Rob Potylo, I beat the gong
Potylo is expected to be featured in a highly anticipated documentary on his friend, the WWE hall of fame wrestler, Chyna, who sadly passed in 2016
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By Mike Crawford
Rob Potylo, grew up in the Massachusetts town of Danvers, is an actor, film producer, and a musical comedian.
Potylo is expected to be featured in the production of a highly anticipated documentary feature on his friend, the WWE hall of fame wrestler, Chyna, who sadly passed in 2016.
Something I had the chance to ask him about. He’s tight-lipped on the details of that project.
From wikipedia, Potylo “has produced and appeared in five seasons of Quiet Desperation, a scripted online mockumentary comedy web show and cable series about the underground art and music scene.” and “appeared on Season 1, Episode 4 of The Gong Show to perform his song "Hot Dogs And Applesauce," and encored with "Shaving Cream" by Benny Belle.”
Potylo who currently lives in Pasadena, California has also appeared on the Ellen show and is often most recognized as his alter-ego, Robby Roadsteamer.
I’ve known Potylo for nearly 20 years and had the pleasure to interview him about it all via email.
One of your most viewed videos has over 7 million views on youtube, singing to a NY police officer, you made a connection, has she seen the video?
Singing to cops and finding a connection is a wonderful way to de-escalate protest situations before anyone really gets hurt. I've seen Vermin Supreme do this technique a lot! You see it in the eyes of cops and protesters alike that we're human, in this together, and we can all use a smile.
Love, comedy, and connection will always prevail!
The NYPD lady cop's brother reached out to me, and said she thought it was hilarious!
Why did you decide to start singing to the police and the National Guard? Have you been surprised by their reactions?
At various protests with Vermin Supreme and I just felt using my songs, the personality I developed at comedy clubs and music venues around Boston was a great way to de-escalate the crazy situations at marches. Stop agro cops or protesters from getting more aggressive in already volatile situations.
I wasn't surprised that the troops or cops like the tunes, because I wanna make them smile. An entertainer gives. Performance art stops arrests, pepper sprayings, and beatings, and the cops get to hear nice songs about “Hot Dogs & Applesauce”!
Children songs for adults!
Have you received any backlash about those videos from people who aren’t necessarily fans of police?
Yeah. I don't know what to say. There's good and bad on both sides, and it helps to see that. Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
Vermin Supreme, how did you meet and decide to start doing videos and protests with him?
Vermin Supreme showed up to a shoot that I did for Quiet Desperation. We had an open casting call for hippies on a fake commune and surprise! We hit it off that day, and when he saw that I tried to kill myself on the next episode, he invited me to his compound in Gloucester to bond for a day! During which I jumped from 40 foot cliffs into a quarry dressed as a penguin! And he invited me to the DNC in North Carolina. Rest is history!
Vermin is always running for President, who are you voting for?
Biden. I'm a Bernie, AOC bro, but we gotta get Hitler Hellboy out of the Whitehouse so these trolling MAGA's can get back to 4chan porn and Beanie Baby swap meets.
What do you say to Trump supporters or your friend, Ernie Boch, Jr?
It's a death cult, and the shit you're willing to ignore cause you're getting more of your taxes back speaks volumes. To Ernie tho? I'd say, “Thank You for being a friend, travel down the road and back again.”
Craziest Robby Roadsteamer show?
Played a show to a bunch of upper crust Karens at an outdoor gig in Manchester By The Sea, a benefit at this country club looking venue. The kids in the back loved it, but these rich privileged parents who had long ago settled for wrought-iron gate houses were giving me the stink-eye. So I told the kids "Your parents have long ago sold out and fucking suck, they are afraid of you, because you're the future!" A chef grabbed a knife, a waiter called the cops, and I left through the back for another gig in Worcester, while the cops came through the front. There was even a listing, the police report in the Gloucester paper about it.
Was there a breaking point when you knew that you were killing Roadsteamer and coming back with Potylo?
Took shrooms for the first time right before my 30th (birthday), and just went through this revelation that I could still be me creatively, and as a human being.
I was always guarded, and paranoid to be me, because of relentless bullying at home, and in the Danvers public school systems. Mostly by entitled jocks that hated outsider creative types. I realized on mushrooms that I was okay underneath, but had a lot of evolving to do.
Nonetheless I started destroying the Roadsteamer character live. Started saying stuff I myself would say onstage through Robby "I'm just like you guys, I love Elliott Smith, and Nintendo's Zelda, and The Dresden Dolls!!" It was the beginning of the end of my Roadsteamer audience!
Today it seems logically the right move but at first not everybody was supportive?
They still don't like Rob Potylo as a performer in Boston. I come back to Cambridge, and play the Mid East downstairs, with the Roadsteamer band, and bring 500 massholes. I do Rob Potylo, and get 30, with 10 asking if, "I'll do any Roadsteamer songs?"
Haven't done a show in New England in four years now. It's a lot of games just to express who I am to a culture that never gave many fucks about an outsider artist to begin with unless I scream, "I put a baby in you!!!"
Did you ever doubt your decision?
No regrets ever. Roadsteamer is fabulous to play, but I'm glad I got my soul back playing me. I ain't losing sleep if Massholes hate Potylo. New Englanders love trolling artists and bohemians with shit like "what do you really do for a living?" "Saw the link didn't click". Most won't support creative types by going to a show or buying a 6 buck bandcamp album cause they don't like that you're getting off the beaten path. I mean why do they wanna see your band or comedy do good, when long ago they knocked up a girl, had 3 kids, settled quietly and quickly. So now they're gonna support your creative ass, and cheer on your ambitions to be Joey Ramone?
It's a weekend warrior music scene. Any successes creative-wise inadvertently points out the shackles on the norms ankles, and they don't wanna see you fly!
What are your favorite Roadsteamer memories?
Kicking ass at the WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble and getting a job at the CBS radio station. Being able to walk into WBCN everyday in full costume yelling at salespeople and management
MassCann Boston Freedom Rally, one of those years you performed, Roadsteamer proclaimed from the stage during his set that he was there at the pro cannabis rally to “legalize cocaine” and it caused some commotion?
Alot of MassCann folks weren't really happy with each other, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. They couldn't get the joke, about a dude in a wig, with faux snakeskin pants, yelling about legalizing cocaine. I'm not down with coke in real life.
Tell us about your relationship with Kyle Carrao and Michael Malta, they are missed by the local cannabis community.
Yes, great follow-up! There were a lot great folks that I met at MassCann events and the Freedom Rally! And some great bands I swear.
Malta was his own whole stoner universe in the Boston cannabis community. Met at a MassCann battle of the bands that we judged. He was this cool character, slick goatee, tight sunglasses. Had his own damn industry with the King Of Pot (KOP) branding, empowering people in the cannabis community! Always had that smile, like he was in on that joke Dylan talks about in All Along The Watchtower. Mike always wanted to make sure you were in a good place. Loved having him on my mockumentary series Quiet Desperation. RIP KOP.
Kyle I got to know at the EMF building in Cambridge. An Iraqi War vet who just wanted to kick it with artists, MassCann folks. He wanted to give back, and heal people around him, through medicinal weed, and good vibes. Had the pleasure of staying with him on his grow-farm in Maine when I needed a friend after Chyna died. During that stay, I watched him bring weed to so many people dealing with devastating illnesses. And he was just a fabulous human being to kick it with, blaze, and play Call Of Duty. Talked to him on the phone in January, and he was so excited about helping shake MassCann up. Miss him terribly.
You brought Ernie Boch, Jr to a Freedom Rally, what did he think of the experience?
He had a blast! He loves the arts, weed, and America! Introduced me at a rally! Such a rad dude! I've had so many adventures with him. He's been the facilitator of some great moments I had in Boston.
What are some of your favorite videos that you’ve done?
Protester sings to NYPD Lady Cop, I Put A Baby In You, Hot Dogs And Applesauce on ABC's The Gong Show, Quiet Desperation, Robby Roadsteamer on the Fox Morning Show.
Songs you’ve written that you are most proud of?
I Put A Baby In You, Hot Dogs And Applesauce, Drawing Up Circles
Which songs do your fans recognize you the most for?
“I Put A Baby In You”. It’s the best when people come up to me on the street, and start talking about it, while I'm with a lady friend trying to sound smart.
Any songs that have fan support that you have been surprised about their popularity?
“I'm Sorry Your Cat Had Ass Cancer”! I mean it's a brutal topic! Why would they cheer for it live?!!
You were working on a documentary with the WWE hall of fame wrestler, Chyna before she passed away, is that going to ever be released?
Yes. Before you even realize it! There's actually two in production, both of which I had a huge hand in developing! I guess I better lawyer up when they come out.
You grew up in Danvers, MA, tell us about the town and why you have recently joined the most trump loving Danvers facebook group?
Well they banned me from the group page today! Danvers is 99% white, and loves their high school tough guy hockey players. And if you don't play sports or don’t plan on going to UMASS to study landscaping then all the offspring of Masshole Dry-Wall repairers who will pick on you until you leave town.
What are your thoughts on the controversy over the Thin Blue Line flags being removed from Danvers firetrucks and the rally they had in response?
Danvers will support everything cops, privileged, anything Howie Carr tells them to lick the boots of.
How do you expect Black Lives Matter message to be received in Danvers?
Danvers wants everything to be the fucking Truman show 24/7. And don't you dare bring up Black Lives Matter because they don't wanna change a thing. Keepin it 1954 4evah!
Advice to younger artists in Boston today, what does their future look like?
Being creative full-time is tough in Boston. If you really wanna do it full-time, hit LA or New York, so you ain't wasting half your energy arguing with trolling fucks, who think you're wasting your life being a "creative failure". If you do choose to stay in Boston, learn online platforms inside and out for it! Youtube, TicTok, Twitch, Bandcamp. Be your own industry.
You’ve met or worked with a lot of Hollywood celebrities, any that were special or not nice?
Jeff Goldblum was very kind and flirty, I met him as Robby Roadsteamer at a piano bar he sings at in Los Feliz. Mike Myers likes singing "Hot Dogs And Applesauce!". Jennifer Coolidge had me in her hotel room in Boston for two hours, to go over singing “Happy Birthday” to her Dad. Will Arnett has no soul. I told Ellen, I have a nintendo in my closet that she can play.
The Gong Show, how did you land that, your song on ABC primetime tv? Did you ever think? Do people recognize you from it?
I just got back to Venice Beach from a twenty city tour with Vermin Supreme and Matthew Silver on the East Coast. Saw an audition for it at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Went down and crushed it singing "Hot Dogs And Applesauce!"
Honestly, my dream in life was to sing an original song on network TV, and it came true! On the f%&king Gong Show with Mike Myers, ABC prime-time, four million people watched. Plus I got to encore and sing "Shaving Cream", made three grand more than the winner, and was the only contestant to receive a screen actors guild credit. Greatest Day ever! The only truly natural things are dreams, which nature cannot touch with decay.
People still come up to me at the Supermarket to ask how I "beat the gong?"