(spooky sound) (even spookier smack)
- These people got a funny situation here.
(gasps)
- Hello and welcome to Spooky Small Talk,
a show where I, Ryan
Bergara, get to interview
some of the world's
most fascinating people
in one of the scariest
places on the planet.
A haunted attraction at Knott's Scary Farm
(girl screaming)
Today's guest is one
of Watcher's very own,
and my ghoul friend on Buzzfeed Unsolved,
Mister Shane Madej.
You may know Shane as the resident skeptic
on Buzzfeed Unsolved, or
as the charming Professor
on Puppet History, or as
the Wizard of Whimsical
on Weird, Wonderful World.
But, also, you may know
Shane if you know me,
seriously at this point, I'd be surprised
if that wasn't true.
All right, Shane. Thank
you for coming on the show,
we know eachother, right?
- Yes, we've hunted some ghosts together,
I think you were at my
birthday party once.
- I think I may have had
a dinner or two with you,
something like that
- [Shane] Sure, sure.
- Are you jumpy?
- A little jumpy, I am
jumping less and less
I've noticed, though.
Nowadays, sometimes I'll see movies,
everyone else in the
theater will be like "Ahh",
and I'll just be sitting there.
- Like a... like Jabba the Hutt?
- Yeah
- With a feather in your cap, anyways,
there's a lot of urban
legends about Shane Madej
on the internet, and
also from your friends.
- Okay.
- So let's play a little Fact of Fiction.
- All right.
- Fact or fiction? You once
got your entire P.E. class
out of doing sit-ups because
you couldn't lift your head
off the floor?
- Who said that? Nobody said that!
- Moving onto the next one!
Fact or fiction? You
once got your head stuck
in a doggie door for eight hours...
ah, I transcribed this
wrong. Elephant door,
it was a... you got your head
stuck in an elephant door
for eight hours.
- My head is proportional to
my body, I'd like to point out.
- Is it?
When, if ever, was the last
time you spoke to your mother?
- I love my mother, I
talk to her every Sunday.
- It was just a joke, you
know, just some best friends
razzing each other.
- Shoutout to Sherry Madej.
- Great, great, great. Jesus Christ,
you are so angry right now.
- Is this how the whole thing's gonna go?
- No, I actually did a
fair amount of research,
I took this very seriously,
I just thought it'd be fun
to have some fun because we're pals.
- Well now I'm fired up.
- Okay, well let's get into the maze,
and then we'll get into
some deep questions.
- Okay.
- Next to the guy hanging by chains.
(heart thumping)
- [Ryan] As I did say out there,
I did take this seriously,
I do wanna talk about your
relationship with your parents.
You grew up in Schaumburg, Illinois.
- [Shane] That's right, home of me.
- Sure, and very narcissistic of you.
What was your relationship like
with your parents growing up?
- Pretty good, we got along pretty well,
I think one time they got real mad at me
cause I got like a 'C' in a class
and they told me I was grounded.
And I was like "ah, I don't
think I deserve this one, guys."
And they were like "No,
you can't go out tonight.",
And I was like "I made plans"
and I just kinda ignored them.
- You know, when I talked to your brother,
he said that you actually almost never
got into trouble at all.
- Yeah, because he
mostly got into trouble.
(machine whirring) (dummy hollers)
- Oh, my!
(machine whirring)
- So, he actually
_ (laughing) No reaction.
- He had a... (spooky music plays)
I think maybe because
he was older than me,
- Yeah.
- [Shane] He sort of
went through you know,
the teenage angst. And I
saw him going through that,
thought "well I'll just sit that out."
- [Ryan] Is it possible that you were
a little scared of him?
I recall a story where
he 'doinked' your head
off a staircase.
- He did 'doink' my head,
I was casually walking
down the stairs behind him.
- Yeah.
- And, you know, brothers...
sometimes you just
give them a little kick, and I did that,
and he turned around and
grabbed my head by the hair,
and slammed it into the stairs,
(Ryan laughing)
and my glasses just carved
a little nick into my skin.
(chains Clanging)
- Do you still have that nick?
- Yeah, there's a scar still,
I don't know if it shows
up in the darkness or...
- It's a little dark in here,
and there's also like a
chain hitting me in my face.
- Yeah, there are...
there is a lot going on.
This is, by the way, loving this.
- [Ryan] Yeah
- Really nice atmosphere.
- By all accounts though,
you do seem to have
a very lovely relationship
with your brother now.
Was it always that way though?
- [Shane] I'd say, even
when we didn't get along
very well, we've always
been incredibly similar.
We both like motion pictures, you know?
We'd be out there on Dark Horizons...
The old movie news website in the 90s.
- So, you were a nerd?
You guys were nerds?
- We were both nerds.
What's going on?
- We're about to enter our first segment,
that's a creepy mannequin.
- [Shane] Hello ma'am.
(both gasp)
- [Shane] Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Ryan] Oh, good right?
And it turns its head.
That's fantastic.
So, now we are entering
our first segment room.
Now, if you'll come around this corner...
- [Shane] Oh look at this!
- [Ryan] Please have a seat!
- Very autumnal!
Wow, I feel so welcomed!
- All right, so this is our first segment,
it's called Fear and Flourish.
- Okay.
- This is a segment where
we talk about a time
in your life where you were scared.
- Sure.
- And yet, you still persevered
and succeeded anyway.
- Yeah.
- [Ryan] Is there any time that
comes to mind for you like that?
- I worked at a ballpark...
- Your great moment of triumph
is a customer service job?
- I've had a lot of moments
of triumphs at a lot of jobs
- That was... I'm talking like you're down
in a pit of despair, you don't know
if you're gonna make it
and you make it anyway.
- Yes, that's where I'm getting.
And it was the third of July,
which sometimes is busier
than the Fourth of July
because people don't want
to go to a ballpark on the Fourth of July.
- Don't think we need to get into that.
- And it was a real long line,
a man came to my register
and he said "I'll have a lemonade",
and I said... Understand, at this point,
the line is about two hours long
to get to the concessions.
And I said, "We're actually
all out of lemonade."
and he said "it doesn't
say that on the sign!"
And I said "I don't
know what to tell you",
and he said "Well that
sucks!", and he threw
all his trash at me, including like a cup
that was half full of water.
- [Ryan] Yeah.
- And I was covered in trash,
and that was sort of a moment for me.
Because I just kind of smiled about it,
and I said "Well, sorry about that!"
Just smile your way through life,
that's all I'm saying.
- Do you ever get anxious though?
(man screams)
- Yeah, a little bit.
- You are a robot, sir.
You are a robot, there
are wires in your brain
that fire off in certain patterns
to make you move your little hands
(beep) (man screaming)
Let's go to the next room, okay?
- All right.
- (Ryan laughs) Oh my god!
What is wrong with you?
(spooky music)
- [Ryan] What were you
like in high school?
- [Shane] You know, I was like a...
I didn't want to be class
clown, I think I was a...
- Look, it's a therewolf.
- [Shane] That is a werewolf.
That wasn't a therewolf.
- No, I said therewolf.
Anyways, back to the question, sorry.
- Yeah, you know, I was
casually delightful.
I wasn't cool, I didn't
play sports, I was in band,
I did win a popularity contest.
But, I know for a fact
that one of my friends said
when I won it, the next
day over the announcements,
they said "and Shane Madej won this".
And someone next to him said
"man, that guy is dry as hell."
- [Ryan] Do you agree with that?
Are you dry as hell?
- [Shane] I'm kinda dry.
- [Ryan] Like, not from like
an epidermal level, like?
- No, I mean, that is true.
I do have very dry skin .
- You do have dry skin,
I know that about you.
In that vein in high school,
how did you do with girls?
- With girls?
- Yeah, how did you do with girls?
- I mean, not... I didn't really bother...
I didn't have a girlfriend until
senior year of high school.
- Yeah
- [Shane] And you know, we're
still friends to this day.
- [Ryan] That's pretty good!
- [Shane] Yeah, we broke
up after a few months.
(metal door clanging) (girl chuckling)
- What were you gonna do with that there?
- She was gonna toss it at your body,
which would normally elicit some sort of
human response like "uh oh,
I'm gonna get squished."
But, for you, you blinked and went...
- Whoa, don't do that!
- "Looks like doom's coming my way"
- Very good, very good.
- One of your friends
said that a lot of ladies
were interested in you.
- Who... who said that?
- I can't say.
- Oh, okay. Complete anonymity.
- I won't reveal my sources. Yes.
- No, if that was the
case, then they should have
mentioned it to me.
- [Ryan] So, oh, okay! You were aloof.
- I was incredibly aloof,
and I am to this day.
- That is true, as am
I. And now we've reached
our second segment, so
if you'll have seat.
(suspenseful music)
- There's a guy over here.
- Don't worry about him, he'll
tire himself out eventually.
So, this is our second segment.
It's called Career Crush.
- Okay.
- This is a segment where
we talk about somebody,
whether it's in your field or not,
but somebody you admire that inspires you.
Is there anybody who fits
that billing for you?
- Yeah, I think it's gonna be Adam Driver.
- Why Adam Driver?
- There's something very
novel to his whole...
Like I don't think I've ever
seen a human being like him.
- He kind of looks similar to you.
- Maybe that why. Maybe
I see him and think
we're from somewhere
similar, out in the stars
- [Ryan] Or that you can like...
"Oh, maybe I could aspire
to be to his level."
- [Shane] I don't want to
be him, he's doing great.
- [Ryan] Yeah, he is doing great.
- You know, I don't
want to be what he is...
I want to keep doing what I'm doing,
which is this.
- So, what about Adam Driver inspires you?
- You know, there's a
lot of actors out there
who are sort of doing it
for the next Marvel movie
or... (chuckles) you know what?
He's in Star Wars movies.. I
don't know what I'm saying?
I think he recognizes
the artistic value of
the Star Wars films. He wouldn't
have done it if he didn't.
And he's, you know, he
balances that out with things
like Patterson, which
is a film for everybody.
It's about poetry.
- [Ryan] That's true.
And I recommend it.
He was also in the Marine Corps,
which is an honorable thing.
- Yeah, you know, do those push ups, dude.
I don't know.
- Well let's move on, shall we?
- [Scary Man] I told
Scratch "no visitors!"
- He doesn't seem pleased.
- I mean, he did say "no visitors".
(spooky music) (girl giggling)
- [Ryan] Anyways, back to the Shane show.
(Shane chuckles)
Going back to high school, you competed
in a contest called 'Mr. Saxton'...
- That's right
- It's basically a male talent show,
and you won.
- I did win.
- You won by doing magic?
- That's right, but the point...
- Oh, I'm not done.
- [Shane] Okay, all right
- And by bizarrely
singing your school song
in German while wearing a lederhosen?
- Yes, I was in German class.
(bright, teetering music)
- Schaumburg's a town with a lot of
German heritage settlers, Polish as well.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So, I thought I'd really, you know,
try to pander the masses.
- Was being on that stage kind of like...
The catalyst for you realizing
"Oh, maybe I wanna be a performer"?
- Well, I guess a little
bit, but it was never
one-hundred percent about performing.
One, they did have free tickets to prom
and I thought that was a pretty good gig.
Though, my girlfriend and
I broke up before prom,
so I went alone and I got food poisoning.
- [Ryan] Sweet.
- [Shane] And I spent the whole night
shitting on a boat.
- Well, you really spun
a really... I guess
triumphant story into something very sad.
- We jumped to a lot
of places there, but...
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Shane] Uh oh.
- You know, your brother said that
when you were a kid, you...
- [Man] (shouting) What
are you doing here?
You're not supposed to be here.
- [Ryan] Yeah, I know.
- [Shane] So, we're shooting a..
(Man Shouting)
- No, this is actually not the maze,
- [Shane] Did you clear this with them?
- this is something
that someone says to me
every time I'm in a building actually.
(Man hollering)
- [Shane And Ryan] Okay.
- [Woman] Help Me!
- (Ryan chuckles) I forgot about you.
- [Shane] We're just moving on through.
These people got a funny situation here.
- But yeah, your brother said you used to
reenact skits, like SNL skits
on your parents' Handicam.
- [Shane] We did. We did do...
- So you obviously knew to an extent
that you did want to perform something.
- Yeah.
- But, he also said you
commended the Saxon stage
despite no dramatic training,
which I found impressive.
- [Shane] That's true, yeah. You know,
we did a lot of... in my youth, a lot of
recording on a camcorder.
- [Ryan] Yeah
- Skits, I did some skits,
I did some stop-motion work
with clay, you know? The things...
You must've done those
things when you were younger.
- I did, and I think I
kind of had an inkling
of what I wanted to do.
We both kind of got...
We took a winding path
to becoming performers.
- [Ryan] Oh, my goodness!
- [Shane] I'd say so.
Hello ma'am, oh! It's you again!
(man screaming)
- Oh my god!
- [Shane] Hello!
- [Ryan] So, what made you uproot
(air blasting) and leave to L.A.?
Was there...? What was
the mindset behind it?
Did you have a plan?
- You know, my brother
lived in Los Angeles
as soon as he left high school.
I remember visiting him
out here and thinking
'yeah, this place is cool!'
I went to Columbia College,
Chicago... Shout out!
For editing. And, well..
There were just a lot more jobs out here
So, you know, I moved.
- You didn't feel any
fear? Of just uprooting?
- No, it was the hardest
thing I've ever done
in my life.
- But did you know "Okay,
I'm going to go out there
to perform? I'm going to go
out there to make videos."?
(air blasting)
- I mean I assumed I
would be editing and stuff
for Buzzfeed.
- Yeah
- You know, that worked out.
- [Ryan] Jesus.
- And now... now I'm here.
- And now you're here.
- All in all, a fairytale.
- You seemed like you were
pretty resolute about it,
like there wasn't too much
anxiety behind it, or...
- There was anxiety, it's tough
to move across the country.
You wouldn't know, you grew up in Arcadia.
- That's true. It's the ultimate form of
betting on yourself,
which is... you know...
Wow, and we're back in the real world.
- That was very scary! That was good!
I had a good time in there!
- Anyways, there's a lot
of creatives out there
that are looking for what
it takes to make that leap
to like decide "this
is what I'm gonna do."
- You gotta keep your eyes on the prize,
even if you don't know what it is
and you just barrel through life.
(suspenseful music)
- You truly are...
a jackass.
- Thank you.
(both laughing)
- I love you, man.
- I love you too.
- All right.
- What a tender ending.
(Ryan laughing)
(spooky, high-pitched violin)
(spooky music continues)
(Upbeat, spooky music)
