Okay. We're laughing because Chuck just said, what do you want to talk about in the preamble?

And I said, well, what if we talk about the amazing interview we just conducted?

That's probably a good idea. I'm going to go with it. It's the way I heard it episode number 281 and not to overstate it. But yes,

this was a very good interview. And I say that, not because Chucker, I asked amazing questions,

although I think we did okay. You did better than I did. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know,

that's kind of why it's the way I heard it with who? Mike. Yeah, Mike Crow. Got it.

Our guest is another Mike.

Mike Rinder, he's been making the rounds because he's written an extraordinary memoir

called A Billion Years.

A Billion Years refers to the term that C.org members in the Church of Scientology pledge to serve a billion years.

The name of this episode is I'd like to buy a vowel, V-O-W, because I think it rhymes nicely with the title of the book,

and you'll hear how it pops up in our conversation.

But, Chuck, this was a good one, man, really.

I could have listened to that guy talk for three hours. It's been a long time coming, and regular listeners know I've had to be

in my bonnet with Scientology for a long time. This was gratifying on damn near every level.

It really was. We've had Spanky Taylor on before, who knows Mike Rinder very well, and she's been telling

me for a long time that he's such a wonderful guy, and he proved to be just that. He's got that

charming Australian accent, which makes it really jacked up, because he says vowel, and you think,

vowel? I didn't know what he was talking about, but we worked it out.

He's on the podcast because he spent most of his life, not just in Scientology, but way, way,

way, way, way up the food chain.

He and David Muscovage were basically connected at the hip for a long time.

...