People ask me all the time, "What exactly is Out of Whack?" I start by saying, "Well, 'Fucked-Up' was already taken."
Then I continue by speaking the truth that nobody wants to admit. The world we live in is Out of Whack. Our lives, our relationships, even our kids, are sometimes (most of the time) Out of Whack! Simply watch a few minutes of cable news, or scroll through Twitter to see how Out of Whack things really are. We are all at our wits' end. Look at what we've been dealing with almost two years now! WE NEED MORE WHACK!!! (This can be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective and/or homicidal or sexual tendencies. See editor's note below).
People are so Out of Whack that they can't even wear a tiny bit of of cloth across their face in public - long enough to pick up some milk, eggs, and toilet paper without throwing a hissy fit - so that they don't spread a highly contagious and potential deadly disease! Everyone seems to think they are entitled to this, or that. My rights! My freedom! All lives matter! Are you sure about that? Do you really practice what you preach? Nope!
But not just because I want to verbally smack the shit out of people, I started Out of Whack because I've always wanted to have a show of some sort. When I was 8-12 years-old, I carried around a tape recorder. Picture a digital recorder but much bigger, close to the size of a shoe box. It recorded on actual tape that you would have to rewind or fast forward to find the exact spot where you wanted to record over mistakes. To the amazement of all my friends and relatives, I made it work!
I would make serial shows, news shows, talk shows, even the radio equivalent of a movie, on the recorder with friends and relatives. I still have the tapes! I truly believe that everyone expected that I would have been on TV or radio for many years by now. The microphone had become an extra appendage on my body as a child, seen by others as having been fused to my itty-bitty hand at birth. Sadly, the fame and fortune that was expected of me was never to materialize. Until now.....well, kinda/sorta. No fortune. Just Z-list fame at most. Far behind all the pretty boy teens and tweens with their ridiculous YouTube prank shows.
I did get a BA in mass communications (with honors), and I did study journalism. I was even on the school newspaper. But after I graduated, I flailed around - I took public relations and marketing gigs, and I ended up taking jobs that I thought would move me toward my goal of being in media, of some kind. However, I mostly took jobs out of desperation to pay my rent and pay off my student loans.
Finally, at 50-something, I started a podcast (just like the thousands, probably millions, of other podcasts started over the past decade). As luck would have it, I started Out of Whack as many other podcasts started during the pandemic. A majority of the popular podcasts are of famous people talking with other famous people about candles that smell like their genitals, or something like that. How can I fucking compete with that?
My podcast is mostly me and Lisa talking to interesting people from all walks of life. Some are famous, or almost famous, and some are only famous to us. But my main goal with Out of Whack is to find the people and things that are not Out of Whack. Or, people who are working on something to get them/us/it back into whack.
Hopefully, all of you (yes, I'm talking to you, our wonderful and dedicated listener from France!), will listen and enjoy Out of Whack. I'm just a man-child with the 21st Century version of a tape recorder show, trying to gain some interesting insight and/or perspective into various subjects, and doing what little I can to entertain people. I hope you listen and enjoy!
More Whack has been ordered! That's all.
Editor's Note: For the purposes of this story, "whack" is a good thing, meaning that you need more of our podcast to make you feel better. The Out of Whack podcast does not condone nor condemn "whacking" in any form - literally or figuratively - and whatever you do in your private life that involves the word "whack(ing)" is none of our business. Thank you!