A conversation with DEREK D

I'm really excited about this.

I have watched some old, I went back and rewatched some of my old favorites.

And man, those were just simpler, better times.

I just, I miss the days of watching my daily episode of Fastlane Daily.

You know, I recognize that that show was such an interesting, I mean, for my life,

it was a good time because I was transitioning from milkman to being in school

all the way through school and then starting this job and machining.

And so, like having that little bit of car news every day, it was pretty important

keeping me sane during a lot of transition time.

And I didn't realize all that.

And so I was like, man, in the middle of trying to figure out how to modernize this

and make this thing work and put it in terms that I can understand it.

I have Fastlane Daily on the YouTube at work.

It was a daily ritual.

There he is, Derek D.

Hey, what's going on?

Sure, let's do it.

Good evening, Bill.

Good evening, Stanley.

Hello, listeners.

Welcome back.

It's another episode of BS Car Guys podcast.

We have a special guest tonight.

It's a special interview with the host, former host of one of the greatest

and one of the earliest automotive content shows on YouTube, Derek D.

Derek D'Angelo joins us.

Are you in New Jersey right now, Derek?

I am.

I'm in New Jersey.

Yep.

Yeah, awesome.

Well, it's great to have you and I look forward to talking 07 to 2016 FLD days.

Yeah, sure.

We could talk about that, talk about after.

I appreciate you guys having me on the name of the show BS.

Does that mean like just bullshitting kind of thing?

Absolutely.

Yes.

So it's a play on words.

You know, I'm Bill.

He's Stanley.

So it just kind of fit BS Car Guys.

And we absolutely do a lot of BS and about cars.

So that's fine.

That makes sense to me.

But yeah, I appreciate you guys have me on.

And yeah, I mean, we could talk about the FLD days and since then and everything in

between. So shoot your questions and I'm here to answer the best I can.

Anyway, so I've always been curious, something that Stanley and I have

experienced both being in the military and getting kind of that

melting pot of culture and getting to know people from a lot of different

places. I was shocked being a guy from the South, Stanley and I both are from

the South where learning to drive and getting your car and your license

like as soon as humanly possible is a big deal.

But like we encountered folks in the military who had were from New York,

New Jersey had had not gotten a license or ever had a car.

So one of our favorite questions to ask folks is what's your first car?

You know, and when did you kind of start being interested in cars?

Yeah, so I always liked cars growing up and I, you know, I live in Jersey,

born and raised by the beach.

Like, you know, the beach is not even a mile from my front door.

But yeah, like in New York and stuff, which is not far either,

a lot of people there, like you said, they don't get their license

till if they ever get their license, they sometimes don't get it

right away or wait longer.

In Jersey here, we got away towards 17 because there's so many damn people.

But yeah, I always I was always into cars.

I always liked cars and but my first car was basically just like

what I could afford being a, you know, a senior in high school.

And so my first car was in 1988 Toyota Camry.

And it was gray with burgundy interior.

Oh, the burgundy. Yeah. Yeah.

And when I got it, yeah, which actually I wish I still had it.

Because now I think about it like, oh, that car was sweet.

I mean, right away, I put in a CD player, new speakers.

I put in not a crazy big subwoofer subwoofer in there.

Yeah. I like I tried to modify it as much as I could.

But yeah, that was that was my that was my first car.

But I got my license, you know, I had my permit when I was 16

and then right when I turned 17, got it first try.

You know, first try with when you go through the test and all.

Yeah. And yeah, the the the gray Camry with burgundy interior.

Yep, that was 88.

Well, that's why that's why now that I would you ask.

So I had a very handsome

and sporty Saturn SC to, you know, all plastic

so you could get mad and kick it, which I often did.

And it was very forgiving. So nice.

Stanley, what about you?

My first car was a 1985 Ford Mustang LX that my mom gave me.

And everything was broken on it.

But can you imagine if like you had that now when it was mint?

It was pretty dope. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, well, well, Bill actually actually kind of rose into what I was going to ask you.

I mean, being from up there also is out of thought.

I don't know how much YouTube you can see now.

But there's another creator from New Jersey, his name is MKBHD.

Y'all had very similar, very first cars.

I think he had a gray Camry with red seats in it.

And glad. Yeah, it's weird.

That's all. Burgundy.

But yeah, so my birthday.

So my question was, so I mean, obviously, we've seen you drive a lot of cars.

I mean, I know you've been in more than that.

Would you rather have your first car back or your favorite car for twice the price?

My first car or my favorite car that I've had.

Yes.

Oh, so twice the price.

Well, literally it is twice the price.

So it'd be cool to have my.

I would say probably the Camry as long as it's in good shape.

Because my fate.

Well, I don't know, I've had I've had a few favorite cars, like, you know,

my one car right now is probably one of my favorites.

But from FLD days, you know, when I went to I went to the Wilmington

Delaware plant and I got a 2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe GXP.

Yes, in black, because it had to be.

Yeah, and I drove it off the line.

Well, I stalled it, but that was kind of for the camera.

But that's what I would have said to you.

But I recently spoke to the guy who bought it from me when I sold it

and they're trying to sell it at auction and they wanted like 65 grand for it.

Well, I was like, I mean, I should have kept that car in hindsight.

I wish I just like put it in my parents because at the time it was 2009

and I was like, this is my only car.

You know, I'm a snowboarder.

I live in Jersey the winters.

You know, it's not a car you would drive in the snow.

Right. And I was like, it's just not practical for me.

But what I should have done has been like, hey, said to my parents,

because especially then, you know, it was a hefty car payment.

It was like 500 and I don't know, like five hundred twenty

bucks a month or something and back in 09.

So it was a hefty car payment for that car.

I loved it, though, you know, manual turbo.

It was and, you know, the hard tops are a thousand times better than the soft tops.

100 percent agree.

A thousand times look wise and all that stuff.

And I should have spent like, hey, could we put this in the garage

like to my parents and could we like split the monthly payments on it

and you guys could drive it when you want and I'll drive it when I want.

But I didn't do that.

And I sold it and I ended up after that, I got the I got a Volkswagen

CC, which was still very stylish, fun to drive for me at the time.

It was a lot more practical, four doors and all that four door coupe.

But yeah, man, that that thing was that thing was sick,

especially because they only made, I don't know the exact number,

but it's twelve hundred and something of the hard top Pontiac's coupes.

And yours was like one or two, right?

You have like, yeah, yeah, if I remember, it was very early.

Yeah. And out of the, that twelve hundred or so, only seven.

I think these numbers are correct.

Only seven hundred or so were the GXP model.

So the higher end model, faster, all that.

And only two hundred and something of those seven hundred were manual.

Wow. And mine was number two.

Wow. And number one went back to GM.

So I had the first one.

Wow, that's awesome.

And I had a record of it was twelve hundred and sixty six that they made.

Oh, you just go live. You Google it.

Of course I did. You take on new that.

Oh, I was just right.

I said twelve hundred, twelve hundred.

Yeah, that's awesome.

And so, yeah, they, you know, if I was able to keep that car

and, you know, that would have been, that would have been awesome.

But unfortunately, just financially, it was too tough for me at the time.

And then because that was early on in FLD days, too,

was only like a year into FLD, maybe a year, year and a half or something.

But. But, yeah, to answer your question round about way,

I'd love to have the solstice back, but, you know, for sixty five grand,

a little, little pricey there, because I bought it for,

I think the sticker was like thirty two or thirty three.

And I got a deal on it for like twenty eight or something.

I think I put, I think I put down a thousand bucks or something.

And then, yeah.

So, but yeah, it was fun.

The cool, but I'm forever attached to that car.

You could look it up on YouTube and watch the FLD tours of it.

You could watch me that whole episode of me driving it off the line

and everyone at the Wilmington Delaware assembly plant holding signs

of my face on it and stuff. It was crazy.

Yeah. Yeah, it was nuts, but it was very cool at the same time.

And everyone that worked on the car signed on the inside of the doors

and they signed under the hood.

You know, I just felt I felt kind of bad when I sold it.

But just for practicality, for me, it just it wasn't

wasn't the long term, but I should have figured out a way to keep it.

Well, you know, that's that's the thing about your youth and hindsight.

And, you know, it's it's tough to think about a car

as an investment strategy when you're young and you're making a payment

and you need something that does something else.

It's kind of hard to just say, I'm just going to hang on to this thing.

So I totally get that.

I mean, 16 years ago, you know, in my 20s, it's wild.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

It's wild to think about now.

But yeah, that's the long answer.

I mean, if I could get the Camry back mint, like, oh, yeah.

Yeah, I would I'd push that I'd drive that thing all the time.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, what about you?

What would you do with it?

Oh, that's probably a little easier for me.

I would take my favorite car at twice the price over my first car.

That Saturn was not a great car, you know, it was not.

It was not a great.

I beat that car to death and it just didn't deserve the life it got.

But I wouldn't have that car back now.

One hundred percent.

I would I would do favorite, too, because my favorite car that I had

was a Skyline GT Turbo in Japan.

Oh, nice.

Yeah. And you don't have that anymore.

No, not at all.

Not at all.

It was for Japan.

That's cars really weird.

Well, they did when I was there.

A lot of that go military people.

We'd buy a car for a couple of thousand dollars because it was off at JCI.

Oh, you were living in Japan.

Yeah. Oh, nice. Nice.

So we get the car.

It didn't have any JCI on it.

Pay a thousand dollars to get JCI on it.

And we drive it until somebody wants to buy it and it goes away.

And I sold it and I regret that, too.

I wish I could have figured out how to get that car back.

Yeah, because that would have been a whole other thing, too,

getting it back here, you know?

Yeah. Yeah.

And and for our avid regular listeners,

Stanley made it 25 minutes before dropping that he lived in Japan.

So there you go.

Of course.

It was a roundabout way.

Right, right.

He really eased in there very gently.

But, you know, we still got it.

Everybody should live in Japan at one time or not.

Especially if you're a car person, right?

That's I mean, I definitely want to go to Japan.

I've never been. I'd love to go. Yeah.

So so I'm curious, how did you land F.L.D.?

So, um, so, like I said, I was always, like, into cars, I like car.

I'm a car guy in the sense that, you know, even that more,

I mean, more so after Fastlane Daily, you know, but I I'm not like,

oh, yeah, but let's drop this engine and rebuild it.

I'm not that kind of car.

I'm a car that loves cars.

Neither are neither of us are either.

But anyway, so I was an actor, a comedian host, and I was I had just started,

you know, I just graduated college and I heard about this.

It wasn't even through an agent.

I just heard about this.

I just heard about this show.

I remember reading the breakdown, the casting notice and being like,

TV on the Internet, no one is going to watch this.

But I was like, sorry, one sec, but I was like, yeah, I was like,

but, you know, I got audition for everything, you know, and and I like cars.

And it's about cars.

This is different.

And it was for some company called Next New Networks.

I was like, all right, whatever.

So I sent them my stuff, like my head shot, resume, all that stuff.

And my resume wasn't long at all at the time, you know.

And I was like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

I sent them my head shot, resume, all that stuff.

And my resume wasn't long at all at the time, you know.

And I got I got the audition and I remember I actually did a there's a video online.

It's you many years old.

It's called Draw My Life and it's like me drawing my life.

Like it's all sped up, like really fast.

And I explained this in there too.

Now that I think of it, I should do a Draw My Life 2.

And yeah, this step.

Yeah, that'd be pretty cool.

But anyway, I usually take the train to the city.

And my stomach was killing me, like not like to take a shit.

Like it was just hurting, not nerves, just like hurting.

And I was like, oh, man, I was I was this close to getting off the train

and just going back in my head.

It's like, you got to go, you got to go.

You got to do the audition.

You got to go to the you got to go to all the auditions you get,

especially now because, you know, I didn't get them that often back then.

And so I go and I do my thing, which wasn't great.

I know on the on the show, many times they've shown my my initial audition,

which is but they liked me that most of the people in the room

like I auditioned in front of AK, Lindsey Chen, who is one of our producers

and Jean Sanchez, who else was in there, maybe Jared or something.

But like Jean didn't like me, apparently.

But AK and Lindsey and I guess Jared did like me like we want to bring this guy back.

So I came back for a follow up audition, a call back.

And then after that, I got the call that I got it, which I was like, oh, this is awesome.

You know, I was stoked about it.

And I was but I didn't know like the longevity of it.

I didn't know where this was going.

Again, I was like TV on the internet.

Who's going to watch this?

You know, sure.

YouTube is brand new because but on Next New Networks,

we had our own like every show on Next New Networks had their own website

and their own their own kind of video platform.

But also we uploaded to YouTube and we uploaded on a bunch of other places.

I mean, we were all over the place as the years went on.

We were on Roku, we were on Tevo, we were all over the place.

But yeah, so I ended up getting it.

And they cast me and two other women, Alice, no, at the time,

I think it was it was what's her name, G young men.

And this other woman, her name is is is.

It's like a two part name.

I forget to. But yeah, like her first name sounds like two names.

Yes. Tina Beth, Pena.

Wow. Just pop.

So it was Tina Beth and G young men and me.

Then it was, you know, I was I was like being more of the steady.

Then they they they got rid of the auditioned a couple more women.

And it was Carrie Milbank and Alex Gazella.

You know, she might be.

So then it was us three and.

Time was going on. They were great, you know,

that you could tell they weren't car gals, you know.

And it seemed the audience, I guess, to that to the to the executives

and stuff at Next New Networks and everything and AK and all them.

They were like, the audience was just kind of gravitating,

I guess, more towards me, even though those women were way hotter than I was.

And then so then after a while, I think Carrie kind of she went away.

I don't know if she left on her own or they said, yeah, whatever.

And it was like just me and Alex.

And then it turned it was kind of like me,

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Alex, the two other days.

And then it then it just turned into more of me.

And then at some point, I'd probably say not even a year in.

They came in and they were like, Derek,

do you want this to be your show?

Right.

You're the main host.

And I was like, is that cool with Alex?

And then they were like, well, we'll tell her.

I was like, oh, OK, OK, but yeah.

So I mean, I but I was like, yeah, absolutely.

And I remember there was a point where I don't know

how long we were into FLD, maybe a year, a little over a year,

because I was still auditioning for other stuff at the time.

All through Fastlane Daily, I was auditioning for other stuff

and doing other things.

FLD was number one, though.

But I think it was probably 09,

because I think I auditioned for FLD in 07, like December.

So then it turned 08 or like, you know, the end of the year 2007.

And then I got to a point where I remember being like,

wait a second, can this this might be that I could maybe

only do this, like this could be my job.

But yeah, is this my job?

Because I was, yeah, because then from when I graduated

college to to then I was, you know, I had a Bachelor of Fine

Arts and Graphic Design, which I knew it wasn't going to use.

But I still use it to this day to design things for myself

when I have one man shows or things like that.

A lot of stuff for FLD.

I would help design for certain graphics and things like that.

But I remember being like, wait, so I don't because I was a waiter,

you know, and after he was a waiter, of course,

and I was a perfect teacher at my old high school at the high school I went to.

And then I was like, I think I could just do this

because I was in the city every day for for Fast Lane Daily

once they were like, you're the guy, you know.

And I was like, yeah, that's it.

And in the beginning, I was going in, you know, every every day

and I was more of a more than of a talking head.

You know, Spinelli, Mike Spinelli would would write the script

and I would read it and just throw in a couple of little things here and there.

And as time went on and on and on, you know, Mike went his other way.

You know, the show kind of as it ended up nine years later,

by the time it got to, you know, a few years in, I became one of the producers.

I was the main comedy writer for all the bits and segments and characters.

Include, but but it was it was a team effort, you know, with A.K.

and especially when, you know, when Max was there and J.F., of course.

And, you know, we had a lot of people that came and went with F.L.D.

A.K. and myself were the O.G. originals

there from the beginning to the end.

And Tom Albrecht was there in the beginning as an intern.

And then he went away and then he came back later on.

But yeah, and we turned the show into what it was.

And I'm proud to say that it's tried to be duplicated

and no one has duplicated it because they can't because when they try to,

they go, oh, you're just trying to be like Derek D.

from Fast Lane Daily, you know?

Yeah. Yes.

I know Hagerty tried to do a show and they they they they tapped J.F.

to produce it.

Right. And they asked me if I was interested.

I said, yeah, but they wanted to shoot it in Detroit.

They're like, OK, you want to relocate to Detroit.

I go, no, but what are you nobody does then?

And I was like, what are you going to pay?

And I was like, well, to relocate into Detroit,

you got to pay me more than what they what they were going to.

And and this was probably in like 2019 or something or 18.

And, you know, a couple of years after F.L.D. got canceled.

And they went with this woman who was great.

But I even said to J.F.

I'm like, dude, I go if they want to fly me out for like a week

and be like a co-host on it, or I just get host and co-sign for

I forget her name, who is hosting. Yeah.

Like, oh, shit, Derek D is kind of involved in this.

I'll watch this more, maybe, you know, and they were like, no.

I was like, OK, OK, well, fine.

But well, I think I think it's very I think it's very interesting

to hear your perspective on it.

You know, as somebody who, I mean, Stanley and I both watch

probably every single episode as they came out every day

because that was like car news for us, you know.

But as somebody who was kind of an outside observer

and back then in the early days of YouTube,

you know, there wasn't a ton of stuff to watch.

So getting some car information was was super cool

to be able to have like this daily access to it.

And again, from from an outside perspective,

like trying to learn what is this YouTube, how to shows work,

who are these people, you know, is all very interesting

to be experiencing this new culture online that could exist.

So I think for me, you know, I didn't really understand.

Probably who Jean was as far as the show goes.

But as Jean kind of went off garage for 19.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Like as Matt and garage for 19 became a thing,

us people watching the show could definitely see all of a sudden

like, hey, Derek's got like personality

and is doing things beyond delivering the car news.

And I think that's why people started watching.

You know, for me, I went back and started scrolling through the feed

and was looking for stuff and and was like, oh, man,

I loved watching all of the auto shows, right?

Stanley and I have been to a couple and we love that atmosphere

and and now in the work I do, I wound up working a lot of tool shows

and manufacturing shows and that show environment is a lot of fun anyway.

So seeing you at the shows being a younger guy back then

and like aspiring to do things and get out and travel.

That was that was my favorite part of the show.

And then, of course, obviously, like Bob Shubin Jr.

And just, you know, seeing like going a year

from you being at a New York show to the next New York show

and then all of a sudden here's, you know, Megan, the Fiat chick or whatever.

And it's like as a watcher, you're invested.

So you're like, oh, man, there's that person again, you know,

because it's been a year since you saw them.

So it was a neat thing to as even as a fan watching it back then

because there wasn't other stuff to compare it to people.

Really, I'm speaking for a lot of fans here,

but people felt invested like they're a part of this car culture.

And I think that's that's some of the success you see on other YouTube channels

now with car content.

You know, we talk about Jason Camisa on Hagerty.

You know, his content, he has personality that comes through.

Of course, he's doing a lot of his own writing, I think.

But, you know, when you have that ability to really give it your voice,

people respond to that and they don't respond as well

when it's somebody else's voice through you,

unless it's like you making fun of JF, which were always hilarious.

When you do the JF voice, you're going to make fun of one of your producers,

you know, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, JF and I, we get along great.

Actually, we almost just shot a gig with him in Detroit for a commercial,

but it didn't work out, not nothing, no fault of his or mine.

But but anyway, yeah, I mean, thank you for saying all that.

I do appreciate it.

What, you know, what we did with Fastlane Daily was definitely,

I'm very proud of what what we did and, you know, me and AK

and everyone else that worked on the show, you know,

we got what we were trying to do, because we, especially me,

because, you know, I was, I'm like, it's car news.

It's car news.

Why can't it be funny?

Why can't it be interesting?

I guess I took like used to be a show called Talksoup on E back in the day.

And I kind of like.

I'm missing that show.

Yeah, remember that show?

I kind of was like, yeah, I want to I want to incorporate people behind the camera.

I want to talk to them.

Let's get them liked.

Let's, you know, let's let's let's let's keep it.

We're talking about car news here.

It doesn't have to be serious.

You know, it can be fun.

And so we would rope in an audience of, you know, full on car guys

and gals, mostly guys, but we'd have, I'd have lives and girlfriends

email me personally, email, email the show.

We'd be like, I'm not really into cars, but I watched the show with my husband

or boyfriend and I learned some cool things I could talk to him about.

And also Derek D is funny.

So I like watching that.

And we get, so you get laughter.

You get your information and we're hitting you with it daily.

So yeah, there's news constantly.

And you know, our episodes are ended up being towards the end,

probably around like, I don't know, 12 to 15 minutes sometimes, you know.

And so I felt very proud of that, that we were able to kind of take it

in this direction of this comedic daily show about car news and anything car news,

you know, whether it's, you know, something serious with, you know,

talking about an engine or, you know, the Mustang is going to have

an EcoBoost engine in it now.

Oh, what the heck?

Talk about that.

Or, you know, Lindsay Lohan crashed her Porsche Panamera, you know,

and then we always roped in pop culture news to do it.

Something might have happened the day before I'm roping it in, you know,

and then and then what a lot of people say, fans of the show, kind of like

how you listen to a show for a long time and you get the odds and the odds

and ends of it, you're like, you're a member, you know it.

So you knew when I was going to say, Fernando Alonso,

there was going to be this or like the, you know, word on the street is money,

brother, you know, there's all like little sounds.

Yeah, like sound bites and little things that I would do that you guys would

just be like, Oh, Derek's going to do this one.

Oh, yeah. See, there it is.

Or like, you know, he's about to do the thing.

Watch him do the thing.

Yeah. Or like, I would throw it to Erica to say torque or the sand trombone

where I'd be like, and then the sand music or just a little funny click.

I'd literally be on the train.

Like how would how would that would work in the morning is I'd get the

script from either Miles or Omar, who, by the way, are killing it right now

on their respective social media, doing car reviews and stuff.

You know, I get the script from them.

This was in the latter years of FLD.

Actually, all the years of FLD, you know, when I started being

the comedy writer and that I'd sit on the train on the way in and

I'd punch up the script and the jokes and the funny and then all segments

were me every segment.

So commenter of the week, Friends Day Wednesday, doing it wrong.

Rapid Fire News and what was what was Thursday?

Oh, guys, Rapid Fire News was Friday.

Yeah. Monday was Commenter of the Week, I believe.

Tuesday was doing it wrong.

Friends Day Wednesday.

What was Thursday?

Oh, man, for some reason, I thought Thursday was doing it wrong.

I don't know. I don't know.

I'd have to look it up.

The internet will correct us.

Yeah, for sure.

Anyway, I should know what I'm drawing in black here, but

but I did. I wrote all those segments and I, you know, the Rapid Fire

News was always news that wasn't that important, but could be fun.

And I always had to rhyme it.

And I would always try to get it in one take.

And even when I didn't, it'd keep it in there because it'd be funny.

And that's the thing, too.

Like, if I'm laughing or I screw up sometimes, just keep it in.

I mean, unless it was a blatant flub where we had to stop and go back

because it got to the point where we were such a well-oiled machine

that we would do a lot of episodes in one take.

Just, you know, that's awesome.

Yeah.

So what so my question was, what was your favorite segment?

And what would you like FLD if it was on today?

What would it look like today from your mind?

Yeah. So my favorite segment, that's tough

because there's segments that we did because we would do man on the street.

Yeah. Bits and segments we would do.

We'd come down to the boardwalk here and shoot on the boardwalk.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

I'd say that's auto shows, Bob Shubin and all that stuff.

But if you're talking about the daily segments,

I'd probably have to go with the OG's comment or the Wii

just because that was a direct interaction with the fans.

I just remember what Thursday was.

It was your question of the day.

A video would come in from a fan and ask a question.

It would be in the corner box and you'd see the video

and then I'd answer it or kind of interact with it.

That's right. That's right.

That was a great segment, too.

But comment to the week was great because, yeah.

You know, thank God we had so many comments.

It was tough to go through all of them,

but I would always find, you know, haters or good ones.

And yeah, you know, they were 90% were positive,

but you always have the haters in there.

But that was probably my favorite segment that was throughout the week.

But I mean, there's so many fond memories of FLD.

I mean, I'll go back and watch.

I'll just go back and click on an episode like from 2014, 15, whatever.

And I was 16, whatever it is.

And I'm just like, you forget, I hosted.

There were so many episodes, 2,600 or whatever.

And you go back and watch and you're like, man, we were good.

Like we had it.

Like we were just in the pocket, as they say.

And it's so fun to watch this far removed from it

because at the time, like I had a blast doing it.

Don't get me wrong, but I'm so far removed from it.

And I'm like, wow, we were a well-oiled machine,

like throwing it to the people behind the camera and the interns or whoever

and going from segment to this or that, you know, the little sound effects.

Like, you know, we just we were just, you know, cooking with grease.

And then, you know, when we got balled by Time Inc.

and moved to Brooklyn for the last seven months of the show,

honestly, we were the only entity they have that they had

that was getting organic views that they weren't paying for.

Like a lot of the views for like a lot of the other stuff

they were doing on the drive and things like that.

They were getting those views,

but they were paying to put them in front of people.

Sure, sure.

Lars was just where it was.

And you know, that's an interesting point, too,

because what maybe you can speak to this like.

YouTube is like a business strategy.

Didn't exist in those early days.

There wasn't the ad revenue

and the the pay for views that that came later in YouTube.

So how did that look for next new networks?

Like in those early days, was it?

Well, in the beginning, yeah, in the beginning,

there actually was a much better revenue split because

because it was all new.

They were like, what is it now?

It like sucks.

Like if you're on YouTube, you need millions and millions of views.

And usually you're getting, you know,

and you're getting endorsements, you're getting deals.

Yeah.

That's how we get a lot of money.

I forget exactly what it was, but I could be wrong.

But back then it might have been like

almost a dollar per thousand views or something.

Whoa, OK.

I could be wrong.

It was something like that.

And obviously now it's definitely not that.

Yeah, right.

Just because it wasn't, it also wasn't as big.

Yeah, it wasn't as big.

You know, it just it just wasn't.

Now everyone, you know, we would do videos back then.

And I was also a cast member on another show

on Next Network, it's called The Key of Awesome

and which had millions and millions of subscribers.

And when we did a video on there

and it got 10 million, 20 million,

like it was viral and everyone saw it.

Nowadays you could have a video go 20 million

and no one knows what it is, you know?

Yeah.

It's there's a lot going on.

But Stanley, I think you had a second part of your question.

I'm trying to remember just to check back to that.

So what would it look like today?

It's funny you asked that.

And I get that question a lot from the FLB fan.

Like, why don't you just do it?

Why don't you just do it in your living room?

And me and AK have talked about this.

We were at a certain level with the show.

And to me and AK, we've talked about this.

We don't want to go.

We feel like we'd be going backwards.

Like, I'm not going to set up a green screen

and here or it, you know, in my other room

and and shoot it right and do it all myself.

And for what? What am I getting back?

Like, if the show were to be to happen again,

we'd have to be done correctly, like the right budget in a studio.

Say Netflix would pick it up or something.

And maybe it wouldn't be daily.

You know, AK is like, maybe it'd be.

AK, I've talked about this.

Maybe it would be called Fast Lane Daily weekly.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. It's Fast Lane Daily, but it's one day a week.

That's right.

Which would be great.

Sorry, I mean, we would need.

We would want, you know, to be done right.

We were at this level.

We want to go up here.

We don't want to go backwards.

We want to be, you know, get get some of our writers,

get some of our guys that we had in the past,

guys and gals working on the show, come back.

Um, obviously me and we and AK and I were just in talks

with the people that currently own it.

Um, the same people that own Fast Lane Daily

own doughnut media, too.

Whoa, interesting.

Yeah.

Ooh, that drop by drop of bomb right there.

They own the drive, they own doughnut media,

and they own Fast Lane Daily.

And we were talking to them and we, we were talking to them.

We wanted to make sure that it's okay, because AK and I,

as you might know, we wrote this sitcom.

We've had videos about it.

We're pitching it, and, you know, that's a marathon,

a long marathon, not a sprint.

Anytime you're pitching anything you wrote.

And for a sitcom or a TV show or anything like that.

So honestly, that's our number one priority right now.

But we're like, we're totally entertained,

bringing the show back as long as it's done right.

Because we, not to sound like 40, 20,

but you can't do Fast Lane Daily without me.

Like I'd have to be the host.

Oh, right.

I imagine if you're not on it.

Right.

And the expectation would be there because, I mean,

you would just be comments of like, where's Derek?

Why isn't Derek here?

Plus all the OG fans would come back.

And I'd be doing stuff that you guys all know.

New fans wouldn't know.

You guys would know, they'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's right, yeah.

And so, but we were talking to them being like,

yeah, we're interested in,

because everybody would be interested in redoing the show.

We're like, yes, but it would have to be this certain way.

And they're basically like, oh, you could do it.

And we might throw you a little bit of money,

but that's it.

And it wasn't anything where AK and I

would be able to live off it or really work on it.

Like, okay, this is our thing.

Let's do this, you know?

But our original reason we got in touch with them too,

was to be like, we are pitching our sitcom

with the show Fast Lane Daily within it.

Oh yeah.

We could easily pitch our sitcom

and just change the name, sure.

Yeah.

But we would want it to be Fast Lane Daily,

because, A, we have access to the YouTube channel,

and we could promote it on there.

Right.

No, I think at the time of the show was canceled,

I think we were like half a million subscribers.

It's dropped down to like, to shy 300,000,

but there's still people there.

And I'm not canceling my subscription.

I'm not taking mine off either.

Appreciate it.

But if, you know, if FLD were to get,

say the sitcom were to get picked up,

or FLD, let me put it this way,

when the sitcom gets picked up.

There you go.

If the actual show were to get picked up again as well,

do you know how many, you know,

car publications would pick up that news

and be like, yo, guess what's back?

Like if one day you guys logged out of YouTube

and there was a new video on FLD's channel,

and it was just like maybe a 10-second clip of something,

or a five-second clip of something,

and then you just saw like the end for Netflix,

just go boom, boom, boom.

You'd be like, oh, no, holy shit.

Or Hulu or Prime, whatever it would be.

That's right.

You know?

We've been waiting for that for years.

Yeah.

We're trying.

We're trying over here.

And I fully, you know, just because what AK has been

going through, what I'm currently going through,

AK's still going through.

He's in remission, but he's still going through it.

And I actually have a call with AK tomorrow.

But, you know, I think we deserve it.

You know, we've put in the work,

we've put in our-

Absolutely.

Plenty over 10,000 hours.

And so that's where that lies.

And I did my last email to,

I forget his name.

He's one of the guys that works,

I think he's the head of the drive,

but he works for the company mainly

that owns the drive, Donut Media and Fastlane Daily.

And we're just saying, like, look, you know,

this is where we're at.

And if you're interested,

just let us know, get back to us.

And we had a back and forth,

but it basically said like,

yeah, we're not sure what we could do with the sitcom.

We're like, that's fine.

We just want to make sure it's cool.

We're using the IP, the intellectual property

of Fastlane Daily.

So when it does get picked up,

That's right.

They're going to come to you

and be like, hey, we want to buy this YouTube channel.

And there you're going to make your money right there.

Yeah.

Exactly.

I always imagined my other,

my favorite different format,

Motor Week was always my go-to ever since the kid.

I've been watching Motor Week since 1997.

So it's 1987.

And I always imagined your show,

FLD with Motor Week's budget.

Oh yeah.

Especially back then.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know how Motor Week's doing now.

I mean, it seems like everyone is,

I mean, it's not, the money is just not there.

Right.

Well, they're on PBS and Maryland Public Television.

They've been there since 1978 or something like that.

That's amazing.

So they have things.

And I always imagined FLD was my weekly thing,

my daily thing.

And then the new Motor Week episode

okay about our Saturday.

I watched that.

And then Sunday was dedicated to football.

So up there.

Yeah.

I'm with you on that,

even though the Giants are frigging terrible,

but that's a whole other conversation.

But yeah.

So, you know, if say any one of these streaming servers

picked up Fast and the Daily

and it was like do it one day a week.

Shell.

You know, going to the city.

Well, Netflix is gonna,

right where I live right here,

Eaton Town is a town, 10 minutes for me.

And Netflix is building a huge back lot.

Oh, really?

Right here.

Like what Paramount or Universal looks like in LA

or what, you know, Kaufman Studios,

what looks like Queens and all the,

like huge back lot, like a couple billion dollars.

Wow.

And New Jersey now is the number one state

in the United States for tax breaks for film and TV.

Used to be Georgia, now it's Jersey.

No, it's Jersey.

Yeah.

But if, you know, I think people would watch,

you know, there's so much shit on Netflix

that like who watches this stuff?

You know, it's so saturated, but,

Right.

You know, if it was like one day a week

and it was on Netflix with Hulu or something like that,

I think we'd pull in that audience,

especially if we're able to promote it on YouTube

with already over a quarter million subscribers.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that would,

I think that would work.

I think that would get a lot of traction.

And you know, all those people that watched

Fast and the Daily back in the day,

I mean, they're hopefully most of them

are full functioning adults now.

And they've got streaming services.

So they're gonna see it and be like,

oh, this is back?

No way, let's check it out.

It would be bestowed it.

Right.

100%.

Yeah.

One of the coolest things that I get from,

I swear, I mean, this is no bullshit.

FLD fans almost on a daily basis get in touch.

Whether it's a DM on Instagram and email,

Facebook message almost daily.

And during the, you know,

when I was in the hospital and going through,

you know, it was in the trenches of all the,

the cancer stuff, you know, constant.

It's just from all over the world.

Wow, that's crazy.

All over all different countries.

It's just so humbling.

And I love FLD fans and you guys so much.

Cause like, I did what I did.

I had a gig for almost a decade, nine years.

Who has that?

Who gets, you know?

And part of the reason is,

because of me, but also the team we had,

AK and everyone else that worked on the show

that got what we were all trying to do.

You know, even though it seems like

everyone we were working for, like,

didn't get what we were doing.

That's basically what it's all about.

But yeah, I would get messages from,

and you guys are in the military

from men and women in the military,

mostly men, and they were just like,

oh, Derek, we're out here in Afghanistan

and we're here in Iraq, whatever.

And your show for 13 minutes a day

just takes me out of everything.

And I'm like, no, thank you.

Like, what are you thanking me for?

Like, I'm just hosting a show here in New York City.

You're out there fighting for our lives and everything.

Like, thank you, thank you.

So I'd always try to, you know,

make sure I shout them out on the show all the time.

And I've been invited to,

someone invited Bob Shubin to the wedding.

It was crazy.

They needed a smoke and deal.

Yeah, for them, you know, for free,

I shot a video of, as Bob Shubin Jr.

saying, like, congratulations and all this stuff.

And they played it at their wedding.

Like, it was wild.

That's crazy.

But it was always so humbling when we get messages like that

from anyone in the armed forces and armed services.

And there's people all over the world that watch the show

because obviously the internet is worldwide.

So it was just everywhere, you know?

And yeah, it was very humbling

and I'm very happy that, you know,

it lasted as long as it did.

And the goal is to get it back some day

and get this sitcom picked up.

Do you think there's any place for something like that

in the world of, you know, there are so many shorts

and reels and just quick one, two minute things now

that occupy so much of social media?

You know, I think I read somewhere

that YouTube people are making,

almost making more money off of their shorts

that are often clips from their full length videos

than they are from the videos themselves.

So, I mean, for something like a Fastlane Daily

where it was daily news,

of course in those early days,

your episodes were fairly short.

Would that be something you could tailor something towards?

Yeah, but like you said, I think it would be something

where you shoot something bigger and then cut it up.

Because I mean, we'd want it high quality.

We'd want it sounding great.

We want all the graphics and everything like that.

Right.

And to put that in just a one or two minute thing

just for one or two minutes, you know,

and honestly, at this point,

it would just be like A.K. and I working on it, you know?

Right.

And you know, he's going through it.

He's going, I'm going through what I'm going through.

Like, I need to work.

I need to make sure money's coming in.

You know what I mean?

That's right, that's right.

So, like, we're pretty like,

look, we're down to do the show.

You hear right here, we're down to do Fastlane Daily.

Just has to be done right.

We're not asking for too much that anyone had asked for for,

you know, any other type of show,

you know, any other talk show or thing like that.

And, you know, they're easy to shoot

when you have the right crew and the right budget

and wouldn't be that expensive

in this grand scheme of things.

Right.

So, yeah.

When it comes down to it, it's your kid too, right?

I mean, it's your thing that you helped build

and it's now to your point about all these messages.

It's part of your identity.

So, the last thing you want to do

is have it done halfway by somebody who doesn't respect it

or understand it the right way.

I mean, that makes perfect sense to me.

Right.

And, you know, I'm sure you guys saw the video

of A.K. and I driving around in the Ferrari

and we're talking about this.

So, that, that FLD was in the hands of these like,

just, it was like two guys that owned it.

It wasn't like a big company.

Right.

It was owned by them then and they were like,

we asked them, can we put this on the FLD channel?

And they gave me the keys to the castle

and I was able to upload it to it,

which was very nice of them.

And now it's with this other company and, you know,

I'm not, you know, it was when it was with the company

before is when I put that video

and the video asking Ben Stiller to direct our sitcom.

Sure.

Which I, you know, I still,

I'll still tweet at Ben Stiller here and there

just because like, hey, why not swing?

Yeah, that's it.

That's, you know, we have connections in this business

and we've used those and, you know,

we've had nibbles on the show

and people have been like, oh,

they love the dynamic between A.K. and I

and everything and that's crickets.

Yeah, it's just the way it is.

You know, sometimes you write a show,

you write a movie and it doesn't get picked up

till a decade later, you know, five years later,

whatever it is.

So we knew it's a long game,

but we know it will, we know people will watch it.

And that's one of our biggest hooks

because we have a built-in audience.

That's right, yeah.

So.

Well, yeah.

Like you just spoke it into existence.

You know, we have the biggest podcast on the planet

and, you know, somebody's gonna hear it

and they're gonna call you

and then it's gonna be, it's gonna happen.

That's it.

Or I'm gonna hit the Lotto

and we gonna make it happen.

Stanley's trying to speak everything into existence now.

Oh, you know, you believe in something,

you pursue it long enough.

I mean, look at me.

I mean, look, I'm not a huge celebrity

or anything like that by any means,

but I've worked hard.

I was like, this is what I want to do for a living

and an actor, comedian, host, voiceover actor.

And since I said what I told you guys before,

I was like, I think this is all like,

I think this could just be what I do.

Right.

Since then, that's all I've done.

And granted, most of that,

almost 10 years of that was FLD.

But since then, it's just been, you know,

gig here, gig here, gig that lasts a little while,

you know, a bunch of, you know,

a multi-episode hosted gig here, whatever.

But yeah, you just stick to it, man.

That's awesome.

I have one final question

because from us watching your journey

and you speaking just now

and everything that we know about you,

we think we know about you.

You've had a bunch of different cars.

They don't always match from our knowledge.

What do I have right now?

That's coming.

Cool, sedan, SUV slash crossover or truck.

What's the best, what's the right format?

Or, oh, my bad.

My bad bill wagon as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, don't get the wagons.

I think what he's saying is what's your fault, Frank.

What's your advantage?

You know, probably right now, I guess a coupe

but like the four-door coupe thing.

Oh.

I mean, my car, my main car now,

I have an Audi A5 S line

but I've done modifications to it.

But, you know, it looks like a coupe but it's four doors.

Right, right.

It's not the two-door coupe.

It's the four-door and it looks great.

I love it.

It's a good looking car.

I had an A4 all-road wagon.

Yeah, those are nice too.

Yeah.

And yeah, I love that car.

I have, but yeah, I mean,

probably a truck over an SUV.

But you asked me my one favorite,

so I guess I'll go with what I just said with the coupe.

Oh, you can say whatever you want.

But what I have now, currently, I have the A5.

I have an O3 Dodge Ram red

that I've done a bunch of stuff to

and I call it Clifford, just the big red and tall.

And then I had bought a BMW 1-Series a couple years ago

and the guy I told it to me, you know,

wasn't too truthful with a bunch of stuff,

so I ended up selling that.

But I just bought a 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Nice.

Yeah, it's a big, big yacht looking thing.

My mom had one that was green when I was younger

and I bought the same one, except her,

she had a land out top that was green

and the interior was green leather.

Pleather.

Mine is green on the outside,

white pleather interior that won't get land out top.

Which, it's dope and I've done a bunch of work to it,

but you know, it's got a lot of issues too,

so we'll see how much longer I have it,

but I don't know if you can see it there.

Oh, yes.

And that might be the most New Jersey car

you could have mentioned on the show.

I mean, that's very New Jersey.

I love it.

Yeah.

It was an nostalgic buy,

because my mom had one,

but I've done a bunch of stuff to it

and I bought it from this collector up in North Jersey

and he was gonna fix it all up.

I bought it from him, it was running,

but I've had a bunch of all new brakes,

new tires, new radiator, all new spark plugs,

wires of air filter, gas gauge,

just a ton of little things, speakers, all the stuff.

And I was driving it the other day

and on this highway right near me,

I just stalled in the middle of the road and I'm like,

shit, so I did get it started again,

but I was like, it can't be doing that,

but so we'll see.

I gotta bring it to my mechanic

and see what's going on,

but I have been looking on Facebook Workplace.

I've always liked these and they're fun to drive.

I'm looking at Fiat 500 A-Barts,

manual, they're fun.

And if I can get one of those.

I was gonna ask if you,

where you're at with a manual in your life?

Do you have a manual or are you looking for a manual?

I feel like it's important as a car guy

to have a manual somewhere,

either in your plans or in your garage or something.

Yeah, I don't have a manual.

Well, I do have a little custom cafe,

like racer style motorcycle.

It's four years, 125cc, so that's manual.

So I whipped that around the beach and stuff,

but that thing is screaming at 50 miles per hour,

45 miles per hour.

That's okay.

It's about the experience.

It's not about the speed.

Yeah, it's so fun to drive around the beach area

and parking is a cinch.

It's awesome.

So that's my only current manual,

vehicle or transportation.

I did buy a truck years ago.

I had like a little,

was it like a B, Mazda B75B,

one of those little guys?

Yeah, yeah.

The same as the Ford Explorer.

I had one of those, that was manual.

But yeah, I'm looking at,

if I sell the Grand Prix,

I'm gonna be looking at some Fiat 500 A-bar switch.

I'll drive for a while,

make sure it's in like min condition

and probably maybe sell it and flip it

for a profit or whatever.

Sure.

Yeah, but my name maybe is the Audi.

Yeah, both of us are seeking,

well, Bill got it already.

We got bit by,

we needed to buy a manual again

before something happened to us.

So Bill went and got one.

So now I got to catch up.

Yeah.

What'd you get?

I got a, it's a 2013 Volkswagen Golf R.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's got a little bit of work done to it.

Turbo, downpipe.

Ketchcan, ECU flash, sway bars,

like basic bolt on stuff.

That's fun though.

It's fast though, it's fun.

I enjoy it a lot.

And it was fun going into a car shopping.

I mean, I've always been a Volkswagen kid,

but going out shopping for a car,

but I was actually just shopping for a transmission, right?

So my one criteria was,

I'm gonna find something that's a manual.

Right.

And so going out with that intent is very freeing,

but it's also very confusing to car salesmen

when you show up out there a lot

and you're like, yeah,

I'm only here to look at a manual transmission.

So I don't have something.

Yeah.

I was looking on, yeah, yeah.

What are you looking at?

I was gonna tell Bill this later.

I'm actually taking a Acura TSX,

an O8 Acura TSX to go get checked out tomorrow morning.

I was looking for my daughter and I saw it

and I was like, I'm gonna go look at this car.

Instead of buying my wife a $60,000 SUV.

So there, this works.

There you go.

You gotta scratch that itch.

Yeah, it's crazy because now,

I mean, obviously the younger generations,

they're not driving manuals.

Hell, I mean, cars,

I was just in Scottsville, Arizona last week

and there's Waymo's everywhere.

Yeah.

Cars, Jaguars, just driving around with no one in them.

Besides people, it's just, it's a wild.

So a lot of these kids,

they're not worried about learning manual.

I mean, this is their manual now.

That's right.

That'll shift or even you get the plus and minus

and then you could shift with that.

But yeah.

I can ask me, what was that for in this car?

Not too long ago.

I worked with a bunch of 20-year-olds

out there around me on time.

They don't even know what a paddle shifter's a for.

Wow.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Well, a lot of people buy a car

and they realize they have them.

They're like, oh, what else?

I've never used those.

Well, you know, you could use them.

Sometimes they're on cars that are just like a...

It doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

A circuit with a CVT with paddle shifters.

Exactly.

Yeah, just a full cylinder, whatever.

But when I was looking at, you know,

Mini Cooper Ss, Fiat 500 Abarths,

and also I was looking at like GTIs and stuff.

But I think I'm just leaning towards the Fiat

because I've driven a bunch of those,

but I remember I did a thing for a Celine.

I was out, I think it was 2019.

I was out in California with Celine

and Molly, his daughter,

we were driving around a Fiat 500 Abarth

and a Mini Cooper S.

And I've driven both of those obviously a bunch of times before,

but Abarth was just so much fun and it sounds good too.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're very capable little cars though, I mean.

Yeah.

And for us, and for being in a city environment, dude,

getting around traffic and parking and getting in and out.

Well, that's the thing too.

Where I live is good because it's not super packed,

but in the summer, I live in a tourist area,

so we're having a small car to zip around.

That's why I zip the motorcycle around.

But like, yeah, just community,

because a lot of times I don't drive my Audi that much.

I just keep the miles low on it.

I drive the truck probably more.

Right.

But if I had that little Fiat 500,

zipping that around and it's manual, fun to drive,

I'm like, I'll take that.

My nephew goes to university in Delaware,

use that instead of putting miles on the Audi or,

I mean, in the truck, you know, it's an O3,

it's almost a classic and it's got 210,000 miles on it.

Right, yeah.

But knock on wood, that thing.

As well.

I put work into it, but it runs well.

And it doesn't look as old as, what do you have?

I have a nephew up at Delaware State, so I understand that.

You know, connections, wow.

Yeah, yeah, so those are, so if you include the motorcycle,

I guess I have four vehicles currently.

That's all right.

It's okay to have more cars than people in your house.

I fully support that.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, and well, I gotta say, Derek,

it's been a lot of fun to have this conversation

and is there anything you're doing right now

you wanna plug for folks that are listening

and wanna come see you or watch something

or anything, turn it.

I just won a tele award for a video I produced

called Dear Entertainment Industry.

Okay.

I got three tellies, I got the other one right there,

the one I just won right there.

But that was a video I did.

Basically about the, it's me talking to the cameras,

if the camera's a person and that person

is the entertainment industry.

And this is what I would tell you

after working for you for 20 years now.

So you can go check that out.

Everything's on my website, you go to derekd.com.

You can get to my social media from there.

You can go to new videos and look through there.

I also just produced a video.

You guys might've saw it through all the cancer stuff.

Yes.

I'm like, it's kind of like, it's rocky themed.

Yep, you guys saw that one, right?

Yep, yep, I enjoyed all the tire flipping.

I felt tired watching it.

So, you know.

Yes, and fun fact about that video,

nothing was faked for the camera.

Everything, if I, so like before I would even,

especially that day where I'll slip in the tire and stuff,

I did a whole workout before I even started rolling.

So I was tired and sweaty and then did

multiple other exercises and workouts just to film it.

So I'm dripping sweat, that's all real.

Cause I was like, I'm not faking anything.

And anytime when I shot stuff that was like

used of the drone or running on the boardwalk

or in the woods, it was after I came from the gym.

So I had already worked out, I'm already sweating.

Nothing was faked.

Cause it's all, I mean, it's all real.

And then the footage I had in the beginning,

especially when I'm in my hospital bed,

I was just watching Rocky.

I just, I shot it and sent it to my buddy

who's also a big Rocky fan.

And I was like, yeah, look at this,

this is motivating me with no idea

I wanted to do this video down the line.

And so I kind of put that all together.

And I would love for a slice alone to see it.

Cause I mean, I'm still back.

I'm walking around at stage four cancer.

I still have cancer.

Yeah, dude.

People look at me and they're like, really?

I'm like, well, you know,

you don't want to be in AK talk about this all the time too.

Like rather this than a hundred pounds and emaciated,

you know?

Yeah, yeah.

But they got the big tumor out of me

and then it spread to my lungs and my back.

But my last scan, my most recent scan,

all the scans I've had up until my most recent scan

were bad.

They always had some bad news.

The most recent one was good.

Things were getting smaller in my lungs

and there was nowhere else.

So and that's great.

That's awesome.

Yeah, thank God for that.

And I'm just, you know,

another thing too is staying positive.

You know, if you're negative,

that negativity and stress,

that in your body, cancer loves that shit.

So I stay positive.

I have my bad days, trust me.

And, you know, but I'm coming through it.

You know, I worked out probably more for my mental

than the physicals or the by-product.

Right.

So, yeah, not to go off on a tangent there.

You know, anyone listening?

Yes, that's what I'm going through.

Currently I was diagnosed December 27th.

So if you want to go to my website,

directd.com, and you go to new videos,

you'll see that video.

You'll see the deer entertainment industry video

and you could see all my social media.

But I've been just slowly been able to

been getting back to work and doing commercials again

because also auditioning doesn't mean

like auditioning is working,

but only if you book it.

Right, right, right.

I'm grateful.

I have great agents that get me a lot of auditions,

but you have to book it.

So, yeah, I'm just, and then obviously pitching to sitcom

and they could see videos about that

from, going from a website or go to cobbinstiles.com.

You all get to it from my website.

So, directd.com is probably the best.

Yeah.

We'll put a link in the description for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

If you want to put a link for any one of those videos

specifically, I can send you the links

and you can just put them in there.

Okay, yeah, that'll work too.

Yeah, awesome.

Well, it's been great having you on.

And again, we really appreciate it for our listeners.

I just sent Derrick a link to our episode

where we were talking about Fastlane Daily

and just thought he might enjoy

hearing some people talk about the show.

And Derrick was like, hey, I'd be glad to do an episode.

So we're really appreciative

that you took the time to talk to us.

And it's really been cool to get to know you

and meet you in person versus just watching you on YouTube

16 years ago.

So it's awesome, man.

Thanks a lot.

Yeah, well, thank you guys.

Bill Stanley, I appreciate you guys.

And I try to, what you see is what A.K. always says.

I say, Derrick D, it's what you see is what you get.

I don't put on anything for the camera

unless I'm literally acting

and having to be a different character.

But what you saw on Fastlane Daily, me hosting it,

that's me.

That's just the way I do it.

I think that was the best part of all of this

is the guy that we watched every day is the real Derrick.

That's right.

Good to know.

I think that comes through.

People watch those videos.

That's why people like the show

because they knew they were hearing from you

not from a script, right?

That's a big difference.

Yeah, it's authentic.

It's authenticity and you're staying true to yourself

and who you are and what you're doing.

You don't like me?

Fine, a lot of people didn't like me

and they, but they still watch the show.

So they're like, hey, I appreciate your,

you can keep it in them, you know?

Well, hate on me how you want, you know?

Hate watching pays, I'm just saying.

It's plenty of people out here getting hate watched.

That's true.

I heard somebody say, like, a YouTube personality say

that like, that's how they knew they made it

was when they started getting 50% negative comments or more

was like, that's when they knew,

hey, I'm actually doing something.

More people want to hate on me than like me.

Yeah.

But they're still watching.

Yeah, they're still watching

and you need the negative comments

but don't dwell on the negative comments.

Sure, sure.

Dwell on the positive comments.

Those are the people that really appreciate you.

You need the negative ones

because you know you're doing something right.

People are, hey, but don't dwell on those people

too much and I would always kill them with kindness.

You know, a lot of times I'd see a comment,

Derek, you suck, you fucking suck.

You should die, whatever it is.

People would say terrible things.

Even go to the extent of emailing me.

Find out my email, you suck.

You're emailing me.

I'm not emailing you.

Right, right.

But then like if it was in the comments

on like YouTube or something,

I'd be like, hey man, listen,

you're entitled to your opinion.

I just appreciate you watching.

I hope you have a great day.

And then usually 95% of the time they come out like,

oh, Derek, sorry, I was having a bad day that day, you know.

Okay, wow.

I would respond to that.

If I had said that first one,

it got a nice email back.

I'd have just let that go.

That'd have been the end of it.

What do you say after that?

Most of the time they would come back.

They'd come back.

I'd be like, look, I just appreciate you watching.

I can't please everybody.

I'm being, you know, I'm a realist.

I get how it is, but thanks anyway, man.

You know, oh, sorry, man.

You know, I was just having a bad day.

Yeah, wow.

So you kill them with kindness and you move on, you know.

Can't do all on the negative.

But yeah, this has been great guys.

I appreciate you.

I probably could go on forever.

There's probably other stuff we didn't even talk about,

but for another time.

Yeah.

Unless you ever want to come back.

Yeah, let us know.

Yeah, sure.

Well, you let me know.

Good to go.

Yeah, we'll dig.

I bet you AK would probably entertain being on as well.

Oh, man.

Absolutely.

If you want to come on, I'd be able to do your thing.

All right, we'll work on scheduling that.

Awesome.

I'm going to talk to you tomorrow and I'll mention it to him.

Perfect, man.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

No problem.

All right, man.

All right.

All right, do we, wait, all right.

Do we hang up here?

You say bye and then you stop recording.

So our usual for Stanley and I.

This is staying in.

This is staying in for the record.

It's still in.

This is still in.

This is still be in.

Our usual for Stanley and I,

because we try to dwell on the positivity too.

And also a little bit of backstory.

Stanley and I used to kill a lot of time in the military,

smoking cigarettes and talking about cars.

We still talk about cars,

but neither one of us smoked cigarettes anymore.

And we would always end after we parted ways

in the military and we would do these conversations

as just a phone call, you know,

once every few weeks or a month or two months.

And our wives would be like,

are y'all still on the freaking phone?

Get off already.

We would always be like, all right.

Well, I love you, man.

I'll talk to you later.

So we always end our podcast with,

I love you Stanley.

Let's do this again.

So that's our ending is to remind each other

that we do love each other.

We've been through a lot

and we've been talking about cars for almost 30 years now.

So, you know.

Oh yeah, that's awesome.

That's great to hear.

And I appreciate that you guys do that.

Cause I always say, I mean, I'm Italian.

So I come from a Italian family

and it's always, I love you

when you have time to leave a family member.

Even my buddies, I love you buddy.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And yeah.

Well, we love you Derek.

Yeah, we love you Derek.

Love you guys man.

Appreciate it.

Love you too.

And that's why I explained it

because if we just went to our normal ending

and been like, love you Derek,

Derek might be like,

scratch mentioning to A.K.

Be on the,

I would just be like, love you too man.

Love you Bill.

Love you Stanley.

I appreciate you guys.

You guys are obviously OG FLD fans

and I thank you for having me on.

And you know, this was great.

It's always good to go down memory lane.

Awesome.

Thanks guys.

And we do love you.

Yeah.

Bill, let's do this again.

All right.

So now it's that.

Yeah, and then he'll stop recording

and he'll cut it there.

And yeah.

And then our usual is we didn't spend 30 more minutes

talking about what we could have talked about

or what the next show might be about.

But since we don't ever really plan, plan,

like we might have a rough idea of a plan

for a future episode where, you know,

I task him with buying a car for a certain amount of money

and I look for a car.

We always wind up in two totally different directions.

So we figure there's really no reason

to even put a lot of effort into planning it.

It's just kind of naturally happen as a conversation.

Yeah.

Sometimes it's more fun that way.

A conversation with DEREK D

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