Inside the Actor's Journey with Paul Cram

Actor Paul Cram joins me to talk indie films (Abroad, The Soviet Sleep Experiment), B-movie cult favorites, and the wild world of acting. They discuss public domain horror remakes like Screamboat and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the realities of on-set stunts, and navigating today’s dating apps, AI, and even food shows like 24 in 24. Packed with behind-the-scenes stories, humor, and film industry insights. 

You can find Paul Cram's content on his website: iampaulcram.com

Transcript

Intro Song

Rob Valincius: And we are live. Welcome to the Drink o'clock podcast. I am your host of the most Rob Valincius, and I have the pleasure of having with me Paul Graham. Now, Paul, you're an actor, man. Welcome to the show.

Paul Cram: thank you so much, Rob, for having me on, and I am an actor. Yes. And, uh,

Rob Valincius: lot of, look, I wasn't even gonna list all your stuff. I was going through your IMDB. I'm like, all right. He's, he's been in a lot of shit. I, it would take me five minutes to probably go over, you know, more than half of 

Paul Cram: I have been in a lot of stuff that nobody's ever heard of and a lot of it, you know, it, it's been very indie, very uh, low budget stuff, which I'm super proud of and had a good time with it. But yeah, I've been in a lot, a lot of stuff. If anybody checks out my IMDB, but I never assume anybody knows who the heck I am.

So it's all good.

Rob Valincius: We love that stuff, I gotta tell you. 'cause I saw some, you were in some, some pretty good indie horrors 

Paul Cram: yes. Oh yeah.

Rob Valincius: I, I've had, um, I've had indie movie, uh, producers, creators on the show before and just getting inside the mind of, of a horror writer, it's just awesome.

Paul Cram: I have to say as an actor, uh, being given scripts and, and, and some of it too, you, I read it and I'm just like, oh, okay. Really? Huh? Like, how is this gonna work? And uh, sometimes it works really well and then other times it's like, hmm, hopefully the, hopefully fans of like b horror, like this or, you know, I have to say, some of the stuff I've been in, I was just like, and I'm not gonna name any names of, of the films, but they know who they are.

Like the B horror, where it's like, that was really, maybe Poorly Britain. I don't know. 

Rob Valincius: Uh, so I'm supposed to chew on this arm and then throw it at the guy's face. How's that? How do you want me to do 

Paul Cram: right. right. I do have to say, there was a film that I was in several years ago and it was called 13 Hours in a Warehouse. And uh, it went on like this was back when, uh, do you remember Red? Is Redbox still a thing? Does that exist still?

Rob Valincius: I think they went bankrupt and they got a ton of lump money outta me, so I don't understand how that 

Paul Cram: I don't know how that works. either, But like their, their critic or review, he reviewed the film and he specifically called me out.

He was like, he's like, what the hell was that? I had a mohawk in it and like all these things. And it was interesting though because um, people were commenting and I loved it. I loved it so much. 'cause a woman commented and she was like, actually, and she like dissected the entire structure and plot of this Bee Horror movie. She's like, Paul shouldn't have died. Paul was like the redeeming character throughout the film. He should have died last, like, and I was like, oh my God. Like you, you're turning this into a thesis and it's like a be horror movie. Like horror movie fans are, um, they're kind of amazing, like really amazing people really into it and diehard fans and there's something to that.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, you get, you get like a flock. I will tell you, uh, we just watched Do you like, like be harm, watching be horror movies?

Paul Cram: I will be totally honest. I get really squeamish really easy, so even

like, sort of fake effects, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna look over here. Okay, so,

Rob Valincius: so noer is what you're telling 

Paul Cram: so like, no. Oh my God. Um, yet I do like, uh, like I've been watching like Squid Game and some of those, and those have a lot of, I don't know, there's even, there's some, there's some movies.

Did you watch the Saw movies

Rob Valincius: I did, I, I think I stopped at maybe four. I, I don't know. It was getting like very, um, fast in the furious furiously,

Paul Cram: Interesting. I didn't, I didn't get that far. I think I got two minutes into the very first one and I was like, Nope, can't do it.

Rob Valincius: I'm surprised you got that far.

Paul Cram: I am too. But lately, like I was watching, uh, so I, I was watching, there's, there was a couple of movies called Escape Room, and they remind me, I would say they're like, saw light, like they're not, like they don't get, yes.

Are people trapped and yes, do they have to figure something out or do something, but they don't, it, it's not so bloody, it's not so gory. It's not, so all, all those things

Rob Valincius: You are into the psychological horror. I like those are good too.

Paul Cram: stuff, although I would say that saw

does tap into that psychological piece quite a bit,

just not in the way that I can stomach.

So I think that's a long way to answer your question that, uh, I'm definitely not maybe into the, the gore and the gruesome that said, when I'm on set making a film, oh my God, sign me up. Like, like, uh, like I'm the guy who, um, you might see it in one of my screensavers here. Like, uh, the practical special effects are so fun, like, so fun.

Like, you, you want me to have half of my face blown off and be, you know, do that like sign me up. 'cause I see how it's all made and how it's done. And that's interesting to me. Doesn't phase me a bit when I see it on screen. A buddy of mine, uh, came to a movie premiere actually. Uh, what was that for? A movie that's out now, it just hit digital streaming a couple months ago, called Abroad and my friend turns to me after the movie was done and he was like, he's like, I just want you to know, like as your friend, I don't know that I'm gonna come to these anymore because, um, it's really hard to see you die over and over and over. Like there's

Rob Valincius: But you are like, I'm really good at it. You know, um, that's, that's funny. Yeah. I mean, so we were, we were just, we just saw I, alright, I have to get the wifey a little drunk,

and by little I mean like us drinking all day on a Saturday for, for her to watch some of these like, really bad horror movies like we just watched.

Um, so there's some loophole, and I don't know if you know this, there's, I talked about this before, but there's a loophole with Disney and like old ips where after a certain amount of time people can make things with them. Right.

I don't know what the, I should probably plug into chat BT and actually figure it out.

But, 

Paul Cram: We're talking public domain, right? We're talking, uh,

or are you talking something different than that? Like

Rob Valincius: I think it's public domain. So like for instance, um, Steamboat Willie.

The original Mickey Mouse, they just came out with a b rated horror film called Scream Boat. I don't know if you've heard of it.

Paul Cram: I have heard of this. Yes, I have not seen it. Did you see it?

Rob Valincius: It is so bad, but like, also so good. It's so, uh, I mean the, the, the, the person that, it's a live person that plays, uh, streamboat Willie,

um, and

Paul Cram: not a cartoon then at all, or It is. 

Rob Valincius: no, it's, it's full live action

Paul Cram: It's full life action. Okay.

Rob Valincius: They make, he, he's small, like, like an actual, like small mouse. He wields weapons. Uh, you know, I'll just, I'll, I'll put the, one of the craziest deaths in that movie is two girls are doing a TikTok together and they have their thing up and they're like doing a dance, and they have their mouths open.

And they're, and it's funny because they're all dressed in like Disney princesses, so there's five of them. And they all resemble Disney princesses in like, but into like a ridiculous 

Paul Cram: Right, 

Rob Valincius: but it, it's like the girl's birthday. So they're in, they're in dresses and it's in New York and they're on a, um, uh, what do they call that?

Um, a ferry. They're on a ferry. And so they're doing this TikTok dance and the, you know, screen boat decides he's gonna kill them and he gets into a, uh, what the hell is that thing that carries boxes and, uh, pallets.

Paul Cram: Oh, like a pallet, not a pallet

jack, like a, um, a forklift. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: forklift? Yes. Okay, good, good, good, good shit, man. Um, and he raises it up and as they're, and you know, those things aren't fast, but as he's, he's driving it up, he moves it up to their mouths and he impales them both at the same time.

Paul Cram: And.

Rob Valincius: That's just one of the, the crazy deaths. And, uh, but the funny thing is, is like, for some reason I just love, there's a, I watched both. There's a Winnie the Pooh one

Paul Cram: And these are all live action. These are,

Rob Valincius: all live action.

Paul Cram: okay. Huh. So, I don't know, even know, I don't, I, I don't even know what to say to it. 'cause I was thinking cartoon, but it's not, and it's,

uh, so what is the reference to connect the dots for me? Or is it just not there? What is the connection to the actual, to, to the cartoon Streamboat Willie?

Like what is the, how did, how do they play with that? Or how do I don't

Rob Valincius: They literally showed the, like original Steamboat Willie

on, like, on the boat. And the, the way the movie was set up was that he was, they were uh, I think driving the ferry back in the day or some crazy shit. And he lost, I guess it was mini mouse. I don't, I don't know what they called Steamboat Willie's mini, I don't know if it was mini.

And uh, so she was lost at sea

Paul Cram: Okay.

Rob Valincius: and he was looking for her, but he got trapped in this like random, like trapped door. And he was stuck there and someone opened, like a utility worker opened it up and freed him. So he went on a murderous rampage and it's,

and then

it's, it's, I can't even explain. There's just so much.

There's other crazy shit, but I don't wanna ruin it 

Paul Cram: What did your wife think of this?

Rob Valincius: Uh, well, she was, we were pretty

Paul Cram: You're pretty drunk so it, was 

Rob Valincius: yeah. Yeah. We, we, we just kind of were like, what the fuck did we just watch? Winnie the Pooh was the same way. Um, you know, uh, they, the script I think was a little bit better. They like show all the original Winnie the Poh characters and things like that.

And then, um, they say that, uh, what's his name? Robin? Uh, Peter. Robin. 

Paul Cram: Peter. Uh. Oh my God. Why can't I think of his name? Christopher Robin. Christopher Robin. Yeah. 

Rob Valincius: I'm, I'm mixing that in Peter Pan. Uh, but Christopher Robin, uh, the way they spin that one is that, uh, instead, uh, they like play the angle where he leaves. He just abandons them. In the enchanted forest and never comes back. And really, in reality, he went to college and like was living a normal life.

And when he, when he came back, they were like, ous, murdering fucking crazy animals.

Paul Cram: Did they kill him?

Rob Valincius: They Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And,

Paul Cram: by Winnie the Pooh. It's, it's there. There is something there. That is

Rob Valincius: and Eos in it, and piglets in it. Oh dude. I'm telling you, it's, there's a whole genre. There's, uh, I haven't seen it yet, but there's a Peter Pan one called, uh, nightmare 

Paul Cram: Nightmare

with the Lost Boys

Rob Valincius: some, some crazy shit, but it is, for some reason, I'm, I just am, I'm obsessed at watching them and they're, they're all bad. They're so bad.

Paul Cram: you're reminding me of, uh, so I, I, I wish I could say that I always watch, like every film that's ever, like every year that's nominated for an Oscar. I don't, um, but I do like to watch the short films like I 'cause they're, they're more bite-sized and you can, you can get through 'em a little bit faster, but. This year, this past year I watched, um, they played 'em at the, the theater near me, uh, the five Oscar nominated, uh, animated shorts. And one of them is really ringing a bell with what you're talking about. Like, um, they, they had to put up on the screen, um, that the next two films, uh, children are not allowed because there is, there's nudity and like all these things.

And I was like sitting there and I'm like, wait,

what are we watching? Like, what's happening? So like,

Rob Valincius: I am intrigued.

Paul Cram: I was like, I'm intrigued too. And so like there was some parents there at their kids and they stood up and they laughed and I was like, what are we going to see? Like, what is this? And I kid you not, there was a film, I'm gonna blank on the name of it now.

I'd have to look it up. I mean, it's easy for people to look up to, like it's, you know, the, the 2025, uh, short Oscar nominated films. But there's one that was from like Belgium. I'm not kidding. Like I was sitting there and I was like, oh my God. And I started to look around. Everybody in the theater, we all were like, what the fuck? Like, what is happening right now? Like, oh my God, we're all so disturbed. And it was so well done in that way where it's like, I feel so confused as to what's going on. And also, like there's, they, they did this thing, it was so clever where, um, it's like, it was like we were on the, you don't realize this until you're like halfway into the short film, and it's like, wait a minute. It's kind of like we're on like Sesame Street or something, and the animator or the puppet master dies and he just gets old and he dies. So like his body is decomposing on this like little studio set that he made, but the puppets and things are still living, but they don't really understand that. It's like, oh, okay, like this human being died.

Like it was, it was so.

Creepy 

Rob Valincius: up.

Paul Cram: and bizarre. And one of the characters, uh, yeah, he takes off all his clothes, one of the puppets and it, and he's running around naked and you're like, what is going on? Like, so it it, it was like that. Yeah. And, and, uh, it was, it was really dark, but then at the end it got really, like, hopeful.

It was so interesting how they played with the emotions like that. And I'm glad I saw it, but if anybody would've, I don't know. Yeah. It, it was, it, I was glad that it was in there, so,

Rob Valincius: Well, you know how Europeans are, man. They're, you know, boobs, dick, whatever. They don't, they don't really care here. Different story.

Paul Cram: and I, uh, I appreciate it. I, I, I, I, I have to say like I grew up in a, a very religious family and, uh, but not, not just, not just my family. Like, uh, in America, we, we, we are pretty prim and proper when it comes to all of that, like. I have a, a, my, one of my nephews married a, a young gal from France, and she was talking about, she's like, she's like Americans, and you're, she's like, we have nude beaches.

Like, why, what are we doing here? And I was like, it's like, yeah.

You know? 

Rob Valincius: wouldn't be the first one out there. I gotta tell you that. I would, uh, I would, I would, uh, probably be the, the fat kid wearing shorts. But, um, you, you, you, you mentioned, uh, growing up and that's really where I like to start the podcast. I know we already went 15 minutes without talking about you at all, which is uncommon.

So it's a good convo. Uh, but can you talk to me a little bit about, you know, growing up, I know you had mentioned, um, you know, being homeschooled, you had some unique experiences. So talk a little bit about that and eventually what, uh, what kind of steered you towards acting?

Paul Cram: Oh, happy to. Yeah. I. I've said this before on a lot of podcasts, but I come from a really big family, or big to me, like, uh, I'm one of seven, one of seven

Rob Valincius: That's, that's pretty 

Paul Cram: Yeah. Pretty big family. And, uh, I'm in the middle, so I am always eternally saying, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. I have like that whole middle child, Jan Brady Complex.

Rob Valincius: Yeah.

Paul Cram: I would say too, that ties into some of how I, um, came to be interested in, in, in performing and acting. You know, it's like somebody, please pay attention to me, kind of a vibe. Uh, gimme some attention, but, uh, kudos to my parents. I do think that the homeschool thing was, for me, it turned out to be really good.

Like I got a, I got a good education for it. I do know some people that have been homeschooled and they were, and I was just like, Hmm. A little sketchy. But for, for myself, I, I, I got a pretty good education and, uh, something I, I also liked that my parents. Encouraged and did, uh, for me and my siblings was, uh, they, they, I just, I, I do remember my mom telling me once too, she's like, she's like, I don't want you to be afraid to talk to people.

I don't want you to have stage fright. So I was up on stage, you know, doing drama stuff from a really young age, like being the shepherd whatever at the church play or whatever, you know, that kind of stuff. But, um, I think there is that, especially for homeschoolers, at least there was when I was in it, which was a while back, uh, when I was in grade school, high school, all that stuff, uh, there was a little bit of that cliche of like, um, homeschoolers being super nerdy introverts. I probably am a little bit nerdy. I am a little bit introverted, but, uh, I'm not afraid to stand up and talk to people. And, uh, I, I, I'm, so, I appreciate that my parents did that and that. Gosh, when I was about 16, 17, around that age, something like that. I remember telling my mom, I was like, uh, I wanna be an actor. And she just told me, she's like, well, how are you gonna do it? You know? Go for it. So my first job before I was even, um, graduated out of high school, I, I interned, uh, at a casting director's office here in the Twin Cities. And

so, yeah, so I was, I was an assistant, you know, for a few months, and then they hired me.

So I actually had a job before I got out of, uh, before I even graduated high school. And, uh, working on, you know, casting commercials. And, uh, there was, at that point in time, oh gosh, what are the movies like Drop Dead gorgeous. And, uh, I think Drop Dead Gorgeous is probably the one that maybe is the most known.

It's a kind of that, again, sort of what we're talking about, a little bit of a cult classic. I don't know if you've seen it, but, um.

Rob Valincius: I have, it's, yeah, the, the wifey, the wifeys big in it. Like eighties movies, nineties movies, and that was, I've seen a lot of weird movies that I didn't think I'd ever watch.

Paul Cram: Which it sounds like you're a couple made in heaven if like, if that's

Rob Valincius: Yeah. I think we're, we're at 15 years, 16 years, I don't know. We're not married.

Paul Cram: Well, I mean,

common law, right?

Rob Valincius: we just, I just keep giving her rings, like every five, she said every five years. Which I don't kn, I don't know where she got that, but here we are. So we just kind of,

Paul Cram: You're just rolling with it. You're like, every five years I need to give you a ring. Hey, bring it.

Rob Valincius: both our parents have been divorced a lot, so it's like, you know,

let's not e Eventually if we do it great, but, you know, I feel like it also annoys people.

'cause that's like today's thing, you know, people always ask, well, when are you having kids and when you get married, and we're never for both, you know,

Paul Cram: I feel, yeah. Oh yeah.

Rob Valincius: have dogs, we have dogs, you know, 

Paul Cram: dogs are family. Cats are fa like pets are family. Like that's, uh, yeah, absolutely. That's, that's awesome. So, so, um, yeah, I'm not married. I, I, yeah, I, dating is fun. Really fun when you're a

little 

Rob Valincius: don't, I don't know how, I don't know how you do it, dude. I don't think I, I, I, I say this to people. I, and I, I told her if we ever break up, I'm just gonna be a, a monk, leave my house like once every, every year. You know? Like I just, I have no, the way it's done now is not how, like when we were younger, like you went to a bar, you, you know, you, you talk to people and now it's like everyone's on their phone.

I sound like my damn dad. 

Paul Cram: Well, you know, we do become our parents in a lot of ways and, and I think I probably sound like my dad too, but No, I'm with you on that. Like, uh, yeah, back in the day wasn't quite how it is today. And I have to say, dating is weird. Like super weird. I still would rather meet somebody in person. Um, I

can't handle it.

I, I can't handle it. 'cause I am on some of the, some of the apps absent and oh my god. Um, and the guys, uh, oh my God. No, no, no, no. I'm just like, I am like, get me off of this as quick as possible. Let's, you know, if, if we swipe whatever way and we connect, cool. Then let's grab a coffee. I do not want to talk to you about your day.

I don't want to talk about like, childhood memories if I haven't met you in person. Like, what the fuck? 

So. 

Rob Valincius: People are crazy, man. People are nuts. You never know who's a serial killer. That's how I look at it.

Paul Cram: What you'd never know is a serial killer. And I mean, my most recent, this was a couple of months ago, 'cause I've been avoiding the apps now, but, uh, yeah, this guy, you know, we can, I don't know, it's hinge. You, you, I don't think you swipe right. Whatever it is that, whatever it is that you do. And uh, and I was just like, hi.

He said Hi, you know, and it was, it was fine. I was like, let's maybe grab a coffee and, and whatever. And the next morning, the next morning, I'm not a, I'm not an early riser. I think it was like 6:00 AM ding. And I looked at my phone and, and it was like, good morning. I hope your day is going so wonderfully, Paul.

And like it was, and it was like this. And I'm like, who are you? Like, I don't know you and I don't want a good morning from you. We haven't met like.

Rob Valincius: I'm not a morning person either. That's, that's not my, I, I've trained myself on the weekends to get up at seven 30 and I used to sleep till 11. That's, but I also used to stay at, we we're late

Paul Cram: Uh, seven 30 is, uh,

that's early for me. I'm, I'm a night owl, so,

Rob Valincius: Yeah,

Paul Cram: but if, if it's not the weekend, what time do you get up?

Rob Valincius: well, I, I work in office like nine to five, well, eight 30 to five. Now it's eight to five, so it keeps getting

Paul Cram: It keeps creeping a little earlier.

Rob Valincius: Uh, so I get up at like seven I, and honestly, I'll like, I'm a nerd, so I'll tell you the sole reason I get up at seven 30 on the weekends is to play video games. That's, that's my, my video game time is Saturday, Sunday, seven 30 to like 11.

That's, that's, I play a little bit during the week, but that's like my time. 'cause the wifey, she, she sleeps in. So you, we let her sleep dog sleep with her. No one, no one bothers me at all. I drink a couple caffeinated beverages and I just, you know, kill little kids at a, you know, at home. And it's, it's legal.

You know, I'm not gonna 

Paul Cram: What game are you playing now? What, what, what? Uh, uh, I just got, I think you can see it, right? Yeah. I just, I, I just picked up like a Nintendo Switch maybe six months ago, something like that. Like, I, I, I, don't know if this is weird or not. I think this is a thing. Uh, I love watching people play video games.

It's a whole thing on YouTube. Like I will sit and watch all of that. 

Uh 

Rob Valincius: do that. That's actually where this podcast developed from. I used to stream video 

Paul Cram: Oh, you did? I love it.

Okay. Okay. 

Rob Valincius: but yeah, I, I have a switch. So the, I have a, a switch that me and the wife you all play together. I also have a steam deck, which is basically a mini PC video game, handheld system,

Paul Cram: I love it. Okay. 

Rob Valincius: uh, we'll play on.

But I'm a PC gamer, so like, you know, my degree's in it. I love to build pc. So like, my, my computer's a, it's a pretty beefy thing that I've, I've built from scratch. my Frankenstein monster that I love. Um. But I, I play a lot of, um, it's called Valant. It's like a, like a five on five shooter 

Paul Cram: Oh, nice. Okay. 

Rob Valincius: I'm, I'm a very competitive person, so like, I don't have the competitive, I'm not in sale in our sales department anymore at work, and I don't, I tore my a CLA long time ago, so I stopped playing basketball because I'm also like overweight now.

So that's outta the bag until I lose some weight. So I don't wanna tear another ACL, um, plus I'm pushing 40, you know. So the moment you're, you're, you're pushing that all things just tend to break. 

Paul Cram: change as one who has passed that Mark myself. Yeah. Some things start to change and it's

gotta, 

Rob Valincius: go back, 

Paul Cram: take vitamins and things like that. Right.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. You gotta, you gotta take 13 vitamins before you start a podcast. Um, but yeah, that's, so that's what I play. And, and one game is, can be 30 to 45 minutes. So

the, it's a long game, you know? And some games are fun 'cause you have people that are cool and then other games, the moment you jump in, I mean, you know, this was, this was a little while ago, when I jump in, I'm like, Hey, how's everyone doing?

And normally if a girl is playing, they, the guys just berate her, you know? And that's probably why half the time girls don't speak when they're playing video games. Um, but the moment I said, she's like, shut the fuck up. I'm like, what the hell, man? You know, like I'm just playing to have fun and, and chill, you 

Paul Cram: Yeah. Interesting. Huh?

So have you ever, so have you ever put on your girl

voice and been like, but guys, I just wanna

Rob Valincius: I, you know, what I actually had for a little while, I had a voice changer.

Uh, and yeah, it was, it was pretty good. And sometimes I would, I would fuck with people, but it's, it's a little weird 'cause you, you can typically kind of tell, but, but with ai, man, I don't know. Some of that shit's getting pretty 

Paul Cram: Some of that shit is getting very, I agree with you on that. I agree with you on that. Um, as I'm, I am a member of Sega after the union, and there's been, for years now, there's been a lot of talk about, um, all of that going on and how do you protect your likeness and yada, yada yada, yada yada, all that stuff, all those concerns and things like that.

So it's an interesting thing that we've seen unfold here now for quite some time.

Rob Valincius: It's, it's wild. I mean, I watched one yesterday and it was, it was really interesting. 'cause I, I, I was like really into history, like western civilization history in college and, um, they had, you know how um, TikTok will had people that, um, they interview people on the street, 

Paul Cram: Love it. Yeah. 

Rob Valincius: they have an a, they use Google.

It's a new one. It's like Google VO or something like that, or someone's brand new ai. And, uh, they, it was all AI generated. It looked like real humans, but it was back in like the western civilization days. So 

Paul Cram: which is cool. That's really cool. It's

Rob Valincius: well, they, they go up to this, they go up to this guy and they're like, Hey man, like, how, you know, how was your day?

He said, well, I started, he was like, I started my day. But stepping in a pile of shit, you know, like, and he is like, had to throw, piss out the window or something crazy. I like, they're just saying shit that would like, you know, and I'm laughing because I'm like, that guy's, me, you know, like if, if that was back in the day,

Paul Cram: You're like, that's basically what I would say if they knocked on my door right now. 

The, the, the, uh, there's so many cool applications for that. Like, especially for like what you're talking about with history, like, uh, yeah. Using something like that to teach would be amazing. Um, yeah. So I don't know.

That's, that's fascinating. I, I, I haven't seen anything specifically like that. I was doing a presentation once for, uh, some work stuff when I'm not acting. I also do, I work like in, uh, creative like marketing and, and that kind of stuff. Uh, and I saw, I did, I used it for my presentation 'cause I was talking about, uh, Rome, uh, back in the day and they, they had just like, um, uh, computer generated, like they had rebuilt the city.

I. This is probably what it looked like and like stuff like that was, I was like, this is amazing. And, and this was a few years back, I'm sure everything with generative

ai, like, oh my God, like now

there, now there could be exactly what you're talking about. Like you and I could be, you know, Roman soldiers that, that are really

Rob Valincius: I'll send you, I'll send you the link. Uh, so, so you can see it then tell me, tell me what you think. Uh, it'll, it'll freak you out. But, um, all right. So let's get back to you. So, uh, homeschooling you were planning on, you got a job before, basically, before you got outta high school. What, what kind of transpired after that?

Paul Cram: Oh gosh. After that I was, I worked, actually, I worked, it was a good job. This was, again, this was really, this was, I, like I said, I

had not graduated from high school yet, and this would've been in the, oh my God. I don't even want to try to figure out what, what year that was. But like, like I said, when those

movie, Back in the day when those movies were coming out, uh. But it was insane because, uh, they paid, what was it? They paid like 20 bucks an hour for me, and I wasn't even, I hadn't even graduated yet, so I was like, this is a really good job. Uh, so I worked with them freelance for several years, uh, really getting my feet wet. Um, while I was working there, I also was doing, uh, this is also part of why my IMDB is like two miles long. Uh, it is, uh, I, I, I, I did everything. I did every, anything and everything that would come my way. Like I would work with, um, you know, student film directors, you know, people that were in college that needed actors. And I was like, sign me up. So I was, it was really a training ground for myself because I didn't go to college, um, for performing. Uh, I didn't go to college. Fun fact, I don't necessarily recommend that trajectory for people. I think college is great, but, uh, that's just not what I did.

Rob Valincius: It's a waste of money in a lot of avenues. I have a very large bill that I gotta pay someone at some point, you know, but

I'll probably be dead, uh, before it's, 

Paul Cram: before, before it's paid off. I mean, that, that's a, that is a big debt. That is a big thing to take on. So I I, in my life, I didn't end up, uh, doing, doing that. I, I feel like for, for, for actors, there is a lot to be said about the craft of acting and performing. I, I don't take that lightly. Uh, but I definitely, um, I. I guess I would say that, uh, that whole, probably some of it came from being homeschooled. Probably some of it came from being raised by like my father was an entrepreneur, and, um, sort of like, I can figure this out. I can figure out some things. And, and it's been going all right for me. Like the other thing I, I like to point out for people, 'cause uh, I get this question all the time.

Like, people are like, what movies are you in? And how come I've, how come I've never heard of these? And I'm like, well, not everything is, you know, works that way in the film industry. Um, but for me, I also don't, I'm, I'm proud of the work that I have been able to accomplish doing while living in Minnesota, which is in the middle of, of the, the United States.

Like, it's not necessarily known as being the film production hub that like Hollywood is or some of the, or New York.

And 

Rob Valincius: It's been there. It's cold.

Paul Cram: have you been to Minnesota?

Rob Valincius: I have, yeah. I, uh, I work in the insurance world and, uh, United Healthcare, Optum is their main 

Paul Cram: you go. Yep. 

Rob Valincius: and I've been 

Paul Cram: and you've, and you've been there. It, it sounds like you were here in the winter too, if it was.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, it was cold as shit. It was, it was, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was jacket weather for sure.

Paul Cram: What part of the world are you in?

Rob Valincius: Philly,

Paul Cram: Ah, you're in Philly. Yeah. No, it doesn't get terribly cold there compared to Minnesota. But

like you guys, you guys get, you get snow maybe, right? Some,

Rob Valincius: we, we get the, I always tell people we get the extremes. Like, it's not like Florida where it's like 70, you know, unless you're in Miami where it's, you know, always a hundred. But, you know, we get extreme winter where it's, you know, negative five degrees and fucking cold. We didn't have that much snow this year though.

Um, not as much as I thought we were gonna get. Um, but then we also get, I mean, it was 97 degrees when I got in my car today, so it's 

Paul Cram: Oh, gosh. No, no, no, no,

Rob Valincius: no middle 

Paul Cram: no, no. That's, that's not, that doesn't

work. So here in, here in Minnesota, we get cold, but, uh, I mean, I, I, I've been raised here, so I'm used to some of the cold that we get. 97. no,

no. no. That is, that's too much. Uh, nope, nope. Not gonna

Rob Valincius: I like, I like the hot weather. Like I like it 'cause I could just turn on the air conditioning. Right. I mean, but

Paul Cram: You're

crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Like, I don't love the hot weather. I, the thing with cold weather for me is it's like, yeah, you can put layers on, you can turn your heat on, you can do those kind of things when it's so hot outside, like, I mean, you can strip buck naked and still be like, okay, I'm still roasting.

Like, and you can turn your,

I don't know. There's just, I don't know. I don't know.

Rob Valincius: That is true. There's, there's no escape, uh, as much when it comes to the heat, you know, and there's only so much clothes you can take off before it's, before you get arrested. You know, you can put as many layers as 

Paul Cram: you can put on as many layers as you want and, and not worry about it. But I mean, we have nice summers here too though. I mean, it, it, I, by nice, I mean we, we'll get up, we'll, we might hit into the, the lower eighties, but No, just hearing that 90 degree weather, I'm like, no, just, no. Um, but yeah, no, uh, yeah, been in Minnesota.

I've, I've, I've, like I said, lots of, I've, I've worked out in California. I've worked, I've worked in a lot of states around the country doing, doing indie film stuff and horror movies, and it's been a good, it's been a lot of fun. Yeah. There's actually, I, I will say too, like, uh, to, to give a plug to them, I, I kind of mentioned one, but there's two movies that came out that I'm in, and both of them are. Horror ask. Uh, one of them is more than the other, but they're, they both hit streaming platforms, um, this year. And the, the, I I, I, I'm, I'm thinking you might dig one of them, actually, Rob, um, actually you, well, you probably dig both of them. I, I feel like there's one

Rob Valincius: I'd probably watch both. 

Paul Cram: I feel like there's one that you might like better than the other, but this is just from going off of some of what you, some of what you've said. But the two movies, I'll just plug them. Uh, the first one is abroad, and this one, I, I really enjoy this one. It has a lot of like psychological twists and turns, but the premise of the film is, uh, two people from South Korea travel to Minnesota. Uh, they wanna see some northern lights and one of them goes missing and neither of them speak English really well.

So it really. It really is creepy, scary. 'cause like, it dives into like some of those fears of like, what could go wrong while you're traveling and it does

go wrong. And then, and I, it was art imitating life because I worked a lot with, uh, s Young Bum is his name, and he didn't, he actually had a translator.

He didn't speak English. So just navigating that was fun and interesting. And the movie is, it's pretty creepy when you start to dive into that. 'cause he may, they may, uh, have accused him of murdering, uh, his partner that came here with him. And yeah. So that one, that one is interesting. The other

one, the other one.

Do you know creepy pasta? Are you familiar with creepy pasta at all?

Rob Valincius: Yes. Yep.

Paul Cram: Uh, I was not. And.

Rob Valincius: It's like a Reddit,

Paul Cram: it's like uh, 

Rob Valincius: style 

Paul Cram: Yeah.

and there was a Reddit style thing and there's, uh, there was a, there was a urban legend or truth. I mean, some people are like, this happened and I'm like, I could see this happening. But, uh, they made a movie based on something from creepy pasta and it was called the Soviet Sleep Experiment. By chance, have you come across that ever?

Rob Valincius: Is that, is that where, uh, they were keeping like, uh, soldiers awake in a room to see what, you know, what would happen? And

Paul Cram: Yep. Yep. 

Rob Valincius: so that didn't exist. I thought that was real. Like I thought that actually

Paul Cram: I guarantee that it, something like that happened. Yes.

I, I gu I guarantee like this, it's set like in the, in the Cold War era of Russia. And I, I wouldn't even put it past, uh, obviously they said it, we said it, the film in Russia, but I'm like, no, there wasn't it in World War II or something? I thought I read not on creepy pasta, but just in, in history.

You're the history guy, so help me out here. But weren't like fighter pilots and stuff doing amphetamines and things like that to like stay awake.

Rob Valincius: Oh, I talked to, yeah, I actually, I've read books on this. So there's a, um, there's a book that, um, I dunno if you're, if you're into some, like some of the off the wall history,

Paul Cram: I think some of it can be really interesting and fun. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: I do a lot of audio books because I, I drive my drive's like 40 minutes to work, 45 minutes home, depend on traffic.

And, uh, I have an audible membership, so I'm always like, you know, trying to buy books. And I have a lot of guests that, that, uh, that either do audio books or done audio books. So I always try to support

Paul Cram: Yeah. Oh, 

Rob Valincius: you know, jumps on the show. You 

Paul Cram: excellent. I actually have done some audio books myself, just, yeah.

Rob Valincius: you'll have to gimme, gimme a title and I will, so it's called Blitzed, uh, it's by Norman Oler.

And, uh,

Paul Cram: is it nonfiction?

Rob Valincius: yes. You, you will, I I, I'm fascinated with World War ii. I just like, I'm sure many people are. 'cause you wanna know kind of like, what, what the fuck was up with Hitler, basically?

Um, I. But he talks all about, uh, the Third Reich. He talks all about, it's a lot of information about Hitler, um, and his doctor.

And they talk a lot about all of the drugs, all uh, basically all of Germany was on meth. Um,

Paul Cram: Which

Rob Valincius: but they didn't call it meth. It was, um, what the hell was the name of the drug?

Paul Cram: interesting. And I

can so understand and see that from the perspective of not to justify anything that was going on whatsoever, but there were that such, um, oh, I don't know. Yeah, if you, if you, if you

Rob Valincius: see. What the hell is the name of it? Yeah, it was, uh,

Paul Cram: can, but, and can you say it. can you say it in German? 

Rob Valincius: I'm know right. Uh, drug Germans took, I think. Uh, start with a P. Uh, but I don't remem Pervitin. Pervitin, that's what it was. So, uh, it was, it's meth. But here's the thing. Like all of the major drug companies, like, uh, did you know bear that, that made aspirin also invented heroin?

Paul Cram: I did not know that, but somehow that makes like, that kind of makes sense. 'cause heroin's an opioid, right?

Rob Valincius: Uh, it is, yes. Um, and then, uh, what's the big, uh, what's the big It's not, is it Merck? Is it Merck? Lemme see. 

Paul Cram: Uh, 

Rob Valincius: it was Merck. One of, one of the, the major, so there was a, there was, there was Bear Merck, uh, there was a couple major pharmaceutical companies and they were like the biggest drug pedalers for cocaine.

I. Because it was legal back then. Um, but dude, he talks a lot about this and he talks about how it helped the soldiers, um, you know, the one crucial mission that no one thought they could do. They did. 'cause they were high as shit on Pervitin. Um, because they made it mandatory for them to carry with it.

And they went, they did like a 24 hour blitz cre, and all this other crazy shit. Um, but it's fantastic book. Like I, I, I couldn't stop listening to it.

Paul Cram: Ah, my God. No, I, I, I add, I wrote it down because I have a book club too. Uh, and we read nonfiction. So like something like this, something like this could be just really, I hate to say fun, but it is fun. It's like, oh my

God, how did this happen? And like, what?

Rob Valincius: fascinating. I learned so much that I, because it's a lot. It's not stuff that you would learn in history class. You know, they talk about Blitz Creed, they talk about the Third Reich, but they don't talk about like. What Hitler, who Hitler's doctor was and what he did and how he got into power 

Paul Cram: right, right. What. 

Rob Valincius: that he was giving him.

Paul Cram: And the, and the, and I mean, I've heard things too, like, uh, and have I looked up any of it to verify it? No, but like, just

Rob Valincius: do we ever,

Paul Cram: some of the weird, like even oc culty sort of stuff that Hitler was really apparently into, right? Like, um, but something about if, if, um, something about that all makes sense to me, like the, the piece, uh, hearing, hearing that everybody is methed out

Rob Valincius: all of them,

Paul Cram: and then

Rob Valincius: kids, men, 

Paul Cram: lay layer on top of that, like some weird wacky beliefs. And then layer on top of that, like, um, I just would buy, I'd be like, of course you're doing weird occult stuff. You're, you're taking methamphetamine. Like, I don't know, like, it, it all makes sense to me. And, and,

and, yeah. Yikes. No, that sounds

really interesting. I'm gonna have to look that up.

Rob Valincius: it's good. I'm telling you. You and, uh, you and the book club, what is it? Men 

Paul Cram: Men Who Read Yep. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: uh, which is an awesome book club by the way. Uh, what, uh, what made you, what made you, uh, create that? Have you always been kind of a bookworm 

Paul Cram: I like you. I love, oh my God, like audio books. And I have such a great relationship, so I like, I bike in Boston and do all the things and like, I will, I can't read when I'm like in a vehicle or I start throwing up all over. So like,

Rob Valincius: yeah. That's not good.

Paul Cram: yeah, not good. So audio books are my friend and, uh, I've always really been into books About 2019, I, I was looking around and I was like, I, I need, need something more in my life.

And there was a local, uh, book club and I reached out to them. It was a women's only book club, and I was like. You're, you're close by. Is this weird? And they're like, hell yeah, it's weird. Go away. And, and I was like, all right, because women have book clubs figured out. I mean, you throw a rock and you're gonna hit like seven book clubs for women where they drink wine together and it's amazing.

And all, all that stuff.

So I started one for guys. We read nonfiction. We just had our six year anniversary. Woo hoo. 

Uh, and we've read over 75 books together. So, uh, it's a, it's a tight group of guys. I'm adding blitz to our potential reads. 'cause I, I think the guys would really enjoy it. Uh, yeah,

Rob Valincius: there's, that one's really good. He also has another book that I have that I purchased, but I haven't listened to it yet, called Tripped. Um,

and yeah, so it's, uh, I forget, I wanna say, I don't know if that one came out first or second. Um, and these books are pretty quick, like seven hours, six hours. It's not like a 20 hour book.

Like I have someone here that are 15, 20 hours, you know? Uh, okay. I'm starting, hold on. I don't wanna do that. Uh, tripped.

Paul Cram: Just

Rob Valincius: uh, let's see. Trit is about post-War America and Nazi experiments with psychedelics. This one's more about psychedelics.

Paul Cram: as opposed to the, the amphetamines. Uh, well, and to relate it to the Soviet Seq experiment, they never, they never really say in the movie, and I don't think they do in creepy pasta story either. Like what, what that was. But it would've definitely been some type of an amphetamine to keep people awake. Uh, I don't know if in blitzed if they touch on this, which is why I wanna listen to it now and, and read it. Uh, but all those things, 'cause I did, I did a little bit of research. I didn't have a lot of time before I worked on set. Like I was in Florida and I got a call and they were like, can you be on set in two days?

And I'm like, yes I can. So, um. But I did look up a little bit about the story and, uh, my own research, and I think we understand this maybe better now, but like, it's not good for people to stay awake that long. Like even staying

awake, even staying awake 24 hours. Like, I didn't know this and it's a really gross, fun fact, but your brain starts eating itself. So, you know,

Rob Valincius: it is not good for your future self if you want one, uh, to stay up that late. We watch, uh, a lot of the cooking network. I dunno if you watch, uh, the food, the food 

Paul Cram: I love the Food Network. I, I, give me some, what's that show? Chopped. Is that on the

Food network? Yeah, I think that 

Rob Valincius: Yep.

Chopped. Um, there's a show called 24 and 24 and it's uh, 24 chefs and they compete for 24 hours and there's all these crazy challenges and it's really good, uh, that.

Paul Cram: What is, so I need to look that up now. Also, I'll add that to my list because it's that thing where it's like, I don't care how good of a resolve you have or how good of a person you are. You it, like we said, like if your brain starts playing tricks on you. Yeah. Working with sharp knives and being cranky and ornery and tired. It sounds like this could be the premise for another horror movie.

Rob Valincius: And they do some fucked up stuff. Like they'll, um, you know, there's, it's called like the Golden Knife. So anyone that wins a challenge will get a golden knife and they can choose things, but they'll put, uh, people on teams. They'll make people pair up. They'll pick, they'll have a board where you have to pick your meat that you want to use, and once it's picked, you can't pick it.

Then they'll like add a, tell you, you have to rat 'em in, like add a random ingredient. Um, and there's some pretty good chefs, they're like pretty well known chefs. Like if you watch, you know, the Food Network, like we watch it every 

Paul Cram: I love it. I love it. Yeah. I mean, I've, I'm familiar mostly with like Top Chef and Chopped and some of those I, but I, so I haven't dug into those and I want to, I also, it reminds me a little bit of, what's his name? El, is it Elton Brown? He had a show, I don't know if it's still going on, but where, uh, the contestants would like, uh, sabotage each other while they were trying to do like the cooking thing.

I don't know if, I'm trying to remember if, I think if I can remember the name of the

Rob Valincius: Cutthroat Kitchen Is, is, and that, that's actually the, the New Season's out right now. And it's, uh, it's really good. Um, uh, is it Michael Simon is the, is the, uh, one of the ones that is the host of 24 and 24. Oh

Paul Cram: 24 and 24

Rob Valincius: yeah. And then, uh, what Babe, who's the name of the other guy? Malarkey, malarkey is, uh, does Cutthroat.

Paul Cram: malar. Why do I recognize that name? Malar.

I think. Yeah, I think I know who that is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rob Valincius: If you saw him, he's, he's crazy, but he, he really makes the show. He makes the show fun. And, uh, it's, it's unique for sure. I, I, we never used to watch the Food Network, but, uh, for some reason we started watching it. And they have some great shows. Like just,

Paul Cram: Sign me

Rob Valincius: I bought a, I bought a KitchenAid mixer because of all the shit that they were on there.

And now I make, like, we were, you know, making garlic cheese butter for the wifey the other day, you know, and I shred my own cheese with it because I'm a talker, you know, saw a TikTok video about how much shit they put in, like bagged cheese and we have tacos. So when I, when I cook, I was using the bag cheese and uh, if I make homemade mac and cheese or homemade lasagna, I would use the bag cheese.

And it's bad for you. They have a lot of ingredients that 

Paul Cram: That they don't, that don't, that they don't include in the blue block, big blah.

Big blocks of cheese. Let's

say that seven times fast. 

Uh, 

Rob Valincius: so it doesn't clump, right, but it's, it's not, it's not good for you. So I was like, fuck it, I'll just t shred my own cheese, you know? And it's so much better, so much better when you shred your 

Paul Cram: shred your own cheese. I'll have to look that up too. I mean, I don't use the, I usually actually do shred it by hand. Like I'm really old

Rob Valincius: too lazy,

Paul Cram: shredding it by hand, but, uh,

Rob Valincius: too lazy for 

Paul Cram: do you just like put it like, it's just Okay. Does it, it

Rob Valincius: You just, like, if you have a KitchenAid mixer, there's a, the little circle thing where you put the attachments 

Paul Cram: Oh, oh, it just, yeah. Got it.

Rob Valincius: You just literally, you, you plug it in, you cut the cheese, 

Paul Cram: And you. 

Rob Valincius: pull it down, and it, and it shreds it.

Paul Cram: it doesn't, I'm picturing like something from like the Jetsons where there's like some hand that's doing this.

Rob Valincius: It's just holding the cheese for 

Paul Cram: just, you know,

Rob Valincius: stroking your cheese off a little bit.

Paul Cram: Exactly. I also, I also love those, um, those, it reminds me of those things too, where I'm like, that's not making that any easier. Like if

you, if you had to sit and shake the thing while I, yeah. But,

Rob Valincius: I look, I saw all the things and I, and I said to the white family, like, listen, I know this is gonna sound crazy. I'm buying a $350 KitchenAid mixer so that I can shred cheese and I could get a $20 one, but I'm never gonna stick with it. My thing is, is I'm never gonna stick with it if it's complicated.

And if I'm sitting there and I gotta shred the cheese and then the thing, it's plastic and it breaks, whatever, no. And I could use the kitchen mixer for a million other things.

Paul Cram: I, I love it so much, uh, raw because of the fact that I just bought a kitchen weight, uh, like a, a kitchen weight scale thing, just to, to, to measure out some things. 

And could I have bought the one that was $20 and takes batteries? Absolutely. Did I? No.

Nope. I bought the one that has the nice plastic where, you know, you, and it's really heavy duty.

And do I cook enough to justify this? No, but I was like, if I'm actually gonna use it, the, the, the, the ones, you know, if something is battery operated in general. Mm. I don't know. How good is it

Rob Valincius: I am one of those people, man, I go, I do a ton of research. I go all in and I go off of reviews. And if I'm gonna do something, I tend to do it. Like I don't, I'm not rich, I don't make a ton of money, but

Paul Cram: You're talking to an actor who is not rich?

Rob Valincius: like, I'm a proponent of you spend the money. Once and you get something that lasts a long time, right?

A kitchen mixer lasts fucking forever. And I also buy warranties for everything. 'cause I'm in insurance and that's like, you know, I get, I get weird about that stuff. So like my, all of my electronics have two to three year warranties no matter what. So, uh, that's how I 

Paul Cram: it makes sense. And no, I'm, I'm actually, I'm with you on that. Like, I, I'm a big fan too of, um, I mean, this could be a really big conversation or deep rabbit hole, but, but it is that thing where it's like, uh, I'm a big fan of buying something once and buying quality, and I mean that too, just for like general things like, um, uh, like I go to the thrift shop all the time.

I'm like, I don't necessarily need to buy new, but quality. Like, you know, it, it's a good thing and 

yeah. 

Rob Valincius: we grew up thrift shopping. My mom still does it, uh, yard sailing. It's, you know, uh, you find some gems, yard sailing, thrift shopping. You never know what you're gonna 

Paul Cram: You never know what you're gonna find. And yeah, no, I'm a thrifter. I enjoy it. I, I, there's something to that whole, it's like a treasure hunt. It's like,

Rob Valincius: Yeah,

Paul Cram: yeah, yeah.

Rob Valincius: yeah. It's, someone's trash is another man's treasure, 

Paul Cram: It's amazing. Some of the things that I've seen in thrift shops, I'm like, who's gonna buy that? And then you see somebody carting it out and it's like, oh, okay, well that's you. Um,

Rob Valincius: it's like, I don't, I wouldn't agree with your purchase, but do you, man, you know, um, now, now you've been in a lot of roles. So talk to me about what was your most memorable role for you? 

Paul Cram: I, you know, I get asked this question all the time, and I, I'm not trying to dodge it, I just am. I don't know that I necessarily have one. And part of the reason for that is, I mean, I, I, my friend Mary, she does stunts. I was talking to her once and, and I was in my hotel room, I was working on a film, and she, I was like, oh my God, I'm so tired, I'm exhausted.

Like, ah, and, and the, everybody else in the cast, they like, wanna go out and they want to, you know, go to dinner and, and like go to a bar and all that stuff. And I'm like, I don't know how they're doing it. And she's like, Paul, they're doing it because you are like, every scene you're in, you're like having a baby emotionally and like you die and you, you know, like all, so I, I don't necessarily have one favorite, but I get, I definitely work in a lot of character work where I am in horror movies.

I, I die, I either die or I'm the villain. Like, and I don't die. Simple little deaths like I am dying where very creative deaths, but also just a lot of emoting. Uh, like I will say, spoiler alert, in the Soviet sleep experiment, uh, we had to do a lot of takes of the scene because I get my tongue cut out and like 

they were. 

Rob Valincius: Oh, that's cool. 

Paul Cram: they were trying to have me lay it on the flat, on the ground with my mouth full of fake blood. And like, I ju I like, you know, it's one of those jump type things where I come up and blah, it's,

Rob Valincius: Yeah,

Paul Cram: and I couldn't do it. Like, and I, and I was like, why can't I do it? And then the, the one of the people they're like, well, of course you can't do it. Who fills their mouth with liquid? And then like, lays like, this is, of course you're choking. Like, we have to

figure something else 

Rob Valincius: practical. not practical use There.

Paul Cram: this isn't, yeah. Yeah. But so in the horror genre, I, I am doing all that stuff, doing crazy stunts and dying. Uh, or I get cast, I, I do chuckle about this now, but like, um, I went into an audition, uh, for a film and the director, he takes one look at me and he's like, you're perfect.

This will be great. And I was like, oh, cool. Great thanks. And it's foreign meth addict and,

Rob Valincius: That is 

Paul Cram: and yeah. 

Rob Valincius: But also should you feel like, like away about that

Paul Cram: it's one of those things where, I mean, yeah, I do feel way about

that. 

Rob Valincius: you're like, 

Paul Cram: oh, 

Rob Valincius: about me a little bit. You 

Paul Cram: Thank you.

Rob Valincius: I got the job, 

Paul Cram: the job,

I get the jobs a lot. I, I, I definitely am not the, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of like commercial work here in, in Twin cities. Uh, the bite and smile, like I don't get cast as the bite and smile. I, I, uh, the bite and smile goes to the, the good looking guys that are, that are, that don't look like they just came out of a meth den.

Is a meth den. Is that a thing? Is a meth den? I don't know. 

I don't. 

Rob Valincius: know what you do, you know who you do Remind me of a little bit, I'm sure you've gotten this before, but y Jesse from Breaking 

Paul Cram: Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: like you remind, but that's like, I'm not saying he's a Yeah, he, I guess he was a kind of a meth 

Paul Cram: He, he actually, I don't think he, I, I think in the storyline he did other stuff, but I don't think he ever touched

Rob Valincius: he smoked a lot of 

Paul Cram: he smoked weed. He may have sm I think he may have. He didn't do the meth though, right? I think that was a part of the line. I think that was part of the,

Rob Valincius: heroin. I think he 

Paul Cram: he do hair? Oh, oh, 

Rob Valincius: his, girlfriend. His girlfriend died.

Paul Cram: Um, oh, she died at, oh, that was so sad. I was

so 

Rob Valincius: was an awful, that was an awful episode. But all, alright, this is gonna sound horrible, but she was kind of super annoying. So it was, you know, it was a nice exit. Uh, like for, for the viewer. She was a great actress, great 

Paul Cram: She's amazing. I would love to, I would love, I I would love to work with her also. Like gorgeous, like she's just a go

gorgeous person. I, yeah, she was kind of an annoying, but I feel, I know how to say, I feel like if you're doing heroin and you're, and not just heroin, any, any, any drug, are you really gonna be showing up as your best self?

I mean, are you,

Rob Valincius: Oh yeah, yeah. But I look at it this way too as a viewer, right? Uh, if, if it's well's, I think it's, it's two things, right? It's, it's good writing and it's good acting if I, in my life. Hate your character. 

Paul Cram: Oh yes. 

Rob Valincius: they're doing a great job at at both of those things.

Paul Cram: 100%. 100%. It, it makes me think of, uh, I was in a, uh, a film called The Lumber Baron, and I struggled so much with the lines because the lines, like I, my character spoke in this very circular, there was never an end to his sentences.

And like, there was paragraphs of dialogue and I was like, I don't know how to do this.

Like, this is just so hard to do. Like, I kept flubbing where I was in the lines because they didn't make any sense at all. Uh, and then I was watching the film and I was like, actually what? The, the writer was amazing because it was like, I hate, I hate watching myself. And everybody in the theater was like, would you die already?

Like, can you, yeah. Like when, when I, when my character finally was like, uh, I didn't actually die in the film, but when I finally like the lead character, she's like, would you just, she just finally tells me, shut up. Like, people in the audience cheered, and I was like, this is good. This is an emotional, an emotional reaction.

So, um,

Rob Valincius: You, you know, it's good when you get those cyber reactions, you know, those, the, the, I feel like the writing and the acting, they, they kind of go hand in hand, right? You can always tell, like, if someone, if the writing's bad, but the actor's good, you can almost kind of, they, sometimes they can save it a little bit, I think.

Um,

Paul Cram: and there's, yeah, and I've, there's actors too, uh, that I have such good, uh, I feel like really comedic actors and dramatic ones too. But, uh, like somebody that comes to mind is like Jennifer Coolidge, where she, she delivers like one or two lines and you're like, okay, the way you delivered that, like, if it was anybody else, like that would just be kind of dumb, but like, you're

hilarious and Yeah.

Rob Valincius: they fit their roles pretty well, for sure. Um, well look, we're, we're getting close to the hour and, uh, this was, this was, this was a lot of fun. I didn't get to like, really any of the stuff that I was gonna talk about because we, we riffed and that's, that always is a good thing.

Um, talk about, uh, let's hit the future real quick.

So, two things. One, talk about, um, I know you had mentioned the streaming stuff. Um, is there any other upcoming roles or projects that 

Paul Cram: I have a, 

Rob Valincius: and you could 

Paul Cram: uh, a broad and the Soviet sleep experiment are the two that people can, they just kind of hit streaming, so check those out people. Uh, I am working on a film next week actually, where I get to dance on top of some tables and do

just some wacky, weird, um, think like, think like person who is, um, that guy who is, uh, just really privileged, rich person who isn't used to hearing, why can't I do whatever I want in a restaurant? Uh, that's me. Um, but yeah, no,

and 

Rob Valincius: gonna ask you, ask you if there was nipple tassels, but I guess, 

Paul Cram: Oh, oh, oh, oh my God. That would be amazing. The, the, they're adding like a sleeve arm. I don't know. We're doing some fun things, so I'm working on that. It's called Sunny. It's a short film. 

That's what's, that's what's literally next for me. But, um, the other like, personal project I'm kind of working on is I'm really working on like, my YouTube channel, like, just kind of like my own little things here and there.

A lot of vlogs, a lot of, um, I don't know. I'm, I'm, I'm experimenting and seeing what that algorithm is like, so it's a creative, little creative outlet for myself and I'm enjoying that, enjoying that quite a bit.

Rob Valincius: YouTube's harsh man. The algorithm's so weird. It's like the videos that I think will do really well don't, and then the videos that I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna put this up, do really well and long form content is like, for, for me as a podcaster, it, it's difficult, um, because I feel like long form content, if you're Joe Rogan, totally different story.

People are watching that whole thing long form content. When you're a smaller podcast, it's not as relevant. Um, and I just hate the short form stuff, so it's, for me, posting on socials with shorts and stuff, I just don't do it. I should, I have

Paul Cram: It's, 

Rob Valincius: hours of, of, of stuff I could use, 

Paul Cram: it's really, it's, it's, it hurts my head sometimes 'cause like I know for something, one little thing that I've noticed with my, with my YouTube channel specifically is that, uh, I get a lot of views with the shorts, but it's the long form content that, um, like I have a, like a 30 minute audio book that I had done and it doesn't get very many views, but when it does, it's very long.

And those are the ones where people I get followers from. So it's like this weird, like, it's such a weird thing 'cause it's like long form is getting me followers and getting me these long views, but very, not very many of them. And then you get, I'll throw up a short and it's like, yeah, here's a ton of views.

And I'm like, but it doesn't do much. So it's just an interesting. It's mine. It hurts my brain. Hurts my brain a little

bit. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: I dunno. I, at this point, you know, I, I've, I used to care, like, look, I've, I very much care about the podcast. That's not what I'm saying. But I used to care so much that I was looking at my numbers every day. And I've, I don't do that. I just, I let things happen organically. Some episodes do outstanding, some don't, and it doesn't mean it's a bad episode.

I think it just means, it, it, maybe it wasn't people's flavor of the day, but I do get people where sometimes they download one or two, and then all of a sudden episode 50, you know, has five downloads randomly, or like, like, you start to see those things happen randomly. So it's, it's different once you have like a full, like once you start to build up your YouTube channel, you'll, you'll kind of see it's, it's like a weird thing that happens.

Paul Cram: am so with you on that and as one who is a creative and, and I like having that creative outlet and learning about it, but will I be driven solely by numbers? Hell no. 'cause I think that that

sounds, that sounds like a horrible way to exist in this life. 

Uh, 

Rob Valincius: It's a job.

It's a job 

Paul Cram: a job. But I also, it's like I do want some outside input.

So like some of that's, it's cool to see, but it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's not, it's not, I don't want that to be the driving factor for everything that I put out there or anything like that. No.

Rob Valincius: Plus it leaves a legacy. You don't know what people are gonna be doing in a hundred years. Maybe they'll stumble upon your, your stuff and be like, Hey, who was this guy? And then they look at all your shit. I mean, it won't matter 'cause you'll probably be dead in a hundred years unless you're, you got really good genes.

But, uh, I hate to end on a, on a sour 

Paul Cram: No, I think it's great.

Rob Valincius: Um, but plug yourself real quick. Where can people find all your 

Paul Cram: people can launch into all my stuff. Uh, just go to my website. Uh, I am paul cram.com.

Cram is spelled like what you do the night before a test, so CRAM. So I am paul cram.com.

Rob Valincius: Love it. Love it. Great website too.

I love, I like your website. Um, whoever you had to do it if, if you didn't do it, it, it was, it's good.

Um, this podcast is the Drink Clock podcast. It's Drink Clock pod on all socials, um, YouTube, all that jazz. And, uh, this episode will probably be up in a couple days.

So listen, man, it was, it was awesome. I've really enjoyed our convo 

Paul Cram: I did too. uh,

Rob Valincius: enjoy your drink. Have a, 

Paul Cram: I will, I will, I will, uh, a couple of days up. Uh, I will keep an eye out for it too, and I will obviously share and do all the things.

Rob Valincius: Appreciate it, brother. You have a great night.

Paul Cram: You as well. Thank you.

Rob Valincius: Thanks man. 

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