04:40]Uh thanks for this. Your minute showed up, I was like, I know what's happening here. And then I turned it around to the back to confirm. I was like, I know this story. I've read this one. Actually read it in this long overdue library book.

[00:04:53]>> And you still have it?

[00:04:54]>> I still have it.

[00:04:55]>> Yes. Well, it's not under my card. It's under my daughter's cart. So, what do I care?

[00:04:59]>> And they're moving, so it's not like they're going to be checking out books anytime soon. I even put down the uh the the Nancy Drew book I was reading as soon as I got this. So, you know, >> out there right now is some poor kid who is going to be the next big author >> who's gonna totally miss his calling because he wasn't able to get that Sailor Steve book from his local library. I believe I've said before, I'm willing to take this book to that kid if I could just find out who it is. I'm willing to personally deliver it >> myself.

[00:05:35]Steve Costigan is way different from Conan.

[00:05:39]It's these stories are less polished, less I don't want to say less serious because they're seriously hilarious. But yeah, >> Steve uh a sailor Steve is an unreliable narrator, but he reliably uh pumps himself up like he's the hero in every story he tells. And you're often you're often led to wonder, is that real or is that just something he made up? A lot of it's probably made up, but it blends boxing. If you like boxing, if you like adventure, you like humor, the adventure is great because he's on all these islands in the Pacific and there's these exotic people and exotic things that he gets to see.

[00:06:19]>> But it all works. It all comes together and it works really well.

[00:06:23]>> Um, if you take the if if you take the fight scenes out of these stories, they're really good adventure stories.

[00:06:31]They're just adventure stories that then with instead of like guns, he's using his fists or he's using some other guns.

[00:06:38]So, yeah, I I didn't realize these were going to be as good as they were. I knew they were going to be good, but I didn't realize how good they were going to be.

[00:06:46]>> Yeah.

[00:06:48]>> Yeah.

[00:06:49]you know, he's a humorous character, but as you're reading volume two, >> the about the first half of the book, the first stories, the humor is is not really that prominent in the stories and it's only about middle of the book. It's about waterfront fist or so because that was the first one that you could really start seeing where Bob was saying, I'm going to start putting real humor into these stories. And yeah, from there on out, he starts putting the humor into the stories. So if you start reading these stories, you're like, "Everybody's saying this is humorous, but I'm not finding too much that's making me laugh out loud." Wait till you get to about the middle of the book with waterfront fists and from water waterfront fists on >> when he's when he's in the ring fighting for his life and the people keep bringing, "Is this your dog?" No, that's not the dog.

[00:07:39]>> It's it's just it's cinematic. It's hilarious. It would it it the dude could have written really good screenplays for like a TV show, you know, like if you take the like remember Taylor of the Gold Monkey, you know, those kind of do something like that, but with with a with a with these fight stories, they would have been great as like a series.

[00:07:59]>> Yeah.

[00:08:00]>> So Paul's talking about the fightness pair uh where where somebody kidnaps Mike, his loyal dog, >> who is a white pitbull, right?

[00:08:11]Bulldog, not a pit.

[00:08:12]>> Yeah, bulldog. Sorry. Yeah, that's a Doesn't look like a pit bull. You're right. He fights.

[00:08:16]>> Not that we're slighting you pitbull owners, but it is a bulldog. So, >> he isn't a pit at one point, but he is not a pitbull. He's a bulldog and a pit.

[00:08:24]There's a difference.

[00:08:25]>> He assists to the regional manager. Um, >> yeah. So, his his his dog gets kidnapped, so he puts up a sign that says, "I'll give 50 bucks to anybody." I love it. It was so funny like how hard he had to work at writing that sign out.

[00:08:40]Yeah.

[00:08:40]>> And then somebody's like, "Oh, where are you getting the money?" He's like, "Oh, yeah. I gotta add that. P.S. here's where I'm getting the money." And the next thing you know, like everybody in town's bringing any dog they can find, saying they heard he's somebody's over here paying 50 bucks a piece for dogs.

[00:08:57]>> Yeah.

[00:08:57]>> It was hilarious. That fighting this pair is my favorite Costigan story because as you're saying what's happening is is that the setup of the story is he shows into the port and he's supposed to fight somebody because >> Sailor Costan, Steve Costigan, whatever the ship hoes into port wherever he usually gets involved in pickup boxing matches to make money or somebody is saying we've got the best fighter on any of the sailor ships, merchant ships.

[00:09:28]So he will show up to get involved in that. And while he's waiting for the fight to begin, he's at a bar with his dog and one of the people in the bar say, you know, "Hey, Steve, are you gonna enter?" His dog's name is Mike. He said, "Are you going to enter Mike into this big dog fighting match?" Because this guy showing up with his dog that's the champion dog fighter. And of course, Steve says, "No, dog fighters are about the lowest breed of humans there are. I wouldn't get involved with that." Yeah.

[00:09:56]>> And as he's walking out of the bar, he gets weighed by some guys and knocked out and they take Mike. So, he's scared to death that Mike's going to be involved in dog fighting and he can't go look for Mike because he's got the boxing match to go. So, he makes the signs that he puts up. And that's the funniest part is he's fighting this match where he he should be able to beat this guy with no problem at all. you know, one one or two even two arms tied behind his back. But every time he's about to knock this guy out, some native comes running up holding up a dog saying, "Mr. Kigan, I have your dog. I have your dog."

[00:10:34]He's like, "What?" And as he turns to look, he gets punched by the guy.

[00:10:38]>> It's just a great story.

[00:10:40]>> He's beating the tar out of the guy even though he's super distracted. That was pretty funny. No, >> I love the fact that he's fine if two dogs want to fight, but the minute you start putting money down, that's the line he draws right there. It's like, you know, that's the lowest of the low, you know, but if his dog wants to prove himself to another dog, you know, he's got no problem with that.

[00:11:03]>> Yeah.

[00:11:05]>> These uh the the pit of the serpent was one of the first stories I had read as well. And I know you said these aren't supposed to be funny. And now that you say that, I guess it wasn't all that funny. It was pretty gruesome >> where he >> he he gets himself into a situation where he's put into an actual concrete pit with just straight sides. And the way he describes the action, it really pulled me in. I was like, I think I'm going to like this guy. I think it was, like I said, I think it was the first one I had read just because I like the sound of it. Like the pit of the serpent. I love that. It was a place where snakes are supposed to fight. Like apparently people will gamble on anything. So I guess they would throw snakes in and gamble on the snakes fighting.

[00:11:48]>> Um but but it was great the way he described the fighting. And I think that it's another contextual thing like these po stories were really popular and probably the reason he could sell everyone is fighting was really popular in those days, right? That was a thing. I think Nick, we've talked about that before where every town had fights and everybody was interested in fighting. It was a big entertainment thing. And so his knowledge of fighting, where did he get that? Like you could tell he's he knows fighting.

[00:12:20]>> Which one of you wants to tell us why he Why did Robert E. Howard know so much about fighting, >> Nick? Well, he was Yeah, he was a amateur boxer himself.

[00:12:32]He spent a lot of time down at the gym and he was just a big a big fan of boxing, write articles about it. He knew all the fighters.

[00:12:42]>> Uh he he just knew that world.

[00:12:45]>> Depending on how deep you want to go, I can read you some of his letters that he wrote to a friend where he talks about his boxing matches that he would get engaged in. But he started out I believe uh that you know according to El Sprag camp he was bullied and I think there is some evidence that he was bullied as a kid because the family kept moving around Texas all the time about every few months or so.

[00:13:17]>> So he was always the new kid wherever they ended up.

[00:13:21]So he got tired of being bullied. So he started picking up boxing, began to love boxing and uh would get involved, you know, school boy during recess. Uh he writes in letters to I think Lovecraft where it was fairly standard practice during recess that you know the boys would of course get into rough and tumbled fights out on the field and the teacher would be watching, wouldn't do anything while they're beating each other up.

[00:13:49]That sounds about right.

[00:13:50]>> What would What would Lovecraft What would Lovecraft say about the fighting?

[00:13:54]I just can't imagine him being interested at all >> about >> rightthulag.

[00:14:08]>> Yeah. What was what was Lovecraft? Did Lovecraft respond or >> I uh I'm not as familiar with Lovecraft's responses to Howard's letters because you know I do have the two volume set a means to freedom which contains the entire uh Lovecraft Howard uh letter correspondence. I'm only mo most familiar having edited the collected letters of Roberty Howard with his letters that he sent to Lovecraft, >> but I can't imagine that Lovecraft was too impressed with that. I know that >> how great would it be if he replied like his own Steve uh Sailor Steve tall tale Lovecraft kicking someone's ass.

[00:14:52]>> Yeah.

[00:14:54]that.

[00:14:54]>> See, that that just shows that nothing ever changes because um Steve used to get picked on all the time and then one summer he grew like a foot and a half and the the teasing stopped. So, we we used to get beat up all the time when we were kids.

[00:15:09]>> I was in my 30s and I was like, why is it I remember lots of fights in junior high and early high school, but I don't remember any more fights after that. And Paul's like, you grew like a foot and a half.

[00:15:19]>> Nobody was gonna pick >> over a summer.

[00:15:21]>> Yeah. I thought you were gonna say you're in your 30s and they finally stopped picking on you.

[00:15:26]>> Yeah.

[00:15:28]>> Stop coming around.

[00:15:29]>> We're gonna go fight old man Steve.

[00:15:32]>> He grew he grew a foot in his 30s. I finally stopped picking on him.

[00:15:37]>> No, I don't mean a foot in length. I mean I grew a third foot in my 30s and people were like e on the side of my head.

[00:15:46]>> I had it removed. I got better.

[00:15:50]I thought it was funny that it's called Pit of the Serpent and he's Roberty Eye Howard because you know as Conan and you're like of course his his first fight story is called Pit of the Serpent because you just imagine that it would be some kind of like gladiator scene, right? Some kind of >> uh historical fight, you know? It doesn't sound like it would be >> the lead character would be a a kind of silly um sailor. you know.

[00:16:17]>> Mhm.

[00:16:17]>> You you you assume it's going to be a barbarian, >> right?

[00:16:21]>> So, it's really cool that he wrote this different kind of character.

[00:16:24]>> Maybe he tried it and decided it didn't work and then kept it around and then, you know, used the the pit idea for Steve Costigan.

[00:16:33]>> He wrote these stories before Conan, right?

[00:16:35]>> Oh, did he? Okay.

[00:16:37]>> Yeah. He started writing uh the cost against stories I want to say 1928 or so because the pit of the serpent was published in 1929.

[00:16:48]So >> yeah, because wasn't the fight stories the first thing he had published, right?

[00:16:52]>> And no, the first thing he started off with weird tales with the the Spear and Fang, his caveman story.

[00:17:01]>> Spear and Fang.

[00:17:02]>> Then he follow started following up because he was able to start selling stuff to Weird Tales. And so roughly around the same time as uh Solomon Kaine appeared in Weird Tales was I and King Cull, he probably was starting to work on the Steve Costigan stories and uh sending those into um fight stories and fight stories the editor that pulp Jack Burn started accepting them and he would Jack Burn got so that he really liked Roberty Howard and would ask for more stories. especially on the Costigan, but I would correct you where Steve you said that he was able to sell every fight story. He was not able to sell every fight story. He got a bunch rejected.

[00:17:45]>> A bunch of the Costan stories that got rejected. He rewrote it as Dennis Dorgan character. And so he was able to start selling some of those uh to Farnsworth writes magic carpet pulp and but he was because the fight stories that pulp uh went out ended its circulation. Uh but Jack Burn was the editor over at Action Stories. So he started taking the characters started put publishing the stories and action stories till action stories folded and then uh one of the associate editors at action stories William Kofid became the editor at uh I think it was Jack Dempsey's fight stories and so having known about the costigan stories and liking those he contacted Bob and said hey can you start sending us some more costigan stories for uh Jack Dempsey's fight stories. So that's where they ended up at Jack Dempsey's fight stories.

[00:18:49]>> And this is a guy who doesn't call himself an expert.

[00:18:52]>> I know that's that's exactly what I was thinking when he was doing that. I was like, >> "Hey, I had to just do my studying for that."

[00:19:03]>> Was it? So I think you guys are saying Pit of the Serpent. That was his first Castigan story.

[00:19:07]>> His first Costigan. Alan Thomas drew this for the Fight Stories magazine, which is pretty cool.

[00:19:14]>> I like that.

[00:19:16]>> Um, >> yeah, but that's a good point, Nick. I think that the reason I probably read that one first was I thought, okay, I've read some Conan. I've read some Solomon Cain. There's probably going to be a serpent in this one. There's definitely going to be a pit. So, that was fun.

[00:19:32]Thanks for that uh that lesson there, John. Appreciate it.

[00:19:35]>> That was cool. That was good. Um, also Waterfront Fist is a really good story and it it really has that structure, right? You he shows up to town, somebody says there's going to be a fight, he somehow gets himself in a scrap that's separate from the main event. He gets hoodwinkedked or tricked by a woman.

[00:19:58]Um, and wackiness ensues, right? It's almost like a mystery at that point, too. Like I noticed there's like some aspects of what's really going on here. The only source of information we have is somebody who we find is an unreliable narrator, Steve Costigan, and we're trying to figure out what's going on and there are twists and turns and that happens in Waterfront Fist. Um it kind of happens in the fightness pair because you're trying to figure out what actually happened to Mike, where is he? What's going on?

[00:20:33]Uh, if I read and I'm going to continue reading these, but if I keep reading these, is that the general gist of just about every Steve Costigan story and Dennis Dan story?

[00:20:41]>> Doran, the >> Yeah, >> they are formulaic. And so whenever we tell people, you know, don't try and read them all at once.

[00:20:49]>> Yeah. usually just try and read one or two at a time and and just slowly savor them so that you don't get overwhelmed and it just all becomes the same thing that you read after one after the other.

[00:21:02]Uh and also that way you'll be able to start picking up some of the humor, especially as you get into the the ones after about the first four or five or so where he's finally starting to inject the humor into it.

[00:21:16]>> It's awesome. Reminds me of uh 80s and 90s sitcoms. Like every week it's the same thing. Like Thre's Company.

[00:21:24]Remember Thre's Company? It was always the same thing.

[00:21:26]>> Everything gets reset at the end for the next episode be Yeah.

[00:21:30]>> status quo.

[00:21:31]>> But when they were only coming out like once a week or something, that was fine, right? And it's comforting.

[00:21:36]>> And so if you're reading uh fight stories like you you're not binge reading them. You're reading them once however often that magazine came out.

[00:21:45]and you know what you're going to get.

[00:21:46]So, it's comforting.

[00:21:48]>> Yeah.

[00:21:50]>> Is is the uh the I read a bunch of these and they kind of like you said, they kind of do blend together. Um the the the yellow cobra which which Okay, better better way to ask this question.

[00:22:04]Which one of these stories is the one where he has the friend who's like a like a government agent?

[00:22:11]>> I haven't read that one. Yeah, I I can't remember that one off the top of my head. I'm sorry.

[00:22:17]>> Well, it's fine. I just I just thought that was a neat uh a neat aspect of the character is that not everybody he knows is just some, you know, shifty guy who owns a bar or another fighter, you know, or some some mobster guy. It's like he actually knows somebody like, "Oh, yeah, this is my this was my friend, the Gman, you know." Oh, oh, you don't have a friend who's a Gman? It's just it was just kind of funny to me. But I I like that idea of just bringing in something.

[00:22:45]It it made it bigger in a way, I guess, for me.

[00:22:50]>> You may have discovered a Steve Castigan story that uh even John hasn't seen.

[00:22:55]>> Yeah, I have not read all of the boxing stories yet. I haven't read any of the Kid Allison stories.

[00:23:00]>> Unless it was just a fever dream I had, which is entirely possible.

[00:23:06]There's one where where where Mike bit a policeman. Waterfront Law.

[00:23:13]>> I love how bar feeling these stories feel. It really does feel like he's just a character that sits next to you at a bar and just starts talking >> like he just had a couple beers and he's like, "Listen to this." And it's it's so funny because the stories are he's bragging, but he's also like looking like a fool. Like you can I think that you can see it coming like a mile away.

[00:23:38]As soon as he walks in, there's a lady and a guy like and she he thinks that he's protecting her. He's the only one who believes that he's protecting her.

[00:23:46]>> Yeah.

[00:23:47]>> Like no one else gets it. But he's so like it's like he's so cocky about it, you know? He's so like I'm doing the right thing and let me tell you friends like I fought for her honor. Yeah.

[00:23:58]>> And that's what that's I think that there is that humor >> and it may get like more obvious in humor aspect. Yeah. Later on, but I I haven't got that far yet. But in those beginning in the beginning stories, that's the humor that's in there, I think, >> is that he is >> like portraying himself as this kind of like fierce honorable knight, you know?

[00:24:19]>> Yeah. And really, you're just like, "Man, you're a sucker." Like, you know how to fight. But >> it over and over.

[00:24:28]>> It definitely does get more laugh out loud as it goes along. But yeah, I thought the same thing. It's still it it's funny in a way because like you said, you know, Steve calls him the unreliable narrator. Uh it you can tell right away that it's that that that he's how much of this is actually how much of this actually happened, you know, or his he he might, like you said, he might claim to be this noble knight, but he just wants to get a kiss off of this girl, so he's got to go fight some guy for it, you know.

[00:24:57]>> So, it's there. It just gets ramped up.

[00:25:01]>> You guys will indulge me. I I would like to read you a letter.

[00:25:05]>> Yes. that Howard wrote to one of his friends, Herbert Clatt, and uh he's talking about some boxing matches. Pay attention to his description of himself as a fighter as he writes this letter.

[00:25:17]This letter was written in 1925.

[00:25:20]I used to box with a fellow who is now a letterman on one of the large college teams. He was strong as anything and went through opposition as though it wasn't there, but he didn't like a sl a sock in the mug. We boxed half an hour straight one day without interval and could have boxed as much longer for as for I was in good trim and so was he. He carried a powerful right arm swing and was a better boxer than I, though slower. Time and again I caught the full force of that right flush on the jaw or body. And though it usually staggered me and often knocked me for half a dozen feet, yet I never was much bothered or close to a KO. On the other hand, my face jabs seemed to jolt him a good deal, though I packed no punch at all.

[00:26:03]My body punches didn't phase him, but every time I jab his head back, it seemed to shake him. I brought a short straight left into play and had him bleeding at the lips with one punch.

[00:26:13]That was another thing. I jabbed away at his face, and he kept swinging that right for my jaw, and I reckon it was about even when we'd quit. Another time, we were boxing, and I slammed through with a short straight right to the jaw.

[00:26:25]To my amazement, he went down for the count. But to be fair to the football lads, there's another fellow I used to room with, a lad of middle height, heavy built, about 165 or 172 pounds. And the toughest ombre I ever saw. Ever since he's been a kid, his idea of fun was letting some big fellow pound him in the body. I never saw such body muscles. We used to box before my health went back on me and I quit. Tough, Zoey. Many a time I've slammed a left to his jaw and looked for a soft spot for him to land and he wouldn't even notice it. He played football though. He's a better boxer. A fine defensive fighter best I ever saw. Fast for his build. In fact, very fast with the finest right hand of any boxer I ever saw. His left isn't as good as mine, which handicapped him somewhat in our matches, but he more than made up by the skill and power of his right. I remember he caught me coming in once and gave that right with all his power. He weighed 165. I weighed 140, but had it over in height and reach. He seldom ever lets go any kind of a punch except a straight right, but he has a right hook that's a hummer.

[00:27:35]It's the same Jeff that would be gentleman Jim Jeff used except that Jeff hooked his left and this lad uses his right. It's a kind of an upper hook. I was coming in head down and he lifted that right hook from his hip. It took me under the jaw, lifted me clean off my feet and tossed me halfway across the yard. I lit standing and didn't fall and stood swaying. I wasn't dazed, but all the strength had gone out of my legs and they buckled under me. I saw I was going to tumble, so I lurched headlong against my opponent, took another right to the side of the head, and hooked a short left to his jaw. He staggered. His hands dropped for an instant, and he was as near out as I ever saw him, but he had nothing on me. I couldn't have followed up with my right any more than I could have flown. He shook his head a few times and then sparred the rest of the round at a long range, me floundering around on my lip legs like a sap. It was an hour or more before they got back their strength. It was one of the most terrific punches I ever caught. He was, as I have said, a football player. And in vacation he worked at a and he says planning but I think it's supposed to be planing mill and at the cotton station loading bales on cars. Usually we're talking about 100 pound bales of cotton in those days.

[00:28:51]So you can guess how strong he is and he put every ounce of weight and strength unto his punch. He told me it was the hardest punch he ever hit. It came nearer putting me out than any I know of. That this is important. But I guess I'm boring you with these personal reminiscences and it isn't good taste at all. But somehow I got on the subject.

[00:29:09]Lots of times I wish I could box again, though I never was worth a curse at it.

[00:29:13]I was too slow, had little coordination between mind and muscle, was walled with my right, and indeed about the only assets I possessed was a fairly good left and an ability to take punches. I discarded the idea of a ring career years ago. I'm soft now, but when I was in condition and weighed 140 instead of 161, I was tough.

[00:29:34]So, you kind of see that Yeah, >> there that uh I'll read you because he goes on you a little bit more. Our friend Clyde, this would be his best friend, Clyde Smith, the fastest, most terrific puncher I ever saw enter out of the ring. Can tell you that he gave me the most terrific beating I ever saw anyone take. Loosened all my teeth, smashed my lips to a pulp, and knocked me out on my feet three times in one round. Yet never knocked me off my feet. All I did was take it. I was swinging and missing and reeling around half senseless and he was knocking me from one side to the other.

[00:30:11]Yet I wouldn't fall. He can tell you more about that scrap than I can. I don't remember much. I just remember jabbing his head back with a straight left and then hooking my right for his jaw. He beat me with a left that knocked me cool on my feets on my feet. Sonto Diablo. How that lad can sock. He hit me with everything but his shoes. It seemed like he would make a real champion.

[00:30:36]you know, continue on. But you can kind of see from this letter where he got the character of Steve Costigan from.

[00:30:44]>> Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:30:45]>> Yeah. His ability to describe what's going on.

[00:30:48]>> Yeah. And so, you know, Lovecraft after his death and his eulogy for Howard said that Howard put himself in every one of his stories. You can see in the charact because uh if you haven't seen the video that we did on our channel with Mark Finn and Chris Grouper who edited the uh the Fists of Iron books where they're talking about Howard's boxing, his love of boxing, the history of boxing.

[00:31:13]>> That was a good video. Yes.

[00:31:15]>> Yeah. Thanks. uh you could see that he he loved the iron men of the ring, the men who could take an tremendous amount of punishment and still be there throughout the entire fight and and be a force in the ring to contend with. And you can see that he himself portrayed himself at least if you can believe what he wrote in that letter which I think you probably can because he was talking to a friend about another friend and about himself that they you would know whether he's lying or not that he prided himself on being able to take a tremendous amount of punishment when he was in his boxing matches and you see that in the character of Steve Costigan >> that Steve just takes a tremendous amount of punishment and never quits and always able to win.

[00:31:59]So much of life, it could be said, maybe I'm taking it too far, but so much of life is about how well can you take a punch.

[00:32:08]>> I think that's just the definition of life.

[00:32:11]>> Yeah.

[00:32:14]>> We've used nice we use nice words like resilience and grit, but it really is can you take a punch? Right.

[00:32:21]>> Yeah.

[00:32:24]and the ability to just get up and keep going after the punch.

[00:32:27]>> Nick, you're an amateur boxer. So, in reading these stories, how how real do they read to you as being in a fight?

[00:32:35]>> I first off, I'm not an amateur boxer.

[00:32:37]>> No, I I thought you did.

[00:32:39]>> He's a professional.

[00:32:39]>> No, I was No, I did training and I've done like >> like um a little bit of sparring, but yeah. No, no, I'm not a boss. Yeah.

[00:32:49]>> See, the difference the difference between Nick and Steve is if if you would have said that to Steve, Steve would have just went off and told about a whole fight he was in and made the whole thing up and nobody would even know. So, you could have you could have took that and ran with it, man.

[00:33:04]>> Taylor Steve style.

[00:33:06]>> Yes.

[00:33:08]>> Yeah. No, I think that everything is legit that I mean that he's writing about the way that uh the way it feels to get punched though. He sounds like he got hit way harder than I ever did, you know. And what back when they were fighting, they had the This was right after Bare Knuckles, so they had these really thin gloves.

[00:33:28]>> Yeah.

[00:33:30]>> You know, I And like the the I'm sure I don't know if they were the padding, the headgear and stuff yet. They might have been just like legit like no protection.

[00:33:41]So, >> well, I mean, Steve hit me a couple times with them big marshmallow gloves that him and his brother used to have, and it only took about three times for me to go, I'm not going to do this anymore. So, I can't imagine getting like, you know, some real thin just nothing but a layer of leather between you and the fist.

[00:34:02]I couldn't imagine. Every episode is somebody's first, so I might as well let everybody if this is your first time watching. Uh when I was a kid, we were we got allowance and we got to spend our allowance on what we wanted to spend it on as long as it was not illegal, unethical, or it's just just those two things. It could be whatever else. And we were at Kmart one time and my brother's like, "Steve, we should get boxy gloves. You could buy your pair and I'll buy my pair." And I was like, "I don't know."

[00:34:33]Oh, and he's like, "Oh, it'd be so fun.

[00:34:34]We could box in the backyard. Wouldn't that be fun?" And so we grab him. He convinced me. We grabbed him. We're My mom's like, "What are you doing?" My dad's like, "Yeah, what are you doing?"

[00:34:45]My brother's like, "We're getting boxing gloves." And they're like, "No, we were talking to Steve. What are you doing?"

[00:34:50]>> It's like, "We're getting boxing."

[00:34:52]>> Grown that foot and a half here.

[00:34:54]>> Yeah.

[00:34:55]>> I don't think that's such a good idea.

[00:34:56]And I was like, "Ah, yeah. my brother three years older, three and a half years older and until I was a junior or senior in high school, he was always half a foot taller and 30 lb 40 lbs heavier, right? And and at this time he was way bigger than me. And they're like, "What are you doing?" I was like, "But you said we could buy whatever we wanted with our with our allowance." And they're like, "Okay, that's up to you." And I was like, my parents were all about sticking to what they had said. Like when my mom said I could buy whatever Halloween costume I wanted when I was four years old and so I got Cinderella.

[00:35:34]Uh I talked to my mom about that recently by the way and she said uh that my whole thought process was so that people like the idea was so people wouldn't recognize me. I would have a mask and they would have trouble guessing who I was because Cinderella.

[00:35:49]Anyway, so we bought the boxing gloves and my brother beat me senseless in the backyard for the next few weeks. Yeah.

[00:35:56]And then then Steve beat me senseless.

[00:36:00]I saw I saw his gloves hanging on the wall like, "Man, we should box." He goes, "You don't want to do that." I'm like, "Let's do it."

[00:36:07]>> Couple couple upside the head. I'm like, "No, you're right. Let's not do this.

[00:36:10]Let's go play some Dungeons and Dragons."

[00:36:14]>> It is funny though that you uh you Okay, we're talking about fight stories. We're talking about boxing.

[00:36:20]>> And then Steve brings up the Cinderella costume cuz you got the Cinderella story. So, it's all coming together, man. Well done. Well done.

[00:36:30]>> I would also like to point out that the very first The Pit of the Serpent uh takes place in in Manila.

[00:36:37]>> Manila.

[00:36:38]>> The Thriller in Manila. The famous Ali Frager fight.

[00:36:42]>> Thriller in Manila. That's right.

[00:36:47]>> So, the unreliable nature of the narrator here, uh I think so. My conclusion is everything that he says happened happened. I totally believe everything he says happened happened.

[00:36:59]The unreliable part is the stuff in his head.

[00:37:03]>> Yeah.

[00:37:04]>> Like >> like when he was fighting the one guy I forget which story it was. It might have been Waterfront Fist, but Oh, he's fighting a southpaw and he was he was having trouble with him and he's like it's not because he's a southpaw. It's because I'm distracted. It's because I'm thinking about other things. It's not I'm doing I'm fine. I'm good. I'm good at fighting softballs. It's fine.

[00:37:24]>> Yeah.

[00:37:25]>> Or when he was talking about the woman like uh probably also waterfront fist, but he's talking about how well she's gonna like like she's not going to want to date that other guy. She's going to want to date me because all women want to date me, right? It's that kind of stuff that I'm like, are you sure about that?

[00:37:43]>> I think that that a lot of the stories are lies. And I think Robert E. Howard even kind of hints at it because he'll be in a bar and he'll be like, "Oh, I'm, you know, he's chatting up with some lady and she's like, "Oh, you're a sailor. What are some exciting sailor stories?" And he'll he will tell us that he just starts repeating stories that he read >> uh in a book somewhere. Like he's like, I'm just making stuff up.

[00:38:08]>> Like I'm just telling stories that are in this book.

[00:38:11]>> So he's like lying to her kind. And I always took that as like a wink to us like like how much do you believe in the >> That's a good way to look at it.

[00:38:20]>> A great point. That's why I relate to him so well. I guess never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[00:38:27]>> Well, I I said I've said this before though, like I I the reason why Steve took to these stories the way he did is because I've been to many family reunions at his house. This is how his uncles all talked. They all they all had these tall tales that there there wasn't no way there there was a there's a grain of truth in the story. But there's no way all that happened. So it was a natural fit.

[00:38:53]>> Yeah.

[00:38:54]>> That's what we always say when you read Howard's letters to the people is like, you know, is what she says, never let the truth get in the way of a a good story. So when you know when he'll be telling you know Lovecraft or August or some of the other people about what life was like in Texas or Southwest and he doesn't have any problem with you know stretching the truth a little and putting in some more exciting details and what actually happened in the stuff.

[00:39:21]So >> yeah, >> he he was definitely a natural storyteller and knew what he needed to do to get people's interest.

[00:39:27]>> Yeah, for sure. There was a there was a writer club that I belonged to back in the 90s. Went on about 10 years. It was great. Learned a lot. And every once in a while, we get new members there. We met at the library. Then we went across the street to this bar and that's where the real meeting was held. But this one this one lady joined the group uh and she comes over and we're talk we're all talking and she looked at me and she goes, "So, how long have you been writing?" I said, "I've been lying since I learned how to talk. So, a whole life maybe." So, yeah. Never let it get in the way.

[00:40:02]>> So, let's sell some books. We're trying to sell this book, you guys. I'm sure that you will sell every copy that people order until you run out and then you'll make more.

[00:40:12]>> Yes. Good.

[00:40:13]>> Yeah.

[00:40:15]We're trying to because most people as you were saying that they think about Roberty Howard, they know about Conan, then they'll know possibly Solomon Kaine, then they'll know maybe after that about uh his horror stories or Kull or El Borak. So, most people don't really know just how many different types of genres Howard tried writing in to make a living at. And for someone who tried writing in all these different styles, he's got a pretty high batting average on his stories being at the very least readable and and >> yeah, >> not a waste of time.

[00:40:54]>> Yeah.

[00:40:54]>> And a lot of them, you know, are just some of the best stories you'll ever read in that style. So, >> I think what makes this collection stand out is it's one of a kind. Like there's not other stories like this. If you get the fight stories and you read those other fight stories, they're pretty straight, you know? They're pretty straight stories. They don't have like these outlandish sailor characters and traveling across the world and these kind of ridiculous setups and like uh illegal kind of matches like >> bare knuckled or fighting in the serpent pit and >> I mean these are yeah this is like nothing like this exists. I know that he based it off of the the uh the Davy Crockett stories, right?

[00:41:38]Uh, I would tend to say that I don't know whether he off the top of my head whether he read the autobiography of Davy Crockett or not. Uh but Mark Finn suggests that it was because that was just the culture in Texas at that time is you know as Paul was saying about Steve's family tall tales and lying were some of the things people would do when they would get together just to have fun and and entertain each other. So he kind of grew up in that culture and uh he just used that when he finally started writing humorous stories starting with the sailor Steve Costigan stories and then continuing on from there. Um because I to me I've read a lot of the sailor Steve Costigan stories. just haven't read all of them. And the humor gets better as he goes along, as he's really figuring out what he's doing and able to inject the humor because that was one of the things with Howard whenever he would start writing and particularly particularly in a new genre where you might see the first one or two stories that he would do and it would be okay, but if he continued writing in it, he would finally figure out, okay, this is how I want to attack this story. this is how I want to put myself in this story and do it the way I want to read it. And so they become, you know, usually at from about the third story on if he's doing a series, uh, they're very readable, very wonderful, very, yeah, this is Roberty Howard. You can tell the minute you pick it up and start reading it.

[00:43:20]and you know the the boxing stories because it was such a subject near and dear to his heart that he would write boxing either straight boxing stories or the humorous boxing stories. And you know, as we said in that video, he probably sold more boxing stories than any of his any of his other types of stories that he uh wrote during that time. Certainly more Conan stories, more of the horror stories or fantasy stories and you know close second was the Breen Ridge Elkins humorous western stories.

[00:43:56]So he had this natural affinity for writing humorous stories once he figured out what he wanted to do with them.

[00:44:03]>> Give the people what they want.

[00:44:05]>> Yeah.

[00:44:08]And what do you folks think about his character of Mike the bulldog being in the stories?

[00:44:15]>> I love Mike. That's why I brought my mini Mike here. Little mini Mike.

[00:44:23]>> I think it just I think Mike just adds an element to Steve's character. And I I in in in the best possible way. It just it's one more element that makes these stories so much fun to read because the dog isn't like he's not like Scooby-Doo or anything where he's like unrealistic, >> you know? He as far as he doesn't talk he he doesn't talk to Steve. He just he he acts like a dog, but like in the same way that Steve acts like a man, you know, there I I I love I love Mike.

[00:44:59]>> Well said. That's what I thought that I I swore in the other uh Sailor Steve collection I have that there was an intro and they said that he based it off of these uh these >> It's Davy Crockett, right? And he has the big bear with him.

[00:45:14]>> He killed a bear when he was only three.

[00:45:16]>> Yeah.

[00:45:16]>> But I thought in the in these like serial stories, >> they're like tall tales about Davy Crockett and he would have a pet bear with him.

[00:45:23]>> Okay.

[00:45:24]>> So, I thought that that's kind of where the inspiration for Mike came from. I I think we generally believe that uh because you know the first I think one or certainly not in the pit of the serpent. Uh but Mike doesn't actually show up till it was either the second or third story. So we tend to think that it was roughly about that time that his beloved dog patch died. So >> yeah, >> he's in reaction to having lost patch, he decided he put a dog into the sailor Steve Costigan stories and possibly some of the attitude of Mike the bullog might have been ba based on patch's attitude.

[00:46:07]Uh so >> I love that Mike is a friend. Like if you were to I can't remember if I read this but it's in my head is if you asked him is this your dog he would be like this is Mike. He's >> what do you mean is he my dog? He's nobody's dog. He's just Mike.

[00:46:27]>> We just pile around together.

[00:46:29]>> Yeah. Exactly. Which is exactly the kind of dog I want. You know I want that.

[00:46:34]That's how I think of my dog is like Frankie is nobody's dog and he's everybody's dog. Of course, he'll bite you if you're not me or my family, but >> the fact that >> that Mike like the the fightness pair, he just ends it with I guess we're both really good fighters, you know, said it better than I did, which is why he made money at it.

[00:47:00]But >> I love Mike. How about you, John? How do you feel about Mike?

[00:47:05]>> Uh, I'm a dog lover, so I love Mike.

[00:47:08]>> Yeah.

[00:47:10]That's awesome.

[00:47:11]>> I thought the uh story where he really introduces Mike into it and and gives you a description of Mike's character, Bulldog's characters, and how that applies to Costigan's characters, the bulldog breed where, you know, if they get into a fight, then they're in the fight and they won't quit. They'll just keep going till they win or die. So, >> yeah.

[00:47:35]>> Yep.

[00:47:36]>> And that's also not that funny of a story, folks, either. So, depends on your perspective, right? It's all about perspective.

[00:47:47]>> Is there anything else about the book, John or Nick, before we sort of wrap it up here? Anything else about the book you wanted to tell folks?

[00:47:59]Uh, I would just say that volume three, which contains the rest of the uh, sailor Steve Costigan stories and the one official Dennis Dorgan story that Howard wrote, we have that ready. We're just waiting for Mark Wheatley to have time from his paying jobs to knock out the cover for it. It's always fingers crossed that you know he'll get that time here soon so we can get that back out there so the folks can read all of the Sailor Steve Costigan stories and the Dennis Dorgan story and have those because you know they are great stories. They're fantastic action stories and they're very entertaining.

[00:48:40]Mhm.

[00:48:40]>> I'm going to put a link down below uh where you can pick this up, but uh if you want to talk a little bit more about, you know, the the site and what else is on there.

[00:48:50]>> Okay.

[00:48:50]>> Feel free.

[00:48:51]The uh publishing arm that the Roberty Howard Foundation runs is the Roberty Howard Foundation Press and the website is rehfpress.com and you can go to that site and we have all of our books that we are putting out in these ultimate editions. You can order there. Uh, of course, if you order from us, we make more money off of them than if you order them from Amazon, but wherever you order them from, please do so. And you can get u because we're slowly just about done with reprinting all of the original first editions that we did of all the works of Robert Howard that are not in the Del Rey books. uh most of his more well-known uh stuff, the Conan's the Solomon Kaine, the Kull, the Bran Macken, El Borak, his horror stories, his uh historical stories and if did I mention El Borak, El Borak, his desert adventure stories are in the Del Ry books and the foundation has been given the authorization by the rights holders to go ahead and print everything else that Howard wrote. So, uh, we've been doing that. I think once we finally get it done, it'll be like 22 or 24.

[00:50:12]I think around 22 books that we will have.

[00:50:15]>> And I think we're down to our last three or four books, which would be Fist of Iron, round three and round four. Round three, like I said, has all of the Costigan stories and the Dennis Dorgan story. Round four has the Kid Allison stories, as well as his other boxing stories that didn't fit into round one.

[00:50:35]uh his semi-autobiographical and autobiographical writings and post oaks and sand roughs is ready to go. Waiting for a cover. Um >> where does the Are you guys doing the Cormarmac mart stuff >> that is uh Cormarmac is in Swords of the North, which is one that we did. Swords of the North contains all of his non Conan, non-cull uh I don't want to say sword and sorcery because that's he's got a lot we have a lot of historical stuff in there.

[00:51:07]Cormech art >> and the Turlo O'Brien stories as well as some of his other uh I just say sword adventure historical type stories uh such as the spears of clan tarf and uh some of the other stuff in that. So, if you only know Howard from his Conan stories, then go check out Swords of the North to see his stuff that's kind of like Conan, but it's more historical. Uh, >> and some of them are they do have some elements of sword and sorcery in them, such as um I think the uh Valley of the Worm is in Swords of the North, I think, unless it's in one of the Del Reys. Um, but I think probably the last couple of things that uh Paul Herman who's editing the new ultimate editions line is the uh sentiment which is olio rare work or lesser known works by Howard.

[00:52:12]Howard started out trying to make the confessionals.

[00:52:16]So if you ever wanted to read a confessional by Roberty Eye Howard, it would be in Olio.

[00:52:23]>> I didn't want to, but now I do.

[00:52:26]>> Confessionals like what? Like what do you mean?

[00:52:28]>> Oh, confessionals were usually like uh you know the woman who's Oh, I was going to marry this man, he got me pregnant, then he ran off, so what am I going to do?

[00:52:37]>> Oh, okay.

[00:52:38]>> Something like that. U fake true stories.

[00:52:42]>> Yeah. you know, where they, you know, I guess it was mainly set for women to read in the 1920s and 30s in the pulps, but he tried to write some confessionals and he I think it's like two or three of the confessionals he wrote are in there.

[00:52:58]And you know, you'd be surprised he didn't sell those. About the only confessional that he did sell was the boxing story, The Spirit of Tom Molino.

[00:53:08]That's in round one of Fists of Iron.

[00:53:10]>> Yes, that's a good one. And I forget what else. I think some of his other uh early stories are in Olio. Uh of course a lot of his early stuff is also in the early adventures of El Borak which is we have out which is where he created the El Borak character. that was his first character that he created as a pre-teen and he kind of wrote some stuff as a teenager and just starting out that wasn't that very good and it's bears nothing at all in relationship to the El Borak stories he wrote towards the end of his life where uh you see in the Del Ry El Borak book but uh you know could come to REHF press look we also have some uh books that we have for uh scholarship purposes. We have the complete letters of his father, Dr. Howard.

[00:54:05]We have uh you know, if you ever want to read his papers that he wrote while he was in Crossplain schools in Brownwood High School, we have a book of that stuff. His drawings. Um we have a book which contains the writings of his best friend Tevis Clyde Smith. And Clyde Smith was also wanting to be a writer.

[00:54:28]So, they got to know each other when uh Howard went to Brownwood High School to finish out his high schooling and became fast friends because of their literary ambitions. And so, this book, in addition to having some of Clyde's writings and poems, it also has his reminiscences of uh Bob Howard and the various things that they would do when they were together. Many people think that I'm not a famous successful writer because I'm not good at writing. But the truth of the matter is it's because Paul has asked me not to get famous because his writings may end up in in a book someday. His letters to me, which I actually have one here that I could read to you guys from 1996.

[00:55:16]>> Oh.

[00:55:17]Oh, yeah. Pre- internet.

[00:55:19]>> Yeah.

[00:55:20]>> 1996. It's right there. The postmark.

[00:55:23]This is the reason I'm not a successful writer. It has nothing to do with my lack of ability.

[00:55:30]>> Well, you guys, man, I can't thank you enough. This was It's awesome having you on. Just I feel like I get smarter every time I talk to either one of you, but having both of you on >> makes me feel really much smarter than I was a half an hour ago. So, really appreciate you coming on and doing this with us.

[00:55:48]>> Yeah, it was awesome.

[00:55:50]Go to the Brook book graveyard. Nick, you want to plug the book graveyard a little bit?

[00:55:57]>> No, >> I don't. Yeah, they know me. I'm down there.

[00:56:03]>> That's right. They know me. No, no words have been ever been said because the only reason many people are here is because they know Nick.

[00:56:10]>> Fact.

[00:56:11]>> And then there are people that know Ishmael, even if if they don't know why his name is Ishmael.

[00:56:18]One off-the-cuff comment, John. You're gonna pay for that.

[00:56:24]>> You know, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't enjoy it. So, >> yeah, I I think he knew the risk. If you watched a couple episodes, you know the risk.

[00:56:33]>> Yeah.

[00:56:35]As that great old cartoon, you know, Super Chicken used to the guy used to say, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. So, >> Yep.

[00:56:45]Y'all coming to Howard Days?

[00:56:47]>> Oh, Howard Days. Say something about Howard Days. It's probably not going to make it, but um it's coming up.

[00:56:52]>> Yeah, the second weekend in June in Cross Plains, Texas. The Cross Plains puts on uh it's now they used to say just officially a two-day, but it's now pretty much a three-day festival. The Thursday, Friday, Saturday of the second weekend in June at the Howard House Museum there in Crossplains. They open up the house for people to come in and go through the house. Uh Howard fans swarm the place.

[00:57:20]So there Howard fans all over. If you want to talk Howard, anybody you talk to is a Howard fan. We put on panels talking about various uh things. I think this year we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first Howard Days as well as I think the 30th anniversary of the whole wide world movie which is on the relationship between Bob Howard and uh novel and Price.

[00:57:47]>> I I love that movie honestly.

[00:57:50]>> Yeah. And then 20th anniversary of the creation of the Roberty Howard Foundation and then the 120th anniversary of Bob's birth is this year.

[00:57:59]Oh wow.

[00:58:00]>> And you know it's it's a good time. It's generally unless you're going to the Friday night banquet. It's free.

[00:58:08]>> Uh you know they would love to have donations to help run and maintain the Howard House. That's another thing if I could plug real quick.

[00:58:17]>> For those of you who don't know, the Howard House is probably about 116 120 years old. It was built from, you know, one of the old house kit plans that you can buy in a catalog back at the turn of the century, 18th, 19th century that is, or 19th, 20th century.

[00:58:37]And so from decades of not properly keeping it up, it is falling apart. So, we are in a fundraising campaign to get as much funds as we can to help cover the cost of shoring up the house so that it will always be there for the next several decades for fans to come and tour and see this place where this guy lived. And you know, Cross Plains, you have to want to go to Cross Plains to get to Cross Plains because it's out of nowhere. And you got go to this house and just look at this house and especially you see this little tiny room that Bob lived and rode in. And that just let you know just what an incredible intellect and amazing imagination that he had that he was able to come up with all of this very writing that he did just from this one small place.

[00:59:29]And so if you can donate to save the house, 100% of your donation goes to the house repair fund. both Project Pride, which owns the house, and the Roberty Howard Foundation. We're an all volunteer organizations. We're 501c3 organizations.

[00:59:47]Any money you give to us, 100% of it is going directly to the house repair fund.

[00:59:53]And uh you can go online to give to the foundation at rehfoundation.org.

[01:00:00]And if you go there, that's the main page. you'll see a big box on saving the Howard House that you can click on and we'll give you all the information and where you can send your notation to.

[01:00:11]Like I said, it's going to be taxed. I can't even speak anymore. Tax deductible.

[01:00:16]So, any thing you give us, we're highly appreciative of, folks.

[01:00:22]>> Yeah, I'll definitely The link will be down below so you can fast track to get to it.

[01:00:26]>> I don't think we're going to do any worse than that.

[01:00:28]>> Speaking of planes, land this plane.

[01:00:31]Listen, this is your captain speaking. Uh, I want to thank you guys for coming on again. It's it's all it's a blast to just talk to you, let alone have you on our show. Um, other than that, I'm Paul.

[01:00:50]>> Oh, I'm John.

[01:00:52]>> I'm Nick. I'm Mike. And the next time you're looking for something to read, >> check yourself.

[01:01:02]>> Check yourself.

[01:01:13]>> That last video that Steve and I did, we were about 10 minutes in. I Are you sure you hit record?

[01:01:21]>> So, turns out that was a rehearsal.

[01:01:24]Yeah. And our second take was not nearly as good as the one when the first take.

[01:01:30]>> We were all over the place on that first take, but it was perfect.

[01:01:38]Well, it's one of the problems with modern technology. It's I'm sure you probably set up some sort of AI program that, you know, all you have to do is say, "Okay, let's go." And it would automatically start recording. So, Yo.

[01:01:54]>> Hey everybody. Nick's here.

[01:01:59]>> What's going on?

[01:02:00]>> I'm glad I didn't wear my hat.

[01:02:02]>> I would have felt really bad.

[01:02:04]>> I would have felt funny.

[01:02:05]>> I wore my hat.

[01:02:06]>> Why?

[01:02:07]>> Cuz you're not wearing your hat.

[01:02:10]>> I didn't know you had a top of your head, man.

[01:02:16]>> Top of his >> I got a top of his head.

[01:02:18]>> I got a top and a bottom. Oh, going.