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I Made It To Jubitz

By Brian Farrell

I had heard about Jubitz Truck Stop in Portland, Oregon from a truck driver friend of mine a few years ago. Whenever his routes led him to the trucker’s paradise that is Jubitz, he’d take pictures, send me souvenirs and text me, “Guess where I am? You guessed it...Jubitz!” We’d laugh and it became a weird comedy bit that never got old. I now have five Jubitz trucker hats, two Jubitz coffee mugs, a Jubitz tumbler, Jubitz bottle opener, bumper stickers, and a Jubitz sweatshirt. Excessive? After visiting this past weekend, I think not.

Monroe “Moe” Jubitz founded this iconic rest stop that encapsulates Americana and comfort in 1952 with a mission to provide truckers the best in customer service and cater to all their needs. I can attest that his mission was successful. I salute you, Moe.

I stayed overnight at Jubitz’s Portlander Inn - a lovely hotel. When checking in to my room, the front desk lady, Robin, chuckled while commenting on me wearing my Jubitz trucker hat, “I see you’re all decked out in Jubitz gear.” “You betcha! I’m thrilled to be here!” I replied. Robin humored me for longer than she had to when I flooded her with questions about everything Jubitz.

Jubitz has all the basics that a traveling trucker might need or want and more; a top notch laundromat, clean showers, a post office, Jubitz has a movie theater! The Jubitz Cinema! Nosferatu was playing there when I was visiting. There’s a barber, conference rooms, a massage parlor, a truck driver museum, the Jake Brake Deli, Cascade Grill - best pancakes I’ve ever had and eggs cooked perfectly over easy, live entertainment with some of the best underground country acts at the Ponderosa Lounge and Grill, and Moe’s Deli.

The customer service there was first rate. Welcoming, friendly, informative and fun. I bought a few souvenirs to ship off to friends and I could see that I amused the fella ringing me up when I asked him if they had a gift wrapping service. They didn’t. But they should! I’ll make sure to put that on my comment card next visit. I felt like I was visiting the Disneyland of Truck Stops.

Feelings of guilt started to creep in while I was there. Imposter syndrome. That voice saying, “I’m a fraud. I’m not a truck driver. I’m just taking advantage of the best aspects of this culture - trucker life, but not putting in the work to deserve this enjoyment.” I have deep admiration and appreciation of truck drivers. Virtually everything we buy has been delivered by a truck driver. It’s a tough job, and here I am yucking it up and having fun at their place of respite. It took a close friend of mine to tell me that it’s okay that I’m here and that I’m contributing to this community by being a customer. I paid for a room, bought fudge at Moe’s Deli, bought souvenirs, and tipped well for both meals I enjoyed at the Cascade Grill. Those Jubitz burgers were tasty.

As with many things in my life that begin with me joking about it, this was no exception, I became my parody - a Jubitz fanatic. I’m not a truck driver...yet, but I sure enjoyed visiting Jubitz Truck Stop this past weekend. If you find yourself in Portland, in addition to experiencing the beautiful parks and hip city restaurants and venues, I strongly recommend paying Jubitz a visit.

Try the fudge at Moe’s Deli!

#Jubitz

A short film I wrote and directed called South Pasadena 4 🦚

#short films #Youtube

A short film I made called South Pasadena 3

#comedy #brian farrell #short films #comedy shorts #Youtube

Irish History 101 - St. Patrick’s Day

On the day of March 16, in the year of 432 or 464, an Irish farmer named O'Malley or O'Connor or something, I forget, was tending to his potatoes, while batting down pesky slithering reptiles from climbing up his long leather leggings, when all of a sudden he cried out, "Tees snakes r drivin' me batty!"

Upon that next morning, today, March 17, 1500 somewhat odd years ago, Farmer O'Malley or O'Connor, the exact name escapes me, hears a raucous outside and of all sorts of commotion. As he looks out his barn door window, he sees an enormous wagon being pulled by droves of boisterously loud and playful leprechauns.Thousands and thousands of slithery slimy pesky snakes are sliding their way up and in that massive wagon. Sitting atop a fashioned mast of the wagon is a priestly St. Patrick waving a wand and barking orders at the rambunctious team of lil' leprechauns. Farmer O'Malley or O'Connor smiles and shouts,"Tenks a million St. Paddy fer riddin' me farm from tose pesky sneeaks!" To which St. Patrick replies, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"And we never saw another snake in Ireland ever again. The snakes were humanely escorted to the Irish Sea.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

#st patrick's day 2021

RIP Mary Overlie

A revolutionary contributor to theater died today, Mary Overlie. I don’t know much about Mary, nor did I ever meet her, but she was the founder of the Six Viewpoints, which I found that when I moved to Los Angeles, none of my actor friends had heard of. The Viewpoints are a dialogue directors and actors can have when creating a performance piece. In my opinion, they are a very useful tool in creating beautiful theater. The Six Viewpoints are Space, Time, Shape, Emotion, Movement, and Story.

I learned about Viewpoints from Ann Bogart’s student, Yelena Gluzman, at Columbia University in New York City where she was in the directing program. I had the good fortune to work with Yelena who was using the Viewpoints to direct her plays that I acted in, and lucky me, I was just an actor in New York and didn’t have to pay the tuition.

To me, the Viewpoints are all about awareness of concepts to be explored, a shorthand between a director and an actor. In rehearsals for Buster Keaton’s Outing, by Federico Garcia Lorca, Yelena would say to us actors, “Architecture!” That would mean we would be aware of our bodies and how they create and relate to the architecture of the mise en scene. I’d find my mind’s eye opening up to what the audience would see on stage and try to artfully adjust the way I was sitting or standing to create a more interesting architecture. When Yelena would say to us actors, “Play with repetition and duration.” All of a sudden, how often and fast or slow we moved became the focus of our exploration. I remember performing in Buster Keaton’s Outing in front of her class that Robert Woodruff was teaching and thinking, “This is incredible! I’m spouting the text of Federico Garcia Lorca while slowly moving across the stage carrying a giant mannequin’s leg and that’s Robert F’n Woodruff!”

RIP Mary Overlie

Thank you for creating the Viewpoints.

#directing #mary overlie

The Canvasser Always Rings Twice by Brian Farrell

Actually, a canvasser should only ring someone’s doorbell once. A second ring of the doorbell is rude, but knocking a second time if nobody comes to the door after waiting 30-40 seconds isn’t as obtrusive.

The reason it’s important to knock a second time is that in this day and age people get packages delivered to their doorsteps all the time. Delivery people only knock once and scram. People don’t always go outside to get their packages right away. I know I sometimes think, “Oh those must be my Blue Blocker sunglasses that I ordered a few weeks ago. I’ll get those later.” If someone knocks a second time, the resident will most likely think, “Someone must actually want me to open the door to talk to them.”

The art of the knock is extremely important when it comes to door-to-door canvassing. It’s literally the first impression the resident has of the canvasser unless they happened to see the canvasser approach the house. First impressions are important as we all know. You don’t want to knock too softly, because it’s kinda creepy and the resident might not even hear it. You don’t want to knock too loudly, because it will be jarring and you might sound like a SWAT team. The key to the perfect knock is making it loud enough for them to hear it, it has a catchy beat, and has friendly inviting vibes behind it. You want the resident to think, “Well, who’s that friendly person knocking so pleasantly on my door?” Not “WHATTYA WANT?! YOU SCARED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUTTA ME!”

“Skater Dude Signs Up for Amnesty International” by Brian Farrell

I was canvassing door-to-door in Venice, California on behalf of Amnesty International and this may sound cliché, but I knocked on the door of a skater dude’s residence. I know he was a skater dude, because when he opened his door he was holding a skateboard and told me he was just about to go for a sunset skate session. He sounded like a skater dude too. “Oh, hey Dude! Just about to go for my sunset skate sesh. What’s up, Brah?”

Maybe it was my improv training, but I then instinctually switched my way of speaking to sound like a skater dude. The scene became about two skater dudes talking about the world and humanity and stuff. It was beautiful and I got to summon my inner skater dude as I told him all about the refugee crisis peppering in a lot of “dudes” and “rads.”. His eyes widened like all of what I was saying was just now sinking in and he says to me, “Whoa Dude! It’s so rad you’re doing this! Did you hear that psychedelic mushrooms have been decriminalized in Colorado, Dude?” A little off topic, but that’s okay. “I did hear that, Dude! People are finally waking up! Psychedelics are awesome, Dude!” He agreed with me that psychedelics are awesome.

The skater dude and I talked in our stony skater dude lingo about skateboarding and how the human race might actually be waking up to the fact that we are all one and need to come together and that love and compassion will be what saves us. The skater dude signed up to be a monthly sustainer for Amnesty International and then he cruised off into the sunset on his skateboard. I then went back to my normal non-skater dude way of speaking for the rest of the day.

“The Legend of Cary the Canvasser” by Brian Farrell

Cary had lived ten lives before he got a job as a canvasser. He looked like an Okie from The Grapes of Wrath. Tall, lanky, pale white skin, used pomade in his thin blond hair, and always buttoned his shirt to the top button.

Cary was in his 50s or 60s and hailed from a small town in Mississippi. He spoke with a slow southern drawl and chain smoked Newport menthols. I remember him caking on the SPF 150 sunblock on his face and neck every day and he’d wear a camping hat with a long brim. Poor Cary barely ever got a single person to sign up to be a member of Amnesty International. I think residents were creeped out by him. He looked like a ghost. He might’ve actually been a ghost.

Cary would ask me for advice on how I was able to sign up so many people to become members of Amnesty International. Aside from him being a little slow on the uptake, his main problem was early interruptions from residents. People will often say to a canvasser at the door, “Yes, I care about the refugee crisis, but...(insert excuse to not want to talk to canvasser).” I suggested to Cary that he focus on them caring and zero in on that before they are able to come up with an excuse, but if they have an excuse like they’re in the middle of cooking dinner, acknowledge it and let them know that you will keep what you have to say really brief. For example, “Thank you so much for caring! I’ll keep this really short and sweet and let you get back to cooking dinner.” It’s got to be snappy and authentic, while at the same time respecting and acknowledging the resident’s time. Residents might still not allow you to get your pitch out, but you certainly increase your odds.

Cary misinterpreted my advice and called my method, “The Brian Rollover.” He thought I meant for him just to steamroll over the person no matter what they say. He would talk really slowly over people until they shut the door in his face. There’s an element of active listening that Cary lacked.

Cary was a hard worker and really wanted to succeed as a canvasser and would knock on at least 100 doors a shift. His catch phrase at the end of the shift when you asked him how his day went, he’d say, “I tried to use The Brian Rollover and got close to signing a few people up, so I’m weary and satisfied.” He loved saying, “Weary and satisfied.” Like he’d just come back from bailing hay all day for ten cents an hour.

In 2003, when I was playing in my Guns N Roses tribute band, a hobo named Traveling Travis would show up to every show of ours at The Cat Club on the Sunset Strip. His signature dance move was gyrating his pelvis while aggressively casting spells on everyone with his hands.

Traveling Travis might've been in his 70s. Might've been a vet, because he dressed in tattered army fatigues. Didn't know too much about him. Then one show, no Traveling Travis. He sure left an impression though. He loved Guns N Roses and he loved to dance.

Memories are sensorial and Double T sure smelled awful. Like a stale bourbon soaked trash can. Regardless, kudos to The Cat Club for never charging him a cover and giving him a place to dance and cast his spells while we played Guns N Roses' hits.

Sometimes I would see Traveling Travis on the corner of Fairfax and Sunset gyrating his pelvis and aggressively casting spells on the cars driving by, which made me think it wasn't always our Guns N Roses music that inspired him to dance that signature dance.

#travelingtravis #sunsetstrip #guns 'n roses #catclub

Theater and Canvassing by Brian Farrell

Canvassers are activists. The word “act” is in the word “activist.” Canvassers act and motivate others to take action.

My background is 20 years of acting, improv and stand-up comedy. I’ve also recited a lot of Shakespeare. Words are powerful, but if they’re not said with intention, they don’t reach their full potential, so I approached being a Canvass Director like I was the director of a traveling Shakespearian minstrel show. I got to cast the show (hire people), and I directed the rehearsals (trained them).

My canvassing team trained every day before we went out into the field and I viewed the training like rehearsal for a play. Out in the field was “The Show,” because when someone opens their door after a canvasser knocks on it, it’s lights on - showtime baby! You’ve got to be compelling in that first ten seconds, or most folks won’t want to even talk to that canvasser. There are a few exceptions and those are the people who are familiar with Amnesty International, have been meaning to get involved in helping to defend human rights and the timing was just right, but most of the time residents are in the middle of something and you need to make a compelling argument for them to want to stand there and have a conversation with you.

There’s a script that wasn’t written by Shakespeare, but it was effective and had a flow to it. This script or “pitch” as they call it in the fundraising business is memorized by all the canvassers, and like some actors do in more loose projects, the canvassers had the freedom to put the pitch into their own words if the words didn’t flow out of their mouths naturally.

I tried to make training fun within a rigid structure. We had a warm-up every day, dove into training by rehearsing the pitch and how to overcome the early interruptions and common objections, which I incorporated a lot of improv in. I can’t share the company secrets on the specifics of this training, but I added my theatrical sensibilities to the whole process. It brought me great joy to inspire the fire within to ignite a canvasser’s performance. I had a canvasser who wasn’t doing very well, and sometimes it just took finding what motivated that person to do this kind of work. I asked her, “Do you like that Trump is in office?” “NO!” she said emphatically. “Do you like how he is handling the situation at our border?” “NOOOO!” That’s all it took. She went out that day and signed up four new members of Amnesty International. I had another canvasser who recited his pitch to me in training and it was stale and uninspired. I asked this canvasser if he played music. He did. I then asked him if he ever played live. He had. This guy always came to work dressed looking cool. He was a cool rocker dude. I then said, “Bring that rockstar energy to the door. Every door, you gotta rock man!” He lit up and he had a successful day too. This was so fun seeing that I could draw performances out of these canvassers like the best directors can draw performances out of their actors.

After training, we’d have a team meeting where we shared campaign updates, set individual and team goals. This was my opportunity to do a little performing in front of a crowd, because I would usually lead these team meetings. I’d keep us on task, but try to throw a few zingers in there as well. That was always a good feeling when the old standup comedy chops would manifest and my team of canvassers would share a big laugh. We’d then have lunch and head off to turf.

It took me some time to find this system of running an office, but once I figured it out, it became extremely fulfilling, much like creating your own theater company and witnessing it flourish. Like any good theater company, wisdom is passed down. I had my mentors throughout the years and I used what I learned from them to help develop new leaders in my office. When we had to shut down operation due to COVID-19, I had at least three junior directors (trainers) who could run the day without me even being there. Every canvasser in that office was an all-star. There are no small canvassers only small...you know what I’m saying. Every moving part of that office made the success of the whole happen.

Canvassing On A Friday Night by Brian Farrell

I was canvassing in Echo Park on a Friday and I was knocking on doors in an accessible swanky apartment complex. It was around 7pm, which is the beginning of the golden hours of canvassing because most people are home and they’ve already had their dinner and were more relaxed and more likely to open their heart to making the world a better place. One door opens and there stands a tall buxom blonde woman and a slight skinny guy. The woman was wearing a skimpy leather dress with at top that exposed a lot of cleavage. I mean A LOT of cleavage. If I was a cartoon character, my eyes would’ve popped out of my head and I would’ve made the “AH-OOOOOOGA!” sound. The skinny guy standing next to her was dressed in a burgundy satin button down shirt, tight leather pants and might’ve been wearing a gold chain medallion around his neck. They were either playing dress up or dressed to nines to go out to the sexiest club in Hollywood. I then noticed that they were sharing a joint and were already pretty stoned. I say to them, “Hi. My name is Brian and I’m here on behalf of Amnesty International and we’re working on the refugee crisis and the situation at our border. Are these issues you care about?” The big blond woman says to me, “Oh yes we care.” The smaller skinny man echoes her saying, “We do. Yes.” I then go, “Awesome!” and went into my spiel. They are watching me talk about Amnesty and the refugee crisis while passing the joint back and forth. They even offer me a puff, which I politely decline, because I’m a professional. When I get to the end of my pitch, I see if they want to donate to Amnesty. The very friendly sexy big blonde woman says to me, “I don’t have any money. My parents pay for this apartment.” The man also doesn’t want to donate and had his money excuses as well. Good canvassers know how to overcome any kind of objections people have at the door, but because there was reefer involved, it’s not ethical to sign up intoxicated people, so I just said, “Are you sure you don’t want to join Amnesty?” and I pretended to smoke a joint. “It’s a ‘GRASS’ Roots campaign.” They laughed and loved it. They didn’t donate to Amnesty, but awareness was raised and laughs were had. I left and went on my merry way and they went back to doing whatever kinky things they had planned to do for the rest of their night.

Canvassing in Washington, D.C. vs. Los Angeles by Brian Farrell

In December of 2018, I won a nationwide canvassing competition that flew me to Washington, D.C. in February of 2019 to both canvass in D.C. and meet with Amnesty International officials. This was an incredible experience.

Canvassing in D.C. was interesting. I was knocking on the doors of actual politicians and people who worked in government. A lot of people were home too, because the government was shut down and folks were furloughed. I had to be on my game there, because I found that most of the residents of D.C., Maryland and Virginia all knew a lot about the refugee crisis and Amnesty International. They really knew. It was their life’s work to know.

The cool thing about canvassing in D.C. was that everyone was very familiar with canvassers and they knew the drill. “Hi Amnesty International! What is Amnesty working on these days?” people would say. This was so refreshing, because I was used to canvassing in Los Angeles where it is a mixed bag ranging from young bleeding heart liberals to faux liberals who pretend to care to ultra-rich conservatives to many language barriers to people who had never heard of Amnesty to recluses in the Hollywood Hills having moved into the hills to avoid interacting with people and someone knocking on their door is the weirdest thing they’ve ever experienced.

My goal in Los Angeles when I eventually became a Canvass Director was to normalize canvassing in Los Angeles and have the residents here view canvassers as they would view their friendly neighborhood mail carrier delivering messages on how they can make the world a better place. I think I was successful in that mission to some degree.

One fun thing I did to make the Los Angeles canvassing experience more fun for the canvassers and the residents was the selfie campaign I implemented with my team. After signing up new members for Amnesty we asked the resident if they wanted to be in a selfie. Most often they would say yes and a fun selfie would happen. Los Angeles is also the showbiz capital of the world, so coming from an acting and comedian background I was all about showtime at the door. I may not have known a million facts about the refugee crisis, but I could make the canvassing experience fun and funny. Just as when the director calls action on a movie set and the magic happens, I viewed canvassing the same way. When the door opens, lights are on and ACTION!

In Washington, D.C., I felt like people at the door wanted to test me to see if I actually knew what I was talking about, because they worked for the government and they were very aware of the issues and most likely already involved in some way or another. I enjoyed this test, because I found that I did know what I was talking about. Canvassing on Capital Hill blocks away from the White House, it was amazing to see how nearly everyone hated the man who was in that White House. I met government officials, lobbyists, judges, journalists, senators, congressmen and women. It was fun to be in the belly of the beast. Quite a contrast from Los Angeles. In LA, I signed up so many actors and actresses, producers, musicians, and artists to join Amnesty International in the fight to defend human rights. I even signed up a magician who gave me a pair of tickets to The Magic Castle. I love that place.

Meeting with Amnesty officials in D.C. at the Amnesty International USA headquarters was eye-opening. I felt like I was in an exclusive university and I treated it as such. I took notes.

Here are my notes that I wrote up:

AMNESTY MEETING February 2019

In most cases, refugees have no income, no savings, and are on the brink of starvation. Their situation is unsustainable. As a result, their ability to be positive agents in the world is on hold.

-refugees are often given one meal a day, a tarp and some sticks (very few resources to build housing)

-68 million displaced people in the world. 25.4 million recognized by the United Nations as refugees.

-Trump administration has cut the amount of refugees allowed in the United States to 30,000.

-Trump is trying to implement a “merit based” system of admitting refugees (ie. education, race, profession, etc). The United States has always been known to be nondiscriminatory when it comes to asylum seekers. We don’t handpick asylum seekers. A merit based system goes against what the United States has always stood for. Amnesty International is a strong proponent of “fair equitable asylum.”

Kakuma Refugee Camp

Adotei Akwei (Deputy, Advocacy and Government Relations - Amnesty International USA) gave a presentation on the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

-Kakuma is one of the largest refugee camps in the world with just under a million non-Kenyan refugees

-most refugee camps are run by women, because the men are off fighting, getting killed or trying to find work

-Kakuma is one of the oldest camps (multi-generational - many refugees have grandchildren)

-Kakuma is one of the better refugee camps and is a model for how refugee camps around the world can improve. It’s one of the better camps, because the refugees there are building small businesses (Kenyans visit the camp to buy goods), developing schools and agricultural systems

-countries put refugees where no one wants to live

-24 million refugees in Africa alone

-We need to change the way we think about refugees. They are simply trying to make better lives for themselves. Amnesty’s mission is to help refugees be agents of change for themselves by working as their allies.

-the three main goals Amnesty International is working to help provide for these refugees are: work, protection and access to education

-Some want to be resettled. Some want to go back to their country when the civil unrest has been resolved.

-Most refugees want to work, be educated and live with dignity.

“lobbying for fair equitable asylum and not a merit based system”

“lobbying governments to be a force for and not to undermine human rights and human dignity”

“positive agents of change”

“providing specialists in education development, helping refugees develop small businesses, and agricultural development” (ala the phrase “teach a man to fish”)

“assisting refugees find their footing in the country or neighboring countries they are seeking asylum”

Canvassing and Dealing with the LAPD by Brian Farrell

Over the past two years, I’ve had the cops called on me and my canvassers countless times by residents in Los Angeles. It’s usually just a paranoid resident making sure we aren’t casing houses to rob them later and when the police find out that we are a legitimate canvassing organization, they either let us get back to work or ask us to relocate.

Whenever I’ve had the cops called on me when I’m canvassing, the interaction would usually just entail the officers asking me what I’m doing. “I’m canvassing on behalf of Amnesty International.” Most of them know what that means. They would ask for my company’s information, and then they would let me get back to work. I had a canvasser actually sign up a cop to be a monthly sustainer for Amnesty. That’s pushing your luck usually.

Being a white male, I know that cops deal with me differently from people of color, so I constantly reminded myself that it can be downright terrifying to have the cops called on you in this country if you are a person of color, especially black males. I made a point to continually remind myself that I can’t know what it’s like to deal with that on a daily basis. I have had white privilege all my life and this job made it critically essential that I remind myself of this on a daily basis, because every day I send people of color out to canvass, they are literally risking their lives for the cause.

As a Canvass Director, I’ve had to familiarize myself with the laws regarding canvassing. One of the cool things about our country is that canvassing is protected by federal law. It goes back to the Revolutionary War days. Hypothetically, if all the systems go down (e.g., cell phones, internet, television, etc.), we still need a way to tell people “The British are coming!” On the other hand, if a resident asks you to leave their property, and you don’t, then you are trespassing. Knowing your rights as a canvasser is a way to be more relaxed when they approach you. Escalating the situation is never a good idea and if they ask you to leave the neighborhood, we would always comply. It’s not worth the fight. But, as I mentioned, the LAPD would usually let us continue knocking on doors after they investigated what we were doing.

I would continually remind my team of canvassers that we need to maintain a good relationship with the cops, because we may need them if a resident gets too hostile with us. In that case, we’ll be calling them.

With a very diverse team of canvassers of all backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities and ethnicities, it was important to me to make sure everyone knew I had their back and if the cops did treat them unprofessionally, I would be there as fast as I could or file a report against the police. Fortunately, I never had to do that.

The most awkward interaction with the police I had to deal with was when I was called by the Culver City police telling me they had one of my canvassers detained in their squad car. She had only been canvassing for a week on my team. I was only a couple blocks away. I got there as soon as I could and the officer very politely asked me a few questions about what we were doing and he told me that his partner was speaking with the resident who called the police to see if he wanted to press charges. The resident and the other officer returned and the resident explained to me that she had come to his door and started telling him about the refugee crisis. Normal. Our campaign for Amnesty was dealing with the refugee crisis. She then apparently lost her train of thought and then tried to grab his mid-section. He told her, “No!” But she kept trying to grab his privates. The officers told me that sexual assault is usually the other way around. It’s usually a man assaulting a woman, but not in this case. I apologized on behalf of our organization and the resident decided not to press charges. I took the canvasser back to the office and had to let her go. I imagine other Canvass Directors had to deal with much worse scenarios, and I’m thankful this was the strangest.

I had a canvasser on my team who was on the fast-track to becoming a Canvass Director. It was my job to teach her everything I knew about running a successful canvassing office so she could open her own office in Sacramento. On her last day working with me, she got the police called on her. It was the typical paranoid resident who called the Glendale PD to make sure we weren’t criminals. She handled it professionally, so it was fun to say to her,

“Congratulations! You’ve finally graduated from the Brian Farrell Canvass Director School when you get the cops called on you and you handle it professionally.”

Angry Resident Thinks He Speaks For the Neighborhood: A Canvassing Story by Brian Farrell

I knocked on a door in Culver City and this big angry guy opens the door, stares me down and tells me that nobody wants me to disturb them. He then told me to not knock on any doors in his neighborhood. I politely say, “Have a nice evening!” and walked off his property. Did I heed his advice? No. I walked to his neighbor’s house and knocked on their door. The big angry guy walks out of his house and yells, “DO NOT KNOCK ON MY NEIGHBOR’S DOOR!” I just ignore him. His neighbor wasn’t home anyway. I continue on my merry way going door-to-door knocking away and talking to people. I notice that the big angry guy is following me down the block. “I TOLD YOU TO NOT KNOCK ON MY NEIGHBORS’ DOORS!! NOBODY WANTS YOU HERE!” he screams. I then start walking towards him and try to explain to him that I’m only doing my job and that people actually do want the opportunity to talk about these issues and sign up for Amnesty International to fight for human rights. He says, “DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!” I stand my ground. He turns around and walks back down the block screaming “LEAVE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD!! NOBODY WANTS YOU HERE! YOU ARE DISTURBING MY NEIGHBORS!!!” I shrug my shoulders and continue on. Turns out, the big angry man was wrong. I signed up 3 of his neighbors to be monthly sustainers for Amnesty International. Some people think they own the neighborhood. That poor big angry man must be hurting inside. I feel for him. Sad big angry man. I wonder who he’s yelling at today.

I texted this selfie to a friend in September of 2018 to see if my attire was good for a job interview to be a canvasser.

One of the interview questions was, "Pretend you're knocking on my door and tell me about an issue that you care about. Any issue." I had seen Jim Carrey on Bill Maher the night before talking about healthcare. I ripped Jim Carrey off by saying, " You know the stereotype that Canadians are happy friendly people, right? Well, the reason is because they have universal healthcare! We need that here too!"

Kept the hat on. Got the job.

That job led to so much opportunity. I moved up in the company and became a Canvass Director running the Los Angeles office raising a ton of money for Amnesty International all the way up until we had to pause due to COVID-19. I met and worked with a ton of inspiring activists. I hope to continue this type of work when it's safe to get back to work.

Thank you for hiring me Jon Howard. What a journey it has been.

#maybe lose the hat

Canvassing Milch by Brian Farrell

I was canvassing in Santa Monica. Going door-to-door, as per usual, when I walk up to a house that has a lot of vegetation in the front lawn. It was a chore to even get to the front doorstep, because there were so many vines, bushes, and prickly rose thorns that I had to bob and weave through.

When I got to the door, I see a big sign that says “NO SOLICITING. NO POLITICS. NO RELIGION. NO PEDDLERS. WE HAVE A VACUUM CLEANER ETC.” I would normally ignore “No Soliciting” signs, because a lot of times the person who put up the sign isn’t the one who comes to the door and the worst case scenario is the person angrily points to the sign and I politely take my leave. Furthermore, a canvasser is better than a solicitor in my opinion. Canvassers are not only offering up people the opportunity to donate to a charity organization, but they are also raising awareness of an issue. Sparking conversations. Every canvasser, a ripple of change in an ocean of so many issues. Having said that, when I see a sign that has a list of a thousand things the resident is not interested in hearing about from a person at their door, I usually turn around and go, “Okay, we get it. You hate people at your door.” And I walk away. As was the case at this house, but as I was turning around to find my way out of the front lawn horticulture maze, I happen to see a man in a black t-shirt and jeans in the living room get up and wave at me to stay at his doorstep. I recognize that guy! It’s the legendary writer/producer David Milch! Deadwood, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues! He recognizes me too, I think, because I had been his waiter at the restaurant he ate lunch at every day on and off for a few years. Milch and I go way back, but I hadn’t seen him in 10 years. That’s a whole ‘nother story. We had a very strange relationship back then. I was angling to get on one of his tv shows as an actor and he was just trying to have lunch with his writing staff. I was probably really annoying and wreaked of desperation, but Milch was very friendly, and would say the wittiest most hilarious things to me. A very generous tipper as well. I have a ton of Milch stories just based on our daily interactions in that restaurant. That’s for another book.

Back to Milch’s doorstep.

“David!” I say.

“How are you doing?” Milch says with a smile on his face.

ME: “I’m great! How are you doing? I’m canvassing on behalf of Amnesty International. I have this whole pitch I could say to you. Do you want to hear it?”

MILCH: “Yes.”

His dogs start going wild. I can usually talk over barking dogs, but his dogs were going nuts.

MILCH: “Let’s go back to my office. It’s quieter.”

He led me back to his garage that had been converted into his office. He didn’t look healthy and it has later come out in the news that he has been battling dementia, which explains me thinking, “Maybe he doesn’t recognize me? Maybe he’s thinking he’s going to hear me pitch him a tv show idea or something?” Who knows for sure? Dementia sucks. Regardless, there I was hanging out with David Milch in his office. There was an old WWII helmet in there and a big monitor where his words pop up after he dictates to his assistant. At least that’s how I heard he writes. The coolest.

I didn’t want to do my normal pitch that I do for strangers, because I wanted to be as authentic as possible in this interaction, so I found myself explaining the psychology of the pitch to him as I was pitching. I said, “Well, first I would tell you my name, ‘Hi I’m Brian, and I’m here on behalf of Amnesty International, the largest human rights organization in the world, and we are working on the global refugee crisis and the situation at our border where children are separated from their families in privately owned detention facilities. Are these issues that you care about?’” Milch reacts with a firm, “yes.” I then explained to him that “if you were to say, ‘yes,’ which you did, I would continue on,” which I did. I was commenting on what I was saying the whole time saying things like, “And this is where I would check in with you and ask, ‘This work Amnesty is doing is pretty important, wouldn’t you agree?’” Milch agreed. At the end of my weird meta pitch, I said, “Let’s get you on board!” Whaddya know? David Milch signed up to be a monthly sustainer! Thinking back, I probably should have pitched him some of my tv show ideas, but instead, I reconnected with him and signed up another human rights defender. He told me they were in post production of the Deadwood movie, which is pretty spectacular if you haven’t seen it. Check it out. If you’re a Deadwood fan, you probably already have.

#canvassing

Canvassing

I have been canvassing for Amnesty International for the past couple weeks. What an interesting social and psychological experiment. I am an actor first, but when I'm not getting any acting work, I still have to pay the bills. I am a skilled waiter and have worked in many restaurants, but waiting tables is the last thing I want to be doing these days, so I scoured the internet for other day jobs I could do to keep me afloat. Fortunately, I found this job canvassing for Amnesty International on Craigslist and I'm pretty damn good at it. I go door to door interrupting people's home lives asking for money to help the refugees and it has been both interesting and extremely fulfilling.

The company I work for gave me a pitch presentation that I memorized word for word and it works. I knock on a door and I have a script designed to get people to donate to Amnesty International. I'm an actor, so that has been a walk in the park. Every doorstep is a performance and I usually nail it. The pitch is designed to play people's heartstrings and get them to donate and I am damn good at it. Within my first week, I signed up 11 people to donate on a monthly basis to Amnesty. I couldn't believe it myself. The pitch works. The quota I need to get is 4 donors in a week. I got 11. I got a juicy bonus for signing up more than 4.

Sure I've struggled with the idea of profiting off a charity organization, but if I'm going to profit off something, I'd much rather profit off of helping refugees than getting a good tip from a rich person at a fancy restaurant for good service.

One particular experience signing up a lady to be a monthly donor to Amnesty sticks in my brain like one of those timeless memories that one could never forget. I was in the mid city area of Los Angeles. It was towards the end of my shift and I was ready to call it a day. It was dark outside. I was at a house that had a gate with a buzzer on it. I buzz the buzzer and out comes this lady dressed in a black dress. She looked like either an orthodox jew or a catholic priest. I peep my head over the gate and say "Hi! I'm Brian and I'm with Amnesty International and we're working on the refugee crisis. Is that an issue you care about?" At this point I'm going through the motions. She says "Yes." I proceed to go through my pitch..."25.4 million displaced people blah blah blah." And when I get to the end of my pitch she agrees to sign up to donate. When she is putting in her info on my tablet, she starts crying and tears drop on the tablet. There I am with this stranger who is having an emotional moment as she is putting in her checking account info. It was amazing.

Canvassing is a tough job. I get a lot of folks slamming doors in my face. I even had a guy chase me down the street yelling "Get out of our neighborhood! You're not wanted here!" I've had dogs attack me. It's kind of a crazy job, but also super interesting. I don't know how long I'll continue to do it, but for now it's interesting and it's for a good cause.

My only plea to you is that you are friendly and empathetic to canvassers who knock on your door. It's a tough job and even if you don't give to their cause, be nice to them.

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