He retired from a two-decade music career at the height of it to be home with his boys — and thirteen years later, still gets handwritten notes from strangers saying one of his songs changed their life. Bebo Norman spent this episode of the podcast doing what he says matters most to him now: sitting still, in one conversation, fully present.

We connected with Bebo after Allen Levi mentioned him by name in Season 1 Episode 1 — Joe lost his mind on the spot, and Rush turned the reveal into a birthday surprise months later.

We cover retiring from music at the height of a two-decade career to become a physician assistant, the difference between transactional and transformational friendship, the sudden death of his older brother Chris and the drive to the funeral spent listening chronologically to every record he ever made, his mantra "be where your feet are," raising two very different sons — one who leads from the front and one who sneaks up on you — and why he believes life is meant to be lived small, not big.

LINKS
Bebo Norman's music — Spotify
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

REFERENCED
Compassion International
Jim Elliot (quoted: "wherever you are, be all there")
Songs referenced: "Disappear," "Where the Trees Stand Still," "At the End of Me," "The Healing Song"

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Cold open — the birthday gift bait-and-switch and Rush's reveal
6:00 — Retiring from music 13 years ago to become a PA
11:00 — The joy and heartbreak of the last decade, and why relationships got smaller
16:00 — Transactional vs. transformational friendship
23:00 — A handwritten note from a stranger — music still landing over a decade later
27:00 — Being an "accidental musician" and watching more talented friends never break through
33:00 — The drive to his brother Chris's funeral — listening to every record chronologically
40:00 — The song "At the End of Me" and songs that minister to their own writer years later
45:00 — What "living small" actually means — presence over platform
52:00 — His brother's death and a family drawn together by grief
57:00 — His sons Smith and Miller — very different, deeply loved
1:02:00 — The walkaway

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The Most Interesting Person in the World — hosted by Rush Witt & Joe Keller.

He bought a three-day-old calf for $100, bottle-fed him in his kitchen, and accidentally built an audience of millions by asking one absurd question: do cows like pancakes? Elias Herrera lives on an acre and a half in rural Idaho with four boys, a cow named Bruce who might be potty-trained, and a philosophy of content creation built entirely around making strangers smile.

We connected with Elias through a two-year-old DM that finally found its moment — proof that some conversations are just worth the wait.

We cover how a viral cooking-with-your-cow video happened almost by accident, the ice-bath-in-a-water-trough phase that came before it, getting his content stolen and fighting copyright strikes on his own material, a surprise signed skateboard from Tony Hawk, raising four wildly different boys and what each one is teaching him, moving from Stockton to rural Idaho at fourteen and hating it before loving it, and why he thinks joy isn't complete until someone else gets to share in it.

LINKS
Elias Filmz YouTube

REFERENCED
Tony Hawk (skateboarder, DM exchange and signed skateboard)

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Cold open — donuts, wonder, and a South Carolina "baby"
4:00 — Meeting Elias — Treasure Valley, Idaho, and the beanie from Amazon
8:00 — Bruce the cow — how much a calf actually costs, and Rush's questionable childhood prank stories
13:00 — Four boys, a dairy diet, and $20 a day in hay
17:00 — Why he moved to Idaho at 14 — hating it, then never wanting to leave
21:00 — Counting blessings and what fatherhood taught him about other people's struggles
26:00 — How social media started — skateboard videos, a failed kids' YouTube channel, and the algorithm hit that wiped his income
31:00 — The ice bath in Bruce's water trough — and the donut discovery that started it all
35:00 — The pancake video that hit 50 million views in a week
39:00 — Getting his own content stolen — and losing copyright fights against himself
44:00 — The TikTok ban, the appeal, and defending Bruce's diet against online hate
48:00 — Getting a signed skateboard from Tony Hawk
52:00 — Four boys, four completely different personalities
56:00 — Rush on becoming a grandfather — watching your kid parent a kid
1:00:00 — Why joy isn't complete until someone else shares it
1:03:00 — The walkaway — Rush's hypothetical calf on the front porch

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The Most Interesting Person in the World — hosted by Rush Witt & Joe Keller.

Seven months ago he had 700 followers. Now he has three million, a nickname from an American Gladiator video from a military driving class, and daily death threats in his DMs — and somehow he's still one of the most relentlessly kind people you'll talk to. Malibu went from Army veteran to gym trainer to overnight viral fitness influencer, and he's trying to figure out how to stay himself through all of it.

We connected with Malibu after our sons recognized him instantly from their own feeds. Turns out he'd been on our radar longer than Joe realized.

We cover the origin of the "Malibu" nickname from an Army driving class two decades ago, what it's like watching your follower count explode by 3,000x in half a year, losing nearly every old friend once fame hit, why he calls personal training "almost like being a therapist," the childhood moment at age seven when he refused to sign a hate list against a neighborhood kid, growing up moving constantly between states and countries including high school and college in Japan, and his answer to real online threats — meeting evil not with evil, but with relentless, deliberate kindness.

LINKS
Malibu's training app — malibufit.org

REFERENCED
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Cold open — Oxford Pennant, appreciation, and Josiah's excitement
4:00 — The origin of the Malibu name — an American Gladiator video and a driving class
8:00 — What actually matters to him day to day — gratitude and giving back
12:00 — Life exploding overnight — the good, the hate, and losing old friends
17:00 — What "protecting your heart" actually looks like in practice
22:00 — Being a trainer as being a therapist — sleep, meals, and real conversations
27:00 — Two mentors — Arnold Schwarzenegger and his mother
31:00 — The hate-list story from age seven and refusing to sign it
36:00 — Growing up moving constantly — New York to Japan and back
41:00 — Real threats, real fear, and choosing kindness anyway
47:00 — Trusting two strangers with no social proof
51:00 — Tattoos, the Army, and Tattoo Paradise
54:00 — What's next — acting, wrestling, and staying himself
56:00 — The walkaway

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The Most Interesting Person in the World — hosted by Rush Witt & Joe Keller.