Goes Without Saying - the intimacy of "comfort content"

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

THE SUMMER BONANZA BEGINS. podmothers sephy & wing enter the chat: spiralling on the complexities of parasocial dynamics, comfort influencers and content, stand up comedy, and youtube rabbit holes. ✷see more ✷ www.youtube.com/@sephyandwing ✷ www.instagram.com/sephyandwing ✷ www.tiktok.com/@sephyandwingshop ✷ www.sephyandwing.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on Rogers' internet. Visit rogers.com for details. We got you, Rogers. Nice. Nice. Welcome to your comfort content. Comfort content? What an honor.

Tongue twister. Yeah, it is a bit. Welcome to your comfort comfort content comfort content what an honor tongue twister yeah it is but welcome to your comfort content why it's not really that hard actually a lot easier than I thought okay it feels really early in the morning but it's not it's not it's like 9 a.m. but we're we're coming in morning vibes I also had a can I say the dream that I had last night? Yeah, you can. I mean, it really does concern me. Go on. I woke up this morning.

I literally thought that this happened in real life. It's obviously, it's good news that it didn't happen, but also it's kind of disappointing because it was literally the funniest thing ever I've ever experienced, but I haven't experienced it. Me and Sefi were at like some sort of table with our manager and then like a couple of other people talking about something that we have coming up and then the conversation went a bit sad because there was a guy there who was saying something bad had happened to his friend whatever blah

blah blah. Sefi started giggling and I was a bit like why is she giggling like it's a bit of a sad moment. I just was like this didn't happen. This was Wing's dream. Just thread in the reminders of the crux. It's just a dream. Yeah. She's giggling away. Why is she giggling? And I realized she was like burping like hiccuping consistently. My nightmare. And it is her nightmare. She hates to burp. No no no no. She hates burping. It's nothing about- As a concept. I will never confirm nor deny whether I have burped in my entire history of life. What I do not like is the concept of a burp. Really? I don't even wanna talk about it. I'm fine with the concept of a burp.

People don't seem to mind them like I mind them. Burping is nothing, farting is like- I would rather someone literally farted in my face than burped. that's disgusting. genuinely I would. that's human shit. I don't want to smell- I'd rather smell what was in your arse than in your stomach and throat. yeah I remember you said that and it's like no I disagree. I know but they're disgusting to me. I don't want to smell what you ate for fucking lunch, it makes me feel sick. but that- but with someone's fart you are smelling what they had for lunch, but you're just smelling shit Oh, it's so disgusting. I honestly the idea about I can't even well anyway in my dream You were burping burping burping away giggling to yourself because because it was so awkward that you were burping like I mean

We can does hiccuping make you feel better. Yeah, it was kind of a bit of a hiccup I know they're obviously different, but like, it was the consistency. Hiccup is nothing. Hiccup's a little cute thing. Yeah, it was the consistency at which you were doing it. Like you were like, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, sort of thing. Hiccup girl. Hiccup girl. Let's say so I've got like, so I can cope with this.

And everyone was like, oh my God, like why is she laughing sort of thing? Like, or like kind of like what's going on? Like have I missed something? Like is she okay? Like it was a bit of an awkward, sad room and laughing? Or like, what's going on? Have I missed something? Is she okay? It was a bit of an awkward, sad room and now all of a sudden, Seppi's giggling and I was like, oh no, no.

So I don't think she's laughing at that. I think she's giggling because she was burping. Brilliant. Coming off really well. I'll be the voice, I have to speak for you. Great impression of me that I'm making at this meeting. Yeah. I was like, no, no sorry she's not she's not laughing at that she's laughing because she's burping. I do worry what you think of me sometimes

based on your dreams it is so concerning. That is nuts it is nuts and then everyone's like oh is she okay is she okay and then all of a sudden I was like Seve are you alright all right? Giggling, giggling. And then she just goes bleh and vomits everywhere all over the table. It's nightmare. Like thick and fast, vomit heavy, threw up big time. So I jumped up and I was like, oh my God. And I ran to go and get tissue

to like sort out what was going on. Oh my God. Cause in my dream, reminder, just a dream. Yeah, reminder, this is not real. Didn't happen. Ran off to get tissue, and then Sefi kind of was on my tail, followed me, and I offered her the tissue and she like wouldn't take it,

and then was just trying to take her own tissue. Which, why is that so me to be like, it just makes no sense to be like, someone's offering you a tissue, and for some reason, you won't accept it. It's like, why? I'll get my own! Why? That was the one bit that I kind of saw myself in in the story. It's like, I don't know why I would do that but maybe I would.

I wouldn't see you in burping or vomiting all over the place so you know, don't worry. It was shocking. It was truly a shocking experience. It was a sight to behold. It was something I never thought I'd witness in my dream Yes, back in a dream a dream and She threw up everywhere. There was sick everywhere. She wouldn't let me really clean it up She was I'll do it kind of took the tissue whatever blah blah blah And there was like bright green sick all over her and I said brat summer And then you woke up and honestly and then I woke up I woke up. What a weird start to the day.

Just a weird little, yeah honestly, that was my first two minutes of the day and I really was like, oh that was nuts yesterday when Stephanie bought, and then I was like no, no, it didn't happen. It's me being like, rolling over out of bed being about to text my friend saying, I can't believe you went to summer camp

with Tom, Glyn, whatever the carny, I can't believe you did that. And then it'd be like oh yeah thank god thank god it wasn't a dream yeah it was just the violence of the vomit was so funny to me but anyway hope everyone's okay after that yeah if everyone has um survived that story including me um dreams are weird though dreams are weird i find them so weird when your friend is in them because it's like or someone you know we were talking about it the other day, it's like it takes a moment to adjust. Oh that didn't happen Yeah, because it adds to your concept of them. I've just seen you doing something crazy

Yeah, yeah the mind. The mind. Crazy place So yeah comfort content. I hope that was very comforting. Yeah, yeah. It was slightly distressing for me But also I'm living I'm living with it. It's fine And then just a nice chilled chat today I think. Yeah that sounds really nice. What were you gonna say? Oh I wasn't gonna say anything, I was just thinking about comfort content in general. What would you say you gravitate towards like medium wise?

God sorry my brain isn't quite awake yet. Okay so I definitely am a social media content girl. I feel like a YouTube video will be my go-to. In terms of the ease of, it's so much less of a requirement than turning on the TV, which is nuts to even say. And it's like, I will revisit the same TV shows, the same books, the same music, the same everything.

But the medium that I find most comfortable is probably a YouTube video. I actually think about that. I actually completely agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, I don't know if I've ever really fathomed that. But I think there is so much about like, it's been a long time the relationship between me and YouTube

that I've really been doing the rounds on there and I do find it really like it's like I've always got my phone in my hand it's ready to go within reason and what a weird yeah it is weird fucking nuts actually. Also it's like I know my way around that app like I really know like I know who I like, I know what to say. I remember some people have been like, god you really... I'll sometimes be like, I'm just gonna watch YouTube videos and watch a load of YouTube videos and that will be just a past happening. An activity. You know, I'll go down rabbit holes, it's a fun thing to do. I've met people that are like, YouTube?

Yeah, some people are just not in the world Which I can't we must have really different brains and like I'm sure in some ways They're like really functioning on like a higher level than I am totally Because the things that I know because of YouTube Like the information that I have withheld us like it stored away in this messy brain. Yeah Yeah, sorry, I'm a bit head empty today. No, I do think YouTube. I also think podcasts.

Yeah, so maybe tell me about some of your favourite podcasts. Oh God. Well I'm into podcasting, like a listener sort of mindset at the moment. I'm really into like the literal rest of the UK, the rest is politics is really getting me at the moment. Like that's into like the literal rest of the UK, the rest is politics, is really getting me at the moment. Like that's my sort of like when they've uploaded I'll be like right okay I'm gonna like go for a walk and listen to

this. That is something that I'm loving. I also love Alan Carr's podcast at the moment. Life's a beach. You're such a podcaster. I like these sort of like I love I do really think that, I mean I really, they fucking vary so much, but if you find someone you like, like Alan Carr, I like him, he's a comfort kind of guy. He is, yeah, you can't be uncomfortable. But someone also that I don't have many thoughts on in life, but that's like, that purely is just funny, great guests, you know, just like a funny thing. Adam Buxton, King. Yeah, so I need to do my Adam Buxton research.

You'll just, you'll get it. You'll get what I'm seeing in him, I think. I know, I'm sure I will. Like even from a distance, I get it, like in a hypothetical sense, I get that. I get why that's landing. But I need to see it for my own eyes to really believe it. You do, there's something very like, enduring. I like, you'll totally get it as soon as you see this

and you'll be like, I completely get this guy. Yeah, I do get it, I do get it. And I get it in a kind of daddy issues way. Which I think underpins all of the- Totally, literally totally. Yeah. It's weird though, like the people that we choose to let into our lives.

That's always what I feel like when people like have listened to the podcast or say, like they've enjoyed the podcast or even like in a light sense or like if you've been going through something shit and it's like you're feeling a bit shit but goes out saying on whatever, whatever the situation may be, I find it's like you're feeling a bit shit but goes out saying on whatever whatever the situation may be i find it really like that's always my like overarching my crux is always like i can't believe you let us come into your day and and speak in your ear i was having this i was

telling my mom when we went to the wakamamas event last night oh god it was absolutely delightful so nice we had a funny moment where they gave us uh katsu waffles and sephi was like is this vegan he was like yeah yeah and then they put it down and it was like it's vegan ice cream on top of chicken I think the vegan ice cream is pretty redundant at this point I think the chicken is overridden outweighed by is it vegan yeah yes vegan ice cream is pretty redundant at this point. I think the chicken is overridden, outweighed by the... Is it vegan? Yeah, yeah, it's vegan ice cream, it's vegan ice cream. Is it vegan? Yeah, yeah, vegan ice cream, vegan ice cream. Then this girl jumps, but it's chicken.

But it is chicken. You absolute, absolute assholes. Like, are you kidding me? Yeah, we went to that event last night. We went there and there was this, this amazing girl. Millie, her name was. Beautiful girl. Which was a weird moment because we were just talking about so many, everyone's called Millie.

Meeting Millies these days. Everyone is called Millie that we meet recently. We meet this girl, what's her name? Millie, oh my God. Millie. And manifested her. We really did. And she was like, I've been listening

since higher priestess days. And that was genuinely the way I jumped. Like I have not heard any that's the first time anyone has ever said those words hire priestess to my face and it was like oh my goodness you really do listen like to know that name and even to know that you shouldn't be saying that name she was like okay I won't say it something like okay so you really really know us and that is god it's the most flattering thing of all time. Isn't that such a luxury that's like yeah oh my god we get to exist in a world where you can have like a really nice

like funny interaction it's like almost like we live in a world or we've somehow made it into this space where a beautiful girl, intelligent all these these things, yes, can come and like make a joke with us. Just right off, out of nothing, out of thin air, just make a joke and be really like... It's even more than that, it's like make an inside joke. Exactly, like there's something really authentic there, it's like out of nothing, we just met. Yeah, but we've got inside jokes. but we have like a knowing between us. oh my god it's everything. but i think that's the thing with any comfort content is

and it's why like almost i always say like something like the office for example it's like it's not funny until you're in on the characters. you need to know everyone., once you get immersed, it just becomes like safe. I remember thinking that when I I've been thinking actually a little bit recently about like the transition between like almost like when you're a kid you watch like I don't know I don't know what you watch CBBC you watch like all of that then you maybe find Disney Channel and then it's like okay right there's nothing better than like Hannah Montana Sweet Life and to me the only thing that ever made me like give that up was the discovery of Friends as a show. Hmm interesting. Oh my god so I'm not interested in these teenager things anymore now I am a teenager and now I aspire to be these adults that I'm watching on TV. Yeah. I remember watching Friends for like the first time and like discovering it. I was a huge Friends fan in the end. Wow, that's interesting.

But I remember watching it for the first time. It was an episode with Julia Robertson, fun fact, that was my first episode I ever watched. Oh, Fiji Queen. And I was like, oh my god, what is this? But I'm not getting it yet because I need to know all these characters. And I remember desperately trying to learn their names and like who they were so that I could be like in on the joke. But the last one that I learnt the name of was Chandler. I remember being very confused like what is his name? And when I finally learnt his name I was like I'm in, I know these people and god it was a rollercoaster from there. I'm in it now. That's really interesting.

It's like literally not funny until you... No it's not funny. Know who Ross is. Yeah, I think that's as well like with comedy, I think also just the awareness of knowing that you're supposed to be laughing, especially with something like Friends where it's like essentially a laugh track is happening. It's like I'm listening to you. It's like you know when you need to laugh. Yeah, and there's no more explicit way to be told that you are not in on a joke when literally everyone is

laughing. you're hearing the laughter and it's not resonating with you for some reason. why is that funny? like i don't understand. like it's a big joke that's something that happened in season two and i'm watching an episode from season seven and i don't know what's going on. and you might not find it funny generally but i think the awareness not find it funny generally, but I think the awareness. Yeah, it's like not actually that funny. But I think the awareness of comedy sometimes makes it, it kind of, it kind of, it shoots itself in the foot a bit. I feel like if you go into something.

Oh my God, totally. Do you know what I mean? Like sometimes you need a bit of shock factor. You need a bit of a, you need a bit of a you really value in like just being caught off guard that allows you to be like open and laugh rather than going into something almost looking to be expecting yeah that is why like whenever I've been to stand up which I absolutely love going to stand up comedy I love oh my god we should go together don't we know we've never been together.

let's do that. yeah let's definitely do that. that would be so fun because it's so cringe as well like it's just oh my god you feel the full spectrum of human emotion. you come away with like a lot of moments to dissect which we would go mad for. totally. you've gained a lot in stand up. yeah you've crammed a lot in like 90 minutes. it is sometimes absolutely excruciating but i already am going in with such um- open mind. admiration of everyone there. yeah. it's just like jesus christ you're so brave. but- it's so good. it's so fucking good. yeah we have to do that. it's a real like human test. yes. it's a real like psychological- it's a real conundrum. everyone in the room is

being faced with a conundrum including the person on the stage more than anyone go on when i've gone to things like that i feel like say there's like a headliner at the end and there's like usually like a few people playing before them often the people that i've never heard of the uh the sort of supporting acts i have been like oh my god you were just the person i'm sort of, I didn't even think of you, I had no concept of you, you've come out and done this thing, and you're absolutely killed. And by the end, it's like, okay, so you're like some guy that's seen off TV that's like doing a bit of a shtick, you know? Sometimes the pressure of being the headliner is too much. It's like, why is the support act so great? Because there's no pressure. Well also, I think, exactly, but, and that makes the performer act differently and it

also makes obviously the consumers view it differently. It's relaxed. Yeah because you're going in, if you sit down to think, okay I'm about to see the show of a lifetime, it's like, it's pretty high stakes to live up to. Whereas if the pedestal is quite small. It's like if you get one laugh you're alright. Yeah, you can be easily impressed. Oh my god, stand up, that's making me really wanna go.

We should. I went to this really, really, like, god, this was absolutely excruciating. It was like the most amateur sort of thing. Like it was like free entry, like in this shed. Oh, that's when it's the best. It was absolutely the best. It was- I kind of remember this.

Yeah, it was like in a shed, it was like in a pub. It was like an insane experience. I think there were probably nine of us in the audience and there were probably more performers than there were in the audience. There were like 10 people performing and they were like, yeah, eight or nine of us in the audience. Every single one of us was like properly interrogated.

It was a real like test to your soul of like, can I sit through this? Like some of it was like it was a lot of people's first times it was like wincingly bad but like in the most sort of like supportive way people stumbled on their lines and people shout I'm like go on you can do it it was honestly like and some people were so funny but it was just you came out of there like I feel like I was in there for like 10 years. I feel like like literally grown into a new person yeah why is it so good actually oh my god i

actually like it was crazy that's the sort of thing i highly recommend as like a growth experience in your life go and be a small audience in stand-up such a fun thing to do yeah and if you've ever done stand-up god i commend you so much. oh my god. I can't picture many things that look more challenging than that. there's a lot going on there isn't there? so much. what would you do? what do you mean? so you had to do like an opening like bit like what would you do? you look like you've got something. no no no I've got nothing god no nothing. I don't know but I think I would be a really good comedy writer 100% because I can see I'm good at like holding on to a trend and like finding a through line and yeah doing a bit of a twist or like

So I think I could write a really good set and I'm sure I could do it Well, but I don't know I wouldn't really have a theme You're quite SNL No, okay, you love SNL. That's a compliment, right. You're quite SNL. No? Okay. You love SNL, that's a compliment, right? I love SNL so much, but kind of in the ironic way of like, SNL, like what is SNL in 2024?

Sorry, I didn't realize that was. Well, I also, lest we forget, I know you don't like SNL, so. No, no. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm just kidding, sorry, I was trying to compliment you. I wouldn't have like a specific, there's no theme calling me. What would you, what would be your kind of, your forte, do you think?

No idea. I feel like women always get brushed with the thing of like, they just talk about sex and they talk about periods and being a woman and it's really just like, well yeah, have you lived a day as a woman? So annoying. It's really annoying it's like what do you guys talk about? The dentist? Putting your shoes on?

Going to the shop? Boring? Yeah so true. Go on. What I quite like and it's what Adam Buxton did at his tour I just thought it was quite cool he had it was quite like I love it when a comedian has like a prop that they're using like a like a they're using like a PowerPoint basically, like a big slideshow. I love when there's like a visual element to it

and he was doing this like PowerPoint about AI and he would done like loads of like shit things on chat gbt and like was getting all the like photos that were fucked up and I thought that's quite fun to have. The punch line is like going to the next slide, it's like okay you've got the backup of that PowerPoint being there. Yeah. Interesting to like time the next, cause that delivery of moving to the next thing. It was all timed through this thing. And I thought that's quite good.

And then it was just quite- Was he controlling the next slide or was he- Yeah, he had like a clip on the stage. And there were bits where it like sort of, he would like go off that and it would go to his like history and it would be like, how many listeners does Louis 3's podcast get? yeah that's quite nice to have the awareness of like the competition there just yeah I'm into it I'm into it. Good vibes. I think it's a one-sided competition I will say. No no no no no it is

fascinating this is why you need to. Maybe not from Louis's perspective but from the world's perspective. Oh my god this is why it's so interesting Louis perspective, but from the world's perspective. Oh my god. This is why it's so interesting Louise one Yeah, that's what I mean, but you need to listen to them together, but Louise still fighting but externally They went to school together and it's just like there is a competitive dynamic. It's just so I hate that Okay. Yeah, I've got things to do guys. I need to go and listen to Adam Buxton Yeah. I've got things to do guys, I need to go and listen to Adam Buxton. You didn't even genuinely, I swear you do. Bye.

I'm not sending you to something weird, like I'm sending you to something extremely- No, no. I have to be there. I'm sending you actually to a gold mine. Yeah. And a king, a king. I also, you sent me to New Girl, therefore- Exactly, exactly. Everything gets-

You can't compare them to it. New Girl is the crème de la crème. Well, no goes without saying, but I mean like in terms of like following your direction. Recommendations. Yeah, of course. I'll follow you anywhere. Thank you. I'll follow you anywhere. Okay. Summer, summer, summer, summer, summer.

Summer, fuck it up. Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on Rogers' internet. Visit Rogers.com for details. We got you, Rogers.