I spent a day with MORTICIANS 

come back in a couple weeks for *I spent a day with CONTORTIONISTS* UNCENSORED ON SPOTIFY ▸ open.spotify.com/show/5aOLuPenneHbhLh05fmkeu UNCENSORED ON APPLE ▸ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-spent-a-day-with/id1550213250

Their appearances: 🔪🖤💀🌹🕸 Their personalities: 💖✨ 🌼🤗🌈

Victor M. Sweeney is the most mortician name to ever exist. It’s like Tim Burton himself wrote it.

I can’t get over how much Victor Looks like a mortician… from like the 50s. Can someone look like a mortician? Well, Victor does. It’s a vibe and I’m here for it.

The way Victor said “Give me the rest of the day, how did it go?” and leaned forward he is so compassionate and such a great listener! Beyonce is a queen she is so gentle.

I love how Victor was in so many interviews he's actually beloved

My brother passed away by a car accident earlier this year. The mortician tried their best to make him presentable so we could see him, but they ultimately recommended we not see him. It was heartbreaking, but the mortician was so kind and compassionate.

I teared up when Breyonce said that she referred to her people as though they were still alive. Something about the idea of, despite death, we still carry the things that make us who we are, is so touching and comforting to me. I lost a very close relative to a long disease not too long ago, and this set something in me at ease. Thank you.

Breyonce is not someone you would ever take for being a mortician but once she starts speaking of it she sounds like the most gentle mortician honestly.

If Victor isn't my mortician I'm not dying. I really like what he said about emotional attachment. "The ones who are detached from the emotional side of it are not good at their job. You have to be connected to humanity to serve humanity." it reminds me of a quote from Law and Order Special Victims Unit "don't worry when you feel something...worry when you stop." Emotions sucks, but they're part of humanity. If you lack that part....it's time to be concerned. And when it comes to fear of death, for me personally, I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of what's after. Like the fear of the unknown. Dying is easy. No need to be scared of that. But what comes next? Hmm.

I saw Victor's Wired interviews, Mortician Support. He's got quite the sense of humor and humble attitude. He explained his job in a way that is not morbid like you would think.

I love how the two people Anthony got for the interview are someone who is basically a stereotype of a mortician from a movie (god that jawline and style!) and then someone who I would never expect to be one on the first glance. Really shows the range of people working in this curious profession!

When my boyfriend shot himself and died, I was amazed at how well they put his face back together. Thank you for the work you do, you made the last image I had of him not the fragments of his skull and teeth but his original vessel. His soul was gone, but at least I could say good bye to him without being traumatized.

It's fascinating to see their approaches to death and life, from Victor's deep respect for the dead to Breyonce's energy to live every moment.

Breyonce deserves more love in the comments! She seems like such a genuine, kind and caring person.

I absolutely loved the guests. Breyonce is awesome, she has such a gentle soul and it shows she cares for her job. Victor is so calming and makes death so natural and not scary. They both make it so vulnerable and humanizing and it's beautiful

the way breyonce highlights still referring to deceased people as ‘miss’ and ‘mister’ made me feel so warm. my grandma just recently passed and i love to imagine the morticians that worked with her still giving her that humility 💖

Three things I feel I need to share without delving too deep: 1) Anthony's curls are looking especially divine, and his chicken in boiling water comment made me laugh 2) Victor is a literal angel and I hope he's doing well, as well as his family 3) Breyonce is Mother Death and I would do anything for her 🖤

Breyonce deserves more love in the comments. Her compassion and gentleness when she speaks about the dead is so appreciated and inspiring!

I fuckin love these people’s’ personalities. When he said “really? Give me the rest of the day, how did it go” you could tell hes engaged and thinking. Awesome people

Victor is so well spoken and put together! He’s extremely intelligent, but just as humble about it. He seems so wise- like knowledge gained outside of text books or studied in school.

My grandma had dementia. In her last few years, I couldn't even stand to look at pictures of her. She wasn't her anymore, didn't know who I was, and her whole FACE was different. When I got to see her at the viewing, I was so thankful and overwhelmed, she looked like her again. I got to say my thank yous and goodbyes, knowing she could hear me for the first time in years. So much respect for morticians.

Breyonce is so sweet. I love how kind she is to the people she works with. It’s so imporant

My dad was a mortician and I wanted to do that so bad, but schooling is so difficult to find and afford. He passed away and left me with all his personal stuff, including general notes he took and his mortorary coat. I hold a high level of respect for those in the foeld, because like my dad said: They are helping those who can no longer help themselves.

lowkey want both guests in one room so i can listen to them talk to each other about their experiences

As a fellow funeral director I have to say, Victor is the kind of person we love to see representing our job in a respectful, and professional way. I really appreciate all he is doing and the way he speaks of what we do.

Breyonce is so so sweet, I love how open she is about all of the emotional aspects. Made me tear up a few times there, just wanna give her a hug 🥺 I really liked watching a longer interview with Victor too

Victor and Breyonce seem like such genuinely wonderful people. It was pleasure learning more about this from them

Victor talking about witnessing his first decedent was so captivating. You can tell the level of respect he carries for these people. It’s beautiful

im in love with how victor and Anthony were literally just like having a therapy session for each other, it didn't feel like an interview at all it was more of a casual conversation between friends

The last few days before my grandpa passed, I couldn’t recognize him. He had such a big presence and his disease had him so small and fragile in bed. When we had his funeral, I was in absolute awe of how amazing he looked in the casket. That was my grandpa that I knew and loved and I am forever grateful I got to see him like that at least before we buried him. I’m so thankful to the mortician who worked hard for our family. Also to add I knew who victor was but I didn’t know Breyonce and she is so pretty and really cool!

It would be a nice juxtaposition to do a round two featuring Caitlin Doughty (Ask A Mortician), and other eco-morticians. There's a pretty fast growing movement of death care that's focused on encouraging family to be more involved, and looking into different alternate solutions to standard funeral practices.

i delt with the death of one of my friends at 14. the way the body was at the funeral was deeply disturbing to me and i still struggle with flashbacks and intrusive thoughts a few years later. i’ve been finding victor calmly talking about this here and in other interviews so helpful to safely think about the upsetting experiences and emotions i carried. if someone who is struggling with similar things reads this, i hope it can help you too. i hope victor knows how many people he is helping just by talking about his job. fly high z 🕊

As someone in mortuary school right now I love to see people sitting down with actual morticians and talking about what actually goes on!

Can you do I spent a day with Veterinarians? I feel like that would be interesting in how they mentally deal with their jobs

It helps my heart to know that after my friends body was dragged down the stairs in a body bag...someone treated him with dignity and respect.

I love how Victor seems exactly like the type of person to be a mortician, but I also love how Breyonce isn’t who you’d typically see in the industry

They both seem like the most wonderful people

None of the top comments are talking about how Breyonce looks and acts nothing that you would expect a mortician to look and act like, and Victor is the exact opposite. Not as stereotyping, more as humor. How someone so full of life can be so caring about death, and someone so careful with death has such a care with life.

Breyonce is someone you wouldn't think is a mortician but she's so lovely and lively it really does make you wanna live your life. She's so captivating 😭

it’s not the same as a person of course, but i watched my dog’s body sit in the garage for two days after she passed. decomposition absolutely goes quicker than you would think and trust me you do not want to see anyone you love change in that way. it’s absolutely a gift that these morticians give to the deceased’s loved once’s to preserve and “bring back” the original look of someone who’s died, and it’s such bs that some characterize the profession as weird or creepy

Wish Ask a Mortician was on here. I freaking LOVE HER! But excited to watch other morticians as well

I’m so thankful for morticians. My sister passed a month ago and I’m still grieving a bit. They tried their best with the makeup, though my sister looked a little bit grey on her cheeks, which didn’t help the overwhelming denial I was experiencing at the time- I kept having thoughts that she wasn’t actually dead- and that there was just a hyper realistic wax figure in her place I dearly dearly miss her- as her little sister, she was my idol. She was successful, thoroughly beautiful (inside and out), and it was incredibly difficult to accept her death and how she died. A couple days later I kept thinking about how the morticians will fix her up- make her look like she was just sleeping, gosh. It feels so unreal… If there’s an afterlife, I shall reunite with my sister.. one day in the future.

When my grandpa passed a few years ago before he did I didn’t really recognize him as himself and then when it was the open casket I saw just him looking peaceful and he honestly looked like him before he was sick. I miss him so much but I’m grateful that he is at peace

I’ve been working at my local funeral home for nearly a year now as the housekeeper. I’ve gotten multiple raises & was offered to go from part-time to full-time. Needless to say, I love my work family & it’s safe to say they love me! I have always wanted to be a Last Responder, but never knew where to start, because I thought it wouldn’t be a practical job for me because I deal with mental illnesses daily and I used to not be able to even get out of bed. However, working around death put some life back into me & my passion to become a mortician had been reignited when my cousin had passed back in October. My coworkers are extremely supportive of me wanting to go to mortuary school & have been teaching me a lot. I’m more comfortable with talking to people now - in fact, I love meeting new people! - and I have more control of my mental health. Now, I just to have to stay focused on not talking myself out of going to mortuary school because backing out of things I desperately want is a toxic trait of mine🥴 I’m just glad I’ve finally figured out what I’m on this earth for at such a young age because I never thought I’d be successful after I dropped out of college a few years ago. I would’ve been a college junior had I stayed, but my heart wasn’t in it. I can tell my heart is in the funeral business because I want to be able to give families a final, beautiful viewing of their loved ones no matter the cause of death.

VICTOR'S BACK!!! God, this man needs to make a youtube channel, id love to hear him talk about his job all day

Breyonce is so cute and passionate about this! Victor has a buddhist peace about him, I love them both.

as someone who is currently studying to be a mortician, thank you so much for doing this interview. i think a lot of morticians get a bad rep because of stereotypes in the media and societal taboos around death and this really helped to break down some of that and show the profession in the same light as any other job.

I absolutely love how Breyonce so much respect for the deceased and has so much compassion for them and for what she does even after all the time she's been working as a mortician.

This career is a calling. And so so important. The care these people provide the living who mourn and all the respect they give the deceased. My father died a few months ago after losing his battle with addiction and all the help we got with his arrangements. The compassion they gave my family when we were all in very different grieving spaces was so beautiful. My mother was able to remember her husband as the man he was at his best because of them. And I’ll forever be grateful for that.

Morticians are such interesting people. Detached yet kind. The last gift you can give a person. Also Breyonce's outfit is 🔥. Those boots are amazing

In a world that has too many podcasts, Victor is a person that I want a podcast from. Anything that I can listen to him being passionate and funny and just vibing. Dude is a treasure.

I love how this video starts with "are morticians really just morbid freaks?" and then Anthony asks Breyonce why she chose this job and she goes on to be a morbid freak xD She seems like a sweet and compassionate person. I really enjoyed how thorough her answers were and you could also see how much she respects the people she works with.

Victor's personality attitude, and perspective in regards of his job is genuinely amazing, makes you feel comfortable taking about death. mad respect for both of them.

BREYONCE’S STYLE IS AMAZING 🙏

My sister is a morticians apprentice and I’m shocked at how much she’s learned but also how intimate her job truly is. Normally in movies you see pale, grim, creepy men as morticians but it’s way more loving and intricate than that. God Bless morticians!

I've had a fascination with death since I was kid like Breyonce, and I knew since I was in middle school that I wanted to work as a mortitian..sadly I'm turning 24 this year and I still haven't followed any career path in mind because I always felt so lost about life in general, and this video ignited in me the passion I always had for this job since childhood. I'll definitely take Victor's advice and start looking for a place to get hired even if I only have to clean around, honestly I will be satisfied with my life just being in a space related to death lol

The setting of features was so fascinating to me when I got into the field. I remember I had a man who was a mechanic in life. He was in terrible shape for a natural death. He suffered from awful chronic pain and the expression that his face defaulted to was an awful grimace. Like full pinched eyebrows and tight lips as if he was clenching his jaw. Nothing we did could soften his expression and I had never known that was something that could occur.

You should do an interview exclusively with Caitlin Doughty (Ask a Mortician), she is so fascinating, kind and funny. She deserves her own episode. She helped me be more comfortable with my and my loved ones mortality. Especially when I lost my first family member.

This really made me realize embalming is a form of art. The attention to detail and going above and beyond for the families in sensitive times is really admirable

Victor M. Sweeney is one of my favorite people in this world, I enjoy every video he has ever participated in because he always approaches any given subject with respect. He also is so calm and helps you understand the technicalities, especially for someone like me who always wanted to follow that path, his process makes me hyped every single time.

Anthony! Daddy Padildo! please interview Caitlin from Ask a Mortician for a future episode relating to the newer ideas behind cremation and aquamation(sp?), and green burials! she is so fun and informative and I want to see her charity get more publicity as well

The way u can hear their voice break multiple times is hearthbreaking

Breyonce and Victor are so sweet. They deserve a great appreciation for doing this job and being so kind and caring not only to the deceased but to the family of the deceased.

He did a beautiful job of explaining our career and not making it creepy or morbid. You can tell he isn’t here to gain social credit, but to educate. Excellent job Victor ❤

I had a physical reaction when Anthony said you grieve and then move on...that's not really true. Grief isn't something that goes away. I lost my dad six years ago now and I still grieve for him. It's just not constant anymore. It comes in waves and the waves just get further and further apart. My analogy is that it is like there's a huge hole in the ground. You know it's there and you learn to avoid it, but occasionally you still fall in.

When she mentioned children and babies it broke my heart cause I never really thought about that :(

my nana passed away last September, when I saw her in the hospital hooked up to everything, it was terrifying. it wasn’t her!! but when I saw her at the viewing and the funeral in the open casket, she looked so so youthful and beautiful. i am so thankful for these people who make it their goal to bring calmness and remembrance to the toughest time in our lives.

Victor gave me a whole new perspective on death and made it a lot easier in my mind. Everyone one on here were great and amazing people.

I was hoping Caitlin from Ask a Mortician would be in this video but I assume her move is keeping her really busy nowadays. I was also hoping the morticians would be asked about The Mortuary Assistant game. Still an amazing video! Really happy I saw Victor in this episode. His Wired's Tech Support videos were awesome!

This is my favorite episode. Have I been watching Caitlin's videos for years. Absolutely love Victor. My only disappointment is that Caitlin was not in the video.

They both have very calming voices. That’s good for the families that have the loved one who’s passed

My friend just died a few days ago and this video gives a little peace knowing she is being cared for. I miss her so much but thank you for this video. RIP my beautiful friend.

“you have to be connected to humanity to serve and protect humanity” that is a perfect thing to say. This should be a policy for every job where you have to work with humans especially in a passionate way

Haven't watched yet but I immediately thought of ask a mortician

Victor is so professional and at the same time empathic.

Anthony, I can totally relate to the present grieving vs the past. It’s because the day we learned of their death, we still knew them to be alive. The next day they’re gone and the past memories come forward, since their living is no longer the present. My mom passed away 4 years ago from a fatal heart attack. I requested to go up and see her before the ambulance took her away. This was my way of finding acceptance and peace from her passing. It is completely surreal. Seeing someone you love completely lifeless. The day before, my mom would’ve looked at me with loving eyes and interacted with me. After death, she was a statue of herself, not blinking or breathing. This may be too much for some people, but I had to see her in her final moments to familiarize myself with what happened to her. It helped me grieve.

Both of these people are so fucking awesome!! I feel like this definitely helps to break the stereotype ab morticians being some sort of psychopaths too bc they’re literally just people trying to make a living & on top of that they’re both so empathetic,, ALSO BREYONCE IS A QUEEN OMFG PLZ IM IN LOVE W HER❤️❤️❤️ the style, the personality, everything is givinggg, & it’s empowering to see as a young woman

When my mother in law died, I remember two people very specifically. The nurse in her hospice wing that was extremely kind and empathetic, and the funeral director who got us through the viewing and burial and funeral, and he was extremely sympathetic and connected to us. It's very important.

The craziest part for me was learning how when people die, whether they were more of a happy, or more of a sad person, will show within their death with how the body will naturally position itself. That's real fascinating.

i love victor, his name rocks and he's just so kind and well spoken. i hope everything is going okay with him

There is this K-drama called May I Help You, where one of the main charachters is also a mortician and the drama taught me exactly everything this video taught me too. That there is way more to the process and there are so many people and emotions involved. I'm truly grateful to all the morticians out there because they are truly strong and kind people that help both the living and dead.

I loved this episode. Breyonce and Victor seem like phenomenal people in their field. Would have also loved to see Caitlin Doughty!

Dear god, it was so hard to get through this episode. I absolutely loved it, but each description, each story, each encounter with death... Had me sobbing, I was ready to cry my eyes out.

i have such respect for these people, i could never do it, and it really takes a special kind of person to be able to do it

Love love LOVE the death talks! I’ve been a Caitlin Doughty fan for years. The only thing I have an issue with, and this may have not been intentional, was Victor saying that the reason morticians embalm is for public health. Unless the deceased has a communicable illness, no one is at true risk from a dead body decomposing. This is harmful because it spreads fear around any form of natural burial/alternative funeral practices!! Just throwing it out there!

Caitlin Doughty would have been amazing for this episode! She’s the author of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory” and has introduced lots of people to the idea of a Good Death! 🖤

This is one of the only episodes where I've cried, and nothing was really sad either. It's more tears about finding out that people care about people when others wouldn't, it gives me comfort in knowing that.

When the day comes me and or/ my brother and sister have to deal with a mortician: I hope they’re as sweet and understanding as these two are

My grandfather has been a mortician my entire life so I’ve always had respect for the professional through him. appreciate the kindness of these folks

It's great seeing someone like Breyonce in this line of work. She looks like a dope friend I could have, just a regular, fun lady who has an unusual job.

My husband died of cancer in 2012. My son was murdered in 2018. My life has come to a stand still. I cannot move on.

Caitlin doughty would be amazing to see on this show. She is a mortician with so many interesting opinions on death and burials. She also does historical videos exploring mortality and the culture of funeral homes and death itself.

Sometimes certain topics get a part two, this is one I'd love to see get a part two! Especially since this kinda covered "classic" embalming and the most common sort of experience people will have with a Mortician. If we get a second video I'd really like to see Caitlin from Ask a Mortician, because she's all about making sure alternative methods are known when the family has to decide what's going to work for their family member, and Anthony always coming in with just the best questions as an interviewer, I think the episode would turn out stellar!

Victor has such a gift with the way he explains things and speaks to people. I imagine he brings a lot of families comfort and peace.

About the topic Anthony said in the minute 14:40: "When I saw her the next day, it felt like a memory" and the mortician person complementing his idea: "The night before a funeral is for looking backwards, but the day of the funeral is for looking fowards" I'm totally agree with his statement. Unfortunately my grandma passed away on July 23th of this year, her last wish was not have a funeral, she doesn't like the tradition here in Mexico (even when she was a religious person) because here is quite common keep vigil over the body of the deceased person at least one or two days after the dead and then the funeral and the process of the burial. The next nine days, your family goes to a religious event called "novenario" where you pray for person who was deceased to wish that his soul reaches heaven soon. My grandma thought this tradition is painful for the people who is alive, because you are extending the trauma of the event many days, that's the reason why she decided be cremated and she refuses to have a funeral and a proper burial of her ashes too, instead she preferred being burial with her parents in her home town. The big problem here is my family doesn't had the opportunity to cry for her deceased, all my family was in shock about it because it happened so fast, we still in denial unconsciously. Nobody cried because we were worried about the feelings of the other person in front of us, my family are very closed with their emotions so maybe we felt afraid of don't being able to handle the tears and the sad feeling of other member in our family so everyone created a shield between our emotions and the reality. My family is not the same, all of us are irritated almost all day, we can't talk with eachother, we distanced ourselves. Unfortunately I learned in the most painful way this: the funeral is important for the alive people, not for the dead person, even when your wish could be not have a funeral, think in your family because everyone need a safe space to cry and let it go the emotions, everyone need a place where you can talk with other people who already appreciated your existence in this planet and receive a hug, a recomforting words of affirmation about everything are going to be okay. You can be a considered person because your loved ones are those who will face the trauma.

When my oma passed, they let us do her makeup. It was such a healing thing. We just did her blush, brows, eyeshadow and lashes just the way she did it. It was such a beautiful experience ❤

I usually hate open caskets because the person never really truly looks like themself. However, my grandfather recently passed. He had been sick for a long time. And when I saw him, I was in awe of just how good he looked. It was a healing moment for me to see him seemingly whole again after watching him suffer for so long. He is the closest person I've ever lost and I am incredibly thankful that that was my last experience with him.

Lost both my parents, my dad in 2021 and mum in this yr in July. This video made me appreciate the funeral home my family always goes to. They always don't like seeing us but having so many family members pass in recent years. But they feel apart of our family with how they look after us.

4 minutes in and I’m in tears. Victor, your empathy and care is felt through the screen.