The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - JOSH SCHERER IS FEELING EXISTENTIAL (Ft. Josh Scherer) | Episode 236

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Mythical Chef Josh Scherer joins Drew on the show this week! Drew and Josh talk about the origin story of his famous Last Meals show, what happens when you die, why they love tall people, going to hot pot high, the meaning of Josh's spork tattoo, Josh's past as a collegiate hammer throw competitor, and so much more.Josh IG: https://www.instagram.com/mythicalchefjosh/Follow The Comment Section on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of my fundamental worldviews is if a food exists, it's because somebody found it delicious. You know what I mean? And that's such a beautiful way of looking at it. Testicles are delicious. Like, it's not weird. I don't know. Like, if you eat testicles.

You want to welcome back to another episode of the comment section show starring me, your favorite, everybody knows me, who cares about me. On to the guest. Today we have the iconic, the legendary, the mythical kitchen chef himself. Josh! Woo!

I care about you. I want to hear you talk about yourself. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much, Josh. That means the world to me. Yeah, please. I am so happy to have you. It's been a long time coming, I think.

It has been. I am stoked to be here. Some days, I barely want any coverage at all. I just want my skin to look like my skin, just a little more even. And that's when I've been reaching for the Merit Minimalist Stick. It's a foundation and concealer stick in one, so it's super easy to throw on when I'm,

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Thank you. How stope are you on that? Oh my God, I was so fired up. It was like, I feel like we've been two passing ships for a while. Like, I've met him a few times. Obviously, he's The Rock and Famous, so who cares about me in regards to him? But like, getting to meet and do it on this show, specifically in Hawaii was crazy. How big is he?

How big is traps in real life? Like, did you ever get to just like grab them? Oh yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I might pause all over him. But yeah, no, it was, he's a big dude. But honestly, I feel like you're honestly a lot taller than I think people assume. Thank you for saying that. I do. I really appreciate that. Josh is a big dude. And I mean that in not a derogatory sense. I mean, in a very awesome sense. I only take it in an awesome sense. I, the way that I judge people's bodies are like strictly on how good they would be at throwing heavy objects. Period.

You know? Yeah. That's it. Like, you know, if I see somebody that's rail thin, I'm like, they could never, their ACL would snap trying to plant to throw a javelin. Yeah, both meniscus gone. 100%. Yeah, I, I agree.

And I made a lot of, like, fitness jokes with The Rock, too, because I was like, well, we have, like, same size lats. Like, they're about the same, you and I. But I honestly said, I think you said, with no bra from behind, we look the same. I think it's the term that you. Me laughing at my own joke. We enjoying my own joke.

Hell yeah. I was like, do you get that? I feel like top was from the back. We're about the same. Like if he had hair, like the version of him in Maui, who knows? You know what I mean? I really do think, though, like you standing next to him, I think he would look smaller than you'd think.

Hell yeah. But honestly, I wasn't catching him, though, at like a Baywatch time in his life. Like when he was on Baywatch, he was probably way bigger. Dude, that was not. Everyone on that Baywatch shoot. Have you ever heard Zach Effron like talk about how much that ruined his life? He's just like, yes, I have. I didn't need a sandwich for six months.

Yeah. And he was like, it's the worst. And I was trying to keep up with The Rock, which why was I trying to do that? He was like, I was fainting on set because I was so, it's fucking insane. It's sad. It's sad. I shouldn't like to do that. But speaking of people like Zach Efron, I want to say, I have to like, I love your last meals series.

Like you have been talking to crazy famous people, obviously. But I just have to commend you on that series. I think it's incredible. And I think you're a wonderful host. And I do not say that lightly because I do not say that to every podcast host or show hosts. There's a lot of pot. There's so many podcasts those out. Yeah, there's quite a few of us now.

It really are. You know, we're all out here swimming in the same water. Yeah. But I do say quite often, like, when I talk about my experience with you as well when I was on Mythical Kitchen and you made me a Sunday roast, which I say to this day is the best, like, UK food I've ever had is the one that you served me. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, it was not from when I was actually in the UK, believe it or not.

We're pretty good at cooking is the thing. Like, that's the other thing about mythical kitchen that I don't know if people realize. It's like we're really good at it. Like actually delicious and I took it home and my fiance loved it. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. And so I just have to say I really enjoyed like how you interview and the way that you interview.

I think it's really beautiful and amazing. And also it, I think you should have been in Vanity Fair. Dude. Listen, I don't know. There's there's, you don't do it for that. Ackillade, right? No. Like you can't.

Like you have to do it for the actual process. Yeah. And the love of the game. 100% and like even to keep bringing the rocket of this. But like, you know, I love when he was asking you questions about acting, he was like, do you enjoy the process? Yeah, totally. Because that's the only thing.

All the other shit can fade away, but it's the actual process. Right. But that said, it was a little bit of an omission. Yeah. And I thought, you know, I thought so too. I agree. And I really do, like, I believe you should have been in there for many reasons. But one of them being that I feel like you do what I love about interview.

which is you connect, right? Like so you're able to connect to them in a way that, and you know this too because you've spent so much time with like a lot of high A-list talent. That's what they like to say. That's all they like to describe the most famous people in the world as like A-list talent. They get very afraid to like open up in interviews

and they get very afraid to like show their real versions of themselves for reasons that I'm sure are very valid. Like I'm sure it's come back to bite them in some way or another. But my question to you about that is like, how do you prepare in that sense? Like do you do any sort of preparation before you do your interviews. Like, do you try to find ways to connect them

and like outside of what they're typically used to being asked? Like, what's your process look like? 100%. It's funny if anybody ever asked me, and I know Sean Evans has the same answer. Yeah. Like, how long do you spend researching a guest? It's like as long as I take from the minute that we book the guest to the minute that they show up.

I'm literally like, I'll be in the gym on the day of the interview, like scraping bottom of the barrel podcast. Still just double checking. Hillary Duff She was an Oz of interview But she had nothing to promote for 10 years She didn't do an album for 10 years

And randomly I found this Crazy natural birthing podcast That she You're thorough and your research Quite and I listened to six hours After every child and after every child She did an hour long podcast with this natural birthing doctor All about it

And I listened to six hours of Hillary Duff talk about her natural birthing process. None of that made the interview. But like what you're, what I'm almost listening for is like how people react to certain lines of questioning. Yeah. And you sort of internalize that.

Yeah. Are there sensitivities that people have? Are there questions that they really wish people were asking them? Yeah. And you're sort of reading between the lines. And if you listen to someone speak for such a long time, you, you really internalize it. And that's what, um, what I do I was just talking to, do you know Britney Brose gave her?

Yeah. I think, I think I'm familiar with her. Yes. Brosky. I think it's like, like Scouse like Brosky. You know what I mean? Brusky.

But she was, she made a comment because she was like, she was like, yeah, you don't have any notes. Yeah. You just go off rip. And you know, she's got her whole

yeah. She's on Royal Court. Yeah. But for me, I'm like, I write everything down and then I don't look at it because I'm trying to internalize it and then react in the moment.

Yeah, and you want it to be organic. 100%. And I feel like that's, that's another. reason why I wanted to ask to because I feel like there's a lot of thoughtfulness put into your conversations and I don't even just mean in research because I know you're extremely well researched obviously having been interviewed by you I know you do your research for real for real which is a wonderful thing but it's more so too like what you were saying about listening like

there's a lot of intentional listening going on so it's almost like kind of letting them steer it but like getting them to open up I think it's like the trust factor and I feel like you're very thoughtful in your line of questioning and how you talk to them and like I I've also told people too, like when I interview, I feel like the whole point is like when it's long form, you kind of want to see them talk in a way that maybe you haven't seen before. And then a lot of times they really enjoy when you like engage them in a very normal way. Like sometimes people ask me like, how do you not get nervous? And I'm like, well, if you just treat them like everybody else, then it will be fine. Most oftentimes they're awesome.

Like if you're awesome, if you're awesome, they're awesome. Have you ever met anyone? Because I fully agree with that. And there's an element of like earning that trust. Exactly. It's like patience, yeah. But like, have you ever had any encounters where you're like, oh, you don't want to be treated like a normal person?

Yes, of course I have. And those are the ones that kind of freak me out. Yeah, me too. When you're like, oh, you're not giving me anything, huh? Yeah. No personality whatsoever. I've joked about that with other hosts before where we've talked about like, sometimes it's one of those

where you're like, okay, what else can I pull? What else can I do? Like I feel like I'm tap dancing for my life, like trying to get them to open up a little bit. It's really, just give me something. It's really valuable when you are doing that, but you have a bowl of spaghetti in front of you. Which is the good thing about my shit. Because I've everything I do is food. So if things are going poorly, I can just be like, man, that spaghetti's good.

Mmm, yum. But like, no, but most of the, especially like top, top A list, which of course anybody who's actually in that A list would never refer to themselves as A list. No, that's true. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we had Tom Hanks as like our sixth guest ever, which was nuts. Fucking crazy. None of us like, we thought we were getting prank. We thought like a Tom Hanks impersonator was going to show up.

You're like someone's pranking me. I'm going to get punked. None of us believed until he showed up in our green room. He drove himself to set in a Prius. No way. 15 minutes early to his call drive. Of course Tom Hanks drives a Prius. Literally.

A good person. A hundred percent. Like he beat his, he showed up with just like one publicist. Yeah. It was just there. And he was asking all of our camops about their families and where they're from. So cool. And then, you know, we'll have somebody else who might be, say, a more emerging star. They show up with a team of 14 people and they're not making eye contact. And they're

an hour late. Yeah, I've had people, I've said that before. I'm like, shockingly, like, the rudest people I've met, there's not many, thankfully, but like the rudest people I have been, have been people you would not think. Like, you're like, there's no way you're acting that way. And a lot of times they're like young, like you said, or they're like reality stars. like a lot of time, if they're in the reality world. Like, it's always people that you would never think would act that way. And then people that you would assume, oh, they might act that way. They don't.

Yeah. Which is very shocking. I think it's because it comes from a place of insecurity. Yeah. If you're treating like, right, it's probably because they're really insecure. You probably, yeah, yeah. But like, yeah, Tom Hanks says nothing to prove to anyone by being rude. He doesn't have to prove anything to himself.

He has no ego. Yeah. But if you're somebody who is already not comfortable with your own station in terms of celebrity, in terms of status or whatever. That's when you're like, how do I recapture control? What do you mean to mythical kitchen? Fuck you. Yeah, I'm going to be mean to mythical kitchen.

I'm sure you've dealt with many people. Yeah, I'm going to bully mythical chef Josh. That's what I'm going to do. And you're so nice. You're so nice. So it would be extra mean to be mean to you. But just to kind of backpedal, like, how did last meals come about? Like the inception of it?

Like, was it something you'd been working towards, something you were hoping to do? Or was it kind of just like born of just random creativity? I'd say more born of random creativity. It's funny. I have just way too much ADHD to like plan anything. You know what I mean? Right.

I always have way too much ADHD to not put energy into something. Right. So for me, I've all sort of just thrown creative energy in some sort of direction. Yeah. Right? I was a writer and a journalist. We've talked about this. Yes, we have.

From the journalism world. Yeah. Or both coming from a Southern California shot put to journalism. Yeah. Yeah, there's a real pipeline. It's just the two of us in it, but yeah, it's a real pipeline. I know. But, you know, I was mostly just doing like standard cooking-ish videos from

Michael Kitchen. I'd written my first cookbook. I was writing for magazines. That world just kind of tanked overnight, the written word, so to speak. And so I was just doing these cooking videos from Mythical Kitchen and Renton Link having a blast, but mostly just doing kind of like silly stuff. Yeah. How do we make a $300 Wagyu burrito?

we still do that and it's still fun and shit. But I just had this idea to make my own last meal. Yeah. And it was just meant to be a one-off episode, you know, something fun we can put out there, give me an excuse to make a chronic salad of burrito on there. And as I was doing it, I just couldn't stop talking about the idea of like grief and mortality and existentialism. And, you know, I lost both my parents at a relatively young age.

My dad and I was 19. And my mom had been estranged from her since I was 14. She passed when I was 24. And all these, like, feelings started coming up. Yeah. When I was cooking my last meal, stupid things I didn't think about. Like, I was making a shrimp cocktail. And as I was really thinking about why I was making a shrimp cocktail,

I was like, I don't even eat shrimp cocktail that much. I don't even know if I like it that much. Yeah. Why is it on my last meal? Right. And I realized that it was like my dad's version of what success looked like. Oh, wow. It was like if you could like.

You're getting chills. I do. That's crazy. Him telling me a story of like, you know, when he, was at the peak of his career, which never was very particularly high. He was like, you know, I went to, what was it called? Like the rusty pelican and Malibu and got a shrimp cocktail, you know? And I had it's like the pinnacle of like, you know, like success. Yeah, yeah. And I thought our audience would hate it. And then instead we got a ton of praise for it. And people were like,

we would love to see other people talk about food this way. Yeah, totally. Oh shit. Call Tom Hanks. Get Tom Hanks on the phone. Get Tom on the line. He's going to love this. Oh wow, that's so cool that that's how that came up. Like when you were making your meal like what what were things that like made you kind of want to be like, I think I want to ask other people about it. Was it purely inspired by viewers or was it kind of like, you know, food is such a universal language. Maybe people can speak to me through food like and feel more comfortable doing so. Yeah, no, 100%. I was so shocked at my own thoughts and feelings that came up that I was like, surely other people will have this.

Yeah. You know, and we've seen, you know, I think everybody has a connection with food, whether they think they do or not. Yeah. We've had some guests that immediately got the prompt. Yeah. We're excited about it. Yeah. And then, like, you know, we've had some other people that kind of the publicist throws them out here.

Yeah. Matthew Lillard was one. Very cool. Big Lillard head. Yeah. But he came on and he was literally like, yeah, I'm sorry, man. This is my Lillard impression. I'm sorry, man.

I just don't think I really have, like, an emotional connection to food, you know? And then one of the things he had on there was his dad's steak and eggs. And as soon as the steak and eggs at the table, he starts crying. Oh my gosh. Before he even took a bite. We're getting chills again. I know, but like this is also a guy who 10 minutes before was like, I don't really have an emotional connection. It's just food.

Yeah. It's never just food. It's always a metaphor, a time in your life, a point that you can go back to. Yeah. And my thing is always like, food is just the lens that I kind of view the whole world through. Yeah. So to me, like, to tell the story of food is to tell the history of the entire world. Okay.

Anthony Bourdain. You better talk to me, Anthony Bourdain. Oh, man. Honestly, that would probably be your like, oh my God, I'm going to manifest that for you, Josh. Josh, I'm going to manifest that for you. That you're the next Anthony Bourdain. Oh, my God. That'd be so beautiful. I think that's tremendously flattered by it. Even the sentence, the next Anthony Bourdain is like, it's so impossible. But that's why. He's so singular. You know, that is true. But I do think you remind me a lot of him because obviously the magic in him is not just obviously the food. It's the way he's able to connect to people, which is what I was already telling you. Oh my God. Okay, I'm manifesting for you. We had a great experience. I've gotten to have a couple of people that knew Bordane really closely on the show. And one of them is my single favorite musician of all time, Serge Tonkian. Oh, no way. Hell yeah. Dude, he's like a thousand-year-old

immortal tree. Like, he's just so wise and gentle. And then you hear him, you know, sing and scream and it's incredible. He's fucking awesome. And radio videos one of my favorite songs of all time. So period. That's so cool. But yeah, he has a coffee shop that's like three miles from here. Oh, no way. He makes Armenian coffee, has his paintings on the wall. Very cool. You'll just like show up and see him like sweeping the floor. Oh my God.

He's rad, but he took Bordane around Armenia. Yeah. Which is home country and he's done a lot of work to, you know, advocate for Armenian genocide recognition. Yeah. And he straight up sent Bordane a cold email. And he was like, hey, I don't know if you know who I am, but I have a band called System of a Down.

Borda was like, dude, a fucking course, I know who you are, a huge fan. And then Serge was straight up like, If you come to Armenian and shoot, you're never going to be led into, like, Turkey or Azerbaijan or a bunch of these other countries. Right. And Bordane said something. I think Serge says his email that's like, I'm tired of these, like, petty small dick dictators

trying to demand what we do. Say that. But I was talking to Serge all about this, and this is off camera. But I was telling him that, you know, Bordane was always my North Star in terms of my own history with my career. Absolutely. And Serge said, if he's your North Star, then I think you're well on your way. And I almost sure you're crying.

Yes. Oh, Josh. That's so sweet. We're getting chills again. What cool jobs we have. I know. It's fucking amazing. This rules.

Yeah, I talk about my dick size, but it's the same. Yeah, for sure. Hey, we're having the same cultural impact. You and I. No, I think that's incredible. And I, and that's why I just said that of my own thinking because it's true. And I'm, and I am manifesting that for you very, very intensely because I do think that you are incredible in that.

And I think you're definitely, I agree with my good friend, our good friend, Serge Tankian, that you are well on your. your way. What's what was your favorite meal to make so far? Like, and on last meals. Like, what was like a cool, like, whether it was the coolest or the most like emotionally connective, like, which one was your favorite? There's some dishes that just like stick out as like, I don't know, just like the most delicious things I've ever had and things that I've never heard ever eat before. We had like, we had, um, the actor Sholo Madiduena on the show. Yeah, period. Like Copricai and all that. Um, but you know, his family, I think they're from De Efe from Mexico

city. Yeah. And he had this like, It's called like a torta of chilaquil. Okay. So it's just like a torta with chilaquilis and like milanesa and all this stuffed in there. And it served, you know, in like a plastic bag that you wrap up and they're all kind of steamed together. But we like research like every single thing about this one stand that he was talking about in Mexico City.

Yeah. And we made it. And it's just like my ideal food. And he took a bite and he was like, dude, this is exactly how it tastes. No way. And there's so many cool just like food moments like that. Yeah, absolutely. And you get to try something new.

Well, you're always trying new things. Is there anything? What's like the weirdest thing you've ever tried? Food-wise. God, we've just tried. You tried a million and one. Any amount of animal, penis, an organ. And like, we've really, there's so many things.

You name it, I've eaten it. Literally, yeah. And I think it's really cool. Like, to me, none of it's weird, though. Yeah, that's true. One of my fundamental worldviews is if a food exists, it's because somebody found it delicious. You know what I mean? That's such a beautiful way of looking at it.

Testicles are delicious. Like, it's not weird. I don't know. Like, if you testicles, legitimately, they have this, like, very pure, beefy flavor, almost like this kind of like clean, irony flavor, like a New York strip loin. It's like incredible. Interesting. I don't know. I just never found any of it weird. That's a beautiful thing, though. And that's, I think, another reason why you're able to, like, connect so easily because the way you look at things. Like you said, looking at the world through food is a beautiful way of looking at it. Hey, y'all, guess what? Your favorite friend group is back. FX's adults follows five roommates living in New York, leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship, and family,

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What's been like the most emotional moment on the show so far? Other than Matthew Lillard crying, obviously, because that is very emotional and intense. Yeah. But like when that kind of sticks out to you. There have been a couple that like really have framed the way that I think about death and a lot of ways. And we see a lot of themes with a lot of people, you know, a lot of people say I'm like, you know, I don't know if I believe in a capital G god, but I believe in the universe or whatever. Yeah, totally. But what's been really cool is seeing people's like very specific

viewpoints. Like we had Rain Wilson on and he's a member of the Baha'i faith. So he's, you know, he's straight up, he's the first guy to just go, I know exactly what happens when you die. And he just said it. Of course. Yeah. Your soul goes here and I was like, that's rad. But we had Kelly Roland on the show. Yeah. And Kelly Roland, she's very much a Christian woman, which, you know, I'm Jewish. I can't empathize with a lot of beliefs, but she, I guess she did a Netflix movie where she died and her like seven-year-old kid was watching the movie and you start crying.

Oh. There goes, Mommy, I don't want you to die. Yeah, yeah. It was just in the movie. Yeah. But then, of course, he goes, like, well, what happens when you die? And she kind of in the moment, she's like, I just have this rush of inspiration. And she said, when you die, it's, you see a beautiful.

light and you get hugged by all the people, you get the warmest hug by all the people that you've ever loved. Oh my God. Like the hopefulness of that. That is such a beautiful way of looking at it too. Yeah. And it is, it also, I feel like, and you can, I would love to know your thoughts too. I feel like sometimes, obviously topics like death are like very taboo and they're very hard

to talk about for obvious reasons. But I feel like sometimes when you do talk them through and talk about your existential beliefs, like whether it's in the universe or God or whatever, sometimes it makes it less scary. Like the more you talk about it and the more you come to terms with it, you feel less afraid. And I don't know, do you feel the same way too?

Now that you've been doing this like constantly with a lot of people of different faiths and different backgrounds. Like has it made you feel less afraid of like death? 100%. Yeah. And that was a big, big motivation in doing it. Yeah, I bet.

I'm being honest. You know, I used to have, especially after my dad passed away when I was, you know, 19 and it's such a weirdly, vulnerable point in your life where you're like a legal adult, but you're not a real adult. emotionally, you're not a real adult.

You know what I mean? And so I was, you know, living in an apartment with some roommates. And I just remember laying in bed at night and for the first time not just intellectualizing death. I'd like really think it, really feeling the idea of what non-existence could be. I think I was a little stoned at the time too, which did not. I know like a not smoke pot anymore, man. It's 50-50 dice roll.

It could be awesome or horrifying. Right. But sometimes you get both of the same Coachella. And then your wife's like, you shouldn't do that anymore. And I was like, you're like, you're probably right. Sometimes you're locked in your own body at Green Day. And it is not a good time. But I remember like laying in bed and just fully feeling the idea of non-existence.

And I went just catatonic, had a full panic attack. Yeah. I was paralyzed and like crying. Yeah. And there's times when I've like reached that point. Again, weirdly, and this sucks, Shavasna and yoga after like a hard yoga class. Oh my god, yeah. It's literally called corpse pose.

Yeah. And you've got death anxiety looking at the ceiling. Yeah. And since then, like being able to actually talk about it all the time, I now have these like mantras that I can go back to. Like Kelly Rowland saying, yeah. Death might be a warm embrace from all the people you've ever known. Who the hell am I to say that it's not?

Exactly. Yeah, I think that's why too sometimes when I find it really fascinating when people talk about their beliefs in a way that's not obviously combative. Like everyone can kind of talk about what they believe in and spiritually or religiously. And I feel like whatever it means to them, I think is a beautiful thing. Like, which is why I feel like it's important to hear other people's perspectives because it can help you even if you don't believe in the exact same thing. Like that does give me a lot of peace of mind.

It reminds me actually like I'm writing a fiction book right now. No way. Romanticy. Hell yeah. And I, in my research I've been doing, I've been trying to watch pieces of media based in other cultures, like in other languages, because what I was telling my friend the other day was like, I find that in other cultures,

the way that they express love and intimacy and their media is very different from Western media. And like there's no sex or anything like that in like, for example, like Korean dramas or like Chinese dramas. They don't depict sex, but like they do have a lot of love and intimacy and how they depict that I think is really beautiful because it's cultural.

But also when they're time period pieces, the way they talk about, death like the way they talk about grief like how they talk about their ancestors they're they're very superstitious like I find all of that to be so beautiful and I think about how like the way that they used to process death back in the day versus now is very different and I think that's why I find that to be amazing it's like a very connective thing to talk about I think the afterlife what that looks like to us everybody has a tradition right but I think like um right now at least for me like I didn't grow up I grew up like Jewish

and, you know, kind of we, like, you know, sit Shiva when somebody dies. But, like, Shiva was traditionally, I think it was something like a week. And you got to do a lot of things. You got to tear your clothing. You can't look in mirrors and use all these rules. Our version of Shiva was like, four hours. We, like, go to a deli and we talk about the person and you wear, like, a pin with a ribbon on it. You cut the ribbon off and that's a symbol.

But we've kind of, like, you know, shortened a lot of these cultural traditions. Right. But I think there's so much that you can, like, learn from those things. things. Yeah, like why they did it that way. Yeah, yeah. And even if it's just like holding space and time right to think about something. I think it's really important. Did you grow up with like any faith tradition or like cultural traditions around death, ancestors? Yeah, like cultural yes, especially surrounding death. So like for us like I actually just did this last year, I believe. Yeah, it was last year. When someone passes, it depends on their rank in the family because obviously like if

you're a chief, like if you're a chief in someone culture, and forgive me, I'm shorthand summarizing it if you're someone. But essentially, like, your funeral could last up to a week because there's just a lot of processes that we go through. But we do this thing called like Meilofa, which is like a love gift. That's what it translates to. So essentially it's always money. But it can be food or fine mats as well either way. But we go to the house of the widow and then we present them with this mealofa and like express our condolades. all of that stuff. But first the widow like obviously will like express gratitude for us being there. We pray and then we give them our mail loa fund. And there's a whole exchange in that where we have to,

you have to do this whole thing where you're like, no, please, no, you take it. No, please, you take it. No, please, you take it. Like you have to do that back and forth for a while. And then. Do you have like a term for that, like the cultural exchange? I'm sure there is a term. I actually don't know what it is if there is, but it is like a process of like, no, you take it. No. In Farsi, there's a term taro. Okay. There's a lot of Persian Jews I grew up. But that's a very, It's like, no, no, no, it's humbleness. No, I pay the bill. Yeah, it's like a humbleness thing.

I already snuck the card to the way. Exactly. And it's like they offer us a gift. So they give us, we got like, I think it was like canned fish. I forget mackerel. We get mackerel and canned from Sama and corned. And so they give us those in return. Like, thank you so much for coming and grieving with me and that kind of thing.

And I remember when I was explaining this whole process to like one of my friends who's obviously not Sama, and she was like, wow, that's so interesting. Because another part of the process is like the immediate family of the widow, like essentially comes to the house and cooks every meal and cleans and welcomes all the guests to the house because you can have guests coming in and out of your house for days. And so and leaving gifts, leaving money, that kind of thing. And so when I was explaining it to her, I was telling her, like, the cultural significance of it is that you're not supposed to grieve alone.

Like that's like the whole point. The point is that the grief is for the village to share. So like back in Samoa, they would come and sit on your lawn. until you were done grieving kind of thing. And it's just support. Like, that's really what it's supposed to be is, like, no one should have to go through the grieving process alone, which I think is really beautiful.

And obviously, when you're a child and you go to those and you're like, I'm bored. Yeah, I'm like, oh, play Game Boy. Yeah, I was like, let's eat. We've been sitting here forever. But it's, now that I'm older, like, I can recognize, obviously, the importance of it, the cultural significance of it.

And I think it's a very beautiful thing, and it's the way that they would process death and grief. And it was kind of like your whole job essentially is to just grieve and receive the guests. And that's pretty much it. And your family is supposed to take care of everything else. Like making sure the house is clean, making sure food's made and everybody's fed and all that kind of stuff. So it's very beautiful, I would say. I think a lot of times I think Samoa and funerals are actually fascinating.

And sometimes when I'm telling my friends, I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll take you to one. I've been to a lot of funerals because I have a huge family. And you grew up with Samoan people. You've told me. Yeah, yeah, I grew up with a fair amount of Samo and people. Yeah, and I was like, because you played sports. Especially because I also played the big boy sports. Yeah.

And that's proof, that's proof for all of you at home that Josh is a big boy. Because he was playing with the Samoan dudes and they're always big. My ass kick by the same. Yeah, yeah. But I truly think that like, just to kind of wrap on this idea of debt, I think it's very powerful what you're doing. Thank you. Tackling these very difficult topics, especially talking about your own grief is like such a vulnerable act. And it's such a brave and courageous thing to do, especially on the internet.

because people are crazy. But I think you're incredible and I think your show is amazing. And I do have more questions about the show, obviously. Can I come on it? What? Hell yeah, dude.

Okay, I'm just getting it on the record. Please, come on. Just getting it on the record for you. I'm just getting ahead of it. Who was one of your funnest guests that you've had on the show? That was my real question. Dundice, dude, speaking of big boys

and Jason Kelsey. No way. Yeah, speaking of big boys, yeah. What's funny is Jason, I mean, he's a big boy. but he's also like historically like undersized for his position. That's very true. I knew that.

It was the first time that we've gotten comments that were like, okay, now Josh looks small. And he's not even like, Jason tells he's only only like, you know, he probably played like 6-3-290. Yeah. For a position where people like 6-6-6-3. Yeah, that is pretty small. Yeah. Yeah, he was like the small quick guy. Yeah.

He came on and, you know, we, I had to bribe a friend who lives in Philly to like drive around the city. He was a dentist. It was actually one of our camera operator's brothers. He was a dentist, and I think he, like, lied and told his patients that a family emergency happened. Sorry, Pat. That a family emergency happened, and instead he took the day off, and he drove around Philly with a cooler full of dry ice, went to Dallisandro's cheese steaks, Swayaki's meats to get their sausage, and then stalks pound cake, because none of them would, like, ship. I even called, I, like, called the old Polish couple that owns Swayaki's meats.

I was like, hey, I'm a producer for the show. I host this thing and Jason Kelsey and they're like, oh yeah, we love Kelsey. Right. And I was like, awesome. So like, could you just put a couple pounds of sausage and thing? We'll pay for it. Right.

Ship it to this address like, yeah, no, we don't know how to do that. Yeah. We love Kelsey. I started up remember going like, do you have like a younger relative or employee? Anyone I can talk to, anyone at all. They're like, gotta go cut the meat. They're like, okay, thanks for calling.

Bye. Go birds. Go birds. But yeah, we like shift it all out and then... Man, you do not fucking play about those meals. You're like, no, I am getting the O-Gs. I have in some of that, part of that's earning the trust. Hell yeah.

This is a family recipe. This is like we're going to the nines. Yeah, hell yeah. I got to tell Jason that the reason we won the Super Bowl, or no, the reason, yeah, won the Super Bowl God 2017 was because of my lucky Eagles hat that I was wearing. And you're welcome, by the way. Yeah.

And then he like very earnestly goes like, you know what man like all the things that every single fan is doing like that that energy is what we feed off of so like i don't doubt that you're and i was just like dude you don't have to even say that anyways we end up going to a go to a bar afterwards he's like thank you and i appreciate your service josh thank you thank you so much uh i watched him drink a punch bowlment for six people at a bar afterwards it was awesome he's like paul bunyan no for real he's like the real life paul bunyan and i've i've only i've i've hung out with kiley uh via a FaceTime or whatever because I was on her podcast. So love them. Another large person.

Yes, a big girl. Six foot tall. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's why I find that to be beautiful and representative of me. I was like, you're my representation. I love large people. Me too.

There's something that I can't. Josh, we have to do something about it. Everybody in this industry is this big and it's humiliating for them. I remember watching the discourse of people talking about you and Peeley's heights together and people being like, he's 5'9, she's 5'9. Just scale everything, like, just... You gotta add like four or five more inches.

But you're doing like a creative player in a video game. Yeah, for real. You guys fucking wish. If he's 5'9, I'm 5 feet. What are you talking about? I know, I tell people all the time and I think that's why like the first time I ever stood next to the Rock.

I remember a lot of people were like, you know what's funny? I know you say you're big, but like now I believe you because he looks normal. normal size. I was on, okay, relax, first of all. And I was like, but Josh is also very tall and taller than me. So write that down, first of all. But I am, now that you've met so many A-List talent, you know, especially, like, everybody is so tiny. I'm trying to think who the large people that have surprised me are, because there's been a couple. Really? Yeah, I'm trying to think.

Nick did Giovanni, the chef? Oh, yeah. He's six-three. No, that's true. He is tall. I have met him. That's true. He is very tall. Ben Schwartz tall guy. No way. Really? He's like six. He's a hooper, too. Oh, no way. He gets down on the court. Yeah, yeah. What the hell? It's a fun video. Wait, look up this.

There's a video of Ben Schwartz just like messing around on the New York Knicks court like two years ago. Yeah. And he's just pulling out a little like, and one move soon. I think he makes like eight jump shots in a row. The hell? Yeah, yeah. Ben Schwartz can ball.

That's like, honestly, probably one of my favorite things about interviews. And that was my next question for you was like, what's like one of your favorite things to, not necessarily something specific to find out about someone or like, what's one of your favorite moments in interviews. Like if you get them to like tell you something interesting or whatever, like what would you say is your favorite part? My favorite moment is finding the thing that used to mean a lot to somebody. So I think that's the thing that gets lost with a lot of celebrities is people kind of assume they like came out of the womb famous or came out of the womb only wanting to be an actor. Right. And like, you know, high school sports met so much to me at the

time. Yeah. At the time, and, you know, you can probably identify with this. That's, like, the most important thing in the world. Yeah, that's, like, all I knew. Yeah. And that was my thing. You're 15.

Yeah. It's do or die if you don't win that JV. Soccer game. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, like, finding out people's, you know, you can, there's so many online databases. Uh, you know, I remember finding out Elizabeth Olson.

Mm-hmm. She was, she went to Campbell Hall, which is like a really good sports school. Drew Holiday, all the holiday brothers went there. Yeah. tons big big legacy she went to campbell hall and she was the starting either setter or libero on the no way on volleyball as a freshman no way she put up like i think 37 assists in like their opening freshman year game against like malibu high who just come off a state championship you're crazy and so i'm like reading in la time i know i'm reading l a time's article from 2002 and finding that

it's just like freshman lizzie olson at 37 assists it's crazy i was like at the time that must have been the most important thing in the world to her. Yeah. Because that's sick as hell. Hell yeah. And so like getting to bring stuff up like that and seeing them get like transported back. Yeah, and feel excited and seen. I think that's like,

I think that's the beautiful thing that's obvious to me in your interviews. And that's why I really enjoy you as a host is because you make people feel seen. And that's like it's very hard to do sometimes, especially for people like Elizabeth Olson, for example, who have been revered and been famous for a long time and they've been rewarded. and they're sitting at this very high echelon, like reaching that point of them. And that's funny hearing you say that too

because that's also one of my favorite things to find out about them. Like find out something that maybe they have never really talked about that they really enjoy. Like whether it's like a hobby or like just kind of a side thing they find interesting. Like even like one time I had when I had Bob the Drag Queen on the second time, we were talking about,

I forget what it was we were talking about, but he ended up telling me that he loves space. And he loves to learn about space. And black holes was his first exposure to space. And that's where he learned about how black holes work. And then we talked about space for like 30 minutes. And I was just asking him a lot of questions because I'm just so curious. But I think that's always so fun.

And I think you bring that out in people and that's a beautiful thing. Who are you gunning for on mythical kitchen? I'm sure you already have a bunch that you haven't been able to announce yet. But like who would be like your, if not Anthony Bourdain, if he was alive? Obviously it would be him. but if there was another North Star for you to get on the show, who would you love to have? You know, there's one celebrity that every time you hear a story about him, you're just like, it seems like the best most interesting guy in the world, it's Keanu Reeves.

That's such a good one. That is a great one. Imagine how good he'd be on that show. He would love you. He's so earnest. He's so interesting. It's so funny because he hardly does any press as himself, but he occasionally does press as dog starred you know dog star no it's his band so like i'll see you know keanu reeves

you'll kind of look up like well do they do any podcasts they do anything similar right we'd do how attainable is this and there's like no interviews with just kiannu except for on like some random you know like rock podcast right and it'll just be like do dog star featuring kianna rives on whatever podcast has 9000 views and just keanu like in the back being like yes i remember watching Robert Trujillo paid play bass and I was like man I love his technique. He's weirdo. And yeah, we're playing like a 500 cap room tomorrow. You guys should come out.

And I'm like, that's awesome. That would be incredible. Oh my God. I think he would adore you. And I bet his last meal would be so interesting. Or even like Robert Pattinson. Like Robert Pattinson, he's just talking about the other day. Yeah, freak weirdo, not derogatory.

No, he's just strange. Freaky dudes, man. Yeah, he's just strange as hell. Come on the show. I think he would love you. You love them. They're the best. They are the best.

They're like Woody Harrelson, too. Yeah. He's just a weird ass. He's vegan. We made, uh, he had Anthony Padilla from Smosh and he, yeah, love him. He's great. He's vegan and he's been vegan for a while. His entire last meal, though, was like Taco Bell pizza, like all this stuff.

He said, fuck it. Yeah, at the end. But we made everything vegan for him. Oh, that's so sweet. It was honestly, like, you know, we made a perfect beef Wellington for Gordon Ramsey. Like, we've made A5 Wagyu. and procured weird sea creatures for some of the world's best chefs. Yeah.

Making all of Anthony shit vegan was so hard. That was like infinitely harder than trying to cook the perfect steak. 100% 100%. That is, yeah. Who are you coming for? Oh, God. I don't know. Honestly, I feel like I'm super open to a lot of people, but I would love like Sendea.

Or her and Tom Holland at the same time would be crazy. Yeah. But you've had Tom Holland. Have you out of time a lot? He's another one that you're working on. You could easily get him. He's non-alcoholic beer bureau? Yes.

Have you tried? Oh, I haven't tried it. I'm in my 30s now. I can't hang anymore. I'm a week. I'm soft. I had two, I had to leave the house twice last week, which is hard.

That's a lot. You know, I had to like go to, like, you know, support a friend doing a music show. Going out at night. Oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. But anyways, non-alcoholic beer. You have a beer in your hand. It smells like you're having fun.

It tastes like you're having fun. Interesting. You get to drive home and you can just... Yeah, you get to drive home. Yeah, you get to go home when you want to go home. No six cycles interrupted. Wonderful, dude. You're so me, because I've been talking about that a lot.

I'm like, once I got past, fucking, I don't even know, like, 25, it started, like, declining subtly my ability to drink. And so now, like, that's why I'm a big weed fan because, like, I don't regret it in the morning and I don't want to, like, die because I'm so nauseous and sick. Yeah. So, but now, like, when I do drink, I'm, like, I feel like, I'm going to be hung over for days. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I don't. I'm never going to recover.

It's a commitment for four days. Yeah, it's so, it's so painful. I can't even go out on a Saturday anymore. I'm like, it's Friday or bus? Because Friday night, then it's like, okay, you're hungover Saturday, Sunday, you're still a little bit worse, but you can still like do your laundry

and go shopping and get things set up for Monday. I know. Can't even go out on a Saturday. I know, I'm real strict about that time. Saturday is 6.30 p.m. And then I'm real strict about like my nighttime routine. Like, I'm just so old. Like, and even like I just,

my joint bachelor, bachelorette, with my man, we went to Vegas with our bridal party, and it was really fun. And I highly recommend if you guys want to do a joint one, because we just went on vacation together, and that was fun. But I was like telling my friends, I was like, yeah, we'll go out. And they're like, you're going to go out and drink? And I was like, yes, I will drink.

I'll have some drinks then. Because I just never drink because I'm like, I can't. I can't. I don't have time for that. I'm at the age where even when I eat stuff, my stomach hurts past a certain time. I can't eat. You can't eat late anymore.

I can't eat late anymore. They don't believe us, Josh. They think that's not going to happen to them, but it will. Past 8 p.m. You'll wake up sweating. And that happens now. I wake up sick and I have acid reflux and I have to sit with a pillow behind my neck. Korean barbecue is the worst for the...

Oh my God, that's so true. It's my favorite thing to do. But if there's something, it's actually... I remember looking this up, like meat sweats are a real phenomenon. Because your body takes so much more energy to process protein. Yes. Then it does like any other macronutrient. Yes.

So literally your body's just there trying to like grind and dissolve on the short rib that you ate. You know, and then it's got to get through all the soju and the beer that's in there. That's so funny. You say that because like I love Korean barbecue. Like so does my man. But he literally tells me like sometimes I'm like, what about Korean barbecue? And he's like, I just, then I'm going to be up all night.

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Download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees and free shipping in the U.S. for a limited time. I actually just recently tried hot pop for the first time. Oh, hell yeah, that's fun. Went to Heidi Lau. Yeah, okay. The most...

Yeah, yeah, so at the Century City Mall. Yes, and I did take Amanda, my producer, and it was the most stressful meal of my entire life, but it was delicious. Why, did you get the dancing noodles? No, we did. I couldn't handle the dancing noodle. That's how stressed out I was.

I mean, it's the most overstimulating experience. Yeah. But it's delicious. So for people that don't know, the dancing noodle... Right, if you're unfamiliar. You're unfamiliar. Someone comes out. I think one time they were on roller blades

and they have like a boombox. Yeah. And just somehow like, they could have better sound quality if they wanted to. They could. This is a big chain from Shanghai. Right. No, it is the tiniest boombox speakers.

They're just like, nts, and then the guy takes hand pulled noodles and starts stretching dough and whipping it around. I have multiple times seen the noodle break and it just hit a diner in the face. And then they're like,

it's a Nancy noodle, what do you want? Like, hello. Yeah, this is extra. Yeah, you literally... And then they throw it in your soup when it's on a stretch. After he's been gripping it, then he throws it in your suit. That's for you to enjoy. I know we watched the first time we saw the dancing noodle Amanda got really scared.

She was like, what is going on? Because they're blasting music, and then they have that little JBL. And you pick the song. And then, yeah, you picked... We didn't pick a song, but the table next to us picked a Tray Song song, which I thought was an interesting choice. Yeah, and they played that. And then he's just real nonchalant with it. Like, he's just...

like dancing to the noodle and then you just throws it in there and then she was like, what the hell was that? And I was like, it's the dancing noodle. It's a whole thing. I can't get them to do that right now.

You ever see like the people spinning signs like a new Quiznos subs opens or spinning a sign? Some of them are kind of just wagging it and then there's other dudes that are throwing it behind their back. Same with the dancing noodle, you'd never know what you're going to get.

Yeah, it's real, it depends on them. It could be a straight-faced guy kind of body rocking and just pulling noodles or it could be a full-on breakdancing. Yeah, it's a full-on, like, show, dog and pony show. The first time I went, went to Heidi Lel Hot Pot, you choose your suit base.

Yes, yes. There's a big group, so we got four soup bases. Yeah. I wanted the original Sichuan spicy hot pot. Hell yeah. Love spicy foods. Me too. I had smoked a fair amount of weed before going.

Hell yeah, me too. Because I think it's even better if you're smoking before like cream barbecue, it's great. I agree. But I think hot pot's even better. Josh, you're so me, Josh, you're so me. The liquid makes it go down easy. Yes, I agree. That said, when I'm stoned, all I want to do is sweat into spicy soup.

But I sort of lack, like a dog, a corgi, if you just put a pile of food in front of it, it'll eat itself to death. Right. That's me. And so I was just going so hard on the spicy Sichuan hot pot. Shit. The liquid had fully dissolved. It was just oil and chilies at the end of it. And I'm dipping like tofu and greens and beef.

And the next day I was like, I think me and my wife were like supposed to go do some sort of errand. Yeah. Whatever it was you didn't make it. I was like, I'm stuck in the house today. Yeah, I'm glued to that toilet, mama. That's what I'm doing. The toilet, the air conditioning is on full-wise. I was just, like, moaning for a while.

And so now I'm like, it's not even a rule she's put on me. I put it on myself. I'm not allowed to get it. If I can't be responsible, if I can be responsible to spice you, such one hot butt, I don't deserve it. Unfortunately, I have to temper myself. That is literally how my man is too. Like, my man's like, if I'm not regulated, like, I'll just go insane. Like, there are certain treats that he has where he goes, like, they do something weird to me.

That's what he always says to me. Like, I can't eat it. They do something weird doing. It's like a gremlin. It's like real prey drive. Like it's just like immediately, I have to eat all of these. Well, I normally, like, I can't keep snacks in the house. Yeah.

So like, my wife just has like a normal relationship with food, you know, which is so foreign to me. Because I'm like, no, if there's like Girl Scout cookies, the box is gone. I can't have one to be satisfied. No, one. What are you nuts? I know. I've had to like learn to, and I really have actually made a fair amount of strides in that. Yeah.

Living with her because she was like a dessert every night household. Yeah, which is crazy. They eat one little slice of coffee cake and a little cream, you know. Yeah, what do you? Oh, must be nice. I know, literally. Oh, you can have one. That sounds stable.

That's incredible, yeah. Me, it was like, we didn't know when the next, no, a treat was going to be in the house. Hell, yeah, that's right big boy certified, you and me both bitch. Literally the same. That's how my man is, too, especially with things like Cadbury eggs. Like, those are his favorite. What's your favorite, like, shitty treat like that?

Like, what's your favorite candy or chip? Easy answer, beeps. It's Beeps? Peeps. Oh, peeps. Peeps. Damn, that's real shit. Yeah, that's real shit.

Yeah, it's disgusting. I love, like, there's something about just, like, stale especially. You leave a peep, Josh. You live a peep air dry for like a day and a half just outside in the wind. You're out here, you're out here eating peeps? Dude, I used to eat peeps at track meets in between throats. Josh, you're nuts. I remember being like Orange County Championships, like, you know, not to brag, but like, literally, it's like, like, it's like, like, like,

the lead, you know, just launched like 56 feet and I'm sitting there watching my competitors, eating like the blue bunny rabbit peep. You're housing peeps in between sets. Well, because, you know, keeping up the glycogen stores or whatever. You're crazy, dude. If I tell you what, if I saw my opponent eating a fucking peep

and he beat me, I'm gonna be mad. If I saw you shoving a peep in your mouth and you beat me? Okay, but it was literally, it was like me shoving peeps in my mouth, Ma'atu Brown from like Downey High School, uh, playing a ukulele on inside. and just like murking all these. I think we had the exact,

doing push-ups. We had the exact same high school experience, if you can believe it, Josh. You would have been like at the same track meet, though. That's true. You were what? You were Centennial? No, I went to Corona.

You went to Corona. I should have gone to Centennial. That is where all the Sama and people went, so that's a good guess. So it's a great guess. Not the stereotype. No, that was actually kind of strange that, like, me and my sister and Billy actually went to Corona

and didn't go to Centennial because all the Sama when people went there. Who else was in your league? Like, do you remember who you competed again? I guess like Damien upland. It was like modern day was a big one that we were always against. Orange Lutheran was another one. Obviously everyone in Krona, which was like Norco, Centennial, Santiago, all of those people. Roosevelt, I think they were big in track too.

Roosevelt was great. Roosevelt was baller. Yeah. Yeah, big in track. Yeah, same. But speaking of track, I have some fun facts about you. They may not be as fun as yours, but you'll tell us if they're fun. Okay, this first one, it says, speaking of throwing, that you competed in

the hammer throw for UCLA's track and field team. Hell yeah, I did. That's fucking crazy awesome. And you're eating peeps in between it. That's crazy. Hammer throw, dude. I'll tell you what, it was cuter in high school. Because, like, in high school, I was like,

you advance any level in sport. Yeah. And suddenly you're just like a smaller fish. Yes, exactly. So by the time I got to call it, you know, I never got that much better. I was very happy to make it there. You know, I was the guy that would get like third place in the meets.

Hey, consistent. 100%. I was happy with that. Hell yeah. You couldn't do the cute shit anymore. When you get in, like, third place in a meet, you can't be. Less leniency for you. Yeah, especially when, like, the two dudes that beat you were, like, actual, like, Olympians, you know?

No longer funny that you're eating, dude. That was more like a throw and then go, you know. Yeah, I got to go back to the lap. Go visualize and some technique work. Did you like throwing more? Did you play football at all? Only, so I played football freshman year of high school. I loved the sport.

I loved the sport to this day. There was something about. the culture that I hated. Yeah. And so many, so many of my teammates. And I, do you know the school of Vista Marietta? Yeah. So one of my, my best friends, Emil is just hanging out with him this week.

He and I were training partners at UC Santa Barbara, both throwing shot putt and discus. But he was like, you know, 5-8 Filipino nose tackle, had some three offers. But he had a coach there named Coli Candell, shout out to Coach Candell, who he just speaks so highly of. And he's like, he is a tremendous mentor. He was incredible. He didn't play the typical weird. Like the politics of it. Yeah.

And I just didn't have that. I really disliked the coach that I had. Yeah. You know, a bunch of 14-year-olds on steroids. Yeah. It was just a really bad vibe. That's terrible because it killed your experience too with the sport, especially if you love the sport.

Yeah, yeah. Which is like it can be a hit or miss when you have really shit coaches too. And they control so much too. It's not even just the sport. It's like your workouts and your schooling and all of that. Like they affect all of it. And even like in terms of your future, like this coach would withhold letters from people. Yeah, that's actually happened a lot.

That happened to my dad when my dad was playing football, yeah. Dude, why does that happen? I don't know. A college would send you a letter saying, hey, we're interested in coming to our college. Yeah. And your coach just wouldn't show it to you. Yeah, because I have no idea what the fuck it is, to be honest. I feel like it's like I low-key think it's like sabotaging kind of deal because they're jealous.

maybe because they didn't have that. So that's always my assumption and it's like an ego thing. Or if you're in college, which is when it happened to my dad, when my dad is at the JC, that happened to my dad there. And that was, I think, to keep him from transferring because it was like they wanted to keep him there, which then you're just burning years of eligibility, which is a fucking dog shit too. And that's also why my dad didn't go to a bigger school because my dad started playing in

college. Like my dad had never played football until he went to junior college. That's sick. And he still got drafted. clock it but my dad we joke about this all the time. Where did you transfer after after DC? Western Texas A&M. Oh shoot.

Yeah, so it was like. That school's not even called that anymore. No, it's not. Is it U-TEP now? Yeah, I forget. It's called Western Texas A&M. They changed the name of it. But it's like, I forget the name of it now.

But you're right. But that was like that was one of the schools where like, Last Chance You. Did you watch Last Chance You in Netflix? That was one of them where like it was exactly like that. That's the school my dad went to. And even from there, my dad got drafted, seventh round, but right before Mr. Irrelevant, which is a bummer.

Your dad is the second. Yeah, second to last. The runner up to Mr. Irrelevant? That's so sick. And my mom was joking because my mom was like, okay, I wish you got picked last because then you get all this fun stuff. Yeah, you got to live. Which I think they're coming out actually with a movie or something about Mr.

Irrelevant, like, or like the origins of Mr. Irrelevant. They totally are. Yeah. I was like, only Josh and I would care about that. If you like sports. If you like football, then that's fun. That's a fun fact. There's a couple of games.

There's Mr. Relevant coming out. And this is another one about like this, I think like Shane Gillis is in it. But it's about this like football game, I think during World War II that was like played on Gwadal Canal or some somewhere in the Pacific theater. There's like World War II football movie.

Interesting. Oh, the only kind of shit that we like. Oh, you love a sports movie? What's your favorite sports movie? Okay, speaking of Keanu Reeves, the replacements. I don't know if this is my favorite. Oh, that's a good one. That's a fun one.

Love the replacements. I can quote so many lines from it. Um, just he's wiery. He's wiery. He's not skinny. Um, coach Carter. That's a great one. I would have, so I would have quit football freshman year.

Yeah. And then I lost like 50, 60 pounds in the summer. Damn. Because the football coaches after I quit said, you know, I don't know if you know this, but you're just going to get really fat and get diabetes if you quit. So. What the hell? That's an insane.

That's an insane. Yeah, I was going to say, I'm 14 by the way. Thanks for that. Thanks for those words of wisdom. Appreciate. So I played basketball, and I remember, like, just seeing Coach Carter with, like, my entire, you know, junior basketball team. Yeah. And it's still just, like, that's such a good one.

You can drive by the Safari Inn on, like, Olive in Burbank? No, no, no, no, no. You know what I'm talking about? No. Oh, my God. It's this, like, crappy motel, but they have this iconic sign that says Safari in. Oh, yeah. And there's a scene in Coach Carter that's shot there.

Oh. And I remember drive by, and driving by the Safari and just going like, that's the motel, that Channing Tatum. breaks out of to sneak out to the house party after they win the palm springs cut i was going to say is it when they sneak out to go to the park yeah yeah yeah there's supposed to be like palm springs yeah yeah that's so funny one of my one of my favorite sports movies is rudy yeah that's one of the best ones to me because i'm like it's just all of the will and all of the drive none of the talent it's fucking awesome i was like the fact that he's just like no worries will show up anyways fucking awesome it was like one of the best ones. And I joke about that all the time. I'm like, when I make fun of awful men,

and they love football, I'm always like, you're not remember the Titans. You're Rudy. Okay. Everyone needs to remember that. Okay. Go on to more fun facts. We'll go through them. First one says, you have a tattoo of a spork on your arm. I sure do. That is, and is that your favorite utensil? I think it's because there are too many white guys with yin-yang tattoos, but they mean the same thing, you know what I mean? It's just duality. You got to have the four Can the spoon. You said this is my culturally sensitive yin and yang tattoo.

Although I will say though, I was playing basketball at like a 24-hour fitness. And a guy points to my tattoo and goes like, where'd you serve? And I was like, huh? And he was, the mythical kitchen, sir.

I thought he was messing with me. I was like, I don't know what punchline to follow this with. But turns out, I think he was an army ranger. And he's like, we all got titanium like sports to like eat our MREs with in the field.

and I know some like A ranger dude? They think you're walking around impersonating a ranger? I was like, dude, I don't think this is stolen valor. Hey, this is not stolen valor. I'm the chef and I love Taco Bell, I'm so sorry. Yeah, yeah, sporks are just a thing.

Sparks are just a thing. I think I'm gonna fill out this entire arm though with the history of the design of the spoon. Peeps and that, you're weird. I know, I really are. I'm just kidding. I'm filling out the salad on this arm. No, it's fucking awesome.

I think that's wonderful. There's enough men taking tribal tattoos from other cultures. I'd rather you do that. My tribal tattoos, tomatoes. Yeah, that's your culture. It really is. Okay, next one says, in college, you ran a food blog called Culinary Brodown.

That's how it all started. Culinarybrowdown.com. That is the birth of now mythical kitchen, Josh. It really is. And that was when you said you love to write, too, about food. Did you write about the same kind of thing, like how your perspective on food and how you see the world through it? Is that what you were kind of doing? A little bit, but it was always, it was.

It was more like, I mean, shit, a lot of the stuff I still do now is more like humor forward. Yeah. But it was very much almost this kind of like absurdist comedy blog. Yeah. I would make recipes. And I started it just wanting to see what it became, have an outlet, and then also kind of use it to prove to other people like, hey, look, I know what I know what to photograph food. I know what are recipes. I know how to write cool stuff.

Yeah. But I remember like a lot of it was trying to figure out my place in the world and that's related to sports, food, masculinity, all this. And I remember at the time the paleo diet was big. Yeah. And I just thought like, I remember talking to a Jimbrough about it. And he's like, yeah, like, now men are becoming such pussies. We need to like go back to eating how our paleolithic ancestors did. Okay.

And, you know, not eat fucking rice. And I don't know. Yeah, that'll fix it. And I was just like, this is coming from such a weird place. Yeah. And then, of course, fast forward 10 years now. And we are in a much weirder place. Right.

But I wrote this piece about the Velocida. it where I was like, why stop at eating what Paleolithic man ate? You know who it was much more virile and aggressive and had a bigger dick than Paleolithic Man? Veloceraptus. Yeah. Yeah. You should be eating exactly what the real apex

predator. Literally. And I wrote this entire like forcical piece about this just pure stream of consciousness. And like I ended up winning like an award for best writing from Severn magazine. Period. And so I was just writing all about that kind of stuff. You're so me.

That's why I said. You're a lot like me. I was doing something similar in college when I was like pursuing sports journalism specifically because like you were saying, what I really loved about sports. Obviously I loved enjoyed watching sports and I grew up playing sports and my family. Everyone's an athlete. So it was just kind of a natural world for me to exist in. But I really loved off the field stuff.

Like I really loved to follow them and see what they were like off the field and with their families and like who they loved. like what they loved and like things that they enjoyed that were not sports and I I followed a lot of Polynesian guys especially like Tongan guys, Samuang guys, like Viguan guys, like Viguan guys, and a lot of them I found were very moved to play football solely because they thought it could pay bills like in the end and so they just so happen to be athletic and agile enough to make it to the NFL but they don't necessarily want to be there like if they could choose a lot of times they would choose something else and that was the part I found extra fascinating which is why when I was on your

show I talked about how like my senior capstone thesis was about two at tango by law and like that was like when his first year went Alabama and I followed him and I did like a three month long thing following his family and his parents and I got to know them went to church with them and I like hung out with them in their apartment and I like learned a lot about them and talked to them and I wrote a lot in the story about how like a huge part of this transition for him was learning how to not be anonymous anymore and that was like really difficult for him and but he really wants to take care of his family and he feels like he owes this to his family and all of that. So that whole part I thought

was really interesting, which is why I feel such a kismic connection to you, Josh, because I feel like you see it the same way. Like that kind of, I would honestly say journalism. Like that is, it's ingrained in us. I'm telling you. But like these, these things, like, I think food and sports, I could have gone into sports or gone into food. Yeah, totally. I could have either gone into food professionally and left sports as a hobby. Yeah. I've gone into sports professionally and left food a hobby but I knew it was always going to be one of those things. But for me, both of them are the same in the sense that you're telling much bigger stories about the world through this specific lens.

And I think you can do the same with music, whatever you gravitate towards. But to me, it's all just trying to make sense of this silly thing we call life. Yeah. Bouncing the ball and tackling people and making a suflay. They're all metaphors, right? Yeah. Just small things that you, you know, really tell larger stories with. And I'm hoping Vanity Fair heard that.

I hope you heard that from him. Once last time you bought a magazine, though, I was like, I don't know. No, no, I want to be on the magazine. Obviously, I want to be there, obviously. I don't know. I mean, buy him. I used to work for magazines. Yeah, I could do it.

Okay, last fun fact. Do you remember what dish you posted a picture of for the first ever Instagram post? Oh, my God. On November 25th, 2013. Unless I deleted it because I think in the caption, it was, I think it was so cringy. Was it like a roasted piece of trout with cum quots? Yeah, you were right.

That's still up. I had to delete that. The caption is something like, who's up, bitch? It's like so bad. Dinner mode. Me and dinner. I remember,

I remember making that. That was before I had a smartphone. And I was borrowing friends phones to log into an Instagram, to take pictures, and then I would log out. Such a boomer thing to do before boomers. Dude, I didn't have a laptop until I was like 25. I was in college on a desktop.

You're crazy. And I'm not even that old. I'm not young anymore, but I'm not like, not that old. It was like 2013. I didn't own a laptop. You're real simple guy. I appreciate that about you.

Yeah, it literally says that it was a trout with roasted cum quats and asparagus. Look at you. Is it asparagus and green beans? Yeah, it says asparagus on here, but look it's fact checking you. He goes, that's so funny because I would never put asparagus with that, so it was probably Yeah, no, I totally would. I totally would.

I think there's green beans. Oh, funny. I think he's green beans with slivered almonds. Hey, sounds delicious. Not to put you on blast over. No, you should. It's been a wonderfully produced episode. Every time, every time someone doesn't like the facts, I'm like, and count that against Amanda.

It was bad, too. Yeah, brown butter roasted comb clots, not good. Never made them again. It just doesn't hurt. Hey, they're bad, so don't try them. Like it needs the acid. Going back, I would have either pickled a candy to come quads. And look at you.

That's gross. I should remake that dish. You should and say TBT. That's an old school like caption we used to use all the time. Throwback Thursdays. That really was. Yeah, we used to do that all the time. We're so old.

Man Crush Monday? Yeah, and women crush Wednesday. Yeah. And there was. It would all have to be like ironic. It can never be something that you have. Yeah. It would have to be like something silly.

Like I would take a picture of my burrito and I'd be like man crush Monday. I'd take a picture of like my. like, you know, like a passed out on the toilet or something. Yeah. We sound like dinosaurs to them. I know. On TikTok especially, I'm like 100,000 years old. I have some old videos on Instagram that are good,

though I have some old, like, lifting videos on there. O.T. I think I have a video of me hang cleaning like 350 pounds. And you said, guess what I'm leaving that one up? I'm leaving that. Oh, that one stays up. Technique garbage. But that one's ripping it. Yeah, that's me when I pulled 225 for the first time.

I literally, my man, like, recorded it for me. for me because I pulled it. And then I was like, oh my God, I'm so excited, like my first time doing that. And then he was like, the form wasn't great though, because I didn't get you to the last rep. And I was like, I don't give a fuck. I'm posting it.

I don't fucking care. I don't fucking care. Yeah. Technique police for real. I know. My man, the most he's ever deadlifted is 600. Hell yeah. And so he only pulled it once and he recorded it.

And he literally told me when he was working towards it because he was getting big during it because he was lifting very happy. Is this like in college or after college? No, this was like a couple years ago. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, shoot. years ago. He was only pulling it because one of our best friends is a power lifter and he was

at like five something for a while and he was working towards six. And my man is so competitive that he was like, oh, I'm only doing it so I can pull before him. And I was like, are you serious? He goes, as soon as I pull it, I'm done and I'm going to cut. And I was like, okay. Yes, he pulled it once and then started cutting immediately. And then his, our buddy, he pulled it like maybe a week later. But he was like, what the fuck ever? I was like, that kind of stuff is fun. And only you would understand that. So I appreciate you being here so I can bounce those off. And only only 20, like in my 20s, understand it.

Because now I'm just like, it's not worth it. You're back. Your rotator, your rotator cuff is going to go sooner. No, literally now he's, no, literally now my man's like, I'm not lifting that heavy anymore. There's no need anymore. I did it. And he's like, and the video's up, so there's proof.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God, I should take more videos. Well, you know what, Josh? I appreciate you coming. You're a hoot and a holler. Let me tell you.

And on a series. know, I really genuinely believe you are like the next, like, for real, Anthony Bourdain. And I really like see such a bright future with you, obviously, but I'm just so excited that you're someone who's like prominent in the interview space. Yeah, thank you. Because it's rough out there. Let me tell you. I do genuinely believe like as a host, too, I always believe there's more than enough room

for us because I really do think that everyone brings something so unique. And you have such a unique way of connecting to people through food and humor, right? but also especially food and the way that you're able to kind of broach these very difficult topics of like spirituality, religion, death, grief through these very humorous mediums is so important, especially now. I feel like the world is so tumultuous for obvious reasons. It's burning around us and it's terrible. But a lot of times these escapes are important.

And then you're someone who's able to like still talk about things that matter and that are important in a way that's digestible and fun for like young people. I'm glad that young people have you. They need people like you in the world. And I'm glad you came and hang out with me for today. I mean, likewise. And you couldn't agree more. There's not only room for everybody, but like the rising tide.

Yeah. And I'm so glad there's, you know, you and I have had a lot of similar experiences. Yeah. Obviously, we've had a ton of different experiences. Right.

That lend us to interacting with the world, our viewers in different ways. And I'm really glad that people have you as well. And I mean that's the bottom of my heart. I appreciate you. And me and Josh go to the same gym. Fun fact. We see each other all the time.

See me on the elliptical. Hey, it saves the news. That's 30s, man. Cardio's important. Thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the comments section. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Mythical Chef Josh, for, I don't know, the one or two people that logged on today don't know where to find you.

Where can everyone find you? You can find me over at the Mythical Kitchen Channel on YouTube. We also have a podcast called a Hot Dog as a Sandwich. I think I'm called Mythical Chef Josh on most social media. Yes. You can just, you Google it. I'm out there. Good luck not running into Josh on the internet.

Find me on the elliptical. Yeah. Hey! Working out. Thank you so much for coming and joining me. I adore you. I think you're amazing. Please tell your beautiful wife.

I said hello. And thank you so much for joining us on this episode. Don't forget new episodes of the comments section. Drop every Wednesday you can stream audio on all streaming platforms with the video list for free and exclusively on YouTube. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Josh. Thank you so much for joining and I'll see you next week. Bye!