Ilse Will Say
Welcome to My Brain. I'm Ilse, and every Wednesday I sit down with actors, filmmakers, comedians, and storycreators to talk about the stuff that doesn't make the press kit. How they actually got here, the project that almost didn't happen, the festival story they can't believe they're telling me, and whatever weird detour we end up on. Haunted sets, folklore they secretly believe in, the best taco in town. It's part industry real talk, part group chat, and I promise I'm more curious than qualified.
Ilse Will Say
Miguel Lepe Jr: Jon Seda punched a bee for me
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Chicago based comedian, writer, actor, and filmmaker Miguel Lepe Jr joins Ilse for a conversation that starts with a defunct pandemic podcast and somehow ends up covering pick-me culture, immigrant parent one liners, a haunted house, and the correct way to sleep in a marriage.
Miguel opens up about learning improv at Second City almost by accident, building his sketch duo Supremo with Rich Alfonso, and starting his own production company, Leafcutter Productions, named after a bee species (despite popular belief, it has nothing to do with lawn care). He gets into his real, lifelong fear of bees and the time Jon Seda saved him from one on the set of Chicago PD, his wife's uncanny ability to pause and resume her dreams, and his family's immigration story, the subject of his new documentary American Dreams.
Catch American Dreams screening around Chicago:
Saturday, August 15 in Pilsen at Indigo Mercado. Friday, August 21 in Humboldt Park at the Kimball Arts Center. Friday, August 28 in Aurora at the Aurora Prisco Community Center. All screenings at 7:30 PM. Follow @lepetv for details.
In this episode:
- [01:03] Intro
- [03:18] Pick-me culture and the pressure of immigrant kid overachieving
- [06:31] Visiting his dad's hometown deep in the mountains of Mexico
- [07:45] Finding Second City by accident and falling in love with improv
- [09:00] Where his sense of humor really comes from
- [10:44] Building his sketch duo, Supremo
- [11:14] Where he gets his ideas, doom scrolling included
- [12:44] Hot Cakes
- [14:31] His haunted house and his wife's wild recurring dreams
- [18:26] Starting Leafcutter Productions and why it's named after a bee
- [20:49] His documentary, American Dreams, and his family's story
- [23:19] Kankakee, immigrant journeys, and the world's best conspiracy theory about aliens
Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias
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Ilse Will Say is an Intrepida Entertainment podcast, hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Produced and edited by Jacob Cagle. Music by Eric Backus. Photography by Joel Maisonet.
The views and opinions expressed on Ilse Will Say are entirely those of the host and guests, and do not reflect the views of any employers, sponsors, or innocent bystanders. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said here is professional advice. We're here for the laughs, y'all.
I used to have a podcast. I no longer I that was like during the pandemic.
SPEAKER_02How was that?
SPEAKER_00That was fun. And I was trying to do edit video too, and it's the exact same problem. I was like, this is a pain in the ass. Yeah. I'm not paying myself. So it's just audio. Yay! Uh, but yeah, that one was that one was fun. It was called Sh Chicago Cinema Club. And it was I would get a guest on, and we would they would pick a movie that was either shot in Chicago or based in Chicago, and we would have a movie. Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02How long did it last if you don't mind me asking?
SPEAKER_00Uh I had I had eight episodes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, awesome. That's pretty good. Yeah. Apparently, uh most podcasts only do about two episodes. So you're already ahead of the game.
SPEAKER_00Man, and then I already felt the weight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The weight of all the work.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, I'm tired. So I just said, that's the end of this first season. Bye. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Next season will be in five years. Appreciate it. See you later. Next pandemic. Let's hope not. Uh before he was cutting card chases or punching up sketch scenes, he was splicing together quincenta highlight reels, teary dads, first dances, full choreographed cumbia sequences, trying to make somebody's 15th birthday look like a Scorsese picture. Welcome back to Ilse Will Say, where this week we're trading network procedurals for mariachi standoffs and a guy on a deadline to become more Latino before a job interview. Welcome to my brain. I am Ilse, your host, a girl who's been informed repeatedly that my dance moves have main character energy and zero rhythm to back it up. It's true.
SPEAKER_00That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_02My guest today is a Chicago-based comedian, writer, actor, and filmmaker who got his start at Columbia College Chicago, then trained up at the Second City and Annoyance Theater, landing a spot in the Second City's Bob Curry Fellowship along the way. He's shown up on HBO, Fox, NBC, and Showtime, played Vic on Chicago Fire, and popped up in Chicago PD, Empire, Station 11, The Shy, and The Bear, and somewhere in there. He tired of waiting for casting directors to call him back, he started his own production company, Leave Cutter Productions, and wrote, directed, and starred in his own projects, including an award-winning short about two mariachi players and a stolen guitar, and a web series about cramming to seem more Latino before a job interview. My guest today, boy, does he know what it's like to build the opportunity yourself when Hollywood slowed to pick up the phone. Please welcome Miguel Lepe Jr.
SPEAKER_00I can't believe it's in the Oh my god, what an intro. That's the best intro I've ever heard in my life.
SPEAKER_02I can take several breaths. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not through, I'm not through.
SPEAKER_00I love that my career is making people uh exhausted. So that's great.
SPEAKER_02Uh sometimes, you know, overachiever. That was great. Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad.
SPEAKER_00I know. I I think I was I think I am an overachiever and over uh like a pick me. Like uh I have that.
SPEAKER_02What is a pick me? Isn't that like a Gray's Anatomy?
SPEAKER_00Pick me is like someone who wants to. I don't know. I I saw the pilot of Gray's Anatomy. Um never watched another episode after that. Uh shout out to Shawna Rhymes. Shauna Rhymes.
SPEAKER_02She's listening. She's listening.
SPEAKER_00Let me in your writer's room. Yeah, yeah. Shawna Rhymes, please hire me. Uh no, but uh pick me is like someone who's just like uh like the the goody it's like uh to me in uh chat. Uh correct me if I'm wrong. Uh but to me if I'm wrong. It's like an Yeah, you know how people talk to the chat, the chat room. Hey chat, let me know.
SPEAKER_02Uh I was like chat GPT? Like, who are you?
SPEAKER_00No, not ChatGPT. Fuck that robot. Uh I'm talking about the chat, the chat, the comment section in your podcast.
SPEAKER_02Gotcha, understood. I am not up on the lingo.
SPEAKER_00I neither am I. I'm just watching and repeating what I see. Uh a pick me is like the new version of like a goodie two shoes, like someone who wants to be called on by the teacher, the the teacher's pet, the one who's gonna show out. I think I've always been that way. And I was actually talking to my sister before this. Uh, we were just trying to figure out why we're always trying to do more than what's needed, like we're trying to constantly be busy. Our value is tied to our production, our our productivity. And the both of us were like, oh, we're both like this. It's probably because of Bappi. Um being raised by immigrant parents and just trying to be American and be accepted.
SPEAKER_02100%.
SPEAKER_00We're okay, you know.
SPEAKER_02But I agree about the like overachiever. Like, yeah, I'm I'm a first gen and I'm like, I can't complain I also just can't complain to my parents about anything because then they'll they'll like double down and be like, oh, oh, I'm sorry, you didn't get an audition this week.
SPEAKER_00Oh boo! Yeah, sorry I had to build this whole family in a country that doesn't understand me. Please tell me more about your problems. My mom, my mom talks so much shit. I love you, mom. My mom always says, like, oh, my kids are working so hard laying on the bed.
SPEAKER_02Uh I'm like, mom, it's Sunday. Like, can I get one day? Yeah. Please.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah. I don't know. My parents seem pretty happy that um I'm chasing my dreams. They've been very supportive of me since college. Yeah, but they're really but you're right, you can't tell them anything. Like I told my parents I was depressed once, and they're just like, Miko, just pray. Why are you do why are you sad?
SPEAKER_02That's so real though. They're like, you have everything.
SPEAKER_00Brain chemistry, man. Yeah, why are you crying? Shhh. Tell God and then be okay.
SPEAKER_02I laugh because I have gotten done several times in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_00Oh the serious shit.
SPEAKER_02No, no, because it's not as serious. I love them though. They're great what they went through. And I'm like, I will, yeah. I'm like, I I yeah, sure. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00My dad, my dad came to this country when he was 17, and and we visited his his like where he grew up. Uh he's from uh San Miguel de la Sierra. It's not San Miguel de la Allende, like the beautiful city. It's like up in the mountains.
SPEAKER_02Like it's not beautiful.
SPEAKER_00It's not, it's pretty after it rains. Uh it rains a lot. It's in the woods, it's up in the mountains, and we went up there, and it took us forever to get there. Three people threw up on the way up there.
SPEAKER_02Why? Because it was so buffy.
SPEAKER_00And then get yeah, and we're just clap, we're like on the edge of gold to this, like it is it was so cool.
SPEAKER_02And there's like no railing, and it's just like one car at a time.
SPEAKER_00There's nothing, there's no safeguards at all. And in my head, I just couldn't stop thinking like you came out of here when you were 17 and made it to Chicago. Like when I was 17, I was just fucking around in my room. Like I couldn't figure anything out. Like, how the hell did you get out of here? It's it's it was mind-blowing to me. It was very impressive.
SPEAKER_02So, what how what was your starting out in this world of of film and TV? Like, how was it at 17 did you like decide when did you decide to do this crazy career?
SPEAKER_00I figured it out at Columbia. I uh when I went first went to college at Columbia College Chicago, um, I was trying to be an animator. Oh uh, I was I was in love with Disney movies and and animated films, and I was just like, oh, let me try that. And uh two weeks in, I'm like, this shit is hard. Uh I took I spent two weeks to to move a stick figure like this, and that was it. It was like a five-second video, and I was like, This I give credit to all the animators out there, it is so damn hard. So then I went to like a general production, learned all that shit. My screenwriting was horrible in college. Like I I revisited some of those scripts, and I'll never show anybody. Uh it's so bad. And then it wasn't it was while I was in college that a friend of mine wanted to go take a class at Second City, and I was like, Oh, what the hell is that? And they're like, Oh, it's like whose line is it anyway? I was like, Oh, I love that show. I went and I was like, Oh my god, I I felt for the first time I was like naturally good at something. Like I didn't have to learn the tricks or anything, like I just I got it, I I had it. Um, and so I started to just focus on improv and and performance, and then eventually both those worlds kind of met.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. Yeah, where do you get your funny bone?
SPEAKER_00I used to think it was my dad this whole time. After making this documentary, I learned it's my mom.
SPEAKER_02Oh, really?
SPEAKER_00She is the funny one, man. She she has some one-liners that she just said while we were interviewing her that just cracked me up and then cracked an audience up the first time we screened it. My dad is a natural storyteller, he's very good at captivating an audience.
SPEAKER_02Because you have to before phones, you had nothing else to do. You just talking. I mean, I remember growing up, like the neighbors would come over and they would just be putting joke after joke after joke, and everyone was laughing. And then they'd be playing like loteria and just like making fun of all of the cards, um, like the bingo cards or whatever, the loteria cards. And it was just joke after joke, story after story. Um, and I think that that sort of translates. Also, I don't know about you, but I think being able to laugh at a situation as a child and teen um was survival. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like that helps.
SPEAKER_00I think that's why they say a lot of comedians are are, you know, they have like this tragic backstory or they're they're struggling inside. I think you're exactly right. It is a survival mechanism, and my my mom was a little more well off in Mexico than my dad was, and that was his survival. He was always making people laugh and coming up with different schemes or or or different ways to feed his family and and get to the next day. That's all it is, it's just getting to the next day. That's all people want to do with uh the sketch comedy stuff. Like I've been working on sketch shows for like over ten years. It's so much fun. And using improv to create material. Um, especially now, um, I have a two-man team. Uh we're we're called Supremo. It's me and Rich Alfonso. We're working on a new show uh that'll go up in the fall, in November at at I.O. Theater. Um that's awesome. And we're so excited because this is our first show. We're back together post-pandemic. Um there's a lot of material that we have that we're just like tossing to the wall. Ready to go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. When do you get your um inspiration?
SPEAKER_00My family. The news.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But like when? Like is it i like in the morning? Do you journal? Is it right before bed? Because mine's man, mine is like in bed. Every single time I'm I'm trying to go to bed. I'm like, oh, that's funny. Let me write that down real quick. And then 30 minutes passes by or an hour passes by, and I'm still on my phone writing in a notes, like in the notes app.
SPEAKER_00In bed, I'm I am doom scrolling in bed. Uh and I've been told I've been told to stop. Uh uh actually, just literally just today, my sister's like, you need to stop that shit. Uh, you're depressing everybody. Shut the fuck up. Come on, the people need to know the news. Um so usually I'm writing or I'm inspired. I get inspired in the shower. I get inspired when I'm washing dishes. Water seems to be like a thing for me where the the ideas just start flowing. Sometimes I'll have to. I don't stop a shower, mid-shower. I finish my shower. But uh washing the dishes, washing the dishes, I'll stop washing the dishes and pull my phone out and start jotting some shit down. Um I also I partake in edibles and marijuana, so I if I'm super duper. I don't know what either of those are. Yeah, I'm sorry. Uh drugs, paraphernalia. Uh the good stuff. Uh I uh whenever I get to a certain level, I'll I'll jot shit down and I'll revisit, and some of it's ridiculous, and some of it's actually okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Speaking of ridiculous, we're gonna do some hot cakes real quick. They're like hot takes, but they stack up. Are you ready? You feel like you're ready. You're so freaking ready. You're so ready. Um all right, 60 seconds on the clock. Let's go. Let's go. Best Chicago spot to shoot on a no budget.
SPEAKER_00Uh a library or a park.
SPEAKER_02Worst note you ever got on set. Try it again. Best mariachi song. Oh shit, the best mariachi song?
SPEAKER_00Uh oh no. Yes, go, go, go. Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, La Bikina.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if that's mariachi. It could be mariachi. Go to Chicago comfort food after a bad audition.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, Rico Benny's.
SPEAKER_02Most Chicago thing about Chicago.
SPEAKER_00Uh, no matter how good a politician is, they're lying about something.
SPEAKER_02Coolest person you've worked with?
SPEAKER_00The cool okay. Uh go, go, go, go, go. John Seda from when he was on Chicago PD, he was uh Selena's boyfriend in Selena. I'm terrified of bees. He saved me from a bee on set, he punched the bee in the face. I swear to God. Wow. True story.
SPEAKER_02A superstition you actually believe in.
SPEAKER_00Oh fuck. If you uh take a shit before a show, you're gonna do amazing.
SPEAKER_02Wrigley Field haunted or just cold? Uh just cold and weirdest thing you've ever brought to an audition.
SPEAKER_00My glasses that I never wear.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much for playing with that.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. That was so hard. That was fun.
SPEAKER_02That was really fun. Um, that was really fun. Okay, so we got a little bit into the the the woo-woo stuff before this with like I think water gets me inspired. Yeah. Um what's woo-woo thing you don't believe in? What you know?
SPEAKER_00Woo-woo?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, woo-woo.
SPEAKER_00I'm pretty sure my house is haunted. Yeah? Yeah. There's okay, so uh uh God bless the woman who owned this house uh before us, but she passed away in this house.
SPEAKER_02Oh no. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we found that out after the fact, like our neighbors told us.
SPEAKER_02No way! I thought so in California, I've heard you have to disclose if somebody has died. And I think that should be like a US thing.
SPEAKER_00They might have told us when we were filling on that paperwork, but there were so many other things on my mind. I was gonna find money when they were telling me this. I was like, I don't care who died. I need $500 $500 more to get this fucking house. Uh am I yelling? Am I too loud? Um, you're good. Okay. Uh so the room that we're assuming was hers, because we don't know which room it was.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, that's worse.
SPEAKER_00And so our it was our daughter's room. So I have two daughters, Maya and Marisol. Shout out. Uh that that that used to be their bedroom, and they could not sleep in there. They would have nightmares in there.
SPEAKER_02Pobrecita.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And so we swapped rooms, and then that became our bedroom, and then they moved to the other, and then they started sleeping fine. But now, I couldn't I couldn't sleep.
SPEAKER_02No wonder you're doom scrolling my mom.
SPEAKER_00And and now, so here's the thing. Uh for for anyone in relationships or getting married, something I am a firm believer in sleep in different beds. It is like whoever made up the rule that because you're together, you need to sleep fucking next to each other is stupid. They don't, they've never tried it. I snore, she snores, we get in each other's way, there's body heat, it's disgusting. We can we can be intimate in our own separate times, but when it's time to get a good night's rest, I will sleep in my bed, she will sleep in her bed, and it's fantastic. I recommend it to everybody. Uh, especially if there's a ghost, because now my wife is having nightmares, and um she'll have she'll have some vivid ass dreams.
SPEAKER_02What are the dreams? What are the dreams?
SPEAKER_00She has like some they're they're all different. She dreams. My wife, Ruby, she dreams so vividly, and I've I forget what the terminology is, but she has the ability to she'll have a dream, wake up, go back to sleep, and continue the dream.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I do that.
SPEAKER_00You do that? How do you guys do that?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. It's incredible. It's the best. Sometimes I'm like, I don't like how that ended.
SPEAKER_01Let me go and edit this motherfucker.
SPEAKER_02Truly, truly. Sometimes I've like I've been in a like an earthquake where the building falls and Joe Biden is in there. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Is he smelling your hair?
SPEAKER_02No, I'm just like, oh, you know, like I I think this was a couple of years ago. But like, I'm like, oh, okay, like Joe Biden's here, you know, and then the squad. And then the building collapses. And then I was like, wait, I don't like that. And so I like undid, like the building, like no way. Like went back up, and I was and then it fell again. And I'm like, what do I have to do to change the circumstances so this building doesn't fall? Crazy thing though. So I was with my friend, we were we were uh we were traveling, and so we were sleeping in the same bed, and she had a dream that she kept falling and then coming back up, and then falling and coming back up, and I was having I was undoing the dream that I was having, and she so she you guys accepted each other. I guess I guess she was in in the dream with Biden. Well Leafcutter Productions. Yes. Tell us a little bit uh of the productions that you've got going on. I know you have some really fun screenings coming up in Chicago, um breaking the rules, you know, and and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Uh Leaf Cutter Productions is my LLC production company. Why leaf cutter? Leafcutter is okay.
SPEAKER_02Because you don't do yard work. I don't do yard work.
SPEAKER_00It is not a landscaping company, people. Yes, it has a leaf on it in the logo. And you're cutting it. And I'm cutting the leaf. Uh uh, okay. So the backstory is I am uh there's a either Batman started it or improv started this motto of follow the fear. Uh so it's like if anything scares you, if anything intimidates you, go after it, there's something there. Um I'm terrified of bees. That's my my biggest fear. When I was a kid, I got stung by a whole hive with my brother, and he doesn't remember it, I do. It has stuck with me. I see a bee, I freak the fuck out. I hear a bee, I'm gosh. I get it. Bees are very important to Earth. I understand that. But I will kill a bee. I will murder a bee.
SPEAKER_02Um you're like, I don't give a fuck about the earth.
SPEAKER_00I'm terrified. No, but seriously, I I just used when thinking of what the name was gonna be, I wanted it to be tied to bees. Hive was taken. Uh there's a bunch of cool names that were already taken, so I looked up species of bees. There's a species called the leafcutter bee. There's also a leafcutter ant. The bee specifically cuts the leaves out of a bee and they build their nests, their uh habitats out of that. Oh, that's cute. Uh-huh. It was very cute. And I was like, I want a cute little logo, so I went with that. And even after people were like, I don't get it, and it sounds like uh you're gonna cut some grass, I was like, fuck you. I'm I'm sticking with it because I paid someone to make the logo. And it's mine. And the LLC was already bought before I did this. The very first film I wrote and directed was called The Guitar Thief, and I made that uh with uh Scott Goldstein and his Streeterville Productions uh banner. I learned a lot from him. There's been The Window, which was a short documentary, kind of like a drama comedy. Uh there was Baby H, which is a sci-fi comedy, and I uh well that was written by Sean Price. And then most recently there was American Dreams, and that is the documentary about my parents' immigration story.
SPEAKER_02That's really, really great. Um, and they're gonna be shown around Chicago.
SPEAKER_00Uh uh Saturday, August 15th, we will be in Pilsen at Indigo Marketo. Uh all the screenings are at 7:30. Uh the second one will be in Humboldt Park, hosted by AJ Lynx at her AJ Lynx casting office. Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, at the Kimball Arts Center. Uh, that is on August 21st, which is a Friday. And then the third one, uh, we are going all the way to Aurora, Illinois, at the Aurora Prisco Community Center, uh Friday, August 28th, 7:30.
SPEAKER_02Incredible. So did you just uh interview your parents? And then is there any like yes?
SPEAKER_00We originally interviewed our parents and two of my older sisters. I have four sisters.
SPEAKER_02Wow. You are and two daughters? Oh my god, and one younger brother, yeah. There's there's six of us. Okay, okay. So there is uh another brother. Can you imagine no brothers?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, I can.
SPEAKER_02Those those girls would have just eaten you alive.
SPEAKER_00Man, I learned a lot, honestly. And I think that's why I am the way I am. Is because my guy. Yeah, thank you. Because they they shape me for sure. Um and actually, my my uh my third oldest sister, Giselle, she she's the one that co-produced the documentary with me.
SPEAKER_02She has Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00She she is a social worker and she has a company called Rooted Advocates. Uh, if anyone is struggling, I had to ask her, what the hell is a rooted advocate? And so she just helps people who need assistance, going to the doctor, doing any sort of medical thing. She will walk them through that process just to help them.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so she co-produced this with me. We interviewed my parents, my two older sisters who were there with my parents during this time of being undocumented in Chicago. And uh we got their stories. We we had an outline of the story we wanted to tell, especially with what the hell is going on in this country right now. That is part of the documentary as well, that's part of the framing of the story. Um, as well as you know, not just their journey from Mexico to Chicago and starting a family, but also I wanted to get their thoughts on what's going on too. And my dad had a lot to say um about how he feels about everything. So I'm pretty proud, I'm very proud of it, and um I just want as many people to see it as possible.
SPEAKER_02I gotcha. Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Um do you know about Kankakee? Like the Kankakee, Illinois.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've heard of it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, it it just reminds me I did this show uh called Into the Beautiful North. Um and it's uh based on the seventh samurai, I think. Um and it is about a young girl who goes out looking for her dad. Um and like it just it it's a lot of um Mexican immigrants going to Kankakee. Like it is like the most populated, yeah, yeah. And then from there they usually go to Chicago. Um but it just reminded me of this. Um it's a book and then it it's a play, and I think they're gonna make a movie. Um but yeah, I I love listening to the stories because every story is absolutely different, and it's like the most you know, it in like writing, there's like the hero story, right? Like it is the most heroic story that you could possibly fucking imagine. It's crazy, it's wild. Yeah, each each of them, each of them.
SPEAKER_00That was that was one thing because we screened all four of my shorts at Facet's uh back in May of this year. And the surprising thing was how many different people just related to the story. Yes, everyone's story is different, but they all connected to it because they've all felt this need to belong to something, this need to find the home that you have right now isn't gonna be your home forever, and and sometimes people need a new place to call home. Um Yeah. That that was one of the stats that I learned while making this movie was I I forget the specific numbers. Go watch the movie, it's in the front. Uh there's this high percentage of people that don't live in the country that they were born. That's just a fact. And it and and to to treat people that are just looking for a better life like they're not even human is it shouldn't be happening. Um there needs to be more people talking about it. So that's all I'm trying to do is just show people this my parents' story and and to have honest conversations about it.
SPEAKER_02I understand, yeah. And on a strange note, because this is like how my brain works, it's like, you know, why we like we call those folks like aliens, right?
SPEAKER_01I hate that word.
SPEAKER_02I know, I do too, I do too, but I wonder, I wonder that if if it's like maybe like a conspiracy, that like that is is being thrown out there so that when actual aliens from other planets come by, they can use that like as a reference point, and then like they'll be like going to the they'll be going to court, they'll be going to court to the like the Supreme Court and they'll use all of these case studies for the real aliens they'll be like, look, we did it before, we could do it again.
SPEAKER_00This time they're real aliens.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but they'll be using it as case studies. Well, thank you so much, Megan, for being on the podcast. This was very fun.
SPEAKER_00This was fun. Thank you for for having me on, and I appreciate you.
SPEAKER_02So fun talking to Miguel. Uh, and a little scary, but that's the fun of it. Um, yeah, great time. We we chatted a little bit afterwards as well. Man, there's just um there's something to be said about that work ethic and just the relentless um journey to the dream, you know? I I I love it, I love it. And speaking of American dreams, you can catch his documentary um August 15th, 21st, and 28th. Um, for more information, please go to uh Miguel's Instagram, L-E-P-E-T-V. So fun, so great. Please catch him. And uh I'll see you on the flip side.
SPEAKER_01Bye.
SPEAKER_02Ilse Will Say is an Intrepid entertainment podcast produced and edited by Jacob Cagle, music by Eric Bacas, and photography by Joel Mysenet, and I am your host, Ilse Sacharya Rivera. The views and opinions expressed on Ilse Will Say are entirely those of the host and guests, and do not reflect the views of any employers, sponsors, or innocent bystanders. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Nothing said here should be taken as professional advice, expert opinion, legal guidance, or a reason to DMSU conspiracy theories. We're here for the laughs, y'all. Carry on.