#38 – From Ad Exec To Cartoonist: Retirement Laughs & Lessons In Barcelona With Darryl Kluskowski

Darryl Kluskowski [00:00:05]:
You’re welcome. It was a really long trip from the couch over to the computer here, so. Yeah, it’s great. But thanks for having me on. I do appreciate it.

Ryan Doolittle [00:00:12]:
Ryan, you mean, I didn’t want the audience to know that I don’t fly to every single city, you know?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:00:18]:
No, you are not here with me. I would gladly come back to Los Angeles or wherever. I don’t know if you’re in California or where you live out there, but, yeah, we’re. Gladly. But it’s a bit of a trip just for a podcast. But I would do it for you, probably. Yes, for you. Okay.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:00:31]:
Next.

Ryan Doolittle [00:00:32]:
Okay. Okay. That’s a deal. That’s a deal. I’m actually. I wish I could go to Barcelona. I’ve always wanted to go there. How did you end up in Barcelona?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:00:41]:
Yeah, interesting story, you know, so, you know, when I was in advertising, I came over here about, oh, 25 years ago on a shoot. So I’ve been really lucky. My advertising career is great because I got to go a lot of all over the world shooting commercials and stuff, and one of the places happened to be here. Never thought about it. Never been to Barcelona. But we had a production over here for 30 days. So I got to really know Barcelona and Spain, and I loved it. I fell in love with it instantly.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:01:07]:
It’s a magical country. What I love about Barcelona is it combines a lot of the weather and culture of California with the vibrancy of New York. Right. So it’s really great just in terms of that. And then a few years ago, came back on another shoot and still in love with it. I was like, this is great. I love this here. This is awesome.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:01:28]:
It’s even better than it was before. You know, that when I was here. And then Covid hit. So during COVID the agency that I was with, you could work from anywhere. So started spending more time over here working out of Barcelona, and it just kind of naturally evolved into, you know, when we parted ways. I don’t know if you read my bio or anything. There was a point in my career where, you know, there was a VC takeover the place it was at. So it’s like, cool, man.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:01:54]:
I’ll see it. We’re gonna go. And ended up here, right? And I love it here. And the main. I think one of the biggest things I love about Barcelona and anybody who comes to visit is the people are so warm, the culture is great. And I just happened to be at a Point in my life where I could do this all the time now so I can live here. And the cost of living is better than New York. Of course, it was very expensive there, but here it’s great.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:02:21]:
Cost of living, great healthcare.

Ryan Doolittle [00:02:22]:
Okay. I wasn’t sure how the cost of living would be in Barcelona, so. It’s good.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:02:27]:
It’s good.

Ryan Doolittle [00:02:27]:
It’s okay.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:02:28]:
More expensive than like, if you go into the outlying parts of Spain. Right. This is. I liken it to sort of like housing is around Philadelphia prices because I lived in Philly for a while, you know what I mean? So you need an analog. It feels like that helps. Yeah, yeah. But then in terms of like food and everything, it’s. It’s cheaper.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:02:49]:
Healthcare is really great, you know, because I have to have a private healthcare plan here. When you’re staying here for, you know, a while, you need to have that. It’s one of the requirements. It’s really affordable. Health care is great. I sliced my hand one day and when I was cooking and I had got to test the health care system and it was great. You know, blood is a universal language. You walk in, you’re bleeding.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:03:08]:
Right. So. But they were able to, you know, got right in, stitched me up. It was a great experience. And no bill at the end, it was just like.

Ryan Doolittle [00:03:16]:
No bill. Wow.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:03:17]:
No, because, you know, I have insurance here, so it’s. It was phenomenal.

Ryan Doolittle [00:03:22]:
I have insurance here and I still seem to get a lot of bills, so. That sounds a little.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:03:27]:
Yeah, I used to get those too when I was in the States. It was. That was the way it was. But then, you know, like I said, the culture is great. And what particularly is nice for. For me about Barcelona, it’s a very creative city. And it’s just the vibrancy of it, the neighborhoods and it’s a different. It’s a very, very different life.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:03:47]:
I had to learn to really take my foot off the gas pedal and slow down. It was. It’s very much different pace than the U.S. which is good, you know, so you don’t burn out too, too soon. Although, you know, it’s. Sometimes it seems a little odd because it can feel like nothing’s getting done, but everything’s getting done. It’s just getting done at a different. In a different way.

Ryan Doolittle [00:04:11]:
So it’s like, okay, you know, and people are less stressed. I would think they’re. They’re happier, maybe they’re way less stressed.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:04:18]:
Yeah. It was also interesting. So a couple of things, you know, the values of. Of. Of here really Line up. Like I’m really, I really love the feeling of community that you get even in the city. Right in this big city there’s this, you know, it’s really fun to see a bunch of like the abuelos and the abuelas walking around with their grandkids and their kids and families everywhere. And it’s really this diversity of age and socio economic status that they’re just spread throughout the city and it’s really fun.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:04:47]:
Every night there’s a. This tradition here is called a paseo and everybody goes out around 7:00, 8:00 at night. You just take a walk around neighborhood and there’s people just talking with each other and there’s, you know, people all at the outdoor cafes are all full, kids are playing in the squares. It’s like being in a movie. It’s a little weird. The other night we walked into this plaza and there was like this swing dance thing going on and some guy with bubbles and kids running through the bubbles and we’re like, what is happening? This is so cool. It’s like, it’s really.

Ryan Doolittle [00:05:17]:
Did someone just say action? Is this real? You know?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:05:20]:
Yeah, exactly, exactly. It’s like, wait, where is it? Where’s everything? So yeah, it’s. It’s really good for that. The one interesting. I know because when we first tried to do the podcast, there was this new vegan restaurant, right?

Ryan Doolittle [00:05:31]:
Vegan pizza, right? Which is one of your favorite?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:05:33]:
No, just a vegan. Vegan pizza is my favorite. But this was a vegan ramen place and it was.

Ryan Doolittle [00:05:39]:
Okay. Phenomenal.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:05:41]:
Just phenomenal. The weird part is like when I came here before, this is like the land of ham. I mean this is. They have the best ham in the world and it’s like everybody. It’s very meat centric culture. However, Barcelona has like this concentration of just the greatest vegan restaurants. I don’t know why, but there’s more here than there were in New York. And they’re like all right in the neighborhood and they’re just phenomenal.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:06:06]:
I mean it’s just so fun and this place was great. But yes, vegan pizza is my favorite. We have a great place that’s over near here that we get that at. And it’s just a. A lot. It’s just a great city and it’s just a lot of fun to be here for me.

Ryan Doolittle [00:06:18]:
So we could do this whole hour. I have to be careful because I could talk about Spain. I’ve wanted to go for so long. My.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:06:25]:
If you come, you Visit seriously, you just let me know. You come here, you have a place.

Ryan Doolittle [00:06:29]:
All right. Wow, thank you.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:06:31]:
No, I’m serious. Anybody wants to come over, we’ll show them around. What do you want to see?

Ryan Doolittle [00:06:36]:
It sounds. So you would recommend Spain because we’ve had some guests who are expats, they retired to Cuenca Ecuador because of the cost of living. Would you say Spain is another good option if someone wanted to do that?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:06:50]:
I would. It’s more expensive than like South America, Central America and like I said, we live like right in the heart of Barcelona. So it’s go. It’s going to be more expensive than if you go into one of the like a ring out of the city, you know what I mean? But yeah, it’s very affordable. It’s a better extension of money because that’s another reason I’m here. It’s a cost of living for me, you know, it’s just way better. And so it’s able to extend my retirement funds that I have and everything that I have, you know, put aside.

Ryan Doolittle [00:07:20]:
Well, we should talk about your career and everything. So let me just set the, set the table a little bit. So you’re a children’s author and you created the hit animated series Four Eyes and that appeared on Nickelodeon and Disney in over 70 countries. And you’re an award winning cartoonist, illustrator, writer and former advertising creative director for a lot of national kids brands. And when I went to your website, I was so impressed. It made me, I had that feeling of man, I wish I could make my things look like this, like you know what you’re doing. It was really impressive.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:07:57]:
I appreciate it. Thank you for saying it and thank you for going to the site and I appreciate that too.

Ryan Doolittle [00:08:03]:
And when you scroll, when you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you thanked me for scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the page. Thanks for that.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:08:10]:
Oh, I bury everything I do. I bury a little something for the people. As I say, it’s just a little Easter egg for everybody.

Ryan Doolittle [00:08:16]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:08:17]:
So yeah, I’ve had a. So my career, very fortunate. When I went to, when I first got out of high school, I was either gonna go to law school or to animation school. Cause I love cartoons. Always have loved cartoons. There’s been nothing in my life that has been anything beyond that. So luckily my parents agreed to that. I’m still shocked that they’d cool, I can go to animation.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:08:37]:
Cool. Okay. So I went and studied animation for a couple of years and honestly, when I was at that time, that was the early 80s the animation industry was collapsing basically in on itself. So there was really no work to be had. But I had one course in design at that school and I’d never heard of advertising. So I was very fortunate to be. I kind of was like, oh, well, I can do this because at least it’s adjacent, you know what I mean, to what I want to do. So I started working in advertising and learned my way from the bottom up.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:09:13]:
That’s why everything maybe looked so good because I had learned from the. There’s like a lower rung in advertising and I was the ground below that when I started. So it was like, it was, it was, I was, I was so low. There was nobody as low as me. So yeah, you learn everything about the industry on the way up and how to make things look good, the craft, the actual craft. It’s a very good people who taught me all through my career. And I really, I always loved film as well as telling stories. So that naturally dovetailed into.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:09:44]:
I always pursued getting into doing television and television commercials. Right. So I was able to learn the whole production side of business how to create commercials, how to. One of my favorite things was used to have a contest of you have to be able to create, grow and destroy a whole world in 15 seconds go. You know what I mean? So how do you tell that story, right? How do you do that arc that quickly and still make it interesting and engaging and have, you know, your problems throughout it. So during that time, you know, I was doing a lot of advertising. I wanted to get back into illustration. So I did and I was drawing some cartoons and I, you know, I was syndicated for a while, so I did that while I was doing advertising.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:10:22]:
A lot of this, a lot of what I, I did was at the same time, do you know what I mean? Like I was in an advertising agency while I’m still doing it. So is multiple streams of income. You’re doing all these different things to, to kind of nurture the advertising side. You have a committee that tells you what you’re going to do. The My other career, my own career, I get to make like people come to me for what I do. I get to tell them, oh, I want to do this, like, cool. You do that then, you know.

Ryan Doolittle [00:10:46]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:10:46]:
So you learn, you learn how to deal with clients on the one side and then you learn how to get good, you know, doing your creative work. While I was doing that, my illustration work in an agency, I found myself out in LA more and I really wanted to do a show. I Mean, I really wanted to do. Actually, I really wanted to do character design. And so I started sending stuff into. This is back when what a cartoon show was being done by Hanna Barbera, before it became all Cartoon Network. It was very new, what was going on. And I met one lady there and she was great.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:11:18]:
She looked at my stuff and she said, you know, I like your character designs, but what you should be doing is creating shows. And I’m going to show you how to do it because I like what you’re doing more with your storytelling and your characters. And so I’m going to. She taught me how to do a mini Bible, you know, how to get all that done and get into the. There’s a presentation form that used to use for pitching your shows to the studios. And so I did that, pitched them some shows. Those shows didn’t happen to go anywhere. And then.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:11:47]:
And I think that what a cartoon shut down because it was all this stuff. The animation industry is like, crazy.

Ryan Doolittle [00:11:53]:
Yeah. Wait, that Hanna Barbera became that. Is that what you were saying or.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:11:57]:
Hanna Barbera was taken over by Cartoon Network. Ted Turner took over and he created Cartoon Network, which was great. I remember him saying, it’s the second greatest thing he ever created besides CNN was Cartoon Network. And I have to agree, it’s an awesome network. It’s an awesome studio. Had the pleasure of being there a bunch of times talking to people working.

Ryan Doolittle [00:12:16]:
On stuff in Atlanta. Right?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:12:19]:
Well, they. They were headquartered there. They had. Their studio was out in la, in Burbank.

Ryan Doolittle [00:12:22]:
Oh, okay.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:12:23]:
So they had one in. Yeah, they had one in Burbank. So, you know, so that didn’t work out. But the persistence is another thing I think that is important for people to. To remember is like, so those shows didn’t work. Happened to be talking to a guy at the agency about, yeah, I’d want to do these shows and who’s in the pay stuff room. Which nobody does that anymore, but I used to do it. And I was an art director and I was talking to him at the time, he said, oh, that’s weird, because my studio mate knows somebody in LA who’s looking for shows.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:12:50]:
And so maybe you should talk to him. So I did met that guy. Talked to Porchlight Entertainment and Fred, who’s the. Fred Schaefer, who was the exec producer on my show. Great guy, just awesome. Became awesome friends with him over the course of the show, but he looked at the first stuff ahead. He goes, no, I don’t like this. What else do you have?

Ryan Doolittle [00:13:10]:
He’s up front, I mean that the older I get, the more I appreciate that hurt my feelings anymore.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:13:16]:
Neither. There was one time I walked into his office with ideas and it was my favorite. He goes, love this, hate this, get out of my office.

Ryan Doolittle [00:13:23]:
I was like, all right, now I know what to do.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:13:25]:
I don’t feel anxious, you know, I don’t feel anxious. Awesome.

Ryan Doolittle [00:13:28]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:13:29]:
But so we hit on a hit on an idea for a show, Four Eyes, which he really liked. And so we, you know, we got that produced through an international production between Porchlight and Pictor Media in France. And so that moved forward, we got all those episodes done at the same time. I had a new agent, I got a new manager. Manager, always manager, agent, always keep them, do never mix them up.

Ryan Doolittle [00:13:52]:
What one gets paid 15% or what get paid?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:13:56]:
That’s all.

Ryan Doolittle [00:13:56]:
Yeah, both get paid, Everybody gets paid.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:13:58]:
Yeah. And so I was able to get another show option by Nickelodeon. You know, it was a show I had optioned with them for a while and then I had a third show that was optioned by Jetix in Europe, which was Fox Kids Europe. But again, animation, the way it works, those all people, all those people get fired, your show collapses, you no longer have a show. So long story short, that was that part of my career. And I was that and I was still doing advertising, you know, and I started moving up in the ranks in advertising. So I really went full bore into agents. I ran a few agencies, you know, and all this stuff.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:14:32]:
So it was, it’s really an interesting business lesson I learned. And once I got higher up in the agencies, I started understanding the business better and what’s important and how do you make money in an agency? How do you, you know, the day I said, you know, my FTE to profitability ratio, I knew I was like, what the hell am I talking about? I mean, where am I? What is this? But that felt like as I was going along, more and more I felt it was getting farther and farther and farther away. Right from what I really, really love to do, which is this telling of stories helping entertain a kid. I love doing shows I love doing just to entertain them.

Ryan Doolittle [00:15:10]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:15:10]:
If one kid comes home after a bad day, you know what I mean, they get this like hit of like a whatever 11 minute cartoon or a book that they read that just like brightens their day. I think that’s really important. So, so again, pandemic hit, you know, the agency changed and so I found myself, you know, looking at, you know, I now am able to walk away from advertising and it’s okay to walk away. And that’s why, you know, I know one of your questions you sent me was, do you feel like you’re retired? It’s like, it’s not. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, it’s. I just feel like I’ve transitioned into another period of what I really want to do.

Ryan Doolittle [00:15:46]:
The more I’ve interviewed people, the more that’s come up. And so I feel like retirement is kind of an outdated word because most of the happy retirees that I talk to, some of them are even busier than they ever were, but they’re doing more things that they want to do versus what they have to do. Is that how you feel?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:16:05]:
That’s exactly how I feel. I think, as we go through life, like, all this stuff I learned about marketing, advertising, entertainment, how do you put that to good use? Right? How do I use those skills I’ve learned over the years to help and. And, you know, like, I noticed when, during the pandemic, there was a lot of. There was a lot of reports about kids aren’t reading as much and they’re falling way behind on reading and they’re just not doing it. So it’s like, well, how do I take what I’ve already done and instill this love of reading and kids? Because I love to read. And a lot of it came from just the silly things I would read when I was a kid, you know, whether it was, you know, I don’t know, Pizzazz Magazine or, you know, Dynamite Magazine or whatever it was, comic books, all this stuff, and of course, all the classics I’ve read. But it was. It was interesting to think, is there a way to take that format and, you know, instill this love of reading by giving them these really fun stories, right, that really speak to them.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:17:05]:
And I’ve also been lucky to understand how to talk to kids, not at them, if that makes sense. Like, the commercials even I had to do was like a real. It was really important for me to connect on their level and understand what they really see in a cartoon show or why are they really looking at this property and what are they doing and what. How. Why does it connect with them? And so I figure if I can use my characters and my skills to do that, I’ll do it. And so I did. And actually, the Flesh Files is based on a show that was optioned a long time ago, and it all reverted to me, and they’ve been kicking around for a long time. It’s like, well, this is a Great time for me to take and combine these really fun little stories, word plays and odd things for kids and this adventure that they can have with these characters and put it into a book and hopefully it makes them want to read more and maybe write their own stories.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:17:57]:
Because I think. I think it’s important to. Because I do this with kids to teach them how to tell stories and, you know, how does that work? And what is that combination of things? And what do you expect? And I got to say, kids are just the most awesome, strange creatures and I really like. Because they’re just like, damn, how’d you come up with that? Okay, cool.

Ryan Doolittle [00:18:16]:
I know their comic timing is amazing and they don’t even know that, you know.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:18:22]:
I know.

Ryan Doolittle [00:18:23]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:18:23]:
So genuine about it. Yes. You know, yeah, it’s. It’s been fun. So I don’t know if that answered your question about my career, but that’s kind of how I got to, you know, where I am today.

Ryan Doolittle [00:18:32]:
Yeah, yeah. And the Flush Files is. It’s a. Well, it’s a laugh out loud, clever collection about the hilarious misadventures of.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:18:39]:
You’ve read, you’ve read the promotion person stuff? Yes. Yeah. I publicist.

Ryan Doolittle [00:18:45]:
It’s a. It’s a top secret agency that swore to protect the world from the evil legions of drain. So it’s. Yeah, it’s like a guy or a kid who looks like a plunger and another kid.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:18:57]:
Bladder lad and plunger Pete.

Ryan Doolittle [00:18:59]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was wondering if. Is there some kind of Pepto Bismol character that comes into, like, you know, calm everyone down?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:19:07]:
There could be. I mean, there’s a whole bunch of. Well, the thing that’s beautiful about this is there is a whole world that I had to build right when I did the show. So I’ve already built the backstory for everybody. Their world, the world is there. There’s all these other agents and characters who are part of this, you know, and. And on the side of Drain, you know, there’s all these other evil bad guys who are they going to encounter? Yeah. And it was.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:19:28]:
Again, this is just harkening back to me for like really old timey stuff, like the old 60s Batman. The, you know, there was like this weird cliffhanger like, what is this? I’m watching what’s going on here. This is really strange, but I like it. And so really seems to be hitting with kids. They seem to enjoy it and understand what I’m doing, doing with it. So it’s been fun.

Ryan Doolittle [00:19:48]:
Yeah. And, and you know, toilet humor. One thing that I’ve been so surprised with is, is how that creates happiness for my wife and I. It’s like these are these embarrassing things and. But if you just kind of embrace how embarrassing they are, it’s.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:20:04]:
There was some, there was some quote by Scholastic. It was put up by Scholastic, Scholastic about their books and they’re like, you know, potty humor a lot of parents don’t like. But if you, if a kid likes a good fart joke and they’re going to read the book, just give them the book, let them read it and they’re going to love it. And it’s, it is. And it’s funny. I mean, it is so funny.

Ryan Doolittle [00:20:24]:
To me, it’s universal. We all know it, we all relate. We all. It’s funny.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:20:29]:
You know, nobody outgrows it. We all try to act so sophisticated. And I’m like, yeah, okay, I’ll be sophisticated in front of these people, but you know, over here I’m going to have a good time. Yeah, yeah. So it’s.

Ryan Doolittle [00:20:41]:
Yeah, exactly.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:20:42]:
And there’s, you know, there’s that notion, Gosh, who was it? It was some, I don’t know if it was Picasso or somebody. They said, really, you have to unlearn everything you learned from when you were four in order to really appreciate life and get back to the wonder of what is there. And it’s like you have to look back to that time of when anything happened. Like, you look, you went out. Just any day you go out, you see a leaf and it’s like, oh my God, this is so cool. What’s going on? Or you see a stream. I’m going to explore this stream today. And I think, I think that humor unlocks that for kids.

Ryan Doolittle [00:21:12]:
You know, Mr. Rogers said I might get the quote a little bit wrong, but I think he said something like, kids are very serious people. And I don’t think he meant they don’t like to laugh. He means, you know, they deserve respect even though they’re coming at it from a different angle. But they’re, they’re worthy of respect. And, and that’s. I don’t always know what I’m doing. I have a two year old.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:21:36]:
Oh, good.

Ryan Doolittle [00:21:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t always know what I’m doing, but I just try to remember that and it seems to go a long way.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:21:43]:
Yeah, it does. I think that I, Mr. Rogers, one of my like, heroes. I love the guy. I love the show. I loved everything he taught me as a kid. And even watching him later in life, he’s Wonderful. Jim Henson was the same way with the Muppets.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:21:58]:
I mean, he is like, to me is one of the all time, like greatest entertainers, storytellers ever. But it’s all about respect for the kid.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:05]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:06]:
Respect for them. Treat them like. Not an adult. Treat them like a human being. Treat them like you understand their world. And I think that’s really important. And it’s helped me to know to. To do certain things when I’m talking to kids that it’s like.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:20]:
Get down on their level.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:21]:
Exactly.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:22]:
Sit on the floor with them.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:23]:
Literally.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:24]:
Get down there.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:24]:
Bend down.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:25]:
Literally.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:25]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:26]:
Yes. And it’s been. It’s been like a eye opening and. And I’ve said this before. I can walk into any C suite. And I’m cool, man. I could talk to CEOs. I could do this stuff.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:35]:
It’s awesome. You know, I mean, I can talk the smack talk and get through it. Give me a man. You get in front of a bunch of little kids, they’re gonna rip you off.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:42]:
I know. You better perform or you’re. You’re dead.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:22:46]:
You better bring it, buddy. And it’s. It’s been a lot of. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s just been a good. As you can tell, I like this subject and it’s very important to me to talk about. Okay.

Ryan Doolittle [00:22:57]:
I’m sorry, how so with your. A specific situation of. Of kind of retired, but not retired. So it’s. Are the Flush Files. Is that one of your primary sources of income? I mean, you’re selling. Is. Is it one book or is it a series? Maybe? Explain.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:23:13]:
It’s going to be a series. Yeah. The first book is out now. The second book, I’ve written it and then I tore it all apart. Now I got to put it all back together again. So it’s one of those things because I write and draw the whole thing. So it’s like, get it done. Wow.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:23:25]:
I mean, the story is all tracked out. It’s all there. It’s bottoms up. It’s going to be a wonderful little funny little episode. We get to meet Toilet Tissue Ted in it. So it’s a. It’s a. It’s a grail.

Ryan Doolittle [00:23:36]:
Okay. Is he two ply or he is two ply Evil.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:23:40]:
Yes.

Ryan Doolittle [00:23:41]:
Okay.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:23:43]:
Squishably evil. He is a fantastic character. I love him. He’s the leader of Drain, which is Dastardly Rats Against Ice Cream and Niceness. That’s what that stands for. And Flush stands for Feisty Little Urchin Slapping Down Hateful Bad guys. It’s just like this. It’s just this weird little acronyms.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:24:02]:
Yeah. So a couple of things. I do it for love. There is little money in books anymore. I mean, it’s just because, you know, it’s. So I. My income is, you know, I’ve done very well in advertising. And so I have my retirement funds, my brokerage funds and everything I have.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:24:21]:
I have financial advisors. I’m fine. You know what I mean? And so I. I don’t have to work. I still consult sometimes. I’ll do some work for agencies occasionally, just because if they want my help, I’ll help them, but I don’t have to. For me, this is truly the thing I want to do. And I figure that the money will eventually.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:24:41]:
It’s a whole thing. I know. You know, having sold shows, having worked on stuff, you know, long enough, I know that this is important work that I’m doing for me. And so if I want to make money, I have to do other things. There’s not a lot of money in books and publishing.

Ryan Doolittle [00:24:56]:
Well, so it sounds like you had kind of set. I mean, you planned ahead and now you have. You’re financially secure enough to do what you want to do and that.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:25:05]:
Yeah, I would say so. I got divorced like 20 years ago, 25 years ago, whatever it was. And it really, you know, at that time, half my retirement fund went, you know, to my ex. And I had to get. And I didn’t have a lot put away. Right. And I knew I had to get serious about investing in retirement. So I learned a lot.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:25:25]:
There was a great. So I got a financial advisor and they helped me get a little ways, a long way. And then I saw this. There was a really good. I don’t remember was a PBS special that put me onto Bogle and Vanguard and all this stuff. Yeah. And so, you know, I started reading more about investing and what. And actually how simple it was to do.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:25:44]:
And I just started doing the right things. And I think that the important thing that, that, that really worked the best. Put away as much as you can, as soon as you can, and don’t, don’t mess with it. Just get in the right funds, like.

Ryan Doolittle [00:26:02]:
Almost forget it’s there. Try to forget it’s there.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:26:05]:
What has helped me is I live way below my means. I want for nothing. But it’s not like. I mean, I haven’t had a car for years. You know, I mean, they need one, so I haven’t had one. But I also, you know, I. I’d rather have Experiences and spend my money in certain things than other ways. Right.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:26:22]:
And so it’s really helped to get this bucket of money put to the side where I just don’t. Yeah, I don’t worry about. I’m not worried about it.

Ryan Doolittle [00:26:32]:
So, yeah, as long as you can have vegan pizza, you don’t need a car. That kind of.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:26:37]:
Let me just tell you that I’m so addicted to this ramen now. I’m like, don’t go. Don’t go.

Ryan Doolittle [00:26:42]:
Just.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:26:43]:
And the problem is, it’s like right around the corner, and then it’s right down the block from us, there’s another place that opens. Some soccer star opened this vegan restaurant, and it’s phenomenal. It’s like this Italian vegan stuff. And I’m just like, what the hell? You know what I mean? It’s like, so good. It’s like, quit tempting me.

Ryan Doolittle [00:27:00]:
Okay, well, tell me, so what does a perfect day look like for you now? I mean, do you have some other core pursuits that you do or is drawing and writing seems like it probably takes up a lot of the time?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:27:12]:
Yeah, it does. A couple other things, though, that are really important to me are like, my health. I use the roof workout three times a day up on the rooftop terrace and then run the other three days.

Ryan Doolittle [00:27:23]:
Wait, your rooftop has like a gym or something?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:27:26]:
No, no, no. It’s just a terrace. So we put our equipment up there, our weights up there, because the weather’s so beautiful all year round. You don’t have to be in side, so it’s just great. So we, you know, do the workout up there three days a week. And then also running is really important to me. You know, started running probably 10, 15 years ago, and I just. I love it.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:27:46]:
It’s. Clears the head.

Ryan Doolittle [00:27:47]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:27:47]:
And it’s really. And. And what’s beautiful here is it’s just so new. You get to see things you could, you know, run into different neighborhoods, run all over the city, run up the mountain, go up to the bunkers, go down to the ocean. You know, you could do all this really great stuff. So those are the things and then just really slowing down. I know I talk fast, but it’s like.

Ryan Doolittle [00:28:07]:
Yeah, you don’t seem very slow.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:28:10]:
No. So it’s like, you know, really spending time. You know, we have a few friends here that we go out with. You know, you go to the. Go to those nighttime terraces and, you know, spend time with them and just. It’s really about connecting with people more and doing that. Speak with my sons Back in the US a lot. Oh, he’s family back there.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:28:27]:
And honestly, there is just such a joy to the life here, you know, trying to learn the language, you know.

Ryan Doolittle [00:28:34]:
Yeah. How’s that going? Are you fluent now?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:28:38]:
No, no, I won’t be. I mean, I could get by. I can get by. Right. I can. I can go into restaurants or I could talk to people to a certain point. We’ve taken lessons and everything. I think what’s unusual now from the.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:28:51]:
From when I was here before, 25 years ago, is there’s so much more English spoken and by the people who live here, it’s like they’ve just said it’s the international language now. And so if you want to. Good jobs, if you want to be able to. Do you have to be able to speak English. But I’m like, but I want to practice Spanish. And they’re like, but I want to practice English. So.

Ryan Doolittle [00:29:11]:
Yeah. So you’re both trying to speak the other language.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:29:14]:
What do I do? But yeah, it’s been.

Ryan Doolittle [00:29:17]:
Yeah. That’s interesting. So you. It. English is so prevalent that it hinders your ability to learn Spanish?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:29:22]:
It does, yeah. I think it does. But. But, you know, it’s still. It’s to be. My mind is. When you live in a country, you should try to be respectful of their language. I always start in Spanish.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:29:34]:
Always. You know what I mean? Try that. Go as far as I can, and then ask them if they speak English. And a lot of people do, and so they will get through that way. And it’s. That’s been. It’s been difficult. I won’t say it hasn’t, but it also hasn’t been insurmountable.

Ryan Doolittle [00:29:49]:
It can be right with my. I mean, I took a lot of Spanish and I squandered it, but I. I feel like I remember the weirdest things where I would. You know, I can really nail that subjunctive mood, but I can’t remember what. How to say butter, you know, exactly.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:30:08]:
Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. It’s. It’s fun to do, though. It’s. And it’s good. It’s actually good for the brain.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:30:16]:
It’s good for my brain. I think it’s good to have. Have a new challenge.

Ryan Doolittle [00:30:19]:
Oh, yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:30:20]:
It makes me feel engaged and I have to be much more present. Right. You know, really be concentrating and thinking about what’s going on.

Ryan Doolittle [00:30:27]:
Oh, for sure. It’s like going to the brain gym.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:30:31]:
It is, right?

Ryan Doolittle [00:30:32]:
You have to work out. Yeah. Well, what are the biggest challenges you faced? I mean, is there something you had to really overcome in this process of, I guess, unretirement for a word I’m saying.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:30:44]:
I’ve heard that word. Yeah, it’s true. I think what was difficult at first was walking away from that identity, if that makes sense. Like, yeah, I’m an ad guy. I run an agency. This is what I do, you know, and you have this pattern, right? You just, you know who you are. I knew who I was. I know who I am.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:31:04]:
So that was a different mindset. And to know that now my days are filled with what I want to do was. It was a little difficult at first. I will say it was. You know, it’s taken me a little while to learn to unwind and to. It’s okay to not be producing something 24 hours a day. You know what I mean? It’s like. It’s like, it’s okay.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:31:23]:
You could just. Okay, you could slow down, which is. It’s that. That was a little difficult. I think beyond that, moving to. Or, you know, spending moving to another country is hard. It just is. It’s just.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:31:37]:
It’s a challenge. But it’s. It was. It’s. It’s more of an adventure. I look at it like it really is fun. I’ve just really enjoyed being here and, you know, and before coming here for extended periods, you know, I would spend a month at a time. It wasn’t like.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:31:52]:
It was just like, just one day I decided, I’m going to move to Spain. It’s like, no, I’ve been here enough, been through the processes, gone to the. Gone to the stores, met the people, lived here, you know, tried to figure out how to get stuff done and made it. That made it easier getting here. But there was still a lot of hiccups along the way, like bureaucracy hiccups, which is.

Ryan Doolittle [00:32:13]:
So what? Tell me. Going to Spain as an American, I mean, it sounds like you had been a number of times and maybe you knew some people already, but did you have to join social groups? I mean, how do you keep that part of your life nurtured?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:32:27]:
Yeah. So we knew. We didn’t know really know anybody here before we moved here. There is a great expat group that meets. That is part of here. It’s somebody who’s from America. They started this thing and they’ve been here like 20 years. And so they have this gathering of people every once in a while you get together, meet other expats and, you know, exchange stories about what did you go through to get.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:32:50]:
What’s happening with you there’s also recently and it’s a great place of a bookstore of all places opened up by some expats. And it’s a gathering place for people in, you know, near our neighborhood that a lot of people come to. It’s all English speaking people for people are new to school Spain or if you’ve been here for a while and want to meet other people who speak English or you want to just talk about great books and that’s been really phenomenal. That’s been just a great way to meet people. And then, you know, some other friends we met through our, through our work. Actually somebody that. It was really weird there. It was like their sister in law happens, they’re from Brazil, but she’s an illustrator.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:33:29]:
She happens to be living here in Barcelona. And so we met her and she’s lovely and awesome and she’s like, well come, we’re going to go out to dinner. And we met her boyfriend and we’re like hanging out with these people now. So it’s just about being open to the new experiences of meeting people. And you never know who you’re going to meet and how you get together. So that’s how we’ve been keeping that. We also did. There was one thing, one thing that we did that was really interesting, I think was important for learning the language.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:33:52]:
The library system here offers these intercomias, which is you sit down with people from Barcelona, they want to learn English, you want to learn Spanish and you each get a half an hour to practice your stuff and they practice English and you practice your Spanish and they help you get it right and they help correct you. It’s kind of this other way of meeting people and learning the language at more local level with folks, which is just fascinating. The libraries here are amazing.

Ryan Doolittle [00:34:19]:
That is great to hear. I personally love a library. They’re underutilized, maybe in the U.S. yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:34:27]:
The new York Public Library was fantastic. Minneapolis has a great one, lived there for a long time. And Sioux Falls has awesome, which is an awesome, awesome library system. And the one here, what’s really great is since it’s an international city, they have books in English, they have DVDs, they have all this other stuff you can like take out and just take home and watch and do if you want. It’s really great. And they have the one library just opened and it was rated the most beautiful library in the world. I don’t know who rated it. And it’s phenomenal.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:34:56]:
It is just so pretty. Yeah, it’s, it’s really, it’s great.

Ryan Doolittle [00:35:00]:
It was probably designed by Goya or some. Some famous.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:35:03]:
Yeah. Somebody. I don’t know who designed. Yeah. I don’t know which. Yeah. Don’t get me started on the awesome architecture here. I’m just like, it’s just a love on your runs.

Ryan Doolittle [00:35:12]:
I bet you. You get to take in all that architecture.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:35:16]:
It is so amazing, you know. Same as with living in New York. Right. We used to run in New York all the time. I never got tired of, like, running through Bryant park or through Rock, you know, through Rockefeller center, through Central park, seeing the Chrysler Building, seeing the Empire State Building. It’s the same here. I mean, you have Sagrada Familia, you have, you know, the Gaudi houses, you have all the. All this stuff.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:35:38]:
Just. I never get tired of it. And the one guy I used to work with in New York, he’s like, what I like about you is that you look at New York because he’d lived there his whole life. He goes, I don’t look at what you look at. He goes, you’ve given me a new love for the city because, like, I look at it, like, with this sense of wonder and tourists. I like it as a tourist. I live like a tourist.

Ryan Doolittle [00:35:56]:
Yeah.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:35:56]:
What are the cool things I could do here?

Ryan Doolittle [00:35:58]:
So I like that mantra, live like a tourist.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:36:00]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And go in and really learn the neighborhoods and learn the senior city a different way or wherever you’re living. Didn’t matter. I mean, Minneapolis has great stuff. Every place is great. I mean, there’s a lot of great.

Ryan Doolittle [00:36:12]:
Things that’s inspiring me. I feel like I might sign up for a tour of. Of la, even though I’ve lived here a long time. I mean, why not. Why not try to see new things?

Darryl Kluskowski [00:36:21]:
I love. I got to tell you. I know people hate it. I love it. I love LA. I didn’t. I did not like the 405. But everything else.

Ryan Doolittle [00:36:28]:
No, I’ve had plenty of tours of the 405, and they were all slow.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:36:33]:
Yeah, exactly.

Ryan Doolittle [00:36:34]:
Well, so as we’re going to kind of wrap up here, but I wanted to know, do you have any advice for people who want to retire or maybe they did retire, and they’re not that happy, and they don’t. They’re trying to figure out what to do, how to be as happy as Daryl.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:36:49]:
Yeah. I really literally had to unlearn everything and, like, really approach every day. Like, it’s just this new adventure, and I’m gonna see what does it bring me and what is it? The thing that I can do to make the world a little bit better, because that’s what I’m here for now. It’s like, how do I help, you know, kids have a little bit of better life. You know, maybe get interested in reading and go through and. And I don’t know if you saw in my thing. I’ve always. I love Calvin and Hobbes, the cartoon strip, and I love Bill Watterson.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:37:15]:
And that last one he did was so perfect. Right? It’ like he’s talking to Hobbs and he’s like, it’s a magical world. Hobbs, old buddy, let’s go exploring. And I think that sense of just that exploration and wonder and really approaching every day about connecting with people on a. On a meaningful level. Even at the grocery store, you could say hi to somebody and have a good connection. Right. I think it’s important to do and to really pursue that.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:37:39]:
And don’t. Don’t put aside anything, because you know what? It’s. This is good. Who knows? You know, it’s like things are going to end. Could end quicker for you. You don’t know. So go out and have a good time. And not being Pollyanna about.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:37:49]:
I just really think there’s so much good in the world and it’s such a. More kindness, love, and gratitude is just going to help. Everything’s going to make your life better. It’s really going to help everybody around you. So that’s great advice. Yeah.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:01]:
Well, Darrel, just before we go, I want to let you know I know your favorite crayon color is red, and I wanted to tell you my son pronounces it as rot, so. So if you want to take that for a spin.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:13]:
I love it.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:14]:
I always get a kick out of it.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:15]:
I love it. It’s perfect. I love that. That is great. Wow. That is awesome. Well, you know, as your son gets older, have him watch cartoons. It’s good.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:25]:
And have him just. And have him keep that thing going, you know, Keep that wonder going.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:29]:
I will.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:30]:
Yeah.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:31]:
Thanks so much for coming on and for helping other people see what’s possible out there.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:36]:
Absolutely. Not a problem.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:37]:
All right. You take care.

Darryl Kluskowski [00:38:39]:
Okay, you too.

Ryan Doolittle [00:38:40]:
Right.