Look Mayer, Oh, I see you my own look over there is that culture. Yes, goodness wow, lost culture ding dong. Lost culture is just calling beautiful day here in New York City where we both live.
Likely Story, by the way, couple things, it is a beautiful day in New York City.
Hmm.
Also, this is a perfect little addendum to really anything Matt is bringing back. We're both bringing back likely story.
Likely story is back. As a phrase, you can sort of tack it onto anything. Yeah, whenever anyone says anything that's a little bit questionable, you can just turn to let's say your friend, like I would turn to bone and I would say likely story, and it's gonna bring down the house.
You're welcome. There's also an element of like auto commentary where you can say something and then at it yourself, like likely story, Likely Story, Like.
I'm gonna make it to the gym today, Likely likely Story.
It really is so personal. Powerful power verse, power verse. It's a perfect little spice to anything you say if you want to sort of seem interesting. Listen, something's going on with me. I am going through this crazy bout of social anxiety, and I don't want it to be another like woe is me Bowen moment. But I something's going on just as the weather, well, I was gonna say, as the weather's warming up, my social anxiety is picking in likely story.
Well, that's just that's just how it goes.
I think totally.
I'm way more socially anxious in Los Angeles than I am in New York City.
That tracks likely story.
Likely story. And I think it's because in New York City, and I'm also talking about my girls Brooklyn and Queens. Okay, I'm roping everybody in Yeah, there's sort of like escape routes, you know what I mean. And also, like in New York, there's so many different kinds of people, where in LA there's not, and so that's sort of awesome.
Well, our guest happens to be there, and he's making a face.
And here's my thing about the guest, one of my favorite occupants of Los Angeles.
Ugh, that is high praise, question mark.
Not only is it a likely story, it's a true story.
That is really really nice. I agree. I've never seen our guest in like an LA context.
Yeah, but I'm.
Sure that were I to see him.
He doesn't really give LA.
You know what I mean, yeah, let's get into that with him, because I feel like, how does that work? You know?
Well, I don't know. And it's crazy because we're literally talking to him in the most la atmosphere you can possibly be in, which is Vanessa Hudgens's old home. So the guest owns Vanessa Hudgens's old home. It's now his home. Likely story, And it's actually kind of crazy because he lugs onto the zoom and he's sort of is sitting in this sort of what I can only call gorgeous setting, and I complimented him on the wallpaper and he said, I didn't pick this out. Vanessa Hudgens picked this out.
And that's just one of the many topics we're going to get into today's episode of Lost Cultures US with our guests.
And that's a likely storybow absolutely, I guess we can ask him. But I wonder if this is the house where she said people are gonna die. I shouldn't be doing I should be doing this, I should be doing Wait, we have to pulp the video. We have to find out where she said that in the home. I'm sure he knows. I'm sure he's like locked it down he does. Look it is a cute little smile. He's nodding a cute little smile, and there's a.
Listen. Call me David Letterman, because our guest really needs no introduction. Podcasting legend, podcasting pioneer, podcasting curator. You know, I'm from Pods of America and love her leave it among so many other things. I mean, this is a this is an icon podcast.
Icons, podcast icon god, one of those people who's like dauntingly funny, you.
Know, hashtag actually smart in a way.
Smart I know, I know. So we'll see how this goes. We're going to see how its I might just clam up and really not speak the whole time.
Well, you're so shy. Why you're so shy? What do you think? And we talked earlier about much weed.
It's that it's I don't know, like I find myself losing self concept, propri reception, I don't know how I'm moving around in the world. It's that I need to talk to my therapist about it.
Google's proprioception.
Therapist says proprio reception once Bowen Yang uses it for the rest of his life. That's where I got it from my therapist. To use that on me.
Likely story, Likely Story. Okay, so I think at this point is the sort of part we bring him the guest. Everyone, please welcome into your ears John love it? Wow?
Wow? You know you listen to this show and you hear about people sitting in silence while you do whatever it is that you just did, and then you you live it for yourself and it's different.
Now was it better than you ever could have dreamed? Was it better than in your liquid dreams? O Town?
Yeah, it was sure. It was better than my liquid dreams. You know what goes well with likely story is must be nice.
Oh oh wow, that's my story. Okay, wow, thanks for collabing with us.
Must be nice is good and for some reason, I also I switched that out with and it's not quite as good, But I switched that out with pretty cool, right, something like that? Just a nice little Salt Bay like dash of something.
Can I throw something out there instead of how about them apples? You just say them apples?
Now? Really you don't like that? As I like it? It's really good. I mean, could you give us an example? Could you? I don't, I'm not trying. I don't. I'm not seeing it.
When people see that this episode's coming out and John Lovett is finally on Lost Culture restas after years.
Yeah, put a big fucking underline under Finally Jesus Christ was Pat Reagan for the seventh time. Not available. I don't understand, my goodness, Pat's amazing, but he has been He must have been busy. He must have been busy.
You know, he's been on recently, and this is first time Los Culture guessn love.
Well, John will sort of nag me sometimes because I'm frequently on love it or leave it, and I love coming on, especially to play my character of masculinity expert Brad Turbo. That's kind of my favorite thing I do on the show. But you're always sort of nagging me because you're like, yeah, well, this is I guess you're eight hundredth time on the show and I've not been on. But I always used to say I would like to wait for us all to do it in person.
Are which is fair? Which a weird thing to say that not do that.
Likely story?
Likely story? Well, I don't think this is any lesser of a sort of reality than like if we were in person. It would be best if we were all in Vanessa's house.
That's what I was just that would be great, And just to go back to what you were saying, Yes, this is where she said that thing that like people are gonna die, but like I have to go to the mall that it happened here, it happened upstairs. Here, I know the room. I found it, you found it. I found the spot.
Oh my goodness.
So did you see the house an architectural didst because she famously showed this house an architectural digest, which I then heard is something that celebrities often do when they want to sell their home. Ah, are you confirming this is the case.
I didn't know that either, But that's that's why they do it. Look, my eyes are open. Yeah, here's the thing. You have to stay woke and.
That is the thing.
And that is the thing. But yes, apparently when they do these house tours and they're like, I can't wait for this tree to grow so big that my children can play under it, they're full of shit. It's about to be listed. It's going to be listed that very day.
Yeah, Now correct me if I'm wrong. She had sort of an interesting mural next to the pool. Did you keep that?
No?
You didn't gone painted right over it, painted right over it. She was so proud of it's gone.
Oh man, And you held the brush yourself.
But I replaced it with nothing.
Okay.
Oh so it's just a wall. It's just white painted over right, You're gone.
Hmmm.
I don't know's I don't know that I'm the hero in this part of our conversation.
I think is that you're way more boring than Vanessa Hudgens, who seems bad and awesome and cool, and you are painting over her escape geez.
I'll tell you one other thing, which is she was getting so much pr crap mail to this house from brands, so so much, and for weeks, if not months, her assistant would come like every two weeks and fill up her Mini Cooper to the brim with boxes. And they've barely slowed down, but the assistant has stopped replying. And so I have boxes and boxes of just free crap that's for Vanessa Hudgens in my basement. And when my
mother and sister come, they call it the mall. They go down there and they like, they like, ooh so wrong.
You know, he's store twenty worth of lamaire.
It's nothing that nice. It's like Boba ice cream and Instagram sunglasses. It's just absolute. It's an unending of crap that people are mailingked in the hopes that just maybe it might appear in a video in which a Vanessa Hudgens is saying that the pandemic isn't a big deal.
Right, the mall came to me. I didn't have the people didn't have to die, right, Yeah, came to me. You're in boxing these, You're in boxing all the boxes.
I feel okay, Well, I'm just wondering if I'm I would say that I accidentally opened them all thinking they're for me. I think I should say something like that.
Yeah, but more thing jump scare when you get a package and it says Vanessa Hudgens on it, you know what I mean? Like, does I ever say Vanessa Ann Hudgens, because famously, for a while there she was Vanessa Ann Hudgeons.
I'm not quite sure. It's actually at this point disappointing. It's just like it's like, ugh, it's gonna be another like size zero bit of a leisure. You know what am I supposed to do with this? Right?
I guess I don't know, you could make some wal art for the mural. Yeah, the erstwhile mural.
She is I think maybe one of the most famous ads ever, which is why I'm still asking about it. Eleven minutes the podcast. Now, do you ever go into that area that's sort of not the backyard, but it's next to the backyard, And because I remember she said that sometimes she would use that to just frolic and just dance around and sometimes even do dance contests with her friends. So I'm wondering, do you ever get you know, Favre over there to kind of like do a dance contes dance?
Yeah, we do a lot of that. We do interpretive dance night. You know, he's surprisingly limber for someone from Boston, and so yeah, I mean that's that's why that was what excited me about it, the opportunity to have a space for dancing.
Right, do you ever even go back there be real?
Of course I do, of course I do, And I'm so lucky to be here. Of course, I believe that the previous owner was Gary Oldman, and so there was a lot of like big nineties screens about, you know, like from an era when from a pre iPhone pre iPad era. Ye, it was like very like one off big screens with buttons that don't do anything anymore, that connect to nothing.
You know, a doc for like a second generation iPod. Yeah physical wheel Yeah, yes.
Yeah, very Gary Oldman very that. You know. Well, I would die to know what Vanessa Hudgens' WiFi name was. Okay, this is a vulnerability hour. What is the name of your Wi Fi thing? And what is the password to your wife side?
I will say so. When I moved in, I said hello to the neighbors, and one of the neighbors said, wow, that's thank you for saying hi, and made a point that Gary Oldman never talked to any money. And they have an inside of my cross the street neighbor have an impression that they do of Gary Oldman because they saw Gary Oldman on the street and they said to Gary Oldman, Hey, we're gonna have a barbecue. You know you're on your neighbor do you want to stop by?
And he did this. It's not going to work on the podcast, but we can describe it. He went like this. He went like this, Oh okay.
So what love it's doing is he's putting his both arms out, sort of doing like a wave that you know, a decline, but shaking his head with a puckered face.
It's pushing the event so far away like this, you know, like no, no, no, I'm not going to that. And they apparently it's become an inside joke that that's what you do to decline something in that home, a gesture Gary Oldman made probably ten years ago, right, but.
Doesn't that I mean, sorry to say likely story like that just tracks as Gary Oldman too.
Me. Yeah, it does well. When she did it, it was like, oh my god, I can see it. It was exactly you could see the ormans.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well Gary Oldman is such an amazing actor, and I'm so happy that we've arrived in the part of the podcast where we talk at length about his filmography. What's your Wi Fi thing's name? Because you didn't answer that question and totally difference.
Just say the network if you feel comfortable, but you don't have to indulge me.
That's for Little Culture number eighty eight. You don't have to indulge.
You don't have to indulge man.
It is named after a video game that's all same.
What is it Boen's hard as our option.
I'll know it's named after a game called Outer Wilds. Do you ever play Outer Wilds?
Oh? I never played Outer wild Gotta play Out of Wild's. Wait what is that? What's the genre?
That was a a perni game is like a very small game where not Outer Worlds.
Game.
This is Outer Wilds, which is different?
Oh yes, yes, yes, okay, great, And then it looks like the person is like from from BioShock, but it's just someone in like a what do you call that a suit? A suit, spacesuit, a spacesuit, subsuit or something something.
I I know for a fact that I'm not alone in my sort of gay gamer reality, but I feel like it's hard to like find community among other homosexual men about the kinds of video games we like to play because it feels at this point so individualized and there is I think video games are like one of the last places where there is monoculture, and yet even there it's sort of fragmenting, just as any other media.
Well, and you think it's a similar problem. You know, there there's more experimentation, and there's I do think, kind of more innovation in what a game can be there's just more variability. You can have a game like Modern Warfare, and then you can have a game where you never press a button and you just explore a world reading letters about a person who died. You know, Like that's a pretty big range. But I do think like there's the Marvel type games Fortnite.
Say more about those that sounds really fun.
They're they're the big budget like shooting games, and then you put all those aside, and then you have to find like the more indie games, or the smaller games, or the more supreabol games, and that's sort of where I go. Plus, I love the like I loved Eldon Ring, I love I love, I do love BioShock, I love Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
In those games, I feel like all of those from software games are very John Lovett.
Yeah, do you play them?
I don't, And really so, Matt. These are games that are incredibly different colts. You die constantly, and I just I don't work under that feedback loop of like you.
Failed, what are you playing?
I am playing the Disney World equivalent of an MMO, which is Final Fantasy fourteen. The designers literally aren't trying to make it feel like a theme park, like you're supposed to like log on and it's supposed to be like you can go do this and do that and do that and it's great. I did famously by Matt Rodgers a switch with Breath of the Wilds. How far did you get into it? Matt?
I got into the part where you're sort of on like a big tomb. There's like robot scorpion things attacking you, and I can figure out how to sort of get out of there. And so it's been frustrating for me, so much so that I haven't touched it in a long time. And then I really was I can't stress enough. I couldn't load all the games onto the switch. I really am not good at tech. I'm not good at it,
and it frustrates me. It's probably the same way that you're frustrated by dying a thousand times in a game. I'm frustrated by turning on the game and finding out I can't play it, you know what I'm saying.
Of course, of course, I think the missing piece, the thing that Matt needs is like just someone to show him, like where to put in an SD.
Card, say that what I need is someone to come in here or someone want to put the SD cards.
Asolutely, absolutely, you just slide it in right there. That's yeah.
I think that's all you really need and then you'll be off to the races. But I respect maybe they're ultimately not for you.
Do you know what they'll bowen say this and say the truth, say the likely true story of this when we play like Mario Kart together, even on the newer systems, I hold my own. It takes me a second, but I'm actually pretty good for someone that doesn't know how.
True story that is a true story.
I just feel like on a lot of the newer systems, and again this is me saying it as like sort of a pedestrian now at this point, but as someone who definitely identified as a little gamer when I was young, like in a major way, I feel everything's gotten more complicated. Yes, of course, it's all got more dynamic, and like, you know, one could even just say things have gotten better, like the worlds are bigger, they're more interesting, they're more visually appealing,
they're more stimulating, et cetera. There's more characters and more to explore. But also I kind of miss back in the day when it was like Super SMAs Brothers on GameCube when it was like you started out with I think eight to ten people you can unlock characters, and
then that was it. It's like it just feels like it's all so much now, and then muchness is what kind of like I don't love as much because I don't know, like I feel like an old old man now because whenever I just see pac Man, I'm like, thank God, I know exactly what I got to do. Mama has to eat and if she dies, she's gonna spin in a circle and be no more.
Oh my god, straightforward, and it's the saddest thing.
Yeah, because it's life and death.
That's the thing. The game has such high highs because you can eat a ghost, right, but then it has these really low devastating moments where yes, a ghost that's not a ghost, that's.
Not vulnerable eats you, right.
Yeah, And it's also a larger, I think message about vulnerability.
The clown comes back to bite in many ways.
Well, it's that you can eat the ghost when they're scared, but when they're not scared, you cannot.
So would you say that when you're eating the ghost, that's doing clown ery and that when the ghost eats you, the clowns come.
Back to bite.
I think that's right. Here's what I think. I think that there was a key moment, and here's the key moment. I think the key moment is when when Sony and Nintendo decided that there weren't going to be just one trigger for each finger, but two.
Oh my god.
And I think that that moment, if you weren't there to learn that divide between like when they went from I think it's either PlayStation to PlayStation two or two to three, when Nintendo added the Z one when there was like the second chargers. Yeah, yeah, I think I think that, like there are people that just they never crossed that bridge, and now they don't know how to get there. You know.
That's so interesting because I feel like the first moment of like pure alienation by a video game company was Nintendo giving you N sixty four controllers where it had three handles.
Yes, when they built that for people with three arms, and they never explained their mistake or took ownership or account.
So many people.
I thought it was so cunt. I loved that controller. I thought it was k u NT and it served that.
I think we all thought so, but then once you like in theory, it's cunt. But then when you use it, and then John, the fact that there's a Z trigger on N sixty four controllers is what fucked us.
That's how little little guys learned how to finger.
That's how little guys learned how to finger. And then that branches off into two triggers on each side.
Yes, and there was no way to ever. You never used it the way it seemed like it was meant to be used. You never grabbed it symmetrically. You always had want your left hand on the middle zone where I did not joystick was oh you didn't.
No, I don't know what this is. And it may actually even trace back to the way I hold a pen is weird for some reason, like bowhen have you notice this because some people will make an issue of it with me when they watch me handwrite. I guess you don't watch you hold a pen? Where is the pan?
My middle finger kind of my middle arch kind of gets a little too high.
This is how I hold a pen.
That's interesting.
And you see how like I'm not using all my
fingers and they don't converge at the same point. I'm like resting the pen on what is actually my middle finger, and I think this is actually the way a lefty holds a pen, and so, as a result of writing left to right and holding a pen this way frequently throughout my handwriting career, which really took place between the ages of four and eighteen, when I was really handwriting a lot, and let's call it grade school, I would have ink all over I guess my middle ring and
pinky finger from like the ink not drying and just the way I naturally hold a pen humiliating and something I had to contend with in my life.
Yeah, that sounds really hard. Thank you for telling us about it.
Yeah, I don't know if that's why I would hold the left and right prong on the N sixty work control, because I just hold things different than like other girls. I'm not like other girls.
I think it's hard to think of it as a cause. It could be connected. Maybe there's a separate cause for both, but I don't think it's a cause. I don't think the way you hold a pen is the reason you know the controller that way. I think they're unrelated. Probably just being honest, you think I'm just different. You think I'm different and valid. Yeah, I think you march to the beat of your own drummer A phrase I love.
You like you really love it?
Yeah, use it all.
I wait, if you were known for as someone who said like and they marched to the beat of their own drummer, that would actually be major.
I also say all the time they broke the mold with that one.
Do you like that?
I love that one and it seems unrelated. But don't have to tell me twice.
Don't have to tell me good.
That's really good.
What do I say?
A lot?
There's definitely like prepositions. I use a lot on this podcast, and bo when I think says here's the thing, I think, I say, here's the thing. I feel like I hear that in your voice. I feel like I hear here's the things in my voice. Yes, if there are ticks that we have, I guess the readers, the Katie's, the finalists, and the publicists would be the ones to confirm what those are.
Oh, here's what I try to consciously work in. And I don't find too many opportunities too.
Are you ready?
Yes, perfect example, perfect example. Oh my god, that's a good example.
It's really good.
The person just sounds smart when they use it. Perfect example, you're both smart.
Now, I want to say to you, John, But so Boone is sort of on this thing, I think because he knows he's a smart person and there's another smart person in the chat, which doesn't happen to him frequently because he's the podcast with me. So now that you're in the chat, he's sort of doing this thing where it's like, I'm not smart, I'm not smart.
I do this every week with it.
I guess you don't liar likely story.
But do you?
Are you knowledgeable about everything? John? And if so, what are you dumb about ridiculous?
First of all, First of all, I actually think you're both right. I think Bowen knows how smart Bowen is. Yes he does, and Bowen often does do a performance of ah shucks.
Yes he does. Thank you for saying it.
As a listener, as a reader, thank you.
I'm going to do a thing where I bring race into it.
Okay, okay, sure it's time thirty minutes in, let's hear it.
It's time.
I'm pouring myself a drink.
I'm bringing race into it. I think culture is the world over an Asian person wearing glasses. They go, he's probably smart, And.
I think, and I think that's what I've been doing for years.
No, no, no, no, no, I think that that just giving me such a boost.
I see.
And it's not one that's fully that I've I've not taken that vertical to the fullest type.
Here's what I want to say. First of all, I'm realizing I'm doing that. That's why I think you're smart. No, it's no, No, Here's here's I think the word's smart. I think the words smart is bad. Yeah. It's a bit like saying like weird or crazy. It's a stand in for a bunch of qualities.
Fine, I love that.
Here's what I think. Here's what I think. What my experience of it is is that Bowen is very precise in his use of language in describing you're in describing your experience, in describing the world, But then you are less precise in how you apply it to yourself, so as not to precisely say the ways in which you think highly of yourself, because it would feel like bragging.
Wow, that's really interesting.
That is really to use a word smart, to use a big word, it's very stupid.
Oh, that's really interesting. First, I quickly want to say, while you were saying that, I did feel silly because what I call Matt all the time is smart. I'm always over here gassing my friend up going. I mean, Matt's one of the smartest people I know.
And then I'm always sort of challenging him. I'm always saying say more, say more, say more about that.
Matt is incredibly emotionally and textually intelligent. He is able to interpret something with.
You think I'm textural, I said, textually, Oh do you think I'm textual?
I think you can watch a movie, a TV show, read a book and you know the exact right takeaway. Not that there's always a right take away.
No one is textually attracted.
I think it's cool that when you thought he meant a textural, that was awesome instantly pivoted to textually.
Think I'm textural, and I said, you think I'm textural, which I don't think.
Is a word.
I think it might be a textural.
I think either way that it works. I think that's very very astute, John. But you have yet again sort of heard a question that I've asked and said something else, And that's okay. The second time, the third time. It's the famous expression fool me twice, shame on me, for me three times. You're off The pod.
Kicked as quickly as I came in, just like that, and just like that, and just like that, Big was dead.
Anyway, What subjects do you lack knowledge in? What's your dumb area?
I'm dumb about a lot of things. Go ahead, here are some things I don't know about sports.
Okay, music, you don't know about music?
Well, why ask a question if you're gonna react like that? What's the what is that? What is that? What this was?
I love this dance. Three of us are doing say more things. I won't interrupt.
I don't know anything about like cooking really or you know, food generally. Wine is baffling to me. I find it interesting when people know about wine because it seems like a way to stop liking things that cost thirty dollars. You know, It's like, why, why try so hard to become like disgusted by something reasonable? So I don't really understand that. I don't know anything about plant.
For trees, that's a huge one.
I don't especially in La I'll be walking with a friend of mine and they'll say, oh my god, look at that, it's a boogain vilia or something of that, or look at that these are amic What is that? Something don't know. I don't know anything about it.
So far.
I think we share. We share a lot of these categories except for music. But I think you saying a dumb area of yours is music means that you don't like. Does that mean you don't know theory or you you don't know like what the kids are listening to?
I don't. Yeah, I would say I don't know what the kids are listening to?
Got it?
I think that's a function of like age, like because I feel but I never did, Okay, I really just never did.
I didn't. I tried when I was a kid to keep up, and I bought a CD. The first two CDs I bought. One was Live Throwing Copper. What that? I just it's what It's what the kids were borrying. And sorry, I'm just telling. I'm explaining you know what we made it.
No, I didn't mean to make a face either.
Is this I don't know?
This is last I begged to be on stop I Love You Keep Going? What's the second album?
I Love You Keep going I do love you.
Then I get a warm feeling every time.
The second album, you know what, You can put a nail on a wall and then take it out, but you know what's left behind? I'll tell you.
Holes a whole.
Sorry.
The other one. The other was I didn't hear it. The other one was Matchbooks twenty. Remember they're okay, yeah, what was that album called that?
I'm almost be.
Because I heard other kids talking about it and he was great. And then I went to the store and I got it and I brought it home and I just like played it just to try to understand what all the fuss was about. I'm still not sure.
You don't get match Bucks twenty.
I mean, I liked it, but I just didn't. It's like, okay, so this is good. This is this is what I'm supposed to like. Okay, I can like this. I can get that back that we all have had that.
Yeah, that's a good Album's totally great. Three Am is a classic iconic song. And then of course push Wanna
Push You Air Around? Well? Will that one really good, which everyone was obsessed with saying at the time was written from a female perspective, and they were like isn't it amazing that Rob Thomas and Matchbucks twenty did this song push, which is get this bravely written from a female perspective, and people were saying, this is Matchbucks twenty speaking for women who are pushing back against I guess like violence towards women, like I'm going to push you back,
I'm not going to take disrespect in my relationship. I'm going to push you around. I will, I will. And yet it was just Rob Thomas is sort of male voice singing that.
I feel like you're slowly letting us know that you wrote your college thesis about this album, and you're like there's like actually a lot of detail and that you've bringing to the table, which is exciting.
But that's really a nice view that you think I wrote a college thesis. Thank you.
That is such a nineties we're in the like this, like like.
Tell us what we're in king, I'm thinking about it.
I'm thinking about it, and it's it's like it takes it takes until now for something to go from being obviously like like the nineties are now the past. Yes, the past, it's unequivable. They are the past. It's another era. And so then you're a lot. Then I think you can talk about it as the past, and so people
are more honest about it. And there's like an all male band writing a song from a woman's perspective, or like James Bond, there were all these articles about how, like James Bond is moving past the sexism of its old era. Why because he's punching women now, like you know, like like James Bond can fight a wo woman and that's how, you know, we're kind of moved into the future.
And there's just this like there's this quality to nineties cold Sure that was a bunch of people who were very much mired in sexism and racism and misogyny and all of it, patting themselves on the back, believing that that was all behind them, like it was the end of history. And I love it. I just love the energy of it, and I like the reexamination of it.
Yes, that was very much the time of One of my favorite things to say, talking about being able to say things, one of my favorite things to say that I never get to say is and he happens to be gay? And that was the very much and he happens to be gay era like and guess what, there's also a character that is can confirm black and also, you know, you know what we're actually doing. Ross actually has a black girl from this episode. Deal with it.
Deal with it. She will get dumped into episodes and just.
The whole like a whole political moment about the whole premise being that like gay people were cool with it because they couldn't help it.
Yeah, they didn't want to be like this.
It's not their fault.
They just the choice like that. Obviously they wouldn't choose this life.
And that's the most important reason to accept it.
I think both of you are so so so right about this, and I think it's finally time we start moving towards locating this person. But I was just talking this weekend about but he's gay, he's gay, sorry, he's blind. This we need to find that newscaster. She has done such a service. We talk about her at work every week, me and celestin'sare We were always like, well, like it's Tuesday. We're like, well, we don't have any ideas should we write a sketch that's but he's gay, sorry, he's blind.
Like We're like, where is this person we have? Like we need to find her. Yeah, you know that is the ultimate, the ultimate news blooper news veil.
Maybe a little, I agree.
I don't know the grave Stomp lady. She sounds really fucked up. It's like a gruesome sound.
I don't know that this is true, but I think she got really hurt, which is like really hurt, which is another thing we've talked on this podcast before about like fail culture and like you know, when when a when a like a blueper that goes wrong in a physical way. Like I don't understand watching those like for pleasure because what you're hearing and seeing are the sounds
of physical pain, often brutalization. And I'll tell you what really hurts me in the heart, because it hurts me physically to even watch the experience of watching it gives me pain. Are skateboarding fail videos. It is so gnarmally.
Yeah, skateboarding to me, it is the lowest reward, highest risk pursuit, especially because of those games. And I played that Tony Hawk game.
Yep, oh my god, we met Tony Hawk when he was on your I was on the same level or leave it as.
Tony Hawk, and so I didn't have to Yes, it was surreal. It was great. And I asked him about this too, which is in the Tony Hawk game, you do these incredible moves. I mean you spin up in the air, and then you watch real skateboarding, and the things that get applause are just they're nowhere near the exciting maneuvers that take place in the game, and then people just eat shit. Yeah, it's no good, it's no good.
And did he confirm he can't do those magic tricks?
Yes, and he did he had recently broken his femur.
Yeah, which is the biggest bone in your body, not one you are He's okay, that's good. Okay. So while we're sort of in this area of like we're talking about nineties culture, we're talking about throwback culture, we're talking about even things like you mentioned, like the formative music you were listening to, it's time to ask the question which is the central question of the podcast, which is, and I'm honored that we get to ask you this and John love it, what was the culture that made
you say culture was for me? So I thought about this and people always and talk about talk about filler things that people always say, is I thought about this, fucking hoster, you Award winning one. Keep going, Oh what listen, we both have.
Is it a Webby?
It's not an ivy were actually this year by the Webbies. Yeah it sucks. We're one of the glad Awards on uh Saturday. On Saturday, We're gonna lose probably, Okay, anyway, go on.
Oh yeah, So I think you have to put these two things together, which is why I'm going to say them both. One is math Net on Square one, which was a show on public television. It was a show about math that air when I was a kid, and at the end of every no it had a lot of different games and segments. I didn't like those. I didn't watch those. That culture wasn't for me. But at the end of every episode of Square one there was a segment called math Net, a math based parody of Dragnet,
that had two detectives. I want to remember their names. The guy's name was Joe Frankly, and there were two different female detectives. It started with I believe Pat Monday, and then Pat Monday left the show and was replaced by like Kate Tuesday math and they would use maths to solve crimes, like there was a man in a gorilla suit who robbed a bank? How far could he have gotten between when the first witness saw and the
second witness saw him? And it would always have the like bump bump bump, and it would be about two detectives using math to solve solve crimes. Loved it very important to me. The other is a specific scene, which is a scene when a sad miss Piggy returns to the department store in Muppets Take Manhattan and Joan Rivers cheers her up by giving her a makeover, a makeover. But they have so much fun yes doing the makeover that they get fired to get fired and storm out
of the department store laughing. And I think if you put those two things together, it really explains the whole.
The wholectory that is wonderful. Now I'm less familiar with math net, I ask you, did it make you want to be a mathematician? Did it make you good at math? Do you feel that maybe you didn't care about math so much before?
Did it uncover a love of math or did it affirm an existing love of math?
I think it affirmed and celebrated.
A love of math. You love math, love math.
I'm looking at this there was math Court math Man, The Mathematics of Love angled it so so Matt and Night in the nineties did not grow up with Square
one on PBS because this was PBS. Mm hmm okay, And can I just say before we move on to Miss Piggy and John Rivers, there is something about edutainment that is like the most politically interesting, impactful kind of entertainment that it's probably also the hardest thing to write and generate and shoot and make interesting and entertaining like edutainment. Like there's almost something like inspiring to me where I'm like, oh, I would be totally happy and I bet completely fulfilled
just working in that lane. Like if I made edutainment good edutainment, if I made that my life's mission, I'd bet I would be the happiest version of myself.
Yeah, it is just so hard to the level of sophistication you're supposed to get when it's not for you. Oh, and we understand, and we all understand, especially now that like, hey, there's something wrong if you are trying to write for an audience that you're not a part of, right, whether it's like yep, yep, I would never pitch a show about like black culture, or I would never pitch a show about I think I wouldn't even pitch a show about like lesbian culture, right, I just I would feel
on comfortable trying to like embody that that doesn't seem right to me. But adults pitch show about children's culture all the time. We don't let children write them, which is something I think the strike is all about, which is letting.
Children, letting kids, right, mini rooms, that's what the.
Mini rooms are. Just tiny, tiny writers, children, very short men, very small people, and they should be paid or be bigger.
Yes, yes, yes, Matt and I have worked in this sector where through Story Pirates we were literally adapting and listen, it was like great stuff. But this is really interesting because I also think it's not super It doesn't always yield the best results when people try to write for an audience that they aspire towards. Either you can sort of like smell that pretty easily and go I don't
really care for this. Like I can tell that the people making this show are trying to like go up some sort of like tear or cast, and like I don't think that's working well authentic.
It's like something trying to be more sophisticated than is or something trying to be more political than the person writing it naturally is.
Yeah, So just to marry your two answers. Then, because you have this, you know, you're nodding towards this math net and we're talking about edutainment, and then you're we're going to transition into the Miss Piggy Joan Rivers make up moment of it all. Were you a Sesame Street child?
Yes, I was a Sesame Street child. Did you have mister Wizard?
No, so I think we had Wizard. What unfortunately happened around my age was Barney really took over? Yeah, and Barney is like, and this is I'm not disrespecting, But Barney was more just like a narrative about the kids and Barney, and it was I guess maybe it was
teaching like moral lessons. But Sesame Street was fun because it felt like a really fun educational program that was so disguised in the interesting characters and the fun dynamics that you didn't even realize you were learning, Whereas, like you know, Barney was just I think trying to be like, Oh, Selena Gomez Will helped to temi levado tie her shoe. They're friends. This is what friendship is.
Barney taught you how to like hang out.
I guess Barney taught you how to chill. It's actually really culture number seven.
Barney taught you how to chill.
Yeah, that I feel like that is the difference. I think that's like the five years because that was after Yeah, like I think I got the bottom of the barrel of like the eighties, like public television, those original studios where it's like, this is just an old social studies teacher in a house somewhere and we're just gonna shoot him showing people how ice melt. I love that, and like that's what I got. And then Barney's like, I'm gonna fuck this whole economy. Yeah, I'm gonna rock. I'm you.
People don't understand how annoying this can be and work Barney was. You don't understand the sounds that kids are actually looking for.
And Barney was so obsessed with being a brand. Barney was brand forward. The Barney brand was so inescapable.
Yeah, Barney also was really big on like teaching you how to clean up after grip.
Get bent. Barney get bent.
But it's also like Bartie can't have its kick and needed too because Barney's like, you should clean up after yourself. But then also like in the back of my mind, I feel like Barney was trying to teach everybody about like making it in this world so that you don't have to clean up after yourself and you can pay somebody to do it. I don't know where that's coming from, but I feel that to be true.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think that was That was the Barney energy look. And I've always said this, Barney is hustle culture, and yes, yes, and a lot of people don't talk about it. Absolutely was Thomas the tank Engine. Thomas the Tank Engine was hustle culture for sure.
Surely.
So you know it was very important to be a train and to do your job as a train. If you didn't do your job as a train, there were consequences.
Right, Oh, how interesting consequence culture.
That's And there's something so cynical. They're on tracks, yea, what point does they are? Really? They are just lit it. They can go forward or they can go back.
Yeah.
Do you have any comment on when Sesame Street had to cut out Katy Perry because of her breasts. Do you have comment on that.
I'm sorry, I'm not aware of that. I don't.
Well, the most famous episode of Sesame Street and no one ever saw was when Katy Perry guested on Sesame Street and even though she's wearing a full shirt, everyone said, we can't have this. Her boobs are too big. She can't be on Sesame Street. And they never shared the episode, but you can watch it on YouTube. I guess I think she sang like a silly version of Hot and Cold.
It seems like there's a digital fix. Yeah, back then, maybe not. I think in twenty ten we didn't have that technology.
Well they could. They could have just put in like a bush, you know, like a like just like a little plant or something.
You know, she could have been singing behind a bush.
But by the way, we know one should feel bad for Katie Peer in the end that the ending to her story is that she went to the coronation and no one else did, like the people who called in to complain did not.
And even before that, she's done pretty well.
Yeah, well a huge star.
Yeah, everybody knows her. Her stuff's all over the place.
Can I say, before we move into the mispiggy of it all I did. I've written down one word on a piece of paper, and it's the word weird. Because when you said earlier that you feel like smart is a bad word, dumb is a bad word, weird is a bad word. I'm going to push back on weird. I think it's actually really fun to say about someone she's weird, Like, no, how is that person? Like, I've never met them weird?
And I love I love having fun with words. And I think we all did, ye I will. I think weird and crazy and.
Crazy is problematic.
Crazy is not great.
Yeah, yes, so crazy has issues beyond what Actually I understood the reason to stop saying crazy, and I thought it was a good reason. It to you, well, what persuaded me that it wasn't just good for that reason alone? Right, Like, yes, I understand why I could be considered ablest and I would say, you know what, I would say intellectually, I was my heart wasn't in it, And I.
Think, what, that's huge. That's what got me.
What got me all the way there was not just the way in which it was sort of using this sort of you know word about mental health in a pejorative way. It's that so often it is just laziness to stand actually, and it's two people assuming they both know what they mean by crazy, but they don't. It's just a stand in for a bunch of different things, and actually forcing yourself to find more specific ways to talk about why you're bothered leads to saying something better.
That's interesting. And so you feel the same way about weird, where it's a stand in for something else. But I think I think you're sort of your hang ups about these words. I think it's kind of tied to them mostly being monosyllabic, with the exception of crazy, weird, smart, dumb, Let's say dumb that's great. I just use the word great, and I don't feel awesome about it. I don't feel great about it. So I feel like, but is that it?
Like I think, is there are we creating some sort of bias towards multi syllabic words because I don't always.
Don't want to be a part of that. I don't want to do that.
What I've had to walk back for the last several years because when I listened back to myself from years ago, I go, why am I throwing all these disgusting sat words around. That's so annoying.
It's June and I and I feel like sometimes dumb, weird, smart, sometimes those are okay.
Yeah, I agree, but I don't what. Yeah I agree with that. I'm not the word Okay, you can you police. I'm not the word police.
But this is the words episode and actually is the title of that's what they mean by minimum staffing like tiny people with John love.
It words words words. Yeah, that's great. I was gonna say with the words, I like words, words, words.
Let's see if we have John isn't happy.
Here's the thing we have it.
We are to do this. We're on the guild. We can't beat something while we're on the straight.
Do you have a statement of support for the guild? Because as someone that a lot of people look up to.
And make it make different ones for West and East.
Look, I think, uh, I think that, Oh we're in trouble. I'm very supportive of the writers. I hope they get what they want. And you know, I'm a big supporter of not letting computers write scripts. I don't think they'll do a very good job. I think the tweets by the writers are good and none of them are over
the top. And I think anyone who's saying that and support the writers and all the people secretly free all the people who correctly and support the writers in this strike, but then also have little side texts about the tweets that they think are the most ridiculous. I consider that being a scab and that needs to stop.
Wow, that actually that I think people are going to change their behavior now, I really do.
Mm hm.
So Miss Piggy and Joan Rivers when they played with makeup together, what was that the guy?
Was it?
The joy? Was it the joy and the fun they were having and what was obviously sort of a you know, fun moment on set.
It's that. It starts with Miss Piggy. She's at a low.
Yeah.
I believe she's just been rejected by Kermit in some way.
Which was insane. I mean the amount of times that he shit, I think because he's insecure and you know it's small.
Kermit is not a good guy.
No, No, he's a narcissist.
He plays at the banjo.
Cool, what of her?
It's ridiculous. But she comes in, she's so beside herself and they slowly Joan Rivers starts giving her this makeover, and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger until they're the other thing that I I didn't know what it was, but it was. It features more prominently in children's cartoon like Quicksand but it's the makeup poof where you poof someone's face with I guess foundation or just powder, and it was like just this big poof and you just
get poof, poof, poofed YEA. Cartoons would always do that to each other for makeup, like if if Bugs Bunny was putting makeup on Elmer Fudd, it would be a big poof and it had that yeah, and then that the snooty manager comes over and he's disgusted by this display, but they're having such a good time they don't care, and he says, you're both fired, and then they, you know, Joan Rivers basically mimics the Muppet style laugh, which is like the head been that which is the best, And
they just laughed their ways out of the store. Ten out of ten.
Ten is amazing.
Not until the film Babylon, was there.
Oh my god, there an anti retail scene?
Was there a scene that starts from zero and ends at one hundred? That's what I'm saying.
Wait, what scene in Babylon?
Are you talking about every scene in the first two hours?
Yeah, it's pretty pretty weird.
What way did this contribute and what way did this contribute to the trajectory?
I just I just have Miss Piggy energy. I just do ye.
Do you know you're violent? Piggy's a violent woman. She often will say violent.
Yeah, I do that, I do that.
On this podcast. There is never an instance where Miss Piggy says that I'm not laughing it's till the cows draw.
She also, Miss Piggy, I believe, also chases down a per snatcher in Muppets Take Manhattan.
I believe she does.
I believe she does a hia I hope what hope amazing.
She's very declared. She's always kicking people out too, like I think it Muppet's Christmas Carol. She tells Michael Caine, you know, when Scrooge wakes up the next morning on Christmas Morning and goes to Cratchet's house, she goes like she is very, like she's very She's there to be like Scrooge is not allowed here. The only character in that movie, by the way, in that story and that reimagined story. Who's like, fuck you Scrooge, get out of my house.
Yes, miss pigging Holes.
Does Lauren know you have Miss Piggy?
I haven't. I haven't myself to do a Miss Piggy.
But I'm waiting for the next moment for you.
Maybe. But I think look me saying hi yah an Asian.
I think looking at Weird, you're weird but weird. I'm smart and he's smart and weird.
Hey, I think you're both smart. I think you're both smart, weird and crazy.
Crazy is the title of the app. I'm sorry, abo's what it is. And smart, weird, and crazy because they're more descriptive than words words words, because actually all words smart, weird, and crazy with John love it And that's the title of the episode, and that's exciting. Do you have any thoughts on current culture that you are dying to get out there, Like what's the shows that you're consuming. I'm assuming you're a succession person.
I am a succession person. And I'll just say it, I love it. Yeah, I think it's good. I think it's smart, I think it's well written.
I'll just say it is a great sort of phrase too. Anyway, keep going.
I'll just say yeah, I'll just say it. I'll just say it.
I love it.
You think Sarah Snook is good?
Yeah I do. I'll say it. I think Sarah Snook is good. I like that none of the American accents are right, and that's okay because they're from another layer of society where maybe they are wrong up there, maybe they don't sound like us up there where they are.
I don't know if you listen to the Succession podcast with Karros Wwisher that she hosts, but she was talking to Brian Cox and he said that he was irate during the first season when, like episodes and episodes in he realized that the character was actually from Scotland, and he thought he had thought that they decided against that, Like he was like, Oh, the character's not from Scotland. That's not part of the history I'm playing. That's not
the character I'm playing. And then he saw literally a document that was printed out as a prop that I think stated Logan Roy's birthplace as Scotland, and he in the podcast episode I don't know, I can't necessarily find where Brian Cox's sense of humor starts and ends because it all is kind of delivered in this Brian Coxean way where it's the kind of person that's in your life, which is a person that I fear, which is where you think you're kidding because you are, and then all
of a sudden they reveal that they're no longer kidding, and like it's just people that have like there's an absence of a wink or the absence of putting effort into letting you know we are changing course are actually no. But seriously, I really mean this. He I don't know. I can't find where it starts and ends with him.
I don't know what he's kidding about. So he could legitimately be on this podcast episode which was the third episode, which of course followed the episode where his character dies, but he is seeming upset, but also it's like he could be kidding, but also I would not want to be the person around Yeah, probably not.
He also strikes me as someone where he has a sense of humor. But you know that even if you were just at your absolute best and you were firing in all cylinders that only half wood Land right, that there would just you'd be doing a lot of I'm just kiddings you'd be you'd be saying, I'm just kidding a lot, and that obviously stinks. It thinks stinks.
Yeah, here's here's My thought is that he seems to be someone who like rails against earnestness, like the way he like hates Jeremy Strong's style, but then he will also be earnest himself all the time. Does that make sense? I feel like there's no irony in any expression that he sort of puts out.
We also, like, I think that's something that we forget about actors in general when we call themselves important and self serious, is that they have to have a sense of play, because that is intrinsic and inherent to even wanting to act in the first place. Like actors without a sense of play. I don't understand that, nor have I really met Wile Bowen is smiling a smile.
Nothing, it makes me think of Patty over the Patty Years, and you like kind of overuses that phrase and like a deliberate sense of play, a sense of play. I mean, there's like she's like posted Instagram grip posts where she's like, what was great about this set was that the really sense of.
I'm sorry, no, it is funny. But I'm saying is like the set of Succession feels like it would be a weird one because you it feels like the methods there are all very different, you know what I mean. It's like Brian Cox fully dragging Jeremy Strong like in the press, and Kieran Culkin kind of doing the same thing, being like, yeah, it's annoying when he wants to not rehearse first.
I have two points I want to make. Point number one. I think it's cool, Matt, but you're that you approach this moment by saying I'm just not sure I respect Brian Cox's approach to acting at all.
What I'm saying is that I think people people sometimes interpret his his sense of humor and his like state of being as being like rigid or being like sort of like born. Brian Cox has to be he has to have a sense of humor. He's on succession, He's he's you look at his career, He's done a ton. He's also very funny, even if maybe in the moment he's not meaning to be funny or comedic purely in nature.
But like this idea that even like Jeremy Strong takes himself so seriously all the time, like can't be true, because like you have to have that curiosity and that sense of imagination and yes, play drag me Patty Harrison to even want to do this?
No no, no, no, no, no, yeah, I really quickly, I think I'm ready to share the story on the poet share it as a way of like supporting the idea that Jeremy Strong actually is, like has a sense of play and irony. Okay, and Matt's read the story before, I think, but I've been telling it, and I've been I've been really literally dining out on this story for a while now, and and this is this is its public debut.
So I'm very excited.
So the most recent season of nor from Queen's shot at the same studio as the most recent as this season of Succession. The North from Queen's production office was pretty close to the Succession stages in their production office, and as we famously know, Jeremy Strong is the method actor. And at one point, at one point, Jeremy walks into the North from Queen's production office and says, excuse me,
do you know where the bathroom is? And then something someone in the office is like, yeah, it's just down the hall to the left. He goes, thank you so much. He leaves, Matt, you've heard the story before, I think I have. You haven't.
Oh my god, Okay, you've been dining out with other people?
Yeah?
Yeah, likely story.
Likely story. So Jeremy leaves. Ten minutes pass and then a PA from succession comes into the office and goes, hi, was Jeremy just in here? And they were like, yeah, he was. He went to the bathroom. And then they go this PA goes, did he ask where it was? Us? Did he come here to ask you where the bathroom was? And they were like yeah, why. Then the PA says she has a scene today where he has to ask someone where the broom?
You're kidding?
And I think that is method to such a such a ridiculous degree that like he must be like in on the joke.
Giggling inside internally a little bit.
I love that, I am told I love I just love that there's somebody who's just like, I need to later ask someone to go to the bathroom. I don't. I need to fully internalize and understand the experience. So I'm gonna drink access that I can't access it so I'm gonna drink a gallon of gatorade and then go to an unfamiliar part of this lot, and I'm gonna use that experience that I can draw on it later.
I fucking love that. The other thing too, Like so like all of these actors they that are like doing a serious like whatever, Kendall as a leading man whatever. But like there'll be a billboard on sunset for some movie where a handsome male movie star will play a soldier.
And this is a person who has, you know, their life extends from like creation organic to to you know, it's like they live a very small and fancy life and then they are going to take on their persona of a member of the military and do things like follow me gents and life. But but and like just do guns stuff and man's military man bravado stuff, behaviors,
and I do not. I think if you're doing something like that, there has to be an ability to shut off the sense of like you can't have a sense of play actually and that day you have to be completely serious. You have to believe, you have to be so earnest because if even a tiny crack of how ridiculous this is got in don't you think it? Just it with the whole thing would melt like cotton candy, like you just to do that requires such a level of belief and commitment, like it seems sure.
Having not been in that situation, I feel like that you must be right.
So when I was a speech writer, Jeremy Strong played a speech writer in Lincoln, Ah. Basically years and years ago. He reached out through someone and I got lunch with him and he just asked me a lot of questions about speechwriting and like very specific, like what did you feel, what did you think? What is this? Like, what's your reaction to this? And I completely forgot about it. I just like forgot that it ever happened. And then I saw Lincoln and he has a part in Lincoln. I
didn't even remember. I wouldn't even have remembered his name. It just would have been like, oh, that actor who reached out about being in Lincoln. And then years later, when that New Yorker story came out, was said that, like, you know, Jeremy Strong has this method approach to acting, and I was like, oh my god, I was a part of his process. Wow, Lincoln, he was perfectly nice.
Did you meet up for lunch.
Yes, I got about lunch. And when the argument.
Got creation organic. This was in d C.
This was back when this was a d C Founding Farmers spot.
Maybe it might have been a founder of Farmers, just for one example that it could have been.
That's the only restaurant.
I'll tell you something about founding Farmers. Oh, here's what i'll say. Here's what I'll say. They took a lot of pride in saying that their building was Lead Green certified. Always fucking stuffy in there. It's like, it's like to be throwing air. What are we doing here? This is what it means. This is the future.
It was not class building. It was like, let's.
Get the air moving and yeah, don't tell me the future and that it's all great, and then and then everyone's going to think that this is what it is. The future is stuffy, and the future is not stuffy.
It can't be stuffy.
Maybe a little stuffy. My future might feel. The future might feel a little bit okay, a lot of good stuff coming down the pike. Totally excited about a lot of it. But the future might just be.
It's actually we're little Coaching Number sixty might be a little stoupy like Brian Cox.
Like Brian Cox, I think we're getting really sort of spirited right now. I think all three of us are ready to like really get polemic about launch and launch. What do you say?
It feels right, It feels right. This is a moment in time because it's the I don't Think so Honey segment of the John Lovett episode of Lost Culturistas. And this is sure to be fire. So I don't think so Honey. Is a sixty second segment that we do on this podcast where we take a minute at e sixty second is to real against something in culture that needs to be dragged. I am gonna keep it on Succession.
I actually have a thing about Succession that is an unpopular opinion, and I'm just gonna go for it.
Okay, this is Matt Rogers's I don't think so honey about Succession. His time starts now.
I don't think so honey, Cousin Greg. I think this is television's best current show. I don't think so honey, Cousin Greg. I think it's one bit and I think that it is funny. But I'm waiting for the cousin Greg of it. All to pay off. And I don't think so, honey that it will, because isn't that antithetical to the whole cousin Greg thing? You know what I mean? I understand like his relationship to them is like mandatory
and arbitrary, and like he is the comedic foil. But like I want to see this payoff in a big way, and if it doesn't, I don't think so, honey. I almost want to see cousin Greg win the whole thing, or for cousin Greg to reveal that quote unquote cousin Greg is like a long con because and it's nothing to do with Nicholas Braun. I just don't think, so, honey, the cousin Greg of it all. I'm just waiting for it to become more dynamic than it is right now.
It's a bit in a brilliant show where there's a lot of complexitn it feels like there's not a lot there that's awesome.
I don't think so, honey, And that's one minute. Wow, this is interesting. I agree, And anytime I see him with Tom, I'm like, get Greg with someone else. Let's see another like permutation of characters.
You want to know what it is. It's like it's in a show where the characters are so real and I really feel like I understand all the shades. I just don't believe he's that dumb Tonally, it's the only thing about the show where I'm like not landing anywhere me personally, Like, if I'm to compare it to mad Men, that's what like kind of makes mad Men a little superior for me, if I'm to compare the two, is that I feel like that there was not a false step in that way.
I need to speak. I think I need to speak on this. That's fine the far as your succession to me is actually making up for so I'm in By the end, it was just like, listen, I get it. They're on a journey. Put Peggy and Don in a fucking room together. Why are they at different agencies? There's a TV show get them together and with succession at least I agree that we need like there's like you want to see great like we've seen a lot of Jerry and George, show me George and Elaane, you know, yes,
show like let's get some pairings going on. Yeah, I totally agree exactly. I'm glad that they're keeping them together because in Mad Men it was so frustrating by the end because it's like a Don Peggy episode, a two hander suitcase, the suitcase.
Perfect perfect example, perfect example.
Perfect example. And I'm always saying that, and I'm always saying that is something I'm always saying, And that's I.
Was going to say. The reason it's really pronounced this season that like Greg doesn't tonally really working for me because I think Tom is less of a comedic foil to the siblings like Tom's on his funny as he was in prior seasons for like perfectly valid reasons, and so I think a lot of the comedy is landing on Greg. But I think this is just coming out of like logan dying. Maybe I don't know.
Yeah, well, I mean one of the funniest things that's happened all season is Tom dragging Greg for the date that he brought, i mean, the ludicrously capacious bag. So it's like that maybe that's why we're seeing so much of it or it's not evolving necessarily, is because that is the excuse for Tom to be the funny character still. And then you know, it almost feels like now that we're at the part of the show where we have the promise of the premise, which is the succession is
upon us. Maybe that sort of just focuses the narrative so on the three of them that there's not as much opportunity for cousin Greg to be colliding with them that much, or for them to be focusing on his dynamics with anyone but Tom, because that's just what's realistic. Also would say in terms of the mad men of it all, it's like, I actually disagree. I think Peggy quitting is actually all the more powerful knowing they that
they really no longer had a relationship after that. That's what keeps me going back to that episode where you know, she goes, takes a step towards him in her in his office and holds her hand out and then he kisses her hand and she says, don't be a stranger, and she leaves like that really was kind of the end for them, And I think that's strengthened when you look at the series as a whole, because she really left.
So I get what you're saying in terms of what we want for the characters in terms of our viewing experience, But to me, it was like they were following through with what they had decided to do in a realistic way, whereas maybe that's what's holding cousin Greg back in this season literally for the same reason, which is just not working as well for me.
I just want to say that it wasn't until what you just said that I put the pieces together and realized that they're doing a succession.
Oh yeah, a show about succession.
The promise of the premise, the promise of the premise, which Bowen smiled the same way when you say promise of the present pressing really gets a reaction, Well gets a.
Reaction because Matt recently on a on a project that we can no longer work on as long as the strike is happening, he used it to great effect and in a way that was actually quite helpful.
Promise Yeah, well it's actually it's actually a sud a green thing. But I thought that it's a perfect way to say. I mean, the promise of the premise, the premise of succession is he's going to die then the hill pass the company on, which is again what so this is a very like I think mom thing to say, like my mom when he died on Succession in that third episode, there was like a contingency of people, and my mom was one of them who was like, well, you know, we never saw the body. I don't think
he's dead. I don't think he's dead. You know, we didn't see it. I'm like, if this isn't like the mom, it's not lost, you know, it's not like it's This isn't like the This isn't like mid OFT's network televi vision where it's like they come back from the life.
It's not revenge like the forty four hundred.
Yeah, it's certainly not the forty four hundred and it never will be. But that was what was so funny to me, is I was just like, no, like, if you really think about this show, this needed to happen early in this last season because now we really need to see it come to ahead the promise of the premise there will be a succession.
Yeah, very good, very good.
This just makes me want to watch the Suitcase.
Oh maybe we will Bow, maybe we will all right, this is Bow and yangs. I don't think so, honey, Are you ready?
Bo I'm ready?
His time will begin now, I don't.
Think so, honey. Me becoming emotionally invested in ads for phone video games where it's always violence being inflicted upon a woman and or her child. It's a Have you seen these ads where it's like for an iPhone game where like the person's house is flooded or the person's kitches is on fire. What's the right tool that you should use? Is it the fire hydrant? Is it the comb? And naturally you pick the fire high. I might crazy. These are the moans that like, we've all the algorithm
serves to all of us, right, okay. Garden Scapes producer Becka is saying Garden Scapes, Yes, it's always about a woman and her child being like out of a house basically, And that is it's a premise that like kind of takes you out of the world of the game a little bit, right, It like you snap back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity. I want my games to be I want to play Outer Rims and not be reminded that there is a housing crisis in our country.
And that's one minute.
I think Outer Rims is a different game. I like special game only.
Fans, I'm saying out. I'm using Outer Rims as a perfect example to illustrate that, like any video games should not be so distressing that I like witness them a young mother or a new mother being like having to deal with a house flood, and that's all these games are about.
I don't like that at all.
Is Outer Rims a game that actually exists? Or is it? Are you referring to what I said about Outer.
Wilds Outer Wild? I meant to say outer.
Yeah, you know, I just that's okay, that's you know what?
You know what the Outer Rims is bone It's a cocktail at Ogu's cantina that we just had in the Galaxies. We were just in Disney World and there's a drink tequila.
We don't support the studio.
There's a drink called the Outer Rim and that's what he's thinking of.
And every guy there will ask you, do you know where the Outer rim is? And we're like, okay, no, don't ask us that.
You want to get an outer rim and then have a drink. You know what I'm saying?
It depends, daddy, how BIG's your blaster? You a gunner or a navigator in the cockpit? Hunt, Tell me, darling, how you fly the falcon?
The navigator is the bottom I guess you are. Now when you're body me, you are sort of like taking the joystick, as it were.
There is a ride, so I don't know if have you been to the Star Wars Galaxies Edge? Are you a Star Wars person?
I'm a Star Wars person. I haven't been. I haven't been to Galaxies Edge.
Just when you get on the Millennium Falcon ride, they look at you and you're gonna get put in the cockpit, and then the the person who's running the shit looks to you and says, my top two are pilots. My second two are gunners. In the back, y'all are the navigators. And when they look at you and they say you're a gunner, they do feel like a top.
Yeah that's cool. No, that's a powerful feeling. Totally, that's a powerful feeling.
Okay, Bowen and I were actually Bowen and I were actually the pilots. Remember when we flew the ship bough.
We didn't do good, we were pretty bad. But okay, Producer Beckett is making me feel like I'm not sorry crazy.
You are not crazy, said producer Rebecca.
You're not crazy.
I know the word is non grata right now, but I think that this game is popping up. The ads for these kinds of games are popping up everywhere, and just look out for them. And I might have like uttered that into your algorithms and I'm sorry.
Yeah, now I bet it will happen, and I will tell you what it does.
Yeah, there are a lot of you get a lot of ads for like sort of games where you have to shoot a bullet and it bounces and bounces and then hits the wrong person.
You're talking about.
Yes, yes, it's that.
And I don't think those games are real by the way they are. I think these games are well, I think you don't. They like you download them and then the game itself is different than what they're advertising. Of course time.
Yes, often of lesser graphical quality. Yeah, not as fun. There's no promise of the premise delivered.
M M. There you go.
Okay, I think it's time. It's time for John Lovitz. I don't think somebody I'll time you. This is Are you ready?
Wait, I'm gonna take a sip of water.
Okay, Yeah, it's gonna be good. This is John Lovettz. It's so right, this is John Lovitz. I don't think so many as time starts now.
I don't think so, honey. Book blurbs, Oh, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? First of all, no one's read these fucking books, no one, no one has read them. These quotes are not real. I couldn't put down this unforgettable novel. It was it was. It was propulsive and insightful. People don't talk that way. They only write that way when they're writing books. Also, it feels a little desperate. Books a message to books, the message being show some confidence. All right, oh my god,
we are living in a post Nanette world. Okay, I don't know what that means. The point is when capitalism smells fear, it bucks the writer books. We understand that the deck is stacked against you. A quote from Jake Tapper. Is it going to save books? We got to do better. We have to think bigger books. Blurbs. I don't think so, honey.
And that's one minute.
Wow. Do they move units? I think it does. Anyone know what these things are doing? Are people at the airport turning them over and saying I wasn't going to buy this book, but now I am, because Mindy Kaling says it's I was.
Just going to read my name. Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to say.
I don't know. I guess it would depend on the person. Like if I've put it over and it was like a rave from Tinsley Mortimer, I'd be like, well huh like, But when it's someone like Mindy Killing who you get the sense does a lot of these? Oh my god, I don't know that.
Have you blurbs? Have you requested blurbs though yourself?
When I've had to written a book?
Well, I mean, you write a book.
Impossible.
When you write a book, let's let's say you have when written, it's coming out mm hmm. If your publishers like you have to, we have to get blurbs for this, John.
Of course, Okay, will you ask us?
Sure? Yeah? Probably I ask one of you at least, well.
I know who's getting cut.
It'll be joint. It'll be joint.
Yeah, it'll be joint. It'll be it'll be by Yes, it'll be both of you.
Yep, it'll say m R. Colin, I loved this book. Be why Colin? I agree? I thought it was incredible. M R. Isn't he a smart, funny kind of weird?
Oh my god?
Yeah?
Oh my goodness.
Have you had a nice time on this episode?
I would say it was a little house forward.
But other than how you, are you feeling it a little shy? Are you feeling in the post quittal that maybe you shouldn't have talked about the house that much?
It's a lot of house time, you know what.
I'm excited about the group chat after this. I'm going to text you both on the thread.
Oh really, that's exciting.
I can tell that you're really happy about it by the way you smiled and looked askance.
Well.
I was like when someone says, oh, group text, I immediately think, oh, there's a group chat where I'm being spoken of.
No, no, no, no, you know.
What I'm saying. You mustn't think that way.
You mustn't think this way.
Must you must you must be that way.
I think whenever someone's mentioning a group chat in your presence, that's an invitation.
Yeah, okay, And that feels really nice and that's a good feeling. Yeah, that's a really warm and good feeling.
That's what this is too.
Stay tuned because the text is coming. Listen the podcasts. I love it and leave it?
And it what love it or leave it.
I said, do I say love it and leave it?
You said love it and leave it.
You love it or leave it, They'll find it. The searching will do its thing.
You just type in, you type in the man's name, and it's a treasure trove. Let's just say that.
If you'll have a book coming out sometime.
Yeah, that's a shame. If you don't write a book.
We're maybe maybe we'll see. Hey, what did you watch the Space?
Oh that's a good one to watch.
Watch the Space like we scoop sow.
And we're going on tour. It's going on tour.
Oh yeah, yeah, okay, coming.
To a sitting near you.
Come to a sitting near you. The stage will have a rug and a couch on it.
Mm hmm maybe yeah, maybe like a plush chair, you know, a table for water.
I love it. If I'm in the audience and I'm looking at that on stage, I'm comfortable.
Mm hmm. Yeah.
You know you're for a good time. For a good time.
Listen, this has been so fun. We do end the every episode with the song. And even though you feel you have musical knowledge that is like limited. I want you to pick the song that we sing on the way out. You want me to pick the song, That's what I said, mm hmm. Just like any song, you will sing it and that will be the last thing that's heard on your episode of Lost coult Teresa's before you return exile by Taylor.
Bye Taylor, I don't know it.
That was so many hesa wait, oh my god, Taylor, Taylor, Bye bye,