Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen - Bobby Berk

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

The broads welcome Bobby Berk, interior design expert from the show Queer Eye and Rachel’s birthday twin, to the conversation this week! Bobby shares how he went from sleeping in his car to becoming a massive TV personality, growing up gay in a small religious town and leaving home at 15, and all things Queer Eye. Enjoy! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hax is back for its fifth and final season, and so is The Hacks podcast. Join the Hacks creators and showrunners, Lucia and Yellow, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky as they unpack the Emmy-winning comedy series. On each episode, hear stories from the set, what goes on in the writer's room, and how these beloved characters close out their final season. Watch Hax streaming exclusively on HBO Max and listen to The Hacks podcast on HBO Max, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Broad Ideas.

Hello, Olivia. Hello, Rachel. Hi, Rob. Hey. So today, we have somebody who is on one of my favorite shows. I'm going to try not to geek out too much. Are you talking about the Mask Singer? Mask Singer, I have to say, is very entertaining.

as well. And I was surprised to learn that this person was on the mast singer. But what he is, I don't know if it's better known for, but I'm going to say yes, better known for. Queer Eye, hello, that is on now with the Fab Five. And I could not wait to sit down and speak with the lovely Bobby Burke. Without further ado, here's Bobby. round and round inside to join us on this journey as we take a little ride we'll talk about dogs and kids and things we'll talk about chicks and tampon strings we'll talk about boys because people die so I am so happy today I am so thrilled to meet you mr Bobby Burke you too my birthday's twin hold on just realizing right now, not only do we have the same birthday. Are we both 81 babies as well? 81.

Where were you born? L.A. Where were you born? Houston. But both of our moms were screaming bloody murder probably at the same time. So we are basically twins. Do you guys know what time you were born? Yeah, I was going to ask, you know what time? No, I don't. I'm 7.56 a.m., so keep that in your mind and find out because I have a feeling we are that connected.

I love it. That is so crazy. Yeah, I have a lot of friends with the same birthday, but not the exact year. Everyone's usually a year before or two years after. So Olivia is my best friend of 25 plus years, Bobby. Hi, Bobby. Great to meet you. Great to meet you, too.

Are you at L.A. as well? I'm not now. I'm in Northern California, but we both grew up in L.A. Are you in L.A.? I know my sunshiny background's giving me away today that it's a video behind me. Oh, my God. I was going to say, I'm like, so... So it's funny, that window is actually in front of me,

but I like the sunlight on my face. So I made a video of it, and I put a green screen behind me. So the window that you're seeing behind me right now is actually the window in front of me. My mind is blown. I mean, how do you even... That's a designer for you. Oh, my gosh.

That is so good. It looks 1,000% real. I was going to say, I love your fountain feature behind you. Thank you. Thank you. The key is, yeah, like, it's a... $20 green screen from Amazon. It's the best. Nice. Shit.

You know, my daughter actually got a green cloth that she was trying to do things. She's seven. So not as skilled as you are. She's already a content creator at seven. Yeah. She's on her way. I mean, I'm trying to keep her away from it as long as possible, but she's on her way. Yes. So you're in L.A., but you grew up in Missouri. Is that right? I grew up most of my life in Missouri. Yeah, born in Texas, but grew up in most of my life in Missouri.

Okay. And how long were you in Texas? Living, I think, like, three days. Oh, gosh. Okay. I was born there. I was adopted and I was taken back home to Missouri with my adopted parents. But my grandmother lives in Texas, my aunts and uncles. So I spent summers in Houston still.

Got it. Okay. I didn't know you were adopted. Yeah, I was adopted by my aunt and uncle. Wow. Whoa. Wait, is there a story there that you share or no? My biological mom was very young.

She was 16 when she had me. Wow. You know, she didn't have the ability at that age to take care of me or give me a good life. so her older sister and husband adopted me. That's beautiful. My aunt and uncle became my mom and dad, and I think my biological mom is my aunt. So, but you have a relationship with her and you're close to her?

Yeah, I was talking to her yesterday. What do you call her? Debbie. Debbie. Yeah, I don't, we're not that family that's like Aunt Debbie, Aunt Peggy, Aunt Sherrod. Can you tell all my aunts were born in like the 50s and 60s in Texas? And you grew up with them and then you left at 15?

Yeah, I left home in her own. I'm 15. Why? What happened? That's young. I was young. I lived in a very small religious town. Yeah. In which my whole life revolved around religion. And at that point, I figured out what made me different. I knew I was gay. I knew I wasn't. Like, one kid came out in my high school and some, we call them shit kickers, the cowboys, because they came to school in the morning with shit on their boots. The shit pickers about running off the road one day. And so I was, we call them shit kickers, and so I, I was like, oh, coming out here is not really an option. And things weren't that great at home. Again, they were very religious. Not as much now, thank God. I know.

Thank God. My mom was just at the time very controlling. My bedtime was still 8.30 at 15. Well. Yeah. Wow. I wasn't really allowed to have any kind of life. She was just very, very, very, very protective.

She made a promise to her little sister that she would never let anything happen to me, and she took that very serious. Seriously. I was a very angry kid because I was gay. I couldn't come out. You know, I wore a mask every single day. Nobody in the world knew who I was. So it was a very lonely life. And one day I was just like, I either have to get out of this life somehow. And if I stay here, it might be a, you know, a complete get out of this life. So let's get out of here and see if it's better elsewhere. So I moved to the big city of Springfield, Missouri. Or as they call it, Missouri.

Missouri. Yeah, Missouri. Actually, I moved to Branson before. Oh. I don't know if y'all know Branson. And then I actually moved to Springfield to go to high school. I wanted to go back to high school because I had left my hometown high school. And my parents tried to use that as a way to make me come home because if you're underage, you can't enroll yourself in school.

Your parents have to. So I got myself emancipated. Wow. Okay. And I enrolled myself in school. And I rolled myself in Brad Pitt's high school. Wait, was he there? You know how old.

we are. I know. I just had like wishful thinking that like... I'm not 50. Although I would sell myself to the devil to look like he does in 50 or at 40 for that matter. But yeah, no, he went there a decade before me. And then another girl, Callie, did you watch Mayor of Easton? Yes.

I haven't seen it yet. Oh, it's so good. So Callie, the girl that got murdered in the very beginning? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She also went to the same high school. So we all three went to the same high school. Kickapoo.

But at a different times? She probably went 15 years after me. It still counts. You still went to school with Brad Pitt. We're just going to say, I have to say, I met Brad Pitt once in my life. And it was very brief. I could not talk. I looked at him.

Apparently, the person that I was with was like, you looked like an idiot. I didn't meet him, but we made eye contact once. I don't know if you guys have been to the mothership Netflix, the main corporate offices, but going in, there's always a huge line of security when you're in your car going the way through. And so there's a big line. And so I'm finally up at the front and all of a sudden I see a car trying to pull in the exit. And the security guards jump out in front of them. And they're like, stop, you can't do that.

And the window rolls down and it's Brad. And Brad just kind of sits there to let it sink in that it's him. And the security guard goes, Mr. Pitt, back up. Oh. Oh. No. You can't do that. And he goes, well, I'm late for a meeting with Ted Sarando.

And he goes, so is everyone else. And so, but Brad was super nice about it. He just kind of laughed and he goes, okay, sorry. And backs up and went to the back of the line. Are you serious? But I'm like, Netflix doesn't give a damn who you are. Like, everyone waits in line. You wait your turn.

Then you go to your meeting. It was great. I just sit there and I laughed. That line, like, I don't care if you're Brad Pitt. And that literally was, I don't care if you're Brad Pitt. That security guard's a boss. So you're Brad Pitt? That don't impress me much.

Back up. Yeah. Oh my God, that is crazy. That's so funny. Wait, so when you, I'm just curious, you left on your own. Did you have someone with you? Because I remember being 15, and I don't think I was that smart to, like, figure out how to live on my own, right? I would have probably made some decisions.

Oh, I definitely made some decisions. I'm sure. I had friends that I went to in the very beginning. that I crashed with until I figured things out. Yeah, I lived in my car at some point. I sleep in my car in the Applebee's parking lot because I worked at Applebee's and I'd work all day. Did you get the awesome blossom?

That's the Outback, which I also worked at. Oh, shit. Sorry. It's your chains right, Rachel. Fuck. Applebee's the tequila lime chicken. That's their name to fame. And it was really good.

But, yeah, no, I mean, I definitely, it definitely wasn't easy. It was a lot of couch surfing, living in my car. living in a car with broken out windows at some point because my car I got broken into my $200 car. A $200 car? I was supposed to pay $400 for it, but I paid $200 down.

And then it broke down a week later and I ended up spending another $200 to get a fix. I was like, I am not paying you that other $200 for a broken car. So you're good. Wow. Wait, at 15, how were you driving? You can get a license early in Missouri. Well, back then you could. I don't think you can.

Really? Yeah. See, all these things I don't know about. You can get a farm. license. So you can drive a tractor? Yeah, yeah. So, but you can also drive the truck. But in Missouri, like, if you get pulled over to drive in a car with one, the cops didn't care. Luckily, at 15, I wasn't getting pulled over a lot. Later, I did. I got pulled over a lot. Oh, no. Well, what was that phase? Is that a whole other? That was probably like 16, 17. I ended up in jail a few times because

of it. Jeez. Because in Missouri, well, yes, if you get pulled over and you get a ticket and you're too poor to pay the ticket, then you have to go to court. And if you're too poor to go to pay the court fees, ticket, then it turns into a warrant. And then when you get pulled over again, you go to jail and then you owe more fees. So it's just keeping the poor people poor. That's how America system is. It's so sad, because then you're kind of handcuffed to the system. And then you go, literally. I mean, you're a raging success story because a lot of people go in that situation. Even my own brother went through something like that where it's like you go in and then they teach you how to be a criminal. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And they teach you how to work the system and you're really lucky you got out of that. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, it definitely taught me

how to work the system. Right. You learn a lot. So where does that come from? So I do spiritual psychology and my favorite thing. Well, you do my favorite thing actually. And it's not design. It's make people cry. Literally, I'm like, here's the best job in the whole fucking world. Because you're always making people cry and like feel things and look at things and it's super rad. But when I see someone like you, I want to extract what that magic ingredient is so I can help give it to people. You know, and how do you think that happened where you learned to make things work for you? I think it was just an absolute drive to be frank as a fuck you to everybody from my past that said I wouldn't make it, you know, to at the time, you know, my mom used to always say,

you're going to end up in jail one day. Well, I did. You know, just kind of a, fuck you to all the people that were like, you're never going to make it. Fuck you to all the people who were like, oh, you're gay. You're never going to have a real relationship. You're never going to have a family.

You're never going to have a successful career. No one's ever going to accept you for who you are. So, yeah, I think it was just the drive to be like, I'll show you. You're wrong. Wow. So would you suggest people, like, write a fuck you list as motivation? Like here's why I'm doing it and for who.

It's like the old Destiny Child song. Yeah, so good. It's all, This is for the haters who said I wouldn't make it. Now I'm selling platinum. And now you can't take it. That's right. That is the anthem.

That I'm doing so good. By the way, that is touching on your singing voice, which, hello, you were on the masked singer I recently learned. Yes. I'm so envious. Your voice is incredible. Thank you. Thank you. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, I bet. I mean, of course, I always daydium. I'm like, that would be so cool.

I mean, like the costumes, it's insanity. I don't even know where this concept came from. My costume was the largest and heaviest in Mask Singer history. I wouldn't say the hottest, but it was about 120 degrees inside of it. So the first episode I almost passed out inside of it, and then I realized that they needed to make an ice vest for me. So I wore a vest that was just packed with ice to keep me cool. Oh, my God. Yeah, and I had them drill holes in the top of the head to let the heat out. And there was a whole thing.

Holy shit. Yeah, I mean, they're so elaborate. And it just reminds me, like, the people at Disneyland during the summer who are dressed up as, like, your. Oh, could you imagine? I did an internship when I was 16 there on the Sounds of America stage singing. And they always say it's a happiest place on Earth, but it is not if you work there. I have a friend who did the training and worked there for a little. little bit and she said it was absolutely help.

Yeah, like there would be people that wore the costumes, the characters who would pass out from heat exhaustion, throw up inside of their helmets. Until they were backstage, which means not in public, they couldn't take it off. Like, it would just be sloshing around in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can never, you can never ruin

the illusion. That's sad. That is sad. That says a lot about a lot. You know what I mean? Yeah. Absolutely. But your voice was so impressive. Thank you. Yeah. It just thought it was so cool. And I wish I could do something like that. I just have to say. Olivia and I both want to be singers.

I was surprised at how real it was, actually. What do you mean? Like, I couldn't even get out of the car without having a mask on, gloves on. Got it. Only a couple producers on the whole show knew who I was. None of the backup dancers did. None of the other contestants. Nobody on the crew, just my vocal coach and a producer. That's cool.

And it was very, very secretive. I also assumed that we would pre-record our voices. Like, I'm like, there's no way anybody has to sing in that horrible costume. No, you actually have to sing live. Yeah. Did you pick the caterpillar? No. Oh, you don't get to pick your costume?

That's one thing that they kind of are like, why did you pick the caterpillar? And I'm like, you know, I tell a story. I'm like, well, it's because that's what you gave to me. But the thing is, like, I could have said no to it. Yeah. I definitely could have said no to it. that costume. But they're like, hey, this is a costume we have for you. We think this would be really great. And it kind of fit for me, you know, because my whole life has been a metamorphosis.

The caterpillar costume actually was perfect for me. And in the beginning, they're like, we want you to wear this one because you're fit and tall. And I'm like, okay. But I'm like, the backstory on this also works as well. Although the backstory was thought up after I was assigned to that one, it was legit. Like, the backstory really did work for it. It is a metamorphosis, isn't it? Life in general. Yeah. What I'm really curious about, I crave religion sometimes and I didn't grow up religious. So I used to like go check out churches by myself because I craved that kind of community or comfort.

And I always wonder when people leave a church for reasons like being gay or where they're not going to be accepted. Did that stay with you, the foundation like the good stuff? The good stuff, no, only the bad stuff. Oh, really? Only the self-hate and the judgment. Yeah. All the good stuff was completely ruined by the bad. That literally breaks my heart.

People go through that and don't feel like they're allowed to be who they are. Yeah. And when you're in it, you're a part of it. And so you don't feel that. But once you've been cast out by it, you start seeing all the negativity and the hypocrisy. I was watching an episode of Queer Eye where you wouldn't step foot into a church. Oh, that's old-school queer eye. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fama Tammy episode, yeah. So does that, like, you will never... I mean, I have Sincen. If you go into season five of Queer Eye in Philly, I actually did go into a church, but it was a church with a gay pastor, and it was Episcopalian, which is much more accepting than the...

I think it was a Baptist or a Pentecostal church that we were at. And also, I've learned that when we filmed that original church episode, I hadn't learned how to process any of that thing. And especially being able to separate... my real feelings from doing a show, I can a little bit more now. I don't let the show quite mentally devastate me like I did in the very beginning. Obviously, it's still an emotional connection. It still gets to me, but I'm able to separate a little bit more. And it's definitely, again, it helped that

the pastor was gay. And obviously, the church was accepting of that. Yeah. Would I go into a church now outside of having to for my job? No way. I get that. And it was Christianity that you grew up in, right? Yeah. Yeah. Even like we were in Spain most of December. And I didn't even want to go into like cathedrals. Like in Paris, you wouldn't go into Notre Dame? I mean, I've been into Notre Dame. Don't get me wrong, but there was one beautiful cathedral in Sevilla that I had been in two years ago.

And I'm just like, I don't need to go in again. I'm good. I don't want to. Do you feel like you've detoxed that from your system? Because, you know, when we're born until, I don't know, seven, we're under a state of hypnosis and everything kind of goes in without rational thinking, right? and then rational thinking kicks in. Do you think that stuff is still in there?

Or do you think you've kind of detoxed it? No, it's definitely still in there. When you grow up being taught in the place that's supposed to love you, that you're broken and you're bad and God didn't create you like this, something's wrong. That never leaves you. That follows you in every aspect of your life. Do you believe in anything?

Do I believe in... Like anything? No. We're just here. I mean, I believe in karma, you know. I would like to... to believe in karma. Sometimes you look around the world and you're like, karma does not exist. But I think karma is one of the things that in my mind I used to keep me sane

because if you look around in the world otherwise, you just, what's the point? I at least try to keep in my mind that I live by karma anyways. And I try to make sure that everything I do is something I would want to come back to me. Gosh, it just feels so heavy like growing up with being surrounded by that and that mentality and the people. Like you said, like the place is supposed to love and accept. and then it's just putting this into your brain. Like, I just, it's a lot to take in. But is your family all accepting now? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, do I think deep down, they wish, you know, I wasn't gay? Probably. But like my parents love my husband. You know, my dad will just randomly call my husband and not even call me, you know. And my sister loves my husband. Yeah. But I mean, my husband and I have been together almost 20 years now.

What? 18. Wow. 18. So going on 20 years. Really? How has that been going through what you went through and then getting famous and having the show and being around all these cute guys? Was that hard on the relationship?

Or how was he with that? I mean, we've just, we've been together so long. Yeah. That it's just, no, it wasn't. No, it's never been in the show. And I kind of stay out of the scene. I keep to myself. I don't go to all the Hollywood parties.

We don't go out. out, you know, we have all of my good friends, our friends that have been my friends for 20 years. I try to keep myself very grounded. I've met a few good friends in Hollywood, like Emily Hampshire and Sophia Bush and Aaron Paul and his wife, they're great. But outside of that, I don't seek out those, you know, hot boy parties, now that I'm famous. I'm like, whoa. I couldn't hear less. You know, I was out of my own at 15. I got all that out of my system at a very young age. Which I feel like is so much better in a lot of ways. is I think that when your kind of success happens to people when they're super young, it's got a

different effect. But it seems like you did a hell of a lot of growing up before it happened. And partying. Yeah, a lot of partying. And I also like, I had my own business. I had retail stores around the U.S., you know. So I really, yeah, yeah. I had business way before queer. I started my own company when I was 25. It was first on an online furniture store. I was one of the first online furniture stores, period. What was it? What was it called? Bobby Burke. Back then it was Bobby Burke home. That is amazing. So how did Queer Eye come about them? Was it because you had this business? So Queer I came about because I had already built a brand. And I guess they had auditioned about 3,000 guys for this and hadn't found who they were looking for. And they reached out directly to me asking me to audition. And I did. Wait, audition. How do you audition? So the first audition was via Zoom and it was with some casting people. And I thought that went horrible. I was like, oh, there. this isn't going to go anywhere. But then I got asked to come audition in person.

At that point, they had whittled it down to less than 40 guys. And so we did a lot of chemistry testing together and rotating it as in and out of different categories. But I almost didn't go to the in person because I was supposed to go to Spain. The trip was already planned. It was all expenses paid by this tile company that I work with. And I'm like, there's no way I'm going to get this show. I'm not going to go.

I'm just going to go to Spain. I'm not going to pass up this opportunity to go to Spain for some show I'm never going to get. But luckily, audition started. it on a Wednesday, and I wasn't supposed to leave to Spain until Friday, so I'm like, I might as well go to the first day. So I went to the first day and then like, all right, we want you to come back to the second day.

And I'm like, all right, I'll come back to the second day. I'll see how it goes, but I'm going to Spain in the morning. And then I was supposed to leave for Spain at like seven in the morning on Friday. And at 1 o'clock in the morning, I got a call from the creator of Queer Eye. And they're like, we want you to come back to the final day. And he's like, not to give anything away, but you're our first choice. And I was like, wait, what? And then I get there the next day and everybody but one guy in my category was still there.

And I'm like, what the fuck? You told me I was your first choice. Why are all these people superior? But obviously it worked out. I got it. I really want to know what the audition process was because, you know, if you're auditioning for a role, you have a script. Was it the same thing? No.

So the very first day, it was kind of like speed dating. So they had these three tables set up with executives from ITV, Scout, and Netflix. And you sat down and they had like one of those. bowls with like a little topic and it you could pull out, but I didn't pull one out. I'm like, I don't need a conversation starter. I can talk. But that first day, I sat around for, I think, 12 hours to do like 15 minutes of auditions because the design category was last and I was last in the design category.

And then the second day, I probably just sat around for another six hours until finally they started putting us in groups of five, one person from each category and like randomly just moving people around into different rooms and seeing how people connected with each other. and seeing who had the best connections and the legit friendships that were forming. And Caramel and Tan and I, the very first day, sat right next to each other and just clicked. And so the whole time, all three of us were together. And then eventually, like Jonathan and Antony came into the fold. And the five of us really just liked each other.

And we ended up always being together, even though we hadn't been cast yet. And so that chemistry really worked for us because they could be like, oh, these guys really do like each of them. Your energies showed them what they were looking for, I bet. And also that second day they wanted us to bring like a show and tell of something from our childhood. And, you know, I moved around so much, I didn't have anything from my childhood. When you end up living in your car and stuff, like you lose everything. Yeah. When I was a child, I was really inspired by the Michael Gray's collection at Target, like the toasters and the tea kettle and the spatula.

You know, it was the first time I ever thought that things weren't just utilitarian. Like, they could make you happy as well. You know, a spoon could scoop food in your mouth. Also, when you look at it, you can be like, this makes me happy. This is a cool spoon. So I found a piece on the, what made me choose the piece was what I could get from Amazon Prime the same day. So it would end the piece that I could was like the little timer, the little kitchen timer.

Oh, yeah. So I honestly completely made up a bullshit story about how that kitchen timer, my mom used to set that timer for me to do my homework when I was younger. And like I had to be timed of how quickly I got. it done and she thought she was just, you know, being a hard ass, but little did she know the design of it was inspiring me.

Totally pulled this bullshit story. Again, his work did inspire me to be a designer, but it wasn't that piece and it wasn't that story, but it worked. And it was television. You know what I mean? Like, they want you to be able to bring it. Our show really is unscripted.

So everything that we're saying, we are thinking up on the spot at any given moment. There is no repeating anything. There is no earpiece in our ear with producers telling us what to say. And so we have to think on our toes. So the third day was nothing but them putting five people in a room

from each category and doing little faux episodes. They're like, all right, Jonathan, or whoever the groomer was in there at the time. Like, here's a picture of this hero, here's a hero. Here's their fashion, blah, blah, blah. And for me, they're like, all right,

what would you do to their house? And I'm like, well, what house? Right. Like everybody else And that's what's hard When we do like talk show interviews and stuff Like everybody else's can be like right then and there And like even cooking can be right then and there

Like my category is always very hard To do anything on the spot like that So finally I'm like you guys have got to give me something And so they went online and just Googled like Messiest rooms And they'd print out a picture They're like all right what would you do to this room And I'm like well first of I'd clean it

Yeah And so they would just rotate different guys from different categories in and out throughout the day. And I went in pretty early in the day, and they only took me out, I think, once or twice, and it's when I needed to use the bathroom. So I pretty much stayed in that room all day. And then Tan started staying in more.

And then Caramo started staying in more. And then Jonathan started staying in more. And then Anthony started staying in more. Pretty soon, like every time one of us would need to go out to pee because we were drinking a lot of water because we noticed more people were gone. Because we were in this hotel. We were in two ballrooms. And one, we were recording it.

And one was everybody was waiting at. And we'd go by and we're like, ooh, other people are gone. Other people are gone. And then finally, like 9 p.m. we came out. They're like, all right, you can take a break now. And we looked in the ballroom.

And there was nobody left. It was just the violence. And we were like, I just got chills. And then they're like, all right, we are going to take you to someone's house to film a little faux episode. And so we're pulling up to this house.

And I had had a lot of conversations with Michael Williams, who is one of the original creators of Queer Eye, lovely, lovely guy earlier in the day about his home and where he lived and what they were doing to it and the style. And so we're pulling up to this house and I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh my God, this is Michael Williams' house. Like, wait a minute, they want me to go in and pick apart my potentially future boss's house right in front of him.

And so I'm whispering to the guys, I'm like, this is Michael Williams' house. Like, this is the creator's house. Like, what? You know, and so the guy that they were having was his husband. And we're like, oh, my God, now we've got to pick apart his husband, too. Yeah. So then at the end of the night, they were like, all right, it's in God's hands now. And we're God.

Literally a quote from them. And then we found out a few weeks later when we finally got it. Did you really want it? Were you like, maybe this could fit? Or were you like, I want this thing? I really wanted it because the original queer eye had a huge effect on my life. You know, the original queer I was the very first show where I ever saw five gays who were successful, who had relationships, who proved to me what I always thought was that you can still be successful and you can still live a normal life as opposed to what I was told in my church. So queer I meant a lot. And I also, you know, I knew that doing the show would be good for my brand. And I had worked a decade at that point building my brand.

And I had been approached by Bravo and other networks to do reality shows. shows based on my store and my company and my life and stuff. And I always turned them down because I know how most of those shows work. And it's the drama, the drama, the drama, the drama. And it doesn't matter if it makes you look bad. And this is not a knock on the producers. That's their job. That's their job to get viewership.

And up until recently, viewers love the drama. Now viewers, I think, love being able to connect and, like, the heart of the show and, like, people doing good. And I like to think that queer I had a big. part in that change on television, actually. It did. One thousand percent. It absolutely did. So I always said no to those shows because I'm like,

I'm not going to put my brand that I've worked so hard for to build from nothing in the hands of a network. But with queer, I knew it was something different. It wasn't about us as individuals. It was about, you know, their job is to make us look good and make our heroes look good and actually tell good, loving, wonderful stories. And we knew that going into it.

Although we didn't know that we were refilming the show that we're filming. The powers that B wanted the show to be just like the original. And luckily, we felt differently. Us and our showrunner, Jen Lane, who's amazing. Well, what is the difference? Because I'm not familiar with the original. I only know your show.

The original was, and this is not a knock on the original at all. The original was exactly what it needed to be when it was out. Because back then, gays were not on television. Gays were not accepted in mainstream media at all. So it was the gay designer and the gay fashion guy.

and the hairstylist and the cook, you know, the world could wrap their head around these gays on television if they were the gay stereotype. You know, if the gays stayed in their lane, oh, yeah, this is, oh, everybody wants that gay best friend, you know. It allowed gays to be accepted on television a bit more. We didn't want to just do that because we didn't want to be that stereotype. And again, that's not a knock on what they did originally.

They were groundbreaking and they opened the doors for us. But we wanted to show what gay. people really are. We're not just, you know, florists and ballet dancers. I don't know if you've ever seen Tuong Fu with Patrick Swayze.

Oh my God. When the cop is like looking for them and he has this, you see this list and it's like places for homosexuals and it's florist, ballet studio. You know, like scrap, I'm like, yep, that's what,

and the show came out of them the same time as the movie. So that's what the world could wrap its head around. We wanted to be different. We wanted you to see us as husbands and fathers and brothers and sisters and just real people. And also the original was definitely more, for a lack of better word, shallow. It really was just about the exterior makeover of it all, the home makeover and the fashion. It wasn't an emotional show.

It was a little bit, but it doesn't get into what we do. They didn't have corrupt. You know, and although for Ramos category is culture, it is, completely different. So back then, Jay Rodriguez loved him. The category was culture, and his was, all right, I'm going to teach you about music. I'm going to teach you about the theater. You know, it really was culture.

But Karamo luckily felt like he wanted to do something different. And the funny thing is there are actually two new versions of Queer Eye coming out. One is in Germany and one is in Brazil. But I was lucky enough, I got to hang out with the German cast when I was in Spain in December. But there is no culture category anymore.

her category is life. Life. It's just life. I love that. Life coach. Yeah. Yeah. I think it would translate for us the life coach.

But for her, she was just like, oh, my category is life. I love that. It's life. Yeah. And there's no. Wait, did you say for her? Yeah. So it's a trans.

Yeah. Yeah. And there's no food and wine category either. It's health and wellness. Okay. Yeah. Which I love. Honestly, that works for us as well.

Like, we actually fought. after season one and two came out to like how the categories change because we're like these just don't fit for what we do now. Yeah. And we loved actually to see that Netflix clearly was like, all right, you guys were right. When we now do new ones, we're doing it this way.

But the original creators wanted it to stay like it was. Well, things evolve, right? And I think that even in the pandemic and all of that, I think that people have woken up a lot to what connection and health and wellness and all of that means in a different way than they did before. It was more like even, you know, being a mom, the whole narrative is like, wine at five and wine.

Oh, la, la. And it's like, it got for me exhausting because I don't drink to be like, but how are you guys dealing with life? Like, what are you doing to get better and healthy and take care of yourself? Yeah, exactly. They're like the wine. I'm like, I'm driving. They're like a Zanax at three and a wine at five.

Exactly. Exactly. But I think it's good that they're evolving with the times and what people are looking for. It was really sweet. I watched Queer Your guys as before, but I was rewatching it last night with my mom who's never seen it. And I was watching her the whole time instead of the show because I'd already seen it. But to watch someone watch it for the first time, she just kept turning to me being like, oh, this is. This is so beautiful. This is so beautiful. They're all so beautiful. And it was so sweet to watch someone watch it for the first time and watch her heart just flutter with you guys. Oh, I love that. Yeah, you know, in the beginning, like, and the original it was, the five of them would go in and they would pick everything apart. They would pick the hero apart.

All this stuff is wrong with you. They would pick the house apart. They would break dishes, you know. It was literally, we call it. deshoveling because they would come in and they would want to dishevel the house and deshovel the person. And so our very first episode, it was a little Tom Jackson. And, you know, we walk in and they're like, all right, pick him apart. And we're just like, no, this poor little sad, broken man?

Like, no. And we just... Wait, the man with the room and the face was. Yeah. Yeah. Like, they wanted us just to go in there and just tear it all apart and tell him everything he was doing wrong. And we just walked in and we're like, oh, God, no. we can't do this to him.

Like, he's already on the edge. You know, he's already broken. We don't need to break him anymore. And we just started building him up instead. And you could just, we watched him in front of our eyes transform and his whole attitude and the way he carried himself. And we're like, no, this is what we want to do. And there was still the first few episodes.

There was some fights. Really? Yeah. Like a lot of pushback? Yes. Luckily not from our showrunner. Our show and her executive producer, Jen Lane. like she shared our vision that the show needed to be different. It needed to have evolved for the times.

It could not be those original five gay stereotypes of these five bitchy gays going in and just ripping some straight guy apart because gays know better. Yeah, we don't. There's a lot of gays that are a mess too. Obviously. Yeah. But I think it's like, yeah. Yeah, but you were so ahead of the times because now it's like the bullying and everything else,

you know, you want to pump people up, bring them up, and not put them down. And you guys did that before it was, you know, quote unquote, trendy. You know what I mean? After our first season came out, I would hear from executives at networks and they were like, you know, every meeting we have, every creative meeting we have, everyone's like, what's our queer eye? What's our queer eye? What what shows can we make to like build people up? People clearly like that. And it just made me so happy to hear that because before, you know, especially on scripted television, it was not, it was just about ripping, you know, the house And again, nothing knocking on the housewise.

You know, there's a genre for everyone. But it was just about the negativity and ripping people apart. Like Big Brother, all that. I actually just started watching Big Brother for the first time in my life. A week ago, the Celebrity One, because Carson is on it. I actually love it. I've never seen it. No, my brother and my sister-in-law are obsessed with Big Brother.

I think I've seen a couple episodes with them, but they're very into it. Yeah, I don't think I'd be into the regular one. Like, I'm only into the Celebrity one because I know, like, I know Todrick. I know Carson. I know Cynthia. Like, I know Chris Krabic. I know a lot of the people on it. So I'm like, oh, this is interesting to me because it's fun to see my friends be either total assholes or

the lovely sweet people that I always knew they were. Reality television is like, it's taken on this whole other persona, I think. But it really is, and what I was saying before really attribute you guys for changing the game. I think it's amazing. But, you know,

your first season, you're in Georgia. Is it the whole time you're in Georgia? Yeah, yeah. The first two season. Two seasons. And was that intentional? Like, because it's the South and you might have people that are, like, what was, yeah? So the original tagline, when they first put up the press release that Queer Eye was coming back was, were turning the red states pink. Ah, okay. They wanted to put us in awkward situations. Sure. You're like, I'm used to this. Yeah. Like episode, I think it was episode of three of season one. You know, they wanted. wanted to put us in that white cop's house with a Trump hat, you know.

It was a lot of very uncomfortable situations, but it made for some very great conversations. And at the time, especially in 2018, you know, after a year and a half of a very divisive presidency, we needed to see again that it didn't matter what side of the aisle you were on. You could find a commonality and you could find your humanity again. And I think that's one of the key successes to the show in the beginning. was we were bridging the gap. We were these five, you know, four gays and non-binary queen going into the South with these people that you would never think to accept us, who in the end loved us and gave us hugs

and we still talked to to this day. That's what's so beautiful about it. Yeah. Is there an episode or a person or any situation out of this whole time that changed who you are today? You know, a lot of people are like, oh, the Mama Tammy episode. and she did a little bit because Mama Tammy was amazing. And it made me say not coil quite as hard when someone says Christian. You know, I still, I'll be honest.

I still, I drive by a church and I will literally scow and cringe. Like it is still a physical reaction. I get that. Just driving by a church. So she made that a little bit. But I wouldn't say there was one specific besides that one that really had a huge effect on me except all of them did.

I mean, there was honestly some that didn't. You know, when people are like, oh, what's your favorite? It's not easy to pick a favorite, and it's not easy to pick one that had a huge impact because it was so easy to pick our least favorites, but we won't go there. Right. Yeah, but for the most part, all of our heroes

in some way, touched our lives. Have there ever been episodes where you guys had to scrap it because the people just didn't come around? No. No. I mean, there have been some with some good editing. That's a good question, though, because, yeah, you never know what you're going to get, right? I mean, the casting, they do a phenomenal job of picking. They do. Well, how do they find the heroes?

So we have a casting team that goes to the cities that we're going to be in beforehand. And they put flyers on people's cars. And, you know, in the very beginning, that's definitely how they had to do it. Because no one really knew the show. No one knew what it was. And now, I mean, we get millions of nominations. So it's, I don't know, it might be easier or harder on them. I'm not really sure.

But, yeah, so it's boots on the ground to go into local street fairs and churches and American Legions and dance halls. And they're just, they're looking for people. You know, like one of our episodes, I think it was season. one or two, it was definitely Georgia. Anthony and Karamo and I found one of our heroes. It was Remy. He was the one that inherited his grandmother's house.

It was very 70s, single. But we were at Nordstrom's, and we were at the Joe Malone counter, and this amazing woman was helping us, and she's like, well, what are you boys doing in town? We're like, we're filming a makeover show. Do you know anybody that needs a makeover? And she's like, yeah, I'm my son. And so she phased time to write then and there,

and one of our producers also was with us that day. And he ended up getting on the show and being one of our heroes. Because his mom was like, yeah, my son is a mess. He needs help. That's awesome. So there's- That's incredible. I should do my brother when he gets out of jail.

I'm serious. That was the only hero that any of us ever had any help in finding. Like, we're actually very separate from that. Because we don't want to know anything about it. Before, we want everything that you're seeing to really be real when it's happening. Yeah, yeah. But do you actually see the places in real time? They have to give you a head-up, no?

What it looks like? You actually see it kind of. I see them. So I don't see the hero. I don't know anything about them, but I... But you have to see the space to have the time to... The last season, not as much. So the last season, because I've worked with my team now for seven seasons.

And, like, I'd worked with them outside of Queer Eye. We vacation together. Like, I'm taking them to Miraval and Tucson in two weeks. We love Mirabal. Yeah. We love Mirab. Yeah. We love Mirval.

I'm taking them for a whole tea building experience. Like, they're my family. And so I don't have to be as involved as I did in the past. Because before, I was with them seven days a week every day, every scout, every location, designing every night. But, like, we know how each other thinks now. They know they can walk into a room and be like, okay, Bobby would want to do blah, blah, blah. So they come to me now with a plan.

Like, all right, here's pictures of this. space, here's the layout, here's all the dimensions. Of course. What do you want to do? Yeah, you guys are totally dialed in. It's supposed to before I would walk through every space with them and we're like, what should be, you know, so they kind of get a base plan and then they're like, all right, these are the rooms that we think we should

do and we have time to do, and then we go from there. But before, yeah, I saw every space before because there was no way. We have to have a plan before. Of course. We had to order stuff before. Well, because how much time do you have to actually make over the space? Tuesday to Friday. How many days? That's it. That's it. Yeah. I get the house.

on Tuesday because we meet the hero every Tuesday. And then I have it back Friday afternoon, usually by noon. Wow. So I get it at about three or four in the afternoon on Tuesday and I have it back by noon on Friday. Yeah, you have to order that. Yeah. Like, no way. Oh my gosh, that's so crazy.

But I think any successful show you get to your seventh season is just like automatic, like you're saying. Yeah. And it was almost too automatic and not just for my category, but what we would say and what we would do and the emotions of it, like by the time we got to season five, We were emotionally destroyed. We were emotionally drained. I watched that season, I look back and I'm like,

well, we were not in it at all. Oh, wow. No. And then six months later, went to go film season six. We felt the same way. In a matter of three years, we had to do six seasons plus international tours and constant press tours in the beginning.

And we were exhausted mentally and physically. Absolutely. And then COVID happened. You know, we didn't even get through filming one episode in Austin before we got shut down. And silver lining of COVID, it was one of the best things that happened to us as hosts. We were able to sort of re-energize

and take some time away. And when we came back, we were so happy to be there. And we were able to emotionally connect with people again. And I don't think Anthony, I lasted five minutes filming before we were already crying, you know. And season five, if you look back at it,

there wasn't a lot of crying. You guys were too tired. We were too tired. You were tapped out. We had no tears left to cry. I think that's Mary Jay. And because COVID was so emotional because, you know, it was emotionally draining in a whole other way. It kind of got us back in touch with what was important and how what we did was important. And the connections that we made were important and really did change lives.

And so COVID was the best thing that happened to us as a cast. Is it different doing the design now? Like, I get, okay, season five, maybe not a season five. maybe not as many tears. And I understand that to doing what I do, working with people and heavy emotions and all that stuff that sometimes you go on cruise control, right? But when it comes to the design, did you start to be like, wait, this isn't as cool if I'm not making someone feel something or changing their life completely? Was there a difference between doing your design off of the show versus on the show?

No, because even design off the show, it's still about how you make people feel. It's still their homes. It's still, you know, there's a lot of emotions. To be honest, we don't take on that many residential projects because of all the things I just listed. Yeah. You know, you become a marriage counselor.

You know, it's a whole thing when you're, when it's someone's home. And that's not saying that it shouldn't be. Because it is, it's an emotional thing. But we work a lot with builders. And we go in and we design communities for them. And we design the whole model park. So all the display homes, the community centers, the sales offices.

I really love doing that because there's zero emotion involved. Yeah. But did you do free to Pinto House? Yeah, yeah. But only because we're in Pora. You're really good friends of mine. I also did Joey King's house. Oh, really?

She's a friend of mine as well. But other than that, we have a few residential projects. we're working on right now, but every single one of them always turns into kind of a pain in the ass because of the emotion of it all. You know, with builders, I can do five homes. Right. And the amount of time it takes me to do one with a regular residential client. And it's, when it comes to working with builders, it is 100% my design.

Like, there's no input from them. They just want it to look great and they don't care. There's no emotion. There's no text at midnight of, oh, I found this great painting. I want you to work it in. There's none of that. There's none of that. Well, you should be grateful that you got COVID and couldn't come here because I was going to have you.

I'm like, Bobby, I have an issue. My living room. I was going to have you have to like rethink my whole house because I have issues. Let me tell you. She really was because everybody else walks through the side. There's like a back. She's like, we're going to have Bobby come through the front so he can look at my living room and tell me. I need a makeover.

It does get emotional though. Like I've been redoing my house and we hired a friend and she lives by us and she's rad and she's great. But I could see how it's difficult to work with me and my husband because we're so different. I'm like everything is for me feel. Like the moment I see something, I either feel it or I don't. I don't think about things. I don't plan them.

Whereas my husband, he's a Virgo and he's more methodical. And he's like, well, let's consider this. And she's just sitting there like, what's it going to be? You know? And I'm like, I'm the boss. And he's like, I'm the boss. And then, you know, she has to deal with our emotions about stupid things. It's funny.

I'm a Virgo as well, but I'm more like you. Oh, really? I'm like, I feel it. And I'm done. Like, I don't need to consider all these other things. I either will know right then. if that's what I want or I don't. And I'm like, all right, if I don't, then I'll consider more things.

But I don't need to keep looking at all these other options. I'm like, no, that's it. I hate options. Me too. Yeah, I'm the same way. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, because he likes options. He was even like that when we first started dating.

He was like, I don't know about you. Let me keep my options open. I'm like, no. Yeah, no. And for me, like, our job as a designer is to find you the best option. So you don't have to deal with all these options and choices. Exactly. Yeah.

He'll go outside of what she presents. And I'm like, you know nothing about design or style. Oh, he's a nightmare. He sounds like clients we have right now. Yeah, he's literally a nightmare. And I preface this with these clients are amazing. They're clients that shopped at my store in Miami years ago. Like, they're the most literally beautiful couple, so nice, so intelligent, two beautiful

children, just like these fashionies, they're just amazing. And also just like two of the most lovely, wonderful people in the world. So we have stayed in contact for years because back in the day, like when they would order stuff from my store, like, I would hand deliver it for them and I would help them put together and I played Legos with the kids. So we had this connection and we stayed in contact and like they're just very design forward. And so they're like, we want you. And they've talked to me for years about actually coming to redoing their entire condo. And finally, like, we really want you to do it. And I only said yes because of the connection.

I only said yes because I know they love design. A client that loves design actually is the worst kind of client. Yeah, I would think. Because our job is just to pick the best thing. And here it is, Vla, we've done it for you. And that's what we were doing with them. And they were getting upset because what we learned was they want an experience. And I'm like, well, that's, you need to pay extra for an experience.

Like, you know, that's not what this is. And what we learned was they wanted us to send them on little field trips. They were like, okay, go to this store and look at this. And we're like, most people who hire designers don't want that. The whole reason why they're hiring a designer is because they just want you to do it. And so they were coming to me saying that they were not feeling great about the situation with my team. And so I finally had a call with them. I'm like, well, why?

And they explained to me. And I was like, oh, I'm like, you guys want to be doing all this? I'm like, I just have to let you know, like, that's weird. You know, that's not the norm. So yes, that's obviously why my team is not catering to that because they would never tell a client, okay, you need to go to this store and you need to go to this store and you need to go to this store and you need to look at this. Like, we would never do that. Clients would be pissed. Right. You know, they'd be like, do our job. You go do it. And they're like, no, we want to do it.

Like, this is fun for us. And so now everything is great because my team's like, fine. If they want to go check all this stuff out. Fantastic. Go do it. Yeah. Go check it out. Pick out your favorite fabric. Take pictures. Sure, do our job for us. That's hilarious. So yeah, working with builders is great. You're like, so the moral of a story. No, I can see how people. For some reason, too, with their homes, it's like, I feel like my job working with people just talking to them, even about their problems, is far easier than a countertop. Yeah, because it's a decision that you're going to have to live with for a very long time. Yeah, it feels permanent. Right.

Yeah. And it's funny, with clients, I'm able to make those choices so instantly. But when it comes to my own stuff, I'm the worst. Oh, interesting. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll often have my team just deal with stuff for me because I'm like, I don't want to make that decision for myself.

I get that. Decisions. Decisions are issues. Yeah. Because I do it so much for work. The last thing I want to do is do it at home. Although our house now, it's a mid-century home, but it had some bad abuse of 90s relationships. And so we want to do a major remodel on it in a year or so. We were going to do it sooner, but then we ended up buying a house in Palm Desert and be doing that one. And we had one three renovations going on once.

Again, a lot of bad 90s remodels. So I just went through and I changed some small things I couldn't live with. Basically, I was just black paint at the kitchen black, painted the fireplace black. So we moved in and within probably 24 hours, I had the house completely set up and perfect. And my old publicist, she came over. She'd been with me for seven years, still a good friend of mine. And she walks in and she's like, oh, my God. Wait, when did you move in?

And I was like 24, 36 hours ago when she was like, no way. I'm like, no, it did. And she's like, oh, oh, your team did this. And I was like, no, actually. It was literally just me. I didn't have anybody come up. And she's like, ever, you can tell me. And I was like, bitch, okay, you know that the reason why I have a team is because I actually am good at this and I built this company doing it all on my own in the beginning before I had a team.

And she was like, I'm like, you've been with me from the start. You know this. And she's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like, it just, I forgot that you actually could do it because you don't much anymore. Like, well, because I don't have time. You have to hire someone to design your house. Yeah. Yeah.

This one, no. But I bought this big Spanish house down the street from my home for my offices. And I'm like, I don't have the mental bandwidth to do this. I was like, you know, you guys are designers. That's what I hired you for. That actually says a lot about your team, though, that you think they're that good that you would trust them with your own. I mean, that says a lot, especially for a designer because you guys are persnickety, aren't you? By nature.

A little bit. A little bit. Like, you know what you want and how you want to feel. That's really cool that you trust them like that. Thanks. Yeah, they're good. One's been with me seven years, another one, five years. I actually just recently rehired somebody that worked for me years ago in Miami at my store there.

I actually ran into her at Caramo's Halloween party. Oh, my gosh. She was an assistant manager of my Miami furniture store. And on Halloween, she walks up to me. And she's like, dressed as poison ivy. She's like, do you remember me? And I was like, no. Like, you're in a Halloween costume.

And also, like, I didn't expect to run into her in L.A. at Caramo's Halloween party when I knew her from Miami. But she was great when she worked for me before. And she lived out here now. So I rehired her again. How cool. That's awesome. Have you ever walked into a project on the show specifically and just been like,

I don't know what to do. do you here? Or, oh, I don't know what you do here or I walked into it when it was almost done. And I was like, oh, shit, this is not right. Oh, really? Does that happen? So season five, I didn't have my original team. Season five, I had a completely new team that I had never worked with before. They knew nothing about me. And so there was some moments where I would walk in and I'd be like, holy shit, this is not at all what it's supposed to be. Because there's, you know, I'm all filming. So I have to trust that they're executing what I want them to execute while I'm away filming. And yeah, there is a couple episodes where I'm like, holy shit.

Nope, nope, nope. I have to frantically try to change things. Wow. I feel like we're getting like a peek behind the curtain with all design shows, like fixer up or like whatever it may be. Oh, what? What? What?

Tell me. What are your feelings on it? No, I need to know because I need to know what is up there. It's bullshit. Is it all bullshit? It's just the budget, you know, it's just, it's not real. Like, there's no way they do that for that budget. Because the show pays for a lot of it is the assumption.

I mean, I think the show does pay for some, but the budget that they say they do it and there's no way. And then also, like, they try to make it also seem like that budget included, like, all the furniture and, like, the way the house looks, like, that's how much it was that. No. I have noticed that. Yeah, when Chip and Joanna leave, they take all that furniture with them. Oh, do they?

Yeah, unless the homeowner wants to pay for it. Right. Yeah. I'm thinking the same thing as you because I'm obsessed with design and furniture and house. I mean, and I'm like, how are they furnishing this whole house? Wait, that breaks my heart. No. That's a little big.

If the homeowners want to buy all that, they can separately. But that budget did not include any of the stuff inside the house. So it's just for the show. They stage it. But do these people know that when they walk into the reveal of their home? Yeah. I mean, they're aware of it. I mean, they're probably heartbroken.

Heartbroken. They definitely have to be aware of that. But most HGTV shows are like that. Like the stuff that you see, like even Leanne Ford, they, again, the homeowners can buy it. You can pay for Leanne's work, you know? But otherwise, all that stuff leaves. Like, Leanne actually pulls, you know, a lot of her own stuff to make the home so beautiful, like literally out of her own pocket.

Right. Yeah, she's the reason why her show is so successful. I was watching that hometown show where people are buying houses for like $50,000. But I got stuck in a fucking hole, though. I was like sick and bad, like in bed. And it was just on. And all these shows, you know?

That happened to be in a hotel. I was not feeling well. And Drew, Jonathan came on, the property brothers, and they're friends of mine. But I'd never watch their show. Like, again, I just, I don't watch HDV because I know how it's. You live it. And I also, I just know how it's done and it's not. Anyway. Yeah.

But I was like, their show is actually really cute. that I ended up watching like a dozen episodes Property Brothers that day. I think it was forever home. Forever home. Yeah, there are other shows. Got it. No, but I'm obsessed with all those makeover shows.

See, this is just, I would rather just, I could not rather, but I would love to talk to you just for an hour. Like, well, what do you think at this show? And what you think of that design? And like, what's really going on? Because this to me is way more interesting than like movies or whatever else gets made. I have to say,

this has been a very educational, therapeutic, inspirational, inspirational conversation. My biggest takeaway is that Bobby and I were born on the same day, the same year at the same time. I'm convinced even though separate states and hospitals. But I just, I think it's so awesome what you do, even though you won't come to my house. It's fine. I won't be done. Well, I can be your house, but we can't be friends.

You know, I'd rather be your friend. Me too. My house has mid-century too, by the way. Nice. I redid it when I bought it. It was a nightmare. Yeah, ours sadly probably won't be when we're done with it. Because it's too far gone.

They did too many. Yeah, I get it. In 90s, you said 90s, and then you just know it's all bad. Yeah, they did too many things to ruin it. So I wanted to be a new genre I've created called Icelandic farmhouse. Icelandic farmhouse. Wait, Icelandic farmhouse. I love it.

I love it. So it's not farmhouse modern. But cozy Scandinavian, but cozy Scandinavian. I love it. I'm totally supportive of that. So you have to say it next up. So you have to say it next up. Bobby,

usually when we end our conversations, we do a little game and you can say whether you're willing or not. What did we name it now? What is that game? We do again. Well, it was originally Fuck Mary Kill. Oh, God.

But there are... No, that just reminded me of the very beginning with Fuck Mary Kill with the five of us. Jonathan would always, we'd always Like, Jonathan like, let's play fuck, Mary Carol. And we're like, okay, and we'd always kill him. And he's like, what?

I actually have this video of him sitting in the trailer and his hair's all, he looked crazy, and he goes, and the only context of the video is him going, why won't you fuck me? Oh my gosh. Oh my goodness. That's so funny.

With all five of us, somebody is like, we're going to play fucking. We're like, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. He's finally healed from that. Don't do it. We're not going to play that. Well, we could give it to you right now and you could heal everything.

So then we also have the P.G. version, which is Mary, Barry, one night stand. Yeah. Yes. I find what's fuck Mary kill. Yeah. So are we. Fuck Mary kill.

We did not just, we didn't pick our people. But we're going to go. We're going to go. Oh, shit. Ryan Gosling. Okay. Well, Rob gave us some suggestions. He said Tom Hardy.

I'm throwing you under the bus here. Killian Murphy and Ryan Gosling. Tom, I don't even know who Tom Hardy is. You don't know who Tom Hardy is? You don't know who we're going to, no, okay. Let's go do that. You know Ryan? I don't know who anybody is.

Okay, I'm going to give you other. Let's give you more. I'm giving you others. I'm Googling that. I'm going to say. No, no, you have. Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal. Let me make sure Ryan,

Ryan, okay, is that the one? Do you know who, you don't know who Ryan Gosling? Don't tell me of Googling Ryan Gosling. I am because I thought he was the, I thought he was Ryan Minnall. But now I'm good. I'm in utter shock that you don't know who Ryan Gosling is. Wait, who did you think Ryan Gosling was?

I never know who anyone is. No, this is so oblivious. When I'm, when I'm at these like, any things and this and that, I'll be talking to the biggest people that I'm like, oh my God, I can't, I was like, who is that?

Like, at the Vanity Fair after the same one that they were like, I hear you went to school with Brad Pitt. I was hanging out with this woman

and Emily Hampshire from Schitts, one of my best friend. She's always my date. So her and I were hanging out with this woman and like 45 minutes in like we were driving

and having a blast. And again, like, if I'm not having fun with you, I walk away. Sure. I don't really care who you are. So I'm not hanging out with you because of who you are.

And so funny, I look at her. I was like, but you are so much fun. What is your name? She goes, Paula? Paula?

And I was like, oh my God, you're Paula Abdul. Oh my God. And she was like, you didn't know? I'm like, I didn't really think about it. Like, I didn't think about who is this person. I just thought this person's a lot of fun. And she grabbed my phone and she's like, unlock your phone.

And she puts her number in and she's like, we're friends now. I cannot even handle this. Like, right? Oh, my God. Like, I know. Now that I see, I always get Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds confused. Okay.

So let's do Ryan Gosling. They're both about the same age. Oh, Ryan Reynolds. Okay, Ryan Gosling, Ryan, and Jaygill and all. Seacrest. Oh, you want all Ryan? Oh.

Yeah, that's so good. No, that's too easy, isn't it? You never know. Fuck Ryan. We're going all right. Fuck Ryan Gosling. Kill Ryan Seacrest. Mary Reimans.

Okay. Okay, so we killed Ryan Seacrest. Yeah. Who are you marrying Reynolds? Yeah. And he's hot and gossil. Yeah. He's so funny.

I get it. I don't know a lot about, but the picture that came up when I googled him, he's shirtless and caught his stuff. But you know who he is once you saw, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I know who he is. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. I can't, I can't really think that I know anything he's been in. The notebook? Okay. Drive? Is that he said? Crazy, sexy, cool. What is that movie called?

No. I know the album, but I don't. What is it all out? Hey, again, R&B callbacks. Hello. What is it about crazy something? Crazy stupid love. It sounds like he's in a lot of movies that I wouldn't like.

Lala Land? La Land. Oh, he wasn't that, but I didn't say that. Oh. Wait, did you ever see the notebook? No. I'm not a big movie person. I have ADD.

I cannot focus stuff on. That's a really, really, really good movies. I also don't like, I also don't like shopping movies. Then you're not going to like it. Yeah. I love sci-fi. I love sci-fi. I love like spy crime drama stuff.

I'm not... Okay. I feel like he's done some of that. There are very rarely comedies that I like because it's usually stupid comedy. I do not like characters that I feel sorry for. Like, oh, I'm so uncomfortable for them. I hate that.

I hate that feeling when watching a show. So I don't watch a lot of comedies because there's not a lot of great comedy out there. Schitt's Creek is one of them. What's your favorite movie? Yes, Shitt Creek is. It is. The funny thing is, though,

I watched like one or two episodes and I turned it off because I'm like, this is so stupid. Because in the beginning, you feel sorry for them. It's awkward. They're getting thrown out. And it wasn't until probably a year or so later

people kept talking about it. And we were flying to New Zealand and I had a 15 hour flight and I'm like, I need something with a lot of seasons. And so I downloaded Shitt's Creek and then I ended up spending our whole vacation doing nothing but watching Shits Creek. Because it's so good.

Yeah. We're sitting here with these beautiful mess. mountains and I'm like, okay, these are great. I'm going to go back to shit. It's great. But it was, yeah, it was so good. I started becoming Alexis. After watching it so much, my husband's like,

you did. Yeah, my husband's like, are you okay? Like, everything became Alexis. And I felt better about life. It's funny. I feel like Annie now is trying to do characters that are so opposite. Oh, really? Yeah.

And is it not working? No, it is. It is. But for me, like, because I know her, like, It works because I know that she's not Alexis. Right. Right. Yeah.

They film in a little town in Canada, in the countryside, outside of Toronto, and I lived there for a long time with my ex-partner. We had a farm up there. And we would always drive by this store. And it was never open, but it was so cute. Like, dress. So cute. The windows for years.

I'm like, God damn it, every time I come, it's fucking closed. Turns out... It was Rosapopoferi. Yeah. Yep. It was Shits Creek. It was the show's store, and that's why I never got to go in. That's funny.

God. Yeah, a little tidbit for you. I guess they started like almost seven, eight years ago at this point. Yep. But Rosa, yeah, Rosa Pothcary was probably like mid-series, I'd say, yeah. It was like mid-series, yeah. But it was a very cute store. Yeah.

It's adorable. They did great. Yes. Love that show. And love you, Bobby. And thank you so much for being here with us today and talking to us. Thank you. Of course.

We'll have to hang soon. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we are soul. We, same day, all of that. Yeah, you were born at seven. I was born at seven. You're like,

same rising, same moon. You're just going to go with it. Yeah. Yeah. I was born at seven, but I was born twice, you know. Oh, no, you're like, wait, I'm not a born again. No. Don't say born again.

Born twice. Awesome. All right, ladies. It was such a pleasure. I was so nice to meet you. Have a wonderful one. Thank you so much. You too.

Mua. First of all, I think Bobby Burke is awesome, and I love his design and everything. I'm a little surprised he had to look up Ryan Gosling. He had to Google Ryan Gosling. It is a little surprising for people to not know who Ryan Gosling is, right? Rob, do you know who Ryan Gosling is? Yeah, I've heard of him. It's one of the most surprised I've been in recent times.

He's playing Ken in the Barbie movie, Ryan Gosling. That's an interesting choice. It is an interesting choice. I agree. I would have gone more like Zach Ephron. Really? I don't know. He looks like Ken, doesn't he? He does kind of look like Ken. And you know who else not looks like Ken, but someone who looks exactly like Zach Ephron?

I saw on Instagram the other day. They showed a picture of a man. Now, it was in olden times. I wish, you know, I'm terrible with facts and like retaining knowledge. But he started some computer programming and he was gay when it wasn't. and accepted and he commended suicide. And the story that was going around was that he killed himself with an apple. He put cyanide and an apple and took a bite of it. And that's how he died.

And that's why the Apple logo looks like an apple with a bite out of it, which is not correct. So that fact was debunked. That's not true. But this man was very involved in computers and whatnot. Now, I don't know why. I was looking in comments to see if people said anything. He looks almost exactly like Zach Efron. Alex Turin.

Is that who it is? Can you pull up the picture? Do you not see Zach Efron? Not particularly. Wait, there's one picture, Rob. Hold on. What's the name you Googled? Let me look. Alan Turring. Alan. Al-A-N-T-R-I-N-G. Olivia, are you Googling this? Yeah. My internet's being slow.

I feel like, oh no, Zach Ephron's going to kill me. Well, this is a guy who committed suicide by eating an apple. Look. Look. I don't see it. Well, do you know Kevin Zegers? Yes, he looks a lot like he's married to someone who works, actually. Okay, I'm sending this one to you guys. Do you know who Zach Efron is? Let's call Zach Ephron up.

Oh, Zach will never come on this podcast. I just sent you one where I think he looks exactly like Zach Efron. Oh, this one. Okay, I see this one here. It's just this one picture. That's the only picture. that was on Instagram. Maybe it's his smile. Yeah. Yeah.

I just saw that one. Okay? I just sent it to both of you, assholes that aren't agreeing with me. I can see it a little bit, but that's not on the side of the eyes. It was the only picture that they had up and he looked exactly like Zach Efron. I see it in that one. But when I'm looking at all the other ones, I was like, this is really odd.

I know. I looked at all the other ones and I was like, oh, no. I'm getting discredited left and right over here. Okay, so anyway, so Bobby and I shared the same birthday the same year. How cool is that? That's super cool and super Virgo. Well, I like to think that I like interior design as well. You do like interior design.

And it might be a Virgo brain. Yeah, absolutely. Rob, you just had a birthday, but what's your sign? June 20th, I don't know what sign. Aren't you a cancer? You don't even know what you are, Rob? I'm on the cost. No, I don't know what I am.

You're a Gemini or a. Oh, wait, let me see. June 20th. Is he a Gemini still? I feel like it switches on the 21st, so I could be wrong. Yeah, you're on the cusp though. Natalie told me I'm one and not the other though. Like just personality-wise? Yeah. Which one? You don't know? No. Can you ask her and get back to us on that? Oh, you're Gemini. You have the same birthday as Uncle Jennifer. Um, right. You are a Gemini. My brother's a Gemini. You don't come off like a Gemini at all that. Well, what's the the one after. Cancer.

Cancer. Do I come off? Way more like a cancer than in Gemini. You think so? I don't know enough about cancers to say. Gemini's are more extroverted and more gregarious, if you will. Think of your brother. He like comes in the room and it's like freaking John's in the room.

Uncle Jennifer comes in the room. Uncle Jennifer's in the room. You know? Rob is more like not trying to be seen. Who's a cancer? Is Eric Randolph a cancer? Eric Randolph's a cancer. My brother's a cancer. Yeah. But I don't think of your brother and think Rob. Oh, you don't?

I don't know what any of this means. You don't, but you're going to meet my brother and you're going to get exactly what it means. Or you're going to see him and be like, that is me on the inside. He's like 250 pounds of pure muscle. One of the most intimidating people. you will ever come across. He might break your hand when he shakes it. Rob's like, that's me. Do you feel that way inside, Rob? Yeah, exactly, yeah.

That's what I think. Do your feelings get hurt often? Are you sensitive? I guess. I don't, not often, but no, I don't know. You don't strike me as someone that gets their feelings hurt often. Do you get your feelings hurt? My feelings get hurt, I guess not often. Have we ever hurt your feelings? Yeah, do you not show it when your feelings get hurt?

No, I don't show it if it does. Have we hurt your feelings? Constantly, Rachel. Shut up, Rob. Constantly. Wait, but that's interesting. So some people, you know, don't ever show it when they get their little feeling hurt. It's not healthy, though.

Let it out. Let it out, Rob. I don't have any specifics right now, no. Yeah, because that's more cancery. Gemini's have two personality. Oh, do they ever? Yes, very true. Although, you know what? My brother doesn't really have two personalities. At all. At all? Neither does Uncle Jennifer, actually.

Yeah, so we just debunked our fact. She's just got one big old personality, and so does your brother. Yes. I know some Gemini-o that have two personalities, just not the people were closest to. No, I'd be curious to know what your moon and rising sign are. Do you know yours, Rachel? I think I've been told it before, but I couldn't tell you now. I don't know what that means. I bet Natalie does. I don't think so.

Really? Is she not into astrology at all? What sign is Natalie? What's her birthday? November. Oh, November what? 27th. November 27th.

So she's... So is she a Libra? Or is Scorpio? She's a Libra. She's a Libra. That's like me. That's why she's a Libra. Saggater.

She's a SAG? She's a SAG? Oh, no. End of November. Oh, my God. And no, that's really doing terrible here. I know. Well, oh, she's a Sagittarius.

Yeah, she's a Sagittarius. What am I, what's wrong with my brain today? Not that I'm like a master astrologer, but I just not. Probably COVID. Rob. It could be. You've been feeling a little off. No, I've got to go take my wellness now.

I will tell you the liquid wellness. You know the wellness pills you can get like at Whole Foods or whatever? They have a liquid resistance wellness. The ginger. turmeric one? No, it's called liquid resistance by wellness. I just gave you flavors. That's not, it's a disgusting flavor. It doesn't taste good. I don't know. I couldn't tell you what's in it, but I do find that it helps. Whoops, your immune system. You know what I've been eating lately is these vitamins called gem, but you eat them instead of swallow them? Like chew them, you mean?

You chew them. Like gummies? They're not gummies. They're whole food bites. which is better because then your body breaks them down as you're eating them. Instead of just swallowing them, you actually supposedly absorb more nutrients. And then they taste really good. Good to know. And I eat some before bed that are called calm. Oh, yeah, you do, the magnesium ones. Those don't work.

I feel like nothing works for me, though, with sleep. I don't even know why I do it because I don't need any help sleeping. I could sleep right here right now. you guys are putting me to sleep. Are you a napper, Rob? I don't have time to nap. But like if you had the time, could you? Yeah.

What I've learned in my old age is if I try to nap, it's 20 minutes, no more. Like my body wakes up. That's about what I can do. But why is that, do you think? There's like something behind it, I feel like. I could do it three hours. I know, but that's what I'm saying is. I can do a three hour nap.

I feel terrible if I slept for three hours in the middle of the day. I feel great. I don't sleep for three hours in the middle of the day, but I often will take an hour nap with Shepard when it's his nap time. And it gives me what I need to get through the rest of the day. I feel super disoriented if I sleep in the middle of the day. If it's more than 20 minutes. I feel super great if I do it. I've actually built it into my schedule.

Yeah. My version of that nap is my second caffeine run. Yep. Me too. Do you feel guilt, though? Is it because you feel guilt or you feel like what? Huh? No, mine is like physically, I feel disoriented if I sleep.

I wouldn't feel guilt. I'd feel great if I could actually do it. I just can't do it. No, there's nothing wrong with now. I mean, if you have the time, I highly recommend it for anyone. Rob, I got a matre the other day and thought of you. Did you like it? It was delicious.

Do you do it with oat milk or almond milk? I do it with regular milk. I did it with regular milk. You need to come over and try the one at Maru in Los Felas. That's the one you love. Do you do whole? I just do regular milk. So like 2% presumably?

Whatever they have. That's cow milk. No, but milk's a thing. Like everyone's like, oh, do you do oat? Do you do almond? Do you do coconut? I'm like, can I just have whole milk? Yeah, if you go out of regular though, it's... It doesn't upset your stomach?

I don't think so. It's always impresses me. that Leah, she just loves a glass of milk. Like she will down a glass of whole milk. Like that is her thing. I can do a glass of milk too. You like your milk? Oh yeah.

It's weird. I get sick from milk but not ice cream. Are you sure you don't get sick from ice cream? I'm positive. Trust me. I eat enough ice cream to know. What's your favorite ice cream? Both of you. I like butter pecan.

I don't love ice cream. I've been eating a lot of ice cream for the past six years. Mm-hmm. Butter pecan's your favorite, you'd say? I don't know. You're going phases. Right now, I love Hogandah's. You know what I'm on a kick, which is super random, is 31 flavors chocolate chip ice cream. Really? Isn't that weird? Very. Charlotte sent it to us for Leah's birthday, like a big tub of just chocolate chip ice cream. And I ate a bowl of it. And I was like, this is so good that I've been thinking of it. and I keep ordering it.

Rob, did you say you didn't like ice cream? Not big on ice cream. I'm not big on ice cream either. I'll do like Jenny's, like the salty caramel there if I'm going to get it. The fancy. He likes the fancy stuff. Of course he does.

Of course he does. For me, I need it to be like 31 flavors does a banana royale. And let me tell you. It's like a version of a banana split, but the banana is cut up. So you get a little banana in every bite. It's like a Sunday.

It is delicious. That sounds good. Oh, it's so good. That's the kind of stuff I can eat. I can't just do like, I will never be like, I just want ice cream for dessert. Every night. Yeah, you do. I only do it if Calvin wants ice cream and we've got to take him to the ice cream shop.

What does he get? He mostly picks by color. He wants, like, rainbow or purple. Love it. It's a good choice, Cal. I also like strawberry and mint chip. You do? Mm-hmm.

But we've been getting Elliott these oatly ones, the non-dairy thing, oat milk, obviously. they're so good. They taste kind of like frozen cool whip. Oh, okay. You know what I mean? Like that consistency, they're really good. I have a really horrendous sweet tooth. I do too, but I just don't. It's not ice cream. It's cookies. Oh my God, or I got this most amazing. This is going to sound weird. It's like an almond brittle. But like, you know almond rocca? Like what the inside tastes like. It's just that with like whole almonds in it. It is, I can't stop eating it. Have you had milk jar cookies? From milk?

Milk jar. It's a different place. No. Those are the best cookies I've ever had. Really? Yeah. That's a big statement from you, Rob. That's a big deal.

Uh-huh. Well, you're going to send us a link. Hello. What kind? Just like a classic chocolate chip. Okay. It's like super doughy and they warm it up. I think they're freshly made if you go in.

What's your favorite kind of cookie? Just classic chocolate chip. But do you like it with the salt? Yeah, yeah. Got to have the salt on it. So proof makes a really good one. What's your favorite cookie, Rachel? You know what?

I love just a homemade Nestle Toll House. If you do it yourself, Nestle Toulouse. If you do it yourself, that is my favorite. And I eat them. But I like to use kosher salt, so it's a little salty. A little crunchy. Yeah, a little salty little crunch.

My favorite's peanut butter. Peanut butter's good. Crummily peanut butter with real peanuts in it. I think we're hungry. I'm starving. I'm actually really hungry. How did you like Cracker Barrel? Oh, man.

Oof. I am sorry, but Cracker Barrel was a really rough experience for me. Yeah, this is terrible. Yeah, Rachel loves it. I've never been. Cracker barrel. I love you. I love you too.

Oh, is that Cal? Hi, Calvin. You can't hear us probably. I want to come down and say hi. Oh, let's, I want to ask Calvin. Hey, you can come over here. Is he coming down or no? Come down here.

Hi. Hi, Calvin. Come here, put his on. Hi. Hi, Cal. Hi. What is your favorite cookie? Chocolate.

Chocolate? Mm-hmm. What's your favorite ice cream? Chocolate? Chocolate all around, huh? Nothing better than chocolate. No? What else?

Do you like potato chip ice cream? I don't even have that a four. You never had potato chip ice cream before? Yeah. Do you like gummy bear cookies? I never had that out of four too. Does it sound good? I don't know.

Okay, well, I'll let you try some weird things sometime and you can tell me if you like them, okay? Okay. Okay. You going upstairs? Oh, I stole the mic. What's your favorite thing to eat for lunch, Calvin? Salmon rice.

Salmon and rice? Spam. Spam and rice. Spam. Spam and rice. Yum. You know, spam is a real thing. Like, people really like spam.

I've never tried it before. What's your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Salmon rice, but also, and also seaweed with rice and jam and there are a little sauce in it. Hmm. Very advanced palate you have, Calvin. What about breakfast? Cair and cake. pancakes? Mine too. Yeah, does mommy make them or daddy? Not a lot. Not a lot. Is that a treat breakfast?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you have some really good meals over there. What's your favorite thing about daddy? Um, um, new things with them. Doing new things with them? Uh-huh. Did you like the fireworks last night? Yeah. Yeah. And my favorite thing is a game, too. What game? You have to see if it sinks or floats. Oh, you just see if it sinks or floats. What kind of a game is that?

In the water. Right. Is it in the toilet? No. I'm just kidding. No. In a bucket or something. In a bucket or something?

That's a great game. That is a great game. But when I played it, I did the bucket. You did the bucket. Did you play that game with Daddy or Mommy? I did with Mommy. Yeah. Wait a minute.

What's your favorite thing about being a big brother? Uh, teaching them by the, but I don't teach him yet. But teaching him. Yeah. You're going to teach him everything. You're the best big brother, Calvin. I'm not the best big brother. Why not?

Why do you say that? I'm not. Why do you say you're not? I'm just not. Well, I don't believe that because I have seen you with Vincent and you are the best big brother. I'm not the best big brother. Are you plotting something?

Yeah. Do you have any questions for us? Do you not my favorite carteries? No. What's your favorite color? All the colors of the rainbow. Have you ever heard of Roy G. Biv? Yeah.

Oh, so you know Roy G. Biv. I've seen it on a show. Oh, on a show. So you know the colors of the rainbow. Can you say them all? Roy G. Biv. Yep, that's right.

You got it. Do you know what the show's called? No, what's the show called? Uh, Rye. It's called Ryan? Oh, boy. Is it the guy that opens the toys? Um, that's Ryan World.

But I watched that for, but I didn't watch it today. Okay. Oh, he watched another one. That's Ryan's World. He didn't watch today. Okay. All right. Got it.

I watched it before, though. Yeah, and is that the show that taught you Roy G. Biv? Uh-huh. Not the one that taught me. Roy G. Bills. No? So what's Ryan?

Ryan. That's a kid. Oh, a kid named Ryan taught you Roy G. Biv? No, it's a show called Ryan's World on YouTube. I know, but he's saying that that's not the show that told him Roy G. Biv. It's the other one. There's multiple Ryan shows. There's multiple Ryan shows. He's just correcting that it's one and not the other.

Yeah. See, I'm with him. I got you, Cal. We had to wean our kids off Ryan. Really? Well, Elliot, yeah. Loved it. We never did it. Okay. We never went that right.

Bye. Thanks for talking to us, Cal. You're welcome. You're welcome. Thank you. He has the cutest voice on the planet, though, I have to say. He does. Okay.

Thank you all for listening. Thank you all. See you next week. That was a headgum podcast.