From Pastor to Viral Sensation… How Chad Prather Built a Massive Audience | Throwback ( 3/27/2020)

Chad Prather (00:06.318)

You're listening to At the Mic with Keith, an independent podcast production.

Keith Malinak (00:10.612)

Hello and thank you for joining me for yet another edition of At the Mic. I'm the host of this podcast, Keith Malinak, and today...

My guest is the ubiquitous Chad Prather. If you spend any time searching for common sense on social media, you know who Chad Prather is, as he has quite the following from folks who like someone that tells it like it is. In fact, you probably know him from WatchChad.com. Chad has lived an incredible life as a preacher from the pulpit and as someone who has spent over 20 years in third world countries. Well, he and I sat down. We talked about growing up in the South, Atlanta Braves baseball and how he likes his hash

at the Waffle House. So thanks for stopping by. Here's the one and only Chad Prather. Chad, thanks so much for joining me. You better be.

Chad Prather (00:55.192)

I'm so excited to be here. I braved COVID-19, some metal surfaces, which apparently COVID germs live on that for at least 12 hours. And now I'm walking around trying to figure out what all metal surfaces I've touched, a doorknob.

Keith Malinak (01:11.136)

And since he's dating this podcast, either this will air and the virus will have run its course or we're all dead. And since I uploaded this, it'll still generate. Awesome.

Chad Prather (01:21.028)

it'll still be here. You know what? This podcast is going to last just like the virus. And if this virus doesn't last, there'll be another one.

Keith Malinak (01:28.906)

Very good. Chad Frather, a member of the Blaze TV family, but we will get into his background because he was somebody long before he walked into this building. You were born in Ramsey, New Jersey, which I find that interesting. How did that happen?

Chad Prather (01:44.138)

Most people do that's the one thing about my Wikipedia, which you know how Wikipedia is only about 80 % of it is Right. It's so Whoever wrote that deal put that I was born in New Jersey, which is a fact Just happened to be where my mother was whenever she went into labor. Yeah, lived there four months of my life

Keith Malinak (02:01.422)

Very well. All right. And then you ended up, you were in Augusta, were you raised then in Augusta? your entire child.

Chad Prather (02:06.635)

Augusta, Georgia

Chad Prather (02:10.858)

My entire life, is basically the same house. My entire life, yeah.

Keith Malinak (02:14.184)

nice. Okay. So you and I have that Georgia connection because I was born and raised in Atlanta, suburban Atlanta, Marietta, Georgia. How much time did you get to spend in Atlanta? Did you come over there a lot?

Chad Prather (02:21.519)

Marietta

Chad Prather (02:25.902)

Yeah, a good bit when I was a kid. Of course, I was a big Braves fan. So we went to Braves games every summer. Of course, you gotta go to Six Flags. Yes. You gotta go out to Douglasville, Georgia or towards it and go to Six Flags. Yeah. And I went to the University of Georgia, so I'd go to Atlanta a lot of times on the weekends. And I lived in the Atlanta area for a while. really? Yeah, as an adult. I too lived in Marietta. Interesting. I lived down in Stockbridge, which is South Atlanta. That's down in the sticks.

Keith Malinak (02:47.011)

very

Chad Prather (02:52.854)

Stockbridge, Rockdale County, which I was just across the border into Henry County, which for those of you who know. No, no, I was in Henry County and moved over to Rockdale County, which of course is Conyers. Yeah, in Conyers, that's right.

Keith Malinak (03:03.478)

everybody is somebody.

Now, StockBridge, that's Collective Soul, right?

Chad Prather (03:10.262)

That's Collective Soul, yeah. I knew the boys when we were down there. Very nice. My, small world, my manager now in LA, who's been with me now for, I guess, we've been together three and a half years, he found and started Collective Soul. He was their manager. Very cool. There's a lot of stories, Collective Soul stories that he's got. Alright.

Keith Malinak (03:32.846)

Pretty cool. You know, the Christian rock band Third Day. Okay. So they used to do the music. They were the music for our Wednesday night youth group. Summer of 96, Mack Powell was my boss at a day camp at Roswell street Baptist church. And it wasn't just a few months later when I saw Mack and the boys on the cover of a magazine at a Christian bookstore. And I thought, wow.

Chad Prather (03:35.193)

yeah.

Chad Prather (03:41.108)

Okay, yeah, that's... and the boys, know all of them.

Chad Prather (03:52.792)

funny.

Keith Malinak (04:02.7)

They made it!

Chad Prather (04:03.532)

Yeah, I just did a with Mark the guitarist. I just did a show with him. Gosh time flies. I guess it's been about a year and half now two years ago. Seems like yesterday. That's cool. He had a new book that came out so.

Keith Malinak (04:16.12)

Wow, that's good to know. Very cool. Okay, so we have the Atlanta connection. That's awesome. And then that's where it all, that's it. That's the only thing.

Chad Prather (04:24.288)

you don't know, we might find all kinds of things in common, we never know. Masked Communications, I went there to do broadcast journalism and wound up not doing that. Until I was 40.

Keith Malinak (04:27.342)

So you went to the University of Georgia. What did you major in?

Keith Malinak (04:38.67)

We almost crossed paths there because I told my dad if I get accepted in University of Georgia, that's where I'll go. And lo and behold, I was accepted at the University of Georgia, but I reneged on that and ended up in Nebraska.

Chad Prather (04:51.884)

girl I liked. And by the time she got there, we weren't together anymore.

Keith Malinak (04:56.518)

Aha! Okay. So you went for journalism, mass communications, but where did you take your career after college?

Chad Prather (05:04.726)

Well, I spent a lot of time while I was in college going and traveling to third world countries and doing a lot of mission work and humanitarian aid work, medical work, those kind of things. And so out of that, I wound up pastoring a church of all things.

Keith Malinak (05:12.299)

Yeah.

Keith Malinak (05:23.912)

How does that happen? Most people don't just, you one day and they're like, you know what, I'm going to pass.

Chad Prather (05:27.348)

Wake up to Here's the deal, you get, you go speak somewhere, you go speak at a church, you speak to these organizations and people realize that you have this gift for communication. Well, I mean, you know, come on, what else is there to do? You ought to be preaching. You ought to be teaching the gospel, the Bible. Very You ought to be bringing the thunder. Even the rocks will cry out. You know what I mean?

Keith Malinak (05:47.096)

You

Keith Malinak (05:52.51)

It sounds like you also went to a Southern Baptist Church just like me.

Chad Prather (05:56.462)

Uh huh. Well, we call it a sorta-Baptist church. It was pretty liberated. They didn't get offended if you held your hands up in the air. These days, nobody gets offended by that, right? That's the thing. We've all gotten liberated. But back then, that was pretty radical. So yeah, that was the thing. Well, let me just tell you, I did that for the better part of 12 years.

What I learned through that experience, that very heartbreaking experience, is that yes, I do have a gift for communication, and yes, I can teach the Bible. But I am a horrible pastor. Well, because most people, I'm not good with quote unquote tending the flock. I'm sort of a black and white prophetic, if you will. I see things as far as the bottom line is concerned. Most people don't want their problems fixed. They want their problems understood.

Keith Malinak (06:28.823)

huh. But- But-

Why do you say that?

Chad Prather (06:49.942)

I'm not good at understanding your problems. I'm just going to bottom line it for you and tell you this is what you need to do to get your ass out of the gutter. That's fun. And people don't like being told to get their ass out of the gutter. definitely not today. Yeah, especially when you're in Sylvania Baptist Church in Sylvania, Alabama, population 408, and 400 of them go to that church. were ready to hang me out in the front oak tree.

They were wanting to hang me from the church sign at that point. That was the first church I'd pastored. And I told them, said, you don't want me. And they said, oh, we do. They send the pulpit committee out to hear you. Oh, we want you. We need young and life. And I said, no, I promise you, you do not want me to come pastor your church. Yes, we do. We'll do whatever. We'll do whatever. Lasted 12 months to the day. 12 months to

Keith Malinak (07:39.724)

the day. Little Sylvania Alabama

Chad Prather (07:42.574)

Sylvania, Alabama. you see it? Up on Sand Mountain. Sand Mountain, Alabama. Right there. You go up from Fort Payne, Alabama on Highway 35. You hit Rainsville and take a right and you're going run right into Sylvania in about four miles.

Keith Malinak (07:57.024)

You you are prophetic because at the beginning of this conversation you said we may discover we have a lot more That my grandmother was born on sand mountain element

Chad Prather (08:02.135)

huh, exactly.

Do you remember what city? you remember what town? You got Hinnagar, got Section, you got Dutton, you have Rainsville, you have Crossville, you have... Yeah, there's a bunch of them. A-Rab, Pisgah... Yeah.

Keith Malinak (08:17.902)

You don't know Maybe Maybe it I don't know he always talks about Sand Mountain, so I'll ask Nana

Chad Prather (08:28.192)

It's interesting. They used to the signs up there that said, know, Coon, don't let the sun go down on you here, that kind of thing. yeah. They live a solid 30 years behind the rest of the world up there. And I'm not being mean, I'm being dead honest. And anybody from up there, they won't argue with me, they know what's up.

Keith Malinak (08:43.424)

Wow. So why did they chase you out of town?

Chad Prather (08:46.403)

for everything I told him. Everything I told him. They said, you know what? Can I get this, Keith? They said, this church is growing too much.

Keith Malinak (08:55.116)

Wait what no hold on I've never heard a church say that's a problem

Chad Prather (08:58.606)

They said you're this is a stepping stone for you. We know that you're gonna move on and you're gonna leave us with all these strangers This is our church and you're just using as a stepping stone. So on the Sunday that I resigned there were 40 No, no, there was there was yeah, there were 40 first-time visitors now This is a is a town of 400 people 40 first-time visitors that had never set foot in the door of that church that were in in attendance that morning

I mean we would think they they would have loved it. They would have loved it. Yeah. How dare you? How dare you?

Keith Malinak (09:29.538)

think that is...

Change their town. Change their church.

Before I forget this is the part of the podcast where I get to take a picture of you. yeah There we go Chad Prather. Okay, we'll be using this picture later

Chad Prather (09:47.448)

For those of you who don't see the picture, I am wearing a cardigan.

Keith Malinak (09:50.956)

And don't forget, I'm sorry I didn't do this at the start, watchchad.com. And that's where you get access to everything. Because you do a show every day, a YouTube channel, every day, come on. And everything you need with Chad is there at watchchad.com.

Chad Prather (09:55.245)

You got it.

Chad Prather (10:01.358)

Day

Chad Prather (10:06.19)

Chad. Yeah, we got a new single out too. can get it where music is offered called He's Still Your President. Catch you little tune. Well, yeah, it is ringtone on Apple wherever ringtones are offered.

Keith Malinak (10:11.086)

Still your president. I saw you made that as like a nice little ringtone as-

Keith Malinak (10:19.007)

So from Soviet, how old were you there at Sov...

Chad Prather (10:21.134)

I was a kid man, was 23 years old when I went 24 when I left

Chad Prather (10:28.866)

Alabama yeah, I started a church. I started a church Out of that because that's exactly what the deep south needs is one more church That's what I did in Rainesville, Alabama that is now a Auto parts store. wow. Yeah the little building we were in

Keith Malinak (10:47.374)

People still on

Chad Prather (10:47.882)

No, it was just a little storefront deal. You know, that's what we do when we start these churches. It was just an empty building. And we went in there and turned it into a church and I was there. It grew. It was a pretty big church and passed that on to somebody else. Wound up moving to Atlanta to pastor a church there that a friend of mine, he was moving to California to pastor a church. And so they brought me on there. And that was the beginning of the real true decline.

I inherited just some wonderful people, but just a nightmare of a situation. anyway, that was that. And then that ultimately brought me to Texas, because I was so burned out that some mentors of mine who were out here, they just said, you need to come out here and be with us. And heal up, because you're just fried. That was 2003-ish.

Keith Malinak (11:39.886)

And we'll pick that up there, but before we get any further away from your time running a church, my wife is a pastor. And so there is a lot of stuff that goes on in the behind the scenes, obviously at a church. Have you ever seen the ABC show? And I forget the name of it. I keep telling myself, I have to go and watch this because I bet there's truth in there.

where they were behind the scenes of a church and it was labeled as, my gosh, this is blasphemous. You can't have this show. And it lasted maybe six or eight episodes on ABC before they pulled the plug from public pressure. Are you familiar with that show whatsoever or does it match up with?

Chad Prather (12:15.244)

Yeah. Well, that's the thing is if you could truly, if people could truly see behind the scenes that a lot of churches, lot of their leaders, church leaders lives, if you could see a lot of things that happened behind the scenes in your quote unquote mega churches, your American mega churches that are run so commercially, you would be sorely disappointed at so many things that were uncovered. The behavior of your quote pastor.

I mean, all the way from, my god, I can't believe they had a glass of wine, they drank a beer, to, oh my god, they have sex at home? That's an image I can never leave. But I've seen it firsthand, it's a horrible, mean, first of all, it's horrible that you don't let people be human, just because they're leaders of the church. You know, my brother, years ago, he's 10 years older than me.

Keith Malinak (12:49.444)

my-

Chad Prather (13:04.6)

We're playing golf one day, he goes, well you got it pretty easy. And I said, okay, do you have enough problems for your life? And he goes, yeah. And I said, okay, well take a thousand more people's problems, put all that on your shoulders, and now carry all of that. There you go. I said, it's a little bit stressful. Maybe we need a glass of wine. More than a shot of whiskey. Hey! Little lead slinger.

Keith Malinak (13:22.51)

Think of it.

Keith Malinak (13:29.486)

Keep it in the trusty drawer for days when we're talking.

Chad Prather (13:32.334)

Give me that, I think I have the COVID. Yeah. Give me that, let me hold that.

Keith Malinak (13:35.15)

know what, global pandemics?

Chad Prather (13:39.02)

I should have never, honest to God, the... Now wait a minute. I should have never... Don't be... It's risky! Now I'm gonna get you something. Give me a cup. You know, I started reading, because I didn't even think to care about it, I started reading the symptoms of the coronavirus. I don't call it the Wuhan anymore because apparently MSNBC has said that calling it Wuhan virus is racist. Yeah. And...

Keith Malinak (13:43.618)

Getting your germs all over my bottle.

Chad Prather (14:07.414)

I don't know what they do with the Spanish flu, but whatever. know. Zika or Ebola. mean, all named for, you know, rivers. Yep. But anyway.

Keith Malinak (14:17.614)

Okay, so you got us in your life story to Texas around 2003. Pick it up there.

Chad Prather (14:23.852)

Yeah, so I came out here, I was working with a ministry. That's kind of where I started being able to put some of my passions to work. that was, I was able to come out, did a lot of editing and video work and producing some things. And I was doing it for a pretty large church in the DFW area, producing commercials. you know, because that's where everything went, is how can you entertain the audience while they're, you know, the congregation, whatever. Right. So I was doing that and had a wife who was miserable.

and she did not want to be in Texas. She honestly didn't want to be with me. And so after a few years, I just, in order to try to save the marriage, we moved back to the Southeast, back to Alabama, which is where she's from. She was actually born and raised on Sand Mountain. Wow. So trying to get her back close to her family, seeing if that would work. And I'm not putting it all on her saying it's all her fault because I was a driven man, still am. Gypsy soul, passionate person, always hustling. She's an introvert.

wants to kind of be there and stay at home and she'd been through a lot of things herself. Wound up, wound up, just couldn't save the marriage. So we ended up divorcing. I was in Atlanta, she was in Alabama. I had to go to Atlanta. There's no jobs on Sand Mountain, Alabama, so you can't live up there. Not unless you work in the plant or the factory.

Chad doesn't work in the plant or the factory. it's just not my gifting pal. So I wound up back in Atlanta and was back over there, lived over in the condos by the Atlanta Country Club up there in East Cobb. Yeah, Indian Hills. There you go. So that's where I, yeah, I was out there for a few years and then finally I was working for a Fortune 300 company and I said, Texas is where I need to be. It's where I'm supposed to be. That's where my destiny lies.

I moved I moved back to Texas with the same company and Based myself out of Wichita Falls. I would it was just close as I get to Fort Worth, which is where I consider home so Wichita Falls and then It got interesting from there really interesting from there. Okay

Keith Malinak (16:36.28)

So let's pick that up there. So when you're talking about Atlanta and moving here, is that the sales executive job that you mentioned to me off air? Okay, so sales executive. So you're back in Texas. How's it getting interesting?

Chad Prather (16:50.254)

So I was miserable. I was miserable. just, you know, that was the only few years of my life, those four years working for that company, was the only few years of my life that I ever had a boss. Right? Because if you're pastor in churches, you're doing those kinds of things, you're your own boss. Now, yeah, you answer to the congregation and these people, blah, blah, but you're still your own boss. So I wind up, you know, and it was just frustrating to me, right? So it's frustrating to me, I'm doing all of this.

And just going crazy, miserable. So one day I'm at the gym. I had since remarried. Well, I had since remarried to Jade, my wife now, my lovely wife Jade. Because, and she was one of the motivating factors to come back to Texas as well because I had come out here and I'd met her and so we'd kind of started a long distance relationship. I'm like, long distance doesn't work for my needs. So I'll move back to Texas. So I moved back to Texas and we wound up getting married. So, you know, a few years have passed.

I'm at the gym one day, I'm not in the gym, I'm at the gym, there's a huge difference. And I was sitting in the parking lot and I called her on the phone and I said, hey, I'm gonna quit my job. And she said, it's a really good job. And I said, well, I'm gonna quit, I'm miserable. She said, if that's what makes you happy, then do it. And I said, well, thank you because I've already quit. And she said, what are you gonna do? And I said, I have an idea to go out and make a living just being myself. And she said, what's the street value on your personality? I said, well, we're about to find out. This was.

Keith Malinak (18:12.674)

What year is this roughly?

Chad Prather (18:15.266)

Gosh, when was this? This had to be 2014. It's 2014. time has moved, right? Some time has gone on. And so it was literally, it was weird, man. It was like it was just supposed to happen. know, Friedrich Nietzsche said, Friedrich Nietzsche said that you can only wear two faces to the world for so long before you forget which one's the real one. And I'd been doing that. I'd been trying to be everybody but myself.

And so it's almost it's weird when you just decide to be yourself and that the clouds sort of open up and that divine Providence comes down and so right on the heels of that I Had a new television network that reached out to me the president of the network and he said you don't know me I don't know you but I see some stuff you do on social media You're always posting funny jokes and stuff He said have you ever done television stuff and I said, yeah, I've done television and radio He said I want you to come in and do a screen test for a new show we're trying so go in they immediately brought me on and

the rest, as they say, is history. I did three seasons of a television show with that network, traveling around the country. And it was a travel show. And it was the first season of that show that the president of the network walked into a conference room with all of the talent for the network. And he said, you know what we need? We need a viral video. And I said, well, we all need to win the lottery too. how does that? You don't just do that.

And so at the time I was kind of going out and it was kind of therapeutic to me. I'd just pop my camera phone up on the dashboard of the truck and I would talk to it while I was sitting in traffic about my thoughts of the day, right? You you'd have a couple thousand people who might watch it. It was kind of Fort Worth-ish, famish, famish.

Keith Malinak (20:00.366)

Wait a minute, wait a minute, you filmed this in Fort Worth in traffic? How did you keep the camera steady with all the potholes you were running?

Chad Prather (20:05.998)

Dude, I was in Canada this last week and I said these roads are worse than Texas and then they got 30 below weather So that I'll tell you how bad Texas is So, know, I was kind of Fort Worth famous in that regard people were kind of looking forward to my daily therapy sessions and One day I'd gone into a target to buy a birthday card

and had a horrible experience, came out to the parking lot, sat in the truck and talked about it, comparing Walmart to Target. And the thing went viral. It went crazy. And so after a couple million views of that thing, I thought, I wonder if I can do that again. Next week, turned around, did it again. And this is on Facebook, right?

Keith Malinak (20:49.068)

And this is separate from what you're doing for the TV.

Chad Prather (20:51.598)

completely. Thing blew up. So I'd go into the network and I would go into their headquarters and I would say, which is based in Fort Worth by the way, and I would say, I got a viral video. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, Uh-huh, okay. Here's Chad talking about his numbers again. I'm like, no, I'm just telling you, we need to capitalize on this. Well, what they wanted was one of their pretty model girls that hosted the other shows to go viral. They didn't want some doofus like me. They wanted one of the girls to go viral, right?

So, chauvinists. And so anyway, so anyway, I was the one going viral. And they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I did it the following week, did it the following week. Next thing I know, I'm getting famous, man. I'm getting Facebook famous. And people are, I mean, I'm getting 1,200, 3,000 friend requests a day. mean, finally to the point where Facebook had to shut it down and said, we're not allowing any more friend requests to come your way because you're getting way too many notifications.

And we know that's interrupting your life. That's what Facebook sent me a message. We sense that your life is being interrupted by friend requests and notifications, so we're going to stop them.

Keith Malinak (21:58.732)

Now if you were a flaming liberal, then I'm sure they would've been like, let it keep going.

Chad Prather (22:03.382)

Have at it. So the thing grew, my personal Facebook page grew to like 1.6 million followers. You can only have 5,000 friends, but it grew to 1.6 million followers. Now this was a different Facebook and a different day. Things have changed. So anyway, was early 2015. I had lightning in a bottle, had no idea what to do with it. No idea what to do with it.

Keith Malinak (22:17.739)

Okay.

Chad Prather (22:30.09)

And then one thing led to another and a friend of mine came to me, he's a comedian, and he said, dude, you need to put this on stage, sell tickets to what you do. I said, well, I'm not really a comedian. He goes, don't matter if they're buying tickets, just go do what you do. If they laugh, they laugh. So he and I went out and did 45 sold out cities that in 2016. so kind of launched me on a whole new career path of

going out doing live shows, which again, I'd spent all my formative years on a stage being the quote funny preacher. So now I'm the funny quote comedian and I still don't consider myself a comedian. I'm just a storyteller and I know how to make people laugh in the middle of it. So, you know, I'm still doing that to this day. Now here we are 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 2020. And here we are still doing it with, you know, keeping our calendar full, going out there and

I'm doing less shows actually this year because I've done so many shows in the last couple of years, I'm just tired from traveling. Traveling 200,000 miles a year by air and going and going and going, constantly somewhere every weekend. And so that's it. mean, it's one of those things that's been an incredibly weird journey to take something. Now here I was with a show on cable television and suddenly social media outpaces cable television. So you quit cable television.

to just pursue a career in social media, welcome to the 21st century. And so people introduce me a lot of times as an internet sensation. say, that's a 21st century way of saying I'm unemployed but I'm popular, right? And that's virtually true. If I don't go out and hustle, that's virtually true. I'm unemployed, right? So I'm out there doing that. I was able to use those numbers, because let's face it, social media followings equal eyeballs. So why not sell stuff?

So started selling t-shirts, started selling hats, merchandise, and then one thing led to another, and da da da da da, speed bump, speed bump, speed bump. We're doing a podcast based out of Beverly Hills, California, and it's an audio only one week. And so one thing leads to another, you start making all these great friends, and guess what? You're on Blaze TV! And that's all through the connections I made through that process and that journey.

Keith Malinak (24:52.878)

So, I mean, what a crazy journey it is. Any regrets along the way that you care to divulge here?

Chad Prather (25:01.678)

don't know that I do. know, the first, I'll put it this way, The first year I was doing it, so let's take 2015, it was almost like I had this vision, if you will. I'll get spiritual on you. I had a vision. The oracles spoke to me. I was given birth to this baby, right? I didn't know what it was gonna be, didn't know what it was gonna look like. It was just gonna be this ooey gooey thing that was being birthed out. That was 2015. In 2016, it was like, okay, I have this baby here. It's cute, but it still kinda bleh, just pukes on itself and stuff. I don't know what's going on.

Right, it's developing. It's starting to form into a thing. And then in 2017, I was like, okay, now I got this toddler. It stumbles on itself, it walks around, it hits its chin on the fireplace. But it's moving. It's moving, it's walking, it's cruising. Maybe even takes a few runs before it falls. And then 2018, I was like, okay, now we got a kid. And this kid's out there playing, it's doing some things. 2019, I was like, okay, we got this adolescent. Feet's too big for the body. You know, it's just kind of awkward looking.

And then I was like, okay, 2019 was a weird year. It was a great year, but it was a weird year. And now 2020, I'm like, who knows? Maybe this thing's gonna get hormonal and really out of control. I don't know what 2020 holds. But it's been an interesting growth. It's been an interesting growth.

Keith Malinak (26:16.354)

Great way to put it. Yeah, because I mean it's at that point where it can be somebody.

Chad Prather (26:22.38)

Well, okay, so, you know, and I've got five kids and my youngest is 13 and you know at 13 years old you can kind of just let them go, you can leave them at home alone, you don't have to watch them constantly and that's kind of way I feel about my career is I'm kind at that point where it's like, know, alright, it's, the course is set, what happens happens at this point. All I can do is just kind of guide it along. I can't go out there and rehab the baby. It's already been birthed. So when you ask about regrets, no, I don't have regrets because what I tried to do

was I tried to live with that vision and say, don't grow an adult overnight. So everything I've done, and there's so many people out there who became quote viral sensations, who just made a ton of money right up front. They went out and became famous right up front and people kept going, well, why aren't you doing those things? I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, that's not smart. Now, if I was 25 years old when this happened, that might've happened. But when it happens when I'm 43 years old, it got a little more wisdom to me. So I built it incrementally.

slowly without trying to have that big splash because in my opinion once the ripples die on the big splash it's gone. Right? I'd rather have that trickle effect of the fountain that just keeps on going and going and going. Will that work? I don't know but we'll see.

Keith Malinak (27:34.542)

Watch Chad.com if you'd like to check out all of his stuff. Yeah, you do. These are great analogies. You talk about your children. You have five kids and they range from 13 up to 20. What are we talking about? Boy, girl.

Chad Prather (27:38.798)

yeah, you do.

Chad Prather (27:46.67)

22. 22, yeah.

So my, I'll start from the oldest, 22, 20 and 16 are girls. And then I've got a 13 year old son, Jade has a 13 year old son, so he's my stepson. And I consider him my son. He's very close to him, good boy. And it's funny, you got kids, you know how they are. They're all unique and you just gotta let them be unique. My two oldest girls are at two different universities on the other side of the country, they're doing great. And it's fun, it's fun to watch them.

Keith Malinak (28:16.91)

Being a father of so many kids, what has been the biggest challenge that you see like a common thread in raising all kids? Like what could you tell a parent, whether they're going through it right now or a prospective parent, what's gonna be the biggest challenge that they face in parenthood?

Chad Prather (28:33.74)

Well, I think the biggest thing is, I think life is made up of three parts. It's identity, destiny, and legacy. So you gotta know who you are, you gotta know where you're going, and if you can do those things, you'll leave behind something worth honoring and repeating. But the biggest thing is, I have my identity and my kids have their identity, and I can't put my identity on them. And that's a hard thing for a parent to do. I don't live vicariously through my kids. I want them to be themselves.

And I think that that's, and you gotta be honest with them, like my 20 year old daughter, she is on a dance scholarship at her university. She's a ballerina, she's a ballet dancer. She's a dancer, but she focuses on ballet. And so, my other two daughters, they took ballet as children, and we let them take ballet as children, but we also had a conversation and we said, this is not your future. You don't have the same thing going for you. Now you have other gifts and we wanna find those.

but not projecting an identity. You watch American Idol and these people come on and they can't sing. Their parents just didn't tell them that. They lied to them. Now they're getting humiliated on national television because their parents did not tell them, this is not your destiny. It's just this yes culture, participation, trophy culture. So just saying no to your kids in a healthy way I think is a big, big deal. It's a hard thing to do, but it's a big deal. But there's no way they're gonna find, because it's up to...

Why are these kids these days graduating from college with a degree and undecided? They don't know who the hell they are. It's because the parents didn't help shape that identity. And so they don't know where they're going. There's no sense of destiny.

Keith Malinak (30:10.326)

Yeah, I like that. Identity, destiny, legacy. Very good. If you ever get any downtime, which I'm not sure that you do, but if you ever do, what are some things you like to do? What do you enjoy?

Chad Prather (30:13.603)

Yeah.

Chad Prather (30:18.606)

Cool.

Chad Prather (30:23.63)

I don't have hobbies. I've tried to think of that. I don't have hobbies. I think life in and of itself is a hobby. I'm an extrovert, so I like people. So I have to be careful because I will take my downtime and I will spend it with people. You know, I think that when I'm dead, they should stuff my body and put me in a museum with a plaque that says, here's Chad in his natural habitat and it's me at the cocktail party. Right? That's just where I fit. I just love people. And

I love conversations, I love getting to know people. The more quote success I've had where I have to deal with crowds on a weekly basis, I find the need to pull away. And that's probably a lot of just getting older and tired. I mean, like I'm not old, I'm just older. It's just a fact of life. I mean, you find yourself digging in your ear with a truck key, because that's the closest orgasm you've had in six years. It just feels good. That's an old man move. We didn't do that when we were 23.

Keith Malinak (31:21.358)

Chad Prather (31:22.126)

Yeah, I try to pull away. Naps are fantastic thing. Just relaxing, chilling. I love to go to dinner with my wife. I love going to dinner, just sitting across with a bottle of wine and having a good conversation with my wife. To me, that is the pinnacle of just relaxing and detaching, and that's what I enjoy doing. And that's not just me trying to get some nookie. That's a fact. You're just being honest. I'm happy to go home and go to bed. What kind of music?

Keith Malinak (31:51.352)

dig the you enjoy the most

Chad Prather (31:52.918)

Country music. I like country music. I like all of it. I grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry through a staticky AM radio with my grandfather on Saturday nights. And so that kind of got ingrained in me. The Willie Whalen, Merle, George and George. You know, the Conways, the Patsy, the Dolly, the Loretta's. That's my stuff, you know, I like that. And then those who can kind of hang on to that heritage. Because I think country music is the backbone of America. It's the blue collar story. It is the Monday through Friday.

hard-working man keep your head above water while you keep your family afloat. These days quote stuff coming out of Nashville quote country music is party music. It's not work music. It's Friday night, Saturday night party music. know girl in cut-off blue jeans on a diamond plate tailgate with the truck backed up to a bonfire in the middle of a pasture while the speakers go boom boom and she slips a little something out of a sippy cup. I don't like that stuff. That's just weird.

Keith Malinak (32:45.878)

Yeah, okay. is the most, honestly, the most difficult question when I remember to ask it of my guests here on At The Mic is, what's the last song you had on repeat?

Chad Prather (32:57.83)

well, I would, I could facetiously say my song, the one we just released, He's Still Your President. Facetiously? He's still your president. But yeah. But I, yeah. What was it? It was just the other day. It was, Son of a Gun. I was on the airplane. you know what it was. It was John Mellencamp's acoustic version of Small Town. wow.

Keith Malinak (33:08.748)

That's the answer, that's the answer,

Chad Prather (33:25.132)

Which is a, I love hearing acoustic versions of songs when they take a song and just break it down. I do too. Yeah, and you can hear it, so yeah, was John Kugler, John Mellencamp's acoustic version of Small Town. Very cool. Mm-hmm.

Keith Malinak (33:37.794)

You've got three dogs and their names are Willie, Cash, and June. That's awesome.

Chad Prather (33:43.618)

See? That's right. Yeah. Willie was born on Willie Nelson's birthday, April 28th. So he's coming up on three years. And so my wife wanted to name him Waylon. And I said, no, you can't do that. You can't name something Waylon until you've named it Willie, until you've got a Willie. Because there's no Waylon without a Willie. I love that.

Keith Malinak (34:05.1)

Yeah. That's awesome. Very cool. You know Greek?

Chad Prather (34:08.726)

I do. Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, yura, kappa, lambda, moon, ux, e, om, cron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, epsilon, phi, kip, c, omega. I had a Greek professor who used to say that one day I will be slumped over in a wheelchair in a nursing home just saying that, whispering it under my breath, just the Greek alphabet over and over and over and over again. Yeah, I took a few years of Greek, specifically focusing in Koiné Greek. And Koiné, of course, is the marketplace Greek, which is a dead and defunct language. It's what the New Testament was written in primarily.

other than a couple of Aramaic words here and there. So I took it with a focus on that and then I taught a few years of master's level. No, not at Georgia. I was at Columbia International University. that's where the seminary is, Columbia, South Carolina. Interdenominational seminary. So I did it there and then I taught master's level coigne for a while and I've forgotten a ton of it obviously, but yeah. And so what's interesting is you go to Greece and you start, you're trying to use coigne Greek and they start calling you priest, priest, priest.

Wow. Yeah, it's because it's a dead language. So, but it easily translates over into modern Greek. Okay, so

Keith Malinak (35:15.296)

You have spent over 20 years in third world countries. I think a lot of people would find this surprising.

Chad Prather (35:22.37)

Yeah, especially for a white redneck racist like me that votes conservative. How dare I ever do something like that. Tell us about that. I met my first wife in Nigeria, went all the way to West Africa to meet a white girl from Alabama. So there was that. That was 95. yeah, I kept going back. First trip I ever went on was right after the fall of communism. Went to Moscow, spent 15 miserable days there with no darkness at all during the white nights. And we went over there to teach

a marriage seminar to these, you know, obviously formerly communist people who didn't understand what it meant or even looked like to have a real marriage. Wow. Right? Because they were raised under a whole other thing. we spent the better part of two weeks teaching all-day marriage seminars to these couples, Russian couples, in a porn theater. We had to be out by four o'clock because they had to go back to work.

And now I look back at that and the germaphobe that I am is thinking, holy crap, I can't believe. Just can't believe we were sitting in there and God only knows what filth. But yeah, so I did that and then from there on I spent a lot of time in Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Central America, Guatemala, Honduras. Did I say that? Yeah. And so a lot of time in Africa, different countries I can name, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana.

South Africa, Kenya, Uganda. yeah, Southeast Asia, pretty much all of them. Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, China.

Keith Malinak (36:59.498)

Might have been easier to have your name off the countries you have.

Chad Prather (37:02.35)

Yeah, at that point, yeah. I mean, I've crisscrossed the country. I mean, the only continent I haven't been on is Antarctica, and I'm starting to think about that. Hmm. Well, that's cool. Yeah, sounds cold.

Keith Malinak (37:12.064)

No. Yeah, and I guess they know how to stop the coronavirus down there.

Chad Prather (37:16.59)

Maybe so, yeah, I'm gonna jump on a boat with Greta Thunberg. We'll go down there and drill some ice.

Keith Malinak (37:21.592)

biggest takeaway from seeing these other countries around the world?

Chad Prather (37:26.2)

Well, we're a first world and we take it for granted. We do have privilege. There's nothing like, I can remember the first time I was in Moscow of all places. And don't get me wrong, listen, man, they spent all of their money, know, through the Cold War, they spent all of their money on armament and defense. They didn't spend it on their culture or their people or anything else. I mean, it was a third world country, honest to God. People were not doing well under communism. The whole time I was there, I just wanted Waffle House. Wow. I wanted Waffle House because you can't...

I McDonald's. They had just opened McDonald's there in a couple of locations, three locations in Moscow. I ate it five times in 15 days. Because it was like, my God. We had a Russian official, city official, who invited us to dinner one night and we thought, okay, well, we'll eat some Russian cuisine. what I mean, good, right? So we had vodka and fish sticks. We vodka and fish sticks, man. I'm on board with that, actually.

That's the thing, you know, we go to all these places. I mean, I got dysentery in West Africa, lost 20 pounds in about three or four days one time just from eating some bad chicken. We just take it for granted, man. We're so blessed here. We're just so blessed. And I'm paraphrasing Mark Twain when I say, nothing destroys prejudice like travel, and nothing destroys travel like prejudice.

Once you go out there and see the world for what it is, man, you come home with a whole different viewpoint on humanity.

Keith Malinak (38:50.796)

And people don't like, especially young people these days, they cannot understand how great this country is. And they refuse to believe it. You mentioned Waffle House. You're from the South like me. So how do you get your hash browns at Waffle House?

Chad Prather (39:04.632)

Scatter some other covered chunked and peppered. Wow, you get it all? Yeah, well don't necessarily, I don't get the chili and I don't always get the chunked because I don't necessarily need the ham, but I definitely need the peppers. I like it scattered some other covered and peppered for sure every time. And usually I'll get double browns. I'll double up on them. Do you? That's okay. I like to kill whatever's in it, you know? So I put some jalapenos in there and then cover it with some Tabasco as well. There's nothing better though than that...

Keith Malinak (39:20.546)

I'm a simple man. just do the covered.

Chad Prather (39:33.742)

Texas cheese steak melt with bacon. That's a good sandwich. Maybe I'll try that next time. That's a good sandwich. Okay, very good, very good.

Keith Malinak (39:37.614)

Try that.

Good. What is something you would like to accomplish in your lifetime? And I ask this question knowing that you have already accomplished quite a bit. Is there anything left out there that you're like, man, I still want to do this.

Chad Prather (39:53.55)

I think, and this is one of those things that's against my will, but I just feel like it needs to happen, and that is I want to keep pushing and see that wall chip away and even in some parts get pushed down when it comes to the platform that is Hollywood. You know, I've got an agent in LA, I've got a manager in LA, they're all TV guys, they're all comedy guys, they've been very successful out there, but they're also very conservative. A lot of conservatives in Hollywood. I hate to see the platform that is Hollywood.

that voice that is Hollywood be totally sacrificed to the gods of this world, which I understand, that's what it belongs to. But I still think there's an opportunity to put the voice out there and it's gotten so dark. I would love to see something, if not directly through that, I would love to see someone with some values that share it like us who can go out there and create a level of entertainment industry that rivals what's out there. Will it happen? I don't know, maybe not, but that matters to me.

and I wish it could happen. know people are ready to write it all off and maybe rightly so, but anyway, that's one of the things I'd like to see happen. I'd like to accomplish that. I get scripts all the time. They ask me to read and send in tape for parts. Just had one over the last week. CBS actually requested me by name and said, we want Chad to read for this part. Didn't get it, didn't care, didn't lose any sleep over it. My wife comes, she's like, I'm sorry you didn't get the part. And I was like, I don't care.

I don't care. If it happens, it happens. That's cool. It's not something I'm pursuing. Yeah. But if it happens, it happens. My god, my manager's pursuing it though.

Keith Malinak (41:25.176)

So along that line there about your hopes for Hollywood, does that kind of go into the whole bucket list thing or are there other things?

Chad Prather (41:33.42)

I think it is. think it's one of those, I think that people live by, I mentioned identity, destiny, legacy. I think people live by vision, passion, discipline, and risk. You get a vision for life, see beyond your boundaries. It wakes you up in the morning, gives you passion. Then you're willing to limit your life to control that, to accomplish that vision. And then you risk something in order to accomplish the vision. So for me, I think it's one of those, I can see the vision of that.

You know, I'd love to do, I'd love to even have a bit part in a Clint Eastwood movie. Just because it's iconic and the guy ain't getting any younger and I've got friends of mine who are in Clint Eastwood, they're doing bit parts in Clint Eastwood movies. You know, and I'm like, I want to do that. Put in a good word for me. I don't need to get paid. I'll fly myself out there. I'll feed myself. So there's those kinds of things. You know, that's why I say I kind of have an evolving bucket list. I'll do things that I didn't think were on the bucket list.

Keith Malinak (42:20.405)

Awesome.

Chad Prather (42:30.508)

Like meeting the President of United States. Well, I didn't know I even wanted to do that. Right? Until you do it, then you're like, hey, that was cool. That happened about a year ago. Also right about a year ago. Well, you know how it is when you get around the President of United States, especially Donald Trump, like he's in his own world. He's in Trump world.

Keith Malinak (42:37.26)

Very cool. When did that happen?

Chad Prather (42:52.622)

And so you don't just pop out the camera and start clicking pictures. And people think that when you see these visits to the White House and stuff that you just go in and he's like, oh yeah, come on in and sit down and stuff like that. No, you're in a line. I mean, you have to go through it and it's you're here and then you're gone. And I've seen people who have gone up and talked to the president and then all of sudden somebody just jumped in front of them and they're like, and then it's over with. Like you missed your shot. You didn't get a picture. You didn't even get a handshake. So there's things like that that happen and you know.

If I was black, I'd probably go more often. He's always got black folks in there. He's got all my friends in there. mean, David Harris Jr. has been in there, Diamond and Silk's in there all the time, Terrence Williams in there all the time, Rob Smith's in there all the time, Candice Owens, she's in there all the time. I'm like, I'm a wrong freaking color, man. There it is. I'm a wrong freaking color. I love Trump, though. He's talking about minorities. We were with him at the TPUSA event back in December.

He's giving a speech and Terrence Williams down on the front row and he's like, you know, the black community, you know, it's all time low. Tell them about it, Terrence. You know they love Terrence. They all love Terrence. Terrence, tell them. And I'm like, I'm the wrong color.

Keith Malinak (43:58.318)

Other than wanting to be black is there anything else that maybe people don't know about you that you

Chad Prather (44:06.136)

could share with them? Yeah, you know, I've delivered babies all over the world. I've done a lot of medical work all over the world. That's one of the things that people don't understand. There's no medical help. I used to travel with OBGYNs in these third world countries. used to travel with surgeons. Well, when you're there, they're like, hey, I need you to put your finger right here.

Keith Malinak (44:26.382)

I was gonna ask you did you have before you went on these mission trips? Did you have any medical training background whatsoever? You were thrown in there and said put your finger

Chad Prather (44:32.846)

It started out going to places like Honduras and doing dental work. So I'd pull teeth. I'd work with these oral surgeons. We'd pull teeth. I mean, they just show you how to do it. And then you suture them up, give them a Tylenol, pat them on the ass and say, we're going to vacate before that Tylenol wears off. That's awesome. It's true. Because I mean, imagine they've never had an analgesic in their life. And you just gave them some hardcore Tylenol and they're going to take one. They're going to be feeling the best they've ever felt.

Keith Malinak (44:47.822)

You

Keith Malinak (45:01.922)

Yeah.

Chad Prather (45:02.85)

I mean that's something we take for granted. Perspective. Amazing. Yeah. So we're like, vacate. Fold up the chairs, boys. Let's go. Get on the trucks. Because they're going to be in a lot of pain. But no, they show you how to do it, and that's what we go do. That is really And so then it led to, now you're assisting with C-sections. I passed out one time in Nigeria. And I'm not squeamish at all, but I was in this hospital, quote unquote hospital, cement block walls. I'm all scrubbed in. My buddy, he's OBGYN.

Ladies lay in there. She's you know naked on the table. She's pregnant cuts her openness. These sections are so violent They're so rough because they got to be so quick. Yep, get the baby out You know and get her stitched back up and I was like it was warm in there There was nothing there was no way to breathe and you're just in there with all of that and it just got in my head It got in my head and I said I gotta excuse myself I walked out the hospital had a swinging screen door. I walked out the screen door out the back

and literally stepped off a three foot porch and just collapsed right there in the grass and I was perfectly okay. The little Nigerian nurses come running up, no, no, no, no, I was like, I'm good, I'm good. Propped my feet up on the bumper of a station wagon that was parked out there, let the blood get back to my head. And yeah.

Keith Malinak (46:19.282)

My youngest was delivered via C-section and my experience was just you know they put up the sheet and just having them hold her up to me Just for that two seconds. All right. There's your kid and just enough of the background going on I I nearly did exactly what happened to you and I mean I had the experience that for a couple seconds on the other side of a sheet Yeah, that was that was intense enough for me

Chad Prather (46:25.152)

Kurt, yeah.

Chad Prather (46:43.438)

That was the only time I ever had an event like that. was just... But, yeah, I've seen a lot of things, A lot of death, too. I we've been in places where children have died waiting to get medical attention, and we've had to bury them, had to have a little funeral for them. I mean, it's...

It's just different. You go through West Africa and there's a dead body on the side of the road as you're driving through a city of 10 million people like Lagos, Nigeria, and they just have a members-only jacket covering his head. Nobody wants to touch the body because if you get caught touching the body, they're going to put you responsible, if not blame you, for the dead body. So they just leave it on the street to blow up and swell up in the sun. It's just disgusting. And I'm like, we take that for granted. We think that it's weird that people are crapping on the streets in San Francisco. I have seen women

in Cote d'Ivoire, in Abidjan, in soccer stadiums during an event just hike their skirt up and just stand over a drain and just pee standing up. These are women. They know how to aim that, man. Like that's a skill. I've seen people just defecate everywhere. And we think that's odd in America. That's just culture. Just people.

Keith Malinak (47:52.962)

Thank you. My goodness. Well, Chad, do me a favor. If we ever find ourselves in Atlanta at the same time during baseball season, we're going go to a Braves game together.

Chad Prather (48:02.616)

We should just make a point of it. cool. All right. I guess. I kind of rekindled my love for the Braves when they hired Ron Washington. I was always been a fan of Wash. And so after he left the Rangers and kind of did his whatever public opinion rehab, he wound up with the Braves. I thought that was a good move. But I liked the Braves. I liked the organization. Always have.

Keith Malinak (48:05.454)

I'll be there in an

Keith Malinak (48:26.104)

Young, exciting team. Yeah. Good things on the horizon. Yeah, absolutely. Do think Freddie's elbow is really... No, I... Freddie...

Chad Prather (48:31.864)

He's played at this stage in the game we still think of it as him being a young guy and he is by technical terms but played a lot of seasons. He's 30. A lot of stuff's gone on there. Yeah I mean he's the old Brian McCann right he's become the Chipper Jones in that regard but yeah I like Freddie. I do too. We'll see what happens.

Keith Malinak (48:44.492)

He's the elder statesman of the team.

Keith Malinak (48:54.124)

I love everybody on that team, the Atlanta Braves.

Chad Prather (48:56.686)

I've made a number of friends that play Major League Ball, all through social media. Them following me and becoming fans, if you want to call it that. They've become friends, so it's kind of been interesting to get an inside scoop on different ones.

Keith Malinak (49:08.866)

Now hang on a second. Okay, Ozzy Albies, does he follow you? You what? Check that. If he does, might want to send him message. Ozzy has me blocked and I have no idea why I've never said anything critical about him, whether on the air or on Twitter, but somehow I got blocked by Ozzy Albies about a year ago and it's

Chad Prather (49:12.866)

I don't think so.

Chad Prather (49:30.712)

I'm not gonna lie, hurts. That happened with me two years ago with Nicole Arbor. If you follow Nicole Arbor, she's funny girl, real smart, good political commentary, cultural commentary, and she blocked me. And I was like, what the heck? So my buddy Aubrey Huff that won two World Series with the Giants, he was with her in Vegas, and I said, ask her why she blocked me. So she sent me a message. She goes, I think my account was hacked. I have no idea. don't recall it. I'm like, okay, bitch.

You

Keith Malinak (50:02.302)

Alright, well there you go. Chad Prather, watchchad.com. That's the simple way, everything's there.

Chad Prather (50:09.654)

Everything's there music podcast podcast merch my merch you name it all kind of stuff For everyone at watch chat. It's all about watch chat. Yeah, watch just grams the same way when

Keith Malinak (50:15.628)

And what is your Twitter handle?

Keith Malinak (50:21.13)

In doubt, just type in watch Chad and you'll get to- Chad Prather everybody of Blaze TV and so much more. Thank you for spending time. Really appreciate it.

Chad Prather (50:24.32)

Nailed it.

Chad Prather (50:30.318)

Thank you, buddy.