The Essence of Art and Connection: Clay St. Thomas's Perspective
In this illuminating episode of Ignite My Voice, hosts Kevin Ribble and Kat Stewart engage in a thought-provoking dialogue with actor and voice-over artist Clay St. Thomas, who shares his insights on the intersection of authenticity and performance. Clay's perspective on the essence of art—that it is fundamentally about evoking an emotional reaction—serves as the foundation for a rich conversation about the challenges modern performers face in a world replete with noise and distraction. The open and honest chat explores the complexities of self-discovery as a performer, with Clay candidly discussing the missteps and revelations that have shaped his career. He emphasizes that one's voice is not merely a tool for communication, but rather a superpower that can inspire and connect people on a profound level.
Takeaways:
- Authenticity is paramount; performers must strive to reveal their true selves to foster genuine connections with their audience.
- The discussion highlights that true art elicits an emotional response, reinforcing the notion that art's value lies in its capacity to invoke feelings.
- Clay shares his journey of understanding that performance is not just about technical skill, but about the emotional truth conveyed through one's presence.
- The podcast underscores the significance of preparation and perspective, noting that even seasoned performers experience nerves before a performance.
- To truly connect with a script, one must focus on the emotional intent behind the words, moving beyond mere mechanical delivery.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Ignite Voice, Inc.
- Lethbridge College
Transcript
Your voice is your superpower. Use it. Welcome to Ignite My Voice Becoming unstoppable. Powered by Ignite Voice, Inc. The podcast where voice meets purpose and stories ignite change.
Deep conversations with amazing guests, storytellers, speakers, and change makers.
Speaker B:My favorite definition of art is that which causes an emotional reaction in the person experiencing it. My first acting teacher described it that way, and I was like, oh, yeah. Cause that's what I want to do.
I want people to have an emotional reaction to what's happening.
Speaker A:Welcome. I'm Kat.
Speaker C:And I'm Kevin.
Speaker A:Today we're sitting down with someone who's been a performer his entire life and knows what it means to put your voice and yourself on the line. Clay St. Thomas.
Speaker C:Clay has built a career in media and voiceover. But what makes his story powerful is how he reminds us that in this industry and in life, you are your own small business.
It's about knowing your strengths and learning how to present them authentically.
Speaker A:And authenticity is really the heart of it. We talk about how to just be yourself, but what if you don't even know who you are yet?
Clay is refreshingly honest about the time it takes, the missteps, and the experience you need under your belt before you figured that out. Mmm.
Speaker C:We go deep into what it means to reveal yourself. Not just your voice, but the energy that comes through who you are. How do you connect with a script in a real way?
How do you have an emotional reaction that feels truthful?
Speaker A:And how do you get past the judgment that so often gets in the way? Clay shares his own epiphany about performing, about being in the moment and finding the connection with the audience.
Speaker C:Oh. And maybe most importantly, he reminds us that even with decades of experience, nerves never fully go away.
The difference, preparation, perspective, and the willingness to be real.
Speaker A:Mm. So get ready for a real conversation that's honest, practical, and inspiring. Here's our Talk with Clay St. Thomas.
Speaker B:The goal is always to be authentic. It's always just to be who you are first.
If you can do that well, if you can let your guard down, get over the fear like you're talking about, and just be who you are, that stuff will work itself out really well, you know, providing you're not a raging a hole, you know, which. There's no cure for that, but it helps to do it the same way, basically, just the unvarnished.
This is who I am, and I didn't get into radio having that perspective because you spend the first 20 years of your radio career worrying about how you sound and how you're presenting yourself and how you're coming across. And then a light bulb goes on one day when you realize that people are reacting to you better. When you forget all that and you're just who you are.
Speaker C:Just be me.
Speaker A:Isn't that interesting? You have to do all of that other stuff in order to find your authenticity.
By not being authentic, you know, it's like this circle and you come back to just who it is that you are.
Speaker B:And not everybody who works in radio gets the chance to do that. Cause radio stations admittedly train you to do things in a very specific way in a very narrow bandwidth.
And they get kind of cranky if you move outside of that bandwidth. And yet the radio industry rewards people who do. Like they're the ones who really are the most successful.
So it's a weird thing because the radio industry want you to just, here's the liner cards. Say these things and say them in this order. And nobody wants to hear about you.
When I started, it was full on the era of nobody cares about you, nobody wants to hear about you.
Speaker C:I remember the famous line, never say I. Did you get that? Don't talk about yourself.
Speaker A:It's so backwards. Because people like the idiosyncrasies that you have and then they can relate to you.
Speaker B:Now the problem is when you tell somebody who doesn't know anything about it that just be yourself. Some people will dig themselves the world's biggest hole with that because then it's just nonstop drivel about themselves.
So it's knowing what things and being able to gauge what things work about that reveal and following those things. But that comes with time. But you do have to be. You have to be personal, you have to be. It's an overused word, but you gotta be authentic.
Speaker A:I remember being on the radio and that saying, you know, just be yourself. And I'm like, I don't know who I am. How do I be myself when I don't even know who myself is? Did you ever experience that?
Speaker B:Yes, a lot. Especially in the early days. Because all I wanted to be was like the people I idolized on the radio. So I wanted to be them.
It's even worse because now you're putting on an act, trying to do something that's not you. And you hope that if you have enough, if you get enough experience and time under your belt, that eventually you'll kind of figure that stuff out.
But I think that's part of the reason why there's a high drop off rate for people who go on the air. I still want to call it radio, but now it's content creation. Is that they get tired of trying to figure that out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's too hard. Yeah. I don't know what that is. When I try to reveal myself, it doesn't seem to be working because even that's a process.
You have to learn, again, how to do it in a way that at a radio station it's very easy to see because you can see the phones lighting up and you can see the texts you're getting and you can see the reaction you're getting on social media. And you know pretty much immediately when something's working and when it's not harder to do in other forms of communication.
But it's still the same whether it's you're an actor on stage and you're getting feedback from an audience or. We were talking, Kat, a second ago about being in the room now for auditions for on screen stuff.
Well, at least you have a casting person there giving you feedback. And even people who aren't the casting people give you feedback in the room. You can sense the energy of how it's going. Right.
So knowing what to do with that stuff is important too. So you don't just become all self indulgent about it.
So the message you're trying to get across or whatever you're trying to create can come through, but if it comes from you personally, it's always gonna work.
Speaker C:Better and it's real. Yeah. I'm just thinking how exhausting it is to put on that fake front. Right. All the time or put on that fake voice.
I mean, we go back far enough to remember radio people who put that voice on fake all the time. And that's gotta be exhausting too, Right?
Speaker B:Yeah. I remember my first job in radio. I'm working overnights in Brandon Manitoba.
And the program director there, who, you know, recognized there was probably some kind of potential going on or he wouldn't have hired me out of Lethbridge College to come and do his all night show. They still had all night shows then. And he suggested I sit in with the morning guy.
He said if you can, if you can stand to hang around for an hour, sit in with Zach for a while in the morning and just he says, because he's not a very good announcer, but he's a real good person and he's a real good person on the air.
And it was the first time I'd had somebody describe it that way, that you don't have to worry necessarily about being A great announcer, but who are you? And this was my first program director. And I didn't have many of them say that, but this guy did.
Speaker A:Yeah. Because it's not the voice itself. It's the emotion, it's the energy coming through who you are that's more important than how you sound.
That's authentic.
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker A:And it's okay to make mistakes. We've talked a lot about that with other people.
You know, you don't have to be perfect because in that imperfection, again, we find that ability to relate to each other. And that's what we want, don't we?
Speaker C:But it's amazing how the industry traditionally has held onto a culture, a culture of what a big voice sounds like or the perfect female voice. Right.
And when we work with people at first, sometimes when they realize they're gonna go on mic, they think back to, well, what did that voice sound like that I heard so often? And they put that thing on because that culture's hung on for so long.
Speaker B:Yeah. And people still think that's what's necessary. Yeah. But it's. Yeah, it's not. It hasn't been that for a long time.
You only have to look at how people in the media now use their actual name. They're no longer. It's part of the same that we have to have a facade. It has to be shiny and kind of bullet shaped on the outside.
And dabs show no cracks. So that's why you put on that voice. That's why you wind up, you know, with a lot of on air people called Scott James or, you know, an.
Speaker C:Old American presidential name. Notice that they were always old American presidents. What?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway. Yeah, so. But now, thankfully, people are allowed to be who they are.
Speaker A:How do you be who you are when you're dealing with a script that isn't you? That's somebody else's words. And you have to bring a character to that. What's your steps? What's your process? What's going on in your mind?
Speaker B:Well, I'm gonna say things that you would know, like Kevin would know too, from his background, but you as an actor would know that it's literally just you find what is emotionally going on in this script. And what about me matches that or if it was me telling this story, what would that be?
My favorite definition of art is that which causes an emotional reaction in the person experiencing it. My first acting teacher described it that way. And I was like, oh, yeah. Because that's what I want to do.
I want people to have an emotional reaction to what's happening, whether it was on the radio or on social media or anywhere where you're trying to communicate. That's the goal. Usually you want people to smile and be happy.
Sometimes it's okay if they're angry, what you're doing makes them angry, or if it makes them sad or frustrated. But you're trying to get them to feel something because that's. You talk about charisma, that's magnetic, that gets people's attention. Right.
So as far as the script, it's literally what is the emotion that is being conveyed here? Or what emotion would be appropriate here? And how do I find that through these words?
Again, a way to look at it from the actor's point of view is always objective. What am I trying to do here? Right. So if you have that in mind and then you try to approach it like a person, like a real person. Yeah.
Like how would I try to get this done in my life? Well, then it actually seems like it should be pretty simple. It's difficult.
Cause for the reasons we've gone through, you get in your own way and you start self judging and gating yourself. But if you just did that, you'd communicate perfectly, pretty much every time.
Speaker C:But scripts are weird. They are like scripts aren't how humans communicate. Right. We don't have words in the back of our mind we're reading or typing into our head.
And I think most people don't respect, if they're not in the business, how weird scripts are. So you hand an average person a script and they just read it and it's totally dead. Right. I don't think most people recognize how weird scripts are.
It's not human. What would you say to someone that is sounding that way at first and isn't recognizing the odd world of scripts?
Speaker A:They're reading a speech at a wedding.
Speaker B:Right. Some version of the way I was just describing it. How do you want people to feel?
What's the emotion you're trying to create in people when they hear this script? How would you say this to somebody if you wanted that reaction?
So in the stuff we were talking about earlier that you sent me, you mentioned that people communicate in thoughts. They don't communicate in words. They have thoughts and then they.
They act in a way that gets those thoughts out through body language and through words. You're given these words and you have to kind of follow those words. But what's the emotional process that creates the reaction you're looking for?
So again, that sounds kind of woo. Woo. To people who have never tried to do it before. But you get somebody who's new to reading a script or trying to deliver a script, and they.
And one of the first times it works. I'm sure you've noticed this because of what you guys do. One of the first times it works, you can see the light bulb going over the head.
They go, oh, oh, that's easy. Yeah. Oh, okay.
I never really realized what that felt like, because it's the part of you that when I'm sitting here talking to you, I look you in the eye and I see you're either getting what I'm getting or you don't. So I lean in harder to what I'm saying to try to help. When they feel that happening through a script, they go, oh, it's not just words.
It's actually intent.
Speaker A:And it's about the other person. You're thinking about the other person, not yourself, about how you're performing.
You're thinking about, are they getting the message that I'm sending, that I want them to feel something. So your intention is on the other person. And doesn't that take the pressure off of you as the. Let's call it the performer or the presenter?
Speaker B:Totally. Yeah.
Speaker A:I want to shift.
Speaker C:What's odd is we'll often say it's the conduit that's critical that you're trying to build to that person. Right. And most people don't. They're just reading. Right. They don't think of the conduit.
Speaker B:Yeah. And it's hard when, if it's a script and it's a recorded thing or it's a podcast or you don't really have the other person there.
That's really hard for people who've never done it before to get their head wrapped around. But that's where actors use tricks, like a substitution or think of somebody in your life that you would.
Speaker A:Imagination.
Speaker B:Yeah, totally.
Speaker A:Yeah. You can live in that imagination and you can bring the script to life and you can bring the person to life and you can see the reaction.
All that happens in your head. But that is a learned art and you've had some training for that. Which school did you at? Lethbridge.
Speaker B:I was. Lethbridge College. Yep. For radio? Yeah.
Speaker A:And have you done any more acting training?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I've been in a class on and off for 30 years. I mean, not all the time or consistently, but, you know, the one night a week thing, because I was always doing it on the side.
So that's all There was ever time for. But yeah, I've been in classes for both acting on screen and voiceover. I'm starting a new one tonight.
Speaker A:You're open to learning?
Speaker B:Yeah, it never stops.
Speaker C:Is there an epiphany moment or two you can remember that just blew your mind when somebody got a concept across to you at one of those classes? Can you think of one or two that just opened everything up?
Speaker B:Not necessarily from the class, but I remember the feeling I was describing a second ago of the first time it kind of worked in an acting class where I was kind of like, this is an artificial situation, but I'm trying to live this imaginary life. And not only, but I. And I realized I'm delivering the words as a script here, but goddamn, I'm actually feeling this. I am feeling this.
So that thing where as a performer, you're both emotionally in the thing and you're hovering above it as the person directing it as well, and to have both things going on at the same time, and that was like a real mind blowing thing where. And it certainly helped my on air performance on radio too, because it's the same thing.
Both, you know, trying to get that emotion across and making sure that your point's being made and you're connecting with people and judging it at the same time so you can kind of mold it and shape it as it goes.
Speaker C:We talked about connection quite a bit. This person read my book who has no connection to acting or performance in any way. He's a business guy, right? And he's reading as a business guy.
And he said, oh, you know what? He just realized? Everything is about connection. If I'm seeing a client, it's the connection that's gonna work.
If I'm doing a presentation before a big group, it's the connection. And that was an epiphany for. Yeah, it was a big moment, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, totally, totally. And the same way you can get locked up by fear in any one of those circumstances. And it's still. I mean, I've been. I had the epiphany the other day.
I went, oh, I kind of did what I set out to do. I wanted to be a performer. When I was a young person. I chose one of the safest ways to do that. A radio station gave it form and shape.
But I have been a performer and been paid to do it my entire life. So, you know, that was the goal and yay me. But I still. My point is I still get scared and I still get locked down.
Kat and I were talking for we started recording about nerves in the room when you go to audition live. Which doesn't happen so much now because for on screen it's almost all self taped. But I suck in the room. Cause there's so much pressure.
And you got 30 seconds to be brilliant. Go now. And I tend to lock up there. I'm always so grateful when I hear really well known actors say that they always sucked in the casting room.
Because I'm like, it's not my strength. I like to think I'm a decent actor. I can be a decent actor on a good day. But I don't do well in those high pressure situations.
Speaker C:So what do you do about it? Because the pressure's mounting. I mean, I remember doing stand up for a little while.
I remember standing backstage and they do a little blurb about who you are before you get on right. And tell your story. And I remember sitting with a black curtain in front of me going, what? Why am I here? Why do I do.
Speaker B:Where did you.
Speaker A:I think he used some extra words in there too.
Speaker C:Can I just bolt before the curtain opens? And that, oh, 15, 20 seconds of enormous pressure before you're on. Kind of like you're describing. What do you do about that in.
Speaker B:That moment again, I never got good at it. Be as prepared as possible so you can put that part of it aside so there's not your insecurities don't have to kind of bubble up so badly. Same thing.
As you know, I've never done standup, but that is like, that's courage. The worst trial by fire imaginable to me. It's like.
Cause not only is it all that prep and performance at the same time and you're just going for, what is it? You know, at first it's five, 10 minutes. But ultimately you hope to have a good half hour set. Right? That's. I mean it's so hard and so scary.
But in that case too, it's prep and knowing exactly being so comfortable in what you're doing that you feel free to ad lib and kind of just relax into it and not have that part of your brain stressing so much.
Speaker A:The only way I can do it is I have to breathe and I have to let it all go. I've done my prep, it's gone. Everything that I am about to do is all just going to happen in the moment.
I can't predict it and I have to just enjoy the ride. And when you open yourself up like that, then creativity happens.
But it's that breath that's so important that it gives that liberty to voice and emotion and that experience.
Speaker B:Totally.
And it's too, it's a thing that it's hard for people to do that when they're new either with that particular script or new to being a performer because they don't know how to. They don't know how to relax in those moments. They don't know. They don't trust themselves enough. There's still too much fear.
Speaker A:But we've all been there.
Speaker B:Yeah, totally. I'm still that way. Most of my auditions for on screen stuff now are self taped. So I get to do it as many times as I want.
And that's a whole dangerous thing as well that some casting directors don't like. But I'm probably better at overall at doing those, at doing self tapes.
And I had a better booking ratio since the self tape era than I was when I was going into the room. Yeah, it's a scary process.
Speaker C:The line from Brene Brown comes to mind. Brene being the shame researcher and she says, you gotta put yourself in the arena as often as you can.
It's the only way you can get towards that comfort. Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, no, totally, totally.
And so that's if you're new to it, whatever we're talking about here, whatever kind of communication it is for this, this project, this thing you're currently trying to communicate as much prep as you can get there, but as often as you can to your point, like get in the arena and just do it.
Speaker A:And it's okay to feel that fear because we've all felt it. That's a natural reaction. And for someone who's just starting out, they think, oh, I'm so afraid. And everybody else has got this, but we don't.
We all still have that fear. And it's okay. You can use that fear to really motivate you and to step into that ring with courage. Because it does take courage to pick up a script.
It takes courage to stand in front of people. It takes courage to do what you do and talk on the microphone. This is, it's an art, it's a love. But it also, you have to step out of yourself.
It all starts in your mind. Because the mind can set you on track or it can take you off really quickly and your body follows.
So if you are stepping into your fear and you're feeling okay about who it is that you are, your body will follow, your voice will follow, your spirit follows and your charisma shines. So it's like it's maslow's hierarchy. You start mind, move to body, move to heart.
And then your spirit, your purpose, your charisma comes from that through line.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:And we've built a model around it.
Speaker B:Actually, I never thought of it in terms of. I was familiar with. With Maslow's hierarchy, but never in terms of performance, so that it's the same. You're right. It's exactly the same levels.
Speaker A:That's what we realized.
Speaker C:The absolute core is neuroscience. At the beginning, I mean, we're trying to keep the frontal cortex online and stay out of fight or flight. Right.
When you're working with beginners, the frontal cortex offline, and they just panicked.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Now, how do you calm them down to get the frontal cortex online? And we gotta do holistic. We gotta work with the body. Right.
Speaker B:Is medication involved or not?
Speaker C:Well, drugs are a nice sideline, but that's.
Speaker A:Although, you know what? I've had a glass of wine before I gave a speech. It was the worst thing I ever did. I will never even have a sip of wine before I make a presentation.
Nothing.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's really. In radio. It's frowned on, too. And I can't say there was never a time that I wasn't even slightly intoxicated on the air. But it's not a good idea.
Speaker C:You know, gummies don't give you that liquor.
Speaker B:See. No, I was so. I would never try. I would never try that because I was just so afraid that I.
Speaker A:Here you go. Here's one right there for you.
Speaker C:Or you're afraid of what happened.
Speaker B:Yeah. I could not predict what that was gonna be like. So I was always like, no, I don't think that's a good idea. I went, although, again, never tried.
It might have been worth the experiment.
Speaker A:I've been on stage with somebody who was drunk and I didn't know it. Boy, did that ever change the performance.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And as an actor, the fear that I started to feel because I realized this person was not in control and I had to manage that situation. We're talking about looking down, you know.
You know, who you are, what you're doing, what your role is, and then sorting that person out so that the audience. Oh, that took a lot of life out of me.
Speaker B:Yeah. You know how hard it is to direct a drunk person in real life, much less on a stage where you're trying to manage a scene.
And, I mean, I don't know what the scene was, but there's a chance you could be literally in physical danger, depending on what's going on. Like, that's pretty scary.
Speaker A:All these interesting things that we've done in our life.
Speaker C:And I wanted to change direction for a second.
I wanted to ask you something about all the voiceover stuff that you're doing now and then all the radio stuff you did before about when you're in the studio. In my early voiceover life, an epiphany for me was learning to separate energy and volume and almost seeing it like a pot on a board.
And beginners have so much trouble with that, you know, can you take energy and intensity and not get loud with it? Because I remember doing brick commercials and stuff like that early on, you know, and I was good at that, you.
Speaker B:Know, barking out of that.
Speaker C:And the producer would say, okay, more energy. Well, I get louder, right? I get.
Speaker B:Okay, more.
Speaker C:More energy. Really?
Speaker B:More energy.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I just keep blasting it.
Speaker C:It took so long to learn that I could have. I could have lots of intensity, but it didn't have to be connected to volume.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Is there a tip like that that you're thinking in a studio, does that resonate with.
Speaker B:Oh, totally. It's the same thing we talked about to start. It's not about the way your voice sounds. It's what's your intent? What are you trying to do here?
And there's a million ways you can do it. I can try to convince you. I can try to convince you to give me your water bottle by threatening you by Kevin, I need your water bottle.
Do you hear me? Or I can.
Speaker C:It's yours, Clay.
Speaker B:Exactly. Or I can scream that. Or just like you were doing a second ago, I can be Kevin. I could really use your water bottle.
Or Kevin, are you using that water bottle right now? Because I could just say I could use a drink if you're not. Oh, you're busy. Okay. There's a million ways.
As many emotions as there are, that's as many ways you can communicate that. And intensity, you're right. Has nothing to do with volume. It's one way to get more intensity, but only one. So it's all about intent.
What are you trying to create in the person experiencing what you're doing?
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker C:And how do you hone in on that one emotion you want? How do you grab onto it?
Speaker B:It's planning. It's good.
You need to know the big thing in commercial voiceover kind of almost for the past 10 years, has been the conversational authentic read just like a person here. Just like a real person. Sunday, Sunday. Sunday. Sales starts at 7. Like a real person, please. That's what the copy says.
But be a real person while you're doing it. Yeah, it's all about intent in those situations.
Like, literally the direction's always about who are you talking to, what's the setting, all the actor stuff. Right. Where are you? What's your job? What's your power relationship with the other person?
The more things you know about that, the more spec and the less you kind of stop worrying about how you sound and more worry about what you're doing.
Speaker C:So you set the scene more than anything and live it. You set the scene and emotion will come.
Speaker B:Setting the scene is part of it. Yeah, but knowing what the emotion is supposed to be is the. You know, again, what you're trying to create in the other person.
So, you know, I've had direction in classes with, like, I think it needs to be more blue collar. So the guy, you know, again, delivering commercial copy, I think he needs to be more blue collar. Or it's an airline spot.
So you're the pilot and you're doing the friendly pilot thing, but this passenger is also being a bit of a handful, and you kind of need to be a little bit firm with them. He's that pilot. So again, it's just nudging it emotionally a little bit this way or that way. And it can change things dramatically in how it sounds.
And. And if you're doing it that way again, you're not worrying about how you sound or how it's coming across. You're trying to do something.
I had the chance to work on a video game last week. The direction was via Zoom. Everything's via Zoom now.
So the director's in Toronto via Zoom, and she can see me physically, of course, because I'm all over the place in this booth. I'm going nuts with all this stuff. Remembering to stay on mic as much as possible, but going kind of crazy. And she's like, oh, I see what's happened.
I see why it's awesome that you're doing that. And I get why it's happening. She says, but while you're. I just want you to scowl while you're doing it. Just scowl. And I was like.
I wasn't sure what she meant by it, but she knew enough to know that if I did the same things but I just had a pissed off face at the same time, it would add another extra layer to it. So again, it's physicality that can be a huge thing that directs those especially.
You might not think someone a voiceover booth, but especially in the voiceover Booth. Because your whole instrument will respond to that physicality, and your voice will be different.
Speaker A:The funniest thing I ever saw just happened the other day. Kevin was in the booth doing a commercial, voiceover commercial.
And the producer and I. Oh, my gosh, you got your whole body invested into the commercial, and your head was going and your arms were going, and your whole body was going. And we were. We were killing ourselves laughing. But you really killed it in the room, and it came out so well at the end of the day.
But if you just said the commercial and read the words, it didn't mean anything. It didn't have an impact. So your body actually moves with you when you're invested, and it belies that energy it comes out, doesn't it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
When you're doing a commercial script, say, for voiceover, I can listen now and hear in any given take, the moments when I was drifting in and out of character. Because, you know, we've learned as broadcasters to have a nice speaking sound. And so you can get.
We can get away with a lot because you have a nice sounding voice and you know how to say things well. But you can hear when it kind of flattens out and becomes generic. Yeah, generic, yeah.
But there's just, all of a sudden, there's no life to it anymore. And even earlier words in that sentence had life and an intent, and then all of a sudden, you lost.
And it usually happens somewhere in the middle because now you're 20 seconds in and you've forgotten about and you've got. You're tired. Yeah, yeah.
You know, and you're in the part of the script that's call now, you know, and again, normal people don't say that, but you have to find a way to say it like you're trying to convince somebody of something. Yeah. You can hear it when it doesn't happen for sure.
Speaker C:Now, before we lose you, the question we ask everybody is to join our movement. And so, you know, part of what Kat and I are trying to do is honestly make the world a better place. It's part of our project right.
In how each of us present ourselves to the world and we form a community to try to combat some of the negative directions I think we see in society right now. We see bullies ruling. We see some things going on in the world that scares us about democracy or whatever.
And so our question to you would be, well, what can we do as storytellers? So, Clay, we join our little community here, and we're trying to make the world better as Performers and storytellers. What can we do?
Speaker B:Any idea? Honestly, I think just again, we started off talking about being authentic. Be authentic, Be who you are.
And even if you're afraid that it's because we're never just one thing. Even the biggest bullies in the world that we see right now, in their private moment, they're not that 24 hours a day.
They are real people as well, and they have real emotions and they have families. And what's the line that you learn about villains when you're an actor?
It helps to remember that everyone is doing the best they can at that moment with the situation they've been given.
Speaker A:And villains don't think of themselves as villains.
Speaker B:No, exactly. And nobody does. Or, well, some people are villains.
But if you, in your communication, if you can be who you are and speak from the heart, so the things that are important to you move other people or resonate with other people. That gets people feeling their emotions, literally gets them in touch with real human connection and less about ideas and dogma, I think. Right.
So continue to be a human being and try to have real conversations with people. And even if you disagree, especially when you disagree with them, then try to be a real person.
Because you wouldn't scream at somebody and call them names sitting here at the table, no matter how much you disagreed about something, you would try to find a way to convince them of something, and you would try to listen to what they were saying, but you wouldn't be the kind of a hole we see presented to the world and the stridency that we find on social media, all that stuff is a product of social media. It's not who we are. So be who you are.
Speaker A:What I love most about Clay is his reminder that it's not the voice itself, it's the energy behind it, the intention, the emotional process and the connection with the other person.
Speaker C:And how shifting that focus outward onto the message and the person receiving it actually takes the pressure off us as presenters. And that's a huge takeaway.
Speaker A:And, you know, I. I admire Clay's honesty. Even after a lifetime of performing, he still gets scared in high pressure rooms. I mean, we know we do. It's not about never feeling insecure.
It's about being prepared enough so that your insecurities don't take over.
Speaker C:You know, you are capable of more than you can imagine as a presenter.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:And we're here to support your journey. Just follow, ignite my voice, becoming unstoppable wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker A:And if today's episode resonated with you. Share it with someone who needs that reminder to just be themselves.
Speaker C:So until next time, keep speaking your truth.
