- Cold beer, good crawfish and good friends.
- [Mike] This man is a national treasure.
- Ha-ta-ta-ta.
- [Mike] His name? - Damn, that's good.
- [Mike] Well, I'll let him introduce himself first.
- Hi, this is Tut, that's the lady of my life.
And she likes to go ride in the boat and go fishing.
Every now and then she falls in the water.
- [Mike] And who are you?
- I'm Jack M. Ray, better known as Skeeter.
Or they call me sometime the Godfather of the Bayou.
We try to own up to what we are.
If we feel like doing it, we do it.
If we don't feel like doing it, we don't do it.
We get up in the morning.
If we feel like doing something, we go do it.
If we don't feel like doing nothin', we don't do nothin',
we get us a cold beer.
- Skeeter invited us over
to cook some Louisiana crawfish, Cajun style.
In the middle of all the action and antics,
I sat Skeeter down to see
if he could give any advice to my audience
about life, love, and how to be happy
in this crazy, crazy world.
What are the responsibilities of a real man?
- Ooh, there's a lot.
- And, at the end, we get a great recipe
on how to fry fresh squirrel brains.
Is squirrel good eatin', Skeeter?
- That squirrel is very, very good eatin'.
- You got to know how to clean that.
You cut all the eyebrows, you pop the eyeballs.
- But first, here are the juicy nuggets
of Cajun wisdom dripping in spice and sass,
straight from the mouth of a legend of the bayou.
One for you, sir.
- Thank you, sir.
- You got a lighter?
Okay, so let's adjust these cameras a little bit.
So one of the questions I got was,
I asked my audience, like on Instagram and.
- Yeah.
- And they said they'd love to hear you talk about
what the key to happiness is.
A lot of us struggle to be happy,
especially this day and age.
Do you have any advice on how to be happy?
- Don't worry.
Keep a clean head and don't worry.
The more you worry about things,
the worse off you are.
I guess that's why I'm 69 years old,
I gotta good head of hair.
You don't see any gray hairs.
I think you might find four or five, and that's all.
- So am I a worrier then?
Is that what happened here?
- Yeah, you've been worrying too much.
(Mike laughing)
I'll tell you about that. - Maybe a little bit.
- I never worried about money.
If I had money, it was good.
If I didn't have it, it was still good.
I worried more, you can look at me and tell,
but I worried more about something to eat and a cold beer.
You know what I mean?
- Speaking about that, money,
a lot of people worry about money.
Is there anything there that you can tell people?
- I made money, money didn't make me.
And I never did care.
You know, I made money, I've made lots of money.
But when I made it, I spent it.
I had a good time.
I had a good time while I was young.
It's just like ole fella told me one time.
He said, "Skeeter."
I was driving trucks, I drove trucks for quite a few years.
And I told him one time, I passed a place in Mississippi.
They made hams and stuff like that, you know?
And I was aggravated with myself
'cause I passed that a couple of times and saw the place,
but I wanted to stop and get me some ham
see how it was, you know?
I'm good for trying things out.
I'll try once, sometimes twice.
T-bow always said, "Let me tell you something."
He said, "If you see a place like that,
something you wanna do or something you wanna eat,
and you got the money in your pocket, go for it."
'Cause he said, "You might die tomorrow
and not have done it,
and you're gonna miss out on that."
And he always said,
"Skeeter, if you could do it over again?"
I'd say 90% of it I'd do it just like I did it again.
- So no regrets? - No.
- No? - No.
- I got a question here from a guy named Steven.
And he asks, "What do you look for in a good woman?"
- A lot. - Okay.
- A lot, I like the looks.
Friendship, friendliness,
not being arrogant,
and not think she's the best looking woman in the world.
Anytime I look at one,
I think they are the best looking woman in the world.
But I want somebody that's pleasant, you know?
That doesn't mind giving a little and taking a little.
- And what about people who are going through tough times?
I had one person ask me that
who was going through a tough time,
and they wanted to hear you talk
about getting through tough times.
- Well, let me tell you something about a tough time.
I've been through some tough times and what have you.
But there's always someone
that you can talk to that's been through a tougher time
than you, look around.
Don't do nothin' stupid.
You know, if you're depressed,
you're not happy about something,
you got a friend, you got somebody you can go talk to.
Go share your thoughts.
- On that same vein,
so what is being a real man to you?
What are the responsibilities of a real man?
- Ooh, there's a lot. (laughs)
I don't know what to say.
I guess taking care of your family,
responsibility to your family.
If you've got a family, seeing about your family, you know?
And taking care of your good friends.
- If I got money and they need it, they got it.
If I can go help 'em do something,
you know, if they need to do something around the house,
you know, or go somewhere or something
and I go bring 'em, I'll go.
for a man to know how to cook?
- Oh, hell yeah.
A lot of guys don't know how.
And I don't know it's like,
they kind of, not to say don't wanna learn,
but they don't wanna put themselves out there
to sometimes let people know
that they don't know how to cook.
- That's it, that's it right there.
Because people are afraid
to make mistakes. - Yeah, yeah.
- And if you make a mistake cooking,
everyone knows 'cause they gotta eat it, right?
- Well, if I make a mistake cooking something,
I throw it away and start over.
Go back to the drawing board.
- I mean, Cajun, of course, is the culture here.
It's people.
But like what does it mean to be Cajun?
- Good food, good people,
good friends, good comradery,
and good bullshit.
(Mike laughing) You know?
- I feel ya. - It's true.
You know, you'd see that around here.
You'd see that as you go.
- [Squirrel] And be good. - Be good.
- [Skeeter] Yeah. - And then, don't drink.
Don't drink. - Oh no, you can drink.
- This wussy stuff, right?
- You drink whatever you want, drink sociable.
- Drink sociable, cheers. - Drink sociable, cheers.
- And, Squirrel, cheers, man.
- Here's to you and here's to me.
But if we should happen to disagree,
the heck with you and here's to me.
(Mike laughing)
- Skeeter's good friend, Squirrel, arrives
and says he has a few things to add.
- It's all good in the neighborhood.
- [Mike] That's right.
- And ain't an Applebee's around here.
- [Mike] So we turn the camera on him.
Yeah, introduce yourself.
Who you are and what you do.
- Well, they call me Squirrel, my nickname.
My name's Michael Bim.
I do almost like, shoots,
absolutely nothing but what I wanna do,
'cause I'm retired.
And I just try to live off the land as much as I can.
- And were you born here? - Oh yeah.
- Born here and die here? - Yeah, more than likely.
I've been to other places,
but it looks like home is the best place.
In all the world, my nest is the best.
It is, this the best place it is.
- You guys have experienced a lot,
been through a lot, right?
So any advice you'd give these people?
- The main thing to give those people advice
is do something that you like to do for your life.
For the whole line of it, all the way,
the goal for your family and everybody,
but you gotta be happy.
- And why is that important?
- Because it's important for your health.
You healthy, you happy.
You happy, you healthy.
You know, you do what you like.
And get you a job that you like.
If you don't like it, you miserable.
You just as soon, how they say that?
Not have a job. - Yeah.
- But you gotta have money.
So, you know, money makes the world go round.
Some people say they don't need it, but you have to have it.
- If money's not the most important thing in life,
what is the most important thing in life?
- Like I said, to be happy and do what you like.
- Let's say there's someone
who can't find something they like to do
and they're not quite sure,
and they don't got a job, they're unhappy.
What would you say to them?
- They got some place for everybody.
They got a spot for you somewhere.
Figure it out.
That's the only thing I could tell 'em.
Just figure it out.
If you're not happy, go do something,
see if that don't make you happy.
If it don't make you happy, keep moving, do something else.
- How do you find a good woman?
- Now that's a hard question, you know?
(Everyone laughing)
First off, you gotta be tough.
And you find a good woman, they gotta be honest.
So you have to be honest with him too.
That's the main way.
To be honest with someone.
When you got a good woman,
you probably got some good problems. (laughs)
- And for the guys out there who are bachelors,
should they be striving to find a woman
or just kicking back, working on themselves?
- They just ought to go with the flow.
I say catch the curl, go with it.
You know, you might catch the girl.
Catch the girl, bro.
And just like catching a wave, you'll find one somewhere.
I mean, you could find, not a good woman,
but at closing time at 12 o'clock around the bar rooms,
you'll find one, I promise you.
(Everyone laughing)
- How about some advice
for some people going through tough times?
I know a lot of us have kind of been locked inside
for a couple years now,
we're in our heads too much.
- Get next to nature.
You know, you can't be going through that hard a time.
Today, I put some seeds in.
And they're little-bitty ones, little tomato seeds,
and some Congo watermelons I planted today.
Hey, hopefully, the good Lord'll let 'em come up
and I'll have me something to eat.
And it ain't gonna be that bad a time
when I can pick me a big, red tomato,
or a big ole, red watermelon.
You know, it's gon' be good.
- What's the most important thing about being a man then?
What's a good man?
What are his responsibilities?
- His family, that's the main thing.
Your family
and you have to pray.
- [Mike] Pray to?
- Pray to God, pray every day
that tomorrow will be a blessed day for you, you know?
And they say every day above ground is a blessed day.
- Yeah, that's true. - You know?
I'm glad to be alive
and to still do what I can do when I was younger.
- And what were you doing when you were like 25, 30?
- I was hunting and fishing, frog hunting,
duck hunting, deer hunting.
Doing everything I could do
and made a garden way back then.
My people taught me that.
My grandfather and them,
they had to grow stuff to eat.
They were sharecroppers back then.
They talk about people didn't have it, they didn't.
They worked on a percentage.
And 90% of it went to the hand
that they was renting the land from,
and getting the seeds for 'em, and everything.
If they made a crop, they came out.
If they didn't make a crop, they owed.
The old saying is, "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, off to work I go."
You gotta go to work.
'Cause if you want something, it's gonna cost you.
- And what are kids getting wrong these days?
- Too much electronics. - Too much electronics.
Like this thing right here.
Like this one in my pocket.
- I think you gotta have that in this world.
But you gotta set aside that.
When you using it to work or do somethin', that's fine.
But as for playing and pressing your fingers,
you'll get whatever it is, carpal syndrome, doing that.
- And what happens if people don't go outside?
- Well, I brought some potatoes I gotta unload 'em,
they become a couch potato
and they don't wanna do nothing
but watch that TV and whatever.
As for TV, that's fine if you wanna watch the news,
which is all bad news.
So who wants to watch all that bad stuff?
Just as soon turn the TV off
and go outside and look at the real world.
Now see him way over there, that squirrel.
You see him, Skeeter?
You see him?
See that oak way over there?
- [Mike] Is that good eatin', a squirrel?
- Oh yeah, that's the meat
that people used to use and have.
We didn't have all that other stuff.
- [Mike] How do you cook a squirrel?
- Oh, you cook that in a brown gravy.
You can drop that in a gumbo.
You can, you know.
And a lot of people they think, "Oh, it's a big tree rat."
But a squirrel is good eatin'.
- Is squirrel good eatin', Skeeter?
- That squirrel is very, very good eatin'.
Like I said, if it's cooked right.
Take your time, cook it slow,
season it right with your spices,
it's gonna be right every time.
You can't lose with it in a brown gravy,
like Mike said, a gumbo.
A young, tender squirrel,
if you get a little, young squirrel, you can even fry it.
Chicken fried, like chicken.
But it's gotta be a young, like a real small one, you know?
Most of 'em you gotta let 'em cook a little while.
You brown 'em up.
- [Mike] Never had squirrel.
- Squirrel brain is good, brother.
- Is squirrel brain good? - Yeah.
- I've had cow brain.
- Calf, calf. - Calf brain is what I've had.
- Yeah, oh, I had an old uncle who used to eat that
in the morning with breakfast, with scrambled eggs.
- [Mike] Squirrel brain or calf brain?
- No, calf brain. - Ah.
But squirrel brain's good too.
- Oh, Uncle Nation loved that.
I went one time and this one hand,
you got to know how to clean that.
You cut all the eyebrows.
You pop the eyeballs.
Some people eat the tongue and they eat this part of him.
Me? I'm more of a brain man.
- [Mike] Well, there we go.
Next time, we'll cook squirrel brains for breakfast
and bring Skeeter some Maine lobsters to cook Cajun style.
If you liked this video,
make sure to check out Asking Life's Toughest Questions
to Hadzabe Hunter Gatherers in Africa.
I apologize in advance to the vegans.
What's the most important thing in life?
(hunter speaking in foreign language)
If you'd like to watch the full uncut interviews
with Skeeter and Squirrel,
they're now on my Patreon.
- Just figure out what you're doing
and what you're doing wrong.
You better figure out your damn self,
because if you don't know that,
you know, if you can't figure that out,
well, you gon' catch hell, my brother.
You gon' catch hell finding a woman.
- [Mike] It's all on Patreon.
Thanks for watching.
And, Dragons, chase your fears.
(upbeat music)