Danny Ricker
speaker
101 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard Apr 2025
Danny Ricker’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
I have two kids. I have an 11-year-old and a 7-and-a-half-year-old.
Thanks. You know, it actually, it was Jimmy's idea for me to write it, actually. Oh, no way. Yeah, yeah. So, like, we, at our show every day, you know, on top of all of our topical material, Jimmy, you know, for many years asked that we submit just one little observational, non-topical thought.
And we didn't even really have like a set way we were going to use them, but he goes, I kind of like having these. And every once we'd have a bit where we need some observational humor, he's like, Oh, let's go back and look in that big document of observations. But so, you know, I was doing this for years and mostly, you know, I'd be sitting right here going like, okay, what, what do I observe?
And I had two little kids. So like every day, my non-topical observation was something about my kids. Yeah. And, and, and he always really liked them. And eventually after doing this for years, he was like, we have no use for this on our show.
Like, obviously like he's not going to do like material about my kids on our, you know, on our talk show or whatever, but he goes, you should try writing like a book. And I kind of, the initial thought was, you know, like a page a day kind of, you know, like one observation piece.
per day kind of thing and um but then we went like well maybe i can also kind of make that a bigger thing i don't know so i just i printed all these things out and i laid them on the floor and i went like okay what's like my what's the general theme of these like 200 thoughts i i have here and i think the general theme yeah chaos yeah
But I think what I realized was like, generally speaking, I'm a very practical person and parenting is the most impractical process like ever. And so I went, okay, like, so what, you know, if I'm going to write a book like about parenting, what is the idea? And, you know, kind of the structure I got to was I read a lot of self-help books. You know, that's mostly what I read. Join the club.
And I feel like with every self-help book, it's like, okay, here's the problem that's ruining your life, and I'm going to solve it in three steps, basically. And then everything will be perfect for you.
yeah exactly yeah that's the phase i'm in now but um but yeah so so then i went like okay so what's the problem i think i just realized i go yeah i am i'm no longer like a person i used i used to be a person and i had hobbies and friends i saw and all these things and now i'm just i'm like my kids service animal basically and and so kind of the faux premise of my faux self-help book is how to parent less and then kind of get your your life back so you can go back to living your life
And, you know, again, it's a comedy book. It's a collection of comedy essays. But I will say, as I as I've read through it again, as now that it's like printed up in a real book, I go, you know, not everything is bullshit in here. There are kind of like some decent ideas and they're all based on real things I've observed as a parent. So, you know, generally speaking, the book is humor.
But my hope is that parents will read it and feel seen a little bit and go, oh, yeah, actually, I go through this on a daily basis, too. And, you know.
Yes. I, I'm by my nature, I'm also a very organized person and you know, it's, it's hard for me just to like let things go sometimes. But you know, I, I do enjoy it too. I enjoy being a parent. And that was one thing when I started writing the book, I was like, I don't want this to be like a anti-kid book. I actually like really enjoy being a dad. It's just that like I'm, I'm
at constant odds with like, okay, like, am I going to engage in this ridiculous thing I'm being sucked into here? Or am I just going to like exercise a little just stoicism and, you know, put something at arm's length? And, you know, really what I'm trying to look for in the book is like corners you can cut that won't affect your kids negatively, right?
You know, it's like sometimes like you really – You do things because, like you said, you feel like you're supposed to like, you know, you're like, oh, you know, you're supposed to sew your kids Halloween costume by hand. It's like, like, what? Why? Like, are you you're not being graded or whatever. And it's like, you know what? Twelve dollars on Amazon.
Exactly. They're going to be just as happy.
So I, you know, it was trying to like take the self-imposed ridiculousness that I feel like we're doing either for show for other parents or, you know, generationally, we feel like we're supposed to do, or our kids will grow up to be serial killers, you know, if we don't do X, Y, and Z. And, you know, I, I think ultimately they don't need much other than just like, you know, they need to know you love them and you got to take them to get ice cream every once in a while.
And, you know, that's about it.
those covers a little bit and i think that's good i think it's a good thing thank you yeah you know like i you know i never remember a time where like my dad like sat on the floor and like played with me for two hours and i will say neither and i will say i my i have a fantastic father i love my dad so much and it was but it was just a just a difference in generational stuff and so you know i and i don't
I think it's good that we sit and play with our kids now, too. But I think we can go a little too far sometimes, too, because we just we feel like we've been, you know, nowadays it's like, well, the kids in charge and whatever the kid says they need, you can give them. And so, you know, I think like with all things, it's balanced. And I don't know if you guys have read The Anxious Generation.
I have. That book kind of hit me like a ton of bricks, too. And I think a lot of people would say maybe he recommends things that are too far. But I think there were so many things in there that kind of speak to this, too, where it's like, yeah, kids can have a little independence. One of the metaphors he talks about in that book I love is there's these trees in Hawaii. And they're so strong.
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