Hlary Kennedy: She Can’t Visualize Memories… But Knows UFC Inside Out | ThrowbacK ( March 13, 2021)

Keith Malinak (00:06.274)

You're listening to At The Mic with Keith, an independent podcast production. And welcome to another edition of At The Mic. I am your host, Keith Malinak. So I recently sat down with my friend, Hillary Kennedy, who hosts the Four Minute Buzz on Blaze TV. And if you aren't aware, Hillary is a big fan of UFC. So we talked about that and what it would take to get her into the ring. We also discussed parenthood, baseball cards.

and some of her hidden talents as well. So let's get right to it. Hillary Kennedy, this week's guest on At the Mic. Hello, Hillary. Thanks for joining us. Okay, Hillary, you know, probably from all over the place, but with the Blaze family, you know her from the four minute buzz that she does, the little news thing, right? The beginning of each hour of Glenn Beck's radio program. Yes. And how'd you get involved with that? Because you've been here for, I don't know, how many years? A few years now.

Hillary Kennedy (00:42.196)

Lowkey, thanks for having me on.

Hillary Kennedy (01:04.407)

About two and a half, think. That's cool. I had worked on a commercial for the DIY network several years ago with two people who ended up working here at The Blaze. So that's kind how I got on the radar, was just keeping in touch with

Keith Malinak (01:20.078)

There you go, very cool. which you're from, you were born and raised here in Dallas, correct?

Hillary Kennedy (01:25.166)

Yep, from Dallas originally. You don't meet too many people who are anymore. Everybody's from somewhere else because Dallas is a great city to live in. That's true. But yeah, grew up here. Whole family lived here my entire life until recently. My sister and brother-in-law moved to Colorado because the traffic, Dallas traffic has gotten to be pretty bad. they're the only ones that have taken and ventured off, but everybody's still here. I have one sister. Okay. I have one older sister and we

Keith Malinak (01:44.898)

So how many siblings do you have?

Keith Malinak (01:50.486)

And that's who just moved.

Hillary Kennedy (01:51.614)

Yeah, she just moved to Colorado and then my mom lives here and I come from a really small family. So those are my own, the only two living relatives that I have left is my mom and my sister.

Keith Malinak (02:02.934)

goodness did you did you grow up in the same house did you move around town or

Hillary Kennedy (02:08.874)

We moved twice growing up and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house too. They had a really great house that was built like in the early 1900s and had like those cedar closets that had like false walls and they had dumb waiters in an old servants quarters. It was a cool old house. So ever since I was a little kid, I've been obsessed with

homes and real estate. So one of my favorite hobbies is going on home tours because I have a weird fascination with seeing inside other people's houses. So if anyone enjoys home tours, please call me. I need someone to go because my husband, my mom, my friends, nobody will go with me anymore because I want to go on every home tour.

Keith Malinak (02:46.603)

So wait now, what's a, okay, is a home tour different than an open house? Yes. So this is like, you're talking about a fancy house where they're like, they open it up and say hey come

Hillary Kennedy (02:57.967)

Yeah, sometimes they're fancy and sometimes they're just like these cool unique Historic homes or like these little small bungalow homes in unique neighborhoods. They usually do them to raise money for some sort of share

Keith Malinak (03:08.942)

ask you, what's the purpose of opening your home to the straight?

Hillary Kennedy (03:11.15)

Right, or to raise money for like the neighborhood, but I love them so much. So I'm kind of a weird creeper that I like to see how other people live.

Keith Malinak (03:19.966)

Have you ever spent any time in Charleston, South Carolina? It's the greatest place on earth. Yes. I bet there are some fabulous home tours there, whether downtown Charleston or the plantations and stuff. So cool. And there's so much to do there that honestly, you checking out all the old homes, plus all the myriad of things to do there, you could spend a month in Charleston and not get bored.

Hillary Kennedy (03:23.754)

No, but I hear it's amazing.

Hillary Kennedy (03:34.966)

I bet those old historic homes there.

Hillary Kennedy (03:48.654)

Okay, I'm gonna put that on my bucket list.

Keith Malinak (03:49.902)

I have got an email that Cal, who used to work here, one time he and his wife were going there and he said, you usually live in Charleston. I said, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Anyway, we emailing back and forth and I came up with a list that I've been adding to for the last five years and anyone goes to Charleston or is looking for a place to go and have a vacation somewhere they've never been before. And I just keep adding all these great things in Charleston. So I can just copy and paste it and send it you. it to me, yeah, I it. And when you say that you were born and raised and you stayed local here,

I mean, that includes college too. You went to TCU, right?

Hillary Kennedy (04:21.09)

I did? I'm a horn frog. Okay. I loved it.

Keith Malinak (04:23.822)

Did you, what'd you major in over there?

Hillary Kennedy (04:25.684)

I was a television, film and digital media major. Which surprisingly, my mom was very supportive of. I actually started off as a theater major and I wasn't colorful enough for the theater major. Like I enjoyed life theater, but I don't sing or dance. And you really need to be able to do those things to succeed in theater, I learned. I just didn't fit the mold. And I realized I was in one of my theater classes one day.

Keith Malinak (04:40.802)

Great spin on that

Hillary Kennedy (04:55.522)

And they had us crawling around on the floor pretending to be a wild animal and giving our fire away. And I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know how I was supposed to pretend to be an animal. I just had a hard time with a lot of the theater games and things. And I just kept thinking how much money my mom was spending per credit hour. And I was crawling around on the floor pretending to be a lion or a tiger. And I thought, you know, maybe I should switch my major to something else that's

Performance based, but not a theater major since I don't sing or dance and I'm not a good fake tiger.

Keith Malinak (05:29.518)

I'm not a good fake tiger. Yeah, my wife Carrie is a theater major as well And she told me about this class where they had to massage their classmates butts with their elbows And theater is a weird Conglomeration of folks and Good people that word again. I love that. Yeah, there's a

Hillary Kennedy (05:39.534)

So weird!

Hillary Kennedy (05:45.1)

It is. A lot of colorful, fun, spiri-

Hillary Kennedy (05:51.968)

I was too vanilla for theater, I think.

Keith Malinak (05:55.182)

That's awesome. So you always wanted to be on television and do this kind of job, right? I But you do so much other stuff. Like, you're a freelancer. What is some other stuff that you do?

Hillary Kennedy (06:07.342)

Well, so I started off wanting to do soap operas. was like my main goal, because I grew up watching Days of Our Lives with my mom, which, RIP to soap operas, because there's like two left. I mean, they're all, reality TV has replaced all the soap operas.

Keith Malinak (06:21.934)

I've never heard it said like that because there used to be a staple from like nine in the morning until three or four in the afternoon.

Hillary Kennedy (06:25.477)

yeah!

Hillary Kennedy (06:29.523)

All my children, young and the restless, days of our lives like those were... But you're right! American TV staples.

Keith Malinak (06:35.438)

Reality TV has taken over and those time slots during the day are now talk shows and stuff.

Hillary Kennedy (06:42.028)

All talk shows, Real Housewives, like that kind of thing. So I started off really wanting to do that because I thought, okay, that's a performance career. There's still some standards and censorship going on. So it's something my grandparents could watch and I don't have to be embarrassed about what I'm working on. Because there's some love scenes and whatever, but for the most part, soap operas have been pretty tame. And you can make a lifelong career out of it. So I thought, well, that's what I'd like to do.

And I auditioned for All My Children and One Life to Live a couple of times and made callbacks and went to New York a little bit, but never did book it. And I thought, well, I've got to pay bills somehow. And when you've got a film and television degree, like, what do you do with it? know, so I hadn't initially wanted to go into news. So I started working in commercials and then I got a job working for the Dallas Stars hockey team as their entertainment host. So I would like interview the players and do all that.

intermission games on the ice. And then I thought, well, man, hosting and doing these interviews, doing a little bit of journalism, that's a lot of fun because I'm still getting to do television, but I get to be me. So that's how I ended up mainly doing more hosting and anchoring is working for the Dallas Stars.

Keith Malinak (07:54.478)

Okay, very good. Because you've done like a morning show, a TV morning show.

Hillary Kennedy (07:59.182)

I I did a morning show. was a nationally syndicated morning show called Eye Opener. And it was in a bunch of different cities, but I had to be up for work at two o'clock in the morning for work and be there by three. And it was a ton of fun and I loved it. But we were working every holiday. So was every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, every New Year's. So that's hard after a while. But I did that for three and half years. I really enjoyed it.

Keith Malinak (08:20.654)

Yeah, and it would become even more difficult because you have a son now.

Hillary Kennedy (08:26.584)

So there was only one person when I worked there that had a child and I now understand why. Because I have a 15 month old son named Fox and yeah, you need a lot. You need sleep as often as you can get it once you have a baby I've learned. So getting up at two o'clock in the morning for work would not work so well for me anymore.

Keith Malinak (08:47.478)

No. And so would you say that's the, have a unique background as far as jobs. Is that the most difficult one because of the element of waking up at two in the morning or have there been other stuff? Because I'm just looking at the list here of all the fun stuff you've been doing.

Hillary Kennedy (09:01.486)

It's probably the hardest job as far as doing three hours of live television every day, starting at, you know, like learning your stories and getting going at 3 a.m. That was probably one of the hardest jobs. Luckily, I was part of an ensemble cast and I worked with super fun, super talented people. So that made it a great learning experience. But I have been an ice cream scooper. So I built up some serious muscles in my right arm doing that job. I gained like 15 pounds that summer.

And then I worked as a waitress.

Keith Malinak (09:33.71)

Save the most unique one for last because we really got to get into that one. Okay waitress, where'd you waitress? Any restaurants that we know of?

Hillary Kennedy (09:37.187)

Okay.

It was a restaurant in Colorado. So we would live in Colorado in the summertime when I was growing up from May until August. So I got my first job waitressing. I think it was 14. And I think everyone should work in a service job of some sort because it really teaches you how to treat people because it's you know, it's hard and if the food is not right or the food is late, it's not always the server's fault. And so I've learned to really mellow about any kind of

You know, snafu. It's gotta be really bad before I'll complain.

Keith Malinak (10:12.716)

Would you say that people that have worked in the restaurant business or been waiters and waitresses, are they better tippers, do you think?

Hillary Kennedy (10:19.598)

Oh, for sure. I definitely am because of that job.

Keith Malinak (10:22.286)

What's the biggest tip you ever got working in the restaurant? I mean what percent or what?

Hillary Kennedy (10:27.95)

We got, there was a couple, Delphi and Arnie, it was their anniversary. And Delphi and Arnie gave me like a $30 tip one time and that was pretty cool. So if you're 14, 30 bucks is, know, it's a lot of money. So I did that at Waitress. In Colorado, I painted cabins one summer, which was a lot of fun, but also very hard work. But that paid pretty well. So that was exciting. And then,

Keith Malinak (10:40.43)

Haven painter?

Hillary Kennedy (10:55.394)

I've worked as a blogger. blog for other companies and then I have my own. So I just blog about.

Keith Malinak (11:01.646)

Give me the website here.

Hillary Kennedy (11:03.508)

It's just Hillary with 1L, HillaryKennedy.com. And it's kind of fashion and style and lifestyle stuff, a little bit of faith and family and all that.

Keith Malinak (11:11.82)

How often do you update it? Because that would seem like a difficult thing to kind of stay on top.

Hillary Kennedy (11:15.904)

Yes, before baby, I've dated it all the time. Since baby, usually two or three times a month. So I'm trying to keep up with it.

Keith Malinak (11:23.778)

Can you so it's got the RSS feed where you people can be alerted or something.

Hillary Kennedy (11:27.926)

Yep, you can subscribe and get an update whenever I something out.

Keith Malinak (11:30.85)

HilaryKennedy.com that's with one L. Thank you. You didn't buy the both domains have it redirect or somebody already have Hilary two L.

Hillary Kennedy (11:38.718)

Well, it's so weird when people go, you know, they associate Hillary with Hillary Clinton after she ran for president. Before she ran for president, I never had anyone make that association with my name at all. wow. But after she ran for president, I had so many people and plus my last name Kennedy. I never associate my name with her name because I spell it differently. In my mind, I just don't think about our name being the same because I spell it with one L and she spells it with two.

Keith Malinak (11:55.468)

And you have a president.

Hillary Kennedy (12:07.214)

I'm also not a Hillary Clinton fan,

Keith Malinak (12:11.662)

Any connection to the Kennedy family though?

Hillary Kennedy (12:15.404)

I mean, I went around telling people that quite a bit when I was a kid and my mom was like, stop doing that. Cause I would tell people like, yes, we've been summering at Martha's Vineyard and Hyana Sports and all that good stuff. But yeah, she told me Nick's on that cause nope, no relation.

Keith Malinak (12:29.71)

I gotta ask you this job here. What is a circuit board inspector?

Hillary Kennedy (12:36.046)

So the circuit boards that go in computers, I worked one summer inspecting them to make sure that all the pieces were where they were supposed to be. They worked properly. It was the most boring job on the face of the planet. And that was the summer I discovered talk radio. listened to Dr. Laura Schlesinger. Do you remember her? Go take on the day. Yes, exactly.

Keith Malinak (13:01.196)

And talk about your kids, how many, how old? Yep. All the kids.

Hillary Kennedy (13:05.39)

Yeah, you know all of it. Yeah. So that and Delilah, those were like the two that I ended up listening to that summer while inspecting circuit boards.

Keith Malinak (13:13.326)

Cool, that's very cool. So did you have like a little piece of paper inside the circuit board that said like inspected by number 17 or something? Oh for sure. Yeah. Like what was your number?

Hillary Kennedy (13:21.666)

Sure. gosh, I have no idea. I'll get to my memory issues and I'll

Keith Malinak (13:26.67)

Oh no. Well, before you do that, let's challenge your memory issues and go back to the morning show, the TV show that you did, right? The most difficult thing, and correct me if I'm wrong, is not only do you have to appear awake in front of an audience, but you have to appear cheerful and happy, more so for you, whereas like Pat and I get up, you know, 3 a.m. or whatever it is, which is even later than 2 a.m. I mean, how are you going to bed, by the way?

Hillary Kennedy (13:55.182)

I tried to go to bed about 630.

Keith Malinak (13:57.07)

It's insanity. it's I mean time shift everything everything gets screwed up in your world, but See we we talk politics, you know and we mock the world and and so we don't have to be in a great mood I guess you know we can just talk about how idiotic the planet is and and and mock accordingly But correct me if I'm wrong on your type situation with your show that you were a part of You always had to be chipper and in a good mood and yay. Yeah happy

Hillary Kennedy (14:26.957)

for sure.

Keith Malinak (14:27.682)

Big of a challenge is that.

Hillary Kennedy (14:29.87)

On the days that you're feeling great, not so bad. And I worked with a lot of really fun people. On the days that you're sick, maybe you have strep throat and they still need you to come in and you're trying to... Those are the tough days when you're just in pain. But I covered a lot of the fun stuff. I covered celebrity news and entertainment and lifestyle and technology.

Those were mainly my stories. didn't do a lot of hard news unless somebody was out sick and they needed me to fill in. So I got to do most of the cheerful stuff, which was, know, it's nice weather and traffic and entertainment. Like those are the things that people leave the house, you know, they're excited to have that information. So it was a fun time.

Keith Malinak (15:13.358)

So you and your husband Jeff who is a really cool guy he does a YouTube channel with baseball cards sports cards stuff like that It's some good information from Jeff. How can people find his stuff while I'm thinking about?

Hillary Kennedy (15:25.198)

Yeah, he's got a YouTube channel called Pack Geek, it's mainly for baseball card or sports card collectors. He rips these mostly vintage packs, and there's a whole contingent of people out there that love to watch someone open sports cards to see if there's any great hits and something that's a really valuable card and worth a lot of money. So he started doing that for fun. been doing it since he was a kid, but he started filming it.

And it really took off on YouTube, and so he's got a great, really fun audience. He does giveaways all the time of some cool cards,

Keith Malinak (15:58.23)

And these are cards he's opening them there. Are they sent to him as gifts?

Hillary Kennedy (16:02.934)

He buys some and then some like the the guy that's the head of Panini Which is a big card company. He'll come on the show. He's had some celebrity guests He's had some athletes on he's had some other just fellow collectors that he's met

Keith Malinak (16:15.278)

And so they just opened them together basically. Yes. See, because I met him, let me back up, when I was in Charleston, like there was an old engineer that was clearing out his office and he gave me these boxes, about three boxes, I think two baseball card boxes, one football card boxes of almost completely full of unopened packs of cards. Oh man. And they were from like 1990, 91 era, which in hindsight, I've looked, I've seen that was such a

And I know, because I was a kid at that time collecting them, there was such a saturation of sports cards at that time that it really diluted the value. That era, there was just so many, was supply and demand. Anyhow, I met Jeff, your husband, in the middle of this process that my kids and I were finally getting around to opening these packs. These packs were pushing 30 years old. we thought, I thought, let's have fun. And so we were opening each of me and my kids, so four packs a day.

for maybe once a week, you know? And well, it was fun. However, it was just, I hardly recognized any of them. thought, know, these are lame. I'd look on eBay, see what they're going for. I mean, I think literally, think our biggest fine was like a 15 cent card. I mean, it's kind of depressing, right? But then I met Jeff and he explained to me, no, no, no, whatever you have left. And unfortunately, we were down to about 10 packs out of, you know, whatever it was 50 by this time.

Hillary Kennedy (17:16.75)

That's so fun.

Keith Malinak (17:42.21)

So we got about 10 packs. said, don't open those because you could sell that unopened pack that likely doesn't have a Brett Favre rookie card or something from that era. But whoever's buying it from you down the line is going to just assume there's a great valuable card in there. It's a great,

Hillary Kennedy (18:00.782)

That's a little bit of a gamble. It's a treasure hunt. I I think that's why people get so into it is it's a treasure hunt. And if you can kind of predict who the next big player is going to be, then you can also make a lot of money because he really invested pretty heavily in Luka Donsik and Patrick Mahomes very early on. So those have paid off handsomely. But you know, it's hit or miss because sometimes a player gets hurt and then you're like, well, you

Keith Malinak (18:29.622)

Yeah, but if I if I sell a pack of cards, I don't want to know what was in it Don't ever tell me you know just pay me top dollar for the pack and go open it in private, please

Hillary Kennedy (18:38.446)

Never tell that Brep Barberookie is in there, you don't want to know that. I to know about that's painful.

Keith Malinak (18:42.286)

Right. So you guys just recently, you know, in the last couple of years, welcomed your first son into the world. An adorable kid. Fox, tell us about him.

Hillary Kennedy (18:53.422)

Fox is great. He is a smart little cookie sweet little boy

Keith Malinak (18:59.214)

Beautiful, just a beautiful kid.

Hillary Kennedy (19:01.066)

He's been a lot of fun. The only thing that has me concerned a little bit is I can't tell if he's going to be slightly deviant or if he's just really smart. Because when you fuss at him for something, if he's doing something you've asked him not to do, he will knock his head against the wall or knock his hand against something and act like he got hurt. So he plays the victim so he's not in trouble anymore.

And he's been doing it at his little daycare in the mornings too. If he's not being gentle with another child, and they tell him like, no, Fox, like you're not supposed to play rough or use gentle hands or whatever. He'll hit his hand on something and go, and act like he got hurt so that he's not in trouble anymore. Suddenly he's like, no, I'm the one that got hurt. So I don't know whether that's really smart that he's that learned manipulation that earlier, if that's really scary.

Keith Malinak (19:51.95)

Wow, that's interesting.

Hillary Kennedy (19:54.094)

I just wonder where they because it is my first kid and I'd heard everyone say like where do they get these things? Where do they pick it up from? know and I always wonder like he'll come home and say things or do things where I'm like Well, we don't say or do that. Where did he learn this?

Keith Malinak (20:06.926)

And he's only over there just for a couple hours while you're over here. Yep. Just a very observant kid and really absorbs stuff, huh? Yeah. He's tough. We know he's tough. He is tough. He took a tumble recently, right? And I know you're lamenting the scar that he currently has.

Hillary Kennedy (20:11.947)

Only in the morning briefly.

Hillary Kennedy (20:24.686)

Yes, he's got a scar right in the center of his face, like right on, it cuts into one eyebrow and kind of halfway between his eyes. So it's kind of a big Frankenstein scar. For now. For now. They have a vanilla ice eyebrow for a few years. It's character though.

Keith Malinak (20:38.135)

Better.

Keith Malinak (20:42.712)

character because my wife Carrie she has a scar in her eyebrow as well but she

Hillary Kennedy (20:48.174)

You hardly noticed. Yeah, I never notice it.

Keith Malinak (20:51.372)

And she doesn't do anything to like hide it or anything. I agree. Yes. But he'll be fine.

Hillary Kennedy (20:54.324)

She's gorgeous.

He's just- he's a boy! mean little boys just seem so fearless. They'll just jump off anything. Hit anything!

Keith Malinak (21:04.92)

Yeah. He's got to test his limits, his own limits, you know? Just keep an eye on him because us boys aren't, we're not always thinking at 100%. And I've done some things in my life that I will say I'm lucky to be alive. You know, like I tried to peel the back of a suction cup off of an unplugged television. It was an old tube TV at my grandparents' house. I did not realize how electricity works. I still don't.

And I, let's put it this way, when I peeled off the suction cup, just because I thought it looked cool, I came to about 10 feet away from where I'd started across the living room, and I ended up against the couch and I looked around, my grandmother was just oblivious cooking in the kitchen through the little walkway there, I was like, how did I get over here? So what I'm saying is we learn our lessons. Some of us not as well as others, but...

Hillary Kennedy (21:42.028)

This is making me feel so much better.

Hillary Kennedy (21:59.774)

Sometimes it takes a few times of being knocked across the room. Yeah.

Keith Malinak (22:02.474)

Yeah, but he'll get there. We'll have scars, you know, it just happens. All right, so obviously as a new mom, you probably don't have nearly as much downtime as you once did. Correct. But when you are able to relax and enjoy yourself, what are some things that you like to do?

Hillary Kennedy (22:20.366)

love to play tennis. I played in high school. So I love tennis. It's a lot of fun. It doesn't feel like working out, so I enjoy that. We go to Colorado every year still. I have a really soft spot for Colorado since we would live there in the summertime. So I love to do a lot of mountain climbing and hiking and rafting. I'm not very good at fly fishing, much to my mom's dismay. My mom is just an expert fly fisher. would be... The beauty of Colorado, it's such a slow...

Keith Malinak (22:44.542)

fun. That would be fun.

Hillary Kennedy (22:49.292)

Sport, which I've learned you have to appreciate, but I just am not that great at it. then again, the home tours. mean, any spare weekend that there's a home tour, I'm out there creeping in other people's houses. And watching USC.

Keith Malinak (22:57.442)

Yeah, the home tours.

Keith Malinak (23:03.022)

Now I think watching UFC and we have to absolutely get into the UFC talk because you know so much about ultimate fighting championship. That's what it stands for. And you're a big Conor McGregor fan. mean, you are like the go-to in this building for anything related to that sport. How did you get into that? It just doesn't say, I'm sorry for stereotypes. It just doesn't seem to fit.

Hillary Kennedy (23:31.086)

Well, so my grandfather was very into boxing. He boxed when he was young and so he enjoyed watching it. So I would watch boxing with him growing up. And then I took some kickboxing, not martial arts, but just kickboxing and I loved it. And then I realized like UFC is the perfect marriage of the things that I enjoy doing myself and I enjoy watching on TV. So I just feel like if somebody is not

Truly getting hurt if there's no blood. Why are we watching this? I then the way aren't we watching people play chess? Do you know what I mean? That's also strategy and technique. That's hard work. Yeah, so Hard work. I I want to see people Brawl because it's the purest form of entertainment. It's the world's oldest sport Hmm, so I I mean what I love too is most of these guys Have a really great rapport. Mm-hmm

So they come to just do the fight, get the job done, and it's a battle of wits and skill. And then when it's over, most of them are actually pretty good friends outside the ring. I interviewed Stipe Miocic and Junior De Santos one time when they were fighting for the heavyweight title a couple of years ago. I said, you know, I asking them all these questions about their rivalry.

They said, you know what, we actually really enjoy hanging out outside of the ring. We're really just here to battle it out for, you know, these couple of rounds and then we'll probably go have a beer and hang out.

Keith Malinak (24:58.454)

Yeah, we get in a ring and beat each other senseless, but then we're friends. And that's kind of what guys are too, right?

Hillary Kennedy (25:02.444)

I love that.

Exactly! And the female fights are so much fun too because... Really?

Keith Malinak (25:09.068)

Yes! I can't stand to see women fighting each other.

Hillary Kennedy (25:12.63)

it's the best. mean, where else is it acceptable, other than watching, you know, reality television, where else is it acceptable for two women to just punch each other in the face and get all their aggression out?

Keith Malinak (25:22.158)

Are you like me where I love I love football. I love watching it. I'm absorbed in it 12 months out of the year really. Mm-hmm But I would never play football. I wanted to growing up but as an adult I just couldn't see going full speed with other athletes. Let's put it that way and I'm wondering are you the same way where you like to watch UFC or would you ever participate in it yourself? Because I could not do that myself

Hillary Kennedy (25:48.876)

If I didn't need my face for work, I would love to train to fight. I would love to do like one cage fight. I think that would be awesome. But I mean, your face gets damaged in the process. I mean, in the same way that playing football, your brain is gonna... Right? So I mean, I think it would be an awesome thing to be able to do. The odds of me ever actually doing it, probably not that great.

Keith Malinak (26:05.41)

Yeah, impact.

Keith Malinak (26:14.424)

Okay, so you have to do one fight, UFC fight, that's all you have to do in your life. Do you, Hilary Kennedy, want to fight a stranger? You have four options. A stranger, a real UFC female fighter, a friend of yours, or someone, whether in your present or past, that you absolutely despise? Which are you going with as your opponent? Okay, how about this? Okay.

Hillary Kennedy (26:38.793)

Man, that's tough.

Keith Malinak (26:43.212)

You have four fights in your life. Which celebrity UFC fighter are you going to take on in the ring? Which female?

Hillary Kennedy (26:50.478)

There are two that I really like. Holly Holm is my favorite. She's known as the preacher's daughter. She's just a good, kind, nice person. She's strong Christian. mean, she's just an all-around good girl. So I think she would be the person I would like to fight the most. There's Joanna Jadrzeczek. I always get her pronunciation wrong, but she's really scary.

Keith Malinak (27:20.002)

wanna fight? Scary!

Hillary Kennedy (27:20.654)

More my size, but she's really scary and I think it would be fun to go up against someone and try and defeat somebody who's that intimidating.

Keith Malinak (27:27.83)

Okay, so we'll give you those two fights instead of the stranger fight. How about a friend? Is there a friend that you would want to get in the ring with? If you don't have an answer,

Hillary Kennedy (27:38.478)

I would like to fight my sister. My sister is extremely fit and very muscular and I would just like to see if I could take her on.

Keith Malinak (27:51.254)

Awesome. Is there any bitter moments from your childhood that you want to like...

Hillary Kennedy (27:55.436)

She would rat on me all the time growing up for things. There was never, because some siblings, I don't know, because did you have any siblings? Only child. Well, I don't know if your kids do this for each other where they'll cover for each other once in a while, like they'll back each other up so nobody gets in trouble. But my sister would never do that for me. Like she would never be my partner in crime ever. She would always sell me out.

Keith Malinak (28:15.022)

don't know that my kids cover for each other. Yeah, exactly. That's just it. That's just it. And instead they're quick to say, that was, no, what? Okay, so, and you may not want to answer this either, but is there any like, I don't know, a coworker or some enemy from college or somebody that you had it in for, had it in for you that you would love to get in the ring with? Are you going to plead the fifth?

Hillary Kennedy (28:17.698)

that you know about.

Hillary Kennedy (28:42.358)

That's tough. I... Yes, okay. I did have one coworker who shall remain nameless, who was a bully. I mean, just a total bully to everybody. I mean, she was the most intimidating. And when you looked at the profile of like a psychopath or a sociopath, she checked every box. I would like to fight her. Yeah, I would always be for a good cause.

Keith Malinak (28:43.967)

Someone did you wrong.

Hillary Kennedy (29:08.91)

And then, you know, we'd hug after it was over and I would tell her like, good fight.

Keith Malinak (29:12.682)

And you would also say, that was for that time you stabbed me in the back. OK, so you guys, you and your husband, Jeff, you have Young Fox. Yes. And you also have a couple of pets as well.

Hillary Kennedy (29:25.698)

I have two Chihuahuas. They're brother and sister. We got them from a rescue organization and they are awesome. Very sweet. Tate Dogovan, who was named after the actor Tate Donovan, which most people are like, who's Tate Donovan? But if you ever watched, there was a TV show, was kind of like a teen soap opera called The O.C. He was on that show and he played, he was Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend at one point in time. And so he was in a couple of movies. And so I don't know if you've

Keith Malinak (29:53.748)

I knew when you said his name that I would recognize him if I googled it.

Hillary Kennedy (29:57.11)

I loved him. He was one of my favorite actors. So we have Tate Doggavan and then my husband's last name is Hofer, which is a German last name and it's double ERs in his last name. So it's not spelled like it sounds. so anyway, people always get the extra ERs mixed up. And so we have a little other name for for Hofer. Yeah, it was kind of an inside joke, but I've learned don't name your pets after inside jokes because then you have to explain it every time.

Keith Malinak (30:19.512)

for a home, because that's how it looks.

Keith Malinak (30:26.446)

Well when you go to the vet, you not just call him Tate and Furfur?

Hillary Kennedy (30:28.95)

We call him Tate and Fur. Yeah. But she's not furry at all, which is why it's confusing. mean, just note to self, don't name your children or your pets after inside jokes.

Keith Malinak (30:38.472)

Yeah, and you love these creatures, these Chihuahuas. Have you always been a big Chihuahua fan? Yes.

Hillary Kennedy (30:45.038)

That's all we've ever had. had one terrier growing up, but we always had chihuahuas, which they get a bad reputation for being yappy and mean. is true. They are not all that way.

Keith Malinak (30:56.942)

This is true, for 40 years of my life, I couldn't stand the thought of a chihuahua. I hate chihuahuas! and I think a lot of it is just stuff I've heard. in college, a friend of mine lived off campus, and the people next to him had three chihuahuas, and they never turned off. They were out in the courtyard yapping their little heads off at their shadows, and they were so ridiculously annoying and loud, and I didn't have to live there at least.

Hillary Kennedy (31:02.271)

really?

Keith Malinak (31:25.334)

I couldn't imagine having to live within such close proximity to these three annoying creatures. But one day we had a show here that was doing a thing with SPCA, and it about the time we were gonna get a little dog for my oldest daughter, and I fell in love. And it was like a chihuahua-beagle mix, but I love her to pieces, she's great, and now she's in love all of chihuahuas for all time.

Hillary Kennedy (31:47.63)

team.

You guys have other pets.

Keith Malinak (31:52.278)

Yeah, so we have that Chihuahua Beagle and we have an older much much smarter dog. I didn't say that Tilda the Chihuahua was smart. Yeah, and so like if she was, I say this all the time, if she was like a PlayStation character she'd have a hundred sweetness and zero rating for intelligence. But the older dog who's a mix of every kind of dog ever bred under the sun, he's very smart. Tanner. Awesome. And so that's a nice little odd couple.

Hillary Kennedy (32:01.998)

We have small brains.

Hillary Kennedy (32:10.583)

You

Keith Malinak (32:21.378)

Those two. And then we have... Yep, so yeah, my youngest has a rabbit named Timmy. And my son has two birds, two parakeets. Click and budgie.

Hillary Kennedy (32:23.66)

rabbit or a turtle?

Hillary Kennedy (32:36.856)

Do they say words? Do your parakeets talk?

Keith Malinak (32:39.672)

They're trying. He's finally spending time with them. In fact, he's... See, for Christmas he got... He wasn't taking the time. And Santa realized, you know what? It's time to get this kid a little box that you record your voice saying phrases and it just repeats all day. Now, it probably drives the birds nuts and they want to hang themselves. But apparently it's starting to take effect. To work? that's cool. That's really cool. Okay. Let's see.

we kind of talked earlier about, you know, your love of... were a theater major, and you said, I don't have any talent, I can't sing and I can't dance, but you can sing the books of the New Testament of the Bible. I can't. I don't understand what that... just like the titles or like, are we talking about every chapter and

Hillary Kennedy (33:29.774)

No, not every chapter in That would be actually really impressive. Slightly less impressive. Yeah. When I was in preschool, they taught us how to sing the books of the Bible. I have the Old Testament memorized too, but it gets a little, my brain as I'm getting older, you start thinking like, where did Obadiah fit and all that stuff. But I can sing the New Testament. So that's one of my many skills. And then I can crack almost every

joint in my body. am a big no, I don't know. You may have been able to hear it during this podcast. I crack my knuckles, my neck, my back, my knees, my toes, elbows, wrists, all of it.

Keith Malinak (34:12.101)

yeah, you can crack your elbows on command

Hillary Kennedy (34:14.574)

I mean they've got to be like, you know, when you first wake up in the morning I pretty much everything but I have a knuckle cracking just obsession and it's not a nervous habit. It's just a habit. Yeah

Keith Malinak (34:25.984)

It just feels good and stuff and then you're like, that was a good one Because if you do the neck and and you get a big crack going you're like, know, yeah thinking yeah has been a while Yeah, I've done that

Hillary Kennedy (34:30.178)

Yes, the neck, yeah.

Hillary Kennedy (34:41.038)

It's like giving your joints a little massage.

Keith Malinak (34:43.757)

That's right, I like it. So they crack, but can they turn and-

Hillary Kennedy (34:47.406)

Double join it. No, I'm not that lucky. Okay, you just crack everything

Keith Malinak (34:50.208)

All right. And so, other than the UFC, like wealth of knowledge, the fountain that you are with that knowledge of the United, of the ultimate fighting championship, what is something that people don't know about you?

Hillary Kennedy (35:05.998)

So I discovered a couple of years ago that I have something called aphantasia and kind of like a side piece to that is SDAM, which is severely deficient autobiographical memory. And I discovered this because my husband and I were talking one night about a math problem. And he said, well, just do the math in your head. And I said, I'm not good at that.

And he said, why not? just picture the numbers in your head and you add it up. And I said, well, you can't actually picture numbers in your head, right? And he said, yes. And he looked at me like I was crazy. And I had always thought when people were saying, picture a sunset or picture whatever in your head, I thought it was a metaphor. I didn't realize that people actually have the ability to visualize pictures in their mind.

So I started doing research on it because I thought, because he said, yeah, I can replay things in my mind like a movie. I was blown away because I had no idea that anyone had the ability to do that. I literally thought that those were all metaphors when people would tell you picture this. And then everything started to make sense. Why I was horrible at math word problems where you had to visualize, know, Tom has five apples and Bill has seven.

I was always horrible at those because I could never visualize someone holding all those apples. So not being able to visualize pictures in your mind affects the way that, not everyone, but affects the way I'm able to remember events in my life. having a severely deficient autobiographical memory means that you don't remember past events well, but you retain information of things that you've learned.

Keith Malinak (36:36.973)

Goodness.

Keith Malinak (36:56.002)

going to ask.

Hillary Kennedy (36:59.787)

So.

Keith Malinak (37:01.304)

So you can learn, but you can't... Okay, earlier you referenced your sister telling on you and stuff like that. Do you remember specific moments when that happened? Or you just know, there's a laundry list of stuff that she did against me.

Hillary Kennedy (37:15.798)

Mainly that. If it's a story that we've told over and over and over, then I'll remember the facts of that situation and I can remember a specific instance. But only if it's something that we've either talked about a lot or I have a photo of or a video of. So I think in facts and words, not in pictures. So I'm more of an audible learner.

But it is crazy because when people ask me about like high school or middle school or college, I think mainly in facts and it's almost as if they happen to someone else because I can't relive them in my mind. So the bonus to all of this is that you don't retain negative memory. Yes, so that's a great thing. If something horrible ever happens or when someone passes away, yes, I will feel

Keith Malinak (38:00.238)

That's what I say, there might be a plus to this.

Hillary Kennedy (38:09.62)

sad and devastated when it happens, but as time goes on, I'm not able to relive what that was like and envision what happened. that pain isn't there the way someone else experiences it. Conversely, if something wonderful happens, I can't relive that moment either. So unless I have photos or video, I will forget the majority of what happened.

Keith Malinak (38:32.462)

Wow, wow. So I won't take this personally, but when you leave this recording today and you go through your day, how long? Five minutes, five days, five weeks. How long till you forget what we talked about here? Like, you be, will you need to know when this gets posted so that you can go back and remember what we discussed?

Hillary Kennedy (38:58.542)

I say probably in a year or two, I wouldn't remember. I mean, like when we talked about, I worked on that other morning show. It's almost as if that never happened because so much time has passed. I've been here for two and a half years. So much time has passed that I have a hard time remembering very specific things about working there without looking at photos or going back to look at emails or talking about stories over and over and over.

Keith Malinak (39:22.018)

And I have a terrible memory. So I can actually identify with that. I don't know that I have some some sort of syndrome or whatever it's called that can be diagnosed. think I just have a bad memory. And that's why my life is nothing but Post-it notes like the movie Memento. I don't know if you know that movie. Yes. Or he has to write everything down because I just have a bad memory. That being said, as ridiculous as this sounds.

I can remember where I was during meaningless Falcons games. know, like, like my daughter asked me to randomly, she asked me who did the Falcons play on this week in 1997 or whatever. And I said, it was, and I'm going to be honest, I didn't have the date seared into my brain, but I knew roughly where it was in the season. I said, I was at Denver Broncos, Dan Reeves, former team. And she looked it up and I was right.

Hillary Kennedy (40:19.022)

Were you able to remember that because you were to visualize kind of where you were in time and what was going on then? Yes.

Keith Malinak (40:25.27)

Yes, I know the setting. I know that I had to listen to that game on the radio in my apartment in Lincoln, Nebraska. And so that helped to

Hillary Kennedy (40:33.411)

That's how most people remember is through being able to visualize where I was, what I was wearing.

Keith Malinak (40:39.01)

In other words, if we went back in time right now through every Super Bowl, I could tell you where I was watching each of those Super Bowls because I can envision the setting, the location, where I was in time, you know? That's something that you cannot do.

Hillary Kennedy (40:52.27)

is amazing.

Absolutely not. Not at all. it I've tried really hard to figure out how to Keep people's memory alive that aren't with me anymore like with my grandparents. I keep my grandfather's cologne in my room I have like my grandmother's some of her makeup that she wore has a certain scent like that helps me remember them because as time goes on and they were people I saw and spoke to almost every day of my life

but you start to forget. And same thing with friends. think my husband thought I was kind of heartless when we first got married because there were people that I had been friends with a long time, but if they moved away and I didn't make an active effort to talk to them regularly, I would really completely forget about our friendship. And not because I wanted to, my brain just doesn't retain that information if I don't see people regularly.

Keith Malinak (41:46.734)

That's fascinating. That really is. Okay. So what is it, if you have a bucket list, what is something that you would want to do in your lifetime that you just want to accomplish with something out there?

Hillary Kennedy (42:03.381)

I would love to climb all of the 14ers in Colorado. They have a group of mountains and they're all over 14,000 feet. would like to... That's... A 14er. They're all over 14,000 feet. So I've climbed two. I would like to climb the rest. My mom's climbed like 30 something. So I've got a lot of catching up to do. I would like to read the Bible from start to finish. So I've started that this year. I read my Bible every night, but I've never read it straight through.

Keith Malinak (42:11.845)

Okay, I wanted to ask you what does that mean?

Keith Malinak (42:22.115)

my goodness!

Hillary Kennedy (42:32.61)

just because there's so many points in the Old Testament where you're like, so and so bigot, so and so big, and you just think, right, exactly. So that's why I haven't done that yet. So that's something I would like to do. She really credible.

Keith Malinak (42:39.01)

Can I skim this?

Keith Malinak (42:43.814)

Yeah, Carrie did that. Start to finish. I think I got to second Kings, but that was, I don't know that it counts either because it was audio book, know, that was an app or And I was just like, I don't know, he's in a cave now. I'm going to check out now. Yeah, yeah. Get me back to the New Testament.

Hillary Kennedy (43:02.648)

falls on.

Hillary Kennedy (43:07.15)

And just raising my child successfully, think that's a good goal. Raising him in one piece. What's one of yours?

Keith Malinak (43:15.084)

my gosh. I want to get to every state. I've been to... I'd have to check account. I'm around 40. Is that... I've really slowed down in recent years. Probably... I don't know. We spent about five days in Idaho once. I love Idaho.

Hillary Kennedy (43:22.456)

Are you really?

Hillary Kennedy (43:26.764)

What's been your favorite?

Hillary Kennedy (43:36.446)

wanted to go Sun Valley and Coeur d'Alene and some of those

Keith Malinak (43:40.204)

See, I need to get up in the end of that panhandle, if you will, up there where Coeur d'Alene is and Moscow, stuff like that, right? But we were in Boise. This is before kids. You can travel a lot more freely before you have kids. It's kind of funny. before kids, purposefully getting bumped off flights going to my stepbrother's wedding in Las Vegas. We were living in Houston and then same thing coming back. We had that luxury. So we ended up with, I think, a thousand dollars to spend with South, with America West.

Hillary Kennedy (43:50.69)

This is true.

Keith Malinak (44:09.046)

It no longer exists because they were giving out vouchers like candy over the course of the next year. So we spent the next year without kids going to using these. My mom lived in Phoenix, so that was helpful. But I always wanted to get to Boise. And so we went up there and spent about five days and just had a blast. And it actually, for a while, became my professional goal to just get a job in Boise, Idaho. But I think Boise is probably on its way to getting ruined the way California is ruined, Colorado, because a lot of people have discovered that, my gosh.

Hillary Kennedy (44:36.576)

Yeah, Idaho is so beautiful. The people are so nice. Everyone I've ever met from Idaho, they're just the nicest people.

Keith Malinak (44:43.18)

Absolutely. That's cool. I do want to I figure it'd probably be easy to because most of the states that I need to get are like above Connecticut. So I want to go up there in the fall, take a train ride. Yes.

Hillary Kennedy (44:54.702)

I just wanted to see like Maine and Maryland.

Keith Malinak (44:57.696)

I think that's a good way to knock out, you know, five states up there. got Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Yeah. So I think that's where the little train ride.

Hillary Kennedy (45:08.092)

that would be cool. Have you been to Alaska? That's on my bucket list. Yeah. Alaska. I would like to go to Switzerland, which is not in the United States, but I would like to go there one day too.

Keith Malinak (45:10.422)

Need to go to Alaska.

Keith Malinak (45:17.422)

Yeah, I think think I think I've just now figured out the states I haven't been to those five Alaska and Montana. I really think that's it. In North Dakota. Yes. So maybe that's it. Yeah. Have been to Hawaii. Yeah, that was fun. I did that. My great you haven't lived until you've taken a cruise around the Hawaiian islands as a seventh grader with your. So anyway, that was fun. It actually it was actually a.

Hillary Kennedy (45:25.688)

So you've been to Hawaii.

Hillary Kennedy (45:41.112)

Yeah.

Keith Malinak (45:45.594)

Wonderful trip because I just hung out with these other kids and stuff that I'd met on the cruise. So that's cool Yeah, New Mexico is an awesome state Yeah, it's very underrated. But anyhow

Hillary Kennedy (45:57.218)

I agree. Santa Fe is so much fun. There's a bunch of little small towns in New Mexico that are a ton of fun.

Keith Malinak (46:02.114)

This house is a very strange community, however.

Hillary Kennedy (46:05.324)

Really, what happened to you in Taos?

Keith Malinak (46:07.23)

Carrie and I went there and just I mean it is it is hippie central all Over the place. There are people that haven't bathed in months there. It's beautiful Beautiful it's just a strange place. Let's put it that way. This is great I appreciate you Hillary Kennedy for spending time today, and I hope you can remember this

Hillary Kennedy (46:11.098)

really?

Hillary Kennedy (46:28.206)

But yeah, the odds are that I probably won't in a couple of years, but for the next six months, this will be one of my fondest memories. Thank you.

Keith Malinak (46:36.098)

Okay, thanks so much. Enjoy the rest of your day. You too. This has been At The Mic with Keith, an independent podcast production. Look for At The Mic Show on Twitter to connect.