Laughter as Resistance: Compeau's Recipe for Political Commentary
Jun 13, 2024
Kelly Tshibaka and Niki Tshibaka
How does an ice sculpture of Al Gore critique climate change, and what can a viral video about spy balloons teach us about blending humor with business? Join us for a riveting conversation with Craig Compost, a daring entrepreneur from Fairbanks, Alaska, as he tackles the complex issue of immigration at the US border, armed with alarming statistics and a dose of sharp wit. Craig's innovative approach to business, offering exclusive discounts to those he deems hardworking and law-abiding, adds a refreshing twist to his narrative. His humorous yet poignant stories, including his viral ice sculpture of Al Gore, serve as a testament to his unique blend of humor and creativity in addressing serious topics.
In another compelling segment, discover the inspirational journey of John Sturgeon, whose relentless battle against the National Park Service led to two unanimous Supreme Court victories and a powerful statement for state rights. We also feature insightful discussions about the critical role of humor in today's charged political climate, highlighted by a whimsical moment involving a Hunter Biden sticker that sparked a viral video on spy balloons. This episode promises a blend of humor, wisdom, and stirring tales of resilience, providing a captivating experience for anyone interested in the intersection of business, politics, and personal courage. Tune in for an episode that not only entertains but also enlightens and inspires.
How does an ice sculpture of Al Gore critique climate change, and what can a viral video about spy balloons teach us about blending humor with business? Join us for a riveting conversation with Craig Compost, a daring entrepreneur from Fairbanks, Alaska, as he tackles the complex issue of immigration at the US border, armed with alarming statistics and a dose of sharp wit. Craig's innovative approach to business, offering exclusive discounts to those he deems hardworking and law-abiding, adds a refreshing twist to his narrative. His humorous yet poignant stories, including his viral ice sculpture of Al Gore, serve as a testament to his unique blend of humor and creativity in addressing serious topics.
In another compelling segment, discover the inspirational journey of John Sturgeon, whose relentless battle against the National Park Service led to two unanimous Supreme Court victories and a powerful statement for state rights. We also feature insightful discussions about the critical role of humor in today's charged political climate, highlighted by a whimsical moment involving a Hunter Biden sticker that sparked a viral video on spy balloons. This episode promises a blend of humor, wisdom, and stirring tales of resilience, providing a captivating experience for anyone interested in the intersection of business, politics, and personal courage. Tune in for an episode that not only entertains but also enlightens and inspires.
you're back on stand with kelly and joseph. Today we are interviewing craig compost, fearless businessman up in fairbanks, alaska, selling the most extreme power sports equipment you could ever possibly want and he's a conservative. Doesn't get much better than that. We've been talking with mr campo about a lot of issues just pertaining to business models and really just people not having enough humor in politics and speaking of issues, I'd like to turn Mr Campo's to a little bit of a heavier matter, not so light on the hearts of many, and that just being the issue at our US border. So we have a lot of immigrants coming over the border, a lot of really desperate people who are in dire situations of need, and then also a lot of really bad people who are coming in and committing crimes increasing the drug cartel, human trafficking, pushing fentanyl to our children, lacing everything with just horrible substances. What's your take on the immigration crisis affecting the US?
Speaker 3:
Well, I think it is the number one issue going on currently in this country. I mean, the stat I couldn't wrap my head around was yeah, there's 7.3 million migrants that have crossed the border since Biden biden was sworn in. That's more than the population of 36 states. I, I had to check that out, I couldn't believe that more than the population of 38, 36 states just since he took office. Um, we're not vetting these people? Uh, we're, and we're taking care of them. I mean we're taking care of them. I mean we're taking care of all these people and the cost is just extraordinary, from housing to education, to incarceration, when they do get a car, I mean everything is just a major cost that our great grandkids are going to be paying for forever. We have to turn it around. That is number one. Nationally, we don't see it as bad in Alaska. Maybe you do in Anchorage, but we don't see it as bad. But it's coming and it's coming fast and we have to stop this.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate that. You've also taken a crack at handling this topic with humor and so you made an immigration-related ad for Compose. That kind of compares and contrasts legal US citizens with those who've entered the US illegally, so we want to share that ad with our audience right now. Let's roll that ad.
Speaker 3:
Hey, it's Craig from Compost. If you've been listening to the news lately the border, the drug problem, it's pretty scary. But we're celebrating here by having a huge Can-Am sale on all our ATVs and side-by-sides we're doubling the savings. So if the rebates are a thousand, you save two grand. If it's three grand, you save six. But there's a catch this sale is only good for hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens in this country. If that's you, we've got your back. If not, sorry you're paying full price.
Speaker 2:
Compos doing business in Fairbanks since Harry Truman was president.
Speaker 4:
All right, that's such a creative way of taking on this pressing issue of immigration and something that's on everybody's mind, and then using it to promote your sale at Compos. Is this sale still happening or is this kind of a dated ad, craig?
Speaker 3:
We've just introduced a new ad that's coming out, so this one just ran its course through the end of the outdoor show last week. But the whole whole idea is you know, we are, we are, we are giving a benefit to hard-working, tax-paying legal residents of this country. If you're not in that category, you're paying full boat. Now, granted, I'm not gonna. We don't sell to illegal immigrants as a rule anyway, so I'm not losing any sales, but it makes people feel better about you know what? I do pay my taxes and I don't get a free hotel room. I do. I do bust my butt all year and and I don't get a handout. So so I'm rewarding those people that are doing it right. And it's that simple. And never had one negative comment on that ad in 30 days. Every I've run into people that Fred Meyers is safe way and they go. I love that at law abiding citizen ad, yeah, so, so it's kind of got its own legs now. Up here it's. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:
And I thought about it when.
Speaker 3:
I went. When I first thought about it I thought I hadn't heard anybody use that theme anywhere nationally or anything. I said, yeah, we're going to. We're going to do it here.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, I love that and it's probably one that you'll be able to run again and get just as much positive response. You've even gotten positive response nationally. I saw the interview that you did with Neil Cavuto on Fox, and this one yeah, this one's classic and timeless. So, for those who aren't aware of Mr Craig Campo's national profile, you had commissioned an ice sculpture of Al Gore but kind of think of it like the presidential busts that you see in a museum and he, they did it out of ice, but it had al gore's mouth opened very wide, and then you ran a was it the gas muffler? The?
Speaker 3:
truck, 460 ford, three-quarter ton, with a hose coming out. We drilled a hole in the back of his neck and he's so as he's, as we're playing his Copenhagen speech under green lights, he's, he's belching out exhaust, yeah.
Speaker 4:
So it was it was Caboodle.
Speaker 3:
It became the number two story on Drudge. It was on Fox News. I got interviewed by Caboodle, but it was also on Hannity. It was on Ingram. It was all over the place. It went viral.
Speaker 4:
I mean such a profound way to show demonstrably Al Gore's blowing smoke about the climate change crisis, and you live it daily in Fairbanks, Alaska. So tell us that story.
Speaker 3:
Well, yeah, and so it was. We're not seeing all the oceans coming up crazy and all this propaganda that Gore had, and so we had invited him up to debate, literally got a hold of his office in Tennessee and they had said that there was a conflict on the Times and went back to my email. We had never offered a time. We said we can work around your schedule. So it was a typical response. He didn't want to debate the issue and I had um bjorn lomborg, um sarah palin actually, I think was governor at the time and she I talked to her because we used to support her husband in a snow machine racing and she was willing to debate him one-on-one on the global warming issue up here, um and uh, and we had professor akasofu from the university, who also was engaged. So we were trying to really use a little humor and bring this to the forefront for some real conversation.
Speaker 3:
You know that was an extremely cold winter. We had 87 days where I didn't get above 20. We had 61 below, you know. So it was great and it was fun to interview with Neil Cabuto. We got, so we've got some good airtime and it was a. We got a, we got a message out. That's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, I think that's really good. You also tackled the issue of international foreign policy with the Chinese spy balloon. For those who don't remember, last year we had a spy balloon from China travel all the way across the United States and just for the longest time our national intelligence community just could not figure out what this unidentified flying object was, and it was over Alaska airspace as it entered the United States, and so you created a video about that and we want to show everybody that video. Let's roll that video real quick.
Speaker 2:
So my name is Craig Campo, lifelong resident up here in northern Alaska, probably heard about the item that was shot out of the sky, whatever it was. So we heard a bunch of fighter jets last night and out in the backyard, where there's some debris, that fell down. I've called the authorities but nobody showed up. We're going to go check it out. Oh my gosh, it was from China.
Speaker 1:
I'll be down. That is a phenomenal video, Mr Craig. What inspired you to make this video about the spy balloons?
Speaker 3:
It was a Saturday at work, it was kind of slow that day and I walked by my you know, this was all over the news and I walked by my secretary's desk and I saw her laptop sitting there and I went. I said this will be fun, I just made a Hunter Biden sticker for the laptop. Laptop sitting there and I went. I said this will be fun, I just made a Hunter Biden sticker for the laptop. Then I thought, oh yeah, yeah, it could have fallen out of the sky, you know. So I just randomly did it in about 15 minutes right in front of our shop, just sent it to my guy that puts stuff on Facebook and it went viral.
Speaker 3:
I mean, it got a lot of hits and and I didn't even expect that I was just burning time on a Saturday but it wasn't so much promoting our business, it was just having a little fun with politics, which, again, people need to laugh more. That's what's wrong with this country. We're not laughing enough. We've got to. You know, it is so contentious these issues, and I don't care if you're a Republican, a Democrat, independent. We all need to laugh more, and so that's. I put that stuff out there on our website.
Speaker 4:
We've got it on our Facebook page and we just about half of everything we put out there is intended to make somebody laugh a little bit. Yeah, just bringing some humor to truthful situations, which is a really great way to take a stand and change culture and change minds. I want to pivot a little bit and just get a little bit more serious, get some wisdom from you as a leader in our Fairbanks community and as a successful businessman. I would just like to hear a story from you about a time that you've had to take a stand and how it impacted you or changed you or prepared you as a leader and as a person.
Speaker 3:
No, I probably started. Well, federal overreach has always been. You know, I'm part of the laundry house gang, a group of about 30 up here that meet, have met 42 years in a row every Wednesday and our big mission is to try and push back on overreach and keep Alaska Alaskan. And so when Jim Wild had that case on the Yukon River where the park service tasered him and you know, guy was just trying to go put meat in the freezer and they thought he was trying to escape to canada and it was just and we got behind that guy in court. We helped him out financially. This was, this was the uh predecessing case to the sturgeon case. Um and and so that kind of overreach where I said that could have been me, I could have been me going out hunting with my family and all of a sudden you're being facedown in the mud, handcuffed, tasered. What is wrong here? This is not Alaska, this is the Alaska. My dad, you know, brought me up in and so, and then that and that the next case was the Sturgeon case.
Speaker 3:
And I I boat with I've seen John Sturgeon up on the nation river for years. We never talked to each other because we're all doing our own thing Not many people. He'd run his hovercraft. I ran my jet boat and it was in 2007. I was up there and that was the year he got pulled over and and and John's really the one that that carried the heavy load on this one, because nobody else.
Speaker 3:
I shouldn't say that I probably would have done the same thing. A lot of people would have looked at the legal cost and and just said you know, it's not worth it, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna go boating there anymore, but he's one of us. He's one of us that would say to hell with that. I, I'm not gonna take it anymore. Like the guy in the movie says, and and you know, john, you know I remember the park service telling John.
Speaker 3:
His quote was you can go ahead and do what you want to do. We've got a room full of attorneys and he was on the sat phone with his attorney and he said we're going to fight this. Go ahead and let him. He couldn't even drive his boat back to the landing. He had to call another boat to have it lifted into that boat to take it back. How ridiculous is that. And it just that angered him enough where he says I'm not going to let this go, and I have so much respect for John Sturgeon and so we helped him raise $1.6 million and two unanimous Supreme Court decisions, so that kind of has. That gave us some momentum, even though the Park Service is trying to rewrite all the definitions in there and pretend it isn't so. But that was a big win and so I was proud to be part of that. And that was probably the big one in my history is the Sturgeon decision.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, that was a huge case for state rights and I appreciate you telling that story. It's just a great example, an inspirational story of how everyday Americans can make an extraordinary difference just by taking a stand for freedom for truth and a government led by us, the people, not by the National Park Service and the federal government. Thanks, craig, we appreciate what you've shared with us. Thanks for being on the show.