John Ratzenberger interview: Why skilled trades matter

In honor of National Skilled Trades Day, we are hitting the MyFixitUpLife talk show interview vault and sharing an interview with John Ratzenberger and his take on why having a skilled trade is important. 

We first saw him as Cliff Clavin on Cheers and loved him on Toy Story and Monsters Inc, but did you know John Ratzenberger is a skilled tradesman? Specifically, he’s a skilled framer.

Our interview with John Ratzenberger

“Because I know how valuable it is. I know how valuable having carpentry skills was to me, it still is, because I can do anything in the world with a confidence to know that I have a skill that no one can steal from me.

“I have a skill that will enable me to get work anywhere I go. How many people can actually say that?” says John Ratzenberger.

John Ratzenberg can frame houses

Mark: You started out, before you were acting and before you were a voice actor and all of this Pixar and Disney movies, I hope I have that right, knocking a couple hunks of wood together and building houses, you’re a house framer, 16 centers, headers, the whole thing.

John: I can actually tell when they’re building houses, this happened to me the other day, they’re building a new house and I knew that the header was at least a quarter inch out of square.

Mark: You could see it.

John: I saw it from the road.

Mark: Yes.

Theresa: I love that.

John: I stopped and I told the foreman and I said, “The header is about a quarter inch out of whack.” He was like blah, blah, blah, who are you anyways. “Measure it.” It was a quarter inch.

Theresa: Wow.

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