The Let’s Play Podcast

Episode 2: Rob Weithoff

John Marston in RDR & RDR2

Transcript

Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.

Rob Wiethoff [00:00:00] When you're standing at a table and a father and his daughter come up and they thank you because you provided a way for them to bond, that is the most overwhelmingly cool thing to hear, because I don't know that that was the intention of anyone to make families grow closer. But it absolutely has. I've heard it from so many people and I'm so happy to hear it.

[Intro music]

Verta Maloney, the*gameHERs [00:00:30] Welcome to Let's Play by the*gameHERs. A podcast hosted by actress Kylie Vernoff. Fans know Kylie best as the fiery Susan Grimshaw in Red Dead Redemption 2, and Miranda Cowan in GTA V. Our series features some of the most informed and exciting people in the gaming industry today. Kylie and our guests discussed careers, gaming and so much more. If you like what you hear. Be sure to check out thegamehers.com website to hear exclusive bonus material from each of our guests.

Kylie Vernoff [00:01:03] Hey, everybody. You may recognize the well-known and beloved voice of this week's guest, Rob Wiethoff. Rob is best known for his riveting performance as the iconic John Marston in the Red Dead Redemption series. And he also happens to be one of my favorite people to have a laugh with. We caught up with Rob on his farm in Indiana where he and his wife Taylor are raising twin boys. And this was a really fun chat, so let's get right into it.

Kylie Vernoff [00:01:31] Hey, Rob.

Rob Wiethoff [00:01:33] Hey, Kylie, how are you?

Kylie Vernoff [00:01:35] I'm good. Thank you so much for making the time to talk to me. I'm so psyched to hear your voice today.

Rob Wiethoff [00:01:42] Well, I'm so honored and thrilled that you asked me to do it. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Kylie Vernoff [00:01:48] Oh, well, thank you for agreeing to do it. So speaking of your voice, in prepping for this call, I was listening to some of your other interviews. And I'm going to go out on a limb and I'm going to say that your voice might be the most authentically the same as your character of the entire cast.

Rob Wiethoff [00:02:09] That may very well be. I'm so lucky too because of it. Because, you know, I mean, we had we had a lot of lines to memorize and we had a lot of things to think about. And one of the things that I didn't have to think about was changing my voice. And I'm so, so thankful for that.

Kylie Vernoff [00:02:30] Yeah. I don't hear any daylight between your voice and Marston's voice. Do you find that you get recognized sometimes for the voice?

Rob Wiethoff [00:02:40] It's funny because I live in a really small town and I think that, you know, people know me, but they know me because this is where I grew up. And I think that a lot of my friends' kids might be interested in the fact that I played John Marston, but people don't really bring it up. And when they do, they act like they're bothering me. It's really kind of a weird thing. I would love to talk to anybody about it. Here's the other thing. When I travel, usually now I announce on social media, on Instagram or something that I'm going to whatever city I'm headed to. So I think that, you know, if people recognize me there, it is probably because I gave them a heads up that I was headed that way. I don't know.

Kylie Vernoff [00:03:29] Right, they're on the lookout for you. I actually had a weird experience just a couple nights ago. I was leaving an audition where I was auditioning to play an attorney so I was all dolled up. I had my hair done i had my makeup on and my winter coat on. And someone stopped me on the street and said, are you an actress? And I said, I am. And I thought, well, I just looked like such an actress right now. And he's like, "Susan Grimshaw, such great character!".

Rob Wiethoff [00:03:55] What, are you kidding me?

Kylie Vernoff [00:03:57] I swear. And I said, you must recognize me from social media. And he said, no, I'm not on social media. I just, I play the game constantly.

Rob Wiethoff [00:04:07] I don't believe that for a second.

Kylie Vernoff [00:04:10] I have to say, like, I know that I look like Susan in a lot of ways, and I was so honored. But I have to say, part of me is calling B.S. I literally was looking around to see, like, Peter Blomquist hiding behind a garbage can.

Rob Wiethoff [00:04:26] Well, I want to tell you, if someone heard your voice and if you happened to say, "Get to work!" or whatever, then I can imagine that several people would turn their head and say that is Susan Grimshaw. Listen, I'm not going to call the guy a liar, but I think that if if Susan Grimshaw looked like Kylie Vernoff, it would not be this Susan Grimshaw that we're seeing in this game right now. I promise you that.

Kylie Vernoff [00:04:58] Well, thank you. Although I love Susan, I've yet to get a scar as good at hers.

Rob Wiethoff [00:05:06] Well, yeah, I don't have any scars like John either. Thank God.

Kylie Vernoff [00:05:10] Yeah. Those are some good scars. That's from the wolves, right?

Rob Wiethoff [00:05:14] Yeah, that's right. And I want to share this too, real quickly, because you might hear throughout this interview a cat. I'm outside in the chicken coop right now. This is my my little hangout spot. And it's so awesome. I'm so happy. We had a chicken coop because we had a bunch of chickens. And then eventually we realized that we didn't want to deal with all the chickens and we weren't eating the eggs and we couldn't even give them away anymore because we had so many. We had 13 chickens and that's like 13 eggs a day. So anyway, we've had this structure and I decided that I would turn it into my Red Dead Redemption shrine, and it's so cool.

Kylie Vernoff [00:06:01] I want to get there. I really want to get there and see that. Or at least I hope that you will text me pictures of it when we hang up.

Rob Wiethoff [00:06:08] Oh, I'll be happy to. I'm so proud of it.

Kylie Vernoff [00:06:11] Did you build it? Did you build it with your own hands?

Rob Wiethoff [00:06:14] I did, yeah. And that part of it, maybe I shouldn't be so proud of. But what's inside it is all this stuff that's been given to me by by people from conventions, fans. It's overwhelming how cool and how talented some people are.

Kylie Vernoff [00:06:34] I am really blown away by the the art. I am absolutely blown away by the artwork of the fans that that I've received. It is so moving to me that people spend that much time creating art based on the work we did.

Rob Wiethoff [00:06:48] Yeah, it's really great. And it's really inspiring too I think, because a lot of these people are doing it just for fun. And a lot of it should be something they're being paid for. It's really, really good. So I love it that people are willing to share that kind of stuff. And I hope that those who have that talent, who are afraid to share it, would just understand that people are really moved by it. A lot of times. So please, please, share it.

Kylie Vernoff [00:07:19] Yeah, put it out there, show it to us. It's really an honor. I find it really an honor when people share that stuff with me.

Rob Wiethoff [00:07:27] I do, too. I love it. I love it. Well, and so I just want to quickly touch back on this. So the cat.

Kylie Vernoff [00:07:34] Oh, yes, I forgot about the cat.

Rob Wiethoff [00:07:36] And he might scratch my face. He's not feral, but he's a mouser. But I came in here and he would not leave me alone. He was hanging off the door, looking in the window. So I finally just let him in because I thought...

Kylie Vernoff [00:07:51] Ok, what's his name? He can be part of our chat. What's his name?

Rob Wiethoff [00:07:54] His name is Waylan.

Kylie Vernoff [00:07:57] Of course his name is Waylon. If you'd given me three guesses, I might have gotten it.

Rob Wiethoff [00:08:02] A little little Waylon Jennings cat. And he's pretty awesome. But you might hear and hopefully he won't scratch my face, so.

Kylie Vernoff [00:08:11] All right, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that you will not get any face scratches. Well, I think I know a little bit about your background, but for people who don't know, you are from the Midwest, right? That is where you grew up?

Rob Wiethoff [00:08:26] Yeah, I was born in a small town. I was born same town as John Mellencamp. Seymour, Indiana. And there's a song that he wrote about it. You might have heard it.

Kylie Vernoff [00:08:39] I think I have.

Rob Wiethoff [00:08:43] Yeah. There's there's a whole lot of corn and there's a whole lot of other corn. Yes, it's great. It really is a great place, full of a lot of really great people. And honestly, when I left here, when I went to college and then from college, I moved around. I lived in Indianapolis a little bit, Chicago and then Los Angeles for almost 10 years. I never really thought I'd make it back to see more Indiana. But my wife and I decided we wanted to have kids and we didn't really have much interest in trying to raise kids in Los Angeles. Just, our choice. So we decided to come back and live near my side of the family where we could have that built in network of help, I guess, and support.

Kylie Vernoff [00:09:41] It's so important to have people around you when you're raising kids. You don't even realize it until you've got the kids and you realize I need something from the grocery store and there's nobody to help me.

Rob Wiethoff [00:09:52] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's turned out to be a really great thing. My wife loves it here. She lovesit. Thank God.

Kylie Vernoff [00:10:01] Oh, thank God. Well, let me back up a little bit because I'd love to know what brought you out to Hollywood in the first place since you are such a Midwestern guy. Did you know you wanted to be an actor and you went and you went there for that reason?

Rob Wiethoff [00:10:14] No. So I had a girlfriend when I was in college. And when when we graduated, she graduated college right on time. And I graduated at the end of the summer after my senior year. So she, right after college, moved out to Los Angeles for just three months. She had a friend that lived out there who worked for Young and the Restless. And I don't even know what she did. I don't know if she was in casting or, I don't know what she did. But so she lived with her and just had some fun living in L.A. for three months before she started her real job. And I went out to visit when I got done with school. And one of the things that we did was we were extras on Young and the Restless.

Kylie Vernoff [00:11:10] That is fantastic. I'm going to go find that footage.

Rob Wiethoff [00:11:16] Oh, my goodness. Well, so the funny thing about it was I got home and, you know, kind of forgot about it. Every now and then people would know that I did it, you know, family friends or whatever and say, did you really? And I'd say, yeah, I did. I don't know. We were extras. I didn't say anything. We were just sitting there in the coffee shop pretending like we were talking and the whole thing was really weird and foreign. But it was fun. Well, so then I got a check and I don't know it was for like twenty five bucks or whatever. But then I thought, wait a minute. I got paid to do that. Long story short, I became kind of famous in my hometown for being on Young and Restless, even though I wasn't really even on it. I guess I was. But anyway, I think because I knew at that point that my athletic career wasn't going to be my life, my lifeline. Wasn't going to be a professional athlete in any sport. Then I thought you know what, that might be fun. I might try and go be an actor. And I did. I didn't have any responsibilities other than myself. And I moved to L.A. and gave it a shot.

Kylie Vernoff [00:12:30] I read somewhere, I heard you tell the story that when you were going for the Red Dead audition that you almost didn't go. Is that a true story?

Rob Wiethoff [00:12:40] That is true. And I'm so, so glad I did, obviously. I was driving home, I think it was, I don't know, five, six o'clock at night. I got called for a last minute audition. And it was all the way across town. It was raining. I was in traffic in L.A. I had to go home because I had dogs. I had to go home and take care of my dogs real quick and then get back in my car for another hour, probably just to get over to the place. And if I was quick enough on my feet, I would have told my agent I can't because of this, but I couldn't come up with anything. And there was also a part of me that that said, you know what? You moved here to be an actor. You've got an opportunity. If you don't take it, you're gonna kick yourself whether you get the part or not. You've got to go. And so I went and I left. And I know that any actors listening to this right now will say, yeah, this happens all the time. But it was one of those where I left and I thought that was a complete waste of my time, a complete waste of their time. I should have not gone. I should have never gone. And lo and behold, I was wrong. Thank God.

Kylie Vernoff [00:13:55] Thank God. You know, it's not the same thing. But I had a little bit of hesitation about going for that audition, too. And I think mostly for me it was because... I don't know about your initial audition, but for the prequel, they were so tight on the material. So it was probably a scene that had been written by casting that morning when I got there. And I didn't know what a video game really meant. And this scene... I was auditioning to play this, I think in the audition scene, she was like a drunk alcoholic mother abusing her teenage daughter, which now makes sense if you know who Susan is. At the time I was like, what is this? And then I had that same thought. I thought, Kylie, you're an actor. Go act. Go act now. And I don't remember what I thought when I left, but I do remember being in the room thinking, oh, they really know what they want and this is fun. Like, I had a great audition experience of the people in the room.

Rob Wiethoff [00:14:56] That's really great. I love that. And I'm so glad that you went too. My goodness.

Kylie Vernoff [00:15:02] Me too.

Rob Wiethoff [00:15:04] Yeah. It's difficult. It's a difficult thing to know. I mean, the audition was for Untitled Video Game Project. So in my mind, it was it was probably going to be a promo for a video game that had already been made. I had no idea I was I was auditioning for the role of of John Marston or what. Even if you told me that at the time, I would have had no idea what that meant. But really, I just thought this is going to be maybe a commercial for a video game. Great. All right, let's do it.

Kylie Vernoff [00:15:39] So when you booked it and you started working on it, is it's true that you and Ben Davis had known each other. Is that right? You guys knew each other before?

Rob Wiethoff [00:15:49] Yeah, we did. We worked at the same bar, actually. We worked at the same bar for I don't know how long it was, we overlapped. I had worked there for a little while. And then he moved from New York to Los Angeles and he started working there right about the same time where I got a bartending job at the bar where we worked. At first I was a busboy, basically, and then I became a door host, which was definitely not my thing. I was one of those guys that stood at the rope and let people in or didn't let people in. I let everybody in.

Kylie Vernoff [00:16:28] I bet you did. I cannot picture you looking at people going, "You, not you. You, still not you.".

Rob Wiethoff [00:16:35] Wanna come in? Come in! Check it out. Enjoy it. That's what we're here for. I was the worst door guy in the world ever.

Kylie Vernoff [00:16:44] Yeah. I would think that would just not be a job to highlight your strengths.

Rob Wiethoff [00:16:51] No, no. So I guess the good news was I got a bartending job where I was going to make more money and I was going to be able to, I guess, enjoy it more. You know, interact with people and be friendly and not be a door guy in my eyes, you know. 

Kylie Vernoff [00:17:11] You and Ben worked at that job and then did you know you had this video game together or did you just see him in rehearsal or, what was that like?

Rob Wiethoff [00:17:22] I don't know how long we had been shooting Red Dead Redemption, but, the way that you shoot these video games, at least through Rockstar, the way it's kind of been in my experience is you go and shoot for two weeks and then you don't. You take at least two or three weeks away, and then maybe you come back for two or three weeks. And so I don't know how many of those cycles we had been through. But one day I was outside, they had kind of a green room that was outside. It was in L.A. We shot Red Dead Redemption in Los Angeles. And so because the weather is typically gorgeous, and an area, outdoor area. And I walked out of there and was getting ready for my next scene. And I see this guy standing there and it's Ben! He says, What are you doing here? And I said, What are you doing? And so it was overwhelming and so much fun. And the odds, the likelihood of that happening is so small.

Kylie Vernoff [00:18:32] They really are small. I loved when that would happen when we were shooting our game, when people would just show up that morning that I knew it, was just such a great surprise. And then there's this great leveling out because everyone's wearing a motion capture suit. So we're all sort of brought down to our barest essentials. But let me back up a little bit. How long did you guys shoot the original game?

Rob Wiethoff [00:19:00] I was told that it was it was six weeks of shoot. I don't know if that's even possible, but I know that it was stretched out over almost a two year period. But it may very well have been possible because the the whole thing was different. The technology was different. I mean, we still did the same kind of scenes. But the way the game worked was there would be like a a flashing X on the screen. And when you're playing the game, you knew that if you walked into that X, that would start a cut scene. And so once that scene started, you're in it until it's over. Can't walk out of it like you could in Red Dead Redemption 2. So it took a lot of the, I don't want to call it guesswork, because at first I think they were trying different things to figure out what was going to work best. But by the end, obviously, they had it all figured out and it wasn't guessing anymore, but it took all of that out of it. And when we shot Red Dead Redemption 2, there would be days where we would maybe only get two or three scenes done because they were really big scenes or whatever. Even with two stages, right?

Kylie Vernoff [00:20:26] Yeah, I remember that. There'd be times where we were just really hammering out, especially the big group scenes.

Rob Wiethoff [00:20:32] Yeah, a lot of people. A lot going on. Well so, in Red Dead Redemption, I can't say what we averaged, but I would guess it was probably twelve to fifteen scenes a day.

Kylie Vernoff [00:20:42] Oh wow. Oh, that's a completely different process.

Rob Wiethoff [00:20:46] Yeah. It was just a very different thing. For some of the bigger scenes, we would rehearse for a couple days and get all the blocking down. And, you know, Rod would walk us through just like we did for Red Dead Redemption 2, but we would actually just be in our street clothes, in the volume, figuring it all out, because when it came down to it, it just worked faster that way. I think in Red Dead Redemption 2, the opportunity for so many different things to happen, maybe it didn't make it, rehearsing wasn't the best idea. Right. You never know what you're gonna get, and a lot of times you can accidentally do something genius.

Kylie Vernoff [00:21:34] I found it so freeing. I have to say, I found that whole process as an actor so freeing, that really we got to just play. You know, we're in these motion capture suits. We don't have to worry about really... I mean, we might have to worry about walking into a tent or, you know, but not walking out of our shop because the cameras were everywhere. I really felt like sometimes there would just be magic that would happen. You know?

Rob Wiethoff [00:21:59] Yeah, I think so, too. And, you know, it's not you. It's definitely not you. Your character does not look like you.

Kylie Vernoff [00:22:10] Right? Well, I don't know. Some guy on the street might disagree with you, but.

Rob Wiethoff [00:22:16] Yeah, I want to talk to that guy. I want to know that guy's name. But no, I think that just the fact of, you know, you're providing the performance capture for this character, but you don't have to worry about looking cool or you don't have to worry about, you know, is this my right angle.

Kylie Vernoff [00:22:33] To not have to worry about my hair falling in my eye or, making sure my purse is on the right side or all that stuff. That was just so freeing. I found it to be so much fun. Plus, they just cast the heck out of it. Every actor that walked on that set I thought was amazing.

Rob Wiethoff [00:22:51] I really did, too. It was so entertaining and it was such a pleasure to work with so many people. And, you know, to be paid to do it is almost unfair.

Kylie Vernoff [00:23:01] Yeah, it is unfair. Well, tell me about actually, the decision for you to come back, because as you said, you had done this game, had it already come out when you guys decided to move back to Indiana?

Rob Wiethoff [00:23:18] Yeah, well, so we finished Red Dead Redemption and then we moved back to Indiana. And it probably wasn't even a month after I'd actually lived in Indiana. I got a call from Rockstar. Saying, we're gonna do the DLC for the game. So you got more work. And I said, that's awesome. But I don't live in L.A. anymore. I moved and they said, no, that's great. That's fine. We're gonna do it in New York.

Kylie Vernoff [00:23:48] Oh, so was that undead nightmare?

Rob Wiethoff [00:23:51] That was undead nightmare. Yeah.

Kylie Vernoff [00:23:54] Oh, so you had come back to New York for that. I mean, this is kind of an anomaly for an actor to become this iconic character, have all this success and say, "Actually what's really important to me is to move back to Indiana and raise my kids there."

Rob Wiethoff [00:24:10] Yeah. I think for me, like I said, I didn't grow up my entire life wanting to be an actor. I didn't take a lot of classes. I did take classes. But it wasn't something that I went to school for. It was something that I thought, I'm going to see what happens because why not? And at that time in my life, that was the choice that I was able to make. And I I thought, you know what I'm doing it. So now everything's very different. So now I feel the same way as I did before where I am not actively searching for more work. I'm not. And that is a job in itself, I think. Right?

Kylie Vernoff [00:25:02] It really is. Yeah.

Rob Wiethoff [00:25:03] So I'm not doing that. And I'm not mad about the process. I have no hard feelings. I've gotten nothing but great experiences and a whole lot of great memories. But right now, I think that I am more interested in being a good husband and a good dad, and if I'm traveling, I'm not that. I'm not that.

Kylie Vernoff [00:25:30] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think about a DLC being one thing, but when they called you for the prequel, I'm sure that you and your wife, Taylor, must have had a really big decision to make there. Did they tell you how much time the commitment was or no.

Rob Wiethoff [00:25:45] They didn't know, but they said that it wasn't likely to be very long because my character was not the playable character. So it wasn't gonna be like it was last time where in every single scene of Red Dead Redemption, I was in the scene. I had to be because of the way that the technology worked. So I guess there probably were things that were shot that I wasn't part of.  I mean, the shoot Red Dead Redemption 2, they traveled all over the world capturing people, doing different things. So I can't say that every single scene. But they made it clear you're not the playable character and we'd love to have you back. And my wife knew how much I would enjoy it. So she was such a really, really great teammate.

Kylie Vernoff [00:26:48] Yeah, she must have had to really have moved mountains to make that schedule work. Because you're boys I think were toddlers when we started that game, weren't they?

Rob Wiethoff [00:26:57] Yeah. They were two years old. Twin boys. Yeah. My wife is an angel and I don't know how she does it, but she does. Well, she loves kids. She loves them. She actually babysits kids now, that's what she does. And she'll have sometimes five or six kids at different ages running around our house and I'll get off work and I'll walk in, I'll turn around and walk right back out.

Kylie Vernoff [00:27:27] Right to the chicken coop. You're like uh, I have somethng to do in the chicken coop.

Rob Wiethoff [00:27:31] Yeah, there's no way! I can't do it. I cannot be in here right now. She loves it. She's great at it. So.

Kylie Vernoff [00:27:37] Well, here's a little side note, but I'm just a huge fan of your wife. I just think she's awesome and a badass and so much fun to be around.

Rob Wiethoff [00:27:47] Thank you.

Kylie Vernoff [00:27:49] You're welcome. I mean, good job, marrying that one, really well done.

Rob Wiethoff [00:27:52] Thank you. Yeah, I agree. Thank you.

Kylie Vernoff [00:27:56] And I'm so glad that you guys decided that you would come to do the sequel, because I have to say, you were there my first day and I was so lost for lack of a better word. And you were just so kind and supportive. And, you know, you and Roger, I think, was there that day. And you guys gave me so much confidence just to get out there and play. You really were so welcoming.

Rob Wiethoff [00:28:23] Well, thank you. I'm so glad that you felt that way. And I think that we learned that, you know, this is something that's very different for a lot of people. And you learn that a lot of people have never done it before. So to make people comfortable, obviously, is the first thing you want to do. It was our knowledge that that was going to make the day better for everyone. But it was also just the vibe of the whole place. I mean, you remember it wasn't just the green room that was having fun. It was that everyone on stage was having fun, too. All of the animators, and they were all really cool.

Kylie Vernoff [00:29:06] Yes, the camera team. The sound team. I mean, from top to bottom, they really gave us an environment that was fun. It was fun. And we were all out there playing. Which, you know, I mean, how lucky are we to just be out there doing that? Really? And I think everybody felt that way.

Rob Wiethoff [00:29:26] I agree. I mean, if you didn't enjoy it. It was absolutely your own fault. I think everyone probably did. I mean, really it was a great environment.

Kylie Vernoff [00:29:37] If you're not having fun there, there's something wrong with you. Go find another job for sure. Well, you may not be out there looking for more acting work, but you have been getting out and meeting some of the fans. Right? You've gotten to meet fans all over the world. And has it surprised you how many of the gaming fans are women?

Rob Wiethoff [00:30:01] Honestly, yes. I guess now, the more I'm around fans, the less I guess I even think about it. But  I found, and this is what I love the absolute most about any kind of feedback from this game and any kind of awards and anything else it has won, and I very much appreciate all that. But when you're standing at a table and a father and his daughter come up or a son and his mom come up and they thank you because you provided a way for them to bond together. That they didn't maybe have before. That is the most overwhelmingly cool thing to hear, because I don't know that that was the intention of anyone, to make families grow closer when this game was being made. But it absolutely has. I've heard it from so many people and I'm so happy to hear it. So I really, really love that we were part of something  that not only was so successful, but has really changed a lot of people's homes. It's positive way. It's really cool.

Kylie Vernoff [00:31:19] So how are you finding social media? I know that that's sort of new to you and it seems to me that you are having more fun with it than anybody.

Rob Wiethoff [00:31:27] Yeah, well, OK. So I'm forty-three years old. I played a really cool character in a video game and I've enjoyed every second of everything going on with that. But me, myself, I'm a forty three year old dad. Right? So I'm not going to try to be cool because nobody's buying that. I'm not going to try to basically. I guess what I'm trying to do is I want people to know who I am. And I'm absolutely willing to embarrass myself or be silly or whatever to, I guess, let other people know it's OK to be that way. You always have to be try to put on some kind of a show for people. It's OK to just be yourself. I mean, it's just OK. It's absolutely OK. And so I probably go overboard.

Kylie Vernoff [00:32:33] I don't think so. I honestly, this is my opinion is that you are a terrific example of being yourself and being inclusive. And I see you as just being authentically yourself and, yeah, like you say, not trying to put something on. I also have noticed with you that I think that you are what people these days are calling an upstander, that when you've seen somebody make negative comments, that rather than being a bystander, that you take a moment to say, you know, who are we to judge? And I think you're setting a terrific example that way.

Rob Wiethoff [00:33:09] Well, I think it's important. You know, we all are in the same fight, right? We all think that we want things. We think that we want to do whatever it is that we think we want. Right. We want a new car. We want to do that. We want the nicest clothes. And we want to be the cool popular person. And we want this and that and whatever. But really, I believe we all want to be loved, and not loved more than anyone else, but we all just want to know that we're loved and that we're included and that we are accepted. You can have a new car. That's great. Take the new car. Drive it for two weeks. Enjoy it. And then you're going to want a different new car.

Kylie Vernoff [00:33:54] Oh, that's so true. Yeah.

Rob Wiethoff [00:33:57] So you can have all these things. They're not going to make you happy. What's going to make you happy is to be loved and included and accepted. And I think that if we can all just realize that and know that it takes nothing away from us to share that with other people, it actually makes us feel better if we can all just do that for each other and for ourselves. The world would be such a better place. And I want that for everyone. I want both sides of that for everyone. I know that you call me whatever...

Kylie Vernoff [00:34:36] No, you actually you made me cry a little bit. I just think it's really beautiful. And I'm still glad that you're saying it, because I think that our listeners are going to get a lot from that. You know, that the best way to feel loved and supported is to lead by example and include everyone.

Rob Wiethoff [00:34:54] Well, you know, the other thing, too, is we're not the judge. None of us are. None of us are the judge. So a lot of people are going to have, you know, different thoughts about this and that, whatever. And that's fine. I guess everybody's got opinions about everything. Right? But I think as long as we're not hurting anyone. We don't all know everything. We don't understand everything. Just, we're not the judge. We're not the ones who make the rules. And we're not the ones who give the final decisions on anything we discuss. So if we can all keep that in mind, too, we could probably brighten people's day a little bit, not be so hard on each other, not be so hard on ourselves. You can't take yourself so seriously. You're just going to upset yourself the more you do it. You're gonna be bummed out.

Kylie Vernoff [00:35:57] Yeah, right. I try to tell myself that every day. Don't take yourself so seriously. And also, it doesn't cost anything to be kind. Right? It doesn't cost us anything to be kind. So why not.

Rob Wiethoff [00:36:09] Yeah. I mean, really. Why not? I just read something on Reddit this morning. Actually I love Reddit. It said something along the lines... I'm going to wreck this. But it was about if you are kind to someone or if you're kind to one person, you may not change the whole world, but if you are kind to one person, you might change the world for that person. I know that I probably just butchered that. But you get the point, right?

Kylie Vernoff [00:36:40] Yeah, I get the point. Yeah. You don't know who might need it. You just don't know who might really need it that day.

Rob Wiethoff [00:36:48] No, you don't know. And it doesn't take anything away from you. If it does anything, it makes you happy yourself. And we all have insecurities. I don't care who you are. We all have insecurities. And we all need to lighten up on ourselves and lighten up on other people. We're all doing this together and we should be teammates instead of trying to one up each other all the time. We'd all be happier.

Kylie Vernoff [00:37:20] Yep. Yep. Oh, man. Well, this has been incredibly awesome. And as I am wrapping up here, I am hoping I could hit you up with a question that I like to ask all our guests.

Rob Wiethoff [00:37:33] All right.

Kylie Vernoff [00:37:34] Are you ready? so since since this gameHERs platform is all about community and lifting each other up like we were just talking about, and I know that you and I know that we can't accomplish anything in isolation or in a vacuum. We need each other. I was hoping you could tell me about a time in your life or in your career when someone recognized something in you that was special and just gave you an opportunity to shine.

Rob Wiethoff [00:38:04] Oh, wow. Well, there's one, obvious answer. Yeah, and you know what? That is the obvious answer. That is absolutely the obvious answer. And I could not be more grateful to Rockstar and Rod Edge, who fought for me to get the role of John Marston. I certainly could never repay him for that. Not even close. But so to say something, I'll just say something different just for the sake of saying something different. When I wanted to get an agent in L.A., when I first moved to L.A., I thought, I don't know how to do this. I don't know what I'm doing. Somebody said, do extra work. And I thought, Okay. Yeah, I get it. I'll do that. I'll do that. I've done it.  And I will be happy to do that. I'll learn on set how things work and I'll be an extra. And so when I started doing extra work, which I did for like five or six months, a lot of it, I learned a lot. And one of the things that I learned from a lot of the other extras that I would see day in and day out doing this stuff was that you cannot get an agent unless you are SAG eligible. And so I really wanted to find a way to get these SAG vouchers. And you can get them as an extra. You needed three. I was able to get two. And I don't even know how I got them. They upgraded me to something. I don't know what it was called. But anyway, I was playing the game and I thought, I just need one more. And I wasn't getting it and I wasn't getting it. I was frustrated and I finally said to myself, you know what, you may be right. All you people telling me that I can't get an agent unless I'm SAG eligible, but I'm going to go to an agency and I'm going to make them tell me, No. Because there's a chance that you're wrong and they might give me a shot and thank God I did that, I went and read for an agent and they said, are you SAG? What's your status on Screen Actors Guild? And I said, No, I'm not. I know I probably should be, and if I'm wasting your time, I apologize. I said, I wanted you to tell me no. And they didn't tell me no! They said, We do want to take you on and we'll get you your voucher. We'll get you SAG eligible. So, I think that it's important to know that if you tell yourself the answer is no. There's something like that, something that you're interested in and you say, yeah, I can't because of this, that, whatever. If you tell yourself the answer is no, you're right. It is no. But if you make someone else tell you the answer is no, they may not tell you no. So don't be afraid to try.

Kylie Vernoff [00:41:08] I am so inspired by that. I can't even tell you. I really needed to hear that today myself. And I think other people will tell you that that was really, really a great story. Right. If you tell yourself that the answer is no. The answer is of course, no.

Rob Wiethoff [00:41:24] Just stop thinking about it, because you're right. The answer is no. But you say, you know what, I'm gonna try, and I'm gonna see what happens. You might get what you're after. You gotta try. Don't be afraid to go after what you want.

Kylie Vernoff [00:41:40] Yes! Yes! Well, on that note, Rob, I just want to say thank you so much for talking to me today. And it's been so much fun.

Rob Wiethoff [00:41:53] Kylie, I really, really appreciate you asking me to to talk with you. And I've enjoyed every second of it. Always a great time.

Kylie Vernoff [00:42:05] That was so much fun. If you'd like to learn more about what Rob is up to, you can follow him on Instagram at rob_wiethoff. That's w i e t h o f f. And if you love Rob's iconic voice as much as we do, you can also find him on cameo.com.

Verta Maloney, the*gameHERs [00:42:25] Thank you for listening. Let's Play was brought to you by the*gameHERs, a community that connects all gamers who identify as women and welcomes people of all genders who support this. Let's Play was co-produced by Kylie Vernoff. Jenny Groza and the*gameHERs team: Laura Deutsch, Rebecca Dixon, Heather Ouida, and me, Verta Maloney. Please visit thegamehers.com for show notes, to access exclusive bonus material, and to learn more about the*gameHERs community. And if you liked what you heard, we'd so appreciated if you subscribed and gave us a five star review. Thanks again for listening.