Actor, voice-over artist, author, and self-advocate Adam Lee Sietz shares how improv comedy helped him navigate ADHD.
Adam Sietz has spent more than a quarter century writing, producing and performing in the Entertainment Business. He has written and performed with the National Lampoon, and written extensively for television, animation, radio, corporate events and various private individuals from top Comedians to CEO’s. As a comedian he has worked with some of the best Comics of this generation (including Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, Louis CK) and some Comedy Legends (like Jerry Lewis, Robert Klein, Rodney Dangerfield, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld). A lifelong impressionist, he swiftly became a highly requested voice-over talent for major national commercial campaigns, well known cartoons and a few of the biggest videogames of all time. As an actor, he’s blessed to be cast in Academy Award, Golden Globe Award films and Tony Award nominated Broadway shows. He has been cast by some of the best producers and directors in the business and in more than a few Emmy award winning TV programs.
Adam is also the author of two books: The Funny Is A Factor and Unscripted Success with Improvisational Thinking.
For more about Adam’s work, visit: adamsietz.com
To see more of Adam’s credits, visit: IMDB
Check out Shawn’s work at: Don’t Dis-my-ability
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Note: the following transcription was automatically generated. Some imperfections may exist.
SHAWN SMITH (SS):
Hello and welcome to the Exploring Different Brains podcast. I’m your host, Shawn Smith, and today we’re interviewing Adam Sietz. Adam is a speaker, actor, voice over, artist and comedian. Welcome Adam. Hey, how you doing? Sean, great. Can you introduce yourself to our audience?
ADAM SIETZ (AS):
Sure. I’m Adam Sietz, born in Brooklyn, New York to Maryland and Seymour. Sites, grew up in New Jersey, moved to South Florida, and then came back here after my father passed away, and I kind of became a performer. I was a producer and a salesman. A producer is a salesman. Just want you to know. And it changed my life. I literally had an opportunity to play with him just before he was a performer, before he became a producer, I was a producer and then became a performer. We kind of switched, but I’m also neurodiverse. I’ve got three delicious children and a wonderful wife two cats. I live in right outside of New Jersey in New York. I’m on the roughly 10 miles from the George Washington Bridge in a little town called Blood velc, New York in Rockland County. But you know, there’s lots about me. I’ve been around the block. I’ve had a lot of different careers. At this point, I’m going to turn 60 years old in February. You can find most of my stuff at adamsietz.com that’s s, i, e, t z.com, spell it wrong. You’ll still find it at s, e, i, t z.com, that’s not me, but it’s my my website now so you can find me there,
SS:
So you have a long list of credits to your name. What are some of the characters you voiced that our listeners might recognize?
AS:
Mr. Potato Head for all the Lay’s potato chip commercials, I was Mr. Mini Wheat. Also, if they’re into Dora, the Explorer. I was on that show for like, 16 years. So Dora’s dog, I’m I’m the big bad wolf, I’m the storm. I’m the evil octopus that tried to destroy mermaid land. And I’m also the witch’s broomstick, a whole bunch of different fun stuff on that, and a lot of video games. That’s what my kids we I can’t walk into a game stop without them saying my dad’s Jack Ryan a Bioshock, which is like some big game. It’s a game that I not kind of a game for me. It’s a lot of shoot him and kill him up, it kind of stuff and but I’m the character. I’m the main character, so people really get a kick out of that. And, you know, the games and videos and Broadway, I’ve done a lot of fun stuff, but now I gotta say what I’m what I’m up to now, is trying to get people to understand that they’re okay. You’re okay. You know, just trust in yourself. Trust that there’s a lot of stuff in there you have no idea you can access until you need to access it. And it’s there best computer on the planet Earth. It’s the mushy one that’s in your head.
SS:
Yeah, can you you walk us through your journey of discovering your love and ability for performing?
AS:
You know, it’s wild because I’m actually talking to the school that I went to when I was a young boy. It was a school for children with learning disabilities called the Center School. I think it’s now in Somerset New Jersey. But back then, I was, I was kind of very wild. I was extremely hyperactive. I could not sit still. I don’t really remember much of that, but I do remember being not asked to leave, but kind of it was, he doesn’t really work here. My mother really fought to make sure that, okay, if you don’t have the capability to handle him, then I’m going to find a place that does, and you’ll pay for it. And that’s exactly what the East Brunswick school system did. They paid for me to go 45 minutes away to this place, but I’m actually working with them right now, talking about, you know, this kind of thing, of how it all started was really in second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Siegel, allowed me to write, produce, direct, and star him. My own first play, Santa is coming. Of course, I cast myself a little Jewish New Yorker Santa, but it was amazing. And I cast everyone in the class. Everyone had lines, nobody was left out. And we did it in front of the school. And it was so cool. And I kind of forgot all about it, until my mother passed away recently, and I found the script in a folder that she had of stuff of mine, so it brought me back to that school, and I called them up and said, hey, you know what I’d love to come and buy. So I’m in the midst of working that all out, but it’s kind of cool to have done all this fun stuff. But now, as I said, my goal is to hit I’ve been doing a lot of corporate speaking. And now it’s really more I think I want to deal with kids, and if I could deal specifically with kids with learning disabled. Learning Disabilities. I love it. I hate those words, disabled, disability deficit, red, diagnose myself with hyper awareness.
SS:
You touched on this a little bit. But like, what point in your life did you realize that you were neurodivergent and like, can you kind of tell us what led up to that?
AS:
Absolutely, when my parents that, when they said he’s very he needs to be evaluated, and they evaluated this, the, I don’t know who was, it was a bunch of clinical people and teachers and I. The Special Education Group, or whoever it was, and they did a fun it was kind of cool. I played games. I talked this guy named Larry Silver, who actually, in in the end, was a very big influence in the world of ADHD, uh, back, back in the 70s and and we used to play and do games and talk and have conversations. And then in the end, when they had me down, they did a conversation with my parents, telling them that he’s severe, he’s brilliant. He has immense level intelligence, but he’s got serious, serious ADHD, so like team sports are going to be very difficult. I would not suggest that relationships are not going to be so easy. It’s going to take a lot of work, working and keeping holding down a job, all these negative things being said to my parents, and I’m a little kid, I’m sitting there, but I’m so intelligent, I can go home and read a library, not library, leave a dictionary and and see what deficit meant less than basically. And I kind of live that way for most of my life. And but, you know, finding out that I am okay, took until it was like, probably, like, 18 years old, 19 years old, when I realized that, you know, I’m not so bad, I’m okay. It still didn’t, didn’t click until I was much older. I had gained a lot of weight. I became addicted to I was living in my bed. I was divorced, I was depressed. It was miserable, and I weighed over 424 pounds. Yeah, I was, I was huge, and I’m still a big boy, but I’m a whole lot less than I was, and a lot of that just came from the realization of what it is that’s made me successful at this point, which was improvisation and just living on the moment. Because my brain is different than most brains. In fact, my brain is faster than the normal brain. In fact, there’s great other podcasts faster than normal. Peter Shankman in the world of ADHD, he’s got a great but it’s true. When I heard that term faster than normal, because I call it hyper awareness, we clicked immediately. And it’s just, it’s just a really perfect way to say it, because for me, I’m aware of everything that’s going on and it’s difficult. Sometimes there are there’s medication that can help to, let’s say, if you’re in a room of radios, it turns the ones that you don’t want to focus on down a bit. They’re still there, and takes the one that you’re looking to focus on and brings it a little more closer. And for years, I fought medication, but I actually do say it has made a difference once I found the right dosage and all that kind of stuff. But that’s kind of I figured it out, that when I was performing and I got people to applaud and laugh and and saw I knew that I was different, but at this point I said, Maybe I’m different in a good way, you know, and it could be like for me, it really was a superpower. And you’d be surprised how many people in the world of improvisational comedy are ADHD.
SS:
That’s a great lead into our next question, because it’s really thinking about like, how much of a role did neurodivergence [play] in your ability to perform?
AS:
I think it’s probably one of the we’re finding lately, lately in the world that there are specific jobs and things that people can do that some people that are normal brained don’t really want to do, or can do or aren’t as good as doing, as people that have a specific type of brain that works in a particular way. So we’re finding people who are autistic getting work, and not only getting work, but being celebrated as, Oh my gosh, this person is extremely more than capable. They’re better than anyone we’ve ever had working in this position and and for me, I didn’t know what improv was. I thought it was bud Friedman’s evening at the Improv I thought was the name of a comedy club. I didn’t know it was an actual form. But once I did, I got that not thinking too much. And it took a few different experiences to get there to really understand that, wow, wow, this thing could do much more than I’ve ever even imagined I can do. And when I really started putting it into play and doing I think my success just came. I was really very fortunate. I always felt like the wind was at my back, just think sounds like it’s on my place.
SS:
It sounds like improv has played a really big part in your life. Can you kind of unpack that a little bit more for our listeners?
AS:
Absolutely, what it’s spontaneous. There’s no There’s no rules. Well, there are rules, but they’re never there’s no rule that is solid and set in stone. Usually, you want to say yes and in the world of improv, but a no is not forbidden. You got to make sure that no. There’s a valid reason for you to share that No. So when it comes to improv, that yes and was really very important to me, because yes is one of the major things I talk about. Because for years, I said no. I said no to everything. I said no to things that would put me out in front, that people would see me. I said no to, for example, the roller coaster. You know I’m going to go on. I never, no way would I ever go on a roller coaster. I’m like, 22 years old, with a bunch of guys on a spring break, and we’re going, there’s this big roller coaster, Busch Gardens every day, and you hang from it. It’s actually your feet. Either, dang, it’s called the Big Bad Wolf. And I’m like, Yeah, I’ll go. Slowly, the line gets closer. And I’m guys, yeah, I’m feeling a little nauseous. I didn’t get a little closer. I’m like, I’m out. I’m done. They’re like, come on, come on now. I’m done. Now. I don’t feel well, okay, where they started teasing me? So finally I said, Okay, I got on it. My heart is in my throat. I am truly petrified. I’m sweating. I’m definitely having an anxiety attack at the moment. And then the ride started go up, and you come over and *yells mimicing being on rollercoaster* I loved it. It was amazing. It was glorious. I never felt that thrill, that fear, that everything. And I said to myself, Wow, God, I ripped myself off of so many roller coasters in my day, I’ve been to a lot of park never went on one. So that was a good example of say yes to things. And I have a big story about me becoming a performer. Really came from my father, who was a performer for years now, he became a producer, and then he and his partner actually were on the Ed Sullivan show that were a team like a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. My father was the Jerry Lewis and his partner, Barry, was the Dean Martin, and they did a lip sync act, and Barry couldn’t make it once. So my father said, Come on, do it with me. You know, it was like, No, I’ve never No. I No, no, no no. And I said, No, no, no, no, no. This went on for like, two weeks, and then it was literally two or three days before and everyone was hocking me, Come on, do it. Dad. Really wants you to do it. You could do it. I’m no, no, no, no, no. Finally I said, Okay. And then we got to literally just before the show, and the roller coaster starts happening again. I’m getting really queasy. I’m like, Dad, I don’t think this is a good idea. He’s like, listen, kiddo, I love you. Don’t worry about it. You can go sit down. I got this. And I’m like, okay, shit, I gotta do it. And I said, Okay, so I go up there, and I’m literally, I’m petrified. I’m shaking. I’m shaking so much that I feel that they can physically see me. So I exaggerate it even more like and I gotta laugh. I haven’t even opened my mouth yet. I gotta laugh. I’m like, ooh. So I go up, and I’m still nervous, and I look around, there’s like, 600 people. This is my first time on a stage, and there’s 600 people out there. I’m gonna tuxedo. My dad’s in a tuxedo. We’re doing his thing. It’s my turn to go. I do my thing. I get another laugh. So now it’s like he does his thing, and I’m kind of calm. I’m doing thing. I always get to the end and it ends. It’s like wacky way. It’s Spike Jones music. It’s real wacky. And then it comes to an end and slows down. It’s a real sweet little ending. It’s called cocktails for two. Might have heard the song. I grabbed the mic and I closed out the act, and he was just so you could sense how happy my boy is a steward brother, and why? Why do I tell this story? Mainly because if I kept that no and did not say yes, eventually it never, ever would have happened, because he literally died less than a month later. Wow. So that one time you kind of look at it, you know, I’m not that religious, but I am definitely spiritual. I believe there is something well beyond me that, you know, is in control, and I don’t, I don’t have that control, but I feel it. Maybe it was the universe saying, hey, Seymour, you got to get this kid up here, because if he doesn’t get up here, His purpose is never gonna it’s not gonna happen. So we gotta make this thing happen. And I did go up, it was glorious. He said, Hey, you want to do it again? I said, maybe, but I never got the chance. So after he’s gone, that’s when I started saying, You know what? I really like that feeling, you know? And I had chased that kind of feeling throughout life, whether it’s drugs, sex, wrong, people, whatever it is, whatever it is, is not where. What really helped, for me, that not adoration, but impact, is probably the best word. And another word is satisfaction. That’s what some that’s, I think that’s what we’re all looking for. We just want to feel satisfied. We want to feel happy. And that doesn’t happen tomorrow. It doesn’t happen yesterday. It happens right now. And when it comes to improvisation, that’s how it works. You can’t be thinking, you have to be watching, listening, bringing all the data in so something could come up and go, and it took a long time for me to trust that go. I would always get in the way, like, oh, maybe not. That’s, I don’t know if that’s gonna inner talk, inner talk, inner talk. And I’m not now. I’m not here anymore. Eventually I did start performing, and I was just gonna do sketch comedy and maybe stand up, but sketch was my first thought. But I ended up finding a guy who is my guru, my mentor, pat the vampire Battistini. Now he’s a director, and he does some great stuff, but back then we joined forces, and we auditioned people, and we started in the back of the library. Then we actually took over our own club for a couple years. Then after a while, I was an all star. We made it to the national champion. Championship, and we lost three, three years in a row, but then we actually won it. And that’s when I said, you know, I got to try this. And I went up and I met some agents, and they said, well, let’s see how motivated you are. I’ve got an audition for you tomorrow at 1130 I was like, Okay, I was living in Florida at the time. This was in New York, so can you be here tomorrow? Okay, whatever it was, spirit airline, whatever cheapest flight I could get. I was maybe 2627 and I had just gotten divorced, and I fly up and I go, and it’s for Woody Allen, and I’m going to do impressions for Woody Allen, but he’s not there. I didn’t know. I didn’t I’ve never done an audition in this kind of stuff ever. So I go in and Jimmy Fallon sits down next to me now. He was not Jimmy Fallon that anyone would know yet. He was young. I knew him because I had been producing a show called a bit sketchy that ended up not happening but or happened elsewhere by somebody else. But his group was from Buffalo, and I remember how talented he was, and we had a nice conversation. Then they called me in and they said, We need a Jack Nicholson. I’m like, mine’s like a beer. See impression. I’m not really, I don’t do a Jack Nicholson. Now, it’s not really a great impression. So I did. So I said, like Harvey Fierstein is dirty, Harry. It’s a 44 Magnum, sweetheart. It’s the most powerful man. Got noticed that stuff I did, Cookie Monster, as as Joe Pesci and Goodfellas. You What do you mean in funny? So that kind of stuff. And she eventually let me read something else, because they did need a Jack Nicholson. I said, you know, there’s a kid out there that does some really good impressions too. He might be able to nail your Nicholson, but that’s not really I could give you a bunch of others. He said, You know what? Wait, gave me a script. I go out. He goes in, does his thing. He comes out. Thanks. They call me back in, and I’m reading for cousin, and it’s just a couple of lines. I do my thing. And she says, Great, thanks. And I left, and I left, and I realized there’s no camera. They actually recorded the whole thing. They didn’t record. They record nothing. I’m saying, so it’s her choice. And then I get a call back. They said, Can you fly up again? You got a callback, and you actually meet Woody Allen. I’m like, what? So I fly up. I go. I walk into the room. He’s in the back corner. It’s dark. She’s sitting there. We sit down. I do my stuff, and I’m out less than three minutes, maybe five total, from walking in the door and walking out the door. And I waited a month, maybe a month and a half, and it was done. I definitely didn’t get the job. My manager calls and says, Hey, wasn’t my manager at the time she became my manager. She said, Did you say anything rude or, like, inconce, like something that was off putting? I was like, no, no, why? Good? Because they just booked you. They loved you. In fact, they’re taking your role that they you were reading his cousin. They’re eliminating it, and they’re merging it with the brother in law. So cousin and brother in law, you’re now named Vince, and I had a role. I had a trailer. I my brother in law was Joe montpegna. My wife was Patty darbinville. I was working with Frankie no who owned radios. It was a blast. And I had never done anything, my, my, my, my trailer mate, because we shared a thing. Was a guy named wood Harris. He was on the wires. It was just an amazing experience. And at that point I was like, Okay, I’m going to do this. And I told my ex wife, take the dog. I told my sister, I’ll still do it, but I’m going to close the office down here because I’m going to move to New York and see where this goes. And I said, If I don’t try it now, I’m going to hate myself by the time I turned 40, I was like, 30 something on my 40th birthday, I was making my Broadway debut. What?!
SS:
That’s amazing.
AS:
It’s such a I’ve got some really fun stories. And what’s cool is, I’m in some of these stories that’s like, holy cannoli. I can’t believe this stuff. But again, a lot of it comes from saying yes, instead of saying no and also asking for what you want. If you don’t ask for what you want, guess what’s gonna happen? Nothing. If you do ask nothing, but still might happen, but you still open up that open up maybe, oh, maybe, maybe, just maybe. And that’s how I ended up on Broadway. That’s how I ended up winning an award as video game Supporting Actor of the Year over like Christopher Lee and Patrick. What? How? Well, you know, just get out of your own way. Get out your own way. Stuff will happen. Stuff happens. You want it. Put the time, the effort in, work it, and you can have it. Doesn’t matter how your brain works, you’ll find what works for you.
SS:
That’s amazing. Can you tell us about your book, Unscripted Success, and where it’s available?
AS:
Absolutely, it’s available on Amazon. It’s also available on Audible, which, in my opinion, I think it’s a much better job with Audible, because you get me to read the book, and you get a real sense of how I meant those words. I am definitely not a scholar. Writing was not my I write, but I write my way. Dot, dot, dot. Space. Put $1 sign on the end instead of a regular things like that. And I don’t like to change that. So I didn’t really have anyone edit the book, because I didn’t really want to change and then, of course, as I was doing the audio book, I found all of the mistakes. I fixed them. So the book, the book is now pretty it’s definitely an ADHD book, because it was a best seller. Made number six out of the top 100 in sales and selling, which is really the truth is, is not where I want this book to go anymore. I want this book in in kids and adults, and anyone that wants to feel better about who they are, wants to learn other ways of persuasion, how to sell it that you’re performing and to trust in in yourself. And that’s kind of what this book is about. I wrote it. It’s a bunch of pieces that I’ve written throughout the years that I found a way to collate into a, you know, an understandable book. I like Dan, Dan, whatever his name is, The Da Vinci Code. It was 100 chapters. It was real easy. Could read something, put it down, and go and get back to it. So I thought about it, you know, I wanted a book that was pretty simple, the kind of book that you could sit and take a shit and read a bit, you know, something like that. So pardon my language, but that’s kind of what I thought. I mean, you know, something, nothing, too crazy. And you could read a chapter and you could put it down, but there’s a lot of stuff, some stories with anecdotes. And why do I tell this story? Because blah, blah, blah, a lot of tips, lot of help. There’s a bunch of actual improvisational games that are timid games that don’t have to put you out in front of anyone. People get afraid of improv, or they don’t like improv, and it’s cheesy to them, because most experiences, if it’s not a Whose Line Is It Anyway, it’s my friend has just taken a class and asked me if I’d come see there’s there’s performance. So your first experience is an amateur level. Improvisational could be fun, but it’s not like, Oh my gosh. I mean, we went to that national championship and saw New York and and Houston and Austin. I mean, these it was, we were in awe of how impressive that musical. Also, I love the musical Wayne Brady. So I played with him years ago in Orlando, and it was just, wow, this guy’s great. So when we were both up for Whose Line Is It Anyway, and I didn’t get the job, and Wayne Brady got I was like, I now wonder I get it. So that’s a cool story for another day.
SS:
Yeah, that’s awesome. What advice would you give to folks who are interested in performing but are afraid to kind of put, you know, dip their toe in the water?
AS:
Well, open mic, get on stage, do something, even if it’s just speaking, a story. Tell your story. We all have story, and people love stories. If you can incorporate humor, which is kind of my main thing is the funny. If you can incorporate funny in ways, and again, I would be more than happy to you know, you could go buy my funny as a factor online, but I’ll give it away to all of you for free if you want. You gotta just go download it. Okay, the dollar is not what drives me anymore. I’ve been very blessed that, you know, right now, I’m not thinking about the bill is going to be paid or not, but I was very, very caught up in ego status and and wanting to be rich and famous until I really got a little, just a little flavor of when you get off a Broadway stage and there are people that want you to sign their playbook, or you’re sitting and having dinner, they come up to you at your table. Then you realize, after this happens over and over again that, wow, maybe I don’t want that. I kind of like that anonymity of being able to do what I want. Because I work with some people that while we were walking down the street, we couldn’t get anywhere. Everyone want to take a selfie with them, or can I sign whatever it was you just want to talk and talk. So I got that status is unattractive if you’re looking to seek it. If somebody’s willing to lend it to you, you capitalize on that stuff. You take it. You know, it’s much better when you walk into a room and you’re not the one blah, blah, blah, your egos pattern. But other people say, Oh, it’s that guy that does that. It’s so much. It’s better. Number one, you’re not looking like an idiot, and it you get that same satisfaction. Hey, are you that? Oh, wow, yeah, I don’t tell people I’m an actor. They say, what do you do? I say, I put smiles on faces and I help others to do the same. That’s what I do. So but if you want to perform, my suggestion is, don’t. No, it’s not, it’s not a very easy to make, easy to make a living today, you should definitely try, though there’s if you want it and you I would never, ever. I never took an acting class in my life. I did three Broadway shows. What I’ve been in movies that have been nominated for Academy Awards. What?!
SS:
You’ve talked about, you know, your your kind of introduction to comedy and improv is that, would that be the same for people who are looking to get into voice over work?
AS:
There’s a lot of opportunity out there. It’s not like it used to be. I mean, I should literally be able to pay my mortgage just from doing a couple of commercials, because they would run nationally. But it doesn’t work that way anymore. Now they’re, they’re shorter runs, they’re they’re specifically for only spot TV or cable or or internet. Use Only. And our Union did not really handle that well. When that first came up, they kind of tabled it like one it was, there were like 95 pilots for new shows and everything coming up. We signed that agreement that next week there was one and 98 webisodes. So I knew years ago that this is changing very much in a voice world. It’s it’s not going to be around for much longer, because the AI is extremely impressive. And if I myself have a budget and I’m putting together an animated show and I need something, all I have to do is prompt something, give it, get a voice flavor, tweak it up, down, and just keep improving on the prompts until it gives you exactly what you want. You don’t have to hire animators, you don’t have to hire voice people, you don’t have to hire any of it, and you yourself, all by yourself, can create something amazing. So I’m not, I’m not happy about it, but I’m not against it. It’s what is. So I’m kind of looking to embrace it as best I can.
SS:
Okay, so do you think that for people are looking to get into the field and be more on the AI side and the performance side?
AS:
it’s, that’s what that’s what happens, I mean, but there are things like voice 123, dot com, voices.com, up there a bunch of these sites that now that’s how a lot of it’s done. A lot of I used to go to, like a Heineken commercial quite often. Now they’re, they’re done completely non union, and they don’t even have a casting directive, they just put it out. And instead of me going up against 40 people on a casting, I’m up against 400 people on a casting, so I still get my fair share. But in general, it’s not what it used to be, and they don’t run as long, so it’s not as profitable as people as it used to be people in the voice over business, and it was, it was, it was very, very, uh, lucrative, but it’s just very different. And again, my passion really isn’t there anymore. I mean, I’ll do it. I’m doing it now. I’m on a couple of shows. I have a lot of fun doing it. But again, it doesn’t take up my whole day. We record it, maybe hours, maybe a couple of days, and then that’s it. You do Broadway, you do it. It runs for three weeks, six months, eight months, then it’s done no job. So I’ve had to, kind of, throughout all this time, do other stuff. And the speaking the writing book, I’ve never in a million years thought I could write a book, let alone it, people would actually like it. But now that that’s kind of my goal is to, is to travel wherever I can and and again, the dollar is not the main thing for me. If I if I, if I run everything through my agent or my manager or the speaker bureau that I work with, it gets expensive because, again, they value me. Because he’s been on Broadway, he’s done all these, all this stuff, they value me in some way that, in my opinion, is sometimes it’s taking me out of the loop for places that I actually would do. And I don’t care what they can handle, if they can make it work, I’ll make it work, you know? So that’s kind of my main goal. And again, you know, if you want to do something with his voice acting, whether it’s a just a community theater or your high school play, do it so you fail. Oh, that’s how you learn. That’s how you get better. You fail. You get better. Mistakes, you get better. Play Mario Brothers, oh, I got hit by a turtle next. Oh, I got hit by the Turtle again. Who jump over the turtle? I go further. Think of it that way. You know a little keep doing it over and over, and you know how to get to the and not get eaten by the big the plant.
SS:
Absolutely. What advice would you give to family members that want to be supportive of their neurodivergent loved one that’s pursuing their passion?
AS:
Read up on what ADHD is and how you can be affected by it when it’s not you that has it the relationships you have. There are books out there. I can’t think of any particular because there are a lot of them about having a relationship with someone who’s ADHD. Support them as best they can. You know, there but there’s also reality. I mean, I will never tell someone who has no pitch, no key, no tempo, that they should continue to perform. I will be very honest to say, I hate to tell you, kiddo, you’re a little off note. You’re not on key, and I’m not sure if that it’s something that is going to be your thing. It might not be your thing. You could always do it. And anyone should dance, everyone should sing, always. You should never cut yourself off of that. But doing it as a professional, there is kind of a level. It’s like, if you want to say I’m what, I want to go be a an NFL football player. I might be big enough, but I can’t play five. I could throw a ball. I could catch a ball, but somebody in my face, I want to deal with it, but it’s a skill set that you got to learn. And it doesn’t matter what it is performing wise, it’s definitely you got the order acting and performing is the is make believe that the audience is willing to believe, and if they don’t believe it, I would not suggest doing and the best way is put yourself on video. Record something and watch it. Do you believe it? Because if you believe it, then go for it. If you look at it and you see, wow, that’s really stiff. I do not believe that’s really the person saying the words, then you might want to try something else.
SS:
Can you tell us about some of the training you provide?
AS:
Yeah, well, right, I do. I do a lot of stuff, coaching with ADHD kids. I’ve done a lot of virtual like with, you know, the zoom and the meets and all these fun, fun stuff. I do on Thursdays. I teach a class here it’s, you got to be in 10 to fly New Jersey. I do it on Thursdays. I’ve been doing it for a decade. I teach kids, teens, adults, improv on Thursdays, and I get them to get out of their head. I do a lot of stuff where I do come and do speaking events that I do in schools, where I could do one large event with a whole bunch of people. Or what I really like is I’ll do something, you know, an assembly or something, and then I’ll go, they’ll put me in a room, and they send me class after class, and I get to instead of kids who have questions or who really embarrassed to ask the question or or didn’t want to get up. Now, it’s a much more intimate, smaller group, and I’m able to really let you answer questions and put them through tests, not tests, but games and exercises that shows that, oh, wow, I could do that. I didn’t know I could do that, and it makes him feel good. So when I walk into a room and there’s someone who’s like this, and when I leave, they’re like this, that’s gold. That’s that’s what it’s all about for me. So I’m reachable, and I do things. I’ve done things from em seeing to all different kinds of stuff, coaching, em, seeing, facilitating workshops. But again, right now I’m pitching my book and my stuff, talking about saying yes, asking for what you want. Get rid of your ego and status. Treat people differently because you have no idea what’s going on. Not to not treat people differently. People are treated differently because they have this invisible difference. Nobody knows I have ADHD unless I mention it. And what I do is I have I have ADH I have hyper awareness. So I can, you probably have noticed that I could talk and talk and talk, and if I’m in business, this will frustrate the heck out of someone else. They want to get a word in, and they can’t, because I’m just so I have a word. I call it fire truck, and I hand it to the person. And this goes with anyone I do business with, anyone I have I’m gonna have a relationship with. I let them know very early. Hey, listen, my brain works a little differently. I’m hyper aware of everything, and sometimes I’m hyper in general, and I get passionate about something, and I could talk, and I could continue to talk, and we have stuff that needs to get done. And when that happens and you’re getting frustrated, do not feel bad about saying fire truck, because what it does, it immediately tells me, Oh, I’m doing it. I’m doing that thing. Let me not do that thing. Let me let you get a word in Edge wise. So if you can find your own little safe word, I guess you’d call it, yeah, everyone I know knows that fire truck. Fire truck. That’s a great story of how it came up. But that’s, that’s, that’s my word.
SS:
That’s awesome. How can people learn more about you and your work?
AS:
Well, you could. I don’t really. I don’t do social that’s one thing that’s hindering some people from booking me is because they don’t have any social media or video stuff online. I I’m just not into it. In fact, I’m really, I preach against clicks, likes, follows, all that stuff, because it’s fantasy. It’s crap. People walk by and hit it. Oh, I got like and it really, it does affect you. You post something and your friends are getting all these likes and you’re not getting likes. Maybe I’m not good enough. Forget about it. So I do have all the socials. There’s nothing really on them. I have AdamSietz.com, I have, I have a couple companies. Improvolutions, is being done right now, so I don’t think that site is up, but it’s improvolutions, improv-solutions. I have a company called comedyation, which is comedy and mediation, turning your conflicts into comedy. Big hug productions. We used to do a lot of content creation, but now we kind of help other people take an idea. I’ve had people come with me literally a paragraph of an idea, and by the time we’re all done with they have a complete pitch pack and a Bible for a new television show with characters developed future episodes, the environment, the history. And that’s another thing to share. When you’re telling stories, people make them colorful. Add more. Let them taste it, smell it, feel it. Add more. Words. Don’t be very brief. Color it. Paint it up, because the more there. And that’s also where you’ll find that funny. And again, as I said before, adamsietz.com/summitgiveaway, you could go ahead and download my book. The funniest factor, instead of going to pay 20 bucks for it, it’s my gift. Anyone that wants it.
SS:
And so if somebody wanted to reach out to you, Adam, what would like, if somebody wanted to hire you and inquire about your services, what would be the best way for them to reach out and get in touch with you?
AS:
On adamsietz.com There’s now a Calendly. Some of you have heard of that thing. It’s very new to me, but I love it. And you can go there, and if there’s an open spot, click on it and take that spot, I’ll know immediately. Hey, somebody wants to talk to me about something. And again, I’m very blessed. I’ve got time on my hands. If I’m not doing something today, I’m not doing anything today, tomorrow, I’ll have something that’s from three to seven over. Than that I’m free. And if that’s the case, you won’t have that option to choose that time. So it’s really very cool. That’s one way. Also my number is 917972CACA, that’s 529179725252, and if I don’t, if I’m busy, I won’t answer it. If I’m not, I’ll answer it. And I have no problem talking to anybody about anything, unless it’s like, oh, I don’t want to talk about that. Click. You know, creepy. But in general, I’m here, I’m here, and I’m here to help. That’s really kind of. My purpose at this point, is to help others, and, you know, again, to put smiles on faces and help others to do the same. Because with a smile, life is good. You get them to laugh that you’re selling something, whether, again, your idea, your opinion, whatever it is, they’ll buy in. They laugh. It’s all about likability. Everything’s about likability. If immediately you come out and do something and people don’t like you, doesn’t matter what you do, doesn’t really matter what you do, because they’ve already set themselves. And I don’t like this guy, and that’s how it is, that’s people are like that. And I used to really that would affect me, because I’m different, am I also used to be fat, as could be, like, really, really big. I’m still fat, but I’m not enormous. But even at that point, at 420 pounds, I was on Broadway. So you know what? Even at that point of your bottom, it’s things, good things could still happen. And those things, those things happen for me, because I began to just believe that I am okay. That’s really it. You are okay. You’re perfect, just the way you are. If you weren’t, you’d be something else, maybe a potato, I don’t know.
SS:
Adam, it’s been great speaking with you. Keep up the great work.
AS:
Absolutely, it’s my pleasure. Shawn, as always, Big hugs.
