Mike Tully, Exposed!

@bitPimps and @AZ_RedDragon get a chance to have a Q & A session with Michael Tully, who was smart enough to get into Oxford, yet New Jersey enough to work with fart jokes.

In an interview somewhere, it was written that you three don’t really have much in common and therefore don’t hang out much. Is that still or was it ever true? Have you all gotten closer and hang out more?
Five hours a day is plenty most days, plus emails, plus we do Death! Death! Die! together, make movies together, do website stuff together, etc. When we’re not working, we generally go our separate ways. That having been said, the experience and history of making the show together is a pretty strong bond.

Does your wife enjoy or share your sense of humor on the show? Does she ever listen to the show? And will we ever hear your wife as a quick guest on the show?
God bless her, she’s never listened for a second. I tell her the stuff that happens on air that I think she’ll find funny, but for the most part she’s far too cool to care about my job.

You have known Cullen for quite a while. Did you meet through work or were you friends before either of you started working in radio? Give the scoop the relationship between you two?
Bryan found an ad I placed in a music newspaper called the East Cost Rocker. It said (I kid you not) “14 year-old guitarist tired of the bullshit.” We were in bands together in our teens, then he got into radio and then helped me get started.

You like to cook. Some chef’s don’t like to reveal their secrets, but would you give us your recipe for your salsa?
Mexican is more my wife’s forte, so my salsa recipe is her salsa recipe. But sure: Grill red peppers until they’re pretty well charred, then chill. Remove the stem and guts and chop. Mix with chopped tomato, red onion, cilantro, kosher salt and one or two chopped chili peppers. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s the basic thrust of it. (The Mexicans have gotten an amazing amount of mileage out of six or seven basic ingredients.)

If you could go back in time, would you: A) Puke on Carson Daly’s dick, B) Kick DanOD5 out of EllisMania 8, C) Start punching Rawdog in the dick during his internship, or D) Not masturbate on that bus The Jingleberries keep reminding us about?
A-C don’t really move me. Masturbation has been very good to me in general, but if I had to pick, I’d go with D.

Whether joking or not, has your wife ever called you “Round Eye”, “8 Mile”, “Gai-ko”, or “Baijo”? And have you ever called her “Yoko”, “Bomb Watcher”, “Godzilla Snack”, or “Bukakke Warrior”?
I’m glad you asked me this, because I often feel like, when we mention my ‘Asian wife,’ some people are picturing a mail order bride. She’s from Japan, but she was raised in Milwaukee. (To reiterate, that’s her salsa recipe above.) At one point or another, I’ve called most of the women in my life ‘Yoko,’ but that’s never been a race-based thing.

During the Barefoot Adventures of Tully, what was the craziest thing that you have ever done or encountered?
In retrospect, riding the NYC subway was a pretty deranged thing to do.

Were you happy during your break from the show, or did you miss it?
You know how, when you finish high school, or college, or however far you go in school, you realize that your last summer vacation is the last extended time off you’ll have until you’re too old for it to matter? Yeah…..No, I did not mind having nowhere I needed to be for a year. And besides, there were always reasons for me to stop by the show.

What moment stands out to you the most during your time on The Jason Ellis Show?
Hard to pick a single one. When I go home tired from laughing, or when we’re in the zone for an extended period of time, that always feels good. I like it when we’re doing something that the three of us find funny that I know no other radio show would ever be doing. And I liked the time Slash and I bonded over using the same guitar picks (Tortex extra thick).

What is your favorite memory from any of the Ellismania events?
I would be lying if I did not say it was one of the times when a roomful of people were chanting my name. That’s not something I ever expected to happen, under any circumstances. The first couple Taintstick shows at Wasted Space had a great ‘Is this really happening?’ vibe to them.

Are you still writing screenplays in your spare time?
Yes. I don’t have much spare time but, now that my album is done, other than the show and the new D!D!D! album, I have something I’m really hoping to finish up (sports drama).

Your CD “Retrofit”, is it something you’ve always wanted to do, or something you did because you currently have the resources available? And why is Rawdog so jealous that he wouldn’t play it on New Music Tuesday?
More about the resources. I had a bunch of old semi-finished songs, and I realized there was no reason not to have recordings of them. I’m so glad I did that, and so thankful to Christian for helping make it so great. It’s funny and minutely endearing that Josh has so much integrity about NMT. I hope everyone can tell that I don’t actually care about his (admittedly hateful) snub.

Sophies choice, Jason or Josh. Josh is young with his entire life ahead of him but Jason has kids and a radio career on the rise, or do you scrap them both and start The Mike Tully Show?
I’m not sure I understand the question. If you’re saying we hypothetically have to remove one guy from the show, then I hypothetically start writing a glowing reference for Josh right now.

Is there anything else you would like to say, shoutout, plug, or just get off your chest?
Really just thanks. Between the last Ellismania and my album release, I’ve had a lot of contact with listeners recently, and a lot of reminders of how much I really like 90% of them.

THE END

Shout out to @possiblytully for taking the time to answer our questions and for all the laughs he gives us on the radio! He’s smarter than you and he has his own album on the charts, what do you got besides a whorish mother?
You can buy Tully’s new album “Retrofit” on Amazon or iTunes.
You can listen to & download the free tracks “Auto-da-Fe” and “Will a Blank” on Tully’s BandCamp page.

Related posts: The Musical Mind of Mike Tully, interviewed by Nate Phillips
2012: This Year In Tully Images