Are you ready for new dimensions and countless possibilities today and for the future?
It's an exciting new time and the answers are out there.
So join Mary Jane Pops as she explores the unique and unusual for a better life on Pop
Talk and search for the truth.
And here she is, Mary Jane Pops.
And welcome to Pop Talk, our two.
We've got a good one.
A little bit later on, Jim Messkeman is going to deal with it.
He's an impressionist extraordinaire.
He's also the son of Happy Days mom, Mary and Ross.
And so I think he gets his talent honestly, you know what I mean.
But anyway, but before we do that, before we have Jim on, he's got some, he's got 38
voices.
I don't think we'll get to all of them today, but that's okay.
Would you like a sweet treat to make your life better and healthier?
Well have we got the information for you?
You know, we're always on the lookout for good nutrition with a punch.
Well, this time it's a sweet punch and Dr. Susan Smith-Jones can give us the insider
information.
Dr. Jones, we've had her on the show many times and she's made extraordinary contributions
in holistic health, ad-e-aging, optimum nutrition, balanced living, I can go on and on and on.
She even taught students, staff and faculty at UCLA on how to be fit and healthy.
Books, oh my gosh, she's got a bunch of them.
But she's authored good books, healthy books, simple books.
She doesn't get real complicated about these things.
We're going to talk about them and her newsletter a little bit later.
But for right now, what kind of sweet treat have you got for us, Dr. Jones?
Well first of all, I only have one voice, I'm so sorry.
Oh okay.
I don't have 37 voices.
And, but all the years we've been together mentally, we've never discussed this sweet
story today about one of my 10 most favorite superfoods and it's the sweet potato.
Oh come on, really?
It is the sweet potato.
You know, and by the way, sweet potatoes stand apart from regular white potatoes as a nutritional
powerhouse.
And they're often confused with yams which are a little drier and starchier.
But sweet potatoes are now a staple of many cultures all over the world.
How can I tell the difference?
Well often, well from a white potato, you know that difference.
But often from the yams, sweet potatoes are usually a little bit oranger, you know orange
and chewed.
Okay.
And also, but they're purple ones.
I don't know if you've seen them that have something in them called anthocyanins which
are just so beautiful to look at besides eating.
Do they taste different?
They're versatile.
They can be roasted, mashed.
I put them in desserts.
I may put them in the soup.
I make chips.
We'll talk about all this.
Okay.
But they have such a robust nutritional profile.
Is there a difference between the orange ones and the purple ones?
Taste wise?
Not a whole lot.
Well, the orange is a little bit sweeter.
Have you ever seen the purple one?
I've seen them but I didn't look very appetizing.
Yeah, oh gosh, they're beautiful.
So the orange is basically from a lot of beta carotene.
And the purple, what gives it the purple color, sort of like blackberries and blueberries
too, is it's rich in an antioxidant called anthocyanin, of course, syllable, big word.
And in a moment, I'll tell you all the ways all these nutrients are good for your overall
health from literally your head to your toes.
Okay.
So what are the vitamins in sweet potatoes?
Well, vitamin-wise, let's start with beta carotene.
Like I just said, the orange varieties have a lot of beta carotene.
Why is that good?
Well, it converts in the body to vitamin A. It's great for vision, immune support, skin
health.
It's out of sweet potatoes are also very rich in vitamin C. That further helps the immune
function, skin health.
Also vitamin C is a great antioxidant which protects ourselves from all kinds of damage.
So there are other vitamins in sweet potatoes, but those are the most prevalent ones.
Amazing.
Okay.
And who knew?
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah, I just, I figured Thanksgiving.
But I used, but it's mainly like yams not at Thanksgiving.
You don't talk about sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving.
Yeah, yeah.
And I say to everyone, it's just easiest to go to your grocery store and ask the produce
manager to show you which are the yams, which are the sweet potatoes.
Yeah, I think I do that.
Yeah.
And it's not that you shouldn't eat yams, but the sweet potatoes have a richer, robust,
nutritional profile.
So is it good for my heart?
Is it good for your heart?
Yeah, it's so good for, let's just say, overall cardiovascular health.
It does that by in a few ways.
First of all, sweet potatoes help to lower cholesterol and reduces your risk of heart
disease.
The rich potassium, one of the most prevalent minerals in sweet potatoes, will help aid
in regulating your blood pressure.
And will help in assisting the body in eliminating ex-desodium.
So they're very good for cardiovascular health.
However, are we talking, you know, fried sweet potatoes or another, don't do fried.
Fried's not good.
Even like french fries.
Yes, ma'am.
Oh, no, no, no.
In fact, there's so many ways you could add these to your diet.
And remember in my new book, A Hug in the Mud, besides so much health information and
the best foods, A to Z, and I go through every ailment disease you could have, A to Z, tell
you what foods to eat and not to eat.
Okay.
But I also have over 100 recipes.
And some things I make with sweet potatoes, this is going to sound maybe a little strange,
but it works.
With sweet potatoes, I often will spiralize them and make pasta.
You know, I'll steam the pasta.
I put them in breakfast pancakes.
I put steamed, chilled sweet potatoes into my smoothies.
I'll make chips out of them.
I'll take chilled, chopped, diced, whatever you do.
Sweet potatoes, put them in my salad the next day.
I make beautiful.
Bated, carrot-y rich soup using sweet potatoes, carrots, and butternut squash, which, and I've
got the recipe in the book, which makes it a very bright orange color.
If you like simple, you could literally just bake sweet potatoes and cut it open like a
baked potato, maybe with a pinch of salt, a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil,
because that kind of accentuates the natural flavors.
I make the classic baked chip.
You know what a mandolin is?
No.
A mandolin is a slicer that makes uniform slices.
Or you can have a quiesinar or a kitchen-aid device that makes, because you want all the
slices to pretty much be the same thickness.
When you put them on a baking sheet and you could sprinkle a drizzle of extra virgin
olive oil, your favorite seasoning, and I do thin ones.
So I literally make like potato chips, but they're sweet potato chips.
I also cut them long ways and keep the skin on.
And roast them that way, it takes a little bit longer.
And so these are bigger chunks of sweet potatoes, kind of like thick, big French fries.
But I bake them.
I don't fry them.
And I love, and I know this sounds weird, but if you have left, and I always make extra,
I steam them a lot.
I always make extra to put wherever, like in smoothies.
It gives a nice sweetness to a smoothie with your greens and maybe an apple, a banana,
blueberries.
It just makes it taste so delicious.
And you get all the extra nutrients and benefits for your body.
And if we have a chance, let's talk about gut health and how it's going.
What's your immune system?
That has to do with the flora, the gut health.
Because that's kind of like the overseer of the rest of the body.
And a lot of times, because I just had, I was headed beyond some antibiotics for a
boo boo that I had.
And my doc, my holistic doctor said, for at least a couple weeks, maybe longer, double
your probiotics so that the good flora gets back in the body because antibiotics kills
everything, not the good and the bad.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, sweet potatoes, supports a healthy digestive system.
It's got two kinds of fiber in them, a soluble fiber.
And make sure you clean and then eat the skin.
But the soluble fiber feeds the good bacteria in the gut, helping to maintain that, like
you were just saying, the healthy microbiome and prevent this digestive issues like diarrhea.
But the insoluble fiber keeps us in the flow, you know, so you don't have to have
magazines in the bathroom.
It keeps your digestive system moving smoothly, reducing the risk of constipation.
So it does really both for great for gut health.
That's excellent.
Okay, what about, you said, I health?
How does it help with I health?
Yeah, I know.
Well, the beta carotene that is so rich, one of the richest sources of any food for
beta carotene, which I mentioned in the body turns to vitamin A, and that is crucial for
having healthy eyes.
And here's why.
The beta carotene helps prevent age-related issues like cataracts and macular degeneration.
So sweet potatoes have a lot of vitamin E, and that's an antioxidant known to reduce
the risk of eye disease.
Also, vitamin E helps to destroy all the harmful free radicals protecting the eyes from damage.
I'm going to have a next week, a very minor eye surgery to help prevent, how do I say,
I had cataract surgery, more info than anyone wants to know, but it's caused halos.
Oh, yeah.
You know, halos, it's driving at night.
And while I can, I have glasses that help when I drive at night, it's very simple and
a surefire, like five minute little surgery.
And so I'm making sure that the two weeks before my surgery and the next month it's the
other eye, I'm eating extra beta carotene, which is an extra sweet potatoes in my diet.
So I make sure I have them every day.
Good.
And how about everyone these days, especially because we're getting into the cold and flu
season, and I don't know about your area, but down here in LA, there seems to be a rise
in COVID.
Oh, it is.
Yeah.
So, vitamin A derived from the beta carotene and the sweet potatoes, that's essential.
A lot of people don't know this for a strong immune system because because there's so much
beta carotene that's converted to vitamin A in sweet potatoes, it helps produce white
blood cells that fight off infections and maintain the health of the body's protective
lining, especially those in the respiratory and digestive tract.
And these linings act as the barrier to bacteria further bolstering the body's defenses against
pathogens.
I'll be doing.
So, this is all in sweet potatoes.
Now, what about inflammation?
Does it help with that?
Oh, wow.
And you and I have had entire shows on inflammation.
Oh, yeah.
Which, and when you have systemic inflammation, meaning you haven't just sprained an ankle
and it's local, right?
But when you have systemic, meaning it goes throughout your entire system, it's like the
cause and beginning of all the most diseases.
So, the antioxidants in sweet potatoes, like we've talked about the beta carotene and
the anthocyanins.
And remember, those are especially femme.
Look, and if you can't find them in your grocery store, the purple sweet potatoes, ask
the produce manager to bring them in and he or she will.
But these, these antioxidants reduce inflammation throughout your body.
And this will protect against all diseases and even cancer and liver disease by sliding
off the inflammation and the oxidative stress caused by free radicals.
What about the brain?
Without a help to brain?
Well, and especially when we get older, right?
It is so important to keep your brain functioning well.
Yep.
In addition to sweet potatoes, roll in reducing inflammation, which is important to reduce
inflammation in the brain, the antioxidants in sweet potatoes also enhance your brain
function because they reduce the brain's inflammation, which then will promote better
cognitive function.
And these antioxidants support overall brain health, helping you to maintain sharpness
and focus no matter how old you get.
Wow.
What about the immune system?
Does it help with that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, as I just mentioned, it really helps to produce many more white blood cells than
you already have.
And the more white blood cells you have in your beautiful miraculous body, that will
help fight off all the infections that especially now are going around as the weather gets a
little bit cooler and cold season, flu season, COVID, whatever.
And all these white blood cells will help the body's protective lining like the respiratory
and digestive tract and will bolster your body's defenses against all kinds of pathogens.
Does it help with skin?
You know, who has got some of the good stuff in it?
Yeah.
Well, you know, this is one of my favorite parts.
I mean, everything is about sweet potatoes.
And I'm never without them in my kitchen.
The cool thing is, as you can just put them in your, I have a three-tier basket, you know,
in my kitchen and I buy lots of extra sweet potatoes.
I don't even refrigerate them and they last for a while.
But as mentioned, the conversion of the carotenoids found in the sweet potatoes into the vitamin
A, that really benefits your skin by many ways.
I could talk to you for an hour on this, but just in a few seconds, it helps to reduce
conditions like acne, even adult acne, not just if you're a teenager.
Yeah.
And psoriasis and rosacea, and there's so much vitamin C in sweet potatoes.
And what does that do?
And here works out liverying in many other things.
It helps promote collagen production.
And that the more collagen you have that we lose as we get older, maintains skin elasticity
and prevents signs of aging.
And then to boot, you've got the presence of that vitamin E that acts as an antioxidant
And that protects the skin from damage caused by ultraviolet rays and free radicals.
And then all that vitamin E also helps with healthy hair growth.
Oh, okay, that's cool, okay.
And this is all in this beautiful superfood that it is so versatile,
the way you can use it in your diet, you know, it just makes this superfood shine.
It's got different flavors and textures, different ways you can use it for, you know,
I often make puddings that have sweet potato in it, dessert.
And even when I make like muffins and baked goods, bread, I make brand muffins a lot,
I'll put sweet potato in along with apple sauce to give it more moisture.
So, and you can't go wrong literally with making sweet potato carrot.
If you want to have the most, the best vision, the best immune system, reduced inflammation,
great gut health, try my recipe on butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots for the most delicious orange soup.
I often quadruple the recipe and then I put in either zip-preaser, zip-lock bags or storage containers,
and then I'll date it lots of extra of the soup that everybody loves.
I like that. Tell me a little bit more about a hug in the mug.
A hug in the mug, okay, that's my latest book. The subtitle kind of says it all, the subtitle is long,
but it's revitalized with fruits, veggies, juices, soup, spices, teas and healthy living extras.
And this book you know to date, I've never taken any prescription medications ever, ever since I, well, never in my life,
but I learned about how to keep the body healthy in the most natural way by my grandmother.
So, I go through all the ailments you could ever get from your head to your toes, mental, physical ailments,
and I go through every food and how to make different foods and how to look more to nature to heal your body.
So, I give you all the natural remedies. I talk about the best teas, the best juices.
So, how do they get a hug in the mug?
And by the way, it comes in black and white and color. You can go to Amazon, you can go to my website, SusanSmithJones.com.
And you can click and you can read a sampler of the book, you can read the forward. I have a 10 page sampler, I have a 63 page sampler.
The color version costs just a teeny bit more, but I like that better because when you talk about foods, it's nice to have the book in color and not black and white.
Although both books have exactly the same information.
If you want to get personalized autographed copies right to you or someone else in this country or the world, you can find out that information if you go on my website to books and go to a hug in the mug.
And it shows you how to get an autographed copy that I sign and I write you a note card or if you're sending it to someone as a gift.
And I also include a bookmark.
Oh, I like that. Now, if they should go to SusanSmithJones.com, that's your website. Tell them how to quickly, how to sign up for your free monthly healthy living newsletter.
Yes, so write in the navigation bar on the right next to the search bar sign. Just click on subscribe. It takes 10 seconds and once a month you get a beautiful newsletter for me.
If you ever get right there, click on the beautiful Lylac photo on my homepage that says follow me X and a few times a week you just get a very upbeat, beautiful, either an affirmation or a quote for the day or that's one or two sentences to inspire you that day.
So definitely the newsletter, follow me on X and a hug in a mug is more physical health but it's more than just food. That's half the book.
Then I give you all the healthy living extras like what about intermittent fasting and cold therapy? How to stay motivated to achieve your goals? How to sleep like a baby?
How to get the best from your exercise program and prevent all kinds of injuries? So it's all about physical health. The companion book we've talked about before called uplifted 12 minutes to more joy, faith, peace and kindness is all about mental health.
I love it. They're both individual books but they go together really well. It's my gold star, all my gold star secrets that taught worldwide for 50 years.
I love it. Again thank you as always great stuff for us and I'll remind everybody go to SusanSmithJones.com. Get it all there. You can sign up for the newsletter. Check out a hug in the mug. Uplifted and Dr. Jones. Thank you. You're the best.
Thank you. I'll see you next month. You betcha. Take care now. Bye. Bye-bye. Come on up. He's a man of many voices. You look nice. How was work? Well it was 4th period civics.
The kids were giving me the third degree. Was the UFO seen hovering over Washington DC? Was a fisherman attacked by a 320 pound shrimp? They'd been bitten by the fake news bug alright? And it was holding on like a driver's ed student to a steering wheel.
How was I gonna get a bunch of wide-eyed kids to wise up about what they see on the internet? Then it hit me like a dodgeball on field day. The name of the game was News News.
Each student got an article and two minutes to decide if it was credible or a fake. They were able to use fact checking sites to get the cold heart truth.
Now the little hot shots are even teaching their gullible brandies a thing or two about phony news. But how was your day? Pretty good.
I got a new title today. Office birthday party planner. Oh fun. Teachers just have better work stories. If you want a creative collaborative job we're talking about head to teach.org. Brought to you by teach.org.
This is such Stuart speaking. I don't know if you know about this chap Jim Messkeman. He's a rather good mimic sort of devilishly good. And the worst part is he sort of resembles me.
Hi there. This is a former president used to watch George W. Bush. I want to I want to recommend it as young and impress a guy does voices.
A famous famous people and people near to the famous and that's Jim Messke
and he's a very passionate extraordinaire and he keeps growing his numbers of voices. He's also an actor and voice over artist. He's done his own show called Jim Pressions along with acting credits like Apollo 13.
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the fringe of Happy Days being Mary and Ross's son, as you mentioned.
Yeah. And also my, my, what appearance on Happy Days, I showed a clip and talked about
that. And, uh, which, which one was it? Which one was it? The one you appeared on?
Very famous. It happens to be a very famous episode of Happy Days that people reference
on a daily basis. And that is the one that, if they jump the shark episode. Oh, are you
familiar with that one? No, I'm trying to remember that phrase. No. Oh my. Well, it's
become part of the, uh, of the modern parlance. Uh, when a television show jumps the shark,
uh, or any kind of project jumps the shark, it's alluding to an episode of Happy Days
where Fonzi waters gee'd over a live shark in the Pacific Ocean when all the Happy Days
crowd went to Hollywood. Oh, okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. No, I got it. I was, uh, I
was the actor on the beach that announced the shark. So, you know, it's, it's a very seminal
and important moment in the history of show business. Very cool. Now you've done like
38 voices. Have you added anymore? I do. How many? 38 is what I was told. Oh no, many,
many more than that. But yeah, you know, I'm always, uh, reviewing more. No, I, I,
I do probably at least over a hundred. Uh, wow. I did 38 probably in that opening number
for my show. I do quite a few. But yeah, you know, I'm always listening and collecting
voices and analyzing. And of course, people come in, come up in politics and then in the
news and, you know, I try to see if I can match them just for my own amusement. And sometimes
there's a practical application I used to do, I used to do George W. Bush for the, uh,
tonight's show all the time. Oh yeah. And Morgan Freeman as well. I've done many, many
times for various shows. So it, it winds up being kind of my, my business to form a library
of voices and to whip them out when people need them. I, I loved you on whose line is
it anyway? Oh, thank you. You just, I, I've always been amazed with that program because
it is, it truly is impromptu. I mean, they, she throws the stuff at you and you've got
to do it and you've got to come up fast with the information. Yeah. Well, I was lucky enough
to get quite a bit of good training in New York in improvisation at a place called the
National Improv Theatre. And I worked there and it shows every week. And so now I'm, I'm
actually Mary Jane. I'm actually more comfortable improvising than I am learning lines where
you know, the thing could be, you know, you could stay it wrong. And some, some directors
are very picky about the, about things being said exactly right. Like when I was on the,
the marvelous Mrs. Maisel, they like it. Amy Paladino liked it. Word perfect. I mean,
word perfect. You know, don't make a contraction. If it's, do not, don't say don't, you know,
it's like, Oh my God. And that, yeah. And that, that, that can make you kind of nervy.
But I like improvising a lot. I'm glad you liked that show. That's, uh, absolutely. I,
I love when you're on there because yeah, it's just, I don't know how you guys come
up with it. I really don't. Uh, it's amazing. It's got to be, that's an innate talent. I
don't think it's something you can learn, but you're not as good as you do it. Well,
that's very kind. I, I believe opposite. I believe that anybody can learn to do it.
I think we do it all day long anyway. You and I, we're having a nice conversation here.
We didn't discuss it beforehand. You know, I think people go through their day all day
long, handling things with communication without it being pre planned. But I, now
there are total opposite of that is things like audio books and which I'm recording
audio books all the time. And I recently with my family had the opportunity to
record an audio book. Uh, Elron Hubbard presents writers of the future anthology
volume 40, which is a collection of, uh, uh, 15 short stories that were all prize
winners in the famous Elron Hubbard writers of the future contest. Yeah. I
always love having John Goodwin on from Galaxy press and he tells us about
writers of the future and, and how people can be of it's a worldwide thing. They,
and you have to be an amateur. Got to be an amateur. You can't be sold books or
anything. That's right. You got to, you have to be, uh, unpublished. Uh, I believe,
I don't know the exact rules, but John knows that. But we got, uh, my family and
I, cause we're all narrators. My, my daughter is a very, uh, well, uh, experienced
and the award winning narrator of audio books. My wife has done it a lot too.
Wow. And the three of us got together and we got to do, uh, almost all of the
stories was one of the actors that was brought in to, to read a particular
story, but we got to do the second year in the row got to do the audio book
version of the writers of the future anthology. We did number 39 and then we
did number 40 and I hope we'll do number 41.
Oh, I'm sure you will. Sure you will. Now, did you come by it? Honestly, didn't
your mom, Marianne, she would, she did some impressions too, didn't she? I mean,
not on TV, but at home in life. Yeah. My mom was a very, a very fast,
little mimic and she did dialect for first TV work. Uh, uh, was as an Irish made in,
uh, as so-called life with father, which was a live broadcast show from CBS in the
1950s. And so she has a good ear. She could do various accents very well and she
would imitate people sometimes. And you know, she just had a, when you have a good
ear and, and you can sort of sense the musicality of a person's voice. And then
if you're a good actor, some can portray and be that person, then, uh, yeah, you're
a natural mimic. And I guess I did, I definitely did pick that up a lot of
it from mom. I certainly got a lot of tolerance for, you know, my interest in it.
It's not the talent I have tolerated. Yeah. Absolutely. You also do the facial things,
uh, kind of add to whatever you're doing as far as the impressions and body, body
motion, that all, it comes the whole package, right? Yeah. Well, that's the easiest way to
do it. I think it's just, you have to become that person and you get, you know,
it's Robin Williams, for example, suddenly I sound differently, obviously, but you can't see me,
but I'm, I'm sitting differently. My face is held differently. It's just easier to just become
that person. And then then you can just think the thoughts you would have thought said the
thing that he sort of said. And, uh, unfortunately not collected the paycheck, but that's fine.
I love it. Um, so when you do these impressions, do you pick off the ones that you just feel
comfortable doing? Or do you really work with some that may be kind of hard to do?
Well, it depends on, it depends on the purpose. You know, if it's something that I feel like I
really need to learn it, for instance, if I'm, you know, have a job, uh, or there's a very good
audition and a good opportunity that I, I will, I'll, I'll really sit down and study. And I look
at various things like the pitch, the rhythm, the attack of the voice, uh, the sort of things they
might say. Um, but more often than not, it's just I, I, when I see a performer that I admire,
I listen very carefully because I'm enjoying it. It's pleasurable. And I pick up all kinds of
stuff just very easily. And, and since I'm always really in front of a microphone or in front of
an audience or a camera, a lot of the time, I just immediately try to put it into practice
and see what people respond to. Not everybody agrees that I can do, uh, certain impressions
well. Uh, I have to kind of test it out and see, gee, do you think I sound like this person? And
if enough people do, and certainly if I'm hired to do it, uh, then I, I, then I have more confidence
and I'll repeat myself. One of my favorites of yours is when you do Jack Nicholson.
Well, thank you for remembering the great Jack. He's pretty retired right now as I understand it,
but what a, what a huge effect he had on Hollywood and on acting. And he certainly
influenced me. And some are, I would imagine some are easier to do than others. Yes.
Well, yeah. And people that, you know, like George W. Well, I had to really work at that for a
while, but because I didn't, uh, you know, back in the day when I first started imitating,
it might, there wasn't a lot. There was, there wasn't a YouTube. So you had to kind of catch
him when you could. But yeah, some, you know, if it's in your range and in your, uh,
your kind of your zone, then it's simpler, I suppose, then, you know, there are going to be
some voices that, that an impressionist can hit very easily because you have similar equipment,
you know, vocally. Others are, you have to struggle for a little bit more. But practice
allows you to try to, for one, like, for example, those are great Alan Rickman who
were passed away just a few years ago, who portrayed Snake in the Harry Potter movies.
Oh, my God. And, uh, what requires part of a different sort of feel of effort to create that voice,
have to turn my head in a certain way and change things on the inside of my face in order to produce
the sound. But, uh, you know, the more you practice it, that you either it gets best person.
That's amazing. Now you do women too. Not many, but, uh, yeah, I mean, the thing about women is I,
I don't like to, I don't like to sound like I'm making fun of them and falsetto has their quality.
But I do blame Judy Dent because her, her voice is rather not, certainly not managed. But, I mean,
if I just like in this a little bit, uh, you know, since she's a woman of advanced age,
and I don't think she'd mind me saying it, it is easier to duplicate her sound.
Amazing. God. Don't you get mixed up sometimes? And when you, you over a hundred voices,
uh, can you jump from one to the, while you're doing it right now? But I mean, it's just amazing.
Yeah. Well, like I say, it's a lot of practice. And I own the improv theater. I had to do it all the
time. And I'm just on a dime. And in my show, I do it. And, uh, you know, it's fun. And, and I
have noticed that audiences really are tickled by it. It started, it's sort of like my magic trick,
you know? So, uh, I, I love to do it. I love to see people's response to it. This last weekend at
the show, I bounced around between a whole bunch of different characters and beloved characters
that people get like Johnny Closhing, for example, the great voice of Johnny Closhing, we all remember
that sort of delivery, that kind of, uh, you know, very, very interesting conversation.
It's interested in his guests. And, uh, you know, that peculiar, peculiar way of talking he had.
I like that a lot. And, uh, Jimmy Stewart, of course, everybody remembers that.
Oh, well, well, well, a lot of fun, you know, something is just, uh, I mean, these are all voices,
other impressionists have done over the years. Very, very capable. Rich Little, for example,
good, but, uh, and then there are others that are not so well known. Like, there's an actor,
British actor named Tobias Menzies, who was in the, he's in the crown, uh, the first season of the
crown, at least a terrific actor. And even though, you know, I don't, I'm not able to really score
big points with my Tobias Menzies impression yet. Well, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to
execute it. Absolutely. I mean, it's just incredible how you can just, right, you kind of fall into it.
You don't jump. You transition very smoothly into it, which is what I like. It's not like,
bam, you're into that other voice. You slide right into it. Yeah, well, thank you, Mary-Ann,
Mary-Jane, probably, I mean, it's great compliments and I appreciate taking the time to
exert a little incomium to, to, to, few people do these days. Oh, I love it. I love it. Okay,
do you have any favorites? Yeah, lots of them. I mean, I do my favorites. I, I, I, I, I'm not very
good at imitating people I don't care about. Oh, okay. I really into, and I love this Patrick Stewart,
you know, there's something so marvelous about him. And the fact that he's continued to gain such
prominence and ride at the top of everyone's list, you know, the very, very top, uh, in the,
by virtue of those many franchises that he's been ahead of. And, and he's just a very nice man
that, you know, started out as a Yorkshire boy with big dreams. And I think that's inspiring to all
of us. Yeah. Even the most humble beginnings can wind you up as the captain of a starship.
Yes, yes. And, and did it quite well. It just, yeah, and you remember these people, you, you go after
the voices that people will remember immediately as soon as you start, they know who it is.
Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. That's, I make, I make a lot of friends that way. Oh, I bet. It's a fun.
Yeah. And even Gary Marshall, I did this show at the Gary Marshall Theater. Not everybody knows
what Gary Marshall sounds like, but that's him. He was in a lot of movies and he wrote movies and
he was the creator of Happy Days in the Odd Couple and the Vernon Shirley and, and more
and many. And, you know, people that know him and remember his voice very fondly. And luckily,
for me, his wife's widow was there at the show and she said, I did a good job. So,
I'm happy. That's nice to know. Yeah. I, you know, over the years, I've interviewed Rich Little
and Frank Gorshin. And, but it, it seems like you're so comfortable doing these voices.
Does it, do you ever kind of panic trying to remember something or somebody calls out a voice and
you're saying, wait a minute, how did I do that?
That has not happened. Thankfully, I mean, I have had moments when people call out a voice
and say, hey, you can do this one. I'm like, I don't do it. I, I have already given them by that
point, you know, over a hundred different voices. So I don't feel like, oh, I know they've got me.
I really am not an impressionist. I don't feel caught like a deer in the headlights. I just
go on to the next one. And usually people laugh because it's like, yeah, okay, he's, he's the human
being. That's the thing I get asked a lot. Is there any voice you don't do? Yeah. And I say, yeah,
most of them. I mean, we've got an awful lot of people in the world. And, you know,
not that many that are well, well known. And, and they would automatically recognize who you're,
who you're doing. I suppose that's true. But in any case, I mean, like I said, I like to do the
ones I like to do, the ones that I'm good at. I don't like to do the ones I have to struggle at.
Other impressionists are very good at voices. I can't do, you know, so we, we all just kind of,
we, we, it's like we're all librarian, you know, and we all have our different sections that we
kind of curate. I like that. Okay. Do you have you managed or do you do Trump? Yes, I do a Trump.
I just said, and of course you'd have to do a Trump. I mean, it's sort of, as the French say,
do regurg. You got to do it. I don't know. I don't speak French, but anyway,
am I the best? Am I the greatest? I have to say I'm the most fantastic person to ever do Trump.
But that's because that's what Trump would say. Yes. Pretty much.
Everything he does. Joe Joe. I'm the other side. There's Joe Biden. Yes.
He's the president now. Okay. At least I think he is. And he's the president on the, on the, on the
beach in Rojoba. But that's, well, who cares? It's fine. He's got the job.
Now, do you have any hobbies besides doing all these voices? Do you have any hobbies? I mean,
who tell me, tell me who Jim Mescamen is. Not the voices. Who's Jim Mescamen?
Well, thank you for asking. That's a very kind question. I, I'm an artist. I mean, that's pretty
much all I'm really good at, although I'm trying to be, you know, a little better with my hands
and repairing things. But I, I've always loved my first career and my first love was drawing and
cartooning. Oh. And I'm still a painter, illustrator, but, you know, very infrequently. And I do it when
I need to for specific projects. I'm very comfortable painting and drawing. I love to do it. I do it
digitally. I do it with real materials. But, you know, hand me anything and I can, I can make
something out of it. If I, if I have like some spare time, like on an airplane, for example,
I will bring my iPad and I will paint something and it makes the time go so fast. And in the
end of it, you've got a nice little, little painting of something. I'll call you the MacGyver of Art.
How's that? Nice. I, that's very flattering. Thank you. Terrific. So, do, can we see your,
your oil paintings or your works on lines in place? Well, you can see some stuff on Jim
Esterman.com. Yeah. You can see some charcoal. I've got some work up. Yeah. I, I, I, I've rather,
I haven't been terribly, you know, on my Instagram feed, I will occasionally stick something up. I
just recently did a painting for a friend that I thought he would love. And he did of Jim Henson.
And I was an oil painting and I had a great time doing it. And I gave it to him and he loved it.
And he's a similar kind of genius. His name is Evan Spirodellas. And he's one of the two brothers
that run, uh, jib-jib, which was the animation house and creative team. He created a lot of,
that, that, uh, an early hit we all had together on, on the internet called This Land Is Your Land.
Yes. Yeah. And so he's one of them brothers. So I made him this, uh, Jim Henson painting,
which he, he liked it a lot. I loved jib-jib. That's on Instagram. I think somewhere.
That made me laugh more than anything else. And I think I did anybody who went to jib-jib.
It was just like they, you spot on, just spot on. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I did all the
voices for that. And that helped, it helped me get me more established as an impressionist,
actually. I started working with an eye chore after that. Now you're also married to an actress,
correct? Actress. And also she runs an acting school, the best acting school in America,
the acting center, uh, the acting center LA.com is where you find out about that.
Yeah. She runs the school for labor of love, but it's, it truly is a great acting school because
they don't, uh, break you down. And it's not a boot camp where they have to abuse you and,
and, and tear you new purposes. Uh, you get to drill things the way that real actors do.
The real, uh, successful actors need to do the kind of things, uh, to put those tools in your
tool belt. So she works there all the time and she's going there tonight to teach improv,
speaking of improv. Yeah. And I've done my show there many, many times. That's a great place in,
in Sherman Oaks, California. Oh, you're done. The acting center is the name of it.
The acting center. I gotta remember that. Also you did battlefield earth for galaxy press.
What was that like? Well, that was a great project. I did the audio book.
Battlefield earth, the massive award-winning science fiction opus by O'Ron Hubbard.
And, uh, it took about nine months to record. It's almost a thousand pages. Well, and we did it
multi-cast many, I forget over a hundred actors, I think. And, uh, very, very good actors and music
sound effects. Uh, it is a remarkable piece of work. And we won an audio word for it.
And, uh, I had a great time. I got to direct it. I got to do a few voices. There's quite a few
Scotsman in the story. If you know the story and so I got to sit in and do a scot every now and then,
which was a great pleasure. Um, uh, it's, it's a amazing audio book. I have to say, it's about
47 hours long. Yes. Yes. So listen to, which is great. Then if you're traveling on the road,
that's great for truckers. That's great for people to travel a lot. But it will, it will not put you
down. It is a, a page churner. And I dare say on your CD player or your device, it's a, you know,
you just can't shut it down. Amazing. So when little Jim Meskaman was growing up, what do you
want to be? A cartoonist. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Well, definitely. That's what I worked at. That's
what I put all my attention into. Yeah. I drew for the school papers. I drew for the yearbook.
I drew for myself, my own pleasure. I drew for friends. My mother was great. She would pay me a
buck, you know, a dollar to do a birthday card for a friend. So I'll be a bookie. And I, it'll,
immediately got me thinking with, okay, I can earn money by drawing. And it, it turned out to
be true. And eventually I worked as a young man. You know, I did all the things in school. I was
kind of known as the cartoonist. And I was a bit quiet reserved, you know, and I kind of retreated
into this world of cartooning and drawing like the people in Mad Magazine that I adored. And then I,
as a young man, I got to work, I got to work at Hanna-Barbera Studios as a storyboard assistant,
which was a nice gradient into the world of professional, you know, drawing. Because I didn't
actually have to know how to storyboard, particularly. I just had to know how to draw. And, and that
helped me to kind of realize, well, you know, I can pursue this. I can, I can earn a living at this.
And then I moved from there up and worked for quite a while as a professional illustrator,
cartoonist. And then I actually got a bit of, well, more than a bit. I got a lot of classical
art training in Spain and in Northern California. Wow. And yeah, the university where I was attending,
I met a visiting artist who was Spanish and who invited me to Spain. And I spent a couple years
there. And when I came back, I knew how to paint. So all of that kind of got set aside when I
had a big epiphany in my early twenties and realized, well, you know, what really excites me
is this acting stuff and being in front of people. And I think that would be a better choice for
my life path. So where did the impressionists come into there? You know, it was always just
going in the background as a boy. I like to draw. I like to do impressions. I like to be other
people. And I didn't really pay any attention to it. It wasn't like I was on a chair to learn
how to do it. But I always was sort of practicing it. It would be like somebody who, if they have
a spare minute, picks up the guitar and works on chords. I just would do that. And by the time I
was looking for work in New York, I discovered that I had a little bit of an edge on a lot of
actors in the vocal area. And I began to work in voiceovers because of that. And it just made
me a little bit more marketable, a little more special. And then I began to look really
onker down and sort of specialize in it. Terrific. If people want to find out more about Jim
Mescamond, where can they go to? You have a website, I know. Yeah, Jim Mescamond.com. I'm also on
Instagram and TikTok at Jimpression or at Jim Mescamond. You can find me pretty easily. But
jimmescamond.com has a lot of links and so forth, a lot of stuff to read and get on my mailing list.
I'll send you invitations to things and fun games and stuff that I do.
Now, I ran across something on the internet where you were showing people how to be an impressionist.
You said, you know, make your mouth go down and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I have online courses at jimcourses.com in how to do impressions, how to be a voice actor.
Jimcourses.com, that has all that information there too. Yeah, I like to share what I know with
people, especially about being a professional, working and building a career, also just having
fun with voices. Oh, absolutely. I would be remiss if I didn't ask, how is Mary in doing?
No, she's fine. Thanks. I just saw her the other day. She's good. She's now we're coming up on
October and she her birthday is October 25th and she will be 20. She'll be 96. Oh my gosh.
She's doing fine. She sends her love and she's just a sweetheart and a treasure and we're just
yeah, please tell her all the time with her. I loved a couple of times that I've had her on the
air. She was just dynamite. I mean, just she's like you, the high energy, you know, but also
dedicated to what you're talking about and honest. Yeah, it comes from the heart. Yeah, yeah, she was
an incredible mentor mom and I feel so lucky to have had her in my life. Yeah, well, hopefully
some more years too. Yeah, hopefully so. Yeah, she came from a generation that was very strong.
That's just what I'll say. You don't give up. No, no, no giving up. No, no. Don't even know that word,
right? Never heard of it. Never heard of it. And I would love to invite your listeners to pick up a
copy of the Elrond Hubbard writers the future volume 40 anthology as an audio book or a physical
book because it is so full of amazing stories written by new authors. And I think my wife and my
daughter and I and Victoria Summer who was another talented story on it really brought these stories
to life beautifully and your listeners will enjoy them very much. And that's the whole idea is I
don't I want people to still read or at least listen to the audio books. We're getting so far away
from that because of the internet, because of AI or that we haven't even gotten into that thing
yet. I'd love to have you come back and let's talk a little bit about the artificial intelligence
because I had someone who told me it could take over even how you think, not only how you sound. So,
well, and unreal. Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us, Jim. Again,
give us your best to your mom and please come back again. Thanks, Mary Jane. I will. Okay. Take care.
Once again, Jim Miskamen. Unbelievable. Jim Miskamen.com. Jim Priscions.net. He's incredible. In the
meantime, live simply laugh often love deeply and above all else. Dare to dream. Talk with you
next time right here on Pop Talk. I'll wait.