Podcast starts.

Now, what is up, everybody?

It is just me and George today on Straight t O Lab.

Let's just say we literally just wrapped a two hour marathon session with their one and only Joe Firestone.

It is quite literally we are running I would say, forty five minutes behind in this beautiful studio and this beautiful pair of studios, because we are of course still by coastal and we are I was I was about to say running on fumes.

I don't think we're running on fumes.

I just think I'm doing that thing where I talk and I'm my mouth, I'm surprising even myself with what's coming out of my mouth.

Well, that was a real episode where I was like, I'm gonna need a nap after that, I know.

And guess what instead of an app we have the opposite, which is a guestless episode, or we don't even have We don't even get a break when the other person is talking.

So one of us will be speaking at all times, or else the episode will have to end.

Wait, you still have a cold and you're and you're doing this but barely, yeah, just barely.

But I have to say you.

Were absolutely killing it in the Joe episode could not tell you were immunal compromises anyway.

Well, I have to agree you were crushing it out there, and it was such a delight.

What a treat.

A treat we uh, we wanted to pretty much check in on what our callers have been calling about.

Well, this thing happens where we're like call us, call us, call us, and then we like completely are like forget it exists, and maybe even don't even respond.

And then you today were like, wait, you're looking at calls and we're like, wait, we have so many calls.

We each have.

Things that we like keeping tabs on, and one of mine is the voicemail.

I would say, I have you know, if we were in a little in a startup, in a business environment, I would be like, oh, I own the voicemail.

That's something that's one of the things I own.

Yeah, Whereas I like, really keep tabs on the discord.

Yes, that's right.

You keep tabs on the discord more more than I do.

I keep tabs on the voicemail.

I mean, there's something really fun about the voicemail.

I don't know this.

I like the discord, of course, but well, the voicemail is so classic.

It's not only classic, but it's like, especially because we now there's so much pressure to do video and to franchise, and you know, we're of course working on various lines of tank tops and seltzers and socks.

It's nice to remember where we came from, which is audio only.

Audio only.

You know.

I want to say something please.

I had an alcoholic seltzer recently and somebody was like, oh, you know, this guy in town invented these alcoholic seltzers and he's rich now.

And I was kind of like, okay, well, he didn't invent alcoholic seltzer.

He just made one and it's selling because he lives here, and like it's like a local brand.

Like I was kind of like, okay, you can't claim like I invented this alcoholic seltzer.

It's like not different than any other alcoholic seltzer in the world.

I founded this brand.

It drives me insane, and I think this is something that is part of our We are, of course the worst businessman on planet Earth.

Well, and I think it's because we're like, well, if we're doing it has to be original, we have to be the first people to ever do it.

We actually need to invent, and I'm like, like, we could literally slap our name on us Seltzer and be like, DIBs, we invented Seltzer.

It's like, but we can't.

You would think we are bad at business because we're anti capitalist.

It's the opposite.

It's that we believe too much in the mythology of capitalism and think we actually need innovation in order to sell a product, like we literally are like a slave to the system, to the like American mythology of being an innovative small business owner, when in fact, what we need to do is just completely be frauds completely.

We need to literally crypto dot com, we need to we need to like jump on the NFT trend three months late.

Steve Jobs already did what Steve Jobs is gonna do.

You know, We're not gonna be that.

It's time to be like we invented kombucha.

No, we need to invent kombucha and fast.

I've been finding this also with trends, like here's something and let me know if you agree with this.

There's this current thing of macha being a punchline.

Yeah yeah, yeah, like, oh she she.

Has a match on a macho latte.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Was that not a punchline like ten years ago?

No, you're completely correct.

We're being gasless, am I, am I, I'm sorry?

Am I waking up in the film Girl Interrupted and WHOOPI Goldberg is telling me this is your last chance.

Yes, you literally are.

Because I don't understand Macha that we did an entire cycle on Macha during, by the way, the era of kombucha, it was very like twenty tens, like the beginning of that's sort of like goop culture m HM, which has been around foever like for at this point twenty years.

No, I think people are really recycling jokes in a way that is shocking, Like you're like, we've already moved on from that, and yet many people have not.

This is also how I felt about newsletters, where there was a first round.

And by the way, this also happened with podcasts, which maybe benefited us, so I'll hold my tongue there.

But with newsletters, there was a first round of everyone's pivoting to newsletters and then it like kept happening, and then suddenly three years ago it was like the hot new thing is substack, Like, no, it's.

Not well, I mean, you're completely correct, and to speak on the podcast element.

I remember when we started this podcast, we were like, wow, we are probably the last new podcast that we'll ever start, because.

Again we were brainwashed by the innovation mythology.

Yeah, and we were by those standards quite late.

We were the third one to start.

Yeah, we were globally a third one to start.

And then it's completely flipped and now like post pandemic, when everyone was like, Okay, now I have a podcast, I was like, wait, wait, wait, there's there's another wave.

Do you remember when the stereotype in the beginning was that it was like a dude bro.

Thing to do.

It was like, oh, he lives in Williamsburg and has a beard in a podcast.

Let me guess he has a podcast.

And and he likes craft craft cocktails.

Now I guess that the stereotype is now that it's that it's like a former cast members of the Hills hosting the podcast Hot Yeah, like that, Like it's a celeb pod.

Now it's like a be Now the stereotype is beliss celebrity.

Sure for sure, it's replaced the Talking Dead for example.

Mmm.

Yes.

So anyway, we wanted to check in on our favorite podcasters, which are people that leave calls and they are calls for the first podcast.

Yes, they are micro podcasts.

Mm hmm mm hmm.

So should we hit us with hit the first one?

Yes?

And I will be if anyone's watching, I will be on both my phone and my computer.

That is the way it has worked out, and I will not apologize for it.

We live in an age of information, and the more the better, I.

Say, And in solidarity, I will look at my phone intermittently.

But you're just sort of be on Instagram.

Yeah, just sort of responding to messages and liking stuff.

All right, I Siv and George, I wanted to know what you think about the tell a fun fact about yourself sort of icebreaker question.

I think that it is the worst possible icebreaker question and it makes me nervous every time it comes up, because I feel like I need to have a bank of go to fun facts about myself, but I never commit the time to actually do that.

And so I was wondering for you if you guys have a go to fun fact that you kind of always share, if this is something that you have to do anymore.

And then.

The second part to my question is what do you think the sort of go to ice breaker question should be in lieu of tell a fun fact about yourself?

And then if you'd like to share some thoughts on why you think, as a culture we are so insistent upon asking a fun fact about yourself.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that.

Okay, amazing question and get used to hearing that, because I'm going to say that about every damn call, but this.

One is especially good because fun fact culture is exactly the kind of thing we like talking about.

I really think this is amazing.

I personally I agree.

I think fun fact tell us a fun fact about yourself is like not doing the work that an icebreaker is supposed to do, because it's just saying talk Like it reminds me of when you take a personality quiz and you're like, oh, they're gonna like figure me out, and it's just like the questions are sort of like is your personality angry?

Like is your personality funny?

And it's like, well, you're supposed to be the one that's like asking me cover questions so that I can figure this out, Like I'm coming to you because I don't know who I am right exactly telling you the fun fact.

I'm like, well, I don't, I don't know.

And of course you know.

Interestingly, the revelatory part of the question isn't the fun fact itself.

It's oh, this is what you think a fact?

Fun fact is I want to know what you go to mm hmm.

So this is tough because, oh, here's the other thing.

I'll say, it's impossible to be funny about it because it's like putting a hat on a hat.

It is asking you to say something whimsical, to say something you know, unexpected, And so I don't know.

If I like try to do a bit with it, it's never gonna hit, I would say.

So I would say, I go pretty basic with it.

I think if I'm like in a kind of summer camp environment, especially in America, then my fun fact is like a fun fact is like I went to high school in Greece.

Because that's an amazing fun fact.

Oh you're so lucky.

People don't expect it.

It's like a country that is not politically fraught.

You know, no one's gonna ask me like did I join the military?

Like it is everyone has.

Everyone is like, oh my god, I've always wanted to go there, or like, oh, I used to be obsessed with ancient grease.

It's always something one that I used to try out in a more adventurous period of my life and it never went well.

Is I used to be able to I can't do it anymore.

I used to able to hook my fingers behind my back and then bring them all the way around like I was sort of double jointed in that way.

Yeah, unfortunately I can't do that anymore.

But the issue with that is people immediately act disgusted and I'm like, I promise I won't do it.

I'm just telling you that's a fun fact about myself.

But then immediately you're like the weird person that is talking about their body.

Well in your damn if you do if you don't, because then if you don't do it, it's sort of like, well show me.

You can't just say you can do that and then not do it.

Yeah.

So those are my two that I can think of off the top of my head.

The thing is, yeah, obviously an actual fun fact about yourself would be somehow braggy, and you don't you don't want to like it's like.

Well it's bragg it's either braggy or it's like sad, like that's what I struggle with.

Like I honestly, I always quickly go to like medical maladies, like I'm like, what's wrong with me?

Like fun fact and I'm like, uh, I can't see color and it's sort of like, well, that's not fun.

I used to also, I would like be like like one of my eyes is like two colors, and so I'd be like one of my eyes is two colors and then people are like, wait, let me see, and then like a stranger is looking deeply into my eyes and I'm like, You've got to stop.

This is I did not consent to this.

Needless to say, there is one best fun fact you can have.

Do you want to know what it is?

Yes?

I do acted in something as a kid genius, like do you know what can you imagine?

Just knowing you can whip out?

I was the one of the little kids in Heavyweights and then I and then I didn't pursue it, and like I went to college and study biology.

That is an amazing fun fact.

And that is what everyone wants that but not everyone canna.

Have it, and honestly, very few people have it.

There are No, I can't think of a second fun fact.

Like it's like I was in a jet ski accident, Like that's what I'm that's what I go to.

Also, Okay, we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the adjective fun, because I think the issue here is the complete vacuity of the word fun.

What does it mean for a fact to be fun?

How can a fact be fun?

A fact is either true or false.

Well, and that's why people go to like the Ripley's Believe it or not, because they're like, uh, my toes are fucked up, like like that's like the most fun I can think of, because all other facts are just facts correct.

And I think the issue arises from the lack of consensus around what fun entails.

Fun can be unexpected.

Fun can be, as you're saying, like tragic.

Like it's like, okay, so getting into an accident is a fun fact.

It kind of counts, So it can be tragic.

It can be something that happened to you or that you did yourself well.

And the saddest, of course, is when you're like, my fun fact is blank and somebody's like, oh I do that too, Yeah, and it's like, okay, sorry, I'm not unique, like we're literally getting to know you.

I wouldn't have said if I knew you also had that it's disgusting.

It's disgusting, so pretty much it's bad.

It's a I would have to agree that it is is a perfect sort of like straight topic.

I'm trying to think if there are any alternatives as icebreakers that I would endorse.

I think the concept of icebreakers already worries me.

See, I think the icebreaker it needs to lead to like a story or a conversation, and it needs to sort of be like not something revealing until you reveal why it's revealing.

Like I think a good icebreaker is like what was the last TV show you watched?

Or like what was the last thing you googled?

Or like what's the last song you listened to?

Because then it because when people are like what's your favorite, it's like, well, I used to love this, but now I don't know if that's my people, that's your favorite?

Like it's really yes, you're absolutely right, And I think what you're pointing to is like it A, it's better if it's specific.

B.

Don't try to have it encapsulate your entire personality and the significance of your entire life.

It can just be a little thing.

And like, for example, if it's like, what's the last show you watched?

Like, what is your answer?

The Hunting Wives?

And why?

Because I was in a bad mood one day and I was very overworked, and I said, I normally would not press play on something as trashy as this, but I'm curious and I sort of love Malin Ackerman because of the comeback, and I'm you know, I kind of want to see if she absolutely eats this down and next thing, you know, I made episodes in and she is eating it.

So that's a perfect one.

I've learned so much about you.

Yeah, you are a workaholic, you are LGBTQ, plus you have fine tastes, but you're not afraid of little fun exactly.

And you might have noticed I mentioned the comeback so that you know that I do actually have good taste, despite the fact that I'm currently watching The Hunting Wives.

What is the last TV show you watched?

Modern Family?

Why?

Because ever since I got gay married, I am obsessed with Modern Family and I don't know why.

There's something about wholesome family values, but also in a southern California liberal way that I'm like eating up like candy, candy, candy right now.

Literally, I know what.

I know that you just got married, congratulations.

I know that you live in California.

I know that you have mixed feelings about domesticity and about assimilation into straight life.

And I know that you have a sense of whimsy.

I mean this is perfect.

Yeah.

People, it has to be something factual and something you almost can't control, like the last thing.

Whatever.

Yeah, great, next question.

Who clamor girl?

This is a message for Sam after the sock Mary Kill discussion in the most recent Collins show for The New York Times.

I'm Michael Babarrow.

This is my penis.

I love you guys.

Your response, Yeah, that was kind of hot.

I could see that going further.

I never expected that in a million years.

Hi, Sam and George.

I'd like to know if you have a joke or just maybe like a thought that you think is funny and nobody else thinks it's funny.

I'm thinking not really like a not like a stand up bit, but more just in your daily life, like a little thought that tickles you and you voice it to other people and it just doesn't land.

They don't think it's funny.

Thanks so much, love the show, but I'm still here and I was just thinking you could cut this part out, but I wanted to give an example just for clarity.

So mine is that I like to think that every time Terry Gross does an interview that she gets a tiny bit smaller.

And so whenever I hear somebody mentioned Terry Gross, I always to myself kind of murmur like, oh, she's so small now, and it's not funny, Like there's no I'm laughing, Oh me too, joke really, but I just it really tickles me that she gets a little bit smaller every time she conducts an interview.

I hope that helps.

Fight This is complicated.

To ask us this and then to say, like not stand up is really hard, And I understand where your head's at.

You're like, I want to know your day to day life, but like we are constantly trying to find things funny, and as soon as we do, we're like, okay, we have to Like if I think something is funny, four times, I'm like, okay, well I have to see if that exists on stage in some capacity.

So I'm really trying to think of this.

But George, if you have one, takes there a.

Couple that I can think of.

I have a pleasure, in fact, of going to a lot of restaurants because of Matthew's job, because he has to go to restaurants for work, and so I notice a lot of like tropes in restaurants that I, you know, used to not notice when I went more rarely.

And oftentimes the server will really take too long to describe every single thing on the menu and like go way into too much detail about like, oh, first, we took the chicken and caressed its right wing because we noticed that it suffered from anxiety.

We decided that we were going to like cook it in a tomato sauce like that.

We had the chicken smell the tomato, which was grown in a neighboring farm, and decide which one he wanted to be buried with, you know.

And it is so.

Difficult for me to keep a straight face as this is all happening, because the entire time I'm just thinking, like, come on, we all know this is ridiculous.

Yeah, we've all seen the menu, and I and I often will actually like start laughing and making it make it into a cough like I'll just I'll just like making it.

So that's one for me.

That's a good one.

I have one that is similar to the Terry Gross example, actually, which is I think I've said this before on the podcast, but one time I went to a Harry Styles concert for About You Red Party, and his drummer was this woman who had bangs, and my two friends and I kind of collaboratively came up with this joke that the women's bangs were so big that she needed bang removal surgery, and the entire concert was a benefit to raise funds for her to get her bangs removed, which were like which were growing so large that they were actually like a threat to the rest of her body.

And so because of that, I've never been able to explain that in a way that actually makes other people laugh.

But because of that, whenever someone like no longer has bangs, I like to imagine them as having survived like a life threatening surgery that they are in thousands of dollars debts for because their bangs got too big and needed to be removed.

Of course, that's a great one.

I guess I'm trying to.

I'm really trying to think of one.

And one thing I think is always kind of funny is when you're walking into a body of water, say an ocean or a lake, and it hits the part where your genitals are and everyone goes ooh.

And I'm always like, it's so crazy to be like with your family and being like and that's where our genitals are.

I've always gotten a kick out of that, and I don't know what to do with it, but it does make me laugh.

And every time I walk into a body of water, I think about, we're gonna hit the part where the genitals are.

Wait.

Another recent one for me is in the Lord's song Favorite.

Daughter, Oh my God, this is perfect.

When she says I'm a good actress.

So millennials, remember Kiarosty Alley used to have a semi autobiographical, short lived sitcom called Fat Actress, And Matthew started saying I'm a fat actress, and so I started saying, and then I started also replacing it with other things at rhyme, so we would be like, I work at red Actress.

I as soon as you told me this, I've been saying I'm a fat actress all week long because you told me that, and it's.

Such a dramatic song that it would be funny.

Flord was like, I'm a fat actress.

It's like not far like I'm like, oh, I could see her saying that, and then I my version of this, which I cannot stop doing, is Carolyn Polcheck Welcome to My Island.

When she's like, DESI, hey, I keep going la Boo Boo doesn't even rhyme.

I want to turn into you.

I cannot stop making the Boo boo parody songs, and just the word la Boo boo does hit so hard.

So speaking of La Boo Boo, this episode originally was going to be us doing a kind of straight culture check in, because Sam and I both have this thing where when something like La Boo Boo or like Hoctua is on the rise, we have a truly allergic reaction.

We just we can't believe how low we've fallen as a culture.

We are so.

Upset that we're even at the idea of even having a negative opinion about something.

We just want to close our eyes and say, can we please just ride this out?

Can I just skip the chapter of my life where I know what laboobo and Haktua are and like Coldplay couple, Like I can't deal with these things.

But then I've noticed something that's happening that happens with us, is that then the time passes, and then when other people, when the people participating or tired of it, suddenly we're like, la boo boo.

It becomes fun again.

There's like when there's a sense of irony attached to it.

Yeah, and now suddenly I am like and because we avoid learning about it, I like still don't know what labooboo is, but now I'm suddenly like, wait, I kind of want to know.

Well, I desperately want a la boo boo.

I cannot know.

They are so funny.

The word is so crazy.

So I love la boo boo.

The other day I did a parody song with La Boo Boo that was I'm getting a La boo boo.

I'm having a La boo boo.

You know, I love a boo boo And I'm the like Madonna rap from American Life, and it's like this is so not on, this doesn't make any sense.

But I was like, this is the funny thing.

I'm having a la boo boo.

I'm buying a la boo boo I have in my lab boo boo.

And you know I'm satisfied.

I keeping my lab bo boo, and I love my little boo boo.

And and I still have my lab boo boo.

Do you think I'm satisfied?

I'd like to extress my lab boo boo point of view.

I'm not a boo, I'm not my boo boo.

I'm just living out the American boo.

And I just realized La Boo Boo is ba boo Booooooo.

Sam and George calling you from sunny Oakland, California.

My question is, which is often a debate with my friend, who is another loyal listener, is Trader Joe's great or gay?

We are on opposite side of the spectrum and we can never agree.

So would love to hear what you think.

Okay, I love Yeah.

I think Trader Joe's is liberal.

Mm hmmm.

I think Trader Joe's is lib role.

You think Trader Joe's that sign that's like in this house we believe immigrants are Americans, Black lives matter.

Yeah, that's what I think.

I think as far as gay, you're straight.

I guess that leads me more straight.

Like there's something so sincere about a Trader Joe's, Like even the silly snacks.

It's like, this is a silly snack you like?

But I could be I could I could be proven wrong.

If you want to know, I completely agree.

I mean, it's basically a grocery store for Disney adults.

Wow, it's just like it's to have the fandom around it is uniquely immature, and I think part of that is that famously it has terrible produce, so it's literally not for people that are cooking it is.

It's it feels like baby's first trip to the grocery store.

Yeah, and I don't like the vibes.

Yeah.

I have no relationship with Trader Joe's.

I've entered a Trader Joe's maybe three times in my entire life.

I mean, so here's my relationship to Trader Joe's.

When I first graduated from college, I lived in a big house with six other people in San Francisco, and we would go and we, like none of us made a lot of money.

We would go as a group and get a giant order and put it on our split wise, and we would have this giant order at home, and each of us is paying like twenty five dollars because it's so affordable.

And we were making the frozen the frozen mushroom risotto, and we were buying the boxed wine, boxed Trader Joe's brand wine, and we were buying like, you know, snicker doodles that were Trader Joe's branded, and it just it's like, well, one day we'll graduate to real food, but this is this is like between college and real life.

Yeah, you describing it makes it be like, oh, it's actually shocking that I don't have a relationship with Trader Joe's because that is, unfortunately the way that I dream of food being.

Why do you think you as someone who doesn't really cook, Yeah, it would make sense if you did have a relationship with Trader Joe's, because I think it is an approachable grocery store for someone who maybe doesn't feel one hundred percent comfortable in a normal one.

Well, this is the amazing thing about me is I neither cook nor do I crave convenient foods.

I'm just sort of like like I crave like the adult, like I wish I cooked and so it's sort of like I'm like in this middle place where I'm just like, well, I just won't eat, Like I'm sort of like, okay, well I'm just having like an apple today.

Yeah, but you are also you actually also have particular tastes in food.

Yeah, you're not like happy eating at an airport.

No, no, I'm not.

But I used to say, you're.

Not like Julio, who like eats Tempe like over the sink.

Yeah I did.

Used to claim I wanted a dining hall for my whole life.

Oh.

Interesting, Well you would honestly love Trader Joe's.

Then I know it's too bad.

Hi, Sam and George.

I am curious about the state of bush culture right now, our bushes in or out.

I feel like I've seen an uptick recently in people who are shaving bush, and I'm a little concerned.

I'm curious if you guys are are noticing the same thing.

Is this our recession indicator?

Are we now in fully a post bush versus non bush dichotomy.

I'm also curious about what you're seeing in LA and New York.

I mean, I think this depends more on your demographic.

I feel that there was a community that like of gay guys here.

I feel like that we're like calling it like bush summer or something like I've seen.

I've heard the words bush.

Summer to me off the top of my head.

If you were to gun to my head, is bushinarada?

I would say?

In?

I would say in, I can't.

I haven't come across a shaven bush in a long time.

I someone we know recently showed me a photo of a photograph they received on grinder m hmm.

And it was a completely shaven bush that had a Where's Waldow tattoo?

Whoa, So it was Waldo?

It was Waldo and no hair.

That is so wild.

But here's what that means to me.

The people shaving their bush are the people with Where's Waldow tattoos?

That is interesting, it's niche.

It's it's no longer like that.

You are out of the you are out of the norm.

I mean, if you're paying all that money for Where's Waldo?

Tattoo, you're gonna shave the bush to show it off, right exactly?

Although to me, I'm like, have him sorry hiding behind the bush.

That's sort of his whole thing is that he's hiding and you have to find him, like it is completely besides the point if you're gonna have a warres Waldo tattoo are there to then like expose it completely because they know the message.

It's like, yeah, I found Waldough, that was easy, that was easy.

You need to make it hard, Like how funny to like be digging through someone's pubes and be like is that Waldo?

And then they're like you found him exactly?

Hello, don't you ruined the child?

Childlike?

Joy?

I would get doing that anyway.

So experience discovery?

No literally so but no, I think to me, I think when it comes to men, because I can't speak for women, we are in like a very actually nice, balanced, liberated place with body hair.

I feel like we've gone in both ends of the spectrum and now I genuinely feel like anyone can do whatever they want.

Yeah, I feel that way as well.

I wonder if that's actually happening or it's just that we were getting older and everyone gets more constable as they age.

I can't tell that's true.

Well, okay, here's a way to answer that.

What is happening in media depictions?

Because in fact, now that I'm thinking about it, it is true that we're going in a more hairless direction.

If you think about like Jacob Lordie even all of that, like Andrew Scott and Paul Meskal and Timothy's shadow, Like who is even Pedro Pascal is actually being waxed head to toe.

I know I am trying to think, but I have to assume Pedro has pubes pub Yes, he's like man other people.

You know, body hair is the pubes of the rest of the body.

And it because we can't actually show pubes on TV.

It's a showing body hair is a is a bat signal to say bush is Okay.

That's a good point.

That's a good point.

And who is the hairriest famous man right now?

You're right.

I can't think of a one.

I can't think of one hairy famous man.

The one I can think of is the one guy from Gilded Age.

You know what?

You know that guy?

No, I don't know that.

I look up Morgan Spector.

Oh was he the one that said, like street people can be Thompson Bottom.

Yes, correct, Yeah, okay, sure, So here's the thing.

Obviously he is, but he it's sorry, but it is such a respectable, groomed kind of Harry.

Yeah, No, I don't know.

Now, I'm now, I'm now, I'm worried.

I'm worried.

Well, everybody grow out your pubes.

It's an active resistance.

Yeah, and time is honestly running out yep.

Okay, Hi, George and Sam.

Because I'm a fifty year old woman, I.

Don't actually know who heim is or who I'm are not sure of the correct subject groob agreement, but I would like you to play the hide game with these three drugs, cocaine, molly, and mushrooms, and in general, I'd love to hear more about your relationship and.

Experiences with drugs.

Thank you so much for making life more interesting.

Okay, time game with molly, mushrooms and cocaine.

Okay.

I think I kind of think Sti is Mollie Okay, because there's something about her where she's just like I love everybody.

I kind of think Danielle might be cocaine because she's business oriented totally, and I think that means Alana is mushrooms.

Alana's mushrooms because she's she does have a sort of distant look in her eyes sometimes and like she could be on mushrooms actually.

And she seems like she has a chill about her while still being like kind of productive.

Yes, I agree, and I think she has a sort of sense of being one with her surroundings.

Yes, she doesn't have a laser focus that I'm seeing in Danielle and STI, But much like many people who have had life altering experiences with mushrooms, she also is kind of doing amazing in life.

Yeah, I agree, she sees through great.

We nailed that, all right, And our experience with drugs is we don't touch the stuff.

Yeah, that's right.

Oh, this is a really good one.

Hi, Sam and George.

I dialed one eight hundred gay guys, which was like a foreign call in thing.

So can you guys like reimburse me for any charges that might have gone into when I was there.

Additionally, my original question was, do you think being gay is the same thing as recency bias?

Like every gay guy gets so excited by every new thing and then we never talk about it again.

Adel's thirty, the new Lord single that we're inevitably not going to talk about in like two weeks.

I just really think that recency bias is the same thing as being gay.

Thanks, So I just want to say that was May thirty.

That's why the Lord single was relevant.

This person didn't just wake up from a coma.

So first of all, I actually was really talking about something that only made me laugh.

As I was listening to this call, I said to myself, drag name recency bias, and oh literally chuckled out loud on the street.

That's amazing.

What do you think about this theory?

I think, well, I think this could be seen in two ways, where like the recency bias is real.

Like I do think gay guys really love to be like on What's Now and you know, they'll be forty five and standing a sixteen year old pop girl and that's like I think that is like kind of interesting and fun.

But there's like the other side of that is that like straight people freeze often in like what was happening when they were twenty five, yes and so, and they don't have shame about that.

I think gay guys obviously look back home what happened when they were twenty five and like love that and they're like, you weren't there, you weren't there.

But then I think there's a there's still a yearning to learn what's happening and to like believe the youth and be like, maybe there's a point to this song.

Maybe there's a point to this singer that I don't think straight people haven't totally.

I think it's more straight to be past oriented and more gay to be future oriented.

Yeah, which is why the only person that has managed to capture both communities is Dua Lipa with future nostalgia.

There was something I remember being like, because I am older than Lord, I am older than Lord.

I don't remember our age gap, but I am older than Lord.

Like I was in my twenties when Royals came out, and I remember being like, Okay, this girl is sixteen and I am, let's say twenty four, potentially.

I was living in New York and I was like, am I going to stand a sixteen year old?

And I was like that can't be me.

And then I remember talking about a fork in the road and being like, you know what, I'm actually twenty four, and I'm only going to get older and the girls are going to keep being sixteen to twenty and so I'm gonna start standing them no matter what, and I'm not gonna resist.

I'm just gonna run towards it.

And I think that was a huge point of change for me.

Yeah.

No, it's interesting.

Recency bias, of course, can be limiting in some ways.

It's like, well, if you don't know history or doomed to repeat it.

But then it can also be a very positive thing and that you are keeping an open mind and taking you things seriously and not taking things from your past more seriously because they are connected to you, which is how we get quite frankly fascism.

Which I do think gay guys are all right.

There's also something like the recency bias more is an issue.

I think when a person is flopping, Like when a person is flopping, they're like, I hate her, I've always hated her.

She's to die a really good point.

Yeah yeah, And I'm like, yeah, but you have to understand, like you're deal, you have a bias because you loved her when she was fresh, and now that she's like been around for a while, there's not that element of surprise, and you're forgetting that there's a whole arc that we're all going to go on.

Yeah.

I agree with that, and I actually think it is somewhat healthier to do the thing that let's say a straight like let's say someone who loves Tarantino, like that person's never gonna forget pulp fiction.

They're not gonna be like, well, his latest was bad, so now I don't like him anymore exactly.

And I do think there's something nice about that kind of loyalty.

Y and I actually think it is necessary for a fan to remember the things they did like because that helps them give the benefit of the doubt to the new things that they might not immediately connect with.

And it's like, if you take them seriously as an artist, you should care when they make a mistake as much as when they make a hit, because it's like interesting to see what they were thinking and why Yeah, sorry to be a genius.

No, No, that's absolutely genius.

Do you think racist advice?

Also, I'm trying to think if there's any way to use this lens to talk about something that isn't a pop culture and pop music, Like is it is?

You got me there?

You know what I mean?

I'm like, is there something about how being open to new experience?

Now let's move on?

Hi.

I was so listening to your episode about Yo Yo's and in it you ask is what's the youth today?

Is?

Like Bear Dave Matthews band.

I work with teams at a residential treatment center, so it's a specific population, but it's like teens who have tried to kill themselves super cool.

I love them.

And here's what they love to listen to from older and don't say to tell you it's Nickelback.

They all love Nickelback, they love MTMT, they like love music from twenty like two thousand and five to twenty eleven.

I would say the fray I get asked to play that how to Save a Life song all the time.

So start kid cutting, pursuit of the song, pursue happiness.

It's going to be like on my spots, I wrapped, I've heard of God.

So they all still have really positive feelings about Kanye.

I want you to know that as well.

Chance the rapper is still huge?

Is that Gronky still huge?

So yeah, they didn't know who Destiny's child.

Was, so like, that's just some context for for where the kids are at today.

Okay, love you by I'm sorry.

That was the most shocking call I've ever heard in so many ways.

At first, I was like I'm listening, I'm nodding, I'm agreeing, Like you know, I had like a point to make about like nickel Back, being like, yeah, like I think there's a difference there that you're not acknowledging, where like nickel Back is a little bit ironic, whereas like and like they like it, but it's there's like a sense of lol to it.

And then like kid Cutty, I was like, oh, how fun.

Like Pursuit of Happiness is always going to be a hit.

Put it on, put it on, put it on.

Kanye.

I get they can sort of zoom out and be like, you know, he's crazy, but look, listen to these hits from the past, and then like, but you really really lost me.

I have to be honest at Chance the Rapper, Wait time, Well, I was there.

I loved Chance the Rapper.

You know, Acid Rap was to die for.

And then Coloring Book, the one that Kanye produced, was really great, and then I was and then he fell off in such a big way.

And I don't know, I'm surprised that the youth like him, because everything I see online and otherwise is sort of still treating him a little bit like a joke and like someone who fell off really hard.

Well, he's a.

Very like quintessential millennial artist.

Yes, very sincere, very like like earnest and like, look I look at what I did.

I'm here, corny is I'm getting the notes?

Yes?

Yeah, So I don't know, what do you think about that?

I mean.

It is The irony point is interesting because I genuinely I understand what you're saying about Nickelback fandom being semi ironic.

But here's my counterpoint to that.

Like when millennials rediscovered Journey, was that ironic.

Oohoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, because there was a point when people when don't stop believing was like earnestly back.

And then of course there was a backlash and there were people being like, well, don't whatever you do, don't play Journey at your wedding.

But there was a point when that was back earnestly.

Yeah, you're right, And I almost think it's like, wel like, maybe older people are doing the ironic Nickelback thing and younger people who weren't alive for the absolute reputation end of Nickelback just you know, are are interpreting the way the first listeners did, which is that they liked it, because I mean, people.

Forget that was a very part those are very popular songs.

That is a very interesting read.

And I think you could be right.

I think you could be right, and you're changing my perspective and it's obviously scaring me.

I mean, you need to process that.

I mean, I I have to say, it's interesting the ones you pointed out the one that stuck out to me.

And maybe there's some online thing.

I don't know about the fray So this didn't freak me out because I feel like this style is coming back, Like I think the sincerity is fun and I do think people are like craving like it.

They obviously they were a huge band, but they kind of had like a cold Play esque like in the beginning, like almost like an indie sensibility that they did really big.

And I think when we were growing up and they were like coming up, we could sort of like tell the difference in the context and be like they're more produced, they're more blank, they're more blank, But without the context, it's kind of like, no, they're like a sort of like an indie pop piano band.

Like I think you like Loo you think of them in that like almost indie thing.

Do you know who?

I think would be a great addition to this list.

Is Jet Are you going to be my girl as something that randomly young people are into.

I think you're one hundred percent right.

I think we will be having a Jet renaissance before we know it.

Huh.

Well, you know, we touched on this a little bit in our episode with Josh Gondlman.

But if you happen to be on Twitter of the last couple of weeks, you saw a rehab, you saw a debate about the Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zero song home, which actually did make me feel kind of nuts.

It did make me feel nuts, And I actually want to say that the other night I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about what I said during that episode, and I was like do I agree with it or do I Like, I was like one of those things, I rarely regret what I say on this podcast or even like question it.

Like I'm also like if I said it whatever I believed in the moment and move on.

And then for that I was like, am I going to be like on record forever?

Being like actually Edward Troup the Magnetic Zeros was different than the Luminators and mum for incense, And I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna want that to be.

Was your point that Edward Tarvia Magnagus were more or less quote unquote cool.

I argued they were more cool and they were more like the like like Mumford and Son's heard them and was like, we can do this with more of a commercial viewpoint.

This is interesting because I have to say, to me, I was not into indie rock at the time.

Like when I think of like what I was listening to in the twenty tens, I was like, I was of like new stuff.

Well, first of all, I was listening to like Nico Kasid feel an Apple.

But then I was like, okay, I was interested in like some of the more electronic things that were happening.

I was like really into Grimes, I was into Sky Ferreira.

Like I to me, all of those bands, I became aware of them first as punchlines and then as something I got into.

Like a good example of this is Vampire Weekend.

First I first learned a Vampire Weekend as something people made fun of, and then I like did some digging and I was like, you know what, I actually I don't care what people say.

I actually like this.

And then I do you think they've sort of stood the test of time in the way that now they're no longer a punchline.

That is so interesting because my especially Vampire Weekend, they were like an essential for me.

Yeah, where it was also like I got the leak like two months before the album came out, and me and my friends were listening to it and we're like, fuck, this is fucking good.

Wait.

I actually do want to say that the indie rock that I liked was it was like raisedly bear, local natives yaysayer, like it was that where do you think that fits?

It was?

It was the It was not like the sort of Americana stomp clap.

Yeah, And I want to be clear, I wasn't listening to Edward Trump the Magnetic Zeros.

I just knew it better.

I knew it first as like the thing like I was sort of like I can listen when Home is on.

I'm not complaining, Whereas whenever Munford and Sons came on, I was like get this shit away from me.

Got it, and like I was like this era is over.

But I did go into this.

I did love like Vampire Weekend.

I love the like you know, preppiness, the like boat shoe vibe like I was an American apparel boat shoes diva, Yeah, or like you know what I you know what was I like like Future Islands?

I loved Future Islands.

Oh my god, this.

Is Annabelle calling from Scihim, Massachusetts.

Uh.

My question today is less of a per and more of a pop and by that I mean the less of a personal question and more of a pop culture question.

I recall recently on the pod a discussion of when Demi Lovado was famously in Zemi era and then was kind of.

Like never mind.

And I'm just thinking about that concept specifically read the Jojo Seewaw recloseting, if that is a term by which I mean, of course, the phenomenon in which JoJo's Sea went on Big Brother after coming out as a lesbie and started a relationship with a white man who is sis and ten years older than her and was kind of like never mind, I'm not a lesbian anymore, I guess as they're now officially dated, and just wondering if you could share some thoughts on that and if there is an official term for that type of phenomenon where somebody goes back into the closet or comes back out as sis.

I've stood around the term neverminders, I famously mentioned the term recloseting.

Just wondering about your thoughts on that, as I feel that I've since the shift in the pop where more and more people are doing this over the last couple of years.

Anyway, I love the pod keep up the great work and SAMs.

Don't let the unemployment gets you down.

You are going to be in your creative diva era anyway.

Lay First of all.

I like the terminology of per versus pop personal versus pop culture and say, I want to say the per is pop, meaning the personal is pop culture when it comes to gay guys that famous praise.

So what do you think about this?

First of all, I think it's I think it's just living out loud.

I agree.

I actually think it's so cool that Demi Lovado was like I know them and then was like never mind.

Like there's something about that where I'm like, good for you, like you because you do have to like try it out, like feel it out.

Like we all have different relationships to our gender and our sexuality, and it's like sometimes you're like maybe I'm this, and then like you do want people to respect you with it and be like okay, I'm this now, and then you're like, ah, eh, whatever, I don't need to be that anymore.

Like I'm kind of like go off.

I It's funny.

I cannot begin to imagine what Demi Levado's information intake is start there.

Would I would love to know, because you're you're already starting from a point of like Demi Levado knows all the relevant definitions, took that in, uh, noticed how she felt about her own gender, and then was like got it.

So from these options, I am they them.

I think it is so much more avant garde than that.

I think Demi like read one thing was like they that is fab Like that sounds like I'm multiple people and and like maybe had a friend that taught her a new phrase.

I think she's like a very open minded person that that is wanting to sort of like participate in things that are going on.

I think she also probably does feel what's the word like entrapped by the kind of like expectations of femininity that anyone would feel as like a big pop star that whose job is to have long hair and belt out tunes while wearing a little bikini.

Yeah, so it's sort of like out of all of that, it was like it all went into the cauldron and what came out was they them.

Yeah, no, I think that's a good read.

I yeah, I think you're correct, and there's something but I am just sort of like calling especially the jujousa things like calling it like read closet.

I'm like, well, there's not going back in the closet, Like it's more like an expansion of what totally this house is.

I also it's like Demi, if anything, Demi Levado becomes more LGBTU.

Plus when she goes back to she her.

Of course, I think the judgesa thing I don't.

I'm so like uninterested in analyzing because Jojosia is just so young and has had so such strange life experiences that like, yes, she's gonna go ahead and like have a turbbulent sort of time period between the ages of like sixteen and twenty six, and we'll sort of see where she comes out when that's over.

On a broader level, I think one fun thing we could all do is move away from the framework being identity and towards a framework of like action.

I just like don't care about like trading identity markers as though they are flashcards and as though it's like, oh no, this one, declined, declined, I guess I'll have this one, like, oh now I'm doing this one.

It's tell me what you're up to, tell me what you're up to, tell me what you're doing, like I want And that's more interesting because then now we have a story because guess what identity is.

That's just establishing characters.

But we still need a story, and for someone like Jojou's Eva.

I know you just said sounding interesting, but like Jojozia is hooking up with this guy, Like I'm sort of like, go off.

I don't care if she's still like I'm a lesbian and I have a boyfriend.

Now I'm like, exactly who cares?

Like all I care about is what you're up to, and you are doing something weird, and I love that.

Like the interesting thing is the narrative that happened on whatever show Big Brother or whatever show she was on and then and like that and that budding relationship rather than like, wait, first she was with a woman and now she's with a man.

What does that mean for her?

Fixed?

What is her passport gonna say it's very legal.

It's very legal, and it's like you guys, it's not a legal document, like, it's so not like that.

Also, that's not what closet means.

Little rah Lee liater La.

Going back in the closet, especially in entertainment, is a very specific thing.

What it means is what Pee Herman did.

It means being out in your private in your uh, you know, among your family and friends.

Then because you are becoming famous, no longer being out.

Yeah, publicly and being like and literally lying and being like, I'm dating this random woman to be like, because you're hiding your sexuality.

Correct, you know what is liberating literally just becoming gay or straight whenever you want.

Yes, it's the opposite of being in the closet.

You are, in fact in control of your sexuality.

Closet doesn't just mean gay.

Why are we like this?

I don't know, I don't know what.

I don't know who, I'm who, I'm even targeting my ingrat.

I'm also just so pro, as you know, I'm like so pro Demi Lato right now, which, as you is a huge shift for me, if you know, I don't know, if you remember my very old joke that was like a quote unquote gay dad joke where my dad would say, I'd rather have a bottle.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontel a botomy, and then I would And then my version of that was I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a Demi Levado in front of me.

And but now I'm like that I was so wrong.

I think she is a beautiful artist, and I think she is a tortured soul, and I think she is Everything she does is up through hard work and persistence, and I celebrate her.

So I do think to go back to the recency bias thing, there is something that we have, which is the tortured women of our youth.

We will of course always support.

And I think it's great that Damiela Vada is still releasing good music by all counts.

But even if she wasn't, it doesn't matter.

Like and I'm.

Actually like I feel this way with Lindsay low Henry.

People keep being like, she's back, she's back, She's never going.

To be back.

She's never gonna be back, folks.

But I still support her and I'm glad she's worth It's not about her.

Yeah, it's not about her being back, it's about her being upright.

Yeah, yeah, which is also actually I will say, someone who is back is Pam Anderson.

But but even if she wasn't back, I'd be like, no, we are supporting you.

Oh my god, she's still back.

Well, you didn't tell what you thought.

Me making gun by the way, loved it, loved it.

What a treat when she scats come on, Well, I will say my one complain.

I'm like, she was so good at she was so good when she was given meaty stuff to do that.

I'm like, give her like two more, Yeah, she needed two more.

She was so good.

No, she was so great it really, I mean, what are the chances that this would happen for her?

And I know at this stage it's.

It's almost like perfectly orchestrated by like a dark web of of sort of CIA powered gay guys.

Couldn't agree more.

I've got to get to those gay guy parties.

I know, literally, what if that happens for Carmen Electra.

I guess that'd be cool.

I don't know much about her, to be honest, She.

To me, am I wrong that there was a time when those were like the Big two, like Poornie.

Yeah, man, that's the name for hot.

Carmen Electra, a name is synonymous with yes, Carmen Electra, Like come on, yeah, she machi.

It's like, you're not trying to carbon electro kill yourself.

No, it was literally it would be like the ca She'd be doing a cameo in a movie and the joke is, oh my god, he dated Carmen Electra.

Yeah.

Yeah, So I have no idea what she's up to, and I also think with when it comes up.

So Carmen Electra obviously has a leg up because the name itself is a sexy name.

Carmen Electra.

Ooh, and like, where is Pamela Anderson?

She made Pamela sexy and say that.

No, it's actually crazy what she did.

She know what is a trailblazer?

You know what?

It's similar to Barbie the doll making the name Barbara like youthful.

Oh you believe that the name Barbie is a grandmother's name.

That is amazing, You know what I was thinking.

This is not related at all, You know what I was thinking.

This is similar to the things that we think are funny that aren't, like jokes or anything.

Novel coronavirus.

Hmmm, so it's called it's called novel because it was new, Yes, that's literally it what like it was called how novel this coronavirus?

Like I'm like, that is crazy.

I thought it was just like the novel Corona.

Like I thought it was like the novel coronavirus.

Like I was like, you don't need to put a novel every time, then, like it's just like just call it the coronavirus.

But oh god, now I'm gonna sound so stupid, is it?

Because the term coronavirus could also refer to something else or like.

Oh god, don't, don't, don't do this?

I had what is covid?

What are the what are the initials of COVID?

Well, my big conspiracy, of course is that Corona the company made them stop saying it.

Oh interesting, And of course my big and of course, my big conspiracy is that vaccines don't work.

What God, I remember getting a case of Corona's when that virus was hidden and going, this doesn't feel right, This does not feel right.

I mean just as I wanted them.

I wanted that beer.

You know, it reminds me of it used to be.

People don't remember it used to be that the name Isis was a really beautiful name for a girl.

Oh my god, and like it's it was like an old name.

It was like being named Astrid.

Yeah.

Imagine if Astrid was then new terrorist group, the new terrorist group.

My head got caught off by Astrid.

Oh, that would be a nightmare.

That's tough.

Fuck.

I think if you were a cool girl named Isis, I think you should just be allowed a free pass to change your name to Astrid.

Oh that's a good idea.

They should pass a law.

They should pass a law be like, you're no longer Isis, You're Astrid.

Okay, I like that.

Actually, yeah, yeah, it's sad because it actually is a cool name.

It's a cool name.

And Corona is a great name for a beer.

Oh my god, Corona beautiful.

The novel Coronavirus, Oh, oh, novel, Oh my gosh, Little Scientists, Well, isn't that novel.

I've never seen this one.

I hate it.

I want to go fast.

We have been through so much in the last six years, and thank god we've been here to document it all.

I know one day I actually am excited for our podcast to be in a museum about what it was like to live through the pandemic.

No, it's it will be and it will be.

Uh the episode where Dan Lacatta's topic is shitting.

There's almost there's almost.

If we were a little more self indulgent and also geniuses, if we would go back and listen to our own episodes and react to them.

Oh my god, can you believe?

Can you imagine?

Rather I can't imagine.

I almost am like, we should do that just once.

I'm like, we are different people.

I would love to know what it sounds like.

Different, like in a truly substantial fundamental ways, Like at our core, we are different people with different values.

Yeah, yep, that is wild.

Remember how I was always hungover when we were recording Now, I've never hungover, always hungover, and that was like part of the joke.

Yeah, I was so, We're all, yeah, we were trying to we want it so badly for the joke to be that we were not actually doing a podcast, And I thought the funniest thing I could be was incredibly abrasive and rude to everyone.

I also was very like, I feel like I was very nervous that I would come off dumb.

And so I would compensate by like just just like it's like, okay, let's say I say a dumb sentence then being like by the way, I know a different word and it's long.

Damn.

I love that we're now recounting this.

This is fun.

I know.

Well, should we wrap it up?

Yeah?

You know.

Any final thoughts on the boo boos?

Well, I mean this is a larger conversation, but at some point we should have a larger conversation about like the these types of things.

I'm thinking beanie babies, furbies, la boo boos.

There is a there is a deep like I don't know, Freudian instinct or something.

This is genius.

You have like a collectible little monsters that are objectively cheap and ugly looking.

There is a Okay, I've heard this thing once where there's like every culture invents the dragon, like separately from each other, like whoa, because it's the sort of this like animalistic thing inside of us that's like, what's the scariest thing.

It's like, Okay, it has claws, it has wings, it's scaly, it's like everything we as humans kind of fear.

And I was like, so there's something in us animalistically where we're like and we need a little creature that is ours.

Yeah, and that is like collectible and sort of halfway between scary and cue or halfway between ugly and cute.

Yeah, like only I find it cute or something like and has just.

Like really sort of off putting colors.

And also the idea that all of these will like someday be worth more money.

Like there's also the crypto element to it.

The cynical side of me is that we just as a culture always recreate capitalism, and we like essentially are just creating the stock market.

Again, the stock I was about, say, it's not just capitalism, it's it's finance.

It's the financial market.

Yeah, Which that's that's the cynical part.

I want to believe it's a spiritual thing.

I just am sort of like the least we can do is if we're gonna keep recreating the financial markets, at least make.

Supreme sure, Like, at least at least do fashion.

Come on, Like, do fashion try to be cool, try to capture something, don't La Boobos especially, There's something about how they like attached to your backpacks and clothes, like they're like We've done that already.

That's what middle school was.

Yeah, the boo boo.

You know.

It's scary though, And for me the reference point is beanie babies because that's what we grew up with.

The people doing la booboos don't know about beanie babies.

For them, this is the first time they're seeing something like this, and then when they're older and someone who's gonna invent flah blah blah, they're gonna be like, oh my god, like this is just lab.

Boo boo boo.

They're like, we need to like unpack why fla Blue Blue is popular.

We are both recloseted, recloseted never minders hosting a podcast about recloseting, and they need to discuss why Fla Blue blahs are like La boo boos and we actually are Australia Lab Recap podcast the Recent Bias.

They are our favorite seventy five year old podcasters.

Even though we hate all their recent work, we actually love their old stuff.

We love their old stuff.

Well, this has been a treat.

We are probably on tour now.

When this comes out, we'll probably done with our East Coast leg.

Sorry, get tickets to the West coasts.

Yeah, we added second shows in Portland and Seattle, and San Francisco has not sold out yet and neither has La.

Honestly though, things are selling pretty well.

Yeah, not well enough where I'm like two more tickets left, but well enough.

It will eventually be sold out, so you better act fast.

Months Yeah, Okay, Well, this has been an amazing afternoon with you, George as always.

As always, and stay classy San Diego.

Damn and he got an anchorman quotes iconic.

Okay, bye podcast and now want more?

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Slash Stradio Lab.

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Not Get Back to Work Stradia Lab is a production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network and iHeart Podcasts.

Created and hosted by George Severs and Sam Taggart.

Executive produced by Will Ferrell, Hans Sony and Olivia Aguilar.

Co produced by Bay Wang, edited.

And engineered by Adam Avalos.

Work by Michael Philes and Matt Gruff.

The music by Ben Kling