- During the very first week of this show.
We started something we're calling a good neighbor campaign.
(Upbeat music)
- ♪ Good, good, so good ♪
♪ Good neighbor ♪
- It's a simple idea, we're encouraging all of
you to get to know the people in your neighborhood.
Right? Like we used too when we were kids.
- Absolutely, like, yeah.
- And as you do, we'd love to hear about
you're new connections.
So hit us up on out website or any of our social medias,
and share you're stories with us, all right.
Today my entire audience is already connected,
And if you're still not sure how it's because
each one of you is a friend of my next guest.
His name is Rob, and he's on a mission to make
ten thousand friends. Take a look.
Robs10kFriends is my journey to spend one hour
with ten thousand different people.
To learn about their lives, and see what comes of
opening doors for no particular reason.
It's not that it goes a certain level of depth,
or a certain thing comes from it.
It's just that we have decided, as two people,
to sit down with each other just to see what happens.
What makes me happy is connecting with someone,
and just sharing that time with them.
The Instagram account is a medium through
which to complete the project.
Letting everyone who follows along,
take a peak into the hour that we spend together.
With every hour that I put into it,
someone else knows about it.
It is actively growing.
I think if we all had a little bit more awareness
and understanding of those around us,
it would shape the way that we act towards each other.
In hopefully a positive way.
(Audience cheers)
- All right y'all, please welcome Rob Lawless.
(Audience cheers)
Do you really know every single person here?
- Yeah so, everyone here I've spent an hour with,
for my project, my mission to spend one hour one-on-one,
with ten thousand different people.
So, that's Carlise, right there.
- [Jane] Oh my god.
- That's Bobby, Right over there. Runs a podcast.
- [Jane] Hey Bobby!
Now you're just bragging, Rob.
(Audience Laughter)
No but I am curious because I think its a beautiful thing,
especially for today's social climate,
like really getting to know each other.
I think its really important, because fear comes in
when you don't know anything.
- Sure
- How did you get started on this project.
- So, I graduated from Penn State in 2013, and had a very-
- [Kelly] Way to go. - Yeah, thank you.
A very big community of friends, when I was a student there.
I also minored in entrepreneurship, so I've always
wanted to create a future out of connecting with people.
It's my favorite hobby.
And so now I'm just kind of walking the walk,
instead of talking the talk.
And in Novemeber of 2015, I met the very first person.
Four people that December. Four people that January.
Now I try to meet four people, every single day.
And it's my full-time job.
- Wow!
- So right now, how many friends do you have?
- So, as of this morning, I have met-
- This morning? You already got another person on your list?
- Yeah so, I've met 2,833 people.
- Wow.
(Audience erupts in applause)
- And, um. - That's crazy.
- My most recent two friends are Mike and Olivia.
- [Kelly] Oh spotlight singers.
That's amazing.
- Hey, Rob, and Joe, Jane, and Kelly.
- Joe and Jane, yeah yeah yeah.
- Got to spend an hour one-on-one, got to put the time in.
- Well I don't know about that, we'll see.
(Audience laughter)
- My agent is just off-stage, you talk to him first.
- Okay, I'll get his email.
- [Jane] Yeah, you do that.
- And Rob, I meant, just Kelly and I.
(Laughter)
- No if you were going to ask us,
that's actually what I was going to ask,
if you were going to ask us,
like stuff that you ask in one of your meetings.
What's that process like.
- Yeah, so typically think of people's lives as stories.
So its usually like: Where have you come from?
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go in your life?
And what's the in between of how you got there?
But, I was watching a little bit of the show before hand,
and you have talked about fears
that have melted away with maturity.
What is an example of one of those fears?
Because I'm sure we all deal with that, in our lives.
- Yeah, telling somebody no; dsappointing somebody.
[Applause]
- I used to get myself in a lot of trouble with that.
I was afraid to disappoint people, by wanting to go
a different way then maybe they wanted me to.
And I ended up in a lot of situations where
I just wasn't happy and I didn't want to be there.
- Nice.
- Wow.
- And Joe, for you being a comedian, who was
the first person that you remember making them laugh.
- Eddie Murphy; Delirious on HBO. I was eleven.
That's when I decided to do stand up.
- Who did you make laugh first.
But that's a good answer too. - Oh I'm sorry
- Oh my god, I thought you made Eddie Murphy laugh at eleven
- Rob, I don't know if you know this, but I don't listen.
(Laughter)
- Got you, we're opposites.
- That's in my profile.
Ask me a question, and I'll rewrite it.
- That amazing, but wait has it changed though.
Ho you see people?
- It definitely has, I think when you take the time
to sit down with people one-on-one,
you learn how much depth there is to everyone's story.
- Absolutely.
- By far the biggest lesson I've learned,
none of know what we're doing with our lives.
We're all just doing the best we can with
the resources that we have.
- Amen. - And so-
- You know you probably know more people on an
intimate basis, than maybe anybody walking
the planet right now.
Like I meet a lot of people, and you do too.
But sitting down and actually listening to them;
which, I don't do.
[Laughter]
- I think it does give, and you're affirming this for me,
give you a compassion and an understanding an sympathy,
for what we as human beings go through.
And I think what you just said is,
we're all doing the best we can with what we have.
And I just think that that's
an amazing thing for all of us to hear.
- Yeah. - [Kelly] Yeah I agree.
(Audience applause.)
- Rob if off to a great start.
Over a hundred of his friends are actually here today,
in our audience. We want to put rob to the test.
I just want him to sweat y'all.
(Laughter)
- He's made a lot of friends for sure,
but how well does he really know them?
Is the question. Jane and Joe are going to help us.
I want y'all to take turns, all right.
- All right.
- [Kelly] And pick out audience members at random.
And Rob you'll tell us their name and one quick fact.
Lets get up Rob, I feel like we have to be on our feet.
- [Jane] You're standing up for this.
- And Rob let's start with Jane first.
Go ahead. Let's go.
- Okay my love, stand up. Who is this gorgeous woman?
- That's Onyi, and we met in, I forget where we met.
- One fact. - I don't know a fact.
But, next one, I forget where we met.
(Laughter)
- Knowing her name that's fantastic.
- You knew her name that was an awesome name.
Okay so Joe's got one. - Yellow dress.
- I'm not. Give me a hint.
- Cynthia. I don't know. (Laughter)
- Give him a hint, give him a hint.
- He said Cynthia. - Next one, next one.
- Okay, okay. Pink hat, right here.
- [Rob] Philia
- She said you better remember me.
(Laughter)
- Who is this? - I don't know, I'm sorry.
- Are you a friend of Rob's? - I am not.
- She's not a friend of Rob's, you're good.
- This is becoming my favorite, game.
- Hey Rob, quick question when you meet these people,
you don't really remember them, right?
- Who's this?
- That's Barre. I know her Instagram is BarreJessica.
We met in Venice on Abbot Kinney, at time
your local print shop. - Very good, very good. Joe.
- Come on Joe. - Right here, right here
- That Owen. He was introduced to me though Carla,
who's over there - That was nice.
Jane you go. - [Jane] Who's this.
- That's Andrew. - Oh wonderful.
And how do you know Andrew, or one fast fact.
- I forget, were you recently, out of college at the time.
- Yeah - [Jane] There you go.
- All right, all right that's pretty good.
- Right here this guy, this guy.
- That's Kevin, we met in Philly, actually.
- Yes. - Yes!
- [Jane] Rob who's this? - Quick story Erin and I met
in Philly, I was driving to Santa Monica.
Someone was beeping at me, it was her.
- Oh wow long trip. Wonderful.
- [Erin] Met in Philly and then ran into him on the way.
- Oh well go on Joe. - Right here.
- Mike Taylor. Also from Philly.
He's a singer.
- Okay, you have a thing for Philly.
- It's got a big personality. - [Jane] Stand up love.
- I don't know him. - Okay sit down love.
Who's this?
- Lynda, she had a brewery.
She actually sponsored me for a month.
(Cheers)
- All right one more - [Joe] Right here.
- That is Reilly, she went to Penn State as well.
I met here through my friend Kyle's friends.
- All right well Rob you named ten friends correctly.
That's pretty great. Great job.
- [Jane] Way to go Rob.