Doughboys - UNLOCKED! - Man Bites Dog
Episode Date: December 30, 2021Unlocked and free for all! JUNE 2013. A lifelong friendship forever frays over a bite of a hot dog. But what really happened that night in New York? Evan Susser and Emma Erdbrink share the findings of... their comprehensive Doughvestigation with the Doughboys.To get more Doughboys Double go to patreon.com/doughboysWant more Doughboys? Check out our Patreon!: https://patreon.com/doughboysSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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This is Man Bites Dog.
A Doe Vestigation podcast from Doe Boys Media.
Today's story focuses on a hot dog transgression that turns out to be about so much more.
It's a story about friendship, a story about growing up, and then yes, ultimately a story
about hot dogs.
I'm Evan Susser, and I'm joined by Emma Erdbrink.
What's up, Suss?
The story begins with two emails to the Doe Boys feedback.
If you're a regular listener to the podcast, you might remember them.
Let's open up the feedback.
Chironton writes, On my last night in New York, my friend of 30 years took me out for
a final night of eating and drinking.
He also brought one of his insufferable friends, a guy I didn't even know.
Then when I think things can't get any worse, he asked to take a bite of my hot dog and
eats the whole thing, became so enraged I just left.
We later got into an email spat about this incident that almost ended our friendship.
That was the first email.
Here's the one that followed.
Today's email is from Sunmoy.
So Sunmoy writes, I'm the alleged hot dog thief referenced in Chironton's email as
read on your recent episode.
I was astounded gobsmacked.
Did I really just hear the Doe Boys say the name of my oldest friend?
Did they really just read his grievance of the hot dog incident of which I was the counterparty?
Did they actually go on to call me a psycho and a weirdo?
I feel compelled to offer my side of the story.
Chironton abandoned the last bite of his hot dog for what felt like 15 minutes and I was
under the impression that he was done with his meal.
I ate the delicious but cold dog and ate it so that the server would not grab the plate
thinking he was done.
After I saw the lasers being fired from Chironton's eyes directly into my soul, I immediately
offered to buy him a fresh new hot dog.
He did not accept my offer, maintained his rage toward me, and then stormed off and wouldn't
answer his phone.
There was a tense email exchange that followed.
Chironton feeling completely justified in his position that I was being a psycho, a position
he's still maintaining 8 years later.
After hearing those emails, I felt compelled to investigate.
But I wasn't prepared for what I would discover.
Today, Emma and I are sitting down with Wyger and Mitch to share the findings of the dovestigation.
Wow.
So hi guys.
Wow.
Hi.
Wow.
What's up guys?
Wow.
This is some serious stuff.
Yes.
I think that as a listener, I kind of felt like, okay, what's going on here?
Is this kind of like a scam that these guys called to like try and get on Doe Boys?
Like, did they exaggerate this?
Did they coordinate this?
Is this not real?
I think a lot of people, you know, reacted to the first email and were like, wow, that's
a wild situation.
And then the follow-up email is what caused them to sort of like ask, wait a minute,
what's going on here?
Yeah.
I thought about it.
Did I care this much even to the point of your intro?
No.
The fans care.
Yeah.
Well, I hope you'll stick with me, Mitch, because I think that by the end of this, you
are going to care and you are going to be invested.
Wow.
To start this investigation, I thought the first thing to do was reach out to Charantan,
who wrote the first email.
So Emma, do you want to play that tape?
Yes.
Wow.
Okay.
I hope you weren't able to talk to him.
You denied all requests.
Can you tell the story in your own words about what happened?
I'll set the scene.
I was in New York finishing my residency.
It's been a hard three years, so I'm like, all right, I'll spend my last night in town
with my old buddy, Sun Moi, best friend from when we were 10 years old, and he brings this
guy.
I've never met this guy.
This guy sucks.
And it was getting to the end, I'm like, whatever, I'll just go home.
There was half the hot dog, and this is what he does.
Three big gulps just takes the whole thing down.
And then afterward, and this is the key part of the story that hasn't been communicated
He did one of these, it's like Ali G, Waghwan kind of thing, like, oh, I got you.
I got you.
So he knew what he was doing.
There was a last straw, and I just walked out, and I drive to Wisconsin the next day.
And that was it.
Wow.
And just for the listener, when you said he does an Ali G, you kind of like a finger
gun.
Yeah, one of these, half a hot dog.
And is there any reason that we should trust your eyesight?
Do you have any sort of professional expertise?
Well, as it happens, I do eyeballs for a living.
I'm an ophthalmologist.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
And I also have a perfect memory.
With Sharan Tan's professional expertise in eyesight and his self-professed perfect memory,
he was quickly establishing himself as a reliable source.
I asked Sharan Tan if he remembered where this hot dog incident took place.
It was a bar in New York called American Trash, appropriately enough.
Wow.
So this fight is from a hot dog from a restaurant named American Trash.
Yes, well, technically the hot dogs came from another restaurant, and they sold them at
American Trash.
Where did the hot dogs come from?
You know, I read something, I don't remember that.
We'll try and get to the bottom of that.
The insufferable friend.
What exactly was insufferable about him?
Everything he said, he had to one-up you, you know?
So it's like, oh, I went to England, like, oh, I've been to Scotland, like, oh, great,
you know, big deal.
And then every choice you make or whatever, something you talk about, he's got some negative
comment.
You know, man, shut up, I'm trying to enjoy my last night in New York, can you just leave
this at the door?
I wanted a special night with my buddy.
Are you and Sunmoys still friends to this day, or did this hot dog incident have long-lasting
effects?
So, I mean, I don't know if it ended the friendship, it changed things.
We hung out after, on and off, and like, things were just weird, I think it was Thanksgiving
of 2018 or something was the last time I ever spoke to him.
I'll just be completely honest.
When we got both emails, we kind of thought that maybe it was a put-on.
Is this a joke?
That maybe you guys were in on it.
Did you see the video?
Is that what changed your mind?
We saw the video.
I saw the posting date of the video changed my mind.
Here's what you need to know about the video that Sharon Tan is referencing.
A few months after the hot dog incident, a bunch of Sharon Tan and Sunmoys friends did
a dramatic re-enactment of the emails changed between the two of them that followed the hot
dog incident.
The friends were kind of making fun of both of them for how childish they both acted.
It was posted on YouTube seven years ago, and is as much proof as you'd want that this
wasn't all fabricated for the dog ways.
So if it wasn't all an elaborate plot to get the attention of the podcast, what was
really going on here?
Did this hot dog incident really destroy a friendship?
Did these two strange friends both somehow listen to the same dumb podcast?
I asked Sharon Tan about this.
Were you aware that Sunmoys also listened to dog boys?
I know, and I don't know how he heard this, because that's not his sense of he's a barstool
sports guy.
I don't know what he listened to, who knows?
I'll be honest, after talking to Sharon Tan, I was more on his side than I thought I'd
be.
But of course, I'd only heard one side of the story.
That's why I needed to talk to Sunmoys.
Here's my conversation with Sunmoys.
My wife actually has the text messages from that night, and now we're looking at some
details, and it was just like ongoing with Sharon Tan and David, and then like a few
hours later I'm coming home now.
What happened that night with Sharon Tan?
We've been friends forever.
When we first moved to America in 1985 and moved to Wisconsin, and I'm sure you can imagine
there's probably like from India, and there's like 15 Indian families.
They're all friends, so known forever.
So there's a history of like, I can know how to push his buttons and vice versa.
It's just family basically.
So we're probably just joking around a little bit, maybe he's annoyed and I wasn't picking
up on it.
I just kind of remember thinking he left the hotpot for a long time, and we're like the
New York mindset where everything's expensive, we need to finish everything.
Maybe that was something perhaps that was in our brains, and I just felt like it was
too long, and I kind of just ate it, like sort of pretty obnoxiously, I'm sure.
Do you listen to Doe Boyz or how did you hear the email?
Yeah.
So our friend, we're mutual friends, right?
We are still in touch forever, pretty much for better or for worse, and he told me Tutan
had a listening party to this podcast he listens to.
I had heard a couple of episodes, like a Wendy's episode or chicken, but best chicken sandwich.
So I was kind of aware of it, and he told me, he had a listening party to this episode
that he had written in on and told him about the hotdog incident, and he wrote in and told
him the story.
I was like, what?
And then like, then he said, you know, some of the episodes, I listened to it, and then
I wrote it.
So you'd listened to a few episodes of Doe Boyz.
Yeah.
Was Doe Boyz not really for you?
The actors on some Netflix show, so kind of aware of the voice, and it's funny, but I'm
not a huge fan.
If you see having a listening party, how much hotdog would you say was left?
I mean, probably one or two bites.
I mean, it was a marginal, it was like less, you know, less than a half.
So when we spoke to Sharan Tan, he said it was half.
Yeah.
Let's say 49% if half.
If you want to do half or 45, it was definitely less than half.
It's definitely less than half.
And the way he described you eating it was kind of like a cartoon, like duck, you know,
eating it.
And then he described that you did kind of like an Ali G, like finger gun afterwards.
Does that, does that even accurate?
God, that could be possible.
We sort of got obnoxious to each other sometimes.
I mean, yeah, I think you may be embellishing it.
The hotdog sides for sure, maybe the Ali G thing, but you know, some essence of that
maybe afterwards.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he remembers like that.
So I feel bad, you know, wow.
Can I just say I'm like, I'm not sure how serious Mitch is taking all this because he
spent most of that clip eating yogurt and I just don't know if his attention was focused.
I was laughing.
Okay.
You can't listen to something while you eat yogurt.
You can't tell how serious he's taking it by how much he's laughing.
I'm aware that there's some humor here, but I would like you guys to take this seriously.
So after hearing that, I got a question for you.
For like your solo monologue pieces when you're like, after talking to them, I thought, you
know, when you're doing that stuff, are you doing that from the bathroom and also possibly
from the toilet?
We're working on the sound for that.
So after hearing both sides, I think our takeaway was they both felt like real guys.
And it felt as real as could be, but I don't know what did you guys think after hearing
them on tape?
Well, I want to know, I mean, I did like the background into their friendship and I almost
want to know more about that because, you know, they grew up in Wisconsin together.
Oh, Sus is nodding.
So it seems like we get into this little bit of why they're in New York City together.
And you know, I'm wondering about this annoying friend.
He's fascinating to me.
Yes.
Yeah.
Who is this character?
It's funny that the one guy likes Barstool and doesn't like Doe Boys.
Well, but I was like, is he trying to say, is he trying to like say he's that type of
guy or does he actually have a fandom of Barstool?
Because that's more struck me as like he was trying to sort of, that to me, honestly, sounded
like he was trying to win points for his side with the Doe Boys Patreon audience of like
saying like, he's kind of a Barstool guy, you know, he's not like a Doe Boys type of
fan.
And when immediately he loses points for Wags and I, we don't, we don't like that he likes
the show.
Yeah.
So after hearing it, I mean, there's actually not much disagreement about what happens.
No.
You know, what Sharon Ton says, have a hot dog, some always says a little bit less.
He does say that he ate it.
There's a little bit of a disagreement about how long it was sitting around.
Or would you guys say you're on one side or the other on this?
Yeah, I'd say I'm on Sharon Ton's side.
I think that he seems like he, I would also be annoyed if this happened to me.
And then to hear the details that he did this Ali G, I can see it all too much.
I can see this happening and it's annoying me and I would be mad as well if someone ate
my hot dog and then did like an Ali G finger gun thing.
Like I believe that to be a thing that could, especially then.
It's like an annoying guy thing in 2007 or whatever.
That's real.
Sure.
But also Mitch and I are all too familiar with playful antagonism between old friends.
And that seems like Sun Moe and Sharon Ton had that kind of dynamic.
And it may have been one of those things where it was just sort of like, hey, this I thought
was playful and lighthearted.
And if anything, this was an act of love.
You took personal offense perhaps due to the circumstances perhaps because of your head
space.
Yeah, I don't know.
I feel like I need to hear more to render a verdict.
I don't know if you're curious at all about what the hot dog was.
Does that matter?
Like, does it matter?
Yeah.
Okay.
That's honestly the most important detail.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, weird, you found out?
On the next episode of Manbite's Dog, we keep talking to Sun Moe and get a big break
in the dovestigation.
I remember it was American Trash and there was Red's char-grilled hot dogs.
So this is a tease for a next episode?
Yeah, I was thinking this is kind of divided into like five parts so that maybe we could
spread this across like an entire month maybe, really build the suspense.
I mean, what are we like 20 minutes in?
We're going to release this as multiple episodes?
Feels pretty thin.
Fine.
Okay.
We'll do it all.
We'll just keep going.
Okay.
All right.
Good.
Manbite's Dog will continue right after this word from our sponsors.
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That's right.
Why?
So I'm going to Costa Rica with the family.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
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Oh, that's fun.
Going to maybe see a bird.
Just that.
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This is Man Bites Dog, episode two, The Dog Hunt.
So Sun Moi remembered that it was Red Star Grilled Hot Dogs, and they were kind of located
in American trash.
Points for Sun Moi, by the way, just to remember the dog.
Yes.
Yeah.
Very important detail.
So it was Red Star Grilled, and they were located in American trash.
They had a partnership or something.
It's actually a hot dog chain that their main stores are in East Aurora in upstate New York.
I was like, okay, Red Star Grilled Hot Dogs.
Let me get on the phone and try and see what the deal is with these hot dogs.
I assumed you were going to get on a plane.
We thought about it.
We thought about it.
We thought you'd notice the charge on the DOEBOYS credit card, though, so we just called
them.
Right.
So just let me get this straight here.
You called up a hot dog company, and you asked them about their hot dog?
That's correct.
Here.
You can listen for yourself.
Red Star Grilled, how can I help you?
Hi.
This is Evan Susser from the DOEBOYS podcast.
Actually calling because I'm investigating a hot dog dispute between two friends.
So, yeah, no one from Reds would go on the record with us.
In fact, even that hello is actually my wife, Jamie.
I kept calling and kept calling Reds, and eventually one of the employees was willing
to talk to me not on the record.
And what he said is, look, if you're curious about the hot dogs, you don't want to talk
to us.
You want to talk to the butcher who makes the hot dogs.
That's the whole thing with the hot dogs.
And it's a butcher from Buffalo named Wardinsky and Sons.
And guess what?
Skip Wardinsky was willing to get on the phone.
Wow.
Now, I should warn you.
We had some trouble with Zoom, so his sound isn't perfect, but it was definitely worth
it.
My name is Raymond Mordensky.
I'm the owner of Wardinsky Meets in Buffalo, New York, founded in 1919 by my grandfather.
And I can call you Skip?
Yes, absolutely.
So Skip, I'm calling today because I'm investigating a dispute between two friends involving a hot
dog.
The hot dog was from Red's Chart Grilled, and I understand you're the supplier for them.
Is that correct?
Yes, you're talking about Red Top, right?
In East Aurora?
Reds?
Yes.
Okay.
No, there is also a Red.
And you are the supplier of the hot dogs.
Basically the situation is these two friends, one of them ate the other one's hot dog,
which you guys make, and it basically caused a rift in this friendship.
They've been friends since they were 10 years old.
Now is there anything you think special about your hot dogs that are so good that it would
justify that rift in a friendship?
So what kind of rift are we talking about?
Did he eat the friend's hot dog and he didn't like it or what happened?
No, he loved it.
Now they've been like seeing or spoken to each other in three years.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Crazy.
Crazy.
Can you talk about your process of how you make the hot dogs?
Basically hot dogs are sausage.
We make a lot of different sausages.
But I always say you use good meat, a tasty spice.
The meat's important because it depends on how soft it is.
Different meats have different density to them.
So I probably worked for 30 years and getting the right bite and taste on our hot dog and
probably haven't done it for the last 10 years just because we get so many compliments
on our product.
So it does seem like they're pretty good hot dogs.
I mean, we get calls every week.
Okay.
So this is nothing new.
So when we hear, you know, from you that, you know, some people that like their hot
dogs, we get calls every single week.
Did you hear that?
He gets calls like this every single week.
Did he meet calls from other humor adjacent food podcasts?
Or perhaps he meant calls about friendships ending over his hot dogs.
Either way, I knew what I had to ask next.
I'm in Los Angeles.
These two guys are in the Midwest.
Are you guys, well, they were in New York when they had the hot dog.
You used to go and you're used to pinks over there.
Yeah, right.
It's right down the street from me.
Is it?
Oh my gosh.
Now I was looking on your website.
I understand you do ship.
We use a company in town here that ships.
And will they ship across the country?
Sure.
Yeah, they actually have a flat rate on shipping.
On the next episode of Man Bites Dog, I tell Mitch to open the package I delivered to his
house this morning.
That's right.
It's one of the hot dogs.
Wow.
Again, a next episode tease.
I think it was maybe a little presumptuous to have Emma edit those together, you know,
to play Midway through the podcast.
Fine.
Okay.
We'll keep doing the whole thing.
So, Mitch, can you show the box that I dropped off?
The box.
He gave me a box that looked very much like the box from Seven.
What's in the box?
I hope it's a hot dog.
Now Sus, when you said there's a pinks right down the street from you, were you in line
at pinks?
Yeah, right down the street.
It's a long line.
I find the audio wasn't so good.
Look, if any good comes from this investigation, I hope that people give Skip a lot of business.
That's right, Emma.
Yeah.
I hope Skip gets some good.
What a great sport he was.
But here we go.
Sus champ.
Yeah, it really seemed like it.
Here's the box that Susser dropped off at my house today.
So it says on the outside, Man Bites Dog, do not open until instructed by Evan Susser,
and it appears to be clip art of a hot dog.
Okay, so Mitch, at this point, it's very expensive looking clip arts of a hot dog on the front
of it.
It's great.
Did you make that in Microsoft Word?
Did you open up Photoshop?
What happened?
I did it in Microsoft Word.
Did you scan an actual hot dog?
Okay.
Okay, Mitch, so seriously, open up the package.
Okay, I don't want, I feel bad cutting through the, well, you know what, there's one on the
side.
There are plenty.
I'm going to cut through here.
So that's actually wallpapered his house with that, so don't worry about it.
So just to say what we're going to do here is I have the hot dogs for Mitch.
They are raw.
So I would like him to cook one of the hot dogs, then cut half of it, and then I would
like him to let it sit for about eight minutes because that's kind of, you know, the amount
of time it was sitting.
And then while he's doing that, I've got some more tape from our conversations with the
guys that I'll play for you.
Okay, I got a little cooler here.
Yeah, Mitch has a cooler with the hot dogs, and I just want to raise one concern with
Susser's plan, which is that I don't think Mitch can leave the hot dog alone for eight
minutes.
I had that, I had that concern as well.
Okay, Mitch, have you been able to figure out what I got for you in there?
Yes.
Yes, I have them here.
Here they are.
They're, how do you say the last name here, Wardinsky's?
Wardinsky.
Skip Wardinsky.
Yeah, Wardinsky.
Wardinsky's hot dogs, gluten-free dairy-free, found in 1919, finest quality.
I got these with the natural casing.
I got them right here.
These hot dogs, I also have a bag.
I have a bag of buns, three buns, so that, so I can cook two more hot dogs, correct?
Yes.
Okay, all right, good.
And then I have a bottle of Sir Kensington yellow mustard and some Heinz tomato ketchup,
no sugar added.
Now, Suss, are these, what were the toppings on the hot dog at the bar?
I don't know if we know that, do we?
Well, it's been deleted from the tape.
In detail.
Wow.
Because it's a, it's a bonn-me hot dog, which was going to be too impossible to recreate.
Got it.
We're going to do the quality of dog alone, quality of dog alone.
You didn't think I'd be asking these questions, did you?
But I think that for these purposes, you'll get a sense of the hot dog.
I agree.
All right.
The Mitch is going to start cooking these.
The bonn-me hot dog.
So were you talking about it had like some, you know, some pork or some beef on top, or
was it just like the, you know, the carrots, the onion?
Was it a bonn-me bun?
In telling a complex narrative audio story, you have to leave out certain details.
Got it.
The bonn-me hot dog part, I decided to leave out.
Let's not get focused on the bonn-me hot dog.
I don't know.
My question.
So my question to you is, how would you let me to prepare these hot dogs?
Because I got an air fryer.
I got a frying pan.
I think an air fryer would be pretty good based on my research.
Okay.
You want me to air fry these dogs?
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm going to air fry two hot dogs.
Okay.
Two hot dogs.
And Wags, if you decide to eat meat again, we'll happily provide you with some hot dogs.
And Sus, I can hear through my headphones, so if you want to keep going, I can listen
while I prepare these.
Okay.
Great.
Great.
So as you guys know, it's kind of referenced that there was an email exchange between the
two guys.
So in kind of digging deeper, I thought that that would be a pretty good place to start
is to get back on with Charantyne and ask him to read from some of that email exchange.
And I'm going to be upfront here.
This email exchange, you know, it goes into some detail.
Some parts of it have been, you know, kind of abridged, but this very much keeps the nature
of the exchange.
So Emma, do you want to hit the clip for reading from the emails?
This was July 2nd, 2013, to Sunway, hello there.
We're finally moved in Madison, so I finally have some time now.
I wanted to write an email and help clear the air.
It's easier for me to do this than over the phone where emotions can run high.
I want you to read this email in its entirety without coming up with counterarguments as
you go.
My last night in New York didn't really go as I wanted.
As you know, the night started out on the wrong foot.
I'm sure your friend David is very nice, but he was complaining basically 100% of the time.
So already I was out of it.
Then when you ate the rest of my hot dog, which admittedly in the scheme of things is
completely trivial, it made me more upset.
Set aside the fact that I paid for your food and beer.
Oh yeah, I did pay for this boot.
What bothered me wasn't and still isn't the fact that you ate the hot dog.
It's how you reacted after.
You saw that I was upset, but instead of apologizing, you attacked me and called me names.
At a certain point, I decided I just had to leave the situation because if I didn't,
there would just be a back and forth and we would both get more upset.
What I still don't understand is why you did it.
I know it's a trivial act, but I don't understand your motivation in doing it.
It was just rude.
Would you have done it if Sophia were around or Mary?
Were you trying to get a rise out of me?
If so, why?
I don't need to be challenged by my friends in that manner.
I'm getting too old for that kind of thing.
You are free to behave however you want, but at this point in my life,
I'm starting to have almost zero tolerance for negativity and drama.
Part of growing up is realizing actions have consequences.
I'm really sorry the night turned out that way and I was probably being dramatic and
overly sensitive by just walking out on you.
So I apologize for that.
Please let me know what you think.
So reading that back, it's about a week and a half after the incident takes place, right?
Just about, yeah.
And it seems like that's coming from a pretty earnest place.
Very earnest.
Yeah, you were pretty upset.
And I think you actually, even at the time, you have the self-awareness to
recognize, you say multiple times, I understand this is trivial.
Thank you.
Yes.
But it does bother me.
It's the principle of the thing.
Exactly.
Yeah, you didn't ask.
And then there's also another part of it that there's a real bittersweet
undercurrent about growing up and feeling too old for these childish kind of behaviors.
Can you talk about a little bit about what was going on in your life at that point?
Well, it was a time of transition.
I mean, I'd finished residency, which is a hard three years.
It's like all the TV shows that ended up being a weird time in my life after that,
after moving a lot was going on.
So it was already this emotional cauldron that I was dealing with.
And I don't know if it's seeped in that night, but it was definitely there underneath everything.
But I was in all honesty, I was genuinely mad about that.
And it was because of...
I believe you.
That's very clear.
Sunmoi responded to that email the next day.
I asked Sharan Tan to read that response.
So this is Sunmoi.
I sincerely thought you were done with it.
You hadn't touched those last two bites for about 10 minutes before the bathroom.
And when I came back, it was still there.
I guess I reacted in the way I did because I couldn't believe you were that upset over
a cold hot dog, of which I would have happily bought you another.
I was expecting we'd eat again and drink a bit more in the evening.
Anyway, it's not a big deal.
I'm glad you're getting settled into your new life.
Transitions can be tough.
What was your reaction receiving that email at the time?
It was a mix of just shock and exasperation.
I knew from the first line he was not going to apologize.
I was expecting a mea culpa, a quid pro quo, something, but I sincerely thought you were
done with it.
That's how we're starting the email.
And I poured my heart out.
And then the last emotion was anger at myself for expecting an apology because this is the
sky.
That's what he does.
He just doubles down.
If you say in the email that you have zero tolerance for negativity in drama, some would
say that sending an email is maybe showing some tolerance for drama.
Might say that like Mary, my wife has said that repeatedly.
Now do you still have zero tolerance for negativity in drama?
I mean, I'm 41.
It's not that I don't have tolerance for it.
I don't have time.
I just, I don't talk to anybody.
I wake up, I see my kids, I go to work, come home, I see my kids, I go to bed.
So that's the email exchange.
That's the same age I am.
The difference is that he's an ophthalmologist and I have a fast food podcast.
Christ.
That was also what was really interesting to me as we started investigating this is that
these are not like high school kids when this happened who are like 25 now.
These are like grown men with families who like really have dug in on this thing.
It just, it seems to me that may just be the root issue is that we've got, you know, maybe
one guy who's still, you know, like acting like old times and another guy who's kind
of like, you know, grown up a little bit.
And, and, and I think that that's, that seems like the rub in the dispute.
Mitch, how are those hot dogs going?
The hot dog is currently in the air fryer now.
May I toast my bun is the question I want to ask.
No.
Wow.
Wow.
All right.
Another question about the bun is you gave me loose buns.
You gave me a bag of three buns.
So was that because you are these old buns?
Did you want to keep some of the other buns?
Like what was the deal with the three loose buns?
I wanted to keep some of the buns because in order to order hot dogs from a word in
skinko, you had to buy three packages of that size.
Also, I need to speak to both of you about being reimbursed for shipping the hot dogs.
I'm starting to see the whole, the whole scam here.
Why this whole investigation took place in the first place.
Okay.
Well, while we're still waiting on the hot dog, I asked Sunmoi about the emails and
Emma, do you want to play in his response?
It's been at this point a week and a half since this night out and you get that email.
Yeah.
What was your reaction at the time?
I guess part of me kind of expected it and then part of me was like, yeah, I can't
believe it.
We're both doubling down on what we were doing, I guess.
And what's your reaction here reading it now?
I've been a little embarrassed with everything, first of all.
So I still feel like it's a little too intense for him to get that upset.
I think because, because after offering the hot dog, I feel like that's it, let's move
on.
And so when he didn't move on and accepted, then I was like, when nuclear, I guess.
The person who's described as your insufferable friend, David.
Yeah, David.
Do you think the description of David as insufferable is fair?
I think he can come off as that, but so all the mutual friends we have, they're also friends
with him.
Do you think he would be willing to talk to us?
Oh my God, probably not.
Understandable.
So you wrote back to his email and what's not included in your response is an apology.
Right.
Did you think about apologizing?
I thought I'd apologize by offering another hot dog.
Okay, that's not an apology, but it's like a admitting that you could say in some ways
it's even better.
Yeah.
I thought it was better.
Yeah.
I thought we were just fine.
I didn't know concept.
Obviously that a decade later we're going to be talking, you know, I'm sure I would
have said, but we're, I mean, sure, I don't know, we're in 20s still, I think.
You basically, you guys basically grew up together.
Yeah.
About seven or eight years old and very close friends.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Are you still close friends?
I would say my friend forever, you know, but like, we haven't hung out in forever.
Do you think this hot dog incident is why?
Well, I was like, maybe just like a perfect storm.
Wow.
Wow.
I have a quick update.
I've tracked down the menu for American Trash in New York City from back when they had Red's
char-grilled hot dog.
Oh my God.
Here is the Bon Mee hot dog.
Mayo, fresh cucumber, pickled daikon, carrots, cilantro, and fresh jalapenos.
Sounds pretty good.
Wow.
Wow.
So.
Well, you'll just have it with ketchup and mustard.
This big whole project, Wigs basically got to the bottom of one of the issues during a
sound clip.
He found out.
He found out the impossible.
My big question for Chironton and Sunmoy, if I were to, you know, if I could talk with
both of them would be, why opt for the Bon Mee hot dog over the loaded baked potato hot
dog, which includes sour cream, bacon, Monterey, and cheddar cheese, french fries, and fresh
scallions?
That's great.
I think that's the investigation.
But at the core of all of these hot dogs is the same hot dog.
That's fair.
That's fair.
Mitch, how's it going with the hot dog?
Well it takes six to eight minutes to cook a hot dog in the air fryer and we're about
three minutes in.
So you could probably go to it.
And then don't I have to wait another six minutes?
I think this is going to be done after the episode.
Okay.
I have a question for Mitch.
Is your air fryer already on the hot dog setting?
Yes.
It was.
Okay.
Look, I know we're not doing the multiple episode thing, but we still have it all broken
up with trailers.
So am I going to play the next trailer?
Yeah.
On the next episode of Man Bites Dog, the story gets a little more complicated.
I was thinking about this when he emailed me and there was actually another almost friendship
ending food transgression after this.
Wow.
That's ridiculous to see.
The thing is, so we're planning to have all barbecue, you know, the same kind of group
of friends.
We've been friends for a long time.
It was, it could have been any of our houses, right?
And my sister and I actually wanted to have it at our house.
I think if you'd saved the episode preview until now, you almost could have gotten an
extra episode out of this.
Like it'd be like, okay, yeah, this could be a two-parter, but I think getting to it
so early.
Getting to five, five episodes is maybe a little greedy.
Maybe a little too ambitious, but this could have been a two-parter.
It looks like Mitch has a hot dog on a fork right now.
I have the hot dog.
It's done.
Okay.
Great.
So now we need to let it sit.
It looks beautiful.
Fuck, that looks so good.
I'm reaching into the bottom bed, which is weirdly wet, by the way.
Here we go.
Well, it was surrounded by, well, ice, I don't know.
We can't tell.
It looks like what Mitch is doing is putting his below frame, but it looks like he's putting
the dog into the bun.
That's right.
I'm putting the dog in the bun.
I'm going to put, catch him.
Now I have to get a plate to cut this fucking thing in two.
I forgot about the cut in two thing.
Do you not normally get plates when you make food?
Great question, Emma.
Hot dog.
You stepped away from the mic.
Not hot dogs, he says.
Right.
That thing's going from his hand straight to his mouth.
Yeah.
It seems like the crux of the whole dispute is sometimes when someone is hurt by something
you did, even if you meant it playfully or in good fun, the right move is just to offer
them a heartfelt apology.
I do feel like if Sunmoy had done that, this would have been much less of a brew, haha.
I agree with that.
Also, what's interesting is talking to Sunmoy, despite the characterization from Trondheim,
he's more thoughtful than you'd expect.
He even recognizes that offering a hot dog is not an apology.
So it kind of, honestly, it is kind of sad that they really, you know, it's not like
the dramatic, like he ate his hot dog and then they never spoke to each other again,
but it is true that they were like very close friends and I got mustard on my, I got mustard
on my sweatshirt.
I got mustard on my sweatshirt.
I got mustard on my sweatshirt.
I got mustard on my sweatshirt.
Do you have some soda water or mice water?
Do you have soda water?
I don't know.
You have something with some effervescence, right?
Mice water will do it, or just some ice cold water.
Laundry spray, soak it.
You have a tight pen?
I have some old soda water.
So sir, what's your, what's your stain dressing regimen?
I just, I throw it away if I get a stain on it.
And so I just go for clothes like that.
And you must go through fucking outfits constantly.
All right.
I use tonic water.
I'm not sure if that works, but I tried it.
That should work.
And, and, and I'm now going to cut this hot dog in two.
I think it's been a few minutes since, since this has come out of the air fryer.
Yeah.
Yep.
So here's cutting, cutting it in two.
A nice, the casing has got a, it's got a nice crisp casing.
Yeah.
Okay.
Natural casing, right?
Mm-hmm.
All right, it's been cut in two.
Now how long do I have to wait?
A few more minutes.
Before we get to that, I know Sunway said not to reach out to the obnoxious rent.
Wow.
Wow.
But I did it anyway.
Wow.
I reached out to the insufferable friend, David, the third party in this.
Do you want to hear the clip?
Of course.
And also I feel like compared to like us and our friends, he's probably just normal.
Hello?
Hi, David.
David?
Yes.
What's up, man?
As you can hear, David's audio has been modified to protect his identity.
I started the interview by asking if you remember the hot dog incident.
After all, it was eight years ago.
I do remember this.
Yeah.
Oh, you do?
Yeah.
Well, here's the thing.
It's like vague memory because like it was going on in like the background of like my
evening that night.
You know what I mean?
Like, I think it was like, what was his friend's name?
Charantan?
Charantan was like, he was like leaving town or something like that.
And so like they're just talking the whole time.
I was just totally ignored.
Like I was about to, I was like literally about to leave when I sit back down and there's
this like weird tension.
And these two guys are like pissed at each other.
Do you remember what they were pissed about?
Yeah.
It was like one of, one of the, one of them ate a hot dog.
Yeah.
Sun Moe ate the rest of Charantan's hot dog.
Okay.
One part of the Charantan's email, he describes you as, well, he describes you as kind of
insufferable.
Yeah.
Is that something that you've ever-
What does that mean?
Well, he, he said that you kind of were, you would kind of one up him and that you kind
of were negative.
Is that, is that something that you've ever been told before?
I don't think I'm negative.
Got it.
And in terms of being insufferable, I don't even, I'm not even sure the definition
of that word, but it's just like, I, I've suffered as much as anybody else has, even
more.
If he wants to say shit about me to some podcast dude, like he can say it to my face, that
I was insufferable.
Maybe, maybe he was insufferable and that's why he couldn't like keep my attention at
the table.
Do you know what I mean?
Right.
Maybe he was insufferable and maybe that's why, you know, he got his hot dog ate or whatever.
What he described is that you kind of were like one upping him a lot.
You know, if he would say that he went to London, you would say that, oh, I've been
to Scotland.
Is that something?
I have been to Scotland.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.
I also just went to Australia.
So you felt a little left out that night being the third, the third friend and like
they were kind of ignoring you.
Yeah.
You could say that.
I'm like a third party to this thing.
So like, why am I getting like mixed up in your hot dog drama?
Like why am I eight years later on a podcast?
Like taking like almost 45 minutes off of work.
I'm literally like walking around outside in the parking lot right now with my work.
Like, where do you work?
Dude, don't fucking do that.
None of your business.
So do you think it's, you know, normal or absurd or whatever that, that, that subboy and
charon ton are still fighting about this hot dog eight years later?
I don't know, man.
It's like, honestly, it's like none of my business.
You know what I mean?
Like, I thought you guys were going to ask me more questions about me.
This is the first time I've been interviewed by anybody.
Got it.
Isn't that fucked up?
Because I'm an interesting person.
You know what I mean?
I just got back from Australia.
So, everything's been real up until...
Yeah.
So, so that was, that was David.
And as you can tell, we used a voice modulation program.
Which seems weird because he wanted to be interviewed.
Like, were you afraid that he maybe sound like too much like someone we know?
What do you think you would sound like?
I don't know.
If I had a guess, like, immediately when I heard it, I was like, hmm, this is Mookie
with a low voice thing.
But that doesn't, I mean, it was David, of course.
Yes.
But, but...
Well, in the interest of journalistic integrity, I will admit that we did, in painting this
picture, reach out to an actor to do this.
And the actor was a man named Michael Blake Locke.
Okay, so that is Mookie.
And so, yes, David did not want to participate.
But I thought to, you know, really paint a picture of what this evening was like.
That was my idea.
And Mookie's and Emma's of what the insurmountable friend was like.
So that's just kind of...
All right, I like that.
In the mix.
Okay.
I like that.
There's a huge journalistic liberty.
You know, this is like the Anthony Bourdain documentary where they used a computer to
simulate things that Anthony could have said in the narration.
Like, it was like, it's like a little bit of a breach of protocol.
But I'll allow it.
Well, hold on.
You know what?
I've never listened to cereal before.
Did they do stuff like this in cereal?
Yeah, they do this a lot.
I think so.
Yeah.
I honestly think this has more journalistic integrity than cereal.
From what I've cleaned.
Yes.
Mitch, at this point, eat the hot dog.
Okay, I'm going to take a...
I'll take a picture of the hot dog as well.
Oh, yes, please do.
All right, great.
Mitch is angling the camera down below frame.
Let's hope he's taking a pic of the hot dog.
Now, Sus, you also had some of these hot dogs yourself?
Oh, yeah.
Mitch has taken a bite of the hot dog.
I'm going to say this.
Yes.
Fantastic hot dog.
Wow.
It's a great hot dog.
That's a great hot dog.
That was...
The whole thing is when I got them...
I got them shipped, which I thought was maybe a little silly.
And then I had it and I actually thought,
you know what, the hot dog is really good.
That is an important part of this story.
The hot dog is very...
It's a very good hot dog.
And you guys have just come off of a month
where you've been eating a bunch of hot dogs
and I think that's as good as any hot dog.
This is one of the best hot dogs I've ever tasted.
The meat is great.
I'm not lying.
Wow.
Imagine that with some mayo, fresh cucumber,
pickled daikon, carrot, cilantro, and fresh jalapeños.
Now, it is slightly cooled, yes.
And it's slightly cooled, wigs, but I would be mad
if someone ate this hot...
By the way, I'm going to eat the second half
just for scientific reasons.
Now, is the temperature of it right now cold
or cool room tempers?
It's still kind of warm.
It's room temp.
It's room temp to cool, but it's still...
The hot dog is so good that I would be mad
if someone ate that half of my hot dog.
I would be mad.
Yeah, I get that.
I'd be mad.
It kind of sounds like you were kind of starting to feel
like Sunmoi...
We were sympathizing with him a little bit
and being like, hey, you know what?
You offered to do another hot dog.
He seems like a reasonable guy.
He's kind of showing some contrition.
But now that you've had the hot dog,
maybe you're back to Charantyne's side?
I'm going back to Charantyne's side
because the hot dog is that good.
Well, yeah.
I mean, to go back to the original Doe Boys episodes,
when we read the initial email,
it seemed like, you know,
before Sunmoi wrote in and replied,
it seemed like what this guy is doing,
eating your hot dog,
is completely unreasonable.
And I totally get it.
And then you hear a little bit more context
and they have this sort of playful history
of this sort of back and forth of razzing each other.
And you start to buy a Sunmoi's side a little bit.
But then just hearing how good that hot dog is,
I think that kind of tips it.
Yeah.
It's a game changer.
Well, not to pile on.
I mean, the tease, there was another transgression
between the two of these guys,
which I think also, you know, demonstrates a relationship.
So Emma, do we want to play that clip?
Yeah, here you go.
This is after the hot dog.
He invited five additional people to a barbecue at my house
that I was hosting, like a July.
This was Sunmoi?
Fourth of July, yes.
Okay.
Sunmoi.
And I lost it because I'm alone, you know,
Mary's at work, I've got the baby.
I got to host like 20 people and now 25.
Oh, and by the way, one of them is a vegan.
So, you know, I got to do his stuff for on the grill first.
I mean, it was just a mess.
And I blew up at him.
I will admit that.
He said I went male Gibson on him.
Okay.
I mean, nothing racist.
Okay.
Just like, just got real mad.
I'm wondering, as you tell these stories
and you tell this kind of odd couple friendship you have.
Yes.
It reminds me of a certain relationship with two men
I'm very familiar with.
Do you think part of what drew you to Doe Boys
was you saw a certain reflection of you and Sunmoi
in the Doe Boys?
You know, now you got it.
You got me on that one.
I think that dynamic mirrors so much of our friendship.
They're like, why is the earnest guy with the hidden rage
and Mitch is the, you know, agro,
late on the line kind of guy.
And it's just, yeah, that's kind of perfect.
Would you like to reconcile your relationship with Sunmoi?
Boy.
Okay.
I would be up for it.
I mean, he hasn't done anything that isn't like an ender.
You know, it was just sort of like it petered out.
You know, it's that kind of thing.
And like, he was always families.
Like we have these kind of squabbles where we act like kids
whenever we get together.
We don't act like friends or adults.
You know, we act like children because we've known each other
since we were 10.
So what would it take, I guess, to like kind of reconcile?
Does it, is it an apology for the hot dog incident?
Yes.
Is it an apology?
It's not.
That's really, that would be the first step.
Genuinely yes, because he never has.
On the next part of this one and only episode of Man Bites Dog,
we attempt to repair a friendship.
Yeah, I want to move on.
You want to move on?
I feel like, you know, it's been 25, 30 years of being friends.
Yeah, I would want to, yeah.
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This is Man Bites Dog.
The final chapter.
Bark and bite.
Wow.
By the way, during that segment,
I've now put an additional hot dog in the air fryer.
I thought I heard some beeping happening.
Yeah, we heard some beeping going on.
I'm making a second hot dog.
So that's how good they are. You're going for a second.
If I've learned anything from my friendship with Mitch,
and that's not the only antagonistic interpersonal relationship I have,
but it is probably one that I think about a lot
because we are not only friends, but we work together.
And so we're in frequent communication.
And also when you work with somebody,
it's just sort of like you know them in a different way.
And Mitch, I'm curious your side,
but there's never really where you get like,
hey, this thing, this, you know what?
Let's bygones be bygones.
Let bygones be bygones. We're going to move forward.
You never really reach that point of like complete closure
and then just like everything's fine from that point on.
There's always going to be cycles of like something's going to happen.
You're going to have a little conflict.
You're going to resolve it and then you're going to, you know,
then things will be okay for a bit.
But eventually things will bubble up
because that's just how the two of you interact.
Are you talking about Good Morning America or something?
Well, I wasn't bringing up that up specifically,
but that's an example of the kind of thing.
It's never really buried.
Why? Because I think you're right.
I mean, it's a really interesting thing here.
I actually, here's what I'll say.
I actually do believe this happened now.
Me too. Me too.
I believe that these two are as big of losers as we are.
They don't have a podcast.
All right, good point.
They did get into a fight over a hot dog.
I do believe that this has happened.
I'm just trying to think of what would happen, Mitch,
if you and I had this exact same incident?
First of all, it would never happen because I would never do that.
You know that it's a rule. You don't do that.
Which, honestly, bringing back to Shranton's side is like,
I wouldn't steal your food.
That, to me, is that's one of the seven deadly sins.
Why? Because you don't do that.
I've watched you guys share many meals
and you always ask politely before taking or trying something
that's on someone else's plate.
Yeah, that's true.
By the way, we are...
Emma's in the East Coast, on the East Coast,
and we've been recording this for long enough
where it has gotten dark, where she is.
Yeah, I need to go turn the light on.
What did you guys think of the revelation
that Shranton saw a mirror of his relationship
with Sanway in the two of you?
I mean, I was just surprised it took you,
like, explaining that to him for him to understand it.
By the way, Sus, is Sir Kensington's like a super
stainy mustard that you gave me
because the stain's not coming out?
It's like a joke.
How much mustard did you get on your sweatshirt?
Just a drop, and it's not coming out.
You should soak it in ice water.
Now, here's a question.
That's not a question. That's a statement.
Sus, you can hear it beeping.
I'm going to go get it in just a second here.
What was the deal with David?
You actually talked to him and he just denied you?
I want to hear that.
Sanway asked on my behalf
if he would be interested in the answer.
He really didn't remember anything from the night
it was eight years ago,
and so he didn't remember anything
and then also did not want to participate.
Right. That's fair.
So when Shranton told me that, like, he saw this reflection,
my thought was, hey,
as someone who's kind of the mediator
between two people with a similar dynamic,
why don't I kind of insert myself here
and try and mend this friendship?
So I'm not going to play the tape,
but I also called Sanway again and was talking to him,
and I said, look, do you want to be friends with him?
Do you want to, like, I think he's kind of looking for an apology?
Like, is that something that you were open to?
And he, you know, as you heard in the clip for the trailer,
he was like, yes, he's been my, like, we grew up together.
Like, I want to be friends with him.
I, like, it was a long time ago.
I have more perspective than I did at the time.
Like, let's do this.
So I got back on with them and you'll see how I did it.
Wow.
Hi.
Shranton, thank you for getting back on the Zoom.
I really appreciate it.
No problem. Yeah, no problem.
So first of all, I want to follow up.
I have done some research into the hot dog incident.
Okay.
And I'll say, first of all, I definitively believe now that this is true.
And that's happened.
Yeah.
Second of all, there was a, there was a question of where the hot dog was from,
which you didn't remember.
I've discovered it was reds char grilled hot dogs,
which was located inside American trash in the Upper East Side.
And the butcher that they use for the hot dogs is award did ski and sons.
Oh, okay.
Good job, gum shoe.
The other and more pressing issue.
Yes.
Is on the last interview, if you remember.
Uh huh.
I asked if you were open to reconciling with some way.
Uh huh.
I remember.
And you said yes.
Do you still feel that same way?
Yeah, I think so.
We'll give it a shot.
Okay.
Well, are you prepared to give it a shot right now?
Uh, sure.
Okay.
Can you please add son boy into the zoom?
Oh boy.
He's here.
Oh my God.
Hello.
I'm here.
Wow.
There he is.
The reason why we're here is because of the hot dog incident.
We, at this point, listeners are very familiar with every step of it.
Uh, boy.
Sharon ton.
You know, you've said that you've kind of been looking for an apology from
some way.
Some way.
Are you prepared to give that apology?
I am, but I'm also prepared to receive an apology as well.
Oh, is that, is that right?
Oh, from, from whom?
You know, it's from you.
Oh, for me.
Okay.
Okay.
Guys, guys, guys.
Years of, years of vilification for something I do not need to be vilified
for years.
Guys, guys, we're going to get to all that.
As Sharon ton knows, well, this is what I do.
I like to mediate disputes between friends.
So are you sorry you ate the hot dog.
Without asking some way.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Thanks for the editorializing.
I like the first part of that.
The first part of that was great.
But then, then you just,
you just had to slide in.
The other stuff, huh?
Guys, are you.
That should.
The statute of limitations.
That's just been too long.
And there's been too much vilification.
Of my behavior.
And I don't think I've.
I've done that much to.
You're talking some, some legal mumbo jumbo.
Right now.
I'm talking about the court of public opinion.
Okay.
That's on my side to it.
No, I don't.
They're with me.
Are you kidding?
Wow.
So sus.
It went really bad.
It went bad.
Wow.
Just like you try to mediate.
Wags and I.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't.
I don't know why you had this idea that you were good at it.
You're bad at it.
Every anytime we try to do it with some wags and I.
We get more mad at each other.
And that happened here.
They're pissed.
They.
Yeah, they got to like mad at each other.
And it's so funny when I spoke to them both individually,
they were reasonable.
And then they got really mad.
And like clearly.
I think it was a little bit maybe a performative, like.
For the podcast or for the other one.
But like, they just like truly, like just both came in.
Like needling each other and pushing it.
And it was like.
I mean, that dynamic, like I could just see it.
Like after like being talked about, I was like, Oh God.
Um,
I'm kind of liking the some more guy,
but I didn't give up.
Wow.
Wow.
That's right.
I didn't give up.
Emma.
Let's go to part two.
Just say you'll be friends for the podcast.
Please.
Since I'm not having much success with San Moe,
I'll switch to sure on time.
If this is your friend,
if this is a person that you love,
that you, you know,
you have this close bond from being friends
from when you were 10 years old.
If you know that this is how he is,
why not just let these kind of things roll off your shoulder?
I'll switch to sure on time.
If this is your friend,
if this is a person that you love,
that you, you know,
you're going to be in love with some of these things roll off your
shoulder.
I mean, it's, it's a couple things.
It's the Charlie Brown into football. Okay.
That's, that's me.
That's how me just expecting contrition.
The other thing is these things are,
are designed to make you look and feel like an idiot.
And there's, there's no way out.
It's a trap.
Okay.
You tell anybody else.
So it was eight years ago.
What, what's your problem?
But you weren't there.
You weren't in the moment.
You didn't see this business with the fingers.
Yes.
I know about the fingers.
I don't know that.
It's burned into my brain.
As someone myself who likes to push buttons,
are you willing to admit that you like to push buttons?
Yeah.
And we can get to it very quickly because of how long we've known
about it.
So, I mean, but I don't want that to be the centerpiece
like of our friendship.
I remember like, and I do not, you remember this,
like the first full like belly laugh,
like full body laugh ahead was when it's probably like seven
or eight.
Is that your house in some sleepover?
I remember like the pullout couch in the first house in white
fish bay, maybe in white fish bay.
Yeah.
And then I remember watching that some cartoon and the cartoon
characters were like, they're talking about already jokes,
but they're saying, are they jokes?
Are they jokes?
And it's like also talking about an already joke.
And that was just like, sublimely funny.
I've never had a laugh like that before.
And it hadn't been like that, you know, for many years after
that, and then somehow it became adults and we had to become
serious or something.
All of a sudden I'm like a bad person on all these different
events.
And yeah, but I know I have pushy buttons over the years.
Like as soon as I sense that you like want contrition,
I'm like, I'm going gas pedal the other way.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's a bit too straight a little bit, but.
Okay.
So I remember that.
That was the show is Nickelodeon's Count Duckula.
It was a very funny moment and very bizarre and, you know,
set the tone.
I think it's just that, you know, I was at a point where I
like, I don't want that anymore for my friends.
Like, why are you pushing my buttons?
I mean, we're 40 now.
We were 33.
Now that Sunmoys with you, I see the pushing buttons and all
of that.
But when I spoke to Sunmoys one on one, and as you'll hear on
the podcast, he spoke very lovingly of you.
And he also expressed that he wanted to, you know, patch this
up, but it seems like there's something that we just can't get
past the hot dog thing.
So it's basically one of you has to give is basically a
situation.
I would like both of you to give what I was hoping for coming
into this is that Sunmoys, you'd say, I'm sorry, I shouldn't,
I should have asked reading your hot dog.
And then Sharon Tan, you should have said, I shouldn't have
sent you this email.
And in the future, when you push my buttons, I'll recognize that
that's who you are.
And that's why I love you.
And you guys could move forward with that.
It seems like we're a long way from there.
Okay.
I will concede here that sometimes I hold a grudge.
Fine.
You know, for, for stupid reasons.
Sometimes I overreact.
So yeah, I probably, I probably took it too far.
I, you know, I dug my heels in.
The email was a bit much.
So my, did you have anything to say back to that?
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I guess that's true.
Like he, I think he maybe, especially because he was on the
transition phase, maturing, and I probably shouldn't have been
needling it.
And I had a lifetime of needling.
He's just had enough.
So, you know, and I regret that because he's one of my oldest
friends and we do have had some great times and great laughs and
stuff.
So, you know, I, I would want to move on, you know, but, and I
like, you know, I'm saying before you have three kids at home,
I know the possibility.
I'm not going to really need you.
Yeah.
I mean, we were parents then.
Yeah.
Which is a total game changer.
And, and yeah, we, we have had a lot of good laughs.
You're talking about, you know, almost 30 years now.
I mean, we had a lost few years in there after all this, but
that's a lot of history.
That's a lot to, to vary.
Here's what I'm going to propose.
As I told Tronton, I've been doing some research into the
source of the hot dogs.
As you know, so, you know, it was red charred grilled hot dogs.
I spoke to them.
And the, I asked them who, who their butcher was, and it was
Wardinsky and Sons.
They're located in Buffalo, New York.
They basically are available only on the East coast, but it is
possible to ship hot dogs and you can ship hot dogs to the
Midwest.
Now look, I know one of you is in Chicago, one of you is in
Wisconsin.
I know we're in the midst still of a global pandemic, but
at some point I am authorized to spend the money of the
dough boys to ship hot dogs, hot dogs to ship hot dogs to one
of you on the condition that the other one comes over and you
guys have a barbecue and you kind of get together again.
And you bury the hot dogs, so to speak.
And you bury the hot dogs.
Is that something that you guys would like to do?
I mean, Thanksgiving, we're always home.
I mean, my kids are six and four.
Your kids are all now.
Six, four and two.
Yeah.
It's been a while.
The dough boys reuniting friends.
Wow.
Wow.
So, so in the end, they're not like us at all.
They have children.
And that's the investigation guys.
What an investigation.
Fantastic.
Sus and Emma, what a job.
Just fantastic work.
Really well done.
What were you going to say there?
I was going to say, like I was trying to think of like what our
friendship will look like after we've known each other for 30
years.
And I was doing the math of when we met and how old we'd be
and I don't think we're going to get there.
I don't think it's looking good.
Side by side gravestones.
Yeah.
What a happy ending, Sus and Emma, a happy ending for all.
Very, very nice.
They seem to have come to some sort of, you know,
detente and hopefully they do get together and have that
barbecue.
Yeah.
We can keep checking in with them.
I have reached out about shipping the hot dots to them and I'm
still waiting on a reply.
So, you know, who knows, but I was, I was glad we were able to
kind of get to the bottom of this and we were able to get on
Zoom and, you know, try and sort this out.
You should also send them the, the, the Doughboys Venmo so that
they can send us cash for those hot dogs as well.
That will be, that will be important.
Sus, I, Sus, Emma, I smell a potty in your future.
I feel like you're going to win a potty award.
Yeah.
Because this is just fantastic work.
You'll be nominated for a potty, but you'll lose to the
office ladies.
I don't want to say it was a waste of time, but...
Well, Emma, Emma, I think really is the hero.
All right.
Well, Emma, great work.
Emma, great work.
Sus, great job recording in your bathroom and I don't want to
say that it's a waste of time, but I really just have no other
description for it besides that.
But, you know what?
The best waste of time I've ever had was listening to this
investigation.
Honestly, I feel like I actually have some closure and honestly
some clarity on just what exactly happened, what exactly
transpired.
The biggest thing for me is that just knowing this wasn't a
work, knowing this wasn't, feeling confident that this wasn't
just, you know, two guys who had some sort of scheme to get
themselves onto the Doughboys podcast.
Rather, this was an actual dispute.
And who would want to do that really in the first place?
We should have known that all along is that no one really
come up with a scheme like that to get on the Doughboys.
If that was a scheme, they did more work than we did.
Yeah.
I should also say that I spoke to Sharon Tan's wife, Mary,
and interviewed her, but I couldn't find a good place in the
story to include her interview, so I feel very bad about that.
But maybe we'll kind of over the credits.
Yeah, she cooperated everything we needed.
Maybe over the credits we'll kind of include some of her
interview.
Wow.
Wow.
Also, there can be credits.
Jesus.
How do you roll credits in an audio format?
I think you just read that.
I think you can just have someone read them out and then
just have some music underneath it.
Man Bites Dog is a Doughvestigative podcast brought to
you by Evan Susser and Emma Erdbrink.
It is created in partnership with Doughboys Media.
The outro music is by the Loving Spoonful,
John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, and Steve Boone.
New lyrics written by Nicholas Weigher.
Recorded and performed by Danny Fitch.
Special thanks to Sharon Tan, Son Moe, Mary,
Jamie, Mookie Blakelock, and Skip Wardinsky.
They're very different in terms of their interests and to some
extent their personalities, but he's that person who,
you know, it became very clear to me very early on that they
love each other, right?
But they were kind of, I'll do whatever you need me to do.
Always, right?
I'll always kind of be there, unless a hot dog gets in the way.
Toast bun, don't it look pretty?
Sucking on a dog like you're sucking on a titty.
Pork and beef, sausages, and longbread rolling on a roller
grill, mustard and relish.
One bite, it's a different world.
Swap dog bites with a girl.
Munch on, munch on, and chomp on guy.
Despite the farts, it'll be all right, that taste.
When the casein' has snapped later that day,
you'll for sure have to nap as it centers in the city
like you're sucking on a titty.
Sucking on a titty.