PODCAST. ADHD Careers and Creativity with Comedy Legend Rick Green.

Canadian comedy legend, Rick Green.

In a thought-provoking and engaging episode of our ADHD Wise Squirrels podcast, host Dave Delaney sits down with Rick Green, a Canadian comedian, writer, and ADHD advocate, to explore the complexities of living with ADHD as a late-diagnosed adult. Rick hosts the popular YouTube channel Rick Has ADHD.

The conversation weaves through Rick’s personal experiences and impressive comedy career, earning him recognition from celebrities like The Kid’s in the Hall’s Dave Foley and awards like the CHADD Hall of Fame, Order of Ontario, and the Order of Canada.

Rick Green is a renowned Canadian comedian, writer, and performer best known for his sketch comedy and television work. He was a founding member of the comedy troupe The Frantics, whose radio series Frantic Times and television show Four on the Floor became cult classics in the 1980s. Rick also played a pivotal role in the long-running Canadian comedy series The Red Green Show, where he portrayed the quirky and accident-prone character Bill. His sharp wit and innovative storytelling have earned him acclaim as one of Canada’s most clever comedic voices, influencing a generation of comedians and sketch writers.

The Catalyst for Rick’s ADHD Diagnosis

Rick’s ADHD journey began unexpectedly with his son’s struggles in school. Despite being bright and conscientious, his son was falling behind in a specialized program. Teachers initially questioned whether his son belonged in the advanced course, but testing revealed something else entirely—ADHD. For Rick, this revelation triggered a cascade of realizations as he began to recognize ADHD traits in himself, his father, and even his grandfather.

Like many adults, Rick had internalized common myths about ADHD: that it only affected children, involved hyperactivity, or was a sign of troublemaking. His own misconceptions initially led to skepticism about the diagnosis. But as he read more about ADHD, Rick saw himself in the descriptions of the condition’s symptoms. It was a turning point that reshaped his understanding of his own life and challenges.

ADHD Medication and Creativity

A significant theme in the conversation was Rick’s initial reluctance to try medication. As a creative professional, he feared that stimulants would dull his imagination or disrupt his sense of self. However, under the guidance of a specialist, he cautiously started on a low dose, with surprising results.

Medication didn’t change Rick’s creativity—it enhanced his ability to focus and follow through on tasks he previously struggled with. Rick recounted a transformative moment when, for the first time in years, he could tackle an overwhelming pile of tax paperwork in a single day. This newfound ability to complete tasks underscored how ADHD treatment can level the playing field without compromising individuality.

Addressing ADHD Myths

Rick and Dave also tackled some of the persistent myths about ADHD. One of the biggest misconceptions is that ADHD is a new or overly diagnosed condition. ADHD has been documented as far back as the 18th century, with historical descriptions of symptoms that mirror today’s diagnostic criteria. Rick shared how misinformation—often driven by stigma—continues to harm those with ADHD by preventing them from seeking help or understanding their condition.

The discussion also highlighted how ADHD often runs in families, with traits passed down through generations. This hereditary nature adds another layer of complexity, as many adults recognize their own ADHD after their children are diagnosed.

Creativity and ADHD

For Rick, ADHD and creativity have always gone hand in hand. His career in sketch comedy, from the groundbreaking troupe The Frantics to The Red Green Show, was shaped by his ADHD tendencies. The fast-paced, short-form nature of sketchwriting suited his need for novelty and quick turnarounds, allowing him to channel his energy into bursts of creative output.

Collaboration was another key factor in his success. Working with others brought structure to his creative process and helped him refine his ideas. This underscores a common theme for many ADHDers: the importance of supportive environments that harness their strengths while mitigating their challenges.

The ADHD Superpower Debate

Dave and Rick explored the controversial idea of ADHD as a "superpower." While ADHD can amplify creativity, innovation, and resilience, they agreed that its impact depends heavily on one’s circumstances. Privilege, access to resources, and a strong support system can make it easier to frame ADHD as an asset. Without those advantages, however, ADHD can lead to significant struggles, from financial instability to mental health challenges.

Rick emphasized that while ADHD can be a source of strength, it’s important not to gloss over the difficulties many face. Untreated ADHD, for instance, is associated with higher rates of accidents, addiction, and reduced life expectancy. Recognizing these realities is crucial to providing the right support and resources.

Advocacy and the Future

Rick’s work in ADHD advocacy has been transformative for countless people. His documentary, ADD & Loving It?!, sparked a cultural shift in how ADHD is perceived, leading to greater awareness and understanding. Rick recounted emotional stories from viewers who credited the film with saving their lives or helping them get diagnosed.

Now, as Rick returns to producing new content, he faces the challenge of updating his work to reflect current research while continuing to connect with audiences. He emphasized the importance of community support in terms of encouragement and financial backing to sustain the work of ADHD advocates and educators.

Finding Your Path with ADHD

The conversation wrapped up with a discussion about careers and passions for ADHDers. Rick shared insights into how people with ADHD can thrive in roles that align with their strengths, interests, and need for novelty. From improv comedy to emergency response to creative industries, the key is finding a niche that fits.

Rick and Dave also touched on the importance of self-discovery tools like the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which helps individuals identify their purpose by examining what they love, what they’re good at, what the world needs, and what they can be paid for. For many wise squirrels, this process can provide clarity and direction in navigating their unique challenges and opportunities.

Rick Green’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of understanding and embracing ADHD. His advocacy, humor, and authenticity continue to inspire others to seek help, explore their potential, and build lives that work for their unique brains. For late-diagnosed adults, his story is a reminder that it’s never too late to rewrite your narrative and turn challenges into opportunities.

Listeners can explore more of Rick’s work at RickHasADHD.com and support his mission to create meaningful, impactful resources for the ADHD community.

• Transcript

   Yeah, so my son went to grade five, five, six elementary school and then was going into a special program for grade seven for kids who were in enhanced program. They didn't use the term gifted. They said, enhance the programs enhance the kids are they're all the same. No differences. Right. Right. Anyway, so he about a month and a bit in the school called and said, we need to talk to you, Nick has done any of his homework. I was like, what is the most conscientious and he gets his homework done and part of the problem was he was bright and he would get his homework done in class because at the back of the classroom there was a computer or a couple of old computers. These were probably donated by a muffler shop when they upgraded their billing system, but it was a computer. And so if you got your work done, you could go play in the computer. So he zoomed through his work, got it done and his handwriting was a shambles, common trait with ADHD because he's in a rush and then he was back there. Well, he gets into high school and there's homework now. There's assignments to take home and work on and projects to do. He has no experience doing that. He has no structure. My marriage was just ending at that point. So there was a lot of support. It slipped between the cracks. And when they called, it was just what? They said, we'd like to test them to see if he is in fact enhanced or if this is the right program for him. In other words, he's smart enough or gifted enough or whatever they were measuring. And they came back and said, no, he's in the right course, but you got ADHD. And that left me with what? No, that's that's he's not running around. He does smash stuff. He's not trouble. He's because all I knew was what everybody else had heard and which had these myths that have been spread many of them deliberately by a particular religious organization that was trying to discredit psychiatry. So I didn't know anything and then I start reading about it and I look at that list of symptoms. Well, if this is ADHD, I have ADHD. Yes. Oh, oh, I have. And then I thought about my dad, my grandfather, because as you probably know, it's highly heritable. Yes. But as heritable is height. And so apparently my grandfather was on the British musical stage. Many, you know, at the beginning of the 20th century. So yeah, it runs in families. And so he got diagnosis. They gave us some tools. They suggested medication. I was totally against it. But they said it works and it's safe. And there's been millions of doses and nobody has died up from it if you use it properly. And I was at this point seeing a specialist for my ADHD and he said, I don't drink smoke. Anything. I'd never done any of that. I mean, I had the occasional beer. I didn't want to take drugs. It felt like cheating. And I was afraid I'd lose my creativity. So the doctor, the psychologist I've seen, great guy, Dr. Fleming said, you know, I've never, I've worked with a lot of creative people. I've never heard anyone say that. So I said, try it. Take the pill at nine or eight. And if you don't like how it makes you feel, then don't take the next one at lunch. And so I took one and then one at lunch. And nothing seemed to change. And then it was only by the third day I finally heard. And I think I was on very low dose. I was actually for the first day breaking them in half. I was so worried. I couldn't tell the difference. So I then saw this big pile of envelopes from the government, the Canadian government. And they were the GST and the income tax. And I was a year and a quarter, like five quarters behind and paying my goods and services tax. And yeah. And so I to just I thought if I could just get one three month period done, I sat down and by 11 something I was done. I was I was only a year behind. And by the end of the day, well, what's amazing was I took the second pill. I came back. I continued the end of the day. I was only one quarter behind. I done a year's worth and a day after being unable to. And at that point, my fear was, uh-oh, I'm turned into an accountant. But it turned out I was still funny. Still, you know, we were working in the red green shot at that point. And so which was great. And in fact, the first person who suggested I might have ADHD was was red green Steve Smith who used to be a teacher and teacher spotted right away. And he, uh, and one of the adventures with Bill, I'm doing something and thrashing around because it's like, Bill's having one of his ADD moments. And that was the first time and that was five years before I was actually, uh, formerly diagnosed. Ah, that's interesting. So he spotted it too. Like, yeah. I mean, you did that show for 15 years, right? Like, yeah, well, it was 91. Yes, when you started. Yeah. And it was, um, so ran for 15 seasons. Now I was only there for I think 11 of them. Uh, a whole bunch for eight. And then I did a pilot for history television called a history bites. And it turned into a series. Uh, and so I couldn't handle both because I was producing, directing, writing, well, with other writers, uh, this other show history bites. So I hit the step away. I left Steve in the lurch because it was very short notice. I felt so sorry about it. But that ran and it was a big hit. Uh, somebody, the one of the big papers called it the, uh, the clevers Canadian comedy ever, something like that. And I thought, okay, yeah, that's what it is. There may be ones that get more slightly more laughs, but this is damn clever. And anyway, so I was away for that. And then after that ran, it's course. And then we stopped doing full seasons and just doing specials. Then I was able to come back to Regreen. And it was through Regreen actually that I met my future wife, Ava. Uh, she was the editor on the show. Oh, not kidding. Yeah. And uh, so and then together, she became the editor on history bites. And then co-producer of the specials we did and and of all the documentaries done. She was just, uh, in this morning editing, uh, the next bunch of videos. So, uh, yeah, it was, it was an interesting experience. And then in the middle of that, well, when I got the diagnosis, I told Patrick McKenna who plays Harold. I told him about it. And I kind of suspected he might have it. And he said, oh, yeah, he knew because there were family members who were clearly ADHD. And, I think his son had been diagnosed and so on. So they, they knew, but he'd never been formally diagnosed. And that's when we, I proposed doing a documentary. And he was a mature. And you know, why he said sure because he is ADHD. He didn't think of that. And yeah, yeah. And in the documentary that we made ADD and loving it, question mark, exclamation mark, like what? Um, for the people who, who have it and know how debilitating can be, that's like, what, how dare you? And for people who think it's a joke, what an excuse. It's like, loving it. You know, they were going to watch it and say, see, there's people who love their ADHD. Anyway, so we got both, I got both groups in the skeptics and the people who knew better. And it, yeah. Um, and it worked really well. People, people who have been dismissive were calling their kids up and saying, I'm sorry, we didn't know. Um, can you forgive us? So there was a lot of healing. There was a lot. And then there were, eventually, once it was on PBS, there were millions of people who were getting diagnosed. And there was, I told that the big ADHD conference that just ended in November in, in, in Anaheim that they had a thing on influencers. And they asked who, who, who are the biggest influencers? And Alan Brown said, it all started with Rick Green. And yeah, yeah, how cool is that? And in fact, I, I don't think I have it with me here somewhere around, but I was appointed to the Chad Hall of Fame for, I felt for all of that. Yeah. And I've done, I got the order of Canada, which is a huge deal. I found out, order of Ontario. I got a side order of New Brunswick, which comes with, and, and I, and I, like, there were all these awards and mental health awards and so on. So, yeah, because people realized as many people had it as ever had it, really, I think. But, yeah, the movie is 2009, right? Yeah, yeah, because we got to go ahead in 2008. And then we made it in 2009. And then the economy crashed. And then they, so they said, we won't be able to air it for probably two years. And then they gave us very short notes that said, we're going to air it in four weeks or three weeks. And we didn't have time to do publicity or anything. So, perfectly, so ADHD, right? And, but it went on the air on global television network. And the other player. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I word for Ken West before moving south. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So they, and the reaction was huge. They didn't know what to do with it. They were referring people to us because they never had a reaction to anything they'd ever done like that. People, how do I find these people? Where's Rick? Can I talk to him and so on? And so, yeah, that's, so that's my story. And I just, it was, it wasn't like I planned to do it. I mean, I was nine, eight or nine years into my own diagnosis or a life with knowing that what it was. But I thought we'll do this. And then I had a bunch of other really cool ideas to get to next. And none of that happened because when you got people saying, you know, they've had bought pills to kill themselves. And then they happened to catch your program. And I flush those pills down the toilet and saw my doctor Monday morning demanding to see him. And I've got, I've been on some very different pills for two weeks and everything's changed. And it's like, oh my god, we're saving lives. And I'm not, you know, I'm not trained. Dave, I'm not trained to do this. So, yeah, yeah. It was, uh, well, we just, we go, we made some mistakes. Um, and, you know, this is can be a very sensitive group of people, hyper sensitive. So, yeah, I'm cautious. But yeah, humor lets you get away with a lot. It does. And the thing is when you're authentic and you're vulnerable and you're, you're being, you know, all the things, all the cliches you hear transparent, I think, I, that's how I approach this too, right? Like, and I'll make them, I'll point out when I'm wrong. Like I made, and I also, like you said, like, I always say, I'm not a doctor or nor do I play with them on the internet. So I'm not a doctor. So, you know, I'm, I'm learning about this like everybody. And yeah, like, for example, I learned that just recently I talked about it on this show that ADHD, there's only one type of ADHD. There's not three types. I always thought there was three types. It's three presentations of the one ADHD. So like, and it shows differently and different people and changes throughout your life as well. So it's, it's all these like fascinating things you learn. And, and the thing is too, like in your defense, I guess, of any errors or mistakes or whatever that were, or not, I wouldn't even say mistakes, but like in, in the movie, which is fantastic, by the way, I did watch it after we spoke. And I loved it. You know, it's science. Things will change. We want them to change. We want to learn new things about this. And so, and even the name, the bloody name change. It's like, come on. Like, I'm sure for you, it was like ADD, what, what are we ADHD now? Like, that's a pain in the body. I got to buy another domain. Yeah. Yeah. We bought them both. But I mean, before that, it was called minimal brain dysfunction. Yes. And a defective moral control and hyperkinetic children or whatever. Yeah. Which is, you know, and that's kind of accurate. It is kind of a minimal brain dysfunction for a lot of people. I mean, you and I are coping on some level. And for me, coping much better. And knowing what's going on. But this is not new. The doctor Alexander Critan, I think it is young. Somebody can fact check this one. But Dr Alexander Critan in 1798, I'm good with numbers, was describing kids who basically he was listing the symptoms of ADHD. And then through about the, the 1800s, there were other doctors, German doctors had picked that up and we're talking what's the name of Fijitifil. You got Transylfidl. Yeah. Yeah. That was apparently a doctor who wrote that Fijitifil, can't sit still. And all of that goes back and it goes back farther and farther. You can, you know, what do they call them forensic diagnosis where you can look at someone's life and go, oh yeah, okay. And that's why they can list people like Winston Churchill or whoever. He struggled with a lot of these symptoms as it ended well. But that's the thing too. And you like, you're a great example of someone who has had this great lasting impact. Certainly on me as a comedy fan growing up on the stuff that you did and on, you know, like SCTV, of course, and I studied in private second city in Toronto because of all that. And I've always and performed a lot of improv like I've always been a comedy fan and like I saw kids in the hall taped a couple times at CVC back in the day and loved kids and all. But even with the frantics, you know, you had this great way before even kids in the hall for on the floor, which I'm sure inspired a lot of, I'm sure inspired the kids in the hall. I would imagine. Yeah. Well, I remember talk a little bit about that. That was from the 1980s, right? Like Mr. Kim, you had Dave from the kids in the hall. Dave Holy yeah. Yeah. They said at one of the awards ceremony said, uh, was telling his story and then said, and then there was a show called For the Floor with the frantics. And I saw that show and I thought, well, I'll never get on television unless the frantics get canceled and the frantics canceled. And it was all it was all budgetary and uh, was really nasty. We found out not nasty. It was, uh, we just found out later that the CVC, the network wanted us to continue, but we weren't told. And anyway, oh my god. Yeah. So we could have, uh, we could have gone on and on and on. And that kind of killed what was a pretty cool thing. I've, uh, Dr. Demento, who is kind of the, the legend in comedy and knows everything is in cyclopedia. He said, when we visited him, when we were in California, and we went on a show and he said, I'm with the funniest comedy troupe in the world that doesn't have a snake in their name. Wow. That's because that's who I aspire to. It was, of course, of course. Yeah. My dad bought me this book when I was a kid about Canadian comedy. And it made the case, I've tried to find it. I don't remember what it was called or anything, but the book makes the case that the reason why Canadians are so funny and our humor is so good is because we draw from like the British influence, uh, as Canadians, and of like sort of, quote unquote, take in the piss, uh, you know, and like being silly and all that stuff from like Monty Python, you know, like Flying Circus and things. But then we also are heavily influenced, whether we like wanted or not, we're influenced by American media and American comedy. And there's plenty of great stuff there. Of course, Mr. Shows, my favorite. Um, but with Mr., with American comedy, it's more observational and things. And so it's kind of a chocolate. Yeah. So it's kind of a chocolate and peanut butter sort of situation with Canadians and humor because we have influences that are great. But when we put them together, mmm, delicious. Yeah. And I think, you know, we're probably not how much, how big our population is compared to the British population. There's three hundred and forty or fifteen million Americans. Maybe it's more and there's 40 million Canadians. So, yeah. You know, we're the size of the entire country, which is bigger than the states and bigger than Australia. It's huge. Yeah. And we have a population about the size of California. Without the economy of California. Yeah. Yeah. It's all raw materials, basically, shipping the boat and buying stuff back when it's built into a phone or whatever. Yeah. And then paying up the washi for it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, uh, yeah, there's a kind of, um, uh, yeah, self-deprecating and just kind of, uh, a slightly weird twist. And I would say it probably draws as well on some of the French culture, the French farce, you know, with Quebec and so on. There's all these different elements. Uh, so. Yeah. That's a good point. That's a great point. So you started writing and I'm, I'm tying it back to ADHD here because, you know, I can certainly, you know, we wise squirrels, as I like to say, are often heavily creative, very creative people. Um, whether we were able to make a career of it or capitalize on, on that creativity is another thing sometimes. But, um, as far as sketch comedy and like writing back in the days, that kind of where you cut your teeth, I guess, was then or before that, like, totally. I think even before that, yeah, growing up, um, we had eight millimeter camera and we would go up mixed silent comedy. And in fact, a lot of the physical stuff that I ended up doing as Bill on the red green show, the character, was stuff my brother and I did up at the cottage. I'd go around and do stuff and he filmed it with the, with the camera. Um, and we just try out, I mean, there was no story to it was just me trying to six different ways to fall down and not get hurt. Or make it look like I'd fallen down and not get hurt. And then, you know, at university, I was on the campus radio station doing comedy. Um, and when I should have been studying. And, uh, yeah, and then there was cable TV where you know, community access channel tent where anybody could get on the air. And so we did a show there. Uh, I got a bunch of friends together and we did a series, it wasn't even a series, it was like four episodes called Change Channels. And I did most of the writing and my friends, uh, the props and so on. Yeah. And then Paul Chadwin, I, high school, uh, mate started out together and then became the franics and and so on. It just evolved over, over, uh, over the decades. Thank God for cable access because, you know, without that, because I'm also a big Tom Green fan, no relation for listeners. I've apparently some of the best Canadian comedy has the name green for some reason. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But even Tom Green, you know, starting on like Rogers cable access and like I used to record his show. And, and then, and I don't remember anybody before other than like Alan Funt maybe doing like man on the street, pranks, but Tom Green was the first I think to do like man on the street pranks and weave it and also have like a like a talk show format as well. So, and of course he went on to inspire many others like Eric Andre and others. So it's and and like you guys with with kids in the hall too, like, I mean, I was such a die hard kids in the hall fan. Uh, so, but I think I wanted to tie it back to the ADHD and the creativity piece of it too, because I think I'm curious actually like with sketches, right? Like sketches are short. They're small versus a full movie script or a book. Right. Reflecting on your career, do you see how like sketch writing might have been more of your jam or correct me where I'm wrong here? Like rather than writing like a full length feature film or whatever. Yeah. So I tried. I wanted to be a screenwriter. I wanted to be Woody Allen or who is the Billy the department Billy. Oh, well, Billy Wilder. That was a while. Yeah, Billy Wilder or that's what I was about to sit for four months or six months working on a screenplay and character arc and story arc and managing. It's like, or I could, and all my influences were really, I mean, I watched the Marks Brothers and there were comedy movies, but really it was television, Jonathan Winters and Carol Burnett and all of that, right? Short skit. And in Canada, there was Wayne and Chester. Yes. And they, I think they were the most frequent guests on the Ed Sullivan show. They did it more appearances than anyone else, but never left Toronto. So there was the sketch comedy just suited me. You got how quickly can you establish the situation? How quickly can you establish the characters, the times, the place? And when we went to, we, Franck started on, like we started on stage, but when we went and got a national radio show, that was incredible training for the power of language because you were really all you head were the words and the sound effects to create Mr. Canoe Head. Mr. Canoe Head, one comeiled man of insurance salesman. One day, while Portaging is a aluminum canoe in Algonquin Park with suddenly hit. And head the canoe welded to his head. It stuck to your head. And some began the story of Mr. Canoe Head. Canada's racist aluminum prime fighter, brother of 10, power story continues. Or Todd Booster Space Cadet or all of these incredible goofy things that we did on the air. It was really training in, as I've said to when I'm conducting workshops on writing, I said, if you could say it and have the number of words, people will think your twice as funny. So it's that compressing, you know, of Miss Piggy saying, you know, pretentious, more. It's like one word set up, one word punch line. There's your gag. So yeah, I think the sketch comedy really was, well, it was what I was meant to do. I couldn't tell you how many thousands of skits I've written, but it's over 700 episodes of radio and television. Now, not on my own, but always with almost always with other writers because writing alone is just boring. Whereas when you're writing with three other people, as I was with the frantics, or even just with Steve and I on the red green show, you've got this. Oh, that's good. That's funny. Okay, how can I do or what is it sparking me? And the frantics did something really brilliant that I don't think anyone else did. I've never heard anyone else do this. It was, we read our scripts and when you're finished, you put it in the center of the table, we stacked them all up, then it went through. Okay, who wants the human race one? I'll take it. I got an idea for that. And then you held one up it and who wants the electric cheese one. And now the person who came up with the electric cheese, because these are going, you know what? It's not clear. And then maybe he gets some suggestions. But otherwise, it was like, okay, we'll leave that for now. So then stuff got rewritten by everybody eventually. And we had three or four minute scenes, sometimes shorter, that went through 12 drafts, because you could just open it up and change a few lines and then continue on. And as we were going along, we switched from typewriters to these electric typewriters, they can memorize a whole line and erase it and eventually, of course, word processors and the wash and all of that came along. And then we could trade the scripts without ever having to retype everything. God bless it. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, that's interesting. I mean, within the whole sort of, the whole process, or process, I said process, I've been in the States too long. That's how I like process process. I sometimes forget. And then I'll start talking like metric to an American and they'll be like, wait, what are you talking about? It all gets very confusing. I say y'all. And then I'll say y'all a or I'll say like all y'all a and that gets really weird. Yeah. So I do think there's this like real connection between creatives, comedy, certainly as well, but like the creatives and ADHD, whether it's diagnosed or not, I think even in sketch comedy or something, like I think you're creating these quick, you know, to your point about like really, you know, fast beats, fast laughs, I took a stand up comedy course a couple years ago and did six open mics in six weeks, exploring stand up because I'd always been a fan and never done it. And I this is before I was diagnosed. And I was like, ah, let me go do it finally. And so I did it. And I've since have learned about like LPM, the metric laughs per minute. And the idea with a live audience is like, you record your stand-up set or sketch or whatever. And then you watch it and you cringe and you count your laughs. And then basically you divide it by a minute and then you're trying to like, ultimately you're trying to have like a solid 5, 10, 20 and so on. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, and what you said you did improv. And that's, yeah. Obviously one of the fratics you didn't really dive into that. The others got into it. Who else is, but somebody with ADHD is going to get up on stage without a script. And one of the reasons that you see a lot of those people with ADHD get up on stage without a script is they have dyslexia. And so I've known a couple of actors who went from improv to appearing in a play. And it was hell. They forget their lines. The other actors would be furious. And they were used to everybody just kind of picking it up and playing with it and, and, and messing around. But when you've got cues and lighting and props and costumes and so on, then it's, it's a big problem if somebody isn't delivering their lines. So yeah, it's improv in some ways is, is another perfect field. And there are lots of perfect fields, I think, or not perfect, but good fields. One of the series of videos that I've been working on is the best career for ADHD. Okay. Nice. Yeah. Tell me some of those that you found. Like what are your, what are your thoughts? Well, I'll just jump around a bit. But like, for example, for improv or for, yeah, for improv, perfect. For sports, you know, intense laser focus. And then you see the baseball player laser focus with the batter with the glove and they're looking and they're staring. And then when they get to the dugout, they're on, they're off. They're on to switch on switch off. So athletics, you know, Michael Phelps, ADHD, up the wazoo music business entertainment business. Who but somebody with ADHD and that energy need is going to get up on stage and perform and overcome their fears. All of the, I often say, if you down 911, you get a bunch of people with ADHD showing up at your house. And I gave a talk to paramedic organization and you could see a lot of pennies dropping in the audience and the head of the organization who got me to speak there. Newy had ADHD. I think he may have even gotten the diagnosis after seeing our documentary. And he said that the people, the paramedics he knows who have ADHD and he's gotten fairly adept at spotting them is we all seem to be able to do after a while or at least suspect. But he said the ones who have it are great because they, whatever happens, they're just, you know, whereas everyone else goes from normal state of mind to gunshots and they're and the ADHD people are like gunshots and now we're here, right? Yeah. Yeah. And he said the ones who aren't who don't have ADHD, they end up quitting or becoming administration teachers, supervisors, things like that instructors. So yeah, there's, there are certain fields, high energy fields. You don't necessarily have the hyperactivity of restlessness. Then there are still other fields that can work for you. And it's, it's also depends on your interests. So, yeah. You know, if you have a dramatic interest in doll houses, you might be able to make a living, making really beautiful doll houses. How did you know? How did you know about my doll houses? And I call them doll homes. Okay, that. I mean, and I have a giant model railroad and it's nice. That's cool. Yeah. And when I, but here's what's interesting about that, when I mentioned that to Eric Tivers, who I don't know if he still do it. Yeah, I think he has ADHD rewired. He said to me, he said afterwards, he's, when I said, I think I have a bit of aspirators going on a little bit of high functioning autism. And he said, oh, I knew that the minute you said you had a model railroad. So that brings us to another issue, is that there's this huge overlap with anxiety, depression, OCD, Tourette, 70, something percent of people with kids with Tourette syndrome also have ADHD. So there's that. I'm going to turn to think of some of the other jobs. Well, here's an example of a different disorder obsessive compulsive disorder. Guess where they would do airline, airline mechanic. Oh, okay. Yes, please. Yeah, please. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm with ADHD. You go, you go make funny in flight entertainment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check the rivets, check the doors, check the, so yeah, it's that finding that, that niche. We, we had a young man who was quite strongly autistic. You can carry on a conversation, but he and I'm told by a number of good friends who have a child or no family member with autism that they have their thing. So for me, it was trains. And his thing was movie trivia. And it's thinking about it. And he didn't work out as an editor because that requires creative decisions. And you know, I want, what was interesting is I once asked him, I mean, they can be creative, very creative, but yeah, sure, he was, he was incapable of making the jump. And I asked him, can want you to just go through this and grab still frames of people smiling. So I want some happy frames because I need those some happy images. But he couldn't figure out what smiling was. But he could tell you the entire cast of the cowboy Hollywood serial from Rocket and studios from 1936 to 39 starring a little known bif so as lucky. And I thought, this man should be working for IMDB, the international movie database. That's where he should be, because he's a walking database. So it is partly, I think, not just I'm restless, so I should get into sales, good idea. But also I love connecting with people. I'm easily overwhelmed, but I'm interested in medicine. It could become a medical researcher. So you're not dealing with patients. You're not dealing with emergencies. You're doing research into molecular structure, whatever. So it's, you know, there's a, you know, the phrase that you keep hearing is follow your passions. It's like, yeah, if I follow my passions, I'd watch, I'd be a professional television watcher and model rare rotor. But, you know, that's, that's not going to do it. So it, but I do think you got to figure out what you do well and what you enjoy doing. Even though, you know, writing comedy stressful, because it's even not writing videos. It's like, I don't know how this is going to turn out starting. So it's, it's figuring out what you do well and then figure out a way to market it or to see if anyone's willing to pay for it. Yeah, I'm a big, oh, sorry, go on. No, and if nobody is, maybe that's your hobby. You know, that there are people who work on car assembly line, and they do, and they do, and they, their mind is free to come up with all kinds of ideas. And then they're coming up with music ideas or that, you know, their passion is in their spare time, whatever a sport or a music or something like that. Yeah, now that's a great point because yeah, actually, I was just talking to a friend earlier about, because I've worked in like a lot of technology startups and things like that in that, in that world. I was a speaker for Google for about six years. And we used to do this thing for a business accelerator that I worked with we called it co-founder speed dating. And the idea was to like bring together, yeah, like co-founders bring together people who want to start businesses, who bring different talents. And the ultimately the goal there, you know, in a lot of scenarios would be like, you've got your like technologists, who's pos, you know, generalizing, of course, who's more introverted, more creative, and so on. But then you also, and who gets hyper focused maybe if they're an ADHD or encoding, which is also, you know, common. And then, but then you also get connected with like an MBA extrovert neurotypical type, who's also great at what they do. But like, by bringing them together, you've got like a dynamic duo who can then put together and a viable business. And I feel like even for me, for for wise corals, this passion project really that started for me became a bit of a mission as I started hearing from and reading reviews and getting emails like you mentioned. Like I'm hearing from my listeners. And this is helping people. And it's helping me too, of course, because that's why I started it to learn about ADHD, you know, and being late diagnosed. And, but for me, it's like, oh, but I need a sponsor because I need to make it, I need to start to shift to make it a business because this is what I want to be doing. Like, this is it. And I have a keynote presentation and I'm working on my next book that is about this stuff. And I've been hired to do that talk a bunch of times and just did it recently. Um, are you familiar with uh, Iki guy, the Japanese? I've heard the name. Uh, I wrote a blog post about it a while back, but it's part of the route down this presentation that I do. And the idea is that you, so there's like four, it's four circles that are kind of over to over each one. And once the top is what you love to do, like what you love, the one on the right is what the world needs. The one on the bottom is what you can be paid for. And then the one on the left is what you are good at. And these circles overlap. And so you've got what you love and what the world needs, that's your mission. And then what the world needs and what you can be paid for, that's your vocation. And what you can be paid for and what you are good at is your profession. And then what you love and what you are good at is your passion. And so by going through this exercise, and I've got a whole blog post on wise girls that breaks down the steps and everything. But when you go through this, ultimately what you're trying to do is extract your Iki guy, which is like the purpose, your purpose, like why you're on this earth or what have you. And I think it's a great exercise among others to go through to try to find what fits for you. Like for me, I love speaking. I love being on stages, I love delivering presentations and getting the audience laughing and so forth. And I love it. Now reflecting on my own career as a speaker, I've learned that it's the 80, it's the dopamine. It's the rush of dopamine I get from the audience that I didn't realize I was craving and that I need. And it's part of the reason why I wrote a book about networking. Like I love organizing events and bringing people together and connecting people. And again, it's that I'm extroverted. Obviously, if that's not painfully obvious, already, it is to my wife. I stick that up. Yeah. Yeah. Who's introverted? She gets home. She's a school teacher. She's the one who's been telling me for years. I have ADHD and it's like, I should have listened. And she gets home from work and like she doesn't want to talk to me. She wants downtime because she's a school librarian. And I get it. And she's introverted. And my kids get home and they're like door door. They're teenagers. They don't want to talk to me anymore. So I'm like, it's just me and the dog I can't. It's rather sad. But yeah, what are what are projects or things that are you're working on right now that people can check out? And I love the videos you're doing. They're both informative but also hilarious. So you do such a great job there. Tell me about that. Well, so what have been working on? So for three years, we weren't really talking about ADHD. And there's a long story as to why. And now we are starting in, I guess, beginning of July. We're back in the game again. So I'm that's pleasing. But of course, the videos, I don't know, there's probably a hundred of them, something like that. And those videos are dated. And some of them are now 15, well, 13 years old or more. And there's a lot more knowledge now. I can also see things like I say, now I'm ADD. It's like, no, that's politically incorrect. You say I have ADHD. You don't say I'm cancer. I'm like, okay, pardon me. Pardon me. Go, no, I am ADHD. It's core. But this is a great point, by the way, because this is something I've talked about with guests. And I still undecided on is, yeah, it's like, I don't have ADHD like a disease or virus or so. I mean, I am ADHD. And I've struggled with trying to determine, yeah, because it's not something you just pick up. I mean, there's like a slight, small percentage of people that with the head traumas and things. But for the most part, this is my understanding at least. But for the most part, you're born with ADHD. So you are ADHD in a sense. But I know. Yeah. Yeah. But then you can also, as you work on, once you know what's going on, and you start using, if you start with medication, which can level the playing field and then start mindful meditation and doing all using the apps and joining a support group and journaling and all these things that you can do, you can start to rewire your brain. That's brain plasticity, right? So the brain can heal. And in your brain can always lost language. But part of his brain is that was not the language part is now picked up to slack. And there's that's where you're relearning language. And it's being stored in a different part of the brain. So you can rewrite and rewire and mindful meditation, sort of one of the key ones for that. It's proven that like in a matter of months, it can change on a brain scan. You can see the difference. So yeah, it's, I think my own feeling is if you want to call yourself, say, use whatever you want. The other one that, that, you know, if you think you, if that works better to say, I have this, it gives you some distance. That's good. And if you're wallowing it and enjoying it, or you can say, I am, and you can also, if you're giving up, oh, I am, ADHD, well, you have it, then at that point, it's, it depends on how you look at it, doesn't it? And then, and then, the other one is, well, phrase is like ADD or, which I, it's just, but I find just easier than, I am, then as a person who has ADHD, as an ADD or I, it's just, it sounds nicer, rolls off the tongue. Yeah, yeah. But that offends some people on site. Well, okay, you're offended. What are you gonna, you don't, you can't please all the people all the time. No, it's like, I'm offended by a whole bunch of stuff that's going on in the world right now. Yeah, me too. You know, it's, it is what it is. It's just, I don't know, it's no, I think you're spot on. Yeah, let's jump back to the creative, because you're creative. I'm creative. I'm finally admitted that. I'm not just lucky that I just, I, for a long time, I just assumed everyone could do this. And so I've not asked for a raise, which was a huge mistake. So I just, I never got paid what I was, what my value was. From what I've heard Russell Barkley said that, that study showed that we aren't necessarily any more creative. Or if we are, it's, it remains, as you alluded to earlier, I think it remains a, an idea, you know, it doesn't result in anything. I got this idea for about, and it's a great idea. I have a million ideas. Well, I have, I could list 20 really interesting ideas for TV shows. None of them are going to happen. I just, at the time and the energy and, and the youth to do that anymore, but the youthfulness. But I think that's part of it. I think it is part of like the, this importance of connecting with others and finding collaborators or, or people to bounce ideas from like you're talking about with like writing sketch comedy and things like, and, and to Russell Barkley's point. Yeah, I mean, I also find that as 80-HDRs or Y squirrels, as I like to say, you know, we tend to gravitate towards one another, I find. And we tend to, so for example, like you could be, you could have or be ADHD and be a comedy writer. And, and you're collaborating with other creatives. And so even though Russell Barkley might say that, and I don't know that specific study, I know Russell Barkley certainly, but that you may not be any more creative, you're still falling into a group of other creatives. So you're collaborating with, and thus you're going to produce output, if that makes sense, in some creative way. No, like it's a people you're with. Not necessarily. I think it's, I think it's, there's a, you're, there's a misinterpretation between people with ADHD or more creative. Some are. Right. Some aren't. That's the thing. On average, are we more creative on average? No, but the ones who are not creative end up in prison, end up on drugs, end up in car crashes, end up divorced, end up bankrupt, end up being charged with, and or committing suicide because they're just, they can't figure it out. They can't hold back. They, you know, rather than I should get a job. So I'm going to go get a job that I don't like. So I can buy this thing. No, I'm just going to steal it. And then, you know, you have ADHD. You're not thinking ahead. You're not necessarily great at planning. And you get caught. As one doctor said, it's the ADHD criminals tend to be kind of dumb. They're not like their master criminals who, who sit there in plot. It's, that's that impulsivity, which is a core element for a lot of people. So the example was, there was a study done by a prety and white at the University of, might have been natural, I don't know where it was. It was somewhere in the south. And they studied and they found that people with students, college students, with ADHD scored higher for creativity. And I was like, wow, so I went around for a while saying, you know, we're more creative. We score higher. Twice is creative. Well, no, because there were only about 2% of the college or a smaller percentage of the college population had ADHD. It was like 2% on average. It should be somewhere between four and five percent. But a lot of people with ADHD can't for her to out. They can't make it into college. They can't find their way through. They struggle. They can't stick with things. Whatever it is that we can't do. And so they fail or they never even apply. They drop out of high school and or they're killed in from drunk driving or risk taking. So you, the, so the answer is the people with ADHD who make it into university have higher levels of creativity than the fellow students who do not have ADHD. And the only reason they're in university, not the only but a big part of why they're in university is because they're creative. And they figured out ways to work the system or work their brain or whatever to succeed. So that, you know, there were some really creative people who are rule-breakers or find alternative solutions. And I think that's that's where it can be a strength. But I've met too many people who are struggling with ADHD and it makes me cry afterwards because they're trying to they can't even and they're just they want it and it's like, oh my god, it's just so painful and it's so hard for them. And so, when people now are saying, you know, it's a superpower, it's like for you, it is. And I've also heard people, I heard a lecturer who was going on and on and he was the flavor of the month for a while because he was just, you can be great, you can be this, you can be anything. And you know, it's you're and very exciting, very uplifting. And then my wife's talking to his wife and she looks over at her, this wife and his wife's done there. But he's a complete mess at home. The house is a mess. He can't do anything, he can't function. He's up there seeing what people want to hear. Yes. I, you know, yeah. So I wrote I wrote a blog post at Y Squirrels about this and I've talked about it a little bit recently, which is I saw Paris Hilton's music video about she has a song. Basically, it's like 80s, her superpower kind of thing. And I was thinking about it a lot and I came up with this idea of this graph that I made, which is ultimately my theory is that the more privilege you have, the more likeliness you will say it's a superpower. And the less privilege you have, the more likely, you'll be like, I hate it. Like it's not a superpower at all. And it's, it's that level of, yeah, I mean, if you have Paris Hilton money and you do a song about ADHD and it fails, well, you're still Paris Hilton and you still have Paris Hilton money. So you can go and do as many creative things as you want. Some will work, some won't, doesn't matter because you can still eat. And you still have power in your home and all the things where, yeah, if you're, if you've been arrested and you're now in prison and there's something, I don't have the number in front of me, but it's something something like 70% I believe of those incarcerated have ADHD or undiagnosed ADHD. There's something like that. And it's not to say that 80s, deers are more likely to be criminals, of course, to your point. They're, they're more likely to do something in a moment without thinking and and or get caught up in the wrong crowd or Russell Barkley has a study and I include, I talk about this a lot, which is that, or it's not his study, but it's what he shared, which is that life expectancy for those with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can be up to 13 years less. Yeah. And if you get, and so I reflect on my own life, you know, now at 52 being diagnosed at 50, just before my 51st birthday. Yeah, there's a lot of mistakes I've made in my life and, you know, I drank like a fish back in the day. I've been, you know, four years sober. I smoke, you know, I would chain smoke, packs of cigarettes back in 25, 30 years ago when I smoke. And I realized why I would behave different ways now through the lens of ADHD and it gives myself, it gives me the opportunity to give myself more grace. And I think now, and also my parents, because at to your point about how hereditary it is, right? Like there's, you know, and so a lot of people, you know, there's this line about ADHD and trauma and it's not that trauma causes ADHD at all, unless it's head trauma possibly. But it's more likely that you've possibly suffered trauma from parents who may not, who may have had ADHD that was undiagnosed and untreated and thus they may have had addictions or whatever, been verbally abusive. And so so many ADHDers, I think, are, this is part of the reason why this like passion project became a mission for me with white squirrels and with what you're doing and what I love seeing is just educating people and speaking about this and getting them to go get tested if you think you might have ADHD. And if you do, then you know, there's no harm in talking to your doctor. Yeah, well, I, one of the things that I've just been working on is a short video about, you know, people, I've never heard this a number of times still hear it of, yeah, I think I have, but I don't want to get diagnosed because I don't want to have to take drugs. Right. They can't make you take drugs. It is a free country. You know, any more than if you have gall bladder problems, they can't force you to have gall bladder surgery. You can live with the pain and vomit in the diarrhea, whatever you want, or you can get the surgery. You said, yes, but but people, there's so much mystique around the drug, about the medications. And this is often for people who are, anyway, I need my coffee, I need my nicotine and my, I would never take a stimulant. Right. So the same person will say, I can't function without coffee. We'll tell you I could never take drug, take an ADHD, stimulant medication, even though the dose is exactly what, you know what it is? Unlike the cigarettes and the coffee where the dose, the percentage of caffeine or nicotine very wildly from the same, from the same Starbucks week to week. So anyway, yeah. No, it's interesting to be too because I like you. I was very hesitant about getting on medication. I am, now thankfully, but I was very hesitant and as a Canadian, living in the states, you know, I've never been on any prescription medicine, this beyond whatever treating a flu or something. And so every time at 50, every time I'd go to the doctor, the nurse or whomever would be like, what prescriptions are you on? And I'd be like, nothing. And they'd be like, no, no, like, what drugs do you regularly take? None. No, no, like which medication? I'm like, I don't take anything. And they're like at your 50, like how, I'm like a Canadian? I don't know. Like I'm just not really into that kind of thing. And what's really funny now, I got naturalized as an American citizen last year. And I joke with my friends, two quick things very quickly. One, I was in Toronto recently visiting my mom and seeing friends. And I was attempting to fly back to the states, but I didn't have an American passport yet. And so I traveled to Toronto on my Canadian passport. But when you become a citizen, they take your green card away. And so suddenly I'm like, without a green card, or a passport, an American passport and the TSA, oh, the security guys like, hey, I understand that you got here as a Canadian citizen, no problem. But Americans, you can't travel without a passport out of the country if you're American and and at or Canadian for that matter. And I'm like, no, I get it. I see the problem. But I was just joking with friends afterwards that like, oh my God, I'm like an American for one year. And I'm already on prescription drugs. And I don't have a passport. All I need now is a machine gun. And I'm like fully American, which so yeah, thankfully I applied for my passport and now have it. So when we went to years ago, our one employee, to me and I went to Boston to interview Dr. Bunch of Doctors, including Ned Hallowell at the border. They were trying to figure out what we were doing. And we're explaining we're making a documentary. Finally, it was going there. And so we went and we got we get called up. And there's this tiny little woman in like in the bulletproof vest. And it's riding up on her shoulders and everything. And so what are you doing? We're making a documentary. What's it about? ADHD. She starts making notes. And what's it called? And yeah, and then we're doing a website and we do the video and make all these notes. And then finally she says, and there's two big guys talking to people on other side. And she quietly says, I was diagnosed three months ago. And what was the name of the website again? The documentary and so on. And so yeah, we had a really a very moving conversation. And you could see the guys were catching that there were some odd vibe going on with her because of, but she's not allowed to say she has a problem. Even though it's probably one of the most perfect jobs for it. New face, new face novelty challenge excitement. I could save the world. I could prevent this. I can, you know, very exciting. Yeah. Now this has been awesome. Rick, do you have any any? I know we've got to wind this down here. Do you have any questions for me before we wrap up? And I'll obviously plug where folks could find you too. So my question is what the hell man? You know, really what the hell? That's my question. That's one. What were you thinking for? Yeah. Yeah. I'm wondering myself. I do hope you can make a living at this. I would love for us to be able to do up full time. We've got Patreon going where people can support us. And every week, we have another couple of people join in the amount of money we have to be able to because we need another editor. There's so many different things we have to have. And I want to have and so many videos I want to get to. So yeah, even my computers is 12 years old. I got this ancient MacBook Air. So it's like, I got to upgrade this stuff. So anyway, so I think the advice I request I have is I know people with ADHD are struggling financially. But support the people who make a difference for you because they're they may be doing this as a passion project. But eventually they will want to be doing it full time because they'll want the research, the time to research and make the videos and do all those things. And so yeah, we're only able to do this because we're supporting people. And I, you know, I complained at one point. I said, if every person who has written us and said, you saved my life, you saved my career, you saved my child's life. And so if they became $3 a month patrons, we could do almost anything. We could make a sequel for ADD and loving it every three months. You know, so that I know the internet's free. But it and you may wonder why there's so much junk on there. It's because anyone can get stuff up there. But to make the quality stuff that you're doing that I'm doing that that the people I follow are doing, it's like they need your support. And part of that is just simply letting them know they're making a difference. And for me, it's also so as a patron, what would you like me to talk about, you know, and surveying the patrons and seeing what they're interested in and so on. So yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's exactly what I'm doing. And it's a great, great point. So and God, if you're watching the video, folks, Rick needs a new computer because the one behind him is more than 12 years old. Yeah, that one. Yeah, that's so that's like 1985. What's that? That's old school Maggatosh. Yeah, that's 40, that's 40 years old. Yeah. My God, how old am I? I know, Rick. Well, like what I was mentioning before. So for those listening, I'm now holding up my Commodore 64. 64, yeah. Yeah. Friend of mine had that. Yeah, that was my second. My first was a TRS 80 trash 80 from Radio Shaxon. Good times. Good times. Rick, this has been fun, man. Thanks, Elliot. I appreciate it. Take care.