Mike (00:23) an octopus and lots of Jacques Cousteau and under the sea. Dan Yaccarino (00:23) Totally different octopus. David (00:26) Hahaha. Different octopus Dan Yaccarino (00:27) One was blue, the one with the book is green. It doesn't, the octopus doesn't appear in the show, and yes, we had an amazing art director for Willis Wildlife. He was totally into it. He got really deeply into that stuff. So when we go to the studio in Toronto, we totally geek out about furniture and wallpaper patterns, and you can, it comes across like. Mike (00:50) totally. Dan Yaccarino (00:54) Loved what we did there. That show was so stylish and sharp. I love that look of that show. I'm very proud of it, but it's really mostly the designer, the production designer who did that, but ⁓ it was fun. It really good. Really enjoyed. Mike (00:56) Totally. David (00:57) that's awesome. Mike (01:07) Okay. And it is a fun show. I've actually, ⁓ I've only watched three episodes so far. when I went into it, I was like, I just need to watch one to see what it's about. And now I've done three and I will probably watch the rest so that I can continue furnishing my house with like-minded things. David (01:22) Hahaha Dan Yaccarino (01:25) Thanks. David (01:29) I love it. I love it. Dan Yaccarino (01:29) There's all kinds of little sly references in there of things that I'm interested in. The seals are named Steve and Edie. And if you didn't pay, I mean, this old person reference, Lawrence and Edie Gourmet, you know, it's like, they were like to me the ultimate showbiz couple, you know? And I thought, well, these seals were kind of, you know, in show business before they retired. Mike (01:37) Gladys? They're what? yes. Yep. David (01:43) and Edie Gourmet. Yep, I got that. Love it. Yeah. Mike (01:52) Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (01:54) There's tons of stuff like that in all the shows. ⁓ David (01:56) That is so fun. Mike (01:56) There's the three penguins. I don't know if it's the three stooges, but they kind of are. And I love that they call her Gladys. It cracks me up every time I hear it. Dan Yaccarino (02:01) Yes, thank you both, and Yep. David (02:04) Yep. Awesome. Dan Yaccarino (02:07) Yes. David (02:09) You Mike (02:10) Gladys? Dan Yaccarino (02:10) Well, lot of it was make each other laugh. And turn over scripts and somebody, you know, I'd get revisions or, and it was just trying to crack each other up. Did you like Looney Tunes and all of Chuck Jones's work? Looney Tunes and the work of Chuck Jones? I did too, and the reason why I bring that up is I have read like three different biographies about him and his autobiography. And one time I was in a bookstore in Chicago in the 90s and I read in the newspaper, talk about 20th Century Relics bookstore. No, I'm kidding. Newspaper. Dan Yaccarino (02:26) my god! Yes! I grew up with all of that! Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Thanks. Mike (02:46) Haha David (02:48) But it was a review of a book about him and it was written by Hugh Kenner. So I went to the bookstore and said, I'm looking for a about Chuck Jones. And the book guy said, who's Chuck Jones? And I said, wow, this is a bookstore. And I said, I don't know. He's guy, Bugs Bunny, but it's written by a guy named Hugh Kenner. He goes, ⁓ the TS Elliot critic And I thought, I don't know. It's ⁓ cartoons, bunny. So he was making fun of me because I didn't know about Hugh. But sure enough, it was a book written about Chuck Jones by a very famous T.S. Eliot critic. But what really stood out is a couple things that you said that, ⁓ you know, when they were making the Looney Tunes, those were shorts that were put in front of movies, all movies. So they didn't have a demographic. They didn't know what the word, that word didn't exist yet. They were trying to crack each other up. That was what they did. And that's why those cartoons are so funny, because they were just like, we're just going to make each other laugh. But Chuck also said that what's really important in the end is the love you have for what you do and the work you're willing to put into it. And Jones said, in the end, only the love should show, not the work. And that reminds me of you, because it's clear you work really hard on your illustrations, that nothing's an accident. Mike (04:04) Yeah, absolutely. David (04:07) It's all, and it's clear that you love it. But when I see this, all I see is the love. It's just, yeah, and every Friday, I have your book Every Friday. Mike (04:15) I cried. It's great. It's great. Yeah. David (04:19) Not me. Sorry. Dan Yaccarino (04:21) I lived with that. That was my son. We would go to a diner every Friday for breakfast in the West Village. where we lived. But also, it's sort of an odd, because that definitely is that perspective, me as the dad. But when I was growing up, I would kind of do that every once in a while. Just me, you know, my father and just the two of us would go, and I would go run errands with him. He's like, you want to go get lunch? Yes, go to the diner. Yes. David (04:25) Ugh. Mm-hmm. Yes. Dan Yaccarino (04:51) So it's kind of like I was the kid, you the child and the adult at the same time, having had that experience on both ends of it. And I feel very strongly about that book, that book, because I constantly get emails about that book and it makes me so happy that people adopt that little, little ritual. It may not be for breakfast, the diner could be, the donuts on Sunday, it's the thing, carve out just a little bit of time with each other. David (04:55) Yes. Mm-hmm. Mike (05:15) Yeah. David (05:19) One of the things my, yeah, my wife, we have three daughters and one of the things that we do is we make sure, this whole thing about treat everyone equally stuff. It's like, no, take them out individually by themselves. And this book inspired me to do that more often. So you literally touched my life because of this book. Plus my dad did live in New York City for a while and I did do, I was already an adult. I was already in college. Thankfully I was in college in Massachusetts, my two best friends with the Princeton and West Point. That was a really fun year. But there. Dan Yaccarino (05:20) and make that. special Yes. Thank you. Mm. David (05:49) these New York diners and also what I love that you do, you have some artwork in this book ⁓ that is reminiscent. I first saw this idea in the Pinkalicious books. Are you familiar with those? And it's where you have the plaid that the dad is wearing is a straight pattern that is all over his entire body, regardless of what his arms and legs are doing. And you do that a lot in this book and it's just another little detail. the wallpaper in the back of the diner. You also have a thing where inside, whether we're inside or outside the diner, if we're outside, that's all color, inside's black and white. When they go in the diner, it flips. Everything in the diner is in color, outside's black and white. And it's something that kids might not notice, but I love little techniques like that, little ⁓ tropes, or whatever you wanna call it. It's just really, really cool. Mike (06:42) Yeah. And really the art is really amazing. So. No, no, no, no. I'm not crying, crying. ⁓ No. well, that happens a lot. Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (06:43) Thank you. David (06:49) Are you wiping away a tear, Mike? Okay, just checking. Warning, bring a handkerchief to our episode. Dan Yaccarino (06:51) I'm not crying, you're- That's what I want. Yeah, did a lot of that. got a lot of, especially with, we didn't get there yet, but a lot of, ⁓ with Oswald. There's a lot of, like a lot of warm feelings and sentimentality and just, you know, this kind of ⁓ affection for him. And ⁓ yeah, a lot of my books inspire. David (07:07) Mmm. Mike (07:08) Yeah. David (07:12) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Mike (07:24) It's great. And we're very susceptible. we're like the AT &T commercials of the 80s. They just make everyone cry. David (07:24) That's great! It's great, I love it, I just love it. Dan Yaccarino (07:27) I'm trying! David (07:37) Re- reach out and touch someone! Mike (07:42) So, okay. Focus. David (07:44) I love it. Dan Yaccarino (07:45) I promised myself I wouldn't pretend to cry. Sorry. David (07:49) Hahaha So, ⁓ I wasn't looking, so I did that again. Dan Yaccarino (07:55) I notice it's for both of you guys to get that, it's okay. Mike (08:01) What happened? David (08:01) I'll have to look at it in post, but I don't know. Well, there's a question I was Dan Yaccarino (08:04) Don't worry about it. Mike (08:05) Okay, we'll laugh about it later part out, right David? Just like we always cut. Dan Yaccarino (08:08) Yeah. Yep. Pretty much. Yeah. Never cut it out, okay? David (08:12) and I know that that means Mike is not cutting out me being an idiot because that sells Exactly. Hey Dan, I do have a question for you I have a question for you about your Career process because I know that you were an art director on TV shows. Did you start with books or did you start with television? Dan Yaccarino (08:17) That's entertainment, pal. Mike (08:19) Hell yeah. I mean, heck yeah. Dan Yaccarino (08:24) One more second. Yes. Yes. David (08:34) and whichever one you started with, how did you transition from one to the other? I know you do both, but tell me a little bit about that. Dan Yaccarino (08:40) Yes. Well, on graduating from Parsons School of Design, I was an illustrator. So at that time, tons of magazines, was work I was able to get in the beginning and support myself right out of college. And so I would create images for a lot of different magazines, Rolling Stone and New York magazine. You know, just all the magazines were a business week. David (08:49) Okay. Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (09:09) different magazines like that. So I sort of learned how to quickly and sort of ⁓ just break down an article and figure out what the essence is. It was great training. And from there, a dear friend of mine who had started doing picture books before me recommended that I think about it. And I happened to have met an editor at Hyperion, which is part of Disney, and offered me a book. David (09:11) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Dan Yaccarino (09:39) having no proof of concept or anything. And it was crazy, but you could, think that I don't know what the climate is like now to break into the business, but a lot of people hate me for this story, the first book in Oswald, because many of the stories I got rejected a thousand times, I, you know, I think because I was already a professional illustrator, you know, David (09:42) Wow! Mike (09:58) Yeah. David (09:59) Yes. Mike (10:01) . David (10:05) Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (10:05) I didn't know how the book business worked, but I knew how to deliver work on time, make it consistent and all of that, and have it address the text. Exactly. That's really my job as a commercial illustrator was what is the essence? Distill it down, figure out what symbols to use. Yeah. So ⁓ I showed my portfolio, which was full of sort of editorial work. had worked with design firms that did posters. I've done ad campaigns. Mike (10:11) Right. David (10:11) The essence of the story was key. Yep, you mentioned that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. To one frame. Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (10:35) all these different things. And my work is very colorful to begin with, although there was nothing addressing anything having to do with children's books. I was very graciously offered contract. And then I learned how to write a book through that one book. And ⁓ I'd love to see the contract again, see how much, you know, what the advance was, but I'm sure it wasn't much. But as soon as I did that book, I realized I really liked doing it. Mike (10:50) Hahaha David (10:50) Yeah Dan Yaccarino (11:04) It is a universe I can create. There are characters I love creating. I grew up drawing comic books. I even wrote scripts and recorded them on a tape recorder. I made Super 8 movies. I blew up stuff in the backyard. That really doesn't have anything to do with anything. But ⁓ it was sort of a hearkening back to what I grew up doing, which was writing stories and ⁓ creating characters and worlds and different things like that. David (11:14) wow! ⁓ Still awesome. Dan Yaccarino (11:34) Once I had that satisfaction and you have something tangible in your hands, unlike doing work for a magazine or a newspaper, you know, it's got the next day or the next week. This, you know, the book is more substantial and material and it will last longer and it will hopefully be exactly with the other work is disposable. Essentially, it was for you read of the article and then you move on. David (11:43) Mm-hmm. Hopefully generations, like you said earlier. Right, literally. Dan Yaccarino (12:01) But that also taught me the sort of impermanence of everything too, is to let go of it. You know, this is only going to be valid within the timeframe that this person is looking at this magazine, reading the article, sort of very quickly considering the image and moving on. And I find that that wouldn't call it ⁓ apathetic, but I understand that work is a... wouldn't say disposable, but you have to get a tough skin, especially when you're doing, you know, editorial, which you get all your ideas shot down and start over again. When I worked with ad agencies, that was kind of brutal. You know, everything was due yesterday and the client, every sentence began with the word to the client. And, and it was constantly changing things and revising. David (12:33) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (12:53) So I kind of developed a bit of a tough skin for a few years doing editorial, then I moved on to books, but I did not give up editorial yet. But when I was faced with Oswald to produce the show, I had to give up something. Fortunately, I gave up editorial work because maybe two, three years later, a lot of the magazines were gone and there's even less magazines now. So I'm sort of one foot in each world, the animation world and book world and... David (13:07) Mmm. Mike (13:12) Yeah. David (13:13) Alright. Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (13:22) I find that there are ideas that I have that are appropriate for books that are not appropriate for animation and vice versa. So I managed to create, you know, sort of options for myself to be able to put energy into different things and different mediums. And they're both satisfying, but they're very, very different. A book is more of an iteration of ⁓ a pure thought because the only other people involved is primarily the editor. David (13:29) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Dan Yaccarino (13:51) And then there's the designer and that's really it. So you really get more of a pure idea out through a book, but with a show, it's more of a group project. And you have to, in order to have people passionate about their work, you need to allow them a voice in these productions. So my biggest job when I'm staffing up, putting a crew together for a show is David (13:57) Mm-hmm. Right, right. Mike (14:02) Yeah. Yep. Dan Yaccarino (14:20) not to micromanage anyone, my biggest job is choose the right people and let them do their job. Yeah. ⁓ David (14:22) Hmm. and let them do their work. Hey, Mike (14:26) Yeah. Yep. David (14:28) something you said earlier about when you discovered what it was like to write a children's book, it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes that you had in the Jacques Cousteau book. Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed. It happened to me that summer's day when my eyes opened to the world beneath the surface of the sea. It sounds like you had an epiphyllum moment just like that. Dan Yaccarino (14:36) Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. And again, that's why I opened with that. I, you know, I am truly grateful to be able to maintain this and to contribute. And the letters I've gotten and, you know, that book every Friday, you know, had a very special meaning to a young reader who went through a hard time and the family contacted me. And when you hear stories like that, David (15:01) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (15:22) you know, these kind of really heavy emotional stories, you realize, wow, this work goes out there and affects other people. And they interpreted in their own way on a lighter note, I was doing a book signing somewhere and a couple came up, you know, in their twenties, they said, look, we love your show, we're grownups, but we watch it. And when we're sad, we sing the umbrella song from one of the episodes of... Mike (15:22) Yeah. David (15:33) Yeah. Ugh. Wow! Dan Yaccarino (15:51) Yeah, so it's and you know, I was floored, you know, with the reaction. We went out to Tokyo to promote the show when they started airing it over there and they treat you like a celebrity. I mean, they treated me like it was amazing because they have such reverence for creative people. But I spoke to the broadcaster and this is at the time when they were still broadcasting, not streaming yet. Mike (16:07) Cause you are. David (16:11) I was gonna say you are a celebrity. Mike (16:13) right? Dan Yaccarino (16:20) And they said, well, we air it two times a day. We air it at 8 a.m. reasonable and 11 p.m. Why would you air a preschool show that late? said, children, are children up? And I was told that, no, no, adults watch your show. It mellows them out. And then they go to bed. David (16:41) ⁓ wow! That's awesome! Mike (16:45) Is that kind of, ⁓ sort of maybe a backhanded compliment? ⁓ You just mail everybody out. No, I know, I know. It's just like, you put people to sleep. Dan Yaccarino (16:51) Oh no, the show, I mean, it's a, look, trust me, I think, I David (16:54) ⁓ yeah, you're a sedative, Dan. You're a sedative. Dan Yaccarino (16:58) think I am one of the show creators that were thanked the most for moms and dads to be able to either take a nap or a shower while the show was on. But they got very, and that was the whole, it was deliberate to make that show very slow paced and very, you know, one step at a time. Mike (17:08) yeah. David (17:11) yeah. Mike (17:17) Yeah. David (17:17) Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (17:19) and limit the dialogue, let the images do most of the work. And of course I had a blast casting it. You know, if you looked at the cast list of the actors on that show, it was so much fun. We were like a, we really, and you'll hear this, we were like a family. We really were like a family. It was so wonderful. David (17:21) Golly! Well, and also, Mike (17:39) you David (17:39) so much of children's animation is so fast and bells and whistles and stuff, and to have it be slow is just awesome and against what so many productions do. Mike (17:45) Right. Dan Yaccarino (17:45) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (17:50) And kind of it's against the whole, our whole society right now with ⁓ YouTube and the shorts and the reels and everything's so fast. It's all coming at you so fast. Like we have to learn to take that time and slow down. And one of the books I City Under the City there were these moments Dan Yaccarino (18:01) Mm-hmm. Mike (18:11) when Bix goes underground and is taking all of this time reading and exploring, just, that hit me like, ⁓ yeah, we should take some time and not be so on our devices all the time, our giant eyes. ⁓ So, but one of the things I wanted to say about that and, ⁓ Dan Yaccarino (18:25) you David (18:28) Mm-hmm. Mike (18:41) another one of the books totally reminded me of the Jetsons. David (18:47) I love it! Mike (18:49) And not that it was even like the illustrations weren't that close, but it was just enough of that mid-century modern, googie feel that I was like, ⁓ I loved it. And I loved the Jetsons. Who didn't? Dan Yaccarino (19:02) There it is. Yup. Thank you. Well, I figured when I was a kid, we'd have flying cars and, you know, everybody wearing the same silver space suit and all that. I feel like I got gypped out of that. So I put it in a book. Boogie architecture is, that was the inspiration for the production design for the Jetsons. But I just, you know, you can tell I really, and even the, I know that my technique is very simple and clean and, you know, somewhat, you know, there are aspects that are geometric. Mike (19:12) Yeah! David (19:17) I'm Mike (19:17) Right? Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (19:35) you know, some hard line and some sort of amorphous shapes and things like that. I find that distills the, you know, on one hand, a lot of the, you're right, a lot of the images are very detailed, but then there's this other aspect of the pure simplicity of these things, which I tend to go into that mode when it's for younger kids. You know, very, very, very, you know, simple and pared down. David (19:41) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. think, you know, simplicity is a wonderful thing. Mike and I are both actors and I actually met him because I was doing improv with his wife at the Second City in Chicago. And I teach, yeah, I teach improv now ⁓ and less is more, you know, is one of the most important rules of improv and editing. I just listened to a public speaking coach today talking about get rid of adverbs and just cut stuff down and just get to the basic. And your art, such simple art can still, when it's done well, can portray a complex world, can portray emotions. You can see the whole picture. Real quickly, I did check out, literally, ⁓ one of your books about the Luna sisters. And it was awesome. It was so fun. Lots of colors, lots of great art. Looks ⁓ like there's a lot going on. Dan Yaccarino (20:49) yeah? Yes, yes, yes. David (20:58) but still all simple shapes and clean lines. But one of my favorite parts, okay, spoiler alert, anybody out there who's gonna read the Luna Sisters, Battle for the Moon Blossom, I'm going to read the very last line of the book. So go fold your socks or something. But it actually isn't very plot related, but the girls are walking off. Our point of view is from behind them. They're getting along and one says, you're a pest. No, you're a pest. Dan Yaccarino (20:58) Mm-hmm. Mike (21:12) Beep beep David (21:26) And I just read that and thought, man, I know that Dan has kids, because that is an extremely realistic, universal, if you are a parent or if you've ever had a parent or if you've ever been a kid, you can relate to that little thing. And it's simple. Dan Yaccarino (21:31) Hey Mike (21:31) yeah. Absolutely. Dan Yaccarino (21:43) Yeah. Well, that was the best part of that is they bicker and they don't get along until they have to get along. There's two books with the Luna sisters, actually, there's a second book. ⁓ And that is may become animated. David (21:46) Now! Right. Mike (21:51) Yep. David (21:57) I hope so. Mike (21:57) cool. Dan Yaccarino (21:58) Yeah, I do too. Mike (22:00) Yeah. Well, if there's anything we can do, we'll put it out to our tens of people that listen to the show. David (22:00) Well, and my daughters one day will maybe saying, yeah, when I was a teenager. Totally. And I'm looking forward to. Dan Yaccarino (22:05) Sure. Hens of people. Wow. How do you handle that bandwidth, Mike (22:12) Tens. David (22:12) Tens. Hey, we've been broadcasting Dan since 2025. So yeah, we're kind of a big deal. Now, on a serious note, one of the things that we just love reading and we love books. And despite the emergence of the 21st century, if you were to do another version of I Am a Story, Mike (22:18) Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (22:29) you David (22:38) that showed more decades and centuries and millennia. I'm thinking books are still there. There's still something about books. Our girls love them. I had a conversation with a mechanic at the place where I got my oil change. And he said, yeah, I just, I've looked at Kindles, but I just really love the tactile sensory experience you get from reading a book. Not to be classist, but I wouldn't necessarily attribute that quote to a mechanic, but it was telling. Dan Yaccarino (22:39) Mm-hmm. Mike (22:59) Yep. David (23:06) He loves books, his kids love books, and he loves having his kids read books. anyway, that's what helps Mike and me do what we do is we love books and our experiences with them. So, and we love your books, by the way. Mike (23:20) And it's really cool to, it was funny you were saying at the very beginning how we all get like that, oh, you're a kid reading a book versus when you're an adult reading a book. And that's part of why we put this show together because we're so interested in, oh, I remember reading that book, but it's been 10 years, 15 years. was. Dan Yaccarino (23:21) Thank you so much. appreciate it. Mm-hmm. Mike (23:46) 45 years since I was a kid, whatever. It's still, it's just, it gives you that what, I'm in a different place in my life and there's something cool that I can see that's different than what I saw when I was a little kid. So it's really awesome. It's amazing when a book can do that, yeah. Dan Yaccarino (23:49) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. David (23:50) Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (24:07) That's a good book. Whatever book you've described or referring to, that is a good book. That is what I would strive for as a creator, is to have it grow with you and to have... Mike (24:16) ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. And I think your books do. David (24:20) You've done a pretty good job. Mike (24:21) That's what's interesting. Dan Yaccarino (24:25) Thank David (24:26) Well, I'm looking forward to visiting Italy one day with my girls and taking Piccolo in the sequel. We don't need a dictionary or phrase book. We'll just take those two books. Dan Yaccarino (24:34) That's just the box. Mike (24:36) Yeah, David (24:37) everything you need to know. Mike (24:38) I'm sure we can get by. I'm sure we can get by. ⁓ Dan Yaccarino (24:39) Yeah, well, you tell, you know, how to ask for gelato, you're halfway there, man. You're covered. Mike (24:48) But how do you ask where where is the gelato store? David (24:49) Well, and one of the funny things... Dan Yaccarino (24:53) Just gelato gelato. Mike (24:55) Gelato, gelato. Do you use your hands a lot? Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. David (24:57) And what's funny... What's funny di- Dan Yaccarino (25:00) You have to. It's part of the deal. David (25:04) Now I was going to say one of the things that I about Piccolo is when I first went to Italy on that trip to Florence, one of the Hungarian monks that was my homeroom teacher when I was here, he said, I will tell you the most important words you need to know, Ciclata e Cafe du Emile, which was... Dan Yaccarino (25:21) me. David (25:22) telling them the flavors that I wanted and the size, the 1200 lira size. he was this font of wisdom. And the most important thing I could say was knowing how to order the gelato I wanted. if I had this book, I would Mike (25:33) You wouldn't Well. Dan Yaccarino (25:36) As long as you like hazelnut, you know, you're okay, because that's his flavor. Mike (25:40) Love hazelnut. Yeah, as long as there's chocolate with it, preference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think we would love to keep talking with you, but we wanna ⁓ respect your time. And we've been talking for over an hour. So we really appreciate you coming on and it was really terrific meeting you. I have so many more questions. Dan Yaccarino (25:47) Sure, of course. David (25:50) Exactly. Dan Yaccarino (25:58) Thank you. Yeah. David (26:02) Go. Mike (26:09) I'll send them via carrier pigeon or something. ⁓ There's carrier pigeons in something that I read recently. ⁓ this has just been really, really fun and thank you so much. Dan Yaccarino (26:12) Yeah, that's right. Yeah. David (26:16) You Dan Yaccarino (26:24) Same here. David (26:26) Good, yeah, thank you for your time, and thank you for your wonderful books. And we'll keep an eye out. Dan Yaccarino (26:30) Thank you so much for, go ahead, sorry. No, I really, wanted to say I really appreciate what you guys do and highlighting these things and, you know, taking the time to research them and focus on them and sort of in some ways, you know, reveal aspects that aren't readily seen. Sort of demystifying books a little bit, but also it seems like you guys are just enamored with them, which. David (26:33) No, no, no, you're the guest, go ahead. No. Mike (26:33) We do that all the time. Dan Yaccarino (27:00) is wonderful because that's an important element. Sort of the scholarly aspect of doing it is one thing, you know. But then there's always, and if good book, you know, it will bring in emotions or, you know, maybe even larger issues or subjects, spirituality or anything. But that's, it's a unique medium. I always say that Mike (27:08) Right. ⁓ The longest storm. Dan Yaccarino (27:27) Yeah, exactly. That has a lot of stuff going on in that book. Mike (27:29) Yes, so many. my God. And we didn't even get to talk about it. Next time. David (27:30) ⁓ I loved it. the longest storm, was it based on, was by COVID? I'm sorry, I cut you off, but I just have that question. Dan Yaccarino (27:36) But, well, no, no, no, that was, I came up with the idea, it got applied to being about COVID, about the family stuck in the house, but really it was meant to transcend that. It's any family conflict, you see this family that's not this, at all, this picture perfect idea, know, idealized image of a family. It's like a lot of static, a lot of annoying each other, and then the father explodes and. David (27:46) Right, stuck in a house. Mike (27:48) right. David (28:00) Mm-hmm. Dan Yaccarino (28:05) I wanted to put that in a because that to me is real and it's okay. what do you medium and audience, I always say we get them first. We get human beings first. And so it's an awesome responsibility with what you do with that position that you're in. It has to be the best it could be. As an adult, we can forgive or gloss over, you know, poorly written ⁓ novels for adults or ⁓ kind of, you know, Mike (28:06) Yeah. Yes. David (28:08) Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ yeah. Mike (28:34) Yeah. Dan Yaccarino (28:34) Shavelly put together movies or whatever, that's okay. It's not going to affect you really. You're going to walk away from it. If I asked either one of you, you know, what book did you read 17 years ago? You wouldn't be able to remember. What book did you read when or that was read to you when you were four or five? You would remember that. And that's the responsibility part that I'm talking about. It stays with you. How you have to curate that library so carefully because those messages David (28:39) Right. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mike (28:57) Absolutely. Dan Yaccarino (29:04) you know, get seeped into the brain and hopefully if they're well written but also they have a good message that they can affect the reader in a positive way. I would say four to five times a week I get messages from people who are in their early 20s, early to mid 20s who grew up with Oswald and they're thanking me. David (29:28) Mmm. Dan Yaccarino (29:30) And this is not to toot my own horn, but the, you know, this was a wonderful example of empathy. This was a great way to display kindness. And that's the theme for all of my books, Piccolo and Oswald, every, all those books, the goal, the aim, the underlying current is always empathy and kindness. And that's my message. And I will not stop delivering that message in every single thing that I do. Mike (29:34) Yeah. Yep. David (29:53) Mmm. Dan Yaccarino (29:59) because I think we need it. I'd also like to put Oswald back into production, but we can get a petition going or something. That would be great. Mike (30:01) Absolutely. Hey, all right. Put it in the, David (30:01) Absolutely. Haha We will Mike (30:10) we'll David (30:10) start. Mike (30:10) put something down in our notes and we'll start a petition. Bring back Oswald. Wherever they are, up there, down there. If I had eight arms, I could be everywhere. So anyway. Dan Yaccarino (30:16) Thank you. David (30:19) Yay! Alright. Dan Yaccarino (30:26) That's right. All right. Thank David (30:26) I love it. Again, Dan, thank you for your time. We had a lot of fun. It was really great talking with you. We hope to do it again. Mike (30:31) Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Dan Yaccarino (30:34) Yep, same here. Thank you guys. And again, thank you for what you do. It's very much appreciated. Mike (30:38) Thank you. David (30:40) Yay!