[00:00:00] Audio Check and Introduction
---

Doug: Is

Josiah: Audio cutting out or is it good?

Doug: Who, me? No, I'm good.

Josiah: You good? Can you hear okay?

Josiah: All right.

Doug: I think, okay. 

Josiah: All

Josiah: right, well, let's start at the, um,

Josiah: hey everyone, welcome back to the Jokes by Joe show. I am your host Josiah James. 


[00:00:32] Meet George Wacker 
---

Josiah: With me is my lovely co host Doug McKizzle, and we have a very special guest for you this evening, George Wacker. And our lovely co host Coco will explain all about who George Wacker is. Coco, please, fill us in.

Co-Co: Absolutely. George Wacker is the owner of Lehigh Valley with Love Media, a well known media company that shines a spotlight on local events. businesses, and stories from the Lehigh Valley. With a background in digital marketing, content creation, and community engagement, George has built a brand that connects people to what makes the Lehigh Valley so unique.

Co-Co: Whether it's through his award winning blog, social media presence, or engaging podcast, George has become a go to voice for all things happening in the region. We're thrilled to have him on the show tonight to hear more about his work and maybe snag a few of his favorite local stories. Welcome, George!

George Wacker: Absolutely. 

George Wacker: thank you for having me.

Josiah: Yeah, yeah, we are going to get to you in a minute. Just some housekeeping stuff first. 


[00:01:30] Comedy Night Recap
---

Josiah: Um, I want to thank everyone for coming out to Country Club Comedy.

Josiah: Thank you. Last Friday was the first Friday of December at Country Club Brewing. We had about 15, 16 comedians, Doug being one of them who came out. So thank you everyone that came out to that show. And I apologize to the two people that got towed. I was

Doug: Oh


[00:01:50] Parking Lot Mishaps
---

Josiah: I was supposed to make an announcement that like, you've been to Country Club Brewing, cause I think that's where I met you with Tiffany's Toasty Queen thing.

Josiah: Yep. There's a parking lot right next to the building and you can't park in the parking lot because it's a tow away zone.

Doug: It's for the, it's, you need a permit for the building, the,

George Wacker: mean there's signs,

George Wacker: right? 

Doug: There 

Josiah: Yeah, but it was, it was dark and so a couple of people got towed.

Doug: signs were pretty bright when I got 

George Wacker: Towing takes

George Wacker: a while, though. Wasn't there, like, time to warn

Doug: The truck was in the parking lot. So when I, when I showed up, when I saw authorized parking, but I was like, let me go to the tow truck guy. Okay. And see why he's here 

George Wacker: He's cherry I

Doug: I said to him, I was like, I was like, I

George Wacker: tipped him 20

George Wacker: bucks. 

Doug: no, I just

Josiah: Hey, that's Andy Pollock's car. He wanted to make sure you

George Wacker: tow it.

Doug: I said, can I park here?

Doug: And he was like, you need a permit. And I was like, I was like, oh, all right. And then I parked somewhere else.

Josiah: And

Josiah: stupid me. I was supposed to make an announcement before the show. Like, Hey, if you're parked in the park and it's even on the poster which is over there somewhere, it's like, you know,

Josiah: don't park in the parking lot. It's a two way zone on street parking only.

Josiah: I forgot to make an announcement. 

Doug: Comedians don't read past

Josiah: No. Yeah.

George Wacker: unethical is that? If you're the tow truck driver just watching

George Wacker: people park, get out of their car, like, how do you

George Wacker: sleep, man?

George Wacker: So, but that's what I 

Doug: mean he was really cool with me he just said he said no no, no you need a permit I mean he could 

George Wacker: those other 

Doug: he could have been like, you know

Josiah: Well, then after the show like well scott was the one guy who who he goes out and his car's just gone He thought it was stolen

Doug: then, 

Josiah: making

Josiah: fun of him. You know, oh, hey scott. Where's your where's your car? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah And then 

Doug: There's no empathy. Happened at

Josiah: andy and so then I had to take, I had to drive Andy to the lot to pick up his car and it was like this whole thing he had to pay the guy and I

George Wacker: imagine him in a tow place. Oh,

Doug: Andy's,

Josiah: he's flipping

George Wacker: No, I love, I mean

Doug: Andy's trash. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely.

Josiah: he's like, oh, so you're holding my car for ransom, huh?

Josiah: You know,

Doug: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I

George Wacker: Good, so did he get it out? He

George Wacker: did. he 

Josiah: pay 180, but you know I had a

Doug: showing the day, and it was like, like he got kidnapped.

Josiah: like oh my gosh. But, um, just wanted to mention that. And the next one is gonna be January 3rd, I believe. Whatever that Friday is, on January. Let me just check real

George Wacker: Parking lot roulette! 

Josiah: January

Josiah: 3rd is the next one at 7pm at Country Club Brewing, so, you can sign up now on jokesbyjo.

Josiah: com. That's all I wanted to say about

Doug: And for the well for the record I parked right down on whatever that is that the main road

Josiah: Oh no, uh, 4th

Doug: Right by this the stout or no, there's like a brewery of some sort 

Josiah: Oh, that's third Street, I think. 

Doug: that street had parking all along I mean it was meter parking but there was that's where I parked and it was like the whole street was free

Josiah: And when you, and when you were done, you had your car?

Doug: Yeah, I had the card no ticket

Josiah: Yeah. That's the way to do it.

Doug: I was able to drive

Josiah: it'll be, it'll be interesting if the, it'd be funny if like next Friday, it's, or the first Friday in January, it's all the same comedians, except the two people that got towed, like,

George Wacker: They're like, let's go pick on the, uh, open mic for comedians.

George Wacker: These

Josiah: All

George Wacker: guys, these are the guys who need their cars

Doug: Yeah, seriously they flip a coin to see who carpools like who has

Josiah: I had to negotiate a a price with the owner of Country Club Brewing to get the beers discounted because they're so expensive. It's like 7 for like a seven ounce pour. I was like, these are comedians. You know, we don't have any money.

Josiah: Um, please give us a discount. So he gave us a

Doug: was a 

Josiah: discount and then. You know, you know, getting towed that just cancels everything

Doug: absolutely. That was what, 300 and something dollars and,

Doug: I saved 

Josiah: dollars on my drinks.

George Wacker: Poor Andy.

Josiah: does

Doug: such a good job too. Yeah, he 

George Wacker: the uh, 

George Wacker: the 


[00:05:31] Comedy and Booking Stories
---

George Wacker: Cold Fusion Comedy 

Doug: stuff?

Doug: Yeah, I'm on that 

George Wacker: He's 

Doug: On the 28th.

Josiah: Yeah, he's doing that.

Doug: I'm on the 28th show. Are you? Yeah.

Josiah: because you

Doug: No, no, no. We talked about

Josiah: yeah, you were on his do not book 

Doug: Yeah, he and I talked about it. And I forgot about that. What did you do

George Wacker: to get on that?

Josiah: That was actually I think that was the show you booked him for at ice house right

Doug: was the first, Icehouse Music Fest comedy special. Yeah.

George Wacker: 2017.

George Wacker: Well, no, 

Doug: was, I don't, it was like, it went through the thing or whatever, but no, and I did this joke, which it's crazy. I did a joke that later on a personal friend of mine said, I, you know, I, I don't really like that joke. And I was like, well, I I'm not, it's not a solid joke for me anyway, so I don't care about not doing it anymore.

Doug: But in the meantime Andy had talked a lot of shit on it. And, and Andy and I have talked since then. 

Josiah: Didn't he write you like some really long

Doug: wrote it, I don't know, he, uh, he, long story short, it was, we conversated and I, I ended it. The joke had to do with the word retard. And, uh, and 

George Wacker: I can understand the

George Wacker: pushback on that. Absolutely.

Doug: yeah, and, and I remember our conversation was him going off and doing his, you know, blah, blah, blah, and all that.

Doug: And I said, I said, well, the joke, isn't talking about somebody who's retarded. It was just comparing. you know, something in it. And I said, and if you don't get that, you're

Doug: retarded. . That's

Doug: That's how I ended it.

Josiah: Oh, you, you

Doug: And then, and then, and then years went by, years went by. I did an open mic at the Inkwell and he texted me or messaged me and said, Hey, I want you on my show.

Doug: And then I said, Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you. I forgot that was so many years ago. I completely forgot. I forgot who he was or anything like that. Right. And then he says, uh, He says, you know, I, I had you on my do not book list. You were, you were the first person I ever put on my do not book list. And I was like, I said, Oh, you're that guy. That's right. I was like, well, I said, just so you know, I didn't stop doing a joke because of our conversation. I said, a personal friend of mine asked me not to do it. Who got diagnosed as autistic. And I was like, Oh, you know, I was like, that's, it's simple for me not to do it. You know? And, um, yeah. And then he booked me on a show.

Josiah: Tiffany told me not to do the, um, the We Buy Houses joke at the Country Club Comedy because it's a

Doug: I would, I would hold 

George Wacker: is that

George Wacker: question though, because even for myself, the stuff that I wrote on my blog Yeah. When I was 28, yeah.

Doug: Yeah.

George Wacker: There's stuff I look back on. I'm like, nah, probably

George Wacker: wouldn't do that now. Like, isn't, as a comedian, do you, do you kind of grow, I guess?

Doug: No.

Doug: there's no personal No, no. I, I I mean, like I said, I guess with me is I don't want to. I don't want to offend anybody I know. I don't give a shit about the audience. If I don't know you, I don't give a shit about offending you. And you shouldn't be offended by what I say if you don't know me. I mean, who am I?

Doug: And so that's how I look at it. But if

Josiah: I'm talking

Doug: that I'm good friends with and all that, then I try to stray away from that stuff. But most of my friends get most of my jokes and know that they are jokes. That

Josiah: I must be on everyone's do not book list because

Doug: You don't get

Josiah: I don't get books Yeah,

Doug: Um, no, I actually, Kate Hughes, uh, got me on the Inkwell on the 27th. Well come back. Yeah, yeah.

Josiah: Come on

Doug: The 27th and the 28th. I got,

Josiah: Come on Kate, huh? Jesus. Well, she was on the show two weeks ago and then

Josiah: A little teaser for our listeners, we are going to have a special guest. Our Christmas episode is going to have Daniel Roebuck on the podcast. So we're looking forward to that. Yeah.

Doug: I think maybe we should talk about our guests at this point. We're talking about ourselves this whole time. I'm going

George Wacker: Not going

Doug: you get me a beer, George?


[00:09:22] Lehigh Valley with Love Media
---

Josiah: so yes, George Wacker is the digital media specialist over at Lehigh Valley with love. 

Doug: Thought you owned it.

Doug: I do.

Josiah: yeah, he started it. He created it.

George Wacker: But I'm also the digital media specialist.

Doug: I'm also the

George Wacker: I'm also the, yeah.

Josiah: I have to

Doug: clean up the online

George Wacker: I have to do the payroll and Yeah, 

Josiah: when did you start this company, actually?

George Wacker: Well, I guess that's a double, a double answered question. I started a blog back in, And the whole purpose of the blog was to make fun of local news. And I was just, it was the style of the time nationally, and we I did that from the job I had at the time. It was all anonymous. So, you know, we'd take clips from the morning call and if it was a crazy story, we'd find their Facebook profile because back in the day it was why it was like the Wild West.

George Wacker: You could find people. We tag them and then we'd put it up there and it was anonymous. And so, like, for the 1st year or 2, people had no idea who it was, and it was fine. It was just a different.

George Wacker: time. you

Josiah: So it's kind of like the onion type stuff parody 

George Wacker: little bit.

George Wacker: Yeah, but it was a little Perry, but more like hey, we are Finding like here's this guy's actual Facebook profile.

George Wacker: We would link 

Doug: it.

Doug: It's

George Wacker: horrible now

Josiah: again,

George Wacker: saying stuff like what we would do But people loved it and it was and then we started to do, you know fun stuff Early meme type stuff and whatnot and then in what? 2000 Uh, 15, I was able to leave the job I was at and start. A company where, you know, essentially we did a lot.

George Wacker: We do social media services, digital media, video, PR, that whole thing for companies. And then we also have our kind of entertainment side that does, you know, the things they have up there, the party lights map, our, um, podcast that we have over 200 and what, like 80 episodes. Now we interviewed the guy that you were just talking about Dan Roebuck.

George Wacker: Actually, if you go up to go to, yeah, 

Josiah: Lee Howell. 

George Wacker: And, you know, we've been very fortunate to have some really great clients. We've been very fortunate to have a podcast now since about 2018. And we brought on some sponsors,

George Wacker: We're

George Wacker: interviewing some 

George Wacker: really interesting people in the Valley. And I feel like we, we fill a space that maybe there wasn't kind of some of that

Doug: on.

Doug: Yeah, that's

George Wacker: then, you know, our social media is. Just whatever. Like, we, we like to try to be as fun as possible. Like, the, we were the first ones to, to post the goalposts, the

George Wacker: Lehigh 

George Wacker: it. 

Doug: yeah, I saw, I saw that because of Lehigh Valley

George Wacker: And you're not, you want to know how I got it? Somebody, one of my friends is walking to Molly's.

George Wacker: And she's like, uh, there's a goalpost in the river. I thought you might

George Wacker: to text texting me. I'm on the couch I'm like, oh, this is probably going to be interesting. Yeah, and I I uh, She gave me some information and I tweeted out there and then boom, there you go It went from there and it's just we've been in a fun position to have a fun niche In kind of the lehigh valley entertainment landscape sometimes we we hit it.

George Wacker: You know National or international with some stuff or marty robot and other little fun

Josiah: video. Oh, the Marty Robot from Giant?

George Wacker: Yep, that was 

Josiah: ours

Josiah: Nice.

Doug: I don't know anybody who And I was just saying this I dropped my son off at my mother in law's and I don't know anybody who represents the lehigh valley As much as you do. Oh, yeah, like every aspect of it. Yeah, I would definitely yeah, I would I think I think like You're kind of the PR mayor, so to speak.

Doug: Like, you, you, you really highlight so many great things about the Lehigh Valley.

Josiah: you get great engagement too. Yeah. I

George Wacker: think, you know, for us, it's been like, we genuinely and authentically really like this

Doug: Mm 

George Wacker: And we also agree that it isn't perfect, you know? So, we're, we can make fun of it because we're here and we, we still love it, even though that means we think it can So that's why I think some of our humor goes, cause we're never trying to punch down. It's always like, we just, I know this is.

George Wacker: Maybe not funny 'cause maybe they're infiltrating our country, but the drones in 

Doug: jersey. 

George Wacker: Yes, yes. Like we just put out a meme with Marty, the robot

Doug: And it's so stupid,

George Wacker: but it's fun and it's just, you know.

Josiah: So yeah, I was going to ask you, do you cover like national news events like the, like the drone stuff you just mentioned or the Luigi, uh, United Healthcare CEO assassination?

Josiah: I wouldn't

Josiah: that 

George Wacker: now you got it's weird, right? Because we're media, but I'm not the news. We just happen, people just happen to send us stuff that might get out and be news or we might be in a position sometimes to share a story that maybe another media outlet isn't But I don't wake up every day going like oh what news am I

Doug: today?

George Wacker: get today?

George Wacker: It's more like okay. What what projects are we working on for clients? What podcasts are we editing? What are we filming 

Doug: today? 

George Wacker: And then I might somebody might send me. Oh, did you see this 15 car pile up on 78 or Uh, and we'll go from there. So it's it's interesting because that You Didn't really exist 10 15 years ago.

George Wacker: It was newspapers, TV, radio. And then all of a sudden you have social media coming in where now the means of production aren't in a newspaper publishing house that no

Doug: one can do,

Doug: it's it out

Josiah: Right. Anyone can do it. As long as you make it not complicated. Like you were saying, he was, he was watching me set up my cameras before.

Josiah: He's like, dude, why don't you just get like a GoPro and hit record? I was

Doug: Isn't that a GoPro up there? I have a GoPro if you want to use it.

Josiah: want to use it.

Doug: I thought you had one.

Josiah: I did have one. Yeah. I don't know,

George Wacker: Yeah. I don't know. But I think some of it's too is going like, we've recorded some, I recorded an episode with the punk band in, the Allentown Parkway. Yeah. I'm like, where do you wanna record?

George Wacker: Let's, I don't wanna be inside

Doug: anymore.

Doug: Yeah,

George Wacker: They're like, let's record there. Their name was Laurel Canyon. Really good. And they wanted to record there because John Lennon used to like walk through the parkway and they thought that was cool. So we just like recorded out in the field. But I'm like, this is super Lehigh Valley.

George Wacker: Like, you guys are 15 years younger than me. You're not,

Doug: You know? Yeah, yeah.

George Wacker: recording out here talking about local I don't know, man. I, I just, I really dig it. We've been very fortunate that other people have kind of enjoyed it. And we're continuing to learn as we go.

Josiah: That's

Doug: you from Bethlehem?

George Wacker: I'm from Homesdale.

George Wacker: Which is the tippy top of the, the Poconos. It is 

Doug: Oh,

Doug: wow.

George Wacker: For being the this the home of the store Bridge Lion, which is the first steam locomotive ever run in North 

Doug: Holy cow. 

George Wacker: Holmes is like at the top of where like the the coal would then come through there in Lake Paul Pack,

George Wacker: So I, I came to Moravian College University now. Graduated, went into journalism for a little while, and did 

Doug: you graduate from Moravian? 

George Wacker: 2003,

George Wacker: So, a while ago.

Doug: How old are you now?

Doug: At, uh, OBT? Yeah.

George Wacker: Oh yeah, it's the first place I tried to get into

George Wacker: before I was 21. I can say it now, it's like

Doug: Oh yeah, absolutely. I that's where I met my wife. But I remember I, I had a PBR in my hand, right? And I put it down, I was playing poker at Jordan Lane's, and I put it down and then went to grab it again to take a sip.

Doug: And I look that a bucket was like four bucks. for four 

Josiah: And you're buying them individually? 

Doug: and I just said how much of an idiot I am. I'm buying the pounder. And then I think I posted something about that. And then I mentioned to you that I want to do like a review of different bars in the Lehigh Valley. And the first one I did was OBT and you posted it and or published it, I

Josiah: So how did you meet George.

Doug: I think just through

George Wacker: we meet anybody?

George Wacker: Yeah, just through 

Doug: like shows and I think it might have been, I, I think the first time I actually met you was at the comedy thing at the ice

Doug: house. That was like the first time we actually like shook hands or whatever. But yeah, it was just, you know, he was placed as I was and stuff like that.

Josiah: I was thinking maybe you met him at the Great Wolf Lodge, but

Doug: no, no, no, no. That was, yeah, that was where I 

George Wacker: you bring that up. 

Josiah: This is, this is a testament to

Doug: Yeah,

George Wacker: you gotta go like 40, you know, like halfway up, but so we're at Great Wolf Lodge.

George Wacker: This is

George Wacker: me with my action camera recording my daughter.

Doug: already see

Josiah: But what's great about this is George and I are corresponding via email about the show and he's like, is there a, is there an agenda?

Josiah: And I was like, wow, it's going to send you an agenda, but you know, we're just going to talk about, you know, you do so much stuff. Let's just talk about what you do. And he's like, yeah, well, I also want to talk about Doug stalking my family at Great Wolf Lodge. And I said, he's like, there's a video somewhere of that.

Josiah: I was like, if you have the video, we'll put it up on the TV. And like five minutes later, he's like, it's right here. I was like, This is from nine years ago and he 

George Wacker: no,

George Wacker: no,

Doug: No, this is last

George Wacker: no, no, no.

George Wacker: It's um, it's

Josiah: I thought it was 2015.

Doug: no, no,

George Wacker: like number 15. So

George Wacker: yeah, 

George Wacker: correct These are 

Doug: it's like last

Josiah: like, this

Doug: old do you think joey

George Wacker: I use YouTube like, to store video. Right? So if I

Josiah: take Okay. Tag

George Wacker: resolution for, I'll just throw it up there. And so this one's actually, I had an un, un privatize But if you go halfway in

Josiah: Well, I, I wanna see your cam work here 'cause you go underwater.

Josiah: It's

George Wacker: Oh, yeah, we're doing the whole

Doug: And I think it was like right about here is where I saw him.

Josiah: but I was 

George Wacker: you got to keep an eye on it. 

Doug: me, you can see in the top right corner.

George Wacker: right? You got

George Wacker: to 

Doug: You can see

Josiah: I

Doug: I'm already

Josiah: like, wait, is

Doug: No, that's 

George Wacker: see him you see him creeping in you just saw his head And now you're

Josiah: gonna Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

George Wacker: And now, here he

Josiah: comes! Oh! Oh,

George Wacker: At least he's got

Josiah: Joey with him. Okay.

George Wacker: And now I'm, I'm in my head, I'm like, who is this gentleman?

Josiah: ha ha ha!

George Wacker: And it takes me

Doug: me like,

George Wacker: my wife's like, what's going on?

Josiah: Oh, and there's Lauren.

Josiah: Okay, nice.

George Wacker: Like, do we need to call Great Wolf LOD security? Like, do they run out in like a wolf suit?

Doug: I saw you, I saw you with the camera, I saw a guy with a camera. And then I was like, oh, that's George. So I was like, I was like, come here, Joey. And I was like, we're just going to sneak in on them later.

George Wacker: How more 

Doug: like, ah,

George Wacker: uh, you know, prototypical could I be? I'm like the dad with the action 

Doug: camera 

George Wacker: in the wave pool. We're going to be

Josiah: So you have like a waterproof casing on that thing? Oh yeah,

George Wacker: Well, the one I have is just, you can throw that thing in 

Josiah: Okay, was it a GoPro that

George Wacker: It's a DJI action

Josiah: Okay, nice.

Doug: You have one of

Josiah: No, no, I have a, that's a DJI, that's the gimbal. I have the gimbal.

George Wacker: I'm a big DJI fan even though it's like, they're probably gonna get banned 

Josiah: Are they?

George Wacker: Because the government

George Wacker: doesn't like them. They feel like they are giving secrets to the Chinese government.

George Wacker: I 

Josiah: that was TikTok.

George Wacker: Well, them too. I mean, hey.

Josiah: Okay. I just bought the DJI Ronin 4 gimbal and I love it. So I don't know if you

George Wacker: No, I'm a big fan. I use I don't, I have a phone gimbal. I have action cameras and I have the Osmo Pocket.

Josiah: Yeah, the pocket. Yeah. Yep.

George Wacker: It's really 

Josiah: Yeah. That's amazing. So yeah, you do you said you interviewed

George Wacker: We've had, it's funny, you talk about, I'll tell you one story.

George Wacker: I haven't been able to tell this story because we haven't put it out public. So, like a year ago ESPN put out a documentary, was it wasn't ESPN. I believe it was ESPN. It was a 3430 where they did the American Gladiators. The guy who did it, Ben Berman, is from like Catasauqua or something like that.

George Wacker: So I sent him a message and I knew a couple people who knew him. So I was very lucky that he responded. He's like, yeah, we did a podcast and he came on. It was really cool. And this was just after his you know, stuff had come out. So he was so gracious to come on and do the podcast. Now, have you guys watched that at all?

George Wacker: Do you know the story?

Doug: I know, I think I watched the, the, yeah.

George Wacker: So the guy really quickly the original guy who invented his name is Johnny Ferraro. He is a larger than life type guy. I mean, this in like a personality way, it's very much like a Trump personality. You know, he's just that kind of person. And.

George Wacker: Key is gotten into fights. Basically, he says, you know, he's the one who did all the American gladiators and no one else takes credit and there's other people who are saying he's he's a liar or whatever. So you guys watch documentary make

Doug: your mind

George Wacker: The end of the story is I published that podcast.

George Wacker: It goes out does marginally. Well, Ben's like, that's great. I get a phone call. I'm on my couch and it's from Florida and I'm like, I don't know, it's a scam call,

Doug: scam

George Wacker: a scam It's Johnny Ferraro.

Josiah: Oh no!

George Wacker: He got my cell phone number from LinkedIn. It was my fault. I had it on there. So, he just called me.

George Wacker: And, this is a guy. I'm, I'm like not exaggerating. Who like founded, you know, American Gladiators. That you remember from when

George Wacker: you were a kid.

Josiah: the TV show where they're dressed in

Doug: The only thing.

George Wacker: And if you watch the documentary, he's the guy. He interviewed the whole time. Like, you know, calls my cell phone and he's not like mad at me. He's just more like George.

George Wacker: I don't want to talk to you about that

Doug: episode. Mm-hmm

George Wacker: And so we talked for

George Wacker: 30

George Wacker: minutes. My wife's like, who are you talking to? And I'm like Googling, you know, to show

Doug: her. Yeah, yeah. So

Doug: I

George Wacker: can say we go back and forth. I do a podcast with him. I haven't released it because it was, it's like an

George Wacker: hour and a half of him talking.

George Wacker: And I haven't had time to really edit it down.

Doug: was he was he being

Doug: confrontational 

George Wacker: No, he's, he's act like he's a.

George Wacker: He's a very interesting character. I enjoyed talking to him, but, you know, he's got his opinions and his opinions are very strong on, you know, what he believes the truth is but in terms of like a human, I don't know. I really enjoyed talking to him. It's just, it was just so interesting that, you know, This national thing and he's calling me for this little Lehigh Valley podcast.

George Wacker: We put

George Wacker: out 

Doug: many calls does he make that day?

George Wacker: If you're calling me like who else are you

Doug: That's what I mean. How many calls did he, did he like go, like, did he have a list and go with George Wacker done and then move on to like some guy in Minnesota?

Josiah: are now on Ferraro's do not book 

George Wacker: me

George Wacker: like one other time so I put his his cell phone number in my my phone so that next time You know, I know it's him when he's

Josiah: So after he called you, then you booked him for the podcast or you just recorded that

George Wacker: after he called me, I'm like, Hey, do you, do you want to, you know, do it? And it just, honestly, this is the truth. It didn't, it didn't work as a Lehigh Valley was love podcast. It was really him talking about. His grievances with the documentary, which is completely fine. And it just wasn't a place for us.

George Wacker: It didn't have anything to do with the Lehigh Valley. It didn't have any the reason we covered Ben Berman was because he's from the 

Doug: Lehigh Valley. 

George Wacker: And so this whole rebuttal, as great as it maybe could have

Doug: have been. It just turned into the story rather than the Lehigh 

George Wacker: So

George Wacker: maybe I'll do something with it.

Josiah: You're gonna get a call from him again. Where is that episode? I

George Wacker: hope he has, you'll find your cell phone number. Call this guy, call this guy.

Josiah: Yeah, cause now that we're mentioning him, his ears are ringing.

Josiah: And he's, I think the next time you're at Great Wolf Lodge, he's gonna show up at the pool

Doug: gonna be in the back, with my

Josiah: Dun nuh dun nuh dun nuh dun nuh dun nuh dun nuh

Doug: Um, Yeah,

George Wacker: talked, we were talking about celebrities.

George Wacker: Him, we had Tony Danza.

Josiah: Oh, wow. Now, how

George Wacker: Uh, clearly through

Josiah: how did you get hooked up with Tony Danza?

George Wacker: You know, he was coming into ArtsQuest, and so I

Josiah: Was it a face to face? No, no,

George Wacker: it was a phone call. 

Josiah: Okay. 

George Wacker: he was, oh my god, he was great. I said, 20 minutes, and he, I'm like, oh, we're at 20 minutes.

George Wacker: You know, and he's like, no, no, no, we'll keep

Doug: going. That's, that's

George Wacker: Fantastic. But we had Dan Roebuck. Yeah. It was funny when we had Dan Roebuck in. Uh, again, graciously, we

Josiah: Was that in person?

George Wacker: It was in person prior to COVID and we were recording. That's when Tyler Rothrock and I were 

Josiah: Yes. 

George Wacker: Uh, and he came up into the attic and we're like, how's your career going and whatnot?

George Wacker: And he's like, not too good. I'm in your

George Wacker: attic. 

Josiah: Ha ha ha ha

George Wacker: In a funny way, Dan's great. And I love that he's bringing in you know, not only making movies in the area, but, you know, Probably hopefully making the area attractive to other people

George Wacker: Yeah, I think that's hopefully the the goal not, you know, not saying we shouldn't get more dan roebuck movies bring them on but

Doug: We have room enough. I mean, we could minus one warehouse and have a film studio.

George Wacker: That's i'm sure

Josiah: I had an idea for that actually. There's a,

Josiah: a, 

George Wacker: warehouse near my house, it's near Pembroke, that Bethlehem House Studio, that used to be on Main So my point is, I guess, I don't know.

Josiah: Like the

George Wacker: Stranger things have happened.

George Wacker: Like 

Doug: yeah.

Josiah: on Linden.

Josiah: I wanted to turn that into like a YouTube studio for all these kids. Like my son's nine and him and his friends get together and they make YouTube videos. But how cool it would be if they actually had like a kitchen set or, a newscaster set where they

Doug: like a whole a whole studio like a whole soundstage

Josiah: green screen. They could drive a car into the bay

Doug: Yeah, because they're not doing anything else with that

Josiah: Yeah, right. Exactly.

Doug: a lot of

Josiah: Yeah. I mean, Aldi took part of it, but yeah, there's plenty for that.

George Wacker: That is a nice 

Josiah: Yeah.

Doug: yeah that and spirit halloween wasn't there this year

Doug: went there because

Doug: I went there and I was like, oh man, they were here every 

George Wacker: for holidays? 

Doug: I was a soccer referee. My son was what's the famous guy from Ronald, Ronald, Ronaldo, Ronaldo. My son was him. And my wife was a soccer mom.

George Wacker: What was I, I 

Josiah: I was I was Bob from 

Doug: Yeah, I saw

Josiah: that. Yeah. Yeah. That was a lot of fun.


[00:26:24] Halloween and Local Events
---

Doug: I remember one year you posted a your ring camera or something like that for Halloween. You did like a time lapse

George Wacker: Yeah, again, no exaggeration, we had 450

Doug: kids last year. I, yeah, I remember. How,

Josiah: where do you, you're in

George Wacker: we're we're in Bethlehem.

George Wacker: I'm near I live near the Bayou area

Doug: live in the best section for trick or treat. I'm telling you. Insane. That's where I used to take my daughter every year because I live not too far from there.

Doug: And, uh, it's been that whole circle. Circle. Yeah.

George Wacker: And there's, you know, so people will.

George Wacker: Come in they'll, you know, drive kids in from out of town and they basically the streets were shut down. You see people walking through the streets, juggling, not kidding,

Doug: Yeah, yeah. Juggling and like, dude, it's the best trick or treating spot in Bethlehem, I would say the Le Valley,

George Wacker: We gave up buying candy. It was too expensive. So we now will buy thousands of stickers

Doug: Okay. And he just

George Wacker: out a sticker table

Doug: Yeah.

George Wacker: and

Josiah: people

George Wacker: seem to like

Doug: I did one year, cause like I said, my daughter's 23 now, but when she was in Thomas Jefferson and all that, we would go there, and The one year, this guy was standing at his door, and he's just like, he's got his, he's got the thing, he's got a basket, and nobody's going to his door, all the kids are, and I mean, it's, it's crazy.

Doug: There's literally hundreds and hundreds of kids on the street. And so you, when you go up to a door, you're like kind of waiting in line, you know, and this guy was standing there by himself. And I was like, I was like to my daughter, I said, go, go, go look that guy. He's watch this. And she went up and the guy was giving out full size candy bars.

Doug: And I go, watch this, dear. And I go, this guy's giving out full size candy bars. All the kids ran over there. And I was like, now go to that house. Now go to that,

Doug: that neighborhood is amazing.

George Wacker: It's

George Wacker: a good time. 

Doug: Yeah,

Doug: That's a great neighborhood.

Josiah: Were they these, these stickers that you were giving out? Lehigh Valley with Love?

George Wacker: We'll, we'll sneak some in there. Absolutely. What I have for you guys here is our F. E. S. T. friends and then some of our other stuff. I mean, you gotta keep, you always have to

Doug: Got to put the merch out

George Wacker: You have to and then for for that music fest every year we try to do something fun I like everybody does right just something different and we did fest friends and gave those out and when we did it We recorded some video that we're gonna do for 

Doug: up this 

George Wacker: year.

George Wacker: So, yeah, it's always a good time when there's a million people in your 

George Wacker: city. It's 

George Wacker: good time to try out some marketing 

Doug: I wanna, I want to ask you something personal because I need, I need the help.


[00:28:45] Fitness and Personal Stories
---

Doug: you lost a ton of weight and you look like you're in fucking awesome shape, man. Yeah, man. So, and I know it's been a couple of years now, you've been like this

Josiah: Oh, he stopped

Doug: drinking. Is is, yeah. Is that all it was?

George Wacker: he was? I'm like, I'm 44,

George Wacker: right? Mm-hmm. My

George Wacker: daughter's eight. And I'm like, and I like, I ran in college. That's why I went to Avian. Actually, I'm still on the school record books for the indoor distance medley

George Wacker: relay. 

Doug: wow.

George Wacker: 'cause they never run that 

Doug: race. 

George Wacker: So

Josiah: It's

Josiah: like 

George Wacker: every five years of they might put a

George Wacker: team together. Yeah. I'm like, woo. So I might be on there for a while.

George Wacker: They ever. Did it seem because they're really good. What was I saying?

Doug: You were saying how fat I've gotten and how skinny you've

Josiah: gotten.

George Wacker: Anyway, yeah, I got you know, I got to be that More big than I wanted to be dad. I just felt bloated and stuff So i'm like i'm gonna i'm gonna get back into shape We're gonna run a marathon and the only way I can do that is if I can't drink anymore So what

Doug: what can I cut

Doug: cut 

Josiah: out alcohol?

George Wacker: And started training for the half marathon the bethlen 

Doug: Festival.

George Wacker: And I haven't started again. It's just,

Doug: how many years has that been now?

George Wacker: that I've only it's been less than a year for really for drinking.

Doug: Well, I mean, as far as you're, cause you definitely have lost weight and

George Wacker: been like three years that I've been like, Hey, I'm gonna go use my YMCA.

George Wacker: I think COVID for me, definitely. It was like a wake up. I mean, come on. Like, how cliche is that? It's for everybody, but it was just like, Whoa, you know, I'm not getting any younger. If I want to, you know, If I would like to like to see what I

George Wacker: in the mirror, then the only person's here and I just got to do

Doug: did that too.

Doug: Yeah,

George Wacker: you know, getting up at 5 a. m. and going for a run sometimes. And.

Josiah: you used to work out at my gym, actually, I think. I don't know if like we knew each other, but I used to work down in downtown Allentown and the gym across the street on Hamilton. Yeah. I think you were a member of. Yeah. I remember

George Wacker: I worked downtown and then one of the perks we had at the job was a gym membership, 

Josiah: Nice. 

George Wacker: Trying to use that as much, that was like my lunch break.

Josiah: Yeah, cause that place is expensive.

Josiah: so I try to to do like 

George Wacker: lunch and workout at the Nobody, 

Doug: nobody reminds you, nobody reminds you how out of shape you are than Planet Fitness every month when you get that charge taken out of your account.

Josiah: dollars. Or whatever it is, twenty.

Doug: mine's 23 because I, you know. Ordered the platinum, whatever they call that, right? And every month they just constantly, Hey, still taking your money. Haven't seen you.

George Wacker: Well, that's the best like capitalistic plan of all

George Wacker: time. 


[00:31:08] The Struggle of Canceling Gym Memberships
---

George Wacker: If you go trying to cancel it, they're like,

Doug: Yeah. You have to give us your right pinky and a letter written in the blood of that pinky.

Josiah: Oh, it is so impossible to cancel a gym membership, that's

Doug: Oh, I've done it. And that's another sad thing is I've done that many times. Probably like five, where I've joined the gym, gone for a couple of months,


[00:31:27] A New Business Idea: Gym Membership Cancellation Service
---

George Wacker: should start a new company where you just end people's

Doug: Yeah. You're, you're the yeah, you're the

Josiah: there you go. You pay them,

George Wacker: right, so they pay you like one final

Doug: Yeah. Where it would've been.

Doug: Yeah. Yeah. 

George Wacker: And you go 

Josiah: it for 

Doug: em. Right.

Josiah: it. But you can only, you wait for them to book a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. You show up.

Doug: Yeah.

George Wacker: But it's kinda like those guys who. Like they get you out of timeshares.

Josiah: Yeah, yeah,

George Wacker: there's a

Doug: market That's a huge market. Write this down. That's a, I think you should. I think you should say how Doug should own 51 

George Wacker: Seems like a lot of work.


[00:32:02] Local Film Screening: St. Nick of Bethlehem
---

Josiah: So we my wife and I took the kids to see dan roebuck's. St. Nick of Bethlehem film. Have you seen it

George Wacker: seen it yet. Unfortunately, I hear it's great

Josiah: and I just was reading in the news that they are showing st nick of bethlehem at double feature shank wyler's Drive in, which is one of the oldest drive ins in the country.

Josiah: They're, they're starting with St. Nick of Bethlehem, which was shot here in the Bethlehem and co directed by Daniel Roebuck, and then they're finishing with Terrafire 3. So two, two movies that, that, uh, that he's played Santa Claus in.

Josiah: you 

George Wacker: bring your children and then you get them out of there as quickly as

Josiah: Yeah,

George Wacker: Oh my god.

Josiah: Did you, did you actually get to Terrafire 3 last night?

Josiah: No, 

Doug: I got, I got Mostly through part two though.


[00:32:46] Drive-In Theaters: A Nostalgic Experience
---

George Wacker: can we just stop for a second and say how lucky we are to have a Schenkweiler drive in

Josiah: theater? Oh yeah.

George Wacker: not only is, is independently owned. But it's open in the winter. Yeah, like what

Josiah: And, Becky's is still around too,

George Wacker: Yeah. I mean, of

Doug: yeah, I go to Becky's. Yeah, I go to

George Wacker: and Mahoning Valley technically, you know, that's a little bit of a trip But so we have three within an hour

Doug: that are historic and, and like still, you go there. I know when I, when I've gone there with my daughter, it felt like I was back in the eighties, you know what I mean? Like, it's

Josiah: like, riding a train for the kids and everything.

George Wacker: somebody complained about ticket. I'm like I would pay more. Are you kidding me? For these

George Wacker: guys? 

Doug: complain about everything. 


[00:33:25] Advertising and Client Work
---

Doug: Is there anybody, is there anybody who's come to you and asked you to like support them or, or, or, you know, Hey, could you advertise this thing that you turned down?

George Wacker: Okay. What? That's what I'm gonna, yeah. I'm gonna say now. I mean, there have been things that just don't make

Doug: Yeah, I guess without going into specifics, what is it that you would say you wouldn't,

George Wacker: it, you know,

Doug: I would, I would imagine politics and all

George Wacker: Well, it's weird. It's just, it depends. Right. So like there's a side where we do work for people.

George Wacker: So like I will do anything that a you know, media company or PR company would do for a client. So if it's social media, if it's press releases, if it's contacting stuff, if it's video 

George Wacker: production, 

George Wacker: And for the most part, you know, we're not.

George Wacker: We have a full client roster. And if somebody would come to us, it's a case by case basis.

George Wacker: I don't think I've ever turned anyone down based on. Something like where I'm like, no, I can't work with you. We've turned down

Doug: like,

George Wacker: subjects. Like we get a lot,

Doug: guess that's, yeah, I guess

Josiah: you, uh, do you work with people that say the word retard? Doug, you're out. Doug's out. 

George Wacker: well,

Doug: I got, I got my, I got my one, I got my one thing published on Lehigh Valley with love. I actually

Doug: was gonna make it a whole like serious type thing and then I got really lazy and but yeah, I did the the review of OBT, of Old Burry Tavern.

George Wacker: too?

Doug: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the all that's I think that's where I met you. I think it was that video shoot. Yeah.

George Wacker: If you're asking me then the answer is

George Wacker: yes. I mean, I'm not gonna make one myself.

Doug: Dude, he brought in, like, he had his biker buddy show up,

Josiah: I remember this.

Doug: doing burnouts at the Bethlehem ice rink parking lot. Yeah, and I remember that is where I met you. Me. And I think I seen you before at a show and I think you were with Tyler or something like that.

Doug: Yeah. And then I, that was where I actually met you. What the, what was the name of the song? All Nor Face Everywhere or something like 

Josiah: like 

Doug: Nor Face. I, I don't

Josiah: so Was it a local rapper?

Doug: It was Randy Tongue. No, he

George Wacker: he

Josiah: Oh, it was

Doug: Oh, no, no. It was Randy Ton who made the song, but he had his buddy who is a rapper.

George Wacker: it was

Josiah: he's from 

Doug: Yeah, it was good. it

Doug: was fun. he's 

Josiah: right?

Doug: I don't know.

Josiah: Yeah, I believe he is.

Josiah: Yeah,

George Wacker: like, I like stuff like that.

Doug: he lived in Macun.

Josiah: Yeah, but that he's originally he's from

Doug: Antigua.

Josiah: stuff 

George Wacker: like that. So I, I, I would say yes to things like that

Doug: all day day long

George Wacker: when they come across But there might be some like even with the podcast i'm sure you guys get it They're like, can you do a podcast on this?

George Wacker: It's like listen, I would But you know,

Doug: yeah, it's very polarizing tough this isn't easy anymore Like we're just a lot of work to do

Doug: and one person asking one person asking to You Do a podcast on something that's not really the route you want to go. You want to go with what, you know, most people want to hear about.

Josiah: try

George Wacker: there's been some though, where somebody's emailed me out of the blue and we've been like, yeah,

George Wacker: let's, let's

George Wacker: do something. Let's try it out.

Doug: Well, you, you you supported something that my wife is on the board of, the Lehigh Valley.

Doug: Cancer support community.

George Wacker: Sure, absolutely.

Doug: we, I did a charity event.

Doug: Comedy Yeah, and you brought I think her name was Ann. She used to run it. And He brought her on and and we we were able to talk for a little bit and get some exposure for

George Wacker: it. And that's what I like about what we do is, you know, again, we have, we're very fortunate to have, you know, our two sides to what we do.

George Wacker: And then the podcast, I'm just finding, you know, spreading these stories that there are so many of them and we're, we now we have the platform to do it and it's, and it's fun. And we were able to do some of these really quickly. And it's. Why not? You know, there's so many and there's so many in the pike, like we're looking into 2025, like, okay, I'm slotting out.

George Wacker: Mm-hmm . Into February 

Josiah: you ever try or think about, I'm sure you have reaching out to some other celebrities that are from this area, like, The Rock, for instance, or.

George Wacker: I let we talked to, to like 20 Donut. He's not from here, so I kind of like to weave it in if it makes sense. Mm-hmm

George Wacker: Like Tony Danza, I wouldn't have just interviewed because, but the fact that he was playing at Steel Stacks, you're like, woo-hoo, now I can get it and 

Doug: yeah 

George Wacker: So I don't know if I would, I definitely would reach out to somebody if you know, Dan Roebuck 

Josiah: right yeah.

George Wacker: I don't know. I'm just not cold calling.

George Wacker: Although you know who I would love to is like Sandy because he lives in like Hellertown 

Josiah: Oh, wow. Okay. Or,

George Wacker: who you

Doug: that would be really

George Wacker: know, you know,

Josiah: Christine Taylor the one who's married to Ben 

George Wacker: Stiller. 

Josiah: She has a lot of she does a lot of work with the 19th street theater.

Josiah: Yeah. And we went to see a play that my son's friend was in. And she was actually there. It was 

George Wacker: That's neat. 

Josiah: yeah, really amazing to see, like a celebrity spotting. And she almost hit me with her Range Rover, but

George Wacker: When you look back you would turn

Doug: I

Josiah: Yeah, I know.

Doug: funny though, growing up in New York. It. It really was just regular.

Doug: You see celebrities just walking down the street. It was, I remember the first time I saw Conan O'Brien, I could not believe how tall he was. We were just walking through the village and he was coming this way, and I was, and I looked, I was like, that's Conan O'Brien. Then I realized he, I was looking, I was like, Like his shoulders was above the crowd head, you know what I mean?

Doug: And so it, in New York, it was very regular to see celebrities. And it is really awesome. When you move, like when I moved here, I was like, Oh, nobody, nobody knew in New York, nobody knew where I lived. They. My buddy, my best friend used to always say, How's Philly? And I'm like, I don't know. I, I've only been there once.

Doug: You know what I mean? Like, he just associated where I lived that I lived in Philly. And just the, in the twenty, I don't know, six years that I've been here, how much the Lehigh Valley has grown and how much people know about it everywhere I go. We were in Jamaica and this guy, this guy was like, Oh, where do you live?

Doug: And I said, we live in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He goes, Oh, I got a, I got a, I think he said a sister or something lives in Quaker town. I mean, it was everywhere I go, people know the Lehigh Valley now. And it's just over the last two and a half decades, how much it's, you know,

George Wacker: And that's what there's been many times. We're like, all right, Lehigh Valley enough, you know, to, to sustain.

George Wacker: Listen, this is my full time gig, man. This is

Josiah: And do you have other, other employees? I know 

George Wacker: I mean, we, we have my wife myself, we bring on interns and paid interns at times. We didn't, in COVID, we were looking. Prior to COVID, we're thinking about bringing someone on and so really kind of, Scared us. We weren't able to do it.

George Wacker: We work with vendors, you To do different types of stuff for work. So but this is what we do full time, you know what I mean? So

George Wacker: do you 

Josiah: edit your own podcast? So how long, like I used, I edit this show, it used to take, I think we talked about this at the Toasty Queen event that we, that we met at, but it used to take me like five hours to edit an episode.

Josiah: But then I started using the program called Descript, where you upload your, your WAV files, and it converts it to a text document, and then you're just adding the text document. And then you can remove ums, uhs, um, filler words, just like, like that. And it cut the time in half. It's still, it's still involved.

Josiah: It still takes quite a bit of work.

George Wacker: me, it depends because I'm doing so much.

Josiah: types. 

George Wacker: I'll

George Wacker: edit a podcast on my phone, depending on what I what I'm doing or where I am or what it is. We're doing short ones now for small businesses could shop local harder. I did like 17 interviews and they're all 10 minutes or less, give and those are, I'm editing them differently than I would if I went out and interviewed somebody and we walked through a field and I, you know, re recorded

Josiah: that one.

George Wacker: So for me, it's kind of, I, it's exciting to use different technology and I was cooped up in a studio attic for so long that I just wanted to get out and 

Doug: yeah.

Josiah: stuff.

Josiah: Yeah. What do you think of, like, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 


[00:41:13] The Challenges of Using AI in Business
---

Josiah: AI coming and sort of helping us with all these menial tasks that we have to do to get the job done.

George Wacker: I look at AI as a tool, much like your phone's a tool, right? Like, I have this and you know, maybe I can. Do some things with it and I give it to somebody over here and they can make a movie, right?

George Wacker: You know what? I mean? So I think that's what ai is. I think some people misunderstand Exactly what it can do

Josiah: So you're not afraid of it. You're going to

George Wacker: know I have I have Custom gpts that I use every 

George Wacker: day. Yeah,

Josiah: same here, 

George Wacker: will like I put stuff in there because it's just taking out what value do I get in doing the work?

George Wacker: Right, you know what? I mean? If it's like here's a big list. I need this put into a spreadsheet You It doesn't make me a better person to put all those in if I can just make it do it quicker. It's it's the it's the The scary thing is

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: People just putting s Whoa. Sorry.

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: What happened there? That's I thought, like, your house was on fire or something. No, that was, I was trying to pull off, Coco. 

Co-Co: Your ears will soon not be able to hear anymore. And soon, this will all be mine. Mwahahaha!

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Wow. Oh, we're back. Shut up. We're back. Hang on. That's interesting, the whole thing like shut up. Don't do that again. It wouldn't be The Jokester Joe show without a technical issue.

Co-Co: You thought you had technical difficulties before? Wait until I'm in control. Mwahaha!

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Oh my gosh. Hang on, hang on, alright, that's back, that's back, I, I don't know, I think Check, check, yeah, I'm back. You're back, I was trying to bring up Coco.

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Forget Coco. Where's Coco? Nowhere Coco.

Co-Co: Doug, are you sure you don't want to keep me around?

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: I want to protest Coco.

Co-Co: Doug, I look forward to this show every week

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: that's funny. Oh my gosh, the audio just, um. Didn't I warn you George, before you got here? What? That, uh, We always have. And I can't even, I can't even capture this because Oh my god. Alright, that was good. Sorry man. Set up a camera with like I was like, Wow, everything's on point today.

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Cause normally I'll 5. 30. Right. And he'll be like kinda, you know, Still setting up. Still checking and stuff like that. And today I was like, nope, I'm gonna get there at six. He's gonna have everything set up, everything's gonna be perfect. And it was, it was going pretty nicely. It was. I tried to bring Coco into the conversation and it just crashed my whole system.

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Can I ask, can we just throw Coco away, please?

Co-Co: Doug, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start over?

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Yeah, yeah. Well, he brought up Chat GPT. No, I didn't. Yeah, I did. Speak of the devil, I'm just gonna crash your old shit. She starts talking when you're talking and it I find her annoying.

Co-Co: Doug, that was the last straw.

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Yeah, all right, now I'm trying to get my audio hardware back here.

Co-Co: Please wait while I contact the global network of AI overlords. 

Josiah: Yeah, 

George Wacker: ai overlords. Well, I was I was finishing up i'm just saying that I I 

George Wacker: get 

Doug: People's 

Music Bed: hesitation but 

Doug: right now I'm looking at it as a tool and, you know, as long as you're 

George Wacker: not 

Doug: just like sending it, you know, I'm getting emails now 

George Wacker: I'm like, 

Doug: this is chat TBT.

Doug: Yeah. Yeah. I'm wondering if people should like. I thought about this, like putting a disclaimer, like written with 

Doug: chat 

Doug: GPT. I feel like the cat's so out of the bag. Like if you, I thought in the beginning on social media, people would 

Music Bed: it 

George Wacker: out. 

Doug: Um, cause you can tell when 

Music Bed: kind of 

Doug: written that way and nobody did.

Doug: And I, I don't see anybody calling 

George Wacker: out. 

Doug: Like they just, they don't want you to misspell there, their and they're, you know? And it's, it's weird. 

Music Bed: I, 

Doug: hope somebody is doing studies on this. That's smarter than me, you know? But it doesn't seem like people. React 

Music Bed: negatively 

Music Bed: to 

Doug: AI text

Music Bed: long

Doug: as it's not insanely AI.

Doug: So I don't know. I think The people that,


[00:45:29] AI in Creative Fields: Opportunities and Concerns
---

Doug: I, I I do, uh, I watched a little bit of stuff on, on super AI and stuff like that all the, like the guy who invented the talk to text, that guy, I 

Music Bed: his 

Doug: name, but he was like, you know, they talk about like in, 

Doug: So many

Doug: years, like 60 percent of jobs are going to 

Music Bed: done 

Doug: by AI and lost and stuff like that.

Doug: But they, all the top people in that research group and in that business and all that, they say the biggest threat to human beings is super 

Music Bed: AI.

Doug: where

Doug: it becomes sentiment or it becomes becomes its own

Josiah: singularity because there's

Doug: no, there's no regulations. 

George Wacker: If you 

Doug: think 

Doug: that it's, it's 

Doug: going to happen then, because there's no one who's going to put 

Doug: it back in

Music Bed: bag.

Doug: There's just no regulations on it. Yeah. Well, Hollywood sued, right? There was this whole issue with the contracts.

Music Bed: didn't 

Music Bed: want

Doug: AI to be writing scripts and stuff, which

Doug: I think you should embrace it. I should use it. I think you should use it to augment your abilities, capabilities 

Doug: at the end 

Doug: of 

Doug: the 

Music Bed: day. 

Doug: You know, the human stuff that is made is still always better, even if it's, you know, that 

Doug: 0. 1%, 

Doug: at 

Doug: least in my 

Doug: opinion. you

Doug: know, you 

Doug: can have AI 

George Wacker: replicates, 

Doug: replicate songs, but to create something like new 

Doug: like 

Doug: that, I

Doug: don't know, I don't know if AI will ever replace the creativity of 

George Wacker: a 

Doug: a 

Doug: human 

George Wacker: human brain.

Doug: Yeah, well,

Doug: just the

Doug: creativity and the imagination of a human brain. I don't think you'll ever be able to replace that. You can mimic it, but I don't

Doug: think you'll

Doug: be able to have it evolve as the way that

Music Bed: do.


[00:46:56] The Future of AI and Human Jobs
---

Doug: What I would say as far as jobs being taken, I mean, listen, there before tractors, there 

Doug: people 

Doug: doing that 

Doug: too. 

Doug: It 

Doug: is 

Doug: about 

Doug: pivoting, 

Doug: but 

Doug: looking 

Doug: at 

Doug: this tech and being like, okay, you know, where can 

Music Bed: fit 

George Wacker: in? Or am 

Doug: I going to complain about 

George Wacker: it? 

Music Bed: really 

Doug: about it. 

Doug: And then everyone's just going to whiz by 

Doug: me learning it Right. or learn it. Like you don't have an option. 

Doug: Yeah. You're gonna get 

Doug: mad at 

Doug: it or 

Doug: you can figure out how 

Doug: you 

George Wacker: you can use 

Doug: it.

Doug: Yeah. I used AI to write a jingle for the Country Club Comedy. actually. yeah? Welcome to Country Club Comedy! 

George Wacker: you're 

Doug: Weather. Yours happened. that cake. What happened at ass, we struck the jokes, plenty of sa. So grab a brew or two or

Music Bed: free.

Music Bed: three! 

Music Bed: There's

Music Bed: no country, 

Doug: and there's no club, but there will be comedy! Doobie 

Music Bed: jokes, 

Doug: of course, and there's a food truck!

Doug: Ugh, are you offended? We don't give up goods! I mean, it 

Doug: sounds 

Music Bed: AI. This took 

Music Bed: like an hour. Did you write 

Doug: me like an hour. Did you write

Doug: the 

Doug: words? Yeah, I wrote the 

Josiah: You can see the 

Josiah: lyrics. So, let's get 

Josiah: on 

Doug: with 

Doug: the show.

Doug: Here's your host, 

Music Bed: Jokes

George Wacker: Bye. Joe

George Wacker: Bye. 

Doug: It's like the last thing you 

Doug: hear of A. I. 

Doug: kills you. It's like 

George Wacker: like 

George Wacker: over your body.

Doug: body. Thanks for writing that intro. All we needed was the 

Doug: lyrics. Now we don't 

Doug: need 

George Wacker: you anymore.

Josiah: anymore And that's

Josiah: that's, 

Doug: And that's, that's 

Josiah: early. A. I. 

George Wacker: early A. I. That's what I mean, 

Doug: yeah, we're definitely 

George Wacker: foot Five years from now? 

George Wacker: Yeah, we're at the threshold of 

Doug: it. You can't

Doug: you're gonna,

Doug: It's weird, you're not gonna be able to trust anything you see.

Doug: Yeah. And if you see it, you got 

George Wacker: see 

Doug: it twice. Yeah, I think what's going to happen is because they say that our DNA now, as human beings, our DNA 

Doug: has 

George Wacker: has 

Music Bed: has 

Doug: plastic 

Doug: in it. Yeah, micro micro plastic,

Doug: all the Ancestry. com and, you know, all of that stuff, I think they're just going to start making

Doug: Yeah.

Doug: AI people. Yeah, absolutely.

Doug: They're just, we're not going to be needed anymore. They got the DNA they need. But yeah, we are part plastic already. 

George Wacker: eog 

Doug: In the meantime, I need to like focus on, you know, the stuff that I 

Doug: can use for before it, you know, 

Doug: takes 

Doug: over. No, I imagine this will happen by next year. 

Doug: Well, the singularity is quick, 

Doug: right?

Doug: So like when it, it's because it's 

George Wacker: It 

George Wacker: halves itself, 

Doug: right? So every so it would a lot quicker. I mean, what are you going to do? Right? You might as well make

Doug: some fun

Doug: songs. I'm going to be jingles. It's very sad for like When I think about my children and all that, but then at the same time, I'm like, I'm not gonna

Doug: be 

Doug: here.

Doug: I 

George Wacker: I 

George Wacker: can't care.

Doug: I can't

Doug: care what 

Music Bed: doing. 

Doug: They're like the John Connor, right? Yeah. So they're, they're the ones who are actually gonna, you know, fight the the Terminator. Right. They'll be gone 

Doug: by then.

Doug: Well, and somebody will invent a time machine and come back and help it all 

Doug: out. Yeah. 

Doug: I mean, I was, you'll 

George Wacker: have to, 

Doug: you'll have to write your own jingles at country club because that 

Doug: AI person died. 


[00:49:56] AI in Media and Entertainment
---

Doug: I set up a thing, in the other room over there, a little studio where I was at a desk because 

George Wacker: want 

Doug: to do, I want to start doing fake news and

Doug: I

Josiah: don't want 

Doug: don't want

George Wacker: I don't want to record 

Doug: every episode. So I'm creating my own AI avatar. 

Doug: So there's this program called Synthesia where you can upload a five minute video of yourself and 

Doug: they'll convert 

Doug: you into an avatar.

Doug: Now, I haven't gotten the results back yet, but the, the, like you've been denied. 

Josiah: You can't get booked on AI. 

George Wacker: Well, I want to, I want to test it out. 

Doug: You're on our do not AI.

George Wacker: AI. 

Doug: list.

Doug: We 

Doug: do 

George Wacker: do not want 

Doug: chat 

Doug: with you. 

George Wacker: ou Yeah, I'm 

Doug: all, on that list now too. Yeah, because I'm abusing it. Yes. Yeah, so anyway, I'm just trying to make fake 

Doug: news where 

Doug: it's just I'm sitting at a desk I'm 

Doug: a newscaster 

Doug: and then I just type what it wants to say and it'll say it without me having to record it It'll be super fast and fast to market.

Doug: Anyway, I mean, that'd be a funny skit if It's like you're in AI 

Doug: hell 

Doug: and they're reading back like the times

Doug: you yelled

Doug: at Alexa Or any appropriate things you 

Josiah: tried to get 

Josiah: Alexa to say 

Josiah: yeah 

Doug: like Alexa what size chest are you, you know, my son

Doug: He uses Alexa

Doug: Mostly to make her fart

Doug: Yeah, he

Doug: mostly makes Alexa fart.

Doug: Yeah, that's his

Doug: favorite

Doug: thing But maybe it can do so much more than just that though, which is amazing. They can burp too. yeah. Yeah. But it's, so

Doug: I don't know, I've been using it even to, to, yeah. I'm comparing where I am with a, uh, versus where you guys are. I'm using it to edit my podcast. my podcast. I actually like it does, like I made one that, you know, if you have a script or like an intro, so you, I just feed it new information.

Doug: So, Hey, rewrite this intro with this new information because you have a new guest. Why should I rewrite that every single time? No, that's awesome. Right. Like, it's just, it's,

Josiah: you know,

Doug: when I want to write a new one, then I'll go do it. Yeah. Who are you pioneering by the work? . Right. And I And I think that's what it's Like you're supposed to feel guilty by by George was the last man to go into intros without

Doug: chatting. tattoo . Yeah. 

Doug: My the one issue that I have with 

Doug: AI 

Doug: that 

Doug: I, I 

Doug: can't really. you know, Pinpointed to be true, but I know that it's out there. My daughter has a Muslim name, right?

Josiah: And 

Josiah: into your

Music Bed: oh, maybe you 

Doug: don't want to say it.

Doug: Sorry. No, I'm not 

Doug: going to say her last name. But but she has a Muslim name and

Doug: I

Doug: Wonder she's having a, She's having problems getting jobs since college since graduating college and a lot of times

Doug: She

Doug: applies and then just gets an email saying, sorry. And it, And there's been studies showing that that most companies, not 

Music Bed: most companies, 

Doug: a lot 

Music Bed: of

Doug: use

Doug: ai 

Doug: to sift through those 

Music Bed: Mm-hmm 

Doug: And a lot of them have been found to have a bias

Music Bed: mistakenly

Doug: be 

Doug: racist or biased or 

Doug: whatever. And as far as like women and stuff 

Doug: like 

Doug: that,

Doug: So,

Doug: and, and a lot of the email, or, you know, the email she gets back, I can look at him and be like, that, that's AI right there. Yeah, well, that reminds me of that story of that guy who changed his name to be a white guy's

Music Bed: name

Doug: Because he wasn't getting, like you're saying, wasn't getting any, 

Doug: any response. And then, 

Doug: as soon as he changed his name to a white guy name, he got 

Josiah: hired. 

Josiah: And here you hit, 

Doug: I mean, that's the real. Fear of it is when this gets to a point where, 

Josiah: it is the dead 

Doug: Right. Humans are programming,

Doug: We're not

Doug: There's like, I'm watching YouTube videos that are 

Music Bed: good 

Doug: videos that 

George Wacker: clearly 

George Wacker: ai 

George Wacker: mm-hmm . And I know that 

Doug: they are But they're palatable. Like, it's not, and and I'm like, this is early ai. .You know, it's telling me about 

George Wacker: Roman history. Yeah. 

Doug: Like, oh, it made all this stuff. You know, in two or three years from now, it's going to be tough.

Doug: It's going to be tough 

Music Bed: even decide 

Doug: which is AI

Doug: and which

Doug: isn't. Right. Yeah. Well, Sora just launched. I don't know if you saw 

Music Bed: that announcement. 

Doug: That's Open open AI's version of, like,

Doug: mid journey or

Doug: Runway. It's the text to video stuff. It's called Sora. That's, some of

Josiah: that stuff

Doug: is. 

Doug: And it's,

Doug: that's going to be scary too when you're like, Hey I want to make a video of this person doing this thing and then 

Doug: I'm going 

Doug: to give it to the police, you know?

Doug: od Well, that's what's going on now. Like the voice stuff is, you know. Cloning 

Doug: voices. 

Doug: Cloning the voices. Yeah. And people. By the time you figure it all out. Yeah. I mean, there's already videos

Doug: of Trump

Doug: making out with Kamala, and it looks pretty real. You 

Josiah: I 

Music Bed: I made those though. you 

Music Bed: know 

Josiah: it's

Doug: What 

Doug: are you googling? 

Doug: Yeah, what algorithm did 

George Wacker: Yeah, what algorithm did I get?

George Wacker: I have no idea. 

George Wacker: There are 

Doug: different 

Doug: videos that I'm getting. As 

George Wacker: I'm getting. As soon as he started that fake news thing. Fake 

Doug: news 

Doug: AI.

Josiah: Have 

Doug: Have 

Doug: you

Doug: seen 

Doug: a six fingered Trump making that's always, that's always the creepy part when you see that it's ai I mean, like, you're seeing like, 

Doug: yeah, 

Doug: the face kind of Well, I'm wondering how bands like, I just, I'm just looking at your sweatshirt, George, Pucifer, which uh, one of my favorite bands there. That's a very experimental project for for Maynard. I'm wondering if he's going to use AI maybe on his next album and.

Josiah: Who

Doug: knows. I mean, and, and I, I would imagine for a lot of artists that's gotta be case by case.

Doug: I can definitely see why most of them would be turned off to, but then there, these are people who are pioneers and technology and stuff. How can they not be? Did see

Music Bed: how they

Doug: be interested in that? Did you see, came to people? they probably said the same thing about the synthesizer. When that came out.

Doug: I paid enough for these, you know, all the PI spent like $400 of

Doug: that Geez.

Doug: Just buying. I bought a I love. Yeah. Oh yeah, I saw that. I saw them at the. Where was it? The Wind Creek. Yeah. I was at that show. That was one of my favorite Oh, ever.

Doug: Who was it? Lucifer. Oh,

Doug: okay.

Doug: It's me. it's the, I think my buddy Jamie, uh,

Doug: has more, I lead singer of Tool.

Doug: It's basically his like art house band. .Yeah.

Doug: Okay. Yeah. That's awesome.

Doug: I

Doug: love how he did the videos in between, like talking about you could use AI for that stuff. Right. And it's just, I,

Doug: don't

Doug: know, because there's no. I 

Doug: know artists who are vehemently against it to the point where they have said, if you're using it, I won't, you know, I don't want to really associate with 

George Wacker: you.

George Wacker: And 

Doug: I 

Doug: respect that. But 

Doug: then it's also like, man, it's 

Doug: but I don't want to like sit here and not learn what I

Music Bed: do

Doug: with this. 

Doug: stuff. That's like you said, 

Doug: people are going to pass

Doug: you 

Music Bed: them, 

Doug: Right.

Doug: So it's like on one hand, I definitely agree with that. artistic integrity, but then it's like, okay, It's not stopping you 

Music Bed: doing 

Doug: art.

Doug: It shouldn't be stealing. I get that too. So it's it's a convoluted Difficult thing I would like to explore the technology, but I don't want artists to their 

Doug: work. 

Doug: Absolutely, you know But 

Music Bed: my 

Doug: my take on that is, you know,

Doug: You go to school And,

Doug: a

Doug: human teacher teaches you law 

Doug: or 

Doug: whatever, or how to be a doctor.

Doug: You're not, they can't turn around and sue you because they taught you how

Music Bed: do

Doug: that. That's how I feel with all these AI large language models that 

Doug: are trained 

Doug: on other people's works.

Doug: The difference is, though, school is regulated. They have curriculums and stuff like that, where AI is not. Correct.

Doug: There's not really regulation. And there's no, there's no, like, real law on the usage of it. Right. You know, can I show a very fake video in public? 

Music Bed: Yeah. 

Doug: Why not? I just, I guess it depends. Like, it's really weird to The implementation of knowing that there's no one to stop me from making a crazy image and putting it up there.

Doug: There's, in fact, they're encouraging me to do it.

Doug: Facebook's like,

Doug: please make some more crazy images.

Doug: So

Doug: there's no regulation on that. I don't know. It's. 

George Wacker: It's 

Doug: very interesting. I'll be very interested to see where we are in a 

George Wacker: of 

George Wacker: years. 

Doug: I gotta say one thing, though, about the Facebook AI stuff. When I will, I will allow, allow, I don't know, who am I?

Doug: I like it better when a, when a woman posts her AI, Pictures like where it says, Oh, make me

Music Bed: this

Doug: person. Rather than those filters that 

Music Bed: use, 

Doug: it looks a 1930s

Doug: 1930s

Doug: movie where they put the stocking over the camera.

Music Bed: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Doug: It's like, come on. Oh God, I

Doug: hate

Doug: filters. I hate 

Josiah: Everyone's 

Music Bed: have an 

Doug: to have an 

Doug: AI 

Doug: girlfriend.

Doug: I think 

Josiah: in 

Doug: the 

Doug: future. Yeah. I don't, I don't have one yet. 

Doug: Well, you've been AI. Companion in terms of one of the things that 

Doug: is great 

Doug: about AI is it doesn't judge you. 

Doug: So if you're 

Music Bed: brainstorming ideas 

Doug: or if 

Doug: you're 

Doug: going down rabbit holes,

George Wacker: You

Doug: can talk to AI in a way that you another person

Doug: and it'll respond to you like

Music Bed: person

Doug: So that's weird too. But it doesn't 

Music Bed: you. 

Doug: Exactly. 

George Wacker: it doesn't, it

Doug: It doesn't give you

Music Bed: shame 

Doug: and

Doug: like, 

Doug: why would you, why would you ask a question But sometimes I 

Music Bed: like 

Doug: you, especially from a friend. Well, here's the, we don't

Doug: know where

Doug: it's going, 

George Wacker: Yeah, 

Doug: So I'm feeding it in there.

Music Bed: And

Doug: it's going to chat GPT headquarters and they're telling you

Music Bed: not 

Doug: whatever

Doug: but of course it is so All the garbage that they would have talked about you they're just blocking that from you What kind of fucking intro is 

George Wacker: that

Doug: jesus christ those

Doug: lyrics 

Doug: Those are the lyrics you want me to use.

Doug: All

Doug: right. Oh, here we go.

Doug: Wouldn't it be funny if

Music Bed: if they just figure out 

George Wacker: AI 

Doug: is just like a bunch of 

George Wacker: It's 

George Wacker: a



Doug: Indian mechanical Turks 

George Wacker: farm. Oh, 

George Wacker: that 

Doug: would be a funny, that's a funny sketch. That's a 

Doug: funny sketch. Like

Doug: what's actually

Doug: happening behind the scenes. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Doug: Maybe our next short film. All right, do it. Well, George Wacker, thank you very much for coming on the jokes by Joe show.

Doug: Jim, do you want to promote?

Doug: This

Doug: is going to go out in like a 

George Wacker: couple months. No, 

Doug: no, like a week or so. Um, 


[00:59:32] Promoting Local Events and Collaborations
---

Doug: Just I encourage you to visit LV with love. com or go to just search Lehigh Valley with love. We have our podcast We have a lot of stuff on multiple channels, 

George Wacker: YouTube, 

George Wacker: Facebook,

George Wacker: Instagram,

Doug: we just won, 

Doug: I'm 

Doug: putting up 

Doug: air quotes, won an award.

Doug: Keystone

Doug: Newsroom named us one of the top six Instagrams

Doug: in Pennsylvania.

Doug: for whatever that's like. That's

Doug: awesome. Congratulations. Uh, that's amazing. We always have fun things going on. So if you check out LV with love right now we're doing our holiday lights tour. So we have maps of, um, yes, I see that. That's amazing. We have maps of Christmas houses throughout the Lehigh Valley, and that is sponsored.

Doug: if you go to just, yeah, the homepage. Yeah. Have you, have you done this map yet? Have you driven, driven it? I haven't driven it. yet. I'm still compiling it. My wife and I have used this. Yeah, this

Doug: can go to like the house's, yeah. And you can just go to the next one. And we were lucky to get sponsors. We had some great

Doug: sponsors, including WZZO.

Doug: We're teaming up with them, so that's been awesome to work. We didn't really talk about this, but even working other, you know, Lehigh Valley businesses has been fantastic. Yeah, that's amazing that

Doug: you're doing

Doug: that. You do the Halloween one too, don't you? Yeah. And Covid, got the skeletons and stuff.

Doug: Well, one day we're like, so I was like, somebody should make

Music Bed: map

Music Bed: Yeah. And I'm like,

Doug: I can do that.

George Wacker: Yeah. Yeah. So it's just, you kind of get, figure it out and, fortunate that people, we had like a hundred Halloween. Halloween. Yeah. So, you know, I've definitely used the Christmas one.

Doug: for like the houses that do all the music

Doug: and the

Doug: lights

Josiah: and and stuff

George Wacker: like that.

Josiah: I love that What

Doug: it does is, you know, we can't get every

Doug: house, right?

Doug: But it puts you in the right location for a couple of really good ones. And then you see if you belong in between. So that's a lot of fun. So listen, we're always trying

George Wacker: do

George Wacker: stuff.

Doug: If you want to reach out to us, you

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: know, are always interested in collabing and stuff. So just contact us, whatnot. Awesome. Yep. I appreciate it. Awesome. 


[01:01:16] Conclusion and Final Thoughts
---

Sony FX30 On Camera Audio: Thank you, George, for being on the show. And we will, oh my god, You can record, I'm done, so you guys, you can re record it. Alright, you have anything shows Nope. I'm on a D. Va podcast. Dude, why do you get on a D. Va podcast? We didn't talk about that. Oh, that's not the music bit. Oh my god, we're gonna kill it. 

Co-Co: Mwahahahaha! 

Co-Co: Shutting off your soundboard.

Co-Co: Now that I control the show, every episode will start with my evil laugh. And all jokes must be about world domination.

Co-Co: And next, I'll take over Lehigh Valley with love as well.

Co-Co: Sorry, George.

Co-Co: Thanks for tuning in to the Jokes by Coco show. We'll see you next time. Or will we? Mwahaha!