[music playing] PRESENTER: The following program is a production of Ozarks Public Television.

Good evening and welcome to "Sense of Community."

I'm Gregory Holman.

Tonight, we're going to talk about facing adversity, something that we've all done over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And we'll talk about personal motivation, resiliency, and what it's like to make something where you are.

Joining us, Jeff Houghton, an Ozarks TV host and motivational speaker.

Please stay tuned.

[music playing] PRESENTER 2: Welcome to "Sense of Community."

"Sense of Community" is a public affairs presentation of Ozarks Public Television.

And welcome to tonight's "Sense of Community" broadcast.

My guest is Jeff Houghton, a local TV host, actor, comedian, motivational speaker.

Jeff, you've been here in Springfield since about 2004.

Your show, "The Mystery Hour--" remind us.

It was syndicated and you were up to how many stations?

Yeah.

First, thanks for having me.

I love what you've done to your house.

This is wonderful.

This is my house?

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

It's pretty great.

This is my house, yeah.

Yeah, so "The Mystery Hour" was on in 17 different markets across the country on Fox, ABC, NBC-- And we're talking potentially, theoretically, many hundreds of thousands of people.

JEFF HOUGHTON: Potentially.

Potentially.

I'm not sure we ever reached that.

But yeah.

We were on in a lot of places.

We were on Charlotte's, the big city, we were on in Kansas City, we went to some bigger places.

And Jeff, your show talk a little bit about what was the purpose-- what is the purpose of "The Mystery Hour."

And you had a live TV audience, correct?

Yeah.

So I started "The Mystery Hour" in 2006.

It was a live show before we were on TV.

You were a guest once upon a time.

Yeah, before we were on TV.

And I was at "The Skinny Improv" and we had a 10 o'clock slot.

We kind of experiment with shows with-- and I was like, I want to try this.

Tried it out, had a good crowd the first night.

And I was like, holy cow.

I love this.

And for people new to Springfield, what was "The Skinny Improv."

Yeah.

"Skinny Improv" is like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

improvised comedy.

We had a theater downtown and we did shows every Friday and Saturday night.

And it was super fun.

So then I did that for five years and took a year off and moved to LA, came back, got the show on TV, and we did it in front of a live audience and kind of grew incrementally over the years.

We coasted on up.

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

And the reason I asked this-- I mean, you had a live studio audience there in the Gillioz Theater, downtown Springfield, Missouri, many hundreds of people, typically.

As I remember, you had, what, three episodes taping and-- JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

So we taped once a month, generally eight times a year three episodes in one night.

And we would fill up the Gillioz, like 400 or 500 people.

And we'd bring a guest in, the last several years, from New York or LA, like a TV show or a movie, someone you might recognize.

And yeah.

It was a ton of fun.

You had "Parks and Rec," you had "Westworld," you had a number of actors, right?

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

Yeah, we had like from cool shows, like "Mad Men" and "SportsCenter" and "Parks and Rec" and "The Office" and it was really fun to be like, hey, you might-- we're probably not going to get the star, but you might see someone you recognize, and they might come to Springfield.

But you had Perd from "Parks and Rec?"

Yeah.

He was the first one we brought in, yeah.

GREGORY HOLMAN: Yeah, pretty great guy.

And the reason I'm going through this is then COVID-19 happens.

And so talk about-- just tell us about what happened in terms of getting these 500-member audiences together and what happens there.

Yeah.

I mean, so we had been-- we are in our eighth season at the time, felt like we were kind of like still moving up incrementally and it was going well.

And then, like a lot of people, like a lot of businesses, we were like, well, what are we going to do?

And I remember March 2020, we had a show scheduled like two weeks later.

And we were like, I dunno what to do.

Of course, we canceled, but.

So then our immediate pivot was, I made a studio in my garage.

I called it Desperation Studios, and I did a show Monday through Friday live on Facebook for the first couple of months of the pandemic.

Then we had to pivot some more.

I did shows out of my office for that season on TV.

And then during that time, I was like-- it was the first time I slowed down.

It's like personally, I had just been sprinting for like a decade.

Like really going for it.

And I was like, I need to slow down.

I have to slow down.

And it just kind of felt like it was time to take it off TV.

And I've always said I haven't ended it.

We took it off TV and we still have been doing quarterly shows the last year.

And we're going to keep doing more of that.

Sure.

So one of the themes of this show, this particular "Sense of Community," is facing adversity.

We all in the Ozarks community faced a great deal of that with the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the other theme is, you have a motto, right?

Make something where you are.

And so I want to get to the intersection of those two themes.

Can you talk a little bit about "Make Something Where You Are" and how that came about?

Those who don't know, this is a YouTube video.

You're pretty famous for some social media videos.

You had "Instagram Husband" that hit 60 million views.

But I personally think "Make Something Where You Are", it only has like 20,000 views, but maybe it's more significant thematically.

And I would love for you to talk about how that came about.

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

So [clears throat] excuse me.

So "Make Something Where You Are", it started out as a video, but the idea is that you don't have to be on a coast or any big city to do something cool that we tend to, in the Midwest or in Springfield, tend to have a great humility bordering on, well, I can't do it as well as someone else.

And so it's kind of like a rallying cry like, yeah, you can.

You can.

And it felt authentic because I lived it.

That's kind of what I've been doing.

And so we released this video.

And as opposed to everything else I've ever released being purely comedic, this one was my heart and it was like poetry.

It's like-- You wrote a poem.

This is poetry.

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

And everything I ever released before had been funny so I was like, you don't like it?

I don't care.

I was just joking around.

Who cares?

And this was like, here it is.

It's my heart.

And the internet's not always nice to people, but-- Were people nice to you when this came out?

Yeah.

I think it really struck a chord because it was very authentic to me and people felt like it was authentic to them as well.

And so, yeah.

People love to talk to me about it and I truly, truly believe that.

The theme of it is essentially-- if we're going to restate it in one sentence-- it's essentially, don't feel like your dreams need to be pursued in New York City or something.

Bloom where you're planted, to put it another way, right?

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

When we engaged with that-- this is one question.

I've asked you this before.

But when we talk about people who, maybe for reasons of their identity, maybe for reasons of how they were raised or whatever, they feel they need to leave.

I mean, we live in a country, we can talk about Black folks in our country who, in earlier periods in our history, there's a thing called the Great Migration where people left the South to go somewhere where they thought they could bloom where they were planted there.

It happens today in Springfield.

LGBT people leave all the time.

And that's always been one thing-- I've asked you this before, but how do you reconcile that?

I'm curious.

Yeah.

I mean.

First of all, it's the message is aspirational.

So it's totally like if you have realities that don't fit that, go somewhere else.

Go where you feel comfortable, go where you feel supported.

And I hope that we can create an environment where folks with different identities, different backgrounds, LGBTQ community feel like this is a place that can make something where they are.

And I hope that in 10 years, 20 years, next year, tomorrow that we're moving in that direction.

And so to your question, go somewhere else then do it, yeah.

For real.

So this is the exception to make something-- For sure.

Yeah.

And I mean, I've lived in New York and I lived in LA and I'm from Iowa, so a critic could say, well, you're not making something where you grew up.

So I don't behoove anyone for-- Like look at you, Iowa boy.

You went on "David Letterman" as an intern, right?

Yeah.

What would be the criticism?

Yeah, and you're like, yeah, make something where you are in the third place you've lived.

Sure.

There you go.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's fair.

Find that place and-- it's also like, like I said, it's aspirational but it's personal too in terms of how we just set ourselves up there.

Like, well I can't.

I can't do this.

And maybe it's not a location, but it's the sense of place within yourself.

You're like, I could never do something awesome.

I can't do that.

So wherever that is, go for it.

And sometimes we impose limits on ourselves.

JEFF HOUGHTON: I think so.

Have you ever imposed limits on yourself when you were working on "Mystery Hour."

Oh yeah.

Well, let me bring it closer to the COVID pivoting and stuff like that.

With "The Mystery Hour," I was just like, we are going.

We're going.

Let's do it.

We're going for it.

And I didn't realize how much confidence I had until it went away during COVID and stuff.

I was like, what am I doing?

I don't know how to do anything.

I wasn't doing things I was good at, I was just trying to make it like a lot of people.

Of course, people had it far worse.

And so like 2020, 2021, I was like, do I still know how to do this?

I don't know.

So yes, for sure.

I do it to myself still, for sure.

On a scale of Springfield is making something where it is to Springfield's not really making something of what it is, where it is, how would you say we're doing?

You got here in about 2004.

JEFF HOUGHTON: Yeah.

Yeah, so we're both getting old, we've been here a long time.

But in that intervening time, Jeff, how would you rate our area in blooming where it's planted?

Springfield in the Ozarks, I should say.

Yeah.

I think, in a very broad sense-- when I started dating my now-wife in 2001, I would come visit.

And I was like, Springfield feels like a suburb of itself.

Felt like big box stores, you know?

And I feel like, in this time, maybe you'd feel the same way, I think we see more downtown, I think of maybe starting it and growing out from there.

But a lot of people trying to do their own thing and doing a really cool thing.

Now there's all these people doing really cool things.

So I think it's trending the right way, for sure.

And I would love to see it be a more supportive environment to folks that don't always feel supported too.

Let's expand that and grow from there.

One thing I really wanted to touch on was you have worked a lot with charitable causes in your career, and I wanted to touch on that because I think it connects to these themes that we've already brought up.

I think a couple of winters ago, you were involved with providing a product called Hot Hands, to help local unhoused folks, you've done some other things for trying to do medical debt forgiveness.

And I wondered if you could talk about maybe how you got in with some of those causes and how you were able to work that into business, which is essentially what your show is and your emcee gigs and things like that.

If you have any-- if anybody was like, I don't know if I can do that with my business, maybe share whatever thoughts or advice you might have there.

Yeah.

So one, we've always done 10% of our box office proceeds over the years.

We'd pick a different charitable cause and do that.

And it was never a ton of money, but it added up probably over the years.

And then I heard about RIP Medical Debt that fall, three years ago maybe.

And I was like, holy moly.

Like, where they would buy old medical debt and then buy it and then forgive it immediately.

And I'd read about it and I was like, I want to do this.

We need to do this.

There was this moment where I was like, I'm getting teary eyed.

Could I do this?

Could we do this here?

And so we did that.

And then we did-- we raised enough money for $25,000 Hot Hands for unsheltered.

And then this past year, we got a van for Afghan refugees for the organization helping them.

And where it came from when I was like, man, someday, if I could ever dot, dot, dot, I would want to really give back.

And I was like, I think I'm in that place.

I just start doing it.

Let's do it.

And so it was really that in as far as people taking something from that for how they might be able to help.

We aren't a charitable organization, so we aren't doing these like big campaigns over the year or something like that.

But what I do is if there's some organization that really catches my eye, I call them and I say, what's one thing-- we want to do a campaign that's just a few weeks long, really rally people.

What would be the one thing you would want?

So they give me that answer and we just get very narrow-focused.

And I think that's something other businesses could potentially do.

It's like you're looking at, what is the realistic possibility that my organization could do as opposed to a real pie in the sky, all-encompassing vision?

And there's so many great charitable organizations around.

I don't need to recreate it for two months.

So work with them and say, what's one little tidbit you could use?

OK. Talk to me about what is next for you and what you think folks are like.

And this question comes out of some reporting I did when I was in another media organization at the start of the pandemic, and it just really seemed like folks in the cultural fields who-- often self-employed-- were just really immediately clobbered.

And I'm really curious, as we're in this phase where we're collectively deciding this is endemic and not pandemic, what do you see next?

And is there any advice you have for people in fields like yours?

Well, so what's next for me, is that you're asking?

Sure.

And also folks who are aspirationally hoping to be Jeff Houghton-like in their careers down the line.

Oh, please don't be Jeff Houghton-like.

But yeah.

So for me, one of the things I realized was I need to take care of the foundation before the aspirational things.

I want to look at aspirational things, I'm like, go for it.

And I was like, I'm kind of neglecting my day to day.

And like maybe it's focusing on self-care, that sort of stuff, or financial self-care, focusing on that and then kind of doing all those other things on top of that.

So that's what I've been looking at a lot.

But then I also think in terms of "Make Something Where You Are," the last two years have been like a concentrated version of it.

People are in their houses or they can't go a lot of places.

And you see all these people changing careers or doing new projects they've been wanting to do forever.

And so I think we'll see more of that like.

A lot of folks-- what's it called?

It's the great-- The great resignation?

Resignation.

The great resignation.

I think people are like, this is the moment where I'm reevaluating what do I really want to do.

And so my hope would be that we, like I said, create a community that supports that and wants to help people do that.

Because I think when people are doing that as opposed to clocking in at a place they don't want to be at, the community's richer.

During lockdown, was there ever a moment where Jeff Houghton's just baking bread?

[laughs] I did not bake bread, because I'm just not good.

I'll screw it up.

But during the pandemic-- I don't know.

I was in the garage a lot.

I bought weights I never used, like a lot of people.

So I'm exactly as strong as I was in February 2020.

But there are weights in my garage.

I mean, I just think this goes to an important point of, collectively, our whole society went through this really big emotional upheaval, and that's where we are now.

We talk about your show, we talked about you're not currently in front of 500 people.

What have you been able to do lately?

And maybe this is an example for people as they look at resetting and stuff.

Yeah.

Well, so for me I was like, you'll discover this soon, Greg, TV's a grind.

For me, I was running the show, I was trying to get new markets, I was making sure we had our transcription service going, and all the things.

And it was a grind that I was so happy to do for so long.

But a grind it was.

And I stopped and I was like, what do I love from this?

TV is cool.

I like a lot of aspects of it.

It's cool.

But what I love was performing in front of an audience.

And I loved making videos.

And I was like, I can do that without the grind as much.

And so what we've been doing is-- the last year, we had our series finale last June and then we've been doing pop-up shows once a quarter.

It's kind of how we've been starting it.

There's different waves of Delta and Omicron, stuff like that.

So we positioned them in a way that works.

We've been doing pop-up shows in odd locations.

We did Pappy's-- What's the oddest-- tell the locations.

Yeah.

So we did Pappy's patio.

This is when it wasn't real safe to do stuff inside-- GREGORY HOLMAN: Pappy's Barbecue here in Springfield, Missouri?

Pappy's Barbecue on North Main.

They have a great patio.

It was awesome.

We packed it out.

And then we did one at Pythian Castle, we did a holiday show.

And that was super fun.

And then we did an improvised mystery hour old-school improv show at La Habana Vieja Cuban restaurant on Commercial Street.

And then we just did one in Seymour last month at the Owen Theater.

And so we're just picking these fun, odd places like the Gillioz-- It sounds like a mix of classic Ozarks and modern Ozarks as you just rattle that line up-- Yeah.

Just fun, quirky places to go.

And the Gillioz is amazing, but we only sold it out one time.

And I was like, let's go to small places and just sell them out.

That packed feeling of a crowd is what I love.

So we're going to keep on doing that.

I got some bigger ideas for the next year and stuff, so we'll keep doing stuff.

We'll still be around.

Do you think the pandemic's had a lingering negative effect on local culture of this kind or is it coming back?

I mean, you're describing-- for yourself, I think-- you're describing, oh, the show's coming back.

But I wonder, if we zoom back out, how do you think that prognosis is?

Is it good?

Interesting.

Have you ever gone through something tough-- maybe it's a death in the family or something like that-- and you're like, a year or two out, you're like, I'm probably good.

I think I'm pretty good now.

And then you're zooming out and you're 15 years later, you're like, I wasn't great two years later.

I feel like I'm inside of one of those where I'm like, everything-- maybe we all are still, particularly in the arts where we were.

Our strength is gathering a crowd and performing.

We haven't been able to do that so much.

I travel and host events a lot.

And in February, I was like, someone turned the faucet back on, finally.

So I feel like we're getting there.

We might be there, but it's kind of one of the later industries to turn back to being there.

So I think we're still figuring out.

And there's all that emotional stuff as a culture to get through, but it also makes good art too, so.

One question I think that we would be remiss if we didn't go over is you travel, you do the emceeing.

You and I are blessed with pretty good health.

How do you see that playing out?

Are you ever worried like, I'm going to get COVID from emceeing this party?

Or what's that like?

What's that aspect like?

I mean, I was certainly so concerned about it for a long time.

Currently not as concerned, but maybe will become concerned again.

But yeah.

It's one of the things I realized during the pandemic.

I was like-- because I made almost all my money doing that for a long time.

And I was like, I will do it, but I'm not going to rely on it.

It's kind of a finicky industry as far as waiting to get booked for gigs and stuff like that.

So I'm hoping to do that, part of it.

And then I have this writers room creative comedy agency where we create videos and stuff like that for brands and agencies.

So in other words, you've been able to find ways where the health question is not the predominant question in order to work forward?

Yeah.

And for me, it's both that and then traveling and wanting to travel less.

And I was like, how can I turn what I do into something where I'm-- GREGORY HOLMAN: You wanted to travel less?

Yeah.

Just as a father, I'd just become so reliant on travel.

More income equals more travel.

And I was like, I don't like this equation anymore.

Yeah.

And you've got kids that are the ages where they need attention, shall we say?

Yeah.

GREGORY HOLMAN: 9 and 4.

9 and 4.

We're getting into the activities and I just want to be around.

GREGORY HOLMAN: Sure, sure.

As we wrap up here, I wonder if you can talk about just the dynamic of where you hope to be and what you hope-- circling back to "Make Something Where You Are--" what you hope to see-- as you develop-- what do you hope to see as the Ozarks develop here when, presumably, you're at a prime career moment.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

Prime career, I've been messing this up.

So I guess my hope, for me, is balance.

I'm still trying to figure that out.

Because I still love performing, I still love traveling, I still love comedy.

A lot of that stuff is in the evening.

So for me, figuring out that internal time balance, I'm still kind of figuring that out.

That's just me very personally.

But I hope to still be confident, still facing my fears enough to be trying new and big things.

And I hope that for Springfield too.

I'm really drawn to the people that are like, what if we do this big thing?

What if we do that?

Wouldn't it be awesome?

The Mid By Midwest coming up in September, I'm super excited about.

People are trying new things-- Tell our viewers a little bit what that is.

I'm a little familiar with it, but I don't know if everybody is.

Yeah.

It's a mural festival with concerts and stuff like that.

So you see people painting murals and stuff like that.

And it's a really unique idea.

And they're adding-- I don't know too much about it-- but I know there's music and events and stuff associated with it too.

Any chance we get Jeff Houghton performing live "Make Something Where You Are", the in-person project-- JEFF HOUGHTON: Oh my gosh.

--for performance art.

Maybe.

[laughs] I don't think so.

GREGORY HOLMAN: If they'd have you.

I've never considered doing it live before.

I'm like, I might be up for it.

They won't ask me, but I might be up for it.

You might be.

Any final thoughts as we wrap up here, particularly if you're talking to young folks in the Ozarks who see themselves in a career kind of like yours or maybe even they're a painter.

Where do you set them off?

Where do you-- JEFF HOUGHTON: I would say-- GREGORY HOLMAN: --launch them right now?

It's doable here.

And Springfield's the right size to be able to do something where it's not so big that you're always anonymous, but you can get people to support you.

And that's how we did it, was through just layers of concentric community supporting.

And if you have a big idea and you put it out there, people come alongside it because they're attracted to that.

And I think that-- I would hope to see more people doing that here and I hope people feel confident enough to do that.

Find your concentric community.

Find your concentric community.

That's a great phrase.

That's a great phrase.

In 30 seconds, walk us through what do you think that means if you're telling-- if your son comes up to you in nine years and asks you something like that, what do you say?

I say put out your big idea, find the people that want to support you, use their unique talents, and then find some people that want to support that in small and big ways.

And people are looking for something like that.

Realize that it's not all about you, and the people are looking to link up together to make something great.

And you can't do it without that, yeah.

OK. Jeff, thank you so much for joining us on "Sense of Community" this evening on Ozarks Public television.

Thanks for having me, Greg.

And to our viewers, we just want you to know we're going to have some websites where you can find more information about the topics we've engaged with on tonight's "Sense of Community," making something where you are.

Thank you.

PRESENTER 2: Here is where you can find more information about the topics covered in this program.

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