Quick Question with Soren and Daniel - Daniel! Fisherman AND Fish in the Water

Episode Date: September 18, 2022

The guys talk about their night at the Emmys.  Celeb encounters, late night pizza and more. And as always big thanks to our sponsors. Go to PlayBackbone.com/QQ NOW to order your Backbone, and for a limited time get FREE access to over 350 console games and perks! Thanks RocketMoney.com/qq.  it could save you hundreds a year. Shop with confidence — get Honey for FREE at JoinHoney.com/qq

I've got a quick, quick question for you, alright? I wanna hear your thoughts, wanna know what's on your mind I've got a quick, quick question for you, alright? The answer's not important, I'm just glad that we could talk tonight So what's your favourite? Who did you get? What do I be? What's it up to? Where did all that guard wings go? Oh, forget it.

Saw a movie, Daniel O'Brien. Two best friends and comedy writers. If there's an answer, they're gonna find it. I think you'll have a great time here. I think you'll have a guest. It almost never happens. And today is no different. I am one half of that podcast. You'll hear my voice, Soren Bui. I am a comedy writer for American Dad. And I'm joined by my co-host and the only other voice you will hear all podcast, Daniel O'Brien. Island Daniel is what we call him. Island Daniel, say aloha. Aloha.

I have a question right off the bat. Is that the only podcast where two best friends and comedy writers talk to each other across the country? Yeah. Do you think that's true? I think, I mean, so I started to think. It's a very specific. There's probably another set. We've really narrowed it down, but.

It's a very specific. There's probably another. We've really narrowed it down, but I have to think that's, well, you know what? This is going to hurt you more than it'll hurt me. Sure. It's possible that Sebastian Maniscalco has a podcast that does something almost identical. Woof. God, there's no podcast voice that I want to hear less i was getting in my uber it's you just hear his voice sort of like going in and out of of volume because he's wandering

around the room doing bits like getting down oh it's way way down low i was and like coming back every once in a while um i used to listen to a zoo our radio show and david allen grier would come on every once in a while and like he's i don't know if you ever heard him on the radio he is on he's going like 90 miles an hour every single time and this is you know like 7 30 in the morning and david allen grier sounds like he hasn't slept in three days every single time he comes on and he goes fucking wild but he also has no respect for a microphone either he's all over the studio it's clear and like there you'll hear him just screaming in the background all of a sudden he'll be talking and it'll be clear he's telling a story and also he's

just like screaming in the background somewhere else like he's he's nightcrawler transporting around the studio and every once in a while like the, you'll just hear the Zuar radio show go, oh, no, we can't put that on. We can't put that on. And what that means is that you've just got this 20-second snippet of the show that just got cut because of something he did. No, absolutely zero respect for terrestrial radio. And I really respected it.

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handheld console so you can play anywhere, anytime. Go to backbone.com slash QQ now to order your Backbone. And for a limited time, get free access to over 350 console games and perks, plus free subscriptions to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Apple Arcade, and Google Stadia Pro. But this is only for a limited time. When you go to our link, playbackbone.com slash QQ. Speaking of radio, I got to talk to you a little bit about this. I was just in

Los Angeles recently for a work event and I was in the car and the Lyft driver had regular radio on and I started hearing, like to me, iconic Los Angeles radio commercials that I haven't heard in so long. These things that were like part of my background when I lived in LA going to work every day that I just, uh, completely forgot about. Cause, cause, you know, obviously they're, they're local commercials and the, the surprising things that things that that that can make you nostalgic it really really took me off guard because i'm just sitting in the back of the car and i just hear like which is like the theme song for the morongo casino ads yeah which they have been doing for i i think since the the invention of sound they they're they're everywhere they're uh they change

the commercials out a little bit uh every single season every month i have no idea but they're always the same like it opens with uh an announcer in the reality of this commercial universe it opens with an announcer who doesn't realize that he's on yet so he's just he's just finished or is in the middle of telling an embarrassing story or sharing some humiliating fact. And then he's like, what's that I'm on? And then he starts reading the top five reasons you, yes, you should go to Morongo Casino. And they play the same music every time.

And it's the same guy and the same woman who also is in those commercials. And it was like seeing an old friend. It was like driving to my hometown after a semester away at college. It'd be like, I remember. Oh yeah. Hey, driver, turn this up, please. Blast this Morongo's casino commercial, please.

Please blast my jam. Yeah, you say that they change them out a little bit and that's like a weird thing to say about a radio commercial but absolutely correct like that's 100 correct to change them out a little bit means like the wording very rarely changes like very brief little tiny pieces of the commercial change but on on the whole, they have bought one song, like they've got the license to one song and they're like, why would we get another? Yeah. And they've used it for, you know, the last 25 years or however long I've been here at least. Yeah. And there's just so committed to the rigidity of their bit, the framing device of

the announcer. And I never really completely understood the world of this of this commercial because there are two different people performing the function of announcer like the the guy who introduces it in the beginning the male voice he doesn't read the five reasons that you should want to go to morongo that's a woman who announces that he just comes in and says five reasons you should go to morongo casino number five and then she speaks number four and then her again i don't understand that dynamic their relationship or what i'm supposed to assume either of their functions are why they have to split this duty but i don't care i mean it's just it's the decision that this this ad company made 25 years ago and they're never going to change it no there was there was one, like when you say Morongo Casino,

the one in terrestrial radio that sticks out in my head, there was like on New Year's or right around January, there were a bunch of those commercials. It was like, bam, bam, bam. And it was like,

hey, welcome to 2014 or whatever. And it was like, if you haven't gotten used to writing it on your checks yet, send it in to us and we'll write it for you. It's pretty good. And then he would go into like the reasons why

because why morongo is great um and i just tried to look it up and i found what's called vegas casino talk which is just like a forum a very straightforward no frills forum and somebody mentioned it this is back in 2000 yes from 2014, from 2014. And he says he's mad. He's mad that somebody has done this, that a casino would represent itself this way. If anything, a casino should have advertising and marketing that shows honesty and trustworthiness. A casino should never put anything into a commercial that would raise doubts about their honesty. Morongo should take this commercial off the air. And other casinos should urge Morongo to remove the commercials.

What's bad for the image of Morongo Casino is also bad for all the other casinos. Anyway, this is my little way of letting the rest of you know I don't have real problems. Right. I have to get mad at things like this instead. I'm also not entirely clear on where Morongo is, but Vegas casinos should not stand for this. That is another point that I

wanted to bring up. As much as I love this commercial and I call it iconic, I don't know where this casino is. I've never been. When I first started listening to it again, that old banger came on the lift ride i really uh struggled to remember what it was a commercial for i only knew that i knew the music of this commercial and it lived in my brain forever but i was like oh yeah it's commercial for that uh hardware store where's this going yeah morongo casino is a place that i've

when i'm there like i'll drive past it occasionally we're gonna be on a road trip and all of a sudden we hit morongo and i'm like oh fuck yeah morongo but i still couldn't tell you where it is looking it up it's in a and okay this does not help it's in a town called cabazon yeah again i don't east west yeah well obviously not west it would be in the ocean but uh i can't i can't find i have no idea where this is uh we should uh i think we should go there i think what we should uh do a live podcast from the morongo casino and spa oh my god i'd have to i mean i want to revisit the commercials and find out the top 10 reasons to go because i don't want to miss anything i want to get check it all off the list it would genuinely like be a life highlight of mine if we became one of the top five reasons to go to morongo

hotel and casino oh my god oh the podcast we do a live podcast from morongo and like it becomes like an installation we are we're the sunny and share yeah we just have we just have a residency at morongo oh man oh we gotta get tigers we'll have to have tigers um so yeah i agree with you there's like i don't listen to terrestrial radio anymore either and i have the same i get to experience the same sort of joy where it was such it was such a big part of my commute every single day. And then all of a sudden, it didn't have to be anymore because it was like the bare minimum. All of a sudden, you had Spotify in your car or you had podcasts to listen to.

But I will occasionally, once in a while, get to the gym or something like that where they will be playing terrestrial radio and I'll get one of those old commercials. Like Cars for Kids has a very specific song. And I don't know if that's national. Is it just in California? Great question.

I have no idea. You have no idea. There's a song that goes, 1-877-CARS-FOR-KIDS Donate your cars today. But there's like a lot more to that song. But it is just the worst little earworm. Man, there is not a lot more to that song.

It's just more of that. There aren't too many twists in that one. Yeah. I'm giving you basically the whole plot of the song. It's a song that when it used to come on the radio, it drove me crazy. I would get furious in my car. I'd turn it down because I just knew I'm going to have this fever dream of a song stuck in my head the rest of the day that's just going to be on repeat. And now I'll be at the gym and that song will come on.

I'll be like, fuck yeah. I remember Cars for Kids. This confusing company where cars is spelled with a K and you can't possibly look it up because the four is a four. Cars is spelled with a K and you can't possibly look it up because the four is a four. And even though I have that song memorized and it's like etched in my heart forever, I completely don't know what that service actually is. It's never stuck with me, the relationship between cars and kids. It seems like a positive one, but... I guess I'm hazy on it as well.

I think that you donate your car and then the money goes to some children. Okay. But I'm not clear on what kids qualify for Cars for Kids. No. It does seem like you're missing a middle ground there where they explain why the kids don't actually just get the car. Yeah. Are the kids working on the cars to learn a trade? What's happening here? What's the deal? There actually just get the car. Yeah. Are the kids working on the cars to learn a trade? What's happening here?

What's the deal? There's one from my childhood. This place called Mark's Toys and Pets in Glenwood Springs. It's long gone now, but that was like a toy store when I was a kid, but they also had pets in the back. It seemed very shady, but there was a song always played on the radio and it's still like i still live with it i think i know all the lyrics to it it was mark's toys and pets lots of fun lots of fun mark's toys and pets lots of fun lots of fun mark's toys and pets where there's something

for everyone we've got toys and tropical fish we We've got, I can't remember, some other bullshit. Masks, maybe. And yeah, that's all I got. But that was, I'm realizing now that it's gone. But that song was like a big staple for me growing up. Yeah. I really wanted the Lyft driver to like circle the block a few more times. Like, no, I just, let's, I want to find Yaceritos.

I want to hear, you're killing me, Larry. You're killing me. I want that. I want to hear him again. You remember all of them, dude. I do. They're really with you. Yes.

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And by getting it, you'll be doing yourself a solid and supporting this show, your best friends. Get Honey for free at joinhoney.com slash qq. That's joinhoney.com slash qq. I also remember a television commercial. There's, um, I wish I remember the guy's name, but you'll know who I'm talking about when we get there. It's a pretty familiar trope in commercials. The idea that the person selling things to you has gone crazy. My prices are so low.

I'm crazy. It's me. Crazy Larry's Auto Sales. crazy my prices are so low i'm crazy it's me crazy larry's auto sales um and there was some and and this particular commercial i don't know if it was selling car stuff or selling just like i just had like a warehouse of goods that he was selling uh and it was uh not native english speaker so there was some i think business lost in translation uh but he took the my prices are low i must be crazy angle uh but he just committed to it so hard he was like an angry unstable guy that sometimes like people would be physically restraining him and he's like my prices are so low they're telling

me i'm fucking crazy he's like sweat going down his face. You look at his eyes and it's not clear that he understands this as a bit or if he really is insane. And that's why his prices are so low. Is it Crazy Gideon or something like that? That sounds right. There is a guy, Cal Worthington Ford. Do you remember those commercials they were car commercials and radio commercials but in LA there's

a place you can go called Cal Worthington Ford Cal Worthington is the guy who sells the cars and there was a song that went along with it that says go see Cal go see Cal go see Cal and Colleen and I we were watching TV one day she was in another room and she hears the song come on and she goes what are you watching and I were watching TV one day. She was in another room. She hears the song come on and she goes,

what are you watching? I was like, nothing. It's a commercial. She goes, what is Pussy Cow? I was rolling on the floor laughing. From that point on, I could not hear it. If you listen to the Go See Cow song, it sounds so much like they're just saying pussy cow.

I did manage to track down the guy I was talking about. And there's an LA mag, a great headline in LA mag. Crazy Gideon makes comeback is still crazy in new commercial for Arts District. He was an Israeli dude shouting things like, if you don't buy't buy from crazy gideon you have a problem with your head and i'm insane while hitting himself in the face with a vcr yeah this guy rules wow it was and it was in fact uh a warehouse of goods yeah uh do those even exist anymore can you he? He closed up shop. Yeah. Yeah. A goods warehouse feels like such an ancient thing now. Yeah.

Come in for someone's old computer and some wires. Also, if you want a Kinder Egg, we have those too. I'm glad you got to experience that, Dan. Why were you in LA? Tell everyone. I had in LA tell everyone I had a work thing I had a odd event yeah we teased this a couple episodes back I had the creative arts Emmys one weekend and then the primetime Emmys with my buddy

Soren the weekend after that and they were both good fun we we won which makes it makes it makes it it makes it a whole lot more fun it's a it's a thing i i i think i've talked every single year uh that as as grateful as i am for these awards i don't think awards should exist in this capacity it's a very strange thing and especially at the creative arts where like the ceremony has fewer celebrities and there aren't like

really songs or anything to like it's not as Entertaining of a show as the as the one that everyone puts on television and watches with with you know, people doing comedy It's truly just like Let's put some presenters are gonna come out and present four or five technical awards. And then they get them and then they sit down. And then this happens throughout the night. And it's an exciting but fairly dry affair.

And then sometimes you go through all the dry affair stuff. And also you lose an award. And then you still just have to sit there. And it seems like a very bad time. But I had a good time. So I recommend if you do go to the Emmys, you should win because it feels better. So make something good.

Yeah, you're mentioning that. While we were sitting there, you were saying we were looking because where we were sitting, we were looking down on the floor. We were – they put us in what are called the God seats. That's right, yeah. The people of highest priority sit very high and look down among the floor of everybody else who are, from what I understand, eating some food and stuff. It was hard to tell from where we were. We were so far away.

Because they don't want us to miss a thing they want us to see absolutely everything they it's we are the ones we're like it's the puppet master seats yeah um so we were up there and you were saying we watched the i think it was the emmy for like best actor had come up and some amazing people nominated for it. And then somebody won and everybody else, the camera was like, and now let's check in on the people who didn't. And like, well,

they go over their faces and you were like, it's got, I, it occurred to me how much worse this thing is when you don't win. Like it's just how devastating that would be. And I'm not sure I agree also because maybe I had no dog in the fight where i wasn't there to win anything anyway and i still very much enjoyed myself you still get to go and do all the cool stuff yeah you just at the end of the night i think if i didn't if i went to one of these and didn't win uh but i was nominated i would still be like i was fucking i was nominated with better call Saul.

That's, uh, and then, and then I've got something to talk to them about, which is like the biggest, that's the only thing I'm looking for the entire night is what am I going to talk to, uh, no ho Hank about, or like, what, what am I going to do when I meet one of these people? What am I going to say to them? That's not just, hey, I really enjoyed your show. I guess I fade into the ether now because I have nothing else of value to offer you. But if you go up to someone and you're like, hey, I was in your category. Yeah, you did a great job. Obviously, you deserve the win.

Like all that. It basically opens a bunch of different doors that would otherwise be shut for a conversation. Yeah, that's true. opens a bunch of different doors that would otherwise be shut for a conversation. Yeah, that's true. You could go up to someone who beat you and just be like, why do they even, what does best even mean, you know? Yeah, why do they do these award shows? Give me that.

Give me that thing. But I am, I say all that. And now I also want to add, though, Dan, I know you don't really live for even award shows. I was very proud of you that you won. Oh, thanks, man. I think you guys deserve it. And you guys do deserve to be recognized at least once a year for how much hard work you guys do and how funny the show is.

And I was really proud of you. You did great. Thank you. It feels good. It all feels very strange again because like we know a lot of the people in our category and uh so i don't i don't like when my my very talented friends don't win the award it's it's it's it sucks and it makes me sad and like we all do very very different, especially in our case, where we are the one

weekly show competing with several daily shows. And it's just a very odd category to like measure us against each other. Like which writing was more outstanding last week tonight, Saturday Night Live, or one of these shows that has to respond to breaking news every single night it's it's you know how do you fairly compare them uh and so the takeaway for me is like that they're not fairly compared and there are a lot of reasons that shows win awards and to not get too up in your own head again about them because then you know you have to win or lose you have to like not let it affect how you uh do the work too much like if if we lost this year i wouldn't come home thinking

man we are the worst so that means i'm also not allowed to come home thinking we are the best uh and you know anyway it's just a fun a fun work event there's it's easy to feel really you know anyway it's just a fun a fun work event there's it's easy to feel really stupid as an adult because uh hbo our our bosses sent us like a congratulations package that was with champagne that was waiting for us in our homes when we got back from the emmys i was like ah good yes this is the thank you gift that my boss has sent for winning a trophy that I got for doing my job that I am paid very well for. It's all ludicrous. Yeah, but I mean, at any job, you want some recognition. Even if you're doing your job, the bare minimum of your job, where you're just like, I'm doing it, I'm'm getting it done and i'm doing it every single day

and then eventually somebody comes along and they're outside of like the payment that you'd ordinarily get for doing that job they're like hey you're doing a really nice job thank you we're gonna give you the certificate that we made up or like whatever it is it still feels good man it feels great to be recognized it does i don't want anyone to to walk away from this podcast thinking that uh i think i'm i'm i'm above awards or anything like that it's it's i'm i don't know it's a weird thing it's hard it's it is weird i also hadn't occurred to me that you're up against shows that have to do this every single day yeah and um i take it all back. They deserve it. So nobody gives a shit about actually being at the Emmys though, right?

Because all you're doing is you're sitting there in a chair and they say, coming back from commercial in 30 seconds, 10 seconds, everyone please clap. And you're like, okay, for nothing. Like your job is to clap as you come in so that it looks like there's a good time happening right there's a lot a lot of that and there's a lot of awards to go through what's fun and like the best part is that afterwards you go to the party that's true we go to the parties we had lots and lots of fun parties after the creative arts uh ceremony my brother and i i took my brother to the creative arts we went to the governor's gala which had a great live band and great food and uh you get to walk around holding an emmy and then people just say congratulations to you it's amazing it's the best thing in the world the

governor uh no do some oh because I would have had a thing or two to say to that new where's that what are you doing with all that money I don't really got a bone to pick with you that would be effective if i had one real specific that's how brain dead i am when it comes to california politics is that my my comedy writer brain only landed on what are you doing with all that money yeah pretty good pretty good answer i mean that you it's universal, but everybody wants to know. Hey, governor. So I don't understand why it's called the governor's ball. And maybe I'm mistaken in thinking that the governor would be there in a sash or something, but does the governor come to these? No, I have no idea why it's called the governor's gala. I think either I think like the governors are a branch of the academy and they are at the top.

They're like the I don't know if you. Oh, if you actually like campaign and run to be a governor in the academy or if you are selected or if it's divine right or something like that. But like governors are a position of stature within the academy. academy, or if you are selected, or if it's divine right or something like that, but like governors are a position of stature within the academy. The governor's gala is not O-R apostrophe S, it's O-R-S apostrophe. Sure. Okay. So there's more.

I see. All right. Well, I'm a dummy. We went to parties. We went to a party for last week tonight, which was very fun because then I got to, first of all, hang out with your coworkers in a capacity that I didn't before that point. And they were all nice and you have a great, generally good community around you, Dan. And then we also went to the HBO party. Yeah. HBO party. Yeah. Which was so surreal and amazing. The first thing I did when I got there was realized that they had some food, sat down with some shrimp tacos and realized that I was sitting next to Jerry from Succession, just on a couch in a little room. And I was like, I'm not hungry

anymore. Hi. Hi. I don't think of myself as someone who gets starstruck very often and i also we know going into the hbo party that famous people are going to be there so i i steal myself for that as i'm walking into the buildings be like just just be aware just remember that you're going to see the people that you saw on television and they're trying to have a nice night too. So don't be weird about anything. And the first person we see, like not even the first celebrity, the first human being that I saw when I walked in the door was Zendaya. And my brain was like, this wasn't, this wasn't part of the rules. And we say we were going to steal ourselves for celebrities, but she only has one name.'s different she's much more famous than you were anticipating even though of course she was going to be at the hbo party she was also like she you there was no way to prepare yourself

to see her because she was not even wearing she had like an after party outfit which was somehow like more fire than her her emmy's dress yeah and she's so tall in a way that's like she's like this she's just built different as a human where it's like yeah put this person on television obviously yeah what you walk in she's bigger than you i think she's also wearing heels and everything but like she's the first person you see and you're just like and there's people holding court around her. So, yeah, that was the thing. We didn't want to like make anyone uncomfortable. So we didn't like stick around staring at her.

But the brief two seconds that we were in her presence, it really did seem like she is just like, is this her job tonight to stand here and be looked at by these these 12 people who are just like around and staring at her. I don't know if they were at, like it felt like a press conference, but no one was asking any questions and there were no microphones. It was just like, hey, you're Zendaya, so you're gonna stand right here all night. And if it looks like you're thirsty,

someone will spray water at you from across the way and then you're done at one. Then spray water at you from across the way and then you're done at one then you can go go home and go to sleep but this is unique that this is the lighting is the best for you to stand here and have everyone look at you for four hours so that's what your job is have fun yeah i i i don't know how she landed right there i'm glad that she did that was a very fun thing to walk into um but uh just like walking around there the very first time i made the rounds like you walk past brian cox he walks past yeah anthony kerrigan or like uh isa ray like isa ray is just in a room dancing yeah and you're like it's it's the most surreal thing in

the world and you feel very important all of a sudden you're're like, yes, I am plugged in. Man, see, I do not feel very important. It's the, I don't know if this is imposter syndrome or if this is just writer brain versus like seeing actual celebrity actor people. I found myself the entire time thinking, I snuck into this thing. I'm invited.

I'm allowed to be there. But I was still just like, I snuck into this thing. I'm invited. I'm allowed to be there. But I was still just like, they must know that I'm someone's sick brother or something, or I won a contest. This is your make a wish. You got to go to the HBO party. And not talk to anyone. When you were a kid, you had it. And then you made a miraculous recovery, but they still had to honor your make-a-wish at some point. Yes.

And they finally got around to it at 38 or 36 or however old you are. And I love that. When I say I felt important, I felt like I often wonder what celebrities are just doing. Like if I'm going to go to an event where there are a lot of celebrities and then after the event, celebrities go somewhere else. I'm always like, I bet it's a fucking rad party. I bet it's something cool that they're all at together where they don't have to deal with the riffraff like me. And then I went to that instead.

Instead, I went and found what they were doing. And so I could see them with my own eyes and be like, ah, you can't go do something I don't know about. Something cool and interesting I don't know about because I'm here and I see it. And in that capacity, I felt plugged in. Like I was like, I'm part of it now. We didn't see or interact with anyone who was or even seemed mean or mad. or even seemed mean or mad. But I do wonder if there's some dark, incredibly small, incredibly petty celebrities out there who see people like us at these parties

and get so mad. They might not even clock that we're writers or that we're invited necessarily, but there's got to be some celebrities out there who's like just one fucking night i want to party with not a single goddamn normal person there can i just get that i am famous and hot can i just have one fucking day where it's only famous and hot people we all look at each other we get naked who cares there are no freaks it's just us hot people just once yeah just once i want to do like i want to have one of those parties where we all just kissing each other and you don't have to worry about running into some creepy little goblin

it's only the hots yeah you're a lead on a tv show i'm a lead on a TV show. I'm a lead on a TV show. Let's take our dicks out. Let's just see. Let's see. Hey, it's that time again. When I ask you what's holding you back. Although this time I want to ask a little bit of a different question. What's holding you back from the ultimate gaming experience? Is it the hundreds of dollars it costs for setup?

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Backbone is currently offering our listeners. That's free access to over 350 console games, plus free subscriptions to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Apple Arcade, and Google Stadia Pro. But this is for a limited time when you go to our link play backbone.com slash qq you can find all of it find your next adventure at play backbone.com slash qq um a thing that occurred to me while we were there and i was immediately regretful of because i didn't do it earlier was,

well, let me give you like, let me backtrack here. Dan and I went up into a little room. We found each other again. We started to part at each other in the HBO party and like went on our own journeys. Yeah. And then we find each other again,

whatever you think you're going to do, you will get sidetracked from that. It's like, I'm going to see if I can, if I could just grab a bottle of water somewhere. Oh, it's cousin Greg. I don't know what I was going to do anymore. Now I'm going to see if I can, if I could just grab a bottle of water somewhere. Oh, it's cousin Greg. Uh, I don't know what I was going to do anymore.

Now I'm doing this. Now I'm following cousin Greg to a second location. Yeah. We, we, you're like, you go off in search of like, I really want some dessert or something. And like you find each other again and you're like, I'm drinking a cocktail that has beef jerky in it. Right. Like Alexa Demi from euphoria gave me so many times where I would be talking to Coleman Domingo.

And then I turn a corner and I'm holding two drinks. Like who was this other one for? I had an, I had a purpose at some point, but we find each other in this little room and there's nobody in the room. It's just, they're suing sushi at some point in this room. And now they're only remnants of that,

but there's like some like veggie sushi that nobody wanted that's been picked over. And somebody else comes in the room with his children. And I didn't immediately recognize him, but you did. And it was Jesse Armstrong who writes Succession, created Succession. And you did a thing which I've never seen you do before, which is you went right up to him. Kissed him on the mouth. You went right up to him and you were like, hey, I'm Daniel from Last Week Tonight. I'm a big fan.

I really like Succession. And you just shook his hand and everything. And it was the exact right thing to do. You congratulated him on his Emmy. And then you talked to him for a while. And we started to form this circle up there with him and his kids. And then Sarah Snook came in at one point, but like, just, I've never seen you approach a celebrity and you're, I don't know if, if you were just riding on like, Oh, I am another winner at this event. Let me just tell this man that I am also a winner.

And then we can just have a conversation, but it worked so flawlessly and well that suddenly we were in conversation with Jesse Armstrong and Sarah Snook and it was like, this is surreal. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen. And it made me immediately regretful that I didn't beforehand go through all my favorite shows and just really look at the faces of the writers. Yeah. Find pictures of them online.

I mean, that's a – don't kick yourself for that. That's a hard task for anyone. No one wants to do that. No one wants to look at writers, period. No. So like I don't know why the HBO party, but some of the like hula shows were there like the bear was there and uh i i think christopher storer was there who uh if you know who that is that's the writer of the bear uh and i wouldn't have known though like i i saw him walking around with

one of the cast members and that's the only way i kind of even had a clue but like if i would have just seen him at a Trader Joe's, I wouldn't have looked twice. And it makes me realize that I bet that happens all the time at these parties where these guys show up. Sorry.

These people, these, because Jesus Christ. These people show up at these parties and they are, they're pumped because like they've just been nominated.

They've just won an award for HBO and they're like, and now here come the accolades. And everyone – nobody could give a shit. Nobody's looking at them because they're only looking at the stars. Yeah. And that's what – and those are – honestly, those are the people that you want to talk to anyway. Right. You want to get to know no they made their show. There's there's. I mean, there's let's see. There's not really a if you like celebrities and you want to meet a lot of celebrities, I'm not going to say that that you're wrong or bad for doing that. It's an impulse. I understand that wasn't I wasn't trying to go around and like meet as many famous people as possible. to go around and like meet as many famous people as possible but jesse armstrong was someone that i was like you are someone that i want to meet and and it really just did come from a genuine

position of respect of like i need to tell this person that i think they're very good and uh that impulse was stronger in me than like oh i need to tell that person that i i've seen them on television yeah that's fair i i think that there was some of that happening as well um yes there was there was there anybody there i mean i think you had a real clear connection with jesse armstrong because later like he also like saw you later and was like hey um but was there anybody else there who you feel like there was just a surprise you're like i can't believe how easy it was to talk to this person nah uh coleman domingo coleman domingo just just the uh an incredibly chill and gracious and and very pumped to be their actor that's awesome yeah um i don't think by the way if we were up in the sushi room and jesse was there with sarah snook already i don't think by the way if we were up in the sushi room and jesse was there with sarah snook already i don't think i'm talking to him no absolutely not i was like i i was in a room

talking to a writer and his two children with my best friend and then the most beautiful woman in the world walked in. I didn't walk. She just glided into this room and started speaking. And I shouldn't be a sucker for this anymore. But she just started speaking in this English accent. It was like, well, what the fuck? Australian, no? Oh, is she Australian? Yeah. Oh, well, thank God I didn't say anything to her

um but anyway we didn't belong there and it was but it was so fun for us to be a part of it it was very fun it's a it's a very cool thing uh i was happy i got to introduce you to a bunch of my co-workers too as as silly as that is i i like to show you off and i like to show them off and it's it's a cool gift that i'm allowed to to do that in such a cool setting you also got to meet someone who uh bacon is not going to be happy to hear this you met my co-worker anita and she said oh you're soaring you did the podcast that daniel says I'm not supposed to listen to. That's some viral anti-marketing that I do. I don't just tell people

to avoid this show on the show. I'm out in the streets telling people not to listen to it. I'm really, really spreading the word. Proselytizing to never listen to this show. So yeah, she said though, as soon as you said that she you walked away and she said she says of course i listened to it then and i was like yeah yeah

that makes perfect sense that like if daniel ever says don't do a thing go do that thing immediately um but i it was it was clear that like no one quite knew. I don't think they knew what our connection was. A lot of people didn't. There were maybe three or four who you'd talked to before where you're like, oh, no, this is somebody I used to work with. And so when other people would try and suss it out, because you are famously single. For branding purposes, publicly single for branding purposes. Thank you.

And they would be like, so how do you know Daniel? I'm like, this this is not just the writers i think this is like everyone who works on the show and they were like so how do you know daniel i'm like oh we used to we're buddies like we used to work together and they're like uh-huh there's more to the story that i'm not getting and i'm not gonna be like oh we podcast together we do like a fun little podcast you should oh um and so that's all i give them like i give them like we're we're friends like we're good friends we and like oh how did you meet well we used to work together it's like so you're co-workers that's the that's the vibe that i'm getting as they're like trying to suss out right it's like oh that's interesting because i would never bring a former co-worker to the fucking Emmys.

What's the real story here? But it was interesting to see their perception change as they're like trying to like suss out kind of who you are. Their perception change because people who work in television, I think this is probably true across the board, is that they're they're used to getting the question, what do you do? But they are very used to getting the question what do you do but they aren't very used to asking that question yeah and so when they would i was when they would finally like when someone would be like and and uh you worked with daniel where did you work i worked in comedy at comedy website oh do you still do that no i work at american dad their eyes just change when they're like oh you're like us yeah, you're like us. Yeah.

And you're like, I mean, we're all this. I guess so. That's a flashback to you and I and your buddy and coworker, Joe, being, I think, pretty insufferable at your birthday weekend. Because I think for maybe like 15 straight minutes, the three of us were talking about our jobs in television writing, uninterrupted and unprompted. And then eventually turned to one of the other people at your party and I was just like, well, yeah, what TV show do you work for? He was like a doctor. I was content to just tell my own stories for the rest of the night and learn nothing about anyone else.

Oh, you're a doctor? All right. Not very funny. So you've seen Grey's Anatomy then. Okay, so I know this woman. You heard of Finchie? Oh, what a story that is. Yeah, but anyway, it was...

I also think you're talking about how my coworkers are trying to figure out what our deal is. It's very, it's a very interesting thing to work with people, some of them quite closely, completely virtually, and not see each other for literal years because of the pandemic and remote working. And this is a weekend, two weekends rather, where you're trying to not be nosy, but still figure out what your coworkers are like and like what everyone's deal is. Because I'm not obviously the most, we don't like get together and or just like even like

have regular goss chit chats of like, so what what's your what's your dating life like what's going on we never like have those kind of things that would happen more organically in an office when you're like sharing a kitchen or whatever and I like having a little bit of mystery and I also like adding more mystery to it like the like having my plus one be my brother for this event and having my plus one be you for this other event and then there was some other Emmy related cocktail party and I brought friend of the show Caitlin large my childhood friend to that and I could see co-workers being like so you and Daniel high school you know each

other's high school she's like yeah we've known each other guys since middle school and he moved here and then me and my husband moved here a few years uh after that and i see their face being like husband what the fuck what who goes with who here i i and i mean this is related but i have to get there this is a bit of a walk i i noticed how i don't know there's a tactful way to say this. You have really attractive coworkers. Like it's bizarre how many really good looking people there are at your show. And I mean, American Dad, we're not, it's not goblins there, but it's still like, it

seems inordinate. And to the point where we were at the HBO party and your coworkers are walking around, I'm like, yeah, they fit. Like you throw them in this mix and it's like, yeah, they belong here. Like they're really attractive people. How awful would it be if I was like, yeah, no, that's really important to John. That's baked into the hiring process

at every single level. It's not, he would never do that. And so it was, that was a surprise to me to see that. And then it also meant that as like the evening is going on, we were towards the very end of the evening. I, that you have one coworker who I was like, trying to figure out what her relationship was to the person that she brought. Because at first I thought immediately,

my first thought was attractive people are never alone. That is her husband or her boyfriend. And then like we went to their room later and there are two beds in there and both beds are slept in. And I'm like, oh no, what happened on this trip? And like it's, she starts talking about people that she's dating and stuff. And I'm like, everybody slow down a second this is i'm sure this is not actually important but i need to know

what is your relationship to one another yeah you had a real breakdown it was great two o'clock in the morning what is the nature of your relationship stuffing some pizza in my face and asking, fucking tell me what you are. What are you to one another? Say it at the same time. One, two,

three, go. But it was great. I got to meet John Oliver, which was really fun and cool. And he, he knows you. That shouldn't be a surprise.

Yeah, it shouldn't at all, but it was really cool to see how much he knows you and to see you a surprise yeah it shouldn't at all but it was really cool to see how much he knows you and to see you guys see each other and start talking and then him being like so you still down in new jersey and like he knew where you were living and he knew just knew about you like you guys were friends and i it was really cool to see that yeah he's a good boss a a cool boss i have nothing but but good things to say about him, unfortunately. I feel like he's got a tough position at those parties because you do have to say something to every single staff member.

I mean, it's not so formal as that, like he's going down a line one by one or anything like that. But he's always got a crowd around him. There are some people who he's known for a couple of years that want to say hi and chat. And there are some people, new hires, that have never met him. And they want to meet their famous celebrity boss for the first time. And he's so gracious and kind to everyone there but part of him i'm sure is is thinking like this is this is a party for everyone except me this is this is definitely like a big exciting celebration for all but one of us who is still still working right now yeah

i i think maybe what was so cool about seeing you guys just chit chat and it'd be so easy and casual and like he knew things about you already was that if we went to a similar party for my work and you're like well where's the star you're sure oh they're saying with the southern file over there let's go say hi i'd be like oh no i don't he has no idea who i am we've never once met I've never actually been in the same room with him. This is the first time I've seen him, and my heart is beating very fast. I'm going to introduce myself to him.

What can I say? What should my in be? Will you work with him? Yeah, not good enough. I need something good enough. No, no, no, no, no. There are people who occasionally, when I tell them that I write for American Dad, if they do know the show, then they're like, oh, that's the Seth MacArthur show. What's he like?

Oh, God. This is embarrassing, but I have no idea. I promise I work there, but I have no idea. That's so surprising for not only is he the creator of the show, he's so many voices. He's so many people on the show he's reading my dialogue and i've i've never once met him and he would have no idea i don't i don't unless you know like it's possible that he accidentally glanced at a name on a title page and was like okay soren that's weird all right yeah and then it just stuck with him. And then I would see him.

He'd be like, oh, oh, I've seen your name before. And I would be like, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, you have. It's very memorable. I don't want to take up too much of your time. Thank you for changing my life and giving me a career. Yeah.

Thank you for changing everything for me forever. Giving me the best job i've ever had thank you my uh my my family is very grateful you've changed all of our lives um yeah so that's sort of how i felt uh walking around the party and seeing other people and seeing how comfortable you were it was like it was really cool to see. It was something that I wish that I had more of in my life. It's very humbling and will be horrifying and shocking to our audience for you to essentially be saying that I seem very at home in a tuxedo at a fancy Hollywood party.

Yeah, you did though. You're going to destroy my brand, Soren. This is terrible for me. I seem very at home in a tuxedo at a fancy Hollywood party. Yeah, you did, though. That's why I bring it up. You're going to destroy my brand, Soren. This is terrible for me. I was awkward and sweaty and nervous talking to girls. That's not true at all. It's not true. And that's why it's of note.

Because I think my brother, when I told my brother about the Emmys, he was like, I told him about the HBO party. And relevant people that he would be interested in that were there. And he was like, and what was what was Dan like? I think in his thought process, it's like this does not sound like his scene. And it's you were just a fish in water. It was amazing. Well, thank you, buddy. Yeah, this is all too much

alright well we can stop then great you can follow Daniel on Twitter at dob underscore inc you can follow me soren at soren underscore ltd you can follow quick question at qq underscore soren and dan or you can email us if you've got something

longer than you need to say on Twitter at qq with soren and Daniel at gmail.com. We have a Patreon, which is Patreon slash quick question. Our theme song is by me Rex me Rex. You can find their music anywhere that you stream your music, but you can also find their music at me Rex dot band camp.com. We also have a producer, sound engineer, an editor named Gabe harder and you'll never find him.

So that's it bye bye talk tonight so what's your favourite? Who did you get? When will I be your member? Was it awkward? Worded over? Why do we know? Oh forget it I saw a movie, Daniel O'Brien Two best friends and comedy writers

If there's an answer, they're gonna find it I think you'll have a great time here. I think you'll have a great time here.