LadyGang - LG QUICKIE: Craig Conover

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Bravolebrity, lawyer, and founder of Sewing Down South, Craig Conover is sharing the details on his new book and what it’s like filming multiple shows. Find out if he prefers Souther Charm or Summerhouse, if Paige could be his future wife and if people like him more in person or on TV. Check out our amazing sponsors!!! CoorsLight: Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door with Drizly or Instacart by going to coorslight.com/lady  Progressive: Get a quote today at Progressive.com and see why 4 out of 5 new auto customers recommend Progressive!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guess what, everybody? We're going on tour. So all of our Lady Gang fans in Florida are always like, Florida gets left off the tour. And that's because it always gets left off because it's very hard to get to when you're touring because it's like kind of out of the way. But we were like, nope, this summer, it's Florida. We are heading to the Tampa Improv on June 26th. It is a nice Sunday afternoon brunch, 3 p.m. Lady Hang Live with us in Tampa. You can get tickets at theladygang.com or tampaimprov.com we'll see you there it's time for a quickie podcast one presents the lady gang the hollywood girl posse with lady gang quickie here's kelty knight becca tobin and jack vanek let's make this quick hello hello hello welcome to lady gang quickie i am becca here with

jack and kelty and a very special guest that has been requested by all you crazy bitches out there over and over and over again kelty can you please intro our guest it's like angelina jolie was here it's crazy you guys he's got a new book pillow talk what's wrong with my sewing he has his podcast pillows and beer he somehow has a law firm which makes no sense to me and we want to welcome him to the lady gang please welcome craig conover hey girls hi welcome um to be here and uh yeah i was telling page last night we were doing this this morning and she was like those girls are awesome so she definitely used to watch and uh listens to you guys so we're all big big fans a page over here and a really good friend of mine jamie lynn sigler has like a girl crush on page

and she they dm each other and you would think that jamie is texting like again just oprah like page she has a way with women i'll tell you page gets just as excited uh texting with her she always like oh my god she gets a thrill out of it too so um yeah you're i mean everyone kind of gets that thrill when you see someone with uh i mean you love getting all the messages but then you'll see like a random blue check like pop up in your messages and you'll be like why are they messaging me and you're like okay has it been just like i mean now it's been a bunch of years has it but bravo liberty has grown like does it ever just blow your mind that this is all like your life yeah i mean it makes zero sense you know and it's super flattering but you've done

it for almost nine years now and i was just thinking in the shower not something i was ever going to chase because I lived on the east coast I lived in Charleston and kind of had a structured you know career lined up I thought but it's something that I secretly always wanted and dreamed of and I didn't really realize that until you know they came to me and offered me the show and what ended up happening was I was like what would I regret more not doing it and wondering what if forever or doing it and just having to deal with the consequences and that was kind of a no-brainer um and then it gets to a point where it's totally awesome but at times it can be really overwhelming and you I you know I used to wear like neon v-necks and blazers

like I was very extroverted and wanted all the attention and then you become a little bit introverted when you start to receive all of that attention and it's not something that you can say unless you know you you do it so you can hear people be like oh it's not all that you know you can hear people complain about the attention or being famous or whatever and i wouldn't change a thing but those types of statements you just can't understand until you get there so i was getting i was like even if my life sucks after i do this if i achieve like a status that i want it'll still be worth achieving that goal and dealing with the consequences if that makes sense yeah that's really risk yeah and it's refreshing to hear too because a lot of people that do

reality shows they're like i don't i didn't even want this i didn't even you know i didn't think i ever wanted to to be in the spotlight or whatever that thing is it's like i think it's cool now to admit that you felt some urge to put yourself out there everybody does like deep down inside like and if they they say they don't they're a liar because they wouldn't do it yeah because there's two reasons to do it it's either money or fame and um a lot of the people on these shows have plenty of money so i guess i i think it's something that i saw as validation you know like it's talked about in the book but i was just i was bullied a lot growing up but you don't realize how many people actually were bullied and um i remember signing my contract

and being like i hope those assholes have like tvs in the jail at home because like that was it's driving force and i was like i'm just gonna rub it in everyone's faces my number one motivator in life is assholes from high school like still i'm 40 and i'm just like i hope someone sees this on facebook today that really didn't want to take me to the graduation dance yeah first true and it and it stays with you which is wild um but it set me up for a reality tv because once once i got to reality tv i was like you know you already had to self-validate dealing with that stuff in middle school and high school when i was like yeah like try your best like i you know you're like high school kids are way more cruel than you guys fans yeah oh my god so let's talk about

the book but i need to go back um to the sewing so who taught you and then where did you do it in school? Yeah. So I had home ec in middle school. And so you would spend half the year cooking and then half the year sewing and the boys and the girls had to do that together because in my school, the boys went to woodworking on cars and the girls went to like, it was very sexist. Yeah. So my teacher's name was miss Hurley. Um, but we had to do boys and girls had to do tech ed and they had to do a mech and um it was just it was a blast you know i had a lot of fun doing it uh and it just didn't so i started cooking when i was young i wrote actually wrote like a cookbook in like eighth grade with a little camera and my mom still has it like plating the

little stuff i would make but i didn't start sewing again you know until much later and so what's the what's the whole jizz of the book what are you hoping that people are not seeing from you on television and social media that they're going to get with the with the stories so it was important to not be a book that was like this is what actually happened you know we weren't trying to correct the record we weren't trying to like you know fix it and what we were trying to do is fill in the gaps you know we only filmed for four months on southern charm and even when we're filming you know you don't see a lot of what happens and you definitely don't get the full picture all the time and so it was like look we love the show and we love everyone for watching

and you know what it's done and sharing our story but let's share more of it uh because i was just one of the people that the first few years of the show people when they met me out were like wow we like you a lot more in person than we do on tv and i thrived off that because i was like just give me a minute of your time and and let me correct you know let me let you meet me for me and then you can you know fill in your blanks and that's not the same for all our cast members exact opposite um and so this book was a way to spend that time with people individually um in a different kind of context and just share the story because i i was like when they when someone came to me about the book I was like this is absurd like I'm you know 33 years old I just

I don't have stories to share yet you know it was kind of a humbling ask and then as I started to talk they're like no like this is actually this is good and so we just started to go with it and I think it you know turned into a pretty great project and you kind of remember stuff as you talk because what I would do is I would just go get my car I have like a Jeep Grand Cherokee and i would just drive for an hour on my like car audio system and just speak with my writer and that was my like process um but it was enjoyable and hopefully it's like a feel-good reader because i'm very open about all my cups like and i've done a lot and i had a great childhood and there was no reason for those cups except to like look in the mirror and be like no this was on you so

i love that you need that yeah it's also really i wonder in the book do you talk about how on the show for a little while you were kind of like the butt of the joke with your business and your and going to law school and it was like craig's flailing and he doesn't know what he's doing i mean obviously you got the last laugh at this point but was that a really i imagine that'd be difficult thing to go through and on national television yeah it was um it wasn't fun because the whole thing is when you when you start to love yourself or you know like say self-validation a lot when you tell yourself like you're good enough and you like who you are that's great and then you know the show comes out and first season was fine first season was

was fair and and exciting and you know they want everyone to like you but then you drop your guard And then you have second season and second season is always a really tough season for people. And, you know, then you get to a point where you just stop watching your own show because you, you just can't take it anymore. And what my driving force was is someone pulled me aside. Cause you guys know how it is. You, you become best friends with your crew, you know, like producer devil, but like you're,

but while you're filming, but outside, you know, you can be friends, but while you're filming like that's their job but the crew one of the crew members pulled me aside I think it was a sound guy and he was like look Craig like the more that you're on the less ability they'll have to like make your character someone you're not and he was like you know start showing up to every you know everything in suits and like dress your best and be your best at everything so they don't have anything but you know who you really are to use and and it really helped me and then once you get to you know then your fourth season hits or whatever and then you're just like you know what screw it I'm just gonna be myself I don't care anymore like you're

doing well enough to not worry and then that's when things kind of turned around for me because I was finally able to drop my guard and just be authentically myself and I think that's when things kind of started to swing um you know with public perception for me or we say public you know The small sector of people that don't like you on the internet. We're like, oh, well, we have a large sector of people that love you on the internet, our Facebook group. And so when we come back with Craig, we're asking your questions, Lady Gang. This episode of Lady Gang is brought to you by Coors Light.

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Discounts vary and are not available in all states and situations. The Lady Gang. All right, we're back with Craig. Here we go. We have, I mean, there, like I said, it was like a waterfall. But here's some of the questions. What show do you enjoy filming more? Winter, Summer House, or Southern Charm?

southern charm by far why well because of well i thought i enjoyed the other ones more and you had austin and i were cursing out southern charm being like screw you guys and then the edits came out and we came crawling back to southern charm with our like tails between our legs and we're like we never want to leave you oh my god i mean post-production is like it it changes everything it doesn't not usually changes everything but it means everything and every company does it differently and um i'd rather have like ex-girlfriends popping out of the closet or like you know coming on vacation with us then uh you know every everyone has their their their formula that works but um i i think something new kind of came to light too with

with the difference between the shows. And I think Southern Charm for me is a little more sustainable with following my life because now, you know, that Paige and I are together, you know, we obviously just worked on a project again together, which was a lot of fun. But the shows are based around, like Summer House and Winter House are great.

Like I love it for the, like for the viewers, they get to see us have a good time, but it's a party show. And even though everyone parties on Southern Charm, Southern Charm isn't necessarily a party show. And so I think we have a better chance to watch, like, our lives evolve and, you know, become a family or whatever may happen. I think the life or the longevity of Southern Charm would fit into our life a little more. Did you ever get nervous filming any of that where you're like, it doesn't seem like anyone has a real issue indulging, like drinking heavily and having cameras everywhere?

Like I just, was there a time when you thought about it and thought like, maybe not, it seems like it's like balls to the walls for everyone. There's no, there's no like holding back. How do you get there? Are you just that way naturally? Well, I mean, we like, we are that way naturally, but Southern Charms cameras go down, you know, at night, we've never had to watch ourselves because, you know, I mean, we've been horrible and like really messed up.

But at the end of the day, like by 9 or 10, you know, by 9, usually our cameras are down. So it was a big adjustment for me in Austin going to the winter house for the first time because last year, the first night, him and I got in a huge blowout fight. I mean, the whole rest of the house thought we were nuts. Like, they were just like, who are these guys? You know, we're just screaming at each other. And then we wake up the next day and we're like, it's 24-hour surveillance. and you know you kind of you acknowledge it but then you don't really adjust your behavior because

that's not you're not there to be careful really and so your scaries and your anxiety are are pretty high you know once you leave and you're like oh gosh like you know i didn't sleep i i couldn't do it i would just be like one eye open and one eye on tequila you and pager in mexico like decompressing from the stress of what's going to come out on television yeah well it's like well and my parents it was nice you got to see her parents a couple days ago and then um my parents are down here on a like family trip so uh yeah like you just you search for balance which it's um you know it's nearly impossible but you know everyone's so lovely in person that and it's something i'm working with her on is that like someone we were out

the other day and someone came up to me and we're like we love page or we love your girlfriend so much or whatever and i was like go tell her like she was across the bar and i was like go tell her that like it would be like be great because like she everyone like that the amount that like compliments and being nice in person affect people now with the age of like people just being mean on the internet goes a long way and it takes like one person being nice to be like oh yeah like what the fuck am i like worried about you know like people you know everything's okay um but it is a bizarre bizarre world well the most important question from the lady gang and it's not ours does he think page is the real deal is marriage in their future obviously yeah we i mean we've

talked about it a lot and it's fun. Yesterday we actually said this, it's fun to meet someone or be with someone that you can actually look forward to your future with and then not have to press over, you know, like this makes sense on paper, but like, do I really want to be with them? And so hopefully it works out. I mean, she definitely keeps me in check and she's a ball buster and um you know yeah so i i hope so um i think we both do and then people wanted to know if you thought that shep and taylor will get married i do um you southern charm's gonna be like this will be one of our craziest seasons this year i mean it's absolutely insane and we've got way more episodes than we ever had and it's like original og southern

charm where you're just like there's no way like it will just blow your mind some of the stuff that happens and you'll get to see a lot of their journey um and you'll just have to come up with your own kind of like opinion about it I like Taylor is an angel and I love her to death and Shep's in a really good place right now um and yeah for them it works you know it's just one of those things that you'll just when you watch you'll be like you know you'll figure it out for yourself but i think i think they'll probably get married and if not then chef will never get married but that's true it's like this is the last only shot um and so people the last question sorry is is how are you juggling the pillow the law the tv they use them as verbs i feel like each

of these projects requires a lot of time how do you do it all well where it's i love how like people realize this now but not years ago when they were like why aren't you a lawyer and it's like because i'm filming like two different television shows and it's a full-time job yeah sometimes the most frustrating thing in the beginning is that you're not allowed to say that it's a job and so everyone just thinks you're a bum and you're like whatever having to answer someone but i it's my team you know i gave up um two-thirds of my equity to two people so my snowing down south is run by me and one of my really close friends and his sister-in-law and we're all equal partners and because of that i get to live the life that i live and i still get

people like film a project for three weeks and not have to stress about what's going on at home um you know we all stay in our lanes and it's great and i actually was talking to kyle cook about this because you know he's like stressed about lover boy a lot and i was like dude you like compare the way you're living right now to like how i am and i know it's apples to oranges but i was like it's because i chose to give up you know some of my company and partners And, like, with the law firm, I have two incredible partners that, you know, they handle most of our stuff in our day-to-day. And there's stuff, like, I only do our pro bono stuff. And, yeah, it's just a support system.

I mean, like, I've got an assistant that changed my life. Austin actually just hired one about a year ago. Because at the end of the day, my dad was, I was missing so many emails and so many opportunities. and my dad was like you will actually make money by someone um and so for me it's all about the team and having partners and it just makes it so much more enjoyable because you're not you're not spread too thin and you don't have to stress about stuff because people are you know i mean i have a team that's why we podcast in a trio yeah you know what i mean yeah and i saw when i when i was reading i'm watching you guys and i saw there was three of

you i was like this is awesome because you know you'll see i don't know if it's on summer charm or out oh yeah like i someone went after me for you know not having to work at my you know it's sewing down south every day or like be at the law firm every day and i went on a trip with like a professional golfer and his brother and his brother was like damn he's like that's the entire goal is to get your business to a point where you can hire people to run it for you he's like they're just being haters and so you get that a lot not in this situation but sometimes people are like it's just a silly insult to use like well you don't even run your own business it's like yes i do i just don't have to yeah and also there's way better things to hate me for

than that i like uh micro don't micromanage my business that my fingers aren't bleeding from sewing pillows all day thank you so much what do they expect well listen go back to vacation i can't believe you took time out of your lost luggage vacation to sit with us please tell page that she's welcome on the lady gang anytime like let's go um and everyone a lady gang please go and and let's pick up craig's book pillow talk what's wrong with my sewing we'll put a link in our um show notes and also on our social media today so you can go pick it up uh you can listen to craig on his pillows and beer podcast i love that so much and of course watch all the shows which you're already watching craig thank you we're actually going on our four starts like next

week for clothes and beer too we're doing 12 driven cities so they can oh so fun yeah see you in the flush we weren't here for a long time we're here for a good time thanks for listening The Lady Gang is produced by Alex Ingber, Steve Delameter, and Jared Monaco. Make sure you subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. And if you love it, share it with your friends on social media. Like, oh my god, I just listened to Lady Gang. This episode's so great. Swipe up to listen.

And if you really want to, which we know you do, please follow us on social. At Kelty, at Becca, at Jack Vanek, and at The Lady Gang. Sign up for our newsletter at theladygang.com and join our secret Facebook group. It's super fun. See you next Tuesday. We'll be right back.