Okay, can you tell me what your name is? A Vincent? Do you know who this is? Blippery. Mika. Which one's your favorite? Blippery. Why is Blippery your favorite? Because he's a boy. You like watching his shows? Yeah. Do you watch his shows a lot? Yes. How much? 14. What about Mika? What do you know about Mika? He has a purse. What does the purse do? Uh, can I raise the things? Hmm. Right in surprise. See you later. I'm David Farrier in New Zealand at Accidentally Marooned in America. And I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Today, we're about to enter a world that I know very little about. The world of children's YouTube educators here in the United States. I don't have children in the United States or anywhere that I'm aware of. But people I know, like Rob, do have children. And I often observe these children watching various adults on YouTube who are supposedly educating them about the outside world. And today, it's my turn to be educated about who these adults are. Adults that are part of this giant world, this giant subculture that I know nothing about. Today, we have Caitlin Becker on the couch with us, who you may know better as Mika. To be honest, I don't really know what the hell is going on here. So I'm going to learn a lot from Rob on this one, who has not one, but two children that he knows of. So grab your nearest child, but only if it's your child, because this is the children's YouTube educators episode. Rob, that was probably no offense to Roosevelt ahead in the cutest intro to this podcast that we've ever seen. He's got a good voice. Have you been giving him some sort of audio training to be some sort of future podcast host to take over your empire once you are deceased? No, I mean, I think Calvin is probably hoping for that more than Vincent. I feel like live shows where they're both on stage. Calvin, I don't know of his age, but he has this showmanship. Yeah. He's hard to get off the stage, where as Vincent is more like excited and thrilled, but deeply nervous and somewhat oblivious, like we recorded that. Yeah, what is going on just playing with the mic is the best. Okay. Children's educators or whatever you want to call them, I think we'll need to talk to Meeker about this, but just talk to me about this space a little bit, because as I said in the intro, I every kid I know has these people they love watching on YouTube. It's a foreign world to me. Well, it's an interesting evolution too, because when I was a kid, we didn't have YouTube and we didn't have these types of people. I think the closest thing to it was Mr. Rogers, which was not this on-demand thing on YouTube, which has now, they've spread to Netflix and you can get on Hulu. The world of it is insane being a newer parent in the last 10 years. To see the type of content that is available to children and then which ones you decide are okay for them to watch. Even how much is, are you saying how much has changed since when you had kids to now? No, no, no, I just mean I think this is a newer phenomenon for modern age parents. When I, in New Zealand, we had people like Jason Gunn, Susie Kato, who you knew as being there on TV, they're on at a certain time during the week, and kids would fall in love with them. And then I guess those are the ones that stand out for me, but I guess what you're like, and I feel like when they're on TV, this kind of this accepted thing, we know there'll be safer kids. Whereas YouTube is this uncharted territory where any adult can become a celebrity for kids and that's kind of weird, because then you've got to pass who is the right one. Yeah, well, and I think we should make the distinction too. This is like small children, so equivalent for us would have been Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies eventually. It's not older kids, because Calvin's definitely passed the phase of this type of content. To me, there's three huge ones. Is it going to be a slideshow? Not today. Not today. There's different buckets, because you have the, like, nursery rhyme ones that Natalie and I hate. There's one Coco Mellon. I already kind of hate Coco Mellon for the name. That is just, I don't know if it's AI, but it's weird visual animations to nursery rhymes that just go on a loop, and it is sort of hypnotic rubbish, yes, and it hooks children. So we very quickly were like, no, no, we're not. For our own sanity, we can't have this on. That was just a vibe you got from watching it. This doesn't feel like it's helping our kids brain watching this in the city. It felt very, like, mindless. The visuals for it didn't, I mean, maybe it is helping to educate two degree in, like, stimulating their brains in a certain way. Maybe you thought you could do better. Yes. And the three big ones were Miss Rachel, giant, so Miss Rachel currently has 20.5 million YouTube subscribers. She has referred to the Mr. Rogers of our era. What her YouTube says, Miss Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones in preschool skills. Miss Rachel to provide interactive high quality screen time. It is still very much this woman on screen talking to a child in a baby voice. But for some reason, she has such a, like, friendly, sweet approach to it, yeah, like Vinny clicked into it right away, right, the first time he saw it and and was like playing along with it. So engaging with what she's wanting it could to do. And there's like an interactive piece to it. There's nursery rhyme stuff. So her top videos, baby learning part one has 2.1 billion views. Fuck. She just swear on it, children's episode, baby learning part two, one billion views. Wow. And then wheels on the bus and other nursery rhymes, 584 million views. Bonkers. Yeah. This is also such amazing earning power off that. Yeah. Going well and the like the production of it isn't crazy. This isn't sesame street studio with puppets and it's this woman who it's her in a room. Yeah. Talking through the screen. Yeah. I mean, there are some animated elements and graphics and stuff incorporated into it. But it did you. How did you come to her? Was it other parents talking about it, or did it randomly pop up in your kids' YouTube algorithm? Do you remember? We pretty specifically don't let them just surf YouTube. That was a secret test to see a few people in there. So no, there wasn't just an algorithm that Calvin was on as a little kid. Because as a deviation, if you, one thing I have noticed, if you do just let kids click along YouTube will, even kids YouTube, there's a chance it will take them to some really, you sort of enter this realm of AI slop, which gets either just nothing, just like brain mush or occasionally brings in these really unsettling elements that definitely shouldn't be for kids. Yeah. There was it. And so like YouTube, I know the one thing I know, not having kids, I've got nieces and observing other friends kids like never let the algorithm just do its thing. Yeah. Because it's kind of, it'll guarantee it'll take you to a really messed up place. It gets weird. Yeah. But I mean, I mean, there are videos we're popping up in it was just a man unboxing toys and playing with them. Oh, I mean, that's crack for kids that unboxing stuff is cooked because it was fine. It's not how much. It wasn't inappropriate. No, it's not. It's not. But why are you watching this? This isn't helping you. No, I mean, unboxing is a whole other thing where it's, it's like crack for children and some adults. They do adult unboxing. Let me be specific though, wasn't like unboxing, it, I mean, it was, but it was a kids version of it where it was less about unboxing and more than about playing with the toys. But it was tied to a specific product completely like go by this trend set. Yeah. And here is the world that is teaching kids to be consumers from day dot essentially. Okay. All right. So then other than Miss Rachel, you have blippy. Do you know blippy? I took, I, I know the name blippy. It has connotations that I feel like is kind of crazy. I feel like blippy and tally tubbies in my brain are a similar place where it's just a zany world. I don't understand. So blippy has 27.3 million subscribers, which I don't know Miss Rachel's subscriber cup, which we can get into in a little bit may have taken a hit for how outspoken she was. I don't doubt it will. In my mind, Miss Rachel was the like top of she was at this, but she was also geared towards smaller kids. I feel and blippy.
Blippi is kind of moving up in age range. So do we just do we like Blippi or we don't like Blippi? What's the vibe? Blippi is more annoying than Miss Rachel I will say. Yeah. Okay. Because he's, it's hard because it's a grown man acting like a kid. Am I right in thinking he had personas before Mr. Blippi? Yeah. Or am I getting confused with someone else? Yeah. Yeah. We should look into that for part the second half of his conversation. But he also though as more of an engineering brain, it's not quite Mark Rover, but he clearly comes from an engineering and an education background. He's making things. So okay. Blippi, come explore the wondrous world with everybody's best friend, Blippi. Mm-hm. How does a recycling truck work? What does a baker do? What is the best playground around? There are so many exciting things to explore and learn. Feed your kids curiosity while they learn about vehicles, animals, the natural world and so much more. So Vinnie really got into Blippi because he would do construction vehicles. That's where he, Vinnie had like knew what a backhoe loader was and an excavator like yeah. He knew his vehicles because of Blippi going to a construction site and acting like a kid going around asking about construction vehicles. This acting like a kid thing sounds deeply annoying to watch as an adult. Yes. But I, there's got to be a science to how it connects the kids watching it though. They don't want to see it grown up, being in quiz and walking over. I have a thing with kids where I find baby talk so annoying just to myself. I always talk to kids and I kind of find it funny. I just talk to them like an adult. I just talk to like a baby or a two year old and just talk to them if they're there sort of you and you're rounding on to them. I just talk to them about what I've been doing in the day and I don't try and change it at all. Yeah. And they often drift off, which is fine, but and don't really care. But so I guess baby voice does engage with them more, but I actively have this thing where I don't do it and I find it kind of funny. Miss Rachel, I would say is more baby voice, but that is also I think geared to she has videos for six month olds. Blippy is more high energy. He sounds like it. Does he dress up in a sleigh outfit? Fui laughing. Yeah. He's got a hat and glasses in a bow tie, I believe. So his top videos, Blippy learns about jungle animals, one point, billion views. Blippy learns at the indoor playground, 671 million views, learn colors and numbers for children, 531 million views. So Blippy will also go visit places in different cities where it's like we're going to go to this exploratorium in Anheim or this place in Idaho, they're like breadth of content is kind of impressive. Yeah. They're putting out a lot of videos. Yes. More than once a week, I'm guessing. Okay. And then Mika, Mika comes from within the Blippy world. The Blippy verse. Yes. Okay. Mika is one of Blippy's friends. Okay. That sometimes joins him on these adventures and then it spun off into its own thing as well. Right. So she got so popular on Blippy show that she got her own universe out of that. Yes. Which we can get into the specifics of that. I don't know the like timeline of how all these things spun off. I mean, the other crazy thing is just the scale of it and the amount of money. That was what blew my mind when when they first started watching Blippy, I was just like, how is this and Miss Rachel? I think I looked down at it a little bit and diminished the value and probably what goes into it. Well, I think what you said earlier, it looks like when you're watching some of the stuff, it looks like the production values aren't insanely high. It's not like you're watching some Marvel series or something or some highly produced documentary. It's very simplistic. Yeah. But the magic of connecting with kids is obviously this whole other thing that is probably so much goes into that. Yeah. Well, and it was just like, who's this bozo that's acting like a kid? Yeah. And why? And I could do that. I don't go to, I could do that normally. Not just me. Yeah. Okay. But this is interesting. Blippy world at one point, I don't know what it's currently doing, but 90 million, over 90 million monthly views. Holy shit. In total over 17 billion total views. And in 2020, Moonbug acquired the Blippy brand allegedly, but not reported for $120 million. And then 2021, candle media bought Moonbug, which is Blippy, Coco Mellon, and a bunch of other kids things for an estimated $3 billion. Jesus, that's your jump right there. Yeah. That's the thing we're going to scale of this is insane. Yes. Even in part, I think of it in podcast world and some of the crazy deals in this land. And then you look at that. Yeah. Holy shit. And they're just like a new crop of children every year that are being indoctrinated and completely and can consume this content because a lot of these videos that have the crazy views are from like three, four years ago too. It's not just, here's a new video getting a ton, it's the longevity of, like, these are fundamental educational learning. Yeah. It's if a green. It's not like those old episodes suddenly become disposable. You can use them at any point. Yeah. And there's the other thing where, and maybe this is something I'm kind of curious to talk to her about, is the fact that you have these perfect, like, it's interesting from a consumer point of view because the audience, children, they can't purchase anything. They're useless. Yeah. Obviously they're making this ad revenue, but then you've got the parent there and all the parent wants to do from what I've observed is like, the kid is the most important thing in their life. They will, they will put every bit of resource they possibly can into it. Whether it's working ten jobs, or if you've got disposable income, you will buy whatever will make your kid smarter or happier or whatever. And so you've got those parents there hovering and there are the consumers that you can drag in. And I imagine there's like a bunch of products in there that just work their way into that universe. Yeah. That's what's fascinating me most about this whole thing and why I thought we should do an episode on this was one of the mechanics behind all of this and it, I'm interested in just the intentionality and just, I don't, learning how the sausage is made completely behind it. And then, yeah. And also I think she's in this interesting position where she's come into this world that's already big and observed that. And then within that gotten massive herself in this world, so she's a very unique perspective. As a character too, which is not that different than acting as a character outside of children's world. But for some reason this feels a little more unique. Do you know if when, if she comes in and she's in character, it's like, it's like I, years ago I interviewed Slipknot, I was like, are these guys, are they going to be in character? Are they going to be in like the scary masks or no masks? I feel it's a similar thing. It's like, are we going to get the real person or when she was an hour of baby voice? We're going to get the real person. Okay. Caitlin no longer performs this meek. Okay. So we're out here with safe. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I'm excited to talk to her. She, Vinnie's first day of preschool, he was very nervous and she was kind enough to make a video in character for him, just telling him how proud she was that he's going into preschool and. I love this. Yeah. I mean, that's amazing. So she's also a good person. Yes. Very good. All right. Let's get into it. Here we go. Can you maybe introduce yourself? Good too. My dear. Hello. I'm Caitlin Becker. How do you know Rob? He was saying before that, I think Vincent was having a bit scared of something you sent through a video. Yeah. Sort of get rid of his fear. I think maybe when I started following you or something, we messaged each other and he was like, my son loves you and I was like, oh my god, I love your podcast. Which is like, yay. We love it. And then it was like, let me make a video for your son. And then yeah, what was going on? He was just starting preschool. That's right. And he loves you. That's a big fan. Yeah. So I made a video one day when I was on set. And then yeah, we've just like been connected since and he was like, come talk on the show. I love a good internet friendship. It's like the one good thing about the internet still is you can meet people that you would never meet otherwise. I agree. I agree. People talk about the negative side of the internet so much, but I think there's this really great side of being able to connect with people that would never happen without this kind of thing. Totally. I have a lot of Instagram friends who I've not met in real life yet, but they're like real - Good friend.
Yeah, and it's wild. It's like I don't know kind of the modern day like pinpal maybe yeah I find the same thing I don't have that with any other medium acceptance to Graham Mm-hmm. Sometimes I think if this goes away So many of that It will it will ten years ago was Facebook. Yeah, it involves and disappears completely my space Yeah, miss it every day. Bebo. I don't know that What is that? Maybe that was a New Zealand thing. I feel like you've heard that what now? Bebo was after my space Sounds like a character. Yeah, it was I don't know what the difference was between that and my space But it was a thing in New Zealand and I love Bebo So did you also get to rank your friends? Absolutely. Absolutely Top 10. Yeah, it was right. Yeah, and then how you would just kind of rotate like you know what actually You're down to number seven. Yeah, you can't be my number one anymore. I wish that archived the my space pages at that time But I want to look at what I was doing there because it would have been psychotic. Oh, I'm sure I was so dramatic and whatever I was posting. I am sure of it. We have you in here to I want to learn about the world of What do we even call it like child sort of a YouTube entertainment education? Children's media children's media you could say for all things included And then it can break down to kids TV live action animation voiceover There's a lot. How how did you get brought into this world and like maybe we should start at the beginning that what were you doing Before you got drawn into this world musical theater How did the children's entertainment education thing come up? So it's one of these things where I did all these things in life that perfectly led me to kids TV without knowing it like I never Dremped about being on a kids TV show and so I was doing musical theater and then I got really burnt out because It's hard and it's pretty cut throat and the pay is terrible and the hours are long and I was just like I need a break Yeah I was laughing with my friend the other day when Just reminiscing about how excited we would be for a $300 a week contract Wow $300 in New York City and being like, oh my god, I'm a paid actor $300 a week and I'm only working like 12 hours a day and my body hurts That's also part of the curse of doing something that you artistically love. Yeah, that's what keeps you going But then you look at all the other factors and you're like what the hell exactly now that I'm I'm just so grown up But I look back and I'm like, oh my god, that was crazy So anyway, I took a break and I made a pivot to TV film and I was doing a lot of background work and just like learning the lingo of TV film and I Saw an audition In my email. I almost deleted it. It just looked like a spam thingy and it said Do you want to work with a chicken and I was like what that's so weird and then I was like wait I bet it's the show sunny side up that my nephew watched every day where there's a chicken puppet So it's like I bet it's sunny side up So I opened the the email and I look at the you know what they were looking for and it was me it was like Theater experience musical childhood development experience and I'm like wait I did work at a preschool for five years as an assistant teacher and thought nothing of it I loved it, but I was like wait, I have that improv experience. I was on an improv team like every look It was so many things it was very specific. Yes, a real to read. Yeah, and I'm like yes Yeah, I'm like what that so then um, I sent in a video and ended up booking the job and the job was incredible wait What was the video that you seemed in what did you have to self-tape to see it? So yeah, so I had to sing the sunny side up birthday song and I had like a teddy bear next to me As the puppet there and I had to sing that song and then I had to do some kind of Like intro the show was kind of like the today show for preschoolers And so we would like to talk about the weather and what's going on in the news and stuff So for the audition, I think I had to pick one segment to like riff off of and do the birthday song cool And I was nannying a little girl at the time again like I'm just around kids all the time and I just Yeah, so and I showed her the video And I'm like do you like this? Are you entertained? A little a one person focus great. Yeah, and then I was like she likes it So I sent it in and then I got the job and I was a on air host for the sunny side up show for From 2013 to 2017 is when the show ended and was a writer wrote all of my own music um Was a segment producer It was I wore a hundred hats and it was crazy, but now I'm like that was the best job ever We filmed out of 30 rock in New York. We were on the same floor as a tonight show And you would share guests sometimes Like there would be This could be wrong, but it was like an NBC Press package and you could pick and choose so celebrity could come and you know be on the tonight show or Hostess and now and then it's like do you also want to be on the sunny side up show? And if they had kids in their lives and they knew what it was they're like, yeah That's awesome put me on the kid show and so they would come on and other any guests that particularly stand out Sort of like surreal as I think in front of you. Yes. Number one Julie Andrews. Ah amazing I had like cotton mouth holy shit. Yeah, I was like yeah, I couldn't be a person at all and she She introduced herself to me and think she's like took my hand and was like, hi, I'm Julie like no shit And she's like thank you so much for having me on your show and I was like no, thank you. I Not hot. Oh my god. It was wild and I got to ask her for a spoonful of sugar She said any sugar and I said just a teaspoon And she said that's all you need and winked and I was like I'm dead I'm dead and the producer's like okay, we will cut you cannot say I'm dead But I was just like oh my god, like she winked at me Stay tuned for more flight this bird will be right back after a word from our sponsors Support for flight this bird comes from quince now august where we are right now It's the perfect time to hit reset before the autumn rush begins and honestly I can't think of a better place to start than my closet That's why I love shopping at quince. 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That's q-u-i-n-c-e.com/burt Support for flight this bird comes from pesty Now I don't know whether you've had this experience You probably have where you've ordered a contractor in to do something And it just ends up being so much more annoying than you ever anticipated Figuring out when they're going to arrive and then the actual job they do you're kind of watching them going I kind of think I could have done that and when it comes to pest control This is where pesty comes in because I've been using this stuff and good god I wish I had known about it earlier. I live in Los Angeles It's particularly hot at the moment and this is probably TMI But when he gets really hot cockroaches just emerge. I don't know where they're coming from They're the really big guys So it's not like my house is infested with them But they make their way inside they terrify me at about three a.m. in the morning If I need to get up and go for a wee again TMI Pesty has solved this problem. 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It also offers a 100% bug free guaranteed or your money back. So essentially if your bugs don't go away, you get a full refund, so there's no risk in there. The kit that you get includes a sprayer, a mixing bag, pesticide gloves and instructions. It's really easy to follow, I'm really bad at this stuff, Pesty makes it really easy. So what are you waiting for? Fix your bug problem before it gets worse. Go to Pesty.com/Bird for an extra 10% off your first order today. That's P-E-S-T-I-E.com/Bird for an extra 10% off. I also love that she sounds just a really good level person that came in and made you feel comfy. Oh my gosh. I just wanted to curl up in her lap and be like, "Tell me a story." Yeah, she was so sweet. That's number one. I mean, I feel that it's a scene of that whole time where you're just having these incredible experiences. Yeah. You're working your butt off, but it's also so fulfilling. Yeah. We had Michelle Obama. Oh my gosh. Like what? She smelled great. I was like, "What is in your hair?" Like I just went, "Wow, she was so also very chill, made everyone really comfortable." And you found at home in this, you were like, "This is something that I really love doing." Yeah. It was like, "This is not that hard," meaning it comes naturally to me. This is comfy. Where I moved to New York wanting to struggle and feel like shit. I'm like, "I want to be a struggling artist, and I'm going to be in these whole-new-off theaters and just do really dramatic, life-changing things, and it has to be hard." That's the fucked-up thing about New York, I find, is that people being exhausted and struggling as seen as a when somehow. Yeah. That's great. It's really unusual. Wait, so when you're presenting on a show like that for kids, how does that affect your performance? Because we're starting to be a character, a version of yourself. Yeah. Like what is that mindset? Like, because I was just thinking before, imagine a flight this bird was for children. Like what would I be doing differently? Yeah, we'd be talking differently. Like what would I be doing? Because I sort of picture people listening to this, and I sort of picture, I guess, people like me, maybe, but imagine if I'm going out to kids, I just don't know where I would begin. It's not that different. I think that's where the kid shows that don't work or people, people, live action, like other hosts. When you talk to a kid, like they are dumb, you know, it's, or you do, we put on some voice, like you do, to, like, a little dog, I feel like, "Hi!" In the voice. Kids are like, "Okay, but when you just talk to a kid, like, a fellow human, and they're smart and, um, and, like, lead with empathy." I was just saying that for a while, when I talk to kids, I just like talking to them, like, I'm talking to an adult, almost, and they can either begin to it or chew now, so they don't mind. No. I feel like most of the time, they like it. So yeah, but I was a version of myself on that show, I was Caitlin. I wasn't, like, playing a character. And then that show wrapped up after what about five years? What then? 2017. And at the time, I was, uh, taking voice over lessons and classes, because I knew I wanted to get pregnant, and I'm like, "What can I do while pregnant?" And still be performing or whatever, and I've always wanted to do voice over, and so I was taking all kinds of classes, like voice over for animation and voice over for audiobooks and blah, blah, blah. And then I got a private coach when the show ended, and I was super pregnant. And I was taking improv class, also super pregnant. I was just like, "Everything's fine. I can do everything, even though I'm pregnant, even though it was terrible. Why did I do that?" We don't know. But. New York and New York. Yeah. Yeah. You're still right. You can't. It's like, if you have a day of nothing planned, it's like, really? But also, isn't that a crazy decision to have to make if I have to keep working, but do something that's going to, like, cater to my body changing. It's just like a mad decision. If someone asks you how you are, you have to be busy, and y'all can be exhausted. Yeah, like, "Oh, I'm exhausted. I just had 10 things yesterday." No, it's been real lazy lately, not doing much. Yeah. So, yeah, I got into voice over and started working pretty quickly in voice over and doing a lot of stuff for kids animation. And I was writing a bit too, and then COVID hit. I got a call from someone from Moonbug Productions, and I had never heard of them before. They were, you know, talking a big talk, like, we just bought all the most popular channels on YouTube, and my son at the time was three, and he had never watched anything on YouTube before. Uh-huh. And they're spitting out all these shows. You know, we have a coconut and baby bum and whatever, and at the time, I'd never heard of these shows. So, I was just like, "Okay, I don't want to do a YouTube thing. What does that even mean?" And they were like, "We cannot tell you who this is for, but we want to see if you could be the best friend." It's a very popular character, very, and I'm just on the Zoom call, like, hungover because it was COVID. And just like, I don't think I want to be on camera for kids stuff. I think I'm done with that, and they were like, "Well, could you just fly out and just, you know, we can meet and we can test it out, but we cannot tell you, but do you probably know who it is? He wears suspenders and glasses, and like, Steve, or cool, but he's talking about it. And so, they kept going, "She's good. She's good." I'm like, "I'm not acting. I don't know who you're talking about. I really don't." So, they flew me in COVID time. In COVID time, one of like five people on a plane. Yeah, and I was like, "Should I be doing this?" But then I also was like, "Get me out of my apartment. Like, I have to get out of here." So, fly out to LA, and they also had the dude who's playing blippy now. He was auditioning to replace the original blippy. So he was there, like, I was there, very chill, just like, "What is this world? What do y'all want to see me for?" And he was like, "I am auditioning to be the next blippy." And I'm like, "What's a blippy?" Like, "What is going on?" And so, for me, they said, "We want to see what it looks like for blippy to have a best friend." They didn't have a lot of ideas. Was like, "She's cool babysitter. She's fun. We know you sing." Like, she could be musical. Maybe she, like, makes up songs, and I was just like, "What?" "It's our loose." Yeah, and I brought a bunch of different outfits, and blippy is blippy-ing, and I'm still trying to just figure out the world the first day of filming these test shoots. I got a breakfast sandwich from a hotel lobby and a coffee, and I was eating the sandwich, and it tasted terrible, but I kept eating it because I was like, "Oh, maybe it's anxiety." I'm just like, "I don't know anyone. I don't know what this show is." "It's COVID. All that tastes about the changing." Yeah. I'm just like, "I need something in my stomach. I'm going to keep eating the disgusting sandwich." Oh, God. Yeah. So, I show up to the set, and I'm feeling crazy, like, lightheaded, and I'm like, "I think I need more water. I just feel really off." But I'm like, "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine." I'm like, "We're going to do a hide-and-seek segment, and Blippi is like 200% energy." Just like, "Yeah. I'll hide first." And I'm like, "Okay." This is new Blippi. Yes. And I was behind a wall, and then I cartwheeled in front of the camera, so it's like the kids are seeing, like, "Oh, there she is." You appear. You're being interesting. Yeah. So, I did the cartwheel, and they're like, "You can cartwheel?" And I'm like, "Why are we excited about that?" Like, "You should cartwheel every entrance." And I was like, "No! What have I done? What have I done?" So, I were improvising and doing all the things, and it was fun. But I was like, "Oh, I think I'm dizzy from all the cartwheels." Like, the room was spinning. This is a good theory. You caught wailing? Dizzy. Right. I haven't heard from years. Like, yeah, it was just like, that was crazy. I went upside down so many times. So then, we're like, "We're gonna get in the car and go to this person's house. We're filming in their backyard. She's a really cool backyard." Like, "Okay, I get in the car," and I'm literally like, "No, no, no, no, no. Things are gonna happen. Things are gonna happen." We get to this person's yard, and I said, "Hey, I don't want to eat this lunch, and I feel like shit. I feel like shit. I have to say it. I feel like shit." And they're like, "You do? Oh my God. Do you think you have COVID? I don't know if this is a COVID thing." Yeah. It's a one time in the history of saying that I feel like shit is so loaded. And everyone's like, "Yeah." So I ended up puking like seven times in this woman's guesthouse, and I'm sweating. I take half my clothes off. I'm laying on this woman's bed, rubbing my own stomach, my sweaty stomach. The producer knocks like, "Keylin," and I was like, "You don't want to come in here." He cracks the door open and he goes, "We know that we want you. You don't have to do anything else. We just wanted to make sure you weren't crazy. This is not an audition. Don't worry." Yeah. We're gonna make sure you're sick and you haven't just gone and stripped off and freaking out in this woman's house. I don't like shaking.
'cause I, you know, everything came out of my body. And I kept saying, "Let me sing for you. "Let me sing for you, 'cause he kept saying "we want her to be musical." And I'm like, "I never sang today. "Let me sing for you." And he was like, "It's okay. "You just lay there." - You can sing. - Yeah. - Then I thought, "No, I need them "to see everything that I can do." So I get up and I'm like trying to like powder my face 'cause it's so sweaty. And I walked outside and everyone just backs up. And I was like, "I could do. "I'll improvise a segment right now." And the producer was like, "I respectfully, "you don't look great." - Yeah. - And I was like, "Okay, I guess I shouldn't." Yeah, I just, I think I need to fly home. - Finally, you take the pedal off. - Yes, like what's wrong with me? Yeah, and then they were like-- - You wanted to show them. You wanted to show them that you could sing. - And they were trusting me, but I was like, "You don't really know what I can do. "This is a big risk." And they're like, "No, you're fine." - So just maximum food poisoning hitting in the worst possible way at the worst possible time. - It was awful. - Holy shit, what do you think was wrong in the sandwich? Egg or me? - Egg. - Or it was egg, bad egg. - And egg food poisoning's bad. I've had it all the way egg food poisoning. - I've never had it. - I haven't had it right when spine flu was coming around. And I thought I had spine flu. - Yeah, holy shit. - I've never, ever been that bad. It was awful. - So flying back, we used to thinking I fucked up and I didn't get the gig. Or did you feel confident that you were good? - Maybe this is a red flag that I should not be working. - Yeah, that's a sign. - Like I really was like, that was wild. That's never happened before. But the two producers that I was working with were so lovely and so nice. And I was like, I would love to work for them again. Like they were so great. But I was like, I don't even really know what this is. Is this like a YouTube gig? And I just, I don't know. So I didn't really think too much about it. And then I didn't hear from them for months. - That's fine. - I was just like, they're probably not gonna go forward with whatever. And then my friend was like, are you doing Bloopy's Treehouse? 'Cause your picture like pops up like, it was in like a pitch meeting or something. And I was like, what? - You heard a billboard. - What's Bloopy's Treehouse? - Yeah. - Like it's going to be like a premium live action show, not YouTube, a series. And I'm like, I never heard of Bloopy's Treehouse. And she's like, I'm pretty sure they want you to be in it. Said interesting. So I emailed the producer that I'd like really connected with. Like, hey, a long time no see. I'm hearing whispering of Bloopy's Treehouse and the email bounces back. Find out, she doesn't work there anymore. - Uh-huh. - And I'm like, oh, but you are my favorite. So I'm like, okay. They finally, I got a phone call asking if I could come to LA to meet Steven John, the original Bloopy, the creator of Bloopy, 'cause he was going to do the show. And Amazon wanted to see basically like a chemistry read. - So new Bloopy that you admit is out of the picture now? You're back with old Bloopy. - Yes. - So original Bloopy. - Yes, so I'm like, okay. And I find to LA for like 48 hours to meet Steven. Big sandwich right away. - I was like, oh, actually, when I walked into the office, one of the guys was like, oh, should I order a breakfast sandwich? And I was like, too soon. Too soon. - Everyone remembers. Everyone knows. - Yeah, and they're just like, ooh, you feeling okay? I'm like, it was six months ago. Like, I'm great now. So we met and became instant friends. It was like right away. I was like, oh, I love this guy. And they're like, great, we're going to film you to walking around the office and just do like a classic Bloopy video. And we just improvised an entire episode where we were like touring the office. And we didn't want to take. And they're like, no notes sent it to Amazon. And Amazon was like, yeah, that's your girl. And then like a week later, I came to LA for a three month contract to do Bloopy's Treehouse. - And you were in on one of the biggest kid shows ever. - And still kind of not understanding that. I thought I'm going to do a three month gig of Bloopy's Treehouse at the end. - Yeah, what was that trajectory? How immediate was it? - It was like in the middle of those three months, they started talking to me of like, yeah, we want you to join the franchise. And I think as an actor, we like protect ourselves. We are ready for rejection, things to go wrong. And I'm always like, I believe nothing until I see it in writing and they're just talking, yeah, we want you to join the franchise and then maybe your character will have her own YouTube channel. And I'm just like, whatever, whatever, whatever. Like I have other things going on, whatever. And then yeah, next thing I know, I'm like signing this big fat contract, not big fat money was, but a contract of many, many pages to join a franchise as this new character. And before I knew it was like, my episodes are on Netflix and Disney and there's a meek of doll. And it was just, my brain is still trying to really understand how big it all became. But yeah, very, very different from Sunny Side Up where I was super involved in creating and writing, had a lot of input and then to switch to playing a character that I helped create. But I didn't have a lot of, I caught myself getting frustrated because I wanted to be like, actually, I have a better idea. If anyone cares, I have some experience. What was the character of Mika? How was it different? Because I was just joking with Rob that you were going to come in and play that character. Would you die? I don't know what I would do. And I'm just like, I'm like this all the time. Yeah, what was-- I can't wait. Yeah, I was waiting for it. Yeah, we all had to do a different trans again. What, how did you reach that character and what, can you just describe that character to me? So Mika is Blippi's best friend. She, well, Mika changed a few times. OK. And before Mika, it was Dottie. OK. That's who was Cartwheel again. OK, Dottie Cartwheel. Dottie, it was D-O-T-I, is how I spelled the name. Then it switched to Mika. On Blippi's tree house, Mika was really musical. I sang in every single episode, sang and danced. She was also a maker, a crafter, and like voice of reason, Blippi's very reactive, where Mika really thinks things through and plans them out and is like, hold on. Where Blippi just goes. She's the type A friend. Yes, exactly. And loves a Cartwheel. And then the character as higher ups changed and everyone has an opinion. And she started changing. And that's when there is a bit of a rub. Because I'm like, wait, wait, wait. We worked so hard to develop this, Mika. And now she's getting a little closer to Blippi. So what were these changes? Being more intense, being more odd voices, more-- what was the thing? Well, they were like, here's a page of catch phrases that we want Mika to say, like all of a sudden. All right, just bust these out, I don't know where-- Yeah, and I'm like, just naturally say-- Cowl Bunga. None of them sounded like Mika to me. It was so, like, a forced catch phrase. Where on Blippi's tree house, Mika always said fabulous, like, all the time. She's like, I have a fabulous idea for blah, blah, blah. Or like, that was her word, but that was it. There wasn't a list of catch phrases. No, and it made sense you could flip that into something how you'd naturally react to something. That's right. And Blippi did not have catch phrases, really. So I was like, why do I have a list? That's so funny, like, what a weird task to get. And then the creative execs would be like, oh, maybe see this line in here, like, the catch phrase. And I'm like, OK, I'll try. And it's just like trying to force like a-- Oh, I would hate this. I would bristle at this shit. Yeah. Yeah, so who are you to tell me what to say? Yeah. So I'm nailing this character. This is so annoying. Yeah. And then some of them were kind of like two a beat, you know, like-- Because they probably want to put on a t-shirt or something, you know? They want things to catch on because it's just such a business. Well, in that world, too, is people being creative that shouldn't need too many cooks. Too many cooks. Lots of cooks. Which, though, maybe-- because what was the rub you created the character? And a lot of it was improvised. Yeah. But you don't have ownership in IP and the growth of it, you're not necessarily reaping the benefits. I'm not at all. And then watching it get distorted. How was that? Not great. I'm still working through some things, honestly, because of how we stream things in YouTube, people are discovering Nika for the first time every day. Friend recently, someone recognized me in public. And she was like, that still happens. I'm like, it's going to keep happening. Because she keeps getting me discovered. So just for me, quick timeline of you getting that key job to feeling like it's souring, do you leaving? What roughly years was that? So 2021 is when I came out for those three months. And then for that first year, so to 2022. And I was doing episodes for YouTube with Stephen. and I wasn't doing that just the mecha solo episodes yet.
Then when it switched to Mika Solo, things were like different and then probably 2023 is when I was like, "Mayday, Mayday." Like this is a very different job than what I signed up for and it's not feeling so great. I stayed on a little longer just out of fear of not having a job and not getting a paycheck. But it was just constantly changing and yeah. But really just that first year, and there were lots of problems, but I was having a lot of fun. So I was like, "How lucky am I that I like having fun on the job." December 2024 and they offered me another contract and I said no. Interesting. What a wild ride. It was the biggest no ever. You knew. People are still like, "I cannot believe you said no." How interesting. 'Cause yeah, that's such an amazing thing like an incredible turn down because you're this big thing. But creatively you just is driving you mad. I kind of was doing this. This precious thing that you helped build that probably meant a lot to you and to see it crushed or morphed into something different. Yeah. I had to really separate myself from the character and I found people asking me all the time. I said, "Do you miss it?" And I don't, which is telling. Yeah. You're one. I would have been surprised if someone said in a few years, "You're not gonna miss this." 'Cause I'm like, "I have having so much fun. I can't believe I get to do this." And film all the time. I just felt very lucky to be an actor in these shitty times and have jobs. Yeah, so I don't miss being that character. I also do turn it on all the time 'cause I do run into families pretty regularly that are like, "Are you Mika?" So I will dip into the character a lot. And I'm on Cameo, not as Mika as Caitlin, but I can't help but turn that part of me on when I'm talking to a kid, especially their fan. What was the driver then? Was it just how they were changing the character or you burnt out from a grueling production schedule? There were a lot of things. There was a lot of miscommunications. There was a lot of lines, like things that I was just like, "This is not how I work." And this doesn't feel good, especially when you're making something for kids. And there was a lot of, I don't know, I was constantly disappointed. And that's exhausting. And it was hard, it was getting hard to show up to set and be this energetic, positive character when I just got off of a frustrating phone call with a producer. And then having to be on camera like, "I'm so excited." And then inside I'm like, "Huh!" Do you know that dichotomy would be crazy-making? How is Blippi to deal with that character, the man? The character, the man. So I'm really close with the original Blippi, Stephen Drone. We still talk all the time. You hate the new one, though? No, no, no. Actually, I hate no one. And that is for real. They're very different. Blippi is, in my opinion, some people don't think so, but they're different people. So it's different energies. Clayton is a lot younger than me. And so I just felt so old around him because he has so, so much energy. And he's so eager and excited and loves being Blippi, and I felt like- Young people. They make me do another cult, and I was like, "That was my hip-hop, sorry." I felt like we are on two different pages in this life. Where Stephen was more of a chilled out energy. He create Blippi himself. So I mean, he probably had a totally different relationship with Blippi. Totally. And like- Clayton had to come in and play a character that was so beloved and people are obsessed with Blippi. And then he has to come in as the new Blippi. Lucky for me, I got to be an OG. Now there's another Mika. There's another Mika. Yeah. This is just like swapping out. So within the YouTube channel, like I remember Vinny Watchy, and then we're like, "That's not Caitlyn anymore." That's a different thing. Yeah, that's interesting. And we look nothing alike. Occasionally in adult shows, I'll swap characters out, and it's always a bit of a jump. House of the vegan. Yeah, but also shopping out of main character is kind of crazy. But I guess kids sort of accept it, but also just got so many questions. Old original Blippi Stephen. Yeah. He's not on screen anymore. No. He's retired. He's just pulling the strings. That's Blippi. He's not even. Not even. Like he sold the branch to Moonbug. He's out to Moonbug. Got a payday out of there. Mm-hmm. Okay. And you? Have you met new you? New Mika? Yes. And actually- That's weird. People don't realize that I met her not even a year into me being Mika. Like they brought her in pretty fast. Uh-huh. But some people are still finding out like, what? There's a new Mika and I'm like, y'all has been happening. She'd be here. Did you have to train her? No, but I did offer to help and support it. I was like, this is a weird situation. But it would be easier to be kind and open and go with it. And so I offered and I offered my information to her. You're my number. I told Moonbug. I told Moonbug, I'm happy to support and also because I'm precious about the character. I want her to be successful and, you know, carry on. No, I want to see of Mika. So I'm like, I'm here to help. I really am. I'm here to help and support, but no one wanted any of that. So I said, okay. Got it. Message received. And I did tell them. You know, I don't like that, especially being a person of color. Mm-hmm. You're casting someone as the exact same character saying that's the same person. And we look completely different. It's a question I had in my mind and I wasn't sure how to raise it. It's like, who is this new version of you? Yeah. Well, and I said, when I first met her before she signed a contract and they had her visit set, I was like, what? Like, five inches shorter than me, different skin tone, like, very, very different. And I was like, I can't, how do they think this is okay? This is feeling a little racist. Yeah. You know, like, and are we expecting families to just think that all black girls look the same? You're like, I was like, this is, woo! Like, my body was reacting, not like eggs and much way. I get it. It's vomiting immediately. I was like, this is, yeah. And I felt they weren't being very like sensitive about it. It just happened very fast. And everything there moves very quickly. I improvise and I'm always making up silly songs and things, whatever. I don't think about it. It just like comes out. And they loved that about Mika, which it is me. Like that's a specific skill. And they're like, oh, we love when Mika, I'm like, I don't even, you know, I don't plan it. It just kind of happens as I'm like playing on camera. So they would tell her like, oh, and you should like make up funny songs. Like, Caitlin does. I'm like, who can, it's not a lot of people just naturally do that. Like Senator Cartwheel School. Yeah. Yeah, they're like stretching her legs out. Like, it's worth it. You have to cartwheel in and out. So I felt bad, but I'm just like, the new people are, they're not set up for success. To be like, we want you to be a copy-paste version. They're forcing them into a very strange box of someone else's creation. Yes, I don't know. I have a lot of feelings about it, but I wish that things had worked out differently. I wish that they had taken some time to figure out how to fill more and do more with multiple actors. Whether that's, have a new girl come in who's a different character. We always, we, me and myself and I, we are like, why can't it be like blippy and friends? Or, you know, we're, they're just bringing in new characters and not saying. Oh, that'd be very easy. The way they brought in Mika, they just bring in another person. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. When I tell you, like, strangers come up to me. I have so many drunk moms that will come up to me at a bar and they'll be like, it's weird with the new Mika. It's weird, right? And I'm like, I mean, you know, life is crazy. Like what? The conversations you must have. And that's not going to stop. That'll go on because this stuff is evergreen. And it's always going to be in, as you say, people are going to discover it for the first time. Yeah. That's still a part of your life. Yes, very much so. Yeah, I mean, I think you're remaining relatively calm in a very weird situation. But you could be this bit of twisted person. You feel very, I mean, maybe you're hiding it. You seem like very calm and chill and a very hot thing. I'm not hiding it. But I do feel, I mean, my lawyer, when they offered me the contract because I was just like, no, thank you. And he's like, just for fun, what would you say? He's like they're not going to, but
Just for fun, Zs, what if they said we will give you a million dollars to stay and I said I would say no thank you and he was like understood. I was just very like sure and like it is time and it was the shock of a lifetime to everyone. How long ago was this? Two years, a year and a half. Which also given the financials of it to a million dollars wouldn't have been crazy for them to offer you knowing that they would it what three billion dollars was what it was allegedly acquired for. I don't think it was in the billions but definitely the millions and millions and I yeah I was working my ass off outside of Mika to pay my rent and like my bills. Which most people would assume that like you're this star of this kids TV show I had so many friends when like merchants I started to come out and they're like oh my god you're doing it you're so successful and I'm like wait what sent me a link to that toy I've never seen that before like I'm not yeah you entered this business machine yeah that was using you and your likeness and this character you Netflix it's like people are like oh my god you're on Netflix like congrats on the Netflix deal I'm like I didn't sign a Netflix deal I had nothing to do with that. Yeah so as this is getting bigger it's not like your paycheck is increasing not all the stuff in merchandise you're not reeking you're you're not bringing in millions and millions of dollars. Yeah. Not again I think like you've stayed incredibly sane with all of that around you because that's just bonkers to see. Yeah. Within the world of children's educators and Rob is educating me about some of them before you came in. Did you get to sort of meet other people I think about Miss Rachel and my other people did you do you know these people in this world? I do and Rachel's one of my best friends now. I'll get out. And she this is another example of lack of communication. Rachel message and I didn't know who she was again I promise I'm not like clueless but when this happened she was not as big as she is now and she was making videos and I saw her on TikTok only doing videos that were for babies and my son was not a baby and I didn't have any other babies in my life so I just like what I didn't know who she was. She messaged me on Instagram and said hey we should meet we're both in New York we're both moms we have like sons that are the same age I think and we're going to be singing together soon and I was like singing together. What are you talking about? Who is this? Like I feel like that's the girl I saw on TikTok doing like a baby speech thing and she was like yeah we're doing an episode together. I was like hmm all right but she's like we should like grab a coffee and like sure news to me. I did appreciate the like crossovers of these worlds. It was very much like WWF back in the day and like Scooby Doo where they they'd bring on wrestlers and kiss and you're like all these worlds coming together. How are these connected? I just like what they're all friends so Rachel and I met for coffee and ended up being like a four hour hang where we were again just instant friends and being like me to me to me to me to and just like laughing and similar backgrounds and so that was awesome and then when we got to do the episode together it was like yeah my friend yeah then she was like welcome to the world of blipian mecha too which is completely different from what she does and we are so like fast and furious and like let's film three episodes in one day and it's like very crazy and she's like um I like to wrap by like 3 p.m. I am like like yeah it's like sorry welcome this crazy over here. I love that she was cool from the second jimito because as someone that doesn't have kids and doesn't know this world she came on my radar when she was so outspoken about Palestine and I was just like holy shit this is a bold bold move when you were so big and no one was talking about it of that level I feel like when she was it's incredible she's about us she's about us yeah biggest heart in the world when did she enter what was going on with you and mecha like what time was that happening I definitely was like I want out okay but so I think was that maybe 2023 maybe did she help like was did or was it just two different of worlds that two different um I mean I definitely like share things with her as a friend but yeah at that point I was like a little mentally checked out yeah my fear yeah yeah and not really to have that same conversation with a bunch of different people yes I'm out of here yeah but we do the kids world is so small especially with um live action shows like there's so much animation but there's not a lot of live action shows for preschoolers where you have a real human like talking to the camera um but we do all kind of know each other yeah and as someone with a kid as well and you've got that insight what do you make of this world where you have I feel like it goes from like AI slop through to beautifully crafted animation through to real people and personalities when you think of what kids are consuming which is very different when I was a kid and Rob was a kid like what do you make of that do you have thoughts on that in general sure I do yeah yes I do yeah where do we like where do we begin with this but well the reason I was so turned off by YouTube when they first reached out to me is because I only knew the YouTube videos that were like the unboxing videos that kids were watching you know I'm just like you're just watching hours of kids open up a box and pull out a toy or whatever and uh I was like is that what I'm gonna be doing or I don't want to do YouTube stuff I hate how much is out there and how fast or easy it is to switch to the next thing whether you're on YouTube or just on Netflix you know it's so easy to be like next episode next episode or my kid will switch so many times it makes me crazy yeah if any I'll do that where we're like you're gonna pick this one and you get to finish it and you're sticking with it and if even it's not the episode you want like yeah we can change it after aside the equivalent of an adult changing a song is halfway through next song you know flipping through a playlist just I know let it finish well YouTube's training them to do that too exactly and I I remember being stressed out at like a blockbuster because of all the options of movies and knowing like I can rent one movie we've talked about this you have yeah it was just like it's a big deal decision fatigue it's the movie that I'm gonna watch tonight but that's something you had to like think through and conceptualize yes whereas this whole thing of kids or adults flipping to the next thing it's also teaching the creators and the corporations behind it we have to create something that is like crack yeah that is gonna keep the kid on and not do that thing and then that makes it a crazy yeah and in YouTube it's like we have to grab them within the first like three seconds and so it's yeah yeah yeah but yeah I think there's there's too much there's too many options there's really really good shows out there I'm always pushing PBS on people like don't forget PBS every show on there is perfect perfect is it anything that you asked you'd push people to vote specifically or PBS is the one you like this is a little kid some always PBS PBS PBS cool you know now my kid is eight so he does love his screen time it stresses me out I started tracking his non-screen time and I told him every hour that you choose to not be on a screen so not if you're at school and not if you're at soccer fact you are choosing to do something other than go on a screen I'm tracking it and when you get to 24 hours you get a yes day I said this two months ago and he still has not gotten the 24 hours I'm like yeah it's hard right I kind of imagine growing up in that world and I'm still getting I mean there's so much I think someone there's no kids I think there's too much panic about screens and I think there's it's gone too far the other way my wife and I've had this conversation too if you just fully cut them off from the technology they're gonna be left behind and everyone that can use an iPad really well technologically they're gonna be a nap and they're getting good stuff through that sometimes like this good stuff to be learned so it's balancing act my kid likes to FaceTime his friends like on his iPad which I'm like oh so cute but then it's always gonna turn into like wait go to YouTube I'm gonna start this YouTube video wait let's go to YouTube together I'm like yeah can you just talk about your day can't you just isn't there's something crazy that happened in school today you can discuss but yeah I'm with you of like you don't want them to be behind I also want my son to be in the know you know it's just part of the conversation when kids are like talking about a funny video or something just forming habits that are healthy or not and realizing when the little one is getting upset because he doesn't have his iPad that he can watch something find it so terrifying when I see people taking an iPad off a kid and they just flip out for a video game it's kind of an amazing thing to see yeah holy I mean that doesn't feel right No, I am proud that. But I have never, the rule for Everett having a screen like someone else's house or at a restaurant, I'm very strict at a restaurant. There's no screens at a restaurant and he's fine with that, unless here's the only time I'll bend the rule is if I am meeting a friend of mine and I'm like, sorry, you have to come with me. We're having like adult conversation, not, oh my God, not read it are, but just like boring to him, you know, like, so what, but I still he has for the first hour. It's no screen. If we go over the hour and we're just getting into it, my friend and I and like, what did he say to you? And then I'm like, you're fine. You can like, watch something because he's just sitting there like, you're totally, I just feel like every generation has their panic, right? Like I feel like when I was growing up, a sort of TV is bad. You know, no TV. TV is this big evil thing. Don't be too close to the TV. And now it's, yeah, a screen thing. So whatever new technology is coming out, I feel like parents are also blaming that on them not being able to jump in and do the right parenting thing. Yeah. How was navigating having a son at the same time as you were this character for other people's children? Was that tricky? It was not so tricky. It was nice to have a point of reference. You know, they say in kids TV, to imagine that the camera is one individual kid. Watching you, that's like the secret to like, you know, talking to the lens like one child. And so how easy for me to be like every, you know, like my son. I would catch myself being silly in a way that my son loves me to be silly. So I was like, that's nice for me that I have this kid I can like, yeah, have as a inspiration or motivation whenever he never ever cared that I played the character to this day. He's still like, what, I've gone in for career day multiple times. And the first time I went in, the kids just know me as Everett's mom. And I'm like, hi, I'm an actor, writer. And you might know me from this character named Mika and everyone's like, wait, what, what? Just watch everyone's brain explode because it's like, why would Mika be sitting in our classroom right now? This makes no sense. Looking like this. You know, and so they're just like, wait, whatever, that's what, what, what, what? And then they had like hundreds of questions like, that was my other question because I don't know how, like the sort of audience you have kid, a lot of kids watching you obviously as that character, parents in the background as well. How often does it affect your life when you were on the show and also now of people recognizing you because you're not in an outfit, you're more chill, you know, you're not cartwheeling. Yeah. What is that like? And for the most part, it's, it's good. It's like, you know, it's nice to be recognized for something positive. You know, if people are always like, when they meet me, it's always a very lovely experience. There's only been a handful of like weird instances. But I am very aware of how I'm behaving now, not like I'm some crazy lady out in New York, but like, like, I like that fun, okay. And I'm just like, yeah, no, you, okay, like, Mika can't be out there boost on the street. You know, and what if I want to be, that's my, my choice, leave me alone. So I am pretty like hyper aware and I don't really like that. But I'm not, you know, I'm not like, no, Sonny, you've got this character you kind of need to protect still, right? This character that still lives online and lives on these services. Yeah, my sister came to town last year and she wanted to go to the color factory, which is like a very, um, place in New York where you can, every room is a different color. It's, it's like for Instagram, you know, and there's a spot in each room to like get your picture and it's, it's fun. And I had done an episode there. My sister didn't know that. And I was like, and she was like, it looks cool. It looks cool. I want to go. I'm like, okay, but I've, I just don't want a lot of families to be like, what's up when I'm having like sister time because all I'm going to say is maybe things happen before and after. And I'm vibing at the museum. Okay. So we go there. It is a color museum. Come on. I was like, let's get into it. So, um, I'm wearing a black hoodie and a hat, which is not create, like that's a look for me. It's pretty, I'm just like hoodie and a hat. And it's packed with families. And I'm just looking at my sister like, I told you, I told you she's like, it's fine. It's fine. No one knows you. I know. No one knows you. Okay. Um, so we go through the thing, the very end of the experience. There's a massive ball pit, which is very blippy brand. Like there's so many episodes of ball pits and I'm like, no, I forgot, no, I cannot be in a ball pit. It's too, like me because in a ball pit, so she's like, we have to get the ball pit picture. They have a spot where you like lay in the ball pit and there's a camera on the ceiling and it takes your picture. And she's like, that's like the iconic picture. We have to get the picture. And I was like, oh, fine. So I'm like shuffling through the balls. Car wheeling. Can't help it. And I notice this mom and dad, they're just laser focused on me. And I was like, oh, no, I mean, I'm in a ball pit. I think they've spot me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I hear the mom say to her kid, go play with Mika. And I looked at my sister like, fuck you. Go play with Mika. I told you. And here comes this kid and two kids, they're running through the ball pit and a Mika Mika. They get balls and they are chucking them at me. And so, so this is where I want to be like, don't fucking throw a ball at me. But I have to, I'm like, everyone's staring at me like, that's Mika. Yeah. Mika can't do that. Mika can't fuck with kids. And I notice like I went on a ball to a Mika's tripping ball. I was like, yeah, so I turn around and I was just like, hi, guys. And I'm like looking at my sister and it's like ball to the head, and I turn around and I go, oh, don't do that. And the parents are just taking pictures and whatever. I said, don't do that. And they're just laughing. So little kids and I said, no, don't do that. You're going to hurt me. Yes. And so I saw the dad like coming over because he probably saw like, what is she saying to make it? But why are you chucking a ball at me? I thought they were going to come over and say like, are you Mika, but they attacked. Kids can be savages. Yeah. And also, or somebody's you're not a real person in that point. You're a character. Yeah. They get ginger, it's like bunnies in there. Yeah. Yeah. Or a tally tubby. We gotta go. We gotta go. She's like still laying there like, no, I want to get the picture. And I'm like, oh my God, but there, yeah, there are times and I'm just amazing out like having fun with friends. And I'm like here. And I always know because no one is ever subtle. It's like if you're me sitting at a bar, it'll be like, oh, and I'm like, oh, hello. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And people turn weird once that happens. Yeah. I've had people cry, which is and I'm just like, oh my God, they're like adults. Yeah. Because they'll have some sweet story of like my daughter never wanted to try this until the episode where you, and I'm just like, oh my God, I don't even remember that episode. But like, thank you for sharing that with me. Yeah. What a world. It's weird. It's weird. You got sucked into and then just became this huge thing and you can still observe this going on, you know? Yeah. It's wild. It really is. This whole thing is wild. It is. It's so crazy. You get that with tickling, right? You get tickled in public. Sometimes, yeah, I made a tickling, a documentary about like a frauds to tickling competition ten years ago now. And that's my thing that people mostly would know me for because it's sort of like a weird tickle you in public. It's called competitive endurance tickling is what's the documentary is about. And so people will occasionally come up to me and go tickle, tickle, tickle, and give me a tickle. I mean, that's assault, you know? And lordship, for me, it's not children's adult. So I can just say, I mean, I'm a nice person, so I'm just like, these don't do that. Yeah. That's happened a few times. And that is why, yeah, it's like, it's violating, I mean, I say it's assault. You look at throwing balls at you. Yeah, stop touching me. I'm not into this at all. Oh my gosh. But it's funny. But it also is also that thing of like, you know, I've seen that at, I've been to concerts with Rob and people know him from, from Amchia or this show. And they'll, they'll do an eye and they'll lock in and they've got very specific questions because they have this relationship with you, you know? And it's weird. At least they're not tickling you. And they're all throwing balls through any of your head. They're sure of civil conversation. How do you do about your tattoos? I do. Or about music. A baby name, though, that I get called from, yeah, Wobbywob is him, yeah, so annoying. Oh, it's Wobbywob. No, we're like adults. I'm Rob. Yeah. No, we're all kind of like, children, infantiles or something. It's like really weird. Wobbywob. Tickle, tickle. It's Mika. All in the hand. We're all living in this twisted like fucked up alternate universe that will never sort of fully throw. It's weird. People can be. People are weird. Yeah. What we love it too. Yeah, I'm going to say, but truly, because I don't, not that don't tickle me. No, don't. Don't. Don't tickle. But yeah, I always tell people, like you can always come up and say hi, and it's done with love. Yeah. Like it's so nice. It's a positive response. It can't complain about that. Yeah. Balls are the head annoying. But kids, we let them get away with stuff, don't we? My gosh. If it was adults throwing balls at your head in a, in a, in a, in a, yeah, get them out of that. Oh my god. Is it anything you want to say? I think Vincent might be watching this.
Is there anything you want to say to camera, just Vincent, just to be like checking in? Yes, Vincent, hi! I can't believe you're four. You're a big kid now. Big kid status, bro, and it's okay that Blip is your favorite because he is a boy. I totally get it, and we're still really good friends. I loved her. She's amazing. And what, I just think it's a really interesting existence she has where she's so connected with this character she made. She's no longer playing the character. And she still has people, I guess they're obviously arc as it was a huge, it's a huge thing coming up to her. And she's still filming videos with the likes of Miss Rachel. Yeah, I mean, I also love just the integrity that she had to why she left and completely. Because she didn't want to devalue this thing that she helped create. Yeah, and it's not like she'd just created a name or a thing, it's like she'd created what she wears and how she talks and how she dances and the whole thing, the whole package. Yeah. And I really like that conversation she had with her lawyer, with a lawyer sort of put this in front of her if they gave you a million, what do you do it? And she's just clearly not doing it. That kind of says it all. Yeah, I mean, I love it. She's probably worth a lot more than a million, I would argue as well. Yes, knowing the estimated value of some of the deals around these companies and these characters. Yeah, completely. But it's always just so refreshing to meet people like that within a creative space that are seemingly just doing it for much more pure reasons and not financially, fully financially motivated. You're doing it for the love of the whole thing. I think also kind of the fact she was raising a son at the same time, she sort of doing this. That's really fascinating. Yeah. And also just really, I really love that story about being in the ball pit and just having to deal with some incredibly insufferable children and not being able to, she's got to be nice. You've always got to be nice because you come from this beautiful persona that still exists online and people are still discovering and we'll be discovering for the next 20 years. It's kind of a mad situation to be in. I mean, it's also just because she's a good person. Like, kids throwing a ball at me, not going to curse them out. Kid threw a ball at my head in a ball pit. Furious. I'm cussing them out. Yeah. It's all happening. Also, I didn't understand that she had such a close relationship with Miss Rachel, that that is was such, I guess, just shooting with her and then also becoming such good friends. That's also incredibly surreal. Did you talk about the world of these creators at the beginning and the fact that they all sort of seem to know each other as well? Which should have made sense, but just know each other so well? Yeah. Yeah. And that it's not competitive and that there is this camaraderie between them. I mean, Miss Rachel is another one that seems to just be doing it out of sheer goodness. And I don't believe she is sold to any of these big places. I think she's still just making videos that she wants on her own time and-- And also with no fear of anything, you know, briefly spoke about this before, but at the height of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you know, she was calling that out for being a genocide before anyone, certainly anyone with her sort of following, certainly in the world of children's TV, who's even bringing up like that's a bold-ass move to do. Yeah. I mean, given how controversial it was for anyone to bring it up with something to lose, going into this world that is children's content that is definitely not politicized and being like, "Oh, this isn't a political thing. This is about children." No, she saw a literal genocide of children. She's a children's-- she caters two children and not to turn a blind eye to that when most of the world was huge, and of course she would lose viewers from that, that be parents watching that are like, "No, our kid is no longer watching that shit ever." Yeah. Did it anyway? I looked into her advocacy work there, so she began speaking out in May 2024, participated in a save-the-children fundraiser that was for kids in conflict zones, and immediately got backlash for doing it just for that, in which she came out and said, "Her care for children doesn't stop at any border, that she treats it as a professional moral extension, not partisan politics." Yeah. Kids. And then she has since become an ambassador for the Palestinian--becoming an ambassador for Palestine Children's Relief Fund, helped connect and publicize the story of a little girl named Rahaf, three-year-old who lost both legs in a bombing, and then was evacuated to the US. Yeah, I remember seeing videos of Miss Rachel with this little girl. That's how she came across my radar was for the advocacy work. And also, it's kind of mad to think that people are coming up to her for daring to speak on behalf of kids who are losing their legs. Yeah. What? Yeah, come again? Why are we arguing about this? She'd risk her career over and over for this advocacy, acknowledged pushback from financial backers and doesn't care if she also stated July 2025, she won't work with people who haven't spoken out against it. Respect. That's so cool to see. And then additional advocacy work around immigration and ICE. She's spoken out against ICE-detaining children, launch petition to close one of the facilities in Texas and gathered over 300,000 signatures. And just June of this year went to Capitol Hill to speak with lawmakers with letters and drawings from children from ICE custody. Yeah, incredible. So, it's also such a logical thing, like it's such a smart way to use her platform because it's kids. She caters to kids and it's like we're kids most being shed on that I can help with right now. She dives straight in, which is bonkers. Yeah, I mean Ms. Rachel Sun's incredible. I liked her before and over the last couple of years have seen this has made me like her even more. Up and up and up. Yeah. And also, I don't know. I also like that there's no bitterness in this world that we've seen just now. It's all feels like pretty good. And opposite end to the AI slop that kids can potentially be watching. Yeah. I'm very cynical. It's nice to know that there's a world in here that is like seems quite like there's good well in it. Yeah. It's not just out to make a buck, which though, I mean, listening to Caitlin and Mika stories a little bit on the other side of that. Oh, no, also people being hideously burned completely from a corporate side. Yeah. But I just think her attitude to that the fact she wasn't in here like ranting and raving is like she is yeah, I admire that a lot. I mean, it's who you want to be making content that's going to help shape your children completely. So, yeah, for me, it's great knowing that Vincent watched this and it's coming from people that are seemingly that good. And also, I leave very cute messages for your children just by the best thing in the world. So, speaking of influencers on children, I did a bit of googling I'm blippy, I'm blippy recently. I want to address the blippy aka Steven John controversy that I kind of referenced earlier on the show, but couldn't quite remember what had happened. Yeah. So, we'll get comments about it. So, yeah, there was some controversy, it was in 2013, so before John was blippy, he had a different persona called Steezy Grossman, which is what's he we're going to bring him. And in 2013, there was a huge viral trend called the Harlem Shake, which I'd actually forgot to exactly what the Harlem Shake was, but it was basically like a line from the Harlem Shake dance on the song, you're watching a video of like a car moment and then there's a jump cut. Yeah. And everyone is doing chaotic in the song. Harlem Shake, and these videos were everywhere, it was a huge viral sensation. Before Bippy was Bippy, he did a Harlem Shake video and the big reveal, the big jump cut was him taking a shit on his friend. He made that video as this other sort of character that was outed in 2019 when he was now blippy. Yeah. Huge controversy over that. A lot of parents didn't like the idea that this child's in tetanus and a past iteration of his life had taken a shit on someone, which I can kind of, it's very funny to me that this happened. Yeah, I find it immediately funny. I mean, the expectation of purity from, I mean, this is the flip side of what we were just saying that we loved that pure and great and perfect these people out. Keelan and me, which I was trying to be a little careful saying that because I think the expectation that they have to be isn't fair, especially knowing Keelan, too, and the weight that she should feel as a children's entertainer. Completely. When she's an adult and she wants to be able to go and have a nice time out with her friends and not be judged constantly. But then also a video of, I mean, like, that doesn't. yeah, I find it very funny. There's much, I guess, there's much worse things he could have done. That would have been more problematic if there was racial stuff. Oh, no. I mean, this wasn't someone. So essentially, it's funny to me because you've got, it's a jackass style stunt. Yeah. We both watch jackass recently. There's plenty of people shooting on each other there. It's just a very funny fact that it's a children's entertainer who people hadn't thought about his previous iterations on him on YouTube to consenting adults taking a shot on one another. It's very funny. It's a really graphic full-on video. It's shocking. It's shocking. You're not expecting it to happen. That's what made the video go viral originally. But a kid watching Plippy is like, maybe don't put that on the same YouTube channel. You're not going to run into that video, hopefully. No. Well, the other thing is he took this incredibly seriously, and he spent a lot of money, I understand, to issue takedown notices to all the places hosts in the video, getting it basically newt from the internet, partly for his own image, but also partly because he didn't want kids coming across this thing because when it was reported on, suddenly, you Google his name and that you Google Blippy and Harlem Shake will come up. He didn't want people doing that and clicking on the video. Yeah, clearly. So it's newt. But I just wanted to address that because I find it hilarious and that will chase that particular actor for the rest of his life. That will always be there. Which I wonder too, if that came out in 2019, all of the acquisitions 2021, 2022. Whether that would have happened if that video would come out earlier. Well, if it was a factor in him selling and stepping down. Interesting. And coming out of the line light, because yeah, that's going to be a traumatizing thing that every, you're going to get a comment about that. Every time he posts on social media, there'll be a comment in there going Harlem Shake. Question mark for the rest of his life. I mean, and every time someone adjacent goes on a podcast, it's going to be brought up. It's going to be erased, which would be so fucking annoying. As we do it, the other thought I had in that world is, yeah, I, because I vaguely remember that news dropped and I was like, is this appropriate? In hindsight, I don't give a shit about it. And I also think of various people running in politics at the moment and the shit that comes up from that past. Things like sexual assault, rape, all these things. I mean, we've got a president, right? Like we've got people running in the, for Senate and the Democrats. Same thing. All the shit comes up. To grow and man want to do a jackass style stunt, I could care less shits. The people we have in political power here. Yeah, that, that, that their morals are more guiding to our country. Yeah, it's, it's very funny what people get outraged with and what jumps. And who they, who they decide to hold these standards. Yeah, completely. Love to feel slightly more educated about the world of children's online education, which is just a world I don't understand. I feel coming out of it less cynical than I did going in. Me too. I, I also feel very grateful that I'm seemingly exiting that world a bit too. Vinnie's, Vinnie's getting older and no longer needs. Yeah, those types of videos. Yeah, as a parent, you're kind of trapped in this weird limbo zone right for a while. Yeah, of like having to deal with these forms of entertainment that are deeply strange to engage with as an adult. Yeah, like the unboxing videos. Yeah, but I will say like there, there was a lot worse content. Like there was a lot worse content that he that Calvin and him could have been consuming at that age. Yeah. And I was appreciative of this seems educational. They seem to be learning. They seem to be engaging in this. And it wasn't this weird hypnotism of here's slop that I'm just the colors and the music. And this is I'm in a trance watching this. Yeah, completely. Like there's not there's nothing. My heart warms a bit every time I see Vinnie watching something and he is interacting when it is like a math problem on the screen or making colors and I see him engaged and excitedly yelling green. Yeah, that's for yeah, I don't want to take this to a dark place. I always tend to do this with things, but it also makes just as far as kids being on YouTube and looking at things. I wrote a story probably 10 years ago now. I guess I just want to say watch your kids on YouTube and don't let them create shit as well. I did an article about a series like how you know that challenge craze get challenged to do this ice bucket challenge is a great example. It's still a thing the whole challenge phenomenon, but I came across a part of YouTube where you basically had adults who were pitching challenges, but to kids, but just to get content for their own their own sort of various sexual desires, essentially, and I looked into an area which was basically adults who were getting kids to do the Lego challenge, for instance, and that was getting kids to walk barefoot across Lego pieces because the gag is you step on Lego. It hurts, right? So there was this challenge that went viral a long time ago now. Yeah, but then you know kids are like there's a bunch of kids on YouTube that were creating these challenge videos. I'm going to walk across my Lego collection. Submissions to the challenge request. Yeah, so a kid does it. They submit it. I came across a bunch of adults who had channels, not channels, sorry, playlists. They were basically comping all of these kid videos into one place in a video that might seem innocent, which is a kid walking barefoot across Lego. When you see that in a playlist that an adult's made of 200 of the same thing that is used as a fetish content. Yeah, that's terrible. Yeah, that's awful. My point is I don't mean to bring this down, but think what your kids are watching, especially if they're clicking on the next video. And don't fucking let your kids make shit for YouTube unsupervised and take part in even stuff that seems super innocent like a challenge video. Because I just always think there's always whatever you post online, ranting and raving, you post your kid online like someone can use that in a way you don't expect as well. You know, be careful on the internet is what I'm saying. Should we do some feedback? Didn't mean to take it dark. You cut off your cell box. I'm off my cell box. We have a little bit of feedback. I mean, we've got a lot of feedback, too much feedback at the moment. Flight this bread chat at gmail.com Adrian wrote in just listen to the New York trash episode and I need to correct a huge oversight. And I knew about this going in because I've seen a plaque on the bridge and got lectured about it at the time, completely got straight away. John Robling did not, I repeat, did not engineer the Brooklyn Bridge. He began the Brooklyn Bridge, but he died before the majority of the design happened. Washington Robling, his son, took over as chief engineer, but developed decompression sickness, which is directly related to construction of the bridge. From what I understand, it's similar to the bends and changing atmospheric pressures from going deep underwater and breathing through compressed air goes very badly when you can't up too quickly. He was bedridden at this point. And this is a key point in this email. His wife, Emily Warren Robling stepped in to quietly take over the project so that no one would know that Washington wasn't hitting up the project. She spent 14 years teaching herself the mathematics, structural engineering and cable construction needed and is in very real terms the actual chief engineer behind the Brooklyn Bridge. That's fucking cool. And they have a plaque on the bridge that has her name on it. That's awesome. You Google in Brooklyn Bridge, you get her husband's name. The idea of also having to go underwater to build the bill, it sounds terrifying. I still don't know. That's mostly what I took out of that was how scary that sounds freaking terrifying. Yeah. I'm also just for her to take over when like your husband's fact, like your son is messed up, he's bedridden, but she wants to finish this project. 14 years teaching herself all that shit and largely ignored, including on our podcast the other day. Well, that was not about the bridge. It's true. It was about a woman, it was about your trash, it was about trash that then pivoted to locks on a bridge. I was surprised more people were an upset about the locks being cut off. I thought there'd be more people going, this is love, you're disrupting love. But people were largely behind her. I'm behind her. Don't put a lock on a bridge. Jenny says, I'm gonna get a lock and with your name on it. Yeah, put it on the bridge. I am a waste consultant in Portland and I really enjoyed the New York trash episode. There's so much that he could get into about American municipal waste systems, but I'll just leave the following comments. For those stinky count, this is the tip section. I'm flat at this brood. For those stinky countertop compost pales, keep them in the freezer and it will stop any smell or bugs. When the pal is full, just pull the frozen fruit scraps into your curbside cart. Peppermint oil also keep bugs away. There you go. In regards to your conversation on does anything get recycled? You may be interested to know that both
California and New York have recently passed extended producer responsibility laws to help improve the sad state of our recycling systems. Basically, this requires a packaging manufacturer to pay more to produce an item that is not on the state side accepted materials list for curbside recycling. Those fees are meant to then cover the cost of increasing and improving recycling infrastructure in that state. That makes more sense to figure it out on the business end. Yeah, the people is spitting this shit out to make the product more recyclable. I really like that. Then to put it fully on the consumer completely. There's a thing like people with fucking streets at the moment like it's thinking about this stuff like recycling at the end of your day is like what the fuck am I doing? I mean, but also you should still recycle. You should still recycle compost. We are not an anti recycling podcast like to make everything clear. Nicole said, I was kind of meh. About listening to the OC episode as the TV show wasn't on my radar living between the UK and Brisbane, Australia in 2003. But I did watch Rachel Wilson in heart of Dixie. So I thought to choose fight this bird for my commute home. Firstly, what a delight she is. I love how down to earth she is and how genuine. She seems to have genuine affection for Rob and you could feel it through the gentle teasing they give each other. I got home and thought I'll give the OC a go. Hooked. It's so good. I'm glad we introduced you to the OC Nicole. Welcome. Welcome to the OC. I'm going to end this episode on an episode's edition. Just so I think it's kind of like left feels and I find it quite funny and I like birds. Jessica says the ivory wood pecker. She put a space between wooden pecker. So I said about that. I say woodpecker. Yeah. The ivory bill would pecker could fall into two categories for a show. It's very American with it being the largest wood pecker in North America and it inspired the iconic cartoon Woody the woodpecker. It also falls into conspiracy theories or folklore is the bird is considered extinct. But many of us believe it is not extinct. This is the area of cryptosvology which I'm very excited by cryptosvology. Obviously big foot things that we've never seen before. Or just this species of woodpecker. All woodpeckers. No, woodpecker. That's because I've seen. No, just the ivory bill. Woodpecker. So cryptosvology, it's about things that we've never known before or things that we thought were extinct. But actually, this is where the ivory bill woodpecker comes in. Many of us believe it is not extinct with some believing that it be sightings of it in 2023. But it's debated because the ivory bill looks very similar to the palliated woodpecker, which is what we probably see around the place. I'm no expert. Just someone who believes it's still there. So look, keep an eye out for a flightless bird on the ivory bill woodpecker. And if you see an ivory bill woodpecker, email us,
[email protected]. It takes pictures maybe. It takes some pictures. Record yourself, observing it. Yes, we want to see the behavior. We want to hear the bird song to prove that it is the ivory bill and not the common woodpecker. We're also on Patreon. We have a bonus episode out this week as always. A lot of discussion going on on there that is patreon.com/flightlessbred. And if you want to, if you want to listen or watch us with less ads, you can do that on Spotify. Or no ads on Patreon. Yes. Pick your poison. Pick your poison. And go and watch some children's TV, but make sure it's a good shit. Not the AI scene. Yeah, no, no unboxing. No unboxing. Don't let your little kid learn to be a consumer later, not when they're like two years old. No, this is for you to consume not with your children. Oh, yeah, just on, yeah. Go watch some original mecha. I'm going to watch some original mecha. Okay. See you next week. See you next week.
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