Alan Alda Clear and Vivid Review

Clear and Vivid with Alan Alda Review

[00:00:00] You are listening to find a podcast about.

[00:00:10] Thank you for hitting play. I am your host, Timothy Kemo O'Brien, and I bring my experience with podcasting since 2006 as a listener and a podcaster. I'm here to help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next bench worthy podcast. Here's how the show works. I comb the millions of podcasts currently available for free on various platforms, and then I come back to you with what I've found.

[00:00:42] Sure you can use the search engines for recommendations from many podcast apps, but I feel that getting a personal recommendation from a real live breathing person is still the best way to find the gems that are out there. The show is broken up into three halves. I'm a huge fan of the car talk show, so bear with me.

[00:01:05] The first half is the stats of the show. It gives you all the details about where to find the show, how many episodes, who's hosting the show. Basically, that part is just for those who want the stats. The second half of the show, I dig deeper into it, let you know how will the host interact, talk about their audio quality.

[00:01:29] And let you know what I think the show is about. The last half of the show is where I talk about why the show is binge-worthy, where to start your journey, and I'll be reaching out to the host to see if they would like to discuss their show and talk about their podcast journey. So let's get going.

[00:01:54] So for this episode, I know where I found this podcast. I was actually listening to, uh, Dave Jackson's, uh, podcast Rodeo, where, you know, we've reviewed that one here before. So Dave was reviewing, uh, clear and vivid with Ellen Alda and Dave wasn't impressed by the show, but as soon as I heard that Ellen Alda was the host, I was hooked.

[00:02:15] Now I, I'm in Generation X and I grew up on Mash and I had the whole collection of episodes and that was given to me one holiday a few years ago. Uh, buy-in was easy for me because I'd been lightly following Alan Ola for some time now. Now I would like to give you the gift of, uh, being introduced to this show.

[00:02:37] Uh, let's start off with the stats now. Ellen is the host of the show and, uh, at the time of this recording, it had, uh, 261 episodes clocking in at an average of about 43 minutes per episode. Now the first episode dropped, uh, May 23rd, 2018, and, uh, it's described as learn to connect better with others in every area of your life.

[00:02:59] Immers yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is and yet how good it feels to really connect with other people, whether it's one person, an audience, or a whole country. You'll know many of the people on these conversations. They are luminaries of our culture. Some of you may not know, some of them you may not know, but, um, what links them all is their powerful ability to relate and communicate.

[00:03:29] It's something we need now more than ever. Uh, the genre is science and, uh, culture. It's episodic and it comes out just about weekly. Uh, and they usually come out on Wednesdays. Now listen notes, rates to the show on the top, 0.05% of the shows, uh, of this genre listen to on their platform. Uh, the links, uh, for, uh, the social media accounts and the website along with, uh, the pod chaser.

[00:03:55] Link notes and good pods are all in the show notes now as, uh, Florida support. Uh, they do have a Patreon page that you can, uh, get to from the main website. And Paton subscribers get a, uh, special perk of, uh, being invited to speak with Alan and others. I couldn't find an email address to contact the show, unfortunately.

[00:04:15] Uh, but when you go to Good Pods, you can read all the reviews of the show and you'll be able to see there how popular this show actually is. I think I counted well over a hundred, uh, five star reviews for this one. So, uh, if that helps you, if that sways you, uh, into this show, then, um, there you go. There's your, there's your sway point.

[00:04:42] Peanut butter. Yeah. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Well, actually it is when you're talking about smelly peanut butter and jellies. Oh yeah, that's right. They do their own jellies to pair with their peanut butter, and folks, it just isn't for sandwiches anymore. In fact, my family used srey to make a birthday cake for the filling for my twins, and it was.

[00:05:07] Delicious Srey produces a line of cot, nut butter spreads and jellies. Each srey spread and speri jelly can mix and match in various ways, creating exponential options that elevate your P B and J experience. All you gotta do is choose your spread and choose your jelly. But wait. Each individual spelling can also be used on a variety of delicious things.

[00:05:38] Include smelly as an ingredient in baking cookies, or as an added boost to your smoothies. Try creating a glaze dressing or marinade for some of your favorite grilled dishes or salads. Or you can do what we do here in my house. Just eat srey right out of the jar as a snack. Where can you get your next fantastic peanut butter and jelly?

[00:06:03] Go to srey.com if you're outside of the Fredericksburg area, or you can go right to their store. If you're here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, it's at 1501 Princess Ann Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and get some spellie in your belly. Our favorite here is the Winter Blend Wonderland, but it's only here for a short time.

[00:06:26] Order the Tim Bryan dozen now.

[00:06:35] All right, jumping right into the episode, I have to say that I was a fan from the get go after hearing, uh, Dave, uh, Dave Jackson review it on his show. So big thanks to Dave for telling me about this podcast. Since Clear and Vivid is all about communication, let's so start off with the sound quality. Uh, now, uh, Alan knows how to work a microphone from his previous career as a stage film and TV actor, well, I shouldn't say previous cuz he still does that.

[00:07:02] Uh, but, um, he's got a lot of experience with microphones now. The vi uh, the interviewee, uh, whoever he is interviewing is also Mike properly. And in the, uh, earlier episodes, I'm sure they were doing this a lot of face to face. Or, uh, on some, on some really good equipment. And now after the pandemic, as most podcasts did, they went remote for a time and it's, it's almost seamless now, as a regular listener, you'd be hard pressed, uh, in a blind taste test.

[00:07:31] I, I know that's a bad pun, uh, to tell me which is remote and which one is in person. He's got a very dedicated team to help him out with his recording, editing, and mastering. Uh, the great part is that, uh, none of the, uh, none of this gets in the way of the interview. Uh, for me it adds, uh, intimacy of the interview and it's always refreshing to hear, uh, a host in a interviewee with great sound because when they don't have, you know, when a, a, a and a host are not on par with each other, it can be really distracting.

[00:08:05] For some listeners like me who do audio engineering, Now let's turn our attention to the format of the show. Uh, each one starts off with ads. And you know me, I'm not a huge fan of that. Um, they get, they go on for about two minutes at the beginning and you can skip ahead, uh, or if you like, just go ahead and power through 'em.

[00:08:23] Uh, next is a teaser of the interview, and then Alan goes into a brief bio, the guest for each episode. I take a listening, uh, in the beginning of his interview with Chris Voss to see how he does this. Sympathy doesn't actually help anybody simp, you know, sympathy makes us feel good. Oh, I feel bad for you.

[00:08:40] And then I go back to my daily life. But that doesn't help them. Clarity helps other people. Empathy is a clear vision of what they're seeing, how they feel about it. And that's just, that's just empathy. It's completely understanding. With no judgment. Where are the other sides coming from? I've been looking forward to having Chris Voss as a guest.

[00:09:01] Even though to a lot of people, he seems like an unlikely person to be talking about empathy and communicating because he's a leading hostage negotiator. It turns out that his stories about negotiating for the release of hostages is just what we need to hear for our everyday lives. Now, something that, uh, Dave Jackson always says when he is, uh, listening to podcasts is that he.

[00:09:24] You have to give value before asking for support. Now, I, I think Alan Aldo is a well-known quantity in, in his, all his work. He does supply value, but if you've never heard of him, I could understand being a bit perturbed at the number of ads. There's usually about three or four. And then there's a mid roll ad, and then there's an end roll ad.

[00:09:46] So yeah, you're gonna hear some ads in this podcast. Now, as a podcaster, I understand the necessity of ads to support what you do as a listener. You can get a little bit annoying, but, you know, uh, most of your podcast apps have a skip 30 seconds, go back 10 seconds. And, um, if, if you're a, uh, an old handed podcast listening.

[00:10:10] You'll understand how to do that on your podcast app Choice. Now let's talk about the interaction between the host and the guest. So, as I said earlier, the guests are micd up as good as Alan, so there's little to distract there, but something that I've noticed in each episode, you can almost see it in your mind's eye.

[00:10:29] That Alan is just leaning in, which makes me unconsciously lean into to hear what his guest is gonna say next. Now, some podcasts I can listen to while mowing the lawn and, uh, have it on a background, but this is one of those podcasts that I feel it's necessary to lean in and listen to what's being said to help with the interaction.

[00:10:52] Alan does, uh, share part of his life's story when appropriate. You know, some things that you may not know about his, uh, career or anything like that. Now here's a clip with this interview with Alan Dri, uh, Adam Driver, uh, about just that I found when I, I was in the infantry, um, but in the reserve, so it wasn't really serious.

[00:11:13] They, they taught me, they tried to teach me how to be an officer twice, once in the reserves and once on active duty for six months. And I did learn stuff that I used to this day or you did learn stuff I did or organizing. Because cause they were trying to help me learn how to be a leader. And I used that when I directed a movie.

[00:11:35] I directed a movie called Sweet Liberty where I had 200, uh, colonial Soldiers in a battle scene. And that could take days to shoot. But I organized it because I had learned to organize things right. And I had. Seven stunt men teach each, teach a group of these soldiers in seven different operations, seven different, um, events, you know, battle events.

[00:12:04] Wow. Now for those of you, uh, who haven't lived, uh, through a draft, uh, most men in the past were drafted, uh, into the military. So it makes sense that Allen has served in the military, but I didn't realize that until I heard the interview. Now it makes sense when you watch Mash and you can tell he is bringing some lived experience with his performance in that shell because he does set the stage, so to speak, for an inter intimate discussion.

[00:12:33] His guests are, are open to sharing, uh, their closely held beliefs and ideas. Again, uh, from the episode with a Adam Driver comes this clip. But because of this job that they're doing, they're, you know, like brothers and, and you have, uh, one guy who's leading it. You know, you have a director or a squad leader, and sometimes they're smart to know what they're doing and in the case of Noah, or, um, sometimes they don't.

[00:12:59] And it, what you're doing feels dangerous and a waste of time and energy, you know. That's true. There's a lot of discipline required. There's self maintenance. There's, you know, working as a cohesive unit to accomplish a mission that's bigger than any one person. You have one role and you have to do your role really well, so everybody else can do their role really well.

[00:13:16] I you're very much aware of being part of a group. Yes. Yeah, it, the, the ensembles of being in the military was, um, was great training for me as far as being on a film set or being, um, uh, you know, a TV show or especially in theater. Now I knew that, uh, Adam was a Marine, not a former Marine, because he's a veteran of that branch, and Alan makes sure not to say former Marine.

[00:13:40] Now you're gonna ask yourself why is that important? And, and it's a small detail, but it's important. Well, according to the Marines, I know there's no such thing as a former Marine, so it would be kind of an insult. Uh, now in, in the clip we hear, uh, how Adam, uh, relates acting, uh, to service in the military.

[00:13:59] And as a theater person and a veteran, I haven't really thought about it much until this actual interview and for me, it's, uh, well worth the price of admission to get that kind of insight. Uh, moving on to, uh, introducing the topic and staying on topic. Each episode follows the same format interview, I'm sorry, uh, intro interview, and then speed round questions, um, with ads sprinkled in, uh, and throughout.

[00:14:27] Uh, now the introduction is a quick teaser of the interview and then a brief history of the person and, uh, Being interviewed, and you can tell Alan has a plan to get from point A to point B, but he allows for some meandering. And this meandering is great because it brings up questions that I find myself wanting to ask the celebrity being interviewed.

[00:14:49] Uh, now in his interview with Mark Merrin, they start, uh, on what I don't think was the actual first question, but instead they get into, uh, Mar uh, Mark's interview with former President Barack Obama. Mark, thank you for being on the show. I gotta tell you, when I heard your interview with Barack Obama, I was stunned.

[00:15:11] I had never heard him be so authentic, so relaxed, so apparently, truly himself. And I thought, what, what is this magic that Mark Maron was able to do? What, what, what, what do you think contributed to that? I, I don't, uh, I, it's hard for me to, uh, to know exactly why I am able to, to lock in with people and, and allow them.

[00:15:37] To, uh, to be that candid. Uh, I, I, I do listen very intently. I do have a, I think an innate, uh, urge within me to connect with people in an authentic and, uh, and, and emotional way. That probably goes back to my childhood, but I, I, I, and also, I, I don't know, I, I, I just, uh, I, I try to meet people halfway with, with where, where they're coming from in terms of my own problems and, and also there's a certain amount of.

[00:16:06] I think courage involved in, uh, in, in showing up for, for conversations. As an interviewer, I do usually have a list of questions, uh, to start off with, but I try to be open enough and listen closely enough to connect with my guests answers, uh, and connect you know, my guest answers with questions that I don't have listed, because sometimes those questions can be more impactful than the ones I thought of.

[00:16:30] Alan. Staying in the moment with his guests and allows these meanderings to happen naturally, and I think that's one of the reasons he is so good at this, because of his acting training allows him to be in the moment at all times.

[00:16:50] One aspect of the show I'd like to point out is the, uh, seven questions at the end of the podcast. Now this is a great idea in a way when properly done to revisit some of the subject matter of the interviewing gives a nice view of the interviewee. Now here's how Alan does it. Well, unfortunately this, this is the ending of our conversation for now, but we always end our, our shows, our conversations with seven quick questions that has something vaguely to do with conversation.

[00:17:18] Are you Game? Sure. It reminds me of high school, but I'm game in these seven questions. Alan gets, uh, one last shot at, uh, diving Deeper into his guests. Now, I've done this in, uh, in another podcast that I hosted and. You know, it really is a get outta jail free car for, for the host. Uh, if there's anything that was missed that needs, uh, amplification, this is the section of the show where that could happen.

[00:17:45] Now, I've seen it done on the, uh, the actor's studio in a similar fashion, and it really drives to the point of, uh, point home of a communication, which is the central piece of what this podcast is about. Now my last topic is, uh, welcoming newcomers. Now, if Alan and your team is listening to the show, which you know, I'm pretty sure you are, I put something at the beginning for newcomers to know what they're getting into.

[00:18:13] And I know that it can be difficult, but I'm looking at this from the perspective of a person who doesn't know who Alan Alde is. And there are a number of people who don't.

[00:18:28] You know, my, my work is cut out for me to, you know, to pri preach the Gospel of Lan Alda. But I think that celebrities that host their own podcast should take heat to this because, you know, fame is floating and as you get older, new audiences come up that may not have heard you or tastes change because audiences are finicky.

[00:18:50] Now, we've seen a number of celebrity podcasts in the past, let's say five or so years. That have flamed down pretty quickly because people don't necessarily know who that celebrity is. So I think it's a good practice to let people know from the start what to expect from the podcast, what the podcast is all about.

[00:19:08] And it gives you, as a podcaster, a chance to have the first ad of the show. And that first ad would be of the show. For me, this is the weakest part of the, uh, show that. Actually can be easily remedied.

[00:19:26] If you like what you heard so far, I'd like to ask you to reach out. You can email me directly, Timothy, find a podcast about.xyz. Or you can leave me a voicemail at the website, find a podcast about dot x y z. I want to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast. And if you want me to find you a podcast in any category that you're interested in, let me know if you're a podcaster and feel that your podcast would be served by appearing on this show.

[00:20:00] I want to talk with you too, use the same methods of reaching out. I'm on Twitter at. Find a podcast and on Facebook at Find a Podcast about. Another thing I'd like to ask if is if you found value in this podcast passing along to a friend. Lastly, doing this podcast is a labor of love, but loving ain't cheap.

[00:20:27] Neither is coffee. So consider donating to my buy me a coffee, find right on the website. Or you can go to buy me a coffee.com/find a podcast about Each episode takes about five to seven hours of research and about two to three hours of production time. That's 10 hours for each episode, and that my friends is a lot of coffee.

[00:20:53] If you like your reviews, pep and full of energy, then make my cup overflow. Don't forget to check out my merch section on the website. I've got t-shirts, coffee mugs, and a whole lot of other items with your favorite episode Art on them. Make sure to get the sh I'm listening to shirt or mug, like I said earlier.

[00:21:18] The best recommendations come from a real person, so I'm gonna help you outsmart that algorithm and I'm gonna guide you to your next binge-worthy podcast.

[00:21:35] Now it's, uh, time to set you loose on clear and vivid, and get you binging on this great podcast. Now if you like topics that deal with better ways to communicate, you're gonna find a wealth of information in this podcast if you like deep dives into celebrities and find out how they are able to communicate.

[00:21:54] So effectively, you're the target audience for this show. Alan Alde fan, you're all set. I think one of the things I really enjoy about this show is how Alan can get his guest to open up and not ask the usual questions that late night TV show hosts. Always ask. Alan has an agenda, and that's to get. Us, you and me communicating better with each other.

[00:22:20] Uh, again, another reason why I really enjoy this podcast since you know, I'm in the communication business, who knew about Tom Hank's obsession with typewriters, I didn't listen to this clip. That particular typewriter got lost over the course of about 10 years, and 10 moves has since been replaced by, well, you know, 119 machines that, how, how did, how did I, I understand the story leading to owning, so you're asking why.

[00:22:47] Yeah. You're probing deeper. Alan, I mean, I understand owning a typewriter because the guy gets you turned onto it, but how did you wind up with, you have an obsession with typewriter. I, I do. How did you get that? You can change the world with a typewriter now, you can't change the world too with a pen and paper if.

[00:23:05] Your handwriting is legible enough. Mine is not. There is something about the order that a, a good typewriter puts the words in the, the, the margins are equal, the typefaces crisp. You can make mistakes, but go back over it. And what you come out of at the end of a piece of paper is as unique a creation as is any oil painting, any watercolor, any photograph negative.

[00:23:33] You can tell his guests are, uh, excited to be on his show and they, you know, they do, uh, know who Allen is and his career. Uh, take a listen to, uh, this clip about, uh, one of his guests talking about his career. Tom, this is so great that you're in here talking a I can't, uh, I'm, I'm kind of, I'm kind of pinching myself.

[00:23:54] When you did, um, you did a TV movie. This was long before the Green Show, uh, when you, you did a TV movie who was called The Glasshouse. Yes. Uh, it was shot in a prison. Um, that's right. I'm still haunted by the final image in which you're the innocent man and you come, there's mayhem that's going on, and you are shot dead.

[00:24:13] Mm uh, on the other side of the wrongly chosen door. And it was a long shot of just you hunched over with all the backstory behind it. Now that's a thing that you're in. I not wanna date myself, but I say I'm in junior college or high school and I'm watching on TV and TV movies. Were not supposed to be that poignant in those days.

[00:24:34] You know, you had the occasional Brian song, you played, uh, Carol Chessman, the, uh, uh, the, you, you know more about me, I, and I, and I'm not just studying your, IM dv I'm just going on pure, pure memory. Now. Alan, uh, has a long career. And is now, you know, focusing his efforts on communication. And it definitely shows in this podcast, not only are you entertained with stories of celebrities, but you get to peel back the curtain and find out why they communicate the way that they do and how to do it for yourself.

[00:25:14] Come for the fun. Stay for the education. Now, where should you begin your binge on this? My recommendation is going through the back catalog and finding a celebrity that you already know and then give it a shot. Pay careful attention to the questions he asks his guests and pay careful attention to the uh, last seven questions cuz those can be a lot of fun.

[00:25:40] But that's probably where, uh, my best recommendation is. Go find somebody in his back catalog that you've heard about before or that you're a fan of, and start there and then see where it takes you.

[00:25:57] So that's the episode. I wanna thank you again for, you know, taking a listen and if you want to outsmart the algorithm. And have me review a podcast. Email me Timothy, find a podcast about.xyz, or go to the website, find a podcast about.xyz where you can listen to the other episodes and leave me a voicemail.

[00:26:22] I'm here to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast.

[00:26:29] And find a podcast about is a production of T KB studios. If you are interested in taming your inner critic and creating more than you consume, then hand over to my other podcast Create Art Podcast. I'll give you three guesses as to what it's about. There. I discuss topics for the new artists. For the old artist and for the artist that is a little too timid to come on outta their shell.

[00:27:00] And I review topics for those who are more seasoned, uh, in the arts. Many times I'll have on a professional artist to share their story of how they overcame the odds against the world and themselves. The website is create art podcast.com. I'll see you there and I'll see you next episode.