Denver legend Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald joins Tom Green for an unforgettable conversation about a life that somehow includes veterinary medicine, stand-up comedy, bouncing for the Rolling Stones, and handling Colorado wildlife. In this episode, Kevin opens up about the moments that shaped him — from growing up in Denver, to life-changing mentors, to the dangerous and hilarious stories collected over decades on stage, on tour, and in the field. A warm, funny, and uniquely Colorado episode with one of the city’s most beloved personalities.
This week, Tom sits down with his longtime friend Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald — veterinarian, comedian, storyteller, and Denver icon. Kevin shares how a chance conversation with Keith Richards pushed him toward veterinary medicine, the teachers who changed the course of his life, and why comedy became such a powerful creative outlet. He and Tom swap stories about their years working together on television, their time around Colorado wildlife, and the crowds, characters, and near-misses that have filled Kevin’s remarkable life. It’s an hour full of warmth, humor, and history, told in Kevin’s unmistakable voice.
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Tom Green
Hi there. Welcome back to the other Tom green show. This week we're going to talk a lot about careers. Now for me I just left my career as a newscaster. I'd been a sportscaster. I did talk radio with Doug Moe. That was fun. Even a game show host, everything kind of fell into a lane, though, of, communicator.
00;01;09;02 - 00;01;32;22
Tom Green
And it's the same now as a podcaster. But when I think of careers, it used to be when you came out of school, whether you went to high school or college or whatever, you pick the lane and you pretty much stayed in that lane until you retired. And nowadays, you see, younger people tend to be more willing to change careers, change lanes significantly throughout the course of their working life.
00;01;32;22 - 00;01;54;04
Tom Green
And, it's just the way things are now. But today we're going to be talking with a man who I've known for a long time, who's had some of the most unique careers all in one life. As a matter of fact, in a book he has written, the foreword is written by comedian Dana Gould. And in that foreword, Dana talks about our friend Kevin Fitzgerald.
00;01;54;06 - 00;02;21;22
Tom Green
Dana goes on to say, how did you get into being a veterinarian? I asked, well, Kevin, again, as casual could be replied, Keith Richards made me, of course, Dana answer what he says. And then Doctor Kevin began to unspool his story. As you will soon learn, he has packed more living into his one life than Forrest Gump. We're going to be talking to the veterinarian bouncer, rugby player, you name it, he's done it.
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Tom Green
He's a standup comedian as well. Doctor Kevin Fitzgerald is with us today on the other Tom green show.
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Speaker 1
tired being a veterinarian. Though we are known as great lovers. I hate to tell you that. And a blind date. Dude, I got her back to her place after she said, tie me up. Do what you do best. I tied her head to the bed board and I neutered her beagle.
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Speaker 1
Yes, yes.
00;02;57;20 - 00;03;09;28
Tom Green
And that is my friend. Doctor Kevin Fitzgerald is with me today. Just one of many jokes over the years you've told that may or may not be true. That's the best part of some jokes, right? They may very well could have happened.
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Speaker 3
There's the kernel of truth, you know, humor.
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, humor. I think.
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Speaker 3
That.
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Tom Green
The forward we saw at the beginning from Dana Gould was interesting because Dana, comedian, had worked with you and worked with you in comedy shows, but he had no idea that the real, I guess, the last 40 years of your life had been spent as a veterinarian, right? It's kind of a kind of an interesting secret. I'm sure comedians have secrets, but that's a secret one.
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
He thought it was a gimmick. You know, I thought it was, you know, doctor Kev, you know. Right with it. You know what they call you a doctor. You know, you.
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Speaker 3
But but I think, our lives.
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
As you said, with you, you background our lives on one dimensional, right? We can do different things and we can change gears.
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Speaker 3
You have to be fearless.
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And you have to put yourself out there.
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Speaker 3
You can't win if you don't play.
00;03;56;18 - 00;04;01;19
Tom Green
Well in being fearless. Includes getting up on stage and trying to make a group of people laugh at that.
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Speaker 3
And you saw how poorly he's doing with that crowd. There was a cool this crowd is a you pick a clip where there.
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, I know what they do with the bodies when the medical students are done with them.
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Speaker 3
In a crowd. Coral Springs jeez, you know.
00;04;17;05 - 00;04;32;18
Tom Green
The more I can make them laugh, I'll be here for a couple minutes. They'll be laughing in no time. But that's. That is one of the best parts, I imagine, of comedy. Is that organic nature of night to night, room to room, show to show. You're different. But they're really different. Who you, who you play to.
00;04;32;25 - 00;04;39;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, they're different every time. I think with comedians, there's something wrong with us. I think that we seek approval.
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Speaker 3
You know, we.
00;04;40;08 - 00;04;53;19
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
We want to please people. We want to make people laugh or make them happy. And so I think for 99% of people, they say their biggest fear is public speaking. But for comics, they want to get out there. Yeah. So there's something there's something wrong.
00;04;53;22 - 00;05;12;08
Tom Green
I have a lot to talk to you about comedy, but. But Dana also references the great Keith Richards story. And so we're going to we're going to wander through your life because this book, it started with a turtle, I think is a fascinating autobiography for anyone who's known you and or knows Denver and Denver in its history through the mid 20th century.
00;05;12;08 - 00;05;30;21
Tom Green
On to the present, because you were born and raised here, you saw Denver from the 50s on through the present. But the Keith Richards thing, I can't think of anyone who'd think, oh, I could see that how you would go from being a bouncer with the Rolling Stones to being a veterinarian to being a comedian all make sense.
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Tom Green
It doesn't make any sense.
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Speaker 3
Kevin, but.
00;05;32;20 - 00;05;38;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
None of our lives make any sense. If you think of it, you know? I mean, the thing is, what are the chances your parents met each other, too?
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Speaker 3
You know? I mean.
00;05;40;10 - 00;05;43;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah, everybody looks back. Their parents, you go, wait a minute.
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Speaker 3
They were so different, you know.
00;05;45;03 - 00;06;02;10
Tom Green
Well, I always think of Lennon and McCartney. Like, maybe they get on a different bus one day and never see each other. That's right. You know? And all of a sudden it's that the world gets the magic. So let's talk, how you ended up with the Rolling Stones because you had started to work as a bouncer in Boulder and then Denver.
00;06;02;10 - 00;06;02;18
Tom Green
Right?
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Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Right.
00;06;03;12 - 00;06;06;16
Speaker 3
Well, that it started.
00;06;06;19 - 00;06;15;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, with, with, the sink in Boulder. Yeah. And, and, I worked for Chuck Morris. He was he was the manager, the.
00;06;15;23 - 00;06;16;13
Tom Green
Great promoter.
00;06;16;13 - 00;06;21;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, God bless Chuck, you know? And so, Chuck.
00;06;21;15 - 00;06;30;23
Speaker 3
Had me, you know, I can give you a buck 39 an hour and a hamburger every shift. But you're going to meet more girls and Frank Sinatra because, you know, it's sort of growing afternoon on Friday.
00;06;30;26 - 00;06;51;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So, so I did that. And then Herbie Guevara owned the sink, and then we moved up. He also went to lagers, and Chuck was doing so well. He goes, I'm going to have you managed to lagers. So I went up there and the music and then Chuck became partners with Barry, for sure. And Barry was it had the club in Denver.
00;06;51;05 - 00;07;01;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The family dog was bringing in big acts and and Colorado had been this flyover place. The bands didn't come here. Right. It was, you.
00;07;01;10 - 00;07;02;05
Speaker 3
Know, you were either on.
00;07;02;05 - 00;07;03;09
Tom Green
The way up or way down.
00;07;03;14 - 00;07;04;06
Speaker 3
Here was a.
00;07;04;06 - 00;07;13;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Little place we didn't get anybody, but Barry brought people here. And and in 1969, the Denver Pop Festival was three months before Woodstock.
00;07;13;12 - 00;07;13;29
Tom Green
Okay.
00;07;13;29 - 00;07;33;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And it was three nights long at Mile High Stadium. And, oh, man, Jimi Hendrix and Three Dog Night and, you know, Creedence Clearwater and Iron. But it was everybody. Well, yeah. And so, so, you know, we were doing security, you know, through the bars. And so now we're doing concert security, you know.
00;07;33;21 - 00;07;35;20
Speaker 3
And then what happened.
00;07;35;20 - 00;07;40;06
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Was the promoters and the record people realized a market.
00;07;40;08 - 00;07;41;12
Speaker 3
These young peop, these young.
00;07;41;12 - 00;07;53;06
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Kids are going to buy records. They're going to the concerts. And it was incredible. In the baby boomers was a huge my group was was big. You know. Now the they say you know the the poor boomers, you know.
00;07;53;12 - 00;08;07;12
Speaker 3
We take so much grief. You know, I went to my doctor goes, what's wrong with you guys? A guy came in here the other day. He's 78 years old. I can't see the bumps anymore. Well, you're 78, for God's sake. What did you think you could do forever? So? So the promoters.
00;08;07;12 - 00;08;08;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Realized.
00;08;08;18 - 00;08;09;12
Speaker 3
Man.
00;08;09;12 - 00;08;25;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And Barry was was shut up and realized like a tour to a tour were, were, you know, up until now, it had been the bands would come and it'd be a, you know, cutthroat thing in, in the accounting room every night about how many butts were in seats.
00;08;25;23 - 00;08;28;04
Speaker 3
And he said, I'll sell every ticket for the whole tour.
00;08;28;06 - 00;08;51;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And do the whole tours. So, you know, the Rolling Stones 69, 72. And so we then we used, Tony Funches, my boss, you know, God bless him, he hired me. And then Jimmy Callahan, the head bouncer for the rolling Stone Irish last name I still do. And so he egos. Yeah. So when she got on with something like that and then you had proved yourself, then you could come back the next time.
00;08;51;25 - 00;08;54;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And there were multiple tours and, and you.
00;08;54;08 - 00;08;57;10
Speaker 3
Know, the tours, it was like being a little being a little boy.
00;08;57;10 - 00;08;59;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
From Denver, getting on a tour is like running away with the circus.
00;08;59;27 - 00;09;01;06
Speaker 3
I mean, you know, you just.
00;09;01;10 - 00;09;05;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I had heard all about these places where I lived in Denver. I've been to Pueblo, you know.
00;09;05;26 - 00;09;06;23
Speaker 3
But I hadn't been I.
00;09;06;23 - 00;09;11;12
Tom Green
Hadn't had the incident out with the Hells Angels yet at that point. But it.
00;09;11;12 - 00;09;11;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Was the end of the.
00;09;11;26 - 00;09;30;29
Tom Green
Tour. But that's what I'm going to ask you about, because being a bouncer, you were a big, strong rugby player. You that's part of your job was to look. Hopefully that would stop things before it happened is to look imposing, like Tony Funches in these guys. But your job, you felt, was not to thump heads, but to prevent any heads from ever being well.
00;09;30;29 - 00;09;31;28
Speaker 3
This was you know.
00;09;32;01 - 00;09;41;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Callahan was such a sweet guy. He's gone now. Tony's gone. Everybody's gone. And. And so, there saved me a table, you know? But I'll see him.
00;09;41;26 - 00;09;44;04
Tom Green
But how do you how do you make sure that doesn't happen?
00;09;44;06 - 00;09;44;21
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;09;44;24 - 00;09;45;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Tony was like, this isn't.
00;09;45;27 - 00;09;51;07
Speaker 3
About bloody mouth. Anybody can punch away. This is about nobody. Mouths is about no lawsuits from the crowd.
00;09;51;14 - 00;09;54;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So 99 out of 100 times you talk to the guy.
00;09;54;15 - 00;09;56;07
Speaker 3
Look, you could take me.
00;09;56;13 - 00;10;03;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Of course you could. But I'm going to come back. You with five guys in a car, and you're going to have breakfast on the county. And here's your little girlfriend and.
00;10;03;26 - 00;10;12;10
Speaker 3
You know, and they're going to. You paid all this money to see the concert. What are you doing? Yeah. What, are you dropping firecrackers. Why? You know, you know,
00;10;12;13 - 00;10;14;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Being awful to the people around you.
00;10;14;15 - 00;10;20;09
Speaker 3
And if not, you know. Yeah. You know, I could take you. Of course you could. So, you know, sit down, you know?
00;10;20;16 - 00;10;20;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So.
00;10;20;25 - 00;10;22;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. Jerk. Of course I am. You know.
00;10;22;23 - 00;10;25;11
Tom Green
But you also work with your brothers. Yeah. Family member.
00;10;25;11 - 00;10;26;04
Speaker 3
Yeah, I mean.
00;10;26;04 - 00;10;28;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Cousins and and so.
00;10;28;06 - 00;10;29;09
Speaker 3
You know, I mean, it was.
00;10;29;09 - 00;10;31;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It was,
00;10;31;10 - 00;10;32;26
Speaker 3
You know, we, we,
00;10;32;29 - 00;10;37;24
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
We grew up with, Irish people. So it wasn't any different, you know, I mean.
00;10;37;26 - 00;10;39;08
Speaker 3
The country guys.
00;10;39;09 - 00;10;56;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
That weren't rough at all. You know, I think about Thanksgiving now, you know, our Thanksgivings were just like, the. You wanted to be up at the big table with the big people, hear the good stories? Not at the little one of the little, card tables off of the side of the thing. Right. Cutting the meat for your cousin and you 27.
00;10;56;08 - 00;10;57;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You got a PhD.
00;10;57;06 - 00;11;07;27
Speaker 3
Already, and you sit at a little table, you know, card table. So, so. But the the tours, you know, you got to see the United States and the music changed.
00;11;07;27 - 00;11;10;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, and it got a little bit more sophisticated.
00;11;10;27 - 00;11;14;11
Speaker 3
But still, to this day, people ask me, you know.
00;11;14;11 - 00;11;31;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Keith always said, who's the best band in the world? And he said, whoever's playing live today, because he goes, there's nothing like live music you can hear on the record, but to be in the smoking place nuts. And there's no smoke? No, but but to be in the bar and hear that bass drum hit and that, you know, it hits you in the chest.
00;11;31;00 - 00;11;39;21
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And watching the drummer sweat, trying to keep up with the singer and see the real music that that's from. To me, you know, live music is, is still the best thing in the.
00;11;39;21 - 00;12;03;03
Tom Green
World when you talk about, growing up here, it's interesting because in the book you talk a lot about your family and some of the fun parts, you know, that helped help fashion a comedic life. And some of the tough part, you know, that that stereotypical Irish Catholic struggle with alcohol and how it changed people and hurt people and, you know, became something you had to navigate.
00;12;03;03 - 00;12;23;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. They never could figure it out. You know, I my uncle called it Irish cancer. You know, that just it just, was, was but it was their social thing is socially, you know, they worked all week and then Friday night, you know, it's just, you know, and it was just like. And and, you don't.
00;12;23;10 - 00;12;24;29
Speaker 3
Yeah. You do what?
00;12;24;29 - 00;12;30;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, you do what you see, you you familiar with what you've seen? And I didn't realize was anything different till I.
00;12;30;28 - 00;12;33;25
Speaker 3
Went away to college. And, you know, you realize.
00;12;33;25 - 00;12;46;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Other guys, parents, you know, they get totally hammered all the time, you know, and you just go, wait a minute, you know? Yeah. Maybe there's something different here. So I think that, you know, you live and learn does stupid.
00;12;46;07 - 00;12;49;24
Speaker 3
You know, and and so I.
00;12;49;26 - 00;13;11;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But I think the, the, there's a lot of traps for people, you know, there's a lot of traps where you can get caught up in different things and, and, you know, alcohol or drugs, the, the tours for me, working around the music, I saw people I really admired that were so, you know, the drugs had just destroyed them.
00;13;11;08 - 00;13;13;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So it was just so afraid of it. Yeah. Tough era. Yeah.
00;13;13;27 - 00;13;23;15
Tom Green
You just knew also in that era, you were only what, 9 or 10 years old when the Broncos suddenly were born. So, I mean, you, you got to see Denver become 1960.
00;13;23;15 - 00;13;25;17
Speaker 3
Yeah, a major league town and the.
00;13;25;19 - 00;13;27;15
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Worst uniforms in the world.
00;13;27;17 - 00;13;29;00
Tom Green
Yeah, the yellow and brown. Yeah.
00;13;29;00 - 00;13;30;13
Speaker 3
With stripes.
00;13;30;15 - 00;13;31;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Longways on the.
00;13;31;10 - 00;13;39;29
Speaker 3
Socks, the vertical. Who, who, who came up with that was a nightmare. Was like it was out of a bad dream. Some left and they were. They were so bad. Well, we had.
00;13;39;29 - 00;13;55;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Cookie Gilchrist and we had we had some good players. But you know, I think, you know, like I told you the last time in pro football that there wasn't a first down, the whole game was 1967, the Broncos against the Raiders and Darrell and Mark and you know my father was so hammered and so mad.
00;13;55;07 - 00;14;07;17
Speaker 3
Like Kev that's 30ft. You know, that's you. That's ten yards. You know you could fall down four times. You're six feet tall. It's 24ft if you jumped. You know you just. Yeah. So but.
00;14;07;19 - 00;14;10;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It's all we had as all Denver had at the.
00;14;10;02 - 00;14;12;10
Tom Green
Time. And that was Old Bear Stadium at the time.
00;14;12;11 - 00;14;28;15
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. And so Oh man. And so we didn't have pro baseball or hockey, you didn't have, pro baseball, we had the, the bears and then later the Zephyrs, you know. Right. But but so we didn't have but we didn't have anything to be really proud of.
00;14;28;17 - 00;14;31;08
Speaker 3
But gradually people.
00;14;31;11 - 00;14;38;11
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Through better, worse people discovered Denver and put it on the map. And it became this sleepy little place. There was a flyover, you know.
00;14;38;11 - 00;14;42;08
Tom Green
Yeah, the Broncos and Barry Faye and people like that helped build the map.
00;14;42;08 - 00;14;54;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
All of a sudden. And now, I mean, now, you see, you know, the cultural things that we have here or restaurants. I mean, there was one.
00;14;54;17 - 00;14;56;22
Speaker 3
Chinese restaurant, you know, I mean, really.
00;14;56;22 - 00;15;03;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I mean, there were just things like that. And so, Denver became them. You grew up.
00;15;03;17 - 00;15;31;21
Tom Green
You've gone on to become a scientist, if you will, studying the environment, the animals. I mean, the high minded stuff you really have to be smart at. And you're very good at it. I'm I'm not an expert enough to say that, but I know what I know it. It's one of the most touching parts of this book has to do with when you go into third grade and you go from a teacher who thinks you're an idiot, to a teacher who literally was able to open your eyes, Mrs. Raymundo.
00;15;31;24 - 00;15;32;13
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;15;32;15 - 00;15;38;18
Tom Green
But it's you just wonder how many kids fall through the cracks and don't. So tell the story of what happened there.
00;15;38;20 - 00;15;47;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, I wasn't very good at school. First grade. The teacher would call me and I wouldn't know. And, you know, just make up some answer and what.
00;15;47;13 - 00;15;48;29
Speaker 3
You know, and you should.
00;15;48;29 - 00;16;04;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Put something on the board and then ask me what it was, and, and, and, you know, I just I didn't know the answer. So at the end of first grade, the unit failed me, and they put me in the back of the room with this guy, Joey Frankfurter and this other guy, Neil Diamond. Niklas twitched all the time.
00;16;04;21 - 00;16;20;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
He probably had something he had within there. Right there. Treat. Now enjoy. You know, God, God them you know. Yeah. He had his own issues. And so they would cry when they called on them and I wouldn't cry. I would just make up something, you know, and then pretty soon they stopped calling.
00;16;20;11 - 00;16;23;02
Tom Green
The three of you were shuffled back, went back.
00;16;23;05 - 00;16;27;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And we were big kids. And the people would make fun of those guys. And I'd.
00;16;27;15 - 00;16;28;09
Speaker 3
You know.
00;16;28;11 - 00;16;34;20
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Try and defend my little friends. And so at the end of first grade, they said, well, we're going to keep him back. And my mother said, oh.
00;16;34;20 - 00;16;37;02
Speaker 3
Don't do that. You know, it'll stigmatize him.
00;16;37;05 - 00;16;40;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I didn't know it stigmatized. You know, all I knew the stigma.
00;16;40;10 - 00;16;48;02
Speaker 3
And I thought, you know, have holes in my hands. Right. And so she's, you know, you kind of want to get on with that. So she said, I'll tutor him all.
00;16;48;02 - 00;17;12;21
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Summer and we'll get tutors though. So she did. And then in second grade, the same thing. Nobody, you know, couldn't answer anything. And then third grade, this woman came in this this Italian woman, Mrs. Raimondo and and, the second grade nun said, you know, okay, well, here's the your class, here's my second grade is now I'm going to be third graders and and, my mother tutored me and cried and got me to move ahead again.
00;17;12;23 - 00;17;13;28
Speaker 3
So.
00;17;14;00 - 00;17;15;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, the Mr. Amanda.
00;17;15;09 - 00;17;16;27
Speaker 3
Said, who are those big boys in the back?
00;17;17;00 - 00;17;32;19
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And said, well, they're they're absolute retards. They're total idiots. You can't even don't even waste time with them. Don't, don't do anything with them. And yeah, you know, so she looked so every day after school she'd kept me after school and worked for me at the desk. You know.
00;17;32;21 - 00;17;36;17
Speaker 3
How come you can do it right here? How come you can do it when we do it right here? And I put it.
00;17;36;17 - 00;17;41;07
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
On the board and you can't do. And she goes, I'll send her face like a light bulb on, and she goes.
00;17;41;09 - 00;17;45;09
Speaker 3
You're not a retard. You can't see. So she put.
00;17;45;09 - 00;17;48;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Me in the car, drove me my parents house, gave me a card with her.
00;17;48;09 - 00;17;52;04
Speaker 3
Her ophthalmologist call came and get him. You need glasses.
00;17;52;04 - 00;17;53;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You can do the work.
00;17;53;14 - 00;17;56;16
Tom Green
That must have been revolutionary. Was your 8 or 9 years old.
00;17;56;16 - 00;17;57;13
Speaker 3
You know, you can say the.
00;17;57;13 - 00;17;58;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Doctor's office and you go.
00;17;58;24 - 00;18;07;09
Speaker 3
Wow, it's not just green. There's actual blades of grass. You know, you can see the leaves. You know, you didn't. Everything was. Yeah, but you think I didn't know anything different.
00;18;07;09 - 00;18;10;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So that was it. You know, you just had eyes like a cavefish, you.
00;18;10;16 - 00;18;10;29
Speaker 3
Know, in.
00;18;10;29 - 00;18;19;17
Tom Green
Your head. You know, like I said, you wonder how many kids fall through the cracks that they are or aren't or weren't recognized, just it was. Teachers are overwhelmed, too.
00;18;19;19 - 00;18;36;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The thing about that, the thing about that story is why she took the time. Yeah. What we made her, you know. So it just shows you what when an impact a teacher can have. You know, I tried to find her years later, but she had gone on to wherever all teachers go, you know, to reward.
00;18;36;21 - 00;18;37;08
Speaker 3
You know.
00;18;37;10 - 00;18;39;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Empower told her daughter this.
00;18;39;05 - 00;18;54;27
Tom Green
God bless, Mrs. Raimondo. Yeah. So you end up going to GW, you end up going to see you. And it seems like college, changed you a bit. Like you a little more worldly. It opened your eyes. You got out of Denver, you're up in Boulder, and you're you're meeting people from other places.
00;18;54;27 - 00;18;56;17
Speaker 3
Now you meet people from other states.
00;18;56;19 - 00;19;04;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. I think that's an important thing to, you know, people with different. You meet a guy from Chicago or from. Well, he's from Milwaukee.
00;19;04;04 - 00;19;08;00
Speaker 3
Milwaukee? You mean that's a real place? Yeah.
00;19;08;02 - 00;19;18;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
These guys are from the South. Or, you know, the people from Dallas and you, you see, and at that time, touring to places.
00;19;18;01 - 00;19;21;06
Speaker 3
Had regional flavors. Yeah. You know, the.
00;19;21;07 - 00;19;23;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Stores were different in Dallas than.
00;19;23;23 - 00;19;34;21
Speaker 3
You know, Piggly Wiggly, you know, and he. Yeah, you know, there there were places and you know, or you could get and you know what what is what is this? Did you know?
00;19;34;21 - 00;19;37;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And, you know, you had these these foods that were regional, you know.
00;19;37;23 - 00;19;44;20
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. Sheboygan summer sausage. What what what is this crazy. So but now the one.
00;19;44;20 - 00;19;50;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Unfortunate thing I think about the United States is we become homogenized when you can get great Cajun food.
00;19;50;21 - 00;19;51;07
Speaker 3
Anywhere.
00;19;51;07 - 00;19;51;13
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;19;51;17 - 00;19;54;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Know in Denver. Yeah. Maybe it's not great Cajun.
00;19;54;25 - 00;19;58;10
Speaker 3
Food, but it's Cajun food, you know. Yeah. And so but you win the first.
00;19;58;10 - 00;20;05;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Time you go to New Orleans as a kid in 1969 or 2 or and you go, man, this, you know, red beans and rice. I like this, you know.
00;20;05;16 - 00;20;12;14
Tom Green
So you get you get out of college. And obviously your next step would be to become a bouncer.
00;20;12;16 - 00;20;13;16
Speaker 3
It's a nice.
00;20;13;16 - 00;20;31;26
Tom Green
Career. So so you end up you latch on with the stones. But talk about how Keith was able to be one of those people who kind of when you were starting to ponder veterinary school, something you thought about before. He was the one who kind of gave you a little bit of a push out the door.
00;20;31;28 - 00;20;40;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, people talk about different things, you know, and, the Rolling Stones didn't stay popular for so long by accident.
00;20;40;00 - 00;20;40;17
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;20;40;20 - 00;20;59;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I mean, you know, pretty good. There's a lot of, you know, a lot of thought behind things. And, you know, I think every 4 or 5 years they kind of get rediscovered, you know, with a new audience and so they each had their own job. And jug was in charge of ticket prices and talking to people and things like that.
00;20;59;14 - 00;21;16;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And, and Charlie was in charge of this stage and what this stage looked like. And Keith was in charge of the bouncers and, you know, and so at the end of the tour, he, you know, talk to you and you was like, well, what are you going to do? You know, you've been with us, the 69, 72, 75, 78.
00;21;16;10 - 00;21;20;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
What can't do this forever, you know. And he said, we're not going to do it forever.
00;21;20;22 - 00;21;21;27
Speaker 3
We can't, you know. Yeah, we're going.
00;21;21;27 - 00;21;22;19
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
To be like.
00;21;22;21 - 00;21;24;12
Speaker 3
Yeah, he didn't know. You go, we'll.
00;21;24;12 - 00;21;27;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Be like the flavor of the month. You know I mean, you know I mean you can't.
00;21;27;28 - 00;21;29;19
Speaker 3
You know, what are you going to do.
00;21;29;21 - 00;21;44;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Can't be a bouncer when you're 50. So yeah. You know, why don't you go to school? Why don't you do something? You know, I'll write you a letter. I'll do whatever you can. So I came back to Denver. My brother picked me up at the airport, and Keith told me I got to get a grip on my life.
00;21;45;01 - 00;21;45;26
Speaker 3
You know.
00;21;45;28 - 00;21;46;07
Tom Green
That's a.
00;21;46;07 - 00;21;48;25
Speaker 3
Song. Oh, yeah. So. But. But he's the.
00;21;48;25 - 00;21;58;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Coolest guy in the world. And so when he says something, you listen, you know, and and and, you know now and I've gone back and seen him, you know, and he said, well, I'm, you know, I'm proud of you, you know.
00;21;58;29 - 00;22;03;24
Tom Green
But you loved animals as a young boy, like, like most of us do. You know, you like animals.
00;22;03;24 - 00;22;06;20
Speaker 3
But kitten, inherent.
00;22;06;22 - 00;22;07;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Born naturalist.
00;22;08;00 - 00;22;09;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah.
00;22;09;08 - 00;22;21;12
Tom Green
So how do you translate that all of a sudden to say, you know, you're going to go do all the work now that it takes to become a veterinarian and find a way to to chase a path, you know, in a career.
00;22;21;15 - 00;22;22;14
Speaker 3
Well.
00;22;22;16 - 00;22;26;29
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Kids tell me, I want to do it. You do it, I tell them. Do you want to do it? I did.
00;22;27;01 - 00;22;27;18
Speaker 3
You know you want.
00;22;27;18 - 00;22;28;16
Tom Green
To do all this stuff.
00;22;28;16 - 00;22;30;18
Speaker 3
Yeah. You got to do the work. I mean.
00;22;30;21 - 00;22;52;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But that's the part of the thing. I mean, you can't win if you don't play, and you have to. Everybody wants to do the thing. But, I mean, look, all the things that you did to get where you are. Yeah. As an anchor person, you don't start as an anchor person, you know? I mean, I guess you could if you, you know, you look like, you know, a beautiful model or, or your dad owns the station or something, but but, I mean.
00;22;52;28 - 00;22;57;06
Speaker 3
You know, you know, you you need a lot of luck. I know you and I know.
00;22;57;06 - 00;23;13;07
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
He runs Apollo and all the things that you did, you know, written copy and do all the things. And in filling in on the weekend when people are sick and, you know, the real anchor is right. Right is in, you know, so pretty soon, pretty soon, you're the guy.
00;23;13;07 - 00;23;27;28
Tom Green
But you made a choice. Like when when someone chooses a career, they can often see getting into that career. When you decide to be a veterinarian, you have to go through years of school. You have to make a big commitment with your life to even get to the door to get in.
00;23;28;00 - 00;23;28;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, well.
00;23;29;00 - 00;23;51;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I think you have to. You have to decide and you have to you have to commit and you have to you have to be kind of fearless and and think you you're going to do this. And, and the years go by so fast. Yeah. And so you don't want to waste years. And so, you know, I, I was the oldest one in my class.
00;23;51;10 - 00;23;52;23
Tom Green
Of course you were at Colorado State.
00;23;52;23 - 00;23;53;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah.
00;23;53;00 - 00;23;54;18
Tom Green
Yeah, yeah. Great veterinary.
00;23;54;18 - 00;23;54;28
Speaker 3
School right.
00;23;54;28 - 00;24;08;19
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Great great visionary school. You know and and wonderful teachers and, and role models and, and so it was a great place. And so, you know, I, I got in there and I already had.
00;24;08;19 - 00;24;09;14
Speaker 3
A PhD.
00;24;09;20 - 00;24;29;04
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, because, I didn't get into school when I first applied in from college. And in the summertime you were bouncing in tourists. Those times. Now they do red rocks even. They did it last night, you know? I mean, right, they do it. And we stopped. Bam. Middle of September.
00;24;29;06 - 00;24;29;25
Speaker 3
And we couldn't do the.
00;24;29;25 - 00;24;49;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Big stadiums because there were football teams and they didn't want kids in there wrecking the place with concerts, you know. So, so the, the tours were in the summertime. So that was perfect for a school for graduate school or something. So I applied to school, didn't get in, got put on the waiting list. They said, sure, you you want to do something, you know, you'll get in next year.
00;24;49;13 - 00;24;58;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So I knew this wonderful guy in Boulder and I said, why don't you get a masters with me and apply next to you? So I got a masters and a PhD with him and and then.
00;24;58;13 - 00;24;59;10
Tom Green
You make that sound pretty.
00;24;59;10 - 00;25;01;27
Speaker 3
Easy. Well, and then he like.
00;25;01;27 - 00;25;02;26
Tom Green
Filling out a form.
00;25;02;26 - 00;25;05;23
Speaker 3
You know. You mean you made it easy and you do the work.
00;25;05;23 - 00;25;21;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And so we got a job at the University of Hawaii and then, a postdoc and, and, with a guy, David Cruz from Harvard. And then the grant money was drying up at the end of the 70s, and I applied to veterinary school again after he said that and got in.
00;25;22;00 - 00;25;24;11
Speaker 3
The problem with who the tours.
00;25;24;11 - 00;25;28;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Was, it was so comfortable and it was so much fun.
00;25;28;05 - 00;25;29;13
Speaker 3
You don't want it to ever end.
00;25;29;13 - 00;25;36;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
We knew Chuck Grant and Tony Funches. We'd talk and go, this isn't going to last forever, right? We're going to think back and think these were our best days.
00;25;36;10 - 00;25;37;02
Speaker 3
I mean, you're on.
00;25;37;02 - 00;25;39;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
A per diem. You know, you don't have to buy anything.
00;25;39;12 - 00;25;40;18
Speaker 3
You're getting paid, right?
00;25;40;18 - 00;26;04;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You're around the music. I couldn't play an instrument that saved my life, but I got to be five feet from the stage, you know, every night. Yeah. I do the advance, go ahead of the band, look at the hotels. You look at the airport to the venue. The venue to the hotel. How we could get people in and out, you know, and try and keep people away from the hotel and and do a misdirection and tell the press.
00;26;04;17 - 00;26;05;29
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Oh, we're staying at the, you know.
00;26;06;03 - 00;26;06;16
Speaker 3
The right.
00;26;06;18 - 00;26;10;04
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Place. And then we really at the Four Seasons or whatever. So.
00;26;10;06 - 00;26;15;08
Speaker 3
So you, you you learn and you grew and it became a.
00;26;15;08 - 00;26;18;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Business from the late 60s to what it is now.
00;26;18;16 - 00;26;21;11
Speaker 3
Yeah. And, you know, big business. Yeah. Big, huge.
00;26;21;17 - 00;26;30;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And and corporate sponsorship, you know, so it would take over the whole tour and so, yeah, it's a, it's a whole different animal.
00;26;30;17 - 00;26;41;04
Tom Green
Now, is there a, a technical part of becoming a vet that's the hardest. Is it science. Is it. You know, chemistry. I mean, it's a you obviously need to learn so much about, pretty much every animal.
00;26;41;04 - 00;26;44;03
Speaker 3
Well, I no, I think you, I.
00;26;44;03 - 00;26;51;20
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Think you have to love people. You know, when people tell me, oh, my daughter is really good with animals, but she doesn't like people. Should be a great vet.
00;26;51;20 - 00;26;53;02
Speaker 3
No, no, no, no.
00;26;53;05 - 00;26;54;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The people pay the freight.
00;26;54;11 - 00;26;56;27
Speaker 3
They're your customers. And the people. See, there's been a.
00;26;56;27 - 00;27;17;19
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Change in public opinion in the United States, in the American Medical Association in in 1957 did a telephone survey where they said, do you think your pets, part of the family in 57, 57, 43% of Americans said that they did the same thing 50 years earlier, 2007, and 97% of Americans. So so the.
00;27;17;20 - 00;27;18;15
Speaker 3
People.
00;27;18;17 - 00;27;20;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
They come in, they have to trust you.
00;27;20;17 - 00;27;23;17
Speaker 3
So you have to I mean.
00;27;23;19 - 00;27;42;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Everybody loves animals, like we said, kids, you know, have a natural biophilia. They have a natural tendency to animals, 10 million other forms of life on the planet besides us. So, I mean, yeah, we're in Colorado. We have wonderful wildlife. I mean, you don't have to go very far to see a deer or wherever, but you've got this natural feel for animals.
00;27;42;28 - 00;28;02;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But then you have to school a little bit. You have to do science and, and, and, and like, like medicine, like to study. But I think if I to pick a kid, I'd pick a kid that was good with people so that, you know, he he could talk to his clients and not.
00;28;02;17 - 00;28;05;21
Speaker 3
Yeah. Your dog, terminated at 1130.
00;28;05;26 - 00;28;08;11
Tom Green
Very, you know, not be terminated.
00;28;08;11 - 00;28;08;27
Speaker 3
You.
00;28;08;29 - 00;28;17;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But, you know, so, yeah, you have to I think, you know, it has to be a cushion for people there. You have to, you know.
00;28;17;13 - 00;28;18;15
Speaker 3
And people are afraid.
00;28;18;15 - 00;28;24;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
They come in, they don't want to spend a lot of money, and they don't with you. And I'm going to be really sick. And they wait too long because they.
00;28;24;03 - 00;28;32;27
Speaker 3
Oh, he'll get better tomorrow. Yeah. No, wait a minute. You know, he he ate he, he ate all the Korean chicken. He's got a belly full. It's chicken bones, you know.
00;28;32;29 - 00;28;37;21
Tom Green
So, you and I've done a lot of TV together. I worked with you over at channel two. You're still doing channel two?
00;28;37;28 - 00;28;39;11
Speaker 3
We started in 2000.
00;28;39;12 - 00;28;40;24
Tom Green
Yeah. So it's 25 years.
00;28;40;24 - 00;28;41;26
Speaker 3
25 years.
00;28;41;26 - 00;28;45;27
Tom Green
And we've had down over channel nine when I work there as well. And it's so.
00;28;45;27 - 00;28;47;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Funny. Rattlesnakes we had. Yeah.
00;28;47;09 - 00;29;06;23
Tom Green
Well, that's the thing. I just remember I'm uncomfortable around certain animals like snakes can alarm people, things like that. But you and I had, like, if you hand me the animal, like, there's a giant yellow snake and you put it around me, I go, I feel great. Kevin is not going to hand me an animal that's going to hurt me.
00;29;06;25 - 00;29;25;04
Tom Green
And then whatever animal you brought in, you know, it was always like a little dog. And it would be like, no. Yeah. Kevin handed it to me. It's it's okay. And then there was one time you brought in a blood python, and I'd never heard of a blood python, but it's got a great name because it's already scary before you even open.
00;29;25;04 - 00;29;25;26
Speaker 3
The grumpy thing.
00;29;25;27 - 00;29;44;12
Tom Green
It's a giant Tupperware container and it's closed, so I don't even see the blood python, but I can hear it shuffling in there. And you and I are sitting next to each other with the container in between, and you open that thing up. It was the first time I ever saw you apprehensive about an animal, which made me incredibly apprehensive about you.
00;29;44;12 - 00;29;47;07
Tom Green
Never handed it to me, he got you a little bit, but I remember when you.
00;29;47;09 - 00;30;01;11
Speaker 3
Well, we we opened it up and he he bit my hand. Yeah. It just we don't have it. Bam. We, we didn't even I didn't even see him yet before it bit me. So he was like well you know and then you're on television. So yeah I was like, this is totally normal. And this happens.
00;30;01;11 - 00;30;03;26
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Every day, you know, I'm, I'm bitten by I can.
00;30;03;26 - 00;30;06;28
Speaker 3
Feel the venom now, but, but, but grumpy.
00;30;06;28 - 00;30;09;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Snakes, you know, and,
00;30;09;03 - 00;30;09;12
Speaker 3
You know.
00;30;09;12 - 00;30;12;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Mind the blood, you know, tell him it's fine. And, you know, it's just sometimes I.
00;30;12;22 - 00;30;18;09
Speaker 3
Bleed a little bit. I'm kind of an easy. I'm an easy bleeder. You know, I was bailing, I was gonna, I was I was.
00;30;18;09 - 00;30;29;22
Tom Green
Going to rescue you by going to call nine one 1 or 2, something like that. But because of your handling of animals, you do handle animals that aren't necessarily in good moods that are potentially dangerous.
00;30;29;22 - 00;30;32;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Don't know what you're trying to do. They have defensive.
00;30;32;02 - 00;30;34;16
Tom Green
Are you wearing at times of like.
00;30;34;18 - 00;30;38;16
Speaker 3
Well, I mean.
00;30;38;19 - 00;30;43;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I love dogs, I make my living on them and cats. But they're not little people.
00;30;43;09 - 00;30;43;29
Speaker 3
They're animals.
00;30;43;29 - 00;30;47;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. You know, and so I think we have to be aware that, you know.
00;30;47;29 - 00;30;48;10
Speaker 3
We, we.
00;30;48;10 - 00;31;04;07
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Do a poor job with children and teaching them how to approach dogs. They don't know. They go down and bury their teeth. And. Right, it's an aggressive display to the dog. But but you know, so I think that, the dog bites can be prevented just by a little bit of common sense.
00;31;04;07 - 00;31;08;06
Tom Green
Well, you're also poking animals in funny places, so that's uncomfortable places.
00;31;08;12 - 00;31;08;22
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;31;08;22 - 00;31;16;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Every time they come in, you know, they have a surgery and have their testicles removed. Yeah. It's not it's probably not the snake or.
00;31;16;16 - 00;31;18;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah.
00;31;18;22 - 00;31;39;26
Tom Green
You've, veterinary medicine, veterinary science has taken you around the world. And I always think of, you know, pictures of you with polar bears and you've, you've gone, from doing emergency vets on TV. The show you did for a long time everywhere. But then there's sometimes I'm always like, really? You went to Mongolia to see buzzards, you know, or what?
00;31;39;28 - 00;31;40;13
Speaker 3
Well.
00;31;40;15 - 00;31;42;11
Tom Green
You're so curious.
00;31;42;14 - 00;31;54;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, I think that, We're so lucky, you know, we live in Denver in that the Denver Zoo.
00;31;54;15 - 00;31;56;16
Speaker 3
Excuse me? People.
00;31;56;18 - 00;32;12;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
People are against zoos, you know, animals in cages and stuff that the Denver Zoo puts more people in, more children in every year than adults. Go to the Rockies. Nuggets avalanche and Broncos combined. So we put 2.3 million kids in there.
00;32;12;17 - 00;32;13;27
Speaker 3
And the zoo.
00;32;13;29 - 00;32;37;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Has these research places around the world where they go in save, set aside an area, large area where there's endangered species. And then try and invest into the local community, the local population to start to buy into it. Oh man. We're going to save these animals. You know this is a better deal. Tourists will come and see.
00;32;37;06 - 00;33;22;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And now in Mongolia, the zoo set aside an area with, doctor, Rich retreating. And and one of the first national parks, the first national preserve. And then the Mongolians bought into it like crazy wealthy Mongolians going to see the animals and, you know, giant, the biggest bighorn sheep, the, our gali and ibex, goats and then wolves and snow leopards and, that one of the third largest flying bird, the the Eurasian condor, Eurasian vulture, rather it and, and, so, you know, you get to go to these places, I've been I've been on the board at the zoo and now and the leadership council and,
00;33;22;05 - 00;33;38;07
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I have done things for the zoo with all taken trips to the polar bears and to Antarctica. And so to be a little boy from Denver and get to see a polar bear up close and personal, there's anesthetize, and you're putting a radio transmitter in or or I.
00;33;38;07 - 00;33;38;25
Speaker 3
Mean, pretty.
00;33;38;25 - 00;33;39;12
Tom Green
Exciting.
00;33;39;12 - 00;33;47;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. And so these are exciting places. But again, you mean you have to put yourself out there and do the things you know?
00;33;47;15 - 00;33;53;27
Tom Green
So I, I never really heard the term wealthy Mongolians before, but now I, I think of it as a good band name.
00;33;53;29 - 00;33;56;18
Speaker 3
Well, the only the best this with.
00;33;56;18 - 00;33;59;04
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
This dissonant band and with the, low hanging.
00;33;59;04 - 00;34;00;18
Speaker 3
Fruit, you know, or.
00;34;00;19 - 00;34;01;15
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The, the farm.
00;34;01;15 - 00;34;03;06
Speaker 3
Accidents. When we, we used.
00;34;03;06 - 00;34;11;04
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
To come up, we used to do that show before we went on the air and come up with things and, you know, maybe Jeffrey and the Epstein's.
00;34;11;07 - 00;34;14;26
Speaker 3
Well, certainly in the news. This is in the news every day. I mean, come.
00;34;14;26 - 00;34;15;29
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
On with they do some.
00;34;16;00 - 00;34;35;27
Tom Green
Of your most curious stories involve some of the work you've done with Denver police and some of the animals they seized in drug raids. And they really there's not much they they know what to do with them. These are snakes and reptiles and the like that the some of these, these characters like to have around until they get sent to jail or something.
00;34;35;27 - 00;34;36;24
Speaker 3
Yeah, there's there's.
00;34;36;24 - 00;34;59;24
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
A kind of a mystique about venomous animals, you know, and there's an underground network of breeders. And so people can get these things, unfortunately. And and so, yeah, they call there is a, an eyelash Viper or a, Gibson Viper, a Cuban viper that, you know, they, they called and so you go and, and they don't know what to do with it, you know, I mean, you can't blame them.
00;34;59;24 - 00;35;00;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
They got a.
00;35;00;09 - 00;35;03;07
Tom Green
Nor would most bats, I don't think. Right. I mean, even a vet.
00;35;03;12 - 00;35;13;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Who doesn't, well, I was looking in graduate school and that I worked with David Cheese, a wonderful rattlesnake researcher. And and so you.
00;35;13;08 - 00;35;13;27
Speaker 3
You.
00;35;14;03 - 00;35;21;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Have worked with him and you, you're not afraid. You know how to handle them safely. And and, you know, it's not their fault they're venomous. No.
00;35;21;00 - 00;35;31;25
Tom Green
And you do a lot of work with rattlesnakes. And you've always invited me to come out on the rattlesnake tagging trips. You take. And I so far haven't been able to make it.
00;35;31;27 - 00;35;33;24
Speaker 3
For better or worse.
00;35;33;24 - 00;35;47;15
Tom Green
But, But you're very comfortable around rattlesnake. See? Yeah, I think most people are terrified. And as usual, fear comes from not knowing. And you don't know what they are, what they do, what they want, what they hate.
00;35;47;18 - 00;36;07;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, they live here, you know, they're Colorado residents. They were here before we were. And and they do a great job with rodent control. So you just have to know, you know where to look and and and to be awake when you're out there in nature, you know, with, with different things. So it's not a, you know, it's not a trick or there's no, there's no trick to it.
00;36;07;25 - 00;36;10;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You just have to, I think be aware.
00;36;10;08 - 00;36;11;24
Tom Green
Has one bitten, you know.
00;36;11;25 - 00;36;12;06
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;36;12;12 - 00;36;31;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
No, I'm just real careful. I mean, I think, you know, I've worked with snakes for over 40 years and you almost 50 years and, they're, you know, they're they're real predictable in their, in their behavior. And so I think, you know, they're not going to do things that surprised you. You've seen it before if you've worked with them enough.
00;36;31;23 - 00;36;34;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And so I mean, you have to be careful.
00;36;34;10 - 00;36;55;17
Tom Green
So I think of you and this career as a veterinarian is a terrific one. And you've made, I think, so many friends through your work and through your personality. And some of that is, you know, mister Saint Patrick's Day parade and all that. But as far as being a veterinarian and people come to you and trust you and grow to love you for for the help you give them in their animals.
00;36;55;20 - 00;37;09;23
Tom Green
And then comedy rears its head in your career. And I just wondered, like, I could see at one point as a young boy, maybe dreaming of being a vet, but did you ever think, I mean, were you addicted to comedy as a young man?
00;37;09;23 - 00;37;12;04
Speaker 3
Well, we always look, you know, when you get it. You know, in.
00;37;12;04 - 00;37;33;20
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
College we loved comedy. I mean, we we loved we loved the old stuff. We like to see Jack Benny. And, you know, we liked George Burns and Henny Youngman. We'd still come to Las Vegas and we would go and take my wife, you know, please. And so, you know, we we liked it so much. I like the old Jewish guys, you know, that that was my thing in one liners.
00;37;33;20 - 00;37;51;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And probably that's my act now. It's still, you know, but but, I had a friend that was doing it, and he was getting paid. He was getting paid pretty, pretty well. Anyway, I didn't find him funny. I found him sincere. Right. Somebody is not funny. I don't say they're not funny. I say they're very sincere.
00;37;51;04 - 00;37;52;18
Speaker 3
And so you know it.
00;37;52;23 - 00;37;54;05
Tom Green
It's a nice way of getting somebody.
00;37;54;05 - 00;37;58;00
Speaker 3
Bad or what they do. You're. You're seeing you, buddy. Interesting little daughter.
00;37;58;04 - 00;38;08;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
She's at the recital and, you know, she's horrible. And you just go, oh, she's sincere emotion. Great. Your daughter is so sincere. And so to me that's a code word, you know?
00;38;08;04 - 00;38;21;26
Tom Green
But the gap between being a kid and going to Vegas and seeing Henny Youngman or Milton Berle or whoever it was, and then all of a sudden, in the midlife, deciding, I want to get up there and I think I can do it, and I want to do it.
00;38;21;28 - 00;38;23;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, if you don't get married, you can do a.
00;38;23;14 - 00;38;25;06
Speaker 3
Lot. You know, you have a.
00;38;25;06 - 00;38;26;11
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Lot of time on your hands.
00;38;26;19 - 00;38;26;20
Speaker 3
If.
00;38;26;20 - 00;38;30;24
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You don't have children and don't have a wife and nobody can tell you, no.
00;38;31;00 - 00;38;33;04
Speaker 3
No, no, Kevin, where would you.
00;38;33;08 - 00;38;36;15
Tom Green
Go? There are plenty of people to tell, you know, though, not not be not people you love.
00;38;36;15 - 00;38;38;13
Speaker 3
But but but so I had to turn to doing it.
00;38;38;13 - 00;38;39;29
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So I started doing it.
00;38;40;01 - 00;38;41;28
Speaker 3
And like anything else.
00;38;42;01 - 00;38;48;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You don't start to do well. You have to go out and she wanted a few times.
00;38;48;03 - 00;38;49;15
Speaker 3
And you know, and then you kind.
00;38;49;15 - 00;38;53;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Of heal up. About a week later you go back and you know, so.
00;38;53;06 - 00;38;53;25
Speaker 3
You know, yeah.
00;38;53;26 - 00;39;10;14
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You've learned that. Well, man, maybe those jokes weren't the best. Maybe I can do better jokes. Yeah, maybe there's something more I can do. But it took a long time. You know, I think I was on the new talent thing before I got on the regular schedule. The comedy works for 7 or 8 years. You know, you're just doing open mic nights where they give me a three minutes.
00;39;10;16 - 00;39;27;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So. So pretty soon, you know, you're just kind of. And I think persistence is a virtue that I think is under underrated. And where somebody is persistent and just keeps at it and, you know, and, I mean, you saw I mean, my stand.
00;39;27;01 - 00;39;29;20
Speaker 3
Up, I mean, you know, if.
00;39;29;22 - 00;39;35;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Somebody likes you, they should have, you know, hire and shoot higher, you know, have higher standards, have higher.
00;39;35;07 - 00;39;36;08
Speaker 3
Expectations.
00;39;36;08 - 00;39;55;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, but but, I think we're all funny. I think everybody's funny, has their own, sense of humor, but you just have to kind of find it and, and, and know your audience and, and it's got stand up comedy is like getting shot out of a can. And it's it's really fun. And it's it's it's it's it's nice.
00;39;55;08 - 00;39;59;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And, you know, I think that you try different things, you know.
00;39;59;05 - 00;39;59;16
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;39;59;17 - 00;40;00;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, I tried all these.
00;40;00;27 - 00;40;03;09
Speaker 3
Different things in the beginning. It didn't work, you know, to the.
00;40;03;09 - 00;40;07;15
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Dying comic where he rolled me out in a hospital bed and there that mic goes.
00;40;07;17 - 00;40;14;11
Speaker 3
There's one chance in a million folks. The doctor said, if you'll laugh, he could get stronger, you know? And so you're in the oxygen tent. You got the thing.
00;40;14;11 - 00;40;27;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You have the ill fitting gown with your bottom hanging out. And so you tell a joke, you know, it's just like, you know, you know, you telling jokes like, yeah, horrible stuff, like what has for balls and eats. And my two uncles in Schenectady.
00;40;27;08 - 00;40;37;01
Speaker 3
You know, and then they, they start to laugh, and then you sit up in the beds, they're coming to come in, and then they realize we're more we laugh, you know, and he's coming around.
00;40;37;03 - 00;40;39;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. You know, and you're doing jokes like, you know.
00;40;39;20 - 00;40;42;05
Speaker 3
You know, who's who, who circumcised.
00;40;42;06 - 00;40;43;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Whale's foreskin divers.
00;40;43;27 - 00;40;51;08
Speaker 3
Know they're dying, you know, and they're just, you know, you're doing the worst jokes to animal human, you know, you know, it was it was, you know, how do they do?
00;40;51;13 - 00;40;52;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
How are they doing?
00;40;52;25 - 00;40;53;02
Speaker 3
Harley.
00;40;53;02 - 00;40;55;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Davidson motorcycle in a Hoover vacuum cleaner. You know, you.
00;40;55;27 - 00;41;01;17
Speaker 3
Go position in the dirt bag and. No, no, you jump, jump out of the bed. You know, you.
00;41;01;17 - 00;41;10;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Run up and down the stage. Your bottom is hanging out and the people going crazy. Then you laugh and you know, and they it's a miracle the mic is so you know, that didn't work.
00;41;10;00 - 00;41;32;05
Tom Green
You know, I did the I did the show, a few weeks ago with Sam Adams, who did the same thing, a career change from a sports writer, and he got into comedy. And I just I always think of that, you know how hard it is to curate good comedy. You know, because we I think we all see, you know, when you go to a, like comedy Works where I see you often, I mean, people want to laugh.
00;41;32;05 - 00;41;34;01
Tom Green
They've signed up for it. They bought tickets.
00;41;34;02 - 00;41;35;10
Speaker 3
That's the comedy group Tom.
00;41;35;10 - 00;41;38;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Tom. That's the biggest secret. The audience is on your side.
00;41;38;10 - 00;41;40;03
Speaker 3
Yeah. They don't want to see somebody go.
00;41;40;03 - 00;41;41;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Up there and drown in slow.
00;41;41;18 - 00;41;54;18
Speaker 3
Motion. No, you know, they they don't want to see some. You throw some. Throw that guy at life resume. You know, help them anyway. Somebody they don't wanna see somebody eat it. They want to be entertained. Yeah. Are you not entertaining. You know, are you a gladiator thing. So.
00;41;54;21 - 00;42;07;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. No, that's right. So. So the biggest secret is that they're on your side and and so but let them be, you know, don't beat them over the head. Don't don't be too dirty. You have to find your own voice with it and be.
00;42;07;17 - 00;42;11;11
Speaker 3
Unique in them. Go, boy. This guy. This is kind of interesting guy. Yeah.
00;42;11;13 - 00;42;18;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And so and so I think again it goes back to likability and and different things.
00;42;18;02 - 00;42;24;23
Tom Green
Yeah. Are animals funny. Do they have a sense of humor or do they are different animals?
00;42;24;25 - 00;42;26;08
Speaker 3
Well, I think animals.
00;42;26;08 - 00;42;33;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Have really basic emotions. I do animals can be vengeful, you know, and they can be. Wait a.
00;42;33;09 - 00;42;41;12
Tom Green
Minute. Just so people know who are listening and not what you gesture towards. My lovely dog Hudson here. Sitting here. And you said vengeful.
00;42;41;14 - 00;42;55;05
Speaker 3
Are you sure? You you leave him. You leave him alone too long. You know I'm happy in the house. It's going to show you, you know, or you know, we're supposed to go for a walk, you know, in a minute you're holding that couch. So? So.
00;42;55;12 - 00;43;13;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And I think they can be ashamed and embarrassed. I think they can be. You can be jealous, right? You know, if, you know, little flip is getting too much food, he's going to stick his head in there, right? And, you know, so, so, they have basic emotions and so, it can can they be funny? Can be.
00;43;13;10 - 00;43;15;11
Speaker 3
Funny animals?
00;43;15;13 - 00;43;19;23
Tom Green
Because we think of playful. And I was like, you think of the otter, or you think of animals that look play.
00;43;19;24 - 00;43;23;04
Speaker 3
If we look at play, they say that play.
00;43;23;06 - 00;43;27;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Doesn't go anywhere below rodents play behavior.
00;43;27;16 - 00;43;27;29
Speaker 3
Now, most.
00;43;27;29 - 00;43;55;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Play behaviors are training. They're practicing for different things they do in their life. You know, so play is a, you know, tug of war and stuff is, is, you know, for, you know, you know, aggressive displays or for, for protection. But but I don't think that's true because birds play. Yeah. You know, and so my mother had a, oh, raven that had a hurt wing that she gave back.
00;43;55;10 - 00;44;08;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But for a while she had it in the house, and she would he would walk up to her and she would feed him, but he'd walk up to her and take one of her cigarets and put the cigaret down in front of her. And then she'd try and pick it up and he'd pick it up.
00;44;08;19 - 00;44;10;14
Speaker 3
And he's playing with it, you know, so birds.
00;44;10;15 - 00;44;11;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Birds can play. Yeah.
00;44;11;22 - 00;44;13;09
Speaker 3
Sense of humor.
00;44;13;11 - 00;44;18;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, laughing. You know, some rodents will giggle when you tickle.
00;44;18;12 - 00;44;19;01
Tom Green
Him, right.
00;44;19;02 - 00;44;21;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. And, and, and,
00;44;21;11 - 00;44;26;15
Tom Green
And just still, you know, not a lot of people have had that tickling rodent experience. I'm glad you're.
00;44;26;15 - 00;44;30;10
Speaker 3
Here, too. Yeah. Yeah, I'm here to help you with that.
00;44;30;12 - 00;44;35;07
Tom Green
If somebody says I've been tickling my rodent, I think you just need to go find another chair. Yeah.
00;44;35;10 - 00;44;47;05
Speaker 3
Why don't you, join a book club and you think particularly. But but but to, with with the great apes.
00;44;47;07 - 00;45;02;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
There's a lot of, play and and and and types of humorous things, you know, where, you know, the mothers will do kind of a gotcha thing to the babies and. Yeah. So, so there's, there's there's play.
00;45;03;01 - 00;45;06;28
Tom Green
Do you have a favorite animal? You have a least favorite animal or.
00;45;07;01 - 00;45;07;07
Speaker 3
Like.
00;45;07;07 - 00;45;10;16
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Anything with a heartbeat. You know, I think any any other form of life.
00;45;10;19 - 00;45;13;24
Speaker 3
Because if we were.
00;45;13;26 - 00;45;23;15
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Attracted to other forms of life, you know, and there's there's so much around us and, you know, it's still a minute to midnight. I'm still hopeful about conservation efforts, you know.
00;45;23;22 - 00;45;24;04
Speaker 3
Favorite.
00;45;24;04 - 00;45;32;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Animal? I mean, I love turtles, I love turtles, you know, everything about turtles. And and you know, I think because the little dime store turtles we had when we were these.
00;45;32;27 - 00;45;41;16
Tom Green
Remember, you showed me the sunrise. You do some of the the work on them. You know, the thing is simple or as a, as a poxy to to repair their shells.
00;45;41;19 - 00;45;59;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah. So turtles get hurt and turtles, you know, their old, old they form and, and so with different forms of life and, and every one of them so well suited and specialized, you know, fruit for its niche, you know, and, you know, a, masterpiece of evolution.
00;45;59;02 - 00;46;13;13
Tom Green
Yeah, yeah. Do you, do you have, because we've talked about favorite animals. Do you have any, least favorite animals, animals that you maybe thought like you don't like, but we'd like to see fewer of in your life? I mean.
00;46;13;15 - 00;46;18;28
Speaker 3
No, I you know, I've always wondered, do we need mosquitoes?
00;46;19;01 - 00;46;30;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But then I realized we did a thing for the the state and bats. When we did the stomach contents of the bats, they eat a 1000 mosquitoes a night.
00;46;30;11 - 00;46;31;05
Tom Green
Wow.
00;46;31;08 - 00;46;34;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
So, so the form of food for everybody else.
00;46;34;07 - 00;46;39;15
Tom Green
That's when we get into the chain. The mosquitoes are needed to keep the bats fed. You can't, you know, and. Yeah, that's so.
00;46;39;15 - 00;46;52;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
But but b mosquitoes have killed more people than all the wars. But together with, you know, yellow fever and malaria and the different diseases that they transmit. So I think maybe it would get rid of mosquitoes. But then, you know, what would the bats eat? You know, so.
00;46;52;27 - 00;46;59;24
Tom Green
This book, which talks so much about your life and all that, it also talks a great deal about conservation and about animals in our world. And from the.
00;46;59;24 - 00;47;00;06
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Book.
00;47;00;06 - 00;47;18;12
Tom Green
Yeah, yeah, from from bees to whales, we talk about the struggle to, to keep our planet healthy and the way everything affects these animals and the way these animals, you know, affect our world with.
00;47;18;15 - 00;47;18;28
Speaker 3
You know.
00;47;19;02 - 00;47;37;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The the animal life on the planet is a resource, tremendous resource. And, and, you know, in ways we don't even know yet all the time. And so I think that everything fits in. And we do a great job at disturbing the place, you know, the, the, you know.
00;47;38;00 - 00;47;40;23
Speaker 3
Wobbly headed humans, you know. Yeah.
00;47;40;23 - 00;48;01;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Compared to other animals. But but I really think that there is, you know, if you talk to children about conservation, I mean, they get it about recycling and stuff and things that we didn't, you know, remember in the 50s, people throwing the whole McDonald's tray out the window on the highway, you know, as you're driving or your parents smoking in the car while you were in there, you know, I mean, it's lucky any of us.
00;48;01;11 - 00;48;01;26
Speaker 3
Lived it up.
00;48;01;27 - 00;48;03;14
Tom Green
So are we doing better?
00;48;03;16 - 00;48;04;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
No.
00;48;04;12 - 00;48;05;24
Speaker 3
But we worse we can.
00;48;05;28 - 00;48;15;28
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
We're not worse, but at least we're aware of what we're doing wrong. And I think I think that, there's there's still time to do it, right? You know, we.
00;48;15;28 - 00;48;19;02
Speaker 3
Need, we need.
00;48;19;02 - 00;48;43;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Visionaries. And, you know, tomorrow is is not going to look like today, you know, in, in terms of, destruction of habitat alone is, is is hard, you know, pollutants that we've, we put down or, you know, invasive species. I mean, if we look at. Oh, I was looking at a thing on, on the news the other morning about, you know, raccoons in Denver.
00;48;43;06 - 00;48;43;18
Speaker 3
And, you.
00;48;43;18 - 00;49;05;10
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Know, don't do diapers, you know. Yeah. And, and, and diseases that they can transmit and, you know, with, rabies and distemper and the, the tapeworm that they can have. And so, you know, but where are they supposed to go? You know, I mean, they were here first. Nelson. There's an apartment building where his den was.
00;49;05;10 - 00;49;25;27
Tom Green
Right. I wonder because you talk about mosquitoes. And then there are also things like we do talk about and people, I think, shocked. But then do they really learn more about things like bird flu and how how illnesses and ailments that are belong to the animal kingdom are transmitted by the animal kingdom, are going to directly impact us more and more?
00;49;25;29 - 00;49;26;26
Speaker 3
Well, look.
00;49;26;26 - 00;49;57;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
What's happened since 2000. People talk about Covid, but there's been seven pandemics. Really? West Nile in 2000. Right. And just had a cousin die with Nile. Here in Denver. So, West Nile here and, you know, in the United States and then worldwide in 2000, a new virus in size one, then size two, then the Mediterranean respiratory virus moves, you know, has four, then
00;49;58;25 - 00;50;06;00
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Ebola and Zika and Covid. So these new diseases all the time, the diseases poking us and going.
00;50;06;02 - 00;50;09;18
Speaker 3
Hey, hey, hey, in in, in with with all.
00;50;09;18 - 00;50;27;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
These, the one thing they have in common is some animal in the beginning, you know. Right. Or hantavirus, you know, with from the rodents in, in, horse barns, you know, and so I think, you know, these these things are all around us and so many of these things are. Oh, it's an animal disease, but it's really not.
00;50;27;12 - 00;50;44;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It's a zoonotic disease that can jump. And, you know, they can give you give the people or the we could give back and into them. So you know in migratory animals, migratory birds that start in Asia and then end up in Europe or Africa, you know, and then.
00;50;44;15 - 00;50;44;28
Speaker 3
Also.
00;50;45;05 - 00;51;01;11
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Part of it is with such a transient world population. Now you jump in an airplane and go to Seattle, shake hands with a guy that you meet on the airplane. He's just come from China, right? And he and he's going home. So and so he's got something, you know, I mean.
00;51;01;13 - 00;51;22;29
Tom Green
Does the animal transmission, is that because we talk about you know, obviously vaccines became important and controversial in the last half century. But what about managing this from an animal level. Is that something we can do as far as is it treating animals? Is it can controlling animal species or movements or things like that? Or how about how.
00;51;22;29 - 00;51;24;09
Speaker 3
About I think we're tracking.
00;51;24;12 - 00;51;52;04
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Early detection and, you know, testing these animals in wild populations and and realizing what's, what's going on. And so, you know, I think watchdog groups that, of, of laboratories that you go, wow, we've got this. You know, I think with, with if we look at the, Aids, you know, with, with what happened, you know, it just, well, these these these monkeys are dying, you know, French veterinarians.
00;51;52;04 - 00;51;53;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You what monkeys? You know.
00;51;53;24 - 00;51;55;21
Speaker 3
And what? Well, who cares about that? That can't be.
00;51;55;21 - 00;52;16;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know? And then before you know it, you do the wrong. You do? Yeah. So. So I think, you know, if we look at just since I've gotten out of school, Legionnaire's disease and parvovirus in Finland, leukemia and, you know, canine influenza and I mean, the new the newness of these things and and, you know, they're mutating all the time.
00;52;16;02 - 00;52;37;24
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And and I think that, you know, Mersa, you know, I mean, in resistant bacteria that, you know, I think that the it's so funny, I found a notebook from the other day. The other day from in the early 80s when I got out of school and I looked at the antibiotics that I was using, and they're not even on the shelf anymore.
00;52;37;26 - 00;52;40;05
Speaker 3
They've been. Yeah, everything's resistant.
00;52;40;06 - 00;52;44;27
Tom Green
Yeah. So so this is this has been somewhat depressing. So let's talk about.
00;52;44;27 - 00;52;49;12
Speaker 3
Comedy a little more. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean the I mean it's.
00;52;49;14 - 00;52;55;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It's, it's depressing, but we have to be on top of it. And we are, you know, we are I mean.
00;52;55;04 - 00;52;55;27
Speaker 3
I.
00;52;55;29 - 00;53;12;24
Tom Green
I see I see the pictures of you because I've seen you when I see comedy works, there are oftentimes some, some big name comedians who come to town, who you work with and you're friends with. And I can tell that you've known them for a long time. But I also see pictures of you would like legends like Joan Rivers.
00;53;12;26 - 00;53;31;03
Tom Green
I see you with the late Norm MacDonald, who I interviewed once. I thought he was fantastic, too. Yeah. I mean, this has been an amazing run for you. I mean, your comedy run is probably, what, only 20, 25 years old, maybe, maybe a little more. But you've you've worked with everyone.
00;53;31;05 - 00;53;44;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Well, I've worked with a lot of people. And, you know, if you were clean, you can open a lot for different people. Or if they're if they like you, you they'll have you back or to do with me, you know, George Lopez or the people on the back of the book. Kevin Nealon and you know who was in town?
00;53;44;12 - 00;53;45;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Yeah, yeah.
00;53;45;07 - 00;53;55;00
Tom Green
And George, you you help George out in a couple of ways, like he, you and he that had a pretty symbiotic relationship. Obviously, he's been good for you, but you were good for him, too.
00;53;55;00 - 00;54;11;23
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Oh, he enjoyed is the best. I mean, you know, he's he's kind. He's kind. George's is a great guy in and, Kevin Nealon or or, you know, Joan Rivers came in her opener, had tonsillitis and so.
00;54;11;27 - 00;54;13;15
Speaker 3
Well, get somebody get somebody.
00;54;13;18 - 00;54;19;05
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know. And so, you know, we'll get Kevin, you know. So so we just really hit it off. And then she goes.
00;54;19;09 - 00;54;20;14
Speaker 3
Can you come to Phoenix.
00;54;20;14 - 00;54;25;06
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And do the, the Jewish community service thing? And, you know, you know.
00;54;25;07 - 00;54;32;12
Speaker 3
Jewish adoption agency show we're going to do tomorrow. You sure you. Yeah. You can tell Joan Rivers no. You know. No, no.
00;54;32;14 - 00;54;33;10
Tom Green
I'll make it work.
00;54;33;10 - 00;54;57;12
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And she was so funny and had done it so long, was such a, comics comic and had new jokes and was working on stuff. And. Yeah. So I think it's been a, the comic. I've been doing it for 40, and, and so, you know. Yeah. And, and so, and it doesn't happen overnight, you know, and, and I know, I mean, I'm 74.
00;54;57;12 - 00;54;59;13
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I'm, you know, it's not that you're going to get discovered.
00;54;59;13 - 00;55;02;04
Speaker 3
You know, this is it. Yeah. This is it.
00;55;02;04 - 00;55;05;21
Tom Green
This podcast has launched careers. We made runs Apollo. What he is today.
00;55;05;25 - 00;55;08;03
Speaker 3
Well, I mean.
00;55;08;05 - 00;55;13;18
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
I keep always thinking Warren Zevon just got put in the Hall of Fame and what a thing.
00;55;13;22 - 00;55;16;01
Speaker 3
He should have been in way before some of those other.
00;55;16;04 - 00;55;17;23
Tom Green
Maybe when he was alive.
00;55;17;26 - 00;55;25;27
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
For him would have been nice. And but he always said this thing when when he found out that he had cancer. Now he's remember we said, you got to make every sandwich count.
00;55;25;29 - 00;55;26;23
Speaker 3
You know.
00;55;26;25 - 00;55;29;11
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And so. Yeah, you mean so you've done that.
00;55;29;11 - 00;55;32;08
Speaker 3
And so we you know, being alive is good. You know, being alive.
00;55;32;08 - 00;55;34;01
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Is not a bag of cold chisel.
00;55;34;06 - 00;55;36;06
Speaker 3
You know, it's not it's not oh.
00;55;36;06 - 00;55;39;21
Tom Green
They're tough days. But you got to also recognize the great. Well I've plenty of those.
00;55;39;22 - 00;55;42;27
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean life is hard.
00;55;42;28 - 00;56;03;02
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It gives us I mean, you know, I mean, I don't have to tell you. And, in, in it gives you with one hand and slaps you down the other and, and so but one thing that helped me, I was, I was balancing for Willie Nelson. And Willie is like that Tao of I mean he's he's got this Zen philosophy.
00;56;03;04 - 00;56;04;13
Speaker 3
And you know.
00;56;04;16 - 00;56;24;22
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
The IRS was after him and he had lost his son and he'd gone through divorce and in there going to take his house and all the other stuff. And I walked up to him and he would always stand and look at the crowd before he went out. And I go, Willie, I'm so sorry everything's happening to us. Well, Kevin, unfortunately.
00;56;24;24 - 00;56;28;04
Speaker 3
We're not in control.
00;56;28;06 - 00;56;34;26
Speaker 3
You know, just, you know, he just gave his hands up. Yeah. You know, I'm not in control. And and he's still going.
00;56;34;27 - 00;56;44;03
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
And so. So I think that, But every day is a gift. We get a chance to do it, right. Get another chance to do it right.
00;56;44;05 - 00;57;02;08
Tom Green
Well, you do one thing that a lot of people don't get to do, and that is you touch a lot of people's lives and you do it through comedy. You do it through your veterinary practice and through all the years. And being, you know, Denver's favorite son is is a pretty, pretty big part of that. It's, it's not lost on me or many people.
00;57;02;08 - 00;57;12;14
Tom Green
And, I just, I just think it's great that you continue to do all you do. And, you know, I imagine you you don't see the end of the road for any of this. You're going to keep going.
00;57;12;17 - 00;57;16;08
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
No, they were the bug. Mr. bean. When are you going to retire? You know.
00;57;16;10 - 00;57;19;19
Speaker 3
Or maybe another book. You know, I mean, the thing about the.
00;57;19;19 - 00;57;34;17
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Book was that there was the pandemic, you know, and people said you have a book in you, you know, you realize I said, you know, you have your stories, you know, you should write a book. And and so the pandemic came in. There were two years and the world shut down.
00;57;34;22 - 00;57;35;08
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;57;35;10 - 00;57;41;20
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
You know, there wasn't comedy, there wasn't restaurants or movies. And so it was a chance and maybe kind of reflecting.
00;57;41;23 - 00;57;46;10
Speaker 3
Writing a memoir is kind of arrogant. You because your life.
00;57;46;10 - 00;57;57;09
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Is interesting to you. Everybody's life is interesting to them. But is your life be to a greater audience of strangers? You know, how are people going to find it interesting to read? You know, I'll.
00;57;57;09 - 00;58;18;02
Tom Green
Tell people straight up, I found the book fascinating. And, you and I have known each other a long time. The funniest thing about reading your book to me is it's not Molly Feinberg, and it's not Mrs. Raimondo, and it's not the McCusker brothers, and it's not all the people who are in your book. The funniest thing about this book, when I read it is I read it in your voice.
00;58;18;02 - 00;58;34;04
Speaker 3
That big voice. Is that Kevin Fitzgerald voice? More I hear you hear me. You know, you hear your own voice and you think, oh, Jesus, you know you because you have an idea what you sound like, what you look like. And it's totally wrong in my voice.
00;58;34;08 - 00;58;36;07
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
It's just this thuggery you know?
00;58;36;10 - 00;58;39;13
Speaker 3
It's you know, it didn't, you know, it's kind of like.
00;58;39;15 - 00;58;40;21
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Rocky's brother.
00;58;40;23 - 00;58;41;13
Speaker 3
Or something.
00;58;41;17 - 00;58;51;26
Tom Green
Well, if you want a great read, pick up. It started with a turtle doctor, Kevin Fitzgerald, our friend. It's a great book. It's a lot of fun. You'll learn a lot. And, Kevin, I thank you so much for coming down here and spending some time.
00;58;51;26 - 00;58;52;23
Speaker 3
Oh, thanks for having me.
00;58;52;23 - 00;58;53;17
Tom Green
It's always good, buddy.
00;58;53;17 - 00;58;54;25
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
00;58;54;25 - 00;59;00;20
Tom Green
And Hudson thanks. You for. Well, he's just laying there, buddy. Thanks. You sometimes just laying there as a way of saying thanks.
00;59;00;22 - 00;59;00;28
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;59;00;28 - 00;59;04;20
Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald
He's he's. Come with us. So it's okay. Thanks, buddy.
00;59;07;04 - 00;59;25;07
Tom Green
Thanks, as always, to the great doctor, Kevin Fitzgerald, for taking some time and sharing some stories with us here on the other Tom green show. As far as you doing your part? Well, you can do some of what Kevin would like to see do as far as conservation, but for me, you can just like or subscribe or do any of that stuff that, really helps our show continue.
00;59;25;09 - 00;59;39;16
Tom Green
We're looking forward to next week. My buddy Kyle Keefe is going to come in. We'll try to talk about hockey. If we can get him to pay attention for a couple minutes. He's he's kind of erratic. Anyway, thanks again for joining us. We do hope to see you back here again next week.