049. - Michael Cuby

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Hello, Chris. Hi, Jason. Good afternoon. How are you? It's still morning, baby, but I'm good. It is still morning. Just a Sunday in LA for the both of us, huh, buddy? These days, just they start early and they end early. You know what I mean? That's just where I'm at right now. That's where I have been at as well for a while. I mean, it's a little part. Part getting older and part quarantining, I guess. Yes, I think it all plays a part. I also think that just, you know, getting up early feels more productive at this stage. You're damn right about that. I love to be early. You're a 6am-er, right? Definitely. Yeah, big same. Well, I'm definitely a 6am-er out here, maybe 5.30 because I'm still getting acclimated to the PST. Sure, sure. Did you have a fun fourth? Yeah, dumbass. Yeah, I saw your ass. What do you mean? I don't know if you had fun, but I did see you. No, it was okay. No, I'm just kidding. It was fun. I had a good time. It was overwhelming to be around people that are quick-witted, like myself, all in one place, and obviously in an open-air public park. Yeah, for our listeners, we had a social distance hangout in a large park by my house where we sat away from each other on our own independent blankets and brought our own food that we ate. And we smoked our own cigs. I just, yeah, it was just... it was a good crowd. It was a good group of people, you know? So you, so you're not used to being around people who are able to, you know, a large group of people, I guess not large, but a handful of people who, who are able to, to match wits with you in, uh, and you had to be on your a game. I kind of felt the same way. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's honestly, it's rare, you know, and I think we do this podcast together because we found each other, you know what I mean? In that, in that quick witted way, that sensibility that we share. But yeah, I mean,

It can be exhausting, though. It can be. The barbecue is for every fucking body. You know what I mean? You can get thrown on the queue like those fucking ribs, bro. Like at any point. That is true, and it's good. It keeps us all on our toes, and I think we're all past the point of maybe becoming offended or butthurt by said barbecuing of each other. It would take a lot. Especially from those bozos. It's all in good fun and you can feel that. We were playing some tennis and our friend Ben Edgar suggested that we do a live stream of you and I playing tennis together. We're playing this afternoon. Should we make it a reality? I mean... I don't know. I think I still need some time to work out the logistics of how it would happen. Well, I think we need to purchase. I think it's time that for the greater good of this podcast and for the fans, I think we should have a, we should purchase with the, we should break the how long gone penny bank and cop a tripod for the phone. You don't have your own vlogger kit already? You know, I only have a ring light. No, but I don't know. A ring light is the most essential part of a vlogging kit, so you're already there. I don't actually have one, but I think that would be... If we just set up a camera in the corner and just let it rock, that's funny as fuck. Yeah, people... I mean, I was having doubts in myself, but Ben was saying there's enough people who... who would be interested in watching that. But then he was suggesting getting lav mics taped to our lower back so we could hear all the mid-match banter between the two of us. But then I worry that it will also produce a lot of just kind of undesirable breathing and grunting sounds, perhaps.

Well, on your side, absolutely, because I'm going to have your lanky ass diving all over that fucking court. So, yes, you will be breathing heavily because you're not in the shape that I'm in physically. Is there a way that we can put money, like a wager on this? I mean, I think personal pride is pretty big for both of us, and that's what we're willing to lose here. Okay, that's fine. But I think it would be probably the wisest. It would be smarter than investing in Gap two weeks ago to put money on me beating you straight sets. Well, I mean, I saw your little abbreviated backswing yesterday, and I feel like that's a little hole in your game that I'm going to be able to exploit. Yes, Jason, your skills surprised me, and the fact that neither of us have seen each other play before, and yesterday doesn't count because there's no real gear involved. It's going to be an interesting day today, and I think Tim, our referee, is going to have his work cut out for him. It seems kind of like an open and shut case to me. I don't know what you were seeing out there yesterday, but it's pretty much cut and dry. What I'm saying to you is you were moving. I mean, I know that you were kind of injured or something or you were gassed out from a previous social distance barriers or something. Yes, because I ran seven miles a few hours before I saw you. So excuse me. I was also wearing Nike Spiridons. I need proper gear to protect my body because as an athlete, I take my assets very seriously. For someone like you who's just goofing around all the time, you don't need that stuff. You can have a laugh in your little converse. You know what I mean? I can't do that. Right. And that's kind of even more enjoyable to beat you so easily and effortlessly using whatever gear and clothing. Agree. So you should show up this afternoon to South Pasadena in some flip-flops. Let's just see what happens. If you don't care, put the...

Put the Javianis on with some jeans and let's really get it going. Well, we're going to be playing later today in an actual tennis club facility, a private club. So I think I'm going to have to dress accordingly. I'm not going to be able to just wear... You know, one of my signature tanks on the court. The jean shorts and tank tops will have to be left in Glendale. The jean shorts? Come on! No, but I love a little friendly competition, but I think that we're actually fairly well matched if we're both healthy, to be honest with you. Actual question. Do you think I will need to be wearing a collared polo shirt? No, no, no. I've played here a bunch. No, no. It's not that serious. Okay. No, it's not tennis whites. Tim chooses to wear tennis whites because he respects the sport, which I also respect. But as a person in transit, I didn't have space in the Ramoa for the whites. Part of your pro gear, pro attitude philosophy. I mean, I have obviously full, you know, sweat wicking material outfit ready to go, but it's black. Also attracts heat, but I would suggest I didn't bring a hat, and I would suggest bringing one because the sun is bright. We're playing at a little bit of a high sun time. Middle of summer, it's better to play in the morning or at night. I do have hats, so that I'm not worried about. I might need to borrow one, so if you have anything you want to unload. Don't give me some corny shit. Try to throw me off my game. I will give you – I have a white Nike tennis hat dry fit that you may borrow. Okay, cool. That sounds like that will fit my look. But, yeah, I think maybe this podcast and our relationship in general should pivot to competition-based. You know what I mean? I think that maybe that's what we do. It's once a week there's some sort of battle where the two of us –

um go head to head in some sort of competition but unfortunately that doesn't look very good for me as a man that really doesn't have that many skills um but but that should be outweighed by your supreme physique and um and level of uh of fitness right well anything physical i'll whip your ass but i'm saying like you know uh let's say like if we had a pull-up contest or something like that is that what you're talking about or are you talking more of like Are we going to go like the Highland Games where we're going to see how far we can throw a rock? I will beat you at that. Pull-ups will probably take me on. Any sort of sporting or foot race, I will take you in. Any of the track and field arts, that's a no-brainer. Unfortunately, though, I think when we approach more life skills, cooking, hammering, changing attire, regular guy shit, I think you'll have me... smoked um but if we did like let's say a a vogue runway click through you have to pick the designer you know i did i identify the designer i think i could take you there you know what i mean if we had to do a tight five minute stand-up routine you're gonna win um so it's my kind of i think i think we're on our way to developing some type of uh you know cuck decathlon The cuck-tathlon. How long gone presents the cuck-tathlon? The cuck-lympics, perhaps. I just think this is a way to keep it interesting. You know what I mean? I think people, you know, everyone deep down is competitive, I would say. That is very true. Yeah, I mean, you know, so our listeners at home, if you can, you know, maybe start putting together your ideal, you know, 10 skills for us to compete in. And then we can go from there in terms of, you know, making the pitch deck for sponsors and getting enough money to get this thing. Well, this to me strikes me more as like a, you know, Hulu original probably than a podcast. But, you know, I'm open to, you know, I understand the content lives in many places these days and, you know, people's attention spans are short. So if Quibi wanted to do this in short, you know, 10.

10-part, 10-minute episodes, I could see that working. This actually, yeah. I mean, as much as we talk shit on Quibi, they might be the perfect platform for this. And the way to really juice it up and get some star power involved is, you know, for each of us to have an expert coach for every event. Okay. You know, so it's like, all right, I'm going to call, you know, if we're cooking, it's like you and you have your little buddy, but then I call in, you know, some famous chef to help me, you know. Right. And how would it work if I would be the best person to be the coach for these skills already? So I just kind of, maybe I can do it with like one hand tied behind my back or something to level it out. I mean, I know that you're really impressed with yourself for being able to like chop vegetables and other like rudimentary skills that I unfortunately don't have. But I'm here and sad to inform you that there are people that are better than you at everything that you do. And the same goes for me. So I think we would both need a coach in our corner to help just absolutely destroy the will to live of the other person. Yeah, I'm picturing spare tire changing, sewing a button onto a shirt that fell off, things like this, some nice practical skills. I used to be able to sew. I feel like I could pick it back up. I've never changed a tire. I know that's not surprising to you. You know how some people on their parents' cell phone bill, the only thing that I'm still involved with with my parents is a AAA membership. And I haven't had a car in 11 years, 12 years, but my mom, for some reason, still maintains my AAA membership. You never know, sweetie. Well, I mean, I think Maserati has a service, but you do never know. Roadside head ass. Roadside head ass. So you would beat me at that. But again, I think we could find a list of skills that both of us aren't – neither of us are experts at all of them, I think is what we'd be looking for. Okay. Well, I think this idea does have some legs, and we will continue to develop this as time progresses.

Yes, this podcast now serves as the writer's room. It has moved from an interactive chat scenario to a we're talking at you writer's room scenario. I would say the one task or one competition that I really hope to beat you at, which is live tweeting an award show. If I can take you there, then that will really just crumble your whole strategy. That's actually true, and to be 100% honest, you have absolutely no chance. But you are funny, but I don't think you have the – you don't have the itchy trigger finger that will allow you to hit them in succession like a skier on the moguls. You know what I mean? Anyway, we have a guest today. Editor-at-large of Vim, the Condé Nast platform. He's also the entertainment editor for the newly relaunched Nylon magazine. Michael Kuby is his name. I believe he's from L.A., but he lives in New York. And we're going to get a little update on what's going on with him. get his take on things. He actually recently watched Hamilton for the first time, um, and talked about it. And I said, Godspeed. So hopefully now that he's watched it, we can hear a little update from a, from a virgin. Godspeed. Yeah. We have a lot of Hamilton to cover. All right. Um, let's get a lot of ham. I'll bang his line. All right. This episode of how long gone is brought to back Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and they're just easy but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated.

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It was brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, it... How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive. And that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code how long taskers book up faster, especially for same day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code how long with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. What's good? All right. We're all here. We're here. Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. How are you? Michael, how do we say your last name? QB. Okay, I said it right. I wanted to guess, but I didn't think it was that complicated. A lot of people say Cubby, but then I'm always like, there's only one B. Cubby's pretty cute, though. I always just say QB like a quarterback, even though I've never played football a day in my life. Oh, wow. That's easy to understand, especially for two dumbasses like us. Chris is more familiar with Quibi.

Quibi, yes. Quibi is my... QB is Quibi to me. That's how I read it. Oh, my God. Are you... I looked at your Instagram story. It looks like you turned up a little bit last night. I did not turn up. Are you saying you love this country as much as we do? That you're turning up? Oh, God. Oh, no. Not at all. Not in any form of celebrating America whatsoever. Okay, okay. What did you get into yesterday for the fourth? Basically, I just saw a few friends. I ended up on a rooftop at one of my friend's apartments. I was with... No hurry, obviously. And we went... I'm sorry, what were you going to say? No, no, just, you know, a graduate of how long gone university is how we like to refer to our former guests. You know, you're in your first semester right now, so play your cards right now. Yes, hopefully I get to graduate on time. But yeah, at the end of the day, we went to this very weird thing that was happening underneath the bridge. And pretty much both were immediately like, this is looking like a little bit too much. I think it's time to call it a night. So what is the overall vibe in New York? Obviously, I live there, but I haven't been there since March. Jason lives in LA. So give us a scene report from the ground. um i mean new york is pretty it's like weird to kind of have watched it go like completely dead and empty and like people are very clearly starting to emerge back out definitely to an extent that they shouldn't be um so it's kind of scary and unnerving but but i mean it definitely feels a lot different than i did at the beginning of pandemic yes i mean are you are you where do you what are you in brooklyn are you in the city Yeah, I'm in Brooklyn. I live in Bed-Stuy. Okay. So do you think it's more mellow in Brooklyn than it is in Manhattan? Yes, definitely. I literally have only been in Manhattan, I want to say, maybe three times since the pandemic started. Like, for the first, like, three months, I was only in Brooklyn, like, in my neighborhood, like, taking little walks around the block, like, did not go anywhere. I've been a couple of times.

You were taking that shit serious. You were a quarantine truther. Oh, yeah. I definitely was not playing any of the games. I was very much in my room, only seeing my roommate and her girlfriend. Didn't see anyone for months. Are you feeling unleashed? Is it socializing? Because I socialized yesterday with Jason and a few of our friends in a park, and I was a little overwhelmed, I have to say. Yeah, no, it is really scary. I've, like, been keeping it very, like, low-key, like, making sure I'm only in spaces with very, like, small crowds, outdoors, you know, sitting separate apart, like, not being in too chaotic things. But that's why, like, when I see other things happening, like... This morning, I saw all of these, like, pictures of, like, these gays partying on Fire Island, and it's, like, packed back-to-back on the beach, and I'm like, that's the kind of shit that scares me so much. I thought COVID didn't make it to Fire Island. They seem to think that somehow it could not hop on the ferry and the bus. Corona took the damn ferry over to Fire Island. It's here to stay. I mean, I'm more talking about the... I was overwhelmed with the actual socializing itself of rapid-fire conversation face-to-face. Yeah, because you go from not seeing anyone to suddenly seeing people. It's definitely very weird and disorienting after being secluded for so long. I think another weird thing about The Hanging is people are having to readjust to talking about... normal things like they used to before whereas just the last four months everyone just talks about the coronavirus all the time and right you know they they judge other people and talk shit on people who aren't wearing masks and it's just like they people forgot how to just you know kick it and have a normal convo with your friends oh yeah there's gonna definitely be an adjustment period to like feeling normal even amongst the people you've been friends with for years

It's a divisive time, you know, in many ways. Are you from L.A. and now you live in New York? Yes, yeah. I've lived in New York since 2012. And you didn't come back to the motherland to ride this thing out? No, I did not. I was not one of those people that was, like, escaping. Don't come at me on my fucking podcast. Speaking of partying in New York, there's been a lot of China chalet discourse on social media. And I know that both of you guys are in New York. Michael, you might have more experience turning up since this is over. But maybe to an L.A. person or somebody outside of New York who isn't familiar with what it is, obviously it's like a popular... place that cool people go and get drunk and do coke at but like what uh what's going on with it i mean it's closing down but what was so special about this place i mean it was just it was one it's such like a rare venue literally was like a chinese restaurant by day like coked out club by night and it was just one of these places that just had kind of like no rules like you could smoke indoors um it was like this weird like setup where there was a bar on one corner and then like the main dining room and then like a club room and it was just like this very like open place that just kind of gave birth to so many of these kind of like now iconic new york parties that just have been happening over like the past like half decade it's such like i mean i spent so much time in china chalet and sometimes it's like the worst place there's like no real air conditioning if you get very hot and disgusting but it's also just like so It feels very much unlike so many other things in New York. It does not have any kind of standard club vibe. I think that's what made it feel special. It has the energy maybe of one of the last places that's kind of like old New York where, like you said, you could smoke indoors and just do coke on the tables.

Right. It's one of those things that now that it's gone, there is no comparable. I think another regular club could shut down and you could just find the next club. It's so distinct and individual that it's sad. It really is sad. Chris, did you ever spend time turning up there, blowing a bag? Chris has done coke in China. Yes, it's obviously it's been a long time. That's the other thing. It's been around for kind of a lot for being so lawless. It's like maintained for years. Yeah, it really is kind of crazy. And it's gone through like phases. I'm a lot older than you. You know what I mean? I imagine I'm at least 10 years older than you. And it's been cool for that long. You know what I mean? Which is like crazy. It's always been such... It was a thing even before I moved to New York. I came here in 2012 and it was already this thing. How many places can you go and be indoors just lighting up your cigarettes? It seemed like a good place to fuck skaters at. Is that true? Oh, definitely. Huge skater destination. The kind of thing where you can be in one of the stalls. Some people are making out in one corner. The other people are very loudly like sniffing Coke off a key, like very energy. It's well, there's that famous photo of the skateboards checked in the coach. It is so fucking funny. That shit makes me laugh every time I see it. Truly I believe has been the most circulated image, like paying its respects to our fallen sister. It's really, did you, did you go out a lot in high school in LA? Were you like on the scene or were you in your books? I was very much in my books. I was very balanced. I went out a lot, but I mean, I also was very studious, but not, I wasn't like out at clubs. It was just more like. very Kesha party at a rich dude's house like you know going to some place in the valley like and just getting really stoned and like

binge drinking but i wasn't like going out like that's what is so weird when i go like back home to la now and people are like asking for recommendations like where do you go out and i'm like i was never like of age in la and it wasn't really the kind of place where i would have like had a fake id in high school whereas like i come to new york and all the people that like were 16 like had fake ids in new york but that just wasn't the vibe in la at least not like when i was growing up there at least interesting well i mean i think it's probably better to start a little later you know what i mean it's yeah You're not equipped to handle it at 15, in my opinion. In New York and LA, it does happen often. The native New Yorkers who have been partying, that's a different breed. I have some friends who grew up here. The way that they kind of like really start on that like social circuit in their young teens. I'm like, that really is some, you've seen some shit. No, no. If you went to bungalow eight in high school, you're on me and you ain't the same. You know what I'm saying? We are not cut from the same cloth. We are not. I wish I'm jealous of you, but we're not cut from the same cloth. You know, I think it makes a big difference. And you went to. We have a friend in common, Cammie, who does Parade. Yes, yes, yeah. So you went to College of Columbia, so you lived uptown. I did, I did. Yeah, from... Like for the years that I was there, I lived on campus. Cammie and I were actually both in the same co-ed literary society at Columbia. Wow. Yeah, you are very studious, my friend. You really be in your books. I mean, it was very much, it was a co-ed frat. It was founded as a literary society, but that really was not. It functioned basically as a frat, except it was co-ed. What did you go to school for? sociology oh i see okay so and now you write about tv film and entertainment mostly yeah primarily i love that through line i love that yeah i think i actually went to columbia my first year i was an econ major i like had all these plans to like do econ and like go to business school and i was like very quickly like this is not really what i'm trying to do did new york city turn you out first semester and flip the whole shit

Oh, definitely. Definitely. I feel like I got here. I was so, that was on that track. Like, you know, I took AP econ in high school. Like that was going to be my thing. And I like got here and it was honestly a bunch of other people. I would tell them that they were like, that doesn't seem like you. And I like started to think, I was like, is it? Or like, have I really just kind of been pursuing this very weird line? And I was like, actually, what would I want to do more? And I like thought I wanted to write, but I didn't want to be an English major. Cause I didn't want to like. the type of writing that you do for english was not the type of writing i was trying to do so i was like let's just kind of find a major where i will be writing a lot and kind of just learning about culture and like examining culture in general i you know i jason i both love examining culture that's a good way to put it that makes it sound a lot cooler than me when i say like i just like to read the daily mail and tweet about it that doesn't sound quite as There's a difference between examining culture and just talking shit on it on Twitter as well. Thank you for that distinction. You still have to examine culture to be able to talk shit about it. Thank you for bringing me back to Earth. I know you were an editor at large at Vim. I bet some people that listen to this podcast don't know what Vim is. It would be nice if you could explain what that platform is. So Vim is Conde Nast's LGBTQ platform. It was founded in October 2017, I think, by Phil Picardi, who then went out and is now doing something completely different. And it's basically just a website that focuses on looking at culture through a queer lens, but under the Conde Nast umbrella. And I've been there since the beginning. I started doing... I was the social media director when I first got there for like the first seven, eight months and then realized that I wanted to go back to writing because that's what I was doing before I was brought on by Phil. And I was just kind of like social media is not my thing. Like trying to run social media for a brand is such a different beast than like running it for yourself. And I was like, this is not really my thing. And so then I just became the editor at large and I've just kind of been writing there since then.

I also think people editor at large, you know, to me, it sounds like a pretty cushy fucking title. You know what I'm saying? That, you know, is that editor at large sounds like to me, you ain't got to be anywhere you don't want to be. Am I incorrect? Oh, definitely. No, yeah, that's definitely like I'm on my own. I just kind of like have the stories that I have when a couple that I'm juggling at all times, I just kind of have my deadlines. And then that's really. all that I'm kind of obligated to do. Wow, sounds pretty fucking good. That's why you can be out partying with Hardy and I'm stuck here paying to the fucking laptop. I see the difference. I see the fucking difference. What is the vibe like right now at Condé Nast with all the, you know, I don't know what exactly you would call it, but, you know, there's some shakeups going on. I mean, there obviously was like a moment where it was like a very somber, you know, like. let's have this town hall and talk about diversity type thing but I feel that at least like for the people on them it's it's such a different experience because that staff has been so carefully strategically arranged as far as like representing minority voices like that's kind of always been at the heart of what them was so it feels a little bit removed even though obviously it still is part of the Condé umbrella but I mean I mean I feel like in general I mean like the stuff with Bon Appetit like they're handling it i guess to whatever extent that they are but jason i think they got that under control or whatever i don't know how do you even how do you even handle that though you know right exactly i mean like there's obviously so much there but i feel what's going on with them is so it feels removed particularly Because, like, we're not centralized in an office. And especially for me as someone who's at large and is, like, not really kind of involved in the day-to-day of, like, what's going on there anyway. I'm not. I feel someone at least insulated as being tied directly to that. What have you... So has the subjects you've been covering changed, like, because of quarantine, because of Black Lives Matter, because of the murders? Like, has that really shifted? Or is it kind of like...

you're still trying to maintain some, like, you know, entertainment-focused stuff? Yeah, I mean, I definitely, I mean, I think as far as, like, the brand and, like, platform itself, it has, like, taken a much, like, wider change as far as, like, there is more of that going on. I'm not necessarily, like, that's not necessarily the reporting that I'm doing. I mean, for the past month, I've just been doing so much, like, profiles and stuff for Pride. By the way, quickly on that note, I feel like I feel like King Princess got a shitload of profiles with no record out, like no new music. And I fucking love King. I love King Princess. I can't get enough. Like I'm into the whole thing. But I was like, damn, she got like four covers and her record came out a year ago. Yeah, I mean, it's really weird how kind of like but then I think also it's like once like things like Pride roll around. You gotta call, you gotta get on. What lesbians do we know? We know lesbians. Right, exactly. You need to make sure you have one member from each letter of the LGBTQ, like, after them. And they're, you know, the pool gets smaller and smaller. And they just default to who they know. I mean, that does, I think, I mean, pride is always something that is, you know. co-opted by the corporations you know in a way yeah but do you look at that as actually negative or is it more like look they don't they're not doing it exactly right but it's better that they're doing something rather than nothing um i'm definitely like not on the plane of thinking that it is a blanket negative i think it really is a case-by-case basis on how they engage with that work if they're kind of just doing you know taking one month to like slap rainbows onto like a t-shirt and like sell it at this exorbitant value and like not donate any of the money that's obviously like i don't really care about that visibility but for the brands that are actually like trying to work structurally from the basis like you know and are like you know we're gonna sell these and this is gonna like go to a different corporation that are actually trying to you know like organize stuff within their employee bases to actually fight for and like make real structural change i think that that is definitely worth it but i mean

In general, obviously, like, the corporatization of Pride is, like, not good as far as, like, you know, this idea of, like, rainbow capitalism and everything. That intrinsically is not. But, like, I don't jump to the flip side of saying, like, corporations should, like, not acknowledge Pride because that's equally bad. So I just think it's more about going about it in an authentic, organic way. How did it feel this year? Just with everything going on, like, on every fucking level, what was the vibe? Pride-wise. It was so weird because, I mean, there were so many, like, there felt like so many, like, more important things, like, you know, with, like, the overlap of all of, like, the Black Lives Matter protests happening right as Pride was happening. It felt like I'm not really thinking about gayness and queerness right now as much as I'm, like, thinking about the fact that, you know, like, people are, like, dying. But I do think that it also kind of lent itself to this very unique opportunity to kind of... think about the intersection of, like, Blackness and queerness as these two groups where so many, like, the queer community definitely has a problem, like, a racism problem, as much as some aspects of the Black community have, like, had issues with responding to queerness. And I felt like it was a good moment to kind of, like, examine that intersection and kind of, like, see the ways that both of these movements should be kind of, like, moving. side by side and not being at odds with each other so there was a unique thing but it also didn't obviously between the stuff happening with the black lives matter protests and the fact that obviously we're still in the middle of a pandemic it didn't feel like pride pride quote unquote you know i i have a pride from home virtual pride i have a pride story actually where i was once jogging um you know just out for a jog and then i i got I got locked in to pride. Basically. I like took a turn down a street and I couldn't get out. And then I ended up just participating. I ended up just like crib your enthusiasm episode. And then I just went with it. You know, I just kind of walked for a while and I was like, Oh, this is pretty fucking lit actually. And then I, you know, I was able to find my way out and it was, um, but it, my point being, it really takes over New York and it's prime. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, it's.

all-encompassing, like, it's, the city is on for that, for that time. Yeah, it's such, and, like, last year's Pride was, like, such a huge thing, because it was World Pride, you know, the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, so there were so many people, but, like, I honestly, like, hilariously, like, never really do the actual, like, marches. So, like, last year, I was supposed to be, like, I got invited by, like, W Hotels, like, ride on their float, and I was, like, okay, like, this would be a good way to, like, actually, like... do the parade and like the morning of or like the night before something they sent me an email being like yes like you're gonna like show up to w hotel at like whatever time and you'll be like directed here like get a t-shirt and you'll be directed here to like walk alongside the float and i was like you invited me to ride on the float like i'm not showing up to this shit to walk alongside your float so they promised you artist pass but you just got vip right exactly like absolutely not i will like not be venturing out Thank you, Jason. It's like the 95 degree heat for this. Translating that into language I can understand. Walk. Oh, okay. Art is past. Now, thank you. I understand. I understand. Yeah, I mean, I feel like a lot of rainbow capitalism is a very fun term to use. I've never heard that before. But I feel like this year it was hotly contested because people are just really on edge. And rightfully so. But I saw a lot of that. more so than i have in the past i i think it's obviously getting more prevalent but also like i think people are just out for blood yeah i mean i agree it's like it should be i mean there should definitely be we should always be like looking at and criticizing the way that corporations capitalize on any kind of marginalized community not just queer people but you know also black people or trans people any you know group of like any minority people of color Because there are so many ways to kind of like uphold this theoretically, like in theory, without actually putting anything into practice that's actually helping this. And in all of those ways, that's not really actually adding to the benefit of helping any of these people. No, I mean, I'm always surprised at how much faith people put into corporations. Like it's kind of like, why do you expect anything? I mean, they want to make money and that's the bottom line, which is like, to me, pretty clear that that's like how the system is set up.

So to expect something from them like they're a person is, to me, kind of delusional. Yeah, people will really kind of go to bat for corporations. And I'm like, by definition, corporations, which is kind of like an entity that does not have a soul or spirit, can't really give anything back to you. So it's like, why are you? And very often the people at the top of these corporations are equally soulless and don't want to give back to you. Unfortunately, that's why I'm not rich is because I have a soul. That's the only thing stopping me from getting my million. Exactly. I'm too nice of a guy. I'm too pathetic. And I'll just never be rich, unfortunately. I've come to terms with the fact that I can be well off, but I can't be rich. I have a few ghosts that come to visit me every other day asking me if I'm finally ready to give up my soul. It's getting harder and harder to keep saying no because I'm ready to tap into my trust fund that's waiting. for me to give up my ball. I think you have more time than I do. I think it could happen for you, and my fingers are fucking crossed. I also saw that you, and I commented on this because I was so disgusted, you were going to watch... You were going to watch, and I'm sure you got it for free because you're a member of the liberal media elite, but Disney Plus to watch Hamilton, which we all know is absolutely garbage. Indeed it was. But the thing is, it's so weird because I feel like there are very few huge cultural moments that I somehow managed to not engage with. But Hamilton always was one of those. Obviously, it was the same thing. But when it came around, never saw the musical, never listened to the soundtrack. Like, I knew, like, what the premise of Hamilton was and, like, why. It was so popular. I mean, the tickets were super expensive. But I, like, never really engaged with it at all. So I always really have, like, felt like.

Eventually, I'm going to need to just watch Hamilton just so I could know what the hype was about. Unfortunately, after watching it, I still don't know what the hype was about. But I had to watch it. I was super stoned on an edible. But it was absolutely insane. Because first of all, Lin-Manuel Miranda cannot sing. It's very adamantly the worst part of the cast. And it's crazy that he wrote this entire thing to put himself in the center. of this huge thing and just like does and then surrounded himself with all of these people that are showing him up on it i was like this is that's bold that's brave how can i ask you what the running time is on hamilton it is just shy of three hours i think it's like 45 minutes granted i did not i like i actually fell asleep with like 45 minutes to go and have not gone back to finish it but that should also tell you because I was like, I've seen enough. How many milligrams was this edible? I need to know. There are like these 10 milligram gummies that I eat one and a half of. Okay. That's pretty good. Were there any moments of Hamilton that were impressive or enjoyable at all? Or was it all pretty much just the bad news? I think, I mean, there was a lot of, I think pretty much it was all bad news. There were some very good performances. Did you learn anything about our fine country that you didn't know before? Oh God, no. It's completely like a revisionist piece of history of like kind of telling the story of these founding fathers that like where slavery is not at all. discussion and then it's like this colorblind casting so it's great that it's this diverse cast but it's also it's like you're now like employing like black people it's like be these founding fathers without talking about the fact that these black people actually would have been slaves like at the time that this was happening that seems i feel like i should have heard that before now that that's like what like i've never heard it described that way and that seems like a big problem let's see yeah it seems like a pretty obvious gripe to have with crooked hamilton

Yeah, it's like a very weird, like, it's like, I mean, yeah, it's like watching the musical, I could be like, obviously, if you're adding in the context of slavery, this would be a different musical. But also, like, maybe it should have been a different musical. Because this is, as it is, it just seems really jarring as much as like, cool, like, you know, doing colorblind casting kind of. retelling the story with the diverse cast seems cool in theory it's not it is very weird to kind of watch this and have there be no discussion of slavery and like have these like actual like black people recast it as the founding fathers or the wives of the founding fathers and no discussion about the fact that there's more slaves do you are you a musical head like do you like theater Yeah, so very recently, I feel like within the last two and a half years, I have started to get into musical theater. I was not a musical theater person growing up. When I was younger, I actually was pursuing acting, but I cannot sing. And I had gone from being the lead in one of my plays in eighth grade, trying out for the musical and not getting casted at all. And it was this huge scandal around the campus that I had gone from. being the lead in a play to like not getting anything in the musical but it was just because like welcome welcome to hollywood baby and so i kind of just stopped doing that i like was like okay this is clearly not for me so i was even at that time i was like not necessarily a huge specifically musical theater i liked plays and like if i was going to a play i would but i wasn't a huge like into it but i think within the last like two and a half years i've started to try to get into it and i've seen some pretty like incredible work over like the past over that time period and so that's been cool to get into that but i think i've realized though that theater might be the hardest performing arts there is as far as i agree what you're doing and the pace at which you're doing you know doing eight shows a week or whatever i think it's truly insane when you think about the mechanics of it all um which i i have to factor in when i'm when i'm like thinking about it

Yeah, it's a very demanding thing to kind of like undergo. Like I was reading this. There's I think it's called the Jimmy Awards, I think. And it's like basically the Tonys for like high school theater productions. And this comedian actress, Natalie Walker, wrote, followed the people who were nominated. I think it's like two people from all 50 states followed them like as they were going through that. And there's this one section where she's talking about. how they had to, all of their like stage mom parents were there and like buying them like tea and like wrapping their like necks and scars because after every single time that you're singing that you're like afraid that you're not going to be able to sing anymore. And you have to like cut out dairy and like all of it. It's like a very, which there are other reasons to cut out dairy, but like not specifically for the preservation of your place. And then at the end of all of it, you make no money as well. Right. Yeah, it's like being a college athlete. If you ain't going pro, you need to just stop while you're ahead. There's no reason. That article sounds interesting because I do feel like it starts so young. It is. I feel that the other side to the fact that no one makes any money is that the people who go into musical theater, you have to have such. a passion for it you can't just like kind of fall into that like you have to be willing to take so much shit and like go through so much that at least it's like once the people get into the world of musical theater you know that they have been working and want to be there it's not also like it's billed as fucking dorky if you can sing don't you want to be like a superstar you know what i mean like Like it's, it's taught to you. It's like ingrained and it's for dorks. So like, you know, like the heart, the heart was, it's, it's very, I think it's very similar to being an Olympic athlete where, yeah, I would agree. Super impressive skill that nobody else can do. And then when, you know, once you reach the top and you're all done, that's, that's pretty much it. You're, you know, you go back to working at PetSmart.

True. I would equate it more to the CrossFit games that I've watched on Netflix. You know what I mean? It's not a thing. Is that floor is lava? It's actually a thing. You make more money on the floor is lava than you do for winning an Olympic gold. Yeah, it's true. If you don't get any sponsors, Olympia is crazy. You're losing money to be a bronze medal shot putter. No one gives a fuck about that. It's fucking crazy. Yeah, Wheaties is not giving you the bag for that. Nah, you ain't getting the cover. No, definitely not. No sports illustrated body issue for you. Wow, the best issue. It's actually, you're thinking of ESPN the magazine. Oh, ESPN, yes. You're such a jock. Speaking of bodies. I'm mixing up my sports publications. How has your quarantine dating going? It's there's just a lot of chatting on Grindr and like talking to people that I probably will not end up meeting up with when everything is said and done. But it's just, you know, you got to do when you have to like do. I've done some experimentation into like FaceTime sex, which was new. Interesting. I mean, was it a positive experience? One of them was another one was very awkward, but. Yeah, I mean, definitely one of them was a, like I said, it was a new thing I hadn't really done. I've had friends that I've done FaceTime sex that I just hadn't really supported before now. I guess it seems like it could be better than nothing. Right, exactly. I also, as a member of Gen Z, I figured you were ahead of the curve, but interesting. I'm not a member of Gen Z, though. I'm definitely a millennial. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm confused. You look so youthful. I apologize. I'm 26. But I think Gen Z cut off as, like, 97. I was born in 94. So I'm definitely at the lower end of the millennial. You're a cusper. Yeah, I feel much more attached to, like, the stereotypes of a millennial than I do. That's the same for me and Jason with Gen X. So, you know, I understand your plight.

uh did we had we had a guest on jeff uh his is his name and um he was on dating apps and he said that white chicks were like apologizing to him before they like hollered at it does that make sense like they wanted to talk about before he got the titty pic Before he got to see the titties, he had to talk about systemic racism via Bumble or whatever. They ain't doing that on Grindr. Honestly, you would be surprised. There are a lot of... A lot of, like, hashtag BLMs have popped up into a lot of white men's Grindr bios as of late. And there are definitely some times where someone's like, oh, you know, like, this must be so rough for you right now. And I'm just kind of like, this is not really the conversation that I, like, want to be having with you right now. This is very much not why I'm on Grindr to be, like, talking about this stuff. But I mean, it's neither the time nor the place. Literally about the time or the context. But yeah, I mean, I just, I mean, the white guilt is flowing very frequently right now. Hey, look, you don't have to tell us. You don't have to tell us, okay? That's funny. I wonder, because when he said that, it kind of blew my mind because it was just a concept I hadn't thought about. you know what i mean at all it's how this really touches everything it touches everything it's truly so pervasive and it's everywhere you kind of can't escape it and it's but like i've definitely you know we'll scroll through grinder and there are so many like people who now have like black lives matter in their bio i'm just like oh okay now work wasn't i'm making my penis soft damn bro making my penis soft I also saw that Grindr is... I didn't know this as a person who doesn't use it, but you can search by ethnicity, which they are now getting rid of? Yeah. I think it's gone now, but there was a time where you could filter by height or position or something else, and one of them was by ethnicity. Do you find that to be problematic, or is that just like...

narrowing the pool depending on what you're into i find it to be problematic because i mean i just don't i think that there are like like for instance i think it makes a lot of sense like be able to like filter by like position because it's like obviously it's like if you like are a top looking for a bottom like that makes a lot of sense why you look are not necessarily but like to kind of you know who the people who were using the ethnicity filter were like definitely white men like looking for other white men and it's just like i mean oh i see yeah i guess it's like some people have said that it could also be you know for like black people looking for other black people there are also just like other apps that have always catered more towards like containing like a black community like jacked is another app that it's very primarily like for black so it's like it's so it's like a grinder but but just for yeah like right like it's not it's not like build as such but i think it's like it's not yeah but it i think it is one of those apps that has kind of just like black people have gone to flood to kind of like find their tribe and so i think the people on grinder who would have been using the ethnicity filter were definitely those people who were like looking, trying to make sense that they were only seeing white people. So Jacked is, is, is basic. They're like reaping the benefits of Grindr fucking up basically. Like definitely. So I guess, and, and Scruff, I've also heard about. Yes. Is Scruff just for like the hairy types or is it just a clever name? Scruff is, it's not just the hairy types, but it's definitely like, more catering towards like the bear and otter community and the people who are into bear and otters like i honestly like you have used like all of them but like it's not none of them honestly guys i've tried it all okay none of them are like exclusive though like you know there are you know you'll still find your like hairless twinks on scruff too it's not necessarily the app that is like

Okay, good. They're not the target audience. As an otter looking for a twink, I guess Scruff maybe isn't for me. That is... And all of these services, are any of them paid? You can all... None of them are... You can get a free version of all of them, but most of them have an upper tier that you can pay for. So Grindr Extra, for instance, lets you see... more people on your grid like it'll keep going for longer or like scruff pro like lets you have like an unlimited amount of like photos that you can see on someone else's album versus like the regular version you can only see like the first three or something and these are like super affordable it's like five bucks or something it's not like a real cost yeah something like that i've never paid for them but it's something i bet they're fucking and i bet these guys are printing money right now oh definitely i mean you know gays They love their little apps. The apps have truly changed gay dating culture so much. And so I definitely think they are making it. Do you think it's in a good way or a bad way? The thing is, it's weird for me to say in a bad way because it's like, I don't know a gay dating life prior to apps because by the time I had come out of the closet, I was already... You know, that was already a thing. Did you come out in New York? Yes, yeah. I came out my freshman year of college. I feel like that's a classic tale. Oh, yes. Particularly at Columbia, where I got there and it was like, every other guy you met was gay anyway. It felt very weird to be in the closet. But yeah, I was already... So I can't really compare it to anything, but I definitely think that it definitely has its benefits as far as facilitating relationships and like meeting up with people that in a way that is a lot to an extent safer, like particularly for people, you know, using these in like areas that are not New York or LA, you know, just kind of go out and find it. It like helps people find connections in a way that you probably couldn't have before this. I think that's something that people forget about, particularly straights. Like that this was not like, you couldn't just do this 10 years ago, 15 years ago, even.

Right. There is, like, a safety issue, especially, like you said, in tertiary markets. Particularly straight males as well. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, I realize people were, like, and I mean, not that people still aren't, you know, like, going out into the fields to go cruising, but, like, that for a while, that was definitely the only option you had. But do you think that has, so has, have the apps affected, like, cruising culture and, like, bars? Because the gay bar is, like, a haven and safe space in theory, right? Like, historically. Yes, yeah. I mean, I definitely think it has had, like, I don't think it's the same as it was before, but I don't think it hasn't led to the destruction of, like, cruising culture. It hasn't, like, gay bars still exist. People still go to gay bars to, like, pick up men. And, like, that hasn't changed. Like, that still exists, but does it exist in the same way that it did before? Again, I wasn't there before that era, but I would imagine that now that it's not as much of a necessity. When I'm going out, I'm not necessarily being like, I have to find someone at this bar to take home. It becomes a different mindset because you know that there are other resources or outlets to be able to do that. Yeah, you ain't got to hit Craigslist no more. No more Craigslist. Nothing wrong with that, Chris. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not. No one's disparaging Craigslist. Craigslist is the original social network, man. Craigslist. Craigslist predates. I mean, where could you go to find a couch, an apartment, a car, and dick in one place? And to get your dick stuck, right? That's crazy. Truly a one-stop shop. They fulfilled every need possible. Craig was on his shit. Craig was on his shit. That Craig in his list. Go ahead, go ahead, Jason. What do we think about Kanye West running for president? Oh, God. It's true. I mean, like, I, the fact that, I feel it is such a crazy stunt that, like, he is announcing his presidential campaign right in the midst of gearing up for a new album. Like, the idea of being, like, you know what would be, like, the ultimate.

promotional stunt is to like run for president and it's but it's just like honestly in a post-Trump world it's like of course someone can now do that and it's like of course it's like Kanye has said he would run for president since before like since when Kanye was still a beloved member of society he was saying that so like the fact that he has like been red-pilled now and like of course he's still of that mindset I think it's insane. And I mean, it's so it's just really not what we need right now. But I'm also like, not surprised. Like, it seems like such. And I mean, but honestly, it's like thinking like someone I saw earlier tweeted being like, wow, the concept of. First Lady Kim Kardashian is truly a concept. That's what I was thinking about as well. That's why I'll be voting for him. I just want to go on the record now. He would be a First Lady. She'll do a better job at being First Lady than he will be president, I think, though. Oh, absolutely. I mean, Kim has honestly already been doing... You know, I mean, not this is definitely like not like gassing up Kim as like the savior. But I mean, it was like, you know, it's not like it, but go ahead. Like the stuff as far as just like, you know, trying to get people out of jail right now is like more than Kanye has been doing. Well, you know, some some people there's a theory, you know, and I think it's perpetuated by Kanye himself that his his his Trump alliance was merely to get his foot in the door and be able to affect. changed from the inside. And convenient, I say. But there's also another theory that he is running for president because that will take away so many of the votes from Biden or whoever is going to be running against Trump that it will allow Trump to have a bigger advantage. I haven't heard that one.

I, like, honestly, this is the first time I'm hearing about that, but I agree. That makes a lot of sense. But there's a lot of people who, I mean, we're now living in a time where everyone on social media has to stop doing whatever they're doing to, like, really honestly tell all of their followers, like, don't actually vote for Kanye West, the president, please. It'll do more harm than good. I saw this tweet earlier where someone was like, you guys like preach so much about like black lives matter, but when a black man announces that he wants to like win for president and you're like all talking shit. And I'm just like, let's like look at the receipts of what Kanye has done for the past two years. Cause we're not going to have this conversation. This is not a matter of like not supporting fellow black people. Like this is of all the black people that I would want to support. Like specifically politically speaking, like Kanye is very near the bottom of the list. Yes, he has not endeared himself to anyone, really, much less his own people. Right. Like, there was a moment where, I mean, you know, back when, obviously, when he said George Bush doesn't like black people, like, that was a moment. Like, I could have gotten, and I probably, I mean, I was a huge, you know, I'm not ashamed to say that I was a huge Kanye, like, stan. Oh, I bet you were right. I know you were right. I know your ass was rocking the pink polo. I know you was right. Oh, God. I know you. I know you're rocking the pink. No question. No, I mean like definitely like one of the defining personalities in like my childhood and even like my very, you know, young adulthood. But I also was very quick to kind of like see how his allegiance returning and being like, this is not. And also his music just started getting worse. So it was like, what even am I supporting at this point? That's the problem when the clothes aren't good and the music isn't good. I can't vote for that. I mean, fuck the policy at that point. If you can't get me a top 10 billboard hit, you can't run this country. There will be no mid-roppers in the White House on my own. Exactly. See, that's a platform I can get behind. That's a platform. That is finally something I can get behind. I feel like you're a guy who could give us some tips on what we should be watching right now. Maybe some un...

unrecognized streaming television or movies that people should be watching that they're not. Some hidden gems. Hidden gems. Let's see. I don't know if this is a hidden gem anymore. It seems to hopefully be blowing up. But I May Not Destroy You with Michaela Cole is my favorite show of the year so far. That's a British show, correct? Right, yes. It's called I May Not Destroy You. Yes. No, not I May Destroy You. I've heard about this a lot. Can you give us a quick summarization? And then also, what is it on? What network is it on? It's on HBO. It's this woman, Michaela Cole, who previously made this show Chewing Gum several years back. She also made this show, created it, produces it, wrote it. Anne is the star of it. And it's basically about her. Move over Tyler Perry. Oh my God. Not Tyler Perry. But it's, it's basically about this woman kind of like coming to terms with the fact that she was sexually assaulted, but like was basically like drugs. So she doesn't remember anything about this. And it's kind of like, she's piecing things together, but it's like, it's this very, But it also kind of ventures into, like, the assault experienced by, like, you know, two of her friends. And just kind of, in general, her life of, like, dealing as... She plays this, like, kind of... This, like, buzzy writer in the show. Kind of, you know, someone who, like, wrote a type of, you know, like, op-ed that, like, blew up. And then she got a book deal. And, like, all of these, you know, people are now obsessed with her. She has writer's block. And she's, like, trying to get through. the first draft of this book and then this whole like you know sexual assault thing happens and it completely like fucks up her attention but she also then decides to like reorient the book to start talking about that experience and um i mean it's just incredibly like

this like very like nuanced discussion of the way that we talk about and like process and what we consider to be sexual assault because like it kind of gets into these very deliberately gray areas of like this is like not like outright rape the way we like think about rape but it's like very like these smaller type things that also do constitute assault but that we really don't talk about and i like it's doing this in the way that i don't think tv has before and so it's really inspiring but I mean I'm really just I'm like also just like really rooting for Michaela Cole herself because she's so multi-talented like she very much like reminds me of like a Phoebe Waller bridge and the way that I'm hoping that like people and the fact that she can kind of do it all in a way that I'm hoping people embrace embrace right and like pick up on because she's such a rare talent and that show is incredible uh I Yeah, I've heard about it a lot. I guess I should watch it. How many episodes is it? It's a total of 12. I've seen the whole thing. I think it's right now in the U.S. it's only on episode like five or six. I think it might be like halfway through the season. Oh, are you flexing on us? You had a little screener link? Or are you pirating? No, I have screener links. I'm not pirating HBO. I have screeners. Could go either way with you, Michael. I don't know. I honestly haven't pirated TV. Actually, even when I was pirating music, I was never pirating TV. I was never sitting there watching my U-Torrent screen download, take four hours. You don't have a folder on your laptop that's called New Girl Season 3? Oh my god. That makes one of us. I have never actually torrented anything but music either. But I was there for the original Napster and Kazaa days. I feel like I lived through the best times of pirating. The LimeWire era, definitely very much my vibe. What kind of music? Did your parents listen to music in the house or were you left up to remember it all?

I pretty much honestly discovered music a lot my own my mom like not that she didn't like music but she really like wasn't the kind of person like I didn't like grow up in like one of those like households where it was like you know like my mom's like paying playing Marvin Gaye on Sundays and it's time to clean you know um I've always been jealous of those people the same I'm very jealous of those people I've always been truly truly I kind of like discovered music on my own but it was funny when I did start my mom was a person she loves like listening to like books on tape on the you know in the car so that was very much driving me to school in the morning like she would have on like some random you know like David Baldacci books playing on the car stereos um but my mom was like very much like into like techno like very like before like electronic music kind of became this thing it was a very weird I was equally surprised this was like even before I had kind of like embraced electronic music like in my own life that she would like be playing this like very weird like heady techno in like the car very okay if she was playing music that's what it was damn Jason is Jason is sprung right now I haven't been saying this word as much lately but I will say nut As a member of the EDM community, Jason welcomes your mother with open arms. Also, of all the musical genres, I would say techno is the least mommy-friendly genre. I completely agree. I guess it's like she liked to listen to that when she would like. go on her like power walks but she would also listen to it in the car it was like i don't it was a very this is fire yeah i mean usually with somebody's mom you're like okay a little like a little disco little house kind of vibe that makes sense it's kind of you know approachable funky whatever but but going just straight for the techno i want to learn more about your mother she'd go in for like a good like 10 minute track like you know she

Truly was about that. Hopefully one day you'll be able to take her to Bergheim when it finally opens up. That's the story. Honey, I am home. That's the story we need on them.com for sure. The first time I took my mom to Bergheim. I took my mom to Bergheim on acid and this is what happened. Yeah, exactly. Where do you think she got, who put her on? That's the question. I don't know. That's like, I really. It always baffles me to kind of like how she came across. Like I said, it wasn't something that was like happening my whole life. It was like randomly when I was like in middle school, I think I would get in and she would just start having this playing. And I was like, it seemed to come out of nowhere. But she was like, this is like what I use when I like walk. Like I need like a good steady beat. I love saying this is what I use. Like it's a drug. I use this when I walk. Techno is simply a tool. Inject the techno into my veins. I don't listen. I use. It really is sick. That's the best story we've ever heard on this podcast. Congratulations. Congratulations. You didn't see it coming. Thank you. So did I graduate on time? You actually, you really did. You did graduate. Yes, you're receiving your degree. You can walk. Also, one other thing I saw on Twitter, A-Track. posted about sugarfish being oh my god and i i think you said put some respect on sugarfish's name yes i feel personally like as someone who loves sugarfish honestly unfortunately i have never been to the one in new york just because it is too chaotic to try to deal with but like i am a very loyal patron of sugar fish la yes i am a sugar stand and i was just like this is disrespectful i also it's also like i am very adamantly like i feel like i'm known for certain things like i'm known for being a huge like subway stand and i'm also known for like judge me judge me all you want i am a proud like a

But long veggie delight from Subway is, like, a go-to meal. Chris and I have both been vegan and vegetarian, you know, in our younger lives. And I have put down many veggie delight in my day. Many, many, countless, countless veggie delights. All veggie delight. But I also, like, very adamantly hate Chipotle. Same, same. Like, I stopped eating a Chipotle after the equal life scare. Never went back. And, like, now that's, like... I'm like very vocal about being like, I hate Chipotle. So it's like to put one of my favorite sushi restaurants and compare it to this like hole in the wall of like disgusting diseases. I was personally offended. I took that as a personal attack. Well, I hate to break this to you, but Jason also hates sugar fish. Well, you know, I would like to, you know, if you're ever in LA and you know, we're, we're not quarantining anymore. I'd like to show you some other sugarfish alternatives, perhaps. I like to support small business. That's the thing about me. Tell me some of the ones that you would take me to. There's a chance that I've been to them before. I just also really like sugarfish. There's a spot in Little Tokyo called Hama. that I think is pretty good. I mean, there's, or like Sushi Gen, there's a lot of, there's a lot of like more affordable, high quality sushi places in LA, but also the Sugarfish, the hand roll place, Kazunori. Kazunori, yeah. I think Kazunori is really, really delicious and really good. I think Sugarfish, I don't know. I think it's, it's the, the spirit of sushi where, you know, it's a little bit more of a ceremonial meal. I think Sugarfish kind of removes all of that and it, it's sort of sushi for people who don't have the time to devote to you know the the honor of of the fish perhaps so you're saying i feel like i feel like sugar fish is like ceremonial like the way it's like it's ceremony it's ceremonial if you live in fucking beverly hills and drive a g-wagon and have extensions like yeah i think the the sugar fish is it's it's sushi for people who don't want

to like pick or do any of the work they just want to like i want that one and then you know then okay you know the aspiring actor starts just bringing out bowls of fish that have been sitting in the back of a kitchen for the last four hours and like here's your salmon whatever but that's why it works is because it is easy that's why it's such a successful business you know yeah i mean it's literally like trust me like that And I do trust them because, I mean, I've never had a bad sugarfish experience. And obviously, like, yes, it's, like, pricey. And, like, it's not, like, I'm not going to sugarfish, like, every day for lunch. But, like, when I do go to sugarfish, I always enjoy myself. But, I mean, yes, it's not the only sushi in the world. But it's definitely not the Chipotle of sushi. I've only had Chipotle once, and it was years ago. And I couldn't believe that people were so excited by it. It was fucking disgusting. It really, it's just, it never, like, I. I've had it before, Jason. I've had it before. I always thought it was just severely salty. I would eat one of the tortilla chips and it would just be like, ugh. Oh, yeah. The tortilla chips are very, very salty. Welcome to America. We're going to take Mexican food and all these American people who don't necessarily love all the parts that make it a traditional... you know, important special meal. And we're just going to remove all of that and then make it like Americanized. And then you guys are going to eat it up and love it, which, which is what worked. And you may be, you might be able to say the same thing. No shots. Nice shots. That was definitely a shot. That was a sugar shot, and I admit that. Stop making words. Stop adding words together with sugar, Jason. A sugar stand, a sugar shot. Sugar stand's really good. They should actually buy that from you. That's really good. Michael, do you have anything coming out we should know about? Anything you're excited about that you've been writing?

I mean, I'm doing a few things around I May Destroy You coming soon. Okay, great. I mean, I've just wrapped up a lot of stuff that I was doing over Pride, so I'm thankfully getting a little bit of a mind break because I was pretty exhausted over the past month. I would imagine Pride is like Christmas at them. Except instead of being rewarded with gifts, we are rewarded with a lot of work. The work is a gift to some, so that's good. That's what I was getting at. I feel like you're the source. That's my gift to the world, my words. Same. I'm excited, though, to get back to... I've gotten behind on a lot of shows and movies and stuff and screeners that I need to catch up with. So I'm excited to kind of get back. Well, let me, let me, before we go, let me recommend West wing, a little show. I don't know if you've heard of it, but I started that once or twice. I started that from the beginning on Netflix and I got to say, it's excellent. So, you know, if you, if you, you know, if you have some free time, you want to watch something like a little less less West wing. You know, something that feels... Would you recommend West Wing as a stoned show to, like, zone out to? I honestly don't... No, I think the dialogue might be too fast. Right. I feel like that wouldn't... Like, being stoned, I wouldn't... Honestly, being stoned watching Hamilton wasn't that enjoyable either, but I also do feel like I could not have watched it sober, so... That's the best review possible. That's the only review we need. Unwatchable sober. I'm going to put on my letterbox. Tell people where they can find you on the World Wide Web. My Twitter is YoSoyMichael. That's Michael with an A-E, not an E-A. People get confused about that. Instagram, Michael, C-U-B-Y. That's my last name, just first and last name. I checked out your Instagram. That last photo should be pay-per-view, my friend. I didn't know we were, you know.

I thought I was behind the Patreon. I thought I was behind the Patreon. I had to check. That was my first on-grid thirst trap, honestly. How's it going? I mean, a lot of people have slid into the DMs or have returned from the land of the dead. And honestly, I was like, I didn't know how powerful. this could be all you have to do is post a fully nude full frontal photo on the grid it's so crazy people like responded right i mean honestly who would have thought who would have known but make sure you follow michael on instagram and um you know what you know whatever emoji you want to add on his most recent crap all the emojis please please yeah thank you thank you for joining us michael it was a true pleasure of course thank you so much for having me here yeah we will talk soon of course