Replay: The Power of Yes with Shelly Shenoy – Voiceover Artist, Coach, and Creator

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to a no Wrong Choices Best Of edition featuring the voiceover artist, shelley Chenoy, who will share her funny and inspiring career journey story with us.

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This is part one of a two-part conversation.

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We'll be back with a new episode next week.

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The voices you are about to hear include me, larry Samuels, and my co-hosts, larry Shea and Tushar Saxena.

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We'll pick things up with me introing the original episode.

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This episode features the talented, creative and award-winning voiceover artist and coach, shelley Chenoy, who has done countless commercials, video games and animations.

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She has also been the coach of Larry Shea, so I guess, larry, in a way that makes you a disciple of Shelley, so you are undoubtedly the right person to lead us into this conversation.

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That's right.

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Spreading the gospel of Shelley Shannoy is apparently what I'm doing today.

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Yeah, shelley's great.

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Our paths crossed so many years ago doing acting work.

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We would be invited to the same table reads for different plays and movies, and I think that's how our paths crossed.

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But she's special.

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You know, you meet people in this industry and sometimes they just have that it factor, that thing that you're like, oh my God, this person's going to be a star with whatever they do.

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And when I get in the room with Shelly or talk to her, that's what I feel, because she has that spark.

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She has this intuitiveness of creativity that allows her to do things with her voice that mere mortals like myself can't do.

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So she's super impressive.

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I'm super excited to get to talk to her, to hear her journey and hear her story, because I've never heard it myself, so I'm curious.

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I'll tell you what.

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First of all, she's got the best name I've ever heard in my life.

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Shelly Shanoi From Sheboygan.

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Curious, I'll tell you what.

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First of all, she's got the best name I've ever heard in my life, from shiboy.

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Exactly that is the best name you can possibly have, if, if anything, it's memorable.

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Second, I'll you know what.

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I am always in awe of voiceover artists, because it is not an easy thing to do, because you're not just, it's not just you or me speaking right.

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I mean, we all, in one way or another, the three of us, we make a, we make a living with our voices, right, but we don't make a living having to, having to try and contort our voice into, you know, a dozen, a dozen different ways.

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You know, having put on dialects, all these other things.

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That is a real skill, and we know we have plenty of our friends who are also actors and comedians.

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None of them have to do these things in one way or another, especially not in the way that a Shelley Chenoy has to.

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So that is what I'm really fascinated to hear, because, I'll be honest, I love to put on goofy voices too, but you know, when you're in the midst of an, when you're in the presence of an artist, then you're just a pot, sir.

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So I want to speak to this Shelley Chenoy.

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Yeah, it's impressive what she does because, don't forget, these are just words on a page right, and then the voiceover artist is the one who brings them to life and embodies them.

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They're just words on a page, so it's super impressive what she does.

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For sure, and doing our research, I heard many, many different creative examples that kind of blew my mind and were very impressive.

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So with that, here is Shelley Chenoy Now joining.

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No Wrong Choice is the award-winning voiceover that.

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Here is Shelley Chenoy Now joining.

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No Wrong Choice is the award-winning voiceover artist and coach, shelley Chenoy.

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Shelley has been working in commercial narration and animation for over 20 years and acting for what seems to be her entire life.

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Shelley, thank you so much for joining us today.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I'm sorry you made me sound so old I had to answer.

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I was like over 20 years.

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It probably doesn't sound old to other people, but it sounds like a long time to me.

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So I'm like, oh, it's my pleasure.

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First question.

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Shelly.

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Are you from Sheboygan?

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No, you're obsessed, but she wishes.

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She wishes she was from.

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Sheboygan.

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You love my name right, shelly Sheboygan.

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It's the greatest name I've ever heard.

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Sheboygan, I'm not kidding, it's a great name.

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I love it.

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Yeah, yes.

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Then the answer is yes, it's an entertainment name.

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for sure, Shelly, it's so good to talk to you.

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We were trying to figure out where we've met along the way and we think a million years ago, doing some acting work at a table read or something like that.

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But it's so good to have you on.

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You've also been my teacher.

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So full disclosure of voiceover work.

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But let's start with what voiceover is and the various types of voiceover and your specialty.

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What is it that you do on a day-to-day basis?

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Sure sure, that's a great question.

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So, and yes, we've.

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I think it was a million years ago that we met.

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At least but like our relationship was on the microphone almost right away, yes.

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I think we did table reads, but then next thing you know, we were at Sirius XM using the equipment.

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Yes, we were in the studio that you used to use to do lessons.

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I went over there for those lessons as well.

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So yeah, we were on the mic right away pretty much.

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Yeah, that's pretty cool and that was a million years ago, like honestly, like 15, maybe 10, 12, 15?

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.

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Yeah, it could have been 2006, 7, something.

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Oh yeah, that was a long time ago.

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Okay.

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So to answer this, the voiceover world is absolutely massive, okay, and it's best broken down into three categories.

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You've got commercial, the art of the sale, narration, long form reads and stamina voiceovers, unbiased narrations, educational or entertainment based.

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I mean, the narration world is that.

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And then you have animation, which is performance, voiceover work.

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It's wearing your heart on your sleeve and you're truly acting in the game.

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And so, for me, I have a beef with narration.

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I have done a lot of it and I don't like doing it.

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It's not my favorite.

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I love doing narration for film or television, but long form, stamina reads are not what I like to do.

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I've done some not my fave.

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My career took off in the world of commercial and in animation.

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All right.

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So let's go back to the beginning, then, because you know, larry Samuels mentioned right when we started that you've been acting since you were a kid, so have you always had the acting bug?

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Is that?

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Is that it?

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You always wanted to be on stage, you always wanted to be seen.

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Yeah, you always had the acting bug.

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Is that?

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Is that it?

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You always wanted to be on stage.

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You always wanted to be seen.

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Yeah, um, you know, we were in the midwest and I had a lot of siblings and you had to be seen how many brothers and sisters?

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Oh, I have three older brothers and one little sister and you got to be seen.

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I get you and you got to be seen, and so it was, um, it was battle of wits.

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The funniest person held the floor and this the yeah, it was, it was definitely the best improviser.

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Or the funniest person got to hold the floor of the whole family.

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Um and uh, and it started there.

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But I started, jeez, I.

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I asked to be a part of classes when I was four and then was doing my first commercials when I was like seven.

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And how did that happen?

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So your parents took you because you asked, and it was an activity Like how did you stand out and how did you, you know, wind up getting introduced to the professional world?

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Actually, larry, that's a that.

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I have a much more important way of answering this.

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So when I knew for a fact that this was going to be my journey, my parents ended up splitting up and moving all over the country and I was sort of ping ponged back and forth.

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And so I was born in Denver, I was raised in Columbus, ohio, provo, utah, southern California, and then I moved to New York as quickly as I could.

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And in those different states even if it was the same state, like one of my parents will have moved to an adjoining town, and so then I would come back there and go to a different school.

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And so I went to seven schools between sixth grade and high school graduation.

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Wow, wow, I went to it was either seven or eight schools, and so so, to answer your question, when I knew this was going to be like my life, every new school I ever went to in order not to be crucified as the new kid again and again and again, I was like I got to know this game.

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I got to figure out how to work this game.

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It was just figuring out how not to get crushed as the new kid.

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Nobody knew who I was, and sometimes I would be starting school a few weeks later than the rest of them because I was just moving all over the place, and so I was extra new when they all had their first day of school a few weeks back.

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So, right away, the first thing I did in every single school that we went to was I had my parents make sure that there was a drama department, and that was the first elective that I.

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That's okay, I've done this before, but for you guys, I keep my ringer on.

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I like to keep this spontaneous Because you're comfortable and this is a relaxed environment the way it should be.

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I should have answered actually.

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So I joined the drama department and that's what saved my ass.

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You make friends there.

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The kids in the drama department were always so much more easygoing or understanding and less you know, angry, bitter, bully-ish and uh.

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And then I I sort of rose up through the ranks that way.

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So the?

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The original dream then was acting like so.

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So when did voice become part of what, what you knew you were good at?

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Or did you not know that you were good at voices, was it?

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All about acting and I'm just going to go full borehead on that on that plane.

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I had no idea.

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I had no idea.

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I knew that I loved acting more than anything, and in some cases it was a lifesaver for me, or certainly a needed escape.

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Right, it was everything to me and it gave me so much and taught me so much.

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And so, with voiceover, there's a couple different ways of answering this question, so I'll toss this back to you.

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Would you rather know where I started on the mic or where my career took off?

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That's a great question Back to us.

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I mean, I think we want to know your journey, so let's just start with your journey, and then I want you to veer off into bang.

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Then the microphone became a presence in my life.

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So, yeah, let's, let's keep, yeah, let's stay with the acting and and how that shaped your world.

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I think that's important.

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Okay, great.

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So I stay with the acting and right out of high school I have the option to enroll in a school in Southern California where, if I'm enrolled in this school, I have the option for auditioning for the Young Americans, which is a national touring company where they do Broadway elite shows.

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They have the rights to some of the most privileged performance stuff in the world and you got to go on national tours and teach kids how to perform, sing, dance, choreography, everything, and then so when we would train kids for three days in a three-day workshop and then on performance night, the first hour was the Young Americans doing Broadway work and the second hour was everything we taught the kids, which is how we got audiences of thousands in these little towns, because they would invite their whole families, their teachers, their parents, their parents' friends, their siblings' friends.

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We had thousands of people in the audience every time, every three days, when we did a new show in a new city.

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That is super cool.

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When I look back, or think back to your high school time, I'm eager to learn a little bit more about that Meaning.

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What prepared you for this young American stuff?

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Were you doing all the high school musicals?

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Were you doing work outside of school Like?

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Was your whole life acting?

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Was it an activity Like?

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What type of stuff were you doing to prepare yourself for the Young American stuff?

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Okay.

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So this is a really good question, because the reason why I didn't think, oh, I want to register at this school in Southern California, I said I targeted I want to be in the Young Americans.

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That's what the end goal was and the reason why I knew I wanted to get my the Young.

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Americans.

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That's what the end goal was.

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So it was a goal you knew.

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The reason why I knew I wanted to get my booty to Los Angeles to audition for this touring company was because when I was a senior in high school, at the last high school I attended, the last high school I went to was the first time since elementary school where I was able to go to the same school for two years in a row.

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And so I went to this high school my junior and senior year.

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It was a major performance high school in Provo, utah, and at the end of my senior year I was able to go with the class of seniors at this you know advanced elite, you know drama program that we were in, and we were able to go to Weber University and audition.

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And this was where I thought my life was going to go, because this audition process they took the senior kids from all over the state of Utah and they auditioned them at Weber, which is a musical theater university, and oftentimes from Weber you go to Broadway and so and it's a performance, you know college and all of this.

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And so I got ready for for like an entire semester I was planning on this audition at Weber and everybody goes and auditions and you do these, you do monologues, you do songs, you do everything that they have you do and you sort of go through the ranks and then that's it.

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And then weeks later you find out that four kids won the one year each scholarship, two kids won two years of a scholarship and one person won a full four year ride.

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So that person, which one were you?

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Okay, so which one was I?

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a couple weeks later, I'm at my dad's house in provo, utah, and a messenger, like a courier, came to the door and this was not a thing.

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This is not like there was amazon.

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This isn't like 1934 he came to the door, came to the door and he knocked on it and I said, father, I'm going to get it.

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And so I answered the door.

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You know it's like this, this UPS guy or whatever.

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And I'm just saying not like now, cause I'm an Amazon hoarder Like every day boxes are coming over.

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Doesn't mean they live in New York city, so like I don't have a car right, if I need something, I amazon something because like I don't know that's that's what you do, so so, anyway, so, um, so, yeah, so a courier came to the door and um, and I opened the box was to me.

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I opened up the box and inside was like this scroll.

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I have no idea what I'm looking at.

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I'm like what the heck is that?

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You know I'm pulling off the sides and like opening it and then you unscroll it because it was like scrolled wow, it was an actual scroll.

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It was a scroll like.

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I was like what is this tubular thing?

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Like hold on, like is this a nerf gun?

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Like I swear, I thought it was like you know, a nerf gun anyway.

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So I was just like what in the world?

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Um, and I and it said, like you know, a Nerf gun, anyway.

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So I was just like what in the world?

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And I and it said we, you know.

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It was something along the lines of like we, you know.

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Weber University offer our deepest and sincerest congratulations to Michelle Smith, who has won the four year ride scholarship.

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All four years are paid for.

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Please accept your you know, please accept this by way of right.

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It was this.

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And I was just like oh my gosh, like oh my gosh, you know.

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And screaming I run it to my dad.

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My dad is screaming.

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We're like oh my gosh.

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And within a week of accepting of learning that I won the full four year ride, I found out that my high school wasn't going to let me walk at graduation because I only went to that school two out of four years and I couldn't make up the electives needed in order to be able to walk, couldn't make up the electives needed in order to be able to walk, and so these are electives.

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I would have had to take my freshman year or my sophomore year.

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And I was at two different high schools my freshman year and then a different high school at my sophomore year and everybody had different elective requirements.

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They weren't going to let me walk and we went down there.

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We even spoke to an attorney.

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We did everything we could possibly think of and they wouldn't let me walk, which meant I wasn't able to accept the scholarship.

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Oh my God, wow.

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So we talked to the high school, we spoke to an attorney, we also spoke to Weber.

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Wow, they wouldn't let it happen.

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Wow, you had to walk In today's world.

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You'd spent a lot of time on Twitter and blasting these people on social media.

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You know, and I'm not one of those people, but, god, I wish, I wish that I could have done something like that.

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I truly do, because I was powerless.

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Yeah.

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And so so let me tell you, man with red laser beams in my eyes, I was like I'm going to Los Angeles.

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It was like there's this group, this tour group my sister had mentioned it before you have to be the best of the best of the best in order to make it into this crew where you're suddenly doing Broadway work.

00:17:27.239 --> 00:17:34.753
Got to LA, auditioned, got in, went on and I auditioned and made my first national tour.

00:17:34.753 --> 00:17:38.096
I became the leader of the new kids of that of that year.

00:17:38.758 --> 00:18:09.050
Um, I went on three national tours with them and did credits in school while I was on the road and then decided, um, I'm kind of done with school Cause I don't even know what these credits mean for this like college that I was like sort of attending, but I was mostly just 999%, just doing the young Americans and the training and the being on the road and and working on the mic and and singing and dancing and doing all of these and training kids doing all of this.

00:18:09.050 --> 00:18:17.048
After my last tour, um, I said, all right, I need to get to New York and it was 2000.

00:18:17.048 --> 00:18:18.692
It was 2000.

00:18:18.692 --> 00:18:20.134
I got there, it was 2001.

00:18:20.134 --> 00:18:24.349
And I was like I need to just pack my bags and get to New York.

00:18:25.311 --> 00:18:26.555
Did you know anyone in the?

00:18:26.595 --> 00:18:28.346
city that could help you no one.

00:18:29.828 --> 00:18:30.550
So what did you do?

00:18:30.550 --> 00:18:31.011
What was the?

00:18:31.011 --> 00:18:32.114
What was, was that process?

00:18:32.114 --> 00:18:35.847
You just showed up and started auditioning no, no, no.

00:18:35.989 --> 00:18:40.356
I had a stepping stone and the stepping stone was my brother.

00:18:40.356 --> 00:18:44.325
Ben lived in a like a house.

00:18:44.325 --> 00:19:00.853
They were renting a house with three of his college roomies and he was like I mean, we don't have any more room at this house, but like, if you need this as a stepping stone to save money to get closer to New York and save money for New York, you can live on the patio.

00:19:02.486 --> 00:19:03.391
Wait, where was this?

00:19:03.391 --> 00:19:04.067
This was in.

00:19:04.086 --> 00:19:04.971
Columbus Ohio.

00:19:04.971 --> 00:19:12.951
My brother, ben, was living in Columbus Ohio and he offered to let me live on the patio in the back of the house, so you got the Florida room.

00:19:12.951 --> 00:19:15.074
So I got the Florida room in the back of the house.

00:19:16.536 --> 00:19:32.299
I took on four jobs, maybe more, to save money and I had like a I think it was exactly a one-year goal and it didn't work out for me, but I still moved to New York one year later.

00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:34.807
It actually did work out, very magically.

00:19:34.807 --> 00:19:40.438
It was insane and I'll tell you this story in under 45 seconds.

00:19:40.438 --> 00:19:40.838
Here we go.

00:19:40.838 --> 00:19:48.076
My goal was come up with an arbitrary number that you can't imagine.

00:19:48.076 --> 00:19:54.446
That's enough money to move to New York and live there to start with, and the number I came up with was $4,000.

00:19:54.446 --> 00:20:00.968
It was more money than I could ever possibly imagine and I was like $4,000, make $4,000 this year.

00:20:00.968 --> 00:20:05.117
Just save every penny and make $4,000 and you'll be able to live in New York.

00:20:05.117 --> 00:20:07.288
You'll make it, You'll make, you'll at least get there.

00:20:07.951 --> 00:20:08.230
Wow.

00:20:08.592 --> 00:20:09.694
And I was.

00:20:09.694 --> 00:20:10.576
I was set.

00:20:10.576 --> 00:20:14.464
I had a lot of faxing to do to try to get this apartment.

00:20:14.464 --> 00:20:20.424
I found an apartment in an all women's residence that was like, it was fascinating.

00:20:20.424 --> 00:20:23.796
It was like dorm rooms and it was a thousand dollars a month.

00:20:23.796 --> 00:20:25.171
It was crazy, but it was all I got.

00:20:25.171 --> 00:20:28.368
I found this place and it was all I got and I was like it seems pretty safe.

00:20:28.368 --> 00:20:30.615
You know, and, and so I'll do it.

00:20:30.615 --> 00:20:43.436
You know, and, um, and so I'll do it, and in december, at the beginning of december, I had one month left and I had made twenty three hundred dollars.

00:20:43.457 --> 00:20:54.519
Oh, boy and um, and what ended up happening was I had twenty three hundred dollars and four weeks left and I got into a car accident and totaled my car, the car I was going to sell.

00:20:55.105 --> 00:20:55.326
Yeah.

00:20:55.948 --> 00:20:57.351
And so I totaled my car.

00:20:57.351 --> 00:21:03.150
And then, when my boyfriend was driving me to work, we got in an accident on the freeway.

00:21:03.150 --> 00:21:07.178
That wasn't wasn't his fault, and his car got totaled.

00:21:07.337 --> 00:21:07.986
Oh, my God.

00:21:08.125 --> 00:21:08.988
And then I had.

00:21:08.988 --> 00:21:14.959
So I had three and a half weeks left and no transportation at all to get to any of the jobs that I had.

00:21:14.959 --> 00:21:23.338
And I remember after the accident on the freeway with his car, his insurance called me.

00:21:23.338 --> 00:21:25.991
They were like what's going on?

00:21:25.991 --> 00:21:27.055
What happened?

00:21:27.055 --> 00:21:27.817
I told them the whole story.

00:21:27.817 --> 00:21:30.012
I was bawling and I was like I can't go to work.

00:21:30.012 --> 00:21:33.915
How am I supposed to have enough money to go to New York?

00:21:33.915 --> 00:21:35.892
I'm supposed to go to New York.

00:21:35.892 --> 00:21:39.392
Like that's really honestly the whole conversation.

00:21:39.392 --> 00:21:43.996
I was talking about New York and this woman on the phone was like okay, okay, okay.

00:21:44.704 --> 00:21:57.008
Well, check your $1,700, dollface, no idea what to say to me you didn't double as a therapist, no, she was just like alrighty, okay, Like I heard her using like corporate voice, not having they didn't have a script for that one.

00:21:57.048 --> 00:22:05.772
Yeah, no idea what to say to this kid, you know, and it was just bawling and still not knowing what to do.

00:22:05.772 --> 00:22:09.671
I was trying to make grassroots work.

00:22:09.671 --> 00:22:25.105
I was trying to pick up babysitting jobs, because no actual job would now rehire me in a closer location because I was leaving in a month, and eight days later a check came in the mail for the exact dollar amount that brought my total to $4,000.

00:22:25.285 --> 00:22:26.188
Oh, that's amazing.

00:22:26.188 --> 00:22:27.873
Wait from the insurance company.

00:22:27.893 --> 00:22:32.732
That's just a rando check From my boyfriend's insurance company from that woman on the phone.

00:22:33.034 --> 00:22:35.058
Oh my God, Incredible.

00:22:35.058 --> 00:22:38.474
I was waiting for the organ donor story that was going to somehow bridge the gap.

00:22:38.684 --> 00:22:42.696
It was that woman on the phone trying to figure out like she was like and how much work are you missing?

00:22:42.696 --> 00:22:44.311
And I was like, oh, the word.

00:22:44.311 --> 00:23:00.477
And meanwhile, like my tips, like at waitressing, like I was making like $12 a day In Columbus Ohio, like saying, like I was making like 12 a day in columbus, ohio, like nobody's tipping, you know, but I still it was something and I was making nothing.

00:23:00.497 --> 00:23:11.334
but she determined, well, this should cover her amazing, amazing so that was your first break, or one of your first breaks some heartless insurance company paid for you to go to new york.

00:23:11.354 --> 00:23:12.420
Can you believe it?

00:23:12.681 --> 00:23:17.836
And, to be totally honest, I probably voiced for that company later, like if that was Geico, I've got them in the bag.

00:23:17.836 --> 00:23:23.176
I paid, I paid my dues, and then they just kept sending me money.

00:23:23.498 --> 00:23:24.200
That is great.

00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:28.671
So you've got your $4,000 and off to New York.

00:23:28.671 --> 00:23:29.932
You go Um.

00:23:29.932 --> 00:23:33.439
You know what happens, how do you get settled and what do you do next.

00:23:33.585 --> 00:23:41.711
Yeah, so, um, I hit the ground running, um trying to find work, um just counting down the exact dollar amount that I had every day.

00:23:41.711 --> 00:23:45.286
Right, I was, um, you know, just trying to find work.

00:23:45.286 --> 00:23:46.928
It was right after September 11th.

00:23:47.368 --> 00:23:47.588
Yeah.

00:23:48.109 --> 00:23:50.673
So there were, there was no work, frankly.

00:23:50.854 --> 00:23:51.055
Right.

00:23:51.654 --> 00:24:01.075
Right, and so and so, um and so I was just trying to make ends meet and I ended up um, oh man, I got, I got this job.

00:24:01.075 --> 00:24:14.317
Um, I was, I was, I got there, and every single day, for eight hours a day, in my peacoat, by the the way, because it's January, it's the first week of January and I have no idea what a real winter is.

00:24:14.317 --> 00:24:16.961
Okay, no idea.

00:24:18.105 --> 00:24:18.907
And from the Midwest.

00:24:18.907 --> 00:24:20.493
How do you know what a real winter?

00:24:20.513 --> 00:24:21.910
is oh honey, boo boo.

00:24:21.910 --> 00:24:23.891
There is a much different winter.

00:24:23.891 --> 00:24:25.497
That happens in Columbus, ohio.

00:24:25.497 --> 00:24:42.825
That happens on the ocean, on the island of Manhattan, okay, in the metro jungle, nothing had prepared me for a winter like what it was here, and also in 2002, that was one of the most brutal winters.

00:24:43.827 --> 00:24:44.631
That was a rough winter.

00:24:44.691 --> 00:24:51.692
I do remember that was a rough winter it was a brutal winter and I had a pea coat man, because in Ohio I mean, you're driving in your car everywhere.

00:24:51.884 --> 00:24:54.343
Sure, just get from the house to the car, the car to the place.

00:24:54.343 --> 00:24:54.644
You're good.

00:24:54.744 --> 00:24:59.113
Yeah, it never occurred to me that I was going to be on foot for the rest of my life.

00:24:59.173 --> 00:25:00.335
Welcome to New York.

00:25:03.164 --> 00:25:06.869
You know, yeah, I mean frankly, I never drove again.

00:25:06.869 --> 00:25:08.872
That was the last time I drove.

00:25:08.872 --> 00:25:09.613
I never drove again.

00:25:09.613 --> 00:25:12.096
I'll take the subway, I'll take a cab, I'll take an Uber, whatever.

00:25:12.155 --> 00:25:18.973
I'll take a city bike, but I'm not getting in a car, it's probably a good thing with all the accidents you were yeah, you don't have much luck, I agree.

00:25:18.973 --> 00:25:23.248
Oh my God.

00:25:23.248 --> 00:25:25.815
So what was the job you said you were doing eight hours a day.

00:25:25.815 --> 00:25:26.256
What did you do?

00:25:26.355 --> 00:25:27.175
So eight hours a day?

00:25:27.175 --> 00:25:27.596
I was.

00:25:27.596 --> 00:25:35.840
I was trying to give people my freaking resume, my non-experienced resume of just like I'm a great actor and I'll babysit your kids and.

00:25:35.881 --> 00:25:39.163
I'll run your cash register, I'll clean your store, I'll type your letters.

00:25:39.163 --> 00:25:42.695
I didn't know what I was trying to get, but I had my resume.

00:25:42.695 --> 00:25:44.451
It looked as good as I could have it look.

00:25:44.451 --> 00:25:49.257
And I was knocking door to door to door to door every day, all day.

00:25:49.257 --> 00:25:52.815
Finally, I went downtown.

00:25:52.815 --> 00:25:55.011
I walked into a restaurant.

00:25:55.011 --> 00:25:56.590
I just was like this is the place.

00:25:56.590 --> 00:26:01.938
I walked into a restaurant like with that gusto of I'm not going to leave here without a job.

00:26:01.938 --> 00:26:03.270
This place looks really busy.

00:26:03.270 --> 00:26:11.659
And and I, the the bartender looked at me when I walked in and she was like hi, can I help?

00:26:11.659 --> 00:26:13.861
Oh yeah, we don't.

00:26:13.861 --> 00:26:14.945
We don't have any jobs.

00:26:14.945 --> 00:26:16.670
She just this literally.

00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:18.894
She made the transition on her own right.

00:26:19.236 --> 00:26:32.054
She was like uh, shit, like we got a hungry kid another crestfallen kid here yeah, like orphan Annie here, like you know, and so, um, she and I was like please is, is there anything?

00:26:32.054 --> 00:26:32.915
Is there anything?

00:26:32.915 --> 00:26:33.538
Any way?

00:26:33.538 --> 00:26:35.391
Just rack your brain.

00:26:35.391 --> 00:26:37.932
I would never push you, but I'm pushing you now.

00:26:37.932 --> 00:26:39.971
Do you guys have anything at all?

00:26:39.971 --> 00:26:44.449
Right, I was like this is my 10th day, I have to get a job.

00:26:44.449 --> 00:26:47.411
Right, 10th day in New York and I've got nothing.

00:26:47.411 --> 00:26:51.175
Like I told myself I would get, I would give myself five days to get a job.

00:26:51.175 --> 00:27:00.290
We're at 10 days, guys, I'm running out of money.

00:27:00.310 --> 00:27:05.184
Yeah, you know, and I'm not spending on anything I'm trying to eat and I'm even skipping meals, yeah, ok, and so I'm like, I'm like please, you know, like urgently.

00:27:05.184 --> 00:27:23.825
And she was like I mean, I don't know, I'm, I'm, I'm rooting for you, man, but okay, the owner's over there and I don't know, uh, you seem like the type of person he'd want to hire, but I don't know what else to give you, you know, because he just hired five people and it was like, just give me a minute with him, right?

00:27:23.825 --> 00:27:26.749
So he's finishing up a meeting on the other side of the restaurant.

00:27:26.749 --> 00:28:00.902
He comes zooming right past me and, uh, and the bartender was like michael, you know, called out to him and he was like, yeah, and he turned around and he saw me and he went, nope, and he turned on his heel, wow yeah and I was like through my teeth I just went.

00:28:00.964 --> 00:28:06.415
But I was like I've got nothing left and so, anyway, so he goes, I go, I understand, you just hired five people.

00:28:06.415 --> 00:28:08.854
And he's like, yeah, yeah, we did.

00:28:08.854 --> 00:28:12.695
And I was like I'm really sorry, because none of them are me and I'm the best waiter in New York.

00:28:12.695 --> 00:28:14.319
Whoa, and he was like I'm really sorry, because none of them are me and I'm the best waiter in New York.

00:28:14.291 --> 00:28:16.713
Whoa, and he was like I'm sorry, what?

00:28:16.713 --> 00:28:18.950
And I was like the best of the entire best.

00:28:18.950 --> 00:28:19.711
You name a place.

00:28:19.711 --> 00:28:20.815
I'll tell you I've worked there.

00:28:20.815 --> 00:28:21.998
I aced it.

00:28:23.405 --> 00:28:38.309
So, immediately he can tell I'm lying Like immediately, because I was like name a place, any place in the world, I worked there.

00:28:38.309 --> 00:28:41.799
And and he kind of like tilts his head to the side and he's like, really so, so just name a place and and you've worked there.

00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:44.229
And I was like, yep, and I worked there so good.

00:28:44.229 --> 00:28:48.636
He was like, um, really, and he goes well.

00:28:48.636 --> 00:28:51.028
Well, what makes you such a great waiter?

00:28:51.028 --> 00:28:52.651
I got no answer.

00:28:52.651 --> 00:28:52.872
I.

00:28:52.872 --> 00:28:54.615
I literally look around the room and I go.

00:28:54.615 --> 00:28:55.938
I'm so fast.

00:28:58.248 --> 00:28:59.111
He's like what?

00:28:59.250 --> 00:29:02.990
And I go, I'm fast, I'm so fast, look, I can go from here to here.

00:29:02.990 --> 00:29:05.124
And I literally was like shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

00:29:05.124 --> 00:29:09.496
I was like tap, tap, tap a table run, tap, a table run.

00:29:10.346 --> 00:29:35.144
I did sprints and I knew that with this like physical comedy at least, while never breaking eye contact, by the way there was no way that he wouldn't laugh, you know, and he's trying not to laugh and I'm playing it so straight and knowing with my eyebrows up that this is insane, but I kept doing everything he said.

00:29:35.144 --> 00:29:40.917
I came up with a ludicrous answer and then just, and I never like, I never even blinked.

00:29:40.917 --> 00:29:42.788
I just stared at him like what's next?

00:29:42.788 --> 00:29:44.731
What do you want me to prove or show?

00:29:45.232 --> 00:29:57.730
you know, and uh and yeah, this was your first professional acting job right here, maybe the most important one, yeah, so long story short he, he hired me.

00:29:57.849 --> 00:29:58.833
How could he not right?

00:29:58.854 --> 00:30:08.858
I was shuffle, I was doing the the shuffle, shuffle the truffle shovel shelly shovel, the shelly shovel sheboygan shuffle and um, and he hired me.

00:30:08.944 --> 00:30:11.733
He was like, all right, he goes, do you have references in the resume?

00:30:11.733 --> 00:30:13.048
And that was the first time I realized.

00:30:13.048 --> 00:30:15.675
I came to the, I got on the subway empty handed.

00:30:15.675 --> 00:30:20.365
I didn't even realize that I didn't have my resumes that day and I was like, yeah, I can go home and get them and he goes.

00:30:20.365 --> 00:30:24.590
Oh fuck, don't bother, just go home, change your clothes.

00:30:24.590 --> 00:30:25.473
Your uniform's all black.

00:30:25.473 --> 00:30:34.405
You started five o'clock.

00:30:34.405 --> 00:30:35.008
That's what happened.

00:30:35.008 --> 00:30:36.931
I ran home, changed my clothes and this was the deal.

00:30:36.931 --> 00:30:38.934
You work three days straight, take one day off, work your fourth day.

00:30:38.934 --> 00:30:41.259
On none of those four days do you get paid.

00:30:41.259 --> 00:30:44.451
And then, on your fifth day, you start earning your tips.

00:30:44.451 --> 00:30:53.498
But you had to shadow for four days to prove that you were a great waiter and that you were there to hustle and make money.

00:30:53.498 --> 00:30:56.053
But you had to do the first four days for free.

00:30:56.453 --> 00:30:59.573
Interesting To shadow because you were shadowing right Finger quotes.

00:30:59.573 --> 00:31:02.791
Here You're shadowing and you're learning the ropes of the entire restaurant.

00:31:02.791 --> 00:31:05.228
Hey, I get it by the third day.

00:31:05.228 --> 00:31:10.509
All the waiters were cutting me shares of their tips, like they were cutting me.

00:31:10.905 --> 00:31:13.914
Yeah, they were giving me, they were greasing the wheels Like of their tips, like they were cutting.

00:31:13.914 --> 00:31:15.816
Yeah, they were, they were giving me, they were greasing the wheels like just little bits.

00:31:15.816 --> 00:31:20.681

Replay: The Power of Yes with Shelly Shenoy – Voiceover Artist, Coach, and Creator

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