Tyler Mane & Renae Geerlings | From "X-Men" to "Mane AF" | Answer Your Wake-Up Calls

[00:00:00] Renae Geerlings: Tyler was like, "Oh, well, a comic book is so easy compared to making a movie." And I was like, "Oh, that's cute. Bless your heart." Um- It's-

[00:00:13] Announcer: Welcome to Story and Craft. Now, here's your host, Marc Preston.

[00:00:17] Marc Preston: Okay, here we go. Back again, another episode of Story and Craft. Welcome back, and if you're new to the program, welcome to you as well.

[00:00:25] Marc Preston: Glad to have you along. Uh, today gonna be fun. Gonna have a twofer, as they say. Is- or I don't know, do they say that when you have two guests on the show? Uh, we got Tyler Mane, uh, and Renée Geerlings. Tyler, uh, he's been a pro wrestler. He's been an actor. He's been in films kind of like X-Men, Halloween, and Deadpool, and Wolverine.

[00:00:45] Marc Preston: And Renée comes from the world of comics and graphic novels, and they both got together and created kind of their own thing. They have a production company, and they have their own podcast called Mane AF. It's M-A-N-E A-F. [00:01:00] Uh, we also discussed male breast cancer. That's something Tyler has been navigating over the past year, and you shine a little light on that and what the experience has been like for him and for, uh, Renée as they navigate this while still working hard every day to create their podcast and their productions.

[00:01:15] Marc Preston: And, uh, it's a great conversation. It's, it's fun to have a husband and wife on. This is the first time I've ever had that on this show, so it was fun. I enjoyed it. Uh, do me a favor. Pop on over to your podcast app. Make sure to follow Story and Craft. Uh, that way, you get the notification every time a new episode hits, and you also can like the show and leave a comment, which helps people to find the show, and I appreciate you doing that.

[00:01:38] Marc Preston: You can also head to storyandcraftpod.com. Everything about the show, past guests, past episodes, it's all right there. And of course, you can send me a note. You can send me an email. I always love hearing from you. Uh, anything on your mind, send it down the line. Let me know what's up. All right, so, uh, let's jump right into it.

[00:01:57] Marc Preston: Uh, great conversation, uh, because [00:02:00] today is Tyler Mane and Renée Geerlings' day right here on Story and Craft. Where y'all located?

[00:02:08] Tyler Mane: Atlanta.

[00:02:09] Marc Preston: Now are y'all both from Atlanta or did y'all find your way there?

[00:02:12] Tyler Mane: We found our way here.

[00:02:14] Renae Geerlings: Where are you located, located? 'Cause I heard the y'all.

[00:02:16] Marc Preston: Yeah. Well, I am, uh, uh, I am in South Padre Island, Texas, right on the very tip of the South Texas coast.

[00:02:23] Marc Preston: But originally from Dallas, and 20 years in New Orleans, so I've kinda, I've kind of... A, and a little bit of time in Southern California. So I've kind of been, I've been around, but, uh, Texas is, Texas is home. Where are y'all from originally?

[00:02:35] Tyler Mane: Originally I'm from Canada, but, uh, then moved to, uh, LA, and I don't need to be in LA anymore for the acting 'cause they're doing that from-

[00:02:44] Renae Geerlings: Everywhere

[00:02:44] Tyler Mane: everywhere and it's all, uh- Exactly ... yeah. And then, and then, uh, we wanted to get out of LA and, um, ended up here in, uh, Atlanta because we'd filmed Halloween II here. I'd also s- done part of my wrestling career here. And, uh, [00:03:00] yeah, it seemed like a good place to, uh, set up base.

[00:03:03] Marc Preston: Now Rene, where are you from originally?

[00:03:05] Renae Geerlings: I'm from Michigan originally.

[00:03:07] Marc Preston: So working together, does that inherently make a marriage stronger or does it just test it in new kinds of ways, you know?

[00:03:16] Renae Geerlings: We'll see.

[00:03:17] Tyler Mane: It, it, it, it tests it in new kind of ways, but then it, it inevitably makes us stronger. This is w- this is our one, two, three, four... Yeah ... no, fifth pro- project- Yeah

[00:03:27] Tyler Mane: with this podcast that we're doing that we've done together. So I, uh, push the limits every time and, and, uh, just see how far I can Push them.

[00:03:37] Renae Geerlings: He's like a speedboat and I am the water skier who lost my skis like five miles back, but I'm just trying to keep up.

[00:03:43] Marc Preston: So y'all are working on the, uh, podcast together now.

[00:03:46] Marc Preston: Now, I gotta say, like, who is technically the producer, though? Like, who's the one who's really calling the shots? There's gotta be, there's gotta be ultimately one decision-maker. Well- Who does that typically fall on?

[00:03:56] Tyler Mane: Actually, we have three decision-makers. So, uh, [00:04:00] it's, uh, Renée and I making a lot of the final decisions, but then we have our producer, Michael Mao, who's, uh, helping us with it and doing a great job.

[00:04:08] Tyler Mane: So we've, uh, been lucky to amass a really good team for this and, uh-

[00:04:14] Renae Geerlings: Tyler is the one who, on the baseball bat with the hands like this, Tyler is the one who makes the final decisions. I just like to make him think my decisions are his decisions. That's how it works.

[00:04:25] Marc Preston: Well, that's, that's marriage 101, you know?

[00:04:28] Tyler Mane: And I'm still trying to learn that, apparently.

[00:04:31] Marc Preston: So- I'm

[00:04:31] Tyler Mane: still trying to figure that one out.

[00:04:33] Marc Preston: So y'all are doing the, uh, y'all are doing a new podcast from your home?

[00:04:36] Renae Geerlings: Yes.

[00:04:37] Marc Preston: Oh, very cool. Yeah. What's the name of the podcast?

[00:04:39] Tyler Mane: Maine AF.

[00:04:40] Marc Preston: Maine AF. So M-A-N-E- Yes ... AF. Maine AF.

[00:04:44] Tyler Mane: AF, yes. Maine AF. And it deals with, uh, midlife marriage and mayhem, and I am the mayhem.

[00:04:49] Marc Preston: You know, midlife, everything's kind of shifting. Like, my youngest, uh, just went off to school for her last semester of co- uh, uh, last year of college. So, but now all three will be gone. I'm, like, sitting [00:05:00] here going, "How do I occupy my time so I don't notice the emptiness in the house?" You know? So, but I've got a-

[00:05:05] Tyler Mane: I kind of equate it to a really bad rollercoaster ride, mid- midlife.

[00:05:09] Renae Geerlings: Yeah. So. And I, I feel like it's more of, like, a vice, because you find yourself at the same time as all of a sudden your own body goes, "No, everything's different. Hm, uh, everything you thought you knew about yourself, it's, it's all different now." "We're just gonna change the whole game." At the same time as your parents are getting older, needing more assistance with technology and, you know, also just health issues on that end.

[00:05:34] Renae Geerlings: And then as you were saying, your kids are leaving the house and you're still trying to help them, so you're kind of trying to juggle the generation above and the generation below while trying to deal with, uh, you know, end, end-of-life planning. I know you hate that phrase, but, like, you know, retirement and where am I now?

[00:05:51] Renae Geerlings: Did I do what I wanted to do? Pivots and things. It's-

[00:05:55] Marc Preston: I will say that the one thing had, that for me has come into the picture is a whole bunch [00:06:00] of, uh, the two most important words in the English language I'm finding now, just in my own internal dialogue, pardon my French, is fuck it. You know, like, it's, uh-

[00:06:07] Marc Preston: that idea is like, "Why do I care about this? It's not that big of a deal," or, you know, you start prioritizing what is it that I wanna do, and you reallocate energy in that direction, and you start realizing how much, you know, imbal- maybe it's not imbalance, maybe it's just you're, you're shifting priorities or whatever have you.

[00:06:23] Marc Preston: But, but for y'all, priority-wise, what, you know, what, what all are you, besides the podcast, what are y'all working on right now?

[00:06:29] Tyler Mane: And you go ahead.

[00:06:30] Renae Geerlings: Go ahead. Well, we also have another issue of the, the comic book that we've produced called The Last Spartan. We have a graphic novel out called Last Spartan: Red Tape, and we have the next chapter of that which is so close to being done.

[00:06:45] Renae Geerlings: I did get a little bit waylaid on finishing production of that this year with a couple things that happened.

[00:06:51] Tyler Mane: Yeah. We had a couple of, we had a couple of speed bumps to slow us down, but it deals with human trafficking and human trafficking awareness, and we've teamed up with [00:07:00] deliverfund.org to, uh, um- Help them.

[00:07:03] Tyler Mane: We, we've been, uh, giving a portion of the proceeds to Deliver Fund because they develop technology for law enforcement to help them catch the bad guys. Right. I call them the assholes. But, uh, yeah, so we, we've had a couple of speed bumps, and that's another reason why we decided to do the podcast because, uh, in March my brother ended up passing away of a massive heart attack.

[00:07:25] Tyler Mane: Um, then at le- I came home and said, "Well, at least, at least I'm healthy." And then I got my diagnosis, um, with the male breast cancer, and, uh, that kind of threw a wrench in it, and we've been dealing with all of that. But then, a couple of weeks after that, Renae's father passed away in a car accident. So we've been just handed a real, uh, shit show, so to speak-

[00:07:48] Tyler Mane: this year-

[00:07:49] Marc Preston: Yeah,

[00:07:49] Tyler Mane: yeah ... that we've been, uh, working through. And, you know, it's like, uh, like you said, the, the word that you learnt was fuck it. I, I've been saying fuck it my whole life, and now it's time to [00:08:00] answer the wake-up calls and and, uh, address some of the things that I need to address.

[00:08:04] Marc Preston: Y'all's background, of course, Tyler, you're, you're the world of entertainment, and Renae, you're...

[00:08:10] Marc Preston: we don't say comic books, we say illustra- oh.

[00:08:12] Renae Geerlings: Graphic novels is their- Graphic novels.

[00:08:14] Marc Preston: That's it. ...

[00:08:15] Renae Geerlings: story. But I also did comic books. I did, I mean, I would say comic books. I was a comic book editor for Top Cow for 10 years, and then I went freelance and I worked for a lot of different companies: Radical Publishing, Spark Unlimited, IP Factory, Darby Pop was my most recent, and then we started our own.

[00:08:33] Marc Preston: Well, I gotta know, how did you get involved in that? 'Cause that seems to be a very specific thing, you know? And I don't know- I know. I- ... like, how do you, how do you enter into it? You know, I would assume if somebody was an illustrator or a story- You know, but you're coming at it as an editor. How does it, how does that manifest in your life?

[00:08:48] Renae Geerlings: I had a theater degree, and I moved to Los Angeles to be an actor. Didn't know anyone, didn't understand the film industry. I was really suited for theater and [00:09:00] theater-style auditions. And moved to Los Angeles, too proud to take money from my parents, which was dumb. And and said, "No, I'm gonna take a temp job."

[00:09:10] Renae Geerlings: Um, started working for a company that did placements in the entertainment industry, and they sent me to go answer phones for two days for a company that did something with art, they said. That was Top Cow Productions. I loved it so much. I was like, "I mean, I just get to answer phones and read comic books.

[00:09:26] Renae Geerlings: Yes, please."

[00:09:28] Marc Preston: Was that part of your life ever prior to your professionally doing this? W- was- So- Did you ever read graphic novels?

[00:09:34] Renae Geerlings: I, I actually grew up, my uncles had a large collection of comic books that were at my grandparents' farm, and I spent a lot of time on that farm. So I actually did spend a lot of time u- upstairs in my uncle's bedroom going back through his, you know, books from when he was a teenager.

[00:09:51] Renae Geerlings: He was long gone from home, but I was, I was reading those, and then, um, my brother and I would read, uh, comics. They were his [00:10:00] comics, but I would also read them. Lots of Iron Man. And the funny story was I didn't even realize when I started working for Top Cow that, that Cyberforce was one of the books that my brother had been collecting.

[00:10:13] Renae Geerlings: And so when I started working for Top Cow, he was so excited that I was, I was working for the company that did Cyberforce, so.

[00:10:20] Marc Preston: So were, were, were you, were you the little or big sister?

[00:10:22] Renae Geerlings: I'm the big sister.

[00:10:23] Marc Preston: Okay. Okay.

[00:10:23] Renae Geerlings: Four years, four years older.

[00:10:25] Marc Preston: Okay, so that makes it, that gives you another layer of cool for him.

[00:10:28] Marc Preston: Yeah, that's ... Y-

[00:10:29] Renae Geerlings: I- ... I don't think he would say that, but thank you.

[00:10:33] Marc Preston: Well, like as far as getting into the storytelling, have you ever done any of it yourself, besides being an editor? Have you been on the creative end of things? Well, of course, being an editor is creative still, but the, the creation of the product, I guess you could say.

[00:10:47] Renae Geerlings: I've never ... Well, I mean, I've had some short stories that have been, that have gone out with my name on them. Um, a lot of times as an editor, you're working more molding and shaping other [00:11:00] people's ideas. Um, and sometimes you'll come in with an idea and hand it to a writer and say, "Go do that." So, um- I, I definitely had a hand in it.

[00:11:10] Renae Geerlings: The credit doesn't usually go to the editor.

[00:11:13] Tyler Mane: Well, but you also wrote, uh, Compound Fracture, which we did under our banner- But that was a film ... Mania Entertainment. That's a feature film, you know? And- Yeah ... helped write Penance Lane too. Yeah. So yeah, she's, she's done her hand at writing quite a bit.

[00:11:26] Marc Preston: Have you ever handed something over to Renae to have her critically look it over, and has that ever been another friction point at all?

[00:11:32] Marc Preston: Like- ... you know, are, you know, that's a, that seems like it's a fine needle to thread. Marc.

[00:11:39] Renae Geerlings: We're

[00:11:39] Tyler Mane: gonna, hmm. Yeah, yeah. Every day, every email, every everything. Yeah. Okay. It's, uh, it's, it's tough living with an editor, I'm telling you. Yeah, you know, like with, with, uh, the graphic novels that we're doing that, uh, Christopher Priest and myself wrote together, uh, constantly, you know, she's going, "Ah, no, that doesn't work."

[00:11:59] Tyler Mane: [00:12:00] I'm like, "Are you sure?" Well- You know? So ...

[00:12:02] Renae Geerlings: we would sit around a table and break the story-

[00:12:04] Tyler Mane: Yeah ...

[00:12:04] Renae Geerlings: together. And so yeah, definitely.

[00:12:07] Marc Preston: Uh, what part of Canada did you come from?

[00:12:09] Tyler Mane: Uh, I came from Saskatchewan, and I started, uh, in, uh, as a pro wrestler. I went to Calgary and, and trained with the Hart family, Stu Hart for a little bit, and then, uh, wrestled for 11 and a half years all over the world, and transitioned into the film.

[00:12:24] Tyler Mane: And, and, uh, uh, w- once I did X-Men, I hung up my wrestling boots and, and didn't even entertain getting back into the ring.

[00:12:33] Marc Preston: It's so funny, uh- Uh, ecosystem in Canada, very much like the way it is down here. Is it as big and, or is it... Does the Canada thing mirror kinda what was happening in the US or it was a little different vibe, uh, when in the wrestling world?

[00:12:46] Tyler Mane: Yeah. No, I mean, it was, it was all the same. Back in the day, there were territories that you would go to. You would go to Calgary, you'd go to, um, Oregon, you'd go to Dallas, you'd go to Memphis, you'd go... So it was back in [00:13:00] the day, and then, uh, you would just travel and, and, uh, wrestle that way, and it was all the same.

[00:13:05] Tyler Mane: But then when, um, McMahon and, uh, Turner started buying them up, it kinda choked out the territories and, and made it just the two, and then now the one, and then now the ACW's going.

[00:13:18] Marc Preston: I watched the, uh, movie Iron Claw with my son, and, uh- Mm-hmm ... I was trying to tell him, I was like, "Listen, I wasn't a big wrestling guy," but there was a time when the Von Erichs in Texas were like, you know, they were like gods.

[00:13:28] Marc Preston: You know, you didn't have to know that much about wrestling to know they were a big deal. Felt like I was trying to explain to him how wrestling was different back in the day, you know. How many fr- times I use that phrase with my son. "Back in the da- Yeah. ... back when I was young."

[00:13:40] Tyler Mane: Back in the good old days.

[00:13:41] Marc Preston: Back when we had the- Yeah. Back when, back we had a quarter and go- Yeah ... we'd go watch the talkies. Um, so- ... the, uh,

[00:13:47] Tyler Mane: s- They had their different eras, you know? And, and that was when it was more, uh, they called it kayfabe, but the, you know, the wrestlers were like, "No, it's real," and, uh, stuck to that. But now it, it's [00:14:00] sports entertainment.

[00:14:01] Tyler Mane: I wrestled not just in America and, and Canada. I wrestled all over the world. I was one of the last people to wrestle Andre the Giant in the Tokyo Dome before he passed away in 1993.

[00:14:12] Marc Preston: Really? Oh God, that was- Yeah ... we're going, we're going back. He was, uh, he was Princess Bride, right? You know, so that, that's kind of a, like- Yes.

[00:14:19] Marc Preston: Yep ... there were some funny stories, uh, Rob Reiner, rest his soul, was, was, you know, I was wa- looking at some quotes about directing him in Princess Bride, and it was just kind of funny. What, where, where's the transition point for you, when you decided, "Okay, wrestling, it's part of my life, it's a thing I've been doing, but I, I wanna expand.

[00:14:34] Marc Preston: I wanna spread my wings and do some other things." When did that happen for you?

[00:14:37] Tyler Mane: Yeah, I mean, as a kid I always wanted to do the acting, so the, the wrestling was a stepping stone to get the acting. But like I'd said, when, uh, when I did the X-Men, uh, I hung up the wrestling boots and then never looked back.

[00:14:50] Tyler Mane: And, uh, knock on wood, it's been going good, so.

[00:14:53] Marc Preston: Well, how did, how did that land for you? Do, was it, were you going, "Okay, I wanna do the acting thing. I'm looking for auditions. I've got some, an agent [00:15:00] out there looking for me." Or did somebody seek you out, uh, when it came to the, uh, the X-Men?

[00:15:04] Tyler Mane: Uh, for the X-Men, they, uh, were looking for a stunt person.

[00:15:08] Tyler Mane: I'd never done stunts, but, uh, my name came up for, for the stunts 'cause they were looking at my tag partner, Kevin Nash, at that time, and for some reason it didn't work out. And back then I had, uh, long hair and a Fu Manchu and kinda looked a little bit like Sabretooth. Kinda lost all that with what I'm going through now.

[00:15:24] Tyler Mane: But, t- um, yeah, they saw my picture and said, "Yeah, we wanna see him for, uh, for Sabretooth," and, and that was it, and it was off, off from there.

[00:15:36] Marc Preston: What project have you worked on that was like, that really lit your fire, that you were like, "Ah, this, this is, this is definitely my jam"?

[00:15:43] Tyler Mane: I, I mean, that's, that's every project.

[00:15:46] Tyler Mane: Once you get onto a movie set- I mean, that's where I thrive, you know, with from X-Men to Scorpion King, Joe Dirt, Troy, the Halloween films, um, [00:16:00] you know, uh, Jupiter's Legacy, and most recently the Deadpool & Wolverine. Anytime I get on a movie set, I'm, I'm excited. But what I had the most excitement was when we were producing our own two films, you know, Compound Fracture and, and Penance Lane.

[00:16:15] Marc Preston: Now, did y'all write the films?

[00:16:17] Renae Geerlings: I, I wrote Compound Fracture, and Penance Lane was- You did a rewrite on it ... we did a... Yes, it was an original script by Monir Sharif and, um, we did a, a couple rewrites on it.

[00:16:27] Marc Preston: Um, yeah. Now, did y'all, one of y'all direct it or did y'all bring a director in to, uh, uh, direct that project?

[00:16:32] Renae Geerlings: We brought directors in.

[00:16:34] Marc Preston: Okay. So- We

[00:16:34] Renae Geerlings: brought directors in ...

[00:16:35] Marc Preston: so I was about to say, if you're writing it, you're producing, you're directing, you're, I mean, that's gotta be, like, such a task, you know. So wh- when did the, when did these, uh, uh, projects come out?

[00:16:43] Renae Geerlings: Oh, wow. Compound Fracture was 2014. Penance Lane was 2018 or '19.

[00:16:51] Renae Geerlings: I, I forget the exact date. It's like you go through post-production, you know, and it just feels like it lasts so long. The exact date I'm not entirely sure. Yeah. But, um, [00:17:00] yeah.

[00:17:00] Tyler Mane: And then after that we'd been working on the, the graphic novels. The, the graphic novels are the ones that have taken the longest time to, to do.

[00:17:07] Tyler Mane: That's my fault. But, uh, yeah. We've... I think we've been working on those for over five years now.

[00:17:14] Marc Preston: For you creatively, did you ever think, "Okay, this is gonna be something I wanna, I wanna mess with here"? Is the graphic novel thing something that you ever thought you would embrace or was it part of your life prior to you getting together with Renae?

[00:17:25] Tyler Mane: Uh, no, you know, I, I never thought about it, uh, at all until we had this project, The Last Spartan. Uh, the, the, the novel came across my desk from John F. Saunders, and I had optioned the project probably 15 years ago. So I've been passing this one around for 15 years. Um, and then I talked to, uh, Tom DeSanto and David Hayter about it from the X-Men that I worked with, and they both said, "You know, this would be a great comic book series or a graphic novel.

[00:17:57] Tyler Mane: Uh, and you have the connection [00:18:00] right here." So, uh, I said, "You know what? That could be good." And, and I presented it to Renae and said, "Hey, do you think this could be a good graphic novel?" And she said, "Well, we could," but she goes, "I, I, I don't want you being my boss again " But, uh- Well, and

[00:18:16] Renae Geerlings: it's,

[00:18:16] Tyler Mane: it's also- But here we are, and here we go, so.

[00:18:18] Renae Geerlings: People, people don't realize how much work it is to... I, I think any time there's a medium, you don't have quite the appreciation for how much work it takes to do it until you've actually done it, right? Working on a film, people who haven't made films don't understand how long it takes for pre-production, production- Mm-hmm

[00:18:37] Renae Geerlings: post-production, marketing, every, you know, the whole runway.

[00:18:40] Marc Preston: Um- And after you do that, you get all these opinions coming in of- Exactly ... then you have to kind of feel like you start all over again to kind of tweak everything, and yeah.

[00:18:47] Renae Geerlings: What, Tyler was like, "Oh, well, a comic book is so easy compared to making a movie."

[00:18:51] Renae Geerlings: And I was like , "Oh, that's cute. Bless your heart." Um- It's , you know, there's so, it's still quite a team [00:19:00] project. There are so many layers of craftsmanship from, from the writing to the pencils to the digital inking or inking to the coloring to the lettering to the design. Um, and keeping continuity and making sure that all the details are right, right?

[00:19:16] Tyler Mane: And nowadays it's not all in one spot. Right. Like, we have artists that are in Brazil. We have, you know, all over the world, right? Mm-hmm. Philippines, yep. So it's, you know, it's not like you have people contained in one spot and say, "Okay, let's get this done." It's-

[00:19:29] Marc Preston: Yeah ...

[00:19:29] Tyler Mane: you're, you're on everybody else's time schedule and everything like that, so.

[00:19:40] Marc Preston: When it comes to the graphic novels, where is the biggest audience? You know, who, who's the biggest, like, I don't wanna say fanboy, but like is it universal or are there certain groups? Where are the folks that like consume it the most? I

[00:19:53] Renae Geerlings: mean, that's, this is, that's the question of the hour, right, I think.

[00:19:58] Renae Geerlings: And, uh, if, if [00:20:00] anybody could be like, "Well, that's where they are," uh, everybody would go there. It's, it's an interesting industry because when I started, uh, indies were, were big, right? When I started, Image Comics had just blown up, and so the independent comics were, were what was... where it was at. And honestly, at that point, the artist was king.

[00:20:19] Renae Geerlings: You had, um, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld. They were They were the top of, of the market. Um, and, and the pendulum swings back and forth, I've noticed. It goes kind of from the artist to the writers, and then it's kind of swung back to the writers. But also Marvel and DC both had a bit of a slump when Image was at, having its heyday and indie comics were the top.

[00:20:48] Renae Geerlings: Um, and then, and then Marvel and DC both came back, and obviously Marvel, um, has its own audience. And so in some ways th- there are multiple audiences. It's why I [00:21:00] can't answer your question so easily. There are people who are just all Marvel or all Marvel and DC, and then there are people who are just indie comics, and then there are people who are manga.

[00:21:10] Renae Geerlings: Um, so-

[00:21:12] Tyler Mane: And they're in all different demographics. I've talked to doctors, cops, I've talked to, uh, professionals that are comic book fans.

[00:21:19] Marc Preston: Do y'all ever go to like Comic-Cons or do y'all ever go to any of the cons and set up there? Oh,

[00:21:24] Tyler Mane: yeah.

[00:21:24] Marc Preston: Yes. When I lived in San Diego, I was like, I, I would love just to go and to be a fly on the wall and watch.

[00:21:30] Marc Preston: I don't know, it's, it's a new thing I'm learning about, so I'm, I'm... You're, you're kind of my Sherpa of, of, of graphic novels right now. Yeah. Um-

[00:21:38] Tyler Mane: Yeah. Well, I mean, San Diego, San Diego Comic-Con is, back in the day was probably like that. Uh, Renae could probably testify more. But what it has evolved into is more pitching films and things for the big studios- It's a, it's more of a pop culture

[00:21:51] Renae Geerlings: and it, it's,

[00:21:51] Tyler Mane: it's kind of,

[00:21:52] Renae Geerlings: it's kind of evolved that

[00:21:52] Tyler Mane: way.

[00:21:53] Renae Geerlings: Video games, video games, films, TV. Uh, and it's so close to Los Angeles, which is the hub for a lot [00:22:00] of entertainment, so a lot of, um, publishers and producers and distribution companies will bring their, their new stuff down to Comic-Con. And so Comic-Con has become less of a comic book convention, um, and it's, it's more of a pop culture

[00:22:17] Marc Preston: event.

[00:22:17] Marc Preston: I was about to say, it seems like a cultural, a cultural- Yeah ... con fab kind of a thing. You know- Yeah ... but one of the things I'm very curious about, uh, v- across the board in entertainment, the way it's affecting things, how is AI affecting your world? Uh, is it creating new problems, or is it creating a new genr- different genres?

[00:22:37] Marc Preston: You know, h- how is it making some kind of an impact?

[00:22:40] Tyler Mane: We have yet to see.

[00:22:42] Renae Geerlings: Yeah.

[00:22:42] Tyler Mane: This is a, it's an evolving thing right now and, and, uh, you know, some people are pro, some people are con, against it. So, uh, we're just gonna have to see where it goes and, and how it evolves.

[00:22:54] Renae Geerlings: I, I feel like it will be all things. I think it will be a, a tool in the [00:23:00] right hands, and I think it will be used, you know, basically to just cheat, for lack of a better word- Yeah

[00:23:06] Renae Geerlings: in the wrong hands. I mean, it makes it really easy to just pump out a lot of whatever, but I think- I th-, we are pe-, we as people want to see art created by other human beings. Yeah. I think we, we, there will be a sh-, a pendulum shift, like I said before. That's usually what happens culturally is a pendulum shift.

[00:23:27] Renae Geerlings: And I, right now I think people are getting wary of AI content. And the minute they feel like there's AI, I know in comic books-

[00:23:34] Marc Preston: One of the things I've been reading and learning about is Gen Z is, uh, got a real hunger for authenticity because they've grown up- Yeah ... with a phone in their hand. So the millennials brought vinyl back, so hopefully the Gen Z will bring back this craving for something that's been hand-drawn and, you know, that's, you know, fingers crossed.

[00:23:51] Marc Preston: So I gotta ask you, have you ever had a character that was drawn or modeled after you, though?

[00:23:56] Renae Geerlings: I, I actually did. Um, I appeared in a couple comic [00:24:00] books just as a, um, Spirit of the Tao was one. Uh, they put me in as a character. Um, I was in, um, the, um Oh my gosh

[00:24:11] Tyler Mane: Well, isn't Aphrodite-

[00:24:12] Renae Geerlings: Uh, Aphrodite Nine. Yeah. Uh, I was told years later I was a loose, loose model for the character.

[00:24:19] Renae Geerlings: I recognized my bracelets on her at one point- Oh ... and I was like, "Oh, that's cool." Um, but no, I did not know at the time that that was the case.

[00:24:26] Marc Preston: Have y'all ever had a, like a, said, "Okay, I'm gonna have a character based on me. I would like them to have this kind of power or this kind of dress or something like that"?

[00:24:34] Marc Preston: Have you ever been able to kinda create something from scratch? Go like, "I wanna create my own character." K- like- No ... think of it like Build-A-Bear, but with, uh, you know what I mean?

[00:24:43] Tyler Mane: Yeah, we went to, we went-

[00:24:44] Renae Geerlings: The last part is definitely Tyler ...

[00:24:45] Tyler Mane: we went to Build-A-Bear with the last part- Yeah ... for all the characters.

[00:24:48] Tyler Mane: We, we designed everyone, so.

[00:24:50] Renae Geerlings: Yeah.

[00:24:51] Tyler Mane: Yeah.

[00:24:51] Marc Preston: When y'all work, do y'all work separately or do y'all have, like, a little office set up together, y'all on the sofa with your laptop? What... I wanna know the, the married [00:25:00] cohabitating creative process. Are y'all independently doing your thing or do y'all ha- y'all, y'all come together in one space and work on stuff?

[00:25:07] Tyler Mane: We kinda independently do our own thing, and then we come together.

[00:25:10] Renae Geerlings: Yeah.

[00:25:11] Tyler Mane: And then I got, and then I get told, "No, it's not gonna happen like that," and then I sulk back to my office and- Mm-hmm ... and,

[00:25:18] Renae Geerlings: you know. We had to divide. I, I'm upstairs- So, yeah ... and he's in the basement. Uh, we needed to have enough space, and then when we come together we often come together on the main floor and do our meeting.

[00:25:28] Renae Geerlings: And, uh, I made a rule very early on, 'cause I, I have a... If I get thrown off what I'm doing, I have a really hard time coming back. Um, and I, I hate being interrupted when I'm trying to do deep focused work. I, I get a little irritable.

[00:25:44] Tyler Mane: Cranky.

[00:25:45] Marc Preston: I get a little weird. No, I'm, I'm the, I'm the same way. I feel...

[00:25:46] Marc Preston: Whenever you have that feeling like you're in the flow, like wherever you are, the, any- Yeah ... anything that comes in your way is gonna drive you off track. Yeah. I know that feeling.

[00:25:53] Renae Geerlings: Yeah. So he's in the basement, and the rule was if my door is closed you can't interrupt me. So the first thing he did was find [00:26:00] several ways around that, one of which is to call me on the phone.

[00:26:04] Tyler Mane: Yeah, because, um, if I'm in the flow, it's gotta go, you know what I mean? We gotta get her done.

[00:26:09] Renae Geerlings: It's... That's, that's our intercom. He calls me on the phone in the same house. Or I will hear him yelling from the basement, "Where are you?" That way he'd, he'd had plausible deniability. He didn't know my door was closed 'cause he was already interrupting me- Oh, I see

[00:26:22] Renae Geerlings: before he could see it. So that's,

[00:26:24] Marc Preston: that's

[00:26:24] Renae Geerlings: how it goes. You, you, you're, you're trying

[00:26:25] Marc Preston: to win on that one with a technicality. Like, "I didn't know the door was closed."

[00:26:27] Tyler Mane: Yeah. We're still, we're, we're still trying to work that one out.

[00:26:30] Renae Geerlings: Yeah.

[00:26:31] Tyler Mane: So, but thanks for asking that question. I'm gonna hear a lot about that.

[00:26:35] Marc Preston: Uh, do y'all- I appreciate

[00:26:35] Tyler Mane: it.

[00:26:36] Marc Preston: Now, do y'all have kids floating about?

[00:26:38] Renae Geerlings: We do.

[00:26:39] Tyler Mane: We have- Well, they're not kids. They're 29 and 30, so. They're, you know- But, but they're floating ... they're still our kids. They're still our kids.

[00:26:47] Marc Preston: Are they, are they in your neck of the woods or are they some other part of the country?

[00:26:51] Tyler Mane: One's, one's in, uh, California right now, and one is really close to our neck of the woods. Yeah. Like really, really close, like still in the house. Oh. [00:27:00] Yeah.

[00:27:01] Renae Geerlings: When we moved to Atlanta, we thought that he would stay in California, but he was like, "No, I'd, I'd love to go to..." He'd, he'd already been here. He loved it, so he came with us and, um- And we, he's actually getting ready to move out here shortly.

[00:27:16] Renae Geerlings: He has a place, um, and I'm-

[00:27:18] Tyler Mane: Coming up real soon,

[00:27:19] Renae Geerlings: yeah ... yeah, and it's funny because- And it's

[00:27:20] Tyler Mane: about time ...

[00:27:21] Renae Geerlings: for, yeah. And but for as long as, as we were like, "You know, it's time." Yeah. And he was like, "Oh, I know it's time." Um, the thought of him leaving now kind of has me like, mm.

[00:27:30] Tyler Mane: Yeah, we're gonna be empty nesters, and it's gonna kind of be probably sad.

[00:27:33] Marc Preston: Yeah, uh-

[00:27:34] Tyler Mane: We're gonna see if we really get along then ...

[00:27:36] Marc Preston: what ultimately, like when y'all get up, what kind of drives you? Is it creatively? Is it, uh, you know, you wanna... whenever you wake up, like, "Here's kind of what I wanna work on today," or are you always working towards a big project?

[00:27:47] Tyler Mane: For me, the first thing I, uh, need is a lot of coffee, and then I'm working on the big picture and, and, uh, you know, throwing things out there and saying, "Hey, let's do this, Renae."

[00:27:58] Tyler Mane: And, and, uh, [00:28:00] then she says, "Slow your roll." So-

[00:28:01] Marc Preston: I was about to say, it's good you have an editor in the house. Right. Yeah. You know? So that, yeah, Yeah ... that's a very, that's a very good yin yang. You know, you're the one throwing out tons of ideas, and you have someone else filtering it for you.

[00:28:09] Renae Geerlings: I like to say that he's the engine and I'm the steering wheel and the brakes.

[00:28:14] Renae Geerlings: Uh, but, but I do suffer from a, a very strong bit of perfectionism, which, I don't know, I, I, there's, I call it Tetris brain. There was, um, there was an experiment that was done with people playing Tetris, and when they walked away after playing Tetris for several hours, their brain didn't stop taking shapes in real life and trying to fit them- Oh,

[00:28:34] Marc Preston: I think I've heard about that

[00:28:35] Marc Preston: into other shapes. Yeah.

[00:28:36] Renae Geerlings: Right. The, the Tetris effect. And I've, I've read up on it, and people who are accountants and editors, because their whole life is looking for errors, what's wrong, what could be better, what could we fix, there's always an answer to that question, what's wrong? You, you will always find that, right?

[00:28:55] Renae Geerlings: And so when, when you habitually get into the mindset of what's wrong with this, it's very [00:29:00] hard to write with- look at a blank page because it's hard to just do out a rough draft. So I struggle with that. Um, and Tyler helps push me through it because he's like, "Just go. Just put it out there. So, so what?" Um, and we, that's, you know, sometimes we bicker over that where I'm like, "Whoa, that is...

[00:29:21] Renae Geerlings: we need to fix that." And sometimes he's like, "Eh, it's fine."

[00:29:25] Tyler Mane: 80/20 rule.

[00:29:25] Renae Geerlings: 80/20

[00:29:26] Tyler Mane: rule. 80/20 rule.

[00:29:27] Marc Preston: You did mention that the last year has been, has been a, like a unique challenge, uh, for you. Mm. Yes. You've had folks pass away. Now, now when did your diagnosis... pardon me, did you say it was, it was last March?

[00:29:38] Tyler Mane: Yeah. I think so.

[00:29:39] Tyler Mane: Well, in March my, my brother passed away. Um, and then I had the, uh, lump cut out of my left, uh, chest- April 1st, April Fools. And, uh, found out that-

[00:29:50] Marc Preston: Just, just, uh, wait, just this past April?

[00:29:52] Tyler Mane: Yes. Oh,

[00:29:52] Marc Preston: goodness. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[00:29:53] Tyler Mane: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so this is all, this is, this shit show's been going on just this year. [00:30:00] So, uh, I had it cut out.

[00:30:01] Tyler Mane: I thought nothing of it. I was like, "Okay, I'm fine." And then, uh, got the MyChart in and it said invasive ductal carcinoma, and then we've been on this ride. I've done my four rounds of chemo so far. I'm getting ready to go into radiation next. But, uh, as far as I'm concerned, it's all cut out of me and gone, and this is just preventative medicine now to make sure that it stays gone.

[00:30:24] Renae Geerlings: I did just wanna point out, just to talk, like, the speedboat, um, who, who decides to produce a podcast, to start a podcast while they're in chemo?

[00:30:34] Marc Preston: Well, I think anything creatively you do keeps the mind, the body active, you know, keeps you, keeps you, keeps you moving forward. There's gotta be a zen to that, I think, you know?

[00:30:43] Marc Preston: W- what did you, did you have any initial feelings of what, what you were experiencing? What was, you know, just, uh, was it something you felt? Was it something that came up on a, like a, you're going to go see your annual doctor visit? How, how did this first come into your, into your awareness- Yeah ... you know?

[00:30:58] Marc Preston: No, I,

[00:30:58] Tyler Mane: yeah, I, I, [00:31:00] um, have been on a, I guess, fitness, fitness quest for the last year and a half. I've quit drinking alcohol about 18 months ago, and was slimming down and getting rid of the visceral fat because I wanted to get back into shape, and I was feeling I was in the best shape of my life. And I just felt on the, uh, on my left chest there was something that was hard.

[00:31:20] Tyler Mane: And, uh, I was just dismissing it as, as, you know, a wrestler would, and just, "Ah, it'll be fine." And, um, Renae said, "No, you need to go get it checked out." And Lo and behold, got it removed, and it came back as invasive ductal carcinoma

[00:31:37] Marc Preston: Was it even something on your radar? Are you like, "Okay, this is something that I can experience the same as women can experi-" W- did you ev- were you even aware of that?

[00:31:44] Tyler Mane: No, not at, not at all. I, I didn't think anything, anything of it, you know? I thought it was just a lump that was gonna get removed and... But of course, with, uh, Renae, with all the, uh, things that women are trained to look [00:32:00] for and everything, she... And, and thank God she said, "Get your ass in there and get tested or get it checked at least," you know?

[00:32:07] Tyler Mane: And, uh, I'm just glad that she did. A- and now most recently, I had a swelling in my left ankle and I was like, "Ah, it's just an old wrestling injury, no problem," and it's been going on for a week and a half, two weeks now. And, um, you know, she said, once again, "Go in and get it checked." So when I went into the doctor's, I said, "Hey, I've got this swelling of the ankle," and, uh, they, you know, went into emergency mode.

[00:32:32] Tyler Mane: Uh, and apparently I got sent in for tests and I have a blood clot from my ankle just about up to my knee. It's from- So that we've been dealing with that ...

[00:32:39] Renae Geerlings: yeah, and it's from- So- ... the hormone blocker that he's on for, for treatment, so.

[00:32:43] Marc Preston: So, so the moral of the story is Tyler is lucky to have Renae in r- in his life, you know?

[00:32:48] Tyler Mane: I am lucky to have Renae. And, and everybody answer your wake-up calls. That's- Yeah ... what our whole podcast is about, answering your wake-up calls and, uh, a- and not saying anymore, "Fuck it."

[00:32:59] Marc Preston: I think that's the [00:33:00] balance when you get older, is knowing when to say, "Fuck it," and when to, when to say, "L- let me, let me put my spotlight on this thing."

[00:33:06] Marc Preston: Has it given you a feeling like, "I need to kinda get on the rooftop and kind of announce this to dudes," you know? "Be aware of this thing," you know? Yeah. How has that changed your outlook on, on, I don't wanna say your purpose, but an additional purpose, something new in your life. How, how has that modified that or added something new?

[00:33:24] Tyler Mane: Yeah, yeah, I mean, in the beginning, I was like, uh, uh, almost embarrassed about it and like, "How could I have breast cancer?" And then, um, shortly after I said, "No, screw it, I'm gonna talk about it and raise awareness about it." And, uh, you know, a lot of organizations have been picking it up and spreading the word, thankfully.

[00:33:44] Tyler Mane: Uh, because I think there's 2,600 to 3,000 men diagnosed every, uh, year- Mm-hmm ... in the United States with, with, uh, male breast cancer. And, and sadly, about 500 of them pass away every year, which is a sad thing, because they [00:34:00] don't notice it or get, uh, treatment

[00:34:03] Renae Geerlings: soon

[00:34:03] Tyler Mane: enough.

[00:34:03] Renae Geerlings: That's a much, a much higher percentage than for women because they put it off.

[00:34:08] Marc Preston: What have you learned that, that is now something that you wish you knew beforehand ab- about this, and something you'd like to share?

[00:34:18] Tyler Mane: Um, well, I mean, just, I, I just wish that I would have, uh, addressed it sooner. Luckily, we caught it in a stage one. Um, but since- M- me coming out with this on my platforms and everything, I've had a lot of people reaching out to me from all over the world, you know?

[00:34:38] Tyler Mane: Men in Germany a- and stuff, and saying, "Oh, thank you for raising awareness." So i- it's just, I am a big advocate now for if you feel something, get it checked, you know? Uh, because men usually do dismiss things. We're too busy trying to make money or trying to be, uh, [00:35:00] machismo as you say, or, or have that ego that gets in the damn way.

[00:35:04] Tyler Mane: But, uh, when your health goes to shit, you got nothing else.

[00:35:09] Marc Preston: Yeah, it's one of those few things that I don't know a single person in my life that breast cancer hasn't touched. It, and traditionally it, it is women. Right. But it's, it's so prevalent that I think it's, it's wonderful that, you know, it... I'm not gonna say silver lining, that's reductive, but th- this is the opportunity that now somebody can hear and go, "Oh, I didn't even know that was a thing with guys."

[00:35:29] Marc Preston: And it looked like you're in good, uh, uh, good health, but you're-

[00:35:32] Tyler Mane: I'm, I'm in good health. I'm just getting, I'm just getting this last bit of chemo through me. I'm in the gym every day working out. So yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm still doing what I did before, and luckily I haven't lost a lot of weight. I've, uh, I'm, I'm a little dehydrated.

[00:35:48] Tyler Mane: Uh, you know, my skin is a little whatever. But once, uh, you know, once I get that back on track, I'm gonna be right back to where I was. So-

[00:35:58] Renae Geerlings: Tyler had a stage one [00:36:00] tumor, but the reason why he had to do chemo was because his tumor DNA came back as a very high oncotype. Up to 25 is considered a low activity tumor.

[00:36:11] Renae Geerlings: Anything over that is considered more aggressive, and his was a 43. And so even though it was not in the lymph nodes, they, they were very in, uh, aggressive about making sure we did chemo in case there was any floaters going through the body. And so what chemo does, of course, is attacks the fast-growing cells.

[00:36:31] Renae Geerlings: And so we lost the beard.

[00:36:34] Tyler Mane: Oh.

[00:36:34] Renae Geerlings: But w- we're on the road back to beard now.

[00:36:37] Tyler Mane: Hey, I, I wasn't, I wasn't mad when my hair on the top of my head... I was, l- I had long hair and was still doing the comb over. I'm glad I got rid of that. But the beard, now I, I had a pretty damn good beard that I lost. I, uh, I'm hoping it'll come back real soon.

[00:36:52] Tyler Mane: So-

[00:36:52] Renae Geerlings: Somebody said when they had chemo, their hair actually came back on top of their head- Really? ... after chemo. And, you know... Yeah. And Tyler was like- [00:37:00]

[00:37:00] Tyler Mane: I don't want that, 'cause then I gotta buy shampoo. Yeah. So no.

[00:37:09] Marc Preston: Not doing all the creative stuff, what are you up to? What are you... Like, how are y'all doing the non-work based, uh, kind of things that y'all are working on together, just having fun, what are y'all up to?

[00:37:21] Tyler Mane: Well, I don't think we're doing any non- What is, what is

[00:37:24] Renae Geerlings: that? What

[00:37:25] Tyler Mane: is that? I don't

[00:37:25] Renae Geerlings: know

[00:37:25] Tyler Mane: what that is.

[00:37:25] Tyler Mane: Yeah. We're, no, we're working all the time. So-

[00:37:28] Renae Geerlings: Tyler, Tyler does a lot of appearances on, on weekends, signings, and that's usually when I kinda get my focus time in and catch up. But we, we rescue animals. Um, we have three rescue dogs and two cats, so, um, we're doing a lot of walks and training with them, and, um-

[00:37:46] Tyler Mane: And then at night we're catching up on our TV shows that we've missed, so

[00:37:49] Renae Geerlings: yeah.

[00:37:49] Renae Geerlings: So many. There's so much wonderful content out right now, and it's so hard

[00:37:53] Marc Preston: to- What, what are y'all watching? What's your, what's your jam right now on TV?

[00:37:57] Tyler Mane: Well, I was just watching the new Reacher, um, [00:38:00] episodes, um, and- And Lincoln Lawyer ...

[00:38:04] Marc Preston: Lincoln Lawyer. That fella, uh, Alan Ritchson, it's like I, I- he's a specimen.

[00:38:07] Marc Preston: You know, that guy is, uh, you know, he makes me, you know, the rest of us look bad, you know. But you've had a life of being in the gym a lot, you know. Is that, is that something, as a wrestler I'm kinda curious, was somebody that relies on their body, their physique for, you know, appear- in film, you know. Like, think about like Schwarzenegger, you know.

[00:38:24] Marc Preston: He's gotta look the Terminator part. Was this something you always enjoyed, being in the gym, or did it ever get to the point like, "Okay, I gotta do this thing 'cause this is my vocation," you know?

[00:38:32] Tyler Mane: Uh, you know, I mean, it becomes a lifestyle. Now let, let's face it, there are days that I don't wanna get in there, but as soon as I get in there and I start moving some weights around, I'm like, "Okay, this will be good."

[00:38:43] Tyler Mane: And then I just see how and feel how good I'm feeling, and then I just keep going. Luckily we have a gym in the house here, so it's not like I gotta go to any facility or that. But, uh, so I, I mean, I just, I'll be watching something and then I'll go, "You know [00:39:00] what? It's time to get my butt in the gym," and, and I go in there and I start moving weights around and I start feeling better, and I, uh, you know, and it's, it's helped with my recovery.

[00:39:09] Renae Geerlings: And I think also as, uh, w- we talk about midlife on the podcast, something that you don't really think about as much when you're young is, um, mobility and flexibility, right? So, uh, this has also become a part of the regimen now is trying to maintain the flexibility as your body kinda starts to wanna stiffen up, and old injuries, especially for Tyler.

[00:39:29] Renae Geerlings: Um, so that's a, that's a whole nother aspect of it.

[00:39:32] Marc Preston: I, I, I wanna look online now. I know there's routines you go through because I did that thing. I was getting up off the sofa the other day, I was like, "Ugh," you know. I was like, "Oh my God, I'm that guy now." You know, uh, guys who get to a certain age have to make noise when they sit up from the sofa.

[00:39:45] Marc Preston: You know, it's just like a thing. Yoga, that's the one thing I do wanna get into. Everybody raves about it that I know is into it is you're more limber, you're more, you know. Is that, have you tried that at all? Has yoga been a part of your, uh, world, or?

[00:39:57] Tyler Mane: Oh yeah, I've, I've done yoga. I've done [00:40:00] DDP Yoga. Uh, I went in to see Dallas.

[00:40:03] Tyler Mane: That was right before I had my hips done. I've got, uh, you know, wrestling has been really good to me. I've got two artificial hips and, uh- And had some hernia operations, so I'm metal and mesh from the waist down now. But, uh, yeah, I've, I've done yoga and, and stretching and stuff like that, and it's, it's-

[00:40:19] Renae Geerlings: And

[00:40:19] Tyler Mane: Pilates

[00:40:19] Tyler Mane: and Pilates. Pilates, okay. It's very

[00:40:21] Renae Geerlings: important. Pilates is amazing.

[00:40:22] Marc Preston: Oh, it kind of reminds me of that $50,000 man. We can build him back better, you know? Um- Yeah. But, but hey, my, my grandfather, rest his soul, he says his golf game got better after hi- his hip replacement, you know? So everybody I know that has one- Oh, yeah

[00:40:35] Marc Preston: a friend of mine's brother who's, you know, played professional sports, he's... They're just loving life.

[00:40:39] Tyler Mane: It changes the game, man. Yeah. Like I, I was like, "Oh, my back, my knees. Is, is it my knees?" And when I got my, uh, went in to get my hips done, they looked at them and go, "Ooh, which one are we doing first?" I'm like-

[00:40:51] Tyler Mane: "What do you mean doing first?" So yeah, I've got, I've- I'm like the Doublemint Gum. I got both of them done, you know?

[00:40:59] Renae Geerlings: And it's, it's one of [00:41:00] those things that's like, uh, you know, the frog in boiling water. It starts off as a little discomfort, but it comes on so slowly you kind of get used to it. And, um, his hips were actually fused, and he was just working around it.

[00:41:13] Renae Geerlings: Um, I can't be- Yeah ... I can't believe all the things that he was still doing once he had

[00:41:17] Marc Preston: all of it. Well, isn't that part of being a guy in a way? You just, you know, you, you- Yeah ... push through it kind of a thing, that mentality that we're talking about is, you know. But, but then again you should stop and- Yep.

[00:41:25] Tyler Mane: You know, I mean, I wish I would've went and had my hips done A decade ago. I could have had them done a decade ago, but then it has evolved so much that, um, I mean, I had a, a robot that did my operation. So the robot- No,

[00:41:38] Marc Preston: really?

[00:41:39] Tyler Mane: Yeah, that the surgeon was working with and everything and, and, and I was back on the treadmill that afternoon, you know?

[00:41:46] Tyler Mane: So-

[00:41:47] Renae Geerlings: Wow.

[00:41:47] Tyler Mane: The elliptical. The elliptical that afternoon. So-

[00:41:49] Renae Geerlings: You're

[00:41:49] Tyler Mane: not

[00:41:50] Renae Geerlings: supposed to do that, by the way.

[00:41:51] Tyler Mane: Well,

[00:41:51] Marc Preston: who cares? Well, the conventional thinking- Yeah, it was productive ... from back in the day, uh, 'cause I know when I've had different injuries is, you know, you recover, recover. But now they don't want you [00:42:00] building up scar tissue, so they want you moving, doing the thing, which is a whole different way than they used to do it.

[00:42:05] Marc Preston: But, uh, the podcast- I- ... whose idea was it to do the podcast? Was it kind of just mutual like, "Hey, let's do a podcast," or did one of y'all go, "Hey, let's do a podcast"? How'd that come together?

[00:42:16] Tyler Mane: Um- It was

[00:42:16] Renae Geerlings: you.

[00:42:17] Tyler Mane: It was me? Was it me?

[00:42:18] Renae Geerlings: It was you. It was Tyler.

[00:42:20] Tyler Mane: Yeah. You look so much better on here than I do, too. I look haggard, Jesus.

[00:42:24] Tyler Mane: But yeah, I g- I guess, uh - Y'all

[00:42:26] Marc Preston: both look very sophisticated, you know.

[00:42:28] Tyler Mane: Oh, th- well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, no, I mean, like I just said, with all the stuff that was going on, we should take our hand at a podcast and, and get it out there. And, and I wanted to discuss all the stuff because, you know, with my brother, uh, he wasn't talking about it, uh, and apparently he'd been, uh, hiding or, or, you know, not discussing what was going on.

[00:42:54] Tyler Mane: And had I would've known that he was having heart issues for the last five years, I probably would've gone and seen him more. Mm-hmm. [00:43:00] So I'm like, "You, we gotta talk about this and get people talking about it," because it is a thing for the older generation to, uh, people in their midlife, "No, I'm not gonna talk about it.

[00:43:10] Tyler Mane: I don't wanna burden anybody with it," you know? So that's, uh, one of the reasons why I said, "Okay, it's time to- do something, say something, and help raise awareness.

[00:43:20] Marc Preston: I think it's a wonderful way to kind of create a, uh, an open journal, if you will. But I think with the two of y'all, I think that, that it, it would make a wonderful connection for people who are looking for information about, uh, this, or just, you know, I think most people want to feel like that they're, uh, not just connected, but, uh, they're experiencing something that's not unique to them, you know?

[00:43:39] Marc Preston: And I think that's the- Yeah. Yeah ... that's the beauty of the podcasting ecosystem. Well- Yeah.

[00:43:43] Tyler Mane: W- well, and the thing is, not, not that ours is just dealing with cancer, but I wanted to say that, you know, 40% of the people are gonna be facing cancer in their lifetime. So there's a 40% chance that you're gonna get cancer in your lifetime.

[00:43:57] Tyler Mane: One, not, not necessarily breast [00:44:00] cancer, any kind of type of cancer. So it's better to be prepared for it and ready for it, you know? And we're having, uh, my oncologist on, genetic counselors are coming on and stuff. And, uh, we're also having, you know, our, our, uh, celebrity friends come on. So it's gonna be a wide variety, everything midlife, uh, like I say, midlife marriage and mayhem.

[00:44:21] Renae Geerlings: To your earlier point about sharing with people, there was an account called Jayce Beats Cancer, and this is again toward the cancer thing, which is not what our podcast is solely about. But in this instance, Jayce had gone live and shared his entire experience with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and his treatment, and I followed him just organically before any of this was a part of our life That account was so, um, fundamental for me in keeping my proverbial poop together when this whole thing started because I didn't feel like I was completely at sea.

[00:44:56] Renae Geerlings: I had someone else's experience to give me some kind of an [00:45:00] idea of what we could potentially be in for. Um, I think a lot of people, you know, kind of seal up and close the doors, don't wanna talk about it, but then when somebody else comes along, they feel alone. And so in a lot of topics, uh, dealing with midlife and things like focus and hormones and grown children and end of life planning and estate planning, these are all things that we wanna talk about because everybody needs to know this information.

[00:45:25] Renae Geerlings: Maybe us c- our curiosity can help them.

[00:45:29] Marc Preston: You know, a lot of, like, the ladies in my world are, I'm starting to hear the, and not, I need, I do need to Google it, hearing about menopause and perimenopause, I think s- I think- Oh,

[00:45:38] Renae Geerlings: yeah ...

[00:45:38] Marc Preston: and, you know, I think some things are, I don't wanna say you joke about it, but if everybody's dealing with it, I, I, I think that Gen X, we were always the, uh, taste makers, you know, for a while.

[00:45:50] Marc Preston: Then we kinda got forgotten about, but I think now it's like I'm liking more Gen X voices showing up. That makes me happy, so

[00:45:56] Renae Geerlings: Well, I, I

[00:45:57] Tyler Mane: think- Hey, I'm even, I'm even tipping to Boomer

[00:45:59] Renae Geerlings: side, so. [00:46:00] He's so close to, he's so close. But for what you're talking about, I think it's, it's been so, uh, interesting to watch Gen X women grow up, right?

[00:46:09] Renae Geerlings: Because we, we had that sort of, like, don't care edge to us when we were young, that sort of, uh- Sass ... yeah, latchkey kid kinda thing.

[00:46:17] Tyler Mane: Yeah.

[00:46:18] Renae Geerlings: And now all of a sudden that same thing is hitting perimenopause and menopause when women are suddenly like, "I have no more fucks left to give." And women are legitimately upset at this point.

[00:46:29] Renae Geerlings: Like, "How could you not tell me this? How do, how is nobody talking about this?" It was like, oh, we get hot flashes and we open the refrigerator and we stand there. We had no idea.

[00:46:38] Marc Preston: Where I'm at now, you know, age-wise, there's some hair a bit younger, a little bit older, but it's not like a, it's not like something you plan for and put on the calendar, just kinda shows up.

[00:46:48] Marc Preston: So I think these things are good to- I, I love the idea of any kinda show or any kinda conversation where they're, it's like, oh, we're all going, going to deal with it or we are dealing with it- Right ... or we know somebody who is, so I wanna be better to be a better, [00:47:00] you know, uh, uh, advocate for them, you know.

[00:47:02] Marc Preston: And I think it's wonderful, you know. So y'all gonna be coming up with one episode per week or-

[00:47:06] Renae Geerlings: That is the plan. We drop two the first day and then one per week after that.

[00:47:11] Marc Preston: If you had one thing, uh, uh, Tyler, that, that if you have a 50-year-old dude there, you're talking with him, and he's, you know, a, a kind of guy who's responsible for family, responsible for work, you know, you know.

[00:47:26] Marc Preston: What is kind of the general piece of advice that you're finding that you're passing along? I don't want to say wisdom, but it is wisdom. But knowledge or maybe, "Hey, get this in your mind," you know, "Be thinking about this." What, what advice are you finding yourself giving more and more?

[00:47:39] Tyler Mane: Yeah, take care of your health.

[00:47:40] Tyler Mane: If you, you know, feel something is off, get it checked, because you got one shot at life, and things can go wrong really quickly. You know? Like with, with... If I, if I would've left, you know, this lump, who knows where we would be. If I wouldn't have [00:48:00] dealt with my swelling ankle and the blood clot, who knows where I would be.

[00:48:05] Tyler Mane: So I guess my thing is, I've been telling everybody, answer your wake-up calls, because you gotta answer 'em.

[00:48:13] Marc Preston: I used to be, uh, you know, growing up I hated needles, going to the doctor, and now I'm like, go to the doctor and like, "Let's go through a long conversation about all the things I'm curious about." You know, bring in my list, you know.

[00:48:22] Marc Preston: I'm sure my doctor just loves me.

[00:48:24] Tyler Mane: You gotta ask. You gotta do it. You gotta take care and adv- you gotta be your best advocate for yourself. Uh, yeah, I, I knew I was getting old when I started, uh, growing hair in my ears. If you really wanna get rid of the hair out of your ears and stuff like that, just go get, uh, a little bit of chemotherapy.

[00:48:39] Tyler Mane: It all falls out.

[00:48:47] Marc Preston: The last thing I do whenever I chat with folks, I have something I call my seven questions, which is fun. I got both of y'all here. Um, and I always talk food at least once in a, you know, whenever I talk to somebody from Atlanta, I talk about my daughter's favorite, uh, it was The [00:49:00] Varsity. I think everybody knows the- The

[00:49:01] Tyler Mane: Varsity is brilliant.

[00:49:02] Marc Preston: Yeah, it's like, uh- Yeah ... they, they have some orange drink my daughter Lily absolutely loves there, so. Uh, but I'm curious for both of y'all, start with you Renae, what is your favorite comfort food?

[00:49:13] Renae Geerlings: Buttercream frosting.

[00:49:14] Marc Preston: Oh, I like it. Isn't it disappointing when you have used to... I don't know if you ever had, like, business, uh, uh, like you're at work and somebody has a birthday and they show up, they got a cake, and they got that whipped creamy frosting.

[00:49:24] Marc Preston: Oh, that's so disappointing.

[00:49:25] Renae Geerlings: I have a funny story for you if we have time.

[00:49:27] Marc Preston: Oh, yeah.

[00:49:27] Renae Geerlings: It was, it was my birthday. I have a crazy friend, and she thought that she had found the Costco buttercream, uh, frosting, and she sent me a five-gallon tub of the Costco buttercream frosting. The eve of my birthday, I couldn't wait till midnight.

[00:49:40] Renae Geerlings: I got the spoon, I cracked the thing open. It was whipped cream frosting. It was, like, the biggest punk I've ever had in my life. It was basically, like, really stiff Cool Whip, which was excellent on pumpkin pie, but as frosting, it's a absolute hard pass for me. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:56] Marc Preston: That's so funny you say that 'cause exactly what we use it for is pumpkin pie.

[00:49:59] Marc Preston: It's all [00:50:00] great. Uh, but yeah- Yeah ... that, yeah, buttercream frosting. That... Um, any specific flavor, though?

[00:50:05] Renae Geerlings: Well, I'm, I'm a fan of the good old, uh, vanilla, but I like a little almond flavoring- Oh, okay ... is

[00:50:10] Marc Preston: actually

[00:50:10] Renae Geerlings: my favorite.

[00:50:11] Marc Preston: That's, that's the first frosting comment I've gotten, but that's a good one. That brings me back.

[00:50:14] Marc Preston: I like that. Now, uh, uh, Tyler, what would your favorite, uh, comfort food be?

[00:50:19] Tyler Mane: Oh, a good coffee-rubbed rib eye steak.

[00:50:22] Marc Preston: Coffee-rubbed? I've never done that- Yeah ... but that is on the agenda 'cause I like to make seasoning blends, and I, I'm wanna integrate coffee into one of them.

[00:50:29] Tyler Mane: Try it. Put a little bit of ground coffee in that and try it.

[00:50:32] Tyler Mane: Throw that on the grill.

[00:50:33] Marc Preston: See, I... That's why I do this. I, I do this whole show just for, like, these little culinary tips, you know. Now, um, Renae, now if you're gonna be sitting down, you're gonna be having coffee with three people. You're gonna be talking story for an afternoon. Living or not, who would those three people be you would like to sit down with?

[00:50:50] Renae Geerlings: Oh, wow. Um... Oh, this... See, you're gonna ask these questions and I'm gonna, I'm gonna really regret, uh, later. Um, I'm gonna be like, "Oh, no, I [00:51:00] got that totally wrong." Um, talking story.

[00:51:03] Marc Preston: Yeah, you're just, you're sitting there, you just... Whatever comes up, comes up. It's just an afternoon with coffee, and all, all afternoons are better with coffee.

[00:51:10] Marc Preston: Um, a- and y- it's whatever comes up, and it's liter- And I always say sometimes it's not just who you would like to speak with, but who you'd like to see talking to one another, you know?

[00:51:21] Renae Geerlings: Wow. Um, well right now Matt Dinniman, Dungeon Crawl Carl. Um- Awesome ... and then I'd love to, let's see, who else would I throw in here?

[00:51:32] Renae Geerlings: Uh, Michael J. Sullivan also is one of my favorite, uh, writers. I'm a huge fan of the Ryira Chronicles and Revelations and that w- just that whole world.

[00:51:41] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[00:51:42] Renae Geerlings: Um, and then let's throw in a Shakespeare. Let's just see what he'll say. That'll be a, that'll be a coffee.

[00:51:48] Marc Preston: Modern and contemporary writers, you know, where do they connect?

[00:51:51] Marc Preston: Yeah, that, that... See, there you go. That'd be cool. Now, uh, now for you, Tyler, who would those three people be?

[00:51:56] Tyler Mane: Oh, w- see, like she, she went [00:52:00] educational. I'm gonna go fitness. I'm gonna say a Vince Gironda. Uh, I would love to sit down with even a, like a Charles Atlas-

[00:52:08] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm ...

[00:52:08] Tyler Mane: and, and talk to him. Um, and then probably Schwarzenegger.

[00:52:12] Tyler Mane: I think that'd be an interesting conversation.

[00:52:14] Marc Preston: You know what? One of the first interviews I did, '94, the movie, uh, True Lies came out, and I flew to LA for a, uh, press junket, and I was... I remember it was the Four Seasons Beverly Hills in there. I'm gonna tell you what, shaking his hand, you know, he's kind of the, he's kind of what you want him to be.

[00:52:30] Marc Preston: He's kind of that gregarious. I mean, I remember walking into the, uh, the hotel after going to s- get something to eat, and he's already there. And I knew that because he has one of the OG military Humvees, and the license plate said Terminator. I'm like, "You know," shameless. I love it. Who else

[00:52:45] Tyler Mane: is that gonna be,

[00:52:46] Marc Preston: right?

[00:52:46] Marc Preston: Ex- exactly. Um, I, I have to, hopefully this won't create any issues, but first, Rene, I gotta know, who was your celebrity crush when you were a kid? Your first one.

[00:52:55] Renae Geerlings: My first one? Your

[00:52:56] Marc Preston: first big celebrity crush. You're like, "Oh my God."

[00:52:59] Renae Geerlings: My [00:53:00] very first, oh my goodness. Um, because I had several TV crushes when I was young.

[00:53:05] Renae Geerlings: So- Yes, you did. The first, the first one I'm not sure, but I was really, I think I was, like, four, and my dad used to watch How the West Was Won, and it was, um, Boxleitner, Bruce Boxleitner. Oh,

[00:53:18] Marc Preston: yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:53:19] Renae Geerlings: Was the mm-hmm- Yeah ... and I th- I was gonna marry him.

[00:53:22] Tyler Mane: And when she met him, I, I threw her under the bus and said she wanted to marry

[00:53:26] Marc Preston: George Clooney.

[00:53:27] Marc Preston: Well, what, w- well, I gotta, well, I gotta know, what is it like to finally meet the person you had that, that c- that crush on? Was it kind of like... They say never meet your heroes, but what about your crushes?

[00:53:37] Renae Geerlings: Um, I mean, he was really sweet. My, the, the craziest crush to meet, though, for me, was John Schneider from Dukes of Hazard-

[00:53:43] Renae Geerlings: because when I was, when I was, like, six years old, I had his album, It's Now or Never, and I used to put it on the couch and I used to pretend he was singing to me when it would play. And when I met him, my husband, again, threw me under the bus and, you know, I try to play it down. [00:54:00] He don't let me do that. Um, and he said, "You know, she, uh, she really loved you when she was a kid.

[00:54:05] Renae Geerlings: She had your album." And I was like, "Yeah." And he said, "Oh, which one?" I said, "It's Now or Never." And he went... And then he just started singing to me, looked me in the eyes, and I thought, "Well- I'm done now. That's it. I'm good.

[00:54:18] Marc Preston: Yeah, he has

[00:54:18] Tyler Mane: a- And I was like, "Okay, it's time to go."

[00:54:20] Marc Preston: Holy cow. You gotta go. Yeah, I was invited up.

[00:54:22] Marc Preston: He has a place in Louisiana. It's like a... He kinda uses it sort of as filming location back when they were doing a lot more shooting there. It's like a l- not a ranch, but it's, he's got a little, a couple barn things out there. Yeah. And, uh, he put on a, uh, Southern version of a, a Shakespearean play, and I can't remember for the life of me what it was.

[00:54:40] Marc Preston: But I went out there. I for- I didn't realize how tall of a dude. He's a big guy. He's a, well, he's a tall guy, you know? Um, s- s- super s- I

[00:54:46] Renae Geerlings: said the same thing when I met him ...

[00:54:47] Marc Preston: Yeah, super sweet guy, and, uh, we, I just, uh, I knew a film director who said, "Hey, come on out to," I don't know where in the Lou- uh, it's about an hour's drive from New Orleans.

[00:54:56] Marc Preston: So we went out there. But I'm sitting there. I'm a kid, a Dukes of Hazard kid, and I, [00:55:00] my, my night, I watched Dukes of Hazard, Love Boat, Fantasy Island. It was all on the agenda back in the day. Yes. I don't know if they all came on in one night, but- But, uh, but no, I gotta ask, uh, Tyler, who was your first celebrity crush?

[00:55:10] Tyler Mane: Oh, wow. I, that's, that's a good question. I'd probably say, like, a Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Ladd, someone like that.

[00:55:18] Marc Preston: It was the poster that, that ev- The, the pin-up. Yeah ... if you were a kid of a certain age, you had to have that poster. The poster. Now, in my generation it was- Me too ... uh, uh, Kathy Ireland I think was the one all, had that poster everybody wanted.

[00:55:29] Marc Preston: Mm. The next question I got for you, uh, uh, Renae, now if you, if you were to be forced to live on an island, it's somewhere you wanna be. It's, it's a beautiful island, but you're gonna be there a whole year- Mm ... no streaming. Uh, so if you wanna listen to music you gotta bring a CD with you. One CD or a box set.

[00:55:44] Marc Preston: Uh-oh. If you wanna watch a movie you can only bring one DVD. Something you watch and listen to over and over. What would that be for you?

[00:55:50] Renae Geerlings: Oh, one. Um, one?

[00:55:53] Marc Preston: I, well, I, only one. I will say a box set if it... I will, I will give you that. But it's something that, like, whenever [00:56:00] it comes on TV you, you just, you always watch it.

[00:56:03] Marc Preston: You know, something that you can watch over and over, and you never really seem to get tired of it.

[00:56:06] Renae Geerlings: A, a film and an album.

[00:56:08] Marc Preston: A film and an album. Yeah, so for music and a movie. Yeah.

[00:56:11] Tyler Mane: Well, it's a good thing you didn't say something, because if she didn't say me I'd be really pissed.

[00:56:17] Renae Geerlings: But

[00:56:17] Tyler Mane: anyhow.

[00:56:17] Renae Geerlings: Um, for me- ... for me, a film, like, one of my most favorite, wonderful, feel-good films, um-

[00:56:25] Renae Geerlings: uh, well, we talked about Princess Bride.

[00:56:27] Announcer: Yes.

[00:56:27] Renae Geerlings: Uh, would, would, is, but I, but I might even say Galaxy Quest. Galaxy Quest- ... is one of the movies, when that movie's on I'm watching it. I love that movie. And, um- A foreign album. Uh, Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.

[00:56:47] Marc Preston: Oh, Sarah McLachlan. Oh, did I have a thing for her.

[00:56:51] Marc Preston: Uh, was that the album that Possession was on and, uh-

[00:56:54] Renae Geerlings: Yeah ...

[00:56:54] Marc Preston: Sweet Surrender and all that? Yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah.

[00:56:57] Renae Geerlings: Sweet Surrender was actually on, uh, Surfacing, which, [00:57:00] eh, actually I might, I might pick that album. I, I do love that album too. Love 'em both. Well f- Also, Paula Cole, This Fire But-

[00:57:06] Marc Preston: It's, it's that Canadian thing, right?

[00:57:07] Marc Preston: That's that Canadian thing. Yeah. So you're, you're inherently drawn to Canadians, so there-

[00:57:12] Renae Geerlings: Apparently so.

[00:57:13] Marc Preston: So-

[00:57:14] Renae Geerlings: Apparently

[00:57:15] Marc Preston: so ... for you, Tyler, what would those be? What would the film and what would the music be?

[00:57:18] Tyler Mane: Well, the film would be one that would keep me on the island, Jaws. I could watch Jaws forever. I watch it all the

[00:57:26] Marc Preston: time.

[00:57:26] Marc Preston: The or- the orig- the original

[00:57:28] Tyler Mane: Jaws or both? The original. Yeah, the original Jaws. It's gotta be the original. Um, and then for, for music, I would say, uh, any Rush album. Any

[00:57:37] Marc Preston: of them. Ah, okay. Very good. Very good. Now, if you were to say, uh, Reneé, that from the time you get up to the time you go to bed- Mm-hmm

[00:57:44] Marc Preston: what are the ingredients of what you would define as a perfect day? This, this, this, this happened.

[00:57:48] Renae Geerlings: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:49] Marc Preston: This was a perfect day for me. What would that be?

[00:57:51] Tyler Mane: Spending time with me.

[00:57:52] Renae Geerlings: Yes. Yes, that.

[00:57:56] Marc Preston: That, well you would- Yes ... let's say you're one of the spokes on the wheel of perfection in [00:58:00] Reneé's life, you know?

[00:58:00] Marc Preston: So-

[00:58:02] Renae Geerlings: Um,

[00:58:02] Marc Preston: really- ... we know that, that would be one of them ...

[00:58:04] Renae Geerlings: a really wonderful, uh, nutty, rich, black cup of coffee. Um, cuddle time with the dogs.

[00:58:15] Marc Preston: Yeah.

[00:58:16] Renae Geerlings: Uh, s- time with my husband, and a really good book

[00:58:22] Marc Preston: Very good. Okay. I like how coffee enters the picture. I, the way I remember- First,

[00:58:27] Renae Geerlings: by the way. First ...

[00:58:28] Marc Preston: Oh, yeah. And nothing before then.

[00:58:30] Marc Preston: You don't have, nobody has access to you before that. I'm, I'm the same way. Yeah. Um, now for you, Tyler, what would, what would the perfect day, uh, elements be for you?

[00:58:39] Tyler Mane: Oh, it'd be, it'd be the cup of coffee in the morning, and then it'd be into the gym, and then just, uh, chill out, and, and I'd leave my phone behind.

[00:58:50] Renae Geerlings: Am I the phone in this scenario?

[00:58:52] Tyler Mane: You, well... I'd ta- I, I'd spend time with you, too, babe.

[00:58:57] Renae Geerlings: Okay, thanks.

[00:58:57] Marc Preston: Disconnecting is something I'm kind of trying to [00:59:00] do more of, you know? Now, i- if you weren't doing what you're doing, if s- if somebody said to you, "Renae, you, this is not part of your life anymore. You know, your, you know, graphic novels, creation, podcast, it's, it, this creative thing is not available to you anymore," what would be the second vocation where you think, "I get a lot of joy from doing this thing"?

[00:59:18] Renae Geerlings: Dog training.

[00:59:19] Marc Preston: Dog trai- okay. Any particular breeds that you like to work with?

[00:59:23] Renae Geerlings: Uh, no. I, I'm, I just, I'm fascinated by them. I'm fascinated by, uh, the depth of thought that they have that we have not really a- like ascribed to them. Um, I'm fascinated by the new use of the augmented communication buttons that they're using with dogs and the complex concepts that they're able to put together when given the opportunity to.

[00:59:47] Renae Geerlings: Their, like, their awareness of past and future, um, wants and, uh, dislikes. I'm, I'm fascinated by it.

[00:59:56] Marc Preston: That does seem fun. You know? You get to work with dogs all day. That, that can't be bad. [01:00:00] But, uh, for, for you, Tyler, what would it be? Like, if, if the creative phase of your life right now was not really gonna be...

[01:00:07] Marc Preston: Or maybe going back when you were younger, like this would've been a really cool gig for you. What would that be?

[01:00:12] Tyler Mane: Well, you know, uh, to tell you the truth, I've a- always wanted to do what I'm doing and, and luckily I've been able to do it for my entire life. Um, but as a kid, I- Real

[01:00:25] Renae Geerlings: estate ...

[01:00:25] Tyler Mane: well, I mean, yeah, I- Building

[01:00:27] Renae Geerlings: houses

[01:00:27] Tyler Mane: building houses, I, I did, uh, do that. I'd probably, yeah, I'd probably go into something like that. Go back into real estate.

[01:00:35] Marc Preston: Like actually, you know, uh, getting plans and having a house built? You used to do that, or is that something you'd, that interests you?

[01:00:40] Tyler Mane: Yeah. Yeah. I used to, uh, what I did, I, with my company, I'd, I'd buy the land, develop it, build the roads, run the power, water, and, and all of that, and then, uh, build the houses.

[01:00:51] Tyler Mane: So yeah, I mean, I've, uh, uh, I would probably go back to something like that 'cause I like getting my hands dirty and, and laying stone work and [01:01:00] tile and stuff like that, and just, uh, having fun. It takes my mind off of the craziness in the world.

[01:01:05] Marc Preston: Very cool.

[01:01:05] Renae Geerlings: Like Churchill used to lay bricks, Tyler likes to lay slate.

[01:01:09] Marc Preston: Lay slate.

[01:01:11] Tyler Mane: Slate and stone.

[01:01:13] Marc Preston: Well, very cool. Very cool. Now Rene, now if you were to jump into, last question, if you were to jump into the DeLorean and go back in time and you're 16 years old, you got a piece, you know, piece of advice to offer younger you to make that moment of your life somehow better, or to put yourself on maybe a little bit different track, if you will, what would that piece of wisdom you'd want to drop in the few minutes you have with 16-year-old you?

[01:01:34] Renae Geerlings: Oh, stop people-pleasing Stop, stop, stop always trying to please other people. Take a minute and figure out what you want

[01:01:43] Marc Preston: That's very common. I, you know, and different shadings of that exact thing is just do your thing unapologetically. Yeah. Very cool.

[01:01:50] Renae Geerlings: Mm-hmm. Don't be afraid.

[01:01:52] Marc Preston: Very cool. Now for Tyler, what, what would, what nuggets of wisdom would you be dropping for yourself?

[01:01:57] Tyler Mane: Uh, I would say don't force it [01:02:00] so much. It's all gonna work out fine in the end. Everything happens for a reason.

[01:02:04] Marc Preston: There's a zen to just kind of be in the flow. Letting everything

[01:02:06] Tyler Mane: happen. Letting it happen.

[01:02:08] Renae Geerlings: If it's meant for you, nothing can take it away.

[01:02:11] Marc Preston: I need to remind myself of that every day. It's, it's like the advice I give my 16-year-old self I'm kind of s- trying to still give to myself now, you know?

[01:02:18] Marc Preston: I, I would like to know, like, what is next on the agenda for y'all? Naturally, the, the podcast is out. What is the next thing that y'all got- Yeah ... brewing at the moment?

[01:02:28] Tyler Mane: We're just laying track with the, with the, uh-

[01:02:30] Renae Geerlings: Podcast

[01:02:31] Tyler Mane: and the comics ... with the podcast and guests and, and lining up our guests and everything and the, and the comic.

[01:02:35] Tyler Mane: So-

[01:02:36] Renae Geerlings: The Last Spartan ... we're

[01:02:36] Tyler Mane: busy. Busy.

[01:02:37] Renae Geerlings: I- there will be a Kickstarter coming at some point soon for The Last Spartan next, uh, next chapter. But if you wanna buy the graphic novel, it's at thelastspartan.com. And the podcast is Maine AF Pod on all platforms except for TikTok, 'cause TikTok has to be different.

[01:02:55] Renae Geerlings: It's mainafpod1.

[01:02:57] Tyler Mane: Well, and you, and you can just go Maine AF on any of your- Yeah ... [01:03:00] platforms,

[01:03:00] Renae Geerlings: so. On any of your, uh, podcast platforms. We're live. Yeah. We're live. Do

[01:03:02] Marc Preston: y'all have a website, uh, for the podcast?

[01:03:04] Renae Geerlings: No, we're just on the different platforms.

[01:03:06] Tyler Mane: We're, we're in the w- we're working on building the, the website now.

[01:03:09] Marc Preston: Oh, okay. We're- Well, Maine AF. Yeah. We've, we've- M-A-N-E, not M-A-I-N if you're listening. It's M-A-N-E. Yep.

[01:03:15] Renae Geerlings: Yes. It's that up there.

[01:03:16] Marc Preston: Well, fantastic. I wish y'all nothing but the best. I, I think it's, uh, wonderful what you're doing. I think the podcast is a wonderful idea. I appreciate y'all spending some time with me and being so generous.

[01:03:26] Marc Preston: But, uh, hopefully, uh, we'll have a chance to catch up down the line, and I appreciate you.

[01:03:30] Tyler Mane: Cool. Thank you, Marc. Sounds good. Thank you.

[01:03:33] Marc Preston: Well, there you go. Tyler Maine, Rene Giering's fun conversation. A first, first time we've had a husband and wife on. Uh, very cool. Uh, they have a lot going on. Uh, besides the podcast, of course, Maine AF, they have their production company, uh, and they are just constantly moving forward with all kinds of good stuff.

[01:03:51] Marc Preston: Now you can find their links to their podcast. Just go to storyandcraftpod.com, and, uh, just click on this episode and just, you know, click on [01:04:00] Rene or, uh, Tyler's, uh, uh, lovely face, and you'll be taken to their information, which has all the links to all the fun stuff going on. Um, Maine AF is the podcast.

[01:04:10] Marc Preston: Check it out. And of course, you can check out all of our past guests and episodes when you are at storyandcraftpod.com. And also grab your podcast app. Make sure to follow Story and Craft. You get notifications every time a new episode comes out. Make sure to like and, uh, leave a comment. It does help people to find the episode.

[01:04:28] Marc Preston: Uh, now I'm gonna get on out of here, get into some weekend fun, weekend mischief, and I hope you have an absolutely wonderful one. And as I always say, thank you so very much, uh, for making what I've got going on, part of what you've got going on. It does mean a lot to me. And I'll see you right after the weekend when we get back together again for another episode of Story and Craft.

[01:04:48] Marc Preston: Take care.

[01:04:49] Announcer: That's it for this episode of Story and Craft. Join Marc next week for more conversation right here on Story and Craft. Story and Craft is a presentation of Marc Preston [01:05:00] Productions, LLC. Executive producer is Marc Preston. Associate producer is Zachary Holden. Please rate and review Story and Craft on Apple Podcasts.

[01:05:10] Announcer: Don't forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. You can subscribe to show updates and stay in the know. Just head to storyandcraftpod.com and sign up for the newsletter. I'm Emma Dylan. See you next time, and remember, keep telling your story.