367: Danny Peña - 20 Years of Gamertag Radio: Inspiring Journey

Danny Peña 00:00:00:

Fast forward two months later, Steve Jobs was on stage and he was like, oh, yeah, we have this new thing called podcast. We're adding it to the itunes store. I'm like, what? This is a game changer, yo. The numbers just went. It just went up.

Harry Duran 00:00:13:

Danny Pena, thanks so much for coming back. We're just going to freestyle here because it's all good.

Danny Peña 00:00:18:

I don't have no idea what you're going to ask, but let's do it.

Harry Duran 00:00:20:

It's round three, and I think what's awesome is you've always been such a giving person. And I think when we first had the idea of having an interview on Gamertag, you're like, oh, you should come and do it in the studio. And I was like, oh, I never even thought about that. And so, like, I went in LA and I was like, there in the studio and I was like, oh, this is like a great experience. So you've always been like, giving in that way. And so I just want to just like publicly acknowledge and thank you for, like, that's your nature, man. That's how you are. And so I really appreciate you.

Danny Peña 00:00:51:

Thank you, man. Yeah, the reason I wanted to do that one is we had access to the studio because at that time we were signed with cbs. We were part of their podcast network, played out it at that time. So what I was doing that whole week, I will invite also other content creators or media to come to the studio for them. Just experience that, because some of them never experienced that before. They usually will do everything from home. And with you, I was like, man, I want this to come out. The quality come out amazing. We have somebody that's going to handle, you know, the audio engineer and all that stuff. We don't have to worry about that. Just come and talk. That's all we have to do. And yeah, and it came out great. That was a really great, great moment. I remember. And recipes to Neogre. He was there, he recorded a couple of things for the Messengers documentary. Yeah. And yeah, that was. Honestly, that was like one of my highlights, doing that from my career. That was so cool to invite people and for them to experience that with us.

Harry Duran 00:01:50:

Yeah, you mentioned Neo. So we're recording this in March 2025, and someone who's been like a big name in the podcasting space, Neil Galarte, passed away suddenly, you know, a couple weeks ago now. And I think it shocked everyone because I literally had just seen him at podfest. You know, he's dj, but he's also like the video guy. He's basically Chris's right hand, Chris Komitzo's right hand man at podfest. And I think that was a wake up call and a shock to everyone that's the indie podcaster community to see that. So, you know, our, you know, my condolences to his family. And you were mentioning that when you heard the news, it was like a shock to you as well.

Danny Peña 00:02:23:

Yeah, it was a shock to me. You know, Neo actually hit me up. I think it was sometime December or January, I can't quite remember because I usually will hit him up or hit up a couple other people to help me to do like a quick intro or something, you know, so. And also when I used to work at G4, my wife and I, we used to work there together. And Neil also helped us with a couple projects or two. So I always, I love Neo because he was always person that will support me. Support gtr. I remember one of the last videos I saw on Instagram, actually. One of my cousins actually saw it and he sent me the video. It was Neil wearing our hoodie that says give it tag Radio. I was like, oh, man. Yeah. I was like, yeah, that's my homie, that's my boy. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, when I heard the news, man, it really broke my heart, man, because super talented, like he great human being always is down to help out, you know, always making moves behind the scenes, you know. And like you said, he also helped out Chris with Pod Fest too. I remember going to my first podfest. This was in Tampa and it was like near the strip clubs around that area. Yeah, I remember going there, man. And yo, Neo was always cool, man, like always supporting and everything, man. Actually, I remember Neil was going through some stuff, editing, yeah, the Messengers. And I was the one always hitting him up late night, like, hey, Neil, any updates? How's the footage? How's everything? And you know, not gonna say much, but he was struggling. So what I decided one day I rented out a car from Miami and I drove all the way to Tampa just to talk to Neil, talked to Chris and be like, look, this documentary is going to be worth it. Yeah, let's still work on this. You never know what's going to happen.

Harry Duran 00:04:11:

Sure.

Danny Peña 00:04:12:

And the product came out great. You know, we actually did a screening in New York with cbs and yeah, it was us three on stage. It was Naomi and Chris, man, that was like so dope. Really, really dope moment, man.

Harry Duran 00:04:23:

I even got a cameo in it because I think the timing. I was at a Pod Fest for as it was Finishing up. And Neil, it just, you know, again, speaks to his heart. He's like, hey, let's get you in there, man. He's, we'll get you in there, don't worry. We're like, record something. And, yeah, just like, he got me in there, got me beyond in front of the green screen and interviewed me. But he was always, like, giving. And it's like, you know, when you recognize people and you can tell, like, they don't have any ulterior motive, like, they're not trying to get something. They just sincerely, like, want to help you. And that's like, the vibe that I always got, you know, from the few interactions I've had with him. Just, like, open heart.

Danny Peña 00:04:56:

Yeah, yeah, he's cool, man. Homie. He actually helped me with the documentary that I worked on for Gamer Attack radio. It was 90, I think 85% of it was unreleased footage from the Messengers. So I told him, hey, can I have it? He sent it to me. He sent me all the audio, everything, and I worked on. And he actually helped me with the intro and the outro for the documentary. And I remember the first person that I showed the documentary was him, because I was like, look, I need your feedback. If it sucks, let me know, because I also use phone footage. I've used all kinds of stuff to do this. And he's like, yo, this came out. This is actually pretty dope. I'm like, thanks, man. And I submitted to film festivals and got awards and everything, you know, But I remember first person like, yo, I need to get feedback from Neil. And he was the one that told me that was good.

Harry Duran 00:05:47:

Didn't you edit that completely on Imovie?

Danny Peña 00:05:49:

Yeah, I did that on purpose. On purpose. I did it on Imovie because I wanted to show people, like, it's not. And look, of course it's better to get better software that's going to be easier for you to edit, you know, But I wanted to prove a point where I use that software, a free software that anybody could use, because I just want to show people, like, it's not about the expensive equipment. It's not about the software. It's about the content. It's about the story.

Harry Duran 00:06:14:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:06:15:

You know, and that's what I did. It took me a very, very long time, I can imagine, to work on it. But, yeah, I was happy with it, man. You know, and, you know, I'm walking at red carpets at film festivals, you know, taking my mom, I see the news there. Local news or Telemundo, Univision There right at these events. And nobody, they thought it was just, you know, professional editor. I'm like, oh man, if they only knew. It was only at my movie, you know. But nobody found out. It was cool.

Harry Duran 00:06:42:

Congrats on you. Because I tried imovie a couple times. I just couldn't wrap my head around like the how it edits. And I was just like, you know what, maybe I'm just never meant to edit video. So now. But thankfully now there's tools like Descript, which is actually owns the platform we're using now, Squadcast. But they. I don't know if you've played with it, but essentially you upload the video and then it transcribes it and then you edit text in the transcription and then it edits the video.

Danny Peña 00:07:06:

Oh, we didn't have that back then. Yeah, we didn't have that back then. I had to like in real time do it. You know, even back in those. Back in the early days of podcasting. Like, I remember I had to customize my RSS feed at that time because there was no automatic thing back then. It was like straight up me, I copy and paste, edit, like the timing and the dates, everything on my own. And yeah. And then I remember seeing the first time on lips and like, oh no, you have to do it anymore. I'm like, oh, thank God. That was like a mission every time. Uploading a new episode, man. You know? Yeah, yeah.

Harry Duran 00:07:37:

We got so much to catch up on because I was looking at the back episodes. We had a couple chats. We had were like 2016.

Danny Peña 00:07:43:

I was like, oh my God, it's been that long. Wow. I. Woo. Well, I think that that's how we spoke. Was it E3? Was it E3 to 2016 where it was me in Paris? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Harry Duran 00:07:56:

It was in the studio with the crew.

Danny Peña 00:07:57:

Yeah, we're still doing Gamer Tag Radio, still going strong. First podcast to reach 1000 episodes. Gaming podcast reach 1000 episodes. We just turned 20 years old a couple weeks ago. Damn, that's.

Harry Duran 00:08:10:

Congrats, man. So what, 20 years ago? What did that look like? So that's 2005.

Danny Peña 00:08:17:

So original Xbox was still around. GameCube was there, around. There was no Xbox 360. They just announced it maybe later that year. Here's the funny part about 05, there was no itunes, no. For podcasting, there was no Spotify, no cell phones, no smartphones, all that. So what I had to do, you know, I will go to like the local stores in Miami, pass out flyers, tell people hey, listen to my show. I have a radio show. If I mentioned podcasts, then they were like, oh, so I need an ipod. I'm like, it was like. It was so confused. Now everybody knows what podcast is. But at that time, it was really, really hard. And I remember going to E3, pass out, you know, media kits to all the gaming companies, and they ignored me. They were like, this is a waste of time. And that was very discouraging because I only had, like, $20 with me going to the IE3. And fast forward, two months later, Steve Jobs was on stage, and he was like, oh, yeah, we have this new thing called podcast. We're adding it to the itunes store. I'm like, what? This is a game changer, yo. The numbers just went. It just went up. And that was 2005, man. People still was learning about podcasts. It was, like, so new at that time, man.

Harry Duran 00:09:33:

You even shared a story about, like, you playing a game with Bill Gates.

Danny Peña 00:09:39:

Oh, yeah. In 2001. Yeah, yeah. Because I was. I had an Internet radio show at that time, too. And. And I went to both events. I went to the Xbox event in New York. This is, like, two months, right after 9, 11. So there was not a lot of things happening at that time around there.

Harry Duran 00:09:56:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Danny Peña 00:09:57:

So Xbox was in town. They showed the original Xbox. I got to play early, recorded a bunch of content from there, and then I got invited to go to the. To Times Square. Toys R Us doesn't exist anymore, but I was there. And, yeah, they told me, oh, Danny, we want you to play games with Bill Gates. I was like, wait, what? And here's another story that a lot of people don't know this, but I had my tape recorder with me.

Harry Duran 00:10:20:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:10:20:

And, yeah, I got to play with Bill. And then he was doing, like, interviews, quick interviews with a bunch of media folks there. Right. So I took out my tape recorder, and I'm like, there's. I also asked a question, and somebody from pr. Look, I was just learning at that time, like, it was like the wild, wild west back in those days, man. So. So, yeah, I was recording and asked Bill a question. He was answering a couple questions, I can remember. And then they saw me from the PR team and they came. They took the tape away. I'm like, oh, man. But. And I had so much stuff recorded there because I was also outside recording with people that was in line.

Harry Duran 00:10:59:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:11:00: Waiting for the.

Harry Duran 00:11:01: So they took the tape. They didn't even edit out that piece. They just.

Danny Peña 00:11:03:

They never. They never gave me the tape. They took the tape away from me. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:11:06:

Oh, damn.

Danny Peña 00:11:07:

Lost it.

Harry Duran 00:11:07:

That sucks. Yeah. So, like, it. Do you have time? Like, we're gonna get into everything you've been up to lately. But, like, when you look back, you know, sometimes I always say it's hard to, like, measure progress. If you're just looking back, like yesterday or last week, you're like, you know, you're still in the grind. But then if you, like, pause and look back, like five years, 10 years, your case, like, you know, 20 years, like, you know, do you have moments where you're able to, like, sit with it and just kind of see how far you've come?

Danny Peña 00:11:34:

Oh, yeah. Every day. Every day. Every day I do that because it helps me to get motivated and to do the next big thing. So I'm always thinking about those days. Like, okay, how was it? I also will go back and listen to, like, my old episodes, too.

Harry Duran 00:11:50:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:11:51:

Just to see how far we've come. Like, when it comes to, like, editing the sound quality, the way how we talk, the interviews, how was it? And also remind myself at that time, like, how was the reaction of the audience hearing about whatever interview we had at that time, you know, that type of thing? So, yeah, I do it all the time. It helps me to motivate myself, man, to get even, you know, because here's the thing, a lot of people will get burned out.

Harry Duran 00:12:16:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:12:17:

And they would just stop. But for me doing that, it motivates me to, like, all right, let's do it. Let's keep on, you know, so, like, I'm still having fun recording, still having a blast. Traveling, you know, helped me to network. And I worked with so many companies now from the gaming side and also from the entertainment side, you know, so, like, I had a movie actors on our show that were part in gaming.

Harry Duran 00:12:40:

Oh, yeah? Yes. Right.

Danny Peña 00:12:41:

Yeah. I travel a lot. I actually, I'm going to be traveling a lot more next month. It's like a lot of. Because right now, spring usually, it's like a lot of games comes out. So, yeah, companies will either come here to LA to sort of like the product, or they'll have it in in other cities. And I would just go, because they invite me, you know, and sit down, I'll do interviews, talk about the product and the game, you know, how's that.

Harry Duran 00:13:06:

Relationship with, you know, your crew, like Peter and Paris? I mean, you're like family. It's like you've grown so much together, you know? How's that? Are you just like a tight bond now? You can, like, almost like, read each other's minds.

Danny Peña 00:13:19:

I mean, we talk every day. Yeah. When? For our wedding. I invited them to come. Paris couldn't come. I can't remember where. It was like an emergency. But Pete, he moved from Miami to Switzerland, so he flew from Europe to go to the wedding we had in Vegas. And, yeah, he came. Like, we still talk every day.

Harry Duran 00:13:37:

That's awesome.

Danny Peña 00:13:38:

You know, and, like, sometimes there might be a week that I can't record because I have to have other stuff going on. And they will be there too, like the first ones to record and help out, you know. So, yeah, we still in touch, still doing our thing.

Harry Duran 00:13:50:

And so what is that just something you just figure you'll just keep on doing as long as you can?

Danny Peña 00:13:55:

You know what? I don't know, because for me is one when I'm like, all right, I think it's time, or I'm bored. Like, I'm just not having fun with recording. But look, just right now, right after this, right before this recording, I just did an interview with Peter Moore. He used to be the head of Xbox, president of SEGA of America when the SEGA Dreamcast came out. He also was the president of Liverpool, the soccer team, you know, because he left gaming. So, like, we're good friends, you know, I usually will hit him up once in a while, like, hey, so this year is the 20th anniversary of the Xbox 360. So he was around. He was the head of Xbox at that time. So I was like, hey, look, can you come to the show? So it was Paris and I, we recorded the interview. Yeah. And it was good.

Harry Duran 00:14:43:

That's fun.

Danny Peña 00:14:44:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:14:45:

Do you see it? That's somehow you, like, hand over the reins to, like, someone else and just, like, maybe transition over to new hosts or you think it. When it's run its course, you'll just, like, shut it down and retire it?

Danny Peña 00:14:55:

Nah, I think us, we like to do it. Just us. I don't see myself, like, passing this, like, to somebody else. The latest edition that I have on our podcast as a host is my wife, Rihanna, because she's also a content creator. She was previously had another podcast, but they stopped doing it. And I was like, no, you're too talented. You gotta, you know, gotta do this, you know, so she helps out. She. It's hard for us, to all of us to be on the show because when I record, you know, she stays with our daughter. Baby. Daughter, sure.

Harry Duran 00:15:26:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:15:27:

While we'll. When I'm recording and stuff, you know, so. But usually when we have Our daughter at daycare. Like, we'll record some stuff together. We'll play games and review games all the time.

Harry Duran 00:15:38:

Yeah. So it's so funny because, you know, we connected and we had you on a show and then we just always kind of stayed in touch and just watching your journey online, it's like, oh, just we're getting married. Oh. Like, we're moving out of Miami. We're going to New York, you know. Oh, we're going to Dominican Republic. Now you're in la. So, like, talk a little bit about your journey, like, personally, like, what's been happening in your life and like, maybe starting with, like, how you guys met and you got a kid now too.

Danny Peña 00:16:03:

Yeah, that was crazy. Interesting. So let me go back. I think before I have. I was in a previous relationship and, you know, we were together for a long time. It just didn't work out towards the end. That was in 2018. The end of 2017 to being a 2018 around there. Actually, I think it was the end of 2018. I lost count, but whatever. So. So, yeah, like, it was very hard for me. I remember I stopped recording for like a month, but the guys peeing Paris was still recording.

Harry Duran 00:16:34: Yeah. Podcast.

Danny Peña 00:16:35: I was just going through some really, really dark times in my life. And what I was thinking at the time, I was like, I think I should just get out of Miami. There's no future for me here. Like, I don't know why I'm here. The only reason is my family. But I'm like, I need to make a change to just get out of that environment, you know, so. And I still go to Miami, visit, you know, here and there, the visit family. But I will never move back. That's 100. Sure. So I moved from Miami to New York. And the reason why, at that time I was talking to a company and I got a job to. I was going to work in Sweden, actually.

Harry Duran 00:17:11:

Oh.

Danny Peña 00:17:11:

For a gaming company. And they told me, danny, if you get this job, you can't do the podcast anymore. I'm like, oh, my God, that sucks. You know, So I was really mentally ready. Like, you know what? I'm gonna start a new life.

Harry Duran 00:17:24:

Sure.

Danny Peña 00:17:24:

My own thing. And then.

Harry Duran 00:17:26:

So you're ready to move to Sweden?

Danny Peña 00:17:28:

Yeah, they actually flew me out for an interview and everything. And I got to meet the team. They invited me to a company party. I was the only person, not as an employee, just there at the party, you know.

Harry Duran 00:17:38:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:17:39:

That was a lot of fun. I got to visit Malmo in Sweden.

Harry Duran 00:17:42:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:17:43:

That was a lot of fun. And then so, yeah, I was ready, went to New York. I sold all my stuff that I had, like, I had gaming collections. I'm like, you know, I gave it away or sold it. I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna take this to Sweden, you know. So, yeah, so I went to New York. I was there for a while. I started doing like.

Harry Duran 00:18:03:

So you were prepping in New York, you were getting ready?

Danny Peña 00:18:05:

Yeah, I was going to be there for like a month. I was like, I'm here for a month, I'm out. Where in New York were you in Manhattan? Uptown.

Harry Duran 00:18:10:

Uptown?

Danny Peña 00:18:11:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:18:11:

Like Spanish Harlem.

Danny Peña 00:18:13:

My mom lives in Spanish Harlem, but I'm more of 207 Broadway. Okay. Really uptown, you know, Inwood area.

Harry Duran 00:18:20:

Inward. I know, inward.

Danny Peña 00:18:21:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:18:21:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:18:22:

So yeah, so I was there for a month and I was still doing like side stuff, you know, doing like interviews and, you know.

Harry Duran 00:18:30:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:18:30: But then, then I get an email saying, oh, we're not doing this anymore. We actually cut that position. I'm like, great, I'm in New York. You know, this wasn't planned, like, I wasn't planning to stay here, so. So I stayed with my mom for like almost a year.

Harry Duran 00:18:48:

You had previous relationship with New York, right? Or were you always in Miami?

Danny Peña 00:18:52:

Born and raised in New York.

Harry Duran 00:18:53:

You were? Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Danny Peña 00:18:54:

From New York to Miami and then Miami to New York. Yeah. I also lived in Dr. For like 4 years or so when I was a kid. But yeah, so that sucked. So then I was like, well, I gotta figure out what to do now, you know. So I started getting involved into the gaming community in New York and started meeting new people there. I started hosting events and also I was in part of the Cheddar esports gaming show that I had on tv. So I was also a part time host there. So I was doing that, you know, getting paid. I'm like, all right, at least I'm getting something right. And then a pandemic happened and that, that sucked because there was nothing going on. I was stuck in the apartment. It sucked really, really bad. So I was doing just recording podcasts with Paris and Pete. Everybody was at home, you know. So then it's a crazy.

Harry Duran 00:19:45:

If you think about that, like when you look back, like in the moment, you're like, wow, this is like, like a crazy time. And then you look back, you know, we're 9, 20, 25 now. So I was like, it seems like so surreal, like all the stuff we went through, I was here. I had just Moved to Minneapolis. And I was like, oh, I'm in this great apartment. It's on, like, street level, and it's like, I can go around and walk to shops. It was like an Apple Store. It was a pizza shop. And I was like, this is amazing. It lasted for six months. And then.

Danny Peña 00:20:12:

And then that happened. Yeah, actually right before the pandemic. And this is a sign. I'm like, yo, something is weird is happening. And so I was watching the news. I remember hearing, oh, Seattle one case. Or something like that. Then right before I went to PodFest, because I actually went there, you know, Neo invited me to speak.

Harry Duran 00:20:30:

I think we might have been there then, because that was the last event, like, we were at.

Danny Peña 00:20:34:

Yeah. Because that event he had. They had, like, different conferences within part of PodFest. So his was Cinema Voice, so.

Harry Duran 00:20:44: That's right.

Danny Peña 00:20:44: I went there to speak. That was amazing. You know, they pulled me out and everything. But I remember taking the plane. I was like, this is odd. Like, people are with mask and they're, you know, cleaning up their seats and windows. Like, I've never seen this before, you know? So while I was at Pod Fest and I noticed, big concert cancel. Big event Castle. I was like, oh, man, this is not good.

Harry Duran 00:21:07:

South by southwest.

Danny Peña 00:21:08:

I'm hearing PlayStation cancel to attend an event in Boston. I'm like, yo, what the. So then I flew back to New York, and that's like. I think a couple days later, that's when they shut down. The city shut down, and I was just stuck there. And then I remember at that time, I was protesting for. For Black Lives Matter. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:21:28:

Because that, like, Covid was, like, around for a couple. A month or two, and then it's like, literally, like, where I'm at in Minneapolis is where it started. Right. So it was like, you know, it was crazy how things were, like, changing so fast.

Danny Peña 00:21:41:

Yeah. So I was in New York for that, and I was protesting almost every day in the city. It was so packed with people. So then Rihanna, my wife, she hit me up. It's like, hey, we should stay in touch, you know, because we have a lot of mutual friends. And I remember one time I got a cold for a game, and she also got the game, too. And she's like, hey, can we play? I'm like, yeah, yeah. But I was still not really talking a lot with people online like that, so.

Harry Duran 00:22:11:

Yeah, yeah.

Danny Peña 00:22:12:

I was, like, focusing on the show, busy and also protesting. I was, like, doing a lot at that time. So then it took me, like, maybe, like, two weeks and Then we started talking and we started playing games.

Harry Duran 00:22:23:

And this is like on Twitch.

Danny Peña 00:22:25:

No, no, it was like Xbox Live. We just play online.

Harry Duran 00:22:28:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:22:29:

Yeah. And then I think at that time we played it for like two, three minutes. We didn't like the game. We're like, oh, let's play something else. And we played Apex Legends. That's the game they were playing. Then my brother joined in and we were playing all the time. So then we got really close and she decided to visit me in New York. This was in September.

Harry Duran 00:22:51:

Where was she living at the time?

Danny Peña 00:22:53:

In Seattle. She was working at Xbox at that time. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:22:55:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:22:56:

And yeah, we got together. The vibe was good. Like, it just went well. And yeah, she was telling me, oh, yeah, I got a job at G4 in LA. I have to move from Seattle. This and this and that. She also was in the previous relationship, so she was going through some stuff too.

Harry Duran 00:23:12:

Sure.

Danny Peña 00:23:13:

And I told her, hey, I could help you. I could move you out, help you drive from LA to. I mean, from Seattle to la.

Harry Duran 00:23:20:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:23:20:

And she's like, oh, my God, for real? I go, yeah, yeah, let's talk. So then I told my mom that. And my mom, I remember that she was cooking and she was like, yeah, I think you're not coming back. I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, yeah, I don't see you coming back. And she's there cooking, just like that, looking down. And I'm like, mom's nose. Yeah, mom always knows, right? So I thought about it for like 24 hours. And I mentioned to Rihanna, she's like, oh, my God. I was thinking the same thing, but we. I didn't want to say anything, you know, I was just. So then we decided.

Harry Duran 00:23:54:

But clearly there was an attraction there. Oh, yeah, you're just friends. I mean, no, no, we were like.

Danny Peña 00:23:58:

Dating, but it wasn't. Yeah, like, oh, long. This is how we're going to do this, you know? But yeah, but then, yeah, I told her, I'll do it. And ever since then he said, come back.

Harry Duran 00:24:09:

Your mom was right.

Danny Peña 00:24:10:

I see. My mom was right. So I moved to la and I've been ever since. We actually rented an apartment in 2020. We were there for like a year and a half. And then one day, Cuz look, I'm still making money because of the content creation, speak engagements, all that stuff. And then one day I was talking to me, I'm like. And we were laying bed and I was like, yo, imagine we bought a house in la. She's like, yo, imagine. And we're like, yo, we should try. Let's see what happens. Let's see. And we bought a House in 2022. So we got married a month after we got the house.

Harry Duran 00:24:45:

Where? In L. A.

Danny Peña 00:24:47:

In Van Nuys.

Harry Duran 00:24:48:

Van Nuys, Okay. Yeah, I lived. I was in Silver Lake for four years.

Danny Peña 00:24:51:

Oh, okay. It's part of, you know, part of the valley.

Harry Duran 00:24:53:

Valley, yeah, yeah. Burbank and other places, but things move pretty quick there.

Danny Peña 00:24:59:

Oh, no, we moved. We moved super quick, man. Like, it was like we got together, we moved. I proposed her a year after that, and then we got married a year after that. But we also bought a house. Like, we were planning the wedding and actually talking to the realtor to buy a house. So we did that at the same time. Yo, it was not a great idea. That was so super stressful. And then after that, we have a baby daughter now. So it's been like. It's been like every year something else, you know?

Harry Duran 00:25:27:

How old is your daughter now?

Danny Peña 00:25:29:

15 months. She's actually gonna turn 16 months next week.

Harry Duran 00:25:33:

What's that been like, that shift? I mean, that's crazy to be a first time dad.

Danny Peña 00:25:37:

Oh, man, it's like the greatest. Oh, my God. The greatest feeling in the world, man. You know, I remember we were driving to my cousin's wedding, and she lives in Arizona. Phoenix. Arizona.

Harry Duran 00:25:51:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:25:52:

So I was driving and randomly. Rihanna was like, yeah, you know what? I think I'm not gonna drink. I'm gonna, like, chill. I don't feel like drinking a lot. Like, really? She's like, yeah, I don't know. We'll see. Maybe a sip. I don't know. We'll see. I'm like, all right. So we get there, she only had like one glass of. Not even the whole glass of wine. Yeah, it was like, you know, and she's like, yeah, I'm not in the mood to drink. I was like, all right. So we did our thing, you know, we dance, all that stuff. Right?

Harry Duran 00:26:19:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:26:19:

Get back home. And I remember waking up late because I slept late playing a game. I can't remember exactly what game it was.

Harry Duran 00:26:26:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:26:27:

So I slept a little later. I usually wake up really early, but that day it was like, later. So first thing I did, she was downstairs working. We work remote. So I'm looking at my phone and it said, I think I'm pregnant. I'm like, wait, what? I was like, wait, what? So we were there and I was like, I just woke up. So it was like a lot information, right? So she took a test, it said it was positive. And I'm like, hold on, let's wait a couple more days, but let's get a different brand. Just.

Harry Duran 00:26:59:

Of course, of course. You have to.

Danny Peña 00:27:00:

Yeah. So I told her, like, if it's positive again, we're gonna tell our parents. Like, we gotta tell mom. Our. At least our moms. Not everybody, just our moms. She's like, okay. Took the test, positive again. And then I was like, hold on, let's take one more test. An official test. Yeah, Monday, later that week. And that would be like the official doctor everything, you know, but we told our moms that day on. On a Friday. And I remember we showed the picture to her mom, and her mom was like, oh, no, you guys got coveted. I'm like, no, no, it's not Covid. Look at this image. And. And yeah, she started crying. She's like, oh, did she realize what it was? My mom, I called her. She was actually walking in the city. I think it was somewhere in uptown. Yeah, she was walking and I showed that picture and she started crying like, oh, my God. Yeah, yeah.

Harry Duran 00:27:51:

So she's like, I told you you weren't coming back.

Danny Peña 00:27:53:

Yeah. So then fast forward, and it's a long story, but fast forward. Every Wednesday night, we'll watch videos, Re and I on YouTube of, like, week 10. This is happening. Like week 11, like, every Wednesday night, we watch different videos just to learn more about pregnancy. Because it's our first time and everything, you know, but we will always sing to our baby and talk to our baby, like, all the time. All the time. So then when baby was born and you know, we did like, the first time, you know, body to body. First time, right.

Harry Duran 00:28:24:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:28:25:

She looked at re because babies, when they were born, they can't see know, of course, but she could hear us. And she was just looking up like she could hear re. And then she did the same exact thing when I was holding her. She was looking up.

Harry Duran 00:28:39:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:28:40:

And there's a picture of her just staring at me when I'm there, like, talking and stuff. So it was. Yo, man, that was like the best moment of my life, man. Best moment.

Harry Duran 00:28:48:

Did you ever think it, you'd be a dad or something? You ever planned or thought.

Danny Peña 00:28:51:

I always wanted kids. Always, Always. Since I was. Oh, my God, like in my 20s. I just love kids, man. Love kids. I have a big, big family from both sides. My mom and my dad.

Harry Duran 00:29:02:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:29:02:

Yeah. So, yeah, I have a lot of nephew. Nieces, you know, so my dad, I think my daughter is he is 8th or 9th grandkid now.

Harry Duran 00:29:12:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Danny Peña 00:29:13:

So you have a big family.

Harry Duran 00:29:14:

That's cool.

Danny Peña 00:29:15: Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:29:15:

Well, congrats again, man. That's a special moment and I love that story. Especially, like, the way you guys got connected. I just kind of would watch things or see you post stuff online. I'm like, oh, man, this is so nice to watch. And just to hear. The backstory is really fun.

Danny Peña 00:29:28:

It moves fast. I know when you see my stuff, like, really? Wow, you're everywhere.

Harry Duran 00:29:33: Yeah. Wait, what? He moved? Wait, what? He's married? Wait, what? He lives in la. Wait, what? He's a child now? Like, Yep. But it's crazy, but life moves fast sometimes, man. And, you know, you think about podcasting, like, I've been, like I said, started in 2014. It's like 11 years already. And I'm just like, damn it. Start to feel like an old timer in the podcasting game.

Danny Peña 00:29:54:

Yeah, man. I'll imagine me 20 plus. I'm like, yeah, yeah.

Harry Duran 00:29:58:

So talk a little bit about, like, the changes that have happened for you in your career because, you know, podcasting opened up so many doors for you and you went through some tough phases. I remember even when we talked last time, like, you had. You were doing this on the side and you had a job, and then you lost that job. And you even mentioned what happened recently. And so it's always been, you know, something that you always had podcasting carrying you through this journey. But then, you know, you always got to put food on the table, so you want to figure out what else you got working on. And it seems like you've got some things that have been lining up for you lately. I've seen you, like, doing some interviews with some famous folks too. So talk a little bit about what that journey's been like.

Danny Peña 00:30:34:

Yeah. Two things. Podcasting, to me, when I started, I wasn't thinking about business. It was just like, I just want to talk to my community. This is cool. Nobody's doing this. You know, it's like, I wasn't really thinking about that. I wasn't looking at numbers, you know, I was just like, whatever. Fast forward. Podcasting has changed so much where it's not how it used to be when it comes to, like, making money. I think to me, podcasts nowadays, for me is a tool to promote my talent, to promote the. And also to help me network with gaming companies.

Harry Duran 00:31:08:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:31:09:

Or any other company helps me to do that. Plus it helps me to get opportunities for, like, speak engagements, all that stuff. Right. So at that There was a time that was making a lot of money with podcasting. When we did the deal with cbs, man, we were getting paid like that was like a pretty good gig.

Harry Duran 00:31:25:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:31:26:

And but here's the thing. When there's like barely any advertisement, then what? You know, like I'm talking about like more like libraries. Right. Like right now we have pre recorded stuff. The automatic automatically will pop up, but the money is not really there. Like it's. It's there, it's cool, but it's not my main income.

Harry Duran 00:31:45:

Sure, sure.

Danny Peña 00:31:46:

So, you know, I decided because I was doing a lot of side gigs and video content and a bunch of other stuff, I was getting all that money on myself. And then at the end of the year I look at the taxes, I'm like, holy crap, that's a lot of tax I gotta pay. Because, you know, because it's. Oh my God. I was just like doing everything on my own, man. You know, so like my wife and I, we were just thinking like, I think we should just start our own company. Why not do a consulting company.

Harry Duran 00:32:18:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:32:18:

For gaming company, you know, work with gaming companies or there's a entertainment company that would like to get involved into gaming. Like we have the contacts, we have, you know, the skills and all that. And yeah, we decided to do like a year ago, we launched, it's called DNR Media Consultant and it's been a huge success. Like this is like our full time gig. We work from anywhere, the majority of here from home. But yeah, like we have multiple clients. Actually we had a goal to reach that number by the end of the year. We did it like half the year, you know, so like.

Harry Duran 00:32:54:

Nice.

Danny Peña 00:32:54:

Yeah, it's been great. It's been great. Still going at it. This is going to be our second year and we usually. So what we do is either get feedback to companies like when they have like a product of a game, or I help them to get the word out either through media, but not traditional media. Because when, when people hear that, they're like, oh, so you mean like a.

Harry Duran 00:33:18:

PR company or something?

Danny Peña 00:33:19:

Yeah, they're like, oh, we'll do a press release. It will be an ign like no. Yeah, but that's not. We don't do that. I don't write press releases. It's more of like I have contacts with not traditional outlets. So like for say for example, how can we get them to be on Telemundo or Univision or get help them to be on Rolling Stone, you know, because we also want to get like personally for Me, I always like to get an audience that doesn't know anything about gaming, but I want them the to get into gaming because that helps the industry grow overall. Same thing with podcasts. Like I always been that way, so that's what I do. So what my wife, she's been doing and she also used to work at Xbox before is branding and marketing. So she's really good at helping the company, you know, brand when it comes to like branding logos, how to market and all that. So we do that and we do other things too. But it depends what the, like the client needs, like what type of stuff they need for us to help them out with, you know. So it's been going well for us, it's been growing great.

Harry Duran 00:34:26:

What's like the, what are the innovations that are happening like in the gaming industry? Like, I mean it's changed. I mean if you think about gaming, I don't know how far, I don't know what you consider like the first days of gaming, but for me it's probably like Atari 2600.

Danny Peña 00:34:41:

Oh, that was, that was my first gaming gaming console. Well now here's the thing. Now it's getting to the point where look, every industry is hurting right now. Every industry, movies, gaming. You know, we've been hearing about layoffs and everything, right?

Harry Duran 00:34:56:

Yeah, yeah.

Danny Peña 00:34:56:

So a lot of tech companies also were involved with this where in 2020 so many jobs got created because there was a lot of people spending a lot of money like streaming services, buying games or buying tech, everything. Right. Because people were just homebored. Right?

Harry Duran 00:35:12:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:35:13:

But now that people start going out and doing things, there's less of that. And I felt like a lot of companies, especially in tech, they over hire way too many people and I feel like they don't need those positions anymore. And there's also other reasons too. That's not the main reason, but there's been a lot of layoffs. So companies from the gaming side been experimenting like okay, exclusives games is not going to work how it used to be. So like for Xbox for example, now they have this thing called Xbox anywhere where now they have a game, let's say Forza, now they have Forza racing game on PC. They probably will release it on Nintendo Switch, on PlayStation, on Everywhere. But no matter what device you play, even on their phone or through your TV to the cloud, without having a console, you can still play as long you have like a Bluetooth controller, just connect to the TV and play. That's the new thing now because they want to open up and get a bigger audience, not just like, focus on the console. That's it. So, sure, PlayStation's been doing that too. Like where they release a game and a year later they have it, they release on PC. It wasn't like that before. Nintendo is the only one that's like, now we'll keep it the same and that's it. Because they're very old school, you know, when it comes to that. They probably experiment in mobile, but that's about it, you know. So I think that everybody's trying to figure out how to grow the audience right now.

Harry Duran 00:36:42:

Yeah, what about VR? Is that like VR is still there?

Danny Peña 00:36:46:

It's still there, but it's not like, oh my God, it's sounding like crazy. It's not. The numbers are not up there, you know, like, it sells like this, this a crowd for that. But it's not like, it's not like mobile. It's not like consoles, not like that at all.

Harry Duran 00:36:59:

And you see like every generation that comes in because obviously, you know what happens with gaming, right? Unless you're in the industry, like, you are, most people will go through a phase where, like, in their 20s, 30s, they're playing games and they get married and it's like they have kids and family and like, that's all gone, you know, Is that wave pretty consistent? Like, you just keep seeing like a new generation and I'm wondering how, like a younger generation, whatever the new ones are called, I can't even keep up Y, Z or something like that. But, like, are they still into games as much or is it all just like. You know, you see so many kids now, they're just focused on their iPhones and that's all. They can't get away from that, honestly.

Danny Peña 00:37:32:

Well, the younger generation, they don't really care about the platform. They just want to play games where their friends are at or. Because right now a lot of companies also added crossplay. So let's say we're playing Fortnite. I could be on my computer, you could be on your phone, another person could be on their console, et cetera, and we all still could play, we could still talk. I think that's what the kids of this generation care more about. They don't care about consoles, companies.

Harry Duran 00:37:59:

Sure, sure, sure.

Danny Peña 00:38:00:

There might be a small crowd like, oh, Xbox, PlayStation, that's their thing. But I think this new generation is a different beast, I think, in my opinion. Now, I know you mentioned about the older crowd where, yeah, they probably were playing a lot of games in the early days and Then they stop. Maybe they'll come back. I know a lot of people that still playing to this day.

Harry Duran 00:38:22:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:38:22:

And there's some that probably stop for different reasons, you know, because, you know, games, gaming is expensive, man. You know. So right now, another thing that is new now for both, especially Xbox, they started that. And also for PlayStation is there's a subscription service where you pay monthly and you get unlimited games. That's. Think of it as like Netflix, but for games. Yeah, yeah, something like that. So that to me is better in a way if you don't have the income to buy a 50, 60 or even $70 game. But if you pay 10, 12 bucks a month or whatever and you have access to all those games and you still could play your with your friends, this is a win win in my opinion, you know, So I think that will convince a lot of people, like, hey, I could pay that amount and still play a lot of these games.

Harry Duran 00:39:07:

And so did you ever watch that GameStop movie about like how the guy who was like, he would. He bought the stock and he. There was such a big community around, like the people who like supported gamestop that he was able to like, yeah.

Danny Peña 00:39:20:

I saw clips of it, actually. You will see me in that movie is like a. This a clip of me in there where this is right before the pandemic, actually. So I got invited. This was I think January of 2020. I got invited. I can't remember where it was because GameStop, they were planning to do this thing where you go to the store and you could play games. Like, they wanted people to come. You. You pay to play games. You could also play like tabletop games in there and everything. They wanted to show us a demo of like their idea and somebody was recording it and they used one of those footage to putting in that documentary. So I'm in. You see me with like orange hoodie and everything. I didn't know. Somebody saw it from one of my followers and they're like, hey, Danny, I saw you in documentary. I'm like, oh, I thought it was a Met Messages. And they're like, no, it's a GameStop one. We're like, well, GameStop.

Harry Duran 00:40:11:

So.

Danny Peña 00:40:11:

And then I found it and I saw the clip in there.

Harry Duran 00:40:15:

Do you feel like the future of gaming is just going to keep morphing into like a different version and you just. That's where kind of like where your company comes in, that you can kind of like educate people and just keep following like what the trends are?

Danny Peña 00:40:25:

Yeah, I think it's going to be changing a lot where companies I think are going to invest more money on just making the games. We also going to have hardware, but it's more of having the game everywhere, not just in one platform, you know, so. Or multiple devices, you know, so I can see that a lot. I don't see VR growing as much. I think there's going to be a crowd that love that, but I don't see it growing unless it's like a major game that's going to convince people to go and buy it. You know, that's what I see it. But like right now we work on a couple clients that it's games that hasn't been announced yet. It's like a couple. So those are. I can't wait for people to see what's going to come in the future. But it's cool to see the behind the scenes of like how to work on the game because before I was, I was for more from the outside, you know, just waiting for the game and I go play it. Right. Or I sometimes will get like access early and all that. But now it's like I'm actually working with developers, working with the team before it's even announced. That's like, it's a really, really cool experience. Yeah. And it's not only me, but also my wife. We're both doing this together. Yeah. And it's also allowed me to still do my podcast, you know, because sometimes when you have a full time gig, they're like, you could only do this or work here.

Harry Duran 00:41:47:

Sure, sure, sure.

Danny Peña 00:41:48:

They've been open about it because they see the benefits of getting the me out there talking to people, talking with like, with other companies and stuff. So that's good. It's a good thing.

Harry Duran 00:42:00:

Do you see any other podcasts in your future?

Danny Peña 00:42:02:

Any what?

Harry Duran 00:42:03:

Any other podcasts in your future?

Danny Peña 00:42:05:

Any other podcasts? In what way? Like new shows?

Harry Duran 00:42:09:

Yeah, new show or anything that you're thinking about, related to, you know, what you're doing with your business or anything.

Danny Peña 00:42:13:

Yeah, I have one with my wife. It's called the Danny and Rihanna show. Like right now we put it on hold because we've been just slammed with work and stuff. So yeah, by the time we're done we're like, I don't need, I just want to like, you know, so we're gonna come back and do other stuff. And there it's different because we talk about a little bit of the stuff that we do, but it's more about like our relationship. Talk about stuff that's Happening in gaming. Sometimes we'll get like, an advanced screening or we'll go to, like, a red carpet event and we talk about our experience. Like it's a. It's a little bit different. It's not just about gaming. It's about. More about us doing this together, you know?

Harry Duran 00:42:52:

Yeah. What's been the. What's been the feedback from people that have listened to it? Do they feel like they're getting, like, a peek inside, like, your life? And it's probably people that know you from the other podcast and they're just like, now they get to see this other side of you, especially with you and Rihanna and your family.

Danny Peña 00:43:07:

So let me tell you the good and the bad. So the good. I think the majority, they love the. Because it's like a very casual conversation, nothing too crazy. So they love that, seeing that. Actually, we were at the New York Stock Exchange a couple weeks ago in New York City, and it was nine degrees outside. Oh, my God, it was so cold. So we went there. We actually promoted our company, promoted the 20th anniversary of gamer tag. Right. And everything there. So I used that clip and I just put it up on the. On. I think it was a YouTube channel. I can't remember. But so people love it. Like, the majority, they love the conversation and everything right now. And this is something I would love to bring up, too, that relates to this. So I seen people where. They'll go to YouTube and they'll see, oh, my God, this person only has 100 views, whatever, like a podcast or YouTube channel or anything, right? And I'm like, numbers, to me, comes and goes. You know, I. I got into like 150,000, 200,000 with our podcast before, all the way to, like, low numbers. And it changes. It all depends on. I think it all depends on your content. Right? So. And I think somebody saw that on our channel. Like, oh, this. I'm like, bro, you have no idea. You have no idea what we do on the side. You have no idea. Like, that podcast was more. It was. We created that show more because we just love talking. So we're like, oh, sure, separate from gtr. So it was like, let's do it. So, you know. Yeah, so I don't look at the numbers is more of that. Right. But the other thing I also want to bring up is numbers comes and goes. But to me, what matters the most is the impact that you make. So, like, for example, you know, we had. Actually this year, I had multiple interviews that got picked up by the media. Multiple interviews. I'm Talking about, like, yeah, if you look up Gamertag Radio and you go to the news section, Google you, you'll see the amount of articles that's about it, right? So like Forbes talked about it, other non gaming outlets and gaming outlets talk about us, you know, so like that to me, what matters the most to me it's not about the numbers, is about the impact. Is that. Yeah, impact and not only getting featured in media, but also like, did you influence somebody to buy the product? Did you influence somebody to subscribe to your show, to buy a shirt, to wear a shirt or whatever?

Harry Duran 00:45:31:

You know?

Danny Peña 00:45:32:

Like, yeah, that to me what matters the most, you know? And I think we're getting so caught up on numbers and like, are you a partner on Twitch or whatever? Like, I'm like, that doesn't matter. Like that doesn't matter at all. Now here's the thing. People see the Danny Rihanna show that has, let's say, I don't know, 300 views on YouTube. Sure they'll see that. Not knowing that we're making really, really good money on.

Harry Duran 00:45:59:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:46:00:

Another stuff, not only on the podcast, but on also on a consulting company, you know, and also something I do on the side with the video content and all that stuff, you know. So I know, I think people are still caught up in this old numbers game. And I'm like, nah, man, look at all the interviews that I managed to get. All the interviews. It's not because of the numbers, it's because of my talent, because of me. When I send out a portfolio to all these companies, I don't put numbers in there at all.

Harry Duran 00:46:29:

Yeah, you don't have to.

Danny Peña 00:46:30:

I put stuff that I've done. Like, look who I have on our show. I had Keanu Reeves, I had Michael K. Williams, Josh Gad. I could go on and on of like from like the movie side of people that have been on our show. Danny Trejo.

Harry Duran 00:46:43:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:46:43:

You know, when it comes to gaming, I can. Every gaming company has been on our show and they invite us, they invite me all the time to go to events. So it's not about the numbers at all. It's about the impact that you make, man.

Harry Duran 00:46:57:

Did you ever get, I mean, I know you, you get used to interviewing some of these familiar faces, but was there ever a specific guest where you just kind of had to like pinch yourself and be like, oh yeah, like can. I'm interviewing canarees right now.

Danny Peña 00:47:09:

Keanu was wild. That was like a wild moment in my life, man. I actually did it at old apartment. My wife had another meeting outside, and she's like. She was trying to be, like, stay quiet because she didn't want our voice to come on in the recording. But, yeah, like, I'm also meet people in person. Like, I went to New York because Amazon invited me to interview the cast of Fallout. I don't know if you've seen the TV series Fallout on Amazon prime video.

Harry Duran 00:47:36:

Oh, no, no. What's it about?

Danny Peña 00:47:37:

It's a. Based in the game called Fallout.

Harry Duran 00:47:40:

It's.

Danny Peña 00:47:40:

You didn't have to play the game at all.

Harry Duran 00:47:42:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:47:43:

Watch the series. It is fantastic. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:47:46:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:47:47:

So, yeah, I interviewed the whole cast, interviewed the director, the writers. It was a lot of fun, man. A lot of fun. And they invited me to the red carpet.

Harry Duran 00:47:56:

How do you prepare for something like that? Because you're coming, obviously, you know the game in and out. You probably know it better than the cast, right?

Danny Peña 00:48:02:

Because, you know, because most of the time, the cast, they probably don't have the time to play the game. They've probably seen something, but they don't want to, like, sit down and play.

Harry Duran 00:48:12:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:48:12:

Now, the director, I did some research. He actually. That's what motivated him to do the series. And he got the approval from the studio, from Bethesda and everything, man. But. But yeah, like, for me, when I go in, I just want to learn the basics about the show, movie, or whatever product it is and just talk to them and ask some different questions, man. I think when we do the. When we ask the same typical questions, it's like, they're. It's cool, but it's not gonna get the highlight, you know, But I'm not gonna ask something that's gonna make him feel uncomfortable. Like, for example, one thing that I did when I interviewed the cast, I asked everybody of this the same question I asked them, because the series is about people that live in this. This vault on the ground. Because there was like a bombing outside.

Harry Duran 00:49:00:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:49:00:

But there was people also that live out there, live outside after the bombing. So they, like, all messed up. And they have.

Harry Duran 00:49:05:

Sure, sure.

Danny Peña 00:49:06:

They're like. They have disease and all that stuff. So. And some know, some whatever. But I was asking everybody in the cast, even before I saw the show, I asked them, so do you see yourself as a vault dweller or surface dweller? And they're like, man, that's a great question. And they were like. And they'll talk about it. Why they will. Which one they will pick. So I grabbed. I grabbed that clip of everybody answer that question that did, like, a whole clip And I put it online and it went around like, people were like, oh, this is pretty cool. Nobody's asked this question, you know, like, that's the type of thing that I like to do. Like, just do like creative questions, creative interviews and stuff. Man.

Harry Duran 00:49:43:

What do you do to keep sharp? Like. Cause, you know, I think about, like, interviewing and I've got like another show. So I counted. It was like over 500, like, interviews. And obviously you do the repetitions and it keeps you sharp in terms of like staying present, you know, asking, pulling threads, being curious and stuff like that. Do you feel like the rep, just doing the reps keeps you sharp, or are there other things you do so that you're always on point when it comes to, like, interviewing?

Danny Peña 00:50:06:

Yeah, it's not only that, but I have. Drink a lot of water because your voice will start. Will start going away. Yeah. And it helps me. Like, you know, usually I'll get coffee, water, wake me up, I'm like, ready, you know, I'll have some questions pre prepared, like just in case.

Harry Duran 00:50:25:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:50:25:

But most of the time, and this is like the majority. The majority of the time I'm there and they start answering that on the spot. Spot. I come up with a question, another question there, and I'm like, wait a minute, I don't have this written.

Harry Duran 00:50:37:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:50:37:

And that question is even better than the stuff that I have written, you know, so that happens a lot all the time. And I just keep on going. Yeah. But one thing is I don't get shy. I don't get nervous.

Harry Duran 00:50:47:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:50:47:

Doesn't matter who it is. Like, you know, I used to work at G4. You know, I was the one that will book interviews for the cast for my team to interview them for the show.

Harry Duran 00:50:59:

Sure.

Danny Peña 00:51:00:

Because I was connected and all that. So I remember got Lance Reddick, Danny Trejo. I got a bunch of other people from like, the gaming side too. Voice actors from an anime series on Netflix. Arcane. And yeah, and everything has been good, man. Like, I never really been, like, shy or nervous when I meet people. I just treat them like everybody else, man.

Harry Duran 00:51:22:

Yeah, they probably appreciate that as well.

Danny Peña 00:51:24:

Oh, they love that. They love that. And I also want to make sure that they were comfortable because I feel like when your guest is comfortable, they're going to open up more, you know. But when you start doing this, like, clickbait questions and it kind of kills. It kills the vibe.

Harry Duran 00:51:38:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:51:39:

Then they want to get out. They want to. They just want to be done, you know.

Harry Duran 00:51:42:

That's a good point. So what's next for you? Like, if we're having this conversation, like, next year or a year from now or two years from now, like, what does success look like? Or is it just something you're just kind of taking year by year?

Danny Peña 00:51:55:

Well, I have a goal. I want to buy a house in Dominican Republic.

Harry Duran 00:51:59:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:52:00:

It could be a vacation home or have there for, like, rent or whatever, but I want to have. So, like, what we want to do in the future, we probably will stay there for, like, a month. It will be like, me, my wife, and our baby. And just to see how it is, like, living there.

Harry Duran 00:52:17:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:52:17:

It's us. You know, that's one thing I would love to do and still do the podcast there, do our work from there and everything. I think that's going to be good. Grow our business. I think our business is doing really, really good. But I want to grow even better, even more. And I have a couple outlets that I've never been on before. And I would love to figure out a way how I could be on to share my story, because I think I have a very unique story.

Harry Duran 00:52:43:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:52:43:

To tell people. Very inspirational story. So let's see what happens. We'll see. There's a couple people that I have a couple companies I have in mind. We'll see. But. And also continue giving back to the next generation of creators. You know, like last year, I do a lot of speaking agents, not only for companies internally, but I also have done speaking agents with, like, kids schools. Like, I released a children's book a couple years ago about my life and that. A very successful project. But I also been speaking to kids. Last year, I did a speaking engagement with 900 high school kids and 900 middle school kids in Memphis, Tennessee.

Harry Duran 00:53:27:

Okay.

Danny Peña 00:53:28:

Yeah, I did that. And that was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. Hopefully I could do that more.

Harry Duran 00:53:33:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:53:34:

But, yeah, I have done speaking agents for gaming companies. Some I can't say because they don't want me to, but some which I'm allowed to say is Amazon Games. Another company called Respawn. They're under ea.

Harry Duran 00:53:48:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:53:49:

They've done this game called Timefall and also Apex Legends.

Harry Duran 00:53:53:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:53:54:

Which. That's how I met my wife. Was through that game.

Harry Duran 00:53:56:

That's funny.

Danny Peña 00:53:57:

Come full circle. Full circle. Yeah. So just that. But I think one of my main goal is to make sure that my daughter is set for life. I don't want her to go. The struggles that I went through as a kid, I want her to have a better life. I think that's like my main, main goal.

Harry Duran 00:54:13:

That's awesome. Well, I appreciate you reaching out and getting reconnected, and it was just. It was fun. I think I just love this platform because sometimes I just selfishly want to catch up with some friends and just, you know, if we had seen each other in a conference, it'd be like maybe five minutes in the hallway or something.

Danny Peña 00:54:27:

Yeah. So.

Harry Duran 00:54:29:

But we get to. I'm so excited to see what's been happening in your world, and it's very inspiring because you haven't changed a bit, man.

Danny Peña 00:54:35:

It's just the same, man. Still the same. The only difference is, you know, I'm in la.

Harry Duran 00:54:40:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:54:40:

You know, a little more. A little more gray, you know, a little gray. You know, making good money.

Harry Duran 00:54:46:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:54:46:

And just happy. I've been. This has been like the best time of my life, honestly. It's been amazing. The growth, the changes, everything.

Harry Duran 00:54:54:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:54:54:

And one thing I've done also cut off a lot of negativity, like the negative folks.

Harry Duran 00:55:00:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:55:00:

In person, also online, like, I just don't want to deal with it at all. I don't want that energy from me right now.

Harry Duran 00:55:06:

So. Smart.

Danny Peña 00:55:07:

That helps a lot.

Harry Duran 00:55:09:

Well, I appreciate your time. And then coming on, coming back on Danny and definitely keep checking in with you on your progress. That's super inspiring. So where's the best place for folks who want to just catch up with you and see what's going on in your life?

Danny Peña 00:55:20:

Yeah. Follow me, socials. I'm everywhere. Just look up Danny Pena or just look up Godfrey. I'm there. It doesn't matter which platform it is. And yeah, just check out Gamertag Radio. It's still around. Doesn't matter which podcast platform. Just search and subscribe. There's a lot of things that's happening in the future that I'm planning. I've been working on for a while.

Harry Duran 00:55:39:

Yeah.

Danny Peña 00:55:40:

Because usually when I work on big, big projects, it takes me months.

Harry Duran 00:55:43:

Like, yeah.

Danny Peña 00:55:44:

When I had our interview for our 20th anniversary, Phil Spencer, the. The head of Xbox, you know, that was like, in conversation. I had them since August and it just happened back in the end of January. Like, it took a while. So that's what I've been doing. I've been working behind the scenes on some stuff. So stay tuned, stay tuned.

Harry Duran 00:56:04:

We'll make sure all the links are in the show notes. Thanks, brother. I really appreciate it.

Danny Peña 00:56:07:

No problem.