... isn't easy. Just ask In The Red Room co-host Pete McKeon. If he's not at the ND Law School or on the links, McKeon is with Fr. Ralph in laugh factory that is the Red Room. Whether it's prepping guests in the Green Room or taping in Red Room, McKeon is present every week delivering the yucks and laughs on queue for the listeners. Never shy to share his opinion nor step into and stay in the lime light, McKeon was all to happy to answer a few questions and let us all know what it's like to be a part of campus' most favorite and popular podcast.
St Ed: Never at a loss for words and laughs automatic, you have rocketed to stardom in the Steds world with your appearance as the dependable, humorous, and effervescent, but yet sardonically reverent, co-host of the In The Red Room. But yet, at the same time, you’re a third year law student AND senior assistant rector at Steds. What’s your secret to wearing so many hats AND doing it so well?
McKeon: Still is. Well the obvious secret to being able to wear so many hats is big-headedness. But, in actuality, I think it all spawns from a deep-seeded sense of self-consciousness; I look terrible in actual hats. I am not a hat guy. I think I seek to make up for that by wearing many proverbial hats. Whether I wear those well or not is a matter of opinion, but if it seems like I do, I owe it all to my gracious co-host.
St Ed: Now, I hear that it gets a little rambunctious in the Red Room during the tapings of podcasts. Sometimes it’s so boisterous in there that it if we you were in another hall, it would need to be shut down immediately. How can so much mirth and levity be so concentrated? And is it even healthy to be so?
McKeon: For all you readers out there, Mirth and Levity is actually the name of a traveling show Fr. Ralph and I plan to put on this summer. It'll be a massive endeavor, spanning the entirety of the Mishawaka area.
In terms of how it can be so concentrated- I have no clue. I think sometimes you just capture lighting in a bottle. Or mirth. As regards health, if my general health is any indicator, we may want to dial the M&L back just a tad. Although I have a funny feeling my relative invalidity may have more to do with the inordinate amount of red meat I consume, in lieu of a personality.
St Ed: Saturday Night Live actors of the late 70’s and early 80’s often spoke of pre-show rituals to help set the mood for the show. In the production of the podcast, do you and the cast have any pre-taping rituals? Maybe a cup of tea, coffee, or something else? Maybe some take out from Ruby Tuesday’s or the Olive Garden?
McKeon: While takeout from Ruby Tuesday's or Olive Garden actually pairs remarkably well with mirth and levity, I think it can only have a negative effect on my aforementioned health troubles. However, I have been known to take a coffee into the Red Room for taping every now and then. I also like to keep the show feeling as natural as possible so I do as little prep work as I can prior to each recording- a skill I've mastered in my near 7 year career here at Notre Dame.
St Ed: I noticed FunTan is mentioned a lot in the tapings. What’s up with that?
McKeon: If you have to ask, no explanation will suffice. They simply know how to get you tan.
St Ed: Will you be going to Guam anytime soon?
McKeon: As soon as I win the next $500 travel voucher offered by the University.
St Ed: Other than the Law, what are you reading these days?
McKeon: Reading a lot of greens mostly- poorly, might I add. But I'll also find myself leafing through the warn pages of my Jane Austen collection on occasion. After all, "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
St Ed: If I took you to the Olive Garden, what would you order?
McKeon: Chicken and gnocchi soup, and the seafood alfredo. Accompanied by one of their famous Italian Margaritas- just like they make back in the old country.
St Ed: And Alexander wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. With you graduating at the end of the semester, there will be much weeping indeed! Do you have any advice for your brother, Nate, as he takes up the co-host chair?
McKeon: The only advice I can give him is to know that he is in the best of hands with his co-host. As long as he follows your lead, the show will continue on its meteoric rise to glory.
St Ed: I shan’t deny you an open mic... any parting shots for our readership and listenership?
McKeon: I generally prefer my parting shots to accompany my Italian Margaritas at Olive Garden. But, I would like to send a special shout out to all of my school teachers throughout the years who would tell me things like "you'll never be on a podcast with your Rector in your third year of law school" and "if you flunk gym again you won't graduate middle school". Look at me now.
BUT WAIT... LISTEN TO MCKEON NOW...
