Dear Hank & John - 206: If You Can't Put Your Mouth There... (with Andrew Levitt AKA Nina West!)

Episode Date: September 9, 2019

How should I act around my professor who is also my peer? Do the knobs on toasters control heat or time? How do I not get matching tattoos with my mom? Do you ever think about where all your hair is in the world? How can I be less judgmental? How should you display a sugar packet collection? How do I tell people who think I'm dead that I'm not dead? What should I do when I ring the doorbell and I'm not sure if I rang the doorbell? How should you respond to neck skin compliments? Are my new friends friends? Andrew Levitt (Nina West) from RuPaul's Drag Race joins Hank Green to answer your questions! If you're in need of dubious advice, email us at [e-mail]. Join us for monthly livestreams and an exclusive weekly podcast at patreon.com/dearhankandjohn. Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/dearhankandjohn

Hello and welcome to Dear Hank and John! Or as I like to think of it, Dear Andrew and Hank. It's a podcast where two brothers and sometimes a special guest answer your questions, give you the abuse advice and bring you all the weeks news from both Mars and ASD Wimbledon, Andrew. Right before season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race. I found on eBay a compass that said, it would always point toward my favorite queen.

And I thought it was broken, but it turned out it was just always pointing west. Hello, Andrew Levit. Stop. It's Nina West of season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race. It's here. Hi. On Dear Hank and John, which is weird, wonderful,

dream come true for me. It's so lovely to be talking to you, my wife. I told her last night that this was happening and she just looked at me and her eyes got big and she was like, I can't talk about that. That's too weird. Well, your wife has great taste. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

How are you doing? I'm so good. I'm really excited to be here with you today. It's gonna be awesome. Yeah, me too. It was fun and we did not just spend 20 minutes trying to get Google Hangouts to work. I mean, I'm a drag queen.

I'm a drag queen. I don't work in IT. I have no idea what I'm doing. So have you been fairly busy? Yeah. It's a season wrapped. Yeah, you know, it's been pretty great. I've been lucky enough to travel and meet all these great people and do what I love to do,

which is perform and just try to make people happy. So it's been, yeah, it's been pretty good. I've been, I went overseas for the first time, I went to London, I'm like, yeah, it's, I had never been overseas, so it was awesome. It's been awesome so far. Yeah, I mean, making people happy for a living is the absolute best, especially the time when we need that. I love that. Yeah, it's easy for us to really get kind of sucked in and just feel bad about ourselves and feel bad about everything that's happening. And there's so much that is happening

and we just have to, I think it's really important to bring joy to people and should hopefully try to make somebody's day just a little bit better. We're not to sound like a high school music but we're all in this together. So we can't. So, so. It's just.

Not to sound like a pretty particular high school. Right. So, the high school music. Right. Yeah, I want to be clear that there are other high school musicals that you are allowed to do at your high school, then just high school. You wanna answer some questions from?

Let's do it. John Listener's Andrew, okay, let's do it. I love to. I'm gonna start with one from Rose, a very 2019 question. Dear Hank and Andrew, I am a college student and I have just discovered that the professor of one of my classes this semester is also a coworker of Bine at my on-campus job.

I will see him both as a student and as a peer at work. How am I supposed to act around him by any other name? Rose. Oh gosh, aren't we in the world where professors at universities are also at the same day job as you? Yeah, we wouldn't that be correct, right? Because they're just not being paid a living wage.

What? Yeah, go on. But there's student debt. This is how it functions. They also have to pay off their student debt. The student that you are currently accrueling, your professor is paying off next to you at Chipotle. And I get at the guacamole's extra fine.

Fine. So this is so weird because like, it's gotta be worse for the professor than for the student, right? I mean, right, yeah, you'd think that the professor's probably like, how do I find another job where I'm not working with my students? I get up. How did I get into this world? Yeah, yeah.

And also there's this thing about teachers, right? Especially in high school, but also in college. Like, stop being a person. Stop being real. You like, you exist in this other universe for me. Yeah, yeah, it's tough, right? Because you don't know how to negotiate an authority figure and your life is a regular person.

Yeah, and eventually you have to get to the place. And I think that this has to happen in college where you start to understand that your teachers are just people. Right, but you never to get to the place and I think that this has to happen in college where you start to understand that your teachers are just people Right, but you know, but you've been you never really get there until you're Graduated until you left like oh right, right you are normal unless you're working with them of course Yeah, your day, right, yeah, maybe maybe you're gonna be way ahead Rose This is what's happened you are way ahead of of your peers in realizing the professors are just people

because you're putting guacamole on a baritone. Well, it's her on campus job, Hank. There are on campus, Chipotle. It's 2019. That's a fancy college. What does that get? I don't know where that's called. I was gonna say maybe she should just treat him

like, you know, switch the roles. So when she's working with him at her on a campus job, him or her, she should talk to her professor, like in a very collegiate way, like they're her teacher there. And then at the class start managing. Yeah, class. Just be like, hey, what's up? Yeah. Well, it wasn't, wasn't work a killer today. Yeah. You got to experiment with the role. Yeah, switch the role. Yeah, role reversal. I'll be like, switch the context. Oh, man. I think it's a good learning experience. You're going to have a better understanding

of how power dynamics work coming out of this very unusual situation. Yeah. Also, our next question is, dear Andrew and Hank, you know those knobs on toasters. Do those control the amount of heat or the amount of time the toast is in the toaster. I've asked 10 people and half of them say it's heat and half say it's time.

Even Google has conflicting answers. I must know. Maori. PS. Toaster is range from $8 to $150. All right. First of all, it's a toaster. Do not pay $150 for a toaster.

It's just going to toast. The $8 toaster is not going to burn your house down, and that is the only thing that could make a toaster worth $150. Just to guarantee that it's not going to burn my house down. Well, yeah, I mean, guess the other wires, I guess, yeah, you're right. You need good wires. So, as you're seeing here on Dear Hank and John, we handle all the hard questions, but we also handle practical questions. I know the answer to this question,

which is strange, Andrew Levin and Mallory. Toasters do it both ways. Some toasters go by time, and some go by the amount of heat applied to the toast. And I don't know why most go by heat, because I think it's the cheaper way to do it. But like also, I think you should go by heat because you don't know like all the different variables

that might be influencing how heat is being transferred inside the toaster. And you want your, you want your bagel to get to a certain temperature, not a certain time. Well, wait, wouldn't it be though, like if you keep it in, like at least on my toaster, it is time and heat because it's how long you wanna stay in. Wait, it's time and heat.

I think that the toaster has one heat level. It can apply it, like, I guess they can vary. They can like turn on and off. Oh yeah, the filament, I guess I see it. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, the filament one only can get so hot. But then, but that's the heat. It's exposure to heat and time.

Well, exposure to heat is time. Okay. All right, third more dynamics with Andrew and Hank. I think we're headed now. You want to do intro physics right now. You want to try? I mean, all I know is I like my English most. I like it turned to like a six, so it comes out a little brown toasting.

Right. And I think what's happening is the six is getting your toaster to a certain interior temperature. And then it turns off when it gets to that temperature. I don't think there's a timer in there. Oh, I definitely, I think that's actually your right. I don't think there's a timer in there, but it is based on time. That time, that how long it takes to get out of heat. An amount of time does pass. No, no, I mean, and it takes, I take your toaster that same amount of time to get to that heat level every time, right?

Yes, yes. So it will be roughly the same time every time. OK, OK. With slight variables. For example, I think that if you put a piece of toast in, that that will reach the heat faster than if you put a bagel in which will absorb more of the heat. So what I need you to do is right now, leave the podcast, go,

and do an experiment. It's going to take a half an hour or two. It's going to take a bagel. And you tell me if it takes the same amount of time. This is don't actually do that. Will you encourage maybe any young listeners to do this for a science or project? Yes. Do it for science. And we should all spread it across the world and so everybody can do their own science, fair project. And then should all spread it across the world and so everybody can do their own science fair project and then we will have definite data. That sounds great. Yeah, then you have comparable data.

But I can tell you that cheaper toasters don't tend to have time mechanisms in there and they do it by heat. Whereas more expensive toasters. I don't think any toaster have a time mechanism, because once you get the time, wouldn't that be a toaster oven? Oh, we crack the nut. I think that's it. That's true, be a toaster oven? Oh, I think I've got that fit. We cracked the knot. I think that's it. That's true, because my toaster oven definitely goes by time.

Yeah, see, there we go. Oh. Okay. What we can't do. What we can't do. Oh God, now this is a doozy. Andrew is a question that comes from Jade who asks, dear Hank and Andrew,

my mom came up with an idea to get matching tattoos. Now, I'm not extremely close with my mom, so a little bit caught me off guard when she asked, and I kind of agreed. She didn't bring it up for a few months, so I thought I was in the clear, but now she wants to do it in the next few weeks before I leave for college.

How do I tell her, I don't want to get matching tattoos without hurting her. I'm very stressed about this. Help, please. I'm not so jaded, Jade. Boy, boy, Jade, I don't know how to knock it in matching tattoo with your mom now. I mean, Jade, do you have a lot of tattoos already? Is it feel like if you have a bunch of tattoos already?

Just, yeah, yeah, it's not so bad to have a mom one. Like moms are, yeah, they're important. I mean, I think, I'm, who knows? And I mean, there's so many things to consider. Does the mom already have a tattoo? Like maybe this is her only tattoo that she's ever gonna get. Yeah.

Maybe she's like Kat Von D. Maybe her mom is Kat Von D. Thank you to Kat too, with your mom. Come on, she's, that's so cool. So definitely if your mom is Kat Von D, get a tattoo with your mom. Come on, she's that's so cool. So definitely if your mom is Kat Von D, get a tattoo with your mom. Yeah, I mean, this is kind of a, it's kind of a wild thing.

And it seems a little bit like your mom might be trying to invite you into some closer relationship. Yeah. And this is one of the ways that your mom understands closeness to happen. Go experience pain and change your body permanently. That is how you create lasting bond.

Wait, do you have any tattoos? I have no tattoos. It's not that painful. Look, I've watched people. You said you said pain. I mean, where are they getting these tattoos? I went to get a tattoo. I didn't go to get a tattoo.

I went with a friend who was getting a tattoo. And she cried the whole time Well, some people's paint was on her it was on her lower back like right on her spine I was like maybe that's a sense of America. Yeah, okay, okay, you're right. I don't know. It's a common tattoo spot It sure is it's called the I believe it to be called the tramp stamp. Yeah, scientific We just decided we would call it that as a society good Lord But like I don't know. If your mom is going into this being like,

I'm not very close with my daughter and I don't know how to express my desire to be closer to her, except matching tattoos. Like that's a little bit wild, but different people are different. So maybe if you go to the root of this and you say like, like, do I wanna be closer with my mom? And if so, how would I do that and do that thing instead? And if you don't want to be closer with your mom, then telling her you don't want to get matching tattoos

with her is a pretty good way to accomplish that. But I think that it is important to when we can, and of course we can't always, but when we can be close with our family because they are important. Yeah, yeah, it's tough. I think you've just, you kind of hit this from all angles. Your mom is actually, yeah, she's obviously reaching out because she wants, like you said, to probably be closer or to have a,

or have some a moment between the two of you that's supremely special and well then I wouldn't be marked on your body forever. But, you know, like, so how do you negotiate that? You know, suffer down maybe. I mean, what, okay, also what is the tattoo of? Is it like a cat surrounded by a reason roses? Like, what is, what?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I think this might be the way out, like the way out without hurting your mom is just like, I'm too indecisive, I'm an 18 year old, and I can't decide what tattoo I wanna get with you. It's not that I don't wanna get a matching tattoo 18 year old. I can't decide what tattoo I want to get with you. It's not that I don't want to get a matching tattoo. It's that I can't decide on which one it is. And I just have to go off to college

and learn a little bit more about myself before I get a rosy cat with my mom. But the rub would be, not so J&J comes home for Thanksgiving break and is covering tattoos. Mom, I couldn't decide. So I got them all. I'm not the one with you. Pick which one do you want to get? Yeah, decide. So I got them all. I'm not the only one who can pick.

Which one do you want a good kid? It's like this. Exactly. Just pick one. The Lord Almighty. God, I think we did a great job. Okay, here's another one. Dear Andrew and Hank, no type of my name first.

I'm here. Do you ever think about where all your hair is in the world? Oh, okay. I have long hair. And they do a fair amount of traveling. And sometimes think about the strands I lost in New York, Miami, or DC. I probably left some of this. What? I probably left some of me to Lincoln Memorial for everything is rosy.

Oh, man. That's disgusting. That's great. I love it so much. What happens when someone decides to pick up that strand of that hair and they go, ah, I'm going to clone whoever or whatever this may be. And then Rosie, little do you know, because you have such a long hair

and you've left it everywhere. There's like one of you running around maybe in Piquipsi. In New York, Miami, GC and at the Lincoln Memorial. The level. That's gross. You know, I think this is an interesting thought. All of the little bits of me that are left all around the world.

And no, I'm not worried about people cloning me because why would they want to? They'd probably be much more interested in cloning themselves or their dog that they lost that they loved. As a drag queen, when I lose hair and I'm wearing a wig, it's all synthetic. Or could be human, it's gonna wouldn't be my human hair. So do you have any human hair wigs?

Yeah, I only have a couple. I have a couple. Yeah. But it's also when your skin, when your skin and your hair goes places, you know, Hank it's called dust. It's just your body's trash being left all over the place. Basically, it's called dust. It's just your body's trash being left all over the place. Basically, it's so gross.

Rosie, I didn't ever think about this before, but I did think about it after your question. And all of our body parts litter the world, the tidy little pieces of us that have fallen off, but they are not us. We are the story that we tell ourselves inside of our minds, and those parts of us are just dust. All they are is dust in the wind.

I'm just going to quote songs from here now. I like it. Here's another tough one from Anonymous, because it's a tough one who asks, Steer Andrew and Hank. How can I be less judgmental? I come from an extremely judgmental and critical family of each others of complete strangers of everyone. I've been working my whole life to fight this familial inclination, but sometimes it's

still so bloody hard. Well, now we know you're British, so you're less anonymous now. I really hate this trait about myself. I love how it hurts those around me, and I don't like how it hurts me. And I would love for some outside insight into how to curtail it. Thank you so much for all the awesomeness you bring, continuously to the human race.

That's very nice. Wormly yours, anonymous. So it's interesting here because anonymous, you seem to have identified a thing about judgmental people, which is that they also judge themselves pretty harshly. And so you're out here judging yourself for being so judgmental and you're really kind of upset with yourself. And I think that part of this might be accepting this flaw and understanding it, which you

seem to be doing, but not being so harsh on yourself about it. Even the kindest most at-piece person still, most likely watch the world of some kind of... Yeah, absolutely. So we have to make those... Next time you're in a public place, like actually think about it, like watch the people walking by

and try and figure out like, you have these instantaneous impressions of people and actually try to tease out what is creating that impression because I think that's really interesting. It's something that I enjoy doing while on people movers at airports because there's like a thousand people walking past you at sort of a rapid speed. The moment of time it takes to create that instant impression is so short. It's like your brain is making those judgments really fast. And if you don't take the time to notice that you judge people, which I think anonymous at least you're doing, then that's where the real bad stuff comes out.

That is a really great way to look at this. It's kind of like when you say that, sometimes I like to kind of imagine what people are thinking about when I, like, I'm in airports all the time. So you bring up that example. So it's like, I think about, oh, like, where are they going? Mm-hmm. Like, what is their story? Yeah.

And like, you know, I mean, just thinking about kind of, yeah, what someone's story is, we can sometimes be helpful, reminding yourself that you are more alike with everybody than when you are different. That might be a really good one. Like, you know, you ask them what their favorite movie is and they say some Nicholas Sparks thing that you think is trash.

The notebook. Yeah. If you go off that one data point, yeah, but imagining the depth of the story there. Also, maybe can you watch the notebook and appreciate it for what it is? Well, yeah. Maybe there's something to that. Yeah, I mean, because we're doing it like. Well, yeah. Maybe there's something to that. Yeah.

I mean, because we're doing, like you said, I mean, there's only so much time in a day, but our brain is processing so much. You can't help but be faced with kind of all this process looking at information and what's coming at you. So like, how do you, that's, that's tough. That's a lot. That's a lot to unpack anonymous.

You've got a lot to unpack. You've got me thinking of anonymous. Yeah. So then here's one from Skyward, dear Andrew and Hank. My sister has collected sugar packets for years now. She has a sizable collection, but they just sit in a drawer in her room. How should she display them, and or what should she do with them? Not Peggy, Angelica, or Eliza, or just Skylar.

Well, there's a cute little Hamilton reference. Just Skylar. Nice. What should she do with them? So first of all, is it okay to collect sugar packets? I hope you don't live in a humid place. That worries me. I assume that like, do some restaurants have like branded sugar packets or is it just like wherever I go I like, you like right on the restaurant and you're like, here's where I was. Or do you just take a sugar packet because you're a thief? Is it like, I mean, but that, does she, maybe she intends to have a really sweet cup of coffee. Or the, yeah, I don't know. I mean, that's, do you collect anything weird? Do you?

Well, it occurs to me that I collect sugar packets just like inside of my body. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Same. Same. Same.

Do I collect anything? I have, I collect, do you know what challenge coins are? No. There, this is the thing. It came out of, I think, military tradition, but maybe also, like, schools where you have a coin from your regiment or something, and the coin is something that you, like, keep with you,

and then, like, if you and your, like, buds go out to the bar, like, you all have to bring your coin, and if you don't have it, then you have to buy a little drink or something. I'm not entirely up on the sort of origins of this, but there are certain people who like make them for their TV show or for their podcast, or we do one for our charity auction.

We did one for the 10th anniversary of our merch company. So I have a little collection of those over there. That's amazing. The little stand that they sit in would work for displaying sugar packets. So you can search the challenge point. Stand on Amazon and maybe that's the one way.

I don't know how many sugar packets there are. That way it would work for that. Do you have any weird collections? Weird collections? The only thing I really collect other than broken hearts. Probably be, I collect Disney Christmas ornaments. Is that weird?

Oh, no, that's great. That's a lovely collection. Yeah, it is or it isn't, but yeah, that's what it is. That's the only thing I truly collect. And the here is just so good. I like your challenge. Not only quite challenge times, because that seems a little bit more meaningful.

I mean, I love Christmas ornaments so much. I have many of them, but I don't have any focus. Christmas ornaments are a thing for me that I have no absolutely no shame about loving. There are things about the holiday that I'm not super into. I think that we should maybe spend a little less, like, have a little less focused on money, but I do, I freaking love Christmas.

I do too, I love the way it makes me feel. Which leads me back to saying, your sister probably really loves other sugar packets make her feel. So, I wonder what Skyloos need for wanting to display his sister sugar collection is, why can't she just leave him in a drawer? That's right, yeah, I mean,

well, especially if you've got so many that it's just a drawer full, it's very hard to find a good display system, but you could have a binder. Oh, those are those things that you get for like a baseball card. Oh, stuffy tray. It's like nine a page and have one and just like have your binder and be like, look at all the restaurants I've been doing in my life. I think that's like a full circle answer for Christmas.

Yeah, and we're Hanukkah during the holiday season. Give your sister the baseball collecting book. And put a little hint, maybe like a little card, and then one sugar packet in it from your last meal together. Oh. And then allow her to build her collection in the book. That is an absolute win, which reminds me that this podcast is brought to you by that notebook

and also the movie that notebook, which is two separate notebooks, but both very important notebooks. So thank you to both the notebook and that notebook. Yes, sponsoring this episode of the podcast. Both will bring you to tears. This podcast is also brought to you by Toaster Evans. Yeah, you podcast is also brought to you by Toaster Evans. Yeah, you, um, ones with knobs that don't time it and or don't even heat it up. And this podcast is also brought to you by all of the hairs you have ever left in the world. I'll just sort of floating around, getting washed down the drain,

headed toward the great Pacific Jire probably, or possibly just get worked into wings. Who knows? Aren't pit hairwigs. Look at the American maybe. And this podcast is also brought to you by Cat Tattoo tramp stamps. Okay, the small of your back always ready to save me out. Me out. Yeah. All right, this next question comes from Gus.

And it's a wild one. Gus says, dear Hank and Andrew, after I came out as gay, my dad's side of the family disowned me on religious grounds. So for the past seven years or so, much of my extended family has been telling their friends and children that I literally died to explain my sudden and total absence. But now my brother is getting married, which I'm very excited about. What I show up to celebrate my brother's wedding to his high school sweetheart, how do I explain to people who I think that I am dead, that I am not dead?

Do I lead into it, drifting like an unseen specter through the reception? And talking my sisters into claiming that my image is magically appearing in photographs? What do I wear in this case? Cakes and cadavers' guss. that my image is magically appearing in photographs? What do I wear in this case? Cakes and cadavers, Gus. Well, Gus, thanks for handling this in with a spirit of levity to be a specter, a situation that is rough,

because in reality, if people are going to be surprised that you are a person who exists and is not dead, they are going to want an explanation. And a person who exists and is not dead, they are going to want an explanation, and the person who should have to provide that explanation is not you. Agreed with that. I think you could just also pretend like you're the second coming. See, look at how fabulous it is.

You know what I mean? But I totally agree with you Hank. Yes, it's not your job to justify who you are to people that probably don't have any meaning at all to your life or any consequence. It sounds like it's been seven years and you've definitely been able to move on in your life and probably have a very happy and healthy and successful life without all these extended family members. Who knows who these friends are of theirs? Anyway And who knows who these friends are of theirs anyway?

Who cares who these friends are anyway? It's a big day for your brother, and in turn, it's a big day for you to be there for your brother. And as you know, it sounds like you've known very well that there's nothing wrong with you at all. And you're pretty incredible. And I think, yeah, I think it's nice to lean into the fun

of it. Let me just walk up behind some really weird family lovers and go, ooh, I'm bad. I'm like, oh. And then hand them like, hand them like some kind of a fabulous piece of gay reading. Oh, that's great.

And then for a slightly easier question, this comes from Jess with a problem that I experience all the time. Dear Hank and Andrew, what am I supposed to do when I ring the doorbell and I'm not sure if I rang the doorbell. So sometimes you push the doorbell button right and you don't hear it go on the inside. And then you're like, what do I do now? Because if I immediately knock, then I'm like, being really aggressive, right? So I don't want to be the aggressive person who like knocks on the door right after you bring the door, right? So I don't want to be the aggressive person who like knocks on the door right after you turn the doorbell,

but I also don't want to stand on the porch forever, help. I mean, I'm sure that you didn't ring the doorbell. Because sometimes the doorbell doesn't... No, yeah, sometimes the doorbell doesn't ring. There are many broken doorbells in the world. Not every doorbells have broken doorbells, though. I mean, so... Like, boy, I'm really wondering if this doorbells broken. After I just bring that doorbell two days ago,

and I didn't know if I rang it. No, I mean, we ice American's have neurotic tendencies. One of them is ringing a doorbell. So it's like, did that doorbell ring? I don't know if I rang. I'm gonna ring it again. Wait, did it ring? I did it twice.

Did I do it twice? Thoughts it again. Just start pounding the door. Hello! You know for leaving me out here. You know for taking a pancake. I see you were going over for pancake breakfast, which sounds lovely. We should have people over for pancake breakfasts more I don't know why I don't do that. I don't know why I don't do that. I'm gonna come over for pancake breakfasts. I would love to come over for pancake breakfasts. I know why I don't because I don't make pancakes,

but I like to eat pancakes. I made pancakes this morning, because my son woke up and he said, just for clarity, we're recording this on a Tuesday, my son woke up and he said, it's Sunday and I was like, no, it's not. And he was like, Sunday is pancake day. And I was like, I mean, Sunday is pancake day and he was like, it's Sunday. And I was like, no, it's not. And he was like, Sunday is pancake day. And I was like, I mean, Sunday is pancake day.

And he was like, it's Sunday. And I was like, it's Tuesday. And he was like, it's pancake day. And I was like, well, this is all been very cute. And so it's pancake. Yeah, he got the system worked. I got the system worked. Tell dad it's Sunday.

Guess what, it's Sunday. Try some, I'll also be Sunday. Just be ready. I don't know. I like pancakes. It's fine. It's food. It's not bad'll also be Sunday, just for you. I don't know. I like pancakes. It's fine. It's food. It's not bad for them.

Anyway, this is, I mean, just the solution to this problem is what all the millennials do these days. And Gen Z, which is just don't touch the door or doorbell and you just text your friend from the car. Or just or do something that'd be really classic. It's totally Gen 1700. It's just stand on the porch. Just stand on the porch.

I'm just like, come here. Take out a folding chair, sit down and be like, a coffee classifies, DMV like, I'm porch sitting now. This is my porch. Yeah, I'm just waiting for you. Just waiting for you. Come on out.

Oh look, you came home. Oh man, doorbells are kind of wild. Now that you say that, why do we need doorbells, knocking is a thing. Not because of people wanting to really gorgeous annoying tone to fill their home. Oh, I'm upstairs doing something other than being by the door

waiting for someone to come. Yeah, and you don't want it to, like, because knocking just seemed so rude, and we were like, well, let's give people another option. Well, also knocking is kind of startling. Knocking is startling. Doorbells are a little bit more softer. Yeah, I guess.

Which is maybe why they... Like a knock is like, oh, somebody has a door. Someone's banging on my house. No, bang on my house. Who's banging on my house? I don't know how to knead this at 730 in the morning while I'll make a pancakes. Oh gosh, I guess that's the thing.

And then it's just a nice little ding dong. And then, and now we've replaced that with text messages because why wouldn't we? Yeah, it's all about, it's just a progression to being more polite and neurotic. Okay. All right, Hank, here's another one. Dear Andrew and Hank,

today the ultrasound technician told me that I have perfect skin after she scanned my throat. Oh, it's good. What should I have said instead of, haha, thanks, after she complimented my sweet, sweet neck skin? Should I start paying attention to and complimenting other people's neck skin? Yeah, oh my God.

One of many, Catherine's. Oh, I thought reading this, she scanned her throat. Like, I thought she had like an interior scope done. I was like, oh, the skin on inside of her throat looks great. Right. But no, that's not it. Hank, it's her neck on exterior. It's her neck, yes.

The skin of the neck, the good news is that nothing is wrong with the throat. The weird news is that the ultrasound technician is definitely a vampire. Like, happy doing the fall season now. So, we're total next cover your neck. You have perfect skin. Is this okay to say to a part to like in a professional setting,

like you're looking, but boy, you got great neck skin. I don't need that in my life for my ultrasound. I'll tell you this though, my mom would love to hear that. My mom is always like, Oh, my neck looks so short. Oh, just like that. It's so old. So my mom would be like, ah, she said, I have perfect neck skin. That means like, are also maybe the person who wrote this

is a turkey. Woo, woo, woo, yeah. Yeah. Look at that neck skin. Yeah, yeah, Katherine, we understand that you are at least one turkey, possibly multiple turkeys inside of the body of a human. And like turkeys do have great neck skin. So maybe that's the situation.

I need a professional situation here. But for clarity, I don't think you should be complimenting other people's neck skin in general, unless you're very, very close with them. Like, close enough that, like if you can't put your mouth on a person's neck skin, you shouldn't comment on it unless it's Andrew's mom. What the heck?

Yeah. I think that is definitely the guideline. If you can't put your mouth there, don't compliment it. Don't talk about it. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. I think you're right. You just laid out. You solved all the problems in life.

The only thing that doesn't work for it is eyes because just don't lick an eye. Don't do it. Okay. That's how you get pink eye. Oh, that's how it's transmitted. Now I know. Yeah, I've licked an eye or two like this.

Oh, you've such beautiful eyes. No, no, no. OK, so if we could delete the last 15 seconds of the podcast, I guess we decided not to, but I feel like I wish I hadn't done it, but we left it in. So there it is. There it is. Finished. Complete.

All right, one final question before we get to the all important news from Marzen A. FC Wimbledon. It comes from Chloe who asks, dear, Hank, and Andrew. I recently started high school and I found myself in a group of what I would call friends. However, since I've only known them for a few weeks,

it feels weird to call them friends. Please help me figure this out. Your friend, but maybe not Chloe. Chloe, those are your friends. I did, I was like, I was like, obligate things. That are your friends. Please help me figure this out, your friend, but maybe not Chloe. Chloe, those are your friends. It does, it does, it's like, convocate things, that are your friends. Yeah, that's your friend. You could say, hello, acquaintance,

it's nice to meet you. I hope that one day I will know you better and I can call you friends. Yeah, well yeah. You don't have to exchange bracelets. Look, I have recorded exactly 51 minutes of a podcast with Andrew Levit, better known by his stage named Nina West. And I think we're friends now.

I would think we're friends, right? Yeah, we're friends now. Whenever somebody says, ah, I loved Nina West, misconjean reality of season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race, I would say, oh, you mean my friend Andrew? Yes, and I would say, from now on,

and then I would say, who's this guy? It's his call to me his friend. That's how it works. No, I mean, there are two few friends in this world. We need more. Yeah. And we need faster friendships and we need to treat them with care and love them.

So yeah, those are your friends now and it's so great. Yeah, you're only so rich as the number of friends you have in your life. So like, go get wealthy. Make a lot of friends. That's right. Being friends is both a big deal and a thing with a low barrier.

So, like, it should be important, but it should also be not something that we put a big wall between us and that word. So, I'm so happy, Chloe, that you've got friends. And now, it's time for the news from Mars and AFC Wimbledon. First, we're gonna have the news from AFC W Wimbledon delivered to us by Andrew Levit, who I'm sure knows a lot about third-tier English football. In news from AFC Wimbledon, the dance time, the Wiccom wanderer is last week, which is

really good news because Wiccom is number five in the lead right now. It was by all accounts of bad game, which no one did anything interesting. And I'm not just saying that because I don't like sports it's what the BBC Sports website also said so draw here is better than expected but it did not help AFC Wimbledon and the ranks they're currently down in the relegation zone and third the last place which you know it's better than being in last place if there's any good news in all of this the Don's did just sign three new players, none of whom are big deals, but it's good to have people on the team, anyway.

So, let me look, it goes back to that question. See, that one needs a friend. It's good to have people on the team. It's good to have people on the team. They're doing very badly. There are two teams below AFC Wimbledon right now, and both of them are below because they broke the rules of the league

and so started off with like a giant hole to dig themselves out of in terms of points. So it's bad for AFC Wimbledon, but the Mars News is great. I'm ready for it. Do you like to know the Mars News? Please tell me, Hank, give it to me. This week in Mars News, NASA is sending, can you believe it, a helicopter to Mars?

What? Did you know about this? No. So the Mars helicopter, which is about a four pound thing, has been strapped to a plate on the belly of the Mars 2020 rover, which will be getting to the planet in 2020. So that helicopter is officially attached. It's happening. There's going to be a drone on Mars, except it's going to have to be pretty autonomous

because there's like a 45 minute light lag between here and Mars, so we can't control it. It'll have to figure it out on its own. So NASA considers this to be a high-risk, high-reward project. If it works, it'll be the first time we've been able to fly an aircraft on another planet. Wow. And then we could potentially use that on future missions,

carrying around instruments, grabbing samples from places, going into hard-to- to access areas like caves maybe, and carrying its own science equipment, or as a scout for robots or potentially humans. And that's a big reward if it works, but to take into account the fact that it's a huge risk, and we have no idea if this is gonna work, the helicopter will not be carrying

any scientific instruments at all. If anything goes wrong, we haven't lost any science, so the rest of the mission will not be affected, but if it works, we will know that it works. And then in the future, we can do it more. But if it works, we will have a ton of science. And I don't have a camera. I guess this science will be a helicopter worked on Mars.

Like that's the... Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. I think it will have a camera on it. It'll be able to take pictures. Oh my god. So that'll be good.

It's like a selfie machine on Mars. It's right. Oh yeah, I could take a picture of the rover, which so far, there's never been a picture of a whole rover on Mars, because it's always been like the rover's arm has got gone out to take a picture of itself. So now, potentially, we can have a picture of the whole rover on Mars,

and then a zoom shot of it flying away, like a boom on a movie set. It'll be amazing. Really, that's all it's about. It's just going to be better cinematography on Mars. So many. All right. Thank you, Andrew, for making a podcast with me. This was really lovely and fun.

Thank you so much for having me, Hank. I had the best thing today. This podcast is a co-production of Complexly and WNYC Studios. It's edited by Joseph Tuneumettech, produced by Rosie Anna Halstrow, Hassan Sheridan Gibson. The head of community and communication

is Victoria Bond-Jorno, and the music that you're hearing now, and at the beginning of the podcast is by the great Gunnarola. Thank you, and as they say in our hometown, don't forget to be awesome.