All Fantasy Everything - 2016 Pop Culture (w/ Alison Herman, Eliza Skinner and Sean Jordan)

Episode Date: January 5, 2017

In this episode we look back on the pop culture of 2016, which is pretty much the only way to fondly look back at 2016, according to me, a member of the liberal media. Joining me on this draft are Alison Herman (staff writer at The Ringer) Eliza Skinner (stand-up comedian, TV writer) and Sean Jordan (total chump from South Dakota.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another brand new episode of All Fantasy Everything. I am your host, Ian Carmel. Thank you so much for, we took a week off last week. Thank you for staying with us. It is a brand new year. It is 2016, it was a real putz. I'm going to say that.

It was a real putz of a year, but we're in a brand new year. Brand new here year. I've lost the ability to speak. I'm currently in the middle of a stroke. Barry Derrison. Before we fully move on into 2017, we are going to be bringing you a look back at 2016, specifically on the pop culture of 2016. And that is this week's episode. We are going

to be fantasy drafting pop culture, any pop culture, from the year 2016. And to do that, I have an auspicious group of guests. So, they're fucking auspicious as hell. You've never seen a more auspicious group. Leading them off, we have Sean Jordan.

All Fantasy, Everything Favorite. What's happening? How you doing, Sean? I'm doing fantastic. How were your holidays? Were they alright? They were good. South Dakota, man. South Dakota. You may remember the best city to spend a weekend in. I went ahead and spent the holidays in it. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And Watertown, South Dakota. We can't live in Watertown,

South Dakota. Did you eat some chislic? Yeah, I had Chisleck, tater tot casserole, shepherd's pie. Delicious. Mom's chili, which isn't a Midwestern thing, but like,

it was fucking, it was still really good. Vomit on your sweater already, Mom's chili? Not the same. No, vomit on a sweater. Don't be silly, Mom's chili.

There it is. It's almost like you rap. Like you have a show where you rap or something. That's fantastic. Sean S. Jordan on Twitter people are looking for you because Sean Jordan won't give it to me

so yeah it's still Sean S. Jordan if you're listening the other Sean Jordan just give it up to just give it up to Sean Jordan come on dude Sean Jordan

give it to Sean Jordan 20 bucks on it that voice you heard was Eliza Skinner yay me comedian television writer extraordinaire

currently a writer with me on the Late Late Show with James Corden. Also a writer sometimes on Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV. Yes. Great show. And also the new head writer on Drop the Mic, which is going to be on what channel again? TBS. TBS.

Very funny. Yeah. Very funny. We're all very excited about that. We all hope so. One of the first Late Late Show spinoffs. Yeah, it'll be the first TV spinoff. Yeah, the other one's on Apple.

Yep. Which we don't recognize in here. No. Because we're Luddites. Yes. E-Skins, E-S-K-I-N-Z. Yeah, well, oh, that's on Instagram, actually. On Instagram?

On Twitter, I'm Adeliza Skinner. Adeliza Skinner. Easy, easy. Couldn't be easier than that. Clemens Queasy, yeah. And that's an E-L-I. Mm-hmm. How were your holidays'm Adeliza Skinner. Adeliza Skinner. Easy, easy. Couldn't be easier than that. Lemon squeezy. Yeah. And that's an E-L-I. Mm-hmm.

How were your holidays? Good. Very good. Went home to Virginia. Very nice. Richmond. Also a good city to... Didn't make the draft, I'm sure, but...

Did not make the draft. Good city to spend a weekend. I imagine. It was going to be sixth. It was going to be my sixth pick. Yeah. It was up there. I was sitting on the bench the whole time, but it was ready to come in.

Ready to tear the warm-up soft. Yeah. Yeah, but went there for a week and then came back and I moved. Boy, is that a terrible way to spend your holidays. Oh, and your new place is surrounded by rats.

Oh, well, not surrounded. There was one rat and it's outside. It's full of rats. It's just one rat. The bubonic plague. You have it. Yeah, well, that's true,

but the rats will get that from me. Oh, that's right. You're going to be the one that gives stuff to the rats. Yeah. That's the move right there. That's how they stay away.

You freak them out. Yeah. Like, I'll bite you. Very cool. Thank you for being here. Excited to hear your takes. Also joining us is Allison Herman, staff writer. Hello.

Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Allison, you are a staff writer on one of my favorite websites, theringer.com. And token sports idiot. And token sports idiot. There's a lot of sports favorite websites, TheRinger.com. And TokenSportsIdiot. And TokenSportsIdiot. There's a lot of sports idiots in this room. Sure. I'm not, and Sean sort of is.

Wait, is that really, like, not good at sports? Not knowing about sports, I think. I don't know, like, very basic knowledge. Like, someone said that they saw Ben Simmons on the street one time, and I was like, oh, from The Bachelor? That's what we're working with.

And was that wrong? Or right? No, Ben Higgins is from The Bachelor. Because I don't know either of those things. And they're both very popular in my office, so it's a problem. For those listeners who don't know, Ben Simmons is a currently injured NBA player. But what about Bill Simmons? He's a sportsman, too. He's a problem. For those listeners who don't know, Ben Simmons is a currently injured NBA player.

But what about Bill Simmons? He's a sportsman, too. He's a sportsman. He's great. Yeah. And Allison's boss, kind of. Yeah. Not even just kind of, right?

Boss is a good term for it. Of the ringer. Yeah. Actual boss. Yeah. So many Simmons and Higgins. There's so many Simmons. Simmons and Higgins, which is a play you're working on, right?

Yes. Oh, yeah. It's a farce. It's a farce, yeah. It's an upstairs dance dance. It's Mr. Simmons and Miss Higgins, but then they switch places. There's a lot of tea in the air. I can't wait.

It'll be on PBS next winter. And, Al, you write a lot about television, pop culture. I'm a big fan of your stuff. People should go check it out on The Ringer. Yeah, how were your holidays? They were good. My parents are in San Diego, so it made traveling very easy. Oh, that's beautiful. And traveling back

also very easy, so you're not really trapped there. As soon as you've stayed out, you're welcome. You can come back. It's great. Did you drive or take the train? I drove, but I have taken the train many times. It's like half the ugliest train ride you've ever taken in your life, and then it hits the ocean, and you're just like... What's the bad part?

You're driving along the five, so it's just warehouses and parking lots for an hour. Just yellow Southern California. Just the cracked foot of America. Yeah, that's where Scott comes from. It's not at all where Scott comes from. No, it's not, I guess. That's England, right?

But it's where kind of Scott comes from. Yeah, sorry. England and Jamaica? Oh, yeah. England and Jamaica. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Much like me. America's preeminent British Jamaican comedian, Ian Carmel.

My holidays were weird, mostly good, except for when I got attacked by the alt-right. Oh, yeah. I didn't actually, I didn't want to bring that up, because that, you know, sucks. I don't think they've, if they listen to this podcast, I don't think they would have made it this far, because of my Jewish voice. Hello!

I heard one of those earlier. They would have busted their computer or whatever they were listening to. But that's the crazy thing, is that all these incredibly racist anti-Semites just elected their worst nightmare, i.e. a Jew secretly running the government. I know! Jared Kushner's gonna run shit! He could completely from behind the scenes, right? Which is

the only good thing about this election, is that these guys totally played themselves. It's almost like they wanted it to be true, so they made it happen. Like they wanted it so bad. Like some sort of metaphor for that. Yeah, it's almost like that they wanted it to be true, so they made it happen. Yeah. Like they wanted it so bad. Like some sort of metaphor for that. Yeah, protocols of the elders of New York real estate. Right.

Very well put. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Zah-neur. That's a play on Zog. I'll tell you, my brain has not connected with my mouth yet. But it's happening. It'll get there, dude. It's coming.

Yeah. Here's what happened is I was off sugar for one day because of the New Year's, and I went back on it today. You were going to, it was going to be the whole year? No, no, no, no, no. Okay. I was going to give it a month. Okay.

I was like, I'm going to be off sugar for a month. Oh, like dry-weary, but for sugar? But for sugar, yeah. And then today I ate a chocolate Rice Krispies, Rice Krispie treat. Oh, what do you do? Oh, no. That thing had been sitting there for a while, man. It sure had. Oh, no. I know the chocolate Rice Krispies, Rice Krispie treat. Oh, no, that thing had been sitting there for a while, man. It sure had.

I know the chocolate Rice Krispie treat you're talking about. It was so good. We all picked at that. Anyway, I got attacked by the alt-right because I said that I was glad Ivanka Trump got harassed on that plane. So don't say that in a public forum. I'd say also don't double down on it after you've said it. Which I did. Hard.

Real hard. I really courted the controversy. So I've been bruised and battered. Never been one to shy away, as I've known you. Love that controversy. Blocked about 600 people on Twitter, and here we are. How many frog avatars were there? So many frog avatars.

What percentage? It was like 40% frog avatars, and like 30% like a cross with the sun going down behind it like on a hill and then the rest were anime and it was all anime yeah it was there's so many anime fans who like don't like jews for some reason i think that those are people with a serious like body dysmorphia about their what they look like yeah they're like i hate me i'm so ugly look at this beautiful elven sprite drawn by a Japanese artist. That's who I'll be.

That's who I am. Yeah. But yeah, some of the people who were attacking you, I told you, like, at replied me because we had had conversations in the past. But then also some of them just stuck around for fun. And I've got the filtering on, so I don't really find it. But the other day, for some reason, I was was like if you actually click on a post even if you have like quality filtering on yeah you'll see replies and i found this guy who after that had

just really gone to town with uh asking me about black dick oh my god yeah with his little frog avatar yeah just like finding post of mine to comment on be like you like that black dick and i was like i feel like you just actually want to know. I don't really tell everyone's insecurities slash secret desires by what they harass you on the internet about. It's pretty revealing. There's videos you can watch and just find out. You don't need to come to me. You like that black dick? What does it taste like?

Does it taste different? I feel like it's probably the same. It's just the color, right? Does it feel different? Do you feel whole do you feel centered whore would i be interested in that same feeling uh completely that's what cuck is it's just like every time anyone calls me a cuck i'm just like you're afraid someone's gonna fuck your girlfriend i'm not that i don't share the same fear so fine let's move on from it

it's the most transparent thing ever well it's also weird that because it's just that I don't share the same fear so fine let's move on from it it's the most transparent thing ever it's also weird that it because it's just that I didn't it took me a while to realize that that was part of the alt-right thing I was just like why is everybody like getting so mad at this one fetish right this one like people have whatever that they need to do for their thing to make

things happen for them and to pick one and be like that you're stupid because of that one like let's not shame people I thought it was mass kink shaming to make things happen for them and to pick one and be like, you're stupid because of that one. Let's not shame people. You thought it was mass kink shaming? Yeah, I really did. They found out about it. They were like,

okay, we lost the whole gay marriage thing. So let's move on to getting rid of these cucks. Yeah, that's what it sounded like at first. I didn't even know it was a big... It was that many people knew what it was even. I think I've known what it was for like eight months or something. Isn't it weird that the people who call themselves cucks like it? So it's not even really an insult? Exactly. I don't think I've known what it was for like eight months or something. Isn't it weird that the people who call themselves cucks like like it

so it's not even really an insult? Exactly. I don't think people actually know it's a fetish either which makes it even funnier. Yeah.

Like. Right. Yeah. They're completely unaware of it. They're just like you let somebody fuck your wife.

No I asked someone to fuck my wife. They honestly didn't want to until I had to talk them into it. And my wife and I have a very mutually supportive relationship

so she let it happen. Great. Brought us closer together. I love watching her feel a kind of fulfillment. I can't get her. We eat dinner all the time. We're still in contact with Stephen. Even after the incident. It was good. He came over for Thanksgiving. He's a good dude. Big fan of Tater Tot Casserole, Stephen. And my wife. He's getting a nursing

degree. We're really proud of him. Anyway, so that was my... Other than that, it was lovely. Portland and Chicago. What a couple of great holiday cities enough of that let's get on to the 2016 pop culture all fantasy everything fantasy draft now

the three of you are going to play one round of rock paper scissors and the winner of that gets to determine the order you get to pick who's going when we're going to do it right now and I will narrate in a scintillating fashion are you ready? It's going to be rock, paper, scissors, shoot, by the way.

Okay. One, two, three, shoot. Yeah. Here we go. It's so tricky. I never do that. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Alright, and do we have any double-ups? We have two papers. Allison Herman is the winner, and thus you get to determine the order of the draft. You can go first, you can go last, you can go anywhere in between.

It's all up to you. Alright, I'll be super e. You can go first, you can go last, you can go anywhere in between. It's all up to you. All right. I'll be super egotistical and go first. Fantastic. And then I'll just be lazy and ask that we go in a clockwise order. Fantastic. That way. Which means Allison first, then Eliza, then Sean Jordan, and then I will bring up the

rear, Ian Carmel. Allison Herman, you are on the clock right now. What is your first pick? Okay. So just to start things on a super chipper note, my number one draft pick is death. Because everyone died this year. That's fantastic.

Death really did. Yeah, and it's crazy because it literally started and ended the year. My first major memory of 2016 was I worked super late on the Golden Globes night. And I literally, like, rolled over after getting three hours of sleep, opened Twitter, and just saw a picture of David Bowie with a heart over it. Yeah. And was like, fuck me. And that was it.

It's never good when you see an old celebrity's face on Twitter like that. You just, like, know instinctually what it means. Yeah. Like, you know whenever someone's trending and, like, your first thought is death and then it's something else, but the first thought is Yeah. Like, you know whenever someone's trending and, like, your first thought is death and then it's something else, but the first thought is death. Right, exactly. I'm, my friend,

I had a friend, Nick Nanpay, who's not here on this podcast, but he's like, anytime he sees a name trending on Twitter, he's like, oh no, somebody died, or it's a Major League Baseball player who has the same name. But, uh, yeah, so many, it's,

I know it's been, like, done to death or whatever, no pun intended, uh, but so many cool people died this year. Yeah, I wonder, like, it's, I know it's been like done to death or whatever, no pun intended, but so many cool people died this year. Yeah. I wonder, like, was it, is it really that so many more people died this year or that we are hitting the age where the people that we care about are the ones who are dying? I think it's a little more.

Well, and they were also really early, like Prince, no one was expecting, George Michael was only 16. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And also the fact that the year appeared to be trying to get it in under the wire and the fact that George Michael, singer of Last Christmas

died on Christmas was like you're just fucking with us, this is not cool anymore I had to stop my mom from finding that out on Christmas was it Christmas Day that it happened? yeah, so we were opening presents and I'm like fucking, I saw it on Twitter my mom loves George Michael, but she doesn't Yeah. So we were opening presents and I'm like, fucking... I saw it on Twitter. My mom loves George Michael.

She doesn't quite have Twitter figured out yet. So I'm like, we'll just keep the phone away from you for the rest of the night. And she didn't find out until the next day. Oh, good something. Same Christmas. I think George would have been happy. Yeah, George would have definitely been happy. Yeah.

But yeah, it is crazy. The very next day, you did give away, though. I just walked up with the phone right in her face and I was like, look at this. Wake up. I didn't do that, really. That away, though. I just walked up with a phone right in her face, and I was like, look at this. Wake up. I didn't do that, really. That would be crazy. Yeah. It is also, I mean, it's a huge bummer, but I also kind of felt like it led to people rediscovering so much stuff.

That's true. And that was kind of great to have everybody listening to all this Bowie, all this Prince, all this George Michael, Leonard Cohen. Yeah. Although I do feel like there's sort of two categories of death. There's the Leonard Cohen's where it's like you've lived an incredibly rich and fulfilling creative life. We're all just going to celebrate it. And then there's the people where like

the one that I actually think of is not a 2016 one, but like Philip Seymour Hoffman. Oh, that was crazy. God damn it. You had 40 years of amazing Oscar winning performances left in you. And we're just never seeing any of that. So like the Alan Thicke, for example, that's what you're talking about.

Yeah. Well, I think that also gets kind of mixed up, I think in, in the, the means of death too. When you feel like, wow,

we're kind of upset that you did this to yourself. Um, you know, even though addiction is a disease and everything. But it feels like, ah, someone should have been able to stop this. Or like Prince and Michael Jackson, where it's like a doctor should have been knowing what they're doing. Yeah.

Like it shouldn't have happened, basically. Starstruck Doctors is like the cause of death of so many of our best, our best, most treasured Americans. Glenn Frey also this year, right? Yeah, Glenn Frey too. So many people died that you almost experienced the second wave of... Alan Rickman. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, mourning and sadness. Yeah, Alan Rickman. That was really early on. Oh, fuck, Alan Rickman died. I had a friend who did a New Year's Eve thing was that she was playing albums by all the musicians that died this year and i was flipping through her instagram story of it and glenn fry came up and i had legitimately forgotten that he died and had a whole second grieving in that like 20 second time span it was it was true truly insane yeah and i wonder if it is if this is gonna just keep

happening every year now i mean we did lose like gigantic scions like Prince and David Bowie. That was part of like, there were so many people famous now. Manson, right? Oh yeah, Charles Manson. We could lose one of the great songwriters of our time. I mean,

what a, what a way to like, yeah, 2016 is going to be much better. How do we kick it off? Well, we're still having people die, but now it's Manson.

Like that either means we're ridding the world of true evil, or we're just like, I don't know. Absolutely no one is safe. I also just saw so much Twitter stuff that was, like, how is Henry Kissinger still alive? Yes! And all these people who, like, were complicit in hundreds of thousands of deaths across the world. Yeah. And, like, Bowie has to leave us.

Right. There's thousands of, like, racist farmers in the Midwest that are just like 90 smoking 80 cigarettes a day and they're just like whatever. They'll be alive for another 40 years. Fucking grounds frozen again. Here's another thing I want to say about that death thing.

All of a sudden all these expression police came out at the end of the year people were like fucking 2016. And then all these, like, Twitter philosophers had to be like, oh, sure, blame the year.

An abstract human, you know, expression of time. And I'm just like, let people be bummed out of it. And also, let us come up with a way that we can package it up

and put it behind us. Which I think what people are like, you know what? Maybe things, we're going to give this a time marker in time and just things will get better from here on out. And most importantly of all, let us have memes.

Me at the beginning of 2016, me at the end of 2016. Amazing. It was great. Ravaged. I also have a theory that maybe like a few years ago, all of those people, maybe it was like a Golden Globes after party or something. Everybody was hanging out and the place was supposed to explode and it didn't. And they got away. Like a Final Destination type situation.

This past year was them getting Final Destination. Yeah, exactly. One by one. Yep. They got Final D. Just live wires just flying around the apartment all the time. Yeah.

What a party, though. What a party. Yeah. I mean, Carrie Fisher doesn't go to, she doesn't waste her time with shitty parties. Absolutely not. I wouldn't either. What a gut punch. Carrie Fisher, just like, and she doesn't waste her time with shitty parties. Absolutely not. I wouldn't either. What a gut punch.

Carrie Fisher, just like any of everything. And then her mom the next day. There's a documentary that's coming out this weekend because HBO had bought it and then moved it up because we are monsters and are capitalizing on death. I can say that because I wrote a Carrie Fisher obituary and definitely was complicit in the same thing.

But just, it's about the two of them living together and their careers and just watching them banter. I literally watched the cold open, which was just two minutes of home videos and them talking to each other over it. And I was just sobbing. It's very rough.

And if you need a cathartic cry to truly put this year behind you, definitely recommend it. Is that coming out soon? It's coming out on Saturday. On Saturday. I believe, is it Bright Lights? Yeah. I think it's called. Oh, wow.

Yeah, they released a little trailer for it a few months ago that was just Carrie Fisher bringing lunch to her mom. They lived next door. They lived in houses next door. It was, yeah. It was like Grey Gardens if the women in Grey Gardens had retained their respect and wealth and sanity to an extent.

Yeah, it's just the right level of aware of how shitty Hollywood was to both of them, but also respectful of them being awesome. So it's the right amount of sad. I can't wait to watch that. Check it out Saturday on the Home Box office. Yeah. The old HBO. Death was the first pick off the board. Shout out to Mel Brooks for hanging in there. Never die. If you're listening to this,

never die. Eliza Skinner, it is time for your first pick. The second pick of the first round. Lemonade. Perfect. Got it. The drink or... The drink. Was there something else? No, no round. Lemonade. Perfect. Got it. The drink or? The drink. Was there something else?

No, no, no, no. Okay. Yeah. Lemonade's tasty under any circumstances. It's good for summer. You can have it warm or room temperature. No, of course. Beyonce.

A way for children to raise funds. Oh, Beyonce. Beyonce's Lemonade. Her visual album, which I feel like Reformation, or Form or formation rather was like part of ish like that was sort of like it launched it and then yeah yeah exactly um and uh yeah i felt like that was every time beyonce releases a new album i feel like she has done so much work to become more of an artist in a really interesting way still while still being super commercial yes super listenable but like it doesn't roll back it doesn't it always gets more interesting and more honestly i think avant

garde um and i think that was it's a great direction to push pop culture in i have a question which is where were you guys when it dropped? Because I was at a Seder and I was furious at her for dropping in the middle of Passover. I don't know if it hit me that hard. I just remember coming into work the next day when it dropped and just being like, did we watch the whole thing? We did. Well, it was the whole like it's coming on HBO.

They had the countdown to it. And so, yeah, I think I was just at home. And then, yeah, we watched it at work. I do remember that I was sitting at work on a Sunday working on their Super Bowl show. Oh, yeah, that's right. When Formation came out. And so I was, like, trying to find everybody being like is everyone watching this and nobody knew yet um but yeah it was uh i think i was at a stand-up show and lemonade dropped yeah i just knew that like something related was happening and then i got a text

that was like oh my god the second album the second song on this beyonce album is amazing and i was like she dropped an entire fucking album right are you kidding because we didn't know what it was gonna be right yeah all the promos a lover scorned a lot of rocks an album yeah I need to have trial on that album and then I use it that you find to go look at what people use that yeah that akanya yeah she takes a whole journey in it is headlining coachella one of the nights the coachella line that's bananas that beyonce is going to be but we all know the real event is han zimmer yeah han zimmer is amazing people are going to clown it on that i'm like i would totally fuck yeah god right the molly kicks

in right i mean the the soundtrack. The soundtrack to True Romance is like one of my favorites. It's so good. And it completely changes what the movie is. It makes it this little romantic fairy tale because you put this tinkly stuff in it. I couldn't agree more. It's so good.

Like what is it, like Glockenspiels or whatever? I want to be at Hans Zimmer. It's like cute little around the corner and they're just spraying people with machine guns but it's like just something cute you don't you don't feel nervous just like look at this fun little cinematic journey we're going on so cool i want to be at coachella hans zimmer on stage molly kicks in and i'm walking around while he's playing the gladiator soundtrack just running my hands over like inappropriate indian headdresses you just tell him you're like that's racist headdresses. Just a field of them? You just tell them, you're like, that's racist, but you say it with a smile.

Oh, you guys are so racist. That's racist. And then you look down and they're actual Native Americans, and you're like, never mind. Sorry, my bad. And I've walked too far into the Coachella Valley to ever go back. And then I live among them. And die. Yeah, and then I've got to come pick you up, you know, Sunday.

He also did the score for Planet Earth 2 and like Planet Earth 2 is one of those things Planet Earth is one of those things where like nothing actually happens everything is just the narrator

and the music imposing it on them because they're animals they don't actually live full interior lives I love it so the Hans Zimmer score to that

is amazing it's so good I don't know if Hans Zimmer had anything to do with Beyoncé's album. No. It was so good. Beyoncé, Coachella. And then, of course, she did the tour, and the tour was amazing. You went to the tour, right?

I went to the tour. I went all by myself, which was a weird way to go to a concert, but was also an amazing way, because you don't have to be self-conscious. You don't have to come or go when anybody else does. You don't have to be self-conscious you don't have to like come or go when anybody else does you don't have to worry it's just about me and my best friend beyonce and me supporting her work and if you want to leave halfway through but still like you don't look mean to your friends you're like what do you mean you're leaving the beyonce show you're like i got i got what i wanted out of it right i paid for the ticket she got the ticket sale yeah yeah she made like i mean she

made like a dope country song like a really good rock song on that album. She submitted to get a country grammar. Formation was a great bounce New Orleans song. I think she just made the country song so she could perform at the CMAs as a fuck you to country fans. Yeah, right? You cannot escape me. Which was how they took it.

They did take it. They were so mad at her. They stopped using the promos that she was in afterwards. Like, they pulled the clips. People got really mad. But, yeah, Big Freedia is one of the voices in Formation also. That's right.

Who I love. And I saw, I think, three times this year. You saw Big Freedia three times this year? Yeah, I'm a big, big Freedia fan. I can't throw her on the uh the table as being that important for pop culture in america in general for the draft but love her yeah i think my favorite like 15 second clip of video this whole year was from the formation tour when she hit the millie rock to fuck donald trump and it was like the most pure expression of like you are nothing i am

everything and for 15 blissful seconds it made me feel like i had control over our election in this this country right i have to admit i have to admit something when like and you we even talked about this at work i think when like the light when lemonade first dropped and like the beyonce i there's a part there was a part of me that was, like, people treat her like this religious icon kind of thing, where, like, well, she drops, like, an album, people are like, oh, she saved my life, blah, blah, blah. And part of that was me being, like, in a very comfortable position.

Now that, like, Donald Trump is president and, like, or is going to be president, and, like, the world has, like, quickly gotten scarier, at least to me. You know, I've always been the scary, but it got scarier to me i'm like oh i kind of get it like having these artists like that actually really do it really is important yeah and it really does matter to have like these powerful cultural figures who are standing up to things that want like seek to actively harm you and in america that matters like that kind of shit really does matter and i get it and i recant my previous statements.

Oh, thank you. And for people who feel like she's speaking to their experience in a way that they haven't heard someone do, or someone with as much fame and notoriety, which was another thing. I think this was the SNL, this spawned the SNL sketches about, like, oh, wait, this was when white people found out that Beyonce was black. We didn't know that. We thought she was just Beyonce. Because she really embraced her black womanhood. And there's something so insane about someone using Black Panther iconography

at the Super Bowl. So amazing. Like this is a league that still has a team that is a racial slur. And she is out here doing this. It's just such an amazing like, And people called her

racist for it. Which is crazy. Had that racist team done better, that team could have been in the Super Bowl and she was the racist one. Yeah.

She also totally stole the show from Chris Martin. Poor old Chris Martin. Who, no fault of his own, happens to be the whitest human being

on earth right now. Yeah, he's got his like, his baggy yoga pants on. Oh human being on Earth right now. Yeah, he's got his baggy yoga pants on. Oh, those whack custom Nikes. Yeah, he's painting some rainbows in the crowd. Yeah. And then she comes out with, what's his name? Bruno Mars.

Bruno Mars. Not getting all the sleep I should. My brain also not working. But yeah, and they just are like, thank you, we'll take this halftime show and run away with it completely they had on the vmas too britney was supposed to like come back and kill it this year it was like her comeback and beyonce right before her just went and just fucking destroyed it yeah she's such a big star it was such a bummer if i were britney i'd be like come on i don't feel like britney cares i don't feel like britney wants it maybe not she's like

they're gonna make me do this i feel like she was probably backstage like yay oh me now oh okay britney probably would have wanted to perform on another stage while beyonce was going so is there like a like a different vma stage i could just go you know i could just go do it in the back yeah not that big of a deal yeah after she that's what she she just like demanded what like 15 20 minutes of the vmas and they gave it to her because of course they did. It was Beyonce. That could have been the whole show. That could have been the VMAs and I'd have been fine with it. The Formation video was so good too.

The whole visual album was great but the Formation video itself was really amazing. I really loved it. All of it is. I think Formation stands out because it was released on its own. Yeah. I think if any of Lemonade had been released on its own, it would probably have the same impact. Same impact.

Yeah. Totally. That's one of those thuds, man. That song is so good. Whatever that twangy thing, that bam, bam, bam, bam. I just get so hyped as soon as I hear that. Yeah, you get corny with this Illuminati mess. Right? Yeah.

I think Don't Hurt Yourself is like I feel possessed when it comes on. It's just such a pure expression of anger in a song. Yeah, and the sorry. Oh yeah, sorry's good too. Yeah, Don't Hurt Yourself has Jack White calling God a woman. That's kind of cool uh yeah lemonade it was i mean i think when we look back that'll be one

of the major yeah like cultural accomplishments of the entire year she's so amazing when she anytime she drops an album it not only like changes you know it's not just for it just kind of changes the way music is released it And also, another thing, kind of speaking to your people, you know, make her almost religious. She's so good at boundaries, at keeping herself away from all of it. Like, we don't see, she's not a celebrity the way that so many other celebrities are right now, where we have to eat up their entire personal life. We have to know everything about them. She's like, you get my work and not me. And so people can project all of that stuff on her

and be like she's just like me she's my best friend she thinks what i want her to be thinking and she just lets the work speak for itself yeah does that make sense totally and whenever she updates her tumblr it's like an event like there are four photos of blue ivy let me break down every single one of them by any choice they're yeah, let's go to the monitor now. There's people analyzing all that stuff. Halloween outfits. Also, what a powerful move. I mean, to like, I don't know,

to make a break, like almost a revenge or breakup album where there's no actual breakup. I think it's really... I always wondered how that got pitched to Jay-Z because they had to let him know, like, hey, man. Or if they talked about it, like...

I mean, it's wrong on a streaming service. I know like i know like but it totally meant right it's on time to sit and have a visual album to sit and have that we're married conversation we're like listen i'm gonna release a whole album like about this probably as it was happening so i mean i wonder if he was like can you not i would just love to hear them discuss it right did you think he ever he ever tried to dissuade her from doing it? I don't know. I mean, he had that one line. What is it? Lemonades.

What is it? Like, lemonade. Pop you a drink and it still is. Yeah, yeah. That's like a reference. That's a lyric from another rap song. Oh, really? I think, yeah.

I thought it was completely sticking up for himself in some sort of way. I guess I don't even know how that would be. I like to think that as it was all unfolding, they would have a fight and she would be like, you know this is going to be a song. And he would be like, fine. But that's also the ultimate assertion of boundaries. It's like, I will let you see me vulnerable for four songs.

That is it. And now I'm happy again. And he's in the video. And you can think that that means you know everything about me but you actually know four songs

about me and you're gonna forget to cancel your free trial and you're gonna pay him money at the end of this 90 days anyway

totally sure thank you for supporting me through the breakup and supporting my husband with about 48 dollars

Lemonade by Beyonce Eliza Skinner's first pick amazing pick Sean Jordan it is time for your first pick the third pick of the first round it is time for your first pick, the third pick of the first round. I'm so stoked that

you guys didn't pick it, the American Crime Story, the people versus OJ. I was going to pick OJ Simpson as a concept. He had a big year. He had his biggest year since 19- what, 19-4? 6? Just the fact, thinking back

on exactly what I was doing, when that happened, and, like, living through the whole thing. We didn't have class one day when the verdict was announced. And then they made a TV show, and you're like, Jesus, they're just doing the exact same thing. It was fucking awesome. I mean, awesome, but also so bad for so many people. Like, so many people had to watch that and be like, damn. That's the crazy thing. And that's the crazy thing about, right,

I mean, with all the true crime. Yeah. I mean, like, I mean, the people versus O.J. Simpson. Even stuff like, God, what is that amazingly popular podcast?

Oh. Serial. Serial. Like, in the last few years, like, the true crime thing, it's all so entertaining. But there's corpses. There's always corpses.

Yeah, dude. Even, like, My Favorite Murder, that podcast, like, which is amazing, but, like, I know people who love it it's all so entertaining but there's corpses there's always corpses even like my favorite murder that podcast which is amazing but I know people who love it and then feel like a little bit guilty

about how much they love it after that OJ show came out people are dead I went and drove from the murder back to his house

in Brentwood I was like I live here I can go do that now and then I didn't I was like you weirdo but that was like one of the crazy things about the I was like, you weirdo. But that was like

one of the crazy things about the show was that it managed to both always remember that there were two dead bodies and they were the reason this was happening

but they also made it like funny. Wait, which are we talking about? The FX show. Not the documentary. Ryan Murphy. Yeah, the FX show.

Ryan Murphy, yeah. It did do that. I thought it treated like the murder itself or not the murder you never saw the murder but like the scene and the children were treated very well

but I guess that's how people respond to tragedy or when they're in tragic situations is there is humor in that always yeah also like

I've been Ryan Murphy has been sort of my guilty pleasure I've kind of had faith in him for a while and I feel so redeemed that he finally came out with something that, well, I guess it is technically just good for one season, because now it's over.

But the stereotypical Ryan Murphy thing, it's good for like five episodes. What else did he do? He's like American Horror Story. I love American Horror Story. Nip Tuck. Scream Queens. I love Scream Queens.

I wouldn't even say guilty pleasure. I think he's just a pleasure of mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you're five seasons into a Nip-Tuck Netflix binge, you feel pretty bad about yourself. Yeah, I'm very into American Horror Story. Yeah, I love it. I think it's fantastic.

And I probably would have liked Nip-Tuck if I'd have been older when it came out. I bet that I would have loved it. And Glee, if I would have been younger, I would have loved it. The first season of Glee is good. The first two episodes of Glee are great.

I still will go on YouTube and type in songs, like Glee cover of this song and then just fucking... I think it's because of... I'll never remember... That's because of the bullying. Yeah.

Because the first season, it knew what it was and then there was this big campaign just in the world, like, we got to get rid of bullying and that whole show rested on these are the kids who get bullied and they have this one little thing.

And then Glee became like, nobody should be bullied they're popular kids now i just remember i stopped watching for like three seasons at this point and i just saw a headline that was like glee does school shooting episode and i was like okay yeah not a lot of glee in that decision on my part. Sure. I thought it was corny that they did Run to the Hills, too. That they all sang that acapella. The music in it is so bad.

The music in People v. OJ, my parents were watching it when I was home for the holidays. Oh, yeah. And I was like, oh, my God. The fact that they had Kiss from a Rose be the soundtrack to Marsha getting her makeover worked so well. It was perfect. They dropped, the way they sort of dropped nostalgia on you during it was beautiful. Juice. Yeah, the juice thing.

Those YouTube compilations of Schwimmer just juice, juice, juice, juice. Him saying it like 90 times. So many different times. So fuck. When you go into the Kardashian rooms and there's like the Jonathan Taylor Thomas posters on the wall and stuff like that. Was it JTT? It was some, I think it was.

Probably. Amazing performances in that show, too. So great. It felt like each one of them thought that the story was about them. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like they each thought, I'm the hero of this story, which was a really interesting way to see it turned from who's seen it was and

who what part of the story we're talking about yeah we're like yeah robert kardashian really did hold this i mean no no she uh she held it all together no wait you know yeah and one of the reason it works so well with the documentary is kind of the least central figure in the show is oj he's kind of this the reason all this is happening and meeting all these people whereas the documentary is all about him and there's three two hour installments before you even get to the trial. They really complimented each other well in that way.

I loved them both. A good fact about the OJ chase, the real one, I don't know if this is still true but it was true for a long time, is that that's when the most takeout pizzas were, or pizzas were ordered for delivery. Yeah, because nobody wanted to leave. That's true, right? Yeah.

Because everybody was like, this is what I'm doing tonight. Oh, wow. Dinner's just going to burn. It was also such a big sports night, too. Yeah. There was like

a NBA final. NBA final. Yeah, that was like the day, right? Like a big golf tournament. They did a 30 for 30 about it. Not a sports day. Very proud of myself. The NBA,

the Masters of Business Administration finals happened that day. Yeah, and also, I think that it was so interesting to be able to watch it with some remove and objectivity and see the context of when it happened as far as how we were all manipulated and told stories of what was happening rather than given actual facts. I had a really interesting conversation with my parents because I'm too young to actually remember the trial. And I was like, hey, what was this like? And my mom was like, we were, my family was living in Atlanta at the time.

And so she was like, I had a lot of black coworkers and I remember everyone who was white thought he was guilty. Everyone who was white thought not. And I remember being really shocked by that and then thinking, oh, that definitely says something terrible about the country we live in yes yeah yeah and i think this this was an interesting year for it to come out too as far as how it's reflecting what's going on with us now and and i mean realizing more racial more racial issues to bounce back to

the documentary for a second the way they framed the history of race in Los Angeles was amazing. And we'd love to see one where the Trumps rise to the top of the Republican Party doing the same thing. Would be amazing. It's also like the Kardashians. It's both how they literally got famous and gave birth to the entire infrastructure by which they got famous. Absolutely. It's such a crazy mindfuck to think about. It's sort of like gawking at something really happening.

Yeah. And like the sort of paradise lost nature of all of it. Like, oh, yeah, OJ, the most famous charismatic man. Well, not the most famous, but one of the most famous charismatic men. He's the most famous person in the world. In the world ever. Just stop right there. That's it.

Period. Juice. Juice. How quickly it was so upsetting that they were having dancing Eidos. person in the world in the world ever just stop right there that's it period juice how quickly it was so upsetting like that they were they were having dancing edos on the tonight show in hindsight at the time that's the only thing i like really remembered and in hindsight it's like oh my god this woman was horribly murdered and what we got was yeah yeah yeah and what we got was dancing edos i remember his what we got was dancingitos. I remember his, was it his, I guess I don't remember it too well if I can't recall, but like his parents, his dad and mom, they were like the big, they were the big like press, like get our faces out there because he murdered our son.

And I remember like the dad like kind of scream crying on TV when I was like sixth grade or fifth grade or something. I was like, jesus this is real they kind of succeeded like they bankrupted him and that's why he's in jail now which is also so crazy that he is the famous person in the world but like no one i knew knew that he's currently in prison people aren't that young where is he going now he's been in prison since like 2006 throw him in the clink he's in there for a long time. He'll die in prison. Yeah, for sure. And they opened the documentary with the last footage of him in public

and it's so eerie. His post-murder acquittal career was so weird. When he tried to get a rap album and a prank show and shit like that. He did get a prank show. Didn't he write a book? If I did.

But it says, I did it huge and the if is just like you can barely see it right because the uh the goldmans won the rights to that story in the bankruptcy thing okay and i think did they change it to the oh they changed the time or i don't know who did but that's it they get all the proceeds what a fun move that would be like you know what make that if fucking the size of a period. I don't think they did it at the time, because I remember him doing press for it. And, like, everyone was like, what are you doing with this terrible? Yeah, why?

But they eventually won the, yeah. But after he won, I mean, why would he not think he can do anything? Sure. If you're a star, if they let you do it. They do. He's got a couple of pickpacks. It's what I've heard from our most famous public figure. Yeah.

This year was about bad men winning yes it really was except for Courtney B. Vance who's a good man yes did he win an Emmy

he should have didn't they all like win Sarah Paulson did and Sarah Paulson deserved the fuck out of that I didn't know

who she was before American Horror Story she's fantastic she's so good where's she been my whole life she wasn't doing a whole lot she was yeah but she started who she was before American Horror Story. She's fantastic. She's so good. Where's she been my whole life? She wasn't doing a whole lot. She was...

More theater stuff, right? Yeah, but she started when she was younger. And I just read a thing that she wrote about, like, it's great to... She's so happy that she didn't break until she grew up. Yeah, totally. Until she was older, because... Yeah, you don't do blow and die when you're 20, if you're not famous when you're 15. You don't know who you are, so you don't do as good projects.

True. And you say dumb shit, you tweet dumb shit when you're 15. You don't know who you are, so you don't do as good projects. True. And you say dumb shit. You tweet dumb shit. All of it. If I could choose to be famous, I would way rather do it when I was like 35. Yes. Right about now. Because even if you're 32 and you're not famous, but you have enough of a public presence to say you're glad that Ivanka Trump got out of the plane, you will have a week of hell.

We're not talking about OJ anymore, are we? No, we aren't. I get it. It's taking a turn. Shout out to Nathan Lane. Shout out to David Schwimmer. Shout out to John Travolta for being ridiculous characters. Seriously, David Schwimmer, man.

Schwam right into my heart. He did. He schwammed and he stayed there. He schwammed and he stayed on the shore. So, the People vs. OJ Simpson American Crime Story. Great pick. Chantel Jordan. Hey, thanks, man.

You're welcome. You're one of my best friends, man. If not my best friend. I appreciate that. I feel the same. O.J. Simpson American Crime Story. Great pick. Chantel Jordan. Hey, thanks, man. You're welcome. You're one of my best friends, man. If not my best friend. I appreciate that. I feel the same. I love you. Moving on to my pick. Should we leave?

No, you guys can stay. No, please stick around. I want everyone to see this. Yeah, this is fantastic. I'm really enjoying myself. We've moved on to me, and since I'm glad I have back-to-back picks, because I'm actually going to make them both at the same time, which is an unprecedented all-fantasy-everything move. I kind of have to take both of them

at the same time. I'm going to take Kanye West and Chance the Rapper. I have to take both of them. Now, the reason I have to take both of them is my favorite moment in all of pop culture this year, all of it is when connie west

is on performing on saturday night live and is performing ultra light beam and chance the rapper comes out and does his verse on ultra light beam it is one of my favorite musical moments of all i just fucking feel it we've watched it in the living room so many times. So many times. It is so good. I just feel the lyrics to it in such a big way. It's good even if you don't relate to it. It's good in the way that I do relate to it. Have it like, it came out

almost like a year after a really bad breakup and the specific line, and this is so petty, but whatever. It's so life. It's like talking about being lost. I laugh in my head because my ex looking back like a pillar of salt. Just that,

it's such a good line where someone's made you feel like shit and broken your heart and then you go on to do bigger and better things and they look back at you and completely fall apart and turn into a pillar of salt.

As they say. As they say in the book of Job, in the Bible. I think it was that, I don't know. Yes, looking back at Gamora, right? Yeah, right, exactly. The book of Pablo. The book of Life of Pablo. So anyway, so that's my favorite moment. So I kind of have to take both of them, because it

feels weird to pick Chance without Kanye in that way. But that's cool, because you have two picks in one moment, which is very nice. I mean, I have Pablo because I have some issues with Kanye lately. Absolutely. I think Pablo was such a really interesting flip side to Lemonade because if Lemonade is this immaculately

constructed, we're going to release it and then we're not going to say anything about it and you're just going to have to interpret what I'm saying. Pablo was such a fascinating, like, I'm just going to put this out there and you're going to see me as I'm, I'll fix wolves see me as i'm i'll fix wolves or whatever i'm a fixed wolf yeah um so you're gonna have to watch as i fix this live

and this presentation is blatantly messy yeah you're gonna see all these dumb rules i made up for these models and it was just such an interesting like exercise and someone being just refusing to be polished in any way. Just like a naked look. Almost in the mind of one particular kind of genius. It was so interesting. And the way he did a different

version of Facts and there were three or four different versions of Wolves. Just like even on Famous changed one line. She like Puerto Rican Day Parade wave him. And then turned it into like she in school to be a real estate agent. Like, why did you change that? Who cared?

Well, the fact that like Anna Wintour was just sitting there while Kanye was like passing an ox corn around. Yeah. Just the gesture of like, I'm going to force all of you to be in Madison Square Garden and witness this as I'm messing around. That was amazing. Yeah. Also, I think the way that he uses his wife and what she's good at, like releasing those Taylor Swift Snapchats, I felt like was like, oh, she is the best at this, at making reality a performance. And you've figured out how to fold that into your album release also. Right, do the rapper version of that.

Yeah. That's a great point. I don't know what you're talking about when you say the Taylor Swift Snapchats. Oh, boy. So this was a moment where... I didn't mean to upset everybody. Did you really? No, I have no idea.

I have no idea what you're talking about. There's a lyric on the song from The Life of Pablo called Famous. Yeah, yeah. Where... Yeah. I know. Yeah. Um, so me and Taylor might still have sex.

Why? I mean, that bitch famous. I got that. So Taylor Swift throws a shit fit and is like, I never said this was okay. By the way, he did not make her famous. This is super cute. I can't believe he said that. Yeah.

It's bananas. He didn't vote for her. Well, and that was her... That was what she and she and she wrote this whole thing and was like please leave me out of it i don't want to be involved in all of this and they were like no you did you but i called you and you knew about it and she was like i don't know what you're talking about that never happened and then she kind of rolled it back and then a few months later they released a series of snapchats of on international snake day kim kardashian is like do you follow me on snapchat you should yeah and then she just releases a bunch of video that's like her recording kanye

as he's on speakerphone with taylor basically saying like hey i'm gonna have this line in this song is that cool with you and she's just like oh yeah like that's super funny um it'll be playful yeah and then she tried to double down and be like no like he specifically didn't ask me if it was okay to use the word bitch which also just made her look dumb because like it wasn't like he was calling her a bitch yeah it just showed it just showed that she was like very ignorant of what that word means and that's like c citation the from clueless explanation of the word bitch right or no oh yeah oh hey woman hey woman yeah no i didn't know that that's pretty done uh yeah and so they're they And it's really interesting that they're just, he's on the phone and she's sitting

there just taping it. And so you see him have all the conversations and you see him be just like a really nice human, normal person, but it's also still super gritty and unproduced. Well, now I'm going to watch them when I get home. Dude, it's so interesting. I might watch them when we're done and I might watch them right here in this building. It's really like putting together people who are the best at things that you'd be like,

why do they need these things together? I completely get what you mean now that I know what it is. I just remember when they started dating in 2012, your first reaction was like, what? And you're like, this is so bad. It's going to drag Kanye down. Yeah, it's going to ruin Kanye. And four years later, it's like, are you kidding me?

She was the best thing that ever happened to him. Well, I feel bad. I mean, on another level, I'm so happy he has them for as long as he does. Because he lost all of his family. You know? Or whatever family. And that's somebody who needs people who love him unconditionally, like it seems like. And it's like who needs people who love him unconditionally, like it seems like.

And it's like, yeah. He's so lucky he got Kim Kardashian. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, you were saying, Kanye's been... The Life of Pablo, I think, is an amazing album. I agree.

In whatever form it was in. I think it's so good. I don't think it got enough love, like, from the Grammys, especially, but whatever. But he, like... In this year... So, I this year, so I'm from Beaverton, Oregon. I love Nikes. So this year he made a diss track about the Jordan brand, which is like my favorite kind of show. He came out kind of in support, not kind of, he came out in support of Donald Trump and called him a genius. He said Bill Cosby was innocent.

He did all this crazy shit and still he's my favorite artist and we had very different experiences of seeing his concert too you went two times or three times i went to two of them i got to go once ian took me for my birthday for both of them god it was i heard from people who were not in the pit they were like uh it's fine it's also just clearly designed for the people who were under the stage shouldn't have sold tickets to other parts of the show. I disagree. Oh, you like them?

Yeah, I wasn't in the pit, and I thought it was great. I would have had a great time sitting up in the stands if that's what we were doing. Yeah, I don't like being in that kind of a crowd, and the lighting was beautiful. Seeing all the people moving in that light and moving in and out of it, and him up on top of it was a really remarkable sight. I bet. What was weird was when he sat down and was like,

yeah, I can't do this show. Bye. And canceled. So gnarly. Halfway through and left. Even with that, though, I was like, yeah, you know what? I got half of a free Kanye show.

That's not too bad. And you got that story. Like, you were at the show. Yeah. And he was like, you know what? Fuck it. I'm calling it. Yeah.

We went to the one in Vegas. Oh. Which was the best concert I've ever been to in my entire life. Ultra Light Beam at the end of the show. Yeah. And he was like, you know what? Fuck it. Call it. Yeah. We went to the one in Vegas. Oh. Which was the best concert I've ever been to in my entire life. Ultra light beam at the end of the show. I couldn't. The bass was like moving me like a doll on the floor. If you set a doll next to a speaker and it just like bounced a little bit, that's what was happening.

Like my whole body, I was like, holy shit, this is tight. The bass was insane. At the LA show, I had to escape the floor for a minute just because of how crazy your drums like holding on you're like just hold on yeah you're like you have that adult thought where you're like this i will remember they're talking about 80 yeah like like when i can't hear my grandson speaking to me yeah also the tickets were like remarkably affordable yeah like you could get25 tickets to those shows. Because the shirts were $200.

You could also get $5 shirts outside. I was on Fairfax once, and I saw a legit mile-long line, and I did not even have to ask what it was for. No. It's just wild. Pablo Papa. That was one of my, and I know we talked about this on this before, but that was one of my concerns with being in the pit,

because I'm past my rowdy stage in the pit. Cause I'm, I'm past my rowdy stage in life. You know, I'm just like, I just want to stand there and be drunk. And Ian and our friend, Nick, they were like,

there's going to be so many nice shoes that nobody's going to get out of line. No one's going to spill. Nobody spilled a drop. Cause they're all worried about their kicks and their long t-shirts. Everybody's wearing. Yeah. Everybody's wearing Yeezys. All the women were wearing

thigh high boots and long t-shirts yeah there was a look the Vegas show had the best most prototypical it felt like

Kanye experience ever I took Molly we went to the show and I spent $300 on Kanye clothes I lost all of them

before you left I could have I could have called that later on in Vegas that night I think I could have called that. No, like later on in Vegas that night, I think. I could have called that the look in your eye when you're like, I'm going to go get some clothes. I'm like, you're going to lose those clothes later. I lost them. I knew it.

I lost them all. And I've only seen Kanye twice. It's been in festival settings both times, which is not ideal. But the first time, I made eye contact with him. Wow. And it was the best. It was Coachella 2011. It was My Beautiful Dark Twist and Fantasy because there was ballet dancers on the stage yeah and his entrance was he came out of like a

springy thing from like the middle of the crowd and i did not realize it but i was literally right next to it and he like looked down from it and no matter what happens in my life i've made eye contact with kanye west that's amazing i would love to made eye contact with Kanye West. That's amazing. I would love to make eye contact with him. You could have at this Pablo concert. He was like as far away, nobody can see it,

he was like 15 feet away from me. I mean, it was sick. He was so close to the crowd. And the light show, this was a big reason I took Kanye,

like the concert. Like the light show was amazing. Yeah. During it, like during Ultralight Beam and even like when the red laser beams

came out, it was so good. Boy, if you didn't see it, you fucked up. You're hard pressed. Yeah. During it. Like, during Ultralight Beam, and even when the red laser beams came out, it was so good. Boy, if you didn't see it, you fucked up. You're hard-pressed. No. You're hard-pressed to find something that I'm going to be bummed about, I guess, but I just, I get way more stoked about certain things, and that was something. I was thrilled. That show was so good.

I hope he gets better. It seems like he's going through a dark period right now. Maybe. A beautiful dark twist. We'll get an amazing album out of it, I bet. I hope so. I mean. I hope so. I hope it gets better. It seems like he's going through a dark period right now. Maybe. A beautiful dark twist. We'll get an amazing album out of it, I bet. I hope so. I mean. I hope so.

I hope it's okay. That's the shitty part when an artist is going through something. Like, my favorite rap group, Atmosphere, his best albums are when his girl cheated on him and wrecked his life. Yeah. And that is one of my favorite albums of all time. It seems like with mental illness in artists, there's a point of no return. Yeah, like a tipping point.

A point of at least diminishing returns. Yeah. Certainly, yeah. Possibly, yeah. I just hope he's past that. And Chance the Rapper. Chance the Rapper. On the other side of it.

Just like a fire hose of joy. Yeah. If Kanye has a problematic fave, I think Chance the Rapper is the most unproblematic fave possible. So unproblematic. He's never done a bad thing ever. He's funny. His albums are free. He's witty.

Amazing SNL performances. Amazing SNL performances. When are they going to let him host? Seems really cool. They need to let him host. I'm sure he'd be good at it. Yeah, he did some sketches. Good friends with Hannibal Buress.

Threw a music festival that he didn't even headline. Just like a cool dude. Yeah. Seems like he would be super rad. Really in love with his hometown? Yes. That's very endearing to me. We can relate to him.

Yes, I would do anything for my hometown. I can't wait until my mom knows who Chance the Rapper is. Like when my mom's bringing it up, you know? Did you see Chance the Rapper on SNL, Vic? I did, Mom. Cute overalls. Yeah, cute overalls. He looks like Black Mario.

Bringing back Yeezus was the first rap album my dad ever listened to oh my god i was so proud he called it the yeezus in the text he sent me um he what did it it said i listened to the yeezus yes was he really into german industrial before and that's how i got into it. Das ist, the ISIS. Das ist. I will say like he, actually this like surprisingly sophisticated where he was like, isn't it kind of messed up that he's matching

this lyric about his girl problems with Strange Fruit which is about lynching and I was like, yeah, that is problematic, dad,

good eye. That was weird that he did that. Yeah. We can say that, right? It's like, I mean,

it was a fucking killer beat and like Hudson Mohawk did a really good job with it with Kanye and everything but like, what a, it was a fucking killer beat, and like Hudson Mohawk did a really good job with it, with Kanye and everything, but like, what a weird, it's so weird to listen to. That's definitely a roll-the-windows-up song. Like if you're driving through LA,

and you're like, I'm going to listen to Yeezus, and like that kind of blood on the leaves, and you're like, ooh. Turn it down. This is just for me. I'm on my block now. I'll turn this down a little bit. I don't need to pull into the driveway with this this loud.

Oh, it's such a good song, but that's such a weird voice he made. It does. That beat just knocks, though, I'm on my block now. I'll turn this down a little bit. I don't need to pull into the driveway with this this loud. It's such a good song, but that's such a weird choice he made. It does. That beat just knocks, though. And so it's hard to not. You're like, can we just forget about the lyrics for a second? And just assume he's saying, I'd like some tea. Yeah. I mean, honestly, Gold Digger is not a great sentiment.

No. We're going to wind it all the way back. He's got a lot of those yeah but that's part like i kind of i feel like if someone is like an artist i don't mind it as much because here's what it is i don't feel like they're saying you should agree with me this is how the world is they're saying this is how i see the world this i love that you're bringing this up because i was going to try to bring i was going to pick something specifically to bring it up later but like that's a great point,

and it's something I've learned to do a lot more this year. With your comedy? Not necessarily with my comedy, but with how I process other people's forms of expression, is to be like, I can hear you, and no, I disagree with you, but still enjoy the point you're making. I feel like that with Eminem albums. Yeah. I'm like, oh, I disagree with all of this, but I see that that's how you experience the world, and you're trying to express it. Yeah, you're not being fake.

Yeah, this isn't like a... I like Eminem a lot, although I think I may have said this before, but I was at a nice restaurant, but one of those cool, nice restaurants, you know, where they're like, we're going to play big, and everybody's kind of into it. I'd like it if you stopped and we all guessed how this circled back to Eminem real quick, but we don't need to do that.

He walked in. He was the sous chef. Wait, was this the scene from Funny People? He's such a bad actor in most stuff. He's so bad. Anyway. They played Eminem at this nice restaurant. And it was so distracted from the food.

Yeah. That's not ambient music. It was in Portland or here? It was in LA. It was in LA. It was like Peter Faltaldi was in the food. Yeah. That's not ambient music. It was in Portland or here? It was in L.A. It was in L.A. It was like Peter Fultology in the restaurant. Oh, God.

Yeah. Who himself is a yutz. But, like, unless he listens, which, thank you. But, um... Yutz isn't that bad, so you can come back from that pretty quick.

He's a doink? Sorry, I called you a yutz. You get it? Kind of a dud. Shout out Jared Logan. But, like, he... Yeah. Eminem came on and i was just like what the fuck is this what mm song was it i don't doesn't matter doesn't matter and all of them all of them from the early rapper through a fine dining meal i would not listen to eminem great point chance would fit in well at most fine dining places

yeah well chance is a really interesting i think point in the evolution of what we want rappers to be as an entertainment-consuming society. Nice. Nice people. There was, like, we wanted them to be, like, fun. Then we wanted them to be angry. Then we had this, again, Eminem and kind of Kendrick, like, therapy rap kind of era. We want them to be struggling and Kanye. We want them to be

struggling with things and like expressing hard emotions and now Chance is just like, yeah, I have hard emotions and weird emotions and regular ones and doodly-doo. I'm making some great music. He's just like real chill about it. He doesn't feel as post 808s and heartbreaks as like a lot of other stuff.

He feels like more dynamic than that. No Problem was one of my most played songs on my Spotify list at the end of the year. It's such a good song. It's a really good song about, especially if you're in this industry and you're dealing with the

people who try to filter your creative shit through a business model, which is so frustrating. Don't stifle me, bro. i'm sure we'll talk about this later given who he is but when compared to like frank ocean doing the weird like i'm gonna do this to burn off my contract and then i'm gonna do this and i just think like no problem is such a like concise expression of that it is like yeah i don't know, it's my, like, preferred venue for hearing about that frustration. It's a little more direct.

Yes. Yeah, than, like, yeah, than, like, a whole, like, performance dedicated to, like, saying, fuck you to it. It's just like,

fuck you, like, don't get in my way. Exactly. Which I really, which was cathartic for me and then wrapped inside such a good song. Also letting, like,

Lil Wayne talk about it a little bit, knowing what he's gone through with Cash Money. It's cool. Plus the video for it, it's a tour video, which you don't see so much of anymore, which is fun. Right here for Wayne verses, actually, if we're going to, I mean, on Solange's album.

Oh my God. That was like the best he has been. That was so good. I was worried that Wayne, we lost him forever. Because the Carter 3 was such a good album. And then, have you heard it? His verse on that Solange song is like fucking, you're right, some of the best little Wayne we've ever had.

It's so good. I'm writing things down that I'm going to do tonight, and that's the second one. That and Taylor Swift's Snapchat, so I'm going to be like a kid tonight. So yeah, Chance the Rapper circling all the way back around his verse and Ultralight Beam on the SNL performance. Just so... It was beautiful. Just somebody just fucking nailing it.

Like his sort of... He's like, Kanye gave him a platform and he walked out on stage and made... And was like the most charismatic, memorable person in that entire performance. Which included a choir. That's the best version of that song, too. Of all the versions Kanye did, that's the best version of that song, too. Of all the versions Kanye did, that's the best version of Ultra Light Beam is the one with the choir from SNL.

We've had a flashback of having every single guest performer on that song be there in the flesh. So good. Do you think you would ever see Beyonce or Adele on Saturday Night Live? Probably not, right? Beyonce's too much of a control freak and the audio is famously terrible, so no. Adele on Saturday Night Life? Probably not, right? Beyonce's too much of a control freak, and the audio is famously terrible, so no. Adele has been on it.

She has been on it, I guess. Recently, after her... Has Beyonce never done SNL? She has to have done SNL. I feel like she has. A very long time ago, but definitely not since self-titled. I feel like this year we've just had amazing SNL performances

across the board we've had so many and letting them be themselves the Fife thing yeah I'm sure we'll talk about that but uh Kanye just does so many interesting things

with his SNL performances like when he did Runaway on there that was amazing like the overall theme was doesn't he like release songs on snl too like but he released his album onto this he was like sort of yeah or he's like it's available to something he made that weird lizard noise communication it totally fits with his style like Like, SNL is chaotic, and you don't have a lot of control over the sound, and it's live, so you can't finesse it that much,

and Beyonce wouldn't do that, but Kanye would. Yes, he would. And he nails it. Respect to Kanye. Respect to Sean Jordan. It is time for your second pick, the second pick of the second round. We're only on the second pick, so...

Yeah, we'll pace it up here now. No, no, I don't care about how long it's taking. It just feels like... Because I don't know if I take... Yeah, we'll pace it up here now. No, no, I don't care about how long it's taking. It just feels like... Because I don't know if I take... Well, we were off last week. You guys just got me wondering what I should take now. If it's going to be music or not. Because it wasn't, and then we just talked about music so much.

All right, I'll pick Stranger Things. That's what I'll pick. Nice. Winona Forever. Yeah, yeah. Wino Forever, you know. You's what I'll pick. Nice. Winona Forever. Yeah, yeah. Wino Forever, you know. Gotta switch it up. Stick with the original.

Stranger Things is one of those things where I didn't buy into the hype, but it was really nice to see something be that popular and so many people just enjoy something that pure. Yeah. People loved it. I dove in headfirst. I absolutely loved it. I finished it in, like, one sitting, if I dove in. I dove in head first. I finished it in

one sitting, if I remember right. I'm pretty sure I just knocked the whole thing out and stayed up until like 5 in the morning. I want to hear you talk about why you liked it. I didn't like it. Which I know is one of the most... We can be like the curmudgeon half of the world.

We can be Statler and Waldorf. I've been strongly accused of not having solid opinions. You have solid opinions, but you like things. I like to enjoy things. So many people liked it. You're not in the minority on this one. I loved it before it was hyped.

I just watched it. I saw one billboard and was like, I usually like things on Netflix. I'll watch this. Watched the whole thing. It was like, this is all of my favorite stuff chewed up and smooshed into a new shape. It was great. I love a good child actor. Like, the kids

in Super 8 did the same thing. Like, Elle Fanning and whoever the dudes were, they just murdered it. Like, they've been doing it forever. I don't. I hate kid actors. Really? But I loved these kid actors. They were so good. The girl who played Billie Jean Eleven, whatever. Billie Bobby Brown. kid actors really but i loved these kid actors they were so good the girl who played bill billy jean 11 whatever uh millie bobby brown um she said she was so uh she was so good it uh worried me i was like what have they done to her that she's this good an actor they just made her in a lab

somewhere and they're like you're gonna be an actress yeah that's what's gonna happen like emotions are pretend and you can play with them. I mean, apparently her dad demanded, like, a hundred K fee from agents to represent her, and I was like, oh, no, this is not going in a good direction. Wow, yeah. But that performance is great. Yeah. I'm not, I couldn't care less about the money side of what they're doing. Okay.

I absolutely loved it. Yeah. Yeah. Problematic. I had one, too, you know? I mean, my thing about it is, like, it became so huge that I just, I didn't understand what about it. To me, it's very well executed and it's good and it's entertaining, but there was nothing about it that grabbed me or made me obsessed with it. And that was what took me aback.

I felt the same way. You don't have to be obsessed with something to think it's dope. No, you don't. But the way people talk about it, they were like, you won't be able to... Well, you didn't watch Breaking Bad for years. But I did, and I loved it. And I missed the hype cycle on Stranger Things and tried, and I didn't love it.

Like you said, you watched it in one sitting. I sat and watched, like, I watched the whole thing, but like, after two episodes, I was just like, okay. And then I watched another one. I think that it really picks up in like the third or fourth episode. But it also, I think it had gotten overhyped by the time you tried.

For sure. And it was, I thought they did a really good job of rolling out the mystery of it and having enough question marks that you were like, oh, I want to know what this is. What is the, who, what is this facility what this is. What, what is the, who, what is this facility? Why is everything lighting up? What is this other world that they're going to? What is it?

And in that, it kind of pulls you through all of it. Um, I, I thought it had a great mix of sci-fi and horror. Um, it w it felt like, it felt like a,

a, a Steven Spielberg movie that Wes Craven directed. Yeah. Like, and, and, and so it felt like the childlike wonder of those sci-fi those 80s sci-fis um getting a little bit more horrified um in a in a way that felt cool as a grown-up to watch um also bringing back winona rider really i thought was amazing and i think that it not only brought back her as an actor but

it also redefined the 80s moms it was all there were always these helpless moms like an et who were like oh we don't know what's happening my kids blah and she fucking ran the show she was she was in health redefining her like when you think of winona rider you think of a teenager and the fact that she was both like returning to her roots and that it was 80s, but also it was specifically maternal and she was playing a grown-ass woman was really interesting to me. So that was definitely something I really dug about it.

Certainly people loved it. Ian, did you not like it? It just didn't grip me the way it did a lot of people. This is going to sound more backhanded than I mean it, but I do way it did a lot of people. I mean, at my most, this is going to sound more backhanded than I mean it, but I do think it got a lot of credit because it executed a lot of things competently that television doesn't do very well right now.

Like, telling a self-contained story. There's not a lot of great hour-long dramas on TV right now, and the fact that it was just a set thing. Obviously, you're not a Nashville fan like I am, because you would be singing a different song. I love that I love it absolutely love it but I was just yeah I don't know there's just like a lot of things that I think are kind of missing from TV like a very straightforward sense of adventure that like Stranger Things delivered and not you can't find elsewhere right now I should have watched straight if I would have

watched Stranger Things in like late October I bet I should have watched, if I would have watched Stranger Things in like late October, I bet I would have loved it. If I'd have been sitting there drinking a 40 with you, you'd have loved it. It would be, because I'd be just right in your ear being all positive and happy about it.

That's true. Yeah. When nobody was telling you to watch it, if you'd watched it, I think you'd like it. I may have liked it more. Although a lot of those things, like I'm not a huge horror fan

and I like, I like the fantasy elements of sci-fi more than the sci and sci-fi. Yeah, maybe not. It had like a lot of darkness, a lot of twin peaks. Star Wars over Star Trek? Yes, 100%. And I like the fantasy elements of sci-fi more than the science elements of sci-fi. It had a lot of darkness. A lot of Twin Peaks. Star Wars over Star Trek. Yes, 100%.

Classic dichotomy. Yeah. I'm a Star Wars-man. So, Stranger Things. Stranger Things. Certainly a popular pick. Yep. Yeah.

I love the opening, the songs. The music in it is awesome. I like that. The soundtrack. Yeah. Yeah. It's super cool. I do like that. They're playing Coach. Oh, the soundtrack? Yeah. Yeah. It's super cool. I do like that.

They're playing Coachella. Are they really? Yeah. What band is that? Who are they again? Oh, God. It starts with an S. It's Hans Zimmer again.

Kendrick Lamar does the soundtrack. Yeah. I think I know who you're talking about. But, yeah. Anyway, Stranger Things. Excellent. Eliza Skinner, time for your second pick. Broadway.

Broadway? Yes. The Broadway. The Broadway. Yes. of things excellent eliza skinner time for your second pick uh broadway broadway yes the broadway the broadway yes from hamilton to oh hello uh broadway i think this year became something that people cared about um that regular people knew about and wanted to know about and wanted to see and watch um hamilton taking over uh broadway in general but also the tony's also the tony's yeah this is i don't know full disclosure yeah ian carmel wrote on the tony's i wrote them along the tony's but uh and performed and performed and wrote hamilton hosted by uh james corden had the highest ratings of that Tonys have, like, probably

ever. People have Tonys parties this year. I've never known friends that had Tonys parties. Oh, honey, I always have. But it was, yeah, I feel like this was a really great year for Broadway. Also, towards the end

of the year, as I said, Oh Hello, which is Nick Kroll and John Lee. I saw that off-Broadway and actually cried laughing. Yeah, it's great. I haven't heard one stitch of anything about that. Two of the funniest people we have right now. They're so good. That is like my, when I'm sad,

I pull up the hour-long YouTube video of their evening at the 92nd Street Y, which is before they adapted into a play, and it's literally just them riffing for an hour in character, and it's just the purest expression of the old Upper West Side Jewish man. Put it on the list, Sean. We're watching it. They've been doing it for years. It started as a web series, I believe, for Channel 101 or the New York one that was Channel 102.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's great. it as a as a web series i believe for channel 101 or the new york one that was channel 102 yeah it's great um but also uh the um evan hanser dear evan hansen hansen um which was which kind of grew out of um youtube and um so so it's like they were releasing songs that way so people were seeing them one by one this is a new broadway it's a new were releasing songs that way. So people were seeing them one by one. This is a new Broadway musical, right? It's a new Broadway musical, yeah. It's supposed to be very touching. Yeah. So I feel like it's just giving people more access to theater, which theater started as something for everybody and then became very elitist and prohibitively expensive.

Sure. So people couldn't go to it. Yeah. And now everybody is finally getting to it. It's awesome. And now everybody is finally going to be in. I lived in New York for five years and I don't think I ever went to a Broadway show. Because it was just like, why would I spend my money on that when I could have 75 slices of pizza? I just like that we're, as a society, it seems we're at the point where it wouldn't be lame for a 23-year-old to go to his friends. Like, let's go to a play tonight.

You want to go to a musical? You want to go? And if I would have done that when I was 23 in South Dakotaota my friends would yeah like kick the shit out of me or something so i wouldn't have been able to name one i went and saw the lion king which did not come out this year but me and my mother were met in san francisco she flew down from portland i flew from la and she took me to see the lion king and i i'd seen one other broadway show in my entire life which was beauty and the beast another disney but like when i was like 13 or 14 anyway it i my jaw dropped it's amazing it was i mean shout out to julie tamor she fucking what a genius she is in all the good and bad ways she truly is i think well people i

think just forget everything except for spider-man from her like that it was became such a black mark for her but she she does amazing stuff. Titus Andronicus, that movie she did with Anthony Hopkins is beautiful and amazing. But I felt like a child immediately. My jaw dropped. I was like... Wonder. I was full of wonder. Who doesn't want that?

That's such a fun feeling. For the first time, witnessing something, like pop culture, whatever you want to call it, witnessing something for the first time. Like Kanye, also that concert I was. The first time I saw it, I was on drugs. So who can say what I was really feeling? But like this one, I was stone sober, fresh off a plane. Dressed nice.

Dressed nice. You get to dress up a little bit, which who doesn't like that? I went to the theater and was just like astonished by it. And I was like, I have to go see more plays. And that was, you know, The Lion King, which was, you know, acclaimed and everything. But like, I don't know what's going to happen when I see Hamilton.

I know, right? My first, I saw Color Purple this year on Broadway and it was, it didn't come out this year, so I didn't name it in my wrap up, but it was amazing. And everybody in there was crying. It was like the theater went to church um and i remember when that came out i was living in new york when the first production was

done and nobody went to it it looked like all the commercials looked like um like a like a sacramento king's game well they look like a theme park like oh it's the color purple experience did you like the movie well now you can see the show and like nobody wanted to see that and this was like no we're doing theater and it's so interesting to be in a situation where you're with dozens or hundreds of people all watching another small group of live human beings do something yeah it's a weird communal thing that's almost religious and like church-like yeah that we're all like we're gonna sit here and quietly watch them do a thing like what it would be awesome if stand-up shows were but people just can't seem to shut the fuck up but yeah i mean fences also kind of folds into that in the sense that it's like this huge oscar

contending film and it is such a straightforward yes this two actors destroying this shit and tony winning roles and we're gonna stage it like a play and that's fine because you can't ask for anything better than August Wilson and these two actors. Did you see Hamilton? I did not. You did not see it? No, couldn't get tickets. God, I want to see it so bad. It's coming through. It is coming through. What is it going to be

here in like summertime? It's in Chicago for like two months and then San Francisco for like two months. I think fall actually. Fall? Yeah. I might have a job by then so maybe I'll take you to Hamilton, dude. I would love it. I would love to be your date. That was another thing where I went through waves of skepticism, where I was like, at first, like, oh, this sounds cool.

And then like, everybody likes it, so I'm going to be arch about it, you know? And then I was like, nah, come on. That's something where you definitely have to separate the art from the fans. You really do. Yeah, there's a lot of Scarf in the Summertime type dudes who are going to like... Yeah. Who are saying it's crazy. Also the idea that it's like an educational rap that's like, shut the fuck up.

You know what I mean? I'm like an upper middle class white kid from Beaverton, Oregon. Wait, you're from Beaverton, Oregon? Beaverton, Oregon. I, you're from Beaverton, Oregon? Beaverton, Oregon. I'm top of the food chain. But I'm still like, that's not rap. Nas is rap. The RZA.

So say I. So say I. Yeah. But it's so well executed. It's so well executed, right? That's the thing. Because, yeah, Lin is very much like up with people. Let's learn about things through this. But he just does it so well.

Yeah. You know him a little bit, right? Yeah. Yeah. We started off doing improv. He had a group called Freestyle Love Supreme. Of course he was doing improv. No, I did improv too.

Yeah. Well, his group is called Freestyle Love Supreme. And they still do stuff. But, yeah. And I had my musical improv group. And so there was like a lot of crossover. I ran a show with the beatboxer from them so yeah and yeah always been just like a incredibly solidly nice good person it's what it's so weird to like wow that person is just really good and really good things are happening to them yay that's just exactly what should happen

with the rock who i'm hoping is also one of those kids yeah uh who seems like he's yeah he has to be right if he wasn't it would crush my whole idea of what like celebrities can be i believe his instagram i really believe it because he seems so good the one of him in the pool with the dog two tiny dogs yes i love you the rock i would spend the rest of my life with The Rock in a completely we're both straight kind of way. Oh, my God. Let's just grow old and hang out and die together. I would love to have one day a week where we just hang out and do stuff we've always wanted to do. We're running jet skis this week.

The Rock, let's go. I feel like The Rock would show up at your house with takeout. Yes. You didn't ask for it, but he's just like, I don't know. I wanted to get some pad thai. You like this, right? Yeah. Be like, The Rock. Do you guys see guys see social intelligence yeah it was so good no i didn't see it was it him and him and uh kevin hart it's it's not like a classic but it was just

such a good like he gets to play genuinely weird like the whole idea is that he's like this former fat kid who like becomes the rock yeah but they are like no he wasn't like a social outcast because like, no, he wasn't a social outcast because he was a faggot. He was a social outcast because he's weird and he's still weird. Yeah. And then just seeing The Rock being weird.

Just gorgeous, weird man. That is, yeah. I was an early adopter on The Rock. For years, I was like, this guy is funny. He's got it. I'm into it. And cool comedy people

would be like, what are you even talking about? When I was at Funny or Die, somebody was like, yeah, The Rock has some show they want us to do a tie-in with and i was like yes please me and they're like what what are you talking about why would you want to do that i'm like what this guy is pure talent what was like the first movie that he did uh scorpion king yeah kelly jordan's favorite one of those mom mom couldn't go to that fast enough in the theater but yeah

like even those what like walking tall those where he's like a badass yeah i love him i like them all when we were smelling what he was cooking there was personality people's eyebrow defensive end on the miami hurricane no maybe not then but yeah and now the ballers is out i it's like one of my favorite things to watch on sundays a new episode of Ballers. I also like Ballers. I am so pumped for his Baywatch. Oh, my God. I just saw the trailer. That was the best trailer I've seen in months. God, The Rock would have been a good pick for this.

Yeah. Just the idea of him. But I feel like this wasn't necessarily a banner year for The Rock. Not The Rock's year. Like, he didn't pop this year. He just kept rolling. No, this was a Bruce Banner year for him. He didn't gather any Mars.

A bad year for The Rock is he's headlining an HBO show. He was in this like multi-billion dollar Disney movie. I wouldn't even say it was a bad year for him. It just wasn't

the year with the next animation. But this was a prime year for The Rock. Finally finished that tattoo on the whole left side of his body. Got that done.

Put a little picture of me in there. You guys didn't know that but he put like a tiny little picture of me like right. Is that Sean Jordan? Right, just tucked in. Not a lot of people know, but

if you look close. The Rock, maybe we'll see him on Broadway at some point. He wrote a musical with Lin, with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Oh, that's right, yeah. A couple, I think. Shout out to The Rock, shout out to Broadway, shout out to Alison Herman.

It is time for your second pick, the final pick of the second round. I'm with Donald Glover. Oh, yeah. What do you have for Donnie? Sure. Donnie Baseball. As a TV critic, this is definitely a no-brainer. I think we should have known, on top of him being a hilarious comedian who has been in some of the best sitcoms of the century,

comedian who has been in some of the best sitcoms of the century uh he was also trusted by steven soderbergh to give the uh thesis statement speech in magic mike xxl a cinematic masterpiece we all should have known then and then that was last year and then this year he came through with atlanta and awaken my love i'm not as much a fan of awaken my love as i am of atlanta but the fact that he had both those things in a year and they both are the product of this total willingness to experiment the fact that he you know childish gambino is a rapper and awaken my love is not a rap album in any conceivable way album yeah yeah and then atlanta i remember i saw the pilot in january because they gave it out early to critics. And I was like, oh, this looks good. I'm curious.

And then the show is not at all what you think it's going to be. Not even close. Not at all. Which is tight. With so many different things. Yeah. But I feel like when you watch the pilot,

you're like, oh, okay. So the whole pilot is getting them together and then he shoots someone. And so that's going to be the whole thing of the season is they're going to try to get out from that. And then you don't... The fact that they don't talk about the fact that this dude murdered someone

for the whole rest of the season, and it just works because the show communicates to you that, like, okay, we're just going to do our thing, and you're either in for the ride... Yeah, you're in or out. Yeah, you can't ask any questions. Just try to have a good time. I'll put my gloves on for that.

Here's the opposite of Stranger Things. I didn't watch Atlanta until over the winter break. Oh, so you're fresh out. I was fresh and I just watched all of it in like one day. It's so good. Is that Bieber episode?

The Bieber episode? Oh bieber one's amazing and i also just think it says such good things about him that also when you hear like comedian get show you think like okay they're gonna do like a louis style it's basically them and like other people can do stuff but like it's gonna be the donald glover show and that's not what it is at all he picked three amazing supporting actors and knows when to get out of their way. And the fact that, you know,

he didn't make it a vehicle. He recognized the talent around him and put it to good use. Just says like really good things about. Yeah. God, I forget what. Written by his brother. Huh?

Written by his brother. Donald Glover's brother? Yeah. He didn't, he didn't write it. Donald didn't, didn't write it. He's in it and he's,

he produces it. It was written by his brother and, and the writing staff of all African-American, Oh, yeah. He didn't write it. Donald didn't write it. He's in it and he produces it. Oh, yeah. It was written by his brother. And a writing staff of all African-American, all black people. Yeah. I'm like, what era are we? Do I need to say African-American or can I say black? They're just all people.

How old am I? Which I think is really huge that that's how he staffed his room. A lot of networks say, like, that's how I want to do this um that a lot of networks you say like that's how i want to do this and people will be like well but we'll see who we get that's what i want to say at dinner that i want to do but then when we're doing it you know yeah he just rented a house and he was like okay leave me alone i'm gonna i'll deliver a show right like that's kind of like how it worked i think yeah and most of the uh episodes were directed by hero mariah who was a music video director,

and so it doesn't quite look like the rest of TV either. It's just such a remarkable... The invisible car in the club episode is so fucking funny. I actually think I missed it the first time I watched the club episode. It's also one of the things where you re-watch it, and you pick up on new things every time. I was reading a review that I literally missed a joke because Darius looks down at his phone at 4.30 and says, We're late. And then it cuts them on the couch smoking weed. And I did not get the first three times I watched the episode that they were talking about 4.20.

But it's the kind of show where you can do that. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't get that until just now. Yeah. Oh, my God. I literally think it's, Emily Nussbaum mentions it in the New Yorker review,

and I was like, what? I've literally seen that joke so many times, and it just flew over my head. It's such a good show, and if I can, again, go to the frustrations of being, like, trying to work in this industry. The hook is what? Like, if you were pitching it,

it's like, yeah,'s a a rapper and his two friends try to navigate like the atlanta rap scene right or like that's the log line the log line but that's not what all the show's about it's about it's about i mean it's about like free time it's about a lot of different things yeah you can't sum it up in an elevator the episode where he's in jail it's like we're dealing with not only his interpersonal relationships, but like huge cultural issues within just moments. And then the episode where he's on the Charlie Rose, whatever,

the black Charlie Rose. BAN, yeah. Yeah, the BAN, which is not, which doesn't even fit into the whole series. It's just like this sort of stand alone like sketch comedy show almost. Well, I mean, I feel like as far as like expectations from donald it it this doesn't surprise me given the stuff that he comes from

like even going back to his comedy with derek oh yeah and like mystery team and all that stuff he's a real weirdo um and he's interested in, and he's super duper smart. So I feel like this is kind of the natural evolution of the adult version of all of those things. It's been weird for me because I've always really liked him. I love community. I love 30 rock. I like his standup, but it was a weird combination of like,

I like him, but he was never one of those people where I was like, when is someone going to give this guy a show so they can really unleash him? So it was actually like, it was a nice surprise to see that this is what happened when you gave this guy the keys to the invisible car.

I was kind of... I was on the same wave kind of. I didn't love, like, Weirdo, his hour stand-up special. I thought his Comedy Central half hour was fucking blistering and so funny. But I thought he was like, he's become's so funny so and but I thought he was like he's become quite

the polymath but I thought he was a little too distracted when that came out so I wasn't waiting on bated breath

for like for his own show like you were saying and then like this came out and I was just like so just so pleasantly surprised

and like I'm eating crow it's just it's so good yeah the what is it love

what is this the album Awaken My Love is it? Love? What is the album? Awaken My Love. Awaken My Love. I don't love that. It's pretty good, but I mean, I haven't heard it. But it's also like if you can make the best show on television and an album you can smoke weed and clean the house to in the same year, you're doing just fine. You are doing just fine.

I think it's, you're right about that. It's weird to hear his voice. It almost feels too much like dress up to me. Is he, I haven't heard it. Is he singing? It's a funk album.

It's like a, it's like a Parliament funk album. I literally never know when it's him. Yeah. Because it sounds so different from what he usually does. Yeah.

But it's still kind of his voice. Like a little bit. It's like Donald Glover's voice in this funk album. And you're just like, you're the guy from, you're the guy from Community. I'm going to be up late tonight yeah but it's still kind of his voice like a little bit it's like donald glover's voice in this funk album and you're just like you're the guy from i'm gonna be up late tonight doing all this stuff uh i say also put i might need to listen to it put on your list um the derrick comedy shorts which are still on uh youtube the the early stuff that he did with um dc pearson and dominic durkisis, which is like,

again, really weird and sci-fi and, and just college kids doing stuff, but still so smart and, and interesting. That was like, he used to do my rap battle and I was his improv coach. Yeah.

I coached improv for him every Saturday morning. Well, thank you. You're welcome. No, it was me coaching everyone. No, it was me coaching everyone. I appreciate all of you. No, it was me coaching everyone around him.

It was him being just a fully formed, fascinating person and me being like, I don't know, try to do what he's doing. He's, I don't know. He's got it. Yeah, I have nothing to say. He's great. You guys don't have it. Yeah.

Well, no. But it was really, I mean, it was a weird thing to have that in the middle of. You could recognize it. Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody could. That's how he ended up working at 30 Rock at, what, 21, 22? Straight out of school.

He was staff writer at 30 Rock. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent pick. Atlanta, if you haven't seen it yet, it's my favorite show of the year. It's so good. Yeah, it was my number one.

Yeah. On my top ten, which you can find on TheBringer.com. Yeah. Number two is The People vs. Owen Simpson, right? Yeah, we're hitting all the bases. Yeah. And I won't say any of the others because they make good picks. Sure, they may be picks.

But seriously, go read that piece by Allison. It's so good. Before we get to your third pick, I have an exciting announcement. All Fantasy Everything has a sponsor now. So if you'll allow me a second to say a few words from our sponsor. Guys, it's 2017. It's a new year. It's time for you to make your next move.

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herman you have the first pick of the third round as the draft is serpentine okay well we were talking about wonder earlier and how it's so nice to feel that uh in a piece of uh theater or art and a thing that made me feel that recently backlash be damned was La La Land. Oh, yes. I'm going to go all in on that. What do you mean backlash be damned? Oh,

there's a whole. Okay. I feel like this is where my, my life suffers as in many ways from being on Twitter a lot, but, um, I don't know. They're everybody suffers from Twitter.

Yeah. Um, so La La Land is one of those things where like, I literally witnessed the full, like critical life cycle of a thing before it was ever available to me so it screened in toronto and people loved it and then some people didn't love it and then like after all of that had happened died down then it came out in los angeles the very first place it would ever come out in the country but it's a movie musical it's by this 31 year old writer director.

It's his third movie ever. But like, what's the backlash that you're worried about? Like, I've heard nothing but shining reviews. I, people make pretty legitimate criticisms of it. And then every time I'm just like,

well, yeah, but it made me feel amazing. So the criticisms are, uh, the characters aren't very well written. You don't understand a lot about her, her motivations, or anything that makes her talented or interesting,

except what Emma Stone adds to it, which is everything, obviously. And some people had some issues with how it represents LA and how it represents jazz. Was there poop on the ground in Hollywood everywhere? Like human poop? That is accurate. They just stepped in poop while they were poop on the ground in Hollywood everywhere? Like human poop? That is accurate. People stepped in poop while they were laying on the lampshade. People kind of rolled their eyes at how cheery it was and everything.

Or a little bit of that and thought it was corny. They thought it was corny. I can't wait to see it now. Everyone who said it was corny. Also, there's this whole thing where I think this happened a lot with Whiplash too, where I think there were some people who were like, oh, but the movie's bad because it, like, jazz isn't, it's not about jazz, it's about them.

And I was like, yeah, that's the point. The point is that it doesn't become about the music anymore. It becomes about these two guys having this dick measuring contest. Go watch a fucking Ken Burns documentary. Whiplash is one of my favorite movies of all time. Same director. It's interesting because he wrote the screenplay for this before he did Whiplash,

and so it's definitely the product of someone who's younger and more naive. And also there's the knock that it's just a rehash of a bunch of old movie musicals. It doesn't add enough new stuff, and it's obviously getting a lot of comparisons to the artist. But the thing about the artist versus La La Land is like there's no reason why you can't make an original movie musical now. It's just not fashionable.

And the artist was like, we have the technology to not make silent movies anymore and you're just doing it to be a gimmick. I'm just going to ride really hard for that movie. I haven't seen La La Land yet. I will see it this week. But I've seen, like you, the cycle, like the hype and the backlash and the backlash of the backlash.

I'm like, fucking, just if you don't like it, you can shut up about it. Like everyone. Take a long walk off a short pier. Suddenly on the other side. I am now. I am. I'm fully around. Suddenly on the other side?

I am now. I am. I'm fully around. Everyone who I expected to be a curmudgeon about La La Land fulfilled that destiny and became a curmudgeon about La La Land. I am like a frozen shrew and it is very hard. I'm very cynical. It's very hard to like melt that core of ice. And I walked out of that theater theater with actual stars in my eyes. And I listened to the soundtrack on the way home.

And it was like, anything is possible. Swing around light poles and stuff. Go to Griffith Park, just hang out for a while. Who doesn't want that? Beautiful. There it is, the Hollywood sign. Has anyone else here seen La La Land yet? I haven't.

How embarrassing for us. I was just with people talking about it. I have no interest in seeing it. You don't want to see it. I have to. You come from musicals. My experience of it was as soon as I started seeing the previews, I was like, oh, well, this looks like garbage and would like look around at people and be like, right? And everyone else was like, what are you talking about?

This looks like my new favorite movie. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be the perfect movie. And I was like, oh, shut up then, Eliza. Don't't mention this opinion and so i've just been sort of like i am not gonna say anything about this movie and then saw this backlash and i was like oh i'm free i'm free to possibly not like this movie yeah and not be interested in seeing it it's definitely a movie musical for people who are not into or not familiar with either movie musicals or regular musicals your boy which yeah perfect right up this alley over here on the couch which i think in rockland boulevard it's fine it's sort of one

of those things where i think people get really territorial because they're being like you could like this but you would like this more but you never bothered to learn about this and i definitely get like that about some things but it was also just like seeing it on a huge screen in a theater where there were a bunch of people and it was one of those things where like i felt glad i'd seen it in a theater and not on my couch and i could be totally wrong i have not seen it so like i don't i'm just saying it just it doesn't look attractive to me yeah that that's that's fair my only opinion on it tell you who does ryan gosling it's attractive to everybody. And Emma Stone. And Emma Stone. I might be getting a little tired of that face.

Tired of the gos? Yeah. The magic might have worn off. I don't find him super humanly attractive, but he is undeniably charming. Yeah. He just has a great screen presence. And I think that's kind of more important. Even in Drive, I'm just like, look at this guy.

Just down. Just had a rough life. Go stomp that guy's head in. I don't care. You're a charm the pants off here. Also, he's someone who could be Ryan Reynolds, but is in Terrence Malick's next movie. But I feel like Ryan Reynolds is getting more interesting. I love Ryan Reynolds.

I hate Deadpool. I can go on a 10-minute rant about that right now. No, not about Deadpool. Just him. The interviews that I've seen with him, I'm like, oh, I like you more now. I just associate him too much with this thing that I've seen with him I'm like oh I like you more now like you were boring and too much with this thing that I loathe with my body and soul

with Deadpool yeah well then we won't get into Deadpool I kind of want to hear the rant about Deadpool oh boy talk about really quick talk about Deadpool really quick give us like the shorter than 10 minute version or fucking do it it tried to have its cake and eat it too in an incredibly disingenuous way.

The way it pretended it was smarter and above superhero movies while just being an incredibly basic and not particularly smart superhero movie. While also trying to flatter you like, oh aren't you so smart for liking this and not that. While also giving the studio hundreds of millions of dollars and green lighting a sequel. And thereby guaranteeing this trend that we're supposedly making fun of continues for 10 more years yeah it was just it got a lot of credit for being not intelligent yeah i thought it was which is what that's what the comic books did also like that character was always uh for it seemed to me for kids who were like teenagers and should have grown out of superhero comics kind of in a way. And they were like, well, wait, but now we got a cool dark one.

And he's like, whatever. I'll kick the shit out of you. And make a quip, but like a darker quip than Spider-Man would. Also for a movie that was trying to broadcast a de-gaff sort of thing. It wanted you to like it so much. I felt like it was like grimy. I just remember the credits rolling and I turned to my friend and I was like, I feel like I need to take a shower. And he was like,

yeah, that movie felt like a warrior wears a fedora with a vest over a t-shirt a little bit. Okay. You, you understand. I do get it. I watched it on a plane and I,

you loved it and you cried. I enjoyed it. I loved it. I cried. And I wasn't bummed that I do get it I watched it on a plane and I you loved it and you cried I enjoyed it I loved it and I cried and no I enjoyed watching it I wasn't bummed that I watched it but the whole time I was aware

of like I'm like this is kind of douchey this is like this is like a men's rights activist of a movie it's like all the kind of humor

that they want like in the like in a movie having said that I enjoyed it I thought I wasn't bummed that I had spent like an hour and a a movie it's having said that i enjoyed it i thought you like i was i

wasn't bummed i had spent like an hour and a half doing it but some of the jokes i did have to just like you know like i rolled my eyes so hard i almost got a concussion uh and they were and you're right they were like very self-congratulatory about that there was uh yeah this is me trying to play both sides but i did but i really did feel both sides look when you watch a movie on a plane you have no actual experience of that movie it's like it's like you were getting a hand job while you watch the movie like your brain is so in a different place i don't know why they've tried to do they've tried to explain why and like do experiments and well i don't know how many experiments but like tried to explain why the experience of watching something on a plane is just so heightened but it always is i cried at 15 blocks experience of watching something on a plane is just so heightened. But it always is.

I cried at 15 blocks when I watched that on a plane. Oh, really? Most deaf and bruised. At the end, I was like, they're such good friends. Oh, my God. Just fucks you up. Well, thank you for sharing that rant. I think you'll find a lot of people agree with you.

And I'm sorry if anyone gets angry at you on Twitter. Because the people who love Deadpool love getting angry on Twitter getting angry you know they're an hour plus into this podcast by now i think we've worn them down they're calm uh now eliza what is going to be your third pick uh my third pick i feel like i went real broad for the other two so i'm gonna go real small for this real broad yeah because i'm a real broad one of those fakies um uh fleabag oh yeah um amazon's fleabag uh really great series um i'm blanking on the woman's name i'm sure you know phoebe waller bridge who was a playwright who wrote it directed it starred in it um it's yet another dark um uh anti-hero protagonist but like i feel like they've unfold her in such an interest she unfolds her in such an interesting way that

she becomes more and more um uh vulnerable and endearing as it goes along and a lot of that is due to her direct to camera delivery um speaking as though she's speaking to you the viewer um and yeah and she does not get nicer she gets worse as far as what you learn about her but i just remember watching that pilot and thinking like okay i know what this is it's like a broad city or girls or you know semi-unlikable but really winning person lives the like semi-debauch life in the city nothing too serious happens and then about two-thirds from the pilot it's revealed that her best friend who you'd seen was actually you were seeing her in flashback and she committed suicide yeah and that was when i was like oh okay i'm in

and then i just watched the next five episodes in a single sitting. It's so good. And a great depiction of some really difficult relationships in terms of her family and her just kind of pushing through them. But then also still very funny through all of it. Yeah. Great. It's almost the way the new, and maybe you can speak better than this,

but the new comedies, which are so dark. So a lot of them, so dark. And this one is like super dark. This one gets, but it has good jokes. Like in the pilot, she's at the part where she's,

uh, masturbating to Barack Obama, giving a speech. It's just like, it's actually funny. And I think a lot of, a lot of half hours are like, oh,

it's dark. So we don't have to like be good at one liners anymore because we're a feeling show now. It's actually funny. And I think a lot of half hours are like, oh, it's dark. So we don't have to be good at one-liners anymore because we're a feeling show now. And this is both things. And I appreciated that so much. It's also just not just darkness. Because I feel like just darkness, you end up with Deadpool. It's complexity.

It's sort of like, for me, it's the way that in musicals, this may be a terrible way to explain this, but in musicals, like in the mid-century, they were all like, I'm so happy because it's a happy day. Or like, I'm really sad because I lost my gal. And then Stephen Sondheim showed up and made it like, I'm so sad even though it's a happy day. What's going on with me? And I'm really happy because i lost my gal and now i feel like so there's all these complex feelings that made it feel more real and rough and i feel like fleabag is that that's the type of comedy that we have going on now too um where it's it we're just delving into complex relationships and moments and feelings right that it's not like a binary sort of thing yeah yeah uh yeah and that woman's what's her name phoebe waller bridge got that british hyphenate

waller bridge waller bridge on thames i think is her full name uh she's usually she's having like another show coming out too right or that or she had another show called crashing yeah that was like there was this whole thing where like she'd basically had it in development for a while and then Fleabag blew up and then they were like, oh, okay, now we want you to actually do this. Yeah, do everything. And they rushed into, England's so weird, man. The BBC's weird. Yeah, and then they like rushed into development, right? Yeah.

Or something like that. right yeah and then um and also like fleabag is obviously like the extension of her 30 something self because it's so mature but i think crashing was from her 20s and it's a much more like simplistic hanging out young person comedy and so she had to like go back into that mindset if i can go into plug mode she did a really good podcast interview with andy greenwald yeah um on the ringer podcast network where she talks about all this and it's very illuminating so that would be a great listen. Yeah. Yeah.

Shout out to Andy Greenwald. Yeah. That's a great podcast. Thanks. That, what a challenge to go from like making the thing that like typifies where you're at right now and then being like, remember your 20s? Yeah. Yeah.

Great pick, Eliza. Anything else to say about Fleabag? No. I mean, if I could, if I I could do a coda to it, because I don't know how many more of these I'm going to get, I would also kind of attach on Chewing Gum to it, because they feel similar, and it's another... Oh, that's on Netflix.

I haven't seen that. It's a Netflix one. Yeah, it feels similar in that it's like, this is not the type of person you've seen before, and they're not being treated the way that you are used to seeing characters treated. And it feels so fresh and new and hilarious. Yeah. Please do a card. You get two more picks, by the way.

Oh, fuck. Yeah. But it would have felt weird to do to pick Fleabag and Chewing Gum as two different things and I'd be like, geez, go drink a cup of tea. You weirdo Britophile. Oh, is Chewing Gum British too? Yeah. You weirdo Britophile.

Yeah, British shows that an American streaming network picked up and we're all like seven monthly too. Yeah. Right, right. The discussions have already happened over there. What she said. Yeah, Greenwich Mean Time. Sean Jordan, it is time for your third pick.

I'm going to pick another TV show. I'm going to pick The Night Of. Oh, very good. Very good. Thank you. Very good. I appreciate it. I'm going to pick The Night Of. Oh, very good. Very good. Thank you. Very good. I appreciate it.

I just thought it was great that... What's his name? Richard Price. Or Riz Ahmed. Riz Ahmed. Richard Price is the writer. Riz Ahmed is the star. He's fantastic in everything I've seen him in. He was great in Nightcrawler.

He was great in Star Wars. He's great in The Night Of. He's just a fantastic actor. He has a rap group, dog. Do you know about this? The Sweatshop Boys with Heems from Doc Racist. Really? That's why his Twitter handle is

at RizMC. It's going to get loud. It's going to get loud at the crib tonight. I can't wait, dude. I'm going to be knocking this list out, doing blow till I leave tomorrow. Put it on the Sonos. Oh, you're going to Portland tomorrow? I'm going to Portland tomorrow.

None of this stuff is allowed in Portland. You've got to get it done before you leave. Definitely not on the plane. Definitely won't have access to Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and Taylor Swift, the three most famous people alive. They actually don't in Portland. They strip you rights to watch that there. Yeah, they just give you wheatgrass and a sun catcher.

Wheatgrass and the John Darnielle novels. The Night Of. Such a good show. I loved it. It was really, really good. John Turturro, amazing performer. I mean, his foot alone should get... What a gross subplot.

Because you're like, that wouldn't be... You could live with that, but just seeing how stressful it would actually be. Yeah. Just put Crisco on your feet and wrap it in saran wrap. I mean, it paid off in the finale with the all-over situation. Yeah, everything. I thought that worked out well. I loved it, and it was like a big, I don't know,

just a big part of my year this year, was watching that. Riz Ahmed's transformation in that was crazy, too. In the pilot, he was such a sweet boy. Not the pilot of the first episode. That's why it was so good, because the whole time, he obviously didn't do it. They shot it in 2012, I think. Did they really?

Yeah, they shot the pilot before everything else. That's crazy. Because he was such a sweet like innocent like young college guy and then like at the end of it he's like fucking hard as well there's a little i mean taturo is just like that's what happens when you put in a 19 year old in rikers i mean they're gonna yeah yeah i would i would love to see what i would look like a year into rikers when i was 19 maybe i'd the swole patrol would have came by dude lifting those free weights absolutely swole patrol would have definitely come by.

Turturro was dope. That was originally supposed to be Gandolfini. Gandolfini. And then for a hot second it was going to be De Niro? Oh, it was going to be De Niro, yeah. Yeah. I can't imagine anyone but Turturro playing that guy. There's very Gandolfini stuff that he says in there.

I mean, just talking about prostitutes and stuff where I could definitely see Gandolfini talking about it more. Do you feel like most of the things that John Turturro plays, though, you couldn't see anybody but John Turturro playing?

Because I think that might be true. Except maybe some of the Adam Sandler stuff. Yeah. But he does really leave his mark on

roles. I thought the... I've got the wikipedia pulled up here glenn glenn glenna headley that alice in crow yeah who played like that high-powered attorney she was so cold she was so good and so cold-blooded and uh amara uh amara karan kara well i'm gonna i'm sorry, I'm fucking up her name. Her understudy who ended up getting, no spoilers, but like... That character was done so dirty. Yes.

So dirty. That was not, I mean, that was the thing. I loved the beginning of the show. I loved the themes. I thought the ending, it made some bad decisions. Yeah. First of all, I don't know if this is quite wishing the show or something that it wasn't, but I kind of wish they never revealed who did it.

I kind of, that would have been nice. Because it was so beside the point. Yeah. And it was so... I don't even remember it. And I watched the whole thing. Exactly. It's not important to what the show was trying to do, and it made it seem like a whodunit

or something that was so much better than for most of its run. But yeah, definitely. Yeah, I was a little bummed on the ending. I will say that. But the rest of it was good enough. It was the worst part of it. Yeah.

The journey was so good. And oh God, the wire guy. Michael Kenneth Williams? Yep. Yes. He's so good in it too. He's good in everything. God damn, he's good in everything.

It's what happens when you get a buck fifty when you're like, I don't know, what was he, twenty or something? Yeah. When that happened. Wait, what? His face. A scar? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

A buck fifty. Is that a term for a face scar? Because it's supposed to take 150 stitches. So they call it a buck, like, gang initiations. You go slash someone's face, you give them a buck fifty. I'm learning something new every day. You guys need to take a trip to South Dakota, then you'll get it. Clearly.

Just go ride the city bus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dude. $1.50 for days. Omar, dude. Omar was in it. Omar was killer in it. Omar was so good. He's great. And just like raw, too.

And there was also, he had a creepy role, because the whole time you're like, is he going to try to bone this guy? Is that why he's being so nice to him in prison? None of that was the case. I did not think that. I really thought. I thought he thought he was gonna like i kind of thought that's where it was going to the showers i thought he was gonna like kill him or something no no not like i'm not like rape him i mean like wanted him as like a lover like a voluntary lover uh we want him as a drug mule and as a yeah but the whole intro you're that drug mule shit was so bucked too i

forgot about that i did feel like the um like as a woman watching it, I was like, oh, this is great. This is great. Oh, this is HBO. This is HBO. It just is what it is. Yeah, because at first, it was going to be a dead girl show. But I was like, well, they gave her a character. And maybe there's going to be other female characters.

And maybe she's not just a dead girl. But then she was just a dead girl. And then we started seeing a lot of other characters just like like the female ones there was one that was just a shot of to tour i think like on the phone or something and just a woman's ass right next to him and i was like oh you're hbo still but they did give you a flaccid corpse penis oh good great we'll take our scraps you know you know that's what us ladies are into equality means i want a flaccid corpse i want a hard i like it soft but real cold i was watching oz recently because i was like i should this should be under my belt and we like flip our

shit when we see a flaccid corpse penis now and oz did like full on male full frontal in like the second episode. It's just crazy. I was watching Oz when I was a child. And I'm just like, just because HBO you know, my mom didn't pay attention. And it explains the main noir today. Well it wasn't TV, right? No, it was HBO.

It definitely wasn't TV. The HBO was an initial investor in The Ringer, which is something we should point out. Full disclosure. Full disclosure, right. Excellent pick the night of. Anything else to say about it? I'm okay. Real righteous show. I loved it.

Alright, on to my third pick. Jesus Christ, I guess I have to go back to back. Okay, so with my third pick, this is incredibly specific because I'm not going to take all of SNL. Or even all of Larry David's episode of SNL. Oh, man. I'm just going to take the Kevin...

Is that why you were watching it last night? No, that just reminded me of it. I'm just taking the Kevin Roberts sketch, which I tried to find for you and couldn't find. I know, we couldn't find. From the Larry David episode of Saturday Night Live. The proto-David S. Pumpkins? It is a proto-David S. Pumpkins. Can a bitch get a donut?

I like it. More, I love, Larry David is one of my two true heroes in the world. And like, maybe that made me love it more than David S. Pumpkins, which may have actually been better. No, I think David S. Pumpkins is too explainable. It is too explainable.

Compared to that one. You can't really explain. There's no explanation. How did it happen? I tried to find out who wrote it today. Oh, it was Streeter Seidel. Streeter Seidel wrote it? Yeah.

I believe so. Did he also do David S. Pumpkins? So it was like a spiritual sequel? Yeah. That makes sense. I'm pretty sure. It was the two of them. And I think, oh, God.

Mikey Dave? Yes. Yeah. I believe so. Well, thank God for Streeter Seidel, who I think has worked with Jake and Amir on Headcum. Mikey Dave? Yes. Yeah. I believe so. Well, thank God for Stretis Idell, who I think has worked with Jake and Amir on Headcumbs. Yes, with College Humor. Yeah. And it's so funny.

I guess to try to explain it, it's Larry David in one of those, you know when they train cops and it's like a bad guy pops out and you shoot him and then it's like a lady with a babe and you don't shoot her. lady with a babe and you don't shoot her and then kevin larry david character wearing an orange suit pops out and you can't really explain like he's just so funny he's like a person who's not technically bad yeah they have to figure out are they a bad guy a good guy and then this guy who's like what is he he's just annoying and bizarre and bizarre. To explain it, it's a little bit like dissecting the songbird, I guess. Just go watch it. I don't even know what else

to say about it. How the hell can you find it? Because we tried to find it. What episode of SNL is it on? The Larry David one. I guess I can just Google it. It wasn't on YouTube. That was in the same episode as Burn Your Enthusiasm, which is eminently explainable.

And you knew it was coming and you knew exactly what it was going to be. And it just, it was like everything I needed from it. And it was still good. Yeah. So good. I think that same team, and I'm assuming that we got the names right as far as who wrote it, also did the alien abduction sketches with Kate McKinnon. Oh, yeah. production sketches with Kate McKinnon, which they also did a Santa one for Christmas. That was just that again, so bizarre.

And so like, you can't quite explain them, but it's just funny. Yeah. They're just fine. And they, and I think that it's also them looking at their actors and being like, here's what I would love to see you do.

Yeah. Larry David, I would love to see you in this Larry David, I would love to see you in this outfit being this douche. Playing the kind of person that Larry David would hate on Curb. I've forgotten the order, so am I next? Because I have a related one.

You are so far away. Well, I'm the opposite of that. That was just a sneak peek. I don't know what else to say. I think SNL is really good right now. And I'm so glad another season know what I'll say just other than I think SNL's really good right now and I'm so glad

another season of Curve is coming back with Larry David so that was my third pick with my fourth pick trying to keep it bouncing I am going to go with I'm gonna pick

The Nice Guys the movie the motion picture The Nice Guys it was did you watch it was so good it's so good oh I good. It's so good.

Oh, I loved it. It's so good. And we're going to get a gender split in this room right now. Oh, yeah. Didn't see it. Okay. That was a liked and loved, but. Liked and loved?

Yeah. That's acceptable. Yeah, totally. I loved it. I thought it was so funny. I thought Gosling was so funny. Russell Crowe in the correct role can be hilarious. Yeah.

He's got to be doing the right thing because he's like, I don't know if he's got a ton of range for me, but in that role, he's fantastic. Playing like a private investigator, sort of tough. He's like a dick, like a grizzled dickhead, but nice deep down, like nice to kids. Yeah, Shane Black, right? I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The guy behind Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Iron Man 3, right? I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The guy behind Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Iron Man 3, right? Iron Man 3, which was a really good Iron Man movie.

Maybe not the best one. The Iron Man one was really good. He's so good. And this is just, it's a Shane Black movie. It's one of those like, it's kind of for grown-ups. It's pretty funny. The party scene that Ryan Gosling has to go to and get super drunk. It's kind of for grown-ups. It's pretty funny. The party scene that Ryan Gosling has to go to and get super drunk. It's crazy.

His drinking is the funniest problem in that movie because it's like a real problem. Such a lush. Yeah. I also love the fantasy element of a private investigator being able to afford a home in the Hollywood Hills. Uh-huh. Yeah. Or being able to afford a home in Los Angeles. He's got a dope crib, too. It's not like...

Dispilable hours. You gotta inflate them. They also set it up for a sequel, which I hope we get. We probably won't. It was just funny, man. I'd seen a lot of very serious movies from the screeners, and I had the nice guys sitting at home, and I popped that in. And it was just like, after watching bunch of very like movies that are like film

it was good to watch like a good movie that was fun and wasn't a superhero movie. Just like a fun movie for grown-ups. Yeah. I thought it was great. I couldn't recommend it

stronger than that. The Nice Guys super hella good. I want to see it. I want to see it. I haven't. I haven't seen it? Check it out.

Definitely worth seeing if you have not seen it I should be making a list for you too that's on my Sean Jordan list what else is on the Sean Jordan list we're about to find out

because Sean it is time for your fourth pick I'm going to pick a popular R&B singer from Canada The Weeknd oh The Weeknd

The Weeknd he Abel is it was dope he's having a banner year yeah gentleman

I've never heard and this I can't expect this to be an extremely popular opinion, but I've never heard a bad song out of him. Yeah. Every song I love. Wait, so are you such a super fan that you can honestly say that you do not have a playlist that is just an edited down version of his album? Yeah, like Starboy?

No, I'm not that much of a super fan. Like all 17 tracks? Maybe that's why I've never heard a shitty song, because I listen to what I want. But it's... Like all the songs that I've heard of him, and I saw him do a show. Granted, it was last year. But I saw the show and that

it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was so good. I've never seen more people gay, straight, man or woman want to have sex with somebody in my life. It was bananas. That was when I saw Miguel. Someone was trying to tell me gay straight man or woman want to have sex with somebody in my life it was bananas oh yeah that was when i saw miguel that was what that yeah i bet just but i don't know someone was trying to

tell me that like they liked views or like the views is a great album and i was like is views a great album or is the eight songs off views you definitely have on a separate playlist right now a great album that's yeah because yeah that's true i mean I haven't heard all of 1989, but the songs that I have off it are... So to me, it's just like, it's perfect. But yeah, all the songs that I know of The Weeknd are fantastic. I love the guy. Have you listened to all of Starboy, the Daft Punk? Yeah.

And you're into it? I buy... Every time I take a flight, I buy a new song off iTunes for the flight. And that was the one I bought, I don't know, four flights ago. One song for the whole flight? I just buy one to make myself like, this will be the trip. Don't just listen to that one song.

Have you listened to the whole album? He did a whole album. No, I've only listened to the two songs. Oh no, it's a whole double album. That's what Stephen was telling me the other night. I should really get into it. I don't fuck with The Weeknd as much as you do. I'll respect you and your decision.

We're on our way to Vegas. We're listening to The Weeknd, me and Mr. Nick Nampay, and you were into it. I was kind of into it. I just remember in 2011 when he was something only people who read the comments section of Pitchfork knew about. And then he's become an actual pop star. And I always respect people who are able to manage that transition well. an actual pop star. I always respect people who are able to manage that transition well.

His songs are very accessible now in a way that they didn't used to be. He doesn't do it for me. No, me neither. Even after he cut his hair? It's not a visual thing. I can't feel my face. It's impossible not to fucking get into it.

See, for me, I can't fucking hear that song again. I've heard it to death. Yeah, for me, I can't fucking hear that song again. Oh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've heard it to death, but like... Yeah, that was not my summer jam that summer. For me, that summer jam that summer, I have a beef with that song because I feel like it distracted people

from another slamming Jason Derulo hit. I'm a big Jason Derulo fan. Sure, yeah. Yeah, which probably reveals a lot of gross stuff about me. I love it. Which song? Derulo. It's Too me. I love it. Which song? It's Too Hot to Sleep.

That one? It's... I got my face in the dark. So little baby. My mom... Is there some talk show bit where someone plays him just the part of the song where he says his name and they see if he can identify the song based on it? Oh, there should be.

If there's not, there should be. If there's not, we'll do that. We'll see on the Late Late Show. I don't know if I made that up in my head or whether that's a real thing. That's a great idea. I love it. Wiggle, I mean, I'm not someone who's going to be like, who's like, yes, I love a song about an ass, but I love. That beat for Wiggle is so.

Patty cake, patty cake with no hands. That's an amazing first line to a song. It's the work of a poet. Yes. A horny poet. A horny poet. A horny poet. Just slapping skins, I think, is where it comes from. All right, Sean, The Weeknd.

What was your... So you're into the whole aesthetic. You think he's one to watch a pop star for the future? I just think he's had a great year. Like, he's had so many really good songs this year. Like, so many just good radio songs this year. Yeah. I just think he's dope.

All right. I really think he had a big influence on pop culture. Say no more. Yeah. Eliza Skinner, time for your fourth pick. My fourth out of five? Yeah. I'm going to pick, again, if you can pick just a sketch.

Sure. I'm going to pick Kate McKinnon's action sequence from Ghostbusters. Oh, yeah. Nice. One of my, the follow-up pick i promised earlier was kate mckinnon so i'm just gonna fold that onto you so i have an extra pick yeah um yeah yeah the uh i mean i love i liked ghostbusters um i can't tell if it was i saw ghost i saw the original ghostbusters when i was a child yeah this one i didn't see when i was a child i liked it though but that action sequence towards

the end um where suddenly she's just just like killing shooting ghosts left and right slow mo she's fucking like sex on ice and she's a badass and she's awesome and i feel like it honestly chokes me up it was so great and to imagine like little little girls getting to see that i'm getting to be like that's me i feel i get to be that person it's like so huge i didn't get that when i was a kid i didn't i was like well maybe i'd be the princess who hangs out with that person. Or maybe, maybe, um, I'm kind of like that boy. Yeah. I'm,

I'm like him, but like to see like, that is me. Ugh. That's great. That's how I feel about the end of episode seven. Like when you see Ray holding out the lightsaber, that is your lasting iconic image of like a hero holding a weapon and like

establishing herself as a successor to the older hero and like taking on the mantle by choice not being forced on her like maybe a katniss yeah which i feel like come on let somebody like yeah the whole self-sacrificing thing is another stereotype of femininity and just the fact that she got to have her own personality and it wasn't a big deal that you know the way ghostbusters was an all-female reboot and that attracted so much flack for bullshit reasons but the fact that star star wars was like we're not even gonna say like this is the one where we have the female jedi we're just gonna have one yeah it's just a star wars movie yeah yeah it was fantastic that was that

was gonna be my last pick was ghostbusters. Just the whole thing. And she's just having like, I tweeted about this and you responded to it. And I was like, I tried to think of my favorite Kate McKinnon characters. And I got to like eight. And I was like, just everyone. She's so fucking good. I haven't seen Ghostbusters. She is phenomenal in Ghostbusters. She's amazing in it.

Every take, every line, every look. Yeah. On Saturday Night Live is, like, just fucking one of the... I mean... It's mind-blowing. One of the all-time greats already. Yeah, it was, like, Angela Merkel, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Billie Jean King, the cat lady where she has the different girlfriend every time.

Yes. Yeah. The alien abduction character, the new one where she's like the old Hollywood starlet who's just telling these horrific stories about sexism. Yeah. They've done that a few times too, I believe. Yeah.

Yeah. That is so great. She's, and the one at the bar where she's always at the- Oh, the last hall. Yeah. At the end. That they do with kind of gross dudes every time. Oh, who am I thinking of that she just did it with?

Did she do it with Lucy Kay? Yeah, she just did it with somebody. It wasn't Tom Hanks, was it? No. Oh, no, it was Chappelle. Was it Chappelle? Yes. Yeah.

It was Dave Chappelle. It was so good. Yes, it's always comics, I guess. Yeah. She's amazing. Yeah. And also has been fucking grinding at it for so long. She was on Big Gay Sketch Show.

Was she really? Yeah. Years, years ago. She was the breakout for the show that no one watched. Yeah. And then after that, she went to the UCB and put up a bunch of solo shows and then got this. Yeah. Just to get to your original point about this, which is how important representation is.

It really is, man. I remember how cool it was when I discovered the Beastie Boys. Even the Beastie Boys and Biggie, which speaks to what I liked as a kid, but here's some cool Jews, and here's a cool fat guy. It's okay

that he's fat. Girls still want to hang out with him even though he's fat, and the Beastie Boys are cool even though they're pretty Jewish. And it probably fundamentally shaped your confidence. It 100% did. Because I could be like, oh, he can do it. I can do it.

I understand that these are top of the mountain type people, but I can at least have something to climb towards. At least I know there's a mountain. That shit really is important. So I'm really glad that that is out there now. And with Star Wars, I've been thinking a lot

about Leia lately for obvious reasons. And it's one of those things where if you actually think about the character, it's not necessarily a great role, but both Carrie Fisher is so amazing and would not let a bad role happen to her and everyone was looking like you were looking for something and so that was the thing that you

latched on to and you had to deal with a bunch of like idiot fellow middle schoolers talking about how hot she was yeah but like that was your thing and the fact that you have something that doesn't have that complicating factor and is just so unquestionable is really means a lot yeah so i can't wait to see what kate mckinnon does in the future how i mean what do you think maybe one more season on snl too i mean who knows i feel like um kristin wigg stayed longer than she needed to just because like why not do your movies in the summer have fun why not she's so good i bet they're praying she doesn't leave. She's so fucking good.

I was going to say, like, she doesn't have a Bridesmaids yet, which, like, is also, like, if Ghostbusters costs, like, $50 million less, like, it would be a hit. Yeah. It's so ridiculous that it's not considered. How much of that was marketing, by the way? God damn. Yeah. I mean, the budget was, like, $150 or something like that.

And then, like, more of that was marketing. And it was just one of those things where, like, that's what Paul Feig does is he makes, like, good mid-budget movies. And they make, like, seven times their budget or whatever. And the fact that they, like, made him or they didn't make him. But, like, I don't know. He tried to make a blockbuster. Yeah. I wrote a whole piece about this earlier.

But the fact that we're talking about, like, this was the best opening weekend melissa mccarthy who is like the most reliable movie star we had has ever had and we were still being like is this a failure it's like yeah you know something's off here totally unfair yeah yeah yeah but yeah well let's hope she does something fucking dope in the future that we can all rally around and it will be and i don't even know if it will be her bridesmaid. One of the things that's, I think, so interesting about her is what a weirdo she is. It's hard to

have a weirdo lead. You can do it, but it's... I almost love her in these supporting roles. But yeah, somebody will figure it out. Well, shout out to Kate McKinnon. Shout out to the Ghostbusters action sequence that you drafted uh allison herman it's time for

your fourth and then final pick immediately wow okay um so for my fourth pick going really specific uh it's a tv show called high maintenance oh yes sure i actually haven't seen it. I have been into high maintenance since 2013 when my friend walked into my room and was like, hey, there's this really cool web series. It's about a weed dealer. And I was like, that sounds like the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard of. Yeah. this is incredible. I watch all of them in an hour. And then, so basically it used to be this like self-financed web series they did in their spare time. And I remember like when they released new episodes,

we were like so excited. And then they got picked up by Vimeo as their first like premium thing. And we were so excited. And then we heard they got picked up by HBO and it was like, okay, this finally isn't going to be like a thing I'm going to have to yell at my friends about. It's going to be like a real show.

Yeah. And I mean I had like every confidence that it would be great but it was so good to see them like so the way the show works is every episode yeah so he's in every episode at some point in the episode someone calls the guy but there's no common link besides that but like over time they've gradually built up built up kind of like an ensemble cast of like characters you'd recognize and one of the things i really appreciated was they they put such a good balance between like new characters and making sure that people who'd never seen it before would

understand the show and continuing to build and incorporate this whole like loose cast of people so it felt like the same show and they got really like formally experimental and they challenged themselves like it's got a stereotype it's like a show about you know white people in brooklyn and it's really good at satirizing that whole scene but then they had episodes this season about um a muslim immigrant girl and about these chinese can collectors and specifically the one about the immigrant girl was like there's this moment where she's like a college girl and the whole thing is she has to balance her identity as an immigrant kid with a conservative family with like being a young kid and then there's this moment in the

middle of this montage where she goes up to the roof of this brooklyn apartment building by herself and like there's this beautiful golden sunlight and she just smokes weed and paints her nails and it was like the only representation i've ever seen of like that specific use that marijuana can serve to you as like i'm just going to take time for myself yeah it's not going to be productive i'm not going to be putting it towards some end a little bit of me time i need this yeah and like the show is so good at realizing like the purposes weed serves in these people's lives. You describing that made me want to smoke weed so bad. I don't smoke weed.

I was just like, you know, I'd probably have to smoke weed if the sun set in Brooklyn. I wanted to go smoke weed and clean my room or something like that. That show, I've been a big fan of it for years also. fan of it for years also um but the uh the episode this season with the dog yeah i feel like was one of probably the most accurate and touching representations of a breakup i have seen of like watching someone go through a breakup and like how they process it and it's a dog the whole time yeah um who like falls in love with is with its dog walker and it never they never tell you they were like the dog's in love with the dog walker but like you could just tell you you know that's i mean they have a dream sequence anyway um but what's really what's really interesting it's just like

they like took a real chance on doing things like that that are that's a weird storyline um but they also uh so it was it's made by katya blickfeld blickfield um and her boy her husband who plays the um the dealer but she was a uh casting director at nbc for years and so all these people who are on the show in these really interesting specific characters were people that would come through her office and not get cast. And she was like, she created the perfect character for each one of them. You know what I mean? And it really taught, watching the show has taught me what casting directors do and how they see people and are like, you have a thing and we have to find the right thing for you.

And rather than keep waiting and doing that end of it, she just made the right thing for all these people. Crazy. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. That's rad. And it's such an amazing portrait of New York and it's so empathetic. Like I just remember like seeing the dog episode and being like,

these people have such an amazing capacity to place themselves in the shoes and replicate the feelings of others that they can literally do it with animals. That is what these people are capable of. And it was just so great. And it was also like you're rooting for them because I've been seeing them since they were like a self-financed thing. Yeah.

It was like, yes, get that HBO money. Like do it. They wanted an even longer journey than like Broad City and stuff like that. Yeah. Because they work on all sorts of platforms. But also they always looked amazing. Like Broad City looked like a web series when it started high maintenance has looked like a high quality show since it was a web series yeah they've just kept it small and kept it manageable the first episode is like all in a bathroom of a hotel room and it's great and it's

one of those things where like they're good at these things because they had to be, but they build complete characters in five minutes, and you just understand all these people's neuroses and how their day works, and they're so talented. And they were able to, first they did it because they only had enough money to make five minutes of footage, but now they do it on this HBO show to fill it out really well and set things up really seamlessly, and it's just really great. You'd love it. I'm show to fill it out really well and set things up really seamlessly and it's just really great. You'd love it.

I'm going to watch it. I only saw one episode when we did the YouTube episode of The Late Late Show and it was not a great episode of it. Oh yeah, get into it. People were cheating on each other and I was just like, this isn't what I want to watch right now. Start with the first episode

and it'll suck you right in. I will 100% do it. High maintenance. Put it on the list, Sean. Big list. And the final pick? Your final pick, Alison Herman. Okay, my final pick.

I've seen it on your list, but I'm going to steal it. I'm sorry. Samantha Bee. Oh, yes. She had an amazing year. It was so good. I mean, I will always remember like when pussy gate happened i don't watch live tv a lot ironically given my job i watch a lot of screeners i watch a lot of

next day stuff i made sure to be like i want to see what she's gonna say appointment television yeah and i just remember like there's this moment where she's like making a joke about him like grabbing someone's pussy like a bowling ball and like the look on her face when she was doing it was just like pure fury and just seeing someone who was like that is how angry i feel and it is so nice to see someone like mirror that but yeah a way that is really entertaining and sharp and well researched and you know you felt like donald trump was just like gaslighting you because he would do these crazy shit and then the media would never just...

It took the whole campaign for the New York Times to just say he was lying, which he was doing the whole time. And then to cut through that and have someone be like, no, you're not crazy. This is just as bad as you think it is. But I'm also going to do it in a way

that makes it feel a little better because I'm smarter than you and I'm funnier than you. That's so nice. Great field pieces also. Great field pieces. And that was a thing that she really wanted to double down on. Also, I appreciated that once she established her own rhythm,

she's done a really good job of fostering the correspondence. And Ashley Nicole Black is great. Yeah. And did you see the thing with Glenn Beck? Her interview with Glenn Beck? I thought that was a really great piece also and took a big chance of her being like, oh, maybe am I part of the problem also? And like letting that be part of the discussion. I thought it was really interesting.

It was great. She had a great year. It is so depressing working in late night and knowing that Samantha Bee and John Oliver are just going to fight over the Emmys for the next however long they're on TV. For me, it's so depressing working in late night and knowing that there's only a woman for one night a week. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's more depressing. That's more depressing. But what's that for me? I know.

You're white male in the room. You're Emmy, Emmy, Emmy. Yeah. She's so fucking good. So comfortable, so seasoned. Yeah, and it's so great that she has her own show. You want her to, like, watching the Daily Show now and knowing that she, seeing what she's doing, even though it's a one-night-a-week platform,

she's just like, fuck. Fuck. Like, fuck. Fuck. Like, fuck. Trevor Noah, I think, is a very talented, charismatic man who has a job somewhere out there that's right for him. I don't happen to think it's The Daily Show. I think he's in both the wrong moment, because detachment is not what anyone is looking for

in the overnight host right now. And also, I think he might not be as good a comedian as he is like an interviewer. Yeah. I thought the Barack Obama thing was really interesting and it was really cool that, you know, when he didn't have to – and like Tomi Lahren when he didn't have to like destroy her. Right. The clever punchlines, like when it was just them talking and him kind of persuading her. See, I – That was good.

it was just them talking and him kind of persuading her. That was good. I thought that was such a letdown, that Tommy Lahren stuff. Because I felt like every time she made a point that was a lie, rather than be like, that's a lie, he would be like, okay, well, anyway. Yeah, we'll talk about this. He kept pivoting. I'm like, don't pivot.

Nail her down. This is not a good debate. Yeah, chase her on it. He's allowing these things to live out there as these little clouds of maybe it's true um that yeah and he also that dude i don't know it's fair i just think the purpose of that interview was basically going to be given who watches the daily show was like this person exists let's like have her say as much crazy things as we can so you know that this is a person with a huge platform yeah yeah i still feel like he could have like acknowledged that they were crazy lies no i totally see your point i just thought that was like a very interesting hint to like what he might be able to do if he didn't have

the obligation to yeah i also like dude i also think he's got uh as far as the detachment like being having that kind of detachment, being foreign, non-American. For real. Foreign feels like a dirty word now, doesn't it? Foreign, it does. Foreign, being non-American. And being that attractive. He's gorgeous.

Yeah, exactly. John Oliver can get away with it because he looks like John Oliver. And he can be like, and he has this attitude of like, I'm a schmo, but I'm pretty sure this is all stupid. Yeah. And Trevor Noah has this attitude like, you're all idiots. And also, I definitely drive a Ferrari, a bunch of them. I kind of feel like Trevor Noah goes into the same parties as – like after the interview, will go into a back room with all these people. You know what I mean?

Yeah, he went to the Met Gala last year. Yeah. That happened. Yeah. Which is fine. I mean, good for – like, I don't begrudge him any sort of good career or even the Daily Show thing, but when you see what Samantha Bee does with just

the once a week thing, and maybe it's better suited to once a week. Maybe it lets you do more. But when you miss, and I am one of those people who thinks that comedy is given too much credit, work and comedy, where like, you know. It's not supposed to do everything. It's not supposed to do everything. And people like look to it to do like so many things. And it's like, you know. It's not supposed to do everything. It's not supposed to do everything. And people like look to it to do like so many things.

And it's like, you know, like Jon Stewart said himself, he's like, we didn't get George Bush impeached. You know, like all that shit. Like, and DJ Jarabong, who wrote with us on the Late Late Show, who was there, won 13 Emmys with a daily show. He's like said himself, and I don't think you'd mind me sharing that, that like, we didn't do shit.

We made a lot of people laugh. And we feel good, that like, we didn't do shit. We made a lot of people laugh and we feel good about that, but we didn't do one single fucking thing. And I think that's true to an extent. I don't know if it's quite that true. Well, it's also one of the things where like, I don't expect comedy to like save the world, but when you're going to attempt to do political comedy, you

are taking on that mantle and you should be judged by those standards. Yes. And I think she just does it incredibly well. 100%. And I would love if she had that even bigger platform. Although I think she's finding an audience and just doing a fucking great job with Full Frontal. Yeah.

It could have been, it would have kept The Daily Show as an institution rather than the problem needs to be solved. Yeah, I think it would have, and it would have evolved it in a really it would have evolved it in a really great way. Yeah. I also do think like John Oliver is like an like, it's not that the international thing is the problem. Because John Oliver uses it to be, like, I can see how insane this is even more because I know how it's supposed to work. He doesn't have the privilege and status of being, like, a model who feels above it all. Which is what Trevor Noah – like, literally, he was a model who feels above it all, which is what Trevor Noah, like literally he was a model.

And this attitude of like, you're idiots that you even think this way. And he's almost straddling on both sides of it. The other thing is he's from South Africa, where, I mean, our problems that we have in America are bad for us, but like, you know, compared to the problems that happen in Africa, it's a little bit like, oh, you think this is bad? Yeah. Which is both true and not what we need to hear as a viewing audience. We can all fix our own houses.

Full frontal with Samantha Bee. Amazing last pick. Eliza Scanner, time for your final pick. Well, yeah. That was on my list, and I think we were both not picking it to let each other pick it, which was nice of us.

We're very nice people. I like that. So I'm going to pick a rando. Last minute. Yes. Sticking it in there. From the spectrum of the invitations, the solitude of the invitation and the physical impairment of don't speak. In the middle, we meet at Hush.

Oh. A Hush fella. Yeah. Oh, sure. hush um a hush fella yeah oh sure the uh the horror movie about the um uh deaf woman who is alone in her cabin in the woods of a home i gotta see it who gets a bill simmons favorite yes yes it was crackerjack it's great it is a great horror thriller. You watch the whole thing. You never get bored. There's no moment where I'm like, oh, no, now she's naked. Or like, now she's getting torn apart so I can see her tits.

But great performances. It's almost like Hitchcockian in how intense and specific it is and how it builds. in and how intense and specific it is um and how it builds i thought it was just a great i'm a big fan of indie horror and uh this one was my fave i don't even know that i'd heard of hush i don't think i know about the blind guys to netflix you said it's in between don't breathe and what and the invitation because i also wanted to mention those two too i also watched the invitation right before i went to a house party on new year's Eve and was like, this was dumb of me. I made my family watch The Invitation because I was like, it's a psychological thriller. Maybe you'd like it.

And it's also about cults kind of. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for Hush. It's great. It's so good. It's such a good one. That's pretty buck. Yeah. I highly recommend it.

If you like horror at all, if you like thrillers, you'd be on the edge. And seeing a little Sam She's Naked Don't Breathe definitely has that moment. It definitely has that. Dude, when that happened, I went with my girlfriend, and when that happened, I was just like, please don't make this a part of the movie. Well, they tried to twist it, where they're like, we'll see. I mean, I don't want to spoil anything. No, yeah, I know. But the twist was not enough of a, oh it's not gonna happen to her well

still though it's gross it's like on top of like did you see it no it's still using rape bullshit part of it like it is literally so implausible that it just jolted me out of the movie yeah because it's like a thriller about a blind guy in this house and it works really well and i loved it fine and then you find out that he has a blind guy in this house, and it works really well. And I loved it. And then you wind up and there's a girl imprisoned in his basement, and you're like, wait, he's blind. How did he capture this girl? Right? Yeah. Like, what?

Guys, you're going to love Hush, then. All right. It has all the good stuff that you liked about it. We're going to check out Hush. None of that stuff. But The Witch, also. It's got a big list of all. See?

You're for horror. I know, there's a lot of shit on here. I considered The Witch, but I didn't love the witch i i liked that it existed i didn't love it um and i liked that i felt like the witch was i like horror movies that are scary i didn't find the witch scary i found it to be an interesting uh film about becoming a woman this would have felt like to me they're like after a while like okay yeah i'm a witch i'm a witch to all you guys well then i'm gonna be a fucking witch that's what i am now if that's my only choice as an adult woman well here it comes i was just yeah i didn't even like go in quite i knew it was sort of scary but i wasn't like oh i want a horror movie this is what

i'm gonna see and i was just like the wait the dialogue is period accurate like you're you're just gonna have them talk like that the whole time is that what they did in the witch yeah yeah and apparently it's partly taken from like actual documents from the 17th century and the fact that this is this dude's like first movie ever yeah and the dialect people getting called goody and shit like the witch was yeah but it's like lots of dots oh man where is it like northern england or something it's where it's in new eng of doths. Oh, man. Where is it? Like Northern England or something? It's where... It's in New England.

It's in New England? It's like around Salem. Yeah, it's... Western England. Yeah. It was weird. Yeah. But there's a lot of good stuff in it, and it's an interesting film, but I loved Hush.

Hush was my one. Hush is the pick. I can't wait to watch it, then. Sean Jordan, I can't wait to hear what your final pick is. I don't know. Those were so heavy. My last pick was going to be extremely light-hearted. It's just a little horror movie.

Come on. I'm going to take the rise of anti-Semitism again. Just so you know. My last pick is going to be Emojis. Emojis? This was the year that I finally started using Emojis. I go out of my way to use emojis

you know cheers the beers and stuff like I just put pizza in all my texts you're fully into it now I feel like I talk about him a lot on this podcast when my dad discovered emoji this year so did my dad I don't like it my dad uses the one with the eye winking and the tongue out and that's not right

I don't want that from my dad Jordan uses the one with the eye winking and the tongue out, and that's not right. Oh, no, I don't like that. I don't want that for my dad. Kelly Jordan uses the hearts, and I'm just going to let me come on. Say I didn't delete it. Okay, so just the last text she sent me, but just to give you. She goes, hi, Sean. Hi, Sean. Hi, Andy.

Holy canola bar. I haven't seen Andy since he was a little cutie pie. Fun. Be good, boys. And then there are like 15 hearts is it all different types of hearts she'll do okay i don't know if you guys can see all the fucking colors but like two smiley faces two blue hearts two purple hearts two red hearts two yellow hearts two pink hearts two green hearts and then six people sleeping emojis so it's like stickers on the

on the greeting card i love it it. And I used to, it used to bug me when she would send all those and I'd tell her, I'd be like, you need to chill out on the emojis. And then I was like, you dickhead, you talk to your mother like that. Yeah.

And so, you know, I, now I'm just like, you know, send me, send me paragraphs of emojis. I don't give a shit.

And I throw them out there too. Cause now I like getting them when people throw the emoji on there, it lets me know that they are actually in a good mood. They're not faking like, Oh, I'm so excited to see you. And if they go out of their way to put people throw an emoji on there, it lets me know that they are actually in a good mood. They're not faking, like, oh, I'm so excited to see you. And if they go out of their way to put a party hat on there, they want to see me. They want a party. They put some beers, I bring over

a couple mugs. And now we have the emoji movie. There's an emoji movie coming up. I know. I'm really excited about it. Emojis. Who's going to voice the poop? Or is it just going to make a noise? Kevin Hart. It's going to voice the poop? Or is it just going to make a noise? Kevin Hart.

Oh, God. I mean, it's going to be somebody big. It will be, yeah. The poop is not going to go to a newcomer. No, it won't be. So you mean I should stop angling for it right now? Yeah, I mean, maybe you could get one of those two girls dancing. I'm hoping to be one of the two girls.

It would be a good poop voice. I'm hoping to be... If you're a stand-up comedian and you're not the poop emoji, fire your agent. Yeah, right? I want to be Nicaragua's flag. Ooh. Yeah. No one else is going for it.

No. I think it was amazing how many flags they have on there. They have so many flags. I want to be the 100. Yeah, 100 is good. I bet 100 will be in the movie. Yeah, yeah.

And that'll probably be the weekend or something. There will probably be an eggplant joke in it, too. Mm-hmm. Sure. Looks like a dick sometimes. Yeah.

Some people say. Some people. Mine doesn't look like that. The pundits are claiming. There's a breadstick now, too. Isn't there a breadstick? Yeah, there's a baguette. They have the stick face, which I've been seeing a lot of over the holidays.

That green face. Well, sure. Yeah. There's a creepy clown and a cowboy, too. I don't know what we needed those for. No. Well, there's that clown epidemic this year. Oh, yeah. Yeah, true. Oh, clown and a cowboy, too. I don't know what we needed those for. No. Well, there's that clown epidemic this year. Oh, yeah, true.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Did you see that they changed the peach emoji to not look like a butt, and then there was a revolt, and they changed it back? They changed it back, yeah. They were right to do it, too. It just looked like a butt from a different angle. Plus, we need it to be a butt. It's the Muppet Show.

For the kids, it's a peach. And for the adults who need a butt, it's a butt. We need a butt. Or give us a butt. Then we'll stop using the peach as a butt. It's the Muppet Show. For the kids, it's a peach. And for the adults who need a butt, it's a butt. We need a butt. Or give us a butt. Then we'll stop using the peach as a butt. They put the shaka in there, finally. So I can talk to other skateboarders and be like, dog, let's go shredding. And now they get that I really

want to go skate when I put that in. I like to imagine you and your skateboard friends just have a group text where you occasionally will just send each other the chaka. We have it. We do.

And I'm going to do it at this very moment. I'm going to do that. Well, I'm going to do it after this podcast, but just everybody know that I will do that because we do have a group text.

Good to know. By the time you're hearing this, it will have been done. Excellent pick. Emojis. Thanks, man. They didn't really come out this year,

but new ones did. Well, that's just kind of like... New ones did. They had an effect on pop culture this year. I guess, yeah, I didn't think about that. I'm sorry if that's a bad pick, but it counts. Yeah, it totally counts. And we're bridging towards the movie, so I feel like it's relevant.

Okay. It's time for my final pick. All right, let's go. And, God, I really wanted to go with an avant-garde one, but I didn't think this would still be on the board. So I have to take it. The new Tribe Called Quest album. We got it from here.

Thank you for your service. Of course. Or did I reverse those? I don't know. Yeah, whatever. I think we got it from here. Thank you for your service. Yeah, the new Tribe.

The new Tribe. It is. I don't know why they didn't just call it New Tribe. The new Tribe. It's so fucking good. It is. It's New Tribe. It is. I don't know why they didn't just call it New Tribe. The New Tribe. It's so fucking good. It is. It's so good. It is.

It is. I had to say. I, so I moved to LA from New York earlier this, or I guess last year now. Yeah. And then my first time going back for like an extended amount of time was the week after the election. And all I listened to was that album. Yes.

And it was like the perfect like wandering around in central park just like getting that anger but also eloquence out it was just so great it's it's so it's so good right for like i mean starting with like the space program and we the people are so prescient that it's crazy that it didn't that it wasn't recorded the day after trump was elected i was i was like how did they do this? Although I guess this also kind of goes back to, you know, you were talking about the way SNL was like, oh, we found out Beyonce was black. This kind of goes back to that Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, like, oh, it's bad for you now, isn't it?

Yeah. So I guess it's like, you know, Tip and, you know, 5RIP and Jerobe, whatever, saying like, yeah, it's always been like this. That this would have been equally prescient had Hillary been elected. But like, it's just so good. They make use of features so well. Kendrick's feature is really good on it. They always have. Yeah, they really have.

Busta is amazing on it. The way Busta has always been amazing on Tribe Called Quest songs. I remember seeing him with Tribe Called Quest when I was a kid. Really? He was a, but he wasn't Busta. He was just the guy from Scenario. And from Guesting on Scenario.

It was just really, really good. And it's so interesting for me to see, because I'm such a huge hip-hop fan, and I've always been curious, because you never really heard from Melly Mel when he was in his 40s or 50s you know or like uh or like these really early or even like uh you know eric b and rakim you never heard from these people as they got older so it's so interesting to see this

generation of rappers who are still making music as they get older great music too great music like not not even yeah it's a new tribe so i'm gonna i'm gonna give it anyway it's like it's fan if this was the first one not rusty tip is amazing and tip has such a good his voice is so good so distinctive one of the best rappers what top 10 there's ever been it takes yeah i think you're right it takes me like 10 or 15 listens of a song to even pay attention to what the lyrics are saying because i'm just i'm one of those people enjoys music son like rap sonically most people people do. Yeah. Most people do? Yeah.

Most people take away more from melody and sound than lyrics. Yeah, I have to like pay it. I have to, now that I'm older, I'm like, well, I want to know what they're saying. So I have to make myself listen to it. An obnoxious nerdy aside. It's definitely like a habit you have to like train yourself to do that. Yeah. It's, yeah. Otherwise I'll find myself like, have you heard this awesome song?

And I'll play it. Like I'll be in the car and play it for like my girlfriend or whatever. And it's just like halfway into find myself like have you heard this awesome song and I'll play it like I'll be in the car and play it for like my girlfriend or whatever and it's just like halfway into it you're like oh no

she's a brick and I'm drowning slowly off the coast and I'm right oh this is about an abortion I didn't know that was about abortion

until like this year no neither did all of the teenagers who were like singing it as their class song yeah it was we had to dissect that

in college. And that was when I found out I was sitting there. I was 20 years old, and I'm like, totally. Yeah. It's not just a fun song to listen to when your girl breaks up with you or something. The Tribe album also has one of my favorite non-Chance the Rapper part from all of this year,

which is Andre 3000 on Kids, when he's talking about all the different the foods that kids like. Wait, hold on. This is obnoxious. But I'm going to look it up. Yeah, and their performance on SNL was so good.

So great and so perfectly timed. I didn't know that was Busta when he came out. Ian had to tell me who it was. I didn't recognize it. But that was the thing. it was kind of nice to see them all as like old old dudes they're not just a huge giant man yeah but he used to be skinny he used to be skinny but he also looks i mean yeah he's cash like dad yeah big you know he's got some some some road miles on there and it it's great to see them still being relevant and energetic and having a voice.

Andre 3000's also had a good year, because the Frank Ocean thing, that was great. Andre, he's, I mean, he is the king of the guest verse. Yeah, I feel like he did something else, too. Yeah, him and Big Sean. I have a playlist that's just Andre 3000's guest verses from the last few years with like Ben's Friends and like Pink Matter all the way back to like that but here's his

it's verse 3 on kids and it's the kids say I'm the shit I'm Chick-fil-A nuggets McDonald's french fries the spicy Popeyes and red lobster biscuits it's just so fun that's what kids like he just came out and wrapped like all these delicious foods that kids like The spicy Popeyes and red lobster biscuits. It's just so fun. That's what kids like. He just came out and wrapped all these delicious foods the kids like.

That's what kids like. Today. It's just so, like, I remember hearing that the first time and just being like, oh. Just like giggling to myself and just being so happy. It was, fuck, and again, as a white straight dude, it feels so weird. Although I am Jewish, but it still feels so weird. Yeah, really? You're talking so weird. Although I am Jewish, but it still feels so weird. Yeah, really? You're talking about me.

The Trump. Yeah. I'm not like Sean, who's not even Jewish, by the way. Doesn't have the common decency in this day and age to be Jewish. Justin. Dick. It feels almost selfish to be like the Trump election shook me up. But it did shake me up.

And this was one of the first things that brought me true joy after that happened. Which was just like, it just unhinged me from reality for a second. It felt like they were like, you guys need this. I would believe if someone was like, oh, it's going to come out a month and a half later. But they were like, nope, we got to give it to them right now. I mean, it was even called We Got It From Here. And it was like, you kind of let them have it from there for a while. Yeah.

Yeah, so that's that's my final pick any other thoughts on the Tribe Called Quest album it's fantastic thumbs up excellent so just to sum it up

Allison Herman you let us off you picked Death which definitely fucking owned 2016 and then Donald Glover La La Land High Maintenance

and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Eliza Skinner, you went next and took Beyonce's Lemonade. Broadway. Broadway. Broadway! I have to use my Ethel Merman voice. When else am I going to get to use it? Fleabag, Kate McKinnon's

action sequence from Ghostbusters, which turned into just Kate McKinnon, who had a fucking amazing year. And then Hush, Sean Jordan, you took The People vs. O.J. Simpson, Stranger Things Sean Jordan, you took The People vs. OJ Simpson, Stranger Things, The Night Of, The Weeknd,

Too many TV shows. and Emojis. Oh, you did great, dude. You did great. And then I followed it all up at the end with Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, Larry David's

on SNL, the sketch, the movie The Nice Guys, and a Tribe Called Quest album we got it from here thank you for your service that's a fun 20 20 things

it wasn't death no death isn't fun like it's that's a good list I mean some awful shit happened this year but there was some good shit

that happened too we lost some good stuff on the board Rogue One was good yeah we're defined by the good and the bad we didn't get to Moonlight

we didn't get to Moonlight the mannequin challenge which I loved oh are we just gonna put all the memes here good. Yeah. We're defined by the goods and the bads. We didn't get to Moonlight. We didn't get to Moonlight. Crazy. The Mannequin Challenge, which I loved. Oh, are we just going to put all the memes here on the back end? We're going to put them all on Evil Kermit. Jon Snow, dude. Mr. Krabs. Yeah, Mr. Krabs. Dat Boy. Dat Boy. Oh, shit!

That was this year? Okay, I amended Dat Boy. Should definitely be in Somebody's Top 5. Oh, shit. Yeah, there was Silicon Valley had another really great season. okay I amend it definitely should definitely be in somebody's top five oh shit yeah there was Silicon Valley had another really

great season this year I thought that was in there Captain America Insecure Insecure shout out to Issa Rae yeah

I hope she wins on Sunday oh what did she she's up for the best comedy actress and they love like planting their flag and being on the

ground floor for that. So she's a shot. Oh, that's true. They do love that. Fuck the Globes. That was Rachel Bloom last year, right? And Gina Rodriguez before that. James Fallon.

James Fallon. Yeah. So thank you so much for participating. This has, I think, definitely been our longest episode yet. Yeah, we. Yeah. We fucking, we burned the midnight oil. Woo.

It's a three-hour podcast. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah. It'll probably end up being two and a half. Yeah, we fucking, we burned the midnight oil. It's a three-hour podcast. Yeah, well, yeah. Yeah, it'll probably end up being two and a half. Where are we at? Two and a half. Jesus Christ, who sits in heaven on a throne made of the bones of his enemies. What a long podcast. Thank you for listening.

Thank you guys for participating. Alison Herman, Liza Skinner, Sean Jordan. I've been your host, Ian Carmel. Make sure you tune in next week for another, shorter episode of All Fantasy Everything. That was a HeadGum Podcast.