0:00

Hi.

0:03

I'm Vanessa Beyor and this is my brother Jonah.

0:05

We're two siblings who love to talk about our childhood

0:08

and nostalgia and how it shaped us into the people we

0:10

are today, who are pretty radical if I

0:12

do say so myself. Welcome to how did we

0:14

get Weird? Jonah.

0:27

We're about to take a trip to Philadelphia to

0:29

see some family, and I was thinking about

0:32

our trips to Philly growing up and how

0:34

we would always stay at our grandparents

0:36

place in this guest room and we

0:38

would always just like watch so much

0:40

TV and just like have a blast.

0:43

Yeah, old school TV, like one of those

0:45

kind of chunky not a lot of channels.

0:48

There were two of those small beds and some stuff

0:50

in between, and then there are all these taxidermid fish

0:52

up there, which I recently learned

0:54

those fish were real or then they were real

0:57

fish. I think that our grandpa Jack caught

0:59

the like huge fish that was taxidermy

1:02

to over the TV. And then I think

1:04

our uncle Dennis caught the fish

1:06

that was sort of like taxidermy and

1:08

then displayed on like a round piece of wood.

1:10

Yeah, so kind of scary, I feel like for a kid

1:13

for this huge I mean it looked like a huge kind

1:15

of dolphin, almost with a big fin. It was probably

1:17

like fifteen ft long or something. I think

1:19

it was a swordfish, our swordfish,

1:21

those big swordfish swordfish. I

1:23

don't think our grandpa was killing dolphin. No,

1:26

that's dolphin. Sorry, I meant swordfish. Also,

1:28

it would have been so crazy to be like, where

1:30

do you just dolphin? Okay?

1:32

Yeah, I was definitely not a dolphin. It was this yeah

1:34

okay. Or it was like a needle nose

1:37

fish. It had one of those really long,

1:39

skinny, pointy noses. Probably a marlin.

1:41

Is that what it is? I bet you're right, marlin. I

1:43

bet you it was a marlin. Yes, I just want to

1:45

just clarify again it was not a taxidermy

1:48

dolphin. But it's crazy

1:50

because we would just be like, cool, we're just gonna

1:52

stay in this room. There's all these taxi or meat fish.

1:55

I mean it was a really nice room. And the fish,

1:57

to be fair, wherever they got them.

1:59

I don't think it's taxidermy. I think it's

2:02

with fish. You get them like gutted and

2:04

then you spray them with spray paint.

2:06

It's effect simile of the fish because

2:08

fish are incredibly hard to taxidermy

2:11

because fish skin doesn't hold

2:13

up well. I mean, they used to do it,

2:15

but in modern days it's too much

2:17

work. So when you usually see a marlin

2:20

on the wall, it's like a plastic

2:23

marlin that is somehow the dimensions

2:25

of the marlin that you caught. Yeah, so this

2:28

is so interesting. You say this because my wife

2:30

Vicky, she was like, yeah, that fish is

2:32

fake and I was like, no, it's definitely

2:34

not fake, and then I think it probably

2:37

maybe was fake. Yeah, they used to do

2:39

it. They used to like take the skin off the

2:41

fish and then you know, preserve it, and like

2:43

it's too hard. It's easier to skin

2:46

a mammal like a dolt, no,

2:50

but like you know, like a furry animal, it's

2:52

easier to skin them and

2:54

just put their hide on something.

2:56

But like fish skin doesn't. You know. It's why

2:59

we don't have a lot of fish skin belts and things

3:01

like that, right, Because we saw a photo

3:03

of it when they were selling the apartment. You could kind

3:05

of see the inside and it did look kind of like plastic

3:07

or something. Yeah, what I figured they

3:09

did is I was like, how did they get it out

3:12

of the skin or get the stuff out of it,

3:14

you know, like the guts. And then it felt

3:16

like it was spray painted by this like it was

3:19

had like this beautiful iridescent spray

3:21

paint on it. Yeah, it looked too perfect,

3:23

I think. Yeah. I mean, you guys are talking,

3:25

it's your show, so I have time to be like your

3:27

producer and google so our fish mounts

3:30

made from real fish. Taxidermy mounts

3:32

made from real fish usually only contain the

3:34

skin, teeth, head, and fins. The body

3:36

portion consists of a lightweight foam mold

3:39

on which the skin and other fish parts

3:41

are mounted, and this is bolded. Most

3:44

fish mounts are actually painted fiberglass

3:46

replicas. Yeah. Well, my

3:48

wife was right once again. I will say

3:50

this fish, it was probably

3:53

caught like in the what are we gonna

3:55

say, sixties, seventies, seventies.

3:57

It might either way. Mostly what's there

3:59

is not the actual fish. Maybe

4:01

that's why we were never scared of it, because we had

4:04

a sense that that it was just like a

4:06

piece of art almost. Yeah, and that's what it

4:08

was displayed as a piece of art. Yeah,

4:10

yeah, you know how they have them Google the

4:12

questions below your initial question.

4:15

Yeah, one of the questions is can

4:17

you tax ermy a fish without killing

4:19

it? I

4:22

mean, you know obviously you can't, but

4:24

it says like, yeah, you could just catch a fish,

4:26

take a picture of it, and then at taxed to ermist

4:29

will give you a replica of that fish,

4:32

which does not seem in the

4:34

gruesome spirit of hanging a creature

4:36

on your wall. You know. It's

4:38

like I could just buy then like a Teddy

4:41

Bear and say, like, you know, I shot

4:43

a bear. Do

4:46

you want to introduce today's guest? Yes, I'm

4:49

so excited to introduce his cat.

4:51

I've introduced myself already

4:53

sort of today's guest as an actor, a

4:55

comedian, a writer, a podcaster. You

4:58

may know him from Conan oprah In's late

5:00

night shows, or that's the voice of More in

5:02

the Madagascar film franchise.

5:05

These days, you can regularly hear him on his

5:07

hit podcast Three Questions with Andy

5:09

Richter. Let's welcome you guessed

5:11

it Andy Richter. Hi, guys,

5:14

Hi Andy, thank

5:16

you for having me on your show. Well,

5:18

thank you for already doing so much research.

5:22

I don't like to work, but this is exactly

5:25

the kind of thing that I'm all over, like, oh,

5:27

yeah, you know what, that's kind of curious and I and

5:30

it's also like that classic thing of I

5:32

know, like a little bit like I

5:34

was kind of like, yeah, no, I think most fish are

5:36

and I have been close to the big

5:38

fiberglass marlins that people hang on

5:40

the wall. But I was like, yeah, you know what, I

5:42

wonder if anyone does that anywhere. And I'm

5:44

sure that there is somebody that will

5:46

take, you know, your giant largemouth

5:49

bass and skin it and put it on

5:51

the wall, But I just don't think it's worth the hassle

5:53

anymore. It sounds like the thing to do now

5:56

is to catch a fish, take a picture

5:58

of it, throw it back into the water, then take

6:00

it to a quote unquote taxidermist

6:03

or a person who does that, and just be like,

6:05

can you recreate this fish? It was like about

6:07

this big right, or just go buy

6:09

a fiberglass fish? Yeah, and then

6:12

just tell everyone yeah right. Me,

6:14

I'm an outdoorsman. I guess the other

6:16

thing you could do, and I'm not saying our grandpa,

6:18

who we love very much rest in peace, did

6:20

this, But the other thing you could do is you

6:22

could just go to one of those stores and go like,

6:25

can I have that fish? Please? Like, just buy

6:27

a fiberglass fish and then like go, hey, guys,

6:29

like like at this huge fish.

6:32

I'm a real Hemmingway, Andy,

6:36

did you fish when you were younger? Is that something

6:38

you ever got into? Yeah? And I still

6:40

really enjoy fishing, but I do not like

6:42

if I'm gonna like and I mean, I know

6:45

this sounds not necessarily

6:47

as morally sound as I make it

6:49

sound, but I feel like if I'm gonna harass a

6:51

fish, I'm gonna eat it. Yes, yes, you

6:53

know what I mean. Like, I'm not just gonna like

6:56

wrestle this beautiful creature out of

6:58

the deep and then go like see and

7:00

let it go and it's left, Like what the

7:02

funk was that about? I feel like there

7:04

is a natural process of a

7:07

creature catching another creature and eating

7:09

it. Yeah, you know, like my girlfriend

7:11

is a vegetarian. I understand vegetarianism,

7:14

but I also kind of feel like, you

7:16

know, look around, you

7:19

know, creatures are eating creatures

7:21

all over the place right right right right,

7:23

And I have done it. I have gone and you

7:25

know, tried to catch marlin and stuff, and like

7:28

I've caught big tarpin down in the Florida

7:30

Keys. But if I go fishing I like to go fishing

7:32

for something that you can turn into protein

7:34

as opposed to just you know, a boast.

7:37

Right, if it's a smaller fish, you just won't

7:39

even try. And do you even catch it and then

7:41

throw it back in or do you not even Well, if

7:44

it's too small, then yes, you but that's

7:46

you know, based usually on legal limits of what

7:48

you can do, right, you know,

7:50

Like when I fished here in California, there's some

7:52

you catch a fish, and whatever kind

7:55

of fish that it is, you know, like say a

7:57

yellow tail, it has to be a certain length

7:59

and they will, you know, check it on the boat. I don't

8:01

have a boat or anything, but so I've always just gone

8:04

like a charter boats and they

8:06

check it and it's like, no, that's not long enough

8:08

and they throw it back. But if it is

8:10

long enough, then you keep it and yuma

8:12

and delicious, you know, dinner later.

8:15

This is something we're gonna have to ask you more about

8:17

offline, because our dad loves

8:19

to fish, and he always thinks that there's no fishing

8:21

in California, and I'm like, there is somewhere.

8:24

Oh, sure, there's plenty of fishing, you know, forget

8:26

the ocean there's lots of trout fishing,

8:29

you know, inland more into the mountains. Yeah,

8:31

you know, and then they also they stock them, which to

8:33

me again is always you know, to go to a stocked

8:36

pond, I know, you don't feel as much

8:38

of the natural process, which is like kind

8:40

of what I like. You know, it's like when

8:42

you grow food in your backyard and

8:44

you're like, wow, I made this food from

8:47

a seed, and it's kind of the same thing.

8:49

I feel like when you go and catch a fish out

8:51

in the ocean. It's like I'm feeding

8:54

my people with something that

8:57

I did myself. There was no you

8:59

know, yes, I mean I paid a guy to let

9:01

me go on his boat. But you know, right right,

9:03

Joannah, are we thinking of that? We both started

9:05

laughing about this at the same time. Our parents

9:08

have an a condo complex built

9:10

around a man made lake that has some fish

9:12

in it, and our dad, I think, is the only person

9:14

that actually fishes in it. Yeah,

9:17

there's like a big lake. There's like a few lakes, and

9:20

at one point, I think some kind

9:22

of announcement went out to everyone who

9:24

lives in this conduct community that was like, please

9:26

don't fish, and it was

9:29

only really meant for her dad. Really,

9:32

I think they were trying to be

9:34

like polite, so they like send it to everybody

9:38

of like probably hundred two hundred people

9:40

or something. Is it in Florida, No, it's

9:42

in Ohio. It's in a suburb of

9:45

Cleveland that we're from. Yeah, and they just stock

9:47

it with fish, and then our dad is the only one

9:49

who I think trying to fish. I

9:52

know, but if they're with fish,

9:54

they just know, yeah, exactly,

9:56

that's like teasing your dad exactly

9:59

exactly. So I'm on your dad's

10:01

side of me. Yeah, you

10:04

know, keeps him off the streets exactly exactly.

10:06

Just really funny that they didn't want to go directly

10:09

to him, but they but he's clearly the only

10:11

one doing uh yeah,

10:13

see, that's gonna be me. That's gonna be me

10:16

just putting a line into whatever ditch has

10:18

water in it. Vanessa,

10:21

you interned at late Night with conan

10:23

O Brian correct. I did, but you weren't

10:25

there when I was there and it was after I

10:28

left. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

10:30

but you're one of many, like you

10:32

know, going on to be TV

10:34

actor types that did con

10:37

because yeah, John Krasinski

10:40

and Mindy Kaling. Yeah,

10:43

and also Angela from the office. Yes,

10:45

totally. And there's been a couple

10:48

more too. Yeah, there's a bunch of people.

10:50

Yeah, and I mean we really have

10:53

been in this. I also did the Annoyance Theater

10:55

in Chicago and stuff. Oh you did? Oh

10:57

wow? Was that before Conan

10:59

or after Conan? That was after Conan?

11:02

And what year were you an intern on Conan?

11:04

I was an intern on Conan in the summer

11:06

of two thousand three. I left in two

11:08

thousands. Okay, so I just missed

11:10

you. Yeah, it was two thousand. Yeah,

11:12

by two thousand and three I was in l A.

11:15

Because shortly after I

11:17

left Conan, I moved to

11:19

Los Angeles to do Andy Richter Controls

11:21

the Universe, right right right, and

11:23

yeah, and the Annoyance. I was at the Annoyance and

11:25

like, oh gosh, ninet something

11:29

like, yeah, did you do the other Chicago?

11:31

Did you do Second City? In all? Not Checking

11:33

City? Just I did Improv Olympic Yeah,

11:36

me too, and annoying. But I mean then it was

11:38

Now it's called improv Olympia or something, isn't

11:40

it Well is it still? Yes, it's still

11:43

now it's called io because the Olympics

11:45

tried to sue them, right, yeah,

11:47

right, she went from Improv Olympics to Improv

11:50

Olympia, and then I think just IO. Yeah,

11:52

I think it was improval. Yeah, now it's IO

11:55

and everyone knows what it stands for, but

11:57

you're not allowed to say Olympics, right right.

11:59

So yeah, I did the Annoyance and I never did Second

12:02

City because at the time Second

12:04

City just seemed like seven

12:06

levels of classes. Oh my god,

12:08

they were like the A through D or

12:11

something and then the one I don't know, there

12:13

was a million classes. And very shortly

12:15

after I got into sort of

12:17

the improv world, I just

12:19

kind of had a hunch that it wasn't really

12:22

and it was being mismanaged at that time,

12:24

and it was sort of resting on its laurels.

12:27

And it wasn't until a

12:30

couple of years after I was, in fact,

12:32

kind of like when I was leaving Chicago,

12:34

that it became kind of vital again

12:37

and a lot of people, you know, started and

12:39

I think from what I hear and I'm just taking

12:41

it from other people's word, like Adam McKay

12:44

was a big catalyst in sort

12:46

of revitalizing interesting

12:48

Second City. Yeah, and they had a change

12:50

of management too. There was somebody that was managing

12:52

it who seemed to just kind of be very happy

12:54

with doing old nickels and may bits,

12:57

you know, right, got it, Got it? And

12:59

then for any reviews about

13:01

Alderman, Puczynsky and stuff

13:03

like that, you know, like weird local politics

13:06

right right right, puns and things. Yeah,

13:08

yeah, that feels like a tough did your Second

13:10

City? I took the Conservative That's what it was.

13:13

I took the conservatory classes, and

13:15

then I understudied the touring companies,

13:17

and then I started understuding the stages. But I never

13:19

like worked there full time. I just

13:22

was an understudy. So Vanessa, you

13:24

did work on a cruise ship and we went to the Bahamas.

13:26

Oh, I worked on a cruise ship. Vanessa

13:29

was one of the performers on the cruise ship. I went with my

13:31

parents. You're right. That was the Second City. You

13:33

know. I don't know if you know this, Andy, but Second

13:35

City signed this deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines.

13:37

They no longer do it, but all these improvisers

13:40

were going on cruise ships for like four months

13:42

at a time. For me, it was like so fun

13:45

because we just had like two shows a

13:47

week. Yeah,

13:50

by the time, like I was on SNL and stuff.

13:52

People were doing it like they had like a show

13:54

every night, Like I somehow got in when it was like

13:56

really easy. Yeah,

13:59

but it was like two shows that it was so and

14:01

so Jonah came, my parents came and visited

14:03

me. It was just like I would just hang out on

14:05

a cruise ship all the time. It was so fun. What

14:07

did you do with yourself? Like just go to

14:09

the buffet and load up? Yeah. I

14:11

went to the islands, you know, like and

14:14

then there was a lot of karaoke on

14:16

the boat because it was like, you know, like

14:18

for the guests. But of course, like we're all like

14:21

little performers, like we just wanted to karaoke

14:23

every night, a lot of karaoke.

14:26

Yeah. I once went and did karaoke with

14:28

a bunch of improvisers and I overheard

14:30

an old lady go, it's not fair,

14:33

Like these people are really good. That's

14:35

really funny. I wouldn't say we were really

14:38

good, but we just loved having that microphone. Sure,

14:40

of course, of course, did you ever hit the casino,

14:43

Vanessa? There's a casino on there wasn't there

14:45

there was a casino. You're right, there was a

14:47

casino that was the one thing we weren't allowed

14:49

to do. We weren't allowed to go into the

14:51

casino. You never did, Vanessa, did sneak

14:53

me into the crew bar once? Yeah? Oh

14:55

nice. Yeah, there was a crew bar where the drinks

14:58

were really cheap. And the like thing was if

15:00

you were in the crew, like, there are certain rules

15:02

applied to the crew, they got to go to the crew bar,

15:04

and then certain rules applied to the

15:06

people who worked on the boat who weren't

15:09

considered crew, and they had like

15:11

more freedom on the boat, but they weren't allowed to

15:13

go to the crew bar. This is so boring. But somehow,

15:15

right before my time on the ship

15:17

started, Second City got us like what

15:20

they called dual citizenship, So

15:22

we were considered crew and we

15:24

were considered passengers, so we got

15:26

to go to the crew bar and the regular bar,

15:28

and we got to like go to all the islands and stuff.

15:31

It was really incredible. I think we were one of the only

15:33

casts that got that. Then they immediately

15:35

like got considered crew and then they were like

15:37

had to work every night. But when I was there, it

15:40

was perfect. Yeah. Well

15:42

you got that shut down. You probably talked about

15:44

it too much. Yeah, yeah, I'm

15:47

sure you're right. I'm sure we were like this makes

15:49

no sense, this is great.

15:51

You guys are dumb to let us do this. Yeah.

15:54

Yeah, Well we are going to take a quick commercial

15:56

break, but we'll be right back with Andy Richter.

16:04

And we are back. Andy, I had a quick question

16:06

for you. I'm like, being a music journalist a long time and

16:09

to me, like the nineties are such a such a

16:11

vital time for music, and you know you were on

16:13

Late Night from to two thousand. I

16:15

mean that's seeing all these bands come

16:17

through. I mean being kind of right there. I mean, are

16:19

there any performances that kind of stand out to you

16:21

as just like sort of blowing your mind during that

16:23

era and not so much like the actual performance

16:26

on the show. I mean it would And Vanessa

16:28

you'll understand this too, is like once

16:30

you see them perform on the show, if

16:33

you are into the band, you would go to rehearsal.

16:35

So that would mean you see them do it five times,

16:38

right, you know, like this song

16:40

is sort of immaterial and what was

16:42

always interesting to me. And I don't know if people

16:44

know this. You know, there's somebody in the control

16:47

room that's responsible for just the timing

16:49

of the show, you know, to make sure that the acts are

16:51

a certain amount of minutes and that you know, the commercials

16:54

fit in. And if by the end of the show the

16:56

acts are too long, you know, you've got to keep this

16:58

amount of time so you get the right amount of commercials

17:01

in. And with the music and

17:03

every day's script, they would have the

17:05

song plotted out and

17:07

I don't know if it was by musical bars

17:10

or what it had beat, and you know, it was like

17:12

a standard amount of pages of

17:14

whatever the song was, and they would build

17:16

in camera cuts. So the band

17:18

had come and they you know, and like on our show, they'd

17:20

have to be there like ten o'clock in the

17:22

morning and we shot at four thirty or

17:25

five thirty, depending on the show, and they

17:27

would come out and they do the song. And the

17:29

first time they did the song, just everybody's watching

17:31

it. And then the next time they're

17:33

setting the camera moves and the directors

17:35

telling them and they're writing down the

17:37

camera moves. You know, then they do that

17:39

four more times. So whenever

17:42

there was a band on that I really liked,

17:45

I usually go sit in rehearsals. So by

17:47

the time they did the show live,

17:50

it was like, Okay, this is the fifth time I've

17:52

heard you know. I

17:55

think the only band that I really pushed to have

17:57

on was I was a big fan of the band The Wedding

17:59

Present does the English kind of jangly

18:02

rock, you know, guitar kind

18:04

of band. I got them on the show,

18:07

which I don't think they would have been otherwise,

18:10

but very early on, as

18:12

just an idea, we had the

18:14

band's perform in front of a green screen,

18:17

and the bands would have different choices

18:19

like whether you know, like it would be like

18:22

do you want to perform in front of surgical footage

18:24

or do you want to perform in front of like I think it

18:27

was like oral surgery, so it was like the inside of

18:29

a mouth or something, or you

18:31

know, car crashes or something. And one of the

18:33

choices was Andy Richter dancing

18:35

around in a Nixon mask and

18:38

Frank Black and the Pixies picked that,

18:40

and it was pretty early on it was like me just

18:43

in like a hoodie and shorts

18:45

dancing around in a Nixon mass and

18:49

that played behind them. You know, it was

18:51

fun to be like, you know, Tony

18:53

Bennett, it became a tradition

18:56

that he would sing a song at Christmas time, So

18:59

I got to know Tony Bennett, like I bumped

19:01

into him What's on the street, and we just stood

19:04

chatting for half an hour, you know, and

19:06

you got to see things like the

19:08

Breeders were on, and I got to see Kim Deal

19:11

putting shoe polish on her gray and her hair,

19:13

and I just went to chat with them before the show, and

19:15

that's how she was touching up her gray roots

19:18

was with shoe polish. Yeah, very

19:20

punk rock. And

19:23

then this other backs, like Conan's dressing

19:25

room was right outside the studio door

19:28

what they called an air lock. It was like a little

19:30

you know, like fifteen foot hallway wide

19:32

hallway. In that hallway

19:35

between the main hallway that ran across,

19:37

you know, down the length of the building and

19:39

the studio doors. It was just Conan's

19:42

dressing room on one side, and Conan's dressing

19:44

room and the makeup and hair on one side, and

19:46

then my dressing room on the other side.

19:48

So it was a very sort of intimate little space,

19:51

and people used to hang out in Conan's dressing

19:53

room during the show. He

19:55

would just leave his door open and it was one of the most

19:57

comfortable places, you know. I had lots of couchesn't

20:00

and people would just hang out in there. And apparently

20:02

one time Sting came in to use

20:04

Conan's personal bathroom and

20:07

apparently a macrobiotic

20:09

diet creates an odor. Like

20:11

when he left, he like forced everyone out

20:14

of the dressing room. And as one of our writers

20:16

said, Sting, they should call him

20:18

smelly. I just would want just

20:22

it's like, you know, it should have been stink, but it's

20:24

with smells. And I think members of the Almond

20:27

Brothers did drugs and Conan's bathroom

20:29

at one point, like unashamedly

20:31

walked past people and like, oh, here,

20:33

here's a little room and went in there

20:35

and like three of them and then came back out.

20:38

All right, I guess that's what you want

20:40

out of your Almond Brothers, you know. In the early

20:42

days, one of the great things about the early days

20:45

was that we didn't rate in

20:47

terms of importance and other shows,

20:50

so we would get guests like Shelly

20:52

Winners, who other shows would

20:54

look down their nose at, but who to me

20:56

was It was absolutely thrilling to have people

20:59

like Shell the Winners on the show, and

21:01

Tony Randall a thousand times he was

21:03

such a dick, but like such a wonderful thing,

21:06

like again, exactly what you want out of your Tony

21:08

Randall's. And we had a really

21:10

great booker, Jim Pitt, who still

21:12

I think he's booking for Jimmy Kimmel still.

21:15

But we got just the best bands.

21:17

We broke so many really great bands

21:19

that no one else would have on because

21:22

they were just kind of not big

21:24

enough yet or too obscure, and

21:26

so we would get to do that, you know, on talk

21:29

shows. And the reason so few talk shows

21:31

have music today is because it has

21:33

always traditionally been

21:36

a channel change. Putting

21:38

music on at the end of the show, it's a huge

21:40

drop off in viewership because it's

21:42

such a narrow cast. Like you'll

21:45

sit and watch an actor that you don't

21:47

really know, or an actress or I don't

21:49

know, you know, an animal expert or something

21:51

that you don't know, because you'll give it a chance. But

21:54

if the band's coming on and you don't know him

21:56

and you just you know, and you hear three seconds

21:58

like, oh, this isn't my kind of music, turn away. So

22:01

there was always a pretty steep drop

22:03

off with bands, you know, unless it was

22:06

somebody who was happened to be gigantic at

22:08

the time. Yeah, yeah, that's

22:10

really interesting. Yeah, when we went

22:12

down on the TV show from an hour or a half

22:14

an hour, that was one of the areas

22:17

that took a hit was that we just stopped

22:19

doing music because it's expensive

22:21

to have a whole band. It's expensive to you

22:23

know, sometimes fly a whole band in and

22:26

you know, pay everybody in the band to

22:29

the after minimum of being on TV and

22:31

time that it takes. So we just went to stand

22:33

ups because that's just one

22:36

lonely person, you know, coming

22:39

in and you don't even have to rehearse their thing.

22:41

Yeah, you know, they just stand and unless if they

22:43

have like a certain joke didn't to close

22:45

up, you know, you might do that, or they'd hold up their

22:47

shirt to make sure that it didn't pixelate,

22:50

right right. Amazing. I love that

22:52

you referenced Frank Blacken Kim deal because yeah, no

22:54

other shows I feel like we're having the Pixies are

22:56

members of the Pixies on national television.

22:58

I think that's just so cool. Yeah, you know, one

23:00

of the circumstance of us not getting all the hot

23:03

shit guests, which, like I say,

23:05

it's like that's for me. The most

23:07

boring part is like, oh, right,

23:09

you know, but you've seen yeah exactly.

23:11

It's like, oh, this band that you see

23:14

everywhere and on everything. Yeah,

23:17

and it was Jim Pitch. Jim Pitt, the booker did

23:19

a really great job of doing that. That's incredible.

23:22

That's so great. Well, we asked

23:24

you about a nostalgic topic to talk

23:26

about. I mean, we're already talking nostalgia,

23:29

you guys, and something you wanted to talk about

23:31

was the mall, which we're really

23:33

excited to talk about. What made you want

23:35

to talk about them all? I mean I was born in nineteen

23:39

and the mall arm all was

23:41

the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora,

23:44

Illinois, and it was a big

23:46

indoormal I mean, I don't remember

23:48

it as being when I was a little kid, so it

23:50

must have been built during my

23:53

childhood. And then it became such

23:55

an indelible part of my childhood

23:57

because that's where you went to obviously

23:59

by your but also too to

24:01

just killed time. It

24:04

was a social event and it was I

24:06

like so many kids and so many

24:08

people. I think there's this kind

24:10

of and I mean it's a neuroses

24:12

of like the tying in of the

24:14

acquisition of goods to

24:17

feeling good. Yeah, you know, like

24:19

buying things makes you feel good.

24:22

So I was very much as a kid, you

24:24

know, the notion of like going to the mall

24:27

that meant like the promise of something

24:29

right and exciting, you know, like the acquisition

24:32

of And it could have been anything, you know, it

24:34

could have been, you know, I

24:36

don't know, some dumb toy or

24:38

or a shirt or a magazine.

24:41

But so much time spent

24:43

at the mall in this closed

24:46

off environment. And now I'm

24:48

not a terribly old person, but

24:50

the mall is dead. The mall is gone.

24:52

It's so dead, it's wild.

24:56

It's so crazy, our mall

24:58

from growing up. Jonah. I don't know when was the last

25:00

time you've been there, but I was there, I

25:03

think about a year ago, and it's

25:05

like nobody's there. It's completely

25:07

dead. I don't even know how it's

25:09

staying open. And I don't know why.

25:12

I mean, I know, like I guess it's online

25:14

shopping. I mean, in the suburbs

25:16

of Cleveland where I'm from, they

25:18

now have like all these outdoor, kind

25:20

of fancy malls where it's like kind of an outdoor

25:22

thing. And it's like the Apple Store

25:25

and Whole Food right, right, those things

25:27

seem popular still, but that's like a very

25:29

different vibe. It's also so weird in

25:31

Cleveland because it gets so cold

25:34

from like the fall through the spring basically,

25:37

and it's so strange that people would prefer

25:39

to like walk around outside than

25:41

to be It's really weird. But I guess

25:44

the overall thing is online

25:46

shopping, right, is that it's online shopping

25:48

and big box stores. I mean that's what

25:51

you know. Any article will tell you about

25:53

it where for so many people, And

25:55

I don't, you know, because I'm a big,

25:58

soft, bleeding heart liberal. I

26:00

don't shop at Walmart very much, so

26:02

I don't go to Walmart very often. But when I

26:05

go to Walmart, it blows my fucking

26:07

mind, like how

26:09

much like that you can get eggs

26:12

and a lawn tractor, just

26:15

how much stuff you can get there. And

26:17

I live in Burbank and there's a Walmart

26:19

and Burbank that I had never been to, just

26:22

because I would go to Target or i'd go to Costco

26:24

otherwise. And it also was always so fucking

26:27

crowded that I just I just avoided

26:29

it. And I had an electric car for a

26:31

while, and in the Walmart

26:34

parking lot they have one of those super fast charger

26:36

things. Yeah. I had to drive to see

26:38

a relative that was kind of far and I had forgotten

26:41

to plug the car, and so I knew that these

26:43

existed. So I parked there and I knew,

26:45

well, I you know, I got time to kill. I'll

26:48

go into Walmart. I came out with so much

26:50

ship because I just was like, oh

26:52

my god, look at this. I could use some hand

26:54

weights. Oh look here's you know,

26:58

oh a basketball. I could actually, you know, we

27:00

need a new basketball. Yea. I

27:02

bought so much stuff because I just

27:05

you know, I was in there for like an hour just

27:07

buying so much stuff. And that

27:10

right there, that's the mall. Everything

27:12

that you could want out of the mall,

27:15

you know, and even you know, kind

27:17

of the food court aspect of it is taken

27:19

care of. Target has a pizza Hut

27:21

and a starbuck. Yeah. And

27:24

when I was a kid, everybody cried

27:26

about the mall killing the small downtown

27:29

businesses. The mall was the

27:31

evil place, right Yeah. I

27:33

mean do you feel like you were going the mall a lot?

27:35

And like the eighties, we were going in the nineties, do you

27:37

feel there's also just less to do, Like there

27:39

was like less going on that people just went to

27:41

the mall by the fall, and now there's just more. Absolutely,

27:44

yeah. I mean here we are talking to each other on

27:46

a computer and there's a whole world in

27:48

there that like occupies So

27:50

when you know, my kids, I mean not so

27:53

much anymore, but like they used to spend entire

27:55

evenings just looking at YouTube videos.

27:57

Yeah right, it's not and

28:00

TV. It's like really dipping into

28:02

and all kinds of different. I mean, my kids still

28:05

use YouTube in very

28:07

specific ways that I

28:09

think are mostly kind of constructive. Like

28:11

you know, my kids their foodies,

28:13

you know, and like they know about

28:16

like street food from around the world. And

28:18

then my daughter will sit and watch you know,

28:20

Thie street food and you know, you

28:23

know, Saudi Arabian street food,

28:25

just all these videos about street

28:27

food and you know, and my you know,

28:29

my son does the same thing. Hell, from when he

28:32

was a teen, he would just watch

28:34

with my son especially it's mostly Asian

28:36

stuff, but like he watched just like some fucking

28:38

weird thie soup and then go and make it

28:41

like he didn't write it down and just watch

28:44

kind of learned to do it and just and then would just

28:46

be like, yeah, I need some lemon grass

28:48

from the grocery store and then make this amazing

28:51

soup. And I'm not one to say

28:53

like, oh, the Internet is ruining us,

28:55

and I mean it is. There are some ways

28:57

that it's routing us. Like I think the proliferation

29:00

of pornography is not good.

29:03

But what are you gonna do? You know? I mean

29:05

it's like every technological

29:07

advancement. One of the first things,

29:09

you know, I'm sure that when the third person

29:12

to get a motion picture camera

29:14

said we should get naked in front of this, you

29:17

know, like and it's like when they first came

29:19

up with the technology to you know,

29:21

everyone gets on an app and then they can interface

29:24

with each other if they're in the same area, like

29:26

within two seconds, that becomes grinder,

29:29

you know, it's like, how can we use this new

29:31

thing to get laid or jerk off? And

29:34

so, yes, I

29:36

think young people, especially like their

29:38

sexuality, and I mean there's all kinds of articles

29:40

about it. It's kind of warped by the proliferation

29:43

of porn. But there's what are you gonna

29:45

do? Right right, right right? We're a very

29:48

horny species of eight. So we're

29:50

always gonna, you know, use

29:52

whatever we can to chase

29:55

that horny nous. So but you

29:57

know, I do think a lot of it is is fascinating

30:00

eating, you know, the things that people

30:02

know now. When I was a kid, Like

30:04

I've said this before, I distinctly

30:06

remember I was probably seven

30:09

or eight, but being like, gosh, yogurt,

30:11

what's yogurt? Like I didn't

30:13

know what yogurt was, Like I just in Yorkville,

30:16

Illinois. My family never ate yogurt,

30:18

We never encountered yogurt. But

30:20

it was like, oh wow, yogurt. What his own?

30:23

There's there's jam on the bottom of it, you

30:25

know, just dan and fruit yogurt. And

30:27

now I'm you know, I mean, who

30:30

doesn't know what hummus is? Right right?

30:32

You know, there definitely was a point in my

30:35

I would bet I would have been at least a teenager

30:37

before it was like, hummus, what's that? Well?

30:40

I think also some of that is being from

30:43

the Midwest too, is like do you know

30:45

roughly how old you were or what year it was

30:47

when you found out what barata was? Because

30:50

I know, being from Cleveland, I didn't

30:52

learn what barata was until I was like thirty

30:54

and living in New York. I bet I was in New York.

30:56

I bet I lived in New York. But I don't think

30:59

Barata this in the Midwest. No,

31:02

it all exists now? Does it all exists

31:05

now? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, although

31:07

I do think we taught our parents what it was recently.

31:09

And speaking of food, what was your mall food

31:11

court? Where was your go to place for you like a

31:13

Sabarro kind of person, or what was your

31:16

go to My favorite one was there was a

31:18

Greek restaurant. It was like a eurostand

31:20

and it was kind of sit down, you know, it was to sit

31:22

down place for all I know. They

31:25

might even have had beer and wine, you know,

31:27

I mean, because it was more of a restaurant

31:29

e type place. And also to there

31:31

weren't to my recollection, there weren't

31:33

chained. They were all, you

31:35

know, like the pizza place was a pizza

31:38

was just like Bob's Pizza or something

31:40

like that. But the Greek one is the one I remember

31:42

the most because euros and kebabs

31:45

and back la la, and I just really liked

31:48

Greek and Greek salads, you know. I'd

31:50

really liked that place, and

31:53

I liked the sit down aspect

31:55

of it. You know, I like to luxuriate, so

31:57

even as a kid, sure, sure

32:00

it was very close to the record

32:02

store. The record store was kind of in one

32:04

of the lowest points. The food court was in the

32:06

bottom, and the record store was

32:08

kind of like on a little level as

32:11

you went towards the food court. So the record

32:13

store was again that was like the

32:16

premo stop for me during

32:18

the eighties. One of the topics that I gave

32:20

you, guys, which is a thing that I think about

32:22

often, is that how many albums I bought

32:25

unhurt and that you didn't have a chance

32:28

if you were gonna buy like because at that

32:30

time for me, it was a new wave,

32:33

isn't the I mean alternative new wave.

32:35

There wasn't any you know, it was Elvis Costello

32:37

kind of talking heads kind of vibe,

32:40

and that wasn't really being played on the radio.

32:42

Chicago is pretty good rock radio, and there's still

32:44

a stage. There's a station called w x

32:47

RT that's still kind of plays interesting,

32:49

alternatively kind of music.

32:51

But a lot of stuff I didn't

32:54

hear Elvis Costello on the radio. I just read

32:56

would read a lot about them, and then you

32:58

know, would go and buy just take a

33:00

chance on oh, you know the specials

33:03

SKA what ska? You know? And then

33:05

you buy an album and you find out you buy

33:08

a lot of shitty albums? Do you buy a lot

33:10

of And they were cheaper, so it wasn't as

33:12

big of a risk. It gave more of an adventurous

33:14

kind of feel too, and buying albums

33:17

just based on the cover art. Look, oh this looks interesting,

33:19

you know. You know, I don't think there were

33:21

more than seven bucks at a time, you know,

33:23

I mean it just they were cheap.

33:25

What was the record store? Do you remember what it was

33:27

called? At your mom? You don't? You don't,

33:30

Vanessa, you remember the one in our mom? Oh yeah, I

33:32

want to stay it on the count of three, one two

33:35

three records sound. It

33:37

was Record Town and for everyone's bar mits

33:39

that you would get these little coins that were

33:42

like five, ten or fifteen dollar gift certificates.

33:44

You could get a gift certificate just to the mall, which

33:47

you could spend at any store, or you could get actual

33:50

Record Town coins that you could use the record

33:52

store. And that was like all I wanted

33:54

was like to get the Record Town. This is like the

33:56

era of like compact dist Jonah,

33:58

do you remember what your favorite place to

34:00

eat before going to Record Town? Was?

34:02

My most vivid memory of record Town is that with

34:05

one of these coins from my bar mits, I bought the first

34:07

body Count album, which turned out

34:09

to be really controversial and band, and

34:11

I think I got like the very first shipment. But

34:14

as far as the food corp goes, I

34:16

don't really remember, probably like Sabarrow, probably

34:18

just like some like bad chain pizza or something.

34:21

I don't remember. What about you, Vanessa, Well, I

34:23

was going to say one thing to say. Half of that was

34:25

I remember when you were like going

34:27

to Record Town all the time, and like when

34:30

we were kind of like kids, like buying the albums

34:32

with like the rating on them, like the

34:34

what was it? Oh yeah, the parental advisory. Yeah,

34:37

the parental advisory thing was such a big

34:39

thing because like all of the stuff

34:41

you were buying had parental advisory. And I remember

34:43

her parents being like they always would be like, oh

34:46

boy, but now it does the parental advisory

34:48

still exists, I think to exists, but no one cares

34:50

and everyone's like streaming it. Anyways, For the most

34:52

part, I don't know what do you think, Andy, is that like a

34:54

thing? Do you look at what your kids are listening to as

34:56

far as like, is they're swearing in this music or is it just

34:58

not a thing anymore? Yeah? I don't think it's a thing. No,

35:01

And I mean I never cared. My parents never

35:03

cared about that, and they never cared about

35:06

us watching R rated movies. And I

35:08

think it's you know, I tried not to like

35:10

swear around the kids, but ultimately

35:12

I don't think a kid hearing you say

35:14

fuck is going to turn them right,

35:17

you know what I mean. It's so I never cared

35:20

about that. And I also, too, is much

35:22

more concerned about shielding them from extreme

35:24

violence rather than sexual

35:26

stuff. I mean sexual stuff. I kind of feel

35:28

like my ex wife caught

35:30

my son when he and a friend they were maybe

35:32

seven years old. It was our first awareness

35:35

of remember sort of looking at anything

35:37

sexual, and it was they had googled

35:39

the word naked, which is

35:41

just like the most darling thing,

35:44

you know. I'm just was like, oh, but of course,

35:46

like I think that my son even might have alerted

35:50

my ex wife because something so horrible

35:52

and graphic came up right away. Then I was like,

35:54

Mom, help us like we're

35:57

into doing you.

36:00

I was gonna say, it's interesting because at

36:02

that time music was sort

36:04

of like the way that people talk about video games now,

36:06

where people thought that like music was gonna like

36:09

affect kids really negatively,

36:11

and now people talk about like video game

36:14

violence and that stuff anyway,

36:16

So that was just a smart thought. I had commentary.

36:19

Yeah, I loved him common on those society,

36:22

culture, etcetera. I was just going to say

36:24

that my favorite place I guess not

36:26

to eat but to get food

36:28

from in the food court was called

36:30

the Original Cookie Company. I

36:33

believe that's what it was called, the Original

36:35

Cookie Company. They made cookie cakes and

36:37

they had them all out on display and they like

36:40

had like Eminem's on them and stuff,

36:42

and they were so good. And then they got bought

36:44

by Mrs Field. I love

36:46

Mrs Field. I have it for my birthday

36:49

every year. I have a cookie cake from Mrs Fields

36:51

pretty much. But I don't know

36:53

that Mrs Fields is quite at the level

36:55

of the Original Cookie Company, And it

36:57

breaks my heart. They had one of those two and

36:59

then it is like, you know, a giant decorated

37:02

cookies for birthdays and things

37:04

in place of a birthday cake. Yeah, but

37:06

I always felt they were inferior cookies

37:09

like those kind of like basically like groceries.

37:11

I'm a snob, I mean as you you

37:13

know, you know I know where my kids getting. Yeah,

37:15

I know. I think you're right, though you're making it

37:17

in big quantities. It's really about more about

37:19

like the presentation than like the actual

37:22

cookie. I agree. I think that's totally true. Well

37:24

I wouldn't say that about the original Cookie

37:26

Company though, well, I guess we can't judge it anymore

37:28

alright, Sorry, yeah, touching

37:32

a nerve here, very

37:35

offended right now. I think the

37:37

other thing I wanted to bring up about, like going

37:39

to the mall is like the social element

37:42

of it and like seeing friends there and stuff.

37:44

But I do remember being

37:46

like a kid, like being in like elementary

37:49

school and going to the mall, and like

37:51

if I would see like a boy

37:54

there with like his mom, we would

37:56

like pretend we didn't know each other. And

37:58

I remember this particular be happening a lot

38:00

at the Gap because Gap kids

38:02

had, like you know, it wasn't like a store

38:05

just for like girls or boys, and like

38:07

I remember so distinctly being

38:10

at the mall and running and seeing Sean

38:12

Shubert there with his mom and just being

38:14

like, I can't. I have just pretended I don't

38:16

know. And

38:19

then this whole controversy

38:22

happened not long after where Sean

38:24

Shubert and Christie's a track got the same

38:26

Gap Kids turtleneck and

38:29

it was like maroon and black striped,

38:31

and Christie was like, it was from the girls

38:33

department of Gap Kids, and

38:35

Sean was like, it was from the boys department

38:38

and we never saidled it was probably unisex.

38:40

And also who cares? It looked great on both of

38:42

them. It's a sweater. It's

38:45

like, who cares. But it's funny because

38:47

if they had seen each other at the mall at the

38:49

same time getting the shirt, they probably wouldn't

38:51

have even talked. But at school the

38:54

rules were different and they could go ahead to you

38:57

would run into kids that you knew at the mall.

39:00

But because it was probably

39:03

fifteen miles away from our town, it was

39:05

the mall for a bunch of different towns.

39:08

Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't like so that

39:10

you had to feel like you were so in

39:13

a fish bowl, you know, like it's like the grocery

39:15

store, like when you you know, see a teacher

39:17

at the grocery store and you panic

39:20

for some reason. Where

39:22

do I go? What do I do? How do I

39:24

I saw a teacher and ex science

39:26

teacher who started working at the gas station,

39:29

and then I had a really weird interaction

39:31

with him there, And then of course

39:33

I went to school and told everyone this are

39:35

all science teachers working at this gas station.

39:37

And as an adult, I feel so bad

39:40

about that and feel like I should have just kept it to myself.

39:43

He was teaching and working at the gas station.

39:46

No, he had stopped teaching and was working at

39:48

the gas station next to the Duncan Donuts always hung out

39:50

man. Yeah, we had a teacher

39:53

that worked at the mall part time. But like

39:55

in a department store, I can't remember which

39:57

department store. I want to say maybe jac

40:00

Penny, but I'm not sure because

40:02

there was Marshall Field, which was the Chicago

40:04

department store, and then J.

40:07

C. Penny and a Sears, and there may have been

40:09

one other one that I'm not maybe a Carson Perry

40:11

Scott, which was another Midwestern

40:13

department store. Next time I'm in the area,

40:16

I should go back and see them all, because I

40:18

have no idea what would be in there. Because it was

40:20

so huge. Because there's not

40:22

a Sears anymore and there's this gigantic

40:25

Sears and I mean and J. C.

40:27

Penny's are really reduced

40:29

and marshall Field doesn't well, marshall

40:32

Field is now it's probably a Macy's because I

40:34

think Macy's bought marshall Field. But

40:36

it's got to be just like, you know, there's a mall

40:38

here in Burbank. There's a bed Bath and

40:40

Beyond, and there's a World Market,

40:43

but you can get to those like without having

40:45

to actually enter into the big thing, into

40:47

the big you know mall itself. They're on the

40:49

edge, but you go into that mall sometimes

40:52

and it's just like this is just it's

40:54

like I always say, it's like going over to dinner at a

40:56

friend's house and then you find out a week later

40:58

the parents are getting a divorce. Worse, it

41:00

just feels like this place is sad and about

41:03

to fall apart, right right, right right.

41:05

It's just this air of tension and

41:07

sadness and you know, potential

41:10

disaster hanging over you.

41:12

But that's probably more about me than at the ball.

41:15

On that note, we're going to take a quick commercial. Bak and

41:18

we'll be right back with any Richt and

41:25

we're back. Okay, So Andy, now we're

41:27

going to play a little game. I love games.

41:29

This is gonna be fun. It's called it change dot

41:31

door, change

41:34

dot door, otherwise known as let's

41:36

make fun of people who don't know how to use change dot

41:38

org. So we found that.

41:40

Jonah specifically found that unchanged

41:43

dot org. You know, it's supposed to be for

41:45

like social change, and people bring

41:47

these petitions up unchanged dot

41:49

org and they write these petitions to change

41:52

things. But a lot of people make petitions

41:54

for like kind of nostalgic and stupid

41:56

things. But who am I to judge?

41:59

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna read

42:01

three petitions and then at

42:03

the end we'll I'll say which

42:05

one you would sign if you had to sign one of these

42:07

actual real petitions that we found

42:09

unchanged dot org. Okay, wow,

42:12

Jonah, did you want to do the first one? Sure? So

42:15

the first one, this one actually has a lot of signatures.

42:17

This says five thousand, forty three signatures

42:19

they're trying to get to. It's called

42:21

bring back p B and J Oatmeal Pies.

42:24

And you can direct where you want the petition to go through. This

42:26

one is directed right at Little Debbie. It

42:28

says, recently, my sister sent me a snapchat

42:30

reminding me of a snack cake my family and I once

42:32

had an immense love for. It was a Little Debbie

42:34

snap cake and oatmeal pie specifically,

42:37

but it wasn't just any oatmeal pie. It

42:39

was a P B and J oatmeal pie. What

42:42

was once our favorite snack jake has disappeared. I spent

42:44

consoless hours trying to find them eBay,

42:46

Amazon. No shade to Zebra

42:49

Cakes, Star Crunch or Raising Cream pies,

42:51

but who really purchases and eats those? My family

42:53

and I would love to indulge with some P B and J oatmeal

42:55

pies. So yeah, as I said, there's

42:57

a couple of comments on here. Five thousand signature

43:00

is they're trying to get andy.

43:02

What do you think about this idea to bring back pe and

43:04

j Omeal. It's

43:08

just I mean, I'm just gonna

43:10

sound like a dick when I say, like, is

43:13

that really? Like? What with all

43:15

that's going on? You know, you could do a podcast

43:17

called with all That's going on in the world

43:20

that would just be addressing people's

43:22

waste of time, And I actually do know

43:24

the Little Debbies oatmeal cookie

43:27

pies, but not a Pebe and j one.

43:29

They just had like some sort of vague, profoundly

43:32

margarine based cream center. So

43:35

yeah, I mean that's kind of good, but it's also

43:38

kind of like, well, why don't you get some

43:40

meal cookies and make peanut butter and jelly

43:42

sandwiches with them. That's something we've found

43:44

a lot with these positions is people like

43:46

are petitioning so hard for things that would

43:49

be pretty easy for them to make. For example,

43:52

a lot of people want like adult sized

43:54

lunchables where we're like, just get too

43:56

lunchable, right, or make a

43:58

sandwich, yeah, or they have like

44:01

grown up ones with fancier

44:03

meats and cheeses. So yeah, I

44:05

mean, what's stopping you? Right? People

44:07

love the little squares that the lunchable stuff

44:09

isn't. And also I'm sure that the little Debbie

44:12

peb and Jay things are just like a

44:14

nightmare of chemicals, you know what I mean, Oh

44:16

my god, Yeah, there's probably no actual peanuts

44:19

in it. There's probably no actual fruit. I

44:21

mean, yeah, it's all just palm oil,

44:23

just one big palm oil chunk.

44:26

Okay, but five thousand signatures. It seems

44:28

like this is something that's resonating with people.

44:30

Yeah, it's real ground swell.

44:33

This next one, Jonah, even though usually

44:35

we switch off, I'm gonna let you do because I feel

44:37

like you found this one and it really seems

44:40

like I'd like you to do it. I wish

44:42

I could explain to you to the process of me finding

44:44

these and the keywords I type into changed out org. This

44:46

one is called Warner Brothers take responsibility

44:49

for the disaster that lethal Weapon has become

44:54

signatures and this take corresponsibilities

44:57

likes going. They're just organ

45:00

popping up. We're growing like mold.

45:03

This petition is directed to Fox

45:06

Broadcasting Company and this guy Kevin,

45:08

I might mispronounced their last name, but

45:10

he's the CEO of Warner Brothers. So this person, you

45:13

know, did their homework. This is summary. We all

45:15

know the many failings that have played the set of Lethal

45:17

Weapon. Warner Brothers has grossly neglected

45:20

this show. They need have not taken

45:22

to task those who desperately need it. Okay,

45:25

we the fans are furious over the way this has been

45:27

mishandled from the start and demand Warner Brothers

45:30

pick up their act. Immediately. This is

45:32

about so much more than a TV show and the

45:34

wrong firing of an after So this is about

45:36

someone getting fired I guess from Lethal Weapons.

45:38

I didn't even know there was I didn't either.

45:41

I thought they were talking about the movie. But no,

45:43

I guess it's about this guy, Clain Crawford,

45:46

who was the star of the show. And

45:48

I guess, yeah, I thought it was about the movie too. Did

45:50

this guy do something really bad and I'm like, make

45:53

a joke about it. I don't know. Well, we're going to

45:55

find out. Oh, I guess admitted reports

45:57

of bad behavior and instance of hostility between

45:59

the cast, and he was fired after two seasons. Okay,

46:02

So I don't know. I didn't know about that. I thought this is more

46:04

about Lethal Weapon the movies, right, So did

46:06

I so did I. You know. It's interesting

46:08

though, that the petition is not

46:11

to cancel the show, but to take

46:13

responsibility for the disaster that has

46:15

become We the fans are furious over the way that's been

46:17

mishandled it from the start and demand that Warner Brothers

46:20

pick up their act immediately.

46:23

It's like he's using such

46:25

a non concrete like what

46:27

would he like to happen. A statement to be

46:29

released from Warner Brothers. That's the public apology.

46:32

Maybe we fired this guy he

46:34

really liked, was difficult to work with, but

46:37

we know that he was great TV and

46:39

for that we're sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

46:41

I just looked at my phone too, and it says there

46:44

was a clash with co star Damon Willans,

46:46

So like they would have to then

46:49

somehow mediate I'm

46:51

sure you know, between Game and Wayans and

46:53

this guy, some sort of reproach

46:56

mole. Yeah, you know,

46:58

like just the weird text will tell

47:00

you this person probably I

47:03

don't want to be unkind, you know what I

47:05

mean, But maybe is that like the sharpest media

47:07

critic out there, right right, right right.

47:09

One thing we know about the positions too, is like people

47:11

try to use very formal language in these petitions,

47:14

like grossly neglected, like trying

47:16

to make them sound very official, right, and

47:18

they probably failed miserably most

47:20

of the time. I meant, yeah, it

47:23

just seems like this falls under

47:25

the category of baby wants, you

47:27

know, baby wants, and it's sort

47:29

of like, you know what, you don't own

47:31

that TV show. And one of my

47:34

general beefs with fandom is often

47:36

like this whole idea that somehow

47:39

these people are owed something above

47:41

and beyond the television show. Like

47:44

that's the exchange. We make a television

47:46

show and you watch it, so the deal

47:49

is done. Like so all this stuff about you owe

47:51

it to us, No, no they don't.

47:53

They don't. That's like going after

47:55

paying for your meal at McDonald's, go

47:58

oh, and you also owe me, you know, a shake.

48:00

I paid for my meal, but I also want to shake

48:03

on top of it, Like, no, you have pay

48:05

more for it. So like, if you want more of

48:07

this show, sorry, they're

48:09

not making it anymore. Just they

48:12

gave you three glorious seasons

48:15

um of an unoriginal

48:18

contents, you know, based on you

48:21

know, based on a very

48:24

bloated, you know, series

48:26

of films. Sorry, it wasn't

48:28

up the snuff. Were you really that

48:30

show? Like, I mean the last like lethal

48:32

weapons things, he was like driving

48:35

a car down an elevator shaft

48:37

or something. You know. It's like, did you really

48:39

think, I don't know? We're they're going to

48:41

get back to the back to the roots, back

48:44

to their real you know, the primo.

48:46

I'm getting too old for this ship. You know.

48:49

Well, it's also like someone

48:51

commented on the petition who signed it

48:53

and was like, now without this guy being in

48:55

the show, I'm not gonna watch. It's like, okay,

48:58

just so on exactly

49:02

exactly, yeah, usually,

49:04

well I don't know if people wouldn't know this, but

49:07

it's like probably everyone on that show is so happy

49:09

to see that guy. Yeah, so

49:12

you know, they were just like, oh, thank god,

49:14

that fucking dick is gone and

49:16

we can just like make our stupid show

49:18

now and blow things up and then

49:20

be home at a decent hour. But

49:23

no, like that doesn't matter to people.

49:25

It's like, no, I like that asshole

49:27

that made your lives miserable, probably

49:29

made the days longer, and you know, yeah,

49:32

made editing a nightmare, and I

49:34

just know I have no sympathy

49:37

for this. Alright, alright, I'm ready for number

49:39

three. Give it to me. Okay, get ready for number

49:41

three. I found this one. It's called Twinkies in the cafeteria.

49:44

Okay. The lack of food in the cafeteria

49:47

has led to people fasting, going

49:49

hungry, and making people sad, making

49:52

people sad. This was a student who

49:55

wrote this, Nathan, and he

49:58

started this petition to the principle at

50:00

this school called well I don't know how to

50:02

pronounce it, but the school, I'm sure the principles

50:04

check changed out or all the time. Of course,

50:07

complains to continue with his statement, we

50:09

believe that twinkies of all types should be sold

50:11

in the cafeteria. We think that people

50:13

would buy them and eat them so they will

50:16

not be hungry. Hopefully our petition

50:18

will help spark a revolution in our

50:20

average school lunches. Now two

50:23

nine people have signed this. So this is

50:25

from this student. This is the first time

50:27

I've ever seen this. This is kind of an interesting

50:29

petition. So he made this

50:31

petition and then he did an

50:33

update to it. Okay, he did an

50:36

update, maybe like a year

50:38

later, and he wrote, September nine,

50:41

it comes with great sadness that I must

50:43

tell everyone that I'm stepping back from

50:45

being the leader of this petition. I am now

50:48

in the tenth grade and it just doesn't make sense

50:50

for me to stay in charge of this petition. I

50:52

don't go to this door as the name of the school

50:54

anymore. I may pass this petition

50:57

off to a door eighth grader or seventh

50:59

grader if they feel they're worthy if

51:03

but I'm done with this petition and I'm retiring

51:05

from the position of leader. It was a

51:07

great journey, but as they say, all

51:10

good things must come to an end. If

51:13

you would like to be the new leader. If anyone

51:15

sees this, email me and then he gives his email,

51:17

have fun, stay safe, and never

51:19

give up. You all have a future ahead

51:22

of you and it's in your hands to shape it into

51:24

what you wanted to be. Oh my god,

51:27

and this is all about twinkies. This is a kid

51:29

who got two nine signatures about

51:31

getting all kinds of twinkies in the cafeteria

51:34

and he's stepping back from his role

51:37

as leader. It's also good for him

51:39

for like giving himself that importance of

51:41

like I'm the leader of this. Like it's with great

51:43

sadness that I stepped down. It's kind

51:45

of like have you ever seen people on social media that you know,

51:47

like announced their breakup and you're like,

51:50

oh, I didn't even know you, Like I don't

51:52

care, you know what I mean? He

51:55

was like announcing you're taking a break from

51:57

Twitter, like fut of

52:00

most that's the modern day virgin and

52:02

taking a break from Twitter, and you're like, I don't

52:05

that's fine, all right? Yeah, if you went away, I

52:07

just you know, you know, Okay, totally,

52:10

totally. I took a break from Twitter for like

52:12

almost three years, and I don't think anyone

52:14

ever ask me about it. Jonah, you should

52:17

have announced it. Yeah, exactly. He's

52:19

with great sadness. I must tell everyone, I'm stepping

52:22

back from the leader of this position. Like he's acting

52:24

like he was, like, I think he's

52:26

making a little bit of a joke. I think they're being a little

52:28

self aware about it, which I can appreciate. Yeah,

52:30

I mean this is so over the top. It's got

52:32

to be. I don't know Jonah, because he

52:34

gives his email for anyone who wants

52:36

to take over, and he's like, it could

52:39

maybe be a seventh or eighth thing. I

52:42

don't know. I don't think he's kidding. I

52:44

think they maybe people were like throwing molotovs

52:46

at his house and stuff firing

52:49

straight bullets into the house. No twinkies.

52:52

Now we get to each vote on which petition

52:54

we would sign if we had to sign them. I'm going to remind

52:56

you of what they are. I will say, because

52:58

if this kid is being serio, is good

53:00

for him for like creating a role for himself and giving

53:03

himself that important role. And then if he's

53:05

joking, this is so funny. What

53:07

I don't understand is that he's saying people are

53:09

going hunger and fasting, but they have other

53:11

food. I assume just not twinking, like there's other

53:13

things you can eat. I think his point is if the food

53:16

isn't good, then people will

53:18

not got it? Got it? Better to give

53:20

the kids a choice of garbage.

53:23

It's like, kids won't eat the food that's

53:25

supposedly quote unquote good food, so

53:27

they're not eating anything. Would not it be

53:30

better to feed them garbage, the garbage

53:32

that they craze. Yes, got it? Then at least

53:34

they're getting, you know, some nourishment.

53:36

You know, got it? Okay, Vanessa, why don't

53:39

you recap them for us? And then we can take the votes. So

53:41

the first one is bring back peb and J

53:43

Oatmeal pies by Little Debbie. The

53:45

second one is Warner Brothers take

53:47

Responsibility for the disaster that

53:50

lethal weapon has become. And

53:52

the third one is Pinkies in the Cafeteria,

53:55

Andy, Which would you sign? Now?

53:57

I'm going to say for me, it's an easy

54:00

choice of the third one because it's

54:02

sort of, you know, it's cute and like you

54:04

say there's the outside chance that it's a joke,

54:06

which is pretty great. Yeah, and I also

54:09

to like, you should not go much

54:11

past eighth grade for being concerned

54:13

with like the kids, Like the person

54:15

with the P B and J one should read this one

54:18

from the eighth grader and go like, oh, christ,

54:20

I'm a grown person and

54:23

my priorities are the same as the eighth

54:25

grader, and they should take a real long,

54:27

hard working So

54:30

I much rather like the third, but I

54:32

would be afraid that my vote would somehow

54:34

encourage them to continue this behavior

54:37

into adulthood, like that they're going

54:39

to eventually grow into the

54:41

P B and J petitioner. But

54:44

at any rate, with these three choices,

54:46

it's a it's an easy one. The Twinkie kid,

54:49

twinky kid, Okay, Jonah, Yeah,

54:51

I agree with Andy and this. You know, I think

54:53

there's enough junk food out there. Little Debby's

54:55

makes I'm sure the lethal weapon thing is just bizarre.

54:59

Yeah, And I like just the way this is phrased.

55:01

I do think there's some self awareness. If

55:03

not, there's this person put time into

55:05

writing it. It's inspirational. If

55:08

you could apply this somewhere else, maybe

55:10

outside of Twinkies. It could be really effective.

55:12

That's the one I would sign hypothetically. I'm

55:14

not gonna sign any of these, Vanessa, what about you? I

55:16

would agree because the other thing is I don't

55:19

think that this kid or the kids that

55:21

he's inspiring will turn into the little Debbies

55:23

person because he said,

55:25

like I'm in tenth grade, now it's time to move

55:28

on, as you pointed out. Any So, it's

55:30

like he's just inspiring these kids to go for

55:32

what they want. And if he's joking,

55:34

he is so funny and I really hope

55:36

that he goes into comedy, like he wrote

55:39

that so seriously. But if

55:41

he's not joking, he really gave

55:43

himself an incredible role that he

55:45

really believed in. And it's kind of like, if

55:48

you see it that way, then it is that way,

55:50

you know what I mean. Perspective is you

55:53

know, I wish I had like a real quote

55:55

to say here, but you know what I'm saying. Perspective

55:58

is, you know, perspective as you know. And

56:01

on that note, Andy, we had such

56:03

a great time with you working people. Thank

56:06

it was fun. It was fun. Oh well.

56:08

They can find me on Twitter at Andy

56:10

Richter, Instagram at Richter,

56:13

Comma, Andy all the words written

56:15

out and the three questions is my podcast

56:17

which it's official today. All

56:20

Team Coco was bought by Sirius

56:23

XM. Oh my god, all of

56:25

the team. I think there's ten Team Coco

56:27

podcasts, maybe eleven will be available

56:30

on Serious x M now, so I

56:32

don't know really functionally what difference

56:35

that'll make, but it's

56:37

official, you know. And you know, I've

56:40

known about it for a little bit, which was funny

56:42

because you know, I've been doing podcasts remotely

56:45

for years, a couple of years now, obviously

56:47

because of CO and I just recently I

56:50

was told by someone. Our executive

56:53

producers called me and said, hey, Conan

56:55

is gonna sell the Serious don't tell anybody,

56:57

And like two days later they're like, you're

56:59

going to review Henry Winkler at Serious

57:02

XM Studios, And I was like, that's

57:04

kind of a tip off that, yeah,

57:07

you know, Gonan and I are now recording

57:09

in Serious Section series. I think people would

57:11

probably put it together, but right, yes,

57:14

and now apparently we're available on the Serious

57:17

XM app And also an exciting

57:19

part of it that I was unaware of is that Conan

57:21

will have a curated comedy

57:23

channel on Sirius XM. So incredible.

57:26

Yeah, so that will be fun. I'd be interesting

57:29

to see what he does with that. Amazing.

57:31

And you recently had Jesse Klein on your podcast, who

57:33

was a showrunner for Vanessa's series. I love

57:35

that for you show. Yeah, yeah,

57:38

I think she plugged it. Yeah, she better, she

57:42

did, but she was mostly I think because she has a book,

57:44

yes, coming out her book. I know she has this incredible

57:47

book. Her book is so yeah, but she's very,

57:49

very funny. So you're lucky. You're lucky.

57:52

I only work with hacks you I'm

57:55

kidding. I'm kidding. Well, thank you

57:57

so much. That was really fun. If

58:00

you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast

58:02

and keep an eye out for next week's episode of How Did

58:04

We Get Weird? We will discuss more stories

58:06

from our childhood and cultural touchstones

58:08

like hanging at them all. Yeah,