Former Bert Show cast member Jeff Dauler, on Tuesday’s episode of his successful podcast “Upside” with his wife Callie, seemed to refer to his former boss Bert Weiss as a “bully” after Weiss’ firing of Davi Crimmins last week from the Bert Show.
Dauler never brought up either Weiss or Crimmins by name but he made it very clear what he was talking about contextually.
He admitted upfront that he didn’t know anything about what specifically happened to Crimmins. He wasn’t there. But he basically offered her advice based on his own departure and fraught post-show relationship with Weiss. (They are no longer friends.)
In 2016, Dauler left the Bert Show after the show run by Weiss left him dangling without a contract for eight months. He soon joined rival Star 94 for a short run with fellow Bert Show alum Jenn Hobby. Star fired him in 2019 and he is now working the podcast with his wife where he said he felt Hobby “turned her back on me” when the chips were down.
Weiss announced Crimmins’ departure last week on air and said there were chemistry issues off air without specifying who Crimmins had issues with. He went out of his way to compliment her sense of humor and pure talent but said the work atmosphere had become insufferable and he had to make a change. He said he would not comment further.
Crimmins eventually released a statement that addressed the “chemistry” issue: “I’m as shocked and disappointed as our listeners. I have put forth every effort to solve the chemistry issue and improve the off air relationship. My efforts were noticed and complimented by management. I wish I had more answers for our listeners but at this time I’m going to concentrate on my next move.”
She was still under contract for two more years.
Dauler, again without naming specific names, said the person who has the microphone and the audience and chooses “to say harmful or hurtful things about the other person, then they’re a bully. They’re mean... They’re cruel... No matter how they disguise it or what makeup they put on it, it’s still the same thing. It’s bullying. That’s not what decent people do.”
He advised Crimmins to stay silent. He did note that she may be choosing to keep her comments minimal because of contractual issues, not out of some level of nobility.
“It is tempting to try to reply and throw things out, to try to grab the knives they’re throwing at you and throw them back. Don’t do it. At the end of the day, you’re going to be the bigger person. You are the person who just rode it out. Let everything happen as it would and you can go to bed with that peace at night for the rest of your life. The bully who treated you poorly will always be the bully.”
And Dauler said, in the end, “it will work out exactly how it should.”
Dauler did not respond to a follow-up inquiry via text on why he chose to address the situation. On the podcast, he said he had a flood of texts from people seeking his thoughts because of his past associations with the Bert Show so he decided to give them what they want.
Weiss said he hadn’t heard what Dauler said and had no comment.
Crimmins said, “It was very moving to hear such compassionate advice from an old friend and mentor.” She came to the Bert Show in 2012 as an intern and worked multiple jobs before joining the on-air cast full time in 2018. So she and Dauler overlapped for four years.
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