The Caitlin Clark Experience; Being a Camera-Ready Professional; and “Candid Camera”

Episode Notes

Transcript

Announcer:

It’s Legal Toolkit with Jared Correia with guest Kerry Barrett. We play a game. We cleverly call Candid Camera and then Jared goes hard on the subject of his corns because we know exactly what you need in your life. But first, your host, Jared Correia.

Jared Correia:

It’s time for the Legal Toolkit podcast. That’s right,

And as you may know, every time the Legal Toolkit podcast starts A-W-N-B-A player punches Caitlin Clark in the throat. And yes, it’s still called the Legal Toolkit podcast, even though I don’t even know what a bench plane is unless it’s how I get to see Forrest Gump, then I know I’m your host. Jerry, you’re stuck with me because Gerald Rivera was unavailable. He’s currently opening a vault await. This should be good. I’m the CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, a business management consulting service for attorneys and bar associations. Find us [email protected]. Now, before we get to our interview today, pregnant pause about getting camera ready with Kerry Barrett, a two-time Emmy Award-winning news journalist. I want to talk about how just about everybody is doing Caitlin Clark Dirty. I’ve got a lot of basketball stuff coalescing around me of late in my life. My son is a very good basketball player to the point that he can now beat me playing in the driveway, the circle of life my daughter plays too and saw him in a lot of games.

On a sad note, bill Walton just died, which was not great for me because he was one of my favorite basketball players ever. Career was basically robbed because of injuries, but he had two big shining moments in the NBA when the Blazers won the NBA finals in 77, and then he played for the Celtics when they won the NBA title in 1986. And one of my first memories as a kid was watching the 86 finals on an old ass TV in my family’s apartment. I remember just watching Bill Walton loping down the court. He probably just stood out because he had red hair, so the Celtics were wearing a Walton patch and the NBA finals this year. That’s cool. The circle of life, once again, speaking of the Circle of Life, Kyrie is back. Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks are playing the Celtics in the finals in 2024, and the Celtics are currently boat racing the Mavericks because they’re fucking frauds and I don’t know how it gets better than this, honestly.

Wait, it may. It may. I have tickets to game five and it would be dope to see the Celtics win the title live at the Garden. I don’t know if the series even goes five. I heard Chris dApps, Ingas is out. It seems like he’s going to be out for the rest of the series. I don’t even think it matters. I think the Celtics still win in five or six. But that all being said, I’m not going to say anything more about the Celtics because I’m going to get super obnoxious about this really quick. I probably already have and I’m just going to keep that one for myself. But you know what, I do want to talk about basketball related. Caitlin Clark, almost everyone knows that this Caitlin Clark thing is basically a phenomenon. The interest level in her was staggering when she was in college at Iowa and the Fever.

See what I did there? See what I did there continues as her first WNB. A season is underway and a lot of people make this about race with Caitlin Clark, but honestly, I just think people like it when basketball players can shoot from long distance at a high rate of success. No different from Steph Curry or anybody else who ever took a three. So I wanted to get into the Caitlin Clark mix. So I went to go see her play live last night as of this recording, and I bought tickets to the game against the Connecticut son because they have the closest WNBA arena to my house. I took my daughter because she’s also a fan. She had her little Caitlin Clark jersey on and she’s just fun to hang out with. I told my son that he could come to the game too, but he said he didn’t want to because he’s a misogynistic asshole.

I’m sorry I don’t make the rules. Just so you know, this Clark stuff is unprecedented. So the game she played before the one we went to was in Washington against the WNBA team, the Washington mystics. They drew 20,333 fans for that game. They actually had to move it to the Washington Wizards Arena, the NBA team to accommodate all the fans. That’s more than the Wizards drew. This year, by the way, on average per game, they blow chunks, but still they are an actual NBA team. Now, half that many people attended a game that the Washington mystics played against the Chicago Sky the night before, and that was with Caitlin Clark’s longtime foe Angel Reese who played at LSU in college. The game we saw with Caitlin Clark playing for the Fever was against the Connecticut Sun in the middle of a goddamn casino in East Buttfuck, Connecticut, and they still drew like 10,000 people.

Yes, the WNBA has a team in Connecticut of all places, and it is inside of a casino. I would conservatively estimate that 65% of the people at the game were there for Caitlin Clark. I mean, the son have one of the best teams in the league and they have a nice arena. It’s kind of like a modern version of Cameron Indoor at Duke if you’ve ever been down there. But let’s be real, the WNBA is kind of a secondary league and it always has been. Basically it’s like the women’s version of the NBA if you’ve not heard of this before. So basically a lot of the team owners are the same. The teams are in the same cities. They have similar names to the NBA teams. Boston’s going to get A-W-N-B-A team soon going to be owned by the Celtics owners. I guarantee you they call that the Boston Shamrocks.

So if you run into WNBA, you’re probably thinking, my God, what a fucking boon for us, this generational player who can hit shots from all over the core 40 feet out. She just falls into our laps. She’s like the Steph Curry of the WNBA. So let’s take advantage of that as much as we can. Only the fucking WNBA is not thinking that. And the WNBA players are actively trying to sabotage Caitlin Clark’s career, which yes, it’s just about the dumbest fucking thing you could do. Just so you know, WNBA players, the average salary is $102,000 a year. Jalen Brown makes that shit tieing one shoe before a game. WNBA players fly commercial as well. Oh wait, the Indiana Fever don’t because they have fucking Caitlin Clark and they can print money. Now if former NBA commissioner David Stern, who I kind of hate, but who built the NBA into what it’s today was WNBA commissioner and had a Caitlin Clark on his hands, he would’ve falling all over himself to market her as the face of the league.

You know, I know because he saved the goddamn NBA by doing just that with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the eighties. Then he grew the NBA doing that same shit again with Michael Jordan and now the NBA is a star driven league in a massively lucrative program. I mean, look at Victor Wema, the number one draft pick in the NBA last year for the San Antonio Spurs. The dude is Adam Silver’s wet Dream seven six or seven five. I can’t remember exactly how tall he is, but NBA players mess with their height all the time and he plays like a guard, actually, I guess that would make him Ralph Sampson’s wet Dream deep cut right there. NBA fans, the NBA is currently promoting living shit out of Victor Wema and he’s going to be the next face of the league. You can fucking book that Spurs run their offense through him.

They were getting really good at the end of the year. He’s massively impactful on defense and offense still. Let’s look at the WNBA. What are they doing with their most recent number one draft pick? Caitlin Clark, the players are busy shit, talking her constantly in the press and beating her up on the court. Are you enjoying your peanuts in row 26 of this Frontier Airlines flight, Brenda, then keep assaulting your meal ticket. Honestly, this is fucking embarrassing. And then USA basketball also just left Clark off the Olympics team, which is just utterly dumbfounding to me. You’re going to trot out these 40 something players that nobody would recognize if they walked by them on the street. That’s another missed opportunity. The motherfucking dream team had Christian Layner on it and he never even played an NBA game before he went to the Olympics in 1992, and if it wasn’t him, it would’ve been Shaq also still in college at that point, by the way.

So this is all horse shit and like the pettiest of jealousies, could you even imagine some asshole NBA journeyman knocking Magic Johnson to the ground without provocation In the 19 79, 19 80 season, like the 12th man on the rockets, David Stern would’ve come onto the court and hit that motherfucker with a chair. Okay? Technically, technically David Stern didn’t become a commissioner until 1984, but he was the driving force behind the star focus to marketing trajectory of the NBA. Facts are the worst. I know. Okay, so I go to the game sitting there in the stands and what happens within literally the first three plays, the Center for the Sun takes a shot at Clark, just blatant obvious foul, not a basketball play. So the referee to her credit calls a quick foul, and so that’s good. They shut that shit down, right? And today I read that the WNBA converted a prior foul against Clark to flagrant, which is also good.

They got to stop this. Then later in the game, the star point guard for the Connecticut Sun, she mocks Caitlin Clark for embellishing a foul call and gets roundly booed by her home crowd, her own crowd. Then the crowd cheered as Caitlin Clark hit both of her free throws. I mean, that’s got to be embarrassing, but how about just don’t be an asshole? Now you notice that I didn’t mention any of these players’ names. Do you know why that is? Because I have no fucking idea who they are, and that’s kind of the point, right? Because I’m sitting at their game because of Caly Clark. I mean, for real, if I was A-W-N-B-A player, I’d be letting Caitlin Clark score 50 a night and living it up on my chartered flights, eating escargo from here to eternity. And I’m sitting there with my daughter who’s nine years old now, when did I become a fan of the NBA?

When I was eight years old? I was watching Larry Bird, I was watching Magic Johnson. I was watching Bill Walton. This is the time when fans connect with players and you’ve got this generational player who’s just being abused by the other players in the league. They’re going to be losing fans. People are not going to attach themselves to the league, but Caitlin Clark is not going to be scoring 50 points a night a because she’s a rookie and she’s like not going to be putting up huge numbers necessarily in her rookie year, but her team also really, really blows, and her coach is just complete butt cheeks. So this game, Caitlin Clark took a total of eight shots in 22 minutes. She took five threes and hit two of them. That’s 40%. That’s pretty good. I’d say she brought the ball up about 30% of the time.

Apparently the fever have like 15 point guards. The problem is that they all suck except for Caitlin Clark. They don’t run any actions for her. I think I counted maybe four screens that someone set for her. They’re not running any atos. Okay, pause here. An A TO is an after timeout play in basketball. So you call a timeout, you script a play. That’s really a great way to get some easy buckets, but they didn’t do that on the Indiana team. I got to tell you, I’ve never seen a professional team at any level take the ball out in the hands of their number one draft pick and future superstar like this. They’re treating her like a third string guard on the worst team in the league. This team sucks beyond belief. They’re so bad and the coaching makes it so much worse. So instead, the worst team in the league from last year is focusing on spreading the ball around to a bunch of wretched secondary options and watching them make horrible play after horrible play after horrible play.

Not only that, but the coach of the Indiana Fever, guess what? I don’t fucking know her name either took Clark out with more than half of the third quarter gone and the team down about 20. You have a fucking generational three point shooter maybe. Maybe have somebody set a screen to see if she can get hot and get you back into the game. 20 points is not insurmountable in basketball. At first I thought they didn’t want her to get hurt. What was a meaningless game? They were getting blown out. But then I thought it might be benching for poor play and I don’t know which is worse. Honestly, with three minutes left, a restless crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena began chanting We want Caitlin, we sure did. I mean, if I was coaching the Indiana Fever, I would be running Caitlin Clark off so many screens that would make your head spin back screens, double screens.

I would just be getting her open for as many threes as I could. She’s basically going to be probably the Steph Curry of the WNBA and she can change the game for that league the same way he changed the NBA. The NBA is now ruthlessly efficient and data-driven. It’s like a math league. That’s why the players take so many threes and so many teams are heliocentric where they have the ball in the hands of one playmaker or a couple playmakers for most of the game. The WNBA can get there and I think Caly Clark’s the cheat code for doing that. But her coach’s dog shit and her team is filled with a bunch of scrubs who should be just out there setting screens. Also, not to digress too far, but the team branding is also terrible. The Indiana Fever fucking come on. What kind of a team name is that?

The logo looks like it was designed by fucking clippy in 1995. It’s a stylized F and the league ball. This is worse than a lot of the terrible A BA uniforms. This would’ve been the perfect opportunity to pull a 1993 Patriots and change the whole culture of the team along with their brand. I dunno, I just don’t want Caitlin Clark’s career to be wasted. Now get this in 2022, the Las Vegas ACEs, the reigning WNA champions, by the way, they were sold for $2 million and NBA teams are getting sold for four or five, excuse me, four or 5 million, no nay, four or 5 billion. So maybe I’ll just buy the fever and rectify this shit myself. I feel like I have to be more compelling than Herb Simon. I mean, unless he was one of the brothers on Simon and Simon. Then I take it all back.

That only leaves the question who wants in on the ownership group with me? Now, before we talk with Kerry Barrett about video presence, let’s hear a little something, something from our sponsors. Then we’ll get into a rump roast That will definitely show off all of my flaws, everybody. Let’s do it. Let’s get to the meat in the middle of this legal podcasting sandwich. Today’s meat fugu, which for all is false led to one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all time. Alright, enough of that. Let’s get to our guest interview today. We have yet another first time guest on the Legal Toolkit Run. A little bit of a role here we have for you today. Kerry Barrett, who’s the founder and owner at Kerry Barrett Inc. She’s a media trainer and PR coach. Kerry, you’re brave enough to come on the show today. How you doing?

Kerry Barrett:

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Yes, I am brave enough to be on your show today, but I’ve heard great things about it and now that I know that you have guests on more than once, I’m going to pitch myself continually to you like every five seconds.

Jared Correia:

Oh, please feel free to do so. We’d love to have people as recurring guests as well.

Kerry Barrett:

Okay.

Jared Correia:

Alright. So it’s kind of unfortunate that we don’t have video for this podcast yet. So you do video consulting and I want to talk to you about that and I wish people could see your video. I’ll tell them right now it looks highly professional, but they can check out your website and LinkedIn for more. Before you started doing this kind of consulting work, you were actually a real life news anchor, which is kind of cool as opposed to a fake news anchor I guess. So I want to know how do you get into that? I think a lot of people like that would be a cool job, but I don’t know. Many people actually go the route and do it.

Kerry Barrett:

Well, one does it by failing out of organic chemistry. At least that was my process for getting into the industry. So a very bridged version of my background as it relates to your question. Yes, please. I actually started out in college as a pre-veterinary medicine major, mostly because I was terrified of people and I did not want to talk to them very much, and I had always had this really deep fear of speaking even being seen to some degree, and that’s something I’ve been working on with my therapist on the regular. Nevertheless, what did put an end to my goal of being a veterinarian was organic. And so I’d never really considered doing anything else. So I took a year and a half off, still hadn’t found myself and decided that I would re-enroll, like the panic was setting in. Everybody’s graduating, what am I going to do?

So I re-enrolled in a communications program because number one, no organic chemistry. That was first and foremost. I wasn’t going back in that direction in any way, shape or form. But number two, I also was going to be required to take two public speaking courses. And I think I knew on some level, even at that stage that it was going to be beneficial for me to somehow at least get my arms a little bit around that fear so it didn’t, in fact send me to the back of the room in a puddle of my own vomit. I could do the thing. And I ended up really enjoying the coursework. Maybe that was because there was no math, but nevertheless, I really enjoyed the coursework and I always enjoyed telling stories. And one of the ways that I was trying to, going back to my college now make up for that lost year and a half that I had taken off after failing out of organic chemistry was I was trying to jam my schedule full of a bunch of credits and I was already packed Monday through Friday like nine to five, but I wanted to figure out, I think I was taking 24 credits, I wanted to take another three.

So I got an internship at a local TV station because they operate 24 7, 365. I could intern on the weekends early in the mornings, late at night, over holidays, whatever. And from day one, I absolutely loved it. Then I had to learn how to overcome that fear, not just so that I was not quivering like a leaf every time I got in front of the camera, but actually get good enough that somebody would pay me to do it. And I went on, I got three internships. I went on and got my master’s degree and then I sent out resume tapes. That’s how you start in that business. So 500 of those later, still sending them out on VHS tapes. I finally got a bite in Falls, Texas, and that’s where I launched my TV career.

Jared Correia:

That’s where it all started in Wichita Falls.

Kerry Barrett:

That’s where it all started. My friend,

Jared Correia:

I’m going to share briefly that I took organic chemistry as a junior in high school show off, and my grade for the class was 35.

Kerry Barrett:

Oh, okay.

Jared Correia:

Yeah, I sucked at organic chemistry school. I know, but I was like, this is fucking, I was like, is fucking inorganic chemistry any better? Yeah, I know.

Kerry Barrett:

I might actually enjoy physics compared to this.

Jared Correia:

Right? Alright. But you start in Wichita Falls, but it’s the hero’s journey from there because you go to That’s a little bigger markets. Yeah, I read up on you go to bigger markets, you win an Emmy, right?

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah.

Jared Correia:

That’s impressive.

Kerry Barrett:

A few of them, not too. And all the yucky parts were going to be there on live TV for everybody to see and sort of judge. And I think that did two things for me. Number one, I worked really hard to get as good as I could very quickly, as quickly as possible. It still wasn’t super fast, but quick enough. And it also taught me how to deal with the inevitable rejection or judgment that can come with it. And also it taught me how to think on my feet. So live tv,

Jared Correia:

Wait a second, I thought you just read the teleprompter. No. Okay.

Kerry Barrett:

No, you do have a teleprompter sometimes, but when you’re out in the field, you don’t have a teleprompter. And when you are dealing with breaking news and you’ve got, you’ve got to wing it five words of information and you’ve got to fill an hour of time with no video, there’s not a teleprompter for that either.

Jared Correia:

That’s our core. This is the most aggressive form of exposure therapy I’ve ever heard. I’m going to go on live TV every day.

Kerry Barrett:

And the thing was, in the process of that, again without really doing it directly, I sort of developed a protocol that I could playbook, for lack of a better word, a better word, that I could dive into when these moments would pop up. And I think because I learned that in the course of this experience, this exposure therapy, I learned that whatever came my way I could handle it may not be real pretty, but I would come out the other side standing and it’s never cost me my job. I gained confidence in that way as well. And so there wasn’t a big epiphany moment where suddenly it was like, well, I’m good. I got it all figured out. I should go to New York. It was just this sort of, oh yeah, I managed to do that. And

Jared Correia:

Then that’s funny. You’re like, theBar is, I have not lost my job yet, so I’m doing all right. Low

Kerry Barrett:

TheBar was low. I mean, I may have had a news director throw a beta tape at me once or twice, but this was back in the early two thousands. It was fine to do that then.

Jared Correia:

Yes, that was okay then. No personal injury lawyers are currently listening. I don’t think

Kerry Barrett:

I’m traumatized. Call me.

Jared Correia:

All right. So what I think is interesting is I think most people equate this to the fear of public speaking, which I totally get. A lot of people have that fear, but I almost feel like for a bunch of people, video is even worse in some ways. Let’s say you stand up at a wedding, nobody’s recording you, fuck up your best man speech. Literally only the people in that room see that when you record a video and publish it or you’re on the news. That’s like forever. So do you think it’s harder for people to do the video thing than it is to just do public speaking in general?

Kerry Barrett:

It’s interesting. There is some crossover. There’s some overlap with the skills that are applicable to both of those formats. It really is individual to the person. I know some people who can get up on a camera and they can talk webinar, whatever it is in a studio and a newsroom experience, it’s a little bit different because a much more unfamiliar environment for most people. But some of them are perfectly fine getting up on camera. And what they hate is being up on a stage in front of a live audience because they can see,

Jared Correia:

Oh, that’s so interesting.

Kerry Barrett:

They can see people tuning out or they feel the judgment or they feel exposed. Whereas for some people, they’re fine getting up in front of an audience, but put them on a camera where they can’t read the room and they don’t know what people are doing and they maybe have their cameras off or they’re doing whatever that sends them into a tailspin. Aside from, yes, now that everything is digital, it’s going to be on YouTube or if you are on, I had a hit two weeks previous to the recording of this podcast where I was on NBC news and National, I did a live hit and there’s no do-overs with live. It’s what it’s, so I think it is a little bit dependent on if the person has any experience in either of those realms. And it’s also a little bit dependent on just the person’s vibe and personality and who they are. That said, at the end of it to finally really, truly, and answer your question, if you’re asking me which element people have,

Jared Correia:

That’s why I’m asking you now. Yeah, let’s reframe it in that way. Yeah.

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah. It’s in front of the camera because it brings the element of public speaking and also being in front of a camera, which are two things most people hate and bring them together.

Jared Correia:

Got you. Okay. So you leave the newscasting world, you start this coaching business, and how do you help people who just don’t want to be on camera period?

Kerry Barrett:

Well, sometimes the people who really need your help, you can’t help because they’re just not ready to take the step. So I’m going to assume that they have an understanding of why this particular skill is important. And if you don’t call me, I can tell you why. But when I’m working with, it depends a little bit on who it is. Is it a team of people? Am I helping a group of,

Jared Correia:

Let’s say it’s an individual lawyer who scares shitless of getting in front of a camera, knows she needs to do it, and then calls you,

Kerry Barrett:

Calls me. So what we will do is I have a six month coaching program. We meet every other week, scheduled calls at their convenience. It’s done virtually. And then there is on demand support in between those calls, they also go through a digital program that sort of walks them through the beginning steps of camera, shots being prepped for speaking on camera, the skillset. A lot of times people have questions about what do I wear, my lighting, my setup? It walks through the foundations and then we go into understanding your voice and your audience and some content creation. It’s a lot of practice. I always invite people onto my podcast around my live stream as well, because it is one thing to learn the skills in a trusted environment with your coach in private, it’s quite another to execute on them in front of an audience. And that’s where the real learning comes. So we take what we’ve learned in the course of this six months working together. And I mean there, there’s a curriculum that I go through, but

Jared Correia:

Really this is sort of pretty intensive.

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah, there’s a curriculum, but also we do sort of a diagnostic call at the beginning, what is your biggest problem? Why is it a problem? Have you tried anything before? Has it worked? What hasn’t worked? And then I tailor the sessions that we do to be very specific to what their needs are and where they come in in terms of their skillset.

Jared Correia:

Okay, that makes a ton of sense. What do you see are the biggest issues that people have once you’re in front of the camera? Really?

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah. Most people don’t understand that there is a flattening effect, a flattening effect energetically when you’re in front of the camera. And the reason that I know this is because I’ve seen myself do it. Back when I was learning how to communicate on camera as a newscaster, there’s some nuance to it, whether you are a webinar versus a social media post, and if that social media post is LinkedIn versus TikTok, there’s some nuance, I don’t want to say every single thing works in exactly the same way no matter where you show up, but they’re all overlapping. So one of the biggest problems that applies to all of those platforms is video is energetically flattening for a couple of reasons. Number one, because of the medium, it takes a 3D person and it puts them into a 2D sort of box. Your height and width, there’s no depth there.

There is lack of context. You can’t see what’s going on outside of the four walls of whatever video screener monitor you’re on. And then you’ve got the flattening effect of the software and the hardware and the microphone and the camera and the lighting and all that other stuff. And the fact that people are distracted, then add the fear onto that, which means most people have a tendency to shrink, and it applies when you’re on a stage as well. If you don’t like doing it, we shrink because we don’t want to stand out. And so that means that we end up being fairly still less expressive. Our vocal range reduces and we look like we’re bored, awkward, scared, timid, and we probably are all of those things if we’re not comfortable being on camera. So lack of energy is hands down, the biggest mistake that I see across the board. Second comes eye contact. Nobody looks at the camera. They’re always looking down at the monitor. In some cases, that’s okay, not when you’re creating content.

Jared Correia:

This is great.

Kerry Barrett:

And lighting. Lighting is usually a problem for most people as well because they’re trying to

Jared Correia:

Hide. That was a good rundown, man.

Kerry Barrett:

No, those are my top three.

Jared Correia:

I would’ve thought it would’ve been the opposite. I would’ve thought if somebody was nervous to be on camera, they would’ve been too keyed up

Kerry Barrett:

Sometimes. But generally speaking, that’s not how it plays out the nerve. Do you want to know the psychology behind it?

Jared Correia:

Very, yeah, please, please. It doesn’t even have to be brief. Let’s explore the studio space.

Kerry Barrett:

The psychology really goes back to our reptilian brain. Have you ever heard that term?

Jared Correia:

I know about the reptilian brain. Yes. Okay.

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah. The reptilian brain is our sort of fight or flight. It’s when we go into survival mode and in the modern day world, it plays out as our ego. We think of ego as the sort of like this machismo. We’re very bold, really. The ego is designed to protect you. It’s designed to keep you from making mistakes and acting stupid or looking weak and vulnerable. And so when we tap into sort of how this was born out millennia ago when we were living in a cave with our cave people and we ventured outside of the cave, there was really only a few reasons we were doing that. It was we were going to get water or we were hunting. And when we ventured outside of the cave away from the safety of our clan or group of people, the goal was not to be seen by predators.

So we didn’t go up on the horizon and make a bunch of big movements and jump up and down and talk real loud. No, we slunk behind bushes and trees and we probably crawled on the ground. We aim to be silent and have nobody see us so that the predators wouldn’t come to us if we screw that up. And we did draw attention to ourselves. Not only are we likely dinner for a saber tooth tiger, but the rest of our clan is angry at us because we also drew attention to them. And so we’re rejected, we’re humiliated. We’ve lost status and probably dead. It’s the exact same thing psychologically. When we’re up on a stage, we view the audience as a predator. They could reject us, they could humiliate us. We’re going to look stupid, we’re going to lose status. And eventually they’re all going to judge us and kick us out of the group. They’re going to kick us out of the safety nest. And so when we get up on a stage, again, I’m painting with a broad brush, but this is how it applies to most people.

Jared Correia:

Yeah, no, this is great

Kerry Barrett:

Because we don’t want to be on the horizon, even though we’re up there and we’re talking and the goal is to have people at us. Our reptilian brain wants us to be small. It wants us to stay still. And so we do in fact, reduce our vocal range. We don’t use facial expressions and body language the way that we may when we’re in person. And granted, every person has their own style, and I would never suggest to anybody that they try and be something that they’re not. But what they want to do is be the same person on that camera as they are off the camera. And that’s going to mean the camera’s going to like certain people better than it’s going to like others. That’s just how it is. But it doesn’t mean that every single one of us can’t be successful and competent on it.

Jared Correia:

That was great. I’m glad we took a detour into the reptilian brain. I will say I just watched a documentary called Secrets of the Neanderthals on Netflix with Patrick Stewart. It was really good.

Kerry Barrett:

Did they talk about any of that?

Jared Correia:

No. Unfortunately, I think they needed you as a guest.

Kerry Barrett:

Yeah, for real.

Jared Correia:

Kerry, this has been really fun. Thank you. Are you game to stick around for one last segment?

Kerry Barrett:

It would be my pleasure.

Jared Correia:

Alright, everybody, we’ll take one final break so you can hear more about our sponsor companies and their latest service offerings. Then stay tuned for the Rump Roast. It’s even more supple than the Roast Beast. Welcome to the rear end of the Legal Toolkit podcast. That’s right, it’s the Rump Roast. It’s a grab bag of short form topics. All of my choosing. Why do I get to pick? Because I’m the host. So today, Kerry, I’ve rounded up a special set of trivia questions just for you. I’m calling this segment Candid Camera, which is a title I came up with completely on my own that I’ve never heard anyone say before.

Kerry Barrett:

Well done.

Jared Correia:

And don’t Google that, and we’re going to focus simply on questions that are video related. So I’m going to ask you a question. I’m going

Kerry Barrett:

To give you three

Jared Correia:

Multiple choice responses. Rapid fire? No.

Kerry Barrett:

No. Okay.

Jared Correia:

We don’t have to be rapid fire. We can just relax here. So let’s start with, I think it might be an easy one. I don’t know. We’ll see. This is the first music video that appeared on MTV, the first music video that appeared on MTV. Do you know it off the top of your head or would you like some

Kerry Barrett:

This song video killed the Radio Star.

Jared Correia:

Very nice, very nice. Kudos to you. You are a one for one. Alright. Now, do you know the band that sang that song? This is a tougher one.

Kerry Barrett:

Oh my God, I do not.

Jared Correia:

Bonus points, if you can tell me the band that sang that song and also the band that covered the song like 20 years later, can I can give you multiple choice for this one. Oh, you can Google it, but what’s the fun in that? I’ll give you multiple choice. Ready? Pat Benatar? No. Rod Stewart or the Bugles?

Kerry Barrett:

I know it’s not Pat Benatar. Rod Stewart. So I’m going to go with the Bugles.

Jared Correia:

Beautiful. Beautiful. That was the name of the band.

Kerry Barrett:

Oh, very good.

Jared Correia:

Okay. One hit Wonder and then let’s do the follow up. The band that covered that same song about 20 years later, was it better than Ezra Fountains of Wayne or the Presidents of the United States of America? What do you think?

Kerry Barrett:

What was the second one again?

Jared Correia:

Fountains of Wayne.

Kerry Barrett:

I’m going to go with that.

Jared Correia:

Okay. That’s a good guess, but incorrect.

Kerry Barrett:

Is it better

Jared Correia:

Than Ezra Presidents? No. No. Presidents of the United States America. She’s a great album that they produced. Yeah, their debut album is really good. Fountains of Wayne, they did Stacey’s mom classic of the genre.

Kerry Barrett:

Okay. Yep. I know that well, but I didn’t remember her name at all. I can sing that song to you right now.

Jared Correia:

Yes. Yes. You don’t have to. You’re doing well so far. One for one, I’ve

Kerry Barrett:

I have 50%.

Jared Correia:

I’m counting this as one for one because that was a follow up question that was extra credit. Okay. All right. We got four more for you. Everything’s video themed. This video format product was first released on May 10th, 1975 in Japan, and then later in November of that same year in the United States. Was it Beta Max, VHS or laser disc? Betamax, VHS or Laser Disc came out in 1975.

Kerry Barrett:

Betamax.

Jared Correia:

Betamax is correct. You’re two for two. I think I need to make my questions harder. Everybody’s been crushing me on this segment lately. All right. Here’s the tougher one, which maybe is not super tough, but we’ll see. This is the last silent film, totally silent film commercially released by a major studio in the United States. Last silent film, all silent, no dialogue. Was it The Kiss from 1929, the jazz singer from 1927, or the artist from 2011? The Kiss, the jazz singer or the artist, the last commercially released silent film?

Kerry Barrett:

I want to say the one in 2011. The artist doesn’t seem to make sense on its surface, but maybe that’s the point. So I’m going to go with that.

Jared Correia:

That’s That’s an excellent guess, but not quite correct. The artist was mostly a silent film, but there’s a little bit of dialogue in this. That was a trick question on my

Kerry Barrett:

Part. It was a trick question.

Jared Correia:

Yes. Yes. It’s actually the Kiss. Yeah. Greta Garbo was in that one and I, the jazz singers Al. Yeah.

Kerry Barrett:

You

Jared Correia:

Have credit

Kerry Barrett:

That I talked myself out of it.

Jared Correia:

Let’s do partial credit for that. Okay. We’re at three and a half.

Kerry Barrett:

I wish they would’ve given me partial credit in organic chemistry.

Jared Correia:

I know, me too. Tell me about it. The only reason I passed organic chemistry was the final was some organic chemistry video game. There was Moon Patrol on the Atari. Well, I’m really aging myself right now, and I fucking crushed that, but I have no damn thing about organic chemistry. Yes. Thank you. Alright, two more. We got two more.

Kerry Barrett:

Okay.

Jared Correia:

Which of these people were hosts of America’s Funniest Home Videos?

Kerry Barrett:

Okay.

Jared Correia:

Who’s the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos? Tom Bergeron. Bob Saggot or Alfonso? Roberto. Also known as Carlton from The Fresh Prince.

Kerry Barrett:

Oh yeah, I know his dance.

Jared Correia:

Yeah, the Carlton. You’re doing it right now. Okay. Tom Bergeron. Bob Sackett. Alfonso. Roberto. Correct. Actually, all three of those guys hosted. Oh, really? America’s funniest Tom Videos. Yes. The three most popular hosts. All right. You’re doing great. We got one more question left. This is a tough one, but maybe not if you’ve seen a certain documentary. Okay. Blockbuster video. You remember Blockbuster videos? I do. I will mindlessly sit in front of Netflix scrolling through video options, and my kids are like, why are you doing that? I’m like, I’m reminiscing of what it was like to walk through the Blockbuster Video Star.

Kerry Barrett:

Quick side note, do you remember when there was a new video out and everybody wanted it, and you would wait at the return drop in case somebody put it in that you could quickly,

Jared Correia:

I love Blockbuster video, one of my favorite places, so here’s a direct question about Blockbuster. The last Blockbuster video store, there’s one left that’s still open. Where is it located? Dallas, Texas. Bend, Oregon or Perth, Australia. There is one Blockbuster left. It’s in either Dallas Bend, Oregon, or Perth Australia. Which place can you still go and get videos from Blockbuster?

Kerry Barrett:

I thought it was like Indiana or Iowa. I thought it was a state with an eye. So I’m going to just totally guess at this one and say Oregon.

Jared Correia:

Yes, correct. Really good logic. Yes. Yep. There’s a documentary on Netflix called The Last Blockbuster about this blockbuster video on Bend, Oregon that’s still open. Ever since 2020 it’s been the last blockbuster. Yeah.

Kerry Barrett:

Okay. I’m going to check that out.

Jared Correia:

Dallas was the location of the first Blockbuster video ever opened, and Perth was the second to last blockbuster that they closed in 2020. They

Kerry Barrett:

Closed and then left Bend as the loan survive.

Jared Correia:

Yeah.

Kerry Barrett:

Very cool. I learned something today. Thank you.

Jared Correia:

Yeah, we try here at the toolkit to educate as well. Kerry, thanks for coming on today. This is really fun. We’ll definitely have to have you back.

Kerry Barrett:

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Jared Correia:

If you want to find out more about Kerry Barrett and her work, visit kerry barrett.com. That’s K-E-R-R-Y-B-A-R-R-E-T t.com. Now, for those of you listening in Indianapolis, Indiana, I’ve got a fever and the only cure is more cowbell. Fucking Christopher Walken theme nights. God damnit. I really need to buy the Indiana Fever. Oh, since we talked about video for a substantial portion of this podcast, I put together a little playlist for you of songs that had the best MTV videos. Yes. The eighties still rock, in case you’re interested. Now, sadly, I’ve run out of time today to talk about triggering my corns, but I’ll get back to you right after I finish scraping. This is Jared Correia reminding you that I used to do all my meetings in my kitchen, but my wife booted me to the dining room by saying, can I just make a fucking sandwich in the middle of the day? That’s fair. Honestly. Talk to you next time.

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