So there I am. A week later, heating up my hot pocket in the microwave, getting home from school at 3 p.m.

And I get a call. And I always knew it was a Tonight Show because it would say unavailable.

And I answered it and it was the Tonight Show producer.

Hey, welcome to the show. This evening, I had the privilege of sitting down with a nationally recognized animal expert, biologist, speaker, and television personality named Corbyn Maxi.

He was on Jay Leno when he was just 14 years old. He's been rescuing reptiles since he was 12.

He's played with penguins with Tyra Banks. He's almost been killed by hippos in Africa.

This guy's the best. You're all really going to like him. He is boundlessly enthusiastic, extremely friendly, deeply knowledgeable, and now he's my friend.

Thank you, Corbin, for coming on the show.

It was such a delightful conversation.

Thank you to the donors for making it possible for me to do this.

Thank you, Eric and the Animals, for playing me in.

And now, without further ado, I present to you, Corby.

So, Corby, I've seen that you were on Jay Leno at 14 years old.

How the heck did that happen?

Right?

You know, it's so crazy. crazy i never ever even saw myself on tv like growing up i loved animals i i uh i actually grew up in the middle of nowhere uh roby creek idaho have you

ever heard of it no neither has neither has anybody else it's like population four i always joke uh i always make that joke

like me my sister my mom and my dad but yeah we just i lived up so basically just picture a cabin

in the middle of the woods pretty much in complete isolation and so you know when most people

had or i guess kids had friends or were riding bikes in the pavement, I was always out catching, you know, frogs and snakes and lizards.

And we always had tons of pets.

Like my first pet lizard, his name was Booger.

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